Hop hoisted his travel bag upon his shoulders, looking back at his two companions. "Ready to go?" Receiving two nods, the group left their temporary campsite, doing their best to ignore the Pokémon probably following behind them some ways away.

It had been four days since Cassius' run-in with the Sizzlipede. Four days of being unhealthily watched (stalked?) by a Pokémon with some kind of weird fascination with him. Or his nutritional value. And while it hadn't done much to hamper Hop or Gloria, he was very much a different story.

He'd tried training like normal. Spraying himself with repels like one would sunscreen, he and Hyla attempted their usual morning runs, and their post-workout training sessions. And it had been a valiant effort, truly, but there was only so much he could do. Repels would run out (who knew that constant movement made them wear off faster than simply leaving them in one stationary spot?), and he'd reapply them near constantly. And every time the Pokémon-staving chemical ran low, the Sizzlipede would creep closer and closer.

It was too much, both financially and mentally. Hop had suggested that he try to find somewhere in the city to train, if only to see if large human settlements would deter the Fire-type, but that idea was quickly thrown by the wayside. Not only would he likely be in broad daylight of random citizens (or worse, other challengers), and thus unable to get any serious training done without either giving himself away as a novice or revealing any battling tactics on his part, but he didn't think the city officials would much appreciate any inadvertent property damage on his behalf, should his training have gone awry.

So it was that Cassius had been forced behind the safety of his campsite, which had now been forced to keep repels up full-time. Hop and Gloria went about their usual routines, while he was stuck having to train with the limited space provided. It was better than nothing, but only barely worth the hassle.

Cassius sighed. A smarter man might have thought of some ingenious way to train meaningfully in tight quarters. A tougher man might have beaten back the Sizzlipede and avoided the fiasco altogether. Unfortunately, he was neither.

He checked the day on his phone for the millionth time. September 14. He had a day over two weeks before his battle at the end of the month. And right when he'd gotten himself into what might have been the beginning of a positive groove, here came something to mess it all up.

Not that his current plight was noticed by either Hop or Gloria. The former had made leaps and bounds in his training, having taught his Grookey not one, but two new moves. "Takes to it like a sponge to water," Hop had commented last night. Gloria had experienced similar levels of success, not going so far as to divulge any of her specific achievements to him, more than smirking with a telling, "You'll see," when he'd asked how her training had gone.

The three walked in relative silence, Hop and Gloria conversing every now and then. Cassius gave it his best effort not to succumb to those negative thoughts, but it was an overwhelming effort. The two Postwick trainers had already been leagues ahead of him in talent and knowledge, and that gap had only grown in the past week.

"You alright?" Hop broke Cassius from his thoughts. Regaining the focus in his eyes, Cassius nodded quickly. "Yeah, I'm good. Just a bit tired." Hop hummed, in understanding or doubt Cassius did not know, before turning to the entrance of the mine.

"You know," Hop started. "I remember you mentioned maybe catching a Pokémon. The mine has some good options, if you fancy one now."

It was doubtful, but Cassius would humor him for the sake of conversation. "Like what?"

"A lot of Pokémon you'd be familiar with. Roggenrola, Woobat, Timburr, even Drilbur."

That certainly was a lot of native Unovan Pokémon. He shrugged noncommittally. "Oh. Cool."

Hop continued. "Granted, a Ground-type won't really help you out for the Grass-type gym, but it never hurts to look down the road. It'd be invaluable for the third gym; old Kabu's Fire-type bout."

He was a little more focused on the immediate battle in about two weeks, but Cassius appreciated the thought. It was clear at this point that Hop was trying to help him keep his mind off of his lack of progress the last few days, so he'd take the gesture with appreciation. "Yeah, you're right. I'll think about it."

Their small talk had led them right to the cave's entrance. The large orifice loomed before them, easily large enough for droves of people to walk in without so much as bumping shoulders. In the present, however, it was only the three of them, excluding the small healing station set by the side of the road manned by some woman Cassius assumed was from the League. Whoever she was, she was sleeping, so he ignored her.

"Hole's bigger than I thought," Hop awed aloud. Gloria rolled her eyes in the meantime. "Keep it in your pants. Let's get a move on."

Hop smiled apologetically. "Actually, cool if I take a leak first?"

"You didn't think to do that before we left?"

"I would have if you let me." Hop nodded toward some empty ditch out of sight. "I'll be quick about it. Barely even a minute."

"Yeah, well I can't wait a minute more. You do your business, we'll go on ahead." Gloria took a single step before Cassius challenged her. "Is that smart? Getting separated in a mine feels like asking for trouble."

Gloria didn't appreciate the stalling. "What, scared you'll run yourself right into an Onix's maw without mummy and daddy there to hold your hand?"

Implications of calling herself his mommy aside, Cassius maintained civil. "No, I'm scared something happens to Hop and we're not there to help him out."

"Hop's a big boy, he can handle a few runt Pokémon on his own without losin' an arm or two." Gloria crossed his arms. "Look mate, mine's a straight shot. You'd hafta be some kinda nobber to get yaself lost along a one-way path." She pointed toward the entrance. "Now, I'm goin' in that mine. Hop can piss out his entire body, and you can spend the rest of the day whingeing about outside, but I'm goin' in. So are you gonna finally grow a pair and come with me or not?"

Cassius turned to the only other male in their party for guidance. Hop smiled good-naturedly. "Just go with her. She's right, the mine's a pretty straight shot. And I can handle myself until I catch up with you lot."

Well, if Hop was cool with it, he didn't have much room to argue otherwise. Returning to look at a very expectant Gloria, Cassius sighed. "Alright. Let's go."

"About time." Before the two set off, Gloria gave one last look at Hop. "Don't take too long. I know how easy you get sidetracked."

"I won't, I won't," Hop reassured her. "Go on, then. I'll be back beside you in a snap."

"I'll hold you to it then." Motioning for Cassius to follow, the group split up, Cassius getting one last whiff of outside air before crossing the threshold into the Galar Mine.

It certainly fit the bill of a mine. Musty, dank, rocky. It was pretty well-illuminated, however, which made sense when Cassius considered that workers came here almost daily to mine.

To that fact, also strewn about the mine were random pieces of equipment. An abandoned cart filled with rocks sat immediately before them, surrounded by pickaxes and other tools. Crates and bags sat by the wayside, stacked atop each other semi-neatly. Further in, Cassius heard what he thought were voices. Human voices, thankfully.

What Cassius wasn't seeing, however, was Pokémon. Granted, they'd been in the mine all of five or so minutes, but not one creature had so much as peeked at them. Not that Cassius was actively looking for them, but it was still a bit strange.

"There's our straight shot," Gloria pointed in front of them, toward a set of tracks along the dirt path. "Follow along the cart tracks. Shouldn't take us more than an hour."

Something told Cassius that it wouldn't be that quick. "I'm assuming we're not here just to follow along some tracks."

"Damn right. Why bother comin' at all if not to explore the place?" Immediately, Gloria began admiring her surroundings, before knocking over a pile of crates unceremoniously as she began to inspect their contents.

Cassius fought the urge to put a face to his hand. "Gloria, what are you doing?"

"Fuck's it look like? Lookin' for some precious metals."

"Gloria, that's stealing."

"Yeah, well, ain't no one 'round to see it, so it's technically nothin'." She picked up something, grunting in distaste. "Ugh, junk. Here, you can have it." Tossing it back without a glance, Cassius fumbled with the item before securing it in his grasp. It resembled a capsule, or a tube of some kind. "What's this?" He asked.

"In literal terms? An X Attack. Colloquially? Fuckin' rubbish," Gloria explained. "Raises the attack of a Pokémon in battle. They have 'em for every kind of enhancement, too. Speed, defense, the whole shebang."

That was rubbish? It seemed pretty helpful in his view. "I don't get it. Is there a catch to it?"

"'Course there is. For one, you can only use 'em in battle. No pre-administration before a bout. Second, damn things take so long to get in a Pokémon that you're basically givin' your opponent one free hit. Two, if they're fast enough."

Gloria scoffed. "It's just a pussy way of fightin'. And dangerous, if you're stupid enough to abuse it. I remember a few years ago, some bloke in the challenge had illegally administered ten of the damn things into his Typhlosion before a gym bout. Poor thing had more drugs in it than blood. Pokémon's heart gave out mid-battle, and the trainer got thirty years in the slammer."

Gloria turned and noticed the terrified look in Cassius' eyes, deciding to tone down the dramatics a bit. "Relax. That's worst-case scenario stuff, and it isn't addictive for Pokémon. You're not gonna get your precious Deino hooked on pharmaceuticals. I've seen a few successful trainers make it work, actually."

She shrugged, returning to her digging. "But, it's not a very popular or viable strategy in the modern game. That free hit you're givin' up is oftentimes the difference between winnin' and losin'. What good's a boost if your Pokémon ain't conscious to make use of it? Better to have it learn an actual move that buffs it up without the risk of bein' an easy target."

No longer terrified that the item he was holding might have been opioids for Pokémon, Cassius inspected the item closely. As of now, Hyla didn't have any moves that boosted anything outside of her ability to land critical hits. An item like an X Attack would certainly help her on the offensive end—but then again, she couldn't really afford to take a ton of hits. One or two free attacks might have been enough to do her in, if they were strong enough.

Gloria stood up, dusting off her clothes as she watched Cassius gaze into the item. "Oh, and don't think about takin' 'em yourself. All they do is shrivel your balls up."

Cassius rolled his eyes, placing the item in his bag for now. "And here I thought I could get a head-start on my morphine addiction."

The two continued on for a while, Gloria stopping every now and again when something caught her eye. So far, she'd made off with a Great Ball, a Revive, and some kind of precious gem. It was green in color, and glimmered brilliantly in the light. "I'm makin' a fortune off this," Gloria snickered, admiring her find.

At least she was having fun. Still, that weird disquieting feeling refused to leave him, as he looked around and still saw that they were completely alone. "Where are all the Pokémon?"

"What, miss your Sizzlipede friend already?"

"That's not what I meant. We've been wandering around for, what, twenty minutes? And we haven't seen one wild Pokémon." He gave her a very obvious look. "That isn't weird to you at all?"

"Sure it is," Gloria pocketed the gem. "But it works out better for you, yeah?"

It did, but Cassius was equally unnerved by the fact that what should have been a natural Pokémon habitat was almost completely barren. Gloria offered a theory, if only to get him to relax. "Remember what Caroline told us? 'Bout the surplus of workers comin' in and out? Reckon the Pokémon are all just spooked and buggered off somewhere."

Maybe. But they hadn't seen much in the way of people, either. "I don't know. Something just doesn't feel right, I guess."

"You can ponder it later once we're out." Gloria continued along the tracks, and Cassius grudgingly followed behind her, letting the subject drop for now.

A few minutes later, they finally came across their first other living human in the mine. He stood on the right side of a fork in the road like some kind of bouncer, the tracks continuing on behind him. They could hear trace amounts of activity past where he stood.

Gloria didn't waste time on pleasantries upon walking up to the man. "That the way through the rest of the mine?" The man didn't respond immediately, presumably staring at the two from behind his dark-tinted glasses. Which was a weird fashion choice, considering they were in a dimly lit mine.

"Oi, you listenin'?" Gloria continued with a frown. Another second passed before the man spoke, voice weary and gruff. "You two are Leon's trainers, yeah?"

"What, you want an autograph?" Gloria's patience was quickly waning. "You gonna let us through or not?"

Yet another silent moment passed. Cassius got the weird feeling that the man was staring at him. Finally, he spoke again. "Road's closed. Gonna have to take the long way 'round, I'm afraid."

"And how're we supposed to know where to go, exactly?" Gloria was none too pleased to hear her detour was being rerouted. The man didn't seem to care. "Follow the lights above, they'll escort you out. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Before the girl could blow up at him, Cassius quickly intervened. "Can I ask what's going on back there?"

"Mining. New veins found, crews are here to get it sorted."

Taciturn, but explained a bit. Maybe that was why the Pokémon were all in hiding. "Thanks." Well, they didn't have much of a choice but to go down the left side of the fork. "Come on, Gloria."

The girl didn't budge, however. She was busy staring into the man—more specifically, his bland orange uniform. Cassius gave her a look. "Gloria?"

"Who do you work for?" Gloria asked the man. He remained silent, hands clasped behind his back. That only made her more suspicious. "Gonna answer me, prick?"

Of course he wasn't. He had no obligation to. Granted, that gave Cassius more reason to believe that something was up in the mine, but antagonizing the probable Macro Cosmos crony wasn't in their best interests.

He already felt himself regretting this, but Cassius had little choice. Polite yet firm, he placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "Gloria. Please."

Cassius was partially expecting her to sock him in the face for having the gall to touch her without permission. When she didn't (not immediately, anyway), he was left to endure a tense moment where she eyed him and the guard in careful, angry thought.

Eventually, she aggressively shrugged his hand off of her. "Fine." Without looking back to see if he was following, she made for the other passageway. Yeah, she was pissed. Again.

The guard wasn't completely absolved of suspicion, so Cassius didn't offer an apology as he followed after his companion. He did offer one final look back at the man, still stone silent as the two left. Though, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched behind those tinted glasses.

That festering feeling of skepticism continued to course through him. Whatever was going on here, it couldn't possibly have been good.

Never before had Hop had such a time trying to take a simple leak.

That ditch he was aiming to do his business in had apparently been occupied prior. He'd walked in on two Timburr... doing the naked tango, so to speak. That they incorporated their logs in the act was something he would have really preferred to forget. But it had been a solid harbinger of things to come along his journey to empty his bladder. At every spot he thought would be good to answer nature's call, there was some kind of Pokémon present to make it weird, dangerous, or both.

In the end, his need to relieve himself had cost him fifteen whole minutes before he was back before the mine's opening again. He sighed. "Gloria's gonna kill me." So, without wasting a minute more, he went on his merry way inside.

It was quiet. Which made some sense, considering how early it was and that he was the only human being within his field of vision, but it was a bit unnerving too. There weren't a lot of Pokémon out and about, despite the hour. In fact, he'd yet to see any.

The silence was getting to him a little. Maybe he'd been Stockholm Syndrome'd into missing Gloria and Cassius' constant badgering, but he'd prefer their banter over the lonesome sounds of his footsteps and the slow dripping of water from stalactites. Such wasn't possible, so he settled for letting Wooloo out to keep him company.

"Baa," the Pokémon greeted him, and Hop rubbed his partner alongside his fur. "Mornin', mate. Sorry I couldn't let you out somewhere nicer." He shivered. "Place gives me the creeps. Maybe Cassius was onto something when he suggested skipping this place."

To be fair, he'd expected more of a touristy-vibe when he envisioned traversing the Galar Mine. Maybe one or two exciting, fun Pokémon encounters along the way. Something to get the blood pumping, at least. This lonely walk through what was effectively an underground ghost road was a stark contrast to what he'd dreamed up in his head.

Then again, that was how most of their excursion had gone so far. In their first few days after finally leaving Postwick, they'd been giving Cassius the champion trainer crash course. Upon reaching the Wild Area, they had an all-out fight at their camp that they only managed to reconcile after a heart-to-heart on their final day. Route 3 had been decent, but an intrusive Sizzlipede and a gaggle of Team-whatsit grunts had dampened their training a considerable tad.

Hop sighed. He wasn't naïve—he knew that their trip wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows. The journey was a grind, months traveling on the road to foreign cities, filled with vigorous fights and training along the way. He just wished the grind wouldn't have hit him so hard this soon. Even with the extenuating circumstances of Cassius' situation.

He shook his head. Getting down on himself wouldn't do anything. Yeah, it was a lot of work, but he'd already known that from watching Lee. And that also didn't mean that it couldn't be at least a little fun. For all the work he was going to put in, he wasn't going to stop himself from playing around a little too. Who could go that long without a bit of leisure, anyway?

The Postwick native shot an encouraging look at Wooloo, who bleated back at him. Hop smiled. "Yeah. We haven't even made it to Turffield yet! There's a great deal of fun to be had, I'm sure of it." Spirit renewed, Hop continued on beside the tracks at an increased pace, Wooloo right behind him.

It wasn't until he reached a fork in the road that he stopped. The tracks continued on the right side, though it was currently blocked off by some tall man with curious fashion sense. Sunglasses inside of a dimly-lit mine? Was he visually impaired?

"'Ello, 'ello," Hop greeted nevertheless. He pointed in the track's direction. "This the way down the rest of the mine? My mates probably went that way, and I'm tryna catch up."

He didn't receive an immediate answer. Rather, he got the feeling he was being stared at. Weird.

"You're Leon's trainer, yeah?" The stranger asked. From beside him, Hop could feel Wooloo getting a little restless as the large man continued. "His brother?"

"That would be me," Hop confirmed. Did he want a signature? Heh, Gloria would have probably told him to piss off if she were here.

It was not a signature he wanted, however. The man was silent a moment more, before giving way along the path. "This way. Your friends will be near the exit. I'll escort you the rest of the way personally."

Oh, okay. That was nice of him. The privilege of being Leon's sponsored trainer, he supposed. "Sure thing." The man pulled out a walkie-talkie and radioed something to someone in low mutters, before picking up a sign labeled Mine Work Ahead, Illegal Entry Punishable by Fine and Prosecution and placing it down where he once stood.

Hop's eyes narrowed. "What's that for?"

"Just a safety precaution," the man explained. "Nothing you need to worry about."

Nothing he needed to worry about? On the contrary, blocking off an entire section of road on a whim seemed a very appropriate thing to worry about. Hop thought back on what Caroline had told them all, about the suspicious activity all along the mine.

He'd keep his mouth shut for now, but he'd peel his eyes along the way. "Then I won't," he lied. "Well, lead the way."

"I don't like this," Gloria muttered angrily. Cassius was of the same opinion, but he kept it to himself.

They'd been walking tensely throughout the altered tunnel. It was clearly only freshly excavated and approved for public use, since there was nothing on it. No crates, no tools, and still no people or Pokémon. Still, it didn't look like it would collapse on them at any moment, which brought Cassius some relief.

Gloria, however, seemed to be feeling the exact opposite of relief as they walked. "Somethin' is fuckin' up. That bloke guardin' the right side of the fork was the shadiest copper I've ever seen in my life." She snorted. "And now he sends us down some fuck-all tunnel so that we can't see what those twats are doin'? Yeah fuckin' right. Macro Cosmos or whoever, they're doin' somethin' they don't want us seein'."

She was probably right. The immediate issue now, however, was what they would do about it. "So what? We can double back, but they're not gonna let us take the right side of the fork. That guy isn't gonna suddenly change his mind and let us pass just because we feel like it all of a sudden."

"You're thinkin' of leavin'?" Gloria asked, incredulous. Cassius nodded after a moment, which only made her more incensed as she continued. "There is some shady shit goin' on in this mess, and you wanna walk away from it all?"

"You didn't seem super concerned about it earlier."

"Yeah, well now I fuckin' am."

"Gloria, think about this. If they came on to us with... whatever it was they're doing here, that's one thing. But they're clearly doing something on that road that they don't want us seeing." Cassius tried his best to be reasonable with the girl. "If we go to them, that probably puts us in the wrong. Regardless of what they're doing, and whether or not it's morally ambiguous. They are an entire conglomerate, and a very lucrative one at that. They can spin it however they want to—two trainers sticking their business into private Macro Cosmos affairs."

He lowered his voice. "Do you wanna get into legal trouble with Macro Cosmos? Before we even get into Turffield?"

That gave Gloria some pause, but not for very long. "You said it yourself, yeah? You ain't seen one Pokémon since we got here. Fuck, where are the other people at, for that matter?"

"Gloria, it's early morning on a Wednesday. People have jobs. They're not gonna vacation down to a mine in the middle of the work week."

"I don't mean fuckin' tourists. Where are the miners? The people who work here? Remember when Caroline said that the place was overrun with 'em, and that it was a problem for other trainers?" She gestured to the space around them. "We've seen one person in this underground dump. One. Did he look like some bleedin' pitman to you?"

No, admittedly. Gloria kept pressing. "And where the fuck is Hop? He should've caught up with us ages ago." Clearly, this entire situation was bothering her. "I don't like this, Cassius."

Okay, the Hop situation was an issue he shared concern with her over. For what should have been a minute outdoor bathroom break, they hadn't seen him since. Either he'd experienced the mother of all leaks, or something had held him up. "You think he got held up by that guard?" He ventured.

Gloria's eyes narrowed. The thought seemed to make her even more upset. "We're goin' back," she decided, grabbing his arm. "Come on."

"Can we at least think this through?" He begged softly. "If we're gonna do this, we should at least have some kind of—"

Gloria stopped suddenly, and Cassius nearly fell over from the force. "What'd you do that for?" Cassius grumbled, ensuring his physical person was still intact. When she didn't respond immediately, Cassius looked toward what had silenced her so suddenly.

He nearly felt the air leave his body.

There were droves of them. Twenty, at minimum. Flying, swirling about like some coordinated dance, dipping and diving through the narrow space. Cassius couldn't mistake them for anything else. Woobat, squeaking that familiar sound he'd heard throughout so many nights back home, from beside the Giant Chasm. Despite being native to Unova, Cassius had never seen so many in one place before.

But as Cassius quickly followed her gaze, beyond the horde of Pokémon, his dread quickly mingled with a sense of confusion and realization. Apparently, the Woobat weren't concerned with them yet—rather, it was what was moving in front of the Woobat that had their collective attention. Standing tall, undaunted by their presence, and slowly slithering its fiery body along the tunnel floor.

"You've gotta be kiddin' me," Gloria muttered. Cassius was in agreement, though he couldn't even manage the words for it.

The damn Sizzlipede had followed them all the way inside of the Galar Mine.