Chapter 3
"Actually... I do." I said it... and Lillie is going to be very upset with me. Just as I thought, she has a crestfallen face.
"Who?" Lillie asks as she starts to make depressing sounds. I wonder why, did she really think my words didn't match her? Fine. Maybe I should just be bold right now.
"You." I was hoping that Lillie didn't hear it, but it is too late, Lillie widens her eyes as she starts to blush. I start to panic and say, "Forget what I said! I-I..."
"Is that what you think of me?" Lillie asks with a surprised tone. Dear Arceus... please save me from this mess I created... you know what? I don't care anymore. I quickly rush forward and kiss her, wrapping my arms around her.
At first, I thought she would be mad at me and try to push me away, but instead, she starts to enjoy the kiss and she also wraps her arms around my arms. Her lips are so soft, although it has the taste of the cookies that I just made.
After breaking the kiss, we decide to take a breath. "Did... did this answer your question?"
Lillie starts to have tears in her eyes, but under her tears, she's smiling. "Oh, Ash... you have no idea how happy you made me... you are my admiration, and I really want to be with you."
I can't believe it! She accepts it! She wants to be my girlfriend! I glance at Pikachu, Sylveon, and Snowy, Pikachu and Snowy are having red faces while Snowy's eyes are covered by Sylveon's ribbons.
"So that means... we're dating, right?" I ask with a shy voice...damn it, I'm not acting like myself... I hope Lillie didn't find me weird.
"If you want to." Lillie says. "Just so you know, no matter if I have Serena's memories or not, I've always wanted to be with you."
I smile and I hear Pikachu's voice, "Finally... I've waited so many years for it to happen..."
"What about you and Sylveon, huh?" I ask Pikachu, who starts to blush and so does Sylveon.
"What will happen to uncle Pikachu and aunt Sylveon?" Snowy asks.
"You'll learn that when you grow older." Sylveon replies.
Lillie looks at me and asks, "So Ash, how long were you able to talk with your Pokemon?"
"Maybe 2 months ago. Each of my family has the power known as Aura. It is some sort of energy inside of me that makes me able to communicate with Pokemon and look into minds, and by mastering it, I can also use Pokemon moves of my free will."
"So did you look into my mind back then?" Lillie stares at me questioningly.
"I am not going to do that to you. I trust you enough that I don't need to look into your mind. I only use that to evil criminals who keep lying to us." I say.
"Of course." Lillie gives me a smile. "So what are we going to do now?"
I look at the clock, it is already 4:30. "Did you have a place to stay? If you don't mind, do you want to stay at my house with me?"
Lillie says, "A sleepover? Though I don't have any luggage with me... maybe I should contact Hobbes and ask my staff members to send some here."
"That will be nice..." I say, and then Lillie takes out her own phone. Ash says, "Well, you'll do your thing, well I'm going to prepare dinner."
After I go into the kitchen, all I've been thinking about is making a special dinner for my new girlfriend. While I was cooking, I also hear their voices of them talking.
"Mother, Father... Ash and I are now dating."
"I can't believe it! You actually did it, my baby girl." This is probably Lusamine's voice, and I'm glad that she's supportive of me being in a relationship with her daughter.
"Well yeah... I guess Serena really helped me with that. Speaking of Serena... how do you deal with the robot?"
"The Robot is now at our lab's storage, all of the memories of the robot are now inside you, which means that if we want to activate it again, it will be just like a baby born into the world again." This voice is probably Professor Mohn, Lillie's father. I remember that she spent almost a year trying to find her father, only to find that he was living with a shiny Nihilego at the Crown Tundra.
"So the reason you call us is not just trying to talk to us about the good news, right?" Lusamine asks.
"Yeah... I want to stay at Ash's house and probably stay with Ash for a lot of days... I just want to tell you that I won't be back home for who knows when..."
"I see." Mohn nods. "Just be careful and don't let any danger happen to you."
"And remember that we're not old enough to become a grandmother." Lusamine adds.
Those words cause me almost to cut my finger with the knife, it is a good thing that it doesn't hurt me. "Mother!" Lillie gives out a scream and I wince, she is probably embarrassed.
"By the way, did you have any luggage with you right now? Should I ask Hobbes to bring some here?" Mohn asks.
"Please do." Lillie says. "And don't worry, Ash has a giant Pokemon territory in his backyard, it will be fine to place the helicopter here."
"I see. Be sure to say hi to Ash." Lusamine says as they end the call. Lillie sighs and she notices me finish cutting the vegetables.
"Do you want me to help?" Lillie asks me, and I turn to her and smile, "Are you sure? I don't want you to get hurt by the fire."
"I'm fine, I also asked my staff to teach me cooking. Mallow also teaches me some cooking skills as well." Lillie says.
"If that's the case, here is what I want to make for dinner."
I explain every ingredient and their purposes, and then we start to work with the dishes, I still have questions about Serena being a robot thing, so I ask, "So Lillie, you said that Serena was a robot that was made from your memories in the past... how did she even get the handkerchief that I gave you?"
"Maybe one of the Aether Employees took it from my room and gave it to her, and if I have to guess, it should've been Xavier." Lillie says.
"Xavier? Who is he?" I decide to ask since I have never met someone named Xavier before.
"Xavier is one of our best scientists in the Aether Foundation, and he is the one taking care of the robot because Faba is our branch chief after all. His lab is in Vaniville Town, and you can say he's Serena's father."
"Serena's father..." I mutter, "So his wife is the famous Rhyhorn Racer Grace?"
"Yes. And because of it, I have some memories of practicing Rhyhorn racing." Lillie gives a sigh, "And to be honest, I didn't enjoy it as much."
"But if you manage to get Serena's memories back, how will the world deal with it? I heard that Serena has been working as a Contest Idol with Lisia and my friend May." I ask since that is also a question that I want to know.
"About that, my mother already dealt with it. It actually took a month for all of Serena's memories to finish flowing inside me." Lillie says.
"But now that Serena is terminated, what will happen to her parents?" I ask, there are a lot of times I met Serena's mother, and she is a nice person.
"Don't worry about them, they are still having a normal life, my father didn't punish them, he didn't mind them creating another robot for their use. The only reason he was angry was that they used my memories to create Serena, which is considered stealing."
"So they'll still have their own Serena, only that it won't be the same Serena that I traveled with in Kalos." I nod, and now I think I understand everything. "But you mentioned that Serena helped you, how did she help you?"
Lillie was about to drop the spatula until I quickly pick it up, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't ask that..."
"No, it's fine. It's just, I never thought how bold Serena is... or maybe I should say how bold I am. There was one time I decided to wear your clothes and disguise as you to battle some trainer."
"I think I remember that. Did you find it weird?" I ask.
"No... I knew you weren't able to battle in that condition but dressing up as you... it is an experience that I never thought would happen." Lillie says.
"I see..." I watch as the color of the Slowpoke Tail starts to become a perfect brown, and then Lillie says, "But there are some things I couldn't explain how I worked after gaining Serena's memories, and because of it, my father has been chatting with Dr. Xavier a lot. Did you remember that I cut my hair short?"
"Yeah, after your first loss at the Pokemon Showcase. Now that I think about it, how did you even cut your hair if you're a robot?"
It is not just cutting the hair, when I decided to release Goodra back to the swamp, Serena was also crying, where did the tears come from? And when that time she fell from the Skiddo, where did the blood also come from?
"I have to guess that Dr. Xavier really put a lot of his mind and effort into the robot." Lillie says. "He must have worked really hard to make every single part of the body for Serena."
"Ah, that might explain it." I decide to stop this weird conversation because I don't really understand robotics and human anatomy.
After we finish cooking, we all sit at the table as we continue different conversations, like some stories about our past journeys and new things that we learned from the news, we were also interrupted when we hear the Aether Foundation helicopter bringing Lillie's belongings to my yard, and it's a good thing that I warned all of my Pokemon to get away before the helicopter goes for a safe landing.
Now I was thinking about giving Lillie my Mom's bedroom, but Lillie wants to sleep with me in the same bed because we're boyfriend and girlfriend. I guess it is fine for me since my Mom's bedroom is quite big.
After we manage to change into pajamas, we are now sleeping in the same bed while facing each other. Lillie asks, "So what are you planning to do tomorrow?"
"I'm going to visit Professor Oak... thanks to you, I feel like my lost spirit has been trying to get back to myself. I should probably let him know so that he isn't going to get worried all the time." I reply.
"I'm glad. No matter who you are, I always love you." Lillie says while closing her eyes.
"I love you as well." I mutter before I also fall asleep.
Here is another new chapter, and I should explain that there won't be any Gen 9 in this story, and this is basically a normal story since I have been writing a lot of blood shed and I want to take a break from it. I hope you like this chapter.