The Pokemon Whisperer: Alola
Iki Town, Alola Region.
"Um Professor are you sure this thing is safe?" Lillie asked worriedly looking at the Professor's boat.
Dom had to agree with her, and Hau seemed to be thinking the same exact thing. He wished more then anything he had decided to bring Flygon or Salamence with him, so he could just fly. The run-down old boat that they were staring at in the harbor currently. He had been on more then a few boats in his lifetime, he did live in the Hoenn region got a while after all, but this one didn't seem safe.
"Ummmm I think I'm gonna ride in the pokeball for this one!" Grovyle said fearfully, and before Dom could react, he pushed the button on his pokeball attached to Dom's hip.
Dom sighed as Kukui gave the three trainers an encouraging smile. He seemed like a man who no matter what could not be put in a bad mood. Reluctantly he followed Hau and Lillie onto the rickety ship, and he felt himself almost get sick right away. However, it was nothing compared to how scared Lillie looked.
Hau on the other hand as always, looked completely overjoyed. "I can't wait! Akala Island, with the first ever Pokemon Whisperer!" He said happily jumping up and down.
Dom sighed. "Hau… remember how we said we were going to stay quiet about all of that right?" He reminded the green haired boy.
He stopped jumping and rubbed his head sheepishly. "Ahaha… yeah right sorry about that." He said nervously.
After seeing Dom literally communicate and synchronize with his Greninja from thousands of miles away, Hau was naturally amazed. Despite not wanting to tell many people about his ability to talk to Pokemon, Dom decided it would be best to tell Hau. All his old traveling companions had known about it, so it was only fair that he and Lillie knew as well. Naturally the boy was completely amazed, and right away asked what his Dartrix as saying. He decided to leave out how Dartrix and Torracat seemed to now have an intense hatred/rivalry with each other, but he told him. He had taken to calling Dom the 'Pokemon Whisperer'.
Dom didn't find the name particularly good, however he couldn't bring himself to dim Hau's excitement.
The three of them all stood at the front of the boat, gripping onto the side for dear life. When they heard the clicking of the engine all bets were off. The boat sped out of the harbor faster then a Giga Impact in the words of the Professor.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" He heard Lillie screaming next to him, gripping onto her hat with every ounce of her strength.
"WOOOOOHHOOOOOOOOOO!" Hau yelled holding both of his hands up of the railing.
"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Dom said weakly. He had been on plenty of boats, however his stomach was still in knots from his experience with Greninja.
He had no idea that they could synchronize from that far. The image of the man atop Guzzlord, Lumiose in flames from the destruction, it was all burned into his head.
However, the boat jerking to a complete, and sudden stop. The stop made his stomach churn and almost sent him flying over the edge. If not for Lillie catching onto his wrist, he more than likely would have. He sighed in relief and looked back and saw Lillie's small hand clasped around his wrist. The two locked eyes, and he had to thank Hau because if he hadn't spoken up, he probably would have proceeded to go completely red.
"Wohooooo! MAN, that was such a rush!" The green-haired boy said happily.
The two of them both laughed, before Lillie looked down and seemed to notice she was still holding his wrist and quickly pulled it back with a nervous laugh.
Dom to his utter annoyance felt himself heat up as well. "Thanks Lillie, you really saved me there." He told the blonde with a smile.
She nodded and was about to say something back before Professor Kukui came around to them. "Well, I trust you all enjoyed the ride!" He said, not sounding like he was joking.
Hau gave a wide smile and a thumbs up, while Dom and Lillie on the other hand gave him a narrow eyes glare. A flash of white erupted from his belt and Grovyle appeared next to him, seeming to, despite having been in the pokeball felt the effects of the ride as well.
"Oh man… I… don't feel so good." He said, looking like he was about to throw up over the side of the boat.
"Did it really bother you that bad in the pokeball?" He asked the grass-type.
Grovyle didn't answer and instead ran to the side of the boat and proceeded to throw up over the side of it. Lillie, Hau and even Professor Kukui managed a laugh. Despite the dark thoughts that were swirling in his head about what was coming, he managed to crack a smile.
"Well, I don't think you guys need to be able to talk to Pokemon to know his answer." He told them, making them laugh even harder.
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Lillie's stomach was still churning. In the few months that she'd been working with the Professor, she'd been on the boat a few times, but that had only been to sail towards the reefs, so he could observe water Pokemon. She walked besides Dom and Hau as they all lagged behind Professor Kukui, who seemed to still have all the energy in the world. She couldn't help but notice Dom frantically still trying to tame his wild unkept brown hair as they walked down the street of HeaHea City. Every now and then she would hear Grovyle speak up, and Dom cast him an annoyed look to which the grass-type simply laughed.
She found herself doing it a lot, looking at him like that.
She was so busy doing it in fact that she almost bumped into Professor Kukui's back as he stood looking down the streets. They were still close to the harbor, so she didn't know why they were stopping there.
"Looking for someone Professor?" Dom asked the man, deciding to give up on taming his hair.
The Professor scratched his chin, "Mhmm she should be here by now, I wonder what's keeping her?" He asked to nobody in particular.
"Who should be-." Lillie started before the Professor smiled.
"Oh, there she is!" He said pointing down the harbor.
Lillie and her two companions looked down the harbor and walking towards them were two women. One was a tall, beautiful darker skinned women, with multiple jeweled bracelets, and earrings. She wore a pink top revealing her mid-drift and next to her walking was a Pokemon Lillie recognized as the dusk-form of Lycanroc.
The other was a girl who seemed to be around their age. She had two long pig-tails of green hair, with big green eyes and a smile on her face. She wore jean overalls and shorts over a pink shirt. On the ground next to her was a small green and pink Pokemon, Lillie recognized it as well, it was a Steenee.
"Kukui!" The older women said happily giving the Professor a hug.
"Alola Olivia! You're looking well!" The Professor said with a smile.
She smiled sheepishly, "You as well my friend. I trust you remember Mallow, one of my Trial Captains?" She asked gesturing to the girl besides her.
Kukui smiled at the younger girl. "How could I forget!? Her 'Mallow Special' is to die for!" He said.
Mallow nodded her head, smiling as well. "It's good to see you again Professor." She said happily.
"So Kukui, you told me you had some promising new trial goers?" Olivia asked, turning her gaze to Lillie, Hau and Dom.
Lillie felt herself tense up, as she felt Nebby shuffle around in her bag. She didn't particularly like being the center of attention. However, Kukui seemed adamant to make it so.
"You bet! Lillie here is actually my assistant who decided to travel with these two on their Island Challenge." He said putting his arms around the three of them.
"This is Hau, he's Hala's grandson." He said rubbing Hau's head.
Hau gave his usual goofy smile and flashed a peace sign. Kukui rubbed Dom's head next much to the boy's annoyance it looked like, Lillie couldn't help but giggle internally at the flustered look on his face as he tried to fix his hair again.
"And this young man is-."
"NO WAY!?" Mallow suddenly said excitedly.
"Oh man…" She heard Dom mutter, as they all looked at Mallow confused.
Mallow moved quicker then Lillie had ever seen someone move before and got practically face to face with Dom. Her eyes basically had stars in them, similar to how Hau had seemed when he first met Dom, and Lillie suddenly knew what was going on. When she did, along with seeing another girl so close to Dom made her feel a strange way. She felt her heart well up with a strange urge. A strange urge to shove Mallow as hard as she could over the railing and into the water.
"You're DOMINIC HARPER!" She said excitedly.
Dom nervously laughed and took a step backwards, rubbing the back of his head the way he did when he was nervous. "Ahaha… yeah that's me." He said.
Lillie saw Grovyle standing next to him, trying his best not to laugh, but doing a horrible job. Mallow didn't seem to realize how close she was to the boy, or how nervous he appeared.
"I'm Mallow!" She said shaking his hand, "I'm one of your BIGGEST fans! Your Hoenn league final against Brenden Maple! Your Kalos League semi-final against Serena, the final against Calem! Every single one of your battles is so amazing, and you and Serena Yvonne are the absolute most perfect couple in the-." She started ranting on, before Dom nervously cut her off.
"Well me and Serena don't exactly you know um… date anymore." He said nervously.
Mallow stopped her rant and looked at Dom. The look she gave him made Lillie's stomach, which had finally calmed down after the boat ride, churn even more then it had been before. Mallow had a look in her eyes which Lillie could tell, was a look of absolute jubilation. She frowned, which Lillie could tell was fake and walked back besides Olivia.
"Oh… I'm so sorry to hear that." She said, sounding genuinely sorry. The fact her apology sounded so genuine was what made Lillie even more angry.
Dom simply nodded and Kukui cleared his throat and laughed. "Ahaha well, time for proper introductions. Dom, Lillie, Hau, this is Olivia, Kahuna of Akala Island!" He said gesturing towards the smiling Kahuna.
Olivia gave the three of them a smile and a wave. "It's nice to meet the three of you. As Kukui said, my names Olivia, the Kahuna of this Island. This is my partner Lycanroc." She said patting the bi-pedal dog like Pokemon on the head.
"Lycan…" The Pokemon said as a reluctant greeting.
Before anyone could say anything else a flash of white shot from Dom's belt. "Ruff!" His Rockruff said excitedly materializing in-front of them.
"Rockruff!" Dom said, as they watched the puppy-Pokemon run over to Lycanroc.
"Ruff, Ruff, Ruff!" Dom's Pokemon said happily, wagging his tail and panting in-front of its evolved form.
Lillie watched as Lycanroc seemed to look the puppy-Pokemon up and down, seemingly analyzing it.
After a minute or so Lycanroc turned its head. "Lycan… Lycanroc!" It said growling at the puppy Pokemon.
"Oh boy he shouldn't have said that…" He heard Dom say quietly behind her.
Whatever Lycanroc said, must not have been pleasant. Because Rockruff's tail stopped wagging, and he sat there staring at its evolved form with wide eyes. And all in one instant he snapped.
"RUFF! RUFF, RUFF, RUFF, RUFF!" The Puppy Pokemon yelped his eyes becoming a dark red color as he leaped up to try and latch itself onto its evolved form.
"ROCKRUFF!" Dom yelled, rushing forward. Grovyle acted quicker then Dom and grabbed the Puppy Pokemon pulling it back, as Lycanroc simply stood there with a smug look on his face.
"GRO, GROVYLE!" Grovyle hissed as Rockruff squirmed in his grasp.
Dom ran over and grabbed the rock-type form Grovyle's arms. "Rockruff you need to calm down! How do you even know what some of those words mean, you're a Pokemon…?" He said whispering the second part.
After Dom finally managed to calm the Pokemon down and return him, everyone stood in silence for a moment before Dom nervously laughed. "Aha, I'm sorry about that Olivia, Rockruff can get pretty competitive." He said to the Kahuna.
Olivia shook her head. "No worries Dom that look in your Rockruff's eyes… I like it. It's similar to the look Lycanroc had in his eyes when he was a Rockruff." She said stroking the rock-types head.
Kukui clapped his hands together. "Okay! Now that that's out of the way, how about the three of you make your way to the Hano Grand Resort? While you guys are traveling around Akala you can use my room there!" He said happily.
Lillie's mouth dropped, as did Hau's. "You have a permanent room at the Hano Grand Resort!?" Hau said incredulously.
Kukui smirked. "Ha, well being the Professor of the region does have its perks! You guys should spend the day here, enjoy the city, and resupply, before you head out for your first trial." The Professor suggested to them.
"What will you be doing Professor?" Lillie asked him, curious herself.
"Well Olivia and I here are going to catch up first! After that I promised I'd help Burnet with some research at the dimensional research lab. If you guys need me, I'll be there! So, Olivia what do you say? Maybe you can show me some of the new moves Lycanroc has learned!" The Professor said excitedly.
The rock kahuna nodded with a smile and turned to the three of them. "I hope that you all enjoy your time on Akala Island. Dom, Hau, I hope to see you both at a Grand Trial soon." She said happily.
Dom and Hau both nodded, and the Kahuna turned to Mallow. "Mallow why don't you show them to the Resort? The festival begins tonight, so be careful not to get lost in the crowds." She said to the trial-captain.
Mallow's eyes lit up like two giant light bulbs. Lillie felt that feeling come back again. The feeling of wanting to see Mallow take an unexpected swim. She eagerly nodded her head and walked over to them grabbing Dom's wrist, which made Lillie's insides explode.
"You bet I can! Come on Dom, let's get going!" She said, eagerly dragging him ahead, with a laughing Grovyle not far behind.
"Ha, well she must be as big a fan of Dom's as I am huh Lillie?" Hau said to her.
She could barely hear the boy, as she was too busy clenching her fists and staring daggers at the green pig-tails bouncing ahead of her. Hau seemed to notice this and shook her slightly.
"Uh Lillie? Are you okay?" He asked her.
She shook herself out of the trance she was in and looked to Hau quickly. "Um… yes! Yeah, I'm fine, come on let's catch up to them!" She said speed walking after Mallow and Dom.
She could have sworn she heard Hau mutter 'Girls' in a disapproving tone, but she decided to ignore it and keep her eyes trained on Mallow's hand.
She wanted it with everything she had for it to be HER holding Dom's wrist like that.
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"You know Lillie you're making it like REALLY obvious." Hau said, walking with his hands behind his head.
Lillie barely heard what he was saying, as her eyes were fixed on Mallow in-front of her, and the cute yet flustered look on Dom's face. He looked like he wanted to be anywhere else but there at that moment, but Mallow's grip must have been made of iron. She was gripping the strap on her bag so hard that her fingers were beginning to turn white. She had never felt a feeling of jealously like this before, it was a feeling she really didn't like. She thought it would go away if Mallow 'accidently' got pushed in the way of a rampaging Touros.
"Hey? Lillie? You know if you wanna hide your crush on Dom you need to do a waaaaaay better job then this." Hau said to her, and those words she heard.
"What're you talking about Hau!?" She said, her head shooting around to the green-haired boy.
Hau had the audacity to laugh. "Haha Lillie your crush on him is obvious, and so is your apparent jealously. I don't know why you wouldn't tell him since he's been ogling you since he met you but-."
"I have no idea what you're talking about Hau!" She said trying not to meet the boy's eyes.
Lillie could practically feel Hau's eyes rolling. "Okay whatever you say…." She heard him say.
"And we're here!" She heard Mallow say from in-front of them.
She whirled back around and sure enough they were in-front of the Hano Grand Resort. She had been in it multiple times before herself with her mother and brother, however it still managed to amaze her to this day. She saw the amazed look on Dom's face and couldn't help but smile. He turned around to her and Hau giving them a cheesy smile.
"Alright, let's get to the Professor's room and unpack. After that I want to get some training in before we figure out where the first trial is, how about it Hau?" He asked the Melemele boy.
Hau naturally, as he did with everything got super excited. "Alright you bet!" He said jumping up and down.
Dom smiled, and Lillie thought it would finally be their group of 3 alone again, but of course Mallow had to interject. "I can take you guys to meet the next Trial Captain!" She said happily.
"You know them?" Dom said as the three turned back to the green haired girl.
She nodded her head, her eyes not coming off Dom the entire time. "You bet I do, it's my friend Lana. Her me, and the rest of the trial captains are all going to be at the beach in a few hours around noon, why don't you come Dom?" She asked, obviously meaning for the offer only to apply to him.
She breathed a sigh of relief however, when he turned around to the two of them. "I haven't been to the beach in a while… how's that sound you two?" He asked the two of them.
Hau, nodded eagerly. "You haven't lived till you've been to the beaches on Alola! Let's do it!" He said happily.
Dom nodded and turned his blue eyes on her. "What about you Lillie?" He asked her with a smile.
As much as she wanted to be away the three of them to be anywhere except where Mallow was, she saw the excited looks on her friends faces. "Yeah! I could use a beach day…" She said with the best fake smile she could muster.
Dom nodded eagerly and smiled back at her. "Awesome, alright Mallow I guess we're all in. Come on you two let's go get to the Professor's room and get changed." He said with a smile.
"Gro, Groooovyle!" Grovyle said happily next to him.
Lillie sighed internally. This was going to be one of the hardest trips to the beach she's ever taken.
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The start of their trip to the beach Lillie would admit was very nice. The three of them had settled in Professor Kukui's room and gotten changed right away. The sun felt particularly nice that day, and Lillie would be lying if she said that she didn't appreciate just how beautiful the beaches on Alola truly were. The beach was lined with people running, playing, tanning, and jumping into the water. The three of them, all found a spot with chairs and an umbrella.
"WOOHOOOOO!" Hau yelled, tossing his two pokeballs out, revealing his Dartrix and Pichu.
Lillie giggled a little as did Dom. She looked over and saw Grovyle slowly putting on a pair of sunglasses he found, which made Dom roll his eyes and Lillie laugh. Dom grabbed three more pokeballs from his pockets.
"Alright you guys let's enjoy ourselves!" He said tossing them up into the air.
Torracat, Rockruff, and Noibat all escaped onto the sand with much different reactions. Rockruff dug his paws into the sand and yelped happily. Torracat right away walked under the umbrella, curling himself up for a nap, while Noibat flew and did the same, perching himself on Dom's shoulder.
"Ruff, ruff!" Rockruff said happily wagging his tail.
Dom scrunched his eyebrows down at him. "What? No, I don't wanna race you." He said.
"Ruff!" Rockruff said indignantly.
Dom shook his head. "Because it's not fair you have two more legs then I do, and a lot less weight to move. Go ahead run where you want just don't go to far. And YOU!" He said pointing to Grovyle, who still had the sunglasses on.
"If I hear about you stealing food from anyone, you're staying in the pokeball for the rest of the day!" He told his partner.
"Gro, Grovyle!" The grass-type protested.
"Yes, you did! On the ship here, you stole the kitchens pokepuffs!" Dom argued.
"Grovyle…" The Hoenn-starter muttered before following Hau to the water.
Lillie couldn't help but laugh, but Dom simply rolled his eyes, placed a pair of sunglasses on his eyes and laid back in his chair. Noibat flew and moved back perching himself on the chair to nap. Lillie sighed with a small does of happiness being injected into her. Normally she would have loved to just be laying there in a beach chair next to Dom watching the Pokemon go and play. However, she remembered Mallow grabbing his wrist and walking off and felt a pang of annoyance knowing that at any moment the green haired girl would show up. She decided that she wanted to keep Dom's attention, and she knew one way to that was obvious.
Get him to talk about his Pokemon.
She looked over and saw Dom in a state of absolute bliss, she almost felt bad interrupting him. "Hey, Dom?" She asked him.
He slipped the sunglasses up on his head and looked over at her with a smile. "Yeah, what's up Lils?" He asked her.
She smiled back at him. "Can you tell me another story?" She asked.
He smiled a little and looked out at the beach. Grovyle was splashing in the water with Hau and his Pokemon. Torracat was curled up just outside the umbrella in the sun, while Rockruff was currently racing some unlucky beach goers. He rubbed his chin and seemed to ponder for a moment.
"You like hearing those stories huh? Haha well let me see, one time when me Serena and Calem were in Shalour City we-."
"HEY! DOM!" A voice rang out in the air.
Dom's head turn, and Lillie felt herself deflate like a balloon. You have GOT to be kidding me, she said to herself.
Sure, enough the green haired girl that Lillie had grown to not be very fond of came bounding down the beach, kicking up sand on her way. She had on a green two-piece swimsuit and looked to be in absolute jubilation to have finally found Dom. Flanking her was a shorter, timid looking girl with a head of blue hair.
She nearly tripped over Torracat waking the feline pokemon up from his nap. Lillie looked over at Dom who sat up in his chair, with Noibat perched on his shoulder still. He looked slightly annoyed from being aroused from his resting state but kept a friendly face. Mallow came right under their little deck, under the umbrellas with them. She gave Lillie a passing glance, and fixed her eyes completely on Dom, as her friend followed behind her.
"Dom! It's so good to see you again, I thought I would do you the liberty of introducing you to your next trial captain, Lana I'd like to introduce you to Dominic Harper!" She said gesturing towards the blue-haired girl.
The flare of competitiveness went up in Dom's eyes again as he stood up and smiled. He held his hand out for Lana. "It's good to meet you Lana, my names-."
"Dominic Harper! So, Mallow wasn't lying, I watched you last year in the Kalos League! Your Greninja was so amazing." Lana cut off, dreamily.
Lillie couldn't help but laugh at the flustered laugh and look on Dom's face. He had told her that he was well known for his previous adventures, but she didn't know the real extent of it. She made a mental note to herself, to go and watch some of the older battles he was apart of. Perhaps he would be more impressed if she knew more about his past, and battles.
After scratching his head nervously Dom nodded. "Ahaha yeah that's me. Greninja is powerful, saved me more times then I can count." He said, with what sounded like longing in his voice.
"Is your Greninja with you!?" Lana asked excitedly.
"What about your Sceptile!?" Mallow chimed in just as excitedly.
Dom laughed nervously, and Lillie couldn't help herself from laughing a little bit.
"Well, um, they're back in Kalos. I don't plan on being here for more than a few months… figured I'd catch some new Pokemon and do the Island Challenge in my spare time." He explained, seeming embarrassed.
Lillie found herself frowning, she didn't have time to be upset however before the green-haired girl she was coming to loathe spoke up.
"Well I hope we get to see you compete in the Alola League! All of us Trial Captains are going to compete as well. It'll be an honor to compete and battle against you!" She gushed out to Dom.
Lillie wanted to throw up at her swooning. The way she was fawning over him made her want to not only regurgitate her lunch, but also toss Mallow over into the water. Dom for all the good qualities Lillie had observed in him, didn't seem to be able to tell a person no, no matter what, she couldn't blame him really, it was a problem she had herself.
"Uh… yeah, I'm definitely competing. I have to pass the trials first, Lana yours is the first on Akala Island, right?" He said trying to change the subject.
For the next few minutes Lillie uncomfortably stood there while Lana told Dom about her trial which was up on Brooklet Hill. The two talked about what the trial entailed, and Lana eagerly told him whatever she was allowed per the rules of the challenge, while Mallow interjected here and there about how excited she was that Dom would be taking on her trial soon as well. Dom would sneak an occasional glance over at her almost as if he was pleading with her to get him out of that situation. However, she felt to anxious to say anything.
Finally, Mallow brought up what they were going to do tonight, asking Dom if he had any plans.
He answered once again with an embarrassed tone. "Oh well um… I was hoping to find somewhere to get my laptop and phone fixed. Then I was probably going to watch some old film of my battles to study them." He said, and Lillie managed a small smile, remembering the incident with Treecko/Grovyle a few days prior.
Mallow shook her head. "You mean you don't know what tonight is!?" She asked.
"Um no, what is?" He asked her in a small voice.
"It's the Maui Festival! There's music, food dancing, and a tag battle tournament!" She exclaimed somehow still bouncing with energy.
In typical Dom fashion the mention of Pokemon Battles, he seemed to finally be interested in the conversation. His head perked up, and he had smile on his face now.
"A tag battle tournament!? I haven't been in one of those since Serena and I won one back in Kalos! They're not easy to win. A tag battle requires complete trust between all parties involved, the Pokemon and most importantly the two battlers." He explained going into what Lillie called 'Teacher Mode'.
He did it with her and Hau every now and then. They both often asked him for advice in regard to battling, well mainly Hau did. He would always delve into the knowledge he had and tell them everything he could, and Lillie had started calling it teacher mode. He was a fantastic teacher, and the more she was with him the more she wanted him to teach her.
Mallow smiled sweetly, but Lillie saw it as a glorious smirk. "Wow, I bet there's so much you could teach me Dom! How would you like to be my partner for-."
"NO!" Lillie found herself shouting.
She had no idea where she was going with her words. She had no idea why she shouted out at all! She must had looked like such an odd person just shouting out like she had after standing there silent. She had no idea why she did what she did, but she did know one thing. She did not want Mallow being partnered with Dom, in anything.
She now had the eyes of Mallow, Lana even Noibat and Dom were staring at her.
'When faced with a tough situation there's no point in sitting around doing nothing, nothing will change unless you do something about it!'. Dom had said something like that to her. Her situation was that she didn't want Mallow to be partners with Dom, SHE wanted to be his partner.
She laughed nervously. "Haha it's just Dom already said he'd be my partner for the tournament tonight!" She said, trying to mimic Mallow's fake sweet voice.
Speaking of the green haired girl, her eyes narrowed at Lillie, sending a surprising chill down her spine. "Oh, really? I thought you had no clue about the Maui Festival before I told you Dom?" She said batting her eyelashes innocently.
Dom had a confused look on his face, but Lillie interceded before he could say anything. "Haha, Dom must have forgotten, I told him about it earlier before we came out today! He agreed to be my partner for the tag battle tournament." She said turning to Dom.
All the sets of eyes turned to Dom now. Lillie felt a small beat of sweat drip down her temple. Her green eyes connected with Dom's shimmering blue ones. She was trying with everything she had to will him to please follow what she was saying. She was holding her breath, she already felt bad enough for lying on his behalf, but she felt she would never be able to forgive herself if she had let Mallow have him for a partner.
He looked quizzically for a moment into the sky, before snapping his fingers as if he remembered something. "Oh yeah! I remember now, I'm sorry I didn't remember Lils. I'm sorry Mallow she's right, I already agreed to be her partner." He said rubbing the back of his head embarrassed.
Lillie had wanted to kiss him right then and there. She did her best not to breath a huge sigh of relief. She looked over and saw Mallow gave her a quick look of loathing for a moment, before she blinked and suddenly her face morphed back into having a fake smile on it. She looked over at Dom and shook her head.
"Oh no worries. I've always wanted the chance to battle on of my idols. Well, Lana and I better get going. We'll see you tonight good luck… both of you." She said, saying 'both of you', slowly while looking directly at Lillie.
As the girl turned heel and walked away, Lillie felt herself well up with pride for a moment. The moment of pride was soon dashed when the horror of what she had just agreed to came rushing to her. She had just agreed to enter a tag battle tournament when she had never been in a tag battle before, she had never been in a normal battle before… she didn't even have her own Pokemon! With the exception of Nebby, who she assumed wasn't going to be battling anytime soon.
"Oh no…" She said quietly, as she felt her face turn read.
"Well Lillie I had no idea you knew how to tag battle." Dom said to her in a jest, knowing full well she had no experience in any-type of battling.
"Dom! I'm so, so, so-."
"Ah! What did I tell you about apologizing so much for things that don't need apologizing for? I should be thanking you, I didn't wanna have to spend a whole party with her." He said, managed to let out a small laugh.
Lillie did the same, and rubbed her arm sheepishly. She looked back up at him with concerned eyes. "But… why aren't you mad about me basically forcing you to partner with me? I pretty much just signed you up to lose… unless I can somehow catch a Pokemon within the next few hours…" She said disappointed.
Dom shook his head, "No need to worry there Lils, I'm sure one of my Pokemon will be happy to battle for you!" He said certainly.
"Noibat! Noibat, Noi!" Noibat said standing up triumphantly on Dom's shoulder.
"See?" He said with a smile.
"Dom, I didn't…"
"Oh right… well he said that he would 'be proud to defend your honor and fight for you miss Lillie'." He said imitating what she assumed was Noibat's voice in his head.
She managed to laugh at this, and then looked into his blue eyes and was shocked to see he didn't seem to have a worry in the world.
"Be that as it may I… I have no idea what I'm doing! I've never been in a double battle, I've never even been in a regular battle! I don't know what moves work best in which situation, I still need to brush up on my type matchups! I need to figure out-."
"Lillie!" He interrupted her with an amused smile.
"What!?" She said turning to him.
He laughed at her goodheartedly, which made her face turn red. "Will you calm down, you're pacing and it's making me dizzy." He said to her.
Lillie realized that she had indeed been pacing back and forth. "I'm so-."
He cut her off by staring at her again with an amused smile and she realized she was about to apologize again. Her face had to be as red as Torrocat's fur, when she finally continued.
"You wanna know the first, and most important part about ANY type of Pokemon battle?" He asked her.
She slowly nodded her head.
"It's confidence! If you go into a battle thinking you're going to lose from the start your Pokemon will feel it too and they'll battle like they've already lost. It's our duty to our Pokemon to have confidence in them at every battle, that way they'll have confidence in us back, and together we can win any battle!" He said pumping his fist with a smile.
Confidence. It was something Lillie knew that she was sorely lacking. She didn't even have enough confidence to try on the new outfits she had bought herself back on Melemele Island. She didn't even have enough confidence to let her feelings show. She certainly didn't have the confidence to tell Dom how she truly felt about him. How could she possibly have enough confidence to battle side by side with him.
She opened her mouth to say something else but he interjected before she could.
"Yes you've never been in a battle before, but you're smart. You form great connections with Pokemon. I know Hau normally is the one I'm teaching but I know you soak in all the advice I give. And most importantly of all, I trust you, I have complete faith in you! Remember what I said, the two trainers battling also have to have complete trust in one another!" He said with a smile on his face the entire time.
Lillie hesitated. Her stomach and heart did flips hearing him say he trusted her. She managed to find her words after a few seconds. "Do you… really think we have a chance?" She asked him hesitantly.
He laughed a little. "Ha, don't you worry Lils, were not only going to enter this competition together, we're going to win it!"
Episode 10: Tag Battles at the Maui Festival!
Can Dom and Lillie overcome the odds and win the Maui Festival Tag Battle Tournament!? Also, what other dark truths will Dom learn regarding himself, and the destiny he's surely to face?
A/N: Sooooo yeah I'm finally updating. Sorry it took so long, I really am. However I've learned being a dedicated author on this site or in general takes a lot of time that I don't currently have. So no, I will not be abandoning this story or any of my others I hope to continue them. However, I can no longer promise when chapters will be out. In the end I write this for my own personal enjoyment and the enjoyment of whoever decides to read. I really do hope you enjoyed this! I work very hard on each chapter and I hope that you can all review and enjoy! Tell me what you liked, where you think the story is going, and if you have any questions feel free to leave them in a review and I'll respond to them! See you all next time!