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

Chapter 17- As Bright As Ever

I slammed my fist on the bench as the 6-2 final score came through. May didn't deserve this. Silver took time to trash talk both me and May afterward. He even said some things about my family. I think he hates me more than anything else. I don't feel hatred towards him though. I'm annoyed. He annoys me with his talk and his actions. May had come back in and was absolutely devastated. She was on the verge of tears as she sat on the bench. I didn't bother saying anything yet. I wanted to but I was scared to make things worse. I had to walk out anyway.
I entered this time to "Know".

I silently walked. Still couldn't really hear it over the boos that well though. I had to take care of business against Serena before I got too far ahead of myself. This is one of the first battles I've been the underdog in for a while. I'm all good though, they're gonna find that out.

To summarize the battle, Serperior got 1, Incineroar got 2, Garchomp got 1, and Raichu and Eevee both got 1 en route to a 6-4 victory. I pumped my fist and took the microphone after shaking Serena's hand. "Johto. Wake up! What you just saw was a clean battle between two trainers. What your Champion is doing isn't right! It isn't fair. Please look at what's happening. I hate having so many enemies, so I hope you all know that this isn't me against all of you. This is between me and Silver. I know I said some things yesterday...but Johto I really am thankful for you guys. You guys love your champion, but you have to realize this isn't a matter of national pride. Thanks for coming out and have a safe trip home." The crowd shifted from booing to stunned silence.

I walked back to the locker room, hoping I could help May a little bit of she was still distraught. She was a good friend of mine and of Lillie's, so it felt like the right thing to do. "May?" She was sitting on a bench with her head down, tears streaming down her face as she looked up at me, "...Sun..." I sat down next to her. "May, I'm sorry that had to happen to you. It's not right." she looked over at me, "Sun... you have to win. You have to." Even after that throttling, May still thought I could do it, Lillie does too. Maybe I have a better chance than I thought. "May. I promise I'm going to give it my all. That's the best I can do." I said as I got up and left. I had to go back to my family. The real work starts now.

I got back to the room and hugged my family. "We did it guys. Let's go to Galar and have some fun, yeah?" Lillie smiled and so did Elio and Stella. Elio and Stella began to pack their things while I talked to Lillie, "Lillie I'm sorry about yesterday. I know I was unneces-" she waved me off, "Nope, they had it coming. What you said today fixed all that. Tough love." I nodded, "Right. Time to move on, we're going to Galar now. You know as well as I do they love us there." Lillie leaned up against me, "Sun. I love you so much. Win or lose I just want to spend forever with you." I nodded, "Same with you." We then fell asleep.

It was wheels up for Wyndon now. The plane ride there was long, but as usual when I had Lillie to talk to it was a fun time. Elio and Stella were able to talk for a while too. Stella seemed to be acting in an odd way, like she had something up her sleeve...I don't know. Elio was excitedly talking about the offer he put down on a house a few days ago while we were out. I was peacefully resting. The news in Galar was 100 percent on my side. I had slipped all media obligations yesterday. I didn't feel like making things worse than they already were. It was what it was. I was happy to find that the world was with me though.

When we got to Galar we were met by a huge crowd. Elio ran out and began to lead them in a chant. He sure has been enjoying himself. The fans loved him. I looked over to Lillie, "Want to join him?" She giggled, "Sure why not" We were all jumping up and down and rallying the crowd. The chant had something to do about Silver ruining the sport and how I was going to beat him or something. Which reminded me that I had to put a game plan in place. After getting to the Rose, Elio began to explain the plan to me. "So I've been working on this for a while. Bring the Incineroar Z-crystal, it's the key to 1 point. The rest, the key is a constant offense, don't stop moving, not even for a second, if you do they'll catch you..." Lillie interrupted, "Isn't that what May tried?" He pointed to it, "Spot on. What May *tried*, the difference is that my Dad here happens to have much faster pokemon and much faster commands." I tilted my head, "So pretty much no one has even reached three with him, and you're telling me that just being fast like I always am can do it?" He shook his head, "Not entirely. The key is to use their power against them. Lugia attacks in a mostly psychic fashion, whoever is out there make sure that they're ready to make movements that prevent Lugia from focusing. As for the legendary dogs, they have range and close range capabilities, the best plan could be to dart in, dart out and counter-attack." I nodded, "Right ok. I can work with that, I'll keep thinking on it, the Weavile should fall pretty easily so that's at least one. Then what's this about a free point?" Elio snapped his fingers, "Allow me to explain..."

I thought long in to the night about how I could do this. I didn't have that same hopeless feeling that I had before Cynthia, but I was certainly perplexed. I don't know why I just can't shake this feeling, I know I have a good plan but there's a reason that nobody scores more than a few points on him. I decided to watch some film. Lei caught him with a Z-move to get the legendary down. May got one down by using her mega Swampert to keep pressuring it before finally connecting. I had to piece together the key. I decided to sleep on it tonight and let myself figure it out tomorrow. Galar is turf, the team knows it so I don't need to go down and check it. I had all day too, usually there would be a face-off but....y'know...

I was awakened in the middle of the night by a call, it was Cynthia. "Cynthia?" She sounded flustered and apologetic, "Oh Sun! I'm so sorry." I had just woken up, did I miss match day or something? "...why what's wrong?" She then continued, "I'm going to need Garchomp back, it's...it's really important I can't expl-" I shook my head, "Don't worry I'll send the pokeball over now." She sighed, "I wish this hadn't happened, the rest of my team got stolen and Team Galactic is trying something funny...I'll be able to handle it though don't worry, Dawn and I are on the case." I used my phone to use the pc box to switch Garchomp's active pokeball from mine to Cynthia's "Cynthia will she be back for the final?" "I'm afraid not, Sun I'm so sorry." "It's ok...I'll figure something out..." She hung up and I sat on the edge of my bed. Luckily I hadn't disturbed Lillie or anything. I ran my hand through my head. This was a sticky situation to say the least. 5v6 for the biggest battle in my life. I need to figure something out and quick. For now though I just went back to sleep.

Lillie woke me up, "Sun? It's 11 now are you alright?" I jolted awake, "Oh yeah sorry Lil, I'm ok." She smiled sweetly, "That's good, usually you don't sleep that late..." I sat up, "To tell you the truth I got a call last night, I had to give Cynthia her Garchomp back, I'm stuck with 5 pokemon now." Lillie visibly reeled, "Huh!? That's terrible, what are you going to do?" I shrugged, "I don't know. Even if I get a 6th it's not like they've been training with me and know the system." Just then Elio left his room followed by....hey wait a minute "Elio?" "What's up Dad?", "Erm- I don't know how to put this, but, do you think Ninetails there is ready for action tomorrow?" Elio tilted his head, "Uh..." he looked down at Ninetails, who looked from him to me and then nodded, "...looks like it, why?" I sighed with relief, "Garchomp had to go back to Cynthia...so I needed a new 6th. Glad to hear it Ninetails, welcome back to the team." It yipped in response and then went to Lillie to receive some scratches. I went down to the field today to run through the strategy. Every one was well prepared, Ninetails hadn't lost a step. We needed every bit of heart, every bit of effort that we could possibly get. The team looked good, we might just be able to pull this off. Legendaries ain't got nothing on them.

It was late now and I went back to the hotel room to snuggle up to Lillie. I was just happy to be with her before the big event. "Sun?" "Yes Lil?" "You're gonna win tomorrow, I just know it." I chuckled, "Yeah. I wouldn't be able to do it without you. Thankfully I have you in my corner. That's worth more to me than any trophy." We hugged and fell asleep together. Tomorrow was going to be a war. The world was watching.

I woke up in the morning and walked out to the balcony to begin my usual stretching routine. I did this before any day that I was nervous about. Lillie woke up and joined me as she did sometimes. We talked for a bit before we finally made our way down to Wyndon Stadium. It had been expanded recently to 500,000 capacity, and somehow it was a sold out crowd. Rivalries sell, and rivalries on this stage...yeah they definitely sell. I sat in the locker room, there was about 3 hours before the match would begin. I looked to Elio, then Lillie and Stella, "You guys mind walking out with me when the time comes?" Elio and Lillie nodded, Stella shifted uncomfortably, "Erm- yeah sure that's fine." Huh, she's been acting kind of weird the last day or two...no big deal, I was just glad to have her here. It was calming. My family was here beside me, and my team was busying itself with the usual equipment. Before too long, all the talk, all the actions, all the hype, it would all be resolved soon. The day of reckoning had come, the question was, for who?

Authors Note
Getting to the big showdown now, everything Lillie, Elio, Stella, and Sun worked for is on the horizon.
I hope you guys will keep on reading, thanks again!