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Now, Somewhere

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Where there's a whip there's a way, where there's a whip there's a way!

We don't wanna go to war today, but the Lord of the Lash says "Nay, nay, nay!"

We're gonna march all day, all day, all day!

The crack on the back says we're gonna fight

We're gonna march all day and night and more

For we are the slaves of the Dark Lord's war!

-Where There's a Whip There's a Way, a half-men war chant from the animated AF 2089 movie "The Legends of Hisui: The War of Wrath." Composed by Platinum Berlitz. Song gained positive reviews for its campy nature, although Chairman Bronze Tercano said that he was not amused at the joking portrayal of half-men.

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"This is getting out of hand, Shielbert!"

The young man rubbed his hands down a stained cloth, taking care to not taint his expensive suit. It was a beautiful day around him, fragrant flowers blooming, Pokemon calling from nearby trees. There was a misty look to the sky, a yellow radiance near the horizon.

"Now, Sordward, it was not an intentional loose end," Shielbert said. He ran his hand through his well-maintained hair and rubbed the strange shield-looking apparatus he had fashioned. "We didn't know the girl would get into the League. We didn't know she would blab about her missing Pokemon. I knew there was a risk in not keeping them, but I would never have suspected that Chairman Tercano would get involved. Caught us by surprise, that's all."

"No use moaning about it," Sordward said, bending over a hedge of black roses. "The Pokemon are where we can't touch them now. The wild, I suppose after your brilliant plan to dispose of them. They are spread thin, though. I doubt the Association will catch them easy."

"They are Pokedex Holders, you know," Shielbert said. His gardening shears went snick-snick. "This isn't part of the Grand Plan. Rose will need his contingency, and we need Rose for our ascent. That man, always whistling at us, always making it a priority to keep us here until the Plan really gets going! I don't think you care for us (royalty!) being treated that way and I know it! If it weren't for those damnable Wishing Stars being needed..."

"We aren't gods, Sheilbert. At least, not yet. We couldn't possibly collect all the Stars without Rose."

"He isn't a god, either."

"We ought to have kept the Pokemon instead of throwing them in the river! If they are found, information could be extracted, we could be discovered-"

"Oh, shut up! Once we get the Plan completed, nothing will bother us further. Think about the fact that once we gather up enough people under our cause, we will have an even bigger ball of knowledge than Teracano does with all his damn watcheyes! Ever notice how alienated we feel when looking at the commoners? Because we were born to rule over them! We are not ordinary men, Sordward." Shielbert bent over his rose to continue the pruning.

"Not to mention Bibliographers," Sordward murmured. "Tercano has one in Galar, Rose says so. We could be discovered at any moment from a clever deduction based on the current market price of Ultra Balls, or the performance of an air car somewhere in Kanto. Those human-computers give me the chills, like they'll flay the skin off of you if you cross them. Rose better have the wits to deal with them before the Grand Plan is irreversible. It has already been a year since they started stuffing the Lord with those pearls of living light-"

"He won't mess with Tercano's closest staff," Shielbert said, snipping off a ground shoot from the root stock of his roses. "Rose assures us that the Plan will be in full operation soon. We must stay put until the time comes, as much as I hate the confines of our ancestral mansion. Then all of Galar will receive its comeuppance for denying our authority...my, this is a pretty flower..."

"I still say we shouldn't have let the Pokemon get away!"

"We didn't let them get away. We gave them a stay of execution." The shears snipped again.

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Now, near Motostoke

Paired opposites create longings, and those longings imprison the pairs together.

-Emrett Dialogues, compiled works

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"Marvin, come with me."

"Why?" Marvin had exited the Magnolia RV onto the road. "We need to gather some gear-strengthening sap from that weedwood tree up the hill," Henry responded. "You ought to help as well."

About halfway from the RV to the lone tree, Henry sensed a change in the ambient surroundings like an exhalation of air, and leaped aside as a bolt of vermillion energy impacted the loamy soil from a caster unknown. Assault! "Marvin, stay back! A wild Pokemon might be attacking us."

Henry addressed the smoke-obscured shadow atop a ridge, an equine being and its trainer standing together. "It is custom for a trainer to announce their intentions to battle before doing so," he called. "But perhaps you are unaware of that social restriction! Come down, and perhaps we can come to some sort of agreement...Bede."

"I see!" Bede yelled from afar, the mane of his Galarian Ponyta blazing violet fire. "Henry Sword, I come to defeat you and your kin. Once more, Ponyta! Fairy Wind!" Another blast of faerie energy blasted dirt and grass away as Henry sent out his own Pokemon to respond to the threat. "Bede, hold!" Henry cried. "Why are you doing this so rashly? Nothing good will come of this unprovoked attack! You have enough skill that the Chairman endorsed you, do not resort to such dishonorable tactics as this!"

"Oi!" Bede cried. "Don't speak as if you know him well enough to know what he thinks! You merely have a Champion's endorsement and the backing of the miserable fool Bronze Tercano! I have Rose's endorsement, but he ignored my pleas for a direct audience in Hulbury and dined with you, you of all people! I will never forgive you for going along with this, for asking him to accompany you!"

"Bede, I had no intention to eat with Rose. He invited me!"

"You lie!" Bede screeched. "You...you are the root of all my troubles and ailments! I must excise you, remove you from this League! Perhaps my showing you the overwhelming difference in our skill levels will allow you to take the sensible route and leave the Gym Challenge!"

Marvin had already fled, but Henry saw that the situation would only become increasingly violent. "Steeler! Hammer Arm!"

The Ponyta evaded the strike, returning to Bede's side for another command. "An attack! Fighting me is proof that you are scheming to please the Chairman by defeating me! If you will accuse me of being a coward, then you also will have to defeat me to gain credence for your complaints! Hit the mark, didn't I? Ponyta, Agility!"

Under the command, Ponyta's metabolism anomalously slowed and its muscular fibers tensed, allowing it to move at speeds far faster than it could unaided. Steeler's ungraceful swipes and lunges could not make contact with the swift equestrian. "Steeler, Rock Slide!" Henry commanded.

The rock fall from deed within the Earth created a wide plume of scouring dust that covered the slope. Both Ponyta and Steeler vanished into the haze. "Hiding yourself and a cover and intending to attack?" Bede said. "Gym Leader Milo's strategy is only applicable in close quarters. The smoke will vanish in the wind...I can see it, by the weedwood tree! Attack it again, Ponyta!"

The Pokemon charged through the parting haze and rammed into what was revealed to be Steeler's iron girder, standing upright like a steeple in a barren plain. The weapon shifted, showing Steller hidden under it, clearing away the remnants of its Rock Slide. The great beam swung, Ponyta soared through the dusty air. "It's a match!" Marvin cried from far away.

Bede fell on his hands in wrath, wordlessly screaming curses and oaths. Henry let him be while healing his Ponyta and returning it to its trainer, hoping that his anger would cool in a while. "We ought to go, Marvin. Let him lie in his own inequity until he comes to reason."

"Halt, Sword!"

Brandishing a datatablet, Bede looked as though he had come out of long valley, the darkness in his head having wholly cleared. A holographic screen materialized in the air, emitted from the Rotom Phone's lens. It showed Marnie at Motostoke Stadium, victorious over Kabu's defeated Centiscorch. "Now that Marnie won, I will be arriving at Motostoke as well. That was why I happened to be along this route before I lost my composure. If I win, Chairman Rose will finally recognize my worth..."

Bede turned to Henry. "Sword, I remember that day in the Galar Mine when you asked me if one of my objectives was to collect Wishing Stars. I will answer you, as you have demonstrated your superiority to my battling abilities, and the information I am about to give you is already known to Rose's enemies. Your guess was correct."

The humbled Bede withdrew a shard of living light from his purple overcoat, illuminating his hand and the surrounding grass with its ethereal light. "I am collecting them even now, because part of the terms of the recommendation was that I do this. Chairman Rose wishes to gain Wishing Stars for whatever purpose. Other agents are gathering them as we speak. I now leave with my helping of humble pie digested to the fullest."

Bede left, going to Motostoke by a route amid a golden field of wheat. Henry checked his Pokedex, and showed the returning Marvin some surprising information.

"Look, Marvin," Henry began. "The Pokedex says that Ponyta, if looking into someone's eyes and finds evil there, (as many Pokemon are wont to do) will hide away. Bede most certainly has trouble controlling his more destructive impulses, but he has no ill will. I suppose he is genuinely concerned for the Chairman's interest in his activities, although he is overestimating Bronze's level of interference in our challenge, I suppose."

Henry started to gather the sap from the ancient weedwood tree, heating small pores on the damp bark that poured out the viscous resin. "I wonder what Rose intends to do by gathering Wishing Stars," he said as he worked. "Perhaps he wants to produce Dynamax Bands for overseas usage? That would require many more available Wishing Stars."

"We can't imagine what the President of Macro Cosmos want to do with all those Wishing Stars," Marvin chimed in. "Perhaps Chairman Bronze knows, why don't we ask him before the next League battle?"

"Yes, that ought to work. Now, we must return before Magnolia gets worried."

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Now, near Motostoke

When looking for something, by reason you will always find something. However, it may not always be the thing you were looking for.

-Apocrypha of the Legends of Arceus, works complied by Yanase Berlitz

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Casey and Hop entered the level fen encircled by a vibrant forest, a murky pool in its center with wild growths chocking its borders. "It was about here, Casey. Yes, I saw an Arrokuda right in that pond!"

"Oi, Kilo, are you there?"

The shout disturbed the still water, and a sinuous tail burst out of a seething portion of the pond, as if a host of snakes were swimming up from the southern end. Out of the water a Cramorant burst flapping wildly, wet and holding a struggling Arrokuda in its vast, lengthy beak. "It's going to get eaten!"

"How do you know that Arrokuda is your missing Pokemon?"

"It has to be!" Casey cried. "Look at its tail, it flaps it once to the right, once to the left, and then pauses for an instant! Kilo always did that, it was a habit, I guess!"

The Cramorant lifted its head high, and swallowed Kilo down its gullet. The devoured Pokemon would be far too tough to be digested, but the chance of the Cramorant escaping with Kilo in its gullet, when the location of one of Casey's Pokemon in all of wide Galar was known and right in front of the two, was too great to risk. "Cramorant's a Water and Flying-type, so Raboot will be at a disadvantage!" Hop said. "We ought to use some of my Pokemon that it will try to swallow, but also has a Type advantage. We will make it regurgitate Kilo from the inside out! Go, Pincurchin!"

Cramorant launched without reserve for the new meal, but found itself blasted by a storm of arcing bolts of electricity. "Yeah! How did you like that Zing Zap attack! Vomit, already!"

"We can just make it faint, and drag Kilo out of its stomach with our bare hands!" Casey growled. "Attack again!"

...

A booming voice yelled to the two from behind them, making them divot on their feet. "Don't you know anything? A Cramorant is strong enough to endure blow after blow, and forget that it's even fighting due to its miserable attention span! And do you really want to poke around in an acid-filled stomach for a lost Pokemon? Do it my way and things will go a lot quicker for everyone!"

It was a man in an Association military uniform, with a mess of black hair peppered with white. A modified pool cue laced with durasteel was slung over his shoulder, and a maniacal smile was on his aged face. Casey guessed him to be about seventy, although he seemed quite fit and hearty. "So, the name's Gold. Looks like this is the place our watcheyes reported you around this Arrokuda. Step aside, greetings from Chairman Bronze, let me do the work, 'kay?"

"Who are you?" Hop demanded. "This is our fight, and I don't care if you're from the government or anyone else unless you have the explicit legal authority to stop us from battling-"

"Aw, shut your trap, kid!" Gold said, eyeing the reeling Cramorant. "I'm old! I don't care about your feelings! Listen: our plan is to change who this bird perceives as a target. That out to make it spew your Pokemon out. It's ability is Gulp Missle, but the only thing that's been missing is for Cramorant to realize that it's in a battle! Send out your best fighters if you two wanna speed this up. Hey, you dirt-eatin' lily-livered avian! Come and get me!"

Gold sent out a Typhlosion and Sunflora, while Hop and Casey sent out a Snorlax and Raboot. "Hit it, all at once!"

The four Pokemon closed in and battered the Cramorant with high-powered kicks and lunges. The Pokemon's limited memory switched from each being, never forgetting that it was in the thick of a raging battle. It inhaled a vaporous breath, and spewed out Kilo in a jet stream. The Pokemon bounced off of Snorlax's large stomach, before being neatly caught by Raboot.

Casey took Kilo in her arms. "Kilo! I knew it was you! Bet you were scared, huh-"

"No time for celebration!" Gold yelled, seeing a Pokemon halfway hanging out of Cramorant's beak, only partially disgorged. "That thing had a damn Pikachu in its belly as well!" Typhlosion ran and kicked the Cramorant's stomach in, sending the Pikachu flying into Snorlax again. Hop threw a Poke Ball, and the Cramorant shrunk into a glowing mass, entering the ingenious device as a minimized datastream. The Ball activated, and Hop retrieved it from the pond's muddy edge. "That would be my fifth team member!"

"I reckon you were in this swamp to catch a Cramorant," Gold mused, dexterously twirling his poll cue between both hands. "You went to this place and sent a report to our network about Casey's missing Pokemon, now that it's gotten into official quarters with Bronze getting his boxers in a twist to find your Pokemon again, girl. Kabu in Motostoke is a Fire-type expert, after all..."

"Thank you, Hop," Casey said with Kilo in her hands. "And Mr. Gold, I suppose, for helping me find one of my missing Pokemon! Thankfully we were in a fighting mood-"

"Mood?" Gold snapped. "What has mood got to do with fighting? You fight when the necessity arises, no matter your mood! Mood's a thing for watching battles and eating sandwiches and making love and playing the violin! It's not for fighting. Remember that as I leave!"

Gold sent back his Pokemon, and singing aloud an old Johtoian ballad, left the swamp to his rigged truck parked far away. "Strange that he was the one who arrived," Casey said. "In any case, now I owe you and your older brother for helping me..."

"Older brother? What do you mean?"

"Please, Hop, Leon has to be your relative! I knew it from the moment I saw you two...and earlier at Turffield, you knew about the time when Henry and I helped Leon, so you at least had to be in touch! As Gold said: remember that as I leave!"

Casey left for the Magnolia RV with Kilo, leaving Hop to his own thoughts. 'Nice girl...ah!"

The Pikachu had remained, starting at Hop with an adoring expression on its yellow-furred face. "You just run along now, don't get eaten again..."

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Now, Motostoke Stadium

A major concept should guide the Association's operations: purposeful and honest instruction of the masses whenever feasible. This is firmly seated in my belief that the nature of argument should not be to change someone's perceived nature of the Truth but to convince them of the correct facet of it. In such matters, it is preferable to use power rather than force.

-address to Association executives by Bronze Tercano

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Two days later...

Casey Shield stood with her Arrokuda against Kabu's Gigntimaxed Centiscorch, while Bronze watched the two spar in the plazcrete arena amid the shouts and jeers of the unruly crowd. Kabu was an old friend of his, and a man privy to some of the Association's deepest secrets.

Kabu had first been appointed a Galarian Gym Leader after the League was first formed in the unknown nation, and although a personal crisis back in his native Hoenn had forced him out of the position for some time, he had returned in a glorious fashion. His attempts to reach the elusive title of Champion often came close to success, but a final victory seemed to elude him, with a no-holds-barred approach to his fights not availing his efforts. After dropping into the minor League, Bronze had advised him to continue the fight, and after a three-hour battle with Leon in the finals which he lost, he had regained faith in his potential as a Gym Leader.

"It wasn't about winning that I entered the League again for," Kabu had told Bronze. "It was being defeated, and then seeing that I no longer needed to succeed in the League to find fulfillment in my life."

Casey activated her thrumming Dynamax Band. "I can size up a Pokemon just as well as you, Kabu!"

"Remember, folks," an announcer said. "Challenger Shield's Arrokuda, Kilo, was found after a whole year of searching! It seems that the information submitted to the Association by another challenger allowed her to be reunited two days ago! Being proof that such a regional hunt for her missing Pokemon can bear positive results, tips may be submitted at the League customer service office."

"Lucky that Gold didn't scare those two off," Bronze murmured in his private box. "One had been found, four more to go. Woodhall. Report requested on further leads!"

"Nothing of note," Tess presently replied. "We have hundreds of data points coming in, I do not have enough time to sort out the probable variables and send a task force to investigate the area. The hotline calls are being forwarded to my other students and the Association computer network. Pending new developments. There is a hidden menace in the-"

Tess's eyes filled with clarity. "Ah! I did it again. We ought to scour the moon as soon as feasibly practical..."

...

"Shield has a Type advantage," Marvin said as he sat next to Magnolia in the grandstands. "Also, Kabu has lost against Bede, Marnie, and Henry today, he has to be getting fatigued. She might be able to win without issue, right?"

Henry had left a little while ago, after getting a phone call from Sonia notifying him that Rose had summoned him to Hammerlocke for an exhibition in the Relic Vault. Henry was rushing through the wide expanse of the Wild Area now on a Rotom Bike he had received from a grateful citizen being harassed by two Team Yell grunts. Soon, he would see a previously unknown repository of Galar's semi-mythical history.

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"She won!" Marvin yelled. "Casey has won against Kabu!"

Bronze looked on with a grin as Kabu graciously accepted defeat, before leaving to send another swarm of watcheyes to the moon.

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Hammerlocke...

The sun glared down on a bastion of walls graven of polished black stone, with a high gate set within the mouth of a fearsome carving of a spark-drake of legend, a fastness built during the Days of Terror when cutthroat Logarian corsairs roamed the seas and Galar expected an invasion at any moment. Archer-slits, now useless for their intended purpose, hung like blasted eyes in the well-cleansed battlements, entrances into posh halls kept sanitary by a dedicated team of maintenance workers and Pokemon.

"So, the two trainers that Leon recommended won against Kabu," a man said, looking at a datatablet with information on the challengers ranging from favorite foods to leaned movesets. "I knew they would be trouble..."

The man relaxed in his great throne. "If Leon's little brother wins, then all five of the challengers I marked as prospective winners will have survived through the League this far...how curious. How rare!"

The man stroked the hard brow of his Duraldon. "Say, as Raihan, Gym Leader of Hammerlocke, how many do you think will reach me by the end? Tell me, my Duraldon..."