After Hugh reminded Nate and Iris that he still needed to wait for his Pokemon to battle, they waited a bit for Cheren to heal his first level Pokemon used against Nate before. THEN they started their journey to Virbank. Cheren even gave them pecha berries if their Pokemon needed them. After a day of traveling and battling against trainers, except Iris because nobody was willing to battle her due to her champion title even when she says she's carrying weak Pokemon, they finally reached Virbank City at night time, the trek lasting a near two full days. However, their first impression of the place wasn't...exactly positive, seeing a pastel punk daughter fighting with her father.
"Roxie, don't try and stop me! I'm off to Pokestar Studios to live up to my full potential! I'm going to be a ship captain and movie star!
"Oh get real dad! You're a flipping captain already! If nobody controls the ship, how the damn is anybody supposed to go anywhere?!"
"Oh Roxie, if you can split your time between being a gym leader and a band leader, then I should do the same with being a captain and actor. Well, off I go." As he walked away, she yelled at his back.
"At least my job and hobby doesn't hinder people on where they want to go!" She then started to grumble after a quick yell. "AAAAA! you dim-witted...dense...deranged...daft...dippy...dorky...DUMB ASS! Such selfishness...unforgivable! I've had it! I'm going to the gym!" Walking away, she kicked a trash can down onto the ground before going off.
"Sheesh, she needs to reel in her anger issues." Hugh whistled. Nate looked at his best friend unamused.
"Like you're one to talk."
"Oh shut up! At least my reason for feeling rage is justified!" He retorted angrily.
"Guys, let's not fight amongst ourselves." Iris pleaded as she got in between them, placing a hand on both their chests. Let's just look for some Pokemon to catch while Roxie...cools off a bit."
"Fine." Hugh grumbled. They went to the lower section of the city, which was currently a construction complex. Nate was able to capture a magnemite and a growlith, while Hugh caught an elekid and magby. And secretly, he also caught an audino. After that he called to them,
"Hey, I think we've caught what we need for now. Let's head to the Pokemon Center to let our Pokemon rest a bit."
"Yeah, Axew could use a break. Deino also just fought a riolu and won, though that took a lot out of him." Iris said. As they went and waited for their Pokemon to heal up, Hugh separated from the group so that he could call home on a PC.
"Hi Hugh! How are you doing big brother?!" She asked happily. He smiled and shrugged.
"Good. Ain't half bad. Hey, I sent you a gift I think you'll love. Go to the Pokemon Center and you'll see." Amy became excited.
"Oh, thank you so much! I'll ask mommy! I love you! Bye!"
"Love you too. Bye." Hanging up, and making sure that his little sister would have an audino to play with, he went back to the group.
"Hey Hugh, who were you talking with there?"
"Amy. Nothing important." Hugh shrugged. "Anyway, if our Pokemon are done resting, let's go meet Roxie." After sorting their Pokemon to the right roster they wanted, they did just that. It was a little tough trying to find the gym, with the city being dark and especially grungy looking, they did eventually found it which was in between two buildings and partially underground with stairs leading inside. Once they entered, more stairs lead them down a good ten feet before entering what was both a gym and a mosh pit before a stage. Roxie was singing while playing a bass. Getting a better look, she definitely was a pastel punk. Roxie wore a teal and purple striped tank top which showed her straps and some of the side of her black bra. Ripped shorts covered her upper legs while knee high black boots covered the lower half. Earrings of one teal and one purple were attached to her ears as they swung back and forth from her head moving as she sang angrily. Her hair was interestingly white with a single streak of pink in it, along with being really short, a little bit longer than a buzz cut while her bangs were just long enough to make a curved spike. The group waited patiently as they listened to the angry lyrics coming from the gym leader and her band. Once they finished, their focus was broken due to the three clapping.
"Wow, you guys rock." Hugh complimented.
"Heh, you must be someone new. I don't remember any of your faces. Except for you Iris."
"Nice to meet you again after some time." The champion replied, though her response seemed uninvested.
"Hugh and I come from Aspertia City. We were wishing to battle you for our second badge." Nate told the gym leader.
"Heh, well, since you waited until our song was finished, I don't mind doing one battle for tonight. The other will have to wait till mornin'." After doing rock paper scissors, Nate beat Hugh 2 out of three.
"Alright! I'm up first!"
"Cool. Let's get this on the road. Nick, get me my level two Pokemon. Billy Jo, you're our referee this time." She instructed as her foot pressed a button on the floor. The mosh pit floor opened up to show that underneath was a dirt covered arena. Jumping off the stage, Roxie went to the right side, and was handed five Pokeballs.
"The battle of the Virbank Gym is about to begin!" Billy Jo yelled. "Our challenger is...uh...what's your name?" She asked him.
"Nate Wayland."
"Our challenger is Nate Wayland of Aspertia City, going up against Virbank City's Roxie Rosenfeld! Both sides will use four Pokemon, and only the challenger may substitute! When either side is unable to battle, the battle is history! Now, let's rock and roll!"
"Trubbish, rock out!" The Pokemon Roxie let out was a living bag of garbage, with arms of clumped filth pouring out of holes in the bag.
"Herdier, let's go!" Once his normal type was out, he instructed, "Use Take Down!"
"Toxic Spikes!" Before Herdier rammed into the poison type, Trubbish formed a purple orb in its mouth and fired, the orb exploding into streams of toxic energy that descended down onto Nate's side of the field. The Loyal Pokemon made contact as he pushed Trubbish into the ground hard. It grunted in pain, but was able to right itself. "Counter with Acid Spray!" Regurgitating multiple balls of orange acid, it not only drenched the dog in harmful chemicals, it started burning fur off the normal type, howling in agony.
"Herdier, hang in there! Use Work Up!" Using his pain as motivation, Herdier growled with rage as he glowed red.
"Use Sludge!" Roxie continued. Spewing out a purple blob, it splattered against the Loyal Pokemon's side, inflicting extreme pain as he yelled loudly.
"Counter with Bite!" Ash pleaded. Baring his fangs, the canine bite down on the living garbage, and had to let go out of disgust. It was enough however that Trubbish fainted from the pain.
"Trubbish is unable to battle. The winner is Herdier!" Billy Joe yelled.
"Trubbish, return. You did good. Whirlipede, let's rock!" A round shaped poisonous bug appeared.
"Use Take Down!"
"Counter with Iron Defense!" Gaining a shiny grey sheen, the Curlipede Pokemon took the brunt of the attack, taking the attack in stride. Suffering from the effects of poison, Herdier collapsed.
"Herdier is unable to battle! The winner is Whirlipede!"
"Hmph, he should've been able to withstand more than that." Hugh commented, unimpressed.
"Poison can be pretty debilitating. Don't underestimate it." Iris told the frowning trainer.
"Herdier, return. Great job hanging in there. Tranquil, let's go!" Once his flying type was out, flapping her wings so that she didn't touch the poisoned ground, he commanded, "Use Air Cutter!" Folding her wings, they glowed with energy before launching an X at the bug/poison type, but Roxie was ready.
"Protect!" Forming a green force field, it shielded the Pokemon, negating the attack. "Poison Tail!" Its spikes glowed bright purple before the Pokemon started rolling forward.
"Dodge, then use Air Cutter again!" Easily evading the incoming attack, she was able to attack again with the ranged X, and connected this time as the attack exploded against the rolling insect. It was down for the count.
"Whirlipede is unable to battle! The winner is Tranquil!"
"Whirlipede, return. I know you'll do better next time. Seviper, let's rock!" A snake was summoned onto the field, which was mostly black colored except for a yellow hexagon pattern going from head to toe. Red fangs came from its mouth which were just as red as its eyes and blade like tail. "Use Sludge Bomb!" Throwing up brown clumps, Tranquil was not fast enough to dodge the attack and suffering from an explosion by the sludge bombs, falling to the ground. She screeched as the toxic spikes poisoned her.
"Counter with Quick Attack!" Nate pleaded. The flying type, despite the massive damage and sudden poison, was able to move faster than the eye, bashing into the snake, although it was too heavy to be much affected.
"Poison Tail!" Its red tail glowed bright purple before the Fang Snake Pokemon slashed at the bird, defeating the challenging Pokemon.
"Tranquill is unable to battle! Seviper is the winner!"
"Pitiful." Hugh sneered in disgust. "Why is Ash using his less capable Pokemon? He has a freaking magnemite which is immune to poison types!"
"Strength and type advantages aren't everything Hugh. It's about having a connection with your Pokemon to reach their full potential."
"Ugh." The black haired trainer groaned, his expression softening.
"Sorry. It's just...nevermind. Private business." Iris looked at her traveling companion in concern.
"Tranquill, return. Thanks. You did the best you could." Swapping his Pokemon, Nate grinned as a strategy came into mind. "Dewott, let's go!" The Discipline Pokemon appeared, looking confident. He grunted in pain from the poison but maintained his composure. "Use Focus Energy!"
"Attack with Venoshock!" From the Fang Snake's mouth came purple globs of poison which hit their mark, inflicting major damage as they exploded due to the water type being poisoned. However, from the smoke came a bright blue energy shined through, before Dewott swiped away the smoke with his scallops, aided by both Torrent and a red inner outline by Focus Energy. "Quick, use Giga Drain!"
"Dodge then use Razor Shell!" While Seviper tried to attack with a red beam from its mouth, the Discipline Pokemon managed to leap out of the way while his scallops formed blue curved blades of energy. The snake tried multiple times to hit with Giga Drain but the otter was too quick and managed to slash the poison type with a critical blow. Hissing, the foe went down.
"Seviper is unable to battle! The winner is Dewott!"
"Yeah, way to go Dewott!" Iris cheered. Hugh smiled. The water type cringed, but was able to keep standing.
"Seviper, return. Good job, you rocked hard, so rest for now. Well, you're doing better than expected Nate! It's down to my last Pokemon, so I'm going to rock this head on! Roserade, rock out!" Her second non-Unova Pokemon was now a grass/poison type. It has hair made of white rose petals, and a leafy, green cape with a yellow, collar-like bangle on its neck. The cape pattern reaches toward the back of its head, in spiky, sepal-like extensions on the hair. It has a dark-green mask over its red, yellow-lidded eyes. The lower portion of its face is light green, and it holds a bouquet in each hand, with a red in its right hand and blue in its left. "Use Venoshock!"
"Razor Shell!" Running forward, Dewott used his empowered shells to slice away the globs of poison, and delivered a powerful slash against the grass type. Even though the move wasn't at a type advantage, the blow was strong enough to leave a straight bruise against the Bouquet Pokemon's body, and it hissed in pain as it got up. Dewott suffered from the poison, and with the double aura going away, the water starter collapsed.
"Dewott is unable to battle! The winner is Roserade!"
"Dewott, return. You did amazing. Take a nice rest. Your poison strategy sure is tough, but I have an ace up my sleeve. Magnemite, let's go!" Nate brought out his one of his newest catches, a ball of metal with an eye along with horseshoe magnets on its sides and a screw up top.
"Magnemite." It said like a robot.
"Hmm, so you're trying to outlast my MO? Well, you'll find I'm more capable than you think! Roserade, use Hidden Power!"
"Counter with Sonic Boom!" Spinning itself around, the Magnet Pokemon produced a shock wave that intercepted the incoming white orbs from the grass/poison type, which exploded with bursts of fire.
"A fire type hidden power." Iris noticed. "So she even has a counter against steel types at this level."
"Oh, I'm sure Nate can figure a way to win this." Hugh remarked. "Even though he's new at being a trainer he's no idiot. I was indirectly his teacher. Never deliberately teaching him anything but he's watched how I prepared myself. Type match ups, strategies against certain Pokemon, the works. He knows what he's doing."
"I could tell from his battle against Cheren." The champion agreed.
"Axew." Her Pokemon said, having watched the battle from inside her hair.
"Grr, Hidden Power again!" Roxie growled.
"Keep using Sonic Boom, rapid fire!" Nate retaliated. Spinning swiftly, it created many sonic booms, one it which countered the incoming attack, while Roserade was unable to defend itself from the barrage of shock waves, and was experienced a series of explosions as a result.
"Roserade!" Roxie cried out. When the smoke cleared, the Bouquet Pokemon was defeated.
"Roserade is unable to battle! The winner is Magnemite, and so the victor is Nate Wayland!" Billy Jo decreed.
"Yes, you did it Nate!" Iris celebrated. Hugh gave his best friend a thumbs up. Magnemite floated to Nate so that they could embrace with glee.
"Roserade, return. Great job. Rest for a bit." Walking around the arena, she pointed at the victorious challenger. "Man, I can't believe I lost, but that just means that you're pretty good. I gave it my all, and I have no regrets. Here, take this as proof that you've beaten me. The Toxic badge." Handing the trainer the badge, it looked like circles of purple bubbles in a vertical line, each outlined in gilded metal.
"Thank you. I appreciate it." Nate said with a grateful smile. Roxie then turned to Hugh.
"I'll battle you after my Pokemon are healed. In the meantime, why don't you visit the Pokestar Studios and watch something?"
"Oh yeah, that sounds great!" Iris agreed. "Last one there is a rotten Pokemon egg!" Iris ran out with Hugh chasing after her.
"Hey don't even joke like that! I've raised an egg myself!" Nate laughed as he followed suite.
A/N: Sorry it's been a while. I was doing some preparation for graduating. It was awesome. Roxie's Pokemon were upgraded to being low to mid 20s in their levels and I used smogon competitive to determine what moves each Pokemon had and which species I should use because sheesh, for a poison gym leader she doesn't use Pokemon that can best utilize the special nature of Venoshock. Although I made sure their EVs were at zero and held no items. I would've even used Nidoking but then I realized it's not in the B/W 2 pokedex. I'm interested when I reach Burgh.