Under the pitch-black night sky, a violent sandstorm tornado rolled forward. It swallowed the surrounding firelight and streetlamps, looming over the battlefield like a terrifying shroud that blotted out the sun.
"Hurricane!"
Girard roared. In front of him, his Shiftry began rhythmically swinging its giant leaf fans, which were now shrouded in an azure light. One after another, high-speed air currents slammed into the encroaching sandstorm. Everywhere the wind passed, it let out eerie, wailing screeches, and a low, booming roar erupted as the two forces collided!
Gales and quicksand exploded backward, only to converge once more and surge forward with renewed fury.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The air detonated repeatedly as the sand tornado seemed to lock in a stalemate with the high-speed currents from Shiftry.
However, as Shiftry increased the fanning speed of its leafy fans, the raw power of the sandstorm proved unable to match the sheer devastation of the Hurricane. The sand was suppressed and driven back.
The Sand Tomb began to collapse.
The tension in Girard's stiff expression eased slightly—only to shatter an instant later.
Suddenly...
BOOM!!
The ground beneath his feet erupted. A massive silver silhouette burst forth from the earth!
With a roar, it carved a gaping crater into the ground. A swing of its powerful, sharp claws sent countless rocks and grit flying into the air, creating an upward-flowing waterfall of debris that engulfed Girard and Shiftry!
Aggron had somehow burrowed underground, using the vibrations from the clash between Hurricane and Sand Tomb to mask its movements, launching a lethal Dig attack against the unsuspecting Girard.
But a Top Executive wouldn't be taken down so easily.
As the flying rubble and sand fell back to earth, a green protective film slowly faded away. Girard, gripping the smallest sphere of his Weezing, had used the lift to escape into the air.
"Dammit, where did this brat get this kind of power?"
He looked down from his vantage point at the massive steel beast standing in the crater, radiating a terrifying aura. His expression was incredibly grim.
He never expected that Shiftry's Hurricane would fail to take Aggron down, let alone that he would be blindsided by a Dig maneuver.
A guy who, half a month ago, needed luck just to make the Top 16 of a tournament was now actually holding his own against him?
You've got to be kidding me!
"Shiftry!"
Girard shouted at the top of his lungs. A rapid tap-tap-tap of footsteps immediately echoed through the drifting dust; clearly, he believed a mere Dig wasn't enough to finish Shiftry off. "Hurricane!"
Whoosh—!!
The wind shrieked.
A massive turbulence of milky-white and sky-blue swept away the lingering dust. Weezing climbed higher, giving Girard an even better birds-eye view of the scene.
But as the wind cleared the haze, there was no sign of Kashiwagi anywhere. There was only the crater Aggron had created when it dug its way out.
Where is he?
His brows furrowed deeply, followed by a surge of sudden rage.
"Dammit, the brat used the opening to bolt! Don't let it get away! Leaf Blade!"
At his command, Shiftry flicked its arms. Three leaves snapped together to form a brilliant green blade, and it sprinted toward the giant beast attempting to retreat into the tunnel.
Moving like a phantom, Shiftry appeared before the behemoth in an instant.
"Shreeee!!"
Shiftry let out a piercing shriek, leaping high into the air. It swung its twin Leaf Blades down toward Aggron's head, the sound of the blades slicing through the air enough to make one's heart tremble!
Emerald light surged!
Bang! Bang!
The energy from the Leaf Blade exploded into a cloud of acrid smoke, followed by Aggron's pained, muffled grunt.
But before Girard could celebrate, a bright flare of fire ignited within the tunnel!
"Dodge it!"
He yelled, but Shiftry was too slow.
A thick tail had blocked its retreat at some point. Just as its feet pushed off Aggron's body to back away, its back slammed into the hard tail.
With its movement stalled, a pair of massive jaws—wreathed in roaring flames—tore through the thin smoke and brutally clamped down on Shiftry's body.
"Shreeee—!"
The fire instantly spread across its entire body, and Shiftry let out a harrowing scream.
"What!?"
Girard gasped in shock. Only then did he see a Mawile perched on Aggron's shoulder; the owner of those massive jaws was none other than her!
Seeing the situation, he didn't hesitate. He rapidly snapped open two Poké Balls. "Taunt on Aggron! Flame Charge on Mawile!"
A Doberman-like Pokémon with goat horns—Houndoom—and a hunched, small-bodied figure with gems for eyes—Sableye—hit the ground.
The former, wreathed in flames, charged at Mawile with extreme speed. The latter let out a raspy, clawed shriek, drawing Aggron's attention.
"Roar!"
Aggron bellowed at Sableye. Its pale blue eyes instantly became bloodshot under the influence of a mysterious power, and its massive body surged forward toward the imp, seemingly out of control.
Meanwhile, the Mawile on its shoulder suddenly took flight. Twisting her body like a dancer, she swung the giant jaws—still clamped onto Shiftry—like a massive hammer toward the incoming Houndoom!
"Crouch and avoid it!"
"Awoo!"
Houndoom barked, dropping low to the ground. It narrowly avoided the swinging jaws and lunged forward ferociously once more.
Unfortunately, Mawile was no pushover, dodging the lunge with incredible agility.
On the other side, Sableye turned and ran. A strange light flickered in its eyes, further enraging Aggron, who shook the ground as it gave chase.
Girard's gaze shifted across the battlefield below.
Controlling multiple Pokémon simultaneously is exhausting for a trainer. It's manageable if the Pokémon have a degree of autonomy, but if they are the type that waits for every specific command, it becomes a nightmare. Just judging the situation and making the right choices in split seconds is enough to make a trainer's head spin.
Fortunately, his Pokémon had decent decision-making skills.
However, he absolutely did not want Shiftry to fall here; it still had a major role to play later. Even if it meant juggling multiple commands, he had to save it.
Seeing that Mawile still hadn't let go, he grew impatient.
"Shiftry, use Growth to force those jaws open!"
Girard yelled, his eyes scanning the area below. Finally, his gaze landed on the hole Aggron had originally dug.
Since Mawile had been hiding in there...
It was highly likely that Kashiwagi was hiding in there as well, using it to stay out of sight. Otherwise, there was no explaining how the kid had vanished so quietly.
Stupid brat!
So what if you have one or two powerful Pokémon? As a Top Executive, his resources were far deeper!
He didn't believe for a second that three Executive-level Pokémon couldn't beat two of Kashiwagi's!
"Poison Gas!"
He pointed at the crater. The Weezing above his head took a deep breath and spat a ball of purple, liquid-like mist into the hole.
The mist-ball landed in the crater and rapidly burst, spreading deep into the tunnel.
Girard began to smirk.
That was, until an indescribable, colossal force slammed down onto him and Weezing, dragging them out of the sky and crashing them toward the earth at terminal velocity!
"Gravity."
A voice that filled him with disbelief drifted down from the sky above.
Before Girard could process anything, he and Weezing slammed into the ground with a heavy thud. He saw stars as his vision blurred and his head spun in a daze.