Gardenia threw the ball forward, and in a flash of white light, a Roserade appeared on the battlefield. Although, again, it ended up taking the damage from the spikes, it stood anyway, ignoring the pain.
Gardenia smiled, "Roserade, let's finish this!"
Roserade crossed its arms, the bouquets on its hands raised as it stared down Staravia.
Ash cracked his neck. As he did, his eyes wandered over to the stands where his friends were cheering him on, and he smirked as he looked back at Gardenia.
"[Aerial Ace]!" he commanded.
Staravia immediately shot forward, his wings glowing as he flew straight toward Roserade.
"[Sludge Bomb]!" Gardenia commanded.
Roserade thrust one of its hands forward, launching a massive purple glob of poison toward Staravia. Staravia twisted in midair, narrowly dodging the attack before continuing toward Roserade.
Staravia slammed into Roserade, knocking it backward across the battlefield, but Roserade dug its feet into the ground and managed to stop itself.
Gardenia immediately continued going on the offensive, "Roserade, [Energy Ball]!"
Roserade quickly raised both of its hands, forming a glowing green sphere between the bouquets before firing it directly at Staravia.
"Dodge with [Quick Attack]!"
Staravia suddenly burst forward, speeding past the [Energy Ball] as it flew toward him.
Ash pointed forward, "Now [Aerial Ace]!"
Staravia immediately turned around and flew straight back toward Roserade, his wings glowing as he slammed into it again. Roserade was knocked backward, but this time it quickly spun with the impact and landed gracefully on its feet.
Gardenia grinned, "Nice try! But Roserade isn't going down that easily! [Poison Jab]!"
Roserade immediately dashed forward, one of its bouquets glowing with a purple aura as it swung its arm toward Staravia.
"[Double Team]!"
Staravia split into several copies, causing Roserade's attack to slash through one of them.
Gardenia's eyes narrowed, "Find the real one with [Petal Blizzard]!"
Roserade crossed its arms before rapidly swinging them outward, sending a massive storm of razor-sharp petals across the battlefield.
Several of Staravia's copies were immediately destroyed, disappearing in flashes of light as the petals tore through them.
Gardenia grinned, "There!"
The real Staravia was forced upward to avoid the attack, but Gardenia immediately pointed toward him, "[Sludge Bomb]!"
Roserade launched another massive purple glob toward Staravia.
Ash watched the attack coming and quickly pointed upward, "[Aerial Ace], then pull up!"
Staravia suddenly dove toward Roserade before sharply pulling upward at the last second. The [Sludge Bomb] flew underneath him and splattered harmlessly against the battlefield.
Gardenia's eyes widened, "What?!"
Ash laughed, "You gotta aim better than that!"
Gardenia gritted her teeth, "Don't get cocky! [Petal Blizzard] again!"
Roserade suddenly jumped upward, following Staravia into the air, and spun around in midair, releasing another storm of petals directly toward Staravia.
Staravia tried to dodge, but the attack caught his wing and sent him tumbling through the air, going toward the ground. Thankfully, he recovered before hitting the ground, but he still ended up having to stop flying for a moment to catch his breath.
Ash smiled, "You good?"
Staravia gave a proud squawk.
"Good. Then let's keep going."
Gardenia pointed forward, "Roserade, [Sludge Bomb]!"
Roserade launched another purple glob.
"One more [Quick Attack]!"
Staravia shot forward, dodging the attack and closing the distance between them.
Gardenia smirked, "Again!"
Roserade prepared another [Sludge Bomb], but Ash suddenly raised his hand.
"[Aerial Ace]!"
Staravia spun around and slammed directly into Roserade.
Roserade stumbled backward, but before Staravia could retreat, Gardenia shouted, "Grab him!"
Roserade suddenly lunged forward and grabbed Staravia's wing with one of its bouquet hands. Staravia squawked in surprise as Roserade pulled him closer.
Gardenia grinned, "[Poison Jab]!"
Roserade's other hand began glowing purple as it prepared to strike.
Ash's eyes widened slightly before he pointed toward the ground, "[Hurricane]!"
Staravia suddenly kicked off Roserade and flapped both wings downward, causing a Hurricane to swallow them both. But even in that Hurricane, Roserade refused to let go. In the cyclone, Roserade pulled its hand back and jabbed it into Staravia's chest hard.
Staravia finally stopped struggling and went limp, falling to the ground. As he did, the [Hurricane] dispersed, and Staravia landed with spirals in his eyes, knocked out.
Roserade, meanwhile, landed back on the ground, catching its breath. It was certainly hurt, but it could keep going, and that's just what it would do.
Ash returned Staravia to his ball, "You did great. Leave the rest to us," Ash said under his breath. Then, putting the ball on his belt, he grabbed the last one.
Gardenia, on the other side, put her nose into the air proudly, "I told you, you better not underestimate a Gym Leader."
"Oh, trust me, I never do," Ash said, as a slow smile appeared on his face, "And if I'm being honest, things have been going wonderfully, exactly to my expectations."
"Geez, don't say it like that. At least not with a smile like that. It's kinda creepy like that," Gardenia said with an anxious expression.
Ash smiled again, "I have no idea what you mean. Anyway, we should finish this. I'm not the only person who is gonna battle today." Ash flicked the ball out.
It landed onto the field, and from it Chimchar landed. Chimchar blinked a few times, looking around. Seeing he was on the field, he looked a little worried, but when he looked back at Ash, Ash gave him a thumbs-up. So Chimchar took a small breath and a slow exhale as he slapped his cheeks and nodded, staring Roserade down.
Ash pointed forward, "[Flame Wheel]!"
Chimchar immediately crouched down before flames erupted around his body. He curled into a ball and shot across the battlefield like a flaming wheel.
Gardenia's eyes widened, "Roserade, [Sludge Bomb]!"
Roserade quickly launched a purple glob toward Chimchar.
"You can dodge that, keep going!" Ash called out.
Chimchar continued rolling forward, the [Sludge Bomb] narrowly missing him as he slammed directly into Roserade. The Fire-type attack exploded against Roserade, sending the Grass-type skidding backward.
Gardenia grinned, "Not bad! But let's see how you handle this! [Energy Ball]!"
Roserade raised both of its bouquets and formed another glowing green sphere between them.
"[Mach Punch]!"
Chimchar uncurled and slid across the ground, then he burst forward before Roserade could fire, his fist glowing white as he punched Roserade directly in the stomach. With his other hand, he jumped on Roserade's back and used his other arm to pull Roserade's arm back.
Roserade staggered backward, causing the [Energy Ball] to misfire directly into the ceiling.
Gardenia's eyes widened, "What?!"
Ash winked, "Sorry, too slow."
Gardenia narrowed her eyes, "Roserade, [Poison Jab]!"
Roserade spun, getting Chimchar off its back, and at the same time, its arm glowed purple as it launched toward Chimchar.
"[Mach Punch]!" Ash shouted.
Chimchar ducked underneath the incoming Poison Jab and immediately punched Roserade in the stomach again, knocking it backward.
"Don't let up!" Ash pointed forward, "[Flame Wheel]!"
Chimchar quickly curled into a ball as flames erupted around him, shooting forward toward Roserade.
Gardenia quickly raised her hand, "Roserade, [Energy Ball]!"
Roserade brought both bouquets together, forming a glowing green sphere between them before firing it directly at the incoming Chimchar.
Ash smirked, "Keep going!"
Chimchar continued rolling forward, the [Energy Ball] exploding against the flames surrounding him. The explosion sent smoke across the battlefield, but Chimchar burst through the smoke, still wrapped in flames.
Chimchar slammed directly into Roserade, sending the Grass-type flying backward across the battlefield. Roserade landed on one knee and quickly pushed itself back up, breathing heavily. It was already tired from everything it had already been hit with.
Chimchar landed on Ash's side, and he was starting to jump from one foot to the other, getting excited. He wanted to fight more, and more, and more.
Ash saw it and smirked before he pointed forward, "[Flame Wheel]!"
Chimchar jumped forward and immediately turned into a flaming wheel, shooting toward Roserade.
Gardenia swiped her arm, "We've had enough, [Leaf Storm]!"
This time, Roserade brought both its arms down hard, causing leaves to kick up, then cover the entire field before centering on Chimchar, picking him up into the air. There, all the leaves began centering around him, starting to slash the monkey in every direction. There were so many leaves that it was hard to see what was happening.
After a moment, Roserade couldn't keep the attack going, so it lowered its arms and tried to catch its breath, falling to one knee. It gave itself this moment to relax because, in the air, Chimchar wasn't anywhere to be seen. There was just a big ball of leaves that was falling toward the ground. Chimchar probably got knocked out, then wrapped up in the leaves.
But as it fell, and Gardenia was about to announce her win, Ash snapped his finger, "[Blaze Kick]!"
As the ball of leaves fell, a black line appeared before, all at once, the leaves burned to ash and Chimchar flew, bringing his foot down in an axe kick toward Roserade.
Roserade saw it and tried raising its arms to block, and Chimchar's foot clashed against them for a good moment. But as they both struggled to push the other one back, Roserade started getting pushed back, and Chimchar grit his teeth harder as suddenly he began to glow.
He grew bigger, a ring appeared on his arm, and most importantly, he grew a tail.
Chimchar evolved into Monferno.
And with that extra strength, Monferno gave one final push and broke through Roserade's defense, delivering the kick right to its face and sending Roserade into the ground face-first.
As the dust settled, Roserade didn't get back up. It lay on the ground, knocked out.
Gardenia blinked, looking at the scene, but then she let out a small sigh and clapped, "Roserade is unable to battle, therefore you win."
As soon as she said that, Dawn immediately jumped up, waving both pom-poms around, "YES! ASH WON!"
Piplup cheered beside her, waving its tiny pom-poms as well.
Verity threw her hands into the air, "HE DID IT!"
Barry jumped out of his seat, "THAT WAS AWESOME!"
"That was a good battle," Lucas said, as he somehow pulled out some red bean buns and was already eating again.
Barry stared at him, "How do you keep getting food?!"
Lucas looked down at his bun, "Preparation."
Barry looked completely baffled.
Gardenia walked over to Roserade and crouched down, checking on her Pokémon before smiling, "You did great, Roserade. You held on as long as you could."
Roserade gave a tired groan before slowly standing back up.
Gardenia recalled her, then looked back toward Ash, who was watching his new Monferno look at his new body excitedly.
"Yeah, yeah, you evolved. Congrats." Ash held out his fist, and Monferno immediately ran over and bumped it, "Nice job, buddy." As he said that, he pulled Monferno back into his ball.
Gardenia walked over toward Ash, holding something in her hand, "Well, Ash, I think you've earned this."
In Gardenia's hand was a small badge, "The Forest Badge. You earned it."
Ash took it and held it between his fingers, "Ha, that makes number 2."
Then, before they could say more, Barry quickly scrambled down from the stands, "Alright, now that Ash got his battle, I'm next. I called dibs."
Ash and Gardenia looked at each other, and they both shrugged. Oh, and also, Ash didn't make Verity's appointment immediately after his. He only did that with Roark because he only did like 3 battles a day. With Gardenia, her entire afternoon is open.
"What do you say, Ver~" Ash called up to Verity.
"Wha-don't call me that."
"Yeah, you're right. That one isn't good enough." Ash rubbed his chin as he walked up, "Dawn, we need to find an embarrassing nickname to call Verity."
"Hmm, you're right." Dawn rubbed her chin very seriously, "Hmm."
"Or we could not do that!" Verity called out as she put her face into her hand, "Also, I don't care. Sure, Barry, go off. You can go first."
"Yes!" Barry pumped his fist and pointed at Gardenia, "You heard them! It's my turn!"
"Okay, give me one moment," Gardenia said as she quickly went back to where all her Poké Balls were stored to pull out a fresh team.
But as this was going on, Ash was chuckling, sitting next to Dawn with Pikachu and Vee standing on his lap. Suddenly, he felt a disturbance in the Aura. Okay, that might be a little overdramatic, but still, he felt something happening.
He focused his Aura, and he felt what seemed like Cynthia's Aura and Garchomp and Lucario's Aura fighting in the T.G. Eterna Building.
Ash's eyes furrowed. That wasn't...okay, he needed to check that out, but he needed a way out of here. Thankfully, he had one. His hand reached into his pocket, where he pressed a button, and his phone lit up. On the screen, it said it was his mom calling him.
Ash looked at it and quickly stood, "Sorry, I gotta take this. My mom will murder me if I don't," Ash said, laughing helplessly.
"Wait, really? But-" Verity was about to say.
"Don't worry your head, Ver-ver. I won't miss your battle. I'll be back to watch your battle." Ash patted her head.
Verity quickly swiped his hand away, "Don't call me that either, and who cares if you watch some battle? Get lost!" she huffed and looked away, crossing her arms.
Ash chuckled and waved, "Sure, sure. Dawn, until I get back, cheer enough for the both of us." Ash picked up Pikachu and Vee, then quickly walked out of the Gym just as Gardenia and Barry got ready for battle.
Meanwhile, Ash stopped outside, and his smile fell. He looked over at Pikachu and Vee, "We need to move."
Pikachu and Vee both blinked once, then nodded, getting serious.
Ash let out a breath, then he looked up toward the T.G. Eterna Building. What was happening up there?
—-
Cynthia was fighting her way through the building. She originally came here looking to have a conversation, but as soon as she stepped in, the 'employees' immediately all started acting weird.
They began acting weird, almost like robots but at the same time too stiff, and they insisted she could not go higher up, even when she enforced her authority as Champion.
Cynthia tried speaking some more, but they didn't budge. But that's when Lucario noticed something with them, and she stepped forward to test her theory.
Before Cynthia could react or ask, Lucario grabbed her fist forward, aiming a punch at the receptionist's face, only to stop half an inch away. But with this, she confirmed what she thought. They didn't react, didn't even flinch.
Cynthia realized what Lucario was doing, so she didn't scold Lucario yet, but she could have told her instead of giving her a fake-out like that.
Cynthia crossed her arms, "Yeah, that's definitely not normal."
She stepped closer and placed a hand against the man's shoulder, "Hey." She shook him slightly.
The man suddenly moved. Cynthia barely had time to react before he swung his arm at her. She quickly ducked underneath the punch.
"Okay!" Cynthia shouted as she jumped backward, "I guess we're doing this!"
Garchomp immediately stepped forward, "Garchomp!"
The Dragon-type slammed its fist into the ground, sending a shockwave through the hallway that knocked several of the strange employees off their feet.
Cynthia stared at them as they fell. They weren't pulling out Pokémon.
More employees suddenly came rushing around the corner.
Cynthia sighed, "Of course there are more."
Garchomp cracked its knuckles, and Lucario stepped beside her.
Cynthia sighed, "Don't hurt them too much."
The first employee charged, and Garchomp reacted. Her claws glowed blue as she swung her arm, but then she heard Cynthia's command and sighed, pulling her hit to hit the employee with the hard side instead of the sharp side. It still knocked them away.
Lucario immediately followed with a [Force Palm], hitting one in the chest and leaving them paralyzed on the ground.
Cynthia ducked underneath another attack before spinning around and kicking the attacker in the chest, "Seriously, what is going on here?!"
The employee she kicked stood back up. Cynthia's expression changed. Sure, she wasn't the strongest person, but she did take self-defense classes. A normal receptionist should have gotten knocked out with one of her kicks.
The man simply stared at her, then he charged again.
Cynthia stepped aside, grabbed his arm, and used his momentum to throw him into the wall. He slumped to the floor, "…Definitely not normal."
Lucario suddenly stopped, and her ears perked up.
Cynthia noticed immediately, "What is it?"
Lucario looked toward the ceiling, then she pointed upward.
Cynthia's eyes narrowed, "You sense something?"
Lucario nodded.
Cynthia took a slow breath, "Alright." She looked toward the staircase, "Let's go upstairs."
She started moving, and immediately, as soon as she got to the second floor, she saw a scene that was almost cartoonishly silly. Literally on the very next floor, there were dozens of people with cyan hair and uniforms with a G on it: Team Galactic grunts.
Cynthia's mouth was agape. She was genuinely surprised at the audacity. It was almost impressive if it wasn't so stupid.
Especially because she could see that they were moving around dozens of boxes full of Poké Balls, and when they saw her, immediately every single one started throwing out Pokémon.
Cynthia let out a long sigh, "Why can I never have a normal vacation…"
—
And that's where we get back to where we were. Cynthia managed to fight her way up half the building, but there were still more floors to go, plus the Galactic grunts definitely altered the entire building by now.
Don't get her wrong, she already called the police, but she knew full well if she waited for backup, then whatever they were doing here would be hidden or relocated, and it's just easier if she deals with it herself.
Of course, the Grunts themselves stood no chance against her. Even with there being so many of them, Cynthia did have her entire team with her, and not just her main 6. She had others, like her Kommo-o that she recently got and started training to join her main roster. Even if she has to use 1 each floor, she has plenty.
Once she cleared out the floor she was on, she looked around and noticed this room seemed to be a server room with computers everywhere. Even though she should hurry and find out what is going on here, part of her got curious about what was on the computers, so she took a quick look.
But as she did, from behind her, one of the grunts on the ground managed to open one more ball, and a Zubat flew up and flew toward her back.
But what did you think that was gonna hit her? Garchomp and Lucario were standing right there. Garchomp swiped Zubat like a fly, and Lucario went over and jabbed a [Force Palm] to knock the grunt out.
So yeah, Cynthia didn't even turn back. She just kept looking at the computer for a bit. Once she figured she wasn't going to find anything useful, she decided to just leave and keep going. She sighed, wondering how much more she would have to deal with. She also needed to find that bike seller guy.
But as she ran up the stairs, prepared to take down an entire floor of grunts, she stopped in surprise, because in the room there were certainly grunts with their Pokémon, but they were all on the ground and tied up.
And the one responsible was standing in the center, currently tying up the last of the grunts. Behind him was a giant Dragonite with Riolu sitting on her shoulder, and the person in question was none other than Ash, who had Pikachu and Vee not far behind.
Ash turned back when he heard her steps and called out, "Yo, took a while. It's about time you got up here. I almost moved on to the next floor without you," he said in that very familiar Ash voice.
When he turned, Cynthia saw that Ash had a face mask on with sunglasses, but she could still recognize him just because who else carries a Pikachu and Eevee around with them, especially ones as chaotic as those two.
"What are you doing here?" Cynthia asked, quickly focusing.
"What else? I'm here to join the party. Frankly, I'm offended I didn't get my invite," Ash huffed.
"But I thought you—" Cynthia was about to say something, but Ash quickly shushed her.
"Shhhh. In case you didn't notice, I'm wearing this so they can't see my face. You're the Champion, you're fine. I'm a completely normal person," Ash said in a tone that caused Pikachu, Vee, and even Riolu to turn and stare at him.
Cynthia blinked twice, "Right. Well, okay, do you know what's going on here?"
"Probably as much as you do by now," Ash responded as he pointed to the stairs, "Come on, walk and talk. I kinda made a promise to not take too long. Well, technically, they don't know I'm here, but that's besides the point. We can walk and talk, and I can fill you in on anything important."
Cynthia nodded once, "Alright, let's move."
Together with their Pokémon, they started moving upwards to keep fighting their way up to the top of the tower.