A/N: This fic will borrow some dialogue from the game, and updates on Wednesdays.

Though there is a short walk between their houses, Gloria and Hop are still neighbors, with Hop and his family living next door. Their families are close, and for as long as she can remember, Hop has been her best friend and the one she always played with. It certainly helped that there weren't a lot of other children in their small town, but either way, she and Hop have always gotten along well.

Things were always fun with Hop, but they were even more fun when Leon would join them. Leon, a good five years older than his little brother, never made them feel like they were annoying when they wanted him to play with them, and would humor them for as long as they wanted. One of Gloria's earliest memories is Leon telling them all about how, as soon as he was able to, he would be leaving town to become the Galar champion, and though she barely understood what that meant at the time, he explained everything, captivating her and Hop with stories of things that had not yet happened to him, but that he was sure would happen, as soon as he had the chance.

Back then, she spent as much time at their house as possible, always with Hop and the two of them always following Leon around. Sometimes, Sonia would come from their neighboring town, always cooing over how adorable Hop and Gloria were. She was Leon's age, and he had already decided that she was starting her Pokemon journey as soon as he was able to.

Gloria liked Sonia well enough, but whenever Leon would start saying things like that, she would wish more than anything that Sonia would head home already, and that she could be the one tagging along with Leon. Hop could come too, of course, and then maybe there would be room for Sonia too, but when it came to Leon insisting someone come with him, Gloria wanted it to be her.

Her reasoning for this came out one day when she was around four, coming home after playing with Hop for hours, pouting because his mother said that he had to clean his room and she needed to go home for a little while. She was so put out about having her game cut short that her own mother teased her a bit , saying she and Hop spent so much time together that it was almost like they were already married.

"But I wouldn't marry Hop," Gloria had protested. "I'm gonna marry Lee!"

"Oh, are you?" her mother asked, and then she laughed and Gloria insisted it wasn't funny, because it was really, really going to happen. She had never said anything like that before, not to her mother or to Hop, and certainly not to Leon, but from that point on, she had that goal in mind.

Of course, a year later, when Leon was ten and she and Hop were five, he and Sonia set off on their journey, and Gloria was nearly as inconsolable as Hop. The only thing that could comfort them was being told that any gym challenges he did would be recorded, and that they would be able to see him on TV.

At that point, both decided that they would be taking their journey as soon as they were able to, and even if it seemed like a long way away, they would be ready when the time came and catch up to Leon in no time at all. In the meantime, they stayed close friends, watching all of his matches together, and watching as he moved farther and farther forward, never losing, gaining a pretty big fan following as he went. Naturally, his biggest fans were still the two children in Postwick who never missed a match, and begged their parents for tickets to the championship.

Because of course Leon made it all the way to the end. Sonia didn't even make it that far, and Gloria wondered about her when the semi-finals passed by with no sign of her, but then, whenever Leon was out on the pitch, she could think of nothing else. She was five years old when she watched her first crush become the champion of the Galar region, and knew for a fact that this was what being in love must feel like.

"What if there was two champions?" she asked Hop one day when they were seven, and Hop shook his head.

"If there was two, there wouldn't be a champion! It has to be one!" he replied. "And as soon as I do the gym challenge, it's gonna be me!"

He thought she wanted to share the title with him, because she didn't want to have to battle her best friend. And it was true that having him as her rival would be difficult, but when she watched Leon claim the title, she got it into her head that she would catch up to him and that they would be champion together. Once they were married, of course, because she still loved him madly.

For a few more years, that is how things are, but as she gets older, she starts to understand a few things, with the most major point being that Leon is out of her league in more ways than one. Over the years, she's barely seen him, as he becomes busier and visits home less and less, until it gets to the point that his family has to take the time to go to Wyndon to see him, and in that time, she has started to grow out of her crush.

Leon is the champion, and has consistently been so for years, never losing to anyone. While Hop has continued to insist he will be the one to take him down, never abandoning that dream, Gloria has been forced to realize how unrealistic hers is. For one thing, she's too young for him, and he probably sees her like a little sister. She has no chance of being anything more than "Hop's best friend" to him, and he wouldn't go for some kid. Not only that but he is the champion, making him much more than the older boy next door who used to play with her. He's more like a distant celebrity now, and she knows well enough that her dream of being a champion alongside him is nothing more than a childish fantasy.

By the time Gloria is fifteen, she has completely gotten over her childhood crush on Leon. She still spends pretty much all of her time with Hop and his family, and they still watch all of his matches, and they still talk about their journey, one that they once thought they'd be taking as soon as they hit ten, but one that still hasn't happened yet. You have to have endorsement for that, and Leon had lucked out while Sonia had family connections backing her. Hop and Gloria have nothing, other than Leon continually telling Hop that he'll be ready when he's ready.

Everything is the same as it always is, except for the fact that she's no longer chasing Leon's shadow because of some desire to be with him. She's older and wiser now, and she knows better, understanding that it's impossible, and that she only ever liked him to begin with because he was Hop's cool older brother, and they had fun together sometimes. But now, she's completely over that.

Except...