Anders enjoyed his stroll through Wedgehurst, despite what his humorless expression might have let on. Saru walked beside him, continuing to be enticed to follow his Trainer toward the lab by Rawst Berries. Anders wondered if Darumaka outside of Galar shared the same fondness for the small blue fruit.
He arrived at the Research Lab, which was housed within a tall, tudor-style building. Although it looked as though most of the other Trainers had already gone inside, Anders took a moment to collect his thoughts. He was no stranger to the work of Professor Sonia; he had been assigned readings from her works on the Dynamax phenomenon while at the Trainers' School in Jubilife. On one particular occasion, he had stumbled across her photo and blurb on the rear flap of the dust jacket and had thought she was nothing short of stunning, his 14-year old vocabulary not serving him well in expressing his emotions. Anders's admiration for Professor Sonia had developed into somewhat of a crush, though he would never admit it. He was very attracted to intelligence.
Anders smirked slightly at silly fantasies of his first meeting with Sonia as he approached the door of the lab. He stepped inside and stood quietly in the doorway. All joy drained from his face and was immediately replaced by disappointment. He expected to see flowing, peach colored hair cascading gently over the face of a beautiful woman with enchanting blue eyes. Instead, he was greeted by a boy with a goofy grin in average looking clothes.
“Name’s Hop, former Gym Challenger who made it to the Champion Cup, now made professor’s assistant. And, guess what, I’m the old champ’s younger brother and the new champ’s one and only rival-!”
The other Trainers in the room appeared to be wonderstruck by Hop, especially one young man with a Zigzagoon and Rookidee, but Anders just sighed. He decided he would stick around to hear what Hop had to say, as it would undoubtedly be valuable information for his Gym Challenge, but would leave to make his way down Route 2 to Professor Magnolia's house afterwards. He joined the crowd of Trainers in front of Hop.