When We Were Younger. |Gladion X Moon|Pokemon Romance Novel|

- 35 -

Ms. Wicke hands Lillie a small plastic cup full of assorted pills.

"Are you sure this is necessary?" Lillie sighs, swirling the pills around the bottom of the cup.

"Take them, you have eye drops to take as well," she states, leaving no room for consideration.

She jokingly toasts Lillie as she swallows her own dose.

"You too? Are any of us going to be in our right mind?" Lillie murmurs as she lifts the cup to her mouth.

"It shouldn't be that bad Lillie, you just might feel a little foggy, that's all. You know we have to be very careful about how we do this."

Ms. Wicke grabs a third cup and brings them to Gladion at the front of the convertible boat. He looks up from the controls for a moment as she hands him the small plastic cup. Without hesitation, he dumps the pills down his throat.

"I've got water."

"Naw, I'm good," he says bluntly, focusing his attention back to the ships controls.

"How long?"

Gladion points at the horizon, a chain of tiny islands can be seen faintly over the sparkling ocean.

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"I can't believe you can find this place on Charizard," Hau says, gawking at the partially man-made island.

"A Charizard was how I found it in the first place, a large group of them nest here!"

"That must be why Charmanders are so rare then, wouldn't take much to miss this place!"

"Yeah, Mohn seems to think that they prefer small islands like these for their nesting grounds. So yes, that's probably why it's so rare to see them in the wild."

"Doesn't surprise me! I'm actually shocked these things let us ride them."

"They are actually quite affectionate when you win their trust," Mohn chuckles behind Hau.

I laugh at the sight of him as he clumsily carries a clutch of newborn Charmanders to the large nest outside of his hut. They chirp and fuss as he sets them down, clawing at his arms to be picked back up again.

"Aw," I stoop to get a closer look at them.

"They sound like birds!" Hau chuckles as one of the feisty tots takes a nip at his outstretched finger.

"Well, are you going to introduce me to your friend?" Mohn snickers happily.

"Oh! This is my best friend Hau!"

Hau extends his hand for a shake, but Mohn goes straight for his signature one armed hug.

"I've got two other friends coming by boat, I hope you don't mind!"

"Oh, you mean those two over there," Mohn says, pointing naïvely at his children, "Say, those two look an awful lot alike."

Spotting Mohn, Lillie takes off running towards us. Gladion jogs after her nervously.

Lillie abruptly stops in front of her long-lost father. Her eyes twinkle with a sort of wild happiness I've never seen before.

Mohn politely takes her hand.

"Pleasure to- umph!"

Lillie wraps her arms tightly around Mohn, refusing to let go. His expression turns from shock to amused. After what seems like forever, she finally releases her grip on him. Gladion looks nervously at the pair, it's hard to say what he's thinking right now.