~{Author's Pre-Notes}~

(Mimikyu sitting on a seat within a flying bus)

Soooooooo yeah, I don't know how I ended up here...

(Glances around at several other individuals dressed either weird or looking the same.)

But apparently I'm waiting to be... deployed? I don't really know for sure. I just know I'm supposed to be the last one 'alive.' Well, I guess while I wait here, I can go over our previous chapter of Victor's adventure.

I think we all know how to summarize that previous chapter, just... HNNNNGGH! Marnie too precious but strong. And although Victor is the gentleman he always is, it seems that there's some danger coming to him from a Gym Leader out of everyone. I wonder how that's gonna end up? And what's he gonna do right now? Let's find out!

(Door to bus opens up, where people then start jumping off)

Welp, I guess this is my stop.

(Put's on backpack)

WHERE WE DROPPING BOYS!?

Answered Comments:

lonelyboi69: Thank you for reading and it always makes me feel giddy to know that someone binged my fic and enjoyed it so much! I hope you continue to leave comments and give any ideas!

KingPlotBunny: I'm glad you chose to give my fic a chance and I'm happy with how in-depth your comment is! I just really wanted to expand the pokemon Galar world while adding my own twist to it because I saw so much potential in the characters and their backstories. And about Victor's powers, I actually haven't shown him using his powers too much recently, which I kinda find to be a problem. But when he gets to the Northern Wild area again, I plan on having him expand more on his abilities and have more encounters with different new characters. And I know the harem wasn't really necessary, but I'm really just a harem kind of guy, (I guess that kinda says something bad about me? Lol) But thank you so much for reading and I hope you continue to leave detailed comments!

Lildeevil: I have no clue! I just watched a random guy drive into a gas station and explode! Then I just bumped into a cop and the next thing you know, I'm driving for my life!

Anon Omega: *Loud noises intensify*

GumballDia: Are you saying that because it's centered more around Marnie? Lol, any chapter with her in it is just precious.

Astrogamer: Sadly, there are those who are just too far gone and corrupt for even Marnie to save... *sniff* And it'll be up to ya boy to save everyone from these people.

FanFictionReaderIne: Heh, I love this kind of adorable Marnie! Although, to be honest, I feel like if she was in an anime, she wouldn't really act exactly like this. Despite this, I really love to portray her as this type of precious person.

Lelouch of Zero: Yeah, Victor can't just go through everything completely easily. He's just more experienced than others with pokemon due to learning so much about him thanks to his mum. And as for everyone traveling together, I don't exactly know what to do yet, but I know he's gonna branch off by himself at one point. Maybe they'll be together for a chapter or two, but it'll be around that point where things really dive deeper into the fic.

Davidab931: Don't know what you mean. Let's just keep calm and keep 'er goin!

Wolfy365: Good to see from you again my friend. I'm glad to see you suffering the same as me! Bwahaha!


~{Budew Inn-7:31AM}~

"Always gotta be up and early, just like Lee says!"

Despite just saying this, Hop yawned as the elevator doors opened in the lobby, the boy walking out with Conga beside him sleepily like his trainer.

"My body doesn't seem to agree with me, though..." The champion's little brother mumbled as he started walking past the receptionist's desk.

"Ah, Gym Challenger Hop! Up rather early, aren't you?" The man behind the desk waved.

Hop sleepily turned to the man before shaking his head and slapping his cheeks with both hands to wake himself up.

He then grinned as he walked over.

"Yup! I wanna get ahead in this challenge as soon as possible! I've been training my pokemon nonstop yesterday, and now I want to finally put them to the test against Kabu! Ain't that right, Conga?"

His grass starter looked to have completely woken up as he raised both sticks in the air.

"Thwackey! Thwack!" Conga shouted confidently.

The receptionist clapped proudly, "Oh how I do look forward to watching your battle from here, it'll make this morning have at least some excitement."

"Thank you, I'll make sure you get an amazing battle from me!" Hop beamed. "Oh yeah! Can I ask you something?"

"If it's within my knowledge to answer."

So Hop asked, "Have you seen Victor come through here?"

"Ah yes, Gym Challenger Victor." The receptionist remembered. "He actually arrived rather late yesterday night."

"He did?" Hop grinned to hear that his friend caught up with him and Gloria.

"Why yes, he arrived carrying Gym Challenger Marnie."

"Oh! Marnie too!? That's great- Wait a second." Hop suddenly had a straight-faced expression. "What do you mean 'carrying' her?"

The receptionist chuckled, "Well, Victor arrived carrying Marnie here. She was unconscious, though... I don't really know why."

"And... didn't you ask him why he was carrying her?"

"Oh please, if she was with Gym challenger Victor, then she'll be fine. And I'm sure someone from Spikemuth can protect themselves anyway."

"I got a bad vibe coming from this guy." Hop thought with a frown.

"Okay... So they're still in the inn then?" Hop moved on.

"Why, yes, they came in and took the last room."

"Eh?" Hop face remained blank. "Together?"

The man nodded, " Correct. When I told Victor the unfortunate circumstances in which all of our other rooms were taken, he decided to simply accept the last one for himself and Gym Challenger Marnie."

Hop started sweating nervously. "S-So they slept in the same room for the night?"

The man nodded again, "Yes, and they haven't come down yet, so I'm sure they're still there. Heh, kids these days."

"Craaaaaaaaaap!" Hop became panicked.

He suddenly reached forward and grabbed the receptionist by the collar, pulling him close.

"Huh!? What are you doing-!?"

"Listen to me!" Hop demanded, having the most serious expression he could ever keep. "Whatever you do, you cannot, and I mean CAN-NOT say ANYTHING about this to Gloria!"

The man looked both scared and confused.

"Do you understand?"

"U-Um... But why-?"

"Do. You. Under-stand?"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Hop then let go of him and let out a sigh of relief, resting his head on the receptionist's desk.

Thwackey stared at Hop with a look of surprise, not used to ever seeing his trainer look so worried.

"Victor, I'll try to keep her from going ballistic... Knowing you, you were probably only taking care of Marnie and slept in the same room since it was the only one available... But Gloria might end up really losing it anyway..."

"Morning Hop."

"GYAH!" Hop jumped and turned to find Gloria right behind him with a confused look. Beside her was Bubbles, now a Drizzile after having evolved some time back, and had a somewhat similar appearance and expression of an emo child. And from the girl's bag was Luna, letting out a tired yawn from waking up so early with her trainer.

"Drizzile?" Bubbles narrowed her eyes at Hop's reaction.

"What's up with ya?" Gloria tilted her head.

Hop panted to catch his breath. "H-Hey, Gloria! Why are you up so early?" He was genuinely surprised to see her up so soon.

Gloria let out a small yawn. "I woke up pretty early to make sure we didn't just pass by Victor... Did you ask if he came by?" She turned her attention to the receptionist as if expecting an answer.

"Why, yes. Victor and-" The man stopped himself when he was reminded of his promise to Hop, "-his pokemon should be in another room."

Gloria didn't notice the pause in his voice as she was held up in excitement to know that Victor was here. "Really!?"

"B-But I'm sure he's sleeping right now, Gloria, so we should head out and fight Kabu first!" Hop suggested, hoping that she'd agree or else there would be the chance she'd see Victor and Marnie come down together.

Luckily, Hop's words did remind the girl of what time it was, having her looking at the clock to see 7:41AM.

"Yeah... I guess you're right..." She looked disappointed, but did agree that she didn't want to go find Victor's room and disturb his sleep, nor did she want to sit around and wait for what she assumed would be over an hour before he'd come down. Hop was relieved, believing that he'd have time.

But then the doors opened.

The inn's entrance opened up, and none other than Piers came in with a rather menacing glare. The four Team Yell grunts behind him were the ones that had told the Dark-type Gym Leader about where their Marnie had slept for the night.

Hop and Gloria turned their heads and were shocked to see Piers somewhere like this, especially while looking furious. So furious that Conga and Bubbles both kept close to their trainers while Luna nervously peeked from her bag.

"P-Piers!?" Hop exclaimed in shock.

"Hm?" Piers stopped by the receptionist's desk and turned to Hop, his furious gaze instantly changing into his usual moody one. "Oh, you're Leon's little bro, Hop, right?"

He then turned to Gloria. "Hm... And you must be the lass, Gloria, endorse by Leon too? Nice to meet you... I guess?"

Hop and Gloria both had expressions of equal confusion.

"Wait, what are you doing here, Piers!? Lee tells me that you almost never leave Spikemuth!" Hop asked him.

The receptionist at the desk became rather nervous now as Piers seemed to ignore Hop's question and glared threateningly at the man.

"G-Gym Leader P-Piers! A-As I've told you last night, or er... I guess early this morning, I cannot simply let you go up to a guest's room! E-Even as a Gym Leader!"

Piers crossed his arms and turned his back on the man, resting himself against the receptionist's desk.

"I know that, so we're waitin' right here for them to come down."

"Yell Yeah!" Team Yell shouted.

"B-But sir, you may disturb the other guests-"

"Zip it." Piers glared back at him. "If anythin's happened to Marnie, then I'll make sure the loudest one yellin' is you."

"EEP!" The receptionist hid under his desk.

"Marnie?" Hop wondered in shock, wondering what Piers had with her.

Gloria frowned as she walked up to the Gym Leader. "Oi! What makes ya think ya could just hang around here and act like ya own the place!?"

Piers turned to her, his eyes returning their emotionless droopiness instantly.

"Hm? What do you mean? I'm just waiting for my little sis to come down."

"EH!? Marnie's your sister!?" Hop shouted in shock.

"Well, ye, it ain't exactly a secret. I take it you lot haven't watched any of her battles? Those commentators always bring it up." Piers shrugged.

Gloria looked just as surprised as Hop, "Wait, but ya waiting for Marnie to come down? Why?"

Hop instantly turned black and white. "Wait a second-!"

Pier's eyes flashed menacingly red as he turned back to the desk and slammed his fist onto it.

"Because some god damn idiot let my precious lil sis go up to a room with a guy, all A-LONE!"

The receptionist was just coming out from under his desk when Piers had slammed his fist.

"EEP! He immediately ducked under again.

Then Piers turned back to the Gym Challengers as if nothing had happened. "So yeah, that's why I'm here."

Hop was sweating nervously by what he heard.

"This is SO not good."

"Eh? Ya mad because Marnie spent the night with a boy? Oh come on, ain't that being too overprotective? We're in a public inn, and I'm sure her pokemon would just blast anyone actin' funny." Gloria said with a roll of her eyes.

Hop attempted to go off what Gloria was saying. "Y-Yeah. M-Marnie can take care of herself since she's strong like us! So why don't we all take a moment to head outside-"

"Not a chance." Piers cut him off. "I'm waitin' until Marnie and that dead punk come out."

"Oh come on! Who did she even stay with!?" Gloria snapped in irritation.

That made Hop's blood grow cold.

"I-I'm sure it's no one dangerous, alright!? Look, we need to forget this and-!"

"It's that Victor fella!" Team Yell all shouted.

And that's when time just seemed to freeze.

"Ah...Shit."

Hop slowly turned his head behind him, seeing what he feared to happen.

All of Gloria's color seemed to fade, her eyes empty to form a completely blank gaze.

Bubbles and Conga both nervously took a step away from the girl, giving her some space, while Luna ducked into her backpack in fear.

"What... What was that?" That was all that was spoken by the girl.

"You heard em'. He's the last of your trio." Piers frowned, once again resting on the desk and crossing his arms to wait.

Gloria said nothing as she walked next to him and rested herself on the desk as well, her dead expression not changing at all.

"Hm? You gonna wait too?" Piers raised an eyebrow.

Gloria just gave a weak nod.

Now it was one thing when Gloria was pissed, but it's something completely different when she was like... 'this.' Those emotionless eyes lacking color, the unwavering expression that showed no signs to change, and just the cold but menacing aura surrounding her.

Hop had seen this before, and at this point, anything could happen.

"K-Kirl?" Luna was shivering as she once again saw a side of her trainer she hadn't seen before, peeking nervously from her bag.

Hop tried his best to calm her down.

"H-Hold on now! Gloria, you and I know that Victor wouldn't do anything bad! Before any of you guys overreact, let's take the time to just talk about things! It's way too early anyway, so it might be over an hour before Victor or Marnie wake up-"

*Ding!*

Hop immediately facepalmed. The timing of the elevator sound was way too convenient. So, of course, he only thought one thing;

"I think we all know where this is going."

Sure enough, Hop slowly turned his head back and saw both Victor and Marnie step out of the elevator, looking completely awake.

Victor stretched his arms up while smiling happily with Midori was beside him, mimicking his trainer's actions. Marnie was beside him, hugging her Morpeko, red from embarrassment as she recalled the previous day.

They both stepped into the lobby.

"Man, that was a good night's sleep. But I didn't think you'd wake up as early as I did after how late we slept." Victor smiled.

"Y-Yeah... I actually don't really sleep too much..." Marnie told him. "Spikemuth's always dark, so I got a bit of a weird sleep schedule-"

"MARNIE!"

"EH!?" The girl was caught off guard as in a split second, Piers had appeared and embraced her in a tight hug, lifting her off the ground.

"Mor!?" Morpeko nearly electrified everything around her but managed to recognize the Gym Leader before she did.

"Marnie!" Team Yell shouted to see her okay.

Victor and Midori stepped back in astonishment to suddenly see Spikemuth's Gym Leader here.

"Howareyoufeeling!?Areyoualright!?You'renothurtatallareyou!?"

"Mmph!" Marnie's face was pressed against her brother, struggling as she pulled back and breathed while looking up at her brother with stunned eyes.

She managed to push him off and step back, her Morpeko falling to the ground and scurrying beside her trainer. "P-Piers!? Wh-What are ya doing here!?"

Piers got on one knee to be on his sister's eye level.

"Team Yell told me you spent the night with a guy!"

Victor, in the meantime, had sparkling eyes as he stared at Galar's Dark-type Gym Leader.

"Oh my god! It's Piers! I didn't think I'd see him here of all places! He looks so much cooler in person!"

Marnie looked past Piers and towards Team Yell, forming an angry pout from hearing what they told her brother.

"Wh-What did I tell you lot about telling Piers things!?"

"B-But Victor carried ya here while ya were unconscious!" Team Yell said.

A record scratch snapped Piers' head from his little sister to the boy standing just a few feet away. His eyes menacingly starting to glow red.

"So you're the lad?"

"Eh?" Victor swore he heard danger from him.

"Victor." A different voice called to him.

"GYAH!" Our hero turned around, not expecting Gloria to suddenly be right behind him. Especially with her eyes... not looking quite right.

"G-Gloria!? H-Hey! It's good to see you again!" Victor smiled nervously, backing away from her.

Gloria just skipped the greetings. "Why did ya carry Marnie to ya room?" Her voice sounded empty of any emotion, definitely something Victor rarely heard from her.

Victor and Midori nervously stepped back from Piers and Gloria as both stepped closer to him. Luna peaked from Gloria's backpack and nervously stared at Midori. But her eyes widened when she saw the male Ralts now into a Kirlia like her. Midori nervously stared back at her before somehow mustering a small smile and giving an awkward wave.

"H-Hold on a second, what's wrong with you two?" Victor asked, raising his hands up in surrender. "Piers, since when do you get angry?! And Gloria, why do you look like that!?"

Piers didn't answer him, instead, reaching behind him and somehow pulling out his mic stand while his face became menacingly shadowed. He gripped it tightly and threateningly patted his palm with it, clearly implying something.

"Let's see what kind of person you are, kid."

"Eh?" Victor and Midori deadpanned.

"Victor..." Gloria bent her knees, raised her arms forward, and stuck her fingers out in a pouncing position. "It don't smell like anythin' happened, but I gotta check somethin' real quick just to make sure."

"WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN!?" Victor felt more scared of Gloria than the threat of Piers bashing his head in.

Both Marnie and Hop's eyes widened.

"P-Piers, no!"

"Hold on a second, Gloria!"

Both of them wrapped their arms around the two approaching Victor, with Marnie trying to push Piers from the front while Hop tried to hold Gloria back.

"Marnie, I'm just goin' to say hi." Piers chuckled evilly as he tried moving forward.

"L-Like hell ya are!" Marnie stammered as she pushed him back.

"Victor! Run for it!" Hop shouted, struggling to pull Gloria back as she started reaching out for Victor.

"Hop!? You're here too?" Victor said, only now noticing him.

"We'll say hi later! For now, get out of here!" Hop shouted, managing to pull Gloria back a few inches before he felt the girl take a step forward and start to drag him.

Victor saw the situation in front of him, and he knew what to do.

"It seems we've only got one choice Midori... If we wanna defuse this situation, then we must use the secret technique..."

Midori looked up at him in shock. "K-Kirl!?"

"The technique mom taught me ever since I was little... I mentioned it before, so you know what it is, don't you?"

Midori nervously nodded.

"Good, then..."

...

...

Both ran to the door.

"NIGERUNDAYOOOOOOOOO!"

"Wha- Marnie! Let go of me! He's gettin' away!" Pier shouted as he looked down at her.

Marnie just held onto him while pushing him as if her life depended on it.

"N-No! I won't let you hurt him!" She cried.

"AH! Okay! I get it! I GET IT! Just please stop crying!" Piers panicked, feeling his strength fade to see his little sister with water in her eyes.

"Gloria-OW! Calm down-OW! Please-OW!" Hop was repeatedly getting bashed by Gloria as he struggled to hold on, the girl's expression still not changing as she started dragging Hop across the floor in an attempt to follow Victor.

Team Yell and the pokemon stared at them with blank expressions.

"Feelin' pretty bad now... We kinda caused this..." The not-so-evil organization sweatdropped.

Victor and Midori ran out the door and followed the Motostoke road.

"I guess we're taking on Kabu's gym even earlier than expected!" He said as he saw the stadium in the distance.

"Kirl, Kirlia!?" Midori panted as he ran beside his trainer.

"Huh!? Of course it was better to leave them! Did you see their faces!? I'm not dumb enough to stay behind! I just hope Hop and Marnie can calm them down and... clear up whatever misunderstanding they've got of me! For now, I need to keep myself busy with Kabu so they won't come after me!"

"Kirlia? Kirlia?"

Victor grinned.

"Yup, we're getting our next badge!"

Victor then caught sight of someone in front of the Motostoke Stadium, making him glance back to see if Gloria or Piers were after him.

Seeing that they weren't, he decided to make a quick stop to the one in front of the stadium.

"Hey, Ball Guy!"

The mysterious mascot was dancing when he heard the boy, stopping what he was doing and turning his head to see him coming.

"Oh! Well if it isn't my favorite challenger?" He laughed as Victor approached.

The challenger skid to a halt in front of him while grinning.

"It's good to see you again!"

Ball Guy started tap dancing, "It's good to see you as well, Victor! Are you going to face Kabu?"

"Sure am!" Victor chuckled.

But then he turned comedically black and white as he was reminded of his current danger.

"I actually have to go face him, like right now! It was nice seeing you again! Oh! And..."

Victor reached into his backpack and pulled out a container that had flat Pokeball-designed cookies in it.

"Here you go! You can return the container the next time we meet!" He tossed it to him.

"Huh?" Ball Guy stumbled a bit as he caught the container, his baffled expression hidden behind his costume mask. "Wait, but don't you want another-?" Ball Guy didn't finish as Victor already blasted inside the Motostoke Gym, leaving behind himself and Midori's dust clouds.

Ball Guy paused as he processed how fast their meeting ended compared to the previous encounters.

"Aw, pooey. I was gonna give him another special Pokeball too."

He looked down at the container of sweets given to him, examining the several Pokeball treats.

"Heh, he was the one to give me a gift this time... What a funny lad."


~{A Few Minutes Later-Motostoke Gym}~

Victor and his pokemon were within the hall leading to the main room for Motostoke's Gym Challenge. The boy had on his white uniform once again, the proud number 658 on the back of it. However, before he went through the end of the hall to officially start his challenge, he decided to have his pokemon all out for the moment to come up with a strategy.

"Alright, so unlike Milo and Nessa's gym teams, the three pokemon Kabu uses for his gym battles are fully evolved. They're really tough by themselves, but with Kabu's experience in battle, it's no wonder he's a roadblock for so many challengers."

His three pokemon stared up at Victor as they listened, while Tesla just slept on the floor next to them.

"Not only that, but physical attackers are such a pain to use against him!" Victor sighed. "His Ninetales and Arcanine both have Will-O-Wisp... Luckily, only two of you guys are actually affected by it a lot. "

Ace and Midori turned to Twilight. Since Ace was a fire-type, he couldn't get burned, and Midori was a Special Attacker, for now, so a burn wouldn't hinder his special attacks. And as for Tesla... would a burn even do too much to him?

Twilight frowned, turning his head away.

"Okay, so here's what we're going to do!" Victor said with a finger up. "For whatever challenge we have to get through before we face Kabu, Twilight, you'll be with me!"

The bird nodded.

"Then, when we face Kabu, Ace and Midori will help me take out Kabu's pokemon! With Tesla being our last resort since it'll be risky to use him in this battle because... You know? Fire roasts bug."

His pokemon nodded in understanding.

"Good! Then let's start!" Victor grinned, returning three pokemon to leave only Twilight out.

Twilight then flapped his wings and flew beside Victor as they ran the rest of the way to the large double doors with the fire type badge symbol on it.

The moment Victor ran through the doors, he stopped with his eyes widened.

This gym looked... different from the other two.

He was in a large red and orange dome that had... patches of grass with trainers near them?

Victor walked to the center of the room, where once again, a blonde referee was waiting for him there.

"Welcome Gym Challenger-!"

"Hold up, before you say anything, I have to ask you something very important." Victor cut him off, looking more serious than ever.

The referee raised an eyebrow. "Er... What is it?"

"Why have I seen you in every gym so far?"

The referee paused for a moment with a blank face before bursting out in laugher.

"Hahahaha!That's because I have several brothers who are each a referee of a gym!" He then pulled a photo out of his pocket that revealed several other identical blonde boys all together. "You may not believe it even if you see it!"

"Okay, there is NO way that should be possible!" Victor deadpanned.

Even Twilight looked bewildered as he flapped in place and stared at the photo with a tilt of his head.

The referee slipped the photo back in his breast pocket, looking more formal now. "Now, if I may continue, allow me to tell you the Gym Mission for the Motostoke Gym!"

He waved a hand to present the scoreboard behind him reading Challenger and Staff.

"Catching pokemon to earn the most points!"

"Eh?" Victor blinked in confusion.

The referee then presented the grassy areas around him.

"Earn five points to clear the Gym Mission! And in case you're wondering, you'll earn one point for defeating a pokemon in the tall grass or two points for catching that pokemon!"

"But randomly catching pokemon without talking to them is what I don't like!" Victor thought to himself.

"And you won't be alone in this competition. Other staff trainers will be joining you in your battles!"

The staff nodded around him.

"So they're here to get in my way?" Victor pouted.

"Think about what your opponents might do, and try to take the best action to rack up points! You must obtain five points ahead of any of these other trainers to move on, and you must only use normal pokeballs! If you don't have any, then some will be provided for you! And you can choose if you wish to keep any of the pokemon you catch!"

Victor stretched his arms while Twilight looked around the grass for any shaking. The Fire gym's staff members all held their own Pokeballs and with ready grins.

The referee raised a hand.

"Let the Gym Mission begin!"


~{Meanwhile-Budew Inn}~

"Oh, okay then."

That was all Piers said after listening to the entire story Marnie provided to him of the previous night. From the girl meeting Victor and having a battle, to how they were forced to share a room where CLEARLY nothing happened.

Piers' expression was back to its moody and uncaring look after hearing all of it.

"I know you wouldn't lie to me, so from what you said, he sounds like a pretty swell guy."

"He's a man of culture, Piers! He gets it!" Team Yell shouted.

"Y-Yeah, s-so don't ever hurt him!" Marnie timidly scolded her brother.

The group was still within the Budew Inn's lobby, taking the time to listen to Marnie explain the situation and clear up the group's worries.

"S-See...? T-Told you... we should've *urk* just calmed down and talked about this..." Hop was face first on the floor with comedic red bumps on his head, all caused by Gloria's silent but deadly rampage.

Speaking of the girl, she was now on her hands and knees with her head hanging, panting hard with a big feeling of relief overwhelming her.

"Thank god... Thank god... Nothin' happened... He's still pure..."

"Okay, Gloria, you're REALLY starting to worry me." Hop thought as he turned his head to the girl with a shiver. Luna was out of her trainer's back and standing beside her, patting her back with a sigh.

"I'm perfectly fine, Piers!" Marnie timidly stammered. "So, get back to Spikemuth!"

"Sorry, no can do." Piers blatantly said. "I still gotta talk to Victor."

"E-Eh!? Why!?"

"Hm? Don't ya remember? I said that whenever your friends with a boy, they have to talk to me to see if we can trust him." Piers told her.

"P-Piers!? I don't need ya checking in on who can be my friends and who can't!" Marnie shook her arms up and down with a pout.

"H-Hey Piers... Am I alright?" Hop asked as he shakily pushed himself up to his feet.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, you're good. You're Leon's little bro, he's talked about you way too much."

"Good to hear..." Hop stood up straight and cracked his back in place. "Ouch..."

"Piers! Victor is takin' the Gym challenge! He's next ta battle Kabu!" One of the Team Yell grunts shouted after checking his phone.

"Oh, alright then." Piers started walking to the exit.

"Ah!? Where are ya going!?" Marnie stammered as she ran after him.

"Might as well watch how he battles before I talk to him. If any of ya wanna watch, you can come with me." He said without much care in his voice.

"Oo! I'm up for it!" Hop exclaimed excitedly as he started following Piers.

"Yell, yeah! Let's see the guy Marnie's gonna beat in the future!" Team Yell followed.

"G-Go home already, you lot!" Marnie cried as she ran after them.

"Huh?" Gloria raised her head as she saw everyone starting to leave. "W-Wait for me!"

"Kirl! Kirl!" (You forgot about me!)


~{Back to the Motostoke Gym Challenge}~

"And that's it!" The referee shouted as Twilight used Pluck to ram his beak into a Vulpix, knocking it out. "The challenger has gotten five points first!"

The other staff in the room stopped what they were doing, and the 'wild' pokemon all stopped as well, turning to Victor as the boy held two pokeballs in each of his hands.

"Phew, that was a lot harder than I thought it'd be... Especially with everyone gunning for whatever pokemon I was going for!" Victor pouted.

The gym staff chuckled while shrugging, "Why do you think Kabu is one of the harder gyms? He and his challenge are both a pretty big deal."

Twilight flew to the ground and actually plopped onto the floor, completely exhausted.

"Cor... Cor..." He panted. For the past few minutes, he avoided attacks from the trainers' pokemon, avoided getting hit by the 'wild' pokemon, and all while trying to fight.

"Congratulations on another gym mission cleared!" The referee applauded. "Clearing Kabu's Gym mission like that with only one pokemon... You're positively on fire!"

"Thank you! You guys sure didn't make it easy for me, though." Victor chuckled, wiping some sweat from his head.

"Of course not! That is the point of this challenge!" The referee laughed. "But now you'll be facing Kabu, the leader of the fire gym! On you go, challenger!"

"Give me a second!" Victor crouched down, holding two pokeballs. "Off you go, little fellas!"

He clicked his pokeballs, and out came a Sizzlipede and a Litwick that he had caught in order to get two points rather than the one he would've gotten by just defeating them.

"Sizz?"

"Lit?"

They both looked up at him curiously.

"Hm? You're not going to keep them?" The referee asked.

"No, it's alright. I didn't even plan to catch any pokemon." Victor said as Twilight stood up from the floor after catching his breath. "Now then, it's time to get to the main event!" He grinned.

Twilight flapped his wings and floated in the air now, ready to move on.

"Good luck, Gym Challenger Victor!" Everyone in the room waved.

"It's JUST Victor!" Our hero shouted as he ran off.

He made his way up the stairs to the exit doors as confetti and fog blasted once again to celebrate him finishing the challenge.

"Thanks for your help, Twilight!" He said as he pulled out his Pokeball.

"Cor! Cor!" Twilight shouted proudly before getting returned into his Pokeball.

"Now, let's start with you, Ace!" Victor said as he grabbed another Pokeball and clicking it open to release his starter.

Ace appeared right beside him and ran with Victor with his paws stuffed into his pouch with a serious look.

"Raboot, Boot."

"Oh come on, you're actually excited, aren't you?" Victor laughed.

Ace rolled his eyes.

"This'll be great!" Victor jumped excitedly.

The two made their way to the top of the stairs, where double doors with the Fire-badge symbol automatically opened. The two ran inside and started going down the hall for the stadium.

Before then coming to a screeching halt as they saw who was waiting for them.

"Kabu!?" Victor couldn't help but be surprised to see the Fire-type Gym Leader jogging in place with his towel around his neck.

The flaming trainer smiled.

"Ah, Victor. I was beginning to wonder if my challenge had overwhelmed you!"

"Huh? Wha- Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be coming out from the other side of the stadium!?" Victor asked him.

Kabu just chuckled. "It's not like it's mandatory to come from our respective sides. When I heard you'd be my next opponent, I came here right away. I wish to jog with you again, get ourselves pumping for our soon to be flaming battle, hear me?"

Victor paused for a moment as he heard the Gym Leader's reason for being there, then letting out a small laugh.

"You're pretty cool, Kabu! Sure, I'll jog with you!"

Kabu turned his body as Victor got beside him, both then starting to go down the long hall with a light jog, Ace following the two from behind.

"Ah, to be called 'cool' by one of the new generations of trainers, it warms my heart." The old man smiled.

"Oh come on, just because you're old doesn't mean you wouldn't be cool. You still haven't lost your flames for pokemon battles one bit, hence why you're still called the ever-burning man of fire." Victor reassured him.

"I suppose so. I'll be sure to show you the force of my flames firsthand with this battle!" Kabu smirked.

"Just to warn you, I haven't lost yet." Victor returned the look.

"Well, then I hope I can change that."

The two made their way to the light ahead while a certain group found their seats.

"Over here. These seats are always empty unless reserved." Piers said as he led the group to an area of front row seats in the stadium, getting a pretty close view of the completely red field.

"Oh, boy, I'm so excited! I wonder if Victor's got any new pokemon on his team!?" Hop excitedly bounced.

"U-Um... I-I know he has-"

"No! Don't say anything! I wanna see for myself!" Hop shushed Marnie as he grabbed the railing and leaned forward with sparkling eyes.

Conga hopped onto the railing and glanced at the field as well, ready to see his trainer's rival fight.

Gloria sat down in a seat while Luna actually jumped out and landed on the railing, peering closely with excitement for the chance to see her male counterpart.

The scottish girl let out a sigh as Spikemuth's goddess sat next to her, still feeling relieved to hear nothing happened between her and Victor.

"Y-You alright?" Marnie asked her. Truth be told, she was a little scared of the girl after witnessing how scary she could be several times.

"Yeah... Sorry... I may have overreacted a wee bit." The girl awkwardly chuckled.

"That was only a 'bit'?" Marnie nervously shivered.

Morpeko reached into her pouch and pulled out a berry as she sat on Marnie's lap, then cheerfully nibbling on his meal.

"H-Hey... Gloria?" Marnie stammered.

"Hm? Yeah?" The girl turned to her.

"A-Are... Are we friends?"

Piers' ear seemed to stretch a bit as he listened in.

Gloria paused as she stared at the girl and saw her worried eyes, then sighing while rubbing the back of her own head.

"Kinda awkward when someone asks that... But yeah, I don't see why we wouldn't be."

Marnie let out a relieved sigh while Piers nodded in approval.

"Just don't get too close ta Victor." The scottish girl added with a blank gaze.

"Eh?" Marnie blinked.

"Agreed." Piers thought, not wanting Marnie to get too close to a boy.

Before Marnie could ask what Gloria meant by what she said, the stadium's commentator started shouting.

"It's time for yet again another battle, folks! And this'll be one you don't want to miss!"

Piers put a leg on top of the other as he hunched forward and gazed down at the field. "Let's see what the kid's got."

"We've got one of the three challengers endorsed by Leon himself here with us today! Will he be able to overpower through our ever-burning Kabu's flames? Or will our challenger end up getting burnt to a crisp!?"

"He doesn't mean that literally, right?" Hop glanced back to Piers.

The Dark-type Gym Leader shrugged, "How should I know? I don't watch Kabu's battles..."

"Give it up for the man of Postwick, Victor-! Eh!? Kabu's with him!?"

The group glanced ahead and saw Victor come out of the contestant entrance jogging with Kabu, the two facing each other while pleasantly talking. Ace was beside his trainer jogging as well, looking up at everyone in the stadium.

"Since when'd they become fast friends?" Piers scoffed with an unamused face.

"Victor's just good at making them." Hop grinned, staring down at his rival.

"Yeah... Fast friends..." Gloria suddenly had a blank stare as she recalled Victor and Nessa at the end of their battle, where the Gym Leader had casually pulled him close to her.

Hop cupped his hands over his mouth and took a deep breath.

"VICTOOOOOOOOR! UP HEEEEEEEEEERE!"

"So noisy..." Piers sighed, using a finger to twist in his ear.

Kabu and Victor were just making it to the middle of the arena when Ace's sensitive ears heard Hop scream over everyone else's mild cheers. He turned his head and saw him in the bleachers, then turning to Victor and nudging him to get his attention.

"Hm? What is it?"

"Raboot, boot."

Victor turned to where he was pointing and saw all of his friends, then happily smiling as he waved over to them.

Seeing him notice him, Hop shouted something else. "GLORIA SAID TO WIN THIS FOR HEEEEEEEER!"

Gloria's eyes flashed red as she shot up to her feet while facing Hop.

"FUS RO DAH!"

Her shout sent Hop comically flying to the side, ending in him crashing all the way to the wall.

"URK!"

Victor flinched when he saw his friend crash, then nervously glancing up at Gloria, who was panting angrily with a small blush.

The girl turned and glanced down at Victor, both of them making eye contact.

Victor used the chance to wave to her with a smile, wondering if she had gone back to normal.

Seeing him wave to her, Gloria pouted and turned her head away while crossing her arms, still thinking about him and Nessa.

Victor sweatdropped.

"Oh, boy..."

"Ah, so you've got some friends watching you?" Kabu chuckled as he stared up at the group.

"Yeah, they're pretty great." Victor smiled again, then waving to Marnie, who shyly waved back.

The two of them stopped in the center of the arena now, where Kabu then put his hands behind his back and stood up straight, facing Victor with a serious expression.

Victor turned to him and saw the look he had, understanding that it was time.

"Now, onto the event! Welcome, Gym Challenger! I am Kabu, the Fire-type Gym Leader!"

"Oh god, he's going with his usual speech." Victor sighed.

"The fact that you are here means you've bested both Milo's Grass-types and Nessa's Water-type pokemon too!"

"He does this for EVERY challenger he has." Victor nodded.

"Every Trainer and Pokemon trains and battles hard the in pursuit of victory! But that means your opponent is also working hard to win! In the end, the match is decided by which side can unleash their true potential!"

"But then again, I guess this is information every new challenger should be reminded of."

"And now, it's time to see which of us can win using said potential! Are you ready, challenger!" Kabu finished, his serious gaze turning into an excited smile.

"Of course." Victor answered as Ace stretched his arms a bit.

"Then let us proceed!" Kabu instructed.

The two did the usual and turned their backs to each other, then counting a precise number of steps away from each other before turning back around. Ace walked with Victor to his spot before getting into a fighter ready position.

"Let the Motostoke Gym Battle... BEGIN!"

Kabu energetically got in a pitching stance before flinging his Ultra Ball forward. "Start the heat, Ninetales!"

"You're up first, Ace!" Victor pointed.

Raboot ran forward as Kabu's Ultra Ball opened to release a nine-tailed yellow fox pokemon with red eyes.

The female Ninetales growled as she bent her knees in a pouncing position.

"Quick Attack!" Both Kabu and Victor shouted while pointing their hands.

Both the rabbit and fox pokemon started glowing white before vanishing, then appearing and clashing in the arena's center with their bodies. Ace glared into Ninetales's red eyes while the fox glared back, both of them then vanishing again and clashing again with their bodies a few feet away.

This repeated for a few more collisions before both appeared several feet away, eyeing each other down.

"Fire Spin!" Kabu commanded.

Ninetales opened her mouth, and a swirling vortex of fire formed, then blasting it in a ray of swirling flames.

"Avoid it and use Agility to boost up your speed!"

Ace listened as he dove out of the way, his body then looking as if it vibrated before then blasting overall faster at Ninetales.

"Ember!"

Ninetales breathed in before firing a ball of fire at Ace, but the rabbit's speeds allowing him to avoid it easily.

"Double Kick her on the head!" Victor instructed.

Ace leaped forward and spun his legs, ready to strike.

"Snatch him from the air!" Kabu shouted.

Ninetale's gaze went up as she growled, then unexpectantly leaping right at Ace and clamping her mouth on his leg.

"Ra-!" Ace shouted in pain.

"Ace! Kick her off!"

"Slam him down!" Kabu countered.

Luckily, Ace was able to open an eye and used his foot to kick Ninetales right in her eye, causing the fire-type to howl as her mouth opened to free him.

Ace flipped before landing on his feet, only to wince and fall to one knee after feeling the pain in his leg.

"Are you alright, Ace!?" Victor shouted.

Ace forcefully got up and nodded despite shaking. "Ra... boot..."

"Hm, that ain't good." Piers pointed out as he rested his head in his hand with a bored look. "That leg's gonna mess him up for the rest of this match."

"Meh, Victor will find a way through that." Hop grinned confidently.

"Oh god, you're as stupidly optimistic as Leon..." Piers sighed.

Victor frowned at his situation.

"Kabu's Ninetales has Flash Fire. I know that since the Gym Leader's sets never change for their gyms... So the only moves that Ace can do to damage it are Double Kick and Quick attack. But... Now that Ace's leg is hurt, he's gonna have a hard time doing either attack..."

Victor sighed, focusing back.

"We're gonna have to battle reactively..."

"Ninetales, Fire Spin again!"

"Tales!" Ninetales once again sent a spiral of flames.

"Jump to the side, Ace!"

Ace used his unharmed leg to jump away from the flames, then landing but wincing again.

"Ember!"

Ninetales fired another ball of fire, which Ace rolled to the side while trying to avoid putting pressure on his busted leg.

"But Kabu's Ninetales has two ranged attacks, so she could just keep using those from afar rather than rush us! Kabu's really pulling all he's got, there's no way Ace can get in!"

Knowing what he had to do, Victor pulled out his Pokeball, "Ace, take a rest!"

Ace nodded as he glowed red and was absorbed back into his Pokeball.

Kabu grinned, "A smart strategical retreat, Victor!"

"Oh, he'll be back, trust me!" Victor returned the grin as he tossed his next Pokeball. "Come on out, Midori!"

His Pokeball clicked open, and out came the psychic and fairy pokemon, landing on the ground and smiling confidently.

"Here's Victor's second pokemon! His Kirlia that had evolved right in the middle of his battle with Nessa!" The commentator shouted excitedly.

"Oh yeah, that's right, that happened with him too." Gloria couldn't help but chuckle.

Luna excitedly sparkled as she stared at Midori from afar.

"Changing pokemon won't help you! Ninetales, Fire Spin once more!" Kabu pointed.

"Teleport in the one place you can hide!" Victor instructed with a grin.

"One place you can hide?" Marnie wondered as she heard Victor's voice echo in the speakers of the stadium.

"Kirl!" Midori smiled before he vanished from the spot, Ninetale's fire attack missing completely.

Then there were a few seconds without any action, with Ninetales looking around to figure out where her opponent went. Kabu and the rest of the audience all tried searching around for the Emotion pokemon, unable to find him.

"Where is he!? Where'd he go!?" Hop's head frantically searched more than anyone else.

"He said to hide the 'one place' he could, right?" Where's that?" Gloria asked with visible confusion.

Piers, on the other hand, sighed, "It should be obvious. But Kabu won't figure it out for another second since this kind of thing never really happens to him."

"Eh?" The group blinked.

Kabu frowned as he searched and searched, but found no sign of Midori while Victor started laughing from afar.

"Victor, I'm sure you know that pokemon are forbidden to interact around the audience?"

"But there are barriers around the field anyway, to make sure nothing from here gets out!" Victor continued laughing.

"So then your Kirlia must be here somewhere! But where-?"

"Come on out and give a point-blank Psybeam!" Victor shouted.

Suddenly, Midori popped his body up from the bundled up collection of tails on Ninetales.

"Kirlia!" (Peekaboo!)

"What!?" Kabu's eyes widened in shock.

"Ninetales!?" The fox pokemon turned her head back with a red exclamation mark appearing over her head.

"HE WAS HIDING IN HER TAILS!?" Hop's eyes comedically bulged.

"Kirl-IAAAAAAAAAA!" Midori took a deep breath and fired a telekinetic beam right into Ninetale's face, sending her flying.

Midori then twirled in the air before landing gracefully with a big smile.

"To think you'd use my own pokemon to hide yours, you really are quite the amusing trainer!" Kabu laughed.

"Thank you very much!" Victor beamed.

Ninetales got up from the ground, dizzy eyes and stumbling while trying to get on her feet.

"Oh! She's Confused!" Victor exclaimed in happiness. "Use this chance, Midori! Use Disarming Voice!"

"Ninetales! Power through it with Fire Spin again!"

"N-Nine..." Ninetales opened her mouth, and fire swirled in it while Midori took a deep breath.

However, before Ninetales could fire, her dizziness caused her to stumble back, causing her own attack to explode while she was charging it up.

"She hit herself in confusion!" Hop cheered.

"RAAAAA!" Midori then blasted heart-shaped projectiles all the way to the still fumbling Ninetales, connecting to her and causing another explosion.

"Ninetales!?" Kabu shouted to his pokemon.

When the smoke cleared up, Ninetales was revealed to be on the ground, unconscious, her tongue even sticking out.

"Victor of Postwick takes first blood! How unexpected for the man of fire to lose a pokemon first!"

"Great job, Midori!" Victor cheered.

"Kirl!" Midori jumped with a cheer.

"Kirl! Kirl!" Luna cheered from the stand with a hand raised.

"Awwww, look at her getting excited for him." Gloria smiled.

Kabu returned Ninetales into her Ultra Ball with a grin. "Well then, although I made your first pokemon retreat, you managed to knock mine out first."

"And there's more where that came from!" Victor shouted.

"From me as well!" Kabu shouted as he pulled out his second Ultra Ball and tossed it.

Out came an Arcanine, a large quadruped, canine Pokémon with an orange pelt marked by jagged black stripes.

Arcanine stood proudly, "AAAARRRRRRRR!" He howled, his voice booming like a strong wind.

Midori shivered and backed up, shaking in place as some he felt some of his attack drop.

"He has Intimidate, huh?" Victor knew immediately. "Don't worry, Midori! Your Special Attacks will get through!"

Midori glanced back at Victor while taking calm breaths, then smiling. "Kirl, Kirl!"

"That's the spirit! Don't let your flames be put out by fear!" Kabu cheered, enjoying to see the resolve of Victor's pokemon. "But now it's time to go down! Arcanine, Flame Wheel!"

"Ar!" Arcanine started running forward at Midori, his body then being covered into a burning wheel of flames.

"Double Team!" Victor called.

"Kirl!" Midori jumped and poofed into a cloud of smoke, where several clones of himself appeared and ran all over the place, laughing.

Arcanine went through one of these clones with Flame Charge, poofing it away before screeching to a halt and looking around in confusion.

"Find him and use Agility!" Kabu shouted.

Arcanine sniffed at the air around him and then growled, the corner of his eyes catching sight of one specific Kirlia front flipping in the air.

"Ar!" His body started vibrating as he increased his speed, then suddenly blasting forward at the specific Kirlia.

"Bite him!" Kabu shouted.

"Ar-CANINE!" The 'Legendary' pokemon opened his mouth as he dove right into the air.

"Kirl!?" Midori's eyes widened.

"He sniffed him out!?" Victor thought in shock.

Before he could shout any instructions, Arcanine's large jaw clamped right onto Midori, causing the psychic pokemon to shout in pain.

"KIRL!" Luna shouted in horror, seeing her male counterpart tightly bitten down like that.

"Oh god, that looks horrible." Hop cringed.

"Midori! Hypnosis!" Victor shouted.

Midori acted even while in intense pain, "K-Kirl!" He pointed a hand right at Arcanine's eye.

Kabu's eyes widened, "Arcanine, throw him off!"

Midori's hand was already glowing blue before he fired wavy, illusion-like circles right into Arcanine's face.

"AR!" Arcanine swung his head and flung Midori from his mouth, but it was too late, as he was already feeling dizzy and stumbled back in sleepiness.

"Kirl!" Midori's back hit the ground, where he then curled up in pain at where he was bitten, even some blood seeping down.

At the same time, Arcanine's eyes closed, and he fell on his side, put fast asleep.

"Arcanine! Wake up!" Kabu shouted.

"Midori! Heal your bleeding with Life's Dew!" Victor shouted in worry, sweating hard from how heated up the battle was.

Midori weakly raised a hand, and water splashed around him, his bleeding marks then glowing green before healing up, even if only a little bit.

"Kirl..." He managed to get back on his feet, although looking rather disturbed from the experience of being bitten down that had.

"Are you alright!? Can you continue!?" Victor shouted with a look of concern.

Midori nervously glanced at his trainer before nodding.

"Then Teleport to Arcanine and use Draining Kiss to heal yourself some more!" Victor instructed.

"Arcanine! Wake up!" Kabu continued to shout.

Midori glared at Arcanine before teleporting right on top of him, then puckering his lips.

*Chu!* A visible glow came from Midori as his wounds started glowing green again.

Luna pouted as she saw this.

However, feeling the pain from this attack, Arcanine's eyes snapped open with his pupils shrunk in anger.

"Flame Wheel!" Kabu shouted the moment he saw his Arcanine move.

"Jump!" Victor reacted.

Midori backflipped off Arcanine as he burst into flames, then landing on the ground before jumping to the side to avoid the flame-covered pokemon coming right at him.

"Aren't you gonna use Will-O-Wisp?" Victor laughed from afar.

Kabu just grinned, "We both know it'd be pointless to use it against a Special Attacker! Arcanine, get in close and use Bite again!"

Arcanine blasted forward at Midori again, speed still increase quite an amount due to having used Agility.

"Turn around and Psybeam!"

Midori's head was glowing pink just as Arcanine's mouth was inches from him.

"Kirl-!"

He blasted a Psybeam point-blank once more, he and Arcanine exploding together into a ball of smoke.

"What happened!?/Kirl!?" Gloria and Luna both shouted as they leaned forward on the railing.

"His Kirlia was too close. Neither of them are getting up after that..." Piers stated.

Sure enough, then the dusk cleared, Arcanine and Kirlia were both on the ground, swirling eyes and unconscious.

"A double knock out!? What an exciting turn of events! And to think one of the challenger's pokemon managed to take out two of Kabu's! Outstanding!"

"Midori! What's with you and taking out the opponent while taking down yourself in the process!? Victor shouted.

But then he blinked and looked up with a hand on his chin.

"Wait, Midori... Taking down others but also himself... Why does that sound familiar?"

Kabu returned his Arcanine with a satisfied smile. "To think one of your pokemon would have the burning passion to take out my first two... I have to say I feel both impressed and embarrassed that a Kirlia did this."

Victor gazed ahead at Kabu and grinned as he returned Midori into his Pokeball.

"Heh, Midori's the trickiest out of my pokemon!"

Luna looked rather sad to see Midori knocked out.

Gloria just chuckled as she watched her pokemon staring so intently at the male. "Oi, he knocked out two of Kabu's pokemon, so be proud of him rather than sad to see him finally get taken down."

Luna glanced back at Gloria before putting on a small smile and nodding.

Kabu had his eyes closed and hands on his knees as he took a deep breath.

"Light that fire and get your mind moving, Kabu! There still must be a path to victory!" He pepped himself up.

"Sorry, but I'm gonna be the victor of this battle! It's literally my name!" Victor shouted as he pointed his thumb at himself with a large grin.

"Oh, think you're funny, are ya?" Kabu laughed, then pulling out his last Ultra Ball. "But it's time for you to get scorched!"

"OO! Did you make a pun too because of your last pokemon!?" Victor questioned.

"It's not funny if you point it out! Now, Centiskorch! Come on out!" Kabu flung his Ultra Ball, and out came a flat, red centipede-like pokemon with the face that Motostoke's Gym Badge was based on.

"Skorch! Skorch!" His pokemon clicked through his mouth.

"Come back out, Ace!" Victor tossed his Pokeball.

Once again, Ace appeared on the red stadium floor, stretching himself but wincing a bit at his previously bitten leg.

"And here we see the return of Victor's first pokemon! But has he recovered from that devastating bite on his leg!?" The commentator narrated on the battle.

"Ace, you think you'll be able to run!?" Victor called.

Ace took two steps on his leg and flinched a bit, but turned back to Victor with a nod.

"Alright! I think you know what you have to do!"

Ace turned forward and saw Kabu's Centiskorch, then sighing, as he wasn't looking forward to this.

"He's gonna sacrifice his Raboot..." Piers grumbled.

"Eh!? Sacrifice!?" Hop and Gloria both shouted.

"Yeah... He's gonna make Kabu waste his Dynamax." Piers nodded.

"I-I don't think Victor would just 'sacrifice' a pokemon, Piers." Marnie stammered.

Piers shrugged, "Then he'll just try to stall. Dynamax pokemon can only use three Max attacks before they lose power and shrink back to normal size, so I guess the kid is gonna try to have his little rabbit speed away."

Sure enough, Kabu stood up energetically with his eyes full of vigor.

"Burn bright, Centiskorch! Let Gigantamax change your size and form! Scorch everything in your path!"

Kabu held his Ultra Ball as his Dynamax Band started glowing pink, then focusing power in the sphere in his hand. At the same time, his Centiskorch was returned to the Ultra Ball, which then grew several times its size.

Kabu held the larger ball with both hands as his eyes seemed to momentarily reflect fire, letting out a war cry as he spun and flung the giant glowing Ultra Ball forward.

Out of it, Kabu's Centiskorch grew to tremendous heights while its appearance visibly changed due to the effects of Gigantimax. Centiskorch's body had more segments and legs on it, on the underside of it was yellow with light-yellow circles inside each section of its body, almost as if resembling the top of a stove.

"Skoooooooooorch!" The giant pokemon shouted.

Victor felt sweat soaking into his shirt by how hot the area became. The audience was fine and couldn't feel most of the heat due to the safe invisible shield around the battlefield, but Victor was feeling most of it.

He wiped the sweat from his head while panting a little, his shirt soaking in sweat now.

"Man Kabu, you really know how to turn up the heat!"

Kabu was sweating just as much as Victor, but still looked as energetic as ever.

"But of course! Flames always burn upward, and so we'll always aim to burn brighter and higher! To make everyone feel the heat! And now you'll feel the full extent of it!"

Kabu pointed his palm forward.

"Trap everything with your signature move! Use G-Max Centiferno!"

"Skoooor!"

"Quick Attack to run from the blast!" Victor shouted.

Centiskorch's long body then moved and titled so his underside was pointed down, then intensely flaring up on the yellow circles on it. From these circles, flames burst like a swirling storm of fire down at Ace.

Ace's body started glowing white before he bolted in incredible speeds out of the massive barrage of flames' direct path.

The flames struck and exploded behind Ace, the giant explosion's force propelling him off his feet.

"Raboot!" Ace bounced off the ground and tumbled along it before coming to a stop, then holding his leg in pain after landing on it.

"Don't give him a chance to get up! Use Max Flutterby!" Kabu shouted.

"Ace, get up and Quick Attack away again!" Victor responded.

"Skooooorch!" Centiskorch once again tilted his long body so his underside aimed at Ace. Then green energy blasted from his body to send a mass of giant green butterflies flying down right at him.

Ace tried to get up, but winced and fell from the increased pain of his leg.

Seeing this, Victor reacted out of worry for his pokemon.

"Time to put that new TM to good use!"

"Ace! Use Protect, now!"

Ace held his arms up and a transparent glowing barrier formed around him as he braced for impact.

The several large butterflies connected, causing a giant explosion of green that cracked Ace's barrier. Even with Protect, a barrier wouldn't be able to withstand all the force of a Dynamax or Gigantamax attack, so some force went through and sent Ace flying back again.

"Ra-!"

Ace once again tumbled on the ground before landing on his back, panting hard before starting to force himself up despite shaking so much.

"Ace! We need to-!"

"Once more!" Kabu shouted.

"Skoooorch!" Centiskorch fired one last Max Flutterby, the large green butterflies honing right for Ace.

There was nothing Ace could do to move, so Victor could only shout, "Protect!" once more.

Ace weakly raised his arms, and a second barrier started forming.

But the explosions of butterflies easily shattered through it, blasting Ace with the Max attack's full force.

Once again, everything lit up in green from the explosion, the force of the winds having Victor cover his eyes.

"Yeah... He ain't gettin' up from that." Piers leaned back in his seat.

"H-How brutal." Marnie stammered to see Ace take so much.

When the smoke and bright lights from the attack cleared up, Ace was face-first on the ground, completely motionless.

Victor silently returned his rabbit into his Pokeball, then staring down at it with a sad smile.

"You did it, Ace, you got him to use all three of his G-max moves..."

Sure enough, across from him, Kabu's Centiskorch faded its pink Dynamax colors and shrunk back to normal size, with Kabu crossing his arms with a smile behind him.

"Thank's buddy." Victor said as he put his Pokeball away, then pulling out another Pokeball. "It's time, Twilight!"

He tossed his red and white ball up, and out came his flying pokemon, flapping his wings while looking slightly tired.

"Cor? Cor?" He glanced back at Victor.

"You must be tired from the first part of the challenge, but can you fight!?" Victor called to him.

"Cor." Twilight nodded.

"Great! Don't worry if you're feeling tired! After all-!"

Victor grinned as he held his Dynamax Band close to him, the band glowing pink.

"-you'll be getting a boost!"

"So it's time." Kabu grinned across from him.

Victor took a deep breath.

"Okay, Victor... You know the pattern. This time, it'll hurt even more... But you can't let it show."

"Come on, Twilight, it's Dynamax time!" Victor raised his Pokeball, and Twilight was absorbed back into it, the sphere glowing pink and growing several times its size once again.

As he predicted, Victor felt a shock come out of nowhere as if his arm was stabbed. His pupils shrunk as he felt the blood of his right arm burning in pain. The rest of his body tensed up as he could feel the burning spreading from his arm into his shoulder.

"NNGH!" He hunched over for a moment as sweat intensely dripped off him.

"Oh... God! It stings so much more than before! Come on, don't let it show, just... throw... the ball!" Victor thought as his pupils shook in pain while forcing a smile.

Piers's eyes narrowed as he noticed Victor's state. "Somethin' ain't right."

He saw Victor seem frozen in place for a moment.

"His body's tensin' up, and he's gritting his teeth tightly..."

He glanced at the kids around him, seeing that they haven't noticed the oddity and were just excited to see Victor Dynamax his pokemon.

Victor took deep breaths as he mustered his strength.

"Come... on... out!" He managed to throw his large Pokeball quite high, dragging everyone's attention to the flying ball.

But Piers kept his eye on the boy as he threw the large Pokeball, suddenly catching sight of completely pink eyes and bold pink veins in his arm. Both suddenly glowing for not even a second before disappearing as if nothing happened.

"What the hell?"

He went through his thoughts as Victor's Pokeball released a giant Twilight, the Corvisquire growing enormously but flapping place.

"Cooooooooor!" His shout echoed in the arena.

"Centiskorch, Smokescreen!" Kabu shouted quickly.

"Skor!" Centiskorch spewed a giant cloud of smoke around him, hiding his presence.

Victor panted as he wiped more sweat from his forehead, recovering from his sudden pain.

"Alright! *Pant!* Max Airstream him away!"

"Cor!" Twilight raised his wings before swinging them down hard, creating a giant horizontal tornado of wind-blasted right through the Smokescreen.

The air blew everything out of the way and exploded the ground. However, Centiskorch's Smokescreen had helped him scurry to the side and avoid being directly hit by this large attack, but still ending up sent flying to the side.

"Skorch!" The Radiator pokemon cried as he plopped onto the ground.

Twilight visibly glowed red for a moment as his flapping got faster.

"We got that speed boost!" Victor grinned, focusing on the battle but holding his still stinging right arm with his left hand.

"Twilight! Fly over and use Max Airstream again to finish this!"

"Cor!" Twilight flapped forward right above Centiskorch, eyes narrowing down on him.

"Centiskorch! Smokescreen again!" Kabu shouted.

"Don't let him!" Victor countered.

Twilight was already flapping his wings down hard.

"COR!" He fired another tornado of winds directly down at his opponent.

"Skor-!" Centiskorch was just starting to spew out smoke before taking a Max Airstream directly on him, creating an explosion that sent a powerful draft throughout the arena.

The battlefield cleared up rather quickly to reveal Centiskorch unconscious on the ground.

"And that's it! That is it, folks! Kabu's ace pokemon is down! The victor is Victor from Postwick!"

The audience's cheers rang throughout the stadium as Twilight shrunk to normal size, his Dynamax power fading.

He flapped his wings and flew back to his trainer, landing on his arm while both beamed proudly at everyone watching them.

Kabu fell to his hand and knees, hanging his head with a sigh.

"Great pokemon and a great trainer... It's no surprise you won..."

He then immediately sprung back to his feet, looking fired up.

"Clearly, your talent surpasses my many years of experience!"

"Heh, really?" Victor felt flattered.

"Victor!" Hop laughed as he waved down to his friend.

"Of course he'd beat Kabu." Gloria smiled with Luna on her lap.

"He really is strong..." Marnie muttered as she thought back to her own battle against Victor, knowing she and her pokemon had to get stronger.

"Oi, he ain't half bad." Team Yell started nodding together.

Piers, however, just stared intensely at the boy below, eyes narrowed on him.

"But what the bloody hell happened to him there?"

Victor walked forward as Twilight planted himself on his trainer's head, meeting up with Kabu in the arena's center.

Kabu returned his Centiskrorch as he approached Victor, smiling proudly as the two got close.

"I know that you and your pokemon will become a fantastic team! I'm glad I battled you today! Now allow me to provide you proof of your victory!"

"You mean the battle footage?" Victor joked.

"Let provide you another proof of your victory!" Kabu continued, pulling out the Fire-badge.

"Oo! Time for the long handshake!" Victor smiled.

Twilight rolled his eyes.

Piers stood up from his seat and started making his way out.

"Eh? Where are ya going?" Gloria asked him.

"The kid's done, so I'ma wait for him." Piers grumbled.

"P-Piers! No!" Marnie stood up while holding her now sleeping Morpeko before going after him.

Piers kept walking as he kept his eyes narrowed, thinking about Victor.

"Alright, kid... Let's have a chat..."


~{Author's Post-Notes}~

(Mimikyu standing in a wooden fort with a sniper)

Well then, I didn't expect Victor to immediately proceed into fighting Kabu. But then again, it was better than him sticking around and risk getting his head bashed into. It was quite a hot battle, don't you agree? But it looks like Piers noticed something out of the ordinary easily! As expected from the man considered to be the third strongest trainer in Galar! I think he is, at least! Next time on GSM, Piers has a little talk with Victor and the rest of the group commences their Gym Battle against Kabu as well!

(Sniper bullet misses an inch overhead.)

GAH!

(Reloads and immediately fires back, nailing someone in the head.)

*#1 VICTORY ROYALE!*

(Glances up at sign)

...

(Lowers gun.)

I... actually don't like this game that much...