Mark is staring down the strange purple figures staring into his soul, the main figure looking similar to a young lady with long hair while the others looked like a Pikachu and Alolan Vulpix, but with most of the colors turned purple, as their eyes were glowing blood red. "What's the problem that you need to talk about, Ma'am? Who are you, anyways?" Mark questioned, as the eyes started right at him.
"First, call me Voidlie. Originally known as Lillie Aether in my home world." The main figure stated, as Mark was concerned yet curious.
"Voidlie? Wait what do you mean by your home world, and being Lillie Aether?" Mark questioned as Voidlie just stared coldly, "Listen, you better not try anything suspic-"
"Chill out, I'm here to help you with your... Lil-vee problem." Voidlie stated, "But first, I suppose you have some questions about me, is that right, Mark?"
"Uh, yeah...." Mark sighed, still feeling a bit uncomfortable about this lady knowing his name, "First, explain the whole 'home world' and being 'Lillie Aether' thing." Voidlie sighed, and started to explain her story.
"It started a time long forgotten, in my world, me, Pikachu and Snowy got kidnapped by Team Rocket after Ash returned to Kanto after beating Leon in the Masters Eight Tournament, they noticed we have special Auras, and used it to power a machine to turn the world against Ash. Eventually, Ash managed to find us after killing Giovanni, and he managed to free us, but while Pikachu and Snowy were forgiven easily, his attitude towards me, changed. As our classmates and my brother Gladion said that even I believed he was a cheater, when I didn't. So from that point on, our relationship was, to put it lightly, a bit rough."
"What? It can't be that bad, can it? I heard that Ash cared for you so much when he was in Alola. How bad could it be?" Mark questioned, a bit skeptical as Voidchu the Pikachu scoffed.
"I may be Ash's Pikachu, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let any of it slide!" Voidchu growled, "First, he had Arceus punish her by turning her into a Nihilego as her human form at that point only reminded him of the pain he went through, even though she did nothing wrong. Ash simply let it happen, and nobody on his side even bothered addressing her by anything other than 'Nihilego' after an entire month had passed!"
"What?! He...he wouldn't do that," Mark stood firm as he continued by whispering to them, "Ash is my brother, and he's one of the most caring living beings I've ever met, there's no way that's true!" This seemed to make something snap in Voidpix the Vulpix, formerly Snowy, as she used Iron Tail to smack him to the ground.
"Oh really? Did your Ash even try to defend Lillie being wrongfully transformed against her will?" Voidpix growled, "At least your Ash had the excuses of it was to save her and he was unconscious during it! Ours was fully aware of it, and didn't even bother sticking up for Lillie when Arceus was about to transform her, and just told Arceus to get it over quickly."
"H-how did you...?" Mark gasped as Voidlie's eyes glowed, seemingly shifting the area to Ash's bedroom at the castle with an illusion. Ash and Serena were sleeping in the bed, while Lillie-Vee was in a Pokémon bed on the dress. Pikachu, Sylveon, and Snowy were fast asleep in the floor, but Lillie-Vee was wide awake in the Poké-bed, staring at Ash and Serena, then Pikachu and Snowy, who were sleeping with Serena's Sylveon. She had her tail in front of her mouth while her ears were drooped down to the sides, as they heard the transformed girl mutter something that made Mark widen his eyes with shock.
"Oh, who am I kidding? I never had a chance to begin with..." Lillie sighed, as she curled up in the bed more, shedding tears.
"What...? Why is she crying?" Mark muttered, trying to figure out why his Lillie was crying, "I don't understand, why is she like that?"
"Heartbreak." Voidpix sighed, "She loved Ash, and wanted to confess at the party, only for the betrayal to happen, Serena then showed up and Lillie was starting to get really worried about her chances to be with Ash seemingly starting to fade away, unaware any chance was gone before she even met Serena. We first noticed her after focusing in meditation, and it was the first night she slept in her Eevee body, back then, we just wanted to warn her to not be so gullible towards Ash."
"For some context, without our knowledge, this time redo thing happened, and this time we got kidnapped and became, whatever you call our current state," Voidlie stated, acknowledging her current look, "we thought that Ash would come rescue us again, but this time, he never showed up, and we were I assume killed by the collapse of Team Rocket's base. Then another time reset happened, this time we recalled every single timeline prior, and we decided to just escape on our own, giving up on Ash learning to treat me nicer."
"Wow, and I thought being transformed from a human into a quadruped Pokémon against your will was harsh." Mark sighed, "If I had to pick being in my Lillie's situation or your situation, I'll probably picked the former..."
"Same," Voidlie sighed, "But enough of that, how do you view Lillie-Vee?" Mark had a stare from the Void Trio, as he was recalling a memory he had with Lillie.
Flashback, almost six years ago...
Mark was at Greeny Seaside with his Lucario, Snowy, and Lillie who was in her Vaporeon state, as the four were having a walk together. Mark was taking care of Lillie while Ash and Serena were at the hospital with Chase and Sarah who were newborn twins at the time. Things were going smoothly, when Lillie suddenly stopped in place, and began crying. Mark, Snowy, and Mark's Lucario quickly noticed and got to Lillie's side.
"Whoa, Lillie, what's the matter?! Are you okay?!" Mark exclaimed, putting a hand on her head, as she was using the Water Type move Bouncy Bubble while sobbing.
"I don't understand, why did they...they..." Lillie muttered, as Lucario turned to his trainer with a concerned look, and Mark pulled out an orange handkerchief to wipe Lillie's tears off.
"Calm down, what's bothering you, Lils?" Mark asked again, Lillie blushed in embarrassment from the nickname, but sighed while turning back into an Eevee.
"It's just...wh-...why did they not want to take me to see the babies in the hospital...?" Lillie whimpered, "They took Pikachu and Sylveon with...did I upset them...?" Mark looked at Snowy who was worried, as Mark was trying to figure out what to say next.
'Okay Mark, what you say next could drastically impact her thought process on how she thinks others view her as, so you have to be very careful with what you say...' Mark thought to himself very intensely, as he sighed and spoke, "To be honest, I'm not entirely sure, but don't get that wrong, I know for a fact that Ash didn't mean it like that. If I had to guess, it's probably because Ash and Serena didn't want to have too many being there so they can spend time with the twins. I'm sure he'll be excited to show you his children when he returns, Lillie."
"I know, but I really wanted to be by their side to give their support in person..." Lillie whimpered, as Snowy explained how Lillie tried so much to help when she could so that Serena could relax as much as she could, and was wanting to be by their side to give support, "I don't understand, did I...did I do something wrong?"
"What, are you crazy, Lillie?" Mark gasped, "Of course you didn't, after you spent so much effort to make it easier for them? No way they'd think you were misbehaving, if anything, they probably thought you deserved a break, and wanted you to finally have time to yourself after working so hard."
"Yeah, don't sell yourself short, Mom!" Snowy exclaimed as she nuzzled Lillie's neck, as Mark put his hand on the right side of Lillie's face.
"Lillie, I'll never know what's it like to be in your situation, you never deserved this fate," Mark sighed, as he decided to get personal with Lillie, "I'll be honest, at first, like Minami, I was confused why Ash let you sleep in his room instead of the castle yard with most of his Pokémon. Pikachu I understood because he was his main partner and small enough. Snowy as well for being small enough to not take up much space, and viewing him as a father figure as well. You though Lillie, I was judgmental as me and Minami viewed you as responsible for Ash almost getting killed. My main reason it was annoying to me was because...you mind if I explain more of my past?"
"Um, sure, Mark, go ahead..." Lillie sighed, as Mark started to explain.
"When I was taken to a five star hotel, I was essentially treated like garbage by the owner. He was an abusive, and made me do the worst possible jobs or else he'd end me, eventually when Ash got into the Masters 8, he attempted to dispose of me, only for Mom to save me from drowning in the ocean in a coffin." Mark explained, as Lillie was horrified of what he went through, "After that, I thought lowly of you at first, it just felt like another human being with a lot of wealth had taken advantage of me or the ones I care for..."
"Mark, I...I didn't know you felt that way..." Lillie stated, her ears drooping to the sides, "I get it though, after that trauma, it's fair on why you'd be pretty distasteful towards rich human beings..."
"But that doesn't change the fact I, in all honesty, didn't want to give you another chance until Ash chose to stick up for you when Minami snapped." Mark sighed, and lowered his head while still kneeling at Lillie's level, "What I'm trying to say is that, I'll never understand how you feel, in fact, none of my family ever will, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't act like your past life never happened." Mark gives Lillie a hug to comfort her more soon after.
Flashback ends...
"And from that point forward, I've tried to always help Lillie with anything, but I feel like I screwed up recently." Mark sighed, as the void trio nods.
"I'm glad you were able to form a connection with her, and gain her trust." Voidlie sighed, as she turned away, "Trust...something our Ash broke a very long time ago..." Mark sighed as Voidlie said that.
"Anyways, do you know what's happening to Lillie-vee?" Mark questioned, "You seem to know a lot of Aura related things." Voidchu nodded and started to explain more.
"It's Violet Depression, it's a disease that Aura users get when severely broken mentally that drains their life force, and can make them incredibly violent if out of control." Voidchu explained, shocking Mark, "Only creatures that have Aura powers in every alternate reality version of them can get it, so Ash, you and your siblings, the Sevestar Elite Four member Alice, our old selves, we could potentially all get it if we got too depressed or mentally broken."
"I see, is there anyway to cure this?" Mark wondered, concerned for his friend, "I'd hate to leave her like that, especially since it's mostly my fault."
"There's only two that we know of." Voidlie stated, sitting down next to Mark, "First, Violet Depression only exists in worlds with 18 different gems, each corresponding to a Pokémon type. They're called Infinity Gems. They each have special powers, for example, the Electric gem takes the DNA of two beings and makes a child around 3-7 years old appear out of thin air that is biologically the child of those two, there's also Rock Gem which is the Gem of Revival, it can bring anyone back from the dead with a new body, given that they either deserve a second chance and then accept it. Those are just two examples, and if you have all 18, there's two possibilities, first is you essentially get seven wishes from two loving beings being used as a source, if they have dark hearts though, the seven wishes will also kill them in the process."
(Note: In Sevestar Prince Darker Version, the main cast almost revive Delia in order to defeat a demon, twice, but she's not fully revived as Delia believes she doesn't deserve a second chance as she was an assassin.)
(Note: This is because of Sevestar Prince Darker Version almost bringing Delia back to defeat a demon, twice, but she doesn't get revived fully as she thinks she doesn't deserve a second chance after she murdered people.)
"What's the second possibility?" Mark wondered, as his Lucario nodded, "Please, we'll do anything to help Lillie."
"With a sacrifice, you can cure 1 to 9 people of Violet Depression." Voidchu sighed, "But it always requires a sacrifice of someone's life."
Mark is skeptical and questions, "Also, how do you know this?"
"We got it before, and one Team Rocket grunt that survived the fall of Team Rocket was unfortunately the one we used to cure it." Voidlie stated, making Mark a bit nervous, "We got it from all the pain that built up from Ash abandoning us, and for me getting neglected, so we got the Infinity Gems after kidnapping that Team Rocket grunt to cure ourselves." Mark then got up and hugged the trio.
"I'm sorry you were forced to endure that pain, Voidlie, Voidchu, and Voidpix." Mark sighed, "Nobody deserves to be abandoned like that, I don't want to try and sacrifice anyone just to cure her, so, do you think there's another way?"
Voidpix sat down, and lowered her head, "There's one other way, but it's almost impossible to do."
"Please, we'd be willing to do anything if it means we can help her." Mark begged, as Voidchu chose to explain what it is.
"The living being with it will have to find inner peace within themself and reach satisfaction or a peaceful acceptance." Voidchu explained, confusing Mark, "Okay, basically Lillie has to repair her broken bonds with your family and her human family. If I had to suggest, a good starting point would probably be on her birthday tomorrow."
"Okay that makes sense." Mark stated, "I guess we can try doing that to start, I also will have to discuss with Ash and Serena about the fact that Sarah is using Lillie as her personal dress-up doll probably traumatizing her."
"Yeah, that probably does it." Voidchu sighs, facepalming, "So anyways, you have any more questions?"
"Well, I'm probably gonna regret asking, but why didn't you at least try giving your world's Ash a second chance? I'm sure he wouldn't hold a grudge against you if you tried to talk it out." Mark wondered, only to see Voidlie, Voidchu, and Voidpix lower their heads, "What's wrong, was it something I said?"
"Mark, in worlds where Ash gets betrayed, it mostly fuels him into being many things." Voidchu sighed, as his left paw clenched into a fist, "A person who doesn't hold grudges, however? It's a miracle if he forgives someone who was threatened to betray him. A version of Ash who's willing to forgive everyone who's betrayed him? Not even worth considering that even potentially happening."
The void trio walks away, as Mark decides to go to his mother to discuss the new information he's collected.
Meanwhile, Trenor was with Minami, about to meet up with Goh, when suddenly, an Ultra Wormhole appeared right above them, and these two individuals with these suits came out, with a Lunala.
"Is this...Sevestar?" One of the figures questioned, as the two took off their helmet to reveal someone who startled Trenor and Minami.
A younger Ash Ketchum and Lillie Aether!
(UltimateGoomba: Boom, cliffhanger! Also, yes that last part is a reference to one of Ray's works, since I did a reference earlier, I figured I'd do something for his works.)