Work Text:
The light of the morning sun spreads across her face. She is the dawn itself, rising to meet a new day with a spirit brimming with energy. Her Grookey is settled on her shoulder, beaming from the inside because of the light she has given him. They’re different but one and the same, smiling from within as the sun rises. The world is shining in a way never before seen, and she is its center. As the colors of daybreak race across the sky they share, she turns to Hop with a smile, holding up her phone.
”Guess what time it is, Hop? It’s picture time!”
Her innocent play on Leon’s catchphrase, ‘let’s have a champion time’, always causes his heart to smile. She replaces the word ‘champion’ with something else, like ‘picture’, because it’s ‘fun’. The exercise came off as sweet and innocent, but that morning, Hop’s heart is doing cartwheels. His stomach is in knots, a bundle of nerves, adrenaline and confusion, as she has forced him into a mental dimension he is unable to comprehend. The morning light is bringing the truth to the surface; she’s something more than a cheerful bundle of energy. She is the morning light itself, glowing with her first Poke friend on her shoulder. And-
She just told him to take a picture with her.
She’s at his side in a flash, holding her phone in place. Their shoulders rub against each other, she’s smiling with the light of a hundred cosmos, and pictures are taken. With a chirping Grookey in tow. The first couple of pictures are taken with a thoroughly confused Hop, but then the rest are embedded with a lot more warmth and hope. Disbelief and the birth of tears. She’s doing something no one else has, with a smile on her face. “Pretty great, right?” she beams at her friend, scrolling through the photos on her phone. Disbelief grabs Hop and shakes him like a baby rattle, rendering him breathless. There are no words as she goes through the photos, beaming very much like a triumphant Gym Leader.
There he is. At her side. Grookey’s glowing on her shoulder. And with the serene glaze of reds and oranges creating their backdrop.
He fights for a response, but none come to mind. How can he find his voice, when she’s holding the only pictures of him in all of Galar? And she’s proud of them. While everyone else is glowing over pictures of the Unbeatable Champion Leon, she’s radiant over the three of them taking pictures together. She’s proud to have a picture with him, Hop, in it.
Not The Unbeatable Champion, Leon. She’s happy to have pictures of Hop.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The pictures brought much-needed light underneath a gray morning sky.
Hop scrolled through the pictures for what must’ve been the tenth time that morning. They are remnants of a dream, pieces of a memory that would light the rest of his hours. With a thoroughly concerned Sobble sitting in his lap, tearfully peering up at his distressed owner, Leon’s brother circled through the images on his phone once more, wishing the young woman in the photos hadn’t gone back on her own path. She was out there, somewhere, glowing even with the threat of rain on the way. Just a few moments ago, the two of them were sharing breakfast, memories and dreams underneath a morning sky brimming with vibrant color. There couldn’t have been a more beautiful, confident smile on Gloria’s face as they shared curries, not only with each other but with their Pokemon companions as well. And it was that morning Hop came to realize something: it wasn’t his legend they were writing. He was watching her legend blossom, shine and dazzle, very much like Roserade’s Petal Dance.
Then there were the pictures. When no one else had a single photograph of him, Gloria happily promised him to look after the pictures she had taken. As if they were worth something.
She was on her path, with her own Pokemon companions, and he was underneath a morose morning sky. Worrying his Pokefriends into their early graves. She was carrying pictures of him as if they were worth as much as photographs of Leon, if not more so, and they were worthless. Just as worthless as he was. It was the truth. Not the truth he wanted to acknowledge, but it was the truth nonetheless. And that truth was made crystal-clear yesterday, thanks to an encounter with a rather menacing young trainer. A young man he could have easily made the decision to hate, but couldn’t push himself to do so. Why? That trainer was a manifestation of his own fears, his own insecurities.
The truth Hop dragged around, day after day.
”You say you want to be like your brother, the all-mighty champion? Good luck with that. From where I’m standing, I see you’re not doing anything but dragging your brother’s name through the mud.”
”Greatness? Pathetic! You’re nothing but a joke! So much for being related to the Unbeatable Champion!”
A joke. His brother didn’t need a joke hanging around. Gloria didn’t need him hanging around, either. Mum didn’t need him. Who did? When you had a super cool celebrity as a brother, friend or son, who needed a joke?
Not at all comfortable with his owner’s elevating distress, Sobble yelped while tugging on Hop’s chest. Hop settled his forehead against the Pokemon’s head and wrapped his arms around him, putting the Water Pokemon into an iron-clad embrace, dropping his phone in the process. Tears fell and he hated himself for it, as he was supposed to be happy, was supposed to be cheerful and confident, was supposed to be living up to Leon’s legacy as the happy-go-lucky Champion-in-Waiting, but it couldn’t be done. He hated himself for crying, hated himself for breathing, but couldn’t stop the tears from falling. Allowed them to keep falling, all the while holding onto his first Pokemon.
Underneath a gray morning, Leon’s little brother allowed himself to do something he fought so hard against in the past. All the while holding onto an increasingly upset, tearful Sobble.
Maybe it would be better if he just disappeared. After all, nobody liked a bad joke.
--------------------------------------------
There was some hardcore training going on in the wild that morning, lead by a fearless, dedicated young woman. She was on a quest to achieve greatness, not only for herself, but for her Pokemon as well, and if one witnessed the training taking place that morning, they would quickly see that nothing would keep her from achieving such greatness. It was the kind of training that would have easily defeated lesser Pokemon and even a lesser trainer. The training curriculum was merciless, back-breaking, unyielding. It left no room for error or rest. It was-
Gloria’s Dance Class.
“That’s the spirit! Keep it up! That’s right, you’ve got it!”
The threat of rain didn’t silence the need for dance. Grookey and other Pokemon normally vulnerable to water were out of their balls, more than happy to participate in morning dance. For those that grew uncomfortable with the cold, gray weather, their tent was nearby, ready with blankets and the rest of their breakfast. However, none of them were afraid of what possibly stood in store. With Gloria leading them, there was no time to fear life-there was only time to enjoy it. What was a little rain? It was probably beautiful, ripe and brimming with life. Just as their owner was.
Rain began to fall gently. It painted their shoulders, their smiles, the earth beneath them. Led by the resilient, radiant young woman they loved, Grookey and her other Pokemon continued to move in sync with the music coming from her phone. It was a routine they loved to participate in every morning, and that particularly gray morning didn’t keep them from enjoying said routine. Grookey, Skwovet, Butterfree and Nuzleaf were on a roll, steps away from becoming the hottest dancers the world had ever seen. Nothing could bring their morning exercise to a halt-
Except for Gloria’s ringtone.
With the rain gently brushing against her back, head and shoulders, an inquisitive young woman answered the phone. “It’s Hop,” she told her friends, and was quickly cast into a whirlpool of worry, because there seemed to be a strange sound coming from the other end. What was it-sniffling? Was it because Hop had gotten caught in the rain? Her dancing companions kept concerned eyes on her as the phone call unfolded. Not wanting them to be left out, Gloria turned speakerphone mode on.
Her voice was gentle. Worried. “Hop? What is it? Don’t tell me you got caught out in the rain.”
The response came a little too slow, and was not at all amusing. “Yeah. Guess I did. Silly me.”
Gloria followed that up immediately, unnerved by her friend’s noticeable change in mood. Grookey and Butterfree exchanged frantic glances, equally unsettled by where the conversation seemed to be going. “What’s going on?” the young trainer asked. “Are you all right? Are you hurt?”
“No. I’m fine.” Which was spoken in a way that assured her Hop was anything but fine. “Just wanted to say thanks, chum. ‘N goodbye.”
Horror lit up Gloria’s face like fireworks. “Thanks and goodbye? Hop, what are you-”
“No one’s ever asked me for a picture before, Ria. But you did. And I thought that was pretty sick of you. Hopefully, once I’m gone, you’ll look at it and remember all of the good times we had, mate.”
The conversation was going South a thousand miles a minute. Panic, adrenaline and confusion rose to nauseating, galactic levels in mere seconds. It was difficult to breathe, to think, to see. Her Pokemon chirped and whimpered, quickly picking up on the panic, increasingly uncomfortable with the look on their owner’s face. Gloria, meanwhile, fought to keep her voice steady.
“Hop. Where are you? Does Leon know you’re-”
There was a small, tearful sigh from the other end. “Sorry we became friends, Gloria.” Which raised another red flag. Hop had been calling her ‘Ria’ right from the very beginning. “Tell my mum ‘n Leon sorry for me, okay? Don’t forget about the pictures you took of me!”
Without thought, baring everything within her raw, not at all comfortable with where anything was going, Gloria cried out: “No, wait, Hop!”
The rain quickened, its melody like a rapidly beating heart. She and her Pokemon stood underneath the gray sky, completely drenched by what had become a relentless downpour, but none of them moved. “I don’t know what’s going on, but you’re going to stop this, right now,” the young woman ordered, her voice tearful, a second away from sobs because what in all of Galar had caused this? By the great grace of Zacian and Zamazenta-
“I don’t know who did what to you, but you aren’t leaving me! I won’t let you! Ever! Do you hear me? I won’t let you go! I won’t!”
She crashed to her knees, trembling, overcome by both tears and rain, instantly comforted by her Pokemon.
“If you leave me, I won’t ever forgive you! You can’t leave me, Hop! I need you!”
She lost her voice for a minute, overtaken by tears. Grookey and her other companions huddled around her, getting as close as they possibly could to her, all of them doused in rain but not at all concerned with it. Hop was silent on the other end, which meant that he was either at least somewhat receptive to what she was saying, or he-
Gloria clutched her phone, trembling, unwilling to believe in a future that threatened to tear everything apart. In the blink of an eye. Unwilling to accept a future without-
“Don’t go, Hop. Please. I need you.”
The answer from the other end was immediate, hoarse, tearful. “Why? Not like anyone would miss me. I’m nothing like my brother.”
Wrath and sadness are equally cosmic in her voice, her tears and eyes. What was once a gentle brush of rain became a rainstorm, relentless and powerful, but she did not move. Neither did any of her friends. ”I don’t need you to be your brother,” she replied. ”I need you to be YOU! Not Leon, not anyone else, YOU!”
More silence followed. She quickly took advantage of it. “I want to take more pictures of you! I want to take pictures of you and your smile and your Pokemon and when you become Galar’s next Champion! Please, Hop, I want to be there when your dreams come true! I want to see the light you and only you can make! I want that, more than anything else! So you have to make your dreams come true. You just have to! You can’t let me down! I don’t know what happened to you, but please, I can help! You just can’t leave me! Please! I can’t imagine life without you!”
She lost her voice again, surrendering to sobs. Her Pokemon do their very best to comfort her, sobbing right along with her. She didn’t know what had happened, couldn’t comprehend anything that had happened, but knew she wasn’t comfortable with it. Not in the slightest. In what couldn’t have been any more than a second, everything came crashing down. Started to hurt. Bleed. Scream. “Let me help,” she sobbed through gritted teeth, able to recover her voice after a few minutes of rain and deafening silence.
“Please. Tell me where you are.”
She had to call Leon. As soon as she got Hop to tell her where he was, she would-
“Ria?”
“What?”
There were tears. Far too many tears. Crying, sniffing. Hurt.
“Sorry I made you cry.”
“You’re going to be even sorrier if you leave me, chum!”
A weeping Hop presented her with questions from the other end, his voice shrill, every word submerged in tears. “Did you really mean all of that? You know, all of that stuff you said? You weren’t just pulling my leg?”
“Of course I did! Why would I kid around when you’re talking a bunch of-”
“Ria? Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for needing me. Thank you for everything.”
Hop caught himself quickly: “And no, I’m not...I’m not going anywhere. I want to see your dreams come true too, y’know? So it’s okay, Ria. Please don’t cry any more. I’m really, really sorry.”
Gloria wiped rain and tearwater from her eyes, heart pounding a million miles a minute, head spinning. “Stop apologizing for everything and tell me where you are,” she said through gritted teeth, rising to her feet, her Skwovet clutched to her chest.
“...near Hulbury. I can meet you if-”
“Nope, you’d better stay right where you are,” she ordered. “You’ve been enough trouble to last me a lifetime. My team and I are about twenty minutes away from Hulbury anyway. Meet me at the entrance. I’ll be right there!”