Sand danced through the air. Within Tyranitar's sandstorm domain, Cain was gradually seizing the initiative.
The opponent had sent out Alolan Marowak to try and reclaim the offensive, but Cain's reaction speed was even faster. Blaziken briefly crossed paths with it, then immediately dashed toward the enemy's rear.
Marowak's attack was blocked by Aggron. At the same time, since Cain had already anticipated the enemy's strategy and found a way to counter their tactical core—the Mega-Evolved Gardevoir—both the rival's offense and defense were stalled and locked in place.
In this way, with the numerical advantage of his Pokémon, Cain began unleashing one attack after another.
He ignored the Mega Gardevoir, who was clearly being used as a shield on purpose, and went straight for the most agile target: Xatu.
Between Jynx and Xatu, Cain chose one to focus his fire on.
In an instant, he locked on: Xatu.
Florges used Grass Knot to restrain, Gengar unleashed Mean Look, and Slowking rippled the space with its psychic power.
With that, Xatu couldn't fly nor use Teleport to escape, and Gardevoir couldn't save it with Ally Switch. Blaziken blocked Jynx's Icy Wind. No Pokémon could stop the joint assault on Xatu.
Tyranitar and Aggron's Stone Edge attacks struck Xatu again and again.
Blaziken landed and charged toward the approaching Alolan Exeggutor. Drapion took his place in front of Jynx, its fangs burning with Fire Fang ready to battle.
Alolan Muk, slow to move, tried to ease the pressure, but couldn't move freely.
In a life-or-death battle, at least one Pokémon had to remain near the Trainer, preventing any direct assault against him.
The man's face turned dark. He never imagined his tactics would be seen through so easily.
Gardevoir's suicidal defense had failed to deceive the enemy.
One reason was that Cain simply wasn't attacking her. The other was that Slowking was using all his power to disrupt space, preventing Gardevoir from operating normally.
Although Slowking's power was inferior to Gardevoir's, if he poured all his energy into manipulating space, she couldn't do anything about it.
If no adjustment was made, with Xatu's fall, the disadvantage would only deepen.
However, he managed to find a weak point: although Cain had more Pokémon and smoother coordination, his raw power was still insufficient.
At a critical moment, Xatu wrapped itself in psychic energy and forcibly withstood two rounds of Tyranitar and Aggron's Stone Edge.
Marowak, who had been flung away by Aggron's tail, didn't immediately reengage. Instead, he used the momentum to launch himself swiftly toward Xatu.
His bone ignited with pale green flames that completely covered the weapon as it smashed toward the vines from Grass Knot.
Bang!
But just as the bone was about to strike the vines binding Xatu, Tyranitar roared. A compact shield of sand and diamonds suddenly emerged.
The bone shattered it, and the corrosive flames dyed the grains, dissolving them completely.
It was fire with a corrosive effect!
The bone flew back automatically into Marowak's hand, but Xatu wasn't freed.
Then Gengar hurled a small shining orb at Xatu, whose psychic shield had just been broken. It struck successfully, plunging Xatu into confusion. Xatu's ability was Synchronize, but confusion didn't fall under the effects that could be transferred.
"Xatu is confused?"
"Kekeke~"
Gengar cackled wickedly. Above his head appeared a large, ghostly red eye that fired violet-blue waves.
It was the move Hex. In Xatu's current state, it would be nearly impossible to endure—and against a confused opponent, the damage doubled.
"Ahhhh!"
A shrill scream tore through the air. Gardevoir, who had been on the ground, rose floating behind Gengar, forcing herself free from Slowking's control. She hurled a massive psychic sphere directly at Gengar.
But Gengar didn't flinch. Even if the attack left him heavily injured, with Florges at his side he would heal soon enough. Xatu, however, wouldn't get that chance.
Boom!
Boom!
Two explosions echoed.
Florges's vines shattered, and a figure was violently thrown through the air—Xatu.
From another angle, Gengar was also blasted away, though not as severely as expected. At the last moment, Tyranitar had raised another sand shield, absorbing part of the impact.
Upon landing, Gengar melted into the shadows and vanished.
Surprisingly, Xatu wasn't completely knocked out, though it was close. It fell right at its Trainer's feet.
The man glanced at it sideways. Alolan Muk immediately understood. Its eyes gleamed with cruelty and excitement as it formed a multicolored, foul, and deadly toxic sphere in its hands.
It let out a low chuckle: "Make your final contribution."
Under Cain's dark expression, Muk hurled the poisonous mass at Xatu. The casual, almost gleeful way he did it made it clear this wasn't the first time he'd used such a tactic.
Cain could do nothing but watch as the man abused his own Pokémon.
After observing the opponent's Pokémon's abilities and traits, he understood the strategy: self-inflicted harm to gain advantage—a tactic even more cruel and repulsive than those Cain himself had once used.
Xatu was successfully poisoned. Before collapsing completely, its Synchronize ability activated, transmitting the poison to Aggron, who was charging forward.
Aggron's face took on a purplish hue, and his speed decreased.
"Tch, useless. You could only use your ability once—and against Aggron, of all targets?" the man cursed, recalling Xatu back into its Poké Ball.
Training that Xatu had cost him greatly, and he couldn't discard it lightly.
Even so, it had fulfilled its "final role."
With Xatu down, Marowak showed no hesitation or emotion. He immediately turned and charged at Blaziken, who was facing Alolan Exeggutor.
Blaziken had a type advantage against Exeggutor, but the level difference was too great. He could stall it, but not take it head-on.
Seeing Marowak charging in, Blaziken retreated without hesitation. If he was already at a disadvantage one-on-one, even more so would he be two-on-one.
Getting in was easy; getting out, however, would be much harder.
(End of chapter)