Victor was shocked to learn that the Petilil wanted to stay outside. He checked its status window and saw that it still indicated a fear of the dark.
But looking at the Petilil's fearful eyes, which now held a hint of hopeful determination, Victor understood.
He glanced at the nearby Torterra. Female Torterra were uncommon. The Petilil must have gotten along very well with her and wanted to stay the night with her.
Thinking that this might help the Petilil overcome its fear of the dark, Victor agreed to its request.
"I'll be right there in my room. If you get scared, just call out, and I'll come and bring you back inside," Victor said, bending down to pat its small head with a smile.
Feeling Victor's concern, the fear in the Petilil's eyes vanished, and it let out a delicate cry.
"Lili~"
"Torterra, I'll leave the Petilil in your care tonight. I'll make you something delicious tomorrow," Victor said to the Torterra.
The Torterra nodded, then walked over and lowered its head, allowing the Petilil to climb onto its back.
Seeing them settled, Victor left with Gengar.
Late at night, after hearing the steady rhythm of Victor's breathing, Gengar opened its crimson eyes.
It glanced at the soundly sleeping Victor, then quietly floated out of the bedroom. It went to the lake to check on the Petilil, exchanged a quick greeting with the nearby Dali and the others, and then floated off to another part of the yard.
Arriving above the forest, Gengar spread its hands, and its eyes glowed with a strange light. An invisible force field covered the area.
A Staravia flew into the field and, the next second, began to plummet towards the ground.
No matter how hard it flapped its wings, it couldn't fly.
Just as it was about to hit the ground, the force field suddenly vanished, and it frantically flapped its wings and flew away.
The Ambipom and Electivire saw Gengar in the air and came over. The next moment, Gengar's gaze fell upon them, and they instantly felt an invisible pressure weighing them down.
"Gengar?"
Realizing it was the Ambipom and Electivire, Gengar released its Gravity, floated down in front of them, and greeted them with a wide grin.
Meanwhile, Victor threw off his covers, looked around, and saw that Gengar was gone. He went downstairs and headed towards the lake, watching the Petilil on Torterra's back from a distance.
He was still worried about the Petilil, so he had snuck out of bed in the middle of the night to check on it.
Seeing the Petilil sleeping soundly on Torterra's back, Victor breathed a sigh of relief. He then just stood there, watching quietly.
Gengar, who had been chatting with Electivire and the others, sensed Victor's presence nearby. It said its goodbyes to them and floated over to his side.
It came up beside Victor and followed his gaze to the Petilil.
"Gengar, what do you think about finding it a little friend?" Victor suddenly asked.
"Gengar." Gengar nodded.
Victor glanced at the Gengar beside him. Under the moonlight, it had a particularly reassuring presence.
He thought back on his time with Gengar. Whenever he called its name, it would always appear by his side in an instant, no matter what it was doing.
Though it was usually a prankster, it had become much more mature since the Petilil arrived, always keeping a close eye on its condition.
"It seems our Gengar is very fond of its little sister."
Thinking about how he had already formed bonds with so many Pokémon in the short time he had been in this world, Victor chuckled softly, looked at Gengar, and teased it.
"Gengar?"
Little sister?
Victor had said the same thing when the Petilil first arrived.
Victor gently pulled at the corners of its mouth. The nights in the Sinnoh region were chilly, and Victor had only come out in his pajamas. A cold breeze blew past, making him shiver.
"Let's go, Gengar. Time to go back to sleep."
He turned to leave, shivering.
Gengar looked at Victor's back, repeated his words to itself, and then chased after him with a wide grin.
"Gengar."
"I like having a little sister."
Once upon a time, it had been scorned, feared, hated, and misunderstood. The Gengar that had arrived here all alone, suffering from loneliness, now had a family it cherished.
After waving a greeting to the distant Dali and the others, Victor returned to his room and got under the covers.
"Goodnight, Gengar."
"Gengar."
The light in the room remained on.
When Victor had turned to leave, the Ambipom and Electivire had made their way over to the Torterra.
The sound of their conversation woke the Petilil. It opened its eyes and found itself in the darkness outside, and its body began to tremble.
But then it turned and saw the faint but warm light from the distant house, and it slowly calmed down.
Sensing that the Petilil on its back was awake, the Torterra sent the Ambipom and the others away.
"Torterra."
"They're very worried about you."
The Torterra had woken up the moment Victor arrived. It had seen the three Machoke watching over them with concern, and then Victor had come, followed by Gengar.
The entire Breeding House was worried about the Petilil.
"Lili."
The Petilil thought about how Victor, Gengar, and the others had cared for it, and it let out a happy, sweet cry.
I want to grow up quickly so I can be more helpful to him.
Hearing the Petilil's thoughts, the Torterra slowly lay down.
Under the moonlight, the Petilil looked out at the dark forest in the distance and suddenly felt that it wasn't so scary anymore.
It didn't understand why. It asked the Torterra, confused.
The Torterra didn't answer. It knew the answer, but it wasn't going to tell the Petilil.
This was something the Petilil had to figure out for itself.
And so, the Torterra slowly closed its eyes.
A breeze rustled past the deep-in-thought Petilil. It suddenly turned and looked at the light shining in the distance.
That single light, always left on for it, dispelled all the darkness before it.
It had found the answer. And so, on that cold, windy night, it fell into a deep and peaceful sleep in a warm embrace.
The leaves on its head were a deep, vibrant emerald.
That night, it had a dream. It dreamt that after losing another battle, a boy had taken it to the Pokémon Center late at night, bent down, and told it to rest and heal, and that he would be back for it soon.
It waited for a long, long time, but he never came. So, when Nurse Joy and Blissey weren't looking, it snuck out. That was also a late, dark night.
Later, Nurse Joy and Blissey found it in a small alley, on another dark night.
From that moment on, it knew it had been abandoned. And from that moment on, every time it closed its eyes, it would dream of what happened that night.
This time, when it returned to that alley and faced those other Pokémon, it was not afraid. It stared at them with determination.
It knew that he would be behind it, that they would be behind it.
"Lili!"
It charged headfirst past the other Pokémon. When it looked back, they had vanished. In their place were Victor, Gengar, and the Machoke, all looking at it with warm smiles.
Then, Victor and the others slowly dissolved into specks of light and merged into its body. It felt warm, and the top of its head felt ticklish.
It opened its eyes, and the first thing it saw was Victor's smiling face, looking at it gently as he trimmed the leaves on its head with a pair of scissors.
"Morning, Petilil."
Hearing Victor's voice, it looked around from his arms. Dali and the others were on patrol. Gengar was by the lake, filling the Blastoise watering can. The Torterra, Electivire, and the others were chatting not far away.
At that moment, a ray of sunlight fell upon its body, as warm as the specks of light in its dream.
It squinted its eyes at the newly risen sun.
The sky had brightened.
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