Previously on Galarian Days...

Zander asks Monty to fetch Dan for him and Wufu for questioning regarding the Dynamiasmas, and Monty wholeheartedly agrees, as well as gives Zander his rare League Card as a parting gift. On the way to Circhester, Wufu tells Zander of how his second trial went down at the Master Dojo, but it gets cut short when they arrive. After a rocky path through the Stadium to the Battle Court, the two anthros fell another Dynamiasma, calling a truce with each other...

-

Back in the lobby, Zander and Wufu regrouped with Winston. "Good news, we got rid of the Dynamiasma for you, Winston, sir!" Wufu announced.

"And I'd like to apologize, if I may, so," Zander said, "sorry for being rude earlier."

"Oh, no harm done," Winston reassured. "I'm just glad the problem was taken care of before things got worse." Suddenly, there was another flash of light, and Monty was amid the group... along with a frazzled Dan!

"What is the meaning of this!?" Dan demanded while Monty kept his wrists firmly grasped. "Let me go at once!"

"Not until you explain yourself!" Zander said, now that the plan was coming full circle. "What gave you the right to-"

"Zander?" Winston interjected. "Thanks for all you did for me, but I can take it from here."

"What are you-" Wufu started, but Zander put a finger to his muzzle, quieting him.

Winston then walked up to the restrained Gym guide, took a deep breath, and.... "...WHAT THE HELL GAVE YOU THE DAMN RIGHT TO PISS AROUND MY JOB AND FUCK SHIT UP!?!? I WAS MINDING MY OWN DAMN BUISINESS, I GO AWAY FOR TWO DAMN MINUTES TO TAKE A CRAP, AND I COME BACK TO FIND YOU LET LOOSE A GIANT-ASS WHATEVER IN MY STATION!?!? WHAT THE GODFUCKING HELL, DAMNIT!!!"

"I was under orders from upper management!" Dan tried to defend himself with, but Winston was having none of it!

"I DON'T GIVE A FLYING DAMN IF ALL THE GODFUCKING LEGENDARIES CAME TO YOU IN A DREAM TO MAKE YOU PULL THIS SHIT!!!"

"Winston! Control yourself!" Monty shouted as Dan was about to cry in frustration. "Dan didn't want to do what he did, but he told me that he was ordered by the head of the Pokemon League themselves, under penalty of employment termination if he didn't comply! He was only trying to keep his job; his source of income! If he didn't have that, he'd become destitute!"

"Please! Have mercy! Be reasonable!" Dan begged.

Winston breathed a sigh of resentment, then looked Dan square in the eyes and said lowly, "Look at me. If I ever catch you around here pulling this again, there will be consequences. Yes, sir?"

"Yes, sir," Dan said, trying to keep it together.

"Now, get out." Not wanting to face another tirade, Dan was let go promptly so he could scram out of the lobby as fast as he could. Winston then turned around to see Zander and Wufu trembling at the sight of what just transpired, frozen with fear. "Listen, I'm sorry you both had to see that. I really try my best to not go off on someone like that, but there's only so much I can take before I inevitably snap." He then approached the two anthros and let them smell his hands, aquainting them with his scent before he gently stroked their heads.

The soft administrations calmed them down, and Zander said once the petting stopped, "Understandable."

"We get exactly what you're saying, Winston, sir," Wufu chimed in.

Winston then smiled and held his arms open. "Come here." The three were then pulled together in a big group hug, and the last of the tension was shattered. Monty was still standing with them, but more relaxed now that the anger had been quelled.

Finally, after the hug was broken, Winston turned to his fellow Gym Leader and asked, "So, Monty, what brings you over to my neck of the region?"

"Oh, a simple matter," Monty explained. "Zander had asked me to fetch Dan for him because of the Dynamiasmas going on. He even put one in Ballonlea Stadium, so you're not alone. It's okay, though, these two took care of mine as well as several others." The Prodigy of the Mind then looked towards the wolf and bear and added, "By the by, sorry for taking so long to get him here. Turns out Dan can be all over the place when he wants to be."

"Well, thank you boys for getting this whole thing straightened out for me," Winston said to the anthros. "And just to make doubly sure there's no bad blood after what I did, have this." Zander was given Winston's rare League Card depicting him and the other Gym Leaders of Circhester together: Melony on the left side, Gordie on the right, and the Solid Foundation right between the two. (perhaps as a buffer for Gordie) On the other side of the card, it said, "Being the father of one Gym Leader and the husband of another puts a lot of pressure on Winston, but that's okay, because he thrives on it. Granted, there are moments when he has to drop the hammer, but he picks his own battles because he loves his family, and they love him."

"Wait, you, Gordie and Melony are a family?" Wufu asked in surprise.

"Well, of course," Winston said as he took off his hard hat and revealed his yellow hair. "Where do you think Gordie got his yellow tips from? Hair dyes?"

"To be honest, the thought never really crossed my mind," Wufu admitted.

"Regardless," Zander said as he pocketed the card, "we're glad to be of service."

"Alright, now with that out of the way," Monty said, "just remember, if you ever have any further need for my services, simply bring it to my attention, and I'll be there in a flash... literally." And just like that, he was gone again.

"Yeah, I better get back to work, too," Winston supposed, "what with the Champion's Cup finals coming up and all. Bye, boys! Guess I'll see you later!"

"Will do, sir!" both anthros said as Winston went back to the Battle Court to train for the finals.

"What a nice man," Zander said as they left the Stadium.

"Once you look past the anger fits, that is," Wufu said.

"Which reminds me, I need to go mend a fence real quick," Zander said.

"May I come with you to help?" Wufu offered.

"I don't see why not."

And so the two anthros quickly made their way to Sophia's place, but when Zander knocked on the door, no one answered. "Hello?" he tried. "Sophia, are you there?"

"Maybe she still isn't home," Wufu guessed.

"Well, she couldn't have gone to work," Zander reasoned. "She says she gets weekends off, and today's Sunday."

"Why don't you try looking behind you?"

Both anthros turned around, and there was Sophia coming up the stairs near the alcove.

"Sophia, there you are!" Zander said. "Listen, I just want to apologize for exploding on you before-"

"I was going to ask you how you were preparing for the Champion's Cup?" Sophia finished.

"Yeah, that."

"Well, I got my answer," Sophia said. "You were traveling around Galar again and stopping by Gym Stadiums for who-knows-what... and with company, no less."

"Well, there's more to it than that," Zander explained. "Yes, Wufu and I- this is Wufu, by the way..."

"Hi."

"...were going around the region from Stadium to Stadium, but it's because there was another outbreak of Dynamiasmas in the Stadiums' Battle Courts, and we were helping the Gym Leaders to clear them out."

"Another?" Sophia asked. "You mean there's more of those things around?"

"Surprised that you'd know about the Dynamiasmas, but yes, that is what he means." Wufu said, then asked Zander, "How does she know about the Dynamiasmas, by the way?"

"It's a long story," Zander answered.

"Well, don't let me stop you from tying up any loose ends," Sophia said. "You are the Wolfen Knight of Galar, after all, destined by Zacian and Zamazenta to stop a terrible crisis that's the exact polar opposite of the Darkest Day. Legendaries forbid a regular old coffee girl should get in the way of that."

"Maybe so, but the word "knight" is still in the title," Zander said. "And as far as I know, knights are supposed to be nice to the opposite gender, or at the very least, make up for what they did wrong with them. So, to put it into words... I'm sorry for my rudeness earlier."

"You're forgiven," Sophia said with a smile. "Now, you'd better hurry before the opposite crisis happens."

"At once, my lady," Zander said with a bow... and a snicker.

"Don't patronize me, please."

"Right, sorry," the wolf said as he got up. "Stopping the last Dynamiasma now!"

As Sophia closed the door with her inside, Zander called up another Flying Taxi ride to the last Gym Stadium: Hammerlocke Stadium. Once he and Wufu were inside the cab, Wufu asked again, "So, how does she know about what you've been doing around Galar?"

"Well, to summarize," Zander began, "we sort of met at a coffee shop, then officially met at the Armor Station, she was making a delivery, I was getting an endorsement, and since then, we've been meeting up occasionally during my Gym Challenge, when she was helping kickstart my League Card collection. It wasn't until I was getting my 6th badge that I found out she lives in Circhester."

"Cool."

"After I did, she came along with me during the rest of my Challenge, then witnessed me taking down not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR Dynamiasmas in the Wild Area, but then we went our seperate ways when I was too late to participate in the Champion's Cup semifinals... blasted League regulations."

"She didn't want to stick around because you lost out on a shot to becoming the next Champion of Galar?" Wufu asked.

"No, she didn't leave me for that!" Zander said, but caught himself before he forgot about their deal. "I mean, I did offer to have her join me to go back to the Isle of Armor for my preparations for the open invitationals after the Cup, but she chose to go back home to Circhester, and I respected that."

"Okay, then."

Just then, the cab touched down onto Hammerlocke, and both anthros got out into the castletop town. "Now, let's see if we can't shut down one more Dynamiasma before the day's over. Also, to answer your next inquiry, Wufu, we're helping a Steel-type Gym Leader named Lady Cona, and she does have some rules about her, but she'll understand the situation if I explain it to her."

"Something I wouldn't expect less of from the current strongest Gym Leader of Galar," Wufu concurred.

"Exactly."

"Halt!" a female voice called. "Who goes there, friend or foe?" Both anthros froze, but Zander knew who was speaking.

"Lady Cona, it's me, Zander. I brought a friend with me, and we've come to help you," he explained as they turned around to show their faces.

"Zander?" Cona said, surprised. "Why are you not back in Wyndon to participate in the semifinals?"

"I was too late to register for the semifinals because I got sidetracked with a side quest," Zander admitted. "Despite your advice not to do so, I faltered."

"Do you plan to participate in the open invitationals after the Cup?" Cona asked.

"I do."

"Then I shall overlook your mishap," Cona reassured with a smile. "And, pray tell, who is this friend of whom you speak?"

"This is Wufu, the Ursine Retainer of Galar," Zander introduced. "Wufu, this is the Ironclad Knight, Lady Cona."

"Pleased to make your aquaintance," Wufu said as he held his paw out.

"The pleasure is all mine," Cona said as she shook Wufu's paw. "But enough pleasantries. You say you came here to help me? With what, might I ask?"

Suddenly, a blast of garbled static rang out from the Battle Court of the Stadium. "From that," Wufu said. "With all due respect, did Annie not make good on her word of informing the other Gym Leaders of the Dynamiasma outbreak?"

"My apologies," Cona said. "I was preoccupied with preparing for the finals of the Cup, but then I went to rest my Pokemon for two minutes at the Pokemon Center when Dan had left the Stadium, and that beast overtook it. I tried to defend myself, but was overthrown in one fell swoop, thus I had to evacuate as well as my fellow knights."

"You and the others," Wufu said.

That comment suddenly made something click in Zander's brain! "I think I know why these Dynamiasmas have been appearing in the Stadiums. But before we get into that, we have to stop the one currently wreaking havoc."

"Wait," Cona stopped before the anthros could go inside. "Zander, before you go, take these." She then produced two scraps of sheet metal; one long, one wide. Zander took the metal, and it became his weapons. "We fellow knights have to stick together, after all."

"Thank you," Zander said, and he and Wufu rushed to the Battle Court...

-

Once they were on the pitch, they ended up facing a giant, silver, cubical robot decorated with V-angled spikes on its body, the most prominent one of which was on its head. It was swinging its arms stiffly to create rows of metal spikes from the ground.

Wufu was the one to throw the first hit as he summoned the shadowy aura and shot towards the Dynamiasma, hoping to finish it quickly. But while the punch made contact, it only impacted on the surface with a loud "CLONG!"

"MY PAW!!" he shouted in pain as he plummeted back down to earth.

"Wufu! No!" Zander exclaimed as he shot himself upwards and caught Wufu in midair, then brought him safely back down.

"Ow, ow, ow," Wufu said to himself when he stopped rolling, nursing his bruise. "Thanks, Zander. I owe you one."

"Like I said, you save my tail, and I save yours," Zander said. "Now, let's fight fire with fire... or in this case, fight steel with steel!" He then held both weapons in front of himself and shot towards the Dynamiasma, resulting in a loud "CLANG!"

After he landed back down, Zander looked up to inspect the damage, but other than putting a small crack in the Dynamiasma's chest, he wasn't able to destroy it either! "Seriously!?" he shouted in disbelief. "Can nothing break this thing!?"

But the Dynamiasma took advantage of Zander's lapse in focus and sent another row of metal spikes Wufu's way. Zander was able to rush there first just in time to rescue the Ursine Retainer with his force field, making the spikes vaporize.

"Why won't this oversized toy break!?" Zander growled in frustration before he let the field down. "What's it gonna take for this thing to go down!? What's it gonna TAKE!?!?!?" He then swung his sword at the Dynamiasma, but apart from the crack getting slightly bigger, it still held solid.

"Zander! Calm down and think here!" Wufu called, getting some feeling back in his paw. "We have to try another way!"

Zander put the field back up around him and Wufu, buying them some time. "What other way could there be for us to try?" He then lowered his head and thought, but all that he could think of was some impossible thing he remembered from an episode in a TV show he saw once. "Other than your water splashing, it's not like we have access to elemental powers. Otherwise, we could replicate this armor-shattering technique I remember seeing and wreck that thing in a snap."

"Wait," Wufu inquired, "what armor-shattering technique?"

"It was just using regular thermal expansion and contraction to make metal more breakable," Zander explained. "That shouldn't be hard. It's all just hot and cold stuff, right?"

"That does describe what thermal means, so... yes," Wufu said.

"Right. So, to cause thermal expansion, we'd need to heat the material with hot air so it swells up, but not so much that the crack seals back up," Zander explained. "And for the contraction, run some water through a source of cold, cooling it back down to shrink the metal, then the crack wil open wider..." Suddenly, Zander remembered something in his pocket: his Pokemon in their Poke Balls! "That's it! Wufu, I know how to walk this in my own shoes, but I'll need your help. Think your paw can handle some work?"

"I'll do my best." 

"Okay, get ready!" Zander said as he let the force field back down. He then threw one of his Poke Balls out and shouted, "Talonflame! Use Flare Blitz and Acrobatics together!" In a flash of light, Talonflame appeared and surrounded its body in flames, then darted around the Dynamiasma in all directions, resulting in the giant robot suddenly glowing orange and the air getting hotter.

"Okay, stop!" Zander then called Talonflame back and sent out Abomasnow. "Now, Abomasnow, aim straight upwards and use Blizzard!" Abomasnow did just that, and blew cold air from its mouth with snowballs directly above itself. Right when the snowballs began falling, "Wufu! Now!"

Wufu understood and quickly summoned the watery aura, then blasted flurries of water shots from his palms into the snowballs. Each and every snowball was hit with water, and the resulting cold liquid was directed at the Dynamiasma, making its orange glow fade and a massive cloud of steam to expand throughout the pitch. When the steam cleared, Zander's prediction was correct; the crack had widened from a barely noticeable chip to a large gash!

"We're doing it! We're blowing our minds wide open!" Wufu said when he stopped splashing.

"Now let's blow that thing wide open," Zander said after calling Abomasnow back, "together."

Both anthros then shot towards the Dynamiasma again, spinning around each other and creating a red and blue candy-cane stick of energy, fueled by the powers of their legends.

"Chou Hissatsu! Za-Fu FINISH!!"

This time, the cane went through the crack and blasted through the other side, causing the Dynamiasma to groan in tourturous agony until it exploded in a massive cloud of silver dust!

"Ha ha, yes! We did it!" Zander said. "We beat the Dynamiasma, all of us!"

"Yes, we did," Wufu said. "Now, you said you knew why they've been appearing in the Stadiums?"

"Right, but first we'll have to explain it to Lady Cona. Let's go."

-

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