The Heart of a Champion

Chapter 8- The Birth of a Rivalry

Lillie POV

Great, now I was actually crying. In front of mother no less. She chuckled and smiled, "That Sun, never a boring moment when he's around huh." I sort of nodded and just looked down at the floor. He really did remember me, and I finally understood why he couldn't communicate with me for so long with how much pressure was on him...sure he looks fine on the outside, but I knew him well enough to know that he was really under pressure before that match. Still though, he took time after the biggest moment of his life, and all he wanted was to see me. "M-mother- I-I want to go see the match tomorrow, Would you- would you mind if I-" She covered her mouth with her hand and giggled, "Of course sweetie, I can tell it means a lot- to both of you, heheh." As usual she made me blush. Besides that though I was happy and immediately began to prepare myself to go out tomorrow. This excitement I felt was something I hadn't felt since I left Alola.

Sun POV

I jogged back through the tunnel I had come from pumping my fist. I arrived back in the locker room, it looked like Iris had already left but Leon was still there taking it all in while Diantha exited to make her walk.
I sat down by him and just folded my hands and looked up. This was so unbelievable I couldn't-. Leon patted me on the back, "Sun, that was one of the greatest things I have ever seen. The people who said all that about you before the match...I don't think they feel all too good right now." I laughed, "Thanks Leon, you know you weren't half bad either. That Charizard battle is one I'll certainly never forget." He smiled, "Yeah of course, it was so much fun! I feel bad for Iris though... that's a rough way to go in your first World Championship." I nodded, "Yeah, she'll be ok though, knowing her she's probably working on some new tricks for next time already." "Probably, yeah." I looked over at the TV, Lance had come out to a commanding 3-1 lead. I sort of guessed by the crowd reaction. They loved Lance. A while passed and finally Lance won 6-4. That meant the Semifinals were set for tomorrow. Leon vs Cynthia and Me vs Lance. Afterwards an official came to us and told us to go meet in the middle of the now empty stadium. They had set up a table for the end of day press conference. The winners of the matches had to attend and field questions from all the media outlets from all the participating regions. I sat down at my seat at the table between Leon and Cynthia. The first question came from Kantonian News Network...of course it did. "Champion Leon..." Cool they ignored me, maybe I finally shut them up heh. After that Johto's network asked Lance, "Champion Lance, after a dominant performance against Diantha today, how do you see your battle with Champion Sun tomorrow going?" Lance leaned in to the microphone, "More of the same. Sun has so many holes in his game and he showed it today. I will exploit those and quickly and easily crush him." I glared over to him "I invite you to try Lance." He looked over at me dismissively"You've faced no competition in Alola and you're far too rash. You don't have a chance against me." I leaned back, "Ah well. At least I don't unironically wear a cape everywhere I go because I think it makes me look cool." Leon leaned back in his chair and nearly fell over laughing, even Cynthia snickered behind her hand. The media members even had to suppress their laughter. Lance was fuming but the next question was already being asked so he had to keep it to himself. The Hoenn News representative asked, "Champion Sun, your battle with Steven was very exciting, what do you think of the Hoenn brand of battling?" I leaned in so I could be heard clearly "It's absolutely electric! Never a dull moment, I was on my toes to the very end. Either of us could have won really, I got the better of him today though. That being said it was an honor battling Steven and I hope he has a safe flight home." Next up was the Sinnoh Network, who asked Cynthia about her next matchup, Cynthia replied in a much more calm and respectful manner than my opponent had. The Unova network decided to ask Cynthia about the possibility of having battles in Unova in the next Tournament, she said it was definitely on top of her list. Kalos News then surprisingly had a question for me, "Champion Sun, you mentioned your friend Lillie in the post match interview... why haven't you seen her in so long and what prompted you to use that platform to reach out to her." That was an interesting question, I scratched the back of my head as I answered, "Heheh, yeah, we've been friends for a long time, but she left Alola before the rotom phone was popularized and I don't think she's been able to access one since, so I've had little to no way of contacting her over these years, hopefully the largest tv event of the world would be on somewhere near her so she can get my message." As the next reporter stepped up I yelled "Hey! How are you guys doing!" It was the all too familiar Alolan news crew. "Good, Champion, thank you! We wanted to ask you what this victory means for your home region." I nodded "It means everything! We're finally respected by everyone internationally-" I was cut off by Lance "No you're not. Everyone knows you got lucky." Without thinking I looked directly at the camera and said, "If anyone wants some easy money, bet on me beating Lance by a score better than 6-5, I'm gonna make this clown pay for his disrespect. I've been waiting to do so since he tried to lock us out at the meeting." With that I left the stage early, I knew the Galar News Network wasn't going to ask anyone a question but Leon so I fixed my mic back, gave Lance one last glare and exited through the tunnel.

I punched the wall of the tunnel on my way out. Just like that the pressure was back on. Thanks to Lance I still don't have the respect of everyone yet. And just in case I might have secured Alola a permanent spot with the last win, it certainly didn't seem like it now since I bet big on myself in the next match. I wish I would've been calmer, but what's done is done, I decided to talk the talk, now I had to focus on walking the walk.

Lillie POV

I walked over to the break room to go talk with the staff and tell them my plans for tomorrow. There weren't many there but the ones that were were avidly discussing what had just happened on TV. "Oh, hey Lillie." One of them greeted me. "Hi, what's going on?" the other nurse in the room sighed. "That Sun guy from Alola got into an argument with Lance at the post match press conference. He talked like he was gonna beat Lance easily, that's what he thinks. We all know Lance is gonna crush him though." I clenched my fists and yelled, "That's not true!" They looked at me with wide eyes and then I sort of sheepishly calmed back down, "Erm- sorry..." They continued to look at me before one of them said, "Hey speaking of which, right before that, Sun had mentioned someone named Lillie, that's not you is it?". "Yeah he was talking about me! We were good friends before I left, I haven't seen him in forever though..." The nurse nodded, "Ah sorry." I shook my head, "No problem, you didn't know, plus I'm going to go see the match tomorrow!" I held up the tickets Sun had sent me. "Wow that's amazing Lillie! Enjoy your time!" I nodded. I couldn't get it out of my head though that Sun had gotten in to a heated argument with someone though. It didn't seem like him, this must be a really personal match for him. I want to support him as best I can.

Sun POV

I left the arena after I slung my backpack over my shoulder. Kukui was waiting for me at the exit. He hugged me immediately. He was almost in tears. "Thank you so much Sun, that was a wonderful match." I nodded, "No problem. I'm sorry about the press conference though." He sighed, "Not much you can do, I hate that it puts even more pressure on you for tomorrow but other than that I doubt I would've reacted much differently." I shook my head, I realized something in the tunnel. I had no pressure on me really. I had proven that I can hang, and Lance is the only one here with everything to lose. I still have much more to gain than lose. "Burnet probably really wants to see you, want to go back?" I nodded. We arrived at the hotel again but people were colder to me than usual. I suspect that it may have been because I am the arch enemy of their favorite remaining champion. Either way we reached the professors' room, Burnet was sitting on the end of her bed and was absolutely ecstatic. I walked over and hugged her and she described to me in great detail how great I looked and how cool the match was. I thanked her, and then said goodnight and left for my suite. Almost as soon as I got there I received a call from my Mom. "Hey Mom!". "Sun I'm so proud of you! that was amazing! We had a giant watch party in Iki Town, Hala, Hau, and even Gladion came to watch! Your Dad called me too, he said he saw it as well and he couldn't be prouder, he couldn't stop telling everyone at the labaratory that the guy on TV was his son!" she laughed and I did too, "That sounds like him." I continued, "I'm looking forward to the match tomorrow too, are you guys gonna watch that one as well?" She replied "Of course we are, the whole group was super excited to come back, well I wouldn't call Gladion excited I guess...he said he was gonna call you though." After that we said our goodbyes and I fielded the call from Gladion, I answered "He-" "DO. NOT. LOSE. TO. HIM." I paused, I wasn't shocked this is what he was calling about, "I'm not going to, I've never been more sure of myself to win anything. I meant what I said at the conference." He replied, "Good. Good luck Sun." He then hung up. Gladion really never changes. I went over to Nebby and pet him again. You'd think he'd be bored by now, but constantly being in a comfortable place with the sun in the day really brings out his inner housecat. I once again went through my night time routine and went to bed. I had probably the biggest day of my life coming up. I had to face a world caliber rival, and I had to do my best to find my friend still.

Author's Note
This part of the story was definitely one of my favorites to write. I'm trying to make this feel like a real sporting event as best I can. That being said, do you guys like any sports? I like a lot of them and I feel like that's what makes pokemon battling fun to write about. Thanks again!