At this point, both of them had summoned all their Pokémon.
Aoki: Tyranitar, Aggron, Blaziken, Florges, Gengar, Slowking
Steven: Metagross, Aggron, Aerodactyl, Armaldo, Claydol, Steelix
From the lineup, Steven had a slight advantage because one of Aoki's core tactics was clearly Tyranitar's Sandstorm, but it had no effect on any of Steven's Pokémon.
"Let the battle begin!"
With the chief referee's command, the battle officially started!
Aoki activated his telepathy, directing his Pokémon to act.
As Tyranitar stepped forward, sand from various corners transformed into sand snakes, crawling out and coiling around Tyranitar.
At the same time, randomly shaped broken stones appeared out of thin air around Tyranitar and Aggron. These stones suddenly vibrated, turning into fine powder that merged into the sand snakes, swirling around Tyranitar.
This operation more than doubled the speed at which the sand and stones appeared.
The sky-high yellow sand flew up and down, swirling back and forth, instantly enveloping the entire battlefield, turning the whole arena into a desert.
The staff beside the League arena saw this scene and immediately took action, activating protective barriers to isolate the audience from the sandstorm, ensuring they would not be affected.
Even so, seeing such a rapidly forming and powerful sandstorm, the audience's adrenaline surged, and cheers erupted continuously.
Fortunately, the League had anticipated this situation, so they immediately activated a special device, allowing the audience to clearly see what was happening inside, even through the dense sandstorm.
As Tyranitar's sandstorm swirled, Slowking's eyes shot out massive psychic waves, and psychic energy spread around its body, drawing out thin threads that shot into different corners of Tyranitar's sandstorm.
After ensuring that every psychic cornerstone was laid, the psychic energy from Slowking surged like a raging tide, wave after wave, gushing out.
A tightly woven psychic net was instantly constructed.
Steven, standing on the opposite side, his expression gradually turned serious. With the help of Metagross and Claydol's psychic powers, he also saw the field created by Tyranitar and Slowking, and felt the danger it carried.
Aoki's Sandstorm Domain!
It was displayed before everyone for the first time.
Scrape—
Scrape—scrape—
From the grandstand of the main stage, the sound of chair legs scraping against the ground echoed.
Everyone sitting there watching the battle was strong and had a broad vision.
That's why they were so excited. Except for Drake, even Mr. Adams and Mr. Birch stood up, their faces filled with shock and disbelief!
"This is… when did this kid…" Adams was a bit agitated. For a regional League President to be so surprised, something extraordinary must have happened.
Adams glared at Drake beside him, seeing his calm and even somewhat smug demeanor.
But Adams' eyes conveyed a clear message: if Drake didn't speak up, he would take action.
"Ahem." Drake lightly coughed, bringing everyone's shocked gazes back to him.
"That's right, a dual-core lineup. Those of you present have been in the League for quite some time, so you must know what a dual-core lineup represents.
Although Aoki's dual-core lineup is not yet fully formed, it already has the foundation of a dual-core, and the power it can display is more than double that of a single-core!"
Drake's smugness grew even stronger. "When this kid came to me asking to refine his tactics, I didn't take it seriously, originally thinking I could easily handle it. Who knew he suddenly pulled out a dual-core lineup, almost causing me to stumble. In the end, I had to get a little serious to defeat him.
However, at that time, his dual-core lineup was only used for the first time in actual combat. After ten days of training, although it's still far from its limit, it's much stronger than it was then.
I can guarantee that now, if Flannery or Phoebe were to use only a single core in a full team battle, they might not necessarily win against Aoki."
Hearing Drake's words, Flannery and Phoebe hesitated for a moment but did not refute.
Moreover, everyone present were veterans of the League, having studied Pokémon battles for an unknown amount of time. When their Pokémon's strength stagnated, they began to research lineup combinations and multi-core combat modes.
A dual-core lineup was not actually that exaggerated; many of them could achieve it, and some could even achieve triple or even quadruple cores.
What shocked them was Aoki reaching a dual-core level at his age and under his current strength conditions.
"Actually…"
Drake spoke again, hesitating slightly, but still said, "Actually… although Aoki's dual-cores haven't reached their limit yet, he has already found the threshold for a triple-core, and even… even one could say he has already stepped one foot into the triple-core threshold…"
"What?!" Steven Birch beside him couldn't listen anymore.
Are you openly showing off?
"You'll see if you keep watching…" Drake gestured with his chin.
Everyone suppressed the shock in their hearts and looked towards the arena.
Tyranitar and Slowking's Sandstorm Domain was formed, but this was not the end. Gengar looked at Tyranitar, a faint light flashing in its eyes, mimicking Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability.
Then, another powerful sandstorm appeared, carrying a dense, unyielding rock-type energy.
Double Sandstorm!!
Afterward, a faint light flashed in Gengar's eyes again, mimicking Blaziken's Speed Boost ability.
Gengar's speed was already very fast, and with the help of Speed Boost, its speed would become faster and faster. This speed was a strong counter to the relatively slow speed of Steven's Pokémon.
Florges's Camouflage and Blaziken's Swords Dance were also used.
While Aoki was directing his Pokémon to set up the field and gain an advantage, Steven was not just watching.
Although he was also surprised by the combination of Tyranitar's sandstorm and Slowking's psychic power, Steven was not entirely unprepared.
Metagross, Aggron, and Steelix, the three Steel-type Pokémon, allowed the fine sand to impact their bodies, emitting crisp "ding, ding, ding" sounds, forming a triangular formation.
Metagross hovered in the air, Aggron stood on the ground, and Steelix could simultaneously cover both the air and the ground.
Aerodactyl circled around Metagross, Claydol's psychic power communicated with Metagross's psychic power, and Armaldo stood at the very back, performing the same special dance as Blaziken.
The Swords Dance stages were accumulating one after another.
Steven's core of the lineup at this time was Metagross, but to what extent his core could perform would depend on how he behaved in battle.
With the initial preparations complete, the official showdown between Aoki and Steven began!