Chapter 10: School of Rock

That morning, Lyla had gone off on her own and registered for the contest that would take place the following night. She was on her way back to the hotel when her stomach growled and she realized that she hadn't eaten breakfast yet. She looked around desperately for a place to eat.

"Hm. A café…" she said as she stopped in front of a building. She thought for a moment and then walked inside, up to the front. She took a seat next to a girl who had light brown hair that was extremely long and perfectly straight. She was wearing a purple tank-top with a matching purple beret, black pants, sexy black high heels, and a bracelet around her left wrist which was made up of round, black beads. Lyla watched as the girl sipped her coffee and noticed that she had very beautiful green eyes. As the girl brushed her side bangs out of her face, she looked over and her eyes met with Lyla's.

"Something wrong?" the girl asked.

"Sorry, you look familiar," Lyla admitted, scratching her head.

"You probably saw me on TV or something. I'm a coordinator…"

"Really? Me too! Well, kinda. I mean I'm making my real debut tomorrow night…"

"I see…"

There was a long moment of silence and Lyla looked back at the girl and smiled.

"My name's Lyla," she said, holding out her hand. The coordinator glanced up at her and gave her a stern look.

"And do you expect me to be your friend? How about a word of advice, newbie? There's no such thing as a friend in the contest world. The only one you can trust is the Pokémon that you compete with. If I were you, I would consider every coordinator you meet as an enemy. You won't get hurt that way…Good day," the coordinator said coldly, standing up to leave the café. As she neared the door, she stopped and hesitated for a moment before turning back to Lyla. "I suppose I could at least introduce myself...Name's Selena. I'll see you around I guess…"

And with that, she left.

"That was…weird…" Lyla thought to herself as she looked over a menu.

Back at the hotel, Eziray was preparing for her Rustboro Gym battle.

"Let's see…Someone said that Roxanne uses Rock-types so Speedy has a type advantage, and he definitely gets to battle today. Charo has a type disadvantage but Metal Claw's really effective so I'll use him too. That leaves Gracie and Baby…Sorry Baby, but I think Gracie's gonna fill the third spot," Eziray said. All four of her Pokémon were out of their Pokéballs and three out of the four cheered while Baby sulked quietly.

"Aw don't feel bad, Baby. You can watch from the sidelines with me and Lyla! Eziray will use you next time for sure!" Aiden exclaimed, trying to cheer her up.

"Well if Lyla doesn't get here soon, we're leaving without her!" Eziray declared. "I wonder what's taking so long…"

"Well, she probably stopped to eat breakfast, as normal people tend to do at this hour," Aiden suggested with a sigh. "What are you doing?"

"Writing her a note…"

"Why?"

"Because I'm not going to wait anymore. I'm just going to let her know that we went to the gym!"

"Why are you so impatient all of a sudden?"

"I don't know! I'm just so excited, I can't stand it!"

Eziray finished scribbling down information on the note, returned all of her Pokémon and left with Aiden. They eventually arrived at a somewhat large gym. The actual building wasn't that big, but enormous boulders were somehow attached to its sides and its roof, making the gym appear much bigger than it actually was.

The door to this magnificent gym was locked and there was a note hanging on it saying that Roxanne was teaching a class in the Pokémon Trainer's School next door. To kill time, the two decided that it was worth checking out.

Meanwhile, Lyla had returned to the hotel to find Eziray's note. She was a little more than irritated, but thankful that Eziray had at least left her directions. Skitty was asleep on the bed so Lyla woke her up and the two headed down to the gym as well. When Lyla found the note on the door, it made her laugh a little.

"That's karma, Ez. You leave me a note, you get left a note. Now, what's this trainer's school about?" Lyla thought to herself, looking towards the building next door. There was a sign out front advertising a new class for students interested in becoming Pokémon Coordinators. This definitely caught Lyla's attention so she walked inside and asked the receptionist if there was some way she could sit in on the class. The receptionist printed her out a visitor's pass and told her that was fine. Then she handed Lyla a map of the school with the classroom circled on in.

"Welcome to our school's very first Pokémon Coordinators' Class!" an instructor announced as Lyla entered the room and took a seat. Skitty hopped up and sat on top of her desk. "Today we will be covering all of the basic information that you should know as a Pokémon Coordinator. We may also have time for some demonstrations at the end but for now, let's just get started. First I am going to tell you about these."

The instructor took out a ribbon that was pink with a lighter pink boarder. There was a golden hexagon with a crown in the middle of the ribbon and the entire classroom was in awe of it. One girl raised her hand so the instructor called on her.

"That's a ribbon! Those are what you get when you win a Pokémon Contest," the girl said arrogantly. The instructor praised her for her knowledge and she gloated silently. Lyla, of course, felt the urge to outshine this girl so she raised her hand and the instructor called on her as well.

"You need to win five total in order to participate in the Grand Festival, and they have to be won in the region of the Grand Festival that you want to participate in. In other words, you can't enter the Kanto Grand Festival if you have five ribbons from the Hoenn Region," she explained. The other girl stared at Lyla. She didn't look too thrilled either.

"Very good!" the instructor exclaimed. "I see this class is quite informed. Now let me add to the prior statement. There is one exception. If you win a Pokémon Contest called the Wallace Cup, you will receive a ribbon that can count as your five in any region. So I suppose if you were to win the Wallace Cup in each region, you would then be able to participate in every region's Grand Festival each year. Speaking of the Grand Festival, let's talk about that for a little bit. Like the Wallace Cup, it is held once a year. This contest is, however, the most important contest of all. It would be the equivalent to the Pokémon League for coordinators. There is a huge tournament and the winner is given the title of Top Coordinator of that region. Now, as you may or may not know, there is a preliminary round in which a coordinator shows off their Pokémon's talents and if they are good enough to move on, they then have to appeal in a series of battles. They lose points by getting hit, being upstaged, missing their attacks, and so on. The side with the most points at the end of five minutes wins, but if a Pokémon is knocked out and can no longer battle, that side automatically loses."

As she went on, the teacher began to pace. "Now in normal Hoenn contests, a coordinator will use one Pokémon for the entire contest, so it's important to work on your participating Pokémon's endurance and try not to tire it out. But in the Grand Festival, you use multiple Pokémon. The first two days consist of preliminary appeals and you choose two different Pokémon to perform on the two different days. By the end of the two days, only thirty-two coordinators will be selected to move on to the finals. On the third day, you choose two new Pokemon to battle in a double battle against the other thirty-one coordinators. You must demonstrate your versatility so the judges like to see a different combination of Pokémon each round. During an actually battle, you must keep at least one of the two Pokémon from getting knocked out or you will automatically lose. The winner of the Grand Festival will win the Ribbon Cup which is beautiful golden trophy. Now I think that all pretty much covers the basics, in a nutshell. I'll be taking questions at the end of class, so just remember them as they come to you. Next, we'll be watching some demonstrations!"

The instructor took out a video tape and stuck it into a TV in the corner of the room. Lyla dropped her head to her desk.

"A video? It's probably some contest I saw on TV a long time ago. I want some hands on experience here…I wonder what Aiden and Eziray are doing…"

Coincidentally, Aiden and Eziray were sitting in on a classroom as well. Unfortunately for them, however, the students were taking a pop quiz so the two trainers were sitting in a silent room, bored out of their minds. Roxanne, the Gym Leader and teacher of the class, noticed that the two had nothing to do so she gave them each a copy of the quiz.

"You probably know all this but it's good review. You sure picked the wrong day to sit in on my class!" she said.

"Boy, I'll say," Eziray muttered, glaring at Aiden.

"I don't even know how you came to the conclusion that it's my fault," he said, reading over the quiz without even looking at her.

"Shhh!" Roxanne hushed before Eziray could reply. She frowned and looked down at her paper.

"Your opponent has just sent out a Weedle (Bug-Type). You should send out your A. Rattata (Normal-Type), B. Caterpie (Bug-Type), or C. Pidgey (Flying-Type)," Eziray read silently.

"Really?" Aiden thought to himself, marking C. "Number two…A red nose, loss of energy, and slight to extreme pain is a sign that A. Your Pokémon is paralyzed, B. Your Pokémon is poisoned, C. Your Pokémon is healthy, D. Your Pokémon is falling asleep."

"Uh…B! Duh," Eziray thought as she read the next question to herself. "Brawly of the Dewford Gym uses what type of Pokémon?"

"Hm. Can we get some multiple choice answers here?" Aiden thought to himself with a sigh. "They must have covered this a lot or something. I'll just leave it blank…Is Eziray stuck on that question too?"

Aiden looked over at Eziray and saw that she was in deep thought. He looked down at her paper and noticed that she was on the same one. Suddenly Roxanne slammed a ruler down on the desk in between them so he looked up at her, completely startled.

"NO CHEATING!" she exclaimed.

"S-sorry," he stuttered.

"I know it's not that big of a deal to you but treat it like it is!" she said. He nodded and looked back at Eziray who was trying as hard as she could not to burst out laughing.

"Alright, alright! Back to the quiz! Um, Brawly. That starts with a B…like bird Pokémon! Brawly must use Flying-Types!" she reasoned to herself. This was of course the wrong answer.

"Free Response: If two Taillow are flying towards each other at sixty miles per hour, how long will it take for them to collide if they had been thirty feet apart to begin with? Uh…is this even relevant?" Aiden thought to himself.

"Well, they wouldn't collide. Not head-on, anyway. One would move out of the way at the last second and the other would keep moving and crash into a tree! That's what would happen if I were the trainer of one of those Taillow, anyway!" Eziray wrote down on her paper.

"Eziray, that's ridiculous," Aiden whispered.

"Stop looking at my paper!" she whispered back.

"Why would I cheat off you? Why does it matter?" Aiden whispered. Eziray raised her hand.

"Can I move someplace else?" she whined.

"You take things waaaaaay too seriously," Aiden muttered, flipping over his paper to look at the backside. He noticed the last question and twitched a little. It was a reminder to students to read the entire test before attempting to answer any questions and as a reward for the ones who did so, they know now to disregard number four. "Well that explains that…"

The rest of the test was pretty easy. All of the questions were much like the first two and once everyone handed in their papers, Roxanne smiled and cleared her throat.

"Alright, we're just about done for the day but we still have some time left. How about a live demonstration of a real Pokémon battle? Would you all like to come over to my gym and watch me battle Eziray here?" she asked. The class cheered and bolted out of the classroom in a large pack.

"I'll meet you at the gym," Roxanne said. "My Pokémon are at the Pokémon Center and I have to go get them. Here's the key to the gym. Just give it back to me before the match."

"No problem!" Eziray exclaimed.

Outside the classroom, Roxanne's class was racing down the hallway, being as loud as they possibly could. They happened to pass by the room Lyla was in and the door was open so she got to witness the large group of students stampeding through the building.

"What the hell?" she whispered to herself. Then one suddenly came back and poked his head in through the door.

"Battle at the gym! Roxanne versus some trainer! Come on guys!" he exclaimed. Before the instructor could object, all of the wannabe coordinators stood up, screaming and squealing, and raced out the door. The instructor sighed and both Lyla and Skitty stared blankly for a long time until they eventually left the classroom too.

The gym was packed with students. As Lyla and Skitty looked for a place to sit, Eziray and Aiden noticed her and called her over to them. Eziray would be battling so she offered her place to Lyla and began to stand but a student sitting nearby stood up and called out to Lyla. It was the girl from the class.

"Hey you! You seem to think you know a lot about contests, huh?"

"I answered one question," Lyla said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, well just how good are you really? I wanna see for myself! Battle me, now!"

"Battle you? But you're not even a trainer yet! You don't even have a Pokémon!"

"Yes I do! The school lends out one Pokémon to each student, so will you battle me or not?"

"I…guess…"

The two positioned themselves on Roxanne's rocky dirt arena and they both withdrew a Pokéball and tossed it into the air. The crowd of students went wild, chanting 'FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT!'

Lyla had sent out Mudkip and her opponent had sent out a Smoochum. The Smoochum was wearing a white tag with a red Pokéball symbol around its neck and Lyla concluded that it meant that this Pokémon belonged to the Pokémon School.

"You first!" the girl said with a grin.

"Lyla sure doesn't play well with others does she? First Olivia, then Rose, now this girl," Eziray said with a sigh as Lyla called her first move.

"Mudkip, use Water Gun!"

Mudkip opened his mouth and tried to hit the Smoochum with Water Gun but the girl smiled.

"Confusion!"

Smoochum's eyes began to glow blue as she threw up her arms and stopped the Water Gun from coming closer to her. Instead, it flowed up and bent around, coming right back at Mudkip.

"Muud!" he exclaimed, hopping out of the way. Unfortunately, Lyla didn't get out of the way in time and was sprayed from head to foot with her own Pokémon's attack.

"And here I thought this wasn't going to happen anymore," she muttered.

"Use Confusion again!"

The Smoochum lifted Mudkip from the ground with Confusion and sent him flying up towards the ceiling of the gym. Lyla, remembering her battle with Rose, ordered Mudkip to use Water Gun. Mudkip opened his mouth and shot Water Gun just before he hit the ceiling. The high pressure prevented him from getting any closer to the ceiling and the two Pokémon struggled, trying to overpower each other. To everyone's surprise, the Water-type attack managed to overpower the Psychic-type attack and Mudkip was able to break free of the Confusion.

"MY! I've never seen a Pokémon break free of Confusion before!" Roxanne exclaimed as Mudkip flipped down to the floor with a solid landing. Lyla and her opponent looked towards the door to find the gym leader standing there. The girl immediately went into a panic.

"ROXANNE! I'm sorry! I, uh…" the girl trailed off.

"It's okay. Just make sure you have a proctor watching next time okay? I'm here now so you can continue your battle!" Roxanne exclaimed, sitting down next to Eziray who had made room for her.

"Now Mudkip, use Tackle!"

Mudkip charged forward towards Smoochum with as much power as he possibly could. Roxanne cocked her head.

"Sweet Kiss!"

Smoochum winked at the incoming Mudkip and blew a kiss. This stopped him in his tracks and then he began to act strange; he stood up on his hind legs and danced around for a minute and then began to run circles around the gym.

"He's confused," Roxanne observed.

"But maybe he can still attack. Use Bide!" Lyla ordered, knowing that a Pokémon will often thrash around when confused. She was hoping that Mudkip would do just that and that he would be able to take out Smoochum with Bide, whether he was conscious of it or not. And by some stroke of luck, Mudkip began to glow.

"Awesome!" she exclaimed. Her opponent obviously had no idea what Bide was because she ordered Smoochum to attack Mudkip anyway.

"Use Pound!"

Smoochum ran up to Mudkip and began smacking him around as hard as she could. Then the girl ordered her to finish Mudkip off with Powder Snow. Smoochum opened her mouth and an icy wind with chunks of snow was blow from it. The attack, however, did not make it to Mudkip in time. Both Smoochum and her attack were blown away in a flash of powerful energy. When the light faded, Mudkip was sitting down, rubbing his head with one of his front feet. He was no longer confused. Roxanne began clapping and all of the students cheered. Lyla's opponent frowned and called the Smoochum back to its ball with a sigh.

"I guess you are pretty good. Are you going to be in the contest tomorrow night?" the girl asked. Lyla smiled and nodded. "Then I'll be rooting for you!"

The two girls shook hands and took a seat in the bleachers while Eziray and Roxanne positioned themselves on the field.

"Aiden," Lyla began.

"Yes?"

"I have my first fan!"

He laughed and congratulated her as a referee made his way to the field as well and took his place off to the side. He cleared his throat so that the children would all settle down because they were chattering nonstop at this point. They hushed up pretty quick so he began to speak.

"This will be a two-on-two elimination match and only the challenger may substitute Pokémon," he announced.

"Two-on-two? I thought Hoenn gyms were three-on-three…" Eziray trailed off.

"Every gym has their own rules so some are different than others, Eziray," Roxanne said. "Now, let's begin! Geodude, I choose you!"

"Geodude?" Lyla asked, holding up her Pokédex.

"Geodude, the Rock Pokémon: Geodude has incredibly high defensive power, making it virtually resistant to any physical attacks," the Dex informed.

"I guess she's gonna use Treecko then?" Lyla asked.

"Don't count on it," Aiden replied.

"Charo, you're up!" Eziray exclaimed, as she tossed his Pokéball. He popped out and cheered.

"A Charmander? But it's a Fire-type! Are you sure you want to use this Pokémon in a Rock-type gym?" Roxanne asked, a bit shocked by Eziray's choice.

"You bet I do!" she exclaimed. The students were all babbling away again. They too were a little surprised by Eziray's decision.

"Well who am I to deny you the right to use whatever Pokémon you wish. I admire your confidence! But we won't be going easy on you even if you do have a pretty significant type-disadvantage. Geodude, use Rollout!"

Geodude began to turn around itself and soon became a rapidly-spinning ball. As it came towards Charo he ducked and put one arm into the air, claws glowing.

"Geodude!" Roxanne exclaimed, but it was so heavy that the momentum it had going could not be easily stopped so it rolled right over Charo's claws and came out of Rollout immediately after, revealing several scratch marks that stretched all the way around its body.

"Oh, I see! Your Charmander knows Metal Claw! I guess your disadvantage isn't so significant now!" Roxanne exclaimed. "But it still may not be enough! Geodude, use Rock Throw!"

Geodude levitated down towards the ground and began punching at it rapidly. This caused large bits of boulder to come flying at Charo but he was ready for them. He and Eziray made eye contact and she nodded so he used Metal Claw again, this time to cut apart all of the rocks that were coming at him. He charged through them, not taking a single hit, and continued toward Geodude.

"Good Charo! Now use Fire Fang!"

"EZIRAY!" Aiden exclaimed.

Charo jumped up, landing on Geodude, and bit into it with its fiery fangs. Geodude was of course as hard as a rock so it hurt Charo just as much, if not more.

"Now that wasn't very well-thought out," Roxanne began, looking down with a smile. "Geodude, use Mega Punch!"

"And neither was that!" Eziray called back. Before Roxanne could figure out what she meant, Geodude attempted to knock Charo off by punching it in the back with its glowing fist but Charo simply let go and fell to the ground, causing Geodude to punch itself in the face. Roxanne gasped.

"Well, I can't say we've ever attacked ourselves before! Did you plan that?" Roxanne asked.

"We sure did!" Eziray exclaimed.

"Liar…" Aiden muttered. Charo must have been thinking the same because he was glaring back at Eziray, rubbing the side of his face from having to bite Geodude.

"Very nice!" Roxanne exclaimed, not noticing either of them. "But let's see how you handle this! Geodude, use Rock Tomb!"

Geodude lifted his arms and giant boulders rose from the ground, surrounding and imprisoning Charo.

"Charo!" Eziray exclaimed as the tightly packed boulders crushed him.

"Don't worry, we'll get you out of there," Roxanne said sweetly. "Use Mega Punch again!"

Geodude came right over to Charo, cocked its arm and then thrust it forward to shatter the boulders as well as Charo but for some reason, it stopped short.

"Geodude? Is something wrong?" Roxanne asked. Geodude was wincing and put its right arm to its left shoulder.

"It's in pain…but why?" Lyla asked.

"Do you see the scorch mark on its shoulder? That's where one of Charo's fangs went in. That one fang must have penetrated enough to leave a burn. Geodude's going to be in pain until it gets treated at the Pokémon Center. Unless Roxanne has something to soothe it," Aiden explained.

"I planned that too!" Eziray exclaimed. Aiden sighed.

"You can't really plan it because Fire Fang doesn't always leave a Pokémon burned. Just sometimes," Aiden added.

"Charo, break free with Metal Claw!"

Charo's claws began to glow and he slashed his way out of the boulders and landed right below Geodude who was still wincing in pain.

"Geodude!" Roxanne called, trying to get it to focus.

"Charo, finish it off with Flamethrower!"

Charo tilted his head upwards and blasted Geodude with an extremely hot Flamethrower. Geodude then fell to the ground beside Charo, unconscious.

"Alright!" Eziray exclaimed as Roxanne called Geodude back.

"Very impressive!" Roxanne praised. "I never knew we would have so much trouble with a Fire-type!"

"Thanks!" Eziray exclaimed. "Charo, take a rest. Let's give Speedy a turn!"

She tossed Speedy's ball into the air and Charo simply stepped back to stand at her side. Speedy popped out and stood at attention, awaiting orders.

"What an obedient Grass-type you have there, but even with the type-advantage, is it still enough to take out this next one? Nosepass, I choose you!" Roxanne exclaimed, tossing a Pokéball into the air.

"That has to be the most unattractive Pokémon I have ever seen," Lyla said, not caring too much if anyone heard her.

"That's Roxanne's strongest Pokémon!" one of the students exclaimed, appalled by Lyla's response to the Nosepass.

"I didn't say anything about it being weak, now did I? I said it's ugly and it is. Its strength is completely unrelated," Lyla said in defense. The boy turned his direction back to the field and began cheering as loudly as he could for the Nosepass. In fact, most of the children were.

"Popular Pokémon…" Eziray trailed off, holding up her Pokédex.

"Nosepass, the Compass Pokémon: Nosepass has a nose that functions as an electromagnet and determines location by moving its nose about," her Dex informed.

"Okay, Speedy, let's get things going with Absorb!"

Speedy held up his arms and two beams of red energy extended and wrapped around Nosepass's body. The Rock-type didn't even react until after Speedy was already draining its energy.

"Slow-moving and slow-thinking. Not a very useful Pokémon, it seems like to me," Lyla said quietly enough so only Aiden could here.

"Don't underestimate it, Lyla. It's a gym leader's Pokémon. Keep that in mind," he replied. "Just look at Roxanne's smile. Do you think she's worried about it?"

Roxanne had one hand on her hip and with the other, she ran her fingers through her long, deep-brown hair and then let her arm fall to her side.

"Nosepass, use Rock Tomb!"

Just like Geodude had trapped Charo, Nosepass made boulders extend from the ground to trap Speedy. The only difference was that Speedy didn't know how to use any moves that could break through these boulders. He slipped his arm through the crack and struggled to free himself but the rocks were too tightly packed for him to simply wriggle out.

"I have to get him out of there somehow," Eziray thought to herself. "Those rocks are crushing him!"

"Nosepass, use Rock Slide!"

Nosepass became outlined in bright blue and so did a nearby boulder. The audience of students began making all sorts of ruckus as the boulder lifted from the ground and flew towards the rocky imprisonment. It crashed into it, causing all of the boulders to break into pieces and come crashing down to the ground. Speedy fell with them and they pretty much buried him alive.

"SPEEDY!" Eziray screamed.

"I'd say he's through," Roxanne said with a slight grin.

"Speedy, can you hear me? Get out of there!" Eziray pleaded. There was a pause and then the sound of rocks shifting around in the pile. Suddenly, a green arm popped out and Speedy pulled himself from the rubble.

"Atta boy!" Lyla exclaimed.

"Hm, so I guess it's not over yet. Not a problem. Nosepass, Rock Tomb again!"

From beneath the rocks, yet another tomb of boulders extended from the ground but Speedy jumped backwards to avoid it and it sunk back into the ground.

"Keep at it. He's already weak. He'll collapse from exhaustion soon."

Rock Tomb after Rock Tomb began popping out of the ground and Speedy dodged each one by running, jumping, and flipping out of the way. But as Roxanne predicted, he was getting pretty tired and starting to slow down.

"Speedy, avoid Rock Tomb by climbing on the walls!"

Speedy, being a gecko, had the ability to cling to things in order to climb them. The walls and ceiling were no exception. He zipped up the wall and across the ceiling until he was hanging right over Nosepass who looked up at him, unsure of how to handle the situation.

"Now use Absorb!"

Speedy pulled only one hand from the ceiling because he needed to cling to it with the other hand and two feet in order to keep from falling. He pointed his palm directly at Nosepass and a red beam shot from it, wrapping around Nosepass's body to drain energy for a few moments.

"Clever, but your Treecko isn't exactly safe from our attacks. Nosepass, use Thunderwave! Sparks began to form around Nosepass's nose and then a massive wave of electricity was shot up towards the ceiling.

"Eziray, if Speedy takes that hit, he won't be so speedy anymore. You better get him out of there or he'll be completely paralyzed!" Aiden exclaimed.

"We know that!" Eziray whined. "Speedy, release!"

Speedy released his grip and somersaulted down to the ground, landing gracefully in front of Nosepass.

"I've never seen a Rock Pokémon use an Electric attack before!" Eziray exclaimed.

"Did you forget about the electro-magnet in his nose?" Roxanne asked, grinning widely. "Nosepass, use Sandstorm!"

Nosepass' nose began to glow brightly as some grains of sand were discharged from it. Soon, there was a roaring sandstorm throughout the gym and no one could see the two Pokémon.

"Treee…" Treecko trailed off, squinting.

"Rock Tomb now, Nosepass!"

There was a loud thud from Nosepass stomping its foot on the ground and then a rocky imprisonment rose up from under Speedy and trapped him. When the sand cleared, everyone could see this. And like before, Speedy could only manage to stick out one arm.

"I'd say it's time to finish this up!" Roxanne exclaimed.

"Not even! Speedy, use Absorb with your free hand!"

Speedy flattened his palm and a red beam emitted from it and wrapped around Nosepass who began to cry out because these Grass-type attacks were starting to weaken it.

"Can you use Zap Cannon, Nosepass?"

Nosepass' nose began to glow brightly and it sparked violently for a few seconds before a massive blast of electricity shot from it towards Speedy.

"Speedy, use Detect!"

Speedy began to glow blue, and not only did the Zap Cannon simply part around him, but the Rock Tomb slowly sunk back into the ground as well.

"It seems that Rock Tomb doesn't just trap a Pokémon. The boulders crush the Pokémon too and Detect prevents a Pokémon from taking any damage. She should have been using that move from the start," Aiden said.

"Looks like you won't be using Rock Tomb anymore," Eziray said cheerfully. "Now it's time for us to finish this up. Speedy, use Quick Attack! Spin him around and around!"

Speedy raced forward and ran circles around Nosepass who walked around, trying to keep its eyes on its Grass-type opponent. It was, however, getting to be very dizzy.

"Nosepass is looking pretty unstable there, Roxanne. And you know what they say! 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall.' Nosepass looks pretty heavy to me. Speedy, use Pound!"

Speedy leaped up into the air and came somersaulting back down, slamming his tail into Nosepass' body with as much force and momentum it could build up. Nosepass hit the ground hard, and thanks to the three successful Absorb attacks that Speedy had managed to pull off during the battle, this physical attack was enough to knock the Nosepass out. Eziray's face lit up and she cheered happily as Roxanne returned her fallen Pokémon and smiled.

"My, my! Taken out by a physical attack? We surely weren't expecting that," she said and met Eziray in the middle to shake hands and award her with a badge: the Stone Badge, which was a shiny golden badge that looked like the tops of two triangles, with their points facing outwards, and they were conjoined by a tiny rectangle piece. Roxanne held it out to Eziray who took it gently and held it up to admire it. Then she ran over to show her friends.

"My first Hoenn badge, guys!" she exclaimed, holding it up as it shined.

"Congratz, Ez!" Lyla cheered.

"You, Charo and Speedy did great out there!" Aiden praised.

"Thanks!" Eziray exclaimed. Then she turned to Roxanne who was dictating notes about the battle to her students. Their eyes met and they both smiled at one another and Eziray thanked her once again for the battle and the badge. Then the three trainers left the gym together.

That night, Lyla was sitting on her bed in the hotel, polishing her egg with a small towel that the hotel had provided in the bathroom.

"So today was Eziray's big day, but tomorrow is yours, Lyla," Aiden said, taking a seat on the bed beside hers.

"Yeah, I'm really nervous," she said, looking down at her egg in admiration. "But…this egg is proof that I'm good right? I'll be fine, right?"

Aiden laughed and said he hoped so then he asked who she would be using. She smiled and looked down at Skitty who was curled up and sleeping beside her.

"Skitty, huh? Again?"

"Why not? She was my first Pokémon. She deserves to debut with me in my first contest!"

"You have a point there, and I'm sure she'll be great. You both will!"

Lyla blushed and looked back down at her egg, wondering when and what it would hatch into.