A/N: Hoo boy, these past two chapters were EXHAUSTING, but here we are! Chapter 40! I'm going to shut up and get right into the story. Enjoy!

"Gloria! You're alive!" Victor cried, flinging himself onto me as I burst through the doors of the Pokémon Center. When he let go, I looked around the lobby. It was filled now, with all sorts of people happy to escape the worsening winds of the storm.

Hop slowly walked up to join us, looking out the window cautiously. "Lee looked like he was about to pass out when we told him you and Sonia had gone to the station," he said.

"No time to talk," I said. "I'm heading to the gym to make sure the Pokémon there are safe. You in?"

"You're…you're kidding, right?" Victor stammered.

"Don't try to stop me," I shot back. Cinderace hopped from foot to foot excitedly.

"I'm not stopping you," Victor pressed, "just wondering what the hell you're thinking. Those clouds are terrifying! This storm has to be worse than it was at Glimwood Tangle."

"All the more reason to help the Pokémon at the gym," I replied with a shrug.

"All the more reason to stay inside," Hop countered. "Gloria, look at those skies! It'd be suicide to even try to get to the gym, let alone deal with reigning in Dragon Pokémon in a Dynamax Storm."

"Hop, I just saw a Dynamaxed Tyranitar just…ambling down the street like he'd been there for years," I argued. "I'm sorry but a few walls aren't going to do much to protect us from rampaging Dynamax Pokémon."

"I hate to admit it, but you've got a point," Victor huffed. "Wait a mo, where's Sonia?"

"She's at the train station; there's a bunch of people there, too."

"Is anyone protecting them?" Victor asked.

"I…shit," I said, feeling a pang of guilt.

Victor laughed, though it was a hollow one. "Your bravery isn't going to get you anywhere if you're this dumb."

There was another loud crash that shook the whole Pokémon Center, causing the bright fluorescent lights to flicker and the groups of people to huddle together and murmur loudly. "At any rate, I can't just stay here doing nothing. The gym leaders are all out protecting the city, and we're all just as good as any of them, aren't we?"

"They do place limits on their teams for the first few badges a trainer has…" Hop meekly interjected.

"Alright, that is it!" I yelled. "Hop. Look at me. Look at me right now."

Hop gulped and turned to me. "What?" he asked.

"What has gotten into you?" I probed, leaning in towards him. "I practically had to sprint to keep up with you when we first set out on this journey. After a couple bad battles and now you're just a wet mop! What gives?"

"Look, I…" Hop said, shrinking back.

"What happened to the Hop who led us into a Dynamax Den?"

"I—"

"What about the Hop who chased down a Wooloo in a haunted forest? When was the last time you even saw your Wooloo?"

"I—"

"What—what happened to the Hop that Zamazenta chose?" I asked finally. Hop's face turned white at the mention of Zamazenta's name, and he sputtered, trying to say words but not having the strength to get any sound out.

Victor looked back and forth between both of us, his brow furrowed. "What's this about Zamazenta?" he asked after a moment's silence between Hop and me.

"Remember those beasts Hop and I saw in the Weald when we had to find Wooloo? It was Zacian and Zamazenta. We saw them then and we keep seeing them now. I can tell you more when the world isn't ending, but something happened that night and they've imprinted on us, or something. They seem to think we can help them stop a new Darkest Day."

Victor blinked, then shot another glance at each of us before speaking again. "What?"

"Tell him, Hop," I pleaded. "Tell him what you saw."

"I…yeah," Hop said, scratching the back of his head. "I mean, I dunno about the Darkest Day bit, but I…I think I saw 'em a couple times after the Weald."

"That's not what you told me," I said, folding my arms.

"We can talk about it when the storm's over," Victor said, placing a hand on each of our shoulders. "Gloria, do you really think it's best to go back out in this? I mean, it's not like we knew what we were getting into in Glimwood Tangle."

As if to punctuate his point, there was another crash of thunder that shook the entire Pokémon Center. The lights flickered, and a rush of worried chittering washed over the trainers and Pokémon taking refuge on the couches.

"Victor, I can't just stand here and do nothing," I snapped, shaking my shoulder free of his grip. "Can't have a gym challenge if the gym is destroyed. Now are you coming with me or not?"

Victor looked at Hop, who in turn looked at me and bit his lip. I could hear the wind howling in the streets outside as the two mulled it over. Finally, Victor nodded and reached over to a Pokéball at his waist. "I'm going, but only because I don't want to be an only child," he said solemnly. He looked at me with determination.

"Lee…Lee told us to wait here," Hop said meekly. "We probably should."

"We aren't living our lives solely in relation to your brother, Hop," I sniped. Hop winced, but I had turned and was headed back out the door before he could make any response. I shoved open the Pokémon Center doors and ran back into the street, Cinderace in hot pursuit. There was a terrible blast of thunder that ricocheted through the city streets, accompanied by another powerful gust that almost blew the two of us right back inside. Strangely, the wind had a sweet, floral scent, but I realized why as just a second later, there appeared a familiar-looking Eldegoss. Underneath its leafy limbs floated flower petals, sweet-smelling spores, and puffs of cotton.

"Hold steady! Just like that! Great job on the Aromatherapy!" shouted its trainer from underneath it, none other than the burly farmhand of a gym leader himself, Milo. Behind him was a crowd of frightened gym challengers, injured Pokémon, and mortified-looking spectators. Milo looked back to them and lifted his hands toward the Pokémon Center. "Right here, you're all safe now. Help the injured first! Eldegoss! Head back up and stay on top of any stragglers! I don't want to lose—Gloria! Victor!"

"Milo!" I shouted with a wave, hustling over. "Cinderace, see if you can't help any of them back inside!" Cinderace nodded, and with Victor's help, the two took an injured and woozy Machoke under its massive, muscled arms and led it toward the Center doors.

"Good to see you, despite the circumstances," Milo said. "Listen, I'd love to stay and have a chin-wag, but these people were at the gym, and—"

"You had to evacuate?" I gasped. "Is it that bad?"

At that moment, a giant pillar of blue fire erupted from deeper within the city, from the direction Milo had come. With it came the sounds of screaming people. Milo's face paled, and he grabbed at a second Pokéball uneasily. "Yeah," he said shakily. "It's pretty bad. Listen, stay here, stay safe. Hopefully, the storm will subside soon."

He took off in a sprint, with Eldegoss whizzing behind him, barely keeping up from the wind. I took off right after him, not even bothering to see if Victor or Cinderace were behind me. As I closed in on Milo, I heard a distressed and annoyed call from Victor, but still, I did not look back.

"Oh, you're coming with?" Milo panted as I caught up to him.

"Of course," I replied. "I've been in a couple of these storms; I can handle myself." Cinderace bounded up behind us as we turned a corner. Another powerful gust of wind blasted us, sending Eldegoss flying hectically down the street before Milo managed to recall it with his quick reflexes.

"Fair 'nough," he said. "This is all far out of my pay grade, so I'd appreciate all the help I can get."

"Gloria, wait up!" I heard Victor call over the howling winds. He came charging up alongside his Kubfu, and once we had all met up at the corner, we took off yet again, in a dead sprint toward the gym, but instantly we found ourselves deterred as two people came charging out of a building to our right. If they saw us, they did not even register that we were there, and instead pushed through us and kept running further into the street.

"Kinda rude," I huffed.

"You should forgive them for that!" Milo cried suddenly, grabbing my arm and pulling me hard to my left.

"Milo, what the he—oly shit!" I yelled as a goopy splatter of off-white webbing splatted onto the cobble where I had just been standing, with another blob of it landing just a few feet in the other direction. I whirled my head around to see not one, but two fierce-looking Araquanid burst out the door right behind the people who pushed through us, skittering wildly from left to right as they began to lose control in the Dynamax energy. Underneath the strange watery bubble of their heads, their narrow eyes glowed with pink aura. They were about to Dynamax; I could already tell.

"Kubfu! Acrobatics!" Victor called quickly, and Kubfu leapt into action next to me, charging at the Araquanid on the left.

"Burn the bug!" I screamed, pointing a finger at the other. Cinderace nodded and kicked up a pebble, incinerating it and turning into a Pyro Ball before launching it directly at it. He managed to score a direct hit, but the Araquanid was barely fazed, as the ball fizzled to nothing the moment it touched the watery bubble on its face. The Araquanid then locked eyes on Cinderace and skittered toward him with an unsettling hiss.

"Bad call on that, mate!" Milo said, tossing out a Pokéball. A small green apple-shaped dragon appeared at his side and honked, at the ready. "Appletun! Dragon Pulse!" Milo cried, and the small Pokémon launched a flurry of blue fire directly at the Araquanid, slowing it down some, but ultimately not deterring it completely.

"Cinderace, get out of the way!" I shouted, and Cinderace hopped to the side to clear out of the way, but he didn't need to, as a burst of hot yellow electricity shot out from behind us, hitting the Araquanid dead in the face and knocking it back twenty whole feet, next to the other Araquanid, who was backing up under the constant flurry of blows coming from Kubfu. A yellow and black blur shot past me and jumped up to the second Araquanid before lighting up another powerful Thunderbolt attack, causing both Araquanid to, for a brief moment, finally come to their senses. The small yellow Pokémon turned back and smiled excitedly.

"Morpeko?" I gasped.

"We couldn't let you have all the fun," said a voice from behind me. I felt an arm slither around my side and felt Marnie's warm lips on my cheek. "These storms just follow you around, then?" she teased, knocking her head tenderly against mine. "Figured I'd have to worry about other girls but never Mother Earth herself, damn. Talk about clingy."

"Oh yeah," Victor said. "I was gonna tell you Marnie was here, but you were too busy yelling at Hop."

"He come with you?" I asked Marnie, turning to look at her once she let go of me.

"Does it look like he did?" she asked, eyebrow raised. "Morpeko! Finish 'em off with another Thunderbolt!" After another flash of light, the two Araquanid wobbled again, but as they did, there was another burst of thunder in the sky that shook the entire avenue, and in the ruckus, the two Spider Pokémon started to speed away.

"Don't let them—" I started to say, but without warning, the windows of the building to our other side exploded and we found ourselves under a shower of glass as a burst of violet energy burst throw the third level of the building. A boy toppled out of the window and began to pick up speed, but in the blink of an eye, Kubfu leapt up and caught it, bringing the boy safely down to the ground.

"Kubfu!" Victor cried, taking a step over, but before he could take a second, another burst of Psychic energy shot out of the house, bursting through the walls and roof entirely. Bits of brick and wood crashed down all around us, and Kubfu just barely managed to take the screaming child out of the way before a large wooden beam crashed and splintered on the ground in front of us, but I barely even noticed, as in the place of the roof there was now what looked to be a flying disc from an old sci-fi movie slowly spinning atop the street. There was an agonizing sound as the disc turned to face us, and I could see icy cold eyes staring down at us. As it slowly floated towards us, I could just barely make out the similarity to the Pokémon Orbeetle.

"There's a bug you can burn!" Milo shouted eagerly.

He didn't have to tell me twice. "Cinderace, come on back! It's time to Gigantamax!" I said, feeling the pulse on my wrist as my wishing star began to go haywire from all the energy around us. As I returned Cinderace to his Pokéball to begin the transformation, Marnie squared up next to me with Morpeko, whose fur bristled into the inky violet color.

"Aura wheel!" Marnie cried, and as I tossed Cinderace's Pokéball back out, I could see Morpeko speed up what was left of the building's wall, surrounding itself with red lightning, and then launching itself directly up and hitting the Orbeetle square between its icy eyes. The Gigantamaxed bug spun off-course, ramming into the building the Araquanid had emerged from and sending another flurry of brick and glass down upon us.

"G-Max Fireball!" I yelled, and Cinderace kicked up a bunch of debris and began kicking it back and forth in the alley, enveloping it in more and more fire with each kick before sending it directly into the Orbeetle, who had still yet to right itself. There was a powerful explosion of Dynamax energy that pushed against all of us hard. Morpeko flew straight at us, and Marnie managed to put herself between her partner and the building it was headed to, catching Morpeko at the expense of knocking the wind out of the both of them.

"Are you alright?" I asked as she doubled over.

"I—I will be," she wheezed. "Damn, that Cinderace is no joke."

"Yeah, he's okay," I said, smiling up at my partner, who roared in excitement as the Orbeetle shrank back to its usual size and fell to the ground. Milo hucked an empty Pokéball at it, but it bounced off Orbeetle without even making an attempt to catch it.

"He's…he's mine," the boy whimpered, sniffling. Kubfu let go of him and he rushed toward his Pokémon.

"Wait," I said, thinking back to the Tangle. "I didn't…that Orbeetle…"

"He should be fine," Milo said with a nod. "I'll make sure of it. Listen, you were headed to the gym? I'll be there as soon as I can, after I make sure this Orbeetle is good to go."

"But what if—"

"Gloria, move," Milo insisted. I nodded and began to run towards the gym, Marnie and Victor hot on my trail, with Morpeko and Cinderace bounding behind us, rolling up another gigantic fireball. It was slow-going, with the wind whipping our hair every which way. To our left and right, the sounds of booming thunder were intermingling with the roars of terrified, confused, or Dynamaxing Pokémon. Every so often, a rampaging Pokémon would rush out in front of us, but Marnie and Victor held their own, using their partners to corral them away from any people left on the streets.

"Alright, we take a right here and the road leads straight to the gym!" Victor yelled after a couple minutes. I looked up and saw the spire drawing ever nearer as we ran. The gem atop it was flashing wildly, and with each thunderclap, flashed a brilliant red that stayed in my eyes for two seconds before fading.

"There's no end to this one!" Marnie cried. "Morpeko, on your right! Thundershock!" Morpeko quickly hopped out of the way of an oversized Deino that was whipping its scaly black and blue head with reckless abandon. The bolts zapped off it almost harmlessly, and the Deino stopped, locked onto Morpeko and fired off a blue blast of its Dragon Breath.

"That's not good for taking down dragons!" Victor warned, but he couldn't do anything, as a Fraxure, an olive-green dragon with sharp gray and red tusks burst from an alleyway and roared, starting to grow taller. "Kubfu! Brick Break!" he ordered, and Kubfu rushed it.

"I got it!" I called and tossed out Ponyta's Pokéball. She burst out and with my call she let loose a flurry of Fairy Wind, causing the Deino and Fraxure both to start retreating.

"A lot more dragons near us!" Victor yelled. "We're getting—NO!" He had only turned his eyes away from Kubfu for a second, but it was enough time for Fraxure to compose itself and charge with its head lowered. The dragon smashed into Kubfu, sending the little bear reeling and tripping over some debris.

"Stomp!" I cried, and Ponyta quickly ran up to kick at Fraxure, buying just enough time for Victor to recall him and send out a second Pokémon, Drizzile.

"Thanks," Victor said.

"Don't mention it," I replied.

"Come on then!" Marnie yelled. In the hubbub, she had already made it to the street we were supposed to turn on. She turned onto the street and then immediately dove back onto the street we were on, just barely avoiding the street itself lurching upwards as sharp spikes rose from out of nowhere, leaving the road in ruins.

"Th-that looks like a Max Steelspike!" Victor shouted. I sprinted to Marnie and pulled her up as another volley of spikes shot up through the street, this time taking a piece of the apartment building next to us out with it. A section of the wall crumbled and for a moment, Marnie and I locked eyes with two young women, huddled together on a sofa in terror before they scrambled out a door deeper into the building, screaming. The building let out a groan as the walls, missing some much-needed support, began to buckle.

"Thanks, Gloria," Marnie said. She was quivering, and it seemed like her eyes were having trouble focusing on everything going around us, but they snapped back to attention as a sickening crack sound came from above us. We both looked up and saw a large crack forming in the walls as the second and third floors of the apartment leaned over us. Small bits of rubble began to fall on us, and though I knew that the rest of the walls would soon follow, I felt my legs rooted to the spot. Everything sounded like it was underwater and a mile away from me as it seemed like my entire spirit was pulling itself from my body. I could barely sense Marnie as she wrapped her arms around me and turned away, anything to avoid looking at her fate as the building began to fall on the two of us.

For a moment, everything was black, and then I felt a sharp pain to my right as something crashed into us and pushed us away from the rubble. I blinked and the light began to return to me. Marnie and I were on the ground, about twenty feet from where the building fell. Victor had rushed over and was grabbing at my shoulders, but I could barely focus on him as I looked into the brilliant golden eyes of a Charizard.

"Wha…" I said, before my other senses could come back to my body. I snapped to and gasped, taking ragged breaths. I could feel an additional tightness around my waist and saw that Marnie was still clutching me, her eyes squinting shut, still waiting for us to be crushed.

"I distinctly remember telling you to wait in the train station," came the disappointed drawl of Leon as he walked into my field of view. "Lucky Charizard and I have been monitoring the gyms so closely."

"You missed the dragons that got out back there," I muttered, rubbing my chest where Charizard had collided with us. "Is my rib broken? I think you broke a rib."

"Better a rib than your skull," Leon chastised, leaning down next to us. His golden eyes scanned the two of us, making sure we were okay before finally sighing in relief and wiping his sweaty brow with his arm. "Swear to Arceus, Gloria, you're more Hop than Hop is these days."

"I told you I wanted to help!" I said, wincing from the pain in my chest.

"Yeah, Exeggcute on my face for thinkin' I could sway you in any way," he said with a grin. "Suppose it's what I get for tryin' to boss around the top trainers in the league. You still good? Looks like Cinderace is still ready to go." He helped Marnie and me up, and Marnie, once realizing she was out of danger, quickly let go of me and blushed. Cinderace roared in excitement behind us, and as he did, there was another blast of thunder and the gem above us stopped pulsing and instead began to glow brightly without any flickering whatsoever.

"Oh no," Leon said, eyeing the spire with caution. "It didn't…that piece of…Gloria. Listen to me. This is worse than anything you've ever been in. I know you're headstrong, but you cannot stay here. I don't even know if there's any place in Hammerlocke that is safe right now. But you, Victor, Marnie, and …wait, where's Hop?"

"He's at the Pokémon Center still," Victor said. "But Leon…"

"No buts!" He shouted at Victor, and then turned back to me. "Gloria, I know you're strong, but there's things going on here that are more dangerous than you can even imagine."

"Leon, I—" I began to protest.

"Gloria," he insisted. He placed his hands on my shoulders and looked deeply and intensely into my eyes. "I'm not mucking about here. Anyone who stays here—Anyone, including me—is risking death."

"Leon…" Victor said, his voice barely audible over a rumbling in the streets that was starting. My eyes flicked over to him, and I saw him looking off to the distance, behind Leon.

"I need you," Leon said slowly and earnestly, "to leave. This isn't about me thinking you're weak. This is me protecting you as the champion of this region." The light of the spire was shining brighter than ever, encasing his head in a bright red glow, as if he were bathed in holy light.

You have a choice to make.

"Z—Zacian?" I said suddenly.

"What are you—no, it doesn't matter," Leon said. As he shook his head, the light behind him began to wane. Maybe the Dynamax energy was receding? Was the storm ending? I couldn't tell. Still, the rumbling persisted.

Your path cannot end here, Zacian continued, in a voice that only I could hear deep within my head. Your companion still needs you. We still need you.

"It—it won't." I said, feeling a fire building in my chest.

"Won't what? Gloria, you've got to promise me this," Leon insisted, shaking me lightly for good measure. The light behind him was fading still…no, it wasn't fading at all. It was being eclipsed. Something was rising up behind him.

"G-guys…" Victor said, his voice shakier.

"Hey, now's not the time for this," Marnie said, tugging on my sleeve. Her knuckles were white from her tight grip.

We cannot join you until you find us, Zacian said. Her voice was fainter, but she seemed to understand my heart. Be careful. We cannot lose our champion before the Black Hand returns. I felt her presence leave my head.

"Gloria, please," Leon pleaded. His eyes were wet – he was on the verge of tears. "If you stay, I can't promise to protect you." The rumbling began to overpower the streets, as if tiny shockwaves were shooting past our ankles each second. I could feel him starting to lose his grip and his balance.

"You don't need to," I replied coolly.

Leon opened his mouth to reply, but before any sound could escape his mouth, an earsplitting roar sounded from behind him. It was so loud that any remaining glass windows shattered, shards flying into the wind recklessly. Leon spun around and shrank back so he was next to me, and I finally got to see what was blocking the light of the spire.

At first, it seemed like a building had just appeared over Leon's shoulder. It was tall, slender and silver, with a strange blue checkered pattern along its belly that looked almost like the large glass windows that made up Wyndon's most modern and expensive skyscrapers. Its sleek, metallic skin glistened in the red light of the storm and with the glowing gem behind it, it seemed to have a pinkish red outline around it, as if it needed to have any more contrast with the 100–200-year-old apartments and offices around it. Three spikes shot out from the top of its head like radio antennae, making it just tall enough that it could tickle the underside of the spire's gem, but as the monster slowly lurched forward and raised its oppressively large, steely hands, it clearly had no interest in doing that.

"Leon, what the fuck is that?" I yelled.

Leon gulped. "That's the reason I asked you to leave. Dunno how much you've been keeping an eye on the gym leaders, but that there is the reason no challengers have defeated Raihan yet."

"Duraludon," Victor said with a shudder.

Duraludon roared again and looked down at us, readying an attack. "Out of the way!" Leon bellowed, and the four of us split – Victor and Leon to the left, Marnie and me to the right. The giant dragon took a massive breath in, and a white-hot ball of energy began forming in its maw. I pulled Marnie behind some overturned rubble and hoped for a miracle.

It came. Just as Duraludon was about to unleash its attack, a powerful blast of dragonfire blew in from the other direction. There was a flash of green that zipped across the sky, and Duraludon turned its head to launch its attack at the new opponent. sending the white-hot beam streaking harmlessly across the sky. Safely out of the path, the green figure banked and shot down toward us and I saw that Raihan had returned on top of Flygon's back.

"Come on then, Champion!" he shouted with a sly grin. "You've beaten this guy before! Don't turn tail now!"

"I don't plan on it!" Leon yelled back at him. I could almost see the faintest grin on his face from across the street. "Charizard! Keep to the skies and keep those Flash Cannons away from everyone on the street!" Charizard nodded and shot up to the skies, faster even than Raihan on his Flygon. He let loose a fiery blast that struck Duraludon directly in its belly and swung out wildly with its stocky arms like it was trying to swat at a Beedrill.

"Cinderace! Melt it!" I cried, and Cinderace burst forward on his fireball, skirting around debris with ease.

"I guess we're really doing this then," Victor said. "Drizzile! Use…what the hell?" He spun around and found himself face to face with the two Araquanid from before, slowly expanding in size and quickly advancing on us again.

"I've got you," Marnie shouted. "Morpeko! You know what to do!" Morpeko lit up with its electric aura and shot it toward the first Araquanid, who crumpled. The second one shot out one of its sticky webs, covering Morpeko in goop.

"Marnie…!" I cried, but she held up a hand.

"Focus on Duraludon," she said. "These bugs are begging for a squishing. One more time, Morpeko!" As Morpeko zapped the second spider, she pulled me in for a quick kiss. "Don't you die on me now, Gloria."

"S-same to you," I said with a shiver. There was another burst of air to my right, and I turned just in time to see the residue of Cinderace's massive fireball crashing against the side of Duraludon and sending smoke up to make the sky even darker. Duraludon roared again and launched its fist, glowing purple with Dynamax energy, at Cinderace. "Cinderace!" I yelled, breaking from Marnie's grip and rushing over to Leon and Raihan, who were calling orders to their dragons.

"Welcome to the party," Raihan said slyly as I skidded to a halt next to him.

"You're oddly excited about all this," I yelled as another gust of wind blew at us.

"Well, it's exciting, if not macabre," he laughed. As he did, Duraludon took another wild swing at Flygon, hitting the dragon and sending it careening toward the ground. It just barely managed to get back in control before hitting the ground and then zipped over us, clearing our heads by only four or five feet and sending Leon's cap flying to the ground. Raihan grimaced, but he still seemed confident in Flygon's battling to get too worried yet.

Ponyta stamped her hooves indignantly, as if upset that I had forgotten about her. "Raihan," I shouted. "Bring Flygon back around. Ponyta! Use Heal Pulse on anyone who comes near you!"

"Good call, Gloria," shouted Leon, with a hint of surprise and respect welling in his voice. "Charizard, Fire blast!"

Chaos ensued. In front of me, the two dragons flew like rockets in the air, Charizard spouting huge bursts of fire from its jaws and Flygon smashing its claws and tail into Duraludon's thick skin with devastating force whenever it could get an opening. Meanwhile, on the ground, Cinderace was working just as hard as ever, launching volley after volley of fire directly into Duraludon's thick metal legs. Duraludon fought back viciously, swinging all of its appendages wildly and shooting beams of white in every direction possible. Every time one of our partners got hit, Ponyta would rush toward them, her mane blowing wildly yet beautifully in the dying winds of the storm, which seemed to finally be blowing itself out. Behind us, Marnie and Victor had their hands full as well – the Araquanid were the first of many other Pokémon that had gotten loose in the fray and were going berserk in the storm. Eventually Milo and Eldegoss returned, but instead of joining the battle, the two focused on caring for any Pokémon that had fallen in battle.

"Raihan!" Leon called. "I think you know how this is going to end! Recall Flygon! Gloria! Do the same with Cinderace!"

The two of us nodded and pulled our Pokéballs. Flygon seemed to resist at first, still wanting to battle, but Cinderace was more than ready to call it quits. He began to shrink back down immediately and jogged back to me before he even heard me call out for him. Instead of holding up his Pokéball, I held up my arms and pulled him into a deep hug that even Bewear would flinch at. I could sense his happiness that his part of this nightmare was over, and he came out of it without too much injury.

"You're the best; I hope you know that," I said softly into his ear. He chittered with pride and then slumped so heavily in my arms that I almost lost my footing. "Take a long rest," I told him. "We're going to need it."

"But you might not want to miss this, either of you," Leon said loudly, almost brazenly. "Charizard, let's go! Gigantamax!"

"Oh, so now he's having fun with it," Raihan grumbled, but he too was hiding a smile. The two of us and Cinderace stepped back and watched as Leon recalled his Charizard and tapped Charizard's Pokéball to his Dynamax bracelet, and then hurled the Pokéball back out into the sky. For a moment, all was quiet as we watched the ball arc in the air, slowly expanding in size as it was about to send Charizard back out at maximum power. Behind me, I could sense company as Marnie, Victor, Milo, their Pokémon, and Ponyta gathered, also keeping their eye on the ball in the sky.

Charizard's Pokéball exploded in midair with a burst that echoed through the now empty streets, and suddenly the sky was a blazing inferno as Charizard reappeared. My jaw fell. I had seen Leon's Charizard Gigantamax plenty of times on Hop's TV as we watched his matches, but I had never seen it in person; it was only on rare occasions that Leon even needed to Gigantamax Charizard. And honestly, as I watched the giant orange dragon take to the sky, if I didn't know whose Charizard it was, I would have thought we were all in even worse shape than before. The thing was absolutely massive, the size of a zeppelin. Its wings spread out at least two hundred feet wide and within seconds, burst into flame so thick it seemed like the wings were fire themselves. Its eyes and horn glowed bright with a sickening yellow, and it stared hungrily at Duraludon, who slowly turned around to face it. With a deafening screech and a command from Leon below, it flapped its wings and sped toward Duraludon.

As Charizard closed in, flames burst from its wings and circled the entire square and surrounding streets. Fire so hot it could melt steel shot up around all of us and hung in the air like Will-O-Wisps for a moment before they started spinning around us rapidly, lighting us all up from every angle. Marnie inched a little closer to me, and Milo quickly recalled Eldegoss so it wouldn't catch fire. Victor and Drizzile backed up and Drizzile let out a water pulse to fizzle out any stray embers that got too close, but the water quickly evaporated into nothing. Raihan and I merely watched Charizard make its attack.

Right at the last moment before it crashed into Duraludon, Charizard pulled back and flapped its massive wings, creating a powerful gust. Each ember that had been flying around us changed course immediately and instead shot directly at Duraludon, encasing the entire beast in fire so thoroughly that we couldn't see a thing. The wildfire raged for less than ten seconds before slowly petering out, and as it did, Duraludon let out an agonized roar. There was an intense explosion as the Dynamax energy pent up inside it shot out of its body and flew in every direction. It was strong enough to move the gigantic piles of rubble and most of it flew directly toward us. Marnie, Cinderace, Morpeko and I crowded together, and Raihan and Milo did what they could to shield us from the wave of bricks and wood, but even they knew it would do little to keep us uninjured.

It was Victor of all people who managed to keep his head screwed on. "Drizzile! Water Pulse!" he roared, and Drizzile leapt in front of us and began to shoot powerful gushes of water towards everything headed our way. As it did, it let out an empowered screech and started to glow white. The Water Pulses grew larger and faster, knocking every piece of rubble safely away from each of us, and once the air was finally still, standing tall in front of the lot of us was the newly evolved Intelleon, slender and menacing, looking left to right for any more danger like a trained gunman would.

All of us, Leon included, stood in silence for a good minute until Charizard roared in victory, snapping us all back to our senses. Charizard began to shrink back down, and Leon stepped forward, warmly congratulating his partner. The rest of us all collapsed in a puddle of people and Pokémon, exhausted and relieved that, for now, the storm was over.

"Is everyone okay?" Leon said, helping Raihan up. The two gave each other a quick hug and turned to help the rest of us up.

"I think so," Milo replied. "Storm seems to be over, and every Pokémon that went mad seems to be okay now that it is."

"Let's hope so," Raihan said, his initial relief, suddenly replaced by worry. He let go of Leon and sprinted toward the other end of the square, where his Duraludon lie motionless on the ground. Milo realized what was going on, and rushed out after him, sending out Eldegoss to help with first aid.

Victor looked up at his newly evolved partner with wide eyes, and Intelleon strode over and put a hand on his trainer's shoulder. "Wow, you…you got really tall," Victor said meekly. Intelleon snickered and came over to us, grabbing Cinderace by the paw and pulling him up as well. The two Pokémon looked each other over, no doubt reminiscing of the time they were once both small enough to fit in my brother's and my arms.

"Gloria, Victor," Leon said, turning to us. "I believe I owe you an apology. You two have grown so much as trainers. And so quickly, too! Raihan and I probably could have figured out what to do about his Duraludon eventually, but with you two here, we all saved a lot of lives and kept a lot of people safe."

"Glad I could be of assistance," Marnie replied dryly.

"Oh, I already know from Piers just how good you are," Leon said with a laugh. "But yes, thank you as well, Marnie. The three of you are more than enough proof that the Gym League is going to be just as competitive as ever!"

"We can't compare to that Charizard," Victor said breathlessly, looking back over to the dragon, who had ambled over to the downed Duraludon. Raihan and Milo were hunched over it, but their faces seemed a bit more relaxed; it seems that no lasting damage was done to it.

"Well, I never said I'd make it easy for you," Leon said with a smirk and a wink, but then his face turned sour. "And speaking of the league, I have to be somewhere. Charizard! You still alright to fly?"

"What league business could you possibly have at this moment?" I asked incredulously.

Leon frowned. "Call it an emergency meeting," he said without offering any context. He reached down and picked up his cap, dusting it off. "It's a matter you needn't concern yourself with—"

"Does it have anything to do with this?" I needled. "C'mon, Leon, we proved that we can handle this kind of stuff! You can trust us with this!"

"It's not about trust," Leon sighed. With that, he nodded at Charizard, who then lowered its neck for him to climb on. The two took off, heading back toward the spire, which was slowly fading back to its normal, dark red hue. The clouds in the sky began to split, revealing a night sky black as pitch. A couple stars twinkled faintly, but the only light we could reliably see was from bits of building still burning and the flame on the end of Charizard's tail as it flew away from us. Soon, we were all completely in the dark, save for the pale, yellow glow of Ponyta's mane.

A/N: OOF. This was an insane one to write because of all the moving pieces, and I hope that there aren't any glaring issues. Also Marnie wasn't SUPPOSED to come back, but I just have too much fun writing her to keep her away for too long (story of this whole damn fic, I swear). As I said in the previous chapter, this is sort of serving as a "season finale" of sorts, so I had to go out with a bang...okay multiple bangs, there is a lot of exploding in this chapter now that I'm rereading it.

ALSO: I'm taking next week off to rest and make sure I have the next couple chapters just right before launching ahead with the third (final) "season" of this particular story. I guess that means I have to stop introducing new plot threads lol. Anyway, hope you liked this one, and see you in two weeks!

NEXT TIME: FAMILY MATTERS