The car stopped by the big, plant covered gym. The door opened and Gardenia sat down.
"Hi, thanks for picking me up." She said.
Roark nodded as answer and Gardenia frowned.
"Not again..."
Roark didn't answer but started to drive.
"Would you just relax and don't let your father ruin the Gymleader Championship for you for once?"
The man sighed. "I'll try."
"Good."
They head off to Jubilife. Since that was a town without a Gym, no gymleader would have an advantage. Gardenia spend her whole time naming the flowers they passed by.
"Gardenia, could you stop naming the plants?" Roark suddenly asked not too nicely.
"Oh of course, if it's bothers you..." Gardenia answered cool.
She looked at Roark as he winced.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, just a minor head ache." He shoved it off.
"You've got a flush as well, are you sure you're alright?" Gardenia asked while looking closer at him.
"I'm fine!"
They didn't speak for the entire trip and eventually they pulled over at the large building where the championship was held in Jubilife City. They were the last ones to arrive.
Gardenia quickly walked in but Roark slowly walked to the entrance with his hands in his pockets. He had lied to Gardenia, he wasn't feeling fine at all. For two nights he hadn't slept, he had cold and heat rushes quickly following each other time by time and times that his head was as red as a tomato or as white as a sheet. He'd nearly made it through his last Gym fight without fainting.
The hall was gigantic. It was divide in four battlefields and a huge score board hung on the ceiling.
"Hey Roark hurry up!" Wade's voice echoed through the room.
He and the other six gym leaders were standing in one of the corners along some people in uniform. Roark saw his father standing in the corner, talking to Volkner.
"How are you doing rockhead?" Wade asked overenthusiastic as always.
"I'm fine, how about you?" Roark lied.
"I'm doing great!" "Haven't been defeated in three weeks."
"That will be changed at the end of this week Wake!" Volkner shouted from a few feet from them.
"Wouldn't start bragging right away Volkner." Wake said while walking towards the Electric type gymleader.
Roark quickly leaned against the wall for some support. He looked around to make sure no one saw, but his father, Byron, was looking at him. Roark gave him a simple nod which was returned and now Byron was talking to one of the tournament's referee's. Suddenly the noise of thousands of feet and chattering echoed through the hall. Apparently the doors had opened for all the people who wanted to see the Gymleader Tournament.
All the gymleaders watched how the benches were filled with people from all over the Sinnoh Region. The major of Jubilife and also the Tournament manager came towards them with a list.
"Alright everyone, this is the first round's selection." He said with a high pinched voice.
"Crasher Wake against Gardenia on number one."
"Maylene against Roark on number two."
"Byron against Candice on number three."
"Fantina against Volkner on number four."
Roark managed a smile towards Maylene. She was very kind but a tough one to beat. They walked to the field with a big yellow two.
"Good luck!" Maylene yelled from the other side.
"You too!"
The major stood in the middle of the four fields holding a microphone and everyone in the crowd stopped talking.
"Hello people of the Sinnoh Region!" "Welcome to the twentieths Gymleader Championship here in Jubilife!""This is your chance to see the eight Gymleaders from our region taking on the battle with each other to win the Gymleader Cup!"
A great noise came from the audience making Roark cringe a bit. His head wasn't quite fond with all that noise today.
"Let's not waste any more time, the first round has begun!"
Roark heard his fellow gymleaders shout out the name of their first Pokemon and pokeballs were thrown, but he hadn't thought about his first one yet. Maylene had already thrown out Machoke.
"Everything alright Roark?" She asked with raised eyebrows.
"Yeah I'm fine."
He quickly grabbed a pokeball and called out Onix.
"Okay everyone hold on to your seats, the championship has officially begun!" The major shouted.