A/N: Fitting that we start getting into some legends of Galar the day that Legends Arceus comes out. I got a few hours in already and I'm really loving it so far! Hopefully I can still keep posting this story regularly, but damn if that game isn't going to take up most of my time in the next week, lol. Anyway, here's another spot where I'm making some notable changes to the lore of the story, but I've also dropped a few fun easter eggs for y'all as well. Enjoy!
For being one of the biggest cities in all of Galar, Hammerlocke felt incredibly small. As Bewear and I plodded through the crooked cobblestone streets, ancient tenement buildings rose up, as if to compete for what little beams of sunlight filtered through the towering spire in the middle of the city. There were grumpy-looking people everywhere, so much more than in Hulbury or Motostoke. I found myself keeping my arms firmly at my side and looking down so as not to make any eye contact with anyone. Soon enough, I saw the familiar orange glow of the Pokémon Center sign. Bewear and I picked up our pace and rushed inside.
The Pokémon Center was fairly empty, at least in comparison to the ones back in Motostoke. A few younger looking trainers sat around on some comfortable looking benches and tables, eating, chatting, or talking amongst themselves. A built-in café in the corner had a couple trainers examining Pokémon that they were about to trade with each other, and at the far right, a man stood next to a wall of rare Pokéballs, shouting to anyone near about how this blue and yellow one could catch a Pokémon who you just saw for the first time, or how this green and black one could almost guarantee a catch at night or in any dark place. A couple trainers looked at me with curiosity, but most stayed on their own. Hop wasn't anywhere to be seen. I dumped my gear onto an empty bench, returned Bewear, and walked up to the counter, where a pink-haired nurse sat behind a clean desk.
"Hey, just a checkup on my team, and is there a free bed tonight?" I requested, dropping my four Pokéballs onto a tray on the desk.
"Of course!" she replied. "Up the stairs to your right. There are also lockers to store any valuables in across from the sleeping rooms."
"Thanks. Oh, and I was wondering, did you see a trainer come in earlier? Dark hair and skin, golden eyes?"
"No, I'm afraid not," she said.
"Oh…"
"Maybe he's at another Pokémon Center; there are quite a few in the city after all," she said with a reassuring smile.
"Maybe, I'll just text him then," I sighed.
"Of course. We'll have a look at your Pokémon, and you should have them back in just a few minutes!"
"Take your time," I said, and she turned away with the tray and disappeared through a door behind her. I pulled my phone out and noticed that I had two new texts, both from Victor.
Hey, train's coming in at West Hammerlocke station at 9 tomorrow
Yikes just heard about Hop's battle. He ok?
I decided not to answer and instead punched in Hop's phone number and pressed the call symbol. One ring, two rings, voicemail. I listened to the prerecorded message and waited for the beep.
"Hey, Hop, it's me. I'm at the Pokémon Center on…well I'm at a Pokémon Center and I just wanted to know if you were nearby. I…I also wanted to apologize? I know things got a little heated and I don't want to do this over a voicemail, so just call me back or text me. Oh, Victor's train comes in at 9 at the West Hammerlocke station. I, uh, I know you'll want to see him, too. Um. Bye. Call me back."
I sat down on the bench next to my things and waited, phone in hand. Surely, he'd respond soon.
I waited all night with no response. I tried to call a couple more times, but still nothing. As I waited, the occasional challenger came to talk to me, either talking strategy, issue a challenge to battle, or just say hello, but I wasn't interested in any of it. Soon enough, it was ten pm and I slinked off to bed, though I knew I wouldn't sleep much better.
I dreamed of the black hand over Hammerlocke, but it wasn't as vivid as the two other dreams I had, and I remember being myself and not one of the beasts Hop and I saw in the Weald. Soon I was interrupted by my Rotom phone buzzing violently. 8 am. Time to wake up.
I quickly showered, dressed, ate, and was out the door in half an hour – there was a lot of ground to cover if I was to make it to the station by the top of the hour. The streets were just as winding and confusing, but as I followed the instructions on my screen, I started to get a better feel of the city layout, and after just ten minutes I found myself at a plaza across from the station. I smiled, hoping that Hop might have made it or would make it here soon, and looked around.
The buildings in this section of the city were a lot less chaotic, and were much newer, with large glass siding and smooth, rounded sides. They still weren't any higher than five or six stories, so they were still easily dwarfed by the central spire of the city. In fact, they seemed to perfectly frame it from this angle. The spire shot straight up, and in the morning sun its shadow split the plaza right in half. I could see now that the parapets that branched off from the central structure were actually connected to the spire, but I still couldn't figure out how they didn't crumble to the ground. From this angle, they looked even more like a cage around it. I wondered what purpose it even served, and if it had anything to do with the giant red ruby perched at the top of the tower. At least, it looked like a ruby. There was no way a gemstone could ever be that big, I thought to myself. It must be painted glass or something.
I tore my eyes away from the tower and looked around the plaza itself. There were a few shops that were just opening up: a gift shop, a café with guests dining outside at small tables, a salon, and a couple trendy looking boutiques. A few people were milling about, looking through the windows and chatting amicably with each other, and a couple stray Purrloin darted around and headed towards a dark alley, where I could see two golden eyes, staring directly at me.
I froze. Their gaze was cold and intense, yet somehow not threatening. I broke eye contact and headed to the café. The eyes followed, but the creature stayed in its spot in the shadows. I couldn't even make out what it was that was staring at me. All I knew was that it was staring at me, as if I was the most important thing in the world. Once I was closer to the murmur of the people in the café, I chanced another look back. Sure, enough the eyes were there, but the minute it saw I looked over, the eyes shot up and the beast howled.
My blood iced over. I remembered the howl instantly – it was one of the beasts that Hop and I saw in the Weald. It had to be. It lowered its head and looked back over to me before turning and retreating into the shadows.
"Are you okay, miss?"
I yelped in surprise as a waitress laid her hand on my shoulder. "Huh?" Did you not—" I sputtered.
"You were staring down that alley like something was going to jump out and bite you."
"Did you not see it? Did you not hear it?" I sputtered. The waitress looked at me, tilting her hair so her loose blonde ponytail bobbed to the side.
"There was nothing there," she said with a confused smile. "Are you waiting for someone, or can I seat you now?"
I shook my head and stalked toward the alley. I would accept that I had misjudged the shape of a shadow, but the beast's eyes and its howl couldn't have just been my imagination. In only a few steps, I slipped inside and jogged down through it, jumping over a dozing Trubbish along the way. The air felt heavy, but I couldn't figure out if it was just the musty air from the buildings around me, or if the beast was still there. Just to be safe, I called out Raboot from his ball and had him run alongside me. Sparks kicked up with each step he took, casting a dim orange light as we ran.
Eventually, we came to a dead end. The air was mustier still, and a slight haze wafted around us. But there was no beast. No more howling, and no more yellowed eyes. I leaned against the wall and caught my breath while Raboot sniffed a puddle nearby. "We probably look like right fools," I told him with a laugh. He continued to sniff curiously at the puddle, and then looked up at me with a confused expression.
"What, you find something?" I asked, stepping over to the puddle and looking myself. The puddle was a bit deeper than I expected, but in the whole was the unmistakable glint of a Wishing Star. I reached in and pulled it out. It was big – much bigger than the ones that Hop and I found back in Wedgehurst, and the second I touched it, it sent a jolt of Dynamax energy straight to my wristband, causing it to hum for a couple seconds.
"How did you get back here?" I asked it quietly as I stared at it. I looked straight up to the sky and saw that I was under the overhang of the giant spire. I could just see the edge of the giant ruby on top of it. Curiously, it was the same color as the wishing star. I had never noticed that before. Suddenly, my Rotom phone buzzed, pulling me back into the present. I pulled it out and saw that Victor was calling. I swore and stuffed the Wishing Star into my pocket and began sprinting back to the alleyway opening, Raboot close behind.
"Hey, Vic!" I said as I answered.
"I don't see you, are you—"
"I'm right here!" I cried, bursting out of the alleyway and back into the light. Over at the other end of the plaza, a small group of people were funneling out of the trains station, and right at the front stood a familiar scrawny teenage boy in a thick red polo and a young woman with blazing orange hair and a cozy-looking brown jacket. Sonia was the first to see me and waved excitedly. With a loud bark, I saw that her Yamper had noticed me, too. I hung up my phone and split across the plaza, where I tackled Victor and nearly knocked him to the ground.
"Gloria, Arceus, would you lay off?" he wheezed. I had knocked the air out of him
"Good to see you, too," I said, and we both laughed. "How was your special research project with Sonia?"
"Kind of a waste, mostly," Sonia said with a shrug.
"Victor, I hate to hear you're a letdown," I joked. "Not a surprise, mind you, but—"
"Gloria," Victor mumbled with a playful shove.
"You missed this," I jeered.
Sonia smiled. "Actually, Victor was the only reason I got any decent research done out there. Who'd have thought that dirty old dojo would have such a potent power spot? And Victor got a lot of good battles in."
"Yeah!" Victor chimed in. "The Dojo leader is – get this – the old champion Mustard!"
"Shut up," I shouted. "That's so wicked!"
"He taught me lots of great strategies, and on top of that…" with a grin, he pulled out a single Pokéball and tossed it up. It cracked open with a flash and out dropped a small bear. It looked somewhat like a Teddiursa, except with gray fur and a lot leaner. It landed squarely on its hind legs and started hopping around Victor, swinging its fists and doing moves I hadn't seen outside of old fighting movies on TV. Yamper barked excitedly and wagged his tail.
"Who are you?" I asked. The bear stopped and noticed me for the first time. I bent down to greet him, but he hopped once in surprise and circled behind Victor before peering back.
"Sorry, he's a bit shy in front of new people. But say hello to Kubfu!"
"He's so cute!" I cried, extending my hand, palm down, so he could see I meant no harm. Kubfu slowly walked back around Victor's legs and cautiously came over to where I was patiently waiting, before putting his small paw on top of my hand. It was only about half the time. "Hey, buddy," I said with a smile. "I'm Victor's sister. It's nice to meet you." Kubfu smiled and then batted at my hand playfully, before noticing Raboot was also walking over, which prompted him to rush back behind Victor again.
"Him?" I asked, gesturing toward Raboot. "Don't worry about him, he's a big ol' softie." Raboot aimed a weak ember at my face in protest, but I dodged out of its path well before it got close.
"Hop not here?" Victor asked, looking around as he returned Kubfu to his ball.
"Uh…no, he's off training, I think."
"We saw the battle with that Bede kid," Sonia said in sympathy. "Kind of a prick, isn't he?"
"Which battle?" I asked.
"There was another?"
I nodded and ran them through the rematch, and that I hadn't seen him since, careful to leave out the bit where we yelled at each other. As we talked, Sonia started moving away from the station and Victor and I followed, hoping we could find Hop along the way.
"Doesn't really sound much like him," Sonia sighed as we walked, "but I'm sure he'll turn up soon. Leon always took losses pretty hard when we first started out."
"But Leon's the 'unbeatable' champion," I countered, cocking an eyebrow at her.
Sonia let out a sharp laugh. "I mean sure, he won all his league battles, but that boy was a right trainwreck when we first started training. I even beat him a couple times, and I'm shite at battling!"
"You're kidding," I said.
"Nah, she can hold her own, I got a chance to see it while we were out in the Isle," Victor said.
"Well, there's a difference between fending off a wild Pokémon and battling a team of six highly trained Pokémon," Sonia explained, turning a little pink. "Besides, Leon wasn't losing much for long. Once he won his first gym battle, he pretty much steamrolled the rest of his competition."
"Hop never told us Leon struggled when he started out, though," I said.
"Oh, he was right embarrassed, especially as he was tryin' to impress me. Poor sod was totally lovestruck when I met him! And now he doesn't bring it up because why would the unbeatable champion have been beaten?"
"So, you do have a chance then, Victor," I muttered under my breath.
"Gloria!" he snapped back through gritted teeth.
"No, I'd say we both know where we stand on that front. Victor's sweet, but I prefer my dates to be a bit more than ten years my junior," Sonia said with a sly wink at Victor, who turned beet red. I snickered. "Now, I think we should change the subject for his sake, don't you think, Gloria?"
"Fine," I said with an exaggerated sigh. "But you're sure Hop will be okay?"
"You two know him better than me, but if all else, we can send Leon to knock some sense into him. Though I was hoping he'd be here, because I really wanted to pick both your brains about that Dynamax Surge last week."
"I'm afraid I don't know much about it at all," I replied. "I know it came out of Hammerlocke, and that it made a Perrserker go berserk, but that's it,"
Sonia groaned. "That's all I have to work with, too. Macro Cosmos is saying there's a lot of 'classified' info or something about its source, but the unofficial rumor is that the surge came from the power plant in the heart of the city." With that, she pointed up to the spire of the city.
"Wait, that thing is a power plant?" I asked.
"More than that," she replied. "It's the power plant. Not only does it provide power to all of Hammerlocke, but its grid extends all the way across the Northern half of Galar. Stow-on-Side, Spikemuth, Circhester, even Wyndon."
"We think there was a meltdown of some sort, related to Project Eternamax," Victor inserted.
"Not officially, we don't," Sonia snapped, glancing around anxiously. "But as scientific minds, we must keep our options open."
I smirked. "Clever choice of words."
"Gotta keep milking the Miltank, as it were," Sonia said, winking again. "But hey, if you don't mind, I'm on my way to the Galar Vault to meet a friend. I think you'll enjoy meeting him, too. C'mon, I'll call a Corviknight to get us there!"
Located on the Western side of the City, the Galar Vault was one of the oldest buildings in Hammerlocke. It must have looked like quite a sight in its time, but in the years since, it was overshadowed by the more daring architecture of the city. Its stones were of the same black brick, but they were much more weathered, and the building seemed to lean on its side just a bit, as if it were tired for standing up for the past few centuries. Tall, dark, stained-glass windows stood at a line all across the building, and at its very peak stood a flag I recognized from my history classes at school as the old banner of the Royal Family of Galar. Despite its obvious age, the building itself was still beautiful, clearly well-kept in its old age. At the entrance stood a tall dark-skinned man in a blue and Orange hoodie and shorts, his fashion evoking a Druddigon.
"Raihan! Hi!" Sonia cried, waving excitedly. Victor and I exchanged curious glances. The dragon tamer himself? Sonia was friends with Raihan?
"Sonia!" he replied with a voice that was somehow both sparkling with energy and completely laid back. "And I see you brought the celebrities with you." He pushed himself off the wall and strutted towards us. His walk reminded me a bit of Nessa. I bristled with anticipation. Victor stepped back in admiration.
"Good to see you again," Sonia said, giving him a tight hug. "Nice to see you when Leon's not beating you into next week."
"I pull strings for a massive favor, and this is my repayment?" Raihan asked, glancing at me with a look of faux despair. I giggled. "See if I ever do anything nice for you again." He pulled himself out of the embrace and held his hand out to me, which I shook eagerly. His hand was massive; very fitting for a man who towered over the three of us.
"I'm Gloria," I said cheerily.
"Don't I know it," he laughed. "Probably heard it all over, but you're causing quite a stir this gym challenge."
"Oh, I don't know…"
"No? Well now that the challenge is almost half over, you might be seeing more of it. Victor, I presume?" He let go of my hand and extended it to Victor. He took it and nodded quietly. "You were right, Sonia, he is a quiet one."
"Man, I wish," I groaned, as Victor shot me a look.
"He warms up in time," Sonia explained, knocking on Victor's shoulder.
"Yeah, most people call it refined," Victor said, sticking his tongue out.
"Look who's getting bolder," I teased.
Raihan gave a hearty laugh. "You can really tell they're siblings," he said to Sonia, before returning his attention to us. "So, you guys looking to sign up for a slot to battle me?"
"Uh, I actually think the plan was to head to Stow-on-Side first," I said, though I don't know if Hop had any intention of joining us. "I still have to do some training against dragons."
"Oh, you'll find I'm more than just a master of dragons," Raihan smirked. "What about you?"
"I…I was just going to tag along with Gloria and …Hop," Victor said.
"Lee's brother hasn't given up yet? Good for him," Raihan said smugly. "Either way, it doesn't matter. I'll still beat you. I don't play easy like Milo or Nessa does. And even Kabu can't summon the fires of courage or whatever to defeat me in battle."
"You've been working on your impressions, haven't you?" Sonia said with a laugh.
"Can you do an impression of a loser?" I asked.
"A loser?" Raihan looked at me, confused.
"Nice, perfect, you nailed it," I said with a wink. Victor held his hand up and I slapped him five as Raihan nodded along, holding back a smile.
"I'll let it slide for now, but you better walk the walk when you talk like that. Now come on, Sonia. Got a few battles to sneak to so if you want to get in, now's your chance."
Sonia looked to us. "Coming in with me?" Victor and I both shrugged and followed the two old friends in.
We found ourselves in a large entrance hall, with thick stone walls rising up twenty feet and holding long, dark beams of wood that stretched across the ceiling. The walls were decorated with ancient tapestries and paintings, each showing a scene from Galar's storied history, as well as scenes from some other regions of our world. Some of the depictions I knew instantly from bedtime stories and tall tales. One tapestry had a giant of a man caressing a tiny Pokémon resting atop a flower. Right next to that was the same man, kneeling and weeping among a gruesome battlefield while the small Pokémon floated away. One on the other side of the room had three dragons standing together on a giant pillar, while a fourth floated near the bottom of the tapestry, shrouded in darkness, and looking like it was ready to strike the moment the three dragons above it let their guards down. Another set of two were hung even further down the hallway, and though they were similar on a first glance, as I walked closer I saw that one had a phoenix with a rainbow tail, reviving what looked to be a Vaporeon, a Jolteon, and a Flareon, and the other had a white dragon in a typhoon, creating winds that were almost too strong for the three birds that surrounded it. I recognized these as the Kantonese depictions of the legendary Moltres, Zapdos, and Articuno.
At the end of the great hall was a long and radiant staircase, covered in red carpet and gilded wooden railings, but they were roped off. A security guard stood, staring at us, but Raihan whispered a couple of words to him, and he allowed him and Sonia to pass. Victor and I tried to follow them up, but the guard reached out and stopped us.
"Raihan, I'm already doin' you a favor by lettin' the girl in, I can't just let anyone go through, right?"
Raihan sighed. "Fine. You two will be fine without us, right?"
"Right," Victor and I both said, making no effort to hide our disappointment.
"Why can't we go up?" I asked.
"Sorry," the guard explained hastily, "but there's a mad lot of rare artifacts up there, and we need 'em preserved for the sake of history. You'll find there's some other exhibits off to the right, miss Dixon."
"I guess—wait, how did you…?"
"You can't be serious; you think I don't follow the gym challenge?"
I laughed nervously. "I didn't really consider it," I admitted.
"Well, hey, not to put any more pressure on ya, miss, but I have money on you getting to the semifinals, so if you could keep winning, it'd be much appreciated." The guard winked, and I nodded slowly, grabbing Victor's arm and pulling him toward the other doorway he had gestured to. Next to the entryway was a small sign that read Historical Implements and Artifacts of Galarian History. Gifts of the royal family Buckingham.
In the next room over, there were many more artifacts. Victor and I walked through and looked at everything in amazement. There were old battle standards, armor sets, royal jewelry, and more paintings and tapestries. I found myself drawn to two very strange rocks shaped like a sword and a shield that stood in the center of the room in a glass case. They did not have the same polish or shine as the other artifacts; in fact, they just looked like rocks conveniently resembling a sword and a shield, and this made them stick out like sore thumb. I took a look at the placard attached to the glass.
REPLICAS OF THE SWORD AND SHIELD OF GALAR (c. 986, limestone) Ancient legends tell of Galar's noble guardian, who carried a sword and shield and smote evil wherever he came across it in the days before the Kingdoms of Galar was united as one. The ancient kingdoms battled on and on to no end until the noble guardian began to rise in power and influence, and after the most gruesome battle on the Darkest of Days, he struck down the Black Hand that had plagued the nations for centuries and united Galar as one, becoming the first king of Galar. The true sword and shield of Galar's greatest hero have become lost in time, but many memorials remain, such as the one where this pair was discovered, in the forest just north of the Crown Tundra.
I tilted my head and looked closely at the sword-shaped rock. The top, where the blade would have been, had been broken, but the hilt of it were intricately carved, and in a very bizarre shape, as if something had been breaking away bits of rock as it held onto the hilt of the sword. In the light, they almost looked like teeth marks.
"Gloria!" I heard Victor call. I glanced up and saw that he was pointing excitedly at the furthest wall, where we hadn't quite made it to yet. I moved around the pedestal to get a closer look but stopped dead in my tracks. Nothing had happened to me, yet I felt the air leave my body like a Tauros had just scored a direct hit on my gut with a Take Down.
There were four massive tapestries hanging against the wall, each part of a sequence of a story, from left to right. The furthest depicted three knights underneath a black storm cloud. Accompanying them was a large bear and a strange shadowy figure. The second was of the bear, who seemed to be shepherding hundreds of tiny people away from the storm cloud as it grew more violent. These were both interesting enough on their own right, but it was the third and fourth that had knocked the wind out of me.
The third had the three knights and shadowy figure standing together. One held a longsword aloft, one leaned against a staff, and the third had a long shield that dug into the ground. They looked to be preparing for war. Above them, the storm cloud was larger than ever, and had become the shape of a black hand. A chill ran down my spine; it was exactly the last moment of the dream I had had in the Wild Area. The one I never got to talk to Hop about. Why was I dreaming about the events of the darkest day? I wondered. And then I looked over to the fourth tapestry.
In the final tapestry, only one knight remained. He held both the sword and the shield high above his head. The black hand, and the knight's other two companions were gone. In their place were two giant wolves kneeling in front of him. One had a fiery red mane, and the other's coat was a chilling blue. Both faced me with brilliant and burning gold eyes. I felt my blood run cold and immediately brought my hand to my pocket, where I had found the wishing star this morning. They were the wolves that I dreamed about. The same wolves that chased Hop and me out of the Slumbering Weald. The ones whose eyes I saw in the Statue at the Budew Drop Inn. The ones whose presence I had felt on and off ever since we first saw them.
"Pretty cool, right?" Victor asked.
"Who…who are those Pokémon next to the knight in that last one?" I asked, voice shaking. Victor shrugged and walked over to a placard on the wall next to it.
"The fourth tapestry represents the triumph over the Black Hand by Galar's legendary noble guardian, named Arthur. His iron will, and his trusty Lycanroc companions…wait, really?"
"Victor, what does the rest say?"
"Huh? Oh, right. His iron will, and his trusty Lycanroc companions managed to defeat the Black Hand and Clear the skies on the Darkest Day, smiting the beast with his sword and shield. It's just the end of the Darkest Day myth."
"Those are Lycanroc then?" I asked. I looked back at the wolves, only to see that they no longer resembled the beasts from the Weald. Their shapes were still the same, but they were both gray, and the fire in their eyes was gone.
"Definitely," Victor confirmed. "There's a pack that lives in one of the cave systems out in the Isle of Armor, and they aren't dead ringers for these wolves or anything, but it's close enough. I know that there are incredibly rare colorations, and that they have different forms based on the time of day they evolve. Plus, it's also a recreation. They didn't have cameras all the way back then."
"Are you positive that's what they are?" I asked. Victor moved closer to the tapestry, but I remained rooted to my spot.
"Can't tell, but I think you could use 'artistic license' for why they look so different. Unless you know any other wolf Pokémon. Hang on then, what's this?"
"What's what?"
"Look at the corners of these last two tapestries. Maybe I'm just losing it, but they're different, right?" Victor pointed to the lower left corner of the fourth tapestry and lower right corner of the third. At first glance, the two were identical, but as I stepped closer, I started to see the slight differences. Both had a rich and vibrant red border, with an intricate pattern on interlocking gold branches and leaves, but the fourth panel's border seemed darker, with a fuller color. Its edges were not quite as frayed as the third, or even the first or second for that matter.
"Why does it look…newer?" I asked.
"Maybe it was kept in better condition? Didn't travel as much before it was brought to the vault?" Victor hypothesized, scratching his head. "But after seeing those runes that were added to the hills back in Turffield, maybe this is also a new addition. But why add on to the Darkest Day myth so much later than before?"
"Maybe they were covering up what actually happened on the Darkest Day," I said, feeling my spine prickle.
"Or maybe it's a recreation because the older tapestry was too damaged to hang," came a voice from behind us. Raihan had returned, grinning. "But bang-up job on the conspiracy theory anyway, mate. Might want to find yourself a tin-foil hat when you're at the shops next."
"I…I guess that makes more sense," said Victor slowly, although he didn't seem convinced.
Raihan picked up on his uncertainty and laughed. "Oh, don't worry about it. Lots of people think they've stumped the folks at the Vault with something like this, but that's the truth, I'm afraid. They should really get a plaque up here saying it's a recreation. It'd save them a lot of trouble. Now listen, if you wanted to wait for Sonia, you might as well go have a nap or something. She's going to stick to the restricted section of the vault until they drag her out by her feet. I have a couple gym battles this afternoon if you want to watch. I'll even comp your tickets!"
"Maybe…" I said, looking back up at the fourth tapestry. The wolves were still gray.
"We should probably find out where Hop went to," Victor said. "Besides, he wouldn't want to miss a match of yours. C'mon, Gloria. Oh, and can we stop for a snack sometime? The snacks on the train were absolutely rubbish."
"Right," I agreed. "Nice to meet you, Raihan!"
"Hey, you don't even want a picture with me?"
"Not until I beat you!" I snickered, giving him a shifty grin.
"We'll see who's laughing when you battle me then," he said, grinning back at me as the two of us rushed out of the Vault.
A/N: Okay, lots in this one. Thanks for toughing it out. TL;DR is that Victor's got Kubfu, Gloria's maybe(?) having very vivid hallucinations, and there might be a grand conspiracy to rewrite history. But I think we'll table that for some more of everyone's favorite next week. See you then!
NEXT WEEK: FANATICS