Golden Rivalry

Chapter II

Chapter II: Long time
no see

Hop had obviously won the race against his best-friend, But Gloria wasn't upset. She was happy to see Hop's smile. Wait.. is that weird to think that about your best friend? Hopefully not. She wouldn't want to do anything that could potentially make their relationship break.

Hop had opened the front door to his house, Letting you in before him. The two teenagers had walked into the kitchen where Hops mom had been preparing for the roast she will be cooking later on the day, to celebrate Champion Leon's return back to his hometown Postwick. Hop called out his mothers name and she had looked to spot him and Gloria.

"Mum! Is big bro here yet?? We're ready to get our pokemon!" Hop had asked.

"Oh goodness Hop, for the 100th time, patience dear! Leon is most likely barely at the Wedgehurst station right now."

"Then we're off! You know Lee isn't good with directions, I wouldn't want him getting lost in the way!"

"Oh, will you? Yes, that probably is for the best..." Hop's mother thought outloud.

"Now that's settled, You've got to come mate'! You've haven't gotten the chance to see Lee all these years, i'm sure it'll be a delight for you to see him again right?" Hop assured Gloria.

"I'll wait for you outside! Meet me once you're ready! But that doesn't mean to keep me waiting all day!" Hop announced as he began to run off like always.

"Hop is always in a rush isn't he? Please look after him sweetheart, He might aswell end up like his older brother if he never learns how to be patient with things.." Hop's mother sighed.

"Don't worry mrs. I'll make sure he doesn't get in trouble." Gloria replied.

Hop's mom thanked her and let her go. Gloria walked outside the house to meet hop waiting for her.

"There you are mate'! Now before we go make sure to stay away from the tall grass. You don't want a wild pokemon to run across you when you don't even have a pokémon yet! Of course.. I'll be there to back you up but I'm not planning on killing time mate'!"

Gloria giggled, And in a flash hop was running towards the Wedgehurst station. And of course, Gloria followed behind.

~~~

Hop had arrived near the Route, And looked back to check if Gloria was following behind, but only to see that Gloria had stopped running. Hop had stopped and turned around to check on her.

"Mate'? What's the matter?" He asked

Gloria had a smirk on her face, and she slowly walked towards the tall grass to tease Hop.

"Gloria don't you dare! Stay out of that grass we don't have time!"

Instead of Gloria stopping, She continued to walk more into the tall green grass, laughing.

"Gloria."

Hop seemed annoyed, But not in a bad way. That was until he noticed that a wild grubbin had been slowly walking towards her. It looked mad, and it was most likely about to attack Gloria at any moment.

Without thinking Hop immediately ran to Gloria and shouted, "GLORIA WATCH OUT!!"

Before Gloria could react he had pushed her out of the way, And the wild grubbin had just attacked. But thankfully missed the shot.

Hop had tackled Gloria pretty hard which caused them to both fall. Now hop was hovering over Gloria. Hop took a moment to look at his best friend. The two teenagers began to blush madly. Hop immediately threw himself off of Gloria covering his face to hide his embarrassment.

"Sorry.. mate'." Hop murmured.

He turned to look at his buddy and she nodded, as a sign to say he'd been forgiven. Hop got up and cleaned himself up before lending a hand to Gloria. She grabbed his arm and Hop and successfully pulled her up back on her two feet. She also cleaned herself off of the dirt.

~~~

The rest of the walk was awkward. Neither one of them had said anything to eachother the rest of the way. That was until hop broke the silence.

"Look Gloria! It's Lee!" Hop shouted.

She went to look ahead and spotted him right outside the Wedgehurst station.

The Champion showed off his bright smile, It looked a lot like hops. Gloria grinned to herself. The Champion began to do his signature pose, and the nearby crowd cheered.

"Hello, hello Wedgehurst! Your champion, Leon, is back!" Leon announced.

"I promise I'll keep doing my best to deliver the greatest battles for you all to watch!"

The crowd continued to cheer and compliment the Champion. Hop and Gloria had finally reached the Champion. Leon went on about answering questions and hyping up the fellow fans that come across him.

"Lee!" Hop hollered across.

The Champion, Leon, Looked across the crowd and spotted his younger brother.

"Hop!" He called out.

The crowd moved out of the way to let the Champion greet one of his loved ones. Leon made his way to Hop and greeted him, and mentioning about how different he had looked since he had last seen his younger brother. Leon had turned around to notice someone oddly familiar.

"Why don't I know you? Hm let's see..." He studied Gloria, swearing he had seem a familiar face before.

"Oh yes! Gloria! Our friendly neighbor! Long time no see huh? You look a lot different too! I'm glad to see you and Hop have been growing alongside one another!"

"That's right!" Gloria agreed.

The three of them laughed together, And of course, Hop bet that he'd be able to beat both Leon and Gloria to a race back in postwick.

"That Hop.. Always wanting to be one step ahead right?" Leon asked as he glanced over at Gloria.

"You're right, But that makes Hop, Hop. He's different than others, I like that. He's one of a kind." Gloria replied.

Leon continued to look at Gloria before smiling, He definitely knows something has been going on between them. Leon turned around to face the crowd full of fans and letting off a farewell message to all of them, followed by his signature pose. Gloria smiled and went to catch up to Hop. While Leon did the same.