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

Chapter 10- The Return Begins

Alright Step One is assemble my team. In the training room I whistled which called all 6 pokemon to me (I let Nebby go do sun deity things most of the time, he just stopped by when he felt like it). Ninetails, Whimsicott, Raichu, Metagross, and Lycanroc came racing down the stairs Incineroar just turned to me as he was still playing in the ring. I spoke to them frankly, by now I think they can generally understand what I'm saying. "Alright, as you guys might have guessed I'm going to come back and compete again. So I'll get to the point. I'd love it if all of you came back and joined with me once again, you don't have to, I'd just like you to. That being said if you want to compete come over to me, if not that's fine, just go back to whatever you were doing and know that I don't think any less of you and still appreciate everything you've done." Incineroar, Raichu, and Whimsicott ran excitedly to me. Lycanroc Ninetails and Metagross preferred the home life and decided not to this time. That's ok, they deserve a good retirement. That being said that meant my team was half full. I'm not using Nebby as usual. I'm not stooping to Silvers level. That's the point of this comeback.  So that meant I'd have to string something together, something special... I have an idea. I called a number that I seldom called in my life. I called my old rival and champion of Sinnoh Cynthia. "Sun? This is certainly interesting...why are you calling me at such a time as this? The world finals are about to start you know. Don't you want to watch your colleagues?" I chuckled, "*Former* Colleagues Cynthia. But I think you know me well enough to know that I wouldn't call you for no reason." Cynthia also chuckled, "I know, and I assume it has something to do with that...charming...young Champion from Johto who was talking about you not too long ago." I exhaled, "Yeah you could say that heh. Kid is coaxing me out of retirement, I'm coming back but the problem is...I only have half a team..." Cynthia made a hmm sort of noise, "I got it...so what are you suggesting...?" I smirked, "That Garchomp of yours still have some fire left in her?" Cynthia responded in a surprised tone, "Now that you mention it yeah...yeah she does. If you want to take her with you at some point then just let me know, I'm sure she'd love to compete again." I sighed in relief, "Thank you Cynthia. I'll take good care of her." She chuckled, "I know you will. See you Sun." I hung up then. 4/6 and that 4th was the greatest Garchomp to ever walk the planet. That left 2 more spots to fill. I didnt think I'd get this far though. So now to figure out the last 2...

My first idea was to go to Kukui's lab and see if he has any pokemon staying with him that would be up for battle. I made my way over to Melemele and knocked on the door of the research lab. Lei answered the door, "Mr.Sun! Heard you're gonna be gunning for my title here soon." I sighed, "I'm sorry..." He laughed, "Don't be, can't call myself the best if I'm not actually now can I?" I smiled, "I appreciate you Lei, I really do." He chuckled, "Don't mention it, now what are you doing here?" "Well I came to ask if you guys have any pokemon in the lab who'd be interested in joining up with me?"  He sighed, "Fresh out I'm afraid, we had some more rockruff but they all found some good homes. Best thing I could say for you to do is go catch something ne-" My phone began buzzing with an urgent call from Stella, "...Sorry Lei, it's my daughter." He nodded and closed the door and went back to his parents "Stella? Is everything ok?" "Come back quick this is important!" "Charizard let's go!"I hung up the phone and quickly flew home.

When I got back I saw Stella sitting in the front yard in the tall grass, holding a badly injured Eevee. I ran over and knelt beside it, it was bleeding from it's neck...that's not a good sign at all. "Dad it's hurt bad! Can- can you help-" "I'll do the best I can... Whimsicott come out and use cotton spore to try to close the wound." Whimsicott did so and for whatever reason it was working. "Okokokok...uhhhh...thanksWhimsicott." I saw Lillie sprinting from out of the house with a first aid kit. We should be alright now. "Lillie! Good thinking! Thanks!" Lillie started to apply the first aid to the small Eevee. Before long it was in stable condition. We all collectively breathed a sigh of relief. "So Stel..." I began "...How did you find him? what happened exactly?" "He-He was bitten badly by a Raticate. they got into a fight and the poor eevee got badly beaten...if Mom's Ribombee hadn't been with me he might've died..."  She said fighting through tears. I wrapped her in a tight hug, which Lillie also did. "It's ok...he's alright, we'll keep him here until he's fully recovered." She nodded.

We put Eevee in Stella's room for the night, we still had her old crib. The small Eevee's breath was shallow, but stable. It hadn't made any noise or anything since we found it. Poor thing. I walked in to Stella's room and was immediately met by her. "Dad." "Yeah?" "You should let Eevee join your team." I stood thoughtfully for a moment as I overlooked the Eevee. "He is a fighter, that I can tell you. If he gets better soon then I'll be more than willing to battle alongside him." The Eevee made a subtle noise, it seemed excited. I laughed, "Eevee, get better ok, we're gonna get you in tip top shape. You can count on it." Stella hugged me and then I went to my bedroom to go see Lillie. Lillie was fast asleep when I got there. I slid in next to her. I felt awful. All this extra stress in her life all because of me. I'll make sure to do something nice for her tomorrow.

I was awakened earlier than usual by a wet feeling on my cheek. I opened my eyes and saw the small brown pokemon we had found yesterday laying on my chest and licking my face. "Heheh, hey buddy." I said as I patted his head. Lillie was beside me just giggling. I looked over at her and smiled. Stella came running in "ImSoSorryMomandDad-" I laughed, "It's fine. It's fine. You're not in trouble. If anything I'm just glad little Eevee here is ok." I stroked the Eevee while Stella breathed a sigh of relief. Lillie continued to giggle, "He's such a nice boy, you sure you'll be able to turn him into a fierce competitor?" I turned to her, "Of course! I can make any pokemon a good battler. That's why I'm called a trainer." Stella left the room and I looked at Lillie, "Hey Lil?" "Yeah?" "I uh, just wanted to say I'm sorry for all the stress I'm causing you. I- I always wanted to provide you a stress free life after all you've been through..." She frowned "Sun please...it's alright. Like I said, we'll do this together alright. I'm not worried for you. As always I have complete faith in you. I'll never doubt you. You're my Sun. And I'm your Lillie. Nothing you could ever do to me would make me leave your side. Sure there are things that could happen, but as long as I've known you you've been nothing but the best to me." I wrapped her in a hug. "Do you ever get tired of me calling you the best? because you are. Thank you." I realized now that the Eevee was squished in between us. It made an objection noise, "Oh sorry!" I said quickly. Supposedly Cynthia's Garchomp is coming in today. I can't wait to get to know her. This is gonna be a fun training camp. I still need a 6th though. I'll let that one hit me later. That being said, you can't just challenge the champion straight up after such a long absence. I'll need a match to solidify myself at the top, like Hau, Kahili, or that young contender Tristan. First order of business is the Garchomp though. I went out and there it was, I'm not quite sure how it got here but it had a note on it from Cynthia, *Take good care of her, she might not respect you at first, but once she sees your capabilities, you'll be fine.* Is what it said. I took it of and extended my arm to pat the Garchomp, it accepted but somewhat begrudgingly. That's ok though we'll get to a better spot together. I took it's pokeball that was attached to it and returned it, today would be a good day for the first team practice. I walked inside and said hi to Elio, who was stroking the Ninetails that was asleep on his lap. I went down to the training area and let the Garchomp out. Incineroar, Whimsicott, Raichu, and Eevee scampered down the stairs to meet it. "Alright guys. This is Garchomp, we battled him once and he's a fierce competitor, he'll be working with us for this tournament, and I can't wait to see you all in action. The one behind you is Eevee, he's a bit banged up from a scuffle he had a while ago so take it easy on him today while we show him the ropes of battling. There's no 6th yet, but we'll get there. Alright let's go!" They all made responsive noises except for Garchomp.

It was...a rough practice to say the least, everyone looked lethargic, Eevee's injury was still bothering him badly, and Garchomp wasn't trying his best at all. A little disheartening? Yeah, but concerning? Nope. Do I think I could beat the same Silver that beat Serena 6-2 yesterday? I don't know. This happens, we're rusty, that's why we practice. I then paired everyone but Raichu up for sparring, I had Incineroar tussling with Garchomp and I had Whimsicott going lightly with Eevee. I was going to watch both closely to find strengths and weaknesses. Garchomp fought like a veteran, crafty, calculated, calm and collected. He did well, not much room for improvement besides getting him invested in the cause. As for Eevee...yeah. Eevee was struggling to dodge and never came close to landing a hit. It seemed discouraged so I stopped and comforted it, then let it practice with a dummy. By the end I felt I had made some progress with them. I then freed them to do whatever they wanted and off they went. I went back upstairs and joined my family. The comeback was officially in motion.

                  Author's Note
Something I've been working hard on for this story is giving every member of the team some kind of back story or motivation if they didn't have it already. Maybe I didn't do the greatest job, but it was a cool challenge to try! Thanks!