60 hours remain.
The nighttime of Santalune City typically isn't very quiet, with trainers rushing back home from Route 4 and Santalune Forest mixed with the sounds of small Pokemon chirping. This amount of noise frustrated Tori beyond the end because finding a little Pokemon in all that noise was proving to be impossible.
"Fennekin!" Tori shouted into the alleyways, "Where are you?" Tori saw Hop and Lily walking towards him
"Did you find her?" Hop asked, when he saw Tori's disappointment, he instantly knew he said the wrong thing.
Tori asked, "Are you sure she ran off?"
"Well after Nurse Joy healed her, she ran out the door," Hop said, he shrugged his shoulders, "Where else could she be."
"Why didn't you stop her?"
Hop replied, angry that Tori was blaming him, "Well I thought she wouldn't run far, plus I had to deal with Mr. Sore Loser here."
Lily walked between the two of them and pulled them farther away from each other, she pointed at the Pokemon Center. Tori asked, "You want us to go back? But we still haven't found Fennekin." Lily pointed toward herself, "I can't ask you to find her, after all, you didn't cause the problem," Lily pushed an angry Hop further from Tori and dragged the both of them back to the Pokemon Center. After they walked into the building Lily turned around and left, leaving them behind.
"Should we follow her?" Tori asked.
Hop yawned, "Nah, all that battling and searching made me tired," He walked toward the room they rented in the Pokemon Center.
Tori saw Lily walk farther away from the Center. He considered following her but decided that it probably would be best if he fell asleep so that he could avoid the guilt and disappointment of losing both the gym battle and Fennekin in one day. After looking into the dark for a while he turned around and followed Hop back to sleep.
59 hours remain
Wanting to make up for the embarrassing performance at Santalune Gym, Lily decided to keep trying to find Fennekin. As the streetlights had already flickered off, Lily was peering into the darkness, hoping that Fennekin would leave some sign that she had passed by.
It was only until Lily saw tips of sunlight on the horizon that she realized how long she had been searching for. Fennekin could've already run back to Lumiose city, Lily sighed, realizing that she would have to return to Tori empty-handed.
"Well well well, looky here," A deep voice came from the alleyway, "What's this nice li'l lady doin' here?"
"I dunno boss, what is she doing here?" A voice replied, he sounded as stupid as the other voice sounded rough. A few moments later he heard the same voice yelp as a sickening crunch echoed through the pavement.
"You aren't supposed to reply," The deep voice rumbled.
Lily turned around and saw the weirdest mismatch of Pokemon she had ever seen. There were dark-types, poison-types but also dirty Furfrous and snarling Lillipups, in the center of all these Pokemon was a Garbador, and sitting on his shoulder was a little Fennekin.
"Oh, Fennekin," Lily said, sighing in relief, "I finally found you, now we could return to-"
"Do you know this Lilligant, witch Fennekin?" Garbador asked, interrupting Lily before she could finish. Fennekin looked at Lily like she was deciding how to answer, she shook her head, "Then boys how 'bout we round up this Lilligant and sell her flower for a pretty penny," The Pokemon surrounding the Garbador started jumping up and down, their mouths open in bloodlust.
"Fennekin what do you mean?" Lily asked, "We know each other."
Fennekin signaled for her to stop talking, "I don't think so, you're probably owned by some rich snob, how would I ever see you."
"Even better, lads," Garbador said, "We can pay her off for a ransom, let's get her."
All the Pokemon pounced on Lily, and she could barely dodge their united charge. She summoned leaves to protect her, circling her body and slashing anyone who got too close.
Garbador lazily shot a bullet of poisoned gunk out of his hand, burning through the skin of two of his goons before melting through Lily's leaf storm and hitting her. Lily winced, and put her hand over the wound, "That's your first warning," Garbador said, he stomped over to Lily, "Surrender or I'll show you true pain."
Lily snarled back at him, "I never surrender." She summoned nearby energy from the plants and fired it at Garbador making pieces of litter fall off his body. "Alright your choice," Garbador said, he put his other hand on his body, fingering the empty hole in him. He shot an avalanche of putrid goo, and it burned through the cement, thankfully Lily had barely avoided it.
Garbador stumbled forward, trying to get a better shot of her, only to trip on a grass knot that Lily had placed. Lily fired a barrage of leaves at him, but they seemed to do little but knock trash off his giant body. Fennekin had strangely done nothing, just avoiding the leaves Lily was shooting. Garbador angrily got back up and stomped on the ground, it shook violently and made Lily fall over. She had to use quiver dance to avoid another cement-melting blast of poison.
"Get back here little lady," Garbador angrily said through gritted teeth, his body started to shrink as the trash making it up fell. Lily, assuming that he was weakening, rushed forward with a petal dance. Garbador's body was being knocked apart, and trash was being sent flying across the city.
Suddenly the largest pile of venom that Garbador had ever shot came flying out of his hand, it covered the sky and fell like rain, immobilizing Lily and everyone else inside the alley. Her whole body was stuck under this sticky venom, and she could only move her head.
Garbador walked over to Lily dramatically. "Garbador can I speak to her?" Fennekin asked. Garbador stretched out his hand and allowed Fennekin to walk on top of Lily's head. Lily squirmed, trying to shake Fennekin off but the venom had stuck her too tightly. The fox whispered into Lily's ear, "I'll free you later," She climbed back onto Garbador, "Now knock her out."
When Lily woke up, she saw the remains (The ones that weren't stuck with her in a pile of sticky poison) of Garbador's gang collecting trash from the nearby alleyways. She tried to cover her eyes from the rising sun but realized that her hands were still stuck in whatever thing that Garbador shot.
Her back ached from being stuck in the same position for a few hours, but she also felt it heating up. The tar cracked and Lily could suddenly move her body again, she turned around and saw Fennekin burning through the venom, the fox put a paw on Lily's head to let Lily stay silent.
"What are you doing here?" Lily whispered.
"Breaking you out."
"No, I mean why are you with this gang of Pokemon?" Lily asked, she wiggled her hands inside the cracking venom.
Fennekin said, "I was able to convince them that I had magic, and these guys bought it," She glanced at a Stunky eating a portion of Garbador before being thrown into the air by him, "I mean they aren't exactly the smartest."
"But why?"
"I want to be heard, Lily," Fennekin said, "And these guys will listen to me."
Garbador smacked a Pokemon aside and hurriedly ate the trash that he presented, "Are you sure you want this though? Do you want to follow this monster?"
"At least he listens."
"Tori listens as well."
Fennekin snorted, she had already melted through most of the poison-binding Lily. Lily got up and swept the poisonous debris off, "You better leave before he gets mad."
"Just consider coming with me," Lily said, she put a leaf onto Fennekin. Fennekin turned around like she didn't want to hear it but Lily could hear Fennekin thinking behind her.
Lily ran off, and when a very angry Garbador realized she was gone it was already too late.
53 hours remain
Tori had woken up, worrying about the upcoming rematch. He expected to see Lily sunbathing near the window and was worried when she wasn't there. He rushed down to the lobby and accidentally bumped into Lily, "Lily thank Arceus you're okay," He hugged her tightly, upon closer inspection, he noticed that there were smelly black flecks of tar stuck around her body, "You are okay, aren't you."
Lily swatted her hand in the air as if to say the injury was nothing, however her performance was unconvincing. Tori released her and inspected the various leaves on her body.
The doors of the Pokemon Center opened, Tori was glad to see that Fennekin had finally returned. Fennekin edged closer to Tori, she looked back at the door like she was afraid of being followed.
"You're back, Fennekin?" Tori asked, "Now we can train so we can beat Viola. Let's go"
Without wasting a second, Tori walked out of the Pokemon Center. Fennekin glared at Lily, "Wow, what a choice he's giving."
"He's just stressed after losing to Viola," Lily said, she walked toward Tori's room so she could rest, "Give him a chance."
Fennekin bit Lily's back and yanked her back, "Either you're also coming or we're both not coming."
Lily sighed, knowing how important getting Fennekin on his team to Tori, she followed along and tiredly walked out of the Pokemon Center doors to follow Tori.
Amateur Trainers were leaving their houses to fight other Trainers. Tori said to Lily (Because she was the only one who would listen), "These trainers have similar Pokemon to Viola, if we could fight them then we might be able to find a counter to Viola's strategy." Tori stopped in front of every kid he saw with a Pokeball and asked them to fight.
Sadly, he wasn't even able to fight once the whole morning as neither Fennekin nor Lily was willing to have a Pokemon battle. This put Tori's nerves even higher as he needed to train against Viola, if he didn't then he would fail again. At the beginning, Fennekin would occasionally try to make Tori stop to rest but she gave up. Noon had already arrived, and Lily had to drag Tori away from challenging more trainers so he could eat.
Tori sat down on a nearby park bench. The sun was shining but Tori was too busy formulating plans and worrying about training his Pokemon to enjoy it. Lily tiredly sat down next to him, she had just prevented Fennekin from running away (Again) and exhaustedly put her onto the table.
Fennekin had been glaring at Lily for the past minute. Lily looked back at her and asked, "What is your issue?"
"First of all, Tori's unfair! He's let me walk halfway across Santalune!" Fennekin yelped, her stomach growled, "And I haven't ate anything since last night!"
Lily sighed, she put her head on the table and said, "Maybe you wouldn't be so hungry if you didn't run away so much."
Fennekin replied, "Well maybe I wouldn't run away if he actually gave me rights, like letting me rest!"
"I guess you're right," Lily said, she tapped Tori on his shoulder.
Tori took his eyes off a nearby Pokemon battle that he was studying, "What is it, Lily?"
Lily put her head on her arms like she was falling asleep. Tori asked, "Can you stay awake a bit longer?"
Lily opened the leaves on her head and started synthesizing the sun's rays. Tori realized he had gotten his answer. He turned his head back to see the Pokemon battle, he disappointedly realized that the two trainers had finished battling. Too absorbed by his worries, Tori didn't notice Fennekin getting closer to his sandwich, she yanked the bacon off the bread and hopped off the table, happy with her heist.
"Fennekin, hey, that's my bacon!" Tori yelled, he jumped off his chair and went to chase Fennekin. Tori angrily ran after Fennekin, she used her small size and agility to easily weave around Tori. When Tori had finally cornered her, she gulped down the bacon and sheepishly grinned back at Tori. Tori put his hands around Fennekin's stomach and started squeezing, "Give me back my bacon!"
Fennekin couldn't fight back because she was bursting with laughter. "You like being tickled?" Tori asked, his anger morphing into mischief. He mercilessly tickled the little Fennekin only stopping when she started to lose her breath.
"How do you like that?" Tori asked, grinning for the first time in two exhausting days. Fennekin tried to get up in her haughty matter, but she just couldn't muster that energy anymore, "Yeah, that's what I thought." When she was happy, Fennekin kind of looked like Lily when she was younger.
Suddenly Tori was brought to someplace far far away. Sunlight was bursting through the trees but most of the light was blocked by one large Delphox. That Delphox was looking at Fennekin like she was judging her. The little Fennekin anxiously walked toward her, glancing up at Delphox in fear. Fennekin seemed young at the time, just a few weeks after birth and she walked extremely unsteadily. Fennekin tripped on a small rock, she quickly got back up and continued walking as if nothing happened. The large Delphox snorted and said, "Ethereal, bring my weak child away."
Fennekin sniffled, she watched as her siblings sat with her mom, judging her every step, "Mommy can I please sit with you."
The large Delphox barked to the woods, "Ethereal now!"
A smaller Delphox came out of the trees, and hurriedly picked Fennekin up, she bowed at the larger Delphox before rushing back into the darker trees. Fennekin stared at her mom, but she didn't even give a glance back.
The smaller Delphox, Ethereal, brought Fennekin to a part of the forest that was a lot darker. Ethereal sighed and said, "Walk to me."
Fennekin walked over to Ethereal with the clumsiness of a newborn. She was almost in her arms when she tripped again, Fennekin tensed up, fearing a punishment, something that other Delphox's would definitely give to her. Ethereal said softly, "Good job, Helia. That's a lot farther than before."
"It's not far enough, Ethere… Etherya-," Fennekin replied psychically.
"Ethereal."
"Ethereal," Fennekin repeated, "I can never play with my siblings, I never get to eat anything. All I do is practice walking while my siblings can do interesting things like practicing fire breathing."
Ethereal picked Fennekin up and swept the dust off her fur, Ethereal looked around her as if she was trying to see if anyone was nearby, "You want to practice fire breathing? Then show me what you got."
Fennekin's ears perked up, she jumped off Ethereal, landing with the grace of a rock. She got back up and said, "Okay, here goes."
Fennekin allowed the heat in her body to all go to her throat, her neck heated up quickly and glowed faintly. She opened her mouth, lighting up the darkness around her. Then she breathed out, a small wisp of fire appeared.
"Was it good?" Fennekin asked, she looked very proud although the fire she had breathed out was smaller than a fingernail.
Ethereal got up and she motioned for Fennekin to get closer, "You breathe fire through your lungs, it works but there is a better way," Ethereal took out a small stick and positioned it around her mouth. She breathed in, even though Fennekin was only as tall as Ethereal's feet, could feel the air rushing up to her mouth. Ethereal's stomach glowed making her yellow fur look like it was on fire. She breathed out onto her stick and a large burst of fire came out, and for a second it seemed like the sun had descended onto the Earth.
"Wow," Fennekin looked up in amazement, her orange eyes glowing "How did you do that?"
Ethereal sat back down, "Breathe with your stomach, you'll get more air that way and therefore more fire."
Tori was suddenly brought back to the park, and he felt like he had been shot by a cannon in that forest that he was just in. He could still feel the warmth of Ethereal's fire enveloping him. Fennekin seemed to have also been shot from a similar distance. Tori asked, "It happened again, didn't it?"
Fennekin nodded, she dizzily got back to her feet and barfed out the bacon she had eaten. Tori held a hand to his head, trying not to do the same. He looked at Fennekin pitifully, he couldn't imagine how he would feel if he never had a choice in his life.
"So, your name is Helia?" Tori asked, Fennekin tensed up like she wasn't used to being called that name before weakly nodding, "Great to know that."
47 hours remain
Tori walked back to the Pokemon Center, maybe he could fight with Hop to try and find some new strategy. Lily reluctantly followed him wishing that she could've synthesized more sun.
When Fennekin saw Hop's Wooloo peacefully sleeping on the lawn of the Pokemon Center she angrily charged at it. When it woke up it looked like the two of them were arguing.
"Hey Tori, wondering where you went," Hop said, he looked at Wooloo bleating back at Fennekin, "You found her as well, huh?"
"It was Lily," Tori said. He hurriedly changed the subject, "Hop, do you have any plan for fighting Viola?"
"Plan, pfft," Hop replied, "There's no need to be so worried, we still got a whole day left."
"Hop, can't you take this more seriously?" Tori asked.
"No, I can't," Hop said. He whistled and got the attention of Fennekin, Wooloo, and Lily, "You guys want to go to the park," He looked back at Tori, "Y'know, relax."
It was as if Hop said the magic word, the three Pokemon all craved rest from the whirlpool of activity they went through for the past few days. Fennekin and Wooloo both ran off into the streets with Hop trying to catch up with them. Tori saw Lily looking back at him and sighed, "We should follow them."
Tori, led by Hop's silhouette, walked to a very scenic hill near Santalune City Gym. When Tori hiked to the top of the hill, he was greeted by a very happy Wooloo. Hop's Wooloo charged into him, pushing Tori to the ground. Wooloo then happily ran around Tori.
Hop scratched the back of Wooloo's head, grinning, he helped Tori up. Tori looked around the hill, the sun's glaring light pushed into his eye, "Great, you came."
He asked, "Why are we here?"
"C'mon sit on the grass," Hop said, he plopped down on the soft earth and patted a spot next to him.
"You can't ignore me," Tori said, still firmly standing up.
"Fine, you want to know why we're here," Hop said, "Look for yourself," Tori looked for the four Pokemon the two of them were caring for. They were all happily playing or resting, "They need a break not more training."
Hop turned to Tori, "You shouldn't feel bad about losing, see it as an opportunity."
"But Hop we need to train and plan unless we'll just lose again."
"Y'know, Tori," Hop said in a sage whisper, "My brother always said that mindset is the key factor when it comes to winning. If you go into a battle worrying, you'll lose then you'll never win."
"I'll feel a lot safer with a plan."
"Well, you haven't found one yet so let's go with my idea," Hop said as he lay on the grass looking up at the blue sky, "Take some time off, Tori. Turn that noggin of yours off, think later," Hop patted the grass beside him again, and this time Tori listened.
"You're still thinking aren't you," Hop said, Tori was startled by his words, he thought Hop had fallen asleep, "Don't. Look at the sky, enjoy your surroundings."
Tori was annoyed by the new condescendingly wise tone that Hop was using on him and angrily stared off into space. He saw Fennekin sleeping, she twitched occasionally like kicking off some invisible fly. Wooloo was running around the park, he looked so happy. Tori thought about playing with it then felt annoyed by that thought, "How could I focus on that? I need to plan for the battle," Tori muttered, he anxiously thought about his upcoming battle with Viola, "If I- no she can counter that," Tori started drawing figures in the dirt as if they were chess pieces in a game, but he could never plan a scenario where he wins, "Maybe I am worrying too much."
43 hours… Aw, who's counting at this point?
Hop got up like he was awakened by an alarm clock. He got up and looked around the hill. Tori was confused by his friend's actions, "What are you doing."
"I want food," Hop said after a delay of a few seconds, he scanned the area before finding a small food stall, "Ah, found it!" He dashed down the hill, with a confused but excited Wooloo bounding after him.
Tori didn't plan on following him but the lure of food to his empty stomach and the heavenly scent coming from the food cart were too attractive to ignore.
"Thanks, man," Hop said to the food vendor. He held three tins of food in one hand while trying to put his Rotom phone back into his pocket with the other. Tori was about to climb back up the hill when he remembered something.
"Hey, can I buy some bacon," Tori said, "Like just bacon."
The shopkeeper was confused but made the order, Tori carried the food back up the hill. Hop had already started eating, shoving food into his mouth. Tori opened one of the tins and saw a few Poffins, which he was forced to give to Wooloo as when he offered one to Lily she refused to eat.
"Fennekin," Tori shouted, Fennekin glanced upward at him but didn't move from her curled-up sleeping position, "You want some bacon?"
Fennekin got up and snatched the tin of bacon off Tori's hands. Tori knew that he had chosen correctly when he saw Fennekin snarfing down bacon at the same speed as Hop, "Sorry for not listening to you before," Tori said to Fennekin.
Later
Night had already fallen, and the hill was getting dark as it was only being lit by the lights of Santalune Gym. Lily was already urging the others to return to the hotel.
Hop yawned, "C'mon Tori. It's late we need to go."
"Got it, I just want to stay here longer, look at the sky."
Hop snorted at the irony and walked off with Lily and Wooloo. Fennekin stayed behind, she curled up next to Tori but whenever he tried to touch her, she would growl and edge away.
Tori peeled his eyes off the night sky, it was strange, why would humanity purposely blurt out the stars, maybe it was just that they were too bright, too hopeful. Tori already missed the sky in Vaniville town, just looking at it would fill him with awe and admiration. Tori got up from the hill and he could hear Fennekin's soft feet following him back.
Santalune City grew back into focus after leaving the hill, on the way back Tori thought of ways to beat Viola. He felt so close to creating a strategy, but it seemed just out of his grasp. The closer they were to the Pokemon Center the faster Fennekin walked, occasionally looking back at Tori. As he was trying to catch up to Fennekin, the distant Pokemon Center was already in sight, Tori would have to think of his plan tomorrow.
Tori's shoe got strangely stuck onto something, when Tori tried to pull it up to see what it was, he realized he couldn't. A deep rumbling came from the alleyway and then a Garbador came out from the shadows, with a few injured Pokemon cowering behind him.
The Garbador approached, his giant figure looming around Tori and Fennekin. He picked Tori up, popped his shoe off, and squeezed his body. Tori shouted, "Hey let me go."
The Garbador grumbled and a small weak Abra came up, his arm was covered in a black substance that stuck it to its chest. The Abra sent words into his head like the two were chatting online "What lord Garbador is saying is that" He paused and waited for Garbador to repeat his words, "What are you doing with Witch Fennekin?"
"Witch Fennekin?" Tori asked, Garbador's grip on him tightened and it felt like his lungs were going to pop out his mouth, "Who is that."
Garbador growled and slammed him into the ground, the Abra floated above him and translated, "Don't play dumb, tell us and we all go home," Tori's whole body screamed in agony, and he was too distracted by pain to think of a good response. Angry that he was being ignored, Garbador repeatedly slammed Tori on the pavement, "She went out for a little day trip and she hasn't returned since, you must've kidnapped her."
"I didn't kidnap her," Tori groaned, "She came here willingly. I'm taking care of her."
"Really?" Garbador growled, He clenched Tori tighter, "Taking care of her eh? You know how much I hate humans Fennekin and you know how much I hate traitors," Fennekin walked backward but met a wall of Garbador's grunts blocking her.
"Burn this human, and prove that you don't rely on this human," Garbador said, "or I burn you," He pointed his other hand at Fennekin, goo dripping out of it and when they fell the ground hissed.
Fennekin looked at Tori with open eyes, she snorted small bursts of fire through his nose. Fennekin opened her mouth, and it glowed like a spotlight, Tori closed her eyes preparing for the blast of fire to burn him. Instead of fire, Fennekin breathed out smoke. She charged forward at one of Garbador's legs making him fall over.
Garbador growled, and the Abra translated, "You traitor, helping humans, The Garbador gang will never forgive you!"
Garbador rushed forward, swinging Tori around. Fennekin shot fire at Garbador's hands, the trash holding it together burnt apart and the arm carrying Tori dropped off, crumbling into small pieces of litter.
Garbador turned his angry gaze at Fennekin, the Abra backed away, afraid of what was going to happen. Garbador angrily charged at Fennekin. Fennekin, just realized what she had done, and barely had enough time to react. Dashing away to avoid Garbador's grasp. Garbador shot the sticky goo after her. It plopped on the ground and burnt into cement. Luckily for Garbador, one piece hit Fennekin's foot. She desperately tried to push her foot out. When she knew it was impossible she shot blasts of fire at Garbador, all burning holes in the trash monster's body but unable to stop his approach. This made him look like a wobbly wedge of cheese as he limped toward Fennekin.
Tori tackled Garbador. He was surprisingly softer than he looked. The large pile of garbage fell aside, more trash falling from his body. Tori tried helping Fennekin pull her leg out, but before he could finish Garbador smacked him aside with his arm. Making Tori fly across the pavement. Garbador used his one arm to nudge himself toward Fennekin, fueled by pure rage.
"Flame charge Fennekin, getaway," Tori shouted, he tried to get back up to stall Garbador, but his dizzy head pushed him back down.
Fennekin listened, surrounding herself in flame, it burnt through the goo fast enough to dodge Garbador from pressing his weight on her. She shot flame behind her, using flame charges to get out of his reach. Garbador groaned, the Abra hesitantly translated to Tori, "Fennkin, don't you understand. You're serving a monster. You'll just be another Pokemon they throw aside. I won't never do that to you."
Fennekin blasted another burst of flame, burning through the last pieces of trash holding Garbador together. Garbador had fainted. The Pokemon that followed Garbador cautiously picked up the scraps of his body and ran off.
Tori climbed up, he was still shaky, and the pain still hadn't subsided. Fennekin limped back, the poison from Garbador must've reacted with her fire to cut her leg. She burnt through the tar holding Tori's shoe and nudged it forward. Tori barely mustered a thank you. By instinct, he picked up the weak Fennekin, thinking that it was an injured baby Lily. Strangely, Fennekin didn't object, instead she fell asleep in Tori's arms.
Lily saw Tori collapse onto his bed, she worriedly approached him when Fennekin spoke, scaring her, "He'll be fine, he just charged into a Garbador, stop worrying"
"That Garbador?" Lily gasped. Fennekin nodded, "Wait then how did you get away?"
Fennekin murmured something, Lily asked, "Pardon?"
"I saved him."
"Really?" Lily asked, happy that Fennekin was starting to trust Tori.
"I don't like him, I saved him because I didn't like how Garbador was hurting him," Fennekin said defensively.
The two stayed silent for a while both looking at the moon through the window, Lily petted the tired Fennekin on the head, "Good night Fennekin, and Tori wishes you one as well."