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

Chapter 19- Riding Off Into The Sunset

I dropped to my knees and screamed to the heavens as the crowd made noise like had never been heard on this earth before.Confetti rained down on me as I knelt there in shock. We had done it. Everything single ounce of effort we had to give had been given. We had proved that it didn't matter if you were legendary or not. What mattered was the will to win, and the bond between trainer and pokemon. Lillie, Elio, and Stella had ran over and tackled me in to a huge group family hug as all of the crowd rushed the field. Eventually me and my family were hoisted in to the air and riding on top of the massive crowd. I pumped my arm in the air as the deafening cheers continued. I had the most intense feeling of relief in my life. Not only did I do what I set out to do, I became the first 4 time champion in world championship history. That's not too bad either. Eventually The crowd moved me over to the microphone in the center of the stage. I stood there and waited for my family to reach where I was. Their smiling faces...I will treasure this moment forever.

Eventually they made it over to me. I hugged Lillie for a long time. Rocking side to side with her in my arms. "We did it Sun! That was incredible!" I laughed, "Yes Lillie. We did it." Sylveon had come out of it's ball and was quickly scooped up and held by an elated Stella. Ninetails had come out too, Elio patted him on the head as the ice fox sat next to him. I took the microphone in my hands "GALAR! How's it hangin'!?" The crowd yelled in response. I laughed, "Seriously though. I need to thank my family for all of this. Elio. I'm so proud of you man, you're such a good teacher to those kids, and you're such a good teacher to me too. He's the main reason I came back, so if you guys enjoyed the show thank him." Elio put a thumbs up in the air as the crowd cheered. "...Secondly, my beautiful daughter Stella. Thank you so much for walking me out today, and thank you so much for always having such a pure heart in everything you do. You're one of the most selfless people in the world and I think the people here today loved hearing your voice." The crowd cheered in response as Stella giggled. "...And of course, the person who has been with me from the beginning, and had more faith in me than even myself, my lovely wife Lillie. Lillie. I couldn't do any of this without you. You are my motivation, you keep me going. Never a day passes when I'm not thankful to be your husband. And never a day will. Thank you Lillie. I seriously couldn't have done it without you." Lillie had tears streaming down her face as we hugged each other tightly while the crowd once again cheered. I broke from the hug after a little while and then began to speak again. "Galar, you've always been like a second home to me. Thank you all for your support, I'll never forget it, really. That being said though, I have a message for all the future competitors of this sport..." The crowd waited silently for me to say it, "...can you guys please not call me out, I've got a wonderful wife I'd love to spend some time with and some great kids too. So I'd really appreciate it if you guys left me alone. Thanks." I said chuckling as the crowd laughed. I set down the microphone back on its stand and gave one last wave to the crowd as I picked up my trophy and left through the tunnel, family next to me.

When I got to the locker room I felt a strong conviction to go see Silver. I don't know why. I told my family I'd be back and made my way to the other locker room. I heard shouting from inside the room, "I had 100 million dollars on this Silver! It was the funds I needed to restart Team Rocket, and you failed, like you always do." That didn't sound good. I didn't hear a reply from Silver so I pushed the door open and stared. In there I saw the notorious Team Rocket leader Giovanni. I thought I noticed him in the crowd all that time ago. He had a pistol drawn and was holding it at Silver. Giovanni looked to me angrily and waved the gun my direction, "This doesn't concern you pest. You best get going." I reeled. This situation went from happy to grave really quickly. I had to think of something. I tapped my side near my pokeball belt that didn't have any but one ball on it. Giovanni pointed the gun at me, "Don't try anything stupid, you're lucky I'm even giving you the chance to walk out alive after what you've done to me." I hesitated. For more reasons than one. I began to turn back until I got to the door. "Giovanni. It's not my fault you're such an awful parent you know. It wouldn't kill you to do anything besides use your son." Giovanni pulled the trigger on the gun to shoot me in a fit of pure rage. I didn't even look at him. I just turned back. "You. Sniveling. Coward." I looked back and sure enough the Nebby I had called had pounced on top of Giovanni after deflecting the bullet meant for me. I figured I'd need a good way to call him so I always tapped the center of his ball to let him know I needed him. He had come quickly too. "Thanks Nebby." Nebby grunted in response. I grabbed the pistol that Giovanni had held in his hands and looked it over in my own. Silver looked at me with nothing but unbridled fear in his eyes. I turned to him. "Silver. You deserve better than this." He looked back at me, his expression changing from fear to shock. I reached to my phone and called in security. As soon as they came they took away Giovanni and I handed them the gun.

I sat next to Silver and he once again looked to me, "Why- Why did you-" I shrugged, "It was just the right thing to do Silver. I know we're not on good terms, but I wouldn't wish that on anybody." He lowered his head and stared at the floor. I got up and began to head for the door. I turned back before though, "One last thing Silver." He looked up at me. "The legendaries. You don't need them to be great. You don't need your Dad's support to be great either. You're great because of the work you and your real friends did together." I left on that note. Hopefully I had left a good impression on the kid. I didn't have any hard feelings towards him or anything, it was all business now that it's over.

Lillie was sitting in the locker room, "What happened Sun?" I shook my head. "I found out some dark things behind Silver. Giovanni, the Team Rocket guy, is his Dad. He had 100 million on Silver winning. He wanted to restart Team Rocket. I got him jailed though don't worry." Lillie sighed, "That's awful...now that that's over though...want to go home?" I nodded. "Yeah. As much as I love battling... retirement with you is better." We shared smiles and then left the stadium.

**********************************

"Just us again huh?" Lillie said as she sat down next to me in our bed. I sighed, "Yeah. Elio and Stel did good for themselves. Both of their houses are beautiful." Lillie nodded, "Sure are. I'm so proud of them." I chuckled and kissed her on the cheek, "Yeah. I think we did an alright job. I'm glad to be able to spend more time with you though." Lillie giggled and attached herself to me tightly, "Awww... Sun I'm happy to be with you too!" I smiled and stroked my hand through her long blonde hair as usual. "You know, I thought I'd dread this day Lil... When I'm retired and all done with the kids... I thought I'd feel pointless y'know... But as long as you're here with me, I'm the happiest guy on earth!" Lillie giggled and then breathed out loudly and closed her eyes as she began to fall asleep on my chest. "Sun. I love you. I'm so happy you decided to spend your whole life with me." I held her close as she drifted to sleep, "That... Was my greatest accomplishment..."

The house was once again just Me, Lillie, and our pokemon. It was sad to see our kids go, sure, but as long as I have her by my side, I'll never be lonely. I had good friends, and an even greater family. Last time I said that I would never look back...but now I don't think looking back is such a horrible thing. You have to remember the people, the places, and the events that led you to be who you are today. To forget that is to forget yourself. Being me is pretty good, because I get to spend my whole life with the most wonderful woman in the world. Now, I think that me and Lillie can finally live the rest of our lives in peace with each other. Just like we had always wanted to. I am still the Champion of the World, and that is only the first half of my story.

Author's Note
That's it for this story. From the first chapter of the first book to the last chapter of this book, if you read any part of it at all I am so thankful and humbled. This was such a fun series to write. Unfortunately I don't have any more ideas in my head for this story, I think I got to the point in this story where Sun and Lillie will just be able to live their lives in a lovely and peaceful way. If you guys want to see some kind of spinoff in this same universe though and have any pitches for me or want to write it yourself, then go for it! As always, thank you all so much!