A/N: When I started writing this fic, I wasn't expecting any important characters to appear besides Hop, Leon, and Wooloo/Dubwool. But then canon came along and said "actually, Hop and Marnie travel the whole way from Circhester to Spikemuth together". So, looks like I'm writing Marnie for the first time, and I'll pretend that's the only reason this chapter took so long to complete. :)
Marnie gazes towards the mountains in the distance. "Neither you nor Challenger Soudo will be able to get near Spikemuth," she says.
Hop's brow furrows. "Why's that?"
"Because it's–"
Hop's Rotom Phone starts ringing. His hand reflexively goes to his pocket to answer it – he knows exactly who'd be calling right now – but he stops himself before he pulls it out; it would be rude to take a phone call in the middle of a conversation.
Plus, after the discussion he and Marnie just had… Hop doesn't know if he wants to talk to his brother right now.
He glances at Marnie, whose attention is now focused on the hand in his pocket. "Are you gonna answer that?" she asks.
"Uh – right," he says, taking the phone out. The screen pulses, highlighting the contact name "Lee :D". He presses the answer call button and is immediately met with the sound of buffeting wind. "Hello? Lee?"
No one responds but the wind.
Hop has to admit, getting butt-dialed by his brother is a new one; Rotom Phones are usually smart enough to lock themselves when they're put away. Maybe Lee's Rotom is just in a mischievous mood today.
But as Hop takes the phone in his hands to end the call, he hears a garbled noise that's different from the sound of the wind. If he concentrates hard enough, he can make out a couple words – his name, and "hear".
"Lee?" Hop yells into the phone. "I can't hear you!" He shoots Marnie an apologetic look, and she just shrugs in understanding.
After a few moments, the background noise dies down, and the relative quiet is heavenly. "Okay, how's that? Can you hear me now?" Lee asks.
"Yeah."
"Excellent! Sorry about that," he says. "Didn't realize just how noisy the wind would be when Charizard was flying that fast."
"Wh – why are you calling me while riding Charizard?" Hop exclaims. "Maybe you should wait and call me back after you've landed…"
"Can't. I'm meeting up with Professor Magnolia's group as soon as I land."
"Huh? Why?"
"She wants to show us something? That's as much as I know," he says sheepishly. "I don't know how long it'll take, and I wanted to call you sooner rather than later. Can't have you getting to Spikemuth before I've had the chance to congratulate you for Circhester, right?" he adds with a chuckle.
"You don't have to congratulate me after every Gym Battle," Hop says, frowning. He doesn't want Lee to stress himself out trying to find the time to call Hop in between all his other, more important commitments. Like he told Marnie, the last thing he wants to do is put any more of a burden on his big bro.
"It's the least I can do," Lee says. "Especially after…" He sighs. "I'm really sorry I missed you in Hammerlocke, Hop. I had to help people evacuate after the explosion, and then there was the Dynamax Dracovish rampaging that I had to calm down, and then…"
"It's okay," Hop says, shrugging. "I understand." It isn't the first time Lee's had to cancel plans with him because something came up unexpectedly, and Hop is getting better at hiding his disappointment.
"I'll find a way to make it up to you," Lee says, regaining his usual enthusiasm. "For now… Congrats on getting the Ice Badge!"
That earns a smile from Hop. "Thanks," he says.
"I was really impressed that Pincurchin was able to knock out Melony's Lapras in just two hits," Lee continues. "You've trained it well! A bit unconventional for an ace, but–"
"Hey, Pincurchin's not my ace!" Hop interrupts. He pats Dubwool on the head. "That title belongs to my buddy Dubwool."
Lee laughs. "Still an unconventional ace, little bro," he says. "But that reminds me. You haven't battled with it much since it evolved, have you?"
Hop folds his arms thoughtfully. Dubwool evolved right at the end of their training in the Wild Area, and en route to Stow-on-Side he focused on training Snorlax more. He didn't use it in his battles against Bea and Opal, and on the way to Circhester he was in such a hurry to catch up to Tsurugi and Schildemilia that he did barely any training at all, so…
"I guess not," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. "How'd you know?"
"Each time Dubwool attacked Darmanitan, I noticed it seemed a bit off-balance for a few seconds," Lee explains. "It was most obvious after it missed that Headbutt. It wasn't used to compensating for its new weight, so it couldn't recover its footing and fell."
Hop flinches. He'd assumed Dubwool fell just because of the slickness of the floor – he hadn't even thought about Dubwool needing to adjust to its new form. How could he have made such a rookie mistake?
"S-sorry," he stammers, glancing between the phone and his partner. They must both be so disappointed in him.
"Hey, you don't need to apologize to me," Lee says gently. "It's just something you need to be aware of the next time you're training."
"Right," Hop says, dropping his gaze. But if Lee hadn't pointed it out to him, would Hop have even realized that Dubwool was struggling? Why didn't he notice something so obvious?
"Hey. If it makes you feel any better, I didn't notice anythin' wrong," Marnie says. Hop snaps his head up to look at her. "Ain't that obvious unless ya know what you're lookin' for. Most Pokémon'll get used to their evolved form after a couple battles, anyhow."
"That's a fair point," Lee says, and the tightness in Hop's chest loosens up a little. "Er, who said that?"
Hop can't help but snort. "You know the challenger Marnie, right?"
"'Ello," Marnie says.
"Marnie, Leon. Lee, Marnie," Hop says, gesturing between her and the phone.
"Nice to meet you, Marnie," Lee says.
"Well, this ain't really meetin'…"
"If talking to someone over the phone doesn't count as meeting, then the number of meetings I have this week just got cut in half!"
That earns a chuckle from Hop and a snort from Marnie. "It's a sorta-meetin', then," she says. "Nice to sorta-meet you."
"So, Hop, does this mean you've finally moved on from Schilly?"
"Lee!" Hop yelps, cheeks burning. "I'm– It's not– Stop it!"
"Stop what?" Lee asks cheekily. "All I did was ask if–"
"Shut up!" Hop whines. "We're traveling to Spikemuth together as fellow Gym Challengers, that's all!"
He risks a glance at Marnie out of the corner of his eye, and thankfully, she doesn't look mortified like he feels. Lee, meanwhile, is audibly laughing on the other end of the phone. At least someone is enjoying this.
When Lee's laughter finally dies down, he says, "Congrats to you too, Marnie."
"Eh? For what?" Marnie asks.
For a split second Hop is worried that his brother is going to make another dating joke, but instead he says, "For winning the Circhester Gym Badge! It's not easy making it this far in the Gym Challenge."
"Oh. Th-thanks," Marnie says, cheeks turning pink.
"Yeah. It's too bad Schildemilia couldn't make it this far," Hop says without thinking.
"I knew you'd say that," Lee says smugly, but thankfully he doesn't take the teasing any further this time. "I was disappointed, too. I thought she'd at least make it to Raihan."
"I wasn't too surprised," Marnie says. "Talkin' to her on the way to Ballonlea, she didn't seem like she was all that serious about winnin'. All excited about reunitin' with one of her lost Pokémon, but didn't even train with it before takin' on the Gym."
"Her Pokémon going missing certainly put her at a disadvantage," Lee says. "Hopefully, she'll find them all soon, so she can be better prepared to try the challenge again next year."
"Or maybe she won't challenge it at all," Marnie says. "Opal's Gym was the one your friend lost at, wasn't it?"
"Come again?"
"That friend of yours you went on the Gym Challenge with. Hop told me about it."
"Ah," Lee says. He goes silent for a few moments. "Yes, it was. I, uh, hadn't made that connection."
Hop pointedly clears his throat.
"…it might have crossed my mind. But it's just a coincidence! Opal defeats loads of challengers every year. It doesn't mean – what?" Lee suddenly sounds panicked. "Charizard, go!"
The buffeting sound of wind fills the speakers again for a moment before the call ends.
Hop slowly grabs the phone, brow furrowed. "Lee never hangs up without saying goodbye," he tells Marnie, gut twisting. "Even when he's in a hurry. Do you think something happened to him?"
"He was shoutin' a command at the end there," Marnie says. "Don't think anything happened to him, but maybe someone in Professor Magnolia's group? He said he was meetin' up with them."
"I hope they're okay," Hop says. A lump forms in his throat as he remembers that Schildemilia is included in that group. He swallows it down and puts on a smile; whatever the problem is, Lee will take care of it just like always. "I'm sure Lee will call me back once things calm down to let me know what that was about. Or at least after my next Gym Battle!"
"You said he's been congratulating you after every Gym Battle," Marnie says. "But he's not attending 'em in person, is he?"
"Oh, no. He doesn't have the time for that," Hop says, laughing. "He's been watching all my Gym Battles on the telly, and then he calls me afterwards."
"That'll be a little difficult to do for Spikemuth," Marnie says, "seein' as they don't televise Gym Battles there."
"Oh, shoot… I forgot about that," Hop says. He pumps his fists. "Then, I'll just have to call him back after I beat the Spikemuth Gym Leader, if he hasn't called me first!"
"You guys are really supportive of each other," Marnie comments.
"Well, yeah," Hop says. "Aren't you and your brother the same way?"
She hums. "I s'pose. But it's also different. Like, he doesn't call me after each of my Gym Battles, but I wouldn't want him to. I already know he's keepin' an eye on me and rootin' for me."
"Everybody's a little different!" Hop declares. "But you still love each other, and that's what counts, right?"
"Yeah," Marnie says, a tiny smile on her face.
"Now I wanna meet your brother," Hop says. "But that can wait 'til after the Gym Challenge. For now, we're heading to Spikemuth!"
Marnie giggles.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothin'," Marnie says, lacing her hands behind her back. "Let's get goin'!"
A/N: Hop, after meeting Piers: so THAT'S why you were laughing
If you're not keeping up with all the latest SwSh releases, the Gym Challenge was just suspended to deal with Chairman Rose and the Darkest Day plot, before anyone could fight Piers. I'm hoping that it'll resume once everything is settled and this fic can finish as I originally intended it, but it's entirely possible that the aftermath of that will cause the Gym Challenge to be completely canceled. If that happens, I'll still write some kind of epilogue for this fic, rather than just ending it here. So, until the arc progresses more – stay awesome!