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Watching Vibrava use Dragon Breath to pick off the Flying-type Pokémon one after another, the Trainers still trapped in Sand Tomb did not lose their nerve. Instead, they came up with what seemed like a clever plan: take to the sky and scatter in every direction.
Dragon Breath could knock a Pokémon out in a single hit, but there were more than twenty Trainers gathered here. Not everyone had sent out a Flying-type Pokémon at the very start, but in a race like this, Flying-types were the fastest way to cover ground, so almost every Trainer carried at least one.
The Trainers who managed to break free for a moment did not waste time worrying about the companions still trapped in the quicksand. Their only thought was getting their own Flying-type Pokémon to pull them out and into the air.
Once free, they planned to scatter and flee right away. After all, this was not a true wilderness survival battle. Their trapped companions were not in any real danger. As long as they themselves got away from this frightening newcomer, they still had a real shot at winning the cross-country race.
What they had not considered was this: Ground-type moves might be completely useless against Flying-types, but if Nova switched to a Rock-type move that covered a wide area, none of them would be safe at all.
Azir's Desert Prince trait could enhance any move with "sand" in its name, and that included the Rock-type move Sandstorm, a move that ordinary Flying-type Pokémon dreaded. With Desert Prince active, Vibrava's Sandstorm had no fixed limit to its range. As long as Azir kept feeding energy into the move, the storm would keep growing wider, and its damage would grow right along with it.
Normally, a move like this would not be very useful in an official battle, since standard arenas were small and surrounded by energy barriers that protected the audience and Trainers from stray damage. Inside those barriers, an endless Sandstorm simply could not expand, so only the extra damage bonus would matter.
Out here in the wild, though, with no energy barriers to hold it back, this move could do far more.
This was exactly why Nova had chosen not to bring his Sprigatito along on this race. If Azir ever needed to use Sandstorm, Corviknight, being Steel-type, and Nidoking, being Ground-type, would take no damage at all, and Azir itself was immune as well. Sprigatito, being a Grass-type, would have suffered badly in that punishing storm of dust. As for Nova himself, he trusted Corviknight to keep him safe.
On Nova's command, Azir stopped chasing the contestants fleeing through the sky and dropped straight down to the ground instead. Its wings began beating rapidly, and with Azir at the center, a powerful dust storm started forming right at Entrance Three, letting out a low, rumbling cry as the wind picked up. Fed by Azir's continuous output, the storm spread outward faster and faster, growing larger with every passing second.
In barely half a minute, even the contestants who had already flown hundreds of meters away found themselves caught inside the raging storm.
"Who turned off the lights?"
"What in the world is this weather?"
"This can't be right. The forecast never mentioned anything about a dust storm today!"
It did not take them long to realize that this was no ordinary weather. It was a deadly move, conjured up by a single Pokémon.
The Flying-type Pokémon kept taking damage from the storm while struggling to protect their Trainers at the same time, and their strength drained away fast. The competition rules made things worse, since flying high enough to escape the Sandstorm entirely would mean automatic disqualification.
A few of the sharper Trainers stopped caring about that rule entirely. It was obvious that something far stronger than expected was waiting at Entrance Three, and stubbornly trying to push through would only lead to greater losses. These Trainers had their Flying-type Pokémon climb straight up into the high sky to escape the Sandstorm's reach as fast as possible, accepting that this meant giving up the race entirely.
For the Trainers who tried to wait the storm out, the outcome was even worse. Their Flying-type Pokémon used up every bit of strength they had but still could not carry their Trainers free of the ever-growing storm. In the end, many were forced into a rough landing, then had to depend on other Pokémon for protection just to survive the Sandstorm's damage. Trainers who had no Rock-type, Ground-type, or Steel-type Pokémon with them simply gave up, setting off their emergency flares so the Gym staff on standby could come and rescue them.
On Nova's side, Corviknight had already landed and spread its great wings to form a shelter all around him, keeping the violent dust completely away.
Safe under Corviknight's wings, Nova silently counted to thirty, then gave the order for Azir to stop feeding energy into the Sandstorm. Thirty seconds had been more than enough time to force the fleeing Trainers back down out of the sky. After landing, any Trainer who wanted to stay safe from the Sandstorm would have had no choice but to rely on a Pokémon that could ignore its damage entirely, which meant Rock-type, Ground-type, or Steel-type. And now that the storm had stopped, those Trainers were almost certainly still standing right where they had landed, well within reach of one particular move: Earthquake.
"Nidoking, use Earthquake! Put everything into it!"
Nidoking let out a deep roar and stomped down with tremendous force. Powerful shockwaves rolled out from its massive body across the ground of the arena. The earth trembled and the distant hills seemed to shake along with it.
By then, Corviknight had already carried Nova up to a height of about fifteen meters, well clear of the tremors, while Azir flew off ahead into the depths of the maze, ready to pick off any remaining contestants it could find.
The Gym staff stationed at Entrance Three had their hands full. Barely two minutes into the race, a large number of contestants had already lost the ability to continue and were forced to drop out. Once the Sandstorm tore through, even more Trainers chose to withdraw rather than risk further harm. And now, on top of all that, a violent Earthquake had struck as well.
The handful of contestants who had still been holding on were wiped out by this final blow without a single exception. Some had even suffered fairly serious injuries from the force of the Earthquake.
Medical teams, rescue crews, and support staff rushed into action all at once. The Tournament Director overseeing Entrance Three even had to call in extra staff from the other entrances to help manage the situation.
Meanwhile, high above the arena, the Elite Trainer serving as field observer had been watching everything unfold. He finally spoke into the voice channel to deliver his report.
"Entrance Three is wiped out. Only one contestant remains standing."