The two Pokémon knew each other as if they were sisters, and nothing Snorunt could do was going to lower Roselia’s confidence in herself; she had become accustomed to this strategy from their many battles.

‘Alright, Snorunt,’ Candice started. ‘We can win this. Use Ice Fang!’

‘It’s not going to work again, Candice!’ Gardenia shouted across the arena. ‘Roselia, start with a Leech Seed!’

Snorunt knew that attack well, and if she fell victim to it again, it could decide the battle. She ran to the right, constantly circling Roselia, as she got closer, making it harder for the Thorn Pokémon to hit her opponent. And as soon as she was close enough to land her attack, Snorunt jumped at Roselia’s side, sending the pair rolling together across the rocks as the Ice Fang successfully hit the target.

Roselia let out a scream of pain as Snorunt bit into her harder. The pair rolled, sending a single long cloud of dust up towards the air, before Roselia managed to shake off Snorunt, and each of the Pokémon rolled away from the other. They got up at the same time, not standing opposite each other, yet not in front of their Trainers, waiting for orders.

‘Magical Leaf!’ Gardenia shouted. ‘Take your opportunity!’

With a wail, Roselia brought her roses together, and separated them to send a flock of colourful leaves flying towards Snorunt. The Ice Pokémon pulled the cloak over her head, and took the attack with all of its force. The leaves scratched and injured, but eventually, they all flew past, degenerating into the air as vibrantly as they had appeared.

All that was left was a cloud of dust, a perfect line created by Roselia’s attack that connected the Pokémon. ‘Icy Wind!’ Candice let a smile slip by. ‘Take your opportunity, Snorunt!’

One easy blow, and the dust slowly turned into cold ice that drifted in the air, back towards Roselia, scratching and stinging her all over her body. Candice shouted another order, and as sudden as the attack had been, Roselia felt the full force of another attack from Snorunt.

She had run towards her opponent, who was distracted by the pain, and slammed head first into the smaller Pokémon’s body with a Headbutt attack. The pair tumbled to the ground again, only this time, Snorunt failed to get up; as hard as she struggled, she was pinned to the dirt.

‘You shouldn’t have tried that, Candice,’ Gardenia grinned. ‘Such a close-ranged attack, with such a determined direction. You know Roselia never forgets an order.’

Candice took a closer look at Snorunt, praying that it wasn’t what she thought it was. She squinted, and saw the green seeds stuck to Snorunt; Leech Seed had hit, and her worst fears were true.

Roselia got up, moving to the far side of the field, as far away from her opponent as she could get. She sent another flock of leaves towards Snorunt as she evaded the Pokémon’s attacks; it was easy to stay out of the way of an attack when the attacker was stationary.

Candice kept on beaming orders, but with each second, Roselia sapped more health, and Snorunt grew weaker. It was a slow defeat, but a defeat nonetheless, and it had eventually dawned; Snorunt gave away, and her head fell to the ground motionlessly.

Gardenia had won.

‘Yes, we did it!’ Gardenia beamed, running to hug Roselia, while Candice went to her Pokémon. ‘I’m really proud of you, Roselia!’

‘Congratulations, Gardenia,’ Candice said, picking Snorunt up and holding her. ‘That was a good battle.’

‘Which means I get the Coal Badge!’ Gardenia said, punching the air in front of her repeatedly. ‘And because you didn’t win, I can still tease you!’

‘That is what we agreed on,’ Candice reluctantly said. ‘We’ll just wait until Roark gets back, then we can get you your Badge.’

‘Of course,’ Gardenia started. ‘That was a tough battle, and as much as I’d like to think I improved, you’ve definitely improved even more. I won’t tease you as much as I used to, but I still will.’

‘You did get stronger,’ Candice smiled. ‘And thank you; I hope we can be better friends to each other this time around.’

‘I believe this means we should hug,’ Gardenia said, wrapping her arms around Candice, and holding her tightly. ‘This is a new life!’

*

‘You’re going to be excited,’ Roark said. ‘I can’t believe you came here so soon.’

‘Yeah well, being a crybaby isn’t going to help me become the Strongest!’ Maylene said. ‘And Crasher Wake is a fast runner!’

‘Clearly!’ Roark laughed. ‘I’m sure Candice will be glad that we’re spending the rest of your vacation together.’

‘I sure hope so,’ Maylene said. ‘That whole ‘becoming Strongest’ thing did terrible stuff to us.’

‘But we’re all back together now, right? And that’s all that matters.’

‘Right!’ Maylene gave a single, violent nod. ‘Why didn’t Candice heal Swinub with you anyway?’

‘Oh, she was busy,’ said Roark, opening the door to the Gym and lowering his voice. ‘She was meeting an old friend.’

‘I see,’ Maylene said, instinctively lowering her voice as well. ‘Do I know that old friend?’

‘Maylene! Long time no see, mindless muscle!’

Maylene gasped at the sight of not just any old friend, but a friend that she had wanted to see for such a long time, and apologise for the way she treated her, but at that moment, all Maylene could think about was how amazing it was that Gardenia was there, right in front of her.

‘Gardenia!’ Maylene shrieked. ‘Gardenia!’

She ran up the stairs, and tackled her old friend to the ground. ‘You’re actually here! You’re here! I can’t believe you’re here!’

‘Me neither!’ Gardenia shouted back, wrapping her arms around Maylene like she had done to Candice just minutes ago. ‘I can’t believe you’re back!’

‘This is going to be amazing! The four of us, back together again! I can’t believe Roark and Candice found you!’

‘No, I found them!’ Gardenia laughed. ‘All they did was stare at my magnificent comeback!’

‘What comeback?! I want to see the comeback!’

‘Well then we’ll reenact it!’ Gardenia laughed again, kicking Maylene as hard as she could, sending her rolling down the stairs and out of the Gym. She got up and dusted herself, and pointed at the two Gym Trainers. ‘You, turn off the light, and you, prepare the throne! We’re doing it again!’