The Pokemon Swap Meet! A New Cosmog?!
"I-I'm sorry Lillie, I had no idea you felt that way..." Ash breathed out, his cheeks reddened as Lillie pulled herself away from him.
"You feel the same way right?" Lillie asked with a hopeful expression, her cheeks remained rather bright as she gazed into Ash's eyes, her body quivering from excitement.
"About that, Lillie I-I'm sort of with someone now." Ash tried his best to let her down easy, his gaze flickered towards Marnie as the Dark specialist was busy trying to pry Morpeko away from the sweets stall. "If I had known then perhaps things might be different."
Lillie hung her head as visible sadness formed across her face. Ever since Ash had left Alola she had hoped that he'd eventually find his way back to her and that the two of them could get together, like Professor Kukui and Burnet.
"You'll find somebody, I'm sure of it!" Ash placed his hand on her shoulder in a supportive manner. "You're sweet and caring, got some good looks to you, and you're great with Pokemon! I'm sure some guy out there will come along and sweep you off your feet!" Ash noticed Marnie finally pried Morpeko away, the rodent Pokemon flailed his arms about frantically in a bid to get back to the sweets. "I-I should go, I know you're not very confrontational and I'm not sure how Marnie will react to this. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me!" Ash flashed his close friend a final smile before rushing over to help Marnie.
"I don't just want any guy... I want you!" Lillie muttered, tears in her eyes as she watched Ash meeting back up with Marnie.
All the Ultra Guardians apart from Gladion stood in a hotel lobby as Lusamine explained what was happening.
"Alright so we've deduced that whatever is causing those portals to show up is on Akala Island, first those Buzzwole and Xurkitree showed up, then a Stakataka." Which Gladion managed to handle on his lonesome as he happened to be nearby, just missing the frightened Cosmog by a few seconds! "So until we figure what's causing this I'd ask for you all to stay here. Rooms are already paid for and you're free to walk around, just be ready and on alert for the next call, and if you see anything out of the ordinary give Wicke or Faba a call and they'll be right there!"
"I'll just continue sleeping at home as I live just down the road," Kiawe waved off a key as it was offered to him.
"And I'll go with him, it'll be like a sleepover!" Sophocles exclaimed.
Marnie took the key meant for her and Chloe, May took her key and flashed Zach a smirk causing him to lightly blush while rubbing his arm, while Mallow, Lillie, and Lana all took the same key. Lillie cast Ash a glance as he took his own key before she walked off with Lana and Mallow to their room.
"So what should we do while we wait? Sightsee, look for Pokemon or-" Zach was suddenly interrupted by Marnie.
"Actually there's a Pokemon Swap Meet going on in town, seeing how Ash has displayed interest in owning a Centiskorch and you've wanted a Scizor, why don't the two of trade Sizzlipede and Scyther? Neither of you really used them, and you really only caught Sizzlipede to avoid harming it in battle. Maybe you could offload Vulpix and Litwik there too and find them some trainers!"
Ash and Zach gave each other a look, what she said was essentially the truth. Scyther hadn't been utilized since Ash had captured him and Sizzlipede was collecting dust at Sonia's lab! However Zach had never made a trade before and trading was always a sensitive subject with Ash.
"Maybe a trial run? I did the same sort of thing with Dawn's Buizel and my Aipom back in the Sinnoh days, we spent the day with the other's Pokemon and made a decision at the end!" Ash suggested.
Zach still looked unsure but after a few minutes of thinking it over he eventually nodded in agreement to the idea. The two split off to use the nearby video phones in the hotel's lobby where Ash contacted Professor Oak in order to transfer over Scyther.
"Ash my boy, so nice to hear from you again!" Professor Oak greeted Ash with a wave and a smile as his face appeared for a brief moment before Muk appeared and pinned the Professor to the floor of his lab.
"Muk!"
"Ahhh! N-Now's not the time, Muk!" Professor Oak struggled to push Muk off while Ash chuckled before giving his Poison type a wave.
"Hello Muk!"
"Muk!" Muk turned to face the screen with a cheerful smile upon seeing his trainer, allowing Professor Oak enough time to get out from under him.
"It's good to see you too Professor, I was wondering if you could send over Scyther?"
"Certainly, Scyther's been itching to get out and stretch his wings. If you ask me it seems like he's seeking out a fight after being kept here for so long!" Professor Oak stated. "Of course you'll have to send a Pokemon over as you're already carrying six Pokemon,"
"No problem, I'll send you Inteleon for now." Ash placed the ball containing the Water type onto the transfer device, the ball disappeared in a flash of white light before reappearing on Oak's end as the Professor now held it in hand. Professor Oak disappeared from view for a moment before returning with Scyther's Pokeball in hand as he placed it on the machine.
"There you go, Scyther's on the way!"
"Thanks Professor, take care!"
"You too Ash, you should give your mother a call soon though. She misses you," Oak hinted before hanging up.
"You actually caught a Regirock and Buzzwole?!" Sonia was quick to exclaim upon Zach calling her, stars filled her eyes as she looked him over in amazement. "Where are they?"
"I sorta set them free, they're better off free and in the wild rather than me keeping them for selfish reasoning. There's plenty of Rock types out there that I can catch instead of Regirock, after what they went through it felt wrong to further imprison them within the confines of a Pokeball. They've got plenty of room to go about and are perfectly happy where we left them." He trusted Sonia but he didn't trust the phone, else he'd say where. "As for Buzzwole, it was lost and confused. It didn't understand our world and I honestly fear what it'd do to you and my other Pokemon if I attempted to keep it, it's better off back in it's home world like miss Lusamine suggested."
Sonia looked disappointed at his explanation but understood why. He cared a great deal for Pokemon, heck apart from Empoleon and Obstagoon every single one he owned had chosen to go with him, other than the ones he'd caught during the Gym battle but he'd done that to avoid causing them harm! That's why Sonia had fallen for him, despite her attempt to get over her feelings she knew she'd always feel that way but so long as May continued being the kind and supportive girlfriend that he deserved she was fine with it! But if she broke him? Sonia would hunt her to the ends of the earth!
Zach noted her disappointment and sweated. "I-I can send you Zeraora! I'll go ahead and send Obstagoon and Empoleon too, I'd like for you to send the three Pokemon I caught during the gym battle in return." Though there was the looming Ultra Beast threat he thought Lucario, Cinderace and Dragonite would be enough between his own and the other's Pokemon. He wanted to ensure that he found good homes for Sizzlipede, Litwik and the Kantonian Vulpix!
Sonia's eyes lit up as she clasped her hands together with glee, Zeraora had been with him since the moment he was captured so she hadn't really had a chance to study it yet. "Thanks so much, I'll take good care of him-them!" She quickly corrected herself upon realizing she singled Zeraora out. "Don't you worry!"
Zach placed Obstagoon's, Zeraora's, and Empoleon's Pokeballs onto the device and within a few short moments retrieved Sizzlipede's, Litwik's and Vulpix's!
"Thanks Sonia, catch you later!" He gave her a wave before turning around, forgetting to turn off the device. May let out a light giggle and walked to turn it off for him only for Sonia to speak up.
"May, I trust you'll take good care of him?" She gave May an icy stare as May sweat before quickly nodding her head.
"O-Of course, he means the world to me and I know he feels the same way! I could never imagine breaking his heart, we love each other and he trusts me fully!"
Sonia could tell by the color of May's cheeks and her tone that she was truthful, it's how she often spoke to her grandmother about him. Sonia gave a light smile before speaking up once more as her face turned serious, giving May a light threat. "Good cause if you ever did hurt him, know that I'll hunt you down and make you pay for it!"
May gulped and quickly nodded as a dark blush formed across her face while Sonia turned off the screen, she quickly made her way back to Zach and clenched her hand around his in a reassuring manner before kissing his cheek. Zach gave her an affectionate smile in return as they met back up with Ash.
"So how are we doing this trial run? We simply borrow the other's Pokemon and pit them against each other in battle?" Zach asked to which Ash nodded in response with a light grin.
"Pretty much, we'll see how we get along with them and if they adjust well or not to the situation. If everything goes great then we could possibly go through with the trade!" Ash exclaimed.
"Alright, doesn't hurt to try." Zach shrugged as he reached for the ball containing Sizzlipede while Ash reached for the one containing Scyther, the two soon held out the Pokeballs to the other as they temporarily swapped Pokemon.
"Any idea where you two can even battle? This hotel ain't exactly a battle resort ya know." Marnie pointed out as she didn't want them getting into trouble for battling it out right outside.
"Well where I caught Buzzwole isn't too far from here, there should be enough room in that clearing for Sizzlipede and Scyther to battle it out! It's not like they are star members of our teams, their attacks shouldn't go too far if they miss." Zach suggested.
Ash thought about it for a moment before giving a nod to the idea. "Sounds good to me, let's get going then!"
Lillie plopped down onto her bed and let out a loud sigh as she buried her head against the pillow, her attempts at hiding her tears didn't do so well as Lana picked up on her sniffles and walked closer to investigate.
"Lillie, you okay?" Lana placed her hand on her best friend's shoulder while speaking with a concerned tone to her voice.
"Y-Yeah, everything's fin-"
"Don't lie Lillie, I can tell you're lying." Lana narrowed her eyes, her tone went cold for a brief second. "Just say what's wrong, you can trust us! Gladion didn't distance himself from your family again did he?"
"N-No, he didn't! I-It's Ash, he-I... I like him! I-I've liked him almost the entire time I've known him, I-I thought that perhaps he felt the same way and hoped for the day that he'd return so I could tell him how I feel b-but he has a girlfriend now! I-I don't know what to do, I don't want to die alone!" Lillie sobbed as she looked up at Lana, tears flowing in her eyes.
"Lillie you're not the only one who had feelings for Ash, I too had a thing for him." Lana confessed while lightly rubbing her arm. "Still do actually but I've accepted that it's just not meant to be, I enjoy living at sea and he's a land lover. You'll get over it, trust me!"
"Yeah Lillie there are plenty of other guys out there, like Zach!" Mallow's head rested on her arms as she stared out the window with a longing expression.
Lana gave her a light glare. "You do realize that he's taken too, right? You're wasting your time."
"He's still dreamy!" Mallow gushed with stars in her eyes.
"I-I don't want any another guy, I want Ash!" Lillie sniffled before pushing Lana away.
Lana placed her hand back onto Lillie's shoulder after she'd pushed her away. "Lillie you may think that now but watch, some guy will come along and sweep you off your feet and you'll forget all about Ash!"
"I don't want to forget Ash!" Lillie practically screamed as she pushed Lana off of her before rushing out of the hotel room.
"Lillie wait!" Lana made a rush after her but by the time she'd reached the door, Lillie had already disappeared around the corner.
Ash and the others now stood at the clearing where Zach had encountered Buzzwole, it was currently clear of Pokemon and no doubt that was due to them possibly fearing the muscular Ultra Beast returning to terrorize them once more. Regardless it allowed them plenty of room for the two Pokemon to practice battle without having to worry about a wild Pokemon getting in the way, it also gave plenty of room for Marnie to help Chloe train her Wooloo. The two were practice battling nearby with Marnie's Murkrow being pit up against Wooloo, Ash could hear the two shouting off attacks as he gazed down at the ball containing Sizzlipede before eventually throwing it forward to release the fire centipede Pokemon!
"Sizzlipede!" The Fire/Bug type cried out, looking a bit surprised to see the one who captured it on the opposing side but didn't question it as he got ready for battle.
"Let's go, Scyther!"
"Scyther!" Scyther burst out and struck his scythe's against one another as he stared down at his opponent with a eager and battle hungry expression. "Scyther!"
"Looks like Scyther's eager to go!" Zach smirked as he threw out his arm. "Alright Scyther, use Air Slash!"
"Scyther!" Scyther's scythes proceeded to glow blue as he fired multiple light blue colored energy blades from his scythes, aiming them directly for Sizzlipede! The attack made it's mark and knocked Sizzlipede back but the Pokemon remained upright with a stubborn expression as Ash took a brief glance at his Rotom Phone before shouting out his own move.
"Fire Lash!" The end of Sizzlipede's tail proceeded to glow bright red as fiery yellow and red sparks flew off from it, the centipede turned around and lashed outwards with his tail, smacking Scyther right across the face as the Bug Pokemon let out a pain filled cry before proceeding to collapse to his side in an rather surprising defeat!
"Well that was underwhelming..." Ash muttered to himself.
"Sizz!" A bright blue light surrounded the Pokemon as it began undergoing evolution, it's body vastly began to grow and expand as the large centipede Pokemon that Kabu considered his ace and partner Pokemon now stood before them!
"Centiskorch!"
"No way, that Sizzlipede must have been stronger than we thought!" Zach said from amazement as he gazed towards the newly evolved Pokemon before his attention turned back to the defeated Scyther as he slowly began to arise, an annoyed look formed across the Bug Pokemon's face as he let out a cry that indicated how much of a sore loser he was.
"Scyther!" Scyther flashed Centiskorch and Ash a glare before turning around and flying into the forest behind them!
"Scyther wait!" Zach tried recalling him with his Pokeball but the Bug type got out of it's radius causing him and his Pokemon to quickly give chase, May following on after him to ensure that he didn't get himself lost in there.
Scyther proved to live up to his species' fast nature as he'd already disappeared from sight and there wasn't a trace of him anywhere due to him flying and not leaving any tracks on the forest floor. Zach closed his eyes and paused for a moment as he decided to try and listen to his surroundings, Lucario copying his trainer before opening one eye as Zach had heard something in a nearby bush.
"Scyther?" He pushed apart the branches only to come face to face with a large black furred simian Pokemon, it's large red eyes gazed right at him for a moment before the two were quick to leap back from shock.
"Za!"
"Ahhh!"
The large monkey was quick to turn and run away, moving fast and giving little opportunity for neither Zach nor May to pull out their Pokedex to scan the Pokemon.
"What was that?!"
"I'm not sure but you're lucky you didn't get attacked." May watched where the Pokemon had ran off to. "That definitely looks like a Pokemon you don't want to get on the bad side of!"
"Well whatever that was it doesn't have to worry about us, come on let's go find Scyther!"
It took about an hour of searching and looking all over the forest, though May could swear they passed the same tree about twenty times but they eventually found Scyther! The praying mantis was sitting on a tree stump and pouting as he stared off into the distance, a mixture of anger and sadness in his gaze as he stared off in a random direction.
"Scyther..." He muttered out as he crossed his scythes.
"Scyther?" Scyther jerked his head up and glared at the approaching trainer. "I know you're upset that we lost, that was your first loss under a trainer wasn't it?" Scyther looked away but didn't say anything.
"I'll take that as a yes, look Scyther winning isn't everything. Back when Riolu and I were starting off we lost a lot of battles, for a long time we were considered the weakest of the class. But we never gave up, we kept fighting and working hard and eventually we got strong enough to start winning battles! We still lost every now and then, we're not perfect but we've certainly come a long way since then and even have some badges to show for it!" Zach exclaimed with a smile as he produced his badge case and showcased Scyther the Grass, Water, and Fire badges. Scyther gazed at them as he listened to the trainer. "Lucario, Cinderace, Dragonite and the others... they all worked hard to get where they are and we all support each other. We'd be happy to have you as part of our family too if you'll have us but if you'd rather not then we'd understand!"
"Carrr!"
"Ace!" Lucario and Cinderace nodded to show their trainer's words were true and added their own words of support as Scyther slowly looked towards them before tears started to form in his eyes as a smile formed across his face
"Scyther!" The Bug Pokemon nodded as Zach gave him a smirk before helping him up off the ground.
"Welcome to the team then Scyther, I promise we'll grow stronger together!"
Lillie sat at the beach, her head hidden behind her hands as she continued to sob while thinking about Ash. However a second set of sobs caused her to sniffle before moving her hand to peek out and much to her shocking surprise a second Nebby-no, Cosmog was present and crying as it floated about. It looked lost and afraid and Lillie couldn't help but briefly forget about her own feelings as her concern drifted towards the Cosmog.
"Hello there Cosmog," Lillie spoke out, reaching out with one hand while hastily wiping away her tears with the other as she forced a smile across her face.
"Pew?" The Cosmog turned to her as she called to it before cautiously floating towards her.
"You're lost, aren't you? Bet you came with one of those big mean Ultra Beasts didn't you?" Lillie smiled while petting Cosmog on the head, the nebula cloud let out a happy cry and Lillie couldn't help but giggle out as she was reminded of how cute Nebby was back when he was a Cosmog. "Hey Cosmog why don't you come back with me and I'll-"
"Hey girly, let go of that there cosmic cloud or I'll feed you to my Beartic!"
"Yeah yeah, Mandibuzz will love the leftovers!"
"PEW!" Cosmog's eyes widened as it uttered out a panicked sounding cry while Lillie was quick to spread out her arms before standing in front of it.
"I-I have no idea who you two are but I'm not afraid of you!" Lillie spoke confidently but her body said otherwise as her eyes were quick to take in the view of Beartic and Mandibuzz, the two Unova Pokemon gave her intimidating looks and from the looks of things they'd gone through some rather serious training lately.
"You should be girly, we grew tired of that jackal loving punk and his friends constantly beating us so we trained under a professional to get stronger! We ain't losing this time! I ain't going back to prison!" Leroy growled.
"Yeah, prepare to lose!" Cletus added on with a growl of his own as Beartic circled Lillie from the ground and Mandibuzz hovered about in the air above.
"No way, Snowy I need-"
"Sheer Cold!" Beartic spread out his arms and legs as he took a deep breath before firing off an icy cold dust of wind that quite literally froze Lillie in her tracks, her body quickly became encased in a block of ice while Snowy collapsed instantly upon release, Cosmog was taken out by the blast as well and right on time too as it didn't have time to accidentally release an Ultra Beast on them!
"Looks like our luck really is turning around," Leroy smirked, eyeing the frozen Lillie before picking up the unconscious Cosmog, giving Lillie a mocking bow afterwards. "Thank you ma'am, thanks to you we got our ticket back to Unova!"
"We're going home!" Cletus shouted eagerly, the two brothers clasped their hands together as Cosmog was dropped into a cage. They began to walk away, leaving Lillie standing there encased in a block of ice as they made their way to the docks.
"And trade complete!" The Pokemon Swap Meet official bowed his head to Ash and Zach as he handed them the balls containing Centiskorch and Scyther.
"Thanks!" Both simultaneously thanked the man while Zach enlarged the ball containing Scyther.
"First thing's first, let's see if it worked!"
"Scythe!" Immediately upon release Scyther was encased in a bright blue light as a large red protective shell of armor formed around his body. His scythes disappeared and were replaced with two large pincers which he snapped as he gazed down at his new body before pointing towards his new trainer with a respectful nod as the Rotom Phone chimed to announce Scizor's registration.
"Scizor the Pincer Pokemon, though its body is slim Scizor has tremendous attacking power. Even Scizor's muscles are made of metal!"
"You'll be an awesome addition to the team, Scizor!"
"Scizor!"
"I can't wait to get started training with Centiskorch!" Ash exclaimed as he gazed down at the ball containing his newly obtained Fire type before looking back up towards Zach. "You wanna train together?"
"Actually I'm gonna stay and try to find Litwik and Vulpix some nice homes, I'll be happy to do so later though!"
"Don't worry about it, I'll go and see if Kiawe wants to train!" Ash was quick on changing his mind, Marnie was still helping out Chloe so he figured he wouldn't ask her right that second as he started to walk away.
Zach released Litwik and Vulpix before getting properly set up to trade the two of them off, a large crowd quickly gathered with pretty much everyone making offers for the Kantonian Vulpix causing Zach to let out a nervous breath from the large crowd while May grabbed hold of his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze to let him know everything was okay.
"I'll trade you my Butterfree for Vulpix!" Flashbacks of his own Butterfree flashed through Zach's head, he was quick to shake his head before answering with a respectful no.
"I already have a Butterfree, sorry."
"I'll give you my Swablu for Vulpix!" A girl offered up, the offer striking up some memories of May's as she recalled the Swablu that she'd bonded with back during her initial Hoenn journey.
"Swablu, I've always wanted one since that day..." She muttered. Zach overheard her and cast her a glance before turning back to the girl and giving her a quick nod as the two walked off to the trading machine with him promptly returning once the trade was done. May soon felt a Pokeball being placed into her hand causing her to look down from surprise before turning to Zach with a questioning look as he replied with a smirk before pointing at Swablu's Pokedex entry to confirm what it was. May let out an ecstatic squeal as she threw her arms around his body before locking lips with him as she thanked her boyfriend for the gift.
Ash decided to take the scenic route to Kiawe's farm, it'd been awhile since he got to see the Alolan beaches after all. He gazed out at the ocean as he walked along the sandy shore, admiring the sight of Mantine and Alola Raichu surfing the waves together, Sharpedo racing across the vast ocean with some carrying passengers, while Wingull and Pelipper flew through the air above. That combined with the salty sea air brought back fond memories to him, he and Pikachu closed their eyes as they walked along the beach before walking right into a block of ice! Ash shivered and quickly leaped back before a look of shock and fright crossed his face at the sight of Lillie's frozen body!
"Lillie!" Ash shouted out, he was rather quick to release Charizard who let out a loud roar before melting the ice with a hot Flamethrower attack! Lillie fell onto her side as she was unthawed, her body still shivered and shook but she was quick to stand up as she pointed outwards.
"N-New Cosmog... s-stolen... n-not sure by who but they had the Team Rocket symbol on their chests..."
"Not Jessie and James then," Ash commented to himself as he rubbed his chin before lightly jumping upwards. "A new Cosmog?! Like Nebby?"
Lillie nodded in confirmation.
"H-How am I supposed to track it down?" Ash asked. Lillie had been frozen in ice, she wouldn't know where to go let alone how the Team Rocket thugs had left!
"Well... mother did design an app that could pick up Nebby's energy, you know in case it ever came in handy. Maybe it could pick up Cosmog's? I mean Cosmog evolves into Solgaleo so the energy should be similiar enough." Lillie explained as she looked down at her Rotom Phone. "I-I'd like to come along, it's my fault that Cosmog was captured and I'd like to do my part in rescuing it! I-If you don't mind..."
"Well it is your phone only right that you come along!" Ash grinned, Lillie flashed him a warm smile as she activated the app, a large map of the Alola region appeared on her screen for a moment before it picked up a small energy coming from the middle of the ocean, heading towards the direction of Unova! "Surely that's not... well it doesn't matter, time to rescue Neb-Cosmog!"
"Pi Pikachu!" Lillie couldn't help but give Ash an admiring look upon his dedication to rescue Cosmog before forming a heavy blush as he offered her help on climbing onto Charizard's back.
"Leroy, Cletus?" The two were currently on a yacht and standing across a more successfully dressed version of themselves! He looked nearly identical, cowboy hat and all with the only real difference being him wearing a suit with a large red R stitched onto a suit pocket. "You twos lucky I like you, you're supposed to be banished." He had his eyes narrowed as he eyed the two.
"Only until we brought back a rare and valuable Pokemon!" Leroy pointed out. "Ma said we could come back after that!"
"Well? Where is it?" The man looked around before focusing on the unconscious Cosmog as Cletus held up the cage. "Huh... no idea what this thing is but according to my device's sensors the power radiating off of that creature is impressive!" He clasped his hands together before pulling out a black Rotom Phone and sending off a quick text. "There, consider yourselves unbanished!" He reached out and took the cage from them as the two brothers looked at each other with glee.
"Hooray!" Cletus shouted.
"We're going back heroes, thanks Lenny! You always were my second favorite brother!" Leroy exclaimed. Lenny rolled his eyes before pointing at the broken down jet ski the two had came in on.
"Just get off my yacht, I'll see the two of you at home." Leroy and Cletus raced for the jet ski and not long after they took off, Lenny heard a loud thud behind him, resulting in him turning around before going pale as he was face to face with an angry looking Charizard. He was quick to hold up his hands and drop the cage containing Cosmog. He may be loyal to Team Rocket but he wasn't foolish enough to see when he was beat, that or he didn't want Charizard destroying his beloved yacht!
"Cosmog!" Lillie raced towards the cage and opened it, hugging Cosmog as it let out loud cries of appreciation at the rescue.
"Pew pew pew!"
"You're Ketchum, aren't you?" Lenny asked, keeping his eyes locked on Charizard as he backed away. "I'd appreciate it if you got that monster off my yacht-Aaah!" Charizard fired a fireball at the engine upon the insult, causing it to explode as Lenny clasped his palms against his head as he shouted out. "My yacht!"
"Why did you steal Cosmog?" Ash calmly questioned while petting Charizard to calm it.
"Wasn't me, that was Leroy and Cletus. They wanted back in Unova and proved their worth by giving our ma a rare and valuable Pokemon, they succeeded and it got lost in transfer... oh well. You won't hear from them again unless you go to Unova so I'd politely ask for you and that disgusting rat of yours to get off my ya-aaah!" Pikachu gave Lenny a shock of electricity, causing the man to collapse onto his side while Ash helped Lillie back onto Cosmog.
"Weird family." He muttered before giving Cosmog a brief glance as Charizard took off into the air, leaving the yacht and Lenny behind.
Lenny looked over his burning yacht before angrily shaking his fist as he watched Ash fly away. "Curse you Ketchum, curse you-!" He didn't get to finish as a large and long arm burst from the water, attached to an equally large black pincer that grabbed ahold of the yacht before pulling it into the ocean, followed by the satisfied sound of somebody finishing a delicious meal. Lenny burst up for air while giving a horrified glance back down at the sight he'd just witnessed. "W-What the heck was that?!" He saw bubbles rising upwards as the large monstrous creature made it's way back towards Alola and Cosmog, resulting in Lenny quickly swimming the opposite way and further out to sea despite there being nothing there. No way he was going where that nightmarish creature was headed!
"So there's more than one Cosmog, interesting." Faba stated as he eyed Cosmog before Lillie protectively pulled it into her grasp. Faba raised up his hands in defense.
"Hey now I'm a changed man, that hurts!"
"Faba's just curious, that's all. I understand your concerns but Faba's one of us now, he'd never betray us!" Wicke stated.
"Well that'd certainly explain the unusual activity around here," Lusamine noted, looking Cosmog over before focusing her gaze back onto her daughter. "Lillie, can I count on you to raise Cosmog for us? Nebby definitely benefited from the attention Ash gave him and I believe it's best to repeat that behavior by having somebody raise this Cosmog."
"And I can help if you want!" Ash offered with a kind smile, resulting in Lillie forming a blush as she gazed towards Ash. Marnie glanced at Lillie but didn't say or make a visible reaction.
"Some help would be nice actually, Nebby was quite a handful and I'm sure this Cosmog will be too!"
"There are still questions to be solved too like where did it come from and why is it here?" Wicke pondered while looking Cosmog over. Unaware that they were being watched from afar by Dulse and Zossie as they watched them through the walls with heat sensors installed within their helmets.
"They've got Cosmog!" Dulse growled out.
"Oh come on Dulse, they don't seem too bad! That Pikachu kid is actually kinda cute! Maybe if we ask nice-"
"No. You can't trust a human!" Dulse growled out as he focused his gaze on Ash and Lillie. "We'll have to take Cosmog back the hard way."
Zossie bit her lip before giving a light nod as she focused her gaze on the humans.
The new Cosmog is Lillie's, I loved Ash getting to bond with Nebby but it felt like Lillie got a bit cheated so I decided it'd only be fair if she got to bond with this one!
I have an honest question though, I've been thinking about it the past few days. What would you think if Ash got with both Lillie and Marnie? The more I write Lillie the more fond I'm growing of the pairing. I sorta want to do it but if it upsets people then I won't
