"Ah!" Max had been about to keep watching when a sudden force surged up through the sand beneath his feet, knocking him over and sending him sprawling. An Anorith burrowed out of the sand, its powerful, well-developed foreclaws moving as it charged straight at him. Max went pale with fright. Latios had stayed out of the battle to guard Max, but while he had protected him from threats aboveground, he had missed the one underground. Now even Latios was too late to save him.
Whoosh! The charging Anorith struck empty air, while Max appeared beside it. Anorith immediately let out an angry cry. Max froze for a moment, then hurried to his feet, realizing that Ralts had saved him with Teleport.
"Thank you, Ralts!" Max looked gratefully at the Ralts standing on his shoulder, still shaken by his narrow escape.
"Be careful, Max!" Ralts flipped down from Max's shoulder and stood in front of the swaggering Anorith.
"Everyone, come out and help!" Max certainly did not think he needed to stick to one-on-one battles now. After all, the other Pokémon Trainers, who were countless times stronger than him, were all going all out. His Poké Balls opened, and Treecko, Buizel, and Wurmple appeared, surrounding Anorith. The urge to battle rose within Max as well. He glanced around. Although he did not know where the invisible Latios was, he trusted that Latios would understand what he wanted. Sure enough, Latios only cleared away the other fossil Pokémon attacking them and left this Anorith alone.
"All right, everyone, follow my commands! Wurmple, watch out! It's coming your way! Quick, use Poison Sting to drive it back!" Watching the movements of the Anorith surrounded by his four Pokémon, Max quickly issued his orders.
"No, Poison Sting is too weak! It can't stop Anorith!