Chapter 8: Every Rose Has Her Thorn

"Speedy, finish it off with Absorb!" Eziray ordered.

Speedy stretched out his arms and two read beams shot off from the palms of his hands and extended until they wrapped around his opponent, a Lotad. The Lotad was already pretty badly damaged and the Absorb was just enough to take it out.

"Five minutes down the road and she's already engaged in an intense battle," Lyla said as she polished her new egg. She and Aiden were both sitting down on a couple of large boulders as Eziray and a boy around their age battled. The boy called his Lotad back and sent out a Torkoal.

"I don't think we'll switch. Speedy needs the practice," Eziray said.

"Alright, but it's your funeral!" the boy exclaimed with a smirk.

"And already making poor decisions too," Lyla added to her previous statement.

"Meh. Eziray likes winning with type disadvantages. Let's see how this goes," Aiden replied.

"Torkoal, use Fire Spin!"

The Torkoal opened its mouth and a large vortex of fire was released. Speedy managed to dodge it with some quick, fancy acrobatics and landed several feet back from where he started.

"Quick Attack!"

Speedy nodded and sped forward towards Torkoal, with the intent to slam into it.

"Quick! Withdraw!"

Before Speedy could reach Torkoal, the Fire-type tucked into its shell and avoided most of the damage inflicted when Speedy hit it.

"Now use Smokescreen!"

Without coming back out of its shell, a thick black smoke was released from the inside of the shell and clouded up the area. Speedy became surrounded by the smoke and was unable to see a thing. He looked around nervously, unable to focus.

"Fire Spin!"

Suddenly, another vortex of fire was coming at Treecko from his left but he was able to see it at just the right moment and managed to avoid it by jumping out of the way. Unfortunately, he landed very close to Torkoal and didn't notice in time to avoid being smashed into the ground by Torkoal's Body Slam. The smokescreen began to clean and Treecko could be seen struggling to its feet. Torkoal was still inside the smoke somewhere.

"Fire Spin again!"

A fire spiraled out from the smoke and Treecko ducked to avoid it. He stood, panting for a moment, watching the smoke clear away. Torkoal's shadow appeared first and then the smoke dispersed completely. It stood there, staring Speedy down, and then attempted to use Fire Spin again. This time, Treecko threw up his arms and his whole body became outlined in blue. The Fire Spin should have hit this time, but for some reason, it split off to both sides of Speedy and he took no damage at all.

"That move's called Detect," Lyla said, fiddling with her Pokédex. "The user will take no damage if it's timed right."

"Awesome, Speedy! I had no idea you could use that! Now use Absorb!"

Two red beams shot off from each of Speedy's palms and wrapped around Torkoal, leeching energy from it. The Torkoal moaned in slight pain but it wasn't very effective. Speedy released, feeling a little better, and the Torkoal shook itself.

"Body Slam, now!"

"Quick Attack!"

The Torkoal charged forward to use Body Slam, but Treecko zipped out of the way and slammed right into its neck and the side of its face with Quick Attack. It shook its head and then Speedy flipped down from above, using Pound on the top of its head.

"Withdraw!"

Speedy would have attacked right then, but Torkoal went into its shell once again.

"I have an idea! Speedy, use Quick Attack around the shell, just barely touching it!"

Speedy whirled around the shell, barely touching it as Eziray had ordered which caused the shell to spin around and around rapidly. Then Speedy stopped and watched as the Torkoal came back out of its shell and stumbled forward dizzily.

"Now finish it off with Pound!"

Speedy nodded and jumped up into the air, somersaulting down and smashing its tail into Torkoal's head. Torkoal fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Torkoal, return!" the boy exclaimed, sadly.

"Wow that was a great battle!" Eziray exclaimed, calling Speedy back as well. "Thank you!"

"You're a really strong trainer, you know that?" the boy exclaimed.

"Thanks! We work hard," Eziray replied.

"You must have all sorts of badges!"

"In Kanto…I don't have any Hoenn badges yet. I'm actually off to challenge Rustboro's Gym Leader!"

"Rustboro?" the boy echoed with a frown.

"Is something wrong?" Lyla asked, standing up from the boulder.

"Well, I don't think you're going to get there anytime soon…No one's been able to get in or out of Rustboro for three days!"

"Three days? Why?" Lyla demanded.

"There's some really big Pokémon blocking the road and they won't budge! I went to go see for myself and it's true!" the boy explained.

"Maybe they're hungry," Eziray suggested.

"Well you could try feeding them…there's a flower shop around here somewhere and I think they sell berries there too. Just keep going down this road and you'll come to a fork. The Pokémon are blocking one side and the other leads to the flower shop. They might not be open though. It's a little early…" the boy trailed off.

"It's okay! We'll go check it out. Thanks!" Aiden exclaimed. The three trainers parted ways with the boy and continued down the road. Lyla's egg was back in its protective casing and she clutched it tight against her body as she walked, looking down lovingly at it.

"What do you think it is, Skitty?" she asked.

"Mya," Skitty responded with a shrug.

"I have an idea, but I think it would be better as a surprise," Aiden said.

"Aw come on, Aiden! Tell me!" Lyla insisted.

"Nope!" he exclaimed before whispering something into Eziray's ear.

"Wow! You think?" she asked, grinning.

"Hey, that's not funny!" Lyla exclaimed. She wasn't paying attention to where she was going and at that moment, she tripped over a large tree root. The egg flew out of her hands but Aiden caught it as Eziray helped her back up.

"Hey now, you'll never know what it is if it breaks. Be careful!" Aiden warned.

"We were only joking, Lyla," Eziray added.

"Ha ha," Lyla said sarcastically as Aiden handed her the egg.

Some time went by as the trainers walked along the road. Eziray was a little disappointed that they didn't run into any other trainers because she wanted to get as much practice as she could before the gym battle. She blamed the roadblock. The only interesting thing they saw was a Surskit skating around on a small pond that they passed at some point. Lyla tried to catch it but it was very quick and it eventually fled. Not long after that, they finally made it to the fork in the road and saw the roadblock with their own eyes.

"Slaking, the Lazy Pokémon: It is known as the world's laziest Pokémon, although they are actually storing energy as they lounge about and are often quite powerful," Eziray's Pokédex informed.

"Can't we just climb over them?" Lyla asked innocently.

"According to the dex, they're pretty powerful. Especially because they've been loafing around for three days straight, so let's try not to anger them," Eziray replied.

"So, it looks like we're gonna go visit that flower shop then, huh?" Aiden said, knowing that there was no way to move all sixteen of them by force. So the trainers sighed in unison and began trekking down the road to their right. They could see that it was leading them to a small hill with a building at the top.

"That must be the flower shop," Lyla said, staring at it curiously. Suddenly, a purple Pokémon swung down from a tree, hanging by its tail, and screamed excitedly right into Lyla's face. She of course screamed in response and stumbled backwards a few feet.

"It's an Aipom," Eziray said, in somewhat shock as it flipped around the branch and jumped down.

"They're from the Johto region," Aiden added as it jumped up and down excitedly. They all stared at it for a moment and then it grabbed Aiden by the hand and tugged on it as if it wanted to show him something. Confused, yet somewhat curious, the trainers followed the Aipom. It led them to the building on the hill, which was in fact the flower shop, and brought them in through the front door.

Inside, it was quite a beautiful sight. There were all sorts of colorful flowers planted inside of pots all over the room. Some were on shelves, some were hanging from the ceiling, some were laying on tables, and some were woven around pieces of plastic fencing that was leaning against the walls. The Aipom began hopping in front of each plant, one-by-one, as if it were inspecting them. Eziray made her way to a pot with pretty purple flowers and smelled them.

"This place is –"

"A DISASTER!" Lyla exclaimed, cutting Eziray off. Aiden, Eziray and the Aipom stared at her in shock as she walked around the room, pointing things out. "These aren't getting enough water, these are getting too much, this one needs a higher quality of mulch, this one's not even in season, it's way too cold in here for this one and it's going to die in a week, these would be much more vibrant if they were in the sun…"

She went on and on until finally someone who had been standing there cleared her throat. The Aipom scampered over and jumped onto her shoulder. She was a young girl, about eleven years old, with curly brown hair and blue eyes. She was wearing old work clothes and a green apron and she sure didn't look very happy.

"Excuse me," she said as Lyla inspected a vase full of flowers on the front desk.

"Yes, I'd like to speak with the manager please," Lyla said, not even looking up at the girl.

"Well," the girl began, politely, "If you would like some customer service…COME BACK WHEN WE'RE OPEN!"

Lyla looked up, not because she realized what the girl had said, but because she had something else to say.

"You know, these flowers would last longer if you cut their stems at an angle rather than a straight horizontal line," she said, pulling one of the tulips from the vase.

"Don't touch that!" the girl demanded, snatching the tulip from Lyla's hand and putting it back into the vase. Lyla walked off to mess with something else.

"HEY! It's bad enough that you can't read something as simple as a sign, but you can't hear either? We're closed!" the girl shouted.

"ROSE!" someone demanded. Everyone looked up. A young woman was standing there now. She was dressed the same as the little girl and she too had brown hair and blue eyes. However, she looked to be about nineteen and her hair was straight and tied back with a green bandana. "We haven't had any customers since mamma left. Don't be rude to our only customers in four days!"

"I'm sorry, Violet," the girl said, looking down in shame.

"Aipa!" the Aipom exclaimed proudly.

"You mean you brought them here?" Rose asked, looking up at the Aipom who had just crawled onto her head. "I'm sorry then! Is there anything I can get for you guys?".

"We're sorry too! Our friend pretty much grew up in a flower shop, so she's a little anal I guess…" Eziray trailed off.

"A little? I could hear her from the backyard!" Violet exclaimed, trying to smile and be polite. "Sorry, we don't meet your expectations. It's been a little hard to take care of things without our mother here. We really don't know as much about plants as she does. We're only here to help for the season and then we're going back to Johto to be with our dad."

"It's fine!" Lyla said, handing her a piece of paper.

"What's this?" she asked.

"A list of all the things that need fixing in here," Lyla replied.

"T-thanks," she said awkwardly.

"So, just guessing here, is your mother stuck in Rustboro City because of the roadblock?" Aiden asked, stroking the petals of a sunflower.

"Yes. She left four days ago to deliver flowers for a wedding and she can't get back now. Those rotten Slaking just won't budge!" Rose said, aggressively snatching the list from her sister to look over it.

"Well, we had an idea. Has anyone tried coaxing them away with food?" Eziray asked.

"I don't think so…" Violet said, thinking for a moment.

"WHAT?" Rose demanded, all of a sudden, looking down at Lyla's notes. "Who do you think you are? Why can't you keep your opinions to yourself and let us do things the way we want! How would you like it if I was trying to tell you how to be a Pokémon trainer?"

"I was just trying to help you guys out, but when you put it that way, it almost sounds like a challenge," Lyla said, crossing her arms.

"Well maybe it is!" Rose exclaimed, taking a Pokéball from the pocket of her apron. "Three-on-three?"

"Bring it on!" Lyla exclaimed, turning to Aiden to whisper, "Hey, can I borrow a Pokémon?"

Aiden grinned and handed her Torchic's ball. She thanked him and followed Rose out to the back where they would apparently be having their Pokémon battle.

"You ready?" Rose asked, positioning herself.

"Yep," Lyla said, positioning herself as well.

"Then Miltank, come on out!" Rose exclaimed, throwing a Pokéball up into the air.

"You too, Torchic!" Lyla exclaimed. Both Pokémon popped out at the same time and stared each other down for a moment.

"Miltank, use Rollout!"

The Miltank curled up into a ball and rolled forward with great force. Torchic fluttered out of the way to dodge it but it circled around and tried to hit it again. Torchic continued dodging until Lyla told it to use Ember. As Miltank neared, Torchic opened his mouth and fired small bits of fire at the incoming Pokémon. Miltank was unfazed by it, however, and Rose then ordered it to use Body Slam. Miltank came out of the Rollout, flattening out its body, and slammed Torchic against the ground. The Normal-type sat there for a moment, completely covering Torchic, until Torchic began using Peck rapidly from underneath and Miltank cried out in pain as it lifted itself from the Fire-type. Torchic immediately ran out from underneath and began to throw a tantrum.

"Torchic, stop that!" Lyla exclaimed, trying to get it to pay attention to the battle.

"Right then. Use Focus Punch!"

Miltank's right fist began to glow as it charged at Torchic who looked up angrily at the incoming Pokémon and opened its mouth to fire the most powerful Ember it could. The flames went straight into Miltank's face and it stopped in its tracks, rubbing its face because of the burning pain. Then Torchic zipped forward, jumped onto its head and began pecking violently, over and over again.

"Enough of that, use Rollout!"

Miltank curled and rolled forward. Torchic was still on top of it and ran as fast as it could as Miltank rolled so that he wouldn't be squashed, but his short little legs just weren't quick enough and Miltank managed to bulldoze right over him.

"Finish it off with Zen Headbut!" Rose exclaimed as Torchic struggled to stand. Miltank nodded and its head began to glow bright blue as it charged forward, ramming Torchic as hard as it could with its head. Torchic rolled several times and was knocked unconscious from the impact. Lyla looked to Aiden, apologetically, as she returned Torchic to its ball. He half-smiled to assure her that he wasn't mad at her.

"Awesome work, Miltank!" Rose began as she called it back. "Chikorita, it's your turn now!"

"Mudkip, you're up!" Lyla exclaimed, sending out Mudkip as Rose's Chikorita popped out.

"Use Razor Leaf!"

Chikorita rolled her head, flicking the leaf at the top of it, and tons of smaller leaves appeared from it and flew towards Mudkip.

"You can handle that. Use Bide!"

Mudkip began to glow bright white and Rose gasped as the leaves hit and he braced himself, absorbing the attack's energy with Bide. He took a lot of damage, but not enough to weaken him. He opened his eyes and smiled as the energy was released and Chikorita took double the damage that she had inflicted.

"Synthesis!" Rose ordered as Chikorita struggled to her feet. The Grass-type nodded and began to glow green. Many of the wounds on her body were healed and she appeared a little healthier.

"Tackle!"

Mudkip charged forward in an attempt to slam into her, but she hopped out of the way and Rose ordered her to use Vine Whip. Two vines extended from the buds around Chikorita's neck and smacked Mudkip hard, knocking him back against a boulder.

"Now you use Tackle too, Chikorita!"

Chikorita charged forward and Lyla ordered Mudkip to do the same, so he charged at her as well. The two collided and Mudkip was much more powerful so Chikorita was knocked way back.

"Try Ice Beam!"

Mudkip opened his mouth and shot an icy beam from it, but Chikorita jumped to the side to dodge it.

"Vine Whip again! Smash him against a tree!"

Two vines extended from Chikorita again, but this time, they wrapped around Mudkip and lifted him from the ground. She pulled him back over her head and then thrust the vines forward, sending him flying towards a tree.

"Water Gun!"

Mudkip opened his mouth and began spraying water against the tree. This forced him back and sent him flying right into Chikorita. She released and stumbled around for a moment as Mudkip shook his head from side-to-side.

"Use Razor Leaf!"

Chikorita shook her leaf and fired another mass of sharp leaves at him.

"Let's finish this up! Keep using Ice Beam!"

Mudkip fired an Ice Beam at the leaves, which destroyed them and kept going towards Chikorita. She dodged of course and Rose ordered her to use Vine Whip one more time. Her vines extended and Mudkip hit them both with Ice Beam. They became heavy and landed on the ground. She pulled as hard as she could but didn't manage to pull them free. Then she looked up and noticed Mudkip slowly walking towards her so she tried to back away to escape but her vines were too heavy to drag. She struggled and struggled until Mudkip was right up in her face, watching her. Then he smiled and shot her right in the face with Ice Beam. The close-up, super-effective attack was too much for her to handle and she was knocked out instantly. Rose gritted her teeth as she called her Chikorita back and Lyla rejoiced.

Lyla called Mudkip back too and the girls both sent out their final Pokémon: Skitty and Aipom.

"Aipom, use Fury Swipes!"

"Dodge it and use DoubleSlap!"

Aipom scampered forward and attempted to slash Skitty up with the tiny, yet sharp, nails on its paws. Skitty dodged each swing and then whirled around, smacking it in the face with her tail. She smacked it around several times before it jumped back to get away from her.

"Try using Swift!"

Aipom nodded and flung its tail. Tons of shiny yellow stars where released from it and pelted Skitty. When the attack was over, she shook herself and glared angrily at her opponent.

"Iron Tail, Skitty!"

"Thunderpunch!"

Skitty sprinted forward in an attempt to hit the Aipom with her glowing steel tail, but Aipom performed a backflip to get out of the way. Then the end of its tail began to spark violently and he swung it around, knocking Skitty back several feet with Thunderpunch.

"Now use Double Team!"

Suddenly, Aipom multiplied and there were now ten Aipom running about. Skitty had no idea which one was real and watched them nervously as they surrounded her.

"Skitty, Assist!"

Skitty opened her mouth and a glowing white orb formed. It resulted in Ice Beam and Skitty moved her head as it fired, destroying all the fakes. Lyla did the math and frowned.

"That was nine, where's the real one?" she asked.

"About to come on out and use Fury Swipes and then Swift!" Rose exclaimed.

The real Aipom came flipping down out of a tree above Skitty's head and began slashing at her violently with its paws. Then it jumped backwards a couple feet and used Swift.

"Tackle, Skitty!"

Skitty charged forward, through the attack, and slammed into Aipom as hard as she could. She was going to be hit by Swift anyway so Lyla figured they may as well inflict some damage too.

"Are you ready to finish this up, Aipom?" Rose asked as her Pokémon stood, awaiting orders.

"Aipa!"

"Then use Double Team and then Swift again!"

The Aipom multiplied and before Lyla and Skitty could react, each Aipom hit Skitty with Swift. Skitty fell to the ground and struggled to stand so Rose smiled.

"Alright, finish it off with Thunderpunch!"

All of the fake Aipom vanished and the real one hit Skitty with Thunderpunch, knocking her out. Lyla ran to her side and picked her up as Rose and Aipom jumped up and down victoriously.

"Not so cocky now, are you?" Rose gloated.

"I'd say she did rather well for a rookie trainer," Aiden said with a chuckle. This comment seemed to flush away all of the pride that Rose had just built up.

"Rookie?" she echoed.

"Yes, Lyla just became a trainer less than a week ago," Aiden replied.

"Less than a week ago, I started almost a year ago! Beating a rookie is nothing special…" Rose trailed off.

"And even though you beat me, I'm not taking back what I said about the flowers!" Lyla exclaimed cheerfully with a wink.

"What was that?" Rose demanded angrily.

"Rose, please calm down! I think she knows more about plants than we do!" Violet exclaimed, rushing over to restrain her sister. Rose yelled and yelled and finally she stopped, so her sister let her go and she returned to the building.

"I'm sorry! Rose has quite a temper sometimes!" Violet said, scratching the back of her head. "Is your Skitty okay?"

"I think she'll be okay," Lyla said. She was holding the unconscious Skitty in her arms. Violet frowned and put her hand in the pocket on the front of her apron as she walked over to Lyla. Then she held her hand out to reveal several Oran Berries.

"Have her eat these to regain some strength. I'll go gather a couple baskets of other berries. That's what you came here for, right? Food for the Slaking?" Violet asked.

"Yup!" Eziray exclaimed.

"Then I'll be back in a flash!" Violet exclaimed, and walked back into the building.

Lyla managed to wake Skitty up and fed her the berries as Violet had directed. When she was done, Violet had gathered two baskets of berries and carried them out to the trainers. Aiden thanked her and handed her some money to pay for the berries and she thanked them for their purchase and told them that they could use the gate to get back to the road. They nodded and began making their way to the gate but Rose came running out of the shop.

"I wanna go too!" she demanded.

"What? Why Rose?" Violet asked.

"If this works, I want to go to Rustboro town and tell mamma that the roadblock is gone so she'll come back today!" Rose exclaimed.

"O-okay…" Violet stuttered as Rose sprinted to the gate and let herself out. The three trainers sighed, not too thrilled with the idea of babysitting, but followed after anyway. Lyla and Rose argued the whole way there, but they made it all the way back to the Slaking in one piece.

"Do you think this'll work?" Lyla asked.

"It'd better!" Rose shouted.

"Well it's not like it's our fault if it doesn't!" Lyla replied, taking a basket from Eziray.She held out a handful of berries to one of the Slaking. It sniffed them without opening its eyes then turned over and scratched itself on the rear.

"Well, it was worth a shot…" she trailed off. "Guess we're goin' with plan B."

"Plan B?" Rose echoed.

"Mudkip, let's go," Lyla exclaimed, sending out her Water-type. "Can you make the big smelly Pokémon get out of our way, sweetie?"

Mudkip looked at her then the Slaking then at her again and nodded excitedly. She nodded back at him and he looked as if he had just been let off a leash. He scampered forward and used Ice Beam to create some sort of ramp. Then he backed up a ways and sprinted forward, using the ramp to jump over all of the Slaking. When he landed on the other side of them, he turned around and began hosing them down with a high-pressured Water Gun. Startled, they all awoke from their slumber and dispersed into the trees and bushes to their right. Lyla smacked herself in the forehead.

"Was that really all we had to do?" Rose asked, angrily. "And why did he need to get on the other side of them? They would have reacted the same way if he had blasted them from this angle!"

"Don't question him. You'll get a headache trying to figure him out, believe me…" Lyla trailed off, rubbing her head as If she were trying to recover from one.

"MUDKIIIIP!" Mudkip exclaimed, racing off down the road.

"Mudkip, where are you going?" Lyla demanded, taking off after him. Rose and the other trainers followed as well.

A woman was picking some fruit from a tree, a little ways down the road. She was wearing a dark green dress and a matching headband in her brown hair. Mudkip ran straight to her and began rubbing up against her. She giggled and bent down to pet him, revealing her pretty blue eyes.

"I'm really, really sorry!" Lyla exclaimed, assuming that Mudkip was doing something to bother her.

"MAMMA!" Rose exclaimed, running past Lyla, and into the woman's arms.

"Well it looks as if those Slaking have vacated! What a surprise! I was just coming out to pick some fresh fruit. I had no idea I'd be able to come home too! How have you been?"

As Rose began telling her mother everything that had happened during the days that her mother was gone, the other trainers caught up to them. Lyla was still wondering why Mudkip was so attracted to the woman. It must have been her perfume.

"What a wonderful little angel you have here," the woman said, lifting Mudkip from the ground. "He's so sweet!"

"Wonderful? Angel? Sweet?" Lyla echoed. "If only you knew…"

"Mamma, we have to go back to the store right now! It's a mess! Violet doesn't know what she's doing and she won't listen to me!" Rose exclaimed.

"I'm sure that's not the case," Lyla muttered causing Rose to shoot her a death glare, but her mother laughed and agreed to go take a look. As she passed Lyla, she stopped and stared for a moment.

"That flower…" she trailed off.

"What?" Lyla asked.

"On your hat…"

Lyla put her hand on her hat and ran it over the pink flower that Mudkip had given her the day before. She had completely forgotten about it. She had attached it to the strap around her hat so she wouldn't lose it and it wouldn't break.

"It's quite beautiful. May I see it?" the mother asked. Lyla nodded and the woman studied it for a few moments.

"Do you know what it is? I've never seen one like it before…" Lyla trailed off.

"I've seen it somewhere before, but I can't quite remember where. All I know is that it is not a common species here in Hoenn. Take good care of it," the woman said.

"I will!" Lyla exclaimed as the mother and daughter linked arms and began walking back to the flower shop. Once they were out of view, Lyla turned to her friends.

"That Rose…" she trailed off.

"Is a little brat?" Eziray suggested.

"Definitely. But you know…she's just like me when I was her age!" Lyla exclaimed with a smile.

The others sighed, smiled with her, and then they all headed off in the direction of Rustboro City.

Author Notes:

Coincidentally, I had been listening to "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" by Poison when I was trying to name this chapter. Then I thought "Hey! That's a good idea!" Ahh, I love that song. Anywho, the flower shop in this chapter is in the game, not the anime. But the characters aren't really based on the three girls who run it. I kinda just made them up. I hope you liked it! As usual, read and review please!