The Student vs The Master

Sun was sat in the middle of the platform in the Lake of the Moone. Eyes closed, legs crossed, he meditated, considering new move combinations to be implemented as he waited. They had told him to wait here, Dulse and Zossie had. Apparently, someone wished to face Sun in order to test how well they had improved over time. Sun could never turn down a challenge, but they had told hum to come here, for the challenger didn't want to challenge for the title. They simply wanted a battle. His mind flickered through recent opponents as he waited. Gladion, Hau, Guzma, Hapu, even Lusamine. He assumed the challenger was a child from the Pokémon Trainer's School, but that didn't explain why they wanted Sun to come all the way out here to face them.

Possibly they wanted some nice aesthetics for their battle.

Footsteps began echoing around the area. Someone had arrived. Sun opened his eyes to see Zossie and Dulse in front of him.

"Alola, Sun," Dulse says as he and Zossie do their version of the Alola greeting.

"Alola," Sun said as he returned the greeting. "So, you two are the ones who wish to battle me?"

"No, but the person who does is right behind us. We just wanted to ask if we could watch!" Zossie says excitedly. Dulse looked at Sun expectantly.

"Of course. Spectators are welcome," he told them as he got to his feet. "But who's my opponent?" Sun asked. They walk to either side of the platform without answering. Sun took a few steps back so that when the opponent did appear, we can battle straight away.

A few moments later, a person walks up the steps.

Blonde hair.

The white outfit.

The Z-Powered Form.

"Lillie," Sun said, a smile breaking out on his face at the sight of her. "You want to battle with me?"

"Yeah, I do. I think I'm good enough to keep up with you now," Lillie says. Her eyes are filled with determination. Sun nodded, and pulled out a Poké Ball.

"How about this. Two Pokémon each. First person to lose all two loses," Sun told her. She nodded and did a fist pump.

"Very well. Rotom?" Sun called out. It flew out of his bag and started floating in front of him.

"Yes, zzt?"

"Would you be able to record this battle?"

"Certainly! Who's the opponent?" Rotom turned around and spotted Lillie.

"Lillie? Well I'll definitely record this! Zzt zzt!" Rotom flew to where Zossie is standing and begins recording.

"Oh and Sun? Don't hold back," Lillie told him. He nodded.

"Very well. Froslass, go!" Sun yelled, releasing the Snow Land Pokémon.

"Comfey, come on out!" Lillie yelled, releasing the Posy Picker Pokémon who did an elegant spin. Comfey soon spotted Sun and looked back at Lillie in confusion.

"We are going to defeat Sun today, Comfey," Lillie told him. Comfey nodded and did another spin.

"Froslass? Don't go easy because it's Lillie. It would be disrespectful not to show her our full power," Sun told her. Froslass smirked and folded her arms, signalling to Comfey that he will get the first move.

"Comfey, let's begin! Calm Mind!" Lillie ordered. Comfey stayed still as he began to clear his mind.

Sun's smile vanished. "Froslass, Toxic!" he ordered. Froslass fired a stream of purple liquid at Comfey from her hands which dispersed into a cloud, enveloping the Fairy type.

"Oh no, Comfey!" Lillie yelled. The cloud cleared, showing that Comfey had been poisoned.

"No time to waste. Froslass, Hex!" Sun ordered Froslass produced a sphere of black energy with a red eye in the middle.

"Comfey, Dazzling Gleam into the Hex!" Lillie called out to Sun's surprise. Comfey formed a rainbow coloured sphere around himself and charged straight into the sphere, causing it to detonate in Froslass' face. The smoke soon cleared, revealing Comfey to have taken severe damage from the Hex, while Froslass looked extremely irritated from having her Hex destroyed prematurely.

"Froslass, Hex again!" Sun ordered again. With unbridled fury in her eyes at the Posy Picker for embarrassing her, Froslass grabbed Comfey and formed the Hex around him, before the eye of the sphere launched multiple blue rings that flew around the orb before flying into the red eye, causing it to implode with full force, this time with Comfey at the center of the move.

"Comfey!" Lillie yelled out. Comfey appeared through the smoke, barely able to move. Sun pulled out Froslass' Poké Ball, knowing that Froslass needed time to calm down from Comfey causing her Hex to blow up in her face, especially since Comfey was basically finished due to Toxic.

"Froslass, enough. Comfey's-" Sun was cut off by Froslass firing off an Ice Beam at Comfey, knocking him out. Sun glared at Froslass.

"That was uncalled for," he scolded her. Froslass glared back at Sun before letting out a cathartic giggle. He shook his head in annoyance at Froslass and returned her before applying medicine to Comfey to help him with the wounds.

"Sorry, Lillie. Should've warned you, Froslass does not like people making her look stupid, especially in battle," he told her apologetically. Lillie didn't respond until Comfey flew over and hugged her, showing that he was okay.

"That looked painful," Dulse observed.

"Are there really mean Pokémon like Froslass? I thought most of them were nice!" Zossie said.

"Froslass, well she's one of a kind. She is nice, but she can be overconfident in her power and she doesn't like her opponents making her look stupid," Sun explained. Dulse nods in understanding as Sun looked at Lillie, frowning in concern. She has a worried look on her face as she pulled out another Poké Ball.

"Ribombee, come on out!" she said, releasing the Bee Fly Pokémon.

"Lillie... I'm sorry. Primarina, go!" Sun yelled, releasing the Soloist Pokémon. This time, Primarina looked at Sun in confusion.

"Prima, we are facing Lillie to see how good she's gotten. Do not hold back," he told her. She let out a cry of "Rinaaa!" to show she understood, before smiling at Ribombee and Lillie.

"Primarina, use Dazzling Gleam!" Sun ordered. Primarina covered herself in a rainbow coloured sphere and charged at Ribombee.

"Ribombee, use Protect!" Lillie called out. Ribombee threw up a green sphere to block the Dazzling Gleam, causing Primarina to back flip out of the move and land on her tail.

"Ribombee, use Dazzling Gleam!" Lillie ordered.

"Prima, Dazzling Gleam again!" Sun ordered again. Both Pokémon covered themselves in rainbow coloured spheres and charged at each other, crashing into each other. However, Primarina managed to overpower Ribombee and sent it flying backwards.

"Now! While he's off balance! Prima!" Sun called, before activating his Z-Power Ring.

"Sing like you've never sung before! Channel Sparkling Aria...Into Oceanic Operetta!"" He roared as he struck the poses for the Z-Move. Prima stood upright on her tail and began to sing, forming a giant water bubble above her head...

...And far above it, Ribombee was hovering, with a smirk on his face.

"Ribombee! Use Protect and drop into the water bubble!" Lillie called out. The Bee Fly Pokémon formed a green shield around his body and did a backflip before dropping into the Z-Move, the impact knocking it into Primarina and causing it to detonate on her. Sun looked on in shock as Ribombee flew back to Lillie looking a little worse for wear. Primarina looked hurt, but stood back on her tail, bowed to Ribombee and laughed, clearly appreciating the irony of being hit with her own Z-Move while complimenting Ribombee and Lillie on their counter.

"What?! How did she do that?" Zossie asked. Dulse stayed slient, in awe of what he just saw.

"You've learned to counter Z-Moves. That is impressive," Sun admitted. Lillie beamed at him.

"Thank you, Sun. I had a good teacher. Now, it's time to show you our Z-Powered Form!" she told him, pulling out her Z-Power Ring.

"Ribombee! Channel Bug Buzz...Into Savage Spin Out!" Lillie screamed as she struck the poses for the Bug Type Z-Move.

"Prima, Protect quickly!" Sun quickly callee out. Primarina barely managed to form the green shield around herself before Ribombee cocooned her in webbing. Ribombee slammed Primarina into the ground before swinging her around and launching her into the air, moving into position to strike.

"Prima! Launch yourself to the right!" Sun yelled. He saw the cocoon lurch to the right as Primarina obeyed his order...

...Right into the path of Ribombee.

The cocoon smashed straight into him as Ribombee sliced the cocoon open, causing Primarina and Ribombee to both fall to the ground from the blow. Even with Protect up, Primarina had still taken major damage from the move while the combined damage of being clipped by Oceanic Operetta and taking a direct blow from his own Savage Spin Out were beginning to take its toll on Ribombee.

"Ribombee!"

"Primarina!" Both Pokémon staggered to their feet. Now it was Ribombee's turn to laugh at the irony as Primarina bowed with a smile on her face, content with evening the score with Ribombee by countering his Z-Move.

"Sun can counter Z-Moves too? How? The locals said they weren't supposed to be able to be countered!" Zossie shouted now, in shock at the fact that Sun and Lillie had both done the impossible.

"It must be a sign of how strong they've become. If they can counter Z-Moves..." Dulse muttered to himself. Neither Sun or Lillie paid any attention to the words of the Ultra Recon Squad, too focussed on the battle.

"Dazzling Gleam!" they both shouted. Primarina and Ribombee collided once more, with Ribombee being knocked back again.

"Do it again!" Sun yelled. Prima charged at Ribombee.

"Protect!" Lillie called out. Primarina bounced off the shield and landed on her tail again, letting her hair down with a broad smile on her face as she knew what was coming next.

It was her favourite way to end a battle, and Sun knew it.

"Now! End it with Hydro Cannon!" Sun ordered. Primarina conjured up a massive bubble before inhaling it and fired a massive torrent of water from her mouth at Ribombee.

"Protect again!" Lillie called out. Ribombee attempted to get the shield up, but failed and was blasted into the lake as a result.

"Ribombee!" Lillie yelled as she ran towards the lake. Fearing the worst, Sun let out Poipole and instructed it to retrieve Ribombee. Poipole flew over the lake and picked up Ribombee gently, who took off again after a moment and flew over to Lillie, giving her a hug to show he was okay.

"Lillie, I'm so sorry," Sun told her apologetically as he ran up next to her. She doesn't respond, as she was busy tending to Ribombee's wounds. Sun turned around and walked back to Dulse and Zossie, worrying that he'd gone too far in the battle.

"Zzt! That was a good battle!" Rotom told him

Sun shook his head. "Show's over," he told them. Rotom promptly returned to his bag.

"Is something the matter?" Dulse asked. Not wanting to talk about it, Sun threw Primarina a Poké Bean and returned her, and walked back over to Lillie without answering, who was now sat with Comfey and Ribombee, attempting to brush and clean them. Seeing how she wasn't talking, Sun stayed silent and watched her tend to her Pokémon.

"...That went about as well as I expected, to be honest," Lillie finally admitted as she returned her Pokémon. Sun didn't say anything. What could he say? He could hear footsteps moving away and getting quieter as Dulse and Zossie decided to leave them alone to talk.

"Sun, if I keep training, will I be as strong as you?" she asked him now. Sun wanted to tell her that it's not about being strong, but he knew that wouldn't help here.

"If you keep training and having fun with your Pokémon and your friends, you will be stronger than me soon," he reassured her. However, Lillie stood up and looked at him her frustration showing in her eyes.

"But it's not enough. I thought I was strong now and you beat me so easily-"

"Lillie, you are already very strong. A lot stronger than you were when we faced Team Rocket back at the Aether Paradise. Remember, you've still got a ways to go on your Island Challenge yet. I completed mine. Once you complete yours, you'll be as strong as me," Sun told her honestly. She looked like she had more to say, but then she was stopped by Poipole nudging her.

"What? Poipole, what are you-" Lillie began to ask before a final nudge by Poipole knocked her into Sun. Grabbing her arms to steady her, Sun gave Poipole a pointed look as the Ultra Beast giggled at its antics.

"You okay? Sorry about Poipole," Sun apologised before realising that she was trying to hug him. He released her arms and wrapped his around her as he heard her let out a frustrated sigh as she wrapped her arms around me. Neither of us move for a few seconds.

This must be why Poipole kept nudging her, she must've really needed this, Sun thought to himself. Before he could say anything else, she let go and walked towards the side of the platform, looking up at the sky and the setting sun. Sun slung off his bag again, and opened it up to pull out a water canteen. Unscrewing the lid of the canteen, he took a quick drink before walking over to where Lillie was stood and offering her the canteen.

"Thank you for the battle, Sun," she told him as she took the canteen off of him and took a swig, before turning to face him again. "Don't worry, we'll come back stronger than ever. Then you'll see our true Z-Powered Form!" she said happily, with eyes filled with determination.

Sun smiled and held up a hand for a high five. "I'll look forward to it. Don't make me wait too long."

Lillie smiled as well, and gave him a high five. "Don't worry, we won't."

...

Character Ages:

Sun: 14

Lillie: 14

Dulse: 18

Zossie: 15

Author's Note: So one of the ideas I had that I definitely wanted to do was to have Sun and Lillie battle so we could see the personalities of some of Sun's team as well as implement a few headcanons I had, such as the Z-Moves being avoidable and counterable, which was based off of what I saw in the anime for Sun and Moon. In this rewrite, I added in the bit with the water canteen because I felt it was a small, cute moment that worked for the scene.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Be sure to leave a favourite, a follow and a review telling me what you thought!