"So this is the gym…it looks partly like a ruin with all the plant life going on it." Michael says looking at it.

Zoey smiles. "Welcome to Eterna gym."

"Well…better than dropping on a spider web like structure and having to fight through a gauntlet of trainers before reaching the gym leader." Michael says.

Zoey just looks to him with an eyebrow raised.

"The Santalune gym. Bug types." Michael says giving some context.

Zoey shakes her head. "Let's just get this done."

"So what is your strategy?" Dawn asks.

"You shall see." Michael says entering the gym and met with the receptionist.

Zoey leans over. "He's like that."

"To the stands?" Dawn asks.

Zoey nods and pulls her along. "Come on. Let's go."

"You think he will win?" Dawn asks taking a seat.

Zoey shrugs. "Hard to say at times, but he has been pulling wins lately."

"So Gardenia, you ready for the challenge?" Michael asks.

Gardenia grins. "Been ready. Now show me what you got."

"First, one of my young ones want to try and prove herself. Eruption, time to battle." Michael says throwing his Pokeball.

Eruption gives a cry as she appeared and glares to whatever Gardenia is ready to throw.

"Turtwig, let's go!" Gardenia calls throwing hers and the little turtle type gives a high pitched cry before planting its feet into the ground.

"Ladies first." Michael says.

Gardenia chuckles. "Aren't you a gentleman. Alright then, Turtwig, razor leaf."

"Eruption, shoot them down with ember." Michael instructs.

Both the razor leaf and ember went at each other before the ember burns the leaves and went at Turtwig before Gardenia smirks. "Reflect!" She calls.

"Protect." Michael says before both throw up their defenses.

The ember went at Turtwig before it deflects off the light wall and went back at Eruption before it went around her shield. "Now that's a draw move." Gardenia said smirking.

"Eruption, dig." Michael says.

Gardenia chuckles as Eruption digs into the ground. "Grass knots and withdraw."

"Eruption, that should be enough. Now heat it up." Michael says as soon the heat started to rise from the field.

Turtwig frowns as the grass starts to heat up before it slowly burns away and it withdraws into its shell as it started to sweat profusely. "Turtwig, rest up in there and reflect." Gardenia calls.

Michael smirks as the move Turtwig was using wasn't helping.

Gardenia shakes her head as Turtwig seems to sweat more. "Alright Turtwig, razor leaf on yourself and make it fast and show yourself." Gardenia calls.

"Eruption, time to show yourself." Michael says and soon a flamethrower erupts from the ground and out comes Eruption.

Turtwig seems to croak as it sends the razor leaves around itself before it actually lifts it up into the air in a small hover. "Now withdraw." Gardenia said smirking.

"Now finish this up." Michael says before Eruption rushes forward and jumps up to be practically face to face with Turtwig.

Turtwig quickly withdraws into its shell and starts to spin with the razor leaf.

"Overheat!" Michael calls. Eruption, hearing that, glows red and then releases an extremely powerful blast of orange-yellow fire point blank at Turtwig engulfing it in flames and incinerating the leaves.

Turtwig croaks his name out as he fell to the ground and knocked out. "Not bad." Gardenia said returning Turtwig.

"You notice that it wasn't the damage that knocked it out?" Michael asks.

Gardenia nods and looks to the stands a bit. "Is she okay?" She asks worriedly that Zoey is now sleeping against Dawn.

"Don't worry, I got this." Dawn says turning on a fan, waking her up quickly.

Zoey shakes her head quickly as she sat up. "Wha…oh you have to be kidding." Zoey grumbled.

"Good job Eruption, return." Michael says.

Eruption gives a claw up as she was returned. "So who are you going to choose now?" Gardenia asks taking out a Pokeball.

"From now on, only Kalos grass types." Michael says nearly making Gardenia trip.

Gardenia gasps and drops her Pokeball as Cherubi came out and cries out before stopping short and looks to her trainer as Gardenia cheers excited. "Cher?"

"Alright, let's go Gogoat." Michael calls, a name no one in the gym recognized as a large goat type came out and huffs.

Gardenia keeps cheering excited. "Oh my gosh! That's such an amazing Pokemon!" She cheers as Cherubi walks to her place on the field.

"Gogoat is also a fully evolved Pokemon," Michael says.

Gardenia cheers louder. "I want to see the other evolutions!"

"Only two and now I let you go first again." Michael says.

Gardenia keeps cheering under her own breath. "Cherubi, oh my gosh, leech seed." She calls out watching excited.

"Gogoat, you ready?" Michael asks.

Gogoat huffs and scratches at the ground.

"You know how we start off, bulldoze." Michael says.

Gogoat huffs and lifts its front hooves up before stomping them on the ground and sends the heavy shock wave at Cherubi and knocks her down. "Chu…" Cherubi calls and looks to Gardenia for an order.

"Did you see that? Gogoat has a lot more control than Archen." Zoey says.

Dawn nods. "Makes sense that he would be able to figure this out. Explains his training to everyone."

"Gogoat, aerial ace." Michael says surprising them.

"You have to be kidding me. Not again." Zoey mumbled as she buries her face in her hands.

Gogoat suddenly charged at a great speed, the aerial ace aura around him.

Gardenia was shocked before she called out, "Grass knot!" She calls.

"Gogoat, jump!" Michael calls as it became a contest of who could execute the move first.

Cherubi cries out as it sends out the move and Gogoat prepare to jump and heads up as the grass knot came out of the ground and tries to reach up to grab at his hoof, but misses. "Solarbeam!" Gardenia calls suddenly.

"Gogoat, power through." Michael calls.

"Go!" Gogoat calls, showing no signs of hesitation.

Cherubi strains as it charges up a beam before quickly firing from its leaves and hits Gogoat straight into its chest as it jumps right at it. "Cher?" Cherubi asks panicked and confused.

"Gogoat, horn leech." Michael calls and through the smoke, Gogoat comes burling in, it's horns glowing green.

"Cherubi, move!" Gardenia calls.

"Too late." Michael says as Cherubi was hit and flung back into the air.

"Cherubi!" Gardenia calls and Cherubi lands in front of her knocked out. "Oh, Cherubi."

"Cherubi is unable to battle. The winner is Gogoat." The referee says.

"What did you think? When Gogoat starts moving, it is hard to stop the charge." Michael says.

Gardenia returns Cherubi before cheering out loud. "Oh my gosh! He's amazing."

"Time out ref. Let's let the gym leader at least touch the grass type she has never seen before." Michael says as the referee facepalms.

Gardenia cheers and rushes over to Gogoat before looking over the grass growth on him. "Oh my gosh. This is amazing."

"He also lets other's ride on his back." Michael says.

Gardenia gasps and rubs her hand on the grass growth. "Can I?"

"Go ahead. I will be changing him out for the third battle." Michael says and Gogoat lays down so she can get on easily.

Gardenia giggles excitedly as she hops on his back. "Oh my gosh. This is the most amazing day of my life."

"Gogoats also can sense the emotion of people when they hold onto their horns while they ride." Michael says.

Gardenia smiles greatly and touches her hands to his horns. "What then? What else can he do?"

"A lot. He may not be able to match the speeds of a Rapidash or a Dodri, but he can better navigate rough terrain than those two." Michael says.

Gardenia grins and leans forward. "Well, what else? I want to know!"

"I would tell you, but I have one more grass type that you have never seen before." Michael says tossing a Pokeball up and down.

Gardenia was suddenly in front of him. "Show me!"

"Battle first." Michael says.

Gardenia frowns. "You tease."

"You get to see it in battle." Michael says.

Gardenia pouts as she trudges back to her spot. "Hold back brat." She mumbled to herself as she takes out her Pokeball.

"Gogoat, take a rest behind me." Michael says.

"Go." Gogoat grumbles as he walks and sits behind him.

"Ladies first." Michael says a little cheekily.

Gardenia kept grumbling to herself as she throws her Pokeball. "Roserade!" She calls and a walking rose came out and takes a small stance.

"Referee, you mind dimming the lights a bit. I got a story I think Gardenia will like." Michael says with a smirk.

The referee looks confused before going to a light switch and dims the lights a little.

"Tell me. What do you know about Kalos' route twenty or more commonly known as the Winding Woods?" Michael asks.

Gardenia raises an eyebrow. "Route twenty?"

"Oh, you don't know?" Michael asks, Gogoat and Sneasel nearly laughing, knowing what was coming.

Gardenia frowns. "Just send out your Pokemon already."

"Oh, aren't you interested in one of the best places to find grass type Pokemon?" Michael asks as Sneasel, in the dim lighting, got the Pokeball from Michael with no one noticing as the storm that was forecasted, started rolling in.

Gardenia was now paying attention. "Ok. I am interested now." Gardenia says.

"You know, it has a third name I will share with you later." Michael says as he thunder was heard outside. "You see, although the forest is abundant with Pokemon, humans don't like to go through it." Michael says.

Jack cracks open an eye as he lays on the benches and takes out the earbud. "This is either going to lame or good."

"Why is that?" Gardenia asks.

"It has a certain reputation. But to tell you about this, we are going to have to go back a few hundred years." Michael says.

Jack sighs and puts the earbud back in. "And it's lowered in rank. The best way is put it like the murderer is still out there and only happened a year ago."

"Oh, it gets better. This is just to give some context." Sneasel says to him.

Jack cracks an eye at her. "Crazy aunt, I know how to make ghost stories. The way he's going, it's disjointed. I can literally make this better. Basically, where if you don't respect any peaceful creature of the forest, you are taken and is forced to stay awake as the watcher of the forest start to make you a permanent addition to the forest by first tying you to a dead tree and then splits open your stomach before spilling your blood on the ground as water and then uses your intestines as a makeshift trunk holder and let's the tree grow slowly. And as the tree grows, it slowly takes you apart from the leg up. You are awake the entire time and you are forced to watch as it takes your body parts and fuels the tree before all that's left is your head and then you are put into a tree hole and left there to watch, watching over others that might disrespect the forest lest it happens to them. The only thing left to warn others, the blood mark in a shape of a heart of the fully revived tree." Jack said with a straight face and a never changing expression.

"Have any of you heard of the Kalos bloody valentine? It was a succession war way back before Kalos became a republic." Michael asks.

Gardenia raises an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I think a full explanation would be too long for us so I will tell you the event of it that is relevant to this. At the end of it, the victor captured most of his rival's army in the Winding Woods. Do you know what he did?" Michael asks.

"No, but I have a feeling you will tell anyway." Gardenia said frowning it was taking too slow.

"Well, the decision was quick. The tyrant had been dreaming of what he would do to them for weeks now. So each and everyone were executed in a horrid way. Each one was taken to a tree and then they were gutted and had their little intestine nailed to their tree. They were then forced to play ring around the rosy with the tree." Michael says.

"Oh playing with the organs. Not bad. Still needs work. Not amused." Jack said rubbing his head.

"Well now that you know about its reputation, let's get to the real story." Michael says.

Jack rolls his eyes. "They say the spirits of the victims still live on, haunting the forest as a warning to others. However, when a soul stays too long, the rot it gains leads it to gain some…strange forms." Jack said bored now.

"About twenty years ago, there was a town named Bassan in the middle of the winding forest. It was a generally peaceful small town. It saw a few trainers now and again. Well, one day, the entire town suddenly went dark. No communication or anything came out of the forest." Michael says.

"So they sent a team to look and find out what happened and why they haven't reported anything." Jack said ominously.

"They brushed it off. Like, 'Meh, a phone line must be down.' They will get that fixed in a few days, but days passed and still nothing. Then days became weeks and then became months. By now, people were starting to worry and put together a team to go see what had happened." Michael says.

Jack waves a paw in the air. "Woo hoo, here comes the real start of the movie after the exposition."

Sneasel taps his head and shuts him up. "So the team went to it normally through the path. Maybe the road was blocked, bridges were out, the line was down. However, the first sign something was wrong, was that the town sign was covered up in vines, spelling out no words, but random letters. The town will never keep its sign like that. It likes the looks. And when they entered the town, they all saw small lights line the main pathways of the town, leading all to the middle. Following the lights, they saw the town's center statue was replaced by a tree. But…it didn't seem like a normal tree. It seemed dead. So why was the water lines of the town connected to its roots and no flooding was happening?" Michael asks trying not to snicker.

'I'm not liking where this is going.' Zoey thinks as the storm picked up speed outside and lightning started to sound.

Michael chuckles. "But then a Murkrow landed on the dead branch and literally drops a dark stone before rising off again and when tried to see it, they couldn't find it. However, looking back to the tree and it seems to have its branches moved a bit from when they first saw it."

"Saw what?" Gardenia asks a little hesitant.

Jack rolls his eyes. "Tree demon?"

Michael hums. "Well…it's kinda hard to describe it. But I'm sure the picture on the wall behind you can help." He said grinning.

Jack raises an eyebrow as he looks and shakes his head. "Campfire move. Stupid campfire move." He said laying his head back down before he hears an ear piercing scream.

Gardenia pants frantically as the large tree creature with its red eye looked at her. "It's…it's…"

"The souls of those tortured in the bloody valentine have risen and they want revenge on the world, but the team didn't discover this and that night, with a storm like this, something happened." Michael says.

The creature leans closer to Gardenia slowly as she pants heavily and more frantically.

"That night they sought shelter in the city hall and then one of them noticed something in the lightning. The forest was closing in on the town." Michael says.

The creature moves its branch slowly toward Gardenia as she remained frozen as she couldn't get her breathing under control.

"And the last thing any of them ever did in Jisatsu no mori is scream their death scream!" Michael calls as the lightning sounded.

The creature suddenly grabs Gardenia and holds her as she panicked and screamed as she tried to get out of its grip.

"Ok Trevenant, that is enough. You had your fun. Now it's time to battle. You can turn up the lights now." Michael says.

Jack shakes his head. "I got way better." He said already getting a few ideas as the lights went back to normal as Trevenant laughs.

"Sorry, but Trevenant refused to battle unless he got to do this." Michael says.

Gardenia blinks and glares to Trevenant as he puts her down. "Nope. Not a cool Pokemon."

"He is a ghost grass hybrid, but that ghost story isn't one I made up. It is a ghost story that has been around for decades. We just keep updating it to be more modern." Michael says.

Gardenia points to Trevenant. "No. I mean I don't like this grass type."

"Trevenant, put her down and onto the battlefield." Michael instructs.

"Trev…" Trevenant said and puts her down and let's her pat down her clothes before heading to his place on the field.

"Shall we continue?" Michael asks.

Gardenia nods. "Roserade, stun spore."

"Trevenant, psychic." Michael says shocking and horrifying Gardenia.

Roserade hurries to send out a stun spore before being hit and knocked back as her stun spore never came out as she tries to get back up.

"Trevenant, before Roserade can recover, confuse ray." Michael says before Trevenant let out a sinister ray of light.

Roserade became wide-eyed and tries to get up quickly before suddenly rolling around and looks around confused. "Roserade!" Gardenia yells.

"Now power up punch." Michael instructs and Trevenant charges forward to punch.

"Move it! Come on girl!" Gardenia yells and Roserade tries to move away, but ends up moving towards Trevenant before being punched away. "Roserade." Gardenia said worriedly.

"Barrage of that attack." Michael instructs.

Trevenant keeps throwing the attack over and over again, trying it's best to hit Roserade as she snapped out of the confusion after the first hit.

"Magical Leaf!" Gardenia yells.

"Time to disappear. Trevenant, phantom force." Michael says and suddenly, after taking the magical leaf, Trevenant disappeared completely.

Gardenia frowns. "Solar beam."

"Where are you aiming and what sun?" Michael asks referring to the storm outside.

Gardenia whistles and points up to the lights. "You don't know greenhouses."

"Ah, clever girl, but still, where is your target?" Michael asks.

Gardenia hums. "Roserade, keep charging."

"If you want to win, you best not take another hit from Trevenant. He got in six power up punch, increasing his physical attack greatly and phantom force is his strongest physical ghost type move. You get hit with that, it's over." Michael says.

Gardenia kept frowning as both her and Roserade kept watching out for anything.

'That punch was awesome. Every time it hit, it powered him up.' Jack thinks.

'That solar beam is trouble with how long it is charging, but phantom force doesn't allow Trevenant to attack for a bit as well, but also makes him intangible so he can't be hit or found. If she is quick on the draw, he might go down as that Roserade is obviously not the regulation strength of the gym. So it must be a personal standard one.' Michael thinks watching with anticipation.

Gardenia sighs. "Roserade, stop and just charge. You'll know when." She said before walking away.

'Did she realize we can't attack yet?' Michael thinks sweating a bit, thinking she had seen through the bravado.

Jack raises an eyebrow. "Almost every gym leader forgets the mind games."

'Ten seconds. Ten seconds will decide everything.' Michael thinks paying close attention to each tick.

Gardenia still hasn't returned as the solar beam kept charging. "She's playing good." Jack said sitting up and stretching.

'Now!' Michael thinks a split second before Trevenant reappeared behind Roserade, his fist covered in a dark aura and swings down.

Roserade suddenly turns and fires point blank and they both hit each other and throw each other away knocked out.

"It was inevitable." Gardenia said returning.

"So did you know what phantom force did or were you guessing?" Michael asks.

Gardenia huffs. "No. Just this." She said before flicking the gym badge over to him. "You were going to win this one way or another. Even if I took out Trevenant, I had to deal with Gogoat behind you."

"And Eruption. Even your personal standard couldn't beat all three back to back." Michael says surprising her that he had caught on.

Gardenia stares at him before sighing. "Better go and get your team healed up." She said before returning Roserade and walks away.

"So did you enjoy this?" Michael asks making her stop.

Gardenia sighs. "Better go get healed up." She said before walking again.

"Trevenant, return." Michael says returning the Pokemon.

Jack stretches some more. "Still need better horror stories."

"How did you get it out without releasing it from its Pokeball?" Dawn asks.

"When the lights dimmed, I handed it off to Sneasel and she released him into the hallway." Michael informs.

Sneasel waves and smiles at them.

"Oh, so the lights were not just for atmosphere. It was to sneak that under our notice as well." Zoey says.

Sneasel snickers as Michael smirks. "Got that right. Need to get every advantage possible."

"Sneaky. Did you learn that from Sneasel as well?" Dawn asks.

Michael chuckles. "Somewhat. She did give me ideas."

"Is that so?" Zoey asks.

"Right. Anyone want to ride on Gogoat back to the center?" Michael asks.

Dawn smiles and raises her hand. "Here."

"Pass." Jack said messing with his phone as he walks up.

"Zoey?" Michael offers.

Zoey shakes her head. "Nah. I would rather stay on the ground."

"Come on, Gogoat will be quick." Dawn says.

Zoey shakes her head. "Nope. Rather walk."

"Gogoat, take Dawn to the Pokemon center." Michael says.

"Go." Gogoat grunts as he lays down and lets Dawn climb on him before walking off.

"Run Gogoat." Michael instructs.

Dawn yelps as she tries to hang onto Gogoat's horn as he runs off out of the gym. "Still need to work on expression." Zoey said picking up Jack.

"You could tell I thought she had seen through me and knew that move fall?" Michael asks.

Zoey shrugs. "She did give off that air, but I don't know. Seems to me of what she said, she could be hinting that she knew all along."

"Umbrella?" Michael offers.

Zoey smiles. "Sure. Let's go." She said walking out with Michael behind her.