Pokemon Journeys: Masters 8 Tournament

Chapter 3 - Mega Evolution vs. Dynamax

"Let's change the weather!" Lance yelled with a triumphant smile, "Tyranitar, Sandstorm!"

The battlefield started to be clouded by sand, and within seconds, Haxorus was out of sight of Iris and Tyranitar.

Iris panicked, the sandstorm allowed Tyranitar to hide inside it because of its rock-typing, while her dragon-type Haxorus would continue to take damage. To make things worse, she could not see Haxorus and the opponent. This made returning Haxorus impossible.

"Lance must have learned it from my match against Raihan!" Ash remembered the terrible sandstorm that made his Dragonite suffer earlier in the week.

"No, I think it's just the author who has learned about it and arranged for it to happen," Goh murmured.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked.

Goh shrugged, "Never mind. It's not important."

"Stay calm, Haxorus," Iris slapped her face and raised her voice, "Get your defense stance ready."

Haxorus bent his legs slightly and put his arms in front of his face. He took slower breaths and waited for the attack. Much like how boxers would defend in real life.

A dark pulse hit the side of Haxorus, causing him to flinch and backed off a few steps. Haxorus roared, somewhat in pain, somewhat in anger.

"Stay calm. Wait for it," Iris was being patient and impatient at the same time. She could be patient enough to wait for the Sandstorm effect to wear off, but she was impatient to see her Haxorus taking too much damage.

She communicated with Haxorus telepathically that Tyranitar was slow, if it gave him a physical attack, he could grab Tyranitar and give him the Outrage.

But Lance was no stupid person. He knew his Tyranitar was best at attacking from afar. Close combat might put him at a disadvantage, but it could maintain distance from his opponents with its raw strength in its limbs.

A stone edge hit Haxorus, but since he was in a defensive crouch position, the stone edge did not damage him a lot but instead sent Haxorus flying into the air, out of the Sandstorm.

"Hit the ground with Dragon Pulse!" Iris saw the opening and commanded.

Haxorus charged a purple dragon-shaped beam towards the ground that was covered in the sandstorm. A part of the sandstorm was cleared, and Tyranitar was discovered.

"Hyper Beam!" Lance ordered. He knew Haxorus would not be able to move around in mid-air, so this would hit straight on.

"Psycho Cut, followed by Outrage!" Iris yelled.

Haxorus swung his arm, and purple crescent-shaped energy charged towards the orange hyper beam, resulting in a clash. Haxorus landed right next to Tyranitar and burst in energy.

Tyranitar turned around and punched Haxorus, who caught both punches and slammed Tyranitar with his axe head. Tyranitar took some huge damage and backed off a little bit.

"Crunch!" Lance ordered.

Tyranitar quickly charged at Haxorus again with its sharp fangs, and Haxorus charged in with his head once again. This resulted in another clash, both took some damage and backed away. Tyranitar was once again in the sandstorm, and Haxorus was left in Confusion due to Outrage effects.

Haxorus slammed his head onto the ground a couple of times to cancel the confusion effect. A hyper beam was charged towards him in the meantime, and Haxorus barely blocked it with his arms. Haxorus was now in lower health than Tyranitar, but the good news was that the sandstorm had faded.