Pokémon: Dark Armor

Chapter 2

I woke up to the sunlight blinding me. I brought my hand up to shield my eyes, and sat up.

"Rotom, what time is it?" I drawled sleepily.

"8:00 a.m." my phone buzzed.

"Jeez, it's early," I muttered.

I opened my phone to check some notifications, and paused, looking at my wallpaper. It was a picture of Hop, Marnie, and me. Hop was laughing at his Cramorant, which was pecking at him. I was doing the old "bunny ears" to Marnie, my other hand in a peace sign in front of me, my teeth flashing. Morpeko was cheerily waving at the camera, perched on Marnie's shoulder. On Marnie's face was her signature shy smile.

The smile that never failed to melt my heart.

*****
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead," My mum greeted me.

"Mum, it's 8:30."

"I'm aware," Mum said, going back to humming as she was making tea.

"I'm going out. Hop wanted me to help with something at the lab," I said after rolling my eyes.

"Shield?" She asked as my hand touched the doorknob. "It's ok to talk to your friends about what's going on. That's what friends are for."

I bit my lip, tightening my grip on the doorknob. "I'll... keep that in mind."

I swiftly walked out, closing the door behind me.

*****
"What type is it?"

"Poison/dragon," I answered.

Sonia continued. "And you said it can't Dynamax?"

"It was Dynamaxed when we first fought it, but I haven't been able to Dynamax it since."

Sonia nibbled at the end of her pen. "Do you have Zamazenta with you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"I'd like to see what readings I get when all three are present. You and Hop have told me neither Zacian nor Zamazenta can Dynamax, but there's so much Dynamax energy coming off of Eternatus that it's a surprise he's not crushing the town right now," Sonia said. "I've seen zero readings on the Galar Legends, which is also peculiar given the spread energy throughout Galar, they should have at least something."

"For goodness sake, Sonia, speak English," I said.

Sonia looked up. "Hey, it could be worse. I could be speaking Unovan English."

"I doubt you know how to do that," Hop piped up. "What she means is the Legends are weird and have seemingly zero Dynamax energy in them, which should be impossible in Galar. And besides, Kalosian English is far worse."

"He has a point," I said.

"Why other regions decided to butcher the Galarian language so horrifically will always be beyond me." Sonia said, shaking her head and rolling her eyes. "But that is a rant for another day."

Hop, true to his name, hopped up, taking out Zacian's Pokéball.

I fished out Zamazenta, and we tossed them out.

Sonia checked her tablet, and her brow furrowed.

"Something wrong?" I asked, reaching between the plates to scratch Zamazenta's neck.

"The readings lowered. These two don't just have no Dynamax energy inside them, it looks like they're actively expelling it out of whatever they're close to," Sonia said.

"That explains why their special moves are so effective against Dynamax Pokémon," Hop said.

"We know Dynamax came from Eternatus, but what about Gigantamax?" Sonia pondered. "Why can only certain species Gigantamax? And why only certain individuals from those species?"