Fear - An Aureliashipping and Lonashipping Story

-2-

The sound of explosions rang out on the outskirts of Route 1.

Boom! Bam! Zap!

"Alright, everyone! Good training session." a young boy with raven hair said after a while.

His loyal Pokémon team walked over to him, panting from the late night training session. The moon was high in the sky over Melemele Island. The warm air felt nice, and Ash and his Pokémon could spare the time: it was the weekend, and there was no school tomorrow.

Ash brought out bowls of food for his Pokémon to eat. He didn't want to go back inside yet, and he wanted his Pokémon to rest properly.

A door creaked open. Professor Kukui poked his head outside. "Ash? Are you going to come back inside?"

Ash turned back with a grin. "Yeah, I'll be there in a moment."

Kukui fully opened the door. "Might as well join you. It's a wonderful night."

Kukui walked over and sat down beside Ash and his Pokémon. "It seems like you're raising them well." he observed, petting Lycanroc's orange head.

Ash looked over all of his Pokémon. "They're all getting so strong. The Island Challenge will be nothing if we keep this up!"

Kukui smiled. "Everyone's Pokémon are growing strong. So are their bonds. However..." Kukui hesitated.

Ash turned to Kukui with a worried and curious look. "Professor?"

"It's Lillie. She still hasn't overcome her fear of touching Pokémon. I promised her mother she would be over it by now."

"Her mother? I have never-"

"And-" Kukui interrupted with a bit of edge in his voice, almost as a warning. "Everyone has been so kind to try to help her, but everyone has such different personalities and ways to help that I believe it's overwhelming her." Kukui turned to Ash. "You clearly have something special with Pokémon. Something that cannot be broken."

Ash listened in silence, a frown on his face.

"I want you to be the person that helps her. I trust you have the patience and knowledge to help Lillie. Will you do that for me, and more importantly, for Lillie?"

Ash took a few seconds to process everything he just heard. He then made a fist and gave a smile. "You can count of me Professor. I'll always help my friends out."

Kukui gave a content sigh. "Thank you." They abandoned the idea of going back inside, and sat looking at the waves under the moonlight sky for a long time.

~~~

Lillie tossed and turned in her bed. "No...no!" she muttered before jolting awake and sitting up. The motion flipped Shiron, who was sleeping on her bed, over. "Pix?"

Lillie took a few deep breaths. "O-oh, I'm sorry Shiron. It was another nightmare."

Shiron had a worried look. This was the third one this month. Shiron got up and walked over to Lillie, nuzzling her face.

Lillie let out a giggle. "That tickles!" She picked Shiron up and gave it a hug. Before meeting her Vulpix, she would never have imagined holding a Pokémon before. 

Lillie knew she wouldn't be able to sleep for a while. She wasn't in a rush to either, she didn't need to wake up early. She quietly pushed open her door, and her and Shiron walked outside to her balcony. Past the denseness of the trees, she could see a little bit of the ocean.

"It's so beautiful at night." she remarked. Shiron gave a sleepy nod of agreement.  

Lillie rested her arm on the balcony, and rested her head on her hand. Looking at the ocean gave her a strange determination. She wanted to better herself.

She wanted to conquer her fear.

But her yawn told her it would need to wait. "Shiron, back to bed." 

"Vulpix."

Lillie crawled into bed once again, Shiron curling up on the end of her bed.

As they drifted into their unconsciousness and world of dreams, they could almost hear the Koooo of Tapu Koko flying through the night, watching over them and keeping them safe.

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