Cacturne's right arm was aimed at Heracross's neck and hammered down hard. Heracross cried out in pain from the damage.
Eichi quickly gave the command. "Heracross, use Brick Break!"
Heracross's eyes focused. It thrust its body upwards, and its right forearm burst with white light, striking Cacturne's body, making it cry in pain.
Immediately after, Heracross swung its left arm simultaneously, aiming at Cacturne. Cacturne quickly drew both hands back, crossing them in front of its body to block.
"Heracross, use Bullet Seed!"
The battle was not over. Even if Cacturne blocked, it didn't matter. Heracross immediately spewed a barrage of seeds at Cacturne.
Countless seeds shot out of Heracross's mouth, pelting Cacturne's body.
Cacturne blocked the attack by crossing its arms over its body, making Bullet Seed ineffective. Heracross, meanwhile, used the recoil of the attack to continuously move backward.
Close-quarters combat was clearly not feasible. Cacturne was rooted to the ground and couldn't move, but it could continuously recover its energy and injuries. In that short amount of time, the damage Heracross had just inflicted was already almost completely healed.
This won't be easy to beat! The best option now was a ranged attack, constantly wearing down Cacturne's stamina so that its recovery rate couldn't keep up with the consumption rate.
Director Yanagi still wore a smile. As expected, no one who could serve as a teaching director was a simple character.
"Heracross, use Bullet Seed!"
"Hera!"
Heracross took a deep breath and then fired seeds at Cacturne. The seeds rushed toward Cacturne at extreme speed. Cacturne was completely unperturbed, keeping its arms crossed in front of it.
"Cacturne, use Spiky Shield!"
Director Yanagi gave the defensive order without haste. The spikes on Cacturne's body suddenly grew longer, looking incredibly sharp. All the seeds were blocked by the spikes on its body; in other words, the attack was completely ineffective.
The Sandstorm on the field continued to rage.
Heracross was continuously taking damage, and its stamina was being consumed little by little.
"Heracross, fly above Cacturne."
Heracross flapped its wings and ascended, but it couldn't go too high, as the higher it went, the more damage it would take from the Sandstorm.
"Cacturne, use Cotton Spore!"
Just as Heracross quickly approached, Cacturne began to emit yellow-white spores from its body. The spores were blown by the sand and scattered everywhere around Cacturne. Heracross was inevitably touched by several of the spores. Its speed instantly slowed down a few seconds later, but Heracross still reached the air directly above Cacturne.
"Heracross, use Pin Missile!"
From above Cacturne's head, Heracross used Pin Missile on it. Countless shining projectiles shot down toward Cacturne.
"Cacturne, we'll use Pin Missile too!"
Cacturne scoffed disdainfully, and then countless light needles shot out from every part of its body, clashing with Heracross's projectiles. In mid-air, the Pin Missile attacks from the two Pokémon collided and canceled each other out; they were evenly matched. Neither one could defeat the other. Finally, both Pokémon stopped attacking simultaneously. This move had been used to its limit and could not be used again for a while.
Cacturne could not move, so it couldn't see what was happening behind it. This was an opportunity.
"Heracross, get behind Cacturne and use Bullet Seed!"
Although Heracross's speed was lowered by the Cotton Spore move, it quickly flew behind Cacturne and continuously spewed seeds from its mouth.
"Cacturne, use Spiky Shield!"
Just like before, the spikes on Cacturne's body extended out to block the attack.
This makes things difficult. Every attack, no matter the direction, could be defended against by Cacturne, and it could recover in the shortest amount of time.
Furthermore, the Sandstorm stopped after a few more turns, leaving Heracross with some accumulated damage.
"Cacturne, use Sunny Day!"
Cacturne closed its eyes and muttered some incomprehensible words. Then, a miniature sun appeared out of nowhere in this indoor battle arena. The temperature and brightness of the entire space rose by several degrees.
Eichi knew Director Yanagi's plan. Cacturne's defense was airtight, and it could continuously recover its stamina. Conversely, Heracross had already expended a significant amount of energy. Director Yanagi intended to use Solar Beam for a direct knockout blow on Heracross.
"Eichi," Director Yanagi said, "you must know what I'm going to do next. What do you plan to do?"
"Director Yanagi," Eichi replied with a smile, "I have my own methods."
Eichi calmly thought about how to break the stalemate. Ranged attacks wouldn't work, Cacturne's Spiky Shield was too frustrating, and there was the Ingrain move. By now, Cacturne's stamina was almost completely recovered. Attacking from the air or directly from the ground wouldn't work.
Wait, the ground. If I can't go over the ground, I can go under it.
I've got it! Eichi figured out how to defeat Cacturne.
"Heracross, use Double Team and constantly approach Cacturne!"
Heracross, which had been harassing Cacturne from all sides, suddenly multiplied into dozens of copies, surrounding it and flying closer.
"I don't see the point of using Double Team now," Director Yanagi said. "Cacturne, use Pin Missile!"
Cacturne fired light needles in all 360 degrees. One by one, the Double Team copies vanished under the Pin Missile attack. Only the final true Heracross remained, closing in on Cacturne.
"It's over," Director Yanagi declared. "Cacturne, use Solar Beam!"
Cacturne had already charged enough energy. Heracross's true body appeared, and it was very close to Cacturne.
A beam of light instantly shot out from Cacturne's head. The power of this beam was immense, clearly felt by the energy fluctuations emanating from it. If Heracross was hit, it would certainly be knocked out, but Eichi was absolutely not going to let that happen.
"Heracross, use Dig!"
Heracross displayed astonishing composure at that moment. It didn't panic at all. Just as the Solar Beam was about to hit it, it instantly dug a hole and drilled underground with unbelievable speed.
"That Heracross is quite good," Director Yanagi praised. "That's a good use of Dig. However, did you think I hadn't considered that?"