{Back with the group}
The battle had continued while Ash wasn't there, and Barry and Gardenia went back and forth, both now down to their last Pokémon.
Barry had Gardenia on the edge, "Now, Monferno, [Flame Wheel]!"
Barry's Monferno jumped up and shot forward like a flaming wheel toward Gardenia's Cradily.
"Cradily, [Energy Ball]!"
Cradily fired a glowing green sphere, but Monferno pushed straight through it, its flames burning brighter as it closed the distance.
"Keep going!"
Monferno slammed into Cradily, sending it skidding backward across the battlefield. Cradily struggled to get back up, but after a moment, it finally collapsed.
Gardenia blinked, then raised her hand, "Cradily is unable to battle, therefore you win," Gardenia said, starting to clap for Barry.
"Yes!" Barry shouted, throwing his fists into the air, "I knew I'd win!"
The gang all cheered for Barry as Gardenia approached him to hand over the badge, but while everyone congratulated Barry, Verity was only half paying attention. Every so often, her eyes drifted toward the Gym's entrance.
She glanced at the door again. Still nothing. Her fingers nervously fidgeted at her side.
"Alright!" Gardenia said, "Now it's time for our final challenger!"
Verity flinched, "E-Eh?"
Gardenia looked over at her, "Verity, that means you."
"Oh! Right! Me!" Verity laughed nervously, "Yeah, totally. I was just...thinking."
She glanced toward the door again.
"Umm..." Verity suddenly raised a finger, "Hey, what if we take a quick break first? Gardenia must be tired after battling twice in a row! You must be thirsty or something?"
Gardenia waved her hand dismissively, "I'm fine."
"Oh."
"Besides, the vending machine is broken, remember?"
Verity's smile slowly disappeared, "...Right."
Her shoulders slumped. She really had no excuse left.
"Come on, Verity!" Dawn called, "You've got this!"
"Yeah," Verity muttered.
She slowly walked over to the challenger's side of the battlefield while Gardenia headed toward the back to get a new team. Verity glanced toward the door one more time, and still nothing.
She couldn't help but wonder if it was what she said to Ash that made him get lost. She had told him that she didn't care if he watched her battle, and she couldn't help but regret how she said that. After all, it was probably a family emergency.
She sighed, then bit her lip before looking down at the Poké Balls attached to her waist. Her hand slowly reached down and grabbed one of them.
"Okay..." she whispered to herself, "I can do this."
She took a slow breath, then looked toward Gardenia, "Let's battle."
Gardenia had already grabbed a new set of three Pokémon. She grabbed one and smiled, "This will be fun."
—
{Meanwhile}
The Team Galactic grunts were bunkered down. They moved a bunch of tables in front of the only door to get onto their floor. Meanwhile, while some of them were standing nearby waiting, others were further back trying to contact the main base to report to the boss and ask for backup.
But when they called and explained their situation, all they got was a dismissive breath and Cyrus's voice telling them, "Keep them busy," before he hung up.
While the grunts were in despair, the door suddenly burst open after two [Aura Sphere] blasted through, sending the nearby grunts to the ground.
When they looked up, they saw a Lucario and a little Riolu walking up through first, with the Riolu jumping proudly and looking up at the Lucario for praise. Lucario clapped for him. She wasn't competitive; in fact, she was glad to see another one of her kind so good at Aura manipulation, way better than she was when she was a Riolu.
Then behind them, Ash and Cynthia walked in. Ash stretched his arm behind his head, while Cynthia casually looked around like the grunts weren't even there or a problem.
The grunts stared at the two humans and all their Pokémon in disbelief.
Ash casually looked around the room, then scratched the back of his head, "Wow, you guys really barricaded yourselves in here?"
One of the grunts pointed at him, "You!"
Ash blinked, "Me?"
"You're the kid from before!"
Ash looked over at Cynthia, "Do you know this guy?"
Cynthia glanced at the grunt, then back at Ash, "No."
"Okay, good."
The grunt slammed his fist against the table, "Get them!"
The remaining grunts immediately threw all their Pokémon out at once and also rushed forward.
Cynthia sighed, "I suppose I should have expected this."
Ash grinned, "You say that like it's a bad thing."
"It is."
Ash shrugged, "Ehhhh."
A grunt charged toward Ash, swinging his fist. Ash simply leaned backward, letting the punch pass inches from his face.
"Hey, I wouldn't if I were you. You're gonna lose that arm," Ash said casually.
"Oh yeah? From who, you, you brat?" The grunt tried again. This time Ash didn't dodge. He did warn him.
But as his fist came, an orange hand came out of the smoke and caught it. The grunt looked up, and from the smoke, an angry Dragonite looked down at him.
"...I apologise for my outburst—" the grunt tried, but Dragonite wasn't having any of it. She grabbed him and threw him across the room, then jumped into the battle to fight all the Pokémon the grunts let out.
Ash and Cynthia watched the massacre go on. None of their other Pokémon even joined in yet, even though Garchomp was right behind them and Lucario was right there, not to mention all of Ash's Pokémon.
Ash looked at Cynthia, "She looks happy."
Cynthia watched Dragonite charge into the crowd, "She does."
Dragonite swung her tail, knocking three Pokémon aside at once before grabbing a fourth by the scruff and tossing it into two more.
Ash scratched his cheek, "You know, I think she might be enjoying this a little too much."
Cynthia shrugged, "She is your Dragonite."
"Fair enough." Ash shrugged.
Ash looked over at Riolu, who was standing beside Lucario with his little fists raised, watching the battle.
"Riolu, you wanna help?"
Riolu's eyes lit up, "Riolu!"
"Oh, I see. Alright, give me a sec." Ash reached into his bag and pulled out a comically small gong, and he hit it with the stick. As soon as the sound came out, Riolu immediately charged forward, jumping up and coming down with a double-knee drop into the strongest enemy Pokémon there, which was a grunt's Drapion.
Lucario looked surprised for a moment before smiling and following after him.
Ash, Cynthia, Pikachu, Vee, and Garchomp stood on the side watching the battle. They really didn't have to put in more. In fact, if they sent in another one of their Pokémon, it might take a little longer since they might get in the way.
Cynthia glanced toward Ash's Pokémon, then smiled, "You've certainly built an interesting team."
Ash looked over at her, "Interesting?"
"Your Dragonite, I mean. I remember her from last time. Looks like she's only gotten stronger since then." Cynthia pointed over.
"Oh yeah. I mean, when you've had to fight, you know what, kinda hard to not get stronger," Ash chuckled.
"Yeah, ever since that day, I think I also got stronger, which was nice. Before then, I felt like I might have reached my limit, but turns out I just needed a push," Cynthia added.
"I mean, hey, that's a good thing, isn't it? Means maybe next time you can deal with what we all dealt with by yourself~" Ash teased.
Cynthia let out a small breath, "I don't think so. Fighting 'that' made me realize that I'm not anywhere near the peak. Sure, I have time to get stronger, but I doubt that I'll ever grow strong enough to beat one of those by myself."
"Hey, you never know. Never say never," Ash said with a small smirk.
"What about you? Do you think you'll reach that level one day? With your rate of growth, I think you could do it."
Ash looked at her, then closed his eyes and shook his head humbly, "Nah, I doubt it. I'm only a normal person," he said, but no one there believed that.
Cynthia snorted slightly, but she composed herself, "Sure, and just a normal person that is approaching Champion rank," she said, pointing over at Pikachu, since Pikachu was the closest one she could tell was near Champion rank.
And even ignoring that, if we'd get technical, technically when they were fighting the Arceus statue, everyone there became Champion rank temporarily.
But Ash just waved his hand, "I have no idea what you mean," he said, but with his eyes, he gestured over that, hey, there are still grunts here, maybe don't talk about personal things that could get me caught.
Cynthia blinked owlishly a few times, then slowly nodded in understanding. As she looked back over to the fight, her eyes fell on Riolu first, who was currently running alongside Lucario and throwing Aura-boosted punches at the Galactic Pokémon.
"Your Riolu is impressive, too."
Ash grinned, "Yeah, he's gotten a lot better."
"He seems particularly happy right now."
Ash looked over at Riolu, who was practically bouncing around the battlefield as he fought alongside Lucario.
"Yeah, he really likes hitting things," Ash said. Note Ash did not say fighting, he said hitting things. Yes, there is a difference.
Cynthia watched as Riolu suddenly ducked under an attack before spinning around and smacking a Galactic Pokémon with an [Aura Sphere].
"He reminds me a little of Lucario when she was younger."
Ash glanced at Lucario, "Really?"
Cynthia nodded, "Only mine was less stubborn, and more competitive. Thankfully, she changed after she evolved."
Ash chuckled, "Yeah, that sounds about right."
Cynthia watched Riolu for another moment before tilting her head, "Do you think he'll evolve soon?"
Ash shrugged, "I dunno."
Cynthia looked at him, "Really?"
"He should probably have evolved by now," Ash admitted, since Ash knew Riolu's friendship value was high enough; he just hasn't done it yet, "But Riolu likes being a little difficult."
Cynthia smiled, "So you think he's refusing to evolve?"
"Wouldn't surprise me."
Riolu suddenly looked over toward Ash, almost as if he heard him.
Ash raised an eyebrow, "What?"
Riolu immediately stuck his tongue out, then turned away and started punching another Galactic Pokémon.
Ash pointed at him, "See? He knows exactly what I'm talking about."
Cynthia laughed softly, "Then I suppose he'll evolve when he feels like it."
"Pretty much." Ash shrugged, "Whenever that'll be."
Cynthia looked back toward the battle, "At least he seems happy."
"Yeah, even if he is a pain sometimes," Ash shrugged.
After a few moments, all the grunts got taken down, and Dragonite flew up to Ash, wagging her tail and waiting for praise.
Ash stood on his toes and rubbed Dragonite's head. Dragonite was really happy, too happy, so much so that immediately she grabbed Ash and hugged him tightly, and Cynthia could almost swear that there was a pop.
After a moment, when Ash got released and he braced himself on the wall for a second, Cynthia tilted her head, "Are you okay?"
Ash raised a finger, "Yeah, just...oh, just give me a sec..." After a moment, he stood up and cracked his back, "Alright, I'm good. Let's go one more."
Cynthia stared at Ash for a moment as he stretched his back, "Are you sure you're okay?"
Ash waved his hand, "Yeah, yeah. Dragonite just hugged me a little too hard."
Cynthia glanced over at Dragonite, who was now innocently looking around the room as if she hadn't just nearly folded Ash in half.
"She does seem affectionate."
"Very."
Dragonite smiled proudly.
Ash pointed at her, "Don't look so proud of yourself."
Dragonite just grinned wider.
Cynthia shook her head before looking toward the stairs, "Well, shall we?"
"Yep, let's go," Ash said, quickly checking his phone to check the time.
They ran up the stairs to the final floor, where the door to it was some reinforced metal door that looked like it was supposed to be able to survive a bomb exploding and be fine.
Cynthia raised her hand, calling dibs, so Ash took a step back, and Garchomp walked up. She raised her claws and slashed down, cutting the metal door like butter.
Then Garchomp kicked the door, giving them their way in. When they stepped in, there in a corner they saw some people tied up, including the bike shop owner that Cynthia was looking for originally.
And over them were ten grunts who heard the metal door getting broken. They stood there, looked at Ash and Cynthia, blinked twice, then immediately did the only thing they could.
They turned tail and ran to the elevator, quickly getting in and trying to close the door to get away. What do you expect them to fight? If they were here, that meant they fought their way through all of the other grunts in the building. They weren't stupid enough to try and fight, so they were running.
Cynthia blinked, slightly surprised. She reached a hand out, "Wait," she tried, but they didn't listen as the elevator doors closed.
Cynthia's hand fell, "Huh, they just ran away when they saw us."
"Then that's just a you thing," Ash teased as he patted her shoulder, then whistled and pointed at the elevator.
Pikachu jumped up and moved to the panel. He ripped off the panel, exposing the wires, and he grabbed two before biting down and enjoying a quick electricity snack. As he did that, the power in the elevator was cut, and the elevator itself stopped. Now those grunts were stuck in there until the police got here to get them out.
Cynthia blinked at what Ash did. Huh, she really didn't think of that. She genuinely thought that the grunts just escaped. Maybe she should get an Electric-type one of these days. Meh, that was a thought for later.
She went over to check on the unconscious people, checking them over, "It doesn't seem like any of them are horribly injured," she pointed out for Ash.
"Hm, alright, then I don't have to work my magic," Ash nodded, "Alright, do you think you've got things from here?"
"Hm?" Cynthia looked back, "Oh, I mean, yeah, I can deal with things from here. Are you leaving already?"
Ash nodded, "Yeah, I made a promise, and I spent enough time with these losers. I've got to get back before I miss everything."
"I understand." Cynthia sighed. She couldn't say she wasn't disappointed, but to be fair, this whole thing did pop out of the blue, "Well, it was a pleasure fighting with you again."
"I should be the one saying that, Champion~" Ash smirked, then he looked over to Riolu and Dragonite and whistled.
Riolu was showing off his Aura tricks to Lucario. He heard Ash's whistle and sighed, but he jumped up and gave Lucario a high five before running over to Ash and claiming Ash's head as his sitting spot.
Dragonite, meanwhile, immediately flew over and stood next to Ash happily.
Ash opened the door to the roof, where there was a helipad, but no helicopter, unfortunately. Shame, he would have liked to ste— I mean, confiscate a helicopter. Oh well.
He looked back at Cynthia and gave her a salute before he went off and jumped off the building, and Dragonite flew after him, catching him and flying off back to the Gym.
Cynthia watched him go and sighed, then looked down at the hostages. She would have to call all of this in, and that was gonna be such a pain. Why can she never have a normal vacation?
—
{Back in the Gym}
Things weren't going particularly well for Verity. Sure, it started out good, sure, but then things quickly went downhill. Her Budew and Lapras went down after taking down one Pokémon together, Burmy gave it its all and took down another on her own, but Gardenia had one left, and Burmy was already tired.
And Gardenia had one last Poké Ball that she threw out. The ball clicked on the ground, and out came a Victreebel.
Gardenia smiled, "Looks like we're down to our final Pokémon each."
Verity swallowed nervously, "Yeah…"
She slapped her cheeks and took a breath, "Okay, let's do this."
Gardenia pointed forward first, "Victreebel, [Vine Whip]!"
Several thick vines shot forward.
"Burmy, move!"
Burmy quickly shuffled to the side, narrowly avoiding the first vines, but another came from behind and smacked it across the battlefield.
"Bur!"
"Burmy!"
Burmy rolled across the ground before managing to stop itself.
"Get up!" Verity shouted.
Burmy slowly stood back up, "Bur..."
Immediately, Gardenia swiped her arm, "Victreebel, [Razor Leaf]!"
A storm of sharp leaves shot toward Burmy.
"[Protect]!"
Burmy surrounded itself with a green barrier, blocking the attack.
"Now, [Tackle]!"
Burmy lowered the barrier, then immediately took off to close the distance.
Gardenia immediately responded, "[Acid]!"
A stream of purple liquid blasted forward right at Burmy.
"Burmy, quick, dodge!"
Burmy jumped over the attack, but Victreebel suddenly swung one of its vines upward, catching Burmy before slamming it into the ground hard.
"Burmy!" Verity cried out.
Burmy slowly tried to get up, and when Gardenia noticed, she continued. Since this was a Gym battle, she wasn't gonna show mercy, "[Power Whip]!"
Victreebel raised the vine and slammed down on Burmy's back, pushing Burmy harder into the ground before sending Burmy flying off to the side.
But even after that, Burmy still managed to struggle back up, breathing heavily.
"Burmy, can you keep going?" Verity asked.
Burmy nodded slightly as she stood back up.
Gardenia smiled, "Well, she's certainly really stubborn. Too bad this isn't a stamina contest." Gardenia raised her hand, "[Solar Beam]!"
Victreebel opened its mouth and began charging a bright green light before finally shooting it out as a beam directly toward Burmy.
Verity quickly waved her hand, "Burmy, [Protect]!"
Burmy lit up again, creating a barrier one more time as the beam crashed into her. The beam created an explosion of black smoke. When the smoke dispersed, all that was left on Verity's side was a pile of rubble from the ground and surrounding area.
Verity's eyes widened as her hands started shaking slightly. She looked down as she clenched her eyes shut. In the end, this was it. She lost.
Gardenia watched Verity's reaction for a moment. She waited a second, and when she didn't call out for something, she raised her hand, about to call it.
However, just then, at that moment, Ash finally came through the door. He looked around, quickly seeing the scene, and he understood enough.
Quickly, he got into the bleachers and got next to Dawn. As he did, Verity heard the sounds of someone bursting through the door. She looked behind her and saw Ash, "A-Ash?"
Ash gave her a thumbs-up, "Sorry I missed the start! But hey, I'm here now!"
Verity smiled despite herself, "Yeah..."
Ash looked at Dawn, "Hey, do you still have some spare pom-poms?"
Dawn snorted, "Seriously?"
"Yep."
"You're going to do this again?"
Ash nodded, "Absolutely."
Dawn laughed and passed Ash hers, "Here."
She tossed them over.
Ash caught them, "Thanks!"
Ash immediately jumped into position, "Okay, everybody!"
Dawn covered her face, holding back a small laugh, "Oh no..."
Ash raised both pom-poms into the air, "VERITY! VERITY! SHE'S THE BEST!"
"VER! VER! VER!"
Dawn sighed before grabbing Pachirisu, "Come on, you two. We might as well help."
Pachirisu jumped onto Dawn's shoulder, "Pachi!"
The two of them started cheering as well.
Verity's face turned bright red, "You're so embarrassing!"
"Kinda the point~" Ash called out, "Now get back in there and win this."
Verity looked at Ash, then back to her side of the field, where she saw the pile.
"But I already lo—" Before she could finish, however, light started coming through the cracks from the debris of the rubble. Then it dispersed, before finally something burst out and stood proudly.
Burmy evolved into Trash Cloak Wormadam, with her full pink cloak.
Verity blinked a few times before finally letting out a laugh and snorting slightly, "You drama queen! I thought you got knocked out, haha!"
Wormadam let out a proud cry, "Worm! [I needed a proper entrance.]"
Verity finally stopped, then opened her eyes and felt calm again as she looked at Gardenia, "We aren't done yet."
Gardenia smiled, "Then let's keep going! [Razor Leaf]!"
Victreebel immediately launched another storm of razor-sharp leaves toward Wormadam.
"Wormadam, [Protect]!"
Wormadam raised her cloak as a green barrier formed around her. The leaves slammed into the barrier and scattered harmlessly across the battlefield.
Gardenia frowned slightly, "Again! [Vine Whip]!"
Several vines shot forward and wrapped around Wormadam, but she barely reacted.
Gardenia continued, "Victreebel, [Power Whip]!"
Victreebel raised Wormadam and swung downward with all its strength.
But Verity called out, "Wormadam, [Iron Defense]!"
Wormadam's body suddenly shone with a metallic gleam as she braced herself. She slammed into the ground, and a loud sound rang throughout the entire field, but Wormadam just bounced before flipping back up completely fine.
After all, Trash Cloak Wormadam kinda just hard-countered Gardenia. With the Steel type, it x4 resisted all Grass-type moves, and it was immune to Poison-type moves, so there was kinda nothing Gardenia could really do to deal any meaningful damage.
"Our turn, [Bug Buzz]," Verity commanded.
Wormadam created a loud screeching sound that hit Victreebel, causing it to wriggle in agony.
"Victreebel, hang in there!" Gardenia shouted, "Push through it!"
Victreebel shook its head violently before finally managing to regain its footing.
"Good! Now, [Power Whip]!"
Victreebel swung its vines forward, but Wormadam simply stood there.
"Wormadam, [Iron Defense] again!"
Wormadam's body gleamed as the vines wrapped around her and pulled tight. The attack barely seemed to bother her.
Verity raised her fist, "Now, [Bug Buzz]!"
Wormadam unleashed another wave of sound, and Victreebel staggered backward.
Gardenia grit her teeth, "Victreebel, keep going!"
Victreebel pushed itself forward, clearly struggling but refusing to fall.
Verity blinked, "She's still going?" Then she smiled, "Alright, then let's try something new, [Struggle Bug]!"
Wormadam shook a little, then multiple green needles shot out from her cloak and shot at Victreebel one after the other, giving Victreebel no chance to close the distance to use its move.
And Verity raised her hand into the air, "Wrap this up with [Psychic]!"
Wormadam's eyes began glowing purple. As the needles stopped, so did Victreebel, as it got covered in a purple aura, and it started floating.
Victreebel couldn't stop itself, so it could only helplessly let itself spin before finally Wormadam used its [Psychic] to slam Victreebel hard into the ground over and over again until finally Victreebel stopped struggling and was knocked out.
Gardenia quickly went over and confirmed, then she nodded and raised her hand, "Stop, Victreebel is unable to battle, therefore Verity is the winner!"
Up in the stands, the gang cheered for Verity as she let out the breath she was holding in. She stood up. She really managed to pull off a comeback. She did not think she could do that, but she did, and she's happy. She's really happy.
She looked off to the stands, where she saw everyone, Barry, Lucas, Dawn, and Ash, all there cheering for her, and she smiled.
She didn't even notice when Gardenia approached her and cleared her throat, "Hey."
Verity flinched and quickly looked up at Gardenia, "A-ah, yeah!"
Gardenia smiled and held out the badge to her, "You earned this."
Verity reached out and grabbed the badge, letting it shine against the light of the building, and she smiled, "Thank you." she said more absentmindedly than to anyone specific