Archive of Our Own

“LEE!”

Hop didn’t know why he even bothered. There was no chance anything could be heard over that explosion. Still, despite the pressure of Charizard and Hailey crowding around him as close as possible, despite the heat he could feel from the other side of Charizard, the feeling of his heart dropping into his gut was still the most prevalent.

Idiot! Stupid moron! What was he thinking, using a normal Pokeball?!

Hop felt tears form, but he grit his teeth and prevented them from falling down his face. He clenched his jaw so hard he thought his teeth would turn to dust. Before any new emotion could fill his head outside of anger and fear, the rumbling stopped, and both he and his rival popped their heads over Charizard’s shoulders to see the damage. They both gasped.

Eternatus-- was that what Rose called it? Hop didn’t really care to remember anything the Chairman said, not after watching Hailey beat his team into the ground in a much-deserved butt-kicking-- was stand valiantly, unfazed by the attempt to control it. Meanwhile, Leon was in a much worse condition. He was on one knee, curling in on himself and propping his upper body with his fist. He was shaking like crazy, and before anything else could be said, Leon plopped over like a ragdoll.

Hop’s breath stuttered, “Lee!”

His voice was a little raspy, but neither he nor Hailey cared as they both ran out from behind Charizard to Leon’s side. Right as they did so, Eternatus roared. It shook their very beings so much that the two rivals put their hands over their ears for a second. Shaking it off, Hailey looked up with a bout of determination and ran in between Leon’s body and the angry Legendary, taking no time at throwing her first pokemon out.

Hop didn’t know what to feel. He’s grateful for a rival/friend like her, but at the same time, he feels guilty. Worthless. Shouldn’t he be doing more to help her fight that monster? Then, the reminder that his brother was out cold on the floor made him shove that thought to the backburner. Hop ran towards Leon.

He slid on his knees the rest of the distance he had to go and took a shaky deep breath. Leon was face down on the roof, so Hop had to turn him around onto his back to see the damage. Hop gasped again, tears leaking from the corners of his eyes. Again. While it wasn’t terrible, it certainly didn’t look very good.

No blood could be seen anywhere just yet, but black singes and skid-mark like scratches adorned Leon’s face. His complexion had a hint of purple to it, which Hop would be constantly aware of until his brother woke up. Parts of Leon’s clothes and cape were ripped to shreds, and his breathing was labored. Hop would love to make a comment about his older brother sounding like some 80-year-old smoker, but… “Lee? Lee, wake up! It’s me! It’s your brother, Hop! Please…”

Hop shook Leon as much as he could without aggravating his injuries, but the man only groaned and titled his head to one side, grimacing while unconscious. The waterworks finally started when a large blast happened where the battle was going down. Wiping them away, Hop looked up with his brother still in his arms to see what was happening now.

Hailey had her Rapidash out now. She must have figured something out about Eternatus. She was still grimacing though, so whatever she was planning, it was risky. “Psycho Cut!” she yelled out, pointing at the monster. With a whinny, the Rapidash started glowing from head to toe and charged. Eternatus charged something up, but thankfully, the Rapidash dodged it (Hop still flinched, however) and made its attack land squarely on Eternatus.

The thing howled in pain, but it still wasn’t done. It became weaker, but also madder. It was rage-filled at this point, and Hailey’s stance went taut. The end was drawing near, but the question that still needed to be answered was: who was it drawing closer to? Hop blinked, then was suddenly aware of something draping along his back, as well as the very heavy weight in his arms still being there.

Oh, crap! Lee! His brother needs medical attention and he needs it now. With the help of Charizard, Hop should be able to get Leon out of here. “C‘ mon, help me out here,” Hop said to Charizard, who didn’t need to be told twice. With what little baby strength he had left, Hop lifted Leon about an inch into the waiting arms and wings of Charizard. Right as he stood up, ready to ride Charizard out of there, he heard a voice go, “No!”

Hop rapidly turned around with wide eyes. His mouth opened in shock. Hailey’s Rapidash took a direct hit. It wobbled and fell onto its front knees but after a little bit of trembling, it stood back up shakily. It’s still good to go and charged up another Psycho Cut. Oh, is Eternatus part Poison? That would explain why Hailey pulled Rapidash out. She doesn’t have anything else effective against Poison.

Charizard quietly roared from behind him, making Hop aware that he has to pick. Hop’s throat closed up and it felt like he was swallowing a bunch of rocks. He didn’t want to leave his brother, at all, and wanted to make sure Lee was getting everything he needed and more for his recovery, but Hailey… Hop knows she’s more than capable of handling this (probably). She was able to reach the Unbeatable Champion and even make him nervous about their upcoming fight! Hop would just drag her down in the end...

But the way she was slightly shaking from exhaustion, one of her eyes shut tightly due to what Hop could assume was pain and her pokemon in a similar state… it felt wrong to leave her by herself. Even if Hop didn’t fight, he could still be there for moral support. And what if she passed out? Who would take her to safety?

The decision was practically tearing Hop up inside in more ways than one. It felt like a Silicobra used Wrap on his chest and wasn’t letting go. His brother had been by his side his whole life, but Hailey had been able to reach Hop in ways nobody, not even Lee, had been able to. Hop had always hated loyalty subplots in stories. It was always obvious to him which side the person should pick! But now he was living one, and he hated it.

Looking around rapidly in panic, Hop suddenly took a deep breath and turned around to Charizard, “You can take him away from here, right?! Then go! Get my brother to safety! Come back if we don’t show up soon after you do!”

Hop went to get closer to his rival, but he stopped momentarily at the sound of Charizard making a protesting noise. Hop looked back at his brother’s partner, “No, Charz! I need to stay! I promise to be careful, okay? I need to do this.”

Not just for her is left unsaid, but Charizard picked up on it anyway. With much reluctance, Charizard started flapping its wings harder and left the scene of the battle. Once it and Leon were well out of Hop’s line of sight, the young boy took a deep breath. Finally. Hop turned around and ran to Hailey, who yelled out one more move for her Rapidash. The Psycho Cut landed, and Rapidash was quickly back inside its Pokeball.

Eternatus was making that howling noise again, but this time it also fell over. Only briefly, however, as the ground started shaking again and the Legendary was beginning to glow. Right as Hop got next to Hailey, and in the blink of an eye, a beam of light shot into the sky with Eternatus leading it. The blast, while not as big as the first one, was still pretty big and threw Hailey and Hop a few feet onto their backs.

They skidded for a little bit. Hop’s head may or may not have bounced one time, maybe Hailey’s did too, but they weren’t worried about that right now. As they groaned and sat up on their arms and elbows, they watched Eternatus with wide eyes. Debris started flying in a tornado-like motion around the roof, gaining more and more speed. The two pokemon trainers stood up rapidly, still looking up at Eternatus. The already-large pokemon got even larger, and it no longer looked like a pokemon. It was more of a giant hand/arm that was able to loudly roar at them.

Which it did, and both Hailey and Hop had to put their arms in front of their faces. The wind was so strong they were pushed back a couple of inches and had to dig their feet into the ground to not get pushed anymore. The two trainers took their arms down, looked at one another, made one singular nod and pulled their respective Pokeballs out. Hop’s trusty Dubwool was ready to go, but Hailey needed to use a max potion on her Rapidash. Meanwhile, Eternatus started glowing more and more as they wasted their time.

The two rivals made their first move…

… and absolutely nothing happened.

“What?!” Hop exclaimed, “I can’t use any moves!”

Hailey shared the feeling, “Neither can I! This is bad!”

Then, a miracle took place.

Both rivals jumped at the rumbling that started while they tried figuring out what to do. This rumbling was different than what had been happening around them. In fact, it felt like it was coming directly from their bags…

“I forgot!” Hop pointed out, “We found the sword and shield in the Slumbering Weald!” Hop took no time to pull out the rusty piece of metal and held it in a way that was effective but comfortable, “Hailey, use that sword! It might be old and rusted, but there’s got to be some use to it!”

She did as she was told rather panicked, “I got it! Besides, it’s not like we got any other option,” she explained as she gripped the broken sword out in front of her, “Look!”

Hop moved his line of vision to where she thrust the sword and gulped. Eternatus was charged up and ready to attack. It was aiming straight for them and their pokemon (which were closer to their trainers now), so hopefully, this plan would work… or at least keep them alive. The Legendary monster howled in anger and moved.

Despite wanting to, Hailey and Hop didn’t close their eyes and instead screamed back with their weapons forced out in front of them as much as possibly could. Their throats felt like they were being ripped up, but the yelling helped them stay strong. Right before Eternatus could strike, a double miracle took place!

See, Lee! I told you those were rea-- woah…

On Eternatus’ left, a red light came streaming forward, stopping the Legendary’s attack cold, and on its right was a blue light doing the same thing. With two more blasts of energy (how many of those are going to occur tonight?!), Hop blinked the dust out of his eyes and gasped. Hailey did the same. Who wouldn’t? After all, Zacian was in front of her and Zamazenta was in front of him!

Before he could fanboy, his shield shook violently. So did Hailey’s sword. They got so bad that they started floating out of their hands and to the Legendary Dogs. Wait a second, that’s a good thing! The weapons merged with their respective pokemon and created two bright red and blue lights again. Hailey and Hop found themselves covering their eyes once more.

Once the heat of the lights stopped, they brought their arms down and-- man, they seem to really like gasping tonight, don’t they? Instead of the powered down pokemon that came in, Zacian and Zamazenta were fully armored-up. Zamazenta practically doubled in size, and Zacian’s sword looked amazing with its crown-like headgear! They glowed with such powerful aura, Hop felt like he could relax a little bit. Suddenly, Hailey’s Rapidash charged up an attack and struck Eternatus who flinched in pain.

Eternatus… flinched… which means--

Hop gasped yet again, his throat achiness catching up to him, but pushed forward, “Hey, looks like we can use our moves now!” he yelled with a grin, adding on with, “Thanks to Zacian and Zamazenta, that is!”

Hailey grinned too, especially at Hop’s fist raising into the air, “Right, then we need to make the most of it. C’ mon, rival, we’ve got a Legendary to beat!”

Hop nodded rapidly and looked back at Eternatus. He couldn’t believe it! He was fighting alongside the heroes of Galar themselves in a fight that was probably much like the one thousands of years ago! It was a geek-out-worthy moment!

Then Eternatus took his Dubwool out with one hit and he got serious again, mad even.

No one takes out his partner except for his rivals!

After the first round of attacks, Zacian and Zamazenta decided to attack themselves. Zacian’s sword glowed a vibrant blue as well as got wider and longer. With a leap faster than sound, it slashed Eternatus right in its giant palm, causing it to shriek. Zamazenta’s shield did something similar. It glowed red instead, and Hop was awestruck that the large dog could get even larger! It soon moved as fast as Zacian did and bashed its face and shield into Eternatus as well, causing another large shriek.

Hop found it in himself to giddily laugh. That’s what that monster gets! Now you know how Lee feels!

The fight would last for an eternity (Hop would laugh at the pun if he wasn’t so tired), and both Hailey and Hop would go through many, many of their pokemon. As Zacian increased their attack power and Zamazenta put up another Light Screen, Hop took the time to look over at Hailey. He was, as stated previously, exhausted, so when he looked at her leg he could no longer gasp. Heck, he could barely widen his eyes even.

But what he saw was too much even for his dead brain not to physically react to. Not only was Hailey frantically looking for something on the ground, but part of her leg was also absolutely ripped up. Her skin was dangling off like it was ripped up fabric, and the sight made Hop want to vomit, but then he realized something else.

There was no blood.

Wouldn’t a wound that size bleed like crazy? Not to mention, instead of red being in the spot skin was no longer covering, grey filled the area, shiny grey, like metal. Was Hailey some kind of robot? What the heck was--

Hailey found what she was looking for and stood back up, making Hop instinctively look back to Eternatus in time for him to tell his Cinderance to use Pyro Ball. Right before he completely focused on the battle again, he saw out of the corner of his eye what Hailey was looking for. It was a contact for her eye. Hop was going to brush it off, but he also saw the eye the contact was meant for.

The eye in question was glowing with a bright, neon green color.

Hop took a shaky deep breath at this realization. A fake leg was a weird coincidence, but nothing concrete. A glowing green eye? There was only one person on this planet that had that. That meant Hailey-- not Hailey, actually-- was someone important. Someone very important. He remembers Lee bringing up when he was finally home for a weekend and promised to hang out.

“The Legendary Whisperer?” Hop curiously asked Leon.

The older brother nodded his head and wiped his mouth with a napkin, “Sonia brought her up once since Professor Magnolia keeps mentioning her since her other Professor friends keep mentioning her. Magnolia’s friends know the girl due to her other adventures in other regions, so I looked her up. She’s a very powerful trainer who’s in charge of making sure every Legendary Pokemon stays safe and free. She’s got a lot of power behind her in more ways than one, and you can easily notice her due to her fake limbs and a glowing eye. Apparently, it’s neon green? Which is why it’s probably a dead giveaway, who else do you know that has an eye that’s neon green?”

Hop nibbled on his cookie a little bit more, “Legendaries are extremely powerful, though. Why do they need protecting?”

Leon just shrugged and grabbed his drink, “Well, even the strongest people need protection sometimes. You never know what greedy son-of-a-gun will go after you. Lord knows there’s a lot of them. Some of them are blindly stupid, some of them spend years preparing to fight the legendary they’re after. How do you fight someone who knows literally all your moves before you do?”

Hop grimaced, “That’s fair, I guess…” He looked out over the hilltop they were spending the afternoon on. An idea suddenly hit him, “Hey, do you think I could meet her? Ooh! Maybe even battle her?!”

Leon was in the middle of drinking when Hop asked his question, so he started coughing once his younger bro was done. Once he could properly speak again, he gave Hop a pitying look, “I’m sorry, but probably not. Not that she doesn’t want to see you-- if she doesn’t, it’s definitely her loss-- but she’s very busy like I am. The chances of you meeting her are slim, let alone being able to stick around long enough to battle.”

Hop’s shoulders slumped in disappointment, “You have a point, but… are you sure she would like me? It sounds like she’d be more interested in someone like you.”

Leon beamed, “Absolutely! I say that knowing you. I’ve heard mixed accounts of what this ‘Legendary Whisperer’s’ character is like, some positive, some negative, and if the positive ones are true, she’d be smitten with you!”

Hop thinned his lips, “And the negative ones?”

Leon put his drink back down, “As I said, it’s her loss,” Leon stood up, “Now then, time to head home! Pack everything up, and the last one in the door cleans the dishes like always!”

Hop sputtered, “Hey! I have a huge disadvantage! I’m carrying the blanket this time!”

Leon sniggered as he tightened his shoelaces, “Well, I’m carrying the basket full of stuff, aren’t I?”

Hop bunched up the blanket in a panic as Leon grabbed the basket, “That has handles! My load doesn’t!”

Leon barked a laugh, “Well, that sounds like your loss, little bro. See ya!”

Hop’s jaw was wide as Leon took off, “Hey! Get back here you dirty cheater!”

The brothers laughed as they raced the entire way home. Hop may have lost, but the smile he had on his face when he put the fork in the dishwasher said that it was worth it in the end.

Hop had to take another deep breath. His rival, his teammate, his friend, had secretly been this really famous person. The freaking Legendary Whisperer was in the Galar region this whole time and nobody knew. It certainly explained why she knew so much about pokemon battles and typing and why she was so seamlessly able to beat everyone around her.

On one hand, Hop was filled with pride and relief that this really strong person considered Hop good enough to be a rival and friend out of everyone she could have possibly chosen.

But there was a small feeling of betrayal too. She’s been lying this whole time about who she really was? What else has she lied about?

“No! Not again!”

Hop blinked out of his thoughts to see another one of… his rival’s... pokemon go down. This time it was her Boltund, who sorrowfully whimpered as it toppled over. She was grimacing as she had to put him away and bring out a replacement again. Now her Falinks was out.

Looking back at his Cinderance, Hop realized he needed to give another move to it. “Pyro Ball once more, buddy!” he said valiantly. Cinderance nodded once before turning around and doing just that. When the attack landed, Eternatus howled, but this time, it wouldn’t stop.

This was it! The fight was almost over! Hop reached toward his bag for something to catch with but then realized who else was with him. The Legendary Whisperer… She would be better for this, yeah? “This is it? Hurry, Hailey! Try to catch Eternatus NOW!”

She blinked a few times, not quite understanding that the battle was almost over yet before nodding once. She reached into her bag and turned white as a sheet. Hop wasn’t sure what the heck happened, but soon, she had a ball out and took a deep breath. Hop was only able to blink once due to the sheer suspense as his rival threw her chosen Pokeball and watched Eternatus try to fight the pull. The scary Legendary was no match as it got sucked in. Then, the ball began to tick.

One…

Two…

Three.

It was over… it was over! As the Dynamaxed ball shrunk down to normal size, Hop cried out in happiness as well as let his tears flow. They did it, they really did it! They did it with the help of Zacian and Zamazenta too! The sky was clearing, and where Eternatus was shot out a bunch of Wishing Stars in multiple directions. Hop was vaguely aware that someone would need to go find those, but right now, he was too giddy to care.

Blinking out of his celebration dance, Hop watched as his rival walked over to grab the Pokeball she threw and stare off into the sky. Soon, the Legendary Dogs came up next to her and placed her in between themselves. They howled deeply and soon shot off just like the Wishing Stars did earlier, leaving the kids by themselves.

Hop blinked a few times at his rival’s back. Once he realized that she was going to stay there, he limped over to her. Man, was he really that sore? They got thrown around a bit, yeah, and did a crap ton of running, but it was still surprising that he was that sore.

“Hey… you okay, Hailey?” Hop was sure that wasn’t her name, but he currently had nothing else to use.

The Legendary Whisperer took a second to turn around at her friend’s voice. Hop blinked at the tears streaming down her face. She quickly started grinning despite that, “Yeah, Hop, I’m okay.”

The sight was enough for Hop to start crying too. And grin. At the same time, both of them started laughing. Why? Well, they had many reasons-- relief, joy, everything in between-- but they didn’t care about the details then. Whatever reason compelled them to cry, it also compelled them to crush each other in the biggest bear hug possible. They were roughly the same height, so they rested their heads on each others’ shoulders.

It was finally over.

Finally.

---

No, it wasn’t, actually.

Hop realized this when a familiar roar came from above them in the middle of their hug. Hop didn’t take his arms away, but he did look up to see his brother’s Charizard above them with an aura that could be described as worry. This is when Hop remembered his brother and subsequently started breathing quickly. Oh God, Lee. Here Hop was celebrating at a job well done when his brother was still in writing agony. Jeez, how could Hop be so--

“Hey, Hop! Dude, listen to my voice, your brother is going to be okay--”

His rival saw his panic attack beginning and very seamlessly brought him down from it. Heck, she even knew it was about Lee. It practically felt like he never panicked in the first place. Man, she was good, wasn’t she? After that, Charizard flew them back to the Stadium where everyone was recuperating. As Charizard landed, Hop took a deep breath to prepare himself.

For many reasons.

“Look, they’re back!”

“Hop! Hailey!”

“Boy, are we glad to see you guys!”

First being the earful he was going to receive from everybody.

He tensed up, getting ready to listen to the thunder about how they were being stupid for running into the fight when all of a sudden he felt Hailey scoot closer to his back in an attempt to hide. What?! Hide?! But she just saved the Galar Region! She literally has the Big Bad Pokemon in her grasp to flaunt off to everyone, what is she shying away--

Oh. Her leg. If they see it her cover is blown.

She needs to cover it up somehow, but if everyone crowds them, somebody is going to see her leg before she could do anything about it. She very clearly doesn’t want her cover blown, and Hop doesn’t either (for more reasons than one), so, in glorious Hop fashion, Hop took a deep breath right as all the gym leaders got up to him and straight up slurred, “I! May or may not… have a concussion...”

That’s not a lie per se-- both he and his rival have a lot of bruises and scratches that will need to be taken care of-- but it helps to amp up the act, doesn’t it?

It certainly got everybody’s attention on him instead for just a moment. They started waving their hands over him as if they could wash away any of the hurts he just got-- both mentally and physically. Meanwhile, his rival was getting more and more confused behind him. Then she looked down to his hip where his hand was motioning her to run away.

Her eyes widened at the realization. Hop was buying her time. She should be more concerned that he knows who she is now (or at least knows about her leg), but she’s more moved about the fact that he’s willing to take whatever concern the adults are going to throw at them so nobody else knew. Damn, Hop was one smart cookie. Grinning, she quickly turned around and ran behind Charizard, who just watched her with a confused brow. Due to his large body, he simply watched her over his shoulder while she worked on getting a new cover for her leg and making it look realistic. Just a little bit of dirt here and there and she should be good to go.

Meanwhile, Hop slightly grimaced at the huge mixed signals he was receiving from everybody. He could feel their concern radiating for miles, but they way they conveyed it was through, er, let’s call it ‘annoyance’ at best. They were not pleased that Hop and Hailey ran off, and the bruises and cuts they came back with just helped their argument.

Sonia was probably the worst, “You idiot! You scared me half to death! I wasn’t actually expecting you two to jump headfirst into this! Do you have any idea how I felt seeing Leon get brought back unconscious with neither of you?!” She practically crushed him in a chokehold.

Bea ruffled his hair, “No kidding. Glad to see you’re alive, little dude.”

Allister sniffed, “D-Don’t leave us in the dust again!”

Melony cooed, “Aw, you made Allister cry! Guess that’ll teach you.”

Gordie heartily laughed, “No kidding! Nobody makes Allister cry without feeling the worst guilt for the rest of your life.”

Piers just scoffed, “Yeah, same as everyone else. Leave a note next time.”

Hop blushed profusely. A thousand emotions were running around his head because of everything, so out of fear of letting out something he didn’t want to, he kept his mouth shut and looked away from all the people in front of him. Sonia still had her arm around his neck, but the hold was looser than it was at first.

Kabu wiped his face with a towel, “I’m glad to see you’re alright, Hop, but where’s Hailey? Wasn’t she just here?”

Hop gulped and thought about an excuse when a female voice spoke out behind him, “Right here! Sorry, I had to make sure Eternatus was still locked away safe and sound.”

Hop took a deep breath at everyone’s sputtering and disbelief. Now it’s his rival’s turn under the spotlight, and good for that. She deserves some of it right now. She was deep in the middle of explaining that the giant monster was literally in her hands when Hop took the time to examine her leg. Glancing in between the cracks of the people crowding her, he could see that it looked normal. Alright, that conversation can get pushed to the backburner for now.

Especially considering that Milo jumped in and asked both Hop and ‘Hailey’, “So… what happened?”

With a glance at one another, Hop and his rival started grinning. As they were bandaged up and treated, they explained in minor detail what occurred at the top of the tower. About Eternatus, about the weapons, as well as Zacian and Zamazenta. The adults were reacting the entire time with off-handed comments, compliments, and gasps. Some of them even had minor-scolding still left in their system. The kids did run headfirst into danger after all.

At the end of their story, and after all the adults finished up what they wanted to say and do-- Hop and his rival both have large, square bandages on their heads and some gauze wrapped around certain parts of their arms and legs. Nessa gave them a special kind of anti-bruise cream since she knows they’ll need it-- Hop suddenly remember the elephant in the room.

He stood up quickly, jostling his bruises and spoke before anyone could object, “Lee! Where’s Lee?! Oh my gosh, I totally forgot! Please tell me he isn’t--”

“Woah, easy, kid!” That was Raihan, who put both his hands on Hop’s shoulders to ground him. Hailey stood up as well and stood next to Hop as Raihan explained, “I’m not gonna sugarcoat it, it ain’t pretty, but he’ll pull through. He always does.”

Both Hailey and Hop let out gigantic sighs of relief.

Raihan winked, then took his hands away from Hop to point, “C’ mere, I’ll show you two where he is. That was a smart move sending him back with Charizard, considering the damage that was dealt.”

That was about a day and a half ago.

Now Hop was here next to Lee’s sleeping form and on edge. Lee had lots of bandages adorning him, and while his complexion was slowly getting better, the purple tint that wouldn’t leave made Hop sick to his stomach. They administered antidotes every hour or so, which the logical part of Hop’s brain knew that that stuff was slow on purpose, but the emotional part wanted to scream at the doctors.

He’s not getting any better! Either fix this mess right now or stop wasting our time!

Shaking his head to lose that thought and the few tears that started leaking out, Hop looked at his brother’s face once more. There were undertones of pain in his eyes and wrinkles, but otherwise, the man looked rather peaceful. If you took away the poison and the burn marks, you would think he was simply sleeping.

Hop grinned and chuckled to himself, more waterworks threatening to leak out, “You just had to protect us, didn’t you? You had to play the hero like always. I can never be mad at you for that, but…” Hop looked away for a moment and sharply inhaled through his nose, “You could’ve just ran with Charizard and hid behind him with us, y-you know? Not even someone as amazing as you c-could’ve taken a hit l-like that, surely you kn-knew that…”

Leon didn’t even stir.

Ah, crap, the tears were just flowing at this point. Clearly, the best way to get rid of them was to shove his face in his brother’s unconscious shoulder and grip the borrowed shirt the man was wearing and let it out there. Hop always made the best decisions under great emotional stress after all...

Man, he’s such a mess.

Interrupting him very suddenly was two taps on the doorframe, followed by a familiar feminine voice going, “Knock knock.”

Hop quickly wiped his eyes and turned to look at Hailey, who was leaning on the doorway.

Wait, not Hailey. Or maybe her name was that? Man, Hop was too frazzled to care about the details. He just knows he’s a little miffed at her keeping such a big secret from him for so long. Again, the logical part knows it was for safety reasons on both their parts, but the emotional one just feels so, so betrayed. He sniffed and wiped his eyes a little bit more, “Y-Yeah?”

His rival was giving him a mostly blank stare, but Hop could pick up the concern and pity behind it from miles away. She sighed only once and started walking towards him, “Okay, let’s go someplace a little more private.”

Hop blinked right as she stood over him, “Eh? Wait! But my bro--”

She was dragging him halfway out the room at this point, “Will still be here when you get back. You can hate me all you want, but I got the feeling we need to talk, even if it’s just for a little bit.”

She got him the rest of the way out with an amount of resistance that could be described as average. Hop flailed his arms and tried stepping out of her reach, but her grasp was just too tight. Besides, deep down inside, Hop wanted to let go. Might as well be her since he has some questions to ask that pertains to her little ‘secret’.

She practically burst open the door to a room with two beds. Hop was vaguely aware that this was the room the two of them have been designated to, but he didn’t like being too far away from Lee, so he promptly ignored it. Hop was plopped down on one of the beds’ edge while his rival stayed standing and placed her hands on her hips and spoke, “Okay, talk, buddy. I know you didn’t sleep last night and that’s because I didn’t either. I can give you the ‘Leon will get better with time’ speech, but I feel like you’ve already heard it so much you’re getting sick of it.”

Hop snickered. Even when he was annoyed, she could still make him laugh.

Her look dropped into a more sympathetic one at his involuntary laugh, “Plus, there’s a new thing bothering you, isn’t there? You keep making fun of everyone that tries bringing up something other than Leon, and I know your first response to concern sent your way is to mock the person sending it, so I’m not leaving, no matter what you make fun of me for.”

Oh shoot, she can read him like an open book! Hop felt sweat drip rapidly down the back of his neck and his grin became sheepish. His mouth opened again, yet only noises that sounded like a dying fish came out. His rival’s eyes squinted, and Hop decided to throw everything out the window, “Yeah, actually… I am worried about something else.”

His rival blinked, unsure of what was happening, but she did know she was getting somewhere with a confession, so she pushed onward, “Yes, I’m all ears. Please, tell me what’s--”

“You.”

She blinked once more, shocked at the change of tone in his voice, “Uh, okay? I’m a little shaken up, but my injuries aren’t that bad. They’re on the level of yours, so--”

“No, that’s not!--” Hop interrupted her, but quickly shut up as well. He wanted to say so many things but had no idea how to say them. Instead, he waved his arms around frantically a little bit before letting them fall to his sides, “... I saw.”

His rival tilted her head, “Saw what, Hop--”

Hop rapidly stood up, both arms out in front of him gesturing towards her, “I saw you! I saw you and your dumb eye! Ugh, I know who you are!”

A few seconds of silence rolled by before Hop’s rival slowly widened her eyes. She took a step back, “Oh.”

That was what she shouldn’t have said. Hop felt his chest puff up in annoyance, “Oh? Oh?! That’s all you have to say, Miss Legendary Whisperer?!”

The girl in question took a shaky deep breath, “Hop, I know you want to be mad, heck, you deserve to be after everything, but can I at least explain my actions before--”

Hop took one step forward into her personal space and stood on his toes for a second, trying to make himself bigger like an animal would for some reason, “Sure, I want you to explain why you felt the need to lie to me, to us. What, was I not cool enough for you?”

She bristled at that comment, “What? No! Of course not!”

Hop continued, “Strong enough?”

“God no! You’re one of the strongest trainers I’ve met!”

Hop threw his hands in the air, “Were we just some random game to you? A little ‘romp around town’ that brought you momentary joy?”

“Jesus, where is this coming from?!” The Legendary Whisperer crossed her arms, not appreciating where this conversation was leading. She can handle certain slander, but slander that involved putting her friends down as well? Even if it came from the same friend? Fuck that.

Hop groaned and squeezed his head. He felt like a small child, but darn it, he also felt like he deserved some melting down time, “Then why? Why me? Why here? If this wasn’t just some random experiment of yours, what other possible reason could you have to--”

“I said let me explain!”

Now it was Hop’s turn to bristle, not in annoyance, but in shock. His breathing was heavy as he looked at his rival with wide eyes. She was breathing heavy too, fists clenched at her sides and gaze absolutely furious. At that moment, her facade broke.

Her breathing was still heavy, but now she shared similar, wide-eyes to Hop. She wasn’t expecting to snap like that, “Hop… I’m sorry,” she said in a sudden exhale, putting her hand on her face and rubbing it in exhaustion, “Jesus, I’m sorry. All of this has put me on edge, I can’t take it out on you.”

Hop felt like he swallowed rocks before rubbing the back of his neck. He turned around to make sure their door was still shut (God forbid somebody heard them and came rushing in to ask what’s wrong, eh?), then sat back down on the bed, putting his head in hands, “Yeah, I’m sorry too. I’m just… scared. Scared of a lot of things, and you’re just there. Jeez… we’re both bad at this, aren’t we?”

Looking up, Hop was caught off guard by a rival that couldn’t meet his eyes. She looked around the room at everything but him. Not only that, she had one of the most forlorn looks Hop had ever seen her wore. It was… unsettling, if he was going to be honest.

With an exhale, she went to sit on the other bed in the room and curled up around her knees, “You know… you know how you look up to your brother? How you don’t stop talking about him?”

Hop blinked. He wasn’t sure where this was going, “Uh, yeah?”

His rival gulped, “So, imagine if you knew I was The Legendary Whisperer right at the start. How would you have looked at me from then on? It would be different than how you do right now, right?”

Hop opened his mouth like he was going to object, but then shut it when a realization dawned on him. Come to think of it, his older brother has had to cut a lot of their plans short due to people crowding them on the streets. Lee has to practically transmorph into a different person if they want alone time in public! Not to mention that Lee’s practically stopped dating since all of his partners outright refuse to look past his status.

Suddenly, his rival nodded, “Exactly. People would be crowding us constantly. I don’t mind the ones that look up to me or want to battle, heck, even I act like that around trainers I look up to, but… I just want a break, sometimes.”

Hop had to blink a few times again. Did she just read his mind--

But she wasn’t done, “It’s nice to explore a region just being a normal trainer, you know? I get to meet people and know who they really are, not some random facade they put up to try and impress me. People like you-- who are ridiculously sweet but also a little sinister-- like Marnie-- who has this Goth Persona but is actually rather shy-- heck, even Bede! The guy’s an ass, but he’s an ass because he thinks he’s better than me. He thinks I’m just some random trainer! I wouldn’t put it past him to still sass The Legendary Whisperer, but still! I guarantee that’s all he would’ve focused on: one-upping me like so many others try to do.”

Hop was giggling like a schoolgirl. Man, Bede really was an ass, “Okay, okay, I get it now. I’m kind of glad you wore a disguise now, I got to know you too. Like how you can still trip over your own two feet right into the lake chasing a pokemon that stole your berries, remember that?”

His rival blushed like crazy and crossed her arms. She stood up and towered over him, “Hey!”

After a few seconds of silence, the two burst out laughing. Hop was truly seeing her reasons for why she hid. Hop never would have found it in himself to sass The Legendary Whisperer, yet here he’s doing it right now anyway! Wiping away some of his happy tears, he abruptly remembered something she said, “Wait… you really think that highly of me?”

She wiped away her tears too before jumping at Hop’s question, “Well, duh. You’re pretty amazing, dude.” After a few seconds of silence, she looked towards Hop to see a flabbergasted look on his face, “Wait, seriously? Man, I knew your self-worth was going downhill, but I didn’t know it was this bad.”

Hop flinched at her words, but she made up for it with a crap ton of compliments, “Dude, you’re smart about your typing and are hyper-aware of what’s going on in battle all the time. You waste no seconds when it comes to helping others out, and need I remind you that you were the one that landed the finishing blow on Eternatus? You’re also the only reason we had those rusty weapons in the first place. You know, the damn things that saved our lives?”

Hop widened his eyes, emotions rushing around his head again, or was that just the blood in his ears going nuts? He gulped and looked down at his lap. Oh, right, he was the last hit on Eternatus, wasn’t he? That Pyro Ball was the last thing that happened before Eternatus went into the Pokeball to stay for good. He also vaguely remembers suggesting to look for the Legendary Dogs in the forest when she just wanted to run after Leon right away. The sudden onslaught of memories made Hop rub his arms, “... Thanks. That was nice to hear.”

His rival just grinned, “Of course. I’m sure your bro feels the same way. Speaking of which, I believe you wanted to sleep in his room?” She lent her hands out to help him stand.

Hop shakily nodded as he took her help, “Yeah, of course. Lead the way, uh…”

She winked at him, “The name’s Ellen, but only when we’re alone for right now, okay? One day I’ll tell everybody else. You can be right beside me when it happens, but tonight isn’t that night.”

Hop nodded again, this time more stable, “Of course!”

They finally got to Leon’s room again. The man was looking a little bit better, but he still needed to rest some more. They quietly moved two chairs to be right next to the Champion and by each other. This was going to be a long night, so they needed to fortify well.

Partway through the chair moving, Hop remembered a question he wanted to ask, “Hey, Ellen?”

The girl in question hummed to let Hop know she was listening. She didn’t have her vision on him as she was trying to set the chair in a place that would be most comfortable for her.

Hop thinned his lips as he set up his chair in a similar manner, “When you reached into your bag for a Pokeball before catching Eternatus, you panicked for a moment. Why?”

Ellen froze, and Hop wondered if he should take back his question (he didn’t really need to know, he was just curious), but then she sighed. Setting down her chair, she reached into her bag and pulled something out. It was a tiny Pokeball. She lightly tapped the button to expand it but didn’t let the pokemon inside out. In her hand was a Friend Ball in all of its green glory.

Hop tilted his head in confusion. He leaned on the back of his chair since he was done setting up, “I don’t get it?”

Ellen started flicking her vision around in embarrassment before quietly admitting, “... Eternatus is in this Pokeball.”

Hop jumped at the confession, but he still didn’t see anything wrong, “... And?”

Ellen grumbled before biting the bullet, “It’s in a Friend Ball because I didn’t have any other Pokeball that would work. I only had a total of five balls in my bag including this one. The reason I only had five different and specific rare ones was that I liked talking to your guys’ stupid Pokeball Mascot and the stores wouldn’t let me sell them again.”

It was dead silent in the room before Hop literally spazzed out. He wanted to yell a little bit, but he was also keenly aware of his sleeping brother. He settled for whisper-shouting instead, “What?! You literally catch Legendaries for a living, how do you not know you’re physically out of Pokeballs?!”

Ellen’s stance tensed up just a little bit, hands tightening around her now set-up chair. It was pretty close to Hop’s, “In my defense, I thought I had already bought some Ultra Balls before! Believe me, I was just as shocked as you are when I looked and saw none.”

Hop pinched the bridge of his nose, “Gosh, this is totally a Lee move, you know. I expected you to be better than him!”

Ellen playfully gasped, “How dare you? Comparing me to that plebian, I at least know my way around! And if I don’t know that, I at least know how to use a map!”

The two glared each other down before quietly snickering. Man, Hop is really glad he got to know her now. She cleared her throat and got him to look at her face as she was sitting down. With no words whatsoever, she looked up at Hop and grinned while patting the seat of his chair.

He didn’t need to be told twice. Practically jumping, Hop was soon sitting down and getting ready to wake up to a crick in his neck. Actually, he might not sleep at all, nightmares and all that, but at least he’ll be next to his two favorite people when it happens.

Right as she was dozing off, Ellen felt something bop her shoulder. Looking over, she saw Hop knocked the frick out and slightly snoring already. Damn, really? Rolling her eyes, she gently laid her head atop his and allowed her eyes to close.

She’ll probably wake up due to unsettling dreams sooner or later-- just cause she’s used to nearly dying on pokemon adventures doesn’t mean they’re not scary, especially when people she loves are involved-- but judging by the eye bags on the other boys in the room, she won’t be the only one stressing out.

As blackness overtook her, she thought about how she was going to introduce Hop and her other new rivals to her older ones.

Especially considering they’ll be permanent fixtures in her pokemon travels now.

---

Leon woke up and felt absolutely wasted.

His breathing sounded more like wheezing, and his chest felt like it was hit by Raihan’s Duraludon’s Body Press directly. His head was pounding with no signs of stopping, and his legs and arms were positively sore. He had to keep squinting his eyes, both because of the pain as well as the fact that he had no idea what was happening. As he continued to wake up, his eyes got wider and wider with an utter sense of horror.

Running on fumes against that monster.

Hearing Hailey’s and Hop’s voice from behind him.

Smiling despite the fear.

The Pokeball throw.

The beep.

Charizard immediately being sent the kids’ way.

A large blast

Nothing--

Oh God, Hailey, Hop… where were they?

He left them to face that thing alone. They must have been terrified out of their minds, especially after seeing him go down so quickly. Man, now Leon feels like absolute shit emotionally, he only needed the physical thank you very much!

Right, the kids, he needed to see them right now.

Taking a deep breath, he sat up with great difficulty. He was shaking from the tip of his head down to his waist, and his breathing only sounded worse, but he was getting somewhere, that’s all that mattered. Taking a deep breath, he moved to the edge of the bed and prepared himself to stand up. While trembling like a leaf the entire time, Leon was eventually able to get to his full height and took a shaky deep breath.

He took one step forward and faltered, expecting to reap the consequences of being stupid, again, but instead, he fell right into waiting arms. The arms had a slightly Aussie accent to them, which only meant one person. Few people could support Leon like this, and the accent narrowed the possibilities right down to one.

“Bro, how long have you been awake?! Scratch that, even if you’ve been awake since the dawn of time, you still shouldn’t be up! Come, back to bed with you!”

Leon panicked and griped the forearms of his life-long friend and rival, Raihan, who stopped cold at his friend’s atypically crazy reaction. Leon shook his head, “W-Wait, I gotta see Hop and Hailey… are they okay? What happened?”

Raihan was taken back for a second before he continued to usher Leon to at least sit on the bed’s edge, “Easy, dude, they’re alright. They’ve been hanging out here like the rest of us and recuperating after everything. They’re just a little banged up, but outside of that, nothing too unusual--”

“They’re hurt?!” Of course Leon would hyperfocus on that part.

Raihan wanted to throw his hands up in a surrender position but realized he had to keep his friend from getting up again, so he just kept them on the man’s shoulders, “Jeez, of course, that’s the only thing you take away. Relax you big oaf, they’re fine. Great, even. They fought Eternatus and Hailey was the one to catch it, so panic time is over now, got it? The danger is gone. Rose even turned himself in.”

Leon’s breathing was still heavy, but he seemed to be calming down. He was still on high alert, but not enough to want to leap out of bed, “They fought it? How?”

Raihan froze at that question before laughing nervously and rubbing the back of his neck, “Funny you should mention it…” Raihan watched Leon squint his eyes, and before the Champion could pull anything else, Raihan bit the bullet, “They gave us vague details, but apparently, they were able to call upon Zacian and Zamazenta themselves? So, yeah, the four of them all duked it out and took it down. The kids have got guts, I’ll tell you what.”

Leon stared at Raihan’s face before looking away and putting his own against his hands in a thinking position. He sharply inhaled through his nose and closed his eyes. He’s missed a lot, apparently, “... How long have I been out?”

Raihan grimaced, “Almost three days now. You scared everyone shitless you know. When Charizard brought you back unconscious with neither Hop nor Hailey, we freaked.”

Leon leaned back away from his hands but kept his elbows on his knees, “Yeah, I bet you guys weren’t the only ones freaked out. Seriously, I need to see the kids. Would it help if I conceded and said it was more for me than them because it really is right now--”

“Okay, alright!” Raihan stopped his friend’s tirade right then and there, “Dude, I never said you couldn’t see them, I just said you couldn’t get up. Here, hang on,” Raihan stepped out of the room for a few moments, leaving Leon to reminisce in silence.

On the one hand, he’s scared like hell. His little brother and brother’s rival fought that awful thing by themselves. Sure, they had the help of literal Legendary Pokemon, but Leon is pretty sure the Legendaries didn’t stick around to help out with the emotional fallout.

But on the other… Leon feels that familiar sense of pure pride radiating from within. These kids keep managing to blow away his expectations. He recently drunkenly joked to Melony that the only way these kids could surprise him even more was if they saved the world itself.

Melony was probably laughing her ass off in secret right about now.

Bringing him out of his thoughts was Raihan yelling, “BEEP BEEP!” and re-entering the room pushing a wheelchair. Raihan stopped a few feet away and bowed over the back of the object, “Welcome aboard! Number of passengers: only one!”

Leon rolled his eyes, “Haha, such a comedian.”

With great difficulty, Raihan helped Leon into the wheelchair. The final setup had an IV bag filled with antidote for Leon. Once it looked like it wasn’t coming loose, Raihan pushed forward. He was keenly aware that this was the more difficult option to choose from. Raihan could very easily go to where Hop was, say the words Leon is awake and that would be much, much quicker. Hop would’ve been in Leon’s arms and sobbing his heart out before Raihan could even turn around to go back down the hallway.

But he also knows that Hop is pretty damn shaken up right about now. The only person who seems to have gotten through to him even just a little bit is Hailey, who clearly is struggling with her own issues right now too. Raihan figured that it might help just a little bit more to see Leon was at least able to get out of bed, albeit in a wheelchair, but he’s at least up and moving around. He’s pretty sure Leon had the same idea.

After a little bit of sidetracking (“Yes, Raihan, the sun is lovely, but can we get to the kids now?”), the two of them ended up in the makeshift cafeteria. While the place wasn’t busy per se, it was bustling with a little more activity than Raihan usually remembered the place being filled with.

“--en, right as it charged, we screamed, preparing for the worst when all of a sudden--”

Leon felt his heart leap into his throat. Frantically looking around, his eyes eventually landed on his one and only tiny brother. He was standing valiantly with one leg propped up on a chair in a hero pose. Hailey was right by him, grinning at his antics. In front of them was a group with an even amount of adults and kids alike, all eagerly listening to how they must have saved Galar.

“--boy, the number of blasts we heard that night was crazy!”

Hailey giggled, “I know, right? I’m shocked there wasn’t any hearing damage.”

The kids in the crowd all oohed and ahhed at the joke, meanwhile, Leon’s eyes went wide with worry. He gets joking about a tough situation, both he and Hop are very used to it, but joking about something like permanent damage to themselves?! Leon might just pass out at the thought. Not to mention how they looked, good lord. The bright, white bandages adorning their foreheads, arms, and legs were the first things Leon noticed with stuttering breath, as well as a couple of bruises here and there. Not to mention their eye bags. How much sleep have they been getting the past few days?!

Leon’s train of thought was swiftly stopped with a flick to his ear. He brought a hand up to cover it while Raihan grumbled, “Alright, you mother hen, you can knock that off. Look, they’re fine, just like I said. Banged up and in need of therapy, but they’re alive.”

Leon took a couple of short deep breaths, “Yeah… alive.”

It was a little bit more into the storytelling before one of them noticed Leon and Raihan. In fact, they practically got to the end of entire thing, leaving Leon more and more exhausted as they recounted their harrowing tale. The kid to finally see them was Hailey. Hop probably would have been the first, but he’s finally letting go and not worrying so much. It a good thing he’s getting lost in the positive parts of the story.

Hailey was talking about how she caught Eternatus when all hell broke loose, “Besides, the Friend Ball is okay! It’s how you get pokemon like Espeon or Lopunny easier than if you-- oh my God.”

Hop blinked at her sudden change in tone, “Woah, what’s wrong?”

Before she could point, Piers piped up from a few feet away, “Maybe it has something to do with your not-dead brother finally being awake.”

Hop’s head shook rapidly for a moment before he flicked around, trying to see if what Piers was saying is true. When Hop finally saw Leon, time stopped. Both brothers’ breathing was heavy. Neither of them could comprehend everything now that they could both see each other awake and happy. It meant that everything was truly almost over.

Of course, the one to break the silence was Hop, “LEE!”

Without even thinking, Leon stood up (ignoring Raihan’s protests) and opened his arms for his brother, who full force ran at Leon and jumped into the embrace. It was a very familiar hold for them: Hop’s feet dangling a couple of inches off the ground with his arms around Lee’s neck, all the awhile Leon wrapped his around Hop’s waist and never let go.

Even while injured, Leon would never not be able to hold his brother.

Hop was crying again, but now, he was smiling too, “Lee! You’re awake!” He buried his face into Lee’s neck even more, and if muffled noises could be heard coming from that area of contact, no one dared mention anything.

Leon felt his own tears start too as he tightened his arms around Hop. Did he mention his brother was tiny? He was so, so tiny, “Yeah, little bro, I sure am.”

In the background, Ellen ran up closer to them so she could watch, but not too close as to disrupt them. Hell, her own tears slowly dripped from her eyes too. She’s very close to her family as well, especially her older brother, so damn if something like this didn’t hurt every time. She should probably call him soon. He doesn’t really keep up with her pokemon life, but once news of Eternatus reaches him, he’ll connect the dots and be frantic.

Suddenly, she felt a hand drop onto her shoulder. Looking up, she saw Raihan grinning at the two brothers, “Been waiting for this for ages, little girly, what about you?”

Ellen blinked before letting out one laugh, “Oh my god, I’ve been waiting forever! Too bad it took something like this for it to happen.”

Raihan shrugged, “At least this thing will make it happen ten times more often.”

“This is so sweet, really, but if you don’t mind me, I’m going to look for Marnie,” interrupted Piers, who walked in between the two duos of Ellen and Raihan and Hop and Leon. Right before he left the room, he looked back into it to stare at Leon, who was looking at him too, “... I’m glad to see you okay, idiot. Don’t do that again.”

Leon smirked while slowly rocking Hop in his arms, who stopped crying… who might actually be asleep now. Oh boy, “Don’t worry, Piers, I don’t plan on it anytime soon.”

The Dark-Type Gym Leader grunted before finally walking away. Focusing back on Hop, Leon found that the younger brother was, in fact, dead asleep. A pang tugged at Leon’s heart at the idea of Hop crying so much he fell asleep, but the eye bags made him happy that something finally got Hop to get some shut-eye.

Then, he started wobbling. Oh crap--

“Ha, gotcha!”

Blinking a few times, Leon looked up at Raihan who had Hop in a bridal carry and was grinning at Leon. Leon felt a jerk in his wheelchair and looked behind him to see Hailey who was also grinning. Leon slouched, “Alright, I give. Let’s go back to my room, okay?”

Hailey hummed, “Sounds good to me!”

The three awake trainers conversed about random topics on the way back, and when they got to the room, Raihan placed Hop down in the other, non-used bed. Then, he went over to help Leon get into his. Hailey simply watched from the corner of the room.

Once Leon was situated and literally being tucked in, he pointed a finger at Hailey, “You. Go to bed.”

Hailey sputtered, “Wha-- what?!”

Leon left no room for argument, “You have worse eyebags than Hop. I mean it, get some shut-eye. You of all people deserve it.”

For a second, Hailey looked uncertain. Leon wasn’t sure what was wrong until Raihan commented the obvious, “Hey, I’ll watch over these two. Nobody is going anywhere. Not now, not ever, got it?”

Leon watched as Hailey swallowed whatever emotions Raihan’s comment brought. She nodded a few times before leaving the room. Leon wanted to facepalm. Of course, she’s worried about that stuff too. She’s probably come to think of everyone as family, and the idea of that being taken away in the blink of an eye would make anyone anxious.

Before Leon could think of ways to make it up to her (outside of their pre-designated fight, of course), he felt his eyelids droop. For a moment, he tried fighting it, but then he heard Raihan tsk from the other side of the room. The last thing Leon did before passing out was stick his tongue out in a vague direction he thought Raihan was in.

Asshole.

What is assumed to be a few hours later, Leon awoke once more, this time a little more violently than he would’ve liked with dumb nightmares and stuff. Totally not going to acknowledge seeing Hailey and Hop in his place instead, nope, no siree, not at all. At this point he was sitting up, breathing labored due to multiple kinds of strain. A flash of fear hit him and so he looked over to the other side of the room to see--

Hop rapidly trying to force himself under the covers.

Leon felt his eyebrow twitch. He was annoyed, not at his brother, but everything else. Leon was probably annoyed at life, to be honest, at the way it was putting his brother through the worst kind of strain, and that it was making Hop feel like he had to hide it, “Hop, buddy, I saw you.”

No movement. The blankets were pulled tighter around Hop.

Leon sighed, “You know, you need sleep, kiddo. You’ve been through an awful experience.”

Still nothing. That meant what Hop was feeling was bad.

Time to pull out the big guns, “Hop, I will get up and come over there if you don’t show some kind of sign you’re alive,” and when there was nothing once again, Leon started moving his legs, “Alright--”

“WAIT! Wait,” Hop’s arm shot straight up above himself. Leon froze as Hop got up onto his knees, but didn’t turn around, which made alarm bells sound in Leon’s head, “I’m fine, Lee, I s-swear.”

That’s a big nope in Leon’s book, “Hop.”

The boy froze.

Leon continued onward, “Please turn around and look at me? I can tell you’ve been crying.”

After a few tense moments of silence, Hop wiped his face and turned around to look at his brother. Leon’s heart broke at the sight of Hop’s red-rimmed eyes. This was going to take a lot of healing, might as well start now. Leon resettled into bed and opened his arms for Hop to come sit in them.

With great difficulty, Hop eventually did do just that, though, this time he slowly meandered and flopped into them, unlike when he sprinted and leaped like earlier. Wrapping his arms around Hop’s shoulders, Leon spoke quietly, “C’ mon, buddy, what’djou dream about?”

Hop shrugged his shoulders, “It’s not important. It didn’t really happen.”

Damn, more closing himself off. Just what did these guys go through? Leon tightened his grip around Hop. He had to think of something quick to get Hop to open up. Then, he remembered why he was awake, “You know… my dream didn’t happen either, but it still was scary.”

Hop froze at the confession. Slowly but surely, the younger trainer leaned out of Leon’s grasp to look him in the eyes, “Really?”

Leon nodded with a grin, “Yeah…” His eyes became forlorn at the memory, “I keep seeing you guys in my place. Taking that big explosion, not living through and seeing your bodies…” Leon trailed off at that, not wanting to continue the train of thought, “It’s stupid, right? You’re in my arms right now, talking to me, but it still hurts. So don’t say it doesn’t matter, the emotions are real, and that makes your feelings real.”

Hop did his blushing gimmick and looked everywhere but Leon’s face. With a deep breath, Hop leaned into Leon’s chest to lay down with him. They both stared at the ceiling for a second before Hop quietly spoke, “I’m not going to lie and say that I haven’t had any about you. It’s why I was awake tonight and, well, kind of watching you sleep.”

Leon tilted his head. He figured that’s why Hop was in such a hurry to hide that he was awake, “And?”

Hop thinned his lips before sharply inhaling, “It’s just… if it weren’t for Zacian and Zamazenta, Hailey and I would be dead.”

Leon found himself gripping Hop tighter. Yeah, he was subconsciously aware of that, of course, he was, but it still hurt to hear out loud. Leon moved them so they could sit up again for a second while Hop continued to speak.

“And it just s-sucks, you know?” Hop said with a watery laugh, “Just the idea of none of us making it back, especially since we got you out of there. I just remember thinking how badly you would’ve felt if we didn’t make it back, and how I wouldn’t have b-been able to help you t-through it, you would’ve been alone I would have failed more than o-once and that’s all I seem to be doing lately! F-Failing and it sucks--”

Leon hushed him and pressed his lips against his temple. Man, he hasn’t done that a long time, especially if Hop’s gasp is anything to go by. Leon pulled back with a look uncharacteristically serious, “Hey now, you have been doing anything but failing. I got the feeling you’ve been going through a low point after you randomly apologized to me. You are not a bad trainer. You are not a bad anything, and if you even suggest for a moment that you might be a bad brother I will get Charizard to sit on you until you take it back, got it?”

Hop’s emotions were swirling again before he looked away, “... I am a bad cook, though. I can barely make Curry properly.”

Leon blinked for a moment before letting out a laugh and slapping Hop on the back, “Well, yeah, but that’s in the family genes at this point. Even Mom has Bad Cook Syndrome. You remember how much takeout we ordered back then?”

Hop was grinning like an idiot now, “Ha! Yeah…” He looked away for just a second before turning back around and looking Leon right in the eyes with a shaky grin, “Thanks, Lee. You’re the best brother ever.”

Leon nodded and placed his hand on Hop’s shoulder while squeezing, ending that topic of conversation, “Alright, let’s get some sleep. We both need it.”

The two of them laid back down without any more words. In all honesty, Leon wanted to do more comforting. Wanted to use his spiel about how he’s Unbeatable and will let nothing happen to them… but as of this moment, neither of those are true. He was beaten, and he did let something happen to Hop and Hailey. Hop had always been hyperaware, and considering his emotions right now, trying to put up a facade would just hurt more.

But that’s okay. They just need some time to just feel. Happy, sad, angry, whatever they needed to let out, they could let it out. It was the beginning of the process of healing. It was a long journey, but the quicker they started, the quicker they could go back to their normal lives, or, at least, as normal as it can be after saving the world from a giant, fatal, monster.

They eventually ended up spooning with Leon being the big spoon, obviously. Hop felt the hands over his chest but decided to never bring it up. He was using the nerves in his back to be constantly aware of his bro’s breathing, so he figured the feeling was mutual. Right as they finished settling in, Hop looked around the room once more. Maybe he was checking for dangers, maybe he just felt like enjoying the interior some more before morning. That’s when something caught his eye in particular.

Standing in the doorway watching their little scene quietly was a girl. Hop thought it was Ellen, but right before he fully went to sleep cuddled up next to Lee, he noticed something peculiar. In the morning he would brush it off as some kind of weird hallucination. I mean, he thought he saw literal wings on the girl’s back! She’s a strong pokemon trainer, not some guardian angel sent from above.

Hop snuggled further into Leon who subconsciously tightened his arm.

Meanwhile, out in the hallway was, in fact, Ellen, who wanted to check up on her friend. Seeing as he was perfectly safe and sound (and arguably even more than that), she turned around and hid her wings again. Oops, when did those come out? Taking a deep breath, Ellen could finally and fully relax after all of this bullshit, and it’s all thanks to the help of her new friends.

Ellen walked back to her room with a grin.

One day, Hop. One day, you’ll know everything.

---

“--ait wait wait… Seriously?”

Ellen blinked at her friend’s interruption, “What?”

The friend in question-- Brendan-- shuffled around to be criss-cross-apple-sauce in the camera’s view. Next to him was Calem. The black-haired rival was simply leaning into view, so Ellen could only see the top half of his body. The two of them had bed heads to rival hers, and they both looked like they had just woken up.

They did. The news in Galar reached other regions pretty fast, apparently, and when the two of them heard of ‘Hailey’, who was blonde like their friend who mentioned she was going to explore another region undercover and would contact them when she was done, they decided to jump the gun and message her themselves. This was her responding. She got the feeling they were worried. She felt bad about waking them up from sleep they probably just got into, but she also knew that they would want to hear her latest scuffle with the world of Overpowered Pokemon.

Because she can never explore a region normally, can she?

Anyways, back to Brendan’s point, “Your new rival, ‘Hop’, you said his name was? He got the shield?”

Ellen blinked, “Uh, yeah?”

Brendan leaned back quietly, “It just seems odd. The way you describe him strikes me more of a sword type of person, you know? Always running in, wanting to attack; seems like an offensive position more than anything.”

Calem nodded along, seeing reason in his boyfriend's argument, “I wasn’t really going to comment on Hop since I just heard about the guy, but I was wondering why you got the sword. You’re the protector of pokemon and people! You shield them from the dangers of the world! Though the sword fits you just fine, I thought the shield would work better? I don’t know. I’m tired.”

Ellen giggled when Calem slumped his shoulders in defeat before getting slightly serious, “Yeah, I can see where you guys are coming from. I guess either sword or shield can fit both of us pretty well.”

Brendan was laying on his back now, gesturing his hands above himself in the air to convey his emotions, “Well if you think the roles fit yourselves just fine, then fine. Fine by me, I’m too tired to think and thinking hurts me even when it’s not,” Brendan tilted his wrist to look at his watch, “3:35 in the morning.”

Ellen rolled her eyes. Brendan was always the dramatic one in her circle of rivals, “Well, Mr. and Mr. Exhausted, I could explain a little bit, but you should probably get sleep. Hell, I probably need some too.”

Calem shoved himself further into view at the same time Brendan sat up. Calem spoke, taking up most of the camera now, “Wait! I know you, so I get why you can hold the sword, but explain Hop a little bit more. Please? I want to know this guy since we’ll probably meet him at some point now.”

Ellen rolled her eyes again but also shook her head rapidly while grinning, “Calem, no! You are not playing protective brother again! You already scared Hau shitless when you first met him. I thought the poor guy was going to have a heart attack.”

Calem grumbled as Brendan forced himself back into view, “Wait... oh God, Hop sounds just like Hau. There’s going to be two of them now. Arceus, Ellen, what have you done to me?!”

Ellen’s glad to be rolling her eyes so much. It means she’s fully relaxed, finally, “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there. You two need to pass out, it seems. Goodnight, er, good morning, you two. Hopefully, you’ll watch my match when it happens.”

Brendan yawned, “Yeah, of course, we will. Good night to you too.”

Calem flopped over himself, “Peace!”

Ellen cut the video feed.

She closed her laptop cover, placed it on the bedside table, and laid down on her back with her hands behind her head. She stared at the ceiling a little bit more, thinking about Hop. She wasn’t able to explain to her friends why she thought shield was a perfect fit for him, so she just had to explain to herself. She did have practically an entire speech to get through after all.

The thing about shields is that they’re always in the fight before anyone else. It’s their job to go in and take the brunt of the force, regardless of how much it hurts them. They brush off everything thrown at them with only a few scratches and scars to show what happened. Once they’ve taken everything, the true offensives swoop in and do their part. Shields make sure the swords stay in tip-top shape for the battle. They’re typically the support class more than anything else, but given enough determination, they can be just as effective as swords when it comes to being a weapon. The shield just needs the right person to wield it.

That’s essentially Hop in a nutshell, isn’t it?

Ellen was taken back by Hop a few times in the beginning. She figured he was going to be another Hau-type of person, but then he sassed his older brother and countless other people multiple times who could’ve easily wrecked him. And Hop did it with a smile! The only reason she probably was able to beat him so much was just that she’s been in the game way longer.

Hop knows his skills and typing extremely well. He just needs a cooler head and a stronger sense of self-esteem to use his astounding and broad knowledge more clearly. Once he works that out? Once he gets better focus and a concrete goal in life?

Oh, yeah, that kid’s going places.