Of everyone on the battlefield, Grant was the only one who felt pure relief when he heard Aaron's voice.
Damn it, Aaron. Any later and I really would've died young.
He had no idea where Aaron's actual limit was anymore, but he knew better than anyone else there just how dangerous the eighteen-year-old could be when he stopped holding back.
Aaron had broken the ninth-floor record of the Hidden Dragon Tower—a record that had stood for thousands of years.
As ridiculous as it sounded for someone his age, Grant had long since accepted the obvious conclusion.
Aaron already possessed strength comparable to a Class Champion-level Trainer.
And right now, that was exactly what they needed.
...
Above the battlefield, Greninja emerged through the swirling snow.
A brilliant golden cloak of energy covered his body, rippling around him like living flame. His pupils had changed into distinctive cross-shaped patterns, while the power of Sage Mode and the Tailed Beast Cloak surged together around him.
Both palms were raised above his head.
Suspended between them was an enormous white-blue sphere of spiraling energy more than five meters across.
Four immense blades of compressed wind extended from its sides, giving the completed technique a diameter of well over ten meters.
Sage Art: Wind Style—Super Giant Rasenshuriken.
The blades spun faster and faster.
A high-pitched shriek tore across the grove as the compressed wind sliced through the surrounding air. Thin white trails appeared around the edges of the technique, vanishing almost as quickly as they formed.
Then the wind hit.
Snow erupted from the ground.
Trees bent under the pressure.
A violent gale swept across the mountainside, strong enough that those below had to brace themselves all over again.
"Grenin..."
Greninja looked up at the massive ice pillar bearing down on them.
Then he thrust both hands forward.
The Rasenshuriken met it head-on.
SCREEEEEECH!
The sound was nothing like an ordinary collision.
The spinning wind blades bit into the ice with a grinding scream, cutting deeper even as the enormous pillar continued pressing downward.
For an instant, the two forces locked together.
Then a crack appeared.
CRACK!
It raced straight through the center of the pillar.
Everyone below stared upward.
The Super Giant Rasenshuriken had cut through it.
Not chipped it.
Not slowed it.
Cut it cleanly in half.
The two enormous sections split apart on either side of Greninja's attack, their freshly severed surfaces so smooth that they reflected the pale light like mirrors.
Then the Rasenshuriken detonated between them.
BOOM!
The explosion shook the entire mountainside.
Countless blades of compressed wind tore through both halves of the ice pillar, shredding the massive construct from the inside out. What had been a frozen mass large enough to crush the entire expedition broke apart into countless fragments.
Ice crystals filled the sky.
For several seconds, they glittered in the light like falling stars before drifting down over the forest.
"Grenin."
Greninja disappeared from the air.
A moment later, he landed beside Aaron atop a nearby snowy ridge.
The two stood together above the battlefield.
Aaron's white insulated coat snapped violently in the wind, while Greninja's golden energy cloak streamed behind him. With the last traces of the Rasenshuriken still fading through the sky, the Pokémon looked almost otherworldly.
Powerful.
Mysterious.
And, at that moment, very much like the answer to everyone's prayers.
Aaron had arrived just in time.
...
Below them, no one moved.
The forest had gone so quiet that the faint sound of ice crystals landing in the snow seemed unnaturally loud.
Grant had expected Aaron to do something.
Even he had not expected that.
Ryan simply stared.
The expedition members around him were not doing much better.
And Sandslash—
Sandslash looked utterly stunned.
"Slash!?"
Its eyes widened as it stared at the glittering remains of the attack it had created with all its strength.
The enormous ice pillar was gone.
Not blocked.
Not pushed aside.
Destroyed.
For a moment, shock completely replaced the arrogance that had dominated its expression throughout the battle.
Then came humiliation.
Greninja had sliced through its strongest attack with almost insulting ease, as though that enormous pillar had been nothing more difficult than something laid out on a chopping board.
"Slash..."
Its claws dug into the snow.
The Alolan Sandslash slowly turned toward the ridge where Aaron and Greninja stood.
Its expression darkened.
The shock had not disappeared.
But anger was quickly overtaking it.
...
One of the expedition members finally found his voice.
"Are we... actually alive?"
Another stared up at the ice crystals still drifting through the air.
"I think we are."
A few nervous laughs followed.
Then someone pointed toward the ridge.
"Aaron's back!"
"That Greninja shattered the whole thing in one attack!"
"I thought we were dead!"
"So did I."
Someone else was still staring at Greninja.
"Was he always that strong?"
A nearby member of the Rivergate team shook his head slowly.
"I don't even know what I'm looking at anymore."
That earned a breathless laugh from someone beside him.
"Seriously... is Aaron even normal?"
The fear that had gripped the expedition only moments earlier finally broke.
They had already resigned themselves to dying beneath that ice pillar. Some had even tried to tell Aaron to run rather than come back for them.
Instead, he had returned and shattered the attack that none of them had been able to stop.
Relief hit all at once.
Then excitement followed.
"Aaron!"
Someone shouted his name.
Another voice joined in.
"Aaron!"
More followed.
"Aaron! Aaron!"
Within seconds, the entire grove was echoing with it.
The people who had been staring at the falling pillar in despair only moments earlier were now shouting toward the snowy ridge with everything they had left.
They were alive.
And right now, Aaron was the reason why.
...