It figures that the next chapter would be delayed right after I say I'll tell you guys if it's going to be delayed. Which by the way was mentioned on my profile and in my other story, but it seems a few of you (you know who you are) either didn't bother to read the messages or simply ignored them and complained to me. Be it in review or PM. Still, at least it's good to know that about 90% of my readers aren't assholes.

So Gardevoir is now a Fairy type... well I don't think I ever mentioned that Cosmo is a 'pure' Psychic type so I think I'm good in that regard.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.

...

Alex was the first to wake in the morning as the sun beamed down on him through the window. He seemed to be the first to always wake in the group, but he didn't mind as he got to see his friend sleeping peacefully in the bed with him. Cosmo snuggling his right side with her arms wrapped around his own, Sheila curled cozily on his chest. He then looked to his newest member Cotton. The Lopunny was now lying on her back; the blank look on her face that she usually carried was still there, but at the same time she seemed at little at ease. Alex decided to take that as it was, at least she seems to have enjoyed her sleep. Still though, there was one problem Alex had to deal with like he did every morning.

"Getting up." He said to himself.

The whole right side of his body was practically taken over by the Gardevoir so he couldn't move that. Sheila was on his chest, only moving up and down because of Alex's breathing. His legs couldn't really do anything of use. So that only left his left arm. He really didn't want to disrupt this peaceful scene, but especially with Sheila on his chest he couldn't leave the bed without doing it. Alex brought his hand up to the Snivy and began to lightly pet her, her body curved into his hand and her eyes slowly flutter opened. She looked to Alex and a small smile appeared on her face as she stretched up with a yawn. Alex went to give her one more pet but instead she grabbed his hand and led it to under her chin. Practically forcing Alex to scratch her chin making her upper body stretch upward so he could get more of her sweet spot, she even gave a little moan from Alex's touch.

"Have a good sleep?" Alex asked the Snivy.

"(Yes, you make a good pillow.)" She said with a giggle.

Alex lifted his chest up as Sheila hopped off him, giving his arm a little wiggle and began to slowly pull it out from Cosmo's grasp causing her to stir in her sleep a bit. The embrace Pokémon's grip began to tighten on his arm as she felt it begin to pull away from her. Alex sighed and figured he should just get it over with. He once again began to pet her head to wake her up and like before causing her to purr. Cosmo's grip began to loosen as her eyes slowly opened to see Alex's face. Alex pulled his arm away from her and used to same arm to give her one more pet on the top of her head.

"Good morning girl." Alex said.

Now finally free to get out of bed, Alex began to get himself up and get off the end of the bed. But a pair of green arms wrapped around him before he could get far.

"(Good morning.)" Cosmo said softly as she nuzzled the back of his neck.

As much as Alex would've liked to stay in her warm embrace, he pulled himself away after a minute of the Gardevoir's hug. Now finally out of the bed, the only one left to wake was the newest member Cotton. Alex looked over the Lopunny who was breathing lightly as she slept peacefully on the bed. Alex lightly began to brush her cheek with his fingers, her short soft fur gliding through them. She quietly moaned as Alex continued her rub her cheek. Her eyes soon opened.

"Sleep well?" The boy asked.

"(Yes, is it time to get up Master?)" She asked.

"Time to wake up; I'm glad you had a good sleep." Alex said, hoping his kindness would rub off on her.

"Okay girls, I'm going to get dressed. I'll be out soon." He said as he entered the bathroom to change out of his pajamas.

The three female Pokémon were now in the room in silence, a little unsure of what to do while they waited. After a moment, Sheila decided to break the silence with a question.

"(So what exactly happened?)"

"(Hmm?)" Cosmo wondered what she meant.

"(With that stupid trainer we fought yesterday, he hit me and I remember flying. Then it was all blank after that.)"

(Oh Simon, well... he punched you into a tree.)" Cosmo said.

Sheila looked a little shocked "(Really?)"

"(Yes, you were out on impact.)"

Sheila looked down. "(Damn, guy's strong... and quick. Especially for a human.)"

"(Yes, he always was a scary one.)"

Sheila looked up at Cosmo curiously. "(Wait, have you met him before?)"

"(Yes, a few years ago back in Beacon town. He... tried to catch me.)" Cosmo started to look depressed as those memories came back to her. "(He hurt Alex, me, and even Cotton.)"

Cosmo pointed over to the Lopunny sitting on the bed as she finished her sentence. "(In fact, that's when we first met wasn't it?)"

Cotton merely nodded to answer her. "(But the scary part is, I sense nothing from him.)"

"(What do you mean?)"

"(You know I can sense emotions right?)" Cosmo said getting a nod from the Snivy. "(They sort of emit form Human and Pokémon, anything that's sentient. But for him... there was nothing.)"

"(Really?)" Sheila looked a little curious about that. "(You wouldn't happen to know anything about that would you?)" She asked Cotton.

"(Well my Master... or my old Master, didn't really tell me anything about him. He really only let me out to pleasure him, learn things and sometimes to eat.)"

While Cosmo and Sheila cringed at how Cotton said Simon had treated her once again, yet that still left this mystery unanswered.

"(Well... I guess it's one way of saying that he has a no heart right? Maybe we should just leave it at that... for now anyways.)" Sheila said.

"(Okay, I guess that's all we can do for now.)"

The bathroom door then opened with Alex emerging from the room, now dressed in his normal clothes.

"Okay, now let's see if we can find the two arguing siblings." Alex said referring to Brendan and Jessica.

The group were now walking through Eterna city, not exactly sure of where to search they decided to check the edge first as a place to start. Cotton had wanted to go back into the Pokéball, probably because that's what she use was to, Alex did comply but made a note to slowly get her use to traveling outside the ball soon. Sheila was resting on Alex's shoulder while Cosmo was walking next to him and holding his hand, basically the usual for them at this point. They had made it about have out to their destination when...

"'Gasp' A Snivy!" Said a very excited voice form behind them.

Sheila suddenly found herself taken off Alex's shoulder, much to her surprise, and now being cuddled by the stranger.

Alex and Cosmo turned around to see a woman with orange hair but black underneath and orange eyes. She wore a black top that covered only the top of her chest and arms, leaving her lower torso and belly button exposed. On top of that she had a small green cloak that only reached her waist and elbows. Orange shorts that had rips on the bottom to her knees, suggesting they were once pants. And green boots to end her choice of unique style. They just watched as the woman continued to rub her cheek onto Sheila, who was now squirming to get away.

"She's so cute, I just love her love her love her." The woman said in a happy voice.

"(H-Help me.)" Sheila said as she desperately reached out to them.

Cosmo giggle. "(Awwww you've made a new friend. I think she likes you.)"

Sheila rolled her eyes. "(Oh yes, this is very sweet. We're getting along so gre-HELP ME!)"

The woman stopped cuddling her and pranced over to Alex. "Hello, would you mind trading me this Snivy?"

"Ummmmmm..." Alex didn't know how to respond.

"I have many other grass types I'm sure you'll like, how about a Turtwig? Or maybe an Oddish? Or a..."

The woman didn't get to finish as Sheila slapped her cheek with one of her vines, the woman's gripped loosened and she took this opportunity to jump out and back to Alex's shoulder, which she then made sure she had a firm grip on him to make sure she didn't get pulled away again.

"Ouch, talk about tough love." The woman said as she rubbed her cheek.

"Ummm, sorry but I'm not looking to trade her. And I don't think she wants to be either." Alex said as Sheila gave the woman a 'hmph'

"Hehehe, ya I'm sorry. I've never seen a Snivy before and I just love grass types. So I got a little carried away." The woman said as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"It's fine."

"Well my name is Gardenia." She said as she held out her hand.

"I'm Alex." He said as he shook it. "This is Cosmo and Sheila." He said as he pointed to them.

"Oh my, what a pretty friend you have there." Gardenia said as she moved closer to examine Cosmo. "I've never seen a Gardevoir before either."

Cosmo started to get a little nervous at this stranger eyeing her over. She took a step back and her grip tightened to Alex's hand. This did not go unnoticed by Gardenia though.

"Oh don't worry, I'm not going to snuggle you to death. I... hehe... learned my lesson." She said as she rubbed her cheek where Sheila had slapped her.

This did seem to calm the embrace Pokémon down a bit. But she was still shy from human strangers as she always was.

"Anyways, I should get going. I need to be somewhere right now and as much as I'd like to get to know you three more, I really shouldn't distract myself." Gardenia said as she started to walk away. "Take care; I hope to see you again soon."

"Bye, hopefully we will." Alex said as they exchanged waves to each other.

"Ok, now we should get back on track and get to the edge of the city."

It didn't take them long to see the edge of the city in their sights. Alex knew the chances of them being there were small, but it was the only place he could think to start looking. It was possible they were already in the city; they may have even arrived before them. But he didn't see Brendan or Jessica in the Pokémon center and that is usually were travelling trainers spend the night to his knowledge. It was possible they stayed at a hotel, but he didn`t know if Eterna had any.

"We really should have planned this better." Alex said to himself.

A ringing noise was then heard, startling Alex and making him jump a bit as the sound was coming from his pocket. He reached in to find that the source was from his Pokédex. He opened it up and pressed the flashing icon on the touch screen. The screen changed to reveal a box with Brendan's face inside it.

"Hey, you in Eterna yet?" Brendan immediately said.

Alex was in a daze at what's happening with Brendan suddenly appearing in his Pokédex. Then his memory flew back to him that Prof. Juniper said that their Pokédex had an X-Transceiver built in it which was a commutation device. Alex could only guess that their numbers were already registered in them.

"Hello? Alex?" Brendan said as he snapped his fingers.

"Huh... oh sorry I kind of dazed out for a bit there." Alex admitted.

"I believe you."

Cosmo and Sheila now peer down into the screen. Sheila seemed to be familiar with the device but Cosmo looked very curious to how Brendan could fit inside a little box.

"Anyways, I'll ask again. Are you in Eterna yet?"

"Yes, in fact I was just looking for you and Jessica."

"Ok, I just got here. Where are you?"

"I'm heading towards the south gate to see if you were there." Alex said.

"Oh..." Brendan said as his head turned to the right on the screen. "I'm... right across the street from you."

Alex, Cosmo and Sheila turned their heads to the other side of the street to see Brendan and the Piplup Empress facing the opposite direction they were walking.

"Huh, how bout that?" Alex said as he closed the Pokédex to end the call.

The trio crossed that street and exchanged their greeting with each other and soon took seats on a nearby bench.

"So, how long have you been here?" Brendan asked.

"Got in yesterday."

"Of course you did, remind me never to get directions from my sister again."

"'sigh'... What happened?" Alex asked knowing something went wrong.

"Turns out that forest path actually turns and leads away from Eterna, I actually had to backtrack and take the same path you did. I can't believe I was dumb enough to thin she could read a map properly."

"Jeez, so I only took the right path?"

"Yep." Brendan leaned back "I tried calling Jessica to see where she was, but she never answered. She probably got lost."

"What do you know about it?!" They heard a familiar voice shout.

Everyone's head turned at once to see Jessica, carrying Toro in her arms, running over to them. She soon reached them and stopped to catch her breath.

"Well hello miss navigator, finally decided to show up?" Brendan taunted her.

"Screw... you." She said in huffs.

"And what's your story?" Alex asked

"I thought ... the blue paths on the map were a shortcut because they were so many of them." Jessica said as she had almost regained her breath now.

Brendan let out a big sigh. "Did you really follow a river?"

"Not a word, I got cut off to many times because of a branching river. I don't wanna hear it." She let out one more big breath and stood up straight, now looking proud. "But... it wasn't all bad."

This got the boys attention. "How so?" They asked in unison.

"Let's go outside the city, I'll show you." Jessica said excitedly as she took off back outside the gate.

Brendan and Alex looked at each other and shrugged as they followed Jessica.

After catching up to her, Jessica began to lead them to a clearing off the road outside of Eterna. She began to walk backwards and speak to them.

"So, find any Pokémon on your way here?"

"Well, I found many in the woods that you sent me in which lead in the wrong direction!" Brendan said. "Most of which were not friendly."

"Uhhhh... unimportant details." She said quickly. "I mean did you catch any new Pokémon out there?"

Brendan sighed. "Ya, I got one."

"Uhhh, me too I guess." Alex said reminding them that he was there, though he didn't exactly catch Cotton.

"So we're all tied at getting two Pokémon then. I aim to beat you all eventually." Jessica said as if it was a competition.

"Wait, two? Don't you mean three for me?" Alex asked.

"No, you're cheating by having Cosmo with you. That's unfair." Jessica smiled. "In fact, I think she'll be a lot better if she went with me instead."

Alex smiled back and held his head up high. "Oh like that will happen, right Cosmo?" Alex looked over expecting a nod or something from her. But to his surprise she wasn't beside him like normal. Alex looked ahead to see that she was already walking next to Jessica.

"Hey!" Alex said only to get Cosmo to stick her tongue out at him.

"Ya, that's what I'm talking about. Girl power!" Jessica proclaimed as she gave Cosmo a fist bump.

"Well, you're girl just got swiped. How does that make you feel?" Brendan taunted him sounded like a therapist.

"This is why we can't have nice things." Alex grumbled.

"Oh relax Alex, even if I could somehow separate you two I wouldn't. You look too cute together. Besides, I doubt you'd get very far without her." Jessica said while giving Cosmo a little pet on the head, to which she giggled.

"You sound like my mother."

Everyone but Alex laughed at that, though he did fail to hide a little smile that formed on his face. Jessica looked around and figured this area was good to show what she brought them here for.

"Okay then, now I'm sure it's obvious that I caught a Pokémon too. Can you guess what it is?" Jessica asked with a big sly smile. "I'll give you a hint, it's a water type."

Brendan was the first to answer. "Well you caught it in the river obviously, and I'm sure there are many water types that live there. The ones that are mostly native in this vary between a few types. But based on the way you're acting I'd say you got something rather rare, so..."

"Get to the point!" Jessica shouted as she was starting to fall asleep.

"A Buizel."

Jessica made a buzzing sound and gave a thumb down. "Wrong!"

It was now Alex's turn to guess.

"Come on Alex, it's something I think suits me."

Alex really didn't know how to answer, so he just said the first water type that came to mind. "I don't know, a Tentacool?"

Jessica's eyes widened at that, the thought of tentacles now penetrating her mind. She quickly shook her head to get it out though. "I'm going to pretend you didn't just say that." She said grumpily.

"Come on Alex, that's just sick." Brendan added.

"What, what'd I say?" Alex said, completely oblivious to what he suggested.

"Anyways..." Jessica quickly moved the topic along. "... since neither of you got it. It will be much more of a surprise when you see this."

Jessica quickly tossed a Pokéball into the air. The ball opened and the red light materialised into what was contained inside. The light grew large, much larger than anyone else present, a long neck grew out upwards from the large center of light, a head came out of the top with a small horn and large curled ears, four fins and a tail spread out along the ground of it, it's back showed bumps and edged on it. The light faded to reveal a large light blue creature with a cream underside and grey shell on its back.

Alex, Brendan and the rest of the Pokémon stood in awe of the Lapras right in front of them.

"Y-you actually found... a Lapras." Brendan said.

"Yep, her name is Glacier."

"Whoa, she's beautiful." Alex said.

"Why thank you." A gentle serine voice echoed in their heads.

Everyone but Jessica, Toro and Cosmo looked around to find the source of the voice. But Alex quickly realized who said it as he had experienced it before.

"No way..." Alex said in disbelief.

"Yep, that's one of the best things about her. She can use telepathy!" Jessica said proudly.

"It's a pleasure to meet all of all you. Jessica has told me all about you." Glacier said.

"So you two met in the river?" Brendan asked.

"Yes, she was trying to jump across but kept falling in. After I was done laughing I decided to help her." Glacier said with a giggle.

"... They didn't need to know that part." Jessica mumbled but Glacier continued anyways.

"After I help her across the rivers to get her back on the path, I asked if I could travel with her so I can see more of the world. The ocean may be vast, but I'm curious on what's on the land and well..." She looked down to her flippers. "As you can see my kind aren't very mobile on land."

"And that's how I made a new friend." Jessica said as she pet Glacier's head. "I'd promised I'd take her places and she practically jumped for joy."

"Not to break the moment but... can a Lapras even jump?" Alex asked.

"Well... I tried to jump for joy."

"Well that's my new friend, what about you two?"

Brendan pulled out a Pokéball. "Found this guy in the forest, wouldn't stop following me to try and swipe my snacks."

Brendan tossed the ball in the air, what came out was a bird shaped creature with its feathers coloured a mix of black and grey, white on its face and chest. A large grey circle covered most of its forehead, black covering the tip of its beak and sharp talons. The middle tail feather stood out with a silver colour and its feathers curled up on top of its head in a crest like shape.

"This is Silverwing the Staravia." Brendan introduced him.

The Starling Pokémon took a bow. "(Greetings.)"

"Oh, he's well mannered." Jessica said.

"I have reason to believe it's all an act." Brendan said.

"Why's that?" Alex asked.

"Give it time; I'm sure his colours will show."

"And now you." Jessica said while pointing to Alex. "You find anyone out there?"

Alex hesitated to answer, while he did find Cotton he was a little worried to let her out. How exactly would she react to them?

"Well I did, but she's a... special case."

"Oooooh a 'special' case, a shiny Pokémon maybe?" Jessica asked.

"No, just... I don't really know how to explain it." Alex said while rubbing the back of his neck. Cosmo and Sheila could see that Alex was a bit hesitant to bring Cotton out, the former of who was also able to sense his worry.

"Just show us Alex, it will be easier that way." Brendan said.

"... alright."

Alex took out Cotton's ball and released the Lopunny in front of him. Cotton faced Alex and bowed to him.

"Hello Master, what do you wish for me to do?" She asked.

"(Ummmm, nothing its okay.)" Alex said.

Cotton looked a little confused by this. "(Are you sure you don't need me for anything Master?)"

Alex wanted this to end fast. "Just ummm... enjoy some fresh air then."

"(Yes Master.)" She said with bowing to him again.

It didn't take Brendan and Jessica long to figure out Cotton's attitude.

"Alex..." Brendan said with a glare at him.

"... What did you do?" Jessica finished who shared the same glare.

"Why is it you that two always assume that I'm the bad guy?"

"Because you fit that part very well." They both said in unison.

"Very funny... but I'm not the reason she's like... this." Alex said. "You see... do you remember Simon?"

"You mean that guy you told us about that tried to take Cosmo a while back?" Brendan said.

"Yes, we ran into him again." Alex looked at Cotton who was now wandering around with the other Pokémon. "He didn't recognize me at first, but he wanted to battle. He sent Cotton out first... but Sheila was able to beat her. He didn't like that."

"What happened?" Jessica asked with concern.

"He then proceeded to beat Cotton himself. When we tried to stop him he smashed Sheila into a tree, made me cough up blood and had his Gallade put Cosmo head first into the ground. He then left us all there including Cotton having abandoned her."

"That's just... awful." Jessica said with disgust.

"It gets worse. Simon abused her and made her think she was nothing but a slave. It practically warped her mind to make her think that and all she thinks she's good for is to serve her 'master'. Nurse Joy suggested I take her with me hoping I could ease her out of this mindset."

"I see... any progress?" Brendan asked.

"Well... I named her Cotton."

"Well... that's a start I guess." Jessica said.

While the three of the talked the Pokémon were over to the side having a conversation of their own.

"(So is everything going well for you two as well?)" Toro asked his former lab partners.

"(Oh ya, this is much better than spending all day at the lab in Unova.)" Sheila said with glee.

"(No complaints here.)" Empress said.

"(Wait... all of you are from Unova?)" Cosmo asked. She expected Sheila to be as Snivy were native to Unova. But Torchic and Piplup are mostly found in Hoenn and Sinnoh.

"(Born and raised.)" Toro said.

"(Both our parents migrated there some time ago. They stayed at Juniper's lab and that's where we were born.)" Empress explained.

"(Interesting, I assume that goes for you too?)" Glacier asked Sheila.

"(No actually... I've never met my parents.)" Sheila stated.

Cosmo was the most shocked by this. "(W-what? Why?)"

"(I don't know.)" Sheila shrugged "(Just hatched in the lab. Juniper said she found my egg and no one came back for me.)"

Cosmo felt sorry for her. Gardevoir and Gallade take special care to look after their young and newborns, she was certain that other Pokémon like Serperior did the same thing. Yet she didn't sense any sadness from Sheila as they discussed it. Did she really not care about them or had she gotten over it already?

"(So what was it like at the lab?)" Glacier asked.

"(Oh there was a big field for us to run around in. We usually played there. But sometimes Sheila would go too far out.)" Empress said.

"(I just wanted to explore a bit but that damn Alakazam kept stopping me.)" Sheila pouted.

"(Ya you would always get a lecture from Apollo every time you tried. And he always got you too.)" Toro teased her.

"(It wasn't fair, teleporting is a cheap move.)"

"(Hey!)" Cosmo spoke up. "(I teleport too you know!)"

"(I stand by my statement.)"

Meanwhile the humans decided they should have lunch now. Jessica set down a blanket for them to sit on while Brendan got out some utensils. Alex started to take out the food starting with a bag of cookies. The ruffling of the bag got the attention of Silverwing, who had been very quiet until now, in a blink of an eye he was off the ground and flying towards Alex.

"(Mine.)" He said as he grabbed the bag of cookies out of Alex's hand and took off.

It took Alex a few seconds to come to terms with what just happened. He looked over to see the Starling Pokémon now sitting in a tree munching on the cookies in the now ripped open bag.

"Wait... what?" Alex stuttered.

"See what I mean?" Brendan said. "True colours."

After they finished lunch everyone headed back into Eterna city. Jessica insisted that they go to the gym right away. Which pretty much meant that was the plan for the group.

"I think this is it." Jessica said as she point at the large building in front of them with big door with a sign labeled "GYM" above it.

"What was your first clue?" Brendan teased.

"Now..." Jessica stared but was cut off by Alex.

"Can we just go in?" Alex didn't feel like waiting for them to finish arguing when their destination was right in front of them.

They group entered the building where they saw what looked to be some sort of greenhouse. The entire main room was filled with plants, trees and lush grass. A woman soon approached them.

"Hello welcome to the Eterna Gym. My name is Gardenia. Hmmm..." Gardevoir then saw that she recognized a few of the guests. "... oh hey it's you!"

"I didn't expect to find you here Gardenia." Alex said.

"You know her?" Jessica said.

"Ya we met in the street earlier today. She really liked Sheila." Alex pointed to the Snivy on his shoulders who was gripping them tightly to make sure she doesn't get grabbed again.

"But why didn't you expect her to be here?" Brendan asked.

"Ummm, because I didn't ask where she worked I guess. I didn't really get to know her in the few minutes I talked to her."

Brendan sighed. "So... you don't know that Gardenia is the Gym Leader here?"

"What!" Alex and Jessica said in shock.

"Hehe ya, I kind of thought you knew." Gardenia said.

"Sometimes I think that I'm the only one here who looks into things." Brendan said.

Jessica looked slightly irritated. "Hey, I know things too!"

"How many badges are required to get into the Pokémon league?" Brendan asked without hesitation.

Jessica's irritated look switched to that of a nervous one. "Ummm... ummm."

"It's ... eight, right?" Alex answered.

"Correct, at least you have common knowledge." Brendan said.

"I knew that, I just didn't remember right away."

"I've heard that before."

"Says the guy who forgot Mom's birthday."

"That was one time! And I was six!"

Alex put his hand on his forehead as they began to argue with what sounded like gibberish as usual. "At least we made in the building."

Alex looked over to Gardenia who had a bit of a dumbfounded look on her face. "This... kind of makes me glad I'm an only child."

"Me too."

After Brendan and Jessica calmed down, Gardenia accepted their challenge and leg them to an area in the middle of the room. The area was shaped like any normal Pokémon battle area, only it was on grass.

"Ok, now three questions. Do each of you have at least two Pokémon?" Gardenia asked the trainer, getting a nod from each. "Good, we'll all have a two on two battles then. Also how many badges do you have?"

"This will be the first gym for all of us." Alex answered.

"Alright then, I'll use the recommend Pokémon for that. Lastly who's going first?"

They all looked each other, only just now realising they never determined an order. They all nodded and seemed to agree on a method of choosing.

"One... two... three." The three of the said in unison as they raised their hands and brought them down. Alex and Jessica's hands were shown to be a fist, while Brendan's was open and flat horizontal. Making him the winner of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

"Haha I win, as expected." Brendan cheered.

"Oh come on like you knew." Jessica said.

"You always pick rock..." Jessica looked at him furiously like she about to shout at him, but Alex cut her off.

"What about me then?"

"It was either you pick the same or a tie."

Brendan walked up to the position for the challenger to stand while Gardenia went to the other side. Alex, Cosmo, Sheila and Jessica with Toro in her arms all sat down on the bleachers to the sides. A referee walked up to a pedestal on the middle of the sideline.

The ref made an announcement. "This will be a two on two battle between leader Gardenia and Challenger Brendan. The match will end when both Pokémon are unable to battle on one side, in addition only the challenger may switch Pokémon. And now BEGIN!"

"Okay, go Carnivine!" Gardenia tossed her Pokéball into the air and released the Bug Catcher Pokémon. Carnivine landed on the field, though it then began to float with his roots grazing over the ground. He opened his large green mouth and let out a snarl to show he was ready.

"Alright, go Empress!" The Piplup ran from his side onto the battlefield.

"Why would he send out Empress... she is a water type right?" Jessica asked.

"He's probably got a plan." Alex said.

Gardenia made the first move. "Now Carnivine, use Vine Whip!"

Two vines shot out from Carnivine's leaf like arms and charged towards Empress.

"Bide!" Brendan called out.

The Piplup's held her position and her body began to glow white. The vines smacked her a few times but she barely flinched and held her stance.

"Trying to wait this out are ya? We'll just take you down before you can unleash it; keep attacking with Vine Whip Carnivine!"

Carnivine continued to barrage Empress with his attacks. Her body continued to glow white as she stood her ground. Everyone watched as her determined look to hold out was glued to her face. Brendan thought it should be enough now and made the call.

"Now unleash!" Empress's body glowed white to the point where she couldn't be seen anymore. The light turned into a beam and charged directly at Carnivine.

Gardenia however did not look that worried. "Quickly use Ingrain!"

At her word Carnivine shot out roots into the ground that began to glow. The beam shoot out from the Bide attack hit Carnivine directly causing an explosion. Brendan looked at the dust rising believing to have beating his opponent but when the dust settled Carnivine was still up, looking exhausted but still floating there with roots in the ground absorbing nutrients.

"That would have worked." Gardenia said. "But with Carnivine able to recover his health like this he was able to save enough energy to take the attack. Now he's regaining his strength while Piplup is not."

"True, but just look at him. He took a lot of damage and he's only getting his energy back slowly." Brendan said. He looked down at Empress but he noticed a faint aura start to form around her. "Empress return."

Brendan quickly called back the Piplup into her Pokéball, confusing Gardenia a bit. "Now go Silverwing!"

The Staravia was released from his ball and took to the air. "We need to be beat him quick, get in close with Quick Attack!"

"Shoot him down with Bulletseed!"

As Silverwing began to charge at Carnivine, the latter opened his large mouth and began to rapidly fire seeds at high speed. Silverwing instinctively began to weave around in the air to avoid them. But it would only be a matter of time for him to get hit the closer he got.

'Charging head on like this is a bad idea' "Evade to the side!" Brendan shouted.

Silverwing change his direction and curved to the right, Carnivine also rotated to adjust his aim. But the flying type's speed was causing the bullets to fall short behind him. Silverwing began to circle around while at the same time getting closer to Carnivine, much like how a shark circles its potential prey. Silverwing soon struck Carnivine head on with Quick attack in his chest. The impact caused Carnivine to stop his attack and tumble.

"Finish with Wing Attack!"

Both of Silverwing's glowed white and he slash them at the grass type with an X pattern. Carnivine was knocking to the ground from the attack, although his position remained in the same place due to ingrain. He attempted to get up but immediately fell back down and fainted.

"Carnivine is unable to battle!" The ref called.

"Very nice work Brendan." The gym leader called out.

"Ingrain may have saved you from Bide, but it prevented Carnivine from moving." Brendan explained.

"Hmmm maybe so, but this isn't over yet!" Gardenia called back Carnivine and pulled out another Pokéball. "Go!"

She threw the ball in the air and a big form appeared form the red light. A Tropius landed with its brown quadruped body, its body was covered in leafs on its chest and head almost like armor and a helmet. Larger four leaf like wings spread from its back and it has some banana like fruit growing form the top of its neck.

Brendan let out a whistle. "That's a big one, but it fall just as easily! Get close with Quick Attack again!" He called to Silverwing who once again began to charge.

"Blow it away with Gust!" Gardenia said.

Tropius flapped her big wings quickly in the direction of Silverwing. The big gust of wind easily knocked his balance off and sent him flying backwards.

"Now use Air Slash!" Gardenia called.

Tropius stopped her Gust and quickly slashed one of her wings forwards. A razor sharp blade of air pierced through the air towards Silverwing. The attack hit him before he could regain his balance. He crashed to the ground but he still got up.

"You alright?" Brendan asked to which the Flying type gave him a nod. But Brendan could see that did a lot of damage. "Okay, use Quick Attack one more time but stay low to the ground!"

Silverwing charged again, but kept as low as possible to the ground. Brendan thought maybe he could withstand Gust if the current would e weaker at ground level. But Gardenia didn't command another Gust attack like he thought she would, she just stood there watching her opponent get close to Tropius. Silverwing was about to land his attack.

"...Stomp."

At that word Tropius lifted the front of her body high, avoiding the Quick Attack to collide with her chest. She quickly brought herself back down, her foot landing right on Silverwing. The impact of Silverwing being brought to the ground was heard throughout the room. Tropius removed her foot to show that the bird was no longer conscious.

"Staravia is unable to battle!" The ref called.

"Why didn't you use Gust?" Brendan said as he called Silverwing back.

"I wanted to show you that it's good to use different strategies." Gardenia said, teaching him a lesson as gym leaders usually do. "Using the same thing over and over again makes you predictable."

"Point taken. Go Empress!" Brendan rereleased Empress from her ball. She still looked exhausted after Carnivine's barrage of attacks.

"This shouldn't take... long?" Gardenia noticed the Piplup's body began to glow with a blue aura around her.

"Good... it's still in effect." Brendan said.

"Is that... Torrent?" The leader asked.

"Yep, I switched her out before anyone could notice that it had taken effect. Now her water type moves are stronger."

"Maybe so but it won't do much against a grass type."

"We'll see... use Bubble!"

Empress shot out bubbles form her beck, but these ones were much bigger then they usually were, about twice the size of Empress, and glowed a light blue colour.

Gardenia didn't want to take the chance. "Take to the sky!"

"Don't aim for Tropius, aim around the room." Brendan said as Empress began to spin around and shot her giant bubbles everywhere.

As this was happening Gardenia noticed that while they were big the bubbles moved slow. "HA, I see a flaw in your plan. These bubbles are barley moving at all, some are just floating now."

"Oh I already knew about that." Brendan said getting her attention. "But now Tropius can't move much."

Gardenia looked up to see that Tropius was surrounded by bubbles, essentially created a minefield. Due to her large body her movement was restricted to just around her in the air.

"Now let's see just how strong these bubbles are, use a smaller Bubble attack to propel a bigger bubble at Tropius!"

Empress began to shoot smaller faster bubbles at one of the bigger ones, the small bubbles fused with it only to make it bigger and at the same time move it upward towards Tropius. Gardenia looked around to see if there was any room to evade, above Tropius there were not as many bubbles behind her.

"Fly up and move back, there's room there!" Tropius compiled and quickly moved to the safe spot and avoided the growing bubbled moving past her. The Bubble continued upwards until it hit the ceiling and popped. The bubble exploded on the ceiling causing it to crack slightly, being that the gym stadium was built to withstand attacks and it was cracked by this one worried Gardenia.

"That's not good." She said.

"Okay, Empress push all the bubbled towards her!" Brendan said.

Empress began to shoot more small bubbles at multiple big bubbles. As they got bigger from the smaller bubbles they fused with bigger bubbles that they collided into on their way, the open space around Tropius was getting much smaller. Gardenia and her partner were too shocked to make a move; they could only stare at what was happening. When the first bubble touched Tropius, the explosion caused a chain reaction to make all the other bubbles exploded around her. Detonating the entire minefield. The explosion resulted in a lot of smoke to appear in the air, Tropius soon feel from the smoke and crashed on the ground with a loud thud. Empress walked over to the fallen Pokémon to see how she was doing, while the ref made the call.

"Tropius is..." But he was cut off the Pokémon suddenly moving and grunting.

Tropius stood up, overshadowing her large body to the tiny Piplup in front of it. She was panting heavily having taken heavy damage.

'Damn it, she resisted it more than I thought she would.' Brendan thought.

"That's my girl, now Body Slam her!" Tropius jumped overhead Empress, and dropped down quicker than she could think to dodge.

Her large body landed right on top on the Piplup, Brendan looked worried she might be down because of all the damage from beforehand. Plus a Tropius was a big Pokémon so it would hurt regardless. Tropius lifted her body up to see if Empress was still conscious. Her eyes were still open and she was breathing heavily, she struggled to get herself up.

"Well well well, I'll commend you for a great effort." Gardenia said. "But you can't expect this to be easy. Tropius end this with Stomp."

Tropius slowly brought her foot up above Empress who just got back on her feet.

'Last resort time.' "Empress Flail!"

"Fl-flail!" Gardenia said with shock.

Empress began to spin around rapidly and jumped at Tropius, parts of her body hitting her in random directly as the Piplup failed around aimlessly. Tropius recoiled with every hit that connected until finally Empress delivered one final blow that sent her airborne and crashing into the ground, fainted.

"Tropius is unable to battle, challenger Brendan is the winner!" The ref called.

"Flail is an attack that's stronger the more a Pokémon is weakened, were you planning that from the start?" Gardenia asked as she recalled Tropius.

"No, it was a final move in case things look bleak." Brendan said as he walked up to Empress. "You did great girl." He said as he hugged her.

"Well Brendan you've earned this." Gardenia walked over to him and held an object in her hand. "I present to you the Forest badge."

Brendan took the green badge shaped like three diamond trees. "Thank you."

"Well that was one heated battle, hopefully my next two opponents can provide just as much fun." Gardenia looked at Alex and Jessica on the sidelines. "So who's next?"

"ME!" Jessica stood up and shouted.

Jessica soon took her place on the battlefield.

"Okay, second time's the charm. Go Turtwig!" Gardenia threw her ball and released the turtle like grass type.

"Go Glacier." Jessica released the Lapras who landed on the ground with a thud.

"Okay, Turtwig use Razor Leaf!" Gardenia shouted. Turtwig then shot several sharp leaves towards Glacier.

"Ice Beam!"

Glaicer opened her mouth and a light blue ball appeared in her mouth and released a bolt of blue cold energy. The Ice Beam traveled across the ground, freezing the Razor Leaf attack in the process, the beam hit its mark on Turtwig who froze instantly. Everyone just stood there looking at the chuck of ice where Turtwig once was... after about ten seconds it began to crack. It soon broke apart to show Turtwig standing there with a frozen look on his face, who then fell over and fainted. Everyone looked dumbfounded at what just happened.

"Ummmm..." Gardenia muttered.

"Well... Turtwig is unable to battle!" The ref said.

"Damn... Glacier I didn't know you where that strong." Jessica praised the Lapras.

"Aw you're making me blush." Glacier smiled at her.

"Okay." Gardenia recalled Turtwig. "Guess I'll have to adjust accordingly. Go!"

Gardenia sent out her second Pokémon. This one was large and covered in blue vines; the ones that resembled its arms were tipped red at the end. A small hole in the vines revealed its eyes and black skin.

"Alright Tangrowth, that Lapras is strong. Don't hold back!" Gardenia called out to Tangrowth who grunted in anticipation.

"We'll get that badge in no time, Ice Beam again!" Jessica shouted.

"Protect!"

Glaicer fired her Ice Beam again, while Tangrowth took up a defensive stance and a green transparent shield formed around him. The Ice Beam hit the shield only for it to be absorbed into it.

"Now use Growth!"

Tangrowth dropped the shield and began to grow even bigger in size. Not only just looking bigger but much stronger.

"Now AncientPower!"

Tangrowth summoned rocks that glowed white around him and hurled them at Lapras with a mystic power.

"Deflect them with Hydro Pump!"

Glacier shot high pressured water from her mouth, continuously firing and adjusting her aim to hit the incoming attack. She managed to get most of the rocks, but there were too many and it was too fast. Several of the rocks managed to hit her and she recoiled from the attack.

"Now quickly get in close and use Sleep Powder!" Gardenia called. Tangrowth began to dash toward the water and ice type who was still recovering from the last attack.

"Glacier, you need to focus. You've gotta freeze him before he gets to you!"

Glacier snapped back to reality and turned her eyes to the quickly approaching Tangrowth. The blue energy of ice was again charged in her, Tangrowth swung his arms back to fire his attack. But Glacier had a precious second extra of prep time and fired first. The Ice Beam hit Tangrowth and like Turtwig froze him instantly. Once again a chuck of ice lay on the battlefield... this time however it only remained that way for a second as it started to crack. The ice broke with Tangrowth leaping out of it, surprising both Glacier and Jessica. But that surprise was only added to as Tangrowth swung his arm and released a powder. The powder hit Glacier in the face, and after inhaling it she found herself to be drowsy. In only a second Glacier fell asleep.

"Oh no!" Jessica shouted.

Tangrowth fell to his knees, having taken heavy damage from that Ice Beam. Gardenia knew what she had to do.

"Nice work, now Giga Drain!" Gardenia said.

Tangrowth's red finger tips glowed green and shot out energy that stuck onto Glacier. Brighter stream of green went from the side in the Lapras into Tangrowth's fingers as he absorbed her energy.

"Glacier wake up!" Jessica shouted to her friend.

"Get as much as you can, use both hands!" Gardenia said as Tangrowth fired a second Giga Drain from his other hand.

"Come on Glacier, I need you to wake up!" Jessica shouted again but to no avail.

"Glacier!"

Her eyes slowly opened, and Tangrowth stopped his attack and watched as the Lapras lifted her head. However her eyes slowly began to close again and she fell back down unconscious.

"Lapras is unable to battle." The ref called.

"Darn, you did great Glacier." Jessica called her back. "I've still got the advantage here, go Toro!"

Toro ran from her side and onto the battlefield, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Use Ember!"

Toro shot many embers from its beck towards Tangrowth.

"Protect!"

The green energy shield formed around Tangrowth and absorbed the fire attack.

"Now use Rock Tomb!"

Tangrowth summoned a big rock from the ground and hurled it at Toro that broke into smaller but still large rocks in the air. Toro was about to get crushed.

"Use Aerial Ace to avoid it!" Jessica quickly called.

Toro ran at a speed that formed a cone around him and ran past the incoming rocks. Toro stopped to see that he had indeed succeeded in dodging them. But he soon got the feeling that something else was there, he turned to see that Tangrowth was standing right behind him.

"Power Whip!" Gardenia called.

Tangrowth's entire arm glowed green as he drew it back and whipped it at Toro with a mighty force. The little Torchic was easily knocked airborne and sent hurling through the air. Toro flew past the lines of the battle field and right towards a tree in the building. Toro crashed into the tree head on... right in between his legs. The sudden shocked expression on his face was all that was needed to tell the others where he got hit. Every cringed and an echo of awe of pain was heard as the poor Torchic began to slide down the tree.

"TORO!" Jessica ran over to him.

Brendan, who was now clutching his genitals, was still cringing. "That's got to hurt."

"I think I actually felt that." Alex said who was performing the same action as Brendan.

"(That makes my impact on the tree look harmless.)" Sheila said who felt sorry for her friend.

"(Its time likes this that makes me really glad I was born a girl.)" Cosmo said.

"(Oh I feel really bad right now.)" Tangrowth mourned.

"Ummm ref?" Gardenia asked. "What's the call for that?"

"I... I don't know. We never we're taught about this happening."

"Ummm Jessica?" Gardenia got her attention. "You wanna..."

"Ya, I-I forfit." Jessica decided this was enough. She called Toro back to his ball hoping that would dull the pain. "I uhhhh... I'm going to go the Pokémon center."

"That's probably for the best. Well... this has been an... eventful battle, I guess. You can come back tomorrow if you want."

"Thanks, I'll do that if everything is well." Jessica began to run out the down, but said one more thing. "I'll see you guys there!"

"So... Alex." Gardenia said to the last Trainer. "Do you still wanna do this?"

"Oh... ummm sure."

"Okay... let's try to keep this clean this time." The ref said.

"Go Cherrim!" Gardenia tossed her ball.

The Blossom Pokémon entered the field. Two large purple petal enclosed around the upper part of its body, a stem with a green spout on top of it. Beneath the petal was its two visible purple legs were its eyes could barley be seen.

"Okay, go Sheila." The Snivy hopped off Alex's shoulder and went on the battlefield. Making this battle a grass type vs. a grass type.

"Hi Sheila!"Gardenia called to her form across the battlefield, to which she replied with a 'hmph'. "Love ya girl!"

"Miss Gardenia, please be more professional about this." The ref said.

"Oh fine, as much as don't want to battle something so cute, I'll do what I must."

"Let's go first, Sheila use Tackle. Move in quick!" Sheila charged at Cherrim with speed that would rival a quick attack.

"Grass Knot!"

Cherrim's eyes glowed green, as she did blades of grass also glowed green and caused them to grow. The grass ahead of Sheila formed a knot. Causing the fast moving Snivy to tip and fall over to skid on the ground.

"Good now use Take Down!"

Cherrim started to charge at the downed Snivy. She eyed the approaching fellow grass type.

But Alex had wanted that. "Use Leer!"

Sheila's eyes flashed a glowing red right into Cherrim's eyes, causing her to stop in her tracks of fear.

"Wrap her in your vines; show her what it's like to be thrown to the ground!"

Sheila sent out both her vines and wrapped them around Cherrim. She picked her up and threw her over her shoulder to send her crashing into the ground. Cherrim did grunt in pain at the impact of the ground but she soon got up.

"It'll take more than that, use Magical Leaf!"

Cherrim's petals opened up to release several spinning green glowing energy leafs at Sheila.

"Defect it with Vine Whip!"

Sheila went to whip the incoming attack out of her way, but the leaves simply brushed past her vines and hit her dead on. Alex knew Magical leaf was hard to dodge as it homes in on its target but to even go past an interception like that was crazy. It must be under some kind of control from Cherrim. Luckily Sheila resisted most of the damage from the attack though.

"Do it again, Magical Leaf rapid fire!"

Alex needed to think of a way to break Cherrim's focus, a way to put its mind somewhere else.

'Wait, I already know how.' "Sheila use Leer!"

Sheila eyes glowed red again, producing the same scared effect on Cherrim as before.

'Now run, dodge and duck through the center of the leaves!" Sheila gave Alex a confused look. "Trust me."

"What are you doing Alex?" Gardenia asked herself.

Sheila wasn't sure what was going on but she complied. Sheila ran straight through the barrage of leaves, weaving around as many as she could. Some still managed to hit her but she pulled through.

Once she was past the leaves Alex gave another command. "Now Tackle Cherrim."

Sheila quickly ran to the Pokémon who was still affected by the Leer and tackled her in the center of her body.

"Now jump over her!"

"Oh a sneak attack, Cherrim you can..." Gardenia stopped as she noticed what else was about to happen.

Sheila jumped over the knocked over Cherrim; she had gotten up to see her opponent jump over for but for what? But then she heard something approaching her from behind, she turned to see the remaining leaves coming right at her. Sheila had led them directly at her! The remaining leaves bombarded Cherrim and mad her fall again, fainted.

"Cherrim is unable to battle!" The ref called.

"Not bad Alex, you turned my own attack against me." Gardenia recalled Cherrim. 'However, I've got a special friend here just for you."

Gardenia released her final Pokémon. A green bipedal Pokémon appeared on the field. The legs, arms and lower face a light green. Its masquerade mask and dress that with a small cape coloured a darker green. White spiky sepal hair. A yellow collar and yellow feet and for its hands were bouquets of flowers, red for the right and blue for the left.

"Allow me to introduce my favorite grass type, Roserade." Gardenia said.

"(Hello there. Mmmm, you're a cute one.)" The bouquet Pokémon said to Alex.

Alex had never seen this Pokémon before; he didn't exactly have time to think about it though. "You still good Sheila?"

Sheila nodded at him. "Okay then, use Tackle!" Sheila charged at her.

"Block it!"

Roserade took up a defensive stance and let the attack hit, she cringed a bit from the damage but quickly shook it off. Sheila jumped back ready for the next attack but suddenly her body felt strange. The chest of her body was now glowing purple!

"Poison! Sheila you've been poisoned! But how?"

"Roserade ability is Poison Point, when the opponent comes in contact with her it could poison them." Gardenia explained, but now had a devious look in her eyes. "Not only are grass types weak to poison but..."

Roserade's bouquet began to glow purple, already knowing what she had to do next, showing that they have used this strategy before.

"... there's a move that's power is increased if the target is poison."

Roserade shot out a purple electric like energy from her bouquet, it traveled to fast for Sheila to react. The bolt surged inside her, igniting the poison like a fire. Her body began to shake back and forth like it was being thrown around in a washing machine, only she stood in the same spot. Once it stopped her body remained motionless as she stood there with her head facing the ceiling. After a few moments her body fell to the floor, fainted.

"Sheila!" Alex ran over to her.

"Snivy is unable to battle!" The ref called.

Alex picked her up, she was still breathing and seemed fine overall but the poison was still in her.

"Here."

Alex looked up to see something was thrown at him. he caught it to see it was a Pecha berry. Gardenia had giving him a cure for Sheila's poison.

"Well give it to her, let's get this going." She said.

Alex did feed it to her, but he couldn't help but notice Gardenia's change in attitude. Why was she so focused on this battle more than anything else and even being tougher? Alex walked back to his spot on the field where Cosmo was waiting.

"Are you ready for this?" Cosmo nodded to him. "Okay, I'll be here for you."

Cosmo glided onto the battlefield, Gardenia's smile grew at this.

"This is what I've been waiting for."

"What do you mean?" Alex asked.

"I've been hoping to battle against Cosmo, it's why Roserade is here."

"I still don't understand."

"Let me tell you one of the most exciting things that can happen in a Pokémon battle Alex, something I've only properly been able to witness twice in my life." Gardenia said. "When two Pokémon that are very powerful battle while they each hold an advantage over each other. Much like how the stories of the legendaries fought, each holding a weakness their opponent, which was stronger? Who was able to overcome their weakness? I've seen this thrilling scene happen before and it just filled my soul with adrenaline. But I've yet to have my own battle of this yet, don't disappoint me Cosmo. "

"Yes a Psychic type is strong against a Poison type like Roserade... however."

"However..." Alex said, now knowing her reason for her change in behaviour.

"A Gardevoir is also a Fairy type... and Poison is strong against Fairy! Use Sludge Bomb!" Gardenia shouted.

Roserade's bouquet glowed a dark purple and she fired a ball of poison at Cosmo.

"Teleport!"

Cosmo put her hands together and quickly vanished and evaded the attack witch hit right where she was standing and caused an explosion of poison, killing the grass in the area. Cosmo reappeared to the side of the field.

"Confusion!"

Cosmo swung her hands at the ground and lifted them upwards, creating a beam of psychic energy that travelled on the ground cracking the ground as it moved.

"Jump!"

Roserade took a leap in the air over the incoming attack, which passed under her.

"We've got her now, Cosmo Psychic!"

Cosmo focused on Roserade and prepared to grab her with her telekinetic force in the air.

"Flash!"

Roserade illuminated a bright light from her bouquet that shined in Cosmo's eyes. She was forced to advert her gaze and lost her focus. When the light faded Roserade was already charging at her with her bouquet glowing purple again, intending to use an attack at point blank. Instinctively Cosmo used Double Team and Roserade passed right threw her. Gardenia shouted to attack in all directions and she began to fire sludge bombs at every copy she saw. Alex could see where Cosmo truly was like he always could when she used Double Team and once Roserade was firing in the opposite direction...

"Psychic!"

Cosmo's double disappeared as she fired a strong telekinetic force right into Roserade's back. She was knocked off her feet and began to roll on the ground but this turned out to be an act as she aimed one last Sludge Bomb at Cosmo while she was rolling, hitting her directly in the face making an explosion that sent her back but she landed on her feet by gliding down. Roserade got back on her feet while Cosmo whipped away the poison from her face.

"While she's distracted use Grass Knot!" Gardenia shouted.

Roserade's eyes glowed green and the grass around Cosmo grew and wrapped around her legs.

"Teleport out of there!"

"(No you don't!)" Roserade said as she gave a flick of her wrist and made grass wrap around one of Cosmo's arms.

Cosmo need to put her hands together to teleport but now one was tied down, she was trapped!

"I think this is checkmate, Roserade... use Poison Jab!" Gardenia said.

Both of Roserade's bouquets glowed purple as she ran to Cosmo, she uppercut her right one into her chest, jumping to increase the thrust. Cosmo let out a gasp as the air was knocked out of her. As Roserade came back she use her left bouquet to deliver one final blow to the side of Cosmo's face. The force knocked her out of the Grass Knot trap and onto the ground, fainted.

"Gardevoir is unable to battle, the winner is leader Gardenia!" The ref called.

Alex walked over to his fallen friend. "Hey are you alright?"

Cosmo eyes fluttered open to see Alex standing over her. She felt bad that she let him down she couldn't even look him in the eye.

"Don't be like that; I'm not upset in the slightest. How could I be?" Alex said as he pet her. "How about you though, did you have fun?"

Cosmo thought about it, while she may be hurt she knows she's fine. No serious injuries and she can still move. And fighting that Roserade gave her a thrilling excitement; it was almost like how Gardenia said it would be. Cosmo smiled to Alex and nodded.

"I'm glad, alright let's get you up." Alex lifted her up and wrapped her arm around his should as she leaned on him. She didn't want to give Alex the burden of carrying her but she rather liked his warm touch.

"Whew, that was something!" Gardenia walked over. "I wish it could have lasted longer, but you can't take these things for granted. Enjoy them while you can."

"You're brutal you know that?"

"Hey I wouldn't be a Gym Leader if I was easy."

"I'll be back tomorrow just you wait."

Gardenia smiled. "Oh, I'm looking forward to it."

"Guess you're the only one of us who made any progress today." Alex said to Brendan.

They left the gym and were now walking to the Pokémon center to heal and meet up with Jessica, with Cosmo still leaning on Alex's shoulder.

"Think of it this way, you've learned stuff from this experience and you'll do better next time." Brendan said.

"I still think you had an advantage because you already knew who the gym leader was."

"I only knew who she was and what kind of Pokémon on her team, none of her strategies."

"So you didn't have a plan?" Alex asked.

"No, I did. I had some plans ready for battle that could be used in a many situations, could use some refining though as I almost lost. But it looked like you and my sister just winged it."

"Pretty much."

"I could help you think of some strategies if you want."

"If you think it will help."

"Ok, can I see your Pokédex then to know what we've got to work with?" Brendan asked.

"Sure." Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out his Pokédex.

Brendan took it and began to look through Cosmo and Sheila's data. He stopped as he noticed something.

"What's wrong?" Alex said who stopped too.

"Alex... you're telling me you've had this at your disposable the whole time and you never thought to use it?" Brendan showed him the Pokédex and pointed where he was looking.

"Oh ya... I forgot about that."

. . .

There it is, FINALLY AM I RIGHT?

And yes, Alex lost. In case it wasn't established yet but this isn't going to be a series where the main character always wins, otherwise what's the point of even putting in battles? So now you know, there is always a chance for either side to win. That's actually one thing I think the anime does right, Ash can actually lose. I've seen stories where the main character always wins no matter what and because of that I'm so uninterested by the battle that I actually skip over them. So by adding the suspense of the there always being a chance of lose it will be interesting.

Ok so I could give you a million excuses for why this took so long... and I actually do have just one this time.

You see people I made short story that I worked really hard on, I even told you guys about it at one point. Yet, it only has two reviews (mine doesn't count b/c I was trying to respond to a guest that was poorly trying to flame me... I later realized he was trolling) so by that it seems that only two people actually read it. And I gotta be honest people... that really killed my motivation. Did you not like it? Was there a reason you didn't read it? If you don't tell me these things then I won't be able to change them or fix them.

You may call this a cry for attention or think of me as a whiner but that's the truth. That is the sole reason why this took so long.