Another Verse

by Farla

Bonnibel will get her first pokemon. She will be happy and smiling. She'll go on a journey, she'll catch pokemon, and she'll live out the dream every mother wants for her child. That's how this song always goes. It won't hurt to hear it again. After all, you're only unhappy when you want things you can't have.

4. that ate together at the same table

Bonnibel gets a roserade tea from the pokecenter cafe after Hau and Ilima leave and ponders what her next move will be as she sips the sour-sweet water.

They've told her often enough that this is different than gym leaders but it's likely Hala will still have a favored type. Hala moves with a particular deliberation and that tauros was scared. If he fields a mix, it'll still be a fighting-heavy mix.

She does have that gengar. Starting weak and then switching to that one would guarantee a win, but where's the fun in that? Maybe she'll keep it on her but only use it if Hala gets goaded into going all-out against her.

Otherwise...perhaps go back to the water and get one of the gyarados. Or...hm.

It seems most kids only get a pokemon or two. They must be meant to be able to win against a more experienced trainer even with bad matchups, or perhaps it's not even about winning but doing well enough. In that case… The yungoos, the rattata and the rockruff. Maybe the meowth and the magnemite. Show how well she can do even handing Hala such an advantage.

And there's the pikachu...she'll do that if Hala doesn't go down gracefully, she decides. If he tries to stonewall her, if he insists on winning, she'll come back for her second try and make the comparison even more obvious by using the same pokemon as his flinching little grandson.

What else has she caught?

The pokedex obligingly lists them in order: "Popplio, pikipek, yungoos, rattata, caterpie, ledyba, pichu, pikachu, wingull, abra, meowth, magnemite, grimer, gengar, magikarp, rockruff, tentacool, finneon, wishiwashi, staryu, pyukumuku. Popplio, pikipek, yungoos, rattata, caterpie, ledyba, pichu, pikachu, wingull, abra, meowth, magnemite, grimer, gengar, magikarp, rockruff, tentacool, finneon, wishiwashi, staryu, pyukumuku."

Oh yes, that one. She releases him onto her lap.

He does feel as nice as the pyukumuku cubes she ate, and she spends a few minutes idly kneading the soft wet flesh of his body while he wiggles to himself, "Here now? What? Oh a thing. I hope it doesn't touch my spikes. Okay that's fine. Here is more than ten thousand from there, oh oh. And such elevation. Is this the highest point or would I have to climb up to go down? Overland six nights five days if flat or angled down if speed decrease previously observed from drying is not linear but logarithmic..."

"You're so squishy," she tells him eventually. "Can you stick to things?"

The pyukumuku lets out a little blorp as he stretches and then contracts to suction onto her legs.

"Excellent."

She tries to find out more but the pokedex continues to be only halfway useful. "Due to their appearance and their lifestyle, pyukumuku are considered unappealing to tourists. Part-time work chucking pyukumuku back into the sea is available at tourist beaches. But no matter how far they're thrown, pyukumuku will always return to the same spot. Due to their appearance and their lifestyle, pyukumuku are considered unappealing to tourists. Part-time work chucking pyukumuku back into the sea is available at tourist beaches. But no matter how far they're thrown, pyukumuku will always return to the same spot.

"Once a pyukumuku finds a place it likes, it won't budge from it. If someone moves it away, back it comes to the same spot. If it runs out of food to eat in that spot, it'll stay there—and starve. The people of Alola found this so pitiful that they developed a tradition of chucking pyukumuku back into the food-rich sea whenever they come across any thin-bellied pyukumuku. Once a pyukumuku finds a place it likes, it won't budge from it. If someone moves it away, back it comes to the same spot. If it runs out of food to eat in that spot, it'll stay there—and starve. The people of Alola found this so pitiful that they developed a tradition of chucking pyukumuku back into the food-rich sea whenever they come across any thin-bellied pyukumuku.

"Pyukumuku are covered with a slippery, viscous fluid that has a moisturizing effect. Pyukumuku can stay on land for a week without drying out. The people of Alola use this fluid for skincare products. Pyukumuku are covered with a slippery, viscous fluid that has a moisturizing effect. Pyukumuku can stay on land for a week without drying out. The people of Alola use this fluid for skincare products.

"Pyukumuku hate to have their spikes and mouths touched, and if you step on one, it will hurl out its fist-like inner organs to strike at you. When this pokemon is attacked in battle, it will be also lash out at its attacker, dealing retaliatory damage. Pyukumuku hate to have their spikes and mouths touched, and if you step on one, it will hurl out its fist-like inner organs to strike at you. When this pokemon is attacked in battle, it will be also lash out at its attacker, dealing retaliatory damage."

Luckily, one of the other trainers at the cafe takes this as invitation to chat with her, happy to have found another 'pyukumuku enthusiast', saving Bonnibel from having to talk with the pokedex. "Most tourists can't stand them," she says to Bonnibel in stage-whispered confidence. "They may be pretty gross to touch, but they're really such fascinating pokemon." She explains they're similar in use to wobbuffet. "Except, for some reason, they can't use mirror coat. They're entirely physical in nature, for some reason. It might be because they're remarkably stupid." Despite that lack they're capable of using far more moves total, which is more likely to be useful to her, and possess some interesting inherent traits.

"So they have a sort of reflexive counter move?" she asks.

"Yeah. They always manage a counter-blow, even if they faint right after. You wouldn't think something so squishy could be so tenacious, would you."

Hm.

She plops the pyukumuku on her shoulder, soft flesh against the side of her neck and jaw, and gets up.

There's plenty of leafy trees around, and so far training has involved a lot less walking than it usually does. At some point, pokemon will learn better, but they haven't by the time the sun is low and she can move around again.

The meowth turns out to be quite manageable. He doesn't try disobeying orders for the sake of them and though there's little energy to his motions, he carries out the moves competently. When she picks him up afterward, he's limp in her hands and looks at her like he can only see the trees beyond. "What a good pokemon you are," she says. "I hope the others learn from your example."

She heads south and finds a convenience store selling berry bowls. There's a variety of sliced berries on top arranged in colored lines like a fruity rainbow. When she digs into one she finds it's largely a blended belue base with some cooked oats. It's riddled with the faint, intriguing sourness of something that's been sitting out just a bit too long.

A number of adults are sitting outside, snacking on something that looks to be made of rice topped with blended and pressed pork and then wrapped in seaweed. It smells mostly like salt.

New friends for Bonnibel! Indeed, they're quite happy to talk to her about the island traditions, Team Skull, and how layabout kids will get what's coming to them. What a delight Bonnibel is in comparison.

Capturing the pokemon who live in the trial sites? It's supposed to be a pretty big deal, similar to getting a starter pokemon, which makes it all the more offensive that kids who don't even deserve to have one want to catch lots and sell them. It used to be understood you should only catch a single trial pokemon from your native island, but there isn't an official law and that was a mistake, they all agree. The sixty-three year old man, the second oldest, adds, "And captains being right there to mollycoddle them through every battle...that's why they haven't got any respect for the pokemon anymore!"

Likely his own grandparents would say the same about catching trial pokemon at all.

"I've heard some captains on the other islands, they don't even always make challengers do a whole trial, not like our Captain Ilima," one of the younger ones, a mere twenty-six, says. "You're lucky you started here in Melemele, got to have a proper start!"

Hala's threat? "He should do that right now!" a fifty-two year old declares. "Don't wait for them to get the tapu in a rage. Tie them to the center in front of everyone, announce their crimes and call for Tapu Koko to judge them, scare those kids straight! That'll teach them not to take the island challenge seriously. Ilima is a good kid, but he just doesn't have a firm hand."

"It's those Kalosians," says another. "Always wanting to talk about how troublemakers feel and why they did it. I don't know why they sent him off to study there, they're a terrible influence for a growing boy."

"Spare the rod and spoil the child."

No one's interested in caning Bonnibel, of course. She's doing what she's supposed to do and they could not be more pleased about it.

"Ilima's been telling everyone about how you stepped up to teach those thugs a lesson even in the middle of your own trial. Not one of them would've done it, believe me! They wouldn't even have waited for Ilima to do it for them. No, they'd have sat down and given up on the spot, then demanded he hand them a crystal to make up for it!"

"And would they be grateful?" interjects the sixty-three year old again. "No! They want everything done for them, but then they're going off at all hours and abandoning their families without so much as a by your leave."

Another man, barely forty, nods. "It's good for kids to experience their own journeys, but running away without even word to your parents is another thing entirely. I tried to set that boy of mine straight, but when I did, I was the one who got beat…" The other men nod sympathetically.

Bonnibel tells him that's awful! She can't believe anyone would be so disrespectful to their parents! She'd never ever ever do anything like that to her mom who works so hard for her and how could she even think of doing less than that in return? This place is so wonderful and everyone is so nice and smart and she doesn't know why any kids wouldn't be grateful and want to work hard in return.

The men ask about her father and she drops her eyes shyly and explains Bonnibel doesn't really remember. "My daddy died in an accident when I was really little. Mom says I look so much like him, though." And she tells them all that she just can't believe kids who still have their dad don't appreciate it and they tell her what a wonderful little girl she is.

And such a good work ethic, they add, such a go-getter, when she says she'd better get back to training her pokemon because she's going up against the great Kahuna Hala.

They're all smiling as widely as Bonnibel when she leaves. It's enough to make her actually want Hala to insist on beating her. Does a kahuna stay a kahuna all their life? Maybe she'll get to find out.

She sets her pokemon against other trainers' pokemon for a bit, largely tourists, until those filter away to their hotel rooms for the night, then she goes after wild pokemon again for a while. Under one tree, she finds a sensible pokemon, a crabrawler who tries to flee instead of stand her ground, but it's not like it matters, not really.

"Looks like you're getting to know the pokemon on Melemele island pretty well, partner! Looks like you're getting to know the pokemon on Melemele island pretty well, partner!" comes out of the pokedex.

Finally, when her pokemon are too worn out to continue, she sits under one of the darker bunches of trees to relax and begins to pick at her peeling skin, pulling off strips and popping them one by one into her mouth to grind between her molars. The rich smoothness of the concealer's texture contrasts sharply with its burning-sour taste.

The islands are so small that everywhere is the smell of ocean waves. People talk about it as the smell of freedom even as they stop at the shoreline. Well, it wouldn't be so weird to think of it that way here, would it? Even the furthest main island is less than a day's swim away from another one. Not that Bonnibel would do such a dangerous thing. And beyond's a scattering of smaller islands that maybe triples the size of the archipelago in total, and then open water too vast for any person to cross alone.

But people aren't alone. Bonnibel will never be alone. People don't want to be alone. Bonnibel is happy with the smell of salted options permeating the air, she decides. It's a popular opinion.

The new skin under the sunburn is too thin a covering over raw flesh, all pink and shiny from the strain of holding the blood in, so she takes a while longer to cover it all in another layer of makeup. She taps the hard crust of the glue in her arm, picks at it until a bit of red seeps out the edges. That'll be a while longer.

She might as well go through the fence. Rushing right off into anywhere new just uses it up, but avoid it long enough and it might as well be a barrier itself. And she hasn't much else to do.

How long has Hau been here, putting off his journey?

"Kids today," she says to herself, mimicking the man's voice. "They're just not grateful for what they have."

The pyukumuku squishes a bit on her shoulder. "I didn't know humans could sound like other humans. It must be so confusing. How do they decide who gets what voice? Do they trade voice rights, is that why this one is using another one's now, was it acquired? How many voices do they have to go around? Can they all make every voice or does everyone only have a subset? The number of voices per individual would have to be large to fit with existing data of no overlaps within multiple groups of several hundred, but if we assume an extremely large total number, then - "

A mankey screeches above, "Humans just like to mimic other humans sometimes. It's not like she can keep talking like that for more than a couple words, or sounds exactly like the other one when she does. You're building all your reasoning on sand! SAND!"

"But that did sound exactly like the other one."

"It can't be exactly it's just close!" the mankey screeches, swinging around on the branch. "All humans have their own voices! You're just remembering wrong because it happened a while ago! Or something!"

"What a loud pokemon," Bonnibel says. "I wonder if she wants to join my team."

"I'm confident I'm not remembering it wrong. The frequency - "

"WHY IS EVERYONE SO STUPID!?" the mankey howls from above Bonnibel's head and drops down.

She doesn't drop on Bonnibel. Bonnibel has already stepped to one side. Bonnibel's arm reaches out, grabs the mankey by the windmilling tail and smashes her sideways into the tree's trunk.

"Pokemon don't attack people," Bonnibel says into the sudden quiet. The mankey isn't in any state to take the criticism to heart but then, mankey aren't known for their foresight regardless. Hopefully bystanders will be able to learn more from her example. Bonnibel drops a pokeball onto the bloody mess.

The ball dings. "You're moving along at a nice clip, partner! Keep up the pace and find all Alola's pokemon! You're moving along at a nice clip, partner! Keep up the pace and find all Alola's pokemon!" comes out of her pokedex.

Well, at least until she beats Hala. Then, well, she'd wager she's already done a good lot more than Kukui ever got out of anybody else, so he can't complain too much if she starts slacking off. Maybe it'd be more fun to be Alola's favored daughter, show how easy it is to live up to what people ask, how there's no excuse for falling short.

"Hanini?" a mankey hoots in the distance. "Did something - ? Hanini? Hanini!"

She goes north. The world on the other side of the fence is much the same, but that was never in doubt. A bit rockier, a bit sandier.

After dawn, she lets her pokemon all out for a breather and a meal. The meowth grooms his pristine fur as the rockruff wags her tail madly.

"What's your name? I'm Leimomi!" A string of pearls? Well, that would be valued more than the granite that studs her neck.

"Keakaninuiamamao. Don't lick me."

She sits back. "Aw, but you get to lick you!"

"Even still."

The rockruff's distracted then by the rattata hissing at the yungoos and moving to steal food.

"Don't be bad!" her rockruff barks. "If you're annoying your trainer might get rid of you!

The rattata squeaks, "Whatever."

"Don't joke!"

The pyukumuku blorps quietly, "I thought trainers just put you down and leave. Do they eat you? Why are you yelling?"

"Being thrown away is awful! Don't you want her to love you forever and ever?"

A long ripple goes down the pyukumuku's length, "No. Why? Who cares about humans anyway…"

The rockruff erupts into a frenzy of barks, "Who cares? Who cares? Humans the best! Humans are like moms!"

The rattata squeaks, "I've got a mom. Don't you know your own parents? You've got a name."

"Of course I had a mom, but humans are like ones that you don't lose! Ones you can keep! They'll stay with you all your life!"

"Unless they get rid of you…"

"That's why you can't be bad!"

The whole cacophony is upsetting Popplio, and he retreats back to Bonnibel. She pats him and says, "Finish eating."

Obediently, he returns to his bowl. After a moment, he barks hesitantly, "Umm… Did you know, our trainer's mother has a weird white meowth! And she told me that's what meowth look like far away."

"Yes." The meowth picks at the pellets of food, eating them slowly but neatly one by one. He might like something better, but he and his kind live on garbage out of dumpsters and scraps ground into the dirt and he's not going to starve waiting for what won't come.

"Is it true?" Popplio barks.

"Yes. Yes, it's true. The meowth that came here long ago were said to have snowy fur like that of the vulpix, but it pleased the royalty of this place that we be as cool shadows in the bright day, as the rarest of pearls in the depths. And so we were. So we are, though our masters are dead."

The rockruff growls, distressed, "They're not your masters! She's your master."

"She possesses me, and there are no kings left to say otherwise."

"You meowth always sound so sad about it. You shouldn't! Everybody knows the kings were bad! You should be grateful to the people here that they didn't kill the meowth too."

"They did not kill my ancestors. They killed the brothers and sisters of my ancestors, but yes, were magnanimous enough they spared those who escaped them. And when it came to pass that they desired the same trappings of kings they had trampled and spat upon, doors opened again and they invited us so forcefully to their hearths. How churlish our ingratitude is. There is great pride in knowing your skin is so desired as to lie both above and beneath the wealthiest bottoms," he meows, batting a paw. "And now they are so pleased by our countenance that none may leave these islands, for it so lifts their hearts to see us starving in their alleys."

The rockruff whines, "You should be glad. You should be. Better than the cookpot…"

"The existence of worse does not make a thing better. Besides, if we're naught but an expensive bauble, why not be as much of one as they can endure?"

"You're so cute!" Bonnibel tells them. "Meow meow bark bark, all so serious! Why so serious, fluffy-fluff?" She picks up the meowth and shoves Bonnibel's face into his. The fur's thick and spongy against her nose and cheeks, but she far prefers the pyukumuku. There's just the faintest tense to his muscles under her fingers, a bit of startled confusion with no real intent of attacking her for it. She pulls him back and smiles.

The meowth meows, "Does it amuse you to treat me so? Our contract is not as theirs is. If you want me to pretend at loving your presence, you'll have to pay me for it."

"You're such a good pokemon," she tells him again.

"He's not!" the rockruff growls. "He's an ungrateful jerk."

The rattata squeaks, "Oh relax. The lady's got no idea what's going on. She'll figure it out eventually."

She says to the limp body in Bonnibel's hands, "I think I will give you to my mother after all. I'll tell her, 'I don't think he likes battling, so I guess he should stay with you! Just call me if he seems to miss battling, like if he starts fights with your meowth.' You'll be my going-away present, after I use you in the last battle." She taps his nose gently with one finger. "She's not some fancy royalty like the pokedex says you guys once belonged to, but I'm sure that doesn't really matter."

He meows at her, "They would have killed you for touching me," and she boops him on the nose again.

"I'm glad you agree! You get it, right? It's not like there's any difference between one human and another. It's like this story I heard once. There were these two little orphan boys who looked so alike, they believed they were twins. No one would give them food or shelter, for they said only, oh, those common thieves and children of common thieves, with scabby skin, knobbly knees, swollen noses and shifty eyes. They stole food and when the police caught them they were beaten so badly one of them died. When the other boy went before the magistrate, he would not even speak, so they beat him again for his lowborn insolence and then searched him, only to find the one possession the boys owned, an ornate locket. Why, they realized, this boy was the only child of a noble man, whose wife had been murdered on a trip and son lost! They should have realized it, they said, for his quiet dignity in the court, his fragile skin and weak constitution too delicate for such a harsh life. And the man came and said oh yes, yes, this is my son, my precious child of my blood, and in time the boy inherited the title and estate and had a noble child in the same noble mold."

The other pokemon squeak and titter.

"Of course, it's not such a funny story here, because it's kinda too obvious, don't you think? Some places have had royalty for ten thousand years, but the people who came here a thousand years ago from Kanto, to this little isolated patch in the middle of nowhere...it's not like there was a single noble in the boatload."

The meowth is like stone under her hand.

And then it passes. He twists his head to the side and hisses, "Say what you will. What would some tourist child know anyway."

"Yeah, Mom's going to just love you. Love you to bits if you let her." But he won't.

Then she makes them fight more.

Eventually, she goes back to the pokecenter and waits in the cafe while they look over her pokemon. They offer coffee and that seems like the proper thing to drink with the sun rising. It comes sweetened with palm sugar and lightened by coconut milk, but it's still intensely bitter from overroasted, burnt beans.

It's a bit past eight when she leaves again, but she hasn't even found another pokemon before a voice shouts out, "Alola, Bonnibel!" Kukui jogs over. "Ilima said I might find you here. Getting an early start to the day, yeah? I'm lookin' forward to seeing what moves you and your pokemon will pour your soul into now that you've gone and cleared your first trial! It'll be the grand trial next! You should know, the Melemele kahuna is strong, cousin! He's a trainer who can use fighting-type pokémon to the fullest, yeah." She wonders if he thinks little of Bonnibel, that she would need the help, or if it's that he's also concerned Hala might want to hold her back. "Might not be a bad idea to work on those flying- or psychic-type moves! And I also wanted to tell you a bit about using some incredible z-powered moves!"

He's about to say something about how different Alola is again, so Bonnibel says, "Oh, thank you, Professor! Everyone keeps mentioning it, but we don't have anything like that in Kanto."

Kukui nods with a big grin. "Yeah, around here everybody's seen them in action a hundred times before they start on their own journey. Kids in preschool play at practising the moves, yeah. Since it's brand-new to you, it'll probably be a while until you get the hang of it, but I can go over the basics with you, cousin! So, first off, you need to combine the crystal and bracelet, right in the slot here." He points to the rocky loop around his own wrist. "You can do this in the middle of battle if you have a couple, but that's a pretty advanced move! And with only one available to you at the moment, you don't need to worry about which to pick."

Obligingly, she clicks the crystal into place.

"The crystal from Ilima's trial resonates with the normal type! Now people mostly think of type as being about the pokemon, but moves have types too! And that's good, because if you had to use normal types against the kahuna here...well, we'd never get to see it in action!" Really? So he doesn't think much of anyone. "Having the normalium crystal means the move you'll unlock with your pokemon will be of that type, one we call breakneck blitz, yeah! And that's not just to sound dramatic. Watch and learn, cousin! Rockruff!"

His rockruff barks, "Ready!"

Kukui waves his arms in a way similar to Ilima, but faster and more expansive. The crystal glows. Kukui shouts, and then - the rockruff is glowing, a bit like the glow of the totem pokemon in color if not in feel, before launching forward. It could be mistaken for a run, the way the rockruff moves, except the motion of her legs doesn't quite match the way she speeds up. It's more like the pokemon's being flung. She's halted by a jut of rock. It cracks as she bounces off, and then the glow fades. The rockruff bounces back to her feet unharmed, barking madly, "Haha awesome I wish we could do it again!"

The rockruff's trajectory was so straight. Can they turn, or do they continue until they strike something?

Heaping all their emotions onto a pokemon...and Hau's story, where to avoid the destruction of using such moves, their sacred pokemon had to withdraw from humans entirely. That makes sense now. This is…

This is really what people wanted all along.

"Phew! Z-powers heap all of a trainer's feelings onto a pokemon, yeah, which totally wears you out!"

Bonnibel nods.

He opens his mouth and she weighs her options, but then his face freezes up. "No!" He strikes his palm against his forehead. "It's like I used amnesia!" But he didn't, because he's a person. He'd never need to, because he's a person. "I forgot that I lost Lillie somewhere on Route 3! I got so caught up in watching pokemon and their moves I didn't realize she wasn't with me, and then when I started looking for her, I saw you! Think you could spare some time to help me look for her, Bonnibel?"

"Of course! Poor Lillie, she's not even a trainer…" It's not like Bonnibel was planning on doing anything but walk around fighting pokemon.

"Thanks, cousin. She's no trainer, yeah, so I don't think she could have gone too far on her own… Let's split up and find her, yeah!"

And that saves her the trouble of suggesting they do that. Kukui can go back to whatever he was doing without bugging Bonnibel, and then afterward they'll both say it was just luck she found Lillie first.

Bonnibel heads north, past the fence yet again. It's nice to have confirmation that no one will think much of her getting past one on the rest of the islands. She passes some time with spearow, seeing how long they'll keep coming. For a bit, it's like every new body bleeding at her feet just spurs them on, like they think they can hold this little patch of rock by numbers and unity. Like anyone can hold any patch by any means.

She attracts a bit of an audience, hobbyist tourists who cheer as the fight goes on. "Way to teach them some manners!" one girl shouts in East-accented Sinnohan, too excited to think that a Kanto trainer like Bonnibel is unlikely to know a word of it.

When it's over, when it's quiet, Bonnibel crouches over them. "Now you know better," she says.

Now they know better.

Lillie obviously isn't in the area. She'd be screaming if she was cornered and threatened, because that's something allowed to people, and if not, she'd have likely come to see what Bonnibel was doing. Maybe she'd have cried at the sight, but that's less allowed for people, and Lillie seems to know at least that much.

But what did happen to Lillie? It's possible that she's purely lost, as Kukui thinks, but… Lillie didn't ask for directions when she got lost looking for Bonnibel, or if she did she's so useless they made no difference, but that only inconvenienced Lillie. Getting separated from someone is inconveniencing them, or would if Kukui would go out of his way to look for Lillie, and she would guess that certain trouble Lillie was already causing to someone she feels indebted too would outweigh risking troubling a new stranger for help. More likely, Lillie is stuck somewhere, and somewhere without trainers to beg. Is her luck bad enough to fall into the one corner of this island not crawling with tourists?

She might be dead, too. Bonnibel would go back to Kukui and say that she looked everywhere but couldn't find her. What would happen next? As days pass, will they end up crying over the loss, hurt all the more by not knowing for sure? Or will they just think Lillie ran off and forget about her? Bonnibel could come back, right before she leaves the whole region, and just happen to stumble over…

Oh.

"Hey Lillie," Bonnibel says with the perfect amount of relief in her voice and just a trifle winded like she's been running all over.

The scene doesn't quite make sense. Lillie's looking at Bonnibel with wet eyes and parched skin and such a miserable expression, but there's plenty of people running around in the flower-packed meadow below for Lillie to ask for help. The air is so thick with the scent that Bonnibel can barely smell anything else...like a repel.

"Nebby ran off," Lillie whimpers.

She's afraid to ask for help from anyone new and she can't go herself when the repellent scent is overwhelmed by the flowers and she doesn't dare leave without Nebby. Bonnibel nods. So she's just been standing here for hours. Does Bonnibel know what dehydration looks like? No, Bonnibel never learned, especially when it's not like she's in the habit of spending a lot of time outdoors in high summer. "Into the flowers?" Bonnibel asks. "Or did you not see where she went?"

"Nebby went into the meadow… It might have gone to the caves, I lost sight of it! What if a wild pokemon attacks it? It doesn't have any moves it can use to battle! Please..."

Bonnibel does know what distress looks like, so, "Don't worry, I'll go get Nebby for you." Then, because it's a reasonable thing to say, "But this is really why you should keep her in a pokeball." And she wades into the flowers.

"Hurry it hurry up and save it Nebby up already! And save we Nebby little pokemon already! Need all the we help little we can pokemon get! Need all the help we can get!"

What would distinguish this time and this pokemon from all the other ones? Hm. As a pokemon who already has an owner, Nebby's irrelevant to the purpose of a pokedex, so Bonnibel supposes it'd only be their own opinion coming through. To be so defined by transitory forms...is it pitiable or just pathetic?

The flowers aren't so thick that Nebby would be completely invisible within them, so the pokemon must've found some other hiding spot, and the caves against the wall do seem a good option. She fights each pokemon that she finds along the way. She wonders if Lillie is watching all this or has covered her face, but Bonnibel doesn't bother turning to find out. Bonnibel is so busy doing exactly what Lillie asked of her she'd never think of it.

She doesn't have to get all the way to the wall, as it turns out. When she gets close enough the stalks start to rustle toward her and then Nebby pops out entirely, even more teary-eyed and ragged than her owner.

Bonnibel shoves the pokemon back under the flowers. "You're supposed to stay out of sight, aren't you?"

Nebby is making little hiccupy sobs, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry."

"Since you're Lillie's, I can't just catch you, and since she didn't bother getting you a pokeball, you'll just have to follow me back from down there," she continues.

"She can't, it's that she can't, she didn't know where it was," Nebby sniffles.

Huh. Stolen, really? Maybe she should stick around Lillie more, she'd love to see the ending of this. There's no way Lillie keeps this up long enough for that timer to expire. "Well, come along. I'm not wasting potions on a disobedient pokemon, so you'll have to wait until we get back for Lillie to decide what to do with you."

Nebby sobs the whole way back, "I didn't mean to I'm sorry I just wanted to go home I'm sorry I thought I thought I felt but then I couldn't find it I tried to come back but I got attacked I would've come back and I just thought I felt and I just want to go home…"

When they do reach Lillie, who it turns out had managed to keep her eyes on them, Nebby makes a predictable lunge to climb the slope and Bonnibel's hand shoves her back under. "Do you want to come down or would you rather just drop the bag?" Bonnibel asks Lillie, who rushes down so fast she ends up tumbling. Bonnibel doesn't get out of the way, because you can't do that to people, so Lillie only smacks face-first into her instead of the rocky ground and sending red splatters across the dirt and flower stalks.

"I'm sorry I'm so sorry!" she babbles. Then, "Nebby, you -"

But it's all forgotten when she sees what a mess Nebby is, and she starts blubbering out water she really doesn't have to spare and pulling out medicine to waste.

"Right… Back into the bag, please, Nebby," she says finally, holding it out, then looks at Bonnibel with pathetic apology. "I always carry lots of potions on me to keep Nebby healthy. That's the best I can do, since I'm not a real trainer or anything… But I can heal your pokemon too!"

"Don't worry about it," she says. "They're fine. These weren't difficult battles."

"I guess we should be going now... The professor will probably be worried after the way we just disappeared on him…"

"He asked me to help find you, actually," she says. "We split up so we could search better."

"I'm so sorry for causing all this trouble." She's wobbling on her feet.

Bonnibel...Bonnibel would know collapsing is bad. She could sit Lillie down before that happens and leave, but it likely wouldn't matter and anyway, isn't seeing what happens with Nebby going to be more entertaining? Maybe Bonnibel can be outraged. After all, pokemon thieves are terrible. "You don't look so good," Bonnibel says, and offers her a bottle. Lillie sips and then guzzles the water, then she stops halfway and shoves it into her bag for Nebby.

"He-e-ey! Lillie! Bonnibel!" Hau rushes over. "So this is where you got to, huh? Melemele's meadow is a nice place to get lost, isn't it?"

Lillie tries to say, "I didn't mean -" but Hau is still chattering, "I love it here! All the cute cutieflies, and Melemele's oricorio are the best, yeah!"

"You know, I read something in a book once…" Lillie says. "It seems the pokemon called oricorio changes appearance by feeding on the nectar from different types of flowers. It's not actually evolving but undergoing a so-called 'form change.' Isn't that interesting? I thought it was, anyway…"

This makes the pokedex pop out again. "There are four known forms of oricorio! Although the change in appearance may be the most dramatic, they also change type and behavior in the process! There are four known forms of oricorio! Although the change in appearance may be the most dramatic, they also change type and behavior in the process! Melemele's oricorio are known as the pom-pom form and are exceptionally friendly. But people who migrated from Kanto feel a great liking for the dignified sensu form because its dance reminds them of their homeland, so maybe you'd like that one better! They're not seen around often, however, because they require nectar from the intimidating Poni Island. You'll have to work hard and win many battles, but that should be no problem for you, clever girl. Melemele's oricorio are known as the pom-pom form and are exceptionally friendly. But people who migrated from Kanto feel a great liking for the dignified sensu form because its dance reminds them of their homeland, so maybe you'd like that one better! They're not seen around often, however, because they require nectar from the intimidating Poni Island. You'll have to work hard and win many battles, but that should be no problem for you, clever girl."

"Oh my…" says Lillie. "Are all four types of flowers found in Alola?"

"Naturally! Oricorio are one of the pokemon designated as part of island culture, and have not been allowed out, even by trade! Only Alolan citizens may own them. Naturally! Oricorio are one of the pokemon designated as part of island culture, and have not been allowed out, even by trade! Only Alolan citizens may own them."

There's been hundreds of years of trade. They must die if they go too long without the right sort of nectar, and the Alolan government must be aggressive enough at investigating anyone who tries to keep a greenhouse of flowers known to work. She'll have to remember to mention it to Kukui. Probably pretty frustrating to know everyone's either too rich to care about doing such obvious research or too poor to keep it hidden.

...is that it? The pokedex is recording those encountered, not just caught. And earlier, the list of pokemon had been said in order of how common they were thought to be. Proving there's a healthy population would be a good starting point to argue the restrictions could be relaxed. But "island culture"..."it so lifts their hearts"...it's probably not wholly about what number could safely be removed each year. Some people, some very important people, must oppose it entirely. But maybe others could be swayed if Kukui could get enough data to prove it could be done without compromising the ecosystem. And would those be enough?

Hala made it clear his grandson is more important to him. He won't cry that hard over a change. But how would Kukui feel if he got what he thought he needed and then it still didn't matter? And would that happen if she gets him his information, or would he actually succeed?

Hard to say what Bonnibel wants to do at this point. Bonnibel hasn't given it much thought, she decides. Bonnibel might stay on task, or meeting new people might distract her. She'll have to see.

"Hey, Bonnibel! I wanna see if I really learned anything from my trial. Let me battle you again!"

"That sounds like a great idea," Bonnibel tells Hau.

It's not a pichu but a pikachu he sends out, which is a trifle surprising. Already? Well, that's that, then. Hardly even Hau's fault.

"Aww, man! I wanted to show off my pokemon's best side more!" Hau cries when his litten stays down, but after he recalls the pokemon he's upbeat. "So you and me both beat that totem pokemon, huh, Bonnibel? Looks like we're getting pretty strong!" His grin fades a little. "But I wonder if I'll ever really be able to beat my gramps at this rate..."

Bonnibel says, "Oh no! You think we'll fail the grand trial?"

"No, nah, I mean…" He sighs then. "I mean, it's only our first, and we've only beaten a single totem. I know you'll do great, Bonnibel! And I...I'm sure I can do it, if I work hard. But it won't be an all-out battle. We're not ready for that. But by the end of the island challenge...that's what it's supposed to be about. And, how can I ever be kahuna if I can't even fight the kahuna for real?"

"Are...do kahunas have to be the strongest trainers?" Lillie asks.

"Sorta… Tutu's the strongest ever, and all the kahunas would have to be strong if they're taking care of their island. Poni Island doesn't even have a kahuna right now and they say it's because the next person wasn't strong enough yet. And Tapu Koko especially…! I don't know if it wants the best, but everybody knows it wants us to go all out, so I have to be able to fight Tutu like that or the battle won't be any good in Tapu Koko's eyes."

Then he insists they come back to Iki Town to have supper.

"But the professor - " Lillie tries to say, and Hau reassures her that they'll pass the message along that they've found her.

"We don't know where he is by now," Bonnibel agrees. "If we go looking, we might end up where he was while he looks where we were. It's better to find a place to meet up." It's fun, really, the lack of cellphones here. All sorts of things that can happen.

At the fence, Hau runs ahead and pulls his crystal from his pocket. It's bad design to make it need that from both sides. If anyone's on the wrong side, it's all the more important they get through. Or…any person, at least.

This particular fence isn't much of a barrier, but was that the idea? Like a bigger version of those red gates in the city. It was probably different in the past, maybe, larger still. The lower area is lusher and the upper area rocky, poorer quality and that's like they say -

- but -

- why would Bonnibel care about that story, Bonnibel probably doesn't even know it, wouldn't think of it, it has no meaning to -

"Bonnibel?"

They're looking at her, because she's stopped, they're ahead of her and she's just standing around like an idiot. She jogs to catch up and says, "Sorry, got lost in thought I guess! I was just thinking about how nice everything is up here." She should say something specific she should say something about the gate that's what Bonnibel was facing the gate Bonnibel says, "The fence is really pretty! It has the same pattern as the amulet Kahuna Hala gave us. Why is that?"

It turns out Hau doesn't know the details. "I think...well, you've got to do the island trials to go through, but… I think it's, triangles are good luck, they protect you. Like a shield...or maybe a house."

She taps each finger against her thumb in turn one two three four one two three four one two three four one two three four. A triangle's an easy thing to make with hands, to scrape in the dirt or carve in the wood or paint on the rock, a shape that didn't exist until it was made, a person imposing something they imagined onto reality so it became reality, and what was there before only a story. One two three four, fingernails digging into the thumbpad.

"Or like scales…" Lillie offers.

"No, kommo-o has round scales, and it's got a really distinct pattern of one circle inside the other. It'd be way different if that was the idea," Hau says, voice stronger now that he's got something to be certain about.

So Bonnibel says, "It looks like an arrowhead to me."

"O-oh?" All his confidence vanishes and he turns to look back at the fence. "I guess." He looks at the little bauble his grandfather gave him with its same alternating triangles, clearly discomforted by the idea, so Bonnibel says, "Hey, that could be the shape of one too!" and she points to the protruding sides and adds, "Those would be hooks to help it stay in. Did the ancient Alolans use arrows?"

That he doesn't know either. Why would he? It's not something that matters to people now. He doesn't even know what an arrowhead actually looks like.

"I think everyone was using pokemon by the time people came to these islands," Lillie says.

"Well, maybe it's just because it's such a pretty design then. Everything here's so cool."

"And the grand trial's going to be even cooler!" Hau says, wrenching the conversation back to better topics. "Tutu, he says it's fine for the both of us to do our trial on the same day, so I'll fight at noon and then you'll go in the evening, so his pokemon can rest. Okay?"

Won't be able to use the yungoos in that case. "Okay! That sounds perfect. I'll be all rested and ready too by then!" Does Hala understand at all what's going to happen? The island gossips like a vespiquen's skirt, and he's seen plenty of kids before, enough to know how rare the skill she shows is, something that, like mega evolution, he's probably only seen at a distance. It's pretty well known to everyone - the story of the child prodigy, the new trainer who's more in-sync with its pokemon than people twice its age… But Hala won't want to see that, so maybe he won't. Maybe she'll be nothing more to him than his grandson's rival, and he's too concerned with how she fares compared to Hau to think to worry about how she'll fare against him.

As they round the corner, there's a little kid's voice, the words unintelligible but sing-song. It's running around an adult carrying bags, voice suddenly spiking - "ASK! Me no…" then it's too quiet to make out. The adult smacks it in the back of the head.

Lillie jerks like she's struck.

The kid's knocked forward by the blow, limbs flailing for balance, but it catches itself. It laughs and runs ahead.

"What just…" Lillie asks.

Hau looks embarrassed. "She's, uh, it's a dumb song kids sing to make adults mad. You sing it until they hit you."

"Really?" Bonnibel says, like that's the most interesting thing she's ever heard.

Lillie's voice quavers a little. "Why would they hit their kids?"

"It's, it's a really dumb song," Hau says, his face getting redder. "A cheeky one."

The thing he's really trying to avoid is - "How come? What are the words?"

He stops. "Um...it's…" Bonnibel stares at him with wide waiting eyes. He takes a breath, then mumbles, "...dianahadagrowlithe, thegrowlithehadabell, dianawenttoheavenand, thegrowlithewentto, helloopperator, pleasegivemenumbernine, andifyoudisconnectme, I'llchopoffyourbehindthefrigerator, therewasapieceofglass, dianasatuponitandcutherbigfataskmenomorequestions, I'lltellyounomorelies, diana'sskippingschooltheverydayshe, dianahadagrowlithe... and then you keep singing that until somebody hits you. The, the idea is that you're saying words that you're not supposed to, only you're not exactly, so it's not breaking any rules, but it's really...um, it's insolent, so they hit you for it."

"Oh, I've heard that song before," Bonnibel tells him. "Kids do that other places too."

"They do?" Lillie's voice is just so horrified. Bonnibel would laugh, but a laugh's as bad as a sob.

Hau does laugh. Not a happy laugh but much like the other kid had, in relief it wasn't as bad as it could've been. "Really? I guess Alola's not that weird, then."

"People are the same everywhere," she tells him.

Supper is back at his house, it turns out, which is similar in size though not in style to that of Ilima's. His pokemon stay in their pokeballs as Hau excitedly ladles their plates full of rice, more blended meat fried in fat, gravy, and some white goop on one side.

Lillie stops gulping water and stares at the dish before her in quiet horror. After a moment, she picks up a fork and stabs the top of the white stuff. She proceeds to eat it in tiny, determined bites that remind Bonnibel of her meowth.

Bonnibel scoops up a large hunk and finds it's milky, yolk-rich mayonnaise soaking deep into chewy elbow pasta. The crispy charred edges of the meat coated in the starchy gravy is just as delightful, and Bonnibel appreciates the slight crunch of the rice too. Hau cooked this, she'd guess. Excited to have people over, some experience making a meal but not something he does every day.

There would have been no other kid the same age for the festival battle without Bonnibel. But there are other kids, and Hau has no practice to his loneliness, so, where are his friends?

Bonnibel asks him about what it was like growing up here. Here in this wonderful paradise with so many friendly people. Did he have a lot of grand adventures as a little kid?

He says yes, but what he tells them are tiny things. "...so we thought there was a rare pokemon hidden in the school. We snuck back in at night through a window and then climbed onto a bookshelf to reach the ceiling, and then Kaʻaukai-"

"Who's that?" she says instantly.

His face crumples and his eyes drop and slide sideways. Better than she would've hoped.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did Ka'aukai die?" she asks before he has any chance of recovering.

"She...uh...she was two years older than me. She left to do the island challenge…" He trails off again.

"And died?" Bonnibel prompts, so he has to say what really happened.

"No, she didn't, she just...she, I think she came back home once but I didn't get to see her. She's on one of the other islands now. She…" He takes a pained breath and explains, "She didn't, she just gave up on the island challenge, and, now she won't come home, but nobody wants her to anyway, her parents, they're so embarrassed they pretend they don't have a daughter at all now, and…"

There's tightness in his arms. He's clenching his hands under the table where he thinks she can't tell.

"...I thought she was a great trainer. But she wasn't. She didn't work hard like she should've and now she's probably just another...if she ever does come back it'll only be to cause trouble."

"That's so awful!" Bonnibel says. "How could anyone think it's okay to...to just give up and run away! I can't believe she'd just let everyone down like that! No wonder her parents are mortified!"

"M-maybe she did try." Lillie's voice is louder than it could be.

"Then why didn't she do it like she was supposed to? It's not like it's impossible, you know. Hau and I have only been doing this a couple days and we've already beaten the first trial and soon we'll do the grand trial. It won't even take us a week!" And if unofficially Hau's been at it quite a while longer to be even this good, well, Hau will never say that out loud so no voice will ever contradict Bonnibel's. "And it's not like anybody made her stop. She chose to give up." And she stares at Lillie and she says, "It's like everyone I've talked to says. They said lots of the kids now are lazy and ungrateful and want everything handed to them. They don't listen to their parents like they should." As Lillie wilts, Bonnibel looks to Hau. "Right? It's not like this is supposed to be impossible for people!"

He nods. "Yeah. Yeah, everybody's supposed to complete it." And if that's not quite the same thing… Alola really is such a nice place to be.

"But anyway, what were you saying before? You were looking for a pokemon at the school, what happened?"

And after a moment he picks up the story again. It's like the digression never happened, except for how there's a sharp reduction in detail, how he moves quickly into another one.

Bonfires and scary stories make Lillie light up. "That sounds so fun! I was never allowed to hear ghost stories. You're so brave!"

"They're not all that scary, really… They sound like a bigger deal than they really are. I can tell you one -"

"No, no thank you," Lillie says. "I...I wanted to, a lot. But - but I think now, I think my mother was right about me, about it being a bad idea, that I'd just have nightmares." She pushes a tiny laugh through her throat. "Just a kid's fairy tale is enough to give me nightmares, it turns out…"

"Oh?" And Bonnibel asks, "What story?"

"It's, oh, it was this story that my - that I had read to me when I was little, The Glaceon and the Leafeon. Do you know it?"

Hau shakes his head. Bonnibel says, "Probably by another name. What happens in it?" And she's right, of course.

In the story, a rich glaceon gets a beautiful leafeon to be his wife and takes her back to his big castle. He gives her keys to every room, because there are of course rooms and doorknobs and locks and keys because it's a stupid story, and he tells her to never open one, and of course she does.

The version Lillie tells has been gutted of the guts. As soon as the leafeon puts the key in the door, the key gives her away by shouting, so she never sees what's beyond or has to try to clean off the blood.

"So she runs to the top of the tower, crying out for help, and she sends a solar beam up into the sky, and her brother sees it and rushes to rescue her, and oh, her brother was a flareon, I should've said that... But her brother comes and defeats the glaceon and saves her."

"That's not such a bad ending," Hau says uncertainly.

"I liked the ending...but when I dream about it, I never get to the ending. I'm just there in the castle. Sometimes I haven't even done anything wrong yet, but I know I will, I know I'll open the wrong door, and then... I don't know...it's just a children's story, and I never used to be scared even though I was listening to them right before bed..."

The thought of the story Bonnibel doesn't care about is still grating against the inside of her skull, tangling with Lillie's stupid one about pokemon having castles and keys, and she says, "I do know that one after all. I know a couple of other versions too, and they all have the same good end. Maybe if you know another one you'll remember the ending better."

"Oh, maybe," Lillie says hopefully.

"Well," Bonnibel began, "once there was a maiden. One day when she was by the edge of the forest, a pokemon appeared." It'd been a thishrike more often than not, but no one remembers pokemon once they're gone. "It was an evil pyroar. This evil pyroar leapt upon the maiden and said, 'You shall come back to my home and be my servant, to do all the things I cannot easily do myself.' The maiden said, 'I do not want to go with you, or serve you. I am happy here.' But the evil pyroar said, 'If you will not, I will eat you!' and so the evil pyroar kidnapped her and stole her away to its home deep in the woods. There, it gave her her labors. She was to spend each morning sweeping the floor clean, each day cooking a meal from the larder to set on the table for it, and each evening brushing its fur and weaving from grasses fresh mats and baskets. Though the evil pyroar did not eat her so long as she obeyed, it treated her cruelly, working her all day and then forcing her to sleep on the floor and eat only the scraps of its meals, and she cried bitterly each night. However, the girl had eight older brothers. When she disappeared, they began to search everywhere for her. As it grew late one night, they smelled smoke and cooked food, and believed they were close to the home of some brave hermit who lived within the woods. They decided to go there to pass the night and ask for any news, but they soon found instead a cave with a pyroar. The pyroar had a glistening coat and was devouring the meal they'd smelled. Then it cried, 'Servant! Brush me!' and the maiden slunk from her corner and began to brush it. Immediately the brothers recognized their sister. Furious, they fell upon the evil kidnapping pyroar with their spears and arrows. They returned home to their parents with their sister and the skin of the evil pyroar, and all who saw them were pleased to see that the world was in order again."

There's no recognition in either of their eyes, because the world is in their order, isn't it? But that wasn't the point. The story of another hapless girl rescued has only made Lillie's face sadder, and Bonnibel presses her guess: "See? It's got the same ending. However bad the situation, however hopeless and helpless the girl is, she always gets found and saved by her brothers, so there's nothing to be afraid of. That's how fairy tales go!"

"Yeah," Lillie says, and twists her face up into an approximation of a smile. "You're right."

Then Bonnibel asks for seconds, delighting Hau.

And before long it's dark and late and children have to be in bed. Kids in Alola don't travel really, do they? But then, there's so little here. If you can't leave, and really, how different are the Alolan people from the Alolan meowth, then you'd want to ration out your world.

Bonnibel is from another place, so she'll keep following the rules of there, where a pokemon trainer is someone independent. If Bonnibel wants to sleep in the sun and walk at night, that's her choice. And if Bonnibel didn't sleep in the sun today, she can still choose to walk at night. Who'll see Bonnibel both ways?

At the beach near Iki Town, there's hollows, and stone like this should form deep and winding caves. And it's dark, so who'll see Bonnibel at all, if she skips her way down the cliffside to the sand?

Bonnibel's eyes are dry and starting to scrape, but if she keeps them closed a while the lacrimal coating should refresh, at least enough for another day. And she's tired of sitting, but blundering around in caves is just what people do, so whether her eyes are exposed to the dark - well, there's no rule either way. Bonnibel is just the sort of person who thinks it's better to close your eyes in the darkness, she decides.

The rock is rough under her splayed fingers, with all sorts of interesting dips. In some spots she can reach all around and in others the ceiling is beyond her grasp.

A few zubat who aren't out for the night squeak, a crackle of illness in their breath.

"What is…"

"Must be hunting."

"Can't be, those can't hear in the dark."

"Well they're never here for any other reason…"

"They are sometimes. Maybe it's...gleaning, yes, wasn't that it? The smaller ones move and shout when they find things in the mud."

And there is mud, thick and full of sharp slivers. She wades into one of the deep puddles of salt water, waves her hands about to wash them. There's a gap under her feet, a tunnel too small for Bonnibel to fit that connects to the ocean.

She could slip off her shoe, feel the sides against the sole of her foot. Could stretch down to know the shape of it as far as Bonnibel can reach. Could reach further than that, even, it's not like there's anyone to see - but, that's cheating, Bonnibel can't do that, she won't do that.

It's not like it's something that was given up. Only Bonnibel gets to be here in the first place.

A barboach taps her leg then swims away.

More distantly, a golduck hisses very softly, "Stay quiet, stay quiet, if you're quiet it won't find you." He must have a gaggle of babies in another pool.

"It's so dark!" Bonnibel announces, splashing back onto the damp ground. She takes a deep breath, tasting the faintest hint of those meadow flowers...it must connect somewhere above. "I'd hate to try to have a pokemon battle here! I guess I won't have any choice if any pokemon attack me though! I sure hope they don't run up to me."

But Melemele pokemon continue to make all the wrong choices.

"It must be weak!"

"No you idiot, don't -"

Dirt and rock splatters against her legs. A diglett squeaks, "Human! Run, human! Leave us all be! I am very powerful!"

Bonnibel makes the rattata get her.

When the little red dot fades, she picks up her newest capture. Muffled by the ground and nearly drowned out by the pokedex's chatter, another diglett sobs.

"You're so good at throwing, lady," her rattata chatters companionably, butting against her ankle. Bonnibel leans over and rubs the top of her head. The rattata's squeaks are looser sounding than usual, the roots of her teeth likely bruised from biting into steel. "Got'er even in the dark, one throw! You musta spent years and years just practicing throwing pokeballs."

From above, more faint squeaking, "What belly-lickers rattata are…"

"Better than being a snot-face!" the rattata squeaks loudly. "Just cuz I got eyes doesn't mean my ears aren't as good as yours, and I got a nose too! You all're gonna get sicker and sicker and your lungs are gonna rot out."

"You don't know anything."

"I know humans say so! Say it's an epidemic. Say they dunno if they even wanna fix you losers or if they'll just replace you with better zubat from some other place after you all die. Least I got somebody's belly to lick. Nobody even wants you."

Have they checked that other populations can fight off the infection, or did they just guess? Well, it's unlikely to come up. Usually, what finishes off a species is people, and Alolans don't seem particularly interested. If there's no one hunting the stronger zubat, those can repopulate after the rest are dead.

In theory, anyway… The other diglett is still whimpering beneath the ground. Without hunting, without being used to loss, death itself can be infectious.

She keeps moving along the walls. She finds her way back into the open, another walled pit like the one with the trial crystals but bigger. Why is the other one sacred and not this?

Especially when… But maybe this isn't what they want in their pet mascots.

It's acceptable, to try to hide. Allowable. Pokemon hide from people. People catch pokemon anyway, it's futile in the end, but pokemon can go a long time hiding, if they try hard enough. And perhaps it's better to curl unmoving in the muck until screaming lungs give way to deafness and the very idea of air is forgotten.

Bonnibel is a person and can go where she pleases, so she heads back into the darkness of the caves.

When light starts to intrude, she walks out onto the sand. She puts on another coat of sunscreen. The sun hasn't quite risen, and it seems like most of the tourists will be rising sometime well after that, so she flops into the water and swims.

She can't go too far. She could climb back out on the far rocks, but to slide into the water of the other side… No, certainly not. In another place, upon reaching another size...maybe she'll do it when she comes back some decades from now, before she leaves again. There's different rules for adults.

It's nice just swimming for the sake of it. The drag against her limbs and her clothing, the way air feels thick inside her chest as she holds her breath.

The gyarados from before is swimming as well. She doesn't get near to Bonnibel. The scarier a pokemon is, the better they've learned not to do anything that might upset people. Bonnibel is in open water, apparently vulnerable...but the gyarados would be killed for it, and there would still be ten thousand Bonnibels. Bonnibel could catch her children, sit down on the sand and split them apart to dig the raw flesh from their bones to eat, and she would stay beneath the water.

She hopes the gyarados doesn't feel it's cowardice. It was never really a choice in the first place.

As the sun rises, there's more people on the beach, so Bonnibel swims in again.

One woman has a pair of corsola out in the shallows. They look less happy than she'd expect.

"Relax, you guys!" the woman says. "Those Aether guys just cleaned up this area last week. There's no mareanie around."

Huh, so those are in this ocean now as well? Well, it doesn't really matter. If they're not seen as Alolan pokemon, they're irrelevant to her intended audience at the trial.

Bonnibel's own interest is in breakfast. She's not sure if whatever path connects to the flower meadow is large enough for her to travel through, so instead she makes her way along the beach and over the rock wall to return to Hau'oli City. If she heads up from there she can be back into the more forested area and out of the sun long before noon.

In the end, it's the graveyard she stays at for the day. Ghosts are never particularly good at learning to avoid a threat and Bonnibel's still working so hard to find just the right one, so it's a good place to keep training her pokemon. She brings the snacks the men were eating yesterday, musubi. Apparently the meat comes with all sorts of added flavors, far more than she's seen elsewhere, so she buys a variety platter and eats her way through them. The differences are rather mild, especially when set against the processed salty sameness of the blended meat, and it's a shame the seaweed they're wrapped in doesn't come in similar novelty flavors to allow for combinations. When she's done, she lies beneath one of the trees, her pyukumuku pillow under her head and her pyukumuku lying against her cheek. She dumps her water bottle over the pokemon and then closes her eyes.

"Why's a kid like you have to worry about moisturizing? Hey, hey kid?"

She peels the pyukumuku off. Another of those kids in dirty black and white is crouched next to her. "Moisturizing?" the boy repeats. "Cuz you're kinda young. Who told you to be worrying about wrinkles?"

"I was napping," she says, putting as much irritation as she can into the word.

"Wha! Homie, you shouldn't be doing that here!"

"I can do what I want," Bonnibel says, getting up.

"Can and should are pretty different is all!" He stands as well, backing up. His hands are lifted, palms facing her, like he's trying to calm a spooked pokemon, like he thinks she's afraid of being hurt, like he thinks she'd fall for it anyway, like he thinks she's too stupid to know people just do that to get close enough to grab.

"Maybe you have to be concerned about that," Bonnibel tells him icily, "but I actually know what I'm doing in a pokemon battle."

"No, I mean -"

"I don't care what some failure worries about." She walks past him, shouldering him out of the way.

Is she violating a rule about how things are divided? But it didn't seem like what the boy was driving at, and they don't make their pokemon sleep outside, so she doubts people have to sleep inside. Certainly the boy himself looks like he's spent more than a few nights in the dirt.

She supposes it wouldn't surprise her, with everything else she's seen, that they don't do much camping the way other regions do, so maybe it's considered a safety issue. But it doesn't matter if every last person in the region tattles to her mother, because her mom's familiar with the Kanto way of doing things.

And her mom might like it better if Bonnibel kept coming back after becoming officially a trainer...but Bonnibel's mother knows there's only so much you can ask the world, and she's already asked for more than most. Pushing things further would only be tempting fate.

Whatever. If not sleeping in a room at the pokecenter makes the other adults around here like Bonnibel a little less, it doesn't matter. She can still have about as much fun showing them up if they don't love her, and there are other rules she can follow.

She's got a bit less than a day to train. She'll sleep through Hau's noon battle. After all, Bonnibel sleeps during the day. It's not like she needs to see the battle to know what'll happen, and it'll let Hala feel a bit more confident, a bit more hopeful it'll go the way he want.

"This isn't fair," chirps the diglett. Bonnibel may not use her, in the end. She's not sure if she's allowed to pull out a full team of six, and she's also not sure if she'll need them. "It isn't, it isn't. You tricked me."

Bonnibel is partway through an overloaded bowl of ice shavings and colored sugar syrup, enjoying the mix of intense flavor and slippery pockets of chill nothing, when an adult approaches her.

"Hey, kid! You're a local, right? From around here?"

Well, she has the stone around her wrist, the bauble dangling from her bag, the pyukumuku against her neck and the fluffy-haired diglett still sniffling by her feet. Still - surely there's no lack of locals who can be identified at greater distances.

"I've got a favor I want to ask someone like you! Please, you've gotta help me!"

"All right," Bonnibel says, because if this were a good idea he'd probably lead with the request, but how could Bonnibel know such a thing?

"Oh, thanks, kid! That's the Alola spirit! You're all so nice here!" Bonnibel smiles wider at him. "I'm actually here on my honeymoon, and my beautiful bride has completely fallen for this pokemon you have here called crabrawler." He's got those wide fixed eyes people always think make them look sincere, and when Bonnibel nods agreeably, still smiling, he continues, "She just can't get enough of its bobbing walk and its funny little face!"

Ah, and there may be no lack of locals, but maybe he meant a local who looks like Bonnibel… Someone who spent time elsewhere or had parents who did, who would more likely be open to…

"...trade for it?"

He's undoubtedly got several to offer, but Bonnibel doesn't care, so she agrees to his initial hitmonchan. She doesn't even give him the chance to hint about extra gifts for being so helpful, just bats her eyes about how of course she wants his very real bride to be happy, how she loves her crabrawler so much and she's sure they will just as much, until he's almost ready to call the whole thing off. Then they trade. Bonnibel wishes him and his unseen wife the very best before skipping off.

Then it's back to training her pokemon before the final battle. She stops around nine and heads to a pokecenter to make sure they'll be in good shape.

She wakes up an hour before dusk and makes her way to Iki Town.

"There you are!" Kukui tells her.

"Here I am."

"My Bonnibel," Bonnibel's mom says, and hugs her tight.

Hau comes over, his look of mixed fear and excitement telling her he won even before he opens his mouth. He babbles at her about the pokemon he faced, how she should look out for this and that, how after she wins they can go to Akala together. Hala should know not to let Hau out of his reach.

At Kukui's side, Lillie manages to pipe up, "You know… I was really impressed seeing how you battled with your pokemon, against those scary kids outside the malasada store… I'm not a trainer, so I'm sure I don't really understand how hard it must have been to do that, or the trial, or any of it...but even I think it's a great achievement. And even back when you weren't yet a pokemon trainer, Bonnibel…you were able to save Nebby. You were chosen by your pokemon so quickly… I understand why now."

And then, Hala is there, too late to keep Hau's mouth shut. "I haven't had the chance to congratulate you on your trial in the Verdant Cavern," he booms. "Good work! And now, are you ready to battle the kahuna of Melemele Island? You think you and your pokemon are ready for me, Bonnibel?"

She smiles and says, "I'll do my best, Kahuna Hala." And she steps up onto the wooden platform again. There's no sign of damage from Hau's battle earlier.

Hala tells her that she can use all of her pokemon and this will be a z-powered battle, since she already possesses a ring to use her crystal with. "Entrusted with a sparking stone by Tapu Koko!" he reminds everyone, as if she isn't wholly capable of surpassing however high he makes the expectations. Bonnibel smiles and agrees that's such a good idea. Of all the things he'd sacrifice for Hau, of course it'd include Hau himself. Bonnibel is so glad Hala thinks she's worthy of facing him like that, she says. She wouldn't want him to go easy on her. She wants him to use his most powerful moves, to go all out.

And when Hala does - she has her pokemon swapped in before either of them realize what's happened. The pyukumuku doesn't even have a chance to scream as the attack hits, and then clever little prodigy Bonnibel has both fainted one of Hala's pokemon in a single hit and made him waste his precious special move.

As unimpressive as the rest of Alola's trainers have been, she's sure Hala is capable of winning against her inexperienced and disadvantaged team. But either he has the restraint not to throw his very best onto the field or he didn't take them with him today. She'd guess the latter. Real restraint would be to accept defeat and send out his weakest rather than hand her more chances to compare so favorably against his grandson. But no, it's primeape where Hau fought mankey, even though a trainer of his caliber ought to be able to tell that just isn't going to be enough. The wood is covered in scuffs and gouges, and she wonders how long that'll last, how long the evidence will be displayed for everyone to see. How fast can Hala get a new platform?

They cheer when his last pokemon goes down.

"...Hmmph! The results come as no surprise to me. What a fine trainer...and what fine pokemon, too!"

There's a cackle above, wordless.

"Ho! And our mighty Tapu Koko agrees! Hmmph! Perhaps Tapu Koko is hoping that a day may come when you will grow strong enough to battle it as well..." He nods. "Accept this crystal! It allows trainers to share their power with their partner pokemon!" And then he does a bunch of gestures while telling her to pay close attention. When she tunes back in, he says, "Now to see if you can pour your heart into something that cannot be seen but is very much real. As you continue on your island challenge, consider what makes up the people and pokemon that you meet: both what you can see and what you cannot. You will surely meet Tapu Koko again someday."

That last bit throws her, and there isn't enough false cheer for it to simply be thrown out to pretend they're friends. He means it. Then she remembers the threat to the kids. A deity, a guardian, an untouchable uncatchable pokemon...a pokemon of exceptions and allowed exceptions, and what would be expected to happen to a human who overstepped its bounds? A newcomer, say, someone who didn't know the rules?

He goes on, "I've got an idea! You got along so well with Tauros, and you're so good with pokemon. How about I set you up so you can ride my tauros whenever you'd like? No reason why he shouldn't get to enjoy the island challenge, too!" and he gives her a device as he explains the islands' system of loaning out certain species as if this isn't common knowledge in every tourist brochure. More interesting is that it seems they don't all draw from a common pool. She wonders when he did this. He really wasn't expecting to lose...was this a final contingency, or was he planning to give this speech after a rematch? Or maybe he'd have given it to her after a loss as well. "I'll take care of all the little things you'll need in order to ride a pokemon, Bonnibel!" Not that the tauros would have similar dispensation for murder, of course, he'd become steak and hamburger and mountain oysters, but that's a minor loss compared to everything Hala's given up already. "Have a little romp around Alola with Tauros. I'm sure you'll be charmed by him!"

Bonnibel thanks him effusively for his gift, which is not only so kind and thoughtful but shows so much trust in her abilities, and of course she's so happy about that she's loud enough for the people around to hear clearly. She might even bother to try it, though she doesn't see the point. The last thing she wants is to rush through a place already so cramped. Walking will be fine.

Ah, but maybe - "Let me try right now!" she shouts, in front of him and everyone, and she hits the button.

To his credit, he doesn't back down. She can see in his eyes that he fears what's coming, although she doesn't know if it's the violence itself or the fact it'd be so much more obviously his fault than this happening at some random point later.

The tauros hasn't moved yet, still confused by what's going on and the clearly unfamiliar gear he's wrapped in, and the noise of the crowd disorients him further. There are a lot of things she could do. Of them, she choses hopping into the saddle.

He bucks. Of course he bucks. "Wow!" Bonnibel cries, like she's delighted by the carnival ride. It's slightly different with the saddle and the wrap around his midsection, so she's not touching any part of him directly, but it's still easy to guess how he'll move. So easy she could stay on properly, but she lets herself lift and slide, just enough to make it look like she narrowly avoided going flying, enough she can hear the silent horror of the crowd holding their breath. He doesn't buck a second time. He's already calming again, having only been startled, and he knows her voice and smell. She leans far out so he can see her too. "Hi again!"

Then it's time to slip back down, because her mother is rushing through the crowd. She'd forgotten that part of it… But Bonnibel can run into her mom's arms well before her mother can reach Hala, and she can start bubbling about how she won she won she won! ...and yes, that defused it for now. There'll be words later with Hala, and maybe the next time that button's hit a different tauros will come out, but that won't be Bonnibel's problem.

None of it will be, because Bonnibel is headed for Akala.

"Alright, champ!" Kukui says. "It's not as good as a z-crystal, but I got a little something for you, too! A TM!" He hands it over. "False swipe is a move that will leave your opponent with 1 HP when you attack."

"That's so kind of you," Bonnibel says with a smile.

He grins back. "Keep on catching more and more pokemon, yeah, and tell Rotom all about it! And now that you've both passed the grand trial, it's time to move on! Tomorrow morning, head on down to the mariana in Hau'oli City. Oh yeah!" He punches the air, then shouts, "All right, time to get the boat ready." Really? For such a short distance, and with Alola having trained pokemon to travel on? Well, Bonnibel has no reason to refuse a chance to travel with her friends… "Lillie, you gonna help me clean it?"

She nods. "Of course." Of course. Kukui heads off, but Lillie remains. Behind her, Nebby floats in plain sight. "Um... I actually wanted to ask a favor of you first, Bonnibel. If that's all right?"

"Sure."

"You see... Nebby is... Its real home is far away from here. And I want to help it get home. It's like I told you before... " Lillie manages to get her eyes off the ground for a moment. "Nebby saved my life once when I was in trouble. Now I want to save it! I feel like there's not much I can do on my own, since I'm not a pokemon trainer..." There's the correct solution to that, but the one Lillie goes with is, "But if I had a real trainer like you helping me, Bonnibel, then maybe…" Bonnibel waits. "But I probably shouldn't ask a near stranger to help, right? I know it's just my own wish and it has nothing to do with you..."

"Of course I'll help!" Bonnibel assures her.

"Oh, thank you so much! I'm so glad! I really didn't know what else to do! Then I suppose... The two of us will be heading to the next island as well!"

"Yes!"

Lillie turns, eyes wide. "Nebby! Get back in the bag!"

Bonnibel definitely wants to stick close to help her friend Lillie. Especially with so many disasters looming.

But for now… She heads back home with her mom, to drop off the meowth. "How darling!" her mother says.

The two pokemon regard each other. The new one turns his head to the side almost immediately and mews, "You've nothing to worry about from me. She made it clear she'll put me back to battling if I cause trouble."

Her mother's meowth steps forward and licks the side of his face, smoothing ruffled fur, then meows, "Then she won't come back for you otherwise, so you can relax. She sounds harsh when she talks but she does just what she says. My own human's not interested in making her pokemon fight these days, and it won't be hard to run away if you want to later. But I wouldn't mind some company."

"Oh, she thinks the new one's her kitten!" her mom says. "I'm so glad they're getting along!"

"Me too," Bonnibel says.

And then she's out the door again, because she's only won the very first grand trial, and she still has a lot of training to do if she's going to be a champion!

She passes a lot of the the night in Hao'oli City, fighting the various tourists who are similarly too excited to sleep. As the night loses its luster and the last trainers fade away, she makes her way into the trees.

The convenience store is open, and there's a gaggle of adults buying food. "What are you doing up so early?" they ask.

"I wanted to get going on training my pokemon!" she says, all bright eyes and brighter smile, a heaped plate of roasted wingull chunks in her hands. Then, like she doesn't know the hours cleaners keep, "What about you? How come you're getting breakfast so early?"

And in the morning, which Bonnibel guesses correctly to be several hours past what she considers morning, she meets up with Kukui at the docks.

The boat's a boat.

Bonnibel would never do anything risky, of course, Bonnibel would never do anything dangerous, but the fact of the matter is she's not going to drown regardless. It doesn't matter what sort of boat she rides in.

"Hey, Prof, are you sure this old thing's really seaworthy?" It's more of a concern for Hau, so he probably shouldn't be treating it like it's just a thing to tease Kukui about.

"I quite like that it has a sense of history..." Lillie says, as if something barely twenty years old counts just because it's in shabby condition.

"I wanna see!"

"Nebby! Get back in the bag! We're still on Melemele!"

Hau stumbles at the motion of the boat. Not even that much experience, then? Even timid Lillie only wobbles once before planting her feet properly.

No halfway competent adult should let anyone stand right in the front where the railing stops, but Kukui says nothing to Hau rushing right up to the edge, so Bonnibel stands to the other side to enjoy the view. Lillie stays back in the more secure middle.

"Come on, grandma! Kick it up a notch!" Hau crows.

Lillie replies primly, "If we push the boat much harder than this, we may all end up at the bottom of the ocean." One hand holds tight to her broad-brimmed hat and the other rests on Nebby's bag.

"Ha ha ha! You're probably just worried about your silly hat flying off!"

Even if he doesn't understand how the size and shape of a boat relates to speed any more than he understands sunburn...is Hau truly unaware of the sound of the already laboring engine? Bonnibel grins at him. They'll have to get a boat and go out together sometime, without Kukui's minimal safety concerns or Lillie's knowledge. Whatever happens can't be considered Bonnibel's fault when Hau's the one who lives here.

"I wonder what kind of island Akala is, huh?" Hau says, grinning obliviously back. "Seeing all of Alola for myself is half the fun of doing the island challenge! Isn't this just the best, Bonnibel?!"

"Yeah!" she agrees. It's a terrifically short trip.

Though, apparently just long enough for Hau to be back to stumbling when he gets onto the dock. "Land ahoy!" he shouts gleefully.

"Isn't it a bit late to declare 'land ahoy' after you've already arrived onshore?" Lillie really should concern herself more with the fact Nebby is hovering in plain sight.

Hau contorts with such dramatic affront he nearly overbalances. It brings to mind an arcanine tripping over his own paws returning a play bow, so desperate at the chance. "What a stick in the sand!" he howls. "Help me out here, Bonnibel! It was funny, right?"

"It was supposed to be funny?" Bonnibel asks in the guileless voice of someone who wasn't really paying attention.

Hau hmphs, puts his hands on his hips, and narrows his eyes into a death glare. An opera star would tell him to rein it in. Then he turns. "What about you, Professor?"

"The land is certainly ahoy, oh boy!" Hau isn't the only one who doesn't talk much with people these days.

"The sounds repeated!" Nebby peeps, shaking back and forth.

"Nebby!" Lillie gasps.

It's at this point more people show up. Kukui must have the same opinion of Lillie's antics as Bonnibel does, because he just reassures her that these particular people are no harm to Nebby. Actually keeping the pokemon hidden is a well-lost cause.

Akala's kahuna is only thirty-three, and she seems quite practiced at the role. Is it normal for people to become kahunas so young? She chides him for lacking a shirt, like the fact the supposed lab coat is three sizes too small and lacking buttons entirely is less of a problem.

And the other one with her...Ilima had everyone talking about him like he was special, but this new trial captain is barely seventeen.

When they leave again, Kukui remarks, "I'm sure she wanted to come to see that you made it here all right… But she'll never admit it to you!"

And neither Lillie or Hau seem to think anything of the implication there, so Bonnibel must believe their boat ride was perfectly safe as well.

For some reason, the pokedex chimes in now with, "You've made it to Akala, clever girl! This means a whole new island pokedex! You've made it to Akala, clever girl! This means a whole new island pokedex!" With such young kahunas and trial captains, it seems like Kukui might actually have a chance, so she won't be bothering with that. She's trained her pokemon well enough on wild ones already.

Kukui himself tells them to head for Route 4 to get to the first trial, or the nearest one, or the easiest one. Bonnibel doesn't see any point in asking for clarification and Hau ducks out completely: "Shoots, I know where I'm going first, and that is straight to the pokemon center!" then, like he's trying to make excuses about the fact he's making excuses, he goes on to wonder about Akala malasadas.

"Maybe I'll see about some shopping of my own…" Lillie says, and sure, if she can't even navigate a place she's been living for months, why not just accept getting lost somewhere new? "And I should find out about the ruins for Nebby's sake, too…"

Should Bonnibel be helpful? If Melemele's the same as here, there don't seem to be many people interested in whatever ruins their gods make their homes in, so there's only the more boring disasters waiting there. This busy city, with Nebby peeping in her bag, "Come on come on!" though? A much better class of calamities. In fact…

"Hau, why don't we go with Lillie to the store?" she says. "This is all so big and new, it's probably easy to get lost, but the rotomdex Professor Kukui gave me has a map so we can find our way without a problem!" Hau didn't cry talking about the other girl, but he's had time to accept that isn't allowed. Will he cry to lose Lillie too, or will he only clench his fists and echo whatever condemnation Bonnibel choses to fling?

Lillie's eyes shine as she stumbles over her thanks. They turn out to be wasted, though. Nebby keeps thrashing and shouting from the bag. She finally ducks into an alley just before Nebby pushes free.

"This little fellow will hardly sit still…" Lillie says mournfully. "I think Nebby might be interested in visiting the Ruins of Life. Apparently they house the sacred guardian of Akala Island. A creature called Tapu Lele."

"There's another one?!"

"Tapu Lele…" Hau repeats. "It's supposed to be very peaceful. One time, it stopped a war by healing all the soldiers with its scales."

That's surely as true as Lillie's story with a bloodless screaming key. "Wow, really?" Bonnibel says. "How wonderful!"

"Yeah! But unfortunately, Tapu Lele appears even less than Tapu Koko…"

"Maybe people wanted its scales too much, and, and it couldn't give that many."

"And it hurt."

"Oh no, nah, if people or pokemon get too much exposure to the scales, then Tapu Lele's blessing becomes Tapu Lele's curse! Uh, Tutu said once...he said that, the tapu don't like it when people rely on them."

Of course. Well, it's only fair, isn't it, when no one else could either. "They're above that sort of thing?" Bonnibel says.

And Hau just nods and continues, "Tapu Lele's powers are a miracle, and part of a miracle is it doesn't happen to you again, or even once for everybody. Everybody gets old and dies in the end, and that's how life works. At least for people, I mean, since the tapu don't…"

Most things don't.

"Well...Well, Nebby! We can't go there right now! I have an appointment I have to go to, and there isn't time to go to the ruins and back first." She pauses and looks at them. "I wondered if you'd like to come with us when we go to visit the ruins... I mean...Hau, you're the grandson of a kahuna, so you'd know about them, and little Nebby here seems to like you quite a bit, Bonnibel..."

"Isn't about like," Nebby peeps, bobbing up and down.

"I'll be at Tide Song Hotel until the day after tomorrow if you decide you want to come. I'm supposed to be meeting someone there... Someone very important to me..." This missing mother? But no, from how Lillie's spoken of mothers, Bonnibel would expect her to be fretting over her appearance for smudges and creases, not thinking about buying clothes to her own taste. "You can go to the pokecenter. I'll be all right. I can see the building from here, after all." She points at the blue top of a building a street or two away. "Even I shouldn't be able to lose my way. I think."

Nebby sneezes, "You should ask for help…"

Bonnibel...well, surely Bonnibel defers to her friend's estimation of herself. "I'm sure you won't have any trouble," Bonnibel agrees. "It's easy at such a short distance."

"And you! I'll have you stay in your bag, mister."

Nebby coughs and wobbles in Bonnibel's direction. "You'd beat them up so who cares!" She smiles widely back. Nebby turns to Lillie again and screws her face up in refusal, but Lillie puffs her own cheeks and puts her hands on her hips in a matching tantrum. "Okay! Fine! I know!" Nebby squeaks, and squeezes back into the bag. "I know it's because you're scared for me…"

"Nebby, you didn't see, but - we have to be careful because there's a group of terrible people around who try to steal pokemon. That group called Team Skull. We need to be careful if we want to escape the notice of such a collection of villains... Isn't that right, Bonnibel?"

Bonnibel nods. "There's nothing worse than pokemon thieves!" Lillie just smiles back gratefully, like she can't hear any threat to the words.

As Lillie leaves, the pokedex forces its way out of Bonnibel's own bag and makes a bunch of noise about exploring the beautiful building as well. Or...well, maybe that's unfair.

"Rotom like buildings, don't they."

"Like haunting them!" Hau says like it's a punchline.

Haunting's a nicer term than infesting, but then, they don't yet infest, do they. They're still rare, and you have to be commonplace to be vermin. In another...hm, fifty years, maybe.

"What do you think, Hau, will you come help Lillie out tomorrow?"

"Absolutely!"

"It's a date then!" Bonnibel says blithely. "Well, Professor Kukui said to find the trial by heading up Route Four, so that's where I'm going. You?"

Of course not. Hau makes his excuses and then Bonnibel can proceed alone.

She finds her way out of the city and to a quieter spot, and she recalls the pyukumuku from her shoulder and Popplio from her bag.

Bonnibel hits the ride button again. It's still the same tauros. He shakes his head but then does a little bow, ready to let her on.

"No," she says. She touches his leg instead, moving her ear close. She guesses the issue's near the bottom but she starts at the shoulder to be sure she doesn't miss anything, her fingers moving down a millimeter at a time.

He goes stiff. In battle, showing pain's only giving an opponent a target, and for a show pokemon, such imperfection loses points with the judges. He's been both, she'd say, though not long enough yet. He does very well at pretending under her obvious scrutiny, but acting like a statue of flesh doesn't hide the sound of grinding as she flexes the hoof or the feel of the edge of the bone chip. So it is something real. How long has that been there? Since his last trainer, or the one before that? It's not like pokemon break their legs every battle, and without it being broken, no one would check closely enough.

She sighs, lowering the hoof. This isn't really how things are supposed to be done. If he isn't old enough to handle it himself yet... Even then, he only has to put on a limp when he's at a pokecenter. But she can't fault him for trying to follow the rules he'd learned. "Tauros," she says, one hand letting go and sliding along the uneven ground. Bonnibel's other hand keeps gripping his leg. "Hala made you my ride, and I've decided I'm mad at him over what I think his reasons were. Okay? It's just because of that, so don't expect this sort of thing."

Bonnibel's hand slams the point of a rock just above the hoof.

It's a good thing Bonnibel wasn't hurt when Hala's tauros stumbled and broke his leg in a hole. She hits the button again and sends him back.