Potentially OOC Hop incoming. I hope I did well with it, but there wouldn't be ~drama~ without our anxious character actually experiencing... anxiety. Anyway!
Thanks to whoever reviewed! I'll keep fer in mind, and I did draw the picture. Yes, I am pumped for Twilight Wings! Every character has me excited, but I'm really looking forward to Hop's, Leon's, and Allister's episodes.
Happy Valentine's Day! Just in time for some light angst.
Right dim of her it was to leave before even seeing where Hop had headed again.
Gloria kicked herself. Leon was impossible to get ahold of in the wake of the finals, so asking him was out of the question, and when Gloria asked, their mum thought Hop had left with her. She had already spent so long searching the Wild Area, and it seemed the only option was to do it all again. Maybe hope for another Wishing Star, but what were the odds of that happening? The Wishing Pieces already in her bag did not appear to have the same mysterious qualities of the Stars. And even if she was gifted one, defeating Leon the first time was no easy task - and recreating that victory would be just as hard.
Besides, Gloria was right exhausted. All she really wanted to do was curl up in her own bed again, returning to the thing she had been missing almost as much as she had Hop: sleep.
I'd be the Slumbering Shield, she thought, amusing herself. She blinked. Say...
It was dangerous, but at this point, it was worth a shot.
Gloria had a Champion-level team, and she knew this with certainty. The first time she had made it to the depths of the Slumbering Weald, it was out of necessity, to save the region. This time, she was desperate enough to wander in without any hint Hop was here, saving for that he was nowhere else; she had looked.
Even she was unsure of her plan going in. All she knew was the pull to comfort him, as she had wanted to since the conversation with Leon upon her arrival at Hammerlocke. She envisioned Hop, torn up, shaking in solitude, curled around himself, and her quiet appearance beside him. He would lean against her, wordlessly, and she would reach for him and pet that soft purple wool of hair above his ears, and it would be damp with sweat, or mist, or tears, but she would not mind. She wanted to be his resting place, where everyone else doubted him, challenged him, defeated him: he would go to her, and cry on her shoulder, and she would tell him she was there, and he was loved, and that this would pass. And his fluffy jacket would rock against her side, and she would stroke the brittle fibres. And he would quit weeping, breaths becoming steady, and he would grin just a little, and not think that she would notice even though she would; and they would lie down and not even see the tops of the trees through the fog, because he was looking with dry eyes to the future, and she was looking at him. And he would believe her when she said he was going to have rest, and confidence, and love himself, and then he would; and there would be good days, and there would be bad days, but she would be there for all of them, and he would. Gloria had given this a lot of thought in the Wild Area, too.
She was quiet. To her surprise, Hop was not even hiding, merely standing at the altar where the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield still lay dormant. If he had been any quieter, he may have heard her.
"I just don't understand. What was I supposed to do?" He punted a pebble onto the stone structure. "Zacian and Zamazenta, right? That's what Sonia said they called you. Why did you show up that day? What was the point?"
He waited, as if for an answer. Gloria was not too close that he would have been able to hear her breaths. "I know it wasn't just to save the Wooloo. You were - you were testing us, Gloria and me, somehow, else you wouldn't have spared us. Well - heh - right lot of good that did you, innit? We can't even beat a greasy bloke who didn't know about regional variants until he was seventeen!"
Far be it from Hop to ever talk about his brother like that, so Gloria did gasp a little. "He's the one who stopped all those wild Dynamaxes anyways. If that wasn't the threat you were trying to stop, then what was? You never even showed since that day. For all I know there could have just been one of you after all. For all I know, maybe you never even existed, and these were just the discarded remnants of some hero who thought he was all that." He was gesturing to the Rusted Sword and Shield. "Sounds right familiar, dunnit?"
He stooped down to get a good look at the Sword, seeming almost mesmerised by it. "What... What are you saying." His voice wavered. "You want me to take it?"
That was right - Gloria remembered feeling the pull toward the Shield the first time she was here. It could not have been a mistake that Hop was feeling it now. But it was a good question he posed: what threat still existed that would require the two heroes? Eternatus was already dormant in her Box 8.
Hop seemed to be resisting, however. "Why would you choose me. I don't get it. I'm the loser here: give it to Lee, he'll be able to protect Galar better than I ever could. He already has! Heck, it was just luck that I won against Gloria too, and that only happened once. Give it to her. Anybody but me, I don't deserve such an honor! I'm no hero! It's better if I stay out of the way, just in general."
Yet despite himself, he took a step closer to the Sword. "Gah. Zacian, right? There's no point. I'll just muck it all up like usual... I can't believe I'm saying this. But how dare you endanger Galar by entrusting such an item with the likes of me."
Despite himself, he picked up the Sword, feeling its weight. "I can throw a Quick Ball at a hundred fifty-one kilometres per hour. This looks a lot more aerodynamic, no? How far do you think I can chuck it!"
His arm was raised for the toss when he finally spotted Gloria beside him, almost entranced by the Shield in her hands. That was also the moment Gloria noticed she was beside him, holding the Shield.
"Egad! What are you doin' here?" Hop demanded, and she snapped to meet his eyes. "Listenin' in on me being shirty with the legendary heroes, eh? Or just here to rub it in that I lost?"
Gloria was taken aback so much that she dropped the Shield; surprisingly, it remained in one piece. "I-" She gave herself a second to catch up to her heart. "I was looking everywhere fer ye. Then this... it just called out to me."
Hop's face was unreadable. "That it?"
"Well - nae - I just wanted to say, I..." Now that she was finally given this chance, she could not seem to find the right words. "I'm sorry about what happened? And if you want to talk about it-"
"Don't be sorry, Gloria. You didn't do anything wrong. It was me who messed up and lost the battle. My favorite hobby, that, challenging trainers I can't defeat."
He looked down. "I'm bloomin' sorry. I went and did just what I promised you I wouldn't. What was I thinking? If either of us could beat him, I bet it'd be you; but you didn't even get the chance to try because of me. How naïve can I get?"
The Sword clanged to the ground. In the time it took Gloria to think of a response, he interjected again. "Those days I spent tooting my own horn about being Galar's next Champion? How could I have known! How could I have known?" His arms were waving as he spoke; Gloria shifted backward, instinctively, as if worried she might get stricken by one. "I don't - I just - agh! And I can't stand this feeling of directionlessness either. If I have no ambitions, I have no purpose. But if I do have them, I'll only kick myself more and more after each failure. There's-" He stopped for a second, a desperate laughter sneaking into his voice. "There's no way to win. How bloomin' familiar!"
A beat passed. Gloria hummed, hummed. "Quite, with that attitude, mate. There are better ways..."
He gave her a look.
"...Uh, right. Sorry. I dinnae... I didnae ken ye were feelin' this way. Mate, I'm so saw-"
"And there you go, apologising again. Just-Just can it, please. The only thing you would have to be sorry for was if you somehow threw the battle in the semis to get me to fight Lee. Not like I could ever beat you when you were really trying, right?"
She gasped. "Hop! No..."
His eyes bore into hers. "Oi, that's exactly what you did, innit? Only you would be so - selfless. You knew how much I wanted it and you were just in it to see how far you could get, right?"
Her open mouth curved downwards. "I know you would do it, Glory. And you made me think I was just the coolest little trainer, like I had any clue what was in store for me. Like I had any semblance of a chance? You know how long I'm going to be hearing about this loss? You wouldn't, because you've never had an undefeated Champion for a brother, right!"
This was not the Hop Gloria had ever known. She had seen him mad before, certainly, even at her directly; but now - firstly, he had a weapon, if a terrible one - and this was something that had been building up inside him for a while.
"I outta fight you just for showing up here. That's what you'd want, though, right? A battle? If I hadn't left my team at home."
Was this... Was this what Hop was feeling when she defeated him? She felt so much worse at the thought. But no, he had always been supportive of her, even over his brother when it came down to it, and she never did understand that.
"'Ey, Hops... Wh-Why are you mad at me?" Genuine hurt caught in her throat.
"I... I'm just frustrated, is all. S-Sorry. I haven't been treating you fairly. But I promised you I would win, then I didn't. How aren't you mad at me? I completely dropped the ball!"
She sighed. "You're a better trainer than ye give yourself credit fer. And please, dinnae think anything like that. You know I never lie to ye... Hop, have you - even spoken to Leon since?"
Hop looked down, then peered at her through the corners of his eyes. "No."
"'Cause he's impossible to reach, or..."
"I just don't want to be around him right now, can't you understand why? Of course I'm proud of how far he's come, and I'm proud to be his brother, but I haven't accomplished anything to live up to that. All people know me for is being related to him and his stupid smug little face... Who dyes their beard? Yeah, I said it! And he just - can't - stop - rubbing - it - in, always, constantly, even when he's not around: his face is plastered on every billboard from here to Wyndon! I can't escape him, so I have to defeat him, but I can't do that either, because I'm a bloomin' failure of a trainer and a right disappointment to my family. My teammates all deserve so much better.
"All this time, I talked big about wanting to be the best, but now, I just want to be enough. For the Hop at the beginning of this year, that would have been nothing less than Champion. Just ereyesterday night we were so, so happy together, because I was going to battle him and defeat him. And everyone praised me, and supported me, and believed in me, for having that dream. Why?"
He looked at the ground. Gloria found it too hard to hold eye contact with him, too. He squeezed his hands into fists.
"So I have to be alone for a while, hear? Got to get myself together, and I'm sorry, but I can't do that while trying to prove myself to - you, or Zacian, or Lee, or even my team. I just wish-"
His eyes welled up. "I just wish I had won! I would have made a pure brilliant Champion... If there were some way I could do it all again, right back to that moment, standing on the pitch - but there's no changing the past!"
He made sure the entire Slumbering Weald could hear it. Nearby, a skeeved pair of celebrities decided it would be best just to wait for the children to leave.
Hop turned and started down the steps, smearing his eyes with his sleeve. "I'll see you around, Gloria. At least I know you'll remember me."
She could hardly find it in herself to walk, much less stop him. Her only hope was to say something so pure dead genius that he would be left with no choice but to stay and let her nurse his mental wounds. Only, what? "W-Hop, wait."
He took another step or two, but did stop. Instead of turning around, he just looked upwards, hands in pockets, inviting her to speak.
"You don't really think that, do ye? About having to beat Lee? You know we all love you no matter how often you win er lose."
At that, he did not leave, so she had not blown it yet. He was quiet. "Who is 'we.'"
"Ye-You know, your parents, Sonia, Lee, your team... m... me."
Now he looked down. "...I'll take your word for it." He covered his face in his hands. "And there you go saying these things, supporting me, like everyone else. I don't see why.
"Thank you for saying that, but it's not enough. I guess you won't understand."
Not enough?
"...Hops-"
"Just... be quiet. Please." He started walking again. "I'll see you around." His words bit.
No - no, no, no! What could she say? Her mind raced to think of a response that would not further bury her in blame, but by now he was already hurt. She was frozen in place, watching his purple hair quickly disappear behind the fog and then the trees.
What rubbish! Brilliant, now Gloria was feeling more guilty than ever. Had her acting truly been that bad? Maybe Hop did not really believe that she threw the battle, but he had at least considered it. If he had known, he would have been livid.
How had this all gotten to this point - how had this ending become so much worse than the first? Before, Gloria had just assumed Hop was upset, while now she was unsure if she should be worried about their friendship. Not to mention, his usual fondness for his brother had crumbled. If Leon knew, that would break him more than a loss in battle ever could.
Her foot grazed the Rusted Shield. Would letting Rose awaken Eternatus and summoning the legends with Hop have helped at all? She knew the four could stop them, but it was not an experience she quite wanted to redo. For Hop's sake... given the chance, though, she would try it.
Hop was long gone by now, she could be sure. So Gloria figured it was her turn.
"Zamazenta! Can ye hear me?"
No response from the wood, but what a shock that was.
"You must be somewhere... This Shield is connected to you, right? If you're out there, please, I need to know - do ye have anything to do with the Wishing Stars? I know how selfish it is of me to consider this, but-"
Her voice dropped to just above a whisper. "Please. If you would spare a second second chance... Not fer me, but fer them. I know what I did wasn't right. But Hop and Lee used to be so close, and it's like I've come between them... I care. I do care, so much, fer both of them, I just want them to make up and be the brothers they always were. They both deserved so much better - than this, than me. I'm ready to try again."
To the right of the monument, a flash of red caught her eye.
Upon closer inspection, Gloria could see it was not a Wishing Star but a Cheri berry, freshly ripened, that had just fallen into the territory of a hungry rodent, who quickly stole it away.
"Fffine," she decided. "I'll give up then. Clearly you two dinnae care about Hops and Lee as much as I do, so I mustn't have to either!"
She pivoted on her heel. "Too much effort, being friends with the Champion and his family. If Hop wants to stay in touch with me later, that's his prerogative, but until then, who cares! Not I! I didnae even want to be Champ in the first place!"
If she truly believed anything she just announced, Gloria was too tired to know. She headed home, leaving the Rusted Sword and Rusted Shield to the whims of the Slumbering Weald.