Operation: Aether (Aureliashipping Variant)

Chapter 12: A Rose for a Lillie!

The episode opens with Ash, Goh, and Chloe standing together on the boat, with Ash reflecting on his time in the Crown Tundra, thinking about all the awesome things he's done and experienced with his friends, his Pokémon, and... his dear Lillie

Pikachu excitingly nuzzles Ash's face and cuddles him, smothering him with affection, causing him to laugh

"You're really excited to go back to Alola, huh?", Ash says

"Pika-Pi!", Pikachu exclaims, with his typical happy face

"Yeah, me too", Ash says, "it'll be great to have the gang back together!"

Ash looks at his friends, Goh and Chloe, seeing they both have a proud and enthusiastic look on their faces

"Our trip to the Crown Tundra was so awesome!", Ash exclaims, "We battled..."

"And caught...", Goh interjects with a matching tone

"Legendary Pokémon", the two boys finish together

"helped reunite Lillie and her family", Chloe interjects with another matching tone

"and now we're coming to reunite with everyone in Alola!", Ash finishes

The trio begin to laugh, as all three of them are excited by this

Chloe and Goh get done laughing, but notice that Ash is fixated on something

"Hey... Ash?", Goh asks, "What's up-"

"But y'know", Ash says, still fixated on something, "it's not like I can get too comfortable yet..."

Goh and Chloe look at Ash's direction, and they see Lillie looking from the front, looking into the distance

"cause there's still one last thing I want to do!", Ash says, as he decides to walk over to Lillie

Goh is confused by this, but Chloe grabs his hand and whispers something into his ear, causing him to blush a bit and jump

"Wow, really?", Goh asks

Chloe responds with a delightful nod, and the two look back at Ash and Lillie

"Huh", Goh says, "well... good for him!"

Ash walks up to Lillie, and sees that she is fixated on the view. Before talking, he looks at Lillie and sees her beautiful face, staring into the distance with the light of the great sea reflecting in her pretty emerald eyes. Ash couldn't help but stare for a moment

"Hey Lillie", Ash finally says, breaking Lillie's fixation, "how do you feel about finally coming back to Alola?"

"I'm so excited to be back home!", Lillie tells him, with a clear enthusiasm in her voice, "I can't wait to tell everyone about everything that happened on my journey!"

"The battles, the places, the new Pokémon I saw, and especially our battle against Spectrier!", Lillie continues

"Yeah, that was probably the craziest battle I've ever had!", Ash replies, with a slight laugh

The two then share a laugh. After being through laughing, Ash stared at Lillie again. He'd always enjoyed the look on her face when she was happy and joyful

"Hey... Lillie?", Ash says grabbing her attention

She must've noticed the look on his face when saying this, that he was slightly nervous about what he'd next say, but was still ready to say it

"Y-yeah?", Lillie asks, preparing for if she heard what she thought she'd hear

"I've been thinking...?", Ash begins to ask, "and I think it'd be so awesome if we-"