A/N: Holy shit did I just hit 50 chapters? That's absolutely wild, I was fully expecting to run out of steam by like chapter 15. Thanks to everyone who's supported thus far, and here's to another 50? (I promise you I will get this story told in under 100 chapters lol)
"Hop, you did it!" I screamed as he pulled out of the side entrance of the gym with Victor and Dubwool close behind. Sonia and I rushed them and would have knocked them over if Dubwool hadn't been able to see us in time and brace himself behind his trainer. A small crowd had already formed and was beginning to grow even bigger as fans filed out of the stadium. Even those that did not come to greet Hop or Victor were chittering like wild Rookidee about how Melony, the second-ranked gym leader in all of Galar, suffered two back-to-back losses against gym challengers so late in the season. Both Victor and I had our fair share of fans come up to meet with us, and the three of us posed for pictures, signed merchandise, and introduce some of our most popular partners as well before the crowd finally began to thin out. Cinderace and Kubfu were fast favorites, as always, but almost two thirds of the fans who came to greet us were asking to pet or take a picture with Dubwool, and Hop was more than happy to brag about his longtime partner.
Eventually, the crowd petered out and Marnie and Nessa finally made their appearance, clapping Hop and Victor hard on the back in congratulations. She and Nessa had hung back, both jaded from their time in the public eye. "Brilliant work," Nessa said, nudging Hop in the ribs fondly. "I don't even think Leon could have managed your team the way you did." Hop blinked and quickly looked down, flushed. He looked like he was about to cry from the compliment and sheepishly mumbled a thanks before Nessa moved on to congratulate Victor, who was busy telling Sonia that no, Arcanine needed his rest and that she could meet him tomorrow. It wasn't until my stomach let out a roar even Bewear would have cowered to hear that we realized how late in the night it had become.
"Right!" Sonia cried. "I know the perfect place."
"Don't say it—" Nessa groaned.
"Bob's your Uncle!" Sonia shouted gleefully. She then shot a playful sneer at Nessa. "Oh, come off it, then, I've seen your workout regimen, you can handle one night of extra carbs. Come on, then!" And she began to jog away from the stadium. Nessa sighed but jogged along behind her. Marnie, Hop, Victor, and I chose to walk instead.
"So," Marnie said, "Two badges left, Gloria."
"And Victor," Victor chimed in. "I'm hot on your trail, Gloria."
"Man, I still have an uphill battle," Hop whined. "I'm still two behind you!"
Marnie ignored the boys and looked pointedly at me. "You, er, headed back to Hammerlocke or you goin' to Spikemuth?"
"I'm definitely not ready for Raihan yet," I quickly said. "I want to make sure Sneasel's up to the task. Plus, I still don't know what to do if Sneasel's not enough for a team of dragons. Plus, I know you said you've mentioned you still need your Dark Badge from Spikemuth, so I guess I just assumed that would be where we're all headed."
"Right, right," Marnie said, looking back out ahead of us. She wore an expression on her face I couldn't quite describe.
"Must be nice, goin' home," I continued, a little wary of her sudden change in disposition. "You probably will have a mad rush of people the second you get in, right?"
"Yeah," she replied dismissively.
"You ever get homesick?"
"With half of Spikemuth dressing up the way they do to cause havoc, I wouldn't think so," Hop joked. Marnie shot him a look and he picked up the pace so that he could catch up with Sonia and Nessa. Victor followed suit, not willing to be around either.
"You…you alright?" I asked, once the boys were out of earshot.
"Yeah, fine!" Marnie replied, but I recognized the mental wall she had hidden behind. "Not a lot of people make it a point to head there unless they've gotta, tha's all."
"Okay, somethin's up—"
"Leave it," she warned, her voice sharpening. I closed my mouth and looked away, trying to find something to stare at in the old stone houses we walked past. After a moment, I felt her fingers slip into mine and give a tight squeeze. I looked back to her, but her eyes were trained on the road ahead. There was a slight crease in her brow as she pondered whatever it was that was on her mind. We walked in silence the rest of the way there.
If there were one way to describe the restaurant Bob's Your Uncle, it would be "overstimulating." Music played loudly and disjointedly through speakers that dotted the ceiling, with whatever system that was playing in the front of house barely louder than the much more chaotic beats that were coming from the kitchen. It was packed to the brim with people of all makes and origins, some that I recognized from the trainers' box at the stadium, and some who looked like they could have bought the stadium outright. It was surprisingly spacious for a hole in the wall, or at least it would have been, had there been fewer attendants, shouting just to hear themselves speak. Despite the apparent celebrity of our group of six, most people were too absorbed in their own conversations to even realize we were there, somehow making the restaurant weirdly intimate as well.
Sonia managed to somehow secure us a larger table near the back and immediately rushed to the bar, dragging Nessa with her. Victor, Hop, Marnie, and I each took our seats, and the two shortly returned with a drink in their hand and menus for the lot of us. Sonia first insisted that it all be on her dime, but I reminded her that Oleana had more or less given me a blank check for the time I spent in Circhester, and that as long as she behaved herself, she wouldn't need to pay a dime for the rest of the night. A stressed looking waiter came to take our orders and whisked them away.
Sonia was right, the food did not disappoint, despite an unassuming look as it was tossed in front of us in plastic baskets, wrapped in greasy wax paper and stabbed through with a toothpick that had a small, plastic green Smoliv insignia at the top. Hop and Victor devoured theirs messily, while I tried to keep most of it in my mouth and not around it, though that was a losing battle. Marnie occasionally would look over and roll her eyes, pushing yet another napkin my way with less and less subtlety each time. The night went late, and we ordered more chips and sodas for the table. The crowd slowly realized that four high-ranking trainers were among them, and many came to congratulate us for our wins, or ask about our teams, but nothing like the anxiety-inducing mobs that surrounded us at the stadiums. Most were more than content with giving a smile and nod or just snapping a quick picture and going back to their food.
The night wore on and eventually the crowd started to peter out and we began to spread out a bit. Sonia and Nessa huddled together in the corner, Sonia drunkenly nuzzling around Nessa's neck while Nessa blushed, a bit embarrassed at the public affection, but I saw her tightly gripping Sonia's lower back, as if trying to pull her even closer all the same. The four of us were all clumped together at the other end of the table, plotting.
"I just don't know how I'm gonna be able to get these other gyms in if we all stick together," Hop was saying. "I'm still pretty far behind all three of you, and it's not like you'd need to go with me to get these last badges."
"Don't be ridiculous," Victor chided. "We started this all together, we can end it all together."
"Of course, we're comin' with you," I added. "Right, Marnie?"
"Not like I'd be missin' out on gettin' any badges after Spikemuth anyway," she replied with a shrug.
"One of these days, you're going to have to admit that you like us," Victor said dryly.
"Don't get your hopes up," she sneered, but under the table, she gave my hand a tight squeeze, sending a spark right up my arm and down into my stomach. I scooted toward her and smiled. "Gloria, cut it out, I'm tryin' to be intimidatin'," she growled.
"Nope," I laughed, and planted a big wet kiss on her cheek. She shoved me with her free hand but held on tightly to my hand with her other. Hop and Victor laughed as well.
"Well, thanks for stickin' with me, anyway," Hop said with a meek smile. "Good to know that not everyone's as fickle as Pokémon League fans."
"Alright, I think it's time we head out," Sonia spoke suddenly, standing up and wobbling. She looked like she was on a mission, and she pulled Nessa along with her.
"Just make sure you piss first," Nessa laughed, wringing her wrist free. Sonia stopped, nodded sheepishly and bustled her way to the back of the dining room, eyes peeled for the loo. She spotted something on the far wall, looked back at us, and then rushed away, quickly disappearing behind the backs of the still thinning crowd.
"She's a right Energy Ball of a woman, isn't she?" Nessa said with a content sigh. "I dunno how you managed an entire research trip with her, Victor, she must have exhausted you."
Victor did not reply at first, he just looked at me, attempting to head off any comment I could have made. I gave a scandalized expression and turned to Marnie and helped her out of her seat.
"Chivalrous," Marnie smirked, and gave me a quick peck once she was standing. We gathered our jackets and were about to head out the door when Sonia burst back into our group.
"Victor! Gloria! Hop! You gotta come see this!"
"What, something up in the bathroom?" I asked.
"You know we can't go in there, right mate?" Hop joked.
"Oh," Sonia said. "Right. Gotta take care of that, too. No, this is on the way. Come on, then!" And without another word, she rushed back to the other side of the dining room and disappeared into the crowd again. The five of us exchanged glances and slowly made our way to the back.
Finding Sonia's brilliant red hair was never a difficult task, and even in the dark and crowded room, we found her pretty easily, especially as she was waving at us and pointing to the wall. Victor and I were the first ones to follow the direction of her arm, and after skimming past old sports photos, memorabilia, and other strange knickknacks, I saw what it was she was pointing to, and I felt my heart drop so deeply in my gut that I was afraid it would fall out between my legs. The sounds of laughter and shouting seemed to become hollow shadows of themselves, and the only thing I could hear was the blood beating through my veins.
On the back wall was a massive, and I mean massive tapestry hung up and spread out. It was in rough condition, but it looked to be far older than anything else in the entire building, by a sizeable margin. Though its bottom parts and side edges were torn up and about ready to completely disintegrate, the illustration that made up the center of it was still clear as day. In it stood the hero of Galar, flanked with Zacian and Zamazenta. It was almost identical to the tapestries that hung in Hammerlocke's vault but seemed to be a missing scene from the story.
"That's not…" Victor started, but he trailed off, slowly realizing what I just did. Together, we stepped forward and looked at each detail of the piece, wracking our brains to see if we could remember any differences between the two tapestries. The hero was the same in both, standing in a field of grey hills, though in this tapestry, the sword was held by Zacian, and the shield seemed to be what made up Zamazenta's mane – exactly as they had appeared to me in my dreams. But despite looking for any differences, the thing that stood out most was one thing that had stayed the same – there was only one hero. I furrowed my brow. Only one? I knew that wasn't the case; that wasn't said in the poem, nor was it what I saw in those visions. What had happened to the bear? Or the witch Pokémon? Or the Hero's brother?
"You, er, gonna explain that to me?" I asked Zacian under my breath. As expected, she did not respond.
"I dunno, I never really 'got' art," Marnie said, snapping me back to reality.
"Zacian and Zamazenta though!" Sonia said wildly, gesturing with sweeping arm motions as if she had just solved a puzzle.
"Weren't there four heroes, though?" Victor asked. Hop sidled behind him and took a look. I saw his eyes widen and he looked at me with a fresh worry, then quickly rushed back to our table. I immediately followed, trying to not look at Marnie's confused expression.
I followed Hop past our table and out the door, where I saw him breathing heavily, leaned against the other side of the brick door frame. He seemed out of breath, glancing wildly around from side to side.
"What is it?" I asked.
"You know," he replied.
"I mean, mostly," I said. "But I didn't get this wave of anxiety all of a sudden. What's wrong?"
Hop shook his head and cracked his hands against the side of his head, the way he did when he was trying to focus on a battle. "That's—that's really them, innit?" he asked weakly.
"Yeah."
"And they—Zacian and Zamazenta—they want us to do that again."
"Yeah."
"And you saw the background, right?"
I blinked. What about the background? "I dunno," I pondered, "they were in front of hills? Like, grey hills? The lighting was bad. Besides, wasn't it weird that the other champions weren't there? There were supposed to be four, right? Why was there only one?"
"Hills?" Hop asked. "Grey hills? Gloria, are you daft? Those were tombstones. They were in a cemetery."
I swallowed and took a step to the left, so I was leaning on the wall next to him. "I…er, I guess that answered my question," I admitted quietly, feeling a little lightheaded.
"Well, we don't know that…" Hop said, but he didn't sound convinced. We stood in silence for a bit, exhaling small clouds that filtered into nothing just above our heads. Despite the noise of the bar, it was quiet all along the streets of Circhester. The hustle and bustle of the day had almost entirely vanished, and the sun had only just gone down an hour or two ago. I was glad for the brisk air and quiet streets.
"They've been talking to you, right?" Hop asked suddenly, looking at me intensely with his amber eyes. "Zacian, I mean?"
"Er, Yeah," I said. "Never mentioned anythin' about her heroes dying, which I feel would be important information, but she's not the most talkative legendary creature I've talked to."
Hop, despite it all, snorted. "What, you talk to legendary creatures often, Gloria?" I opened my mouth, but he closed it by pushing up on my chin lightly. "Don't say Marnie, you lovestruck git."
I swatted at his hands and laughed. "She's more legendary than you, jerk," I retorted. "And didn't you say Zamazenta was talking to you, too?"
"A couple words," Hop shrugged. "Hope they plan on giving us any information at all before this darkest day happens again. For 'companions,' or whatever they call themselves, they're kinda shite."
"I think we'll be able to handle it when it comes," I said firmly. "And I don't plan on letting some weird beast the size of a city kill me or my friends."
Hop nodded absentmindedly and looked down the slowly emptying street. "D'you think there are two other champions going through all this like us?"
"If they are, we better meet 'em soon, I think Sonia and Victor low-key think we're mad."
"And Marnie?"
"Alright, maybe you're mad," I laughed. "I'm not telling her any of this yet; I like that she still wants to kiss me. I—"
"Tellin' me what?"
I flipped around and saw Marnie and Victor both staring at us, with Victor holding the door open, either to let her out or to bring Hop and me back in.
"Oh, er, Hop and I were just havin' a heart to heart," I said. I chanced a glance at Victor, who had one eye raised.
"Right," Marnie replied, not fully convinced. "Look, we got a tab to pay an' you're the only one who's got the info to get Oleana to pay for it, so we need you back in there, Gloria."
"Oh, totally," I said, brushing past her and Victor. Marnie looked between Hop and me shrewdly but let me pass. Victor followed me back through the restaurant.
"Take it you haven't been telling her you've been seeing things as of late?" he said sarcastically.
"Can't say it's come up in conversation," I growled. "An' don't you let it, either. Not until I find a way to tell her that doesn't sound like I'm due for the looney bin."
"I see no way that this could end badly," he replied dryly.
"Thank you so much, o wise one," I groaned.
After I got ahold of Oleana to help pay the bill, the six of us made our way back to the Hotel Ionia. Marnie made to split off from the rest of us as we passed the Pokémon Center, as she was staying there for the evening before heading south to Spikemuth. I joined her on the walk, and we made our way through the quiet streets of Circhester alone together. We didn't talk much; there was not a lot to say. We just enjoyed each other's company and soon enough I had followed her to the sleeping rooms in the back of the PC. I said my goodbyes and leaned in to kiss her good night when she stopped me.
"So, tell me about that heart to heart you had," she said flatly.
"What?"
"With Hop, just outside the restaurant."
I blinked, and inside my brain, I swore with every foul word I knew. Of course, she'd confront me about this. "It's…it's nothing!" I lied, giving a small laugh to help play it off. "You don't think…you don't actually think that he and I—"
"What? No!" Marnie said quickly. "You wear your heart on your sleeve, Gloria. Trust me, I'd tell if there were any funny business 'tween you two. And if I could, I wouldn't talk to you about it, I'd just hit you. Hard."
"Oh, well, that's that, then, good to know—"
"But part of that heart on your sleeve is that you are an absolute shite liar."
I laughed nervously. "Right."
"Never play poker," she joked, cracking a smile. "You'd be out all you owned in twenty minutes. But I know that it wasn't just nothin' that made you two run out the door like that. You're hidin' something an' I don't like it."
"Maybe I'm just preservin' the mystery," I snickered. "You aren't the only one who can be…secretive." I accompanied my words with my best over the top-secret agent pose, hoping that would make the words cut a little less.
Marnie was stone-faced. "You know what, I'll give you that one, Dixon. I know I'm not a fan of show-and-tell. I guess it's only fair you can keep things from me, too." She turned to go, and I saw some worry flash in her emerald eyes.
I reached out and grabbed her shoulder, turning her back to me. "Look, I'm not—it's not—"
"Don't worry about it," she said quietly, averting her eyes. "You don't have to tell me. It's fine. I shouldn'ta brought it up, I just..."
"Just what?"
"I dunno. I just have a lot of things to think about."
"Well, that's not ominous at all," I frowned. "What about?"
"I'll preserve this mystery, too," Marnie said sharply. "At least for now."
I gulped. "You're not…we're okay, right? Like, I can—"
"Shut up," Marnie said, pulling me into a kiss. "You're fine. I am mad at you, but that's only because you keep making me feel dumb emotions."
I smiled. "I bet your heart's on your sleeve too, you just gotta take off that leather jacket—" and I wiggled my hand past her breast and shoulder, flapping it around across her upper arm like a Magikarp out of water.
"Ah—what—Gloria!" Marnie yelped, laughing in surprise. "Cut that—cut that out!" she jerked her arm away from me, but I stuck my hand even further down her sleeve, drawing the two of us closer together.
"Sorry," I laughed. "I'm just lookin' for your heart; I know it's here, let me try your other sleeve." I moved my other hand and tried to wiggle my arm into that sleeve as well. Now we were both laughing, struggling together, spinning awkwardly and slowly in a circle as I tried to worm my hands into each sleeve. After a few moments, she managed to break free and pin me to the door.
"You are so…annoying," she said in faux anger, breathing heavily from exertion. She leaned into me, so our lips were only an inch apart. Her face was burning red, and she stopped and looked into my eyes hungrily. She let go of my arms, bringing her hands up behind my chin and leaned in to kiss me again, pressing her whole body against me. Her tongue darted across my lips and found mine; she was kissing me like she never had before. I found her heartbeat for sure; it was pounding against mine like a mad Rillaboom was trapped in her rib cage. I kissed her back, wrapping my right arm around her, feeling her shoulders, her back, any part of her I could get ahold of. With my left hand, I fumbled with the doorknob and clicked it open.
As the door swung wide, we were both pulled out of our trance. We stood, embracing in the doorway, not sure which way we wanted to go when she finally dropped her arms and circled around me, so she stood between me and the beds. She coughed and readjusted her jacket. "Thanks for, er, walking me to my room," she said. I swear I could see steam coming out of her ears. "I'll see you tomorrow."
"I mean, there are other beds if you want me to stay," I countered slowly. I didn't need a mirror to know that steam was pouring out of my ears as well.
Marnie blushed even more as she considered the offer but took a deep breath and shook her head. "No, it's fine, you should, you should head back to the hotel. Your bro and Hop are probably worried about you."
"Right," I agreed, and I took a step back. We looked at each other awkwardly, not knowing if we should acknowledge what all just happened or what could have just happened. "Can I get one more kiss, though?" I asked timidly. "Gotta stay warm for the walk home."
"Greedy bastard," Marnie groaned, rolling her eyes, but kiss me once more she did, just like the one before, but quickly shut the door between us afterward.
I did not feel any of the cold air as I made my way to the hotel that night.
A/N: Wow. 50 chapters. Still going a bit crazy at that number, this is further than I've ever gotten in any writing thing I've ever done. I kinda wrote myself into the corner by having all of the info from the big restaurant reveal from the game already mentioned in-story, so hopefully the reminder that what looms ahead is INCREDIBLY dangerous is enough of a big reveal.
Also, this is as horny as this story is ever gonna get. If you want smut, look for it somewhere else ya pervs. This is keeping its T Rating whether you like it or not
NEXT WEEK: THE BATTLE SHIP
