In the modern-day of the world of pokémon, it was all about strength. All about skills. All about being a good trainer. Every region had its focus on that aspect. Every region had special ways of presenting them and performing them. Had their own way to motivate newcomers to start their journey and grow into strong trainers.
And all of it leads back many thousands of years when people found the very first concepts of Pokémon training. And those concepts have only been growing bigger. And bigger.
To the point that having a Pokémon with you was second nature to humans. No matter what benefits. May it be just simple pets, or work or battling.
Battling was their true nature and therefore what was the most popular.
Among all the regions, Galar was the one the most centered around that aspect. The one region that wanted to stand out the most among any other. The region that wanted to have the strongest trainers among them all.
Ever since it had been reigned by kings, tournaments were the biggest activity and what drove in people the most.
Nowadays they would have every two years a tournament for young trainers to have a chance to rise to the top. To challenge the best and most skilled once in all of Galar and to prove their survival skills in foreign, unknown places- the ever so famous Gym Challenge.
It was Galar's greatest event and every young aspiring trainer's dream to join. And the goal was simple. To have the strongest trainers in the whole world. And the system influenced society strongly.
16-year-old Hop was not much different than most young aspiring trainers. He dreamed of joining the Gym Challenge for years now. Practicing in many ways and watching nearly all of the matches he could see on TV. Watching hard working trainers and what skills they developed. Watching them grow stronger and farther into the Champion's Cup.
He envied them. The more he watched the more he wanted to stand on the pitch himself. He wanted to be out there facing each gym leader. Facing each obstacle and winning against them all. Proceeding to the semifinals and eventually facing off the ever so famous champion. Galar's strongest and most skilled trainer. His biggest role model and not to forget his one and only older brother. Leon was amazing. More than anyone else.
Hop remembered when it was about time for Leon to start off his journey. He had the skills. He was known here in their small home as a prodigy and a talent unlike any other. Everyone was excited for him to try and Hop too. He would be excited for the moment he could see his older brother on TV and cheer him on. See how he defeated anyone he had to face off and how he would rise to the top. Not many trainers from Postwick had ever joined the Challenge and ever since Leon, none had managed to do so.
But next year will be different. He was sixteen and therefore old enough to join the following spring. He will be another trainer from Postwick. He will be doing the same as his older brother and he will be succeeding just like him. No, he will be even better than him.
He had been preparing for that. had been chasing pokémon around and catching one for himself. A wooloo. It was not special at all. Many people here kept wooloos, but those were for other reasons than battling. They were kept in herds and their wool used to make clothes from it. It was rare but there were also wild wooloos around and this one here particularly had been especially wild. Aggressive. It had caused a lot of problems for the town and people were near chasing it off. Or even worse, killing it. It was a troublesome pokémon. Hop decided to take matters into his own hand and tried to catch it. It was a hard task and the pokémon resisted for a long while but in the end, could not win against the boy's stubbornness.
Now he had it for over a year and finally grew to its liking. It refused to eat at first and refused to listen to anything the boy asked to so. But he never gave up. No matter how many times he was told by his family to release this wooloo he never did. He kept trying and kept training it.
He would clean its wool and feet. He would go through many different methods and guidebooks to learn more about his partner and know how to take proper care of it.
A trainer needs to understand his pokémon and win their trust. He needed to take care of it and put it first without Leon's help.
And he did. Wooloo started to open up and be kinder. It started eating regularly and even listen to Hop's command. It was the first pokémon he ever owned and one he caught all by himself. For that, he will never give wooloo away no matter what would come.
On the other hand, not everyone was excited about the Gym Challenge. Not everyone dreamt of being champion. Even if only a small part of their region. Thara was part of that. A teenage girl soon to reach her 16th birthday and therefore being ready to participate next year. Her hair was a deep shade of red no one ever had seen here. It was long and straight. Her skin was a light peachy color and her eyes shone in a beautiful yellow color.
She was pretty, many people complimented her mother for that, though also commenting on how she did not look too much like her mother. But now that Thara is old enough her mother's friends might ask about potential relationships or suggest Thara not to be so anti-social and at least make friends. Thara hated that. Hated it when people feel the need to tell her how to live her life. And soon they will change the topic to the Gym Challenge. The redhead did not want to participate, and she will not but other people will question her choice. After all, who does not even try it?
She was not even much of a trainer. Thara had never caught a pokémon at all and the only one she owned was a budew she got from her father. She never trained it and never planned to.
The only reason she would consider participating in the Gym Challenge was simply because of the fame. That was what it all was about. Try your luck and become famous. Unfortunately, Thara had not that attitude. She had not much confidence neither any motivation like that. The champion spot was her biggest dread, too much responsibility, and way too many expectations. Never would she go along and become a trainer.
What if she was not good enough? What if she failed even at the first gym? She would fail in front of the whole region and end up being a joke. End up being harassed for her fail. End up on the bottom. What then?
She lived in a small place that did not harbor many trainers. Postwick was the smallest place in Galar. Only a few people trained pokémon but none of them ever managed to get endorsed to even try their luck. Because there was no way to get endorsed. At least not here. And neither in Wedgehurst the neighbor town.
They were the most unpopular places to live in and many people from outside made fun of them. Made fun whenever people tried to get endorsed and fail. They would come here to get certain berries that would only be here. They would come to buy wool and plants. To see how people lived here and examine wildlife around here.
They would all make comments on how again no trainer from Postwick or Wedgehurst was in the Gym Challenge.
Thara hated the place here and never understood why her mother moved here in the first place. Why her parents had to live separately and why she had to be here. She hated Postwick. Aside from people she met here it was just awfully boring. Quiet mostly and nothing interesting happening. Though it might be different when the champion comes back home. Thara had not much idea anyway, she lived here for some month now and never experienced his arrival.
Like most mornings she had been sent out by her mother to go buy different exotic berries. Her mom liked to cook new meals every day and try out many different recipes. And this time was a special curry on her list.
"Ah what a rare sight..." The cashier said sarcastically. He was by now used to their special requests and liked to mock Thara for them. Mainly since the redhead was not too active. She rolled her eyes and hand him a small note. With all the berries written on there. "Just give me that, old man."
He wasn't pleased with her attitude but listened, nonetheless. He dug through different boxes in search of the right ones. Thara waited impatiently. Tapping on the counter loud enough for the man to hear her and eventually started leaning over there and tapping her foot to the ground. The cashier was not pressured though. He was used to her.
Behind Thara's back, some teenagers arrived. They were looking at the different food items and muttering something under their breath before laughing out loud. They were annoying and only making her want to leave sooner. She looked around and realized the unpleasant looks of some other villagers. And then turned her head more to get a glimpse of those teenagers.
They were at the silly stage where they try their best to look like bad boys and think annoying people and harassing them was a cool thing to do. They would call out to passing by women or take fruit in their hand and joke around how weird it looked.
'Absolutely stupid'. That was all that came to her mind when seeing them. She heard of them for the past few days. They live near Motostoke and took their qualifying examinations at a local trainer school and passed. Which meant they will be taking part in the Gym Challenge. Usually, they just come by to see wild pokémon and what option they had to get and would a lot often harass the farmer's wooloos. Lately, they were bragging about their success.
Thara rolled her eyes. That's what makes The Gym Challenge so annoying.
"Well guess this will be another year without anyone here participating." They started their usual bragging. Mostly when teenagers living here passed by. By that time the cashier had finally returned with all her berries put into a bag. "Here you go." He smiled brightly when handing the bag over. "And a little extra for you." He said to the little budew that was with her and gave it a berry. He did that often and while Thara does not mind, he didn't need to do that. "Have a nice day."
Thara nodded and turned around to leave. Passing by the group of teenagers that had by now started an argument. "You lousy trainers will never come far!" One shouted, "You'll never even get an endorsement! People from Postwick are not good enough."
Thara heard that many times and never understood why they would claim such a thing and only naturally her question left her lips. "So how did Leon become champion?" she cursed herself as soon as the words came out. All eyes now shifting to her. The bullies were not pleased with that at all, while the other ones agreed to her. "Yeah! He is a trainer from Postwick!"
"Besides you never know who here is a trainer, or not. You'll just embarrass yourselves." Thara couldn't stop herself from blabbering on, a bad habit her hers. She needed to work on that.
"Oh really?" one snapped at her, "Then are ya a trainer?" He walked up to her. A teenager with a Mohawk haircut and some fake piercings on his ears. He pointed at her budew. "Well, you seem to have a lousy taste." He started laughing and so did his friends. "What a weak-looking budew" one called, "Why would you even have one!"
Thara grew angrier the more they laughed. Usually, she could ignore idiots like them, but never will she let it slide when someone makes fun of her precious pokémon. She got it as a gift from her father after all. "So what?! I like my budew very much!" She retorted with such burning anger that most of the boys backed up. Feeling she will rip them apart if they are too close. Thara again had her mouth running more than it really should have and her voice was by now uncontrollably loud so that all the people around could hear her. She pointed at herself with her thumb. "I will show you! You damn piece of shit! I take the Gym Challenge too and will be champion. And that with my partner here, just you wait and watch!"
She got many spectators amazed by her declaration and the bragging teenagers shut down finally. But inside her head started a whole new crisis. 'I fucked up! Shit!'
She didn't realize the pair of golden eyes that lit up when hearing her declaration and rushed to her side. Which was not bad because Thara had no idea what to do now.
"I will be participating too!" The purple-haired boy shouted out. "Before you, stands Galar's next Champion!"
The boys were quiet in surprise, still needing to register the person coming in like this. Their eyes fell on the little pokémon by his side, before starting to crack up again. "with a wooloo?" They broke out in laughter again, but the boy was not fazed the slightest bit. "Of course! Wooloo will help me climb to the top!"
He turned around to get Thara's agreement too but she was gone by now. And he kept staring.
Thara rushed out of there so fast nobody had seen her disappear. She already got herself into more of a mess than she wanted and left before more could happen. "Argh!" her head hurt after all that, why can't she make sense out of anything? Running her mouth like that even though she had no intention of joining the trend and even worse, she had no way. Exams have been over already there was no way she could do that route and this late in the year? Not a chance. The Gym Challenge officially starts at the start of March and them being in November all ways of participating were over.
She went home and gave her mother the berries and soon disappeared into her room. With her phone, she searched through the internet in hopes of finding a way to join the Gym Challenge without any exams. And there were possibilities, but none would work for her. People with certain status have the authority to endorse trainers they see as worthy enough, but she does not know anyone that could do that for her. Not to mention that she had absolutely no skills as a trainer at all.
'Maybe a walk will help', she thought and got up. Usually, she was too lazy to leave her house but now was a different time. She needed to find a way to not look like an idiot. Many people have heard her and now going back on her words would be humiliating.
Walking down route one was relaxing. It was quiet. Not too many pokémon wandering around and no human here. she walked down to route 2 carefully not to be seen in Wedgehurst. Maybe she can start off by catching a pokémon for herself. Though when she reached a raised part of the round she climbed it up and laid down on the grass and just stared at the sky. She couldn't get the boy out of her head from earlier.
He was filled with so much confidence that it made her almost sick. Does he have a way to participate?
Golden eyes blocked her vision all of a sudden. The other teen's face was dangerously close to hers. Out of reflex, Thara jerked up. Crashing her forehead against his. Hard. Painful.
Thara winced at the stinging pain. The other boy was curled up on the ground holding the reddened spot. "Ow."
"What the hell!" Thara cursed. "Where did ya come from?!"
"I was just around, training," Hop said, finally standing back up. The pain was at least not as much. "You want to join the Gym Challenge, too right."
Ugh. Thara straightened herself up. The other boy was bigger than her. Not too much but she did have to look up to him. and one thing she needed to admit was that he looked nice. Cute.
"Yeah, that was sorta the plan." It was not. But there was no going back. This boy was bragging about being champion he for sure had a way to get endorsed and maybe get Thara one too. It was worth a shot. "Cool!" He balled his hands to fists. Excitedly looking at her. "That's amazing, I didn't know someone else would join in!"
Thara shrugged. The boy in front of her was a little weird, he talked to her as if they were friends. Who knew each other for a while. Too open. Too simple. She thought. 'Easy, he'll get me in, too!'
"That'll be great! We could go on a journey together! Me and, um…" He stopped and made a thinking face. "Wait, mate! What's your name?"
"Thara"
"I and Thara will be Postwick's new hope!"
Thara wasn't thinking about Postwick at all, but if that's what he thought. No problem. To think about it, he hadn't introduced himself yet "And you are?"
The boy in question gave her a confused stare. As if she was weird asking that. was she supposed to know him? but then the boy started giggling. "The name is Hop! But you can call me the future Champion of Galar!"
There it was again, his overly confident attitude. Though this time Thara was amused by it. "With that weird name?" She could not resist teasing him. "Hey, I like my name!" He was not offended at all and both had laughed for a second. He was fun, to be honest. "Well good luck with your goals! But I'll be the champion."
Gotta stay confident, the redhead thought. If she wants to be convincing she had to put up a certain amount of acting. No embarrassing herself now.
But Hop started laughing. So much that he had to hold his stomach. And Thara was close to kicking him in the face. "What's so funny?"
"Nothing." He replied, wiping off a small tear that had build in the corner of his eye. "Nice confidence mate. But I am afraid that won't be easy. He is the 'unbeatable' Champion."
"You were bragging earlier!" A vein popped in her.
"To another topic! You think he's cool too right!"
"That's the same topic." She sighed exasperatedly. "Well yes, he is fine."
"Fine?" Hop repeated dramatically. "He is the best! The coolest!"
"You seem to be his greatest fan." He looked at her again surprised. And again, a confused stare followed after. And once he processed her words he started smiling brightly. Proudly. "Well, I guess I am my bro's biggest fan."
Thara's eyes widened. "You're his brother?!" Hop nodded. "Geez, how long do you live here?"
he asked mockingly.
"I am not too active around here ok!" she looked away and pouted, "Besides I moved here just a few months ago."
Hop crossed his arms. "Man, usually people know who I am. Guess it's not because of my looks then." He addressed his wooloo. Running his hands through its wool. "Cool, now we need to get endorsed."
Thara's eyes were fixed on him. she was rubbing her ear wondering if she had something covering them. "Did I hear right?" She walked up to Hop. "You don't have one?!" He shrugged. "You neither."
"Of course not! But you were already bragging about becoming champion!" She grabbed him by his collar and shook him. Hop yanked himself out of her grip. "Calm down mate." He held his hands in front of him to shield himself. "Champion Leon is my brother, remember."
"So your bro is gonna give us one."
Hop nodded. "Once he can find some time to come. That is." He started pacing back and forth. "If he can take some time."
Thara now crossed her arms. This was getting worse and worse. Here she thought she could make use of him and get away to participate in the challenge but of course, things were never that easy. "And when will that be?"
Hop smiled sheepishly. "At least not for the next two months" He backed up just in case Thara was about to break out in anger. And she did. "HOW the fuck, are we going to get endorsed, Hop!"
Hop put his hands on both her shoulders. Pushing the girl back a bit. And keeping her in check. "Don't worry. Until then we can train and become better. He'll endorse us for sure!"
Thara sighed. Serenity now, she murmured. Calm down. At least he could guarantee her that she'll get it. It will be incredibly embarrassing if she ended up not going there.
"Come on! Let's go!" Hop smiled brightly at her.
This was the start of a new journey for her.