A/N: Okay, now the journey begins for real. We aren't going to spend too much time in the Wild Area just yet, but there will be some fun once Gloria, Victor, and Hop get their first three badges. Chapter's a bit longer than usual because I had a lot to cram in here. Hopefully the pacing is still alright.

"Alright, you lot, out!" the conductor commanded angrily. Sheepishly, Victor and I dragged our gear off the train and into the station. Pokémon battles were considered roughhousing, and roughhousing, it turned out, was frowned upon in closed cabins. This was punishable by revoking one's ticket and kicking them off the train before they reached their destination.

"And I don't care if you're related to Trainer Red himself," the conductor continued, this time leveling his stink-eye toward Hop. "When I tell you to stay on the train, stay on the train!"

"Yeah, well, who needs you," Hop dismissed, shouldering his pack happily. "I'll be making a name for myself shortly, and then you'll be sorry." In a triumphant act, he pulled his ticket out of his pocket and tore it in half, twice, smirking at the conductor the whole time.

"Teenagers," the man grumbled, slamming the door behind him.

"I bet you could have stayed on the train if you hadn't aggravated him like that," Sonia said, walking up from a stack of travel pamphlets. "Now how are you going to get to Motostoke?"

"How are we gonna—How are we gonna get to Motostoke?!" Hop laughed. "We trek through the Wild Area of course! Gloria, Vic, this is going to be great for us! The Wild Area is great; it's a whole natural reserve, full of mad amounts of wild Pokémon of every single type! We could have a brilliant team before we even register for the league!"

"Well, registration closes in three days," Sonia warned. "That's about how long it'll take you to get through it on foot. Takes even longer if you get lost. Trust me on that one." At this her eyes glazed over, no doubt remembering her time as a challenger with Leon. Hop and I snickered.

"At any rate, give me or Leon a call if you get lost or if you don't think you can get to Motostoke in time, and we'll send out a search party. I'm going to get back on the train because I know how to behave myself in public. See you all in Motostoke!" And with that, she winked, opened the train car door and slipped back inside. The train gave a loud whistle and started to lurch forward, and with one final glare from inside the car, the conductor turned away to check tickets of new passengers, leaving the three of us alone in the Wild Area station. The station was one of the older ones in Galar, made of faded red bricks and floored with cracked tiles. Sunlight seeped through large windows that were covered with dirt and grime. Leaves scattered across the floor near the entrance to the building. I wondered when the last time they renovated or even cleaned the place.

Hop didn't seem to pay any mind to the state of the station, and as the train pulled away from us, he bolted out the door. Victor and I nodded politely to the ticket attendant behind the counter, an older teenager with pale skin, dark green hair, and a golden nose ring who looked like she'd rather be miles away from this station and followed him out into the wild area.

We were in a small, fenced in settlement nestled between two rocky cliffs. There was a small parking lot that looked about as well maintained as the station, a couple small storefronts selling potions, Pokéballs, and other trainer necessities, and a large sign near a wooden gate with a sign that said, "Wild Area Meet-Up Spot: Where Trainers meet their destiny!" in a cheeky font that looked like it would have been out of style fifty years ago.

"I've heard of this place," Victor said, double checking on his phone. "Back before the gym challenge was as big of a deal as it was, this was where trainers would traditionally start their journeys. Looks like it's not so much in the vogue anymore…"

"I kinda like it," I said. "Makes it feel more official now."

"That's the spirit!" shouted Hop, who had already crossed underneath the big sign, where he was standing by a couple older looking trainers and an Onix. The giant rock snake was watching us closely, although there was a softness in its eyes that betrayed the scary look of its grey and brown granite body. I trotted over to them, Victor close behind.

"You two new trainers as well?" One of the older trainers asked. He patted the Onix warmly and grinned. He looked to be a couple years older than us, standing nearly a foot taller than Hop, who was fairly tall in his own right. He had weathered skin and thin straw-colored hair. "This is my second go at the challenge. Name's Eddie."

"I'm Gloria."

"Victor."

"Nice to meet you. You twins or something? It's like one of you is draggin' a mirror around with you." Victor and I both grinned and nodded.

"You said this is your second time doing the challenge?" Victor asked. "May I ask how you did last time?"

"Sure," Eddie shrugged, now leaning against his Onix, who grumbled happily next to him. "But it's not too wonderful. I got wiped when I went up against Nessa. Water gym? With an Onix? And a total bird like her for a leader? I never stood a chance."

"Here's hoping Nessa didn't make top eight this year, for his sake," said the other trainer. "Name's Sam. I'm Eddie's cousin. They/them, if you don't mind."

"Not at all," I said, shaking their hand. "You a challenger too?"

"Yeah! First year, though. That one over there is my partner," they said, jerking their head over to a tree where a strange brown Pokémon that looked like a giant acorn with feet was curiously chittering away with Hop's Grookey.

"I've never seen a Pokémon like that!" I said, opening my Pokédex app to scan.

"Get this," Hop said. "It's called Seedot; Sam's from Hoenn. They're around Galar, but they aren't super common. Kinda makes you want to travel the whole world to see what the other Pokémon in it are!"

"Highly recommend," Sam said, smiling. "Hey, is it true you were actually endorsed by the champion out here?"

"Yes," I said, a blush forming.

"This endorsement stuff is insane. There isn't anything like this in the Indigo Plateau's Pokémon league. Would you believe I had to call in a favor with one of the gym leaders over there just to compete?"

"It's kinda bollocks," Eddie agreed. "But it's just how we do it in Galar."

"I've heard it's tougher here than in other regions," Sam said. "And if you were endorsed by the champion, you guys must be good. Maybe we can have a battle once we're all registered and have some form of team set up!"

"Looking forward to it," I said, smiling. "You headed down into the Wild Area now?"

"Nah, we got here really early for our train. We're going to ride down to the Crown Tundra, see if there's some rare Pokémon down there to take with us."

"Well, we should get going," Hop said. "We still have to register and it's a long walk to Motostoke."

"Right," Eddie said, smiling warmly at me. "And put me down for a battle too, once the challenge has officially started! Onix needs some practice."

"More like he needs some practice not getting distracted by pretty girls," Sam said under their breath, making both of us blush deeply.

"R-right," I said, giggling. "C'mon, Vic! Looks like Hop's already headed down!"

And so, he had. Victor and I waved at the two challengers and jogged through the gate and into the Wild Area, only to immediately stop and gasp at the beauty laid out in front of us. The cliffs almost immediately opened up and from our vantage point, I felt like I could see the entire world spread out around me. Directly ahead of us was a massive lake that I recognized as Lake Axewell. It was one of the largest inland bodies of water in Galar, taking up almost half of the Wild Area itself. It was so big; I could just barely see land on the other side. Wrapping around to the left was a patch of trees that gave way to a thick forest that went further than the horizon, and to the right was a sharp drop off, leading to a marshy area and another lake that also seemed to stretch infinitely east. That one I recognized as Lake Miloch. All around, there were tall trees, thick vegetation, berry trees and bushes, and oh so many Pokémon. Just around the three of us were a group of Bunnelby, led around like schoolchildren by a very wary-looking Diggersby, who tried its hardest to look like it wasn't ready to lunge at us the second we threatened one of its children. A flock of Pidove flew above us, and off in the distance, I thought I could see the distinct green and white pattern of a Xatu, somehow airborne but holding itself almost completely still, as if it were using its psychic power to stay aloft. Closer to the water, I could just make out the orange armor of a Kingler, scuttling across the rocky beach of Lake Axewell.

"I can't even blame Leon for getting lost in all this," I said.

"Well, it looks like as long as we stay on the eastern side of the lake, we'll be able to see it soon enough," Victor said, reading directly from his phone.

"And we've got no time to lose!" Hop cried. "We've got to get you a Pokémon, or else you'll never catch up with Gloria. Plus, we might be able to find a Dynamax den!"

"A what?"

"I'll show you; we just have to look for a red light. C'mon!" And with that, Hop started jogging down the hill again, ready for anything.

The rest of the day was uneventful. We saw a few Pokémon and battled with them to keep our skills sharp, but no Pokémon stuck out to us as a good potential teammate. About the time we were halfway around the lake, it was starting to get dark. Far in the distance, we could see a great yellow light, the telltale signs of a large city. We must have only been about five or six miles out. More than enough time to get to Motostoke before registration was over by tomorrow night. We decided to make camp once we hit the northern side of the lake, and after a few more minutes of walking, Hop excitedly pointed to a thicket of trees a few yards away from the lake that was glowing eerily pink.

"That's gotta be the entrance to one of those dens!" Hop cried, sprinting off to the thicket. As if on cue, my wrist started buzzing. I looked down to see the Dynamax bracelet that Professor Magnolia had given me whirring softly. I pulled her instructional manual and flipped through it. Sure enough, I found a passage describing it.

SENSING, ABSORBING, AND RELEASING DYNAMAX ENERGY:

Wishing Stars have a unique property in that they seem to absorb any nearby Dynamax energy, and when they absorb the energy, they become very warm to the touch. When in the presence of highly concentrated Dynamax energy, the absorption will be nearly too much for the crystal to handle, breaking it in the process. This can be easily circumvented by giving the star an outlet, creating a vent that releases the stored energy. Pokémon, who are the most affected by Dynamax energy, can pick up this stored energy, and if their bond is strong enough with this trainer, complete the process of Dynamaxing themselves in a way that does not overwhelm or harm them, making for a much bigger (literally) battling output.

So, these wristbands could work as a rudimentary tracking chip for Dynamax Pokémon? I had to admit it was pretty cool. I ran after Hop and the three of us found ourselves standing in front of a large hole in the ground.

"Well, are we going in?" Hop asked. He had a brave front up, but his hands were shaking.

"I…I don't think I should," Victor said. "I don't have a wishing star, so Sobble won't be able to Dynamax and protect me."

"Hop and I do, though!" I said, feeling brave…well, trying to at least. "And if we're gonna be gym challengers, we might as well get used to Dynamax Pokémon, right?"

"R-right!" Hop shouted. "After you then, Gloria!"

"I'll just hang back…"

"Oh, no you don't," I asserted, grabbing his wrist with my right hand and jumping into the hole before he could register what was going on. The jump itself was small, only a couple feet down, but the ground inside was on a steep incline, so the two of us had to hold on tightly to each other as we skidded down ten, twenty, thirty feet into the hole. I heard a yelp of glee as Hop jumped in after us. Soon enough, the ground leveled out and we found ourselves in a giant, empty cavern. While it was fairly dark inside, everything seemed to light up in that same pinkish-red hue, and I could see that the cavern was crudely circular in shape. Bright red rocks scattered around us, next to stalagmites that were around a foot tall. Near the edge of the cavern, the stalagmites grew to five feet, eight feet, and eventually met up with a few stalactites on the ceiling, but I couldn't see those as well; the ceiling of the cavern was completely black.

"It's…empty?" Victor said hesitantly.

"It doesn't feel empty," I responded in a hushed tone. And it didn't. It felt like there one hundred eyes upon me. Suddenly, as if waiting for my cue, a deafening clicking erupted from above us. The three of us looked back up to see the entire ceiling shift as if hundreds of rocks would fall. Instead, nothing could prepare us for what actually appeared.

What I had assumed to be a hundred eyes was only two, but they two compound eyes and were almost as large as me. They glittered like rubies in the unearthly red light as the beast descended, but then started to glitter even more as a bright light erupted from each of its sides: Two gigantic white wings, stretched across thin green membranes like stained glass, glowed brighter than the sun, illuminating the entire den and bathing us in a bright, cold light, allowing us to better look at the creature. It was a Butterfree…at least I thought. It didn't look like any Butterfree I had ever seen before. Butterfree's wings were a silvery gray, not this brilliant jade and white. The body shape looked a little contorted as well, and much smaller compared to the wings than any Butterfree I had ever seen before But even then, the bug Pokémon could not be considered small by any metric: Even the small body was about the size of my bedroom back in Postwick. Atop its head was what looked like a crown of red smoke, swirling around, making the Dynamaxed Pokémon look regal. But not only did the Butterfree look regal, it looked angry. The three of us instinctively readied out our Pokéballs.

"Gloria!" Hop bellowed over the continuous loud clicking. "It may be big but it's still a bug type. See if you can Dynamax your Scorbunny! Victor and I can distract it!" He and Victor bolted, skirting around the Butterfree in hopes of flanking it, but the compound eyes could easily see anything we planned. I tossed my ball and Scorbunny appeared. Even dwarfed by the Butterfree, it still looked ready to go. In my peripheral vision, I could see Victor and Hop giving their first commands. The Butterfree then finally turned, focusing on Hop and Grookey.

"Scorbunny, come here!" I yelled, and Scorbunny hopped over. "I know we've never done this before, but are you ready to try Dynamaxing? I'm counting on you, buddy!" Scorbunny hopped up and kicked me softly on my arm, seeming to say that he was ready for anything. I double checked the reference guide.

DYNAMAXING YOUR POKEMON:

Dynamax accessories that are cleared for the Pokémon League are simple to use. The star itself can be pressed into the body of the accessory, and when pressed, it will release the Dynamax energy to the nearest Pokémon or Pokéball. It is recommended to return your Pokémon to its ball before pressing for it to absorb all the energy needed to Dynamax.

"Alright, you ready? Hop back inside, things are about to get wild."

I returned Scorbunny and pressed in the wishing star on my wrist. There was a small puff of red smoke, same as the crown Butterfree seemed to be wearing, and immediately the smoke filtered into the Pokéball, which began to glow itself. Right before my eyes, the Pokéball began to enlarge as well, as if it were Dynamaxing at the same time.

"Oh, shit!" I yelled, tossing the ball. It opened with a loud crack and in a flash of pink light, Scorbunny appeared, only this time he was nearly twenty feet taller. It let out a cry, deepened by its size, and it echoed throughout the chamber, shaking nearly all of us to our core.

"Alright, Scorbunny! Use Ember!"

Scorbunny roared a second time and unleashed its Ember attack. Only this was unlike any Ember attack I had ever seen before. A gigantic fireball the size of Mum's car formed and Scorbunny kicked it with all its might, directly into the Butterfree. It recoiled, screeching, and unleased a terrifying blast of hot air directly at us. Residual embers from the fireball sprayed at my face, but nothing got singed. Suddenly the air became very hot and dry, as if all moisture in the room had evaporated. I shot a glance over at Victor and Sobble. Sobble looked like it was about to cry, but no tears came.

"Fantastic!" I heard Hop cry. "One more should do it, Scorbunny!"

Scorbunny looked at me expectantly. I nodded, pointed at the injured Butterfree and without hesitation, another fireball was launched directly at it. The second it made contact it felt like an explosion had gone off. The three of us were hit by another powerful gust as the Dynamax energy pent up inside the Butterfree rushed out of it. I felt my footing slip and I started to slide back toward the den entrance. Through very squinted eyes, I could see the Butterfree shrinking back down to its normal size, before disappearing in a bright red light.

Suddenly it was dark. I sensed movement behind me and whirled about, but it was just Scorbunny, who also started shrinking back down. Behind us, two white lights sprung up as Hop and Victor both activated their Rotom phone's flashlight function. I turned mine on as well, and the three of us walked to the center, where a single Pokéball shook once, twice, a third time, and finally lay still.

"Dammit, Hop!" I spoke. "Why do you have to steal my thunder like that?"

"Wasn't me, mate," Hop sputtered. "In all the excitement, I plum forgot I was even a Pokémon trainer." We both looked around to Victor, who smiled sheepishly and picked up the Pokéball.

"What?" he asked. "You two said I needed another partner. Seemed like an easy call for me."

We made camp that night not far from the den. I got a fire started while Victor set up the tent, and Hop took his Grookey out to find some berries for a curry recipe he was hankering to try out. He returned with a juicy looking apple and some iapapa berries. After a short while, we were all eating the curry, which had a delightful taste that was both sweet and sour.

"Where'd you learn to make this?" Victor asked, spooning a little bit to his freshly caught Butterfree, who was still weak from the battle.

"Sonia gave me an old recipe book of recipes she made on her journey with Leon," Hop explained. "Lee said she could make an old tire taste delicious if she wanted to."

"He's right," I said, patting my stomach. "It's delicious."

The three of us sat quietly as the sun dipped lower in the sky, eventually disappearing entirely, making the fire the only source of light other than the soft glow of Motostoke a few miles out.

"Hell of a first day as trainers," I said, lying back on the ground and looking up into the stars.

"Lee said they aren't always this exciting," Hop laughed, and I heard him do the same. "But he did say that he was never bored on his journey. I hope he was right."

"Me too," Victor added. "I'm glad we're all going together. There's no one else in all of Galar I'd rather do it with."

"What about Sonia?" Hop teased. I cringed, knowing that Victor wasn't fond of the ribbing, but he just laughed.

"Actually yeah, I'd definitely trade her for you, jerk. You can put the food away then."

"Seems fair," Hop chuckled.

"I'll help," I said, rising from the grass. Soon enough, we had the remnants of the curry in a small tin. I remember reading that sometimes Wild Pokémon would root through and damage trainers' supplies if they smelled food, so I offered to take it out a few yards and hide it away in a tree.

"Seems like you'd just be leaving a gift for the Credent, but I see the logic," Hop said. "Don't get lost, mate."

"I'm not as hopeless as your brother," I teased, and trotted off, wrapping the tin in one of my bags. I found a nice tree and slung it over a branch, fastening it to the trunk. When I stepped back to admire my handiwork, I heard a twig break behind me.

"What was that?" I said, whirling around and grasping at my belt, only to remember that Yamper and Scorbunny were back at the camp. Damn it. A small shape lumbered toward me slowly, and shaking, I pulled out my phone and turned the screen out, bathing the intruder in a soft light.

The creature stopped and looked up at me curiously. It was only about as tall as my knee, and was mostly covered in pink fur, save for its limbs, which were each a brownish gray, and its poofy white ears. A small ringed tail stood on end, or at least as on end as a little fluff of fur could be, and the little cub cocked its head curiously at me.

"You're a Stufful, aren't you?" I asked, crouching low slowly. It stood up on its hind paws uncertainly, but when it saw I wasn't advancing, it lowered itself to the ground again. Adorable couldn't even begin to cover what I thought of the little guy, and I reached out my hand. The panda tentatively stepped closer and sniffed, before licking my fingertips cautiously. Of course, I thought to myself. This little Pokémon must have smelled the curry. I stood up to grab my bag to let it have a little, and the Stufful backed up, emitting a small squeak and raising itself onto its hind legs again, but it fell onto its back, and I laughed.

"Nice try, but I'm sure you'll be much scarier once you evolve into a Bewear," I chortled, pulling the bag back down from the tree. I grabbed the tin and yanked the lid off, and when Stufful could smell the food again, it bounded over to me, ready for its snack. "Speaking of Bewear, don't you have a mother looking out for you?"

Stufful just started eating as quickly as it could. It seemed like it hadn't eaten in a while. I looked left and right, but there was not another Pokémon in sight. How strange, I thought. In just a matter of moments, the panda had licked the entire tin clean and was prodding my knee for more food.

"Tell you what, how would you like one of these?" I said, pulling out one of the apples Hop hadn't needed to use for his curry. Stufful's eyes lit up and it hopped up as high as it could to try and get at it, but once again lost its balance and fell to the ground. It let out a weak cry and pouted, which just made me laugh again. I handed the apple over and it munched on it happily, and then I returned the bag to the tree branch and walked back to camp.

"What took you?" Victor asked.

"I got distracted," I admitted.

"Looks like your distraction followed you," he said, pointing behind me. Sure enough, the Stufful had followed me and was now eyeing the camp curiously. All our Pokémon were out, but the only one still awake was Scorbunny, who looked on curiously but didn't get up.

"You catch that Stufful, Gloria?" Hop asked, peeking out of the tent.

"No, it's just been following me, probably looking for more food. Sorry little one, I don't have any more."

Stufful looked back at me with its curious face.

"Does the Stufful know you didn't catch it, Gloria?" Hop asked, his smile widening.

"I guess I could try," I said, walking over to my smaller pack and pulling out a Pokéball. I sat down next to Victor and held out the ball so Stufful could see. It walked over and sniffed it, but when it realized it wasn't edible it looked at me again.

"If you want more food, you're going to have to come with us, is that alright?"

Stufful sat down next to the fire and let out a content squeak. Victor and I exchanged glances and I tossed the Pokéball at it. Stufful was sucked in and there was a soft click. The ball didn't even shake once.

"Well, that was easy."

"Compared to Butterfree?" Victor asked.

"Compared to anything. Do you think it would make a good team member?"

"It's definitely the cutest one you've got," Victor said. Scorbunny squeaked in approval and turned over to go to sleep.

"We'll find out in time," I said, reaching over and grabbing the ball. I released Stufful, who immediately rolled up next to me and fell asleep. I patted its soft head and yawned. "I like the way you think, buddy. Let's all go to bed."

A/N: And that's a wrap on the Wild Area for now! Next stop, Motostoke, and so much exposition. But don't worry it'll be a lot of fun, and in the next chapter we FINALLY get to meet a fan favorite!

Next Chapter: THE GIRL IN THE HOSTEL