A/N: Aaaaaaaaand we're back! Got some minor housekeeping to mention, but I'll do that at the end of the chapter. Time to see where all our heroes are at after such a crazy storm! Enjoy the chapter!
Only five minutes had passed, yet it felt like an eternity as Victor, Marnie and I all collectively caught our breaths and Milo and Raihan gave first aid to the downed Duraludon. After the chaos of the storm, the quiet was first relieving, and then unsettling. Somehow the entire city of Hammerlocke, one of the largest in Galar, was completely, deadly silent. Ponyta seemed to pick up on our unease and trotted over to me. With a soft whinny, she nuzzled her head underneath my hand. I smiled and ran my fingers through her mane.
It was Victor who finally broke the silence. "So that was…that was nuts, right?"
"Yeah," I said breathlessly.
"What's even going on with these storms?" he asked.
"No idea," Marnie said, kneeling and picking up a shivering Morpeko. "But it ain't good."
"It seemed like the storm clouds were coming from the power plant," I added. "Almost like it was all coming from the gem on that tower. That sounds crazy, right?"
"Crazy as the rest of what happened," Marnie nodded in agreement. "Probably true, though."
"Hey, Gloria!" Milo called. "Can we get a Heal Pulse over here?"
I looked over at Ponyta and nodded. She trotted over to the two Gym Leaders, who had managed to revive Duraludon and pull him up. Raihan seemed a bit less tense – it seemed Duraludon would pull through with just a bit of help from both Ponyta's move and a good night's sleep.
"We should get back," Marnie said suddenly. She and Morpeko turned and quickly walked off, no doubt headed back to the Pokémon Center. Victor shrugged and hustled over to the gym leaders.
"Ponyta, stay with them and help them out as they need it. Come back with Victor," I ordered. Ponyta let out a warm neigh while I jogged to catch up with Marnie.
"Not how I imagined meeting you again," I said with a weak laugh, reaching a hand out to her.
"You really have a habit for not doin' things the normal way," she replied bluntly, but her lips cracked just enough to show a smile as she took my hand and squeezed it.
"Did you not want to wait for Victor?"
She glanced over at the three men aiding Duraludon and shrugged. "That circle's gonna be swarmin' with reporters in about five minutes; I'd rather not deal with it at all. Besides, I need to get back to Grimmsnarl." She gave my hand another squeeze and her nails dug into my hand, perhaps from some residual anger about her Pokémon's fate.
"Oh," I said shortly, pulling my hand away and dropping it to my side. We walked in silence for a few seconds before I could find my next words. "I…er, you know I'm sorry, I wish there—"
"Shut it," Marnie interrupted, rolling her eyes. "You've more than earned that apology. I'm not a fan of repeating words or hearing them repeated."
"Is he okay?"
"Still no, but he will be," Marnie sighed. She shrugged with no commitment, but her eyes hardened, and she looked down and to her left, away from me. I grabbed at her hand again and squeezed it, and though she still didn't look back at me, her body swayed to the right and pushed up against my left shoulder.
"Would you like a Bewear hug?" I asked, pulling out Bewear's Pokéball.
"And end up in the ICU next to Grimmsnarl? Pass."
"You get used to it," I said, letting my body sway to the left to push up against her now. "How 'bout one from me? I promise not to crush your bones."
Marnie looked back over to me, smiling. Her eyes were a little watery, but no tears had fallen. "Maybe once we find out everyone back at the PC is safe."
As we walked back through the streets together, Hammerlocke slowly started coming to life again. People and Pokémon gradually left their buildings to examine any damage done to the street. We overheard plenty of phone calls and discussion as we walked, so by the time we made it to the Pokémon Center, we had a basic idea of what all had occurred in the past hour.
It was incredibly fortunate that Leon had pulled the highest ranked gym leaders into this sudden meeting, because all eight of them immediately took action in the streets. Dynamax Pokémon had popped up throughout the city, but most were either weak wild Pokémon or family Pokémon with little battle experience. Most just had to be distracted long enough until they tired themselves out or battled before reaching their full Dynamax or Gigantamax size. Those Pokémon that did Dynamax fully were near enough to Pokémon Centers that some trainers were able to keep them from doing anything too severe. That said, there was plenty of damage done to the city, especially closer to Raihan's gym, the entrance of which was completely torn apart by the Duraludon as it had emerged from the building. There was also a growing number of casualties. No deaths were reported, but a general sense of dread seemed to imply that it was only a matter of time before that shoe fell.
Marnie and I walked up to the Pokémon Center to see that it had been largely undamaged outside of some broken windows and a giant hole in the LED lights above the front door. The buildings around it were not so lucky, and amidst all the rubble, there was a large number of trainers looking out into the night. At the front of it all were two familiar faces. The first was Hop, sitting on a rock next to Thwackey and Corvisquire. He looked deep in thought. The other, and moving with surprising ease and flexibility, was Opal, who was barking orders to a handful of trainers as well as a handful of her Pokémon, who were gallivanting around helping trainers and cleaning the streets. As she ordered her Togekiss to help transport a Pokémon who was unable to walk back into the Pokémon Center, she turned and saw Marnie and me approach. "Oh, well if it isn't two of our great heroes of the night!" she called out before smacking Hop behind the ear. "Go on, then, greet your friends, and would you stop worrying so much, no pink at all, my goodness!"
"This is going to be worse than the reporters," Marnie growled.
"Easy now," I whispered back.
Opal strutted forward to meet us before we got more than ten steps toward them and held out a congratulatory hand to each of us. "Yes, marvelous, marvelous, full of cunning and strength. About what I should expect from the top trainers in the league. Looks like those damned computers got something right."
"Do you think I have 'pink,' now?" I asked with a smirk.
"Oh, heavens know, my dear," she replied smugly. "Any old dew-beater can beat up one of that boy Raihan's dragons. You're not that special."
"If I remember correctly, you also couldn't beat them," Marnie mumbled.
"And you're quite pink, my dear," Opal cackled. "You know you'd make a wonderful addition to the Fairy Gym, in the supporting cast." She then winked with a sly smirk, causing Marnie to seethe,which in turn only made Opal cackle louder. "Think it over then. I'll be here for quite some time, dearie, cleaning up this bloody mess that chairman decided to make."
"Wait, what did Chairman Rose have to do with this?" I asked.
"Oh my," Opal said with a dramatic flourish. "I really ought to keep my big mouth shut." She snickered devilishly and hustled away from us without another word. Hop looked up as Opal bustled away into the Pokémon Center, smiling, but it faltered as he and I made eye contact, and when I waved to him, he nodded and looked back down to his Pokémon.
"All right?" he asked as we walked up.
Marnie looked at him, then at me, then dropped my hand. "I need to check on my Pokémon. Still expecting that Bewear hug later," she said quickly, then gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. She hesitated with her lips next to my ears as if to say something more, but must have thought better of it, because she instead kissed me one more time on the cheek and hurried inside.
"Yeah, we managed to calm things down around the gym—"
"No thanks, to me, I know," he grumbled, looking down at his hands as he balled his fingers up and released them in a rhythmic pattern.
I blinked. "W-well, I didn't say that," I coughed.
"You didn't need to," he sighed. "Don't worry, Opal managed to get things taken care of here without any trouble without me, too. Where's Victor?"
"He, er, he stayed back to help Raihan…Hop, what happened after we left?" I asked, looking him over. It was only then that I noticed he was sporting a fair number of scratches and scrapes. There were a couple shallow cuts across his head where blood had trickled down and dried, giving his cheeks and chin a dark brown outline. His Corvisquire and Thwackey also had a set of injuries as well, though none looked permanent or even very severe. Thwackey had his hand resting on Hop's knee and wouldn't take his watchful eyes off his trainer. Corvisquire, meanwhile, had perched as far away from the two as it could while still staying on the same bit of rubble, and was watching the two of them mournfully.
"What happened was I realized how much I needed you or Vic, or hell, even Marnie around here to keep things safe." He pointed through one of the broken windows to a large group of trainers were gathered around a pair of nurses in dirty pink and white dresses. Each trainer worried looks on their faces as the nurses explained something to them in hushed tones. At least three of them had tears in their eyes. "One of the dragons from Raihan's gym blasted through and went on a rampage. Damn near Dynamaxed inside the PC. I think it was one that Raihan's been training for the Pokémon League, he's the only one who could handle a dragon type that was that powerful."
"It didn't…none of their Pokémon died, did they?"
"No," Hop sighed. "But only because Opal showed up in the nick of time with that Togekiss. Managed to bring the dragon out into the street and subdue it all by itself." Hop stood up and walked away from the Pokémon Center slowly. There was an anger in his eyes and a tension in his shoulders. Thwackey followed him closely, but Corvisquire remained in its position, whirling its head around and watching the two.
"Hop…" I said in a hushed tone.
"Worst part was, I couldn't do anything," he quietly concluded with a cracked voice. His hands balled up into tight fists and with all his might, he kicked a loose rock, sending it tumbling twenty feet to the other side of the street. "I just sat there and watched. Corvisquire was right there. Thwackey was right there. But I completely froze up. Just like always."
I frowned. "Hop, you can't blame yourself for freezing up in something like this, this Dynamax storm was insane; none of us knew what we were doing and—"
"You seemed to have a good handle of things," he said shortly. He turned back around and looked at me. I half expected his eyes to be blurry with tears but there were none. Instead, there was no emotion in the once brilliantly gold eyes. All that was left was exhaustion.
I blinked again. "H-Hop, I…er…I didn't have any idea what I was about to go up against."
"That's not what it sounded like when you yelled at me and left for the gym," he replied icily. He looked down and brushed past me.
"Hop," I said, feeling my voice shaking unsteadily. "I…look, there was a lot going on, and I was, like, all adrenaline, but that doesn't excuse it. I was way out of line, and…and…"
"I dunno if there's going to be a gym challenge anymore," he said slowly, "which would be good, because then I won't have to see Lee's face when I tell him I'm quitting." He continued to walk toward the gym, pulling out two Pokéballs. He looked over at his two Pokémon and dropped the two balls on the ground. "You two don't need to follow me," he told them. "Not anymore."
"Hop, don't be ridiculous!" I cried, running up and grabbing his shoulders so I could turn him back to face me. "They're your partners, and you're just going through a slump. It happens to everyone! Me, Victor, Leon…"
"Leon never went through a slump," Hop said darkly, trying to shake free of me.
"Well, you're not Leon," I said, my voice just a squeak.
"Yeah, I know," he said in a pained voice. "I should have realized that months ago." There was a sound of flapping wings and Hop glanced up and sighed. "Speaking of…" he muttered, and with one final shake of his shoulders, he turned and walked inside with quick feet, head down. Thwackey and Corvisquire watched him leave uneasily, and as he passed through the entryway; I could feel tears rolling down my cheeks.
There was a sudden vibration behind me as Charizard landed with a loud grunt. "Gloria!" Leon called in a voice that sounded miles away even as he ran up to my side. "Was that Hop? Is he safe?"
"I…he…" I whimpered, feeling myself shake. Leon frowned and rushed inside after his brother. After a moment, Thwackey picked up his and Corvisquire's Pokeball's and followed them both. Corvisquire twisted its head to look at me curiously but still did not move. I walked inside after them all, but my legs felt like they could barely hold my weight, and I only managed to see Leon catch Hop before he disappeared into the bedding area of the PC and pull him into a deep hug. Hop's back was turned, so I couldn't see him react, but he did not hug his brother back. It was then that I felt like my knees were fully unable to support me, and somehow, I dragged myself over to an open booth nearby and shakily sat down.
An amount of time passed, either one minute or twenty; I couldn't be sure. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a glowing mane of yellow and blue poke through the door, followed by the tired face of my brother, who scanned the area. First, he located Hop and Leon, talking intensely about something in the corner, and then his eyes landed upon me. I tried to smile and wave, but instead, I could feel the tears coming completely. Before my vision was clouded with tears, I saw Victor lurch towards me. His arms wrapped around me, and I leaned into the crook of his shoulder and began to weep. He silently held me, only moving to let Ponyta between us to rest her snout on my lap.
"Vic, I really messed up with Hop," I said once the crying subsided. "He's been having such a shit time and I just—I just yelled at him!"
"Gloria, it's fine," Victor said awkwardly. "Hop's a Nambarek, they can take a couple harsh words, and besides, we both know you're an arse, so this isn't, like, out of the blue."
"Vic, the jokes aren't helping," I grumbled.
"Yeah, well I'm not great at emotional support so it's the best I can do right now," he said with a shrug. "But hey, you know you've still got me with you. You can make up with Hop any time. And look," he added, pulling my head up from his shoulder and moving it so it was facing Hop at the other end of the lobby, "looks like Hop's doing a little better, too."
Leon had a hand around Hop's shoulder, and his body language as he spoke to his younger brother seemed to be stern yet supportive. Thwackey had climbed up next to Hop and was leaning against him with a sad look on his face, but Hop had reached his arm out and was slowly running his fingers up and down the Pokémon's green furred back. Hop looked directly at me. I smiled awkwardly, in my best apologetic smile and his expression softened. Leon noticed this and grinned brilliantly, flashing me a thumbs up and completely misreading the mood.
"I think I'd take you for a brother than him," I said to Victor, and the two of us shared a brief laugh. As we did, we saw the flash of headlights and the whirr of engines as a pair of news vans pulled up next to the Pokémon Center. The engines had not even been cut when I saw Veronica Summers, who instantly trained her eyes directly onto me and smiled at the prospect of a news story.
"Hey, I know Marnie's probably waiting for you for reasons I'd prefer to never get into, but can we talk a bit?" Victor asked. "We haven't gotten a chance to just process, like…any of this gym challenge together. Wanna, I dunno, go and make sure the streets are safe or something? Maybe clear our heads a bit and not get sucked into an interview right now?"
I sniffed and wiped my eyes. "Yeah, I'd like that," I said weakly. He stood up and held out his hand. I took it, and the two of us quickly walked toward the back of the lobby.
As we walked out the doors, I stole one last look at Hop. He looked at me curiously as if he wanted to tell me something but thought better of it and turned back to Leon. And then Victor and I were swarmed with reporters, surrounded by bright lights and camera lenses precariously close to our faces. Veronica Summers was there, but there were also at least three other reporters and more no doubt on the way now that they knew where Leon was. There was so much noise that I couldn't hear a single word with any clarity, but after a couple seconds I heard Ponyta neigh wildly, followed by a flash of white so pure and blinding that every reporter and camera person reeled back, hands over their eyes.
"Aw, what the hell?!" one cried.
"Was that a Dazzling Gleam?" Veronica said, rubbing her eyes.
Ponyta grumpily pushed a path through the reporters and Victor, and I quickly followed as they all regained their composure. Once we were free, the three of us sped down the avenue and taking a quick turn, laughing at my Ponyta's brazen attitude the whole way. They did not follow us.
"I swear, your Pokémon partners have a counter to just about everything," Victor snickered, taking a final look back towards the Pokémon Center. "Brilliant, but a little scary."
"You ever get brave enough to battle me and you can see how strong we are for yourself," I shot back slyly and grabbing at my belt. "Return, Ponyta! You're long overdue for a rest after today." Ponyta neighed happily before returning into her Pokéball.
"Strong enough to get the attention of literal legends, it seems," Victor replied dryly, raising his eyebrows. "I hope you don't expect me to start calling you 'Zacian's Ward,' or any nonsense like that."
"Frankly, I'm just happy you believe me," I sighed. "Damn near thought I was driving myself mad, the number of times I saw her."
"Well, it's a lot to take in," Victor admitted. "And it's a lot harder to believe."
"You mean you don't—"
"Gloria, you know me," he continued with a shrug. "I'll believe it when I see it. But all this crazy stuff with Dynamax storms, hidden monuments, I will say that I certainly don't think you're the one going mad."
"Victor, why would I lie about this?" I asked.
"I don't think you're lying!" he assured, raising his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "But it does sound mad."
I let out a laugh. "I should have known I'd have to bring the burden of proof when I told you."
"Things keep getting crazier and I'm sure I'll see that proof soon enough," Victor offered. "Jeeze, Gloria, I never would have imagined the gym challenge bein' anything like this."
"Me, neither," I agreed. The two of us began to walk down the lane, surveying the damage to the city in silence. There were a few people out and about doing the same, some of them feeling brave enough to have their Pokémon partners help clean up the rubble. There was an eerie calm that had set in over Hammerlocke, one that no one seemed to be able to shake.
Victor and I turned another corner and Victor stopped and pulled out his phone. It was vibrating with gusto. He looked at the screen and rolled his eyes. "Honestly, I figured she would have called during the storm. Hey Mum, don't worry, I'm—yeah, Gloria's with me and Hop's at the Pokémon Center, we're all fi—oh that was live? Oh, damn—why are you yelling at me, Mum? She's Gloria's—okay, fine, here she is."
He tapped his screen and Mum's voice burst out of the speaker. "Gloria? Gloria, are you there?" she asked, as if in a frenzy. Victor looked at me and rolled his eyes.
"Hi, Mum," I said meekly. "I'm right here."
"You really just had to make a scene with that Ponyta just now, didn't you?"
"That was live?"
"Yes, Gloria, that was live," she sputtered. Victor and I both held in a laugh. "It was very rude. You never even told me you caught a Ponyta!"
"That's your takeaway from this, Mum?"
"Oh, I don't give a damn about those reporters, honestly, showing up to a Pokémon Center after a catastrophe like—oh, right! Gloria, what in the bloody hell were you and your brother thinking going out in a storm like that?! You could have died."
"Well, we didn't," I replied.
I could almost hear Mum rolling her eyes at that. "I swear, you kids must think you're invincible. I mean, for Arc's sake, your father and I were the same way on our challenge, but I'd like to think we'd have some sense to stay out of this."
"It's fine, Mum," I insisted. "Leon and Raihan and Marnie were right there, and we all had each other's backs. You know Leon would never let us get hurt."
"He's got that same mentality too," she huffed. "That boy wins a couple big battles and thinks himself unbeatable."
"He is unbeatable though," Victor interjected.
"Oh, hush, Pokémon battles and natural disasters are far from the same thing," Mum scolded. "And that girl, Marnie. Gloria, I had no idea you and her were—"
"We are not having this conversation right now, Mum!" I growled, flushing.
"Oh, it's not a conversation, you know I don't like those punks from Spikemuth, of course you gravitate to a girl from Spikemuth. Such a teenager thing to do, I swear. Honestly, is it too much to ask for you falling for a nice girl from Wedgehurst?"
"Mum, I think I'm old enough to decide who I want to date!"
"I know, and you are," she insisted. "But I'm your mother, and you know I worry."
"Did you just call us yell at me?" I sighed.
There was a pause on the phone as she weighed her options, and then a long, exasperated sigh. "No," she said finally, in a defeated tone. "You and your brother aren't little kids anymore; I just didn't think you'd…well, I didn't think you'd be growing up so fast when I left you in Wedgehurst. I'm sorry."
I glanced at Victor. His eyes were wide; he seemed shocked by Mum's quick concession. "I, er, I guess you weren't kidding when you said it would change us," he joked tentatively.
Mum paused again, and Victor and I exchanged a nervous glance. "I guess I didn't," she said finally. "I love you two so much, and I worry for you. And Arceus Almighty, Gloria, you are turning far too much into your father, he was such a spitfire when we were dating."
"Thanks, Mum," I breathed, relieved.
"We love you, too, Mum," Victor said, also seemingly grateful that any more conflict had been avoided.
"Oh!" she said suddenly. "It says Chairman Rose is going to give a presser in a few minutes. I imagine you should watch it, so I'll let you go. Call me in a couple days. And Gloria?"
"Yeah, Mum?" I asked.
"Could you try not to get yourself killed?"
"No promises," I said.
Mum let out a long sigh. "I suppose that's the best I'll get from you any time soon. Victor, don't make her do anything stupid."
"I'll do my best. Talk to you soon, Mum."
"Love you, bye."
There was a click as she hung up, and Victor and I gave each other a long glance before bursting into laughter. "You're really going to drive her to cardiac arrest," Victor ribbed, pocketing his phone.
"We should head back to the Pokémon Center," I said. "I have a feeling we'll need to see that presser." Victor nodded, and the two of us turned tail and headed back through the still quiet and uneasy streets.
Upon arrival at the Pokémon Center, Victor and I saw a bizarre scene. The news vans were still parked outside, and the reporters and camera and tech people were awkwardly staring at the front of the Pokémon Center, where a very grumpy looking pair of dragons, one a brilliant golden dragon with blood-red axe-like spikes protruding from its mouth, and the other a very familiar-looking Charizard, stood growling at any that got too close. As we got closer, the Charizard turned to us, snorted a brief burst of fire, then stomped towards the reporters, causing them to quickly pull back again. Charizard looked at us again and jerked its head towards the door, not so graciously inviting us in. As we walked past the two dragons, the other one looked at me curiously. "Leon's Haxorus," Victor explained quietly and opened the door.
Inside, the lobby was a bit more animated than before. Some of the trainers had been reunited with their Pokémon, and the presence of Leon and Opal's Pokémon seemed to have fully convinced everyone that they were safe. Opal and Milo were chatting in the corner in hushed tones. Milo waved to both of us with a wide grin. Opal smiled politely and turned her head over to the lounge area of the lobby, where most of the trainers were gathered around the TV. On the screen was an empty glass lectern with the Pokémon League logo carved onto the front. There was a handful of people to the left and right of the podium, quite recognizable in their Macro Cosmos uniforms. We were just in time for Rose's press conference.
I scanned the heads of the trainers in the room. Hop and Leon were both absent, but Marnie's black pigtails bobbed as she noticed Victor and me and waved us over.
"There you are," she said as we walked over to her. Morpeko popped her head out from Marnie's lap and smiled at us.
"Morpeko wasn't worried, was she?" I asked.
Marnie cleared her throat awkwardly. "Er, yeah." It was only then that I noticed almost all the trainers had turned their heads and were looking between me and her expectantly. "Oh, come on, you pissers, eyes off," Marnie growled. Every trainer looked directly forward, back to the screen, while Victor and I sat down on either side of her. Morpeko hopped into my lap, happy to see me again.
"I didn't realize word had spread so fast," I said quietly.
"You think this is bad?" Marnie asked, once again adopting a rather bored persona, cocking an eyebrow. "Just wait 'til Team Yell sees you with me." She slid her hand over and placed it on top of mine, interlocking our fingers and squeezing tight. As she did, some commotion occurred on the screen. We looked back to it just in time to see Leon stepping up behind the podium.
"How did he—where is Rose having this presser?" Victor asked.
"Just outside the Power Plant," Marnie explained. "Turns out Rose was there when the storm started."
"That's…unnerving," Victor muttered, pulling out his phone and typing rapidly into it.
"Is this on?... Yes? Okay, thanks," Leon said quietly before looking directly at the camera tersely. "Hello, everyone, and thank you for coming. Before Rose speaks, I would like to give you all a brief update on the situation here on the streets of Hammerlocke."
The other trainers around us began to mutter to each other, and we could hear the same nervous muttering on the TV as well. Leon raised his hands, and somehow, even all the way in this Pokémon Center, everyone immediately quieted down.
"The situation in Hammerlocke has stabilized," Leon explained. "All Dynamaxed and Gigantamaxed Pokémon have been neutralized and are receiving care at various Pokémon Centers throughout the city. While plenty of buildings have been damaged, few are severely damaged, and fortunately, no deaths have yet been reported. All displaced people have been given rooms to stay in, at the charge of the Macro Cosmos Corporation. We will be able to take a few questions at the end of Mr. Legatum's speech, so please save any you may have until the chairman has finished his announcements. Chairman?"
Leon waved his hands and soon he was joined onstage by Chairman Rose, and his right hand, Oleana. Oleana and Leon took a step back while Rose positioned himself behind the lectern and ran his hands through his slick black and gray hair. Despite everything, the chairman hardly looked stressed at all, though that could not be said for Leon or Oleana. Leon was staring at the chairman, as if trying to summon lasers to drill into the back of his head. Oleana's face was blank, but there was a strange exhaustion that was all too clear in her eyes. She looked straight forward.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," Rose began, "I will say right now what has happened was a terrifying experience to all. From time to time, we have had our share of strange Dynamax-related weather, but something of this magnitude…well, we were not quite prepared for it." He laughed uneasily, but both the room he was in and the Pokémon Center where we were watching him was silent as death. "Rest assured, thanks to the quick thinking of Leon, the various Gym Leaders who were fortunately here on…important League Business, and even, so I hear, some brave trainers participating in this year's Gym challenge, the damage was contained to only small pockets of the city."
"Wait, why were the gym leaders here?" A trainer to the far right of us whispered, setting off a fresh batch of whispers among us. I looked at Marnie and then Victor. Both shrugged at me in response.
"We are currently unsure of the cause of the commotion," Rose continued, uneasily, "but rest assured, Macro Cosmos is working tirelessly to figure out this mystery. What we do know right now is that the storm seemed to have formed naturally but had caused some sort of reaction at the Hammerlocke Gym and Power Plant Complex causing the massive storm this evening. We have quickly brought the respected Professor Magnolia into our employ to research this situation."
"Wasn't she already doing research for him?" Marnie whispered. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the screen.
"Maybe not for this specific reason?" I wagered. Victor frowned and started typing faster.
"Magnolia is the most respected of respected researchers of the Dynamax Phenomenon," Rose explained with a smile, "and no doubt she will help us find our way to the solution. In the meanwhile, no doubt you are curious about the league itself." He was answered with more muttering. Leon fumed behind him, and Rose cleared his throat and continued. "Official League events will be pushed back one week, and League Events here in Hammerlocke, namely gym battles, will be put on hold for three while we clean up and ensure that…no such event will occur again. Raihan, our wonderful leader here, has graciously volunteered to lead the charge in ensuring that all safety protocols will be not only followed, but enhanced. The safety of our trainers, gym leaders, and their Pokémon is our top priority in this investigation. We thank you for your understanding at this time, and we urge all remaining trainers to act as if there has been no break. Think of it as an extra week or two to train up to get your teams in tip-top shape! After all, these gym battles are only going to get harder! Once we are assured that all is safe, we will make sure to get the season back up again with aplomb. We are confident that it will happen in just a little time, and already have some exciting plans in the works. I will allow a couple questions at this time."
The murmurs and muttering exploded again in the Pokémon Center as trainers discussed what their next plans were, or if there were any next plans for them at all. Rose's voice was completely drowned out by the voices in the room with us, but before I turned away from the TV entirely, I glanced at Leon's face. It was filled with contempt for Rose – an expression I had never once seen him make. Oleana continued to look forward blankly, as if performing a part that was rehearsed for months, if not years.
I felt a tug on my sleeve and looked over to see Marnie and Victor looking at me.
"What's up?" I asked. Victor held his phone up and pointed to it. On the screen was a chat log he had been sharing with Sonia. At the bottom of it was a message from her.
He's full of shit. Meet me tomorrow morning-route 8 gate. Bring your sister.
A/N: And here we are! Back in the saddle! So yeah, couple things.
First, in classic Horseradish_Sprout style, I spent some time looking over the outline I had frenetically typed out like 7 or 8 months ago to make sure that I was still on pace to finish this out in the same time frame/number of chapters I originally set out for and I *technically* could...if my chapters were about 8k-10k words on average. Not that I'm opposed to such long chapters, but it's really not sustainable if I want to stick with my plan of weekly updates. So good news for you all - I reorganized and restructured and idk maybe I'll get to the end of this by the Gen 10 releases lmao. Don't worry. I'll make sure this doesn't ever feel like I'm losing it - like I said from the start, I've added in loads of character motivations and plot threads, and didn't realize when I first sat down how much time I'd need to go through with all of them. And there will be plenty more from our four heroes (including Marnie, who hilariously was originally just characterized as "hot girl Gloria would finally kiss after the gym battle with Piers," talk about an ascended extra).
Second, I've been reworking some of the older chapters here and there, just tweaks and stuff, so I could start posting this to Archive of Our Own. Everything up to Milo's gym battle is up on that site, if you want to reread that there, but that's not important. What's important is that I've gone back and tweaked a few bits of chapter 10 so it lines up a bit more with where the story is now. Man, I could use an editor sometimes! Don't worry, I haven't actually changed any important plot bits, but if you wanted to reread that it'll be much more in line with what is actually going down in this story. Best part about writing fanfic is every chapter is still basically a first draft. Someone get me an editor, jesus h. christ
Third, this has nothing to do with anything but I DID watch the new SV trailer and I WOULD die for Lechonk, if I ever do a gen 9 story one WILL show up, this I promise you.
And finally, to the lovely soul who left the comment about how "marnie and gloria aren't gay, you're messing up canon with your dilapidated leftist agenda you cuck" or some shit, happy pride month dumbass, Gloria and Marnie are only gonna get gayer from here on out and there's nothing you can do about it
See you next week!
NEXT WEEK: A LEAGUE ON PAUSE