The next morning, Ash dragged Dawn and Verity out of the hotel around midday, and as for where he was taking them, wasn't it obvious? Straight to the Gym.
Obviously, Ash talked about it with them yesterday, especially to Verity since she also wanted to take on the Gyms, and to Ash's deadpan expression, she didn't have any badges.
Again, three years and she made no progress. Just great. Well, that just means Ash has an excuse to put her through the advanced course, and Dawn gets to sit it out and have some cake. Why? Because Ash felt like it.
But that's for when they get back on the road. Right now, they were going to the Gym.
But for obvious reasons, Verity had questions, "Ash, are you sure? I mean, didn't you say that guy Paul reserved the whole day today?"
"He did, buuuutttttt, I felt like it, and I'm dragging you with me~" Ash said, keeping his sweet smile he usually put on when he was daring his friends to do something about it.
Verity lowered her head and grumbled, knowing full well there was nothing she could do.
"You know what?" Dawn cut in, "I kind of want to see how this goes."
Verity's eyes widened, "You're encouraging him?!"
Dawn shrugged, "It's Ash."
Ash nodded, "Exactly."
Verity sighed deeply, "I'm traveling with idiots."
"You're right, I'm an idiot," Ash said with a thumbs-up, and that just made Verity sigh even more. That was another thing off the list she could try to use against Ash.
Trying to tease or annoy Ash was really hard, so she just kept her head down and followed along, muttering while she thought about if she could find out any other way to even the playing field. She hadn't forgotten what happened yesterday, after all.
Anyway, when they entered the Gym, they went over to the seats and could hear the sounds of battling already going on inside. Verity wanted to go the long way, but Ash and Dawn both grabbed one of her arms each and dragged her along.
When they entered, they saw Roark with presumably his last Pokémon, a Cranidos, while on the other side, Paul was standing with an Elekid.
Roark pushed his glasses back up his nose, a huge grin on his face, "Cranidos! [Headbutt]!"
Cranidos roared and charged forward, its massive skull glowing as it rushed toward Elekid.
Paul didn't even flinch, "Elekid, [Quick Attack]!"
Elekid suddenly vanished forward in a blur, narrowly slipping past Cranidos as the Fossil Pokémon's head slammed into the ground.
"Now! [Low Kick]!" Paul commanded, swiping his arm.
Elekid spun around and kicked Cranidos's leg. The Rock-type Pokémon stumbled, but it managed to keep itself upright.
Roark laughed, "Nice one!"
Paul narrowed his eyes, "Don't celebrate yet. [Thunder Punch]!"
Electricity exploded around Elekid's fist as it rushed forward.
"Cranidos, [Rock Tomb]!"
Cranidos slammed its feet against the ground, and several large rocks suddenly erupted from beneath Elekid. Elekid barely managed to leap over the first one, but another rock came from the side. Elekid twisted in midair, narrowly avoiding it.
But Cranidos was already waiting, "[Zen Headbutt]!" Roark commanded.
Cranidos charged forward, its forehead glowing with psychic energy.
"Elekid, move!"
Elekid tried to dodge, but Cranidos clipped its side and sent it flying across the battlefield. The little Pokémon rolled across the ground several times before finally stopping.
But Elekid slowly pushed itself back onto its feet. Paul raised his arm and pointed forward, "Good. Now get back in there."
Elekid nodded.
Roark grinned even wider, "You two are tough!" He adjusted his glasses, "Cranidos, [Head Smash]!"
"Elekid, [Thunder Punch]!"
Both Pokémon charged.
Cranidos's entire head became surrounded by energy as Elekid's fist crackled with electricity.
They collided in the center of the battlefield. They clashed, but neither gave the other any room to advance.
So Paul made the first move, "Elekid, [Low Sweep]!"
Elekid rushed forward and dropped low, sweeping its leg underneath Cranidos.
But Roark saw that one coming from a mile away, "Jump, then [Headbutt] again!"
Cranidos leaped over the attack and flipped as it came down with its head glowing white.
Paul quickly called out, "Jump back!"
Elekid obeyed and jumped back just as Cranidos came down and slammed its head into the ground.
Paul pointed forward, "[Brick Break]!"
Elekid raised its fist and punched forward, sending a glowing punch toward Cranidos, and Paul thought this was his win.
But then Roark quickly gave him a reality check, "[Double Team]!"
The Cranidos that Elekid punched was replaced with an afterimage, and around it, four more Cranidos began circling.
Roark smirked as he pushed his glasses up, "Oh, so you taught your Elekid [Brick Break], huh? You know, that is really impressive, but what good is type advantage if you can't hit me?"
As Paul gritted his teeth, Roark swiped his arm, "Now, let's finish this. [Zen Headbutt]!"
All the Cranidos began moving around faster as each of their heads started glowing purple. This time, it was Roark, Dawn, and Verity watching who thought this was the end.
But Paul clicked his tongue and raised one hand, saying something that even surprised Ash.
"[Counter Shield]!"
Elekid gathered electricity around its body, then used it to spin around itself and shoot out a shockwave. The blast blew the clones away and made the real Cranidos stagger for a moment, and because this one used [Thunder Shock], Cranidos was paralyzed.
But that moment was all he needed.
Paul called out, "Now finish this with [Brick Break]!"
Elekid charged his fist up, then shot forward, hitting Cranidos right in the stomach, knocking the air out of its lungs and sending the Fossil Pokémon flying back and crashing against the wall.
When the drone went over to check it, it confirmed that Cranidos was knocked out. Therefore, Paul was the winner.
Paul let out a breath and returned Elekid to its ball as Roark approached him, clapping softly.
"Very impressive. You certainly deserve this," he said, walking up and holding out a badge that he pulled from his pocket.
Paul took it, then gave a polite bow. But then he was going to turn to leave when they heard clapping.
They both turned, and they saw Ash clapping loudly with no shame on his face. He put on a smile, "Really nice battle, though I only saw the last end of it."
"Ash?" Paul muttered in confusion since he had no idea they were here.
But Roark smiled and waved at him and at Dawn too, "Oh hey, Ash, Dawn! You're both here. Guess you guys wanted to watch the battle? I'm glad," he said happily.
"Uh, yeah, I guess we did," Dawn added as she looked over where Verity was trying to cover her face from the embarrassment she had.
But then Ash tapped his chin, "Hey, soooo, since Paul won, I doubt he's gonna use up the other slots he signed up for, right?"
"I guess not?" Paul said slowly.
"Okay, cool, so they're open?" Ash looked over to Roark.
"I don't see why not," Roark answered.
"Cool. I signed up while we were talking," Ash said as his Rotom Phone flew out of his pocket and confirmed that he had just signed up for the next battle today.
"Oh, nice," Roark said. He had no complaints; he was looking forward to battling Ash.
"Wait a minute, you did that while we…never mind. Why didn't you tell me? How many are even left for today?" Verity immediately asked.
"Oh, well, I only accept three challenges a day," Roark answered.
"Wait, so that means there is only one left," Verity immediately realized. Then she lunged, trying to grab the Rotom Phone, "Give me that!"
But considering the Rotom in the phone didn't like getting grabbed, it flew up, and Verity flew right under it, falling right to the ground.
Dawn finally started laughing, "Sorry!" she said between laughs, "It's just...you're really bad at this."
"Whose side are you on?!" Verity said, pulling her head off the ground.
Dawn pointed toward Ash, "His."
"TRAITOR!"
Ash grinned and held up his phone, "By the way, you don't have to worry about signing up."
Verity blinked, "What?"
"Oh yeah, I already signed you up for after me, so you don't need to worry about it," Ash said sweetly.
Verity slowly raised both hands to her face and dragged them down, "Ash..."
"Yeah?"
"I hate you."
Ash gave her a thumbs-up, "Love you too."
"That is not what I said!"
Dawn was still laughing behind them.
Verity spun toward her, "And you're not helping!"
Dawn immediately tried to stop laughing, though the huge smile on her face made it obvious she was still amused, "Sorry, sorry. But you have to admit, that was pretty funny."
"No, it wasn't!"
Roark, meanwhile, was looking between the three of them with an amused smile, "You guys are pretty close, huh?"
Verity sighed, "Unfortunately."
Ash nodded, "Very."
"Okay, well, give me about five minutes to get another team ready. I assume you don't have any Gym Badges, right?" Roark asked, and that got a thumbs-up from Ash. He nodded and ran to the back room to go get another team.
Meanwhile, Paul was still there. He was considering asking Ash about something, but he decided against it, at least not while other people were around. So he just gave a small bow and turned to leave.
But then Dawn stopped him before he got out, "Excuse me, Your Rudeness. Where are you going?" She was not letting go of what happened back at the lab.
"I'm going to the Pokémon Center, then leaving for the next town," Paul said as he squinted intensely at her.
Dawn, for a moment, shivered, thinking that Paul was glaring at her, trying to get her to back down. But no, he was just really trying to remember her name. He thinks it started with a D, and yes, he did hear Roark call her Dawn. He was just more focused on the Ash part and zoned the other parts out.
Anyway, Dawn stood her ground, "Well, Ash came here to watch your battle. The least you could do is cheer him on in his, especially after you stole his move." Of course, she was talking about the [Counter Shield].
"Hey, I really don't mind. Besides, he probably just copied it from the videos when I did it in the league," Ash cut in.
Paul didn't comment on that because that's exactly what he did. He watched all of Ash's league matches and managed to copy the [Counter Shield], or at least a variation that didn't use the dance-like moves.
But then again, Paul wasn't opposed to watching Ash. After all, watching videos of his battles and watching the real thing live were completely different. And if he was going to one day beat Ash, he had to learn as much as he could.
So he nodded, "Fine."
Dawn smiled, "Good!" She turned toward Ash, who was already walking toward the battlefield with Verity following behind him, "Come on, let's go get some seats."
Paul followed behind them, keeping a little distance from the group as they made their way toward the spectator area.
Verity dropped into one of the seats and sighed, "Finally."
Ash looked at her, "You sound like you're already tired."
"I've been dragged around by you for the last two days."
"And?"
"And I'm tired!"
Ash shrugged, "You'll survive."
Verity glared at him, "I swear, one day I'm going to get you back."
Ash gave her his usual cheeky grin, "I'll be waiting."
Verity narrowed her eyes, "You say that now."
Meanwhile, as they got their seats, Dawn looked toward the entrance, her eyes widening as if she had just remembered something incredibly important.
"I'll be right back!"
Ash blinked, "Where are you going?"
"Just wait here!"
Before Ash could ask anything else, Dawn immediately jumped out of her seat and ran toward the exit.
Verity stared after her.
"...What was that about?"
Ash shrugged, "No idea."
Paul looked toward the door Dawn had disappeared through.
"She's strange."
Verity nodded, "You have no idea."
Ash chuckled, "She's great."
Verity looked at Ash, "You really like surrounding yourself with weird people, don't you?"
Ash pointed at her, "You're included in that group."
Verity's eye twitched, "I walked right into that one."
A few minutes passed.
Roark eventually returned from the back room, rolling his shoulders as he walked toward the battlefield.
"Alright!" Roark announced, "I've got my team ready!"
Ash stepped forward, rolling his shoulders before walking onto the battlefield, "Perfect."
Roark walked to the opposite side and adjusted his glasses, "Ready when you are, Ash!"
Ash smiled, "Always."
The drone above the battlefield activated, floating into position, "Battle between Gym Leader Roark of Oreburgh City and challenger Ash will now begin! This will be a 3-on-3 Pokémon battle."
Roark looked toward the entrance, "Uh...where's your friend?"
Ash looked back, "She said she'd be right back."
Then they heard a voice, "ASH!" Everyone turned toward the entrance, and Dawn came sprinting into the Gym.
Except she wasn't wearing her normal clothes anymore. She was wearing a full cheerleading outfit, complete with a short skirt, matching top, and pom-poms in both hands.
She came skidding up in the stands next to Verity, slightly out of breath.
Ash stared at her
Roark stared at her
Paul stared at her
Verity slowly covered her face with one hand, "...Oh my Mew…"
Dawn raised both pom-poms into the air, "GO ASH! YOU CAN DO IT!"
Ash's mouth slowly curled into a grin, "Dawn..."
Dawn smiled proudly, "I remembered something!"
Verity looked at her in disbelief, "You ran all the way back to the hotel to get a cheerleading outfit?"
Dawn nodded enthusiastically, "Yep!"
Verity stared at her, "Why?"
"Because I'm cheering for Ash!" Dawn said with no shame at all.
Ash laughed, "You really didn't have to do all that."
Dawn shook her head, "Of course I did!"
She raised her pom-poms again, "Besides, you need someone to cheer you on!"
Ash snorted, "Well, how can I lose when you put it like that?"
Roark chuckled, adjusting his glasses, "I've got to admit, I've never had a challenger bring a personal cheerleader before."
Dawn immediately pointed one pom-pom toward Roark, "Then get ready, because I'm going to be the loudest one you've ever heard!"
Roark laughed, "I believe you."
Meanwhile, Paul, even though he was on the complete other side of the stadium, felt like he wanted to scoot further away.
Dawn wasn't finished. She immediately turned toward Verity, who was doing everything in her power to make herself as small as possible in her seat.
"Verity!"
Verity slowly looked up, "...No."
Dawn blinked, "I haven't even said anything yet."
"I know exactly what you're about to say."
Dawn smiled brightly, "Come on!"
"No."
"Come on!"
"No."
Dawn reached down and grabbed both of Verity's hands, "Come on!"
Verity's eyes widened, "Dawn, don't you dare-"
Dawn pulled her up out of her seat.
"Dawn, no!" Verity stumbled to her feet as Dawn immediately shoved a second pair of pom-poms into her hands.
"There!"
Verity stared down at the pom-poms, then she stared at Dawn. Then she looked toward Ash, who was already standing on the battlefield and had the biggest grin on his face.
"...I'm going to kill all of you."
Dawn smiled, "After the battle."
"I am NOT doing this!"
Dawn grabbed Verity's arms and lifted them into the air, "GO ASH!"
Verity's arms were forced upward with hers.
"GO ASH!" Dawn shouted again.
Verity's face turned bright red, "I am not doing this."
Dawn looked at her with a completely serious expression, "You're holding the pom-poms."
"Because you forced them in my hands," she sputtered as her face was bright red.
Piplup suddenly waddled up beside them. He was also holding a pair of tiny pom-poms and had a little skirt too.
Verity stared down at him, and Piplup raised both of his little flippers, "Pip-pip!"
"See?! Even Piplup is ready!" Dawn said happily.
Verity slowly covered her face with one of the pom-poms, "I don't know either of you."
Dawn grabbed her shoulder and shook her slightly, "Come on! We're a team!"
"I feel like the victim," Verity muttered.
"Come on, you can't say that after all Ash has done for us. You don't want to cheer him on?" Dawn pushed.
Verity stopped and looked away, muttering slightly. Then she said under her breath, "Fine. Just this once."
Dawn's eyes lit up, "Really?!"
"One time!"
Dawn immediately raised both pom-poms, "GO ASH!"
Piplup raised his tiny pom-poms, "PIP PIP!"
Verity slowly raised her pom-poms, "...Go Ash," she said, while she hated this immediately. She hated it even more when she saw Ash biting his lip, trying not to laugh.
Ash eventually turned and kept a 'straight' face, "Alright, enough messing around." Then he finally took a breath and calmed down.
He turned toward Roark and rolled his shoulders, "Let's battle."
Roark's grin widened, "That's more like it."
The drone moved slightly higher above the battlefield, "Both trainers are ready. Begin!"
Roark immediately reached for a Poké Ball, and Ash did the same. Both of them reached up and threw it out at the same time.
Roark's ball opened, and from it came out an Onix with a Muscle Band around its head. Meanwhile, on Ash's side, the ball opened, and out came Turtwig with some Leftovers.
The battle started, and Ash took the first move.
"[Leech Seed]!" Ash called out.
Turtwig's little branch on his back started growing, then it shot out small seeds that landed on Onix and began growing into vines, and Onix couldn't dodge because of how slow it was.
But Roark wasn't worried, "Onix, [Rock Tomb]!"
Onix lifted its head and roared as several large chunks of rock suddenly tore themselves from the battlefield, launching toward Turtwig from every direction.
"Turtwig, [Withdraw]!" Ash called.
Turtwig immediately pulled his head and legs into his shell as the rocks came crashing down around him.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Dust exploded across the battlefield as several rocks smashed into Turtwig's shell, burying him beneath the rubble.
But then, after a bit, Turtwig popped his head out from the pile of rocks, shaking his head but looking almost completely unharmed. He just took a bite from his Leftovers and got some healing from the Leech Seed, so it basically did nothing.
Roark stared for a moment, then pushed his glasses up his nose, "Huh...that didn't do nearly as much as I thought it would."
Ash smiled, "What did you expect? A Turtwig to not be a tank? What were you expecting, a fast attacker~?"
Roark snorted at that, "Hah, don't even joke about that. Everyone knows that Turtwig are way too slow to be any viable attacker like that."
Then he focused and got back into it, "Alright then, let's keep this going! Onix, [Rock Slide]!"
Onix lifted its massive body and slammed its tail against the ground. Then several large rocks broke loose from above and began falling toward Turtwig.
Ash immediately pointed forward, "Turtwig, [Razor Leaf]!"
Turtwig spun around and fired a barrage of razor-sharp leaves into the falling rocks, slicing each of them in half. The razor-sharp rocks then moved through them, starting to close the distance.
Ash pointed forward, "[Seed Bomb]!"
Turtwig opened his mouth and fired a glowing green seed directly at Onix.
"Onix, [Dig]!"
Onix immediately slammed its head into the ground and disappeared beneath the battlefield. The Seed Bomb flew over the spot where Onix had been standing and exploded against the ground.
Then Onix moved underground and emerged behind Turtwig much faster than before.
"Onix, [Iron Tail]!" Roark swiped his arm.
Onix's tail began glowing white as it swung it toward Turtwig.
"Turtwig, [Withdraw]!"
Turtwig immediately pulled himself into his shell. Then, when Onix's tail came down, Turtwig got shot like a ping-pong ball and was sent flying, hitting one of the rocks, then bouncing off one rock after another before crashing into the ground.
Then Turtwig slowly pushed himself up, "Turt…" He shook his head, a little dizzy. He stumbled, but he was good to go.
Roark smiled, "This is fun, but let's end this with [Stone Edge]."
Onix let out a huff and dug its tail into the ground, and then the ground around them started shaking.
But Ash didn't panic. In fact, he got a grin on his face, "Alright then, let's get crazy. [Energy Ball] on the ground," he said, to the surprise of everyone.
But Turtwig obeyed. He charged up a green orb and fired it point-blank into the ground. The force of it sent Turtwig flying up, dodging a pillar of rock that was just about to hit him. And when he was in the air
Onix flinched seeing that, but it quickly continued as the rocks flew out of the ground and it threw them up, going toward the airborne turtle.
But Ash just smirked and held out his hand, "Let's show them the real thing~" Ash said, looking over to the stands and giving a wink. Then he snapped his fingers, "[Counter Shield]!"
Turtwig's eyes twinkled as he summoned two small [Energy Balls], but these appeared on the bottom of his feet. Then, using the force, he used them to make himself spin and fly down, creating a large green ring covering the arena.
As the ring grew, the incoming rocks got sucked in and used as leverage, as Turtwig took that to bounce off one rock and shoot directly downward, right on top of Onix, hitting it right on the horn.
As soon as Turtwig smashed into Onix's horn, Onix let out a pained roar before falling backward and getting knocked out, while Turtwig landed over its body, shaking his shell happily.
The drone immediately flew over Onix and scanned it, "Onix is unable to battle! The winner is Turtwig!"
Dawn immediately jumped out of her seat, both pom-poms shooting into the air, "YES! GO ASH!"
Piplup jumped up beside her, waving his tiny pom-poms around, "Pip-pip-pip!"
Verity, still holding her pom-poms, stared at the two of them for a second before reluctantly raising hers as well, "...Go Ash."
Ash looked toward the stands and immediately noticed Verity's half-hearted cheering. He gave her a thumbs-up.
Verity's eye twitched, "Don't look so happy about it."
Roark scratched the back of his head, adjusting his hardhat, and laughed, "Well played, but I've still got lots of surprises left," he said, returning Onix to his ball. Then, in his other hand, he already had the next Ball ready.
Roark threw it out, and as it clicked on the ground, out came a Larvitar. But this one was holding a Flame Orb, which immediately burned Larvitar. But this Larvitar had Guts, so instead of getting weaker, it got way stronger.
Ash gave a grin and raised his hand, "Bring it."