At the Eterna Gym, the heated battle between Lady Berlitz and Gardenia continues. Roserade keeps driving its two vines into the ground to attack via the underground, and Prinplup is still having a hard time evading the thorned whips which could shoot out from anywhere on the battlefield.

Peeking in through the windows, Pearl grunts that it is really impossible to predict the exit points of the vines, and says it is almost like an invisible foe. Aside from the fact that the thorned vines are dealing considerable damage on Prinplup with each successful hit, the long distance between the two sides is making the blue penguin's counterattacks weak and futile.

Gardenia grins that her challenger seems to be running out of means to retaliate, and tells Roserade to further increase its pace of attacking. Right away, the rumbling sound underground gets more intense, and the bouquet Pokemon's thorned whips eject with an even stronger force to whack on Prinplup's body, causing Dia, Pearl and Lady Berlitz to all cry out in panic.

Dia and Pearl decides that they must do something to help, and resorts to the same method they used at the Oreburgh Gym.

Pearl: Speaking of Pokemooon!
Dia: Speaking of Pokemooon~
Pearl: There are different attaaacks.
Dia: Different attacks~
Pearl: Attacks can be classified into either physical or special.
Dia: Really!? Can you specify some for me?
Pearl: Of course, such as...
Statue: HEY!!! You two are trying to give hints to the challenger by Manzai again, aren't you!?
Pearl, Dia: Darn, we're busted~!!

Crouching down to catch their breaths, Lady Berlitz and Prinplup think hard to come up with a solution to their situation. Gardenia grins that any tactic will prove useless, and says with her Roserade's vines, there is no way she will lose.

Meanwhile, on the top floor of the building with spikes on its sides which is known as the Galactic Eterna Building, the tied up Bike Shop Owner sits against the wall right beneath the window, and once again calls out for help. He struggles against the ropes that are restraining him, and can't understand why he is still held captive after he has confessed all he knows.

In front of him, a whole room of men and women who wear astronaut-like suits with a yellow G on their chest keep mumbling a strange dialect among themselves, and the two who are keeping watch on the Bike Shop Owner reply with a string of indecipherable words that make the man wonder if they understand what he says after all. He notices that these people all have turquoise coloured hair that is styled into a helmet shape, and everyone's blank expressions look as if they've been brainwashed and are under manipulation.

Suddenly, two of them point towards the window with a confused look, and the Bike Shop Owner turns his head around to see that two energy globes with different content are slowly floating towards them. One of the strange individuals gets curious and opens up the window, but soon regrets his decision.

Down on the grassland below, Cynthia lets out a holler, and Spiritomb releases its Psychic on the globe that contains Prinplup's attack. The blast of water instantly jets through the open window on the building's top floor, and knocks all the strange people flying across the room. They hurry towards the window and look out to see who is the culprit, and see a fierce-looking Cynthia who stands proud next to her intimidating Garchomp and Spiritomb. Sharing a frightened look with each other, the strange individuals immediately scurry away and soon disappear through the elevator door, leaving the Bike Shop Owner yelling after them.

Cynthia hears the man's cry for help from below, and is amused that her presence alone has managed to scare the whole team away. She motions towards Spiritomb, and the forbidden Pokemon quickly floats the remaining energy globe through the window. With a snap, the Psychic seal bursts apart, and the trapped Razor Leaf of Roo swoops down to cut away the ropes restraining the Bike Shop Owner, causing the man the shout out in terror during the process. Down below, Cynthia believes that the Bike Shop Owner should have regained freedom, and decides to call it a day for now. Without another word, she turns around, and leaves the scene with Garchomp and Spiritomb.

A few moments later, the Bike Shop Owner exits from the building, and wonders who it was that helped him. He spots a leaf floating by, and recognizes it as part of the trapped Razor Leaf attack that freed him earlier. He rationalizes that it must have fallen out of the window when the strange energy globe that encased it broke apart, but a rice grain on the leaf soon catches his attention.

Back at the Eterna Gym, Gardenia grins that it is time to escalate their battle, and calls Cherubi forward. The cherry Pokemon unleashes a Grass Knot, and the long grass beneath Prinplup immediately cluster into a loop to trip it over, causing it to crash head-first on the ground. Gardenia states that the blue Penguin must be wondering why the attack seems to hurt more than when it was still a Piplup, and says the damage dealt by Grass Knot increases with heavier foes.

Prinplup shakes off the dizziness from its crash, and struggles to get back on its feet, but Roserade's thorned whips start shooting out from the ground again, and it hurriedly ducks out of the way. However, Cherubi trips it over with another Grass Knot, and it ends up receiving damage from both its fall and the whack of the vines.

Dia gets increasingly worried at Lady Berlitz's situation, and Pearl grunts that the addition of Grass Knot simply makes it even harder to evade the vines. Prinplup shrieks out in pain as it gets struck again, and subsequently falls on its face when it gets tripped by yet another Grass Knot. It pants to catch it breath as it lays on the ground which is now full of holes and grass loops, and Gardenia wonders if it wishes that it has not evolved after all.

Prinplup gets irritated at the remark and attempts another Bubble, but the attack disintegrates into thin air midway through the distance, and hardly anything remains when it reaches Roserade and Cherubi. Gardenia states that the blue penguin is running out of health points, and is obviously unable to pull off any form of retaliation. She grins that she has essentially won the combat with her invincible strategy, and says Lady Berlitz will be better off giving up now than having Prinplup further injured.

The Eterna Gymleader's mentioning of the term 'strategy' causes Lady Berlitz to remember Cynthia's advice to her, and the girl recalls what the young woman said about the importance of knowing how to turn the opponent's advantage to one's own benefit in a battle. Looking around to reassess their current situation, Lady Berlitz thinks hard to come up with a strategy, and soon realizes that there is a way to counterattack.

Gardenia decides that it is time to finish things off, and Roserade prepares to dig in its thorned whips again. However, a rumbling sound suddenly comes from underground, and Gardenia finds herself clueless as to what it could be as it draws nearer to her side. Without warning, a white cloud of air blasts out from the openings that Roserade created with its vines, and washes over both Roserade and Cherubi.

Dia and Pearl gasp in astonishment when they see the two grass Pokemon get frozen in ice, and slowly topple over motionless on the ground. They exclaim that Roserade and Cherubi are both knocked out, and start to rejoice at Lady Berlitz's victory.

Gardenia remains stunned at what just happened, and gradually comes to realize that the move that just came out from the openings is a Blizzard. Lady Berlitz nods that it is indeed the powerful ice attack which is capable of freezing the opponent with its extremely cold air, and says it would not have worked if she used it normally, since the coldness would have dispersed completely after moving across the long distance between them.

Whoever is providing the voice for the dragon-like statue is apparently amused by what it saw through the camera in the statue's eyes, and comments that Gardenia has actually built her own demise with all the tunnels she created. At that moment, Gardenia finally bolts with understanding that the multiple openings Roserade made with its thorned vines have formed a collection of underground tunnels, and these direct connections have eventually provided a pathway for Prinplup's Blizzard attack, allowing it to remain cold as it travelled the distance, and hit with full accuracy when it blasted out from her side.

Lady Berlitz grins that the multiple Grass Knot on the battlefield also helped, and says they provided coverage when Prinplup unleashed its attack into the openings. Gardenia is still trying to accept the fact that her challenger has turned her signature strategy back onto her, and continues to wear an astounded expression. But she states that her defeat cannot be denied, and presents Lady Berlitz with the Forest Badge as an acknowledgment of her skills. The Lady pins her second badge to her scarf next to the Coal Badge, and Prinplup clutches its hands with a satisfied look behind her.

Later, Lady Berlitz exits the gym to rejoin Dia and Pearl, and voices her gratitude as the two boys congratulate her on the victory. Suddenly, a man who wears a cycling helmet jumps out in front of them, and is glad that he has found them. The trio wonders who he is, and the man states that he knows it was them who rescued him at the Galactic Eterna Building. Without waiting for a response from the young trainers, he says they are being too humble to not take credit for it, but grins that their denial won't convince him because he has proof in his hands.

With that, the man takes out the leaf which he found earlier, and picks up the rice grain that is stuck on its edge. He states that it is of a special crop line which is only grown and harvested in the town of Twinleaf, and isn't sold anywhere in Eterna. It signifies that his rescuers are travellers hailing from another area, and after asking around, he learnt that the three of them are the only foreigners in the city. He feels grateful to have caught them before they leave, and is determined to repay them with wonderful gifts. All this time, the trio remains clueless as to what the man is saying, and starts to wonder if they have encountered some kind of lunatic.

The next morning, at Hotel Great Eterna, the frontdesk captain greets Dia, Pearl and Lady Berlitz cordially, and informs them that a package has arrived for them. A bellboy politely bows to the three, and proceeds to pull over a cart that has three large boxes on it. On the surface of each box is the image of a foldable bicycle next to the name Rad Rickshaw's Cycle Shop, signed personally by the Bike Shop Owner himself.

Between the mysterious bronze statue, the strange building with spikes, the eccentric gymleader, and now this bizarre Bike Shop Owner, the trio feels that Eterna is indeed a peculiar city...

(Original Japanese Jokes)

1. Dia and Pearl attempt to use a Manzai verse on Pokemon attacks to give hints to Lady Berlitz, but the gym statue stops them before they succeed, and thus the duo fail to get to their main point.