A chapter, finally!! I am super sorry for the long wait for the update, but here you go!

As Raihan's Duraludon crashed to the ground with a powerful thud, the stands erupted with a roar.

"Leon! Leon! Leon! Leon!" The crowd chanted, although Gloria could notice a few people keeping silent about Raihan's loss. Rose was one of those people. . . although that may be because she just didn't seem to like to shout much.

Raihan sighed and returned his Duraludon back to its Ultra Ball. He waved at the audience watching and nodded to Rose. She simply shook her head slowly and took her phone out to text somebody.

"And it looks like Leon secures his spot as Champion for another day!" The Chairman announced, coming into the field. He walked to Leon and then Raihan, shaking both of their hands. "And that wraps it up for today's Gym Leader introduction." He smiled and waved to the crowd. "Thank you everyone for watching, and best of luck to our Gym Challengers!"

The people in the stands immediately jumped to their feet to leave the stadium.

"That was an intense battle, wasn't it, Gloria?" Hop asked, still seated as he waited for the stands to clear out.

Gloria nodded. "Yeah! I'm surprised by how strong Raihan's Pokémon was!"

"But he was still no match for Leon," Sonia chimed in, and then glanced at her sister, who was still on her phone. "Who're you texting?"

Instantly Rose's face turned red. "It's- it's no one! Just my boyfriend. . ."

"Your boyfriend?" Sonia smiled. "Does Raihan know?"

Rose shook her head slowly. "No, I haven't—"

The older twin shot up. "Then come on! I want to go congratulate Leon, and you can chat with Raihan while we're there!" Without even glancing back, Sonia ran down the steps of the stadium, to the field where Raihan and Leon were.

"Sonia!" Rose yelled, surprising Gloria. She stood up and chased after her sister.

"Come on." Hop nudged Gloria and got to his feet. "I want to go see Lee too." He extended his arm out to Gloria, which she took and let him pull her up so she was standing with him.

They both walked down the steps slowly, watching Rose chase after Sonia ahead of them. After a few moments, they were back on level ground and stepped onto the field.

Sonia was chatting with Leon, while Rose was standing beside her quietly.

"Hey, Lee!" Hop called as he and Gloria arrived to him. Sonia looked up at them, then grabbed her sister and went over to Raihan without a word, much to the younger sister's dismay.

"Hop, Gloria," Leon greeted with a smile. "You two ready for the Gym Challenges?"

"Yeah!" They both replied together.

Leon nodded. "You'll both have to head over to Turffield for your first challenge. It'll be against Milo. . ." He glanced behind him, probably to call to the Grass Trainer, but trailed off as he saw that he had left already, along with the other Gym Leaders.

"I know," Hop said. "I'm going to battle all of the Gyms and win every match that comes my way— and then I'll be facing you, Lee, so just you wait!"

"Me too!" Gloria chimed in. "I'm going to battle you too!"

"Well, when you both arrive in Wyndon, I'll be looking forward to your battles," Leon replied and ruffled his brother's hair. "And until then, keep on getting stronger with your Pokémon."

Gloria nodded. "Right!"

"So, these are the two young Trainers endorsed by the Champion himself?" Both teens froze and turned around, only to be facing none other than Chairman Rose himself. "Galar Chairman, Elijah Rose." He held his hand out to shake both of their own. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Um, thanks. . ." Gloria began quietly, reaching to shake his hand. She wasn't really quite sure what to think, as this was the man who had called out her fall in front of thousands, if not, millions.

The Chairman nodded and turned to Hop. "And if I'm not mistaken, you must be our Champion's younger brother. Hop, was it?"

Hop grinned, glad that someone seemed to recognize him. "Yep! And once I win against the Gym Leaders and Lee, I'm going to take his place as Champion!"

Chairman Rose chuckled. "He's got spirit," he said to Leon.

Just then, the doors from the Gym lobby slammed open, showing a very tired-looking and messy-haired Victor. "Mr. Rose!" He gasped out as he saw the chairman with Gloria, Hop, and Leon.

"Victor!" Gloria said, smiling as she saw him. He ran to them and nodded at her before looking back at Chairman Rose.

"I apologize for being late. . ." He told him, scratching the back of his head. "I overslept."

Beside Gloria, Hop tensed. However, she simply smiled hearing him. That sounds like something I would definitely do.

Chairman Rose nodded and looked at the others around him. "It's alright. Just. . ." He trailed off.

"Nothing really interesting happened," Gloria said for the chairman. "Except that I fell and it was super embarrassing."

"Gloria," Hop whispered, but she didn't seem to hear him.

Victor blinked and turned to her. "You fell? You're okay, right?"

"Yeah," she replied. "Except for that one person I accidentally—"

"Yes, she's fine," Hop interrupted, glaring at Victor.

"Right." Victor nodded and looked back at Chairman Rose. "Also, Sir, there is someone waiting in the lobby for you. She asked me to come and get you for her." He finished with a glance at the two younger teens.

Chairman Rose nodded. "Thank you." He looked to the others. "I apologize for this, but I have to leave. Victor. . ." He turned to the boy. "Please come with me and show me where she is."

"Of course." Victor nodded his head before smiling at Gloria. "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah." Gloria grinned at him, much to the annoyance of Hop.

The chairman gave a slight nod to Leon, which the Champion returned.

"Farewell," Chairman Rose told Gloria and Hop before leaving with Victor. Leon smiled at the two and ran to catch up with the chairman and Victor.

As the three of them left, Gloria turned as Sonia joined her and Hop.

"So, you're both headed off to Turffield next, right?" She asked, twirling her hair around her finger.

Gloria nodded. "Yep." She glanced around quickly, noticing that Sonia's red headed twin was nowhere in sight. "Hey, where's your sister?"

Sonia blinked. "Oh, Rose? She's talking with Raihan right now. Seems like he is taking this all very well. . ." She was silent for a few moments, before jumping back to attention. "Anyway, you both should probably split up and continue your journeys by yourselves."

Hop was quiet as he heard her, and lowered his head. "She's right," he muttered as Gloria opened her mouth to reply. She froze quickly and looked at him.

"But—"

"Remember what I told you a few days ago? We will have to split up on our journeys if we want to get stronger." Gloria's silence only encouraged Hop to continue speaking. "It's alright, though, because we will still keep in touch, right?"

Gloria bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah. . ." Her thoughts were racing a million times through her head. She and Hop had never been without each other; ever since they were kids, he always stuck by her side, and she did the same with him.

A few seconds passed, and she felt arms wrap around her, enveloping her in a hug.

"We'll see each other again, so there's no need to worry," Hop told her quietly. "I'll call you every day, so it's hardly like we'll be away from each other."

Gloria nodded, hugging her friend back. "Right. . . I'll see you later. . ."

⚔️ 🛡

The following day, Gloria walked with her three Pokémon down Route 3. All around them, striped Zigzagoon ran this way and that, and Penny had to be called back more than once after she ran out to play with some of them. Tuff simply narrowed her eyes at the sight of the many Tiny Raccoon Pokémon.

Eventually they managed to make it through the worst of the clusters of Pokémon in the grass, and found a small clearing.

"Scor?"

Gloria glanced back at her partner Pokémon. "What is it?"

"Bun bunny," Tuff told her, crossing her arms. Behind her, Penny sat down, listening to Valiant and his quiet speech about how to battle and not play or something like that.

"What?" Gloria frowned a bit, stepping away from the tree she was shaking. Scattered around her on the ground were berries off every size and color. She had heard from some of the Gym Challengers that this was the most efficient way to get different berries in Galar.

Tuff shook her head slowly and stood up, walking over to her Trainer. "Scor," she said quietly, motioning for Gloria to step back. Gloria gave her a questioning look, but moved away nonetheless. Tuff took a breath and then jumped up, kicking the tree with so much power that the number of berries on the ground had doubled in amount.

"Wow!" Gloria smiled and glanced around at the berries. "Thanks!" She knelt down and opened her bag up, ready to pick up the berries.

Suddenly she could hear several loud squeaks from up above. She looked up, only to see a wave of her greatest enemies falling down towards her.

Three Skwovets landed on her head and shoulders, squirming around and scratching her skin.

"Tuff!" She called for help, but one glance at the Scorbunny showed that she was already busy fighting off seven Skwovets herself.

"Ugh!" Gloria reached around, grabbing every furry creature she could find and throwing them as far as she could. They just kept multiplying though, and continued covering her and scampering into her bag.

"Dee!" Valiant chirped loudly and flew to Gloria, lifting a Skwovet in his talons. He flew up and up before letting go of the rodent.

Everyone froze and lifted their eyes up at the Skwovet, falling down and down above them. It squeaked in fright, chirping at its comrades to help.

And then, when it was only a few dozen feet above the ground, Valiant swooped down, grabbing it by its tail. He slowly lowered it back to the ground, showing no emotion as it cowered beneath him.

"Skwo!" It squeaked, shaking from fear. The other Skwovets all lowered their ears and tails, glancing at one another.

"Zig! Zig!" Penny hopped towards them all, her eyes wide and excited. At her appearance, the Skwovets all took this chance to scamper and retreat to their tree. Once they had all left, she sat down and looked to Gloria for approval.

"Thanks," Gloria said, petting her Zigzagoon's soft and fluffy head. "You too, Valiant," she said as he hopped to them. Val closed his eyes and leaned into her touch, only to stiffen and whirl his head around. "What. . ?" Gloria began, only to stop as she saw Tuff laying on the ground. She wasn't moving.

"Tuff!" Gloria pushed her other two Pokémon away, rushing to the Rabbit Pokémon. "Tuff, are you okay?" She lifted her head in her hand, biting her lip as she saw tiny red marks all over her snowy pelt. "Valiant, get me a—"

Valiant was already ahead of her, carrying a plump, blue Oran Berry in his talons. He set it down next to his Trainer and watched Tuff worried.

"Zagoon?" Penny nosed Gloria's arm as she held the berry up to Tuff's mouth. Gloria was too preoccupied with trying to help Tuff to tell Penny to leave.

"Rook," Valiant said to Penny, nudging her away with his beak. Penny tilted her head, but soon followed him, smiling, as he led her around the tree to collect the fallen berries.

Gloria continued to gaze at her partner, biting her lip as Tuff didn't move. And then, the rabbit's nose twitched.

"Bun?" She asked weakly, opening her eyes a tiny bit.

"Tuff!" Gloria exclaimed, looking down at her. A relieved smile spread across her face and she held the Oran Berry next to Tuff's mouth once again. She slowly managed to take a few bites of it.

Tuff blinked and stood up a few seconds later, only to fall back down with a tiny whimper.

"You're hurt," Gloria told her, scooping her into her arms. Tuff didn't fight back, and let her Trainer carry her back to where her bag was. Once she had looped her arms through the shoulder loops, she pulled out her Rotom Phone and pulled up a map of the nearby environment. "So it'll probably be best if we manage to get through the rest of Route 3 and into the Mines," she muttered quietly. "Maybe then there will be someone to help you out." She glanced at Tuff as she finished speaking.

She tucked her phone back onto her pocket and returned Penny into her Poké Ball. Valiant flew onto her head, ready to fight in case any wild Pokémon were to attack. However, Gloria took one look at the sky above and bit her lip. Judging from the size of the Galar Mines from her map, it would take at least three or four hours to traverse through the cave system. By then, it would be much too dark to do anything. And there wasn't even a guarantee that she could find someone that could help Tuff.

"Let's set up camp," she said quietly, setting Tuff back carefully onto the ground. She then threw off her bag and dig through it until she found her camping set her mum had given her. The canvas was light pink, and a bit wrinkled in a few places, but it was still usable.

I hope it isn't that hard to make, she thought as she pulled out the metal poles used to make the tent stand up. She bent them and stuck them through the tent canvas.

With the sky becoming darker each passing moment, Gloria finally managed to fix her tent in such a way that it could at least stand on its own. She opened up the mesh entrance and placed her bag inside, grabbing a few berries and her cooking supplies in order to start making some food for herself and her Pokémon. She made sure to grab as many Oran Berries as she could to hopefully help Tuff.

She had to start and fan the fire herself, since Tuff was so injured. After a few moments of stirring the curry, she held it up and tried a bit of it.

Not good. . . But not bad, either. She grabbed some bowls and poured the food inside it, setting one down for Valiant to eat. She picked up Tuff's bowl and walked to her.

"Hey," Gloria said quietly. "I've made some food for you. To help you feel better." Tuff weakly opened her eyes and nodded, opening her mouth to allow Gloria to help feed her.

It was late nighttime when Gloria brought Tuff and Valiant inside her tent to sleep safely. Meanwhile she sat outside, staring at the fire.

"I'm sorry. . ." She said quietly, watching the flames dance in the cool night air. "I'm sorry Tuff that I got you hurt. I promise tomorrow I'll bring you someplace where you can get healed."

At that moment, her phone rang, causing her to jump in fear. She quickly whipped out her Rotom Phone, only to relax as she saw who was calling.

"Hey, Hop," she said, managing a smile even though he couldn't even see it. "It's a bit late, isn't it?"

"Hi, Gloria," Hop replied. "And yes it is super late, but I know that you never sleep so therefore you'd be awake to talk."

Gloria laughed softly and rolled her eyes. "I'm not surprised you knew that." She leaned back, glancing up at the stars now. "Is there anything you don't know about me?" She added as a joke.

Hop was silent for several seconds before he finally whispered, "Who you like?"

"What?" Gloria asked, not being able to hear him because of how quiet his voice had been.

"Never mind!" Hop replied. He sighed on the other end of the phone. "Anyway, I just made it to Turffield and into the Budew Inn here, so I decided to call you. Where are you, by the way? You haven't already gone through Turffield, have you?"

Gloria closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, not yet. I'm camping tonight in Route 3. Tuff got really hurt battling those stupid squirrels again, and so we're going to travel through t he Galar Mines tomorrow."

"Yeah. You're okay, though, right?"

"Hop, I'm fine." She couldn't help but shake her head at his worry. "I've survived this long, so I think I'll be alright for a few days by myself." Both were quiet for several seconds. "But I'll call you again when I finally arrive in Turffield, does that sound good?"

"Yeah—" Hop stopped and Gloria could hear another voice on the phone, before Hop's loud yell of, "Nori! Get off of the lamp!"

A smile crept onto Gloria's face as she listened to her best friend fighting with his Grass Starter.

"I'm sorry, Gloria," Hop said quickly into his phone. "As much as I'd love to talk to you, Nori's deciding to use the room as a jungle. I'll talk to you later, though."

"Alright," Gloria replied. "Good night, Hop. I'll call you later."

"Night." And then the call was over.

Gloria sighed and put her phone back into her pocket, not moving from her place by the now-dying fire. She let her gaze travel up to the stars above, and gradually began to grow more and more weary.

With a final look at the cinders of the fire, she stood up and walked to her tent. She opened it up and dueled up in her sleeping bag, resting beside Tuff and Valiant. It wasn't but five minutes later that she was asleep safely in her tent, with her two Pokémon.

Okay, I am so so so sorry for the late update and all! I am trying my hardest to write everything in time for an update every Saturday, but sometimes I'm just not able to write.

Anyway, I have this chapter out and everything, so at least there's that.

In this chapter, Gloria meets up with her worst nightmare, Skwovet. So now I want to ask, what is your least favorite Galarian Pokémon?

Also, I really want to thank ImberLapis for her amazing fanmade cover for this story!