Chapter 10 - Gear Grind
Unlike the crisp pale stone and clear air of Phenac's Colosseum, Pyrite's was a dim and dusty space that managed to feel claustrophobic despite the large size of the dome and the missing panels of its outer body casting plenty of light down on the dirt and metal arena where the Pokémon would be battling.
Or the claustrophobia might have just been the product of being jammed in with so many sweaty humans in too small a space, Rui corrected as a large man jostled her.
The feeling eased a bit as Delaine leaned into her side.
"You doing alright?" the older girl asked.
"I'm okay," Rui said. The place was unsettling and unpleasant compared to both her home and her experiences in Unova, but it was still miles better than being shoved in a burlap sack. "I can't believe Wes turned down using your Pokémon. He's only got a party of two."
"To be fair, while variety and numbers aren't bad, I can understand that going out with unfamiliar Pokémon could be more of a distraction than a help," Delaine said with a shrug. "And you can get pretty far with a solid duo team - and out of all the Eeveelutions, he does have the two I'd say compliment each other the best in double battles. Good synergy goes a long way."
"Right." Rui paused, remembering something. "Are you doing alright? I know you don't like crowds."
"No, I don't. And no, I'm not doing alright," Delaine admitted. "But I can tough it out. It's not like I really have to talk to anyone here… but enough about me; the match is about to start."
Instead of watching the battle - Wes wasn't going to show up for a few rounds, so Rui probably wouldn't be missing much -, she paid more attention to Delaine, stealing glances at her whenever she thought the older girl wouldn't notice.
A few days ago, if someone had asked what Rui Logos thought of Delaine, her answer would have been simple; she was practically a - admittedly distant over the last few years - member of the family, removed from immediate contact with the kids for being 'too hands on' with poachers.
Rui had never fully got that. Had it been fear on Grandpa Eagun's part that Delaine's temper might get unloaded on her or one of her cousins? Or had it simply been a legal precaution, like Delaine's interactions with Chief Sherles implied? It seemed out of place when Mr. Ingles apparently having the same hands-on reputation in Pyrite, but Orre was made of out-of-place ideas with uneven enforcement.
But maybe she understood her grandpa's uncertainty in how to approach Delaine a bit better now.
This Delaine was hard to read, an awkward stranger entirely aware of that fact with a fragile smile set in a familiar face, with only a handful of habits to prove it was the same person underneath.
Even her Aura read completely different; the old brighter flashes of color muddied and buried under sickly black-sludge. It was like what Rui saw when she looked at a Shadow Pokémon, if she was honest, except it wasn't ever overpowering.
It was just… a tired, guttering candle compared to the blaze Rui remembered, occasionally flaring brighter for a moment - more often anger than anything properly happy, unfortunately - but generally just… dark and listless, mostly only moving between carefully constructed neutrality and different flavors of unhappiness.
Maybe that was why Delaine cared so much about the Shadow Pokémon so quickly. Because she recognized what they were going through.
Rui made a decision; the next time Grandpa Eagun said something even a little mean about Delaine, she'd hit him.
Almost a hundred miles away in Agate Village, Eagun sneezed.
"Is it shedding time already?" he asked his Pikachu. "Seems a bit early in the year for that…"
The Pokémon made a slightly incredulous expression, raking its claws through fur that was nowhere near shedding. "Pika-chuuu…"
The large screen on the wall flickered to life to show off the names of the next competitors, along with a basic count of how many Pokémon they had with them, with Wes and his opponent having the same number.
"Right," I said, eyeing the information before looking down at the trainers themselves - Wes and a guy dressed so thoroughly in brown that it would've been weird if his Pokémon team wasn't some combination of Ground-types. "Type advantage probably isn't going to go for much here, but if I remember the listed rules correctly…"
"Ground and Rock-types are banned from using most of their extreme moves in Pyrite Town," Rui finished. "Because it might risk the integrity of the fissure and other old mining operations."
"Right. Which effectively nerfs the most powerful attacks those Pokémon-types can dish out - oh my god, that idiot brought a Barboach. To a dry Colosseum."
The limp noodle of a Pokémon flapped around slightly on the arena floor before appearing to find the right 'posture' needed to stay functional in an environment not well suited to fins. How long that would last, I couldn't say, given that I could dully remember that Barboach in particular among Water-types needed to stay wet to survive.
"Most of the Gyms I visited in Unova tried to keep their facilities useable to trainers of all types," Rui said, quickly throwing up her hands. "Not to say that I visited all the Gyms - I just got a few of the badges - but that part was pretty consistent."
As if to prove it, she pulled open the inside of her jacket, showing off her collection.
I couldn't help but make an impressed sound. "I'd say that five is a bit more than a 'few' Rui."
"Well, I did get a couple through the… other ways, so they don't really count," Rui admitted, letting her jacket fall closed again. "But I beat Skyla and Marlon in battle and held on good enough in the advanced battle for the Trio Badge that they figured I'd earned it, even if I did lose in the end."
"Advanced?"
I vaguely remembered the various battle gimmicks tested out in the Unova games, but besides them being fun, they didn't seem to stick around that long.
"I know that most people do double battles in Orre, but they're starting to play with what you can do with triple battles in Unova - and I can't even begin to explain how tricky rotation battles are. It can get reallycomplicated really fast and the Striation City Gym is really good at them - but they only do it if you come in with at least four badges." Rui smiled ruefully. "Guess which Gym I decided to hit last before coming home?"
My sympathetic declaration of "Oof," lined up almost perfectly with Wes's Umbreon knocking out the opponent's last Pokémon, a Sandslash, with a vicious Bite.
If it were me down there, or doing a Gym challenge, I wouldn't have made such a good showing. Hell, there was probably just as large a chance of me outright failing, not just because of the anxiety problems - though those definitely would have put a definite nail in the coffin of any career remotely involving an audience - but because I just wasn't good at battling.
No competitive spark, was probably the best way to put it. Or maybe my aggressive nature just petered out by the time it got past the end of my fists or feet.
"Do you think there's time to talk to Wes before his next match?" Rui asked, shaking me out of my thoughts.
"Considering how big this place is? Probably not." A devilish thought popped into my head and I grinned. "Ooh, might you want to give him some encouragement to keep that win streak up?"
"Delaine! Don't say it like that." She puffed her cheeks out in displeasure, as if that would hide the luminescent blush. "Besides, I barely know him -we only met a few days ago, you know."
"I've seen way stupider things done a whole lot faster," I said, letting my bright spark of enjoyment dull down to something manageable before I tucked it away to admire later. "Don't worry about it - I'm just glad you're getting along well with him."
"He's not as bad as I'd expect for someone with his history."
"History, family… those aren't the only things that explain how a person is. You can have the best family in the world and turn out to be an absolute bastard, and come out of a bad place to make a better life. I prefer to look at their actions, how they treat others," I said, looking down at the arena, where the next round already starting, before dismissing it. Delcatty and Jigglypuff versus Loudred and Dodou, despite featuring a cat, held very little of my interest.
"And Wes… it's obvious he's not used to being treated well," I continued, quietly, remembering how startled the kid had been by something so simple as me giving him something for his sunburn. "But the fact that his Pokémon love him as much as they do speaks to the nature of his heart."
The screen on the wall flickered again as the 2nd round concluded, bringing up Wes again - this time against someone named Tisler, who's listed Pokémon were Natu and Meditite; both ill-suited against Wes's combination team.
"So yeah, I trust him."
Wes took back Zener and Chaya from the nurse at the Colosseum's Pokécenter, once again glad for the mandatory medical care between matches. While the Semi-Final battle hadn't been particularly hard - it hadn't been easy, like the earlier ones, but he'd had far harder fights in his past -, the Cacnea on his opponent's team had not spared any effort with their Poison Sting, flinging needles all around the battleground in an attempt to make some kind of scratch on his Pokémon and probably came close to succeeding despite both of their resistance to Poison-type moves.
It would have not been good to go into the last round - the one where there was no chance of the Duke nudging anything in his favor - with the handicap of already poisoned Pokémon.
"You're on in five, kid," one of the attendants said, jerking her thumb back to point at the short tunnel that led to the arena. "If you need the bathroom or something to eat, now's the time. Never know how long the match is gonna last, especially once you get to the finals."
"Thanks," he said, taking the time to do just that.
Staring at his face in the dingy bathroom mirror, Wes splashed some room-temperature water against his skin, trying to get ready for the battle that was about to begin. He couldn't afford to lose here, not after coming this far.
"Kid! You better get going!" the attendant from earlier called out.
"Right, let's do this," he told his reflection.
The Colosseum was no different than it had been in the earlier rounds, save for the fact that the ambient light from outdoors had faded from the bright white scald of daylight to the murkier glow of rapidly approaching dusk, leaving the lights within the stadium to pick up the slack, but Wes still sensed that it was different somehow.
Maybe everything was different once you got close enough to the end of it.
"Our latest contender - a fresh face from out of town, Wes!" the Duke cried out from his box overseeing the field. "He's done well to make it this far, but will he be able to stand up to the ruler of the ring for the last three months? You know him, there's no way you can miss him - Mirez!"
Mirez was a large man, almost tall and broad enough to compete with Gonza for the title of 'biggest guy Wes never wanted to be on the bad side of', and had a smug attitude that made it clear how aware he was of the fact.
"I've been watching you. You've had a lot of luck on your side this tournament," the bodybuilder said, grinding fist against palm as he grinned down at Wes. "But you're also a pretty good battler. We'll see which part accounts for more of your wins this round. Who knows? If you win, maybe the boss will give you more than just a Shadow Pokémon of your own."
As if. Wes wasn't exactly inclined to join a Team even worse than the one he'd just ditched.
"I'll be aiming to win then," he said instead as he walked over to his side of the ring.
"Now! Let the final battle begin!"
As Mirez released his team - a Bagon and Goldeen -, Wes began analyzing.
Bagon. Dragon-types tended to be sturdy and didn't go down easy except against the few types with an advantage over them, and the Salamance line was no exception to that rule.
With neither Zener or Chaya having any moves that could bypass the resistance or staying power the average Bagon could bring to the table - and there was rarely anything average about anyone who made it to the finals of tournaments like this -, Wes could safely assume that this opponent would probably be in the battle right up until the very end.
He couldn't say the same for the other Pokémon Mirez was opening with.
Goldeen, unlike the Barboach from earlier, was more than strong enough to get by in dry environments and usually had range that could play to their lack of mobility on land. The ones that didn't almost always had the means to make enough of their own water to change that part of the equation entirely.
There were, of course, drain channels in the Pyrite Stadium - he'd seen them in every round previous - for dealing with the aftermath such flooding strategies, but he doubted that they'd be activated in the middle of a match unless the amount of water managed to reach a truly dangerous level. That would kill the excitement a good strategy was sure to drum up.
Wes calculated his options. They weren't great - no real way to an easy win via Type-advantage, but no immediate loss through any immediate disadvantages either. Combined with the fact that his opponent had twice the number of Pokémon to work with, Wes would be forced to work conservatively to keep both of his in play the whole time.
Good for him that he was used to those sorts of odds.
Take out the Goldeen first, while chipping at Bagon's defense, he thought, already running through the broad outlines of his plan in his mind, and then continue to undercut Bagon's support as the battle continued, adjusting to work around the inevitable strategies that Mirez would bring through his other Pokémon - Magnemite and a Delibird that served as good deterrents for any opponent that managed to take advantage of Bagon's type-weaknesses, not to mention probably exploiting whatever water the Goldeen left in her wake.
So that meant a first priority of preventing field exploitation from happening in the first place or finding ways to avoid getting caught up in it.
"Go for Goldeen first!" Wes called, his Pokémon immediately leaping forward to do just that.
Bagon launched themselves forward to intercept, clawed feet scrabbling for purchase on the rusting metal floor as they lunged for Zener with a mouth full of Dark-energy… only for Chaya to slip in between, taking the attack to his shoulder without a flinch.
It was a good try. Basic strategy, but it might have worked if Wes hadn't trained his Pokémon specifically to deal with tactics like that.
A jerk of Wes' fingers to the side was enough to get Zener moving towards Goldeen in Chaya's place. Chaya would stick with distracting Bagon for now, hopefully keeping them too busy to make another go at landing a super-effective attack on the Espeon.
There were some trainers that micromanaged their battles, guiding every single move their Pokémon made. There were others that let their Pokémon handle the entire thing without any direction.
Wes had made a point not to fall into either pitfall when he'd trained Zener and Chaya. They were independent enough to react to situation changes at the drop of a pin while he played the part of spotter - helping them adjust timing and reaction to strategies that wouldn't be as easy to catch from the thick of things.
Like now.
"Zener! Confusion!"
Confusion was good for battles - even if it didn't completely affect the opponent, it almost always threw them off their groove, forcing Pokémon to rely on basic moves for a few precious seconds instead of proper strategies until they got their bearings back.
"Goldie! Use Surf!" Mirez called out.
…and unfortunately, as far as Water-types were concerned, Surf was pretty fucking basic.
Goldeen's gaze cleared in that moment as it received a direction so clear and simple that there was no chance of Confusion messing it up. Cheeks puffed up as the Water-type generated its element internally… and then sprayed out enough to cover the arena in about five inches of the stuff.
Not enough to cause trouble, really, right up until the second part of the move came in - where Goldeen started to pull the water back to a singular point behind her and then pushed it forward as an eight-foot high wall of very fast, very hard water.
Zener, already up in the air in preparation for his next attack, had no chance to dodge. Neither did Chaya, being a bit too busy with Bagon at the time.
With only a second to spare, Wes braced himself for impact.
"Talk about getting wet and wild," Delaine muttered as Wes finally emerged from the wave, hair plastered down and water running off of his leather coat in rivulets as he gasped for breath. "They all deserve a hot shower and hot meal after this match is done."
It could have been worse, Wes thought as all everyone on the field took a moment to recover from that move. That Surf could have been followed up by a chain of Waterfalls and Whirlpools, making it impossible to get anything close to their bearings back.
As it was, it still wasn't great.
Goldeen's mobility problems were gone, Zener and Chaya had to pay that much more attention to their footing, and there was a trickle of water running right down the line of his spine to his butt, which was very uncomfortable.
Still, not the worst situation he'd ever been in.
"Zener! Swift!" Wes called out.
Stars of light formed around the Espeon, with Zener slapping them one by one at Goldeen with his tail - technically an unnecessary touch of flair, but flair counted for something in Colosseum matches.
So did being a more interesting sight than the stars that'd 'missed' and started circling around for a hit from behind.
Mirez didn't have a chance to warn his Pokémon before they were slammed into unconsciousness.
"And there's the first KO of the match!" the Duke called over the PA. "But Mirez still has the advantage of numbers! Can Wes overcome two more fresh opponents?"
Yes he could.
"Magnemite!" Mirez shouted as the Pokémon appeared in a blaze of red light. "Start charging!"
A souped up Electrical-attack. Just what he needed in a flooded Colosseum.
Before Wes could consider how to approach the Steel-type before the inevitable lightshow, Bagon was rushing forward again, the dim haze of obvious Rage clear around it.
"Shit." A quick motion of the fingers saw Zener and Chaya redirect, dancing around the Dragon-type, dipping in and out of range as they piled on the offense. It wasn't doing much - Bagon was a defensive powerhouse, always lasting to the end of each previous round without a sign of slowing down - but the barrage of attacks would hopefully be enough to soften the little Dragon enough to take down later.
Almost too quickly, Mirez's voice rang out again.
"Release Charge! Use Thundershock!"
There it was - taking advantage of the water. Right when Wes was not in the mood for it.
"Link up!" Wes snapped as he tried to jump clear of the water himself, only just finding a rock high enough to serve as a platform. Tactics like this didn't discriminate between trainers and Pokémon and the fact that he was already soaked wouldn't help at all. "Helping Hand and Detect!"
Zener and Chaya moved, their movements synchronizing seamlessly as a line of energy sparked between them, uniting them in both power and purpose. Dodging an electrical shock was a bit more difficult than any of their usual challenges, but Wes didn't doubt for a moment his Pokémon could handle it.
Bagon wasn't so lucky.
The Dragon-type screeched as the Electric move hit, knocking them out of their attempted leap before they even cleared the water - and sending Bagon under for a very long moment, the electrical energy seeming to collect to the one available target.
Unpleasant as it was to watch, Bagon would probably be fine - Dragons had a talent for brushing off Fire and Electricity moves, even when their secondary typing would logically point those out as weak points.
Still, it'd probably take a minute or two to get back into the battle. A minute Wes could make very good use of to handle the other problem on the field, as Magnemite's attack finally fizzled out, the living magnet sinking in the air as the consequences of spending so much electrical charge set in.
There was always a cost for flashy moves like that - and Wes was all too happy to collect.
"Chaya! Payback!"
The Umbreon bolted forward, Dark energy congealing around his body as he prepared to return the favor of ill-intent from that last attack.
"And that's two of Mirez's Pokémon out of play!" the Duke announced as the KO'd Pokémon was recalled to their ball. "But there's always the risk of a comeback, especially with Bagon still holding on and one last Pokémon ready to join the fray!"
Delibird. One of those oddball Pokémon that could bring practically anything to a battle, sometimes in a very literal way, given the weirdly bottomless nature of their tail-bags. The only assumption that was safe to make was that it'd have some manner of Ice-moves on hand and even that wasn't a sure bet.
Chaya darted forward immediately, teeth flashing wide as he tried to take a Bite out of Delibird.
Instead, he got a face full of explosion as his teeth sank into one of those tell-tall rainbow balls.
"Did you like your Present?" Mirez asked with a guffaw as the Umbreon reeled. "Maybe you should work on patience the next time you have a training session with your Pokémon, kid."
Bagon rushed forward, slamming their armored skull into Chaya's side and launching him back towards Wes.
"Chaya! Detect! Zener," Wes called out. "Use Morning Su-"
"Icy Wind!"
There was a loud and terrible noise as water turned to ice, crackling as it spread across the field. Chaya managed to dodge the flash freeze by bouncing off of Bagon's head, but Zener - who had stopped to listen to Wes - hadn't been so lucky; all his paws were trapped, leaving the Espeon to struggle in place.
The only compensation that Wes could immediately see in the situation was that Bagon was also stuck - almost a third of their body, arms and legs, was trapped in ice.
A way worse situation for a Dragon than a Psychic-type.
Though, Wes would add, it was hardly great, given that Delibird was getting ready to distribute a few more Presents. Already, the rainbow energy was beginning to gather into the form of nearly five full Presents and Wes didn't doubt at least one of them would be full of prize-winning explosion that neither of his team could afford to take right now.
"Zener! Psychic spam Bagon! Chaya! "he called out as Delibird began the wind-up. "Quick Attack!"
Before Delibird could complete the throw, Chaya slammed into them, spinning the bird Pokémon around and sending the Present orbs flying out across the ice at random. One of them landed in the space between Bagon and Zener, blinked once, and then exploded with a force that made Wes thankful that it hadn't gotten closer to either of his Pokémon.
It also made him thankful for giving him something he could actually use against the Dragon-type.
"Zener! Use Telekinesis on the ice!"
If your Pokémon couldn't learn Avalanche, Wes thought with a smirk as Zener lifted up every piece of loose ice he could, gathering it all in a massive clump over Bagon, improvised was just fine.
"Bagon is unconscious, leaving Mirez with only Delibird active in the battle!" the Duke called out over the speakers. "This is a hell of a turnaround! But Mirez might be able to turn the table back on Wes if he gets too cocky!"
"Kind of a backhanded reminder to keep my head in the game, but I'll take it," Wes muttered before raising his voice. "Zener! Help your brother out!"
Wes turned his attention to his other Pokémon.
"Chaya? Use Last Resort."
Wes had participated in tournaments before. Mostly in the Under, where it was one of the more honest and least risky ways of making a quick Pokédollar. Hell, he'd even managed to win one or two.
But none of those wins had ever felt like this, especially after Rui and Delaine had found him again.
"That was incredible, Wes!" Rui said, grabbing him in an unexpected hug.
"Incredible? That was fucking amazing," Delaine said, eyes brighter than he'd seen on her yet. It made her face look years younger - older than Rui but more of an obvious teenager rather than misplaced adult. "The fluidity, the technique! The flow."
"Thanks. Zener and Chaya work hard," Wes replied, dropping his hand down to touch their Pokéballs gently. Zener had thawed out without issue and a little attention at the Pokécenter counter had taken care of most of Chaya's injuries, but they both were tired in a way only good sleep and good food would fix. "They deserve a good meal for it."
"I've got no problem treating all of you to one," the older girl said, waving off his immediate protest. "Wallet's flush right now, it's good."
Wes smiled, only to find his happiness dulling a bit as Mirez made his way over.
"Gotta say kid, you've got more chops than I gave you credit for going in," the bodybuilder said. "Takes real brass to pull moves like that, but I can tell it wasn't any fluke for you. Good things should be coming your way, with those kind of skills."
And Wes knew just what the man meant by that. "I know. I'm counting on it."
Mirez grinned. "Good. Don't leave town too fast then. I'm sure someone will be coming with one of those good things in a day or two."
Author's Notes
Is your Colosseum wet or creepy?
Been a bit since I've updated, though not as long as it could have been - real life stresses again. No big. Gonna still be chipping away when I have the time/mind to do so. My friend Monica has been a big help in review - catching those pesky spelling and grammar errors before posting is a service worth its weight in gold - and I'm also helping her with her Pokémon fic (which won't be out for a while but we are doing so much work for rn and prepping this one to eventually cross over with it once or twice).
Figured that Rui should get talked up a bit to make sure she's bringing something to the party (she has an Electric-type specialty which I haven't gone into much detail on yet) - and Delaine being a terrible battler is reflective of my own issues with like, sport competence. It just happens with some people.
Tried to make battle rules consistent across the board but also fitting for the location - Pyrite Town, being built over a complex mine system, that big ass fissure, and the Under, would avoid having extreme earth moving techniques for safety reasons, thus nerfing Ground and Rock-types. Felt that was appropriate (and actually more reasonable) given that there's Colosseums in the games which flat out forbid the use of Shadow Pokémon.
Every battle described in this chapter features Pokémon used in the actual first tournament in Pyrite for the game, which you do need to pass to continue the story. The move range and tactics there aren't quite as varied as I made them though, even if Mirez's very tanky Bagon did influence how the final battle progressed.
I am sorry it took so long for me to finally describe a battle in proper motion in this fic - it just wasn't coming up for some reason -, but I had a lot of fun cooking up Wes' different tactics and thoughts going in and the best bits (especially everything with the ice) were a joy to think up and expand on.
The really fun part was refreshing my knowledge of Umbreon's moves and realizing that they can't learn Protect ('no damage' move which makes a spherical shield) but can learn Detect (same 'no damage' effect but described as dodging), which immediately sunk my dreams of a hamster ball attack. Still managed to work it in without issue.
Monica did a lot of work in this area, which, in her words, was mostly 'trying to liven up the pace and tone of the battle by killing some of your tendencies that drag it down'. Which is fair. I can get wordy, as some of you might have noticed.
In response to a review left on the older version of the story - the reason why 'bad guys' aren't killed off more is because, speaking as someone with familiarity with death IRL, it's an inherently traumatizing experience, even when it's a natural event and under the absolute best circumstances (and, speaking plainly, it rarely is). As is, our cast consists of teenagers + young adults, only one of which (Wes) has a criminal history and even that is distinctly non-violent. Delaine, the most violent of the cast, has capital I-issues and a tendency to lash out, but notably is also reactive to the suffering of others and, as was in the plans for the earlier version of the story before I started over, was going to react to the accidental murder with, ya-tah-tah-dah, adding that to her list of capital I-issues because PTSD, am I right?
(seriously, I've had this debate before and similar ones with like 'lmao kill/torture baddies, it's fine' and it's just ? Like I Get It, there's catharsis sometimes with some villains, but all the time and deliberately? Dude chill. Ghost Rider jump is later (and still won't be doing that all the time).)