Shipper Hop strikes again.
"Hammerlocke is up that way," said Hop, gesturing to a long bridge that even Victor had to squint to see. "You can probably catch some Pokémon on the way up, if you don't want to just rush straight through with no detours."
"Why would we do that?" Victor asked, grinning. "Gloria's got to catch up, doesn't she? She's only got Ace and Rogue evolved, after all."
"That's not my fault!" Gloria objected, to her friends' amusement. "I'll beat you both one day, and then you'll all -"
"Don't get ahead of yourself," a familiar voice said, and Victor struggled not to complain as Bede arrived.
Gloria didn't have any restraint. "What do you want, Bede? I thought I proved that I could beat you with a mere type advantage."
"You proved you weren't absolutely pathetic," Bede corrected. "I wasn't really trying, and that led to careless mistakes on my part."
"Oh?" Hop teased, getting Bede's attention. "You went easy on Gloria, did you? Well, I'll admit she's not bad looking, but I don't think 'stunningly beautiful' is how anyone would see her..."
Bede immediately got angry. "She's not...I don't..." Words failed him, and he descended into a growl of frustration and muttered death threats.
Hop just laughed. "Did I get it, then?"
"You're off your rocker," Bede insisted. "And so is your brother, choosing you and Victor."
"My bro's a genius," Hop insisted, ignoring how Victor fake-coughed loudly. "And he chose the greatest trainers of them all to endorse! The fact that even Gloria could defeat you without a single badge just proves how great we are!"
"If you're so great, then I challenge you to a battle." Bede pointed at the bridge linking the two halves of the Wild Area. "Over there. That way I can head straight on to Hammerlocke once I beat you."
"You mean I can head straight to Hammerlocke after I beat you," Hop declared, and started to the bridge.
"Don't get ahead of yourself. I'll show you what I can do when I'm not holding back." He looked at Gloria again, snorted, and walked away.
Gloria watched them leave. "I don't know if I should be relieved or offended."
"Try neither," Victor suggested, as he picked up a Pokeball. "Let's just try to train."
They trained a lot.
With both Drilbur and Dishwasher hitting evolution, and Dash being close enough that Victor could almost feel it, they decided that it was good enough to start off to Hammerlocke.
"Got everything, Gloria?" Victor called as she shook a tree surrounded by Duskull and Gastly, her Thievul and Linoone standing guard behind her.
Gloria scooped up an armful of berries. "Got it all," she confirmed. "And plenty more," she added with a smile, depositing the berries in her bag and catching sight of all the medicines and Pokeballs she'd collected.
"Good. Hammerlocke should be right over that bridge."
It wasn't. They had to fight their way through plenty more, including Gloria getting cornered by a Drapion as she tried to gather more berries and Victor getting chased by a Bewear for ten minutes before it gave up. But they eventually stumbled up to the dragon's head that held the entrance to the city.
"You didn't get lost?" Bede asked, sounding genuinely impressed. "I would have thought you'd died by now."
"Sorry to disappoint you," Victor spat back. "Where's Hop?"
His fears were confirmed when Bede laughed. "I doubt he's coming. After the defeat he suffered, he'd have to be a fool to want to go on."
"You don't know Hop," Gloria protested. "He is a fool, and is determined to beat Leon and Victor. He doesn't give up unless he knows he can't win."
"That changes nothing. He likely won't even be able to look his own brother in the eye." He straightened up and walked into the city. "I have a meeting with the chairman. Good luck with your own future losses."
And then he was gone.
"I'm going to kill that kid someday," said Victor, as casually if he was announcing he wanted to pet his Raboot.
"Not if I beat you to it," said Gloria, and the two headed into Hammerlocke together.
It didn't take long for them to find Bede again. He was right in the middle of town, after all, talking to Rose and Oleana. After his gloating at the gate, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Victor and Gloria would start eavesdropping. All it took was the ability to see them there.
Luckily, Bede had his back turned to them. "If I can collect more Wishing Stars, I can help you solve that problem," he promised, and Rose laughed.
"Thank you, Billy. But it's not about me, it's about the future of Galar. Don't worry, I'll be sure to put your name in the history books for all the help you've given me."
"Really?" It was almost adorable how excited the boy was, and they could only imagine the puppy eyes he was giving the chairman. "You'll remember that my name is Bede by that point, won't you, sir?"
Rose flinched. "Probably not, if I'm being honest. But I'm sure somebody will correct it, don't worry. And you're getting stronger in your Gym challenge, too, aren't you?"
"Of course I am! I even managed to show the Champion's own brother how outclassed he was!"
"I forgot the Champion had a brother," said Rose, before putting it out of his head. "Well done, kid."
Oleana stepped forward. "If you don't mind, Bede," she said, and Bede switched his attention to her, "I have something I want to discuss with you."
He followed her off, leaving Victor and Gloria to talk to Rose.
"I know you two were listening," Rose pointed out, and laughed when they flinched. "There's nothing wrong with listening. In fact, it makes this next part easier. You do know what the energy of your Wishing Stars can do, don't you?"
"A bit," said Gloria, uncertain. "I've seen Victor and Leon do it often enough. It makes Pokémon giant, doesn't it?"
"More than that, miss," Rose corrected. "So much more. A Wishing Star can power a whole city for a week! With enough of them, we can save the world!"
"So that's why you endorsed Bede?" asked Victor.
Rose cleared his throat. "Part of it," he said, and spun around. "Well, then! Let's head to the stadium! I'm sure there's something interesting there!"
And he walked off faster than one would expect after that awkward subject change.
"You think he regrets endorsing Bede?" asked Gloria.
Victor shrugged. "I would," he pointed out.
But they walked off anyway, into the mouth of another stone dragon. Even though a sarcastic question about which Gym Leader was in this town came to Gloria's mind, it was quickly silenced by the thought that they needed to talk to Raihan about his life choices.
Rose explained himself in the simplest terms possible - the energy plant that the stadium shared a building with was full of Rose's associates, all of them trying to harness the power of Wishing Stars to stop reliance on so many energy sources. According to the chairman, it was to "at least give up some fossil fuels."
But it wasn't long before Oleana dragged him away for another meeting, leaving Victor and Gloria alone.
It didn't take much longer before they got bored of exploring, and wandered off to find the vault. After all, a vault usually had some treasure, and if Gloria knew what she should look for in her treasure hunting (and possibly send Hattie to teleport away with) she could possibly make a career out of it. A career with minimum thefts from the irritating creature that lived in her friend's phone. A life of riches, taking her parents out of the small flat the three lived in, being able to afford to feed her entire team something other than dirt curry, never tasting oatmeal again for as long as she lived...
And of course, buying cool stuff for Victor and Hop to thank them for the adventure and all the video games they lent her over the years. Whatever it is boys liked.
She was still trying to figure out what they liked that they didn't already have or share interest with her in when they spotted Leon. Instantly, the thoughts left Gloria's brain.
"We must have found the plot again," Victor mumbled to himself, before calling the Champion's name to get his attention.
Leon spun around. "Victor! It seems you're doing well collecting Gym Badges. And how have you been on your adventure, Gloria?"
"Got robbed," she said with a shrug. "Found a shiny Hatenna. Evened out."
"I suppose so," said Leon, though he was appropriately concerned about the robbery. "Did Hop get robbed, too? I saw him pass, but he just said 'I'm sorry, Lee!' and ran off. He never apologizes, unless it's sarcasm!"
"He had a loss," Victor explained, wanting nothing more than to punch Bede in the face.
"He got like that after one loss?" Leon was even more concerned about Hop now. "I'll have a chat with him about it later. I have to find where Chairman Rose ran off to, he asked me to look into something..."
This time, Victor didn't even try to correct him when he went off. He had to learn to read a map someday, after all. Instead, the pair continued to search for the vault, hoping to have something to remember about the place before Victor challenged Raihan for the final badge.
Victor: Dash (Raboot) Corvisquire, Drednaw, Excadrill
Gloria: Ace (Drizzile) Dishwasher (Galarian Linoone) Rogue (Thievul) Hattie (Hatenna)