Growlithe did not let go.
It had Pidgeot clamped in its jaws and was not going to release it for anything. That was simply how Growlithe worked. It bit down and it held, and no command from Nova would change that unless the command itself required letting go.
Nova knew this. Which is exactly why he called for Flame Wheel.
Growlithe threw its whole body into a spin, dragging Pidgeot with it. The two Pokémon became a single blazing wheel, turning in the air before crashing down hard onto the arena floor. There was nothing Aston could do from his side of the field. Pidgeot had no room to escape and no way to recover.
The impact shook the arena.
When the smoke cleared, Growlithe was sitting in the center of the field, tail wagging, looking up at Nova with a satisfied grin. Pidgeot lay in front of it, feathers smoking, eyes glazed over.
The referee stepped forward without hesitation.
"Pidgeot is unable to battle! Growlithe wins! Aston, please send out your next Pokémon!"
Aston was quiet for a moment. Then he reached for his second Poké Ball and threw it out onto the field.
"Marowak, I'm counting on you!"
Marowak landed on the arena and immediately made itself known. It swung its bone club in wide, provocative arcs, fixing Growlithe with a challenging glare.
Growlithe stared back.
Then its expression shifted. Its eyes locked onto the bone club. Its mouth slowly fell open. A thin line of drool crept down from the corner of its lip.
That was a bone. An actual bone. Right there. Just sitting in that little thing's hand.
Nova put a hand over his face.
When the referee asked whether the winning side wished to swap out their Pokémon, Nova did not hesitate. He was not letting Archie anywhere near that bone club. He had not come here to watch his own Growlithe lose its mind over a chew toy.
He recalled Growlithe into its Poké Ball and gave it a quiet word before the ball clicked shut. It had done well.
Then he threw his second Poké Ball.
Aqua was here.
The Lapras that appeared on the arena was not small. Two months of steady meals and steady growth had pushed her well past the size of a juvenile and nearly to the full dimensions of an adult. She stood over two and a half meters tall and weighed close to half a ton. The arena felt slightly more occupied with her in it. Her coloring ran a little deeper and darker than most of her species, which gave her a certain presence even before she had done anything.
She looked around the arena with wide, calm eyes, taking everything in.
The referee signaled the start of the second match.
"Marowak, Stone Edge!"
Aston's choice made sense. Lapras carried an Ice typing, and Rock-type moves hit Ice-types for double damage. A Ground-type move would have done nothing special. Stone Edge was the right call.
Except Aqua turned and looked at Marowak.
It was not a threatening look. It was a soft, curious, almost dreamy gaze, the kind of look that made no particular sense in the middle of a battle. But something about it reached Marowak anyway. Some vague, unsettling feeling stirred in the back of its mind right as it raised the bone club to strike.
Stone Edge already had shaky accuracy at the best of times. In that distracted moment, Marowak's throw went wide. The stones scattered off target and clattered uselessly across the arena floor.
Aqua had used Charm.
Nova had taught her the move to support her natural bulk. Lowering the opponent's Attack gave Lapras time to work, and with her high HP and solid defenses, she could outlast most opponents once their offensive pressure was reduced. That was the plan on paper.
In practice, Nova had noticed something harder to explain. Whenever Aqua used Charm, there was an additional effect that had nothing to do with standard move mechanics. Something about the way she looked at opponents, some quality in her expression, caused them to hesitate, slip, or simply lose focus at the wrong moment. It had happened in training more than once, and it had just happened again.
Nova had not yet worked out how to develop that quality further. But he knew it was real, and he knew it was useful. A Pokémon as slow as Lapras gained a great deal from being able to throw off an opponent's very first move.
"Aqua, Water Pulse!"
Lapras drew in a small breath and let out a single, short musical note before she launched the attack.
Nova sighed internally. This was a habit she had not grown out of. She liked to sing before she did anything. He had long since stopped expecting her to skip the preamble and accepted that it was simply part of who she was. He was just glad she had not decided to work through an entire melody first.
The Water Pulse flew across the field.
Marowak did not flinch. It planted its feet and brought the bone club up in a sharp, practiced motion, deflecting the pulse to one side with a left jab, then a sweeping right strike. It was not random swinging. The movements were controlled and deliberate, each one placed with clear intention.
Nova raised an eyebrow. That was not what he had expected from a Bone Rush.
But then he almost smiled.
It did not matter how skilled Marowak was with that club. No amount of technique blocked sound.
"Aqua," Nova said, "go ahead."
Lapras lifted her head slowly. She opened her mouth, and a long, clear note rang out across the arena.
Sparkling Aria.