Chapter 25 – Watching
The gym smelled like rock dust and something older underneath it.
Inside it was bigger than the outside suggested high ceiling, stone floor, benches along the sides. Natural light from windows near the roof. A challenge already in progress when they came in, maybe fifteen people on the benches.
Ryan found a seat at the end where he could see the full field. Lucas dropped down beside him and immediately spotted Roark.
"There he is," Lucas said. "Same headlamp."
Ryan looked at Roark for the first time in person and felt something he hadn't expected not nerves exactly, more like the gap between knowing something and seeing it. He'd known Roark was young. Seeing young was different. Nineteen maybe, broad, unhurried, moving around the field like someone who had been doing this for long enough that it had stopped feeling like anything at all.
That was either reassuring or the opposite. Ryan hadn't decided yet.
The challenge ended fast. The trainer on the field had been underprepared wrong types, slow calls, the kind of battle that told Ryan more about the challenger than about Roark. He walked off and Ryan felt mildly frustrated because he'd learned almost nothing.
"Short," Lucas said.
"He wasn't good enough." Ryan leaned his elbows on his knees. "I need to see Roark when something actually pressures him."
"And if nobody today does?"
"Then I go in tomorrow with less than I want." Ryan looked at the field. "Wouldn't be the first time."
Lucas looked at him sideways. "You're nervous."
Ryan opened his mouth. Closed it. "I'm preparing."
"You're nervous," Lucas said again, like he was confirming something to himself. He seemed almost relieved about it. "Good. Me too. I've been trying not to think about Cranidos since last night."
"Cranidos is fast," Ryan said. "Faster than it looks."
"Everything here is faster than it looks. It's the theme of this city." Lucas slouched back on the bench. "Bolt can handle it. Probably. Maybe." He paused. "How confident are you in Prinplup?"
Ryan thought about it honestly. "Very. The type advantage is real and Prinplup hits hard. The part I'm less sure about is me whether I call things fast enough when it matters."
He hadn't meant to say that much. It just came out.
Lucas nodded slowly. "You called fine against me last night."
"Against you I could think. Roark is going to be different." Ryan looked at the empty field. "He's going to push in ways that make thinking harder."
"Then don't think," Lucas said. "Just call."
Ryan looked at him.
"I'm serious," Lucas said. "You know your Pokemon. Prinplup knows what to do. Sometimes you just have to get out of the way and let it happen."
That was probably the least strategic advice Ryan had ever received. It was also possibly the most useful thing anyone had said to him in six weeks and he wasn't sure what to do with that so he looked back at the field and said nothing.
---
The next challenger was a girl their age. Confident walk, two Pokeballs on her belt. She led with Machop and called well and for the first few minutes she looked like she was actually winning.
Lucas got into it immediately. "She's good. Her Machop is fast."
Ryan watched Roark.
He watched the weight shift, the patience, the moment Roark decided to move and then Onix came out and the girl's Machop had nothing left and it was over in four seconds. She'd been genuinely good and it hadn't mattered because she'd been fighting the wrong battle the whole time.
Ryan sat with that for a moment.
"That happened fast," Lucas said.
"She was winning against Geodude," Ryan said. "Roark was setting up Onix."
Lucas looked at him. "How long did you know that was coming?"
"A while."
"And you didn't say anything?"
"I wasn't sure until the switch." Ryan paused. "Now I am."
Lucas stared at him. Then he looked back at the field where the girl was recalling her last Pokemon. "So he does that to everyone. Sets something up while they think they're winning."
"Seems like it."
"And tomorrow he's going to try to do it to us."
"Yeah."
"Great." Lucas leaned back. "That's great. Very exciting."
Ryan almost smiled at that. Almost.
---
The third challenger lasted longer pushed Roark to his second Pokemon, got the crowd leaning forward. Lucas got invested, called things quietly under his breath beside Ryan, made a strangled sound when Cranidos came out and ended it in one exchange.
"What," Lucas said. Not quietly.
People looked over.
"Sorry," Lucas said to the bench generally. Then to Ryan "Did you see that?"
"Yeah."
"It just one hit"
"Cranidos has high attack," Ryan said. "And it leads with its head. Literally. Most Pokemon flinch when something comes at them that fast it's a natural response. Roark counts on that."
"My Starly is going to flinch."
"Probably."
"You're supposed to say probably not."
"You asked me to pay attention. I'm paying attention."
Lucas looked at him for a second. Then he laughed despite himself. "Okay fair." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Arc can handle a flinch. We've trained for that. It's fine." He said it like he was convincing himself. "It's fine."
"It's fine," Ryan said. And meant it this time.
Lucas looked at him. "Yeah?"
"Arc is quick. If you keep Cranidos at range you're okay." Ryan looked at the field. "Don't let it close the distance. That's the whole thing."
"Don't let it close the distance," Lucas repeated. "Simple."
"Simple."
"Simple is good." Lucas nodded slowly. "Simple I can do."
---
They were getting up to leave when Roark walked over.
Ryan had seen him coming for a few seconds before he arrived. Hadn't moved.
Roark looked at him the way Ryan imagined he looked at most challengers direct, reading, the kind of look that had assessed a lot of people and had gotten efficient at it. Then something shifted slightly, like he'd found something unexpected.
"You've been here a while," Roark said.
"Watching."
"I noticed." A pause. "You're challenging tomorrow?"
"Yeah."
"What did you see?"
The question was genuine. Roark actually wanted to know not to prepare, or maybe to prepare, but also just curious. Ryan looked at him and decided to answer honestly.
"I saw that you're patient," Ryan said. "That you let challengers think they're controlling the battle while you set up the switch. That you haven't shown me everything yet." He paused. "And that you know I've been watching you, not the battles, which means tomorrow is going to be different than what I saw today."
Roark held his gaze for a moment.
"Slot at ten," he said. "I'll see you then."
He walked back toward the field.
Lucas waited until he was definitely gone. Then "You told him everything you saw."
"Yeah."
"Why?"
Ryan picked up his jacket. "Because now he has to decide what to change and what to keep. And whatever he changes that tells me something too."
Lucas looked at him for a long moment. "You're going to be really annoying to travel with long term."
"Probably," Ryan said.
"Good thing I like annoying." Lucas grabbed his own jacket. "Come on. Food. I refuse to think about tomorrow for at least two hours."
They walked out into the Oreburgh evening. The mine still going on the hill, smoke against the darkening sky, the city quieter now.
Ryan felt tomorrow sitting in his chest. Not heavy. Just real. The gap between six weeks of preparation and the actual thing had closed down to one night and a morning and then it would either be enough or it wouldn't.
He thought it was enough.
He hoped it was enough.
Those were different things, he knew. But tonight they felt close enough to the same thing that he could sleep on it.