One day in the morning, the back hill was surrounded by a blue forcefield, which intrigued the villagers and made them gather around the hill. Halley was among them, watching the hill with Oddish with a smile on his face.
"Good morning, Halley!" "Pikachu~!" Ash showed up, waving his hands to Pikachu with a smile on their face. "What's going on?" He then went next to Halley, wondering about the situation.
"Remember when the Pokémons living there were taken to the center when we fought Team Rocket?"
"Oh, yeah! Have they recovered now?"
"Correct! They're currently being released to the wild again!" Halley answered, snapping his fingers.
"Wow, that's a good news!" "Pika~!"
Just then, the forcefield faded away and allowed the trainers to enter the hill again. Nurse Joy walked out and stood in front of the crowd, announcing: "Good morning, everyone! The Pokémons have been successfully released to the wild!" The villagers applauded too, welcoming the wild Pokémons back.
"That's good news! By the way, Ninjask used to live here, right?" Ash said, taking out his Pokéball. "Come out, Ninjask!"
The first thing Ninjask did after coming out of its Pokéball was to look around the place, only to notice the hill populous of wild Pokémons just like before it was invaded by Team Rocket. "Ninjask?"
"Ninjask, would you like to say your last goodbye to Marill?"
"Ninjask!" Ninjask nodded, excited about their adventure but also a little sad about leaving its friend.
Some minutes later, Ninjask led Ash and Halley up the hill with numerous Pokémons around, happy to finally return home.
"They all look so happy!" "Pikapi!" Ash exclaimed, smiling back to the Pokémons.
"Ninjask!" Sometime later, Ninjask stopped at a large pond with Water Type Pokémons looking for their home and swiftly flew around it. But as it browsed the pond, it realized something was wrong. "...Ninjask?"
"What's wrong, Ninjask?" Ash asked, tilting his head.
"Ni... Ninjask!" Ninjask stammered, not knowing what to do.
"Do you mean... You can't find Marill?" "Pika?!"
"Ninjask!" Ninjask nodded.
"Uh, maybe it's somewhere else?" Ash suggested. "Let's find it together!" "Pika, pi!"
Ash, Halley, and Ninjask searched the entire hill after so, just in case Marill was spending time somewhere else. However, even though they'd searched for hours straight, the mouse was nowhere to be found.
"Ni- Ninjask?!" Ninjask put its hands on its head, not knowing what to do.
"Uh... Where did it go?" Ash wondered, scratching his head.
"Hmm, the last time we saw it was when Ninjask fed it some food..." Halley thought, putting his hand on his jaw. "Wait, then did they take Marill to the Center in the first place?"
"Huh...? Perhaps..."
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Some days ago, while Ash and Halley were fighting against Team Rocket, Marill was recovering from the Pokémon food Ninjask had given it. Ash's Zetta-Magic shattered at the time, and Team Rocket was discussing whether they should target Pikachu.
"Ninjask?" Ninjask asked, worried about the blue mouse.
"Ma..." After feeding itself enough food, Marill got up, picking up from the hunger. "...rill!"
The sun suddenly shone brighter at that moment, making the place feel like a hot summer day.
"Ninjask?!"
"Marill?!"
The two Pokémons covered their eyes with their arms, dazzled from the sunlight. The next moment, the area in front of them was engulfed in flames, and that was when they noticed Salamence.
"Ni... Ninjask!" While Ninjask flew out to help Ash's team, Marill burrowed down to the ground and hid in the pit, praying that the dragon wouldn't notice it. It stayed there trembling for quite a long time until not even the slightest noise could be heard.
"Ma... rill?" About an hour later, when Marill dug out of the ground, the moon was glimmering brightly, and the entire hill was silent. It used to be quite so every night since most of the Pokémons would go to sleep, but... It just felt weird this time. As if it was the only Pokémon living on the hill. It searched the entire hill for other Pokémons for hours, but the hill was empty just like it expected.
"Marill...??" Not knowing what to do, Marill went back to its burrow and spent its night there. However, it spent the entire night wide awake, terrified about the thousands of Pokémons in the wild disappearing to nowhere.
"Marill..."
The next morning, the Aqua Mouse went outside again, looking down the town with determination. It thought nothing would change if it stayed in the place shivering, so it decided to set out on a quest to find the lost Pokémons and the vibrant hill back.
The first place it went was the marketplace, which was filled with merchants busy opening their shops in the morning. Because it knew there would be at least one trainer who would try to capture it, it decided to burrow down the ground and find an appropriate location to come out.
Marill dug down the hill again, much deeper this time. It first dug straight down for some time and changed direction to make the cave lead to somewhere in the marketplace. It advanced while digging the ground with all its might to find its lost friends back.
"Mari...!"
However, when the Aqua Mouse punched the soil to dig out another lump of dirt, a concrete wall showed up.
"Ma...rill?" Raising its eyebrows, it punched the wall at full force to shatter it and reveal a cave. Marill jumped off to the mysterious cave and looked around. It was nearly perfectly straight and round except for the ground, where two platforms surrounded the river in the middle. The river itself was far dirtier than the lake in the mountain, giving off a stinky odor.
The rodent wandered around the cave for a while to find a way out of the place and discovered a shaft in the ceiling. It stood below it and looked up to see what was on the other side, and saw some holes where sunlight shone through. Thinking it would be a way out of this place, Marill lowered its body and covered itself in aquatic energy to launch itself upwards through the shaft.
The manhole cover flew away as the Aqua Mouse emerged from underground, engaging dozens of people in the marketplace.
"Huh?" A boy turned around and noticed it ascending like a water rocket.
"Is that..." Another boy next to him added, his jaw dropped.
"A MARILL??" They both shouted out, taking out their Pokéballs. Marill immediately realized it had been spotted, and launched itself back to the manhole.
"It's running away! Come out, Vullaby!"
"Come out, Froakie!"
The two boys tossed their Pokéballs into the manhole and jumped into it themselves too, while the Aqua Mouse was flying away in a hurry while covering its body in water. The two Pokéballs opened up, revealing a stout vulture Pokémon wearing a skull as its diaper, and a sky-blue frog-like Pokémon with yellow eyes surrounding its neck with bubbles.
"Vullaby, Tailwind!" The vulture Pokémon flapped its wings forward, causing a strong wind to blow against Marill.
"M- Marill??" The blue mouse covered its face with its arms, struggling to open its eyes from the tailwind.
"Froakie, Quick Attack!" The frog Pokémon glowed its body silver and charged at Marill at immense speed, catching up to it in mere seconds.
"Get them!" When the frog was about to reach the mouse, it hopped higher to ram its opponent who was still flying midair.
"MARI-"
At that moment, from the dark corridor of the sewers, a hoard of white mice of various sizes turned up and dogpiled on Vullaby and Froakie.
"What the?!" The two trainers gasped and stepped back in confusion. They called their Pokémons back to their Pokéballs and hurried away.
"Ma, Marill?" Marill safely landed on the ground and looked behind, noticing the two Pokémons piled in dozens of mice.
"Fi?" One of them then showed up behind the Aqua Mouse and chirped, as if it was asking it if it was okay.
"Ma, mari..." Marill answered, scratching its head in confusion.
"Fi..." The white mouse went even closer to the Aqua Mouse and gazed at its eyes.
"Marill?"
Some minutes later, Marill found itself being held aloft by the army of mice, being taken to their shelter. "Ma... rill?" It chuckled, not understanding why the entire army of mice acted this way.
Soon enough, the mice put Marill on the ground again, introducing it to their shelter which was a massive area filled with platforms, hamster tunnels, and Pokémon food bowls.
"Fififi!" One of the white mice looked at Marill and pointed to the center of the area, where a table with Pokémon food bowls aligned on it was. Dozens of mice were feasting while sitting at the table, with some seats vacant here and there for the Aqua Mouse to join.
"Marill!" Marill gladly joined the feast and devoured the food in its bowl, nearly forgetting about its friends in the process.
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"A Marill?" The Pokémon Center Nurse asked back.
"Yeah, do you know if any Marill was registered while the Pokémons were being rescued?" Halley repeated.
"Let's see... I'm afraid not." She replied.
"Uh... Seems like Marill wasn't rescued back then."
"Wait, for real?" "Pika?!" "Ninjask?!" Ash, Pikachu, and Ninjask gasped at once. The latter seemed to be especially shocked by its friend being lost and possibly...
Ash and Halley walked out of the center, still in panic.
"Uh oh... This is a bad news! Where should we find Marill, then?" Halley said, putting his hands on his head.
This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.
"Wait, Halley! What if Marill just wasn't rescued and left the hill to find others?" Ash assumed. "Then how far do you think it would have gone by now?"
"If that's so... It would've gone far by now. Somewhere like... Silva Jungle?"
"Silva Jungle?" "Pika?"
"I'll tell you about it later. Though, there's a chance that someone in the town had already captured it."
"Really? Then..."
Ash and Halley printed out dozens of missing Pokémon posters with Marill's picture embedded in them, to hang it here and there in the town.
"I think we've hung them everywhere in this town," Halley said, holding his remaining posters in his hands.
"Good job, Halley!" Ash grinned, raising his thumb. "Now, all we have to do is wait..."
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"Mariri, Marill..." As it ate with the white mice, Marill explained why it ended up there and that it was trying to find its friends and restore the back hill.
"Fi fi?" The white mice around it nodded as they listened to its story, quite intrigued.
"Fififi!" Just then, a white mouse hurried into the area.
"Fifi?" The mice at the table whispered to each other, confused about the situation.
"Fi!" The mouse who entered showed them an empty Pokémon food can, indicating they'd run out of food.
"Fi?" A white mouse on the table's far edge chirped, who seemed to be the tribe leader. "Fi, Fifi?" It took out an open metal can with dozens of sticks and passed it to the mouse next to it to let it take out a stick. The mouse then passed the can to the mouse sitting next to it, and so on.
Some passes later, Marill's turn came. It curiously took a stick and passed it to the mouse next to it. As it inspected the stick it had chosen, it noticed that the end of the stick hidden inside the can was stained black.
Later when the can returned to the leader, it took out a stick with a black end, just like Marill's. "Fi?" It raised the stick, asking others who picked a stick just like it.
From here and there on the table, a mouse raised a stick with a black end, including Marill.
"Fi, Fifi!" The leader nodded and stood up from the table, along with other mice who picked a black stick.
Marill then realized it was a casting lot to decide who would go get the Pokémon food for others. It quite regretted picking up the black stick, but it knew there was no way to turn back now and followed the other mice outside.
As the squad walked through the sewers, the leader mouse ran to the front of others and showed them a marketplace map above the sewers. Where the Pokémon food shop was was colored in red.
"Fi!" Then, the leader mouse ran out and stopped to point its hand at the sewer wall. It then looked at Marill and nodded.
"Marill!" Nodding, Marill confidently started burrowing into the wall. The white mice carefully followed the Aqua Mouse making a tunnel for them, who suddenly changed direction upwards to make the tunnel reach the shop. Soon enough, Marill came across a marble tile instead of dirt, which signified that there was a building right above it.
Marill put its ears on the tile to check if anyone was behind it. There wasn't that much sound coming out of it, but Marill could hear a sigh.
"Man, this is so boring..." A young girl's voice came out from the shop.
Being aware that there was someone inside, Marill slowly lifted the tile and looked inside the shop. Just as expected, it was a small Pokémon food shop with numerous Pokémon foods on display. A girl was on the counter, her eyes half-closed and her arms on the table. She had brown long hair, a gray oversized sweater, and black oversized pants.
"I'm not sure whether having a customer right now would be good or not..." She yawned, falling asleep on the counter.
Taking the chance, Marill completely removed the tile and let the squad sneak into the shop. They all took out numerous cans of Pokémon food from the shelves and stacked them next to it, quietly and slowly so that the girl wouldn't notice.
Once they had enough food taken out, the mice held their stack of cans in their arms and tiptoed to the burrow to send the cans to the sewers. Just as the mice nearly sent all the cans, they turned to Marill to notice the tower of cans it took out from the shop shelves. It was as tall as a grown-up man, but Marill was holding it in its arms like it was nothing.
"F- fi?!"
"Marill..." Marill wasn't having any problems holding the cans, but it seemed to have some trouble keeping its balance. It staggered as it headed to the burrow, the stack of cans wobbling. Eventually, the tower collapsed, making the cans drop to the floor and make a lot of noise.
The white mice immediately ran into the burrow in a hurry and relocated the tile to where it was supposed to be, only leaving Marill and the girl in the shop. The Aqua Mouse looked around to find a place to hide, only to notice the girl standing in the distance, her arms crossed.
"Well well well. I had some cans disappearing from the shelves these days... And seems like YOU were the one behind all this, huh?" She said.
Some minutes later, Marill was trapped in a cage on the counter, with the girl staring at it. She was eating a bag of chips, and she seemed like she wouldn't give a crisp to the Aqua Mouse.
"Marill~?" Marill looked at the crisp she was putting in her mouth, and the girl intentionally chewed the crisp in a way that would make the loudest crunch to annoy Marill.
"Nah."
"Mari..."
The girl and Marill just stayed there for hours, the former watching over the latter.
"Hey, this is kinda boring, not gonna lie." The girl started.
"Mari..."
"Well then." She continued, holding a spoon in her hands like a microphone. "Do you wanna hear me sing?"
Right after that, the girl started singing a song for Marill, in a way so clean and beautiful that the Aqua Mouse nearly forgot the situation it was in.
The sun will shine, and the flowers will bloom
As the world comes alive...
"Mari..." Marill stood dumbfounded after her performance.
"Pretty cool, right?" She said, looking at the Aqua Mouse.
"Ma, mariri!" Marill nodded, clapping with its arms.
"Well, if I'm a good singer, what's the point?" The girl inclined on the plastic counter seat and continued. "I'm supposed to just spend the rest of my life in this tiny shop."
"Mari??" Marill asked, its meaning closest to "Why?"
"My family ain't living that well, you know." She said with a hopeless sigh. "I want to be a Pokémon Trainer like others... But I can't. There's no way my grandpa could live without me."
Marill gave the girl a pitiful look. "Mari..."
"Well, why did you come here, Marill?" The girl asked.
"Marill!" Marill pointed out of the window, at the back hill.
"The back hill...? Wait, do you live there?"
The mouse nodded.
"Oh, I see... I've heard that the Pokémons there were sent to the Pokémon Center because they were seriously ill yesterday..."
"Ma, marill??" Marill stuttered, thinking that its friends were dying.
"Uh, but don't worry too much. I've heard that they're stably recovering! We would be able to see them back on the hill soon. Are you here to see them?"
"Marill!"
Some minutes later, the girl strolled to the Pokémon Center with Marill next to her. They both were smiling, happy about this situation.
"You know, Marill... I've never really gone on a walk with a Pokémon before."
"Marill?"
"Yeah... So, when you meet your friend again, what will you do?"
"Mari..." Marill thought for a second and ran to the girl's legs, hugging it.
"Hu- huh?!" The girl gasped.
"Marill!"
"Uh, you're going to stay with me?"
"Mari, mari!"
"Okay, okay! You can let go of me now!" Marill let go of her leg right after. "Wait, I haven't told you my name yet, right?"
"Mari!"
"Okay, my name is Myla. Nice to meet you!" The girl said, petting the Aqua Mouse.
"Marill!"
When they arrived in the Pokémon Center, Myla showed Nurse Joy a Ninjask with her Rotom Phone.
"A Ninjask?" The nurse asked back.
"Yeah, so this is your friend, right?" Myla asked Marill, who nodded back.
"Let's see... I'm afraid, there are no Ninjasks registered in the center."
"Oh."
"Ma..." Marill stammered, shocked that its friend was not even being cared for in the center.
Then... Where could it be? Perhaps... When it flew away to help those humans... It... it...
With the worst situation automatically coming into its mind, tears ran down Marill's face. "Ma... ri..."
"A... Are you alright, Marill?" Myla asked, holding the round mouse in her arms to calm it down. But it was no use, and Marill started crying uncontrollably.
At this point, the mouse didn't even know what was going on. It wanted all this pain to end. No matter the truth, Marill wished to find just where on earth Ninjask was and see it.
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When Marill opened its eyes after an eternity of tears, it was lying on a bed with Myla next to it, sitting on a chair. Sunlight shone through the window next to the bed, reaching the opposite wall of the room.
"Good morning, Marill." Myla said. "I've hung some posters around here just in case Ninjask's... somewhere around here."
"Mari...?" Marill whispered, nearly having given up on finding its friend.
"Let's not give up yet. Who knows if we would be able to find Ninjask?"
"Mari..." Marill still looked depressed.
Myla silently gave the Aqua Mouse a pitiful look for the next few seconds, making silence go by. When Marill was about to close its eyes again to look away from reality, the girl started humming a song different from what she had sung Marill yesterday.
No matter how I try, the more that I walk
The soles of my shoes, they keep picking up dirt
"Mari...?" Marill turned to Myla, a little intrigued about the song.
No different to us, the more we hurt
The souls in our hearts, they just keep getting cloudy
Marill stood up from the bed, gripped to the song's lyrics.
And when it gets too hard, and nothing seems to work
I think about the reason why you kept pushing forward
I’m meant to be the savior but you saved me instead
I tried to hold your hand but you just held me in the end
"Mari..." Marill nodded. The first encounter with Myla wasn't great. It was trapped in a cage as a punishment for trying to steal the goods from Myla's shop, but Marill was the only one to appreciate her singing skills. And now, just like Marill helped her, she was encouraging Marill to stand up and push forward. Just like how a little round mouse went all the way here from the back hill.
I hope the light will shine upon the journey ahead
I promise that our strength will overcome all our weakness
And each step you take on the road to the future
Is yet another win for the brave and fearless
The lyrics, and the amount of emotion she put into the song, it was enough to make Marill recover the will to keep moving forward.
Like filling up your lungs right before you scream
Or when you get a running start before you leap
We all need to cry, so that someday we’ll smile
And none of us believe that it means we’ve lost
Long Hope Philia
"So, Marill. Shall we keep searching for Ninjask?" Myla asked right after the performance.
"Marill!" Marill nodded with excitement.
And so, they spent hours searching around the town, visiting every single house there was to ask whether they had any Ninjask. It was not easy, and they heard dozens of "no" here and there.
"Well, this is hard..." Myla said, wiping the sweat on her forehead with her hand. "But we're not done yet!"
"Marill!!" Marill shouted out, still energetic.
"Wait, is that..." A man said in the distance, pointing at Marill. "Excuse me!"
"Yeah?"
"Do you that someone's looking for Marill?"
"Wait, for real?"
"Marill?"
"Yeah, here!" The man showed them the poster Ash and Halley had hung around everywhere in the town. "Do you think this could be talking about this Marill?"
"Yeah, it must be! We did it, Marill!" "Mari~!" Marill jumped into Myla's arms and hugged each other.
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In the meantime, Ash was resting in Halley's house with Pikachu, Ninjask, and the house owner himself. They were all sitting seriously on the couch, praying that there would be someone who would show up with Marill. All of a sudden, Ash's Rotom Phone started ringing.
"You've got a call from 4272379832."
"Accept!" Ash shouted out with determination.
"Excuse me, are you looking for Marill?"
"Yeah, did you find it?"
"Ni... Ninjask?" Ninjask raised its head, nervous about what the caller would say next.
"Yeah, we did! So, all I have to do is just meet you on the fountain of the jubilee?"
"Yeah, see you soon!" Ash said, ending the call and standing up. "Guys, we found Marill!"
"Really??" "Pika?!" "Ninjask?!"
"Yeah, now, let's hurry!" Ash rushed out of the house immediately after.
Ninjask put its hand on its chest and sighed in relief.
Later, Ash first reached the fountain where Myla and Marill were waiting. Ninjask easily caught up to him with its swift speed, and as soon as Marill came to its eyes, it halted and looked at the Aqua Mouse. Marill also looked at the Ninja Pokémon, tears gathering up in its eyes.
"Ma... Ma..."
"Ni, Ninjask..."
"Marill!!"
"Ninjask!!"
Marill and Ninjask both ran out, hugging each other.
"Ma, mari! Marill!"
"Ninjask..."
Halley arrived at the place too at the moment. Looking at the wild Pokémons reunite, Ash wiped off the tears dripping from his eyes. Myla also seemed happy with Marill finding its friend back, but it was then that she noticed Ash Ketchum.
"Wait... Ash Ketchum?"
"Oh? Yeah. What's the matter?"
"A..." Myla chucked, caught completely off guard by such a celebrity showing up in the town.
"Well, thanks for taking care of Marill!"
"Tha... Thanks? haha."
"Well, it's great we found Marill... But what now?" Halley interrupted.
"What do you mean?" Ash asked.
"I mean, Marill is her Pokémon, unlike Ninjask who's yours. No?"
"Uh, not really. I'm not a Pokémon Trainer." Myla explained.
"Huh? Why?"
"I also can't go with you guys. I have a family to feed, sorry. I'll leave it up to Marill."
"Oh..."
"Wait, how about this?" Ash suggested an idea for her.
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In the evening, Ninjask was playing catch with Marill, Pikachu, and Oddish in the front yard of Halley's house. Ash and Halley watched them while sitting on the grass. Peace was finally restored at last.
"Finally..." Ash sighed in relief.
"Well, it's great being like this, but... What about Marill? Should we send it back to the wild?"
"I dunno, I'll leave it up to Marill. If it wants to stay with us, we'll let it."
In the meantime, Ninjask and Marill seemed to be talking about something. The latter nodded and walked to Ash and Halley.
"Oh, what's up, Marill?" Ash asked.
"Mari, mariri!"
"Well, looks like it wants to stay with us! Then, who's Pokémon are you gonna be?"
"Mari..." Marill thought for a second, but couldn't decide.
"Well then, we won't capture you for now. Take your time to decide who you want your trainer to be!" Ash suggested, and Halley nodded.
"Marill!"
"So, fist bump?" Ash showed Marill his fist to bump its one against, and Halley did so too.
"Mari!" Marill jumped to hit both of the fists with its hands, and the strength was enough to make Halley grab his fist after the fist bump.
"Ow! How's this guy so strong?"
Everyone in the area laughed, enjoying a tranquil evening at last.
To Be Continued