The walk next door, while only a few feet, was filled with Lucas rambling on how much he admired some girl named Dawn as a friend and that his admiration was not the same thing as love. Hop honestly didn’t care if his guide liked some kid or not. Yet Lucas was making this giant deal about it during their entire twenty foot walk. Barry was smirking the entire time like he was planning something devious. Hop was a little nervous about why he had such a sly smile on his face. From what he observed, Barry really reminded him of a fun version of Bede. Both were pretty cunning, usually for the wrong reasons, but Bede was the type to give you an arrogant smile after he tricked you while Barry would scream “IN YOUR FACE, SUCKER!” and laugh about it. Also, Barry was fun-loving, despite sometimes being sneaky. Bede felt like he would destroy anything anyone dubbed ‘fun.’

“We’re here!!!” Barry exclaimed, throwing open the door to Dawn’s house.

“Barry!” Lucas exclaimed, shaking his fist at Barry, “Breaking and entering is a crime!”

“It is?” Barry asked. Hop couldn’t tell if it was genuine or not.

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Just because she had the door unlocked doesn’t mean you can walk in like you own the place,” huffed Lucas.

“Huh,” Barry groaned, “Well, I’ve never gotten in trouble for it, so it’s not that important.”

Barry shut the door while looking at Lucas’s face of disapproval. Then, Barry politely knocked like he hadn’t just tried to break into the place. He waited about three seconds before complaining, “It’s taking her for-ev-er! Why do girls have to be so slow?”

Lucas sighed. “Maybe you’re being too fast.”

Barry looked at him with a face of utter betrayal. Barry reminded Hop of the personification of hyperactivity. He always had to be moving, bouncing, waving, dancing, breaking into houses, or playing around. Hop was considered a bit hyper by his friends, but that was nothing compared to Barry’s movement levels.

Suddenly, the door opened. From the inside, of course, because Lucas was blocking Barry from it. A girl was standing at the doorway. She was wearing a hat that reminded Hop of a premier ball. Hop remembered when those were first introduced in Galar. Everyone went crazy because you could get eleven pokeballs for the price of ten. The girl twirled a strand of her dark blue hair on her finger. It was a slightly lighter shade when compared to Lucas’s, but it was still rather dark. Hop wondered if a lot of people in Sinnoh had blue hair.

“Hi, Lucas! How are you doing?” the girl asked.

Lucas blushed. “Oh, I’m great, thank you,” he flustered.

“That’s good,” the girl laughed.

“So, Dawny, you’re leaving your childhood friend out of the conversation. I see how it is,” Barry huffed, crossing his arms.

The girl looked at Barry. “I didn’t mean…” the girl spluttered.

Barry grinned. “I’m just kidding, Dawny! Why don’t you introduce yourself to our purple friend here?” Barry chorused.

Hop didn’t know how he felt about being the ‘purple friend,’ but it was better than being ‘the former champion’s brother.’ At least that made the girl look at him. She looked shocked that she didn’t notice him before, and then addressed that.

“I’m sorry I didn’t notice you before,” the girl said, “My name’s Dawn. And you are…?”

“Hop,” he answered.

Dawn smiled. She seemed cheerful, but also a little scatterbrained. “So where in Sinnoh do you want to go?” she asked.

“Ummm…” Hop wondered. Where did he want to go?

“Our purple friend told me that he wanted to go to Jubilife City!” Barry bounced, smiling at Hop. Hop never recalled saying that, but if the fun-loving Barry really thought Jubilife was the best city, then Hop was okay with it.

“Well then,” Lucas mumbled, “If that’s what Hop really wants, then…”

“Oh, he does,” Barry objected, “Right, Hoppy?

Hop simply nodded. He was a little nervous that Barry and Lucas would break out into an all-out brawl, but Lucas seemed too gentlemanly to fight. “Did the two of you alert your parents that you would be out of town?” Lucas inquired.

“Of course!” Dawn cheered, “It would be awful to leave my poor mother without telling her!”

Barry nodded. “My old man knows all about this!” he remarked, placing emphasis on ‘all.’

“Then we’re off!” Lucas declared, and the four children ran off back towards Sandgem Town.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

It felt like a long walk to Sandgem. They ran across a few Pokemon Lucas dubbed ‘bidoof,’ but other than that it was just a grueling upward climb. Hop didn’t notice it was that hard on his way down. And it wasn’t that much slanted. But it was just enough that by the time the group got to Sandgem Town, everyone (save Barry, who seemed to always have energy) was tired.

“Do you guys want to spend the night at my house?” Lucas asked, “We can go to Jubilife City tomorrow bright and early.”

Both Dawn and Hop nodded. Barry was too focused on the watch on his wrist to notice anything.

“Hey, have you taken Hop to Professor Rowan’s lab?” Dawn piped up.

“I think he already has a starter,” Lucas stated.

“Oooooh,” Dawn replied.

Hop clarified, “I’m from Galar, so I received a Galarian starter. I chose a sobble.”

He was about to show his intellion to the girl, but decided against it. If he was ever in a battle with her, he wouldn’t want her to know what he had. Besides, she didn’t offer to send one of her Pokemon out. Why should he?

“What type is it?” asked Dawn.

“Water,” Hop replied.

Lucas smiled. “It’s nice to see that starter types are consistent in all regions,” he replied.

Barry stopped playing with his watch and bounced over there. “Imagine if you got one of those pikachu things as a starter! That would throw the whole balance off!” he exclaimed.

Hop paused. He knew people in Galar that couldn’t afford a traditional starter. Therefore, they usually received a different Pokemon from one of their parents. Most of them weren’t as cool as the starters, but they were sufficient. Maybe people in Sinnoh got starters for free…?

Lucas led the three other kids into his house. ‘Oh no,’ Hop thought, ‘the blue house…’ Hop’s disdain for the color blue had been dulled since he left the house. But now, back in the walls of the house again, Hop felt himself wanting to paint over this overused blue with a nice purple. That would make it look halfway decent. But alas, painting over somebody else’s walls probably wasn’t legal, and at very least it would lose him his guide. Hop probably wouldn’t get as lost as his brother in Sinnoh, but that wouldn’t be saying anything considering Leon was awful with directions.

Lucas served the other kids some lunch. Hop didn’t recognize it, but it didn’t taste very bad, so he scarfed down the entire thing. The rest of the day was kind of a blur. The four of them watched Super Contest Shows on TV (“Peak content,” Barry had described them as). They were full of trainers dancing with their dressed up Pokemon. Hop didn’t really understand the appeal of it, but this wasn’t exactly his house either. He couldn’t really switch the channel. They also played some board games before bed. Barry won almost all of them, with a few scattered wins by Lucas or Dawn here and there. Then, it was time for bed. Hop stayed in the same room, and Lucas led Dawn and Barry to their rooms. Hop put his head on the cyan pillow and drifted off into slumber once more.

Hop didn’t remember his dreams that night. He hoped they weren’t about that awful Bluegem Town. That place greatly disturbed him. Maybe leaving Sandgem Town would relieve him of having that dream. Hop wanted to get up a little later that morning than usual, remembering that Lucas did just that, but he heard some loud music blaring from outside his room in the wee hours of the morning. ‘What is that?’ Hop thought, rubbing his eyes.

Suddenly, Barry opened the door rapidly. “IT’S WAKE UP TIMEEEEE!” he screamed.

Following Barry, Dawn and Lucas were visible behind Barry. Both of them still looked tired. Dawn was wearing a light pink dress, while Lucas donned the same clothes he was wearing yesterday.

“If you wake up my sister, Barry, I will end you,” Lucas growled, shaking his fist.

“Well,” Barry explained, “All the rooms save the guest rooms have noise canceling walls, right?”

Lucas glared at Barry. “What about we let Hop change before we charge in here?” Lucas proposed.

Barry smiled. “I think you mean ‘before I charge in here.’ You guys are still half asleep!” Barry corrected his friend. The three of them left Hop alone in the blue room.

Hop put on the clothes he put on every day. His jacket, his dark navy shirt, and his black pants were put on. He glanced at himself in a mirror. He thought he looked pretty cool. Definitely cooler than Bede.

“Hop!” Barry yelled, “Will you H-U-R-R-Y U-P?”

Hop sighed. “Coming!” he exclaimed while walking down the stairs. He saw his three guides talking amongst themselves. Hop decided to listen in.

“...portals to the Distortion Realm,” Hop heard Lucas mutter.

“Yeah, Cynthia told me about those,” Dawn shivered, “Are you sure Sinnoh is safe?”

“Of course it’s safe! They have us!” confidently said Barry.

“But if Giratina gets out, we’re toast,” Lucas countered.

“The portals are too small for even a piplup to fit in them!” Barry pointed out.

“But in the case Giratina gets out and somebody catches it…” Dawn started just as she made eye contact with Hop.

Lucas and Barry looked where Dawn was still staring at Hop. Barry smiled. “Nice jacket!” Barry complimented.

Lucas and Dawn sighed. “Let’s just go to Jubilife,” Lucas said, grabbing his bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

The path to Jubilife was longer than the distance between Sandgem Town and Twinleaf Town. Hop also saw a Pokemon he had never seen before on the way there.

“That’s a shinx,” Dawn explained, “Do you want one?”

Hop nodded as he watched the girl catch it. She handed it to Hop politely. “He’s probably a low level, but if you work with him, it’s guaranteed that he’ll be an asset to your team.”

Not that the shinx will be strong. Not that it will be tough. Just that it’ll be an asset. Hop wished that Dawn would just tell him if this shinx was a weakling or not.

Hop could see Jubilife City from a while away. The buildings were much taller than most of the trees around the city. If Sandgem Town and Twinleaf Town were small and quaint, then Jubilife was giant and modern. There were more people in Jubilife City at six in the morning than in Sandgem Town and Twinleaf Town at any time of day combined. The smell of sweet delicacies filled the air around the town, and music jingled in the air.

“Welcome to Jubilife, the epitome of good times!” Barry exulted, “Now let’s go get some breakfast! I’m starving!”