Ash's POV-
"Somethings off about Lillie." I thought to myself.
I hadn't noticed at first, but Lillie was unusually quiet today. She hadn't said a single word to me today, which was worrying.
The school day had gone by faster than I thought it was going to. Most everyone had filtered out of the classroom by the time I had finished packing my stuff up. The class had planned on getting together at Mallow's restaurant to hang out on Sunday.
I was heading to the door of the classroom, when I was stopped by Lillie.
"H-hey Ash." Lillie quietly muttered.
"Hey Lillie, how are you doing today?" I asked her.
"I'm good, thank you for asking." She responded.
I nodded and smiled at her. "No problem Lillie."
We stood there in awkward silence for a few seconds, while I tried thinking of how to continue the conversation.
"Hey Ash...did you...want to hang out today, I-if you don't have anything going." She stammered.
I chuckled a bit before nodding. "Yeah sure Lillie, I don't have anything going today." I said.
"Do you mind if we stop by Kukui's place, I want to let him know that I'm not gonna be back till later." I asked her.
Lillie shook her head. "Not at all Ash, go ahead and do what you need to." She told me.
I smiled at her and put my backpack on. "Well then let's get going." I said as I walked out the door and turned back to her, waiting for her to follow me.
Lillie followed me out the door of the room and through the school. Once outside, we set off in the direction of professor Kukui's home.
It was pretty hot outside, though a balmy breeze made it a livable warm, which in turn made the walk much more bearable.
I sighed and smiled to myself. "You know Lillie, it's weather like this that I love, it's not too hot outside, and it's not to cold outside." I said.
I glanced over at Lillie and saw her nod. "This weather is amazing, especially when most of the time it's really warm out." She said.
"Yeah.." I said, "so Lillie, I gotta ask...why don't you have a Pokemon of your own?" I asked her.
Lillie grimaced and looked down at the path we were walking on, almost like she was studying every single little rock on the path.
"If you...don't wanna talk about it then that's ok, I'm sorry I asked." I told her.
She looked back at me with a saddend expression and nodded. "Sorry Ash...It's just something I don't like talking about" Lillie quietly muttered.
I nodded in understanding. "That's fine Lillie, no need to tell me if you don't want to." I told her.
We continued walking down the path in relative silence.
"I wondered what could of happened to her Pokemon?" I pondered.
I looked over at Lillie and saw her looking out over the edge of the path and across the city.
"So Lillie, what did you wanna do after we leave professor Kukui's place?" I asked her.
I really had no idea as to what she might have had planned for the day.
Lillie looked back at me and smiled slightly. "Well...I have a few ideas as to what we could do." She responded.
"What might those ideas be?" I questioned.
Lillie quietly laughed. "Well that's a surprise." She answered.
I sighed and nodded. "Fine." I replied before continuing the walk back to professor Kukui's house.
Before I knew it, we had reached Kukui's home, and my temporary housing. I walked up to the door and was about to knock, when I realized that Lillie wasn't beside me anymore. I turned back and found Lillie standing at the bottom of the steps.
"Uh...Lillie, what are you doing?" I asked her.
"O-oh, I-I was gonna wait outside, I don't want to intrude." She responded.
I chuckled and shook my head. "I'm sure Kukui would appreciate the thought, but at the same time, I don't think he'll mind if you come inside for a minute to get out of the heat." I told her.
Lillie stared at me for a few seconds, before walking up the stairs and standing next to me. "A-are you sure he won't mind?" She asked me.
"I'm sure he won't." I answered. I reached over and patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, ok?" I told her.
Lillie nodded and looked past me to the door in front of us.
I turned back to the door and knocked on it, I waited about ten seconds before opening the door and walking in, Lillie tentatively followed me inside.
"Professor?" I said a loud, hoping he'd respond while I looked around the first floor for him.
I heard a shout from down in the basement. Though I couldn't quiet make out what was said.
I turned back to Lillie and smiled. "I think he's in the basement, if you want, you can wait up here for a couple of minutes." I told her.
She nodded and looked around the open living room. "Would it be ok if I sat down on the couch?" She asked me.
"Yeah of course Lillie." I answered.
I looked at Pikachu, who had jumped off my shoulder as soon as I had walked into the home. I kneeled down and motioned for Pikachu to come over to me.
Pikachu ran over to me and looked up at me. "Hey buddy, can you go and keep Lillie company while I go talk to Kukui?" I asked.
Pikachu nodded, before turning and running over to Lillie, he jumped onto her lap and laid down. Lillie looked over at me in surprise and curiosity.
I smiled at her. "I thought Pikachu could keep you some company while I went downstairs." I told her.
Lillie smiled and nodded. "Thank you." She replied, the look of surprise slowly being replaced with one of contentedness and enjoyment.
I nodded and headed downstairs to the basement.
I was about to step off onto the ground floor, when numerous sharp rocks came speeding past me, lodging themselves into the wall with a loud crash.
"What the Hell!" I shouted in surprise. My balance leaving me as I fell backwards onto the stairs.
I gave my heart a couple of seconds to recover, before getting up and peering around the corner, finding professor Kukui with Rockruff.
"Professor, what the hell? You almost got me with those!" I shouted.
Kukui sheepishly smiled at me. "Sorry about that Ash, are you ok?" He asked.
I sighed and stepped onto the floor of the basement. "Yeah, I'm ok, just... don't do that in front of the stairs next time." I said to him.
Kukui chuckled and nodded. "Fair enough. So what did you need Ash?" He asked.
"Well, I came home to let you know that me and Lillie were going to be hanging out in town today, so I didn't want you to worry about me." I said to him.
Kukui smiled. "Alright, you two have fun, but be home by eight at the latest, you're still my responsibility while you're living here." He told me.
I nodded. "Alright, I will. Thanks." I responded.
"Look's like I might have a father figure of sorts." I chuckled as I thought about the concept.
I headed back upstairs to the main floor, finding Lillie still sitting on the couch, with a sleeping Pikachu on her lap. "Well, ready to go Lillie?" I asked.
Lillie looked up at me and nodded. "I'm ready to go." She answered.
Lillie picked Pikachu up and laid him down on the spot she was sitting on. She went and grabbed her things, before walking to the door. I picked up my backpack and brought it with me, just incase I needed to carry anything with me.
We headed out the door and started walking down the road to the city. I looked over at Lillie and smiled. "So what do you wanna do once we get into the city?" I asked her.
Lillie leaned her head side to side. "Hmm...do you wanna go and grab something to eat first? Maybe explore the city a bit." She said to me.
My eye's lit up at the word eat. "That sounds like a great idea." I replied.
I looked over at Lillie and smirked. "Think you could keep up with me in a race?" I asked.
Lillie laughed and shook her head. "There's no way I could keep up with you." She responded.
I chuckled and shook my head. "Hey, you never know." I said.
Lillie suddenly bolted down the pathway, I stood there for a few seconds, stunned. "H-Hey, that's not fair!" I shouted as I ran after her.
I could hear her laughing as she ran down the path, with me in pursuit.
We reached the city a lot sooner than I thought we would of, though, we were now exhausted.
I had reached the city first, with Lillie only a little ways behind me. I was trying to catch my breath when she caught up to me. "Nice job Lillie, you managed to keep up fairly well." I said to her.
Lillie nodded while she slightly wheezed. "T-th...thanks..." Lillie replied.
"Oh jeez." she said as she walked over to a nearby bench and sat down.
I chuckled and followed suit. "You gonna be ok Lillie?" I asked her.
She nodded. "Y-yeah, just gotta catch my breath." She answered.
I nodded and looked around the plaza we were in. "Hey Lillie, do you wanna stop by the restaurant Mallow works at?" I asked her.
Lillie turned and looked at me curiously. "I-I guess, do you know where it is?" She asked.
"Yeah I do, me and the others were planning on meeting there this Sunday, so she told us where it was ahead of time." I explained.
Lillie sat there for a few moments, before looking at me. "Yeah sure, why not." She responded.
"Alright then, let's get going." I said.
I stood up and stretched for a moment, before setting off in the direction of where Mallow's restaurant was.
Lillie's POV-
It didn't take long for Ash and I to reach the restaurant. The place was fairly busy when we got there.
"Why does it have to be busy, now of all times." I thought to myself.
Ash led the way inside and to the counter that was at the other end of the room. A green haired girl was standing behind the counter and working. Upon our approach, she raised her head to look at us, her green eye's widening upon seeing us.
"Ash, Lillie? What are you two doing here?" She asked in surprise.
I quietly giggled at this.
"Me and Lillie were hanging out today, so we were going to stop by and grab something to eat. I hope that's ok?" Ash replied.
Mallow nodded. "Of course it is. If you two could just follow me, I can get you seated." She said.
Ash nodded and followed Mallow as she led us to one of the tables that was beside the wall.
Mallow stopped me before I could sit down, she leaned in and whispered to me. "It's good to see you out and about Lillie." She said with a smile.
I blushed in mild embarrassment. "Th-thanks." I quietly replied.
Mallow nodded before letting me sit down.
"So, what would you two like to drink?" She asked us.
"Um...I think water would be fine." I replied.
"I'll have the same." Ash said.
Mallow nodded. "Alright then, I'll be back in a couple seconds with your water. In the meantime, you two can decide on what to eat." Mallow told us, before turning and walking back to the counter.
I looked up at Ash and then back down at the menu. "Should we get something small that we could take with us?" I asked.
Ash looked back at me and nodded. "Yeah that sounds like a good idea. How about a couple of Malasadas to go?" He asked.
"Yeah, that sounds good." I replied.
Almost as soon as I had finished talking, Mallow appeared with our drinks. She set them down in front of us, a smile on her face as she did. "So, what can I get the two of you to eat?" She asked.
I glanced up at Ash, hoping that he would answer her.
"Do you think we could get a couple Malasadas to go?" He asked.
Mallow nodded. "Of course you can. Give me ten minutes and I'll be back with your food." She answered.
Ash nodded and turned back to me as Mallow left. "So where should we go after this?" He asked.
I looked around the room for a few seconds, contemplating my answer. "Well.. like I said before, we could go and explore the city, its just a matter of figuring out where to start." I answered.
"Fair enough...maybe we should start from the market and go from there." He suggested.
"Yeah that sounds like a good idea." I answered.
Before I knew it Mallow was returning with our Malasadas, carry out bag and all. She set it down on the table between Ash and I. "There you two go, there's four Malasadas in there." She told us.
Ash had started pulling out his wallet from his pocket, while I looked up at Mallow. "H-How much is it going to be?" I slightly stammered.
Mallow looked down at me and smiled. "It's on the house." She replied.
I looked back in surprise. "A-are you sure?" I asked her.
Mallow nodded. "Well, for the most part, all you have to do is show up here on Sunday for the get together." Mallow said with a slight smirk.
"Maybe....I can try giving the others.....a chance." I thought.
I stared at Mallow for a few moments, before nodding. "Yeah....I'll go." I quietly replied.
Mallow smiled at me. "Awesome, I can't wait to see you there Lillie. I promise, you'll have an amazing time." She said before turning and darting back to the counter.
I looked at Ash and stood up. "Ready to go Ash?" I asked.
"Of course." He replied, a slight smirk present on his face as he spoke.
I let out a quiet laugh while leading the way out of the restaurant. I waited for Ash once I was outside.
I glanced over at Ash and smiled. "Alright, let's head back into the city." I said.
"Would you like to lead the way Lillie?" He asked me.
I blushed a bit out of embarrassment, before turning back to Ash. "You know...I would..but I don't really know my way around the city, or how to get to the market." I answered with a sheepish smile.
"How do you not know where the market is?" Ash asked.
"I'm....not really allo-...able to get out and walk around town as often as I'd like." I stammered, hoping he'd buy the lie.
Ash stared at me for a few seconds, before shrugging. "Eh, fair enough." He said.
Ash took the lead and started walking down the path to the city. I let out a quiet sigh of relief before following him. "Thank Arceus he bought it.." I thought to myself.
Ash's POV-
"Well that was odd." I thought to myself as I led the way into the city.
It only took us a few minutes to find the way to the market. Lillie and I looked around a bit as we tried deciding which way to go.
"So this is what the markets like." Lillie muttered.
I glanced over at her and smiled. "Yeah, it's kinda interesting, seeing so many people gathered in one place." I said.
Lillie nodded. "Yeah, I guess so." She said.
"Wanna start at the shopping district and see where we go from there?" I questioned.
Lillie shrugged slightly. "I don't see why not." She answered.
"Well then lets get going." I said.
I led the way through the market, making sure to stay close to Lillie so we didn't get separated.
We eventually got out of the market, though it did take a bit longer than I wanted it to. That was made up for by the fact that the shopping district was a quick three minute walk from the market.
I cast my head from side to side, looking at each shop as we passed them. It only took a couple of minutes for me to find a store I wanted to go in.
"Hey Lillie, you wanna head in there and look around for a couple minutes?" I asked.
I pointed to the shop in question, a clothing store that I had seen before when I was out on errands for Kukui.
Lillie looked from me to the shop and back again. "A clothes store?" She questioned.
I nodded. "Yeah, If i'm gonna be staying here for a while, then i'm gonna need a bit more than what I brought with me." I replied with a chuckle.
"But only if you want to, I can always come back here on a different day." I continued.
Lillie shook her head. "If it's alright with you, I'd rather not today, sorry." She said.
"No need to apologize Lillie." I said as I looked over at her.
When I looked over at her, I noticed she was staring off into the distance, like something had caught her eye.
"Hey Lillie, you ok?" I asked her.
She didn't respond when she started running in the direction she was previously looking at.
"Hey, wait up Lillie!" I shouted as I started running after her.
"What the hell is she running for?" I questioned.
Lillie's POV-
"It was him, I know it. There's no one else that looks like him." I told myself as I ran down the pathway to where I last saw him.
"I can't let him get away, not again, not after what he did." I thought.
I could hear Ash shouting behind me, telling me to slow down and stop running, but I couldn't. I couldn't let Gladion escape.
I turned the corner and kept running down the street, hell bent on catching my brother.
I saw his blonde hair in the distance. "Gladion!" I shouted, hoping that he heard me.
Instead, I saw him go around the corner and down into an alleyway.
"Dammit, why can't I catch him?" I questioned.
I ran around the corner that Gladion had took, only to come face to face with a dead end.
"No, no, no, where'd he go?" I muttered as I looked around the alley way.
I turned around when I heard footsteps behind me, seeing Ash walking towards me.
"Lillie. What the hell?" He said, "Why did you go running off like that?" He asked me.
I looked around the dead end once more. "I...I saw someone I knew....Someone who was dear to me, and left not that long ago.." I quietly answered.
"Look at that....abandoned once again." I thought to myself.
"Was this person your boyfriend or something?" Ash asked.
I looked up at him and shook my head. "No. family member actually." I replied.
I sighed and started walking back towards the entrance of the alleyway. "Sorry about that Ash." I quietly spoke as I passed him.
Ash shook his head. "No need to apologize, just, don't go sprinting off like that, ok?" He responded.
I glanced back at him and smiled slightly. "Sure Ash." I said, "Now let's go and find something to do." I continued.
Ash smiled and nodded his head. "Sounds good to me." He said.
Ash's POV-
The rest of the day had passed without incident, which I was thankful for. We had visited a few shops while we were in the city, though for the most part, we just walked around and talked about whatever had come to mind. It was really enjoyable.
I looked at the Pokegear that I had to check the time. The clock on it read 7:17 pm.
"Damn, time passed a lot quicker than I thought it was going to." I thought to myself.
Lillie and I were sitting on a bench in the plaza of the city, just enjoying the breeze and hanging out.
I turned to Lillie and noticed the smile she had on her face, and for some reason, that smile made my heart beat a little bit faster.
"Hey Lillie, It's getting close to 7:20. We should probably start heading back." I said.
The smile on Lillie's face quickly faded. "D-do w-we have to end the day right now, I-I don't really wanna go home just yet." She replied.
"Why does she sound...scared?" I questioned.
"Well, Kukui said he wanted me home by eight pm at the latest, so I don't want to make him worried." I said.
"I can walk you home." I continued.
The change was almost immediate, as soon as I spoke the word 'Home.' Lillie started shaking.
"Lillie, what's wrong?" I asked her.
I had an idea of what was going on, but I wasn't sure just yet.
"I...I-I..." Lillie glanced over at me, a look of fear present on her face as she did. She turned her head and began looking down at the ground. "I'm.....scared to go home.." She quietly answered.
"Why are you scared to go home?" I asked.
Lillie started shaking a bit more. "B-because....There's nothing good there....It's just hell there, and I can barely stand it." She answered.
"That explains quiet a bit actually." I thought to myself.
I looked around the area we were in, before looking back to Lillie, making up my mind on what I had to do for her.
I stood up and held my hand out to Lillie. "Come on Lillie, we're going." I told her.
She looked up at me. "W-Where are we going?" She questioned.
"We're going home." I told her.
Lillie looked like she was on the verge of tears. "A-Ash, please, I don't want to go home right now." She replied.
I chuckled and shook my head. "I never said I was taking you back to your home." I said, "Can you trust me?" I asked her.
She looked at me and then to my hand, she slowly reached out and rested her hand on mine. The contact making my cheeks flush a little.
"I...I trust you Ash." She whispered, just loud enough for me to hear.
I smiled and pulled her up to her feet. "Good, now let's get going." I told her.
I started leading the way through the plaza and to the road that led out of the city and back to Kukui's home.
Fifteen minutes had passed before we reached the outskirts of the city.
"Hey, Ash?" I heard Lillie ask.
I turned and looked at Lillie. "What's up Lillie?" I replied.
"You're still holding my hand." She said.
I looked down at my hand, seeing that I still had a hold of hers. My cheeks lit up with a crimson blush as I quickly let go. "S-sorry about that Lillie." I replied.
Lillie let out a quiet laugh. "It's ok Ash." Lillie said.
"Thank you..for helping me, and hanging out with me today." Lillie continued.
I smiled at her and nodded. "You're welcome." I said, "I'm glad that we could hang out today."
"Me too." She replied.
We started off out of the city and towards Kukui's home. The sun had started slowly descending down under the horizon, letting the night come forth.
We eventually made it to Kukui's house after a couple more minutes of walking. I knocked on the door and waited a couple of seconds. Surprisingly, it opened on its own.
Kukui was standing on the other side of the doorway. "Ah glad to see you're back Ash." He said, before noticing Lillie. "Lillie, what are you doing here?" He asked.
"I uh, actually needed to talk to you about that professor." I responded.
Professor Kukui looked at Lillie and then me. "Alright, come on in." Kukui said as he stepped aside to let us in.
I led the way inside with Lillie following close behind. I turned to her and smiled. "You can go and sit on the couch for now, ok?" I said.
Lillie nodded and walked over to the couch, taking a seat and looking around the room.
I turned to professor Kukui and glanced at the stairs leading to the basement. "Can we go and talk about this downstairs?" I asked.
"Yeah, let's go." He responded before walking down the stairs and into the basement.
I glanced back at Lillie one more time, before I descended the steps into the basement.
I found Kukui sitting in his normal work chair when I got into the basement. "So, what's going on with Lillie?" Kukui asked.
I leaned against the wall beside Kukui's work desk. "Lillie's scared to go home. When it was time for us to go home, she started shaking, badly. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me that she was scared to go home." I explained.
Kukui nodded and leaned back in his work chair. "Do you have any idea as to why she's afraid to go home?" He asked.
I shook my head. "No, but I can sorta tell that something's going on, something that shouldn't be going on." I replied.
"I'm assuming you offered her to stay here for the night?" Kukui questioned.
I nodded. "Yeah, sorry, it was the only thing I could think of at the moment." I said.
"I don't have a problem letting her stay for the night, but please let me know ahead of time if you do this again." Kukui said.
"Of course, and thank you professor Kukui." I said.
"Of course, I guess you better go and let Lillie know what's going on." He told me.
"Oh, and if she's going to be staying more than one night, then make sure you go and grab some of her things from her home." Kukui continued.
"Gotcha, thanks again professor." I replied, before heading upstairs and back to where Lillie was sitting.
I sat down on the couch next to Lillie. "Well, I got some good news Lillie." I said.
Lillie looked over at me. "What did he say?" She questioned.
"Well, you're able to stay the night." I answered.
Before I could say anything else, Lillie tackled me, throwing her arms around me and hugging me. "Thank you Ash, really, thank you for doing this for me." Lillie muttered.
I sat there in slight shock for a couple seconds, before finally wrapping my arms around her and hugging back. "Anytime Lillie." I responded.
We stayed like that for what seemed like a while, but was in reality, only about ten seconds. We pulled away from each other, I looked away from her and let out a little cough, trying to hide the fact that I was blushing .
"Well I'll show you where you'll be sleeping tonight." I said as I stood up and walked over to the ladder that led to a raised part of the room. I climbed the ladder and looked back over the railing and down at Lillie.
"Well, come on Lillie." I smiled as I spoke.
"Alright I'm coming." She replied.
Lillie walked over to the ladder and slowly climbed up it.
"This is the loft." I said, "This is where I usually sleep." I pointed to a couch by the wall that had a blanket on it.
Lillie looked around the loft and then sat down on the couch with the blanket. "So..where are you going to sleep Ash?" She questioned.
"I'll probably sleep on the couch down on the first floor." I answered.
"Are you ok with that?" She asked with a slightly worried tone.
I nodded. "Of course, don't worry about it." I replied with a smile.
In actuality, I hated the first floor couch, especially for sleeping. Though she didn't need to know that.
"Well, I'm gonna go and get ready for bed." I said.
"Alright Ash." Lillie replied as she set her bag down beside the couch.
I climbed down the ladder after grabbing a change of clothes from my dresser on the loft.
Ten minutes later and I was laying down on the couch over by the TV. "Hey Lillie? Is there anything that you need before I go to sleep?" I asked.
"I think I'm good, but thank you Ash, have a goodnight." She responded.
"Have a goodnight Lillie, see you in the morning." I said as I closed my eyes.
"Hopefully everything goes well these next couple of days." I thought before drifting off to sleep.
A/N
This is probably the longest chapter I've written thus far.
I want to thank everyone who's been reading my stories, voting, commenting, and giving it as many views as it's gotten, I really appreciate it.
On that note, I want all of you to go and check out my friend @CaitlynRogers4. She writes some really good things, and I advise all of you to go and check it out.
As well as my friend @Stelar0. Who makes really good poems and Haiku's. Check out both of them and support them like you did me.
As always, follow, comment and favorite, and I'll see all of you in the next chapter.
-Pearlshipper332