A/N: Full disclosure, I am not editing this very closely because I have a copy of Pokemon Scarlet that needs playing. If I did an oopsie, let me know and I'll fix it. Probably. We'll see how my first foray into Paldea is going first lmao
I am walking on a path in the middle of a meadow so vast, its miles of green grass and yellow dandelions stretch beyond the horizon. The sun is shining brightly, a beacon of light in blue sky lightly dotted with wisps of white clouds. No one is around me. I have no idea where this path began, nor do I know where it leads. For a moment, I think that I am lost, but how is it I could have gotten lost? There are no branching paths. I suppose I must continue walking forward. Maybe I will remember where I am going when I see it.
As I continue walking, the light falters as one of the small clouds flitters across the sun. For the single moment I am in the shade, I feel a cool breeze blow through the meadow. The cloud moves past the sun, and it is warm again. I look up to the sky and notice more clouds now. They are still small and wispy, but their increased number is unsettling. I begin to move faster. Perhaps a storm is coming in? I should seek shelter.
A brisk walk turns to a trot. I can see more clouds in the sky; clouds with thicker bodies, and they have lost their wispy whiteness in favor of a turbulent gray. Another gust of wind blows, and with it, the sunlight vanishes completely. The gust is colder than the first breeze.
Soon, the last speck of blue in the sky is gone completely. The grass around me begins to wither and die, and the dandelions wilt and brown. I break out into a full run, heavy steps against the dusty trail I had been on. Seeking shelter becomes my priority, anything to shield me from the storm, but still nothing is in sight. There is not even a tree for me to sit under.
The first burst of thunder comes, and I am in a dead sprint towards wherever it is I was going. I still have no knowledge of my destination, but before the first raindrop splashes against my nose I have already accepted the rain that will soon soak me to the bone.
There is a rolling of thunder in the distance and as if on cue, the torrent falls. Heavy drops fall like arrows, sharp and cold. Water pelts my face; each drop a shock to my senses. The water is almost as cold as ice. Still, I run, and still, I see no place to hide from the storm. Above me, the clouds darken from a light grey to a deep iron-like shade, rolling violently above me as the rain falls from them.
Finally, through streaks of water, I see a black shape ahead of me, next to the path. Though my vision is blurred from the pounding rain, I know in my heart that it will provide me with some protection from the storm. A second wind rises from deep within my lungs and I find it in me to pick up speed.
Even as I near the shape, its finer details are lost on me; the rain continues to mar my vision. But I am close enough to make out its generalities. It is a tall structure of stone; much taller than the shack I may have mistaken it for upon first glance. It is a strange shape with three peaks that stands on ten pillars, and as I come up to its base, I can tell that it is not a shack, or even a building at all, but a large statue.
Finally, I come to a rest at the base of one of the pillars. I heave my body left and right, sending droplets of the icy water in every direction. Finally, I am out of the rain and can see clearly again, though I know there is not much I can see. The clouds are still dark, and very little light from the sun still remains. It feels as if night has fallen, even though the storm has been raging for little more than ten minutes now. Though the water has soaked my fur near to the bone, I can finally have a brief rest. I look around at the strange pillars to find that each pillar is in truth one leg of the statue. The four closest to me look so familiar that I do not even need to look down and see my own I turn to my right, looking at the other legs. I could have intuited four of the remaining legs belonged to a statue of Zamazenta, but with a quick glance upward, I can see his shield-like mane falling down towards the ground, intricately carved by a true master of their craft. The two remaining legs are that of a human, and though the sky is too dark to see who this human was, I feel a welling of dread in my heart.
I hear the sound of a creature approaching and turn my head sharply. Bounding to the statues from the other direction is a beast on four legs. The creature has also clearly seen these statues as a refuge from the storm. Though I have no reason to fear or provoke them, I growl in warning.
"Zacian?" the figure calls out. "Is that you?"
"Zamazenta," I reply, my spirits ever so briefly raising. He slows down to a trot and comes under the statue of himself. Much like I did, he shakes the rain off, sending droplets of water all about, though it does nothing to make his fur look any less ratty from the rain. He looks to me intensely but does not speak. No words come from me either. The two of us look out upon the meadow, waiting for the rain to stop.
It does, abruptly, as if some sort of barrier has covered the sky. The skies lighten and clouds race across the sky dramatically. Soon they too are gone, and Zamazenta and I are only hiding from the sunlight.
I step out warily from underneath the statue of myself, and in my peripheral vision, I see Zamazenta do the same. Though I can feel the light on my fur again, it does not contain the warmth it did before the rain came. Instead, the light is cold and harsh. I look up to the sun. It shines weakly down upon us, and from the angle I am seeing it from, it seems to be nestled in the center of the statue – in the hand of the man whose legs created the other two pillars.
Zamazenta growls. He recognizes the man, too. He is the Liar. The Usurper. The "Noble Hero" who did nothing but bring about the Black Hand. He stands between us, a smile upon his face. What I would have once considered a noble and benevolent grin has long since morphed into a bitter and conniving smirk. Though his eyes are stone, I can still sense the foul life that resides in him. He holds in his arm Zamazenta's shield, and his other is raised up. The sun is obscuring the view, but I take two steps to the side, and sure enough, my sword, long, thin, and of elegant make, is gripped tightly in his palm. He took them from us, and he holds them like his treasure. I growl again.
The light of the sun falters. Deep in the earth beneath me, I feel it again. It is not the thunder of the storm that just passed, but a new one. An older one. One frighteningly familiar. At the ends of the horizon, blackness comes. It is like watching ink dissolving into water, changing it from pure and clear to murky and dark. Drips of blackness shoot upward, swirling in clouds of anger and torment, and each drop comes closer and closer still to the sun, still blazing above the center of the statue.
Before either Zamazenta or I can do anything, the blackness begins to come to us on the ground as well. More of this ink, sludgy and tar-like, spreads across the grass and dandelions, flattening them with no hope of recovery. Zamazenta and I back up into the circle. Is there any way to stop the onslaught? Or is this where we meet our fate?
The darkness is closing in on us, the horizon shrinking. Zamazenta and I step closer together and look up just as the inky blackness begins to blot out the sun itself. The light flickers like a candle and is extinguished. All is dark again. I can no longer see, but I can feel the tremors of the ground below me. The power is returning, clawing its way up to the surface.
I leap to the left just in time for the earth to open up between Zamazenta and me. Bright pink light shoots directly upward into the sky, lighting the statues from below with such force that they begin to break. Two massive cracks appear just above the knees of the Liar, and I watch them climb like spikers up his legs, across his torso, and spread out across his neck and chest. There is a sickening crunch, and he begins to topple. His head, arms, and shoulders fall in every direction. Zamazenta and I are able to jump aside but our stone selves are broken immediately. The three statues fall to the ground and are overtaken by the inky blackness. All that is left for Zamazenta and me is a patch of grass before it, and it too is shrinking by the second. There is nothing to do but wait for our demise. As we back into each other, another powerful light bursts from the ground. The Black Hand emerges in its true form, with spindly black fingers radiating this red light as it stretches them, and then, as the inky blackness finally reaches our paws, with nowhere for us to turn to, the hand lashes out, striking to kill.
I jolted out of the bed, breathing heavily. The window was open, and along with a fresh breeze, let in brilliant white moonlight. Boltund, who had been curled up in bed next to me, stirred a bit but went back to sleep. I caught my breath and looked over at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand. It was a quarter past three. I caught my breath and made my way over to the window and looked out, sidestepping past Cinderace and Bewear, who were sleeping calmly one bed the late hour, I could see that Wyndon was still glowing with its fluorescent and incandescent lighting. I could still hear the occasional roar of a car engine or the excited conversations of the people returning home from a long night out. I stared out the window for a long time and shuddered, thinking of the dream that had awoken me. This was the first time I had truly seen or heard from her since Hop and I ventured into the Weald the second time.
"You know, you're welcome to just pop into my subconscious with a 'hello, how are you,' Zacian," I chuckled, half-hoping that she would finally respond. Instead, there was a soft knock on the hotel room's door.
"Gloria?" I heard Hop whisper from the other side. I inhaled sharply and rushed to the door to let him in.
"You had the dream, too?" I asked once I had opened the door.
"Bloody hell," he said. "Was sorta hoping that I was just that stressed about the league."
"Why would anything be easy these days?" I half-heartedly joked. "Was your dream in the meadow? Under the statue?"
"Yeah," he grimaced. I beckoned him to come into the room and he slipped inside. As he sat down on the edge of my bed and ran his fingers through Boltund's yellow coat, I leaned back on a wardrobe on the other side of the room, next to the mini-fridge and the remains of the room service I ordered the night before. "I was…I was Zamazenta," he continued. "That make sense?"
"I was Zacian," I said, nodding along.
"You don't happen to know anything about dreams or what they could mean, do you?" he asked. I shook my head. "Ah, well, worth an ask at least."
"That statue," I murmured.
"It looked a bit like the one at the Circhester baths," Hop said. "I mean that one just had the Hero, no Zacian or Zamazenta, and it was like, a quarter of the size…"
I blinked as the realization hit me. "Didn't that statue have the original sword and shield of the hero built into it or something?"
Hop looked at me and scratched his head. "I…I think. Melony had told us that, didn't she?"
I nodded. "Well, if the Hero had lied about saving the region from the Darkest Day…"
"He could have lied about that, too!" Hop cried, his eyes glowing wide. Boltund looked up suddenly, blinked a couple times, and yawned. Her tail flopped on the edge of the bed a couple times once she saw Hop and then she flopped back down on the bed. "Heh," Hop chuckled, patting her flank again, "I got a bit carried away there, sorry Boltund. But hey, today's the day if we want to ask Melony, right? Opening Ceremony and all, she's gotta be around somewhere."
"Not a bad plan," I said with a smile.
"But what about the rest of the dream?" Hop asked, leaning forward, his smile gone.
I shook my head. "Search me," I replied. "Every time I have one of those dreams something bad happens. And with Raihan and Leon both saying that Eternatus is too much to handle? That's a bit… disconcerting to say the least. Even if Eternatus is in a Master ball, who's to say it can't get out?"
"Good thing I had already figured I wouldn't be going back to sleep anyway," Hop said dryly.
"Well, there's nothing we can do about it from here, anyway," I sighed. "Eternatus is all the way in Hammerlocke, and if Oleana is here, that means Rose must be too. They're never too far apart."
"So, we wait until that sludge stuff gets to us?" Hop groaned.
I shrugged. "Better than running blindly through the rain."
The two of us sat there, trying not to dwell too much on it. Neither of us were feeling particularly sleepy anymore, but it was nice to be in each other's company. We talked a little bit about things that seemed trivial in the light of both the incoming Pokémon League and the looming threat of Eternatus. After a short while we ventured downstairs to the backlot cloister behind the hotel, where we took a look at our Pokémon that wouldn't have found much comfort sleeping the night away in a hotel room. Dubwool and Rapidash were curled up in the corner of a small fenced-in enclosure, near a pair of Miltank. Corviknight was impossible to miss, perched atop the edge of a small roof. No other flying types were near him, as he still looked intimidating as all get out while asleep. There were a couple of trainers still milling about, saying they were unable to sleep for the excitement of the opening ceremony, and I thought I could see Allister off in a corner, meditating with his ghostly team. We chatted with the trainers for a bit and headed back to our rooms individually.
The light of day came eventually and Hop and I headed down to meet up with Victor and Marnie for some breakfast in the city before heading to the stadium. The lobby of the hotel was positively packed. I recognized a fair share of trainers, some of whom I had battled along the journey and some of whom I had only seen in highlight reels. After some light schmoozing, the four of us walked out the door. Naturally, the security man was at odds with Mohawk Man and Pink Pyroar, who, according to Marnie, had been trying to come up and meet us for the past hour or so.
"This is why we prefer the Budew Drop Inn!" Mohawk man spat as we walked past. "The service here is absolute rubbish!"
"I don't mind it, actually," Marnie cut in, not even looking at the two Team Yell punks and walking right past them. I waved as I caught up to her, and Hop and Victor snickered, following behind us.
We didn't have time for anything extravagant for breakfast; the League had sent notification that we had to arrive hours before the spectator doors even opened at the stadium. We settled for grabbing a quick bite at a small café a few blocks away. Food in hand and amassing a small tail of followers as we walked, Marnie groaned and called a Corviknight. "Bloody Mandibuzz, the lot of you, she muttered under her breath, although I could see that she was happy to speak to the few that were brave enough to walk through Mohawk Man and Pink Pyroar to meet her as we waited for our cab. Hop, on the other hand, was so eager to be surrounded by fans that we had to pull him into the cab ourselves. Finally, after a few more pictures, we clicked the doors shut and took to the sky.
"It's exhaustin'," Marnie groaned. "Now you know why I was takin' a cab everywhere back in the start of the challenge. Wish it weren't so expensive to do it the whole season."
"So, you regret bummin' around with us the past few months, then?" Victor asked.
"Never said that. Well…maybe Hop," Marnie yawned. Hop narrowed his eyes dramatically and we all shared a laugh.
As we exited the cab near the front of the stadium, a League Official jogged up to us. "Competitors!" He called out. "Follow me to your designated entrance. Please use this entrance when entering or exiting the stadium for the rest of the tournament." He waited for us to pay the cabbie and led us around the west side of the stadium to a small entrance that was tucked away that I would not have even noticed had he not pointed it out himself. We thanked him and rushed inside.
There was a minor labyrinth of hallways to get through but eventually we found where we were going – a large holding room full of plain metal lockers with a handful of competitors and gym leaders, milling about excitedly. Kabu naturally was fully decked out in uniform and ready to go, Centiskorch wrapped around his body like a scarf with legs. Allister had also made it there before us; he waved hesitantly before cowering behind an open locker door. Gengar was much more boisterous, flying up to us at breakneck pace before filtering through my body, causing me to tumble backwards into Marnie in surprise. Gengar snickered and stuck its tongue out at us as Morpeko growled and sent a warning spark at it, then zipped back to his trainer, who looked at us sheepishly behind his mask. Exiting from the changing rooms in her uniform was Bea, who nodded curtly to the four of us before walking over to Kabu. The two jogged slowly out the other end of the room.
"Thick as Thievuls, those two," Milo said, appearing at our side. He was covered in seeds, brushing the cottony fuzz of Eldegoss. "Good to see you four. I was wondering when you'd show up!"
"Where are they headed off to?" Victor asked.
"The fields are open to all competitors before the tournament starts," Milo explained. "No doubt they're going to get a feel for the different battlefields, so they know what kinds of terrain to expect."
"Oh, man, great idea!" Hop cried. "C'mon, we gotta—"
"Hold it," I said, grabbing his jacket collar as he started to jog away. "We should probably change first, and besides, we need to find "Melo—"
"For cryin' out loud, mum, I don't need you followin' me every which way!"
A trainer burst through the door behind us and would have bowled us over if not for Marnie and Victor's quick reflexes pulling me and Hop out of the way. Gordie brushed past us, his hair unkempt and wild. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses that may have been opaque, but they flashed gold with his anger all the same. He stomped off directly into the changing room as Melony followed him in, a façade of worry poorly hiding her own bemusement.
"Dear, we're all being held in the same place, I don't see the problem with walking in together—oh, if it isn't the top trainers all together! Hey kids!" She looked over to us and smiled warmly before pulling Victor and Hop into a long hug. "Gloria, Victor, Hop, your battles against Raihan were incredible, I really hope I get a chance to show you what I'm truly made of!"
Marnie raised an eyebrow. "Shouldn't you be worried about—"
"My son? He'll be fine," Melony insisted before locking her blue eyes on me. "It might have been a while since I was a teenager, but I remember what it's like to be rebellious." She gave me a very conspicuous wink. I blushed but before I could say anything else, she wrapped her arms around me and squeezed tight.
"Better watch out, Marnie," Hop snickered. Marnie and I both responded with a single finger each as Melony squeezed me.
"So how have you four been?" Melony asked as she let go of me.
"We've been great, er, actually, we were hoping to find you today," I said.
"You came to the right place, of course!" she beamed.
"Right," Hop said. "Kind of a weird question, but you know that statue of the hero in the—"
"Oh, you heard about that?" Melony replied. "Well, don't worry, it's all been taken care of!"
I shared a glance with Hop. "What?" we asked in unison.
Melony blinked. "You…didn't hear about that? Oh, well, it has been an interesting few months, no doubt it would have gotten swept under the rug. Basically, somebody stole them."
"They what?!" I cried, loud enough for almost everyone in the room to look over at us.
"I didn't realize the statue had such an effect on you," Melony chuckled. "But like I said, it's all been taken care of. One day a couple weeks back, around the time of that really nasty storm in Hammerlocke, our night security guard filched 'em. No idea what would've possessed him to do so, by all accounts he was such a sweet man. But, due diligence and all, the bobbies followed up on the leads, and they were found in his house a couple weeks later. They're back at the baths now, but the security there is taking things a bit more seriously."
Hop looked at me. "There's no way that…" he muttered, but he trailed off and fell into deep thought.
"No way that what?" Melony asked, before checking an alert on her phone. "Never mind that, we'll have all the time in the world to catch up, but I was supposed to walk the pitches with Kabu and Bea and it seems like they went off without me. See you for the opening ceremony tonight!" She waved again and dropped her things off in one of the lockers that lined the wall and jogged out the first door.
"Who would have even stolen those old things?" Hop asked.
"Money?" Marnie suggested with a shrug. "History's pretty boring to a lot of people but I wouldn't doubt those would fetch a pretty penny."
"You don't think Rose had anything to do with this, do you?" I asked in a hushed tone.
"That one might be your paranoia acting up," Victor said. "Rose hasn't said much of anything about Zacian or Zamazenta at all. Sonia thinks he doesn't even know anything about them."
"But it's not impossible for him to have done that," I pressed.
"We could ask Lee if Rose had disappeared any," Hop mused, "but I'm pretty sure I remember the reason he couldn't ever talk to us for the longest time was because Rose was basically breathing down his and Raihan's backs the whole time."
"He definitely would have paid someone to do it, even if he wasn't busy with Eternatus," Marnie growled. "You think a bloke like him does his own dirty work? Not a chance."
"Right," Victor said. "But I'm just saying that the police already caught the guy with the evidence, and it's been returned. We literally only know what Melony just told us, and if we want to continue this conversation, we should probably wait until we're back at the hote—hi, alright?"
I spun around to see that in Melony's absence, many of the tournament participants and gym leaders were slowly approaching, ready to talk shop. I sighed, wishing the upcoming tournament was the only thing I had to worry about for the time being.
"We'll meet in my room after the ceremony?" I suggested.
"If there's any more information we can dredge up," Victor added.
The day dragged on and no other information was gleaned. Melony really had given us the brunt of the story in a few sentences; the only things we could find online were a couple articles about the break-in and capturing of the security guard, as well as a few rather unresearched hit pieces on this security guard's character. With nothing else to go on, Hop and I at least took solace in knowing that the shield and sword were most likely safe at the Circhester Bathhouse, which, Arceus forbid was only a short flight away from Wyndon should anything tragic happen.
We all got a chance to walk around the stadium complex. While there was the main stadium, there were several smaller pitches in the complex, each with slightly different pitches. One was very similar to Nessa's gym, with a giant pool of water at the center. One had rocks strewn about the place, making for a lot of limited visuals from the trainer's position on the pitch. Of the eight pitches out there, each seemed to provide a slight advantage to a certain type of Pokémon. One of the many league officials explained that in the first half of the tournament, our matches would be randomly assigned to one of these pitches. The environmental changes between them all was to truly push us to the limit of the bonds we shared with our partners.
The only pitch we were not allowed to see was the championship stadium itself, as the final preparations for the opening ceremony were taking place, but by night's end, Hop, Victor, Marnie, and I, along with forty-four other trainers stood in a long tunnel at one end of the stadium. We were allowed to bring one Pokémon along with us as they announced us each by name. Hop stood next to Dubwool, calmly patting his head as he waited for the ceremony to begin. Marnie naturally had Morpeko resting on her shoulder, her fur bristling with both static electricity and excitement for the upcoming week. Victor had a tough time deciding who he wanted to join him, but had settled on Urshifu, who stood with such a fearsome pose that most of the other trainers kept their distance. I on the other hand, did not think twice, and standing next to me just as he always had was Cinderace.
"And now!" a voice boomed from outside, "It's time to meet the competitors in this year's league tournament!" The rumble of the audience sounded like thunder, and for a brief moment I flashed back to my nightmare this morning, but quickly shook it out of my head. Suddenly, the line of trainers started to move as one by one, we all jogged out into the pitch, like we did all the way back when the gym challenge started.
"Gloria Dixon!" the loudspeaker boomed as Cinderace and I finally made it out onto the pitch. The audience roared, and if I hadn't already gotten a running start, I knew I would have been stopped dead in my tracks. Even Raihan's stadium could not compare to this; there had to be close to one hundred thousand seats in this massive stadium and it seemed like every single one was filled. The pitch itself, though the same regulation size as the other gyms, looked positively tiny, surrounded by so much green turf that another full-size arena could almost fit inside it. Cinderace and I followed the trainer in front of me to the center, where there was a wide stage. All eight gym leaders were already standing on it, clapping politely for each of us. Milo and Nessa waved excitedly to me as I jogged up, Kabu and Bea gave me a proud but warm nod of the head, Melony winked at me again, and even Piers and Opal had made it too, both happy to see me but both clearly wishing the stage was wider so they could stand even further apart from each other. And of course, Raihan was too busy looking like a model to pay attention to me for the most part, but the minute I got close enough, he held out a hand for a high five, which I gladly took.
As the rest of the trainers took to the pitch and I gathered up with Victor, Hop, and Marnie again, I did notice two conspicuous absences – Leon and the chairman himself, but those were quickly remedied. First was Rose, who walked up calmly to the front of the stage. I noticed that his applause was much weaker than it seemed to have been. Perhaps my friends and I were not the only ones put on edge by all the Eternatus nonsense. Rose didn't seem to mind; he was in full presentation mode, and he also knew that he was mostly there into introduce the true star of the show. I felt a buzz on my wrist as my Dynamax Bracelet flared to life. Victor and I both twitched with anticipation but Hop just laughed. "Not this time, mates," he said, pointing his finger to the sky.
"And of course, we can't have a tournament without our champion!" Rose cried, and the audience erupted as Charizard swooped down with Leon on his back. Before Charizard could touch down, Leon jumped from its back, did a backflip and skidded to a halt on the front of the stage, lifting his hand to the sky. The signature Charizard pose, of course. Charizard let out a massive burst of fire from his maw and sped around the length of the stadium, quickly growing in size until it was its full Gigantamax form, enveloping the entire stadium in a brilliant inferno before burning itself up. Charizard landed with a terrible crash and look up, letting loose another blast of fire, one that shot hundreds of feet in the sky, as tall as Rose's Tower in the financial district, and by the time it petered out, Charizard had slowly shrunk back to its original size. The crowd was rabid, screaming itself hoarse.
"And if you thought that fire was fierce, just wait until the battles start tomorrow!" Rose cried. The audience cheered again. Hell, even I was finding myself getting pumped from the whole display. Cinderace hopped on his haunches next to me, his excitement matched only by Hop, who was doing the exact same thing with Dubwool.
As the audience roared, I felt a tap on my left shoulder. Marnie was at my side, and she jerked her head over to a corner of the pitch. Standing in a fairy-type uniform and looking grumpy and uncomfortable was Bede. "So, he's really back," I groaned.
"He looks miserable," Marnie said.
"I mean, he is," I snickered. As if on cue, he looked around and caught eyes with me. They instantly narrowed, but just as quickly they softened, and he took a couple of steps away, becoming obscured by another trainer.
"How'd he even get back into the league?" Marnie said.
"He's here on Opal's endorsement," I said.
"Oh, so he's going to be even more insufferable," she sneered.
"What are you two lookin' at?" Hop asked. As he did, Bede came back into view, this time locking eyes with Hop. This time, it was Hop that narrowed his eyes and clenched his fist. Bede quickly jerked to the side and walked away, back towards the tunnel we entered from. As he did, the partner Pokémon he chose to accompany him, one I had never seen before, behind him. It looked like his Hatterene, maybe it evolved? I couldn't tell, as it was facing away from us. It was tall, with long hair or fur billowing down from the crown of its head in strands of periwinkle and lavender. In a way, it reminded me of Grimmsnarl, perhaps if Grimmsnarl had spent a week in Galar's finest spa. Its hair came to a point in a very similar way, almost like…
"A witch's hat…" I muttered. I felt a strange knot in my chest grow, but I couldn't place it. And soon after, Bede was gone.
"Hey guys?" Victor asked. "you're missing the whole ceremony." Marnie, Hop, and I slowly turned back. I tried to get Hop's attention, but he seemed lost in thought.
A/N: Sorry y'all, Bede is back for real. I was going to go into the details of the first rounds of the tournament in this chapter, but this bit at the ceremony seemed like a good place to leave it, and the next chapter was probably going to be pretty light anyway. Also, I'll try to get the next chapter out on time - I should have ample free time with it being Thanksgiving in the US and all, but as previously stated, I got a copy of Pokemon Scarlet to play, so it's best to maybe make no solid promises this time around! Happy first day of Gen 9! If you don't mind, I've got a Fuecoco to train! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you for the next one!
NEXT WEEK: THE GHOSTLY UPSTART
