Chapter 29

        (Y/n) gratefully took the cup of tea from the girl that very well should have been her biological sister. "Thanks Lillie."

        "No problem," she mumbled before returning to her own cup of freshly brewed tea. They sat together with Gladion in the family's personal mansion. Gladion had opted for coffee over the tea although he seemed to just be addicted to it nowadays.

        These past two days had been crazy for all of them. Silver had left to an unknown location that morning. Lillie had gotten into a fight with her mother yesterday over who should really inherit the company. In the end, Lusamine agreed to let Lillie take over, but she wasn't allowing Gladion to help in an attempt to prove a point to the girl. Gladion was dealing with Moon's sudden change in action towards him. The girl showered him with affection so much that he wasn't sure how to deal with it. He was afraid to ask her for his own space thinking that she might take it the wrong way. In short, they were all dealing with their own personal problems, so they agreed that it was time for them to go back to the old days and do something they used to when they were younger. Spend quality "family" time together to get rid of stress.

        "Do you have any Eevee cards?" (y/n) said to Gladion as she looked at the cards in her hand.

        He took a quick glance at his own hand before muttering a half hearted, "Go fish."

        With a huff of defeat, (y/n) pulled a card from the main deck, and waited on Lillie.

        "Do you have any Glaceon cards?" she also asked Gladion. He gave her the same answer much to her dismay.

        "Do you have any Jolteon cards," he asked Lillie. She pouted and revealed the Jolteon on the card before handing it over to him. "How about you, (y/n)?"

        "Nope. Go fish," she answered. Gladion pulled from the deck and looked at his card with amusement.

        "Looks like I got another full set," Gladion announced as he revealed four normal Jolteon cards and placed them aside.

        "How are you so good at this game?!" (Y/n) was sure he hadn't cheated since he hated cheating in card games. Was his success rate in the game really just that high?

        "I'm just playing the game the way it's meant to be played. We can always do something else. You're the one who suggested this game instead of Monopoly." Gladion's smugness was practically dripping through his speech.

        "Don't worry. After we finish this round, we're going to walk Nebby," Lillie decided. "We're going to have a nice long walk and talk. No more games." (Y/n) laughed at Lillie's continued pouting. If Gladion won this round, that would be four wins in a row. And that was excluding the other wins he got in the other games they played before now.

        "At least let me finish my coffee first," Gladion grumbled.

        "You drink too slow," (y/n) teased. "Shiny Vaporeon, Lillie?" She accepted the card and asked Gladion the same thing.

        "Go fish." He took a sip of his coffee. "And I don't drink slow. I actually take the time to enjoy the flavor."

        "Yes, enjoy the flavor of black coffee. So dark and brooding like your soul," (y/n) laughed. Gladion rolled his eyes and shook his head at her in disappointment.

        In the end, Lillie ended up winning. (Y/n) didn't want to tell her, but she saw that Gladion had purposely held on to his finished set of shiny Sylveon just so he wouldn't win. If she hadn't taken a peek at the cards after the game was over, she wouldn't have even known. Gladion had caught her snooping, but didn't say a word to her.

        "I'm not saying anything first. It's either you or Lillie," Gladion announced as they began to leave for their Nebby walk. It was a reoccurring thing for the trio to walk around the halls and pathways of Aether Paradise and spill their thoughts to one another. They would take turns on venting and giving advice.

        "I'd rather not go first either," Lillie admitted.

        "Huh, wait that's not fair!" (Y/n) didn't want to go first either. "Rock, paper, X-scissor right now!" She lost. "Well great..."

        "You suggested it, no take backs," Gladion said. Lillie simply nodded and released Nebby as they exited the mansion. Solgaleo appeared with a sound meant to be akin to a purr, but it sounded more like rolling thunder than anything.

        "Fine. I'll go first." (Y/n) walked ahead of them to lead the way. "I'm worried about what I'll do if I run into Crystal."

        "I'm surprised you didn't say Silver," Gladion commented.

        "That's not a game you want to play right now, Gladion. Trust me," she warned. All she had to do was drop Moon's name in the conversation and then there would likely be a sibling-like fight between them. "Anyway, like I said. I think I might end up harming her. Every time I hear her name, my power spikes and gets a little out of hand. It's like I'm perfectly fine, but somewhere in my mind, I'm still having opposing thoughts."

        Lillie took the opportunity to give examples. "Like whenever you used to run into Guzma when Team Skull was still a thing, and he'd keep asking you to make his hair stand. Or whenever Zossie used to accuse you of hitting on Dulse. Or whenever you first met Yana in her office because mother sent you to therapy when we first met you." (Y/n) shot her a deadpan. "Sorry, I was just trying to understand."

        "It's more like the last one," (y/n) confirmed. "I didn't hit on Dulse. Zossie was just crazy."

        "Sounds like she just annoys you then. I don't actually think you'd hurt her," Lillie said.

        "She fried the computer in Yana's office and paralyzed the woman for a day during their first therapy session. There were no more sessions after that," Gladion reminded Lillie.

        "That was an accident! It wasn't even on purpose. She got in my head and it just happened," (y/n) said in her defense.

        "If you're really just worried about what you'll do, then just avoid her. If you meet her, just go the other way," Gladion suggested.

        "Gladion, you tried to murder Hau when you found out that he was dating Lillie. And you were actually friends with him when this occured." Gladion didn't even bother defending himself.

        "What was I supposed to do? Not kill him?"

         "Uh, yes! You don't kill your friends, Gladion," Lillie stated with a bit of obviousness. They were all making light of the situation, but Gladion really had fought Hau that day. And lost. Hau had picked up the boy and calmly took him away by carrying him across his back so they could have a nice civilized chat at the Pokémon Center's juice bar. (Y/n) found herself snickering at the memory.

        "Maybe I'll buy her some juice." Gladion caught the joke immediately and his whole face turned red.

        "You better not!" he demanded. Lillie burst into laugher which she had been trying to hold in all the while. (Y/n) joined in after also attempting to stop herself. Nebby merely watched the girls lose it while Gladion shook his head in shame. "You two can finish this walk yourselves. I'm going to call it a day," Gladion said with a sigh.

        "No no, wait! Come back, I'm sorry!" (y/n) apologized through her dying laughter. Lillie managed to catch his arm before he really did leave. They were only getting away with it because they were family. Anyone else would have died on the spot. "My turn is over. That's enough of that. I feel much better about it now."

        "Sure you do," Gladion muttered, still greatly disappointed. "I'll go next then just to go ahead and get it over with. Then I'm seriously leaving." He ended up asking them about what he should do now that Lillie has been placed over the company in his place. Once he got the answer he was looking for, Lillie asked Gladion to spill all of Hau's secrets which he promptly declined. She then chose to take the opportunity seriously and asked if they could help her talk to Lusamine about the company. Lillie wanted her mother to believe in her, and (y/n) and Gladion were there to back her up like good siblings.

        Their talk didn't end there, and Nebby watched over them as they got all of their troubles off of their minds while walking around Aether Island.
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I just had to throw in a little family moment. I couldn't help it. Alright, time to get back to more serious matters. Until next time you cool readers!

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