As it turned out, Lü Ming had been right. They had only just returned to the vehicles when the distant sky began to distort.
A murky yellow smeared the horizon. Like a monster, the churning sand swallowed the sky bit by bit as it surged toward them.
The Absol on the rocky hill had already vanished, presumably taking shelter from the natural disaster as well.
Even if Absol could predict disasters, it was still an ordinary Pokémon, not a legendary Pokémon capable of altering nature, let alone controlling it.
"It's a sandstorm! Get in the vehicles, quick!"
Getting caught in a sandstorm out on the vast Gobi Desert was hardly good news, but it was still far better than encountering a tsunami at sea.
There was no chance of outrunning it. The sandstorm might have looked slow, but it actually moved as swiftly as the wind.
The air currents ahead of it had already reached them. The wind whipped up fine grit, pelting the exposed rocks with a dense pattering.
Even inside the vehicle, they could hear little stones striking the windows.
Before the sandstorm reached them in earnest, they drove behind a slope sheltered from the wind. Then Wei Heng pressed several buttons, and the vehicle changed shape.
Armor plates descended over the windows, and the wheel hubs tightened and locked in place. It seemed to have entered some sort of defensive mode.
"This thing's an armored car, too?"
"Who knows what those people in the Research Department get up to all day? They said this vehicle's defensive mode was tough enough to withstand an Aggron's Take Down. Apparently, they're working on a new version that can take a Hyper Beam head-on.
"Have you seen Ben 10? Supposedly, that old rust bucket in it gave them the idea."
Yes,