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The first time you met him, it was out of the blue. You’ve never met him before in your life, but his sudden appearance in your life is such a welcoming surprise.
You were just a youngster from Postwick, about to start on a Pokémon journey with your best friend Hop coming by to greet you and escort you to Leon, his big brother and the reigning Champion of Galar. Your mom gladly sent you off as you went after Hop to his house, where he was having a talk with his mom about where his big brother could be. Both you and Hop then went over to Wedgehurst to meet up with the Champion at the train station.
Along the way, however…
*THUD!*
Someone had bumped into you while running, with you crashing down to the ground.
“Ouch! Oh, Arceus!” he groaned in pain as he tried to recover from the impact. You were groaning in pain as well.
“Whoa, calm down there, man!” Hop said as he tended to you and helped you up, before tending to the guy who bumped into you.
“Wait, Victor? Is that you?” he asked in surprise upon seeing the guy’s face.
“Hop, my man!” the guy answered as he and your buddy hugged.
“Mate, ya feelin’ good? Coming all this way to find Lee, huh?”
“Yeah, can’t wait to meet your champion brother! I’ve heard that he’s stopping by your hometown, so I thought I’d go and consider meeting up with you.
“By the way, who’s this—” the guy, who you now know as Victor, turned his attention to you, with his face in regretful shock as he covered his mouth with his hand and gasped. “Oh my! I’m so sorry, miss! Did I hurt you badly?”
“No, no… not too hurt, but you did leave me in a daze,” you answered as you blinked your eyes and waved your hand a bit while still recovering from the bump.
“Oh my, I’m so sorry! I should’ve looked where I’m going and slow down whenever I’d be seeing someone in my way.”
“Don’t worry, it’s not this bad. But yeah, you better be careful next time there, mate.”
You then turned your attention to Hop. “So, you two know each other?”
“Yeah, we’ve been best mates for a while now. I first met him here in Wedgehurst and we hung out sometime in his hometown,” he answered. “This is Victor, and he comes all the way from Motostoke,” he continued as he motioned his hand to his best friend.
He then proceeded to do the same with you. “And Victor, this is Gloria, my fellow neighbour and aspiring Pokémon trainer like us.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Gloria,” he said as he extended his hand out to you for a handshake.
“Nice to meet you too, Victor,” you responded as you accepted the handshake.
Then, you three heard a crowd nearby, cheers ringing in your ears.
It looked like the Champion of Galar had just arrived at the station entrance.
“Hey, guys! I think Champion Leon is here!” you exclaimed as you turned your attention to the station entrance. You three then got a move-on to join in the crowd.
As you were hearing Leon’s inspirational speech and the crowd’s interactions with him, Hop was reaching out to him by waving his arm up, and the two brothers managed to meet up and interact with compliments and all.
Soon enough, Leon got to introduce himself to you… and Victor.
“The… unbeatable Leon?” your nearby acquaintance remarked.
“It’s nice to meet you, Champion!” was your greeting.
But, then…
“Come on, Lee! And you both, Gloria and Victor! Bet I can beat you all back home!”
You and Victor witnessed as your common mate immediately ran off.
“That Hop… always wanting to be the best, isn’t he?” Leon commented.
“You bet!” Victor replied while chuckling. You yourself only hummed a giggle and nodded.
“With a proper rival of his own, I bet he’d push himself to become something truly special…” the Galar Champion continued.
“A proper rival…?” you muttered while clasping your chin with one of your hands.
And then, you and Victor saw Leon turning his attention back to the crowd, closing his speech and meeting with them. As he did the Charizard pose, you both smiled in amusement.
And after receiving the crowd’s waving gestures of goodbye… the Galar Champion ran off in the same direction, following his younger brother who happened to be witnessing him from afar, with them both running back home.
“Well… like brother, like brother!” you giggled while stating it.
“Hop surely looks up to him as his role model,” your fellow acquaintance remarked.
“Make no mistake about it, he’s an inspirational ace!”
“I aim to be stronger… and beat him someday.”
You chuckled as you then responded, “Ows…? I myself, too, aim to beat him someday and become Champion!”
Looks like a rivalry was slowly brewing between you and your acquaintance.
“Well, good luck to us, Gloria!” Victor exclaimed with a grin.
“Good luck to us, indeed, Victor!” you answered back with your own smirk. And then, the both of you simply giggled at each other.
“Anyway, Gloria… it’s great to meet ya! And… once again, my apologies for earlier.”
“No worries about it! By the way, wanna be mates? Not that it means that we’ll be travelling together if you don’t want to…”
Victor extended his hand out to you once again, smiling. “Sure! Perhaps you and I will go on our own journeys, but… it’ll be great to have some battle companions from time to time.”
“Great! I look forward to our cooperation in the future, Victor.” You then accepted his handshake once again, smiling in return.
“Now, then… shall we go follow Hop and Leon?”
“Indeed, we shall!”
And so, both you and Victor began running your way to Hop and Leon’s residence.
Indeed, this was just the beginning. Once you would get your starter Pokémon, your journey as Pokémon trainer would finally start.
Good luck to all trainers entering this race; whoever wins gets to become the next Galar Champion!