From The Ground Up (A Heart Of A Champion Prequel)

Chapter 5- Motivation

I got home that night and my Mom smiled at me, "Sun, I saw you on TV! You looked great today." I smiled, "Thanks Mom. Can't get ahead of myself though. 3 more to go." I tucked in for the night and browsed social media. I was actually trending in Alola, the clip of Incineroar's finisher had a ton of views! Crasher Wake from Sinnoh actually commented on it too! This may just work out...

The next morning I flew over to Akala Island for my match with Lana. We decided to hold it right outside the Hano Grand Resort. I hadn't seen Lana since I took her trial. She has an aura about her... I dunno she seems calm and collected but fun-loving at the same time. A battle with her should be quite interesting. I met her before the event, "Hey Lana. Thanks for doing this." she nodded calmly. "Sure. Is it cool with you if I use my Kyogre?" I looked at her for a while trying to figure out if she was joking or not, I could honestly believe that she could catch one but at the same time... "That's a joke Sun." She said as she stuck her tongue out and went to prepare for the match. I shrugged and chuckled and then went my way.

I stood deeply in thought as the match score stood at 5-4 in my favor. Lana's a tough cookie that's for sure. Though I'm handling it alright, she's certainly a problem, I can just never get a read on her. Her last pokemon was an Araquanid. The people who had gathered were on the edge of their seats. Another sizeable crowd... cool, anyway I should probably worry about not losing. I have Whimsicott, and I have Ninetales left... gotta get some style points...let's see what Ninetales can do. "Ninetales let's get it done!" I sent him out and tried to think of a stylish way to end this one. Lana began, "Aqua jet!" The Araquanid jetted forward towards Ninetales...I got it! "Ninetales, Ice beam the path of water and get down!" Ninetales obeyed and sent the Araquanid flying forward after losing its aqua jet. "Alright, Finish it with Moonblast!" Ninetales whipped around to where the Araquanid landed and landed a picture perfect Moonblast to put it away. 6-4 Victory! I walked over to Lana and shook her hand, "Good match Lana." "Thanks. You too." l then walked over to the microphone and gave a rather similar speech to the one I gave yesterday. I then hung around and met some new fans from Akala. Some buzz was starting to fill the air about Alola's Champion. Maybe he could be unorthodox enough, tough enough, skilled enough, whatever you want to call it, to compete at the World level. It was about 10 PM when I left so I decided to pay a visit to Kukui and Burnet. I knocked on the door and Burnet answered, "Sun, good to see you! Come on in." I thanked her and walked inside after taking off my hat. I sat down at the table and Burnet sat with me, "I'm sorry Sun, but it's just me, Kukui's all spent from a long day of...er... research...if you wanna call it that." I laughed, "It's all good, I just wanted to tell you guys that the 2 events so far have been big successes." Burnet smiled happily, "That's awesome Sun! I'm so glad to hear it..." She trailed off and got lost in thought, "Professor?" She shook back, "Oh. Uh, Sun you don't have to call me that. Anyway, I was just thinking, heheh, Kukui's been so rejuvenated watching you train and do your thing out there. He's so happy...thank you so much for helping him." I shrugged, "You guys have always been there for me, I do my best to return the favor." Burnet smiled, "I'm just glad to see you're feeling better." I shook my head, "I gotta be honest with you Burnet, I'm not yet, I'm just doing my best to cope at the moment, but I'm doing better than I was for sure. Oh! I forgot to mention, she sent me a letter actually, so that made me feel a good bit better at least." Burnet smiled again, "Aww that's sweet of her, hopefully you'll be able to keep in touch." I nodded, "Yeah. Anyway thanks for having me. I'll see you guys again soon." "See ya Sun."

Next up Poni Island. Since Ula'Ula' is a big population center, I figured I'd do it when I'm most warmed up. That means I'm squaring off with Hapu in the Seafolk Village tomorrow. I beat her once before, but a full 6v6 is a whole new game. Maybe the people will warm up to me, after all, that's the island that we're building that Stadium on. I'm all ready to go.

I touched down on Charizard at the Seafolk Village and disembarked soon after. I checked around to see if Hapu was around, she wasn't. I decided to just talk with the locals. I noticed the captain and decided to talk with him. "Captain! Hey!" He looked down from his perch and smiled, "Sun. Long time no see. Where's your girlfriend?" I reeled a bit "My- oh she wasn't- Ah anyway she had to go to Kanto." He nodded, "Ah, so that's what the ferry there was all about. I guess that explains it, what brings ya around these parts today." I shrugged, "Yeah, I'm gonna battle Hapu soon when she gets here. It's part of my tour I'm doing, I'm trying to build interest in the Stadium we're putting around here. The chief smiled widely, "Ah yes! The stadium is going to be a such a big improvement to life here, I mean as long as us Seafolk can coexist with it peacefully then it's a great thing." I nodded, "And you can! I promise it won't intrude on you guys." He nodded, "Well good luck then." "Thanks."

"OH! WHIMSICOTT! It just landed a huge giga drain after slipping the Mudsdale! That is some serious style! Champion Sun takes it 6-4!" Another victory in the books. I jumped up in the air and raised my fist. I the. walked over and fist bumped Hapu. I took the microphone and began to address the smaller, but still rather sizeable crowd that had gathered. "Thank you all for coming out! You guys are gonna be a huge help to me if you come see more stuff like this when Manalo Stadium opens next year! We need all the help we can get to get noticed by the major regions and get in the tournament. So if you guys could help me out then that'd be great! Thanks, I'll be here if you guys need something." I then proceeded with my meet and greet for the rest of the day. I met some really nice people from Poni, a few more people lived here than I thought, not to mention a lot of them know me and are pretty big fans!

I smiled widely as I said my goodbyes to the fans. I met so many friendly people today. And for the first time they weren't friendly for the sake of being friendly, they were being nice because they were genuinely star struck and happy to see me. I feel like we're getting to where we need to be. I mean not necessarily because I want to be a celebrity or something, it's mostly because it seems as though I'm really starting to generate interest! Speaking of which they're revealing the locations for the next World Championship. I guess I'll tune in to that.

I once again found myself in the couch with Kukui and Burnet watching their TV. They really are like... I guess grandparents? But not like old grandparents cus Kukui and Burnet are like... man I don't even know 30? Anyway what I'm trying to say is that they're people I spend a lot of time with and they feel a lot like family. I was sitting in between the two of them as we watched the presenter on our screen. "Good Morning, Good Afternoon, and Good Evening to all of you viewers in all the time zones around the world! I am honored to bring to you all the exciting announcement for the locations of the World Championship quarter and semi, and grand finals!" I looked at Kukui, "Whaddya think Kukui? I'm thinking at least Galar right?" He nodded, "Yeah I'd say that's smart, probably gonna be Sinnoh or Unova for the other region." The camera panned out to show a rather large stage that the presenter was standing on, quite similar to the room where my throne is on Mount Lanakila. It has that futuristic looking aspect to it. "The region that will hold first two rounds- the quarter and semi Finals will be... Kanto!" Ah ok so the first round will be in...THE FIRST ROUND IS GONNA BE IN KANTO!? I jumped up from my seat and shouted "WHAT!?" Kukui and Burnet both looked up at me as I paced around holding my head, "I can't believe this...I...Oh my goodness." I continued to stutter and then I stared at Kukui, "I have to go. I have to be in the tournament." Kukui laughed, "Hold on hold on we have to-" I cut him off, "I'll battle anyone, anywhere, anytime, I don't care if I have to battle Cynthia in the heart of Sinnoh, it doesn't matter, I'll win." Kukui scratched his head and laughed, "Slow down Sun, I like the confidence, but slow down." I put my hands on my hips, "That's it. I'm calling out the 7 Champions tomorrow. Gonna tell em to meet me here for an exhibition battle be there or be square." Kukui began to stop me but Burnet gave him a look of some kind that made him reconsider, "A-alright, if you think that'll work then go for it... please don't lose though, whatever you do." I smiled, "Deal."

Author's Note

Suddenly, Sun both of his favorite things at the end of his path. He now knows how hard he has to work, and his sights are set 100 percent on Kanto.