BOOM!!
BOOM!!
The thunderous blast sent Cacturne and Torterra flying through the air.
Torterra couldn't dodge due to its low speed and because it had waited for Jacob to climb onto its back. Cacturne, on the other hand, had used the move Ingrain, driving its roots even deeper to take advantage of the desert terrain... without imagining that this would be its end.
A perfect opportunity!
Mega Aggron seized the moment created by Tyranitar and accelerated again, while the rocks surrounding it shot out instantly.
At the moment Cain ordered Tyranitar to use the move Precipice Blades, he had already prepared a second move.
A Poké Ball shot out from his hand.
The probing phase was over. He wasn't going to gamble with his life. If the enemy was skilled at battles with multiple Pokémon, then the right course was to defeat them all at once, or at least eliminate several when they were most relaxed and off guard.
Blaziken appeared and immediately understood its mission. With a sharp gaze, it charged silently toward Torterra, while an intense multicolored light enveloped its body as it ran.
Triple Mega Evolution!
Cain frowned and held another Key Stone in his hand, linking it to Blaziken's Blazikenite.
The telepathic communication and exchange of wills during Mega Evolution allowed Blaziken to clearly feel Cain's determination.
Without hesitation!
Immediate Mega Evolution, Swords Dance, and on top of that, the conscious control of its Speed Boost ability.
The stronger a Pokémon is, and with sufficient training, the greater the control it can exert over its own ability.
Like Tyranitar's sandstorm.
In the same way, Blaziken had learned to control its Speed Boost ability to a certain extent.
As soon as the multicolored light of Mega Evolution dissipated, enormous red-golden flames burst from its body. Its black legs stepped onto the red sand, leaving footprints wrapped in golden fire.
Ultimate move: Sacred Fire!
Mid-charge, Blaziken leapt into the air and concentrated all its flames into its legs.
Black feathers mixed with red-golden fire created an overwhelming sense of holiness.
Just as Mega Aggron was about to reach Cacturne, the flame-wreathed kick of Mega Blaziken, which had arrived first, fell from the sky directly onto Torterra.
BOOM!!
Before the Sacred Fire fully struck, a human figure came rolling out pathetically from the overturned Torterra and, with the help of telekinesis, escaped at top speed from the attack's range.
It was Jacob, who once again had been punished for his arrogance.
Cain observed the scene with narrowed eyes, but he did not order Blaziken to change targets. The kick descended with full force onto Torterra.
The sand flew into the air. Part of the red sand, already under Tyranitar's control, melted and evaporated directly from the attack.
At the same time, Aggron arrived just a moment later in front of Cacturne, which had just gotten back up. If it hadn't been using the move Stone Edge as suppression during its advance, Cacturne would have already managed to escape.
Without Blaziken's explosiveness, Mega Aggron's attack style was one of constant attrition.
It ignored all of Cacturne's attacks; none managed more than to graze its defense.
Mega Aggron grabbed Cacturne's arm. Those deadly spines that would terrify other Pokémon were nothing more than a joke to it.
No matter how hard, sharp, or poisonous they were, what could they do to it?
With a single squeeze, all the spines shattered to pieces. Before Cacturne's horrified gaze, a fist the size of a cooking pot, wreathed in flames, slammed directly into its face.
The blow was so powerful that it nearly knocked it unconscious on the spot.
Unfortunately for it, its endurance was too high to fall from a single hit.
What followed was a nightmare of chained attacks.
This was a true iron punch: Mega Aggron suddenly sat down on Cacturne and unleashed a rain of blows like shooting stars.
If Cacturne hadn't been, quite literally, a cactus, one might have feared that Aggron would leave it in a permanent vegetative state.
On the other side, the battle ended quickly and decisively. Torterra was engulfed by the red-golden flames concentrated on Blaziken's leg. When the fire dissipated, the ground where it lay had sunk three to four meters, and all the sand beneath its body had evaporated, leaving only a solidified structure around the edges, like a transparent bowl.
That bowl was slightly reddened by the heat, and inside it, Torterra was completely charred. The tree on its back had disappeared entirely, vaporized into the air.
A true... turtle boiled in a glass pot.
It had clearly lost its capacity to fight.
Clack!
Blaziken slowly descended to the ground after the attack. Its body was still giving off white smoke from the residual heat, but it had already exited the Mega Evolution state.
Cain could maintain a double Mega Evolution for quite some time, but a triple Mega Evolution was an enormous burden. If it wasn't necessary, it was better not to prolong it.
Even so, Blaziken didn't remain idle. It stayed in place, silently using Swords Dance, its gaze fixed from beneath its sharp brows on Jacob's grim face.
Aggron also soon finished beating Cacturne until it was unrecognizable even to its own trainer. Its body had been crushed, sunk into the crater created by Mega Aggron's weight.
With a satisfied expression, Aggron slowly stood up. From the gaps between its fingers and fists fell countless broken cactus spines, all shattered, having caused it almost no damage.
It calmly stepped back to stand beside Blaziken, and the energy of Mega Evolution began to dissipate from its body, bringing an end to its Mega Evolution state as well.
It wasn't that Cain could no longer maintain the double Mega Evolution; rather, during that intense and pleasurable burst of attacks, Aggron had successfully taken that crucial step. Like Blaziken and Tyranitar, it was about to officially enter the Champion level.
The aura surrounding it began to fluctuate, rising and falling in intensity; that was the clear sign that it was on the verge of breaking through.
Cain immediately perceived that change in Aggron, and Jacob, standing opposite him, noticed it as well. His face grew even darker—watching his own Pokémon become the stepping stone for another's growth was something he couldn't accept.
In truth, those two units shouldn't have lost their capacity to fight so quickly. Although Tyranitar's red sand domain affected them greatly, they still had attribute advantages.
The real problem was his carelessness: he saw that Tyranitar and Aggron had completed Mega Evolution, but he didn't give it the importance it deserved.
(End of chapter)