A/N: Hi! Sorry it took a little longer than I expected to post this chapter. When I heard that this month's Pokéspe round apparently gives some insight into what Hop and Leon's relationship is like, I was hoping to wait until I could read it for myself and incorporate that new information into this fic... But the translators said that it's gonna take longer than usual to finish translating the chapter, and my chapter's already done, so I decided to just bite the bullet and post anyways. Hopefully the new revelations won't contradict what I've written too much. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The interview airs right after Hop's Gym Battle.

When he emerges from Hulbury Gym's locker room, every telly in the lobby is playing it. They don't have any sound, so Hop has to pull it up on his Rotom Phone to understand why Schildemilia is holding up a poster of a bunch of Pokémon and looking so distressed.

The news tugs at his heartstrings. She had five Pokémon partners, and she lost them all? How awful! When Wooloo got lost for a few days when Hop was little, he was in a right state until they found it again. He can't imagine being separated from Wooloo for a whole year. It's amazing that Schildemilia has been able to keep going with a smile for so long; he hopes that spreading the news like this will allow her to be reunited with her Pokémon soon.

But Hop wants to do his part to help look for them, too. He wanders down to the docks, where a few Fishers are casting their lines. One of the Pokémon that Schildemilia is missing is an Arrokuda; could it have ended up around here somewhere?

But just as he's about to start calling Kilo's name, Hop's Rotom Phone rings. He pulls it out of his pocket, glances at the caller ID, and grins. He accepts the call. "Lee!" he exclaims.

"Morning, Hop! Nice day for a brilliant Gym Battle," his brother says. "That was an incredible performance!"

"Aw, well… It was all Pincurchin, really," Hop says, flushing at the praise.

"That Pincurchin of yours is something else!" Lee says. "How'd you manage to catch it? Don't they normally live further north?"

"It's a funny story," Hop grins. "So, I was originally scheduled to battle after Schildemilia yesterday, right? But then Nessa's Pokémon were all bent out of shape, and she had to postpone all the rest of her battles. Meaning I had a free evening in Hulbury to do whatever I wanted."

"Did you go to the market?"

"Of course I went to the market! They've got loads of interesting items there. Figured it was worth taking a look around for anything that'd help me out in my Gym Battle," Hop continues. "But there wasn't anything useful. I was just about to leave when I heard a commotion over at a nearby stall. I ran over to see what was going on, and just as I arrived a Pincurchin flew at me and hit me in the face!"

Lee bursts out laughing. Hop pouts. "Sure, delight in my misery."

"Sorry, sorry," he says, laughter dying down as he catches his breath. "So, Pincurchin hits you in the face. It's painful and awful and not funny in the slightest. Then what?"

"Well, the merchants at the stall tried grabbing hold of it, but they kept getting either poked or shocked by its spines," Hop says. "They weren't getting any closer to catching it, so eventually I just threw a Poké Ball at it. And it worked! Pincurchin stayed in the ball!"

Lee chuckles. "You know, normally Trainers battle wild Pokémon before trying to catch them."

"I didn't want to risk hurting any of the people around," Hop says, rubbing the back of his head. "It was worth a shot, right?"

"That's good thinking, Hop," Lee says. "What was a wild Pincurchin doing there, anyways?"

"I asked them about that after they thanked me for my help," Hop says. "Apparently they'd just come back from a trip off the coast of Spikemuth, fishing for seaweed and the like. Pincurchin was feasting on one of the clumps of seaweed they pulled up, but they didn't notice until they'd gotten it all the way to the market. So, they were perfectly happy to let me keep it!"

"It's a great thing you did! I've never seen someone use Pincurchin's broken spines as a field hazard before," Lee says. "The look on Nessa's face when she realized what was hurting Drednaw…"

"Yeah…she was positively shocked!"

Both brothers snicker.

"Last night, I read about how Pincurchin's spines continue to emit electricity even after they're broken off," Hop explains. "So when I realized Drednaw's bite had broken off some of Pincurchin's spines, I thought I could take advantage of it!"

"That's my little bro! Always thinking on your feet!" Lee says proudly. "Who knows, maybe you could make that into an official move! 'Electric Spikes' is a cool name, right?"

Hop giggles. "I don't think you can just invent a move like that, Lee."

"Well, you can get it added as a tactic in the Pokémon Battle Encyclopedia, at least," he says. "I can help you with the submission process, if you want! I've done it six times, so I know how it works."

"No! No, you really don't need to do that. It's fine," Hop says quickly, cheeks burning. "Thanks, though."

"So, what are you up to now? Heading to Motostoke?" Lee asks.

Hop shakes his head before remembering that Lee can't see him. "No, I'm still in Hulbury. I thought I'd look around for Schildemilia's lost Pokémon a bit before I leave town."

"Huh? Schilly lost a Pokémon?"

"She lost her whole team!" Hop exclaims. "Didn't you see the news this morning?"

"No, I've been busy working out with my Pokémon all morning," Lee says. "What do you mean, she lost her whole team? Isn't Raboot her only Pokémon?"

"Apparently, she had a team of five Pokémon before Raboot. But she was separated from them somehow, so she's asking everyone to help her look for them!"

"Oh, that's terrible! I'll definitely keep an eye out," Lee says. "What kind of Pokémon are they?"

"Kilo the Arrokuda, Tera the Toxtricity, Mega the Stunfisk, Giga the Falinks, Peta the Eiscue," Hop recites, counting them off on his fingers. "But that's not even the worst part! Guess how long it's been since she lost them."

"Hmm… I don't know. A few weeks?"

"A whole year!"

"A year?" Lee repeats incredulously. "That's… Poor Schilly. But I understand now why she took on Nessa with only Scorbunny… She doesn't want to catch more Pokémon and feel like she's replacing her old teammates."

"Yeah…" Hop folds his hands behind his head. "I just don't understand why she waited a whole year to say anything about it! If I was ever separated from Wooloo, I wouldn't even wait a week before calling up every news station in Galar and telling them to put out an alert!"

"And almost every news station in Galar would say, 'Sorry, we're not going to run a story on a random boy from Postwick who lost his Wooloo'," Lee says.

"But I'm not just a random boy from Postwick! I'm –" – the Champion's little brother, he almost says, stopping himself just in time. That's not the kind of thing he should be blurting out in public, even if the only people around to hear him are a handful of Fishers.

But Lee grasps onto his train of thought. "You're right. They'd run that story if it were about the Champion's little brother. But Schilly's not my little brother, now, is she?"

"Oh…right," Hop says, rubbing the back of his head. "I didn't think about it that way."

"She might've gotten a local news station to mention it," Lee continues. "But to get the message out to the whole region, doing an interview as a Gym Challenger is undoubtedly the best way for her to accomplish that."

"Bet being endorsed by the Champion helps, too," Hop points out. "I've heard a lot of other Gym Challengers talking about her and Tsurugi, and that's bound to help the news about her missing Pokémon spread, too."

"That's right! With all of Galar on the case, I'm sure her Pokémon will be found before long," Lee says. "You said you were looking for one of them now, right?"

"Right. I thought Kilo the Arrokuda might've ended up in Hulbury," Hop says.

"Good idea! I'll leave you to it, then," Lee says. "Just don't dally too long, or you'll miss your chance to battle Motostoke's Gym!"

"I won't, I won't!" Hop smirks. "Unlike you, I know how to make it to Motostoke without getting lost."

Lee lets out an exaggerated sigh. "Love you too."

Hop giggles, bids his brother goodbye, and hangs up. He doesn't plan to spend too long looking for Kilo here; maybe half an hour at most. There's not much he can do besides walk around and call Kilo's name. He wishes Schildemilia had explained a little more how to recognize her Pokémon – any unique mannerisms or distinct markings they have that could help distinguish them from–

Smack.

Something wet and slimy hits Hop in the face. It's more surprising than painful, causing him to jump back about a foot. The thing falls to the ground, and a fisherman comes running up to him with a hasty apology – it seems he had been a little overzealous reeling in his catch, so the Pokémon had come flying out of the water, over his head, and straight into Hop's face. Unfortunately, it's a Wishiwashi, not an Arrokuda – so not Kilo.

Hop's starting to think that he should get out of Hulbury before any more sea-dwelling Pokémon decide to make friends with his face. He needs to find a Water-type Pokémon to help him in his battle against Kabu, anyways, so he can search for Kilo at the same time.

And wherever he does that, it's going to be in a place where there is absolutely no danger of getting hit in the face with a fish Pokémon.

A/N: It's too bad that Cramorant doesn't spit Kilo into Hop's face, because that would be hilar- I mean, painful and awful and not funny in the slightest. :)