(A/N: Hey everyone! A little note from the Author to this beginning before you get to the chapter yourself.
The main characters in this chapter are not Ash and Serena, but the chapter focuses on Lillie and Nebby.
This is because I wrote a few chapters ago that Ash and Serena left Nebby in the care of the Lillie's as they embarked on their adventure. So this chapter tells you what happened to Lillie and Nebby during that time.
But I'll finish the explanations now and you'll get to the chapter yourself :)
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"Are you sure you can handle Nebby, Lillie?" Serena asked, a little worried, watching Nebby hovering, giggling around Lillie in the hallway of the girl's mansion. "Or do we leave him to the professors after all, like the other Pokemon?"
"Nah, don't worry Serena, they'll be fine," Ash said, taking the girl's reassuring hand. "Besides, professors have just enough work in other Pokemon."
Serena was still a little insecure. She still remembered Team Rocket's kidnapping attempt on the beach and they could very well do it again. "Yeah, but you can't even touch Nebby..." she began, but Lillie smiled reassuringly at her.
"Ash is right, Serena, we'll be fine," she said, then showed a white sports bag-like bag with a red Pokeball pattern on her shoulder. "And I have this bag so I can carry Nebby."
"You heard it, Serena," Ash said and Serena sighed. "They're absolutely fine, so we can leave. Come on, Pikachu!"
A yellow electric mouse jumped on Ash's shoulder and Ash opened the manor's front door. "We'll pick up Nebby when we get back," he said halfway out already. Then he disappeared into the yard and exclaimed, "Serena, let's go!"
Serena smiled and then said to Lillie, "Bye and be nice Pokemon, Nebby" and then she rushed after Ash, exclaiming, "Ash, wait for me!" and closed the door behind her.
****
Lillie was a little confused to stand in the hallway. "Bye.." she said and her hand lowered. Nebby hovered a questioning look on its face to her and said, "Pew?"
Lillie looked at it and put a smile on her face. Then she said resolutely, "Well, we must be two then," she said, but then I remembered that was not the case.
She took the Pokeball from her bag and lifted it in front of her. Then she said, "No, but three, Snowy, come keep company with us," and a white, little Alolan Vulpix appeared in front of her and whimpered.
Nebby hovered over it and Snowy looked at it a little suspicious. Then it rubbed its face against Snowy's nose and Snowy giggled.
Lillie smiled at them and said contentedly, "Okay, you're going to get along really well, so it's not going to be a problem." Then she took Snowy in her arms and looked at Nebby, evaluating.
Should she try to take it in her arms as well, or put it in a bag? Or should she let Nebby hover free? Lillie rejected the taking on the arms almost immediately; she was not yet ready for it. And putting it in the bag could be a big job, so she decided to let Nebby hover free. At least now this time.
"Come on, Nebby," she said and Nebby turned its gaze from the paintings in Lillie, which it had stared at in wonder. "Let's go to my room, I have to get one thing from there"
Nebby hovered over to her and then they set out to walk towards Lillie's room, Snowy in Lillie's arms.
Lillie smiled as she looked at Nebby as it searched with delight and curiosity for almost everything found in the manor's long corridors.
Eventually they reached Lillie's room and Lillie opened the room door. They stepped in and Nebby immediately hovered in delight on Lillie's balcony.
"Nebby, don't go far, I don't want to lose you," Lillie said as she put her bag on the velvety couch in the room and let Snowy free from her arms.
Nebby watched the view from the balcony in amazement, and as a few Flying type Pokemon flew past it, it shouted excitedly.
Lillie took one book from her bookshelf and glanced through it quickly. The book told everything about Pokemon, including legendary and mythical Pokemon as well, and Lillie wanted to know if Nebby might have been mentioned somewhere among the legendary or mythical Pokemon.
But there was not a single line or even a word about the floating star gas balls in the book, so Lillie sighed in disappointment and closed the book in disappointment.
She was annoyed. Why couldn't there be better information about Nebby anywhere? Not even a small line or even a word of anything and she would have been happy.
Suddenly, in her thoughts, Lillie felt a slight thud on her shoulder and she quickly turned her head.
She saw Nebby hovering a few inches away and pointed its mouth at its other protrusion. It was hungry and wanted food.
Lillie felt a shiver run down her spine as she realized what Nebby had done. It had touched her and it made Lillie stiffen. She watched as Nebby pointed its mouth and got coughed up, "Nebby.. are.. you... hungry?"
Nebby nodded and Lillie walked stiffly to her bag. Snowy watched her trainer go a little worried over Lillie's bed, where she had jumped, and whimpered questioningly.
"I'm... okay... Snowy, don't.. worry," Lillie breathed intermittently, even though she really made her mind scream in horror. With trembling fingers, she dug a bag of star candy from the bag that Ash and Serena had left her for Nebby, only to find that it was empty.
"Oh no," Lillie said, shaking the star candy bag upside down. One single candy fell to the floor and Nebby rushed to take it, but it wasn't enough for it and it wanted more.
Lillie looked at it apologetically and said, "I'm sorry, Nebby, the candies are out, and I don't have anymore." Nebby didn't like the idea and said demandingly, "Pew! Pew pew!"
Lillie sighed. "Well, we must have a trip to town ahead. Come on, Snowy, let's go. And Nebby, too," she said, and Snowy jumped out of Lillie's bed and paddled to the girl. Nebby hovered over to her as well, albeit pouting.
Lillie took her bag off the bench and on a whim also put a book about Pokemon there. Then she put the bag on her shoulder and said to her Pokemon, "Okay, let's go then."
She stepped out of her room and then another thing came to her mind. "And Nebby, could you not touch me, I... don't really like it," she said to Nebby and turned in that direction.
Nebby nodded, but was a little confused at Lillie's request. However, Lillie smiled at it and said happily, "Good. And now we can go."
****
After a while, Lillie stood in front of the mall and wondered where she should go to get the star candy. Sophocles never told her where he bought the candies and Lillie didn't happen to be involved when he showed it to Ash and Serena.
I guess it only helps to go looking, Lillie decided and started walking towards the mall door next to Snowy. Nebby hovered near her, staring at almost everything in wonder, and the people passing by looked at it curiously.
"So, where's that candy store?" Lillie muttered to herself and walked along the long corridors of the mall. She passed numerous clothing, shoe and accessory stores, but nowhere did not appear to be selling star candies.
She noticed the signboard and stopped to read it. Snowy sat down next to her and watched the people and Pokemon passing by. Nebby, meanwhile, hovered with interest in one shop window and looked in amazement inside it.
Lillie was currently trying to figure out the text in small print at the top of the sign when she heard an exclamation behind her: "Hey! Lillie!" She turned to look in amazement at who was really calling her and saw Bonnie running towards her with his Pokemon, waving happily her hand.
"Alola, Bonnie," she said to the younger girl when this one got to her. "What are you doing here? And where is Clemont?"
"Clemont is at the Poke Center, he's probably assembling something on his device again," Bonnie giggled and Dedenne and Squishy peeked out of her yellow bag. "And I'm here because I want to be"
Lillie watched as Bonnie put her orange flower hairclip in a better position and said, "Oh, I see. Does he know you came here? Isn't he worried when he finds you missing?"
"Nah, Clemont does not notice anything when he focuses on his inventions. And yes, I told him where I'm going, a different matter is, did he hear," Bonnie explained, and smiled brightly. Then she noticed Snowy and asked, "Can I stroke Snowy? Please?"
"Okay, if it suits Snowy," Lillie sighed and Bonnie seemed to rejoice a lot and squatted to stroke Snowy and it whimpered happily.
Nebby hovered over to them and said when it noticed Bonnie, "Pew?" Bonnie heard it and looked up at Snowy and when she noticed Nebby hovering, she exclaimed, "Nebby!"
The exclamation caused curious glances from people passing by, but Bonnie didn't care. She took Nebby in her arms and hugged it tightly. Nebby giggled and Bonnie giggled too.
Lillie, on the other hand, didn’t really like people’s curious looks. To her, each of them looked too curious and she wanted to get moving again.
"Bonnie, where were you going? We could go there together," she said, noticing from the corner of her eye that people were picking up their phones to take pictures of Nebby.
"I don't know, I just came here, and I haven't planned anything," Bonnie said carelessly, then asked Lillie, "What about you? What did you come to pick up?"
"These candies," Lillie replied, showing an empty bag to Bonnie. "Do you know where to find them?"
"Yeah! I bought them one day myself and they were good," Bonnie exclaimed and Nebby reached for the bag. Bonnie giggled. "Nebby seems to like them," she said with a laugh and Lillie smiled.
“It does, it doesn’t even agree to eat anything else,” she said. "That's why I came here, the bag is empty and Nebby wants food" Then she got the idea. “Hey Bonnie, if you know where to get these, could you take me there, we could tour around here anyway,” she said and Bonnie nodded eagerly.
"Sure," she said, letting Nebby out of her arms. She grabbed Lillie by the hand and snatched the girl with her. "What are we waiting for, let's go already!" she exclaimed and pulled Lillie by the hand as she held on to her hat, Snowy running after her, and Nebby hovering happily a short distance away.
“Slow down a little, Bonnie!” Lillie exclaimed, but Bonnie just laughed happily.
****
After a short time in a cafe in the mall:
Lillie and Bonnie sat at a cafe table and Lillie fed Nebby the star candies she had bought from the candy store Bonnie showed her. Bonnie sat next to her, slurped at her milkshake that Lillie had bought her, and browsing the book about Pokemon that Lillie had taken with her.
She turned the page and her Pokemon, Dedenne, Squishy and Ribombee, also looked over her shoulders with interest, especially the pictures were interesting to them.
Bonnie turned the page again and this time the book had a full opening size picture of the legendary Pokemon Zygarde.
"Hey, Squishy, look, that's you," Bonnie said and Squishy jumped over her shoulder to the opening and looked at the picture of himself with interest. Though, it did present Zygarde in its 50% form, but still.
Lillie also looked at the book and at the same time gave Nebby another star candy. They had already worn almost half a bag and Lillie thought, should they go get some more candies.
"Oh, well that's right," she said, and Bonnie asked curiously, "What does it say? Lillie, read to me, please."
Lillie smiled and moved a little closer. "Let's see... it reads like this: 'The legendary Pokemon Zygarde (Dragon and Ground type) is found in the Kalos region. It keeps the balance of the ecosystem in balance, and if the ecosystem is threatened with destruction, it is said to reveal its power. Together with the legendary Pokemon Xerneas and Yveltal, it belongs to a gang called the Aura Trio' And then here's some more basic information about it, like length and abilities and so on."
Bonnie listened with interest and then said, looking at Squishy, "Squishy, did you hear, it has all sorts of interesting information about you" Squishy smiled happily and Bonnie smiled at it. Then a thoughtful look appeared on her face and she muttered, "I was just wondering how the author of that book got his/her knowledge."
"I don't know, Bonnie, but somewhere he/she's dug them," Lillie said, and thoughtfully stared at the picture of Zygard in its 50% forme. Oh, that’s what Squishy actually looks like, she thought and stroked Snowy in her hand. I wouldn’t want to face it when it’s angry.
****
As Lillie, Bonnie, and the Pokemon sat in the cafe, a short distance away, a familiar trio tried to lure customers to their Malasada stall. Admittedly, they were not heard or seen.
"Uh, this is hopeless," James said, tapping his hat on Wobbuffet and leaning against the counter with his hands. "No one seems to want our Malasadas, I just wonder why"
“They want them, they just don’t know how good they are,” Jessie said, trying to offer the boy passing by a free taste. The boy backed away and increased his pace. Jessie looked angrily at him and snapped, "And it would help if everyone in this group did something to make it known."
Saying it, she stared into the eyes of lightning Meowth, who was just binocularing the environment with binoculars and who said without turning his head as he felt Jessie's gaze, "Hey c'moon Jessie, I'm trying to find us the next prey, that previous one didn't really work."
“No, it didn't, and what’s most annoying about it is that Proto Koffing was already almost properly caughed..” James said, but quickly changed the subject when he saw Jessie’s gaze. "Meowth, is anything visible?" he asked the feline Pokemon.
"Not really, quite... wait, there's something interesting over there," Meowth said and James snatched binoculars from his hands. "Hey, not again!" Meowth exclaimed, but James didn't listen.
He looked through his binoculars and said, "Isn't that the smaller Kalos twerpette with her little Pokemon? And next to it would seem to be sitting one of those twerps Alolan friends, that blonde girl who has that different Vulpix"
"Show me," said Jessie and James handed binoculars to her. She also looked through them and said, "She just and Kalos' twerpette seemed to still have that weird green lump with her. Remember, the one that became that big beast and that the orange-dressed guys chased then."
Meowth took the binoculars again and looked through them again. "Yeah, that's it, but take a look at what's hovering next to that Alola twerpets. Isn't it Proto Koffing itself?"
"Really? Let me look," said James, and Meowth handed the binoculars to him, and he looked through them again. "Well, that's right. But where's the twerp, wasn't that Proto Koffing so important to it? Why would it leave it with that blonde?"
“I don't care, now we have an even better chance to grab that Proto Koffing when the twerp and its annoyingly strong Pokemon aren’t in the way,” Jessie said, grinning viciously. "I suggest we abandon this Malasada stall for a while and concentrate on that Proto Koffing. Sounds good?"
"Yeah!"
"Yeah!"
"Wobbuffet!"
"Good. Soon those twerpetts won't even notice what took their Pokemon before it's too late," Jessie said and then they all chuckled cunningly.
****
“Thank you, Bonnie, for showing me the store that sells these star candies,” Lillie said to Bonnie as they walked away from the mall.
“You're welcome, it was nice to help,” Bonnie said, and Nebby hovered happily between them. "Besides, it's nice to be with you Lillie anyway"
"Oh, thank you," said Lillie and Snowy on her lap said happily, "Vul!" "I think it's nice to be with you too. And the Pokemon, too, although I can't touch them."
"Why not, Lillie? You've never told it," Bonnie said with interest and Lillie looked thoughtful.
“You know, I don’t know exactly either,” she said. “But there’s something about it that happens to me when I was younger, but I don’t remember what,” she explained, and Bonnie nodded with her eyes widened. "And right now the only Pokemon I can touch is Snowy"
“Oh, it’s probably miserable when you can’t touch Pokemon, even if you want to,” Bonnie said sympathetically and Lillie nodded.
"It is," she said, a little sad. "But.. hey, what now!"
Her sentence was interrupted when suddenly an iron grapple appeared from something that kidnapped Nebby between them and put it in a glass capsule similar to the last one. Then came the familiar three people, who giggled viciously and uttered their familiar motto:
“Prepare for trouble!
And make it double!
To protect the world from devastation!
To unite all people within our Nation!
To denounce the evils of truth and love!
To extend our reach to the stars above!
It's Jessie!
And James!
Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!
Surrender now, or prepare to fight!
Meowth! That's right!
Wobbuffet! "
"Team Rocket!" said Bonnie angrily and Lillie exclaimed, "You guys again?!"
"Right, from both," said Jessie, holding a glass capsule in her lap, inside which Nebby stared at her angrily. "And this little Proto Koffing is now ours, I'm sure the boss will come to like it quite a lot"
"Proto Koffing? It's not Proto Koffing, it's Nebby!" Lillie exclaimed angrily and let Snowy go to the ground. On Bonnie's shoulder, Dedenne's cheeks sparked menacingly and Squishy and Ribombee also looked angry. "And give him back, he's not yours!"
"Yeah, should I?" said Jessie supposedly thoughtful, but then shook her head. "I guess I don't want to, Mimikyu, Shadow Ball to those brats"
She threw her Pokeball into the air and Mimikyu appeared. It threw a purple Shadow Ball towards Lillie and Bonnie and James also brought out his Pokeball.
"You too, Mareanie, Sludge Bomb!" James exclaimed and threw his Pokeball into the air.
Mareanie appeared in front of him and sent her blow to the journey, exclaiming, "Mare!"
"Snowy, Powder Snow to Mimikyu!" Lillie exclaimed and Snowy made an icy attack on it, exclaiming at the same time, "Pix!"
It stopped Mimikyu’s Shadow Ball, but it didn’t have time to take effect on the Mareanie’s attack. Lillie noticed it coming straight towards Bonnie and this Pokemon and was just giving Snowy another command when she suddenly heard, "Bunnelby, use Mud Shot!"
It stopped the attack of the Mareanie and they all, including Team Rocket, turned confused to see who had come to suspend their match.
Clemont stood a short distance from them Bunnelby, Chespin and Luxray next to him and said, "Oh hey girls, I guess I just came right time. Chespin, use Vine Whip in that glass capsule and bring it here with it."
"Ches!" said Chespin and two long, green vines appeared on either side of its head.
Before Team Rocket had time to do anything, Chespin had intercepted a glass capsule directly from Jessie’s lap.
"Hey! Give it back!" Jessie exclaimed and was about to give Mimikyu a new order when Clemont said to Luxray, "Luxray, use Electric Terrain for those jerks."
"Ray!" said Luxray and sent an electric shock towards Team Rocket. It sent them back on a familiar air flight, and they began their familiar phrase, "We're blasting.." which, however, Bewear again cut off, grabbing Team Rocket out of the air again and taking it to its nest.
****
"Clemont!" Bonnie exclaimed and ran to hug her big brother.
"Hey, Bonnie," Clemont said and Bonnie looked up. "How did you know to come here?" she asked and Clemont smiled.
"You yourself said you were going to go shopping, I heard it," Clemont replied and Bonnie chuckled.
"Really? I thought you wouldn't hear anything as you build your inventions," she said and Lillie giggled.
Clemont blushed a little and said, "Why you thought that?" he said and Bonnie grinned.
"I'm not telling you, you get to deduce for yourself!" she giggled and Lillie was just saying something about it when a drop of water fell on her nose.
She looked up at the sky and drops fell more. “Hey guys, I feel like it’s starting to rain,” she said and Clemont and Bonnie noticed it too. "And very hard," she continued as the rain peaked all the time.
"You're right," Clemont said, returning his Pokemon back to their Pokeballs. "Come on, let's go back to the Pokemon Center before a decent storm begins"
"Can Lillie come too?" asked Bonnie and Lillie, who was currently trying to push Nebby into the bag sheltered from the rain without touching it, raised her gaze.
"Sure, but let's go, it's starting to get pretty heavy rain here already," Clemont said and so they headed for the Poke Center, as the journey filled Lillie's, "Nebby, get in the bag! Now!" exclamations and Nebby's stubborn: "Pew! Pew! Pew Pew!" vocalizations.
****
When they arrived at the Pokecenter, it had started to rain and the wind was already quite brisk and the trio had become wet.
Clemont opened the Center door and held it open for Lillie and Bonnie to get inside. Then he also went inside himself and had to pull the door a little to catch it, as the wind was already quite strong.
Nurse Joy hurried to them and seeing they were wet, she said, "I'm going to get you towels." Then she went back and the trio looked at each other.
Water dripped from Lillie's hair onto the floor and she took her wet hat off her head. She tried to squeeze the water out of her wet dress, but it didn’t help much.
"Pew?" said Nebby, who had hovered away from the bag where Lillie had finally gotten pushed into it and looked around. It noticed something of interest a little distance away and hovered over it.
Bonnie let her Pokemon out of her bag and looked around.
There were quite a few people and Pokemon in the Pokemon Center, as the rain had surprised them and they had come to the Pokemon Center to wait for it to subside.
People looked out the windows along which the water flowed in streams and one girl said, "The storm just seems to be getting stronger. I wouldn't want to be at sea now."
Lillie shake a little. She just remembered Ash and Serena. They had said they were going to sea. And in this storm... Lillie swallowed. She didn't want to think about it now.
Nurse Joy then returned with a pile of towels and handed them to the trio, as well as to a few other people who had just arrived at the center and looked like they had swum in the ocean.
"Here," she said. "Dry yourself to these, and look for some dry clothes for yourself, I don't want you to catch a cold."
"Thanks," Clemont said, taking the towels gratefully. He handed one to Bonnie and Lillie and a few others nearby. "Is there anything we could help with?" he then asked as he dried his hair on a towel.
"Well, you could..", Nurse Joy began, but then there were cracks and the lobby went dark.
The storm had cut off the electricity.
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(A/N: I think I'll divide this chapter into two parts so it doesn't get terribly long)