A/N: Hey everyone, happy new year! Don't have much to say other than that. The next couple chapters will be entirely new content as Gloria and Hop venture North to Hammerlocke. I think it's about time we expand the teams, a little bit, what do you think? Bit of a timeskip between the last chapter and this one; I don't know how successfully I conveyed that, so I thought I'd mention it up here. Enjoy the chapter!
I awoke to the steady pitter-patter of rain falling on the roof of my tent. The day's light diffused through the orange nylon and polyester walls weakly; it was early. I instinctively sat up quickly and checked the creases and zippers to see if any water was getting in, but everything was still dry. I breathed a quick sigh of relief and looked around at my partners. Boltund and Raboot were curled up near where my pillow rested, and Bewear had taken over the empty spot that Victor had left, sprawled out on his back and snoring softly. Without waking them, I crawled to the edge of the tent to check my Rotom Phone. It was half past five, and I had a missed call and voicemail from Victor. I grumbled; whatever training was going on at that dojo paired with Sonia's experiments was giving him the weirdest availability. Weighing my options, I decided to play the message outside. I ruffled through my pack and found a poncho, slipped it on, and crawled out into the drizzle.
My tent and Hop's were both nestled under a large pine tree which kept most of the rain from falling directly on us; good call on me last night for paying attention to the weather patterns, not that we needed any protection at all. The rain was hardly more than a drizzle, and the clouds were a light and cool grey in the morning light. I lifted the phone to my ear, about to listen to the voicemail when I noticed that the flap to Hop's tent was cracked open, and I could see inside. Wooloo was dozing next to Hop's unused pillow. I paused, and then went over to investigate.
Wooloo didn't stir when I pressed the flap open a couple inches, but Corvisquire was, and it looked at me quizzically, and then down to Hop's bedroll, which was empty.
"Another early training session?" I asked with a frown. The bird ruffled its feathers and tucked its head under, clearly not interested in me keeping it awake any longer. I pulled my head out and looked out into the field next to the tents to see if I could find Hop.
We had stopped at the edge of a clearing in a section of the Wild Area called Bridge Field, cleverly named from its location underneath the North and South Motostoke Bridges. The area was a massive grassy plain chock full of rare and powerful Pokémon. The only geographic variety in the area were the giant cliff walls to the East and West. To the East, we could still see Motostoke, standing majestically like a gem atop a pedestal in a museum. Between the two cliffs ran two stretches of tall brick pillars, holding up the bridges. In the bridge to the North, darting between these pillars, I saw Hop and Thwackey battling some blue flying-type; I couldn't quite figure out which Pokémon it was, and it was definitely too small to be registered on my Pokédex app, so I sighed and turned my attention back to Victor's voicemail.
"Hey Gloria!" the message said, in a pretty chipper voice. "Hopefully I'm not waking you up or anything. Time just keeps running away from me out here. Between the training at the dojo and Sonia's research, I'm just exhausted, like, all the time. Anyway, I finally saw that battle between Bede and Hop. Yikes. It's also, like, massive here. Lotta people think he's falling off. Must be frustrating for Hop, don't you think?
"Listen, Gloria, you are not going to believe this, but Mustard—that's the guy who runs this dojo—told me about this thing called the 'secret armor' or something, but he keeps looking at me funny when he says it. I should really ask Leon what that means. It's very mysterious.
"What? Oh—OH! Yeah, on my way, hold up a mo! Sorry, Gloria, there's a weird power reading right now. They're happening a lot more frequently in the past couple weeks. I mean they usually vary in output, but they've been spiking! I'll have to talk to you later Gloria. I have a day off from training tomorrow, so I'll actually be able to call you during the day! Ta!" Then there was a soft click and the recording stopped. I dropped my arm to the side and looked back out at Hop. His battle was drawing to a close and as the blue bird faltered and finally fell to the ground, he pulled a Pokéball out of his pocket and lobbed it at the bird. There was a quick flash of light as the bird was sucked inside the ball, and soon the ball fell to the ground, where it rocked a few times and lay still. Hop jumped up in excitement; he had caught a new Pokémon!
"Hop!" I called, running out into the rain to greet the new team member. Hop jumped in surprise and whirled around to look at me. He waved excitedly and walked over to the Pokéball in the grass.
"Morning, Gloria!" He said in a chipper voice as he leaned down to pick up the ball.
"Another early morning training session?"
"I like the rhythm of them," he replied, a hint of defensiveness in his voice.
"Yeah, that's fine," I hastily said. "Just was hoping to do some actual training with you one of these days. Check out your regimen, you know?"
Hop turned to look at me, Pokéball in hand. His eyes were gaunt and sunken in, but his eyes were still bright and sharp. I blinked in surprise.
"What is it?"
"N-nothing," I said. "How early did you start today?"
"Oh, same as usual," he said with no commitment. "Soon as the sun rises, we do too, right Grookey?"
Thwackey grunted and stared intensely at Hop.
"Thwackey! Wow, mind must've slipped!" Hop laughed. "Guess I'm just excited to meet the newest ace up my sleeve! Come on out, Cramorant!"
He lobbed the ball up in the air and out popped the blue bird. It was an odd-looking thing, with a long blue neck and stubby blue feathers that bunched up in a way that didn't quite look natural. It jerked its head left and right awkwardly, trying to get a feel for the Pokémon and trainers near it.
"It looks…huh," I said, truly at a loss for words.
"He may not look like much, but he'll definitely be more than anyone else bargained for," Hop said defensively. It seemed he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince me.
"So, he's a flying type then?" I asked. "Would probably do it good to work on some strategies against electric types, right? I can bring Boltund over and—"
"No, no, thank you for that, Gloria," he immediately countered. "I…I don't want to try any training that's too intense for him just yet. Gotta see what his strengths are first before I can play to them."
I laughed. "Hop, you're a walking Pokédex, I'm surprised you don't already have a perfect strategy concocted already."
"I have ideas, don't get me wrong, I just…well, I don't want to bite off more than I can chew," he muttered with a hint of bitterness. There was a moment of awkward silence where we looked at each other, which only broke as he tried to stifle a yawn.
"So hey, that's Pokémon number four for you?" I asked, changing the subject. "Almost a full team."
"I don't know just yet," Hop corrected. "I really think I need to rework my core strategies. Cramorant is a great fit, because I don't have any Pokémon that can use a Water-type move, which really is what set me back against Kabu, and Bede took care of Corvisquire so quickly, and since Cramorant can cover that flying type, I…"
"Hop!" I laughed, grabbing his shoulder and giving him a quick shake. "You're overthinking. Your core strategy is great."
"Oh, so now I'm thinking too much?" Hop asked sharply.
"What are you talking about?"
He sighed and looked away, trying to muster his words, but lost his train of thought as a low but loud humming started far to the North of us.
"What's that?" I asked.
"Dunno," he replied. The humming grew louder and louder and was soon accompanied by a tremor in the earth below. The ground began to rumble more and more violently, and soon it was a mild challenge just to stay up on the ground. Hop buckled and fell to the ground, while I stumbled back to the tree line, grabbing the trunk of a tall pine to keep my balance. I could hear a commotion coming from the tents as our Pokémon struggled to get out in confusion.
"Bewear!" I yelled. "Stay low to the ground! Do you hear me? Bewear? Keep everyone low to the ground!" I heard him grunt in response and hoped to whatever higher power there could be that he understood me.
Suddenly, near the banks of the water, a beam of pinkish red light shot up to the sky. Its brilliant aura reminded me of Bede's powerful Psybeam attacks, but a sharp vibration on my wrist told me otherwise. I let go of the tree in surprise and looked at my Dynamax Bracelet. The digital sensor was flashing like crazy.
"Hop!" I called, but he was already on his way back to the tents with a determined look on his face. As soon as he unzipped the tent, Wooloo burst out, crying in fear, shortly followed by Corvisquire, who, fortunately, would be safe from any sort of tremors as long as he stayed airborne.
"Wooloo!" he cried, quickly changing course and sprinting after the sheep when another tremor, this one even stronger than the first, shook the clearing and sent the two of them tumbling to the ground as another burst of pinkish red light shot up from a rocky outcropping nearer to us. The ground settled again, although the whirring sound had grown to a deafening roar. I rushed to my tent and ripped open the flap. Boltund sped out, almost knocking me over completely, and Bewear lumbered out second, holding Raboot tightly. Raboot looked to be in pain and was clutching his leg, but when he made eye contact with me, he puffed out his chest in an attempt to ease my worry. It did not.
"Alright, you lot, back in your Pokéballs – you're safer inside," I said as the ground lurched under us again. I managed to recall the three when the roar quickly subsided, leaving the entire clearing in a silence that was nearly as deafening as the otherworldly roar. I looked up to see that despite the rumbling, the world around Hop and me had stayed largely the same, save for the pillars of light that had now sprouted all throughout the area.
"Are these all Dynamax Dens?" I asked aloud.
"No idea, mate," Hop said hesitantly. He let go of Wooloo, who was bleating nervously.
"You alright?"
"I'm fine, I—"
"Hey down there!" came a yell from above. Hop and I both jerked our heads to the sky to see a bright orange blur streaking across the sky toward us. It was a Charizard, and on his back was Leon, his long violet hair flowing as they zipped across the sky and descended.
"Lee?" Hop asked, and then quickly started rummaging around his things while I waved to Leon.
"Oh, it's Hop and Gloria!" he said with a smile as he and Charizard landed next to us. "You two alright?"
"I think so," I said. "Little shaken up, but we'll survive. What was that earthquake all about?"
"Never mind that just now," Leon snapped. "Hop, what are you doing?"
"Oh!" Hop cried in feigned surprise. "I'm fine! Just—just checking to see if anything was damaged!"
"Did either of you notice anything strange?" Leon asked, sliding off Charizard's back. His voice sounded relaxed, but something about the way he was holding himself said otherwise.
"I was kind of focused on the earthquake," I said.
"Gloria, now is not the time for having a laugh," Leon grunted. He seemed worried, but I could not parse what was going on behind his intense golden eyed stare.
"Well, my bracelet was going haywire," I said timidly. "Saw those lights shoot up. Does Dynamax Energy cause earthquakes though?"
Leon whirled around when I mentioned the lights and scowled. "I knew it," he grumbled, before spinning back around again and facing us. "You two best clear out of here before it gets more dangerous."
"What do you mean?" I asked. "Is this a thing that happens normally?"
He sighed in exasperation. "No, but it's nothing you two need to worry about. I've got it handled."
"Got what handled?" Hop asked.
"I said you don't need to worry about it!" Leon stated, forcing a smile. "Sometimes Dynamax Energy is a little unpredicta—"
BOOM.
An earthshattering rumble exploded all around us and the earth began to shake even heavier than before. Hop, Leon, and I were all knocked to the ground. Only Leon's Charizard seemed to make it out unscathed, managing to hop into the air and hovering above us. There was another sharp crack as the tree next to us split in two and tumbled directly toward us. "Charizard!" Leon yelled. Without hesitation, the dragon rushed at the falling tree, and with a valiant roar, crashed into it, sending it careening away from Hop and me.
Leon struggled to his feet just as the ground below us began to crack. I leapt toward Hop, who couldn't bring himself to move out of confusion. I grabbed onto his denim jacket and pulled with all my strength as Wooloo rushed away from the two of us and into the cover of trees. This seemed to pull Hop out of his stupor, and he struggled to his feet as the cracks underneath us began to glow with that familiar pink. A sharp pain stabbed into my wrist as my Dynamax Bracelet came fully to life, and I screamed in pain as I followed the two to the tree line as the rocks on the ground shot straight up as if propelled by the Dynamax energy that lay beneath us. Charizard veered off to the side and sped back toward Leon, who hopped upon its back in a swift motion in a maneuver he had clearly done many times before, and as he was carried away to safety, the ground gave way fully and a truly massive figure began to emerge from the ground below.
At first glance, it looked like a Meowth, but it didn't look like any Meowth I had ever seen before. Its usual long gray fur was a sooty black and its ears twisted up and out like horns. Its golden eyes were now flaring red, powered up by all the Dynamax energy surrounding us, and it howled a terrible roar as it pulled itself up from its underground layer.
"Th-that's a Perrserker!" Hop cried, stumbling back and catching himself on a tree. "Gloria, we've gotta get out of here!"
"Get out?" I asked. "And let this thing run rampant? No way!" I grabbed at Bewear's Pokéball with my right hand and brought it close to my Dynamax Bracelet. The energy was absolutely pouring out of the bracelet at this point, looking for something to absorb the energy. The pink tendrils of light were just about to latch on to Bewear's Pokéball when Leon crashed to the ground next to us.
"Gloria, stop that!" He cried in fear. "This is a wild Dynamax Flare. You don't know how your Pokémon will react with all this energy. You could severely hurt whoever you're about to send out!"
"That—what?" I shouted, pulling Bewear's ball away from my other wrist and extending my right hand as far as I could away from the bracelet on my left.
"I can handle this!" he said. "Charizard! Let's go!"
Charizard reared its head toward the Perrserker and roared mightily as the tendrils of Dynamax energy swirled around it and it began to grow in size. Even with all the chaos around us, I felt my heart flutter with excitement. I had seen Leon Gigantamax his Charizard before, but only onscreen watching battles, never when the two were right next to me.
"You two! Get out of here!" Leon barked, snapping me out of it. I retreated a couple steps hesitantly.
"Lee! We can help—" Hop started.
"I said, get out of here!" Leon roared. "I've got this under control!"
"But we want to—"
"Hop off, Hop," Leon retorted dangerously, and after a brief moment, Hop nodded and started to retreat with me. The two of us ran off as Charizard grew in size and flames burst out of its wings and neck. I felt the temperature rise further than it did in my battle with Kabu, and when I finally felt brave enough to turn back around to watch the battle, the Charizard stood squared off against its opponent, its head fifty feet into the air.
"Gigantamax Wildfire!" Leon roared, and the whole world was ablaze. Flames so thick we could not see through them surrounded Charizard, Leon, and the Perrserker, swirling chaotically for what felt like a couple minutes before finally petering out. Charizard took to the skies, a complete terror with its size, and as it moved away, it revealed the Perrserker lying on the ground, eyes closed. The giant cat began to shrink while Charizard soaked up more and more of the Dynamax Energy that surrounded the field before whipping its head up and shooting a pillar of flame hundreds of feet into the sky. When that flame dissipated, Charizard began to shrink too. It was already back down to its normal size, flying rapidly toward the downed Perrserker, that I realized my wrist was no longer pulsing with the excess energy.
Hop and I quickly sprinted towards Leon and Charizard, hopping over overturned stone and log. The terrain was hard to pass, even with my heavy hiking boots, but as we slowly made our way towards the Champion, he turned around and held his hand up yet again.
"Stop!" he bellowed. "The ground could still be unstable! Let me come to you two!"
"Lee, we want to help!" Hop cried.
"Hop, now is not the time to play around! Will you just listen to me?" Leon ordered. Hop staggered, and then finally came to a stop, his face cast downwards and beet red.
"Hop, he didn't…" I started.
"No, he's right," Hop choked. "I gotta be careful." He didn't look back to me, and the two of us stood together on a patch of dirt awkwardly until Leon flew by on Charizard's back. Charizard was holding the Perrserker in its arms. It looked to be in awful shape.
"Dynamax levels seem back down to normal," Leon said. "How are your bracelets reacting?"
"It's…not," I said, holding my wrist out for him to examine. He took my hand in his and examined the device closely before nodding. He grunted at Hop, who did the same as me while still avoiding eye contact with either me or his brother.
"Your bracelets don't seem to have shorted; that's a good sign. I need to take the Perrserker to Professor Magnolia's house as soon as possible."
"That Perrserker needs a Pokémon Center!" Hop protested.
"Perrserker will be fine, as long as one of you has a spare potion or burn heal," Leon said sharply.
"Yeah, I think I've got one in my bag," I said, stumbling back towards our surprisingly untouched campsite.
"Cheers, Gloria," Leon said, flashing a quick smile before furrowing his brow again, and pulling out his Rotom phone.
"Lee…"
"Not now, Hop," Leon interrupted. I had never heard him speak so seriously before, especially not to Hop. I found my bag and a couple spare potions that I had bought in Motostoke and rushed back to the two brothers.
"No, Sonia, I'm telling you, it broke through the ground!" Leon said into the phone. "Yeah, it sounds like a power surge because it was a power surge. I don't know! Oh, cheers again, Gloria, do you mind applying that to the Perrserker before it wakes up? Yeah, Gloria and Hop. They're fine, don't worry. Yes, I will—yes, Sonia, I will ask him. Sonia. Sonia, this really isn't a good time to—well I don't want…oh now you've done it. Look, let me call you once I get to your Gran's, alright?"
"What was that all about?" I asked, spraying the scorch marks on the Perrserker's fur.
"Don't worry about it!" Leon said hastily, adding a very fake looking smile. "You two alright?"
"We're fine, Lee," Hop grumbled. "Why didn't you let us help out now?"
"Hop, it's part of my duties as champion to protect the people of Galar," Leon shrugged. "You know that."
"We didn't need protecting!" I said. "I was just about to—"
"Gloria," Leon said sternly. "You're already a hell of a battler, and you'll definitely give me a run for my money in a few years' time, but something like this was a lot more dangerous than you realize. We haven't had Dynamax Surge in years, long since before I was even born. But two in such quick succession, it's best you just…"
"Two?" I asked. "This wasn't the first?" Hop looked up in surprise as well.
Leon blanched before scrunching his face up in disappointment of himself. "Yeah, two. We determined the cause of the cave-in at Galar Mine No. 2 was caused by a surge of Dynamax Energy."
"We did?" I yelped. "I don't remember hearing anything about this and I was there!"
"Right, right," Leon said sheepishly. "Er…people in charge decided that it was most likely a coincidence. Correlation, but not causation, you know? This will be a lot harder to explain away."
"Harder to explain away?!" I cried.
"Harder to explain as anything else," Leon said, this time a bit more emphatically. "Look, I wanted to go to the press as soon as we saw there was a surge, but R-really, I was held back and told that we couldn't be too sure and to play it casually—look, this is a lot of complex stuff going on, and you two just need to worry about your gym challenge. Chairman Rose and I have it under control."
"What's Chairman Rose got to do with it?" Hop asked, eyes narrowing.
Leon blinked, then smiled. "He owns the entire power grid, Hop. He's going to be paying attention to anything that goes on with Energy. Don't be so daft. Now, I gotta take this little guy to Professor Magnolia's so we can see if there are any strange Dynamax readings. Maybe we can figure out a bit about the cause of that pulse."
"R-right," Hop said, nodding slowly.
"And Gloria, sorry about not telling you the whole thing. You have to understand. We didn't want to cause a panic over something that was probably unrelated."
"But you'll explain it now?"
"Yes, I promise. Now, I've got to go. See you two soon. Hop, give me a call when you get to Hammerlocke. I'll take you all out to dinner."
"Right," Hop said, as his brother flew away on Charizard. He didn't even watch as Leon ascended, but instead walked back to the camp, kicking any large pebble he could find in his wake.
"Raboot, c'mon out, buddy!" I said, tossing his ball out. Raboot appeared in a flash of light and landed gingerly on his left foot. I knelt and beckoned him to come to me, and he limped over so I could look it over.
"No cuts, everything seems to be in the right place. Nothing seems broken, but how are you feeling, mate?" I asked. Raboot looked away in a huff. "Raboot, I know you're tough, but I know you're also a liar," I joked, scratching behind his ear. His façade fell eventually, and he then hopped into my arms, something he hadn't done since he was a Scorbunny, and snuggled up, whimpering softly as I brushed against his bad leg. He was much heavier now, but I picked him up and carried him back to the camp just the same.
"I'll take a picture and send a text to Sonia just to see, but it looks like Raboot just need to take it easy for a bit," I said to Hop as he looked back to me. "How's Wooloo?"
"Wooloo's fine," Hop said. "Just…just a little shaken. I think we all are."
"How are you?"
"Gloria, would you please stop asking me that? I'm fine."
"You don't seem—"
"Gloria."
I opened my mouth to protest, but he shot me an annoyed glare strong enough to shut me up. Instead, I tried a different tactic. I waved back to the other side of the lake to where the pillars of light still stood.
"Why don't we go check out one of those dens? I need to catch a new Pokémon too, now—"
"I think we should take the rest of the day off," Hop said. "We had a big day."
I checked the time on my Rotom phone. It wasn't even noon, but I nodded. So, for the rest of the day, we stuck around camp and didn't talk about Pokémon at all. Hop, having started the day so early, took a nap shortly after lunch, so I decided to do some training then. Boltund and Bewear were play-sparring when my Rotom Phone buzzed. I looked at the caller ID and saw Mum's picture. Great.
"Hello?"
"Gloria! Oh, thank goodness you're all right! Is Hop with you?"
"Y-yeah, Mum. Sorry, I should have called earlier after it was—"
"Yes, you should have! Goodness, I was at tea with Hop's mum, and we watched Leon's interview, a Dynamax Surge? That's terrifying!"
"It was scary, but we're alright, I promise! What did Leon say in the interview?"
"You didn't watch it?"
"Mum, I'm in the bloody wilderness, they don't have many TVs out here."
"Right, right. He said it was a thing called a Dynamax Surge, a big surge of Dynamax energy. Came out of Hammerlocke. Isn't that where you're going?"
"Well, yeah, but—"
"I don't know how I feel about you going to a place that dangerous!"
"Mum, Hammerlocke has millions of people and I'm sure they're just fine. Did Leon say anything about the Perrserker?"
"The what?"
"The Pokémon. The one we fought?"
"You fought a Perrserker? Oh, Gloria, I hope you didn't catch it, those things are disgusting, why we couldn't get a cute Meowth in Galar is beyond me, but—"
"Leon didn't mention the Perrserker running rampant?"
"Gloria, what are you talking about?"
I paused, confused. "Uh…we fought a Perrserker out here right as the surge happened. It went nuts in the energy."
"Oh, those things are always like that," Mum laughed. "Hope it didn't give you too much trouble. Anyway, you better be sure to call your brother, and call me when you get to Hammerlocke. You're so much like your father. Headstrong as all hell. I probably couldn't get you to avoid Hammerlocke if I bribed you a million Pokédollars."
"Is..is that an option, because I could be persuaded."
"I'll talk to my banker," she said with a laugh. "Stay safe out there, Gloria. Give Hop a hug for me."
"Will do, mum."
"Love you, bye."
"Love you, too." The line went dead, and I frowned at my phone. Leon leaving out the detail of a Dynamax Pokémon running wild from a Dynamax Surge was worrying, but I'm sure there was a reason. I couldn't think of a good reason, but I'm sure there was.
A/N: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm something seems to be going on behind the scenes...I'm sure it's nothing. Let's ignore that and focus on the gym challenge! (Just like in the games!) Join us next week as Gloria finally remembers that she should have more than three Pokemon and decides to change that.
NEXT WEEK: DUST BOWL BLUES