A/N: Hey everyone! What say we finally get out of Hammerlocke? I think this is the longest I've spent in a location in the entire story so far and we're more than overdue for a change of scenery (don't ask me about Wyndon). Enjoy the chapter!
"Alright, well I guess I'll see you in four days' time, then," Victor said, shouldering his pack and giving me a quick hug goodbye.
"Yeah, make sure you beat him this time," I jested, squeezing him back.
"If she gets too annoying, you can just hit her," Victor said, glancing cheekily over to Hop.
"You have my blessin'," Marnie agreed.
"Alright, I'll try to keep her humble," Hop laughed. "
"You sure you don't want to come with us?" I asked Marnie, gripping her hand.
"Nah, I got a battle to win here," Marnie said with a steely grin. "B'sides, I can't have you learnin' all my tricks before we battle in the League." She wrapped me up in her arms and gave me a quick peck on the lips. "Try not to freeze out there."
"Right," I grinned. We let go of each other and our group split in three directions; Marnie back to her hotel, Victor toward a Corviknight Taxi waiting dutifully for him a few yards away and Hop and me to the west gate of Hammerlocke on Route 8, which led deeper into the mountains and would eventually reach the remote city of Circhester. With us were Sonia and Leon. Leon was describing some tactics to Hop in hushed tones, and Sonia walked next to me without saying a word and doing her best to hide a mischievous smile.
"You sure you don't want me to tag along with you two?" Leon asked Hop.
"Lee, it's fine," Hop groaned.
"Well, I guess that makes it my turn to say goodbye as well," he said with a charming smile. "Probably for the best, as Raihan's going to need some extra hands at his gym now. And if you remember what I said, Melony will be a breeze for you."
"Right," he said, smiling but not looking happy whatsoever. Leon gave us both a happy wave, called out Charizard, and the two quickly took off, speeding away through the sky and leaving us and a crowd of enthused onlookers in the dust. Sonia and I stood and waved in the direction he went until he disappeared, but Hop was already twenty feet down the street by the time we turned around.
"I take it he still doesn't know?" I asked, as Sonia and I jogged to catch up to him.
Hop sighed. "No, but I think he's got an inkling."
"How did your training session go last night?" Rose had only booked a room for Victor and me together, as Leon had opted for Hop to share a room with him while he was still in Hammerlocke. After our early dinner, he had implied that there was still more training to be done between the two of them, and he and Hop quickly left after paying the bill.
"He…he means well," Hop sighed again, "but it was mostly over my head. He kept me up til midnight talking about weather conditions, combinations, using Pokémon I haven't even caught. It was less 'coming up with a strategy,' and more of a 'flip through an encyclopedia when you just need a dictionary."
"That's rough, Hop," Sonia said, grabbing his shoulder and giving him a soft shake. "He sometimes forgets that battling's not that intuitive to the rest of us." Hop just winced again and shook her arm off of him with a sudden jerking motion.
"Hop, if it's any consolation, I don't have any strategy at all," I said. "Maybe we can figure something out together as we travel?"
Hop smiled, a little warmer this time. "I think I'd like that."
"And I would be happy to help," Sonia interrupted. "Because anything that keeps me from going back to Gran's like an old fool would be exactly what I need right now."
"You're coming, too?" I asked, smiling.
"Of course!" Sonia replied. "A little camping would do wonders, plus there's some really cool ruins between here and Circhester that I've been meaning to check out as of late."
"And here I thought no Victor meant no boring nerd stuff for once," I joked.
"Now, now," Sonia chided, twirling a lock of her hair thoughtfully with one finger, "I don't think a little studying up on Zacian and Zamazenta would be nerd stuff you'd want to skip out on." She grinned as she watched my eyes widen. "Yeah, I thought that one'd get your attention."
Hop, meanwhile, looked down with a frown. He jammed his hands into his pockets, deep in thought about something. For a moment, I was wondering why hearing about the wolves would throw him off so much, but I let it slide. If I'd learned anything about him since starting the journey, it was that I'd have to find a better opportunity to beat information out of him.
The weather for the journey north was pleasant; the heat was much less intense than the overbearing heat of Route 6 but still more than enough for us to break into a sweat while walking. By the time we broke for lunch, I had already removed my gray cardigan and had it wrapped around my waist, while Hop had fashioned his own denim jacket into a makeshift keffiya, tied to his head with his belt. Two of his Pokéballs hung off it like bulbous ears, and the rest he had either stored in his bag or in his pocket. Sonia, meanwhile, had applied nearly an entire tube of sunscreen onto her pale skin and had added another once we had eaten.
Along the way we ran into a lot of people eager to see Hop or me, but no gym challengers looking to battle. Most were interested in our plans for continuing our journey or wondering if they could watch the two of us battle. Hop politely declined the first two times, and seeing that he was uncomfortable bringing it up, I did the best I could to keep conversations with fans to a minimum. One old man did manage to say that he was still rooting for Hop, telling him the story about how he almost couldn't complete the challenge when he was a boy, but stuck it out and didn't once regret it. Hop brightened up quite a bit at that.
Finally, the sun started to set over the mountains, and before it got too dark, Sonia managed to spot a nice rocky outcropping where the three of us could camp, overlooking the next days' walk. We all sent out our Pokémon to help set up the camp. Sonia and Cinderace worked at making a fire pit, while Thwackey, Hop, and I set up two tents. Bewear lumbered off to collect firewood with Hop's Corvisquire, while Yamper and Boltund sniffed around with Sonia's Yamper to try and find some berries to munch on. Vibrava buzzed around happily, though it couldn't really find any way to help anyone with their tasks.
"C'mon, Hop, I know you've got more Pokémon," I teased. "They gotta earn their dinner, send 'em out!"
Hop grimaced and tossed out the rest of his Pokéballs. Out popped Wooloo, but with him were three Pokémon I had never seen Hop around before. One was a tall tree with a single red eye pulsating through its top branches. Two of its lower branches hung low like claws and seemed to move as such. Next to it was another tall Pokémon with a skinny red torso and skinnier red arms that bulged out around the wrist like it was wearing gauntlets. Its face was also skinny, with a long brown snout that housed a red tongue that flicked in and out of it like fire. The third one I had recognized before, though I'd never seen it near Hop. It was a Snorlax, comically wide and perpetually drowsy. It seemed like it was about to fall over and take a nap at any second.
"Hey Wooloo," I said with a smile. "Sure is good to see you again; it's been a long time little buddy!" Wooloo bleated with glee and rolled over to me, nudging fondly against my legs. I looked at the rest of Hop's team. "As for the rest of you, it's…well it's nice to finally meet you!"
"They're loaners from Lee," Hop sighed. "He said they're well-enough trained; they just never had a perfect spot on his champion team. Thought it would help me find my groove again. Meet Trevenant, Heatmor, and Snorlax."
"How can you find a groove again if you keep using different instruments?" I asked. Hop merely sighed a second time, so I quickly made an addendum. "Hey, why don't we do a little sparring once the camp's set up? Then we can see what these three are made of?"
"I guess," Hop said. "Yeah, that could be fun!"
"Keep it away from the pot," Sonia warned. "Or else I'm boiling you too in the curry!"
We snickered and finished with the tent in a few minutes, and after a couple more, Bewear had brought a log's worth of sticks for the fire, which Cinderace lit with a puff of fire from his mouth. Sonia worked on prep as Yamper brought back a hearty berry selection and Hop and I found a relatively flat area to practice on underneath the outcropping. As we took our places at opposite ends of the makeshift pitch, Wooloo bleated loudly and rolled in front of Hop, taking a battle-ready stance and facing me.
"What? Wooloo, no," Hop said with a roll of his eyes. "Gloria can take you down with any one of her Pokémon, hang back, okay?"
Wooloo didn't move, but instead did its best to growl at me with all the menace its tiny mouth could make. I let out a hearty laugh. "Come on, Hop, he's aching to battle! Come on Vibrava, you need to stretch those wings a bit more."
Vibrava buzzed over and landed in front of me, but Hop was having none of it. "Wooloo, come on," he said, a bit more forcefully this time. "You're very cute, but let's let the new guys try it out first." Wooloo let out a huff and rolled back to the sidelines grumpily. Hop looked over to the Snorlax and nodded.
As the giant Pokémon bounded towards us, Vibrava looked up at me expectantly. "Alright, this thing is probably going to be able to take a lot of whatever you have to give him, so give it everything! Dragon Breath!" I cried!
Vibrava shot into the air and let out its attack, but Snorlax took the attack like it was a light breeze. "Alright!" Hop said with excitement and surprise. "That's the sort of defense I can get behind! Hit it with a Body Slam!"
With surprising speed for a body that large, Snorlax rushed Vibrava, who couldn't quite get out of the way in time. Right before the moment it would have crashed into Vibrava, Snorlax jumped up and forward, smashing Vibrava with its entire body weight. It rolled off and Vibrava quickly flew up higher into the air, looking dazed and very sore from the attack.
"Attack and defense, nice!" Hop cried, and for a moment, I could see a spark of that fire he had in his eyes at the start of the challenge. I grinned, happy to see that he was back in his element, even for just a second.
"Alright, let's really give 'em a challenge!" I shouted. "Bulldoze!"
"Body Slam again!" Hop roared. Vibrava arced up, like it was on a loop in a roller coaster, and dove to the ground, pulling itself up just before crashing into the earth and shot towards Snorlax with devastating speed, kicking up plenty of dust and rocks in a cloud around it. Snorlax readied itself and hopped up, hoping to pin Vibrava again, but Vibrava had expected it this time, turning as it bounced off Snorlax's belly and shooting off to the side. Snorlax twisted in the air and landed on its back with a crack and groaned loudly.
"One more time, Vibrava!" I called, and Vibrava turned around and shot like a bullet toward Snorlax again as it pulled itself back up to a standing position. Hop sputtered, trying to think of a command, but could not, and instead watched with misery as Vibrava crashed into Snorlax a second time. Snorlax let out a huge puff of air and fell to the ground again, not getting up.
"R-right, Trevenant, let's go!" Hop said, returning Snorlax to its ball. The tree skittered forward on its six legs. But even with less weight for those legs to lug around, it was moving incredibly slowly. Wooloo peeked its head out from behind him and bleated excitedly.
"Alright, Vibrava! Bug Buzz!" I cried. Vibrava circled around Trevenant and began to buzz as loudly as it could. The volume was so intense that I even saw Sonia and Yamper cringe from the cacophony as they cooked on top of the outcropping, but Trevenant especially was having trouble enduring it. It flailed around wildly, missing each time, no matter what order Hop gave, and eventually, it too succumbed.
"A-alright then," Hop said, clearly thrown from two easy wins for me, "Let's go, Heatmor! Fire lash!"
"Bulldoze!" I ordered, and Vibrava sped toward Heatmor, low to the ground and picking up earth again. Heatmor stayed its ground and sent out hot whips of flame that lashed at Vibrava, who despite already weakened from his past two battles, didn't seem to mind the heat and instead crashed into Heatmor, who immediately crumpled before Hop could say another word. Vibrava circled around toward me, and I pet him on the head while Hop sank to his knees in frustration.
"Ah!" he yelled. "Why can't I get this right anymore? I can't even—wait, Wooloo, what are you doing?"
Wooloo had rolled forward and stood facing Vibrava intensely. In his eyes was a fire I had never seen from the little sheep, and instead of bleating wildly like it usually would when things were going rough for Hop, it stood steadfast and true, like a loyal guardian. Hop pulled himself up and took a couple steps over, about to pull Wooloo back from battling when I noticed Wooloo's wooly hide, already glowing in the direct light of the setting sun, turned into a pearly sheen. Slowly that sheen overtook Wooloo, and the little sheep started to grow.
"Woo…loo…" Hop said, stepping back in awe.
"I told you he wants to fight," I said. Vibrava buzzed excitedly.
Wooloo bleated again, but now its voice was deeper, stronger. As the glowing reached its zenith, there was one blast of bright light and then, standing before us, looking threatening for the first time in his life, stood Dubwool. On his head were two sharp looking horns that reached over its wooly body and glinted sharply in the sunlight. The once pristine white wool on its back now had blotches of black, and it stood nearly twice its height. It looked back at Hop expectantly, and as it dawned on him that his closest partner had evolved, a familiar smile seeped back into Hop's face.
"Alright then, buddy," he said, starting weakly but gathering confidence as it went. "You made your point, let's turn this around!"
"Bulldoze again!" I said. Vibrava shot at Dubwool.
"Meet it with a Take Down!" Hop shouted. The two Pokémon sped towards each other, Vibrava flying low, and Dubwool rolling just like it did as a Wooloo. The two collided with a loud thud, and Dubwool bounced once before landing on its feet, while Vibrava skidded to a stop a few feet from me, unconscious.
"I…you did it, Dubwool!" Hop cheered.
I blinked in surprise. "Looks like I've got a battle on my hands, then," I said, feeling myself grin as well. "But you got lucky. Vibrava already picked off three Pokémon. Let's see how well you can handle Bewear!" I returned Vibrava to his Pokéball, and Bewear, who had been watching on the sidelines, jogged to take his place, roaring with excitement. "Iron Head, now!"
"Defense curl!" Hop called suddenly. As Bewear rushed Dubwool, it tucked its head into its thick wool just in the nick of time so that Bewear's attack barely did a thing. "Excellent! Now use Take Down, and then stay mobile!"
Dubwool took advantage of its newfound size and speed to rush into Bewear and hitting it as it was getting ready for a second attack, sending him to the ground. As Bewear picked himself up, Dubwool started spinning around him like a wheel, trying to disorientate him. It was a strategy that I had seen Hop use on me before, but Dubwool was much faster and could probably do a lot better than he could as a Wooloo, so I knew this wouldn't be easy.
"Bewear! Hammer Arm!" I cried.
"Now, reversal!" Hop said. Bewear ran to the side and swung its arm so it would collide with Dubwool. And collide it did, sending him shooting backwards, like Bewear had swung at it in a game of Cricket. Dubwool careened straight toward the rock wall of the outcropping, but in a moment that was so fast I could barely see it, he landed with his feet on the wall and then pushed off, rocketing back to Bewear and crashing into him with incredible force. The dust settled, and against all possible odds, Dubwool stood panting over Bewear, who, while he was still conscious, did not look like he was ready to continue the fight any time soon.
I pulled out my Pokéball and returned Bewear. "You did your best," I said to his Pokéball. "Looks like we might need to plan around this strategy again." I glanced over to Cinderace, who jogged up to take the stand.
"Actually," Hop interjected, "I'm thinking we call it for the night. You made your point, Woo—Dubwool." He patted Dubwool on the head and Dubwool bleated happily.
I walked over to the two and started to scratch Dubwool behind the ears. "Hop, you were startin' to look like your old self for a second, there."
"Who'd have thought my little Wooloo would be making you so nervous?" Hop asked with a shrug.
"He's not so little anymore," I pointed out.
"Yeah," Hop said. "Lee said these new Pokémon would help me kickstart my training, but honestly? Maybe Dubwool will have a few more surprises in store for me when I go up against Melony."
"Alright, you two!" Sonia called. "As long as you don't keep shaking the earth, curry will be ready in five, so get back over here!" Hop and I grinned at each other and rushed back up the outcropping to our dinner.
"Gloria. Hop," Sonia called as we finished up our curries. "C'mon over here, I have something to show you." She was standing at the edge of the outcropping, framed by the orange rays of the setting sun. I set my bowl down and joined her while Hop quickly scarfed down the last of his meal.
"What's up?" I asked.
"D'ya see that pathway?" Sonia asked, pointing out and to the North. I looked over to see Route 8 wind deeper and deeper into the mountains before making one final twist into a cave and disappearing forever eight or nine miles away. Just before that cave, the route split, and a smaller branch dipped to the west, going down the steep hillside. I could not quite make out where it led, but just before it disappeared from my field of vision, it cut through a strange and old collection of brick walls and fences.
"The one leading to the fences, right?"
"Right," she confirmed. "Except those aren't fences. Those are building foundations."
"What's building foundations?" Hop said, walking up to her other side and wiping his face with his sleeve.
"There," Sonia said, pointing again. "It's an ancient historical site. Old Hammerlocke."
I looked over at Sonia. "Old Hammerlocke?" I asked. Hop's eyes widened.
"Y'see, Hammerlocke was never always where it is now," Sonia explained. "It was one of the capitals of those small nations all across the region back in the day, but it was suddenly abandoned in favor of its current location about a couple thousand years ago."
"Why?" I asked.
"I'm pretty sure you can put two and two together, little miss Ward of Zacian," Sonia replied with a wink. "This isn't proven, of course, but the date that the old city was abandoned is estimated to only be a few dozen years before those fields in Turffield date back to and are even closer in their date of origin to the statues outside Stow-on-Side."
My heart froze. I had a vibrant vision for just a second of one of the dreams I had all those weeks ago and shuddered – the one of Zacian, Zamazenta, and their trainers (companions?) as they prepared for the final battle against the Black Hand. The buildings scattered around were totally destroyed. Hop looked equally shaken at the implications. Could these have been…?
"Unfortunately, it's more of a wild hypothesis, if anything at all," Sonia continued, "because there's no other evidence besides the dates. For all we know, it could have been a nearby town that moved to Hammerlocke for safety during or after the Darkest Day itself. There isn't even any sort of Dynamax Aura about the old buildings, not like Hammerlocke or Stow-on-Side. But what little survives of the city points to it having been a bustling city, and even the oldest buildings in Hammerlocke aren't quite as old as these ruins."
"You really think there's something about Zacian and Zamazenta there?" Hop asked.
Sonia shrugged. "No clue. But I figured that if you two were seeing legends, this might get you to see another one. Excuse my being a mad scientist and using you as test subjects," she said with a wink.
"S-solid theory," Hop said, clearly shaken at the thought. I nodded and looked ahead. The three of us stood for a bit, watching the sun's last rays fall behind the mountains, enshrouding our camp with darkness.
"Well, that's enough of that," Sonia said suddenly with some finality. "Big day, lots of walking tomorrow, 'specially if we want to get to Circhester in time to watch Vic's battle at the hotel in two days. You comin' in?"
Hop didn't respond; he was still looking far off into the distance with a thousand-yard stare, clearly lost in thought. "G'night, Sonia," I answered for the both of us, and she quickly left to go back to her tent, leaving the two of us alone on the cliff's edge in silence. We sat there without speaking for a few moments as the soft glow of the moonlight began to coat the land below in an eerie white blanket.
"Hey, great battle today," I said.
Hop blinked and glanced over. "Yeah, really got me thinkin' about what Lee was telling me the past couple days. Drilling strategies over and over."
"Looks like it was paying off. Dubwool's gonna be a right thorn in my side with that revised rolling strategy you've got there."
"That's the thing, though," Hop said with a sheepish grin. "Lee told me to ditch Dubwool weeks ago. Said it wasn't gonna help me win the big battles later on. Said he was totally dead weight in my party. I've been trying everything to find a replacement and none of 'em can even compare."
"You're kidding," I countered.
"Not kidding," Hop assured me. "I didn't have a plan when he rolled up and evolved. I just kinda…rolled with it in the moment. I wasn't really thinking about the outcome of the battle, I was just…happy to see him so happy."
"That's your big problem," I said, scooting over to him and rapping him on his head with my knuckles. "You got too many thoughts rolling around in there. You put too much pressure on yourself."
Hop batted my hand away with a snicker. "Gloria, ow, stop!"
"I'm serious!" I continued. "You've been so tense about battling since you first lost to Bede that you haven't been able to see clearly on the pitch. You're just as good as you've always been, you proved that today with your 'dead weight' Pokémon."
Hop looked ahead mournfully. "Yeah, but…you don't get it. You don't know what it's having to be the younger sibling, Gloria."
"What are you talking about?" I snickered. "Victor's older than me and I don't let that bother me at all."
"You know what I mean," Hop said, sticking his tongue out at me. "You're what, twenty minutes younger?"
"Eight, actually," I corrected.
"Alright, well Lee's eight years older than me. And he's been the league champion for almost my whole life! He's been in the bloody papers about as long as I could read 'em. And no one ever lets me forget it, either. You know what it's like in Postwick. Everyone askin' me about how Lee's doing, when I'll be doing the challenge, whether I'll be as good as him, whether I'll take his place. Half of 'em expect me to be the one to finally end his winning streak. It's…it's a lot of pressure."
I leaned back. "I never thought about it that way," I admitted.
"Yeah, like I said…" he said, trailing off and putting his head down.
"You never seemed to let it bother you before, though," I pointed out.
"That you know of," he shot back. Then he paused and let out a single laugh. "How could I? Everyone thought I was destined for greatness, how could I let them all down? And for a while, it seemed like I was going to be as great as they said I would be. I knew it would only be a matter of time before it all went to pot, but for a brief second it seemed like maybe it wouldn't."
"And then Bede got to you."
"Nah, mate, it was a bit before that," he said with another short laugh. "That gym battle with Kabu really rattled me. I almost didn't make it. It was a real wake-up call; sort of brought back all those insecurities. Bede just…well…he expedited the process. Then it was just a matter of letting that self-fulfilling prophecy self-fulfill."
"Hop, why didn't you ever tell us?"
"I tried to tell Victor right when we set out, but I couldn't figure out how. And you? You're my greatest rival, right? I couldn't let you think I was a weak battler."
"Yeah, but you're my friend before any of that," I argued, frowning.
"Look, I never said it made any real sense," Hop chuckled. "And now that I say it out loud, it does sound ridiculous."
"It doesn't." I assured him. "But I never thought you were weak. And you never have to prove anything to me, just so you know."
"I think I understand that now," Hop said. "I dunno. I can't really explain it, but once I was battling with Dubwool again, I just kinda, threw that all out the window. I remembered how to have fun with battling. Maybe it's because it was you I was battling with, or maybe it's because it wasn't an official league battle or anything, or maybe it was just that I finally put my faith in Dubwool again—"
"Pretty sure it's mostly that last bit," I interrupted. Hop blinked and smiled.
"You might be right, mate," he replied. "I haven't been putting any trust in my Pokémon either as of late."
"You had Zamazenta putting their trust in you, you know," I said slyly. "Probably a bigger endorsement than Leon."
Hop's face froze, and after a second, he looked straight down. "No, that trust is one I definitely don't deserve."
I grasped his shoulder and gave him a light shake. "You'd be surprised."
We sat in silence again. In the dirt below, I watched as the violet fur of a Liepard rippled through a patch of overgrown grass, prowling around and looking for a midnight snack. It didn't notice us and slipped further and further away, towards the taller mountains to the north. Now that the sun was gone entirely, we could see the glittering of the stars above us, scattered randomly across the sky. I began to trace the constellations that I knew, basic shapes representing beasts, legends, heroes and villains that had all been passed down over generations, but in the crisp, clear night air, there were so many other stars out that I had a hard time making out the basic shapes. I slowly fell back so that I was lying on the ground and heard Hop do the same onto a patch of grass right next to me.
"Do you think we'll see Zacian and Zamazenta tomorrow?" I asked after a couple minutes.
"Maybe," Hop said quietly. He seemed tense. "You said Zacian…talked to you?"
"Yeah."
"Huh." We lay there in silence again, until Hop took a deep inhale and spoke again. "I saw Zamazenta the night of the storm."
I jerked up and looked over to him. "You did?!" I asked.
"He…er, it looked at me. Just staring at me, like it was tryin' to figure me out. Seemed like it was wondering why I wasn't out there with you trying to help out." He pulled himself up and rested his arms on his knees, looking straight at the moon. "Remember when I told you how I froze up that morning? It was right when that Dynamaxed Pokémon attacked the Pokémon Center. I saw Zamazenta staring at me, waiting for me to do something and…and I didn't. Then he turned and walked away and the next thing I know, Opal is there with her Togekiss to save the day."
I looked closely at Hop. His eyes were glassy, but he wasn't crying. Instead, he looked to be deep in thought. Though he was facing the moon, his eyes were unfocused, introspective. "Like I told you back in Ballonlea. I'm not much for a hero, huh?" He smiled and gave a soft laugh, but he didn't seem to think the notion was all too funny.
I swallowed a lump in my throat. "Zacian seemed to think you were," I said. "She told me that the two of them chose us, and if they're these legendary heroes of the region, I'm inclined to trust 'em. I'm sure you'll get another chance. There's probably more to being a hero than being good at Pokémon battles."
"Probably? Great pep talk," Hop said dryly.
"You know what I mean, you doofus," I said, knocking him softly on the shoulder with my fist. "How about this? You and I go with Sonia down to those ruins tomorrow, and if we see them, we ask them what they want with us. And they'll tell us both that you're worthy or whatever. But I'm getting sleepy, so I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too late." I pulled myself up from the ground and turned away from the moon.
"Yeah," Hop said, pulling himself back up. "And Gloria?"
"What's up?"
"Thanks for the battle today. You and Dubwool gave me a lot to think about." We looked over to the tents and saw Dubwool curled up next to Boltund, both sleeping peacefully together for the first time in weeks. "Next time we'll give you a real battle. One that maybe even Zamazenta would be proud of."
A/N: Hell yeah, Hop's back! Well, not totally back, but it's about time he got a W, it's only been 24 chapters at this point. Glad to have him on the up-and-up again. Hopefully he can get those other gym badges in time for the league to start (And don't think you know how this will play out - I'm playing pretty fast and loose with game canon at this point)! But before anyone gets a gym battle in, it's time to check out another set of ruins...and maybe a new (to this fic) character...
NEXT WEEK: VOICES OF THE DEAD