I apologize in advance for the events that occur in this chapter.... But there is a reason for all of them.

"Hop! Marnie!" Gloria called out to her two closest friends. She ran towards them, smiling.

The two were in a small group of about twenty Challengers standing at the edge of Motostoke. Everyone was waiting for the Gym Leaders to arrive and give them a speech, or whatever Kabu wanted to talk about.

"Gloria!" Hop's face brightened, and he ran to meet her, Marnie following close behind. "Do you have any idea what the Gym Leaders are going to say?"

"Not a clue." Gloria laughed. "Kabu told me it was going to be basically a farewell wishing us all the best on our journeys." She craned her neck and looked around at the crowd. "Hey, where're Bede and Victor?"

Hop blinked. "Oh, I haven't seen them. Maybe they left already. . ?" He shifted slightly, seemingly uncomfortable.

The brunette pondered this for a moment. "I guess, or maybe Victor overslept again." She recalled how he had missed the Opening Ceremony because he had overslept.

"Yeah, maybe. . ." The boy quickly turned to Marnie. "So, any ideas on what you're going to do once you're out in the Wild Area?"

"Yes." She lifted her head ever so slowly to meet his gaze. "I'll train with Cinnamon and everyone else. Whoever I battle in Stow-On-Side won't be a problem as long as I—"

"Wait, what do you mean 'whoever' you battle?" Gloria tilted her head.

Her purple-haired friend sighed. "Glo, Stow-On-Side has two Leaders. Same with Circhester. I still don't quite know though if we get to choose the Leader we battle, or if they're randomly picked. . ."

"Oh!" Marnie's eyes lit up, as if she had the answer to his idea. Just then, though, Kabu, Nessa, and Milo stride towards the group of challengers.

"All of you Challengers were strong enough to defeat not only one of the Gym Leaders, but all three of us. Congratulations, all of you." Kabu smiled at the group.

"Aye, for this many of you to defeat Kabu, Nessa, and I is truly an accomplishment," Milo spoke up, his smile as large as ever.

Nessa bowed her head, nodding. "The many of you have so much potential in your futures. Whether you act upon that potential is completely up to you. I wish you all the best of luck in your future battles."

"Aye, same here! I look forward to seeing what all of you become."

Kabu glanced back at his two companions for a second before turning back to the group. "I'd suggest going through the Wild Area northeast of here. From there you can travel to Hammerlocke and Stow-On-Side, where your next Gym Battle will take place against either Leader Bea or Allister."

The crowd began murmuring quietly to one another, talking about the dual-Leaders, and who they hoped to fight.

Hop leaned close to Gloria and whispered in her ear, "Who do you want to go against?"

She thought for a moment. "I don't know. . . Bea seems really cool, so. . . her I guess."

Her friend nodded. "She is! Her battles against Lee are always—"

A sharp sound sounded through the air, the chatter immediately becoming silent as they looked at the three Gym Leaders. Milo quickly put his hand back at his side and glanced sheepishly at Kabu, obviously embarrassed to have caused such a loud whistle so suddenly.

Kabu sighed. "Thank you, Milo. The rest of you, be careful going out to Hammerlocke; there's thick fog everywhere on the way. That is all. Good luck, all of you." He turned to leave, Milo and Nessa following behind him.

"Woohoo! Let's go!" Without warning, Hop grabbed Gloria's hand and took off towards the entrance to the city.

"Hop, wait!" Gloria glanced back, looking for Marnie, though the younger girl was hidden in the crowd behind them. She frowned, feeling a bit bad for leaving her friend behind, but Hop was still pulling her along. She eventually gave up and let herself be brought to the entrance of Motostoke, the city gate right in front of them.

Hop finally let her go and grinned, stretching his arms above his head. "You okay, Glo?" He asked, glancing at her worried expression.

"I'm fine," she told him quickly. "So, how are you feeling about battling the next Gyms..?"

"I feel great!" Hop put his hands into his jacket pockets and led the way through the gate. "I can finally show the world what I'm made of! Now they can see me as not just Lee's shadow, but my own person." His smile widened. "Now Buddy and I are actually one step closer to our dream of defeating my big bro and taking his Champion title."

Gloria laughed. "What about Nori?" She remembered the name he had given to his energetic little monkey."

"Him too!" They walked down the stairs and onto the grass of the Wild Area. "Oh, I didn't tell you that he evolved, did I?"

"He did?" Gloria smiled. "That's awesome! You'll have to show him off in a battle sometime."

Her best friend nodded. "Yep, I'm already planning on it! In fact, my whole Team has already become so much stronger since last time we battled. So maybe once we reach Hammerlocke, we can—"

"So, you're the Champion's younger brother?"

The two spun around, seeing none other than Bede standing there glaring at both of them. Hop narrowed his eyes. "Yeah. . . What of it?"

Bede's violet gaze flitted to Gloria and back. "I can't believe someone like you is related to the great Champion. Honestly, it's a bit disappointing."

Hop stepped forward. "Shut up, Mr. Pretty Boy. As if you know anything about strength."

"Perhaps. . ." Bede turned to the side and spun a Poké Ball on his fingertip. "But you don't really seem to understand it either." He caught the Poké Ball and leaned forward. "Seriously? How would your 'great big brother' feel about you taking his name in the mud?" Hop was silent, so he continued. "All you do is boast about how you're the Champion's younger brother. To tell you the truth, no one cares. I'm fact, you're just making the Champion look bad. I feel sorry for him being related to such an arrogant child."

Hop's hands clenched into fists. "Oh, and you aren't much better, are you?"

"I worked hard to get where I am today!" Bede snapped. "You have no idea what I've had to put up with. Unlike you, who expects to have everything handed to you just because you're related to the Champion." He took a breath and glared at the other Trainer. "So I want to put you in your place and show to everyone just how pathetic you really are."

"Hop. . ." Gloria began, but the boy ignored her attempts to get him to calm down.

"Fine, since I'm in such a good mood I accept your challenge." He looked back to Gloria. "Go ahead and head to Hammerlocke. I'll meet up with you in no time, once I'm finished defeating this jerk."

Gloria frowned, her gaze shifting between the two. "Alright. . . Good luck, Hop. I'll see you in a few hours."

He nodded, forcing a smile at her. "Yep! Bye, Glo."

She hesitated before nodding and turning away. She didn't know why exactly she felt so nervous; after all, Hop was strong, and fully capable of beating Bede in a Pokémon battle.

She shook her head and walked along a river, finally reaching a bridge to cross it.

Kabu was right; it was very foggy out in the open areas of the Wild Area. It was so bad that it was nearly impossible to see twenty feet ahead.

Gloria continued, shivering the tiniest bit as the fog swirled around her, getting deeper and thicker each step. She tightened her cardigan and continued on her way.

She could hear the cries of Pokémon around, but they weren't close enough to be seen in the fog. She kept going, noticing how a line of trees began surrounding her on either side.

It got quiet.

"What's going on. . ?" She whispered to herself, stopping and gripping Tuff's Poké Ball. She covered her mouth in an attempt to quiet her breathing and slowly turned around to find out where she was. She was met instead with hard amber eyes with a crimson glow. They belonged to a beast, standing far off from her, and yet she could still see it.

The monster let out a low growl, and without thinking, Gloria spun around and tore through the trees. She ran as fast as she could, trying to put enough distance between her and that. . . thing, whatever it was.

Twigs snapped and leaves crunched behind her as the creature gave chase. A flash of crimson, and it appeared right before Gloria immediately. She froze, eyes quickly scanning the beast before her.

Ruby fur, covered in scars and wounds, coated the creature. A sapphire crest blowed gently in an unseen wind as the creature locked gazes with the girl. Her breathing stopped as she stared at the beast. In his eyes she could see a story of struggles and battles barely won.

"Wh-what are you—?" She breathed, refusing to take her eyes off the creature.

He moved his focus to something behind her, ignoring her questions.

"Tsaaa!"

"What?!" Gloria whirled around, seeing a tall Grass-Type charging right at her. "What do I—" She quickly turned back around, for some reason expecting the creature to save her, like in all movies. But he was gone; in fact, the whole forest had disappeared, revealing the empty expanse of a prairie and small desert.

The Tsareena drew closer, and leapt into the sky, her long legs aimed right at the brunette.

"Tuff—" she began, blindly gripping her Poké Ball in her panic.

"Arcanine, Ninetales— Flamethrower!" In a powerful combination of attacks, Tsareena fell to the ground, covered in burns. She weakly stood up, only to narrow her eyes at Gloria and walk off with her head high, despite her slight limp. "Gloria, are you okay?"

Ever so slowly the girl turned around, not quite sure what just happened. She was surprised when she saw Victor running towards her, Brook and an Orbeetle following him. "Victor?"

He slowed down and returned his two Fire-Types. "You're not hurt, are you?" He asked Gloria, quickly looking over her for any visible injuries.

"I'm fine. . ." She took a step back and laughed, embarrassed. "Thanks for saving me, haha. I don't know what would've happened if you weren't here."

Victor frowned, not amused at all. "Were you not paying attention? If I had come here a second later, you could be dead! Or at the very least, seriously hurt." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You can't die, Gloria. I wouldn't be able to do anything if you weren't safe. . ."

"I. . ." A hint of a blush made its way onto Gloria's cheeks. He cared about her. . . "Thank you."

"Don't mention it," he replied, placing his hands into his pockets. "As long as you're okay, that's all that matters right now." Brook let out a low rumble, and Victor cleared his throat. "Hey, where's your friend? Isn't he always with you?"

"Oh, Hop?" Gloria looked away. "Last I saw him, he was out by Motostoke battling Bede. He said he'd meet up with me over in Hammerlocke once he won."

"I see. . ." Victor nodded slowly and glanced back at Gloria, a smile on his face. "Well I have to go now. I am a bit curious to see just how much your friend can defeat Bede. Maybe if I'm lucky, I might be able to see the end of their battle in time."

"How are you going to get there though. . ?" Gloria questioned, tilting her head.

"Orbeetle here can teleport me all around. He's been with me for a while, and his Psychic powers are stronger in the fog." He smiled at his floating red insect. "And as for you, Gloria." He looked at her again. "You're about halfway to Hammerlocke. Just keep going north, and you'll get there in no time. Though I would keep your best Pokémon out with you, just in case there's any more trouble like with Tsareena. And besides, this is a good time to get to train up before your next Gym Battle."

Gloria nodded at him, agreeing. "Right. Thanks, Victor!"

He waved at her. "No prob. Just call me anytime." He returned Brook, and in an instant he and Orbeetle vanished with a flash of light.

Gloria sighed and opened Tuff's Poké Ball, releasing the fiery rabbit. It probably won't hurt to let the rest out, just for training, if nothing else. . . She smiled and released the rest of her Party. Thunder immediately curled up in the hood of her cardigan, while Valiant stretched his wings up ahead.

"Zig!" Penny greeted Tuff, grinning at the Fire-Type.

"Bun," Tuff hissed, crossing her arms and turning away from both Penny and Gloria.

Gloria frowned. "Tuff? What's wrong?" She slowly reached for her, but as her fingers brushed against Tuff's snowy fur, the rabbit whirled around and hit Gloria's hand away. The girl stared at her starter, shock all too present on her face. "Tuff. . ."

The Scorbunny slowly looked at her, before turning and running ahead without warning.

"Tuff!" Gloria called out, quickly losing sight of her. She hurriedly looked to her Corvisquire. "Val, try looking for her from the sky. But be careful about flying in the fog!" Valiant squawked and flew off in the direction Tuff had gone. Gloria then turned to Penny, noticing her drooping ears. She gently lifted her up. "Don't worry. It's not your fault," she whispered, before running off after Tuff.

⚔️ 🛡

The fog only got worse each minute that passed. Normally Gloria would expect it to dissipate as the sun rose, but the opposite seemed to occur. By now it was past noon, and still there was no sign of Tuff or Valiant.

"This is hopeless. . ." Gloria muttered, stopping at the shore of a huge lake. At this point Hop's going to get to Hammerlocke before me. She groaned. Why would Tuff even leave like that to begin with? It's not like I hurt her or anything. . . Her mind flashed to the look Tuff had back at Kabu's Gym. That look of desperation and. . . betrayal.

A strike of orange flashed her vision, and she suddenly gasped. "Oh my Arceus!" Quickly she covered her mouth with a hand, and looked down. She knew why Tuff was so upset. "She's jealous. . . She's worried that I'm replacing her. . . But I'm not!" She set Penny back onto the ground and ran her hands through her hair. "Why can't she understand? I'm just trying to give everyone a chance to fight."

Penny, meanwhile, sniffed the air around them. She blinked, before tensing up. "Goon!"

"Huh— Penny!" Gloria barely had enough time to call her name before her Zigzagoon zigzagged away quickly. "Penny!" She tried to chase her, only to slip on the ground.

"Tox!" Thunder growled, annoyed at having been woken up by Gloria's rough fall.

"Oww. . ." Gloria slowly crawled onto her knees, rubbing her arms. Nearly all of her Poké Balls were scattered around the ground around her, and there were even a few that had ended up in the water. "This day just keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" She grunted sarcastically as tears began to well up in her eyes. "What am I supposed to do now?! My three best Pokémon are gone, and I don't—"

The sound of rushing water met her ears, getting louder every second. She looked out at the lake, only to stop as a bright scarlet fin broke through the water's surface. A powerful stream of water propelled it forward from its tail.

"Ah-!" Gloria darted away from the water, landing on her elbow again and wincing. An all-too fresh memory of Tsareena entered her mind. The Barraskewda, however, wasn't deterred from her retreat towards land and continued racing towards her. . .

Only to ram into one of her Poké Balls in the water.

The girl stared at the Poké Ball, half-waiting for it to open up and release the fish to attack her. No such thing occurred; it simply floated at the surface of the water.

Slowly, Gloria reached for it, confirming the capture. "I. . . caught it." She wasn't too excited about this one. After all, it did just try to basically kill her.

"Corvi!" She flinched at the loud cry, only to see Valiant flying towards her quickly.

"Val!" Her mood lowered even more as she saw the expression on his face. "Where are they?"

He pointed with a wing up ahead, and Gloria could see several of his feathers were missing.

Gloria took a breath and nodded. She couldn't be scared; her Pokémon needed her. "Thanks. Get the Poké Balls back into my bag, please," she told him, glancing quickly at the scattered mess of them from when she fell. "Also take care of Toxel please." She picked the tiny Pokémon up from her hoodie and placed him onto her bag, which she had as on the ground. "I'll go get Tuff and Penny."

She took off running towards where Valiant had pointed, kicking up mud with each step she took. Soon she could hear her Pokémon's cries of battle and sped up.

"Gyraaaaa!"

There! She could see them. . . Tuff was attacking a Gyrados blindly, her attacks doing hardly anything. Her fur was soaked and bruised and a few Bite marks covered her skin. Meanwhile Penny was just trying to protect herself with Pin Missile attacks when the Gyrados got too close.

"Tuff!" Gloria cried out, seeing quickly that this was a losing battle. If Tuff didn't stop now, she could be— She couldn't bring herself to finish her thought.

Tuff glanced at her and frowned, before attacking the Gyrados again with Double Kick.

Gyrados roared, apparently tired of having to battle these two. He charged up a ball of light in front of himself.

Hyper Beam! "Tuff, Penny!" Gloria's voiced cracked as she called out to them. She wasn't close enough to save them. Oh, why was she so slow? "Get out of there!"

Penny quickly threw a clump of mud at the Gyrados, diverting its attention to her. And then, with a final cry of annoyance, Gyrados released the Hyper Beam attack.

Flashes of color exploded right where Penny had been. Gloria stopped and covered her face with her arms, the bright light too much to handle. When she finally regained her vision, she found nothing. The place where Penny had just been was now charred black.

"No. . ." A tear fell down Gloria's cheek. "No. . ."

Gyrados looked around for any sign of Tuff, only to turn back around and begin swimming towards the lake's center.

"Ra-boot!"

"Li! Linoone!"

Gloria snapped her head up. Through her tears, she could just make out a black-and-white creature ram into Gyrados's back, and a grayish-orange creature race around it, delivering powerful Double Kicks all over its body.

Gyrados let out a roar of pain and dove underwater, retreating into the lake. The two creatures landed back on the ground, breathing heavily and covered in scratches.

Gloria wipes her tears away, hardly believing her eyes. "T-Tuff? Penny?" At the sound of their names, the Linoone and Raboot looked towards Gloria. A look of relief flashed across their faces as she ran towards them and hugged them, careful not to touch their wounds. "You're okay! I can't believe it. . . You're both alright."

⚔️ 🛡

Gloria arrived at the Hammerlocke Gate, her hair a mess and clothes all muddied. Her four- no, five- Pokémon were safely in their Poké Balls in her bag.

"Badges, Miss?" A guard asked, already sounding impatient despite having her arrive less than five seconds ago.

"Right." She fished out her Badge Ring and showed it to him. He nodded and stepped aside to let her pass. She didn't even take a single step before hearing an all-too familiar voice.

"Oh, so you're here already? What happened to you, did you get locked in a barn?"

Gloria clenched her fists. "Shut up Bede. I don't want to have to deal with you right now."

"Where's your little friend? Is he not here yet?" He asked innocently, ignoring her statement. "Oh, wait. I forgot that he won't be coming, not with how horribly I beat him. Honestly, he had it coming from the start, with how cocky he was—"

"I said shut up!" Gloria whirled around, her face twisted in anger. "You have no right to talk about Hop like that!" She stared into his violet gaze. "He didn't even do anything to you!" She noticed a bruise on his cheek and chin, but was too angry to ask what happened yet.

"Of course he did something to me. He annoyed me, got in my way. I simply put him in his place, where he belongs." He showed the guard his Badge Ring and strode past Gloria. "Don't expect to be hearing from him anytime soon. He still needs time to think about what I told him, after all."

Gloria grabbed his arm and spun him around so he was facing her. "I swear, if you hurt him—"

"Calm down. I didn't hurt him. At least, not psychically." He looked away from her, trying to hide his bruises.

"Oh, so you let him attack you, and did nothing to 'defend' yourself? Is that right? Pathetic." Gloria took a step back and glared at the older teen.

Bede froze and slowly reached up to touch his bruised cheeks. He glanced down for a second. "I'm sorry, Gloria. I really am. But this had to be done."

"Shut up!" She walked up to him and stared at him, her eyes glassy. "I don't want to hear your excuses, because what you did is inexcusable." Her lips quivered. "Even after everything I've tried to do, you're still the same person you were when we met. In fact, you're worse! Ever since I've met you my life has just been going downhill. I. . ."

"You wish you never met me?" Bede finished for her. "If I could change the past I would. But. . ." His jaw tightened. "But I don't regret meeting you, even if you hate me."

Gloria could only stare as he ran up the steps to Hammerlocke without another word. Once he was gone she turned her attention to the guard. "You didn't do anything to stop him?!"

"Not my job, Miss. and as long as you two weren't physically fighting I didn't want to get involved."

Gloria sighed and pulled out her phone, calling Hop as she made her way into Hammerlocke. He didn't answer. She tried again, only to get the same result. She made her way to a Pokémon Center, sending him a text asking if he was alright, before putting her phone away.

Everything else seemed like a blur as she gave Nurse Joy her Pokémon and went to her room for the night.

She lied on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

I'm sorry.

Welp............

Uhh I'm not even going to say anything here. I'm super sorry for this chapter! I was nearly crying while writing it, but it had to be done. And I just wanted to get it done and out of the way, so I did most of this in only a day....

Uhmmmm anyway since Gloria caught an unpopular Barraskewda here, what's your favorite "unpopular" Pokémon in Galar?