The Heart of a Champion

Chapter 9- Reunited

The next morning I woke up early again. I couldn't go back to sleep because of how nervous I was again. I decided I'd call Hau, mostly because he's always cool and I could use that kind of attitude right now. "Sun! Cool to see you haven't forgotten about me yet!" Hau said as he answered, I laughed "Come on Hau, you know I wouldn't ever." Hau immediately replied, "So you're not calling just to talk are you?" I shook my head, not that he could see, "Actually that's pretty much it, I've got a few jitters I mean, you saw how Lance treated me, I'd never let myself live it down if I lost to him." Hau replied in a confused way, "But you aren't going to. I know you better than most, you're not losing to him. In fact I think the media has it all messed up. It's not that you barely have a chance against anyone, it's that any of them barely stand a chance against you." You know what, he's right. I haven't lost before, I'm not gonna start now. "Thanks Hau, I'll make sure to mention you as my competition when I crush that caped idiot." He laughed "That's the spirit Sun, good luck finding Lillie." He then hung up. I blushed a little bit. Hau knew me too well. I walked over to pet Nebby, my other favorite stress relief mechanism, and then got ready for the day ahead. I pulled up the notes I kept on Lance on my phone. He had a Gyarados, Two Dragonites, A Charizard, an Aerodactyl, and lastly he had added a Duraludon to his team this year to counter fairy types. One isn't gonna cut it against me though, he'll find that out. Whimsicott and Ninetails are gonna be huge. I slung my backpack over my shoulder again and fixed my cap to my head as I exited and went to meet Kukui for breakfast. We didn't talk much, I was in a very business-like manner at the moment. I was ready to go in, do my job, and get out best I could.

I split off from Kukui before we reached the stadium, I told him I had to go do something. I made a purchase at a local store (being a champion who packs a stadium consistently pays pretty well you know) and then headed down to the entrance to the locker room, just me and Cynthia in the away locker room today, since Leon had the Kanto crowd with him today. I walked in and set down my backpack as I sat on the bench, "Hey Cynthia." I said as I sat down. Cynthia looked up and nodded, "Hi Sun, you seem different today is something wrong?" I shook my head "Nah, I'm just really focused, sorry I made a mess of things at the press conference." she waved at me, "It's no problem really, if anything it's going to bring in a lot more viewers, people love a good real rivalry." I nodded, "Thanks, I know it took a lot of effort on your part to get me here and I just want you to know that I'm not taking it for granted." Cynthia chuckled, "Like Leon said, it wouldn't really be a World Championship without you would it? Lance probably just feels threatened at his #2 spot after watching you battle Steven like that yesterday." Cynthia was really understanding, it was pretty refreshing to talk to her. "Thanks Cynthia." She nodded, "Anyway I hear the fans packing in now, supposedly because of your match they had to expand the stadium a bit with how many people wanted in, they're packing the suites to the fullest now, I expect maybe 90,000 people. That means I've got a match to catch though, I'll talk to you later Sun." I nodded "Good luck Cynthia, not that you really need it." She laughed, "You too."

The first match of the day started about a half hour later. Leon and Cynthia made their way to the field and the atmosphere in the stadium was like nothing I had ever felt before. Cynthia was probably right about how many people were there. The two champions shook hands and then the battle began shortly after. It was supremely close. Neither gave an inch but Cynthia was leading 3-2 halfway through. Leon's Dragapult was putting on an absolute show after that though. Things I didn't know Dragapults could do were happening right in front of my eyes. The score moved to 3-3, 4-3 Leon, 4-4, 5-4 Cynthia and then finally 5-5. Charizard vs Garchomp was the final match. Cynthia's ace was likely the hardest pokemon to figure out in the world. This proved true, but Leon's Charizard was game. The battle ended in smoke after a move clash, with Cynthia's Garchomp barely standing and Leon's Charizard on the ground. 6-5 Cynthia. That was a great match.

That meant that I was up next though, I grabbed an Alolan flag from my bag. I'm taking the entire region with me to avenge what was said about them. I began to exit as I heard the music before my entrance music start, boos raining from the crowd. I was the bad guy. I can deal with that though. I then started to make my way to the exit of the locker room and into the entrance tunnel-

"Sun!"

I heard an all too familiar voice behind me as I turned around and replied "L-Lillie!?" I immediately abandoned what I was doing and ran over to her and embraced her. It had been too long. We were both crying. Time itself seemed to stop as I held my long lost friend in my arms. I was in a horrible state to be shown on camera, luckily I wasn't yet. I couldn't believe it, she was really here, I was a little taller than her now, but she was still the same Lillie I knew all those years ago. I broke the hug to my own dismay, unfortunately I had a match to get to. "Lillie, I'm so sorry, I have to go to the match right now, but if you don't mind I'd love to see you after, I've missed you so much." She nodded with tears in her eyes, "I want to see you again too, I've missed you too Sun." I walked down the tunnel before I heard behind me, "Sun!" I turned back, "You're going to win. I believe it 100 percent. But win or lose, please come back to me, I don't want to lose you again." I nodded, that was just the motivation I needed. If I had any doubts about winning this they were gone now.

Author's Note
Hopefully that was a good reuniting of the characters there. I thought really hard about how I wanted to go about it and I think the way I did it turned out ok. Sun Vs Lance is up next, I can't really think of anything to ask so, yeah Thanks for reading!