Chapter 115: Falling from the Sky

Beneath the pitch-black night sky, a violent sandstorm tornado rolled forward, the surrounding firelight and lamplight all swallowed by it, as terrifying as if it blotted out the heavens.

"Hurricane!"

Gerard roared, and the cunning tengu before him immediately alternated fanning its enormous leaf fans wreathed in azure light; streams of high-speed air currents slammed into the oncoming sandstorm tornado, emitting strange sounds like wailing and howling wherever they passed, and a deep boom rang out when the two collided!

The gale and the sand both exploded backward, then gathered once more and surged forward with renewed force!

Boom boom boom!

The air burst again and again, and the dust tornado seemed to have reached a stalemate with the high-speed currents fanned by the cunning tengu.

But as the cunning tengu sped up the fanning of its leaf fans, the dust tornado's might was ultimately not as terrifying as the hurricane, and it was pressed back.

The sand tomb gradually began to collapse.

Gerard's slightly stiff expression eased a little, then suddenly changed.

In an instant.

Boom!

The ground beneath his feet shattered with a rumble, and a massive silver figure burst from the earth!

It roared, carving out an enormous crater, and with a sweep of its powerful claws sent countless rocks and sand shooting skyward, like a reversed waterfall engulfing Gerard and the cunning tengu!

Bossgodora had somehow burrowed underground, and while the hurricane and sand tomb clashed, used the tremors to launch a lethal ambush on the unsuspecting Gerard.

But an executive wasn't taken down that easily.

As the flying rubble and gravel fell, a green membrane of light slowly faded; Gerard gripped the smallest sphere of the Weezing with one hand, using it to dodge up into the air.

"Damn it, where did this guy get such strength."

He looked down at the massive steel beast wreathed in terrifying aura inside the crater, his expression utterly dark.

He had never expected the cunning tengu's hurricane not only to fail to take down Bossgodora, but to be ambushed by its Dig.

A guy who over half a month ago had needed luck just to scrape into the top sixteen of the tournament was now matching him?

What a joke!

"Cunning tengu!"

Gerard shouted at the top of his lungs, and from the drifting dust immediately came the clatter of running footsteps—clearly he believed a mere Dig wasn't enough to bring down the cunning tengu. "Hurricane!"

Whoosh—!

The wind howled.

A milky-white torrent streaked with azure swept away all the surrounding dust, and the Weezing rose higher, giving Gerard a more advantageous bird's-eye view.

156n.

But when the hurricane cleared the dust on all sides, there was no sign of All Baimu anywhere, only the crater Bossgodora had dug.

Where was he?

His brow furrowed deeply, then he suddenly realized in fury.

"Damn it, that guy ran while he had the chance! Keep it here! Ye Ren!"

At his shout the cunning tengu's arms shook, and three leaves instantly merged into a single jade-green long blade that raced toward Bossgodora.

Its form was as swift as a ghost, and in a heartbeat it was before the beast trying to retreat into its burrow.

"Diele!

The cunning tengu let out a piercing shriek, leaping high and bringing the two leaf-blades down in a vicious slash at Bossgodora's head, the blade's shriek through the air chilling to the heart!

Jade-green light flowed!

Boom boom!

The energy gathered in the Ye Ren instantly exploded into a choking cloud of smoke, followed by Bossgodora's pained, muffled roar.

But before Gerard could feel even a moment of joy, a bright flare of flame suddenly lit up inside the burrow!

"Dodge!"

He shouted, but the cunning tengu couldn't dodge in time.

Because a thick tail had somehow blocked its retreat; the moment its feet pushed off Bossgodora's body, its back slammed hard against the sturdy tail.

Stiffened mid-motion, a massive jaw wreathed in roaring flames tore through the thin smoke and brutally bit down on the cunning tengu's body.

"Le—"

Flames instantly spread across its whole body, and the cunning tengu let out a wretched scream.

"What!?"

Gerard turned pale with shock, then noticed a Lickilicky had somehow appeared on Bossgodora's shoulder—and that massive jaw belonged to it!

At this moment.

He didn't dare hesitate, and quickly opened two Poké Balls. "Taunt on Bossgodora! Flamethrower on Lickilicky!"

A Doberman with ram-like horns sprouting from its head—a Houndoom—and a hunchbacked, big-headed little creature whose eyes had been replaced by gems—a Sableye—hit the ground.

The former, wreathed in flames, charged toward Lickilicky at extreme speed, while Sableye hoarsely raised a claw and shrieked to draw Bossgodora's attention.

"Roar!"

Bossgodora bellowed at Sableye, its pale-blue eyes instantly bloodshot under some mysterious force, its massive body involuntarily charging toward it.

Meanwhile, the Lickilicky on its shoulder suddenly leapt up, twisting its body as if dancing, and swung the jaw still clamped on the cunning tengu at Houndoom like a hammer!

"Duck to dodge!"

"Ao!"

Houndoom growled low and dropped its body, narrowly dodging the massive jaw, then lunged fiercely once more.

Unfortunately, Lickilicky was no pushover either, and nimbly dodged it.

On the other side.

Sableye turned and ran, its eyes suddenly flashing an eerie light that goaded Bossgodora into even greater fury; the beast thundered across the shaking ground in pursuit.

Girardet's gaze swept across the area below.

Commanding multiple Pokémon in succession is extremely taxing for a trainer; if the Pokémon have a degree of autonomy, it's manageable, but if they're the type that obey the trainer's every command wholeheartedly, it becomes very troublesome.

Just judging the situation and making the right choice in the shortest possible time is enough to overwhelm a trainer.

Fortunately, his Pokémon had a passable ability to make decisions on their own.

Still, he absolutely did not want Foul Play Tornadus to fall in a place like this — there would be moments later where it had to play a major role — so even if it meant commanding multiple Pokémon in succession, he had to rescue it.

Seeing that Mega Bignette still hadn't let go, he couldn't help feeling a touch of impatience.

"Foul Play Tornadus, use Growth to pry its jaws apart!"

Girardet shouted at the same time, his gaze sweeping over various spots below before finally landing on the hole that Boscodouglas had dug out at the very beginning.

Since Mega Bignette had been able to follow it down into the hole—

There was a very good chance Baimu was hiding inside as well, using it to obscure his line of sight; otherwise it was hard to explain how the brat had vanished without a sound.

Damn little brat!

So what if he had one or two powerful Pokémon? As an executive, his reserves were far greater!

He refused to believe three executive-level Pokémon couldn't beat two!

"Poison Gas!"

He pointed at the hole, and the Weezing above his head immediately took a deep breath, opening its mouth to spew a purple fog ball — almost liquid in form — toward the hole.

The fog ball landed inside the hole and rapidly burst, spreading inward.

Girardet smiled.

Until an indescribably tremendous force descended upon him and Weezing, slamming them down from the sky at tremendous speed!

"Gravity."

A voice he found unbelievable drifted down from even higher in the sky.

But before Girardet could think anything, he had already crashed heavily to the ground alongside Weezing, stars bursting before his eyes and his head ringing.