Nessa grit her teeth, digging her heels into the ground. She heaved and sighed, her vision going blurry. Up above her, electricity tingled and sparked as her Gigantamax Drednaw was limping, nearly on its own forelegs once again as its stamina teetered on the verge of empty. If she could survive this next hit, she just might have a chance to counterattack.

But that was a tall order. On the other side of Hulbury Stadium, Bea brandished her hand forward, wheat-colored hair flowing in the wind as she commanded: “You can do it! Hit ‘em hard with a G-Max Chi Strike!”

The four-armed muscular Pokémon was in complete sync with her trainer as chi energy enveloped its fists, sending them like bullets one after another. Nessa’s heart sunk as her Drednaw was blasted repeatedly, over and over. She prayed, hoping to Arceus that her beloved ace could take it.

However, as the dust cleared, the red mist emanating from Drednaw’s body ran out. It slumped to the ground, defeated, before shrinking back down to normal size in a series of short bursts.

Nessa fell to her own knees, punching the ground in frustration. She ripped up a clump of grass, then… she composed herself. Nessa knew her tendency to overreact. Losses happen. Beyond that, this was merely an exhibition match, a far cry from the end of the world. She sat up, wiping some of the dirt away from herself, and she recalled her Drednaw back into its ball.

Across the stadium, Bea was already basking in her victory. Her forehead glistened with sweat as she struck an intense fighting pose to the maniacal excitement of the crowd. Nessa’s brow twitched. Try as she might… no matter how often it happened, losing still sucked.

***

The crowds were milling out of the stadiums, gradually draining its contents. The contestants too were returning to the prep areas. Bea had offered Nessa a friendly handshake at the end of the battle before retreating to get changed, so when Nessa cut her off in one of the darker hallways leading to the locker rooms, she was slightly surprised. Nevertheless, the two had a rapport.

“Oh, Nessa!” Bea smiled cheerfully, waving as Nessa shuffled awkwardly, offering a slight wave back. Bea continued, “Did you need something?”

“I… no, not really. I just got lost.”

“In your own stadium?” Bea raised an eyebrow as Nessa’s expression became more nervous. With great effort, Nessa stepped to the side and allowed Bea to pass through, which Bea did.

As she walked on, Bea had all but forgotten about the odd intercession when the sound of more footsteps from behind proved her erstwhile suspicions. Bea stopped and turned her head slightly; Nessa had shuffled behind her yet again. Her hands were behind her back, and she was looking sheepishly askance. Nessa wanted something, but she was too embarrassed to come outright and say it.

“Nessa?” Bea turned. For someone as outgoing and exposure prone as Nessa, she could be aloof at the best of times. Then again, this was not her first loss in recent times. “You… you good?”

“I…” Nessa drew a pattern on the floor with her sandal. “How did you get so good? At using Dynamax Pokémon?”

“Huh?”

“Your moves!” Nessa rushed closer to Bea, getting in her bubble. “They were flawless! Your Machamp could read my Drednaw like a book! You exploited my every weakness. How were you able to control them so easily? What’s your secret?!”

Comprehension graced Bea’s face. Nessa pouted, awaiting an answer, feeling all the humiliation that came with asking for help. Bea looked to the left and right. They were alone in the hallway. Then, shrugging, Bea decided. She lowered her voice and leaned in.

“My secret? Well, I don’t know if it’s a secret… but when I practice… I like to train with my Pokémon.”

“Train with them?” Nessa wasn’t quite sure she got it. “Isn’t that what most people do?”

“I mean, literally with them. I fight against them. I spar. I learn them inside and out, their strengths and weaknesses. That way, when they’re in the ring on their own, I know exactly how to use their talents to the best of their abilities.”

“I see…” Nessa put a hand to her chin. “Do you think I could do something similar?”

“I don’t see why not!” Bea grinned. “Was there anything else?”

“No… I don’t think so.” Nessa smiled. “Thanks, Bea. You’re the best. And the next time we battle, I’ll be sure to put what I’ve learned to the test!”

“I’m counting on it. Later!” Bea waved and trotted happily to the locker rooms. Nessa meanwhile remained, content. She glanced at her Poke ball, thinking about what lay ahead.

***

Despite being Hulbury’s star athlete, there were still rules and regulations that dictated when the Gym was allowed to be operational and what was allowed on the premises. Nessa was not immune to these rules, and so she was forced to execute her super-secret new training regimen in the dead of night. She ended up having to bribe the janitor to let her in but made more than enough in modeling to cover the cost if this were to become a regular thing.

Nessa stepped out onto the field. Unlike during her games, the floodlights were turned off. It felt like walking into a sea of inky blackness… it was sort of creepy. Nessa shuddered, and she reminded herself that that once the Dynamax was in effect, Pokémon had a natural glow that ought to be enough to illuminate whatever she needed to for this size.

Nessa unclipped her Poke ball from her belt, planting a kiss on it before throwing it upwards, where it unleashed the glowing-red data that was her prized Drednaw. It landed on all fours, trotting up to Nessa and nuzzling her, a gesture which Nessa returned with head pats on its rough forehead crests. Nessa was already put at ease. Then, she clutched her Dynamax Band, sighing to herself. “Well… here goes nothing…”

Nessa tapped the stone, channeling its energy as she aimed it to her Drednaw. The Pokémon returned to its ball, a ball that now pulsed with magenta energy before growing three sizes in Nessa’s hands. With a smirk, Nessa hurled the newly formed Dynamax Ball out into the distance, where it unleashed her Drednaw, now clad in a full shell of armor and standing on two legs. Gone was the fatigue of the previous night’s battle; Drednaw was ready to fight once again as it expanded into a kaiju-sized container of marine might.

But it wouldn’t be alone. Nessa now turned the Dynamax Band on herself, allowing the excess energy from Drednaw’s transformation to pour into her. She had no idea what could possibly happen, but she figured the worst-case scenario would be… nothing.

But nothing was the opposite of what was happening. Bathed in a dark red light, Nessa collapsed, convulsing. This was an alien sensation to her, and she coughed, her body fighting against the impending metamorphosis. Drednaw looked down at her trainer curiously as Nessa rolled around on the grass, until finally, Nessa’s stretches and twitches ceased. She was prone. On the ground, Nessa took a giant breath.

And then…

Boom…

It was a quick burst. Nessa’s body expanded by several feet. She was now 12 feet tall, more than twice her former size.

“Oh, my goodness…!” Nessa exclaimed to herself, slowly trying to get on her feet. She swayed, unused to this body, when another burst overtook her. She doubled over, clutching her chest as she hit a solid thirty feet, now roughly at waist level with her stanced-up Drednaw. She continued to gradually, glacially increase a few more minor sizes as more growth leaked through, until another massive burst blazed through her body, and finally, she was brought up to height. Dynamax energy swirled around her head. Nessa threatened to open her eyes, and when she did, she was utterly amazed at the view that greeted her. She was staring face to face with her Gigantamaxed Drednaw, which seemed to cheekily grin even though it lacked the muscles to do so. But moreover, she was practically brushing against the open-air roof of the coliseum. Nessa had grown to 150 feet.

As if to punctuate her transformation, a final Dynamax Energy surge jolted through the air, an indicator the growth was complete. Nessa was almost too awestruck to even think, or move, or do anything. She could barely comprehend the scale of everything she now beheld. The seats were tiny. The grass had congealed into a smooth gradient. She could see Rose Tower rising high in the distance over the edge of the stadium walls.

Nessa finally began to giggle, then laugh. Her laugh was a thudding, thundering guffaw that was imbued with the power of the ocean itself. She looked at her Drednaw and nodded.

“Alright, let’s train! You know what to do!”

Drednaw nodded in assent. Training was always an amphibious affair when it came to Nessa’s Pokémon, and if there was one thing the stadium lacked at the moment, it was water. Drednaw’s shelled armor clicked and clacked as it unfolded it’s carapace, limbering up as it opened its mouth before taking aim at the ground. And then…

The Pokémon blasted out a torrential Surf.

Gallons and tons of water spewed from its mouth by the second. It soaked the grass and saturated the seats with spray. But as Drednaw’s release tapered off, Nessa made a disgruntled noise, squishing her toes upon realizing she had only created enough water to coat the grounds of the arena, water that was already quickly dispersing away into the soil.

“Dang it… “ Nessa thought out loud. Hulbury was a coastal town, sure. Its drainage system was top notch, especially here in the stadium where superpowered displays of hydrokinesis were commonplace. If the pair wanted to create the Dynamax paradise training facility for them to practice in, they would need more water. Much more. “Hmmm… “

As it happened, there was an entire ocean of water almost literally a stone’s throw away from the stadium. Nessa put her hand to her chin, curling her face in thought.

“It would be a good place to train. I do like the ocean! But it's a bit… public…”

The Drednaw could sense Nessa’s frustration, and took a few squishy steps forth to nuzzle up against Nessa’s midriff. She chuckled, then decided, pounding her fist in her palm.

“Okay, let's do it. Here, it might be better to keep you inside the ball…” Nessa’s balls had grown with her, thankfully, and she managed to corral her Drednaw successfully inside its container, leaving Nessa alone for the time. She towered above all; clouds of thundering Max energy still swirled around her temples.

Wow… I bet I’m the first human to harness the power of Dynamax since… ever!

This very thought made Nessa tingle with excitement…!

But she had to focus. This was for training; if she got distracted, there was a real risk of this Dynamax power getting to her head. Nessa slapped herself a few times, trying to expel the thoughts of using this ability for personal gain. Then she placed her hands around the rim of the stadium and hoisted herself over it as though it were a bathtub. She leaned her sternum against the edge and pulled her legs outside before hopping down, hearing a metallic cronch as she got her bearings.

“Oh?” Nessa looked downward. The ticket booth had just been reduced to a pancake under her sandals. “Oh, so-rry, sorry!” Nessa reached down and pulled the strip from the sole of her shoe; it was permanently deformed into a disc of metal and glass. Nessa peered at it, mystified. She had crushed it into unusable rubble with a single step!

Nessa tossed it over her shoulder and looked ahead. The sea was close, and its surface was illuminated by moonlight, divided into strips by the swaying water. The lighthouse was a ways away with its beacon lit, and though Nessa was big, she still wasn’t quite large enough to overtake the lighthouse in size.

Nessa unclipped her Drednaw from her belt and gave it an affectionate rub. “Soon, girl…”

She sheathed it and began walking.

The night in Hulbury was still, but the noise of each progressive stomp, stomp, stomp was enough to entice a few of the citizens to exit their homes – many in their nighties – to see what the ruckus was about. Imagine the surprise when one concerned citizen, a waitress from The Captain’s Table seafood restaurant, opened her door only to see a colossal foot! It was tinged magenta, and it stepped thunderously in front of their door, kicking up a swell of dust before continuing on its way. She collapsed backwards in shock, yelping as the giant passed by.

Nessa heard this yelp, and she turned her head down again, seeing that the apartment complex which was once all dark on the inside had its lights turned on. Its door was open, and a woman in a pale gown was sitting in her threshold, panting as she now beheld Nessa looking down at her.

“Oh, my bad! Did I scare you?”

Even speaking low, Nessa’s voice boomed. Its vibrations caused glass to shake and made ripples in the water ahead swell into aggressive waves.

“Y-y-yes! Nessa? What… how?!”

Nessa’s eye twitched in frustration. She had done this at night to act under the guise of stealth. But it was hard to be stealthy when your knees exceeded the height of a two-story house. Those in the units above were already beginning to stir; some were even glancing out their windows through brushed-aside curtains.

Nessa crouched down to the level of the woman in an attempt to ease her apparent fear, but this only made her even more jittery and shaky, scooting back into the home. Nessa opened her mouth to say something… when her face suddenly lit up, slightly confusing the woman.

“Wait, I… I know you! You work at the restaurant, don’t you?”

“I… yes…” the woman responded with a shy nod. “W-why do you want to know?”

“I –”

Grrrrrwwwwwwlllll…!

Nessa was glad the magenta Dynamax energy hid her flushed face. Her stomach had acted on its own, announcing to the entire neighborhood that something big was really hungry. I guess having a bigger body means more calories… I’m not gonna miss that once I shrink back down, but I need food now.

“Well,” thought Nessa out loud. “You work at the restaurant! I could use a snack before I head out to train. Do you think you can get me something to eat?”

“Something to…” the waitress’s had gotten less jittery, and she was only interested in pondering Nessa’s proposal. “I… I’m… I’m not allowed to just give food away…”

“Who said anything about ‘giving’? I’ll pay you! I’m good for it…” Nessa winked and flashed a smile, putting on her modeling charm.

The woman thought about it for a bit longer. At this size, Nessa’s toothy smile seemed more like a threat than anything. But she was the local gym leader. She was a celebrity in more ways than one, and though the woman didn’t understand why or how she’d grown so big, she felt sure that helping Nessa out could get this waitress the clout she needed to get ahead in her own life.

“I… I guess –”

“GREAT!” Nessa’s rambunctious cheer rattled windows within their panels and reverberated the streetlamps.

“Oh, my bad…” Nessa’s attempt to lower her voice still resulted in a volume that could be rivaled by a brass band, but at the very least it wasn’t loud enough to maim. “Anyway, up you go~ ”

“W-whoa!” The woman didn’t expect to be plucked upward so haphazardly. She tried to hold onto the doorknob but only managed to close the entranceway before being lifted in front of Nessa’s face and set down gently on her shoulder.

“Hang on tight!” cheered Nessa before swinging her million-dollar legs in the direction of the restaurant.

The waitress hadn’t the chance to protest. When Nessa got to moving, she knew that she had to either hang onto Nessa’s flowing cyan locks or risk falling more than a hundred feet – a certain death against the cobblestone streets.

“Can you – agh!” The hapless waitress was jostled and momentarily lost her grip on Nessa’s hair. In a desperate flail, the grabbed onto one of Nessa’s giant hoop earrings, which were more like a novelty hula hoop than a piece of jewelry. The woman’s momentum yanked the earring aside and took Nessa’s ear along with it.

“ACH, geez, what are you doing up there?!” Nessa snapped with a voice that made the waitress’s blood run cold. The Gym Leader stopped and turned to glare at the woman on her shoulder who was now jumpier and even more jittery.

“I-I-I’m… my bad!” she called back.

“Be careful!” Nessa chastised. Then she took a deep breath and tried again to control her anger. They were almost at the restaurant.

Once they reached the front door of The Captain’s Seat, Nessa raised her palm in front of her shoulder and created an elevator of sorts for her passenger to step off from. With utter care and precision, the water trainer crouched and lowered her hand to the ground, allowing the waitress to take a few tentative back onto dry land. She was so thankful she would’ve kissed the ground if she could’ve, but Nessa’s expectant gaze reminded her of why they were here.

“So, you ready to find me some grub?” Nessa asked, lowering her pert buttocks to the ground with a moderate thump. She spread her legs out in a V on either side of the entrance to the restaurant, getting a stretch in as the woman now realized she was constrained from going anywhere else. She chuckled nervously as Nessa beheld her and walked up the steps to the huge double doors. She tugged at one of the handles… and came to a disturbing realization.

She turned back to Nessa. “Well, ah… it seems the restaurant is… locked…”

“But you have a key, right?” Nessa asked matter-of-factly, as though it weren’t even a question.

The waitress however let out a nervous chuckle. “Um… only… ah, the, uh, chefs have keys. I’m, I’m, just… you know… just…” She gave an odd curtsy by pulling at her hand-me-down nightgown. “You know.”

“So you’re saying…” Nessa started out, cutting off the waitress in a tinny eep!. “We came all this way for food… and we can’t even get inside?”

The waitress wanted to mention that the trip took less than thirty seconds but decided now was not the time to be snippy. “Well… no. B-but I know a great place off Route 5 that we can –”

“Actually…” Nessa’s voice thundered, and in the shadow, her expression was uncertain. It was only when another surge of Dynamax energy ran through her veins and illuminated her blood did the waitress realize she was giving off an enigmatic smile. “What am I saying? That’s no problem at all! I can get us in, easy ~”

Then Nessa stood to her full height, a towering red spire in the darkness. She recalled how she so effortlessly crushed the ticket booth earlier. Sure, it was an accident… but Nessa was a growing girl! Some things were going to get crushed. Who cares? Either way, now there was a completely legitimate reason to use her newfound strength, and she wasn’t going to let any pesky morality get in the way.

The woman below saw as Nessa raised one sandal-clad foot up, angling it at the perfect trajectory to shave off the entire anterior face of the building.

“Wait, what? No, don’t do that!” yelled the woman, sidling out of the blast radius before hopping up and down like a cricket to get Nessa’s attention.

Nessa deigned to glance a few degrees further down, and she raised an eyebrow. “Sorry lady, but I’m starving. You can either help me find a meal, or you can stay out of my way.” Nessa seemed to inject the final clause with an extra helping of force, and it made the woman beneath her shiver. But she powered through and raised a finger to the giantess.

“T-that place is my job! And if people find out I let you wreck it, I’ll get fired! Gym leader or not, I can’t let you destroy it!”

“Well… if you won’t let me get in…”

The tiny lady gulped as the angle of Nessa’s impending stomp changed.

“I’ll guess you’ll just have to be…”

Nessa stopped. Then she chuckled. Then she laughed wholeheartedly. She put a hand to her bare midriff as her voice carried on in pulses that almost seemed to match the rate of the cyclic Max energy that sustained her continued transformation.

“What am I talking about?” Nessa put her foot down and crouched back to the tiny’s level. The waitress breathed a sigh of relief, glad she was no longer the target of the gym leader’s ire. Nessa was a drama queen, but she knew when to come to her senses.

“I’m glad you finally –” the waitress began.

“Why would I need to break down the restaurant when I have an appetizer right in front of me?”

The waitress let out something between a gasp and a cough. She found the strength to muster up a gaze into Nessa’s deep, sea-blue eyes, searching in them for some indication that this was merely a fib.

Nessa was not laughing. Her face was entirely neutral. Annoyed, in fact.

“Y… you can’t… you can’t be serious…!” the waitress tried to choke out.

“Why would I joke about this?” Nessa asked. “It’s only natural someone as big as me would need a lot of food. Why else do you think I like to fish so much?”

“Well…” That was a good question. Why does Nessa like to fish so much? “I assumed it was because of your affinity for water, and… I guess… a desire to connect to nature and the Pokémon you love so much?”

“Psh, yeah, there’s that,” Nessa said, leaning back on her palms. “But it’s mainly because I love me a good fish fry every now and then! Krabby are the best! But the occasional Sharpedo-fin soup is a treat too!”

“O-oh…” the waitress noted that Nessa was gazing wistfully in the air as she rattled off her spiel. Now was the time to make her escape. She readied another question. “I would’ve thought, you know, someone like you… might not eat so much meat…”

“Well, I don’t, really,” Nessa said. She tried to count out her fingers. “I’ve probably eaten meat three… or four times this month. I usually get the protein from other sources like nuts and cashews. I have to take good care of my figure for Champions Monthly. But that’s the thing about fish! They’re deceptively healthy! And while I’d never eat my beloved Drednaw, I do still wonder how… w-where’d you go?”

The woman was gone.

She had darted to the other side of The Captain’s Seat and flattened her body against the marble-cut walls. She caught her breath, then held it. Nessa’s sudden silence meant she had caught onto her ruse. If she found where she was…

Nessa poked her head around the building.

“So… you thought you could run away from me, didn’t you?” Her giant head seemed to defy gravity as it was suspended in front of the hapless waitress. She wanted to move, run, do anything. But Nessa’s stare was paralyzing. It was as though the Dynamax energy running through her had given her the Pokémon power to inflict Mean Look herself.

The waitress had to face facts: her plan failed. She’d been made. And now, she was about to be made into a midnight snack.

“I-I-I-I w-w-was–”

“Save it!” A crack of thunder boomed in accompaniment with Nessa’s outburst. The clouds swirling around Nessa’s temples raged in conjunction with her mood. She grabbed the waitress with an aggressive lunge, holding the struggling woman safely in her manicured clutches. “I was taught from a young age not to play with my food… I guess I should’ve listened. And now, you’re going down the hatch into the S.S. Nessa!”

“N-no!” the woman shrieked. She was lifted up and in front of Nessa’s grinning face. Her fate seemed closer than ever. “I’ll do anything! Please, let me go! Don’t do this! Nessa! Nessa! NESS–”

“Aaaaaa–uhp~ ”

Gulp!

Nessa popped the woman in her mouth, and after only a few licks to sample the taste, she swallowed quickly without chewing.

“Ahhh… that hit the spot…” Nessa patted her fleshy belly, feeling the slight squirms that churned in her gut. From within, Nessa could still hear her screams of fear crescendo into a high-pitched, blood-curdling shriek until… suddenly, it stopped. At that same time, Nessa felt a hot warmth spread out from her core and into the rest of her limbs. The red tint that colored her skin deepened for a split second, and her body ached and stretched, gaining a few feet in height as her clothes became just a hair tighter than they had been.

“W-whoa…” Nessa got up and glared at her hands. She turned around in a circle trying to stare at her ass. It was difficult to notice… but Nessa knew her body. She knew she had gotten taller.

“I guess being in Dynamax form makes my body convert energy that much faster… Hey, I wonder it…”

Nessa crouched down again. A nearby lamp post was flickering, in need of a bulb change. It was as good a test subject as any. Nessa easily plucked it from its station, followed by twiddling it between her fingers and chewing off the bulb tip. It didn’t taste like anything, thankfully, though that could’ve been the result of the Max energy that sped up her metabolism.

Soon enough, Nessa got a reaction. Her gut exuded a warmth again, but it was less than earlier. Her body did increase in size by a few inches. Nessa finished stuffing the entire streetlight into her mouth, carefully reducing it to saliva-coated bits of metal before swallowing it all down. Still, after all that, she’d only grown a foot, if that. Barely a distinguishable difference.

“So, organic matter makes me grow more than inorganic matter…”

Nessa pondered this information…

She looked down to her balls.

The purpose of this entire expedition was to get stronger at battling with Pokémon… but now, perhaps “getting stronger” was beginning to look different in Nessa’s mind…

After all, as the largest trainer in the world, wasn’t she already stronger than everyone else?

And…

If she could get even bigger…

Nessa looked to the city of Hulbury. It was only just beginning to stir as the wee hours of the morning came in.

There was only one path forward to becoming the strongest trainer in Galar. And if she could help it, the whole world would remember her name.