Repairing Broken Bonds (Collab with Ray Chiu)

Chapter 14: More Aether Family Drama!

"I'm impressed you managed to take down two of my strongest Pokémon, Gladion, but your tournament run ends now, as I do doubt that Umbreon in his current state can take down Talonflame and my three remaining Pokémon, but just to finish this fair, let's have a Dark Type match, Incineroar, you're next!" Ash exclaimed, sending out his Fire/Dark Type Incineroar, who grinned as Umbreon attempted to shake off the previous attack, before using Double Kick on Incineroar that was commanded from Gladion, Incineroar though took the attack to use Revenge and send Umbreon flying backwards, "Now, Fire Punch!"

"Umbreon, dodge it with Dark Pulse on the ground!" Gladion ordered, as Umbreon did so to evade and deal some chip damage to Incineroar, "Now, use Iron Tail!" Umbreon started to fall downwards as Ash recognized this trick from his fight in the Kalos League finals against Alain, but where Pikachu got flung in the air by Metagross, Umbreon was intentionally launching himself upwards to strike!

"Use Darkest Lariat to repel the attack, Incineroar!" Ash ordered, as Incineroar smirked and spun around wildly, which caused Umbreon to get launched, "Now, finish this with Fire Blast!"

Umbreon landed on the ground, stumbling, which caused him to be unable to dodge and got hit directly by Fire Blast! When the smoke cleared, Incineroar expected the Dark Type Eeveelution to be down for the count. However, Umbreon was still standing, toughing it out so Gladion wouldn't feel sad!

"Umbreon...okay then, let's do this thing!" Gladion exclaimed as he grabbed his left hand to do a pose and grinned, "Use Dark Pulse, partner!"

"Still eager, I like it!" Ash chuckled, "Incineroar, time to go all out, use Fire Blast once more!"

Umbreon used the symbol on his head to fire the Dark Pulse, while Incineroar summoned a ball of fire from his belt, before throwing it from his paw towards Umbreon, as the attacks clashed, and Umbreon was using all of his strength to push back to Fire Blast that was closing in on him!

"Come on Umbreon, you can do it!" Gladion cheered on, as Ash and Incineroar watched intently, as Umbreon let out a loud battle cry, before launching a powerful Dark Pulse that destroyed the Fire Blast before it got too close, and pushing Incineroar backwards a bit, but Umbreon sadly collapsed from exhaustion due to pushing himself so hard...losing Gladion the match. Gladion lowered his head while walking to Umbreon, and picking him up to thank him for his hard work before recalling his day one partner, and sent out his Crobat.

"Man, he really does care for these Pokémon if he has another Pokemon that evolves from friendship." Red muttered, "Incineroar, let's settle this! Use Fire Punch!"

"Crobat, use Cross Poison!" Gladion ordered as the two moves clashed, "Now, Toxic!" Crobat launched the poisonous substance at Incineroar to battle poison it, now there was an onslaught of Cross Poisons and Wing Attacks, but Incineroar tanked it to use Revenge to catch Crobat off guard.

"Now, Fire Blast!" Red ordered, as Incineroar threw the ranged Fire Type move once more, finishing off Crobat, losing Gladion the battle. Gladion walked over to Red to offer a handshake, which Ash/Red accepted before heading back to the VIP suite.

Meanwhile, Lillie was just curling up on the Pokémon bed after the match, somewhat surprised by how Gladion was able to put up a good fight, it wasn't surprising that he lost, but he did put up an amazing effort. Suddenly, she felt a tap on her back, and looked at Golly, who seemed to want to talk to her.

"Hey Lillie, you want to go on a walk? Just you, me, and Snowy?" Golly offered, as Lillie sighed and gave a nod, "Alright, and don't worry, you're not in trouble, okay? I just want to talk to you.."

They soon headed out of the room with Snowy, while the other just looked confused on what Golly was doing and were only told that if Ash returns before them, to say that Golly was spending some quality time with the two. Pikachu and Golly's Dusknoir also wanted to go with them, so with Lillie's consent they joined. Once they get to a sky blue bench, Golly sighed and asked the three small Pokémon to sit with her on the bench, while Dusknoir floated behind them. "Lillie, we need to talk, I've noticed a drastic change in attitude from you, like a lack of emotion one."

"What?" Lillie whined, "I-I thought you said I wasn't in trouble...?"

"You are not, I wasn't lying when I said you were not in trouble." Golly sighed, "I know the pain you must be going through...it's about your family, isn't it?" Lillie looked at Golly as she continued on, "Trenor and Mark, when they tried to make you distanced from your family, you were heartbroken."

Lillie looked down, and started to sob, her eyes filling with tears, as she whimpered, "It hurts...I haven't even been able to do as much as look at Mom, Dad, their Pokémon, Magearna, or even Gladion and his Pokémon in so long, let alone feel their love, I know you guys do not want me to be near them for risk of exposing Ash, but I can't let go of them, I spent so much time mostly being raised by Hobbes and the others at the mansion, and thanks to Ash, Pikachu, and Snowy entering my life, I was eventually able to bring my family back together. Then, the first moment I get to even look at them in over a decade, I'm simply told that...that..."

"That your bonds with them and every bit of work you had put into getting your family back together once more meant nothing just because they think Ash kidnapped and murdered you, making you struggle to even feel any compassion from them, I know the feeling, I had to endure that for years!" Golly explained, as Lillie's ears dropped down all the way as she looked at the floor, as Golly petted her and continued, "I want to help you, Lillie, I care about you, you're like a sister to me, but please, let me help you, I can't help you if you don't allow me to. I know it's difficult for you, but you have to trust me, please." Lillie looked around with her eyes starting to tear up now before giving Golly a weak hug. Lillie then started crying after going into her Vaporeon form, while Golly, Dusknoir, Snowy, and Pikachu were trying to comfort her.

"I miss my human family, I wouldn't abandon you guys, but I at least want to feel their loving compassion at least one last time, but then, then..." Lillie sobbed, as Golly kept petting the former human's head.

"Lillie, I know how much it hurts to feel like nothing you did with your family matters, I don't think I would have recovered if not for Dusknoir here." Golly sighed as he petted her Dusknoir, "But still, I promise that I will do whatever I can to help you."

Lillie's eyes opened up, as Golly felt this dark aura around Lillie start to weaken a bit, and Lillie looked up at Golly, smiling while tears was in her eyes.

"Thank you, Golly, that means so much to me!" Both of them started hugging, and then Pikachu, Snowy, and even Dusknoir joined in on the hug! Afterwards, Lillie seemed a bit curious, "Say Golly, there's something I wanted to ask you for a long time, if that's alright." Golly tiled her head, but her smile remained unfazed.

"Sure, ask away Lillie!" Golly giggled, as Lillie seemed a bit embarrassed, but she decided to ask anyways.

"Is it weird that I consider you and the others like family to me?" Lillie wondered, as Golly paused for a moment, but quickly regained her composure and put Lillie on her shoulder.

"Not at all, like Ash said all those years ago, you're one of us now Lillie!" Golly laughed, as the other four quickly put on large smiles, "Now, how about we go congratulate Ash on his win against Gladion?"

"I'd love that idea, let's go!" Lillie exclaimed.

"Yeah, let's go tell him congrats!" Pikachu exclaimed, as Snowy smirked, "Oh? Snowy?"

"Race you all!" Snowy rushed off to get a head start, as Lillie laughed and turned into her Jolteon form.

"We'll see who gets there first, you silly girl!" Lillie laughed, as she rushed after Snowy, and Pikachu and Golly grinned at each other before rushing after them. Dusknoir playfully sighed and went into her Pokéball.

"No fair, you two got a head start!" Golly laughed as the four quickly raced back to the VIP room. Eventually, Pikachu managed to beat all of them despite starting last, Snowy was second after 2 seconds, Golly was third but was around 5 seconds after Snowy. Lillie however was around 50 seconds behind Golly despite being in Jolteon form. After she got the door, they went inside, and Ash had also returned and was playing with Chase and Sarah.

"Oh, hey you guys, Mom told me you went on a walk, how did it go?" Ash asked the four, as Golly gave a thumbs up, "Good? That's nice, maybe sometime we should all go on a walk together now that I think about it, get some exercise, how does that sound?"

"Sounds like a good plan!" Pikachu chuckled as he went over to Ash and the kids and sat next to them with a grin on his face, Lillie smiled slightly as she just decided to watch the other matches happening.