Karma quickly made her way up the bare cliff face that was Route 3. There was no sign of Lillie.

"I don't think Lillie is here." Karma said, checking behind the last of the paths cut through the mountain side. "I'm pretty sure we would have seen her by now."

"This is where Professor Kukui said he lost her." Rotom-dex said darting around a corner.

"There isn't a lot of places to even lose someone." Karma said. She whistled to call her Pokémon back to her. Kadigo slid to a sit in front of her first.

"Did you find anything?"

Kadigo shook his head, panting.

"Arrah." Cha settled on top of the cliff face, crossing his legs.

"Maybe we should ask someone-" Before Karma could finish, Rotom-dex had already zipped off.

"Hello there!" Rotom-dex said, hovering cheerfully in front of an unsuspecting trainer.

The trainer jumped, nearly knocking his glasses off in the process. "What the heck?!"

"Sorry!" Karma gasped. She quickly grabbed Rotom-dex and pulled him behind her. "Sorry. My uh, pokedex has a mind of its own."

The trainer shifted uncomfortably. "I-I see." His eyes went wide as they settled on her bag.

He suddenly made a break for it, sprinting full speed down the hill.

"Wait I-"

The trainer stumbled as Fukano walked out into the path. Fukano let out a yelp as the trainer tumbled over.

"Are you alright?" Karma asked, hurrying over.

Fukano ran to her letting out a whimper. Karma scooped the Growlithe up before moving hesitantly towards the strange trainer.

"Um…I'm sorry if my poke-dex scared you."

The trainer rolled onto his back, staring back at her. "You aren't here because I broke the code?"

"What code?" Karma asked. "I don't know what you're talking about."

The trainer sat up. "Guess I overreacted." He said with a sigh.

"Hey! Karma!" Rotom-dex had floated over to the fallen trainer and was hovering over his bag.

Or more specifically, the pokeball charm that had fallen out of it.

"You're part of the ring too?"

The trainer quickly grabbed the charm and stashed it back in his bag. "Um…sort of? It's well it wasn't really my choice you know. I mean my brother said it was a good idea but-"

"Do you have anything to trade?" Karma asked fishing the Vullaby out of her bag.

The trainer paused for a moment. His brown eyes searching her face with anxiety.

"I'll tell you what." He said shouldering his bag. "I'll trade with you, but you didn't see me here. And you didn't see me catch anything. Got it?"

"I don't think that'll be a problem." Karma said. "I didn't see you catch anything."

He pulled a pokeball from his bag and swapped the two before Karma had a chance to blink.

The trainer turned to leave but Karma stopped him. "Wait, one other thing. Have you seen a girl, about my age. Wearing all white?"

"And wandering around like she has no idea where she is?" He finished.

"Probably."

"There was someone like that in Melemele meadow. It's just ahead." He said.

"Thanks!" Karma started towards the meadow, Kadigo and Cha following her.

Yellow flowers shone in the moonlight. Their stems and leaves hidden in the shadows of their own petals. The entire meadow looked like one endless sea of yellow.

Bug Pokémon hovered above the flowers, small enough to be mistaken for floating petals. Standing amongst the flowers Lillie shone in the moonlight.

"Lillie!" Karma shouted, waving.

The girl jumped but turned to face Karma.

Kadigo and Cha reached Lillie first, circling her. As soon as Karma reached her Lillie blurted out. "Nebby ran away! I've been trying to find him but I'm all out of repels and the Cutiefly's keep trying to nest in my hair and Nebby isn't supposed to be out of the bag!"

Karma recalled her Pokémon and led Lillie up on one of the nearby dirt paths.

"Where did you see Nebby last?" Karma asked.

"I'm not sure. He slipped out of my bag on his own. Oh, this is bad." Lillie fretted. "He doesn't know any moves to defend himself."

Karma released Cha and Kadigo again. "We need to find Nebby." She instructed.

Kadigo and Cha looked to each other. Kadigo turned back to her, tilting his head until he was looking at her sideways.

Right. Neither of them have met Nebby.

"Ark!" Fukano wiggled out of her arms and jumped down to the ground. He turned back to her, his puffy white tail shaking.

"You were in your ball the whole time…were you still able to see Nebby?" Karma asked kneeling down.

"Pokeballs do allow for limited light and sound to pass through." Rotom-dex said. "That's why even if you call out commands before releasing Pokémon, they still obey."

"T-that makes sense." Lillie said. "You hear stories about Pokémon breaking out of their pokeballs to save their trainers."

"Hey, Lillie. You keep Nebby in that bag right?" Karma said thoughtfully. "Could you let Kadigo smell it? If Fukano knows what to look for, and Kadigo can track his scent we should be able to find Nebby pretty quickly."

"I hope so." Lillie knelt down and opened her bag for Kadigo.

The Growlithe took a sniff than stepped back, licking his nose and sneezing.

"Did you get it, Kadigo?"

Kadigo looked up at her, his muzzle scrunched up. He sneezed again before heading into the flowers. Fukano bounded in after him, happily biting at the petals.

"Wait here." Karma instructed, withdrawing Cha and following the Growlithes into the flower fields.

Each step sent a spray of petals floating in the wind. Karma could barely see Kadigo and Fukano beneath the thick sea of flowers.

Fukano let out a yelp.

"What's wrong?" Karma waded her way over and pushed apart the flowers.

Fukano was running in circles, trying to get at a tiny bug on his haunches. Kadigo was backing up, fangs bared against a small swarm of the same yellow bug Pokémon.

Fukano finally managed to reach the bug and bit it. Unfortunately, this only seemed to make the bug angrier. It started divebombing Fukano, stinging mercilessly.

"Kadigo! Help Fukano!" Karma ordered.

Kadigo dashed forward, stopping after only a few steps. He opened his mouth and coughed, expelling a few more of the bugs. Despite their time spent in his mouth, they didn't seem any worse for wear.

"How are they not being affected?!" Karma exclaimed.

"Karma!" Rotom-dex zipped out of her bag. "That's a Cutiefly! They're fairy types! Dark moves won't work on them!"

Karma froze. "Um…that's that new type right?"

"You don't know about fairy types?!" Rotom-dex buzzed disapprovingly. "Weren't you paying attention in trainer school?"

"That's that type that they found out all the Clefairy were, right? Something about that we shouldn't use fighting types on them anymore?"

"Dark types don't work well either!"

Karma turned back to the Growlithe. They were still snapping flutily at the bugs. "Kadigo, try fire. Just be careful not to hit the flowers!"

Kadigo took a deep breath and released a flood of fire, scattering Cutiefly in a shower of embers. Fukano switched to fire as well, searing the Cutiefly from off his haunches. Unfortunately he managed to sear quite a few nearby flowers as well.

Karma released Makenkani. "Stop the flowers from burning!" She ordered.

The Crabrawler skittered over to Fukano, just in time to put out a growing flame.

A smoking ring was left around the two Growlithe.

Karma withdrew Makenkani before he could run off, then turned her attention to the Growlithes. "Alright, no biting next time." She said pouring out a little bit of potion for each of them.

As they lapped up the medicine Karma's attention was drawn by a weak inconsistent buzzing. One of the attacking Cutiefly was sitting on the ground, its charred wings struggling to gain lift.

Karma tapped it with a pokeball, drawing it into the safety of the ball.

Kadigo watched the pokeball with narrow eyes.

"No need to make that face." Karma said tucking the ball back into her bag. "He'll get traded anyway, you won't have to see him again."

Kadigo's tail wagged once at the news before diving back into the flowers to follow the scent trail.