The Rise and Fall Of A Champion
Chapter One: Goodbye
"It's finally time, Lillie you need to pull the plug."
"Please Bill just a little bit longer, I'm sure if we just had more ti-"
"Lillie, you must understand. Your mother is dead, she isn't coming back."
"But she's still breathing! She's still warm!"
"Lillie..."
"Please Bill."
Lillie had been away in Kanto for roughly fifteen years. Her mother Lusamine, had been infected by Nihilego's nerutoxins and had been left unconscious. In a desperate attempt to save her mother, Lillie had moved to Kanto to seek help from Bill. Bill is the inventor of the Pokémon PC and one of the few people on the planet that has fused and defused with a Pokémon. Unfortunately, he couldn't find a cure for Lusamine and as such she became brain dead. Gladion had already excepted the loss of his mother and became the permanent head of the Aether Foundation. Lillie however refused to except the fact that her mother...was gone. Lusamine Elsa-Mina Paver had been dead for little over a decade. In that time, Lillie had become a seasoned Pokémon trainer. She had all eight badges however, she had no intention of taking on the Pokémon league.
"She's no longer ALIVE Lillie. That rise and fall of her chest is purely mechanical. Calling THIS life support would be false. Just because she is breathing and her heart is beating doesn't mean she's alive. The brain is gone Lil...she's gone."
"B-but.."
"I'm sorry. The neurotoxin despite playing a large role in this was not the cause of death. I suspect that it was the blow from Lunala that...you know..."
Lillie stares down at her mothers lifeless face. She gently glossed her fingure over her mothers' features. She had truely been a beautiful woman. Long blonde hair, emerald green eyes, high cheek bones, and if one looked closely enough you could see tiny freckles dotted across her face. Lillie let out a chocked sob as a sudden pang of guilt passed through her.
"L-lunala?"
"Yes, great injuries from Pokémon are known to cause brain death in trainers."
Lillie turned away from Bill and looked directly at the ground. Although she had not ordered Nebby to attack her mother, she couldn't help but feel guilty.
"..."
"Lillie...none of this is your fault. Lusamine willingly fused with Nihilego."
"..."
"Lillie.."
"..."
"Lillie please talk to me."
Bill reached out towards Lillie and spun her around towards him. The twenty-seven year-old woman that he had known since she was thirteen was crying. Her tears ran down her face and fell onto the old wooden floor beneath them.
"Hey..." Bill started. He hated seeing his dear friend and lab assistant cry. "Why don't you go see your friends and family in the Alola region? You always say that you miss them terribly so.
Lillie sniffled and wiped away her tears.
"Yeah...I...I'd like that. I'd like that a lot."
So it was decided. Lillie would leave tomorrow to sail to the warm and friendly Alola region.
"I think I should take mom's Pokémon with me. So they can go back home to the Aether Paradise."
"That sounds like a wonderful idea."
The next day, Lillie went to go and vist her mother one last time before her trip. In her hands, she was holding an old scrap book. It was filled to the brim with old memories and photo's of both her, Gladions', and her mothers' childhood.
"Hey mom..."
"..."
"I know you can't hear me...but I wanted to say good bye before I left."
"..."
Lillie opened the scrap book and started looking at all of the photo's inside.
Once she gets to the last page, she notices a picture she had never seen before. The photo was of her mother as a small child and a tall red haired man in an expensive looking suit. He had his hand on the young girls head. She was wearing a frilly white and holding a Litleo doll. The more she stared at the man, the more he remined her of a pyroar. He had a powerful stare and hair spiked up like the Pokémons'. Behind them stood the Aether Paradise. It looked brand new and shiny. The photo also had an aura of hope and serenity around it. Lillie carefully pulled the picture out of it's protective covering and flipped it around. The writing on the back was old and faded. After staring at the letters for a moment she decided to attempt to read the writing aloud.
"Fathers'...new beginning?"
She had recalled an employee of the foundation saying that her grandfather had been the original president before her mother. Despite this, Lillie had never met or had heard of her grandfather mentioned by her mother. She stared at her mother for a moment.
"I wonder what else you hid from me..."
At this being said, Lillie glanced up at the clock.
"Thirty minutes before the boat to Alola leaves..."
She smiles sadly and looks back at Lusamine.
"Goodbye...mother."
Lillie pulls the plug on Lusamines' organ support. She hears the heart monitor line go flat.
"I'm sorry this took me so long to do."
Lillie goes back into her room. She makes sure she packed all of her things and leaves for the docks.