Thara doesn't understand anything. What was wrong? Where did things turn a different way? Wasn't it all supposed to be just a silly challenge?
Why was she standing here in front of a giant dragon that threatened to destroy their region? Why were they facing this danger like this?

How can a simple challenge lead to this?

Hop had been talking about a legend and all that but that had nothing to do with this. They were never meant to be here.

If they had never gone out for their adventure if they had never been endorsed. If they had never had that encounter nothing of this would happen.

If only that day had been different. If only the two had never met maybe they would not be here. maybe they would not have to shoulder such great responsibility. Was there a point in reminiscing in the past? But they could not stop to wonder...

If they had not gotten endorsed. If that never happened...then maybe...

If only that day never happened…if they had never gone to that forest...

.

.

.

After getting their endorsement both Thara and Hop went back home to start preparations. According to what Leon said they needed to leave as soon as tomorrow. Of course, they had to. They were in mid-February and the enlistment for the Gym Challenge ends at the end of the month. They were late and if they don't hurry up now, they won't make it. There was luckily no limitation on when to start.

Thara read a lot about it in the past few months and was well informed. At least for the condition she needed to meet. To get to Motostoke they needed to pass through the ever so famous Wild Area. Considering its massive size they would take at least a whole week if they were fast to get through. Thara personally found that part unnecessary but it was a condition that chairman Rose requested. There was no going around it. The gates to that are open from December till March and that was when all the challengers start swarming out and try their luck. Though a lot seem to retreat or not even go in from there. It must be an elimination method to get a more manageable number of challengers.

She was in her bed, going through all the information on her phone. Already dreading all the exhaustion she will experience. In all honesty, Thara had no idea what she was even thinking. Her mother seemed to be the same. When Thara told her about her decision her mother was not too happy. Mainly because that came out of nowhere and knowing Thara she understood that there was a different reason for that. Her daughter did not let her in on it though.

'I am not sure what to say, but you need to discuss this matter with your father.'

Thara groaned. Her father was a difficult case but she expected her mom to say that. Of course, she needed to talk to him about it too but at the same time, Thara did not want to do that.

Knock, knock.

She got distracted by the sudden sound of knocking. She looked to her window. Hop was there. Waiting for her to open the window and let him in. though the girl really did not feel like standing up. So she kept staring at him in hopes he would understand her and leave. He did not.

Instead gave her a stern look and stubbornly waiting for her to come to him. the girl sighed. She put her phone to the side and kicked off her blankets. Luckily for Hop, her window was not too far away.

"What?"

"I need your help."

Thara glared at him confused. "Be specific."

Hop finally climbed all the way in. he looked stressed, an unusual sight of the boy. "You know, I help out around the farm." Thara nodded.

"Well, one of the wooloos escaped and…" He stopped. Not wanting to end his sentence. "And?" Thara repeated with an annoyed tone. "What's the matter?"

"It ran into the Slumbering Weald."

.

The Slumbering Weald. It was a mysterious forest. A place no one liked to go to and people avoided it as much as they could. A wooden fence is supposed to separate it from the rest of Postwick and a sign placed before it. It warned anyone not to go into it.

Its mysterious nature has to lead to a lot of folklore and many rumors. Stating that the forest is haunted by an evil spirit far worse than any ghost pokémon that existed. It was a gruesome spirit that punishes anyone who dared to step foot into its territory. Many people have wandered into the forest and never came back.

It was the first thing Thara and her mom heard of when they moved to Postwick. But the girl never believed them at the time. Why should she? It was ridiculous, to begin with, if they are afraid of the forest then they should just say it.

Though now that she was in it, she did feel uneasy. It was dark and foggy. A lot of plants grew here, and they grew far bigger than what she had seen before. They started spreading out far across the soil, making it hard for them to make out what was a proper sturdy path to walk on. The fog made it even worse. It was downright creepy.

It made her skin crawl. And it was deep. She never realized how big this place could be. And cold. Thara didn't even change. She came out here in her sleeveless night top, and baggy trousers, which go slightly above her knees. She was freezing. Compared to her Hop was dressed properly.

"I told you to change," said Hop realizing how much the girl shiver. She punched him in the side. "Shut up."

They were deep into the forest but no sign of that damn wooloo. They followed only shortly after it broke through, just how fast was that thing? Unintentionally she held close to Hop's jacket. Not wanting to lose sight of him. "Crap! I can't see much!" He cursed.

Then suddenly a loud howl rang through the air. Startling both teenagers and with them the few pokemon that were around. They rushed back into the safety of thick grass and tall trees. "Wha… was that a Pokémon?!" Wondered Thara. She looked everywhere around but nothing was there. The howl was loud, whatever made it must have been close. Hop shrugged. If it was one, he had never heard of any that made such a sound. Yet they kept going further. And further. Until the fog would not let them. It was building a wall in front of them. "What now?" asked Thara not daring to go ahead. Hop was shaking himself. Trying his best not to show any fear but he never answered her question. There was not much to be done.

Another howl. A louder one. And this time there was more to it. Hop could see it. Glowing eyes approaching them. Amidst the fog was a huge creature, or two? He had no idea. There was something and it came to them. Thara realized that by now too. They froze in place. Not daring to move or make any sound, things could get worse if they acted without thinking. The approaching creatures were big, bigger than any pokemon that had lived here for sure. They came closer and closer until they were only a few feet away from them. Allowing the teenagers to see them. At least as good as the fog would let. And indeed there were two.

They had never seen Pokémon like that. One was mostly red, with dark blue in its fur. Yellow glowing eyes. The other one was not so visible for them to make out how it looked but Thara could see bluish colores and something very faded out that could have been pink. The creatures were towering over the teens. Whose Pokémon were ready to fight. But both Hop and Thara had a weird feeling of doubt. Maybe these creatures had pressured them. Maybe they were too strong for them. They were indeed very intimidating. Too much. There was nothing they could do yet their Pokémon attacked out of fear. That was when things were even weirder. The attacks went through them. "Wha? It had no effect?" Hop was at a loss for words and no idea for what to do. They had never experienced anything like that. were they even real? Or perhaps just an illusion? Maybe the teens were in this fog for too long.

The creature howled yet again. This time it caused the fog to gather around them. Blurring out their vision even more until everything went black. And no sound was heard anymore. Nothing.

.

.

Thara did not remember what happened after that. Where did that pokémon go? What happened to them. All she remembered that she woke up back home. With her mom and Leon mad at them. They were scolded for going into the forest without notifying anyone. And without any care for their own life. Hop explained that they just wanted to save a missing wooloo. And while Leon was still not satisfied with that he gave them props for that and luckily he did not take back their endorsement.

All in all, the day had a nice end but Thara could not get the events out of her mind. She had never even heard of the weird pokémon that appeared. That howled loudly through the wield. Did no one in town hear that? They were not able to harm them or do anything to them. As if they had never been real. As if they were just small fragments of their imagination. If not for Hop being with her at that moment, she would just think it was a dream and forget about it. That was the difference here, it really did happen. Though the creatures looked amazingly beautiful to her. If they were real, she would love to see them again. Maybe one day.

However, until then she will have to travel and put up with things. And today's task for her personally, was to go shopping and have a proper outfit to wear. As small as Wedgehurst was it still had a big clothing store. With a surprising amount of high-quality fashion clothes. Though Thara was a hard one to impress. She rarely likes anything looking for more specific items. Usually, she opts for blank designs and dark colors. Nothing too bold and nothing special. She decided on black jeans sitting nice and tight, with black shoes. Half was done and now she needed a nice fit for her upper part. Amongst the piles of clothes and the endless hanging once she might have found something special. It was a designer shirt, with a black and blue camouflage pattern and an arcanine head printed on the front, lower part.

It looked amazing so much that the girl could not unsee it. Usually, she liked to go for plain clothing but that one item caught her eye. Aside from that Arcanine is a beautiful and majestic pokémon and one Thara always wanted to have. One of her favorites. She had to buy it no matter how expensive it will be and she did. And it was expensive.

.

Meanwhile, Hop was back at home. Preparing his backpack for the departure. At best the teens should leave in the afternoon. Early. He had his outfit prepared and everything ready, other than Thara, and that for a good reason. They were latecomers. In only a few days the applications for the gym challenge will close. They have to reach the wild area today if they want to make it. It will take a lot of time passing through it but there was no way going around it. It was important and a sort of entrance exam. They needed to pass through the area and catch at least one pokémon living there as proof.

How dangerous can that be? A lot of people manage to get through it and participate, it should be a piece of cake for Hop and Thara. After all, that was why he wanted to practice catching them so much.

Leon stood at his door with a concerned look. He might have endorsed him but he was still not too sure about it. But there was another thing bothering him even more. And that was the Dynamax armband Hop wore. Not that it was an unusual item. It certainly was not, every challenger needed one, but they normally receive them in Motostoke once they signed in. Hop and from what Leon heard, Thara did have one already. The stones needed for that are harvested inside the Galar Mines and cannot be found anywhere else. So how did Hop find not just one but two?

Leon remembered a few days ago when he had a video chat with his younger brother and pointed the item out. Hop said that they saw them falling from the sky and when looking into it they found the stones. Professor Magnolia made them into armbands, so they were usable. Leon had been going through the internet shortly after, but nobody had something similar happen to them. Mabey he thought too much of it but it was still concerning. Was this meant to be? Even Professor Magnolia was not too sure about that but she wanted to address Chairman Rose about the matter.

"All packed up?" asked Galar's Champion pushing the negative thoughts aside. He crouched down next to Hop and had a look into his bag too. "Yup! This should be plenty." Hop smiled brightly at his older brother. Wooloo was curled next to Hop. cuddling ever so closely and preventing scorbunny from doing the same. There seemed to be some jealousy going on. How amusing.

It made Leon remember the times when they were younger and had played in here. Hop never liked it when Leon had his own pokemon to cuddle with instead of him. That was nice times, really nice indeed. When they had nothing to worry about and no one had to leave anytime soon. How he wished for those times to come back.

He placed a hand on Hop's head and patted him. "you're my younger brother" he said, "Don't let that get too much on you."

"Don't worry." Hop smiled brightly to assure his brother that nothing will happen. Leon knew he should not worry too much but there was no helping it. "The Wild Area is dangerous, make sure to stay with Thara through it."

.

.

"Yeah, I know already dad." As soon as Thara came back home her mother shoved her mobile into the redhead's face and told her to talk to her father. He called regularly and asked for things they needed. Due to his work he had little time to be at home which was one of the reasons her mom decided to move to somewhere else, into a smaller house. Her brother should have come with them but wanted to study medics for pokémon care and wanted to stay behind. Where they lived before was a school that did specialize in that aspect. Though he will come to live here during his break time.

"Do you want to talk to Masaru?"

Thara's expression changed to a disgusted one. "Why would I!"

"You siblings need to get it together. Well, whatever. Let me know if you need anything, I will be going then."

He hung up. Thara sighed nervously.

"You didn't tell him about your plans?"

Her mom's voice came from the kitchen. She had been listening carefully in hopes Thara would let her father know of her challenge. She didn't.

Her mother decided to walk to her and look at her face. Thara was nervous, she did not have the courage to do so. "Thara! You need to tell your father!"

Thara shook her head, "No way! He'll never let me go!"

The redhead remembered every time her father was home, and the Gym Challenge was brought up. Mostly through the news channels. He never was amused or excited, no he rather got annoyed at the attention put into them. He would go on about what kind of garbage Galar was so obsessed over and eventually turn off the TV.

He hated the event so much he would never allow Thara to go. But she needed to, she was already so deep in it.

Her mother shook her head. "this will make him mad."

"Don't worry, I'll tell him soon enough, promise!"

She should and she will but for now preparing to leave was more important. Her bag was packed up and ready to go. There should not be any more distractions, her departure will be in a few hours. She'll call her father again when she reaches Motostoke.

AN: Sorry I am taking forever to get these chapters up but I try my best to keep up. This story will be up on AO3 too with the addition of illustrations (I need to figure out how to do that) I'll let you know when that will be ready.

Thank you for reading.

PS: Hopefully the first part was not too confusing, it is supposed to be like that. Reviews are well appreciated^^