With four precious Herba Mystica in hand, Jason's Titan hunt finally reached its last stop—the Asado Desert.
This place was unlike anywhere they'd been.
As far as the eye could see: a sea of gold.
A merciless sun hung in a cloudless sky, baking the earth without restraint. Heat rippled the air into wavering mirage; every breath felt like inhaling fire.
For certain members of the team, it was pure disaster.
"Ke…" Gast let out a feeble squeak—the poor ghost was practically melting.
As a Haunter, it preferred cool shade and damp air. This blazing, bone-dry desert was worse than any Titan they'd met.
Luckily, it found the perfect oasis: Iron Valiant's shadow. It slipped into the living shade in front of them, riding along in the moving patch of cool, only poking out a head now and then to check the surroundings.
They'd slogged through sand for half a day already.
Iron Valiant bore the environment best: a metal body unbothered by heat, silent as ever, expressionless, step by steady step at the front.
Jason, for his part, leaned on Ditto perks—he became a Spiritomb, hiding his core mind inside the etched keystone to shrug off the desert's heat.
Before entering, Jason had picked the locals' brains about the final Titan, the Quaking Earth Titan. What he'd heard left a knot in his gut.
From a Sandile: there seemed to be more than one.
"Those two brutes? They're tyrants! Every day they rampage across the dunes—none of us can catch a break!"
"Yeah," a Cacnea chimed in. "Every time they move, it's like a mini-quake. The sand rolls like waves. We're sick of it!"
More than one. Every step shakes the ground.
Two phrases that cast a long shadow over Jason's thoughts.
As he weighed options, the ground began to tremble.
At first a shiver, then quickly stronger and stronger. Distant dunes heaved like a storm-tossed sea—just like the Cacnea had said.
"They're here." Jason froze; Iron Valiant slid into a battle crouch, blades primed. Gast, in the shadow, peered out, tense.
Boom… BOOM… BOOM!
With thunderlike groans, an immense silhouette rose from beneath a rolling dune.
It was as big as an APC; a pair of massive curved tusks, pillar-thick limbs, hide like rock.
A feral aura hit like a wall, making the very air coagulate.
The ancient Donphan—Great Tusk.
And it wasn't alone.
Beside it, another oppressive bulk erupted from the sand—rolling on a wheel-like body with a soft "whirr," carving deep ruts with every turn.
The future Donphan—Iron Treads.
Just standing there, their pressure eclipsed any Titan Jason had faced. Paradox species indeed—one alone was monstrous.
Two, together, stole the breath from your lungs.
Unexpectedly, Gast didn't shriek or bolt. Instead, it drifted out of Valiant's shade to Jason's side, eyes still a little fearful but now firm—meeting the mountain-sized duo without flinching.
Even Iron Valiant's cold optics flickered with rare curiosity.
Then it glanced at the Titans and, inwardly, nodded: getting out of Area Zero had been right. Only outside could one truly grow.
"These two will be trouble," Jason said low.
Both Titans swung their gaze over.
"ROAR!"
Great Tusk charged first—shockingly fast for its size, tearing the ground with each step, hurling curtains of sand skyward.
"Valiant, take the front! We split them—one each! Gast, look for openings and stay safe!"
Orders snapped out; Jason flashed, keystone dissolved—and a pink, hammer-wielding figure planted its feet in the sand:
Tinkaton.
Steel/Fairy and a hammer made to crush—enough to meet Great Tusk head-on.
Iron Valiant launched at Iron Treads, and metal clashed with metal.
"Ching!"
Blade met armor in a spray of sparks. Future and future, matched in speed and power—each collision punched craters into the dunes.
Jason swung his hammer at Great Tusk's flank as it barreled in—"GONG!"—a bell-pure clang that echoed across the waste.
Great Tusk only staggered, charge barely checked. It smashed back with a brutal Low Sweep; Jason went skidding and tumbling through sand, bones rattling.
"Hard as a rock!"
Pure force wasn't enough. He needed a weak point. But Great Tusk's style—wide arcs, big pressure—looked ponderous yet left no obvious gaps. Jason had to keep moving, peppering it with Play Rough to probe, hunting that flicker of an opening.
He glanced toward Iron Valiant—locked in a dead heat with Iron Treads. Skill versus bulk; neither giving.
They couldn't drag this out.
Jason set his jaw. He'd gamble—create a single, decisive chance for Valiant and himself.
He channeled everything into the hammer; metal gleamed brighter and brighter, danger thrumming in the air.
Tinkaton's finisher: Gigaton Hammer.
Sensing the threat, Iron Treads roared, poured on pressure, and shoved Valiant back. Great Tusk broke off and—together—they flanked to crush Iron Valiant.
Take one out first.
"Over my dead body!"
Jason bellowed and unleashed the built-up power, raising the blazing hammer to smash down on Great Tusk's exposed belly as it turned.
But battle instincts were honed on this sand. At the last instant the Titan wrenched its bulk, tusks sweeping to intercept—ready to shatter the swing and send Jason flying.
And then, out of nowhere, the one everyone had overlooked shot like an arrow: Gast.
It used the fastest thing it had—Sucker Punch—ramming its own body into the already off-balance Titan's underside.
"Thud!"
Against that bulk, the "damage" was negligible—but the hit snapped the last thread of balance as the giant twisted.
It faltered. For less than a second.
It was enough.
"Nice one, Gast!"
Jason's hammer roared through—the full, perfect Gigaton Hammer slammed into the softened belly.
"!!"
Great Tusk screamed, and for the first time its colossal mass left the ground, flung upward.
Iron Valiant broke free at that instant, vaulted, and crossed the airborne Titan, blades carving two brilliant, lethal arcs through the same spot Jason had struck.
Spirit Break.
Two different forces stacked on a single point—decisive.
Great Tusk crashed down in a geyser of sand, twitched a few times, and lay still.
With Great Tusk down, Iron Treads no longer posed a real threat. The trio mobbed it—Jason, Valiant, and a newly brave Gast—and it soon joined its partner in the sand.
Silence rolled back over the dunes.
They had no time to savor it.
All around, the desert simmered—and then little heads popped from the sand. A Scovillain, a Sandile, several Cacnea… a host of desert dwellers swarmed in.
Not to attack Jason. They stampeded the fallen Titans.
"That's for the earthquakes!"
"For stealing our turf!"
"For last time when you glared at me!"
From the chorus of pent-up curses, Jason finally understood. The two bullies had made enemies everywhere; everyone had swallowed the pain. Now that someone else had knocked them down, justice (and a bit of catharsis) was served.
Jason snorted and let the pile-on be.
He ducked into Great Tusk's sand-den and came out with the final Herba Mystica—Sour.
With all five gathered, Jason finally let the Tinkaton form dissolve and flopped onto the soft, hot sand, panting.
Iron Valiant retracted its blades and walked over to Gast, who was also a bit winded. It hesitated, then—under the ghost's puzzled gaze—did something unprecedented:
It raised a thumb.
"Not bad."
Gast blinked—then lit up, joy bubbling out in little keening cheers as it spun happy circles around Valiant.
~~~
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