"Master Cyrus, I'm happy to report my mission was a success… regardless of a small, minor hitch."
Cyrus' eyebrow twitched slightly with interest. "What hitch?"
"Well," Jupiter looked irritated at having to explain, "there was a Pokémon Trainer that gave me some trouble."
"How so?"
"She defeated my Skuntank and Tangrowth in battle. But, like I said, it didn't matter much. She was too late; I had already transferred all of the energy that we needed. My men and I were able to make a clean getaway without any trouble."
"Hmm… interesting."
"It's hardly of any concern to us, Master Cyrus." Mars smirked. "We all know Jupiter is the weakest of the Commanders."
Jupiter growled at her and opened her mouth to argue.
"Enough!" Cyrus silenced the room. "There is no call to become fed up by petty human emotions. We must rid ourselves of them."
"Yes sir," Mars and Jupiter agreed calmly.
"What is our next order of business?" Saturn asked.
"As soon as Mars completes her mission on Iron Island, it will be time to initiate Phase 2," a grunt quickly explained. "In the meantime, I will be sending out a small team to collect that Pokémon Researcher."
"Hmm? Who is that?" Mars asked, confused. She apparently hadn't been briefed on the situation.
The grunt cleared his throat before replying. "One of our sources in Canalave informed us of a Researcher hoping to gather information on the Legendary Lake Pokémon. Since these Pokémon are vital to the success of our plans, we want to soak up every last detail of information regarding them, and hopefully, she will be able to provide us with something. And of course, we want to make sure she does not in any way meddle with our plans. We would hate for things to become messy."
Saturn looked annoyed. "Those Researcher types can be such a nosy bunch. Best to silence them as soon as possible."
"Hmmph, alright then; makes sense to me." Mars shrugged.
oOoOoOo
"So where are you headed, by the way?" Alice asked, curious.
"Well, my ultimate destination is Veilstone City…" Leaf chirped as she stretched her arms high above her, "but I'll be lucky if I make it to Oreburgh by nightfall."
"If you're headed to Oreburgh, then I have the perfect thing for you!"
"Huh? What is it?"
"Just follow me."
The two walked up to a building that Leaf hadn't noticed before.
"Here, you can borrow a bike to take to Oreburgh," Alice explained. "They have a similar building there that houses bikes that people use to come here."
"Wow, so I can use one of these bikes and just drop it off in Oreburgh?" Leaf asked.
She nodded.
Leaf thanked her and the two exchanged their good-byes as she hopped on a decent sized bike. The trip back to Jubilife was ten times easier and faster on a bike. Once Leaf reached the city, she noticed a group of clowns talking to each other.
"Hey! It's you again!" One of them yelled.
"No need to run from you anymore! Later!" Leaf winked and sped off. The clowns might have given chase, but she didn't bother to turn around and check. She knew they'd never be able to keep up with a bike.
It didn't take her long to reach Oreburgh Gate, which actually turned out to be a relatively small cave rather than a checkpoint gate like Leaf had anticipated. Soon after she left the 'gate,' she found the building where she needed to return the bike. She dropped it off and wandered through Oreburgh Town in search of the Gym. She figured she might as well take on the challenge before moving on to the next city.
"Here it is!" Leaf couldn't help but say aloud once she spotted the Gym. She tried the door, but it was locked.
"Yo! Champ in the making! You looking for Roark?" a nearby man asked. He appeared to be waiting there all along.
"Who's Roark?" Leaf asked. "Sounds sort of familiar, but…"
The man chuckled quietly before answering. "He's the Gym Leader, of course!"
"Hey! I know you!" Leaf realized, gazing at that familiar pair of sunglasses. "You're that creepy lawyer from Canalave City!"
"Creepy lawyer, huh?" The man smirked as he adjusted his sunglasses. "Haven't heard that one before."
"Anyway, do you happen to know where this Gym Leader is?"
"He should be in the mines. He's the main foreman you know… You mustn't be from around here?"
"Nope."
The man laughed. "So that explains it! All the girls your age from around here know all about Roark!"
Leaf looked confused. "What? Is he hot or something?"
"I wouldn't know that!" The man looked disgusted.
"Sorry… Didn't really mean that as a question for you personally," she explained, sheepish.
"Anyway, the mines are that way. You'll find him there eventually."
She thanked him and turned to leave. Unfortunately, Leaf wandered around the mines for a long time with no luck. A few workers seemed to stare at her oddly, most likely wondering what she was doing here. She decided to ignore them and concentrate on not bumping into any Machop, all of whom were busily removing heavy chunks of coal and whatnot.
Eventually, she began to wonder how long it'd take her to find Roark. She had no idea what he even looked like. She wondered if it would be a bad idea to ask one of the workers. But she knew they were busy, and she didn't want to be bothersome. However, she still didn't like the idea of wandering around for hours...
"Excuse me; do you know where I can find Roark?" Leaf asked a nearby worker. He looked young, and he had bright red hair.
"Roark?" the young man repeated as he turned to face her. "What do you want him for?" he asked as he readjusted his glasses to see her better.
"Well, somebody told me that he's the Gym Leader, and I want to challenge him, so…" Leaf trailed off when she saw him smile.
"Well, if you're looking to battle, then you've come to the right place!"
"No, I didn't really come here to fight you; I came to fight Roark!" Leaf frantically tried to re-explain.
The young man laughed. "I am Roark!"
"You're… Roark?" Leaf was surprised. Somehow, she didn't expect Byron's son to be so… normal. Sure, he was a tall miner with spiky hair, but she had expected him to wear a cape and throw a shovel around or something…
"C'mon, let's go to the Gym!"
oOoOoOo
"So, how many badges do you have so far?" Roark asked her as they exited the mine.
"I only have one from Sinnoh. I got it in Canalave City."
"Oh?" He looked surprised. "So you must have defeated my father."
"That's right."
"I haven't come across a Trainer who has beaten my father before they've come to challenge me… This should be interesting."
Roark searched around in his pockets as they approached the locked Gym door.
"Yo! Champ in the making! I see you've found Roark!" the man from before called out loudly.
Leaf glanced at Roark, who was still digging around in his pockets and was starting to look sheepish.
"Did you lose your key again?" the man in sunglasses asked Roark.
"I might have…" Roark looked embarrassed.
"You dolt! How do you expect to be Gym Leader if you can't even open the door!"
"I…"
"No! You nothing! Apologize to the challenger and then go search for them keys!"
"I'm so sorry, Leaf…" Roark bowed his head, ashamed. It was clear that he was new to this, and small, yet important, details like keys probably slipped his mind.
"Forget the keys!" Leaf waved her arm as if to shrug it off. "Let's just battle now. Right here outside the Gym!"
"The referee's not here though…" Roark pointed out.
"He'll be our referee!" Leaf pointed at the sunglasses man. "Serves him right for barking you down like that!"
"What?" The man looked appalled. "My sole duty is to provide trainers with battle hints before they take on a Gym Leader! I'm not even certified!"
"Don't give me any of that. You're a lawyer, aren't you? You can sort out all the petty technicalities later."
"You're a lawyer?" Roark looked both stunned and impressed.
"Of course I'm not! I don't even know what gave her that crazy idea!"
"You did!" Leaf exclaimed, pointing at him dramatically, much like a lawyer would, herself. "So are you ready for this or what?"
"I guess… it might be fun," Roark broke in, scratching the back of his head. "Kind of sounds like something my dad would do…"
The sunglasses man groaned loudly. "Kids these days! I blame the video games!"