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Seeing Monique’s Alolan Marowak Kalama first, Tsuki caught sight of Monique shortly after and gave her a wave to catch her attention. “Hey! Glad to see you made it!” He said, walking over to her. The teenager hadn’t been at HQ all that often since classes had ended at Paldea, having decided to stay in the region to finish the school year instead of teleporting back and forth. After Raiden had told him to go to Galar, he had texted a few of the Snagems to see if any of them were interested. Alas, it seemed some had already visited and some were just busy.

Still though, even if only one person made it, Tsuki was glad to see that Monique had made the trip. “Sorry, my flight took me to Wyndon and I got a little distracted on my way here. I was thinking about trying out those Pokemon Dens people battle inside here- try and get a Wishing Star so I can Dynamax too. You up for that?” He asked, the fire type on his shoulder nodding with every other word.

There were other trainers too, some talking with others, some checking their Pokedexes, some making curry with their own Pokemon. Tsuki had learned a little bit about Pokemon Dens in Paldea- enough to know you typically needed four trainers to challenge them. With only two of them here, the solution seemed to stare him right in the face. “If you are, we should probably try to each get a trainer to join us, what’d you think?”

“Gotcha, I’ll see if I can find anyone while you’re at it.” Tsuki said in agreement. He turned back around and looked to see if there was anyone who looked particularly interesting. There were some trainers gathered over a Rotom phone with something loud being played on it, so he decided to go and inspect it.

“And what’d you know, Champion Leon pulls out another decisive victory with his ace Charizard!” The announcer cries out from the phone as the trio either cheered or grimaced. One of the trainers complained about how some guy named Raihan deserved to win that fight only to get shot down by a trainer with indigo hair, tanned skin, and a jean jacket with a woolen interior.

Closing his hands into fists and bringing each close to his chest, he shouted loudly “Hahaha! If anybody is gonna beat Lee, it’s gonna be me! The future Champion of Galar!” Tsuki tilted his head, amused in a nostalgic kind of way for that level of enthusiasm. The trainer turned around and pointed at him, catching the Snagem off guard. “Don’t you agree?! Me and my Wooloo here are gonna take the region by storm, don’t they look bloody awesome?”

Tsuki glanced down to see the partner Pokemon he was talking about- it looked almost like a Mareep but white. Weird. Sheep were supposed to be yellow. But he knew better than to judge Pokemon by appearances, what with Maggie right there on his shoulder. “Yeah, sure. How long have you been a trainer for?”

“About… four hours! Give or take? What’d you think Woo?” The trainer asked his Wooloo, earning a jawdrop from Tsuki. Well… he at least had strong start.

Tsuki snickered and put a hand out to shake this odd trainer. “Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Tsuki from Kanto. My teacher has me in Galar to learn more about his home region- you wouldn’t know anything about Pokemon Dens would you?”

“Name’s Hop, I’m from. Well, here. And yeah, I know a bunch. I’ve been meaning to go battle one now that I’m officially a Pokemon trainer.” Hop replied, shaking his hand and nodding along as he spoke. “I figure I may as well get some training in, before my legend really begins and I take down my first gym leader.” As he finished that bit, he swung a fist into an open hand determinedly. “I’ll probably use my Wooloo here or my starter. Who’d you think you’ll use?”

Tsuki thought about it and looked over to Monique and the trainer she had found. Between that green monkey looking thing and her Alolan Marowak, he thought it best to use Baja. Hell, he could finally try out Mega Evolution. But he didn’t want to rain on this new trainer’s parade and make him feel inferior. So he sent out his Pikipek Makara. “Probably this lil guy. I hatched him a bit ago and have been meaning to train him to be a part of my team. C’mon I’ll introduce you to my friend.” He said, walking back over to Monique and her new friend with Makara flitting back and forth around his trainer.

“You said that’s a Wooloo right? What kinda Pokemon is that? Mine is a Normal Flying type.”

“Ah, he’s a Normal type too! They’re everywhere ‘round these parts but mine is special. My big bro Leon caught this lil guy for me ages ago. You have a Pokemon like that?”

Tsuki nodded, scratching his Magby’s head. “Hey Mo’! This is Hop and his partner Wooloo.”

“Whoa, what was that one anyways?” Tsuki asked, still caught by surprise by the massive green gorilla that Tamika seemed to be the trainer of. Clearly it was a grass type of some kind and it must’ve been a Galar native because he wasn’t familiar with it. But with how tame it seemed despite the power it clearly had, it felt oddly familiar.

Hop, ready to reply the moment he waved the fellow trainers he had been with goodbye, quickly answered. “Oh mate, that’s a Rillaboom! It’s the final form of one of Galar’s starters. I actually have the first form myself, Grookey.” He explained ecstatically. Raising a hand over his eyes, the Galar native scanned the horizon before spotting a massive reddish purple line in the sky. Hop pointed at it before running off. “C’mon! Before some other people get it before us!”

Tsuki gave chase and spotted the Applin that Tamika had sent out. He had one of its evolutions, having evolved when Snapdragon raided the HQ’s snack pantry for all of the desserts that lay hidden within. “Best of luck with that one, even when he was an Applin my Dipplin was kind of a… handful. To say the least.” He laughed, thinking about his glutton of an oversized dragon Pokemon. It must have been on the far extreme end of the size spectrum after chomping on that Titan Arboliva for who knew how long.

When they finally got to the Pokemon Den, the redhead surprised to find that he wasn’t out of breath. Turned out months of practicing martial arts and working out did wonders for one’s endurance. Hop, meanwhile, was looking a bit winded. But the laughter on his face seemed to be overpowering the exhaustion.

Monique and Tsuki had made it to their first Pokemon Den. It was by a lake near Motostoke City, meaning that the Zoroark hybrid had come full circle if slightly eastward.

“We made it! Yeah, I’m not too sure on the how of it all mates, but this is where local Pokemon rest and gather Dynamax energy. Check your Rotom phones for the Watts we’re getting now, I think it says…” Hop started, pulling out his mobile device. “Three hundred!”

Tsuki pulled out his SNAG and saw that Hop was right. He looked up at the sky and failed to see any potential Wishing Stars that his Snag Machine could attract, which just meant he’d have to try out a few more Dens. That didn’t bother him though, he was already spending his break from school here. By the time he looked back from the air, he noticed that he was the only one left! They all went down without him! “Hey, wait up!” Tsuki yelped, chasing after them down the entrance of the Pokemon Den. Monique’s assessment of it was right: it was a well in every way but it containing water. The ladder led them down twenty, thirty, forty feet? It was hard to keep track of distance as they descended into darkness.

Eventually though, a purplish red glow would reach them as they reached the bottom. They had made it to the Den: a large cave with various tunnels connecting to other Dens and unexplored areas. By the time Tsuki had caught up, the Pokemon resting there had only just awakened. A hulking purple lizard with four spikes on its head and a white lightning bolt fixed to its forehead. It stood with a roar and looked down at the trainers who came to challenge it.

The Dynamaxed Toxel wanted to battle.

Tsuki started with his Pikipek, not knowing the Pokemon’s type and the definite disadvantage that’d come with it. Likewise, Hop would send his Wooloo out to battle presumably alongside Monique’s Rockruff and Tamika’s Applin.

The Toxel took point, however. Still too weak to use any Max Moves but nevertheless boosted by absorbing the latent power of this Den, it instead did a flurry of normal ones. It started by getting on all fours and using Growl, baring its hulking baby teeth and growling individually at each of the other Pokemon to lower their attack powers. From there it inhaled and- sneezed? It looked like a sneeze, but really it was an Acid being fired at Tamika’s Applin. As for its third move? The Toxel rubbed its hands together to generate static electricity and swiped it at Tsuki’s Pikipek!

The tiny bird took the hit directly, only not immediately knocked out because that was probably the weakest Electric move there was. But nevertheless, the shimmer of electricity that occasionally popped up around the bird was enough of a sign to show that it was paralyzed. Damn it. “Can you try to pull off a Fury Attack?” He asked the Pikipek. His Pokemon nodded and flew at the big baby, powering through the paralysis. It pecked once, twice- thrice? Five times! Tsuki looked confused before he checked his SNAG and saw Makara’s Ability.

“Ohhhh, you have Skill Link. Nice!” He said.

“I’ll try the same, Wooloo use Copycat!” Hop laughed, pointing at Tsuki’s Pikipek for his sheep to copy. The Wooloo nodded and likewise rushed the Toxel, weaving back and forth to occasionally headbutt the thing in the legs where Makara aimed for the shoulders. This time though, only two Fury Attacks were managed.

Tsuki gave Tamika a helpless shrug. “You only just look at its move list now? I think they’re like Magikarp, you gotta evolve them first.” He tried to explain, having some kind of idea as to her being so stunned. This Toxel… really seemed to counter their Pokemon. So Tsuki made a mental note to pick his Pokemon a bit more carefully for the next Pokemon Den they tackled, assuming they survived this one. But for now, it seemed like they were in a rough spot!

Makara was paralyzed, and the command of another Fury Attack did jack and all when the bird was too stunned to attack this turn. That poor Applin didn’t look too good either. But thankfully, and by god did he think thankfully, the Toxel seemed just as worse for ware. The Rock Throw hitting its shin made the baby Pokemon reel back and embrace its leg in pain, creating the opening that allowed Tamika’s hurt Applin to gut check it with an Astonish.

Scowling at this predicament, Tsuki braced for impact as the Toxel went around for a second go at them. It had been mildly stunned by the barrage of attacks along with that final Astonish, so it only managed two attacks this time. First it swung around its arms wildly, slamming them into the side of Hop’s Wooloo with a direct Flail that sent the little sheep Pokemon flying back.

The Galarian trainer and his Pokemon wouldn’t back down yet though, Hop pointing at the Toxel fiercely before giving his Pokemon a command. “Let’s make your next attack legendary! Wooloo, use Tackle!” He cried out. The Wooloo charged through the poison type’s defenses, leaping and ramming its body into the stomach of their enemy. If Monique wanted an opening to finish this fight, this was going to be her opportunity. Though like before, the Toxel had to lower the offense powers of this team. Its eyes watered and soon the baby salamander began to weep little crocodile tears as it used Tearful Look on the Rockruff. Anything to last another round against these intruders!

With Tamika's Applin using Astonish and (more importantly to be totally honest), Monique's Rockruff throwing a boulder that struck it in the head, the Toxel would finally fall over in defeat. Tsuki leapt up in excitement, having been a little worried that things were not going to end well. Which, they very well could have if they had been just a bit more unlucky! With their Pokemon selection, that baby Pokemon had enough coverage to be a bit of a menace to them. But with the battle over, a question remained: were any of them going to catch this Pokemon?

Tsuki decided against it personally. As interesting of a new Pokemon as this was, he was already in the midst of training Makara and getting a hang on Snapdragon's new abilities now that he wasn't an Applin anymore. Hopefully he'd get an opportunity to use him again soon- besides his battle in the Tower of Mastery he hadn't had much time to shine yet.

Hop likewise was fine. "If either of you ladies want this lad, go ahead! I have a bit of a team in mind to put together." he said. Clearly, whatever team he had in mind, Toxel was not going to be a part of it.

The boys started to climb back up the well that they had come in from after having returned their Pokemon back to their balls. When they finally got out, Hope stretched his arms and pointed back to Motostoke. "I really ought to head out though, I had a lot of fun! But I gotta get signed up for the gym challenge!" he said, boxing his fists in the air.

"They make you sign up for it?" Tsuki asked, curious about how Galar did things.

"Yeah, yeah mate, you sign up here and get put on the track for the current battle circuit. You should join in, signups for this season go all month! I really gotta go though, sorry! And cya around Tsuki! You too Tam and Monque!" Hop cried out as he ran back to Motostoke.

Tsuki waved goodbye back, deciding to take Hop up on that offer once he was done trying to get a Wishing Star here. "Where next? Wanna check out one of the cities or head back into the Wild Area?" he asked whoever was down to keep going. "I wanna check out the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra areas too- plus if they have any interesting lookin' towns."

"If you can get a hold of a Tart or Sweet Apple, you should be able to do more with your Applin- I think both of those are easy to get in Galar." Tsuki offered to Tamika, failing to think of a place where she could potentially get a Syrupy Apple here. But no, that was Kitakami export. He returned his Pikipek too now that he thought about less experienced Pokemon. The little guy had given it his all in that fight- but he'd need a bit more training before he could rely on him in battle.

"I see you decided to catch that beast, did you happen to get what type of Pokemon it is? It's gotta be some weird combination I've never seen before in Kanto or Paldea." Tsuki asked Monique. Even if he had no interest in training it as his own, he did like learning about new Pokemon. Speaking of though, he wondered if he'd ought to use Snapdragon in whatever battle they took part in next. Like Makara, he hadn't been completely field tested yet- where as his other Pokemon were old hands at battling for him.

Tsuki agreed with Tamika. "Hah, yeah he is... really fast." he'd say, looking at how Hop had already managed to go in the distance. He'd have to take him up on the suggestion of trying out the Galar League. That sounded fun, really fun in fact. Kanto and Paldea were like uncomfortable homes that he had gotten used to with time but Galar was like a clean slate. Why not make it his own?

Thinking about it, they had both experienced a bit of the business of Galar's cities on their own. Wyndon was... a lot. Plus, knowing himself, if Tsuki step foot in Motostoke he'd get sidetracked and hop right on the gym challenge. No. He'd come back to that later for sure. "Let's get to the train station? My channeling teacher suggested I check out the Isle of Armor- anything beats the tundra or another city." He shuddered.

"Also I have no clue about what you mean about Turffield." He blinked, innocently or ignorantly. Tsuki had been in Galar for all of- four hours? If it wasn't Wyndon and Motostoke he didn't know jack about it.