SWORD & SHIELD: THE GREAT JOURNEY

Round 2

Sunny-Side-Up Scorbunny

Route 2

June 30

Victor sped down the path that was Route 2, where they were scheduled to meet with Professor Magnolia just this morning. He was bouncier than usual, which wasn't saying a lot, since he was naturally bouncy. He ran through the tall grass, anxious to get to the Professor's lab, and yet trying to avoid battles with wild Pokemon and Trainers, his Scar beating up the few wild Pokemon that he ran into.

He failed at both of them. After nearly running headfirst into a Rookidee, which squawked and decided to start attacking him, he ran as fast as he could, hoping to escape the Tiny Bird Pokemon as it chittered in outrage after Scar attacked him with a fast Ember.

Finally he crashed headfirst into the door of the Pokemon Lab, and promptly collapsed in a heap, his Bag spilling open to reveal its contents, which included a purple sparkly thing.

"Oh!" a voice exclaimed.

It was an old lady, whose physique made it quite clear that she had been exercising regularly. She had thick glasses and a book in her hand titled The Origins of Dynamax.

"Hello there," Victor announced carefully.

"Oh! Let's see, you were Eliza's kid, aha, Victor, right?" she finally said.

"Yes," Victor said.

"Aw, don't worry with that tone," another voice butted in. "You did nothing wrong."

A redhead wheeling a cartful of books walked down the ramp with her Yamper following behind her. She joyfully whistled as she carefully drove the cart towards the bottom floor, squealing to a stop besides him.

The old woman introduced herself as Professor Magnolia, and continued, "Leon has just informed me that you and Gloria will be starting your journeys today, is it not?"

"Yes," Victor answered. "In fact, what I would like to say is –"

Gloria crashed in the room. "Hello, everyone!"

Victor laughed. "That was exactly not what I was going to say." He took a deep breath, and continued. "Since we shall be commencing our journeys today, is there any advice that you would like to give me?"

"What – what's that?" Gloria tripped over the purple star on the ground, having once been in Victor's bag.

"Oh! That just reminds me of what I was saying – Victor, you have a Wishing Star. Gloria, I see you have one too." Gloria absentmindedly touched the chain around her neck. "They contain the power of..."

"Let me guess," Victor cut in. "Food?"

"...Dynamax," she finished.

"Great!" Victor said.

"Not great," Gloria added. "I've read somewhere that Wishing Stars have to be purified in order to grant the wearer the ability to Dynamax their Pokemon, right?"

"Yes. So I'll take them now, and I'll give them to you at – say, 3 P.M. Okay?"

"Okay!" Victor and Gloria gave the Wishing Stars to Professor Magnolia. "Now, how about some lunch? I heard that curry tastes exciting, and there's a restaurant in Wedgehurst that's known for making delicious curry!" Victor said. "See you later!"

"Kids these days," Professor Magnolia said. "They rush off on random adventures, and then come in all bruised and battered… I seriously wonder what this year's Challenge will be, with these speedsters and all..."

Wedgehurst

June 30

"Yum!" Victor sat up, heaping spoonfuls of curry into his mouth. "BuhhwrezGlwrhia?" he asked, talking to himself. "SheantbeheldhupatProfhezzerMaghnoll – I give up." He'd been constantly texting her on the Rotom Phone ever since he arrived in Wedgehurst, and there had been no response from Gloria.

Where are u? he typed into the box. After an eternity spent staring at the screen (for his curry was almost done), the cellphone pinged.

Coming. Chat w/ M. Got a surprise!

Victor sat up stiffly. What could the surprise be? Gloria's surprises were always books, books, and more books. She could read her head full of nonsense and be completely awkward when she came out of her room! Victor remembered last year, when she'd given him A Treatise On Regional Forms for his birthday. (He never read it.)

"Whew! Found you, Victor! Took long enough." Gloria marched in, holding a gift box.

"Another one? I thought we were done when Leon gave us our first Pokemon!"

"No," Gloria said. "Come on! Look inside and see!"

"If what's in there is a wild Croagunk then I'm seriously going to kill you!"

Victor reluctantly tore open the wrapping and found himself face-to-face with a red device, which only featured a screen and a power button.

"Go on then! Turn it on!"

BEEP.

It started up almost instantaneously, putting his Rotom Phone to shame. "So what do I do now?"

Gloria pointed at the marked metal pad on the bottom. "You see this box? Touch your Poke Ball to the box and it will be scanned and registered to your PokeDex."

"Aha – now." He slid the Poke Ball and briefly touched it to the metal pad marked SCAN HERE.

BEEP. ERROR OCCURRED.

Victor jumped out of his seat. "This thing talks to me!?"

"Oh, don't worry," Gloria said. "You can turn that off if you want."

"But… Okay, slower this time."

He slid the Poke Ball across. It beeped, but no sound came out.

"See, it listens to you!" Gloria commented. "This thing is ingenious! It probably took Macro Cosmos years to develop this stuff..."

"Oh-kay, Gloria. Got you."

Victor whipped out his Rotom Phone and made a reservation for the 5 o'clock train to Motostoke. Seat 18A and 18B, Victor thought. I'll have to remember that.

RIIIIING!

"Professor Magnolia" popped on the screen.

"What? Okay, so now? Better get Gloria! Bye!"

Victor turned around and hurriedly spoke. "ProfessorMagnoliacalledandwehavetorushdowntoRoute2–"

Gloria held up her hands. "Whoa, slow down. What were you saying?"

Victor took a deep breath. "Professor Magnolia called and we have to rush down to Route 2 right now! She's got the Dynamax bands ready!"

Gloria sighed. "Already?! Victor, you must be joking!"

Wedgehurst

June 30

Victor had sped back to Wedgehurst, hoping he was not late for the train he had reserved. It was almost five, and they had just gotten their Dynamax Bands fitted.

He and Gloria pushed their ID cards into the machine, and a second later tickets popped out. They took the tickets and went through the ticket gate.

"Platform 3," Victor read. "Where is Plat – there! Platform 3, to the left!"

Gloria rolled her eyes. Victor could be so useless at times, it was almost comical.

A/N: Sorry for the late update. BTW, Victor's going to get a Rookidee next chapter (Stuffed Full With Stufful).

Wow! Three reviews and counting! That's amazing!

And I just took a peek at the Bulbapedia page for the Pokemon Adventures chapter of Sword & Shield, and turns out it was a flipped personality thing. None of my characters are mechanics, however. :(