The New Orleans Gym loomed like a factory that had forgotten what daylight looked like. The air inside was thick with dust and the sharp tang of oil. Conveyor belts crossed over the battlefield like veins of metal. Drills and hydraulic pistons groaned in the distance, and every sound echoed too long. The elevator platform rumbled as it descended into the cavern, lights flickering along the walls like veins of molten gold. When it finally locked into place, the floor that stretched before me was pure stone, uneven and scarred from countless battles. It looked like the earth itself had been dragged up and hammered flat just for this fight.
Clay was already waiting across the arena, hat shadowing his eyes, one hand resting on his belt. The other held a small remote with a single red button. He pressed it once, and the walls began to hum.
"Welcome to the Quake Pit," he called over the noise. "Down here, we fight with the rhythm of the earth. Every sixty seconds, she breathes."
A low thrum rolled beneath my boots, slow, deep, and alive. I felt it in my chest before I heard it.
"Those pulses are the earth's heartbeat," Clay went on, his tone steady. "You feel it, you move with it, or you get buried by it. That goes for both of us."
I nodded in acknowledgement.
"Each round will see the terrain shift to a new type of earth. Supposed to keep you on your toes." He reached for his Poké Ball. "Let's get diggin', shall we?"
Nidoking burst out in a flash of light, slamming down with enough force to make dust leap off the stone. The ground shook under his weight. His eyes glinted under the overhead floodlights, hungry and sure of himself.
Across from me, Scizor stepped forward, claws rising like twin blades, catching the light. His wings flared for just a moment, engines thrumming with that sharp metallic whine before cutting to silence. He glanced back at me and nodded once.
Stay light. Time your steps with the pulse. Don't brace; flow.
He crouched slightly in acknowledgment, his body stilling to match the faint vibration running through the floor.
Clay grinned. "Let's see what that bug can do when the ground starts fightin' back. Nidoking, Earth Power!"
The floor erupted beneath Scizor's feet. He shot forward in a blur, the eruption chasing him like a wave. His claws clanged against stone as he rebounded off a cracked pillar, landing behind Nidoking.
Now, X-Scissor.
Scizor's arms crossed, glowing briefly before he slashed downward. The strike connected with a metallic screech, sparks flying as it raked across Nidoking's shoulder. The titan staggered but didn't fall.
Clay barked a short laugh. "You hit hard, but the ground hits harder!
Nidoking, Hammer Arm!"
The quake in his voice barely faded before Nidoking's fist crashed down. Scizor darted aside, but the sheer force of the blow sent a shockwave through the bedrock, knocking him off balance.
Then came the first pulse.
The air thickened with vibration, a deep, resonant rumble that turned my stomach and cracked the floor beneath us. Both Pokémon froze for an instant, then the tremor hit full force.
Scizor dropped to one knee, stabilizers flaring as cracks splintered outward around him. Nidoking roared, trying to stay upright, but even he stumbled. Dust rained down from the cavern roof.
When the shaking eased, Scizor pushed himself up, his claw digging into the fractured stone for leverage. He turned his head just slightly, the faint reflection of the overhead lights gleaming off his eyes.
You good?
He tilted his head once in confirmation.
Clay was already smiling again. "Every minute, like clockwork. You'd best count your seconds, girl. Next one's gonna hit harder."
Then we move faster.
Scizor lunged forward, claws slicing arcs of red light through the haze. Nidoking swung, but Scizor twisted beneath the strike, thrusters flaring just enough to glide across the shifting stone. Each impact left a fresh crater, each dodge perfectly timed to the fading aftershock.
The second pulse was coming. I could feel it before I heard it, a faint shift in pressure, a breath the world was about to exhale.
The floor still smoked from the last quake. Chunks of stone littered the pit, each glowing faintly from the heat below. Clay steadied himself as the tremor faded, his expression somewhere between surprise and approval.
"Still standin'," he said. "Guess you're listenin' better than I thought."
Across the arena, Nidoking dragged one claw through the dust, snorting twin plumes of steam from his nostrils. His tail lashed, cracking a loose boulder in half.
I could feel the next pulse building beneath us, a pressure in the soles of my boots, steady and measured, like a countdown.
Use it, I told Scizor. Time your strike with the quake.
He glanced over his shoulder, eyes glinting faintly under the light, and crouched low. His thrusters warmed with a soft hum that synced perfectly with the growing vibration.
Clay didn't miss it. "Gonna try ridin' the wave, huh? Let's see if you can stay on it. Nidoking, Earth Power!"
The floor erupted again, but this time Scizor was already moving. He vaulted forward just as the pulse hit, his entire body propelled by both the thrusters and the shockwave beneath his feet. At the last moment before impact with his foe, Scizor kicked both feet out, knowing that Nidoking's bulk wouldn't let it be knocked back. He connected and flipped backward, landing in a crouch before delivering a Close Combat that finished the round.
When the haze cleared, Nidoking was out cold.
For a moment, the only sound was the faint hiss of steam rising from the fissures. Then Clay let out a low whistle and recalled his partner.
"Well, I'll be damned," he said quietly. "Ain't often someone uses my own pulse to hit harder."
Scizor straightened, chest heaving slightly, wings flickering once before going still again. He looked back at me, and I gave him a small nod.
Perfectly timed.
Clay smiled under the brim of his hat. "Enjoy the solid ground while it lasts, missy. Next pulse'll dig us deeper."
The warning lights around the pit shifted from orange to red. Heat began to shimmer off the floor as molten light bled up through the cracks. The next pulse was coming, stronger, hotter, heavier.
I clipped Scizor's ball back to my belt. "Rest up, buddy. You earned it."
The tremor struck before the last syllable left my mouth, and the floor began to sink. The once-solid stone liquefied into thick, bubbling mud, the scent of wet clay and sulfur filling the air.
Clay adjusted his hat and cracked his knuckles. "Mud's where real battles happen. No fancy footing, no tricks. Just grit."
"Funny," I called back, unclipping Simon's ball. "I've got plenty of that."
Flygon burst out with a roar that rattled the lights, wings snapping open to send waves of hot air through the chamber. His claws sank slightly into the wet ground before he rose a few feet into the air, hovering just above the surface.
Clay smirked. "You think flight's gonna save you down here? Excadrill, show 'em what the ground can do!"
The mole hit the field like a bullet, spinning his drills once before dropping to a crouch. The next pulse hit right on cue. The entire pit trembled, sending mud geysers bursting upward.
The battle began in a blur of dirt and metal. Simon dove with Dragon Claw, but Excadrill leapt forward and extended his claws to meet the steel crest above his head. I could see his muscles flex right before he slammed his claws together, taking on his drill form.
He cut through the ground like a hot knife through butter, emerging seconds later beneath Simon. The strike clipped his wing, and sparks flew. But as soon as he surfaced, he vanished again, drilling through the mud like a dolphin through water.
It repeated three more times, each strike faster than the last. Each time Simon tried to land a Supersonic, the attack missed by a fraction of a second. Excadrill was reading the rhythm of the quakes, diving between pulses.
Mud splashed across my boots. I frowned. Hold up. Don't move.
Simon hovered, breathing hard. The pulse faded into the distance, but something lingered. I could feel it in the air, a faint metallic vibration humming through the steel supports under the floor. It wasn't random.
You feel that frequency? I asked through our link. In the supports.
Yeah. Feels like it's humming.
Match it. Sync to it, then turn it on him.
Simon's eyes narrowed. His wings folded close to his body as he hovered lower. The hum beneath the floor deepened, lining up with the faint rotation of Excadrill's drill underground.
"Excadrill, keep burrowin'!" Clay shouted. "Don't stop till you feel the quake!"
Excadrill dove again, vanishing beneath the surface. The mud churned violently.
Simon exhaled once. Then he moved. He crossed his arms, drew his legs in, and spun, curling tight like a cannonball before slamming shoulder-first into one of the steel support pillars that framed the arena. The impact thundered throughout the entire gym. The vibration echoed across every beam like a resonant note struck in perfect pitch.
The hum in Excadrill's armor stuttered, faltered, then died completely.
Now!
Simon unfolded midair, wings flaring wide. The air pressure around him distorted as he unleashed a Boomburst directly into the pillar. The sound was more felt than heard, pure, concussive force. The wave ricocheted from pillar to pillar, each echo amplifying the next, until the final rebound slammed into the ground right as Excadrill surfaced.
The shockwave struck like a hammer. Excadrill's armor vibrated violently, the resonance harmonizing with the very metal that made him strong. For an instant, he glowed from the friction heat, then the energy detonated outward in a single, perfect pulse.
The blast flung mud high into the air. When it settled, Excadrill was lying on his back, drills twitching, his armor split with jagged cracks.
Clay barked out a laugh that bounced off the cavern walls. "I'll be damned! Never seen someone weaponize noise like that!"
Simon hovered above the crater, panting, his wings still vibrating faintly from the resonance.
You good?
He nodded once, wings folding in slow, steady motion.
I smiled faintly. Beautiful work. The ground can sing too, you just have to listen close enough.
Clay returned Excadrill and gave a small, approving nod. "You're gettin' it now. Rhythm, timing, instinct, that's what the earth teaches. But don't relax yet. The deeper we go, the hotter it gets."
The next pulse began to build beneath our feet. The mud hardened almost instantly, the moisture hissing away as heat flooded the chamber. By the time the tremor hit, the floor had turned to dry sand, shimmering under the harsh lights.
The mud was gone by the time the next pulse hit. The shockwave dried the floor in an instant, baking the surface into cracked, rippling sand. Heat shimmered off the ground in waves, blurring the edges of the cavern walls. The swamp's humidity evaporated into a choking, arid wind.
Clay brushed a layer of dust off his jacket and chuckled. "Desert layer. Let's see how that fancy fox of yours handles fightin' where even the air cuts sharp."
Zoey's ball was already in my hand. I grinned. "Guess we're about to find out."
It snapped open in my hand, and the dark shape of my partner dropped lightly onto the sand. She rolled her neck once, letting her mane flare. Her eyes narrowed, a grin spreading across her face.
Don't overthink it, I told her. Let him chase what he can't see.
She smirked, flicking her mane once before sinking into a low crouch. Across from her, Mamoswine hit the ground with a thud that sent cracks crawling through the sand. The beast's breath misted even in the heat, frost clinging to his tusks.
Clay tipped his hat back. "Mamoswine! Bulldoze!"
The floor erupted as Mamoswine thundered forward. Sand flew in sheets under his hooves, the pulse beneath our feet rising in sync with his momentum. Zoey blurred to one side, barely a streak of color against the storm of dust.
She spun once, claws dragging across the sand in a graceful arc. Then she vanished, her outline melting into the haze.
She used Smokescreen, the haze bursting from her mane. The battlefield vanished in swirling ash. Clay squinted through the smoke.
"I seen that trick before! You used it on Cilan!"
He snapped. "Mamoswine! Earthquake!"
The floor cracked, pipes rattling under the tremor. But before Mamoswine's hooves struck a second time, Zoey erupted from the smoke behind him, eyes burning crimson.
Surprise.
She lashed out with her claws before vanishing into thin air again. Mamoswine winced as her claws dug into his flank. A second later, Zoey appeared on our side of the arena, completely unharmed, tail flicking lazily.
Mamoswine thundered forward, its breath misting in the chilled air, tusks rimed with frost. Ice Fang gleamed blue-white as it closed the distance.
Zoey didn't flinch. She tilted her head toward me, one eye catching the glow of the floodlights, and gave a quick, conspiratorial wink.
Lights out.
The arena plunged into chaos. The floodlights lining the ceiling began flickering on and off in violent, uneven bursts, strobing so fast it was impossible to tell what was real and what wasn't. Shadows fractured across the battlefield, twitching with every flash.
Mamoswine roared, swinging its tusks in confusion. In the half-dark, a faint purple glint flickered ahead. For a heartbeat, Clay's eyes widened, then the lights flared again, revealing a Shadow Ball already inches from Mamoswine's face.
The explosion rocked the arena. Mamoswine staggered back, snow and debris scattering under its hooves. Steam rolled off its fur where the blast had scorched through the frost, but it stayed standing, bellowing in fury.
Another strobe. Another glint, this time above him. He swung his tusks, splitting the phantom orb clean in half before it detonated overhead. The blast shook the rafters, light searing across his back.
Then the lights cut again. Darkness swallowed everything.
A laugh echoed through the void, low and teasing.
When the lights blinked back on, Zoey was gone. Only after-images hung in the air: purple flashes darting across the corners of the arena, flickering with every pulse of the lights. Shadow Balls came from everywhere, overhead, behind, beneath, each flash revealing just a glimpse of her outline before it vanished again.
Clay shouted commands, but his Pokémon couldn't track her. Every time he turned, another explosion lit the smoke. Through it all, I caught pieces of her laughter, slithering through the dark like a melody.
Too slow, big guy.
When the lights finally stabilized, the battlefield was a mutilated mess of ice and shadow. Mamoswine stood in the center, sides heaving, tusks glowing faintly from the heat of the few blasts he'd managed to deflect.
And Zoey, calm as ever, was already perched atop one of the cranes overlooking the field, resting an elbow on her knee with a grin that could've frozen blood. Before Mamoswine could move, she let loose a savage Dark Pulse, the wave cutting through the air with perfect precision.
The hit landed squarely. Mamoswine groaned once before collapsing with a quake that rippled through the sand.
Clay exhaled, looking across the ruined field. "You turned my whole arena into a light show. Guess the desert's yours, kid."
Zoey hopped down from the crane, landing beside me with a smug grin. I met her eyes and smiled. Show-off.
She shrugged, brushing ash off her mane. You love it.
The next pulse began to build beneath us, deeper than before. The sand started to glow faintly red at the seams, cracks forming between the dunes. The temperature spiked, dry heat turning molten.
The final stage of the Earth Pulse Crucible had begun.
Clay unclipped his final Poké Ball and gave me a nod. "Last layer. Let's see if your Swampert can stand the heat."
I felt the ground vibrate through my shoes, steady, alive, the earth's heart about to break open.
I took a slow breath and released Swampert's ball. "We'll manage."
The pulse hit.
The air shimmered with heat. What had once been sand now glowed like liquid glass, broken by scattered islands of black stone floating above the molten surface. The roar of the magma below was a living thing, breathing, shifting, pulsing.
Clay grinned through the haze. "Now this is a battlefield." He tossed his final Poké Ball forward. "Hippowdon, rise and roar!"
The massive Ground-type erupted from the central platform in a shower of molten debris, sand pouring from its hide as if it carried a desert within its body. The stone beneath its bulk cracked instantly.
I looked across the glowing chasm, feeling the heat sting my cheeks. "Swampert, let's finish this."
He landed with a heavy splash of molten slurry against his armor-like skin, the heat glancing off the moisture still clinging to his body. His muscles flexed beneath the light, water hissing where it met the scorched rock. He tilted his head once, calm and ready.
Clay pointed forward. "Earthquake!"
The first pulse hit at the same time. The entire arena shook violently. Lava fountained upward in streaks of orange and gold. The blast knocked smaller rocks loose and sent ripples through the molten pools. Swampert dropped to one knee, catching himself on a slab of obsidian before leaping to a new perch as the one beneath him sank.
Stay above it. Time your steps with the pulses.
He grunted low in his throat and leapt again, each jump in perfect rhythm with the deep vibration rolling beneath us.
Hippowdon roared, mouth wide as a new surge of sand burst from his jaws, solidifying into makeshift platforms that bridged the lava around him. The arena trembled under the strain.
"Good improv," Clay called, "but it won't save ya from this! Hippowdon, Mud Bomb!"
The projectiles hissed through the air like meteors, sizzling as they connected with molten rock. Swampert ducked behind a pillar of basalt as one exploded against it, shards of glowing stone scattering around him.
Push forward, I told him, and close the distance. He can't burrow here.
Swampert dove low, the heat distortion hiding his movement. When the next pulse hit, he used the upward shock to launch himself high into the air, breaking through the haze like a blue comet.
"Hippowdon, counter with Stone Edge!" Clay shouted.
Spears of jagged rock shot upward in a spiral. Swampert twisted midair, one grazing his arm, another slicing across his side. But he didn't slow.
He landed on a higher platform and charged again, the molten glow beneath him reflecting in his eyes.
Another pulse came, stronger this time. The arena bucked violently, magma exploding in streaks of red fire. Swampert lost footing for just an instant, but instead of fighting it, he let the pulse's momentum carry him forward.
He slid down a slanted slab straight toward Hippowdon.
Now, Hydro Pump!
Swampert slammed both fists into the molten slurry and inhaled. A massive torrent of water shot toward Hippowdon, who braced itself and roared. It pushed back with a counter-surge of sand and stone. The two forces collided in a deafening hiss of steam that blanketed the arena.
When the smoke cleared, both Pokémon were still standing, battered, drenched, and glaring through the haze.
Clay's voice boomed through the heat. "One more pulse. Make it count!"
I could feel it building, deep, slow, inevitable. The ground beneath us throbbed like a heartbeat. Each pulse up to now had been a warning. This one felt final.
Swampert, I whispered through the link, when it hits, don't hold back. Jump with it and bring it down hard.
He nodded once, stance lowering. The veins of magma brightened beneath him, and the world erupted.
The final pulse struck. The floor heaved upward with impossible force, launching both Pokémon off their platforms. Swampert caught the rising shockwave midair and used it, legs coiling, arms pulled back. Hippowdon's eyes widened as he saw the shadow of the descending blow.
Swampert roared.
The Hammer Arm came down in a perfect arc, the weight, momentum, and fury condensing into a single motion. His fist struck Hippowdon square in the snout, the violent impact ringing like a cannon blast.
The shockwave that followed split the platform beneath them. Magma erupted from the cracks, the flash lighting both in gold and crimson. When the molten spray cleared, Hippowdon was down, eyes closed, half-buried in the fractured stone.
Swampert knelt beside him, panting hard, then pushed himself upright. His body steamed from the heat, fists still trembling from the force of the blow.
For a long moment, the arena was silent except for the slow settling of molten rock.
"Hippowdon is unable to battle! The Victory goes to Atrea Morgan and Swampert."
Swampert slammed his fist into the ground and let out a triumphant roar, his fins vibrating with the force.
Then Clay laughed, a rough, genuine sound that cut through the fading heat.
"Well, I'll be," he said, recalling his partner. "Never seen anyone ride the earth's heartbeat all the way to the core and walk out smilin'. You didn't fight against it, you matched it."
Swampert glanced at me, chest still rising and falling with deep, steady breaths. I smiled, voice soft. That's how we move now. With the rhythm, not against it.
Clay approached the edge of the platform, pulling something from his coat. A small badge, dark steel with a jagged fault line running through its center, gleamed in the light. He flipped it toward me.
"Take it. You earned it. The Quake Badge."
I caught it in my palm. It was cold despite the heat.
"Guess I did."
As Swampert and I turned toward the elevator, the platform above began to rise. The molten glow faded into shadow, and the tremors subsided.
As we stepped out into the afternoon light, Skyla caught up beside me, still smiling. "Trilla would've been proud, you know."
I tightened my fingers around the badge. "Yeah," I whispered. "She would."
The rhythmic beep of Trilla's heart monitor was the only sound in the room. She looked fragile still, but her eyes were bright, alive again.
A nurse unhooked the last monitor lead from her wrist. "You're free to go, Miss Morgan. The paperwork's all cleared. Your Gardevoir's vitals are back to normal."
Trilla turned to me, smiling faintly. Back to normal feels... strange, she said softly in my mind.
I returned the smile. "You'll get used to it."
Skyla leaned against the doorway, arms crossed. "You sure she's ready to travel?"
"She's tougher than she looks," I said, helping Trilla off the bed. "Besides, if I stay here any longer, Clay's gonna start charging me rent."
Skyla chuckled. "Fair. The next line south leaves in twenty minutes. I already got the tickets."