"Hold still, Nebby," Lillie told the small Pokémon, as she was holding a measuring tape over its body. "This will only-"

She was interrupted by someone knocking at her door. Lillie rarely received any visitors. Her mother would barge into her room or demand the girl's presence via e-mail. The janitorial staff came into the living area at certain times per day. Lillie would usually make herself absent during that time to not interfere with their work. So, when she got a knock on her door, she was genuinely curious as to who came to visit her.

"It's open," she called out, retracting the tape. Nebby, too appeared to be curious as it wobbled around Lillie to get a look at the door. It's curiosity quickly turned into fear when the door fully opened, revealing an adult standing on the other side. The Pokémon let out an ear-piercing shriek, causing Lillie and the person in the doorway to cringe. It then floated as fast as it could under Lillie's bed, where it hid. The child and the adult stared at the bed for a couple of seconds. Granted, the reaction was nothing new since Nebby was afraid of all of the staff that had worked on it. But Lillie had assumed Nebby's fear was limited to those specific people. Apparently, she was wrong.

"Oh dear," Wicke, the person who so unexpectedly arrived, said. "Did I do something wrong?" she asked in a worried tone.

Lillie shook her head, getting up from the ground she had been kneeling on. "Wicke, Cosmog has been subjected to all kinds of experiments by adults." The girl emphasized the last two words. "Do the math."

"Oh! I'm sorry, miss." The adult woman bowed, but the girl waved her off.

"Just tell me why you're here so that I can coax Cosmog out from under the bed. Despite what Faba would like to believe, I do have work to do." The blonde gestured across her room. Wicke took a closer look and saw that the young miss had brought all kinds of things into her room. A kitchen scale, a thermometer, a rubber band, a measuring tape, a softball, a flashlight, and everything was scattered across the floor. The woman also noted that the PC was turned on. The display showed a spreadsheet with various entries, such as weight, height, food consumed (g), etc. Half of the entries were empty, whereas the other half had numbers next to them.

Wicked blinked a couple of times. "The President told me you would be taking care of Cosmog from now on. But I never imagined you would be so dedicated to your task."

The girl couldn't help as the proud smile escaped her lips. "Until mother allows me to use the Aether facilities, I have to improvise a little. Once I am on the Island Challenge, I will have to find other ways to measure Cosmog's growth anyway. It's like a little exercise before the main event."

"I see," Wicke nodded with a smile. "You have always been a smart one, young miss."

"Yes, yes. Everyone says that I am smart. So, is there a reason why you're here and not enjoying your free time?"

The woman was a little taken aback by the nonchalant tone the young miss' voice had taken on. One would think, after knowing her for over a decade, Wicke would be used to Lillie's personality by now. But the woman couldn't help herself. She had always been worried about the family who owned the business, especially Lillie. The girl was an enigma, to say the least. Always polite to a fault to everyone, minus the occasional argument she would have with Faba. Only smiling when she was around Pokémon and thought no one was watching her. Seemingly accepting the atrocities that the Foundation was doing in the shadows. More than once had Wicke wondered if there was something wrong with Lillie. And if she should do something about it.

"Your mother sent me here," Wicke informed Lillie, who raised an eyebrow. "She told me to give you this and to use it on Cosmog." The woman outstretched her arm, holding a complete white Pokéball in her hand.

"A Premier Ball?" Lillie wondered. Premier Balls were only given out during special occasions like a tournament or something similar. On paper, they were just recolored Pokéballs. Trainers would use those "special" balls for special Pokémon they wanted to capture. Or sometimes they would swap the ball their starter had originally been caught in for the white ball. It was a status symbol, nothing else.

"The president thought it would be appropriate," Wicke informed. "It was a gift from the Pokémon League for the work Aether is doing. She wishes you to have it now."

Lillie took the ball into her hand. "It's heavier than I thought," she commented. "And thicker. It looks nothing like on TV. I can even see the various buttons on the side." The girl held the ball up and inspected it thoroughly. It was one of the most common items found in this world, yet the blonde studied it like a precious emerald. She pressed the middle button two times. After the first press, the ball shrunk and returned to normal size by the second press.

"Do you want me to give you an explanation about all of the functions of a Pokéball? I know they're rather simple to use, but a lot of beginner trainers accidentally release their Pokémon when they push the wrong button."

The young girl looked away from the Pokéball and shook her head. "No, I'll download the instruction manual from the internet later. Are we done here, now? I still have work to do, and I wish to be done before my evening prayers."

That was another thing about Lillie that had everyone, even Lusamine, puzzled. While the entire society of Alola was rather religiously oriented, Lillie's exposure to the people of the islands had been minimal. She was raised around a group of scientists and mostly none-believers. She attended online classes, and religion was not one of her subjects. Yet, for some reason, the girl had started doing daily prayers at an early age and, with a surprising amount of zeal, had kept to her self-appointed prayer schedule as if she were a nun. She didn't even pray to any of the Island Guardians, no. Arceus and Giratina were her chosen deities. Why the latter was among them, nobody knew. When asked as to why Lillie felt the need to pray, she was surprisingly tight-lipped. Not even the president had never received an answer to that.

"I understand. But if you have any trouble, don't hesitate to call me," Wicke told the young blonde.

"Whatever. I have a Pokémon to coax out, so if you would excuse me." Lillie shut the door rather rapidly. "It's okay, Nebby," Wicke could hear through the door. "The scary lady is gone. You can come out now."

Wicke felt mildly insulted upon being called a scary lady. Also, that had been extremely rude of the girl to shut the door like this without a proper goodbye. One could only hope that the Pokémon Cosmog or Nebby, as Lillie had so affectionately dubbed it, would bring her inner child out over time.

Back in the room, Lillie had successfully coaxed Nebby out of his hiding stop and was holding the tiny Pokémon in her arms. She spoke encouraging words to it, all the while stroking it with her fingers. This was an issue she would have to resolve in the coming weeks or mitigate to some extent. Wicke had never interacted with Nebby, outside of seeing the Pokémon on very brief occasions. And yet, the psychic-type was as afraid of her as it was of the scientist team that worked on it. One could only hope the Pokémon didn't have a phobia of adults, but if it did, then Lillie would have to do something about it. For now, all she could do was comfort Nebby and played games with it. However, it was hard to play games without some toys. Almost the entire day, Lillie had used her hand to wrestle with Nebby like one would do with a puppy or a kitten. Whilst fun initially, it became old over time.

"Feeling better?" she asked after five minutes.

"Pew." The psychic-type sounded enthusiastic.

"Do you mind if we finish your check-up? I need to make sure the bad people didn't hurt you too badly."

Nebby nodded by bopping its entire body up and down. Unlike "the bad people," Lillie was careful when handling the Pokémon. She made it a point not to hurt him, always asked if he was comfortable, and rewarded it with treats after each successful examination. Nebby was more than happy to let its favorite human do her thing if it meant he got more food out of it. Even if it meant he had to hold some metal thing in its mouth for a minute until it beeped. Or pull on a rubber band as hard as it could for as long as possible.

When all was said and done, Nebby was lying on Lillie's bed, well-fed and with a satisfied burp coming out of its mouth. Lillie shot the Pokémon a look that was supposed to be disapproving, but her own amusement ruined the image. The girl turned her attention to the screen in front of her. Two files were open: the one she just created and the one that had been made by one of the workers at the beginning when Nebby had been "administrated." The daughter of the president had limited access to Nebby's files, as she had volunteered to take care of the Pokémon, which included some of the rudimentary data she could take.

What she saw alarmed her. Over the course that Nebby had been here, it had lost 50 grams in weight. It may not sound much initially, but once you realized that this was 50% of what the Pokémon was supposed to weight, you realize how bad Nebby's condition had become. Quickly Lillie combined the two spreadsheets into one file and marked the relevant points. Then she sent the file over to her mother to hammer the point home on how close they had been to losing Cosmog. When done, Lillie took a look at the system clock and saw that it was close to praying time.

It was funny. In her past life, she had thought of religion as nothing more than a scam. A way to make money off the weak-minded and the idiots. After being reborn in the world of Pokémon, this changed. She knew that Arceus was real, knew that he or she created the world, and was about 99% sure that either the Alpha or the Devil had something to do with her reincarnation. Sinnoh was one of the regions she was planning to visit if for nothing else than to bake one giant cake as a thank you. And if somehow the big cheese wasn't involved in her second chance, it didn't hurt to have friends in high places.

After shutting down her PC, Lillie got ready to begin her prayers. She had wanted to build a little shrine in her room, but her mother had forbidden it.

"I am going to pray now, Nebby."

Lillie could almost see the question mark appearing over her Pokémon's head. Nebby had no concept of what faith was. Thus it didn't know anything about praying. Was it something to eat? Luckily, Lillie explained it.

"There are two strong Pokémon out there who once saved my life," she told her small friend. "They're not here right now, so I cannot thank them properly. But what I can do is send them my thanks and my good wishes. Like this."

Lillie kneeled in front of her bed and put her hands together as one would do in a church. "When I close my eyes and think that those two Pokémon will hear me, then I know they will hear me. It's their special power."

That sounded like a neat power to have to Nebby. It wished it could hear Lillie's voice wherever it was. That way, the days spent alone down below would have been easier.

"I am going to talk to them now. You can take a nap if you want. I will give you dinner when I am done."

Dinner? Nebby wasn't feeling all that hungry after getting so many treats. But some sleep sounded very nice right now. Lillie had placed her elbows on the bed, and Nebby decided to lean against them before closing its eyes. Lillie smiled. The fur was a little distracting on her skin, but she would endure. Nebby was more than worth it.


For the next two weeks, Lillie spent most of her time together with Nebby. Usually, she would have online classes, but right now, it was summer vacation. Plus, given that she was starting her Pokémon Journey soon, classes would be suspended anyway. As a result, Nebby received a great deal of attention from its human friend. Most of the time was spent playing with toys. Lillie didn't dare to start physical training until she was sure the Cosmog's condition had improved significantly.

Catching it in a Pokéball had proven to be easier than Lillie expected. She had opened up a video from an online platform that showed someone demonstrating the basic functions of a Pokéball. The great thing about Pokémon was they were as cute as animals but as smart as humans. Well, almost. It varied from species to species. The blonde explained to the psychic-type that once it belonged to her, "the bad people" could not take it away from her, or else the "good people" would come and lock them away. The problem was, Nebby had never met those "good people." So, the entire day was spent watching a cartoon about a child Officer Jenny catching "criminals" at her school. It worked. Nebby didn't like his Pokéball, but he stayed in there for long enough to be captured, after which Lillie let it out.

During the evenings, Lillie would take Nebby outside to areas where the two were less likely to walk into other people. That way, the Pokémon would at least get some fresh air. The psychic-type appeared to be particularly fascinated by the ocean. As a result, many evenings were spent looking out to the waves as the sun slowly descended on the horizon.

Occasionally, Lillie would take her flute with her and play a few songs on it. Fun fact, in both lives, Lillie absolutely detested playing the flute. Playing music wasn't her thing at all. In the first life, she was forced to learn it in the primary school because the school demanded it. In her second life, she needed to learn it so that Nebby could evolve to its final stage. It was a pain in the ass. But if it meant she got a super-strong Pokémon, she would endure it. Playing the flute was also one of the few hobbies that Lusamine approved of.

Speaking of the woman, she had been notably absent from Lillie's life. That was, until the beginning of the third week when Lillie received an e-mail from her mother. The girl was to come to her mother's office. Lillie asked Nebby if it wanted to come along, to which the puffball snatched a bag of snacks from the ground and hid under Lillie's bed. Apparently, the Pokémon remembered Lusamine really well.


As usual, Lillie found herself disoriented from using the teleporter. Was it so hard for her mother to install a simple door? Ignoring the frozen Pokémon, the girl made her way over to her mother, who was busy typing something. Patiently the girl waited until her mother spoke up.

"What is the situation with Cosmog?" Lusamine asked.

Oh, so her mother wanted an update. Weren't the emails enough? "Cosmog is recovering at a remarkable pace, faster than I imagined would happen. Either it's one of the Pokémon's characteristic's or I have underestimated the vitality of Pokémon in general."

"I think your lack of knowledge is simply showing," Lusamine remarked. "But at least you did what you were told to do and kept the thing healthy. When will you begin your training?"

"If this recovery rate keeps up, in two weeks. I can start doing some light training next week if that is what you wish," the daughter offered.

Lusamine thought about the offer for a second but shook her head. "No, this actually lines up very well with the start of your Island Challenge. You will start your journey in two weeks in Iki-Town. I talked with the Kahuna over the phone. You, his grandson, on some other trainers will start your Island Challenge together."

Lillie was slightly surprised by this announcement. Then again, this was her mother's way of doing things. She said something she wanted you to do, and you would do it, no questions asked. Plus, it wasn't like there was much for Lillie to do at Aether. Spending time with Nebby had been a nice change of pace, but even their daily games were getting monotonous.

"What a lucky coincidence," Lillie commented, although mentally, she was wondering if someone wasn't trying to uphold the original timeline as much as possible. This might be just her paranoia speaking, but a lot was possible in the world of Pokémon.

"Needless to say, I am expecting of you to bring the results you promised. If Cosmog doesn't show any significant growth, we will take it back, and you will return to Aether," Lillie's mother warned in a cold tone. "You should also be aware that I have limited the amount of money you can access at any given time. If you need more money for whatever reason, I expect a detailed explanation of what it will be used for. I won't allow you to throw your money away needlessly."

"Naturally," Lillie nodded. "Do you wish me to forward every receipt from my purchases?"

Lusamine gave her daughter a look. "Is this your attempt at making a joke, Lillie?" The older blonde shook her head. "I certainly hope I don't need to micromanage your purchases to this level. Otherwise, I need to rethink if it is a good idea to let you go out on your own."

Lillie had not meant it as a joke. She had been sure her mother would insist on her own for the daughter to document everything she bought.

"In any event, I'm sure you're aware that you are not to disclose anything about Cosmog's true nature. If anybody asks, you will say that the foundation found it and entrusted it to you to observe and study how it behaves among other Pokémon."

"Naturally," Lillie nodded. She had thought of a similar excuse already.

"Also, make doubly sure you do not lose any of the data you collect about Cosmog. And do not safe anything on any devices that do not belong to Aether. We will give you every piece of equipment you need. If something needs to be replaced for some reason, go to the closest Aether station and make your requests there."

"I understand."

"And if someone wants to be your friend, don't trust them. They want your money, not your friendship."

"Friends, mother?" Lillie asked. "Not only will I be busy with Cosmog, but Pokémon training in general. Not to mention the Island Challenge. I doubt I will have any time to socialize."

Lusamine nodded. "Good, it seems you understand. Speaking of Pokémon training, you can hardly call yourself a trainer without a Pokémon that can actually fight."

The president opened one of her desk's drawers and took out a Pokéball. Lillie would have been surprised if Lusamine actually allowed her daughter to chose her own starter. The blonde girl wasn't even allowed to chose her own cereal, let alone a toothbrush. This was the kind of woman Lusamine was. Still, this left Lillie to wonder which Pokémon her mother had chosen. About half of the Pokédex could be discarded because they were ugly, in Lusamine's opinion. There was a good chance the Pokémon could be found in Alola, as it would be a lot of effort to organize one from another region. It couldn't be a rare Pokémon, as that would be too much of an investment moneywise. Simultaneously, the president wouldn't give Lillie a starter that was considered "weak" or "useless" by most trainers.

"I have acquired this one from a local, reputable breeder," Lusamine explained. "It should be able to help you out until you acquired at least some knowledge about battling. Which reminds me, if you lose all of your money from battling, don't expect me to help you out."

The money wager. Unlike the games, officially, both trainers agreed before the battle if money was supposed to be involved. Of course, laws had never stopped people from taking the money anyway. After all, how are you supposed to defend yourself when all of your Pokémon were unconscious, and your opponent threatened you with a fire-breathing lizard. The League suggests all wagers be determined the electronic way. The opposing trainers would link their Pokédexes together and determine how much money the winner would get. The standard setting was ten percent of your current bank account. Most trainers used a secondary bank account to make those wages, as not to accidentally lose all of their life-savings.

"The Pokémon is very well behaved and listens to orders. From now on, it is your responsibility to take care of both it and the Cosmog. You're free to use the facilities to test its capabilities."

Lillie picked up the Pokéball and had half a mind releasing the Pokémon here and now, but then remembered the frozen Pokémon in her mother's room. It would probably not be good for the Pokémon's psyche to see all of the horrified faces.

"Now go. I have work to do."

"Do you want some tea, mother? Or maybe coffee?" Lillie offered but was woven off.

"Just go already."


Lillie felt an overwhelming amount of euphoria venturing through her body on the way back to her room. So close. She was so close to becoming a real trainer. Only two more weeks, and she could finally start working towards her ambitions. There had been times when the girl wondered if she shouldn't have followed the game's story. Snatch Nebby, make a run for it, get surrounded, and hope Nebby successfully uses Teleport. In the end, she had decided against banking on luck and make up her own plan. To quote one of her favorite actors from the 80s: She loves it when a plan comes together.

Of course, that didn't mean she could start slacking off. Quite the contrary, this was where the real work began. Lillie was on a time limit. She had to present results, preferably at regular intervals. If she didn't, they would take Nebby away, and it was goodbye to her dreams. The girl did have a Plan B if she couldn't satisfy her mother, but preferably she would not fall back to Plan B. Or worse, Plan C.

Shaking her head, Lillie went back to her room as quickly as possible with the Pokéball of her official starter clutched in her hands. She decided to let the Pokémon out in her room, where she and Nebby would meet their new friend together. At least she hoped Nebby and the other Pokémon would get alone. The last thing she needed was a case of jealousy.

When the girl opened the door to her room, Nebby peaked out from under Lillie's bed and was relieved to see the blonde back. The psychic-type shrieked happily and danced around the girl.

"Hey, Nebby. Hope you weren't too bored when I was gone."

Lillie took a seat on her bed and placed the red and white Pokéball next to her. She took Nebby into her arms and placed it in her lap, where it happily snuggled into. For a couple of minutes, the two simply enjoyed snuggling with one another before Lillie spoke up.

"Nebby, have you ever wanted to play with other Pokémon?"

"Pew?" The Cosmog gave Lillie a questioning look. It had seen other Pokémon occasionally, and yes, it had thought about going to them and talking to them. But most other Pokémon were accompanied by adults, which Nebby was afraid of. The ones that weren't with humans either flew around the white island and never came down. And the Pokémon in the water were also out, as Nebby couldn't swim.

"I know the two of us had a lot of fun together, but I thought it would be a good idea to get you a Pokémon friend."

The psychic-type looked over to the red and white Pokéball. It honestly didn't know what to feel about this situation. On the one hand, it was very curious about this new friend, and it would love to talk to someone who understood it. On the other hand, only Lillie had ever been nice to Nebby. Who was to say that the Pokémon inside the ball wasn't as mean as the adult humans were? Sadly, Lillie didn't give Cosmog time to think it over, as she grabbed the ball and threw it into the air.

"Time to meet our new friend."

The ball opened mid-air and released a stream of white energy. Somehow, the energy was guided to the ground, where it quickly took on the shape of a Vulpix.

"Should have seen that one coming," Lillie muttered.

In front of Nebby and her stood an Alolan-Vulpix, an ice-type, fox-like Pokémon. Arguably it was one of the most beautiful Pokémon in the world. Pristine white fur, six fluffy tails, some fluff on the top of its head, sapphire blue eyes, and at its feet, the fur-color was an icy blue. It was a tad smaller than the average fox from back on earth but had a lot more grace to it. Lillie felt a wry smile appearing on her face. The original Lillie was often associated with that Pokémon due to the anime and the fact that the evolution was part fairy-type. The Lillie right here and now did not plan to become a pure Fairy-type trainer, but it was nice to have one on the team. She had seen the league battles. Dragons could be bastards if they wanted to be. Ice-types had a bad reputation in the gaming community back on earth. They were slow, had a low defense stat, and weaknesses to types commonly used in official tournaments. Luckily for her, those numbers didn't exist in the real world. The real world was also not as limited as the games had been. There were a lot of nasty things an ice-type could do to opponents. Battling aside, Lillie felt a new wave of excitement coursing through her body. It was nostalgic in some way, and the girl would ponder the entire night why she had felt so much nostalgia at that moment.

But for now, it was time to get to know one another.

"Hello, Vulpix. My name is Lillie, and the little ball of fluff here is Nebby. I hope we can all become great friends."