- the long story about lucas! read if you want or don't idc,, hop is my oc now sorry
while my oc diverges from the canon story there are still some spoilers for the game below!!
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lucas was born and raised w hop right next door. lucas had always been kind of a quiet weird kid obsessed with fish and by extension water pokemon, and didn't get out much because he would spend most of his time watching documentaries. his mom was pretty protective, and his dad passed away due to some pokemon related incident, so he didn't have many friends. hop's wooloo's damaged their mailbox and accidentally ate their plants so hop came over to apologize and help them fix it up- so that's how lucas met him! hop befriended lucas immediately being an equally weird kid, and they spent a lot of their time talking about the various pokemon they loved. hop was obsessed with becoming the #1 champion like his brother. lucas grew to dislike leon due to the fact that he upset hop's family through never visiting and didn't seem all that bright like hop was.
lucas never really had aspirations of becoming a gym challenger like hop, but he did end up watching some matches at hop's prodding and grew a big 'admiration' for raihan and an equally huge crush on nessa. when hop and lucas turn 16, leon finally visited because they were now old enough to become gym challengers themselves. lucas wasn't particularly enthused and equally unimpressed upon meeting leon for the first time, he hates that leon is pretty apathetic towards anything besides gym battles and being #1. but lucas decides to become a trainer alongside hop at his prodding, and while he was super (like really REALLY) enthusiastic upon being gifted his beloved sobble (moscow) he becomes worried and frustrated when leon asks lucas to be his brothers rival. since hop seemed alright with it, and is his best and only friend, lucas goes along with it.
after leaving home, with his mothers reluctant permission, there's obviously a ton of experiences lucas goes through that he's never had before. he misses home but finds he loves traveling as well. eventually he meets up with hop and his scorbunny nick at nessa's gym and nearly has a heart attack upon meeting her for the first time, and beating her! he's pretty good at this trainer thing.
he dyed his hair blue for a short period after that, and refuses to take the water uniform off for a long time after that.
he becomes very close to marnie, and eventually develops an attraction to her as well. before he could ask marnie out she comes out to him as a lesbian, something he hadn't known was possible before, but supports her whole heartedly. she seems surprised he hadn't known it existed, confessing she though him and hop were an item. a weird rival couple, but an item none the less.
lucas is left to ponder this as he fights hop a few more times, winning each one to his friends odd excitement, before arriving at the final gym. as lucas fights raihan he realizes his feelings towards raihan was similar to nessa, and after the battle consults marnie about it. she informs him about bisexuality and lucas realizes he feels more towards hop than friendship.
lucas wins against leon, to everyone including leon's shock, and becomes the #1 champion. hop seems equally disappointed and ecstatic for him and lucas feels decently guilty towards that. however, it's not lucas' desire to continue to fight in gym battles so he ends up stepping down, giving hop his place as the new #1 instead. after all the commotion, he ends up with hop in private and confesses his feelings towards him. hop seems shocked but then excited in his usual way of his, admitting his feelings towards lucas- apparently he was smitten towards him from the first day they met. lucas' grumpy face as he berated him and his wooloo for eating his beloved plants.
eventually lucas moves out of his mothers house and decides to settle down in the galar region, in Hulbury. it's full of water types for him and he enjoys helping fortify nessa's gym and standing in for the leader when she's busy with modeling. it gives him a taste of his prior gym champion experience while still following his passion- marine biology. he goes out sailing/boating when he feels that taste for adventure but otherwise stays at his house in Hulbury studying water pokemon and regular fish. hop is still the #1 champion (despite never being able to win against his boyfriend) and since gym season tends to be long, he lives with lucas on his off seasons. he makes it a point to visit lucas every off season, not being like leon and being away for extended periods of time, and always brings him some new water pokemon or trinkets. lucas visits hop very frequently during the on seasons as well, because he doesn't enjoy being away from him that long.
as hop grows older he tired of the life that comes with being the #1 champion, and steps down as well to move to Hulbury with lucas, who brings his beloved cinderace and full team with him. hop proposes and the two end up get married. they travel more together, filling out their pokedex's for fun and also just spending more time together. but they settle down more in their later years and adopt two siblings, a boy and his younger sister. hop is the designated house husband because lucas has a job and still has to go out sometimes but otherwise they raise them together. hop provides for the house by fishing when he can, setting up his own little fishing stand, and also selling some of his rarer pokemon to eager young trainers. nick and moscow are spoiled and will never be sold, despite their high level and strength.
(hop regales them with stories about being trainers, and pretends not to realize when he gifts them their starter pokemon- Grookey their son takes and their daughter adopts Sobble)
