Chapter 18 – Outside Again
"One hour," Joy said. "No training, no route, nothing strenuous. Fresh air and familiar ground and then back."
"Understood."
"I mean it Ryan."
"I know."
She gave him the look. The one that sat somewhere between professional concern and you haven't slept properly in days. Both of those things were true so he didn't argue.
He clipped Deino's ball to his belt and pushed through the front door into the cold.
Piplup was already outside it had started doing that, slipping out whenever the doors opened, waiting on the pavement like it had somewhere to be and Ryan was the one making them late. It looked up at him when he came out.
"Yeah," Ryan said. "He's coming."
He released Deino.
Deino appeared and went completely still. Head up, ears forward, nostrils working through everything at once the street, the cold, the sounds of Sandgem. Ryan stood beside him and didn't rush it. This wasn't something you could hurry.
Deino did his circle. Slower than before, more careful, but he did it.
Then he found Ryan's leg and stayed there. Pressed close in a way he'd never done before the route not the easy confident closeness of before but something smaller. Something that needed to know exactly where Ryan was at all times.
Ryan put his hand on his back. "I'm right here. Take your time."
Deino's breathing slowed slightly.
"We're just going to the park. Nothing else. Just the park."
Deino didn't respond but his ears came down a fraction from where they'd been.
Okay. Okay good.
"Let's go then."
---
The park at the edge of town. Open ground, frozen fountain, bare trees. Nowhere near the tree line, nowhere anything could come from without being seen first. Ryan was thinking like that now sight lines, cover, angles. Two weeks ago he hadn't.
They walked slowly. Deino stopped twice for no visible reason, freezing mid-step and listening until he decided whatever it was was nothing. The second time a Starly landed on a branch nearby and Deino flinched sharp, sideways, caught himself immediately and went rigid.
Ryan kept walking at the same pace.
"It's just a Starly," he said. Quiet, not making it a thing. "They're everywhere. You know that."
Deino stood rigid for another second. Then his ear turned toward Ryan's voice and he started walking again.
Piplup had seen all of it. Ryan caught it glancing at Deino, then up at him, then back to the path. Nothing said. Just noted and filed away somewhere.
They did a loop and ended up at the bench near the frozen fountain. Ryan sat. Deino settled at his feet, not relaxed but present. Piplup took the spot beside Ryan and sat straight, eyes moving across the open ground.
Keeping watch. Actually keeping watch.
Ryan looked at Piplup for a moment. "You know you don't have to do that."
"Pip." The tone of something that was going to do it anyway.
"Okay." He looked out at the park. A few Bidoof near the far tree line, a trainer in the distance with a Ponyta that was steaming faintly in the cold air. Normal Sandgem morning. "Fair enough."
He looked down at Deino. "How does it feel? Being outside?"
Deino's ear turned toward him.
"You don't have to answer that. Stupid question probably." Ryan leaned his elbows on his knees. "It's cold. That's my main feeling. Should've worn a thicker jacket."
Deino made a sound. Low, quiet not quite the warm rumble from before but something in that direction. The first time in a week.
Ryan didn't make a big deal of it. Just noted it and kept looking at the park.
"Piplup's been training every day," he said. "Getting faster. Still smug about it." He glanced at Piplup. "No offence."
"Pip," Piplup said, not offended at all.
"See." Ryan looked back at the fountain. "We've been working on Pound and Bubble mostly. Timing between moves. I've been slow on the calls working on that too." He paused. "Lot to work on honestly."
Deino shifted slightly at his feet. Not closer exactly just a small adjustment, like he was settling in.
Ryan stayed where he was and kept talking about nothing in particular until the cold got too deep into his jacket and then they walked back.
---
Afternoon. The stretch of ground behind Rowan's lab.
"Okay," Ryan said, setting up the second post. "Same as yesterday but faster. I want the transitions cleaner no hesitation between moves."
Piplup looked at him with the expression of something that was ready and waiting for Ryan to catch up.
"Right. Go Peck!"
Piplup moved. Fast, beak forward, connected with the post with a crack that sent it rocking.
"Bubble left post, now!"
Piplup pivoted and fired without breaking stride cluster of bubbles catching the second post and pushing it sideways in the frozen ground.
"Pound before it stops!"
Already there. The post went flat.
Ryan stood looking at it on the ground.
Four seconds. Maybe less.
"Okay," he said. "That was fast."
Piplup reset and looked at him.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm allowed to be surprised."
"Pip." Not impressed by his surprise.
"Peck pull back was slow though. Left yourself open."
Piplup's expression shifted. Taking that in.
"Not bad, just something to fix. Again Peck!"
They went again. Ryan called everything, every move, every transition "Bubble!" "Pound!" "Peck, pull back, reset!" and Piplup executed, clean and fast, making small adjustments in the fractions of a second between commands where Ryan's voice hadn't arrived yet.
That gap was the thing. Ryan could see Piplup reading ahead of the calls, moving into position before the word was out, and twice it was faster than him already committed to something by the time Ryan's mouth caught up with what his eyes had seen.
"Growl hold it!"
Piplup stopped mid-movement and planted, shoulders forward, and the sound came rolling out low and heavy across the frozen ground.
"Good Pound into the post while it's still going!"
Piplup moved without dropping the Growl both at once, the sound continuing while it crossed the ground and hit the post with a crack that Ryan felt in his chest.
He hadn't known it could do that.
"Stop," Ryan said.
Piplup stopped. Looked at him.
"Can you do that again? Growl and move at the same time?"
"Pip." Certain.
"Right." Ryan reset the post, mind already turning it over. Growl dropping an opponent's attack while Piplup was already moving that was pressure, that was real pressure, that was the kind of thing that made trainers panic. "Okay. From the top Peck!"
They ran it again. And again. Ryan called everything loud and clear "Bubble!" "Peck!" "Growl, keep moving!" and Piplup pushed, faster each time, until Ryan was calling moves a beat before he'd fully decided on them because if he waited to be certain Piplup was already ahead of him.
TOO SLOW on the Bubble call. Piplup had already seen the angle and taken it right call, wrong that Ryan hadn't been the one to make it.
"My fault," Ryan said. "I was late. Again."
Piplup reset without comment.
"Pound go!"
They finished as the light went flat. Ryan called it and crouched down to Piplup's level, both of them breathing harder than when they'd started.
"One more thing. Growl on me. I want to see what it looks like from the front."
Piplup considered him for a second. Then it squared its shoulders and the sound came low, rolling, bigger than it had any right to be. Ryan felt it in his chest and held eye contact through the whole thing and watched Piplup's posture shift into something that looked much less like a small proud water bird and much more like something you wouldn't want to be standing across from in a real fight.
When it stopped he nodded. "That's it. That's the one."
Piplup blinked. Looked away. Looked back.
"That's a real move," Ryan said. "Not just noise. You feel the difference?"
A pause. "Pip." Quieter. Like it had felt it and hadn't had a word for it until now.
"Good." Ryan stood. "Same time tomorrow."