A/N: Bit of a bland one this week, friends. I'm caught between moving apartments and our heroes are caught between climactic plot moments. Not much going on in this chapter outside of setup for next week's. This would have been the second half of the last chapter but I got far too ahead of myself last week, lol
With a grunt, I pushed the doors open, and I squinted my eyes once I was back in the brighter lobby. At the far end, I saw my friends look up eagerly - I guess they hadn't been watching the live feed from the Rotoms. I took a deep breath and exhaled in a deep sigh, shaking my head. "What? Really?" Hop asked in shock. Victor immediately walked over and pulled me into a quick hug, which I happily reciprocated. Marnie took a few steps forward and raised her hand, as if to join my brother in the hug, but as we made eye contact, I noticed something holding her back. Instead, she gave me a sad smile and waited for Victor to let go of me.
"She have any crazy strategies?" Victor asked nervously as he stepped back.
"Not really," I replied, "just four really strong Pokémon.
"I can't believe you actually lost," Hop said.
"I can," Marnie said, giving me a soft punch on the arm. "Opal's got a reputation for a reason, after all." After the hit, she grasped my shoulder and pulled me in for a hug too.
"You're about to find out yourself," I said, leaning into her and squeezing back. "I think she's expecting you next."
"Well, don't feel bad when I beat her," Marnie said, pulling away from me and slowly tracing her hands down my arms, "'coz I don't plan on losing."
I laughed. "Oh, I probably will. You should definitely throw the battle for me – spare my feelings."
"You're cute, but you're not that cute," she muttered, winking at me and heading to the big wooden doors. I felt a buzz in my chest that briefly lifted my spirits. As Marnie disappeared through the door, I slumped against the wall of the lobby and slowly slid down to the floor.
"Welcome to the gym battle losers' club, little sis," Victor said, slumping down next to me.
"Kinda nice to know we're all on even footing again," Hop added, slumping down on my other side, though he sounded more nervous than anything that I hadn't managed to best Opal in battle.
"Oh, I fully plan on kicking her old lady arse next time," I said quickly. "I just wish I knew how." To my left, Victor blinked, and then quickly started typing into his phone.
Hop, meanwhile, shifted uncomfortably in his spot before asking, "Do you think I'll be able to take her on? I mean, I had a hard enough time with Bea, and I thought I had a good counter for fighting types. I don't know what I can do about fairies."
"I feel that," I agreed. "But you know just as well as I do that a Pokémon's type doesn't mean they'll win or lose. It's never that simple." From behind the heavy wooden doors, we could hear the muffled sounds of Pokémon cries. Marnie's battle had begun. I decided to change the subject. "So should we watch Marnie's battle?"
"Nah," Hop said, looking toward the door. "Gotta get my head in the game; that'll just psych me out."
"Victor?" Victor didn't respond, but instead was reading an article on his phone intently. "Well, alright, then," I said, pulling out my phone and seeing if I could access any live feed of Marnie's battle. It wasn't long before I found the feed of the battle. A graphic at the bottom of my phone screen said that she had managed to fell the Weezing with surprising ease, and now she was going up against the Mawile. Morpeko was out and moving faster than I had ever seen it. zipping left and right before zapping it with a precise bolt of electricity, all the while doing that thing with her fur that kept switching colors. Each zap never did much damage, but she quickly wore Mawile down before landing one of those Aura Wheel attacks. Once Togekiss came out, Marnie quickly withdrew Morpeko and replaced her with Croagunk, who first seemed to be having trouble dodging Togekiss's strong attacks, but managed to land a powerful Poison Jab, knocking the Pokémon out of its groove and after a couple more hits, it managed to knock it out fully. As the dust settled between Opal's Pokémon, the camera zoomed in to Croagunk's face as it began to glow white with the power of evolution.
"Looks like she's taking a page out of your book, evolving a Pokémon mid-battle," Hop said. I smiled, realizing he had been watching intently for a while – he never could resist watching a great battle between talented trainers.
Soon enough, both trainers recalled their Pokémon and Dynamaxed them both. Opal soon had her cake, but Marnie's newly evolved Toxicroak had a fire in his eyes that I hadn't seen when it was just a Croagunk. The two exchanged blows and soon enough, Alcremie exploded into a pile of frosting, shrinking back down to its normal size. The last thing I saw before being replaced with a graphic of Marnie's trainer ID was her calmly returning Toxicroak to her Pokéball.
"She did it!" I exclaimed, hopping up from the floor. Hop pulled himself up as well, clearly impressed by the display of her abilities as well.
"She wha-oh, hey that's awesome!" Victor said suddenly, looking back up from his phone.
I sped over to the wooden doors, and as soon as she opened them, I pulled Marnie into a Bewear-strength hug. "So, I guess you watched the live feed," she choked out, awkwardly patting my back.
"Wicked job, mate," Hop said with a smile, holding his hand out for a handshake. Marnie managed to pry me off of her and slapped him five with a confident smile.
"You're up next," Marnie said, pointing to Victor, who gulped and stuffed his phone into his pants pocket. "Mind the sludge and frosting. It got a bit messy at the end." She tossed her new fairy badge, a golden pin with pink gems laid out in a butterfly pattern upon it, in her hand before reaching inside and pinning it next to her other badges, and I quickly noticed just how much of the gym challenge she had completed.
"That was your sixth badge?" I asked, jaw agape.
"Yeah, number one trainer, remember?" Marnie asked with mock annoyance, brushing past me and heading to the table where the Macro Cosmos employee was still frantically typing into his laptop. "You want to heal our team up a bit, or wait for Victor?"
I had the feeling she was only asking me and not Hop. I blushed but shook my head. "No, no, he's my brother, I'll wait."
"Stickin' with your family, eh?" Marnie said with a hint of pride. "I figure I can respect tha'." She spun around on her boots and walked back over to me, and the two of us slid back down the wall so that we were seated next to Hop. Hop, meanwhile, was already watching the live feed of Victor as he nervously walked to his place onstage.
"How did they clean it so fast, with all that flying muck?" I asked, leaning over Hop's shoulder.
"Stage Managers have a power not even the strongest Pokémon possess," Marnie said, leaning on me so that the three of us looked like dominos about to fall on each other.
"Didn't realize you knew so much about the stage," I said, raising an eyebrow and leaning back so I was sitting up straight.
"Don't get too excited," Marnie replied defensively. "My bro's just done a lot of gigs and I got to go backstage for some o' the bigger ones."
I cocked an eyebrow at Marnie. "Will I ever get the chance to meet this mysterious brother of yours? After all, I guess we'll be going to Spikemuth, and that's your hometown, innit?"
Marnie cleared her throat before responding in a hesitant voice. "Oh, I'm sure you'll meet him, then."
"Do I get to hear about him or am I just goin' in blind?" I asked, bumping my shoulder into hers.
"Maybe I like surprises," Marnie responded, bumping me back. Our hands fell together on my thigh, and I could feel her catch her breath for just a moment.
"Blimey, would you two just kiss already?" Hop said with a snicker.
"We have," I said, deadpan. Marnie tensed up just in the slightest, and as she started to blush, she found an interesting spot on the floor to stare at and quickly pulled her hand away from me.
Hop blinked and looked at us in surprise. "Well, er, congratulations, then? I guess. So, you're, what, an item?"
"We don't need to talk about it right now," Marnie said in a flat voice, blushing even deeper.
"You think that's what Opal means when she keeps talking about 'pink?'" I asked Hop, snickering and quickly dodging the punch in the arm that was Marnie's response.
"I think anyone else would be embarrassed to be dating you too," Hop joked, quickly dodging a punch in the arm from me before the two of us started laughing. Marnie even chuckled a bit too, and brought her hand back to mine, clasping it with a slight squeeze. Hop brought his phone over and Marnie snuggled up on my shoulder so we could all catch Victor's battle on the small screen.
Much like Marnie's, the battle was over quickly, but unlike Marnie's, it was for much worse reasons. Like me, Victor couldn't seem to get a solid footing against any of Opal's Pokémon. His Drizzile did a great job of keeping Weezing from mucking up the floor, but it was quickly outmatched. Kubfu and Nuzleaf managed to get a knockout on Mawile eventually, but that damned Togekiss made short work of both of them. All that was left was his Growlithe, and though it put up a valiant fight, managing to finally down Togekiss, the exhaustion from battling was too much, and it fell before Opal released Alcremie for the battle. Marnie was nodding along intensely, seemingly analyzing each play made by both challenger and leader, while Hop seemed to shrink further and further into the wall with each hit that landed on one of Victor's Pokémon. The live feed cut, and Victor's trainer ID flashed on the screen, as well as his rank, which dropped down from 84 to 90.
"That's not so bad," I mused.
"Not too many people manage to beat Opal," Hop explained with a gulp.
"I can get that," I said with a grimace, patting my Pokéballs. "But I'm sure you'll give her a good what's-what!"
"I…" he said, somehow shrinking even further back into the wall.
Just then, the big wooden doors opened again, and Victor strolled out. He didn't look too upset at the loss, but when I walked up to him with outstretched arms, he slumped thankfully into them with a groan. "Yeah, she's the real deal," he said with a laugh after he pulled himself away.
"You jus' can't let her psych you out, right?" Marnie said, walking over to us with Hop. "Sure, she hits like a truck, but power ain't everythin'."
"You alright?" I asked.
"Yeah!" he said with a smile. "It wasn't as bad as my first gym loss. Besides, once Hop goes, I have an idea on how we can train up, Isle of Armour style!" He flashed a smarmy grin and shot a couple finger guns at us. Marnie and I exchanged glances and smirked. Hop laughed nervously.
"About that," Hop said, "I think I should just head back with you lot now."
"What?" Victor asked, dropping his hands to his hips and looking at him with surprise. "Hop, don't be ridiculous, we're all here for the gym battle, it's your turn!"
"Look, you and Gloria both lost, how am I supposed to beat her now?" Hop muttered.
"I didn't have too much trouble, thanks," Marnie said, squinting at Hop.
"That's…" Hop began, but when he couldn't think of a strong enough response, he turned his head and stalked out the door.
"What?" Marnie asked, looking at Victor and me blankly.
"Very tactful, you are," Victor said to her, jogging after Hop.
"What'd I say?" Marnie asked, glancing at me. There was something in her eyes I couldn't understand, as if a lot more depended on my answer than it should have.
"Hop's just been…not himself lately," I said. "You know that."
"Bit annoyin' if you ask me," she pouted.
I paused and then nodded slowly. "Right, but just, maybe go easy on him a bit?"
Marnie narrowed her eyes and sighed. "I s'pose I could." I brought her in for a gentle hug, and although she resisted at first, she hugged me back.
"Thanks," I said, pecking her on the nose, causing it to crinkle in faux annoyance. She wriggled free and the two of us headed to the door.
Outside, we quickly caught up with Hop and Victor. Hop and Marnie both looked down at the ground without making eye contact, but with a nudge from me, Marnie muttered a quick apology, which seemed to please Victor well enough. The four of us made our way to the Pokémon Center. The mushrooms seemed dimmer, somehow – less inviting, but I couldn't put my finger on the why. There were still a few children and villagers playing in the streets, but they were walking a little bit faster than they were this morning, as if eager to get their errands done more quickly. A child looked at us curiously before being whisked away by her mother. Suddenly, a swift gust of wind blew threw the street and out towards Glimwood Tangle, causing all of us to shiver.
"So, what's this big training tactic you've thought up?" I asked Victor.
"You ever wonder how Pokémon get the ability to Gigantamax instead of just Dynamaxing?" Victor asked mysteriously.
"Not really," I admitted. "I never really thought about it." Hop and Marnie both looked at Victor blankly.
"Well, as it so happens, I know just how to do it," Victor said, pulling out his phone again and showing me the article he had been reading before his gym battle began.
"…Victor, this is a soup recipe," I said, frowning as I skimmed over what seemed to be exactly that. The ingredients were standard for a thick stew, vegetables, a meat packet, and broth, but at the end of the list was a mushroom I had never seen before. "Wait, what's a Max Mushroom?"
"I'm glad you asked," Victor said with a rush of pride in his voice. "See, you know how roots and berries can be used for all sorts of different salves and effects in Pokémon medicine? Master Mustard's wife, Honey, had told me about a rare mushroom that contains some connection to Dynamax Energy!"
"Plants have Gigantamax Energy?" Marnie asked.
"Mushrooms mean Gigantamaxing?" Hop asked.
"There's a woman whose name is actually Honey Mustard?" I asked.
"They do, They can once they're properly refined in a stew, and she chose to keep her last name when she married Mustard specifically so she wouldn't have the name," Victor said.
"So, this is less of a training and more of a cooking thing?" I asked.
"Not exactly. See, it's a longstanding tradition on the Isle to make this soup for trainers who have a special bond with Pokémon who are able to access a Gigantamax form. Apparently, the process of Gigantamaxing is a difficult one, and if a trainer has not achieved a strong enough bond, their Pokémon will do one of two things.
"Which are?"
"Either not be able to achieve the Gigantamax form or lose all control once it successfully completes the process."
Hop gulped. "Sounds a little dangerous," he said. As he spoke, another gust of wind blew through Ballonlea, a bit stronger this time, and like the first, it seemed to push out into the entrance to Glimwood Tangle.
"Not if you and your partner Pokémon trust one another," Victor said. "Mustard told me that almost every Gym Leader's ace learned to Gigantamax from this ritual. We even did one for Klara, one of the trainers I met on the Isle. 'Course, her bond with her Pokémon wasn't strong enough, so no one was able to Gigantamax, but that's a story for another day."
"So, what, we just make this soup and that's it? Our Pokémon can Gigantamax?" Marnie asked.
"There's more to it, but yeah, basically," Victor said with a shrug. "Most of the ingredients are pretty easy to find; it's just the mushrooms that are rare."
"But there are a whole bunch of mushrooms out in Glimwood Tangle!" I cried with excitement.
"They have been seen in Glimwood tangle, yes," Victor confirmed, "though they're much rarer than they are in the Isle of Armour. At any rate, we can get some good training in while we look!"
"That's amazing!" I said.
"But do any of us even have Pokémon that can Gigantamax?" Hop asked dully.
"C'mon," Victor said. "You really think I would have not done the appropriate research before I told you guys? We all have a Pokémon that could eventually Gigantamax. I've got Butterfree, and eventually Drizzile could too. Marnie, you caught that Morgrem, and Hop has Thwackey, and even though they won't be able to Gigantamax until they evolve one last time, they could still potentially eat the soup, but Gloria…"
"I have Cinderace," I said.
"You've got Cinderace, exactly," Victor said. "If a lack of firepower is what was holding you back for Opal's gym, why not give you more firepower?"
"Well, I'm sold," I said with a grin.
"Once again, buttin' in to say power ain't everythin'," Marnie huffed. "But I'll tag along anyway."
"I suppose I could, too," Hop said.
"You'd better," I needled, poking his shoulder. "I can't have you keep runnin' off like this, and you've still got to call your brother."
"Alright, Gloria," Hop sighed as we reached the entrance to the Pokémon Center. "Can you just give me a little privacy for a bit?"
"Yeah, sure," I agreed, and he walked through the door and made a Combee line to a quiet corner on the inside of the lobby before pulling out his phone. Even from across the room, I could see the hesitation in his fingers as he dialed a number, but as promised, I walked to the front desk with Marnie and Victor so our teams could get a quick checkup before we headed out into the Tangle again. Once we dropped off our Pokéballs, we headed to a booth near the entrance. As we waited, I glanced out the window to see that the winds were still blowing, and the mushrooms scattered across the street began flickering like incandescent lightbulbs. As it did, I felt a soft buzz on my wrist. I glanced at my Dynamax wristband. It had clicked on suddenly, but the Dynamax levels seemed to be normal. I frowned and tapped at it, but it gave no other response
"Weird that there's this much wind in a forest," Victor said, frowning and tapping Sonia's old wishing star earring. Had he gotten a weird reading too?
"Everything about this place is weird," Marnie groaned. I saw her wrist twitch a bit as her wristband lit up, but she didn't pay it any mind.
"D'you think we should wait for a bit?" I asked. "It looks like a storm is…"
But before I could finish the sentence, the winds died down and the mushrooms began to glow brightly again, as if nothing weird had occurred at all. Even the townsfolk who were still out began to slow their pace and return to their activities leisurely.
"I can't get a read on this place at all," I concluded, slipping back down into the booth.
"Oh, are you talking about the winds?" a friendly sounding voice asked. I turned and saw the pale pink hair of a PC Nurse as she approached us. She was holding a tray with all of our Pokéballs. "Your Pokémon are doing just fine, by the way," she said, beaming.
"These winds are normal around here?" Victor asked.
"Nothing is normal around here," Marnie grumbled.
"More normal than you'd think," the nurse said, choosing to ignore Marnie's remark. "Gusts like this happen all the time, usually when there's too much of Weezing's gas floating around out there and we need to push it out manually."
"It didn't seem too foggy, though," Victor said.
"There are many reasons those winds blow," the nurse continued, "and they do seem to be blowing more frequently and harshly these days. Usually, it's a signifier that there's a storm near the tangle."
"So, we should wait it out?" I asked.
The nurse smiled and shook her head. "If you want, trainers are always welcome to stay here as long as they'd like. But no storm is strong enough to cause any serious damage. At worst, you'll just get very windswept hair. If you're planning to explore the town or perhaps train in the forest, you'll be okay."
"That's settled then!" Victor said happily, taking our Pokéballs off the nurse's tray and distributing them among us.
As he did, Hop came over with a stern expression on his face. "Right, we're going out to forage mushrooms, I can do that," he said, looking at all of us. "Let's go!" And without any sort of confirmation from the rest of us, he sprinted out the door.
"Who knew a call to Leon would be that good for him?" Victor asked, haphazardly grabbing his bag and stuffing his Pokéballs onto his belt. Marnie and I followed suit and the four of us raced out of the Pokémon Center and towards the forest's edge, guided by yet another curiously strong gust of wind.
A/N: And now we know why I sent Victor off to the Isle. It's time for that Gigantamax Cinderace! Well...it will be, if they can find those Max Mushrooms. Hopefully, those winds don't mean much...
NEXT WEEK: THE STORM