ECHOES OF GALAR: BONDS AND BATTLES

It has been a crazy and fun week for the quadruplets. Not only did they meet Professor Magnolia but also the reigning champion, Leon back in Wyndon. If it can't get any crazier, the quadruplets are now back at Wedgehurst, this time, they were here for Sonia, Charles' girlfriend.

Throughout the whole walk to Wedgehurst, Charles kept bragging about his girlfriend to his friends. Which annoyed Azalea a little bit. And now, the quadruplets are in front of the laboratory.

"Are you sure it'll be a great idea to come back here again?" Eclipse asked, unsure if they should do this. As everyone was all in front of Professor Magnolia's laboratory.

"Did you even tell her that we'll be visiting here?" Azalea raised an eyebrow, staring at Charles.

"Hahaha, nope!" Charles laughed, his hands on his hips.

"Aww man. I didn't like it the way she was looking at us the last time we went here." Azalea sighed, scratching the back of her head.

"Come on, it'll be just fine." Charles reassured them, taking a closer step to the front door.

Before Charles could even knock on the door. It was like Professor Magnolia had foretold that they'll be coming, as she was the one who opened the door instead. For some odd reason, Azalea could feel Magnolia tensed up when they made eye contact.

What the heck did I do?

"Sonia told me you'll be coming. Come on in." The professor took a few steps back so that the quadruplets could enter.

"Thank you, professor." Eclipse thanked her, entering the laboratory.

When they all took a step inside the lab, Charles was immediately tackled on the ground by a pokémon.

"Hahaha, it's good to see you too Yamper!" Charles laughed, enjoying the affection he was receiving from it.

"Wow, a pokémon I've never seen before." Solar's eyes widened, staring at the small pokémon.

"It's a Yamper, my pokémon." A voice was heard from above, everyone looked up and saw a woman coming down the stairs.

"Hey there, babe, how was your trip?" Charles got up from the floor and hugged Sonia.

"It was fun but really exhausting." Sonia sighed, hugging him back. She then gazed over at Azalea and the others, she let go of him and walked towards them. "Hi there, I've heard alot about you three from Charles!" Sonia waved her hand to them.

"You two are Eclipse and Solar from the Hoenn region, correct?" She looked at them, surprising the two siblings a bit.

Eclipse smiled and Solar nodded. "Yup, that's right."

Sonia then looked over at Azalea. She let out her hand, Azalea was hesitant at first but Azalea gladly took it and offered her a smile. "I am Azalea."

"It's nice to meet you, Azalea. Leon also told me about you." Sonia smiled back while shaking her hand, the last part about Leon shook Azalea just a bit.

"I heard you are from the Arata region, correct?" Sonia let go of Azalea's hand and placed her hand onto Azalea's shoulder. With just a nod, Sonia grabbed Azalea's arm and dragged her away from the others.

She looked back at the confused Azalea and let out a small chuckle. "Come on, I want to show you something cool!"

Azalea followed Sonia into an area full of books. There were sections that said science-fiction, romance, adventure and the other genres of books people could think of. But the thing that intrigued her the most was the book Sonia showed in front of her face.

"How do you have a book about the Arata region?" Azalea smirked, grabbing the book from her.

"Which is why I brought you here." Sonia sighed, twirling her hair. "Before Gramps disposed of all of the books about your region to Chairman Rose, I secretly took one and kept it in a safekeeping where no one knows but me." She crossed her arms, sheepishly grinned.

Azalea slightly scoffed. "Why would you do that?"

"So that this book won't go to the wrong hands." Sonia looked away from her, instead, staring at the bookshelf that was behind her.

"Sonia, do you-

"C'mon girls! Professor Magnolia prepared some snacks for us to eat!" Charles screamed out from the lab, grabbing their attention.

The two of them shared a final glance at each other before heading back to the others. When they made it back, they saw all of them settling down on the couch, while Solar's Eevee and Mudkip and Sonia's Yamper were enjoying the pokémon food. Azalea decided to take a seat between Solar and Eclipse while Sonia sat beside her Gramps.

"So, I heard you were out investigating many wild pokémon." Charles wrapped his arm around Sonia's shoulder and gave her a quick peck on the forehead.

"Hehe, I've encountered some peaceful and vicious pokémon in the mountains but once you treat them nicely, they get really friendly with you." Sonia giggled from Charles' affection but quickly brushed it off by also giving a quick kiss on his cheeks.

Wow, they're definitely not afraid to show affection to one another in front of others

"I've heard you and Leon had a pokémon battle back in Wyndon." Sonia looked over at Azalea, who was sipping on a cup of coffee.

"And your boyfriend had to ruin it." Azalea rolled out her eyes, letting out a small scoff.

"Can you really blame me? I wanted to see my girlfriend for so long!" Charles copied her actions and grabbed a cookie from the table.

"I've recorded the battle, would you like to see Sonia?" Solar asked, bringing out his rotom phone.

"I'd love to!" Sonia smiled widely.

The whole day, the trio helped Sonia organize some misplaced books, while Solar played with Yamper and the other pokémon. By the time they finished, it was already 4 PM and the group arrived at the lab at 7 in the morning.

"Charles dear, a certain someone from Hammerlock just called and told me he wanted to see you." Sonia stared at her loving boyfriend, then at the trio. "He also said he would like to meet Charles' new friends."

"Who?" The trio asked simultaneously.

Charles let out a smirk, then looked over at them. "Only the strongest gym leader in Galar of all time!"

The strongest gym leader in Galar?

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"So this is Hammerlock, home of the strongest gym leader?" Azalea looked around the city, seeing a lot of people.

"It's also the second city with the most pokémon centers, isn't that crazy?" Solar informed them, surprising the girls.

"What's the first?" Eclipse tilted her head.

"Lumiose city located in the Kalos region." Solar snickered.

"Let's just hope nobody gets lost here. Since this is the center of the Galar region, it is very easy to get yourself lost." Solar hummed, noticing how big the city is.

"You heard that Charles?" Azalea sighed, hoping he understood.

But no words from him.

Azalea hesitantly looked around them, afraid that Charles wouldn't be with them and she was right.

"Argh, that Charles!" Azalea groaned in anger, not having any more energy to deal with him.

"Maybe he went on ahead to the gym? After all, back at the lab, he did say that he was too impatient and psyched to see the Gym leader." Eclipse nervously laughed, trying to calm Azalea down.

"Mudkip, are you able to locate Charles' scent again?" Solar kneeled down to his pokemon, hoping it could.

Mudkip!

(I'll try!)

After a couple of sniffing, Mudkip started running ahead and following behind it were Solar and the girls. They kept running till Mudkip stopped. When it stopped, Azalea raised her head and saw a big building that looked like a castle and there was a sign that said Hammerlocke Stadium.

"This must be the place Charles talked to us about." Eclipse whistled, admiring how humongous the castle is.

"Hopefully he's in there." Azalea sighed.

When they entered, there were alot of people and it was spacious.

"Woah, is this really where trainers gather to challenge the dragon-type gym leader?" Azalea slightly widened her eyes.

"It looks that way." Eclipse nodded, crossing her arms.

"You three don't seem to be around there."

They looked back and saw an old wrinkled lady who had white hair. She is hunched over, pale-skinned and has a long, pointy nose. She also wears a very long pink and green dress, a green and black hat and white shoes with purple fuzz on them.

"Ah! Your Opal, the gym leader of Ballonlea town. The oldest and longest-tenured gym leader in the Galar region!" Solar's eyes glistened, recognizing the woman.

"Oh dear me, it seems I am quite famous nowadays." The old woman laughed.

"Sorry to bother you, miss Opal but have you seen a man, the same height as me, having grey eyes and black hair. He also had spiky headphones on his head as well." Azalea tried to describe what Charles looks like to Opal

"Oh my, are you three friends with that boy?" Opal widened her eyes, surprised to hear Azalea's description.

"Yes, that's right." Eclipse nodded.

"Yes, I did see him enter the lobby and he had this big smile stuck on his face." Opal smiled as she walked forward.

"Come, follow me." Opal walked ahead and the trio followed her behind.

When they entered the stadium alongside Opal, it felt like they were in a pokemon league stadium considering how big the battlefield is.

"I've never seen a Gym this huge before." Solar's eyes sparkled as he was amazed.

"Hey, look up ahead." Eclipse looked in a certain direction.

They looked in the center of the stadium and saw the man they were searching for, Charles and he seemed to be talking to someone.

"Ah! That's the gym leader, Raihan!" Solar gasped in awe.

"You know quite a lot of people in the Galar region despite not being from here, young boy." Opal smiled at Solar as she was impressed that he knew the gym leader.

Charles looked back and saw his friends and to his surprise, Opal. He waved hello and signaled them to come to them.

"Everyone, this is Raihan, the gym leader of Hammerlocke city. A.k.a the strongest gym leader in the Galar region, who is also my best friend." Charles presented Raihan to them as they were surprised by the last thing he said.

Azalea took a closer look at the gym leader's features and for some reason, she somehow recognized his face from somewhere.

Where have I seen this man before?

"You guys know each other!?" Solar exclaimed. "No wonder you were so psyched on coming here." Eclipse chuckled.

"I am Raihan, gym leader of Hammerlocke city. Nice to see Charles has met some new pals." Raihan introduced himself to them.

"Hello there, Raihan. I am Solar, from Littleroot town. This is my partner, Mudkip" Solar introduced him and Mudkip

"I am Eclipse, from Littleroot town as well. I am Solar's big sister." Eclipse waved hello to him.

"And my name is Azalea from Tacita city." Azalea smiled at Raihan.

Raihan blinked his eyes a couple of times. Did he just hear what he had just heard? He walked towards her and took a closer eye on Azalea, which made her a little bit uncomfortable. For some reason, she reminded him of a woman he knew. Zoroark was making angry noises at him.

"Umm, is something the matter, Raihan?" Azalea asked him as she backed away from him a little bit.

"O-Oh, sorry about that, mate." Raihan nervously laughed. "You just..reminded me of a woman I know, is all." He scratched the back of his head as he apologized.

"Oh, is that so?" Opal snickered.

"Rai, she's the winner of the Tacita conference in the Arata region." Charles crossed his arms.

"Oh, interesting." Raihan hummed.

"So, Rai, how are things going on your side?" Charles asked him, trying to change the subject.

"You know, same old same old. Still trying to beat Leon." Raihan scratched the back of his head. "I always wondered how he is the best trainer around the world and still has a terrible sense of direction." Raihan sighed as he shook his head.

"What about you, Charles? Did you get stronger the last time we battled?" Raihan looked at his friend, who seemed to have a big smile.

"Course I do and I am not going to lose." Charles nodded as he pulled out a pokeball.

"Alright then. Opal, would you care to be the referee for this match?" Raihan looked back at the old woman.

"It'll be my honor." Opal smiled.

Solar, Eclipse and Azalea decided to sit on the chairs of the stadium. Solar brought out his rotom phone and went to the recording screen.Azalea looked beside her and saw Mudkip in Zoroark's arms and it made her chuckle.

"Alright, this will be a 1vs1 pokemon battle. Charles and Raihan, please bring out your pokemon." Opal announced.

"Duraludon, come on out!" Raihan brought out his strongest pokemon to the field.

"Woah, a new pokemon I've never seen before." Eclipse widened her eyes, bringing out her rotom phone.

Duraludon, the Alloy Pokémon. A steel and dragon type. Duraludon sports a metallic body with a beautiful luster of polished, shining metal. Steel beam uses up energy from Duraludon's body and, in exchange, releases vast amounts of power.

"A dragon and steel type, huh?" Azalea put her finger under her chin.

"Hehe, long time no see Duraludon. Say hi to my pokemon." Charles brought out his pokeball and threw it.

The pokemon that came out from his pokeball was a new pokemon, Mamoswine. A ground and fairy type pokemon.

"Woah, Charles has a Mamoswine, so cool!" Solar's eyes sparkled, starting to record.

Eclipse used her rotom phone to scan Charles Mamoswine into her phone.

Mamoswine, the twin tusk pokémon and the evolved form of Piloswine. Distinguished by its large tusks, its weight is more than five times that of a Piloswine and is less commonly found since the end of the ice age.

"Dragon types are weak against ice types. Charles has an advantage over Duraludon." Eclipse raised an eyebrow.

"Don't forget, Raihan is the strongest gym leader in the Galar region. I don't think his pokemon being at a disadvantage will stop him." Azalea hummed, staring at Raihan.

"True." Eclipse nodded, agreeing with Azalea.

"Battle begin!" Opal exclaimed.

"Duraludon, start the battle with your stone edge!"

Stones appeared from the ground, heading towards Mamoswine.

"Mamoswine, destroy them by using take down!"

Listening to Charles' words, Mamoswine has shredded those stones with his powerful take down. After it broke the last stone, Raihan ordered Duraludon to use iron defense. Which made it hard for Mamoswine to wound the opposing pokemon.

"Now's our cue, Duraludon use metal claw now!"

Just like that, a big smoke appeared from the battlefield, making it hard for Opal and the trio to see what was going on. Once the dust was gone, they were all surprised to see that Mamoswine blocked that metal claw with his ice fang.

"Impressive, you've trained your pokemon well, mate." Charles clapped as he was stunned.

"That's not all. Mamoswine, use take down now!"

Before Duraludon dodge it or block it, Mamoswine take down and hit it hard, so hard that it hit the wall.

"Quick Mamoswine before it gets up, use ice shard!"

"Duraludon, use stone edge once more!"

Moves after moves, it would seem a never ending battle. But in the end, there would be one winner in the end and the one who claims victory is Charles.

"I've seen you've grown a lot since the last time, Charles." Raihan patted his head, proud of him.

"Huh, last time?" Solar tilted his head in confusion.

"You see, before Rai became the gym leader, Raihan and I with two other companions traveled around the Galar region and faced off gym leaders. When we had enough badges, we competed in the Galar pokemon league. Sadly, I've lost to Rai during the semi finals." Charles explained to them as they were all stunned.

"Awesome! And now you've defeated him." Eclipse snickered.

"Yup." Charles nodded.

When they went out of the stadium, they noticed that the sun started to set. After they said goodbye to Opal and Raihan, they were able to rent a room at a hotel. Luckily for them, there was a room with four beds. Charles said that he'll take a walk around the city, since the city's more beautiful when it's at night. After a few hours, Charles didn't return.

"I am getting kind of worried, Charles hasn't come back yet." Eclipse hummed, holding a pillow tight to her.

"Yeah, this is getting weird even for him." Azalea nodded.

"Come on, let's go look for him." Solar suggested.

And so, the three of them are in the hunt of their friend once again. When they were in front of the hotel, Mudkip once again tried to smell his scent. Azalea was about to follow them, until Zoroark stopped her.

"Huh, what's wrong?" Azalea asked it as it was holding her arm.

Zor-Zoro-Zoroark

(I sense a strong aura of a pokemon.)

What?

Zoroark started running ahead and Azalea had no choice but to follow it. While she was running, she brought out her rotom phone and tried to search for Eclipse's name, until she bumped into something, which made her drop her phone but luckily, Zoroark caught it.

She groaned and touched her forehead and slowly opened her eyes. Azalea looked up to see that she indeed bumped into someone. Once she had a clear vision, she was finally able to see their faces. She widened her eyes, the person she bumped into was none other than Leon himself.

"Leon/Azalea!" Azalea and Leon said at the same time, both surprised to see each other here in Hammerlock.

"Are you alright?" Leon asked her and she noticed the concern on his face.

"Yeah." Azalea nodded. "My fault for not looking where I am going." Azalea nervously laughed, scratching the back of her head.

"What are you doing here in the middle of the night, by the way?" He chuckled, crossing his arms.

"Charles wanted to look around the city at night and he hasn't come back yet." Azalea sighed, shaking her head.

"Knowing him, he probably saw something so amazing that he didn't pay attention to where he was going." Leon smiled, his hands on his hips.

"If it's not too much, could you help me look for him? Sonia won't be too happy if she finds out that Charles disappeared." Azalea crossed her arms, thinking how she would be furious if she found out.

"Oh! You met Sonia already?" Leon slightly widened his eyes. He quickly shook his head and slapped his face, surprising Azalea a little bit.

"Sorry about that. Of course I'd love to help you out." Leon nodded, happy to help on a little search.

"Ahh, wonderful." Azalea sighed in relief.

With just one look, the two of them were lost in each other's eyes. Although she wanted to stare at his beautiful golden eyes longer, there was something that they needed to do. And so, the ringing from Azalea's phone stopped the little contact between them.

He better had a good explanation for this.

Once she answered, Azalea was about to scold him, until she heard something that she would never expect.

Go to the Slumbering Forest if you want to find your friend.

Before she could even respond, the call ended. Was this a trap? Who was that? One thing for sure, was that Charles was somehow captured by someone and he is held captive.

"Leon, I think, Charles has been held hostage in the Slumbering forest." Azalea told him, not sure what she just said herself.

"Slumbering-WHAT!"

The two of them climbed on Charizard's back, with her in front and Leon behind her, just in case, he had his hands between her. They were now in the air, heading towards Postwick. While they were in the air, she took the time and called Eclipse.

Hey Azalea where-

Eclipse, go back inside the hotel with Solar. Charles is no longer in Hammerlocke city.

Huh, what do you mean?

Please just trust me in what I am going to tell you, Eclipse and don't panic.

Alright, I won't.

Charles has been kept hostage and he's back at Postwicke.

WHAT KEPT HO-

I told you to not panic.

O-Oh, right sorry.

Anyways, I promise I'll bring back Charles. I'll see you tomorrow.

Wait but-

Before Eclipse could finish her sentence, Azalea ended the call. She then closed her eyes and tried to remember what she had read about the Slumbering Forest. Just like that, a memory appeared, it was when they were helping Sonia sorting the books.

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"Hey Sonia, what's the Slumbering forest?" Azalea asked, reading the title of the book she had in her hand.

"It's..not really a safe place for trainers." Sonia sighed, shocking Azalea. "With the fog, you can easily get lost in there."

"I've heard from my gramps that when people enter the forest, they come back but asleep for no reason." Sonia placed her hand on her face, shaking her head.

"Fall asleep for no reason." Azalea repeated, opening the book about the forest.

"Apparently, they say that before they fell asleep, they saw two pokemon staring at them." Sonia put a finger under her chin.

"Two pokemon." Azalea once again repeated what Sonia said.

"My advice for you if you do run into that forest, try to stay awake." Sonia advised her, putting a book back to its original place.

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Once Charizard landed on the ground, Azalea was the first to get off. She grabbed her heal ball and opened it, revealing her Zoroark. Azalea took a deep breath. Was she ready to put her life in danger for Charles? Yes. Is she afraid? Heck no! It's been a long time Azalea hasn't had these types of adventures.

Before she could charge straight into the forest, knowing the consequences nonetheless, Leon grabbed her arm.

"I am going with you." He said, with a serious look.

Azalea sighed. "Fine but try to keep your eyes peeled. It's going to get really messy soon."

With a nod from Leon, the two of them entered the forest, alongside Charizard and Zoroark, who's ready to attack anything that tries to do anything to their trainers.

While they were shouting for Charles' name. Azalea started to barely see the forest. Suddenly, a mist started to appear. It has already begun. She stared at Zoroark, who seemed to be on its guard. Unknowingly, the two trainers were holding each other's hands, both ready to protect the other one in case something happens.

They started to walk around the foggy forest, trying to see if anything's off, other than the mist. While they were walking around, Azalea felt like dozing off.

Oh no, it's already happening.

She no longer felt the urge to sleep, until she felt Leon gently rubbing her hand. She gazed at him, who was staring at her with reassuring eyes. Suddenly, both Zoroark and Charizard stood in front of them and started to act vicious. Noticing their attitude, she looked up ahead and saw a figure. Could that be one that captured Charles?

Without thinking, she let go of Leon's hand and quickly ran up ahead, ignoring the cries of Zoroark and Leon calling out her name and the danger that lay ahead. When Azalea went closer, the mist slowly vanished and the figure that she saw was gone. Zoroark tapped her shoulder, she looked down and there he was. Charles, asleep on the ground. She went down on her knees and she brought Charles closer to her, trying to wake him up.

Swiftly, Zoroark once again stood in front of her, making angry noises. Azalea looked up ahead and saw two pokémon. Before she could take a closer look at them, Charizard's wings blocked her and Leon tried to wake Charles up by shaking his shoulder, not enough to accidentally hurt him.

Azalea noticed that Charizard was having trouble standing up. She was about to reassure him, until she, herself started to realize it was hard for her to stay awake. Just like that, Azalea and Leon fell asleep, so was their pokemon. The two mysterious Pokémon cautiously approached them, examining the two trainers and their pokémon. The ones that interested them the most was the crimson-haired woman and her Zoroark.

"Hello...Chosen one."

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