Pokémon: Shining Sun

Lillie: Chapter 3

It's almost unbelievable how little variety there was in the clothing shops. For one, I needed to take a walk over to Saffron City in order to find a shop at all, and even then all the choices were plain and unexciting. I had packed clothes with me, but I didn't want to wear the same few outfits every day.

After walking back home, I changed clothes, mostly to feel that I was really making a fresh start. It felt almost criminal to wear a color other than white. I settled on a navy blue skirt with a lavender collared shirt. I looked at myself in the mirror, doing a twirl for good measure. With a bit of hesitancy, I pulled off my hair tie, letting my hair fall. No braids, no ponytail. I actually liked it, surprisingly. I grabbed my bag, slinging it over my shoulders, and walked out the door with the slightest bit of confidence.

I traveled back down to Route 5, letting Cutiefly out of her Pokéball to follow me around. She excitedly fluttered around, chirping occasionally. I came to the ledge above the tall grass, some of which was rustling around. I looked to Cutiefly, who gave me a reassuring nod. With a deep breath, I hopped down into the tall grass. The patch was small, but I still noticed Pokémon running around inside of it. I jumped a little when a small purple rat appeared from the grass, sniffing around. With it's red eyes and big buck teeth, I made the connection to the black rodents that often ran around Alola. I had never even seen a picture of a Kantonian Rattata before, though it did match Sun's description of them. The whiskers were on it's cheeks rather than it's nose, the tufts of fur present on an Alolan Rattata's ears and tail were absent, its teeth were more squared off, and it was a dark purple rather than black.

The Rattata glanced at me, immediately jumping back and growling, its fur standing up on end. I took a step back from it, my nerves overtaking me. Even with weak Pokémon, I was still jumpy, much to my inner dismay. I yelped when the Rattata jumped at me, once again growling. I put my hands up instinctively, but I heard the Rattata squeak in surprise, and a small thump. I lowered my hands to see the Rattata on the ground, and Cutiefly fluttering in front of me. It looked back at me, nodding again.

I tried to gather what to do. This was my first battle, and I had never really considered battling in the past. I quickly fished through my memories, trying to find anything that could help me.

Sun excitedly hopped down the steps, admiring the Pokéball in his hand. Hala, Kukui, and I slowly trailed after him, just turning the corner as Hau ran up to Sun, a bounce in his step. "Hey! You and me! Let's have a Pokémon battle!"

Sun backed up a bit, obviously startled. "Uh..."

Hala walked down first, laughing. "Where's the fire, boy?" He turned to Hau, a grin plastered on his face. "And what kind of a Pokémon battle would that be where you don't even give a name first, eh?"

Hau folded his hand behind his head, flashing his teeth with a wide smile. "Fair enough. Then I'm Hau. And my partner's Popplio! Your Rowlet looks really cool, too!"

Sun blinked, his eyes filled with an awkward confusion. "Uh...thanks?" 

Hau dropped his hands. "Yeah! So let's battle! I couldn't wait for you to find your way to Iki Town, so I've been all over looking for you!"

I fiddled with the strap of my bag. "Um... I don't really like to see Pokémon battles where Pokémon can get hurt...but I'll watch for you."

Sun looked back to me, flashing a small smile. I felt my heart skip a beat, and I tuned out Hala and Kukui's next few sentences, hiding a blush coming to my face. I snapped back to reality when Sun said something to Hala. "Wait, I don't even know what moves Rowlet has. Is there a way to check that or something?"