Pokemon: The Queen of Kalos

Reunited Just in Time for a Gym Battle!

"Uh, Ash, don't you know who this is?" Zenith giggled.

The others, minus Clemont, gave her a stare. "What?" Serena asked.

She rolled her eyes. "This is Ramos!"

The man smiled. "Our champion is right. She defeated me a few years back. Zenith, wasn't it? Nice to see you again."

"And you two, Monsieur Ramos. Come on, everyone, let's go to the tree!" Zenith responded, beginning to nudge her friends out of the door.

"The tree!? I thought we were going for a gym battle!"

"We are, Ash! Ramos' gym is a giant tree, and since he's a Grass-Type leader, he has all sorts of herbs and teas!"

Our heroes and Ramos made their way to the huge tree gym, everyone but the gym leader himself in awe of its size. "I haven't seen this place in forever! The tree is even bigger than I remember!"

"It's incredible!" Clemont added. "It must have been growing for many years."

As our heroes sipped their tea, Ramos invited them to garden for a while. Ash grew agitated by the task, and began pulling weeds out violently.

Zenith, who had removed many weeds gently, came over to him. "Ash, you can't pull them out like that! If you grow so blinded by them, by what's in front of you, then you'll lose sight of what's important!" She pointed to some sprouts that were hiding beneath the weeds.

"Oh..."

"If you go into every task reckless from impatience, then even things like gym battles and friendships can suffer. Always give a task your all, even if it's something small and silly. Ramos helped me learn that lesson before I challenged him," Zenith explained.

He smiled, and she lifted a hand for him to stand up. Ash took it with a smile.

Serena, who had been pulling weeds with Fennekin and Pancham's help, saw the two of them sharing a moment. Her hands tightened around a weed, and she yanked it up much harder than the others, spraying dirt in her and her Pokemon's eyes.

She groaned before wiping her face, tending to her Pokemon. Serena dared a look back, but Ash and Zenith were gone.

Sighing, she stood up with her Pokemon beside her and left the garden, finding the others having already left.

They regrouped at the top of the tree, where Ash and Ramos were beginning their battle. Goomy was playing with Dedenne and Bonnie while Ash started out with Fletchinder versus Ramos' Jumpluff.

Fletchinder's first Flame Charge was unsuccessful due to Jumpluff's Cotton Guard, and Jumpluff took the initiative to use Sunny Day. Due to its ability being Chlorophyll, Jumpluff's speed stat dramatically increased, but Ash responded by having Fletchinder use repeated Flame Charges to raise its speed as well.

Eventually, despite a second Cotton Guard from Jumpluff, Fletchinder landed a hit and knocked Jumpluff out, causing Serena and Zenith to cheer for him. "Keep going Ash!"

"Yeah, you can totally win!"

Ramos next sent out his Weepinbell. Although Fletchinder tried the same strategy again, Weepinbell, who also had Chlorophyll for an Ability, dodged them and poisoned Fletchinder with Poison Powder.

The fire bird was surrounded in a purple dust before coughing violently, taking damage. "Weepinbell, use Slam."

"Fletchinder, dodge it!" Ash cried, but due to being poisoned, it wasn't able to avoid being smashed by the gym leader's Pokemon.