Glistening light from the rising sun flitted through wispy white curtains, dancing over the visage of the rooms' sole human occupant. Outside, the noise of Pikipeks chirping at each other could be heard. Lillie was spread out over a large white canopy bed and nestled beneath a fluffy white comforter. Her blonde hair was asunder over her face and pillow, the sunlight illuminating her golden locks. She winced at the light and opened her eyes. At her feet, her Pokemon stirred and stretched out its front paws while shaking its six baby blue tails.
"Snooooow," it yawned out.
"G'morning Snowy," Lillie said as she rubbed her tired eyes. "It's too cold and early for anything right now, isn't it?"
"Snooow," her Pokemon chortled to her unhelpfully.
Lillie stretched out her arms as she rolled out of bed. She headed towards her tall walnut chiffonier and grabbed her hairbrush to begin trying to tame her hair.
"Snow snoooow," the Alolan Vulpix continued to chortle while rubbing its body against her legs.
"Yes, yes Snowy… food soon. Just be patient," Lille bent down and scratched the white Vulpix's ears.
An ocean breeze blew through the room, sending the sickly sweet smell of salt through every crevice. On a simple bed the human occupant's nose started to twitch as the ocean spray entered her senses. Hearing the waves splash against the rocks and pier outside, almost as if the sea itself was her alarm clock, the small blue haired girl threw her covers off in a haste and sprung out of bed.
As she threw her sheets off, a pokemon went flying with the sheets. A small blue seal somersaulted through the mess of fabric and landed, flapping its flippers together.
"Poppy popppiooo."
Lana put her hands up, holding an invisible sign board as she looked at Popplio, "Ten out of ten Poppy good job!"
She quickly grabbed a hairbrush from the side table and quickly brushed her short hair with it. Glancing at the clock on her table made of reclaimed deadwood she gently tapped the top of it. It lit up and read 6:56.
"Beat you again Mr. Clock," Lana mused, sticking her tongue out to it.
She sauntered off to her dresser, which was well worn from years of use and full of haphazardly placed stickers in random intervals. The stickers themselves formed a timeline of her life, from photo machine stickers during her time at Pokemon school, political slogans, and others from far away given to her by visiting challengers. It's why Lana would never throw it away, despite its state of disrepair.
Down to her left her Popplio had made a game of flitting in and out through the bed-sheets which had been haphazardly thrown on the ground a few moments earlier.
"Popplio, this isn't the time for games! We have to go feed Lapras, make sure Ho and Suh are ready for their day at Pokemon school, and on top of that we have our own training to do!"
Lana grabbed the sheets and pulled with Popplio still inside. As she lifted them, popplio spun in the air, landing perfectly leading to another gleeful clapping of its paw pads.
"Honestly Popplio, sometimes I think you must have been raised by a Meowth and not by fellow Popplio," Lana rolled her eyes.
Popplio responded by looking down at the ground and eliciting a small "Poppioooo."
"Oh come on, com'ere you," she called out to him, kneeling slightly and stretching out her arms.
Her blue Pokemon jumped into her outstretched arms and she gave him a quick hug before loosening her grip and continuing to hold him.
"Time to go downstairs and deal with Ho and Suh... things are so hard now that Mom's gone," she sighed, her pokemon mimicking her sigh himself "Pioo."
As Lana stepped downstairs her sisters were already in the living room.
"No it's MY turn to watch morning cartoons," Ho said, with her left hand on the remote.
"No Ho, it's my turn to watch the morning report on the Alolan region," Suh said, her right hand on the remote.
The two were in a tussle for the remote, barely noticing their older sister as she stepped downstairs.
"Honestly," Lana muttered to herself. "HO. SUH. CUT IT OUT," She yelled. Her two younger sisters stopped and stared.
"Thank you," Lana said slightly smiling "Ho, you have 30 minutes to watch your cartoons, Suh you have 30 minutes to watch your morning news for Alola... I don't want to hear any complaints okay..."
"Fine..." came the response from the two blue-haired sisters in unison.
"I'm going out to feed Lapras now, and if I come back in to find you two fighting..." Lana started as she stepped out the door, "No breakfast for you two," she finished closing the door behind her.
"But sis! That's cruel and unusual punishment," came a muffled reply, which Lana barely heard through the door.
Lana rolled her eyes and looked down at Popplio in her arms.
"I've never fought with them this much, have I Popplio?"
Popplio merely jumped out of her arms and headed towards the pier where Lapras was serenely floating between two of the docks, observing the blue seal coming towards her.
"Heh, you always do care more about the sea, don't you Popplio," Lana said to herself.
Lillie creaked down the old wooden steps of her mother's estate, her Vulpix following closely in her footsteps. Snowy chortled as she moved, bumping her head continuously into Lillie and winding her legs around in a fluffy assault. The Pokemon's belly rumbled as some of the six tails curled over Lillies feet. Lillie looked down and smiled at her hungry little fox.
As she walked into the main landing, James entered the room, carrying a tray laden with a bowl of brown kibbles with bits of blue in it and a plate of fruit, yogurt, some form of eggs and toast.
"Jaaames," Lillie pouted, "I told you I can feed Snowy myself. It's one thing to cook for me, but at least let me feed my own pokemon…" she finished, sighing.
"Fine, Miss Lillie," James said as he handed her the bowl with Snowy's food, putting the tray down on the ornate coffee table.
Lillie rolled her eyes, "That's not what I-"
"Snoooow!" came the impatient call out from beneath her as the Vulpix watched its food change hands from its position on the ground.
"Yes Snowy, I know you're hungry," Lillie said as she put the bowl down and petted her white Pokemon. The Vulpix happily dug into its food.
Lillie herself sat down on the large plush couch and began to dig into her own food.
"Thanks James," she said, flicking on the T.V. in front of her.
Her butler merely bowed and departed the room.
Lana stood at the steps to the pier, where the Suiren family Lapras was floating. She grabbed a bucket of kelp before her descent. The bucket was helpfully left at the top of the steps by a local fisher as a small way of saying thanks to the Suiren family. Lana had no idea who they were or why such a deed was done, as the only thing she had to go by was a note left the first day it happened "from a fisher, as a repayment of gratitude from my family to yours."
"Here you go Lappy," Lana said, smiling and tossing a large piece to the Lapras.
The Lapras caught it silently and began to chew. As Lana fed Lapras, her Popplio deftly cut a swath through the water around the larger pokemon. He quickly looped around the submerged pier support beam, hunting for the small fish that seeked refuge in the shade of the dock, feeding himself breakfast while his trainer above fed Lapras. Occasionally, he would leap out of the water,jumping over the Lapras to land on the other side of the pier.
"Hey Poppy, you still need to conserve some energy okay! We do have that fight and practice later today," Lana called out "honestly he's like a kid in a candy store. Boundless energy."
Her Pokemon jumped up onto the wooden pier and then onto her Lapras. The Lapras craned it's neck and nuzzled the small seal. Popplio swallowed a big gulp of the Sardines it was chewing and chortled back "Piooo" to the larger Pokemon.
"Heh, It's a shame you're just our ride Pokemon, Lapras. I'm sure you and Popplio would make a great team," Lana said, feeding the Lapras another small pokemon treat while continuing to rub it's neck with her large wooden brush.
Lana's attention was suddenly drawn to the sound of the house door creaking open.
"Hey Sis... we're hungry! We need to eat too!" came the voice of Suh as she poked herself outside of the door.
"I know Suh, I know... I just need to make sure Lapras is taken care of. She gets you to school and back now, perhaps you ought to be doing this instead of me," Lana yelled back as she flicked a large Lapras treat at her younger sister.
Suh caught it. "Lana, this isn't what I meant when I said I needed food."
Suh threw the treat back in Lapras general direction. The sea Pokemon gladly snapped it up out of the air, having no issue extending her neck to get to the treat.
"Okay fine you win Suh," Lana said, wrapping her arms around the neck of the large pokemon in a quick hug. "Keep my sisters safe, okay?" Lana said before giving the Lapras a quick peck on the neck.
"As for you Poppy. Keep Lappy company while I make the two bickerers food, okay?" Lana said walking up the pier stairs.
"Pioooo!" Popplio chortled as he jumped up on the Lapras head from his position her back. She was used to his antics, having slightly craned her head downwards before pushing him upward, giving him enough air to perform a perfect somersault before diving into the water, leaving no ripples as he cut through the surface tension.
"Hmm, nope, nope, nope. Eww too frilly," Lillie said to herself as she flitted through her closet.
She was still in her nightgown having only just changed from her breakfast attire. As she got to the end of the rung she placed her hand on an all too familiar dress, with threads well worn. "Perhaps… but perhaps too nostalgic," she said, sighing to herself again. "I wonder however."
"James!" She called out down the hallway.
"Yes M'lady," came the wheezing yell in return.
Lillie sighed at her butler once again calling her by that hated name "James, are you tied up with any housework or are you able to drive today?"
"Yes I can drive, where too?" James said as he slowly entered the room.
"I… I'm not sure yet. I am not even sure if I want to," Lillie said as she looked at her closet. She grabbed the all too familiar dress and flipped it over, thumbing the tag.
James looked at Lilies hand on the hanger and dress, nodded to himself and meekly smiled as he left her room.
As Lillie held the clothing tag she strained to read out the writing. The writing was well worn off after many years of wear. "Claire d L. e, Hmmm. I wonder. Claire de Lana? heh," Lillie chuckled to herself. "It's probably one of these two.." Lillie pulled out her phone and began a search. "Ahh Claire du Lune, that makes sense… Here goes nothing," she said, typing out some notes putting her head up to the receiver on her phone.
"Hello is this Lillie, of Aether Consortium, does your store by any chance carry Claire du Lune products," Lillie said into her phone. "Oh you do!? Wonderful!"
Lillie put her phone down and into her pocket, smiling.
"James!" she started to yell, before realizing her butler was standing at the door, keys in hand "Oh," Her voice lowered. "So, we're going to head to Haute Sujet in the main mall… we do have a place to go!"
James merely nodded "Yes Ma'am!"
Lana looked across the beach and in water. Across from her another Pokemon trainer, bespectacled with dark sunglasses and clad in a muscle shirt and Hawaiian shorts, was floating in a boat. In front of the trainer, his Dewpider floated on the water. It wasn't often that Lana got to experience a water on water Pokemon battle. Lana was glad, that despite the fact she had barely made it here on time after feeding and sending her sisters off to school, she didn't have to cancel the fight. She smirked. She was going to cherish every moment of this rare battle.
"You ready Cool Dude?" Lana said across the water.
"Ayyyy I am!" Came the reply.
"Poppy, Bubble beam!" Lana called out.
Her Pokemon immediately responded. Popplio jumped up in the air and a stream of bubbles shot from its nose towards his opponent.
The Pokemon in front of him attempted to skirt around, but winced as the bubbles slammed into it with considerable force.
"Pider, use water gun!" Came the response from the trainer on the other side as his Pokemon shook off the damage.
"Poppy, DODGE!"
Before Lana even finished her words, her Popplio deftly moved aside from the stream. As Popplio moved the right, the stream of water clipped his left fin. Popplio fell towards the ground wincing in pain. Lana frowned "He's getting slow."
"Poppy, come back!" Lana yelled out as she extended her arm and motioned to him. Her Popplio swam towards her, the water offering no resistance to his smooth frame. Just before reaching ashore he jumped up at Lana.
In one deft movement, like the water itself, Lana grabbed her blue seal Pokemon from the air, softening his landing as she placed him down before grabbing a Pokeball from her belt and throwing it upwards.
"Wish, now it's up to you!" she exclaimed as the Pokeball cracked open.
Springing out of the Pokeball came a small blue and white fish with an x cross on its eyes.
"Hah, that's a first from ya. What's that puny little brah gonna do against my big Dewpider?" the muscly dude across from Lana said.
"Oh just you wait big guy, just you wait," came the smug reply from Lana.
Another small blue fish showed up beside her own, followed by another, then five more fish and more. In an instant there were thousands of the small blue fish. They formed a buzzing cohesive structure of one giant fish.
"And that's the REAL power of a Wishiwashi," Lana said, continuing to smirk.
"School of Wishy, use Ancient Power!" Lana yelled out. The other trainer continued to stare before beginning to mouth something. Before finishing his command, he heard a rumble from ashore. Pillars of earth slammed into his Pokemon from beneath the water, finishing it off.
"Aww NUTS," he said, recalling his Pokemon and throwing a Pokeball forward in the air. "Kyoo, it's up to you!"
His Pokeball cracked open as a Kyogre came out.
Lana started to wave her arms side to side as if she was mimicking waves on an ocean, a small blue tinge appearing on the ground before her.
"Uh oh dude," the other trainer replied, seeing what she was doing
"WISH, HYDRO VORTEX," Lana yelled out, the small blue tinge growing into electric blue energy floating from her body and out to her Pokemon.
"Kyo.. u... use Quick Attack," Cool Dude hesitated.
The space between the two trainers erupted into bright light. Sparks of blue and white flew from the epicentre where the two Pokemon hit. Through the brightness Lana could just make out Kyogre slamming into her Wishiwashi school. Soon after the water whirlwind slashed into the whale, sending it spinning.
The Kyogre somehow endured the hit, much to the surprise of both trainers.
"Wishy, Take Down!" Lana called out, wasting no time after the last move. The giant school of Wishiwashi jumped out to water, slamming its body into the Whale Pokemon, sending spray and waves everywhere.
After the water had subsided it was revealed Kyogre had passed out.
"Aww man bro…," Cool dude replied, recalling his Pokemon before deftly jumping off his boat and begging to swim to Lana on shore. "Bros, bring the boat to me," He called out to his two Mantines tied to the craft as they began to pull the boat behind him.
Landing ashore, the large trainer shook off the water from his hair as he got up. He approached Lana and reached his big muscly arm towards her. Lana looked up at the hulking figure in front of her and smiled shaking his hand. "Good match, Cool Guy! One day I'm sure you'll beat me."
"Haaaaa. Yeah duuude. One day," Cool Guy replied, while half lowering his glasses. "You're one tough chickarita ya know that? I just can't compete with ya speed. See ya later!" he finished, jumping back in his boat and speeding off, sending waves of wake as he went.
"Phew," Lana exhaled, as she plopped down on the sand.
"That was a good battle Popplio," she said to the seal Pokemon beside her. "You too Wish," She finished, yelling at the giant school of Wishiwashi further out in the water.
"We really need to work on your speed though poppy."
The blue Pokemon looked down at the ground "Pioooo."
"It's okay," Lana said, patting the top of his head and grabbing him, embracing the seal into a tight hug.
"Now the real battle begins Tomorrow. Me versus Lillie," Lana chuckled to herself. "I still don't know what to wear!" she said, standing up suddenly.
As Lillie sat on the counter, she had her phone out and was showing it to an associate. "I'm looking for this exact dress. Do you have it in stock."
The rather young woman Lillie was speaking to took a close look at the phone "Sorry do you mind if I just touch the phone, I need to zoom in on something."
"Oh yes, of course!" Lillie replied, "Here just do what you need," she said, handing the phone to the retail associate.
"Hmm Okay, there's the SKU I need," She said "Let me just put it in our inventory and do a look up. I don't think we have it in store but yeah.." She said handing the phone back to Lana.
"Yeah. I see we have nothing in our store. I do see our major outlet and one of the stores on the coast of Kanto has it. I could put in an order and have it shipped out here in 2 weeks."
"That's too long," Lillie frowned, "Is there any chance of any express shipping.. I'm... I'm willing to pay whatever it takes."
"Ummm...Well I could call the manager of the coastal store and see what he's willing to do."
Lillie paced around the store as the associate called her other store.
"Hey is your manager in, it's Haute Sujet out in Alola. Yeah I know. We're far out right."
There was a pause as Lillie looked up and listened.
"Hey Marnier, I have a customer here looking for CDL19823 in white. She's in a bit of a bind and needs it by tomorrow. She's willing to pay for whatever shipping needed to get it here ASAP."
"What? your FedPoke truck hasn't done it's pickup yet? Wow! That fast?! Yes that's fine. Yes of course I'll make sure she pays fully."
She hung up the phone as Lillie looked to her expectantly.
"Okay. So we might be able to get it in by tomorrow... but it's going to be a hefty express shipping, almost 4 times the value of the dress... There's also another option of semi.."
"Perfect!" Lillie said, cutting the associate off.
"Uhh.. you're willing to pay the full express?" the associate said, her eyes widening.
"Mmmmmhmm!" Lillie nodded enthusiastically while getting out her PokePhone again.
"Ohh cool one of those new phone pay apps?" the associate asked.
"Yep... That's okay right?" Lillie asked "I have old school card if needed."
"Yeah actually we just had our POS terminals updated 3 weeks ago," the associate said.
The two Suiren sisters, Ho and Suh sat on the edge of their sister Lana's bed. As soon as the girls had arrived back from Pokemon School Lana had recruited them for help. They originally assumed it was chores, so it was much to their surprise to see Lana looking through her wardrobe, trying to find something nice to wear. Her wardrobe was a simple affair, a small cloth covered metal framed box with a zipper to close it. Her room had no closet to speak of, being originally designed as the attic for the whole house. She wouldn't complain however, her room was roomy because of this.
Lana looked at clothes as she flitted through and sighed before turning to her sisters.
"Am I really that boring? I can't find anything even close to what would work..." Lana grumbled, glancing back at them
"Well, I don't see you as boring," Suh said "It's more that... it's more that... umm," Suh looked to her sister.
"You don't really make clothes a part of you. You're fun because of your personality and that shines through, even if you normally wear the same thing day in and day out," Ho said, finishing her sister's sentence.
"Thanks Ho," Suh said.
"This doesn't help... I know Lillie is big into fashion and dressing up... I just don't want to look completely underdressed when I am hanging out with her," Lana spoke forlornly.
"I don't think it really matters. And if anyone's judging you they're not worth your time," Suh said.
"I guess you're right.. but.."
"We do understand Lana," Ho said, "We're here for you."
"Honestly though, I don't think she cared this much for any of her boyfriends," Suh said, looking at Ho.
"Right!?" Ho exclaimed.
"Uuuuugh. Not this again," Lana puffed out her cheeks.
"Sorry...Have you tried looking into Mother's room?" Suh asked "I know we're not supposed to go in there but..."
Lana looked sadly towards the window "I suppose... I suppose I could go down there and look."
Lana turned around without saying a word and headed down the stairs. Suh turned to Ho and whispered as soon as Lana was out of eyesight "I'm not even sorry. She's fun to tease."
"Yep," Ho whispered solemnly.
"How about this one?" Lana asked her two sisters. Lana was in a pale and plain blue summer sundress.
"The dress looks nice but it would need some heavy accessorizing to look good."
"Ugh," Lana grumbled, throwing the dress off and grabbing the next two items, as she struggled to put on a pair of jeans. Lana flopped on the bed, the two sisters vacating quickly. Lana was able to get the tight jeans on, and grabbed a top from the closet, a plain black top. Lana also grabbed a intricate choker and put that on.
"This one?" Lana asked the two sisters.
"No." Suh said flatly.
"Yeaaaah we really don't really need to be reminded of your goth phase..." Ho replied.
"Yeaah you're probably right, okay... time for the secret weapon!" Lana said, charged up. "But you two can't see this till it's ready okay!" Lana shooed the two girls down and out of her room
"Just tell us when you're ready!" Suh yelled up.
"Ya!" Lana yelled back. From under her bed she pulled out a box, the same box she had pulled out of her mom's room after the helpful suggestions from her sisters. On the plain white box was a note "Dear Lana, for your college graduation. Love, Mom."
"Okay ready!" Lana called downstairs.
The two sisters eagerly ran up, curious as to what Lana's secret weapon was. When they came into visual range of Lana they stopped and stared, stunned. There was Lana, wearing a ankle length skirt that had the exact same pattern and colours as her old corded shorts. The top was similar to her old one but had thin lacy patterned shoulder straps, revealing Lana's muscular arms completely.
"What?" Suh asked "Where did..."
"From Mom," Lana said. "I found it in a box. It's like Pokemon school me 2.0!"
"That...works perfect," Ho said.
"Yay!" Lana jumped, the motion hastily causing the cord on the skirt to come undone and falling to the ground revealing the bottom of her usual one piece swimsuit.
"Really the swimsuit too," Suh said, rolling her eyes.
"Has to be accurate," Lana winked and started to giggle.
Ho and Suh both rolled their eyes "We're gonna go let you be a weirdo now and do our own thing if you're done with our help," Ho said as both sisters creeped downstairs.
"Well fine!" Lana exclaimed. "Honestly I couldn't have done it without them... They gave me the courage to go into her room for the first time since..."
Lillie sat on her bed, typing out some numbers on her phone and then deleting them. Her Vulpix was lying down beside her paying about as much attention as a cat would to their owner. Lillie sighed after typing the numbers for the seventh time and hit a green button. Lillie put the phone up to her ear and hopped out of her bed, her white Pokemon getting up and jumping to the floor itself.
"Hey Lana! It's Lillie," Lillie said as she heard her friends voice on the other end.
Lillie was pacing in her bedroom and walking in circles. As she talked on the phone, Snowy followed her around. "Hey Lana, I just wanted to call to make sure we're still good for tomorrow..."
"Of course we are. Why wouldn't we be?" Lana said "Wait you're not thinking of cancelling on me?" Lana frowned in her room as she sat on the bed, moving the pile of clothes from earlier aside.
"Oh no no!" Lillie replied panicked "Not unless you want to of course..."
"No no not at all," Lana said, feeling her heart speed up.
"Okay well... I only asked because you're a big island champion now and such and I wasn't sure if things came up and yeah... I was just making sure... Chez Hoen tomorrow at 1pm yeah?" Lillie said.
"Yep! 100%," Lana said "See you tomorrow."
"Okay bye!" Lillie said, hanging up the phone.
As both girls hung up their phone in their respective houses, they both let out a "phew"
Lana fell backwards on her bed before turning to her Pokemon. "Ohh Poppy I was so worried she was going to cancel because of some business related crap."
Lillie sat down in her chair as Vulpix jumped on her lap. "I have no idea why I am so nervous about this, Snowy," she said, running her fingers along its white fur.