Cain smiled broadly and said, "Mr. Alder, I will not hold back, whether for the Hoenn League or for myself."
Hearing that, Alder waved his hand with satisfaction. "That's how it should be. I also have no intention of holding back, so... come, let me see your strength!"
He threw a Poké Ball, and a green Pokémon with a monster-like appearance appeared on the field.
Tyranitar!
When Alder saw that Cain had summoned that Pokémon, he was also startled for a moment, and then shook his head helplessly. "You really are something, kid. You truly aren't holding anything back. You send out your strongest Pokémon right from the start. You really do think highly of me."
"Here it is!!! Here it is!!! One of Champion Cain's most famous Pokémon, Tyranitar, known as the Little Groudon!!!"
At exactly the right moment, the announcer ignited the enthusiasm and excitement of the crowd.
"Little Groudon!!!"
"Little Groudon!!!"
"The Tyrant of the Sandstorm!!!"
"The Tyrant of the Sandstorm!!!"
"Tyranitar!!!"
"Tyranitar!!!"
"..."
Since they had come to witness Cain's ceremony of ascending to the position of Champion, they naturally knew quite a lot about the Pokémon he had, and among the most famous was precisely this Tyranitar.
Tyranitar, which publicly had the Rock and Dark types, heavily suppressed Reuniclus in terms of attributes, and moreover far surpassed it in both level and raw strength, so Cain did not have Tyranitar Mega Evolve.
Alder waited for a moment. When he saw that Cain did not use Mega Evolution immediately, he narrowed his eyes and instantly understood his intentions.
"Reuniclus, Trick Room!"
A square-shaped dark purple space expanded from Reuniclus's body and, in an instant, completely covered the entire field.
Since Reuniclus was extremely slow, just like Cain's Slowking, it needed the move Trick Room in order to fully display its combat ability.
Cain watched as Trick Room spread out. "Tyranitar, raise the sandstorm!"
As soon as the order echoed in Tyranitar's mind, strands of fine sand began to swirl from beneath its feet. From every angle, even from the sky, endless sand converged toward that place.
Seeing that scene, Alder revealed a thoughtful expression.
Reuniclus's ability was Magic Guard, which could directly ignore damage caused by weather, so Tyranitar's sandstorm would not harm it.
Alder did not believe that, with Cain's ability, he would be unaware that Reuniclus possessed such an ability.
Therefore, if he still had Tyranitar raise sand, then he undoubtedly had another purpose.
And of course, Cain did have another purpose. At least thirty percent of Tyranitar's strength lay in that sand.
The function of the sandstorm was not to damage the opponent, but to enhance itself through its effects, while also allowing Tyranitar to control the sand in order to execute all kinds of attacks or defenses.
"Reuniclus, Energy Ball!"
Since Tyranitar was a Dark-type Pokémon, and Reuniclus did not have the move Miracle Eye, its psychic power could not be fully brought to bear against it, which greatly limited its options.
In barely a blink, Tyranitar's sandstorm completely covered the battlefield.
As soon as Alder's voice stopped echoing, a green energy sphere instantly condensed between Reuniclus's hands. It was one of the few offensive moves with which it could deal damage to Tyranitar.
Once formed, it launched it at maximum speed.
The move Energy Ball carried type advantage with it!
But just as it was about to reach Tyranitar, a shield formed from an enormous amount of sand blocked the unavoidable path of the sphere.
Immediately afterward, the markings on Tyranitar's body glowed faintly with red light.
Boom!
A pillar of rock rose into the sky directly beneath Reuniclus. Since it had no move for instantaneous displacement, when facing the move Precipice Blades, which Tyranitar had grown ever more skilled at controlling, it inevitably appeared somewhat slow to react.
"Protect!"
Fortunately, Alder was prepared, and immediately had Reuniclus use Protect.
The pale green barrier of Protect managed to block Tyranitar's Precipice Blades attack, but that was also the last defensive method capable of withstanding its attacks.
However, before Tyranitar could launch another attack, Reuniclus's Energy Ball pierced through Tyranitar's sand shield and slammed into its abdomen.
Boom!!!
The shockwave from the Energy Ball explosion scattered all the surrounding sand.
Huaaa!
But when Tyranitar reappeared before everyone's eyes, an uproar broke out.
It looked completely indifferent, casually patting its chest, as if the opponent's attack had not caused it any damage whatsoever.
Seeing that scene, Alder was also slightly stunned and said, "What a powerful defense!"
In truth, it was not that Reuniclus's attack was weak. Of course, as a Psychic-type Pokémon, its use of a Grass-type move suffered a certain reduction in power.
And moreover, before reaching Tyranitar, the move Energy Ball had been held up for a time by the sand shield, which weakened part of its force.
As for Tyranitar's defense, that did not even need to be discussed. After all, among all of Cain's Pokémon, Tyranitar's defense could be considered one of the top three. It had grown up eating diamonds since it was young: it had thick skin!
"Tyranitar, again!"
Alder was surprised by Tyranitar's defense, but Cain was not.
The fact that Precipice Blades had missed once meant nothing. Who didn't make a mistake from time to time?
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
The entire battlefield began to shake. And not only the battlefield—even the surrounding stands trembled.
This time, it really was going to use a major attack!
Precipice Blades!
A pillar of rock, twice as thick as the previous one, rose into the sky, accompanied by burning magma and a scorching temperature.
Reuniclus did not have time to dodge it, and could only form, with its strongest psychic power, a concentrated defensive shield beneath its body.
Precipice Blades kept pushing Reuniclus upward, and in the blink of an eye forced it out of the range of Trick Room.
The psychic shield managed to block the damage of the initial impact of Precipice Blades, but that move was not a single-phase attack, but a two-stage one.
Boom!!!
As the burning magma rapidly rose, its temperature sharply dropped due to friction with the air. A temperature difference formed between the inside and outside of the magma: the outer part wanted to contract, while the inner part wanted to expand. That contradiction triggered an explosion, because Tyranitar was continuously filling the inside of Precipice Blades with even more magma.
Seeing Reuniclus blasted away by the explosion of Precipice Blades, Trick Room instantly disappeared as soon as it had been forced out of the move's area of effect.
(End of Chapter)