Under the pitch-black night sky, the raging Sandstorm Tornado surged forward, the surrounding firelight and lamplight were completely obscured by it, as if covering the sky and sun, terrifying indeed.
"Gale!"
Jillard shouted, and the Shiftry in front of him immediately began alternately waving its gigantic leaf fans, enveloped in sky-blue light, directing high-speed air currents toward the incoming Sandstorm Tornado, creating a strange sound like wailing as they collided, producing a low rumble!
The gales and sand blew back, then gathered again and fiercely advanced once more!
Bang bang bang!!
The air burst repeatedly, the Sandstorm Tornado seeming to be locked in a stalemate against the high-speed air currents fanned out by Shiftry.
But as Shiftry increased the speed of its leaf fans, the power of the Sandstorm Tornado ultimately couldn't match the terrifying Gale, being suppressed backwards.
The Quicksand Hell began to crumble gradually.
Jillard's somewhat rigid expression eased a bit, but suddenly changed drastically.
In an instant.
Boom!!
The ground beneath him shattered with a roar, a massive silver figure burst out from the earth!
It roared, creating a huge pit, its stout claws swung up countless rocks and dust, spraying upward like a roaring waterfall, engulfing Jillard and Shiftry!
The Aggron had somehow dug underground without them noticing, launching a deadly attack at Jillard, who was completely unaware, taking advantage of the shockwaves from the Gale and Quicksand Hell's clash.
But a manager is not so easily taken down.
As the flying rocks and gravel fell, a green light film slowly dissipated, with Jillard holding onto the smallest sphere of his Weezing, using it to evade into the air.
"Damn it, where did this thing get such strength?"
He looked down at the massive steel beast, emanating a terrifying aura, standing in the pit, his expression sinking immensely.
No one expected that Shiftry's Gale could not take down the Aggron smoothly, instead it had been ambushed with a Dig.
Just over half a month ago, a guy who needed luck to even make it into the top sixteen of the battle tournament, now was able to stand against him?
What a joke!
"Shiftry!"
Jillard shouted out, immediately the pounding sound of footsteps came from the drifting dust, clearly, he believed that just a Dig wasn't enough to take down Shiftry, "Gale!"
Whoosh——!!
The wind howled fiercely.
The vast turbulence, milky white mixed with sky blue, swept away all the surrounding dust, as Weezing climbed elevation, giving Jillard a more advantageous vantage point.
Yet when the Gale cleared the nearby smoke and dust, nothing of Baimu's whereabouts could be found, only the pit created by Aggron when it dug down.
Where did he go?
His brows deeply furrowed, then he suddenly became furious.
"Damn it, that guy took the opportunity to run! Keep it here! Leaf Blade!"
With those words, Shiftry's arms shook, three leaves suddenly merged into a bright green long blade, quickly rushing towards Aggron.
Its figure was as swift as a specter, in an instant, it appeared before the giant beast attempting to retreat back into the hole.
"Deh-leh!!"
Shiftry let out a piercing scream, leaping high to slash down with long blades formed by leaves towards Aggron's head, the shrill whistle sound of the blade cutting through the air was chilling!
The bright green light shimmered!
Bang bang!!
The energy concentrated in the Leaf Blade exploded into choking smoke, followed by Aggron's pained bellow.
Yet before Jillard could feel any joy, a bright flame suddenly ignited within the hole!
"Dodge!"
He shouted aloud, but Shiftry couldn't evade in time.
For an enormous tail had somehow blocked its retreat direction, as it tapped its feet on Aggron's body, it suddenly crashed right into the solid tail behind it.
In the moment of stiffness, a massive jaw mixed with fierce flames tore through the thin smog, fiercely biting down on Shiftry's body.
"Leh——"
Flames instantly spread over its entire body, and Shiftry cried out in a wretched wail.
"What!?"
Jillard was shocked and discolored, only then did he see a Mawile had somehow appeared on Aggron's shoulder, and it turned out that the massive jaw belonged to it!
And now.
He dared not think more, quickly releasing two Pokeballs, "Taunt Aggron! Energy Storage Flame Strike on Mawile!"
A Doberman with goat-like horns—Houndoom, and a small person with replaced gemstone eyes—Sableye landed.
The former covered itself in flame, charging at Mawile at high speed, while Sableye let out a hoarse call to draw Aggron's attention.
"Howl!"
Aggron let out a roar at Sableye, its pale blue eyes instantly bloodshot under the influence of mysterious power, its colossal body uncontrollably charging forward.
While the Mawile on its shoulder suddenly flew up, twisting its form as if dancing, hurling the Shiftry still clamped in its massive jaw like a hammer towards Houndoom!
"Crouch down to dodge!"
"Woof!"
Houndoom growled, lowering its body, narrowly avoiding the massive jaw, charging forward again fiercely.
But Mawile wasn't easy prey either, deftly dodging its attack.
On the other hand.
Sableye turned to flee, its eyes emitting an eerie glow, further infuriating Aggron into a frenzy, the ground quaking under its pursuit.
Jillard's gaze flitted down below.
Managing multiple Pokémon simultaneously is exceptionally taxing for a Trainer, it's better if Pokémon have some degree of autonomy, but if they're the type to completely follow a Trainer's orders, it becomes troublesome.
Merely judging the situation and making the correct choices in the shortest time is enough to leave a Trainer in disarray.
Fortunately, his Pokémon had decent autonomous decision-making abilities.
However, he wouldn't let Shiftry fall in such a place, it was meant to play a significant role later on, so despite the challenge of directing multiple Pokémon, he was determined to rescue it.
Seeing Mawile hadn't released it yet, he grew restless.
"Shiftry, use Growth to pry open the jaw!"
Jillard shouted, while his eyes scanned the area, finally settling on the pit that Aggron initially dug up.
If Mawile could follow into the hole.
It was highly likely Baimu also hid inside, obscuring Jillard's view, otherwise, it was inexplicable how he vanished so silently.
Little ghost!
Even if he had one or two powerful Pokémon, so what, he as a manager had much deeper reserves!
No way three Manager-Level Pokémon would lose to your two!
"Poison Gas!"
He pointed to the pit, while above, Weezing took a deep breath, opening its mouth to spew out a violet dense fog ball resembling liquid into the pit.
The dense fog ball fell into the pit, rapidly exploding and spreading inward.
Jillard smiled.
Until an indescribable monstrous force descended on him and his Weezing, sending them plummeting from high in the sky!
"Gravity."
The unbelievable voice came from even higher in the sky.
But before Jillard could think, he had already crashed heavily with Weezing to the ground, seeing stars circling as his head spun.