Chapter 737: The Power of Raging Sand

After a brief rest.

Baimu rose to meet Zhengyi, who had long been unable to hold back and had already gone to the field to wait.

The trainers from both regions burst into an uproar, all brimming with great enthusiasm for the upcoming curtain-raiser battle. Even Malin, who had been listless after stepping off the field, forced herself to rally. Jin Ge had long since taken what he considered the best viewing angle.

Zhengyi's strength had already been on display at the opening — the astonishingly powerful Solar Beam had left a deep impression.

So what would the outcome be when he faced Baimu?

Get on with it!

Countless onlookers watched with anticipation as Baimu walked onto the field.

No superfluous exchange — eye contact was the signal to begin. Zhengyi, who had been planning for nearly a week, excitedly hurled a Poké Ball forward.

"I leave it to you! Torkoal!"

Poof!

Light flickered.

An orange-brown turtle that puffed smoke from its large nostrils and let out a train-whistle-like cry entered the field.

At the very moment it appeared, a phantom sun faintly materialized in the sky, pouring down intense sunlight that bathed the battlefield.

"A Torkoal with the Drought Ability."

Baimu glanced at the false sun in the sky and tossed out the Poké Ball he had long prepared.

Poof!

"Ruru!"

Dragapult's ghost-like body trembled slightly — it didn't much care for the feeling of its entire form being exposed to sunlight, as if it had nowhere to hide.

Defeat the opponent quickly, and get off the field sooner.

It stared at the Torkoal, from whose nostrils smoke shot out with every breath. Light suddenly flickered across its body surface, and the next second it vanished on the spot.

Zhengyi commanded without the slightest hesitation: "Eruption!"

"Tunk!"

Torkoal tilted its head back and let out a long cry.

BOOM!!

The roar was deafening!

In an instant, a terrifying pillar of fire that pierced heaven and earth erupted from the center of Torkoal's shell. Endless flames churned above the field, and in the blink of an eye formed a boundless expanse of pitch-black smoke clouds.

The entire battlefield darkened along with it. Then dense, irregular blobs of lava rained down like a storm, so packed it was hard to breathe, accompanied by a continuous muffled rumbling.

The scene, as if it could destroy everything, made the trainers watching from both sides — along with a few scattered Pokémon — hold their breath.

One could well imagine the power of Eruption under harsh sunlight.

No dodging!

Lava blobs, large and small, densely packed, nearly covered the entire field!

Where was Dragapult?

What answered them was a streak of white light, too swift for the naked eye to follow.

Zip!

No sound was heard, only its shadow seen. Everyone felt their vision blur, and a thread-like trail of light appeared on the field — one that neatly dodged every falling lava blob and headed straight for Torkoal's flank!

"Withdra—"

Boom!

Zhengyi's voice stuck in his throat. In his mind still echoed the scene of the white light sweeping past Torkoal's side and effortlessly flipping it over.

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM—

The lava blobs that hit the ground burst open one after another into bright, massive fireballs, like countless flowers blooming all at once.

What a fast Quick Attack!

An even higher-tier Extreme Speed would be no more than this!

Zhengyi excitedly looked toward where the white light had vanished and shouted: "Withdraw and use Smokescreen!"

"Tunk!"

Torkoal, which hadn't taken much damage, tucked in its limbs and head. Thick plumes of smoke poured from every diamond-shaped hole in its shell, and from the large central hole it blasted out smoke to soar high into the air!

Hmmm—

The sharp sound of a train whistle rang throughout the field. The scalding smoke spread out in every direction, claiming every inch of ground that had been blasted by Eruption.

The crowd widened their eyes and scanned the entire field, quickly spotting Dragapult's drifting figure in a spot the hot smoke hadn't reached. The indigo glow faded from its body, replaced by an orange light of boosted ability.

And after all this, it once again vanished like a phantom. The dangerously brewing hot smoke hadn't harmed it in the slightest.

What to do when you can't find your opponent?

They looked up in unison at the Torkoal soaring high above. So long as Baimu wanted to win, he would surely have Dragapult launch an attack — keeping eyes on Torkoal would naturally lead them to Dragapult.

Coincidentally.

Zhengyi thought the same.

He could even guess when Baimu would give the order — surely at the moment Torkoal reached its peak height from the force of Smokescreen!

"Flame Wheel!"

"Tunk!"

The Torkoal, about to descend, suddenly spun around. Flames immediately ignited along its jagged skirt, transforming it into a dazzling wheel of fire!

Yet Baimu did not wait for Torkoal to fall before giving his order. He silently watched the fire wheel descend while moving forward, until it slammed into the ground with a crash.

Crap! Too hasty!

Zhengyi suddenly realized his prediction had been counter-predicted by Baimu. The enemy in the dark, he in the light — he should have conserved his strength and waited rather than striking rashly.

The initiative was lost!

"Hold the line—"

"Dragon Arrow!"

Bang bang!

Dragapult appeared above Torkoal, blue flames jetting from both sides of its broad triangular head, and two Dreepy covered in indigo dragon flames shrieked as they charged forward!

Their speed was blindingly fast—in the blink of an eye they rushed at Torkoal from both left and right as it poked its head out and stood up after crashing to the ground.

"Dreepy?"

Torkoal had only just heard its trainer's command when sharp pain suddenly shot through its left foreleg and right hind leg!

Boom boom!

The dragon flames exploded, dust and smoke billowing up.

Torkoal tumbled and spun uncontrollably. Although it hadn't been flipped onto its back like when Dragapult's Quick Attack knocked it down, the heavy, forceful impact and the dragon flames—different from ordinary fire—still caused it no small amount of damage.

More critically, the searing pain in its left foreleg and right hind leg made it impossible to stand.

"Hang in there, Torkoal! Focus your power at the top! Blast smoke upward!"

Zhengyi's shout forced Torkoal to grit through the agony. The six diamond-shaped holes in the middle of its shell glowed red-hot like a furnace, channeling all its energy toward the opening at the top—

Boom!

A scorching pillar of smoke laced with fire shot straight into the sky, its target unmistakably Dragapult, which was welcoming the two Dreepy back!

Don't be fooled—though Smoke is inferior to a full-power Flamethrower, under a clear sky its power is equally astonishing, and Pokémon with slightly weaker Special Defense would struggle to take it cleanly.

Fortunately, Dragapult was fast enough.

"Ruroro!"

Swish!

A flash of white light—Dragapult, moving faster than the eye could follow, scooped up the Dreepy and flew off into the distance before the scorching smoke could form a mushroom cloud and spread over!

Smoke was indeed powerful and wide in coverage, but unfortunately its spread speed during the attack left something to be desired.

Against Pokémon with poor mobility it would be fine, but against a Dragapult that had recently been drilling Quick Attack hard, training its reflexes and dynamic vision, it simply wouldn't do.

Shi Yuan Zhi's Flygon had left a deep impression on All Baimu with its Quick Attack—in his view, a Dragapult with an innate speed advantage would surely have even greater prospects if it studied seriously.

And indeed that was the case.

Offensively it might leave something to be desired, but as a repositioning move Quick Attack performed outstandingly.

He intended to develop Dragapult into an un-catchable, un-findable, un-hittable "three-un" Pokémon, fully leveraging its speed advantage.

"Switch."

Seeing the timing was right, All Baimu recalled Dragapult.

Torkoal was tougher than expected—Dragon Arrow after Dragon Dance hadn't taken it down, though that might also have had to do with where it hit.

Onlookers found his switching at this moment rather puzzling. Wouldn't it be better to press the advantage and finish Torkoal off in one go?

Dragapult wasn't in any dire enough state that it had to leave the field, either?

Zhengyi likewise couldn't immediately guess All Baimu's reasoning, but he knew this was a good chance to swap out Torkoal—as long as the mountain stands, one need not worry about firewood.

And so.

The two trainers, one after the other, recalled their Pokémon and sent out their next ones in turn.

"Hargh!"

The giant Steelix entered the field, the ground trembling faintly.

Facing it was an equally massive jet-black Honchkrow, its pitch-dark eyes looking rather unsettling.

Skarmory—a Steel- and Flying-type Pokémon.

This type combination has few weaknesses, many resistances, and two immunities; combined with its not-laggish physical and special defenses, calling it excellent is no exaggeration.

And Zhengyi choosing a Steel-type Pokémon under clear skies wasn't him losing his mind, either.

It was simply that he knew better than All Baimu when the sunny weather would end, though All Baimu sending out Steelix was somewhat unexpected to him.

Is the third one Mega Aggron?

Zhengyi wondered inwardly.

Without a doubt.

Last time's Mega Aggron had left a deep enough impression on him, so over the past week many of his preset tactics had revolved around Aggron.

Of course, there were tactics for other situations too, but ultimately they didn't involve Aggron as much—

"Mega Evolve."

Under the stunned gazes of Zhengyi and the young trainers of Rustboro City, All Baimu took out the Keystone and completed the mental link with the giant Steelix.

The familiar dazzling radiance outshone the false sun in the sky, yet the one emitting the light felt utterly foreign to them.

After a few short breaths.

The Mega Steelix, towering like a mountain and majestic like a peak, gazed down with its icy-blue, indifferent eyes at the Skarmory hovering in the air.

Fish-bone-like horizontal crystal pillars were brewing a terrifying energy beyond ordinary imagination.

"Mega Evolved… Steelix!?"

Even someone as thick-skinned as Zhengyi could not hide the surprise on his face at the sight of Mega Steelix.

A third Mega-Evolving Pokémon!

Most people struggle to have even one, yet All Baimu had three that could Mega Evolve!

There's no justice!

The young trainers of Rustboro City felt as if struck by a thunderbolt from a clear sky, while over in the Iron Town side, having already seen it long ago and lacking much understanding of Mega Evolution, their reaction was muted.

They even felt the others were making too big a fuss over it—after all, it was just Mega Evolution, not the first time he'd used it.

"Steel Armor Crow, use Taunt!"

Zhengyi quickly came back to his senses. He knew almost nothing about the Mega Steelix, yet he understood that after Mega Evolution, this Pokémon was utterly different from the one it had been before.

Without knowing what it was good at, using Taunt to seal its status moves was the simplest option.

Only he was a step too slow.

"Sandstorm."

The instant a dark light lit up in Steel Armor Crow's eyes, the Mega Steelix straightened up first, simply bracing its tail-tip against the ground. The four extra pairs of lateral crystal pillars—more than a normal Steelix had—and the free-floating metal shards began spinning like a fan, visibly accelerating!

In an instant.

Rumble—!!

A sky-filling barrage of violent sand and gravel materialized out of thin air; the false sun in midair silently dispersed, not daring to contest it for even a fraction!

The crowd cried out again and again.

Zhengyi raised a hand to shield his face from the fine dust blowing at him, then quickly lowered it, staring in disbelief at the dust storm before him—no, at the sand-wall storm!

The yellow sand blanketing the entire field was as thick as a wall, its height reaching the arena's dome—truly airtight, not even a single Fletchling could fly in.

He, standing outside the field, naturally could not glimpse a single thing within, yet the sand and gravel kept whirling at high speed, continuously releasing terrifying air-pressure waves; even standing still gave him the feeling he could be sucked in at any moment.

And he had long since grown used to the taste of wind and sand on his face—so why did it feel now as if his face were being slapped, stinging with pain?

He had to calm down.

Only…

"At this point there's no taking it back, can we only wait?"

Zhengyi suddenly recalled that when All Baimu had fought Shi Yuan Zhi, the Sand Stream + Sand Tomb combo Shi Yuan Zhi's Flygon had used looked exactly like this.

The only difference was that the Mega Steelix had achieved it with Sandstorm alone.

He could only pin his hopes on Steel Armor Crow lasting to the end. Fortunately, a Steel-type Pokémon need not fear Sandstorm's energy damage—if the Mega Steelix kept this Sandstorm up, could it spare a hand to attack?

The answer was—

Of course it could!

Inside the terrifying sand-wall, the Mega Steelix, like a giant pillar, tilted its head upward, searching for a weak point above through which to break out and reach Steel Armor Crow—and without hesitation, launched its attack!

The metal shards spinning at high speed around its body suddenly contracted; a great mass of sand and gravel wrapped around them, transforming into golden boulders that were fired at Steel Armor Crow.

Whoooosh!

The golden boulders flew so fast they were little more than afterimages. Although Steel Armor Crow reacted with enough agility, detecting the incoming objects at once and performing highly maneuverable dodges, it never imagined the Mega Steelix could steer the boulders through the metal shards embedded inside them.

"Gah!"

Steel Armor Crow's cry was hoarse and shrill; its nimble movements were worthy of the praise it had received across the Galar region for centuries.

But in such confined space, its massive frame found it hard to dodge completely.

Crash!

The clang of stone striking metal—then the boulder shattered, and Steel Armor Crow immediately dropped in a straight line. Its left wing's flight feathers bore several cracks, but the worst part was the Jin Guang from the boulder clinging to its wing.

It couldn't flap its wings anymore. Hit by 【Smack Down】, it had fallen into the 【Smack Down】 state. This special condition, unless removed by switching out, dragged on terribly long even with time alone.

Unfortunately, Steel Armor Crow had no chance for any of that.

The instant it crashed to the ground, the floor suddenly cracked and caved in; amid the terrifying tremor, a funnel-shaped quicksand vortex formed. Just as Steel Armor Crow tried to take a few steps to run, the vortex, with its built-in suction, swallowed it inch by inch!

"Gah!"

Steel Armor Crow shrieked and thrashed, surfacing from the sand a few times only to be swallowed again. After roughly three such rounds, it went completely still.

Outside the field.

The trainers on both sides whispered among themselves, trying to picture what was happening inside the Sandstorm.

The sand wall really was an eyesore—nobody could see what was going on inside, they could only slowly wait for the result, their hearts truly itching with impatience.

Zhengyi frowned. Steel Armor Crow had given him no feedback for too long; he had already given up hope.

What he was mainly thinking about now was the possibility of his Torkoal contesting the weather against the Mega Steelix. A Torkoal at full strength might really have been able to fight for it, but at this point…

On the other side.

All Baimu gazed at the sand wall, full of feeling. "If your game version had been this overpowered, it wouldn't have been called one of the weakest Megas. Sand Force, huh—never would have known it was this strong if you didn't actually use it."