A/N: Guys, I am so, so sorry this has taken so long. Work has been crazy busy, which while great as an employee often leaves me too drained to write except for on the weekends. Plus my beta (my dad) has been away on both vacation and work related pursuits, so he wasn't able to proofread for a while. Still huge thanks to him for everything he does, I wouldn't be half the writer I am without you Pop. But the chapter's here now, so I hope you enjoy everyone!
Sun and Lillie got off to a slow start the next day. Between her concern about his condition after the attack, and both of them being more watchful than they had previously, they didn't reach Paniola Town until around noon.
As they rounded the corner and made their way into the middle of town, a familiar voice called, "You guys kept me waiting!" and Hau came running up to greet them.
"Alola, Hau," Lillie said, giving their friend a smile. "It's good to see you."
"Indeed, this is a most fortuitous opportunity Admin Hau," Sun said in his "Boss" voice, as he pulled one of the sun pins from his backpack and offered it to his friend. "Here is the official emblem of our organization. Bear it with pride."
"This will be a day long remembered," Hau intoned solemnly in his impression of Darth Vader as he accepted the pin from his friend, complete with doing the heavy breathing. "It will see the end of all who stand in the way of our path to power."
"Dat's right!" Lillie agreed. "Dey won't stand a chance against our combined might!"
All three members of the great Team Sun looked at each other… and then started laughing heartily. "Oh man," Sun said, rubbing the back of his head. "That was great guys."
"Pew!" Nebby squeaked in agreement, floating beside its new trainer, bouncing up and down happily in the air.
"You're having fun too, Nebby?" Sun asked his newest capture.
"Pew pew!" the Cosmog cried, floating up and settling against Sun's shoulder.
"Nebby sure seems to like you, Sun," Hau noted, giving the little pokémon a friendly wave.
"Lillie let me catch it, so Nebby's part of the team now," Sun explained. "It isn't really ready for battling yet, so I'm just going to be training the little one for the time being."
"Like you said Hau, Nebby really seems to like Sun and his pokémon," Lillie offered. "And it seemed interested in battling, which I'm not even though I'm a trainer a now."
Hau clapped his hands together in excitement. "Well then, if Nebby likes battling why don't we give it a demonstration?" Sun's best friend suggested, bouncing up and down. "I've got a new member for my team, so let's make it a four on four."
"We're battling in the center of town at noon," Sun noted with amusement. "It's like in cowboy movies."
"You said it!" Hau agreed eagerly. "So, let's do it!"
Sun smirked as he grabbed a pokéball from his belt. "You were waiting here just so we could have an epic cowboy showdown, weren't you?"
"You know it partner," Hau joked. "Like in those movies, we'll toss the ball up on three and the battle starts as soon as both pokéballs hit the ground, yeah?"
"You're on," Sun agreed.
"1… 2… 3!" Lillie counted them off, and the boys tossed their pokéballs high into the air.
"Torra!" growled Sun's starter as the fire cat exploded from the pokéball.
"Trix!" cried Bowtie as he too escaped the pokéball, brushing the dust they'd kicked up off his feathers.
"Alright Nero," Sun instructed, "use Fire Bite!"
It was a testament to how in sync Sun's first pokémon was with him that the new command for their combo didn't result in any confusion and instead Nero lunged forward with his fangs aglow with the power of two moves. "Tor!" Nero growled in agreement.
"Fly out of the way and blast Nero with a Leaf Arrow!" Hau commanded.
"Dart!" hooted Bowtie, launching a single Razor Leaf at Nero, which Sun's starter easily caught with its combo move before it could hit.
Despite his normal reaction being to praise his partner's quickness to intercept the move, something about this put a warning light in Sun's mind. Seeing Hau's confident grin despite the seemingly failed attack, further cemented his unease.
"Nero, get back buddy! They're planning something!" the Island Challenger warned his partner.
"Tor?" Nero questioned, despite moving back as his trainer had instructed.
"Not bad, Sun!" Hau praised. "Bowtie, let's show 'em what we have planned!"
"Dartrixxxx!" cried Bowtie, rapid firing a bunch of single Razor Leafs.
"Nero," Sun instructed, "dodge as many as you can, and use Ember on any that get too close!"
Nero managed to dodge a couple, and incinerated a few with Ember, but due to their sheer speed a few managed to strike home. "Tor!" Nero cried in pain.
"Not bad, right?" Hau asked cheerfully. "Razor Leaf isn't very strong, and it's not that fast of a move, but that's because its power is divided among a bunch of leaves. If you lower the number of leaves launched without losing any of the power…"
"You have a much stronger, faster leaf," Sun said in understanding. "I see… Okay, Nero change of plans, blast Bowtie with Ember!"
"Tor!" Nero agreed, as his bell rang and spewed fire towards Hau's Dartrix.
Without any prompting from Hau, Bowtie nimbly swooped out of the way of Ember's flames. "Dart!"
We can't keep Bowtie from dodging when he's too high up, Sun mused. We need to bring him down enough that Nero can strike him with his close-range attacks, because that's what he's best at. What do we do?
"Torra!" Nero growled excitedly, rapidly firing Ember into the air multiple times. Still, none of them seemed to hit all going just a bit too high, even before Bowtie dodged.
"Maybe one of those'll hit next time!" Hau taunted playfully.
But Sun grinned understanding dawning in his eyes as the Ember bursts fell out of the air down towards an unsuspecting Bowtie. "Might wanna look again, buddy!" he cheered. "Keep it up Nero!"
Hau's eyes widened in shock as the Ember bursts descended on Bowtie. "Get lower and out of the way!" he shouted desperately.
"Dart!" cried Bowtie, doing as instructed.
Sun's eyes sparkled deviously. "We've got you now! Nero, jump up and use Fire Bite!" the Island Challenger declared.
"Torrrr," growled Nero fiercely as the flames and dark energy of his signature combo licked at his fangs. The Fire Cat sprang at his old friend, fangs burying themselves in the Blade Quill Pokémon.
"Dartrix!" the Blade Quill pokémon cried out, trying to shake Nero off, even using Peck. But it was no use.
"Nero, use Ember!" Sun declared triumphantly.
But Nero didn't, much to the confusion of both trainers and their pokémon, Nero glowed with a fiery aura, though it did do the job of bringing Bowtie down all the same.
"Daaaaarrrrrttt…" groaned the grass and flying type as it passed out, falling into Hau's waiting arms.
"What… What move was that?" Sun asked, too confused to be celebrating their win.
"Tor?" Nero asked, equally confused.
"I think that was Flame Charge," Lillie offered. "It's a fire type attack and makes the pokémon move faster each time."
"Pew!" Nebby cried excitedly, bouncing up and down. "Pew pew!"
"Nice job baiting us like that," Hau complimented sincerely as he returned Bowtie to his pokéball. "How'd you teach Nero to make it rain fire like that? Doesn't seem like your normal style, no offense."
Sun crouched to stroke Nero behind the ears, causing the fire cat to rumble with pleasure. "I didn't, as a matter of fact," Sun admitted. "Nero figured that out on his own, didn't you buddy?"
"Tor!"
Hau grinned. "That's even cooler then," he replied. "Let's keep this going, we've got some tricks left to show you! Come on out, Puka!"
Hau's pokéball opened with a flash, and the blue-eyed Pikachu popped out… and hovered in the air with its psychic power.
Sun stared at Puka with wide eyes. "Man, you guys have been training hard," he praised. "Puka wasn't floating like that when we fought together."
"Pi!" Puka squeaked proudly, pleased at the compliment.
Sun turned to his starter. "Are you up for staying in, Nero?" he asked.
"Torra!" Nero growled excitedly.
"Well, seeing as he's willing to stay in," Hau said, "we'll start this off. Puka, use Psybeam!"
"Pi… Pi… KA!" intoned Puka, eyes aglow, launching the multicolored beam of psychic energy at Nero.
"Nero, dodge out of the way with Flame Charge," Sun commanded.
"Torra!" Nero agreed, shrouding himself in the fiery aura of his newest attack, and moving to dodge.
"Not this time!" Hau retorted. "Puka, use Aqua Jet!"
Nero was fast, but Hau's Pikachu was faster as he surfed his makeshift wave right into the Torracat for massive damage. "Pika pika chu pi KA!" squeaked Puka excitedly as the attack struck home.
"Nero, Puka's close now, use Fire Bite!" Sun suggested.
Unfortunately for Sun and Nero however, combined with the damage that the Torracat had taken earlier this was enough to bring him down. "Torra…" Nero groaned, slumping over and passing out.
"Pew…" Nebby pouted, as the young pokémon realized that Nero had been defeated.
Sun crouched down and gave his starter a gentle pat on the head. "You did good, Nero," he praised, returning him to his pokéball. "Take some rest for now."
"That ties us up," Hau noted cheerfully. "Who're you going to send in next?"
"I've got a surprise of my own," he replied, grabbing a specific pokéball from his belt. "Come on out, Prince!"
"Persian!" the King's Rock wearing Persian cried as he emerged from his pokéball.
"Nice!" Hau said with a grin. "Prince evolved!"
Sun grinned back. "Yep, but that's not the only new trick," he replied. "Okay Prince, use Power Gem!"
"Perrrrsss…" Prince hissed as he conjured up glowing gems and blasted them towards Puka.
"Puka, send them back with Psybeam!" Hau retorted.
"Pi… Pika… Chu… Pi!" intoned Puka, eyes glowing with blue light as he blasted the gems back at Prince, causing them to glow brighter and move even more quickly.
"Per?" Prince asked, briefly glancing up at Sun without any concern whatsoever.
"Yep," Sun agreed, "time for our next new trick! Use Iron Tail to send it back again!"
Prince leapt into the air, tail aglow with the silver energy of the steel type move. As the psychically charged gems flew at him, he bashed them all back at Puka who was struck by several of them despite attempting to dodge.
"Pika!" Puka cried as it was struck by the twice redirected move.
"Puka, can you still fight?" Hau asked in concern.
"Pi!" Puka confirmed eagerly, cheeks sparking with electricity.
"Great! Use Electro Ball!"
"Pika pika pika… CHUPI!" squeaked Puka, launching the orb of electricity at Prince.
"Counter with Power Gem," Sun retorted.
"Perssss…" hissed Prince, materializing the same crystals as before and attacking the offending projectile.
The two attacks collided with a burst of energy, a blinding light engulfing them both. When it cleared, both pokémon were still standing though they looked a little dizzy. As Sun and Lillie rubbed the spots from their eyes, Hau decided to press the possible opening.
"Puka," the energetic young man commanded, "use Aqua Jet!"
"Pi!" chirped Puka, already summoning the water burst to lunge at Prince.
"Smash Puka with Iron Tail!" Sun called desperately. Letting Puka get in close, and counterattacking was their best shot at beating Hau's electric mouse. Especially since Hau had gotten off the first command while they'd been disoriented.
"Perrrr…" growled Prince, tail once more aglow with the silver aura of steel type moves as he jumped into the air and smashed it into the opposing Pikachu as he rushed forward.
"Cha!" Puka cried in pain; the damage from Iron Tail's impact having been increased by his own speed.
"Puka, can you still fight?" Hau asked with concern.
"Pi…" groaned Puka before the blue-eyed Pikachu slumped over. "Kaaaa…"
Sun stroked Prince's soft fur, before looking over to Hau who returned Puka. "Who are you sending out next?" he asked his friend.
"Pew?" Nebby asked curiously from its perch on Sun's shoulder.
"I'm going to keep my new teammate for last," Hau explained, holding up a pokéball. "So, it's Speakers' turn!"
"Noibat noi!" Speakers greeted cheerfully, after exploding out of his pokéball.
Sun nodded, "Makes sense," he agreed and grabbed Prince's pokéball from his belt. "Okay then, come on back for now Prince."
"Persian?" Prince asked in confusion. He was in perfectly fine shape, why would his trainer be returning him now?
"You've done great," Sun praised genuinely. "But I want to let the others get some experience in, okay?"
"Perrr…" purred Prince nuzzling against his trainer before allowing himself to be returned.
Sun settled Prince's pokéball back against his belt and grabbed Baron's pokéball in exchange. "Alright Baron, let's take this to the air!" Sun declared proudly.
Sun's savage bird pokémon took to the air with a ferocious screech. "TRUMBEAK!"
Hau grinned. "Ever since you caught him, Baron's been raring to go!" he noted, pleased. "Bring it!"
"Noi!" Speakers squeaked in agreement.
"Well, since you're asking let's do it!" Sun agreed. "Baron, use Pluck!"
"Trum!" Baron screeched, beak aglow with white light and began his signature wild slashing at Speakers.
"Fend him off with Wing Attack!" Hau countered, and right on cue the Noibat spread his wings to keep Baron back.
"Echoed Voice!" Sun commanded. "Keep them off balance!"
"TRUM-BE-EA-EA-EAK!" Sun's berserk bird screeched, blasting powerful soundwaves at Hau's dragon bat, pushing the little creature back.
"Noiiii!" cried Speakers, as he flapped his wings trying to block the attack with Gust. "NOIIIII… BAT!"
"Great job, Speakers," Hau praised, and then pressed his hands over his ears. "Follow it up with Supersonic!"
"Noi- BAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" screeched Speakers, blasting the sonic waves of the dizzying normal type move.
"Urgh…" Sun grunted, rubbing his aching head. "That was intense."
"Trum-bea-ea-ea-ea-eak!" squawked Baron, pecking at himself and flying strangely. "Trumbeeeaaaakkkk!"
Sun groaned. "Come on, snap out of it, Baron!" he called up to his berserker bird. "You're supposed to use Pluck on Speakers, not yourself!"
"Trumbea!" squawked Baron, seeming to have interpreted that as an order to further attack himself through the haze of the confusion.
Hau looked ready to give Speakers further orders to attack, but Sun grabbed Baron's pokéball, and recalled the flying type. "I'll give that as a win to you two," he told his friend. "Baron was giving himself way more damage than he'd managed to give Speakers."
"That's fair," Hau agreed with a smile. "Who're you sending in next?"
Sun grabbed the pokéball containing Emperor from his belt. "I'm going to use-"
But before Sun could release Emperor from his pokéball, Caligula exploded out of his barking aggressively. "Rrrock rock rock!" The rock puppy shivered with aggressive excitement.
"Caligula?" Sun asked in confusion. "You want to have a go?"
"Rrrr…" Caligula growled in agreement, savage excitement clear in the puppy's eyes.
"Sun, are you sure this is a good idea?" Lillie asked from the sidelines. "Caligula already seems like he's getting a bit too riled up."
Sun gave Lillie a nod before turning to Hau. "Give us a minute, would you buddy?"
"No problem," Hau assured him with a sunny grin. "I know what it's like to raise a Rockruff, plenty of people have them in Iki Town. Take a minute to calm him down."
"Thanks bro," Sun said appreciatively, before crouching down to look his excited rock type in the eyes. "I know you're excited to battle, but Hau and his pokémon are our friends," he explained patiently, gently scratching the Puppy Pokémon behind the ears. "You can't get too carried away like yesterday and go too far in the battle, alright?"
Caligula looked at his trainer, whole body still trembling with desire to fight as Sun's words sank in until he let out a regretful whine and licked Sun's face. "Ruff…"
"It'll be okay," Sun assured him. "We're a team, you and me. We just have to be mindful of our opponents too, okay?"
"Ruff!" Caligula replied, tail wagging happily, before turning to face their opponents. "Rockruff!"
Hau grinned. "Alright, let's get too it!" the energetic teen cheered, bouncing up and down. "Speakers, use Gust!"
"Noi!" Speakers squeaked, flapping his wings to send a burst of wind at Sun's Rockruff.
"Let's do this, Caligula! Smash 'em with Rock Tomb!" Sun declared.
"Rock rock!" Caligula barked, summoning a mass of rocks above the tiny draconic bat.
"Get out of there, and attack Caligula up close!" Hau retorted.
Flapping hard so he could move quickly, Speakers rushed at Caligula. But Sun's puppy just bared his fangs as his opponent approached.
"We're at our best up close, right Caligula?" Sun asked. "Snare one of his wings with Bite!"
Much like Sun's other pokémon, Caligula's fangs glowed with the dark red aura of the dark type move and buried the glowing fangs deep in the dragon and flying types wing, greatly impeding his movements. "Rock!" barked Caligula, eyes once more gleaming with the battle mania he and his trainer were working to control.
"Now," Sun said, "use Rock Tomb, and then throw him into it!"
"Speakers, use Supersonic, quick!" Hau called desperately.
"Noi-" began Speakers, before Caligula bit harder and all the little bat released was a squeak.
"Rrrrr…" growled Caligula summoning the large stones of Rock Tomb above them. "Rrrr… Ruuuuffff!" the Puppy Pokémon howled as he tossed his opponent into the mass of stones.
"Noi…" squeaked Speakers as it was knocked out, and Hau returned it with a quiet word of praise.
Caligula threw back his head and howled in triumph. "Ruuuuufffffff!"
"Caligula," Sun called, "get over here buddy!"
"Rockruff?" Caligula asked as he approached his trainer who had crouched to meet the puppy on equal level.
"Good work," Sun praised, scratching Caligula in the right spot behind the ears. "You did a good job of fighting hard without hurting Speakers too badly. I'm proud of you."
"Ruff!"
"Ready to see my surprise?" Hau asked, grabbing a pokéball from his belt. "You haven't seen this one yet!"
"Let's do it," Sun agreed excitedly, and his puppy wagged his tail excitedly, but not as at risk of losing himself as he had been earlier.
"Come on out, Slugger!" Hau called tossing the pokéball high in the air.
"Brawler!" the Crabrawler, apparently known as Slugger cried as he took to the field.
"A Crabrawler," Sun said, impressed. "Did you catch one before we left Melemele?"
"Nope," Hau replied. "Slugger here was a gift from my gramps. The Crabrawler line is… kind of a signature pokémon for my family, I guess?"
Sun nodded thoughtfully. "I get that," he replied. "The Meowth line is one for my family. My uncle has a Persian that's been by his side since he was younger than us, and my mom trained a whole team of Meowth in her day. Heck, if I'd begun my journey in Kanto a Meowth probably would've been the first pokémon I caught. As it is, I was itching to catch Prince ever since I heard we'd be moving to Alola."
"Exactly," Hau confirmed. "Crabrawler was my gramps' first pokémon, though it obviously wasn't the one he battled us with. His has long since evolved, and it wouldn't have been a fair test of our capabilities. I can't wait to battle his Crabominable someday."
"You'll get there, and you'll beat that Crabominable," Sun told his best friend with utter confidence. "So, let's keep working towards our goals, starting with getting the battle going again."
"Ruff!" Caligula yipped eagerly.
"Let's do this," Hau challenged with a smile. "Slugger, let's start off with Rock Smash!"
"Brawl!" rasped Hau's Crabrawler, rushing forward and jabbing one of his boxing glove-like pincers at Caligula.
"Rrr…" Caligula growled, slamming into Slugger in a Tackle. "Rrrr… Rockruff!"
"Caligula, follow that up with Bite!" Sun suggested. "Maybe we can make them flinch!"
Once more the dark red aura of the dark type move licked at Caligula's fangs as he bit down on Slugger's arm. "Rockruff!" he growled excitedly. Fighting like this made the small rock type's heart race. "RUFF!"
"Okay Slugger," Hau said. "Use Power-Up Punch!"
Silently, Slugger smashed his other pincer into Caligula, causing the puppy to yelp in pain. As the move struck home, Slugger glowed with the orange aura of the fighting type.
"Get out of there, buddy!" Sun told his rock type, causing Caligula to quickly scamper back to his side.
"Hey," Hau said, "we're pretty close to the end of the battle, right? Why don't we use these?" Hau slid something out from up his sleeve, revealing a Z-Ring. However, it was made of white stone where Sun's was black.
"Tapu Koko gave you one too?" Sun asked, pleasantly surprised, but Hau shook his head.
"Nah," the energetic young man replied. "This was a gift from my gramps. He said it was a reward for doing so well at our Grand Trial. He would've given you one too, but Tapu Koko had already given you one."
"That's great, Hau," Lillie piped up from the sidelines. "You've certainly earned it."
"Thanks, Lillie," Hau said appreciatively, before turning back to Sun. "What do you say dude? Z-Move battle between our guys here?"
Sun grinned. "I'm in," he replied. Sun would've tried to be more tactical in a serious battle, where wearing himself out with a Z-Move might make the difference between success and failure, but this was a battle with Hau where the whole point of the affair was having fun. Plus, training up their Z-Moves would be good for both of them.
"Alright we'll do the poses on three," Hau told him. "One…"
"Two…" Sun continued.
"THREE!" Lillie shouted, slightly startling both boys. "Well go on," she said, slightly pink in the face when they turned to look at her. "Do the poses already."
Sun took a deep breath and began to the do the posing for Breakneck Blitz while reflecting on his bond with the Rockruff in front of him. Caligula was, while not the newest member of his team, the pokémon he'd spent the least amount of time with. But it had been almost like meeting Nero again, with how easily they'd clicked. Caligula was sweet, but fierce. Aggressive, but kind. Could get carried away in a battle, but they were working on mastering that issue. And, just like all of Sun's pokémon at the time, Caligula had fiercely tried to defend him and Lillie when the Drowzee and Hypno had attacked. And as Sun reflected on all of this, energy poured out of him and into the Puppy Pokémon. "Let's do this, Caligula!" Sun shouted. "Breakneck Blitz!"
Hau meanwhile was doing the posing for a different move. The fighting Z-Move, All-Out Pummeling. His grandfather's signature Z-Move. He tried hard to get all the poses right. It was important. He had to make sure he could pass on the energy to Slugger. Hau took a deep breath and, just as Sun was giving his command to Caligula, shouted. "Let's go, Slugger! Unleash All-Out Pummeling!"
Energy flowed from both boys into their pokémon, but the aura that engulfed Caligula as he rushed at Slugger was noticeably larger. The energy punches and kicks of All-Out Pummeling slammed into Caligula as he rushed at Slugger in a full-power, full-bodied tackle. While Slugger's All-Out Pummeling had a type advantage over Rockruff, the larger and stronger aura of Caligula's Breakneck Blitz powered through their opponent's Z-Move and collided with Slugger hard, knocking the fighting type out. "Rockruff!" Sun's pup cried in victory, as he stood over a knocked-out Slugger. The rock type threw his head back and howled in triumph, "ROCCCCKKKK!"
Hau returned Slugger, but Sun's friend was uncharacteristically quiet as Sun crouched down to scratch the victor behind the ears. "Great job," Sun praised. "You beat him, and you kept control of yourself." Lifting up Caligula, Sun turned to thank Hau for the match, and compliment his friend as they always did but was caught off guard by the uncharacteristic solemnness on his friend's face. "What's wrong man?" Sun asked with concern.
"How did you make your Z-Move so much stronger than mine?" Hau asked. His tone wasn't… resentful, not exactly, but he was clearly bothered.
"I mean, this isn't the first time I've done a Z-Move," Sun offered. "Maybe it's because I'm more accustomed to giving the energy?"
Hau frowned thoughtfully. "Maybe," he admitted, "but even doing it, I felt like something was missing, y'know?"
"Well, what were you thinking about as you did the move?" Sun asked.
"What do you mean, what was I thinking about?" Hau asked in confusion.
"Lillie told me that Z-Moves channel a trainer's feelings onto a pokémon as fuel for the move," Sun explained, and Lillie nodded, confirming what he was saying. "For me personally, I always think about my feelings for the pokémon I'm doing the move with, in addition to a goal we might be working towards or something similar. So, what were you thinking about as you performed All-Out Pummeling?"
Hau's eyes widened, and then he face-palmed. "Of course…" he groaned. "I got too caught up on doing everything right, and not enough on why I was doing it, or doing it as a team with Slugger."
"Don't worry about it too much," Sun assured his friend. "This was your first time doing one, yeah? You'll get better with practice."
"Pew!" Nebby squeaked in agreement, floating over and nuzzling Hau. "Pew pew!"
Hau chuckled as the little psychic type nuzzled against him. "Thanks, both of you," he said sincerely. "That means a lot."
"Now, let's go get our pokémon healed up," Sun said. "I can see the pokémon center from here."
After getting their teams healed up, our trio once more split up with Hau heading for the farmland outside of town to look into adding a new member to his team, and Lillie and Sun grabbing some lunch for themselves and their teams.
"So, what's next?" Lillie asked, as Sun set pokémon chow down on the floor and his team eagerly dug in. "You're going to have to go the same direction Hau did, if you want to do your next trial."
Sun shrugged. "I know," he replied. "But I kind of got the vibe he didn't want us to know what he was looking for unless he managed to catch it."
"You aren't worried about him getting some kind of edge on the boss of the great Team Sun?" she joked lightly, before taking a bite of her sandwich.
Sun laughed. "Hau is a loyal Admin," he replied in his "Boss" voice. "No matter how strong he gets, I'm certain he will solely direct his power against our enemies. Outside of practice sparring, of course."
Lillie giggled, and Nebby perched itself on her shoulder, beaming at them all. "Pew!"
"Did you enjoy your star candies and pokébeans, Nebby?" Lillie asked, smiling at the little psychic type.
"Pew!" Nebby cried, hopping from her shoulder over to Sun's and snuggling against his trainer. "Pew pew!"
"What do you say we try training a bit after we're done eating, Nebby?" Sun offered. "I know you don't know any moves you can attack with yet, but we can at least work with what you do know, so that you'll have practice using moves."
"Pew?" Nebby squeaked questioningly, looking over at Lillie. "Pew pew pew?"
"If you're okay with it, I'm okay with it Nebby," she told the Cosmog with a smile. "That was part of the reason we decided Sun should be your trainer, right?"
"Pew!" Nebby agreed happily bouncing up and down. "Pew pew pew!"
"Excellent," Sun said with a smile. "Okay, Dexter, can you tell me about Nebby's moves?"
"Zure thing, Zun!" Dexter agreed, floating out of Sun's pocket and scanning Nebby. "It zeemz Nebby only knowz Zplash and Teleport, at the moment."
"Pew…" Nebby whined, seemingly thinking it could've learned another move at this point.
Sun gave Nebby a gentle pat. "It's okay little one," he promised. "We can start by working on those, right?"
"Pew!"
"Well," Lillie said, looking down at their other pokémon who were finishing up their meals, "I'm ready to go if you are."
"Yeah, let's get going," Sun agreed, whistling for all his pokémon. "Okay everybody, we've gotten healed up, we've eaten, and now it's time to get some training in so we're all ready for the next Trial!"
"Bubbly, Buzzy, it's time to go now, okay?" Lillie told her pokémon with a smile.
Both trainers receiving cries of agreement from their pokémon, the duo headed out the door planning to head back to Route 4 to get some training in without accidentally stumbling across Hau and his attempts to capture whatever pokémon he was looking for.
That was what they were planning, but their next challenge found them instead. "Please, stop!" a woman's voice shouted from deeper into Paniola Town. With the barest glance, the duo rushed towards the source of the voice determined to help whoever needed it.
They found three Team Skull Grunts standing imposingly over a white Vulpix, which Sun guessed was the species' Alolan form, along with an elderly woman who was probably the one who'd called for help. "Vul…" the Fox Pokémon whined with a shiver.
"Like I said," the one in the middle said in a nasally voice, "give us those Bottle Caps. We'll put 'em to better use than you will."
Sun noticed that he looked similar to A, B, and C, same blue hair, same thin frame, but taller and even thinner than they were. Relatives, perhaps? It wasn't unheard of for whole families to join crime syndicates, especially if money was tight.
"Yeah, just like my bro said," agreed the Skull Grunt on the right. He was much shorter, and more rotund than the ones Sun had encountered previously.
"Vul…" the Vulpix retorted, turning away, but Sun could see it was still trembling.
"Who do you think you are?!" Lillie asked hotly, causing the Grunts to look their way. "The three of you, picking on one pokémon."
"Tryin' to stop us ain't the smartest of moves, girly," the middle one said. "Team Skull don't like nobody gettin' in our way."
"You got that right," the other Skull Grunt on his left said. A girl with pink hair, and in the typical Skull Grunt gear.
The guy in the middle snickered. "Tell you what girly," he sneered. "If you can beat us in a pokémon battle, maybe we'll walk away."
"Yeah," the rounder one agreed, "but if we beat you, your pokémon belong to us."
Lillie gave them an icy glare, but her pokémon stepped forward, prepared to fight. "I'll make you sorry you ever messed with Vulpix," she told them coldly.
"Bri!" agreed Bubbly.
"Ti!" buzzed Buzzy in agreement.
"Heh," the lanky one scoffed, grabbing two pokéballs off his belt and tossing them high. "We'll see about that! C'mon out Salandit!"
"Yungoos!" the fat one cried, unleashing his own duo of pokémon.
"Zubat!" the pink haired one crowed, letting out hers.
Six mean-looking pokémon, stared down Lillie's duo, who glared back at them.
"Lillie," Sun said, eyeing her opponents. "Mind if I help even the numbers up a bit?"
She gave him a cold but confident smile. "By all means… Boss." To the surprise of both of them, the Vulpix they were planning to defend jumped in with Lillie's duo.
Sun chuckled. "Very well," he agreed, adopting his "Boss" voice. "Let us show these miscreants how Team Sun deals with troublemakers in places under our protection. You're up, Nero, Emperor, and Caligula."
"Tor…" Nero agreed, the fiery aura of Flame Charge enveloping his coat as he charged in, and body slammed one of the Zubat.
"Grimer mer…" grunted Caligula as he bit down hard on one of the Yungoos, the energy of dark and poison type moves shooting from his fangs.
"Rrrr…" growled Caligula, calling down a multitude of rocks upon one of the Zubat.
"He didn't even give his pokémon any commands, how is he takin' down ours so easily?" the lanky one asked.
"Bubbly, use Bubble Beam on the Salandit. Buzzy, use Fairy Wind on Yungoos. Vulpix, use Powder Snow," Lillie declared, eyes still showing cold anger.
Her pokémon rushed to obey, and for the second time in the last few minutes the Team Skull trio's pokémon found themselves pulverized.
"Salandit, use Flame Burst!" the lanky one commanded.
"Zubat, use Bite!" the pink-haired one ordered shrilly.
"Yungoos, Tackle!" the shorter one instructed.
All six of Team Skull's pokémon attacked, but Lillie and Sun weren't phased in the slightest. Honestly, these guys had been easier to fight than the ones back on Melemele, even if they looked like they could end up being harder to reason with in the future.
"Nero, use Rock Throw on all of them!" Sun commanded.
Nero trembled with excitement as he summoned more rocks than he ever had before and prepared to let them rain down on his opponents. "Rrrrr…"
"Dodge it!" all three grunts cried in panicked unison.
"Bubbly, keep them all in place with Icy Wind!" Lillie instructed.
"Briooo…" Bubbly sang as she froze the pokémon in place with the ice type attack.
"Vullll…" the Vulpix they were helping cried as she also summoned glacial winds to further restrict their opponents.
Team Skull's six pokémon looked up with growing horror as the number of rocks that Caligula summoned continued to increase, until there was enough to cover them all. Beneath the pile of rocks, there were audible groans from all of them.
"Rrrrr…" growled Caligula as he glared at the rock pile daring any of the pokémon he'd crushed to come out and try and face him again, but he needn't have bothered.
The trio of Skull Grunts returned their pokémon, and then looked at Lillie and Sun somewhat fearfully. "Wh-Who are you guys?" the sole girl among them asked.
"We're Team Sun," Lillie said coldly, thumbing the pin attached to her hat. "I'm one of the admins, and he's the boss of our organization. Be more careful who you pick fights with in the future."
Sun was a little uncomfortable staying in character in such a serious situation, so he just spoke as he normally would. "This isn't our first time fighting jerks from Team Skull," he told them bluntly. "And with how things are going, it's probably not the last either. But just keep it in mind, if you fight with us, you're gonna lose."
The trio they'd just defeated exchanged glances and started booking it. "We're gonna remember this, kid!" the lanky one shouted over his shoulder. "I don't know who you think you are, forming a team on our turf but we ain't gonna take it lyin' down!"
After the trio were out of sight, Sun took a deep breath and looked at Lillie. "I think our joke team just became real," he said solemnly.
As the anger she'd felt at Team Skull faded, Lillie realized just what she'd done, and her face turned a deep red of shame and embarrassment. "Sun, I am so, so sorry," she apologized, head low. "I wasn't even thinking about that, I just wanted them to-"
"It's okay," Sun told her, and nodded towards the Vulpix who had begun snuggling against her leg. "Vulpix is grateful at least."
"Vul!" the little ice type barked in agreement, before looking back at the collection of bottle caps she had been protecting from Team Skull and gingerly placing one at the feet of both trainers. "Vulpix!"
"Looks like that Vulpix took quite a shine to both of you," the old lady who'd called for assistance said with a smile. "She's pretty skittish around people normally, and she won't let anyone near her bottle cap collection."
"Are you her trainer ma'am?" Lillie inquired politely. It made sense after all, she was the one who had requested for someone to come to the Vulpix's aid.
But the old woman shook her head. "No, she's a wild pokémon, but from the look of things… Well…" She pointed at how the wild Vulpix had gone back to snuggling against Lillie. "Looks to me like she might want to travel with you."
"Pix!" the little ice type barked in agreement, looking up at Lillie with expectant eyes.
"Of course, you can join my team," Lillie replied, and pulled a ball from her backpack. "Welcome to the family, Snowy!"
"Vul!" the Vulpix, now dubbed Snowy, cried happily, tapping her nose against the pokéball and being sucked inside. It shook once, twice, thrice… and with a ding it cemented the Alolan Vulpix as the newest member of Lillie's team.
As quickly as Lillie had caught her Vulpix, she was unleashing the ice type from the pokéball. "Vul!" the Fox Pokémon said happily, as Lillie crouched to pet her. "Pixxx…" she sighed leaning into her new trainer's stroking.
"Now," Lillie said, still stroking her new pokémon, "how are we going to handle the fact Team Skull is going to think we're competition going forward?"
Sun took a deep breath, held it, and exhaled. "We're going to keep beating them," he replied. "At this point, I think that's the only option we've got."
Lillie nodded, fiddling with her hat. "I guess that's the only real choice at this point," she agreed. "Sun, I really am sorry for making it a bigger thing."
"It's fine, Lillie," Sun told her with a smile that was a tad forced. "I doubt we'd have been able to avoid fighting them anyway. Let's just get to work on training so that they stand even less of a chance next time."
Lillie looked at Sun uncertainly. She wasn't stupid, so it was pretty obvious that Sun was lying about the whole thing being fine, but she didn't want to push it. She'd made her mistake, and now she'd have to live with it. "Let's train," she agreed. "Route 4, right?"
Sun nodded. "Yeah," he confirmed. "At this point, Hau's probably caught whatever pokémon he was looking for, but no sense rushing it."
And so, our dynamic duo made their way out of Paniola Town, and to the route just outside of it.
On Route 4, our heroes and their pokémon were trying to train the newest member of Sun's team. Standing several feet apart, Sun and Lillie faced each other planning to help Nebby improve its control of the more useful of its two moves.
"Okay Nebby," Sun said holding Nebby in his open hands, "let's start practicing Teleport. Teleport over to Lillie, okay?"
"Pew!" the Cosmog squeaked, glowing slightly with blue energy. "Pewww…"
However, much like the night before instead of Nebby teleporting to Lillie, Lillie teleported to Nebby. "Huh?" Lillie said, blinking as she popped back into existence next to Sun. "Did Nebby Teleport me again?"
"Pew…" Nebby squeaked, confusion clear on the little psychic type's features. It had clearly been trying to Teleport to Lillie, so what had gone wrong?
"Hmm…" Sun hummed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Nebby's Teleported itself before, right? That was how you got to Melemele in the first place."
Lillie nodded. "It took a lot of energy," she explained, "but it did. I'm honestly surprised Nebby hasn't been more drained, considering how many times it's tried to use Teleport lately."
Sun smiled. "I think that's a good sign for the little one," he noted, giving the Cosmog a gentle pat. "Means Nebby's gotten stronger lately."
"Pew," Nebby affirmed proudly nuzzling against its trainer.
"Well," Sun said, "since we're not sure why it's Teleport is working on things other than itself, why don't we have Nebby try Teleporting some of our pokémon? How does that sound?"
"Let's give it a shot," Lillie agreed. "Who wants to go first?"
"Torra!" Nero purred eagerly, dashing to stand across from them. "Torrara!"
"Alright then," Sun said with a grin. "Nebby try to Teleport Nero over to us."
"Peww…" Nebby squeaked, its little face screwed up in concentration. The same blue energy as before wrapped itself around Nebby, much like a Z-Power Aura, and then Nero began to glow blue as well.
The Fire Cat gave Nebby a proud smile as he vanished, before reappearing at Sun's feet. "Torra!" Nero purred, leaping up to give Nebby an affectionate lick.
"That was great, Nebby!" Lillie praised. "Now we just need to figure out how to get you to do that with yourself."
"Okay," Sun said, letting Nebby float in the air and clapping his hands together. "Nero, can you keep helping Nebby practice?"
"Tor!"
"Great!" Sun exclaimed. "Emperor, you keep working on combining your techniques. You too, Prince. Try and work on following Power Gem up with Iron Tail as fast as possible so that you can hit the gems with Iron Tail so that they'll hit our opponents even harder. Sound good?"
"Grime!"/"Persian!"
"Now, Baron and Caligula? You'll be working with Lillie and me, okay?"
"Trum!"/"Rock!"
"Snowy, you hang back and watch everyone train, okay?" Lillie told her newest pokémon. "I'm going to be training with Bubbly and Buzzy right now."
Having given their pokémon their tasks, Lillie and Sun once more took positions opposite each other. Lillie's first two pokémon stood in front of her, while Sun's rambunctious duo stood in front of their trainer. "You can have the first move, Lillie," Sun offered. "The focus is on things other than technique for these two's training after all."
"Trum?" asked Baron in confusion.
"Baron, you favor an aggressive style, same as Caligula," Sun explained. "But you've gotten the hang of not going out of control. So, you're going to serve as an example for Caligula, okay?"
"Beak!" squawked Baron agreeably.
Having given Sun enough time to explain the plan to his pokémon, Lillie began directing her pokémon. "Okay Buzzy, use Draining Kiss on Caligula," she commanded. "Bubbly, use Bubble Beam to aid her!"
"Ti!" squeaked Buzzy in agreement, rushing at Sun's puppy.
"Baron, protect Caligula! Use a Pluck frenzy to keep Buzzy away!" Sun directed.
"Trum!" Baron squawked in agreement, quickly moving in to smash his beak against Buzzy and keep her off his teammate.
Unfortunately for Baron, here was where Lillie's earlier order of aid from Bubbly came in, as she blasted Sun's bird away, enabling Buzzy to use Draining Kiss on Caligula. "Ruffff…" groaned Caligula as Buzzy sapped some of his energy.
"Okay Caligula," Sun said, hoping this wouldn't drive his puppy berserk. "Use Rock Tomb on Buzzy!"
"Rockruff!" Caligula barked eagerly, summoning a massive stone to drop on the bug and fairy type. Going by the eagerness, and how his tail was wagging away, Sun was happy to find his rock type was in control so far.
"Buzzy, get out of there and use Sweet Scent to distract Caligula!" Lillie told her pokémon. "Bubbly, once he's distracted use Bubble Beam!"
Lillie's Cutiefly began emitting a sweet-smelling pink mist, and Caligula swayed contentedly in the cloud of mist. "Ruffff…" he barked contentedly. "Ruffff…"
"Baron, quick!" Sun called. "Blow away the mist with your wings! Caligula, as soon as the mist is clear, use Rock Throw!"
Baron moved quickly to do as Sun directed, but after the Sweet Scent mist was gone Caligula looked about in confusion, like the little rock type suddenly wasn't quite sure what was going on. "Ruff?"
"Briiiiioooonnneee…" sang Bubbly as she blasted Caligula with a barrage of bubbles.
The posture of Sun's rock type changed drastically. While he'd mostly seemed like he was having a good time thus far and had been even calmer under the influence of Sweet Scent, for the first time so far Caligula's posture turned vicious and aggressive. "Rrrrr…" the Puppy Pokémon growled ferociously. "Rrrrr…"
Baron gave Caligula gentle tap with his beak. "Trum," Sun's first capture said. "Trumbeak." The Bugle Beak Pokémon gestured to their trainer who was watching them with concern. "Beak beak."
Caligula seemed to calm down for a moment, and everyone breathed a quiet sigh of relief. But then the battle mania returned to his eyes even greater than before, and Sun's puppy headbutted Baron hard. It was a credit to how well he'd come to be in control of himself that Baron didn't immediately lash out at his teammate, instead merely looking at him sternly. "Trum," the bird pokémon squawked, a gentle reproach, but showing his younger teammate he wasn't mad at him, either.
"Rrrr…" snarled Caligula, his battle mania triggered and holding him tightly in its grip. "Rrrrrr…"
Deciding it was time to step in, Sun approached his pokémon and crouched down low. "Caligula, come on," he said, holding out a hand for Caligula to sniff. "Baron's just trying to help. He struggled with his battle mania at first too, we're just trying to help you manage it properly."
"Trum!" Baron confirmed. "Trumbeak!" Couldn't Caligula see they just wanted to help?
Sun was going to continue trying to calm his rock type down, but there was a familiar flash of blue and his other pokémon who had previously been training stood with him. "Torracat," Nero growled reproachfully. "Torrarara…"
"Pew!" Nebby squeaked, bothered by his friend snarling at their trainer. They were all friends, why was Caligula suddenly being so mean?
Then Emperor and Prince moved in front of Sun, as if to shield him. It was this that suddenly got through to Caligula because his teammates were protecting their trainer… protecting their trainer from… him. And that broke through the haze of battle mania, causing Caligula to let out a mournful whine and started cuddling against Sun while howling apologetically. "Ruuuuffffff…"
Recognizing that Caligula had come out of whatever haze his battle mania put him under, Sun scratched the Puppy Pokémon in the good place behind the ears, letting Caligula cuddle against him and whimper his apologies. At least for the moment, words were unnecessary.
Much to the surprise of all gathered, Sun's cell phone began to ring. Sun pulled it out of his pocket, and quickly answered the call. "Hi Mama," he said with a cheerfulness that belied the tension from a few moments before. "What's up?"
There was a muffled reply from the other line, but whatever Sun heard must've been great news because he broke into a million-watt smile. "Really? Tonight?" Another muffled response. "Yes, of course I want to see him! I'll be on the first ferry back to Melemele tomorrow!"
"Ruff?" Caligula asked no one in particular, as his teammates also cuddled up to their overjoyed trainer. While he was happy as they all were to see their trainer so happy again, he was confused about why.
More muffled speech from Sun's mother. "No, that works even better," Sun replied grinning, though about what no one knew but him. "If you're both coming here, I can introduce him to Lillie. Lillie and Hau, I mean. Lillie and Hau!" More muffled dialogue and Sun turned very, very red. "Mama it's not like that!" he yelped.
Lillie giggled quietly, her facing tinging a light pink. Unlike Sun's pokémon who were exchanging confused looks, she had a pretty good idea of what his mother had just teased him about.
"I'm hanging up now," Sun playfully grumbled into the phone which resulted in more muffled words from his mother. "Yeah, I love you too Mama. I'll see you and Dad tomorrow, okay? Just let me know when you both get here, and I'll meet you over at the Tide Song Hotel. Bye."
After he slid his phone back into his pocket, he turned his attention to Lillie. "My dad's landing in Alola tonight!" he told her ecstatically. "I'm going to be seeing him and my mom tomorrow."
"Oh Sun, that's wonderful!" Lillie replied, beaming. "I only heard one side of that conversation, but I suppose you'll be seeing them tomorrow?"
Sun nodded as his pokémon gave cries to signify their happiness for their trainer, Emperor even giving him a hug as he was wont to do. "Yeah," the Island Challenger confirmed, as he hugged his Grimer back. "Apparently there are some nice restaurants in the Tide Song Hotel, so they want to meet me there for us to celebrate. You're welcome to join us."
"I'd hate to impose," Lillie said, but the relaxed smile on her face made it clear she was merely going through the motions for politeness' sake and had every intention of joining them. "I mean you haven't seen your father in so long, I'd hate to get in the way."
Sun laughed. "No need to worry," he replied. "My dad wants to meet you anyways."
Lillie's tone grew more teasing as she asked, "Are you sure? You seemed pretty flustered when you mentioned introducing me to him. Well, me and Hau."
Sun's face turned a brilliant shade of red. "W-Well," he stammered. "I mean… My dad… Mydadsaidhewantedtomeetmygirlfriendwhenhegottoalola."
Lillie giggled and rested a hand on Sun's shoulder. "Sun, I only got part of that," she said, which was true though she had a pretty good guess at what he'd said. "Slow down. Take a deep breath."
Sun took several, as it turned out. "Okay," he said, after his redness had died down to his cheeks just being slightly pink. "Thank you for that."
"Are you feeling calmer?" Lillie asked with a smile.
"Yeah," he confirmed. "Sorry. So, the reason I was getting flustered earlier was-"
"Let me guess," Lillie offered, cutting him off before he had a chance to try and make something up in a vain attempt to spare them both from being embarrassed. "Your father made some remark about me being your significant other?"
Sun froze. "S-Something like that," he admitted awkwardly, cheeks darkening back to red. "I tried to tell him it wasn't like that."
Lillie shrugged, trying to keep it cool. "I-It's not," she acknowledged, fighting through her own embarrassment. "But, well, I wouldn't mind if it was like that."
Sun stared at her, clearly trying to process what she'd just said. "Wait… So…"
"I like you, Sun," Lillie said, putting it as bluntly as she could though her face was turning pink. "I'd be happy to be your girlfriend, if you'll have me."
"I… Um… Yes," Sun said intelligently. "I mean…"
Realizing that Sun was trying to reply in the affirmative but was being hindered by his short-circuiting brain Lillie went with the tried-and-true tactic of hugging her boyfriend when his brain tried to shut down. It seemed to work because he hugged her back without much hesitation.
"Seriously," Lillie teased, her arms still wrapped around Sun, "you fight Team Skull and you're thinking clear as can be. I tell you I like you, and your brain starts to self-destruct."
"Give me a break," Sun complained, though without any heat. He was enjoying the hug as much as she was. "It's much easier to know what to say when dealing with guys like them. I have way less experience with something like this."
Lillie couldn't help herself, she laughed. "I suppose that's true," she acknowledged, still giggling as the two of them broke apart. Sun laughed with her, and as dusk fell and they headed to the pokémon center for the evening the two of them were still laughing.