A/N: A bit of housekeeping. I double-checked my notes and it was supposed to be Leon who called the meeting of Gym Leaders that Opal mentioned last chapter, not Chairman Rose. That's been edited in the prior chapter so it's correct so if you are still catching up, this note will probably make no sense! It was a single line of dialogue, but I try to run a tight ship here. Enjoy the chapter!

I pushed open the heavy wooden doors to see Hop and Victor smiling widely – Seemed like they had remembered to watch the battle on the livestream this time around. "Not so tough the second time around," I bragged, flashing my new badge at them like.

"Brilliant all around, mate," Hop said. "We watched on Victor's phone; she didn't even stand a chance!"

"I feel loads more comfortable taking her on now," Victor agreed cheerily.

"Good," I replied. "Because you're up, Vic." His expression faltered as he realized he could very soon eat his words, but he swallowed it with pride, smiled at the two of us and collected himself quickly before pushing the door open and walking through.

"He's really gotten a lot better since we first started," Hop commented.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I have half a mind to sod off to that Isle of Armor myself, see what all the fuss is about."

"Like you'd need it," Hop laughed, clapping me on the back. "A real Gigantamax Cinderace! You really earned that number two spot, then."

"Two?" I gasped. "What do you mean?"

"Check the app," Hop shrugged as he turned around, headed back to the wall where we sat waiting last time around.

I pulled out my phone and opened the Gym Challenge app, and right there on the home screen I saw my face, next to a large number two and an upwards facing arrow. I gasped again and tapped on the icon. The app's interface changed into the top ten trainer ranks, and sure enough, right underneath Marnie was me. "That's…that's not real, is it?" I stammered. "Where…where are…wait…" I scrolled down the ranks. Every name outside of mine and Marnie's were ones I couldn't recognize. But before I could investigate even further, my phone vibrated violently in my hand as a new window with the message "Call from: Mum" popped up.

"You comin' to watch Victor's battle, then?" Hop asked.

"Nah," I replied. "Mum's calling me, you'll probably both be done with the whole gym challenge before she hangs up."

"Talk about the favorite child," I heard Hop joke as I hustled out the door and out into the street, tapping the icon on the screen to accept the call.

"Hey, Mum, I—shit!" I said in surprise as the wall of fans we had come with began to cheer loudly. Sam and Eddie were both trying to claw their way to the front to either pick my brain about the battle or pull me away to relative safety, but I quickly rushed back into the lobby of the theatre where they mercifully did not follow me in.

"Oh yeah, it's a madhouse out there," Hop said quickly.

"Yeah, thanks for the warning," I said, sticking my tongue out.

"Gloria, is everything alright over there?" Mum asked over the phone.

"Yeah, mum, it's fine, there's just a lot of excited people out there!" I laughed, thankful that they at least were not trying to crowd into the lobby with us. It was only then that I saw the Macro Cosmos employee standing near the doors, looking intimidating next to his partner Pokémon Bronzong, a dark blue and teal bell with red eyes.

"Can't say I'm surprised!" Mum cheered on the other end. "You did wonderful out there, today. I'm so proud of you and all your Pokémon!"

"Thanks, Mum."

"Though I do wish I could have seen that cute little Ponyta again. You will let me see her soon, won't you?"

I rolled my eyes, thankful she wasn't there to see it. "Yeah, don't worry, I can set up a video chat or—wait, shouldn't you be watching Victor? He's up next!"

"Oh, you know we've got him up on the telly." As if to punctuate her point, I could hear Hop's parents cheering at something in the background. "Wha' happened—oh my, woohoo!"

"What, what happened?"

"Who'd have thought that a Butterfree would be so tough to battle?" she replied. "I told Vic to get a better Pokémon after he lost that battle against Kabu but now I've really got egg on my face. Ed, you're taping over this, right? Yes, I know DVR works differently, put a sock in it—"

"Mum!"

"Gloria, right. Vic's going to be hot on your trail for your next gym badge, sweetie," she continued. "Good thing they're still letting you three do the gym challenge!"

I blinked and switched the phone, so it was nestled up against my other ear. "Why would they not?"

"Gloria, I swear, you should be old enough to keep up with current events."

"Sorry, Mum, I've been busy…"

"Busy sneaking into public spaces in the middle of the night, it seems."

"Mom, what? No! What are you—"

"Gloria, we all saw the news report; you and Victor were traipsing around with that Bede and Marnie character and—"

"Whoa, whoa, do not lump the two of them together like that," I interjected.

"I'm not lumping them together alone, I'm lumping them together with you and your brother," Mum argued hotly. "I know you're old enough to make decisions on who or what you spend your time with, and you know I'm proud of you and love you no matter what, but especially considering what they did to that mural…"

"What the two…Mum, no, the mural thing was all Bede, that kid's a piece of shi—he's a real piece of work, Mum."

"Gloria, everyone's been saying Team Yell's had something to do with the mural being destroyed, and they're all her crazy…superfans or whatever nonsense."

"Team Yell wasn't even there!" I shouted. "Who on earth is saying that?"

"Of course, they were there," she scoffed. "I saw the video. That…that Marnie girl's basically their ringleader, and she was right there—"

"Mum, are you kidding me?!"

"Look, I know you said you two were friends, but you can't tell me she didn't have anything to do with it; this Team Yell has been doing all sorts of damage in the region and most of the time they're right there next to her. They're probably keeping her name out the news because her brother is the only—"

"Mum, I can tell you she didn't have anything to do with it because she was next to me the whole time. You can ask Victor! Or Sonia! Sonia was there, too!"

"Alright! Alright!" Her tone implied that even though she didn't believe me, she still wanted to de-escalate. "I didn't call about that anyway. I wanted to call and tell you how well you did and how proud I am of you, that's all. I'm sorry things got so heated, but you know I worry about you."

I sighed and put my hand up to my face. "Yeah, Mum, I know. But believe me when I tell you that Marnie is great, and Team Yell isn't even that bad once you get to know 'em."

There was another long pause, and I could just see my Mum silently piecing together her next sentence in the most diplomatic way possible. "Alright," she finally said. "I'm choosing to trust you, then. But be smart. The last thing you or I want is for the Pokémon League to kick you and your brother out the competition, too."

"Too?" I asked, but as I did, I was interrupted by Hop's parents over the phone and Hop himself a few feet away from me cheering loudly.

"Vic! What a hit!" Hop cried. "Gloria! Gloria, he got her! He nailed that Alcremie like it was nothing!" I rushed over to where he was sitting to see the screen just in time to see Victor lifting Drizzile up in celebration before fading back to a graphic of his face, and a number that rose from 90 to 78.

"Gloria, I've gotta go," Mum said as the cheering subsided. "As you probably heard, Victor got a big win. I'd like to call your brother and congratulate him. Give him a hug for me, would you? I love you."

"Yeah, Mum." I grunted, removing my phone from my cheek and tapping the red circle to end the call.

"Can't believe you missed the whole battle," Hop said with a nervous laugh."

"Can't believe my Mum called to congratulate me and still make me feel like—"

The door burst open, and Victor rushed out with Drizzile closely behind him. "I did it!" He cried. "Oh man, I cannot believe that worked! Gloria, Hop, did you see that?"

"Well, one of us did," Hop said, winking at me. "Guess Opal's not so scary after all, huh? Maybe it's time to end this slump finally!" He took a deep breath and didn't step forward at all. He stood there for three whole seconds before I finally lifted my hand and gently pushed him to the door. "Right, Gloria, thanks," he said sheepishly, and slowly walked into the theatre, heavy wooden doors swinging closed behind him.

"What did he mean one of you did?" Victor asked, looking at me with confusion. "Wait, are you okay?"

"I need a sec, actually," I said, keeping my voice as steady as I could. "Tell me all about it when I get back. Enjoy your call from Mum," I said and walked to the bathroom on the other side of the lobby, clapping him on the shoulder as I walked past.

The door swung shut behind me and I leaned back on it with a heavy sigh. Why had Mum been so up in arms about these storms? She'd always been a little over-protective of Victor and me, but never to this extreme. And what did she have against Marnie, anyway? I shook my head and stalked over to the sink, catching my reflection in the mirror.

For the first time since leaving, I stared intently into the mirror. I didn't think I looked any different than usual. I had the same medium-length, dark brown hair as before, albeit a bit longer and less perfectly cropped from the two months or so I had been traveling. My skin was a bit darker, and my cheeks were a little thinner, but that too could have been chalked up to all the walking and training I had done on my journey. All in all, I don't think that any part of me had changed all that much, but something seemed vastly different as I looked over myself in that mirror. My eyes looked thinner, more tired, and their usual copper sheen seemed to be a bit more orange than usual, although that could have been just a trick of the cold, flickering light above that buzzed above the mirror. I scrunched up my face and stuck my tongue out. Yep, I thought, that's definitely still me. I leaned over, turned the sink on and splashed my face. I had just reached over to grab a towel to dry my hands and face when my phone buzzed again.

It was a text from Marnie, simply reading "I knew you could do it" with a picture of Morpeko smiling. I smiled back and looked back up in the mirror and gasped in shock as I realized that it was not me looking back at me in the mirror. It was the beast, in her ragged form. She looked at me and cocked her head as I jumped backwards and dropped my phone.

"Y-you…what?" I rubbed my eyes furiously and looked a third time. Back to me. I slowly crouched down and grabbed my phone, eyes glued to the mirror, but all I could see was my own horrified expression through the glass. There was a slight pain in my chest as I realized I had stopped breathing. Slowly, I breathed in and took in my surroundings again. Nothing else had changed. All I could hear was the soft buzzing of the light above the mirror. I cleared my throat. "Hey," I said slowly. "If you, uh, want to appear to me, the horror movie approach is just not a great way to do this."

There was no response. I slowly inched back up and looked closely at my reflection one last time. I looked the same as I did when I entered the room. Guess I wouldn't be able to compose myself in here after all.

I returned to Victor as he was hanging up his phone. "There you are," he said with a smile. "Worried you fell in or something."

"Thanks for your concern, I guess," I joked. "How was Mum?"

"Fine, I suppose. She said we both did great, but she seemed a bit upset. Were you two fighting?"

"It's not important, tell me about the battle!"

"But you and Mum never fight—"

"It's not important. Tell me about the battle."

"Alright, alright! So—"

The door slowly opened, and Hop walked out, slumped over. Victor and I exchanged glances quickly before he looked over at us. "Well, I bungled that one, too," he sighed. "I dunno what even happened, it was like Thwackey couldn't even trust me to get the right call!"

"It's alright," Victor said, rising from the floor. "We've all got our off battles, mate." He walked over to Hop to comfort him.

"I'm aware, thanks," Hop sneered, sidestepping Victor and moving instead towards me. "This is exactly what I was talkin' about when we got here. I can't do anything right," he muttered as he walked past.

"Hop, you know that's not true!" I protested.

"You saw it, right?" he asked, his frown growing deeper. "I can't control my Pokémon or anything!"

"I…" I trailed off with a grimace and then looked down.

Hop's eyes widened in realization. "You didn't even watch?" he asked. "Whatever, then, can't say I blame you."

"Hop, that's not it!" I said quickly. "That's not it at all!"

"Yeah, Mum had to call me, and that was after she and Gloria had a row—"

"You don't need to make excuses for me anymore," Hop said quietly.

"We're not!" Victor and I both said in unison.

"Alright, you three, I think it's high time you left the theatre for a bit," Opal said, walking through the thick doors, Kristy behind her muttering into a phone. "It seems that Leon also shares my love for punctuality. Shocking, because he has enough trouble getting anywhere on his own."

"That's what I keep hearing," I snickered, elbowing Hop. He let out a laugh but didn't seem too enthusiastic.

Opal huffed. "Dearies, I will be late for this summit, and you know how much I loathe tardiness."

"Sorry," Hop said quietly.

Her eyes softened as she looked at him. "Oh, poor dear, this is some fine emotion. If you could channel that you'd be a fine actor someday."

"Arc knows that my battling career seems like it's going nowhere," Hop said with a half-hearted laugh.

"My dear boy," Opal said, cringing, "if you can't have the stomach to be beaten by one old bat in a Pokémon battle, I'd advise you stay away from the theatre entirely. You two! Dixons!"

"Yeah?" I asked.

"If my memory is correct, your journey should take you back to Hammerlocke, yes?"

"I hadn't thought about it much yet, but I suppose so," Victor said.

"Well, if I am going to pay for the Corviknight anyway, I might as well bring you lot along for the ride! It's a dreadfully boring flight once we're out of the forest." Opal smiled. "Meanwhile, someone's going to need to man the fort!" she shouted in a voice that was somehow both sweet and terrifying. The Macro Cosmos employee looked back from his position next to Bronzong, cocked an eyebrow, and turned back around, muttering under his breath. "Kristy, see to it that he doesn't get into trouble," Opal continued. "The rest of you, come with me!"

"We never said yes," Victor said.

"Oh, I think it would benefit you three greatly," Opal said with a wink. "I can feel another one of those storms in my bones, and the last thing the three of you would want is to be caught in another one of those, wouldn't you?"

Victor's jaw dropped, and he made to protest, but I held up a hand to stop him. "She's not going to tell you how she knows," I explained.

"Your sister seems to be the smart one of the family," Opal said to him, beaming. "Now hurry up! You too, Hop!"

"I don't…"

"You're not leaving us alone again, you tosser," I grumbled, looping his arm with mine and pulling him with me after Opal, who was already out the front doors and shooing away the crowd of fans outside.

The journey back to Hammerlocke was a quiet one. Opal passed out almost the minute that the Corviknight took off in his taxi. Hop was not interested in talking, instead focused on staring forlornly out the window. Victor and I, both of whom had rarely had the opportunity to take a peaceful Corviknight Taxi ride, eagerly watched through the window of the cab as we slipped through the branches atop Ballonlea and into the fading sun. I couldn't believe that we had only been inside the forest for about three days now; it had felt like weeks at this point. This whole journey had felt like it had taken a year and a half, but we had only just reached the hottest months of the summer. As the sun slowly set and Corviknight flew higher and higher into the air, I marveled at just how close Hammerlocke was to Glimwood Tangle itself, nestled just on the other side of a tall stretch of mountains. In just an hour's time, I could see the towering spire of the Hammerlocke power plant, with its glowing red jewel sitting atop it like a crown. Perhaps it was only because the sky was darker and I hadn't been able to see it during the day, but I noticed that the giant jewel seemed to be pulsing evenly. Every so often, a spark of crimson electricity shot around the jewel. As we got closer, I noticed that each of these buzzes of red lightning caused the Dynamax Detector on my arm to twitch.

As I inspected the small readings on my wrist, I saw Victor make a face and rummage through his bag. After a second, he pulled out the giant wishing star.

"Victor, when did you…?" I whispered. Hop finally looked over curiously.

"I told you we had to get this to Sonia," he explained. "When you were out playing the hero or whatever, it got knocked around, and I just grabbed it and stuffed it inside." As he spoke, the star began to pulsate, perfectly in time with the jewel in the spire.

"Do you think that means another storm is on the way?" Hop asked shakily.

"Unfortunately," Victor confirmed. Above us, the Corviknight adjusted its wings, and I felt the carriage begin descending. "We should probably get to a Pokémon Center before things get too hairy," he said, stashing the star back into his bag. Hop and I nodded in agreement.

The taxi made its way to the heart of the city, where it quickly dropped in altitude in the shadow of the still-pulsating spire. As we got lower to the ground, we saw the distinctive red roof of a Pokémon Center, right next to the Corviknight landing pads. The Corviknight that were there were rustling in their feathers uneasily, despite the best efforts of their drivers. Among them were two dark-skinned men, one in a heavy blue and orange hoodie with the hood pulled up over his head, and one in a black jersey and a matching black snapback cap. Both turned around and waved when they heard our taxi descend and I could finally make out their faces.

"Raihan!" I cried. "And Leon!"

Victor pushed himself up against the glass excitedly, while Hop sank anxiously into his seat. Opal awoke at the sound of my voice and yawned. "About time," she muttered. "I do hope there's some hot tea for me when I arrive."

The cab touched down and the four of us clambered out the doors. Leon and Raihan were both surprised to see that we had tagged along, but both quickly grinned widely.

"Gotta admit, I underestimated you both," Raihan said to Victor and me, bringing his big hands onto our shoulders with respect. "Opals a tough old witch; even I have trouble battling her. Of course, I didn't need a second chance to beat her."

"I won't need a second chance to beat you," I jeered, sticking out my tongue.

Leon laughed. "Gloria, you are really coming into your own out there. I'm already looking forward to battling you. If not the league, you're definitely going to be one of my exhibition matches." He beamed at the two of us, then turned his head to Hop, who was trying to slink out of the carriage unnoticed. "And Hop! Rough luck with Opal, but the back half of the gym challenge is when the Gym Leaders can really let loose! Only the best survive, and even then, it's a rough transition."

"Thanks, bro," Hop said quietly, with a facial expression that suggested Leon's words of comfort did nothing of the sort.

"Terrible rule, if you ask me," Opal grumbled, hopping out of the carriage. "Awfully sweet of our chairman to send someone to help me to wherever this bloody do is."

"That would be my gym," Raihan said icily, pulling out his phone.

"Careful with that ice, I know it scares your little lizards so," Opal muttered haughtily. Raihan pretended to ignore her as he flipped through a couple notifications, but I saw the muscles in his jaw clench.

Leon laughed and rolled his eyes. "Come along, Opal. Oh, and you three! Sonia came with me; she's staying in the Pokémon Center here. She mentioned trying to meet you on the road. Something about a break in her research. You should go find her before she leaves for Stow-on-Side." Then the two wandered off, heading towards the giant spire.

"That's your gym?" I asked Raihan. "I thought that was the power plant!"

"Thing about big buildings is that they can have more than one function," Raihan joked. "C'mon, Gloria, Victor, bring it in. All our fans are going to want to see this." He turned around and held his phone up for a group selfie.

"Okay," Victor said with a small smile.

"Hop, get in here!" I exclaimed, pulling him in. He smiled for the camera weakly.

"Uh, yeah, everyone in!" Raihan said. His eyes flicked over to Hop and then the camera with the slightest hint of resignation before tapping the shutter button on his phone screen. There was an animation of a shutter closing on the screen, and the picture loaded up. Victor and I had matching cheesy grins, while Hop's smile seemed a bit awkward and forced. Raihan looked like a model; clearly, he knew which angle was his best.

"Looks good," Raihan said. "Not 'break the internet' good or anything, but this'll do great numbers. You three coming to challenge my dragons now that you're back?"

"Maybe?" Victor said, looking at us.

"We're still deciding," I said.

"Fine, put off your defeat all you want," Raihan teased with a shrug. "Anyway, I gotta go make sure everything is set up for this dumb meeting. Ciao!"

"Oh, you're going down!" I yelled back at him, but he had already turned around and was jogging after Leon and Opal. Hop, Victor, and I turned to the Pokémon Center and began walking towards it. As we did, the doors flung open and out walked a determined looking boy with a shock of platinum blonde hair and a long violet trench coat.

"Bede!" Hop yelped in surprise.

He looked over to us and his eyes narrowed. "Oh, great. They're here to gloat. Better get it all in while you still can."

"Gloat about what?" I growled.

"Come on, then, laugh it up!" He grumbled. "I know you're here to laugh at me for having my challenger status revoked."

"Revoked? You should be in prison!" Victor shouted.

"They don't imprison minors or people who vandalize disgusting murals," Bede sneered. "If anything, I've actually done a great deal to help the field of archaeology."

"I don't think that's how archaeology is supposed to be done," I shot back. "Shame about you losing the challenge. I had been hoping on being the one to kick you out of it anyway."

Bede growled. "Don't worry, fool, you'll get your pathetic chance at a rematch. I may be out of the good graces of the Pokémon League, but I know Chairman Rose still loves me. He only did it because of the bad publicity. I'll be back soon enough, and then it will be you being kicked out of the league."

"Alright then, how do you plan on kicking us out?" I challenged, folding my arms.

Bede opened his mouth, but unable to think of anything, promptly shut it and turned around. "I don't have time for you," He spat, walking toward Raihan's gym as well.

"You're right, you need time to figure your dastardly plan out, ya piece of shit!" I shouted after him.

"He seems a bit unhinged," Victor said once Bede had rounded the corner and disappeared from view.

"Mate, he was never on the hinges," Hop said. "Gotta admit, I'll be happy to see him gone."

"Victor! Gloria!" A voice called from the Pokémon Center doors. We turned to see Sonia at them, waving excitedly. The three of us exchanged excited smiles with each other and bounded to the door.

"It's so good to see you again!" Sonia said, pulling Hop in for a quick hug. "Leon's been worried sick about you."

"He…he has?" Hop asked.

"Yeah, the big strong champion man is bad with showing emotions, shocking," Sonia said sarcastically before ruffling up Hop's hair and turning to us. "You two. You ready to see some crazy shit?"

"Uh, yeah!" Victor chirped excitedly.

"I don't think I've ever seen you this excited," I mused.

"I'm usually not," Sonia admitted, gesturing us to follow her back into the Pokémon Center, "but we live in exciting times now!" I glanced over at Victor to see his eyes still glazed over as he watched Sonia's retreating form. I smacked him on the arm, and he came to, blushing. "Gloria, Victor, come on, this is big!" Sonia called from a table, pointing to a large book that looked about five hundred years older than her.

The three of us hustled over to her and looked at the book. It was bound in leather, and on the top of the cover, the words "MYTHS and TALES of OLD GALAR, SOAN, and the OTHER NATIONS" were branded onto it.

"Where the hell did you find this?"

"You'll never believe it. I was hoping to find it at the archives in Hammerlocke, but they had been removed because my forgetful Gran got a chance to take it out for studying the Dynamax Phenomenon a few decades ago and just…never returned it! I always loved reading these old stories as a kid, and with what Opal said to me back in Stow-on-Side, everything just…clicked! Here, tell me if this looks familiar." She flung open the book to a bookmarked page, and as the cover hit the table, the three of us gasped.

On the left page was an illustration of four Pokémon. The two on top were a strange bear with yellow and black stripes across and a cloaked figure with mysterious-looking eyes wearing a pointed black hat. Underneath were two beasts that were all-too familiar. One had a puffy mane that looked like a great shield, and the other held in its jaws a beautiful longsword that even in the faded ink seemed to glint in the light.

"It's…it's them," Hop and I both said.

Sonia grinned and flipped the book back to her. "Thought you'd know 'em," she said. "Now have you ever heard the legend of Zacian and Zamazenta?"

A/N: That's right, we're name-dropping legendaries now! And Leon and Raihan are back! You'll get to see them in action soon enough, but we gotta get through a lore dump first! See you all next week!

NEXT WEEK: ZACIAN AND ZAMAZENTA