Chapter Text
She had been living here for a while now, and Lillie’s morning routine had been the same as always. She got up from Nebby bouncing on her like an excited child, ate breakfast while trying to make sure she didn’t accidentally drop any of the scraps that would alert the professor’s Rockruff, brushed her teeth, and waited for Kukui to stop by to test out some kind of move, causing her to go outside so she didn’t have to hear all of that commotion. Then she would have to hope to Arceus that Nebby would actually stay in a Poké Ball for at least an hour. Unfortunately, Arceus and Nebby didn’t seem to listen to her most of the time.
Only she was waiting a lot longer than usual for that, however. It didn’t exactly help that all of the Pokémon around the lab were crawling around like it was them who owned the place.
Lillie held Nebby close to her. She could tell he was getting confused about what was taking him so long, as he looked up at her with a curious look.
Finally, the door opened, and there he was,
“Sorry for the wait, Lillie. I was just talking with the kahuna about something.”
“The kahuna?” Lillie repeated. That was a bit concerning. Usually that didn’t happen unless something important was going on.
“It’s nothing bad, cool your Aqua Jets.” Kukui grinned. “I was just thinking recently about how you’ve been having… problems with the other Pokémon around here.”
“They can be very active sometimes.” Lillie admitted. “I’m just lucky they at least have Nebby to help warm them up for you. But then they start influencing him and now he gets all over the place…” She trailed off after that.
“Exactly.” Kukui nodded. “So I’d been trying to think about how to help with that. I pulled a few strings, talked to Kahuna Hala about it…”
The next thing that came out of his mouth was singlehandedly the most startling thing Lillie had heard since she moved in with him.
“How do you feel about getting your own Pokémon?”
“What?!” Lillie said so loud she swore she heard a few Pikipek flying away outside. “You want me to- I- but I-” She couldn’t help but couldn’t keep sputtering. “What about Nebby?”
“I know. I mean something a little bit stronger than him.” Kukui sighed. “I know you’ve been talking a lot lately about protecting Nebby and all, so I figured helping build up your own team and getting a little more social with Pokémon could help with that.”
“I guess that makes sense.” Lillie fell silent for a moment, leaving Kukui to sit next to her.
“I get it. You don’t like seeing Pokémon get hurt. It’s not exactly an easy thing to get rid of. It’s a part of life, and if you want to make sure Nebby stays safe…” The two of them looked over at Nebby, who was hovering over a Stufful that was reaching out to him, while Nebby hovered just out of reach. “...Then maybe it wouldn’t hurt to have more Pokémon in his life that he can trust. He hates being inside his Poké Ball, you know.”
“Believe me, he’s made that very clear...” Lillie affectionately rolled her eyes.
“Maybe meeting some Pokémon more comfortable with that could help him get used to it. So how about we go up to Iki Town, find yourself a good first partner, and train it up a little?”
Lillie didn’t exactly know what to say at first. She knew Kukui had a way with words, at least according to Professor Burnet, but the thought of actually going out there and seeing the rest of Melemele… it terrified her. But something her and Nebby definitely had in common was that they were nowhere near strong. Lillie was pretty much built like a twig and the only move Kukui had observed Nebby use was Splash, so maybe bringing one more Pokémon into their little family wouldn’t hurt.
“I… I guess we can try.”
“That’s the attitude I’m looking for!”
Lillie did not often visit Iki Town. While the people were very nice, the way to the town involved a lot of tall grass, and Lillie did not want to encounter any wild Pokémon. She would only visit with Professor Kukui, sticking close by him as they made their way there, so much so that she didn’t even realize she was holding him by the arm. “Professor Kukui! Lillie! Good to see you both!” A local said, greeting them.
“Alola!” Kukui greeted back, with a big smile. “Do you know where old Hala is? I got some business with him!”
“Oh, Hala? I haven’t seen him.”
“Hm? Well then.” Kukui turned to Lillie. “Let’s go look for him.”
“Alright.” The two looked around the town for a while, before Lillie caught sight of someone.
At the entrance of the pathway to the ruins, Lillie noticed a girl her age. She wore a hat with a red hibiscus tied around it, an orange top with flower patterns, and the hem being shaped like petals as well. She wore white shorts, a nylon bag around her shoulder and sandals strapped up above her ankles.
The girl chuckled mischievously, before rushing through the entrance telling herself, “Alright, couldn’t hurt to have just one last adventure before I go, right?”
Lillie blinked in surprise. “Who… was that?” She muttered to herself.
“Oh, her?” She nearly jumped, realizing Kukui heard her. “That’s Selene! She moved to Alola a few weeks ago, and she’s wanting to go on her own Island Challenge!”
“Selene…” Lillie repeated softly.
“Why don’t you go follow her?”
“Huh?!”
“I have a feeling she knows where Hala is. Don’t worry, she’s chill!” Kukui assured her. “A little chaotic, sure, but friendly!”
“O-Okay…”
Lillie cautiously followed behind Selene, just out of her sight. As she did so, she could feel Nebby’s Poke Ball wiggle around in her bag.
“Look, I’ll let you meet my other Pokemon when I get it. Just keep it down, okay?” Lillie then flinched, hiding behind one of the statues when she noticed Selene looking around.
“Huh? Is someone around here?”
Lillie waited for her to move on, and it took every bit of her willpower to make sure Nebby’s ball stayed within her sight. Best case scenario was that she could introduce herself to Lillie without her knowing about Nebby, ask where Hala was, and be out of there with her new Pokemon in tow. But she wasn’t exactly holding her breath for it.
She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and walked forward.
“Hey, uh… hi, I’m-”
“Dartrix, use Peck!”
“What?”
She found Selene on a bridge, with one of her Pokemon sent out against a flock of Spearow. Despite the confined area for battle, Selene watched in awe as Dartrix soared around the bridge, striking the Spearow left and right with its beak.
Despite how much she hated watching Pokemon battles, something about the ecstatic look on Selene’s face as she watched the spectacle unfold… she couldn’t look away.
…Or maybe it was the other reason why she didn’t want to look away.
“Uh, hey! The bridge!” Lillie stammered, seeing one of the Spearow’s bodies fly into one of the logs, smacking it clean off.
“Huh-woah!” Selene stumbled upon seeing the damage caused. All the noise made Nebby’s Poke Ball shake wildly, before said Pokemon jumped out of its ball and flew across the bridge in a panic.
“Wait, what was that-” Selene was interrupted by a shriek.
“NEBBY!” Lillie dashed past Selene and her Dartrix, running towards Nebby. One of the Spearow noticed, and cawed, calling their companions to attack.
“Hey, watch out!” Selene followed Lillie as a Spearow dove at Nebby, and Lillie was in close reach. Nebby quivered in fear, closing in on itself, before-
BOOM!
A shockwave of energy erupted from Nebby, destroying the whole bridge, leaving Lillie and Selene to fall into the river below them.
The girls shrieked as they fell to their apparent doom, Lillie closed her eyes, not even catching a glimpse of the yellow streak that flew into them.
…In fact, she was still screaming, even when gravity wasn’t taking her.
“Uh, dude?” Selene’s comforting words were just enough to get Lillie to actually open her eyes, seeing that she was being held in a yellow-shelled arm.
“Huh?” Lillie looked up, to see she was being carried by- “Tapu Koko?!” She gasped. The Island Guardian looked back at her, and then turned back to Selene, before turning his head up and taking them back to the cliff.
While nestled in Tapu Koko’s arm, she looked at Selene, who, while relieved, almost seemed to giggle at the sight of the legendary. Not wanting to look down, she focused on her, unable to look away even if she wanted to…
Her mind was still recovering from the panic of the fall, and seeing Selene so happy to be carried like this… Lillie didn’t know the feeling just yet, but she felt like she could calm herself down just a little bit from the mere sight of Selene.
…Maybe that’s what Kukui meant by her being chill, a little chaotic, but friendly.
Tapu Koko dropped them off onto safe ground gently. Lillie and Selene both let out sighs of relief, before Lillie realized something. “Wait… Nebby?! Nebby!” She turned to the broken bridge, to see Nebby…
Playfully flying towards her. “Oh. Right. You can fly.” Lillie reached out to Nebby, and he nestled into her arms.
Meanwhile, Selene’s Dartrix casually flew up and landed on the ground like nothing had just happened. “Dartrix!” Selene threw her hands around the owl, hugging it as it cooed.
Tapu Koko stared at Nebby, who stared back. Suddenly, the Guardian let out a roar, electricity sparking from its body as it did so, before flying off. Lillie watched it leave, still a bit confused. “What was that about?”
“I dunno.” It occurred to Lillie that she wasn’t alone here, and turned to see Selene had picked up something. “Hey,” She said, turning around and showing it to Lillie. It was a sparkling stone that had an odd emblem in the middle of it, with a few gems surrounding it. “I think this belongs to you!”
Selene, on her knees, turned around to face Lillie, holding it out to her with a smile.
Lillie’s face turned tomato red, steam coming from her ears as she stammered madly, before taking the sparkling stone from Selene. “Thankyouverymuch-”
“Hey, are you okay?! Are you feeling unwell?!” She got up to hold Lillie just in case, while Lillie kept blushing and freaking out! Dartrix watched, tilting its head curiously, while Nebby kept laughing in excitement.
“I…” Lillie finally got her act together, before quickly bowing to Selene. “I’m okay, thank you very much for your help!” She then mumbled, “That was scary. Maybe I do need a more battle-ready Pokemon…”
“Hey, it’s no biggie!” Selene smiled, giving a thumbs up. “Me and Dartrix are always ready to help!” The Pokemon let out a hoot of agreement.
“Well, thanks again.” Lillie turned back to Nebby. “Come on, get on the ball, Nebby.” She held out the Poke Ball, and Nebby entered it. Lillie turned to Selene. “Please, can you… not tell anyone about Nebby? That you saw her and everything, I’d prefer this to be a secret…”
“Sure!”
‘She agreed so easily…!’
Lillie decided to walk back to Iki Town… before realizing something. She sheepishly turned to Selene. “I, um… I want to go back to the town, but uh… I’m afraid of being attacked by Pokemon, so… can you accompany me?” Lillie requested.
“Okie-dokie!” Selene cheerfully skipped to Lillie, before taking her hand. “Let’s a go!” Lillie blushed as they walked back to town. Dartrix waddled after them, having an idea about what was up with Lillie.