Chapter 9

Ash was walking to the battlefield, with Pikachu deciding not to walk alongside him for obvious reasons. This was the day their long-awaited justice began, they had allies and clear enemies...

"And now, we have the Sevestar Champion, who was the one willing to host this massive tournament here, Red Satoshi!" Charles Goodshow announced, as Ash, or, Red walked onto the stage and Pikachu just watched from the hallway.

"Thank you." Ash/Red thanked Charles as he soon gave a speech, "I expect all of you to try your best, and to achieve an even better you than before this tournament everyone!" The crowd cheered as Ash soon went back the way he came, with Pikachu now back on his shoulders, as he saw what his family and friends' matches were

Red (Ash) vs Gladion, Insey vs Misty, Max vs May, Bonnie vs Clemont, Mark vs Bea were notable ones.

Minami, Trenor, and Golly had people that Ash didn't recognize, but he was sure they'd win easily.

Ash seemed to smirk, three traitors were practically guaranteed to be out in Round 1, with Gladion being their strongest one!

Meanwhile, as Lillie back in the room was happy Ash could get even with Gladion right away, she soon hit a realization.

"He's going to want to use me..." Lillie gulped as she started shaking with fear, "No, stop it Lillie, Ash knows you are not good at battling, he'll understand my feelings, he's got to..."

Ash's Dewott walked over to the concerned Lillie-vee and sat next to her with Ivysaur.

"Hey Lillie, is something bothering you?" Ivysaur questioned with concern, "You seem a bit tensed up."

"Oh, hey..." Lillie was started, but tried to stay calm, "It's just, the first match, I'm worried Ash is going to want me to battle, even though...I know I've gotten better with moves over time and eventually managed to beat some of the Pokémon of Mark and Insey when they hold back, but I'm still not that great with batting...I'm more of better at helping out with training others with contests, showcases, and of course battles. I ju-" Lillie gets cut off by Chase picking her up and putting her on his shoulder, which she struggles to stay on.

"Don't worry about that, I'm sure Dad will understand Lillie, he still cares a lot about you!" Chase chuckles, as Lillie hops off.

"Chase is right," Serena stated, "besides, it's alright to feel uncomfortable about battling a traitorous family member in a Pokémon battle, I'd be the same if I was pinned against them." Goh's family nodded, as Vee/Chloe's Eevee nuzzled against Lillie.

"Don't be hard on yourself, we're all equals, so don't be concerned, 'kay?" Vee giggled as Lillie nodded, as Dewott patted her head, "Dewott don't do that to poor Lillie, she's already made it clear she hates that..."

"Oh, sorry!" Dewott backs away, embarrassed, "I just couldn't resist it, she's so cute!"

Back with Ash, he and Pikachu were wondering who Ash was going to bring, it was all full battles for this tournament, so first, he needed six Pokémon to beat Gladion. Since he gave Zoroark back to his father, he has Umbreon, Lycanroc, Silvally, and three new Pokémon: Weavile, Crobat, and Shiny Nihilego from Crown Tundra.

"So, Melmetal, Lycanroc, Incineroar, and you are picks instantly." Ash stated, "Snowy I have to check for a rematch with Umbreon, but if she doesn't want to, I'm gonna go with Gengar, but Lillie might also be interested in revenge for you know, Gladion's the one responsible for her being turned into an Eevee...but if not then I'd have to go with someone else."

"Wait wait wait! Let's at least make sure Snowy and Lillie are okay with battling Gladion's team first!" Pikachu quickly exclaimed, "Snowy, yes she's like me with being not evolved but pretty good at battles, so maybe. Lillie though, not only did she never get the hang of battles, but traitor or not, that's still her brother! She's not going to want to fight him most likely!"

"Yeah, also, Lillie's birthday is in two days. I really hope I'm not busy during it." Ash groaned, "Plus, I feel like I should make it up to Lillie after I had her as the babysitter for Sarah and Chase, for 13 hours in one day last month."

"Yeah, that's the day after your battle's supposed to happen in round one of the tournament?" Pikachu suggested as Ash confirmed that it was, "Good, now we just need to figure out something Lillie would want to spend free time doing."

"I'll think about it." Ash sighed, as they headed back to the VIP room as Insey went to battle Misty. Golly was up to some tricks since she could turn herself into a ghost temporarily at will and was entertaining the kids, they were still waiting for their lawyer friend Lucina to arrive, and Serena was also monitoring the kids. Goh was taking a shower, and Delia was chatting with Chloe since they're the Queen and Professor of Sevestar respectively. Minami was trying to contact Lucina. As for Trenor and Mark, they decided to go out for a bit of a walk with their Pokémon, they also decided to bring Lillie along too, since she looked like she could use some exercise. Ash decided to take the time to get some help to come up with what to do for Lillie's birthday due to it approaching.

"So, this is nice to go on a walk again since we're gonna be busy tomorrow, eh Lillie?" Mark asked as he put an Oran Berry in front of her, Lillie ate it, as they arrived at a park.

"We wanted to know if you'd like to play like a Pokémon with us for a bit, is that okay Lillie?" Trenor offered, as he pulled out a rubber ball, Lillie nodded but felt a bit embarrassed, Mark threw it first, and Lillie rushed after it, however, she noticed two familiar people also in the park: Her parents, Lusamine and Mohn Aether.

"Mom…Dad…" Lillie cried as she wagged her tail while slowly walking to them, Mark and Trenor noticed this and picked Lillie up.

"Hey, Lillie, d-do you mind if we do this somewhere else?" Mark reluctantly asked, but Lillie seemed appalled by this.

"What? But, it's my mother and father, I haven't seen them in like what? Over a decade? They probably think I'm dead sti-" Lillie got cut off by Mark who put his finger on her mouth.

"Yeah, and they think that it's our triplet brother who killed you," Mark exclaimed in a whisper-shout, "so how do you think they both will react to seeing two people who look almost exactly like him? Even if they don't try getting us arrested, they'll most likely assume Ash is here! Right now, we can't risk people even finding out Ash is here until we get the evidence from the traitors. We'll have you reunite with them some other time, but not right now. It's not time yet, understand? We'll take you somewhere else to play."

Lillie seemed heartbroken, on one hand, doing so would put Ash and the people still loyal to him in jeopardy so it's smart to stay away from others who think Ash killed her. On the other hand, she missed even hearing anything from her parents and wanted to reunite with them after so long. However, she knew that she couldn't fight back against Ash's siblings in an argument.

"L-let's just go back to the apartment, I'm not in the mood to be outside anymore…" Lillie whimpered as she tried her absolute hardest to not cry. Mark and Trenor felt pretty bad about basically tormenting her, as they nodded and Trenor carried her back to the VIP living space.

Later, the talk of Lillie's birthday was over already, and Trenor and Mark entered the room with Lillie. Everyone almost quickly realized something was wrong with Lillie, as Delia quickly asked the two what happened while they were gone since they were back so soon.

"Well, we noticed Lusamine and Mohn in the park, and Lillie was slowly walking over to them." Mark sighed, "However, we know that we can't afford anyone else who doesn't live in Sevestar to find out our brother's here yet."

"Yeah, we had to restrain Lillie and tell her about how we can't let her do that, and we even offered to find somewhere else to go," Trenor explained further, "although, at that point, Lillie just wanted to come back…"

Delia looked a bit shocked by that, but she couldn't really blame them since she did tell them those exact things. She looked at Ash, who also heard it, and he petted Lillie on the head.

"Hey, you made the right choice Lillie," Ash stated with a slight smile, "I know it must've been hard, but I'm glad that you were able to make the right choice girl." Lillie didn't respond and just walked over to the Pokemon bed in the living area and just curled up in it.

Goh just watched, as he remembered how he used to be treated like something that can just be manipulated back in school, so he knew the pain Lillie was going through, so he asked Delia if he could talk to her in another room. Meanwhile, Golly decided it would be best to start getting ready for her battle. Snowy went over to Lillie to keep her mother figure some company at the very least, as Ash, Pikachu, and Serena hoped that Lillie would be able to at least enjoy the rest of the Tournament, as Insey's battles started…To Be Continued.