A/N: Just a reminder that Porygon was not responsible for any seizures caused by bright flashing lights. #FreePorygon!

Chapter 60: Souped Up

The next day, the students of the dojo were hard at work, sparring with one another while they waited for their next trial. Ash and Goh were practicing together, their Thwackey and Cinderace caught in a friendly practice battle.

"Ember, Cinderace!"

"Block with your stick, then get in and hit him with Branch Poke!"

"Block and use Double Kick!"

Thwackey smacked the small flames away and went in to wack Cinderace, only for Cinderace to blow with a high kick. Cinderace then brought his leg down to kick Thwackey, who ducked before countering the second kick with his stick. The two remained locked like this for a minute, before backing down and nodding in respect towards each other.

"Great job, Thwackey! You're doing great!"

"You too, Cinderace!"

"Thwack Thwackey!"

"Cinderace!"

At that moment, Mustard entered the room, his disciples standing at attention.

"I hope you're all hungry, because today we're making soup!"

Silence filled the room, his students struggling to understand what that had to do with anything.

"It's a very special kind of soup that requires special ingredients."

He then pressed the button on a projector, allowing everyone to see a picture of red mushrooms larger than they had ever seen.

"They're called Max Mushrooms, and they're extremely rare. They only grow on this Island, and only in certain spots. Your trial is to gather three of them, and bring them back here. I'll explain more at that point."
The students were confused, but ran out in search of the mushrooms.

"Hey Goh, want to look together?"
"Of course! Two pairs of eyes are better than one."

"Hold on a second, you two."

Ash and Goh were just about to head out the door when Mustard stopped them.

"Since you two aren't as familiar with the Island as the rest of the students, I thought it would be fair to give you a hint."

Leading them out the door, he pointed towards a small cave entrance not too far away from where they stood.

"We call that the Warm Up Tunnel. Sometimes, I've spotted Max Mushrooms growing there more than any other places. If they're anywhere, odds are they'll be in there."

Ash and Goh nodded in understanding.

"Great, thanks for the tip. Come on, Goh!"

"Right!"

Sadly, it seemed that Mustard's tip was a bust. They searched the entire cave, which wasn't big, but they couldn't find any anywhere.

"Well, so much for that."

"Do you think he was testing us? To see if we would take the easy way out?"

"Probably. I'm sure he's laughing at us right now."

As the two were about to leave, Ash stopped suddenly.

"'What's up, Ash?"

"Look over there."
Goh turned to see a strange circular hole in the ground, with a strange glow emanating from it.

"Huh, that's weird."

"I'm going to check it out!"

"Ash, wait, don't!"

But Goh's warning went unheeded, as the second Ash touched the glow he was sucked into the opening, both him and Pikachu disappearing in a brilliant flash of light.

"Ash!"

Realizing that the only way to get his friend back was to go after him, Goh leapt down the hole after him.

When he finally reached the bottom, he found a very strange sight. The bottom of the hole was much bigger than he was led to believe, large enough to be a battlefield. Luckily, it didn't take him long to find Ash, as he had landed right next to him.

"Ash, are you alright."

"Yeah, and so is Pikachu. But…where are we?"

"Oh goody, it's you two. As if I didn't have enough of a headache with this one."

"Hey, I heard that!"

Unfortunately for them, they found themselves in the company of Avery, who was joined by someone unfamiliar to them. She was a girl about their age with pink hair.

"Hi there! I'm Klara, Galar's next top Idol!"

"An idol?"

"Yep! My poison Pokemon and I will take the world by storm!"

Avery groaned, and pushed his glasses up his face.

"Yes, as you've said many times."

"Nice to meet you, Klara! My name is Ash, and that's Goh!"

"You wouldn't happen to know where we are, would you?"

"We're in a Dynamax Den!"

"A what now?"

Avery sighed, really not wanting to deal with this at the moment.

"It's a special area where powerful Dynamax Pokemon live. They're located on Power Spots, so you can Dynamax your own Pokemon, if you want to."

"Ok, so where's the Dynamaxed Pokemon?"

A loud, thunderous roar drew their attention. Turning around, they saw a giant Porygon staring them down.

"Never mind."

"So, what do we do now?"

Klara giggled, grabbing a Pokeball off her belt as her dynamax band glowed.

"We battle it, silly! Go, Slowking!"

"Slowbro, attack!"

"Let's go, Cinderace!"

"Thwackey, I choose you!"

Ash and Goh were surprised when they saw what Galarian Slowpoke's evolutions looked like. They looked almost sickly, their skin a deep shade of purple. But they didn't have much time to worry about that, for the giant Porygon launched a Max Strike at them. Avery growled, incredulous with his luck.

"To think I should have to degrade myself by working with these plebeians. Time to take matters into my own hands!"

Before anything else could occur, he recalled his Slowbro to its Pokeball and quickly dynamaxed it. Klara stomped her foot in frustration.

"Hey, no fair! I wanted to do that!"

"Well, you didn't, so I did. Slowbro, use Max Knuckle!"

Slowbro raised the shell around his arm and launched a blast of energy from it like it was a cannon, which eventually took the shape of a massive fist. The attack hit Porygon dead on, making it reel in pain.

"Thwackey, get in there and hit him with Branch Poke!"

"Cinderace, use Double Kick!"

"Slowking, use Eerie Spell!"

The two Galar starters ran up to the giant Pokemon and began striking its legs, nearly making the giant topple over. Meanwhile, Slowking unleashed waves of psychic energy from its mouth, striking Porygon hard. The battle was going well, but Avery didn't feel like sharing the glory.

"Try and take my prize from me, will you? Slowbro, use Max Ooze!"

Before Cinderace and Thwackey could jump to safety, a massive plume of toxic ooze rose out of the ground around Porygon, dealing a lot of damage but also sending Cinderace and Thwackey flying.

"Hey, we're on your team!"

"There's no team in I! Now then, If you'll excuse me, I have a Porygon to catch!"

Avery plucked an empty Pokeball from those encircling his tophat and dynamaxed it, getting ready to chuck it at Porygon before Klara stopped him.

"What're you doing? Unhand me, you brute!"

"Nuh uh! I want to catch him, he's too cute!"

Unfortunately, their arguing gave Porygon the chance to hit their entire team with a Max Flare, knocking out the non-dynamaxed Pokemon and leaving Slowbroo badly damaged.

"Great, now look at what you've done!"

Klara huffed, and tossed her hair back.

"Well, if you weren't such an attention hog!"

"Me? We would've won by now if you'd…"

"Um, guys?"

"WHAT?!"

Before Goh could point it out, the four of them were ejected from the den by a massive burst of energy, ending the battle immediately.

When the four of them came to, they were right back where they started. Avery grunted, picking himself up and dusting himself off.

"Well, that was pointless. Thanks for nothing!"

"I couldn't help it! It was so cute, I just had to have it!"

"You barely did anything to help!"

"Well, you stole my chance to Dynamax!"

"Oh, not this again!"

"Guys, check it out!"

The two stopped their arguing to find Goh pointing at a patch of Max Mushrooms nearby.

"Huh? Those weren't there before!"

"Maybe they reacted to the Dynamax battle?"

Avery scoffed, incredulous at Ash's suggestion.

"Don't be daft! We must have missed them, simple as that."

"Well, in any case, there's enough here for each of us!"

"Great, let's get going!"

And so each of them scooped up the required amount, although Avery wasn't quite thrilled with the prospect of sharing the spoils. Still, he recognized he was outnumbered, so he took his share and headed back to the dojo, deciding to crush them another day.

When they returned to the dojo, they found that, to their surprise, they were the only ones to have succeeded. All anyone else had to show for their troubles were bruises and muddy uniforms. Mustard shook his head when he saw the sight.

"Unbelievable. I guess only these four wanted a shot at gaining the secret armor."

The other students hung their heads low. However, Mustard was much more pleasant with the four who had succeeded.

"Good work, you four. Bring it all to the kitchen."

Curious, the four of them brought their bunch of Max Mushrooms into the kitchen, where Lillie and Chloe put them into a pot and began to stir. A half hour later, the soup Mustard had promised was ready.

"Go on, eat up! And let your Pokemon have some too, I'm sure they worked hard for it."

Ash and Goh nodded, letting Cinderace and Thwackey enjoy the delicious soup. All of them enjoyed it, but couldn't help but think there was something peculiar about the taste.

"You can taste it, can't you? The raw energy building up inside you? That's because of the Max Mushrooms. They contain the same kind of energy as Galar Particles and when consumed-"

Before Mustard could finish, Ash stood up, fire in his eyes.

"I feel it! I can feel the Dynamax energy within me!"

After a few seconds, Ash felt the looks of everyone in the room on him, and sheepishly sat back down.

"As I was saying, when consumed it allows a Pokemon without the Gigantamax factor to assume their Gigatamax form. Curiously though, if a Pokemon with one already were to eat it, they would lose it."

Ash and Goh were amazed.

"So Cinderace and Rillaboom have Gigantamax forms?"

"That's so cool! I can't wait to see what they look like! What about you, Cinderace?"

"Cinderace!"

One the explanation was over, Mustard stood up to address his students.

"Enjoy the meal, for in a three day's time shall be the final trial. It will be a tournament between you four students, and the last one left standing shall receive the secret armor. Train hard and well, for I want to see all of you give it your all."

"Yes, sir!"

Mustard nodded, and left the room, leaving his four students to stare each other down. Only one of them could win, and each of them wanted the prize. Who would come out on top?