Work Text:
lively
Lillie and her mother's first stop in Kanto is Cerulean City. Bill is kind, but doesn't mince words when he sees Lusamine. "I had a good prognosis, but only with long, hard treatments that I started right away," he tells them. But long and hard don't faze Lillie, like they should - at this point, she'll take anything, if it'll make her mother less corpse-like.
--
remorseful
She always knew there would be a time Lusamine would apologize, but when it does happen, Lillie realizes she's spent more time thinking about the moment itself, than what lies afterward. There are no tearful acceptances, no affirming words - and while she doesn't think she feels anger anymore, still, she can't help but to wonder whether choosing silence as her answer is the right thing to do.
--
dismiss
Lillie writes to Gladion, in blocky cursive: The treatments are going well.
(Fifteen minutes before, Lusamine had screamed at her to leave her alone, hallucinating and spraying spittle at her. Detox is hard, honey, Bill had told her gently. Your mom probably doesn't realize any of the things she's doing or saying.)
She hopes the stationary doesn't wrinkle too much when it gets wet, and she hopes Gladion won't say anything about it in his next letter.
--
heavy
They've only been in Kanto for a week, but Lillie feels like more time than that has passed.
--
forward
Her mother takes the news much better than she initially anticipated. "It's a good idea. You shouldn't have to be cooped up here, for my sake," Lusamine tells her, pausing to take a sip of her matcha. "Kanto is a beautiful region. Explore it while you're here."
--
prowl
The grass shivers in the distance. Lillie knows it won't be much longer until she can brave it, but for now, she slips past it as surreptitiously as possible.
--
cut
Her bulbasaur Fushi is a clever little thing, and Lillie marvels how quickly he's picking up. There's something gratifying in the way his vines slash the small sapling with ease, hopping over the brush with a waddle. His future is bright; she hopes hers will be the same.
--
compromise
Lillie sighs as she puts back her newly captured caterpie back in her ball, tenderly running her fingertips over where she chewed on Fushi's bulb moments prior. She had hoped they could be friends, but right now that isn't looking likely. Ruefully, she wonders how Selene made it look so easy, before supposing she'll figure it out somehow.
--
impulse
As Lillie and her team hightail it out of Mt. Moon, she makes a mental note to take the advice of the shopkeepers and invest in an Escape Rope or nine.
--
hush
There's a brief moment of silence when Fushi charges at Brock's golem, then cheers erupt when it succumbs to the tackle. Brock dutifully hands her the badge with a smile on his face, and her laughter echoes through the granite, carrying itself high into the rafters.
--
morals
The weedle has been trailing her since she left Viridian Forest, and while Lillie can't bear to ignore it, Fushi and Rosa detest it more than each other - bringing it on the team would surely spell disaster for the shaky alliance her bulbasaur and metapod are starting to form.
So she takes another option. "You'll like your new owner," she tells it softly, fastening the ball to Gladion's crobat. "He does really well with bug-types." As she watches the crobat soar away, she can't help but to wonder not if, but when she'll see the weedle again.
--
engage
Her mother doesn't look as waxen when Lillie sees her again, but Lusamine's hands shake and her face is thin. "I won't be staying in Cerulean too long," Lillie says, "but I'll let you know when I leave."
"You don't - " Lusamine begins, but doesn't finish her sentence. There's a small silence, then: "Are... you enjoying Kanto so far?"
Lillie nods. "Would you like to hear about my battle with Brock?"
Lusamine nods yes; Lillie smiles.
--
voice
When Lillie dreams of Alola, Selene is there. They usually laugh and talk, but this dream is different; Selene presses in close to Lillie and whispers something in her ear -
Lillie wakes up before she can make sense of it. Whatever it is, it leaves her feeling breathless, but warm.
--
awkward
"Where the hell are you kids getting all this power from?"
Lillie doesn't have a good answer for Lt. Surge, and doubts she ever will. She takes the Thunder Badge from his oversized hand, briefly wondering how Guzma measures up to him. She tries to make sense as she hears him mumble something about the colors green and red, before deciding she has no idea what he means.
--
lower
Fushi evolves into an ivysaur after the battle with Lt. Surge; she catches a pigeotto she names Gusty; and her new vulpix Terra just needs a Fire Stone to evolve, but Rosa is unmistakably lagging behind. Lillie writes as fast as she can when Gladion's crobat finds her at the edge of Celadon City.
It comes back two days later, with a package and a note that only says, Try this. Rosa looks decidedly unhappy wearing the experience share, but doesn't make an effort to bat it off. "Just for a little while," Lillie tells her. Rosa sighs, but agrees.
--
plead
The battle with Erika is the closest she's had so far. Rosa still has some energy, but the poison is wearing her down fast - but the burn Terra gave Erika's tangrowth is surely doing something too? Lillie squeezes her eyes shut, and thinks, please please please, give me some of your luck, Selene.
She dares to open her eyes again when Erika serenely says, "I concede defeat. You are remarkably strong."
"I knew you could do it," Lillie whispers to Rosa, now a butterfree.
--
caring
Her pokemon refuse to come out of their pokeballs when she visits the House of Memories, but Mr. Fuji reassures her they're not being rude. "Most pokemon don't care for it here," he says. "They get afraid, just like us."
He tells her all about the lore of Lavender Town, and Lillie lets it sink in. When she leaves, albeit grudgingly, his eyes twinkle. "You must have a strong connection to the spirits," he tells her. "They're sad to see you go."
In Fuchsia City, she pens her brother, asking him to send lillies from Aether Paradise to Lavender Town.
--
believe
"This is where the going gets tough. The Elite Four is no joke - are you sure you got what it takes to take them on?"
Lillie is surprised how smooth her answer is. A fleeting image of dark hair and round eyes passes through her mind. "If I have even one person rooting for me, then I can do anything."
The answer must have taken Janine by surprise too, because her steely expression softens, and Lillie wonders.
("Isn't it funny how one person is all it takes?" Janine asks softly, handing her the Soul Badge.
Then Lillie understands.)
--
found
When she stumbles upon a poliwhirl, Lillie wastes no time catching him. Her venasaur, butterfree, ninetales and pidgeot have gotten her this far, but a water-type opens up more paths, more possibilities.
There's just one thing, though. "You don't have to choose either one, if you don't want to, but you can't be both," Lillie tells him, gesturing to the stones in her hand. "If you're ready, so am I."
Bean looks momentarily uncertain, but his fist eventually curls around the King's Rock, nodding. Lillie grins, and goes to the Pokecenter, to find someone with a few minutes to spare.
--
shield
It had been her father first; then Gladion; then no one, when Gladion had enough of their mother; then Selene, when things couldn't get any worse.
Rosa blasts Sabrina's alakazam with another round of Bug Buzz, and Lillie thinks how nice it is to be her own protector now.
--
open
Even with Bean's strong legs, Lillie's knuckles are white the entire time on Route 20. The breeze is nauseating, instead of calming - there's something about the vast expanse of blue that's too dizzying and too overwhelming.
Of course, when she gets to Blaine's gym, which is literally a sweltering, cramped cave, she reconsiders that notion.
--
tactile
Physical touch used to come so easy to them. When her mother breaks in her embrace and a muffled sob escapes her throat, Lillie thinks it will be like that again between them - not anytime soon, of course, but someday.
--
journey
The irony of finding her last team member where she first began is not lost on her - still, for all her brazen defiance, Lillie can tell the pikachu wants to tag along.
"Had you found us any later, you would have missed the best part," she tells Maple warmly. Lillie cradles her, stepping on the edge of Viridian City.
--
scowl
The way Green talks to Lillie convinces her he's had this conversation many times before, but it does little to comfort her. "You're not the first person to lose to me, and you're not going to be the last," he says flatly. "There's a reason why I'm the last leader to be challenged."
When Lillie musters the courage to look at him, he's the one with the petulant expression. "Look, you're not dead, kiddo. Train more, and then come back. Your luck might be better."
Lillie leaves the gym, badgeless but alive. Green mutters, "Girls."
--
hero
"That's Green for you," Daisy says fondly. "He's not as bad as he'd like you to believe. Big softie, really. The trick is to give him a taste of his own medicine."
"But, Professor - "
"Daisy, Daisy, Daisy," she gently chides. "Please, for my own sanity! Anyway... take these." She hands Lillie the berries and, with a wink, adds, "But don't tell him I gave you them, okay? He'd have a fit."
When Lillie steps out of Daisy's lab, she sees the grass adjacent to her rustle. With a big breath - what would Selene do? - she heads straight for it.
--
recognition
An eerie calm settles over the Viridian Gym, and Green's trainers gape silently at her. Finally, Green exhales long and slow, and smiles.
"Much better," he tells her pointedly. "The Elite Four should be no problem for you, then. Me, I think I need a vacation."
"Alola is nice this time of year," Lillie offers. Green blinks twice, then chuckles.
Lillie waits until Green closes the gym's doors, before cheering loud and hard.
--
pause
She makes one more stop to the Sea Cottage before she leaves for the Indigo Plateau. Lusamine hands her back the badge tin, beaming.
"Beautiful. You'll be just fine," Lusamine says, eyes crinkling. Lillie's heart swells - the badges are nice, yes, but her mother gives her something more valuable.
--
dream
Lillie blinks once, twice, three times, before she loses count.
"Do you want to sit down?" Lance asks her, half joking, half serious. "We have chairs in the Hall of Fame." Lillie takes a step forward, and Lance has to catch her before she falls flat on her face.
"I think," she says, feeling suddenly lightheaded, "that would be a good idea, yes."
--
--
reprise
There are a sea of familiar faces that greet her when she and her mother arrive in the marina, but Lillie is focused on only one.
Selene and Lillie don't share words, not until the commotion has died down and they're alone on Hau'oli's beachfront. "Show me," Selene finally whispers, sparks in her eyes.
Selene's incineroar and Lillie's politoed meet gazes. "Use surf," says Lillie, soul ablaze.
--
--
moon
The trek to Mahalo Trail no longer winds Lillie; in fact, alongside the cool night breeze, it's refreshing. She and Selene are about to visit the ruins for old time's sake, when something glints off the light of the moon at the end of the bridge.
"Are those...?" Selene begins; she cranes her neck further, and the thing - things - ruffle their feathers. Spearow.
Lillie's hand leaves Selene's to grab at her trainer's belt. "I got it this time," she says, grinning.
(Their laughs lift into starlight above and Lillie thinks contentedly, it's good to be home.)