Iron Tail swept across, sending a Raticate blocking its path flying.
The gust whipped up by the tail knocked a Beedrill, flapping its wings as it tried to circle around to Onix's rear, staggering uncontrollably.
Team Rocket's Elite Members' Pokémon were clearly no match for Onix.
But Onix was not invincible.
Hikoji, who had been observing Onix's movements from the side, finally made his move.
"Cubone, Bone Club!" Hikoji commanded.
Wearing its pale bone helmet, Cubone's gaze was steady as it swung the bone in its hand toward Onix.
Whoosh—!
The spinning bone transformed into a disc, tracing a curved arc through the air straight at Onix.
Hikoji's timing wasn't arbitrary. Onix had just used Iron Tail, leaving its posture exposed with a significant opening.
Had he acted a moment earlier, Onix could have easily used Iron Tail to knock away Cubone's Bone Club.
Had he acted a moment later, Onix would have adjusted its stance, and the Bone Club would have been wasted against a flawless Onix.
Hikoji's choice of timing was perfect—caught precisely in the narrow window between these two moments, exploiting Onix's weakness.
"Old fox…" Nozomi muttered under his breath, frustrated.
If there was one type of opponent he hated most, it was someone like Hikoji—cunning and annoying despite lacking overwhelming strength.
Timing like this, deliberately uncomfortable, was Hikoji's specialty.
Of course, Nozomi wasn't afraid.
Leafeon's Magical Leaf struck the incoming Graveler with precision.
The energy-infused leaves burst across Graveler's rocky surface, the force staggering the heavy Pokémon backward, leaving it no chance to intervene in the battle.
Nozomi felt even more at ease. He waved his hand. "Onix, hold steady, then Rock Tomb!"
No point dodging—the Bone Club itself was no formidable move. While its Ground-type nature amplified damage against Onix, at Onix's level, it was nothing to withstand head-on.
Unfazed, Onix swung its tail, smashing a massive boulder toward Cubone.
"Dodge it!"
Cubone dodged left and right, but the falling rocks rained like unyielding droplets.
Whenever Cubone paused to catch its breath, another stone fell from the sky, forcing it to keep running to avoid being crushed.
Nearby, Graveler also suffered. The combined assault of Rock Tomb and Magical Leaf pressed against it, giving it a double dose of 'misery.'
Hikoji watched as Onix tirelessly threw rocks, clearly frustrated.
Nozomi was clearly relying on Onix's endurance to drain the stamina of both Graveler and Cubone, while Hikoji's two Pokémon lacked the capacity to break the stalemate, slowly being pushed toward disaster.
By contrast, Nozomi was in high spirits, especially watching Cubone and Graveler scramble under the rain of rocks, and seeing Hikoji's unpleasant expression brought him great satisfaction.
Patience would fail eventually. If this continued, the exhausted Graveler and Cubone, constantly dodging and unable to attack, would eventually be taken down by Onix.
"Damn it! All of you, attack together! Take down that Onix!"
Seeing the tide turn against him, Hikoji had no choice but to rally the nearby Team Rocket members for a coordinated attack on Nozomi.
But manpower was limited.
Several Team Rocket members who had attempted to swarm Nozomi earlier were already defeated by Onix's attacks. Pulling more reinforcements weakened their forces against the ordinary trainers, leaving fewer to confront them.
The situation, initially heavily in Team Rocket's favor, was gradually turning against them.
Continuing to siphon reinforcements would tip the balance toward Nozomi's alliance trainers—Hikoji knew this perfectly well.
But he had no other options.
If he lost to Nozomi now, allowing Nozomi to act freely, the situation would deteriorate further.
Team Rocket's only path to victory was to eliminate Nozomi first, then regroup to crush the alliance trainers.
"I've already alerted my Pewter City underlings—the reinforcements should arrive any moment," Hikoji thought, momentarily relaxing his tense nerves.
…
Nozomi observed the Team Rocket trainers gradually closing in and immediately understood Hikoji's strategy.
"Of course, those who rise to Team Rocket leadership aren't fools. They wouldn't let me end this fight so easily."
"But will you really change your strategy?" Nozomi chuckled.
He snapped his fingers. Onix froze in place, and the downpour of falling rocks abruptly ceased.
Just as Hikoji exhaled in relief, thinking Nozomi had simply paused to defend against the encircling forces, Metagross—who had been dominating Hitmontop and Crobat—suddenly released its struggling opponents and dashed toward Nozomi with incredible speed.
Like a meteor, Metagross' silver-gray body slammed a lone Arbok blocking its path, then collided head-on with the resting Graveler.
"Graveler—!"
The relaxed expression on Graveler's face instantly contorted into agony. Its spherical, massive body was sent flying, utterly knocked back by Metagross' impact.
"Gurrgh!"
Both alliance and Team Rocket trainers swallowed hard at the sight.
"What kind of power is that, to send a Graveler flying like that!"
For a moment, all eyes on Nozomi were filled with awe.