A/N: Max Soup is on! I originally planned for this to be a much more dramatic and tense chapter, but it wasn't working for me, so I scrapped the whole thing and rewrote it. No emo story beats (or at least not as many) this time around. Enjoy!

"Welcome back to GBC News at 1; My name is Lily Hewitt. In an update on last night's freak Dynamax Storm, which formed just North of Hammerlocke and carried itself all the way through and past Stow-on-Side and Ballonlea before finally petering out around midnight last night, GBC has an exclusive interview with Professor Magdalene Magnolia. Good afternoon, Mrs. Magnolia, and welcome to the show."

The camera panned slightly, and a small box appeared next to Lily Hewitt on the screen. Inside was a webcam feed of Professor Magnolia in her lab in Wedgehurst. Behind her were a few men and women running around in white lab coats but standing out from all of them was a shock of orange hair leaned over a stack of ancient books in the background. Professor Magnolia smiled sweetly and brought a cup of tea to her lips. "Good afternoon, dear, thank you for having me on," she replied.

"Professor, as the leading researcher on the Dynamax Phenomenon in Galar, does it trouble you that Dynamax Energy has been spiking so frequently in the past two months?"

Magnolia paused, deep in thought, and smiled again. "Well, yes and no," she said slowly. "Of course, I am greatly perturbed by the storms, and they are quite scary when you're not prepared for them, but I do find it rather exciting to see some interesting new data, even if that does sound a bit macabre." She giggled, and the shock of orange hair turned to stare at her grandmother with eyes wide enough that we could see the whites of them, even sitting a dozen feet away from the TV screen.

"Oh man," Victor said, nudging Hop next to me. "Sonia's gonna have an aneurysm from this, you just wait." Hop snickered and leaned forward, fully focused on the screen.

Back on the TV screen, Lily Hewitt laughed awkwardly. "Well, it does sound a bit macabre, frankly," she deterred.

"Oh, my dear, it's nothing too trifling," Magnolia replied, waving her arms. "Minor injuries from Gym Challengers and a little property damage that would have come from regular storms as well, that's all it is. Now, it's important to note that these waves of Dynamax Energy are quite common; they just stay within the confinements of certain points of interest in the Wild Area. When these waves surge, it seems like a beam of light shoots out of the ground – and that's a quite common sight for any trainer on their Gym Challenge, you can ask them."

"Yes, but these storms have been stronger, and have occurred outside of the Wild Area. And the one last night lasted for hours as it moved through the region."

"And that's what makes it so exciting!" Magnolia replied happily. "See, Lily, for the last few weeks, I and my team have been studying how—"

"What she means is," Sonia suddenly said, rushing up to her grandmother and grabbing her on the shoulder forcefully, "the fact that these storms have been happening so frequently is enough to cause alarm, but there's been so much new data to process that we haven't yet found a cause or any reason to suspect that there is anything causing the storms to worsen. We don't believe anyone is in any sort of danger currently, but we will update you all as soon as we have reason to believe there is any!" She smiled widely and her eyes flicked over to Magnolia, who was rolling hers dramatically.

"Oh, Sonia Magnolia!" Lily said with a surprised grin. "While you're here, can you provide us with any information regarding the destroyed mural just outside of Stow-on-Side? Witnesses report seeing both you and four Gym Challengers, including league favorite Marnie."

"Shit, not this again. Wait, am I allowed to say that on air—oh shit, I mean—"

"Whoa! Looks like we're having a few technical difficulties with the feed!" Lily said quickly and loudly as Magnolia's camera feed cut out. "But you heard it from the experts; no cause for alarm, at least for the time being. Next up—"

Hop and Victor burst out laughing as the anchor stumbled to move on to her next story. I chuckled a bit and turned my head back towards the Hospital Door near the front desk. We had rushed Grimmsnarl through those doors hours ago, but as Grimmsnarl was Marnie's Pokémon, only she was allowed to stay with him. None of us had seen or heard from her since. It had been a long night, waiting to hear any updates.

"Gloria?" the front desk nurse asked, waving over to me. I hopped up and rushed to the desk, where the nurse happily handed me Cinderace's Pokéball. "He should probably still get some rest, especially after the last two days he's had, but outside of fatigue, he sustained no serious injuries."

"Thanks," I said, feeling some of my anxiety melt away. I tucked Cinderace's Pokéball away. "Any update on Grimmsnarl?"

"Once again, Gloria, as it he not your Pokémon, we are not at liberty to disclose—"

"Fine, I know," I grumbled.

The nurse's eyes softened. "I'll go check in on him and his trainer," she said, and quickly walked through the doors. Slowly, I walked back to the couch where Hop and Victor sat. Both of them were looking at me intently.

"Good news is Cinderace should be fine with just a bit more rest," I said, tossing his ball up and down in my hand.

"Still nothing about Grimmsnarl?" Hop asked. I shook my head sadly.

"Well, hey, no point in wallowing in it," Victor said, standing up and clapping me on the shoulder. "Pokémon Center Docs are miracle workers. Come on, we have the mushrooms. I'm going to see if I can't find the other ingredients around town and then maybe we can have some of that Max Soup today!"

"I dunno…" I said, bringing my left arm up and brushing his hand off my shoulder.

"Gloria," Victor whispered. "Grimmsnarl will be okay. If there was nothing they could do about him, we would know about it."

"It's not…just Grimmsnarl," I muttered.

"Don't be daft," he chided. "Half the girls watching the league want to snog you, in case Marnie doesn't want to anymore, and wow, that sounded a lot meaner than I thought it would; I'm just going to shut up and buy the ingredients for the soup."

I smiled and pulled him in for a hug. "You're such a dumbarse, but I love you, Vic."

"Love you too, Gloria. We'll cook it in the kitchens here, and in case Marnie doesn't hate your guts for almost killing her Pokémon, she's also invited."

"Really pushing your luck," I said, laughing. "Get out of here." I watched as he and Hop walked out the door, and once they were gone, I wandered back to the couch to wait for any update from Marnie or the nurse. However, I didn't have to wait long at all; before I even made it to the couch, I heard the emergency room doors swing open and Marnie stepped out.

She looked rough. There were still branches and dirt in her hair and on her clothes from the storm, and her usually perfect makeup was smudged and faded, doing nothing to conceal the large dark circles under her eyes. She glanced wearily around the room before noticing me, took a deep breath, and slowly walked over. She did not look thrilled to see me. Morpeko skittered up to me first, nuzzling up to my ankles with a friendly zap of electricity.

"How is he?" I asked.

"Not great," she said shortly. "Stable. May have to fly 'im into a PC in Hammerlocke. Nurse says they have to run some more tests." Her voice was flat, but instead of her usual guarded nature keeping her neutral, it seemed she was too exhausted to express emotions.

"Oh, Marnie," I said. "Are…are you okay?"

She paused, letting the gears in her mind work at a much slower pace. "I feel like shit," she said finally.

"You look like shit," I joked, reaching over to brush some dust off her leather jacket. Before I could touch her, she quickly brought her hand up and grabbed my arm. She glanced back up and looked at me, her emerald eyes dulled from lack of sleep but still sharp enough to cut straight through me. "It…I was trying to…I…" I sputtered, trying to find the right words.

"Not a great time for jokes, 'm afraid," she said. She let go of my arm and looked at me expectantly as I let my arm fall back to my side. For a moment the two of us stood there, staring at each other; me not knowing what to say and her seemingly not interested in giving me a hint at what I should. Finally, Marnie nodded and began to turn around. "C'mon, Morpeko, 'bout time we hit the sack."

"Marnie, I…I'm so sorry," I said, finally. She stopped and hung her head, but did not look back to me, as if daring me to continue. "I should have been more careful when I was trying to calm Grimmsnarl down. I should…I should have convinced Hop and Victor to wait instead of going out to find the mushrooms, I should have…I should have…"

"Gloria, shut up," she replied, turning back around. She took a couple steps toward me, so we were face to face, mere inches apart. I swallowed nervously. She blinked once, twice, and then her eyes slowly closed and she brought her head down on my shoulder. "I know you're sorry," she said, her voice muffled in my sweater. I brought my arms up to hug her, but before I could, she pulled herself away. "Make no mistake; I am still mad," she grumbled.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Marnie looked at me, sighed, and then sat down stiffly on the couch, motioning me to follow suit. "Y'know how I said my brother and I used to do Dynamax Battles over at those giant statues?"

"Yeah," I said, sitting next to her.

"We don't anymore," she said. "Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing ain't just supercharging your partner Pokémon for a minute to turn the tide of a match, right? Used to be only the strongest trainers were able to Dynamax or Gigantamax their Pokémon. A Pokémon can only really handle the pressure of Dynamaxing through the bond it has with its trainer, and Gigantamaxing is even more stressful. 'Course, with wishing stars and Dynamax Bands and the way they control Dynamax Energy in gyms and the League, it's easier to control these days, but back in the day it was real hard."

"I think I remember reading about that," I replied.

"When you don't have that bond built up, it's harder to battle alongside your Pokémon," Marnie continued. "My brother learned that the hard way. His partner Pokémon lost control, and attacked everythin', worked itself to exhaustion, an' the only way he could stop it was through attackin' it right back. But by the time we got it back under control, it was too late. His Pokémon died."

"Marnie…I'm so sorry," I said shakily. Morpeko skittered up Marnie's leg and into her lap, where she pet her softly. I saw that Marnie's hands were shaking.

Marnie inhaled sharply. "It's fine," she continued. "But my bro was never the same after. Thought I was goin' to see how all that felt first-hand here, too. An' then you lot just happily goin' about with your Gigantamax Mushrooms an' everythin', just sort of rubbed me the wrong way."

"I had no idea."

"I know, an' that's why I'm forgivin' you this time," she said. "I never told you. In case you hadn't noticed, I don't really open up much, an' it don't seem fair takin' it out on you for somethin' you didn't know anythin' about. B'sides, more I think about it, the more I'm mad at myself for keepin' Grimmsnarl out in a Dynamax Storm so long on the literal day I caught 'im, really." She stood back up and held out her hand, which I took.

"So, we're…we're cool, right?" I asked, letting her pull me back up.

Marnie sighed. "I guess, yeah," she admitted, and leaned in to kiss me tenderly on the cheek. "You should probably make a habit of listening to me more often, though," she whispered playfully. Her breath was warm in my ear.

"Hop and Vic are going to make that Max Soup tonight," I said, wondering if she could feel the heat radiating off my cheeks. "They wanted to tell you you're invited, but you don't have to, and now I dunno if I should—"

"Gloria," Marnie said with a weak smile. "It's fine. You and Cinderace are almost as tight a team as me and Morpeko; you did manage to keep him from going over the edge pretty easily. But I might sit this one out. Like you said, I look like shit."

"Very pretty…shit…" I replied.

She frowned. "You workshop that an' get back to me," she groaned. "I need to get some sleep."

"Right, of course. I'll make sure they don't bother you." I started to leave but I felt her hand grasp my wrist tightly.

"How…how'd you sleep last night?" she asked.

"Not well," I admitted.

Marnie hesitated and bit her lip. "Can you come with us?" she asked softly. Morpeko hopped up to her shoulder and looked back and forth at the two of us intently.

"Yeah, sure," I said quickly. "Victor made sure to book four beds next to each other, I can show you where they are, and then I can be out of your—"

"No, Gloria," Marnie interrupted, even quieter. "Can you …stay with us?"

I blinked. "Yeah, of course, whatever you need. I could definitely get a nap in, too. I'll just be one bed over."

It was Marnie's turn to blush, and her face grew bright red as she took another deep breath. "You can…you can sleep a bit closer if you want." She came back up to me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. "Morpeko doesn't…I don't want to be alone right now." The two of us blinked at each other for a couple seconds before Marnie's lips twitched.

"You mean like…" I mumbled, cursing my dry tongue.

Flustered, Marnie pulled herself away. "Forget it; it's stupid, sorry. Just go out with Hop and Victor, I'll be fine."

She made to leave but I quickly grabbed her hand and pulled her back to me. "No, I want to stay," I said quickly.

Marnie smiled in relief and hugged me tightly. "Thanks for not bein' weird about it," she said softly.

"I fully intend to be weird about it, actually," I said with a crooked grin. She rolled her eyes and knocked me in the arm.

At almost the moment our heads hit the pillows, we were both out like a light, and in the early evening, I felt a prodding on my shoulder pulling me out of my sleep. My eyes fluttered open to see Marnie's face, a few inches from mine.

"G'morning, then," she said.

"I's morning?" I yawned.

"Naw," she laughed. "Only abou' dinner time. Your brother has come in twice already, but he's been trying to let us sleep, or somethin' like tha'." I stretched and sat up in the twin bed we had shared as Marnie got out of the bed and grabbed her boots. "Thanks," she said quietly, face ever so slightly pink.

"For what?"

"For…this. It was…it was a better way to spend the afternoon than sitting next to Grimmsnarl."

"Glad I managed to be more enjoyable," I said dryly, as Marnie snickered. "You feeling better?"

"A little," she said with a shrug. "I am gonna go check on Grimmsnarl, though."

"Did you still want to come for the soup?" I asked.

She shrugged and grunted noncommittally. "Good Luck. I know Cinderace can handle it." She slipped out the door and I didn't even have enough time to think about how the whole day had gone before Victor barged in.

"Helloooo, Sleeping Beauty," he chimed with a smirk. "True Love's Kiss finally wake you?"

"You're the worst," I groaned with a smile.

He feigned surprise. "No? Well, I guess that tracks, Marnie seems more like the evil Hydreigon guarding the castle."

"Yeah, it's super hot, actually," I sneered. "Where's Hop?"

"He's watching the pot. It's almost ready, bring Cinderace with you, okay?"

"Right," I said, grabbing Cinderace's Pokéball from the bedside table and following him out the room. Instead of turning right to go to the lobby, we turned left and went deeper into the Pokémon Center and through a door at the end of the hall. Inside were a gathering of trainers, including a couple gym trainers who eyed me curiously. At the far end was a small kitchen space, completely overtaken by Hop and a pile of groceries. He looked over and waved at us.

"He seems chipper," I commented.

"Yeah, he's been distracted with the recipe. It's a pretty involved process for just being a soup."

"Do I have to do anything at all?"

"Oh yes, there's…the ritual." Victor said in his best spooky voice, wiggling his fingers in the air near his head for added effect.

"The what?"

"Don't worry about it," he laughed. "Go grab a spot and call out Cinderace." He then pointed over to a table I hadn't even noticed. Thwackey and Drizzile were sitting next to a table with eight bowls set around it. I tossed out Cinderace's Pokéball, and upon appearing, he jogged over to hang out with his friends. I followed behind and made a spot for myself next to Cinderace. Victor and Hop joined only a few seconds later, Hop carrying the pot.

"Max Soup's on!" Victor said with a wide grin, grabbing my bowl and filling it up. It smelled earthy but pleasant; the mushrooms gave off a bright scent well-complemented by the carrots and potatoes that were sitting in the reddish-brown broth. I took a second whiff and smelled a hint of pepper and spice and my stomach rumbled.

"This actually looks pretty good, Victor," I said hungrily.

"Don't thank me, it was all Hop," he beamed.

Hop shrugged and smiled awkwardly. "Nice to know I'm good for something around here, mate."

Victor glanced at two of the bowls. "Marnie coming?"

"No," I sighed. "She's understandably a little put off about Gigantamaxing and everythin'"

"Makes sense," he replied, scooting the bowls to the side and sitting on my other side. Drizzile hopped up on the bench next to him. "Now, are you ready for…the ritual?"

"Why do you keep saying the ritual like that?" I asked.

"Because it's mostly a bunch of bogus," he laughed. "All you need to do is to affirm your bond with Cinderace before you both eat. Part of it is eating the soup, but Cinderace is the one who's going to be Gigantamaxing from now on, so it's important that you're able to see him through this dinner."

I looked over to Cinderace, who sniffed the bowl curiously. "You good?" I asked him. He looked up to me and smiled, as if waiting for me to dig in first. I grabbed a spoon and dunked it in the soup, catching another whiff of its spices and taking a deep breath.

"Are you good?" Victor asked. He and Drizzile were already slurping it up.

"Wait, Drizzile can eat this no problem?" I asked.

"Well, it doesn't seem to have any effect on Pokémon who can't unlock a Gigantamax Form," he explained. "Drizzile would have to evolve one more time before I'd have to worry about it. Don't ask me the exact science; it's super complicated and I don't think I follow most of it. I will say, Drizzile had a little reaction the first time he had some, but I think that's just because it's a little spicy."

I looked over to Hop and Thwackey, both of which were sniffing their soups with the same doubts I had. "You sure it's safe?" he asked.

Victor groaned. "Hop, you made the soup, you tell me if it's safe."

"Well, what if my bond with Thwackey isn't…you know, strong enough?"

"You want me to call up Mustard myself? The worst this could do to Thwackey is give him some indigestion. Come on, we risked our lives for these mushrooms, might as well dig in!" And with that, he brought the bowl up to his mouth and took a big gulp.

I looked over at Cinderace. "You think this is the right thing to do?" I asked. He looked at me curiously, his nose twitching. "I know you had a hard time with all that Dynamax energy during the storm last night, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about how well you could handle Gigantamaxing.

"Marnie was right; Pokémon battling isn't just about power. She could beat Opal no problem, and I know if we're smart, we can beat her without Gigantamaxing. So, I'll leave it up to you, Cinderace. No matter which you choose, I'll trust it's the right decision." I brought my hand over to his head and scratched him softly by his ear as he mulled it over.

"That was really touching, Gloria," Victor said.

"Shut it," I growled. "I mean it. You said this was about the bond between—"

"No, I'm totally serious!" he explained with a laugh. "And hey, not to put my finger on the scale or anything, Cinderace, but I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't believe you two didn't share a strong enough bond."

Cinderace nodded and brought his paws to the bowl, and as he did, the door to the hallway swung open and Marnie appeared. Her face was blank, but she quickly walked up to us and nodded. "How's the grub?" she asked.

"Great, if you want me to pour you a bowl," Victor replied. "How's Grimmsnarl?"

Marnie winced, then took a deep breath. "Same as before. Stable. Gloria, you doing this or what?"

"Well…" I said.

"Oh, don't be such a pisser," she said, rolling her eyes. She turned to Cinderace. "Jus' do it."

Cinderace looked back at me and chirped, then brought the bowl to his mouth and started lapping up the soup. I nodded and spooned out a bite for myself. It tasted just as good as it smelled; full-bodied and earthy, but also hot and fresh, with just a hint of spice. As I chewed on one of the mushrooms, I could feel what felt like a jolt of energy zip through my mouth and into my teeth, but otherwise it just tasted like a good soup. Cinderace didn't seem to have a strong reaction either, chewing thoughtfully, and much quicker when he realized he loved the taste of it.

Victor spooned up a bowl for Marnie as well and the lot of us ate in silence. Finally, we had finished, and I looked at the other three trainers and the three Pokémon at our table expectantly. "Is…is that it?"

"Yeah," Hop said. "The way you were talking about it, I figured this would be more of an…experience, or somethin'."

"Do you feel any different, Cinderace?" I asked, and he looked at me, and then his bowl, confused. Then we both turned to Victor.

"Well, don't look at me," he sputtered. "I've never seen it go successfully; I guess we could try to have Cinderace Dynamax for us…"

"I'm out if that's the plan," Marnie said suddenly. "I'm not up for sending another one of my partners to the ICU."

"Oh, I'm never going out in one of those storms again," Victor said, shuddering. "But Mustard said this is what to do and gave us the recipe."

"I probably screwed that up, too," Hop said grumpily.

"Hop, it was delicious," I said.

"Yeah, tasted just like it did on the Isle," Victor soothed. "We were a bit low on max mushrooms so that could be it, I suppose, but that's hardly your fault, Hop."

"I guess," he replied sadly.

"So, we really just almost killed ourselves last night for nothing?" Marnie said. I could sense that a fuse was lit inside her.

"Well, I guess we just don't find out until Gloria tries it," Victor said sheepishly, and then the three turned to me.

"Well," I replied nervously. "Guess I have to go do Opal's callback, then, huh?"

A/N: What's that? Marnie actually opening up and being vulnerable? Perish the thought! (actually no don't, writing her overcoming her fears of vulnerability is very fun and I love it, hope I get to do that more). And the soup has been consumed! ...but did it work? Guess we'll just have to find out next week!

NEXT WEEK: THE CALLBACK