Author's note:

Sorry for taking so long to update this but I am kind of busy with other stories (and a little distracted because of JJK anime)

I hope you'll enjoy reading this and thank you very much for reading^^. (PS I am not the best when writing battle scenes so please bear with me, but I would appreciate constructive criticism to help me impove^^

Thara was never fond of people. She never liked spending much time around others neither to do any activities with them. Her parents, especially her mother, complained about that and that she should be more social. It'll help her later in her life since you'll never find a profession that does not require social skills.

Hop was special. She had never met anyone so annoying before. He was very active, he liked to run around a lot. He felt the need to turn everything into a race and that were things Thara hated doing from the bottom of her heart. Which was another thing that she did not like about going out and traveling. She was lazy, she preferred to stay inside on her bed and surf through the internet.

But Hop was stubborn, he would not give up until she accompanied him and to her dismay, her mother really liked having the boy over. And support him in getting her out of the house.

It turned into a daily routine, of them going out and training their pokémon. Eventually catching some more. Thara got herself a rookidee and while Hop did catch a lot more than she, he never kept many of them, instead he sent them over to Professor Magnolia. The boy said that he had already a specific team in his mind and waits until he can find them.

They even had several battles to practice but Thara never won. Which made Hop all the more annoying.

That day he came in like a bullet, slamming her door open. He was out of breath and full of sweat. He must have dashed over here as fast as possible. Thara stared at the purple-haired boy with a brow raised. Not bothering to ask what was wrong. He held out his phone. Still panting strongly. "Here… him." He took a few more breaths and find the composure to stand straight. Thara only grew more annoyed. "Can you speak?!"

"You're mean, mate," Hop said a little offended, "Let's not fuss about that." He held out his phone that showed a chat. With his brother and the attention was supposed to go to the last message. "Lee said he will be coming tomorrow!" Hop's golden eyes

Good indeed. Thara had grown nervous and fearing they might not end up participating. And that would have been humiliating. But now hope was rising again.

Hop was nearly jumping around. Excitedly. He was always full of energy but never had Thara seen him this much. "I can't wait! Haven't seen him in a while."

Thara rolled her eyes. Watching him was like having a small child in front of you. His admiration for his brother was huge, unrealistically huge for Thara to understand. She too has a brother but she never was that fond of him, maybe it was a matter of age difference. Though Hop was cute when excited.

"And you get to know the unbeatable Champion personally!" He looked at Thara expecting her to share his joy. "Yeah, exciting." She said with little effort to sound true. Hop rose a brow.

Thara confused him a lot. He had never met anyone who was not amazed by Leon. Leon was in the center of Galar, he was the most popular but Thara seemed to not care for that. She was rarely interested in seeing any of his battles. To speak of this she never was too interested in training at all. Making Hop wonder if she really wanted to do this, but she did declare it before.

In the end, it was quite pleasant to know someone that did not show too much interest in his brother.

Hop walked up to her, slinging an arm around her shoulder and her heart skipped a beat. Mainly because his action was so sudden. "Soon! You and I will be traveling through Galar! Imagine mate!"

'Yes', Thara thought, 'unfortunately'. Really, she was not that excited. She would be outside running and walking for hours, she would have to camp outside in different conditions that might not be too pleasant. She will battle a lot and will be on TV a lot. The girl sighed, she got tired just by thinking about that but who knows, maybe she will like at least something about it.

But then Hop said one thing, that made her boil in anger. "Now we only need to convince him to endorse us." He expected her reaction and grabbed a nearby pillow as a shield. Thara had the shortest temper he had ever seen in any person. And most dangerous actions happened from it. Her eyes could literally murder him.

"You said we will get endorsed for sure!" She tried to come closer, but Hop backed up. Trying to escape around the couch. Carefully studying her movement and moving into the other direction of where Thara was heading. She would kill him if he got caught. "The fucking challenge starts soon Hop!"

"Hear me out!" He held a hand up trying to stop her. She did but would only give him a few seconds to explain himself. "I can convince him, for sure…" He had to make a few steps back as Thara was again ready to attack him. "We'll show him our skills as trainers and then he'll have to endorse us."

"Why wouldn't he just give us without the trouble."

"Okay now, that would be cheating."

He now had to run to the other side of the living room still holding onto the pillow.

"Who cares! No one needs to know."

Hop threw the pillow into her face. "Na! He cannot make exceptions. We'll prove to him that we're good enough. That won't be hard."

The pillow hit his face. "Fine! But if that won't work Hop, I am going to fucking murder you!" Hop gulped. Now another reason to definitely get the stupid endorsement.

Thinking back to the last time he called his older brother, Leon did not like to talk about the topic. Only when Hop would keep asking about the Gym Challenge did Leon finally talked about it. But he did not agree with Hop at all and thought that he was not ready.

Hop needed to prove to his brother that that was not true. He needed to prove that he was ready for his dream depended on it and as of now his life too.

Once Thara seemed to have calmed down Hop finally let down his guars. His shoulder started to feel tensed anyway. "We still have time 'till tomorrow so how 'bout some training."

Thara groaned. "Hop!"

And so the day passed by with them training much more than they usually do and being fully prepared for Leon

Hop darted down the stairs. Picked out his shoes and threw his jacket over. His mom made a break from cooking and looked at him. "Oh my, calm down Hop," she said, "your brother will be here soon. Be patient for once."

He shook his head. "No can do, there'll be a huge crowd gathered around him and then he will take forever to come." His clothes now all neat he looked at his mom. "And besides Lee isn't good at directions. He'll never find back home."
"Oh, come on dear, your brother should manage to come to his own home." His mom replied but Hop looked at her. His eyes saying, 'are you serious?'

The elder lady started to avert her eyes. "you know what, you should really go." Hop grinned brightly and ran out. The train station was next town just down the road. The walk over there wasn't long and since Hop made a race every time, he could, it was even shorter. But before heading there he ran uphill to pick up Thara.

Said girl was sitting ready on her couch. Rubbing her sleepy eyes. Last night Hop messaged her to be ready to pick Leon up and so she did. Though the young girl was not pleased to do so. She would prefer to stay in bed and sleep more. Why did they need to be up so early? Leon would be at home anyway so she could meet him then. Hop's impatience was at times too annoying. Hop wanted to be the early one to greet him though.

"Thara! Come out, we need to go!" Hop shouted through the door. Thara sighed, "Here we go again." She grabbed the old bag her mum gave her and made her way out. When she opened the door, Hop was pacing up and down impatiently. Thara rolled her eyes. "I get it that you are so excited but really don't make a big thing about it" She closed the door behind her and walked next to Hop. Her mum was not home to get some groceries, so she sent her a message to notify her. "I know but I am just so excited!"

It took them a little more than five minutes to reach the train station and there was already a huge crowd gathered to welcome their champ. Hop dropped his shoulders disappointedly. "Oh, man! There are already so many people here." Thara patted his back in an attempt to cheer him up. Leon was not here yet, but it would not take long. People here were ready with banners and posters.

And then their voices got louder and louder. Cheering happily. Hop's head shot up. He tried his best to take a look at the front doors which was hard with so many people in his way.

Wide golden eyes were fixated on the entrance of the train station all in wait of seeing his dear older brother. It was finally time and Champion Leon stepped out and in front of them. Greeting his fans and pulling off his ever so famous Charizard Pose. It was his signature pose that he mostly did when he won his fights and get his fans all fired up. The cheering got louder when pulling the pose. "Welcome back Leon!" They shouted. "we saw your match! You were awesome!" Leon grinned brightly. Looking exactly like Hop's bright grin.

"Thank you very much," Leon said, "I appreciate your nice welcome. And don't forget to keep your own work up and be fantastic trainers in the future." That was the typical speech for Leon. He wanted to encourage his hometowns to become trainers as well. Most people would claim to do as he taught them but they never did anything at all. It didn't help that Leon was just a big talent and they never expected to be even half as good. Never expected to get a chance. "Yeah! We try to put your teachings into action. But we will never be as good as you or have a strong Pokémon like your Charizard!" Thara rolled her eyes. She never saw anyone trying. Only complaining.

Leon still smiled. "Yes, that is true that we are strong and unbeatable. But we worked hard to get there. And you can do that too." The people around him agreed. They would at least try so too. Now that Leon was looking at all the people in front of him his eyes caught glimpse of purple hair in the back. "Oh, well what do I see here" he commented. Proceeding to walk ahead his fans respectfully stepped aside. "Seems like my number one fan in the whole world came all the way to pick me up." He hugged Hop tightly really showing how much he missed his younger brother. After giving the smaller one a good squeeze Hop took a step back. "Of course, I came, Lee. You're horrible with directions." Leon laughed. "Just a little bit."

Horrible with direction? Thara repeated in her mind. A little confused. Wait! Is that why we picked him up? He wouldn't even find his own home? And someone like is our champion.

Thara observed the two. Now being in front of her she did notice that they looked alike. Their hair color and eye color were the same. Both had darker skin. Their smiles, just everything looked so alike. She felt stupid not to notice that before. Then Leon suddenly looked at here. "And you must be Thara, right?" She nodded. "Hop told me a lot about you" Thara felt the heat rise in her cheeks. "We are both practicing becoming trainers," said Hop coughing awkwardly. As if to clarify something to his brother. "I see." Leon smiled at them. His face was a little weird and he beamed at Hop. Who grew nervous. As if his brother was about to say something uncomfortable and Thara could only wonder what this all was about. "Anyway! let's go home!" Hop suggested all of a sudden and started running ahead. "Let's see who is first at home!" Leon shook his head, "That Hop always making a race out of everything" He ran after the boy. Thara sighed. They are truly alike.

Hop reached first and waited in his family's garden. Leon was only shortly behind him. Thara was a little bit later at the scene. She didn't bother running after them. This early in the day she just had not the energy to. They were waiting. Hop giving her an annoyed look. She replied by sticking out her tongue at him.

"Now that you're both here, I guess it is time." He revealed three pokeballs from under his cape. Throwing them to the side in o2rder to reveal the Pokémon inside. There was this cheerful bunny one, whose color would suggest it to be a fire type. A green one with its stick resembling an ape. Grass-type. And the last one small and frightened. A blue chameleon. Water-type. All of them sprinted around.

The water type jumping into the small pond. The grass type climbing up the tree above it and the fire type was having his fun in the open. But the water type accidentally spat water onto him, making the bunny jump around and hitting its head hard against the tree branch. Where the grass type was sitting. It was playing with fruit until then which fell down into the pond and startled the water type. Making it jump out of the water and cry. The fire type stood next to it finally calming down while the grass type was calming down the crying one.

Both Hop and Thara watched in awe. They would not have guessed this. "Alright, line up everyone!" Leon called and all three Pokémon lined up in front of the two teenagers. "So, then you two. This is an important step in becoming trainers. Choose which one you'll take."

Both teenagers exchanged surprised looks. But Hop smiled at the girl next to him. "Well then, you choose first." He gestured to the Pokémon and took a step back. Thara was trying to process what was happening. She stepped forward. Looking at Hop just to be sure that he really meant it. The boy nodded. Thara observed the three creatures in front of her clearly. What type would fit her best? Would her choice influence Hop's choice? Is there a wrong turn? It was quite the pressure. She was thinking. 'He's definitely trying to be smart'. She glared at Hop suspecting that the boy only tried to have an advantage over her. But she needed to choose quickly. Time was a precious thing, especially in their situation. So she decided-

"I think, I'll choose you!" She walked in front of the water type one. Claiming it for herself. She would not mention that the little cry scene got her though. "So, you choose sobble, the water type?" Leon asked just to be sure she really wanted it. Sobble, huh? She held her hand out and the Pokémon did not waste a second to jump up and give her the cutest high five with its small mitten like feet. "I guess this is a yes" Leon commented smiling brightly. He looked at Hop. "And what about you?" The purple-haired boy walked towards the bunny. Not hesitating for a minute. "I'll go with this one!" He said and fist-bumped him. "The fire type scorbunny it is, then huh?"

Thara was surprised about Hop's decision. She had expected him to take the one that will be in type advantage against hers. She would ask him later. The one left behind was looking around realizing that there is no one to take him with. Which was sad to look at. Leon however walked up to it. "You little bud will come with me." He called it back into its ball and handed the ones belonging to the other two Pokémon to their newfound trainers. "Okay so let's see what you can pull off" Leon suggested. Both Thara and Hop looked at their newly received Pokémon. "what you say?" asked Thara. She noticed Hop being a little too quiet. He kept looking at his ball. He was being weirdly unsure.

"Well, why not!" He said. He got a good distance between them ready to throw his ball. Thara, albeit not really sure if he should do it, readied herself. Her sobble didn't seem too sure but got the spirit kicking when she called out to him. Scorbunny on the other hand was all fired up. "Let's do this!" She ordered her Pokémon to tackle. It hit hard. The bunny wasn't down by that though. Hop however wasn't really into it.

He ordered it to go around his opponent and tackle it. Sobble was able to dodge that. but Thara could not believe Hop's action. He was too obvious and hesitated before giving more orders. Though now scorbunny was in a perfect triking position right behind sobble, instead of attacking he went for a defense decreasing move. Thara was confused. Hop usually goes for critical hits. Though at this early stage the Pokémon couldn't use many moves. So, she settled on tackling again. This time with more force than before. It made Scorbunny fall into the pond. Hop had reacted too late to order him to dodge. He rushed to the water and picked his partner out. Who was unable to keep fighting.

Thara felt sorry for that. But it was her first time winning against Hop. Unfortunately, he lost in front of his brother. Who was looking just the slightest bit skeptical. "Well, that was fine for your first real battle." He praised but Hop knew that was only to make him feel better. He messed up big time, so much the boy wanted to punch himself.

Leon changed the topic. "Well I have to go to route 2, for some business with Professor Magnolia, why don't you guys come along." With his right thumb, he pointed into a direction that he supposed should be where Professor Magnolia's house should be situated at but Hop knew better. "Lee, that's not the right direction."

"Really, I thought we needed to go through Wedgehurst to get there" replied Leon trying to remember what was correct. "Lee, Wedgehurst is down right there." Hop pointed down the pathway right next to their house from where you could literally see the town. "Oh really" Leon started laughing, "I thought I finally remember."

He should be more embarrassed than that, Thara thought. This guy is unbelievable.

His Charizard started leading the way. The two teenagers fell behind so they could have a talk. At least that was what Thara wanted. "So, what was that about?" Hop looked at her confused. He did not understand what she was saying. "Why were you so horrible just now?" She never held back with her usage of words. Hop flinched at the question. He hoped that his performance was not as bad as it was. But it was. He sighed. Dropping his shoulders. "I don't know," he said, "it's just. I wasn't too sure when Lee was watching." He put his face into his hands in frustration. "Oh man, I messed up!" Thara put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, we can still convince him." she said trying to cheer him up, "giving up is not your style now is it?"

Hop raised his head to stare at the girl. With one brow raised, he examined her. "Who're you and what did you do to Thara?" he got a punch as an answer. "Don't test your luck!"

He inhaled deeply and straightened himself again. "Yeah right!" He stopped shortly since some idea seemed to have struck him. "I know! The Prof will convince him!"

Instead of continuing down the street to route 2, Leon turned right. Hop and Thara stared for a second before wondering what to do. "Should we maybe tell him he is going wrong?" Thara asked but Hop shook his head. He crossed both arms behind his head. "Maybe he wanted to go to the Lab first?"

He did stop before the lab. And entered it without knocking. Both teenagers caught up to him and followed suit inside. The laboratory was big, Thara guessed that Professor Magnolia had earned a lot of money with her profession. If it was not such a boring one she would have considered doing such a job in the future. Though she was not a fan of reading too many books.

For a first-time visitor, this lab would have been a stunning sight and it was for her a few months ago, but Hop dragged here nearly daily here.

Suddenly they heard a bark. Looking in the direction it came from there was a small yellow Pokémon. It walked up to greet Leon. Who bent down to pat it. With his gloved hand. "Now there what a nice welcome," He said.

"What do you want today Leon?" A lady's voice called out from upstairs. Thara looked up and saw a rather young lady coming to the stairs and walking to them. She had orange hair. Wavy and bound to her side. She was pretty. Once she was down, she continued. "You always bug me about new never before seen Pokémon."

Leon didn't avert his attention from the small Pokémon. "Yamper, you're looking good. Back then when I did my Gym Challenge, he helped me out a lot." He said ignoring the lady. He stood up once having petted Yamper enough. Sonia looked at him offended. "Excuse me? I have helped you out a lot too." Leon turned to Thara and Hop, "Yeah she did. Sonia can cook nicely." The orange head punched him, "First, what kind of compliment is that, second I helped you out far more." Now she turned to the younger ones, "without me, your useless brother would have never even found the train station to get even started!"

Hop laughed, he felt Sonia's pain.

She looked at Hop her face all asking if his brother is for real. He grinned and shrugged. That's just how his brother was.

"Are they always like this?" asked Thara. She leaned over to whisper into his ear. "Yeah, pretty much" replied Hop, "Lee loves to tease her."

"However, since we're here, you two can upgrade to a Pokedex," He said. Going back to the topic.

Thara and Hop both held out their upgraded phones. "We have one, already." Leon blinked a few times in confusion. He took their phones to examine them. "Yes, it really is… but why has Hop more entries in here than you, Thara?"

He looked at the said girl for an answer and immediately she shot Hop a glare. The boy averting his eyes. "Well, he got one first without letting me know, and then" She pointed at Hop while talking, "this little shit just wanted to get ahead of me! Selfish shit!"

Hop threw his hands up in a dramatic way. "Here we go again!" He moved his hands to his chest, very theatrical like, "I would never leave you out on anything." Thara rolled her eyes. "You did exactly that!"

"Ah, youth these days," Leon commented. He was pleased to see how well the teenagers were with each other. Nice to see that his younger brother found a nice friend. Sonia nudged him with her elbow. "look, who's gotten old here."

"Well, then Lee I guess next up is the Prof's house right."

Leon nodded. "We'll see each other later maybe." He left the room. Hop stayed for a short minute and wrote a message. "Your brother ain't letting you participate."

Hop shrugged, "We'll see." He leaned closer to the older woman, "my life depends on it." They both gazed over to Thara who gave Hop a death glare. Sonia gave him the thumbs-up. "Good Luck boy.

Hop started running ahead. "Let's see who's first!" Thara ran after him annoyed, "stop turning everything into a race!"

Sonia laughed at their sight. They were still so cute at that age.

Thara had lost Hop. He was way too fast for her and she kind of gave up on running quickly. The redhead hated it anyway. How Hop needed to turn everything into physical activities. She was lazy, he should accept that and leave her be. Luckily route 2 was quiet and for once no trainers were lingering around here and try to pick a fight with them. Wild pokemon should not be a problem. At the end of the route she could finally see Professor Magnolia's house.

As expected was Hop waiting for here in the front yard. Leon was not with him he might be inside. The boy though looked like he was deep in thoughts. He did not even realize when Thara stood right next to him until she pushed him. "Stop being so annoying!"

"Are you in for a battle?!" He sounded determined and looked at her with serious eyes. "What?" Is all the girl could reply. She didn't expect him to ask for a battle so soon. "Before I was too nervous but now, I feel better about it! Come to one Thara let's do this! We'll prove to Lee that we can do it!"

Thara grinned, liking his competitive side. She might not be as obsessed with all this stuff as Hop, but she surely would never turn down a challenge. "You're on!" They both rushed to the front yard of the house. The elder lady was right now talking to Leon. About the Dynamax phenomenon. "Hi there, Prof!" Hop greeted her ever so nicely. Thara waved. "Oh my, where are my manners. I haven't even greeted out guessed."

Leon noticed how Hop had his Pokeball ready in his hands and so did Thara. "Hop, are you still going to bug me about the endorsement?" He asked exasperated. Hop too now had enough of this. "Oh come on Lee! I really want to join the Champion's Cup"

"You are not ready" replied Leon in a strict tone.

He quickly tried to escape the situation by going inside the building. Professor Magnolia watched the older one walk inside her house and then looked at Hop. Who made a whiny face, pointing to Leon. She understood him. He asked her to convince him. She nodded and held her hand up. Telling him to stay calm. She followed Leon.

Both Thara and Hop waiting outside. The redhead did not fully understand Leon though. Yes, Hop messed up earlier, but he was a good trainer. He was strong and eager to win. He was ready for the challenge. Why wouldn't his brother realize this? And furthermore, why is Leon the one to decide for Hop something his parents should be. This family had her confused.

Inside Leon paced back and forth in the kitchen. He expected Hop to bug him about the challenge, but the young boy was taking it too far. Why would he not understand that Leon did not want him to go yet? Professor Magnolia however understood his behavior clearly. "It is hard to accept it when they grow upright?" Leon is taken aback by her sudden voice, only able to mutter out a confused 'huh'. She walked over to the tall man.

"I remember when you were younger and visited a lot." She said in a nostalgic voice. "You would come here with little Hop and spend the day here. Hop would be excited over the smallest of things. Taking candies. And always shouting Lee is awesome."

Leon smiled at the memory.

"Yes, and that Hop is finally growing up and able to take care of himself. I know it is hard to believe" she continued, "it felt like he was a small child only yesterday."

Leon started feeling uncomfortable. He knew where this was leading to. "Oh, has he gotten you on this too." He walked away. "I really don't think that he is ready." The professor sighed. "You need to stop worrying so much. Hop is old enough." She walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Looking outside to Hop and Thara. Leon followed her gaze. "Look at him."

Leon didn't want to. Hop was pouting. And he didn't like that. It was always Hop's pouting face that got him weak and give in. He spoiled his brother that way. "He wants to join the challenge so badly. What's wrong about it?" "It can be dangerous!" replied Leon almost instantly. "I will be worried. I can't possibly allow Hop such a thing yet. And neither Thara!"

Understandable. He did it himself so he had a good idea how dangerous it can be. "Hop is 16," said Professor Magnolia sternly, "he is old enough. Sometimes you need to let go so they can finally grow up." She waited for Leon to say something but when he stayed silent, she continued. "You need to give him the chance to grow up. Hop will be happy if you do that. By the way, you want Galar to be full of strong trainers, right?"

Now he started giving the idea some thoughts. "Yeah, fair point. But still." He stared outside. Of course, he wanted Hop to be happy but at the same time, it was kind of hard. Hard to accept that he did not need to take too much care of him. That Hop can take care of himself. Maybe Professor Magnolia was right. Maybe he should give him a chance. He took a deep breath. "Oh, man…." He couldn't believe what he was going to do next. He glanced one more time to the elder lady. Who gave him a reassuring nod.

He proceeded to walk outside meeting Hop's hopeful eyes. And Thara's curious ones. He was quiet for a bit. Making the other two nervous over what is coming next. "Okay Hop" he started, "I give the both of you one more chance. Let's have another battle."

Hop jumped in excitement and readied himself. Thara smiled. She liked him this way a lot and battling him like this was so much more enjoyable. She takes her place too. "A one on one again?" She asked to make things clear. Hop looked at Leon. "Yes, a one on one will be good enough."

That was set now. Hop felt his wooloo rub against his leg. He let it out of its ball while waiting for Leon. It wanted to battle and support him. Hop gave him an apologetic smile and petted it. "I know buddy. But sorry. I need to do it with the one Lee gave me." He held out the ball Scorbunny was in. Wooloo was not happy to hear that. Nonetheless, it backed off and let the newcomer do its thing. "Here I go!" Hop shouted and released Scorbunny.

"I am not gonna give you an easy time!" Shouted Thara before releasing Sobble. After the last match, they were a little stronger. Sobble had learned a water type move already which would give her an advantage. But knowing Hop, he definitely had trained Scorbunny while waiting for her. He never sits around doing nothing. "Water-pulse!"

Hop was surprised to hear that. But he still could react good enough to order his Pokémon to dodge swinging his arm to the right. Which is the side Scorbunny jumped to. Then it tackled the opponent. Scorbunny had more power than Sobble. Which was bad for Thara. Especially when her attacks keep missing. She tried to decrease its offense but scorbunny was quick to jump around and out of reach. Energy loaded and fast. It also seemed to be impatiently waiting for more orders. Somehow Thara had the feeling to be facing a Pokémon version of Hop himself. That thing fitted well with him.

One more tackle hit Sobble which snapped her out of her thoughts. Now is not the time to be thinking about him. It was time to be crushing him. Thara never thirsted for victory too much. She never minded her lost battles against Hop in the past months. But now something inside her went on fire. Something inside her wanted to win. And not accept her loss. Scorbunny was finally in reach. "Again Water-pulse!" This time it hit. Yes!

Hop was taken aback, but nothing was over yet. Scorbunny was not out yet. Hurt and weakened yet still as strong standing as before. It made Hop smile. Yes, that was the excitement of a real battle. It was different from earlier battles. And it felt good. He always knew that Thara was a good trainer if only she would try harder. Now she was and it was a blast. However, he did not plan on losing again. Not in front of Leon.

"Come on Score! Let's do this! Jump around sobble!" His order was weird. Not an attack in particular but once his bunny did what he ordered to. Thara understood his method. The jumping around caused her Pokémon too much confusion. It tried to hit with his water but would not be able to. Scorbunny was fast and jumping with a surprisingly strong force. It should be weakened! Thara was stressed. She had no idea what to do. Her sobble was near tears. Which wasn't helping. On the other hand, Scorbunny enjoyed it.

It was genuinely having fun jumping around in that way. Hop made his Pokémon enjoy the battle. Which was a trait not too often seen. The girl stared in awe. "Now take it down!" Ordered Hop and with one last landing Scorbunny loaded the energy to make a strong jump. Which Thara couldn't take. She needed to counter now. By the time she made him use Water-pulse again, it was too late. Sobble was not fast enough and hit by the force of the jump so hard it couldn't get back up.

Hop won.

He was cheering loudly and scorbunny jumped into his arms. He hugged it tightly and praised it well enough. Thara was disappointed for the first time over a loss. Nonetheless, she went to pick her sobble up. Hurt and down. It cried in her arms feeling sorry for the loss. Aw. That was the reason she took him. he was so cute. She gave his head a pet and squeezed him tightly. "No worries. You were awesome. I messed up." She managed to smile at him. Then at Hop. Who grinned brightly back at her. It was genuine.

Not the usual 'yeah I beat you' bragging one.

They were taken out of the moment by Leon applauding them. "Very well done!" He praised him. excitement overflowing him. "I and Charizard enjoyed it a lot. I was nearly joining your fight." He stepped closer to the younger trainers. Looking at Thara first. "Thara. You are observant and using type advantage well enough. And you can adapt quickly. Get that ability up and you'll be a fierce trainer." She felt her cheeks warm up. Never had Thara received such a compliment. Hop always told her that she should try harder and she'll be good. She never thought that though but now thinking about it. He was right.

Leon then turned to look at his younger brother. "Scrobunny enjoyed the match a lot. And you were able to reach victory while at a disadvantage. You were amazing Hop. I really like that style of fighting."

Hop's heart raced. He felt happy. Happy that his brother praised him. His idol. The one he admired the most. Being praised by him felt so different than when others in town would do so. It felt so much more believable. But furthermore, there was one thing Hop was dying to her. "Does this mean?" He let his question off there. Leon was supposed to finish it by answering. He was silent for a moment. Looking to the ground. Not believing that the time has come. After what felt like an eternity looked back up to the trainers.

"Yes. I will endorse the two of you."