[A/N: Look, I said probably. This week was very eventful for me, I'll leave it at that. But, other then that, I have finished Chapter 2, Part 2. This one has a lot going on, and might be my favorite out of everything I've written so far. So, I hope you enjoy it.]
Gloria was resting her head on the table while her arms were crossed. It had been about two hours and forty minutes since they left Wedgehurst. Hop was practically passed out, and Victor was still in his seat staring into space. Suddenly, the train came to a complete halt, Hop swiftly jerked up from his slumber, Gloria was a bit shocked and sat up, and Victor woke up from his trance. Everyone around them were as equally as confused as they were. Gloria took a peek out the window and saw it was almost night. "What's going on?" Hop asked nobody. The intercom on the ceiling of the train car started speaking, "Everyone please calm down. There is a flock of Wooloo blocking the tracks, you can either leave the train and take the Wild Area path, or you can stay on the train and wait for our crew to guide the flock of Wooloo out of the way. Thank you for your cooperation, and have a great evening." The intercom speaker stopped. 'Wild Area? The hell is that?' Victor thought to himself as he stayed seated. "Oh yeah! I have a Dynamax band now! And I need some Pokémon to use it!" Hop quickly got up from his seat and started walking down the train cars. Gloria got up off her seat to follow Hop, "I'm gonna catch so many Pokémon, other trainers are going to have to show me respect-" Hop voice trailed off as he exited the train. "Hop! Wait up!" Gloria shouted down the train cars. She was about to chase after Hop until she heard someone whistle behind her. Gloria slowly turned herself around to see Victor whistling while in his seat. His whistling slowly fell off as Gloria glared at him. "Was it the whistling that gave it away?" Victor asked in minor frustration. "Oh I don't know, maybe." Gloria said semi-sarcastically. "Come on! Let's go, up up!" Gloria yelled at Victor. "I feel like a damn prisoner." Victor stated as he got up from his seat. "You kind of are." Gloria replied before she started walking towards the exit with Victor following behind her shortly. Gloria and Victor both step off the train, Gloria looking for Hop, and Victor... 'I could just stab her right now...' Yeah, Victor. The railway station has a few people in seats waiting for a specific train. There was also a market stand that had a few items it was selling. To Gloria, the stand almost looked the exact same as the one's from Wedgehurst. To Victor, he didn't see the point in having a single market stand here, wouldn't there be more then one?" Or did this guy buy a huge sum of money to get his stand to be the only stand in the Train Station. Both Victor and Gloria shake their heads violently to get back on track. Gloria didn't see Hop anywhere in Railway Station, which meant he was in the Wild Area. "That's not good..." Gloria muttered to herself as she begun race-walking to the exit of the station, "What- why are you-" Victor stuttered as he tried to catch up.
Gloria exited the station to have a sigh of relief. Hop hadn't completely sprint off into the wilderness yet. She was a little worried since... Well, Hop's Mom would probably kill her. Victor got out of the station a bit after Gloria, the sun was almost down, it was windy, the air felt kind of moist, and it was a little chilly. He was glad that he was wearing a jacket. "God, this environment feels so weird, it was like this back at Wedgehurst but not to this extent." Victor complained while looking around. "Can you stop complaining? Hop's over there. Come on." Gloria said before walking over to Hop, who was standing at the Wild Area entrance. Victor slowly followed Gloria while his arms were crossed, he looked very resentful. 'Stupid goddamn friggin' Champion pairing me up with this wicked tool lookin' piece of crap.' Victor though to himself while following Gloria. The two teenagers walked up behind Hop, and Hop turned around to see them. "Look at that!" Hop pointed at the gigantic town that is Motostroke. Actually, the town wasn't that big, it's just that they decided to build it way above everything else. The looming entrance of the town wasn't that far away, it looked pretty achievable. "Who designed this?" Victor questioned while looking very confused. "I don't know." Gloria answered. "That isn't that long of a walk. And plus, I get to grab so many more Pokémon too!" Hop stated, jumping up and down. "Are you gonna catch any Pokémon, Victor?" Hop asked while still being overly excited. "Yeah, that's a good question, are you?" Gloria added as she turned around to face Victor. "No. I don't even have any Poke-balls." Victor declared. "Oh. O-okay." Hop said. All of a sudden, the trio began hearing footsteps from the pathway behind them. "Oh, if it isn't Sonia." Hop disclosed. Sonia took a few steps closer, "My gran gave me a proper earful, in her own way..." Sonia mentioned before speaking again, "Those young trainers are going on their own journeys, what're you doing with your life? Just stuff she's been asking me for years..." Sonia elaborates while twirling her hair. "Wait, how old are you?" Victor asked. "Uh, twenty-four...?" Sonia answered cautiously. Victor paused in silence, completely shocked. "Seriously?" He said, still in disbelief. "Yeah..." Sonia said. Victor tried to keep every cell in his body from bursting of laughter. He was able to keep a straight face, but barely. "Uh... anyways-" Hop decides to steer the conversation. "Being an adult has it's own challenges, eh?" He senses. "I say you needn't worry about it! It's fun to be out on the road again, really! I can't wait to start fishing and camping again!" Sonia excitingly explained. Victor kind of suspects that Sonia might be lying about this. 'Maybe the 400 year-old fossil kicked her out to go fiend for herself and get an actual job. Maybe.' Victor speculated in his head. "Well, if that's that then. I'm going to go stick my head in as many bushes as possible until I find a Pokémon I can Dynamax." Hop began before running off again, "I'm gonna catch so many Dynamax Pokémon, it's going to be amazing-" His voice trailed off as he ran into the Wild Area. "Damnit Hop! Come back! You can't just go- and he's off." Gloria stated as she watched Hop get smaller and smaller. "So, do you have some sort of disease on your fingernails or what?" Victor insulted. Sonia just had an annoyed look on her face. "Gloria, you might want to practice Dynamaxing your Pokémon soon if your going to participate in the Gym Challenge." Sonia advised. "Will do." Gloria responded. "Good luck with Hop, and the Thief." Sonia said as she waved goodbye, walking off the station.
Gloria was pretty split on just taking Victor straight to Motostroke or using the extra help to go make sure Hop doesn't get himself killed. Well, obviously she chose to go get Hop because he didn't even help with attacking that strange Pokémon back at Slumbering Weald. If something like that happened again and he was the only one there, who knows what would happen to him. At least that's what Gloria thinks. "Alright, so where are we going?" Victor questioned while looking out at the fields. "We're going to follow Hop." Gloria answered. "What? Why can't we go straight to Motostroke?" Victor quelled. "Because, if Hop gets himself killed, I'll be the one that never hears the end of it." Gloria disclosed. "That's a dumb excuse." Victor states. "What?" Gloria replied. "From what I've seen, Hop's smart enough to survive a couple of small Pokémon. He's fine- now let's go-" Victor argued, for the record, Victor actually didn't believe that, he for sure thinks Hop is destined to die if he starts mucking about. "No! We're going to go get Hop, and you have to come with me." Gloria yelled. "Why!? What law confines that? What're you gonna do if I just sprint away towards the entrance to Motostroke? Actually, screw this. I'm doing exactly that- Actually, screw that, I'm walking there just to spite you." Victor declared before he started stomping away. Gloria wanted to make sure Victor served at least some time in a cell. Because at least then he's learned some sort of lesson. "Wait-" Gloria said. The Thief stopped, "What!?" He barked aggressively. "I'll make a deal with you." Gloria didn't really feel right about doing this... but he probably deserves it. "...I'm listening." Victor said. Gloria inhaled and exhaled, "I'll bail you out of jail if you come with me to get Hop." She said, trying to calm down. "Hm..." Victor thought to himself about this, it could be a trap. But Gloria hasn't seemed like the type of person to pull off something like that, she seems like the type of person that's just in the background all the time. "Fine. I accept." He agreed. "Good. Now let's get going, night's almost here." Gloria commanded while beginning to walk towards the general direction of where Hop was, with Victor following her at a slightly faster speed.
The duo were walking across the vast and fairly peaceful fields of the Wild Area. With the elevated town of Motostroke ahead, they continue to look for Hop. Gloria and Victor looked around at the area, it had lots of Pokémon wandering around, they even saw a few trainers fighting some of the bigger Pokémon. Gloria responded with somewhat mild excitement, although she was hiding most of it, the amount of Pokémon was almost inspiring for her. She really was starting to see the true beauty of this place. While Victor was completely terrified. 'This is what a Wild Area looks like? It sure is wild. Did anyone stop and think how dangerous this is? Letting children out into a land with zero cover with a bunch of hungry giant Pokémon. Christ, just focus on looking for that Chucklehead, then you can get out of her.' Victor thought to himself. The two teenagers were walking along the grass, fairly calm as their eyes wandered about the field. As their were waltzing along, Victor could hear his intuition screaming at him to check the tall grass, as if there might be something about to attack from there. Victor glanced around the area, catching several close by patches of grass that could contain a claw-sharpening Pokémon ready to pounce. The Thief almost wanted to draw his butterfly knife just in case, but, if Gloria saw him with a knife, she'd probably freak out. Victor was still paranoid, the best way to deal with this situation non-lethally is to just speed-walk past the tall grass, but what if it follows him, or attacks him from behind. Victor could technically walk backwards, then again a Pokémon may attack him from behind. 'Screw it, I'll whistle. If that doesn't at least grab their attention, I don't know what will.' Victor agreed with himself as he slowly steps towards the patch of tall grass. He then put two fingers in his mouth, and- "Victor what're you-" Gloria was cut off by the loud whistle Victor made. Gloria tried to cover her ears, but she still heard the loud part. "What the hell Victor! Why did you do that!?" Gloria shouted as she released her hands from her ears. The Thief was about to say something until suddenly, a small Nickit came out of the tall grass, it's expression could simply be described as; scared. "Is that some sort of Galarian Fennekin?" Victor questioned while staring at the small creature. "No. It's a..." Gloria stopped because she couldn't remember the name of it, she knew what it was. Well, sorta. She remembers one of her old friends from her hometown having one, she just can't place a finger on the name. "Are you saying it doesn't have a name or do you not know?" The Thief asked. "Uh. I don't know what Pokémon that is." She answers. "Great." Victor mutters. "Well, I don't have any use for you, whatever you are, screw!" The teenager barked. The Nickit got a bit too afraid and ran back in the patches of tall grass. "Wait!" Gloria yelled before running to the front of the tall grass. "I need to capture you!" She elaborated while diving into the tall grass.
She landed in the middle of the grass, she could hear a few Pokémon, but not the one she wanted. Victor calmly stepped through the grass to the middle. "You didn't have to be all dramatic about that, you know?" Victor explained. "Oh, come on, I panicked! Filling out the Poke-dex is important to Galarian Pokémon Research. I don't want to start giving up that fast." Gloria said, while simultaneously glancing around the tall grass to see the fox-like Pokémon. "You're saying that you might start giving up later instead?" Victor responded. "Um... yeah, sure." Gloria didn't know how to argue against that, she could just start insulting him again, but that's only gonna take up time. "Aren't we getting side-tracked, shouldn't we be focusing on finding the dim-wit?" The Thief disclosed. "Yeah, you're right. And he's not a dim-wit. Just a bit clumsy." Gloria argued. "Really? I saw how he fought in a battle. He obviously has no idea what he's doing." Victor argued back. "That was like, his second battle! Nobody's good the first few times!" Gloria quarreled. "That's not true at all. I've never battled before and I'd probably sweep him first try." Victor confidently barked. Gloria scoffed, "Alright. Fine, we'll get you a Pokémon and next time you see him, you are going to battle him, okay?" Gloria declared. "Sure." Victor agreed. Shortly after that, the two of them started walking out of the tall grass until Gloria felt something run past the back of her boots. It kind of felt like something nibbled at the back of her boots and ran off, to be more specific. "Uh-" Gloria turned around to see a Zigzagoon jump at her face. Gloria yelped before backing away out of the tall grass and pulling out her Poke-ball containing Grey. "What's happening?" Victor asked, a bit concerned. "Wild Pokémon." Gloria stated. Victor got flashbacks, so, he decided to keep the knife in his bag and just slowly step away. Gloria summoned the Skwovet from her Poke-ball and commanded it to bite the living daylights out of whatever comes out of the patch of tall grass. Grey readied his jaws as Gloria took a step back. Victor hid behind a tree, carefully watching the situation go down. The tall grass moved around a bit as a small shadow began sneaking it's way out. Grey swiftly ran towards it and went right for the leg. The trainer then commanded Grey to tackle it to the ground, and the Skwovet did so. The shadow started to take more shape as Gloria could now actually see what the Pokémon was, it was the same Zigzagoon from about ten seconds ago. Suddenly, Grey was sent flying out of the tall grass after being tackled by the creature from the grass. The Zigzagoon came running out of the grass to use another tackle, although Gloria noticed something. The Zigzagoon was clearly hurt, maybe even to the point where Gloria could toss a Poke-ball and successfully catch it. 'It's worth a shot.' She thought to herself before quickly pulling out an empty Poke-ball and tossing it onto the Zigzagoon. The Pokémon was just a few meters away from tackling the squirrel, but, it was stopped by the sudden tap of a Poke-ball against it's forehead. The Zigzagoon was turned into blue data and shoved into the ball where it dropped to the ground and started to click suspense-fully. Gloria was very excited. The Poke-ball clicked one final time and... it was caught.
Gloria twirled and performed a Charizard pose out of celebration of a new member of the Glorian empire. This was one of the only times Victor has seen someone catch a Pokémon before. 'Why not just throw the Poke-ball at it...? Well, if everyone isn't just throwing the Poke-ball at any Pokémon they see, then there has to be a reason why.' Victor pondered. He slowly came out from behind the tree and towards Gloria as she looked at her newly acquired Pokémon in it's ball. "Are you just going to stand there and stare at the thing or are we gonna get a move on?" Victor asked. Gloria snapped herself out of her trance. "Give me a second." She responded as she opened the Poke-ball to let her new soldier out. The captured Zigzagoon sprung out of the ball and landed perfectly on it's four-legs. Grey had gotten up a few seconds ago and saw the striped-monster right in front of him. The squirrel jumped back into the fighting position, waiting for a command. "What's up with fatso over there?" The Thief questioned before pointing at Grey, the Skwovet had a look of confusion on it's face as it looked down at it's stomach. "Oh. I think he's just a bit confused. I caught the striped bloke over here, Grey. Now get in here." Gloria said. She then held out Grey's Poke-ball and hit the button to return, Grey complied as he was sucked into the ball of R&R. Gloria looked over at the Zigzagoon, which had it's tongue out, panting like a Yamper. "Hmm... what should I call you?" The trainer spoke to herself. Victor was starting to get tired of waiting around, as the sun was setting quickly. "Stripes! Call him Stripes so we can find what's-his-name!" Victor suggested aggressively. Gloria turned back around to face the oblivious Zigzagoon, ""Hello Stripes." Gloria greeted as she held out the Zigzagoon's new home. Stripes simply made a seemingly joyful noise as it tapped it's head against the Poke-ball. The trainer giggled and put the Poke-ball back into her bag. "Okay, finally! Can we go find Howard now?" Victor asked with an impatient tone. "It's Hop." Gloria disclosed. "Whatever!" Victor shouted as he spun around to race-walk toward the direction of the woods, with Gloria following him at a brisk pace.''
As the trainer and the Thief wandered the fields, they started to get closer to the woods, where they suspected Hop to be. When all of a sudden they heard thunder close by. "What was that?" Gloria asked herself, out loud. "Oh, I don't know. Sounded like some wind to me." Victor sarcastically stated. A few seconds after that, the two of them start to feel drips of water fall upon their heads, and few seconds after that they hear another roaring thunder near them. "It might be a food idea to find shelter right now." Victor suggests. "Yeah..." Gloria agreed as she started to feel the rain pick up. Both of them begun searching around for some sort of shelter. Eventually, they found a patch of trees in the distance. They were pretty large and had enough branches to keep most of the rain from falling on them, so, Victor and Gloria began quickly walking over to the patch of trees, all while the rain seemed to be becoming a downpour, very quickly. Once they got under them, Victor put his back against the tree and slowly slid down. Victor was taking deep breathes in and out, "Why are you faster at running then me?' The Thief questioned while still catching his breath. "And why the hell is it raining? It rained like, two days ago!" He added. "This is just how the weather patterns here are, it's almost completely clear skies for about two days, then it pours." Gloria explains. "Your region is stupid." Victor spitefully stated. "Oh really? I bet whatever region your from is way stupider then my region... not that my region is stupid-" Before Gloria could finish, Victor stood up and spoke, "Trust me. My region is the dumbest region, most of the populace there don't even speak English." Victor said, remembering his mother having a very heavy accent. "Wow. Most regions primarily speak English, I bet yours is, like, one of the only three." Gloria said while smirking. Victor wanted to bark a comeback at her, but unfortunately, she was probably right. The Thief looked out at the rain, it was still pouring, although he hadn't heard thunder in a while. "I don't think this rain is gonna stop..." Victor remarked. "Think we should just brave it and find Hop quickly?" Gloria suggested. The Thief sighed, he knew this was going to get all his clothing wet, but he has been through worse. "Alright, sure." Victor agreed. Gloria put her backpack over her head, and ran out first. Victor simply put his hat into his bag before running out, only a few steps behind Gloria.
While running through the pouring rainstorm, Victor swears he hears small footsteps only a few paces behind him. It wasn't loud at all, it was outstanding that he could even hear it over all the wind, heavy rain, his footsteps, Gloria's footsteps. But he could still hear something, it was kind of making him paranoid. If something had been that determined to follow him this entire time, what could it be? A Pokémon? A hobo? Victor decided to stop completely in his tracks and spin around to face the creature. He saw, what he assumes is, the same Fennekin-looking Pokémon from earlier. Gloria had heard Victor stop suddenly so she turned around to see what was happening. She saw Victor staring down at the one Pokémon from earlier. Now this time she'll catch it. "What do you want?" The Thief said to it. The Fox Pokémon seemed shy and frightened, Gloria kind of didn't want to sneak attack it with Grey. "Why are you following us?" Victor asked it, a bit more calm now. The fox simply made a shy, but friendly noise. Victor couldn't really understand it, all he got from it was that it was asking him something. 'I don't speak Pokémon... how am I supposed to communicate with this thing?' He thought to himself. Gloria was choosing between taking the opportunity and sneak attacking it, or just walking up to it peacefully and hoping it doesn't run away. She decided on the more diplomatic approach, and leisurely waltzed over beside Victor. Gloria showed her hands to be empty and stared at the fox-like Pokémon. "What do we do with this thing?" Victor whispered. "I'm gonna try and catch it." Gloria whispered back. "-Wait, where's your other Pokémon-" Victor tried to whisper to Gloria again, but she was already getting closer to the Fennekin-imposter. The Thief sighs before swiftly reaching into his bag for his butterfly knife, just in case anything goes wrong. The fox-like Pokémon seemed to be shivering of fear as the trainer got closer. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you... I'm not going to send any Pokémon to attack you..." Gloria tried to force her voice to be as soothing as possible, but she doesn't actually know how soothing it was because the fox Pokémon started sprinting away as soon as Gloria ended her sentence. "Aw! Damnit!" Gloria shouted. She felt rain hit against her hat, as she finally noticed that she dropped her backpack while trying to capture the Pokémon. Victor snickered at at her poor attempt at diplomacy. "Damn, you can't just talk a Pokémon into captivity, how surprising." The Thief uttered, snarking greatly. "Shut up." Gloria stated before walking back to her backpack and putting it on. The Thief and the trainer both started walking towards the direction of the woods again, the rain was picking up so much that they could barely see Motostroke anymore.
After a phenomenal time of walking and getting side-tracked, the duo finally see the forest up ahead. Not only that, but they also see the outline of a person in the outer-edge of the woods. "Hey, do you see that?" Gloria asked while pointing at the faint look of a herd of trees. "The trees?" Victor replied with a question, "Yes, of course the trees." Gloria responded. "Yeah, I see some trees alright." Victor disclosed. "No- There's a person over there." Gloria pointed out again. Victor squinted his eyes and really looked, and saw exactly what Gloria was talking about. "Okay, that's a person. And?" The Thief stated. "I think it's Hop." Gloria rationalized. "How? It's raining incredibly hard right now, I'm surprised that we can even see the forest from here." Victor aggressively explained. "Can we just get closer?" The trainer asked. "Yeah, yeah." Victor accepted as he started moving with Gloria towards the forest. The rain begun to slow down a bit, going from heavy downpour to just a regular downpour. They reached the slightly uncrowned forest and stood at the entrance, while watching the outlined stranger stick his head in what looks to be a hole. Gloria was the first to speak up, "Uh, hello?" She shouted over the loud pouring rain. The stranger raised his head from the hole, and turned to look at Gloria and Victor. They could finally see who the outlined stranger was now that they have a good look on his face and it was indeed, Hop. "Oh, hey Gloria!" Hop stated, both Victor and Gloria barely able to hear him over the rain. "What took you guys so long? I was only like forty meters away." Hop explained. "We got sidetracked like seven times." Victor responded. "Yeah, and it started raining halfway through." Gloria added. "Oh, yeah." Hop stated. The trio could feel the wind start to die down, as well as the rain. "So, what're you doing?" Gloria questioned Hop as he was about to stick his head back in the hole. "Oh. I thought I heard a really big Pokémon in here, but it's way too dark to tell." Hop explained before sticking his head back into the hole. Gloria walked over to Hop, "Listen Hop, we need to get to Motostroke before it gets pitch black, so... can you look at it tomorrow?" Gloria proposed. "Hmm..." Hop thought to himself. Suddenly, Hop noticed the edge of the hole started to seem a bit slippery, and then after that, he noticed he was slowly falling into the hole. "Uh, G-Gl-" Hop muttered before slipping and falling into the hole. "Hop!" Gloria shouted before putting her hand over her mouth. "Uh oh." Victor mumbled. Both Gloria and Victor could hear Hop's screams as he fell deeper into the hole, until eventually, they heard a thud, and then a sliding noise. Now, Gloria and Victor were confused. Gloria removed her hands from around her mouth, and walked up to the hole. "Hop! Are you okay!?" She yelled into the dark hole. From the very bottom of the hole, the duo heard, "yep!"
Victor was very confused. He stomped over to the edge of the hole, "How?" He asked mostly himself. "Uh. You guys should come down here!" Hop yelled back up. "Why!?" Gloria shouted. "You have to see it for yourself!" Hop shouted in response. Victor and Gloria shared a look, "Ladies' first." The Thief said with a smug look on his face. Gloria sighed before climbing down the edge of the hole. Victor hesitantly followed shortly after. 'Christ, this is such a bad idea.' He thought to himself before dropping down into the hole. The duo landed onto a slid-like cave material that went all the way down to the floor of the cave. Once they hit the bottom, Victor's pants were covered in dirt and Gloria looked very annoyed and disgusted. "Holy damn... my pants are covered in crap." Victor stated while looking at the dirt slobbered on the side of his jeans. Gloria just quietly said, "I shouldn't have worn a skirt..." Ahead of them was Hop staring at a surprisingly well-lit giant cave. "Damn. Where are all these lights coming from?" Victor questioned while looking around. He noticed that a lot of the lights must be from some sort of crystal. Gloria looked in awe at the sheer atmosphere of the cave, it looked so mood-setting, like something was about to happen. "Alright, Hop. What're you look-" Victor's question was cut off by the sheer shock of seeing a Pokémon that seemed to be the size of a building, but the most shocking thing was, it was just a normal Pokémon but a hundred times larger. Gloria was equally as shocked as Victor. "What the hell." Victor muttered. The gigantic beast was sleeping while standing up. "Yeah, I know right?" Hop responded. "Should we really be down here? I don't think this thing is friendly." Gloria whispers as she started to back up. Victor was already considering just making a break for it back to the surface. "But this is my only chance of getting a Pokémon that can Dynamax." Hop spoke at an alarming tone of voice. "Hop! Keep it down!" Gloria softly stated, still whispering. "Oh, yeah. Sorry." Hop said, now whispering. Victor practically looked petrified, his skin looked like it was turning pale. 'Am I the only one that realizes what's happening right now?' He though to himself while shaking. The Thief hit his back against the slope that leads to the surface. 'Screw this, and the goddamn Pokémon. I'm getting out.' Victor though before he started to slowly and quietly climb back up the slope, while occasionally looking behind him to make sure the giant creature doesn't wake up. "Hop! We gotta go!" Gloria whispered to Hop, unfortunately it seemed like Hop wasn't listening. Hop, fascinated by the size of the Pokémon, he stepped a bit closer. "Hop! No!" Gloria tried her best to whisper scream at him, but to no avail. Suddenly, Hop felt a hard stop in his shoe as he steps onto a small pebble, and trips, falling face first into the ground. Gloria saw Hop's fall into the ground as a warning. She swiftly searched her bag for her Poke-balls while Hop's face crashed into the rocky floor. Hop's face surfaced from the ground to breath, and let out a loud, "O-OW!"
Victor's climb to the surface was at a stand still, as he heard the noise of putrid morning breath coming out of something's face. He heard the loud rumbling noise of the cave shaking around them as Gloria and Hop witnessed the giant Pokémon, slowly gain it's balance. The creature let out a roar, the trio of not very cautious alarms heard the loud anger-fueled scream of the biggest creature they've ever seen. The sound startled Victor so much that he lost balance on the way to the surface and started rolling all the way back down to the cobblestone ground. Hop was panicked, and swiftly started to attempt to push himself off the ground. Gloria was currently attempting to grab the Poke-balls out of her bag but unfortunately she couldn't find them. There was so much stuffed in there that she couldn't find the actual thing she currently needed. Hop was able to get up before the Pokémon could do anything. He reached onto his bely and pulled out a Poke-ball, and threw it towards the battlefield. The poke-ball sprung open emerging Grookey, "Quickly! Use Scratch!" Hop commanded. The Grookey looked worried and cautious, looking back at it's master in confusion. "Come on Grookey." Hop encouraged. The giant Pokémon looked down in a condescending manner, It wasn't even planning out a move. Grookey, completely terrified, slowly moved toward it and tried to slash at it's foot. The giant Pokémon looked like it was expecting it to nothing, but it did something. The giant Pokémon screamed in agony as it was severely surprised when he got scratched, it actually hurt somewhat. Meanwhile, Gloria was now pulling stuff out of her bag to get her Poke-balls, she still couldn't find them inside the bag. 'Did I miss place them somewhere?' Gloria wondered while glancing at Hop battling the giant Pokémon. Victor had finally stopped shaking and has finally decided to get up from the ground, he moved towards Gloria before reaching for her belt. "Hey! What're you-" Gloria was cut off by Victor grabbing the exact Poke-ball she was looking for from her belt. Gloria took it from Victor, "Thanks...?" She muttered before running towards the battlefield, leaving her backpack behind. Victor seemed surprised that Gloria was running towards the giant monster, "I thought you were gonna use your Pokémon to get us out of- ah, forget it." Victor complained. Gloria was already a quarter of a football field away from Victor. The Thief decided to stay in the corner and attempt to survive a potential cave-in.
Hop commanded Grookey to continue sprinting away as the giant Pokémon attempted to stomp on Grookey. "Keep running Grookey!" Hop yelled. Gloria was moving in towards the creature to drop Orwell out in the field. She threw the ball straight onto the ground as it emerged into a Scorbunny jumping out into the field. Orwell landed on the hard floor and immediately saw what he was going up against. Orwell started backing up, mildly terrified as he also saw Grookey trying to avoid being crushed to death. "Hop, I got an idea." Gloria stated. "What is it?" Hop responded. "We should use our Dynamax bands." The trainer suggested. "Uh... I don't think it'll work, but okay." Hop agreed. "Grookey, retreat to me!" Hop shouted as the small frog started sprinting with what looks like tears in it's eyes as it nearly avoids death. Grookey jumped onto Hop's shoulder as Hop pressed the button for Dynamaxing. Gloria soon doing the same thing with Orwell next to her. Both Orwell and Grookey went back into their Poke-balls as the balls reformed into giant digital inflated Poke-balls. Hop and Gloria looked in complete amazement. The giant Pokémon looked about ready to step on them now. Victor was watching from a distance, not only frustrated, but also very confused. Gloria and Hop both grabbed their giant Poke-balls and tried their best at throwing them. The Poke-balls released gigantic versions of Orwell and Grookey, they both looked at each other in complete fascination with their well-overly increased size. The other giant Pokémon was now starting to get a bit scared now that it was an even match. "USE EMBER!" Gloria shouted as hard as she could, trying to make her Pokémon hear her over all the extremely loud noise. "USE BRANCH POKE!" Hop yelled. Both the Scorbunny and the Grookey agreed to use it at the same time. The giant Pokémon looked from side to side as it noticed that there was no way he could dodge the attack, it looked in horror as the moves charged up in unison. Orwell started causing some friction, and eventually sprouting fire from it's paws, while Grookey reached out to the giant Pokémon's eye with it's branch. Victor has his arms and hands over his head because he was sure that the cave was going to collapse on him any second now. The sprout of fire and the sharp poke of the branch damaged the giant Pokémon greatly, enough for it to fall unconscious first shot.
The giant Pokémon, now shrinking back down to regular size, fell down to the hard ground, presumably may be dead. "Bloody hell." Gloria said to herself as she watched the Pokémon shrink before her very eyes. "Eh... I don't want to catch this thing anymore. I'm exhausted." Hop said, wiping off the sweat from his forehead. Gloria's bunny and Hop's frog now shrinked back down to normal-size, and looked like they were still hyped up on adrenaline. "Alright, Orwell... good job. Let's go." Gloria stated as she held out the now regular-sized Poke-ball. Orwell gladly accepted this well-deserved rest. Grookey was practically begging Hop to be put back into his Poke-ball, obviously somewhat still in shock. Hop held out his Poke-ball and Grookey was quickly transported into the red and white safe haven. The duo both stuffed their Poke-balls back into their bags, and turned around to see Victor, panicked. The Thief looked up from his safe corner as Gloria and Hop walked up to him. "What the hell just happened? Everything was wicked screwed-up, I thought I was about to be in the real life Langoliers." Victor stated. "Don't worry, me and Hop took care of it." Gloria explained with a chill-look on her face. In reality Gloria was probably just as panicked and shocked as Victor. "Are you sure? The cave might still collapse." Victor 'reassured'. "Alright, then let's go then." Gloria suggested. "Alright, fine." Victor agreed as the trio started the slow climb back up the hole.
Victor was the first to emerge from the hole, then Hop, then finally Gloria. The trio looked around them and stretched. It was already dark out, they could still see the lights of Motostroke, and it still wasn't that far away. Victor could feel the muddy, sticky, ground against his shoes, it was quite annoying since all the dirt on the side of his pants still hasn't been brushed off yet. "I can't believe it's already night." Victor said looking at the stars above him. "Yeah..." Hop replied. Gloria yawned out of exhaustion. "Come on... we're close." Gloria said while rubbing her eyes. Victor sighed, he was used to staying up this late to find shelter. Hop was just admiring the stars, he needed this after that dangerous fight in the hole. The trees were completely still, there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, Victor wouldn't be surprised if their was some people star watching right now. He's always thought that was kind of stupid. 'Skywatching? Couldn't you be doing something better in your life like, something productive? Like getting a scholarship?' Victor though to himself as he walked. Gloria was really tired. She was getting pretty sick of walking everywhere. She especially wanted to check into a five-star hotel, sleep in a soft queen-sized bed with breakfast ready in the morning. Now that'd be luxury, at least according to Gloria. Hop was focused on walking, he was exhausted sure, but his excitement to reach Motostroke will probably give him enough energy to run around for another two hours. As the trio had finally started closing in on the up-high town, suddenly, the trio heard a small squeak from behind them. Gloria, Victor, and Hop, all turned around at the same time. It was the same fox-like Pokémon from earlier. "Jesus... what do you want!?" Victor aggressively asked the small fox. The small fox awkwardly stepped over to Gloria's bag, and put it's nose up against it. "Oh... you want to be caught?" Gloria concluded. Hop was very confused, if you couldn't tell already. The Fennekin look-a-like nodded it's head, signaling agreement. 'Wow. This is a first.' Gloria thought. She pulled out one of her empty Poke-balls from her bag and opened it up for the fox-like Pokémon. Suddenly, the Pokémon shook it's head in disagreement, and began running over next to Victor. The Thief saw this unfold and simply quietly stated, "What?" Gloria and Hop were both shocked by this development. "Uh... you want Victor to capture you?" Gloria interpreted. The Fennekin look-a-like looked directly at the over-bearing and condescending look of Victor's face, gulped, and nodded it's head in agreement. "Why?" Victor said immediately, he didn't know the first thing to training a Pokémon. Gloria then remembered something, "Well, sure. Here Victor, catch it." Gloria proposed before tossing the ball to Victor. The Thief grabbed the Poke-ball and inspected it, he had never really got to look at one before. "Um." Victor could only mutter before pressing the center button and it opening up. The Thief closed the Poke-ball and turned to face the fox. He sighed, and held out the ball cautiously to the fox-like Pokémon. It anxiously moved towards the ball and tapped it's forehead against it. The Poke-ball opened automatically and the Pokémon was transported into the ball. "Damn." Victor stated. "That felt way easier then it should've been." He added. Gloria had a smug-look on her face, "Better start learning soon." Gloria mentioned. "Oh yeah, Hop." Victor said in response while looking at Hop, who was impatiently waiting to start moving again. "Alright, come on Hop, let's go." Gloria insisted as she begun walking towards Motostroke again. Hop race-walked to get behind Gloria, Victor followed them shortly after putting the Poke-ball in his bag.
Gloria, Hop, and Victor have all finally reached the entrance to Motostroke, it was just through a giant flight of stairs. Hop was so excited to finally get there, he ran up the stairs in complete joy. "Wait -Hop! You can't... ah, there he goes again." Gloria said as Hop got smaller and smaller in the distance... again. "Are we going to have to play another game of Hide and go Seek, just to find Hop again?" Victor questioned. "No. I need to sleep first." Gloria stated with baggy eyes. "Fair enough." Victor replied. The Thief and the trainer both began walking up the stairs in unison. Sleeping did remind Gloria of something, where is she going to put Victor? If she gives him his own room, he'll definitely escape and run to only-god knows where. If she just splits a room with him, as much as she would hate that, it's the only way to get him to stay put. She could hide the keycard and basically hold him hostage, she could get a room on the highest floor so he doesn't try to climb down the window. The duo had finally reached Motostroke, the two of them couldn't see Hop anywhere, but they assume he'll be safe in the town. The town was well-lit at night, there was only a few people out and about walking around the streets. Victor could spot a bar, a market, Pokémon Center, and that's about it. Gloria thinks she sees a Hotel. "Perfect." She said. "What?" Victor asked. "I see a Hotel, we can stay there for a couple of nights." Gloria proposes. "I'm assuming will be getting different rooms." Victor mentions. "Nope." Gloria responded. "Woah, woah, why not?" Victor turned to Gloria. "Because I don't trust you to not sneak out in the middle of the night." Gloria explained. "Oh come on. You said you were gonna bail me, so why do you have to worry about it?" Victor argued. "Can you just... do it? I need it to look convincing for the Champion." Gloria counter-argued. "From what I've seen, the Champion does not look like the sharpest tool in the shed, his clothing makes him look like the biggest tool in the shed." Victor barked about someone other then Gloria. "I'm too tired to argue with you right now, so can you just do this, for ONE night?" Gloria proposed again. "You know what, fine! We better be getting separate beds though, I don't want to sleep on the floor." Victor argued again. Gloria sighed as the two of them started moving toward the Hotel.
[A/N: Ha ha! This one is great. Anyways, this is the last one that is pre-written. That means that I wrote this part back in January of this year, and now, I'm done with every single one that needs to be rewritten. Well, uh... I guess that means the next one will be completely new. Hm. Yeah, my schedule for this fanfiction was messy already, and now I have to start writing new parts. I'll be honest, the parts are going to be coming out WAY slower now. I'll try to aim for one part a week but, I can't be 100% sure that'll happen. Just check in every three days or something, I should have something new out next week. Okay, see you when that happens...]