Nova had not sent Corvisquire in to harass the Flygon because he expected it to deal serious damage. Corvisquire's attacking power at this stage was not going to trouble a level 48 Flygon in any meaningful way.
The point was timing. By keeping the Flygon occupied in the air, Nova could use the glider wings to land first and get Nidoking out before the Flygon had a chance to set its own terms for the fight.
It worked. The Flygon, which should have had every advantage in speed and positioning, found the initiative already gone by the time it touched down.
The moment it dropped its prey and its claws hit the ground, Ice Beam cut through the low-hanging dust and connected cleanly. Flygon was a Dragon and Ground type — Ice-type moves hit it for four times the normal damage. Even with years of malicious drug use raising its pain tolerance well above that of an ordinary Pokémon, the impact drew a sharp cry from it.
It tried to counter immediately. Nova did not give it room.
On his command, Nidoking closed the distance fast and drove its venomous horn into the Flygon's thick, keratinised hide with Poison Jab. Ground types have a natural resistance to Poison, and the move was never going to deal heavy damage — that was not the plan. The plan was to stay inside the Flygon's reach, keeping it from having the space to use the high-power moves it had access to at level 48. A Flygon that could freely use Earthquake or Dragon Rush was a serious problem. The shockwave alone from an Earthquake, even a glancing one, could do real damage to Nova. Keeping Nidoking pressed close was the safest way to prevent that.
The two Pokémon grappled at close range. Flygon was a fully evolved Pokémon and no pushover — the exchange left both of them taking hits.
While they were locked together, Corvisquire had been building up energy overhead. It came down hard with Brave Bird, slamming directly into the Flygon's back from above.
There was a time when Corvisquire's moves had been easy to dismiss. A Flying-type move with a base power of 60 was not going to frighten anyone. But Brave Bird carried a base power of 140 — boosted further by Same-Type Attack Bonus — and landing it from a full dive onto an already-battered opponent was a different matter entirely.
Two high-damage hits in rapid succession had visibly shaken the Flygon.
Nidoking had been watching. The moment Brave Bird connected and the Flygon staggered, it opened its jaws and spat a concentrated stream of Toxic directly at the Flygon. Given Nidoking's affinity for Poison-type moves, the potency of the Toxic it produced was exceptional. The Flygon's remaining endurance began burning away fast — within seconds, it had no fight left in it.
The Flygon collapsed with a heavy crash.
Nova threw two Poké Balls in quick succession — one for the Flygon, one for the Tauros that had been its prey.
Technically, this was not a capture in the full sense of the word.
It followed the same logic as when Nova had caught the Onix outside Lune Town. Knocking a Pokémon unconscious and putting it into a ball does not mean it will wake up ready to follow orders. A Pokémon is not brainwashed by the act of being caught. The kind of bond Nova had with Corvisquire — built through a fair fight where both sides showed what they were capable of, leading to genuine mutual respect — was something entirely different.
Nova put these two Pokémon into balls for one simple reason: to help them where he could.
He did not have enough Poké Balls to store every Trapinch he had cleared along the way, so he had made choices. Flygon, specifically, he could not leave lying in the open desert. A Pokémon at that level, if it regained consciousness and found itself abandoned, would almost certainly come looking — and an angry level 48 Flygon showing up at the worst possible moment was not a risk worth taking.
Nova pulled up his Pokédex and checked his two partners.
Nidoking had reached level 49, sitting about halfway to level 50.
Corvisquire had reached level 35 — right on the threshold of its final evolution.
Both had grown noticeably from the string of battles. Even so, the thought of going deeper into the desert to face Taylor with this lineup made Nova cautious. His plan felt solid, but having a fallback option cost nothing.
He released the Onix from its ball.
There was a real possibility a wild Onix with that kind of dominant history would attack a Trainer on sight. But this one had already been on the receiving end of Nidoking once before. With Nidoking standing right there, it kept still.
The Onix coiled into a compact heap on the sand. From a distance it looked like a pile of boulders stacked by accident.
"Let's make a deal," Nova said. "I know you don't want to be caught. That's fine. Fight alongside me out here, follow my directions through this desert, and when it's over I'll take you back to the outskirts of Lune Town and release you. You have my word."
The Onix lifted its head slowly, as if it could not quite believe what it was hearing.
Nova took that as agreement. He recalled it back into its ball and pressed on in the direction the Flygon had been flying.
Whatever the Flygon had been carrying that Tauros back to, it was almost certainly the colony's main nest. Following that same heading would lead him straight to it — and straight to Taylor, if his read on the situation was right.
There was one more thing on his mind. The battle with the Flygon had been loud. No major moves like Earthquake had gone off, but this was the heart of the colony's territory. Noise carried. Something in the area had been listening.
He had walked only a few hundred metres before Corvisquire's attention snapped behind them. It spun around and threw up a Protect barrier, the pale green shield snapping into place between Nova and whatever was coming.
A line in the sand — moving fast, winding like a path cut by something large just below the surface. Then a massive dark-purple snake burst upward and hit the barrier instantly with a spray of Acid.
The pale green shield hissed and sizzled where the Acid made contact. The viscous liquid crept across the surface of the Protect like a rising tide, spreading slowly across the barrier from every angle, eating into it steadily. If the barrier gave way, there would be nothing between Nova and what was outside it.
Nova called out Defog. Corvisquire released a sharp burst of Flying-type energy that scattered the Acid and cleared the air around them.
At the same moment, Nidoking fired a Confusion attack into the snake, knocking it back.
Nova finally had space to see what they were dealing with.
It was an Arbok. Exceptionally large, even for its species.
And behind it, half-obscured in the dust stirred up by the serpent's movement, the outline of a person stood watching.