The moment it showed itself, the Onix struck hard at these invaders.
Falling rock came down at their faces in a dense mass, whistling through the air.
"Rooar—"
Zoroark shifted its stance, took on the shape of Gyarados and held off that wave of attack.
"Whoosh—"
It opened its mouth and answered with a Water Gun.
The Onix felt the danger of it and threw up wall after wall of rock in front of itself, keeping the Water Gun outside.
Rock and Ground as it was, Water types had a terrible advantage over it; if a hit landed it would certainly do it great harm.
"Hoo, hoo, hoo—"
Zoroark pressed forward, Water Pulse coiling about it, and flung the whole of it in together.
Its figure shimmered and it took on the shape of Slaking, closing the distance to the Onix at speed.
"Rooar—"
The instant the Onix showed its head, Zoroark's fist was already coming down on it, with a thud, and the pain was more than it could bear.
That was not the end of it. Zoroark seized the chance, changed again, and took on the shape of Zweilous.
A stream of power appeared from each of the two heads, ice and water meeting, and came straight at the Onix.
A Zweilous shaped out of Zoroark had less command of that power than a true Zweilous, but it was still enough to do the Onix real damage.
This change too was something Zoroark had noted down while watching Zweilous train and fight.
And with its own power of transformation it could copy that, concentrate the advantages of it, and then bring out what was strongest in itself.
Struck by that blow on the body, the Onix actually fell back several paces and crashed down on the sand.
"Rraah, rraah—"
Zoroark's attacks were very inventive, but the force behind them was still a little small; they could not finish the Onix at a stroke.
Sand flew up, and line upon line of rock appeared all at once and hemmed it in — the move Rock Tomb.
The Onix bore the pain and pulled itself up, opened its mouth and breathed out a Dragon Breath, which came down on the place where Zoroark stood.
"Ssh-ssh—"
The fight between Zoroark and the Onix was more than the Sandslash's eyes could keep up with.
Who would have thought it — this black creature was as formidable as that, and could change its shape, and could beat this insufferable Onix about like this face to face.
Put that way, the kick it had given the Sandslash earlier had been mercy on its part.
"Rumble, rumble—"
The range of their fighting widened by degrees, moves flying from both sides, back and forth.
Merely sensing the ripples of power off those moves frightened the Sandslash.
If one of them came down on it, it would be gravely hurt if it were not killed outright.
"Come and stand over here, then you'll be all right."
Vance spoke up from the side, telling it to come to him.
Hearing Vance's words the Sandslash was taken aback. How was it that those words made it feel so safe?
No, no, why would it go over to him at a time like this? It ought to be running.
Why go over — but this human did seem to be concerned for it.
Damn it all. The Sandslash was actually wavering.
After a few seconds of wavering the Sandslash made up its mind to run, and the moment its leg moved it felt that something was wrong.
It was as though some sense were telling it that it absolutely could not get away.
It struggled with itself for a few seconds, and then came to Vance's side and did nothing further.
That Aerodactyl was still about. Even in a place like this, it could not get away.
If it were going to run, it might perhaps manage it while the other was off fighting.
No wonder. Fortunately it had not lost its head and chosen to run; if it had run it would only have been dragged back.
*Cautious as I've always been, and here I am losing my head like that. No, no.*
The Sandslash said it to itself, calmed down, told itself to keep cool and not lose its head.
"Just watch from the side. Oh — and here, this is for you."
Coming to his side, it saw him toss over several cubes of energy; the Sandslash opened its mouth and ate the lot.
That flavour again.
The Sandslash was satisfied. For some reason, with a fight still going on over there, it felt at ease at this moment, and safe beside him. It really was uncanny.
"Count that as your rest. We go on shortly."
And its ease was cut short.
Of course. Humans squeeze you dry — they count even this time in.
Still, this one was generous, ready to hand over so many good things; the Sandslash found Vance a great deal easier to look at now.
Over there, the Onix was already wrapped in a bank of water-mist, and what was happening inside could not be seen.
The vapour churned and rolled inward.
Inside it, Zoroark had already taken on the form of Suicune and was working the power, opening its final attack on the Onix.
The pressure coming off it was overbearing, and the Onix, with all of it aimed at it, was thoroughly crushed down.
The waves of water struck it without anything to stop them, rolled up where they stood, and swept it in.
"Rumble, rumble—"
There was a sound of boiling water, and the whole of that broad space was left soaked.
The Onix had nothing left. It lost its power to fight and went down on the sticky earth, and moved no more.
"Hoo—"
Zoroark changed back into its own body and gave its hair a shake. Even here it had been held in check — all that effort to beat a single Onix.
"Ssh-ssh—"
The Sandslash let out a breath as well. That pressure was gone and it felt much better; seeing Zoroark coming over, it put on an ingratiating look.
That presence had weighed heavily on its heart, and it had not been able to resist it. It had no idea what in the world the thing was, but it knew it must have been the doing of this black creature.
That one was not to be crossed.
"Oo-oo—"
"It isn't."
Vance answered. This Onix was not the one he was looking for.
"Count it as experience for you."
With that he took out a Poké Ball and threw it, taking the Onix in.
"Clunk—"
The Poké Ball dropped onto the earth with a clunk. Caught.
Once it was caught, Vance did not move, and Zoroark stood with its arms folded.
"Ssh-ssh—"
The Sandslash looked up and met Zoroark's gaze, with the faintest flick of it.
*?? Eh? What's that supposed to mean — it wants me to do this job as well?*
In the end the Sandslash, which knew how to read a situation, went forward, took the Poké Ball in its paws, trotted eagerly over to Vance and offered it up in both of them.