Part 50: Something Was Calling Me Here

Update 51: Something Was Calling Me Here
_{As of now, I’m going to formally end naming other Trainers’ Pokémon and stop editing the names into screenshots. It’s proven a lot more trouble than it’s worth. Just pretend they’re still there.}

The following June…

Slumbering Weald Shrine - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST







… Mate, that’s pretty uncanny.

I know, right? The moment we got out for the summer, too.

The moment YOU got out. We got out a couple weeks back.

Don’t remind me, you lucky fuck.

No improvement on that front, eh?

… Look, can we talk about something that isn’t University?

We can, in fact. Have you been keeping up with your duty, Gloria?

What duty?

Your duty as a champion. Have you been keeping your Pokémon up to snuff?

Obviously.

Then are you ready to show them off?

… We are such stereotypical Trainers.



We’re standing here surrounded by nature, light from the Sunset filtering through the trees, our feet on ancient ruins where living legends once stood, and our first thought is “let’s have a Pokémon battle”.

Is that a no?

Fuck no, let’s scrap!



The Final Hop - Hop's Final Battle (Orchestrated)





Whew, that’s a level bump right there. I entered this stage of the fight confident; as Mr. Blobby is part Ghost, I thought nothing the Dubwool had could touch him. I used Acrobatics on it several times, which it always followed with Cotton Guard (massively boosting its defense) – and right as I got into the red, Hop popped a Full Restore and brought it back to full with enough Defense to neuter Acrobatics. I forgot they could do that . It’s been a little while since I played Pokémon, can you tell? Fortunately, Mr. Blobby also has Psychic and Thunderbolt, Special moves that put it under right quick.

Next up is Pincurchin, which I know I don’t have any good counters for in my party.

_{All right, hun, you ready to show off?... Reading you loud and clear.} Get out here, Ddraig Goch!





Since I don’t have anything special in store for it, I break out our favorite space dragon and Flamethrower it a few times. I tried to do the same to Snorlax and succeed in Burning it, but…



… That proved impractical. I subbed in Bruce, who took him down with a Low Kick.



I’m aware that cormorants really do look like that, but I will never stop marveling at how stupid this thing looks. Anyway, it breaks out Dive. I was planning on Baklava knocking it out of the sky with Rock Slide, but it moved too fast and unless I found a way to counter it, it would eviscerate my rock bug the next turn (Dive is one of those delayed action moves). So I came up with an alternative.



Mr. Blobby just tanks the hit and responds with a double-effective Thunderbolt. It was only after I watched its HP hit zero that I realized it had a fish in its mouth, part of a signature move that I probably just cut short…



…But no, it used it automatically anyway (I missed the screenshot showing what happens, it shoots the fish at you ). Not that it did much, but, you know.



Time to see if I can get Bonham to use his special move.









Yep! That’s his equivalent of Pyro Ball and an impressive move in its own right; it drops Mr. Blobby before he can break out Acrobatics (which would probably OHKO him). But, well, Bruce is on my team.





Normally I would have had Mr. Blobby tried to take it down with Thunderbolts to prove once again that Steel is weak to Electric, but Bonham already knocked him out. Fortunately, Bruce can take him easy.





I wanted to draw attention to this otherwise irrelevant move because reminds me of how move graphics changed over time. Scary Face has been around at least since Gen 2, maybe even Gen 1, but the way the games graphically represented a scary face has ranged from ominously ambiguous to completely goofy. This generation is just a little bit on the goofy side in my opinion, but, such is life.





Brave Bird here is an interesting attack that I managed fail to screenshot properly again; it hit Bruce like an avian wrecking ball, nearly shaving off hundred hit points. But while Bruce’s first Pyro Ball after the Scary Face missed…



… This one didn’t.



Another champion fight, mate.

While Hop doesn’t compare to Leon, it’s honestly impressive just how far he’s come since the semifinals. I’m writing this as if the postgame takes place the next summer, but canonically it happens so soon after Gloria’s victory he says he hasn’t had the chance to congratulate her. And his Pokémon have already shot up 10 levels. I interpret it as him achieving some kind of comedy sidekick nirvana; the moment he released his desire to reach the main character, he gained the ability to reach the main character and suddenly became a deeply formidable Trainer.

Of course, this also takes place after enough time has passed for Sonia to write and publish an entire book on the facts behind Zacian and Zamazenta, so .

Hop's Theme - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST

Hop… That was actually pretty terrifying.

Gloria, you took down how many of my Pokémon as compared to yours?

No, no, look. As far as I can tell, you’ve been doing more schoolwork than me, at least in sheer mass of stuff to turn in.

Now, I wouldn’t say that –

Shush, Hop, I’m being genuine here. I haven’t been letting up my training: it’s basically a job, and it’s practically the only way I can de-stress during the year. And given this year, I’ve needed to do a lot of de-stressing. But in that time you’ve improved so much more than I have.

I –

I know, you’re still not as good as I am, but I started last year at a higher point than you did. The amount you’ve improved since we last fought… Speaking as the Champion, the woman who beat Leon and whose job it is to evaluate Galar’s Trainers… You’re genuinely, genuinely amazing.

I…



I’m just embarrassing Hop into silence by complementing him.

Boys.

I know, right?



But what brought you all the way out here?

Sonia's Theme - Pokémon Sword and Shield OST

I was just celebrating the release of my book by visiting the place where it all started.

Congratulations, by the way! 400,000 copies in the first month is pretty wild.

Thanks for your endorsement, by the way.

Of course . And I don’t even have to risk looking like I’m making stuff up to help a friend! I’ll never get over how that TV crew that’d been stalking me halfway across Galar caught the whole thing on video while trying not to fall out of their skytaxi.

That stunt earned them both seats at my wedding. Just… I like to flatter myself by saying I did a bally amazing job, and the sales figures do hold that up.



Gloria, it’s all based on your original research, so to speak. It literally could not have existed without the work you put in last summer. Also, I couldn’t have gotten all that information together in the first place without your help as a research assistant. I wouldn’t have even known where to start.

That independent study was by far the best class I had that year.

But Hop… I’m not the biologist my Gran is, and I thought I had to be. Watching you carve your own path in life away from Leon and do your own thing… It helped me realize I didn’t have to follow her footsteps, but that I could decide what being a Pokémon Professor meant. So I decided that for me it was about educating the public about the history of Pokémon and their relationship with humanity. And look at me now! The Society toasted me and my work at the yearly banquet. And I largely owe it to you.



Sometimes, I still think of Gran as Galar’s Pokémon Professor, but then in my head I go…



Without your example, I could never have said that without feeling a fraud. I really owe you for that, Hop.

_{oh my god}

Great fun, innit?

I know!

If you two are done BULLYING me, I did want to ask you something, Gloria… Do you feel that… We should have brought the sword and shield back here?

Like, Zacian’s and Zamazenta’s?

Yeah. I can’t help but feel like we stole them and gave them away. Like we should have just put them back.

Nobody stole anything, Hop, they’re safely stored away in the Galarian Museum where professional curators can look after them.

What were we supposed to do, leave them out exposed to the elements?

No, obviously... But if Zacian and Zamazenta could store them for thousands of years in… Well, in terrible condition, but metal that old would’ve rusted away into nothing if it wasn’t being regularly cared for.

I suppose. But it’s not like they’ve come sniffing around to pick them back up.

Historically the two of them usually hang around for a few decades before and after each Darkest Day, but this time around they didn’t show up until the event itself and vanished after. Nobody’s reported seeing them. Who knows if they’re even still around this time?

I suppose…

…

…

…

…

…

… Welp, I’m bored. Catch up with you later?

Ta, mate.

See ya later, Hop! Gloria, want to follow me over to the lab? I found something you might be interested in.

Why not?

_{As always, I could use your help spotting if/when I write something that doesn’t exist in British English or could be phrased more appropriately or whatever. PS new thread title!}