Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The sun was rising. Its light illuminated the sky, allowing pastel shades of pink and orange to peak out from the horizon, and turning the sky above the ocean from black to dark blue. The sun also revealed the land that had emerged, which Lillie knew was the Kanto region; they were arriving at last. Specifically, it was Vermilion City. The closest comparison she could draw to it would be Heahea City, except Vermilion was a bit larger. From a distance she could make out the short seaside houses, the long dock stretching out into the ocean where many ships of varying sizes were parked- soon enough, the ship she was on would be one of them. Besides the city, coniferous trees stretched in both directions, seemingly endlessly.

Lillie looked upon this scene with wonderment, as she hung over the handrail on the high-speed ship that had taken her away from Alola. This had been her favorite spot to come and stand during the trip. Right at the front of the boat, where wake sped away from her right and left. Especially first thing in the morning, when nobody else was around. This was where she could finally break away from her old life… where she would learn to become a trainer. Lillie knew that she was no more than a helpless little girl for now- but when she stood here, for a moment she could imagine herself as the queen of the world.

She returned to the cabin to find that her mother was awake now as well. She was sitting up in her bed, frowning at her suitcase on the floor.

“I can see Vermilion City in the distance,” Lillie said. “That means we must be arriving soon.”

“Yes… the staff did say we’d be arriving this morning,” Lusamine commented dryly. She began to get dressed out of her sleep clothes.

Lillie sat down at the little table they had for meals, where her bag laid. She reached into it and pulled out a poké ball- the one containing her new pokémon, given to her by Prof. Oak before she left.

She peered in through the lid to her vulpix, snow white and fluffy. She had spent the whole trip trying to think of a nickname for the pokémon.

At one point, she decided to ask her mother for help coming up with ideas. “Don’t bother giving it a nickname; it’ll only make you grow attached to it,” is what she had sniped in return.

“It”… Even though it was accepted grammar, Lillie had always taken issue with calling pokémon by “it.” It made no sense to refer to them like objects, in Lillie’s mind, when some pokémon have been proven to have intelligence equal to- and even exceeding- human intelligence. She had internally resolved to refer to her vulpix as a “he,” just like any of her other male friends.

 As she stepped onto the dock, Lillie got her first up-close look at Vermilion City. Now that the sun was fully out, the city was bustling, with shoppers walking to and fro. The harbor area was bustling with sailors and laborers. While walking past, Lillie watched a sailor haphazardly throw a box over the side of a large ship.

“Hey, be careful with that!” shouted the worker who was on the dock to receive the shipment. “Silph Co. is paying good money for those!” Lillie eyed the box curiously; what could be in there?

They stepped onto dry land at last. Lillie took a closer look at the houses she saw earlier. They seemed to be a mix of regular homes and shops, some decorated to attract tourists.

Shortly afterwards, Lusamine came to a stop.

“Wait. I will check my map- there is somewhere I would like to stop here,” she said to Lillie. She began to dig around her purse for a map she got while on the boat.

Lillie decided to take this opportunity to call her friends. She pulled out her Xtransciever- the newest model is powerful enough to reach people from all across the world.

She started a call with the usual suspects. Before long, she saw Sun and Moon’s faces pop up on the screen; Sun’s face pale and smiley, and Moon’s dark-toned and neutral. However, the fourth corner of the screen was still in static… Hau had once again not answered.

“Hey Lillie. Looks like you got there,” Moon said. Based on the scenery behind her, she appeared to be in Seafolk Village.

“That’s right, we finally arrived in Vermillion City!” Lillie said.

“You sound nervous… don’t worry so much! You’re going to be great,” Sun replied reassuringly. Lillie could see the blue ocean behind him, so he must have been on one of the inter-island ferries. “Oh yeah, if you run into Emma… tell her hi for me!”

“What are you two up to?” Lillie asked.

“We’re on our way to a new battle facility that has opened… the Battle Tree!” Sun explained. “There’s going to be some seriously tough trainers there. We’re eager to prove ourselves!”

“Some more than others,” Moon cut in. “I’ve already arrived on Poni Island… Sun here is lagging behind me.”

“Oh, quit being so impatient. I just needed to make sure some… financial assets were in order before I left,” Sun explained.

“’Financial assets…’ god, Sun, you are something else.”

Lillie giggled. Their banter never ceased to amuse her.

“Anyways… I’m hoping to officially begin training today!” Lillie commented.

“How are you feeling about that?” Sun asked.

“Excited… kinda nervous.”

“Don’t be nervous, Lillie,” Moon reassured her. “You’re going to be a great trainer. I know it.”

“Yeah, you’ve already proven yourself with all the time you spent looking about Nebby!” Sun cut in.

“Well… I think it was more chasing after Nebby for the most part,” Moon joked. “But all the same.”

“Thank you guys. I want to give my vulpix a name, but I’m having trouble coming up with just the right thing…”

“You’re probably overthinking it. Just name it something cute, and easy to remember… no need to re-invent the poké ball!” Sun said.

“Time to go, Lillie,” Lusamine said from behind her.

“Okay. Time to go, guys. Thank you!” Lillie said hurriedly.

“No problem. Knock ‘em dead, darling! Oh, and make sure your mother doesn’t try to conquer the world again!” Sun said enthusiastically. He then hung up.

“Miss you… talk to you soon,” Moon said, blowing a kiss through the screen.

Lillie put the Xtransciever away and turned to her mom, who was staring at her haughtily.

“Child… why is your face so pink?” Lusamine asked.

“Oh, um… it’s hot here!” Lillie said quickly, fanning herself with her hands.

Lusamine did not seem convinced. However, she said nothing more of it, and began to make her way through the crowd, Lillie following right behind her like a shadow.

Their stop was a store with a blue roof, which seemed to sell many items that you would normally find in a pokémon center. The inside of the store was slick and sterile, and there were many shoppers buzzing from lane to lane.

Lillie had noticed that they had been drawing a lot of unwanted attention. By herself, Lusamine is likely a figure who would’ve drawn attention, what with her imposing demeanor, elaborate shell-like hair, and fanciful figure. However, Lillie had a feeling that there was another reason why people were watching as they passed as well…

When she was done, Lusamine went to the checkout line, and set a few food items on the counter- presumably for the trip.

“Will that be all for today, ma’am?” asked the cashier, who was a scraggly teenage boy that was staring down at the counter as though still partially asleep.

“Yes, that will do,” Lusamine replied.

The cashier looked up, and when he saw Lusamine, he momentarily stared at her, his eyes widening. Then, he looked up at something in the back corner of the shop.

Lillie turned around and followed his gaze to a small television that was playing the news. On the screen was a picture, the ticker text describing the recent Aether Foundation scandal.

“Um… excuse me, ma’am,” a portly, mom-ish shopper said to Lusamine. “Was that… you on the TV?”

Lusamine turned around. When she saw what was playing on the screen, she scowled. The monitor was now showing a photo of a slowpoke that had been cryogenically frozen…

“Hmph. That is all fake news,” Lusamine commented disdainfully. “You all should know better than to trust tabloid media outlets.”

Lillie felt crestfallen, however. The coverage had seemed pretty accurate to her… How was her mother going to talk her way out of this?

“You can’t fool us, woman,” shouted a bald man with a stubble beard who was dressed only in an undershirt and jeans. “We all know what you did to those poor pokémon in your ‘collection.’ What have you come to Kanto for, eh?”

“That is my business, and my business only!” Lusamine commanded, sticking her nose up at the crowd. She slapped some money and the counter, grabbed her shopping bag from the shocked cashier, and began strutting out of the store.

Even as she left, there were murmurs of dissent from the other shoppers.

“How has she not been imprisoned?”

“Eh, I always told you that the police are useless. Remember when Giovanni got away?”

“What could she have in store for the Kanto region?”

Lillie followed her mom back out the store, trying to convey an apologetic look to the others.

They walked up north from Vermilion City, into what a sign told them was Route 6.

Lillie looked on in awe once again. All around her trees brimming with life. In the distance, she could see a little pond. To their right was tall grass, where Lillie knew that pokémon hid. There were also flowers in bloom, coming in lovely shades of blue, pink, and purple.

Lillie had always loved learning- it was why she read so much. However, this was her chance to finally learn from the world directly. While traveling Alola before, she had always had to worry about Team Skull, or keeping track of her rogue cosmog. But now, her fate was entirely… well, mostly… in her own hands. Now she could learn from the world which had millennia of knowledge stored, in every atom of every dewdrop, and her knowledge of the world would forever continue to blossom, like an ever-opening flower.

“This Bill character… he will be providing lodgings for us, correct?” Lusamine asked Lillie as they walked along.

“Oh, yes mother. Everything has been arranged.”

Lillie tugged on her bag nervously. She would like to use this opportunity to get a head start on training… but would her mother approve of the hindrance?

“What is bugging you, child?” Lusamine asked her, catching onto Lillie’s tick.

“Um… I was thinking, maybe… since we are in a route…”

“Ah. You would like to play around with your new pokémon.”

Lillie gulped. “Um… yes. If it is okay…”

“Well, I don’t know what a novice like you is going to be able to do out here… Hmm, perhaps one of those children will be weak enough for you?”

Lillie saw what she was referencing- a group of three children were playing in the flowers. They looked to be younger than her, only about seven or eight years old. Was it right for her to prey on younger trainers for experience?

However, it turned out that it didn’t matter either way. One of the boys had spotted her, and upon making eye contact, it was too late to back out.

“You! I bet I can beat you!” the little boy said. He had spiky green hair, and a determined look in his eyes. The other two kids hung back to watch. Lillie began to wonder about the opposite problem now- wouldn’t it be humiliating if she lost to a younger trainer?

“Go on ahead,” Lusamine told her, a devilish grin on her face.

“O… Okay,” Lillie stammered. She reached into her bag, and pulled out the poké ball. She threw it, releasing her vulpix.

“Go get ‘em, Sandshrew!” cried the boy, releasing his own pokémon.

It looked like a sandshrew… but Lillie noticed that its hide was tan, unlike the white that sandshrews usually were, and it lacked the “hood” shape around its eyes. Lillie had read about regional variants- this must be a Kantoan sandshrew!

“Sandshrew! Use scratch attack!” the boy screamed, in a voice which Lillie considered unnecessarily loud.

The sandshrew charged forward, and dragged its claws straight across the vulpix’s face. Lillie physically winced at the contact, feeling almost as if she had been scratched herself. She instinctively leaned down over her vulpix. However, the vulpix was okay- it shook off the attack and regained a fighting stance.

“Oh no… I’m sorry for that,” Lillie said stupidly. “Um… hit it back with whatever you got” Lillie ordered, realizing at that moment that she didn’t know any of its actual moves.

The vulpix, however, seemed to know what to do. It took a deep breath, and chilled the air, causing the water vapor to turn into snow. Then, it released its breath, sending the snow pelting at Sandshrew. It seemed to hit it hard. Sandshrew fell, and did not get up.

“Awh, darn… I shouldn’t have challenged you!” The boy lamented.

His two friends ran up behind him. “Ha ha, AJ got beat by a girl!” one of them said, a little girl with pigtails. “Will you admit that girl trainers are better now?”

“No way… we just need to train harder!” AJ asserted. He returned Sandshrew to his ball. “Oh, right. Here you go.” He handed Lillie a measly 30 poké dollars.

Lillie did not mind, however. She had just won her first pokémon battle! And it had been easy… too easy.

She grabbed her vulpix by its torso and lifted him up to her face. “You did amazing, Vulpix!” she said. He cheerily gazed back at his trainer.

“Oh, this is silly… you need a name already!” Lillie thought back to what Sun had said earlier. “You’re probably overthinking it. Just name it something cute, and easy to remember… no need to re-invent the poké ball!”

“I’ll name you Snowy,” Lillie decided. “Is that okay?”

Snowy purred in approval of the name.

She returned Snowy to his poké ball, and turned back to her mother, hoping to see her looking proud, or happy for her. Lusamine, however, had her arms crossed.

“Hmph… you practically recoiled when your vulpix took that attack,” she commented. “You need to just get used to this. Your pokémon are going to get hurt. That’s what pokémon battles are all about.”

“Oh, um… I’m sorry,” Lillie said sheepishly.

“Honestly, child. How are you going to be a leader when you have such a weak will? Come on. Let’s get moving again.”

Lillie followed behind her, wondering about her mother’s last, cryptic comment. “How are you going to be a leader when you have such a weak will…” A leader of what?

Chapter Text

Lillie and Lusamine stayed the night in Fuchsia City, the largest city in the Kanto region and the de facto cultural capital. It was larger than any city Lillie had seen in Alola. She wished they could’ve stayed longer so she could look around at the many skyscrapers and see what was there, but the next morning, they needed to get an early start to make it to Bill’s that day.

The rest of the trip passed by mostly without incident, other than Lusamine almost collapsing out of nowhere as they were going over a bridge on the other side of Cerulean City. Her brief stint as a pokémon-human hybrid had done a number on her, and even after recovering as much as she has, she still had occasional blackouts like that. Routes 24 and 25 were as full of trainers as they were of trees, but the trainers looked tougher than the young children in Route 6. Lillie ended up being a little too shy to challenge anyone else, but she hoped that she’d soon get a chance to train Snowy more in a lower-stakes environment.

By late afternoon, the mother-daughter duo had arrived at a relatively humble house bordered both the ocean to its side and a mountain range behind it, as well as a small pond out in front. It looked like there was a backyard, but the one of the hills just barely blocked it from sight from the front. As they got to the front door, Lillie could hear voices coming from the inside, as if a small group was passionately discussing something.

“Is this the place?” Lusamine asked her daughter.

Lillie nodded. There were no other houses around, so this had to be Bill’s. She hoped…

Lillie knocked on the door. The voices suddenly stopped, and after only a few seconds, a woman answered the door, opening it only part way at first. She had light brown hair with a prominent swoosh separated in the front, and a white jacket over her green shirt and necklace. Her bright green eyes momentarily widened in surprise as she beheld the two.

“Oh, you must be those two! Lusamine and Lillie, yes?” She questioned.

“That’s right. Is this Bill’s house?” Lusamine asked in return.

“Why, yes it is. My name’s Daisy, I’m Bill’s partner. If you could just wait out here for a moment, we’ll get…”

Before she could finish, Lusamine shook her head and interjected, “I’d rather prefer to get out of the elements. We’ve been travelling all of today and yesterday to get here.”

“Oh! Um… okay, step right in then,” Daisy replied, looking slightly mollified.

She opened the door the rest of the way, and Lusamine stepped into the house without further ado. Lillie followed after her.

Bill’s house was a bit cluttered, but perfectly habitable. It consisted of three rooms; a living area, with a set of chairs and a couch facing each other, a small TV against the wall on the right, and a high-tech computer in the back next to workbench filled with tools and electronic parts; a kitchen to the left of the living area; and a bedroom on the right side. On the back wall was a door and a small window next to the computer, through which Lillie could see what looked to be about two dozen eevees laying in the grass or playing.

Two others were in the sitting area. One was a slim man dressed casually in jeans and a loose shirt, who had ruffled auburn hair and a somewhat pronounced chin. Lillie assumed that was Bill, but she didn’t recognize the other person. It was a woman in a teal sleeveless top and a slightly rumpled red skirt that cut off well before her knees, as well as long, brown hair that was straight but full and layered. Both turned their heads towards the new visitors, surprised looks on their faces.

“Oh, uh, howdy there!” Bill said quickly, trying to salvage the awkward moment. He got to his feet and hurriedly scuffled over to the door. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Lusamine,” he greets, shaking hands with her. “And of course, the same to you!” he says to Lillie, shaking her hand as well.

He briefly glanced at Daisy nervously, who gave him a sort of subtle shrug. At this, Bill turned around to face the woman on the couch. “Well, since our guests are here, we better continue this talk another time," he said to her.

The woman said nothing. She slowly got to her feet and started slowly walking towards the others, all the while giving Lusamine a glower of distrust. Bill and Daisy glanced at each other nervously.

Without warning, the woman broke into a lecture. “If you wanted to commit atrocities like that, you should’ve entered a different field. What you did has set the whole movement back several steps. Nobody’s taking us seriously right now. So thanks a lot.”

Lusamine wrinkled her nose and straightened her posture, trying to use her slight height advantage as an intimidation practice. “I’m sorry, who are you supposed to be?” She asked.

The other woman looked very much like she was going to argue back for a moment, but then, she seemed to deflate, and a look of sadness came into her eyes.

“Umm… Leaf, can I bug ya for a ride home?” Daisy asked suddenly, clearly trying to break the tension. “I can’t stay tonight, gotta hold down the fort in Viridian.”

“Yes, of course,” the woman called ‘Leaf’ replied dully. Without another word, she walked straight out the front door, not giving another look towards Lusamine or Lillie.

“Um… see you soon!” Daisy said to Bill, giving him a quick hug and kiss on the lips. “Nice meeting y’all!” She said hurriedly to Lusamine and Lillie as she followed Leaf out the door.

“Um… I’m going to… step outside for just a second,” Lillie announced shyly.

“Fine. Whatever,” Lusamine replied.

Lillie quickly but quietly went through the front door after the other two ladies. She emerged on the other side just in time to witness Leaf throwing an ultra ball into the air and sending out an enormous, magnificent bird pokémon.

Lillie’s jaw dropped in awe. She had never seen anything like this before in person, only in books. It had talons as long as human legs, a magnificent white tuft over its torso, a long, ribbony tail, glistening ice blue feathers along its massive wingspan, a short black beak, and a three-piece plumage that looked as solid as a block of ice.

“Th-that’s… the legendary pokémon, Articuno!” Lillie said excitedly, not able to help herself.

“Hmm?” Leaf turned around, just noticing Lillie. “Ah, you. Yes, that’s correct.”

“But how did you… Ms. Leaf, is that your name?” Lillie cut herself off, suddenly remembering her manners.

She chuckled briefly at Lillie. “My real name’s Blue. Some of my friends call me ‘Leaf’ or ‘Leafy’ as a nickname.”

“Okay. Ms. Blue, how did you get that pokémon?” Lillie asked, awestruck.

“I caught it,” Blue said simply.

Blue looked up at the sky. “Cloudy today. Excellent. Come on, Daisy.”

Articuno let its head down for the two ladies to climb onto their back, which they begun to do.

Lillie was so amazed by the sight of a legendary pokémon that she had totally forgotten what she came outside to say. Who was this mysterious trainer? Lillie had never heard of her before, but she was clearly someone noteworthy, if she had managed to catch a legendary pokémon.

“Were you going to say something?” Daisy asked Lillie, after getting comfortably situated on Articuno’s back.

“Wha… Oh yeah!” Lillie replied, suddenly remembering. “Ms. Blue, about my mother… I want you to know that… I know that everything she did was bad. I brought her here in hopes of helping her recover from the Nihilego incident. I want to try and… make her better. I’ve already gotten her to agree to step down as Aether Foundation leader to come here. It’s currently being maintained by my brother Gladion while we’re away. He helped me bring her down.”

“Wow. That Nihilego crap was true, huh?” Blue sighed and shook her head. “Anyways. Lillie, right? I appreciate you telling me that.” She made eye contact with Lillie, giving her a somewhat pitying expression. “Just… good luck with that. I think you’ll find that older people are rather stuck in their ways…”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Lillie replied, giving her a deep curtsy.

Blue nodded at her, and then turned back to Articuno. “’Kay, Arty. Fly.”

“Nice meeting you again, Lillie,” Daisy called, waving at Lillie with a curious expression as the magnificent bird spread its wings and took off into the air.

For a while, Lillie just sat there, admiring the sight of the majestic legendary bird, climbing higher up into the sky until they disappeared above the clouds…

“You saw a WHAT?” Sun demanded.

“Wait, say that again. Who was this?” Moon asked.

That evening, Lillie had agreed to take the couch while Bill pulled out a sleeping bag, having given up his bed for Lusamine. Before going to bed, Lillie had decided to give her friends a call; she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to tell her that she saw yet another legendary pokémon up close. Though it was already dark in Kanto, due to the time difference it was still mid-afternoon over in Alola. Sun and Moon appeared to both be in an area Lillie didn’t recognize, an area with patchy grass and rocky slopes and walls formed by layers of sediment. Since they were both in the same area this time, they both used Moon’s device.

“It was a woman named Blue, who also goes by Leaf,” Lillie explained again. “She had long brown hair… she looked to be about 20.”

“Wow… how have I not heard of her?” Moon mused. “I agree, she must be a powerful trainer. I wonder what happened to the two other legendary birds now…”

“Hmm… Blue, huh?” Sun said, thinking hard. “Well, there can only be so many people named after colors in one region. I bet she’s somehow related to Red and/or Green.”

“Truuue. I mean, we’re literally both named ‘Sun’ and ‘Moon,” Moon pointed out. “We should find out if there’s anyone running around named after planets in the solar system… maybe there’s a ‘Venus’ somewhere out there.”

“Well, maybe we can ask them about her!” Sun said, an excited look in his eyes. “Oh yeah, Lillie, we haven’t mentioned it yet. Red and Green are going to be here! At the Battle Tree!”

“Oh gosh, that’s exciting!” Lillie said, knowing how pumped her friends would be to meet two of the “gods” of pokémon battling.

“Heck yeah! I wanna battle one of them…” Moon said dreamily.

“Hehehe… I don’t know, Moon,” Sun said. “We’d probably get our behinds back to us on a silver platter… especially if you fight Red. You know… #2 in the world at the last PWT?”

“I don’t care. I’m doing it. You should, too, Sun. Don’t be a puss,” Moon said teasingly.

“Hey! I find that comment to be in poor taste.”

“Right. Sorry, forgot.”

“Of course you did. Anyways, so Lillie, how’s it going with mom?” Sun asked, turning his head back to the Xtransciever.

“Um… the same,” Lillie answered truthfully.

“Well, keep up the good work then,” Moon told her encouragingly. “Anyways, get some sleep. We should get going now… Guzzlord isn’t going to catch itself.”

“Yeah, it sure isn’t,” Sun agreed, looking apprehensive. “Alright. See ya, Lillie.”

“Miss you honey. Bye,” Moon said.

“I miss you too,” Lillie replied. She turned off the Xtransciever.

She got herself settled into her bed, but didn’t fall asleep for a little while, as her mind was buzzing.

Part of her wished she could be back in Alola with Sun and Moon. It didn’t seem right that they were busy cleaning up the mess that her mother made. But she supposed that a mission like that was too dangerous for someone who was just starting out as a trainer. And anyway, she had a responsibility to take care of her mother while she was at Bill’s recovering.

But how much responsibility was that, she wondered? Would she have to remain around the house the whole time? What she had seen of Kanto so far, from the bustling cities to the serene landscapes in between, had given her a certain thirst for adventure. She finally drifted off to sleep, her mind full of the wondrous things she saw while exploring the Alola region, from exploring the Vast Poni Canyon with her friends, to seeing Nebby achieve their final evolution, to sneaking off with Moon and capturing Tapu Koko… recollections that seamlessly transitioned into dreams of the vast Kanto region, filled with mysterious and powerful trainers with pokémon she had never seen before…

Chapter Text

The opportunity to explore came sooner than Lillie expected. After an analysis of the chemical components of Nihilego’s toxins, Bill determined that Lusamine’s condition may be improved using a relatively obscure medicine that he did not have access to. Thankfully, Bill happened to know someone who knew how to make it; the gym leader of Pewter City, who was a man named Brock.

Lillie was tasked with picking up the medicine, as Bill wasn’t really a trainer and Daisy was busy keeping her brother’s gym from falling apart. The easiest way to get there, however, was through Mt. Moon. While there were many wild pokémon in the mountain, it was considered relatively safe compared to other caves in the region; in fact, making their way through the cave was something of a rite of passage for new trainers in Kanto.

Lillie retraced their steps down the path to Bill’s house and back to Cerulean City. She exited the city to the west to enter Route 4. The scenery in Route 4 was rather similar to that from Routes 24 and 25, except the route was much hillier. There were several steep slopes which would’ve been impossible to climb, had it not been for a series of steps someone had carved into each one. Up ahead, Lillie could see the mountain towering in the distance, casting a foreboding shadow on the route. To her right was a part of the same river which ran by Bill’s house, which seemed to lead to an offshoot of the mountain made of stone that was darker in color. Lillie guessed that this must be the where the infamous “Cerulean Cave” was located, as it matched the description she had read in one of Prof. Kukui’s books. Unlike Mt. Moon, Cerulean Cave was considered extremely dangerous, and only trainers with a seriously impressive pedigree were even allowed to enter. There were even rumors that it was home to a powerful legendary pokémon.

Lillie wanted to be prepared for the trek into Mt. Moon, so she battled a few wild pokémon in the area. The species in the area were mostly ones that she recognized. The most common pokémon seemed to be a purple variation of rattata, and there were also many spearow, kantoan sandshrew, and ekans. Lillie got a brief scare when she ran into a mankey, and it almost knocked Snowy out with a super-effective karate chop. But Lillie had made sure to buy plenty of items in Cerulean City before heading out, so she was able to get him healed up with no problem.

Lillie decided it was time to head into Mt. Moon when she saw that it was past noon already. By this time, Snowy had gotten a bit stronger, and now knew how to do several types of moves. In addition to his regular powder snow attack, he could also make use of confuse ray, ice shard, and baby-doll eyes.

While climbing up the ledges that led to the mountain, Lillie saw surprisingly few people in the area. She passed by a cute-looking girl her age on one of the staircases, but the girl had already lost a pokémon battle and needed to go back to the center, so Lillie didn’t get a chance to battle her. Lillie also saw a couple of strange signs, one of which rambled about the ferocious power of punching while decrying “fools” who “wasted time” with stupid kicking moves, and another right next to it which essentially did the opposite, promoting kicking moves while criticizing the idoicy of punches. As Snowy most likely could not learn either type of move, Lillie decided to ignore these and enter the mountain.

The mountain wasn’t quite as “untamed” as Bill had described it. There was a well-tread path lit up by lamps, which Lillie was content with following for the most part. She passed by several darker tunnels, which wild pokémon sometimes emerged from. The only two pokémon around seemed to be zubat, and a kantoan variant of geodude who lacked the black markings on the top of the head.

An ominous quiet hung in the air. If this mountain was a “rite of passage” for young trainers, why weren’t there any training here?

After a while, the path led to a ladder which led to an upper floor. For a while, she walked through a short tunnel where several paras lived. As she got close to another ladder leading up, she heard something strange in the distance; a loud thudding sound. It sounded like something large was being slammed into the wall.

Lillie climbed to the upper floor, which contained a rather large, open area. The thudding noises got noticeably louder, and Lillie could see the walls shake a little bit every time they happened. Getting closer to the large thudding noise made Lillie feel very anxious…

Lillie made for the exit of the cavern, but was startled to see a large group of clefairy heading in from a nearby tunnel. Lillie had heard that clefairy could be highly dangerous in groups, so she made for the nearest wall and tried to remain out of sight.

The clefairy crossed the lit path and were making their way into another, much smaller tunnel, which was much too small for a human to go through. Then, there was an enormous crash from the other room, noticeably louder than the previous ones, and several bits of rock began to fall from the ceiling.

Terrified, Lillie quickly dropped to the floor and covered her head with her hands. Thankfully, nothing fell on top of her, other than a few pebbles which didn’t hurt much.

When the dust cleared, Lillie looked up. The path had now been covered with a layer of rocks, which ranged from the same small pebbles to some which were the size of a person. Some of the clefairy had been injured in the rock slide and were now lying unconsciously on the floor. The remaining clefairy found that their passageway out had been blocked by a large pile of rocks.

Some of the clefairy tried to push them out of the way, with no luck. A few of them tried to use psychic powers to move it and seemed to be able to until moving one of the rocks caused several more to tumble down from above and strike them.

Lillie felt pity for the clefairy, but didn’t know how to help them. Snowy didn’t know any moves which were capable of moving rocks. Reluctantly, she continued along the path.

Before too long, she arrived into a huge, open cavern, which contained the first instance of other humans Lillie had seen since entering the mountain. Across the cavern from where Lillie entered were a variety of what appeared to be miners arguing about something. Along the wall from Lillie was a single figure sitting in a foldable chair. Lillie wondered if anyone here could help the clefairy.

She cautiously approached the person in the chair. Upon getting closer, Lillie saw that it was a young woman with dark skin and gorgeous, wavy hair. She was dressed more nicely than the miners, wearing a new-looking pair of tight-fitting pants and a button-up shirt. She also appeared to be fast asleep.

“Um… excuse me, miss?” Lillie asked shyly.

The woman turned over in her chair with a groan. With her eyes still closed, she muttered, “No, Mom. I told you a million times. She’s a girl now. Her name is ‘Autumn.’ Call her ‘Autumn,’ please…”

This was utter nonsense to Lillie, so she assumed the woman must still be asleep. Lille was uncertain what to do, as she did not want to make the woman angry by waking her up.

Just then, one of the miners walked over towards Lillie, looking furious about something. It was a man who looked to be a bit older, and had a handsome rugged face and a stubbly beard.

“Who are you? Scram, little girl!” he barked at Lillie. He turned his head towards the woman in the chair and sighed heavily. “Ebony! Our onix went on another rampage!” he shouted at her.

The woman named “Ebony” opened her eyes sleepily and grunted at him. “Really? What were you doing to it?” she questioned.

“We weren’t doing nothing to it! It’s just being a brat! Kind of like someone we know, hmm?”

“Shut up, Fabian, or I’ll get you fired,” she jabbed back at him. “Well, let the thing rest, and open up the chunks we already have! You don’t need me to tell you how to do your job.”

Fabian rolled his eyes and stormed back towards the other miners. Ebony lifted her hand into the air and made a small pinching motion a few times.

“Wouldn’t it be great… if he just… got hit by a rock… and died,” she said in between each pinch.

She looked up at Lillie, noticing her for the first time. “Who are you looking at?” she asks.

“Um… Miss Ebony, do you have the time to help me with something?” Lillie asked timidly.

Ebony rubbed her eyes and stood up, looking closely at Lillie. “Wait a minute. Who are you? Are you real?” she asked.

“My name is Lillie, and um… yes, I’m real,” Lillie replied, caught off guard by this question.

“Well, what do you want?” she asked grouchily.

“Um… are you a pokémon trainer?” Lillie asked.

Ebony grinned at her. “I sure am. And a pretty damn good one,” she bragged.

“Well, a group of wild clefairy are trying to get home, but a bunch of falling rocks blocked their path!” Lillie explained.

“Hmm. Should be no problem,” Ebony said, her disposition brightening considerably. “Lead the way, blondie.”

Lillie led her back down the hallway which led to the other room. As she left the room, she saw the miners send out a bunch of pokémon Lillie hadn’t seen before; small little bipeds with large claws and a long snout.

“So, what’s your name?” Ebony asked Lillie conversationally.

“Oh, I’m Lillie,” Lillie responded. “It’s nice to meet you, Miss Ebony.”

“I think I’ve heard that name before, like recently,” Ebony said. “Are you famous?”

“Um… sort of,” Lillie admitted, nervously anticipating another negative reception like what they had received in Vermillion City. “You see, I traveled her with my mother, and…”

“Oh yeah! You’re the daughter of that… woman,” Ebony said, cutting her off.

“Please don’t hold what my mother did against me,” Lillie pleaded. “I never wanted any of that to happen. And I hope that I can make her better.”

“Hey, family can be tough. I get it,” Ebony says, much to Lillie’s relief. “Believe it or not, my dad is the current president of Silph Co.”

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. So really, I bet we’re not so different. I was always the… problem child of the family. That’s why I’m here, really. Dad just wanted me stuck somewhere out of the way where I couldn’t mess things up for him.”

“I think my brother and I are both ‘problem children,’” Lillie explained. “Along with my friends, we helped stop my mother’s evil plan.”

“Well, what little heroes,” Ebony replied, with what Lillie thought was a hint of sarcasm. “So, are you a trainer too then?”

“Well, I only just started,” Lillie explained. “I only have one pokémon.”

“Did you already beat Brock?” she asked.

“Um… no,” Lillie replied nervously.

“He’s easy. Just get a water or grass type, and you auto-win,” Ebony explained.

“Um, thank you for the advice.”

They had arrived back at the cavern. The clefairy were still huddling around the rock pile, jumping around and getting visibly anxious.

“Ah, we must be here,” Ebony observed. “All you little puffballs better take a step back.” The clefairy seemed to understand and walked back from the pile.

Ebony took out a poké ball and threw it, revealing one of the most bizarre pokémon Lillie had ever seen. It appeared to be a clump of disembodied, round objects floating in midair and shifting erratically. There were three blue extrusions that hovered around a ball in the center, and a red head with swirly yellow eyes.

“Pretty cool, huh?” said Ebony, who was watching for Lillie’s reaction. “This is a pokémon that was created by humans using a computer. You can’t find anything like this in the wild.”

“Oh, you mean porygon?” Lillie questioned. “I didn’t think it looked that smooth.”

“This is porygon’s second evolution, porygon-z,” Ebony explained. “Or as I call them, ‘Macross.’ If you suffer from photo-sensitive epilepsy, you may want to look away.”

She turned back towards her porygon-z with a wicked grin on her face. “Macross… hyper beam.”

The virtual pokémon fired a huge laser at the rock pile with an ear-splitting shriek. Lillie understood the need for a warning; the light from the beam flashed so frequently that it made her eyes hurt. However, after the blast was over, all the rubble from the rock slide had been cleared away; in fact, the opening in the wall had been enlarged considerably. The clefairy were happy, and quickly filed into it.

“Nice one, Macross. You can rest now,” Ebony told her pokémon proudly. She returned Macross to their poké ball.

Lillie was happy to see the rubble gone, but still felt bad for the fainted clefairys who had been struck by the rocks earlier. She kneeled down next to one that was near her and grabbed one of her extra healing items. After being administered the revive, the clefairy came to and seemed grateful.

“Oh, please don’t waste your items on the wild pokémon,” Ebony said when she was what Lillie was up to.

"But... what will happen to them?" Lillie asked.

“The others will come back for them! I mean, gosh, do you heal every single random encounter you fight while you’re training?”

“Oh, I suppose not,” Lillie admitted, feeling very silly all of a sudden.

The clefairy, however, began tugging on her sleeve. What did she want?

“Oooohhh, I see what you’re doing,” Ebony commented from behind. “You’re trying to get one for your collection. Very smart.”

Lillie was taken aback by this. “Oh… well, no, I…”

She looked back at the clefairy, who looked up at her and nodded.

“Didn’t you say you only have one pokémon?” Ebony continued. “You should take whatever you can get, girl. And those things can be a menace when you evolve them. I fought someone with a clefable once who had the most annoying strategy ever. Cosmic power six times; moonlight to heal; magic guard to make it immune to status; minimize six times; then just when you think it’s a stall war, it hits you with a stored power… Aarrgh! Just thinking about that stupid match makes me angry!!!”

Lillie had mixed feelings about using clefairy, as it reminded her of when she had played with her mother's as a child. However, it seemed like it could prove to be a valuable team member.

---

When Ebony and Lillie walked back into the main chamber, one of the female miners yelled, “Hey Ebony! If you’re done playing with little girls, we’re gonna get onix back out!”

“Fine!” Ebony yelled back.

“What exactly are you even doing here?” Lillie questioned.

“Oh, just mining for fossils. It’s kind of a side hustle for the company,” Ebony explained dispassionately.

One of the miners threw a poké ball, and out came an enormous rock snake that stood as tall as a building. Its head nearly scraped the ceiling of the cavern! And strangely, the pokémon seemed to be enveloped in a dark aura.

“Um… is it supposed to look like that?” Lillie asked, not remembering onix being a dark-type.

“Look like what?” Ebony questioned.

“I mean that weird shadowy aura around it,” Lillie explained. “It’s creepy.”

“Uh… I don’t know what you’re talking about, girl,” Ebony replied, squinting at the onix and looking immensely confused. “It’s probably just a trick of the light. I bet you’re not used to being in a cave.”

“Oh. Maybe,” Lillie said doubtfully. It was strange that Ebony couldn’t see it… perhaps it really was a trick of the light. Either way, Lillie didn’t feel like pressing the issue.

Lillie and Ebony said goodbye and parted ways, and it wasn't long until Lillie reached the other end of Mt. Moon. It was already night by this time, so Lillie decided to stop and spend the night at the pokémon center instead of trying to continue.