Previously on Galarian Days...

After helping the Bug-type Gym Leader, Annie find one of her Joltik, Zander enters Turffield and challenges the Stadium, ultimately earning the Bug Badge...

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Zander was getting his Pokemon healed up at the Pokemon Center, now happy that he earned his first badge. After getting them back, he took out his phone and checked the map again. "Okay, one badge down, seven to go. Next stop on the Gym Challenge tour is... Hulbury, and to get there, I just have to cut through Route 5, then it's just through the Galar Mines No. 2 back to Motostoke! Easy-peasy, Nomel breezy... if I don't run into any more snags."

Now that he knew where he was going, Zander left the Pokemon Center and and walked to the beginning of Route 5, saying goodbye to Turffield... for now. He then started battling more Trainers along the way, but stopped when he reached a certain building...

"The Pokemon Nursery," Zander said to himself. "Boy, that takes me back..."

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(Flashback)

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After Zander (still gray) managed to wake up from his exhaustion, he looked around to inspect his surroundings. The sky was still dark, but it was also nighttime, and the weather in the Wild Area was unpredictable, so who could tell if the Darkest Day was still going on?

Anyway, he managed to get up, but with some wincing as his muscles ached. He saw the Pokemon Nursery nearby, but he remembered that he had a mission to accomplish, and he thought that there would be innocent bystanders to save, so he got to the nursery as fast as he could.

"Welcome to the Pokemon Nursery, how may I help you?" the Pokemon breeder at the door asked as soon as she saw Zander approaching.

"You can't, because you need to help yourself!" Zander said, still in hysterics. "The Darkest Day has been started back up, and the center of it is close by!"

"Um, what are you talking about, sir?"

"You have eyes, don't you?" Zander said, pointing at the sky. "How long has the sky been black!?"

"Sir, it's overcast at 1:00 in the morning."

"That doesn't answer my question! I passed out trying to get away, and I don't know how long I was out!"

"Well, I have no idea, either," the breeder said as another Trainer was coming up, "but unless you have any Egg-related inquiries, I must ask you to leave."

"Well, unless you want to get crushed under a giant Pokemon's foot or whatever, I must ask you to leave!" Zander shot back.

"Excuse me, but are my Pokemon holding an Egg over here?" the other Trainer asked.

"Oh, of course, Derek," the breeder said. "I'll go get it for you. Wait here, and don't mind that crazy dog."

After the breeder entered the nursery, Zander turned to Derek and said, "Okay, first of all, I am not crazy here, I am in complete control of my faculties. Second, I am not a dog. I am a wolf. There's a difference. And thirdly, I am telling the truth here! Chairman Rose has just set Eternatus on Galar, and now we're all about to get swallowed up into the Darkest Day! I know that because I just came here from Wyndon, where it happened!"

"Yeah, cool story... wolf," Derek said. "Notice how I didn't say dog?"

"Listen, Derek," Zander said, getting fed up just as the breeder came back with Derek's new Egg, "now is not the time for jokes here! We are all in very real, terrible danger!"

"Here's your new Egg, Derek! Here's hoping this is the perfect Shiny you're gunning for-"

At that, Zander lost his temper and barked in rage, "WILL YOU BOTH JUST LISTEN TO ME!?!?!?" as he whipped around and slapped the Egg out of the breeder's hands, then-

CKRLK!

All 3 turned at the sickening sound, and saw the more sickening sight of a clear-white blob holding a yellow ball, oozing down a wall where shattered eggshell pieces were scattered. Derek and the breeder only stared at the mess horrified at what transpired, while Zander, having realized what he just did, only folded his ears back and said, "Ooh... uh... well, like I always say, no such thing as perfect, right?"

-

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

Zander was hurtling through the air until he faceplanted right next to the Meetup Spot, then pulled his head out of the ground with a muzzle full of dirt, then spat it out and said, "Oh, like no one broke an egg before?"

-

(End of flashback)

-

"Was I ever a hole back then, and that turned me off to Eggs... and Nurseries... and Shiny hunters," Zander said, finishing his thoughts. "Welp, back to the journey."

"Excuse me, sir?" the lass in front of the nursery said as Zander passed by. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"No, thank you," Zander answered as he walked away and stepped onto the bridge. "Well, I think I handled that better than last time."

"Handled what better, exactly!?" an aggravated female voice said, and Zander saw that it was...

"Klara!? What are you doing here, and what do you want!?"

"Isn't it obvious!?" Klara said, still seething. "I'm here to put you down for ruining my reputation back on the Isle of Armor and denying Avery and me our one-time-only teamup! We could've been amazing together, but NO!"

"Are you still grinding on about that?" Zander said incredulously.

"SHUT UP!!" Klara said as she sent out her Slowbro.

Zander saw that Klara was beyond reasoning with now, so he sighed and sent his Sandygast out. "Sandygast, time to put this washup back in her place! Use Sand Tomb and follow up with Astonish!"

Sandygast summoned a pit of sand that sunk Slowbro down to its waist, but Slowbro already shot a squirt of poisonous liquid at it. However, the liquid only hit pavement, as Sandygast disappeared somewhere.

"What!? Where did it go!?" Klara demanded. "Show yourself, you spineless Wurmple!"

Right when she shouted that, the sand pit Slowbro was in started shaking violently until Sandygast instantly shot up from it, shouting a ghostly roar at all in front of it! Slowbro became horrified, and even the Shellder on its arm screamed with fright and fell off!

"WHAT THE CRAP!!!" Klara screamed, horrified herself.

Zander then snapped his fingers and said coldly, "Finish it."

Sandygast looped its mouth around Slowbro's head, and its brain function ceased entirely, causing it to flop lifelessly into the sand pit where it sank until it was no more.

"Noooooo! Slowbro!" Klara lamented, despairing that she lost her partner so easily.

"Now, are you going to back off for good, or do I have to give you the same treatment?" Zander said as Sandygast stood by at the ready.

"Please don't hurt me! I wasn't really going to put you down!" Klara said, reeling. "I was only here because I heard that the Poison-type Gym was chosen this year, and I was going to ask them to give me another shot because I was training hard back at the Master Dojo! I just wanted to challenge you so I could be sure I was ready for my second chance!" She then held out a League Card and cried, "Please, take this if you want! Anything! JUST DON'T KILL ME, I'M SORRY, AH-DAH-WAH-TAH-DAH!!"

Seeing the tears in her eyes, Zander called his Sandygast back into its ball, then took the card and said, "Alright, alright! Get ahold of yourself! Sheesh, you don't have to fall apart over this. I'll let you go, but you have to vow that you won't cross me ever again. Got it?"

"Yes! Yes, I do vow!" Klara said through her tears, getting up. "See, I'm leaving now! Here I go! Bye-bye!"

As Klara ran away, Zander said to himself, "She should thank her lucky stars I can't stand to see a woman cry." He then looked at the card he got and saw that it was that of the second Gym Leader, Selene, emblazoned with the Poison-type Gym Logo and showing her uniform number, 031, amidst a pattern of dark-purple and mint-green oozes.

Flipping the card over, it said, "Selene was raised by her parents to become a sanitation worker, but she preferred to spend quality time with Pokemon at the job site while she was off-duty. One day, she discovered the vibrant colors of an Alolan Muk that was transferred to Galar, and it inspired her to become an artist. This ambition eventually led to her status as the Poison-type Gym Leader."

"Interesting to know," Zander said as he pocketed his second card, then continued crossing the bridge on his way to Hulbury...

-

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