6: Qualifying Rounds
Marl had to fight to keep the fire at the back of her throat down the entire way out of the Pokéathlon Dome as the stairwells and lobbies all melted into each other in a red-tinged blur. It didn't even occur to her that she didn't notice if others were staring at her wing or not until she was outside. Instead, the thing that she noticed about the people and Pokémon they passed was that they were universally giving her a wide berth while Sessen was gripping her Pokéball for dear life.
She wasn't sure whether that was an improvement or not.
Sessen and his companions took her up to a railing alongside the river in the plaza outside, and the wavy-haired human was quick to pat and scratch her to try and lift her mood. He even bought her a drink from a stand which was apparently made of blended Apricorns. It calmed that fire in her belly a bit, and the world slowly filled in around her in her vision as she calmed down:
Much to her displeasure, she was right around where 'Hydreigon' had broken her wing. Up above her, the sky was clear and blue. Right there, and yet so far out of her reach.
It'd been half an hour since everything happened. Garrett had won his second qualifier with 'Hydreigon' much as everyone expected, even if a part of Marl felt a little guilty knowing that she wouldn't have minded if he and 'Hydreigon' had wound up losing that battle. But they didn't, and the qualifying rounds continued on uninterrupted under that blue dome with its golden spikes off at the other end of the plaza.
Had it really only been half an hour? It honestly felt longer than that. Not that it really helped that she hadn't been doing much else other than just waiting out here in the plaza. Sessen had called Calvin through a weathered gray device called a 'PokéGear' shortly after calming her down outside, but there wasn't any sign of her trainer having come any closer since then. Most of the time since then had gone by with her curled up on herself and sulking against the ground as Bushel sat alongside her and shielded the Salamence's left wing and its cast from view with her own. There was that, at least. Marl supposed the sun felt good on her scales, but not enough to make up for the crummy mood so far..
Why, the only reminder at all that the 'Goldenrod Open' was still going on was a staticy broadcast pricking her ears. It was from Sessen sitting beside her right and fiddling with his 'PokéGear'. She'd at first thought it was some sort of weird PokéNav, but apparently the two were completely different devices. Unlike a PokéNav, this little beat-up contraption that could also listen in on human 'radio', and Sessen had turned the broadcast to one of the matches inside. His Wooper and Geodude from his team were listening in next to him, but both of them looked visibly disappointed.
"We really need to get Sessen to upgrade from this old relic someday," the Geodude grumbled.
"I was the one who said he should get one of those phones that you can watch TV on," the Wooper insisted. "The bubbles you can see on their screen look just like little versions of the ones in real life!"
"... Wait, those flip phones can do that now?" the Rock-type replied, quirking a brow. "Huh, they really can do just about everything nowadays."
Marl looked away and hung her head. Sessen's Pokémon were surely upset about things right now. Upset with her, that she didn't just go back into her Pokéball so that they could have fun with everyone else in the stadium.
"... I ruined everything back there for you, didn't I?" she murmured.
"Well, you managed to keep your temper in check even though it's something Salamence have a reputation for struggling with, so that's something right?" the Tropius offered, shifting her wings beneath the sun's rays. "Though if it makes you feel any better, we shouldn't have to wait for too much longer out here. Your trainer messaged Sessen that he was already on the way over. Just take this opportunity to soak up the sun's warmth a bit."
Marl knew that Bushel surely meant well, but the attempt at lifting her spirits just kinda fell flat. Not least of all since even without the lingering pain in her left wing under its cast, her current circumstances place kept stirring unwelcome reminders about it: the light poles that looked just like the one she'd been thrown into, the blue sky above, the breeze against her scales, the way that Bushel would effortlessly shift her wings and fan them out to sun herself.
Couldn't they be somewhere else that didn't remind her of the way she was still stuck on the ground right now? Yes it was selfish of her, but it was her pain, her wing that was broken. It was yet another moment she should have been spending with her Trainer and her teammates, just like the flight she'd been working towards all her life.
The flight that she wanted to share with her friends…
"Hup!"
A squeaking voice cried out up ahead, as Marl watched as much to her astonishment, a Pikachu with balloons tied about a harness jumped forward. The rodent sailed along with a floating leap towards a young woman that Marl swore she saw in one of the preliminary matches earlier.
The woman waited for the Pikachu as he came to a stop. Even after settling down, the Electric-type was still floating off the ground while his trainer patted him and spoke words of praise for "improving your steering".
The Salamence turned her head aside with a low grumble. Since of course even that little rat without wings just had be able to fly better than she could right now.
"Oh? Did you want to try getting an Air Balloon?"
Marl craned her head leftwards and saw Bushel trading glances between the Flying Pikachu and her, before the Tropius gave a sheepish smile.
"It might be a little pricey, but it wouldn't be impossible to get one," the Tropius explained. "I could try to have Sessen pass things on to your trainer. I'm sure that he and the rest of his friends would be willing to chip in a bit if things came to that."
The Salamence blinked and turned her attention back to the Pikachu and his trainer, who was now snuggling him in her grasp. Light and free and without a care in the world…
"... I think that I'm a bit big for an Air Balloon now," Marl said. "That's the sort of thing young Pokémon play around with."
"You'd be surprised at how often they turn up among tournament types like this," the Tropius insisted. "Though you could always get a bunch of smaller ones like that Pikachu has. It tends to be a more durable setup, and it'd probably be easier to track them down than a single one sized for a Pokémon as big as you."
Marl knew that Bushel was trying to make her feel better. It reminded her of times back when she was a Shelgon she was in a bad mood and Calvin would try and lift her mood by taking her to high places or draping blankets over her. At the same time, knowing that Bushel was seeing her as some pathetic creature that needed to be pitied made a part of her die inside.
As a Salamence, she was supposed to be the strongest and proudest she'd ever be right now, and yet…
"It'd just look ridiculous," Marl muttered. "It's not like I need any more help with that right now."
Marl crouched back down with a low grumble, laying her head against her claws. She honestly wasn't sure what she was going to do after today. It wasn't as if she wanted Calvin to get knocked out of the tournament so early, but it just felt like she'd barely had any of that time he'd promised to spend with her.
And even if Calvin did qualify, what then? Garrett had already qualified for the rest of the tournament and she'd surely see him and his team again. She didn't want to see an old friend do badly, but having to see that Hydreigon on his team in each of his matches with her arrogant swagger basking in the roar of the crowds… while she had no hope of ever trying to settle the score on the battlefield?
Or even just having some of that same attention and praise for herself…
The Salamence snapped to attention after feeling a pat along her neck, and fidgeted looking up to see Sessen looking down at her worriedly. She got onto her feet, carefully shifting her left wing as she turned at him with a confused blink.
"Huh? What's going on?"
"Sessen was just a little worried about you and wanted to try and cheer you up," the Tropius said, before trailing off.
"All of us were, really. You seemed to be taking things really hard the past couple days."
Marl let out a soft rumble and averted her gaze for a moment. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate Sessen and his teammates trying to help, but she wished her friends would've been there to do this, and—
"We're back!"
Marl turned her head up at plodding footsteps, where much to her surprise, Roy had accompanied Calvin today. Maybe that explained a thing or two about why her trainer had been so slow to come over. The man with the unplaceable face briefly hailed them, before tapping a Pokéball and letting Aries out. The Ampharos looked visibly tired, and there were a few strat scrapes on his body that still lingered from his match with the Heracross, but he seemed visibly satisfied with himself. Even moreso after he drew the attention of the other humans and Pokémon as they went over to talk with him and give their congratulations.
She supposed that it was only polite to do the same. Marl got up and made her way along, as she saw Rako trailing from behind her trainer, grumbling and turning his snout up with a sharp huff.
"I still don't see why I had to miss matches and couldn't hang around that Numa 'mon and his trainer in the stands."
"Because keeping an eye on you is our team's responsibility," Aries bleated, whirling and sharply jabbing a paw at the Floatzel's chest. "Your mouth already gets you into enough trouble with Aoi as it is."
The Floatzel shrank away and gave a sullen frown in reply, but otherwise kept quiet. Marl could already tell that there was a story behind that 'trouble with Aoi' comment, even if it didn't require a stretch of the imagination to see how that yippy little otter would get himself into problems mouthing off from what she'd seen of him the past couple days.
She heard her name mentioned in human tongue and saw Sessen and Calvin talking with each other, with the wavy-haired trainer of the pair pointing her out with a worried expression on his face. She noticed a similar expression spread over Roy's as well, as the Blastoise walked up, and gave a quizzical tilt of his head.
"Is everything going alright, Marl?" Roy asked. "I thought that you wanted to watch matches from the stands."
Marl quietly set her teeth on edge. She did want to watch matches, but the moment 'Hydreigon' came out, it'd just ruined her mood. She already knew her teammates would give her an earful if they found out about it, so maybe it was for the best to avoid the topic.
"It's fine, I guess," Marl said. "I just needed some air."
"Are you sure?" the Blastoise asked. "Since Sessen and his teammates said you got really upset and more or less stomped out of the arena earlier after seeing Garrett send 'Hydreigon' out onto the battlefield. Rako said much the same."
… Or Roy and the others could have already known about what had happened there. Because of course they would've.
Marl quietly set her teeth on edge and faltered. It wasn't quite the full story of what had happened, but the full one surely wouldn't make Roy and the others think better of her. She also doubted Sessen and his Pokémon or worse still, Rako passing on the whole truth would exactly make things better.
Her eyes drifted to the ground. What on earth was she supposed to say? That she was still mad at 'Hydreigon'? That she'd wanted others to watch with when there was only one 'mon in the stands with her all morning that she really knew? After she insisted that that was what she wanted to the point of pushing everyone else away?
"If I may," Bushel said. "I don't really know how much it means coming from me since we don't really know each other that well… but if you're not feeling well, it's easier for us to do something if you speak up."
Marl turned and tilted her head, seeing the Tropius looking back at her with a wave of her wings.
"We're here to help if you need it, just let us know," she insisted. "I'm sure your trainer and friends are ready to do the same, too."
Marl hesitated when she noticed from her shadow that her right wing and her neck were drooping. She felt cupped fingers scratch at her chin, and looked up to see her trainer staring down at her with an apologetic twinge in his eyes.
… Gah, this had all happened because she'd had that fit over that Gliscor! She still didn't like that he was taking her place in the tournament, but if she'd stayed with her friends, things couldn't have worse than how things turned out going with Rako to see the matches… could they?
Marl didn't know if she was ready to explain all of that to everyone, but… maybe Bushel was onto something. Maybe it made sense to at least bring up the parts that she was ready to talk about.
"... I just wished that I could be there with you all. Even if I didn't realize it while you were practicing," she said. "But I guess I can't really do anything about that now when you're the ones who are busy trying to win that last qualifier..."
"Technically, only one of us needs to be out there on the field for the qualifier," Aries insisted. "Nobody said anything about what the rest of us had to do. I don't know about everyone else, Roy, but I don't think that I've got a second battle in me today after how tough that last one was."
Aries looked over at Roy, as the Blastoise paused briefly before a dawning realization came over him. Marl wasn't sure what to make of the Blastoise's reaction, only to see that Roy was looking between her and Calvin at her side.
"That last preliminary isn't that long from now," the Blastoise mused to himself. "And in the end, we only need one of us out onto the field for it."
He went up and pawed at their trainer for attention, prompting the man with the unplaceable face to look over, as the Blastoise stole a glance back in Marl's direction.
"We still need to settle a couple things for our last Qualifier, but… Would it make you feel better if some of the rest of us sat in the stands with you?" Roy asked.
Marl hesitated. She wasn't sure whether she should accept or not. What if she snapped at the Rental Pokémon in front of everybody… Or if 'Hydreigon' came out onto the field and she lost her temper again… Or if she got stared at again for her wing…
But would she really know either way unless she tried?
The Salamence paused for a moment, before nodding back with a low rumble in her throat.
"I… I think I'd like that, actually."
Marl made her way back afterwards to the stands with Aries, who volunteered first to join her to watch the matches together first since he needed the rest the most. Somehow, as the qualifying rounds continued on, the view from her perch at the very top of the stands felt a bit less lonely.
It was strange when Marl stopped to think about it. Aaside from her Ampharos teammate joining in, her companions were still just Numa, Bushel, and one of the humans who'd be up there as usual. Still, something had changed even if she couldn't put her claw on it. She didn't notice the others in the stands staring at her as much after coming back, and maybe she was just imagining things, but somehow Rako felt like he got less annoying while Aries was around. The whole time, the crowd would oscillate between quiet tension and roaring cheers as the matches went by on the battlefield, which also included Sessen and Alberi's end of the stands.
"¡Dale! ¡Aprisiona a ese monigote contra el suelo y que vean lo fuerte que pega una pata de conejo!¹"
Rinaldo was particularly animated during the current battle on the field, as the Nidorino stood firmly at attention and was all but bouncing on his feet while that Espeon teammate of his rolled her eyes. Marl supposed that was one way to tell that even if Rinaldo probably didn't understand much of the Gengar and Nidorino on the battlefield below were saying as they circled about and tried to probe each other for openings, that the foreign Nidorino was getting a kick out of their battle.
Though a battle between a Gengar and a Nidorino…? Why on earth did this matchup sound so familiar—
"Oh hey! Took you long enough!"
The Salamence craned her head over and saw Garrett coming through one of the entrances out to the foyer as Numa darted up to meet him. Garrett briefly took a moment to pat the Swampert before looking over, and said something in that strange human tongue he and Alberi shared which caught Alberi and Sessen's attention. There was a brief moment where Garrett glanced over her way with a slightly askew look that Marl wasn't sure what to make of, when he unclipped a trio of Pokéballs from his waist and tapped their release mechanisms. Three red flashes later, Miyamoto, Fenris, and that Ferrothorn teammate of theirs were back out and about in the stands.
Marl briefly stiffened up and reflexively batted her uninjured wing. She supposed it was only logical that Garrett would want his partners to also have fun watching the battles, but that meant that 'Hydreigon' would be there too.
Right in front of her.
… This was a mistake. Marl craned her head over to Aries to nudge at him and tell him she wanted to go back outside, when she happened to notice Miyamoto making his way over to Rinaldo's end of the seats.
"¿Nos perdimos de algo bueno?²"
The Samurott's words hung in the air as Rinaldo didn't give an answer beyond an idle wave of a paw, the Nidorino's attention remained firmly fixed on the field below.
"No, no, llegaron justo a tiempo.³"
A sharp cry rang out as the Nidorino on the field suddenly went skidding back, the shadowy wisps of a just-bursted Shadow Ball lingering in the air. The crowd's roar came back, as Marl briefly saw Rinaldo flatten his ears while Garrett's Pokémon winced in sympathy and their trainer settled in alongside them. Marl blinked. She hadn't realized it until just now, but for whatever reason, Garrett hadn't sent any of his other companions out yet.
The Salamence prodded her Ampharos teammate with her snout. He briefly turned his head, as she traded puzzled glances between him and the dark-skinned human a few rows down.
"Aries? What's going on?" Marl asked. "Why isn't Garrett sending out the rest of his team?"
"Well, 'Hydreigon's battle did take quite a bit out of her earlier," Numa said as he made his way up the steps. "We figured that it was for the best for her to rest with a bit more peace and quiet."
"It's also in part my doing, too, I suppose," Aries said. "I told Numa that we'd need to keep some extra seats around for later. The bigger members of Garrett's team offered to spectate from their Pokéballs to leave space for that."
Marl gave a puzzled tilt of her head. A part of her was quietly thankful that she wouldn't have to be right next to 'Hydreigon' while watching these matches, but there was something about the Ampharos' explanation that was strange to her…
"Leave space?" she murmured. "Aries, what are you-?"
"Hey! We're here!"
Marl glanced back to the entrance, where there was Roy lumbering in alongside Calvin. The man with the unplaceable face briefly stopped, taking the Pokéballs on the holster on his waist off as he cycled through them one after the other. Jaki, Eira, even the newer Pokémon to the team all made it out. It took all of a few moments for them to get oriented, as they all but beelined to the empty seats left behind around where Garrett and the others were.
"That middle seat by Rako's mine!" Aoi cried.
"I call the lower seat with Rinaldo and his trainer," Eira chimed in. "I don't know how on earth you all are just unfazed by being this high up and not at a saner height."
The Salamence briefly watched as they settled in with Numa following after Garrett and Aries taking his place deeper along the seats, when a sharp cry came from the battlefield. Much to her astonishment, this time it was the Gengar who went sailing back, as the Nidorino stood his ground with a claw trailing ghostly shadows. Rinaldo seemed to like that turn in the battle from the racket he was making, and much of the stands joined in with him.
Marl reflexively batted her wings out of reflex and fought back a yelp after feeling the pain in her broken wing come back. She briefly flinched and squeezed her eyes shut, when she felt fingers stroking along her neck.
It was Calvin, worriedly looking up at her and saying some soothing-sounding words about taking things easy.
She breathed in and out as she noticed Roy still lingering in the background. It wasn't as if she didn't want Calvin and her teammates to be here, but…
"Roy, I thought that you said earlier that some of you were joining."
"'All' is still 'some'," the Blastoise replied, smiling. "We talked it over as a team and decided that cramming in more training this late would likely do more harm than good either from working up nerves or wearing down whoever went onto the field."
Marl heard a quiet sigh and murmur from her side and glanced over to see the man with the unplaceable face looking up at her. The way Calvin's mouth and eyes looked looked much like how humans did when they were deflated or sad. She wasn't sure what to make of that one and stole a glance back at the Blastoise, who was pawing at the back of his head.
"Calvin also felt a bit bad that he hasn't gotten to spend that much time with you so far, and figured that this was as good a chance as any to do so," the Water-type said. "I… know that there's a lot that's happened over the past couple days that you're probably still upset about, but you're okay with him being with you right now, right?"
Marl supposed that there were still things that she ought to be upset about, and a part of her was still upset about. Back when Garrett was living in Hoenn, Ryuko from his team had explained that it was in the nature of most dragons to be slow to forgive slights and wrongs. Between her evolution being missed and having to start her life as a Salamence like this, Marl could already feel her face fall the more she thought about it.
The fingers stroked along her neck again and that still-angry part of her quieted down a bit. She nosed back at her trainer, as a small smile crossed the ends of her mouth.
"Yeah, I am."
Time really did have a way of flying by when one was having fun. Even if Marl couldn't sit right alongside her teammates or most of the other Pokémon in the stands from how small those seats made for humans were, it was still enthralling watching the battles came one after the other from her perch:
There was a match between a weirdly fleet-footed Blaziken who seemed to just get faster and faster and that pink creature with the giant metal hammer from the opening ceremony. Then came a battle between that balloon-wearing Pikachu she'd seen out in the plaza and a Sandslash that she'd admittedly been more distracted from. During much of that one, Fenris had been hushing in that tongue of his and flaring his feelers beside Aoi—an attempt to court her, she assumed. Or at least that was the assumption she'd had from the way that Rako had kept glaring daggers at the foreign Lucario the entire time.
THWACK!
And then there was the ongoing match between the Kangaskhan and the Tauros on the field below, which from the way that the Kangaskhan's punch to the bull's jaw sent him flopping over, Marl guessed was just about finished. The Tauros sprawled out on the ground in a daze and laid there for as the three seconds passed and the buzzer sounded, before the stands once again came alive with cheers.
Once again, she joined in as well, if differently from how she'd done so last time. Her voice was more muted lest she get the others nearby staring at her again, but her teammates more than made for her lack of volume. Calvin did his part, too, as he hooped and hollered a bit along with the others, and gave a scritch under her chin after he noticed her glancing at him.
It wasn't quite the same as getting to take part in the tournament, but it was still nice in its own way. And when she was there spectating and cheering alongside her friends, Marl would sometimes almost forget that her right wing her trainer was standing in front of was still broken and in that ugly cast.
She turned her head at the sound of hurried footsteps, as Garrett came darting up with a Pokéball in hand, with Numa following after him. Garrett said something about "time" in Calvin's language that made him stiffen up and her trainer's eyes briefly widen. Her trainer abruptly left her side and called out for Roy, hastily taking the Pokéball from the Garrett as the Blastoise lumbered past and left her trading puzzled glances between the two.
"Huh? Roy, where are you going?" Marl asked.
"To fight! We got our cue for our next match and Calvin chose me to handle it," he explained. "Wish us luck out there."
The Blastoise had barely gotten a chance to wave farewell before he melted away into a flash of red light and went back into his Pokéball. Almost as soon as the light faded away, Calvin took off running for the exit from the stands.
Off for another battle where she'd be on the sidelines. Again.
The Salamence let out a disappointed sigh and hung her head over the railing as Garrett and Numa stepped in to take Calvin and Roy's place at her sides and help hide her injured wing. Just as well since there wasn't much going on on the field anymore aside from some human and Pokémon workers preparing it for the next match.
Her ears pricked at the sound of a barking voice and looked to see Fenris' Lucario looking up at her with a quizzical tilt of his head.
"¿Te preocupan las chances de tu entrenador? Solo digo, la decepción se podía sentir en ti desde acá en mi asiento.⁴"
The words went completely over her head, other than they sounded like some sort of question. And there was some sort of vibe coming off of the Pokémon that made it feel like that too. Much to her surprise, Numa's mood took a visibly sterner turn, as the Swampert sharply narrowed his eyes back at her questioner.
"Fenris, se te da bien leer las emociones de la gente, pero vamos. No justifica ser un fisgón.⁵"
Fenris stiffened up as his ears pinned back and his tail drooped before he hurriedly slunk off. Marl shot a sidelong glance after the Lucario and found herself subconsciously baring her teeth. Had that little mutt just insulted her or something? Since whatever Fenris had to say there, Numa obviously wasn't a fan of it.
"Numa, would you mind translating?" Marl asked.
"Oh, Fenris just thought that you were getting a bit worried about Calvin since it's a big battle and all," the Swampert explained. "From what we saw of the Pokémon on their opponent team yesterday, their next battle might be a nail-biter."
Marl already knew that Numa wasn't telling her the full story, but it was probably for the best since she was actually starting to have fun again. A part of her felt a bit iffy about Roy taking the field so soon again after losing yesterday's match, but he was the most experienced member of the team.
"I suppose that I am worried a bit," she admitted. "He and Aries didn't do bad last time, but…"
She trailed off briefly, before lowering her head with a low sigh.
"I just wish that he didn't have to leave so quickly."
Well, Marl supposed that it was deeper than that. If her wing wasn't broken, she'd actually have a chance at helping on the battlefield as well. Maybe she'd just overestimate herself like she did with her fight with 'Hydreigon' earlier, but she'd at least be down there with her trainer and not just watching from a distance.
Not that she really wanted to explain that to Numa right now. It wasn't as if she could will her wing's bones into healing right away, and complaining about things she couldn't do anything about would probably just sound like whining to him…
"I mean, in a sense, they aren't really leaving you right now."
Marl blinked and shot a puzzled frown back at the Swampert.
"Numa? What do you mean by that?"
"Well, Calvin and Roy will be down on the field. Even if they're not right beside you, they're still right there," he explained. "I'm sure it'll means a lot to them knowing that you and your teammates are up here watching and cheering them on."
"Hey, we're not crowding you all too much, are we?"
She felt Garrett prod at her as Numa's trainer pointed off at the steps. The rest of her teammates were following after Aries and making their way up to her. They all had expectant looks, except Jaki, who looked like someone had just hosed down his feathers.
"Huh? What are you all doing here?" Marl asked.
"Tch, Roy insisted that we should give up our seats and stay with you for his match," the Honchkrow said. "As if us being less comfortable is supposed to improve their odds."
A weak crackling sound prompted the bird to clamp his beak shut as Marl briefly saw static dance on Aries' hide and briefly felt Garrett tense up. The moment passed as soon as it came, as the Ampharos shook his head and raised a paw.
"We thought that you might be getting a bit lonely up here not fitting in with the normal seating. We're not able to control how this last qualifying match will go, but it can't hurt to cheer Calvin and Roy on, right?"
Marl blinked for a moment, before looking out at the battlefield below. She hesitated, before idly pawing at the ground.
"... I don't know what it'll really accomplish, but I guess I wouldn't mind you all being here with me."
Much as Numa had predicted, Calvin and Roy's battle really was a nailbiter. Now that Roy was actually on the field right now and jetting out of the way withdrawn in his shell, it was obvious as to why everyone had been so nervous. There on the other end of the battlefield, was a human Roughneck, and in the foreground was his partner: a Tyranitar snarling and baring his fangs in frustration as he sharply stomped the ground and sand billowed out around him.
"Grr! Stay still and fight, shellhead!"
As much as Marl couldn't believe it, for once Roy was the nimble and quick one on the battlefield, which was likely the only reason why he was still in the fight right now. Even after starting off with a Withdraw, even after spewing water against the Tyranitar's rocky hide, it felt like the Blastoise was still falling behind blow for blow against his foe. The hail of rocks that just tore out of the ground and struck Roy from below surely wasn't helping him now either.
There was a sharp bellow as Roy hurriedly threw his limbs and head out of his shell to control his landing, digging his claws in for traction as the crowd roared. He was panting now, clearly nearing his limits as the Roughneck briefly smirked and cried out.
Roy's eyes briefly widened as he got back onto his feet just as the Tyranitar bellowed and charged, static crackling along one of his claws as he wound it up for a…
"Thunder Punch?!" Aoi exclaimed. "Tyranitar can learn that?!"
Marl felt a sinking in her stomach. If the Tyranitar landed that blow, Roy would be lucky to still be standing at all afterwards. The Blastoise reflexively began to withdraw into his shell, only for a call from her trainer to beckon him to stand his ground and wait.
The Blastoise uneasily dug his feet in as the Tyranitar approached, and glanced back in time to see Calvin briefly raise a foot before stamping it down. All of a sudden, the worry on the turtle's face melted away.
The Tyranitar swung his punch forward, when suddenly, Roy lifted his right foot and spewed water from his right cannon. It didn't hit the Tyranitar at all, but it spun his shelled body out of the way, leaving the Rock-type swinging and hitting empty air. The Blastoise was still pivoting on his toes, when partway through, it was Calvin's voice that made her eyes widen in surprise.
"'Brick Break'-?"
Reddish flecks trailed off of Roy's right claw as the Tyranitar frantically tried to turn and throw a still-crackling punch, when the Blastoise spun and drove it deep into the lizard's flank with a sharp blow.
The Tyranitar tumbled off his feet with a pained bellow, hitting the ground with a stunned wheeze, as the stands erupted with a shared roar that she found herself joining in. The humans and Pokémon around her jolted up from their seats, as Fenris got up from beside Miyamoto and Rinaldo, his jaw hanging open from shock.
"¿Estas tortugas pueden hacer eso?⁶"
The Nidorino flared his ears, before giving a dismissive wave of his paw.
"Oh, eso fue genial, me recuerda a lo rápido que mi madre le daba de patada giratoria a cuanto lagarto engreído se le pusiera por delante.⁷"
From the other side, the Samurott shook his head, giving a frowning harrumph.
"Recuerda que Garrett y sus amigos invitaron al equipo a competir en el torneo, Fenris. Claramente pensaron que tenían posibilidades, así que más vale que no los subestimes.⁸"
The Lucario slowly nodded back. As back on the field, it was the Tyranitar's turn to pant wide-eyed and frantically scramble back onto his feet while his Roughneck trainer looked similarly taken aback. The Tyranitar's gait was visibly shaky, with the way the Rock-type visibly tottered while darting off evidencing that it wasn't just mere nerves wearing him down.
The Salamence looked on, still stunned at the turn of events, as she happened to overhear Numa chuckling and peering down towards Eira at his side.
"Heh, I see that Roy's picked up a couple tricks since last time," Numa chuckled. "Good to see that Calvin didn't lose his edge after giving up on that Gym Challenge of his."
The two carried on as back on the field, she heard Calvin call out to Roy to keep his distance. Almost as soon as it happened, the Blastoise fell back and kept his cannons trained as the Tyranitar nervously studied the field and tried to steady his breath. Much to her astonishment, the state of battle had almost completely flipped around in Roy's favor. And unless the Tyranitar's trainer could pull a Buneary out of his hat, it was now the Rock-type who was visibly more winded and facing down Roy's aim from a distance.
Her heart fluttered, as she bellowed out over the stands.
"Come on Roy! Smash him into the ground!"
She suddenly winced after jostling her left wing, but this time, even the pain couldn't keep her from getting wrapped up in the battle with her teammates.
It dawned on Marl that the only reason why Roy's turnabout had worked in the first place was because he listened to Calvin and didn't heed his initial instinct to try and get away from his foe's Thunder Punch. Because he trusted Calvin when he let Roy know that he saw an opening that the Blastoise didn't.
She cast a glance off at her wing as the crowds worked themselves up more and more. It was there as a reminder of all the failures and pain that she'd been through since evolving, and she'd only stayed because her trainer promised he'd make things right. Even if it seemed hard to imagine how he'd do that.
She turned her head back to the battlefield as Roy readied water in his cannons. She didn't know if she fully trusted Calvin's promises earlier, especially with the way he'd missed out on the biggest day of her life…
But at the very least, she trusted him here and now to help Roy pull through.
And… at least if that trust wasn't misplaced, she wanted to see how far they'd get.
Author's Notes:
1. "Have at him! Pin down that chucklehead and show everyone what a rabbit's foot kicks like!"
2. "Did we miss anything good?"
3. "No, no, you made it just in time, really."
4. "Worried about your trainer's chances or something? Just saying, I could feel that disappointment rolling off of you from all the way down in my seat."
5. "Fenris, I know that it's easy for you to pick up on others' feelings, but seriously. Don't be a snoop like that."
6. "Those turtles can do that?!"
7. "Oh, that was great, it reminds me of how quickly my mother would roundhouse kick any arrogant lizard that got in her way."
8. "Remember that Garrett and his friends invited his team to compete in the tournament, Fenris. They clearly thought they had a chance to do well, so I hope you're not underestimating them right now."