Author's Note: Sorry about the wait. I've been playing Ultra Sun. Not quite finished with it yet.

Lillie

The bus screeched to a halt, the air breaks releasing loudly in a high-pitched squeal. A calm, masculine voice spoke through cleverly hidden speakers.

Route 35. Wela National Park. Route 35. Wela National Park.

Lillie groaned inwardly as she paid the fare – it's not like it was a lot of money, but she wasn't exactly rolling in money. Lei, who got on first, immediately walked towards the back of the bus. It was nearly empty, with only a couple of people spaced around it. Lillie waited for Tristan as he paid the fair, dropping a few coins in the process. He swore, fumbling about on the floor for them, and the bus driver waited patiently. Lillie smiled sympathetically at him once Tristan straightened himself, and he blushed furiously, staring at the floor.

Lei had chosen the back row, slouching and kicking her feet up onto the two perpendicular seats immediately in front of her. Lillie sat sideways on the other set, pressing herself onto the back of the empty seats in front of them. Tristan sat between the two of them, not too close to either one, his arms folded tight against his stomach. He stared at the floor.

The bus lurched forward. Several other trainers had gotten onto the bus as well, but not nearly enough to fill the vehicle. The engines roared loudly in her ears, but Lillie could still just make out a few other loud conversations between some of the other groups of people.

Today's the day I beat the Fire Trial.

I'm sure I can get a fletchling.

What's the point of doing this? I always wind up failing.

Tristan was quiet, as if he was listening to the other conversations as well. Lei stared at Lillie, the two girls locking gazes for a long moment. Lillie opened her mouth to talk, but closed it. What was there to say?

Lei sighed heavily, running one hand through her vibrant red hair.

"The Volcano Park is on the other side of the island, you know," Lei said, her voice rough, almost confrontational. "It's gonna be a while just to get to the gate where Tristan's thugs are supposed to be."

"An hour, at least," Lillie said, agreeing.

"We still have a chance to just ignore the whole thing, you know?" Lei said. Tristan looked up at her, his expression betrayed. "You could just stay on the bus, continue on up into the National Park, and do the Fire Trial. Easy as that."

"There's no point trying to convince me not to help him," Lillie said.

Lei glared at her, her green eyes narrowed and cold, but didn't respond.

"I mean… I… I appreciate the help," Tristan said, looking down at the floor of the bus. "I guess… I guess I just want my tauros back. If we can do that without causing any issues, that would probably be for the best."

"What happened to all that talk about revenge?" Lei sneered, casting a glare at the boy, who seemed to visibly crumple. "You talked so passionately earlier about it. Where'd all that energy go?"
"Lei, stop it," Lillie said, perhaps more forcefully than she intended. The other girl glared at her for a moment before her expression softened.

After a long moment, Lei spoke, her voice barely audible.

"You should have just gone to the Fire Trial."

"I know, he looks like he's supposed to be really cute, huh?" Lillie laughed, stroking the back of Hana's head. "But he's actually a bit rude, especially to Koa."

The pichu curled up in her lap, angrily twitching his ears as Lillie stroked the back of his head. Electricity occasionally sparked at his cheeks, but the pokemon never actually shocked her.

Ilima's training must have had a lasting impact on him.

She remembered the tiny electric mouse pokemon scrambling across the sand, only to be dragged back in a yungoos's jaws, again and again and again. Ilima had ensured that the pokemon understood it would never escape.

"Lots of people really like the pikachu evolutionary line, you know," Tristan said, a hint of awe in his voice. "There are pageants and contests exclusive for them, and I heard there are even people trying to establish different breeds for pedigree reasons. Some Alolan-variety raichu sell for thousands of dollars, and then there's that pikachu celebrity Chuuster!"

He hesitantly reached for the mouse pokemon, but Hana swung his head around, growling at the boy. Tristan retracted quickly.

"I know," Lillie said, flicking Hana's tail. "Hana's not exactly the prettiest pichu out there, though. I don't think he'll be winning any popularity contests, not with his ear shredded like this."

"Yeah..." Tristan watched Hana carefully, and the pokemon turned about, dismissing him entirely. "D-do you ever feel guilty?"

"About what?" Lillie asked, looking up at Tristan. The boy met her gaze for only a moment, before turning down the floor, blushing fiercely.

"N-nevermind."

"No, really," Lillie pressed, leaning forward. Hana hopped out of her lap, chirping an annoyed tone and running up to her shoulder. "Are you talking about your magby?"

"...yes."

"That wasn't your fault," Lillie insisted. "It… it sucks, but you can't blame yourself for what happened. You weren't the one who killed him. It was..." Lillie trailed off, surprised by her own outburst. Tristan was still looking firmly at the floor of the bus.

"It still feels like my fault," he said, his voice quiet.

Lillie sat back, unsure what to say. She glanced at the tears in Hana's ear as the pokemon sniffed at her cheek. It was a permanent injury, and one that could have been much worse. And if she was going to complete the Island Challenge, how many more dangerous battles was she supposed to endure? No, that she was demanding her pokemon to endure.

Is it right for me to expect them to obey me?

She knew what Ilima would say to that.

What does that matter? They're animals.

"So how long have you been shooting, Lei?" Tristan asked, gesturing at the rifle laying against the window. He sniffled as he attempted to drive the conversation in another direction. Lei had wrapped the gun in a long towel to stop anyone on the bus from raising any eyebrows. Lillie hadn't been the most comfortable with the idea, but it wasn't like she had a better one.

Lei turned her head, giving Tristan a long, blank stare, as if resenting that the boy had dared to talk to her. After a long, heavy moment, Lei sat up straight in her seat and turned towards Tristan, one eyebrow cocked and one arm leaving heavily on her outstretched legs as if she wasn't entirely certain how committed she wanted to be to her answer.

"Since I was a kid, I guess."

"You guess?" Lillie asked, as if on impulse.

"Yeah. My dad and my brother were both into hunting. I just kinda got dragged along into it too. I wasn't a huge fan, honestly."

"You're a huge enough fan to carry around a gun now!" Tristan said, chuckling awkwardly. Lei just stared at him.

"Yeah, I suppose I am." She turned back so that she was facing out the window again.

Silence.

"W-well, uh," Lillie scrambled over her words as she attempted to inject some life into the faltering conversation. "What about you, Tristan? Why did you wind up out in Akala Island? You mentioned you were from Iki Town."

Tristan brushed a lock of dark hair back. He really was young, a kid, though the emotion present on his face was something Lillie felt no kid should have to face.

I saw the same expression on Gladion… and Mother, too.

"It's just an animal, you know?" Lei said, and Tristan raised his head. "You never lost a pet before? Probably had a pretty easy life, then."

"He wasn't just a pet..."

"You'll get over it, Tristan." Lei waved one hand. "Give it a few weeks. You'll be back to new."

Lillie shivered and reached for her backpack. The air conditioning in the bus was far too cold – probably a relief for many of the other beach-goers and hikers who had spent the entire morning out in the sun, but not for her. She reached for her backpack, rooting around for her white hoodie and Kukui's old baseball hat, putting them both on and huddling up in her corner. Hana danced around her movements before settling back into her lap.

The atmosphere between Tristan and Lei had grown tense, and Lillie retreated from it, clutching her arms tight against her chest and staring out the window. Strands of her blonde hair poked annoyingly from under her hat, brushing against her face and tickling her cheeks. She brushed them aside as she tried to settle in for the bus trip.

Outside, the coast meandered by – buses in Alola, especially those passing through tourist destinations like here, weren't exactly the quickest. Long, white sand beaches would shift to tall, wide, and green forests at a moment's notice, only to fall away again to tall cliff faces that stood starkly against relentless crashing waves. Miles out she could see the occasional burst of water as wailmer and wailord surfaced. Most of the beaches weren't too populated, but there were always a few people. Some battled, their pokemon fiercely wrestling in the sand. Others relaxed, spread out on beach towels or underneath umbrellas. Occasionally on the cliffs she could see other kids – high schoolers, most likely – that leaped off the sides, plunging into the water below. Some would do flips, while others would curl up and scream as they fell.

Lillie felt an uncertain tightness as she recalled Professor Kukui. He loved their outings to the north end of Melemele Island, where "da bestest beaches" were. Lillie had never wanted to sit out under the sand with him and Burnet, so instead she'd cower under their umbrellas and read or use a laptop. Occasionally one of them would drag her towards the water, insisting that she get some exercise.

They'd always get poke afterwards – her favorite, the spicy ahi, had been something of a local specialty. They were constantly finding new hole-in-the-wall restaurants, each one better than the last. Kukui had vastly preferred the raw salmon, while Burnet was always trying newer, stranger variations on the classical Alolan dishes.

Her clear view out across the ocean was cut short as a hill rose to the left side of the bus. Nets had been hung out over a jagged face to hinder falling rocks, and she could see the hardy fountain grass sticking stubbornly to bare lava rock. The invasive plant had been introduced generations ago as ornamentation, and it had very quickly adapted itself to the dry Alolan lava rock fields. As the hill straightened out, giving her view over a long, flat view of bare lava rock, the stubborn and pervasive patches of the grass dominated the landscape.

She also saw the words written in white coral standing starkly against black rock. Messages from tourists and from locals written in coral lettering. One particularly large message lay against the gentle slope of a small outcropping of rock, spelling out a hopeful marriage proposal to some long-gone woman.

Marry me, Lucy!

Lillie watched the message as it passed her by, wondering how many years it had been since the proposal had been made. She sighed, leaning her head against her knees.

Kukui had always called such messages graffiti. Though the local police was always slow to prosecute any offenders, the messages were a source of annoyance for more traditional locals. It robbed the local beaches of coral, dirtied the dark fields of dark lava, and people walking around trying to build such messages could potentially damage sites of archaeological significance.

Burnet hadn't been nearly as militant about it as Kukui had been, and Lillie herself knew she didn't hold a strong opinion about the practice. However, there were certainly a number of locals who strongly decried the practice.

Lillie curled up further into her jacket, hiding her face.

Marry me, Lucy!

"They went home after they built that," Lillie whispered to herself, staring off towards the ocean again. "Whether Lucy said yes or no, they both had somewhere to go back to."

She raised her head, looking at her two companions. Lei was staring out the window, her expression dark and thoughtful. Tristan caught her eye, then quickly looked away.

They both have somewhere to go back to.

Lillie leaned back again, closing her eyes and shifting herself into a somewhat more comfortable position, careful not to disturb Hana's quiet rest.

I want to go home.

The bus dropped them off at the entrance to Wela Volcano Park. They were the only ones to step off, the rest of the passengers evidently heading towards the base camp for the volcano. Lillie stretched heavily, relishing the fact that she was now able to stand again, and Hana clung tightly to her shoulder. Lei and Tristan stepped off after her, and the younger boy furtively glanced around himself. He stopped quickly as the bus took off again, gesturing further up the road towards the national park.

"Th-that's them."

Sitting on a park bench just off the bend in the road, two teenagers were smoking and talking. They were relaxed, leaning back, one breaking out into a wide smile when he heard what the other said. Tristan gestured at them, his back now turned. Lei narrowed her eyes at the two, folding her arms. Lillie watched them both before turning her attention back to Tristan's attackers.

At first glance, she wouldn't have assumed they were bad people. The design on their shirt was identical to the one Lei wore, though the rest of their clothes were much different. It was like a uniform, with both of them sporting long black board shorts and a white beanie reminiscent of a skull.

It's such a familiar outfit. Lillie watched the two carefully. They're just boys. They can't be much older than me, if at all. They're teenagers.

"They don't look so tough," Lei said. "Still, this isn't our fight. If they killed your magby and stole your tauros, who knows what else they'd be willing to do?"

"Where's the third one?" Lillie asked, looking around. Tristan shrugged.

"Couldn't you just… just walk up to them with your gun?" Tristan asked Lei. The older girl's mouth opened slightly in shock. "That's why I approached you two in the first place."

"That's illegal!" Lillie retorted quickly.

"Who cares about that?" Lei scoffed.

Lillie bit her lip. The two guys were laughing, one of them slapping the other on the back. They were positioned so they had a good look at the gravelly pathway snaking up into Wela National Park, though they hadn't noticed Lillie or her companions yet.

It was still early afternoon, and the sun was high and hot in the sky. Lillie tugged at the front of her shirt, relishing the very brief bit of airflow over her skin. She'd already stripped off the hoodie again, now missing the cold bus interior.

The land to either side of the roadway had been fenced off, with numerous cautionary signs standing at the entrance. Wela wasn't a particularly tall volcano compared to Lanakila or Hokulani, nor was it as popular of a tourist destination. At this end of the island, there were much fewer people here than at the pokemon center, the only other ones in sight being the two delinquents.

"What do we even do after we threaten them?" Lillie asked. "We took the bus out here, so we just… we just wave a gun in their face and then wait for the bus back?"

"You were the one who wanted to do this," Lei snarled. "So stop freaking out and let's do it already." Lei strode forward, past Tristan and Lillie, not hesitating in the slightest. Hana started growling quietly in Lillie's ear.

"Hey, wait!" Lillie said, following quickly.

She felt her stomach dropping as Lei walked briskly towards the two boys, who had just now turned to face them.

One had adopted a thin smile, while the other was simply staring blankly. Their dark skin shone in the sunlight, and as they got closer Lillie caught a glimpse of dyed hair poking out from underneath their beanies. The smiling one had blue hair, while the other seemed to have a rainbow of colored hairs sticking out.

The smiling one hopped off the bench – he was taller than Lei, but only slightly. Not particularly muscular, and his friendly face hid any hint of animosity. He reached his arms out to his side.

"Lei!" the smiling boy said. "How's it been?"

Lillie stopped in her tracks. Tristan bumped into her, muttering an apology. The smiling boy looked at her, then at Tristan, and his smile fell.

"Wait, what..." the boy started.

Lei's fist collided fully into the boy's face, knocking him back onto the bench. The other one jumped up quickly, shouting in protest.

"What the fuck, Lei?" the other one shouted.

"You idiots!" Lei shouted, grabbing the blue-haired one by the collar and slamming her fist into his face again. "The fuck are you doing out here robbing people?"

"Hey, hey, Lei, calm down!" The crunch of boots against gravel. Lillie watched the exchange from only a few feet away. Lei's feral grimace was raw, the anger within the girl barely contained. Tristan cowered behind Lillie, muttering something incomprehensibly.

She didn't hesitate.

"What were your fucking orders?" Lei shook the blue-haired one and shoved him backwards. He fell back into the arms of the other one, still unable to fully react to Lei's outburst.

"I...I..." The boy's eyes welled up with tears, bruising starting to form on the left side of his face. "T-to watch the road leading up into Wela Park to look for the girl..."

"Did any of that include robbing people?" Lei gestured to Lillie, no, behind her, to Tristan. Lillie watched the exchange, detached, looking back from Tristan to Lei and then again.

"It's just… it's just what we d-do, right?" The rainbow-haired one helped the blue-haired one to his feet, his voice shaking as he spoke. "W-we beat people down. And I didn't think… I didn't think the magby would actually..."

"Get the fuck up," Lei said, spitting the words. "We have a job to do."

She turned around, her eyes locking with Lillie's. She stood in front of the two boys – though she was shorter than both of them, she seemed to tower over everyone present. The crossed white stripes on her tanktop mirrored the designs on the other two boys. Such a familiar design…

Lillie felt her stomach twist, then release. A panicked realization, one that shot through her entire body. Her heart was going to burst from her chest, its rushed beats throbbing in her skull. Lei's green eyes were cold, gazing straight at her. A rush of cool understanding replaced the panic, and Lillie matched the other girl's gaze.

I remember now.

"Tristan, we need to run," Lillie said, backing away, her voice very level. She tugged at the trainer's shirt and he glanced at her, confused.

"Sorry, Tristan," Lei said, shaking her head. "You shouldn't have gotten wrapped up in this."

Author's Note:

Umbranprince - I'm glad you liked the weird segments! They're quite time-consuming the write since it's mostly dialogue. There won't be too many more of them in the future. You'll see what Hau's been up to later!