Wedgehurst was a small town, though still noticeably larger than Postwick was. A number of small houses and businesses lined the stone-paved streets, with a couple of larger buildings standing out. One of these buildings was the train station that connected Wedgehurst to the rest of Galar. The other was the Pokémon Research Lab. It was outside of this lab that Leon was waiting alongside his Charizard when Ash crossed the small bridge leading into town. Charizard spotted Ash first and let out a controlled stream of flame to signal to the fledgling trainer where they were. Ash spotted the signal and rushed over to them.
"Hey, Leon!" Ash felt weird addressing his hero so casually.
"Hey, Ash! Hey, Pikachu!" Leon waved to them. "Are you ready?"
Ash glanced at the Pokémon resting on his shoulder and they both nodded to each other. "Of course!"
"Then I guess we'll just need to wait for Hop." Leon smiled, impressed by Ash's enthusiasm.
"I'm here, I'm here!" Hop ran up to them and stopped beside Ash. "Sorry I took so long. Mum and Gran, well… you know how they get."
"Yep, I know." Leon laughed. "I remember when I first left, it seemed like forever before they let me get out the door."
"So, who was it that you wanted us to meet?" Hop asked.
"Oh, right." Leon snapped back to attention. "Do either of you know who professor Magnolia is?"
Ash shook his head, prompting Hop to answer. "She's supposed to be some old local Pokémon expert, right?"
Leon laughed again. "Something like that, though I wouldn't call her old to her face if I were you. She helped me get set up for my League challenge back in the day, so I figured that she could help you as well. This is her lab, here."
Leon gestured to the large building behind him before heading to the door. He grabbed the handle and tried to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. He tried again, to similar results.
"Huh, door's locked." Leon noted. "Guess I should have checked that she'd actually be here first. My bad."
"Hiya, Leon! Long time, no see!" Everyone turned to see a young redheaded woman walk up to them. She wore a pair of orange-tinted sunglasses and a brown coat over a teal sweater that matched her boots. Silver heart-shaped clips dotted her long hair, which was tied to the tide in a ponytail. As she reached them, she pulled up her sunglasses to rest against her forehead, revealing a thick black bracelet on her wrist with a watch over it. A small brown and yellow dog Pokémon trotted along beside her. "Sorry, I was just out for lunch. If you want in the lab then I can let you in."
"Wait, so you're Professor Magnolia?" Ash wondered aloud. She was much younger than he would have guessed from what Hop and Leon had just said.
"Haha, no." The girl laughed. "My name's Sonia. The professor's me Gran, though."
"Sonia was my rival back when we were taking on the League challenge together as kids." Leon explained.
"Feels like it was just yesterday." Sonia mused. "So, I take it these two are taking on the challenge?"
"That's right." Hop nodded. "Leon's sponsoring us."
"Well, that's quite the honor, being sponsored by the champion himself. You must be Hop, considering you look just like Leon did when he was your age. I'm afraid I don't know who you are, though."
"My name's Ash Ketchum." Ash introduced himself.
"Nice ta meet ya, Ash. You must be quite the trainer to have caught Leon's eye." Sonia said, making Ash blush slightly. "So, then I take it you're here to see gran? She's actually at home right now but I'm sure she'd love to help you with whatever you need. I can show you the way if you want. Arceus knows Leon'd never be able to get you there on his own."
"Hey!" Leon started to object, then stopped. "Actually, that's fair."
"Come on, it's this way."
Sonia turned and lead the others down the road leading to Route 2, which led straight to the professor's house. This prompted a sigh of relief from the other side of the door into the lab.
"Aargh, it sounds like they be leavin'." The scruffy scratch cat growled as he scratched its metallic beard.
"That was a close one." The pink-haired young man turned to the third member of their group. "You find anything yet?"
"Nothing." The woman called back. "She must not keep them in the lab."
"Then she must be keepin' them a bit closer tah home, then." The feline Pokémon said. "Looks like we'll be needin' tah pay the ol' professor a visit."
"This is it, home sweet home." Sonia said as they approached the large, purple-roofed house at the end of Route 2. "Gran should be inside."
Sonia walked past an open white gate and went up to the front door. Leon, Hop and Ash followed her.
"Oi, Gran!" Sonia called out as she opened the door and stepped inside. "I'm home, and I brought some folks that want to see you!"
"You don't have to shout! I'm not deaf, you know." The professor walked in from the other room. She looked more like what Ash expected, being an older woman with graying hair and a pair of half-rimmed glasses, wearing a white lab coat over a simple yellow dress and carrying a walking stick with a wooden Corviknight-shaped handle. She noticed the three guests standing around with her granddaughter and paused. "Well, if it isn't Leon. Haven't seen you around here in ages."
"Yeah, sorry it's been a while. Being the champion leaves me pretty busy." Leon grinned sheepishly.
"I can imagine." The professor nodded. "But since you're here, I've had something that I've been meaning to tell you."
"What is it?" Leon asked, genuinely interested in what eth old professor had to say to him.
"That cape of yours looks awful. With the fur trim, and all of those corporate logos on the back. What are you, a walking advertisement? And it doesn't fit the rest of your outfit at all."
"Er, yeah…" That certainly wasn't what Leon was expecting to hear, though it did get a chuckle from Sonia and Hop. "But we're not really here to talk about my fashion sense. I want to introduce you to my brother, Hop, and our neighbor, Ash. They're both going to be taking on the Galar League."
"Oh, I know exactly what you're here for, then." Professor Magnolia held out her hand to Ash and Hop as if expecting them to hand her something. "Well, come on now, hand over your phones. I'll set them up for you while Sonia puts on a kettle."
"I didn't agree to that." Sonia objected as Ash reluctantly pulled out his red-orange Rotom phone and Hop handed the professor his own blue one.
"We have guests, deer. You don't want to be rude." The professor took both Rotom-possessed devices and slowly walked into the other room.
"Ugh, fine, I guess." Sonia sighed. "But be warned, I do not make a good cup of tea."
"She really doesn't." Leon agreed jokingly, earning a glare from his old friend.
"I'm going to the kitchen, Yamper'll show you to the living room."
Leon, Ash and Hop followed Sonia's energetic canine Pokémon over to a large room with a long blue couch. The trio sat down as Yamper ran over to a small pet-bed in the corner and laid down.
"What's the professor doing with our phones?" Ash asked.
"Oh, right, forgot to tell you." Leon suddenly looked embarrassed. "She's installing some apps that'll be useful for you. The most obvious one is the Pokédex, which will allow you to look up information about the different Pokémon you come across during your travels. There's also one that lets you check your rankings in the league, one that lets you keep track of your Pokémon's move sets, stuff like that. There's even a new one that lets you directly access the Pokémon storage system from your phone so that you can quickly transfer your Pokémon in and out of your party. Wish we had that one when I was your age."
"Oh, that sounds cool." Hop said. "That'll make things a lot easier."
"Yeah, they're brilliant." Leon agreed. "And when she's done with that, I want to ask the professor if she'd be willing to get you both one of these."
Leon raised arm and pointed to the armband he wore, which was mostly white save for a red stripe on one end, a blue stripe on the other, and a rectangular black screen built into it.
"Dynamax Bands?" Hop asked excitedly.
"That's the thing that lets you make your Pokémon all giant and awesome!" Ash realized.
"Pika pika!" Pikachu had no idea what the humans were talking about but still felt like joining in the conversation.
"There's more to Dynamaxing than that." Leon grinned. "But yeah, basically."
"There's a lot more to Dynamaxing than that." Professor Magnolia walked into the room, Ash and Hop's Rotom Phones hovering above her shoulders. "First off, the Pokémon don't actually larger. Dynamaxing actually works by distorting the local space in a way that makes it so that it looks like they've grown larger and everything around them reacts as if they were really that size. This is caused by the presence of Dynamax particles, which can normally only be found in localized areas known as Battle Spots. Dynamax bands work by gathering the Dynamax energy and-"
The professor's lecture was interrupted by a large crashing noise, causing everyone to jump to their feet.
"Wasn't me!" Sonia immediately cried out from the kitchen.
"No one thought it was!" Professor Magnolia snapped. "It sounded like it came from the garage."
"Let's go check it out!" Leon ran out into the other room.
"That's the conservatory!" The professor yelled after him. "The garage is the other way!"
"Right." Leon ran back into the room. "Maybe you should lead the way."
As soon as the professor opened the door to her garage, it became immediately clear what had caused the noise they had heard. After all, garages normally four walls, not three-and-a-half.
"What in Arceus' name…" Professor Magnolia trailed off as a sudden loud, monotonous screeched through the air like someone broke wind through a rusty trumpet.
"Oi, prepare fer trouble!" A young woman with bright pink hair, face paint and a midriff-baring leather outfit walked in through the hole in the wall as the grating noise died down.
"An' make it double!" A man wearing a near-identical outfit followed her in, caring a y-shaped horn that must have been the source of the odd noise they had just heard.
"To protect-waugh!" The woman was cut off as Professor Magnolia threw an old wrench at them.
"Get out o' me house, ya no-good hooligans!" The angry professor yelled at the intruders.
"Oi, what's wrong wit' you?" The man asked angrily. "You could have done some serious damage to us right there!"
"That was the point!" The professor explained not-so-politely. "It's what you get f'r blowin' up me wall and breakin' into me house!"
"Well, she does have a point." The woman conceded.
"Why are you even here?" Sonia asked the strangely dressed intruders.
"Hm, oh, right." The man cleared his throat. "We're here for your Wishin' Stars! We know you've got a stash hidden 'round here somewhere."
"I don't know what you would want with Wishing Stars but I'm not letting you have any."
"Perhaps ye be reconsidering." The deep, raspy voice drew everyone's attention to a Galarian Meowth standing between the two strangers, who flashed his claws menacingly.
"Did-did that Meowth just talk?" Sonia gasped.
"Ai, and there be a lot more I can do." Meowth glared at her, scratching his beard with a metallic clink. "Which is why you should consider giving us what we want."
Leon cleared his throat. "Maybe we should take this outside?"
The man swore. "Is that Leon? What's he doin' here?"
"Not good." The woman muttered. "We need ta get out of here."
"Cowards." Meowth bared his claws, ready for a fight. "We can take him."
"You're a steel-type, right?" Leon asked the inexplicably talking Pokémon. "You know my Charizard's a fire-type?"
"I suppose tha' could be a problem." Meowth growled.
"Retreat?" The man asked.
"Retreat." Meowth nodded before all three turned around and sprinted back out of the garage.
"Hey, get back here!" Professor Magnolia shouted after them. "You're payin' for this wall!"
Leon ran after the mysterious trio, calling out his Charizard as soon as he was outside. The dragon-like Pokémon flew out ahead of them and blocked their path before the trio could escape. Ash, Hop and Sonia followed after the Galarian champion as they surrounded the leather-clad hooligans and their talking Meowth.
"Weezing, Smokescreen!" The man pulled out a black Pokéball covered in green spots and sent out round purple Pokémon. The Poison-type emitted a thick cloud of dark green smoke that obscured the trio from sight.
"Charizard, blow the smoke away!" Leon shouted and the orange Pokémon flapped his wings to create a powerful gust of wind.
The smoke cleared to reveal that the trio had vanished. Only a deep hole in the ground remained.
"They must have used Dig." Leon pulled the brim of his cap over his eyes in frustration.
"Should we go after them?" Hop asked.
"Too dangerous." Sonia sighed. "We don't know which way they went and if we went in after them, we'd likely end up buried."
"That's all right." Professor Magnolia walked up behind Ash and Hop. "I doubt they'll be showing up around here again anytime soon. Must have been quite the shock to run into the champion so unexpectedly.
"But who were they?" Ash asked.
"I don't know for sure, but they looked familiar." Leon looked contemplative for a moment before turning to his brother and Ash. "There's something that I need to check on. I wish you luck on your challenges and I should be able to meet up with you again for the opening ceremony in Motostoke. See you then!"
Leon waved goodbye to everyone as he hopped into his Charizard's back and they took off.
"Bye, I guess." Hop muttered.
"That boy's always in such a hurry." The professor shook her head disdainfully before turning to the two aspiring trainers and pulling out a pair of white armbands that resembled the one Leon had shown them earlier. "And I suppose you'll be heading off now as well. You should take these first."
"You're giving us Dynamax Bands?" Hop asked enthusiastically.
"Of course!" The professor snapped back. "You don't very well expect me to let you go out and take on the Gym challenge without being able to Dynamax, do you?"
The two boys grabbed the bands from her and put them on.
"I assume you two already know how to use these. All you have to do is tap the screen when the band's gathered enough energy, then recall your Pokémon into their Pokéball and send them back out once it's finished growing" Professor Magnolia explained.
"Thank you." Ash nodded slightly as he adjusted the band around his wrist.
"Yeah, thanks a bunch." Hop smiled.
"Alright, that's enough chitchat." The professor replied. "You should be on your way if you want to get to Motostoke before the opening ceremony. You don't want to miss registration and have to wait until next year, do you?"
"No, definitely not." Hop laughed. "Bye, Professor! Thanks again!"
Ash nodded in silent agreement, noting that waiting a year before taking the challenge would actually give him a good opportunity to train and get used to Pokémon battling. Though he decided that it would be better not to wait since his opportunity to enter into the challenge was now.
"Tata, you three." The professor waved as the two boys turned to go, to Sonia's confusion.
"I think your eyesight's starting to go, Gran." The young woman remarked.
"I was talking to you, too." Professor Magnolia turned to her granddaughter.
"What? But I'm not taking on the league again."
"And that's the problem." The professor's face turned serious. "You're not doing anything. I think it's about time you headed out and figured out what it is that you want to do with your life. Yamper agrees with me, don't you boy?"
The small yellow and brown dog barked happily in response to hearing its name, having not been paying attention to the conversation.
"Fine." Sonia shrugged. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to get out for a bit."
"Where's Motostoke?" Ash asked Hop as the two boys walked back along Route 2.
"It's up north from here, around the middle of Galar." The slightly older boy explained. "There are basically two ways to get there from here. We can either head back to Wedgehurst and take a train straight there, which will be the quick way."
"What's the other way?"
"We head there on foot through the Wild Area."
Ash may not have known much about the Galar region despite having lived there half his life by that point, but he did know what the Wild Area was. It was kind of hard not to, as the untamed wilderness stretched across at least half the island of Galar and was said to be filled with all kinds of wild Pokémon.
"Well then, it seems obvious which way we should go." Ash said.
"Yep." Hop nodded.
"The Wild Area."
"The train."
The two boys stopped and stared at each other for a moment.
"You want to hike all the way across the Wild Area to get there?" Hop asked, utterly confused by Ash's seemingly irrational response.
"Of course." Ash, on the other hand, was more confused by Hop's answer. "That way we can get some training done before we get there."
"Pika!" Pikachu nodded in agreement from his spot sitting atop Ash's large leather bag. Having already lost two fights that morning and denied the chance of a third, he was looking forward to taking out his frustration on some unsuspecting Pokmon.
"Oh, right. I guess you don't really have much experience with Pokémon battling yet." Hop realized. "Though I guess I don't have that much of an advantage over you in that department. I'd still rather take the train than walk all the way to Motostoke, though."
"Then it sounds like you two are splitting up, then."
Ash and Hop both jumped, having not noticed Sonia walk up behind them.
"What are you doing here?" Hop asked her.
"Gran thinks that I need to get out." She explained. "Not sure where I'm going yet, though. I'm thinking about heading out to Turffield to check out the old monuments and stuff they have out there. Might find out something interesting about Galar's history, I guess."
"That sounds fun."
"What were you saying about splitting up?" Ash asked.
"Well, if the two of you want to go different ways, then you should." Sonia pointed out. "It's not like you have to stick together. In fact, you probably shouldn't, seeing as you're technically rivals now and all."
Hop considered that for a moment. "I hadn't thought about it that way. Yeah, I guess I'll take the train and you can go through the Wild Area, then we can meet up again for the opening ceremony in Motostoke after we've both registered for the league."
"But I don't know how to get there on my own." Ash objected.
"Your Rotom phone should have a GPS you can use." Sonia pointed out. "Plus, it's not exactly hard to find your way there, anyway. Just head directly north from here. In fact, you can kind of see the city wall from here."
Ash turned and followed Sonia's gaze. Sure enough, he could just barely make out a dark shape along the horizon.
"If worse comes to worst, then you can just call a Flying Taxi." Sonia explained. "I'll text you how to… actually, I don't think I have your number. Either of yours."
The trio pulled out their phones and made sure that they had each other in their contacts, with Sonia also giving he two boys her grandmother's number in case they needed it for anything and Hop giving Leon's number to Ash.
"Okay, yeah. I think that's everything for now." Sonia said as her phone flew back into her jacket pocket. "Text me if you need anything else."
"Alright." Ash smiled and nodded. "See you later."
"Yeah, see you in Motostoke, rival." Hop laughed.
Ash chuckled as he turned back north while Hop and Sonia both continued on the way back to Wedgehurst.
"Are you ready, Pikachu?" He asked his starter.
"Pikachu!" The yellow rodent let out a few sparks from his red cheeks, causing the hair on the back of Ash's head to rise up slightly.
"Then we're on our way!"
The duo made their way off the beaten path over to the Wild Area. Or rather, Ash made his way while Pikachu rested comfortably from atop his bag. Ash wasn't used to the wait on his back, both from his father's old bag and the Pokémon sitting on it, but was steadily learning how to properly adjust to it. By the time he made his way out to the open expanse that was the Wild Area, he felt that it was no longer throwing off his balance. Just in time for him to trip over something.
"Ouch!" Ash spat grass and dirt out of his mouth as he picked himself back up. "What was that?"
"Pika pi!" Pikachu stumbled around in a daze nearby, having fallen head-first into the ground.
Ash sat up and turned around, to see a small green and yellow lump on the ground, which seemed to be wriggling around. After a moment, Ash realized that it was a Pokémon. Realizing that this was a good opportunity, he decided that he wanted to catch it.
"Pikachu, Thunder Shock!" Ash ordered, making sure to call out a move that his Pokémon actually had this time.
Pikachu complied but didn't know what he was supposed to be aiming at. As a result, the arc of electricity ended up striking Ash instead.
"Not me." Ash coughed, all of his hair now standing on end while his fingers and toes went temporarily numb. "That thing."
"Chu." Pikachu scratched the back of his head in embarrassment before running up beside Ash and letting loose another blast of electricity, this time hitting what he was supposed to.
The small green Pokémon writhed around before Ash pulled out an empty Pokéball tossed it at the worm-like Pokémon. There was a flash of red and the bug vanished into the ball before it hit the ground. The Pokéball shook feebly a few times as the button on its front lit up. It stopped after a moment and an audible clicking nose indicated that the capture was successful.
"Yes!" Ash shouted as he picked up the red and white ball, his fingers stinging a bit as they wrapped around it. "We did it!"
"Chaa!" Pikachu wasn't entirely sure what was so exciting. He'd fired countless Caterpie in the past. Though he was glad to finally be able to knock something out again.
"Now, let's see what this is."
Ash pressed the button on the Pokéball to send out a very dazed-looking Caterpie next to Pikachu while pulling out his phone with his other hand. He opened up the Pokédex app that the professor had installed on it earlier and scrolled around the list of Pokémon.
"Let's see… looks like a Caterpie." Ash looked at the information that the Pokédex had available. Average height and weight, where they were known to be found in Galar, not much interesting to him. "It says it's a Bug-type that can release a horrible smell from its antenna and can climb walls. That's about it."
"Pii!" Pikachu eyed the Caterpie's red antenna warily, having had the misfortune of having caused other Caterpie to release their stench in the past.
Ash exited out of the Pokédex and decided to check another app listed as Pokémon. He found icons for his Pikachu and Caterpie. He pressed the Caterpie icon and was rewarded with a list of more relevant information to what he wanted.
"Ah, here we go." Ash said as he looked over what it said. "Looks like it… or, um, he has the ability Shield Dust, which makes it so that he can block additional effects of attacks taken. Whatever that means. The stats it has listed here seem to be pretty low but I'm not sure what to compare them to. It says he had a Timid nature, though I don't know what that means. Oh, and he knows how to use Tackle, String Shot and Bug Bite."
Pikachu stared up at the orange device in his trainer's hand, wondering how that thing could possibly know all of that information. Then he realized that he didn't know what most of that meant either. He knew that Caterpie were week, that they smelled, that they could shoot out a sticky web thing that was annoying to groom out of his fur, and that he had never been able to paralyze one with Thunder Shock before.
"I wonder what it says about you." Ash said as he switched over to looking up Pikachu. "Looks like you have Static, which can paralyze Pokémon that touch you."
"Pii." Pikachu nodded. He wasn't sure what an ability was or how the thing new he could do that but knew that he could store an electrical charge in his fur that would stun enemies that tried to hit him.
"I still don't have any frame of reference for what these stats mean, but you've got bigger numbers than Caterpie. You've got a Hardy nature, but I still don't know what that means either. Oh, and you've got a lot more moves than Caterpie. It says you know Play Nice, Sweet Kiss, Nuzzle, Nasty Plot, Charm, Thunder Shock, Tail Whip, Growl, Quick Attack and Thunder Wave. We should probably get to work on figuring out what all of those are."
"Chu?" Pikachu was a bit lost. Tail Whip and Growl were easy, hit things with his tail and growl at things, obviously. Thunder Shock and Thunder Wave probably hitting things with the electricity he stored in his pouches, his primary method of attack, though he wasn't sure what the difference between the two was. He wasn't exactly sure what the others were, though, and he wasn't sure that he even wanted to know what 'Sweet Kiss' was. Apparently, these were all human names for the things he could do.
"I think for now we'll just stick to practicing a few moves, then move onto others once we're comfortable with them." Ash told Pikachu. "Thunder Shock's simple enough, you just hit the opponent with electricity like you've been doing. It says that Growl can make force opponents lower their attack while Tail Whip can cause them to drop their defense a bit. Those both sound helpful and easy enough. And it looks like Thunder Wave doesn't really hurt the opponent but paralyze them if it hits. I think we'll go with those four for now. How does that sound?"
"Chaa!" Pikachu nodded. Zap things, growl at things, hit things with his tail. That was all simple enough. He even had some idea of how Thunder Wave worked, though if it was what he thought it was than he didn't have much experience using it yet.
"Catah." Caterpie glanced nervously back and forth between Pikachu and Ash, having no idea what was going on.
"Oh, right." Ash smiled apologetically at his newly caught Pokémon. "I suppose I should introduce myself. My name's Ash Ketchum, and this is Pikachu."
"Pika!"
Ash held his hand out to Caterpie, not considering the fact that Caterpie wouldn't be able to shake it even if he was familiar with the human custom. Caterpie stared at the strange appendage with apprehension. He couldn't sense any further hostility from the boy or the Pikachu that had just attacked him, which made Caterpie both confused and a bit nervous. The boy seemed to be emanating warmth, the comforting kind rather than the fiery kind, which slowly but the green caterpillar at ease. Caterpie inched forward and began to rub his head again Ash's hand.
Ash gently picked up the Bug-type and cradled him in his arms while Pikachu ran up his leg and hopped back up to his spot atop Ash's bag. Once they were ready, Ash began to make his way towards Motostoke again.
A lone young woman stood along the edge of Lake Axewell, a fishing rod grasped firmly in her hands. After several minutes of patient waiting, she felt a firm tug on the line. The woman quickly began reeling in her catch, only for whatever was at the other end to suddenly increase the force of pull by at least tenfold. The woman likely would have been thrown into the water if it were not for the teal turtle and giant isopod that both emerged from their Pokéballs and held their trainer back. With their combined strength, they were able to steadily pull in whatever she had caught. The trio were soon soaking wet as a result of the huge splash of water that erupted as a giant blue and white fish Pokémon surfaced. It was now clear to the woman why her catch had suddenly become so much stronger than it had started. She'd hooked a Wishiwashi. While small and almost pathetically week on their own, the Small Fry Pokémon was known to school together with others of its kind to form the massive leviathan before her. If she could catch the beast, it would certainly make a valuable addition to her team.
The woman and her Pokémon continued to pull with all of their might but had reached a stalemate with the schooled Wishiwashi. For a long moment, it didn't seem like they were going to be making any further progress in reeling in the fish Pokémon until there was a faint wet popping noise and suddenly all of the resistance from the other end of the line was suddenly gone. The woman and her Pokémon fell back as the mighty blue sea monster before them dissolved into thousands of tiny white and blue fish and the lone Wishiwashi that had been hooked now flew towards them at incredible speed.
The tiny fish flew over the woman's head and she turned to follow its path with her gaze just in time to see it strike a passing trainer directly in the face. The young boy was sent scrambling back, nearly dropping the Caterpie he had in his arms, and was knocked over the edge of a Pokémon Den. The woman sighed as the boy fell in and returned her Pokémon.
"Of all the luck…" She muttered between gritted teeth as she ran past the Wishiwashi steadily flopping along the ground back into the lake and she jumped in after the boy. "Why today?"
Ash picked himself up off the cold cavern floor and held his aching head. Caterpie clung tightly onto his chest with its suction padded feet, while Pikachu wandered around nearby in a daze. One moment he had been watching another trainer trying to catch a massive fish Pokémon he had never seen before, the next he was tumbling down a steep rocky slope to… wherever he was now.
"Okay, I think that's it's probably best that you stay in your Pokéball for now." Ash said as he looked down at Caterpie, who nodded in agreement.
As Ash recalled his Bug-type, he could hear something sliding down the slope he had fallen down just a moment before. He turned to see the woman from earlier making her way down to him.
"Hey, kid! Are you alright?" The woman asked as she approached him.
"I think I'm fine, just a bit dazed." Ash replied.
"Chuu." Pikachu agreed as he ran back to his trainer.
"Okay, good." The woman nodded contently. "Sorry about what just happened."
"It's fine. That was clearly an accident."
"Yeah, but still." The woman shrugged, causing her long, dark blue hair to fall over her shoulders. "We should probably get out of here now. Den's like this can be dangerous if you're not prepared."
Ash was about to ask where they were but was distracted by a noise coming from his wrist. He looked down to find that his Dynamax Band had activated.
"Cooor!" A loud call like thunder echoed through the underground cavern.
"Oh, that's not good." The woman checked her own Dynamax Band, then turned to Ash. "You ever been in a raid before?"
"No." Ash replied hesitantly.
"Well, then I guess there's a first time for everything." The woman sighed, pulling out one of the Dive Balls' clipped around the waist of her shorts. "I'm Nessa, by the way."
"I'm Ash." The young trainer said. "Ash Ketchum of Postwick."
"Well, Ash, I hope you're ready for a battle because here comes our opponent."
Right on cue, a gigantic blue and black bird walked into sight. The corvid-like Pokémon strutted up to them, surrounded by a dark red aura as three clouds circled its head. Ash had seen Dynamaxed Pokémon countless times before on TV and streams, but that was nothing compared to the sheer presence they had in person.
"Cor!"