Koga's Ariados, compared to Cain's Aggron, was literally like a child facing a giant.
The battle began immediately.
Under Cain's orders, Aggron raised one of its legs, like an enormous pillar rising into the air, and slammed it violently against the ground. A deafening roar echoed at once; the terrain beneath its feet cracked in several places, and immediately afterward, seismic waves spread out from its position, advancing straight toward Ariados.
"Ariados, jump! Use String Shot to shorten the distance to Aggron!" Koga ordered calmly.
In his opinion, although Aggron's defense was extremely strong, it didn't mean that Ariados had no chance at all of dealing damage to it. Moreover, Aggron's enormous size was both an advantage and a disadvantage: if Ariados managed to get close and position itself on Aggron's body, with Aggron's poor agility it would be very difficult for it to catch him.
A smile appeared on Cain's face.
Close-quarters combat against Aggron?
He feared that, aside from his own Tyranitar, there was no other Pokémon that would dare to make such a decision.
It was enough to seize a single opportunity; nothing more was needed. With just one chance, he could crush Koga's Ariados as easily as swatting a fly, and without taking any damage at that.
Ariados, which had leapt into the air, expelled a completely white thread from its mouth. It gently adhered to Aggron's body, as if it had no weight at all.
Aggron, however, completely ignored the thread attached to its body and, following Cain's orders, began to condense an enormous amount of rock fragments around itself.
It looked ready to activate a barrage of homing missiles at any moment.
But this was not the moment for Ariados to fear. The thread quickly retracted, and Ariados launched itself swiftly toward Aggron.
It had perfect mastery over the control of the thread back and forth, and it was precisely because of this skill that Koga had accepted it as one of his Pokémon.
After all, Koga was, in essence, a ninja, and Ariados's threads allowed him to perform many actions that would normally be difficult or even impossible.
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
Aggron's Stone Edge move transformed into stone arrows that shot toward Ariados. Most of the fragments were dodged, and only a small portion managed to hit it, failing to slow its advance.
This made it clear that Koga's Pokémon possessed a very high level of both mobility and bodily technique, a typical advantage of a ninja turned trainer.
However, from beginning to end, Cain had no intention whatsoever of preventing Ariados from approaching Aggron.
This Ariados was clearly a Pokémon focused on setup moves: Swords Dance and Baton Pass. If it had simply kept its distance and stacked Swords Dance, Aggron would have had real trouble finishing it off immediately, but right now it was heading straight toward its own doom.
Do you know what happens when you throw an egg against a rock?
Exactly: the egg shatters, and the rock remains intact.
Cling, cling!
Ariados managed to land on Aggron's body, and at that moment the size difference between the two Pokémon became even more apparent.
"Ariados, Sticky Web! Electroweb!" Koga ordered.
Koga knew perfectly well that Aggron still had the ability to catch the Ariados on its body, so he ordered it not only to reduce Aggron's movement speed, but also the speed of its actions.
But to be honest, Ariados had probably never fought head-on against a Pokémon of such gigantic size. The webs it created were somewhat small and failed to achieve a full effect; they barely produced a mediocre result.
Even so, Aggron completely ignored the webs on its body, and even totally ignored the Ariados standing on top of it. It continued to frantically concentrate huge quantities of rocks around itself, growing more numerous and denser, to a point that would make anyone with trypophobia shudder.
"You... what are you planning to do?" Koga asked, continuing to give orders to Ariados as he saw Aggron's almost crazed expression. A very bad premonition seized him.
A smile appeared on Cain's face, exactly the same as the one forming on Aggron's face at that moment.
"Damn lunatics! Ariados, retreat immediately!" Koga shouted, as if he had suddenly understood something; his expression changed drastically.
"Too late," Cain replied calmly.
Just as his words faded, the rocks closest to Aggron's body connected with one another, transforming into thick chains of stone.
Chirr—chirr—chirr!
The rock chains rubbed against one another.
Suddenly, they began to spin, wrapping around Aggron from multiple angles, as if binding a prisoner. And of course, along with it, Ariados was also trapped, trying to evade but already too late.
It was firmly bound to Aggron's body.
"!!!GRAAAHHH!!!"
Accompanied by Aggron's excited roar, the remaining rocks sharpened even further and launched themselves from all directions toward its own body.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The continuous sound of rock colliding with metal rang out without end. If one listened carefully, it wasn't just the impact of stone against metal that could be heard, but also that of stone striking flesh.
The spectators watched the scene completely dumbfounded.
Was this... self-mutilation?
Many of them couldn't understand at all what Cain was doing.
Turning rocks into chains to bind himself and then bombarding his own body with a rain of stones?
This caused more than one person—those who did understand what they were seeing—to blush slightly, as a fleeting and decidedly not–safe-for-minors image crossed their minds.
Sin... sin...
Who knew how many people were murmuring those words in their hearts at that moment.
"Ahem... the defensive capability of this Aggron is... very strong."
"Y-yes... the president is absolutely right."
"...long live the president!"
"..."
Koga stared in shock at Aggron, which was roaring toward the sky amid the frenzy of the Stone Edge move.
That Aggron's defense filled him with fear. If Cain had sent out this Aggron from the very start of the battle, then he truly would have been in serious trouble.
Compared to one of Cain's signature Pokémon, Slowking—which had an even greater advantage against Poison-type Pokémon—this Aggron gave Koga an even deeper sense of unease.
Without realizing it, a killing intent arose in his heart.
If this Aggron continued to grow, it might become his greatest nemesis.
It wasn't the first time he had seen or fought against an Aggron, but one with such terrifying defense... this was the first time.
When Koga finally managed to suppress the killing intent within him and raised his gaze toward Cain, he perceived a trace of mockery in Cain's eyes.
His heart trembled involuntarily.
(End of chapter)