In the Christian tradition of miracles on Easter, this Easter Sunday we too have risen. Editor was hyperfocused on writing the Scarlet installment, and we wanted to post this first. She's over 20 chapters into it, with my only contributions being some jokes. This was my main motivation.

The town of Postwick was a small one, but one with an interesting story. Two consecutive Champions had grown up there, and the runner-up of the last Gym challenge, too. There were plenty of reasons to swarm the place with tourists.

There was also an excellent reason not to. A reason in the form of an embodiment of destruction and chaos, a dark shadow across the land of Galar. A reason in the form of a skeletal dragon that was horrific and powerful. A reason that answered to the name "Taters" and slept under the porch of a small house like it was the world's weirdest guard dog.

"I'm still impressed that it hasn't gone on a rampage," Victor commented, awkwardly reaching out to pet the creature known to most as Eternatus. "You haven't kept it in its ball since you captured it."

"That's why it hasn't gone on a rampage, Victor," Gloria reminded him as Taters huffed in agreement. "He's a bit claustrophobic, that's all. Rose kept him in a big fish tank."

Victor flopped back onto the grass, thinking things over. This was his first day with his friend since he dethroned Champion Leon, and it just didn't feel the same without Hop. Taters tried to fill the void, but Victor knew better than to pick fights with Eternatus. And thanks to puberty and lack of dedicated training, Gloria was losing her equal footing in the play fights. "Hey, Gloria? It's been a week. Do you think Hop's still sulking?"

Gloria decided to join her friend on the grass. "It's only been a week? Feels like it's been way longer for some reason."

"I'm serious, Gloria. I think he might still hold resentment towards me for, well..."

"Tearing his dreams to pieces, throwing them on the ground, and tap dancing on them?"

"I was going to say beating him in battle, but I guess that's a rude way to put it," Victor huffed. "I mean, it was my dream too. The difference is that I accomplished it. I shouldn't feel bad about that."

Gloria sat up to hug her knees, her eyes not leaving her friend. "Well, do you?"

Victor sighed. "Well, yeah. And that thing you said earlier only made it worse."

"Victor, it's Hop. It's not in his nature to hold a grudge. And last I checked, you saved the world together. It'll be fine."

Victor sat up and smiled. "Thanks, pal. I didn't know that there would be a downside to being awesome."

"Mr. Champion!" shouted a little boy who was brave enough to get near the dragon as he ran over to Victor, holding his League Card and a pen.

Victor flashed a cocky grin as he took these items from the boy to sign. "Though it's not as hard to find as its upsides." He then looked up from the card to look the kid in the eyes. "Who am I making this out to, kid?"

"Timmy."

This moment, like many other moments in Victor's life, was interrupted by unforeseen chaos. This one was in the form of a loud clang and the cry of a very familiar Wooloo. The two trainers rose to their feet and ran towards the noise, Victor throwing the card and pen back as he did so. "Here you go, Tommy!" he said in a hurry.

"But my name's Timmy!" he shouted, but the two were gone and not listening to him anyway. The kid looked down at the card and walked away. "At least he got his own name right."

When they got to the source of the noise, sure enough, the same Wooloo from before trying to break down the newer gate to the Slumbering Weald. "How are you still at this?" Gloria asked as the two of them pushed the sheep back where it belonged. "Your owner must be at their wit's end." It was then that something glimmered in the sunlight to catch her eye. Something on the other side. Something familiar. "A league medallion?" she asked aloud as she picked it up.

Victor looked over her shoulder to confirm that this was the complete League medallion. Knowing that his medallion was securely pinned to his shirt, that could only belong to one person in this town. "Hop wouldn't throw this away. Why would it..." Victor trailed off as he looked to the forest to answer his own question. "Oh, come now, Hop."

Hop heard the footsteps in the grass behind him, and he didn't look up. He knew who it was. "I was just returning the ancient shield to its rightful place," he explained. "Figured Zamazenta should have it."

"Probably best," Victor admitted, though he was a bit reluctant to give the sword back to Zacian. Not because he didn't believe she should have it, but because of her insistence to be addressed as a forest god. He would give her that satisfaction exactly once in his lifetime.

Hop didn't comment. "I never got a chance to congratulate you on your victory," he said, turning around and giving Victor a bright smile. "I didn't think you could do it. I wasn't sure I could do it."

"I wasn't sure I could do it, either," Victor admitted with a nervous laugh. "Even the Darkest Day was stopped by Gloria, not us."

"We helped," Hop reminded him. "The extra experience might have helped you beat Lee. Which is why I want to ask you if you're up for one more battle."

"Uh...sure?" Victor looked past Hop, trying to see if the ancient wolves were still there. "Are there fans you want to impress?"

"Only Gloria," Hop said as if she barely mattered. Ignoring her small protest, he sent out his Dubwool to begin the battle.

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Victor won.

It wasn't that Hop was bad, as Victor and Gloria were quick to point out. Hop just waved them away, saying that he knew that already.

"I'm a decent trainer, yeah," he said, "but there was just no way for me to beat Victor."

"You could probably beat me," Gloria offered. "Stabitha only just evolved."

"It's fine," Hop insisted. "I wouldn't want to face Taters." He barely managed to avoid rolling his eyes at the name, knowing perfectly well that Gloria had chosen it specifically to make fun of Chairman Rose consistently stuttering every time he tried to say it.

"You wouldn't have to," Gloria protested. "Taters isn't exactly portable. Doesn't like being in the ball any longer than he has to."

"What's this about Taters?"

The voice wasn't new, but it belonged to Sonia - granddaughter and assistant of Professor Magnolia, future head scientist of her grandmother's lab, and a firm believer in the forest gods. Victor liked her as a person, but once again, he refused to give her the satisfaction of admitting the truth.

Even though he was pretty sure she knew.

"Shouldn't you be assisting your grandmother?" Hop asked, and Sonia laughed.

"Actually, I'm the professor now!" She proudly twirled her hair. "Apparently, Gran pulled some strings, and I was so advanced as a student that they overlooked my quitting in exchange for publishing my notes as a book!"

"You mean a thesis," said Hop, and Sonia laughed.

"That, too," she confirmed. "I just thought that a book would be more interesting to hear about, and I translated it into science terms to make it a thesis. Two birds with one stone and all." She handed a book to Victor. "I was going to leave this as an offering to the forest gods, but I'm sure they'll understand if I give it to you as a Championship gift. Gran gave you that Master Ball, after all."

"Master Ball?" Gloria repeated, looking at Victor in awe. "For beating Leon?"

Victor shrugged. "It wasn't that important," he insisted. "I've got all the Pokémon I can handle for the moment. I'll probably just put it on a shelf like a trophy."

Gloria's awe turned to confusion. Victor could somewhat understand. The only time Gloria had held a Master Ball, it had been used to save the world. Now it was used only to take Taters on a taxi, which happened even less than one would expect.

In short, Victor saw no need for his Master Ball, just like Hop saw no need to compete with him any further.

"You're all on to bigger things," he said, looking between them. "Victor's the Champion who defeated the undefeatable...Sonia's a full-fledged scientist with a book published...Gloria's got Eternatus and will probably use it as a tourist attraction..."

"I never thought of that," said Gloria, her mind latching on to the possibility.

"You're welcome," Hop said with a smile, and then it faded. "But I don't know what I'm headed for. Any ideas?"

"Perhaps," said a male voice, "you can come and be our butler?"

"We do pay well," said a second male voice, and the group all saw them at the same moment.

Two men in their mid-twenties, wearing bright red and dark blue suits, despite being in the middle of a forest. Their clothes were secondary, however, as their primary feature was...

"What's wrong with your hair?" Victor asked, making the men, especially the one in blue who had his hair gelled to a point three feet above his head, growl. "What are you, some kind of space nuts?"

"I think they're from Univa or something," Gloria commented.

"I don't think these kids know who they're speaking to," said the man in the red suit.

"Clearly not," the man in blue agreed. "Then again, he is hanging around 'Professor' Sonia."

"And what's wrong with that?" Sonia objected. "We're friends! He helped me research Galar's history for my book -"

"That pile of rubbish?" The men laughed. "Oh, we know about your book. Terrible. Full of lies."

"I got that when you called it rubbish," Sonia said, dripping sarcasm. "Care to explain who you are and what gave you the idea that any of it was a lie?"

"We," said the man in red, "are Sordward and Shielbert. I, specifically, am Shielbert. We are descendants of the first kings of Galar. That makes us celebrities and the rightful kings of Galar."

"I didn't vote for you," Gloria retorted.

Sordward scoffed. "You don't vote for kings."

"That's tyranny!" she shouted.

"I demand revolution!" Victor yelled, playing along with Gloria's game.

"Quiet, kids," Sonia said to them in a deadpan tone before turning to the more irritating presence. "Look, what do you want?"

"You might want to check your Power Spot detector, Professor," said Sordward with a sly grin, and she immediately did. That led to the flash of a Power Spot overreacting. Gasping at the sight, she ran to her lab to determine the meaning of this anomaly.

"It seems our trap worked, brother," said Shielbert.

"Of course it did," Sordward agreed. "We are genius royals, after all."

"You're a pair of loons," Gloria muttered, but Hop nudged her.

"Wait until they're out of earshot," he warned, but the brothers didn't pay either of them any attention. They were far too busy congratulating each other.

Eventually, the brothers stopped and made their way over to the pedestal. "Now, the legendary sword and shield are ours for the taking."

The trio then took defensive stances. "You'll have to go through us first," Victor said.

The brothers smirked and Shielbert took out a luxury ball. "Fine. Have it your way."