Chapter 23: Dynamax Trouble
The news spread quickly around Galar. After Sonia's machine had picked up huge spikes in Dynamax Energy in every Gym around the region, she'd quickly got on the phone to Ruby to let her know what was happening. Ruby in turn had passed the message on throughout Galar, stressing the point that any Pokémon trainers who could help stop the rampaging Dynamax Pokémon had to pitch in and help immediately. At the time, she'd been flying over Hammerlocke Stadium on Soundwave's back with her boyfriend flying alongside her on his Corviknight. Upon receiving Sonia's message, the two flew down towards the stadium and ran inside so they could help Raihan in stopping the rampaging Pokémon. Raihan himself was already taking action, his Duraludon out of its Pokéball to take on a Haxorus that had Dynamaxed thanks to Sordward and Shielbert's actions. Ruby and Hop ran up beside him.
"Bloody hell, we've got a giant Haxorus to deal with!" Ruby gasped.
"I was about to engage it in battle until you two showed up!" Raihan explained, "Now you're here, we can all stop it together before it goes on to wreck the city!"
They stared up at the Dynamaxed Pokémon as it roared wildly and flailed around uncontrollably, its bladed tusks scything the air and its tail slamming into the stadium walls. To try and keep damage to a minimum, Raihan had turned on the protective force fields that all Gyms in Galar used to keep the audience save from Pokémon attacks that might accidentally shoot towards the audience or any debris that might get sent flying. Ruby saw the force field now as Haxorus tried to head butt the audience seats. The force field glowed pink in the spot it hit to signify that it was there. But the force fields would only protect so much of the stadium. Haxorus could still break out and go on to wreck much of Hammerlocke City if it wasn't stopped. Many people and Pokémon could get hurt or killed! Ruby and Hop turned to each other and nodded.
"Ready Hop?" Ruby asked.
"Always." Hop insisted, "We'll stop Sordward and Shielbert's scheme and save those Pokémon from hurting themselves and anyone else!"
They looked back to Haxorus as it stopped trying to break through the force field and turned around as if noticing that it had company. Raihan's Duraludon glared up at it menacingly, making it clear that it would not tolerate anyone going on a rampage in its trainer's Gym. Ruby returned Soundwave to his Pokéball and sent out her faithful Drednaw, Chomps, to deal with the Haxorus. Chomps had been Ruby's first ever catch when she'd become a Pokémon trainer and had remained one of her most faithful companions ever since. Over the years, she'd taught Chomps how to use Ice Fang so she had a super-effective attack to use on the out-of-control Pokémon. Hop didn't really have any Pokémon that were super-effective against Dragon-types so he decided the best thing to do was rely on brute strength to stop Haxorus. He sent out his Snorlax, a Pokémon that had always been one of his biggest powerhouses and a reliable Pokémon for his team. Ruby was glad to see it in action again as she'd always liked Hop's Snorlax, particularly whenever she got the chance to battle it and see its amazing strength for herself. Raihan smiled confidently.
"Aw yeah! The Champion and the former Champion's brother plus me will wrap this up in no time!" he cried enthusiastically.
"What I don't understand is why the brothers are doing this." Hop muttered, "I thought their scheme involved Zacian and Zamazenta! Why are they going around causing Pokémon to Dynamax randomly?"
"Either they're trying to slow us down and wear us out, or this is all a test to see if their scheme works." Ruby deduced, "Too bad for them that Galar's full of strong trainers who can bring this threat to a close, especially me and you!"
She and Hop held hands for luck as they prepared to battle. They would get through this together and live to have another date, that was what they seemed to be promising each other with that gesture. Raihan started off the battle by ordering Duraludon to use Dragon Claw. Hop joined in by ordering Snorlax to use Hammer Arm. The two Pokémon ran up towards the giant Haxorus and landed their attacks. They may not be Dynamaxed but that didn't stop them from landing powerful blows that nearly knocked Haxorus off its feet. Duraludon's claws raked across Haxorus's stomach and Snorlax's Hammer Arm slammed into one of its legs, bringing it down on one knee and stunning it for the moment as it struggled to stand up again from the pain in its leg. Ruby seized her moment and ordered Chomps to use Ice Fang on the Haxorus. Chomp's teeth glowed an icy blue as she charged towards her opponent. She didn't want to hurt the Haxorus too badly as she knew it wasn't going mad on purpose. It was an innocent victim so she wanted to stop it quickly so it wouldn't be suffering anymore.
Unfortunately, the Haxorus recovered quicker than expected and retaliated with a Max Quake attack. The powerful shockwave punched through the ground and tore its way towards Chomps. She was too slow to react as she was in the middle of her attack and was sent flying backwards by the quake. She yelled as she found herself suddenly airborne and she almost crashed down on the floor. Luckily, Hop saw this and quickly ordered Snorlax to catch Chomps before she could crash down. Snorlax jumped in front of Chomps and caught her, almost falling over himself as the tortoise-like Pokémon landed in its arms. It lowered Chomps to the floor, the Water/Rock Pokémon looking up at Snorlax gratefully.
"Whew! Good save! Thank you!" she thanked.
"Welcome." Snorlax said happily.
The two Pokémon turned back to Haxorus as it used Max Wyrmwind to try and hit Duraludon. Duraludon was able to dodge just in time before the tornado of draconian energy could hit it. Ruby could see that the Haxorus was tough and their Pokémon as they were weren't enough. Chomps would need to grow giant size to stand a chance against it. She held out Chomps's Pokéball.
"Time for you to get that extra boost my girl …" she said as she returned the Drednaw to her Pokéball.
Her Dynamax band activated and Dynamax energy swirled around her wrist. Chomps's Pokéball grew in size and Ruby tossed it into the air. Chomps emerged from her Pokéball, but not the same old Drednaw that she once was. Over the past year that had gone by, Ruby had bought some Max Soup over from the Isle of Armour and given it to Chomps to drink. Max Soup was a handy item that gave Pokémon trainers a way to give their Pokémon the ability to Gigantamax. Chomps was doing so now. Her body grew in size and changed in appearance as she became a Gigantamax Drednaw. She stood on two legs instead of four, her tail was longer and had more spikes, the horn on her head had become longer and more pointed and her shell was much thicker and stronger than before. Chomps hadn't had many opportunities to use this form so she was thrilled to get the chance to help out as a Gigantamax Drednaw. She roared with excitement as Dynamax energy surged through her veins.
"Oh yes! I've been dying to do this again!" she boomed, her voice deep and demonic as a result of Gigantamaxing, "That Haxorus is going down hard!"
"Easy Chomps, we just want to return it to normal. It's not in control of its actions." Ruby insisted, "Use Max Hailstorm!"
Chomps conjured up a storm cloud above Haxorus just as it was getting back up again from the earlier onslaughts of Snorlax and Duraludon. Haxorus only had time to look up at the cloud that seemed to have been created by magic before huge chunks of ice began showering down on top of it. The Haxorus wailed from the cold as it bit into its body. It felt as if icy bombs were dropping down from the sky on top of it, each chunk an explosion of unbearable cold that threatened to freeze it alive. As a result of knowing Ice Fang, Chomps was able to use Max Hailstorm in her current form, which was what Ruby had been banking on to end the threat as quickly as possible. She and Hop held each other close as they watched the Haxorus sway from side-to-side, shivering from the attack. Would it go down? Had Chomps's attack been enough to stop it? At first, Haxorus appeared to want to carry on fighting. It roared loudly and stomped at the ground, clearly ready for another attack. But then it grimaced in pain, its body glowed a mixture of pink and red and the Dynamax energy in its body dissipated. It shrunk back down to normal size and sat down on the floor. It looked very ashamed of itself for losing control like it did. The threat was over and Hammerlocke was safe again.
Raihan ran over to the Dragon Pokémon and knelt beside it to comfort it while Chomps returned to her normal size and shape. Ruby patted her on the head in congratulations.
"Well done Chomps! You did it!" she complimented.
"I'm just glad I could stop it when I could!" Chomps said cheerfully.
"And thankfully we've been able to end the threat before any serious damage could be done!" Hop exclaimed happily, "The stadium's still in good shape!"
He was right. Aside from a few cracks in the walls and the floor, the stadium hadn't been too badly damaged. It wouldn't take long to fix it and get everything back in tip-top shape. As for Raihan, he patted the Haxorus on the head and smiled softly.
"Don't feel bad about yourself, buddy. You weren't yourself." he said kindly, "Everything's OK now."
The Haxorus felt better after that and gently nuzzled Raihan's chest, being careful not to cut him with its tusks. He turned to Hop and Ruby.
"Thanks for the help you two." he said brightly, "You know, it's funny how you seem to keep saving my stadium lately, Ruby." he added with a slight chuckle.
"Maybe I should quit being Champion and take your place as Dragon Gym Leader." Ruby joked, understanding what he meant.
With the foiled bomb threat and stopping a Dynamaxed Pokémon from rampaging, Ruby did seem to have become an unofficial guardian angel for the people of Hammerlocke. She turned to Hop.
"Come on, handsome. We've still got more stadiums to save." she said, her face serious.
"Way ahead of you." Hop said with a cocky smile, "We're close to Motostoke so we can give Kabu a hand."
Ruby agreed. She and Hop left Hammerlocke so they could take to the skies again and fly off to the next stadium. She drew her phone out and gave Sonia a quick call.
"Sonia, it's Ruby. Me and Hop have just quelled the threat at Hammerlocke." Ruby announced, "What about the other stadiums?"
"Emerald and Sapphire are at Turffield right now." Sonia answered, "They caught a Flying Taxi to get there as soon as possible. They're worried about your father so they wanted to go there first. Paul and Ashley have answered my calls and are helping Nessa over at Hulbury. Bea and Allister are teaming up to save Stow-on-Side while Gordie and Melony are both helping each other at Circhester. Even Penny from The Pokécast has offered to help. She just happened to be interviewing Opal at the time and is helping her stop the rampaging Pokémon at Ballonlea."
"So me and Hop just need to help Kabu and that's it." Ruby said happily, "Everyone's covered. Thanks for the update Sonia. Keep an eye out for any other Dynamax surges. I have a feeling Sordward and Shielbert might come for Zacian and Zamazenta next…"
She knew of course that they had the sword and shield. Sonia couldn't have kept that from her when letting her know what was happening. It worried her immensely to think that the criminal brothers had the means to summon Galar's heroes and corrupt them. She could see their plan now: gathering all the Wishing Stars was a way to overload them with energy and make them lose control, much like the Pokémon that were Dynamaxing out of control and going berserk. That was how they'd intended to "unveil their true natures". Well try as they may, it wasn't going to work! She and her friends were going to stop this madness and bring an end to their plan! Ruby even smirked as she looked down at her belt, which contained the two Master Balls that Professor Magnolia had made for her. At least if the legendary wolves were corrupted, she had a quick and easy way to stop them before they could do any damage. With any luck, the brothers would get caught before they could ever summon the duo…
Over at Hulbury, Paul and Ashley had arrived at the Gym to help Nessa contain her own situation before it got out of hand. Paul had been in Wyndon at the time while Ashley had been about to catch the train there when they'd received Sonia's message. Paul was all too happy to get involved as it hopefully meant he could help in bringing down Sordward and Shielbert. He was as sick of them as everyone else was at this point. Ashley was just happy to help. Being a Champion of her own region gave her a natural need to protect and help others and being somewhere else didn't change that.
Nessa was already in action with her faithful Drednaw beside her as Paul and Ashley arrived. She turned to see them, grateful that they were here at last.
"Good timing you two." she said brightly, "I was worried I would have to handle this myself."
"What are we dealing with?" asked Ashley.
"That." Nessa said grimly.
The Sinnoh teen and Unova teen cast their gaze over in Nessa's direction to see that they were dealing with a Dynamaxed Gyarados. Gyarados were already infamous for their fearsome tempers and habit of raging out of control and now this was worse because it was much bigger than a regular Gyarados! It was flailing about angrily, slamming its head and tail into just about anything that was in its way. It had already left several cracks and indents in the floor and ceiling of the stadium. If it carried on, it would bring the whole building down on their heads, and then it would go on to cause even more damage elsewhere! The Gyarados roared a booming, ear-splitting roar that made the floor shudder beneath them.
"Damn…that's definitely something to worry about." Ashley murmured, "Good thing we could get here to help."
"When I get my hands on Sordward and Shielbert, they'll be sorry they ever tried to mess with us." Paul said coldly.
He and Ashley drew out a Pokéball each.
"Let's make it quick." Ashley declared, "Galvantula, time to fight!" she yelled, throwing her Pokéball.
Her Galvantula materialized into battle, but both Nessa and Ashley were given a big surprise when Paul sent out his Pokémon.
"Dragapult, standby for battle!" he commanded.
The girls stared as the ghostly dragon/stealth bomber creature appeared right in front of their eyes. They were amazed to see that Paul actually had the resident pseudo legendary in his position. When did he manage to catch a Dragapult? It didn't matter, they were just glad that they had a very powerful ally to help them out with stopping Gyarados.
They turned their attention to Gyarados, who was making the first attack. Unluckily for Paul, this Gyarados just happened to know an ice attack for it was using Max Hailstorm. It clearly saw Dragapult as the biggest threat to deal with so it was trying to take it out first. A storm cloud appeared over Dragapult and shards of ice hailed down onto the floor. The shards came towards Dragapult, threatening to put it out of the fight once they came in. But Paul wasn't worried. Ashley watched with fascination as the purple-haired boy gave his command.
"Use Dragon Darts!" he cried.
Dragapult lifted its head and took aim with the two Dreepy in the launch ports on either side of its head. Then it fired them both. The Dreepy whooped excitedly as they were shot out of Dragapult and launched at the falling Max Hailstorm shards. The Dreepy smashed through the ice to stop it from hitting Dragapult. Despite firing only two of them, Dragapult's attack managed to take out several ice shards at once as the Dreepy missiles just smashed through the ice and kept going. To help out some more, Nessa ordered her Drednaw to use Rock Tomb to help stop the Max Hailstorm. Her Drednaw let out a roar that summoned a bunch of rocks from the ground and sent them hurling up towards the storm cloud. The huge rocks smashed through the ice to keep it away from Dragapult. Ashley was impressed at the two getting creative in using their attacks to stop Gyarados from landing a hit on them. She'd have to see if she could do anything like that in her own battles. Now the threat of Max Hailstorm was done, Ashley made the next move by ordering her Galvantula to use Thunder. Gyarados were Pokémon with a double weakness to electric attacks so this would hopefully be a done-in-one and the situation would be contained.
But unfortunately, the Gyarados had other ideas. The sea-serpent Pokémon gave out a roar that caused a giant slab of rock to extend up from the floor and block Galvantula's Thunder attack. The lightning strike hit the rock and harmlessly dissipated as nothing happened. Ashley was amazed. She'd never seen anyone use Max Rockfall like that before! Nessa wasn't surprised. All Pokémon that lived in the Gym were well-trained to use attacks creatively in ways like this so she'd expected the Gyarados would think outside the box and stop an attack like Thunder this way. She turned to Ashley.
"Get your Galvantula out the way now!" she screamed.
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Ashley retorted, "Galvantula, dodge that attack before it hits!"
Galvantula frantically scuttled for safety as Gyarados sent the rock slab falling down towards it. Bug-types were weak against Rock attacks so Galvantula would have to get out the way and fast or else its days were numbered. It scuttled furiously but unfortunately, it just wasn't fast enough. The rock slab was going to crash down on top of it! But just as it was about to hit, Nessa intervened by having her Drednaw use Liquidation. Drednaw shot towards the Max Rockfall and slammed into it with enough force to smash through it. The giant rock slab fell to pieces all around Galvantula and Drednaw with heavy crashes that made their ears wince from all the noise. Gyarados roared in annoyance, clearly irritated that its attack had failed. Paul took advantage of Gyarados's annoyance by ordering his Dragapult to use Thunderbolt. Dragapult fired a jolt of electricity that struck Gyarados and made it flail about in anguish. Every inch of its body felt like it was being cooked alive as it was brutally electrocuted. Its Dynamaxed body offered no resistance to the attack for size didn't mean anything in a Pokémon battle. Nessa felt sorry to see the Gyarados suffering like this. It didn't mean what it was doing and it couldn't help going out of control. It was a victim and it didn't deserve this. After Dragapult had finished, Paul expected to see Gyarados keel over and fall unconscious. But to his surprise, the serpent-like Pokémon was still conscious and able to battle! He was speechless. He was certain that Dragapult's Thunderbolt could've finished the battle! Nessa frowned. She'd hoped that would've been the end of it too so it didn't have to suffer anymore. This particular Gyarados was at a very high level and very well-trained so it wasn't guaranteed to go down in a single hit.
"It wasn't enough…" Ashley murmured, "I think an extra power boost will help us out!"
"Yes. Dynamaxing your Galvantula should stop Gyarados." Paul agreed.
He had come to the same conclusion Ashley had. He and Nessa stood by as Ashley returned Galvantula to its Pokéball. Her Dynamax band activated and in a matter of minutes, her Galvantula was back out of its ball, only much bigger than before and glowing with red energy. Ashley never stopped enjoying the amazing sensation of watching her Pokémon Dynamax. Why didn't they have this feature in Unova? She imagined all sorts of amazing battles would happen if the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four back home could make their Pokémon grow giant sized! Now Galvantula had Dynamaxed, Ashley ordered it to use Max Lightning on Gyarados. At the same time, Gyarados was gearing up to use another Max Rockfall to try and stop Galvantula dead in its tracks. The rock slab came up again and fell forward, threatening to crash down on top of Galvantula and squash it flat. But before the rock could land, Nessa and Paul stopped it by ordering Dragapult and Drednaw to use Dragon Darts and Liquidation to smash it apart. The rock was destroyed again, leaving Galvantula to land its Max Lightning. Its fuzzy body crackled with electricity as it blasted Gyarados with a gigantic lighting strike. Gyarados roared in agony again, this electric attack far worse than the last one as it was coming from a Dynamaxed Pokémon this time. Gyarados flailed around like a severed cable before it finally keeled to one side and fell unconscious. The Dynamax energy in it disappeared and Gyarados was returned to its normal size. The threat was over and Hulbury Stadium was safe again.
Nessa ran over to the Gyarados to check on it and see if it was badly hurt. Galvantula returned to its normal size and Ashley returned it to its Pokéball with Paul returning his Dragapult. They approached Gyarados as Nessa stroked it tenderly behind the fins on its cheeks.
"We're so sorry darling. It was for your own good…" she said solemnly.
She turned to Paul and Ashley bowed graciously.
"Thank you, both of you. You've been a great help for me and the people of Hulbury." Nessa thanked, "I'll see to it that Gyarados is given medical treatment and that repairs for the stadium can get underway."
"I hope my Galvantula didn't hurt Gyarados too badly." Ashley said apologetically.
"It's fine Ashley. You understood as well as I did that the safety of everyone in town came first." Nessa said reassuringly, "Now that we've dealt with this problem, you two should see if any other Gyms need help."
"I bet the Champion's already on it." Paul remarked, "And her sisters will be wanting to help her too. The three of them are probably already dealing with another problem right now."
"True, but we can help Ruby out by seeing if we can catch Sordward and Shielbert." Ashley noted, "We can take flight and look out for them. Sonia's message at least gave us an idea on what to look out for."
She smirked as she thought back to how Sonia had described the duo's appearances from what Emerald and Sapphire had described to her. If she'd heard it from anyone else, she would've assumed they were making stuff up.
"The way I see it, we're looking for two pathetic creeps all the same, no matter what they look like." Paul snorted.
He and Ashley left the Gym to look for the brothers while Nessa tended to Gyarados. As soon as they left, Nessa gave Ruby a quick phone call to let her know how things were going, while Ruby let Nessa know that Hammerlocke's Dynamax problem had been handled. The Water Gym Leader smiled delightedly. That was good to hear, and hopefully the rest of the Gyms would be saved too…
The rest of the region was doing well to handle the current crisis that threatened to bring Galar to its knees.
Over in Stow-on-Side, Bea and Allister had brought out their Machamp and Gengar respectively to deal with a Dynamaxed Conkeldurr. As Bea was running the Gym at the time, all the Pokémon currently occupying the Gym were Fighting-types with Conkeldurr being among them. It had been a while since the two Stow-on-Side Gym Leaders had actually worked together and fought alongside one another like this. Allister was nervous as usual while Bea remained cool and collected. The fight didn't last long with the two Gym Leaders teaming up to fight the Conkeldurr together. Allister even Gigantamaxed his Gengar to gain more of an edge and stop the rampaging Pokémon faster. A combination of the mighty Machamp's Fighting moves and the sinister Gengar's ghostly attacks brought an end to the threat and Conkeldurr was bright down. It returned to normal size and looked around in confusion as if it was puzzled what had just happened. Bea turned to Allister and shook his hand.
"You fought well. Thank you for aiding me in quelling this threat to our town." Bea thanked, her face neutral as usual.
"Y-y-you're welcome." Allister stammered shyly, "S-strong, muscular woman and meek, ghost boy made a g-great team. I'm g-glad we could stop the C-Conkeldurr."
"As am I." Bea concurred, "If I ever see these Sordward and Shielbert characters, I will snap both of their necks for this!" she growled, clenching her fists.
"And I'll ask my f-faithful friends to haunt them…" Allister purred darkly, the eyes in his mask glowing purple.
Over in Circhester, Gordie and his mother, the Ice Gym Leader Melony, had teamed up to stop a Dynamaxed Froslass from freezing the Gym solid. Melony had been about to take over the Gym for tomorrow was her turn to be the Gym Leader for those with a Shield Pass but the Froslass had Dynamaxed as a result of Sordward and Shielbert's meddling. The two weren't on good terms but were willing to work together for the time being. Petty family arguments did not overrule the safety of their people. Gordie brought out his Coalossal and Gigantamaxed it to fight off the Froslass while Melony brought out her Lapras to help out. The fight was once again short with the combined efforts of two powerful Gym Leaders to fight off the giant Froslass. Gordie's Coalossal especially made it easy by using G-Max Volcalith to really do the damage to Froslass. Froslass was defeated and the icy ghost Pokémon was returned to normal. It felt guilty over what it had done but Melony put its worries at ease by reassuring it that it wasn't to blame for what it had done. Gordie grinned with pleasure.
"And that's that! Circhester Gym is safe again!" he crowed, "And all thanks to its fabulous Gym Leader."
"And your mother." Melony retorted.
"Meh, you helped too, I'll admit." Gordie said, rolling his eyes, "But it was mostly down to me, mum, and you know it."
"Of course. Melony admitted begrudgingly, "You know love, it really did feel good for us to be battling alongside each other again." she added softly, patting her son on the shoulder, "It felt like old times, wouldn't you agree?"
Gordie smiled in response.
"Yeah…it did actually." he said with a whisper of nostalgia in his voice, "It was like when you used to train me up and we'd battle alongside each other with our Pokémon. Maybe when this is over we could finally have a moment to catch up on what we've missed since we last saw each other."
"I'd like that." Melony said warmly.
And over in Ballonlea, Penny Chalmers was helping Opal deal with a Dynamaxed Togekiss. She had been visiting Ballonlea at the time in hopes of meeting Opal to interview her for her next podcast episode and then Sordward and Shielbert's scheme had happened. A Togekiss had Dynamaxed and it was trying to fly away. Unlike the other Dynamaxed Pokémon that were causing havoc, the Togekiss seemed more scared than angry and was acting out of fear, not going berserk. Opal sympathized with it. It had just Dynamaxed out of nowhere and didn't understand what was happening. Any Pokémon would be scared at this point! Opal brought out her Alcremie to fight it off while Penny had a Pokémon that couldn't be found in Galar. It was her starter Pokémon from the Johto region which she'd received as a Totodile and had evolved it into a Feraligator. Feraligator were crocodile-like Pokémon with huge jaws, red spikes on their heads and backs, and thick neck and shoulder muscles. They were often considered Johto's best starter Pokémon and were hugely popular among the people of that region. Penny had nicknamed her Feraligator "Snaptrap" and had won many battles with him in the past. Luckily for Penny, her Feraligator knew Ice Fang so he had a super-effective move to use on Togekiss. Opal contributed by having her Alcremie use Decorate, a status move that boosted the target's Attack and Special Attack, to give Snaptrap some more power.
With this, Penny was able to take the Togekiss down relatively quickly thanks Snaptrap having higher attack than before. With a couple of Ice Fang attacks and Alcremie helping with a Psychic attack, Togekiss was brought down and quickly returned to normal. The Fairy Pokémon looked relieved to be back to normal and with the Dynamax energy gone. Opal grinned at Penny in congratulations.
"You're quite a sharp trainer, young lady." she complimented, "It seems being a podcaster isn't all you're good at."
"Oh I was a trainer before I came a podcaster." Penny explained, "I still battle in my spare times, though I could never do it full time like I used to. Still, it felt good to get in the action again after so long!"
"I agree!" Snaptrap chirped excitedly, "I've really missed doing this kind of thing!"
"Well if you ever decide to become a trainer full time again, I might have a spot open for you to be my successor as Fairy Gym Leader." Opal offered, "I think a girl of your talents would make a fine Gym Leader."
"Oh I dunno about that, but thank you." Penny said appreciatively, "I really hope that the other Gyms are handling their out-of-control Pokémon too…"
And while all this had been happening, Emerald and Sapphire had arrived at Turffield to deal with the Dynamax Pokémon going on a rampage there. Of course, the first thing they did was run over to Michael's flower shop to check on him. It had been their first and biggest priority upon leaving Sonia's lab, to make sure their father was OK. They could see that everyone inside Turffield Stadium had been evacuated outside so they'd be out of harm's way. They saw their father looking out of his window and ran over to the shop. Michael saw his daughters and opened the door to let them in. Emerald and Sapphire hugged him tightly with relief, glad to see he was unhurt. He still had Tiger the Arcanine with him and he was just as happy to see the twins as Michael was.
"My girls! Thank Arceus you're both here!" cried Michael, "I was worried nobody would be coming to help but here you two are!"
"We had to come, dad! Once we heard Pokémon were Dynamaxing uncontrollably all over Galar, we had to come to you first!" Emerald shrieked.
"We're so glad you're alright, dad!" Sapphire exclaimed with relief, "Now you stay where you are. Me and Em will help Milo contain the situation."
"Oh no, I'm not standing by while there's the threat of a Dynamaxed Pokémon breaking loose and wrecking havoc everywhere. I'm helping too." Michael insisted, "Me and Tiger will join you both in stopping the rampaging Pokémon."
"But dad, you haven't been a trainer in years! Are you sure you're up for it?" Emerald asked worriedly.
"Positive." Michael declared, "I may have been out of it for some time, but I've still got a spring in my step."
"I'd be happy to help, especially for my original trainer's sake." Tiger said bravely.
Emerald and Sapphire still felt that Michael was safer to stay in his shop but they supposed there was nothing wrong with him helping out. Maybe his old experiences as a trainer were still deep inside him and would come out to help them save Turffield now. The twins and their father ran into Turffield Stadium with Tiger running behind them. Upon entering the arena, they could see that Milo was already in action with one of his personal aces, the Grass/Dragon type Flapple. Flapple looked like a miniature dragon creature mixed with an apple and looked largely unthreatening, but it was still unwise to underestimate them. They had surprisingly high attack for a Pokémon of their size. The Pokémon they were up against was a Dynamaxed Tsareena. The humanoid plant-like Pokémon was kicking out at everything around her with her thick, powerful legs. She kicked at the force field protecting the audience seats and she also kicked out at the floors, leaving huge imprints in it. It felt strange and unnerving to see this mostly innocent and cute looking Pokémon going on a rampage like it was and threatening to bring the stadium down on everyone. They had to stop it before it caused some serious damage!
Milo turned to see the Silverlock family coming up behind him and smiled jovially.
"Good show you three! Yer just in time ta help me out here!" he said brightly, "Flapple won't be able to handle that Tsareena alone."
"Good thing me and Em have a Fire-type each to bring it down quickly." Sapphire declared, "And even dad has one too." she noted, looking at Tiger.
Milo was surprised to see that he was looking at Emerald and Sapphire's dad right now. He knew he worked in the local flower shop but the two had never properly met until now. They were usually too busy with their jobs to meet up.
"So you're their dad, huh?" Milo said with interest, "I guess it's not surprising that Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire's pop is a trainer too! Maybe that's where their skills came from."
"That was a long time ago and they certainly didn't get it from me." Michael said modestly, "They developed that on their own, and far better than I ever did. But I know I can help my girls and you stop this attack."
To prove his point, he even gave the first command by ordering Tiger to use Flamethrower. Tiger opened his mouth and blasted Tsareena with a huge tongue of fire that threatened to set her ablaze. Emerald and Sapphire watched in awe at how naturally their father had commanded Tiger and leapt in to start the battle. It was clear that all these years of quitting being a trainer hadn't slowed him down any. Tiger had not only landed a clean hit, but he'd done a surprising amount of damage too. He hadn't seen much action, but he was still a powerful Arcanine. The Tsareena staggered and winced from the burns she'd received. The Fruity Pokémon let out an annoyed growl of fury and retaliated by using Max Knuckle on Tiger. The red fist of energy came crashing down towards the fiery canine but Tiger was already out of the way before the attack could even hit. Michael smiled at that, thinking back to his days as a trainer where one of his most common tactics was to have his Pokémon dodge a Max Move while it was charging up, so they were more likely to dodge before it could hit. Emerald and Sapphire gasped. For a man that hadn't been a trainer in years, Michael was really holding his own well! But he wouldn't be able to keep it up forever so they pitched in to help.
Emerald brought out Vixey and Sapphire sent out Starfire. Just moments ago, they'd used them both to defeat Sordward and Shielbert's Pokémon and now they were out again to deal with a rampaging Pokémon. Vixey and Starfire lined up beside Tiger, who was grateful to have some aid. He even took a moment to admire Starfire and see that she was a very beautiful Flareon. The three Fire-types opened their mouths and upon their trainer's commands, they all fired with Tiger and Vixey using Flamethrower and Starfire using Fire Blast on Tsareena. Milo had Flapple back them up by using Dragon Pulse for extra effect. Tsareena was stricken by the attacks and sent staggering backwards. So much fire and dragon energy was too much for her to take, Dynamaxed or not, and she was already weakened from before. After the fire finished, Tsareena returned to her normal size and fainted on the floor, covered in burns but still alive. At least it had been quick so she wouldn't be suffering anymore. With the threat over, Michael pulled his daughters into another hug.
"Whew! We did it!" he cried, "I must say, that was exhilarating! I haven't had this much excitement since my days as a trainer!" he said breathlessly, "I'd forgotten just how thrilling a Pokémon battle could be…"
"You were awesome, dad!" Emerald praised, "You and Tiger really helped out there!"
"We were quite good, weren't we?" Tiger said humbly, "But you two helped just as much. We couldn't have done it without you helping us."
He then turned to Starfire and gave a suave smile.
"And you especially looked good out there." he purred, "Your Fire Blast is as pretty as your looks, darling."
Starfire blushed with pleasure. Sapphire couldn't help but giggle at this.
"Heh, I think Tiger's got a thing for Starfire." she chuckled, "I see she's just as shy as I am with Ashley." she added, taking note of Starfire's blushing.
"Ashley? You mean that girl from Unova who's in the Gym Challenge?" Michael asked curiously, "What do you mean by "being shy with her"? Are you two seeing each other or…"
"Oh gosh, no! We're not at that stage yet dad!" Sapphire exclaimed frantically, "We're not even a thing yet! I'll explain everything later, we've got other Gyms to save." she said quickly.
"Quite." Milo agreed, "You two best get helping Ruby and the others, if they need it. Or you can get looking for the criminals responsible for this mess." he added.
"Oh I'm definitely keen to track those arseholes down!" Emerald declared hotly, "When we catch them, I might get my Pokémon to give them a haircut! Whatever they do to them will make them look less silly at least!"
The twins left Turffield Stadium to get looking for the brothers. Michael decided to stay behind and help Milo clear things up in the Gym. After leaving the town, Emerald whipped out her Rotom phone to call Sonia. Sonia answered, her pretty face beaming with delight.
"Hey Emerald! Hey Sapphire!" the professor cooed cheerfully, "Great news for you both: the crisis is currently under control. I've had calls from Ruby, Nessa, Bea, Gordie and Opal to tell me that the Dynamaxed Pokémon have been brought under control. Ruby and Hop are currently helping Kabu deal with a Dynamaxed Torkoal in Motostoke. How's things for you two?"
"We just stopped a Dynamaxed Tsareena." Emerald explained, "Our dad joined us and helped us stop it too, which was awesome!"
"Any luck in tracking down the thicky twins?" Sapphire asked.
"Not at the moment." Sonia sighed, "I haven't picked up any new spikes in energy from my Power Spot Detectors yet so they aren't making any new moves yet. I bet it won't be long until they try summoning the legendary heroes though, and then we'll find where they…"
She was interrupted as the door to her lab suddenly opened and someone walked in. Or rather, some PEOPLE did. Sonia spun on her heels and glared in disgust as Sordward and Shielbert strolled into her lab with that same arrogant looks on their faces that they'd worn when they first met Emerald and Sapphire earlier. Emerald clutched her phone with horror upon seeing the two on her screen. They were there at Wedgehurst Lab?! What were they doing there?!
"How dare you two come in here!" Sonia snarled, "Get out of my lab this instant!"
"Oh really Professor Sonia, is that anyway to treat two astute gentlemen such as ourselves?" Sordward preened.
"At least let us stay for a cup of tea first." Shielbert sneered, "We're terribly parched after taking that Flying Taxi and going all over Galar to make those Pokémon Dynamax."
"I'll smash your faces in with the kettle if you want!" Sonia snapped, "GET. OUT. OF. MY LAB!" she screamed.
"Oh no Sonia. We're not going anywhere until we get that beautiful stash of Wishing Stars you have in this hideous lab of yours." Sordward said coldly.
"How do you know about that?!" Sonia exclaimed incredulously.
"Did you forget we have a spy still at large?" Shielbert retorted, "We learned it from her. Now give us those Wishing Stars or we might have to see to hurting you very badly."
Sonia refused to budge. She just turned to her phone.
"You two. Back here, NOW." the red-headed woman said firmly.
"Gladly." Sapphire said coldly.
Emerald hung up and put her phone away. She knew what had to be done so she and Sapphire didn't waste any time with words. They simply called for another Flying Taxi to take them back to Wedgehurst. The Corviknight came in with its passenger carriage and the twins climbed in hurriedly. The pilot didn't bother to ask what the rush was. He could see from their faces that it was an emergency and that the girls needed to get to their destination quickly. He assumed they were going to deal with another Dynamax problem. Emerald and Sapphire were worried for Sonia. Where the brothers going to attack her? Would Sonia be able to handle herself with those fiends? And then there was the subject of their agent still being at large. Did the agent steal the sword and shield while they had been battling them earlier? And if the agent knew that Sonia had a stash of Wishing Stars, what else had the agent found out and been telling the brothers? Was the agent even lurking in Sonia's lab at this very moment? They had double the reason to get back now because if Sordward and Shielbert didn't hurt Sonia, the agent would.
Thankfully, the flight back to Wedgehurst wasn't long. In a few minutes, they were back and as soon as the Corviknight brought the carriage in to land, Emerald and Sapphire charged over towards the lab. They ran in and…burst into hysterical laughter.
Upon entering, they could see that Sonia had taken care of the situation. Her faithful Yamper had been with her the whole time and had given the brothers a nasty electric shock. They were lying on the floor, twitching furiously. Their ridiculous hair had become frazzled from the attack. Sonia saw the two and smiled sweetly.
"Hey girls! Sorry I wasted your time, it turns out that I was able to handle them after all." she said brightly, "Good thing I had Yamper on me to handle those two."
Yamper barked happily, its lightning bolt tail wagging with joy.
"Ah well, at least now we're here, we can help you get them down to prison where they belong." Emerald said casually, "We can let Ruby know that their reign of terror is finally over now."
"You know, for criminal masterminds, they're pretty pathetic." Sapphire sneered, "Not only did me and Em cream them both without even trying but you took them out by yourself!"
"I WAS a trainer once upon a time." Sonia reminded, "I may be a professor now but can still put up a fight with my Yamper. His battle skills haven't gotten rusty one bit."
"I'll say!" Emerald laughed, "Look at how much he's shocked them both! I bet they'll be twitching for the rest of their lives after that!"
"Now…we…under…stand…what…a paralyzed…Pokémon…feels like!" Sordward muttered through gritted teeth.
"We'll…get…you…for…this!" Shielbert grunted, also talking through his teeth.
"The only thing you two are getting as a prison sentence." Sapphire said, her voice dripping with venom, "But first, you give us the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield back and we can return them to their rightful places."
But the twins could see that amazingly, the brothers didn't actually have the weapons on them at this point. Just to be double sure, Emerald and Sapphire searched them, even opening up their tuxedos to take a look. The weapons definitely weren't on them. Wherever they were, Sordward and Shielbert didn't have them.
"Where are they?" Sapphire demanded.
Sordward and Shielbert tried to smile, but even that was too painful for them with how much their muscles had locked from Yamper's attack.
"As…if…we'd…tell you!" Shielbert crowed.
"Fine, don't talk. I'll just ask Yamper to shock you two again until you talk." Sonia said coldly.
Yamper growled, clearly keen to give them another jolt of electricity. But before anything could happen, somebody else came into the room. It was Margot. Emerald and Sapphire were happy to see that she was OK, but at the same time, something didn't add up.
"Where have you been?" Sapphire asked suspiciously, "Why didn't you help Sonia when the brothers arrived?"
"It looked as if she had everything under control." Margot noted, "As for where I've been, I was just fetching my little weapon to deal with the two. Once I saw what was happening, I thought now would be the time to use it."
She brought out a sealed capsule that contained some Sleep Powder that she'd collected from Butterfree that she and Sonia had been studying over time.
"Once Sordward and Shielbert tell us where they've hidden the legendary weapons, you can put them to sleep." Sonia told her, "Once they're asleep, they won't give us any trouble when we take them to jail."
"I think it'll be better if we put them to sleep now and get the weapons later." Margot suggested, "The sooner they're in a cell, the better."
Sonia shrugged. She couldn't see the harm in that. So Margot opened the test tube…but she didn't aim it at Sordward and Shielbert. Instead, she threw the Sleep Powder at Emerald, Sapphire and Sonia! Even Yamper ended up getting some of the powder too. The children and the professor coughed and swatted at the air to try and get the powder away from them. But it was useless. Once Sleep Powder hit, it was impossible to keep themselves awake. The powder took effect and the three started to fall asleep. Emerald tried to fight it and threw herself towards Margot. To the assistant's surprise, she was able to fight it off long enough to at least throw a punch at her. She slammed her fist into Margot's stomach, making her double over. It wasn't much as Emerald couldn't fight it forever but she'd at least managed to hurt Margot before passing out. Sonia could only look feebly at her assistant as the horrible feeling of betrayal settled in. It should've been obvious from the start that Margot was the spy! She'd successfully manipulated them all and managed to convince her that she was innocent when she'd been grilled earlier. Emerald, Sapphire, Sonia and Yamper collapsed on the floor in a deep sleep. Once that was done, Margot rubbed her stomach better, surprised that a mere kid had managed to almost wind her with that punch. She grabbed a Paralyze Heal from nearby and sprayed it on Sordward and Shielbert to heal them up from Yamper's electric attacks. A few sprays was all it took for the brothers to be able to move again. They stretched and flexed their muscles to ease them into functioning order again and shake off the pain from earlier. Margot folded her arms, her eyes narrowed in disappointment.
"They're right you know. You two really are useless." Margot muttered, "The only time you two twerps have actually succeeded at anything is whenever I'M involved. You couldn't beat those brats so I had to steal the weapons for you and here I am taking care of two kids and a professor while you couldn't even handle that ginger cow without screwing up royally. If it wasn't for the fact you're paying me more money than I ever could've dreamt of earning, I would seriously be asking why am I working for you incompetent nitwits…"
"Save your insults, Margot, or you won't be getting so much as a penny." Sordward warned, "Just be grateful that things are finally going our way, thanks to you. Well done Miss Sprout, you've been a most useful mole for us."
"I've been the only useful member of Team Royal as a whole." Margot sniffed.
"If anyone had to be the useful member, at least it was you." Shielbert said casually, "Lock up the kids and that electric mutt. We don't need them. We'll take Sonia with us."
"Indeed. We so want her to watch as her beautiful discovery is proven to be a lie in front of her stupid little face…" Sordward crowed.
Margot obeyed and grabbed Emerald and Sapphire by their ankles. She dragged them over to a storage room that was used to put away any lab equipment they didn't need to use. She put the children inside and then grabbed Yamper to put him in the room with them. She then removed Emerald and Sapphire's backpacks so they couldn't use their Pokémon to break out and dropped them aside the door. She then shut the door and pressed a button to lock it. The door opened automatically normally and could only be locked from the outside. Now that was done, Sordward and Shielbert grabbed Sonia by the arms and dragged her out of the lab. They had their own personal Flying Taxi, which they'd used to fly around Galar and carry out their little test in the first place, and they put Sonia in the carriage. They then waited as Margot came out with the stash of Wishing Stars that Sonia had been keeping stored up for all this time. She frowned as she strained to carry the heavy boxes to the Flying Taxi.
"Oh sure, don't help why don't you?" she sighed in annoyance.
"Carrying is for servants, not for esteemed gentlemen such as ourselves." Shielbert scoffed.
Annoyed, Margot promptly threw one of the boxes down on Sordward and Shielbert's lap, making them yell in pain as the heavy box crashed down on their legs. They glared at their spy but said nothing as she put the rest of the boxes in the back of the carriage. She then climbed in with them and the brothers gave the command to take flight. The Corviknight carrying their carriage flapped its wings and carried them up into the sky. Next stop was Hammerlocke Power Station…and the beginning of the end for Zacian and Zamazenta's legacy…
The stadiums are saved, but that doesn't mean Galar as a whole is safe yet. Sordward and Shielbert have all the Wishing Stars they need thanks to the treacherous Margot and they also have Sonia while the twins have been locked up! But there's still hope for our heroes yet. It's not over for them. Tune in to see the end of Sordward and Shielbert as our heroes will mane an attempt at "Taming Galar's Heroes"...
Trivia: The reason for Penny having a Feraligator is down to the fact that he's my favourite Johto starter and that in one of my playthroughs of HG and SS, I used a Feraligator named "Snaptrap" and during that playthrough I did name my player character Penny so it all works out. :) And yes, I am aware that I'm spelling "Feraligator" wrong. I think it looks a lot better spelt as "Feraligator" instead of "Feraligatr" and it was meant to be spelt like that anyway but they couldn't do it back then because of the limited character spelling back in the days of Pokemon Gold and Silver so why not spell it how it was intended? XD I always wonder why they never updated it...
Also Tiger taking a fancy to Starfire is purely because of the fact Arcanine and Flareon can breed with each other, so it's not unreasonable to imagine an Arcanine taking a fancy to a Flareon. XD
Just made a few edits. I cut out a line where Ruby rather pointlessly states the obvious and I had Emerald at least land a punch on Margot before falling asleep so that she wouldn't go out without a fight.