Chapter 51 – Arc 4 (Poni Island) Their Perseverance

"Uh. You all see the woman on the roof, too, right?"

Selene, Lillie, and Hau all paused in the dirt path ahead of the Pokémon Center on Poni's port town, craning their heads to look up at the orange roof to see what on Earth Gladion was talking about. Sure enough, sprawled on her back on the archway over the entrance, there was a blond woman in a paint-splotched, comically large T-shirt, and tattered gray sweatpants. She tapped a pen rhythmically against her forehead as she stared blithely into the sky. The three of them nodded and then Lillie snorted.

"Say, how's the weather up there?" she jokingly called out. Shrugging, she apparently intended to not wait for the girl's reply and to just head into the Pokémon Center, but the girl's head snapped to look at them. The movement was so sudden, she apparently lost her balance, and started to slide off the orange shingles. Without even waiting for an order, Null rushed from beside Gladion, catching the woman when she fell completely off the roof. She groaned as she hit his back on her stomach, then shakily patted the side of his face.

"Thanks, whatever-you-are," she spluttered through a cough in Alolan. Null gently slid her off his back and took a step away as Selene, Hau, Lillie, and Gladion swarmed her.

"Shit, are you okay?" Selene breathed, extending a hand to try and help her up.

"Huh? Oh. I'm fine. Prob'ly the fifth time I fell off in the last week. I saw a cloud that looked like a Pyroar the other day. I wanted to draw it. Was hoping it'd come back." With that, the woman waved their helping hands away, and staggered back to her feet. Stretching lazily, she brushed her paint-smeared clothes off, and Selene noticed that she had similar splotches embedded in her wiry, messy golden hair, across her face, and her shoes were as ripped up as her sweatpants.

Exchanging bewildered looks between the four of them, it was Hau who finally asked, "Er… Who are you?"

"Huh?" the woman blinked slowly and rubbed her nose. "Oh. Right. Name's Mina." She squinted at Hau then. "Oh, aren't you Hala's kid?"

As if bracing for something far more stinging, Hau stiffened his shoulders and took an uncertain step away. Selene similarly clenched her jaw, mentally preparing herself for whatever it was Hau seemed afraid this woman might say.

Instead, they received, "I'm the Fairy-type Captain. It's good to meet that grandson of his." She blew a stray clump of hair from her face and crossed her arms. Looking up at the sky again, she frowned, and tilted her head. "Maybe that cloud isn't gonna come back…"

Looking a little stunned that she hadn't had anything negative to say, Hau relaxed and even smiled somewhat. Exchanging a look with the others, it was Lillie who started to say something but trailed off, as if deciding it wasn't worth it. "Captain?" Lillie hissed to Selene, in a whisper. "This place doesn't even have a Kahuna. Captain? How?"

Cocking her head to the side as she looked over the esoteric woman, Selene wondered the same. She felt Gladion's hand brush against hers from where he was standing to her left. Even if he said nothing and didn't take her hand in his, she took it as a gesture of encouragement—encouragement to put what they had talked about recently to use. Nodding slightly, Selene took a deep breath. "Uh, Captain Mina?"

"Hm?" Mina said, all without ever looking down. Bowtie curiously circled her with swift, silent movements, peeking from beneath his hood to examine her as if he had never seen anything like her before.

"We heard that this island didn't really have a Kahuna. Nanu…" she trailed off for a second, wincing at his name. "Nanu acts as the Kahuna, but—"

"Well, there's a trial site without a Captain here, too. The Dragon-type trial. Honestly, I don't get what the 'big deal' is, the other islands have so many rules, I could never keep up," Mina shrugged, all without ever glancing back down at her. Yet, something about the way she spoke gave an air of caution, like she was going on the defensive. "Fini gave me the shiny rock, so I'm a Captain. Pretty simple, really." Then, a little waspishly, "Nanu acts as the Kahuna here so the other islands keep their pants on."

Selene heard snorts of laughter from Hau as he tried to hide his amusement (and failed). Shaking her head, Selene determinedly focused on Mina. Maybe trying out what Gladion had suggested would be easier on someone she didn't know that well… Besides, she couldn't help but be curious about her, especially the apparent mixed emotions she held for Alola's other islands. Mina finally lost interest in the skies above and noticed Bowtie circling her. Her face lit up delightedly and she bent to her knees, attempting to pet the Decidueye's silky feathers. Bowtie recoiled immediately and darted behind Selene, moving so fluidly he didn't look real. "Oh, but he has such awesome patterns!" Mina pouted. "I don't mean you any harm, bud."

"Mina?" Selene called, confused. She liked Bowtie, and thought he looked fine, but… dull browns and greens weren't exactly what she would have called 'awesome patterns.'

"Hm?" As if sensing their collective confusion, she cracked a sideways grin and shrugged. "Right, right. I'm, uh… Fuck, what'd they call it… Spectrist? Spectrum. I dunno. I can see colors humans can't usually see or something, like I said before."

Contemplating what on Earth that could have been useful for, Selene's attention suddenly snapped to Lillie as she skirted past them all and headed for the Pokémon Center. Before vanishing inside, she called, "Look, if you all want to stay and talk to her, fine, but I'm going to get a few more things so we can get on our way."

"Lillie…" Gladion sighed. "I better go talk to her." Giving Selene an apologetic, small smile, he waved at her and followed his sister, Null at his heels.

That left Hau with Selene. He fell into place next to her and seemed so… relaxed. Although he joked often, and he enjoyed laughing at playful banter from others, he usually struck her as incredibly anxious. He avoided conflict like a plague, and he would wear that fake, grimace-of-a-smile when he was uncertain of a situation. Today, though, that was gone, the fact not lost on Selene as following Mina's lack of ridicule for him, which she was sure had to have come as such a relief. He asked Mina in Alolan, "You really mean that, about the other islands?"

While they were having a conversation, though, Selene closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath. As Mina replied, her words were lost to Selene as a scene started to form in her mind's eye. Upon opening her eyes, she found it was seemingly all around her, physically, as well. Wind rushed through her hair as she found herself in the middle of an intricate stone platform, a delicately carved sun engraved into the surface below her feet. Ornate stairways led to sidewalks that wove their way through overgrown dirt paths. Streams of water were deliberately carved between some of the sidewalks, and following that obvious pattern of water, emblazoned on the side of a clay mountainside upon a vertical slab of stone, the same sun symbol proudly towered above her.

More pressingly, though, there were people of all kinds standing around her. Looking down at the symbol below her feet again, she realized the stone there was glossy and reflective—and that she was not herself, but Mina. A younger version of her, anyway, perhaps only eleven or twelve years old. Looking up, she was approached by an older, grizzled man, with darker skin and black hair dusted with age that sat close to his head. Kind brown eyes turned up as he smiled at her. Clasping his rough, warm hands to her palms, he knelt in front of her and dipped his head, a Mudsdale galloping playfully around the platform they all stood on. "Today, Mina, you become a Captain of Poni Island," she heard the old man say in Alolan. "Gifted by Tapu Fini to see all the beauty the world has to offer so that you might show others, encourage them to keep a childlike wonder, to look for beauty wherever it may hide. Your touch with Fairy-types was recognized as well, and I hope you'll be with us for many more years to come. As the Kahuna of Poni Island, welcome, Captain Mina!"

With that, he jumped up and raised her hand with his, as if saluting to all the others gathered around the platform. Selene found herself flooded with pride and determination, but more than that, she was enamored by something else. She noticed that on the skin of these people, even some in their clothes, and in the skies above them, she was seeing colors she couldn't begin to describe. It was such a breathtaking sight and so distracting, the colors patterned across every surface, swirling and twisting through the horizon and sky… She didn't recognize any of the people gathered around her, though. Well, not by herself, anyway; Mina recognized them. Mina recognized them as Kahunas and Captains from the other islands and after a few minutes, Selene came to understand that this platform, this ritualistic scene with mossy paths and intricate waterways, was an altar. The Altar of the Sunne, to be exact, a sacred ground that few outside of Poni ventured to anymore.

Letting go of a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Selene blinked fervently, watching the scene fade away ahead of her as the modern-day Mina and Hau reappeared. She sucked in air like she had forgotten how to breathe and managed to steel her legs to keep from stumbling, a broad grin spreading across her face. It seemed that had been Mina's inauguration as a Captain by the previous Kahuna of Poni, and it had been so inspiring! It had seemed so homely and welcoming… A far cry from how Ilima or even Mallow viewed their Captainship. While they treated it as a solemn duty, a humbling experience, or as something to make the best of, Mina had viewed it as something honorable and proud, to work alongside the Kahuna and Tapu. Then, Selene froze, as it crossed her mind that Mina had recognized the old man that had approached her, too.

Kahuna Kaua. The former leader of Skull, the one that had been struck down by Tapu Bulu himself, and… She frowned a little. Hadn't he been Kahuna of Ula'Ula, not Poni?

"Captain Mina?" Selene abruptly called.

Turning tired, slightly red eyes to Selene, Mina rubbed her face and said, "Yeah?"

How do I say this without giving myself away? Selene thought for a second. She supposed she could broach the subject vaguely… "This is a little out of the blue, I know, but… do you know anything about Kahuna Kaua?"

Her demeanor immediately changed. Mina's gray eyes widened, and her lips pressed to a thin line, her shoulders stiffening. "Well… yeah," she uncomfortably replied, sniffling a little. She didn't appear to be emotional, though. Grimacing slightly, Selene wondered if Mina did a little more than just use her paints, considering she had a long line of pink coloring draped across her face and even in her hair… Suddenly, Mina stamped her worn, left sneaker to the dirt path they were standing on, and huffed in annoyance. "Former Kahuna of Poni. You can ask Hapu if you need more details. Here." With that, she reached into her frayed gray shoulderbag, retrieving two pale, pink crystals, thrusting them at Hau and Selene both. "Take those. I don't have a trial."

Without waiting for a reply, she pushed past them, limping away.

"Wait!" Selene called, darting after her with the Z-Crystal clutched in her right hand. "You're—you're limping, are you hurt?"

Utterly ignoring her, Mina only picked up speed, leaving Selene to stall when she realized the Captain wasn't going to engage with her anymore. Hau caught up to her, panting a little, and bewilderedly asked, "What was all that about?"

"…I think Kaua was actually the previous Kahuna of Poni," Selene answered quietly. "Kaua named Mina as Captain. I saw a vision of her getting promoted…"

"…But that had to be over ten years ago," Hau blurted, shaking his head. "Captains can only be Captains for up to nine years, and that's if they're selected the minute they turn eleven…"

"She said to find someone named Hapu," Selene said softly, still staring at the Captain as she shrank into the distance, headed toward a Wailord-shaped houseboat at the farthest piers. Her expression abruptly lit up as she remembered something, and she had a flash of an image in her mind, of a stoutly girl with puffy, black hair, a Mudsdale trotting at her side, back on Akala. They had assisted her in helping fend off a couple of Skull Gang thugs who were attempting to steal a Drifloon. "Wait… Hapu, we saw her on Akala, didn't we?"

"Why would we need to find her?" Hau asked, frowning. "Also, if we try to tell Lillie we want to go back to Akala, I think she might kill us. She's really all about us getting a move on."

Snorting in amusement at that, Selene shot him a playful glare. "You're right," she sighed, shaking her head. "Who knows why Mina said that. She didn't exactly look to be 'all there,' anyway…"

"She smelled like paint. Like a lot of paint," Hau agreed, nose wrinkled a little as if he were still thinking about that strong, bitter smell.

With that, Selene and Hau met back up with Lillie and Gladion in the Pokémon Center. Given time to mull over her interaction with Mina, Selene felt some guilt. Obviously, the ceremony she had witnessed in her vision had meant a lot to Mina; she had felt all of Mina's pride, joy, her sheer exuberance at having been named Captain, especially when that kindly old man had spoken those inspiring words to her. In her eagerness to learn more, she had somehow failed to realize that Mina might have had a close connection with the now-deceased Kahuna, that it might have been a touchy, painful subject. It didn't surprise her that Mina had been itching to get away from her following that. Even her earlier defensiveness made sense, with her bitter grumbling about how the other islands were.

After Lillie spoke to the group and asked everyone if they were ready (they were), Hau gave Selene a sideways glance. "Ae, everything okay?" he whispered to her in Alolan.

"Just… looking forward to seeing Tapu Fini, if going to her den works," Selene murmured back, forcing a smile. Then, she suddenly snaked her left hand to his, clasping it firmly to her palm. Her smile faltered a little as she more sincerely mumbled, "I'm… I'm glad you're with me, Hau."

Surprised, Hau jolted under her touch at first, giving Selene's hand a light shock, something akin to that from static electricity, before he relaxed. He accepted her hold after that and nervously smiled, shooting a fleeting look at Gladion, who was standing at the counter of the Poké Mart a few feet away from where he and Selene were. Focusing back on Selene, he said, "Ae, I'm… glad you're with me, too."

"Makua, this is stupid!"

Plumeria was huffing for breath. They had spent the entire day trekking deeper and deeper into Poni's dusty, rocky canyons. She had her Salazzle at her side, while a group of grunts—some of the last that had remained in Po Town—fanned out around her. Ahead of them, Makua twitchily led the way, a Bastiodon lumbering at his side. But at Plumeria's words, everyone stopped, and Makua shot a look at her over his shoulder. His jaws were clenched, his eyes watery and vacant.

They were heading deeper to the heart of Poni because Plumeria had finally been forced to admit to what had happened at Aether Paradise. After weeks and weeks and weeks of Makua plucking at her every nerve, asking probing questions, going so far as to even dig in her phone at one point, Plumeria had simply told him. She had told him how she hunkered down with Lillie, was attacked by a beast much like Gladion's Type: Null, and ultimately, how Aether Paradise had sank to the ocean floor, Guzma going down with it—because he had been trying to find her. Of course, he knew the island had sunk, but in the chaos following them escaping on his boat and then getting apprehended by Interpol, they hadn't had time to discuss it, so it was only then that Makua learned of everything that had transpired on that godforsaken hunk of steel.

For a long time, she had touted a different story, telling the grunts and anyone else who would listen that Guzma had decided to recover from the ordeal aboard Aether elsewhere, with old friends. Her story had been a thinly veiled lie, which worked on the younger grunts (especially considering how little interaction with the outside world they had), but obviously, Makua hadn't accepted it. Aside from seeing the island sink himself with Plumeria aboard his boat and Guzma not, he was an old friend of Guzma's, so he knew that Guzma didn't have old friends that weren't involved in Skull (the leader had burned his bridges with everyone else). Although he hadn't challenged her right away in front of the grunts, he had taken her unwillingness to be honest as hostile, untrustworthy. So, he had treated her as such—no holds barred when away from the grunts.

For Plumeria, it had been exhausting. Her goal with hiding the truth hadn't been to cover up what had happened with Guzma, gaslight Makua, to seize control of Skull, or Arceus-could-only-know whatever else Makua was thinking. It had been an effort to hide the brutal reality from the kids and teens that called Skull home. Their morale was already low, even just thinking Guzma had gone elsewhere for a while. What would it do to them if they knew he had died aboard Aether's nightmare island? That he had sunk with it, drowned? And on top of all of that… Plumeria herself was devastated, too. She had been angry with him for what he had done with Lillie, and she had been angry at him for choosing Lusamine above her, but the truth was, she loved him. He had been her rock for years and to have him wrenched away—not to mention what else Aether had taken from her—had left her feeling utterly destroyed.

So, for a while, back at Po Town, she had simply weathered Makua's abuse while she tried to put the pieces back together. A few days ago, when Makua had insisted they head to Poni to learn more about these Ultra Wormholes (as he had learned by interrogating Plumeria not too long ago that Lusamine had been dabbling in other realities and fabricated portals to them in the minutes prior to Aether's sinking, which Plumeria herself had heard all secondhand from Lillie), she had blithely agreed. There was no fighting him on it. He did not care what she had to say, and he had told her, the previous night, when he had threatened her with his Skarmory in one of his stormy moods, that the only reason he continued to tolerate her presence was because the grunts looked up to her.

Honestly? That had been all fine to her. She had withstood his rage, she had cried her eyes out enough in the weeks immediately following Aether's sinking, and she had found solace in talking to Lillie. Privately, even as beaten and broken as she felt, there was something determinedly proud in her for Lillie having made it out alive, for her having grown stronger from that devastating day. Lillie now trained pokémon and was determined to find Elio, if he was still out there, and she was determined to better herself. Lillie was headstrong and had a good heart, and some days, knowing she was alive and well was all that kept her going.

But this? The paths they had walked on Poni were nothing but dry clay and rock. The air was arid, devoid of moisture, completely unlike the seasprayed air of the other islands, likely from the mountains near Poni's shores that acted as a natural barrier against the winds rolling over the ocean. Pokémon were scarce and those that did appear were fierce and undeterred by people. The nearest Pokémon Center was half a day's walk in the opposite direction they were heading. Ahead was nothing but more hinterland and untamed pokémon. The grunts that had come with them were tired and thirsty, and Plumeria herself felt the same. She didn't even entirely understand why Makua had wanted to come in the first place! It wasn't like he explained anything to her. Yet, while she didn't have the energy to defend herself against him anymore, she would not stand for him putting other members of Skull in danger over his scatterbrained fervor. Hell, he was almost always high, he likely didn't even have good reasoning for wanting to be on Poni!

"We keep going," was all Makua growled back at her, clearly indicating this was not a negotiation.

Curling a lip, Plumeria squared her jaw. No, it wasn't a negotiation. Stomping a foot, she barked, "No, we don't!" Her Salazzle hissed and swept her tail across the dry earth in agreement. The grunts tiredly looked up at Plumeria, then at Makua. "What are we even doin' here, Makua? Everyone's tired and thirsty. It's hot as fuck out here. We ain't got supplies to be campin' out here for days at a time. We'll fuckin' die o' thirst before we get to whatever it is you wanna get to."

"Shut it!" Makua snarled, whirling on her with frightening speed. He shoved her hard against the chest, knocking her away. She only barely caught herself to stop from falling over. His vacant stare looked right through her even though he pointed an accusatory finger at her. "Isn't it fuckin' obvious?"

Truthfully, that had stunned her. He had threatened her idly and his pokémon had growled and flared wings at her, but he had never done anything like that before. "Put your fuckin' hands on me again, Makua, an' let's see what happens," Plumeria emptily warned, curling a lip even as she felt her eyes start to sting with emotion as they always did when he looked on her with all that hate. She and Makua hadn't ever been close, but she was still so wounded by how low he thought of her as, when she had done everything she could aboard that island. For Arceus' sake, she had lost her unborn child, whose father had then also been lost! What else could she have done? His hate just made her wrack her brain for what she could have done differently…

She never did come up with any answers. The worst part of it was, she didn't think he even intended to act this way, or knew he was being unfair. Although his gaze was full of rage and his muscles always tense with discontent, he looked unaware, as if running on instinct rather than present thoughts. It reminded her of a rabid Rockruff, wildly biting and snarling at anything in sight, but perishing to a flaming fever on the inside—ailing and sick, all alone… Yet, even knowing he was sick, there was nothing anyone could do, lest they risk catching that sickness themselves.

Her Salazzle warningly opened her jaws, hissing at Makua. Makua's Bastiodon returned the favor by scuffing hefty feet against the dry ground, a rumbling growl forming deep in its throat. "Makua," Plumeria sighed wearily, "what are we doin' here? Please. I know ya asked me about the Wormhole bullshit, but why, for real?"

"Not that it matters to you," he spat, "but you said that Lusamine was dealing with Ultra Wormholes and had opened one just before the island started to sink."

"Lillie said it closed before Guz went back in to find me," Plumeria reminded him tiredly.

"So fuckin' what? If there's a chance that he didn't go down on that island, that he went into a wormhole, then we should be lookin' into it! I was told this Hapu, on Poni, she knows all 'bout some myths to do with 'em. It's a longshot, but—it's not that fuckin' hard to wrap your head around, is it?" He lunged at her again, grabbing the straps of her tank top and getting into her face. His breath smelled of a substance she couldn't quite recall the name of, but she knew was potent in its effects, making the user dangerously outgoing and aggressive. Rabid, she thought fleetingly. "Or do ya not want us lookin' for him?" Continuing, he sneered, "Maybe ya were hopin' to get rid of him, take Po Town all for yourself, 'cause you were mad he was sleepin' with that pretty blond tramp over you."

Blinking in appalled shock, she couldn't even fathom what to say for a second. Ultimately, she decided on, "Fuck you, Makua," all but squeaking in disbelief. She already knew that was what Makua had thought, but hearing it spoken in such articulate terms, and in front of so many grunts, felt so… cruel. He might as well have just wrenched her heart out of her chest, while he was at it! All she could do was shake her head, muttering, "How fuckin' dare you think I would actually do anything like that…"

Before she even finished the statement, Makua howled and jumped away, Plumeria's Salazzle attached to his left calf by her long, toothy jaws. Gawking, Plumeria watched as the pokémon dug her teeth in and lashed her tail furiously, inciting Makua's Bastiodon to react, lumbering forward and headbutting the Salazzle off Makua's leg. The sentiment, however, backfired, as Salazzle's teeth were painfully ripped from Makua's leg, making him stumble and blood spray from the fresh wound. Plumeria yelped and covered her mouth in shock as Salazzle proceeded to spit thick, purple venom at the Bastiodon and Makua both, though it seemed she had been aiming only for the nasty bite on his leg. The grunts clamored in surprise and panic, some going to assist Makua off the ground and pull him away, others attempting to separate the pokémon, all while Plumeria stared, frozen, frozen like a statue.

"Sis!" one of the grunts yelped, attempting to wrestle her Salazzle down. "Call back D-Domina, please!"

"Makua! You, too, the Bastiodon!"

Their pleas shook her out of her stupor. "Domina, that's enough!" she hollered, wrenching the Salazzle's Poké Ball out of a pocket. The red beam swallowed up the agitated Salazzle as Makua shakily did the same to his Bastiodon. For a moment, everyone was silent as the dust settled, revealing frightened grunts looking on at both leaders with wide, round eyes. Makua was on his rear, his bleeding leg spattered with purple venom, panting as he looked on at Plumeria in sobered uncertainty. Plumeria's heart was pounding so hard she thought she might vomit it up, her legs trembling and threatening to buckle under her weight.

"Makua," Plumeria swallowed anxiously as her eyes darted over his nasty wound, "that's Salazzle venom, we gotta go back, because that needs to get looked at…" If anyone here should know that, you should…

"Save your fuckin' breath," he puffed as he staggered to his feet, waving away some grunts that wanted to assist him. Once standing again, he leaned heavily on his uninjured leg, his bitten one held at an angle, with just the tip of his shoe touching the ground. The sobered look from a moment ago withered as familiarly watery, vacant eyes narrowed at her. "I'll be fine. No thanks to you."

She felt so frustrated, she might have burst into tears if she wasn't clinging to whatever ounce of dignity she had left. Shaking her head, she looked down, and crossed her arms. If sticking with Skull meant constant abuse from Makua and the potential for violent fights like that to break out, and if he wasn't willing to be reasonable, then fine. Although it pained her, looking at the scared grunts she was abandoning with Makua, she… she couldn't take this anymore. There was just nothing else she could do… There never seemed to be much she could do. "Makua," she whispered, still not looking up at him. "You're hurt. These kids need you. Ya won't be able to walk within a few hours. Please, for their sake, get some help for it." With that, she turned around, and started to walk.

"Where the hell are you going?" Makua sharply barked after her, as if a mix of surprised and angry.

"Don't know," Plumeria muttered. "But wherever it is, it clearly ain't with Skull anymore."

She didn't hear anything after that from him, just some hushed, anxious whispers. When she looked over her shoulder, she watched Makua limp painfully further into the heart of Poni, grunts warily following him. Guiltily, Plumeria picked her way to the shade beneath an old, withered tree on the path they had been walking, and sat down to gather her thoughts, or perhaps to will herself to go on back to Poni's port town. Feeling almost certain Makua was guiding those kids to their demise, though, it was so, so hard to think of anything else. In the end, she had her right shoulder leaned against the tree, curled nearly into a ball with her arms covering her face. She didn't know how long she had been like that until she heard a surprisingly familiar voice.

"Wait… Is that—? That's Plumeria!" a distant voice cried. Wearily looking up, Plumeria blinked in subdued surprise as Lillie darted over to her, joined shortly by Gladion, Selene, and Hau.

Immediately, Lillie gave a soft smile, "Hey… What brings you to Poni?" she forcedly joked.

At Plumeria's hesitant reply and unreadable expression, Gladion's brows noticeably furrowed, and he and Selene shared a look. The scene nearly made Plumeria bristle. The part of her that had been tough for the sake of the kids in Po Town was offended by the suggestion they felt any sort of pity for her; yet, the part of her that ached and pained from the loss of so much wanted to soak up the sympathy. It wasn't like it was often anyone showed it to her anymore, after all. Guzma was the most sympathetic person she had ever known (which was saying something, to be sure), and he was gone.

So, instead, she bit her barbed tongue, and simply explained.

After listening to Plumeria's story, Lillie had offered her a bottle of water and they had told her they had been told about a Hapu as well by Captain Mina. Selene also told her they, too, intended to head deeper into the island's wilds, and that they had the supplies to do so. "If you want to," Selene offered nervously, "you could come with us… Maybe we can try to talk some sense into Makua?" Skull's really falling apart… I'm suddenly not so sure if that's a good, or a bad thing…

"Maybe you all can try," Plumeria glumly replied between gulps of water, "but he ain't gonna listen to me. No chance. He prob'ly won't even listen to you if he so much as sees me. Guess I'll walk behind ya and stay outta sight if we find 'em again."

That became their new plan. Having not had much opportunity to interact with Plumeria before then (aside from the chaos aboard Aether Paradise, of course), Selene found herself intrigued by this downtrodden, but clearly resilient woman. She was further surprised when Bowtie, who normally shied away from others since his evolution into a Decidueye, swooped onto Plumeria's shoulders and draped his silky wings over them. At first, Selene thought to wave him off, worried he was too heavy or would only add to the blistering heat, but Plumeria gave a jolt, then stroked the pokémon's head, acting as if his weight meant nothing. Upon noticing Selene's staring, Plumeria explained, "He's pretty light." Plucking at his silky wings, she further joked, "Mobile shade. I'm a'ight with that."

Feeling a sudden, unexplained sense of solidarity, Selene looked away. She forced a chuckle to acknowledge Plumeria but otherwise, felt so odd. There was a rush of sympathy, of pangs of hurt, and she realized she had felt that as she watched Bowtie sympathetically rub his head against Plumeria's temple.

"They have both lost something dear to them… but they find solace in one another's company, in the hope that the future may be better… How lovely…"

Freezing at the sudden, intrusive voice, Selene dug the toes of her shoes into the craggy earth suddenly. Hau, Lillie, Gladion, and Plumeria all turned to look at her as she did. What was that? Selene thought, paying their concerned glances and calls no heed.

"Not what… who…" the feminine tone… purred? "Actually, all of you have lost those close to you, but press on… Many on this island have lost those dear to them, but press on, as perseverant as these very mountains, weathered by the ocean spray…"

"Selene?" Hau and Gladion called at the same time. The two of them shared what would have been a hilariously affronted look if Selene had been paying them any attention at all.

"I recognize something one of your friends possesses… and I know the answers you seek, Mind Jumper… You remind me of him, he who was taken from me, as well. Find Hapu, find me, and perhaps, hope is not lost for Alola just yet…"

Who are you?

"…And perhaps it is not lost for those beyond this world, either…"

It was as if the city existed in an endless void. The world beyond those tall, glossy buildings was pitch-black, almost suffocatingly so. Everything within the city's bounds was crafted of varying steels and irons, collected from otherworldly creatures he could only just begin to imagine. Despite a couple of months within the borders of Ultra Megalopolis, he still had yet to see many of the terrors the Ultrarians dealt with day in and day out, all without the assistance of pokémon that he had grown accustomed to back home. The Megalo Tower, the central structure of the subsisting city, bathed the entire city with bright, gleaming lights, produced from hundreds and hundreds of crystals within its walls, procured from the very beast it was put together to contain. A morbid thought, if one cared to think about it too long: the Blinding One was a prisoner of what equated to walls of its own flesh and bones.

Megalo Tower's age was showing, too. Leaning hard to one side, the lights occasionally flickering, all while all in the city could hear the Blinding One occasionally roar and bellow within the confines at the tallest floor of the tower… it was well-known to the URS that Megalo Tower would soon fail. That was why Dr. Colress and his uncanny, unpleasant assistant, Rosa Blakely, had been asked to come up with an urgent solution to pacify the Blinding One.

Yet, he knew that wasn't enough. Dr. Colress was brilliant and Rosa loyal to him, but even they had their limits, and time was not on their side. As Zossie and Dulse flanked him on either side, he took a deep, resolved breath, steeling himself for what he knew would soon come.

"Efforts to keep Lusamine from locating Ultra Megalopolis are failing. Our last field team for the URS must return to Ultra Megalopolis for fresh supplies. She is surely tracking them back here," Dulse said solemnly, his hands clasped firmly behind his back as he traced the other's gaze into the abyssal darkness beyond the city.

"Did Dr. Colress ever tweak your…?" Zossie asked the first person, tilting her head concernedly at him.

Raising his chin and stiffening his jaw, Elio adjusted the helmet fitted on his head, blue eyes glittering with determination beneath his guise. Unlike Dulse and Zossie's helmets, his was more like that of a motorcycle, with a lightweight steel wrapping about his jaws and head, connected through a lightly shaded visor in front. Ironically, despite the sheer blackness surrounding them, the harsh, unnatural lighting of Megalo Tower had proven damaging to his human eyes, making the shaded visor a requirement. Tapping at the part of the helmet that covered his mouth, he shook his head. No, it still doesn't work, he wished he could say.

They were abruptly interrupted by a piercing, violet light ahead of them as a tear was sliced through reality itself, and a corrupted, dark violet Nihilego slipped through, followed by other, smaller Nihilego that still resembled their normal selves.

This was it. He had been given his second chance; he had always craved to be the hero, he had always wanted to put his destructiveness to use, and he always wanted to protect others—this was his opportunity to do it.

He clenched his jaw as Lunala hovered over his shoulder, the both of them glowering up at Lusamine. There was no sadness, there was no anger—perhaps a little regret—but primarily, there was determination.

His determination to do what was right.

[insert "I lived, bitch" meme here]