Up to this point, both sides had already summoned all of their Pokémon.
Cain: Tyranitar, Aggron, Blaziken, Florges, Gengar, Slowking.
Steven: Metagross, Aggron, Aerodactyl, Armaldo, Claydol, Steelix.
Looking at the lineups, Steven held a slight advantage, because one of Cain's main tactics—the sandstorm generated by Tyranitar—didn't have much effect against Steven's team composition.
"The battle begins!"
With the loud call of the head referee, the match officially commenced.
Cain activated his telepathy and began commanding his Pokémon.
As Tyranitar stepped forward, the sand from every corner began to take the form of serpentine streams, slithering around its body.
At the same time, rocks of various shapes appeared around Tyranitar and Aggron. They suddenly vibrated, crumbled into dust, and merged with the sand serpents spinning around Tyranitar.
Through this process, the speed at which sand fragments appeared doubled.
Yellowish sand whirled through the air, swirling across the entire sky until it covered the battlefield completely, transforming the stage into a desert in an instant.
The League staff working beside the arena activated protective barriers to separate the sandstorm from the audience, preventing any harm.
Even so, when the crowd saw how intense the sandstorm had become in such a short time, their adrenaline surged, and the cheers didn't stop.
Fortunately, the League had already anticipated this situation, so they deployed a special device that allowed spectators to see clearly through the dense storm and watch everything that happened inside.
As Tyranitar's sandstorm raged, intense psychic waves erupted from Slowking's eyes. Psychic energy expanded around its body, sending out thin threads of light that reached across various corners of Tyranitar's storm.
Once every point of psychic energy was locked in place, Slowking's power began to surge like a relentless tide.
A dense, closed psychic network formed instantly.
Across the field, Steven's face grew increasingly serious. Thanks to the psychic abilities of Metagross and Claydol, he could sense the domain that Tyranitar and Slowking had constructed together—and the latent danger within it.
Cain's Sandstorm Domain!
It was being revealed to the world for the first time.
Scrrr!
Scrrr!
Scrrr!
From the presidential stands came the sound of chairs scraping against the floor.
The people seated there were neither weak nor shortsighted, which made their excitement all the greater. Aside from Drake, even Juan and Joseph Stone had risen to their feet, their faces full of astonishment and disbelief.
"This is... when did that boy learn something like this...?" Juan was truly shaken. For the president of an entire regional League to show such surprise meant that something extraordinary was happening.
Juan glanced sideways at Drake, who remained calm and even slightly proud.
But his look was clear: if Drake didn't explain soon, he would demand an answer himself.
"Ahem." Drake cleared his throat, drawing everyone's attention.
"That's right—a dual-core formation. Everyone here has spent enough time in the League to understand what a dual-core represents."
"Although Cain's formation isn't yet fully developed, he already has the foundation of a dual-core setup, and the power he can display is more than double that of a single-core team." The pride on Drake's face grew even stronger.
"When that boy came to me to polish his strategy, I didn't think much of it at first. I thought it'd be easy. But then he revealed this dual-core formation, and it almost made me stumble. I had to get serious to defeat him."
"At that time, it was his first real battle using this system. After ten days of training, although he's still far from mastering it, he's already far stronger than before."
"I dare say that right now, neither Glacia nor Sidney, in a full battle using only a single core, could guarantee victory against Cain."
Upon hearing this, both Glacia and Sidney hesitated for a moment—but neither refuted it.
The veteran League members present, who had spent years studying Pokémon battles, understood perfectly what was being said. When a trainer's Pokémon could no longer grow stronger individually, they turned their focus to formations and multi-core combat systems.
A dual-core formation wasn't something unheard of; many of them had achieved it, and some had even reached triple or quadruple cores.
What was astonishing was that Cain, at his age and current stage, had already reached the level of a dual-core strategist.
"In fact..."
Drake spoke again, with a trace of hesitation, but finally continued: "In fact, although Cain's dual-core hasn't reached its limit yet, he's already found the threshold of a triple-core formation. One could even say... he already has a foot inside that realm."
"What!?" Joseph Stone couldn't hold back his exclamation.
Was there really a need to boast that shamelessly?
"You'll see soon enough..." Drake muttered with a knowing gesture.
Everyone tried to suppress their inner shock and turned their eyes back to the battlefield.
The sand domain created by Tyranitar and Slowking had been established—but that wasn't the end.
Gengar looked at Tyranitar, and a spectral gleam flashed through its eyes, mimicking the Sand Stream ability.
A second, powerful sandstorm erupted immediately, charged with indestructible rock energy.
Double Sandstorm!!
Then Gengar's eyes gleamed again, this time mimicking Blaziken's Speed Boost ability.
Gengar's speed was already high, and with Speed Boost, it would keep rising continuously. Compared to the slower Pokémon on Steven's side, this speed became a lethal advantage.
Florges used Camouflage, and Blaziken unleashed Swords Dance.
While Cain arranged the terrain and boosted his team's advantages, Steven wasn't sitting idly by.
Although he was also surprised by the combination of Tyranitar's sandstorm and Slowking's psychic power, he had his own preparations.
Metagross, Aggron, and Steelix endured the raging sand, producing metallic clanging sounds—ding, ding, ding—as they formed a defensive triangle.
Metagross floated in the air, Aggron stood firm on the ground, and Steelix could control both the underground and aerial spaces.
Aerodactyl circled around Metagross, Claydol linked its psychic energy with Metagross's, and Armaldo, in the rear, performed a dance similar to Blaziken's.
The accumulations from Swords Dance stacked one after another.
The core of Steven's team was Metagross, but how far he could push it would depend entirely on how he acted in real combat.
With the field set, the direct battle between Cain and Steven began.
(End of chapter)