Darkest Day (Pokémon Sw/Sh fanfic - rewrite available and in progress)

A Dynamax-Sized Issue

They had made it just in time for Hop's fifth gym challenge against Opal. He had changed his team yet again, getting rid of his newly caught pokémon for a Trevenant, Heatmor, Snorlax, and Boltund. He of course still kept his Raboot, who had recently evolved into Cinderace. Because of his starter's type, Opal's fairy-type attacks did nothing against his Gigantamaxed team member. Needless to say, the battle was quite heated.

The four went off in the direction of Hammerlocke again (Opal joining them for a quick errand). Eliana still couldn't get over the beauty of Ballonlea and the way the town lived in complete symbiosis with the forest and its inhabitants. It really showed what could be done if people actually tried to make peace with nature. It lorded over the horrible attempts at destroying life (namely Cyrus causing Giratina's awakening).

It wasn't all that long of a walk from Ballonlea to Stow-on-Side, and it wasn't even that long of a trek from there to Hammerlocke once she got past the rocky cliffs and outcrops. A straight path, really, after that. Eliana still could never forget the strange beauty of the city's structure. It all just looked like one huge castle, which was fitting for a place that was centered off of dragons. Though in a large place like this, Leon purposely stuck close to the group because he was scared to get lost. It wouldn't be the first time, either. He'd gotten lost in Hammerlocke so many times in his youth that it was quite sickening to think about. Raihan was always the one to find him in the end, which was part of the reason why they were so close. Leon literally owed his life to the man.

It was Hop's second time in Hammerlocke, so he was still in awe when they entered the city's limits. He was trying so hard to contain himself as to not run off and explore. But he knew that he would come back a third time for his final gym challenge against Raihan. That is, if he even made it that far.

Circhester was their next stop, where both the ice and rock-type challenges were held. It was completely obvious that Hop would face Gordie instead of Melony, but the young Trainer always came out on top no matter the what the type advantages were. At least, so far he did. But there was still Raihan's challenge here in Hammerlocke once he defeated Gordie, and he wasn't exactly that confident for that.

See, Raihan was known for being Leon's self-proclaimed rival long before they even had a relationship. Though he got his ass beat every year during the Championship Cup Finals, he sometimes came a hair close to winning. Leon was always trying to tell him that the one flaw he had was using Duraludon as his last pokémon, which was weak to Charizard's fire-type moves. But Raihan insisted that he keep with his tradition, saying that there was no other way to truly win if it wasn't a triumph over a type disadvantage. Besides, he always loved a challenge. If only he would listen, however, he could have become Champion of Galar years ago. What was surprising was that Leon was trying to actually give Raihan a chance to dethrone him. The gym leader was stubborn and bull-headed, but he was his stubborn and bull-headed gym leader.

Leon chuckled to himself at Hop's totally not obvious excitement. "Go on, we'll meet you there," he said, and his younger brother almost immediately dashed off as soon as the words left his mouth.

"He's pretty quick. I'll give him that," Eliana mused. "His races with Cinderace are starting to pay off."

The Champion smiled. "His partner suits him."

"What ever happened to that Grookey, anyways? Eliana claimed Sobble years ago, and now Hop took Scorbunny. Did anyone use Grookey?" Raihan questioned.

"Oh, I've been training him up. Hoping to use him in this years Finals, actually," Leon replied. "I left him back at Wyndon, not expecting to be gone for this long."

"He would probably pound your precious rock and ground-types into the ground," Eliana laughed.

Raihan narrowed his eyes at that, stuffing his hands angrily into the pockets of his sweatshirt. That was his silent way of saying fuck you for those who knew him well enough. "I was going to use a different team for the Finals, anyways," he grumbled.