[A/N: Hey! I'm back with another part of Swords and Shields. This time, the part isn't scuffed! Yes yes, I know, I knew I could do it. Oh, and I'd also like to say thanks for sticking around in the story to this point. This is the last part to Chapter 1, just thought I'd mention that. Anyways, enjoy Part 4.]
About 12 minutes beforehand...
Gloria sauntered down the steps of a staircase, and waltzed over the stone bridge into Route Two. 'At least the scenery is good.' Gloria thought to herself while plodding towards the swaying tall grass. She saw Hop waiting for her by the sign saying, '02'. "Over here Gloria!" Hop said while waving both his hands. Gloria walked up next to the tall grass to face Hop. "Alright Gloria- it's time we fill up out teams a bit-" Hop almost finished his statement before being interrupted by Leon, who appears out of nowhere. "And I'm here to teach you how!" Leon shouted suddenly. Gloria was surprised that both of them didn't know that she already had Poke-balls. "You'll need to capture Pokémon to fill up your Pokedex-" Leon, pointlessly explained. "Lee!? Where'd you come from?" Hop yelled, very confused. "Only..." Leon then noticed that Gloria already had two Poke-balls hanging from the side of her backpack. "Look at you, Gloria! You've already caught a Pokémon!" Leon mentioned, completely ignoring Hop's existence. "Your Mum gave you those, didn't she?" Leon speculated. "Well, this bag always had Poke-balls in it. My Mum keep some to make sure that when I went on my journey, I was prepared. So, yes." Gloria responded, while patiently waiting to leave and get the whole hike-thing over and done with. "I'll give you some more Poke-balls, in return, you'll catch plenty of Pokémon, got it?" Leon offered. "Sure." Gloria accepted. "The Pokémon around here seem to be itching to be caught, it's almost like they're desperate to join a trainer's team, wouldn't you say?" Leon stated before handing Gloria a bag of twenty Poke-balls. 'Where'd he get all of these from? Well. He's the champion so he probably just asked for it.' Gloria pondered while stuffing the container in her own bag. "I guess. And thanks." Gloria responded in an unsure tone. She was grateful, don't get her wrong, but she also felt that this was cheating. "Your team will become very strong and resilient. So, do your Champion some good and try to train some." Leon instructed before running off down the hill. Hop and Gloria shared a confused look at each other. "What a champion." Gloria said in a joking tone. "Well, guess I'll go catch a bunch of Pokémon. I bet the Professor will be shocked when she see's my collection." Hop explained before running down the same path Leon did earlier. Gloria didn't really want to catch a Pokémon, at least not currently. She couldn't really explain it, it was like she was just being lazy but still also felt like she had a reason for not doing it. 'Whatever, I'll just catch some later on.' After that thought, Gloria wondered down the very lengthy hill.
On the way down the cliff side hill. Gloria saw a lot of Pokémon. She could've tried to catch a bunch of them, but that sounded like a lot of work for just filling a Pokedex. Gloria's not planning on being a Pokémon Master or whatever, so what's the point? She decided to let Gray and Orwell out to have a little small nature walk with her while she's slowly making her way down the hillside. The human and the two Pokémon walked through the tall grass hoping not to get randomly attacked out of nowhere. The grass around them was rustling pretty hard, and the random shadows inside the grass was kind of menacing. Then it hit Gloria, she really was starting her Pokémon journey, most people wait their entire childhood to simply start their journey. And then who knows when it'll end. She's heard stories of people traveling the world, seeing things, meeting people, living their life as a explorer or treasure hunter. Her Grandmother was one of those training fanatics, she was a trainer for her entire life. She even died a trainer. Her Grandmother never retired, she died from a stroke while she was asleep in a hotel. After that, realization, Gloria and her Glorians are out of the grass and continuing down the path. Gloria looked at Orwell and thought to herself, 'This is... the beginning of an actual adventure.' Orwell just gave a look back, confused.. "It's nothing." Gloria stated. Orwell just shrugged it off and went back to walking.
About 24 minutes later...
The trio had finally made it to the Professor's Home. It was right across a bridge. "Finally! My legs are bloody killing me!" Gloria shouted while falling to her knees. Gray and Orwell tried to help her up, didn't really end up doing anything, and just like that they walked over to the bridge and stepped foot to the Professor's property. Gloria saw to the left a Battle Court and ahead of her was Hop, who was in front of the Professor's house. Hop turned behind him, "Gloria! Come on! The Professor is here!" Hop yelled. Gloria skipped over to Hop and looked past him. And there she was, the Professor of Galar. 'Damn, she was a lot older then I expected her to be.' The Champion was there also, "So, have you unraveled the secrets of Dynamax phenomenon yet?" Leon asked while putting his hand on his hip. "Oh heavens no. There is still a lot of questions to be answered. I'd hope my granddaughter would've continued my work but unfortunately...-" The Professor suddenly stopped and looked over at Hop and Gloria. "Oh excuse me, I didn't notice my guests had arrived." The Professor said with a slight smile. "My name is Magnolia. Welcome young trainers. Now, let us go indoors now." Professor Magnolia politely instructed. First impressions, Gloria thought the old lady was interesting, she reminded Gloria of those old mentors from TV that seemed kind and reasonable, until the protagonist decides to learn things from them and then they turn into the most hardcore creature on the planet. Gloria doesn't really think the Professor is that kind of stereotype, but the possibility is there. Gloria puts her Glorians back into their Poke-balls as the three musketeers follow Magnolia into her home.
They all entered into the Professor's home and stood. Magnolia spotted the increased number of Poke-balls on Hop's belt. "Hop Dear, I see Wooloo has made some new friends." The Professor said. Hop simply nodded. Magnolia turned her head over to Gloria. "And you must be Gloria?" The Professor questioned. "Mhm. That's me." Gloria responded. "I trust you've received the Pokedex add-on, or the Dex itself?" Magnolia asked. Gloria was sort of confused. She didn't know they had physical Dexs there. It doesn't really matter now but still, Sonia didn't care to mention that? Gloria assumes the physical Pokedex costs money or something similar. 'I'm going to be honest with myself, I kind of would've preferred the physical Pokedex.' Gloria thought. "Add-on." Gloria answered, continuing to keep a neutral expression. "I'll see you complete it in no time!" The Professor's eyes shined when she said that. It was chilling, like it was a command, at least to Gloria it is. "Say, do you know about Dynamaxing Gloria?" Leon queried. "Professor Magnolia has spent years and years researching the Dynamax Phenomenon. You've got to know a lot about the field to use Dynamaxing to it's fullest potential!" Leon queried again. Gloria had heard of Dynamaxing before, but she hasn't been able to get anyone to elaborate on it. "Oh, Leon. There you go again, rambling on about Pokémon." Magnolia spoke. "There are other things worth talking about you know, like how many types of Tea there are!" The Professor suggested, but with a very subtle, passive-aggressive tone. "Hey Professor, do me a favor, would you?" Hop does that pose again where he uses his hands as support for his head. "Convince Lee to endorse me- I mean..." Hop looks over at Gloria, "-us for the gym challenge." Hop asked. "Oh Leon, why wouldn't you endorse them?" Magnolia looked at Leon. "Hop and Gloria have just started out as trainers..." Leon said in defense. "Dearie, wasn't you dream was to have everyone in the Galar region be a very strong trainer?" Magnolia argued. Gloria thought Magnolia had a point, but... Leon's was stronger. You can't just immediately hire someone on the spot, there's something called interviews. At least that's what Gloria thinks. "You're not wrong... that dream is the reason I gave the two of them Pokémon in the first place." Leon said, mostly targeted at himself. Hop was bursting with anticipation. Gloria... really couldn't care less. "Alright, how about this then?" The Champion stated, increasing the anticipation in Hop even more. "Let's see if you two can give me such a brilliant battle that I'm left with no choice but to endorse but of you." Champion Leon declared.
"Deal!" Hop yelled, already ready to battle. Leon turned to Gloria, "Sure, I've got nothing better to do." Gloria agreed. Gloria and Hop ran outside to the court, getting ready to have a Champion Time. The Professor and the Champion follow soon after and stand in the sidelines. "I'm going to become the greatest Pokémon Trainer there ever was! And to do that, I need endorsement from Lee! So, hit me with everything you got so we can prove to Lee we've got what it takes!" Hop encouraged, or at least attempted to. Gloria nodded in agreement as she took out her Poke-ball. Magnolia walked up next to Leon, "I'm rather interested at how these young trainers battle." The Professor disclosed. "Listen! The only reason I'm unbeatable is because I learn from every battle I take part in and see. So show me something good in this battle!" Leon shouted. 'Bit unnecessary and obvious but whatever.' Gloria thought to herself. Hop readied his Poke-ball. "It's time for my legend to begin!" Hop shouted into the air as he threw his ball into battle.
Meanwhile...
Victor stared at the house in the far distance, he was only halfway there and it was already sundown. "AGH!" He groaned, "Why is it so isolated from everything else!? Why would someone live like this!? You'd have to do a five kilo hike upwards to get milk from the supermarket!" Victor shouted to himself. "Stupid goddamn professor." He said to himself, again. Victor sighed as he continued to trek downwards the cliff side. The brunette looked around at the scenery around him, there was Pokémon chirping, flowers blooming, and other things, like Pokémon chirping and flowers blooming. "God, this place just looks like the same piece of scenery is just constantly repeating." Victor said, the sounds of his footsteps probably maddening him. Most of the trek downwards could be described as Victor making the same quips over and over again, until he has to walk across some tall grass. Normally, Victor would just go around it, or jump over it. But this time wasn't really a choice, it was either; go through the grass, practically defenseless against wild Pokémon, or; stand there and die of starvation. Victor does a drawn out sigh and starts slowly moving through the tall grass. The reason why he hates tall grass is because there's a lot of aggressive wild Pokémon that just attack you, and he doesn't have a Pokémon to protect him. Victor does have a butterfly knife. And with that, Victor reaches into his bag and pulls out his trusty butterfly knife. He does some quick flashy tricks with it until getting serious and walking through the tall grass. Victor kept his knife close to him. 'Christ, why am I even doing this? I don't even have a Pokémon, so why should I care about Dynamaxing?' Victor questioned himself while still moving towards the house.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a random Rookidee appears, and starts charging towards the thief. Victor, completely shocked and dazed gets pecked straight in the arm by the Rookidee. It cuts the side of his wrist as the Rookidee flies by his arm once again from behind him. Victor seems to be getting increasingly upset at this Pokémon. He gets up and sees the bird flying down for another hit and then- Victor sticks a butterfly knife in between the Rookidee's eyes. The Pokémon falls to the ground along with the knife stuck in it. Blood begins seeping out of the hole that the knife resides in. Victor looks in disgust and anger. "Crap... can't I get arrested for this?" He says to himself, looking from left to right, making sure nobody saw that. Victor swiftly pulls the bloody knife off of the Rookidee. Victor glances at the side of his wrist, it was bleeding pretty bad, and the fact that he had a knife with blood on it could spark a very weird conversation with the next person he sees. He quickly tries patching up his wrist by using cloth ripped off from his jeans. It sorta works. He also cleans up the blood off his knife. "Okay, okay. I'm done with all this, I just need to back away from the scene." Victor slowly began to walk away from the tall grass, really hoping nobody saw what just happened. He resumed his journey down the cliff side, just more wary of Pokémon around him. Victor also realized that he was pretty close to the bottom, and that he saw some sort of Pokémon battle happening. Victor didn't really like Pokémon battles, they were always kind of pointless to him.
At the bottom of the cliff...
"USE EMBER!" Gloria commanded Orwell. The scorbunny compiled and prepared a fireball, right off the oven. Meanwhile, Hop's Rookidee was dazed after being hit with another ember while it was flying, causing it to crash to the ground. "Rookidee, get up!" Hop shouted to his Pokémon. Orwell had just fired the fireball towards Rookidee. The red hot ball hit the Rookidee just as it had woken up sending it to the ground. The bird had definitely fainted. "Return!" Shouted Hop as he held his Poke-ball out for his Rookidee to go back in. Leon seemed particularly impressed about that part of the battle, the Professor on the other hand didn't seem to amazed. Hop put Rookidee's ball back onto his belt, he then took out his next Poke-ball and threw it out onto the field. "Go Grookey!" He shouted as the frog came out of the mid-air flying ball. Gloria's face shifted with pride, she was pretty sure she could do this fight with Orwell a little damaged, she also had Gray, just incase.
Victor had just gotten down to the bottom of the tortuous cliffside. He had a sigh of relief. "Chris, and I have to go back up that!" He said with despair in his face. He looked ahead to see across a bridge, the Professor's house straight ahead. What he assumed was the Professor was watching two teenagers battle each other with Pokémon, but there was someone else watching... 'Oh friggin' hell-' Victor quickly ducked into the bushes next to the bridge. All the pointy twigs poking him him kind of got on his nerves, but he could bear it. He peaked his head up above the bushes to see what was going on. "Is, the Champion just watching two teenagers fight with Pokémon? Actually, why is the professor watching them?" Victor quietly said to himself. He then realized something, whose to say the old lady is the Professor? All the other Professors are usually pretty young. He's pretty sure that the Professor where he comes from is somewhat young, and basically a model. Victor just continued watching the fight, waiting for a good opportunity to slither in.
"USE TACKLE!" Gloria shouted to Orwell, who was in pretty bad condition. Well, Grookey was in bad condition too. Orwell tried his best to charge the frog, Grookey was too fatigued to do another branch poke. "Grookey!" Hop yelled into the air before the scorbunny smashed into him. The frog fell to the ground and fainted. Gloria spun around and pulled a Charizard pose, Orwell even joined in. Hop looked a bit embarrassed, but kept it in. "Oof! Gutted I lost, but I expect nothing less from my rival." Hop said. Gloria giggled a bit, she was kind of proud since she beat three Pokémon by just using one. "And I even got my Poke-ball throw perfect too..." Hop said. "The sting of defeat and the joy of victory... I guess that's what'll continue making us stronger, huh?" Hop disclosed. Leon stepped in between Hop and Gloria, "Hop! Gloria! Well, after seeing a match like that I have been given no choice but too..." The anticipation was going to kill Hop, and Gloria actually seemed to care... just a little bit. "-Give you both Champion Endorsement for the gym challenge!" The Champion shouted. Gloria's eyes sparked in the moment, she actually felt like jumping up and down. And Hop may or may not of had a mini-heart attack. Leon reached into his pockets and pulled out two letters of endorsement, and gave one each to Hop, and Gloria. "Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Thank you Lee! I swear I'm going to win my way through the Gym Challenge to reach you!" Hop shouted while jumping up and down out of excitement. "Thanks Leon." Gloria said, trying to keep her composure. "You may both still be young, and still rough around the edges, but that was a proper battle. I could feel the intensity and excitement rattling through my bones." Leon complimented. Champion Leon then turned to Hop, "Hop, you've got a tendency to get caught up in things that don't really matter, like how good you did throwing your Poke-ball. I've been concerned about you worrying about these little things for quite a while now, but, it seems you've grown a bit since I've last seen you little brother." Leon explained. Hop simply nodded to the slight criticism. Leon then turned to Gloria, "You did great Gloria, but... you need to start strategizing a bit more. You barely won that battle by just brute forcing it." Leon explained also. "Got it." Gloria nodded. Hop looked over at Gloria, "Alright, Gloria. You and me are going to train against one other to fight for the Champion's title!" Hop said. "Yeah, we are." Gloria stated. "The more we keep battling against one other, the more our Pokémon will grow." Hop disclosed. Gloria just nodded.
The brunette in reddish clothing looked ahead at the battle court. "Well, they've finished their battle... so... why are they not leaving? Wait, is that girl and other guy the Professor's grandkids? I guess it would explain why their not leaving." Victor pondered. He continued to sit in the semi-thorny bush. "Come on... hurry up-" Victor stopped in his sentence when he looked up to see two small stars falling out of the sky. "Holy crap are those meteors?" Victor said.
"HUH!? WHAT'RE-WHAT" Hop was speechless, he pointed up to the sky. There were two small shooting stars about to hit the ground. Gloria was pretty confused. Magnolia, wasn't very confused. Leon was pretty dumbfounded. The two small stars struck the grass. Gloria and Hop cautiously walked up to the two fallen stars, knelt down and tried to grab them
"What the hell!?" Victor quietly shouted to himself. He was expecting an explosion in the distance or something like that. 'Why are they picking it up, wouldn't something like that produce moderate amounts of radiation? It's literally glowing!' Victor thought to himself. 'Wait, probably not. All their doing is degrading the meteor's surface by touching it. So, I guess it's fine.' Victor added to his thought process.
"Gloria, I think these are Wishing Stars." Hop stated. Gloria stared at the 'Wishing Star' in her hand, she had heard of these things, just never seen them. "With one of these my Pokémon can Dynamax! My Pokemon are gonna be massive! Yea!" Hop yelled with excitement. Something dawned on Gloria, the possibility of two Wishing Stars just falling out of the sky, right next to the house of the Professor that's researching them, and there's conveniently two of them. What kind of luck is that? But, it doesn't really matter. She still has the ability to Dynamax now. She'll wonder if this was divine intervention or just pure luck later on. Leon and Magnolia walk up to the two of them, "They say Wishing Stars fall upon those who have a true wish in their heart." Leon explained. 'That's ironic. Because I don't really have any sort of wish.' Gloria pondered to herself. "I will become the greatest trainer ever." Hop said, being serious, probably. "I will become the greatest trainer ever!" Hop yelled this time. "I WILL become the greatest trainer ever!" Hop shouted for the last time. He exhaled. "There, I said it three times, surely it'll become true now." Hop disclosed. "Don't be silly Hop, those Wishing Stars are technically meteors containing immense unknown power. Sort of like... the meteor that gave this planet organic microscopic creatures." Professor Magnolia explained. "So, your saying the rock is alive?" Hop questioned. "...No." Magnolia stated. "Well, the Wishing Stars in that state can't do anything. Here, hand it to me and I'll have it sorted." Magnolia offered. Hop and Gloria complied as they gave the Professor the two Wishing Stars. Hop stated to get excited again, like usual, "That mad Pokémon back at Slumbering Weald and now this? Woah, it's finally beginning to feel like the start of a real adventure." Hop observed. "I appreciate your excitement boy, but, you must save it for tomorrow's journey." Magnolia suggested. 'Wait, tomorrow? Really? That fast?' Gloria thought to herself. It was really surprising that she was starting her Pokémon Journey tomorrow. Time files by.
Victor was hiding in the bush, deciding if it would be a good idea to even go over there because the Champion is still hanging around there for some reason. When all of a sudden, he hears footsteps behind him. He almost got to duck back into the bush until he heard the footsteps stop. Victor thought about just getting up and running off, but, what if the person behind him has a ranged Pokémon? Victor slowly turned his head around while still being in the bush. It was that Sonia girl. They stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Victor stood up. "I have an explanation if you want to hear it." He hoped she had a shred of mercy. Sonia slowly pulled up a wanted poster with his face on it. "This you?" Sonia asked, with a damned smug look on her face. Victor wanted to punch her right then and there. Considering he's almost exactly as tall as her, it would be possible. Victor just did a sigh and kept a fairly annoyed face. "No. That's not me." Victor sarcastically disclosed. 'Holy Christ, I am really off my game recently. I've been caught TWICE! Maybe this region is smarter than I originally thought.' He thought to himself. "Right." Sonia said before grabbing Victor by the ear. "OW!" Victor flinched as Sonia dragged him towards the Professor's house. Victor shouted profanities in his head as he was slowly dragged to the house. 'WHAT THE HELL!? DON'T THEY HAVE A COP STATION HERE OR SOMETHING!? A JAIL-CELL WOULD BE MORE TOLERABLE THEN THIS!' Victor yelled in his head.
Gloria seemed pretty mentally prepared for a Pokémon Journey, what's the worse that could happen? If anything extremely bad happened the police would be involved. All of a sudden, Sonia came in next to them while holding some guy by the ear. The guy looked around her age, the same brown hair as Gloria, just a bit darker. 'What a second... that's the Thief from the wanted poster!' Gloria realized. "Seems like I came back just in time for all the excitement." Sonia said, carrying the excitement. Gloria and the Thief shared this look. The kind of look you give someone when you both mutually agree that you will absolutely hate each other's guts. "Hey, isn't that the Thief we encountered last night?" Hop stated. "Thief?" Magnolia said before looking at the red-jacket boy.
'THIS SITUATION JUST KEEPS GETTING WORSE!' Victor thought.
"Yeah, you're right. That is the thief from last night." Leon disclosed. "He was on a bunch of wanted posters around town." Gloria explained. "Ah. So that's how you recognized him?" Leon asked. "Yep." Sonia answered while still holding Victor's ear. "Can you let go of my friggin' ear?" The Thief asked. "Fine." Sonia agreed as she released her fingers. Victor dropped to the ground, as he slowly got up, Gloria could hear him mumbling curse words. The Thief dusted himself off, while occasionally glancing at one of the four musketeers. The Thief sighed, and finished dusting off himself. Everyone was staring at the Thief. "What're you all looking at?" The Thief barked. Gloria felt the need to look away, but she kept looking anyway. "What do you people want?" The Thief questioned. "Well, what's your name?" Leon had a question.
'Should I tell them my actual name... either way they'll know I'm lying. If I tell them I'm John Darling, they'll call me out for lying. If I tell them I'm Donald Derr, they'll call me out for lying. They could probably catch on that neither of these names are my actual name. Screw it, I'll tell them.' Victor pondered to himself before deciding.
"It's Victor." Victor replied. 'Heh. It kind of sounds like Victory.' Gloria thought while smirking. 'What's the skid-looking girl laughing about?' Victor thought. "What's all your names?" Victor asked. "I'm Leon, the Champion." The Champion responded. "I'm Hop! The next greatest trainer ever!" Hop yelled after getting a bit too excited again. "Gloria." Gloria stated. "Alright, great. So, do you guys have a police station here or what?" Victor proposed. Everyone looked at each other because they realized that they don't have a police station here. The only police station near Wedgehurst is one town over. "Uh... Professor with me. Sonia, do something." Leon commanded. The Champion and the Professor walked off to an area where they couldn't be heard. "Hey, you lots, would you like something to eat? I've been totally obsessed with making the most trendy curries." Sonia offered while twirling her hair. 'Is she trying to relate to me, or something? Because it's not working.' Victor thought to himself. "Curry, seriously?" Victor judged. Sonia just glared at him. "I could use something to eat." Gloria accepted. "Heck yeah. I skipped lunch today." Hop stated in agreement. The three of them looked at Victor. "I don't have a choice, now do I?" Victor disclosed before crossing his arms in frustration. "Alright, it's settled then. I'll go start cooking." Sonia ran inside. "Why do you look so grimy?" Hop questioned the Thief. "And why do you look like a street performer? One of life's greatest mysteries I guess!" Victor said in retaliation. This may sound horrible, but Gloria almost laughed at that. "Alright, alright... geez." Hop trailed off before walking into the building. Victor and Gloria stared at each other, "Why are you-" Gloria was interrupted by Leon suddenly entering the scene. "Alright, I have an offering." Leon started. "There's a police station in the next town, Motostroke. Victor will stay with the Professor for tonight and Gloria, you'll escort Victor to the police station." He explained. Gloria and Victor were both equally confused. "Woah woah woah, I'm not saying with the five-hundred year fossil, okay? Neither am I hangin' with Ms. I Have Not Said More Then Three Words This Entire Time." Victor barked aggressively. Gloria raised one eyebrow, he was kind of right, she barely says anything most of the time. The Champion was a bit shocked by this, almost every single trainer he's met has been at least tolerable. Well, expect for maybe one. The Professor seemed pretty insulted. "This hundred-year old fossil can handle a paddle well." The Professor menacingly stated. Victor basically saw fire in Professor's Magnolia's eyes. Although, the only thing the Professor achieved was make Victor feel more threatened. "Can you handle me sticking the paddle up your-" Victor was cut off by the Champion, trying to stop this before it gets anymore heated. "Okay! That's enough of that! How about this? We feed you food and water, and give you a warm bed to sleep in. In return, you travel with Gloria to the police station in the next town and THEN we'll negotiate your charges." Leon offered. Victor looked at Gloria, and then Magnolia. He sighed. "Fine." Victor begrudgingly accepted. He tighten his crossed arms as he walked over to the door leading to the inside of the Professor's house. Leon, Gloria, and Magnolia all have a collective sigh of annoyance. "This is stressful..." Leon speaks to himself, thinking aloud. Champion Leon turns to Gloria, she was pretty split about the whole thing. What does she get out of this? "Gloria. I don't really want you to be forced into escorting this guy, he seems a little jumpy." Leon stated. "Tell you what, you do this and I'll..." Leon had to come up with something on the spot. "-cover all your ticket purchases for Gym Battle seats?" Leon said. "Hmm... Deal." Gloria agreed. Leon and the teenager shook hands confirming an activated deal. After the deal was made, Gloria skipped across the battlefield to the Professor's house where she could smell Sonia's curry cooking.
Dinner was sort of awkward. Victor didn't try to start anymore fights as he was mentally exhausted from the incident up on the cliff side. Gloria was pretty happy with dinner, as was also Hop, who ate seconds. Sonia was still pretty heated about being lied to her face, while being angry, she completely forgot that she had given a Pokedex to Victor. Magnolia didn't really care for the argument. Leon was worried for Gloria's tolerance of Victor. She seemed pretty resilient beforehand. After finishing her dinner, Gloria left the home to head to her home, while walking up the cliff side, Hop catches up with her. They talked for a bit, and then parted ways to their houses. Victor eventually finishes his food and immediately went to the bedroom he was assigned to, and went to sleep.
The next day...
Gloria awoke bright and early with excitement on her face and joy in her eyes. She hopped up from her bed and gleefully got ready for her journey through the Galar region. Her Mother made a joke about her 'finally being enthusiastic about something' once Gloria got downstairs. Both of them simply laughed as Gloria was fed breakfast. After that, Gloria swiftly got her ridiculously oversized bag strapped on. She walked in front of her front door, and thought to herself, 'Wow. I'm really about to do this...' She turned around to see her Mother standing next to the kitchen counter. "Oh... Gloria. Look how much you've grown. My little girl is about to go on her Pokémon Journey." Her Mom looked like she was about to tear up, "Heh. Bye Mum!" Gloria waved while slowly exiting her house. "Bye, make sure to have fun! And show! And wash your clothes! And make-" Gloria was already gone before her Mom could finish her sentence.
Gloria looked at the two Pokemon eating whatever her Mom put out for them this time. Snorlax was there eating with them, also. "See you Snorlax!" Gloria fare-welled to the small creature. The Snorlax nodded to Gloria as a way of saying, 'Good Luck'. Gloria waltzed down the pathway to Wedgehurst, taking in the beautiful looks of this town. She found herself daydreaming what her adventures ahead will be like, what kind of people she'll meet, the challenges she'll overcome, the dangers she'll face, the Pokémon she'll capture. It was all so humbling. Gloria had reached Route One where she saw Hop seeming to be waiting for her. She quickly ran over to him. Hop turned to her, "Gloria, can you believe it? We're actually about to start our our Pokémon Journey!" Hop said with a big smile on his face. "I definitely believe it." Gloria stated. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's head for the next town!" Hop shouts with way too much excitement. At that moment, Gloria remembered something from last night. 'Oh yeah. That guy.' She recalled. "Don't we need to grab that Thief from the Professor?" Gloria said. "Oh yeah, we need to do that." Hop remembered. The two of them race-walked across the green plains of Route One. The two teenagers stepped into the town. Citizens of the village were doing their daily activities, and Pokémon were trotting with their trainers. Gloria and Hop realized that they weren't going to see this town for a really long time. So, they took in all the sights of the town one last time before heading down the cliffside. As much as Gloria likes Wedgehurst, the town is till dull and she's pretty glad that she's going on a Pokémon Journey. The journey back down was pretty standard expect for Hop trying to catch more Pokémon.
Once they got down to the Professor's home, they both swiftly entered the purple house, ready to begin their journey. Sonia and Professor Magnolia were standing next to the kitchen counter, making conversation with each other. "It's morning at last. And it is time for our true adventure to begin." Hop discloses as he steps into the home. "And good morning to you too, Hop." Magnolia greets. "Hop, is it really true you've seen a Pokémon you didn't recognize? Is there anything you could tell me more about that encounter in Slumbering Weald?" Sonia asked, while holding a very curious face. "Er. I guess there was this weird heavy fog, and this even weirder Pokémon that came out of nowhere. Gloria tried to fight it off, but we both got knocked out or something." Hop tried to recall. Gloria does remember that day, it was an experience she does not want to remember. There was just something off about that Pokémon. Just off. Besides, they were probably just having a shared hallucination or something, right? "A fount of information you are." Sonia commented while twirling her hair. "Gloria, Hop, these are for you." Magnolia said before handing Gloria and Hop two Dynamax bands. Gloria slipped the band onto her wrist, and so did Hop. Hop and Gloria looked in awe at the compact watch-like bands. "Those are Dynamax Bands. I made them by fitting those Wishing Stars you found last night into the band." Magnolia explained. "Thanks, Professor! This is brilliant!" Hop excitingly yelled. "Yeah, thanks." Gloria stated with a slight smile on her while fidgeting with the band. "This is awesome, now I can Dynamax just like Lee!" Hop disclosed while jumping up and down. "My word, you don't waste any time, do you?" The Professor said after turning her head to look at Hop. "There are a number of conditions you must meet before you can command a Pokémon to take on their Dynamax form." Professor Magnolia explained. "Now, don't be afraid to start exploring new areas and finding lots of Pokémon to meet with." Magnolia suggested. "Yes! Now my reign as the greatest trainer will finally begin!" Hop shouted to himself. "Come one Gloria, I'll-" Hop came to a screeching stop in his words when he heard footsteps coming down the hall.
Everyone turned to the source of the noise. It was Victor, who looked like he just came out of the shower, telling by his seemingly wet hair. "oh yeah." Hop said before his face dropped from excitement to unamused. "What are you all looking at?" Victor barked spitefully. Hop seemed kind of uncomfortable about this whole ordeal of negativity. "I'll just meet you at the station." Hop said before quickly exiting the building. Victor scoffed. "Thanks for letting me use your shower." Victor stated. "Uh. Your welcome, I guess?" Sonia replied cautiously. The four of them all stood in silence until Gloria cleared her throat. "So, Victor. I guess we have to get going now, huh?" Gloria asked with an indifferent facial expression. "Sure." He agreed. Gloria started heading for the door. "Wait. Fossil- What's with the Dynamax thing I keep hearing about?" Victor questioned, turning to Professor Magnolia. The Professor sighed. "It's a band, powered by a meteorite, that when under the right conditions, can make Pokémon increase exponentially in size." Magnolia explained thoroughly. "Interesting." Victor said. Thinking of how good of a tool that would be. It'd be a lot better to sell instead of use. "Alright, let's go now." Victor commanded. The two of them exited the house as Sonia and the Professor waved goodbye.
Victor and Gloria both arrived outside the house, making their way to the cliffside. It was pretty windy, and a bit chilly. The two teenagers began to slowly walk up the cliffside. On their way up, Victor stopped in his tracks. Gloria heard the sudden stop and turned around to face the Thief. "What's wrong?" Gloria questioned. Victor snickered. "Why are you wearing such a short skirt?" He stated. "Why are you looking there in the first place?" Gloria questioned with her eyebrow raised. At this point, both of them started trekking up the cliffside while continuing to debate each other. "Oh! I'm sorry for looking at 20% of your body. Body that I might add is exceptionally more noticeable then most other limbs. And on top of that, it's not covered. If you didn't want that to happen, maybe you should've worn pants." Victor explained in a passive-aggressive tone. "You've got a lot of whiplash for having goddamn holes in your pants." Gloria hissed back. "For the record, it's not by choice my pants are this way." Victor barked in return. Both of them didn't notice that they were close to Wedgehurst. "Why don't you buy new ones? Or steal them, because it seems like your experienced in that." Gloria hissed again, her eyebrows turning crossed. "Okay, okay, tool. What if I don't have the money or all the clothes here look like absolute crap. Probably where you got your skirt from." Victor spitefully insulted. "Since when should you care about fashion? You constantly look grimy and unsettling. Nothing you put on is going to make you look any better. Gloria bickered more. This back and fourth petty insult war went on until they reached Wedgehurst. The two bickering machines walked up the stone path. Everyone standing around with there Pokemon stared at the two, since Victor was wanted. They're probably confused why a wanted person was just arguing with this random girl. Eventually, once they got to the station, Hop was standing outside the doorway and looked at the two of them. "Can you guys stop? You're making a scene." Hop said while trying to keep his voice down. Gloria and Victor both noticed that the whole town was looking at them. And then it hit the trio. Victor wanted. "So, I'm going to leave." Victor stated before swiftly slipping into the station. Gloria did an awkward chuckle and slowly slid into the station. Hop simply just casually waltzed into the station like nothing happened.
The three of them arrived at the beginning of their journey, Wedgehurst Station. Gloria looked up at the sign attached to the wall next to the benches, it was the tram schedule. "Looks like our Tram will be arriving in a couple of minutes." Gloria informed. Victor was hiding behind a pillar, "Of course. If you haven't noticed, I'm pretty confident I don't have a couple of minutes." Victor said while peaking around the concrete pillar. "Relax. The worst thing that could happen is they might poke more holes in your pants." Gloria insulted with a smug on her face. Victor just glared at her. Suddenly, a call from the entrance of the station was heard, "Hey, Hop! Gloria!" Hop and Gloria's Mom come from the entrance with a bunch of camping supplies on their backs. Victor stayed hidden behind the pillar, while occasionally peaking around to see what's going on. "We forgot to give you two some things." The two Mother's explained. Gloria and Hop looked shocked to say the least. "Alright, well what is it?" Hop asked. "Well, this." Hop's Mother said before hugging her son tight. "And this supplies." Hop's Mother elaborated. "Ok Mum, yeah. You can let go of me now." Hop requested of his Mother. Hop's Mom let go of her son, and looked straightforward. "Oh, my son's finally pursuing his dream. How proud I am as a Mother." Hop's Mom unintentionally and unknowingly mocked other Moms. 'This family is full of a bunch of narcissists, isn't it?' Victor thought, while still hiding behind the solid pillar. Gloria's Mom dropped the camping supplies in front of her daughter. "Make sure you get enough sleep." Her Mom said while lightly hugging her. Gloria happily returned the hug back. They both let go of each other as both of the Mom's waved goodbye to their children. Gloria and Hop sighed. And so did Victor. "Holy Christ, that took way too long." He said, crossing his arms. Gloria and Hop slowly started packing up their camping supplies as they heard the tram behind them come to a halt to let their passengers on board. They all got somewhat ready for the tram ride, apparently it was a long ride because Wedgehurst is surrounded by nothing. Hop gleefully skipped inside the tram and took a seat. Victor and Gloria looked at each other and subtlety made an agreement that Hop was annoying. They both got on the tram and took seat's separate from each other. Gloria sat closer to Hop, and Victor sat alone.
[A/N: I think my new favorite word is 'Disclosed'. Besides that, tomorrow I'll just be editing Chapter 1, Part 3 and polishing it to make sure it actually makes sense, and then the day after that I'll release Chapter 2, Part 1. I remember the first part of Chapter 2 being short, so that's good. Well, see you then.]