The Mamoswine's body was enormous, covered all over in coffee-brown fur, its hooves and claws white. It had a pink, pig-like snout, with light brown fur growing around it.
The Mamoswine's eyes showed clearly, and around them lay a saddle-shaped pattern of blue and white. It had long, white, curving tusks made of ice.
On top of that there was Thick Fat, and by type it had the better of the Sandslash as well.
A fine snow came up over the field and went whistling past.
The Sandslash found it a little cold, but bearable.
"Mamoswine, Ice Shard."
Shard after shard of ice came splitting through the air, and under that drifting fine snow they carried that much more force.
The Sandslash moved freely; the cold had no effect on its condition.
"Mamoswine, a little heavier — Blizzard."
Perrin gave the order, raising the output of power.
"Fighting the environment, is it? A pity. The Sandslash has a thick hide and thick flesh, and it's been trained to adapt to conditions. There shouldn't be any trouble on that score."
One look was enough for Vance to know what the other man's move meant.
This was using the environment: adding to one's own advantage and weakening the opponent at the same time.
A gain on one side and a loss on the other, and a gap had opened before the fight had even begun.
It was a very typical way of fighting, too.
Perrin opposite was not a weak Trainer. It was a pity; he had simply run up against Vance, or the man would certainly not have stopped in this first round.
"Whoo, whoo, whoo—"
Snowflakes flew across the field, mixed with coarse yellow grit.
The Sandslash raised a Sandstorm and wrapped it around itself, standing off the fine snow flying about it.
Fighting for the environment — it, the Sandslash, could do that as well.
"Bam—"
The battle between the Mamoswine and the Sandslash was under way.
The Mamoswine came charging straight in, and the Sandslash used its advantage in agility, slipping the heavy blows and taking the light ones.
Fighting big, slow Pokémon — the Sandslash had a great deal of experience of that too.
Sand Tomb appeared under the Mamoswine's feet, and its own momentum made it stumble and very nearly go over.
"Pff—"
The Sandslash sprang out of the earth in front of it. Here was a fine chance — it threw up a handful of sand and blinded it.
Then it curled into a ball, drove at one of the legs in Gyro Ball form, slammed hard into it, opened the distance again, and on the way out added several powerful Fury Cutters.
"Rooo, rooo—"
The Mamoswine let out a cry of pain, its eyes gone red, and poured its raging strength wildly at the Sandslash.
The Sandslash had plenty of experience of that as well, and dodged every bit of it by a hair.
After that it was time for the kiting method.
That exchange had told on the Mamoswine's ability to move, too.
The Sandslash seized the moment and gave it no chance to recover.
And the Sandslash's own attack power was no small thing; its true fighting performance could stand comparison with an Elite-class.
Against something so large and so awkward on its feet, opening attack after attack without a break, the scales of victory tilted slowly to their side.
"Mamoswine, quickly, to the left! Blizzard!"
Perrin said it in haste. The more it went on the more flustered he grew, with none of his earlier ease left, and he could not get hold of the rhythm of the fight.
"How is this possible? A Sandslash that hasn't even broken through to Elite — how can it be this strong?"
At the same time Perrin was shocked all over again. Did it have to be this absurd? Its moves had clashed with the Mamoswine's again and again and come off no worse for it.
Defend long enough and something must give: even a Mamoswine with defence as high as this was gradually unable to hold out, and the wounds on it grew more and more.
"Pull yourself together, Mamoswine! Ancient Power!"
Perrin gave another order, putting his counter-attack together again.
But Vance was not about to allow the chance.
Under Vance's direction the Sandslash gradually took the upper hand.
"Bang—"
After a long while, the Mamoswine went down after all.
It had cost a great deal of work, but the Sandslash had settled this opponent too, and added one more win of the weak over the strong.
Against others of its own rank, this Mamoswine had still been a good deal the stronger.
The chips of ice the Sandslash picked off its own fur could bear witness to that.
"It caught me after all. I'll have to be careful next time."
The Sandslash looked at the ice chips on its claws and let out a sigh.
Still not perfect enough. Still not careful enough.
In the fight just now it had taken a hit. Luckily the damage had not been heavy. It would have to be more watchful.
"Mamoswine is unable to battle. Sandslash wins. Will the competitor Perrin please send out his last Pokémon."
"The last..."
Hearing that word, "last", Perrin felt somewhat dazed. He had never dreamed he would find himself in this position.
There was nothing else for it. He could only send out his strongest card.
"Yow-yow—"
A Flygon came out onto the field.
Flygon: a Dragon and Ground type with the Levitate Ability, its energy level as high as 49, and with thick Dragon blood in it, so that it had mastered a good many powerful Dragon-type moves.
The moment it came out the Sandslash's face turned serious and it set about weighing up the situation.
"Ssh-ssh. This Flygon looks a bad one to cross. Its strength is greater than that Mamoswine's just now, and it has a Trainer directing it, so its fighting power is no small thing — while I've used up nearly half my stamina and taken a few wounds besides. There's some risk in fighting it."
So the Sandslash reasoned.
"Sandslash, do you still want to go on?"
Vance was asking from his side.
After thinking it over, the Sandslash decided to fight after all.
Vance let it have its way.
So long as it was happy. Even if it lost, it had comrades to cover for it.
The battle began again, and the Sandslash, unruffled and unafraid, used that steady method of its own as before.
It bored down into the sandy earth, and suddenly felt itself shackled and bound, resistance springing up all around it — and the control was finer than its own.
Up in the sky, the Flygon's Dragon Rush had finished gathering.
Bind the Sandslash in the ground, then strike down from the sky: above and below working together, a single blow with the strength of both.
This Flygon's command of energy had reached a practised level as well.
Facing this greater danger, the Sandslash was as calm as ever.
A mere Dragon Rush — would it, always so careful, have no answer to that??
They really had underestimated it, the Sandslash.
"Boss, help!!"
Just as the thing was about to come down, the Sandslash let out a shrill cry for help and called on Vance for support.