SWORD & SHIELD: THE GREAT JOURNEY
Round 4
Cheerful Copperajah
A/N: 4 weeks!? Or was it 5? Never mind, I'm back again.
Motostoke (Budew Drop Inn)
July 1, 5:01 AM
"C'mon! Get out of bed, you sleepy Snorlax!" Victor was shaken awake by Gloria, who was pointing to the clock. "C'mon! It's five already, and the ceremony starts at six!"
"I'm not a Snorlax!" Victor said indignantly. At least, that was what he thought he had said. In reality, it turned into "I'b nob b Snorbax!"
"Get up, then," Gloria said gently. "Breakfast is waiting for you on the counter."
"Let's see, then," Victor sat down at the hotel room table, which was tiny and (in his opinion) too cramped for two people to live in. "We got some official mail yesterday, do you remember?"
"Oh, the forms? I did mine already." Gloria held up a piece of official-looking stationery, with a couple extra pieces of binder paper stapled to it, filled with writing.
"I did mine too! Ha!" Victor pulled out his piece of paper.
"Your handwriting is atrocious! I've never seen worse handwriting in my life, and I doubt Arceus has even seen a piece of handwriting like yours!"
"What?!"
"You better go fix that right now! Or else –"
"We'll be late for the opening ceremony? We've got an hour to go, Gloria. We don't need to hurry."
Motostoke Stadium
July 1, 6:30 AM
The Motostoke Stadium was packed with fans of the Gym Challenge cheering, and others more were watching through their television sets. The pitch was completely empty, except for Chairman Rose, his secretary Oleana, and his Copperajah, which accompanied him in all of his travels and often helped out when it came to getting him out of tough situations. TV helicopters were circling the stadium, and everybody wanted good publicity for this event.
"I know you've been waiting a long time for this, and I have, too!" Rose started. "And it is with great pleasure to announce that the eighty-ninth Galar Gym Challenge is about to begin!"
"And here are the Gym Leaders of the region which we call home!" Chairman Rose's voice boomed from the speakers as the Galarian Gym Challenge Opening Ceremony opened. "Regrettably, one is missing, but here are the nine Gym Leaders who are present!"
"Milo of Turffield, number 831, the fighting farmer!"
A grown man appeared, with a straw hat and a green scarf, who smiled and waved at the crowd.
"Nessa of Hulbury, number 049, the raging wave!"
A woman with black hair in a swimsuit smiled at the camera and walked along.
"Kabu of Motostoke, number 187, the Fire-type veteran!"
A grizzled old man walked up to the limelight and lifted his head, and smiled as he steeled himself for the coming weeks.
"Bea of Stow-on-Side, number 193, the karate prodigy!"
A slightly smaller girl walked beside him, with a bow tie in her hair. She mimed a karate kick, and then waved, her face staying as firm as baked clay.
"Allister of Stow-on-Side, number 291, the friend to Ghost types!"
A short boy with a face mask strolled slowly as he took in the sunlight, trying to remember what this was all about.
"Opal of Ballonlea, number 910, the charming Fairy-type user!"
An old woman walked in, hunched, as the cameras began to intensify. She raised her head and was met with a view of the lights of the stadium.
"Gordie of Circhester, number 188, the hard-rock crusher!"
A man with sunglasses strolled in confidently onto the pitch, holding his head high as his photo was taken and making a thumbs-up.
"Melony of Circhester, number 361, the ice-cold professional!"
A woman wearing all white strode onto the field, with a cute smile. She strode around the field and lifted her head for the cameras in a cutesy pose.
"And last but not least, Raihan of Hammerlocke, number 247, the tamer of dragons!"
A man not barely out of his twenties walked onto the pitch, with his faithful Rotom Phone at his side. He took a quick selfie and smiled to the audience.
"These are the Gym Leaders that belong to the place we call home!" his voice boomed from the speakers. "The two-hundred-and-twenty-seventh Gym Challenge is about to begin!"
Fanfare played on the speakers, and one by one, the 118 challengers began to walk out of the tunnels, marching around the pitch. Their smiles flickered by as the reporters all flocked to watch this event.
Near the end, the last challenger came forth, number 965. They paraded around the pitch, and then one by one filed into the locker room.
Motostoke (Route 3 exit)
July 1, 9:40 AM
"Ready, set, go!"
A crowd of Gym Challengers sprinted out of Motostoke, their Pokemon following them to Route 3, where their first stop awaited: the city of Turffield, where they would challenge the Gym Leader, Milo, the first one in the sequence that they had to follow.
The line was cut, and a large mass of Gym Challengers raced towards Route 3, where they would head towards the Galar Mine. A large ravine was roped off (an idiot trainer had fallen in there last year) and an area with spiky rocks, as well as a seemingly random patch of tall grass, were also roped off by League officials. They spread out, taking many different paths as they aimed for the mountain in the distance, Victor and Gloria among them.
Victor opened up his Rotom Phone and texted Leon. So the 7 days started at 6 right? he entered. Then, after dodging a particularly persistent Sizzlipede, his Rotom Phone started ringing again. Yes. July 8, 6 AM.
Victor sighed. Route 3 was really long, and Victor didn't have any time for fun.
?
July 1, ?
The President of the Macro Cosmos Corporation sat down at his desk, as always. Macro Cosmos seemed to be more interesting these days, but it also had a drawback. He was already mopping up the toxic waste incident at Construction, and the PR aftermath of the Meetup Spot train derailment (it was a miracle that it hadn't been front-page news on the Motostoke Motor), but then the Gym Challenge just had to start.
He noted a memo marked "TOP SECRET" and "URGENT!" scrawled on the top with a bright red ink. Surely this was something that Project Eternity had sent. Phase One was already in progress, and Phase Two was going to be started next week.
All was well.
A/N: Hello! Sorry I haven't been posting for a while, a project ate my time. Anyway, there will be no chapter named Cheerful Copperajah II, so we will instead proceed to Going Solo With Solosis, the next chapter. Sorry about the mix-up! Also, I will create a few OC challengers (like the aforementioned No. 965) but they won't play an important role in the story. Cheers!