ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ

"Thanks, mate. I'm really glad you were the one here with me."

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

"𝒟𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝓉𝑜𝑜 𝒸𝑜𝓃𝒻𝒾𝒹𝑒𝓃𝓉, 𝓂𝒶𝓉𝑒! 𝑀𝑒 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓂𝓎 𝒫𝑜𝓀é𝓂𝑜𝓃'𝓋𝑒 𝒷𝑒𝒸𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝒶 𝓁𝑜𝓉 𝓈𝓉𝓇𝑜𝓃𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒢𝓎𝓂 𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓃𝑔𝑒!"

A portrayal of Hop, the Rival of Pokemon Sword and Shield

Penned by #Blistre

More info below

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

//so im 100% making a Z-A muse soon. Probably Paxton or Harmony (leaning more towards Harmony) but if anyone has alternatives I'm open to suggestions.

[𓂃 ࣪˖ ִֶָ𖹭 𝓜𝘪𝘴𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 .ᐟ @kalosdetects]

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⠀ ˚꒦꒷🔎꒷．𝗧𝙷𝙴 𝙶𝚁𝙴𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚂𝚃 𝙳𝙴𝚃𝙴𝙲𝚃𝙸𝚅𝙴
𝙸𝙽 𝙺𝙰𝙻𝙾𝚂 .ᐟ ˚﹆

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[ᅠᅠ𝓣͟𝙖𝙪𝙣͟𝙞𝙚ᅠ.ᐟ (Spoilers !! ) @MZLEADERR]

ᅠᅠFORᅠᅠWHATᅠᅠIT'SᅠᅠWORTHᅠᅠ,
ᅠᅠIᅠᅠMUSTᅠᅠPROTECTᅠᅠLUMIOSEᅠᅠ.

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

I could say the same about any of my pokemon! Mega Cinderace... maybe mega Dubwool!

[➪ᅠ ᅠ 𝐃𝐀𝐃𝐃𝐘'𝐒 𝐌𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 @CeruleanBolts]

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[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

"Kira- we can't eat the little guy!"

Another small laugh, leaning down for a moment to let the little pokemon hop up into his hands.

"But he can hop into the mouth of a Dondozo to give it a bunch of power boosts!"

[Kira Kouyou @GalarGreatest]

"Ay! It's a little sushi roll! Did y'bring back a recipe to go along with it-ya?"

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

"It's a good thing I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, ain't it?"

A small chuckle as he reaches into a pouch to pull out a pokeball, tossing it on the ground.

"This little guy is called Tatsugiri!"

[Kira Kouyou @GalarGreatest]

"Hngh." sulky grumble. "... Don't think you're off the hook yet for abandoning me _again_, ahou." grumble grumble, pout- "...WannaSee." damnit, he struck her weak spot!! The FIEND!!!

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

"Kira..."

A small sigh, taking a step forward.

"How about we stop thinking about that, yeah? I'm back now, I'm not married, and we can hang out!"

A small smile, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't you wanna see all the new pokemon I met?"

[Kira Kouyou @GalarGreatest]

"I dunno... Y'could've decided to live in Galar with your new wife. I'm real surprised you hadn't come back earlier to hang out with Lee."

Or, you know, with her.
Oops! The puffed up cheeks are back again!

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

"A shotgun wedding??? No!"

Putting a hand over his face for a moment. God damn it Gloria...

"You're gonna believe something Gloria of all people says? Besides, if I actually got married to someone over there I wouldn't have come back to you, would I?"

Think, Kira...

[Kira Kouyou @GalarGreatest]

"....?? Gloria said that the only reason y'took off for that long was because of a... hummm... a shotgun wedding-ya?"

Which explains a lot. The traitor.

"Marnie agreed."

Another traitor it seems-
ShouldHaveSentThemMoreSouvenirs

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

Blink. Blink.

"My WHAT?"

Where'd that even come from???

"I don't have a wife!?!?"

[Kira Kouyou @GalarGreatest]

"Hnnn..." she looks back at him, not a hint of mockery of joking on her face, before- "Where's your wife-ya?"

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

"You're right, I could have... I tried but I was really busy checking out all the new pokemon over there!"

Scratching the back of his head awkwardly as she looked around...

"You okay?"

[Kira Kouyou @GalarGreatest]

"Y'could've stayed in contact more!" whiiineee-- and the puffed cheeks remain puffed.

She furrows her brow slightly, then glances around as if looking for something or someone. In the end she just lets out a confused sound

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

He expected something like that...

"I'm sorry, Kira! You know I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that!"

Slowly taking steps towards her.

"I missed you though!"

[Kira Kouyou @GalarGreatest]

"Hmph! So I guess y'DO still remember me!"

Sulky Champ is sulking!!

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

Uh oh... On one hand, best friend is here to greet him! On the other... he hasn't seen her in six months and she looks mad.

A tentative wave...

"Hey Kira!

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

He's back! Six months of study and research in Paldea later!

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

"I know you will!"

Seeing her grin only made his even brighter, holding up a fist in the air as he looked at her.

"Who knows, maybe next time the gym challenge rolls around I'll be the one knocking YOU down from your title!"

[Kira Kouyou @GalarGreatest]

His excitement is contagious - it always is. Every time he smiles at her, she always finds herself smiling back before she even realizes it. This moment is no different. +

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

stronger!

"Just you wait, I'll be able to give ya a real challenge before ya know it, Kira!"

He sounds almost like a kid again! Seems like his spark for battling is finally returning...

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

"I know, I know, it was a one time thing! I'll be fine, you know I've pushed myself harder before."

Thinking back to their original gym challenge, he really pushed himself to the breaking point just to try and stand a chance against her... but he's older now! He can do more! Be-

[Kira Kouyou @GalarGreatest]

"Hnn... Are you going to be okay though-ya? You're also putting a lot of hours into being an assistant, and learning about being a prof and stuff. I like battling together, but y'shouldn't push yourself TOO hard, or y'might get sick..." Worry worry ! ! ! +

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

the back of his head.

"It's... kinda a way of proving how serious I am 'bout the stuff we talked about before? It sounded like you didn't believe me, so I wanna prove it to you."

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

He knew that, nodding along to what she was saying.

"It was a surge of inspiration, it's not gonna happen again. I just so happened to spend a few hours thinking about you and... yeah. I had the idea. Then I got carried away."

Another small laugh, bringing a hand up to scratch-

[Kira Kouyou @GalarGreatest]

DID SHE FORGET TO HELP HIM BRUSH HIS DUBWOOL!? DID SHE--- ... oH! None of all the thoughts that came to mind!

"Really-ya?" perks up! It doesn't happen TOO often someone actually wants to battle her even a second time, let alone the amount of battles they've had! +

[ʜᴏᴘ ᴡᴏᴏᴅʀᴏᴡ @ProfessorShield]

Watching her think for a moment before just letting out an exasperated sigh. There's no use in letting her guess forever.

"I was up all night training with my team. I've decided I want to be your rival again. I'm going to give you a real challenge this time!"

[Kira Kouyou @GalarGreatest]

"Ay?" she blinks and points at her face "Hnnn..." no matter how she thinks, she doesn't think anything is happening... There's no exhibition match scheduled for another three weeks. She's preeetty sure she doesn't owe him a fossil or anything...