We begin the episode with Lillie writing in her diary about the events of the previous episode, but unlike how the past few episodes showed Lillie writing happily in her diary, she looks rather down. When Shiron, her Vulpix, tries to approach Lillie, she lunges back, cries, and apologizes.
The episode then cuts straight into some intense dialogue with Gladion and Ash. Gladion is FURIOUS at Ash for having Lillie drop by the cave out of nowhere. Ash tries to explain that it was Nebby's fault since it was the one that teleported Lillie. I can't blame Ash for trying to use that justification. Nebby just had to be too playful to teleport Lillie out of nowhere to the wrong location at the wrong time. Gladion ignores Ash's comment and he pins the blame on Ash for bringing Lillie to the location. Damn, Gladion is
that angry!
Later that night, Gladion heads back to his motel room, although unlike the games, his motel is the one located in Route 2. The clerk tells him that someone from his (Gladion's) family has dropped by, so the clerk let the individual in. Gladion walks into his room with suspicious eyes. Who could that family member be? Lusamine? NOPE! It's Faba! The dialogue that unfolds between the two was absolute gold!
Faba: "Welcome home, young master."
*says it in a friendly yet sinister tone*
Gladion: "Faba. I figured it was you."
Faba: "It's not like I expected a warm welcome. I'm quite thankful that you reacted
exactly the way I imagined you would."
That is quite the evil line Faba delivered! It's dialogue like this that really helps Faba feel much more impactful not only as a character, but as a villain as well.
Gladion inquires Faba about his purpose for showing up. Faba explains that he found out Lillie has regained her memories regarding the past incident Nihilego and Silvally, so he is hunting her down so that he can erase her memories. Though he doesn't state why he wants to do so, it's possible he doesn't want Lillie telling on him to Lusamine. He then states his main intention for dropping by Gladion's motel room: he wants to take back Gladion's Type: Null, and apparently, Lusamine wants it too. Gladion, of course, refuses, and the two end up battling each other. Faba ends up gaining the upper hand by having his Hypno use Hypnosis on Gladion's Midnight Lycanroc to put it asleep, then has Alakazam ambush Gladion's Umbreon before it can unleash a Shadow Ball. Gladion tries to summon Type: Null next, but Faba then commands his Hypno to use Hypnosis on Gladion, putting Gladion to sleep and then successfully stealing Type: Null while it is still inside its Pokeball.
At school, Ash & the gang + Kukui and Burnet comfort Lillie and try to help her overcome her fear, and even Lillie is determine to do so. Shiron tries to jump onto Lillie, but Lillie panics. Burnet admits that they might have overdone it.
Later that day, Lillie and Ash walk in the Hau'oli streets. Lillie figures out that Ash talked to Gladion the night before based on her intuition, so she asks him about what happened. Ash tells Lillie about how Gladion was angry at him for what happened in the cave. What follows is this cute scene of Ash cheering Lillie up:
Lillie's blushing was adorable. Definitely a cute Ash x Lillie scene!
and a moment for salty Amourshippers to rage.
Lillie then begins to feel nostalgic, remembering the bonds she had with her family. Nebby transports Lillie to those locations she, Gladion, and Lusamine been to when they were younger, and it is a
really sweet scene!
The music and those moments of the three being one happy family really bring out the feels! Definitely one of the most emotional parts in the episode.
Meanwhile, Faba has returned to the Aether Paradise basement, and he stores Type:Null, still in its Pokeball, inside one of the drawers. We learn that he was the one that created Type: Null, mentioning how his "creation" turned out to be a failure.
Lillie and Ash are eventually teleported to the Aether Paradise basement because Lillie recalls walking around that facility when she was younger. Uh-oh, this isn't good! The three navigate the facility, and Faba learns they are around.
We then cut to Team Rocket, who are also stationed in the Aether Paradise basement. Upon seeing Ash and Lillie, they start scheming a plan to steal Nebby. They are then stopped by Faba. He orders them to capture Lillie so that he can erase her memories with his Hypno. Team Rocket refuse in the
best way you could possibly imagine! No, I'm not joking. The way how they opposed Faba was awesome!
Fantastic dialogue coming from Team Rocket there. They really hammered down what an awful thing it is to completely erase one's memories out of evil intentions. I especially liked Meowth's line at the end: "We do righteous evil, not
evil evil, meow!" Faba got smacked talk hard (not to mention he lost his subordinates)!
As Ash and Lillie navigate Aether Lab, they eventually run into Faba's Alakazam and Hypno. The two proceed to slam Ash, Pikachu, Nebby, and Shiron into a wall. Faba then arrives, grabs Lillie, and kidnaps her. Lillie screams for Ash, and he follows in pursuit.
We now see Gladion angrily confronting his mother over the incident with Faba. It turns out Lusamine never wanted Type: Null; that was a lie from Faba. The two end up storming the labs to search for Type: Null. During their search, Gladion calls out Lusamine for not noticing how Lillie was suppressing her memories regarding the whole ordeal with Nihilego and Silvally. In that same scene,
we also learn that Lusamine has long wanted to see a UB since she was a child. It was because of that desire she didn't help Lillie the right way, nor did she see through Faba's lies when he tried to cover it up. That's interesting. We know Faba was present when Nihilego appeared back then. Was he trying to summon Nihilego on Lusamine's orders? This is something that I can definitely see being expanded on in the next few episodes. Another important takeaway from this scene is that Lusamine feels guilty when being called out. She apologizes, but Gladion tells her, "
I'm not the one you should apologize to."
Faba brings Lillie to another part of the Aether basement, and he orders Hypno to being using Hypnosis to erase her memories. With Nebby's help, Ash and the other Pokemon teleport to Faba's location. Faba stops them by ordering Alakzam to use Psychic to slam them into a wall like ragdolls, then he keeps them paralyzed with Hypno's Psychic. Lillie shoves Faba away and tries to save Ash, but Faba's Alakazam brings her into the air with Psychic.
Gladion and Lusamine arrive on time to save Lillie. Gladion summons his Type: Null to fight Faba's Pokemon. Faba reminds Type: Null that he created it in an attempt to stop it from fighting. Lillie screams out of horror, remembering the Silvally incident from back then. Upon hearing Lillie's scream, Type: Null breaks its mask and evolves into Silvally. It lunges toward Alakazam to stop its Psychic attack. As Lillie looks up at Silvally, she remembers that incident from back then, only now we get the complete picture.
We learn that Lillie was lost inside the Aether basement that day, and she stumbled upon Faba doing an Ultra Wormhole experiment. Nihilego was summoned from the Ultra Wormhole (and Nihilego's cry sounds
really creepy in the anime). The UB then took Lillie and tried to take her away through the Wormhole while Gladion and Faba could nothing about it. Silvally saved Lillie in the nick of time, and it even helped Lillie return to the ground safely by keeping her on its back. Back to the present, Lillie realizes Silvally saved her back then. Gladion then throws the Dark Memory Disc onto Silvally so that it can take out Faba's Pokemon with ease.
With Lillie free, Lusamine tearfully runs up and hugs her during the other emotional highlight of the episode, apologizing for everything that has happened. Gladion smiles from the distance. You can tell he's happy that Lillie is safe, and everything he's done up until now was to protect her. Faba manages to sneak away, though I found it odd that he managed to get away so easily. Lusamine, you just saw what Faba did to your daughter! You're the Aether President! FIRE HIM AND MAKE SURE HE'S ARRESTED! Well, she was overwhelmed with emotion in that scene, so I guess that's why she didn't stop Faba right then and there, not to mention the plot needs to keep going with his plan to capture Nebby. Argh, still, that whole episode left me wishing Faba really gets his just deserts later on. The anime is making him out to be quite the despicable dude, one that is liar and a manipulative jerk.
The episode with this very heartwarming scene:
Yes, you're eyes do not deceive you.
Lillie has completely overcome her fear of touching Pokemon!
When we saw how Lillie regained her fear last episode upon seeing Type: Null for the first time in a while, I had a feeling that touching Silvally and learning what it really did back then would be the key to making her overcome her ultimate fear. Turns out I was right, and the way it was delivered was quite poetic. Hugging the very Pokemon she once feared was the way of introducing the new Lillie. Shiron jumps onto Lillie afterward, harking back to being her first Pokemon that she was able to touch since she gained her fear. Then Pikachu hugs her leg, throwing it back to the time when Pikachu became the second Pokemon that she could touch since she developed the fear. Finally, Nebby runs up to Lillie. This was the most recent Pokemon she feared to touch, and now she happily hugs it. Her fear of touching Pokemon is finally gone indeed! Even the happy tears from Lusamine, the warm smile from Gladion, and Ash's joy speak for themselves.
I also want to take a moment and appreciate that endcard:
It took Lillie 48 episodes to overcome her ultimate fear, and look at her now!
Heck, even the next episode preview shows how much she has developed:
