Because Dugtrio changed the environment, Damon had no choice but to command Crobat to move the battle into the sky above Viridian Gym, avoiding Crobat's stamina being affected by the sandstorm weather.
To prevent Damon, this ruthless guy, from taking the chance to launch a sneak attack, Lance had to order Dragonite to quickly ascend and defeat Crobat as soon as possible.
With doubled speed, Sandslash instantly appeared in front of Pikachu. Under Pikachu's shocked gaze, it slashed fiercely across Pikachu's body with its hard, sharp claws.
"Pika!"
Having been hit by Sandshrew's Slash attack, Pikachu suffered a defense reduction effect, and much of its bright fur fell off as a result.
Seeing Pikachu panting heavily, Sandslash launched another assault. Just as its sharp claws were about to hit Pikachu again, the attack was blocked by a pair of black-red giant pincers.
"Clang—"
Scizor knocked back the approaching Sandslash and turned its head displeasedly toward the fallen Pikachu.
"Compared to that guy, you're still far too weak!"
After hearing Scizor's scolding, Pikachu struggled to stand up with all its strength, unwilling to be looked down on like this.
Seeing the hesitation in Pikachu's eyes as if it wanted to explain, Scizor's gaze gradually softened, letting Pikachu stand behind it with peace of mind.
"Hey, no matter what, this guy was trained under me. I absolutely won't allow you to hurt it like this!"
As soon as the words fell, Scizor's figure suddenly blurred, instantly appearing in front of Sandslash and striking with Bullet Punch.
(So fast!)
Sandslash only felt something heavy graze its cheek, and then its body was involuntarily pushed backward.
Fortunately, Sandslash quickly dug its claws into the ground, avoiding crashing into the wall a second time.
"Brother, I…"
Ash lowered his head in frustration. He had wanted to impress Red, but instead, Red still had to step in to help him.
"Isn't it natural for an older brother to help his younger brother? Besides, if you were stronger than me, that wouldn't be like you at all." Red joked, then instructed Scizor to fight on its own.
Crobat vs Dragonite, Dugtrio vs Blastoise, and Sandslash vs Scizor
Sharp stone blades floated around Sandslash, then under its control, shot straight toward Scizor.
Seeing this, Scizor crossed its pincers and spun its body, using Swords Dance to block part of the Stone Edge damage while boosting its own attack power.
Scizor's figure blurred again. Realizing Bullet Punch was coming, Sandslash immediately curled its body into a ball and used Gyro Ball to block the damage.
"Clang—"
Curled into a sphere, Sandslash was violently knocked flying. Fortunately, Dugtrio nearby manipulated the sand flow to catch Sandslash before it hit the ground.
"Tch, I didn't expect a mere Dugtrio to be this troublesome!" Gary frowned in irritation.
Although Gary's Blastoise had a type advantage over Dugtrio, none of its attacks managed to hit Dugtrio. Instead, Dugtrio continuously wore down its stamina with Stone Edge.
Because Dugtrio wasn't receiving commands from a trainer and was completely overwhelming Blastoise on its own, the scene made the proud Gary feel quite displeased.
The one having the hardest time was Crobat. Even perfectly synchronized with Damon's Killing Intent Domain, Crobat could only barely resist Dragonite's assault, not daring to relax for even a moment.
"Crobat, use Brave Bird!" Damon ordered.
A blue aura enveloped Crobat's entire body as it rushed fiercely toward Dragonite.
"Dragonite, use Dragon Claw!"
Its thick claws glowing with green light, Dragonite blocked Crobat's attack with one hand and then casually slammed Crobat to the ground with its left claw. Crobat nearly got trapped by Dugtrio's sand pit, but Dugtrio quickly pushed it back into the sky.
"As expected of a Dragon-type Elite, your strength is truly unfathomable." Damon said cautiously, looking worriedly at the heavily injured Crobat.
"Gary, leave Dugtrio to me."
Red walked over to Gary, placing a hand on his shoulder, signaling him to leave Dugtrio to him without worry.
After Gary reluctantly recalled his exhausted Blastoise, Red threw out a Poké Ball. As the white light faded, a massive Steelix appeared.
The appearance of the giant Steelix shocked everyone present. They couldn't imagine such an enormous Steelix could exist.
(I didn't expect this kid's Onix to have grown this strong…)
Damon looked up in disbelief at the towering Steelix. Even standing on the second floor, he could only look up at it.
As a Ground-type Pokémon, Steelix was naturally unaffected by the sand pit ability and sandstorm environment. It decisively used Dig, disappearing before Dugtrio.
Unwilling to be outdone, Dugtrio also used Dig, intending to battle Steelix underground.
With Steelix and Scizor joining the fight, Damon's side was clearly at a disadvantage. None of his Pokémon could suppress their opponents, and Crobat's stamina was steadily being drained by Dragonite, on the verge of defeat at any moment.
At this point, Damon was merely carrying out Giovanni's final order: to delay the League personnel with all his might, because Team Rocket didn't want the research data in the underground base of Viridian Gym to fall into the Pokémon League's hands.
The greedy Team Rocket intended to transfer the real data away while deliberately leaving behind some mismatched, incomplete materials to mislead the League's scientists into abandoning research on Mewtwo's data.
"Boom—"
A loud explosion echoed underground. Moments later, Dugtrio emerged from beneath the ground, having been blasted out by Steelix's Iron Tail.
Dugtrio hadn't expected Steelix's attack to be so terrifying—one more hit might have knocked it out underground. Fortunately, Dugtrio's agility allowed it to toy with Steelix for a while.
To turn the tide in its favor, Dugtrio decided to use a ruthless move.
Dugtrio's body trembled continuously, and the ground centered around it shook violently. The shockwaves from the Earthquake affected Sandslash, which was still battling Scizor.
Fortunately, Crobat and Sandslash worked together. Sandslash used Stone Edge to distract Dragonite, while Crobat immediately carried Sandslash into the air, avoiding the damage from Earthquake.
Steelix and Scizor, unable to effectively evade, had no choice but to endure the Earthquake head-on.
Steelix couldn't help but show a strained expression, as Earthquake, a Ground-type move, dealt double super-effective damage to it.