The trainers walked through the foggy woods.
"Gloria? Are you scared?" Hop asked.
"A wee bit…" She admitted. Grookey climbed onto her shoulder as Indeedee held her hound. Howling could be heard. She jumped.
"Gloria. I don't think it twas a ghost type. Prolly just a Stoutland." Hop said.
"O-oh! Yeah! Yer right!" Gloria said, catching her breath. She could feel her throat dry up a bit, so she swallowed hard. The duo made their way through. Some Skovets jumped out at them, but the starters made quick work of them.
The deeper the kids went, the thicker the fog got.
"Argh! I can barely see me 'ands!" Gloria complained.
"WOOLOO! WOOLOO! ARE YOU HERE!" Hop called out.
"I don't think it heard ye," Gloria said.
"Let's go deeper than!" Hop said.
"N-no!" Gloria said.
"Gloria? Do you need anything?" Hop asked.
"I…I'm not letting you get…look, ye know how dangerous ghost Pokémon are!" Gloria said. Her skin went cold. Her hair was raised. Indeedee went to calm her.
"Gloria, what makes you think there's a ghost Pokémon? Are you havin an anxiety attack?" Hop asked.
"Its not an attack! I just…I just think we should be careful!" She yelled back.
"Well, you can go back. I'm gonna find the Wooloo!" Hop said. Gloria grabbed his arm.
"Then I'm coming with! I ain't just gonna stand by an let ye get your soul taken by a ghost mon!" Gloria said. She could feel her heart practically beating out of her chest, but she was still ready to help Hop.
"Alright then. Let's go!" Hop said. The duo walked and battled more Skwovet for what felt like hours…
Eventually, the fog became to thick.
"I can't see nothin'!" Gloria shouted.
"Me neither!" Hop said. He was a little worried.
A howl was heard as a magenta Pokémon appeared in front of Gloria, and a Cyan one infront of Hop.
"WHAT?!" Gloria shouted. Indeedee used Pound. It did nothing. Grookey used Branch Poke. Nothing. Gloria's breathing became faster. More Mist filled the area. Indeedee went to land another Pound, but found itself falling through the Pokémon. It looked over to see Gloria shaking. It panicked and went over.
"Deedee!" It shouted to Grookey. Grookey continued to attack. None of the attacks did anything as the Mist got thicker and thicker and thicker…
Gloria could feel her vision tunneling. She was hyperventilating and the world was spinning and her body felt so cold something was wrong it was very wrong she felt nauseous her ears were ringing was Hop calling her she could barely tell it was all so much
Both kids passed out.
The Pokémon duo looked at the kids.
"They are but children…" the Magenta one sadly said to the Cyan via telepathy.
"Can we not choose anyone else, Brother?" The Cyan asked.
"No. Unfortunately, the Darkest Day will be upon us once again, Sister. It must be down, if there was another way we would choose another"
"But this is a terrible fate for these poor children to be saddles with!"
"We cannot leave the Slumbering Weald to find anyone better suited!" The Magenta Pokémon growled. It looked away.
"I am sorry…"
The Cyan Pokémon nodded.
"Very well then. I suppose we have no choice. Forgive us, children…" it walked over to Hop.
"The boy…he has a warrior's fire…" the Pokémon said.
The Magenta one walked to Gloria.
"The girl has the will of a guardian. I have made my choice." The Pokémon said. The Cyan one said. Magenta and Cyan energy left the Pokémon as they howled, and entered Gloria and Hop. The kids floated a few feet off the ground as the energy entered them. Then they softly landed. It looked like nothing happened.
"Stay safe, little ones…" the Cyan Pokémon said, before disappearing into the Mist with the Magenta…
"Hop…Gloria…Hop! HOP WAKE UP!" a voice shouted. Hop and Gloria jolted awake to see a very worried Leon standing over them. Immediately Hop was pulled into a very tight hug from his older brother, who was crying. Gloria woke up the Pokémon as Leon fussed over Hop.
"What happened? Are you hurt? What are you doing here? You're not hurt, are you? Are you ok?" Leon said rapid fire. Hop had no chance to respond.
"I think I had a panic attack…" Gloria said quietly. Though Leon heard and stopped badgering Hop for one second.
"I…I don't remember what happened…" She admitted.
"As usual. Lee, calm down. One question at a time!" Hop said as he squirmed away from his brother to hug Gloria. She returned the hug.
"T-thanks. And you're gonna tell ANYONE about this, right?!" She said. Hop and Leon smiled and nodded. Hop went back to Leon and let himself be hugged again, was it this dark and cold before they passed out? Wooloo snuggled up to Hop's leg and Sobble started crawling on him, hoping maybe if it kept moving around it would warm up the human boy? It was really cold…
Indeedee went and hugged Gloria while Grookey went onto her head and hid in her hat.
"We've all been so worried! And when I found you here, you weren't waking up and none of the ambulances were willing to come 'ere! You've been out for at least three hours!" Leon said. This shocked the young trainers and their Pokémon!
"That's why it's so dark out!" Hop exclaimed. Gloria though, she was calm. Something about the cold made her feel…safe.
"Well, come on now, let's get out of here." Leon said.
"You sure you can lead us out of 'ere? You can't even find your way around Granny's lab!" Gloria said.
"Gloria stop calling her granny. She isn't your granny…" Hop said while Gloria looked a bit smug.
"Charizard knows the way! Right?" Leon said. Charizard shrugged. And shook its head.
"YOU DON'T?!" Leon yelled. Everyone started to panic. Charizard laughed. Leon was not amused. Gloria though…
"HAHAHAHAHA GOOD ONE CHAR'ZARD! HAHAHAHAHA!" She was laughing and pointing. She got up and high fived Charizard, who then led everyone out of the Slumbering Weald.
Upon leaving the Slumbering Weald, Gloria was pulled into a hug by her mother.
"GLORIA YER ALIVE WHAT 'APPENED ARE YE HURT?" She said.
"M fine mum," Gloria said. Her mom practically carried her inside. Gloria just went a little ragdoll.
Once inside she went to her room, and saw it was around midnight. She got ready for bed, and let Grookey out of its Pokéball.
"Night 'rookey, night Indeedee," she said, just before falling asleep. Sort of. She couldn't sleep. So she took out her DS. After all, she got those weird knocked out hours of sleep. That was fine. She did eventually pass out though.
The next day she practically flew out of bed!
Running to Hop's house, she grabbed him and dragged him to Professor Magnolia's lab.
"Um, Gloria? What are you doing?" Hop asked. He wasn't even standing, she was dragging him by the arm. Grookey was on her head, and Indeedee was holding Hop's legs.
"Granny'll 'elp us convince Leon to get the endorsements for the gym challenge!" She yelled.
"Ok, but you know I can walk, right?" Hop said.
"Ye would 'ave stayed with Leon all day if I didn't do this!" She retorted. Hop didn't respond. She was right.
Indeedee and Gloria finally set Hop down once they reached the lab. Upon entering, Sonia and Magnolia just laughed.
"Trying to lure Leon to a place where he can't refuse to endorse you two, huh?" Sonia said.
"Yep!" Gloria said.
"She kidnapped me," Hop said. He let Sobble and Wooloo out of their Pokéballs. Leon rushed in.
"HOP WHO KIDNAPPED YOU ARE YOU OK!?" Leon yelled, hugging his brother.
"I'm fine Lee…I was exaggerating. Gloria just dragged me out of the house," Hop exclaimed.
"Aww! Guess your little stunt triggered the Hopdar!" Sonia said.
"Anyway, we're 'ere to convince you to endorse us for the gym challenge!" Gloria said.
"Er…" Leon trailed off.
"Ah, Leon , they're young! Let them live a little!" Magnolia said.
"But I don't want anything bad to happen to them…" Leon said.
"Its the gym challenge! They aren't fighting Team Flare! They'll be fine!" Magnolia said. Gloria winced at the mention of Team Flare. She saw the news report about that Kalosian evil team. Luckily some kid named Calem and his friends stopped the evil team. It was still scary though! Especially with how close Kalos and Galar are geographically. And it was only 2 months ago! Leon had managed to keep Hop away from seeing the news during that. Somehow.
"Fine…I'll endorse you two…" Leon said. He was met with two tackle hugs.
"THANK YOU LEE!"
"'ANK YOUUUUUUUUUU!"
Suddenly something hit the ground. Everyone went out to check.
"My my! These are wishing stars!" Magnolia said.
"OOH OOH! I WISH I WASN'T AFRAID OF G-" Gloria was cut off.
"Not that kind of wishing star, my dear." Professor Magnolia said. Gloria blushed, grabbed Indeedee, and buried her face in its fur. It shrugged.
"These are used to make dynamax bands!" Magnolia said. Hop gasped. Gloria was still in shame.
"Hold on a moment. Since there are two of them, I'll make you both a band!" She said.
"Thanks Granny," Gloria said, face still buried.
"Come one, Gloria, it wasn't that embarrassing," Hop said. Gloria grumbled. Grookey thought, and then started to hit the ground with its stick to the tune of one of the songs it heard from the lawyer game Gloria was playing last night. This got Gloria to let go of Indeedee. If only to join in. Humming Pursuit Cornered. Magnolia came back and fitted the bands around the kids' arms.
"There you go!" Magnolia said. Gloria and Hop inspected the bands. Hop showed his to Wooloo and Indeedee looked over Gloria's shoulder. Then, Gloria's mom showed up.
"Mum!? What are you doing 'ere?" Gloria asked.
"I…I knew you would leave on your journey today. Even if Leon didn't endorse you, I know my daughter," her mom said.
"Ah, yer right! Wait, is that?!" Gloria gasped. Her mom took out a backpack.
"It…it was yer father's…and I packed everything! Your Gameboy Colour, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DSXL, Nintendo Switch, all your games, your Absol Plush, your hair dye-" Gloria's mom was crying. Gloria ran up and hugged her.
"Thank you," Gloria said. She couldn't remember anything about her dad, so she knew she was gonna treasure this…
Gloria and Hop began their trek to Motostoke, going through some Routes before reaching…THE WILD AREA!
The kids mostly just fled from wild Pokémon. Until night fell.
"Gloria, it's getting dark…" Hop said.
"Yer right. Maybe we should set up camp?" Gloria asked. Hop nodded. Both kids took out their camping sets, and with a little help from their Pokémon, everything was set up. They were set up right by the Watchtower Ruins. The kids made some curry, before going to sleep…
Gloria woke up in a void.
"Ai…" She said. She looked surprised.
"La? Ai!" She covered her mouth.
"Huh? Whose there?" She heard a young boy say. Her Indeedee approached.
"Oh! Gloria its…OMYARCEUS I CAN TALK LIKE YOU!" It said, eyes Sparkling.
"Yo yo yo! What's with the chatter? Man it's nice saying something other than my name! I mean I can understand other Pokémon but STILL!" Grookey said, swinging in. More voices could be heard.
"And yes I am fine with you using me as a Pillow!"
"Op! Hop! Hop!"
"Mr…Trainer sir? What's going on?"
Gloria and her mons approached the trio of voices. Finding Hop, Wooloo, and Sobble.
"Yo guys! Didya see we can talk?" Grookey said.
"Yes." They all said.
"Indeed!" A booming voice said.
Everyone turned.
The Pokémon Gloria and her mons saw approached, with a trail of Magenta coming from it.
"Our sincerest apologies, children…we never wished this upon you…" a feminine voice said. A Cyan Pokémon with a Cyan trail approached.
"What's going on?" Wooloo asked.
"You see…a great evil will soon be unleashed…" the Cyan one said. Lights moved, it looked like the outline of Hammerlock stadium, but it was destroyed, and a weird thing on top.
"Should this happen, Gargantuan Pokémon will roam the land." The Magenta one said
The lines changed to show Gigantamax Pokémon destroying cities as people ran.
"All you care for, will be lost."
An outline showed what looked like Leon, engulfed in a purple light, alongside everything else. The lights showed Galar being engulfed in the purple. Hop gasped.
"If it is not stopped…the world will be at stake…"
The lines showed the Kalos Champion failing to fend off the purple light, before transitioning to the two Unovan Heroes with their Dragons failing, then to Alola with four children desperately fighting the purple light and failing. The pattern repeating with every region and its Heroes.
"Our time here grows short, little ones. Please, you must prevent the beast from returning! Prevent Eternatus from returning!" The Cyan Pokémon yelled.
Everyone jolted awake. They looked at each other. They knew instinctively that they had just shared a dream.
"What…what did they mean!? Eternatus!?" Hop said, panicking. Wooloo looked worried, and Sobble hid in Hop's arms. Gloria left her tent to go comfort Hop. But she was worried too.
"I-I know it sounds bad, but those Pokémon just…they…maybe it wasn't real?" Gloria said.
"We all had the same dream. It was real. Hold on, Eternatus. That name. Isn't that the beast that brought about the Darkest Day?" Hop asked.
"Aye! Then Sonia would know about it!" Gloria said.
"Its past midnight, we should prolly try to get some shut eye…" Hop said. Gloria nodded and went back to her tent. But neither kid could sleep. Too worried about the foreboding dream. Grookey left the tent. It took out its stick and lightly beat the ground in a gentle rhythm. There is one song every Pokémon knows. One sung by a mythical Pokémon in Unova. While the song won't have any special abilities when not sung by that Pokémon, it is still relaxing. Grookey began to sing the Relic Song. The kids began to relax. And finally…they managed to sleep, a peaceful sleep…