Ash was coming back home to Pallet Town with his partner Pikachu who was very happy and cheerful after both of them had managed to defeat Leon and his Charizard in the finals of the World Coronation Series' Masters 8 Finals! His friends had gone to Pallet Town to celebrate at Oak's lab, and Goh and Chloe along with Goh's Galar Starters, and Chloe's Eevee also decided to attend as well when going with Ash. When they arrived, most of Ash's old friends, along with Gladion and Professor Oak, for some reason, were there. The only ones missing were Serena and Lillie.
"Hey guys!" Ash greeted them, "You guys doing well?"
"Ash, we need to talk to you..." Brock sighed while putting on a fake smile, causing Ash to be confused.
"Sure? What's the issue?" Ash wondered as Misty stepped up.
"Oh you know why!" Misty shouted, "It's time you gave up on your dream!" Ash, Pikachu, along with their friends from Vermilion were shocked by this outburst!
"Wait, what?!" Ash gasped, "Guys what's the matter?!"
"For starters you've dragged us along for dangerous adventures!" Brock stated, "And you failed to beat 6 of 8 leagues, one you didn't participate in, and one was the first!"
"Yeah, it's clear that you couldn't have beaten Leon fairly, you drugged your Pokemon!!" Dawn exclaimed, making Ash offended.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Ash shouted, "I won fair and square!"
"Yes you did, and your stupid idea has left a sour taste in my mouth!" Cilan said, making everyone confused.
"You kept causing my machines to blow up!" Clemont shouted.
"And you've caused so many problems in Alola as well!" Kiawe exclaimed, as Mallow, Lana, and Sophecles nodded.
"And I can't believe my own sister, let such a stupid person into our house as well!" Gladion shouted, which caused Ash to feel hurt and angry.
"EXCUSE ME?!" Iris shouted, "Why are you being so cruel?! He won fair and square!"
"Yeah!" Max and Bonnie shouted together along with Goh and Chloe standing up with Ash.
"You guys really think I'll give up? NEVER! I'll never give up until it's over!" Ash shouted, "Professor, you don't agree with them right?"
"Well I'm afraid you'd say this and continue, which is why we have a back-up plan." Oak stated.
"Back up plan?" Goh wondered as they saw Gladion grab a Pokeball with a Snowflake symbol on it, and Z-Ring, but not just any Z-Ring, the one his father had before vanishing, or the one Lillie used, "A Z-Ring?" Goh and the others were confused, but Ash quickly realized who the item belonged to.
"Lillie's Z-Ring?!" Ash gasped, now remembering that Lillie wasn't present, "What did you guys do with Lillie?!" His outburst caused Snowy to rush out of the forest with and take it towards Ash as the traitors smirked.
"Well, originally we WERE going to have her help us confront you as well, but no matter what we did, even Faba's Hypno using Hypnosis on her, wasn't enough to make her say harsh things about you, so we decided to take things into our own hands." Kiawe stated, "Let's show them!" Professor Oak and Gladion went into the lab and brought out Ash's precious blonde friend, who was close to fainting.
"Wha-LILLIE!!!" Ash shouted, he rushed to Lillie's aid as Gladion threw her at the ground, as Ash got to her, he realized several bruises on her arms, legs and head, and possibly some broken bones. Whatever they did was very painful to be through, "Oh no, what in the world did they do to you Lillie?!" Lillie looked at Ash with a weak smile as unknown to them, Gladion put his right hand into a snapping placement.
"A-Ash..." Lillie stuttered in pain, "If I don't make it, promise you'll keep Snowy safe...please?"
"Ash we might want to leave now!" Goh shouted, suggesing to leave as Ash sighed.
"I am not leaving you with these terrible people Lillie, we're bringing you with us out of this pla-"
*BANG*
Two days later, Ash woke up in a bed with Pikachu on his stomach, sleeping soundly as if nothing has happened. At first, Ash was hoping all of that was a dream, but he looked around and the room was different, along with the sunlight directly coming into his bedroom, and noticed Snowy sitting on the floor, curled into a small white fluffy ball, made him realize everything he saw was true.
"Hey Pikachu, Snowy..." Ash sighed, "I'm glad to see you guys are okay, where's everyone else?"
"Morning Ash," Ash saw a figure with brown hair enter; his mother Delia, "You were out for a while."
"Mom!" Ash exclaimed, "You're okay!! Wait, are the others alright too?!" Ash tried to get up but we felt pain in his chest.
"Well the others are okay..." Delia sighed, "Except for one..." Ash first sighed in relief until he realized someone wasn't okay.
"What?!" Ash gasped, "Who's hurt mom?!"
"I'll show you later, but first I need to show you something sweetie." Delia sighed as she glowed brightly and transformed, when the light faded, there was a quadruped Pokemon known as Arceus.
"Mom!?" Ash gasped, "You're Arceus?! WHAT?!"
"Nani?!" Pikachu and Snowy gasped as Ash looked at them in shock.
"Yes, guys, I'm Arceus, which means Ash is too." Delia explained, "I just had his powers returned, so he can transform into Arceus and back, use moves, and understand Pokemon. You can still be a trainer though as well if you want!"
"Okay, good to know!" Ash sighed , remembering what his mother said, "So, who's not fine?" Delia looked down and told them to follow her, which they did until they went to this lab room, with multiple scientist men near a table trying to call out something from under there.
"See Ash, remember how bad Lillie looked during the betrayal?" Delia sighed as Ash nodded with worry, "Well, Mew was starting to teleport you guys out of there, Gladion, and the others, fires Pokemon attacks at all of you guys, while most of you made it out okay, Lillie was the closest to the blast, and her body was brutally burned, so highly burned that we couldn't save her without, transforming her..." Ash, Pikachu, and Snowy all realized what this meant and gasped in horror, as Delia sighed and unlocked the door for Ash to enter.
"Lillie? Are you okay!?" Ash shouted as the scientists noticed him and moved out of his way as Ash saw an Eevee with a heart shaped tail, and her former hair style in Z-Power form hiding under the table, with tears in her eyes, "Lillie...it's okay, you know I could never hurt you, it's me, Ash."
The Eevee which is Lillie whimpers and wants to hide the fact that she's sobbing from them like she did something wrong. The three just sighed and tried to calm her down.
"Lillie, it's okay, you're safe now..." Ash said, as Lillie looked at Ash, and said something that made Ash realize something was wrong.
"Please I'm sorry...I couldn't do anything..." Lillie whimpered out.
"Lillie... what are you talking bout?" Ash gasped as he didn't understand what was going on, he turned to her mother with a desperate tone, "Mom? What happened?"
"It's better to see it rather than explain it." Delia said and she shows the video.
Earlier, Snowy ran off with her Pokéball, leaving Lillie alone to face the wrath of the traitors.
"You know, I think it's time to show this poor excuse for a trainer who's boss." May mocked, as Lillie was unable to fight back, as Professor Oak just looked down and was unable to fight back, truth to be told, Ash was horrified by the result of that. The traitors even said that if it wasn't for the fact she had fame and position, Ash would discard of her the moment he had the chance due to always dragging him into stuff. Which explains why Lillie was terrified: She thinks she hurt Ash, and is worried that due to being an Arceus, he'd make her life a permanent nightmare.
"Lillie, I am not going to hurt you, what they said to you is nothing but lies!" Ash cried, "You didn't drag me into anything, I chose to help you...come on, get out from hiding." Lillie sniffled and walked over to Ash as Delia explained that Lillie isn't just a normal Eevee, she has been gifted with the ability to temporarily turn into any Eeveelution, as she handed Ash her Pokéball, he let Lillie reunite with Snowy and went outside to see that he was in a castle.
"So you noticed?" Delia giggled, "This is the Sevestar Region, our kingdom." Ash learned that his mom was the Queen, and turns out the rest of his friends are asleep as it's still night, so Ash went to bed, with Pikachu, Snowy, and this time Lillie with him in the room. While Snowy and Pikachu curled next to each other, and Ash sleep on the bed, Lillie sat next to the window, looking at Ash with a slight smile.
"Thanks for caring for me, Ash..."