Upon re-entering the game, I flew straight to Hammerlocke to take the shortcut. Put simply, the shortcut goes through Route 7 and into Spikemuth, with no need to enter Route 9. I did this to try and avoid as many trainers as possible, but this backfired as I ran into Model Mila almost right away. Round one between Ribombee and Killer Frost took two turns before Metal Claw struck, and then we still had to fight Vespiquen. Keeping Killer Frost on the field, I went for Icy Wind, and managed to land it after another two turns.
With Mila out of the way, I barely managed to avoid the next trainer before getting to the Route 9 tunnel. Once out of said tunnel, we ran into a closed-off Spikemuth, and numerous trainers, some gym trainers, standing outside as well. After figuring out what was happening, Marine showed up and told us to come to her. Once reaching her through a secret passageway, she told us she knew another way in, but before showing it to us, she said we had to beat her in battle. Despite my team's HP currently, I accepted, and the fight started.
The first round between Killer Frost and Liepard started with a Hone Claws on my side and a Nasty Plot on her's. On turn two, Liepard used another Nasty Plot, but Metal Claw took her out anyway. Scrafty was next, and knowing that it's a fighting type, Octoling took the field. She got Swaggered the first turn, which was bad, as Octoling attacked herself turn six. It took all the way until turn nine before Slash went off, and that still didn't take out Scrafty. Turn elleven brought it down to the red, but we still weren't done, especially after Marine used a hyper potion the next turn. On turn fourteen, we got off another Slash, and Scrafty's Crunch raised our defense. Turn fifteen Slash went off again, but Scrafty still wasn't out. Finally, turn EIGHTEEN we took out Scrafty with Night Slash. Even with her disobedience, though, I decided to keep Octoling in to take down Toxicroak, who, on the first turn, we one shotted with Psycho Cut. Finally came Morpeko, who got the honor of facing Haircut. THe second turn was a OHKO from Spirit Break, and the fight was FINALLY over.
With Marine defeated, she let us into Spikemuth, and we immediately healed up at the Pokemon Center, and bought a few things from the Poke Mart. Next came the gym challenge, where I stuck Haircut in the front in order to get an advantage. Before we could start, though, we got Piers' league card from Marnie, and the mission began. The first battle came quick, and Haircut took one turn to take out the Team Yell Grunt's Linoone. With him out of the way, we continued onto the next fight, where Haircut took not one, not two, not three, but four turns before he attacked with Spirit Break. Again, we moved onwards, until being ambushed by a pair of grunts jumping out windows! After fighting off one of them, though, which took two turns, they got out of our way. A little while passed before encountering two backflipping grunts. It took me three turns before Haircut used Power-Up Punch to beat Weavile and win. Finally, we came to the last two trainers, another Team Yell Grunt, and Gym Trainer Joshua. Haircut and Slit & Slice took the field to fight off Drapion and Liepard, which was done with minimal difficulty, as Haircut used Power-Up Punch right off the bat to beat Liepard, but Slit & Slice was more reluctant. The next turn, Haircut beat Drapion with Play Rough, and we were done. Onto Piers.
Right before we got there, we saw Marine scolding a number of grunts and gym trainers, who claimed to have shut down the city so she could win the gym challenge. After being allowed in, I healed up Haircut and Slit & Slice, and made my way into the field. At first, Piers was too busy trying to sing to notice, but, after a second, he introduced himself, notified me that Dynamaxing wasn't possible for the stadium, and, as Team Yell made their way behind a metal fence, Piers fired up with energy, and the battle began.
Before the battle even began, Scrafty Intimidated Haircut, but it ended up not mattering, as, after being Faked Out on turn one, Spirit Break finished the round turn two. Next came Obstagoon, who Haircut stayed on the field to face. Obstruct blocked Power-Up Punch, and our defense fell as well. Turn two, we were much luckier, but Obstagoon was still left standing. Turn three, Haircut ignored me, and the same happened for turns four, five, six, seven, and eight. Turn nine, Obstagoon went for Obstruct again, so Spirit Break did nothing but weaken us. Turn ten we still were unlucky, as was eleven. Finally, we took out Obstagoon on turn twelve, and Piers' Malamar took the field. Haircut stayed in, and with a Play Rough on turn one, took out Malamar. Finally we came to the last Pokemon, and Slit & Slice took Haircut's place due to his immunity to poison-type attacks. Skuntank went for screech, while Slit & Slice ignored me. Turn two Sucker Punch hit us, but we still did nothing. The exact same thing followed turn three, but turn fout, we finally got off Iron Head, and the battle was over. With his team defeated, Piers handed over the Dark Badge, and we got a uniform from him as well. Marine then came over, and Piers told her that he wanted her to take over as Gym Leader. She told him she knew, but then told him that she couldn't, since she planned on being the champion. She then thanked us for battling Piers, and we were allowed to leave, getting TM85 Snarl as we did. Then there was a rumble, and we were brought out to Route 9, where Leon thanked us for coming, but told us that he could handle it. Then he ran off, and, of course, I followed him through the Route 9 tunnel. But by the time I had gotten through, Leon was gone, and Hop was there instead. I asked him what the noise had been, and he told me that he had no clue, just that wild Pokemon had started to Dynamax at random. Then we saw the news, where Leon had taken down a giant Perrserker. Then he told me to meet him at Hammerlocke stadium, so I flew there in response.
Once arriving, Hop called me over to him, Leon, and Sonia, who were trying to figure out what was wrong. Then Professor Magnolia showed up, and after a bit more discussion, she asked Sonia to take care of whatever was going on, and they left. Leon then told Hop and I to complete the gym challenge, and left. Hop went back to Spikemuth, and I went into the final stadium, intent on getting my final badge.
