[Pokémon Trainer Lillie]

“...Y-You don't understand...” Lillie began, before her the dam keeeping her tears at bay broke and the sobbing gave way to brokenhearted wailing. “I lost Mom. I couldn't protect her... Everyone on the ship started getting sick and started attacking...! We had to hide in our rooms... I c-couldn't...” Lillie began, before absolutely losing what little composure she had left and bawling hysterically into White. Though Moon couldn't see her choking on her tears, the sound she was making was truly horrid. Those were ugly tears, the kind of completely unrestrained crying that only came from the most extreme distress.

[Black & White]

"..." White held Lillie as close to her as she could without squishing Moon enough to injure her, or at least that was the balance she was trying to maintain. She wasn't sure that was even possible, but her maternal instinct was pretty clear on what to do here so she just followed it for the sake of being able to concentrate on what was going on. That was... horrific sounding. Both what Lillie said and her heart wrenching wailing. By the sound of it, Lillie had somehow gotten lucky and evaded infection longer than her peers. Which... Well--Being trapped on a ship and all, she was incredibly lucky to be alive, let alone not infected. The question of whether to search for Lillie's mom occurred to her. An awful choice fell on her shoulders. Did she seal the fate of Lillie's mother by choosing to return with Lillie, possibly saving Lillie? Or did she risk Lillie joining her mother in de facto undeath? What was the right call here? ...With a heavy heart, she made a decision. They'd already been searching without signs of her, and every hour they spent searching only had a small chance of finding her, and would put Lillie in even more danger. The chances of finding Lillie's mother uninfected were extremely low, and the chances of Lillie succumbing to infection were extremely high. The truth was that the responsible thing to do was to give up.

So White summoned all her strength to be strong for the two girls she was now in charge of protecting, slipped an arm underneath Lillie's bottom, lifted her, and held her close in her arms against her chest and belly as she, with considerable strain upon her poor legs and back, began carrying them both back to the meeting point. She could tell she was going to be really sore by tomorrow, but it was worth it not to separate them. As it stood, she'd be carrying them both back to the Life Sphere, albeit riding her pokemon would take quite a bit of the load off once they were ready to fly. Was it weird that Lillie thought she was Moon. ...Eh. It was what it was. She was willing to let Moon take credit, if for no other reason than she doubted Lillie would find the truth very comforting.

((Mission Success!))