J is for Just Great

It was sundown and Roark attempted to make his way through the forest for a few hours now. He was repeatedly tripping over his own feet, grass, rocks, trees, and other objects. He tripped again and his hard hat went flying, leaving him in the close to darkness.

"Just great!" he muttered to himself.

He got up and was looking for his hard hat when a voice said from behind him, "Is this yours?" He jumped while spinning around and fell on his butt again.

"Oh! I'm so sorry!" the owner of the voice, Gardenia squealed and went to help him up.

"S'okay" he muttered. He had developed a small crush on Gardenia when they went to the meetings for gym leaders. She always spoke her mind and had great ideas. Also she was one of the youngest gym leaders, like himself.

She tilted her head, "What were you doing in the forest?" she asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion.

"Looking for the moss rock, I heard it has special properties and wanted to check it out." he explained realizing how much like a geek he sounded.

"Why are you coming at sundown than?" she asked again.

"I came at lunch time and have been trying to find it since than." he sighed.

Gardenia's eyes grew wide, "You could have just come to the gym and I would have helped you! Here follow me!" she called over her shoulder. He kept up a good pace behind her and they made it to the moss rock in close to no time. Roark looked at it a bit and said, "I can see there is something different about it.."

"Yes, when you train an eevee in this area it will evolve into a leafeon if you bring it to this rock." Gardenia pointed out. They continued to talk and it got darker and darker. They talked about everything from the rock to the gyms and trainers who did stupid stuff. They didn't even realize how much time had passed until they saw a few rays of sunlight coming up from the horizon. Both of their mouths dropped open.

"Wow...the sunrise looks amazing, even though I wasn't planning on staying here all night, I'm kinda happy I did." Roark admitted.

They stood up and Gardenia asked bashfully, "Are you going to be here tomorrow?"

Roark grinned, it sounded like she wanted him to come, "Well i think I might need some more information....on the moss rock." he said.

Gardenia looked up and smiled, "I'll help you this time then, I'll meet you near the edge of the forest, that is if you want.." she added.

He nodded and laughed, "I'm going to need all the help I can get." She laughed too.

"Then I'll see you at sundown?" she asked. Roark nodded again.

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The two met every night for two months, either in the mines or the forest and they became best friends. Roark had gotten in a habit of calling her GG, and her Roserade, Rosy and Gardenia had gotten in a habit if calling him Rock, and his Cranidos CJ. They somehow managed to get enough sleep. Today was the day of the gym leaders meeting. Roark and Gardenia both arrived at about the same time.

"Hello!" Byron called to his son who came in a few moments before Gardenia. Roark walked over to him.

"Hey." he said to his dad and Candace who was next in the line. Gardenia walked in then.

"Hey Gardenia! Over here!" Candace called. Gardenia smiled and ran over. She sat next to Roark and Candace.

"Hey Rock, Candace, Byron." she said happily.

Byron was about to say it was Roark not Rock, but Roark had managed to say before him, "Hey GG." Candice and Byron looked at each other with eyebrows raised.

"You two can release your pokemon now." Volkner said from beside Candace. Gardenia release Roserade and Roark his Cranidos. Roserade went up to Roark and nuzzled him.

He smiled down at her, "Hey Rosy!" he said.

Cranidos went over to Gardenia at the same time, "CJ! Long time no see!" she greeted. This time Volkner, Byron, and Candice's eyebrows all raised. "Hey, you two seem to know each other pretty well, You even have nicknames for each other." she implied. Both of them just shrugged, but before she could drill them more, the meeting started.

At the end of the meeting Roark and Gardenia said goodbye, and Gardenia asked, "At the mines tonight right?" Roark nodded and they went separate ways. What they didn't know is Candace, Volkner, and Byron had heard and were planning on drilling them about it.

____________________With Roark___________________________________

Roark walked out of the hall they had held the meeting. He heard two sets of footsteps following him. He turned, walking backwards and saw Byron and Volkner.

"Hey let's get something to eat." Byron suggested. Roark nodded and they headed to small cafe in the area.

After they had ordered Byron questioned Roark, "Is Gardenia your girlfriend?" Unfortunately, Roark had been drinking his soda when the question was asked and coughed and choked in surprise. When he looked at his dad, he was as red as his hair, "No!" he spit out.

"But you wish she was because you like her." Volkner guessed.

Roark rolled his eyes, leaned back in his chair and realized, "Now I know you only wanted info gossipers." Byron and Volkner grinned sheepishly.

He told them of the meetings and when Byron said, "You should tell her you love her."

Roark turned red again and said, "I-i-i Do not!" Byron and Volkner smirked and shared a glance.

"Suuurrrreee." Volkner drew out the word.

Roark sighed, "Is it really that obvious?"

Byron winced, "A little."

"Just great." Roark muttered and leaned back in his chair.

_____________________With Gardenia______________________________

Candace on the other hand just came right out and said it.

As Gardenia was leaving she came up beside her and said, "Congrats on you and Roark, you needed a boyfriend."

Gardenia turned bright red, "W-we're not a couple!" she pretty much yelled, causing Fantina to come to the other side of her.

"What is it I here about Gardenia's boyfriend?" she asked.

"Roark isn't my boyfriend!" she objected and hid her bright red face in her hands.

"Well you like him then." Candace said, "Why else would you be going to a mine?" she continued and her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"W-well the the mine isn't t-that bad!" Gardenia stammered.

"You would never step into a mine! You must like him." Fantina concluded.

Gardenia let out a sigh of defeat, "Fine! I love him." she relented. Candace and Fantna squealed and jumped up and down.

Gardenia sighed, "Just great. The whole region will know by tommorow."

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Gardenia and Roark met at the mine as planned. They were talking outside of it ans looking at the sky, when a comet streaked across the sky.

"It's beautiful..." Gardenia whispered.

"Not as beautiful as you." Roark said quietly and froze after he realized what he said, while Gardenia swung around to face him.

He sighed, "I'm sorry I shouldn't-" he was cut off with Gardenia's lips on his. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second and shut. He pulled her closer. When they came up for air they both whispered, in sync, "I love you." Than they laughed and kissed again. Little did they know a camera for Sinnoh News was recording them.

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The video aired in the morning and Byron, Candace, Volkner, and Fantina saw it and immediately set up a 6 way call and connected to the others. The 4 yelled in sync, "Tell Me Everything!"

Roark and Gardenia muttered, "Just Great...."