The dust kicked up by the explosion was no weaker than the sandstorm stirred when two Paradox Pokémon rolled, and even the distant Raifort could feel the violent tremors.
Watching the Donphan that were panicking from the shaking, Raifort showed a thoughtful smile.
Great Tusk and Iron Treads stopped ramming into each other and looked up together at Lucas and Dragonite in the sky. One pair of eyes brimmed with savagery; the other, cold digital optics, showed a completely different emotion.
Great Tusk let out a roar, slammed its forelegs into the sand, and countless cracks spread across the ground. Terrifying energy surged, and in an instant, a brilliant eruption of Ground-type power shot skyward like a straight sword, thrusting toward Lucas and Dragonite!
Ground-type move: Earth Power!
Behind Dragonite, Lucas wore a strange expression. Does this Great Tusk not understand type matchups?
How are you even going to land a Ground move on Dragonite?
Without Lucas needing to say anything, Dragonite lightly beat its wings; its seemingly bulky body exploded with unusual speed and blinked aside, letting Earth Power miss completely.
Though Dragonite had only just begun practicing the Dragon Clan's Extreme Speed and hadn't yet mastered the move Extreme Speed or its advanced applications, dodging an Earth Power was easy.
Compared to Great Tusk, which chose a direct assault, Iron Treads didn't act first. Streams of data ran through its crimson digital eyes, as if analyzing something.
Their choices didn't escape Lucas's eyes either.
And their choices fit the eras they hailed from and the personalities formed back then.
When facing a reckless opponent and a calculating opponent, as a Trainer, you send the Pokémon best suited to handle each.
The moment Dragonite safely landed, Lucas pulled out a Poké Ball he'd already been gripping, ignored the colossal beasts of past and future to either side, and shouted in a deep voice: "Serperior!"
In a flash of red, Serperior raised its head high and immediately locked onto Iron Treads on the other side, which looked like it was plotting something nasty.
Dragonite was the kid it had watched grow up—its battle style was all about overwhelming force, with no twisty schemes in its belly. To keep the house's child from being bullied, of course Serperior would deal with Iron Treads.
It was the hottest time of day; the sun hung venomously in the sky. But for Serperior, this was the most favorable weather.
The sunlight-forged energy within its body was surging!
Casting a cool glance at Iron Treads, Serperior lifted the tip of its tail. The three dark green leaves there were shrouded in a verdant glow and, in an instant, became a hurricane of fluorescent leaves. With razor sharp force, it swept toward Iron Treads.
Leaf Storm raged against Iron Treads' steel body, but Iron Treads seemed to "hang" for a split second, as if it had frozen. A few more data streams flashed in its eyes.
As if it had found a counter, thin ice spread beneath Iron Treads. It curled up, turned into an "ice top," and spun in place. Frost billowed out, and it actually neutralized the Leaf Storm entirely!
An Ice-type move—Ice Spinner!
Serperior, whose body gleamed with a red aura, arched a brow; its proud gaze turned more serious.
As expected.
Watching the battle between Ceruledge and Iron Valiant earlier, it had wondered whether these Pokémon with bodies of metal and steel and electronic eyes possessed analytical abilities far beyond ordinary Pokémon—and even some Trainers.
Now it seemed this one, called Iron Treads by Lucas, even knew to use Ice-type moves to counter Serperior's Leaf Storm—totally different from that brute Great Tusk over there using Ground moves against Dragonite.
"Sia-ro!"
Serperior sang out. The tip of its tail once more swelled with a Leaf Storm, now several times more terrifying in aura and power.
Let's see how long Iron Treads' little cleverness can hold out under an absolute difference in power.
After all, Serperior's condition right now was unexpectedly great!
Elsewhere, in Dragonite and Great Tusk's battle—
Dragonite had directly grabbed Great Tusk's massive tusks that were trying to gore it, matching the big guy in raw strength.
With a sudden shove, Dragonite knocked Great Tusk back, then slammed energy-charged claws into it—only for Great Tusk to block with a Megahorn.
Its claws were locked, but it could still fire off a special attack.
Under Lucas's command, Dragonite planned to land a super-effective Hydro Pump for heavy damage. But Great Tusk's instincts kicked in the moment it sensed danger; it was going to throw caution to the wind and trigger Earthquake.
Dragonite didn't want Lucas caught in the Earthquake's AoE, so it stepped back a few paces, scooped him up, and took to the sky.
Lucas focused his commands here; he wasn't worried about Serperior versus Iron Treads.
He believed Serperior could handle Iron Treads—this was his trust in his second Pokémon.
As a Paradox Pokémon from the ancient side, Great Tusk possessed power enough to shake mountains. Its strength was nearly on par with Roaring Moon, which Lucas had fought before—maybe even a bit stronger.
After all, this Great Tusk had silently slipped out of the Paldea Crater—no pushover.
By the time the game's protagonist gets here, they'd have roughly Elite Four-tier strength. Add six-Pokémon rotation and Arven's help, and beating something this strong would be possible.
But here, both past and future Paradox Pokémon appeared at once—that was something Lucas couldn't figure out.
Just like the existence of Professors Sada and Turo, the future would likely see multiple Koraidon and Miraidon brought back by the time machine.
Four legendary Pokémon coexisting—imagining the accidents that could cause already gave Lucas a headache.
While Lucas pondered, Dragonite and Great Tusk clashed several more times. Paradox Pokémon really were ridiculous in some ways.
Great Tusk's strength could even contend with Dragonite's. Add in the need to protect its Trainer mid-fight and avoid big AoE moves like Earthquake hitting Lucas, and Dragonite couldn't take Great Tusk down quickly.
Still, under Lucas's calm command, more and more wounds appeared on Great Tusk, carved by Dragonite.
Seeing Great Tusk trapped within a "sand twister" conjured by Dragonite's Hurricane and accumulating cuts from the howling winds, the pained Great Tusk instinctively lifted its forelegs, ready to repeat its tactic and force Dragonite to stop with an Earthquake.
Great Tusk didn't know why Dragonite would stop attacking, but it knew that if it used Earthquake, it could buy breathing room.
It did so again.
But Lucas had been waiting for this timing.
The instant Great Tusk's forelegs rose, Lucas shouted, "Now—Hydro Pump!"
The dense Water-type energy Dragonite had been charging at Lucas's signal burst from its mouth in a cerulean torrent. With a thunderous boom in the air, a massive water column slammed into Great Tusk, scouring its body and washing away the last candle-flame flickers of its stamina.
As Great Tusk crashed down with a boom, the Serperior vs. Iron Treads fight also reached its conclusion.
No matter how Iron Treads analyzed the optimal move for the situation, Serperior—whose Contrary ability let it reach theoretical Sp. Atk limits—only had to spam Leaf Storm to keep Iron Treads on the back foot.
Not to mention the writhing mass of Frenzy Plant—even if Iron Treads entered its rolling mode, those terrifyingly thick roots could still bind it tight.
Granted, in a desert it was hard to conjure roots; the energy cost was several times the norm.
But under the blazing sun, Serperior's solar-boosted energy was practically begging for an outlet.
By the time Iron Treads' power core was pounded dry and it entered standby, even its analysis module couldn't compute why all its attack plans were so easily unraveled by Serperior, then countered with greater force.
The moment the two behemoths thudded to the sand, Lucas whipped out the Ultra Balls he'd prepared and, with a Champion-level precision toss that Nemona dreamed of, beaned both Paradox Pokémon right on the forehead.
Beaten into their deepest slumber, the two didn't even struggle before the Ultra Balls clicked shut.
Judging by their combat performance, though, Lucas figured there was no way to keep these two as farmhands.
Sigh—still too wild!
Having defeated the guardians lingering over the treasured resource, it was time to reap the rewards.
Heart pounding with excitement, Lucas stepped into the cave.
What met his eyes was a patch of sparse vegetation wrecked like it had been rooted up by pigs—a complete mess.
"Sia-ro..."
Serperior's brows knit. As a Grass-type, it could faintly sense that most of these plants had been gnawed by Great Tusk and Iron Treads.
"Bwu!"
Before Lucas could show his heartache, Dragonite suddenly called out, pointing to another corner of the cave.
Lucas followed Dragonite's finger.
There, a small pile of coal-like blocks lay stacked, their texture looking like compacted dirt. There were about ten.
"This is..."
As if remembering something, Lucas's expression shifted from puzzled to astonished.
Bad news: this was an uncharted deserted island.
Good news: this was a deserted island someone had actually landed on.