A/N: This is being posted on a very special occasion for me; on this day, one year ago, I wrote my very first SwSh fanfic because I was replaying Shield for the first time and fell hopelessly in love with Hop & Leon. In honor of that, I've decided to start posting this fic that I came up with the concept for a long time ago, but took a while to start writing, that combines my two great loves - Pokéspe and the Postwick bros. I hope you enjoy reading it just as much as I've enjoyed writing it!

Before leaving Turffield, Hop stops by one of their Wooloo fields. He briefly considers hopping the fence so he can pet the Wooloo, but that sort of thing would probably get him in trouble, and that's the last thing he needs to be getting into right now. Instead, he leans on the fence and just watches them, grazing and rolling about the field. Practically everyone back home in Postwick owns a flock of Wooloo, and Hop always enjoyed watching the flocks there, too.

After a few minutes, Hop sits down on the grass and sends out his own Wooloo. It's in desperate need of brushing after his Gym Battle with Milo, and what better place to sit down and do that than just outside a Wooloo field?

A small part of him thinks that he should wait until evening to do this and focus on heading to Hulbury instead, so he doesn't fall too far behind his rivals. But on the other hand, Hop's far from the last Gym Challenger to face Milo, so he's in no danger of running out of time to face Nessa. Nothing wrong with taking it easy for a bit and taking the time to take care of his Pokémon.

(Perhaps Milo is starting to rub off on Hop a bit.)

But just as Hop starts to brush Wooloo, he hears something beeping. It's not until the phone literally jumps out of his pocket that he realizes it's his new Rotom Phone ringing. The number isn't one in Hop's contacts – not that that's difficult, considering Mum is the only number in his contacts right now – so he blindly accepts the call, curious to see who else has been given his phone number.

"Hop! Afternoon!"

It takes Hop exactly half a second to recognize the voice, but much longer to formulate a response to it. Excitement and shock bubble up within him in equal measure, and he can't manage anything more than grinning like an idiot.

"…hello? You there, Hop? This is Hop's Rotom Phone, isn't it?"

And, well. Hop wasn't planning on messing with his brother today, but when the perfect opportunity presents itself, he's not going to pass it up.

Not trying to disguise his voice at all, Hop says, "No, it isn't. You must have the wrong number."

"Ack! Sorry about that!" Lee apologizes immediately. "Must have punched in the number wrong. I'll try again… Have a great rest of your day, sir!"

Hop snickers.

"Wait a minute," Lee says, his cheery Champion voice slipping away. "I know that snicker. Hop – that's you, isn't it!? You were just messing with me again, weren't you?"

He bursts out laughing. "I can't believe you fell for it, Lee! How thick can you get?"

Lee sighs. "You're a rascal, you know that?"

"But I'm your favorite rascal."

"You're my favorite rascal," he says fondly. "And what's my favorite rascal up to right now, eh?"

"Besides messing with you? Brushing Wooloo," Hop says, tugging the brush through a particularly stubborn tangle. "I need to get all the spores out of its wool after that fight with Milo."

"That's great! It was an excellent battle."

Hop pauses mid-stroke. "You were watching?"

"Don't sound so surprised! Of course I was," Lee says. "You've watched all of my battles, so it's only fair that I return the favor. And I'm so glad I did! Using Wooloo's wool to absorb Eldegoss's fluff was a right clever strategy. You more than deserve that Grass Badge."

"You – you think so?"

"Absolutely! Keep that up, and you'll be in the Champion Cup in no time!"

"Thanks, Lee," Hop says, cheeks flushing at the praise. "Oh! Another thing. The challengers you endorsed… I got to meet them today."

"Oh, Sou and Schilly? What did you think of them?" Lee asks.

"They're really nice! I like them!" Hop declares. "They're total opposites, but they're both really good Trainers. After watching them battle…I get why you endorsed them."

"Brilliant! I'm so glad to hear that!" Lee exclaims. "I was hoping…"

He doesn't continue, and Hop glances at his phone to double-check that the call didn't drop suddenly. "You were hoping what?" he prompts.

"That…you guys would get along," Lee says.

"Well, yeah, of course we do! They'll make great rivals and mates," Hop says matter-of-factly.

"That's great. I'm really happy for you, Hop," Lee says with unexpected sincerity. Before Hop can wonder what that was about, he quickly moves the conversation forward. "You said you watched their battles? How did they deal with Eldegoss's fluff?"

Hop blinks. "You weren't watching? They're your endorsees!"

"I wanted to, but the chairman had scheduled me for an ad photoshoot at the same time," Lee says apologetically. "Hard to watch a battle while I'm posing for pictures with a bunch of Timburr."

Hop's brow furrows. "My battle was right after Schildemilia's, though. The end of the photoshoot lined up that nicely with the beginning of my battle?"

Lee makes a noncommittal noise.

"Lee? Don't tell me… You didn't ditch the photoshoot just to watch my battle, did you!?"

"Of course not," he retorts immediately. "I asked Chairman Rose for permission to leave early, so it wasn't ditching."

"Lee!" Hop exclaims in exasperation. "You shouldn't have done that! What if you get in trouble?"

"Don't worry, Hop. Like I said, I got Chairman Rose's permission to leave, so I won't get in trouble," Lee says. "I don't plan on making a habit of skiving off work – only for stuff that's important."

"Oh," Hop says quietly. A warm, tingly feeling spreads out from his heart to the rest of his body, realizing that Lee would go to such lengths to watch his battles. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. But, speaking of which… I've got a meeting with the chairman that I need to be getting to," Lee says. "I'll call you again soon, alright?"

"Alright," Hop chirps. "Bye, Lee!"

"Wait for me to call you, okay? I'm really busy, so even if you do call me, there's a good chance I won't be able to answer."

"Yeah, I know. Bye, Lee–"

"Oh, but if it's an emergency, please do call me. I want to help you however I can, and I can be excused for emergencies."

"Bye, Leon."

Lee laughs. "Bye, Hopscotch. Love you."

"Love you too!"

Hop hangs up the phone, slips it back into his pocket, and turns his attention back to Wooloo. He flicks a couple of spores out of the brush's bristles and starts running it through Wooloo's wool again; Wooloo bleats contentedly.

Today was a great day – he won his first Gym Badge, watched a flock of Wooloo, and got to talk with his brother. And the best part is – it's not over yet.

"We're gonna head down Route 5 and meet some new friends to help us take down Nessa," Hop tells Wooloo, once he's satisfied that he got out all the spores. "You ready, buddy?"

Wooloo bleats, and Hop grins.

"Then let's go!"

A/N: If you hadn't already guessed from the chapter title, each chapter of this fic will be set after each of Hop's Gym battles. I've already mostly written the next four chapters, so I'm aiming to post those on a weekly basis; after that, updates will be pending based on how long it takes us to get confirmation that Hop has defeated the next Gym.