A/N: Team Roster: Jackson (Raboot), Sap (Vikavolt), Hudson (Mudsdale), Rosa (Bellossom), Mateo (Riolu), Dia (Meowstic)

Chapter 10 -The Hammerlocke Vault

If Dolly thought Motostoke was impressive, it was nothing compared to the grandeur of Hammerlocke. The next Gym was technically in a town called Stow-on-Side, but this was quite the elaborate detour.

Tall walls and houses of purple bricks elegantly lined the main street as Dolly walked through, passing by just as many elegant pedestrians. Golden roofs glittered in the midday sun, shining brilliantly over the town - even the fencing was painted with a shimmering gold sheen. Dolly grinned as she plodded along, counting the little torches that flickered against the dark bricks. It was as if the entire city were built as one great caste, with Hammerlocke Stadium as the head. That was now officially the tallest building she'd ever seen, and the first building she'd ever seen to have a crown at the top.

As she stepped through the streets, her mind drifted back to her strange encounter with the hostel owner. How did she know so much about Pokémon, about her Curse? Did she know someone like Kabu did? But what about the bit of pushing into the crease of her elbow…? Maybe she was just being messed with. People tended to do that.

She felt around in her pocket for her Sun Stone, which had now become a habit. She only fiddled with loose string, however, as Rosa had snuck into her room in the middle of the night and used it to evolve.

"But Dolly, you did not see the way they were looking at him!" Rosa had said, exasperatingly trying to defend her actions to the furious Trainer before her. "I had to be enrapturing and that was impossible when every time I spoke I spit drool at him!"

"I don't care if a billion Rapidash were batting their eyelashes at Hudson, that Sun Stone was from Kabu! He gave it to me," she had yelled. "It was a symbol that I'm not completely horrible and useless!"

Rosa's shoulders slumped at her words. Dolly let out another huff and turned, fiddling with the zipper on her jacket.

"You're not useless, my Dolly. Far from it. Do you not see the powerful team you have built up and encouraged?"

Dolly let out a sigh, turning back to Rosa.

"I didn't do a good enough job at encouraging you, then. Even as a Gloom, your spirit is what is so captivating about you, Rosa, it's your passion and your love for the world. I'm sad that you can see such beautiful qualities in us and not in yourself. It doesn't matter if you drooled all the time as a Gloom, or even if you drooled all the time now. None of us care what you look like."

Rosa fiddled with the leaf that draped from the flower petal on her head.

"That's what Jackson and Hudson both said, too…"

Dolly sighed again, watching her Bellossom stare so guiltily at the floor. Perhaps her Sun Stone reminder was still standing right in front of her. She smiled, scooped Rosa up, and gave her a squeeze.

"You do smell a lot better now, though. But even if you didn't, we would all still love you the same."

Rosa hummed, then peppered Dolly's face with kisses. After a flustered retort and spitting out a few flower petals, Dolly and Rosa headed down the hostel steps and out into the Wild Area.

Hudson and Mateo were waiting for them, as the little Riolu was now part of the team. Dolly was told in secret that a Trainer never came back for their egg, and Mateo had been at the hostel ever since. It was 'high time he flew the coop,' the hostel owner had said, then she told her 'happy birthday, or whatever.'

"I am sorry, Hudson," Rosa sighed as they started out onto the dirt path. "I should not have bombarded your Rapidash friends with accusations and insults."

"I told you I didn't care about those frilly Rapidash flinging their manes everywhere, I just wanted some shut eye," Hudson said. "You could be a Gloom, or Vileplume, or even a Stunfisk or something for the rest of eternity, and that still wouldn't matter to us...matter to me."

Rosa let out a quiet sigh as she looked to Hudson.

"...Really?"

He offered her a soft smile and nodded. Rosa looked to the ground and smiled as well, bashfully twirling her grass skirt.

"Hey Mr. Mudsdale, are you two married?" Mateo had asked. "I'm super good at reading auras and yours is reeeaaally pink."

Hudson's eyes widened as Rosa's hand shot to her mouth.

"Don't you...don't you and Jackson have rocks to eat or something…?" Hudson grumbled, turning his face away from them.

Rosa perked up considerably after that.

Dolly chuckled at the thought as she shook her head back to the present. She pulled out her town map. This city may have well been twice the size of Motostoke, and she even had a hard time maneuvering through there. As she approached Hammerlock Stadium, she smiled when she saw Leon and his Charizard waving at them.

"Dolly! It seems you're doing well collecting Gym Badges," he grinned, meeting her on the sidewalk. "Guess whatever Kabu told you perked you right back up, huh? But Hop...did something happen with him?"

"What do you mean?"

Dolly's eyebrows pulled together. She hadn't seen Hop since after they left Motostoke - which was over a week ago, now. When Dolly first came into Hammerlocke, she unfortunately ran into Bede right before entering the city gates. He had said 'he doubted Hop would be coming after such a humiliating defeat, and he was sure he would never again look the Champion in the eye.' Then he flipped his stupid hair and shoved her to the side to get up the steps.

"He was acting really odd when I ran into him," Leon huffed as he crossed his arms. "He took one look at me and immediately was like, 'I'm so sorry, Lee!' It might be the first time I've heard him apologize for anything, and I have no idea what it was for! Maybe he's feeling down because he's had some hard losses in battle?"

"I know he lost to that Challenger Bede."

Leon looked farther off and let out a sigh.

"At least I've got you to keep an eye on him. You'll look out for Hop, won't you?"

"Absolutely, of course," Dolly nodded. He'd been there a thousand times for her, of course she would return the favor for her best friend.

"Thanks Dolly," he said, his shoulders relaxing. "I've got to meet with the chairman soon, but you should stop and say hello to Raihan while you're here. He's the greatest rival I've got and the final hurdle you'll have to face in the Gym Challenge. He should still be around the vault on the way to Route 6."

"Sounds good. I'll see you later, Leon," Dolly said as she hiked her bag up on her shoulders. She started to turn, but paused when Leon cleared his throat.

"But something else about Raihan, Dolly," Leon added, suddenly stern. "He's got a bit of a… reputation... with women, so watch out for him, 'k? Don't go messing around with him, even if you really want to. He's a great guy, but he's got some bad habits. He's talked about you before, so keep an eye out, yeah?"

"Uh, sure?" Dolly said.

Who's talked about her before? Mess around how? Like, in mud or something? She didn't really feel like wasting any time in mud now that she was more determined in her Gym Challenge.

Dolly meandered through Hammerlocke, looking for this supposed vault and the supposed messy Gym Leader Raihan. Her head swiveled about, keeping her eyes peeled for anyone who looked a bit more interesting than the average pedestrian.

And she found him, leaning against large wooden doors, tapping on his phone. Woah. That was literally the tallest man she had ever seen. He seemed hygienic enough, though, not sure what Leon was going on about. When she approached he glanced up to her. Well, down to her.

"Hi, I'm Challenger Dolly. I'm supposed to be meeting you here?" she asked, hiking up her bag. Even with him leaning against the doors, she barely came up to his chin.

"You're one of the Gym Challengers Leon endorsed?" Raihan asked incredulously, looking down at Dolly. "You're so small!"

What? What kind of first impression was that?

Raihan squatted down so he was eye-level with Dolly.

"I feel like a strong gust of wind could push you over."

Well even if that was a true statement, he didn't see her asking how the weather was up there. Wasn't this guy the last Gym Leader? Shouldn't he himself be more important looking and not wearing a stupid headband?

"You seemed like a regular height in your pictures. Is that why they call you Dolly? Because you look like a little doll?"

Dolly looked behind her, around her. Was this, like, some sort of meme? Was his Rotom phone recording her somewhere? She looked back to him.

"Um. No. That's my name."

Raihan stood back to his full height, the top of her head now barely making it to his collarbone.

"Is that short for something cute?"

"Dolores."

He hooked his hands behind his head and pursed his lips.

"Yeah I can see why you go by Dolly, then. Anyway, I'm Raihan."

If he thought Dolores was a weird name, she couldn't wait for him to meet the other Challenger Leon endorsed.

"Um, hi Raihan. Can I see the vault?"

"Ah, so you're here to see our treasures, are you?" Raihan grinned. "Gaining a better understanding of Pokémon by studying history certainly isn't a bad idea. Follow me, why don't you?"

Dolly followed the Gym Leader into the vault. She gazed around at the bricks and the single trophy case. Was this it? Not very impressive…

"Now, on you go!" Raihan said. "If it's the vault you want, it's up those stairs there. That girl's up there, too. You know. Miss Clever Clogs."

Clever clogs? What was this guy talking about? So far Gym Leader Raihan and his introduction to the vault was a solid two out of five stars.

She turned to leave, only to pause as he cleared his throat. When she turned back to him, he had stepped much closer, his full height more apparent. A crooked grin appeared on his face as he leaned toward her.

"I'll even spare you one of my League cards," he said, his bright blue eyes boring into hers.

"Uh, thanks," she muttered, plucking it from his hand.

She paused when she noticed the sheer size of his hand compared to hers - it could probably span the entire width of her back. She glanced back up to him. He did have some pretty intense eyes, too, and the way he was looking at her was almost animalistic. Her heart kicked as she watched his half-lidded eyes dart about her face.

She made her way up the thin stairwell, fiddling with the card in her hand. What was with everyone giving her their League cards? What was she even supposed to do with them? She glanced at Raihan's card in her hands. She'd seen his League card before online somewhere but what was different was the additional scrawl at the bottom. Limited edition, maybe? She peered closer and felt the heat rise to her cheeks when she noticed they weren't letters, but numbers. A phone number.

Perhaps she misunderstood what Leon was warning her about. She shoved it into her pocket and continued up the steps.

After trotting up a few more flights of stairs, Dolly pushed her way into a cylindrical purple-bricked tower. She spotted Sonia standing in the middle, gazing at four massive tapestries hung on the walls. The sun beamed into the room, little dust specks floating about the weavings before her.

Was this the vault? She was expecting some cool crowns or priceless jewels or a statue made of gold or something, but instead there were just four carpets hanging on the walls. This was just as lame as that first room.

Sonia snorted at Dolly's lack-of-awe, joking about how fine art was lost on the younger generations. She then delved into the history of the tapestries, explaining more about her research on the Darkest Day and how it was odd to see two young heroes instead of just one like they saw in Motostoke. Dolly nodded, pretended to be interested by letting out a few well-timed 'huh's, and fiddled with Raihan's League card in her pocket.

Why'd he write his number on it? The last time a guy gave her his number was on a dare after her last boyfriend broke up with her. Then he had run back to his group of friends to only record her reaction and post it on their social media later. But Raihan wouldn't do that, right? Leon said he was a good guy. He did have quite the social media following, though.

"Thanks for letting me bounce some ideas off you," Sonia smiled. "I think I've got some theories now."

Dolly shook her head into focus.

"Oh, uh, yeah anytime."

"And another reason I'm glad you came up here," Sonia said, setting an old strip of newspaper in her hand. "I found this at the library the other day. It's an article about another region's old Champion."

Dolly peered at the picture and words on the yellowing strip of paper. A young girl was smiling on it, her tall dark ponytail slung behind her shoulder. She had a hand on her hip, and her other hand slung around a Samurott.

"Apparently this girl blew threw the Gyms in her region, claimed the Champion title, then disappeared. The article talks about how they never knew if she left on her own or was so unpopular she was bullied out of the country."

Dolly's eyebrows pulled together. "Why would she be bullied out? She seems like a normal girl. Was she too young to be Champion?"

"The Champion after her was even younger, but that's what I was trying to find out, too," Sonia said as she shook her head. "There's so little information about this girl, but I finally found this article. It says that she had a strange condition, and when the region found out she wasn't simply releasing her Pokémon throughout her Gym battles, but they kept 'mysteriously disappearing,' everyone got suspicious. Once she became Champion, she didn't 'release' or 'get rid of' any Pokémon, but a journalist did a piece on her rise to fame - particularly the mysterious disappearances before she became Champion. The story blew up around the region and a lot of people called for her dismissal. The League of the region said she left for personal reasons, but no one really believed them."

Dolly's eyes skimmed through the article as Sonia spoke, then looked back up to the girl smiling with her Samurott. Something about her seemed familiar, like she had seen that mischievous smirk and tall ponytail somewhere before. Her mind flashed to the hostel owner.

"I'm almost wondering if she had the Nuzlocke Curse," Sonia said, twirling her hair around her finger. "If that's what could explain the 'mysterious disappearances.' I can imagine she had Pokémon faint during her time as Champion, so maybe not though. Anyway, that's all I could find. Thought you would think it was interesting."

"Thanks Sonia," Dolly said, and delicately folded the article into her pocket.

"Well, I'm going to research these tapestries a tad more, but you have your Gym Challenge, right? I'm excited to see more of your wins," she grinned.

"Yeah, and I won't get those wins sitting in a dusty room like this," Dolly said. She waved goodbye to Sonia and trotted back down to the main floor.

Did that girl really have the Nuzlocke Curse like Sonia predicted? If those mysterious disappearances were her Pokémon dying, that would correspond to what that hostel owner said. That maybe she became the Champion, broke her Curse, and the symptoms were obsolete. Maybe she could go back to the hostel in the Wild Area and show that old woman this article. Although she never learned her name, Dolly had a faint suspicion it matched the name in this strip of newspaper.

"Did you like the vault?"

Dolly's heart skipped as she saw Raihan waiting for her at the end of the stairs, hands held lightly behind his back.

Her mind flashed to the numbers on the card he gave her. She hesitated as she stepped down through the thin stairwell, wondering if he would move aside for her. He didn't, so she stepped down as far as she could. Even standing two steps above him she wasn't as tall as him.

"Not too many pieces up there, but those tapestries are pretty important to Galar's history. They tell of the heroes of the Galar region's past. I suppose if we've got any modern hero, it'd have to be our Champion, Leon."

A hero? That seemed a bit much. She supposed Leon was the most powerful Pokémon Trainer in Galar, but she would picture a hero wearing armor or something. He did wear a cape at least. And a really tight shirt.

"I guess," Dolly said, setting her hands in her pockets. "I feel like the hero of Galar would know how to chew with his mouth closed, though."

"You noticed that too?!" Raihan said, eyes wide. Then he laughed and leaned against the wall beside them. "Okay so it's not just me, I swear no one believes me when I tell them that."

Dolly cautiously told Raihan about how Leon sucked at charades, and he told her about how he watched Leon eat sand once. They eased into conversation just as Dolly eased her arm against the railing of the thin stairwell, mirroring how Raihan stood. Their conversation turned to the tapestries in the vault again, and Dolly was certainly much more interested when this information was coming from Raihan. Her train of thought jolted when Raihan leaned his other arm on the wall by her head.

"Well, as fascinating as you are, Dolly, I can't keep you to myself for too long," Raihan grinned. "Your goal is to defeat that superstar Leon. So, go conquer Route 6 and train yourself up along the way,"

Suddenly, as soon as she motioned to leave, he leaned his head in slightly.

"And I'm sure you hear this a lot, but you have beautiful eyes."

"Oh," Dolly said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear as her cheeks grew warmer. "Um, thanks."

She did not hear that a lot, but she had to admit, hearing it from someone like him, who was way out of her league, made her blush. She bit back a smile as she cautiously looked back up at him.

Perhaps she was too quick to judge, and Raihan and his introduction to the vault was actually a three out of five stars.

"Take good care of that League card," he said quietly as she stepped down another stair. "That one was just for you."

As he finished, his eyes darted from her eyes downward and her face immediately grew warmer. He glanced to her eyes again, then winked.

The fresh air seemed to clear her head and Dolly finally started toward Route 6, shaking her arms and legs as if to shake off how she felt when Raihan looked at her.