A/N: Don't mind me throwing game canon into the ocean. Enjoy the chapter.


Oleana looked at the two of us cautiously, sizing us up. She didn't seem to be on edge at all, though she did seem surprised that we had made it into the power plant. She slipped the set of keys into the side pocket of a crisp red blazer that shone even in the low light of the darkened lobby and slowly stepped down the stairs, her black stilettos clicking on each step.

"Where's Chairman Rose?" I asked valiantly. She cracked a small smile and continued walking down in silence.

"Gloria, what's the play here?" Hop said under his breath. "Something tells me winging it won't work with her."

"Well, then I've got bad news for you," I whispered back.

"As I said before," Oleana said, now at the bottom of the stairs. "Chairman Rose is occupied. I'm sure he would love to congratulate you on your most recent wins over the past couple weeks, but Macro Cosmos business does unfortunately have to take precedence at this—"

"We know about the Darkest Day," I interrupted.

Oleana's eyes snapped to me, a brief fire of anger flashing in them before her gaze cooled again into her neutral expression. "Of course, you do," she replied. "It's a tale all children of Galar have heard for generations."

"No, we know that Rose is tryin' to do it again," Hop added, stepping up next to me. I could sense his trembling.

Oleana raised an eyebrow, creating a slight crease on her otherwise perfectly smooth forehead. "Do you, now," she mused. "That's quite the conjecture. Why would Mister Legatum of all people—"

"Oh, for the love of—we already know, Leon's even basically confirmed it," I stated, folding my arms.

This time, Oleana truly looked surprised. "D-did he now?" She asked. "Seems like quite a breach of contract."

"So, it is what Rose is doing!" Hop cried.

"I don't know what Leon or the Magnolia girl have been telling you, but assure yourselves that they know nothing of the true nature of Project Eternamax," she spat. "Nor do I think it wise that you pursue this line of research anymore."

"Where is he?" I roared, grabbing Cinderace's Pokéball. In a swift movement, I saw Hop grab one of his Pokéballs as well.

Oleana merely laughed and shifted her weight, so it was on her right foot. As she did, she undid the single button on her blazer, and it swung free just long enough to reveal a perfectly pressed white blouse and a row of five Pokéballs of her own. "You're threatening me with a Pokémon battle? Gym challengers, always the same."

"We win, you give us the key," Hop said evenly. His bravado was starting to return – he seemed to be happy to let his Pokémon do the convincing.

"You are in no place to set any demands," Oleana sneered, and reached into the other side of her blouse and pulled out a small remote control. She pressed a button and smirked, two more lines appearing suddenly on her face. As she did, Macro Cosmos employees hopped out of seemingly every crevice in the lobby, each holding a Pokéball of their own. "Gentlemen, please escort Miss Dixon and Mister Nambarek to the entrance. And they seem to be looking for a battle, so feel free to use force if necessary." The employees looked to us and grinned, and many started fishing Pokéballs out of their belts as well, eager to get us as far away from the chairman as possible. Oleana, clearly content with her quick victory over us, turned around and walked back up the stairs of the mezzanine.

Gloria! The top of the tower is where you need to go! Zacian's voice boomed in my head.

"Yeah, workin' on it," I growled, frantically thinking over what few options I had. There was another blast of thunder, this one close enough to shake the dust off the hanging light fixtures in the ceiling and distract the advancing Macro Cosmos guards just long enough for me to make a move.

"Hop, you ever notice how Dubwool looks a bit like a football?" I said, tossing Cinderace's Pokéball out.

Hop nodded, a wide grin forming on his face, and tossed his Pokéball too. Dubwool appeared and bleated excitedly. "Cotton Guard!" he cried, and Dubwool puffed out its fluff so far, we could barely see his horns from outside his wooly coat.

"Alright, Cinderace, target practice!"

"Dubwool, use the momentum and turn it into a Take Down!" Hop roared. As the Macro Cosmos guards started tossing out Pokéballs of their own, Cinderace bounced behind Dubwool, who hopped high into the air, setting up a perfect kick for him. With a graceful spin, Cinderace kicked Dubwool with all his might, sending the ram shooting into a freshly materialized Bronzor, knocking it clean into next week and ricocheting off of the wall. Dubwool's rolling tackle strategy was already off at full speed.

"Cinderace, do what you can to keep him moving at top speed!" I ordered. Cinderace cried excitedly and geared up for another kick as Dubwool passed close. Another kick, and the cycle began anew. "Great! Don't let anyone get close!" I ordered.

"Too late for that!" Came a voice behind me. I whipped around just in time to see a guard jump out at me, but at the last moment, a massive furry green arm came between us, smacking him so hard in the face he nearly flipped backwards.

"Great job, Snorlax!" Hop cried, lowering his Pokéball. "Hammer arm on anyone. See if you can't break a way through them and get to Oleana!" Snorlax grunted again and jumped with terrifying speed and agility, crashing onto a second Bronzor with a well-timed Body Slam.

"No!" I cried. "No way we get to her in time! But I know who can!" I grabbed at two more Pokéballs and tossed them up in the air, revealing Bewear and Sneasel, who looked around at the chaos erupting on the staircase with confusion. "Snap to, you two!" I ordered. "Bewear, do what Snorlax is doin'. Hit anything that comes near you with a Hammer Arm. I'll guide you as best as I can in a mo'." Bewear roared and whipped around, dashing after Snorlax, who was trying his best to knock around a bright orange Cufant and a whirring Klang. I tore my eyes away from Bewear and looked down to Sneasel.

As for you," I said, reaching out tentatively to pet her. Sneasel slowly brought her head to my hand in a tentative act of trust. "I know you're good at filchin' things you're not supposed to. Think you could do it for me?" Sneasel's eyes gleamed. It looked like I was speaking her language. I pointed up to Oleana's still-retreating form. "There's a set of keys in her blazer pocket. Nick 'em for me, will you? Try and stay out of sight if you can!" Sneasel nodded and darted off. A guard clocked her and yelled, digging at his belt for a Pokéball. In response, Sneasel turned on a dime and leapt at him. In her hands, a thick shard of ice materialized in her hand, but instead of throwing the dagger at the guard, Sneasel grabbed the thinner end and swung the icicle like a cricket bat, knocking the guard in the head with an explosion of ice. The guard crumpled and Sneasel rushed into the shadows. I rushed to the guard, who was groaning on the ground and clutching his head and snagged the Pokéball from his belt so I could roll it safely out of the way. The guard barely knew what was happening and slowly crawled away from the fracas in the other direction.

"Gloria, duck!" I heard Hop yell. Instinctively, I did, just in time for Dubwool to zip over me and bowl into another pair of guards. From my low vantage point, I couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on, but I was able to see that a pathway up the stairs to the mezzanine had cleared up, so I bolted to them. Cinderace rushed up to me as well. He had a few scratches across his face, but he didn't seem remotely worried about the fray below us. Finally, we made it to the base of the stairs, only for three Klang to appear in front of us, whirring their gears rapidly and charging some type of attack.

"Double Kick!" I cried, and Cinderace hopped into action, landing one kick on the first and a second on the second. The third one managed to slip out of the way and fired a powerful silver beam of energy into Cinderace, but outside of surprise, Cinderace wasn't hurt. "Pyro Ball!" I cried, and a brilliant orange fireball materialized in front of Cinderace, which he quickly kicked into the third Klang, knocking it over the stair rail and toppling five feet to the ground, where it stopped whirring.

"Stay down here with Dubwool!" I ordered, and then I rushed up the rest of the stairs. There were four more guards up here, but one of them pushed right past me and rushed to the downed Klang, screaming profanities at me. I looked at the other three, two of whom called a Pokémon to their side; a Stunfisk and a Mawile. "Uh-oh," I said, but before they could order an attack, there was another titanic crash that shook the entire mezzanine.

The crash so powerful that the doors and windows at the other end of the lobby shattered into thousands of pieces of glass and metal. Everyone turned in shock to see what had caused the break, only to see a rapidly shrinking Blastoise, lying unconscious on the back of its shell. Rushing in around it were Victor, Raihan, and Marnie, each with one of their Pokémon in tow. Victor looked up to me and then to his Arcanine, who with its incredible speed, plowed through a couple guards and up the stairs, just in time to knock the Mawile that was about to grab me out of the way. "Flamethrower!" Victor yelled from his spot, and there was a horribly powerful blast of fire heating up my back as Arcanine fried the Mawile and Stunfisk.

Gloria, it is almost time!

I whirled back around to see that Arcanine had knocked out both of the Pokémon in my way with a single blow, and the guards were already attending to the Pokémon, but the third one growled and pulled a Pokéball out, staring daggers at me. As he held his Pokéball, I saw the unmistakable swirl of Dynamax energy swirling beneath us, seeping into the lobby now that there were no walls or doors keeping it out.

"Watch out!" I yelled to the guard, but he had no interest in what I had to say, electing instead to call out his Pokémon. As the Pokémon materialized in a white glow, I inched back in fear that the energy was already making it Dynamax, but its form solidified into a massive snake made of stone and metal – a Steelix. I almost breathed a sigh of relief that it was just a big Pokémon, but it gave a terrifying and pained roar and began to grow even further.

"Bewear!" I called, stumbling backwards onto the railing of the staircase. I looked around wildly and saw that he had disengaged with another Cufant and was bustling up the stairs toward me. He ran right past me and lifted up his arm, and gave Steelix a firm punch in the face, sending it reeling back in shock. However, it quickly shook it off and directed its attention to Bewear, continuing to grow.

"Flamethrower!" Victor yelled, from closer up this time, and Arcanine jumped in front of Bewear, sending another brilliant volley of flame into the Steelix, who this time, thankfully dropped to the ground and began to shrink back to normal size.

"Thanks a million, Vic," I said shakily.

"This isn't what I had in mind when I was thinking about us challenging the Pokémon League," he panted.

"Alright, we're at the Power Plant," Marnie said, running up the stairs, followed closely by Hop, Dubwool, Cinderace, and Morpeko. "Now what?" I glanced behind them to see a pile of knocked out steel-type Pokémon, most being attended to by the guards that were not knocked unconscious as well. One guard was still standing with his Pokémon, a Bronzor, but as we made eye contact, he raised his hands in a signal that he was not willing to engage us any further. I returned Cinderace and Bewear to their Pokéballs.

"We go up," I said, returning my attention to everyone.

"How?" Cried Raihan, who had rushed to the information desk and was rooting through the same stacks of paper Hop and I had been rooting through just a few minutes prior. "Power's out, the keys with any sort of override are…"

"I've already taken care of that!" I shouted. And as if she were waiting for the perfect moment, a door far to the end of the mezzanine burst open and Sneasel appeared, keyring in hand.

Gloria, hurry! Zacian roared in my head. The power is getting too strong! The time of resurrection is at hand!

"Shit, we gotta go!" Hop said suddenly, rushing towards Sneasel and the doorway.

"Did you—?" I asked as he brushed past me.

"Hear Zamazenta? I hope so, or else I've completely gone mad!" Hop cried, not even looking at me as he ran.

I glanced at Victor, who gave a deep sigh. "Bad enough that only one of you was answering some call to action, but I guess we're goin' up, too?"

"The hell we are," Marnie shouted. "There's no way this building stays in one piece by the end of this storm, and I ain't flyin' if I don't have to!"

"Marnie, I've got to get up there, though!" I said.

She looked at me seriously and then rolled her eyes in defeat. "You're too stubborn for your own good," she sighed.

"You don't have to go; none of you do," I said. Victor nodded, seemingly happy for a way out.

"I'm goin'," Raihan grumbled. "If Rose is really up there causin' all this like you an' Leon said, I'm sure as hell not stickin' around down here when I can be raisin' hell up there." And with that, he rushed after Hop.

"Where is Leon, anyway?" I asked.

Victor and Marnie both shrugged. "Thought he and Dragapult followed us in after we took out that Blastoise," Victor explained.

"Well, that's besides the point. I've gotta get up there," I said, turning to the door.

Marnie grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me to her. "If you die, I will never forgive you," she said, and kissed me firmly on the mouth.

"You're welcome to come with," I said as she pulled away.

"LOOK OUT!" Victor yelled as another beam of silver energy shot upwards, narrowly missing the three of us. In the brief pause, the guards had gathered themselves and were headed back toward the stairs to the mezzanine.

"Tell ya what," Marnie said, pulling her Premier ball out. "I ain't fond of heights, so I'll stay down here an' hold these clowns off so you can do whatever it is you need to."

"I'll help," Victor added. Arcanine roared, walking up next to the two, and Morpeko gave a valiant squeak, shooting a bolt of energy towards a Cufant that was already at the base of the stairs. I nodded and turned to leave.

"Gloria!" Marnie called.

I turned and glanced at her. "Yeah?"

She opened her mouth as if to say something. A flash of urgency shifted across her emerald eyes, but she scrunched up her face and shook her head, as if pushing something down into her stomach. After a moment, she looked at me warily. "If Rose is up there and he's really behind all this, kick his arse for me an' Piers."

I grinned. "Will do," I said, and turned back toward the door, which Sneasel was still holding open. As I slipped into the doorway, Sneasel held up Oleana's set of keys proudly, and I snatched them out of her hands. "I knew you could do it," I said warmly, pulling out her Pokéball. "Hop back inside and rest up. I dunno know what else is comin', but I may need you yet." Sneasel puffed up her chest and smacked her hand on the Pokéball button, disappearing inside. I snapped her Pokéball back onto my belt and looked around at the room I was in now.

Hop, Raihan and I were standing in a small elevator bay, lit only with the bright white emergency lights casting harsh shadows upon the three of us. As the door clicked shut behind me, Raihan turned and smirked, putting his hand on his hip. "Ah, brilliant. You made it. Your little friend wouldn't let either of us take the keys; seemed determined that only you should have 'em."

"She doesn't trust easily," I replied, scratching my head.

"Well, now that you've got the keys, maybe we can finally get up to the tower like you and Hop keep saying you need to." He jerked his head to a door on the other side of the room. "You've got your choice; regular stairwells or the emergency stairwell if you want a straighter shot."

"The elevators won't work?" I asked.

"With what power supply?" Raihan snapped.

"This is a power plant!" I argued. "How is there no power?"

"It's all bein' redirected to the top," Raihan explained. "Whatever Rose is doin' up there; it's using all the energy that is supposed to go to this place." There was another boom of thunder and crash of Dynamax lightning, lighting up the room.

"What if we use our own power?" Hop asked suddenly. "Raihan, do you know where the elevator, er, elevator motors? Is that what they're called? Do you know where they are?"

Raihan shrugged. "Gimme a light, someone." I was about to pull up my phone but before I could, Hop tossed a Pokéball and in front of us, a tiny black spiked Pokémon materialized on the floor. It looked up to us curiously.

"The hell do you have a Pincurchin for?" Raihan said, laughing, but as he did, the Pokémon's spikes extended a couple inches and lit up with static electricity giving off a surprisingly strong light and lighting the entire room. Raihan grinned. "Alright, fair enough," he said, and stalked over to a wall where a building map with fire escape routes highlighted was located. He studied it for three seconds before snapping his fingers. "Found it. Keys?" I tossed him the set of keys and he started rooting through them to find one for the door.

It took about a minute, but we slowly followed Raihan through the back of the building as he found the door he was looking for. He began to try every key on the ring.

"How d'you think Sneasel got these keys from Oleana, anyway?" Hop asked as we waited. "And where is she, anyway?"

My mind flashed back to Sneasel batting the security guard with a thick chunk of ice and I shuddered. "Let's not worry about that right now," I said.

"Got it!" Raihan said, and with a click, he was able to swing open a door and lead us into a mechanical room. "I dunno exactly what you're planning, but the engines are right here.

Hop turned around and smiled at his Pincurchin, who was inching its way into the room behind us. Once it was in, Hop shut the door behind us. "Think you can charge it up?"

"It'll work," Raihan mused, "But that's a lot of constant power. If Pincurchin can do it, it's gonna need to do it constantly, and as hidden away as this room is, I don't think leaving it alone while we ride up the elevator will be much help at all."

"I'll stay back with her," Hop said. "Gloria, you need to get up there and stop Rose."

He needs to come too, Zacian argued.

I opened my mouth to say the same but Hop screwed up his face in annoyance. "Bloody hell, mate, do you have any other ideas?" he groaned.

"Er, what?" Raihan asked.

Hop flushed. "Sorry, I…oh, wow, this one is hard to explain."

"We have forged a connection with legendary Pokémon who are guiding us telepathically and they are demanding that Hop and I both go up," I explained.

Raihan blinked. "Oh, is that all," he said weakly. As he spoke, we heard a commotion as security guards burst into the room outside, rushing past and thankfully not thinking to check the door.

"Up the stairs!" One of them was saying. Soon the footsteps were gone.

"Marnie!" I cried, and rushed to the door, but Raihan grabbed me. "Trust me," he said. "That girl is related to Piers. They could lock her up in maximum security and she'd worm her way out." As he said that, I felt a buzz on my phone. I pulled it out of my pocket to see that Marnie had texted me. I opened it up.

We got most of them, but a few slipped through. Better run up those stairs fast

"Looks like the elevators are our only option," I grimaced.

"Tell you what, I'll stay down here with Pincurchin," Raihan said. "Hop, text me when you get to the top floor, or whatever floor your legendary friend is telling you to get to. I'll get up as fast as I can and meet you there."

"Right," Hop said, handing him Pincurchin's Pokéball. "Light up these elevators with Zing Zap," he instructed, and after Raihan tossed me the keys, we slipped back through the doors and rushed back to the elevator bay. As we burst into the room, the LED screen atop the elevators flickered to life.

"We got power!" I cried, pressing the button to call the elevator to us.

Hurry! Zacian cried in my head.

"We know!" Hop and I both yelled. We looked at each other and suddenly burst into laughter. "Blimey," Hop said, "this is turnin' into a whole mess, isn't it?"

"Whatever it is, I'm glad I'm goin' through it with you," I replied, knocking him on the shoulder. We waited in silence for a couple more seconds before the doors slid open and clambered inside. I hit the number 66, the highest one I could find, the doors closed, and we felt ourselves slowly climb into the sky. There was another LCD screen in this one, and the two of us watched the numbers slowly tick up.

"So, for real, is there a plan beyond winging it?" Hop asked.

"Do I look like Victor to you?"

"Funny joke, Gloria, but I'm serious. This…this black hand, the only thing that could have stopped it was Zacian and Zamazenta, right?"

"Well, we're stopping Rose before he can revive the black hand, so in that sense we won't need 'em," I said, hoping the growing dread in my stomach was just a false flag.

"Do we even know what he's doing?" Hop asked, leaning against the back wall.

"Something with the Dynamax energy, obviously," I pondered. "I remember Rose telling me something about using it to provide electricity for Galar, he must be diverting all this power to whatever Project Eternamax is."

"Alright," Hop continued. "So, what, these Dynamax storms are just really bad power surges? That can't be it; we were using synthetic Dynamax energy for gym battles before Lee even did his gym challenge and we've never had all these storms happening before; not like this."

I frowned. "And speaking of Leon, how does he know what Rose is up to?" I asked. "If he knew Rose was doin' something, why keep mum? Clearly, it's causing a lot of harm to a lot of people!"

"Wish I could tell you, mate," Hop sighed, looking back up at the LCD screen, whose numbers were now in the mid-30s. "Rose's always got these side projects that Lee can never tell us about. He's probably had to deal with more NDAs than Pokémon battles since he's been champion."

"Sounds rough," I said softly.

"Yeah," Hop said. "I think it wears on him, too. At first, he was so excited about them, like he was part of a secret club or something, but the longer he's been champion, the less interested in it all that he's seemed."

"Really? I didn't ever notice."

Hop let out an empty laugh. "He's my brother. I know him a lot better than you," he explained. "Even in his battles, he hasn't been himself the past couple years."

"Well, it's a good thing you're comin' up this season, you'll knock him back to his senses with Dubwool and Snorlax."

Hop looked at me curiously and then down at his feet again. "Yeah," he said, nonplussed.

"Hop, don't fall back into yourself now," I warned, grabbing his shoulder. "I need you. Zacian and Zamazenta need you."

"I know, don't worry," he said with a smile. "You know me; I don't give up. But I need you, too."

"You got it," I said, and pulled him into a tight hug even Bewear would be proud of. As he squeezed me back, we heard the soft ding informing us that we reached the top floor. We heard the doors slide open and we rushed through the doors and into the darkened hallway in front of us.

"Alright, Zacian, Zamazenta," I growled. "Where are we going?"

Hop pointed to a door in front of us. "I think I see a light out—"

There was suddenly an earsplitting explosion, and the door burst open, barely staying on its hinges. A powerful gust of wind nearly blew us off our feet, and as the door slowly creaked shut again, we could see that it was a door to the outside, and whirling pink and red clouds were spinning violently just outside, reflecting a glow of what could only be the massive gem atop the building. Whatever Rose was doing, he was doing it here. I took a deep breath and ran for the door, Hop quickly following behind.

I ripped open the door and found myself on the rooftop, bathed in the unearthly glow of the gem, which expanded over the entire rooftop twenty feet up. Scattered across the rooftop were wishing stars, or rather pieces from the giant gem above us. A couple loose pieces fell from the crack in the gem, which was now a deep gash. Pink Dynamax energy was billowing out of the cracks, and from inside, I thought I could see the shape of something ominous – a skeleton of sorts. I tore my eyes from the harrowing sight and looked around. The roof itself was only fifty feet in diameter or so, and the only protection from falling was a single metal rail that I could see a handful of men and women in white lab coats were clinging onto for dear life. At the center of all of this, turned to face us and smiling warmly, was Chairman Rose Legatum himself. Behind him stood Oleana and a couple more guards, each facing us as well from behind a large control panel. For the first time since I had met her, Oleana's calm expression was completely absent; she was positively fuming.

"Ah, so you did make it up all the way," Rose said cheerily. "Oleana seemed to think that cutting the emergency power further would delay you, but I knew you'd find a creative way to join us."

"We know what you're doing, and we're here to stop you!" I cried, grabbing for a Pokéball.

"Hmm," Rose said. "No, you don't, and no, you won't." He turned to Oleana and smiled. "Proceed. This one should do the trick." Oleana nodded and turned back to the control panel, tapping away.

"Stop that!" I cried out, but before I could do anything, another black shadow zipped past us, coming to a halt next to Hop. It was Leon's Dragapult, with Leon on top of it.

"Rose, I am begging you," Leon insisted. "You are doing irreparable damage to Hammerlocke, there has to be—"

"Leon, we've discussed this," Rose said simply. "I will cover the charges for damage to the city, but any harm done now will be offset by an eternity of Galar's benefit! Besides, from what Oleana has told me, you're in quite a breach of contract, endangering Gym Challengers like this."

Leon glanced at us, somehow only now realizing that we had made it to the top of the tower. "Wha—I—I didn't tell them anything!" He roared, but still he stepped back, unable to pursue the matter further.

Rose simply chuckled again. "Look, we can circle back to this in a brief moment. I will be able to make everything clear in no time at all. If you could please join my other valued guests in the viewing area." And with that he gestured over to the far right, where behind a hastily constructed blast window, the two grumpy figures of Edward and Herbert Buckingham stood, clearly upset that Rose would even consider we be on the same stretch of rooftop as them.

Stop him! You must prevent the revival! Zacian begged in my head.

"Rose, you can't do this!" I yelled.

"You don't know what you're doing!" Hop added.

"I'm sure your hearts are in the right place, but all will be explained shortly," Rose said. He looked over to Oleana, who nodded curtly. "Now then," he continued. "Enjoy the show!" And he reached over and pressed a large red button.

"No!" I yelled, reaching for Cinderace's Pokéball, but Leon jumped in front of Hop and me, shielding us both from what was about to happen.

"Lee!" Hop shouted. "What's—"

"Down on the ground!" Leon roared, "Now!" He pushed us to the ground, while Dragapult sped off into the air, presumably to get a better vantage point itself. I wormed around underneath his arm and just managed to free myself and pull myself to a sitting position when the entire tower began to rumble and quake. Next to me, the discarded pieces of wishing star began to glow and impossibly started to rise into the air, caught by this new influx of Dynamax energy. A deafening screech suddenly pierced the sky, and I looked back into the gash of the gem. The mysterious shape inside shuttered inside, jerking violently. It was only then that I noticed a large tube that was wedged up the bottom of the crack. It was sparkling with Dynamax Lightning – channeling all the Dynamax energy it could muster into the center of the gym. The screech got louder, erupting into a haunting wail, louder and more terrifying than any of the thunder produced by the storm, and as it got louder, I began to see the crack grow and split further into the gem. It pushed itself up and over, to the point where I could no longer see where the crack was leading.

"Get to the shelter!" I heard one of the scientists scream, and figures started to rush past the three of us. Leon struggled to get up and roughly grabbed at my wrist, leading me over to the blast window. I fought it fiercely, but he was far too strong. Soon we were all behind the window, watching helplessly as Rose and Oleana stood in front of the gem

GLORIA! Zacian roared, but I could barely hear her over the noise of everything else. Suddenly, everything went white.


I am back in the Slumbering Weald. I look frantically to my left and to my right. Hop is here with me, and he looks terrified.

"Gloria!" he cries. "Wha-what's going on?"

"I dunno," I mutter, but deep down, I think I do know what is going on. We've failed our mission.

"Gloria, where are we?" Hop asked.

"You are at the top of the tower of Hammerlocke," a gruff voice says. I whirl around and see in front of me the form of Zamazenta. I had never heard his voice before; it reminds me of royalty, much like Zacian's does.

"But your minds have traveled to meet with us," I hear Zacian add, as she materializes next to him.

"Zacian, I—I'm sorry. We tried to—" I begin to stutter.

"Gloria, my child. It is alright," Zacian cooes. "I know we asked so much of you and could not tell you what you needed to know. We thought we had more time."

"The world is foreign to us now," Zamazenta adds morosely. "Though we may still understand the hearts of humans, we do not know the new tools they use."

"So, what, the black hand's back, and there's nothing we can do about it?" Hop asks, a bitterness overtaking his voice.

"There is much you can still do," Zacian says. "Come to us in the Slumbering Weald. We can take form there, tell you what you need to know without having to rely on your conscious or unconscious state."

"What about the sword and shield?" I ask.

"We will tell you of that," Zamazenta says. "But I feel you slipping back to reality. Survive the night. Save who you can. Then meet us in the Weald."

All fades again to white.


The wind was howling, blasting in every which way. In my half-awake state, I looked around. Hop was also starting to come to, but no one else was paying us any mind. Instead, everyone was looking through the blast window, eyes wide as dinner plates. Leon was among them, horrified, and the scientists he was with had mixed-up looking expressions as well. The brothers Buckingham were positively foaming at the mouth. I pulled myself up slowly, letting my other senses start to work again.

"What—" I groaned.

"Shut up, you insolent fool!" Herbert chastised.

"You disgusting commoner!" Edward added, for good measure. "It's the most important moment of your life, and you waste it by mumbling!"

"What are you—" I began to ask, but Leon grabbed my shoulder shakily, interrupting me. I slowly turned and saw what everyone else saw. The gem that had long stood atop the Hammerlocke tower had vanished, and in its place was a purely black sky. I could somehow tell the clouds were still swirling around, but the red light of the gem was gone. Oleana stood next to the control panel, and Rose next to her, both overlooking a crumpled form that had curled up on the rooftop. After a moment I recognized it as the shape that was inside the gem just a few moments earlier.

"It—it was an egg," I whispered.

"Is that the black hand?" Hop squeaked. He had joined me at my side. I felt my knees weaken and I leaned into him, and as I did, the form began to move.

Leon hopped to attention. "Dragon breath!" he cried, and Dragapult appeared, inhaling and ready to attack the form.

Rose held up a hand. "That won't be necessary." Dragapult held its attack, and everyone watched as the form reared itself up. It was a dragon of some sorts, but it looked like no other dragon I had ever seen before. It looked more like a skeleton, with blueish black bones that vaguely formed the shape of a ribcage, a couple arms, a tail, and a head with five spikes. Was this the black hand? It looked nothing like the dreams I had of it, but that didn't make it look any less terrifying. The spikes of its head spread out and I saw that there was a vibrant red energy barely held underneath by what seemed to be a sinewy skin. Whatever it was, it was radiating Dynamax Energy. As it reared its head up, it let out a roar. The roar was high-pitched and sharp, terrifying, and after it concluded it spread its sinewy wings, also glowing red with Dynamax energy and floated ten feet up into the sky. As it did, I saw in its belly, or where I presumed its belly would be anyway, a bright pinkish white light pulsating the same way that the jewel had when it topped the tower.

"Dragapult!" Leon yelled.

"Leon, please," Rose said, and held out his other hand. In it was a Pokéball, but instead of the classic red and white, this one was violet, with two yellow bulbs on each side of the button. I gasped. A master ball? They were incredibly rare and expensive Pokéballs that were rumored to be able to catch anything. Rose winked at us and wound up. With an excellent pitch, he threw the ball directly into the beast in front of us. It bounced once on the center spike of its face, and immediately the gigantic creature was sucked into the ball, where it fell to the ground and began to wiggle wildly. Everyone took a step back behind the blast shelter, but Rose calmly strode over to the Master Ball, reaching it just as it gave its tell-tale click. He reached down and picked up the ball, then looked over to us.

"Hop!" A voice yelled from the distance. The spell broken, all of us looked to our left to see Raihan fly up on Flygon. He dismounted and tossed a Pokéball to Hop, who barely managed to catch it. "Came to return your Pincurchin. Surprisingly useful little guy, that. But that's besides the point. What the fuck is going on up here?" He turned to Rose with a frown.

"I told you everything would be explained shortly," Rose said. "Oleana, if you could reroute the power so we can head down to a more comfortable place." Oleana nodded and started typing into the control panel. Rose tossed the Master Ball calmly in his hands as he walked toward the door.

"No!" Raihan roared. "Tell us what's going on. Here. Now."

"What's the rush?" Rose asked. "I understand your worry, but nothing can escape a Master Ball. Not even Eternatus himself. Now come along, I'm ravenous. Scientific advancement is no fun on an empty stomach!" And with that, he disappeared into the hallway, headed to the elevators, leaving us all alone on the roof in the aftermath of the Dynamax Storm.


A/N: So, Eternatus is here now. My biggest change to the story. It always rubbed me the wrong way that we never got that classic post-7th badge confrontation like in other games in the series, so I decided to put it in myself. Don't worry, the plot is FAR from over here. We haven't gotten to the second Darkest Day. Yet. :)

NEXT WEEK: ROSE'S STORY