A/N: Short and sweet this week, everyone - they can't all be crazy action-packed chaos like the last one! But don't worry, there was definitely some fun stuff to play with for this chapter and finally some payoff from our time in Turffield, plus I'm sure you can guess from the chapter title who finally gets a proper introduction now...
"Gloria!"
I woke quickly, thanks to both Victor's loud voice and his shaking of my body. I fought him off and rubbed my eyes, trying to get my brain moving again. "Whuisit, Vic?" I grumbled.
"Hop's still not back."
"He…what?"
"Yeah, I know we were all distracted and exhausted from everything last night, you doubly so, but he's not here. His stuff's gone, too."
"Hold on," I said slowly, still getting my bearings and pulling myself out of the bed. "Did he text you? When did you last see him—wait, what do you mean me doubly so?"
At that moment, the door opened, and Marnie popped inside, quickly shutting the door behind her. "He's not in the lobby, either—oh, g'morning, Gloria."
"Morning," I replied, letting my heart do a flip before going back to worry about Hop.
"That's what I mean by 'doubly so,'" Victor whispered, nudging me.
"Stuff it," I hissed, reaching for my Rotom-phone, which was lying face down on the table next to me. "Maybe he's texted me?" I clicked a button on the side, and a notification popped up.
1 New Message: Hop N.
"If you woke me up for nothing, I will have Cinderace light you on fire," I told them both, tapping on the screen.
"It was his idea," Marnie said quickly. Victor raised his arms in a what-did-I-do pose, scowling at her.
"Hey Gloria," I read aloud. "Went on ahead to train in Glimwood Tangle. Not letting you beat me to a gym badge again! Go on without me." The knot in my stomach untied a little before I remembered the call I made to him last night. Had he even listened to the voicemail I sent?
"Well, I guess that answers that, now," Marnie said with a shrug. "We should probably head there anyway, if we want to get Opal's gym out of the way."
"Opal?" I asked. "Which one was she again?"
Marnie rolled her eyes. "Fairy types. Not a fan of 'em myself, personally," she grunted.
"Right. Well, maybe we'll run into Hop along the way," I said hopefully. The knot loosened again, but it still hadn't unraveled.
"Don't get too hopeful," Marnie replied. "Glimwood Tangle's called Glimwood Tangle for a reason. Easy to get lost. We better stock up on supplies before we head out. Oh, Victor, that redhead from last night was looking for you earlier."
"Right," he said, grabbing his things. "Meet you two down there! And don't worry, take all the time you need—"
"Alright, out!" I shouted. Marnie half-chuckled and went to start packing her things as I rushed my idiot brother out the door.
The two of us walked into the lobby a few minutes later and found ourselves welcomed by stares from everyone in the lobby. Gym challengers, PC Employees, even townsfolk had gathered to watch us curiously. A couple Team Yell members stood off to the side, trying to mean-mug anyone who came close to us, but they were being ignored. Many people were grouped together on some couches surrounding a television that was playing a live feed of excavations that were already underway at the newly uncovered wolf statues. On the opposite end of the lobby, I saw Sonia wave frantically from a table with five chairs, her bright red hair a beacon of safety in this strangely unwelcome room. I grabbed for Marnie's arm, but she was already halfway to Sonia and well out of my reach. As I hurried along behind her, the Team Yell members moved as well, meeting us as we caught up to the table Sonia and Victor had secured.
"Need us to keep them away from you?" one of them, a burly man with no hair and a scar under his left eye, growled. The other, a scrawny man with long, greasy black hair and a ripped denim jacket, shot a mean look to some gym challengers that had just entered the building, who quickly hustled toward the larger crowd by the television to avoid any conflict.
"I think they're trying to keep their distance anyway," Marnie said, pulling up a chair and sitting down next to Victor.
"This is somehow worse than them mobbing us for autographs," I observed, sitting down next to her.
"You get used to it, frankly," Marnie replied casually, leaning her chair back on its rear legs. "I don't mind the fear, really?"
"Any news about Hop?" Sonia asked. Her hair was more untamed than usual, and there were small but quite noticeable bags under her eyes that she hadn't quite been able to hide under her foundation. In her hand was a large cup of coffee that I could tell just from scent alone was strong enough to raise the dead. Scattered across the table were books, notebooks, and a laptop that looked to be almost as old as I was, with a picture of the wolf statues on its dimmed screen.
"He's going to Glimwood Tangle on his own," I sighed. "You alright?"
"Yeah, fine," she said, batting her arms at such a preposterous question. "Got like no sleep last night, though, trying to figure out those wolf statues, which has been really bloody hard, as you can probably see." She waved her hand over to the television, just in time to see a clip of a Macro Cosmos employee walking up to the camera feed and pushing it away from the dig site violently.
"What's Rose's company doing there?" Victor asked.
"Dunno," Sonia grumbled, "but the bastards won't let me in to see. Apparently only those with high enough clearance are allowed in, for 'safety reasons.'" At this, she raised her hands shakily and made quotation marks with the first two fingers on each hand before reaching back for her coffee.
"That might be enough of that," I said, swiping the cup from out of her reach.
"Gloria, noooooooo," Sonia whined.
"You look like you've been huffing Stun Spore!" I countered hotly.
"Listen, I pulled all-nighters in university time and time again, I'll be fine, just give me my coffee!"
"Hey, keep your distance!" One of our makeshift bodyguards growled.
"Yeah, beat it granny!" The other yelled. Sonia looked up and Victor and I turned around. Marnie stayed leaned back in her chair, flicking through her phone.
"My dears, it's very sweet of you to do this, truly, but I'd really rather you didn't make this into a whole to-do. Calyrex knows these three can defend themselves," said the frail voice of an old woman being held up by the two Team Yell punks. At the sound of her voice, Marnie jerked forward in her chair and swiveled around quickly, looking alarmed. The old woman smiled at her and gave a little wave. "Hello, my dear Marnie. I've been waiting for you to stop by the gym. These old bones don't have too much wait left in them!"
I looked back at Marnie in surprise. She knew this old bat?
"Ah, yes, and the Dixon twins. It's so lovely to see you two getting on. Do you remember me now, Gloria?" she asked. Her voice was sweet, yet there was a strange venom hiding underneath it.
"Yeah, you ran into us just outside of Hammerlocke, right?"
"Goodness, it seems my reputation does not quite precede me as it once did," she moaned, feigning sadness and slowly walking over to an empty chair next to Sonia. "Care to make the introduction then, Miss Magnolia?"
"Er, yeah," Sonia said awkwardly as she cleared a space from all the notes scattered about. "Gloria, Vic, this is Opal? The gym leader of Ballonlea?"
"I knew you looked familiar!" Victor said, snapping his fingers.
"Well, I suppose that's better than nothing," Opal chuckled. "Oh, heavens, Miss Magnolia, you needn't clear off the whole table for me, I won't be long. Just thought I'd pop in for a 'hello, how are you.' You three have four badges each now, right?"
Marnie nodded, but Victor laughed sheepishly. "I've only got three, actually," he said.
"Well, no need to rush, my dear," Opal smiled. "At least not yet. Say, my memory is usually much better than this, but I distinctly remember there being another one with you."
"Hop went on ahead into Glimwood Tangle," I said.
"Brave soul," Opal replied mischievously. "Might want to head in and find him soon before he's lost forever."
"Is that something we need to worry about?" Victor asked with a gulp.
"No," Marnie said stiffly.
"Oh, let an old woman have her fun," Opal sighed.
"What are you doing out here, Opal?" Sonia asked.
Opal sat down on the empty chair and lay her striped umbrella across the recently cleared space. "Well, I wanted to see the statues with my own two eyes. In all my years in Galar, I never knew about such an odd thing such as that. But it looks like these bones couldn't get me there before Big Mr. Business smelled his opportunity."
"We get it, you're old," Marnie muttered under her breath.
"How's your brother, dearie?" Opal asked with a coy smirk.
Marnie turned pink. "He's f-fine," she sputtered.
"You're just as feisty as I remembered you being," Opal said with another strangely venomous laugh. "Very pink, indeed. Now Miss Magnolia—"
"Please, Sonia is fine!"
"Miss Magnolia, I was wondering if you could accompany me to the site? After all, you're doing all that important research for Mr. Rose."
"Not important enough," Sonia grumbled, reaching again for her coffee. I pulled the cup even further out of her way, which made her growl and then slump over on the table.
"Oh, let her have her coffee," Opal gently reprimanded, smiling politely at me. Slowly, I inched the cup over to Sonia, who eagerly snatched it and took a big gulp.
"As I was saying," Sonia said, intentionally setting her cup down far from my reach and grabbing at the laptop, "Macro Cosmos won't let me or anyone else anywhere near, so I just have pictures like these from last night to go off of."
"Seems rather suspicious," Opal said.
"I know, right?" Sonia replied. "Have you read the recent article on the glyphs at Turffield? Another strange mystery hidden away at an ancient landmark dedicated to the Darkest Day. Almost feels like a crazy conspiracy."
"That is a big coincidence, but it seems tenuous at best," Victor asserted, sitting down opposite Opal. "Did they ever translate the runes?"
"Yeah, actually!" Sonia said, typing away into her laptop furiously. After a few seconds, she turned the laptop, so it was facing Victor, Marnie and me. On the screen was a short poem of sorts.
See now the champions of Galar and Soan,
quick made their stand in homes where dragons dwell.
From Blackness taken o'er the skies and land
The golden king rang out the black hand's knell.
And so we all may see the light again,
And ne'er so more shall fire engulf the sky,
He smote the beast that tore our lives in twain
Two Nations, equal in pow'r and symmetry
Bonded as one in sword and shield,
Their fortune will forever yield.
"Cool, right?" Sonia asked with a trace of her usual perkiness. The caffeine of her coffee must have been kicking in. "Granted, it's not giving me any sort of new leads toward these wolf statues, but it's a fascinating piece of history, is it not?"
"It sounds wicked, like a stanza from an epic poem," Victor agreed, stars in his eyes.
Marnie shrugged in agreement. "It sounds pretty metal."
"It sounds a bit rubbish," Opal said with a frown. "Not pink at all, if you ask me."
"Well, I'm sorry that we all can't be playwrights, Opal," Sonia said defensively.
"I know, my dear, and it is simply dreadful," Opal groaned. "Well, it seems our beloved chairman won't be too keen on my popping by, so I must have come all this way for nothing."
"Well, it was nice to formally meet you, at least," I replied, reaching out to shake her hand.
Opal tilted her head and smiled, staring deep into my eyes. "I agree, young Gloria. You must've heard this before, but you have become quite the topic of discussion among us gym leaders. Kabu in particular is quite fond of your skills on the pitch, and he does not get worked up like that often."
"I'm just doing my best," I said with a smile. "I hope I don't disappoint any of you."
"Oh, she's humble, too." Opal smiled even wider and took my hand in hers. Her grip was surprisingly firm, for someone who looked like they were about to crumble into dust any minute now. As we shook hands, she gave me a quick look up and down and nodded to herself, as if I had just passed some sort of inspection, and then pulled me in a bit closer, as if to give a second opinion.
"I wasn't expecting you to be so physically strong," I mumbled with a nervous laugh.
"You should have seen me when I was in my prime," she replied with a wicked grin. "Talk of the region, I was. Almost managed to kick old Mustard to the curb a couple times. And the boys couldn't get enough of me either. I'm sure you must have a similar problem there, eh?"
Marnie coughed conspicuously. Opal paid her no mind.
"No doubt your sights are set for the Pokémon League?" Opal asked.
"I…I mean I guess!" I answered. "Honestly, I haven't thought much about it, but it would be a lot of fun!"
"Haven't thought much about it, eh? Tch," she said, shaking her head. "You'll need a lot of conviction if you're to make it to the Pokémon League. Tell me, dear, do you think that's where your convictions lie?"
"Uh…"
"Well, don't balk now, my dear!" she laughed. "Is your heart set on this path? Only the strongest survive!"
"I'm going to be honest with you, I did not expect to have a life talk before breakfast," I said.
Opal clicked her tongue. "I suppose not. And I don't mean to hurry you. You're going on a journey with your partner Pokémon! So many youths find out their true selves on a journey like yours, and it's best you savor your time."
"Thanks," I sighed.
"But I will say, those that lack conviction rarely make it further than you have now, even if they're twice as skilled in battle. I do very much look forward to our match." With that, she turned to Victor and extended a hand to him as well. As he took it, she pulled on his arm, and using Victor's natural resistance as leverage, she pulled herself back up to a standing position. She smiled another strangely knowing smile at Marnie, and then made to move around the table and exit the lobby.
Sonia pulled the laptop back to her, rereading the poem carefully. "I dunno, I think it's a cool poem," she said under her breath as Opal made it to the front door.
"That is because you lack pink, my dear!" Opal called, pushing the doors open without waiting for a reaction from any of us.
"I hate it when she does that," Sonia said once the doors closed completely.
"I think it's a nice poem and she said I have pink," I offered. "…I think. You know, she wasn't really clear on what that is. Or, well, clear on anything, for that matter."
"Don't I know it," Marnie scoffed.
"How do you know her?" I asked. Marnie looked at me, then the table, and then back at me before shaking her head and leaning back in her chair again. I pulled out the chair next to her and sat down quietly. As Sonia and Victor pored over the poem, I felt her lean forward and give my arm a tight squeeze. The two of us smiled.
"Yeah, I really think it's just a coincidence, Sonia," Victor said finally.
"I suppose you're right," Sonia grumbled. "They could have added those runes at Turffield for any number of reasons. I guess I should just focus on those new statues, whenever Rose gives us the okay to do any of the research he's paying me to do, that is."
"I think there's a connection," I said quietly.
"You don't need to make me feel better for a faulty hypothesis," Sonia said cheerily. "Wouldn't be science if we weren't wrong half the time! That's why we keep searching for answers!"
"No, there's definitely something there," I said slowly. "Here, let me see the poem again." Sonia and Victor exchanged glances and handed the laptop over to me.
"Gloria," Victor said as I looked down at the screen, "I know it seemed like it at the Archives too, but…"
"What is So…Sone?" I asked, pointing to the first line.
"Uh, Soan, like 'rowan,'" Sonia replied. "Before the region of Galar was unified on the Darkest Day, it was split into tiny kingdoms. Soan and Galar were the two biggest kingdoms out of them, so that's probably why it got the name-drop there."
"D'you think that's why there's two men behind the wolf statues?" Victor asked.
Sonia blinked. "That's an astute observation," she said slowly.
"Would that mean those wolf Pokémon would be theirs?" he continued.
"Yes," I said confidently, pulling out my phone again and opening my text log with Hop. My thumbs hovered over the keyboard display, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what I could tell him.
"But they're not Pokémon," Sonia said. "At least not like any I've ever seen before."
"Then I suppose you'd ought to look harder," Opal said suddenly, causing three of us to jump in our seats and Marnie to tumble out of hers, as she had leaned too far back.
"HOLY—goodness, where in hell did you come from?" Sonia said, hand on her chest.
"I forgot my umbrella," Opal said with a wide smile, reaching over and grabbing it daintily. "But you all seemed so deep in conversation, I didn't know quite when to jump into it, so to speak. I must admit, I too was mystified by those peculiar wolves. They quite seem like old…fairy tales."
"You'd be the expert on those, wouldn't you," Marnie said, getting herself up and patting down her pink dress.
"I'm sure I have an old storybook stashed away somewhere back at home," Opal said, tapping the floor with her umbrella and winking at Sonia.
Sonia's eyes opened wide. "I think I know where I can look, now. Thanks, Opal, sometimes you're truly brilliant!"
"Don't mention it, dearie," she said, turning to walk away again. "Say hello to your grandmother for me, it's been ages since we last spoke." The four of us gathered our composure as she slowly walked out of the lobby again.
"What, so you let her pass without a fuss this time?" Marnie growled at the two punks standing close by.
"Well, we figured she was still good to go on through, right?" the thinner one said, looking at his friend to back him up. The bigger one gave a curt nod.
Marnie rolled her eyes and looked over to me. "Well, unless you lot have any more enlightenin' discussions that'll send me back to sleep, I'm going to head off and grab Morpeko and some breakfast."
"I think we're good on enlightening discussions for a bit," Sonia said, shutting the laptop firmly. "Unfortunately, I think my next stop is back home in Wedgehurst, at Gran's lab, maybe scrounge up her old book of fairytales she read me as a baby. Guess I'll miss your next gym battles in person, but make 'em good enough for the highlight reel, okay?"
I nodded and turned to follow Marnie, but she was already halfway across the lobby and giving mean looks to anyone who caught her eye.
"Vic, if you stand by a mo', maybe you too, Gloria," Sonia said in a hushed tone.
"What's up?" Victor asked.
"Please find Hop and have him call Leon. Leon
hasn't been able to get in touch with him at all and he's been blowing up my phone all night. It's very sweet that he cares about his little brother, but it is incredibly annoying for my work."
"Right," Victor said.
"We'll make sure of it," I agreed, and the two of us turned to follow Marnie to breakfast with matching expressions of worry and frustration on our faces.
A/N: Did I have to go through all the trouble of writing an entire specific style of poem for a single chapter in a dumb Pokemon fanfic? No. Did I anyway? Yes. And I absolutely ADORE Opal as a character - enigmatic old ladies are the best and boy is she an enigma. Also, in the movie adaptation of SWORD AND SHIELD: The Would-Be Champions, Opal will be played by Dame Judi Dench. This is non-negotiable. Anyway, hope you liked the much lower stakes this time around, it's about time our characters took a breath. I have a lot of fun planned for next week though, so see you then!
NEXT WEEK: GLIMWOOD TANGLE