The empty glass in the middle aged man's hand clanked on the wooden table top as he set it down, the water now drained from it. He sighed as he considered how much better it tasted than prison water, feeling the freshness dance on his tongue. He then rose a forkful of corn from his plate, watching the steam rise from it before popping it into his mouth. The food here was good too; in this quiet little restaurant that sat on the edge of Saffron City. As he chewed his corn, the man delved into thought, passing over how he had gotten to where he was.
His name was Sun, an odd one that his free spirited Mother had given him. He had in fact been born and raised for ten years here in the Kanto region, before departing for the islands of the Alola region when he was twelve. It was there that his life had truly begun, as he had decided to take up the Island Trials after meeting his best friend, Hau, and a girl named Lillie. The three had gone on many adventures through his challenge, even managing to discover the Legendary Pokémon of the region, Solgaleo. In the end, he had become the champion of Alola, forging a powerful bond with his Pokémon, his friends, especially Lillie. By the time he had finished his challenge, he found that he had fallen for her, though he never got the chance to tell her.
She left for Kanto shortly after he had finished his challenge, looking to grow into a stronger person, and to help her mother heal from a melding with the Ultra Beast Nihilego. Stating that she planned to return, he had waited for her, and the chance to tell her how he felt. However, she hadn't come back. For the next twenty one years, Sun had held his title as Champion, waiting for her to return. Over that time, though he tried, he couldn't get her out of his mind. As he waited, he slowly began to become bitter and unsated, distancing himself from his Pokémon and other people. His desire to remain and maintain his position as Champion began to falter, and he began to question it heavily as a path forward in life. Though Hau remained a good friend of his, he began to have trouble serving as a mentor and leader to others in the Alolan region, and so he gave it all up.
One day, six years ago, he released all of his Pokémon but one, his Incineroar, and vanished. He arrived in the Kanto region a few days later, on the lookout for the girl he had waited too long to see again. He had also arrived with questions about his father, which he had been looking to resolve. His mother had never spoken about him, and because he had moved to a new region, no one else knew anything about him. Unfortunately, his search for Lillie had been fruitless, in a region that was growing in population quite a lot by that time, and she had settled somewhere unknown to anyone, becoming untraceable. Though, he did manage to uncover information about his father.
His old man had been a member of Team Rocket, and a fairly big deal in his time. Leading several successful Pokémon kidnappings, his father had become notorious in the team. In some of his more noteworthy ones, his team had hauled in as much as ten Pokémon at a time. Through his searching, Sun had discovered that he had met his mother in Celadon City, and they married while he was still in the team. However, when she became pregnant with him, she left his father, saying that she didn't want her child brought up in that life. A few years later, while on a high stake heist for water Pokémon, his father's boat hit some rocks lying just below the surface of the ocean, and he drowned a few miles off the coast of Cinnabar Island. Learning these things, however, had an unintended consequence that turned over a dark chapter in Sun's life.
Through his inquiries about his father, he had come into contact with some of the old members of his father's team, who began to suggest he take up his father's mantle in the team. Feeling defeated after failing to find Lillie after nearly an entire year to searching for her, and without any future prospects, he had agreed. Something had felt right to him about following in the footsteps of his father, now that he had given up everything else in his life. That, and, in a foreign land he had found people who respected his name, and his legacy.
He spent a little over a year in Team Rocket, and quickly rose up the ranks to his father's position. As it had turned out, his quick thinking and ability to draft successful plans made him an excellent fit, and he became every bit as good a thief as he had been a Champion. In that time he also decided to cast off his old life completely, trading his Incineroar to a random trainer for a Muk that he was barely attached to. Something became oddly alluring to him about this lifestyle, having spent so many years as a pillar of a region, it felt good to act on his pent up frustration that stemmed from a feeling of having wasted his life. That, and he began to feel that he had comrades in a place where he had no one. Though, that didn't last forever.
Four years ago now, began to feud with Admin who was running his team violently, beating on people and Pokémon extensively and brutally when they stole. Questioning his loyalty to the team, this Admin had ratted him out to the police, and they arrested both him and a few members of his team just outside of Pallet Town. He was swiftly charged with numerous counts of Pokémon thievery and assault, and thrown in the Saffron City jail. He had gotten a fairly reasonable sentence, not too long or too short, for the acts that he had committed. While he was there, he spent the entire time wishing to be out, being cooped up in a cell weighing on him heavily.
When he had finally gotten out, a little over a week ago, he swore off the idea of ever going back to Team Rocket, not desiring a return to a prison cell. He heard that the Admin who had gotten him jailed had been ejected from the team shortly thereafter, Giovanni was largely unimpressed with the stunt he had pulled on Sun. The door had been open for Sun again; but he had firmly closed it. Now, as he sat in a Saffron City diner, he was once more directionless and without purpose. Though he wanted to go looking for Lillie again, he wasn't sure how she'd look on his time in Team Rocket. He was also unsure if he would ever find her, not wanting to waste any more time if he was to come up empty.
Finishing the corn on his plate, Sun pushed it ahead and leaned back in his chair slightly, sighing. Returning to Alola was an impossible choice for him, as he didn't desire to deal with the backlash he would receive for abandoning his post as Champion. With things as bad for him as they had been in Kanto, if he decided not to look for Lillie anymore he felt that it might not be the worst idea to start fresh in a new region. Johto was a little close, and Unova a bit far, so he figured that either Sinnoh or Hoenn would do it.
What he would do when he got there he couldn't even be sure. He didn't want to draw too much attention rising as an important battler or Contest goer, as people might begin to seek him out from Alola. Ranching or Pokémon Breeding was something that he considered, or perhaps joining onto a Gym and battling there. None of these options seemed overly appealing to him, but he hadn't made quite enough in Team Rocket to live without a job for that long. Even if it was simple, he felt he needed a place to belong again, somewhere that his past mistakes felt far away. It was as he tossed these options around in his head that she walked in.
His eyes widened and he felt his heart began to pound inside of his chest as Lillie walked into the diner, her blonde hair tied back in a large pony tail much like the one she had been wearing when she left. She'd grown up a lot since he had last seen her, there was a mature depth to her features now. However, her steady, easy going expression hadn't changed, and neither had her beautiful green eyes. She looked as skinny as she had been when she left, not seeming to have gained a pound. A lacy white dress hung off of her thin frame, looking like it had come from one of the more expensive boutiques in town. All of his searching, and the years spent looking for her, suddenly seemed worth it as blind chance placed her before him now. Rising from his seat, he stepped over to her, nervously wracking his mind for what to say.
"Lillie? Is that you?" he asked her as he approached, noticing recognition flash in her eyes as she turned to face him.
"Sun?! Wow, is that really you?" she asked with surprise as she noticed his wild, long black hair and his unkempt, short beard. He looked to her like he had been through some rough times.
"Yup. How've you been?" Sun questioned next, his heart fixing to thump right out of his chest.
"Good! How about you?" she replied, seeing next that he had a fairly thick scar extending from below his left eye diagonally and stopping a short way into his beard.
"Well to be honest I've seen better days," Sun admitted, deciding that he probably couldn't make her believe anything else, "Do you have a minute to sit down?"
"Yeah, sure! Grab us a table, I'll come over when my food is ready," she suggested.
Sun nodded and silently walked over to a booth by the window. As he sat down, he turned his gaze outside to the city, which stood solidly in the bright afternoon sun. People and Pokémon alike were walking around enjoying the warmth of the summer, some groups even holding ice cream cones. Nearly all of them looked happy, though there were a few people that looked serious, likely just that type or having become that way through extensive training.
After a couple of minutes, Lillie crossed the restaurant floor and joined him, sitting down in the booth across from him. As she did, he could smell the faint aroma of some kind of flowery perfume, likely one of the many Gloom derivatives that was common in the region. He could barely believe that he was sitting across from her, feeling that she was more dream than real some days. Before beginning her meal, she spoke up.
"Why haven't you been doing so well?" she asked him with some concern, her thick eyebrows furrowing.
"Oh. Got myself in a bit of trouble," Sun responded slowly, knowing what humiliating revelation had to come next. Lying about it likely wouldn't get him very far; there were a fair amount of people in Kanto who knew who he was and records of his incarceration.
"What kind of trouble?" she inquired next after taking a sip from her glass of water.
"I… just got out of prison, a little over a week ago," Sun explained, his deep blue eyes dropping to the table with shame.
"What?! You were in jail?!" Lillie exclaimed with disbelief, dropping the fork she had started to use to dig into her salad.
"Yeah… not exactly my proudest moment…"
"How long were you in there?"
"…Four years."
Lillie's jaw dropped again, almost finding this completely unbelievable. The boy she had known so long ago wasn't a violent or evil person, and had fought to thwart her mother's plans and Team Skull. Four years in prison was a fairly lengthy term, and you had to do a little more than a few bad things to end up in there that long. She almost felt for a moment as though she wasn't sitting across from the real Sun, he seemed like a totally different person. Even though she was a little bit nervous to hear the answer, she decided to ask him the natural question that followed.
"What was it for?"
"I was in Team Rocket for a little over a year. Pokémon thievery and assault," he admitted, swallowing thickly as he passed his eyes back to the window. He heard Lillie squeak with amazement, which sounded cute but was overshadowed by the disappointment in him he knew she must feel.
"You were in Team Rocket? Why…? How could you?" she spoke with sad surprise rising in her voice.
"When I got here to Kanto I went looking for answers about my father, and learned that he was in it. The old members persuaded me to follow in his footsteps, and I did because I felt like I could have a place to belong here. It was a terrible mistake," he replied, a wave of regret flashing over him.
"Yeah… you're not going back are you?"
"No. I'm done with that part of my life. Hurting others and their Pokémon is no way to live."
Sun returned his gaze to Lillie after this, and watched the hurt disappear from her face as she seemed to believe what he had said. He was glad to see that, but was hoping to turn the conversation from this to something else. He was more curious about what Lillie had been doing all this time. He knew that she had been wanting to become stronger, though what that meant he couldn't be sure. Battling, as he knew, wasn't the only way a person could feel strong. He imagined some of the Pokémon Contest goers felt quite powerful through their victories.
"So, what have you been doing here in Kanto?" he asked her, trying to sound more positive.
"Oh, plenty!" Lillie began, seeming to return to her cheery demeanour, "When my mother became better, she left for the Unova region to begin an Aether Paradise there. After she left, I started to teach professors here about Alolan Pokémon, and I've been working on spreading that understanding to trainers here in the region."
"That right? I suppose there are quite a few differences between the Pokémon there and here," Sun replied, figuring that it was the best fit he could imagine for her.
"Yeah, the differences make quite an impact on battling and study, and there's a lot less information about our variations here than vice versa. It's kept me pretty busy," she informed him, this work seeming to illuminate her.
"Did you feel you became stronger like you set out to do?" he questioned next with a small smile, curious to hear what her answer was. That was something she said that had stuck with him since.
"Well, when I left I thought I wanted to become better at battling, to impress you and Hau, but, I discovered that knowledge was my strength. I feel like helping others to understand Alola is making me stronger, through bridging that gap for others."
"I see. It sounds like fulfilling work, for sure. I'm glad you found what makes you feel strong."
"Yeah, me too! Say, how is everyone back on Alola? Hau and Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet?"
"When I left they were doing fine. Hau was still battling throughout Alola and trying to beat me, and Kukui and Burnet were still working at their research. But that was six years ago," he mentioned, unsure exactly what had all changed back there.
"Six? Wow, you've been in Kanto that long?" she questioned, a bit surprised she hadn't run into him sooner.
For a moment, he wanted to tell her why, but he stopped himself. It had been a long time since they had last seen each other, and he figured it might seem a little strange to her that he had come looking for her specifically. Now that he had his chance, he didn't want to make his search all for naught. Instead, he chose to reiterate what he had said before.
"Yeah, took me some time to find information about my father," he answered, lying for the most part. It had really been something to do on the side.
"What all did you find out about him? Apart from being in Team Rocket?"
"I found that he was pretty important in his time. Mom left him when she got pregnant with me, didn't want me to grow up with a bad fatherly influence. He died a while after in a boating accident off the shore of Cinnabar Island."
"I see… I'm sorry to hear that."
"I didn't ever know him, so it's hard to feel like I lost anything. But thanks."
As they spoke of Sun's father, a realization dawned on Lillie. Had she been a little bit different of a person, she could have very well followed in her own mother's footsteps. She didn't quite understand why Sun had followed in his father's, but she knew that it could be difficult not to be viewed in the same light as one's parents. Somewhere, deep down, he must've felt a responsibility to see where that legacy took him. She considered this as Sun asked another question.
"So, where are you living these days?" he asked, hoping to extend their relationship in the future.
"I'm here in Saffron City for a year at least, working at the new Pokémon School, teaching a few new generations of trainers about Alolan Pokémon. I live in an apartment in the Magnemite Building uptown, 806," she informed him as she speared a bit more of her nearly finished salad with her fork, "Do you know it?"
"Yup, I've heard of the Magnemite Building. Pretty nice place," Sun assured her, figuring that she must make enough money working with the research community.
"Mhm. My husband and I make pretty decent money," she noted, and cocked her head slightly as Sun's eyes went wide.
He felt his heart drop like a lead weight as she mentioned a husband. He couldn't help but look a bit surprised, and feel his mouth become dry. So it really had all been for nothing: he hadn't gotten here in time. Crushed under the weight of the realization that he would never be with her, he felt powerless and weak. His love was a doomed one, and he felt it snuff into embers within his soul. The only person that he kept that fire burning for was already taken, and so he had no use for it. For a moment he wished to feel a flash of anger or a wave of sorrow, but his emotional slate was deathly blank. Those emotions would reach him soon, but for now he was merely gripped icily by total, sombre devastation. He couldn't bring himself to say anything, and simply sat in laborious pain, his face contorted with shock.
"Sun? Are you Ok?" Lillie questioned, not seeming to understand what part of what she had said would have shaken him so much.
"Uh, yeah, I just remembered, I have to get going," Sun lied swiftly, getting up from his seat and stumbling as he did so.
"Oh, Ok! Come by and visit, any time," she offered, looking forward to seeing her old friend again.
"Yeah," Sun replied, steeling himself and facing away from her, not allowing sorrow to break into his voice as his heart snapped in two.
Without saying another word, Sun walked out of the diner. As he strode for the door, the corner of his eye briefly caught a glimpse of a pamphlet that had the word 'adventure' written out in capital letters on the front page. He reached out and snatched it up, stuffing it into his pocket absentmindedly as he walked out into the bright sun, squinting at its harshness. He was wearing a thin grey jacket that he had bought from a store nearby on a hot summer day, but still he felt chills wrack his body.
His worn boots clocked the dark brick streets as he walked away from the diner, his head spinning and anger welling up in him. All of the time he had spent in Kanto had been entirely fruitless, the chance he felt he had been granted instead a cruel mockery. He cursed under his breath the name of Arceus, believing he had paid for his misdeeds enough in prison. Now, the part of him that had always been hoping to find Lillie and have a chance at having her love him back was nothing but a dull throb. He felt the same way that he might feel if a part of him had been ripped out. He rarely blinked, his eyes wide with disbelief and shock as he meandered aimlessly around the streets of Saffron; a city he really didn't care for.
Now, there wasn't any decision to be made about seeking Lillie out, and lacking that hope altogether, he really had no place to go, and no further purpose in his life. He felt like a Pidgeot with wings that couldn't fly; he couldn't lift up into beautiful blue sky to freely soar in any longer. Tottering around uselessly on the ground, he now had to find a way to give his life even a shred of meaning. Taking a look around, he took in his current surroundings. Yellow buildings with green roofs stretched out all around him, with the occasional break of a shop that was coloured differently in pink or orange. Plenty of places for a city goer to live, and to shop, and a place that Pokémon could thrive if trained properly. He noticed people walking with their Pokémon, some Zubats and a couple of Pikachu. They all seemed to be happy here, as they went along their daily life, but Sun was not. The blue railings spread through the city looked to him like prison bars, it was not a place he could see making a better life for himself in.
Reaching into his jacket pocket, he withdrew the pamphlet and read the cover. Surprisingly, for a random pamphlet in a bin, what was written there interested him. Flipping it open, his eyes trundled across the lines that had been written by a company clerk, more than likely. Even so, it was writing that actually caught his attention. He continued to read until he reached the end of the short three pager, and shut it with a snap. His eyes rose to one of the city's exits, the one onto Route 5. If he took the Underground, he could get to Cerulean and meet one of the men who had retired from Team Rocket after his father had died. He was holding onto two stolen Pokémon that Sun had left with him as a precaution, in case he was ever caught and jailed. Now was the time: he had to go and get them.
The night air was cool and refreshing as roars of laughter seemed to shake the beach behind him. Sun watched with a grin as the people celebrating his becoming the first Champion of Alola mingled, talking about their adventures with their Pokémon at their side. He had stepped back from the crowd for a moment, and Lillie had wandered over to talk to him. She spoke with him about her journey, mentioning that she was glad to have traveled with him across Alola. Then, she asked if he could sneak away from the party with her, and off to the Ruins of Conflict. He agreed wholeheartedly, willing to take any chance to be alone with her.
They left the part behind them, the peppy, quick flute music and the crackling of the massive bonfire falling back as they walked through a grove of overhanging jungle trees. Following the path, they broke out a moment later into the clearing, the rushing sound of a waterfall crystal clear in the night air as they looked out over the newly repaired bridge. Lillie took a few steps towards it, with him close at hand. She stopped abruptly before striding on, and turned back to him. He would remember this moment for the rest of his life.
Lillie was radiant in the moonlight, seeming almost to glow. Her blonde hair was hanging off the sides of her flawless face, dancing as the wind curling over the falls blew it lightly. Her green eyes were soft, and her gaze was dazzling as she looked to him, setting his heart to thumping. She clutched at the pink straps of her backpack, which hung loosely and low over her white dress, baggy on the top and pleated on the bottom. She was undeniably beautiful under the blanket of a trillion stars behind her, stretching out far into the horizon.
She stopped for a moment to recall how desperate she had been at the time when they met, barely able to decide what to do. Then, she noted that it had been Nebby who had really brought them together, even if it was by accident. Following her across the bridge and up the ruins, Sun listened as she wondered if Tapu Koko had come to their rescue because of some connection to the legendary Pokémon. After saying this, she stepped into the ruins, and he followed.
Once inside, she mentioned that her heart was pounding in her chest, a feeling that Sun could certainly relate to, though, for an entirely different reason. They had both then journeyed further into the ruins, and Lillie had thanked Tapu Koko for saving Nebby once they stood at the altar. Sun had stepped up to the stone next, hearing the guardian speak to him briefly through his Z-ring. What had followed next was an incredible battle, one that ended in the defeat of the guardian, who disappeared and left a Z crystal at his feet.
Lillie then mentioned that this trip had been weighing on her heart for some time, and she was happy to see it resolved. Hoping that they wouldn't get found out, the two ran back to the party after that, through the grove and the bright light of the moon. Once they got back, they had watched the Battle Royals together, and chatted with a few more people. Then, moving away from the group again, he and Lillie began to talk again. What she said rang through like a gentle bell, ringing in his ears.
"I hope that you'll always stay just the way you are now, Sun… Look how your joy has brought so much light to everyone here…"
Hanging off of those words, he felt a quivering inside of his heart as he looked to her, wanting to be all of those things for her alone. She then spoke of her mother, who was getting better slowly, even so much as to almost make the celebration. As she finished mentioning this, her expression had grown unsure and nervous, and she said that she knew now what she must do. Taking a step closer, Sun's heart shuddered with nervousness as he believed she was going to tell him that she felt the same way that he did about her. She began to speak when a firework burst unexpectedly behind them, and her face changed instead to astonishment. She turned to face the fireworks as they began to explode brilliantly in the sky, cut off and not looking to speak further.
He watched as the sharp colours danced off of her silky hair, her nervous expression changing into one of amazement and wonder. All he could do was breathe, unable to ask what she was going to say in that wonderful moment. He felt his heart hammering in his chest as he wrested control of his hand, and began to move it towards hers. He could see the distance closing as his fingertips nearly touched her soft palm, but froze. Someone was screaming his name, calling from some faraway place. Turning his head, the world began to waver, shimmering intensely as…
Sun blinked his eyes once, and then twice as the cold mountain wind swirled over his face. He turned his head from the blank, grey rock face ahead of him and looked down. He was clothed in a thick, Mareep wool coat and a thick nylon strap was fastened around the leather belt around his waist. Below him was a young man with red stubble beginning to spread like fire across this thin chin. Beyond him was a stream of other climbers, all stopped momentarily from a steep ascent up a vertical cliff that Sun could no longer see the bottom of. As he got his bearings again, snapped from his memory, he heard the man call up to him from below again.
"Sun! Are you alright?!" the young man of twenty two cried up to him, and he nodded stoutly in reply.
"Yup, I'm fine," he called back down before turning his face up. His Machoke was looking down at him intently, having stopped immediately as it felt the slack leave the nylon strap attached to his own waist.
"Get goin' Burly," Sun directed kindly, but firmly, "C'mon."
Grunting softly with understanding, the large, muscular Pokémon reached an arm up to the next rock sticking out of the cliffside and pulled himself up a little further. On the string above Machoke was a Throh and a Primape, leading the party up with their well-developed climbing ability. Sun felt a chill wrack his body as his muscles stretched and contracted, moving solidly behind his partner. The pleasant day dream of his celebration evaporated entirely as he rose up the mountainside, his lungs filling with cold air as he began to breathe more heavily from exertion.
The team was scaling Mt. Silver, an adventure that Sun had signed up for after reading the pamphlet he had snatched on his way out of Saffron City. Two months ago, he had arrived at the headquarters of a new research and exploring group, the IPTD, or Isolated Pokémon Discovery Team. He had been the final recruit that they needed for their first expedition, a journey to a lost valley in the middle of the range that Mt. Silver belonged to. According to folk legend and reports from local farmers, deep in the range there lay a valley containing unthinkably large herds of Pokémon, including Tauros and Rhyhorn. It was a place that mankind had not laid eyes on, as the area around it was frequently clouded over, and flecked with heavy blizzards preventing a safe fly in. With a deep desire to discover it and claim it as their first victorious find, the team began with just two people. It had grown to seven in total when Sun had shown up, and that was enough to sustain a successful trek into the mountains by their measure.
He had trained extensively in mountain climbing and wilderness survival before leaving, necessitating a lot of time being spent. Burly, his Machoke, was who he had chosen to learn alongside him, one of the Pokémon he had retrieved from his friend in Cerulean. Two weeks ago, they had begun their trek into the mountains, eventually reaching the side of Mt. Silver that they had to scale. It had been the most difficult challenge that Sun had ever undertaken in his life, even surpassing solving the Ultra Beast problem. It was grueling and bleak, with nothing but snow and rock to fill one's days as they slowly struggled their way to the pass on Mt. Silver that would lead them through the range to the valley. However, even despite that, the mountains held a certain rugged beauty that Sun couldn't deny, and created some of the most stunning sunsets he had ever seen in his life.
He honestly couldn't be sure if this was the path that he was meant to follow in life, crossing all corners of the globe in search of areas man hadn't yet set foot in, but it was invigorating. That sense of adventure, that drive to see something that no one else in the world had yet laid eyes on. It was a new, single lick of flame glowing in the dead hearth that had been his soul when he had arrived at the IPTD headquarters. He felt that with each shaky reach, and each hard grasp of the rock in front of him, that he might be able to leave Lillie behind him.
Now, breathing hard and gritting his teeth as he reached out to the next outcropping, Sun continued to push his way up the mountain, gaining mere inches at a time. This was the kind of catharsis he needed; something physically daunting that would leave him too tired to think about his problems. With a firm hand and level head, Sun doggedly scaled the mountain, his eyes rising up past Machoke and into the dark clouds above. Below him, shattered and broken upon the level ground was his heart, but he paid it little to no mind. His eyes were piercing the sky, his head raised with dignity once more in a pursuit a man could be proud of. He had a mountain to climb.
Thank you for reading the first story I've posted to FanFiction! The main reason I made a note at the end here was to ask if any readers would like to read more of Sun's adventures. If there's interest, I'll probably do a few more stories that'll be a little longer.