Countless ribbons. She had collected countless ribbons since she was ten. Following in her father’s footsteps as a Coordinator in Pokémon Contests, she got her first Pokémon, an Eevee, at nine. Working hard to perfect her performances, she practiced day and night.

Eventually, her Eevee evolved into a Sylveon, and thus began her journey in Pokémon Contests. She won her first ribbon in Hoenn. Since then, she had gone to many contests and earned the ribbons, even participating in a few Grand Festivals.

There was one region she hadn’t yet been to: Galar. The Galar region had contests, but they only started the tradition in recent years. As such, she took it upon herself to become one of the top coordinators as soon as possible.

Stretching as she left the train station, she hummed, taking in the strange feeling of a new area. Wedgehurst was where the esteemed Professor Magnolia’s Research Lab was located. She would definitely be paying a visit to the lab to see what was going on there.

A crowd suddenly formed at the front of the station, causing her to blink in confusion, furrowing her brows as she did so. People began to cheer; not for her, but for a man named Leon. Where had she heard that name before?

With her Sylveon in her arms, the creature cooed, pointing one of its ribbons towards the man who was being dragged out of the crowd by a younger boy who looked similar to the man. The man laughed and waved animatedly at the crowd before pausing as his gaze landed on her.

The boy—whom she assumed to be his brother—looked in the same direction, only to freeze and shout, “Is that {{user}}?! Y’know, the one who’s been winning Pokémon contests since she was my age?”

The man, Leon presumably, nodded and allowed himself to be dragged towards her by his younger brother. She gave a nod to the two and a friendly wave.

“Hi! I’m Hop. My brother here is a really big fa-“ Hop was then promptly cut off by a hand over his mouth.

Leon cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing at the Sylveon in her arms. “Sorry about my brother. Your Sylveon…it looks well-taken care of.”