"So, Hop, how can you go here so well?" Ash asked, pointing with his hands to the forest around him. "This place is a full maze!"
"Uhm... I've.. been here quite a bit lately," Hop said a little evasively. "I've been looking for a Pokémon, which I and my best friend Victor saw here a few weeks ago. It was very special looking and I was interested, what it could be"
Then he grinned a little guilty looking. "There's only one little problem in that," he said, and Ash asked, "Oh. What?"
"The fact that I don't actually even have permission to come here," Hop said a little embarrassed. "And there's a simple reason for that; as you saw, the forest is dangerous," he sighed. "I just wish I could see again even a slight hint of that Pokemon "
"Oh, I see," said Ash and Lucario, who had quietly come beside Ash, said through Aura, "Master, could it be the same Pokemon whose Aura I felt?"
"Maybe," Ash said through Aura and stayed to think about it.
****
Behind Ash and Hop came Serena, Braixen, and Gou. Gou walked in his thoughts, scrolling to his Rotom, while Braixen and Serena walked side by side and Braixen blinked little by little Serena's wrist.
"Braix brai," it said worriedly to her trainer, and Serena, who was holding her wrist, said to her, "Don't worry, Braixen. We'll soon get out of this forest and then we can treat my wrist properly."
"Braixen," said Braixen and nodded in satisfaction. It didn't like its trainer being injured and it couldn't do anything about it. But once Serena had eased its worries a little, it could focus on other things.
Braixen found herself staring at Lucario's back as he walked directly in front of her. She could do nothing for herself, but moved her gaze down a little, blushing a little at the same time. Serena noticed the direction of her gaze and whispered, teasing her, "Is there good scenery?"
Braixen was startled and looked blushed at Serena. "Braix Braixen!" it exclaimed to its trainer embarrassed and Serena giggled.
"Don't worry, I like mine too," she said with a grin, meaning the sight that opened up in front of her, that is, the back of Ash.
Ash happened to hear it. "What do you like?" he asked in wonder and Gou also looked up at his Rotom. Also Pikachu, who was sitting on Ash's shoulder, Hop and Lucario turned their gaze to her and Serena blushed bright red.
"Nothing!" she hurried to say and Ash shrugged and turned his gaze back forward. Pikachu, Lucario, and Hop did the same, but Gou, guessing what Serena had been watching, grinned looking teasing.
"It is pretty trained," he whispered in the girl's ear teasingly, and Serena, who knew exactly what Gou meant by his sentence, blushed even redder.
"Shut up!" she hissed at him and Gou shrugged. "Whatever," he said, then turned his gaze back to his Rotom, leaving Serena to gather her thoughts in a blushed mess.
****
As they moved forward, the forest began to thin out and soon they were able to move to an even wider path. Gradually, the sun also began to show through the tops of the trees and it made them all in a slightly happier mood.
It didn't take long after they had gotten through the forest and a small village could be seen in front of them. Serena sighed in relief as she got out of the woods and they stood on the edge of the woods looking at the village below.
Hop stepped in front of them and spread his hands to show that he would introduce the village to them.
"Ta-da!" he exclaimed. "Welcome to Postwick, my hometown!" Then he waved his hand at them, referring them to follow and said, "Come on, I'll show you the way to the Pokemon Center!"
He set out to step towards the village Wooloo next to him and the trio behind looked at each other.
"Well, what are we still waiting for? Let's follow him!" said Ash and went running with Pikachu after Hop.
"Ash, wait!" exclaimed Serena and she and Braixen rushed after Ash. Gou and Lucario glanced at each other and, shrugging their shoulders, also set out to step after everyone else.
Soon they reached Hop and, under his direction, set out to walk along the streets of Postwick. People and Pokemon looked at them with interest and they themselves explored Postwick with interest.
It was a pretty small, rural village and the people and Pokemon there lived a peaceful life there. It certainly would have been completely unknown if Champion Leon hadn't come from there. It increased the visibility of Postwick quite a bit, but compared to the big cities of Galar, it was still pretty negligible.
Guided by Hop, the trio found their way to the Pokemon Center. They stepped inside and Nurse Joy, standing behind the front desk, kindly asked, "Hello, welcome to the Pokemon Center. How can I help?" The Wigglytuff next to her also kindly said, "Wigglytuff"
"Could you heal our Pokemon?" Ash asked, returning Lucario to his ball and Serena did the same to Braixen.
Nurse Joy nodded and said, "Sure." She picked up two Pokeball Holders and said, "Put your balls here so Wigglytuff takes them for care. And Pikachu can come with this cart," she said, pointing to the cart next to her.
Ash, Serena and Gou nodded and placed their Pokeballs in their holders. Nurse Joy put them in carts, to which Pikachu also jumped and Wigglytuff set out to take them towards the back room.
After Wigglytuff had disappeared there, Nurse Joy turned back to the trio and asked, "Could I still help somehow anyway?"
Ash glanced at Serena and her sore wrist and said, "Actually, my friend has hurt her wrist. Could you do something about it?"
"Oh, I see. Well, I don't specialize in healing people, but I look at what I can do," Nurse Joy said and came off the counter. She came to them and directed them to the nearby couches.
They sat on them and Nurse Joy said to Serena, "Could you show me your wrist?"
Serena nodded and showed her wrist to Nurse Joy. This one looked at it for a moment and then asked, "Can you move it?"
Serena nodded and moved her wrist a little, even though it hurt. Nurse Joy looked pleased. "Well, it's probably not broken, but you should still show it a doctor. I'll put a bandage on it, but you'll have to keep it at rest and motionless for at least a few weeks."
Serena nodded and then Nurse Joy went to get her bandage needs. After a moment, she returned with a bandage and a few other things and tied Serena's wrist firmly.
"There, I did what I can, but I still recommend you go show your wrist to the doctor," said Nurse Joy and Serena said, "Thank you, but I think I can handle this."
Nurse Joy nodded with a smile and stood up. Then she had to go to serve the person who had just entered the Pokemon Center and Ash, Serena, Gou and Hop (and Wooloo) were left out of four.
****
After a while, bling announced that their Pokemon were ready. They went to Nurse Joy and Wigglytuff brought in their cart their Pokeball as well as Pikachu, who as soon as he got close enough jumped into Ash's arms, exclaiming happily, "Pikapi!"
"Hey buddy!" Ash laughed and Pikachu went to his own place on Ash's shoulder. Then Ash also took his other Pokemon's Pokeballs and Serena and Gou did the same.
"Lucario, come out," Ash said, letting his Aura Pokemon out of its ball. He knew Lucario didn't like being in his Pokeball and most of the time it went next to Ash, just like Pikachu.
Lucario appeared in front of him and said through Aura, "Thank you, Master."
"You're welcome," Ash said through Aura as well, seeing with his side eye that Serena had let all her Pokemon out of their balls
"Braixen, Pancham, Sylveon and Yamper! Come out!" she exclaimed and all four Pokemon appeared in front of her. Yamper immediately started begging for treats from Serena and when Serena refused, it started barking.
As Serena tried to stop him barking, Braixen turned her attention to Lucario and slowly faded beside it. It had started to like Lucario in a very different way nearby, and especially the fact that Lucario had rescued Braixen's trainer had made a big impression on it. And after all, Braixen had to admit that Lucario was pretty good looking.
Hop took a huge interest in Serena's Pokemon and exclaimed, "Wow, is that Sylveon!? I've never seen that Pokemon with that stick in its tail before!"
Serena giggled at him excitedly. "She is Braixen, she was my first Pokémon, and she was a starter Pokémon. She was then however yet Fennekin. You see, I come from Kalos and Fennekin there is a Fire-type starter Pokemon," she explained Hop and nodded, and his eyes glistened with excitement.
"Wow, I didn't even know you were from Kalos!" he said and stroked the Wooloo next to him. "I only have Wooloo, he's been my partner for as long as I can remember," he said and Wooloo baaed happily at him.
Then he continued and this time sounded determined. "But soon I'm going to become a trainer too, and then I'm going to become as strong as my big brother!"
He raised his fists resolutely into the air and Wooloo beside him also baaed resolutely. Ash, Serena and Gou glanced at each other and Serena said, "That's nice to hear."
They sat quietly on the couches for a moment, each in their own thoughts, and watching their Pokemon play until Hop announced he was going to the bathroom and Ash, Serena, and Gou were left at three.
They talked about something until the door to the Pokemon Center went and they heard a familiar voice carrying in their direction. Ash turned to look and saw Sonia and some stranger, a young man, coming inside.
"Hey, Sonia!" he exclaimed and waved at Sonia. Hearing her name be said, Sonia turned her gaze in that direction and smiled broadly as she noticed the trio.
"Hey Ash!" she said and came to them as the man followed. "And Serena and Gou too. What's up? What are you doing here?"
"On a passing journey," Gou said, staring at the young man standing next to Sonia. He somehow seemed familiar to Gou, but he couldn't get his head on why. "Hey Sonia, who is he?" he asked, nodding at the man.
"Yeah, and what are you doing here?" Ash asked and scratched Pikachu behind his ear.
"Oh, work stuff," Sonia said, winking her eye. Then she glanced at the man standing next to her, who had been staring all the time Ash, and said, "And he is.."
"It doesn't matter, Sonia," the man interrupted without looking away from Ash for a moment. "Are you Ash Ketchum? Alolan Champion Ash Ketchum?" he then asked and stared at Ash still with his peculiar yellow eyes.
"Uh.. yeah, I am," Ash said. "But why do you ask?" he continued and looked at the man. If anything had to be said about his clothes, then they were very.. interesting.
The man had purple, long hair that was loose as well as a dark, short beard. He had bright yellow eyes and had a black cap on his head.
He was wearing a black T-shirt with a picture of a blue sword and a red shield in the middle and white, thin stripes. He wore short, white shorts as well as white, leggings. As for shoes, he wore black and white sneakers and had a black glove on his right hand and white wristbands on both wrists.
But perhaps the most peculiar part of his outfit was his red cloak that hung from his shoulders. It had a yellowish fur border and the cloak looked very warm.
"Because I want to challenge you to a Pokemon battle," the man said, then picked up one Pokeball. "I guess it works? You don't look like someone who refuses a challenge"
Sonia looked very surprised to hear the man's request, but Ash grinned and straightened his cap.
"You're right, I'm not that kind of person," he said, then smiled resolutely. "And as for the challenge, I'll take it. So, let's battle!"
****
The group had gone to the backyard of the Pokemon Center, where there was a match field, as soon as Ash approved. Ash and the man who challenged him were already on both sides of the field ready to start and Gou promised to serve as a referee.
"This is a one on one match against Ash and uh.. what's your name?" he asked the man who had sued Ash and he smiled and said, "Leon"
"Okay. So, this is a one-on-one match between Ash and Leon. The winner is the one whose Pokemon are last upright! Begin!"
"Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash exclaimed and Pikachu jumped resolutely on the field. "Pika!" it cried out and its cheeks sparkled.
"I thought you were choosing Pikachu," Leon said, picking up one of his Pokeballs. He magnified it and threw it in the air. "Then I'll pick you up! Charizard, come up!"
Charizard appeared in front of him and roared loudly. Leon grinned and looked confident. "No one has beaten my Charizard yet," he said confidently, putting his hand on his hips. "So, be prepared"
Ash didn't look worried, but excited. "Unbeatable Charizard right?" he said with a grin. "Okay! That will only bring more challenge and joy to this match!"
"Really?" said Leon and then he smiled. "Well, let's see how you cope with this. Charizard, Air Slash!"
Charizard's wings glow light blue. It then flaps its wings, firing multiple light-blue glowing blades of energy from them at the Pikachu.
"Pikachu, quickly, dodge them using Quick Attack and then use Iron Tail!" Ash exclaimed and Pikachu rushed to the trip, shining brightly.
It dodged the blades and managed to get to the Charizard. It jumped into the air and its tail began to glow brightly.
"Dodge it!" Leon exclaimed and Charizard managed to dodge Pikachu's tail blow. "Flamethrower!" Leon exclaimed and the Charizard blew a big flame towards Pikachu.
"Dodge it!" Ash exclaimed, but Pikachu didn't make it and the fire hit it.
"Pika!" it cried out and fell to the ground. At the edge of the field, Serena looked anxiously in the direction of Ash, who had clenched his fists. Next to her, Lucario said to the Braixen standing next to him, "Your Flamethrower is much cooler than that Charizard's." Braixen blushed.
****
Meanwhile, as Ash and Leon started the match, Hop came out of the bathroom and noticed everyone was missing from the couches. He first scratched his head a little confused and then went to Nurse Joy.
"Excuse me, but where did the crowd in there go?" he asked Nurse Joy, pointing the couches. This one smiled and replied, "To the backyard. A man challenged your friend, the one who had Pikachu, and they went there to match. You can find them there."
Hop nodded and then said to Wooloo, "Come on Wooloo, let's see who really challenged Ash to the match," Wooloo baaed and then they headed their way towards the backyard.
In a moment:
Hop arrived just as Ash's Pikachu fell to the ground. He immediately looked at who had challenged Ash and his eyes widened when he saw his big brother at the other end of the field.
What was Leon doing here? And why had he challenged a completely unknown boy to a match? It really wasn't like Champion, and Hop didn't get those questions out of his mind when he saw another familiar character on the sidelines.
He walked next to Wooloo to this one and said, "Hi Sonia" Wooloo baaed too and Sonia was startled to hear her name. She had been in her mind and pondered almost exactly the same questions as Hop.
She turned to look at the boy and said with a smile, "Oh, hi Hop. And Wooloo too. What's up? I'm wondering here why Leon challenged Ash to the match, even though he barely knows the whole boy."
"Yeah, I'm thinking the same thing," Hop said, turning his gaze to the match. Pikachu was clearly an underdog and Charizard had barely got a single hit.
Suddenly Sonia's phone rang and she answered it. "Hello? Yeah, yes I am. What? Really? Well, I'm right here in the Pokemon Center yard, so wait a minute and we'll sort it out." She then looked apologetically at Hop and left the scene, still talking on her phone and Hop stayed to watch the match.
****
"Charizard, use Fire Spin!" Leon instructed Pokemon and Charizard roared and a huge whirlwind of fire rushed towards Pikachu from its mouth.
"Pikachu, dodge it!" Ash exclaimed, but Pikachu did not have time to dodge and soon fire had completely surrounded it.
And when the fire subsided, Pikachu lay fallen on the ground and had familiar spirals in place of his eyes.
"Pikachu is unable to battle, so the winner is Leon and his Charizard!" announced Gou and Leon grinned broadly.
"Charizard, return," he said and pointed to Charizard at Pokeball.
Charizard returned to his ball and Leon said to it with a smile, "Thank you, buddy. You were awesome." Then he put the ball back and walked over to Ash.
"Thanks for the match, it was pretty awesome," he said to Ash, who had taken the fallen Pikachu in his arms and held out his hand. "But what can you expect when two Champions battle each other?"
Ash grabbed his hand and squeezed it and said, "Yeah, just.. wait.."
His grin quickly turned to astonishment when he properly understood what Leon had said. "You said two Champions.. then... you're a Champion too!" he said with great astonishment and the jaws of Serena and Gou, who had come to them, had fallen down in astonishment.
Leon smiled and said, "Yep, I am. And I notice that you have met my little brother," he said, nodding toward Hop, who was standing with Wooloo a short distance away. "Hey Hop, come here!"
Hop walked over to him and grinned at the astonished look of Ash and his partners. When he got to them, Leon ruffled his hair and said, "Hop, you've already met this Ash here. But did you know that he's also a Champion, Alola's Champion?"
Hop looked at Ash in amazement and said, "No, I didn't know," and sudden attention made Ash scratch his neck a little embarrassed.
"Uh, it's not such a big deal," he muttered, then looked at Pikachu, who was resting in his arms. "But now I have to go to Nurse Joy, Pikachu needs treatment," he said and Leon nodded.
"Let's do that, I have a little thing for Sonia and she might go inside," he said and the others nodded and headed back inside the Pokemon Center.
****
When they got inside, Ash went to Nurse Joy again and asked her to take care of Pikachu's condition. Nurse Joy nodded and Wigglytuff took Pikachu back in carts to the back room.
They sat on the couches and Ash forgot to stare at Lucario and Braixen. They had been somehow strange ever since they had come out of the woods and Ash wondered what that was. He tried to ask Lucario about it through Aura, but got no answer.
"Hey Ash!" there was a sudden exclamation and Ash was startled and saw Sonia coming to them from the videophones, holding the Pokeball in her hand. She came up to them and smiled at Leon as she came next to him.
"What now, Sonia?" Ash asked in amazement and Sonia showed the Pokeball in her hand. "This just came and is meant for you," she said, handing the ball to the confused Ash.
"To me?" Ash said confused, but when he got the ball in his hand, he knew right away what it was all about. His confusion turned into a grin and he said, "I'll get it. Greninja, nice to see you for a long time!"
A blue ninja frog Pokemon appeared in front of him saying, "Ninja!" and Ash grinned at it.
"Hey Greninja," he said to his Pokemon and Greninja nodded to him. "It's time since we last saw it," Ash said, then nodded at Serena and Gou.
"You probably remember Serena from Kalos, but you haven't met Gou before. He's my new friend and travels with me here in Galar. Gou, this is my Pokemon Greninja who traveled with me in Kalos. Greninja, this is Gou"
Greninja nodded to both and then Sonia opened her mouth.
"And I'm Sonia, and my grandmother is a professor in this region. And this person standing next to me is Galar's Champion Leon"
Greninja looked a little surprised to hear Leon be the Champion, but nodded to both of them nonetheless.
"And I Hop, I'm Leon's little brother, and this is my partner Wooloo!" introduced Hop himself and Wooloo and Greninja nodded to them as well. Ash then concluded the tour by introducing Lucario and Braixen.
"And here's my new Pokemon and my partner Lucario, he also teaches me how to use Aura. And you already know Braixen."
Greninja turned to look at them and seeing Lucario and Braixen sitting so close, its expression darkened. It didn't like the way the two looked at each other, and it didn't help that Lucario was pretty good looking.
Lucario didn't like the kind of radiation in the Greninja's Aura when she looked at Braixen. Lucario felt that Greninja clearly had some feelings for Braixen and it did not please Aura Pokemon. Greninja was a threat to it and sadly this threat happened to run in the same crowd as himself.
Lucario growled at it warningly and Greninja clenched his fist. "Hey guys, what came to you now?" asked Ash confused and Serena looked at them for a moment and quickly realized the whole situation.
"Braixen, come back," she said before Lucario and Greninja started fighting about this and the situation suddenly calmed down strangely when Braixen was back on her ball.
Lucario and Greninja stopped staring at each other angrily, but they still didn't look like top friends. They glanced at each other and then heard bling that indicated that Pikachu had been taken care of.
****
"So, Hop, what are you going to do now?" Ash asked as they stood in the courtyard of the Pokemon Center ready to continue their journey.
Pikachu was once again on Ash's shoulder in his usual place and it stared in disgust at the wordless struggle of Greninja and Lucario as they glared at each other.
"I'm going to stay here, I want to spend time with my big brother!" Hop exclaimed and grinned at Leon. Leon grinned back and Wooloo baaed between them.
"What about you, Sonia? What are you going to do?" Serena asked and Sonia smiled.
"Well, I'm going to stay for a moment here in Poswick with Leon and Hop. And then I'll go back to my grandmother to help with her," she said, glancing at the Leon standing next to her.
"And maybe while I'm here, I'll teach Leon little map-reading skills so he can get food from the store without getting lost," she added smirking.
"Hey!" Leon exclaimed. "My orienteering skills aren't that bad!" he said blushing a little, but Hop said, "They are, once you meant to get lost on the way home from the store, even though there's only a straight road in between!"
Everyone laughed at Leon's embarrassed look and then Ash said, "Well, it was nice to meet Hop and Leon, maybe we'll meet again one day."
"Of course we meet!" Hop exclaimed. "Don't you remember, Leon is a Champion, you'll meet him at least in the Pokemon League!"
"Oh yeah, I forgot it," Ash said, embarrassed and scratching his neck. Serena giggled and Gou rolled his eyes at him. "But maybe we should leave now before evening comes"
They said goodbye to Hop, Leon, and Sonia and then they set out for Motostoke.