A/N: Longest one yet! In this chapter, we see an author quickly realizing that none of his characters have last names, have too much fun describing Motostoke, and FINALLY introduce the other two rivals (although we'll get to Bede more in a bit). Originally this and chapter 8 were going to be one chapter covering all of Motostoke, but Game Freak really had to make this the most "exposition dump" city in the history of Pokemon, didn't they? There's still lots of fun in this chapter and the next though, so stay tuned!

Our second day in the Wild Area was unremarkable compared to our first eventful evening. We had an early Breakfast, watching the sun rise over Lake Miloch and eating some berries that Victor had scrounged up from a tree a few yards from the camp. Stufful got a chance to meet everyone, and Butterfree, feeling much better from a long rest outside of the den, happily floated around the campsite in the soft morning breeze. After eating, we loaded up the tent, returned our Pokémon to their respective balls, and headed North to Motostoke.

Along the way we passed a handful of trainers, each of whom had the beginnings of their own unique Pokémon teams. We had some quick one-on-one battles to keep our partners fresh and to learn how to work with our new teammates. Victor realized that his Butterfree already was a master of using pollen-based moves to its advantage, and I realized that Stufful, harmless as it looked, could not only dish out a mean physical attack, but take one as well. He made a great complement to Scorbunny, whose agility was his only defense. Each trainer was friendly and were more than happy to share some battling tips that they had picked up.

Not that the three or us needed much help. Though we only had a few short battles each, Victor and I held our own, winning over half of our matchups. But even with our skill, it was clear that Hop was the burgeoning star of the group. Nothing seemed to faze him or catch him off-guard, and even Wooloo, who by most accounts was deemed a Pokémon too weak to stand out in a gym challenge, was able to win battles with ease.

It was late afternoon when the massive city came into view, and when it did, it took our breath away. Though the city was on a massive sloping hill, much of its eastern quarters lay atop a series of granite plinths constructed of sharp, identical, reddish-brown stones. Each of these plinths varied in height, with the tallest being further away from the city center to give the impression that the town was on one giant plate. At the far east of the city was a long bridge made of the same granite, stretching across the entire Wild Area, and ending only at the steep mountains marking its border nearly a mile away. The bricks that made up the bridge were arranged in large arching rectangular pillars nearly one hundred feet tall and spanning the entire chasm. Recalling my Geography lessons, I deduced that this must be the way to Hulbury, a small but lively fishing port on the Eastern banks of the region. Surrounding the entire city was a large wall that no doubt served a more practical purpose earlier on in the thousand-year history of the city. Though being a means of protection was no longer its purpose, it still only had one opening; a long and wide staircase made of smooth gray schist. At its shortest, the wall was still around thirty to forty feet tall, but to keep the wall at its uniform level as the hill sloped downward into the chasm, it was ninety feet. At its base was a slow-moving river, perhaps man-made to account for the both the water needs of the city and to keep the more dangerous Pokémon in the Wild Area in areas that were harder for novice trainers like us to wander through. The river was wide, with only a single wooden bridge connecting the banks, and I could see that there were already trainers trying to cross it to get to those strong Pokémon as well.

"C'mon! I'm starved!" Hop shouted and ran off to the base of Motostoke's staircase. Victor and I walked after him, not wanting to deal with the awkward weight of our packs on our shoulders bumping from left to right while running.

"That really wasn't so bad," Victor said, smiling. "I'm almost glad we got kicked off the train. I think I'm really getting a hang of these battles."

"I doubt it'll be that easy for long," I warned playfully. "You haven't had to fight a gym leader yet. And you're certainly not going to be able to beat me."

"Is that a challenge?" Victor asked, raising a single brown eyebrow.

In response, my stomach gurgled furiously. "Maybe after dinner," I laughed.

"If you don't hurry up, I am going to eat everything in Motostoke and still die of hunger!" Hop shouted. He had already reached the giant staircase, which was nearly glowing in the direct sunlight. We hoisted our packs and hurried over to him, ready to enter the city.

Motostoke might have looked impressive from the outside, but the inside was truly something else. As we passed through an ornate archway at the top of the staircase, my jaw dropped so low I could almost feel it resting on the ground. The smooth schist that the staircase was made of continued in all three other directions, creating the three main streets of the city. Smaller streets branched off the left and right streets in an orderly fashion, no doubt leading to all sorts of unique nooks and crannies, but the biggest street by far was the wide-open boulevard in front of us. The road itself was a four-lane expressway, full of more cars than I had ever seen before in my life, but on each side was a wide pedestrian walkway filled with trinket shops, cafes and restaurants, Corviknight Taxi stations, and all sorts of other ancient storefronts, mostly cobbled together by the same dark granite that Motostoke's walls were made of. And speaking of walls, at the far end of the boulevard was another one leading to Motostoke Heights, where the richest people and largest buildings in the whole city were. On the front of the wall was a giant iron gear, shaped like the body of a Klink, that every so often would creak to life, bringing a large platform of people up to the Heights. I couldn't see much of the buildings where up there, but the one building I could see had to be the one the three of us were looking for.

To put it simply, it was a castle. A hexagonal building, It had massive forty-foot towers at each of its six corners, each connected by a long parapet. The parapet that faced us had a giant opening in the front; two doors that were each wide enough to fit a bulky Copperajah with ease, and on each side of it were four long banners emblazoned with the logo of the Pokémon League: two red and blue c-shapes placed end to end to look like a Pokéball.

"That's got to be the Motostoke gym!" I said, pointing at the castle.

"Nothing else it could be, mate," Hop agreed. "I remember Leon facing Kabu in that stadium. He's a fire-type gym leader, and you'd think it would be tough for Leon to have beaten him with his Charmeleon, but no, Leon mopped the floor with Kabu, and Kabu is no joke!"

"Says here that it used to be the home of the Duke of Motostoke back when Galar was run by kings," Victor said, consulting his phone. "I bet there's some really cool history there. Do you think they do tours?"

"Nah," Hop said. "Lee likes to do his exhibitions here, so I've been here plenty. It's mostly just been retrofitted to be a regular old stadium."

"B-but why would they do that?" Victor stammered.

"Vic, it's old history. We don't need it unless we're having trouble nodding off at night," Hop chastised. He shrugged and instead focused his attention at the end of the boulevard closer to us, where we could see the iconic red roof of a Pokémon Center. "C'mon, we can catch a bite here before we head to the Heights to register. And Grookey is wiped out, so he could use a pick-me-up, too."

We followed Hop inside the Pokémon Center, where there was a large crowd already there, circling around some sort of commotion. Even the nurse at the counter looked annoyed that she had to do her job as we handed off our Pokéballs for her to restore. I turned my ear to them a bit so I could better hear what was going on.

"Is it really true that your Charizard can—"

"She's not your, like, girlfriend or anything is she—"

"Please sign this, Leon!"

"Leon?" Hop's ears perked up just as mine did, and he rushed over the group, pushing everyone aside. Sure enough, at the center of the excitement sat Leon and Sonia, one of whom who was clearly enjoying the attention a lot more than the others.

"Lee!"

"Hop?" Leon asked excitedly. "Sonia was just telling me about how you lot got kicked off the train. I know you three love battling, but you'll have to cool it, or else you'll have to walk everywhere!" His words sounded rough, but his tone was playful.

"I wasn't even battling! Gloria and Victor said they fought off some troublemakers on the train!"

"H'lo, Leon, Sonia" I said sheepishly. Victor just smiled and blushed.

"I knew you three would get here tonight," Sonia said, happy to see some familiar faces who hopefully weren't just stopping by for Leon's autograph. "Probably shouldn't have dragged Leon with me, but he was so excited to see how you two were farin,' so who was I to say no?"

The crowd was a bit more silent, a bit in awe that the unbeatable champion and his companion were speaking so informally to a couple random kids. Leon got up and ushered them over, promising them each an autograph and a photo so all of us could talk more comfortably.

"We're…we're faring alright," Victor said, looking at the ground and scratching his neck at the base of his wool cap. His face was almost as red as his polo.

"Sonia! We fought a Dynamax Butterfree! It was huge!" Hop cried.

"Did you now? Did you manage to catch it?"

"I-I did," Victor said.

"Oh! Way to go, Victor!" Sonia congratulated. "Oh, you and I are gonna need to have a chin-wag about that. Can't tell you everything, but that research project I've been working on? It's all about Dynamax Pokémon."

"This'd be a pretty…pretty good one to study," Victor said. "It didn't look anything like a Butterfree at first."

"It's always right spooky seeing the Dynamax Phenomenon for the first time," Sonia agreed.

"No, it actually looked very different," I said. "Like, its proportions were wrong or something. Wings were super wide and glow-ey? I don't know how to describe it."

Sonia's eyes widened. "You don't mean that? It was really different? You're not just messin' with me?"

We nodded, and Sonia screamed with glee.

"Oh, this is fantastic, Victor! That chinwag is going to have to be mandatory now. If what you're saying is true…where's the Butterfree?"

"Um. All our Pokémon are being treated still," Victor explained, trying his best not to trip over his own words, "we only just g-got here. And I don't think I'll be that much help. I…I can't even Dynamax my Pokémon. Gloria and Hop are the ones with the wishing stars, not me."

"Not a problem, little man," Sonia said, reaching up to her ear and fiddling with an earring. She pulled the piece of Jewelry from her earlobe and tossed it to Victor, who barely managed to catch it. "I'd been keeping it for good luck, but if I'm not going to be training anymore and you're going to be challenging gym leaders, you might get more use out of it anyway, at least until you find a star of your own. Just push it into the charm like Gloria or Hop would their bracelet and you should be golden."

"Well, if you'll excuse me—" She pulled herself up off her seat and smiled warmly at the three of us, "I need to go grab a bite with your brother uptown. We already made reservations and unlike Leon, I make it a point to not be late. Victor, I'm serious about takin' a look at that Butterfree? Maybe tomorrow once you're all registered? And breathe, would you? You're starting to look like an Oddish the way your face is turning colors like that." She ruffled his gray hat and stalked over to Leon, where she managed to, with surprising force, pull him away from his legion of fans and out the door. Leon managed to get a wave goodbye in before the two had left. Hop sat down in the same chair his brother was at, and I sat across from him, where Sonia was. Victor snapped out of the spell he was under, and looked at us, blinking.

"Were…were we not going to go register for the league?"

"It can wait 'til tomorrow," Hop said. "Even if we wanted to skip dinner, we probably still wouldn't make it in time, and if you try to make me skip dinner, I will send Grookey after you to end your life."

Victor chuckled and sat down, looking at Sonia's earring. "Yeah, I guess it can wait."

"You need to take a shower to cool down, buddy?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

"No but you do, you smell like a dead Trubbish, Gloria."

"He's got us there," Hop laughed. "We all need one. I'll grab us some grub if you find us a room?"

"Deal," I said, finally giving myself a smell.

The next morning came too soon. It seemed that my head had lay down on the thin, firm cot provided in a nearby hostel that my Rotom-phone was whirring excitedly, alerting me that the day had started. I pulled myself out of bed slowly and lamented my aching legs and feet. It was silly of me to have forgotten a journey would include so much walking. I heard Victor rustling in the bunk in front of me, and the annoyed grumbling of a couple other trainers staying on the other side of the room. I shut my alarm off and got up, stretching my stiff back and yawning.

A door opened and in walked Hop, carrying our three metal canteens and humming to himself. One of the canteens was open and steaming, and I recognized the bitter smell of espresso.

"Gloria, I know you want to look intimidating on your league card, but you're not supposed to look like you actually rose from the dead," he teased, handing me my canteen.

"Har har," I grumbled, grabbing at it and taking a swig. The bitter espresso flavor had been cut with some Moo-moo milk, giving the drink a slight sweetness and cooling it down just enough to gulp down without burning my throat.

"Hop, how'd you get up so early?" Victor moaned from the bunk.

"I always was a morning person," Hop shrugged. "Plus, we got a big day. Last day for registrations! We gotta hurry!"

I ran my hands through my knotty brunette hair, trying to smooth it down a little, but I figured it was a lost cause. I rummaged through my bag, looking for my hairbrush as Victor, accepting defeat, clambered out of bed and yawned. His skinny white legs nearly shone like an ice beam under his plaid boxer shorts as he grasped at his denim jeans and polo.

"You aren't seriously wearing that again, Victor?" I asked as I finally grabbed my brush handle.

"What's wrong with this?"

"C'mon," Hop said, rolling his eyes. "You're going to be walking around the new Unbeatable Champion of Galar, I don't know if I want to associate with slobs."

"You already lost once to Gloria; your reputation's already toast," he shot back. He paused, sniffed the polo, recoiled and reached for another shirt instead, earning a laugh from Hop and me.

"Seriously, though. We should get a move on. The Pokémon Center had some scones, too. We can walk and eat. Dunno how long the line at registration is going to be, so we should go early."

"I think we'll be fine, Hop," I said, finishing my brushing and checking my hair in my phone camera's display. "Let us wake up at least."

"Fine," Hop muttered. "I'll wait outside. But if I wait longer than five minutes, Rookidee is coming in to peck your eyes out." And with that, he spun around and walked out the hostel door. I twisted myself side to side to limber out my back a bit and grabbed my change of clothes, hoping there was an empty washroom for me.

"Oh! Excuse me," I said, as a young girl who looked no older than me quickly opened the door to leave. She looked at me up and down with unimpressed emerald eyes encased by thick but expertly applied black wings of eyeliner and mascara and nodded curtly. Her hands were behind her head, doing up her jet-black hair, tying tufts of her hair together with a magenta ribbon so that her pigtails almost looked like devil's horns. She raised a single thinly trimmed eyebrow and smiled ever so slightly.

"Sorry 'bout tha'," she muttered, and she held the door open for me, and after an agonizing two seconds of standing looking at her, I scooted inside, clutching my change of clothes. As I brushed past, I got a whiff of her perfume; she smelled like the crisp and cold autumn evenings back in Postwick. I could feel her watchful gaze as she let go of the door to finish her hair.

"Enjoy the loo, then," she added in a bemused tone, leaving as soon as I passed through. The door snapped shut and I was alone again, surrounded by the smell of falling leaves.

By the time Victor and I stepped out of the Hostel, Hop had already called out his Rookidee and was looking at us with shrewd eyes.

"I thought you were just bluffing," I said.

Hop laughed and returned the bird to its ball. "Oh, I was. I think my Rookidee has a pretty gentle nature though, so he'd probably just pluck a couple hairs off your head. Shall we?"

He tossed a bag of scones at Victor, who happily pulled one out before handing the last one over to me. I bit down and tasted the unmistakable spice of cinnamon and chocolate as it crumbled in my mouth.

"These're delish," I sputtered, crumbs flying every which way.

"Authentic Kalos bakery just down the big boulevard," Hop said happily. "Glad you like it, Sonia said she used to work there while she was still at University. Probably where she got all that cooking know-how."

The three of us walked down the long and wide boulevard slowly, stopping to look at every shop window around the way. We had a fair amount of pocket money saved up, and a lot of the stores were running store-wide sales for the League's opening ceremony tomorrow night, so it wasn't long before we had a nice haul of paper bags with us as well. But even at our lazy pace, it was still not long until we reached the giant gear that would take us up to Motostoke Heights. A quick wait in the queue and we were standing amidst a small crowd of eager-looking faces, many introducing themselves as trainers and chattering among themselves. I heard little snippets of their conversation as we waited for the platform to rise.

"Did you hear that the chairman endorsed a trainer this year? His trainers are always so good."

"I'm telling you; Milo is not going to be one of the leaders. Grass type Pokémon? What a laugh."

"Did you see Champion Leon last night? He's so dreamy!"

"I heard he actually endorsed two trainers this year!"

"He never endorses anyone! D'you think they're any good?"

Hop, who also heard the last bit of conversation and looked at me, trying to hold back a cheeky grin. Suddenly the platform shuddered and creaked, and with a puff of steam coming from underneath, the platform began to rise awkwardly. Most of the trainers had to readjust to keep themselves standing, and some even fell outright, much to the amusement of everyone else. I glanced back to see if my friends had fallen and caught the eye of a girl on the other end of the platform. It was her, the girl from the hostel this morning. Her eyes still showed barely any emotion, but she had donned a black leather jacket and was clutching a Pokémon I couldn't name very tightly. It looked like a Pikachu yet didn't look like a Pikachu at the same time. It wriggled around angrily in her hands, breaking her look. A flash of worry appeared on her face for the briefest moment as she lessened the grip on the Pokémon, and before she could look back, a couple of trainers adjusted their positions and blocked my view of her.

"Whatcha looking at, Gloria?" Victor asked nosily.

"N-nothing. Just thought I saw someone I knew." I turned away quickly, wondering if the girl from the Hostel recognized me before. Victor and Hop didn't push it, and instead were focused on the view as we slowly rose the eighty feet or so. Not only could we see the entire city splayed out in front of us, we could see almost the entire Wild Area. I couldn't quite make it out, but I think I could even see the Meet-Up Spot, although there was really no way of knowing from this far away.

Hop seemed to be on the same wavelength as me. "Look at how far we've come, Gloria," he said quietly, "and we've just set out. This gym challenge is going to change our lives for the better."

"Hopefully, it doesn't completely turn you into such a sentimental turd."

"Don't ruin this for me, Gloria."

With another loud creak, the platform came to a stop, and we finally tore our eyes off the view of the lower city districts, choosing instead to settle for the view directly in front of us, Motostoke Stadium itself. The building was just as remarkable up close as it was from the entrance to the city, even with all the tacky Pokémon League merchandise stuffed into makeshift stalls and tents that were scattered haphazardly around a giant courtyard in front of the Stadium. Almost all the wave of people on the platform made a Combee-line path directly into the front doors of the stadium, a set of modern glass doors hilariously clashing with the now permanently closed-door frames from ancient wood and steel doors that for some reason were still there. The three of us followed the crowd in, excited to finally register for the league.

Inside the lobby of the stadium, a large crowd had formed already, with a long queue leading to a large table. Plenty of trainers were milling about, a few of them introducing their Pokémon partners to other trainers. Dotted around the edges of the lobby were some well-built and stocky men and women in matching white jerseys with a big Macro Cosmos logo displayed on the chest. Some were wearing dark sunglasses, some were talking into earpieces, and all looked like they could and would resort to violence if any trouble were to happen.

"Some security detail, huh?" Victor whispered to me. I nodded. I saw the hostel girl had already worked her way to the front of the queue. I quickly made my way to the line, hoping to get through it quickly as well when out of nowhere, a trainer collided with me with such force that I completely lost my balance and fell to the floor.

"Watch where you're going," sneered a high-pitched voice. I twisted back around to see who had hit me, but the figure had already gone through the door. Whoever it was had a shocking ball of curly, silvery blonde hair and a long violet trench coat.

"What an upstanding young trainer," Hop spat, reaching out to help me up from the ground.

"What was his problem?" Victor asked.

"You okay?"

"Y-yeah, fine," I said. "Must have just gotten in his way I guess."

Hop frowned. "That's bollocks and you know it. I swear, some trainers get it in their heads that a challenger badge makes them somehow better than anyone else. Bet that punk won't even get two badges. C'mon, let's get in the queue."

At this point, some of the trainers had already noticed the interaction and were looking at us curiously. A couple I recognized from the group that was surrounding Leon and Sonia the night before. I tried to ignore them, but the closer we got to the front of the queue, the more people were stealing glances at us. I tried to look back and smile awkwardly, but everyone who I saw looked away, as if they were embarrassed I caught them peering at me.

"I'm not bleeding or anything, am I?" I asked my companions. Victor shrugged. He was buried in his phone again, but when he looked up, even he could not. Hop, who had also noticed the growing number of glances, shook his head dumbly.

"It's because you're Leon's friends," a trainer behind us said. She was about as tall as me, with black hair, dark skin, and thick glasses that magnified her already large brown eyes. "We saw you lot at the Pokémon Center. Rumor has it that he's actually endorsed some trainers this year. Word gets around fast. You know who they are?"

"Of course, I do, it's us," Hop said proudly. "I'm his brother and his successor."

"And I'm a family friend and his actual successor. Name's Gloria."

Her eyes widened. "He's never endorsed anybody before."

"Guess that makes us that good," Hop grinned, nudging me in the ribcage.

The girl just sighed. "No, it just makes you a target. Have fun dealing with the press; they're going to be all over you."

I had never considered that. Usually during the annual gym challenge, favorite challengers didn't tend to emerge until the crowds started to thin. The only ones people knew from the beginning were the rare celebrity endorsements. And since Leon had never lost any official league battles or exhibition battles, he was about as big of a celebrity that Galar had ever had. I shot a glance at Victor, who just shrugged again and went back to his phone. I wondered if any of the three of us could deal with that sort of notoriety right from the get-go.

Hop didn't seem all that fazed, however. "Hey, the more battles the merrier. I bet even Victor here can beat half the trainers in this room."

"Leave me out of this, Hop," Victor said, but the corners of his mouth were raised in a soft smile from the backhanded compliment. "Hey, Gloria. You're up!"

I turned back around and sure enough, we were directly in front of one of the stocky uniformed guards. "Name, please?" he asked in a bored voice.

"Uh, Gloria Dixon," I said, fumbling in my bag for my endorsement letter.

"Proof of endorse—ah, perfect. Glad some of you kids are on your toes." He unfolded the letter and skimmed its contents. I could tell when he saw the name at the bottom because his jaw dropped.

"They—they weren't kidding. Leon really did endorse someone this year!" he said, losing all the boredom from his voice.

"Not just one. two," Hop said, whipping out his endorsement. "Name's Hop Nambarek, and I'll bet you recognize that name, buddy."

"O-of course!" the man said giddily. "Of course, we figured he would endorse a family member, but two trainers in one year! Wow, I'm glad you two finally came in to register!"

"Hey, I earned this endorsement," Hop growled.

"O-of course, I didn't mean to imply you hadn't." The man blushed, but Hop's angry glare quickly faded into a laugh.

"Just kiddin' around, mate. No hard feelings, you'll see how good I am once I fly through these gyms."

"Right. Now, uh, Gloria, was it? What number would you like for your registration? You can have up to three digits."

"Hm, one hundred…ninety-seven?" I asked, shrugging. I figured they would just give you a number."

"Yep, that one is open. I will get your information into the system if you'll just fill out this paperwork and return it to Sandra at that second table over there. She'll be able to print off your official challenger ID badge and get you fitted for your official challenger uniform, which you will receive in two days' time. You must wear it for all official league battles during the challenge. Also in that packet of papers is information on the official Pokémon League App. Here you can track trainer ranks, team members, whatever information you need on other trainers. Please fill out your profile as soon as possible, if not for your or my sake, but for the fans that any champion-endorsed trainers are bound to start racking up. Let me just write down a username and password for you…here. Good luck on the league, Ms. Dixon, and don't forget to smile big for your ID badge. I can help you out now, Mr. Nambarek."

I took a small card and the small stack of papers and flicked through it, stepping away from the table. It was just some standard contact information should I be injured, so I snagged a pen from a cup on the table and got to writing.

"Oh, one last thing, Ms. Dixon," called the man at the table. "Show that badge as proof of registration at the front desk of the Budew Drop Inn next door. All challengers are asked to spend the night there, so they are in time for the opening ceremony tomorrow. Don't worry about money; it's on the league's dime."

A night in a fancy hotel, too? A girl could get used to the challenger life.

All in all, registration was far smoother than I had expected, and we were in and out of the stadium in just a matter of minutes. Victor suggested we all video chat Mum to give her an update, so we headed to the Budew Drop Inn because a swanky place like that just had to have some free Wi-Fi, we could bum off them.

The glass doors slid open, revealing a very modern and sparsely decorated lobby. Lighting fixtures vaguely suggesting gilded Lampents were fixed to burgundy walls in intervals eight or nine feet apart, and the soft, warm glow of their light was alluring, as if to say that we could finally take a load off. They were reflected in an impossibly shiny marble floor, polished to the point of looking like it was covered in a sheet of still water. If it weren't for the fact that my boots were tracking in the dirt from the busy Motostoke streets, I would have been afraid of sinking through it. At the far end of the lobby was the registration desk, atop a low mezzanine, where a large crowd was gathering. At its edge were two small sets of marble stairs that wrapped around an impressive golden statue of an ancient knight. The knight stood twelve feet tall, raising a golden sword even higher. In the sword was a brilliant blue sapphire that glowed cold despite the warm light around it. In the knight's other hand was a sturdy looking shield. There was a gem sitting snugly in the center of that shield, and though it was a deep red ruby, it still shone with that strange cold glow. At the soldier's feet was a small pool of water, and sitting on the edge of that pool, in her now instantly recognizable brown peacoat was—

"Sonia!" Hop called, waving.

Sonia laughed and waved back. "I'm surprised you lot finally made it! You left your hostel so quickly this morning! I was going to buy you some scones from a bakery I used to work at! You all registered?"

"Yep! Sonia's number 197, Victor's number 745, and I'm number 189!" Hop said, pulling out his card as proof.

"Nice grin," Sonia mused, inspecting the photo. "Looks better than mine did. I looked like I got attacked by a pack of starved Lycanroc."

"Do you still have it?" I asked.

"I burned it the second I quit the challenge," Sonia laughed. "I see you're makin' use of those ID Badge benefits! They'll give you discounts galore just about anywhere if you flash one of those. Go ahead and check in. And Victor, I told you we need to have a little talk."

"M-me?"

"About your Butterfree, of course! Don't be daft. C'mon, have a seat over here and let me pull out my notes."

"We'll leave you two be," I jeered, winking. Hop snickered and started humming a funky low bass beat.

"Would you cut it out PLEASE," Victor hissed, turning violet.

I dodged an elbow from him as Hop and I trotted up the stairs past the gigantic statue. At the top of the stairs, we noticed that the large crowd was a lot less friendly than the other crowds of people we had walked through today. Many new trainers were being pushed to the side, confused and upset, as two large people yelled at everyone who would listen. Instantly I recognized them and groaned.

"You know these nuts?" Hop asked.

My fists tighten at my sides. "Unfortunately.

"Listen you little rats, we're happy to let you get to your room if you've already made your reservation online, but we gotta make sure our star player gets the best room she can," sneered Mohawk Man, shoving another trainer down callously.

"All of the rooms reserved for trainers are identical—" a clerk said, quivering, but she was silenced from a glare and a growl from the Pink Pyroar.

"You butt outta this, blue vest!" she sniped.

"Wh-why are you describing my uniform like it's an insult?"

"Because you're an insult! You're supposed to practice good hospitality, and I am not feelin' very hospitalized," she spat.

"You're going to be if you don't shove off," I growled. I had taken her on before; I wasn't afraid to do it again.

"Oh, don't tell me one of these trainers is gonna cause a scene—YOU." Her eyes widened and lit up in a fiery glare.

"You miss me?" I asked, winking, and pulling out Stufful's Pokéball. "I made a new friend after our meeting on the train ride, he'd love to meet you."

"Gloria, was that one of those—" Hop asked. I nodded, and he readied himself next to me, pulling a Pokéball out himself.

"P-Pokémon battles are not allowed inside the h-hotel—"

"I told you to butt out! We battle when we want to and where we want to, and we battle as loud as we want to! Team Yell!" Pink Pyroar screamed.

"Team Yell!" Mohawk man agreed in a yell of his own.

"B-but there's a sparring area j-just out in the back if you'll—"

"When she says, 'butt out,' she means butt. Out." Mohawk Man yelled. "You gotta learn to respect women. This is the twenty first century."

"What the hell is going on here?" came a sharp but quiet voice behind us. The two punks straightened up, turning white under their pink and black face paint. Hop and I both whirled around to see who spoke up and I saw myself face to face yet again with the girl from the hostel. Her hair wasn't as pristine as it was this morning, and she had a black duffel bag strung about her shoulder and that strange looking Pikachu in her arms. Despite her commanding tone, she still barely moved a single muscle in her face beyond what was necessary. Somehow, despite all this excitement, she looked…bored.

"Oh, hey. You're the girl from the bathroom this morning. I thought you looked like a trainer."

"M—Marnie!" quaked Mohawk Man excitedly. "We just were reservin' your room and—"

"Not what it looks like," the girl sighed, raising one eyebrow. "Listen everyone, guess I gotta take responsibility for these wanks."

"We just wanted to be accomodatin'," Pink Pyroar suggested, trying her best winning smile and not having the charm whatsoever to pull it off.

"Well, you ended up bein' a headache; just get out. Say sorry to everyone when you do."

The two immediately straightened up, shouted a quick apology, and sprinted out the door again. The girl sighed, even louder this time, and turned back to me. "That's two bad introductions for us, then I guess. Name's Marnie. This is my partner, Morpeko."

"G-Gloria," I said, reaching out awkwardly to shake her hand. Marnie's pink lips curled just the slightest amount and she took my hand and shook. Her grip was rough, but sturdy.

"You competing?"

"Yeah."

"Cool. I'll have to battle you sometime. Gotta scope out the competition. Hey, sorry about those idiots, everyone. Fan clubs, am I right?"

"They're your…fan club?" Hop asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Call themselves 'Team Yell,'" Marnie replied, shrugging. "Fitting, 'cause it's all they do. Don't worry 'bout them though. They're all bark and no bite. A couple real paper Arcanines. Now I'm gonna go pick up my room key. See you at the opening ceremonies, Gloria. Nice meeting you," Her Morpeko waved at me happily, and the two walked off to the desk to book their room.

"What, does being a lovesick dork run in the family?" I heard Hop tease, although I could barely hear him, as if I really had slipped through the watery-looking floor. I felt my cheeks burning and my heart pounding.

"Gloria?" Victor's voice dragged me out of the depths below. "You okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm great, I am…just the greatest," I said, a little too enthusiastically. Marnie looked back at us, and I smiled. She did not, but instead nodded in recognition and walked to the elevators just down the hall. Morpeko dropped from her arms and skittered around her energetically.

"Did you see those guys sprint out of here?" Victor said. "Looked just like the blokes we—"

"It was them," I said.

"You scared them off, then? Wicked!"

Hop laughed. "Yeah, something like that. C'mon, let's get our rooms. I'm bushed." Speak for yourself, Hop, I thought to myself. I felt like I could run a marathon and still not get tired out.

A/N: Am I having too much fun writing Team Yell? Yes. Yes, I am. I was going to have a second battle with them, but then I saw the word count. Good thing Marnie's around, huh? Also, thanks for 400 views! I have no idea if that's a good number for FanFiction, but considering it's my first real attempt on here, I think it's not too bad. Thanks for sticking around this far. Hope you're enjoying it; there's plenty more where this came from!

NEXT: THE OPENING CEREMONY