Aleron chuckled and settled in for the night. "Well, I can tell this is going to be interesting."

Margaret settled down herself, and watched as her Espeon took her customary place at the foot of the cot. The Natu would just have to find her own place to sleep. Metang settled himself down next to the cot, and the little Natu fluttered up to rest on top of his head.

The next morning Aleron got up and went to wake up Margaret, grinning. "Alrighty, come on, time to get up. And please don't wake her up again, please, Metang."

Metang rumbled a bit, obviously amused, but just tapped the bedframe all the same. The bed shook, and Margaret sat up.

"What?" she asked. "I was sleeping. It was kind of nice."

"Yes, it's morning," Aleon said, amused. "Time to get up so you can go challenge Falkner. Remember? He's expecting you now."

"Right, right..." Margaret got up and stretched a bit. She had to admit, she was looking forward to the Gym match, if only to see how the birdkeepers dealt with a steel-type. She noticed she seemed to be relying on Metang a lot, but she wasn't too worried. There would definitely be battles where he wasn't her first choice.

Aleron got herself a cup of tea and waited patiently for Margaret to be ready. She wasn't going to be fighting the gym leader, after all. Although she was looking forward to watching the match. It would be interesting, to say the least.

Margaret checked her bag, making sure she had a decent supply of Super Potions, just in case. Then she settled her bag on her shoulder and stood up.

"Alright, I'm ready when you are," she said to Aleron.

Aleron nodded and got up, Vulpix following her as she led the way to the gym. "I've already got this badge, so good luck." She pushed open the door and stood back to let Margaret enter.

Margaret went into the gym and paused. There was just a single platform in the middle of the room. Curious, she stepped onto it, and jumped a bit when it lifted her up to the second level.

"Oooh, a skywalk," she said. "Makes sense."

Aleron chuckled and stayed on the platform, showing that she was not a challenger, just there to watch. Observers were always welcome. "Good luck. Knock 'em dead!" she said with a playful grin, and her Vulpix gave an encouraging yip.

Margaret made her way across the skywalk easily. It wasn't anywhere near as unnerving as Koga's invisible maze, or Sabrina's teleport system. She stopped across from Falkner.

"I take it you really did intend to challenge me, then," Falkner said in lieu of a greeting. Margaret nodded.

"That I did," she replied cheerfully. Reaching to her belt, she pulled off Metang's pokeball. Her mornings may start a bit rough, but she was always up for a good battle.

"Alright, then, let's see if I was right in letting you have that Natu," he replied. Without another word, he released a Pidgeotto. Margaret grinned and released Metang.

Aleron sat back to watch, crossing her arms over her chest and watching with a little smirk. If Falkner thought this would be easy, he was dead wrong. She just wanted to see how quickly Margaret won.

The Pidgeotto started the battle with an order from Falkner. It dove into a Wing Attack, which Metang just braced itself for. As soon as the flying-type was in range, Metang launched into a Thunder Punch, without needing an order from Margaret. The Pidgeotto dropped to the skywalk like a stone.

Aleron smirked and snickered just a little. That was fast.

Falkner recalled his Pidgeotto, looking a bit startled. That was exactly what Margaret had hoped would happen. When he sent out a Skarmory, she was both pleased and surprised. She didn't think a gym leader would bring out such a rare pokemon just for a regulation match.

"Buddy, think you're up for one more round?" she asked her Metang. He made an affirmative noise, so Margaret let him continue.

One well-placed Fire Punch ended the battle.

Aleron snickered and leaned back, amused as she watched them.

"That was... unexpected," Falkner commented as he recalled his Skarmory. Margaret grinned, but was distracted when her Metang started to glow. His form began to grow and change, and when the glow died, a Metagross stood in hos place. Margaret blinked, then grinned.

"Awesome!" she squealed, rushing over to him.

"Wow. Nice timing," Aleron commented with a grin.

Margaret grinned.

"This is a wonderful, wonderful day," she said, pleased. Falkner cleared his throat pointedly, and she turned back to him. "Sorry. Little distracted by my new Metagross."

"I can see that," he said. Pulling out a Zephyr Badge, he handed it to her. "Take care of that badge... and your Natu." Margaret grinned.

"I will," she promised, taking the badge and putting it into her badge case.

Aleron laughed quietly. "So, how does it feel to be the proud owner of two badges?" she asked, moving over so that Margaret could get on the lift again.

"Two, ten, it's all the same," Margaret replied, recalling Metagross. She stepped onto the lift with Aleron. "I knew he was close to evolving. I'm betting it was that match with the Skarmory that did it."

"Probably. Skarmory is still a tough opponent, even if he did take it out with one blow." Aleron shrugged. "You ready to go or do you want to stop by the pokemon center again?"

"Back to the Pokemon Center," Margaret replied. "I want to make sure Metagross is alright after that, and it's a good idea to get everyone checked over before heading out on the road again."

Aleron nodded her agreement, heading back to the pokemon center. "So, where do you want to go after this? Head back to the Ruins or go up towards Dragon's Den?"