"Now, Pikachu… Be very, very careful…"

Ash's eyes opened, reminding him he was alive as soon as sight and sound came flooding back to him. He looked out, staring at nature, the dry and dusty earth clustered in the right side of his vision where his head rested against. The ground was cool, and as more and more feeling returned to him after being asleep for what felt like forever, he felt a soreness through his body like no sleep he had felt in a long time.

Ahead of him, several dozen feet away, a creek cut through the clearing of jungle trees, the sparkling water catching his eye in the glow of the remaining afternoon sun. The sight of the refreshing creek was a welcome sight, but it made him think. He had seen that creek before, but not from down there. He had seen it from above, like he was on a hill, or—

A bridge.

Ash remembered the bridge he had been on before, a rickety bridge that spanned the ravine. He remembered he hadn't been alone. Pikachu was there, and… Lillie? He could barely remember her. There was something about the memory that was awfully fuzzy, and it brought up twinges of pain like it was something he didn't want to remember. This was more than an embarrassing memory, that alone made him feel strange, that there was something that had happened with Lillie that hadn't felt good or right. It was something that Ash had never felt before, he had never had a bad experience with Lillie before.

As Ash finally felt like he was awake, he became more and more aware of his surroundings. His eyes darted to the ground, narrowing when he looked at the dirt his head rested against—when was the last time he had fallen asleep outside? It was too hot to do that in Alola, and yet he some how had. Shutting his eyes, he reached for the ground, turning himself, inadvertently uncovering a plethora of new pain he hadn't realized he was in. It felt, to him, like any time he had fallen without stopping himself, which was strange in itself. As he rolled himself onto his stomach, a hand catching him from planting himself in the ground, his unkempt black hair fell over his face, coming loose from where it had been pressed against the ground, standing out in unusual spikes. Still, he finished levying himself over enough to put a foot beneath him, and stood himself up all the way.

It was when Ash had stood himself up, letting himself survey his surroundings, that he realized there was a sound coming from behind him. He hadn't noticed the sound of conversation coming from behind him, but he finally did as soon as he heard it stop completely.

A few loose, dead blades of grass crunched beneath Ash as he turned himself, alerting him to a similar shuffling coming behind him. A similar tree-line that followed the edge of the river ahead, and though Ash could see far down the line of trees, he couldn't really see much beyond that. In fact, there was no one or nothing that could have produced the sound of voices.

As Ash took a few confused steps back, he looked back at the tree in front of him. Opposite where his head had been laying, his hat was resting in the dirt, presumably rolled off, making him wonder if he had rested his head against the tree earlier. As he scanned the immediate area, letting his gaze wander, he saw something poking out from the side of the tree trunk in front of him: it was a yellow, thunderbolt-shaped tail, standing out like it belonged to his favorite companion.

"Pikachu…?" Ash asked, deeply confused.

The tail then disappeared behind the trunk, snapping back towards its owner and hiding itself.

Ash wasn't convinced. He frowned, even wondering for a moment if he would be doing the right thing by hanging back. Instead, he moved himself out from behind the tree, moving around the tree—still keeping his distance from it, just in case. As he brought himself around, he saw a fidgeting motion just beyond the edge of the tree and where his vision could take him. He moved quicker, trying to see just exactly what was going on.

It was Lillie, sitting at the base of the tree, exactly opposite where Ash had woken up moments ago. She looked timid, afraid of Ash, watching in horror as he approached. Her extremities, her lips, her hands where they clutched the wide, dusty hat that covered itself over her legs and her lap, all were trembling.

Lillie's wide-brimmed, white hat had almost entirely turned a tan shade, filthy and tattered from the dirt. It had clearly taken a tumble, rustled up and looking disgusting, like it had been dragged through the dirt. Indeed, by the way that Pikachu had pressed himself up against it, clutching the side and mashing in the rounded top of it with his belly, it looked as though he was taking a certain amount of responsibility for what had happened to the hat, like he had been the one to drag it through the dirt and bring it to Lillie. Still, with the way Pikachu was pressing himself against the hat, it looked like he had something to hide—Ash knew that, he saw it in Lillie's eyes when he looked up to see her.

"H-Hi Ash… Did you… are you okay…? " Lillie said, in-between swallowing audibly. She looked like she was between lying and coming out and acknowledging something, Ash couldn't tell. Her paper-white complexion was giving it away as it slowly turned red.

As soon as Ash looked into Lillie's eyes, he remembered. It all came back to him.

The bridge—yes, the bridge. Ash had remembered the bridge, but he had forgotten Lillie. She had been on it, and then she had fallen off.

Then Ash had come down, and found a leg.

A mechanical, robotic leg.

"Lillie… Your leg…"

Lillie looked up with a deathly look. Her cheeks really turned red, glowing brightly. The sudden stifling of breath made her rise uncomfortably, her lips buttoning themselves together as she held back a sound, instead making her cheeks puff out uncomfortably. Her fingers grasped uncomfortably at the edge of her hat where both of her hands held it and covered her lap with it, grasping closer at the lone thing that offered her protection.

"W-What about my leg, A-Ash…?" Lillie squeaked, putting on a wide, toothy smile. Her eyes that avoided Ash failed to sell it, much to her silent terror as the shadow of Ash approaching eclipsed the sunlight on her face.

Ash squatted down, bringing himself in front of Lillie. It was becoming impossible for Lillie to avoid Ash as he brought himself closer, but she still craned her neck away, almost entirely pressing her face against the side of the bark, throwing away any attempt to find a natural posture in some desperate bid to look away from Ash.

"Lillie… Please… Show it to me…?" asked Ash, still looking at Lillie. His eyes were soft, earnest, not a single threat held in them. Even if Lillie was seeing it and could believe it, there was nothing that could drive her to do it.

Lillie felt a small weight leaving her lap. She looked down, her head tipping back just a bit from the other side where she had been looking and avoiding Ash. By her side, where Pikachu had been holding the hat down against her lap and hiding Lillie's situation from Ash, he relinquished, stepping back a bit. The wide white brim slowly returned to its shape, making her have to adjust herself. She couldn't keep all of her leg hidden under the hat, more of her ankle showing where her foot stuck out, and though her eyes darted towards it to check she returned her gaze quickly back to her side where Pikachu was still standing—he had backed away, leaving Lillie be, but looking meaningful. He nodded along, as if he could read Lillie's thoughts and was confirming the one on Lillie's mind.

Though Lillie's mouth hung open like she was going to finally say something, she looked back up to Ash, freezing up. The terror returned, her pupils shrinking back, her fingers clamping down on the hat, but her mouth still hung open.

"O-Okay…" Lillie said, quietly.

Though her fingers curled at the edges, holding it gently, she lifted the hat from her lap. She reached for the curved head of it, lifting it up slowly, then setting beside her in the dirt.

A rock had been propped underneath Lillie's thigh, holding up the end that had been severed. Cables were nestled inside, plugs and severed wires, hanging out of the end where her 'skin' had ruptured. A large hydraulic pump hung down, seemingly once supposed to have been fit inside the underside of the calf, with a metal plate that had been ruptured where it had once attached to one of the fitted metal disks inside the calf. Beside, where the other half of Lillie's leg had been, was propped up on a rock to align as close as it could with the open section where it had once been attached.

"I've… I've been trying to repair it since you fainted…" Lillie spoke up finally, her voice sounding somewhat rusty and unused from purposely bottling up all the sound inside herself. She swallowed painfully in a silent attempt to clear out her throat, gathering herself for a moment before looking back up at Ash. "You're… You're not going to faint again, are you?"

"No… I guess I know what to expect now, right? Eheh..." Ash chuckled. His attempt at lightening the situation didn't even lighten himself, and he held back for a moment like it was a fart that hadn't cleared itself.

Then, seeing a clearing by Lillie's side where Pikachu had moved closer to Ash's side, Ash sat himself down on the grass to face Lillie. His legs folded together and he sat hunched over and attentive, looking at Lillie through the dark streaks of hair that colored his own vision—it was the first time he had really had the chance to see Lillie's face, even since she had fallen from the bridge. The entire time he had spent with Lillie in the few moments since he had woken up were all spent wondering what had been underneath the hat covering her leg, wondering if he had really seen something mechanical, but now that he knew he could really turn to Lillie's current state of mind. She looked off, she looked guilty and full of doubt, her movements cold. Even if Lillie had always been one to shy away and reserve herself, she had always done so with an energy that wasn't there any more.

"Are you like that… all the way through?" asked Ash. The words were uncomfortable, he didn't know how to say them.

Like she was on the verge of bursting out in tears, Lillie nodded silently. She was shrinking back, her one good leg shrinking back towards her body. Her head slumped down, long platinum blonde bangs hanging down to overshadow and block her face from view. Even still, through her still and silent features, she was only looking down. Her lips remained pursed, unable to bring herself to say anything.

Ash thought about leaving, a thought that turned his stomach even if it only lingered for a split second. He looked off like he was looking for Pikachu, even if he knew he was right by his side, looking away like the jungle might offer some solution; it didn't, only reminding him that the both of them were a long way from home. Still, Ash felt stuck with Lillie, and there wasn't much solution left.

"I'm sorry…"

Something about the way Lillie said it was strange, but it wasn't the reason he looked up. There was some way through this predicament, and it was through Lillie.

"Sorry for what…?" Ash asked, genuinely. It was all he could do when he deep down knew that talking through this with Lillie would be the solution, despite not knowing what the solution might be. "Do you think it's weird that you're a r—" Ash paused himself, trying to be delicate when phrasing the strangeness of it all, something he already wasn't good at. "Well, that you're not exactly—" He stopped himself again. "That you've got, wires? In you…?"

"A-Android," Lillie said, matter of factly, something that strangely cut through her quiet and moping voice—despite having traces of tears in her voice. "I'm a-an A-Andr…" she had to cut herself off before the tears came, and audible, hoarsey choke coming. I… I lied to you… that was wrong of me. And… I lied to everyone else…"

Ash looked thoughtful. It took him a moment to process that, to run the thoughts through his head, even to come up with some semblance of a solution. Even still, he reached across, his hand finding where Lillie's rested around her free leg. Grasping at it, putting his hand atop it barely got a response from her, until her hand turned and found his, holding weakly.

"It's okay," Ash smiled. "I'm figuring out too… But we'll figure a way out of this together, alright?"

Beneath the ends of her hair, Lillie's hidden face filled with even more doubt. She shut her eyes, shutting out the feeling from coming out.