"Gardevoir, return for now. Gengar, Spatial Barrier. Tyranitar, open a path downward!"
Once he confirmed they would be heading into the lower layer beneath the desert, Sato didn't hesitate for a second and immediately began giving orders for the Pokémon to dive deeper.
Tyranitar let out a loud roar, using Rock Tomb to temporarily block all the Anorith outside the perimeter. Then it stomped hard, causing the massive hourglass to sink rapidly.
Gengar didn't stay idle either; he created two semi-spherical Spatial Barriers that closed together to fully encapsulate itself and Sato.
At the same time, Tyranitar stomped again to accelerate the natural sandflow downward, while also pushing the surrounding sand outward to help both itself and Sato descend smoothly.
The difference between choosing to go down versus being forced down was massive. Once Sato and the others chose to descend, they vanished beneath the sand in almost the blink of an eye.
The remnants of the campfire were left behind, but the flowing sand soon snuffed it out and buried it.
The moment the firelight disappeared, all the Anorith seemed to freeze on the spot as if they were under some kind of immobilization-move.
After a long moment, the Anorith slowly began to stir again, and the redness in their eyes faded back to normal.
They looked around in slight confusion before slowly burrowing back into the sand. Very soon, the desert around the boulders fell into complete silence, as if the Bug swarm had never existed…
---◓---
Shhhhhhh…
The sound of sand grinding together echoed from all directions. Though Sato had full confidence in Gengar's Spatial Barrier, the total enclosure of the space still made his scalp tingle.
Fortunately, Tyranitar worked fast. Lifting the barrier-wrapped Sato, it quickly pushed through the hourglass layer.
It was still pitch black, but thanks to Sato's night vision, he could still observe his surroundings clearly.
As for Tyranitar and Gengar… both were masters of combat in darkness. In a cave like this, they were even more in their element!
"…No Anorith."
Sato glanced around and muttered to himself, clearly still holding a grudge about the previous Bug swarm.
"Ty…rrran…"
Tyranitar gave a low growl and pointed clumsily toward a direction in the cave; it seemed to have found something.
Sato quickly moved that way, while Gengar casually melted back into his shadow, not even bothering to fight for screen time.
"…Smooth Rocks? This many!?"
Looking at an entire wall of Smooth Rock, Sato began to understand why this nearby desert had formed into a sand trap.
Smooth Rock extended the duration of the Sandstorm move. Even to an average Trainer, Smooth Rock held decent value.
But Sato… 'Meh~' only gave it a quick glance before losing interest.
"Tyran~"
Tyranitar continued to take initiative, trotting excitedly to a passage and motioning for Sato to follow.
"Found something 'good' again, huh?"
Tyranitar scratched its head awkwardly; it picked up on Sato's teasing. Even it wouldn't spare a second glance at ordinary Smooth Rock.
"Well, we don't know what's ahead anyway, so let's go this way."
Hoping to let Gardevoir reach Peak E4 level, Sato didn't bother calling her out to scout. She could stay in the Poké Ball and conserve her strength for the next battle.
And with that, Sato walked straight in the direction Tyranitar had pointed, while Tyranitar hurried to take the lead ahead of him.
This way, if they encountered anything unexpected, Tyranitar would be the first to step in and shield Sato.
Sato's eyes softened, wondering if he had been too strict or too neglectful of Tyranitar lately, to the point it now sought attention and tried so hard to prove itself…
Tyranitar: Dost thou hear, the words of men?
Focused only on battle, Tyranitar clomped forward, not even trying to hide its presence, which made Sato feel even more moved…
This was clearly "rattling the grass to scare the Ekans"; deliberately alerting any wild Pokémon that might be hiding, so they'd either flee or attack first.
Either way, it was to minimize the chance of Sato being ambushed!
Sato: ( ˊωˋ *)
Tyranitar: ...
Right at that moment, the enemy was finally provoked and launched an attack on Tyranitar.
Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Whoosh…
Bang! Bang Bang~
Several small rocks shot toward Tyranitar, thudding heavily against its thick armor.
Tyranitar scratched the spot where the stones hit; it just felt a little itchy.
Looking ahead, it saw a squinting Baltoy standing perfectly still in its path.
Baltoy raised its arms and launched another round of small stones toward Tyranitar.
Bangbangbang…
More dull thuds followed, but Tyranitar still felt barely anything and couldn't resist scratching again…
Kinda itchy～
"Tyranitar, Stone Edge… Emmm… gently(?)."
"Tyran~"
Tyranitar was also quite curious about this little guy that dared to block its path!
Despite being so weak…
Tyranitar lightly twitched its fingers, and a tiny stone condensed out of thin air and "slowly" flew toward Baltoy.
Although to Tyranitar and Sato it looked like an ultra-weakened Stone Edge moving in slow motion, Baltoy still couldn't dodge it…
Thump~
The stone hit Baltoy square on the forehead, knocking it to the ground!
Baltoy tried to get up, but after struggling for quite a while, it could only lie there…
Tyranitar was amused, but didn't want to waste any more time. It was about to step past Baltoy when…
"BWAHL ( ; д)!"
Tyranitar was startled by the sudden cry. Looking closer, it realized Baltoy had burst into tears, bawling loudly.
In that instant, the fearless Tyranitar froze on the spot, then panicked and turned to Sato!
"Tar! Tyran tar… T-Tar!" 'Boss! I can fight, but comforting a crying kid… t-that's outta my league!'
Sato was also half laughing, half exasperated. As he walked closer, he confirmed that this Baltoy really was just a child.
No wonder it had fearlessly stepped up to challenge a titan, and no wonder it cried after getting hurt.
After thinking for a moment, Sato pulled out a bottle of Moomoo Milk from his backpack, planning to use it to comfort the little one.
But just then, a flash of white light shot out!
A black, levitating Pokémon suddenly appeared beside Baltoy, launching a Hyper Beam straight at Sato with no warning!
"GENG!"
At the critical moment, Gengar sprang out from the shadows, using a Protect shield to block the Hyper Beam.
Sato quickly retreated, and only then clearly saw the attacker.
It was none other than Claydol, Baltoy's evolved form!
"Tyranitar, Crunch!"
Battle erupted instantly as Tyranitar charged furiously at Claydol, a massive maw of Dark-type energy forming midair as it lunged to bite down!
Crunch!
But it missed!
Claydol had already Teleported with Baltoy to the other side of the cave.
Only then did Sato finally confirm that this Claydol was, without a doubt, an Elite Four level Pokémon!