Chapter Seven: The Illusion of Control

Charon and Mars entered the Galactic secondary base stationed in Eterna City. Jupiter was already there screaming at the top of her lungs as her group of grunts ran around the building, looking rather stressed. Charon chuckled at the sight – the Galactic grunts were some of the most idiotic people he had ever encountered. They could not read, they could not count and most of them failed at following simple commands. The grunts had been hired for one purpose – to do the physical work.

The commanders were simply there to keep the grunts in line and ensure all orders were being carried smoothly. If there was a problem, it was the commander's job to solve the issue. If a commander couldn't solve the issue they would seek advice from Charon who was considered the brains of the outfit. It was a position Charon was satisfied with – he got to stay at home close to the boss while working on his own grand scheme. Of course, sometimes he was sent to accompany a commander on a mission, much like the one at the Valley Windworks.

His own grand scheme was simple: Pretend to carry out Cyrus's foolish ambition while he worked on bringing his dreams one step closer to reality. The stupid naive man believed Charon was a loyal soldier (at least that's what he assumed), but he couldn't be further from the truth. While Cyrus had mastered the art of pretending not to give a damn, Charon had mastered the art of pretending to care. The Galactic boss believed every lie Charon spoke since he viewed him as his equal… well, almost.

"What are you smirking about?" Jupiter demanded, sparing a glance in Charon's direction.

"I'm pleased with our progress and I'm sure our boss will be as well," Charon replied. Jupiter studied his face, searching for a lie, but Charon gave nothing away. "We know it's possible to harvest energy from a Pokemon."

Jupiter nodded. "And what are we supposed to do with that energy?"

"That energy will be used to make the boss' vision become a reality," Charon explained.

"And what is that exactly?" Jupiter said, raising an eyebrow. "He doesn't tell us anything. He just tells us to carry out tasks to make it happen."

Mars scowled. "He doesn't tell you anything because he doesn't like you!"

"He hasn't told you anything either, Mars!"

Mars fell silent, biting her bottom lip, her eyes burning with rage. Her arms fell to her side, her fingers curled into fists, as if she planned to strike out at the older woman. As amusing as this was to watch, Charon knew letting the girls argue amongst themselves was a bad idea. The girls didn't like each other much each other at all – Jupiter thought Mars was far too young to be in such an important position and Mars found Jupiter to be a bossy know-it-all irritation.

"Cyrus doesn't tell you about his ultimate goal because he wants to keep it a surprise. If he told you what his end game was… then you would know what you were striving for," Charon said. "And if you knew what the ultimate goal was you would probably break free of your oaths and abandon him."

"I would never abandon the boss!" Mars exclaimed.

"I might not like everything he says, but I'm not turning my back on him either," Jupiter said, turning her stern gaze on Charon's face. "You spend more time with the boss than any of us. What has he told you?"

"I do not know the exact details as he has not confided in me, but I have put the pieces together. I cannot say what his endgame is – there is a high chance I could be wrong and I would not want to put false ideas into your minds," Charon said. The two women seemed satisfied with his answer. Charon wondered what words Cyrus had said to convince the girls to swear an oath to serve him. They believed every single lie he said, but Charon was not so easily swayed. He knew Cyrus's end game was going to end in disaster. He had made sure it would by feeding the boss lies.

Jupiter snorted. "Well whatever the end game is we know he'll never abandon us. He chose us to be part of the leadership team for a reason." The corners of her mouth curved upwards into a satisfactory smirk. "The boss is here in Eterna City by the way so I'd report to him about your success now instead of later."

"He's here in Eterna City?" Mars repeated.

Even Charon was surprised by that information. "Perhaps he does not trust you, Jupiter."

"He's checking out that statue in the middle of the city." She jerked her head towards the door. "Go on, get out of here. If he sees you hanging around here slacking in your duties, he'll place you on janitor duties for the next week," she snapped.

"I'll tell the boss!" Mars said.

Charon shook his head. "No, I will tell him. You started a battle against a child – you involved someone else in Galactic affairs. He will not be pleased. Let me tell him what happened." Mars looked to argue back but she nodded. She left the building through the secret back door entrance which led into the nearby forest and Charon followed suit. Instead of venturing further into the Eterna Forest though, he made his way to Cyrus whom he found standing near the dragon statue.

Charon cleared his throat, drawing Cyrus's attention. "Charon."

"We succeeded… or should I say, Mars succeeded. We know it's possible to harvest energy from a Pokemon," Charon said, moving closer. "But there is a problem." His eyes never left the younger man's face.

"What problem?"

"It seems the international police are onto us. They've recruited a girl to look into our activities. It is a very good disguise I must say to use a child – who would suspect a child working for the international police?" He took another step closer, now within an arm's length away from the boss. "She reminds me of you actually."

Cyrus's eyes narrowed. "In what way?"

What was her name again? Dawn? Yes, that was it. She looked young – Charon assumed by her youthful features she was probably around the age of twelve. Not a kid, but not yet a teenager either. He managed to keep a grin from appearing on his face. "She's a cute kid. Dark blue hair, blue eyes… Dark-type Pokemon… any of this sound familiar?"

"No," he replied. His expression may not have betrayed his inner thoughts, but his tone did. He answered the question a split second quicker than usual.

"She's one of those new trainers – her Pokemon are still young and inexperienced, but she's a passionate fighter." Cyrus turned his attention from Charon, moving them to the statue again. Charon moved to stand in his line of sight. "You're avoiding the topic. Does it make you uncomfortable? I thought you didn't feel."

He knew that was going to touch a nerve. A muscle jerked in the boss's jaw. "I want you to remain in Veilstone City. You will not leave unless I give you an order directly."

His cold façade was starting to slip. The walls he had carefully built up over the years could easily be torn down if a weak spot was found. Charon decided to push harder. "Why did you visit Lake Verity first? You could've visited the ones closer to our headquarters, but you chose to visit the one furthest way. You didn't just visit Lake Verity to find Mesprit, did you?"

"You may be my most trusted commander, Charon, but I will not share everything with you." He ran a hand through his hair, a sure sign of stress. No matter how hard a person tried, feelings could not be hidden.

Charon knew he was getting closer to the truth. He just had to try a little harder. "She's yours, isn't she? You can't deny it – blue isn't exactly a common colour here in Sinnoh, and don't try to convince me that Saturn is her father… he would have never have left."

Cyrus was looking in Charon's direction, but not directly at the older man. He was looking right past him as if he were not there at all. After a few moments of silence, Cyrus turned and around and walked away from the statue. Typical, Charon snorted.

"Your plan is doomed to fail, Cyrus. You can't play God. You can be responsible for the creation of a new life and you can build a company from nothing, but that doesn't make you a God."

Cyrus stopped. He glanced over his shoulder, brows furrowed. "You know nothing, Charon."

"I do," Charon smiled. "I know more than you ever will which is why you hired me in the first place, yes? Your loyal commanders are beginning to lose faith in you… that is why they come to me for advice rather than ask you." That was a lie of course – Charon always promised the other commanders he would ask for answers from the boss, but he never did. The other commanders always thought he had though because he was very convincing.

"They swore an oath to serve me," Cyrus almost snarled.

Charon's smirk widened. "You're acting like a petulant child. This dream of yours… to create a new universe… is nothing more than a childish tantrum because you were mistreated when you were a child."

Cyrus took a step towards Charon. "What did you call me?"

"A petulant child. You aren't fit to rule a company, let alone your own universe. While you walk around examining statues and talking to lakes, I am putting your plan into motion. Without me at your side you would've failed a long time ago because that's the only talent you seem to have."

Talking to the boss in such a manner was something no other Galactic member would ever do – they were scared of Cyrus. Charon feared nothing – he had lived long enough to withstand the horrors of the world. Toying with the man's fragile emotional state was always a lot of fun. He was just so easy to manipulate. It was almost like a game – how far could he push him before he broke.

"I am curious though – maybe, maybe you will just prove me wrong. Perhaps you will create a new world in your image. That is why I wish to help." Another lie. He just wanted to use Cyrus because the man had the strange ability to attract people, something Charon lacked. Once he had obtained the respect of the grunt, he could overthrow Cyrus and take control and turn Galactic into a force to be reckoned with.

"You…" he growled.

Charon just smirked. "I'm surprised to hear such anger in your tone, Cyrus. I thought you were above such… weak emotions?" He gave a light-hearted chuckle. "You might fool the others into believing you are perfect, but I will not be fooled. I am not stupid like the others you have hired." Cyrus didn't say anything. He seemed to be having an internal debate with himself judging by the confusion on his face. Charon continued, bowing his head. "I will take my leave and return to Veilstone City as you have requested."

He turned to leave. Everything had worked in his favour and would continue to do so. Although Cyrus now knew he could not be trusted, he wasn't going to release him from his services. Charon had become his most important tool – the man would be an even bigger fool if he let him go. It wouldn't be too long before he had complete control.

"By the way, her name is Dawn."

.

Stepping through the arch way of Eterna City was like taking a step back into history. The place had an ancient feel to it even though the buildings were modern in their design. From her position under the arch way she could see a rather large draconic statue on a gentle sloping hill. She made her way towards it curious to learn more about the mysterious object.

As she made her way to the statue, she made sure to observe her surroundings. Every time she entered a new city it was like entering a new world. The usual buildings were there – the Pokemon Centre and the Poke Mart – but there were a few she did not recognize. There was a large multi-complex building in the north eastern part of the city and a bike shop down the main street. In terms of actual landscape scenery though there wasn't much to look at. It was plain in comparison to the tiny town of Floaroma, but still captivating.

She didn't make it very far when someone crashed into her, almost knocking her off her feet. Dawn turned around to glare at the person who had crashed into her only to find Barry smiling at her. The boy was huffing and panting – there were beads of sweat on his forehead and patches of wet on his clothes, but the boy didn't seem to care. He looked he had run a marathon. "Barry! It's so good to see you!" Dawn said, throwing herself at Barry.

Barry beamed back. "You are so slow, Dawn!"

She rolled her eyes. "Unlike you, I like to take my time."

He shrugged. "There's no time for that. I'm going to be the first trainer in the world to beat all eight gym leaders in record time!" he boasted, grinning playfully. "If you make it to the end you'll be known as the one who took the longest."

"Haven't you read the story about the Buneary and the Turtwig? The Buneary might be much faster, but the Turtwig won the race," Dawn said, recalling on one of the stories her mother had read to her when she was a young child. Slow and steady wins the race.

"They're just bedtime stories, Dawn. Besides, there are so many cool things to check out in each city, I just have to get there in good time. It's not my fault you can't keep up with me. Maybe you should buy a bicycle – it'll help you move faster." He grinned again, amusement shining in his eyes. He reached down into his pocket and pulled out his badge case, revealing his two shiny gym badges. One was a badge she recognized having obtained the same one from Roark, but the second one she didn't know. There was a label underneath it which read, 'Forest Badge – Eterna Gym'. "Check it out!"

Forest Badge. That meant she'd be facing up against Grass-type Pokemon. She had a type-advantage thanks to her Murkrow's Peck attack, but would it be enough? She still hadn't evolved any of her Pokemon to the next level. Deino wasn't due to evolve for quite some time and Murkrow only evolved with the assistance of dusk stone. Gastly wasn't at the right level yet to evolve into a Haunter and Turtwig still hadn't evolved. According to her Pokedex, Turtwig should've evolved by now. She wondered if it had anything to do with the missing leaf on his head. Had it slowed his evolution process?

"Anyway, I hear there are some weird spacemen running around causing trouble. Someone managed to drive them away from Valley Windworks. I wish I was there to help but I had other things to do. Do you know who had?"

Dawn arched a brow. Barry moved so fast he missed out on many important details. "It was me. I stumbled upon them by accident, but I did drive them out."

His jaw dropped. "That's pretty cool, Dawn! I guess that's why you took so long to get here? It's good what you did, but remember, beating gym leaders is your number one goal so don't get too caught up in fighting the bad guys otherwise you'll always be behind me!" He gave her a cheeky smile. Dawn just laughed. Barry might be impulsive and foolhardy, but he was still her best friend. She definitely preferred his company over Lucas' any day.

"Where are you off to next?"

He gazed upwards. "Uh… let me think… I'll just check my map… I knew I circled it somewhere…" He glanced down at his bag, yanked the flap open and dug his arms in. His eyes widened. "Oh no, I left my map back at the Trainer's School!"

Dawn had to laugh at the despair written on his face. The thought of having to retrace his steps back to Jubilife probably terrified him because it meant wasting time. "I guess that means I'll have time to catch up with your progress… probably even overtake you," she teased.

"No way, it won't take me long. If I start running now I'll get there by tomorrow at the latest. See you later, Dawn! Remember, don't fall behind!" He sped away, his shoes kicking sand in her face. Dawn coughed, closing her eyes as she swatted at the sand around her. Once the sand had cleared, she reopened her eyes again and spotted a blue haired man standing a couple of metres away. She recognized him immediately as the same guy she saw back in Lake Verity.

He didn't push her aside this time rather, he stood in one spot studying her from afar. He then took a few brisk steps towards her which prompted Dawn to take a few back. "Dawn." He spoke her name like it was some sort of foreign word to him.

Dawn raised her eyebrows. "I remember you… you're Cyrus."

"You remembered."

She looked at him, uncertain. Why was he talking to her now? "Is there anything I can help you with?" she said, trying to quell the nerves that were building within her. He didn't look like a threat – at least, he didn't look like one of those silly spacemen, but he still exuded this mysterious aura. She found herself drawn to him, like a moth drawn to a light.

"I wish to give you a gift," he said slowly, beginning to walk around her.

Her eyes never left him. "A gift?" That wasn't too odd since she had been receiving quite a few gifts in the recent days. "Why?"

"Must you ask so many questions?" He reached down into his pockets and pulled out a black stone. Dawn had never been interested in stones before but she could appreciate its beauty. She reached her hand out and took the stone from him, surprised by the lightness of it. It was as big as her palm yet weighed as much as a feather. It was also rather warm to touch which was strange considering a stone wasn't a living creature. "I have no need for it, but you might. It's a dusk stone."

A dusk stone? Weren't they used for evolving Murkrows? "Aren't these stones supposed to be rare?" She didn't expect to come across one until much later. Perfect timing, she thought. But how had he known she could make use of it? Had he been… spying on her? She wasn't going to complain about receiving a free item since she did need one. "Thanks."

"Do not thank me."

He continued to study her face then averted his gaze and turned around to walk away leaving a rather confused Dawn standing behind. She had a feeling she'd be crossing paths with him again. This was the second time in just a few days she had seen him. Placing the stone in her bag, she immediately made her way to the Pokemon Gym. Barry had told her to get on with it in the nicest way possible.

Pushing aside thoughts of her brief encounter with Cyrus, Dawn pushed open the doors and stepped inside the gym. The advisor she had met earlier was here too – did he run back and forth between gyms? How had he gotten here so fast? What a strange man, Dawn thought.

"I'm not surprised to see you here!" he smiled.

"What can you tell me about this gym?" She had a suspicion it was something to do with grass-types judging by the badge Barry had shown her, but she wanted to let the man do his job.

"Gardenia is the gym leader and she specializes in Grass-types!" He turned his head to the flower petal in the middle of the room. "Do you see that? You'll have to use that to cross the moat to reach the gym leader! You can only do that by battling the trainers here though. Every time you defeat one, the petal moves. Don't get too distracted by the scent of flowers – focus your mind on the battles ahead!" he said with a grin.

Now that he mentioned it, she could smell the flowers. The scent here was far stronger than in Floaroma Town. The colours were beautiful too. She felt at peace being inside the gym. Don't get distracted, she told herself, as she approached the first trainer. Her name was Caroline.

The girl looked up at Dawn and gave her a brilliant smile. "It's wonderful, isn't it? Flowers are so beautiful, but it's sad that some people can't appreciate their beauty. Let's battle!" She immediately moved her fingers to the belt around her waist, fingers wrapping around her first of two pokeballs. She flung it out.

Dawn threw out her Murkrow. This should be a rather easy battle, she thought. All she had to do was take advantage of the grass-type Pokemon's weakness and she'd breeze through this gym. A Pokemon which looked like a cherry appeared. It had a leaf stem on its head which had a secondary smaller head attached to it. Looking at the cute round Pokemon, Dawn could see why grass-type Pokemon weren't taken seriously. She remembered to pull out her Pokedex to obtain information on this strange Pokemon.

Cherubi. The small ball is not only full of nutrients, it is also tasty. Starly try to peck it off.

She lowered her arm and prepared to do battle.

"Go, Murkrow!" She threw out her avian. Murkrow flew in circles above her trainer's head, his beady eyes focused on the target. Murkrow looked eager to test out his move, Wing Attack. "Murkrow, use Wing Attack!" Murkrow crowed, hovered in the air and brought his wings together, sending forth a flurry of feathers in the direction of Cherubi.

Upon impact, the Cherubi was flung into the air. It sailed across the room, only stopping as it hit the eastern wall. "Use Tackle, Cherubi!" The cherry Pokemon bounced forward, propelled itself into the air using its leaf and attacked. The Cherubi made contact with Murkrow but fortunately its weak stature did hardly any damage.

"Finish it off with Peck, Murkrow!" Dawn ordered.

Murkrow flapped his wings eagerly, and swooped down, striking the Cherubi in between the eyes before pulling away. The two Cherubi heads groaned as it flopped down onto its side. "Oh no! My cute Pokemon!" Caroline wailed, recalling her fainted Cherubi to its ball. She threw out her second pokeball shooting Dawn a glare. "This time you're going to lose."

Dawn expected another cute grass-type Pokemon to appear. This time a small, light green bipedal Pokemon with three thorns on its head appeared. It waved its arms in the air as if they were maracas, except they were roses instead. One rose was crimson red and the other a deep shade of blue. Dawn scratched her nose. The Pokemon's dancing seemed to fill the air with an even stronger scent of flower.

Roselia. The more healthy the Roselia, the more pleasant its flowers' aroma. Its scent deeply relaxes people.

"Murkrow, use Wing Attack!"

This was proving to be far easier than the battle against Roark's minions. At least their Pokemon managed to inflict some form of damage on hers, but this was far too simple. No wonder Barry had breezed through this area. Murkrow brought his wings together and sent forth many piercing feathers to strike down the Roselia. Roselia uttered a high pitched cry and shook its body, releasing toxins into the air.

The visible toxins merged together to create a small cloud of poisonous gas. It moved towards the Murkrow shrouding it in poison. Murkrow tried to push the clouds away with his wings, but the cloud would not move. Murkrow turned a shade of purple as the cloud evaporated. Poisoned. Fortunately, Dawn had remembered to purchase some antidotes.

She rushed over to her Pokemon's aid and knelt down to give her Murkrow a dose of the antidote. Murkrow's purple glow faded. The bird fluffed himself up and took to the air once again.

"Roselia, use Poison Sting!" A barbed seed erupted from the Roselia's red rose. It hurtled towards Murkrow, striking him in the chest. Murkrow shuddered, but fortunately did not get poisoned again.

"Finish this battle, Murkrow! Use Wing Attack!" Murkrow sent another flurry of feathers in Roselia's direction, his feathers digging deep into the Roselia's body. Roselia released a groan and fell, landing on its back, its arms hanging loosely at its sides. Dawn threw a fist into the air. One trainer down and two more to go.

"Oh… my precious grass Pokemon…" Caroline groaned. "But you won the battle and that means you can walk over the petal to reach the next trainer." The flower sprung to life. The two petals of the flower moved in opposite directions until a bridge developed, connecting Dawn's position to the trainer hiding on the eastern wall.

Dawn walked away from Caroline and carefully walked over the petal bridge. The flower was surprisingly very sturdy. She hopped off the bridge and approached the second trainer, her eyes scanning for a name tag. Jenna. "I see you defeated my little sister, but you won't get past me! Your journey ends here, trainer! It's triple battle time!" She threw out her three pokeballs.

This was certainly going to be an interesting triple battle. Would she use three of the same Pokemon or a variety? "Murkrow, Deino and Gastly! Go for it!" Dawn exclaimed, releasing her Pokemon from their pokeballs.

"Budew!" Three bipedal, rose-bud Pokemon with bright yellow faces appeared. Dawn consulted her Pokedex.

Budew. The pre-evolved form of Roselia. Sensitive to changing temperature, the bud is said to bloom when it feels the sun's warm touch.

The Budew uttered weak cries and shook themselves simultaneously, releasing pollen into the air. Dawn sneezed. She was really beginning to dislike these plant-type Pokemon.

"Murkrow, use Wing Attack! Deino, use Dragon Rage! Gastly, use Night Shade!" Murkrow's feathers rained down on the first Budew causing the rose-bud Pokemon to faint immediately. Deino roared, and emitted a beam of draconic rage towards the second Budew who fainted upon impact. Gastly's new move caused the lights in the room to switch off as invisible hands almost squeezed the life out of the final Budew. The third Budew fainted as the lights turned back on.

"You're so mean! My poor baby Budews…" Jenna mumbled.

The flower petal machine whirred again. Once again the petals moved to form another bridge connecting the eastern side to the western side. Dawn's Pokemon followed behind her as she made her way to the third trainer. If all the gyms in Sinnoh were this easy she'd become the new Champion in record time.

"You'll have to beat me to reach Gardenia, but that's not going to happen!" said Angela, pointing a finger at Dawn. "I'm the strongest of the gym trainers and the eldest of the sisters. This won't be an easy fight."

Dawn wasn't too sure about that assumption because the previous battles had been rather easy. She sent out her Murkrow to deal with her final obstacle. The quicker the battle was finished, the quicker she could move on. "Okay Murkrow, this is your battle!" Murkrow took to the air again, beating his wings rapidly, flying around in circles, cawing.

Angela summoned her only Pokemon, a Roselia, to the battlefield. "You won't get past my Roselia."

"Murkrow, use Peck!" Murkrow flew up as high as he could go then swooped down, raking his talons and beak forward. His beak struck Roselia's head, knocking the Roselia over onto the ground. Roselia groaned with pain.

"Roselia, use Magical Leaf!" Roselia picked itself up from the ground and lunged forward, throwing a punch with its red rose hand. Red petals hurtled towards Murkrow, covering the avian in red petals eventually dragging the bird down. Murkrow fell to the ground, but fortunately, didn't appear to have taken much damage. Didn't the lady know not to use grass-type moves against a flying-type?

"Use Wing Attack!" Murkrow happily obliged. He jumped back into the air and flapped his wings, then brought them together sending forth many feather arrows. They pierced the Roselia's fragile body causing the plant Pokemon to emit a pained gasp. Roselia flopped to the ground. Another victory for me, thought Dawn.

"I made the mistake of underestimating your Pokemon. Go now and face off against the toughest trainer in Eterna City, Gardenia." Angela retrieved her Pokemon as Dawn made her way back to the petal. The petals moved again forming another bridge, this time bridging the western and northern side. She made her way across the petals and approached Gardenia.

The woman's attire was far less feminine than the other ladies in the gym, having opted to dress in an outdoorsy fashion. She wore a loose fitting green top which exposed her flat stomach and orange baggy shorts. She looked like she was ready to go camping in that attire.

"Hi, I'm Gardenia! I'm this town's gym leader! My last challenger was this awfully speedy young guy… Actually, his name was Barry. He told me about you. He said that another challenger's on the way, so that made me angsty. When I first saw you step through the door, I was convinced you'd find your way to me. My hunch was right on the money. You have a winning aura about you. So, anyway, this will be fun. Let's have our battle!"

Dawn took in a couple of deep breaths and braced herself for battle.

.

Much to her surprise, Gardenia had a Turtwig in her possession as well. Had she received the Turtwig from the Professor or had she obtained it by other means? Perhaps Gardenia would know why her Turtwig hadn't evolved yet, but now wasn't the time to worry about it. She had a gym badge to obtain. "Murkrow, use Peck!"

Murkrow flew around in circles above the Turtwig's head as if it were making fun of the slower Pokemon. Gardenia's Turtwig tried to attack Murkrow, but the Pokemon was far too slow to land an attack. Murkrow dove down and tapped the baby tortoise on its head causing the opponent to wince.

"Turtwig, use Grass Knot!"

Unlike her Turtwig, Gardenia's one still had a leaf. A web made of leaves burst from the Turtwig's mouth trapping Murkrow within. Murkrow crashed to the ground, fighting desperately to free himself from its trap. The web tightened around Murkrow's body, squeezing it until Murkow paled. Only then did the web break apart. Murkrow struggled to climb to his feet, but the avian seemed in condition to continue battling.

"Use Wing Attack, Murkrow! Take down that Turtwig now!"

Murkrow stretched his wings and lifted himself up into the air and sent a flurry of feathers down at his target. Feathers pierced the Turtwig's body inflicting a great deal of pain upon the Pokemon. Turtwig swayed from side to side until he rolled over onto his shell, his stumpy legs waving around in the air.

"You're good," Gardenia commented, returning her Turtwig back to its pokeball. "Let's see how you'll fare against my next Pokemon. Go, Cherrim!" What looked to be like a giant cherry with a purple covering appeared from Gardenia's second pokeball. Dawn held up her Pokedex to obtain data.

Cherrim. The evolved form of Cherubi. If it senses strong sunlight, it opens its folded petals to absorb the sun's rays with its whole body.

"Murkrow, use Wing Attack!" For the second time during this battle against Gardenia, Murkrow used Wing Attack. Feathers rained down upon the Cherrim, cutting into its purple leaf covering. The Cherrim was tougher than it looked though and remained standing.

"Cherrim, use Magical Leaf!" The leaves on the Cherrim's head turned into a rainbow of colours. The Cherrim swayed around in a circle, gathering speed, then thrusted forward, hurling a number of leaves in Murkrow's direction. Having battled all the matches so far, Murkrow no longer had any energy left. He fell to the ground, his eyes closed.

"I'm so sorry, Murkrow…" Dawn murmured. She returned Murkrow to her pokeball and sent forth her Deino. If any Pokemon on her team could win the match in one hit, it was her Deino's Dragon Rage attack. The dragon roared and gnashed his jaws at the air. "Deino, use Dragon Rage!" Deino opened his mouth. Seconds later, a purple beam of draconic energy exited his mouth, striking the Cherrim, causing it to faint immediately.

Gardenia lifted a brow. "It's not the end yet." She returned Cherrim then threw out her final pokeball. A Pokemon that looked like a more mature version of Roselia appeared, fanning itself with its petals. The only major difference between the Roselia and the Roserade was the tuft of white hair made of roses sitting on its head.

Roserade. The evolved form of Roselia. Each of its hands contains different toxins, but both hands can jab with near-fatal power.

She put it away into her bag and braced herself for what was going to be a tough match. All she needed was to land one Dragon Rage and she'd win, but would it be that easy?

"Roserade, use Poison Sting!"

Roserade slammed its two petal hands together, forcing a poisonous barb to burst out. It hurtled through the air and pierced Deino's chest. Deino growled. The poisonous barb sunk further into his skin turning Deino a shade of purple. Dawn immediately searched through her bag only to realize she had no more antidotes left.

"Hang in there, Deino! Use Dragon Rage!" Deino sent forth another beam of Dragon Rage, but the Roserade simply tumbled out of the way. Dawn bit her bottom lip. The battle wasn't going to be that easy.

"Roserade, use Magical Leaf!"

Raising its two petal hands above its head, Roserade shook them until each petal turned into one of the seven colours of a rainbow. The leaves rocketed through the air, each leaf hitting Deino with a fair amount of force. With each hit, Deino stumbled backwards. Thankfully, Deino had enough endurance to withstand the attack. "Deino, use Dragon Rage again!" Roserade danced out of the away, successfully evading the attack by an inch.

"Roserade, use Grass Knot!"

The bipedal Pokemon rushed forward, leapt into the air and threw down a web of leaves. Deino wasn't fast enough to move out of the way and became entangled. He thrashed, trying to break free, but the web was strong. The web of leaves constricted the dragon leaving him breathless, but still in a condition to fight.

"Use Dragon Rage, Deino!" She crossed her fingers. Third time lucky, she thought. Deino sent forth another beam of draconic rage and this time, it met its target. All the dancing around must've drained the Roserade of some energy because its movements were a few seconds slower than before. The sheer power of the beam drove Roserade into the nearby wall. Deino twitched as the poison continued to seep through his veins. One more hit, Dawn thought. Just one more lucky hit.

"Use Grass Knot, Roserade!"

Roserade leapt into the air again and threw down another web. Once again, Deino found himself covered in web. There had to be a way to free her dragon before the web did its damage. The web snared its victims… could the web be broken before it inflicted damage? "Deino, use Bite on the web!" Deino opened his mouth and clamped his small fangs around a string of leaves. He chewed, looking somewhat disgusted, but continued to do so until he had opened a large enough hole to scramble through.

"Oh darn," Gardenia wailed.

"Finish this battle with Dragon Rage!"

Deino sent forth a mighty beam. The beam of energy slammed into the Roserade's belly. Roserade was knocked off its feet and thrown into the wall it had made contact with before. It slid down the wall, falling face first into the ground. Dawn wiped her brow. "Phew," she murmured.

"Amazing!" Gardenia exclaimed, recalling her fainted Roserade to its pokeball. She walked over to Dawn, a wide smile on her face. "You are really tough! Wasn't it hard for you to raise your Pokemon to be so good? I guess that's a measure of how much you love your Pokemon. In recognition of that, I proudly grant you this!" She reached into the pockets of her shorts and pulled out a shiny gym badge.

"Thanks," Dawn said.

"If there's one thing I can tell about you, it's this! You and your Pokemon are gonna get even tougher, and I mean seriously! Here, take this potion as well. It contains the move Cut." Dawn waved goodbye to Gardenia and made her way back to the entrance of the gym. Before going anywhere further, she was going to have to heal her Pokemon.