Disclaimer: I do not own any of the material appearing in this story. The OC's belong to their respective owners.

Minutes before Ruby and Yang fought

"Your second trial is to gather Max Mushrooms in the area!" Mustard said. "You will most likely find them in the forest or in the caves. Get going!"

"Yes sir, master!" The Dojo students said as they took off.

"Ruby." Gloria would hear from Mustard as she turned around before the doors closed.

BGM: Isle of Armor (Pokemon Sword/Shield)

"Oh, I guess he needs to talk to the lass about something." Gloria said. She folded her arms, debating whether or not to wait for Ruby. "Mmm… I'm sure she'll catch up." She said as she hopped on her Rotom Bike. "Alright, If I'm willin' ta guess… I've a feelin' the Max Mushrooms will be in these caves." She said, taking a hard left and then rode off the cliff, landing in the water with a splash and startling a few Barboach as she peddled her way through the Courageous Cavern.

However, she wasn't able to find any Max Mushrooms at all. She looked through each area of the cave, while also sneaking around a Druddigon. She reached a room that contained three Dens, but found no mushrooms. "Mmm, tricky little buggers to find." She said as she rode off, nearly running over a Wimpod that was taking a nap. "Oh, sorry lad!" She called out as she looked around Loop Lagoon and the other areas of the cavern before making her way toward the Soothing Wetlands.

"I wonder… are they in the Forest of Focus?" She wondered as she looked around the forest while being careful not to run over any of the forest Pokemon. She then made her way toward the Training Lowlands. "Mmph, where the devil are they?"

As she looked around, she would spot the Warm-Up Tunnel. "Oh hello…" She quietly said as she rode her way toward it while dodging a few wild Scyther and the Tauros. She peddled her way through, spotting a few Sandshrew, Cubone and a Kangaskahn minding their business as she weaved her away around as she kept peddling, then spotting some mushrooms poking out of a wall. "Aha!" She said as she hopped off her bike and dismissed the Rotom bike.

She bent down with a hum, pulling the Mushrooms out and grinned. "Score!"

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!" A voice yelled.

End BGM

"Huh?" Gloria turned around as she saw Klara running toward her, then she screeched to a halt.

"Hah… hah… give me a sec…" Klara said, panting as she put her hands on her knees, and with a deep breath, she rose up and looked at Gloria. "Alright, you! I worked my butt off to find those Mushrooms! I demand you give those to me!"

"Whoa, hold on now. You expect me to just give 'em to you? Can't ya find your own?"

"No! I'm not going to go find another! I need those!"

"Well, I could give you one of mine." Gloria said.

"One of you- NO! I demand all three of them!"

Gloria jawdropped. "You're kiddin', right? Why do you want all of mine?"

"So I don't have to waste any more time trying to find those rotten things! Give 'em to me now! All of 'em!"

Gloria clenched her fists before taking a deep breath. "Lass… you need to work hard in order to find the stuff you're looking for. Why don't you just turn around and-"

"Yawn, booooring… just give me the Mushrooms so I don't have to listen to your yammering!"

A tic mark appeared on Gloria's forehead. "Lass… I'm not gonna tell you again."

"And I'm not going to leave until you give me those mushrooms, so I guess we're both at a loss!"

Gloria rolled her eyes. "Whatever, I'm out of here." She said and walked off.

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Out of here, thank you very mu-" Suddenly Klara punched her in the gut to make her hunch over.

"Oh no, you're not leaving." She said, pulling out a Pokeball. "I'm going to make you give me those mushrooms one way or another!"

Gloria wiped some spit from her lower lip. "…Lass… you just focked with the WRONG girl!"

BGM: Battle! Klara (Pokemon Sword/Shield)

Lazy Schemer - Klara

"Let's go, Slowpoke!" Klara called out.

"Slooooow."

"Let's raise some hell, Cinderace!" Gloria called out her Cinderace.

"Raaaaace!"

"Confusion!"

"Pyro Ball!"

Slowpoke would unleash Confusion on the Cinderace, picking him up and tossing him to the side but Cinderace would backflip to land on his feet and then kicked a Pyro Ball toward the Slowpoke, hitting it head on. "Sloooow…!"

"Use Acid!"

"Dodge that and use Bounce!"

Cinderace would bounce up high into the air and then axe kicked the Slowpoke on the head. "Slow!" Slowpoke cried as Cinderace jumped back, and with an order from Gloria, he ran over and unleashed a Flame Charge on it to finish it off.

"Rrrgh, return!" Klara called back the Slowpoke as she then called out her Koffing. "Alright, use Assurance!" She ordered as Gloria called Cinderace back as she then called out her Mr. Rime as it took the Assurance head on.

"You alright?" Gloria asked as Mr. Rime nodded. "Good. Use Hypnosis!" She yelled.

"Dodge that and use Clear Smog!" Klara yelled as Koffing floated away from the Hypnosis, but unfortunately, the Hypnosis struck Klara instead. "Oooh… why do I feel sleepy…?" She wondered as she bowed her head and slept, causing the three of them to sweatdrop.

"Oops." Gloria said. "Uh… use Psychic on the Koffing and then smack the lass awake!" Gloria ordered.

"Koffing! Koffing!" The Koffing exclaimed, and then got hit hard by the Psychic. "KOOOOFFF!" Koffing cried and fell KO'd, and then Mr. Rime walked over to Klara and smacked her on the head with his cane.

"Zzz… WHA?! OW!" Klara yelled as the Mr. Rime returned. "What was that for?!"

"Next time, dodge the Hypnosis, ya dingus!" Gloria said, trying not to snicker.

"Oh, so you thought that was funny?!" Klara growled, returning the Koffing. "We'll see who's laughing! Go Whirlipede!" She yelled, calling out her Whirlipede. "Poison Tail!"

"Freeze-Dry!" She ordered as Mr. Rime aimed his cane at the Whirlipede and unleashed the Freeze-Dry, freezing the Pokemon solid. "Alright, finish it off with a Psychic!" She ordered as Mr. Rime picked it up with Psychic and tossed it to the rock wall to knock it out after shattering the ice off of it.

"Whiiiirl…"

End BGM

"ACK! NO NO NO NO NO!" Klara yelled as she recalled the Whirlipede. "Who the HELL do you think you are?!"

"You seriously don't know? I'm the-"

"NOPE! Don't answer that!" Klara said. "I'll just go find the mushrooms myself!" She yelled and ran off, causing Gloria to sweatdrop.

"Man, she's a weirdo…" Gloria rubbed the back of her head as she walked out of the cave with the mushrooms in hand. Once she walked out, she would notice a large crowd standing above a ledge. "Huh? What's going on?" She wondered as she approached Marnie.

"Ruby made up with her team, especially with her sister." Marnie explained as Gloria looked down and saw Ruby hugging her team.

"Aww!" Gloria said with a smile.

Some time later…

BGM: Master Dojo (Pokemon Sword/Shield)

Gloria walked into the kitchen. "I'm back! And I have the Max Mushrooms~!"

"Al-Already?!" Mustard said in surprise. "Goodness, that was fast!"

"Alright Honey, here you go!" Gloria said.

"Thank you!"

"Wait!" A voice cried out as Klara came running in. "I found some Max Mushrooms too!"

"Oh! I guess that makes you two the only ones who passed the second trial." Honey said.

"Actually, Avery found some too, but he wasn't interested in staying." Mustard pointed out.

"We are? Oh, poor Ruby..." Gloria whispered.

"Now now, I wouldn't count her out. She had her own second trial she had to do. And she passed!"

"She did?" Gloria wondered and then pictured Ruby hugging her team. I've a feelin' it has to do with that... She thought.

"Now then! Let's get our Max Soup on!" Mustard exclaimed. "I'm starving!" He said, causing everyone to laugh as they started eating the Max Soup. "Ah yes, that reminds me. Gloria, there is something special about this soup."

"And what's that?" She wondered.

"Well, with this Max Soup, you can Dynamax!"

"I can?!" Gloria said in shock, picturing herself able to Dynamax and wrecking everything in sight.

Honey lightly thumped Mustard on the head. "Honey..."

"Oooh, can't an old guy have some fun?" Mustard pouted. "Party pooper." He muttered to himself quietly. "Anyway, no, you don't Dynamax. But these Max Mushrooms have a special ingredient that can make certain Pokemon Gigantamax!"

"Oooh! Really?" Gloria looked intrigued.

"Yup! Now is it true that you have some Pokemon with you that can Gigantamax?"

"Well, I do have a Kingler that can already do that. But I also have a Toxtricty."

"You know what else can Gigantamax? Your Cinderace."

Gloria gasped. "Wot?!" She yelled in surprise.

"Mhm! Save some of that soup for your Pokemon! I'm sure they'd appreciate it!"

Gloria's eyes sparkled, before smirking devilishly at three Gigantamaxed Pokemon at her disposal. "Oh Arceus yes."

Klara sweatdropped. "I don't like that smirk..." She said as Gloria called out her Cinderace and Toxtricty where they happily grabbed a spoon and ate the soup.

"Tox!

"Race!" Cinderace grinned, both of them high fiving.

"Alright, let's go try it out in a Den!" Gloria said as they nodded and then took off. "Thanks for the soup!" She called out and ran off to go try out her new Dynamaxed Pokemon.

*looks battered and bruised* Okaaaay... *Uses Curaga* Sephiroth is a lot of fun, but a massive cheating input AI asshole on Very Hard in the Sephiroth challenge. Uuuugh... He's brutal!

Have any of you beat Very Hard? I'm still working on it... and failing. *sweatdrops*

The closest I've ever gotten with my mains was 46% with the Ice Climbers...