Chloe had never been to the Pokémon School before, so upon seeing it's green exterior, her mind immediately went back to Professor Kukui's house. 'The only other possibility' she granted, 'is that Alola has a lot of green trees.'

The building itself looked to house multiple classrooms on multiple floors, with a great silver bell in the highest part of the building. The destination that she, Lana, and Mallow, were making for was a classroom on the bottom floor. There was a wide open wall to the classroom, letting in the orange sunset and fresh evening breeze of Alola. 'I guess it just goes to show how closely tied to nature Alola is…'

The rest of the classroom had chairs and tables set up for the party, but Chloe did catch the desks for the classroom all carefully maneuvered into one corner. On the walls and hanging from the ceiling were off-white plastic stars that Chloe was pretty sure would glow in the dark once the sun set fully. There was also a speaker system set up where someone could plug their phone in and play music on the inside wall of the classroom.

It seemed like they were going with some sort of starry night theme for this surprise party.

At one of the tables, setting up the food on offer was Mallow, the incredibly talented chef among the Alolans that Ash was close friends with. She was doing some last minute touches to the assortments of fruits, vegetables, and cheeses on the table. She carefully adjusted a tray of fruits, doing her best not to get any food on her dress.

The fact that they had dressed up in such short notice still shocked Chloe, who still wasn't fully clued into what Mallow and Lana were planning for the evening.

Mallow was wearing a fairly simple dress with a forest green top and a brighter, paler green skirt with a floral pattern. Her hair was still in its usual style, with the flower hairband that matched the pattern on her skirt. On her wrist, she wore her Z-Ring as an accessory. She took a few steps away from the table and nodded. "Great! That's just perfect!"

Lana was wearing a simpler dress, all a navy blue with a bright bubble pattern running all the way from the top to the bottom. She still wore her sandals and Chloe was pretty sure that she was still wearing her swimsuit beneath it as well. Like Mallow, she, too, wore her Z-Ring, looking like a piece of jewelry. She was over at the huge food bowl, pouring in a little bit more Pokémon food as Tsareena, Primarina, Sandy, and Eevee all watched closely. Chloe could see her Pokémon's mouth watering from where she stood.

Chloe herself was also dressed up. When Mallow and Lana had spirited her away in the early part of the day, she wasn't sure where they were going, but when they brought her to a dress shop in Hau'oli, she had a sinking suspicion that this was how things would end up.

The dress she chose was blue at the top with a white sash around the middle and with a purple skirt that was pink right towards the end. When she saw it her mind went immediately back to the flower field outside of Pallet Town that Ash showed her and if they were going to make her wear this, it might as well be something that looked beautiful, right?

Still, she stood there, not really doing anything to help prepare, only taking in the preparations that everyone else did. 'Isn't this supposed to be Lillie's party? Not mine?' she thought.

Mallow caught her frowning and walked over. "C'mon, Chloe, cheer up! You catch way more Pokémon with Sweet Honey than you do vinegar!"

Chloe's frown deepened. "I'm not trying to catch a Pokémon," she retorted.

"Ash is practically a Pokémon himself," Lana interjected. "It's a really good plan."

"Eievui!" Eevee chirped in agreement.

Chloe's face just turned more and more sour. "Et tu, Eevee?"

"Just relax," Mallow said. "I know you're worried that this won't be enough of a party for Lillie, but it's not like we're going to put the spotlight on you or anything," she said. "Trust us, Lillie is our dear friend, too. We wouldn't short-change her just because we're totally curious about this romance."

"Mallow's right," Lana said, patting Chloe on the shoulder. "Just relax and have fun tonight! Whatever happens, happens! Besides, I bet Ash'll take one look at you and his jaw'll drop!"

"Y-You really think so…?"

"Absolutely!" Lana said, taking her hand off of Chloe's shoulder and shoving her forward. "Now go get 'im!"

Chloe stumbled forward from the shove and closed her eyes as she was pushed. Before she could fall over, two strong hands grabbed onto her arms.

"Chloe! You okay? You look like you tripped."

Chloe looked up and saw Ash's brown eyes looking back at her. He was still wearing his orange hat, but the concerned look on his face made her heart skip.

Then she saw Pikachu perched on Ash's shoulder and realized he wasn't wearing his regular clothes.

Standing back up straight and taking a few steps backwards, Chloe smiled. "Thanks, Ash… but what's with that getup?"

Ash was dressed in a black suit and pants, with a blue tie that he was already pulling at uncomfortably. On his wrist, he wore his black Z-Ring, with the yellow Z Crystal that was shaped like Pikachu's tail. He frowned. "For some reason when we got here, Mallow said that we had to dress up, so I just changed clothes with what they had."

Goh stepped around him, dressed just like Ash, only with a red necktie. "We all did," he said with a shrug.

Sophocles stepped out from behind Goh, dressed likewise but with an orange necktie, but Kiawe stood dressed as he normally was. "I refused," he said.

Chloe turned back towards Ash, sizing him up in his somewhat tidier appearance. His hair was still poking out in different places from his hat, but the rest of his clothes were very neat and he of course had his winning smile. "You… you look really great, Ash," she stammered out, trying her best to compliment him. She looked away from him and she was sure that the blush on her face was obvious.

Ash looked back at her, his eyes taking in the colors. He frowned a bit, which Chloe recognized immediately as his 'thinking face'. Once he clearly made the connection, his eyes widened and a smile grew on his face. "...your dress is like the flowers outside of Pallet Town…" he said, somewhat in awe.

Still blushing and not making eye contact, Chloe nodded. "Y-Yeah…" she said. "I uh… I picked it out because it reminded me of them. Do you like it?"

She looked up at him out of the corner of her eye and saw something she was unfamiliar with. Ash had taken a step back, and put his hand behind his head, chuckling bashfully. He seemed to be blushing as well, a faint red coloring his cheeks.

That just made Chloe's face burn even hotter.

"Pikapi…" Pikachu said with a sigh before shrugging. He looked at Chloe with a look on her face that communicated to her 'Well, what can you do?', to which Chloe responded with a giggle of her own.

"You've got that right, Pikachu," she giggled.

"No need to worry!" smiled the Rotomdex as they floated behind Ash. "I'll be sure to take plenty of pictures so that we can all remember this night forever!"

Chloe couldn't look at Ash after hearing something like that, so she looked at her feet instead. From her peripheral vision, she could see that Ash was shyly looking towards the ceiling.

'I hope something comes that can break up this awkwardness,' she thought.

"Big brother…!" came a young girl's voice from behind them, causing the students to turn around. Entering the classroom was a girl that looked almost exactly like Kiawe, only several years younger and wearing a dress.

"Mimo…?" Kiawe asked, watching her come in, followed by two grown-ups. "Mom? Dad?"

'I guess this is Kiawe's family, then,' she thought. The little girl he called Mimo wore a pink dress with a red skirt, and she stamped right up to Kiawe. "You need to dress up if everyone's going to dress up, big brother!" she said, pouting cutely.

Kiawe's stern expression faded instantly. "Anything you want, sis!" he chuckled before turning to his friends. "I'll be right back!"

Mallow stepped up next to Chloe as Kiawe left. "So that's Kiawe's family. And entering now is Lana's family!"

The grown ups found a place at the edge of the room while Ash and Pikachu began talking to Mimo in Kiawe's absence. Entering now were a woman and two smaller girls whom, if Chloe didn't know better, looked like exact clones of Lana, only differentiated by their apparent ages. All three of them were dressed in outfits that looked a lot like Lana's.

"Lana!" the young twins called in unison. "We came! We came! Is Lillie here yet?!"

"Not quite," Lana chuckled. "And if you misbehave, she won't get here at all! So stay on your best behavior, okay? No matter what you see tonight, no outbursts."

"No outbursts?" one of the girls asked.

"Or Lillie won't be able to get here?"

Lana nodded. "So be good! Okay?"

"Ooookaaay…" the twins groaned before beginning to walk toward Mimo and striking up a chat with her.

Lana turned to Chloe. "Those two are Harper and Sarah. You… probably wanna be ready for them, later."

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"You'll see."

Entering the room after that were a man and woman who closely resembled Sophocles, with the man dressed in a tuxedo, and the woman in a plain-looking sundress and a light jacket.

"Hey, Mom and Dad!" Sophocles said, waving to them with a wide grin on his face.

They waved back with his father shooting him a thumbs up as well. "Lookin' good, Sophocles!"

Sophocles chuckled, his face flushed in embarrassment. "Yeah, well…"

At this time, Kiawe returned. He still wasn't wearing a shirt, but he had put on the jacket, pants, and shoes, Chloe noticed. He still wore his Z-Ring on his wrist. "Mimo! I'm back!" he said, approaching his little sister.

Chloe took several steps back from the group until she ended up closer to the Pokémon than any person, looking around, she found Goh nearby, letting out Cinderace and Inteleon to enjoy the food, as well as letting Grookey slip off his head.

"...do we really belong here for this big party?" she asked him.

Goh shrugged. "Well, maybe not," he admitted, "but we're here as Ash's guests, right? I'm sure it's fine."

"Chloe! Goh!" Ash said, charging back up towards them. "You guys! C'mon, this is a party for everyone, right?" His hand quickly found Chloe's and linked fingers with her. "You two can't be wallflowers like this!"

"W-Wait!" Chloe protested, her face heating up. "What about letting out everyone else's Pokémon?" she asked.

Ash stopped and nodded, letting go of her hand. He reached into his pants pockets and pulled out five Poké Balls. "C'mon out, everyone!" he shouted, letting out Dragonite, Gengar, Lucario, Sirfetch'd and Dracovish to join the party with everyone else's Pokémon. This caught Sophocles and Kiawe's attention by doing so and they sent out Togedemaru, Vikavolt, Turtonator, and Marowak to join in as well.

Chloe looked around. "It sure is a lively party," she noted, a bead of sweat forming on her forehead. "Lots and lots of people I barely know are here…"

"You're telling me?!" Goh nervously responded. "I definitely don't do so well in big crowds like this…"

Ash approached them from behind and threw his arms around both of them. "C'mon, guys! Don't be shy!"

"A-Ash!" they both shouted simultaneously as Ash pulled them towards the group.

As he did, the Professors Kukui and Burnet arrived, both putting fingers over their lips. Burnet held Lei in her free hand.

Kukui spoke first. "Alright, we're going to need everyone to quiet down. Lillie and her family are on their way in right now! When they come in, we need to give them our biggest 'Alola Surprise', got it? It needs to be a real Uproar."

"Got it, Professor!" Ash said, pumping his fist as everyone else quieted down, even the Pokémon.

All eyes turned toward the door and awaited the entrance and return of Lillie and her family.

Chloe swallowed her nervousness, but the heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach was hard to combat. She stood right next to Ash and looking at him both soothed those worries as well as made her stomach twist up all the more. The words she shared with Goh the night before came back to her mind, but she couldn't shake the idea that perhaps Goh had been wrong, all along.

Her concentration was broken at the sound of footsteps, and with her eyes turned towards the door, her anticipation at an all-time high. It was at that moment she saw her enter the classroom.

The girl wore a wide-brimmed hat and a white sleeveless dress with a sky-blue hem and collar. It was ornate without being overly decorated. On her wrist, she wore a white Z-Ring with a red leather strap. She had very long platinum-blonde hair with two braids hanging down, framing her face. Her eyes were green like Chloe's, but they were closer to the color of the sea rather than Chloe's emerald green eyes. The girl's eyes went wide, and her hands covered her mouth.

"Oh, my…!"

From behind her came a boy who looked to be a few years older than the girl, with the same platinum blonde hair and sea-green eyes. His hair was much shorter, with a long jagged bang covering one of his eyes. He wore two earrings on the ear Chloe could see, a red Z-Ring, and a black vest with a red tie and black pants. His visible eye went wide as well.

Behind the two of them came a tall woman with hair and eyes the same shades as before. She looked incredibly thin, with a gentle smile on her face. Like the boy, only one of her eyes could be seen, but Chloe could tell it was already tearing up. Her long hair swooped around her, almost like a cloak to keep her sheltered from the world. She wore a white and gold pantsuit and high heel shoes.

Finally, next to the woman, came a man with a squarish jaw and his even paler blonde hair somewhat messily sticking up off his head. His eyes were a deeper green than the others, closer to Chloe's in tone. He wore a white long-sleeved shirt and a green tie with his pants held up by suspenders. Chloe saw that in his eyes, rather than recognition, there was confusion and wonder. It was almost as though he had never set his eyes on anything in the classroom before.

The family stood in the room for only one moment of silence before the shout came.

"ALOLA SURPRISE!"

The shout came from everyone in the room, besides the new arrivals and Chloe, who was trying to analyze the family that came in.

"Welcome home, everyone!" came the following shout as Ash and the rest of the Pokémon School's class approached her. Chloe and Goh looked at each other and shrugged before walking towards her as well.

Ash, Mallow, Lana, Kiawe, and Sophocles all came close to the girl, and Chloe saw the wide smile of familiarity on the girl's face. She tried her hardest not to read into the faint pink coloring the girl's pale cheeks. Ash paused his own indistinct chattering to turn to Chloe and grab her hand, pulling her over. Goh, seeing this, followed suit.

Ash shot a wide smile at the blonde girl as he still held Chloe's hand. "Lillie, these are friends of mine from the Kanto Region. Their names are Chloe and Goh!"

Goh was the first to respond, putting his hand on his chest and giving her his best, most winning smile. "It's nice to meet you, Lillie. We've heard a lot about you from Ash and everyone."

Lillie gave him a polite smile back. "It's nice to meet you, too, Goh," she said before turning her attention back to Ash. "I honestly suspected there'd be a surprise party waiting for me when I got back, but I didn't expect you to be here, much less for you to bring friends!"

Ash chuckled, rubbing the back of his head while grinning with his toothy smile. "Yeah, well, Professor Kukui let us know that you were coming back almost a week ago now! He's the one who told us, and we've been hanging out here planning this party for you!"

Sophocles chuckled. "Yeah, well it was mostly Mallow that did all the difficult planning," he said shrugging.

As he did, Lillie looked over the crowd. "I am thankful for this, absolutely," she said with a somewhat perturbed look on her face. "Only… can someone tell me why you're all so dressed up?"

Chloe felt the air grow thick with embarrassment around her. It was Lana who stepped forward with a suitable lie. "Well, we wanted it to be a really fancy welcome home party for Mr. Mohn," she said, a smirk on her face.

'There's no way she buys that flimsy excuse…' Chloe thought.

Sophocles stepped up as well. "Y-Yeah! You know, it's a big deal! He's basically the president of the Aether Foundation, right?! We wanted it to be a party suitable for him!"

Chloe saw a dim flash of sadness pass through Lillie's eyes. "I see…" she said, forcing a smile onto her face.

She instantly felt like Lillie was hiding something from them. Chloe said nothing, but continued to watch.

Ash didn't seem to catch onto his friend's hidden feelings. "Yeah! This should be a huge celebration! Your Dad's back! That's awesome, right? We went all out for it!" he cheered.

Lillie giggled at Ash's enthusiasm and nodded. "Y-Yes, you're right, Ash. Thank you all so much for throwing this party for him!"

"Not just for him," Mallow said. "But for you, too! We're happy to have you back in Alola with us!"

Kiawe nodded. "They're right. Now it's really like the old gang's back together."

Chloe noticed, looking at all the adults in the classroom, that while their group was chatting happily, the atmosphere around the other group in the room was much more somber.

'Something's up,' Chloe thought, frowning. 'This was supposed to be a big triumph, right? Why's everyone acting like they lost, instead…?'

"Oh! Speaking of, I should let Snowy out!" Lillie said, taking a Poké Ball out from her bag. She opened it in her hands and in a flash of light, a white Vulpix appeared at her feet.

"So that's the Alolan Vulpix?" Chloe asked out loud. "I've only ever seen the Kantonian one."

As she fished her phone out from a pocket in her dress, Goh commented. "It looks a lot like the Ninetails I saw."

Chloe took out her phone and pointed it at Snowy. The screen transitioned to a picture of the white Vulpix. "Vulpix," her phone's Rotom said. "Alolan Form. An Ice-type. After long years in the ever-snow capped mountains of Alola, this Vulpix has gained power over ice. If you observe its curly hairs through a microscope, you'll see small ice particles springing up."

Snowy approached the group's Pokémon and cheerfully yipped, happy to see Pikachu and the rest of the Alolan Pokémon again. Cinderace also waved cheerfully at her, and Inteleon stood cooly by and nodded.

Chloe's Eevee rushed over to Snowy and began excitedly hopping around, hoping to play. Snowy did oblige her, hopping around with Eevee. Ash's Pikachu, tailed by Togedemaru, also approached Snowy, and the four Pokémon began cheerfully chattering as they approached the food together.

Three bright flashes of light shot out and next to the large plate of food appeared an Umbreon and two Pokémon Chloe didn't recognize. She pointed her phone at the first one and the red and white lupine appeared on the screen. "Lycanroc Midnight Form, the Wolf Pokémon. A Rock-type. This form of Lycanroc is reckless. It charges headlong at its opponents, attacking without any care about what injuries it might receive. It's invigorated by powerful opponents - the stronger the better."

The other Pokémon was strange, having mostly a dark-colored body with a long silver mane, and what almost looked like a blade on its head. When Chloe pointed her phone at it, a question mark appeared.

"No data."

She raised an eyebrow. "No data? What do you mean?" she asked.

"This Pokémon isn't registered in my database."

Goh gasped. "That must be one rare Pokémon."

"Heheheh…" came the chuckling from behind her as the Rotomdex floated before them. "That's my cue. Allow me to tell you all about it!" In a flash, Rotom's mouth disappeared and the screen was now displaying a picture of the Pokémon before them. "Silvally, the Synthetic Pokémon. Having been awakened successfully, it can change its type in battle - just like a certain Pokémon depicted in legends. This is it's Normal-type appearance. Although it's name was Type: Null at first, the boy who evolved it into this form gave it the name by which it is now known."

"Type: Null…?" Chloe asked.

"That can't be an ordinary Pokémon," Goh said.

"It's not. It's my partner."

Goh and Chloe both turned to the young man that came in with Lillie who bore a somewhat friendly smile on his face.

"Gladion!" Ash said, grinning widely. "Nice t' see ya again!"

The young man chuckled. "Nice to see you, too, Champion. How're things going?"

"It's been awesome!" Ash said. "We've been waitin' for you guys to come home so we can celebrate. I've got a ton to talk to you about, too!" The more he spoke, the more excited he became. "Oh! And maybe we can have a battle, too! It's been way too long!"

Gladion couldn't keep from laughing. "You seem like you're the same as always."

"So you're saying that he's always been this excitable," Chloe added slyly, smirking.

"Ever since I've met him," Gladion responded. "And you are…?"

She smiled. "My name's Chloe. I'm a friend of Ash's from Vermilion City. And this here is my friend and Ash's fellow researcher, Goh."

Goh offered Gladion a handshake. "It's nice to meet you, Gladion." The handshake was quickly reciprocated.

"It's nice to meet you, too."

"Congratulations on finding your father," Goh said. "I'm sure there must be some story behind that."

Gladion's smile dimmed, and the same sadness that Lillie had in her eyes entered his. "It is some story," he said.

"Okay, what's up?" Chloe asked, finally getting irritated enough to broach the subject. "I mean, you guys found your Dad right? Shouldn't this be a celebration? It feels like you and Lillie are… actually pretty sad about what happened."

Gladion's one visible eye darted over to her. "You're very perceptive," he said.

Goh and Ash both furrowed their brows. "Wait…" Ash said. "... guys, is something wrong?"

Gladion looked at Lillie. His sister nodded in response. "It'd be easier to explain together, so I'll introduce you to him now, if you'd like."

Ash's warm brown eyes were searching for something in Gladion's expression, but Chloe wasn't sure if he found what he was looking for or not.

As Gladion turned to lead them towards Mohn, Chloe felt a hand grab her roughly by the wrist. Looking over, she saw Mallow, smiling at her, though there was nervousness mixed into her expression as well.

Glancing around, she saw that Lana had grabbed Lillie in a similar way.

"Us girls need to have a moment to talk," Mallow said. "We'll be right over, though!"

Lillie shrugged at the question Gladion asked with his eyes. "Fair enough," he said before gesturing to Goh, Ash, Kiawe, and Sophocles. "Let's go."

Mallow and Lana pulled Chloe and Lillie back, away from the other guests. Now sequestered from the rest of the party, Chloe once again found her nervousness, close to the girl she had feared since the moment she learned about the doll in Pallet Town.

"So what did you want to talk about?" asked Lillie, looking at her Alolan friends.

Mallow and Lana looked to each other, then at Chloe, before turning their attention back to Lillie. "There's something else super important going to happen at this party," Mallow explained. Lana nodded in agreement.

Chloe felt her face go pale. "N-No there isn't," she tried to say.

Sea-green eyes darted between them. "What are you all talking about?"

Lana leaned in. "Didn't you notice how Ash acted around Chloe?"

"I did see him grab her by the hand," Lillie noted. "But given how much is all happening at once, I suppose I didn't think about it very much."

Chloe felt her face heat up.

"You see," Mallow started. Her eyes darted to Chloe before going to Ash across the room and back again. She leaned in close to Lillie and whispered just loudly enough that Chloe and Lana could hear. "Chloe and Ash definitely have a crush on each other."

The nervousness in Chloe's stomach threatened to make her lose her lunch, but she stood stone still, her eyes focused on Lillie's reaction.

'Did they draw me over here just so that our fighting wouldn't make a scene?'

Lillie gasped, her mouth hanging open. She looked back at Ash and paused. Then at Chloe, pausing once again. Then her gaze shot back and forth several times in surprise. "You… you mean, really?"

"Really really. We've been watching the two of them pretty closely," Lana explained. "She even fed him! We saw them hanging out at Professor Kukui's house taking care of baby Lei together!"

Chloe's eyes began darting around as she began looking for the exits. 'I could probably run if I needed to.'

"That's… that's so…"

Chloe took a step backwards as Lillie spoke.

"That's so cute!"

Lillie put her hands to her cheeks, shaking her head to and fro.

"C-Cute…?" Chloe asked, her nervousness quickly being converted into embarrassment.

Lillie nodded. "It's really cute! You and Ash, I mean! And you two are going to confess your love here tonight?"

"Y-You jumped way too many steps ahead," Chloe said, waving her hands nervously. "I-I haven't told Ash anything yet!"

Lillie clenched her fists. "You should, though! I never thought such a romantic story would play out when I came back! It's just like a TV Show!"

Her enthusiasm made Chloe relax, somewhat, but she still couldn't let her guard down. "So… I mean, sorry if this is presumptuous, but you don't have feelings like that for Ash, either?"

Lillie shook her head. "Not at all. Ash reminds me a lot of my brother Gladion, so I guess he's kind of like a brother to me, too."

Chloe finally allowed herself to relax. "Okay… that's good news," she said."I didn't want to get involved in a big fight over a guy of all things…"

"Now that's something you'd only see on TV," Lillie giggled, causing the other three girls to join in as well.

"So, this is decorated to give a romantic atmosphere…" Chloe said, looking around, finally allowing herself to connect the dots.

Mallow nodded. "Exactly! I'm sure that if you can talk to Ash about it, this story will have an amazing ending!"

Chloe frowned. "I… I guess so. You all and Goh are all rooting for me…" She slapped her cheeks to try and psyche herself up. "I can't just let it go, then. I've gotta do what I can."

The three Alolans giggled excitedly.

"Before you do that, though," Lillie spoke up, "would you like to meet my mother and father, Chloe?"

Chloe smiled back at her. "I'd love to."

"Me, too!" Lana said. "Let's go!"

The flash of sadness that went through Lillie's eyes earlier returned. "Okay. Only… well, I'm sure Mother can explain it better."

Seeing that the boys had all departed Lillie's parent's side, Chloe and the rest of the girls went over to the man and woman, who were making chitchat with a very serious looking Professor Kukui.

"Mother?" Lillie interrupted. "This is another of Ash's friends from the Kanto Region, Chloe."

Lillie's mother offered Chloe a handshake. "It's very nice to meet you, Chloe," she said with a smile. "I'm Lillie's mother, but you can call me Lusamine."

Chloe did her best attempt at a curtsy for the woman. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Lusamine."

Lusamine's hands went to her cheeks. "Aww! She's so cute! Such a well behaved little baby, just like my little Lillie!"

Lillie pouted. "I'm not a baby, Mother, and Chloe isn't either…"

"Children grow up so fast…" Lusamine pouted herself. She then turned to Chloe. "So, you live in Vermilion City?" she asked.

Chloe nodded. "Yeah? How did you know that?"

"Ash said so," she said, pointing to the boy playing with the Pokémon with the rest of the boys. "He seemed insistent that he mention you. I think he might have his eye on you." Lusamine gave Chloe a wink.

Chloe shuddered. "R-Right…" she stammered.

The woman looked her up and down. "Now that I get a better look at you… you look a little familiar… if you're from Vermilion City, then are you related to Professor Cerise, by any chance?"

Chloe practically felt herself choke. "M-My dad?!"

"No way…!" Lusamine said. "You're the Genius Professor's daughter?"

Chloe shyly nodded while stepping back.

This news caught Lillie and the others by surprise as well. "Wow, really?" Mallow said. "Your Dad's a Pokémon Professor?"

"That's so cool!" Lana added.

"I-I guess so…" Chloe said, looking down. "Usually it just brings me a lot of trouble…"

Lillie looked at her, furrowing her brow. "Trouble?"

Chloe shrugged, still looking down. "Well… usually people assume that just because my dad's a professor, I'm going to become one, myself. And… I hate it when people try to force me down paths that I haven't chosen myself. I just want my own chance to choose for myself."

There was some nervous shuffling on the parts of Mallow and Lana. 'I guess they realize what they did,' she thought.

"It would be like if someone expected me to take over for Mother one day…" Lillie said.

"And Chloe should be able to choose what she wants to do."

Everyone's heads turned to find Ash standing there, a defiant look in his eyes. He carried Pikachu on his shoulder and Chloe's Eevee in his arms. He handed the fluffy Pokémon to Chloe with a gentle smile on his face, and she gratefully accepted her partner from him.

"Thanks, Ash."

Lusamine smiled herself, nodding. "It's alright, Chloe. Ash is right. You should do what it is you want to do, not what anyone forces on you." Her eyes looked over to Ash. "Though taking suggestions and trying things out isn't always a bad idea either."

Chloe smiled dimly and nodded before looking up past Lusamine. Mohn was standing back somewhat, just watching them, but not saying anything at all.

"Is… your dad alright, Lillie? I haven't heard him say anything."

Once more, the sadness flashed through Lillie's eyes, but it appeared on Lusamine's face as well. Mohn stepped forward and somewhat hesitantly put a hand on Lusamine's shoulder. "It's alright," he said. "I can explain this time, if you'd like."

"Mohn…" Her voice was barely above a whisper, and she put her hand on his.

Lillie's father walked around her mother and stood before the children. He was a large man, and looked powerfully built. Chloe thought that his skin looked a bit darker than Lusamine's and Lillie's, now that she was looking at him up close. 'Has he been tanning?'

"Hello there, Chloe. Lana. Mallow. I suppose the reason I haven't said anything is… that I don't remember anything."

Chloe's jaw dropped. "You… don't remember?"

"Yeah," Ash said, nodding gravely. "'Lillie's dad has insomnia."

Chloe's eyes narrowed and she sighed. "Ash, it's amnesia."

"Oh. S-Sorry…"

Mallow looked to Lillie, the sadness on her face apparent for all to see. "Lillie… I-I'm so sorry…"

She shook her head. "No, it's alright Mallow. While Father might not have his memories back, there's a part of him that does recognize things. And his Zoroark recognizes him as well!"

Mohn put a large hand on Lillie's shoulder. "It… may take me some time to recover and get going again, but I'm going to try my best to get my memories back, so that I can remember this incredible family that I have."

'So that explains why everyone's still broken up about it,' Chloe thought to herself. 'Even if they found him… they still have a long road before he'll truly be back.'

Professor Kukui approached the group standing around Lusamine and Mohn, leading Burnet through the people by her hand. "Hey, c'mon. I know things aren't all what we'd like, but it's more than just a Lucky Chant that brought Mohn back. We should celebrate tonight for this turn of good fortune. And what better way is there to celebrate than to dance?"

"Dance?" Ash asked, looking to Kukui. "Are you going to dance, Professor?"

He held up Burnet's hand. In her other arm, Lei was sleeping. "Unfortunately," Burnet said, "we'll have to pass. But that doesn't mean that you all should miss out on the fun, right?"

The stereo system began playing a slow song, perfect for dancing. Chloe looked around and saw the parents who came with their spouses began asking each other to dance. Even Lusamine turned to Mohn with a smile. "Would you like to give dancing a try?" she asked, holding out her hand.

"Ah uh…" he chuckled nervously. "L-Lucy… you know I don't quite remember how, right?"

"It's alright," she smiled back. "You were never very sure on your feet, so I'm used to leading and supporting. You just count on me, okay?"

Mohn's cheeks flared up and he nodded. "S-Sure…" he said as Lusamine led him into the middle area of the classroom to where they could dance."

"We should get a chance to dance, too!" Mallow said, grinning. "Hey, Kiawe! Get over here!"

Kiawe turned from holding Mimo's hand. "Huh? B-But a big brother needs to take care of his little sister…!"

Mimo stomped on his foot, making her brother recoil in pain. "Stop it, Kiawe! Let me go dance with Gladion!"

Gladion shot a sympathetic glance to Kiawe. "Don't worry, I'll make sure she doesn't stumble. I'm a big brother, too, after all."

"Yay! Gladion!" Mimo cheered, hopping over to him. Gladion bowed like the well-raised gentleman he was and began the awkward, childish, swinging dance that Mimo wanted to perform.

Kiawe hobbled over to Mallow on his hurt foot. "F-Fine… C'mon…" he said, taking her by the hand. "But we're going to burn up the dance floor with the flames of Akala. We're going to be the best dancers out there!"

"I'm sure we will be," she said, looking over at Lana and giving her a wink.

Lana nodded and grabbed Sophocles by the arm. "We're going dancing, too," she said, a fire in her eyes.

Sophocles almost dropped the snack he was carrying. "What?! Why?!"

"Because I want to be the best dancer."

Sophocles' panicked cries were drowned out by the music as he was pulled by Lana to the dance floor.

Lillie looked at Ash and Chloe, giggling nervously. "Heh… wow, I guess one of us will end up being a wallflower tonight."

"Not exactly."

Chloe looked over to see Goh giving Lillie bow before standing back up straight and holding his hand out to her. "A princess shouldn't be alone at a party," he said, his eyes glittering with confidence. "And if you'd allow it, I'll be your prince, my Cinderella."

Lillie's cheeks flared red as she took Goh by the hand. "S-Sure…!" she stammered, taking his hand.

As the two of them walked away from Ash and Chloe, she giggled. Ash looked at her, raising an eyebrow. "What's up?"

"Goh's totally embarrassed, saying something like that. I guess he just really wanted to look cool that badly."

From behind, Chloe could see that Goh's ears were bright red. Likely the rest of his face was, too.

"Ha…" Ash said, shrugging. "I guess even Goh gets to be cool tonight, huh?"

"Yeah…"

They stood there for a moment, quietly, though Chloe knew that at least half of Ash's friends were watching them closely.

Chloe turned to him. "Well… I-I mean, Ash… w-would you like to… to dance with me?"

The words came out stammered and shyly, but she looked Ash in the eyes and saw them widen in surprise before the smile settled into them. "I-uh…" he shrugged. "I'm… I'm not the best at dancing," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

"Pikapi," Pikachu said, encouraging him, "pika pi pikachu Kakachu pika?"

Ash looked at his partner and nodded. "You're right, buddy," he said.

"Eievui!" came the call from the Pokémon she held as she squirmed out of Chloe's grasp. "Ei Eievui vuivui ei!"

"I guess they're both right, huh?" Chloe said, giggling.

Ash held out his hand to her. "So uh… you wanna dance?"

Chloe smiled back, her cheeks burning. "I'd love to."

Just as she reached out for his hand, however, the school's bell began to ring urgently with a series of quick, low notes.

Everyone froze, and Ash retracted his hand. Chloe looked around and saw the confusion on most of their faces, but on Ash, Kiawe, Sophocles, Lillie, Lana, and Mallow's faces, she saw only resolution as they all turned to Professor Kukui, who now stood next to the chalkboard.

"Sorry, everyone," Kukui said. "Looks like we have some party crashers."