"TYRAN! TAAAAR!" Tyranitar roared excitedly.
It wasn't afraid of too many enemies; what it feared was no enemies at all!
Although the Anorith swarming them were all weaklings, with such a large-scale "assault", how could there not be a final boss?
And then, Tyranitar went all out!
With a simple lift of its hand, sand and dust from the surroundings gathered into countless sharp sand spikes. Under Tyranitar's control, they struck each approaching Anorith with pinpoint precision.
The sand spun swiftly, burying the fallen Anorith completely, only for more of their kind to crawl over and take their place.
Densely packed, seemingly endless, yet the more Tyranitar fought, the smoother and more exhilarated it became!
"Watch your stamina."
"Tyranitar~Tar!"
Tyranitar proudly pounded its chest, signaling that these little bugs didn't even qualify as a warm-up~
Sato was about to say something else when he suddenly felt a massive presence approaching.
In the darkness, with the faint moonlight, Sato could clearly make out what it was…
Armaldo!
Unlike the weaker Anorith, Armaldo possessed highly aggressive traits; its claws could easily pierce solid rock. Combined with its thick armor, which covered all its vulnerable spots, its defense was greatly enhanced.
However, this Armaldo wasn't particularly strong. Its power had only just reached Low Ace level.
But for some reason, Tyranitar became even more excited upon seeing it. Far from looking down on such an opponent, it enthusiastically launched a Stone Edge to welcome it!
Crack~
Shhhhhh…
White light tore through the night as it flashed around Armaldo, accompanied by the sounds of sand spikes shattering.
It was using Slash to block Tyranitar's attack head-on!
"Tyran!"
Tyranitar grew even more pumped, suddenly raising its arm and conjuring hundreds more sand spikes; more than twice as many as before.
And they were thinner, longer, sharper!
Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whooosh…
No extra words needed. Tyranitar's "upgraded" Stone Edge roared out at even greater speed.
Half of the sand spikes were used to hold off the Anorith, while the rest targeted Armaldo entirely!
The upgraded Stone Edge was erratic in trajectory and its piercing power far surpassed the earlier version.
In just a few moves, Armaldo could barely keep up. It was only able to prevent the spikes from hitting its vital areas; everywhere else had to rely on its thick armor.
At this rate, it was only a matter of time before Armaldo lost!
And then something unexpected happened again…
Everything about these Anorith had screamed suspicious from the beginning, so Sato had always been watching the surroundings carefully.
As he glanced around and casually looked at the giant rocks behind them, he noticed… the rocks had grown taller!
"Tyranitar! Is the sand around us sinking!?"
Sato asked urgently, and the question stunned Tyranitar as well.
Man and Pokémon examined their surroundings again and soon realized: they were at the center of a massive hourglass trap!
"Tyran! TAR TAR!"
As the master of the earth, Tyranitar had never been troubled by Ground-type attacks. It now frantically tried to manipulate the sand to lift Sato and itself upward.
But it was no use!
It only accelerated the flow of the sand, causing them to sink even faster.
"Gengengen!"
At that moment, Gengar, who had been hiding in the shadows the whole time, couldn't help but jump out, and even brought worse news!
"…Anti-Flight zone?"
Seeing Gengar standing steadily on the ground, Sato knew it wouldn't lie. He could only helplessly put away Honchkrow's Poké Ball, which had been enlarged in his hand.
Flying away wasn't an option, and they were surrounded on all sides by Anorith and Armaldo, yet Sato remained calm. He steadily sent out his strongest ace: Gardevoir!
"Gardevoir, Teleport!"
Just as she appeared, Gardevoir took a moment to adjust to the darkness, looked at Sato, and only then began to use Teleport unhurriedly.
"Voir~"
Gardevoir raised both hands, let out a soft cry, and silently channeled her Psychic power, casting Teleport.
There was a flash of white light as everyone followed Gardevoir's lead, and then… nothing happened.
Sato glanced at Gardevoir, then turned his head without expression and muttered to himself.
"…Even Teleport is restricted. What kind of place is this? Does the League know it exists?"
No one responded. Sato hadn't expected anyone to. He simply kept frowning, trying to find a way out even as anxiety crept in.
Tyranitar stirred the sand, desperately trying to lift them out; but the more it struggled, the faster they sank, the rate of descent accelerating rapidly.
Gengar and Gardevoir began clearing out the wave of suicidal Anorith on their own, while the first Armaldo was finally finished off by Tyranitar.
But the real threat was never the Armaldo!
Soon, Sato and his Pokémon made several more attempts -even the curved Spatial Barrier idea was tried- but none of them worked.
By now, the massive hourglass was visibly collapsing from the outside, and a sense of heaviness gripped everyone's hearts.
Sato stared at the densely packed Anorith still swarming the area, feeling increasingly frustrated, and was about to tell Tyranitar to dig even deeper.
'Wait a second…'
Why weren't the Anorith concerned about being swallowed by the giant hourglass? In fact, they were freely moving in and out of it.
Could there be something beneath it?
Sato was filled with speculation but couldn't be sure. He quickly turned to Gardevoir beside him.
"Gardevoir, try using Hypnosis on one or two Anorith. Ask what's going on below us."
Gardevoir immediately nodded and flung a Hypnosis at a nearby Anorith.
However, the red-eyed Anorith clearly wasn't normal. Even an Elite Four level Hypnosis had no effect on it.
"I'll try with the Nightmare Orb!" Gardevoir, unwilling to give up, prepared to try again.
A more forceful wave of Hypnosis surged from the Nightmare Orb, rippling across and striking the Anorith again.
This time, the Anorith visibly struggled. Its blood-red eyes slowly cleared and then turned to dizzy, starry eyes under the effect of sleep.
Soon, the Anorith obediently crawled to Gardevoir's feet, and she immediately used Telepathy to communicate rapidly.
After a moment, Gardevoir calmly broke the Hypnosis and then sent the Anorith flying with a single Confusion… only then did she turn to face Sato.
"There is indeed a large space beneath the desert. It has even formed its own isolated ecological environment, and several powerful Pokémon reign over it."
Sato's eyes lit up upon hearing this. With the hourglass now impossible to escape from, they might as well dive in and explore it.