Pokémon: Mysteries of Alola

Chapter 36 - Lillie and Lusamine -

"Shit shit shit no I'm not ready she's going to judge me more than she did before and what if she hates us and tries to degrade us and-"

"Gladion."

Akihiro placed his hands on his shoulders, stopping the boy from pacing. He could see the fear in his eyes, but having Akihiro hold him calmed him down.

"Listen to me, focus on the fact that Lillie and your mother are coming home. Lusamine has been in recovery for nearly 2 years now, er... more like a year and 5ish months, and has most likely either forgotten about the event due to it, or has reflected on her actions and wants to start anew. I'll be right there with you, so you won't be doing this alone, okay?" He pressed a kiss to the boy's forehead, smiling at him, "We're gonna be fine."

Gladion took a deep breath before nodding, leaning his head against Akihiro's shoulder, "Right... God this is frustrating... You didn't tell Lillie either right?"

"Nope. I waited so we could tell the two of them." He ran his fingers through Gladion's hair, his smile growing at how soft it felt.

"Thanks..."

"You're welcome. Now come on. Let's get Aether looking as clean and as beautiful as possible before they get here in... 7 hours."

Akihiro began calling for several Aether Employees to help the two of them out, and making sure some of them kept their eyes on Faba while he cleaned too. Akihiro was not even close to trusting Faba, but he would put the man to work regardless. Wicke was helping Gladion hang up a small banner that said "Welcome Home!" on it, and it was going great until Gladion could hear Akihiro snickering.

"What is it?"

"I have a great view of your ass from here~"

"AKIHIRO!" Gladion nearly fell off his ladder, but one of the Aether employees grabbed it before he fell, allowing him to steady himself.

"Sorry. Not for staring at your butt, I'm apologizing for almost making you fall." He could see Gladion's cheeks turning red, and it made him chuckle as he headed towards the Conservative Area to check up on the Pokémon there. He had grown friendly with a lot of them, mainly a tinier than normal Piplup that had traveled far from the Sinnoh and got injured. He made sure it got lots of love and treats when it was good, and it was healing well. When he returned to the Sinnoh region to visit Azelf, he planned on releasing the Piplup there too.

"Hello Felicia," He greeted, seeing the Piplup jump out of the water to greet him.

"Pip! Piplup!" Felicia happily waddled up to him, holding up her flippers to him. He chuckled and lifted her up.

"Let me check that flipper of yours and see how well it's healing."

Felicia lifted up her left flipper for him, allowing him to check it. He gently poked it, noticing her only slightly wince instead of pulling it away from him like she used to. Akihiro smiled at her.

"Look at that. It looks much better than the last time I checked it. And you didn't even pull away. I think that's good for you, cause now I can give you this~" Akihiro reached into his pocket and pulled out a Rainbow Poké Bean, watching Felicia's eyes light up.

"Piplup! Pip Piplup!!" She cheered, and he handed it to her, watching as she chomped on it happily. He set her down back in the water, waving to her as he went around to check on how cleaning was going.

Akihiro made it to the first floor, heading towards Lusamine's room. He glanced around the outside, noticing a couple employees cleaning it while he headed inside.

'...it's... strange to think... we could've lost the battle against Lusamine when she fused with that beast...' He frowned, his fingers dragging against the walls as he walked through Lusamine's room. '...we could've died... we could've never come back... I could've failed everyone...'