Oreburgh City was really just a modern mining town. It definitely wasn’t as impressive as Jubilife City, but very few things could reach that level. Just like Jubilife, nobody was outside of their houses. It was very eerie and quiet. Hop thought it looked quite similar to the setting of a horror movie. He just hoped that the mines hadn’t taken the life of a particularly vengeful individual.

“I think we should go to the gym here,” Lucas said. “Maybe Roark is there.”

Hop thought he heard the name ‘Roark’ before. If he was a Gym Leader, as the ‘go to the gym’ comment suggested, then Leon might have some books mentioning him. Or documentaries. Leon had this weird love of documentaries for some reason. They always bored Hop to sleep, but maybe he did hear that name in one of them. Or the familiarity of the name could merely be a case of deja vu.

“Roark is a rock type Gym Leader,” Dawn filled Hop in.

“How do we know he’s here?” Hop asked. “Since he’s a rock-type expert, wouldn’t they want him to help other specialists traverse Mt. Coronet?”

“Silly Hop!” Barry exclaimed. “A Gym Leader’s duty is with their people!” Barry seemed abnormally blissful for somebody who, a few minutes prior, had told Hop that he planned to murder a Pokemon. A Pokemon that probably didn’t harm him through its own free will.

“So, if Roark is helping the people of Oreburgh City, then he’s not going to be in his gym,” Dawn sighed, “so we’ll have to look for him.”

“Hooray…” Lucas sarcastically muttered as he adjusted his glasses.

“Why do we need Roark again?” Hop questioned.

“Because,” replied Dawn, “he probably knows Coronet better than us. I don’t want this ascent of the mountain to be our last.”

Hop didn’t know if she meant that she wanted to speak to Roark so they didn’t perish climbing the mountain or if she wanted to climb more mountains. Probably the former, but her word choice made it seem suspiciously like the latter.

“But we’ve climbed that mountain before!” Barry whined. “Remember that one time with Team Galactic?”

Team- Galactic? Hop expected them to talk about Team Yell, a group of troublemakers from his home region. They were harmless, though, and Marnie was able to convince them to not live lives of crime. Hop hoped Team Galactic were just as harmless.

“So, what kind of misdemeanors did this Galactic Team commit?” Hop asked.

“Their crimes were less misdemeanors and more felonies,” Lucas corrected Hop.

“Trying to destroy the world to make one in their crazy leader’s image isn’t a very small crime,” Barry laughed. “Or a very sane one.”

Hop looked at all three of his guides. They were actually serious. Hop thought there was no way that one person could be that psychotic, much less a group of people. Team Galactic sounded less like Team Yell and more like Macro Cosmos. Except Chairman Rose at least had good intentions, albeit misguided. The leader of this group sounded like an insane person with no redeeming qualities.

“Um, guys, it’s pretty dark out,” Lucas murmured.

It was true, it looked like it was getting darker outside. Was it really that late? Hop felt like just a few minutes ago, he had left Jubilife City. “I’ll get us a hotel room,” Dawn smiled as she left the boys.

“Wait for meeeeeeeeee!” Barry exclaimed as he rushed after her.

That left just Lucas and Hop. They both made sure Barry and Dawn got into the hotel safely. Suddenly, Hop inquired, “Hey, Lucas, can I ask you something?”

“Within reason, yes,” Lucas responded.

“Is it hard to keep up with Dawn?” Hop asked. “She’s the Champion. Doesn’t she have responsibilities?”

Lucas smiled. “Well, I don’t know what being Champion means in Galar, but in Sinnoh, an underage Champion usually doesn’t make decisions. That’s the job of the previous Champion until the current Champion gets beat or replaced.” he explained. “Why? Do you have some trouble with your Champion friend?”

Hop nodded. Gloria was always busy. Even if she wanted to, she would never have enough time to hang out with Hop. That was the truth that both Victor and Hop had to accept. That’s why Hop stopped sending letters after Gloria stopped responding. Victor, of course, kept doing it, but deep down, he probably knew she was never going to respond. At least, Hop hoped he knew. He could be so naive that he was completely oblivious to her silent rejection of his friendship.

“Is that why you wanted Giratina? To impress her?” Lucas guessed.

Hop nodded once more. Lucas smiled as he shook his head. “Strong Pokemon don’t make you stronger, you know?” Lucas chided. “It’s what’s in your heart that matters.”

Hop had no idea what Lucas was blabbering on about. Strong Pokemon make you stronger. That’s why they’re called strong Pokemon. Hop decided to not listen to the rest of Lucas’s advice.

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

Lucas must’ve noticed that Hop was not listening to him because he said, “Hey, if you’re not going to listen to me, why don’t we just get some food. Would that be a better waste of your time, Mr. I Want to Catch an Evil Pokemon to Impress a Girl?”

“Hey,” Hop responded, “at least I don’t blush when somebody talks about my crush.”

Hop really didn’t have any romantic feelings towards Gloria, but he wanted to jab back at Lucas just for the fun of it. Just as Hop thought, Lucas turned into a bespectacled tomato.

“You know, let’s just go get dinner,” Lucas spluttered.

Gloria felt lonely during the first bit of the Flying Taxi trip. Of course, Victor was there, but he must’ve passed out while he was packing his stuff. When Gloria walked into the taxi, his head was resting on a bag and his eyes were closed. She wrapped one of her blankets around him. She was still really sorry about yelling at him earlier. And… did she also hurt his feelings when she complained about flying with him? She wished he was awake solely so she could apologize for being such a trashy friend.

Gloria was up for another few hours. She spent this time reading magazines that she brought. She also stumbled upon Victor’s book bag. Most of the ones in there were books Gloria had never heard of. She did recognize a few of them, though. They were books that Victor suggested Gloria read. “This one,” he once said, holding up a white and red book, “has a strong female protagonist that kind of reminds me of you!” She never read the book, but seeing it in the bag made her want to. She opened the book to the first chapter.

Gloria must’ve been so engrossed in the book that she didn’t notice Victor waking up. She also didn’t see the shocked face he put on when he noticed what book she was reading.

“You… took my book suggestion?” he whispered in a hopeful tone.

“Oh, Victor! You’re up!” Gloria chirped as she put the book back in Victor’s bag. “Listen, I have some things I want to tell you… First of all, that book was pretty interesting.”

Victor bashfully grinned. “I thought you would like it,” he gushed.

“Secondly, I’m so sorry for yelling at you and being an awful friend to you and Hop,” Gloria apologized. “I don’t expect you to forgive me, but-”

“Oh, it’s alright!” Victor consoled his friend. “I was just being too sensitive.”

“No you weren’t,” Gloria argued. “I yelled at you for no reason. Clearly, I was the one at fault.”

“But I didn’t speak up when you were accusing me. I just cried. Clearly, I was too emotional.” Victor insisted.

“Let’s just agree to disagree,” stated Gloria. She didn’t want to yell at her friend again.

“How’s being a Champion?” Victor asked.

“It’s very busy,” Gloria answered, “but you get to meet a lot of new people.”

Both of them sat in silence for a little while. Gloria didn’t remember the last time she was so quiet for so long, especially around another person. Victor folded up the blanket that Gloria wrapped around him and put it back in her bag without saying a single word. Gloria pulled out her phone. She wished she could text Marnie or even Bede right now.

“Sooooooooo,” Gloria drawled, “I see you’re close with Leon.”

“Yeah,” responded Victor.

“Do you hang around him often?” Gloria asked.

“I mean, he’s pretty easy to talk to,” Victor reasoned. “I can tell him anything.”

“Marnie’s like that for me,” Gloria stated.

“That’s cool,” Victor emotionlessly commented.

Yikes. Gloria needed to liven up this conversation, and she needed to do it fast. “So, do you make necklaces now?” Gloria questioned.

“Just that one. But who knows what Bede did with it,” Victor whispered with a twinge of sadness in his voice.

“I’m sure it was beautiful,” smiled Gloria.

Victor looked at her and pessimistically stated, “You’re just saying that because you don’t want to hurt my feelings. I know I’m a crybaby, Gloria. You don’t need to hide it.”

“Okay, who put that ridiculous idea in your head?” Gloria countered. “You’re amazing, Victor! There’s no need to constantly put yourself down!”

Victor smiled, but his smile seemed… sad. Gloria put her arm around her friend. “Listen, the two of us are going to find Hop, talk some logical sense into him, and all go home to Galar and get ice cream or something. Then everything will go back to the way it was! I promise I won’t get absorbed in my Championly duties again.” she reasoned.

“You really mean it?” Victor sniffled.

“Of course, Vic,” Gloria grinned.

The rest of the day, the two of them talked about Sinnoh. “I talked to this one girl from Sinnoh, and she said that there’s something called Pokemon Contests! And the halls were this big!” Gloria exclaimed, stretching out her arms. One of her hands hit the door of the taxi.

“This is a really small taxi,” Victor observed.

“It’s odd that Hop didn’t ask his brother to drive him, though,” Gloria pointed out.

Both kids thought about that strange detail for a moment. But then they came up with the logical conclusion that Leon was awful at telling which directions were which. As it was, Madison was leading the two taxis to make sure Leon wouldn’t get lost. It was a wonder that he even got his Flying Taxi license in the first place. He probably just got it because of his status as the former Champion.

“What do you want to be when you grow up, Vic?” Gloria inquired out of nowhere.

“Ummmm, I don’t know,” conversed Victor.

“You really have no idea?” Gloria gasped. “Not even a little one?”

Victor shook his head. Gloria was truly stunned. The fact that her friend was so directionless was very peculiar. He would be a great chef or maybe a small business owner in her opinion. Or he would make an excellent Gym Leader! That was it! He looked like a normal-type trainer. If only a gym were to open up…

“You would be a good Gym Leader, Vic. You know, I may have some league connections that could get you the next gym…” Gloria implied.

“No way!” Victor yelped. “Being a Gym Leader would be way too stressful. Besides, I’d like to stay near Postwick.”

Victor’s friend sighed. Why would he pass up being a Gym Leader? That was a great job! But maybe he had other passions that would call him to a better job later. Or maybe he was too shy to share his true passions with her. Victor was probably the most timid boy in the world. Or, at least, the most timid boy that Gloria had ever met. Most other boys that Gloria knew were strong and bold. Victor was rather frail, and he definitely wasn’t bold. Maybe that’s what made him so special, though.

“I wonder what Hop’s doing,” Victor wondered aloud.

“I’m sure he’s having the time of his life,” Gloria responded.