Previously on Galarian Days...

Zander, Wufu and Calvin temporarily leave Glastrier and Spectrier back at the Wild Area so they can take the train back to Wyndon, giving both steeds some... downtime to enjoy before they're promptly called back outside of Rose Tower...

-

Now that the anthros were right outside the door to Rose Tower, they were raring to stop the opposite crisis once and for all by any means possible; Calvin had Glastrier and Spectrier connected and on standby, Wufu had his paws clenched into fists, but...

"Wep!" Zander stopped as he held up a finger. "One more thing." He then broke off from the group and walked up to the barricades outside the entrance, then grabbed a velvet rope pole in one paw and the bars of a cage panel in the other. In flashes of light, he had his sword and shield, but then an idea came to him. "Pardon me, I'm going to try something!"

He then slid the blade of his sword through the vertical straps of his shield, then threaded his arms through the horizontal straps to wear the whole thing like a backpack. "Always wanted to know what those were for. Okay, let's go."

Finally, the door was opened, and all three anthros were primed for the final showdown... but their presence attracted the attention of a few Macro Cosmos employees. "Excuse me? Sirs! You can't have your Pokemon out of their-"

But all it took was a quick glare from Spectrier to shut them up as the floor below them glew purple. With the guards incapacitated, the anthros made their way to the elevator doors and pressed the up button. But when the doors opened up, Turner was right on the other side.

"Ah, if it isn't Zander, Wufu and a green deer person I have no idea about," the concierge said. "And I see you have a pair of pets along with you. To what do I owe this intrusion?"

"Out of the way, Turner," Zander growled, clearly in no mood to put up with crap. "We're only here to see Chairperson Elle."

"And if we have to get through you to get to her, so be it," Wufu threatened.

"Who are you calling pets?" Calvin tacked on, defending the steeds.

"Oh, I was afraid this would happen," Turner sighed. "If you lot are here to intervene with miss Elle's grand master plan, then as the concierge of Macro Cosmos, it is my duty to not let that hap-"

"I SAID OUT OF THE WAY, DAMMIT!" the wolf barked as he swung his shield out and rammed it into Turner as hard as he could, sending him flying backwards from the elevator doors and into a different doorway on the other side of the chamber, until his back impacted on a wall with a "THUNK-krk!"

"AUGH!" the man in black shouted as he fell to the floor in pain. "My back!"

"It didn't have to go down this way, Turner!" Wufu asserted as the group stepped onto the elevator platform and the doors closed.

"You should've just let us pass," Calvin said before the platform rose on its journey to the top floor.

As Turner winced in pain, he reached into his pocket and took out a square device with a large red button. "Uncouth problems call for uncouth solutions, ouch," he said, and with a push of the button...

Suddenly, the soft, white lighting of the building started flashing a harsh red to the rhythm of a loud klaxon siren while a harsh voice rang out throughout the building! "Attention all personel, attention all personel. Hostile rogues have invaded the premises and must be dealt with severely. Failure or refusal to do so will result in immediate termination of employment without benefit."

The platform abruptly stopped, and every door of the floor it was on opened up as MC grunts came pouring in to overwhelm the Galarian Messenger All-Stars.... but they were ready to fight back.

"Battle plan!" Zander said as he readied his weapons. "They're still people, so knock them back, but nothing fatal!"

With that, the anthros went on the defensive to push the incoming swarm back through the doors: Zander flung force fields at them to stun them long enough for him to bat them back with the flat of his sword, Wufu used the watery aura to splash them and make the floor slippery so they couldn't advance, and Calvin mentally ordered Spectrier to possess the grunts so they would turn back around.

But just as the crowd was sent back where they came from, the doors were closed and the platform rose again... then stopped at the very next floor where another swarm of grunts poured in, clamoring about bills to pay and mouths to feed.

"There's too many of them!" Wufu said as he continued splashing.

"Keep pushing!" Zander cried during the onslaught.

Right when this swarm was knocked back, Calvin got an idea! "Wufu! Splash the doors!"

The bear had no time to question the deer, so he threw more water at the next entrance up, and Glastrier froze the wetness, sealing the doors in a wall of ice and keeping the next wave stopped!

"It's working!" Calvin said, and he and Wufu continued their combo strategy of freezing the doors shut to keep the elevator platform going up and the grunts at bay.

"Keep at it, guys!" Zander encouraged. "We're almost to the top floor!"

But the positive reinforcement could only take them so far, because just before the platform could clear the threshhold, a black, square pillar crashed over the entrance, blocking them and making hot coal embers rain down on them!

Zander raised his force field over himself and the others, keeping them from getting burned by the hot fractals. "Looks like Elle is onto our entrance, and she's trying to shut us out," he told his team. "Shows what she knows! On the count of three, get some water up there and chase after it with a fist! THREE!"

That quickly, the field was lowered, and more water was thrown upward to extinguish the coal block and make it hiss with steam before Wufu switched to the shadowy aura and jumped towards the blockage with Zander close beside him!

"Chou hissatsu! Za-Fu FINISH!!"

The coal pillar exploded, and the wolf and bear flew high enough for their ears to gently touch the cieling of the dome before they came back down to land next to Calvin and the steeds. Now that the group was on the top floor, they looked up to see where the black pillar came from...

What they saw was a giant pile of coal heaped in an active, burning furnace, and on top was none other than Chairperson Elle herself! She was on top of the pile, sunk down to her hips in coal with her cardigan soiled black and angled spikes of coal on her shoulders, making her look like she was wearing the whole thing as a dress!

"Not too shabby getting past my security measures," Elle said, "but now you boys have ME to tangle with, in one of my Mode Elegigant outfits! This one is something I like to call... Volcalith Regalia!"

"CUT THE MONOLOGUE!" Zander hollered, seething with resentment for the woman in the coal-pile. "Fool me once, shame on me! Fool me twice, shame on us! Fool me into believing you're not the cause of the opposite of the Darkest Day, YOU'VE CROSSED THE LINE!!!"

"Oh, are you still on about that!?" Elle retorted as she raised her hand, making another pillar of coal rise from the floor to topple down on her intruders. "Tough nails!"

The anthros scattered to dodge the pillar, but once it crashed down, it shattered into more hot embers that burned into their fur coats. "Augh!"

"For far too long I was ridiculed by everyone else just because I was different!" Elle started as she summoned more pillars, one at a time. "'Oh, you can't go through with that procedure, you haven't thought it through enough,' 'Miss Sweetgum, need I remind you who you work for,' 'Sorry, Elle, but if this is the kind of person you are, then we seriously need to discuss your employment here,' Well, so what! I innovated wonderful uses for Galar particles, but did anyone appreciate what I made big sacrifices for!? No, they did not! And guess what, fuzzies! You're not the only ones who caught the fancy of a legendary Pokemon around here!"

"Augh!" Zander groaned as he was peppered with more hot coals. "What are you saying!?"

"She was chosen by a legendary Pokemon, too!?" Wufu said. "Agh, that burns!"

"But the only legendary she could've been chosen by was-" Calvin gasped as the answer hit him... and an ember clipped one of his ears.

"Eternatus!?"

"Ding ding ding!" Elle exclaimed. "Give the boys a prize! That's right, last year after Oleana had her meltdown up here, I was given the go-ahead to proceed with awakening Eternatus to restart the Darkest Day, but when I was about to turn it loose, it spoke to me in my head. It told me, 'I can see that you have been constantly harrassed past your breaking point. But not to worry, for I can help you. Simply swear your allegiance to me, and no one will ever stand in your way or act against you again!' So I did, and it gave me the power to control the very energy it gave this region in any way I please!"

"No!"

"Yes!" Elle continued. "It was a shame what happened to it after the Darkest... Hours, more like, but that only meant that it couldn't take my powers away, so I got to keep them and made my magical items to control them better: my Dyress-Up Key to manipulate the function and flow of the particles, and my Dyna Perfume to repuropse them into Dynamiasmas or my Mode Elegigants! And once I use the latter to avenge the former, I'll just take back the particles you stole from Eternal Island to keep the Miniasma project underway! That's right, I know what happened then! And after all the hell I suffered, I'll be damned if I let my ambitions be shattered by Balto-"

Zander tensed up at that.

"Pooh-"

Wufu tensed up at that.

"And Bambi, of all things!"

Now all three anthros had their blood broiling with rage, fangs gnashing, veins throbbing, steam rising- all of their triggers were pulled.

"THAT DOES IT!" they all screamed as they charged full speed at Elle.

"CHOU HISSATSU!!! ZA-FU-TRIER FINISH!!!"

"Oh, how cute, they named it- OH SHRAPNEL!" Elle said as she quickly raised another pillar in defense, but it was effortlessly shattered as the candy-cane energy pole blasted through it and collided with the chairperson!

From a distance, the dome at the top of Rose Tower started shining cerulean, but the light expanded beyond the dome's capacity, causing it to explode as shards of glass rained down from the sky. But since no one was at the ground floor of the building, the shards harmlessly clattered onto the pavement.

Meanwhile, the light faded somewhat... but Elle was still standing, this time in a different outfit: a blue hooded robe with swirled buns on the hood, while she was standing on... a giant luxury cruise ship, on land!

"Ha! Nice try, but you tiny furs only scratched the surface of my powers!" she said smugly. "Now, prepare to face the power of my Resonance RegaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAA NOT TINY!!"

Elle had just opened her eyes to find herself face-to... foot with the hybrid, who towered over her giant gown as even the shattered remains of the dome only reached up to his calves! He then conjured up his giant weapons, connected them, jumped into the air and spun them around as he tossed them onto the floor of the top floor, creating a disc that eclipsed the surface diameter!

With every impact that struck Elle, it canceled out another of her Mode Elegigants one by one: multi-cannon turret, gown of flames, a saggy, pink flower, just to name a few. And with each dress she was forced to switch to, she kept getting hit again and again and again and again and again!

"Ack! No! Stop it!" she screamed through the onslaught, but her commands fell on deaf ears. "STOP IT! HATE!!!"

But the hybrid stayed suspended in midair as the disc kept spinning, and Elle's outfits started getting outlandish: a landfill, a UFO, a caramel apple, an open turtle shell, another apple... but still the disc spun.

Finally, after her last form was canceled, Elle landed flat on the floor in her regular, incognito clothes, low enough to stop getting hit by the disc. But the hybrid landed with a "BOOM!" and he picked up the weapon to raise above his head, aimed right at the chairperson herself!

"N-n-n-now I know what you're thinking," Elle tried to bargain, realizing she stood no chance against the hybrid. "'Should I impale her to the floor?' And the answer might surpri-"

"Go to hell."

That was all the hybrid said as he lunged his javelin at Elle... but it didn't impale her. Instead, the tip of the blade was jabbed into a brooch on her chest, and a quick twist shattered it to dust!

"NOOOOOOO!! MY DYNA PERFUME'S LID! MY DYRESS-UP KEY!" Elle screamed in anguish at the sudden loss of her items. "THEY'RE GONE!"

The hybrid gave the woman falling apart a stern scowl... then he shone and shrank until his components were back. But this time, the anthros knew what to expect and grabbed their clothes out of the basket before Elle could stop crying.

"They're all gone..." Elle wept bitterly, but as she looked up, she noticed the elevator platform was missing from the floor, and a wicked smile grew on her face. "You animals... You think you've ruined me with your fancy powers, but you haven't! As soon as that elevator platform goes back up, all of you will pay dearly for driving a wedge in my grand master plan! Eternatus gave this beautiful gift of Galar particles for us to enjoy Dynamax power, and how did they thank it? They made it the bad guy in their so-called 'legend,' that's what! That's what drove it to choose me as its messenger; to put every one of those ingrates in their place! All I wanted was to open Galar's eyes to a new lifestyle... a way to get along without Dynamax power, Gigantamax, or Galar particles in general! That's why I had the idea to start the Miniasma project! I wanted to show a way to continue the future of Galar: perpetual labor! The Miniasmas would never tire of working Poke Jobs, and they would even turn it into a game for their coworkers to keep up the pace! They would be the spoonful of sugar to help the medicine of labor go down, and you want to stop that!?"

But by the time Elle reached a stopping point to her tirade, the G-MAS had already redressed themselves, and Zander asked rhetorically, "Oh, did you say something, Elle?"

"We couldn't hear you over the hum of the platform coming back up," Wufu added just as the floor was made whole again... not with a crowd of grunts, however, but a crowd of Gym Leaders!

"What!?" Elle shouted in disbelief. "What happened to my workers!?"

"They're preoccupied at the moment," Winston said.

-

Back on the bottom floor, Turner was being hoisted onto a gurney for his bad back by several MC employees.

"You do realize that all of you are disobeying orders to stop the intruders?" he asked once he was gently set down.

"We know," said one. "But here's the thing: we don't want to work for this hell anymore!"

"So consider this our collective resignation!" said another. "Come on, everyone, let's go find some work that doesn't turn us into inhuman monsters!"

With that, everyone threw their hats down on the floor and left Tuner on the gurney with no one to help him.

"Wait! Come back! Who's going to escort me to medical care!?" Turner exclaimed helplessly. "Come back! Come back!"

"No."

-

"But when did you all get here in the first place?" Calvin asked curiously.

"We saw the giant, colorful who-knows-what from Wyndon Stadium," Basil explained. 

"Once we knew it was at Rose Tower, we figured Elle's Cramorant finally came home to roost," Parcel added. "No pun intended."

"Your changing one energy into a different kind for a noble cause was a nice idea," Raphael said to Elle, "but how you did it was bad pie."

"Disrupting the customs and traditions of our beloved homeland, twisting the legend to fit your desires," Lady Cona listed off. "Those abhorrent atrocities cannot, will not, shall not be forgiven!"

"Not to mention the turmoil you brought upon us as well!" Monty said. "When I told my brother Avery how things went because of you, he cut off all ties with me, and it made me realize that I miss my family!"

"Similar goes for me and Klara!" Selene added.

"Oh, so this is the thanks I get for giving you all a chance in the spotlight?" Elle challenged.

"Why don't you ask these guys?" Annie shot back, and the crowd parted to reveal three figures: a Policeman, a Machamp in a police hat... and none other than the ex-Champion Leon, growing a full, scraggly beard with his cape rumpled up!

"Leon!?" Zander exclaimed in surprise!

The ex-Champion looked at his old aquaintance and nodded with a smile, then pointed at Elle and said, "That's the one, constable! That's the evil person who locked me in the basement floor of the Battle Tower all year, and stole my job as head of the Pokemon League! Every one of you was played for saps by that impostor, that fake, but worst of it all..." He then glared at the chairperson with narrowed eyes before dropping, "HE is no proper head of Macro Cosmos OR the Pokemon League, let alone a woman!"

"WhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT-AH!?"

Everyone in the area (but mostly Zander) was shocked and horrified that Elle Sweetgum was actually... a trap!

But all Elle had to say to that was, "Yeah, well... so?" before Machamp walked up to... him. "What are you doing?"

Machamp quickly grabbed each limb in each hand, holding its captive in a double Nelson!

"HEY! Get your paws OFF OF ME!" But all he could do was hang helplessly as he was hauled off to the edge of the floor, where a Corviknight carrying a metal box with prison bars was waiting on the other side of the broken glass. "You will suffer for this, you broken compass..."

"The name is Leon!" the ex-Champion said as he straightened his hat.

"I'M A GIFT TO THIS WORLD, YOU KNO-" Elle hollered before he was tossed into the metal box, and Machamp slammed the door shut to signal Corviknight to carry its quarry away. "I will be heard and understood~~!"

"Serves ya right, ya smeckledorfer! AND DON'T COME BACK!" Zander called out at the metal box, then inhaled deeply before sighing. "Ahhh... Welp, all's well that ends well, guys. Galar is still in plenty of particles, the Miniasma project has been permanently canceled, and the opposite crisis dashed. Now everything's back to normal!"

"Normal?" Wufu asked incredulously. "Zander, we're standing on the destroyed top floor of Rose Tower (where we were briefly naked, might I add), and now Macro Cosmos is about to get shut down because all their workers were fired or quit, and the tranny they elected as their chairperson just got hauled off as a deranged maniac to a loony bin."

"Yeah, but on the plus side, Leon's back to reclaim his rightful place as the head of the Pokemon League," Zander reasoned. "All in all, what a great high note to end the Galarian Gym Challenge on!" He then howled in triumph before heading back to the elevator platform with everyone else. "Boy, once I finally attend the open invitationals, I can't wait to see how we handle next year!"

The bear could only shrug before he followed the wolf, leaving Calvin, Glastrier and Spectrier behind until the deer told the steeds, "Okay, come along, you two. I think this whole ordeal just officially got to the point where it couldn't possibly get any crazier."

He then led the two equine Pokemon by the reins, then the Wolfen Knight, the Ursine Retainer, the Cervine Squire, the wild and swift horse Pokemon, the current Gym Leaders, the ex-Champion, the Policeman and his Machamp decended the elevator, ready to put this whole mess behind them all...