The Road to our Destiny II: The Galar Adventures

Chapter 39

As Ezria predicted, she brutally defeated Piers in a Gym Battle, and as soon as her Pokémon were checked up and the group restocked on supplies, they were on their way to Hammerlocke. Though no one said anything, everyone in the group grew tense as they got closer to the city. Timothy and Electchu worried whether or not Timothy would win his final badge on the first go. Coovers, Gwen, and Winnie worried that they wouldn't be able to stop Chairman Rose in time, and though Ezria was the most confident of the group, a part of her still worried that Timothy might reject her and Rose's plan.

On the second to last day, the group tried to ride through the night, for they were only a few hours of riding time away from Hammerlocke, but they ultimately agreed to rest for the night. Gwen and Coovers worked together to make dinner while Timothy and Ezria trained their Pokémon. When dinner was ready, everyone ate in silence. The trainers wanted to try to strike a conversation to lighten the mood, but they all felt too awkward to try.

After dinner, Timothy helped Coovers and Gwen wash the dishes at a nearby stream while Ezria set up her tent. Timothy, Coovers, and Gwen then changed into their pajamas and set up their sleeping bags just as Ezria came out of her tent in her pajamas. Ezria smiled awkwardly as she watched everyone get ready to sleep.

"Well, um, one more day, and we'll be at Hammerlocke," she said.

Timothy, Coovers, and Gwen murmured words of agreement without looking at Ezria.

"Uh, Timothy, are you and your Pokémon ready to crush Raihan?" Ezria asked.

"I hope so," Timothy said half-heartedly.

"You hope so? Come now, you can be more confident than that," Ezria said. "Coovers, Gwen, don't you agree?"

"Yeah. Timbo's got this," Coovers said tiredly.

"Ditto," Gwen said with a yawn.

Ezria grew more uncomfortable with how Timothy's friends replied and cleared her throat.

"Okay, I can see you guys are tuckered out, so I'll go back to my tent," she said. "Good night."

"Night, Ezria," Timothy, Coovers, and Gwen replied.

"Raichu," Electchu said.

"Tedd," Winnie said.

Timothy, Coovers, and Gwen got into their sleeping bags. Electchu laid down next to Timothy, and Winnie got into Gwen's sleeping bag, where its partner wrapped her arm around as they dozed off together. Ezria returned to her tent and laid her sleeping bag on the floor. She got into her sleeping bag and lay on her side facing her open tent door, where she could see Timothy slowly falling asleep. Ezria smiled, loving that the last thing she saw was her crush's sleeping face before her eyes grew heavy.

But as she fell asleep, a shadowy figure with a fog-like ghostly plume on its head and red spikes around its neck was lurking in the woods. It moved from tree to tree until it noticed the sleeping camp from the corner of its bright blue eye. It stopped in midair and began staring deeply at the tired souls, its gaze on Ezria first.

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Ezria opened her eyes to find herself in a king-sized bed. She looked to discover she was in a large bedroom with a window wall on one side and a doorway leading to a fancy bathroom. Ezria got out of bed and walked to the window to see a massive view of Wyndon, where the sun was halfway through rising above the ocean in the distance.

"What am I doing back in Wyndon?" Ezria asked.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and it opened to reveal Bard in a suit. Ezria gave Bard a sullen look, thinking he was about to ask her to marry him as he had done many times before, but instead of proposing, Bard put his hand on his heart and took a humble bow.