Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, the anime/movies belong to The Pokemon Company as do any characters from the show including the Pokemon.
Alice sat in the Pokemon centre, watching television while her Pokemon were being cared for. The ten year old girl was determined to continue her journey with her best friends, her Pokemon.
"Here you are, all happy and healthy." Nurse Joy smiled at the girl as she handed over the Pokeballs containing Alice's best friends.
"Thank you Nurse Joy." Alice smiled back.
She was about to leave the centre when she was distracted by a news reporter on the television.
"Professor Spencer Hale disappeared in the field. He was researching legendary Pokemon known as Unown." the reporter then began to explain what Unown were, but Alice wasn't listening to that. She felt her head spinning, one question swirling around her mind. Was Molly safe?
She arrived in Greenfield two days later. Alice headed straight to the mansion, walking inside. She nodded to servants who recognised her and finally arrived in the dining room where she saw Skyler, the assistant of her father, with the butler.
"Now the young misses are all alone in this world." the butler was sadly telling Skyler. Molly ran downstairs excitedly expecting to see their father home. She was disappointed until she saw Alice - the girl hadn't been home in weeks and Molly ran to her. Alice pulled her younger sister into a tight hug, fighting back tears. Knowing that the eight year old didn't know about their father's disappearance, Alice gently led her into the dining room.
"Miss Alice! I didn't realise you were home."
"Hello Alice, Molly." Skyler nodded to the girls. He wondered what would happen to Molly, who'd take care of the girl now that both her parents had disappeared. He'd have done it, but he was always travelling between Kanto and Johto to look at new discoveries which was no life for a child. "Molly, we need to talk."
"I'll tell her." Alice told the adults. They nodded and left the girls together - the news was best coming from the person Molly had always been closest to, ever since she was born.
"Molly. It's about Papa."
"Where is he, Alice?" Molly asked, tears forming in the girls eyes.
"He… he disappeared. While looking for the Unown." Alice gently explained to the girl. "Their looking for him, but…"
"He may not come home… Like Mama didn't." Molly's voice cracked and Alice watched as the tears finally began to flow. She pulled the younger girl into an embrace, and they both cried.
Not long after, Alice finally let her Pokemon out - she knew she'd be staying home until their father returned, or until it was decided he wasn't going to come back. She watched her sister pick up a box which their father had found on the expedition, which was full of small tokens with Unown on them. Molly was playing with them, which seemed harmless enough to Alice, making names.
"Look, Alice! I can make our names with the Unown! Mama… and Papa… Together, with us." Molly showed her sister. She'd found Unown that spelt out Molly and Alice, linking those names by one 'l' and then put Mama with Molly linking the 'm' and finally Papa by linking the 'a'.
"Yes, I can see. That's very good, Molly." Alice smiled at the girl as she sat next to her. She saw Molly begin to cry again, and suddenly the tiles began to glow.
"Molly…" Alice began to worry. She was past worrying when the tiles flew up into the air. Unown appeared around the girls, floating around them.
"Unown… Do you all wanna play with us?" Molly asked, reaching out towards them. Alice watched them warily, they may be the reason their parents had disappeared or they may not, but she knew she did not like the idea of them being this close to Molly.
Especially not when crystal ice stuff began to spread out beneath the girls. Alice gasped remembering the stuff from before she left for her journey - a game Molly and Alice played when they were little, where they were explorers and found ice that was made out of crystals. Molly used to love that game, being 'just like Mama and Papa'. It seemed that the Unown were drawing on Molly's memories and imagination, creating things for her they thought she wanted.
Molly picked up her book, a birthday present from their father for Molly's eighth birthday. It showed her all the different legendary Pokemon and what they might look like. She opened the book to the page for Entei, which was Molly's favourite legendary. She began crying again as she slammed the book shut.
"Papa…" Molly whispered.
The Unown created an Entei for Molly, which believed itself to be her Papa. Molly looked happy for the first time since the news of their fathers disappearance had been broken to her, which made Alice feel conflicted. She was unsure if she should go along with this, or tell Molly the truth that this was not their father.
Unknown to the two girls, the crystal ice was not just in the mansion but beginning to spread outside of it covering everything in its path. Also unknown to them was that they were about to meet someone from their past, someone they had known all of their lives.