The group has set out to get to the Alter of the Moone. However, sitting in their way was a line of six Team Skull thugs. Five men and one woman.
"Oh, you're Team Skull." She said to the thugs, totally not afraid like she was at the start. What is it that you want from us?"
"Look, I heard about you numbskulls at Aether. Do you really know how to open an Ultra Wormhole and save our boy Guzma?!"
"Let me see if you really are bad to the bone enough to save our boy Guzma!" The lone woman said, but a voice stopped them.
"Enough you dummies. They're trying to save the boss, so what do you want to get in their way for?!" Sliding down from a hill, Plumeria revealed herself. "Get out of here, scram!" The emo woman shooed them off as they ran away. She sighed before turning to the group. She looked towards Lillie.
"What do you want now?" Misty threatened as she got in front of Lillie, while her Eevee snarled at the admin that knocked out her trainer.
"Easy hothead. I'm only here to talk." The woman rolled her eyes. "Especially to your white inclined girlie, Lillie."
"Me?"
"You really ready to do this finally?" Plumeria asked while placing her fists on her hands. She looked away with her eyes closed. "To be honest, I've treated you really badly. All of you really. Even if I was just doing the work of the president told me to do, I shouldn't have done all that. Even if I apologize now, I know it's probably too late for you to forgive me." Now she turned her back to them. See, Guzma... he really likes the president. She's the only adult who ever seemed to how strong he was."
"The president... my mother is-she's selfish. She decides all by herself what she thinks needs to be done to make other people happy, not even caring what it is they may want." Lillie then shook her head. "But people really ought to help out one another out! That is what I learned here in Alola! That is what I'm going to teach her too! Then I think we can save Mr. Guzma!" Plumeria smirked as she corrected,
"If you're going to use the Mr thing, use his last name Evans. This ain't elementary school." She then turned back to them with her normal scowl. "You know, deep down... you're kind of like the president. You've gone in a different directions, but I can tell you have the same strength in your convictions. You all... I know you've got no reason to help, but... could you help us save Guzma?" She asked with a shrug. "That big dummy. I don't think he's even aware of it, but Alola really means a lot to him. That's why he's doing something so dangerous trying to save it." Taking something out of her bag, she threw it towards Ash, whom caught it. "Poisonium-Z. Maybe that it'll help. Though ask someone who knows, because I ain't doing those dumb poses. Oh, and Ash? You got your first stone directly from Tapu Koko, didn't you?"
"Yeah?"
"You'd better take care of it. That's one special bracelet you've got there. A trainer is a trainer only because of the Pokemon with them. If you ever forget that, you'll bring the wrath of the tapu down upon yourself. You should be fine though. I'm out of here." Just like that, she left.
"I suppose even Team Skull isn't all that bad." Lillie remarked. "Thanks for trying to protect me there for a second Misty."
"No problem. She still owes me a proper match though." The redhead said as she looked off annoyed, that is until Hau snickered. "What's so funny?"
"Guzma Evans. That's such a common last name for, 'destruction in human form' as he said."
"Heh, that does sound rather mundane." Misty's frown turned into a smile as she chuckled.
"Yeah. Now let's go to Vast Poni Canyon! It lies ahead!" Lillie ran ahead of the others, prompting them to catch up, laughing that she was leading them for once. Which was a good sign though that she really was growing. It didn't take long to find Hapu and Mudsdale at a dead tree at the beginning of the canyon though. Noticing them approaching, the kahuna turned to them with a smile.
"Did everything go well?"
"Well, I..." Lillie began to say with uncertainty. "I had to have Ash and Hau do everything for me yet again since I couldn't go to Exeggutor Island."
"Nothing wrong with that Lillie. People cannot survive on their own. They have got to help one another out. Same for Pokemon too. That is what my grandfather used to say. It's your friends' kindness that lets you keep that brilliant smile on your face."
"Aw." Lillie appreciated hearing that.
"Please wait." Ash groaned as he turned to see Captain Phyco and Soliera. "Just as you use your own strength to overcome the trials before you, perhaps it is about time we stop relying on others and instead take matters into our own hands. Now that we have learned to do Pokemon battles ourselves, I think we might be able to resolve the the situation with Necrozma on our own."
"If I am strong enough, we can do it. If I am only strong enough to defeat you! Poipole, go!" Seeing that she still only had the one Pokemon, Ash decided to change things up a bit.
"Primarina, I choose you!"
"Use Poison Jab!"
"Counter with Psychic!" While Poipole had enough time for the needle on the top of its head to glow purple and make a lunge, but a blue outline surrounded the Ultra Beast from the Soloist Pokemon and was slammed down into the ground. It was knocked out instantly.
"I... wasn't able to draw out the potential of my Pokemon." Soliera sighed as Ash returned his starter with a thanks.
"Astounding, you're still able to beat us effortlessly!" The captain remarked.
"Greetings, I am the kahuna of this island, Hapu. You are from the beasts' world are you not? We in Alola have long lived together with our Pokemon, being aided by them to survive. If you are in some sort of trouble, then we will gladly come to your aid however we can." Lillie nodded while Mudsdale neighed.
"Then I will throw myself upon your generosity, in spite of our own shortcomings."
"Please, when Necrozma comes to attack this world, will you stop it in our place?"
"Well the, the path to the shrine is through this canyon. You will find other trainers in this place though. They come for training, so it'll be a tough road. You will have to pitch in too, Lillie. But if you two wind up in any real trouble, Mudsdale and I will hasten to you."
"Thank you Hapu. I will do all that I can for my friends." Lillie nodded. She turned towards the deeper parts of the canyon. "I wonder what we'll find along the way to the alter? And what a mysterious statue. Do you think it means something?" They looked at a small monolith that had a moon theme about it.
"It reminds me of the moon flute I have." Ash observed.
"So we have two flutes." She responded to that with a smile. Her eyes losing focus as if to think about it, she returned to normal to say, "When I-Once I am ready, I am going to come after you Ash. I am going to catch up to you. For Nebby's sake, and for my mother's, too."
"I'll look forward to when you eventually catch up." Ash chuckled. "Then we can have a battle."
"Me too!" Hau laughed. "It'll be so much fun!" Misty smiled.
"Don't you boys hog Lillie for yourselves. Us girls need to have fun together too." Lillie beamed from how supportive they were being.
"Aw, thank you for being such good friends. I promise when I become good enough I'll battle you all!" Throwing her fist out, all of them did a four-way fist bump before making them explode with their fingers wagging high into the air.
"Yeah!" The group of four ventured into the canyon, and after a series of twists, turns and trainers, the first obstacle they came across was a wooden bridge.
"No railing or whatever. This bridge is a safety violation." Misty observed.
"Eevee." The normal type shook her head.
"I think we can handle a rickety old bridge." Lillie countered. "This canyon has been difficult but so far it felt rather easy as well. It's like you guys make the canyon seem like nothing at all!" Staring out at the bridge, the blonde girl sighed in reminiscence. "This bridge reminds me of the first time I met you Ash. I'd taken Nebby with me, but I didn't have the courage to protect it myself. I couldn't do anything... but I'm not that person anymore!" Taking a deep breath, she walked onto the bridge, taking a moment to look to the right then left, Lillie then stared straight ahead with determination as she began to run. Over a rock cliff, three Murkrow felt that their territory were being invaded and thus tried to surround the girl, one behind her and two ahead, but she ignored them as she sped by them. The two Murkrow were surprised as they usually scare others away but that obviously wasn't the case as she jumped over the end of the bridge and landed on the other side. "Oh...oh!" Lillie began to laugh as she waved to her friends. "Guys, I did it! I made it all the way across!"
"Yeah Lillie, way to go!" Hau cheered for her while Misty whistled in an impressed tone with her fingers. Ash just smiled with pride. "Come on guys, we can't let her get too far ahead!" Hau laughed as he ran along with the others, scaring away the flying/dark types.
"That was awesome Lillie! Great job!" Misty told her friend.
"Yeah, your spirit is as bright as the sun! Woo!" Hau responded.
"Lillie, I just have one thing to say." Ash said.
"Yeah?"
"I'm so proud of you for growing this much. You're hardly recognizable personality wise compared to the beginning."
"Thank you Ash!" Lillie cheered as she hugged Ash. Getting used to the gesture, Ash hugged her back. "And thank you guys as well. I'll be just like you all. Especially you Ash. I want to fight together with Pokemon and become strong enough to outdo even myself."
"Haha, even the way you speak is different." Hau laughed. "It's like everything you say is just plain dripping with confidence. Better pull it back or we'll get too accustomed to it." Misty rolled her eyes with a smile before encouraging,
"Ignore him Lillie. You've lived a hard life at Aether under your mother so you deserve to let your feelings pour out. Don't ever feel like you should keep your feelings hidden because others want to.
"Hee hee. I'll certainly keep that in mind."
A/N: Alright, a short chapter after a very long one prior. Oh well, I do have something to ask anyway. It's about the next game, and I was wondering. I do want to cover Sword and Shield, but from what I've seen, I think the open world aspect would be too much. Ash Platinum and the Black and White games were easy to do since they were mostly worlds where the layout was easy to comprehend and describe and thus feel more immersive. But starting with gen six it's like the worlds are becoming so life like and big it's becoming hard for me to try and accurately capture it all, so I've been putting more focus on character interaction than world interaction since there's so much on the latter. And by the next game there might be too much. Which especially won't help since there isn't a completed bulbapedia walk-through on those games. So there is a chance I won't do an Ash Sword/Shield. But something I have thought of is if I can't adapt the games themselves, what if I adapt the anime into a game like blend? I haven't worked out all the details yet, but if I were to go through with it, it would be similar to Ash challenging the World Coronation Series, and it could feature the same variety of characters Ash has met in the anime, even though there won't be any of that anime history in my story. It'll be like completely new for everybody. So if there's any of you who have some ideas about me doing a Sword and Shield adaptation that's more on the anime rather than the games, then PM me. I should note that this isn't a fan-request thing like before, but more of a collaboration on what to do next. We're talking about Pokemon Team composition, which gym leaders to choose, Ash's companions and so forth.