Sun And Lillie Vs. The World (The Sequel to Heart of a Champion)

Chapter 5- A Showstopping Performance

The next 3 matches followed. Leaf made an amazing showing against Gold and won 6-5. After that a battle of two intense trainers in Calem and Brendan ended 6-5 in Brendan's favor, the home crowd certainly helped with that. Lastly, to cap the night, Dawn pulled a stunning upset over my friend Leon 6-5 to solidify something I was already thinking. I'm a bit of an outlier. I'm the only Champion from my first tournament still in play this year. I then went out to the interview table as custom to field questions from the 8 Networks. I sat on the edge by Brendan. Kanto asked Leaf a question about how she thought she was going to do against me and she answered humbly. Which I greatly appreciated. Johto asked Leaf about her battle. Hoenn asked Brendan but this time about the crowd. Sinnoh's people were absolutely thrilled and excitedly asked Dawn about being the "Next Cynthia". Dawn answers about her own legacy rather than continuing Cynthia's and that was an answer I could greatly respect. Unova asked me about my retirement and how much it was effecting my mindset. I answered, "Not in any negative way...I just feel like it would be a really cool thing to be the only 3 time champion and go out on top. Im not taking anything lightly, and really I'm not feeling pressured to do it or anything." Kalos came next and asked Leaf about how she was feeling in her first tournament. The Alolan crew came up and asked me, "You had said the other day that Kahili might take over for you...how do you think she would do in this Tournament?" I shrugged, "I don't know. I think she'd do alright, she has a lot of potential and has been in some tight battles with me in the past." Lastly the Galar representative asked Dawn about the future of her career and then we dispersed and went back to the hotel.

The next morning I got up and was ready to go. As usual I had much more energy on match days than any usual day. I got up and did some stretches on the balcony outside the hotel room. Lillie got up and joined me, it was cool to have someone who loved doing the same things as you by your side all the time. I didn't bother eating or anything this morning. I was still deep in thought about how I would deal with Leaf's team, which included an opposing Raichu and was captained by a tough Venusaur. I'm thinking that it'll be up to me to make good calls in 50/50 situations if we're going to win. Elio was sitting in his bed still, I had let Ninetails out to play with him and they ended up falling asleep together. Elio was so gentle and nice to Ninetails and I think he got that natural kind of love from his mother. My family and I walked to the locker room to get ready for my match later and on the way I was met by Leon. "Leon!" I called to him, he turned to me and smiled "Sun! Lillie! How are you guys?" Lillie smiled and answered, "Everything's going great thanks Leon!" He shrugged and then noticed Elio, who had run over to him and hugged him, he tilted his head and looked at me, "Sun is this Elio?" I nodded and laughed, "Yup sure is, you're his favorite besides me." He laughed and hugged Elio. "That's awesome! Thanks for the support buddy." Elio smiled and thanked him and then walked back to Lillie's side. We continued in to the locker room where it was just us and Dawn. I talked with her for a bit before my family left and my name was called to go out and battle.

Leaf had taken the field and was received relatively well. I made my entrance this time to the tune of "Amongst the Waves", one of my favorite songs that I played back during my island challenge.

I did my usual fanfare and antics before once again making my way to the box to start the battle. The battle started and the crowd roared. This was a rarity though, for maybe the only time ever in my world championship battling career I lost a pokemon first, and it was Metagross. That was rough. 0-1. Lycanroc and Incineroar managed to rally us back to 3-3 by the midway point though, so while we started slow we were starting to pick it up. Leaf was faster than me though. I couldn't help but feel slow and disappointed every time she reacted to something quicker than I did. Whimsicott fell and my back was against the wall. 4-3 and it was just Ninetails and Raichu. Ninetails managed to trade out his life, but that worried me, I was now in the worst position I had ever been in. 4-5 with Raichu having to face his counterpart and then a Venusaur. Fortunately he was able to better his counterpart rather easily, as he was much more used to moving in the sand and was just generally sharper. That left just the Mega Venusaur. The thing about Raichu though...this was his element. The bigger the better in terms of opponents for him. Speed was Raichu's forte, and no matter how much damage that massive Venusaur can take Raichu will be able to evade and connect. I was right and he did it. He felled it with a huge thunder and I lifted him up in the air as he secured me the 6-5 Victory. I walked over to Leaf and congratulated her on a great
battle. I was moving on to my 3rd Finals, I couldn't wait. Lumiose City, I've never been there before but it's gonna be a lot of fun.

After that match I ran to the locker room and hugged Elio and Lillie. May was there too. I looked up from the hug, "What's up May?" She smiled, "Just wanted to congratulate you guys, that was an awesome match, I've got to watch my friend Brendan now but I just wanted to say that before you left." I nodded, "Thanks." She left and then Elio looked up at me. "Dad you're the best! Raichu was so good!" I laughed, "Yeah it really is all about my team. I may not be the best anymore but they sure are." Lillie shook her head and spoke sternly, "Sun, why do you think they fight so hard. They wouldn't do it if they didn't believe in you to lead them there. I think they have a lot of respect for you and I think that you're just as important to them as you always have been." I stared at her blankly, she really did always know just what to say. "Th-thanks Lil." She nodded and then hugged me again. Just then I felt a buzz in my pocket, Hau was calling. I answered the video call, when I did I was met by Hau, Mallow, and Stella, who was looking intently at the screen. "Hey guys! How's everything going there?" Mallow answered this time, "Great! Stella is really easy to care for, she was watching the match though and saw someone in the crowd that she was a huge fan of, and she's been fixated ever since." I scratched the back of my head, "Thanks for that. I'm sure she saw May, she barely reacts to anyone on tv besides me and Lillie like that." Hau laughed and Stella began to wander off the screen. "Anyway Sun, that was an amazing battle! I really thought Leaf had you for a second there." I chuckled nervously, "Yeah I thought so too, that Raichu though, always there when I need him. Wait till I tell my dad about that one heheh." Lillie shouted from the corner where she was watching Elio play with one of the punching bags, "Never doubted it for a second!" Everyone laughed.

The hotel room that night was very peaceful. Everyone was tired from a long and in my case stressful day. The last match of the day had been very entertaining. All things considered I had expected Dawn's momentum to carry her through to the finals but I was proven wrong. Brendan ended up getting a huge boost from the home crowd and winning 6-5. That meant that I would be going up against him in the finals in Lumiose City. I would usually stay in Slateport for another day under normal circumstances, but Lillie and I were so excited to go see Lumiose City that we decided we would leave first thing tomorrow. I received a call from Gladion, we didn't talk as much nowadays as we used to but it was nice to get a call from him every now and then. "Hey Gladion what's happening?" He chuckled, "Not much, I'm just in a pretty good mood, I went to go visit Hau and Mallow and I got to be with Stella for a bit." Gladion had taken quite a liking to Stella for whatever reason. I don't know whether he was just a particularly proud uncle or what. He never seemed the same way about Elio but maybe I'm just overanalyzing things. "That's great Gladion. Is she alright?" He nodded, "Yeah she's fine, all joking aside I just wanted to tell you to take good care of her. She reminds me a lot of my sister when we were younger. I'd rather her not have to go through the same things as Lillie though." I agreed "Don't worry Gladion I will." Gladion continued, "Beyond that though...I found out something interesting." "What's that?" "Apparently Lei- y'know Kukui's kid- is a really gifted battler. He's only 9 or so but he's a real prospect at that trainer's school of his. I think he may be the Champion a few years after you're done." Now that was interesting, I could definitely see Kukui's fire for battle getting passed down to his kid. "That'll be interesting to see Gladion. But before you go I wanted to ask you...I know I've been saying Kahili's name as the next champion, but to tell you the truth I'd also like you or Hau to do it if you're interested." I heard Gladion considering, "As much as I'd love to...I'm not sure if that's for me. Not to mention I have plans on starting my own family soon...yeah I'll consider it but I'm not sure I'm the right guy." I sighed, "You are. But only if you want to. See ya Gladion." I hung up. I then joined and snuggled up to Lillie.

                Author's Note
This third tournament is a lot about Sun's doubts about himself more than his opponents. He feels all the time like he's already too old for this, and might not be worthy of completing. As usual though, Lillie always keeps him in check and helps him. Thanks for reading!