When everyone was up and dressed the next morning, Ash explained the call he got last night. "... so Mallow wants me to bring Lillie here so I can help her touch Pokémon again. I was thinking of taking her to that secret forest."

"You mean you're gonna see Sophie again?!" Bonnie asked hopefully. "Yeah," Ash confirmed. "I mean, Lillie's a human scared of touching Pokémon and Sophie's a Pokémon scared of touching humans. Maybe they'll find a way to get along and help each other?"

"That's a really good idea, Ash," Clemont agreed. "Who's Sophie?" Lilac asked curiously. "She's an Eevee that lives in a secret forest for Pokémon that want to stay away from humans," Serena explained. "She had a bad Trainer once, so now she's scared of humans, but she's still really nice. She should be able to help Lillie, I'm sure she can!"

"So when do we leave?" Kit asked, smiling. "I'm actually thinking Clemont and I should go get her with his Abra," Ash explained. "The less people teleporting the better and we don't know how many of us are coming. And if you guys all fly on ahead and use Poipole for directions, we could meet up?"

"Sounds good to me!" Bonnie agreed immediately, grinning at the thought of seeing Sophie again. She still wanted to catch the little Eevee, maybe just taking the Pokéball she had would work? She could always ask. Especially if Ash was able to make her less scared of humans.

Clemont noticed his sister's expression. "Don't say anything to her, Bonnie," he warned. "We don't want to upset her." "But Clemont-!" Bonnie protested, but he shook his head firmly. "No. I know what you did last time, Bonnie. Don't."

Bonnie's eyes widened. "Wha-? How?!" "A brother always knows," Clemont answered simply. "You're staying where I can see you this time. I don't want you getting into any more trouble."

~•~

"Gah!"

Lillie looked around nervously as they arrived at the forest, Clemont returning his Abra. "We're here!" Ash called, catching the attention of the rest of the gang.

"Lillie!" Serena grinned, hurrying over to welcome the blonde with a warm hug. "Serena!" Lillie smiled slightly, hugging the honey-haired girl back. "How have you been?"

"I've been great!" Serena smiled. "And you?" "Well, I... I've been okay, but... obviously not too good with the Pokémon..." Lillie admitted sheepishly. "Don't worry, we've got someone here who could help you out," Serena smiled, leading Lillie towards the centre of the clearing, where she and the girls had already set up a table and chairs and where the Pokémon were all playing.

Lillie hesitated when she saw all the Pokémon. "Don't worry, they won't hurt you," Ash smiled reassuringly. "I know," Lillie nodded. "But... I can't help being scared..."

"How about we try Sophie?" Clemont suggested. "Good idea!" Ash agreed. "Hey, Sophie! Come over here and meet Lillie!"

The Eevee approached curiously, keeping a good distance away from all of them but smiling widely. "Eevee! Ee!" She greeted, tail wagging.

"Hey, Sophie!" Ash grinned. "This is our friend Lillie!" Sophie looked up at Lillie, who was keeping a nervous watch over the tiny Pokémon. Sophie paused, then took a slow, small step closer to Lillie, who slightly backed up in response.

Sophie immediately took a step back, knowing exactly what was going on. She used Covet, summoning a few tiny hearts. "Eevee," she smiled reassuringly at Lillie. All this was clearly to show the girl that she wasn't a threat.

Much to everyone's surprise, the tension in Lillie's shoulders slowly loosened and she smiled very slightly. "It's nice to meet you, Sophie," she said quietly. "Eevee!" Sophie smiled widely back, then trotted off, leaving Lillie be.

"Wow, that went even better than I thought!" Ash grinned. "That Eevee... she understands..." Lillie realised. "She knows that I'm scared and she knows what to do about it..."

"Sophie's scared of humans," Serena explained. "She probably saw that you were just as scared as she must've been. She knows what to do."

Lillie nodded, watching the little Eevee chat with some of the other Pokémon over the early lunch that was being set up. They all seemed eager to catch up with her.

"Alright, everyone out!" Ash grinned, tossing Greninja's Pokéball while Clemont tossed all of his. Chespin was immediately rushing over to the food, but was stopped by a playful tackle that quickly turned into a hug. "Chespin!"

"Sophie!" Chespin grinned, hugging Sophie back eagerly. "Hey! How are you?" "I'm great!" Sophie giggled. "What about you?"

"I'm awesome now!" Chespin laughed. "Now?" Sophie asked curiously. "Because I get to hang out with you again!" Chespin replied as though it was obvious. "Aw, that's really sweet!" Sophie smiled.

She finally stepped off of Chespin, helping him back up. "So... I don't know if I should ask, but do you know why that Lillie girl is scared of me? Not judging, I just wanna know so I can try and help her. Maybe we can be friends."

"That's why we came here; we knew you'd help out!" Chespin smiled. "I don't know why Lillie's so scared, Pikachu probably knows best out of us Pokémon."

"Oh, Great! Thanks, Chespin!" Sophie smiled, then ran over to Pikachu, causing Chespin to sweatdrop. How could he have been so dumb?! Now Sophie was running off to Pikachu!

"Hi, Pikachu!" Sophie grinned, hugging the electric mouse. "Oof! Hey!" Pikachu laughed. "Good to see you again, Sophie!"

"You too!" Sophie giggled. "So can you tell me more about Lillie, please? Chespin said you'd probably know the most about her and that I'm supposed to help her be less scared, so..."

"Oh, right!" Pikachu nodded. "Lillie used to be scared of Pokémon because when she was little an Ultra Beast tried to kidnap her, but a special Pokémon called Type: Null saved her. The memory got a bit twisted in her head or something because she was so scared, I think, so she got scared of Pokemon. She got over that fear a while ago, but just before we came here the first time we had to rescue her from being kidnapped and since then she's been more scared than ever!"

"Do you know why she's so scared now?" Sophie asked, frowning. "Maybe if we know what caused it, we can work out how to fix it."

"I don't know what specifically did it this time," Pikachu shook his head. "Something probably happened while she was kidnapped. Maybe we could try asking Greninja? He was there, too."

"Yeah, that sounds good," Sophie agreed, then the pair approached the ninja frog.