Chapter 14:

Mine Mayhem

Location: Hulbury

"Ready to go?" Hop asked.

"You bet!" I replied. Nessa had come to see us off; probably in some of the only bits of free time she had.

"Good luck!" Nessa said. "Remember; Kabu is not easy!"

"I'm sure he isn't," I replied. I turned to Hop. "We need to go through Galar Mine No. 2 and then across another viaduct to get back to Motostoke. I'm so excited!"

"Then let's stop waiting!" Hop told me.

Location: Galar Mine No. 2

This mine was very different. The cave was quite wet (with it being next to the ocean and all) and had crystals of many colours.

"I wonder what Pokémon we'll find here?" I said. I already found one. Or was it two? It was on a rock and looked like it was two hands with eyes on them.

Binacle (カメテテ)

#234

Rock/Water Type

Two-Handed Pokémon

1'08" (0.5 m)

68.3 lbs (31 kg)

If the two don't work well together, both their offense and defense fall apart. Without good teamwork, they won't survive.

The Binacle looked at us and hissed.

"Let's move on," I said. However, I didn't watch where I was going and bumped into someone. "So sorry!" As I said this, the person turned round.

"Watch where you're-"

"Bede?!" the two of us replied.

"Well look at what the Glameow dragged in!" Bede told us. "Let me guess. You're here because-"

"Because we beat Nessa!" I said. "And now we're heading back to Motostoke to get our third Badge."

Bede laughed. "Really? You two? Why did you even start this journey? What? Because Leon saw potential in you? Or is it just brotherly bias? What a waste of air. When I beat Leon, a proper Champion will take the reins in Galar."

Hop clenched his fist. "Don't you DARE talk about Lee like that! He was once a rookie like us!"

"You're calling me a rookie?" Bede asked.

Hop took out a Pokéball from his Bag. "Gloria, mind if I take him on?"

I put my thumb it. "Give it your all!"

"Try me!" Bede shouted.

Hop Vs. Bede

"I choose Solosis!" Bede shouted.

"You're up Corvisquire!" Hop replied. "Pluck!" Corvisquire jabbed at Solosis with its beak.

"Use Charm!" Solosis fired hearts at Corvisquire, lowering its Attack.

"Good move. Now Corvisquire, Taunt!" Corvisquire shouted at Solosis, making it angry.

"I wasn't going to use Charm anyway! Use Psyshock!" Solosis fired balls of energy at Corvisquire.

"Use Power Trip!" Corvisquire then kicked Solosis. It was almost down.

"Use Endeavor!" Solosis tackled Corvisquire, taking its HP down to the equivalent of Solosis.

"Use Pluck again!" This was the move that defeated Solosis.

"Urgh. I don't like you! Go Gothita!" The pink faced Psychic Type was sent out.

"Power Trip Corvisquire!" Corvisquire tripped up Gothita.

"Come back with Rock Tomb!" Gothita made a bunch of rocks cave into Corvisquire. It was finished.

"It was too weak anyway. Go Chinchou!" Hop sent out a blue Pokémon with two torches hanging from two antennas. Its eyes were yellow with a black cross in them.

Chinchou (チョンチー)

#220

Water/Electric Type

Angler Pokémon

1'08" (0.5 m)

26.5 lbs (12 kg)

Its antennae, which evolved from a fin, have both positive and negative charges flowing through them.

"Chinchou! Confuse Ray!" Chinchou sent out a weird beam that caused Gothita to become confused.

"Gothita! Try a Psybeam!" Gothita fired the Psybeam, but it hurt itself.

"Keep it up Chinchou! Use Bubble Beam!" Chinchou fired a jet of bubbles at Gothita. This caused its Speed to fall." Great!" However, Gothita's Sp. Attack rose.

"What?!" I shouted.

"You clearly don't know, do you?" Bede taunted. "It's Competitive. When any of Gothita's stats are decreased, it gets a Sp. Attack boost! You're on a journey and you don't know that? Gothita, Psybeam!" Gothita fired a pink beam at Chinchou. It took it, mainly because it had high HP and Sp. Defense.

"Now use Spark!" Chinchou surrounded itself in electricity and charged into Gothita. Upon contact, Gothita was paralyzed! It couldn't move! "And now use Bubble Beam again!" Chinchou fired another jet of bubbles.

"Use Psybeam!" Gothita tried again but hurt itself. This was enough to knock it out.

"Nice one Chinchou!" Hop said.

"Don't start celebrating! Go Ponyta!" Ponyta in the Galar region are quite different to the ones in Kanto, Johto and Sinnoh. They are smaller with a horn. Additionally, instead of fire, they have pink and blue fluff.

Ponyta (Galarian Form) (ポニータ)

#333

Psychic Type

Unique Horn Pokémon

2'07" (0.8 m)

24 kg (52.9 lbs)

This Pokémon will look into your eyes and read the contents of your heart If it finds evil there, it promptly runs away.

"Now Ponyta, Fairy Wind!" From its mouth, Ponyta blew some sparkling wind at Chinchou.

"Come back with Spark!" Chinchou surrounded itself in electricity and charged into Ponyta. It became paralyzed! "Nice shot!"

"Not so fast!" Bede shouted. "Ponyta, use Facade!" Ponyta charged into Chinchou, knocking it out.

"That was strong!" I shouted.

"Urgh," said Hop. "That's a strong move. Its power doubles if the user has a status condition. Okay Wooloo, go!" Out came Hop's Normal Type.

"Use Facade again!" Ponyta charged into Wooloo. Thankfully Fluffy took a lot of the hit.

"Counter with Headbutt!" Wooloo rammed its head into Ponyta.

"And again!" Ponyta used another Facade. Wooloo was getting weaker.

"Headbutt!" One more was all that Wooloo could get in.

"Now use Confusion!" Ponyta hurt Wooloo with Psychic power, knocking it out.

"You won't win! Thwackey!" Out came Hop's partner.

"Ponyta, Facade!" That move did quite a bit of damage.

"Come back with Razor Leaf!" Thwackey fired sharp leaves at Ponyta. It was done.

"Final Pokémon. Go Hattena!" When Bede sent out his last Pokémon, his partner Hatenna, we saw it shaking. "Hatenna! Why are you scared?"

"It's Anticipation!" I told Hop. "If the opposing Pokémon knows a Super Effective or one hit KO move, it starts shaking!"

"Really?" Hop said. "Thwackey, does that mean you can use a new move?" One of Thwackey's sticks went dark and it hit Hatenna for lots of damage.

"Thwackey learned Knock Off!" I shouted.

"That is clever, I'll give you that. Psybeam!" Hatenna fired a pink beam at Thwackey. It was almost defeated.

"Knock Off once more!" Thwackey knocked Hatenna into the cave wall. It was defeated.

"You just got lucky!"

"Hey!" said Hop. He held out his right hand. "That was a great battle! You almost beat me!"

Bede looked at his hand. "Hmm." He turned away. "Next time will be different."

"Stop!" I said. Bede stopped in his tracks. "Hop is thanking you for the match! A good Trainer does the same!"

"He's not a good Trainer; he's a waste of time." He walked off.

"What is his deal?!" Hop shouted. "I'll show him! Come on Gloria, let's go!"

It was clear as we trudged through the cave that Bede had put Hop in a bad mood. He was walking at least five steps ahead of me.

"How the tables have turned," I said. "You restrained me last time, so what gives you the excuse to be fuming?"

"Because Bede thinks he can walk over anyone," Hop said. "Why does he think he's better than everyone else? Because he got endorsed by the richest man in Galar? If he were to go up to Lee right now, Bede would be flattened more than if a Snorlax landed on him!"

"Okay, I get it," I said. "How about we take our mind off of things? Hey look!" I saw a Pokéball on the floor. "Wonder what's in it?"

"GLORIA STOP!"

As I got closer, I saw two eyes emerge in the ground. Then, what looked like a sharp trap started emerging. I pulled back my hand as the trap snapped shut.

Stunfisk (Galarian Form) (マッギョ)

#226

Ground/Steel Type

Trap Pokémon

2'04" (0.7 m)

45.2 lbs (20.5 kg)

Its conspicuous lips lure prey in as it lies in wait in the mud. When prey gets close, Stunfisk clamps its jagged steel fins down on them.

Stunfisk has no known evolutions.

"That was close. Go Raboot!" My Fire Type came out. "Use Flame Charge!"

Suddenly, Stunfisk hit Raboot in the back. "That was Sucker Punch!" Hop shouted. "It only works if you are about to use an attacking move and if you do, it always strikes first!"

Raboot then got in a Flame Charge. It didn't quite to half. "Now use Double Kick!" Raboot kicked Stunfisk twice. Stunfisk then hit back for quite a bit.

"It used Revenge!" Hop shouted again.

"Flame Charge!" Stunfisk used another Sucker Punch, but thankfully, Raboot defeated it the next turn.

"That was difficult," I said. "Better be careful with what we see on the floor in here, aye?"

Hop laughed; the friend I knew was back! "Yeah! Now let's go and find the exit!"

"You said it!" I replied.

We continued walking on, and eventually decided to stop by a body of water.

"So Kabu next," Hop said.

"I have heard how tough he could be," I replied. "But hey, I have Lombre on my side! And Raboot for defense!"

"Don't get cocky," Hop said.

"You better not."

Oh no. We knew those voices. Two male Team Yell Grunts walked over to us.

"You guys?" I said. "What do you want?"

"We want to stop you!" said Yell Grunt A. "Our Marnie is in Motostoke right now battling Kabu, and we don't want ANYONE getting in her way!"

"And what's the fun in that?" I asked. "Marnie is our friend, why are you keeping her away from us?"

"Because…" Grunt B said. "We're her biggest fans!"

"Fans or not," Hop said. "You can't just block us like some protesters!" Hop got ready. He looked at me. "Ready to rumble Gloria?"

"You bet Hopster!" I replied.

"Please…" Hop said. "Don't call me that."

Gloria and Hop Vs. Team Yell Grunts

"Go Thievul!" shouted Grunt A.

"And I choose Linoone!" Grunt B sent out a black and white Pokémon with arrows all over it. It was on all fours.

Linoone (マッスグマ) (Galarian Form)

#032

Dark/Normal Type

Rushing Pokémon

1'08" (0.5 m)

71.7 lbs (32.5 kg)

It uses its long tongue to taunt opponents. Once the opposition is enraged, this Pokémon hurls itself at the opponent, tackling them forcefully.

Zigzagoon (G) -Lv 20- Linoone (G)

"Wooloo, go!" Hop shouted.

"And I choose Lombre!" I said.

"Linoone, Night Slash!" Linoone swiped at Lombre.

"Okay Thievul, use Snarl!" Thievul fired some dark sound waves from its mouth at Wooloo.

"Lombre, Mega Drain!" Lombre sapped some HP away from Thievul.

"Use Double Kick!" Wooloo kicked Linoone twice. Due to the strong Type advantage, Linoone went down.

"Urgh. You've done it! Go Pancham!" Next was a Fighting Type.

"Theivul, use Snarl again!" Another Snarl attack was used, this time on Lombre. Its Sp. Attack fell.

"Strike back Lombre with Water Gun!" Lombre shot some water at Thievul.

"Wooloo, Double Kick!" Wooloo kicked at Thievul twice, doing lots of damage.

"We can't have anymore of that! Pancham, Circle Throw!" Pancham grabbed Wooloo and threw it at Hop. Wooloo then went back to its Pokéball and Thwackey was forcefully sent out.

"Uh oh," Hop said. "We'll just have to make do!"

"Thievul, Quick Attack!" Thievul dashed into Thwackey.

"Thwackey, come back with Razor Leaf!" Thwackey fired sharp leaves at both Pokémon. Thievul went down.

"Now Lombre, give it a Mega Drain!" Lombre drained HP from Pancham.

"Pancham, use Low Sweep!" Pancham went over to Lombre and swept at its legs. Lombre fell over and its Speed decreased.

"We're not done! Liepard!" Yeah, I was familiar with this one. "Use Fake Out!" Liepard clapped in front of Thwackey.

"Lombre, use Mega Drain!" More HP was drained from Pancham.

"Now use Low Sweep again!" And now Thwackey, who couldn't move this turn because of flinching, was the slowest one there.

"Thievul, Snarl!" Another Snarl hit Lombre.

"Mega Drain!" This move was getting weaker.

"Pancham, Arm Thrust!" Pancham went to Lombre and punched it a few times.

"Thwackey, Razor Leaf!" Thwackey fired sharp leaves at both Pokémon, and Pancham was down.

"Use Quick Attack Thievul!" Thievul dashed into Thwackey.

"Now Lombre, Water Gun!" Instead, Lombre fired a jet of bubbles at Thievul.

"That's not Water Gun," I said. "That's Bubble Beam! Great new move!"

"And Thwackey, finish with Razor Leaf!" Thwackey fired some final leaves at Thievul. We won!

"What is with you two?!" Grunt A shouted. "We just want to support Marnie and-"

"What is going on here?"

From round the corner… appeared Kabu! "Uh oh," said Grunt B.

"Gym Leader Kabu," I said. "Team Yell were preventing us from getting through because Marnie was battling!"

"Marnie…" Kabu said. "Yes I just battled her. She was a good Trainer but I came out on top."

"Aww…" both Grunts said. They sadly walked off.

"What a bunch of losers," I said.

"Hey…" Kabu said. "You two got an endorsement from Leon, correct?"

"Yep!" Hop said. "I'm his little brother! And this is my best friend Gloria!"

Kabu nodded. "Great. So. You two heading back to Motostoke?"

"Uh huh," I said. I went round the corner to see the exit. However, it was raining Skitty and Yamper. "We can't go out in this."

"We'll have to wait it out in the cave," Hop told me.

"I'll go out," Kabu said. "But suit yourself. Neither of you are in any particular hurry."

"Looks like we aren't," I said.

We decided to sleep in the cave that night.