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

Chapter 18- The Last Stand

I heard Silver making his walk. The crowd was half booing, half clapping. It certainly wasn't what Silver was used to. That meant though, that it was now my time to walk. I knelt down with my family and we all prayed for safety and best efforts during the match. We broke and all walked together. Only problem is in the tunnel, I seemed to have lost Stella. I dont know where she got off to...she probably didn't want to walk with me or something, I don't know it's alright though. Just her being here was enough-. The sound of "Legends Never Die" filled the arena and the crowd cheered loudly.

That's funny...that's not the song I picked...huh. Whatever I'll walk out to it anyway. I then realized what was happening. On a platform raised on the field was my daughter Stella. She was singing my entrance song, microphone in hand and crowd at her back. Chills ran down my spine. She had such a beautiful voice. I held Lillie's hand and had my arm around Elio's shoulder as we exited the tunnel to the absolutely electric crowd. They believed in me. I did too. I walked my family over to the seats before running over to the platform and hugging Stella. "Thank you so much Stel. It means the world to me." She smiled, "Knock em dead Dad." I smirked and then stared down Silver as I made my way to the trainers box.

"That's sweet Sun. Had your daughter sing one last song to you before your demise." Silver jeered at me. I bounced up and down and shook my head. "You know Silver, it's too bad you called me out. You could have broke my record for titles if you had just kept on going." The referee raised his arm. Everything was in slow motion, my breath slowed and I could hear my heartbeat pulsing through me. "Let this final...." I grasped my pokeball firmly in my hand. Now or Never. "... begin!" "Entei!" "Let's do this Incineroar!" The legendary came out of it's ball and roared fiercely at Incineroar who huffed back at it. The war had begun. I had Incineroar moving quickly from side to side, dodging flamethrowers, the problem was that Entei was catching on...I needed to come up with something and quick. The flamethrowers kept coming. "Incineroar move in!" Incineroar ran straight for the Entei, which responded by charging forward with malicious intent. "Incineroar pull back and darkest Lariat!" He did and sent the Entei flying back to Silver. It wasn't down, but it was a start. I think I have an idea. The next flamethrower came through and I had Incineroar take it on his belt and send it back at full force. It connected too. Entei actually fell. Incineroar dropped to his knees in pain, but he was still fit to battle. So as of now the score was 1-0. Silver had a look of absolute shock on his face before shaking it off. I shrugged nonchalantly and then grabbed my next pokeball. The next matchup was Whimsicott vs Suicune. Whimsicott did it's best but fell to the Suicune. 1-1. Next I had Ninetails going up against Lugia. Ninetails was deceptively quick and the Lugia couldn't find it at all. Eventually Ninetails's constant pressure whittled it down to nothing. Ninetails was visibly exhausted but it got the job done. Talk about a big game performer. 2-1. What followed next was a nightmare, I had Raichu and Ninetails fall back to back, they did their best but it wasn't quite enough against Raikou and Suicune. 2-3. Silver laughed, "That's the best you've got? I can't even believe I let you have 2." I gripped Serperior's pokeball before sending it out. It was up against Suicune. This wasn't a good matchup for Serperior. Serperior moved like a mad man and chopped it down to little health and even littler stamina. Unfortunately though Serperior fell. 2-4. I was in shock, my Pokemon were giving herculean efforts but were still falling. The crowd began to chant my name over and over again. I looked around and then back at Silver. It was me, Eevee, and Incineroar, and we had the crowd at our backs. This isn't over. I haven't given up yet. Silver jeered, "You just gonna stand there!? You've got a beating to return to." I turned back to him and snatched Eevee's pokeball from my belt. "This isn't over Silver. Not even close." "Weavile!" "Eevee!"

Silver looked at me dumbfounded and laughed, "You still have that thing!? Goodness that is pathetic. Weavile make short work of it please." I looked to Eevee who looked back at me with a fire in it's eyes and nodded. Weavile got some good shots in, but Eevee refused to go away, eventually overpowered the Weavile with a takedown. Eevee and Incineroar were both badly hurt now. We still had Ho-Oh, Suicune, and Raikou to go. Silver sniffed, "Hmph. That doesn't matter. You're still going to lose." I wasn't listening, I was focused on Eevee, who was teetering on the brink of unconsciousness. I had to leave him in and hope for the best. Raikou came out and towered over the Eevee. The battle restarted and Eevee moved lethargically towards it before getting drilled by a thunder. "Eevee No!" Eevee went flying and landed right next to me. I began to reach for my pokeball to return him. Just as Silver was saying, "Like I said, pathetic. It got lucky against Weavile, against my superior pokemon though, tch. you never had a prayer. I shook my head, "You'll never understand will you Silver? Eevee here gave it his all. That's the best he can do. He doesn't need to be legendary to be a competitor. He just needs to be himself." Just then a blinding blue light hit the stadium. Everyone oh'd and aw'd as they waited to see what emerged. Emerging from the blue light was a beautiful Sylveon. A Sylveon that shouted back at the Raikou in sheer defiance. This wasn't over. it had just begun. "Sylveon! That's great! Let's show them what we're made of!"
It responded to me as it once again engaged the stunned Raikou. It eventually evaded and danced it's way away from thunderbolts and thunders before connecting flush with a moonblast. Tie game. I slammed the ground. "That's what I'm talking about Sylveon!" Sylveon happily responded as I looked to Silver. "That's just something you'll never understand. That's heart." Silver was taken aback. He has been pushed to the brink for the first time in his career. He then sent out his Suicune. Thanks to Serperior's hard work earlier Sylveon was once again victorious. I was beside myself with shock. We were up 5-4 on match point. I let Sylveon stay, he was weary, but he had the hot hand, maybe, just maybe, he could take down Ho-Oh somehow.

Sylveon fell. It had hit a dazzling gleam but it wasn't all that effective. It got hit with a solar beam that did it in. Last up was Incineroar. 5-5. World Championship on the line. Pride. The whole future of the sport. All of it rested on my and his shoulders. I sent out Incineroar who was on one knee still. He was still hurt bad from absorbing the fire earlier. I thought desperately, what could I even do. I heard Elio's voice ringing in my head "...it's a free point..." I remembered. The plan. The battle started and Ho-Oh immediately darted at its injured prey, Incineroar rolled away and turned up to look at where it was coming from next. The Ho-Oh began to charge a solar beam. "Incineroar now! Malicious Moonsault!" Incineroar launched up like a man possessed and tackled the Ho-Oh in mid air before slamming it very hard on the ground. The plan worked, that momentary pause for the solar beam did it in. I waited for the smoke to clear. The Z-move might have been too much, Incineroar might not have had enough energy to come out of it ok. The smoke cleared. Incineroar knelt over an unconscious Ho-Oh. Pure Euphoria.

                   Author's note
At long last, Sun has left no doubts. Without Lillie, Elio, and Stella, he may not have even done it in the first place. They did it together and finally achieved the top. Just one more chapter to wrap things up!