Chapter 19
While Ash was saying goodbye to his and Lillie's alternate-world selves, Mark was thinking about how complicated their situation had become in a matter of days. Sure, they needed to bring the traitors to justice, but due to Lillie's Violet Depression condition, they not only had to be extremely careful about how they handled her family, but they also needed to find time to get the Infinity Gems outside of Sevestar to cure it. Trenor felt very guilty about how Lillie was in pain because of him; he may not know the name, but—
"H-Hey Lillie, how are you holding up?" Trenor sighed while kneeling down to pet her, only for Lillie to turn away. "Lillie..." Minami put a hand on Trenor's shoulder and shook her head.
"She's been through enough, and while I hate to admit it, you're probably the last person she wants to talk to, Trenor." Minami sighed in sorrow and worry as Ash returned to the group. "Welcome back, brother."
"Hey, guys." Ash sighed before kneeling down to Lillie's level. "Hey Lillie, sorry we didn't say it sooner, no hard feelings, right?"
"No hard feelings..." Lillie sighed, giving a fake smile, but Ash could tell it was fake.
"Okay, so here's the plan," Goh stated. "We're going to take turns spending time with her, right?" The group nodded as Goh continued. "Okay, in that case, my family will spend time with her while you guys, uh, do your thing, I guess." The Ketchum family nodded and left the Mobile family to, uh, Poke-sit Lillie and Snowy.
"Yay, we get to play!" Susanna giggled and immediately picked up Lillie in her arms, comforting her.
"Now, now, let's make sure she's willing first, sweetie," Chloe reminded Susanna as she looked at Lillie, who gave a thumbs-up with her paw. Snowy followed them to the park.
"Alrighty, what do you want to do, Lillie?" Susanna asked as Lillie turned to the Mobile family. "It's your birthday, so it's only fair we do something you want to do!"
"I...I don't know what to say..." Lillie gasped while giving a big smile. "Thank you, hmm..." Lillie looked around and saw a hill that would be good for a picnic. "How about a pretend picnic?"
"I love that idea! I'll go get some supplies for that!" Chloe exclaimed. "Goh honey, go help them find a spot on the hill that would be good to set it up, okay?"
"Understood." Goh chuckled as Chloe rushed off. He took Susanna's hand and walked with the three girls up the hill. They then sat down with Susanna on Goh's lap, and Lillie and Snowy sitting next to each other. "So Lillie, guess things have been eventful, huh? ...Yeah, I know that was a stupid way to put it..."
"It's accurate, though..." Snowy sighed, and Lillie nodded. Susanna frowned at Lillie's semi-blank expression.
"The creepy purple lady says that she's very sick, but she doesn't seem sick!" Susanna exclaimed. "What does she mean by that?"
"It's not a regular sickness, Susanna," Goh sighed. "What Lillie has, to put it lightly, affects her feelings." Goh petted Lillie on the head and continued, "Just know we're always here for you, Lillie. Despite being married, Ash is still a bit dense, but I know he never stopped caring for you. He just makes mistakes sometimes, but he does cherish you a lot, his whole family does. To be honest, me, Chloe, Susanna, and our Pokémon pals do too. I'm pretty sure Snowy here especially cares for you."
"Of course." Snowy slightly smiled as she agreed with Goh and nuzzled Lillie under the chin.
Meanwhile, at the suite apartment, Ash, Ash's Pikachu, Golly, Minami, and Minami's Sylveon were setting up decorations for the party. Delia, Insey, Serena, and Serena's Pokémon were preparing dinner and treats. As for Mark and Trenor, they were focused more on the diagram/map that Voidlie had given them. According to it, they need all 18 Infinity Gems to cure Lillie, but it will most likely come at the cost of someone's life if they aren't careful. Acquiring them is an entirely different story, however.
Each gem will most likely have some sort of monstrous entity guarding it. While some worlds may have the Infinity Gems without the demons, this world definitely has them, as Voidlie had to go through those trials.
The only gem that doesn't have a specific demon is the Ghost Infinity Gem. Instead, the Ghost Infinity Gem will have someone who's deceased confront you and be the judge of your motive for trying to get the gem. This entity can stay around as a loving presence as long as they are in close proximity to the Ghost Infinity Gem or if someone uses the Rock Infinity Gem to make their form stable.
Meanwhile, at the suite apartment, Ash, Ash's Pikachu, Golly, Minami, and Minami's Sylveon were setting up decorations for the party. Delia, Insey, Serena, and Serena's Pokémon were preparing dinner and treats. Mark and Trenor, on the other hand, were focused on the diagram/map that Voidlie had given them. According to it, they needed all 18 Infinity Gems to cure it, but it would most likely come at the cost of someone's life if they weren't careful. Acquiring them was an entirely different story, however.
Each one would most likely have some sort of trap guarding the corresponding Gem. While some worlds might have the Infinity Gems without traps, this world 100% did, as Voidlie had to have gone through those trials.
The only one that doesn't have a specific trap is the Ghost one. This is because the Ghost Infinity Gem requires someone who's deceased to confront you and judge the motive of the person trying to get the Gem. This deceased entity would be able to stay around as a loving presence as long as they remained in close proximity to the Ghost Infinity Gem, or if someone else used the Rock Infinity Gem to make their form stable.
(Well, if you want to know the traps, then I suggest reading my Love and Despair or the Sevestar Prince Darker Version to find out)
"Well, it's very good that we can teleport; otherwise, Lillie would kind of be screwed," Trenor sighed. "Even with that, it's still going to be hard to manage between the tournament stuff and getting the Gems."
"Yeah, but if it's to save Lillie, I'm willing to do anything I can," Mark stated with determination in his eyes. "She's mostly in this Violet Depression because of us. Thankfully, she isn't aware of what it is; otherwise, we would be in a lot more trouble..."
"How's the location situation?" Golly floated over to check on the status.
"Well, we have to get 18 gems from across the world, and getting each one has the potential to encounter a demonic entity that could kill you," Mark explained. "And even if we get all 18, we might need to make a sacrifice to properly cure Lillie."
"That sucks," Golly groaned. "I do wonder if there's any way around it, though. Like, maybe if it's not too severe yet, it's possible to treat it without a sacrifice, or if there's a way to make the process work with another unknown condition met instead?"
"One thing I want to know is what in the world happened to that other Lillie," Serena exclaimed with a worried tone. "Those purple silhouette versions of Lillie, Pikachu, and Snowy did not seem happy to see us, or mostly Ash."
"Apparently their world's Ash..." Mark sighed. "He... he did not treat that version of Lillie well because of a misunderstanding due to an incident with Team Rocket using her to manipulate the minds of others. They kept it very vague, and they also said they originally had to use our world's Infinity Gems to cure Violet Depression themselves."
"Why exactly didn't they just hand them over, if that's the case?" Trenor questioned, but Golly came up with a good reason why.
"Maybe once you use all 18, they get automatically returned," Golly wondered. "Or maybe they chose to do so willingly because it was the right thing to do in case they can't be away for too long? Not exactly sure what their motives are, but that version of Lillie—"
"Voidlie," Mark corrected her.
"Right, Voidlie and her partners probably have their reasons." Golly sighed as she got a text from Lucina, which said she was finally near the league. "Okay, Minami's colleague is almost here, so we can finally get down to the traitor situation. But first, is going to be the party." Chloe then showed up, quickly grabbed the picnic blanket, and giggled at how amazing the party preparations were going before heading back to Goh.
Later, with Goh's group, Susanna was playing with a small rubber ball that she was bouncing and rolling. Lillie and Snowy had to stop it and roll the ball back. The picnic blanket was set up, and Chloe called the three over for snacks. Lillie and Snowy had a few berries, while Susanna had banana cupcakes she and her mother had made a few days ago as a mother-daughter bonding experience. Lillie also turned into her Glaceon form to freeze some of her berries, essentially turning them into frozen treats with Freezy Frost.
"You know, I just realized you've never used your special ability in public. Why is that, Lillie?" Chloe wondered. "You know most people in Sevestar would definitely be alright with it. So why do you tend to hide it?"
"To be honest, it just feels like a liability," Lillie stated, surprising the Mobile family. "For months, I was forced to turn into my Eevee form or Eeveelution against my will when I was in one of nine cities, and I didn't even know how to use moves to begin with." Lillie sighed. "Sometimes it just feels like a way to conceal my identity."
Goh and Chloe looked worried, as Cinderace and Vee hugged Lillie softly. "Lillie, listen to me, okay?" Goh stated while putting his hand on her back. "I may not know everything that was going on with you and the Ketchum family, or Satoshi family right now. However, we do know one thing for certain: Regardless of what happens, they will always be there for you, no matter what. It's important to talk to them about this, even if it might seem like a bad idea. This is why we were trying to surprise you with the party earlier, and then had to scrap that idea..."
"Yeah, Chase is just as dense as Ash used to be..." Chloe sighed, closing her eyes and shrugging. "It makes sense, though. Both Chase and Sarah are like Ash and Serena in many ways."
"Yeah, Sarah likes science and fashion, and Chase likes contests and exploring. They both share a lot of interests with their parents, which is why they're so charming." Lillie smiled while saying that, and the Mobile family agreed. Later that evening, they received a text to head to the suite, so they made their way back, with Lillie in her Glaceon form to conceal herself.
"Welcome back, you guys!" Ash chuckled as Lillie rushed over to greet him. Ash picked up Lillie and caressed her face. "I assume your picnic went well?"
"You know it!" Goh chuckled. "Susanna also had a blast with Snowy and Lillie." Snowy nodded and nuzzled Pikachu as they went back inside, showing off the birthday decorations.
"Ta-da!" Golly giggled as Ash set Lillie on the ground. Golly continued, "What do you think, Lillie?"
"It's... it's wonderful..." Lillie gasped in awe, with a hopeful look in her eyes. "You did all of this for me...?"
"Of course!" Ash exclaimed while smiling. Chase and Sarah walked up to Lillie wearing party hats.
"Happy birthday!" the twins exclaimed while grinning at Lillie, causing her to smile and struggle to hold back tears of joy.
"I know we've been extremely busy," Serena stated, smiling at Lillie, "but you need to know that we're happy to have you with us, even if we seem like we don't pay much attention due to our jobs."
"You'll always matter to us, don't forget it!" Pikachu chuckled, giving Lillie a tight hug. Insey pulled out a small cake for Lillie to enjoy. "Insey, Delia, and Serena all worked together to make you a cake, strawberry flavored too!"
"Thank you all." Lillie sniffled, now unable to hold back happy tears. "You don't know how much this means to me, that you genuinely care about me." Lillie broke down into tears as everyone went to hug her, and the group continued celebrating Lillie's party.
While Lillie was hanging out with Goh and Chloe, Minami had managed to get a pretty big Pokémon bed, three times as big as the one Lillie and Snowy were sharing. "I know you've been sharing a bed with Snowy, and that there's not much space left over when both of you are in it, so I decided to go back to the RPA Department Store and buy a new bed for you two to share!" Minami explained, showing two small blankets, one indigo and one pink. "I also got two fresh blankets for you as well! That way you two don't have to share one, which can be very hard to deal with on cold nights, I reckon."
"Thank you, Minami, that's so sweet of you." Lillie gasped and nuzzled Minami's leg. The group continued spending time with Lillie until it was time to sleep. Lillie and Snowy settled into their new bed, with Snowy dozing off under the pink blanket. Lillie tucked her in and pulled the indigo-blue blanket over herself as she started to doze off. Just before falling asleep, she noticed Ash pulling her blanket up to her shoulders.
"Hey Lillie, hope you had a good day," Serena whispered, rubbing Lillie's head. "I know we've ignored your personal feelings recently due to the tournament."