In which Victor calls it as he sees it.

"No need to fear!" Victor shouted as he kicked down the door to the Ballonlea Gym to the shock and confusion of many. "The Champion is here!"

"And us," Gloria said in an annoyed huff as she and Hop squeezed past him.

Victor took an indignant stance. "So come up with your own rhymes," he retorted.

"You literally stole that from Underdog!" Hop complained.

"So you lot would still be useless if you got here in good time," said a familiar voice. Bede was in his gym uniform, staring at them with crossed arms and a scowl on his face. "But the three of you still had to come here."

"Four," said Piers as he walked through the door. "Gym Leader of Spikemuth. Also relevant."

"Wait, so you don't have a problem with Dynamaxed Pokémon?" Hop asked, remembering how the gym leaders in Stow-on-Side and Circhester needed their help with a large number of Dynamaxed Pokémon before they came here.

"Not anymore," Bede said with a familiar smirk. "But what do you expect from the new champion's equal?"

"We're not equal," Victor said flatly. "I can kick your butt any day of the week."

Bede huffed. "You can beat me in a Pokémon fight and I can beat you in a real fight. It evens out."

"Well, our real fight ended in a draw because Gloria stopped us, so mathematically, I'm still fifty percent better than you."

"Don't do this," Hop said with a sigh.

Gloria stepped in. "Okay, guys. We don't have time for this today. We still have a shield to track down, so we don't need to humiliate Bede."

"Big talk from someone who can't fight my team with just a Theivul anymore," Bede said with misplaced confidence.

Gloria smirked. "You'll meet Stabitha in our next battle."

Bede's face dropped along with his smug attitude for a second as curiosity took hold. "Battle me," he ordered.

"What?"

"Battle me. I need to know what a 'Stabitha' is or it will plague my mind all night. Again."

Gloria giggled as she took out her Pokeball. "Alright. We can spare five minutes."

Bede sent out his Mawile, but Gloria chose to open with Ace and bring Stabitha out later. Ace opened with a Snipe Shot and got in a critical hit. Mawile used Play Rough, but a Liquidation finished Bede's only steel type.

Bede sent out a Gardevoir, and that was when he learned that this 'Stabitha' in question was a Bisharp that took Gardevoir out with Iron Head.

Rapidash got in a Dazzling Gleam before an Iron Head also took it out.

Hatterene was Bede's last hope, but Stabitha was faster and won the match.

"Well?" Gloria asked smugly.

It took a minute for Bede to get the dumb look off of his face, but he eventually took on an aloof expression. "Technically, she didn't wipe out my whole team, so it doesn't count."

"Counts enough!"

"You had to use an Inteleon."

"Well the steel type threw me for a loop, but you still only have one of them."

"I'll have you know that I can only afford four Pokémon at a time. I already had to sell Duosion and Gothorita to some kid from Kanto and used the money to buy toothpaste." As Bede said this, Gothorita casually walked into the room behind Gloria while casually eating a chocolate chip cookie. Bede saw this and discretely waved for her to go back to where she came from. Gothrita silently obeyed.

Gloria smirked and paid it no mind. "So you can afford toothpaste? We had to mix in sand, mayonnaise, and mint from the neighbor's garden."

Victor groaned at the sight. "Hey, Hop, let's ditch them."

"What? Why?"

"Because they'll be at this for hours. Gloria's been saving them up."

"Don't exaggerate."

Bede chuckled, oblivious to the other boys' conversation. "So you can afford mayonnaise."

"What makes you think that I didn't steal it?" Gloria asked with a smile.

Hop's face fell. "I'm right behind you, Victor."

Piers opened the door behind them. "Come on, I already called the taxi."

Unlike Ballonlea, Hammerlocke was still in a state of panic when the boys arrived on the scene. They ran straight down the hall to Raihan, who was talking to a familiar face they weren't expecting to see.

"Marnie?" Victor exclaimed in surprise.

Raihan turned to them with a smile. "Your friend is pretty tough," he said. "She took on three dragon Pokemon before all of hers fainted. And with all the ones I took out, that leaves a Fraxure and a Haxorus."

"Victor! Hop!" Marnie exclaimed. "Just before all this started, I saw two jerks with stupid hair-"

"They're here?!" Hop exclaimed without needing the rest of the description.

Marnie nodded. "They went into the elevator with some other people just after the commotion started. I tried to follow them, but they must have locked it or cut the power."

"The royal weirdos have friends who agree with them?" Hop asked.

"Those two have friends?" Victor remarked.

Piers, already on his phone, was standing outside the elevator door as if he was guarding it. "Well, if anyone can get this door open, the professor can. Why don't you boys deal with those dragons?"

The boys nodded and turned towards the stadium. But in doing so, Victor locked eyes with Marnie and he stopped in his tracks. "Marnie," he said softly. "You must still be pretty strong to take on all those dragons."

"Thanks," Marnie said, smiling at the compliment.

Victor started to blush as he continued. "I know this might not be the best time, but when we're done with this, would you like to... you know... uh..."

"You know what, lover boy?" Hop said with a huff. "I've got the Fraxure. You can have the Haxorus." And with that, he turned and walked through the entrance.

Victor processed this and shouted "NO!" as he ran after his friend through the door.

By the time they finished their battles, Sonia and Gloria each arrived at the gym. Gloria marched straight to Victor. "How could you ditch me like that?!" Gloria yelled. "I had to get my own ride to Hammerlocke and Bede shouted 'So you can afford to take a taxi' as I left."

"Next time, no flirting while we have important business to attend to," Victor teased with his arms crossed.

"Hypocrite," Hop said flatly to Victor's chagrin.

Meanwhile, Piers was standing by the elevator and making the professor feel sorry for it. "Did you try the button?' he asked.

Sonia grumbled as if it was hardly the first time he asked. "Yes, Piers," Sonia growled at him. "For the millionth time, I tried the button. Of course, I tried the freaking button! Do you think that I would be trying to hack into the control panel if I didn't try the freaking button and realize that it didn't freaking work?!" Sonia huffed and puffed in an attempt to calm herself down after her outburst.

Piers waited for her to finish her breaths before he looked at the elevator door and then back to Sonia. "Try the button."

Sonia's attempt to strangle to gym leader was interrupted by Yamper when he launched his static electricity-charged body at the panel and caused the lock to short circut and open the elevator. "Good boy, Yamper!"

Piers smirked. "He tried the button," he said with a smirk. Sonia responded by smacking him in the face, causing Marnie to chuckle.

Hop was the first to take a heroic step forward. "Ok, guys," he said to the rest of the group, inciting serious looks from the rest of them. "It's time to end this." The others nodded, and they all crammed into the elevator.

When the group got down to the basement, Sordward and his entourage were already waiting for them in front of the only way to the roof. "Congratulations," he said in a condescending tone. "Defeating all of our Dynamax Pokémon and opening the door must have taken great amounts of strength and intelligence respectively. Applaud them, people. Nice, slow, and sarcastic."

And so, the small crowd obediently did. Sordward let this go on for a bit before ordering them to stop with a wave of his hand.

Gloria was unamused. "Just tell us what all of this was about! Why make Pokemon Dynamax against their will?"

Sordward chuckled. "Those were just our experiments. We have a greater purpose for these wishing stars, and it all starts with that shield."

Hop's eyes widened as the gears clicked into place. "You want to make the heroes of Galar Dynamax?!"

"But that's impossible," Sonia cut in. "According to my research, the only way that they could defeat Eternatus is if they were immune to its power."

"So we'll put that to the test," the supposed royal said triumphantly. "If we bombard them with this power, then nothing should happen."

"No, something will happen! That energy could be poison to it and it could lead to unpredictable results!"

"Interesting how you already came up with an explanation when something doesn't fit your fantastic imagination," he scoffed as he pulled out a copy of her book. "We all know the real history. The first king of Galar, my ancestor, saved the region with his brilliant sword and shield. For his heroic efforts, the people crowned him king."

"That's what this was about?" Victor angrily asked. "Because you're butt hurt about Sonia doing more research than anyone else and that ruined the perfect image you had of yourself?"

"She should be ashamed of herself for trying to change history in such an appalling manner and making these wolves the kings of Galar!" At this, his entire fan club began to boo Sonia and voice their shared mindset.

"But was it really rewritten?" Marnie asked as she thought back to the book.

The group stopped their heckling as they, along with Sordward, looked confused. "What?" he asked.

"It's true," Victor said as he flipped through his own copy of the book. "It says nothing about these wolves being crowned the kings."

"Probably on account of them not being human," Piers added with a smirk.

Gloria looked over her friend's shoulder to read from the book herself. "Yep, it says that a heroic human called upon the power of the sword and shield Pokémon to push back the darkness, and he was rewarded by being crowned the first king of Galar. That guy was still your ancestor."

"So history wasn't rewritten," Hop concluded. "There's just more of it, and it gives Zacian and Zamazenta the credit that was long overdue."

Sordward's eyes were wide, looking towards the ground as he remained quiet. He was quiet for a very long time. A member of his fan club tried to wave his hand in front of his face.

"Did you even read the book?" Sonia asked in an accusing manner.

"It was a lot of chapters!" He shouted in defense, snapping out of his deep thought.

"There were like five," Hop said in exasperation.

Sordward went back to thinking, and this time, he slowly came to a realization. "If that's true... and it isn't a contradiction to what we already knew... and your studies aren't invalid..." A loud roar came from the roof, and they all looked up in dismay. "We might have made a little booboo."

"A little booboo?!" Gloria shouted before her attention was captured by another roar.

Zamazenta's eyes glowed as he was coated in the dark energies of the wishing stars. It twitched and growled, but it seemed to be fighting itself to stay sane.

"Beautiful," Shielbert said, holding the rusted shield. "Now we'll see the true nature of these brutes."

Sonia's former assistant looked down at her watch. "It should be any time now."

Just then, everyone else came up to the roof in hopes of stopping him. "Shielbert!" Sordward called out. The younger brother turned to give him a thumbs up. "Bail!" the eldest continued.

"Why?" Shielbert huffed. "This is what we wanted. Once it goes into town, everyone will see this savage and know the truth about-" He was interrupted by Zamazenta charging at him in a blind fury and knocking him to the ground. "What are you doing?" he asked as he put the shield between them. "Go into town! I have your leash, so obey me!" The wolf knocked the relic aside and growled more. "N-n-nice puppy," Shielbert was barely able to get that out as he wet his pants in sheer terror.

But before Zamazenta could attack, he was hit in the face by a Snipe Shot from Ace. Soon, Victor and Hop's starter Pokemon joined him. "Do they really deserve our help?" Victor asked.

"No," Gloria answered. "But it's still what heroes do."

"Besides," Hop chimed in. "We still need to save Zamazenta before he does something that he'll regret."

The three trainers battled the legendary as Marnie guided the bystanders back down. However, the brothers were stopped from leaving by a gym leader and an Obstigoon. "You two will stay here to see the consequences of what you have done!"

Since it was an emergency, the trio decided that a three-on-one battle was appropriate, however, it was still able to put up enough of a fight to take out Dash and Ace. When it came down to Hop and his loyal Rillaboom, they were barely able to knock it back with a Drum Beating.

When he lying on the ground, Zamazenta shook himself out of his trance. He slowly took in his surroundings as he panted heavily. Finally, he locked eyes with Hop who called Jojo back to his ball and took a cautious step forward. Just then, Zamazenta's eyes rolled to the back of his head as more dark energy took hold of him. He ferociously barked and jumped at the trainer when he returned to his frenzied state.

Just when Hop prepared himself to face the end, he felt the force of the attack being blocked and a familiar howl. Looking up, he saw that Zacian had come to their rescue and she was currently giving her oldest ally an intense stare. Zamazenta, in deep shame, offered a more pitiful look. He then turned and fled from the rooftop in the hopes that he could stop himself from hurting anyone.

"Zamazenta!" Hop called out, but it was to no avail.

"So this is what you do when you don't want to kill people," Victor scolded the brothers, who were shivering huddling together.

"W-w-we just wanted to show everyone that we are the rightful kings," Shielbert managed to stammer out.

Hop turned to them, shaking with anger. "You still think you're kings?" he asked with a disturbing level of quiet that did nothing to mask his fury. "Good kings are wise, and do whatever is best for their people. Not endanger them. I have no idea what you are, but you wouldn't be kings if a shiny Ho-oh parted the skies and personally placed crowns on your heads." He then took the shield off of the ground and walked away without saying another word.

Gloria, seeing the royals as no longer worth her time, walked up to Hop. "OK, I think we can catch up with him if we hurry."

"No."

I was so blunt and unexpected that it caught both her and Victor off guard. "What?"

Hop turned to them and held up his shield. "I think I know where he's going and this shield is part of a pact. He was there when I needed him and I need to be the one who's there for him. And I need to do it alone."

Victor shook his head in disapproval. "That sounds dumb and dangerous."

"Yes, it is," Hop agreed. "But I have to try." And with that, he parted ways from the rest of the group and began to make his way to where he felt Zamazenta would go.

Victor was about to go after him anyway, but Zacian's howl called him back. Sonia brought her finger to her chin as she thought. "You know, if I was Zacian and if chaos and calamity followed three kids around wherever they go, I might think that it was for the best to stay as close to them as possible."

Victor's eyes widened in surprise and excitement. "Is that right?" he asked the ancient wolf. "You want to come with me?"

Zacian nodded in affirmation and continued to gaze at Victor in anticipation.

"Now might be a good time to use that 'congratulations' gift that my Gran gave you," Sonia whispered to him.

"Oh, right," Victor said as he dug around in his bag for the special item Professor Magnolia gave him after he won the championship. "You'd think that would come up by now." He then walked up to Zacian with a Masterball in hand. He threw it at Zacian who went in without a fuss and it clicked closed. But that didn't stop Victor from hearing her anguished cry. "I know that you're worried about Zamazenta, but I promised Hop that I would let him take care of it first. He trusts him and so do I."

"Well, that was exciting," Sordward said with a sheepish smile. "As much as I would love to continue this moment, I'm afraid that my brother and I have a pressing engagement to get to."

"Ah yes, brother," Shielbert said with an identical expression. "We were going to get some pie, so we need to get to the shops before they all close."

That's when a powerful presence made himself known by putting his hands on the brothers' shoulders. "I think the only pie you'll be getting for a long time will be served to you in prison," Leon said, making the royals gulp.

"Leon, I thought I told you that it would be best if you stayed in the lab so you wouldn't get lost or if they came back," Sonia said, slightly disappointed that he elected to disregard her suggestion.

"I did," Leon said with a smile. "But then I tried to go to the kitchen and I ended up here."

"For once, your curse is useful," Gloria mused.

Leon nodded, keeping his smile. "Come on, boys. Piers is going to show us to the police station."

The gym leader huffed. "Sure, after running around the region, I'd love to do extra work," he said sarcastically before getting Leon's kiddy leash from Sonia.

Once they were gone, it was just the kids, Sonia, and her former assistant. The two women spent a minute just looking at each other without letting any emotion show. Finally, the assistant broke the silence. "I'm sorry that I had to use you. Or rather that I thought I had to use you."

Sonia shrugged. "I'm sorry that I never learned your name." She then grabbed a hold of her arm and turned her towards the elevator. "But the next time you want to impress someone by saying that you read the book, actually read the stupid book." And with that, she led her to share the same fate as her so-called kings.

And then there were two.

"Should we go after Hop?" Gloria asked.

"Not now," Victor said. "He wants to try to solve this on his own, and it would hurt his feelings if we immediately try to help. He's dumb, but not stupid. He's also strong enough to take care of himself. I'm also sure he was right about his pact with Zamazenta. He'll call us if he needs us."

Gloria conceded that those were all good points. "I still don't like it."

"So, what should we do in the meantime?"

After a moment of thought, Gloria perked up. "Wait, weren't you downloading Tears of the Kingdom before all of this nonsense began?"

"Oh, right," Victor said, his face lighting up in recollection. "We were hanging outside while we were waiting for it to finish." And with that, the duo went to play video games.

Meanwhile, Hop went on his greatest mission yet.