Cain stopped paying him any attention.
The double Mega Evolution of two Pokémon, indeed, could not be maintained for very long.
But compared to before, over these six months he had not been stagnant. Now he could sustain the double Mega Evolution for at least ten minutes.
"By now, everyone on the island should have completely evacuated." Cain uttered that sentence without any context.
"Hm?" The Black Messenger did not understand what he meant.
"Tyranitar, there's no need to hold back anymore. Unleash all your power." Cain turned his head and said it directly.
Hearing this, Tyranitar's eyes gleamed, and its aura exploded once more, dispersing all the sand around it.
"TYYRRAANN—!" A long howl burst from its mouth.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
With Tyranitar at the center, the ground beneath its feet cracked and began to sink. Fine sand flowed endlessly from the fissures in the parched earth, being absorbed and torn from deep underground.
With the complete release of Tyranitar's power, the cracks began to spread as if they were being drawn across the land.
In a matter of seconds, several kilometers in every direction transformed into a desert. Both people and Pokémon within that range felt as if they had been thrown into a desert domain: sand flowing like water from the fissures, joining the vortex of the sandstorm.
As the sand surged forth, the temperature within the storm began to rise. The sand pouring out of the cracks grew hotter and hotter, to the point where it started to turn red, as if lava were crossing through the earth's crust.
In an instant, everything dried out completely. The land became dehydrated, moisture vanished as if erased from the world, and everything around began to disintegrate, turning into fine sand that joined the swirling vortex.
The red grains seemed to infect the rest, causing the color of the storm to shift from an earthy yellow to a reddish blend, until finally everything turned scarlet red.
Every single particle burned with extreme heat.
This was the power that Cain's Tyranitar could unleash when using its Sand Stream ability to the fullest.
Normally, a Tyranitar's Sand Stream would only produce a limited sandstorm—barely more than a cloud of dust compared to this.
But this Tyranitar was different: it could exert extreme control over its energy, pulverizing and turning into sand everything within its range of control.
And after fully absorbing Groudon's energy crystal, it had become even more outrageous: even sand mixed with magma, buried deep underground, could be manipulated by it. It could even control magma to a certain extent, just as Groudon did.
The expansion of Cain's island had only been possible thanks to this ability.
Tyranitar was becoming more and more like a mini-Groudon.
And so, under its control, this scorching scarlet storm took shape.
Cain had named it: Sandstorm Dominion — Scarlet Sand Inferno.
...
"What is that...?"
The people evacuating by boat looked back and couldn't help but cry out. Many even forgot they were fleeing and began recording and taking photos with cameras and communicators, uploading everything to the internet.
The sky above the island completely changed color: the scarlet sand dyed everything red.
More and more sand filled the air, the temperature kept rising, and even from a distance, people could feel the unbearable heat.
The storm continued to expand until it covered the entire island. Dozens of sand vortices spun like gigantic hourglasses flipping over again and again.
Inside the Scarlet Sand Inferno, the Black Messenger stared at the overwhelming scene. His expression turned serious, even as he maintained a psychic shield to block the red sand. Even so, beads of sweat slid down his forehead and nose.
Outside, people felt heat. At the center, he felt as if he were inside an industrial furnace.
The scarlet sand, under Tyranitar's control, battered his six Pokémon without mercy. The scorching heat made them suffer; the burning sensation of the blazing grains completely surpassed the physical pain of the impacts. That sensation prevented them from concentrating; the continuous assault only increased their inner frustration.
But the first thing Tyranitar did was not attack Pokémon: it controlled an enormous amount of red sand and directly melted the device that created the spatial rift.
Caught off guard, the Black Messenger could not react. The sand was everywhere.
Even so, judging by his expression, he didn't seem to care much about the device.
But for the first time, he felt a genuine threat. He had believed he was already taking Tyranitar seriously... but he had never imagined it could alter the climate to such an extreme degree.
At the instant the device was destroyed, all of Cain's Pokémon moved.
Mega Gengar appeared behind the Black Messenger without anyone noticing. The enemy's Pokémon turned to attack, but the Black Messenger stopped them. To deal with a Mega Gengar, his Hydreigon alone was enough; the real attack would come from the front.
And so it did.
As soon as he turned around, he saw Slowking appear beside Aggron, teleporting right in front of five of his Pokémon. At the same time, Drapion emerged from the ground.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
Close-quarters combat began immediately.
If there was anyone happy inside the Scarlet Sand Inferno, it was Blaziken.
After using Swords Dance for the second time, it charged forward. Slowking, after saving Aggron, appeared beside it, grabbed it, and teleported it directly to the top of the scarlet domain, granting it an aerial view of the entire battlefield.
As if receiving the same signal, Florges unleashed massive vines from the ground with Grass Knot, while Aggron and Drapion executed a double Earthquake.
Since the terrain had been weakened by Mega Tyranitar's power, the Earthquake move pulverized the ground completely.
The Black Messenger's Pokémon reacted quickly, leaping into the air to avoid the damage from Earthquake.
And precisely because of that... they fell straight into Cain's trap.
Unable to execute their combined attack due to the Scarlet Sand Inferno, the greatest threat they posed to Cain had completely vanished.
(End of chapter)