"Pikachu?!"

"Chespin?!"

The group were all trying to find the missing Pokémon the next day. When they hadn't even shown up to breakfast, everyone knew something was wrong. Those two never missed out on food.

"They can't have gotten far," Serena said, though she was also worried. "Maybe they're just at that berry grove with Sophie?" "Oh yeah, let's check it out!" Ash nodded, then looked at Poipole. "Do you know the way?"

"Poi!" Poipole nodded, then flew off. The group followed it, all worried about the two missing Pokémon.

When they arrived at the berry grove, they didn't see Pikachu or Chespin anywhere. "Where could they have gone?" Bonnie ran around, making sure they weren't behind a bush.

"...Vee Vee, Eevee Vee Vee, Eevee, Ee, Eevee Eevee Eevee..."

Everyone looked around, trying to figure out where the random voice was coming from. "Is that... Sophie?" Serena asked, trying to spot the Eevee.

"Hey, Sophie! Are you there?" Max called out.

"Ee?"

...

"Vee!"

Suddenly Sophie leapt down from the trees. A large heart ballooned up out of nowhere. She landed on it and used it as a sort of trampoline to break her fall. She giggled as she hopped about.

"Looks like she knows Covet!" May laughed. Sophie nodded, grinning. "Sophie, have you seen Chespin or Pikachu anywhere?" Max asked. "They're missing."

Sophie nodded and hopped down from the heart she was on, causing it to burst into ruby red sparkles. "Eevee!" She said, gesturing for them all to follow her. The boys all followed quickly, but the girls were amazed by her little stunt with the Covet heart.

"She'd be great at performing," Serena commented. "Yeah," May nodded. The three of them then followed after Sophie, wanting to make sure Pikachu and Chespin were okay.

Sophie lead them to a large tree and stuck her head down a hole by the roots. "Vee Vee Vee!" She called, then hopped down there. Everyone looked down the hole.

Chespin and Pikachu were fast asleep in Sophie's bed. Pikachu's back was facing Chespin, but the little Grass type was cuddling up to the Electric type mouse.

"Aw, they're so cute!" Bonnie said. If she was a Pokémon, Sophie wouldn't be the only one able to use Covet around here. "I guess this is where Sophie lives," Clemont said. "She must've let Pikachu and Chespin stay with her last night."

"Vee Eevee Vee Eee!" Sophie sang as she gently shook them awake. Pikachu cuddled up to her tail in his sleep, making everyone laugh. "He sometimes does that to me when he sleeps," Ash said. "He likes hugging stuff for some reason."

Sophie giggled and used her tail to tickle Pikachu's nose. After a few seconds, he began sneezing uncontrollably, waking himself up.

"Aa-CHUU!!!"

All the sneezing woke up Chespin, who panicked and fell out of Sophie's bed. Sophie herself was rolling around on the floor from laughing so hard. Everyone else laughed, too, much to Chespin's annoyance and Pikachu's confusion.

The three Pokémon exited the burrow, two of them being scooped up into their Trainer's arms. "We were worried about you guys," Ash chuckled. "Glad you're both alright."

"Come on, let's get you guys your breakfast!" Serena said, causing the two Pokémon to cheer. Everyone laughed at that. This time even Pikachu and Chespin joined in.

While Pikachu and Chespin ate, all the other Pokémon got to play. Bonnie and Max joined in, too, leaving the older kids to talk amongst themselves and discuss what to do next.

"Once Greninja's healed up back in the Pokémon Centre on Melemele Island, where do we go?" Ash asked. "Faba will have all of Alola covered," Clemont said. "And he'll probably have some backup in Kalos, too. That leaves Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh or Unova, though we don't know if they're all completely safe."

"We need another place to go," Serena said with a sigh. "Somewhere completely off the map." "Why can't we just stay around here?" May asked. "I mean, Poipole said it was safe, didn't it?"

"This is Sophie's home, not ours," Serena pointed out. "She's already been nice enough to let us stay for a while. We can't push it. Besides, we need to give the other Pokémon in this forest some space, too."

"What other Pokémon?"

It was true; nobody had seen any wild Pokémon aside from Sophie. "... maybe they ran when they heard there were Trainers around?" Clemont suggested. "They might just be scared of us. It's not like Sophie isn't."

"Yeah, maybe," Ash nodded, thinking. "Well why don't we ask Sophie and be done with all the questions?" May suggested. "We can find out what's going on with all the missing Pokémon. This is a great forest; the berry grove alone should be swarmed with Pokémon."

"Yeah, you're right," Clemont nodded. "There really should be more Pokémon around here than this. But that's not the point, May. If we stayed here, we'd be intruding too much. It's also best to keep on the move, don't you think?"

"Clemont's right," Ash sighed. "It would be nice to stay, but it just wouldn't work out." "I guess so," May sighed. "But I still want to stay."

"We can stay until Greninja's healed and we've figured out a plan," Ash smiled at May. "I know how you feel. It's a nice place. If we could stay here longer, we would."

"Hm... should we bring Lillie with us?" Serena suggested. "I mean, this isn't the first time she's had someone after her... Faba might go after her again."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Ash nodded after a moment of thought. "Who knows? Maybe she'll have an idea of where we can go."

"Wait a second," Clemont said, remembering something. "May, I thought you said that you had to go back to Hoenn soon. Aren't you going to miss out on all your Pokémon Contests?"

"Greninja's safety is more important than one Contest," May shrugged. "I'll worry about myself once he's definitely and completely alright."