More Lightsunshipping goodness. I hope that I portrayed them as accurate as possible. Well then, enjoy! ^_^
It was an unusually cloudy day as Sun and Lillie were at Poni Meadow in order to fulfill a task for Professor Kukui. They were supposed to take photos of the Pokémon that inhabited the area so that the professor could analyze it for study. At first, it was Sun who was only supposed to be tasked with the job, but Lillie opted to join as well because she wanted to do something interesting for the day. However, her ulterior motive was to spend time with her best friend. Ever since Lillie came back from the Kanto region 4 months ago, all that she wanted to do was to hang out with Sun, Hau, Hapu, or Acerola whenever the opportunity arose for her to do so.
In Sun's case, he didn't mind Lillie's presence, but there was a nagging feeling in his heart. When he received an unexpected visit from her at the Marina, he felt joy and relief that she finally returned. Nonetheless, his crush for the girl reignited once more as the months have passed. Sun worried that if he were to confess his feelings to her, then she would cast him away for good.
As they searched through the meadow, Lillie happened to catch her eye a Dragonite by the cliffs. The last time that she'd ever seen one was when she battled Lance, the Dragon-Type Master and Champion of the Indigo League. She readied her camera as the Dragonite was about to fly away. Just as Lillie was about to take a picture, a booming rumble roared through the meadow.
Lillie stumbled in shock, but when she looked at the spot where the Pokémon was, it was long gone. The blonde frowned at her missed opportunity as she looked at Sun.
"We should go, Lillie. It's going to rain hard along with thunderstorms brewing." Sun warned, but he spoke too soon as it started to pour. "Come on. I know where we can take shelter." He grabbed her wrist as they hurried through several trees. Soon, they made it to the entrance of Resolution Cave.
Sun and Lillie sat near the inside of the entrance as they held themselves for warmth, but the former realized that he had 2 spare blankets in his bag. He quickly gave one to her as she took it in haste.
"Are you okay?" Sun asked as he wrapped his blanket around him.
"I'm fine. A little drenched but okay." Lillie answered as she nuzzled on her blanket. As unfortunate as their situation was, it felt nostalgic to her.
"Déjà vu, huh?" Lillie murmured to herself as she saw the rain hit the ground at a high speed.
The Alola Champion raised an eyebrow as he was confused by what she meant by that. "Huh? What do you mean by that?"
Lillie sighed in disappointment. Then again, she gave him the benefit of the doubt since it's been so long. "Remember Exeggutor Island 5 years back?" She reminded, giving him a pout as a result.
Sun pondered for a moment, and soon realized by what she meant. "Oh yeah! When we went to search for the Sun Flute, we sought refuge when it started to rain."
A smile formed on Lillie's face afterwards. Back then, she told Sun about how she and her mother used to dance in the rain until they've gotten sick the next day. The rain felt soothing for Lillie, as if it washed all of her worries away.
"Now you remember, good. I've always cherished that moment." She commented. Truth be told, Lillie was glad to have spent that moment with Sun at Exeggutor Island. He was always willing to listen to her grievances whenever she wanted to vent about her family troubles. Sometimes she would apologize for doing so, but the boy never minded in the slightest because he was happy that she'd chose him to talk about her personal matters.
"I can't believe it's been that long. It felt like it was just yesterday." Sun remarked as he took his hat off. He decided to change the topic to something else. "Did you find anything interesting in the meadow before it rained?"
Lillie perked up in a flash as she remembered her finding. "Yeah! I actually saw a Dragonite by the cliff!" She exclaimed in excitement.
"You did?! They're rare to come by!" The Alola Champion shared the same reaction.
"But it went away before I could take a picture." She added in slight disappointment but was able to shrug it off. "It reminded me of Lance and his Dragonite when I was in Kanto."
The mention of Kanto clouded Sun's mind. He knew that her mother was staying at Bill's house in order to finish her recovery, but he wondered if she was happy being back in Alola. To Sun, it just seemed like it was so sudden of her to return. There was an odd feeling that it was his fault in a way, as if he was selfish enough for Lillie to come back. Without realizing it, he asked the question.
"Do you miss Kanto?"
Lillie had an odd look on her face when Sun asked her that. She did miss the region because her mother was still there. Nonetheless, Lillie chose to come back to Alola out of her own volition.
"While I know that mother is still on her way to recovery, and all of the people that I've met on my journey. Ultimately, I do and don't miss Kanto." She answered rather ambiguously.
However, that didn't quell Sun's thoughts. "Are you sure that you were not forced into coming back because of us?" He pressed even further, though it seemed that he was pushing his boundaries.
"What do you mean that I was forced?" Lillie responded in an offended manner.
With a sigh, Sun was prepared as to what he was about to say. "It's just, on the 7th month after you left, Hau sent you a letter in which I took part in writing my thoughts into it. We wanted to know how you were doing." He said as he cleared his throat. "Thing is, we never got a response, and so we tried again 6 months after the first one, but to no avail again."
Looking at the exterior of the cave, Sun finally stepped through his boundaries when he said the following words.
"I thought that you moved on from us. And that you returning was us indirectly guilt tripping you into doing so."
Lillie's expression turned somber as she faced the rain again, refusing to look at Sun in the eyes as a tear formed on one of her eyes. It's true, she did miss Alola along with Sun and the others, but she didn't come back because of Sun's reason.
She gained the strength to talk in order to dissolve the blatant misconception.
"Elio." Lillie began, which shocked Sun as a result. No one besides his mother has ever called him by his real name in person. Now he knew that his meddling was pushed too far.
"No, I didn't move on from you guys at all. Remember, I was focused on making mother feel better, but I also wanted to better myself as a newly forged Pokémon Trainer." The tears cascaded down Lillie's tears as she had the courage to continue on.
"I-I thought that if I w-were to get anything that related to A-Alola. Be it you, Hau, o-or any other person, then i-it would make me want t-to come back because I've missed you all so much!" Lillie sobbed rather hard because for the past 5 years, she dearly missed her friends. While she did make new friends, they could never replace the ones that she's gotten to know in Alola.
Sun's face was filled with sympathy and understanding, but chose to not say anything out of respect for Lillie.
She resumed her explanation once more. "Around the t-time that I turned s-sixteen, mother t-told me that she w-was feeling a l-lot better than before, she asked me i-if I wanted to go back to Alola." She took a deep breath in order to regain her speech pattern again, though her voice continued to quiver.
"When I told her yes, I asked her if she was going, too, but she said no. Even though I wanted to dispute it, mother assured that she was in good hands, and that I could call to check up on her." Lillie's tears streamed through her face again.
"So, don't you e-ever think that it was ever Hau's f-fault, Professor K-Kukui's fault, or your fault because it n-never wasn't!" Her sobs became erratic as she hid her face with the blanket, crying her heart out.
"Lillie." Sun whispered worriedly. The last thing that he wanted to do was make her cry. To see Lillie in such a broken state felt like a kick to the stomach. However, he remembered the words of a certain Pokémon Trainer from a year back as it echoed through his mind.
'We all have our reasons to venture out in the world.'
'Whether it'd be for family reasons, in pursuit of strength, or in my case trying to find a lost friend.'
'It's all about respecting that person's choice since they know the reason behind it.'
"I'm s-sorry! I'm t-truly sorr-"
Taking the initiative, Sun brought Lillie into a hug, keeping her close as he rubbed her back soothingly for comfort. Her sobs calmed down, through it didn't fully dissipate.
"I'm so sorry, Lillie." Sun started as he had Lillie face him. "It was not right of me to make that kind of assumption, that was me going too far. I'll admit, I have had thoughts of going to Kanto in the hopes that I'd bump into you. But that's just selfish thinking because I know that you had things to do there."
Taking a breath, Sun brought her hands to his, tracing the back of her hand with this thumb. She did not budge as he thought otherwise.
"I have this weird feeling in my heart that tells me we have something much more than a friendly bond."
Lillie's eyes widened due to Sun's implication.
'Is he going to say as to what I think he's going to say?' Lillie told herself in her mind. She has harbored an affection for the boy during her later years in the Kanto region, and around her return as she spent more time with him to reconcile their bond.
"I've grown to like you, Lillie. Not as just friends, but as…" Sun's words stumbled as he looked away in embarrassment, a blush forming on his face. "Forgive me, I'm not good at conveying it into words."
Lillie proceeded to giggle at Sun's predicament, which had him puzzled for a moment. "Why are you-" The Alola Champion was cut off as Lillie glomped onto him, bringing the two down to the ground along with their blankets.
As Sun brought his vision back to Lillie, he didn't see tears of sorrow, but those of joy as she cupped his face.
"You silly. Of course I feel the same way." Lillie chirped as she gave him an affectionate smile.
"Guess you can say that it's official. I wonder how Gladion will react?" Sun commented as he rested his hands on Lillie's hips.
"As overprotective as he is, he'll be fine with it." She answered.
The last time that Sun has ever made Gladion angry was when Lillie and Cosmog were taken away by Plumeria. Sun has never seen Gladion in such an infuriating state before. Good thing that the Alola Champion didn't have any plans to tick him off anytime soon.
"Well, it's safe if I do this, right?" Lillie spoke as she formed a smirk on her face.
"Huh?" Before he could say anything else, her lips have crashed into his.
This was the first time that they've ever shared a kiss with someone. It was an entirely new feeling to the two. Their eyes closed as they continue to bask in their nirvana. Lillie was tempted to slide her tongue into his mouth, but she thought that it was going a tad too far, so she was fine as to how the kiss was going. Sun was rather sloppy, almost bumping his teeth into hers, with Lillie doing the same, so he felt relieved that he wasn't the only without any experience.
Once their kiss ended, Sun flashed one of his smiles that always melted her heart. "Not too shabby, right?"
"Verily." Lillie replied. She was going to get used to this kind of relationship.
The teens huddled back to their former spot, and noticed that it was just lightly drizzling outside.
"Well, it looks like it should be calm outside. But we can't use our Pokémon to fly back due to the chance of a thunderstorm happening again." Sun concluded as he held Lillie's hand.
"Better safe than sorry. What else can we do?" Lillie asked.
"We can do what we did on the ground, but I actually want to hear on how you took on the Indigo Elite Four and Lance again." Sun suggested to his girlfriend.
Not the kind of answer that she had expected, in terms of the last part of his sentence, but she was happy to tell the tale to her newfound boyfriend again. Though there'd be up and downs along the way, Sun and Lillie were ready to face it together as a team.
