{Back at the mansion}
When Molly heard from the servants that someone had come, she thought it was her father. Excitedly, she put on her dress and ran down the stairs, getting ready to see him. But when she entered the room, she only saw the butler and Schuyler, with a box in the center of the table.
"This is terrible news… now the young lady is all alone," the butler said sadly as Schuyler looked down, clenching his pants.
Molly looked confused and walked up. "Where's Papa?"
Schuyler felt a knot in his throat as the butler stood up. "I think I should be the one to break the news to the young lady…."
Molly had a bad feeling as she took a step back. "What are you talking about? Where's Papa? I want Papa!"
The butler looked down and took a deep breath. "I'm afraid your father… he's gone, and he's not coming back."
Molly felt like her world had shattered. "No… no, no! You're lying! Papa promised me!"
"Please, Molly…" Schuyler said, standing up.
"No! This is all your fault! If you didn't call Papa, none of this would have happened!" Molly said, stomping her little feet angrily.
"I… Molly…" Schuyler tried to say something, but Molly went running and slammed the door to her room, locking it.
Schuyler was about to get up, but the butler stopped him. "Give her some time. She needs time."
Schuyler nodded as they left, leaving the box on the table.
{Later that night}
Molly walked out of her room when she knew no one was around. She sneaked up to the box on the table, grabbed her computer, and opened it, looking through it. "Papa… where are you?"
As she did, her elbow knocked the box, making it fall over. The top opened, and the stone chips fell out across the floor.
Molly looked at it as she went to the ground, examining them. "Hey… they kinda look like letters…."
Molly rearranged the pieces, making them spell many things. It was strange. Even though all the pieces had different figures on them, as she grabbed them, they seemed to change into what she needed. She spelled out three words—'Papa,' 'Mama,' and 'Me'—out of the Unown tiles.
"Mama… Papa…." As she said this, she closed her eyes tightly, and a tear fell onto the pieces. As it did, they began to glow.
Around the world, Unown felt an energy drawing them in. They called upon their power, creating portals and going through them, appearing next to Molly and spiraling around her.
Molly looked around in surprise. "Unown?" She looked at the tiles as they seemed to get picked up in the small spiral of Unown. She looked up with a hopeful look. "Do you want to play with me?"
As she looked around in wonder, she felt like someone spoke to her, but there were many small voices she couldn't see, and they asked, 'What is it you wish?'
Molly didn't understand, but she looked down. "I want… my family."
The Unown listened as 6 different Unown came to the center and spelled something out: FAMILY.
As they did, the Unown glowed as they read through Molly's head—every thought, every fantasy, every dream.
From underneath Molly, the ground turned to crystal, then began to spread and shoot out in jagged edges throughout the room, spiraling and reflecting all around. It began spreading across the ceiling, the walls, and into other rooms.
As the servants and Schuyler were outside, they saw it and immediately rushed to find the source of whatever was happening. Then, they saw a door being covered with crystal, and it was spreading from there.
Schuyler and the butler nodded at each other and tackled the door at the same time, breaking through. As they did, they saw Molly being surrounded by all the Unown.
"Those are the Unown!" Schuyler said, his eyes widening in surprise. "What are they doing here?!"
The butler yelled out, "Young miss!" trying to get Molly's attention. "Quick, come to us before it's too late!"
But Molly didn't listen as the crystals shot up, pushing them all back, then slammed the door and created more crystals to barricade it.
Molly then heard something fall from the table. It was the book her father had read to her, and it fell open to the page with Entei on it.
As she picked it up, she started tearing up, remembering her dad's words:
'These are legendary Pokemon, Molly. And in this book, the artist imagined what some of them might look like.'
"Papa…" Molly mumbled as unshed tears covered her eyes.
'I'm like Entei, am I? Well, then I am Entei!'
His words echoed in her mind. She fell to her knees, falling into an even bigger depression, making the tears finally start flowing out of her eyes. "Papa... please come back!"
The Unown heard her cries as the word they created, 'FAMILY,' began to glow. They saw Molly call the picture her father, so that is what they'll do.
The crystals formed, and then one giant crystal shattered. From out of it came an Entei, who walked out and looked around before his eyes landed on Molly. "Are you the one who has called me here?"
Molly heard the new voice and turned back to see Entei walk up to her. "Are you my...?"
Entei cut her off. "I am Entei."
But Molly just smiled. "Papa, it's you! You look just like the Entei in the storybook, but it's you! Papa! Papa."
"Papa?" Entei asked. He was about to correct her, but Molly jumped on him and started nuzzling into his fur, making him change his mind. "If that is what you wish."
As soon as Entei said those words, more crystals began shooting out, spreading and covering everything.
Outside of the mansion, Schuyler, the butler, and the maids all watched in shock and worry as the mansion was completely covered in crystal, blocking them out, unable to do anything.
"YOUNG LADY!!!!" they called, but it was too late.
—-
{With the gang}
After the Noctowl incident, they all went back onto the road. Goldenrod City was a few days away, but as they got back on the trail, they met a girl named Lisa, who challenged Ash to a battle. The outcome was just what you'd expect.
"Alright, Cyndaquil, let's end this! Cyndaquil, [Flamethrower]!" Ash commanded.
Lisa panicked. "Aipom, no! Quick, dodge!"
But it was no use. As Cyndaquil's back flames lit up, Ash had already fixed the problem where it took a bit for Cyndaquil to get warmed up, and now he had nothing holding him back. Cyndaquil shot out a large flame, hitting the small monkey and knocking it out.
"And that makes Ash the winner!" Misty announced. Usually, it would be Brock refereeing these kinds of things… but he was a bit… preoccupied.
And by that, I mean he tried flirting with Lisa, and Bonsly and Larvitar teamed up and knocked him out with a double headbutt.
So, while they waited for Brock to get up, Ash went ahead and made lunch. Misty and Yellow invited Lisa to join them, and by the time Ash made lunch for everyone, Brock finally woke up. He silently ate since he wouldn't be able to impress Lisa with his cooking.
As the five people and all the Pokémon (- Snorlax because he already ate on his own) were eating, Brock still wanted to try to win over Lisa, so he attempted to make some small talk.
"Hey Lisa, you know we've been on the road for a while. Do you know what the nearest town is?"
Lisa nodded and quickly swallowed her sandwich. "Yeah, there's one just over the mountains. It's called Greenfield!"
Before Brock could try to keep the conversation going, Misty cut in. "Wow, really? Greenfield! Everyone's heard of Greenfield. I've wanted to see it ever since I was a little girl," she said, looking into the sky with shining eyes.
Lisa smiled and put on a cheeky smirk. "Same here, and guess what? I know a shortcut. We can get there in less than an hour~"
"Wow, really? Oh, that's amazing! We have to go. Let's travel together and get there!" Misty announced.
"Is that Greenfield place really that special?" Yellow asked. Since she was not familiar with much of anything outside of Kanto—heck, she barely knew about stuff in Kanto—she was just that sheltered.
"Oh yeah, Greenfield's supposed to be a beautiful little town with beautiful gardens and a beautiful mountain with a beautiful mansion right at the top!" Misty said, taking Yellow's hands and clasping them between hers.
Brock then looked like he had an idea. "Hey, if everything is beautiful in Greenfield, then I can't wait to see all the girls!"
"You know, I've been to Greenfield once, back when I was like 6 years old, but I wasn't that enamored by it," Ash said, dropping a piece of lore casually.
"What…" Misty, Brock, and Lisa said in unison, looking at Ash with a deadpan expression.
"Oh yeah, I remember now. You told me about it, and you and Ms. Delia showed us pictures. It was really pretty. I remember now," Yellow said innocently as if this revelation wasn't causing the other three mental distress.
Misty let go of Yellow and was about to grab Ash by the shoulders, but he said with a deadpan expression, "If you shake me again, I'm going to say no."
Misty stopped herself since she was planning on shaking Ash again. She put her hands to her sides and cleared her throat. "Hey Ash, we have to go, right? I'm sure you'd want to at least go to the Pokémon center, and I mean, if you've been there, I'm sure your mom will like some pictures of what's new, right?"
"Wow, that's your idea of trying to convince me? Well, it's not working," Ash chuckled. "Also, how many times do I have to say this? I'm your friend, not your babysitter. You don't have to ask for my permission for stuff."
"Sooooo, does that mean…" Misty said with a hopeful expression.
Ash clenched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, for crying out loud! If all of you want to go, then we can go. Jeez."
"Yes!" x2. Brock and Misty high-fived each other.
Ash rolled his eyes as Yellow was still somewhat lost, but she saw everyone was happy, so she was happy. But little did she know Ash wasn't happy. He was livid. Not because of anything they did or are doing.
No, it's because he knows this is how the movie starts, the 3rd movie, and he can't do anything about what's going to happen next. But that doesn't mean he's not going to try.
—-
After cleaning up, they packed up and hit the road, led by Lisa, who happily was leading the way as she talked about how she was coming to town to get all sorts of things, and Misty was happily walking next to her.
Lisa went ahead and looked at them as she walked backward and stood at the top of the mountain. "And this is it, are you ready!"
"Of course we are!" Brock and Misty said in unison, like they were responding to an idol at a concert.
Lisa spun around dramatically. "Then welcome to Greenf—what?" she said as she finally saw what was actually on the other side of the mountain.
The place that was supposed to be a place of peace and tranquility was covered in patches of purple crystals. The beautiful flowers on the green grasslands were getting crystallized. And at the top of the hill and looking out, in the center of the crystallization, stands a crystal tower. It was originally supposed to be the big mansion in the center of town, but now it is gone.
As they looked, they heard a truck rush past them going to town. Looking over, they saw the Goldenrod City news team rushing out and setting up cameras, with an Officer Jenny to escort them.
While everyone else was wondering what was happening, Ash clenched his fists, his knuckles turning white, and he grit his teeth. He knew this was it. This was the beginning to all the problems he was going to have to deal with.
But he knows one thing, he'll be damned if he lets the only family he's ever known get taken away from him, and he won't let anyone stand in his way.
As everyone was looking away from Ash, no one, not even Ash or Pikachu, who was on his shoulder, noticed that his brown eyes were turning a shade of red.