//------------------------------//
// Chapter 13: Playing the Waiting Game 
// Story: Helix and Hooves: Trainers of the Future 
// by The Kelduo 
//------------------------------//

Well, I was in quite the predicament. The Doctor was going to take on the Gym Mission at Hulbury Stadium, and my other friends were either watching each other take on Turffield Stadium's mission or travelling to Hulbury to take on the mission there. I had to wait for the Doctor to beat the mission at Hulbury so we could meet Chairman Rose at the seafood restaurant. It isn't that I don't like waiting. I simply prefer to have something to do while I wait, but all of my friends were preoccupied with something. Grinding gets boring quickly, and I wasn't in the mood for a Max Raid Battle.

I checked the Y-Comm. There were some trade requests made by people who were unfamiliar to me. Additionally, I saw several Surprise Trades, one from Pinkie Pie. The reasoning behind why she would want to randomly trade a Pokemon to a stranger was beyond me.

A prompt to load new stamps appeared. I tapped it to refresh the page.

The first stamp was a battle request. A Single Battle request sent by Red. I looked closer, and I saw that it had a lock icon. This meant that Red intended to challenge a specific person, because a lock means only people who have the code inputted by the host could accept the challenge. No doubt the person who would accept Red's challenge either defeated him before or is too dumb to avoid battles with legendary Trainers.

In short, none of the stamps were of use to me. Instead, I decided to hail a Flying Taxi to take me to the Wild Area, just in front of Motostoke.



It's been a while since I've visited the Wild Area, and there was still much for me to explore. I checked the Town Map on my Rotom Phone. A bridge to the east separated the north and south halves of the Wild Area, the southern half being the one I was in. I hadn't yet explored the north half, so I made my way east.

The path sloped downhill, and there was a single Pokemon on the slope. It was a large, brown draft horse Pokemon with impressive feathering on its hooves in the form of solidified mud, and its mane was weaved into dreadlocks. "Huh, what's a lone Mudsdale doing here?"

The Mudsdale's flexible ears picked up my confused query. "Well now, I sure didn't expect to see a Shiny Decidueye 'round these parts. I'd ask why you're here, but that really ain't any of my business, so I'll answer your question instead. Er, actually, hold on a sec..." His soft yet firm muzzle grazed me as he tried to gather my scent. "What do you know! Looks like your question's already answered! One whiff's all it took for me to figure out that you done took on my foal Mudbray in a Max Raid Battle. See, Mudbray and I used to live in Alola, but the little guy wanted to visit his cousins here in Galar. When we came here, we learned about this neat little transformation thingy called Dynamax."

"Why did Mudbray choose to become a Dynamax Pokemon?" I used my Rotom Phone to review the Abilities that Mudbray and Mudsdale can potentially have. "Is it because he has the Stamina Ability?"

Mudsdale nodded. "You got that right. From what we heard, Dynamaxing makes you bigger and tougher. Mudbray's already tough to beat with his Stamina Ability, so he figured becoming a Dynamax Pokemon would make him resilient as a Stakataka! I might give Dynamax a go, but I'm not as lucky as Mudbray." He sighed. "I have Inner Focus instead of Stamina. I can't flinch, but Dynamax Pokemon like you find in those Pokemon Dens are incapable of flinching anyway. I might as well not have an Ability if I choose to Dynamax."

"Then why don't you try putting your Hidden Ability to use by taking on Pokemon that like to spam flinching moves?" I rubbed my hands together with malicious intentions. "It'd be nice if an unflinching Pokemon such as you would deal with those kinds of pests. They are some of the reasons why I'm not the best competitive Trainer in the Alola region."

"Punishing Pokemon who love flinching moves, you say? My boy Mudbray's had some run-ins with those kinds of Pokemon. His Stamina Ability helps him endure the onslaught, but the flinch users never come alone. They always come with a Pokemon who never stops critical-hitting. They love to lower his guard by making his Stamina Ability repeatedly trigger, only for that dang critical hitter to bash him real hard and knock him out." He stomped his hoof on the ground. "Them cheeky little things... You know what? Yer right. I can't wait to see their faces when they find out they can't flinch me. Critical hits ain't gonna do much to me either, since my species got some mighty good defense and health." Mudsdale set off for the western part of the Wild Area. "Thanks, Decidueye. Gotta say, you give Ghost-types a good rep. After I teach them pests a lesson, we'll have to owe you one."

I continued towards the bridge, but I stopped when I heard a strange noise. Clink-clink-clink-clang! Clink-clink-clink-clink-clink-clink-clink-clang! Clink-clink-clink...

Was something burrowing through the ground beneath my talons? I put my head to the ground. The noise grew louder.

Something was burrowing. And it was going to surface soon. I used my quill to slash two lines in the dirt, making an X.

A few seconds later, a pickaxe made of diamond broke through the X. The owner of the diamond pickaxe, Discord, made his way out of the ground. "Sorry I'm late!" He turned off the light on his miner's helmet. "Don't ask how many moles I ran into while trying to mine my way here. Anyway, I heard you were trying to find a way to use your spare time while your friend took on some sort of gym. Honestly, I'm not sure why he'd want to visit a gym, because aren't Earth ponies already physically strong?"

"It's not that kind of gym." I sent out Hotshot, who was confused by the draconequus standing before us. "It's a Gym where Pokemon beat each other up so their Trainer can win a Badge."

"A gym where Pokemon beat each other up? Look, I don't know much about Pokemon..." Discord bent down and ruffled Hotshot's head tuft. "...but I do know that this little guy doesn't look like he could beat others up much."

Hotshot's response was a swift kick to Discord's surprisingly fragile head.

"...!" Discord used an air pump to inflate a new head to replace his fractured one. "I stand corrected. He is very capable of beating others up."

The period of silence that followed was unnerving, so I decided to break the silence. "So... how'd you know that I was bored and needed a way to kill some time?"

"The title of this chapter gave it away." Discord scoffed, "Your story's author really should learn to make chapter titles more subtle."

Hotshot gave Discord yet another disturbed look. "Did I kick this guy a little too hard or something?"

"You can't break Discord, the literal god of chaos. He's already broken." I snickered at my own little joke. "Too broken to be completely fixed, though. He's been known to make references and break the fourth wall a time or two." I turned my attention back to the draconequus. "Apologies if you felt insulted by my quip about being broken. I meant no offense."

"None taken. After all..." Discord fell apart into six pieces: his legs, his torso and tail, his arms, and his head. "I was born broken! I take it in stride." He put himself back together. "Anyway, what do you have in mind for our little..." He materialized a clock before crushing it in his claw. "...time massacre?"

"Well, now that you're here, I think we should do something that's both fun and a little chaotic." I flexed my wings and finger feathers. "Let's try charades, but the person who's doing the actions must act out a scene from a form of media instead of just acting as a character, and the others have to guess the episode or movie that the scene came from. No cards this time, we can choose the scene we act out." I threw down an arrow quill. "Are you up for it?"

"You're on!" Discord picked up the quill and gave it to me. "Helix, you're the one who needed to kill some time, so you can go first."

"This is going to be fun..." I thought about the scenarios I could act out. I snapped my fingers in confirmation.

I sent out Farfetch'd to help me.

I headed up the hill and drew my Leaf Blade before looking down at Farfetch'd. He glared back at me with a gaze rivaling Cobalion's as he gripped his leek like a sword.

Discord's irises glowed red. "You underestimate my knowledge of Space Battles references!"

"You guessed right!" I put on a reminiscent smile. "I'm so glad they released the prequel trilogy so I could learn about Darth Vader's backstory... Oops, sorry about that. I just have really fond memories of Star Wars. Discord, let's see how your acting skills are!"

"Alright, I'll show you a scene perfect for this little adventure you're going on! But first, I'm gonna need a moment." He concealed himself behind a crimson cloth, and when it fell down, he was gone. Some time later, the cloth transformed into Discord himself. "Sorry about that. I had to consult a certain video-gaming pony for help. Now, let's get this show on the road!"

He conjured up a table and two clones: an elder one with gray hair and a lab coat, and a small one that was yellow. Discord proceeded to pick up the small one on the table, which responded by electrocuting him while the elder Discord facepalmed. Or should I say, faceclawed?

I applauded. "You were right, the funniest scene from the first episode of the Pokemon anime is indeed perfect for my Galarian adventure."

"Helix! Be careful!" Suddenly, Lucario came out of nowhere and took an offensive stance. "I sensed an evil aura around here. But now..." His irises glowed yellow, and he closed his eyes to check the surroundings using his Aura powers. "The evil aura is gone. It isn't like an aura to go away just like that."

"Um, that would be me," Discord said apologetically. "I had temporarily changed my aura to help reference the formerly-villainous Nimbus Skytrotter."

Lucario looked at me. "Anakin?"

I nodded. "Anakin."

He looked at Discord, then back at me. "Charades?"

I nodded. "Charades. Farfetch'd and I were re-enacting the fight between Obi-Wan and his unruly apprentice."

"That makes sense. It seems like you found a good way to spend your time waiting for the Doctor to finish his Gym Mission at Hulbury. But you do know you could just hop into an active Pokemon Den and battle the Dynamax Pokemon there, right?"

"I could, but it's always dangerous to take on a Dynamax Pokemon alone. I don't know if I'd be able to win without my friends to help."

"That's usually the case, but I'm sure you shouldn't have too many problems. Recently, there's been an outbreak of Silicobra and Sandaconda in Pokemon Dens, and as a Grass-type you should be able to defeat the Ground-types without much trouble. You might want to keep away from their face, though, lest you be sandblasted."

"Sandblasted?" Buzz-buzz! "Oh, I think that's mine." I took out my Rotom Phone, but there were no notifications. "I could've sworn I got a notification... Wait, I got it!" I put away my Rotom Phone and took out my Expedition Gadget. This time, there was a notification on the PokeGram app. "How could I have forgotten about my Expedition Gadget so quickly? I just got it not long before the Star Allies adventure, and I've been using it ever since. At least, until I acquired the Rotom Phone."

Lucario checked his own Expedition Gadget, and we both gasped.

Discord tried to get a good view of the screen. "What's going on? You've gotta tell me!"

I showed him my Gadget. On the current page was a picture of Keldeo standing triumphantly over a defeated Mega Venusaur. In the background was a male Trainer in a red shirt and hat, watching in disbelief. "Keldeo, a Water- and Fighting-type, has two type disadvantages against Venusaur, a Grass- and Poison-type. Yet he still won against Red's Venusaur, even when Red Mega Evolved it! I knew Keldeo was skilled, but not this skilled..."

"At this point, I'm not surprised," Discord said with a shrug. "He taught Giant Bowser a lesson back in your very first visit to Equestria, which the readers probably don't know about, and he also annihilated Virizion back in Turffield Stadium."

Lucario finished his comment on the post. "You've got a point there, Discord."

Buzz-buzz! This time, it was my Rotom Phone that buzzed. I checked it, and I was quite surprised. The Doctor had sent me a picture of himself standing alongside his Dynamaxed starter, except it had evolved again. Its final evolution was a gorilla with green, leaf-like hair. It had a stump in front of it that acted like a drum when the two protrusions on the sides were struck by the Pokemon's wooden drumsticks.

The picture had a caption, too: "Ukiki wasn't a nickname that fit my partner's second evolution, so I decided to change it. Introducing Jungle Beat the Rillaboom!"

"Looks like he's close to beating Nessa and earning the Water Badge." I put away my Rotom Phone and Expedition Gadget. "I'd be happy to stay and chat with you, Discord, but I need to get back to Hulbury. I don't want to keep the chairman waiting!"

"All right. Good luck becoming the new Champion of the Galar region!" Discord saluted me as I took flight and soared towards Hulbury.