Hey guys, new chapter for ya. Enjoy!
"Roserade, Magical Leaf!"
"Roooose-rade!" Roserade cried, leaping up into the air and spinning as a flurry of glowing leaves shot out of its hands at its opponent.
"Toxicroak, jump up and use Dark Pulse!" Saturn ordered.
"Toxi-crrrroak!" Toxicroak roared, bounding up into the air just as the barrage of leaves hit the spot where it had been standing. It brought its hands together again and fired a surge of black energy across the area.
"Roserade - !" Gardenia uttered just as her Pokemon landed, the blast of energy colliding with it full force, though the Bouquet Pokemon stood its ground.
"Now use Poison Jab!"
"Croak...crrroaaak!" Toxicroak boomed, taking a moment to land before charging across the area toward Roserade, the tips of its right-hand fingers beginning to glow purple.
"Quick, Roserade, use Flash!"
"Rose...rade!" Roserade loosed, taking a second to steady itself before seemingly bursting into a flash of light, blinding Toxicroak and causing it to cease its attack.
"Crrroak!" Toxicroak whined, slamming its eyes shut and turning away as the light began to fade.
"All right, Roserade, use Magical Leaf again!" Gardenia called.
"Roseraaade!" Roserade cried, not wasting time to jump or spin and instead simply raising its arms and firing a barrage of the glowing leaves out at Toxicroak, before it had a chance to recover.
"Toxi-croak - !" Toxicroak grunted, raising its arms in an attempt to block the attack as enchanted leaves sliced past it unerringly.
"Good work, Roserade! Now use Weather Ball!"
Roserade swung its arms down after halting the attack and leaped up into the air, silhouetting itself against the afternoon sun as Toxicroak looked up after it, and nearly being blinded a second time by the sun.
"Rooose..." Roserade began, summoning a moderately-sized flaming orb in its hands. "...raaaaade!" Roserade finished, swinging its arms forward and sending the ball flying through the air, straight down at Toxicroak.
"Toxicroak - !" Saturn called, just as the attack crashed into his Pokemon.
"Nice one, Roserade!" Gardenia commented as her own Pokemon landed elegantly back on the ground in front of her, both of them waiting for the smoke cloud over their opponent to clear.
But all of a sudden, a blue blur shot out of the dust, and swung its arms in an X-shape faster than Gardenia could even blink, ending up standing behind Roserade with its arms still out in a flourish.
"What - ?" Gardenia cried, staring at Toxicroak in utter shock as her Roserade fell to the ground behind it, defeated by the lightning-fast X-Scissor.
"Good job, Toxicroak!" Saturn said approvingly as his Pokemon leaped backward across the platform, back to its Trainer's side. "Was that enough for you? Or do you still want more?"
"Roserade, return!" Gardenia called, recalling her fallen Pokemon. "Don't you go thinking that I'm finished just yet..." She continued, reaching behind her to replace Roserade's Pokeball with another.
But just then, what appeared to be a literal wheel of fire dropped down from the sky, slamming into Toxicroak with incredible force and bounding off of the impact to stand with Gardenia in Roserade's place.
"What the hell?" Saturn cursed, watching in disbelief as the living wheel of flame died down, revealing the Pokemon inside.
"Quilava!" The small, cream-and-blue rodent-like Pokemon cried out defiantly.
"A Quilava?" Ash muttered. "Where'd that come from?"
"Piika?"
"Um...Quilava...?" May repeated ignorantly, pulling out her Poxedex again.
"Quilava, the Volcano Pokemon. Quilava intimidate foes with their flame's heat, and when ready to battle, the fire burns with even more strength."
The Quilava simply stood there, hunched over on all fours, both of its flames burning brightly as it stared down Toxicroak, daring it to make a move.
It took a moment for Saturn to respond. "...Well, don't just stand there! Use Poison Jab!"
Toxicroak heeded its Trainer's command, charging across the field at Quilava with its fingertips glowing a faint purple, but as soon as it got within striking distance, Quilava crouched down low and, after flaring up its two flames for a second, seemed to explode in a flurry of fire and smoke.
"Ahh!" Gardenia cried, backing away from the explosion and ensuing smoke cloud.
"Agh! What was that?" Saturn grunted, throwing his arms up to block the smoke. "...Huh?" He muttered a second later, squinting through the dust cloud and noticing an opportunity for the first time.
By the time the smoke had cleared, the Quilava had vanished, and Saturn had moved so he was standing near the statue pillars, one hand on one of the two pillars and his other holding Toxicroak's empty Pokeball.
"Tch..." He grumbled angrily, recalling his fainted Pokemon. "Don't think that this is over, Gym Leader. I'll be back, and when I am, those Orbs will be mine!"
He signaled to his men, who promptly nodded. They all turned and quickly rammed their way through the surrounding crowd with Saturn at the head, sprinting down the street for a moment before ducking into a nearby alleyway before anyone could react.
With Saturn and his men gone, the crowd gradually began to disperse, but Ash and May chose to approach Gardenia, who was still standing near the two statues with Ryan, who appeared to be examining the bases.
"Um...excuse me..." Ash said awkwardly as he walked up to the two of them, May at his side and Pikachu on his shoulder. "Is everything all right here? Those guys sounded like they were after something..."
"Hm? Oh, yeah, everything seems to be fine." Gardenia replied, turning to address him as Ryan continued examining the statues. "That guy and his cronies have been snooping around this place for a while. That Quilava seemed to have sorted them out...sure wish I knew where it came from, though."
"What?" May spoke up in surprise.
"You mean that wasn't your Quilava out there?" Ash asked, equally shocked.
"What? No, of course not! Don't you know who I - " She stopped for a moment and blinked, then grinned knowingly at the two of them. "Ah, 'course you don't, you must be new in town. I'm Gardenia, the Gym Leader here, and I've got a thing for Grass-type Pokemon."
"So you really are the Gym Leader?" Ash replied excitedly. "I'm Ash, from Pallet Town, and this is my buddy Pikachu. I'm training to compete in the Sinnoh League!"
"Pi-ka-chu." Pikachu greeted, briefly raising a hand in acknowledgment.
"My name's May." May introduced. "I'm here for the Eterna City Pokemon Contest!"
"The Contest, huh...? Well, that's not for a few more days...but the Sinnoh League? I can have a Gym Battle with you anytime you like, though it might be better if we wait a little while and give Roserade a chance to rest." Gardenia explained, chuckling nervously at the last bit.
"Actually, you might need to put that on hold for now. Gardenia..." Ryan began, approaching the Gym Leader nervously.
"What? What's the problem?" She answered, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.
He looked back at her gravely. "It seems we were deceived. The Orbs are gone. Saturn...he must have taken them."
"...yes, Commander. We have succeeded in retrieving the Adamant and Lustrous Orbs from Eterna City." Saturn reported through his radio, in the makeshift outpost himself and his men had set up during their brief stay in the city.
"Excellent work." A deep, flat voice echoed from the other end. "Return to base with them at once. Then we can begin Phase Two."
"Understood. Saturn out."
On the other end of the transmission, a large, seemingly bored man with grayish-white hair turned away from the transmission station to face the three who had been listening behind him: two females, clad in a similar uniform to his and Saturn's, one with red hair and the other with purple. A teenage boy was between them, a frown apparent on his face.
"So then." The man said, in the same emotionless tone he had spoken with over the radio. "Are you ready to go?"
This thing in Eterna City was tough for me to translate to words, which is why there's been weird stuff like minimal Ash and May involvement and unusual shortness. They should get at least slightly better from here on.
Please R&R!
