pikatwig

It has been a hot minute since we had one of these. I had been meaning to get back to finishing Sword and Shield (moreso the former) for quite a while, but there were just so many things that kinda kept me back. The pandemic came around, had to deal with a bit of a loss in the family (my grandfather had passed back in 2020), I had to adapt to online learning, and then there was college. Then there was the DLC. I still can't afford it. Nevertheless, I think it's finally time we get back to the tale of Victoria and her team.

Victoria had continued to assist the Global Association of Pokémon for a while as she had awaited more news from Leon about when the tournament could finally continue. However, owing to some circumstances that nobody could've expected, the tournament needed to go onto hiatus, as did a lot of the world, for... a while. Victoria couldn't quite remember how long it was.

Nevertheless, the trainers who had the honor of being in the tournament that would let them try to challenge Leon didn't stop training. Victoria's entire team had reached Level 82 and had gotten ready for the match after a date was finally announced to allow them to partake.

Yea. My team was all that high of a level. I'll admit that I didn't know how strong Leon was off of the top of my head and figured at least being 70 or higher would be a good idea. 82 was just sorta where they ended up after all my messing around and using items to boost their levels.

"Wow... it's good to be back..." Victoria said with a smile as she entered the arena in Wyndon to see the various Galarian Gym Leaders. Some were a tiny bit older than what Victoria recognized, but it wasn't by a totally huge margin.

"Seeing all of us together... makes it feel like time hasn't gone by since the earlier rounds," Nessa commented before she saw Victoria, "Long time no see."

"Same to you," Victoria smiled before she saw Piers nearby as he was brushing his hair a little bit, "You good?"

"Yeah. And I'll do it without usin' Dynamax, to help everyone in Spikemuth reclaim their pride..." Piers commented.

Victoria gave a small giggle before she glanced around the room. Apart from herself was Nessa, Bea, Gordie, Piers, Kabu, Milo, and Raihan. The eight were all ready.

"As long as you continue to push yourself, your brilliance will never fade," Kabu had said to the group before they headed out to the pitch.

Honestly, that was a nice comment from Kabu there. And, given how few of the Gym Leaders showed up in the actual anime, it just felt really nice to see them all again. Say what you will about Sword and Shield, but they have some great Gym Leaders.

The eight trainers gathered onto the pitch and watched as Leon gave a speech. For as much as everyone there had wanted to beat him, and as much as the audience had wanted to see him remain unbeaten, there was an air of calmness and familiarity that came with him speaking and addressing the region. Even if it was supposed to be the Chairman, it was just nice to have the champion speaking to the region.

"Let the finals matches, at long last, begin!" Leon cheered.

Victoria glanced around the stadium and saw it was back to maximum output. She just gave a smile towards everyone, along with a small wave, before she started to head backstage alongside the other challengers. She had a content and relaxed look, but...

"WAIT, YOU! VICTORIA EVANS!"

Everybody stopped and glanced around for a moment.

"...is your last name seriously 'Evans'?" Nessa ended up asking after a moment.

"Yeah. Why? Have I never mentioned it?" Victoria asked.

"Not that I remember," Bea added on.

"GET BACK HERE!"

"...oh, I know that voice..." Victoria sighed. She turned around and returned to the pitch to see someone all too familiar, "...hello there, yank..."

Sure enough, it was Bede who was looking for a rematch now that he had changed his type specialty from Psychic to Fairy.

"It's time for some revenge..." Bede mumbled after the battle started.

"Sure..." Victoria responded with a roll of her eyes.

The battle got underway with Victoria sending in Mothra, while Bede sent in a Mawile that had Intimidate. Victoria quickly recalled Mothra and sent out Usagi. Mawile's Iron Head did connect for a bit of damage. Usagi quickly used Pyro Ball and KOed Mawile in a single strike.

"Yank... just leave while you can still salvage your dignity. ...whatever is left of it at this point..." Victoria commented.

Bede said nothing as he sent in Gardevoir, with Usagi sending in Deku. Deku quickly used Pin Missile, with the first hit being a critical hit, and the remaining three are enough to get the KO.

Without anything else said, Bede sent in his Galarian Rapidash. Victoria recalled Deku and got out a Timer Ball that housed a team member that was ready for anything, "It all be~gins. A chance to win! A dream that's been a lifetime, an endless vast uphill climb!"

With that little bit, she sent in Weiss. The knight Pokémon took the field and stood ready for action. Weiss dashed forward after a call for Steel Wing, may not have needed to crit, and managed to OHKO Rapidash, and get a defense buff.

"Not... again..." Bede growled as he sent in his ace, Hatterene.

"Huh?"

"I... REFUSE TO LOSE TO THAT POKEMON AGAIN!" Bede yelled in pure frustration.

"...ah. That's who you want revenge on..." Victoria realized.

"I accepted part of her advice... for the sake of beating that duck!" Bede proclaimed, "My life has been improving, but you... beating you... will be the one thing that purges me from my past! You and that dumb duck!"

Weiss just gave a 'come on' motion with her leek. Bede growled as he recalled his Hatterene to her ball and then made it go into her Gigamax form. Weiss dashed forward and landed a critical Steel Wing for the KO. Bede fell to his knees out of disbelief as he recalled his ace. He got up and started to try to leave.

"Hey! Wait! Turn and show your face! I've got a lot to say and you're not going anywhere!" Victoria proclaimed, making Bede turn around, "You've done anything to crush my soul and anything to feel control! You've clearly gotten better when you don't think about me, so just carry on with your life and whatever probation you have to deal with! Don't bother me or my friends, and I won't bother you!"

Bede rolled his eyes before he headed away without another word. Victoria let out a heavy sigh, then headed back stage to allow her team a moment to be healed.

I will say, given how much I've bullied Bede with Weiss, I genuinely do think part of his logic for changing types was to get something that would be super effective on her. Didn't work. And, yeah, I did throw in some references to "It's My Turn" from RWBY. Given the source of the nickname for my Sirfetch'd, makes sense.

After all the time I spent using Weiss to beat Bede, it only makes sense to do it again. This was just something that had to have been done.

Following the interruption, the tournament was allowed to resume. Victoria saw her round one match would be against Nessa and then looked over her team for a moment. She rummaged through her bag for a bit and eventually found a TR for Leaf Blade.

"I know you like to use Leer, but we need the coverage. You cool with that?" Victoria asked Weiss.

The Sirfetch'd looked for a moment before giving an approving nod, replacing the move she had carried for years for another move. She twirled her leek for a moment and then posed, ready for action.

I kept Leer that long as a bit of a reference to the namesake, but the coverage in the event Hero went down and I needed the back-up was important to me. I will comment... I really hate that TMs went back to being breakable. I can live with it in Scarlet and Violet because you can craft more of them, which may take a bit (I was trying to locate a Pokémon so that I could craft one when I started Scarlet recently), but if they have to be breakable again, then this is a good compromise, at least to me. ...in before we get the Gen 5 remakes and they go right back to not being breakable again. One step forward, two steps back, I suppose.

Victoria walked out onto the pitch and saw Nessa approaching as well, "It's nice to see you again."

"Same to you," Nessa admitted with a smile.

The two exchanged some words before they took steps back to begin the battle. Some music began to play in the stadium to hype it up as both sides sent in their first Pokémon for the match. Nessa sent out a Golisopod, while Victoria sent out Mothra. Golisopod led with First Impression and managed to get the first hit. Mothra responded by using Attract, which did connect. With the opening granted, Victoria called for Mothra to use Quiver Dance. In spite of the attraction, Golisopod managed to use Swords Dance. Mothra quickly closed the distance and managed to beat Golisopod with a non critical Struggle Bug.

Next up, Nessa sent in her Pelipper. Victoria had an internal sigh at the sight of this Pokémon, but used the moment for the switch chance to send in Hero. Pelipper's Drizzle soon activated, and rain fell around the area. Hero managed to out speed and land a critical Bolt Beak for a one-shot.

Nessa gave off a small sigh before she sent in her Barraskewda. Hero was kept in, but Barraskewda managed to out speed and hit a Liquidation. In spite of that, Bolt Beak (without a critical) managed to get a one-shot.

With that, Nessa sent out her Seaking. Hero was recalled in favor of Mothra.

"Just gotta keep her ready for her ace..." Victoria mumbled, thinking about Weiss and the need to keep her ready.

Regardless, Seaking uses Aqua Ring as Mothra used Struggle Bug. The move brought Seaking to the yellow. Seaking then used Waterfall and did connect with Mothra. Another Struggle Bug is enough to knock Seaking out.

"Phew..." Victoria exhaled, wiping a little bit of sweat off of her forehead.

"Getting nervous?" Nessa asked as she recalled Seaking.

"I'd be lying if I said no. My nerves are mostly in check, but you got some quick Pokémon," Victoria responded.

Nessa gave off a small giggle before she sent in her ace, Drednaw. Victoria recalled Mothra in favor of Weiss. Nessa proceeded to Gigamax her Drednaw for the fight... only for Weiss to out speed, connect with Leaf Blade, and one-shot Nessa's quad-weak ace. Victoria and Weiss cheered a bit at the victory before the rain from Drizzle finally went away.

I don't know if I acted overly cautiously with using Mothra against Seaking. Also, wasn't aware of this before I did some fact checking on spellings and stuff... both Barraskewda and Seaking have Swift Swim. I was not aware of that. That explains how they out-sped. Eh. It's alright.

Next to the pitch was Victoria against Bea. The two trainers walked out and were both ready for another battle. Victoria soon spotted Alister, Bea's younger cousin, and Acerola, Alister's older sister, were in the crowd and cheering her on. Victoria recalled hearing an event where Bea had tried to get a Pokémon that was discovered in the Paldea region that was a Fighting and Ghost-type into Galar. The border patrol had said no about it and remained firm on it. Bea mentioned wanting to use it if she got to be champion.

"Hey, good to see you," Victoria greeted.

"It has been a long while," Bea responded as she took a moment to give a respectful gesture to Victoria, which Victoria responded with in kind.

After a bit, the two took their positions for the battle. Bea led with Hawlucha. Victoria carefully considered her options for a moment before she sent in Mothra.

"Are you sure about that?" Bea couldn't help but teasingly ask.

"I have faith in my team," Victoria responded, '...that, and I really don't know who else to lead with...'

With that, the match began. Hawlucha managed to land a Flying Press that did a bit, but Mothra countered with a one-shot with Icy Wind.

"...your faith is well placed," Bea responded, recalling her Hawlucha.

"Great work, Mothra!" Victoria smiled.

Bea then sent out a Falinks. Victoria carefully observed it for a moment, trying to recall if it was a partial Steel-type, and then swapped Mothra out for Usagi. The crowd cheered at the sight of Victoria's ace. With that, Victoria called for Electro Ball to test the waters. The attack brought Falinks to the yellow as it countered with Rock Tomb, lowering Usagi's speed. In spite of that, a Flame Charge was enough to get the knock out.

"...refresh my memory... is Falinks pure Fighting or a Fighting/Steel-type?" Victoria soon asked.

"Pure Fighting-type," Bea informed as she recalled her Falinks.

"I always forget that..." Victoria exhaled.

Nevertheless, Bea sent out her Grapploct. After a moment, Victoria recalled Usagi in favor of Haru. Haru was effortlessly able to out-speed and OHKO Grapploct with a Zen Headbutt that didn't even crit.

Next in was Bea's own Sirfetch'd. Victoria quickly recalled Haru in favor of Weiss, with the two Sirfetch'ds exchanging a nod at each-other. Victoria quickly called for Brave Bird, which managed to get the critical hit and a KO. Weiss remained standing with green health.

"Risky move... but it worked..." Victoria mumbled.

Finally, was Bea's ace, Machamp. Weiss was recalled for Haru as Machamp went Giga. Haru landed a Zen Headbutt that did about half. Haru easily survived a G-Max Chi Strike at around half, give or take, and then cleaned up with another Zen Headbutt.

"Woohoo!" Victoria cheered.

So, I'll go ahead and comment on this. I totally forgot that Bea's last scene in the anime was her Machamp against Hop's Wooloo. I only chose to send in Haru because the Psychic-type move seemed like the best move at the time. And, yeah, I did forget Falinks is a pure Fighting-type. It looks like a partial Steel-type to me!

Regardless, it's time for the hardest fight so far to be covered.

Victoria got back to the locker room after her team was healed up and checked on the broadcast for the next round, but it was already wrapped up and had gone to commercial break. She exhaled a little bit before she heard somebody else enter the room. She quickly turned to see Piers was there and soon followed by Marnie. Victoria let out an exhale upon hearing that Piers ended up losing, although both sides had gone down to their last team member.

"Honestly, that Torkoal of his was a headache..." Piers admitted, "Didn't expect that to be his lead for the battle."

Victoria took a mental note of that before she turned to the Spikemuth natives, "Don't worry. I'll keep showing this lot of a region how battles can be skilled without Dynamaxing."

Piers smiled and hugged Victoria for a moment before Marnie added she would be cheering her on as well. Thus, Victoria took a moment to consider what she would do next. Piers had let slip what Raihan's lead would be, which meant somebody else needed to be sent in first to deal with the pure Fire-type.

So, I did look up what Raihan's lead was going to be. He ended up being the toughest of the Gym Leaders, so I thought he would be someone I should prep for at least a little bit. Piers letting it slip is a small nod to the fact that Victoria is close to him and Marnie.

And because of that bit, I wanted to have Deku be the one to beat Durladon. Problem with that was that Deku didn't have any super effective moves for said battle. While I could teach Deku some Fighting-type move, I didn't have any that I thought would work or they were mostly TRs that I didn't want to risk. The only Fire-type moved that Obstagoon could learn is Fire Punch... which was a TM that was in Wyndon. Ah well. Let's get into the battle and see how it unfolded.

With a moment to prep, Victoria headed out to the pitch to meet up with Raihan.

"Just so you know... I'm winning this battle for Piers," Victoria spoke, readying herself.

"Bold words. Let's see if you can back them up," Raihan responded.

The two stepped back onto the field after a bit more dialogue. Raihan led with his Torkoal as Victoria ended up sending out Haru first. Torkoal's Drought then took to the field as the weather got more sunny. Victoria and Haru exchanged a nod of understanding before Haru went in for a Double Kick, but Torkoal used Yawn. Victoria quickly recalled Haru and then sent in Weiss in her place. Torkoal then used Yawn again. Weiss managed to land a Brick Break that knocked out Torkoal with a crit before she fell asleep.

With this, Raihan sent in his Turtonator. Weiss was recalled for Haru. Haru uses Double Kick, which ends up playing into Shell Trap. Haru is then recalled in favor of Usagi as Turtonator uses Shell Trap again. The sunlight then fades and the area's weather is normal. Usagi uses Electro Ball, which brings Turtonator to the red. A Sunny Day is called for and then Raihan uses a Full Restore. Usagi uses Pyro Ball, which brings Turtonator to yellow. Another Shell Trap is set up, while Usagi uses Electro Ball to bring Turtonator to around one or two health left. Turtonator tries for Shell Trap again, but a Double Kick from Usagi is enough for the knock out.

"He's gotta be saving another Full Restore for his ace..." Victoria mumbled.

While Usagi had no damage at this point, she was recalled in favor of Hero as Raihan sent out his Flygon. Victoria recalled that it clearly knew Earthquake, so she called for Icicle Crash. Raihan, however, set up a Sandstorm instead. Thankfully, even without a crit, Icicle Crash was enough for a one-shot. Deku grew to Level 83 as a result of the EXP share.

Next in was Raihan's Goodra.

"How you feeling?" Victoria asked Hero, who gave a noise in happiness, "Alright."

Hero was quickly told to use Hail. The Hail came down... only to instantly be replaced by rain via a Rain Dance. Hero then used Hail again as Goodra went for a Surf that did a bit. Hero was then recalled for Mothra... just as Raihan called for Rain Dance, again. Mothra uses Icy Wind, which knocked Goodra to the red. Goodra managed to land a Surf that did a fair bit, but another Icy Wind knocked out Goodra. Hero leveled up to 83 from that.

"Okay... here we go..." Victoria nervously exhaled as she knew who was coming in next.

Then, in came Duraludon. Mothra was recalled for Deku. Durlaudon then went Giga. Deku used Obstruct and managed to block a bit of the damage from a Max Knuckle. Deku is then recalled and the still sleeping Weiss is sent in, who takes the Max Knuckle. The rain passed at this point. Weiss remained asleep as a Max Steelspike was used that boosted Durlaudon's defense by one stage and brought Weiss to low yellow health before the Gigamax ended. A Full Restore was then used on Weiss, which got her back to being awake and back into action. Durlaudon used Iron Head on Weiss. The next move was a critical Leaf Blade from Weiss, followed by Durlaudon using another Iron Head. Another critical Leaf Blade hit, and while Durlaudon was knocked to yellow, a Dragon Claw knocked out Weiss. Haru is then sent in... and then quickly recalled for Usagi, successfully baiting out a Body Press. A Revive is used on Weiss, but a Stone Edge ends up knocking out Usagi. Haru is sent back out, while Victoria uses a Max Revive on Usagi. Haru manages to endure the Body Press at 36 HP. Haru is then swapped out for Usagi, who takes a Stone Edge to about middle yellow. Usagi is then recalled for Deku, who survives the Stone Edge.

"Well, I've made you use all six team members! Not too bad," Raihan commented.

"Huh... so you have," Victoria realized, not having totally registered she had used her entire team during this round of the tournament.

Deku then used Take Down, which knocked Durlaudon to the red. Durlaudon then countered with a Body Press that did the same to Deku. Deku quickly used Obstruct to prevent another Body Press from being the KO. Two hits from Pin Missile are enough to finally bring Raihan's ace down. Mothra ended up leveling up from the battle.

Victoria and Deku cheered a bit, but then Victoria made sure to shake hands with Raihan for a well fought battle.

"Keep up the momentum! Prove that Leon's not unbeatable!" Raihan encouraged.

-Number 18, Challenger Victoria, has achieved a dazzling triumph!- the announcer cheered.

Alright. So, they say that Raihan's about on par with Leon and other champions in the franchise. Given the difficulty of both his battles, yeah, I believe that. His ace is pretty difficult to beat and I gotta give him kudos for a nail biter of a battle.

After the win against him, I did need to take a break so my Switch could recharge. Had been going for quite a while at that point.

With a little bit of time to rest and recharge, as well as heal her team, Victoria was getting ready for the finals with Leon. Hop soon swung by and gave her some encouragement, which made her smile a little bit. After she and her team felt ready, they headed out to the pitch to meet up with Leon for the finals.

Leon gave a small bit of a speech and a bit of encouragement, even if he still thought he was going to win. Victoria took the comments in stride before she headed across from him to get ready.

...nobody was quite prepared for what happened next, though.

Chairman Robert Rose's face appeared on screen and said he was going to bring about the Darkest Day. Power Spots around the region erupted with energy and some sort of mysterious Pokémon was unleashed near Hammerlocke.

Everybody was forced to leave the stadium, although Victoria managed to sneak a moment to get back into her regular clothes, before she met up with Leon and Hop. Leon soon took off to try to get to Hammerlocke as soon as he could.

"This is bad..." Victoria mumbled.

"I want to help Lee, but... I don't know what to do..." Hop added on.

"Just try," Victoria encouraged.

"But... what? What can we even do...?"

The two thought for a bit before they realized the sword and shield Pokémon in the Slumbering Weald were their answer. The two started to hurry, but soon spotted someone doing some work to help the people and Pokémon out and heal a few as need be.

"Oh, you!" Hop realized.

"Hmm?"

"Hey... you're the one who helped me out when I first got Hero all that time ago," Victoria said in realization, "...sorry. I don't recall if I ever got your name."

"Gladion. Gladion Aether," he quickly introduced, "I went up against Hop there in the tournament a while back."

"You sure were something," Hop admitted.

"I'm glad I ran into you two, though. Leon hurried off before I could give him something to deal with the Pokémon that was unleashed..." Gladion exhaled.

"Do you know what it is?" Victoria quickly asked.

"All I know is that UB-EX is extremely dangerous and needs to be stopped," Gladion stated before he rummaged around to get something.

"UB-EX? What...?" Victoria soon questioned.

"It's not all that important. Nevertheless..." Gladion spoke before he handed Victoria a strange Pokeball that was blue and had odd gold rims, "Get this to Leon as soon as you can. If he wants any hope of catching UB-EX to try to stop it, a regular Pokeball won't work."

Victoria gave a quick nod and accepted the mysterious ball before she and Hop hurried off.

Well, it's been set up for a while, but let's break this down a little bit. Gladion being in the region was hinted at for a while and he is, as mentioned, the one who Hop beat to get to battle Victoria. Gladion's reason for being there is because of how Eternatus is an Ultra Beast. To me, Eternatus more resembles the Ultra Beasts instead of other Pokémon. Plus, it is said to be from outer space, and exposure to Ultra Wormholes were what created the Totem Pokémon. The Totems are larger than regular Pokémon. It makes sense to me. Plus, and this is something I recently learned, Eternatus has toxins that corrupt people in much the same way UB-01 did (this was from the Adventures manga).

...as an aside, what is the franchise's fascination with mystical means to make Pokémon bigger? Seriously, there's the Totems from Gen 7, Dynamax from Gen 8, Legends had the Alphas, and Gen 9 has the Titans.

Anyway, Eternatus is called "UB-EX: Giga". Felt it was a fitting codename.

As the Flying Taxi carried Victoria and Hop back to their hometown. Victoria used her Rotom Phone to look up anything that may be useful about the Chairman in the event they needed to battle. His team was mostly Steel-types, as was sort of tradition in the family, which would be good for Victoria.

"You know, if he wanted to remain unstoppable or whatever, he should've done this while everybody was in lockdown..." Victoria remarked, "I'm glad he didn't, but just, in retrospect..."

"Point..." Hop added.

The two eventually got back and briefly met up with Sonia before they headed into the foggy forest. After a bit, there needed to be a few short battles. These battles ended up getting Haru and Weiss to level up to 83. Usagi soon had an EXP candy to catch up to the others. They kept going and eventually found a rusted sword and shield that seemed connected to the two Pokémon.

With that, Victoria and Hop returned to Hammerlocke and met up with Raihan. He mentioned the city was evacuated and told the two to get ready. With the okay, Victoria briefly returned to Turffield and located the TM for Brutal Swing. With it and Steel Wing both being a TM, Weiss could be swapped between them as need be. Brutal Swing was then taught to her over Steel Wing for the time being and for the future. To her surprise, Deku couldn't learn it at all.

"Alright..." Victoria mumbled as she looked over the TMs and TRs that she had and eventually found one for Bug Buzz that clearly had a little bit of age on it. She thought it over a bit before recalling the TR was bought way back when Steven was still in the team, "Wow... this is old. I'll admit, I don't quite recall buying two, but... hey. Whatever works."

Mothra was soon taught Bug Buzz over Struggle Bug. Following that, with the knowledge and the possibility of needing to fight the Chairman, Victoria moved the Amulet Coin over to Usagi and gave Usagi's Charcoal over to Mothra for safe keeping, then swapped Usagi to the front of the party.

As said, giving Weiss that TM was a strategic choice and I can give her Steel Wing again in case I need it. Also, I found out that the Bug Buzz TRs were in my bag since the second entry... AKA... January 10th of 2020. WOW! *laughs a bit* Anyway, I did try to use the Flying Taxi to leave from the Slumbering Weald, game wouldn't let me. That was kinda funny.

Victoria soon reached the stage and got down to where Chairman Robert Rose was.

"And what do you plan on doing, Gym Challenger?" he asked.

"Stopping the Darkest Day!" Victoria proclaimed.

"Uh, pardon? What are you talking about? There's nothing to stop now. We've already brought about the Darkest Day... or should I say, the ultimate Pokémon—Eternatus!" the Chairman shouted out.

After a bit more of a back and forth, a battle began. Chairman Rose sent out his Escavalier, while Victoria sent out Usagi. Usagi then one-shot it with Flame Charge. His Klinklang came out next... also a one-shot with Flame Charge. Next was Ferrothorn. Victoria called for Pyro Ball... which narrowly missed, allowing Ferrothorn to use Curse. However, another Pyro Ball was used and this one knocked it out.

"You're pretty tough... yes, entirely too tough. Don't you think that's unfair?"

Victoria didn't respond as the Chairman sent out his Perrserker... which went down to a single Flame Charge.

"Oh, oh... down to my last Pokémon... this... isn't looking too good..." the Chairman spoke, genuinely looking afraid. He soon sent out his Copperajah, which went giga.

"Let's win in style! Pyro Ball!" Victoria called out.

Usagi nodded and landed the blow, instantly knocking out the chairman's last Pokémon. He clapped for them and let them know to get up via an elevator. Victoria quickly headed out to make sure her team was healed, as well as switching back the Amulet Coin and the Charcoal, before they went up to help...

That fight... that fight was laughably easy. I know my Cinderace was at level 83 compared to his team being 55-57, but even then, it was laughably easy. I get that Steel-type usage runs in his family, and Eternatus being a partial Poison-type makes the Steel team make sense... but Eternatus has Flamethrower. So, he was doomed from the start. Also, the Chairman claims he somehow beat Hop. ...how? *exhales* The music was pretty good. I did need to lower my Switch's sound because the music was kinda loud.

Also, for those who follow me on Twitter, you'll see that I went and posted some images from my playtime early and you'll see I commented that the Pokémon Center still had people in it, along with how Nurse Joy said, "Still hard at work today, are you?". I get that's scripted, but wow.

Without another moment to lose, Victoria and Hop arrived at the top of the tower to see Eternatus. Leon had managed to weaken it a bit before he tried to catch it, but the ball was broken out of and snapped in two. Leon and his Charizard both passed out from the energy from Eternatus getting out. Hop tried to check on them, leaving the battle against Eternatus to Victoria. She quickly sent out Mothra and considered her options for a moment before calling for Icy Wind. Eternatus managed to get the jump on Mothra and landed a Flamthrower that brought the Ice/Bug-type down to 23 HP. Mothra managed to land the Icy Wind, which slowed Eternatus down. This allowed Mothra to get the jump and knock it out with another Icy Wind.

"Go Mothra!" Victoria cheered.

As I said, Eternatus had Flamethrower. I didn't really have a great out to it either. As a Poison/Dragon-type, Eternatus is weak to Ground, Psychic, Ice, and Dragon. Of my main six team members and their moves, that leaves Mothra with Icy Wind, Haru with Zen Headbutt, and Hero with Icicle Crash (and Hail). Haru's ability is Steadfast, for the curious. So, while Haru would be a good option, I didn't know how well Zen Headbutt would go without a same type attack bonus... which meant my options were my two Ice-types. Mothra surviving the Flamethrower and then being able to out-speed and finish off Eternatus was awesome.

She truly deserves to be named after the Queen of the Monsters.

However, in spite of it being knocked out, the flowing energy from the Power Spots allowed Eternatus to rise again and change into a new form that turned it into a giant hand. The energy did heal up Victoria's and Hop's teams, so they could fight back. They were clearly scared, but Mothra thinking of the day she met Victoria was capable of helping calm her head a bit. However, neither of them were able to attack at all.

I will mention, I spent a good few minutes debating if I should switch out Mothra or stay in and risk a Max Flare. Then you weren't able to attack anyway. What luck.

The risk soon brought out the Rusted Sword and Shield. This, miraculously, managed to summon Zacian and Zamazenta to the aid of the two trainers. Thus, the Eternity Raid Battle could truly commence. Zacian used Howl and Zamazenta followed it up with a Light Screen. Eternatus unleashed a Max Flare on Mothra, which she survived. Mothra used an Icy Wind, and Hop's Dubwool used Double Edge. Mothra was soon recalled for Haru, while Zacian and Zamazenta unleashed their signature moves. Hop's Dubwool used Double Edge again, while Eternatus unleashed a Max Flare towards Zacian. The two wolves used their signature moves again, with Zamazenta's bringing Eternatus to the red. It ridded the heroes' side of their buffs and then unleashed a Max Ooze on one of the two Dubwools. Haru nailed a Zen Headbutt, while Hop's Dubwool used Double Edge to finish Eternatus off.

"Now, Victoria, use that special Pokeball!" Hop called.

Victoria nodded, getting out the ball that she had been given earlier, and then flung it towards Eternatus. The ball was successfully able to catch Eternatus, finally stopping the Darkest Day.

Yeah, Hop was the one who actually landed the KO blow on Eternatus. Not half bad. And, yes, I used a Beast Ball on Eternatus. It fits. I have a sillier plan for when I do that in Shield, but we'll get to that another day. And I nicknamed it "UB-EX".

And, since I have no way to bring this up within the story, I'll bring it up now. Part of the reason that I finally got off my butt and finished Sword was because of the final event for SwSh ending at the end of the month. It's for a Shiny Eternatus. I didn't want to have the knowledge on what to use against Eternatus, so I didn't use it until after I caught the one you get in game.

I had a second code card. I realized I would have no way to finish Shield in the little amount of time I still had. So, I ended up asking my good friend on Twitter, Serenaplush if they wanted the other code card I had. They said yes, so I took a photo of the code and they have the shiny Eternatus. Yay. Friendship!

A few days had gone by and the league was, at long last, set to have the final battle between Victoria and Leon. The cheers in the stadium were split between the two as Victoria got to the pitch. The girl adjusted her glasses a little bit and made sure her hair was out of her face as she walked over. The two exchanged a few words before they split off and took to the field.

Thus... the Championship Match began.

Victoria sent out Mothra, while Leon sent out his Aegislash first. Victoria quickly realized that he had caught onto who her lead tended to be and quickly recalled Mothra in favor of Weiss. Aegislash started off with King's Shield, clearly testing the waters. Weiss went for a Brutal Swing, which brought Aegislash to the yellow. Ageislash quickly changed forms and unleashed a Flash Cannon, which did a bit. Leon then decided to use a Full Restore on Ageislash... which quickly was wasted as Weiss landed a critical Leaf Blade to knock it out.

Next up on Leon's side was Mr. Rime. Victoria recalled Weiss for Deku, then called for Pin Missile. The attack landed three times and brought Mr. Rime down to the red. Mr. Rime lands a Freeze Dry that doesn't do a whole lot, but a crit Pin Missile knocks Mr. Rime out.

Leon then sent out his Haxorus, with Deku being recalled for Hero. Haxorus was well known to have Mold Breaker, which would be an issue if it wasn't dealt with quickly. Haxorus did manage to out-speed and land an Earthquake, but Hero was alright and managed an OHKO with an Icicle Crash.

Next in was what many considered to be Leon's second ace, his Dragapult. Even with the risks, Mothra was sent in. She did get hit by a Flamethrower, but she effortlessly managed to get an OHKO with Icy Wind.

"Not half bad," Leon commented as he recalled Dragapult, "But, now, time for something special! Let's go, Inteleon!"

Thus, out came the Secret Agent Pokémon. Victoria couldn't help but giggle a bit upon seeing the fully evolved Sobble standing across from her. With that, she recalled Mothra for Haru.

"Five, huh?" Leon commented.

"We worked as a team to get here! It's only fitting that my whole team gets a part to play in this battle!" Victoria beamed.

With that, the next set continued. Haru landed a Double Kick that got Inteleon to the yellow, while Inteleon used Mud Shot to counter and lower Haru's speed. With Inteleon now a bit faster, it used Tearful Look to weaken Haru's stats a bit more. Haru was able to land another Double Kick that got Inteleon down to red. Leon called for Snipe Shot, and it managed to land a crit.

"Crud..." Victoria mumbled.

"Don't get caught up on a critical hit! Focus on what you're gonna do next!" Leon spoke.

Victoria smiled a little and then called for a Headbutt, which managed to bring Inteleon down. Leon couldn't help but smile as he recalled Inteleon and realized which team member hadn't taken the field yet.

"So... starter vs. starter?" he asked.

"Only fair," Victoria responded as she recalled Haru.

Thus, in came Usagi and Charizard. Leon wasted no time in Gigamaxing his Charizard.

"I must say, I am impressed you got this far without using the power of the Wishing Star you obtained so long ago. But, now, I'll show you what Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing can REALLY DO!" Leon proclaimed.

"I'd like to see you try!" Victoria countered.

Thus, Usagi fired off an Electro Ball that... didn't do a whole lot. A Max Rockfall then came down, knocking Usagi into the yellow. Usagi was quickly recalled and Weiss is sent in. Weiss manages to take the next Max Rockfall well enough, but is then recalled for Deku as Max Airstream is used. Deku manages to hang on as a Max Potion is used on Usagi. Deku takes a Fire Blast, but the sandstorm from the earlier Max Rockfall knocks him out. Hero is sent out, managing to avoid a Fire Blast and set up a Hail. A Revive is used on Deku, but the next Fire Blast does connect. While Hero doesn't go down, it has gone down to 13 HP. Usagi is finally sent back in as a Fire Blast hits and crits, but Usagi is still able to fight. Charizard then uses an Ancient Power, but Usagi survives and fires back an Electro Ball. Charizard is at very low health from the attacks and the hail damage.

"...not good..." Victoria mumbled, soon motioning Usagi over to get a Max Potion just to be safe. Charizard fires off another Fire Blast as the hail ends, "Usagi! It's up to you! We're gonna win this!"

"Not if I have anything to say about that!" Leon countered, with his Charizard looking ready for more, "But, if you do finish us off... think you'll actually Dynamax to do it?"

Victoria looked down to her Dynamax Band for a moment, then grinned as she pulled it off, "I. Don't. Need it!"

With that said, she flung the band behind herself. Usagi was ready for the next attack. While she did need to take an Ancient Power, it wasn't enough.

"USAGI! USE PYRO BALL!"

Usagi gave off a grin as she kicked up a rock that had been knocked towards her from the Ancient Power, igniting it, and then sending it right towards Charizard. The attack nailed it and finally brought it down. Victoria and Usagi both cheered happily as Leon was quiet and then flung off his hat with a smile. At long last... Leon was defeated and a new champion for Galar could be crowned.

Let me just say... that last battle was intense and fun. The music was amazing and Leon was a great fighter. While I may have some opinions about his ace being Charizard, it did make for the climactic starter vs. starter last showdown.

I will go on and say that I didn't exactly know what to do for the final blow. Then, as I was thinking, I remembered this one really cool image done by Meza/StumpyArt over on Twitter of a "what if" so to speak of a Cinderace used by Ash beating Leon's Charizard with Pyro Ball. It just came to mind as I was thinking and I had to do it. Link to the original art, it is amazing: https://twitter.com/StumpyArt/status/1577764335228751894

The crowd in the stadium went into cheers as Victoria was congratulated by Leon and saw the region cheering her on. She was the winner and her team had more than earned the ribbons that declared them the Champions of Galar.

Some days went by after that and Victoria was able to return home and spend some time relaxing. Soon enough, Professor Magnolia showed up and gave her a little congratulatory message alongside a Master Ball.

"I hope everyone will use the power of Dynamaxing correctly in the days to come. So, young Victoria. Please, do what you believe is best," the professor said before she departed.

"Yeah... if I have my way, Dynamaxing will be banned," Victoria said once the professor was out of earshot.

Sure enough, that was to be Victoria's next objective, to get rid of that capability from Galar's Gym system completely. Sure, other regions had started to work on artificial Power Spots, but most of them were without success. The girl soon made prep to head to the league officials to talk to them about it.

"Best of luck with that," her mom responded.

"Thanks!" Victoria smiled before she headed off...

And, with that, until I get the DLC for the game and work on the post-game, that is the end of the Galar Logs for Pokémon Sword. This certainly took a heck of a lot longer than I was originally expecting, but this game is great and I can't wait to have more adventures in some of the other games on the Switch. Rest assured, this won't be the last you'll see of Victoria. Not by a long shot.

Just Live More.

It's been a while since I've made a journal here. I'm fairly active on my Twitter and I will be sure to leave a link for those who aren't following me already.

So, on December 26th, some buttons on my laptop just... stopped reacting to inputs. I was able to force it a little bit with very firm presses, but it only worked a few times. Then, over the next few days, they just stopped working completely. The buttons that weren't working were A, S, D, F, J, K, L, the semicolon, and the enter button. I had no choice but to type on my phone, but it was so slow and cumbersome. It ended up making me not able to get things done before the end of last year that I wanted to get done. Me and :icontknrkrgaim: only got the year end thing done because I typed it exclusively on my phone, and the buttons worked just long enough for me to type a description.

However, the issues just got worse and worse and, by the 30th or 31st, there was no longer any reactions. I started to just use my phone and, for Tweets and Discord if I couldn't reach my phone, I just made a Google doc to type out the letters I needed and then go through the slow process of just copy-pasting letters. No joke, I basically had to write an entire part of a thread by first writing out what I wanted on my phone and then copy-pasting it.

On the third, I finally decided I had enough of this mess and told my parents about it. My brother did try to get the buttons to work with a can of air, but nothing came out. We ran a test the other day and confirmed the issue was with the keyboard itself. My best guess is that I just wore those buttons out by typing on them too much. Finally, today, my parents bought an external keyboard for me to use and it's been working out. It did take a minute to connect since there wasn't a stick for it, but it's been working very well. I can finally write again. In fact, this entire post was being typed out on this new external keyboard.

Still adjusting a bit to the spacing being a bit different than my laptop keyboard, but the thing works. I'm just really happy right now. Here's to wherever I go from here. Just wanted to bring this up.

Just Live More.

While I could go on and talk about the mess 2020 was and go ahead and thank the people who helped me keep my sanity in check... I already sort of started a year end project. It's close to done, but I don't think it'll be ready for tonight.

Regardless... 2020, let the door kick you on the way out and then go rot. What a mess of a year.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me this year. I don't know what 2021 is going to hold, but all we can do is have some hope. 2021 is going to be unknown... but if we have hope, we can brave anything.

To all the people who are no longer with us, rest easy. You are missed.

So, my fourth grade teacher ended up getting COVID back in November. Just, as a bit of a random thought, I asked my mom how she was doing today. Not even an hour later, my mom gets a text informing her that, sadly, my old teacher had passed away.

I don't really know what to say about this. I'll miss her.

Long story short, because of how Eclipse messed up the mentioned system, I had difficulty locating stuff done for me. So... we are now officially hosting this year's Thankfulness and all future ones on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/Pikatwig1/status/1332177650970980354