Pokémon Sword and Shield: Bonds of Armor

Chapter four: Hulbury

Hey guys so welcome to chapter 4, I hope you are all enjoying this series so far and if you are let me know in the comments. I will try to do two chapters per week unless my schedule changes so I hope you understand. Anyways enjoy the chapter.

The next morning Victor woke up from his tent before the others did to make them a simple breakfast. Today they were heading to Hulbury to take on Nessa, and after they finish her gym they will head to Motostroke for a night to prepare for the match against Kabu. There have been other challengers that say Kabu is like a roadblock and many challengers give up on the Gym Challenge because they couldn't beat Kabu. Victor was nervous for that battle when it came, but he knew deep down that he and his team would defeat Kabu and advance further into the Gym Challenge. He had just finished making an egg and bacon breakfast for the four of them. He was getting the table ready when Marnie came out of her tent and saw Victor setting the table.
"Good morning Victor, what is all of this?" Marnie asked.
"Oh good morning Marnie, I decided to make us breakfast before we head out to Hulbury." Victor answered.
"That is sweet of you, but you didn't have to do that." Marnie said.
"It's alright I mean Gloria pretty much did most of the curry work yesterday, so I thought I would take care of breakfast for us." Victor said.
"Regardless you are really sweet Victor." Marnie said, smiling.
"Oh...th....thanks Marnie, that really means a lot." Victor blushing.
The two just stared at each other for a while, it wasn't until Hop and Gloria came out of their tents and saw the two staring.
"Good morning , you two are up early." Hop said, while two broke the trance.
"I was making us breakfast." Victor said.
"Oh thanks bro, lets eat." Gloria said.
The four sat down with two people on each side. Hop sat next to Gloria and Victor sat next to Marnie and the four started eating their breakfast and no one talked the whole time. Both Victor and Marnie couldn't stop thinking about what happened before breakfast and this made them feel nervous. Hop and Gloria noticed this and both decided to break the silence.
"So what happened this morning between the two of you?" Gloria asked.
"Nothing." the two of them answered together and quickly.
Gloria and Hop giggled at the two of them. They finished their breakfast and packed their tents to head to Hulbury. The way to Hulbury didn't take them that long through Route 5, of course along the way they encountered other trainers to battle. The three of them were able to beat most of the trainers they encountered along the way. They passed by a Pokemon daycare and a lady standing outside handed Victor a newly born Toxel. Victor kindly accepted the Pokemon and added it to his team. Victor's team at this time consisted of Thwackey, Corvisquire, Chewtle recently evolved into a Drednaw, Sizzlipede was still training, but he got stronger with every battle, Dreepy was the same as Sizzlipede still training, but getting stronger. Hop's team contained, Drizzile, Corvisquire, Wooloo evolved into a Dubwool, and Yamper evolved into a Boltund. Gloria continued to train up her team, she currently had a Raboot, her Wooloo evolved into Dubwool, Galarian Zigzagoon evolved into a Galarian Linoone, and she recently obtained a Milcery. Marnie still had her Morpeko, Crogunk, and Scraggy with her, but she continued to use these Pokemon in her battles. The four continued on Route 5 until they reached Hulbury in the afternoon. When they arrived Chairman Rose spotted them and went up to them.
"Hello you four, how are you doing on your Gym Challenge?" Chairman Rose asked.
"We are doing good so far, we beat Milo and we are on our way to Nessa's gym." Hop said.
"Very good you four, let us go to the Hulbury restaurant for lunch don't worry it is on me." Chairman Rose said, leading them to the restaurant.
They entered the restaurant and Chairman Rose continued to ask them questions about their journey until his assistant Olena, told him he had a meeting to attend.
"Chairman, we have a meeting to attend in thirty minutes." Olena said.
"Oh, already well sorry you all, but I must attend the meeting, go ahead and order whatever you want, it has been prepaid by me."
The Chairman left the restaurant and the four of them decided to each lunch their not wanting to decline the Chairman's offer. Hop ordered the chicken sandwich with fries, Gloria ordered a sausage and chicken curry, Marnie ordered a pork chop with potatoes, and Victor ordered a double bacon cheeseburger with fries. They all enjoyed their meal, and headed to the Pokemon center to heal up their Pokemon before the match. After the Pokemon center they were on their way to the Gym when they saw Nessa at the lighthouse looking towards the ocean. The four of them approached her and she noticed them coming.
"Welcome challengers to Hulbury, I assume you are here for the Gym Challenge?" Nessa asked them.
"Yes we are here to challenge you, unless you are busy at the moment." Marnie said.
"Not at all, I come here before the Gym opens to breath in the fresh ocean breeze." Nessa said breathing in the air. After she was finished she turned her head to them.
"Now then if you want to battle, meet me at the Gym, I will be ready for you there. Good luck trainers, I hope for a great battle with you." Nessa said walking to the Gym.
The four of them walked to the Gym, they registered themselves for the match and changed into their Gym uniforms. Once they were all ready, they entered into the Gym Trial. The objective was to get through the maze of water pipes by changing the direction of the pipes to clear a path for them. The three of them started mapping the area and saw where each nozzle was. They made their way through the maze changing the water flow and battled trainers that stood in their way. The three turned on the last nozzle they needed to get to the exit and made their way to it. Once they reached the exit the trial was over and they made their way to the field. Like before the three decided for Victor to battle first against Nessa Victor made his way to the field to face off Nessa. Nessa started off the battle by throwing in her Goldeen first and Victor followed by sending out his Dreepy. Goldeen was stronger than Dreepy, but Victor knew Dreepy could handle Goldeen. Dreepy used its Dragon Rage on Goldeen and Goldeen fainted. Nessa returned her Goldeen and sent out her Arrokuda, Victor switched Dreepy for Thwackey. Thwackey proved to be too much of a challenge for Arrokuda. In the end Arrokuda fainted from one of Thwackey's grass moves. Nessa sent out her Drednaw and she immediately Dynamaxed it and Victor Dynamaxed his Thwackey. The two Pokemon used their max moves on each other, but Thwackey had the upper hand and Drednaw bursted into flames. The battle was over and Victor was declared the winner. Hop and Marnie cheered for him from the sidelines and Gloria was cheering from the stands. Nessa approached Victor.
"Congratulations, you were a very strong trainer to fight, accept this badge and move on to the next part of your journey, I can't wait for a rematch against you." Nessa said, handing him the water badge and her league card.
Victor accepted the badge and the card. He left the field and approached Hop and Marnie as he got closer they gave him high fives. It was not Hop's turn to battle Nessa. His match was definitely tough, but Hop pulled through and his Boltund used its final move on the Dynamaxed Drednaw. The Drednaw burst into flames and Hop was declared the winner. Next was Marnie for her match. Morpeko's speed and attacks were too much for Nessa's entire team and she defeated Nessa with no problems. After their match the three changed back into their clothes and headed to the second Galar Mine to get to Motostroke, where the third Gym Leader is, Kabu the Fire Leader. As they entered the mines they were stopped by a Gym Challenger who was wearing a pinkish purple jacket and he had white hair.
"Hello their challengers endorsed by the Champion, my name is Bede and I'm here to prove to you that the Chairman endorsed me for this challenge and that I am stronger than the champion." Bede said.
"Okay, well if you want to battle that is fine with us." Victor said.
"Excellent, I will show you the power of the Chairman." Bede said.
"Let me take him on, I haven't battled much, but I feel like my Pokemon might be able to beat his." Gloria said, stepping in front of them.
Victor was about to step in, but Marnie reassured him.
"Victor let your sister do this, she seems passionate about it plus I have battled her before and she knows what she is doing." Marnie says, putting a hand on his shoulder.
Victor looked at Marnie's eyes and he knew to trust Marnie and his sister about this. He stepped back and let Gloria battle Bede.
Bede sent out his Solosis first, and Gloria sent out her Galarian Linoone. Being a dark type Linoone was able to beat Solosis, Bede then sent out his Gothita and like before Linoone beat it too. Bede continued the battle and sent out his Galarian Ponyta, Gloria decided to give Linoone a break and sent out her Raboot and it defeated the Ponyta with two attacks. Bede used his final Pokemon, Hatenna and it defeated Raboot, Gloria returned Rabbot and sent out her Dubwool. Dubwool made good use of Hatenna in a matter of attacks. Gloria defeated Bede and to Victor and Hop's surprise they were proud of Gloria's victory.
"How could I lose to some chumps." Bede said, standing in shock from the defeat.
No one said anything and just looked at Bede. Bede left the mines and the four proceeded through to get to Motostroke. They finally reached the exit and made their way to the Budew Inn for the night. The four split two rooms, one for the boys and the other for the girls. While sleeping Victor couldn't sleep so he went down to the Inn's cafe for some Moomoo milk. Once he sat down he saw Marnie come to the cafe.
"Hey Marnie, what are you doing here?" Victor asked.
"I couldn't sleep, I could assume you are here for the same reason." Marnie asked.
"Yeah you are right, come join me for some Moomoo milk." Victor said.
"Well you read my mind." Marnie giggled.
The two sat down drinking Moomoo milk hoping that it would help them sleep. The two decided to chat while they enjoyed their milk.
"So Victor tell me something about yourself?" Marnie asked.
"Well I'm not that interesting. I just grew up in the countryside and never really left Postwick until I started the Gym Challenge." Victor said, taking a sip of milk.
"I see, but what do you think about the journey so far?" Marnie asked.
"If I had to be honest it has been a great experience for me, to see the world of the Galar region and to see so many Pokemon I haven't seen before and of course I'm really glad to meet so many new people especially you Marnie." Victor said.
This made Marnie blush a bit.
"We..ll thank you for that Victor and I'm really glad that you are a part of my journey as well." Marnie said.
The two continued talking until they finished their milk. The two heard back to their rooms after giving each other hgs and saying goodnight to each other. Once they got in they went to sleep thinking about each other the whole time. Tomorrow was a big day for them, they had to beat Kabu to advance to the next part of the Gym Challenge. Kabu, was known for beating challengers and the challengers would quit their journey. They knew they must defeat Kabu and their Pokemon would guide them to a victory.

Thank you for reading this chapter. I hope you all like it the series's so far and I have so much planned for it. And yes there is more Victor and Marnie shipping in here. If you are a Gloria fan or a Bede fan don't worry I have something in mind for them. So I hope you guys enjoy this chapter make sure to comment and share this story with your friends or anyone you know who might like it. I really appreciate your support and hope to see you in the next chapter. Until next time.