"We're finally here!" Gloria screamed as she ran through the exit of the Armor station with her hands raised up high in the air. She came to a halt at the beach and glanced around with a big smile on her face. Without hesitation she reached for her bag and grabbed a pokeball out of it, throwing it into the water. Inteleon came flying out of it mid air and elegantly took a dive into the seawater. She probably would've wanted to let Luxio take a dive too, but they decided to leave the new Pokémon at home in Postwick just to be sure. The brown haired girl was readying herself to run into the blue sea too, but was stopped by Hop grabbing her wrist tightly. He shook his head, although he had a big grin on his face. Gloria tilted her head to the side and playfully grabbed his other hand.
"Wanna jump into the water together?" she whispered to him.
"We really shouldn't do that now mate." He responded with a bit of disappointment in his voice.
Gloria knew that he would've jumped into the water with her if it wasn't for Victor standing a few meters behind them, watching them with a judging gaze. Inteleon ran out of the water and came to a halt next to his trainer, shaking himself completely dry. Drops of water flew around them, wetting both Hop and Gloria a little bit.
"Let's move on to the dojo!" Victor shouted at them.
The brown haired boy had a big smile on his face, he was excited after all! He didn't get the chance to train on this island yet, unlike her sister who spent a few months here together with Hop. Gloria and Victor have never been apart for so long, they both found it difficult at first, but got used to it eventually. The twins used to do everything together, especially before their great journey through the Galar region. Victor glanced back for a second. He could see Gloria and Hop walking close to each other, both laughing and having fun together. Victor knew that they had a crush on each other, they've always been closer after all. Why don't they just start dating already? He asked himself as he shook his head.
"Oi, what's wrong Vic? Are ye' sulking 'bout something again?" Gloria's voice suddenly got close to him.
The young girl wrapped one arm playfully around her brother's neck and started messing with his hair with her other hand. Victor did his best to wrestle himself out of his sister's grip, but she was stronger then he was.
"Gloria, oi, cut it out will ya?" He groaned with a bit of annoyance crooking his voice.
With a sly chuckle Gloria let go of her brother and wrapped her arms around each other with a proud, puffed out chest. Inteleon stood beside her and mimicked her expression.
"Gloria I swear to Arceus if you don't-"
"Woah, look at that!" Hop interrupted Victor mid sentence.
The twins looked at their best friend, who was pointing towards the sea. Victor's eyes started glistering immediately. A gigantic Wailord came floating to the surface.
"A dynamaxed Pokémon? Outside of a den?" He asked in disbelief.
Hop and Gloria both started to laugh out loud and shared a glance at each other. They were both thinking the same thing. They both wanted to tease Victor about it, saying that it was a dynamaxed Pokémon indeed. But Hop gave in and put his hands on the back of his head.
"It's a Wailord! That's his usual size!" He explained to him.
"His usual size?" Victor asked in amazement.
But the amazement turned into regret the moment Hop opened his mouth to respond. Gloria was standing next to the purple haired boy glancing at her brother while holding in her laughter. Since Hop started training to become a professor with Sonia he couldn't shut up about Pokémon at all! Once he started talking it was nearly impossible to shut him up.
Hop nodded proudly. "You see, Wailord is also known as the float whale Pokémon! It can dive as deep as three thousand meters in one single breath. If it wasn't for Eternatus, Wailord would've been the largest Pokémon ever recorded! Ah, did you know that a group if Wailords is called a pod, and they-"
"Can't a guy get some peace and quiet to train around here! " An angry voice scowled at them from behind a huge boulder.
Hop and Victor looked at each other in confusion, but Gloria's eyes started to beam up the second she heard the stranger talking. She recognized this annoyed voice all too well, it was her newest rival Avery! His tall yet slender body came walking towards them with big and elegant steps. He was wearing his usual psychic gym trainer clothes with his tall hat. His blonde, long hair was waving neatly by each step he took. The pokeballs that were spinning around his hat started to spin even faster the second he laid his eyes on Gloria and Hop. Avery turned around and mumbled something to himself, but quickly turned back around again.
"Ah, you've come back for more training I see. You'll obviously need it." He said with one twitching eyebrow.
Hop awkwardly laughed, but Gloria just looked at him with an honest smile. She would by lying to herself if she'd say that she didn't miss him. The brown haired girl could see that secretly, he missed her too. Suddenly, Avery's eye fell upon Victor. He looked at him, than back to Gloria, than back to Victor again. Avery came to a halt in front of the kids. With drooped shoulders he stood still and looked at the twins in disbelief. The pokeballs that were flying around his head all dropped to the ground with five loud thuds.
"Please don't tell me there's two of you..." He mumbled in a sad tone, pointing his finger at Gloria.
The young champion started to grin. She and Victor had exactly the same face. If you made Victor's chin more sleek and gave him false eyelashes and a wig, you wouldn't be able to tell the difference! Gloria put her hands on her waist and took a step closer to Victor so they were standing against each other.
"Victor's my twin brother! We're basically the same level of annoying, ain't that so, my dearest brother?" She teased the psychic trainer while giving Victor a nudge with her elbow.
Avery glanced from Gloria to Victor and back to Gloria again a couple of times. He looked at Hop with desperate eyes before letting out a deep sigh.
"Oh, what a cruel world we live in." The blonde haired man said as he started to walk towards the Dojo, his shoulders still hanging down.
Hop tried to hold in his laughter as he looked at Gloria with his hand for his mouth. Victor put his hands on his hips and looked at his sister too, but with a stern look.
"What did you do to that poor man?" He asked her sternly.
Gloria put her hands behind her back and innocently started to follow her newest rival. Hop and Victor shared a look before joining in. It didn't take long before they arrived at the Dojo. Victor was looking around him the whole road. He was amazed by all the new kinds of Pokémon he'd never seen before. They arrived at the Dojo. In front of it was standing an old man next to a beautiful older lady. Avery's shoulders returned to their normal height. The tall man straightened his back and suddenly turned back around with a big smile. Mustard and Honey turned to face Hop, Gloria and Victor. Gloria jumped up and ran forwards. She came to a halt and took a deep bow in front of her old master. Mustard bowed back and shook her hand instead in a respectful manner.
"Gloria, Hop! How good to see you!" Honey kindly said as she wrapped her arms around the brown haired girl to embrace her in a tight hug.
Gloria chuckled and gave her a quick hug in return.
"It's good to see you too, miss! I've really been missing the max-soup mate!" Hop said with a big grin on his face.
Gloria and Honey broke free from the hug. Mustard smiled proudly at his student.
"I can sense you've gotten even stronger than last time you came here. We should have a battle again soon!"
Gloria proudly puffed out her chest and nodded in agreement. "We definitely should!"
Mustard glanced at Victor and nodded at him quickly.
"You must be the famous Victor, am I right?" He asked him calmly.
Victor nervously nodded his head. "Yes sir. I'm Gloria's twin brother. It's an honor to meet you!" he introduced himself.
Mustard let out a chuckle and patted the young boy on his shoulder. "Drop the formalities young one! We're all family here!"
"Oh my, you surely must be hungry from traveling all the way here on such short notice!" Honey interrupted her husband.
Gloria and Hop looked at each other with big eyes. "Yep!" They said in choir.
"Let's all head inside dearies, I'll get ready some max-soup for all of us!"
Gloria put her Inteleon back into its pokeball before they headed inside. She and Hop got greeted by many familiar faces. Victor wandered around the hall a little bit to introduce himself, but many people already recognized him from the T.V. The brown haired boy eyes fell upon Avery. The tall man was standing against a wooden pillar with his arms crossed. He was staring at Gloria with a glister of jealousy in his eye. Gloria told Victor everything about Avery, from him trying to sabotage her training to him actually respecting her as a rival. With a kind smile of his face he stepped towards him.
"I heard a lot about you from Gloria." He softly said to him.
Avery looked at Victor with a tilted head. The poké-balls around his hat started to fly around it a little bit faster due to his nervousness.
"She did?"
Victor nodded and looked at her sister. "She says you're an amazing trainer."
Avery looked back at Gloria. The jealousy in his eyes had switched in an affectionate look instead. Victor smiled and glanced at his sister too. He guessed that Avery must see Gloria as a little sister in some way. What Victor said wasn't a lie either. Gloria described Avery to him as a great trainer with a sad past.
"We should have a battle once while we're here, I'm really curious!" Victor excitedly proposed to him.
Avery turned back to him and nodded with a sly smile.
"Victor!" Gloria yelled as she ran towards her twin brother and Avery, followed by Hop.
She was holding a t-shirt high up in the air. Avery turned beet red when he recognized the design.
"I'll be going now..." He muttered as he walked towards the entrance in embarrassment.
Victor was holding in a snort when he saw the design. It had Avery's face on it, followed by the text Avery 4-ever! Gloria pushed the shirt into her brothers arms and looked at him with shining eyes.
"Are you bloody serious?" Victor asked with a laugh.
Hop and Gloria nodded at the same time.
"We're dead serious." Hop answered.
The brown haired boy took a step back and let out an awkward chuckle. His eye fell upon Mustard and Honey, who were waving at them. The trio turned around and started to follow them to the room where Mustard was living. There was a little boy working hard behind a computer. Victor assumed he was Honey and Mustard's child, probably. They took a seat at the table that was standing in the middle of the room. Victor glanced around curiously. He couldn't help but notice all of the awards standing around the room and hanging on every wall. There was a big picture in a golden raster, it probably was Mustard when he was younger. He was wearing a red cape. Was he a champion once too?
"You three came here for a reason, ain't that right?" Mustard asked them curiously.
Gloria nodded twice. "Yep!"
"We're searching for four scrolls, actually! Wait, lemme just-'' Hop said as his Rotom phone flew out of his pocket.
The Rotom phone floated in front of the old man to show him the pictures of the ancient scrolls hanging in the Vault, back in Hammerlocke. Mustard held his chin carefully between his index finger and his thumb while studying the picture closely. Victor glanced at Gloria and Hop in the meanwhile. They were sitting and moving perfectly in-sync. A weird kind of jealousy started to burn up in his chest. He used to have that kind of connection with Gloria until the darkest day came. He actually turned cold to his sister for a while, which was so unlike him! He softly squeezed his finger, this wasn't the time to think about things like that! Mustard shared a look with Honey.
''If I remember correctly, there might be laying something in the top of either the tower of darkness or the tower of water...'' The old man said in a hushed voice.
The Postwick trio glanced at each other with a big smile on their faces. Gloria jumped up and put both of her hands on the table.
''Can we go and search for them?'' The excitement was shining from her face and loud voice.
Before Mustard could give an answer she walked away from the chair and walked towards the entrance of the room, jumping from leg to leg with excitement.
"We should go right away!" She loudly said as she opened the door an ran outside.
Hop jumped out of his chair too. He bowed quickly in front of Mustard and Honey.
"I'll get going too!" He politely said before following the brown haired girl.
Victor slapped his forehead and let out a deep sigh. He wanted to apologize for his sister's behavior, but Honey let out a kind giggle instead.
"It's so refreshing to have her energy back on this island again, ain't that right love?" She said to her husband.
Mustard nodded and smiled at Victor. "Your sister is an extraordinary person and Pokémon trainer. I'm sure you're a strong one too!"
Victor couldn't help but smile from ear to ear. "She is!" He agreed with a proud puffed out chest.
"Ah, I'll go follow them now. Thank you both for making some time for us!" Victor continued.
The brown haired boy bowed respectfully towards Mustard before following his sister. He made his way outside, but both Hop and Gloria were nowhere to be seen. Victor started to freak out. Leaving his sister alone when there was a possibility of someone stalking her made him feel stupid! Especially after the event in the wild area a few days ago. He started to move forwards. With each step he took he quickened up his pace. His glanced around the area, and to his relief he could see Gloria. She was standing next to Hop. She was laughing, probably about a joke he made to her. A heavy weight got lifted from his chest. Of course Gloria wasn't alone, Hop was with her. The brown haired girl stuck up her hand up in the air once she saw her brother.
"Over here, Victor!" She cheerfully yelled at him.
Hop turned around too and waved at him with both hands. Victor walked over to them. Maybe he was worrying too much. He'd been more careful since the Darkest Day. Honestly, he hasn't been the same ever since that day, the events they went through that day were very traumatic after all. Perhaps he still felt left out. His sister and best friend were the two famous heroes, that saved the Galar region, while he just stood by and watched them risk their lives. Somewhere deep inside, Victor wished that he was the destined hero standing next to his sister that day. The brown haired boy shook his head and stopped walking. He looked at his sister with a smile, but she could notice something was off. She ran towards him and tilted her head.
"Oi, Victor, are you okay?" Her eyes were glistering with worry.
Victor shook his head and glanced back at the dojo. Perhaps, he needed some time to clear his mind. He needed some distraction.
"I think I'm going back to challenge Avery, I'm honestly raging for a battle! You two got this!" He said with a nod.
He leaned in closer to his sisters ear and placed his hand in front of his mouth. "I'm rooting for you, Glo!" He whispered softly with a hint of tease in his voice.
Gloria turned beet red and gave him a karate chop on his head before he could even move his head away.
"A-Are you mental?" She loudly stuttered as she took a few steps back.
''Perhaps I am. I'll be back before you know it!'' Victor answered with a laugh.
Hop just tilted his head at his best friend, but Victor smiled at him with a big smile from ear to ear. He stuck up his thumb at Hop before turning around back towards the Dojo. It'd be good for them if they spend some alone time together. He was one hundred percent sure about Hop's feelings for his twin sister, but it seemed that Gloria hadn't sorted out her own feelings yet. She still had to recognize the feeling herself! Victor glanced around one last time. He could see Gloria and Hop walking away too now. They were walking so close to each other that their shoulders were touching, Gloria was smiling from ear to ear too! For the love of Arceus, please let them get some progress! He whispered to himself before entering the Dojo again to challenge Avery.