One's Saving Grace

Training time

Flashback to a few days ago

Lillie's POV-

I was standing outside on the beach that was outside of Professor Kukui's house with Ash. His Pokemon were lined up in a row infront of us, waiting for Ash to relay an order to them. I had hold of Ash's hand as we stood there listening to the sound of the waves against the sandy beach.

My eyes drifted across the team of Pokemon in front of me, before drifting to Ash. "So, how exactly are we going to do this Ash? do we just battle until I figure out what to do?" I asked him in curiosity.

Ash looked back at me and shook his head. "While normally that would be the most logical thing to do, past experiences of teaching people have taught me that the best way to do it, is to show them what moves the Pokemon have first." He replied with a chuckle.

"It sounds like there's a story somewhere in that?" I asked him.

Ash looked over at me and smiled as he nodded. "There is, and I'll make sure to tell you it sometime." He replied, as he reached into his back pocket and pulled out what looked like a regular Pokedex, but not one that was from Alola.

"Hey Ash, aren't you supposed to have a Rotodex since you're here in Alola?" I asked him in curiosity.

Ash looked from his Pokedex to me, and then back again. "Honestly, I should, but I had Professor Kukui hook me up with a regular Pokedex for Alola. Call me old fashioned, but It feels kind of strange having a pokemon flying around in what's supposed to be my Pokedex." He replied as he popped open his Pokedex.

I nodded in response to what he said, as I stood beside him and gently leaned my head against his shoulder. "That's understandable, I'm not even sure what you'd get from having a Pokemon in your Pokedex." I said.

Ash looked down at me as I leaned against him and rested my head against his shoulder. "You feeling ok Lills?" He asked me.

I looked up at him and smiled back at him. "Yeah of course Ashy, I just like leaning against you, that's all." I responded to him.

He blushed and let out a small cough as he raised his Pokedex  and scanned Infernape. "A-anyways, let's start looking at the move set that Infernape has currently." He replied.

The a voice came through the Pokedex speaker after a minute. "Infernape, a fire fighting type. This Infernape's move set includes. Flame Wheel, Fire Blast, Earthquake, Flamethrower, Thunder Punch, Sunny Day, Hyper Beam, Aerial Ace, and Rock Tomb." The Pokedex said.

I looked at the Pokedex and then to Infernape, before looking back at Ash. "Wow, that's a lot of moves, a lot more than I thought there could be, if I'm being honest." I said to him.

Ash nodded in response as he moved the Pokedex over to Greninja. "Greninja, a water dark type. This Greninja's move set includes Night Slash, Quick Attack, Hydro Pump, Smokescreen, Double Team, Ice Beam, Rock Tomb, Dark Pulse, Surf, and Ice Punch." The Pokedex said.

As the Pokedex finished listing off the move set for Greninja, I looked up at Ash and found him looking back down at me, a goofy grin present on his face as he looked at me. A light blush spread across my face, as I was a bit embarrassed from him staring at me. "What's up Ashy? Why are you looking at me like that?" I asked him.

Ash shook his head like he was snapped out of a daze and blushed heavily. "Hehe...sorry about that Lills, I was just thinking about how cute you are, and how glad I am to have you here." He responded.

My face exploded in a bright red blush, as my mind seemingly shut down, and my heart beat faster as the only response I was able to utter was. "Hehehehehe." I said.

'Oh my lord did I just giggle like that?' I thought to myself as my brain slowly rebooted.

I looked back up at Ash as I still had a heavy blush on my face. "T-Thanks Ashy, I-I'm very glad to have you t-too." I said to him.

I took a deep breath, before I reached over and gave him a light tap on his shoulder. "Ok mister Pokemon Master, let's start with the teaching, I still wanna head back inside and cuddle for a bit before we fall asleep." I told him, as I let my eyes drift across the Pokemon.

Ash let out a chuckle as he reached over and patter my head. "Alright my pupil, let's start off by watching Infernape and Greninja spar with each other." He said as he nodded to both Infernape and Greninja.

The two Pokemone strode across the beach to a suitable area for the sparring session. The two of them stood across from eachother, waiting for Ash to give the signal to begin.

"Alright guys, go ahead and begin, Infernape, start off with Flamethrower, Greninja, counter with Smokescreen, and then fire off a Hydro Pump." Ash called out to them as the battle began.

Infernape let loose a column of fire from it's mouth the moment the battle started. The column of flames were met by the Smokescreen that Greninja let loose. Greninja jumped to the right of the Flamethrower that came ripping through the smoke, and let loose a Hydro Pump that came blitzing through the smoke and towards Infernape.

"Infernape, dodge and use Thunder Punch on the water from the Hydro Pump, Greninja, switch to an Ice Beam after a few seconds, and freeze your Hydro Pump!" Ash shouted to them.

Infernape's fist was engulfed in a yellow light, with electricity arcing off of it, as he ran to the Hydro Pump and slammed his fist into it, dealing a little bit of damage to himself, but causing the electricity from the Thunder Punch to start traveling up the plume of water. As the electricity was traveling up the water, Greninja switched to an Ice Beam and began freezing the Hydro Pump which in turn, froze Infernape's hand to the plume of water.

"Alright, that ends the sparring match, go ahead and get some rest you two." Ash shouted to them, as Infernape blew a bit of fire on his hand to unfreeze it.

Ash looked down at me and smiled at me as he stood there beside me. "There are a lot of ways to have a Pokemone battle, it's not a turn by turn kind of battle. It's a battle of wits, and strategy, and there are many ways someone can win it Lills, that's what makes them so fun and interesting, at least to me that is." He said to me.

I sat there and understood what he was saying for the most part, but it felt like there was an underlying message he was trying to get across to me. I didn't have much time to contemplate it, as he sent out Sceptile and Donphane next.

Present time-

Lillie's POV-

'Yeah Ash, I now understand what you really meant at the time.' I thought to myself, as Lusamine sent out her next Pokemon, Clefable.

Hey there everyone, I just wanted to let you know, that I'm gonna try and update the story more regulalry from now on, I'm not really gonna have a schedule for the story, but I won't let it go months between updates again.

I hope you all enjoy this little flashback, and what it adds to the story. I still need more input on what story you would all like to see me do next, or rather, which pairing you'd like to see me do.

As always, if you have any comments or questions, don't hesitate to post them at all, and I'll see all of you in the next chapter.

-Pearlshipper332