"Adrian." Maybe it was the glare of every metallic object in the sunlight burning afterimages into his retina that bothered him, or simply the feeling that no matter how much he inhaled, the air just felt smothering. He too would pluck a pokeball from his hip, releasing a Tyranitar onto the field in direct opposition to their Gigalith.

It rushed headlong into the fray, veiled by the torrential sandstorm billowing out from either pokemon, turning them into nothing but roughly visible silhouettes in the dust bowl encompassing them. Before they clashed, Adrian called out: "LOW KICK."

Though it would invariably catch the jagged spire of Gigalith's compressed body in its roughhewn exterior, its stance would pivot thus that its tail came barreling around in a sweeping blow at the Gigalith's 'feet', crippling its advance and pushing it back.

---

boruta maher

If it hadn't been for the necessity to exclaim loudly due to the raging sands, he might not have heard Boruta shouting out the command. Although it didn't trouble him quite as much as it should, it did pose a threat if left unchecked. "HYPER BEAM!"

Raw power welled up in the pit of Tyranitar's mouth, swelling disproportionately in size until its stunning glow peaked into a blinding gleam, before the armored behemoth loosed the attack in a surging blast the tore through stone, concealed or not.

---

boruta maher

They would do nothing except wait.

Tyranitar would need to recharge, and although Skarmory presented some obvious concerns, his experience with them was that they were lackluster attackers. Instead they liked to set up arena hazards, although this wasn't always the case.

So they would wait, and they would see...

---

boruta maher

Tyranitar shifted its weight, turning its spiny back to Skarmory as it came rushing in, relying on its ironclad constitution to see it through the attack. Expecting wings of carven steel to tear through its back, the IRON DEFENSE was tested by an aerial bombardment of lacerating gales that proved themselves to be rather ineffective against its earthen hide. Adrian considered switching Icon out, to expedite things.

In the end he left Tyranitar on the field, in demonstration of his faith.

---

boruta maher

Shifting Tyranitar out for Pidgeot, he would avoid the arena hazards wholesale, though the sandstorm raged onward, forcing Pidgeot to overexert itself. Even so its KEEN EYE pierced the veil, allowing it to isolate Skarmory amidst the torrent of silica.

What it hadn't seen were the stealth rocks.

"Blow them away; WHIRLWIND!"

Flapping its wings madly, it began to push back against the gale-force winds, even forcing the Skarmory back towards its trainer. Adrian's careful planning had yet to bear fruit, but as he forced the switch, he hoped to gain the upper hand soon.

Yet for his oversight, he wouldn't notice the camouflaged rocks careening for Pidgeot where it hovered in the air, shifting with the dust bowl swarming all around them. Pidgeot would doubtlessly be forced out of the battle as it was impaled in the joint of its left wing. Even as the enemy disappeared only to be replaced by another, Pidgeot too would be forced out of the fight prematurely, but replaced by whom?

---

boruta maher

The incoming ASTONISH would strike Cacturne, leaving it momentarily dazed as it caught up with the pace of the battle. Motionless for a time after, it seemed to be a lifeless husk, eyes brimming with malice concealed beneath the brim of its hat.

As the sandstreams whipped away in the whirlwind began to reveal their arena, the silhouette of Cacturne disappeared from its side of the field, arriving unseen behind the Cradily suction cupped to the ground. In a sudden burst of movement it exacted REVENGE, dealing a telling blow against the back of Cradily's bulbous head.

---

boruta maher