After the ceremony concluded, most of the trainers quickly changed back to their normal clothes and headed out, either on their way to the first gym or to rest before heading out in the morning. Ash was one of the few stragglers still hanging out in the locker room, sitting on a bench with his face buried in his hands. Pikachu climbed up his trainer's back and gave a slight jolt to check if he was alright but Ash barely responded to it.
"Cheer up, mate! It's not the end of the world." Hop walked up to Ash while slipping his jacket back on.
Ash glared up at Hop through bloodshot eyes. "How is it not?"
"Look, there were a lot of people out there." Hop tried to reassure his friend. "I doubt anyone even noticed. You probably weren't even the only one to do it."
"It happened when the cameras were passing over me." Ash pulled out his phone and showed Hop the footage. "They caught it in a closeup right when it happened, displayed on the big screen and everything. It's already trending all over social media."
"So what if you threw-up in the middle of the opening ceremony? It's not like you're the first person to do that and you certainly won't be the last. Everyone will have already forgotten about it in a day or two. Maybe a week, tops."
"But that's not even the worst part," Ash continued, checking his phone. "I'm already at the bottom of everyone's prediction rankings for the league. No one even seems to think that I'm going to make it past Turffield. Turffield!"
"Everyone loves a good under-Yamper story." Hop picked up his bag and prepared to head out. "You just have to show everyone that they're wrong, right?"
"I suppose you're right." Ash sighed again and grabbed his father's old leather-trimmed bag, sliding it over his back. Pikachu hopped up onto the bag as the two trainers finally left the locker room.
The crowd of cheering fans gathered around the stadium lobby was already beginning to thin out, as most of the fan-favorite trainers had already left the building, but the room was still packed. The crowd was not what Ash wanted to deal with at that moment, and he tried not to make eye contact with anyone as he made his way out. He failed in this regard, however, as his gaze briefly rested on a brown-haired young woman with a Blipbug resting on her shoulder.
"Give it your best, I'll be rooting for you!" The woman smiled enthusiastically, which proved to be just what Ash needed to get a shred of his confidence back.
Ash was able to hold his head up high again as he and Hop made their way down the street to the Budew Drop Inn. The hotel was much fancier than anywhere Ash had ever stayed before, with the foyer's centerpiece especially standing out: a giant golden statue depicting a knight of some sort, holding a sword up to the sky with a shield in his other hand. The two trainers made a Combeeline up to the statue, finding that they only came up to the knight's knees.
"This thing's huge!" Ash stared up at the statue in awe.
"I know, right?" Hop agreed and checked the plaque next to it. "It says here that it's supposed to be a legendary warrior that saved Galar long ago."
"That's right!" Ash and Hop turned to see Sonia walking up behind them, a smile on her face. "Congratulations on officially entering the Gym Challenge. Leon and I wanted to… Oh, come on! He was right next to me the whole way over here!"
"Never underestimate Lee's ability to get lost," Hop chuckled. "You'd be amazed how often I've seen him forget how to get to his own bedroom."
"Anyway, I've actually decided to start researching the old legends of Galar, which is part of why I stopped by here," Sonia turned her focus back to the golden statue. "There are a lot of legends surrounding an event in Galar's past called the Darkest Day, though I've been having a spot of trouble trying finding out much about it so far, so I've decided to start visiting location around the region connected to the old legends to try and find out more about what may have happened."
"That sounds neat," Ash replied. "What's that have to do with this, though?"
"Oh, right, I guess I should explain," Sonia shook her head and pulled an old book out of her bag, quickly opening it up to a Boltund-eared page and clearing her throat. "Long ago in the age of magic, a terrible storm of dark clouds and red lightning engulfed Galar, leaving no land untouched. In this age, which would become known as the Darkest Day, wild and ferocious Pokémon grew into giants and ravished the land with their might. Chaos reigned across the island and all hope seemed lost, until a mighty hero stepped forth from the shadows, armed with the Fairy King's Sword and the Fighting Master's Shield, using them to pierce the heavens and quell the storm, bringing light and peace back to Galar. When the people saw what they had done, they rejoiced and declared that this hero would be their king. The hero was hesitant at first, but accepted their offer, ruling as the first King of Galar until one day, knowing that he would soon depart from this world, he traveled south to the Slumbering Weald for his final rest."
"Wow, I don't think that I've heard that story," Hop noted.
"It's a pretty old legend and there are a lot of different versions of it," Sonia slipped the book back into her bag. "Some versions have two brothers instead of the single hero and I think this one is the only version to mention the Slumbering Weald at all, likely because it's a version that was written in Wedgehurst around 1400 years ago. The only consistent par that I know of, other than the occurrence of the Darkest Day, seems to be the bit about a Fairy's Sword and Fighter's Shield. I'm not quite sure what their significance is but I'm hoping to find some clues once I start exploring some of the areas connected to the old legends."
"Yeah, it'll be interesting to learn more about-"
"What d'ya mean you don't have room!" A sudden shout from the other end of the lobby cut Hop off, and the three went over to see what was going on.
"I'm sorry sure, but all of our rooms have already been booked for the night for trainers taking the Gym challenge." A clerk behind the front desk calmly tried to explain to a rowdy looking bunch in oddly familiar torn-up black and pink clothes.
"Hey, those guys're dressed like the hooligans that broke into Gran's," Sonia whispered to Ash and Hop.
"There're a lot more of them, though," Hop noted, counting at least a dozen people in the crowd. "And that talking Meowth doesn't appear to be with them."
"Well, then where are we s'posed to stay?" One of the hooligans yelled at the clerk.
"There are other hotels in the city, I'm sure that one of them must have room," the clerk told them.
"But we don't want to stay somewhere else!" Another one argued. "We want to be right here so that we can cheer on our girl!"
"Yeah, how do you expect us to show our support for 'er ifn we ain't even 'ere?" Another shouted as the whole group started to look even more hostile than they were already.
"Oi, you lot!" Everyone's attention turned to a black-haired girl in a leather jacket several sizes too large for her lithe build, who had just walked out of one of the elevators. Ash recognized the girl who had been standing next to him during the ceremony. The girl whose shoes he had proceeded to throw up on. "What're you doin'?"
"Marnie!" Several members of the group identified the girl.
"Get out'a here, ye're makin' a scene." Marnie made a shushing motion as she spoke.
"But Marnie, we're here to cheer you on," one guy tried to explain.
"Nah, I already told you lot I don't need you hangin' around," Marnie dismissed his comment. "Jus' go home, already."
"But, Marnie…" another one whined.
"I said get!" Marnie pointed towards the door, and the rowdy group begrudgingly left. She then turned to the clerk. "Sorry about them makin' a ruckus. I keep telling 'em not ta bother people but they jus' never listen."
"It's no trouble at all," the man smiled. "Truth be told, we usually get people like them making a scene this time of year. A lot of fans get really excited when the Gym Challenge starts up and want to cheer on their favorite trainers."
"Wow, you must really be something if you already have so many fans!" Hop made his way into the conversation. "My name's Hop."
"Nah, not really. They're just folk's from mah home town," Marnie explained. "And mah name's Marnie, but you probably already heard 'em yellin' it out before."
"You should probably try an' make sure you keep yer fans more under control," Sonia told her. "A couple of people dressed like them just broke into me Gran's house earlier."
"Oh, I'm sorry tah 'ear that," Marnie apologized. "Doesn't really sound like somethin' they'd do, but ah'll try talking to 'em about that when ah see'm again later. They di'nae take anything, did they?"
"Nah, we managed to fight 'em off before they caused too much trouble," Sonia told her.
"Hey, wait, you're that boy from earlier, ain'tcha?" Marnie turned her attention to Ash, who had been slowly backing away, hoping not to be noticed.
"Oh, hi," Ash said awkwardly, walking up to the others now that he could no longer avoid this uncomfortable confrontation. "I'm Ash and, uh, sorry about that…"
"Pika?" Pikachu looked back and forth between Ash and Marnie, confused about what he was talking about.
"Nah, it was nothin'," Marnie replied, to Ash's surprise. "Not like ah've never 'ad that 'appen before."
"Peko morpek!" A small rodent-like Pokémon with yellow fur covered in large brown and black splotches popped up from behind Marnie's shoulder and started tugging on her ear.
"Yeah, yeah, ah know," Marnie seemed exasperated by her Pokémon's behavior and turned her attention back to the others. "Sorry, but ah promised mah Morpeko that we'd have dinner soon, and she can get right angry when she hungry, so I'd rather not keep 'er waitin'. See yah later."
"I should probably be going, too. Who knows where Leon's managed to end up this time." Sonia said once Marnie was gone. "I'm headed to Turffield next, which is also where the first Gym is, so we'll probably run into each other again there."
"Alright, see you then," Hop waved as she turned to go.
"It was nice talking to you," Ash added.
"Well, then," Hop turned to Ash. "I guess all that's left is to check-in. We should have rooms reserved for us tonight since we're taking on the challenge."
"Yeah, I remember being told something about that earlier," Ash nodded. "It's still weird to think that we're actually doing this, though. It feels like just yesterday I wasn't even a Pokémon trainer and now here we are."
"Yeah, funny how quickly life can change," Hop laughed. "Well, I'm going to find my room. See you in the morning."
"Alright, see you," Ash waved as his friend left, before turning back to the lobby. He wasn't quite ready to head up yet, so he decided to take the opportunity to look around Motostoke. The industrial city was unlike anything that Ash had ever seen before and he wanted to explore while he had the chance.
After wandering through the bustling streets, Ash headed back the way he had come with Nessa that morning so that he could check out the shops that they had quickly passed by earlier. To Ash, it felt like they must have had carried everything imaginable there. Gardening stores, book stores, restaurants, clothing stores, salons and even a couple of vintage record stores were just a few of the businesses Ash passed by while walking through the lower streets of the city. Though the place that really caught Ash's attention was the large open park that one of the sideroads ended up leading out to.
Ash took off his back and placed it beside a bench overlooking the waterway surrounding the city before taking a seat and admiring the view. He noticed that a few other people in the park had their Pokémon out, so he decided to do the same, letting Caterpie and Corvisquire out of their Pokéballs while Pikachu took a seat next to Ash. The small worm caterpillar Pokémon crawled up Ash's leg to rest on his lap, while the latest addition to Ash's team circled overhead before settling on a perch that had been set up next to the bench. It occurred to him that he still hadn't gotten around to checking out the raven Pokémon's stats, so he pulled out his phone and opened up to the trainer app so he could look them up.
"Here we go," the young trainer muttered to himself. "Let's see, I still don't know what to compare these stats to but they look fairly balanced. Looks like he has the ability Big Pecks and an adamant nature. Someday I should look up what those things mean. And his moves are… that's strange."
"What's strange?"
"A bunch of these moves are greyed out for some reason but I don't know why," Ash explained.
"Oh, they got that updated fast. Now that you've signed up for the Gym Challenge, you're restricted to following official league regulations. That means that your Pokémon are restricted to only being able to use four moves at a time, which are the ones displayed normally. If you want to change which ones they're allowed to use, you can do that by talking to a league official stationed at any Pokémon Center."
"Oh, thanks. I didn't… wait," Ash turned to see who he had just been talking to, to see Nessa looking over his shoulder. "How long have you been standing there?"
Nessa shrugged. "Not long. I was just going to let my Pokémon take a swim before we head back to Hulbury when I noticed you sitting over here and thought I'd say hey."
"Oh, well, hi," Ash said awkwardly. "Thank you for your help this morning, and for just now. I'm sorry that I didn't realize who you were earlier."
"Nah, that's fine. It's nice to just be treated like a normal trainer every once in a while. It's not easy being both a Major League Gym Leaders and one of Galar's top models." She said the last part with a bit of extra flourish and struck a dramatic pose, drawing attention from some of the other people in the park, before laughing and returning to her normal posture. "So it looks like you've garnered quite a bit of attention to yourself already among the new trainers."
"Please don't remind me," Ash stared down at his Caterpie, who was napping quietly on his lap. "I just wish I could go back and make it so that never happened."
"Well, don't," Nessa shook her head. "It may not be the most conventional method, but a lot of trainers struggle with making themselves stand out among the crowd. What happened may seem embarrassing now but in the long run, you can make it work for you as the first step towards making yourself a household name. Making yourself known is an essential part of being a competitive Pokémon trainer that many tend to overlook these days. You don't think that I was able to get to where I am today by burying my head every time something embarrassing happened, do you?"
"I guess not," Ash relented. "But is this really a good way to start out?"
"It doesn't matter if it was good or not," Nessa tried to explain. "What matters is that it's what happened and unless you somehow manage to get your hands on a Celebi or something, you can't change that fact. So you just need to accept that and move on."
"I guess," Ash sighed as a Pelipper swooped down and perched beside Corvisquire. Ash's bird didn't care for the added company and started squawking at the new arrival. When the Pelipper didn't move, Corvisquire started pecking at the larger bird's wings. "Hey, calm down!"
Corvisquire was reluctant to follow the order but stopped harassing its new neighbor nonetheless. Though, not without leering at his trainer for a moment.
"Is that the same Corvisquire that we fought this morning?" Nessa asked nonchalantly.
"Yep," Ash nodded. "This is the first chance I've had to let him out since then."
"Nice, I'm sure that he'll make a solid member of your team." Nessa paused for a moment before remembering something. "Hey, have you had your League Card made yet?"
"No," Ash was thrown off a bit by the sudden question. "I thought only professional Pokémon trainers got those."
"You are a professional Pokémon trainer now," Nessa pointed out. "And you should get your first card made as soon as you can. They're a big part of letting you get yourself out there, not to mention how valuable they can be in the collectors market when you make it big. You should see how much my early cards can go for these days. In fact, let's go get your card made right now."
Nessa motioned for Ash to follow her as she began to walk off. Ash quickly recalled his Caterpie and Corviknight to their Pokéballs and threw his bag back over his shoulders before following her, Pikachu running along at his side. They didn't go far before they reached the nearest Pokémon Center and Nessa headed inside. When Ash caught up and entered the building himself, he found her waiting in front of a computer terminal set up next to the front desk.
"This is a Rotomi," Nessa explained as Ash walked up beside her. "They have one in every Pokémon Center so that trainers can use them whenever they need. They offer several different services but for now, we just want the Card Maker."
Nessa opened up the program in question and motioned for Ash to take over. He stepped in front of the computer to find it was asking for his trainer information, which he entered in. Once he had filled everything out, the image of a trainer card popped up on the screen, showing a picture of Ash that the league staff had taken during his registration on one side, with his trainer stats on the other. Nessa then reached over his shoulder and pressed the print button. A moment later, a deck of cards popped out of the machine.
"Not bad," Nessa picked up the top card and examined it closely. "You're definitely going to get a more professional photo taken at some point but the stock photo look is something of a tradition for a trainer's first card."
Ash picked up the rest of the cards and flipped through the identical set. "What am I supposed to do with all of these?"
"Give them to the trainers you face in battle, sign them and hand them out to your fans, whatever you want." Nessa pocketed the card she had been looking over. "You could even throw most of them away if you wanted, though I wouldn't recommend that. These things could be worth some serious money one day if you make it big."
"That's a pretty big if." Ash placed the deck of Trainer cards into his jacket's inside pocket.
"Stop doing that," Nessa snapped.
"Stop what?" Ash asked defensively.
"Stop talking yourself down. You're going to great as long as you don't set yourself up for failure by acting as if you've already lost." Nessa glanced down at her watch, then quickly looked back up at Ash. "Oh, shoot. I've got to go. Good luck on your Gym Challenge and I'll see you when you get to Hulbury."
With that abrupt end to the conversation, Nessa bolted out the door in a hurry to get to whatever she had planned. Ash lingered in front of the Rotomi for a moment, mulling things over in his head. He pulled one of his trainer cards back out and looked it over again.
"What do you think, Pikachu?"
"Pikapi!" Pikachu climbed over to Ash's shoulder and examined the card. He had no idea what he was looking at but could tell that it was important, so he tried to sound encouraging.
"Yeah, I guess it is kind of neat," Ash agreed to what he imagined his partner said. "I really am a trainer now, aren't I? It still just feels so weird."
Ash put the card away again and headed outside. It still wasn't particularly late yet but Ash was starting to feel fatigued from everything that had happened that day, so he decided to head back to the hotel for now. He was going to want all of the rest he could get for now. Because in the morning, he would be setting out on his way to Turffield for his first Gym Battle. It was there that his journey would truly begin.