Chapter 26 – Coal (Part One)
The arena looked different when it was yours.
Yesterday from the bench it had been something to study. Now it was the field and Ryan was standing on it and the stone floor under his boots felt different. The ceiling was higher than he remembered. The benches along the sides were maybe half full trainers, a few locals, Lucas near the end of the left bench with Bolt on his shoulder.
Ryan didn't look at Lucas. He looked at Roark.
Roark was already on the field. Broad, unhurried, the headlamp pushed up on his forehead. He looked at Ryan the way he'd looked at every challenger Ryan had watched from the bench yesterday direct, reading but with something extra in it today. The look of someone who had spent last night thinking.
Good. Ryan had too.
"Three Pokemon?" Roark said.
"Three."
"Same."
The referee called the rules and Ryan half-listened and used the other half of his attention on Roark's posture. Yesterday he'd stood with his weight back, patient. Today his front foot was further forward.
Different. Already different.
"Begin."
---
Roark led with Geodude.
"Prinplup go."
Prinplup appeared and looked across the field with the calm of something that had already decided how this was going to go.
Geodude floated higher and Roark called immediately "Stealth Rock!"
Rocks spiraled up from the ground along Ryan's side of the field. A trap pressure for every switch. Smart opener.
"Prinplup Peck, close in, don't give it time!"
Prinplup moved fast, crossed the field before Geodude had finished setting the second layer, beak forward connected with a crack that sent Geodude spinning sideways through the air.
Not down. Still up.
Geodude steadied itself and Roark called "Rollout!"
Geodude curled and launched, picking up speed across the stone floor directly at Prinplup.
"BubbleBeam - low, break its momentum!"
Prinplup planted and fired the BubbleBeam directly into the stone in front of the charging Geodude. Water exploded across the arena floor in a rushing sheet and Geodude hit it at speed, the Rollout losing momentum as the spinning body skidded through the water.
"Peck - while it's slowing!"
Prinplup closed fast and the Peck connected hard against Geodude's side while it struggled to regain its spin. The hit broke what little momentum it had left and Geodude dropped to the floor, rolling once before going still
Roark recalled it without expression. One down.
Ryan watched his hand move to his belt and waited to see which ball he reached for.
Not the one Ryan expected.
Graveler came out.
Bigger than Geodude. Much bigger broader, lower to the ground, the four arms giving it a stability Geodude had never had. It landed on the arena floor with a weight Ryan felt through his boots and looked at Prinplup with the flat patience of something that had been in a lot of fights and knew exactly what it was doing.
Ryan had watched three battles yesterday. He had never seen Graveler.
Roark had been saving it.
"Prin," Prinplup said quietly beside him. Not afraid recalibrating.
"I know," Ryan said. "Growl before it moves!"
Prinplup planted and the Growl came rolling out low and heavy across the arena floor. Ryan watched Graveler's first step slow slightly the attack drop landing and felt a small window open.
"BubbleBeam full power, now!"
Prinplup fired and the BubbleBeam hit Graveler square in the chest super effective, real damage but Graveler took it and kept walking. Slow, deliberate, eating the hit like it had decided the damage wasn't the point.
That's a problem.
"Graveler Rock Blast!"
Rocks launched across the field in rapid sequence one, two, three, four and Prinplup moved between them but the fourth caught it hard and sent it stumbling sideways across the stone floor.
"Prinplup up, keep moving, don't stop!"
Prinplup pushed up and kept moving good, that was good, a stationary target was a dead target but Graveler was already setting again, those four arms giving it a low stable base that made it look like it had grown out of the arena floor.
"Graveler Rollout!"
Graveler curled and launched and it was faster than Geodude had been heavier, more momentum, the stone floor cracking slightly under it as it accelerated.
"LEFT PECK, REDIRECT IT!"
Prinplup threw itself left and the Peck caught Graveler on the side as it thundered past not enough to stop it but enough to knock it slightly off course, the Rollout curving wide and hitting the arena wall instead of Prinplup.
The impact shook the bench.
Graveler came off the wall and turned. Slower now the redirection had cost it momentum but still standing, still ready.
Ryan's mind was moving fast. Graveler's hide was too thick for BubbleBeam alone to end this quickly. It needed to be worn down same spot, accumulated damage, force it to slow before it could build momentum again.
"BubbleBeam same spot, aim for where Peck landed!"
Prinplup fired and this time aimed hit the same point on Graveler's right side where the Peck had connected and Graveler flinched, just slightly, something that hadn't been there on the first hit.
There. That's where it hurts.
"Graveler Screech!"
The sound hit the arena like something physical and Ryan felt it in his chest. Prinplup flinched hard defence dropping, everything suddenly less solid and Roark was already calling the follow-up
"Rock Blast now, full sequence!"
"PRINPLUP METAL CLAW, GET INSIDE, NOW!"
Prinplup didn't dodge. It ran forward into Graveler's range, inside the Rock Blast's optimal distance and the Metal Claw raked hard across Graveler's right side, the same spot, steel on rock making a sound that cut through the arena differently from everything else.
Two of the rocks launched late hit nothing. One caught Prinplup across the back and it stumbled but stayed inside, stayed close, too close for Graveler to get a clean sequence off.
Roark's expression shifted. Just slightly. He hadn't planned for Steel type and he hadn't planned for Prinplup to come forward into the Rock Blast.
Neither had Ryan, entirely. But Prinplup had read it and moved and Ryan had called to match.
"BubbleBeam point blank, same spot, everything you have!"
Prinplup fired from inside Graveler's reach and the beam hit the damaged right side at full force and Graveler went down not clean, all four arms scrambling before it finally stopped moving, but down.
Two down.
Prinplup stepped back toward Ryan slowly. Really tired now the Screech had done real damage to its defence and the Rock Blast had landed and it had taken two hard fights back to back. Ryan crouched down as it reached him.
"That Metal Claw," he said quietly. "Going inside instead of back. That was yours I didn't call that."
"Prin." Quieter than usual. The tone of something that had needed to make a decision and had made it.
"You did enough," Ryan said. "More than enough."
Prinplup looked at him. Then turned back toward the field one more time the look of something making a note of unfinished business and stood still.
Across the arena Roark reached for his third ball.
The bench went quiet in the specific way Ryan had learned meant one thing.
Cranidos came out.
Low and compact, still for just a moment then its head came up and it found Ryan across the field. Not Prinplup. Ryan. Like it already knew who was making the decisions.
"Prinplup," Ryan said. "Come back. You're done."
Prinplup turned to look at him.
"You won your fights," Ryan said. "This one isn't yours."
A long moment. Prinplup looked at Cranidos the look of something that would remember and stepped back.
Ryan held the ball in his hand.
Cranidos waited on the other side of the field and the arena was quiet and he could feel everyone on the benches waiting.
He unclipped the second ball.