Chapter 14

May's eyes fluttered open as the moonlight slipped in through the cracks in her shellbed. She smiled and took a deep breath of the morning water, exhaling deeply in content as she relaxed into her bed. After laying there for a few minutes, she pushed the top of the bed open and floated up, stretching and yawning as she welcomed a new night.

"Hey Popplio?" she said, swimming over to her little friend and shaking her awake. Popplio opened her eyes and looked up curiously. "You wanna go scouting tonight? It's been way too long since we've been out." Popplio looked nervous, but May just smiled and patted her head. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to keep you safe in case something happens." At this, Popplio smiled and jumped into May's arms, snuggling into her chest. "Atta girl," she smiled as she started to swim about, getting ready for the night. Once she had her bags slung over her shoulders, she swam up with a twirl through the corridor at the top of her room and into the outer chamber. When she looked around, however, her face fell as she noticed how silent it was: another reminder that her sisters were gone.

She sighed and shook her head. "Who'd have thought that I would miss hearing them talk about heading up to the surface?" she muttered. "Even if it was annoying most of the time, it was never boring." She sighed again. "Well, no use dwelling on it. I've got stuff to do tonight." With that, she and Popplio swam out through the hall and quickly arrived in the main hall of the palace. There, they saw Cynthia floating next to another mermaid, discussing something. When she caught sight of her daughter, she smiled warmly at her.

"And what might you be doing tonight, young lady?" she asked.

"I'm going scouting with Popplio," May said. "Hopefully, with a little more calibration, I can finish my map and find her home."

"I see," Cynthia nodded. "Well, have fun out there!"

"Thanks!" May said as she turned towards the palace entrance. "I'll be back by curfew!" she called back before flicking her fins and swimming away.

"What'd she say she was up to?" the other mermaid asked, confused. "Scatting?"

"Scouting," Cynthia corrected her. "She's been trying to help Popplio find her home for months."

"Huh," the mermaid muttered. "Here I thought she'd be more concerned with –"

"Would you check the coral garden to see if it's ready for harvest?" Cynthia said, abruptly cutting her off.

"Oh!" she exclaimed in surprise. "Right away, your Majesty!" She quickly swam off, leaving the Mertriarch alone. She put her head in her hand and sighed.

"How long will my people fail to understand her heart?" she moaned.

May was swimming with Popplio over the village outside the palace. The new homes she and the other merfolk had built for the refugees were finished, and the merfolk of Alola had settled in. As a result, the village was far more lively than she was used to. Not that she minded, of course; she loved seeing merfolk swimming about their business. It always seemed mundane to her sisters, but she always found herself fascinated with their everyday lives.

"I wonder why that is," she mused to herself. "It isn't as if their lives are that much different from ours, is it? Even though we're royalty, Mother always strove to teach us the value of hard work and self-sufficiency." She smiled softly as she remembered how her mother would assign them chores to do, which always garnered a complaint out of Dawn and Serena. She and Misty didn't bother complaining, since the only possible result would be more chores, as Dawn and Serena found out the hard way. She giggled as she remembered how exasperated they were when that happened for the first time.

"Well, they'll probably thank her one of these nights," she sighed. "That is, assuming they ever see her again." She turned and faced the surface once again, putting her hands behind her head in a relaxed position while continuing to swim. Popplio imitated her, prompting May to giggle at the cute Pokemon's antics. "Then again," she mused as she gazed at the surface, "Mother could always go up to check on them, couldn't she? I mean, they couldn't blame her. Even if they're human now, that doesn't change the fact that they're still her children." She sighed again as she turned again so that she was facing forward. "Why does this have to be so complicated?"

After swimming a little farther, she floated into an upright position and looked around, assessing her position. She and Popplio were a ways away from the village now. "All right," she said, turning to Popplio. "Keep your eyes peeled for any unusual Pokemon swimming about. If you see anything, give me a bwark, okay?" Popplio nodded, giving a silly salute and a bark of approval, prompting a fit of giggles from May. "Yes, just like that." With that, they swam out to the open ocean in search of Pokemon.

"Hm…" May mused as she looked around a familiar stone structure that extended all the way up to the surface. "This is where I encountered that Gyarados a few weeks ago. Maybe we should swim to another part of the ocean." She turned around and saw Popplio swimming towards a particularly dark part of the ocean. Not wanting her to be alone in unknown waters, May dove down and swam after her. It wasn't long before the two of them found themselves so deep that not even the light of the moon could reach them.

"I wonder if humans have ever managed to swim down this deep," May muttered to herself. "Or rather, if they managed to swim down here and live to tell the tale." Thinking it over a moment more, she shook her head. "Not likely. The water probably would've crushed them under its weight." At this, she stopped and looked up curiously. "Yet it doesn't crush us mermaids, even though we look identical from the waist up. I wonder why that is?" She floated there for a moment, then shrugged and continued to swim after Popplio. "There's a lot we still don't know about each other," she chuckled to herself. "It'd be wonderful if Dawn or the others could learn more about the differences between us."

As her ramblings ceased, she found that she and Popplio were floating at the entrance to a large, underwater cavern. She looked around, surprised at how vast it was as she briefly noticed a small school of fish Pokemon swimming through. Unfortunately, it was just a school of Finneon, which she saw pretty much any time she went scouting. Aside from this, she couldn't make out any other Pokemon, which meant either nothing else was there, or something was hidden from her view.

Popplio started to swim in with an eager smile before May grabbed her tail and pulled her back. "Not so fast!" she hissed. "There might be a predator in there! You don't wanna get eaten, do you?" Popplio gasped at this. "Here," May said, gently flicking her fins and floating forward. "Let me make sure it's safe." She looked into the cavern, then, gently closing her eyes, began to sing into the cavern. The notes she sang were brief and simple, yet beautiful all the same, echoing off the walls of the cavern through the water. When she finished, she opened her eyes and listened closely as the echo faded to see if anything would respond. She floated there a few moments, before nodding, as she heard nothing but calm, quiet silence. She turned and gestured for Popplio to follow her, and they swam into the cave. Although it was darker than she was used to, May still had little trouble seeing everything around her. She was a mermaid, after all, so her eyes were made to be able to see even in the deepest darkest ocean.

"Wow," she breathed as she looked around, swimming over to the wall and running her hand over the rough, untouched texture. "I wonder if anyone's ever been here before." She turned and started to swim back to the middle of the cavern. "I mean, humans probably wouldn't survive down here, but I'm not sure even mermaids have discovered this place." She giggled to herself slightly as she floated in the middle of the cavern. "I think we just made mermaid history!"

The sudden sound of Popplio barking snapped her out of her musings. She looked down and found Popplio waving excitedly at her. "Hm?" she blinked as she flicked her fins, propelling herself down to the bottom of the cave. Popplio floated to the side as May slowly swam down, curious to see what her little friend had found. Her eyes widened as she came to the bottom of the cave.

"Wait a minute," she whispered. "Are these...fish scales?" She reached down and picked up a small, green scale. It was a little rough around the edges, a blue tint on the edge. "Hm…" she mused. "I recognize this color, but what Pokemon has scales like this?" She stared intently at the scale, thinking hard about which Pokemon the scale could belong to.

"Wait, I know!" she exclaimed as her eyes lit up. "This belongs to a Basculin!" Popplio barked and did an excited flip, prompting May to giggle again. "A Basculin's scale," she mused, looking back at it with a smile. She looked down and found several other scales, similarly colored, laying on the floor of the cavern. Some had a red tint on the edge. May swam about and started gathering them, putting them into her sack. "So that means that Basculin have been here," she said to herself. "They're from the waters of Unova, aren't they? They must've come from the north." As she finished placing the scales into her sack, she pulled the slab of stone containing her map out of her backpack, along with the dark rock she used to mark it up. She started marking the map with the fluidity of a human marking a paper with a pen, noting what she'd found...and what it could mean.

"It's a swim in the right direction," she said as she finished marking her map, placing it back in her backpack. "Still and all, what we really need to find is a Bruxish. They come from Alola, so if we could find one and figure out where it came from, it'd probably give us enough calibration to find your home." Popplio barked happily and swam into May's chest. May giggled and happily hugged the little Pokemon. It wasn't every night they had a breakthrough like this.

The sudden sound of something moving through the water above them startled them out of their happiness, as they froze and stared up. "Oh no!" May exclaimed nervously. She quickly grabbed Popplio and swam to a large stone, swimming behind it so she was out of sight. The two of them floated there, breathing quietly, hoping that whatever just came in wasn't too hungry.

As she continued to listen, however, the sound of movement stopped. It was then replaced by...singing? May listened closely to the song and realized that it was coming from another mermaid. She gently pushed herself up, careful not to make too much noise, and looked up to see the mermaid floating there, singing to herself.

The song she sang was not a happy one, though it wasn't necessarily sad or angry either. It was a song of longing, one that expressed hope for a better life than what it had. May's face fell as she listened to the song, wondering what made this poor mermaid desire something more. Slowly, so as not to startle the singing mermaid, she started to swim up to get a closer look. The mermaid didn't seem to notice as May slowly swam until she was on the same level as her. She looked closer at the mermaid, and her eyes widened when she recognized her long blonde hair and beautiful white tail.

"Lillie?" she whispered.

Lillie let her hands fall to her sides as she finished her song, gazing up at the roof of the cavern with a forlorn sigh. She then turned and started to swim down towards the bottom of the cave. Wondering what was making her new friend so sad, May swam down after her and sat a short distance away from her. She was sitting on her tail, looking down at the Basculin scales May found earlier, unaware that she wasn't alone.

"Lillie?" May said again, this time louder so she would hear.

Lillie gasped and whipped her head around in shock, her hair flying into her face. May swam over to her and helped her push it back.

"May!" Lillie exclaimed. "W-What are you doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing," May replied.

"I-I suppose," Lillie shrugged. "How long were you – I mean, did you hear what I –?"

"Yes," May nodded, smiling softly at her. "That was really beautiful. You sound almost as good as my little sister."

"Oh," Lillie said, her face falling slightly as she gave May a sad smile. "Thank you, but...that's really not the reason I was singing just now."

"Yeah, I figured as much," May agreed. "It sounded really sad, like there's something you want but can't have."

"Yes," Lillie nodded sadly. "Ever since that storm came and ravaged Alola's waters, I...well, things haven't been the same at home."

"Oh," May said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Lillie blinked, confused. "Why are you sorry? It wasn't your fault."

"I know it wasn't," May nodded. "I just feel bad that you had to be put in a situation like this."

"Oh," Lillie said, understanding what she meant. "Okay. That's...sweet of you." She looked up at the cavern. "Ever since we came to your kingdom, I've spent quite a bit of time exploring the waters around us. I found this cavern a few nights ago, and I've come here every night since to get some alone time."

"Really?" May blinked. "Aw, darn! Here I thought Popplio and I were the first creatures in the ocean to find this place!"

"Oh," Lillie said, hearing this. "Sorry, I didn't mean to –"

"Oh, don't apologize!" May laughed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "I was only kidding!" She looked around, leaning back on her hands as she looked up at the massive cavern, leisurely swishing her tail in the water. "It's a beautiful place. You could probably make a home here."

"Yeah," Lillie mumbled to herself. "I've never seen a place quite like it."

"I have," May said. "I've never seen a cavern this big before, but I've seen quite a few of them. They're hidden pretty deep in the ocean, and they're usually too small to relax in like we're relaxing right now. They're also usually occupied by other Pokemon."

"Predators?"

"Thankfully, no. Still, it's obvious that they're not there so they can share their space with another sea creature."

"No, I suppose not," Lillie chuckled. May chuckled with her, even though she hadn't meant it as a joke. "Do you enjoy being in caves?"

"Not really," May shook her head. "I mean, there's nothing necessarily wrong with them, and they're great for hiding from predators if I need to. I just prefer the open ocean. It's so vast and beautiful, and it excites me knowing how much there is to explore."

"You think so?" Lillie blinked.

"Yeah," May smiled, her eyes sparkling slightly. "We live in an incredible world, and yet so often we have no idea what we're missing out on."

"I guess not," Lillie shrugged uncertainly. "Truth be told, that's...not how I feel about the open ocean."

"Oh?"

"No. I look around, and...I just feel small and insignificant. I feel as if, even though this beautiful world is supposed to be my home, I'm just not important to it. It doesn't care about me, and it wouldn't bat an eye if I ended up becoming a Sharpedo's next meal."

"Oh," May said quietly, her face falling. "I'm sorry you feel that way."

"It's all right," Lillie said, giving her a small smile. "I'm kinda glad we see it differently."

"What?"

"Well, if we saw it the same way, then we would just be talking about how wonderful it is right now. We wouldn't really learn anything. But because we see it differently, we discover new ways to look at something familiar. We come to understand why someone would think one way and another would think another way. You know what I mean?"

May's eyes were wide with surprise. "I…" she said quietly, looking down slightly. "I never really thought about it like that before."

"There, you see?" Lillie giggled. "You just learned something new from someone who thinks differently from you!"

"I guess you're right," she smiled softly, turning back to her. "Where did you learn that?"

"It's something my father taught me," she said, looking down wistfully. "He took great care to raise us well."

"Your father," May repeated, still smiling. "He seems like a good merman."

"He was," Lillie nodded, her smile faltering. "He was a wonderful merman."

May blinked, confused. "What do you mean 'was?'" Hearing this, Lillie took a deep breath and looked into May's eyes:

"He was killed in the storm that ravaged Alola."

May gasped, her hand flying to her mouth. "Lillie," she whispered, coming closer to her. "I'm so sorry, I didn't –"

"It's fine," Lillie said, her voice trembling slightly. "It's true, I miss him...I miss him dearly...but he wouldn't want me living the rest of my life pining for him. I have to move on." Although her voice trembled and her eyes glimmered, May was surprised to find no tears in her eyes.

"Lillie…" she whispered, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"It's all right," Lillie said, turning to her with a small smile. "He wouldn't want me to cry for him. It's not like mermaids have tears anyway, right?"

May raised a confused eyebrow. After a moment, Lillie changed the subject, and they spent the next several hours talking about idle subjects. When they got hungry, May shared the coral fruit she brought with her. They swam around a bit while they talked. Then, as they grew tired, they decided to call it a night and swam out of the cavern, with Popplio right beside them. They came out of the dark waters to the open ocean and headed straight for home.

"Would you like me to swim you home?" May offered.

"Oh, that's very kind of you," Lillie smiled, "but no thank you. I should be able to get home just fine."

"Okay," May shrugged. They didn't talk much more as they focused on swimming home. It wasn't long before they arrived. Lillie said a quick goodbye to May and dove down to the village, while May swam straight for the palace. She came in through the front gate and, after greeting her mother, she swam straight for her room to rest for the day.

"Not a bad night, huh?" she grinned at Popplio. Popplio grinned back before curling up in her bed. May floated down and gently stroked the little Pokemon's head. "Sweet dreams, Popplio." She bent down and kissed her head, prompting a smile from the Pokemon, and she swam over to her shellbed. She curled up in the middle and pulled the top of the shell down, closing herself in.

She sighed as she watched the morning light seep in. "Dawn and the others are probably waking up right about now." She closed her eyes and sank deeper into her bed. "I wonder how different life is during the day as opposed to the night." She didn't think long about this as she slowly fell asleep.