“WHAT?” was the chorus sung by the four children. Victor was absolutely petrified. There was no way that Leon would condemn him with a ride with Gloria. Just a few minutes ago, Gloria had proved what Victor represented in her eyes. He was nobody to her, just another face that she could boss around. Leon must’ve noticed this unease as he put his hand on Victor's shoulder.

“You see, Victor here had some complaints about you guys yelling at him,” Leon started, “so I thought that his old friend Gloria could comfort him!”

Gloria was visibly confused, but Victor knew what Leon meant. Leon was really trying to mend Victor and Gloria’s broken friendship. ‘Good luck with that,” Victor solemnly thought.

“Can I ride with Marnie instead?” Gloria asked.

“No,” Leon replied.

“But she’s scared of heights!” Gloria argued.

Marnie tried to interject with a quick ‘I’m fine,’ but Bede stopped her. “This is logical for a simple small town boy,” Bede deduced, “but it is unfair for us city folk!”

Leon smirked. “Don’t worry, Marnie’s a rather sweet girl. Girls won’t hurt you, you know.” he teased.

“I am NOT afraid of girls!” Bede countered. He sounded like a preschooler.

Victor wondered how Leon had the confidence to stand up to someone as powerful as Bede. Maybe it was because of Leon’s status as former Champion. Maybe all Victor needed was a fancy title or to be insanely strong to become confident. That was it! While Hop was going on his journey to find battling strength, Victor would find inner strength! It was perfect!

While Leon went to retrieve his Flying Taxi, Victor followed the others as they went to go collect their luggage. Which they left in his house. That was swell… At least during this time, nobody was yelling at him. Victor picked up a few bags and left with the others. Then, they all waited for the two taxis to arrive. Not a word was muttered between the group.

Suddenly, the first taxi was visible in the night sky. It, Victor noticed, was not Leon’s. A Pokemon Hop had seen in a book called a staraptor was leading the taxi. Leon definitely didn’t own one of those. Also, the driving of the taxi was way too calm to be Leon’s. And the taxi was here on time. If Leon drove it, he’d probably get lost. That made Victor remember the camping trip he took with Hop and Gloria a few years ago. Leon led them through the forest, and next thing they knew they were all in the Wild Area. But perhaps the biggest indicator was that the person driving it looked nothing like Leon. With her bubblegum pink ponytail and her impatient blue eyes, she looked more like a supermodel or something rather than a taxi driver. Acting like a model, she leapt out of the taxi with a flip… and landed on her face.

“ACK!” she exclaimed. “That was you guys’ cue to catch me!”

“What a brat,” Bede remarked. Victor thought this to be very ironic that Bede dubbed someone else ‘a brat.’

“What did you say, girly?” the pink-haired girl queried.

“What an acrobat!” Gloria corrected her friend, “and Bede’s a guy.”

“Yes, I am a great acrobat,” the woman gushed, completely ignoring the last part of Gloria’s sentence. “I’m looking for someone by the name of Bee-bee. You know her?”

“Do you mean-” Marnie started.

“I mean Bee-bee!” the girl yelled. “By the way, my name’s Madison.”

Bede’s face turned into an angry scowl. “My name is NOT BEE-BEE!!!” he exploded.

“Yeah, I can see,” Madison stated.

“BUT I WAS THE ONE THAT CALLED IN FOR THIS TAXI, BRAT!!!” fumed Bede.

Madison sighed as she shook her head. “Sure you did, buster. And I don’t like being called a brat. You got that?”

Bede raised one of his fists and shook it. Gloria rolled her eyes at Bede’s childish gesture. Victor, as usual, remained silent. Leon rushed over to the area where the four kids (and one rather annoying woman) were standing. “Hey guys! I got my taxi working!” he grinned.

Madison looked mad at the appearance of another Flying Taxi driver. “Why would you guys call this guy over me? He’s awful with directions!” she pouted.

“I DID CALL FOR YOU!!!” Bede raged.

Leon, however, had a strategy. Victor could see the spark in Leon’s eyes that revealed he had a plan. Victor prayed that it wasn’t like that one time Leon had put his brother on a wild rhyhorn without any protection of any kind.

“Maddie, I’m going to get a GIANT tip for taking these four to Sinnoh!” taunted Leon. “I’ll also get a promotion!”

Victor was shocked with Leon’s taunt. That sounded like something a child would say in a game! However, he remembered that he didn’t know Madison. She could be a child for all he knew! She was only a little bit taller than him. It could be true.

“Before me? No way!” Madison countered. “I’ll take two of them, and you can take the other two! Let’s see who gets the bigger tip!”

“Excellent! You can take Marnie and Bee-bee,” Leon chuckled as he started to walk towards his taxi, “and I’ll take Gloria and Victor.”

Bede’s remark of “MY NAME’S BEDE!” was hardly audible as Madison pushed him into her Flying Taxi. The four had split their luggage up into two groups so that each duo would have the required food rations to survive the trip. Except Victor had a feeling that he wouldn’t survive this trip. Going all the way across the globe to Sinnoh with Gloria would be, at best, awkward. Even though Gloria had not intentionally ignored his letter, they still hadn’t talked in six months. However, if Gloria got into a bad mood, the ride would be absolutely awful. It was common knowledge, even outside of Postwick, that Gloria had a fiery temper. Victor just received a reminder of that thirty minutes ago. They would have Leon flying them, but he would be outside and could only offer little protection. All the anxiety of riding with Gloria made Victor a little dizzy.

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Gloria hardly looked like she shared Victor’s anxiety. She was helping Marnie carry a bag into Madison’s Flying Taxi with a smile on her face. The last time Victor had seen Gloria this cheerful was when she became the Champion of Galar. ‘Maybe it is better,’ Victor thought, ‘if I just left Gloria alone. After all, she seems happier with her new friends.’

Victor went over to Leon’s Flying Taxi. His corviknight looked pretty lively considering that it was extremely early in the morning. Leon wasn’t there; he was probably getting something from his house. Victor grabbed his bags and put them into the taxi. It was pretty crammed in there, but Victor didn’t really mind. He would probably just spend his time looking out the window anyways. He didn’t bring anything for entertainment other than some books. He remembered a few days ago when he packed up some books for Hop’s trip. Victor wondered if his friend read any of the books.

Victor didn’t really remember how he drifted to sleep. One minute, he was thinking about books. The next minute, his head had rested on one of the bags he brought in, and he had fallen into a peaceful slumber.

“Why do we have to pick up the food anyways?” Barry inquired. “What if Dawny gets caught up in whatever’s happening?”

“Dawn is the Champion,” responded Lucas. “Whatever is happening, she can take care of it.”

“Then why wasn’t she asked to go with Cynthia?” Barry pointed out.

Hop decided to sit on his bed and listen to his two guides talk. It was quite obvious, at least it was to Hop, why Dawn was not invited to go take down the Giratina thing. Even if she was a Champion, she was still a teenager. Hop doubted that the government of Sinnoh would intentionally invite a child on a deadly mission.

Suddenly, the door opened. Dawn walked in, carrying a bag. She looked less grumpy than she was previously, but she didn’t look super happy either.

“More food? Yes please!” Barry exclaimed, dashing towards the bundle he assumed was full of food.

Dawn lifted it just out of Barry’s reach. “It’s supplies,” Dawn explained, “like berries and supplements for Pokemon.”

Barry got an offended look on his face. “You’re going to replace me?” he accused.

Lucas and Dawn looked at him with faces of disapproval. “This is serious, Barry,” Lucas muttered.

“As I was saying,” Dawn said, “these supplies will help us ward off Giratina to somewhere where it can’t do any harm. Like a cave of some sort.”

Hop was shocked that Dawn actually named the Pokemon. He thought she thought they were merely talking about bread. “Yes,” Dawn stated, almost like she read Hop’s mind, “I knew you two were not actually talking about bread. I’m not a complete idiot.”

“Does that mean,” Barry chuckled, “that you’re an incomplete idiot?”

“Hey, don’t talk to Dawn like-” Lucas defended.

“No, I’m partially an idiot. If I would have told Hop myself, I could have properly addressed the danger of Giratina,” Dawn replied in a deadpan expression.

Hop wondered what Dawn meant by ‘properly addressing the danger.’ Giratina was a Pokemon. Pokemon aren’t evil. Sure, they could cause harm, but that only happened when they were spooked or if their trainer had ill intent. There was no way that a Pokemon would be vile on its own accord.

“But aren’t Pokemon only as bad as their trainers?” Hop questioned.

“I can see you’ve never researched anything about Giratina before,” Dawn commented. “Giratina is a Pokemon that is full of malice. It’ll cause destruction at any chance it can. It’s not called the Renegade Pokemon for nothing.”

“Renegade is basically a fancy word for traitor,” Lucas clarified. Hop knew Lucas was trying to be helpful, but it came off as rather arrogant.

“Why aren’t we leaving this to the aduuullllltttttsssss?” Barry complained.

“Because we’re some of the strongest trainers in Sinnoh!” Dawn countered. “And Hop seems pretty strong, too.”

Hop didn’t know why Dawn thought he was strong. The only time she had seen him battle was with Cynthia earlier that day and… that battle ended before Hop could truly display any sort of strength. Hop really didn’t feel very strong. After all, he didn’t beat Gloria yet. That was his goal, and it would prove that he was strong! And if he obtained Giratina, that battle would definitely end in his favor.

“But it’s lateeeee!” whined Barry.

“We’ll start tomorrow!” Lucas announced. “If we ward off Giratina, Barry, we’ll be famous!”

Barry’s eyes lit up. “Will we be on the television? Will everyone see it? Will I get free food at places?” Barry peppered.

Lucas and Dawn exchanged a glance and started nodding. Barry nearly jumped up in joy. “Waa-hoo! It’s always been my dream to get free food!” Barry cheered. “Speaking of which, where’s dinner?”

“I’m cooking. I brought some ingredients in the supply bag.” Dawn informed her friends. Barry sighed and whispered, “I wish she would’ve gotten fast food.”

Dawn had declared that dinner would be held in room 412. Lucas and Barry went with her to help her, so Hop was alone. He decided to look through his bag while the others were busy. His hand rested on the pokeball Dawn caught the shinx in. Hop forgot that he even received a shinx. He decided to let it out.

“Go, shinx!” Hop exclaimed as he threw the pokeball. Out of habit, he threw it just like his brother. Now he knew that flashy poses weren’t the key to true strength.

Once it was out of the pokeball, the shinx jumped around playfully. Hop wondered if all this jumping, as well as his exclamation, would get him a noise complaint. The shinx certainly was lively and fun. It bounced all over the hotel room and then rested near Hop’s feet. Hop pulled out his Pokedex. ‘Maybe this will have information on this little guy,’ Hop thought. The information was pretty basic. Hop learned that shinxes were electric types. He also learned that his shinx was a male and was the high level of… six. Level six. Dawn wasn’t joking when she said Hop needed to train the little guy.

The shinx looked at Hop with a smile and a glimmer in his eyes. Hop knew the shinx wanted to be his Pokemon, but did Hop want to be his trainer? The shinx must’ve noticed Hop’s uncertainty because his smile turned upside down and he looked at Hop with wide-eyes. Hop returned the shinx to his pokeball. He would wonder if he wanted to keep the shinx later. He had bigger matters on his hands right now. How would he catch Giratina? If it was really as strong as everybody said, then a mere pokeball wouldn’t be enough to catch it. A great ball would probably be useless, too. Maybe an ultra ball would work? Hop didn’t have anything more powerful than an ultra ball. He hoped that would be enough.

Suddenly, he heard a holler from Dawn’s room. He could make out the words ‘burned,’ ‘ruined,’ and ‘butter on toast.’ Hop was very nervous about what happened.

“Soooooooo,” Barry explained at Hop’s doorway a few minutes later, “I was supposed to make sure something didn’t burn, but I forgot and the dinner is now, in Lucas’s words, ‘ruined.’ Now, as my repentance, you get to taste the most exotic and complicated recipe I know.”

Hop could hear Lucas sighing from the hallway.

“How would you like,” Barry asked, “the foreign meal known as buttered toast?”