“Okay, WHERE is Victor?” Bede scowled. “It’s been more than an hour, and he STILL hasn’t come out of that cave! First it was Hop, and now it’s him!”

Bede, Marnie, Leon, and Gloria were standing in front of the only cave on the island they had landed on. Madison had decided to stay with the taxis for some reason. It was probably because she didn’t know Victor personally, so she felt no need to come and see if he was alright.

“I’m sure it’s nothing,” Gloria reassured. “He probably just got a little spooked. I’ll go in there, bring him his Pokemon, and then he’ll be a-okay!”

“I’ll come with you,” Leon volunteered. “Bede, Marnie, you two should probably go back with Madison. You guys can get a head start.”

Marnie responded with a quiet “okay”, and Gloria waved her goodbye. Gloria knew she would see Bede and Marnie again in three hours, but she enjoyed spending time with them. But she also enjoyed spending time with Victor and Hop, so she needed to find both of them.

Gloria headed into the cave, with Leon just a little bit behind her. The cave was much darker than Gloria anticipated. Luckily, Gloria brought a flashlight. She turned it on and used it to survey her surroundings. Rock formations, rock formations, and more rock formations. ‘Wow, this cave is sooooo scenic,’ Gloria sarcastically thought.

“Have you and Victor been making amends?” Leon asked.

“Excuse me?” Gloria responded. She didn’t expect Leon to talk to her during this rescue mission.

“Have you and Victor made amends?” Leon repeated. “You aren’t accusing him of slacking off again, are you?”

Gloria couldn’t tell if Leon was joking or serious with his last sentence. “I’m not accusing him of anything. And we’re just trying to make up for lost time.” Gloria replied.

“That’s good,” was Leon’s response. Nothing more, nothing less. The two of them walked in silence for a little while. Gloria didn’t know if she wanted or didn’t want to talk to Leon right now. It was almost as awkward between the two of them as it was between Gloria and Victor or Gloria and Hop. It was hard to talk to somebody when you haven’t talked to them in over six months. Especially if that person was the dude you beat and stole the job of.

Gloria noticed that the cave only went in a straight line. Therefore, if she walked forward for long enough, she was bound to run into Victor. Sure enough, after a few minutes of walking, she heard sniffling. Gloria pointed her flashlight in the direction where she heard the faint crying and saw a body curled up in a ball on the cavern floor.

“N-n-no! I shouldn’t d-d-do that!” the boy whimpered.

“Vic?” Gloria asked. “Is that you?”

“Ack!” The body shot up. The person was facing away from them, but Gloria recognized the weirdly shaped hat and the black jacket. That was definitely Victor. But something seemed… off about him. His voice was way more fearful than it usually was.

“Victor? Are you okay?” Leon asked. Apparently he had figured out that Victor was acting off, too. Maybe Leon was a little smarter than Gloria gave him credit for.

“I’m fine!” Victor said, turning his body so that he was facing them. “I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“It’s alright, Victor. But what happened? You seem very anxious.” Leon noted.

It was at that moment that Gloria noticed the pokeball gripped tightly in Victor’s hand. “Oh! Did you get attacked by a Pokemon?” Gloria asked.

Victor looked down and nodded. Gloria went to embrace her friend. “You didn’t get hurt, did you? You should’ve brought your Pokemon with you, you know!”

Victor nodded while mouthing the words ‘I’m sorry’ over and over. Gloria didn’t notice it, though. “What Pokemon attacked you? I don’t see any in this cave.” Leon queried.

Victor didn’t answer.

“What about we go back into the Flying Taxi and find Hop. Would that make you feel better?” Gloria inquired.

Victor nodded.

The three of them exited the cave and made their way to Sinnoh. Leon couldn’t stop noticing Victor’s frequent shutters as they walked to the taxi.

The restaurant that Dawn, Lucas, and Barry had chosen was a place called “Frank’s”. It seemed to be a fast-food place (which made sense, considering how impatient Barry was), and it had relatively good reviews.

“This’ll be good, Hoppio. Trust me.” Barry had promised Hop back at the hotel. Apparently Barry had eaten there before during his own journey. Considering how much Barry loved food, Hop trusted him in this matter. He hoped his trust wasn’t put in the wrong place.

Hop was absolutely appalled when he saw the menu.

This place only served HOTDOGS.

Out of any food that this place could serve, they had to serve HOTDOGS. Why didn’t he read those reviews he saw? Why did he just glance at them? If he would have read them, he would have figured out sooner that this place only served hotdogs!

“Hop? Are you okay?” Dawn asked.

“Totally! Never been better!” Hop quickly responded. He didn’t want his Sinnohian friends to figure out about his irrational fear of hotdogs. He could still hear the kids from his youth calling him hot just to get on his nerves.

“Okay then,” Lucas said.

“What do you want, Hoppio?” Barry inquired with a smile.

Hop looked at the menu. The only word he could see was hot. His mind blurred every other word. It was like the menu was cruelly taunting him. Was he really that afraid of just a word?

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Hop, you look pale. Do you need to sit down for a bit?” Lucas queried.

“Nope! I’m all-” started Hop. Suddenly, he felt Barry grab his arm and fling him towards a booth.

“If you’re going to pass out,” Barry said seriously, “then you’ll need to do it later. I am NOT delaying dinner any more.”

“Don’t worry, Hop! We’ll order you something good!” Dawn exclaimed.

Great. Hop wanted to cry. He didn’t have Leon here to make him warm curry. He desperately wished he was back home with his brother.

Hop noticed Lucas walking towards the table he was sitting at. “Hey, Hop. What’s wrong?” he asked. “Do you not like hot dogs or something?”

“No, hot dogs are great…” Hop lied. Lucas sat down in the seat right next to Hop.

“You know, if something’s bothering you, you can always tell me. I know we’ve only known each other for a little less than a week now, but I got your back, okay?” Lucas explained.

Hop sighed. How could he explain his “hot dog trauma” to somebody he just met four days ago? Heck, he didn’t like talking about it with Leon, his own brother. It would be way too difficult to explain it to the Sinnohians.

“It’s alright if you don’t want to tell us,” Lucas added, “but if you ever want to, I’ll listen.”

“Thank you,” Hop replied.

The two sat alone without talking to each other until Dawn and Barry came back with a tray of hot dogs. There were six hot dogs on the platter, and Hop noticed some blue sauce on the side. Of course it was blue. What was the blue sauce even made of? Why was it blue? Hop didn’t really care. All he knew is that he wasn’t touching it.

“Oh, Hoppio, you’re going to LOVE the blue sauce! It’s a little spicy, but it’s also a little sweet! It’s great!!!” Barry blurted out.

“We’re still not sure what it’s made of, though, so if you have any food allergies, you probably want to avoid it.” Dawn cautioned.

“Guys, I don’t think Hop wants hot dogs,” Lucas notified his friends. “He may want the sandwich I have in my bag, though.”

Lucas shuffled through his bag and pulled out a plastic bag with a PBJ in it. That made Hop remember the story Barry mentioned to him earlier. Suddenly, Hop blurted out, “Is this the PBJ that Barry dropped on his dad’s head?!”

Lucas, Dawn, and Barry burst out laughing. Hop realized how ridiculous he sounded. Why would Lucas keep a sandwich that fell on a guy’s head? Barry might’ve, but definitely not Lucas. Hop hadn’t heard Lucas laugh before, though, so that was a pleasant surprise.

“Hop, Hop, Hop. Have you met Lucas?” Dawn giggled.

“Why would Lucas keep a hairy, old sandwich?” Barry chuckled.

“The idea is preposterous! Utterly ridiculous! Hop, are you sure your common sense was wired in your brain correctly?” joked Lucas.

Hop smiled. “I’ll take your hairy sandwich, thank you very much!”

Thankfully, the sandwich didn’t actually have hair in it. Hop didn’t know what he would do if it did. By the time he had finished his sandwich, all the hot dogs were gone. The blue sauce had also vanished.

“Barry,” Dawn complained, “was it really necessary for you to eat four hot dogs by yourself?”

“What? I’m a growing boy!” Barry objected.

Hop wondered if having as much energy as Barry had each day required a lot of food. He also wondered how many calories Barry burnt on a day to day basis.

“Are we going to go back to the hotel?” Lucas inquired.

“Yeah. A room opened up last night, so Hop can have his own room tonight.” Dawn informed her friends.

“But don’t you think I deserve my own room?” Barry protested in a joking manner. “After all, I was the one who found our dear Hoppio and rescued him from that dreadful mountain!”

Nobody really responded to this comment. They just walked to the hotel (after Dawn reassured Lucas that they had paid for the hotdogs), and got ready for bed. Hop laid in his bed and was about to go to sleep when something unexpected happened.

RING! RING! RING!

Hop picked up his rotom phone. The call was from his brother. Hop picked up.

“Hello? Hellllllloooooooo?” Leon’s familiar voice repeated.

“What’s up, Lee?” Hop smiled. It was reassuring to hear his brother’s voice again.

“Oh, nothing. I was just calling to see where you’re staying.” Leon responded.

“What? Why do you want to know that?” Hop questioned. “You’re back in Galar, right?”

Leon hesitated, “Well…”

“YOU’RE NOT IN SINNOH, RIGHT?!” Hop fumed.

“Woah, woah, chill little buddy.” Leon cautiously said. “We’re just going to go and find you, okay? We’ll stay with you for the rest of your journey and then we’ll all go home together!”

“What do you mean when you say ‘we’?” Hop asked. Did Leon bring Raihan, Sonia, and Nessa to come and cheer him on? That would be a little embarrassing.

“Well, Victor and Gloria are in my taxi right now-” Leon started.

“YOU BROUGHT GLORIA?!” Hop yelped. Did his brother force her to come? He doubted that she came on her own free will. She was much too important to be chasing after him.

“And Victor,” Leon added. Victor was no surprise. He wasn’t usually too busy. But Gloria? Did she even come at all?

“Stop pulling my leg, Leon,” Hop deadpanned. “It’s not very funny.”

“I’m not joshing with you, bro,” Leon calmly said.

Hop sighed. “Well, if I’m going to give directions to anybody, it’s not going to be to you. Why don’t you get Gloria on the phone so I can talk to her?” Hop compromised.

“That’s fair,” Leon agreed. “Alright, I’ll get her on the phone right now.”

Hop wondered if this was some long, planned-out joke. There was no way that Leon flew his taxi all the way to Sinnoh with Victor and Gloria just to find him. If it was a joke, though, it would be a very cruel one, which wasn’t Leon’s usual style.

After a few minutes, Hop thought that it was an actual hoax. “Hop!” Gloria’s voice suddenly exclaimed.

“Gloria?” Hop gasped in shock. This was confirmation that she was actually with Leon. Hop started to tear up. She really did care about their friendship.

“Yeah,” Gloria confirmed. “We have a lot of catching up to do. So where are you?”

“I’m in Oreburgh City at a hotel called Diamond in the Rough Suites,” Hop told his friend.

“Okay. We’ll see if we can fly there tomorrow,” Gloria chirped. “I don’t think it would be wise to fly tonight, because I think Victor has a cold.”

“That’s unfortunate,” Hop sleepily remarked. It would probably be wise of him to go to bed after this conversation.

“Welp,” Gloria bubbled, “see you tomorrow!”

“See you,” Hop yawned as he hung up. Maybe Gloria really wanted to revive their friendship. That would make everything so much easier. But what about Victor’s cold? He hoped his dear friend would recover soon. If it was a Galarian illness, then it would be unwise to have him near Lucas, Dawn, or Barry. Which was a shame, because Hop thought that he would get along greatly with Lucas.

He guessed that issue would reveal itself tomorrow. There was no point in worrying about it now.