Gamelover41592: Thanks
Matt (Guest): Yep
IllusionSign (Guest): We're getting into the major events of the story
It's time to explore the final island: Poni Island! Also, I will be revealing what Legendary will be appearing! Let's go!
In spite of what was going on, Emma would be lying if she said she wasn't excited to go to Poni Island. It was almost completely untamed by humans, meaning that there were Pokémon almost everywhere on the island. She wasn't in a good mood, but she was feeling much better.
"This is the only human civilization on Poni Island: Seafolk Village," She explained to Gladion and Lillie as they all hopped off the boat.
"Go. Find the Kahuna." Gladion ordered. "The kahuna of Poni Island also protects the altar where Alola's people worship the Legendary Pokémon. Maybe they will know something that might help you."
"Would it kill you to say please?" Kitty jokingly asked.
"Gladion…" Lillie trailed off. "Thank you for this. I'm glad that I finally know why you left. And that you were trying to help Mother and Father. But if you'd just told me that back then…"
"I'm sorry…" Gladion apologized as he looked down. "All I could think about in those days was how Null and I had to be stronger...but we'll use the strength that we found to protect the foundation in Mother's place. This will be your battle now. I know you can handle it." Gladion then walked back towards the boat."
"Are you going to be alright Lillie?" Emma asked as she and Kitty turned towards her.
"I'm okay. You don't have to worry," Lillie assured them. "I know what I have to do now." Lillie then shut her eyes, before opening them again. "And...I don't know. Maybe it sounds strange, but…" Lillie then smiled. "I'm kind of excited."
"I mean, Emma is too," Kitty said with a smile as she nudged her sister.
"Shut up," Emma replied as she playfully gave her sister a shove. "But let's go find the kahuna. They should most likely be around here." As Emma's Rotom-Dex downloaded a new Pokédex, Kitty and Lillie began to ask the locals about the kahuna, although Kitty quickly got distracted by all the Pokémon in the area.
"Welcome!" A voice called out. The girls all turned around to see a young girl covered in paint standing on top of one of the boat houses.
"Oh my goodness!" Lillie exclaimed as the woman jumped onto the dock to meet the girls. "I-I'm sorry. Who are you?"
"I'm Mina. I'm the local captain," The woman revealed. Emma noticed that she smelled like a strange type of smoke but decided not to mention it.
"Captain...Mina? It's nice to meet you…" Lillie greeted.
"So let's get right down to things. Which one of you is here for my trial?" Mina asked as she looked over the girls.
"Oh! No, that's not why we're here!" Lillie exclaimed.
"Speak for yourself," Kitty joked under her breath. Emma snickered a little.
"I mean, you're not entirely wrong," Lillie admitted. "It's true that Emma and Kitty are in the middle of their island challenge, but...we're here to meet the kahuna of this island!"
"The kahuna?" Mina clarified. "Oh...well that's a problem. Maybe you should talk to Hapu?"
"Oh! So Hapu lives here on Poni Island?" Lillie asked. "Thank you very much, Captain Mina!"
"That actually makes sense," Kitty noted. Emma just nodded.
"So I guess we need to go look for Hapu," Emma said as she put a hand to her chin. "Now, where do you think they will be?"
"I think that means we're gonna have to do some exploring~" Kitty teased her sister, who couldn't fight her smile.
"It will be good to see Hapu and Mudsdale again!" Lillie cheered.
"According to the map on the Rotom-Dex, the Poni Wilds should be right outside the village," Emma said as she pointed towards it.
"Let's go!" Kitty called out as she rushed towards the exit of the village, with Emma and Lillie hot on her heels.
"I'll do my best to keep up," Lillie promised the girls as they started to walk through. ""I'll be fine. I've got Max Repels with me. And I've got you guys too…"
"We'll keep you safe," Kitty promised as she gave Lillie a smile. Lillie blushed a little.
"Well, we're not gonna find Hapu just standing around, so let's move!" Emma said as she ran forward.
"Hey, wait up!" Kitty called out as she and Lillie chased after her sister.
"I think this is Hapu's Mudsdale," Kitty said as the girls made their way around some ruins. The Mudsdale turned around to see the girls.
"Ni-hiiii!"
"It's good to see you again, too, Mudsdale," Lillie greeted the large horse. "You look to be in fine form." Lillie then turned back to the girls. "Wow...Pokémon Trainers really do amaze me. It seems like a hard path to walk, and even so, you don't let yourself be held back by the fear of seeing your Pokémon friends get hurt...you just keep striving forward together…"
"If you don't take risks, you don't get stronger," Emma replied with a smile. Hapu then walked out some more ruins.
"Oh! Been a while, girls!" She greeted them. "And you brought Lillie along, too?"
"Yes. It's good to see you, Hapu!" Lillie greeted the tiny girl back.
Hapu then looked Lillie up and down. "You look different...like you're ready to go all out in something now."
"Thank you, Hapu," Lillie replied. "I've finally discovered what I need to do. So this is my Z-Powered form!"
"Ho! Then you do your best, Lillie!" Hapu encouraged her. "No one could call you lily-livered!"
Lillie smiled and pumped her fists. "Um, so, Hapu...do you know where we can find the Kahuna?"
"The kahuna?" Hapu questioned. "Hrmm. Don't have one here on Poni."
"WHAT!?" All three girls exclaimed.
"Now what do we do?!" Kitty exclaimed.
"Well, do not be distressed. I wouldn't say that I know nothing of this," Hapu revealed to the girls. "All right. Let us all proceed to the ruins. You stick with me, you three."
"Alright. Lead the way!" Emma declared as Hapu road off.
"Wait there," A voice behind them ordered. The girls all turned around to see an older woman hiding behind a piece of the ruins.
"Eek!" Lillie cried as the woman walked over to them. She then managed to collect herself. "I-I'm sorry. I don't think we've been introduced…."
The older woman laughed. "I'm Hapu's old gran. Are you three friends with my girl?"
"You could say that," Emma replied. Hapu's grandma smiled.
"Traveling around the islands...making new friends...you kids are luckier than you know," She assured them. The Machamp behind her flexed as if it wanted to speak. "If you want to head for Poni Island, how about a bit of help from this old gran? Here. Hand over your Ride Pager a moment." Assuming they were getting another Ride Pokémon, both girls eagerly handed them over. After messing with them for a bit, the older woman handed them back. Suddenly, the Machamp standing next to her rushed over to Kitty and scooped her into his arms.
"Well, you know how to treat a girl," Kitty joked.
"You'll need to move some big obstacles to make it down the path you three hope to travel," Hapu's grandma explained to a bewildered Emma. "I wish you all a brilliant future." She then began to walk away, but turned back to the girls. "My Hapu was heading for the Ruins of Hope, wasn't she? Go after her. First, you'll come to Poni Breaker Coast. You'll know it by the soil-it's pitch as black. Go through there, and you'll find the ruins."
"Thank you very much, ma'am!" Lillie thanked her for the group. "You have been a great help!"
Emma put a hand on her chin. "The Ruins of Hope…" She snapped her fingers. "That's where the guardian of Poni Island will be! That's where Tapu Fini is! And it's also how new Kahunas are picked. So either way, we'll no doubt get answers there."
"Let's go!" Kitty cheered as Lillie rushed off. "Lillie! Wait up!"
"She's gotten so much braver…" Emma noted with a fond smile.
Kitty smiled as well. "Yeah….yeah, I guess she has."
"This is it: the altar." Emma said as they made it to the center of the ruins. Machamp was very helpful with getting though.
"Thank god. That place was giving me the creeps," Kitty whined. Emma nodded. Even the air felt oppressive in the ruins. Lillie then joined the girls inside.
"I've read about them, you know…" Lillie admitted.
"About what?" Emma had to ask.
"Alola's sacred ruins...the guardian deities worshipped within them. They go whenever they want, so it's not easy to meet them...according to the books I've read. But if they're summoned here at the ruins, they do sometimes appear." She then released Nebby from her bag. It was still in the same state as before.
"Nebby…" Was all Kitty could say. Emma couldn't speak at all.
"The books say they are, well, capricious," Lillie reminded Emma/told Kitty. "Encounters with them do not always end as you hope they will. Maybe that explains why…even coming here to these ruins hasn't evoked any response from Nebby…"
"Hey, is that Hapu?" Kitty asked as she pointed towards the altar. Sure enough, Hapu was standing in front of it.
"Is the altar...glowing?" Emma noticed. The girls slowly began to approach, allowing them to hear what Hapu was saying. In addition, they noticed that the altar wasn't glowing. Rather, a stone, much like the ones that Tapu Koko had left for Emma and Kitty, was. Hapu reached out and, once it stopped glowing, took it in her hands and held it close to her chest.
"I give my thanks...for your great blessing," Hapu said. It appeared as though she was talking to no one, but the girls knew better. She was talking to Tapu Fini. "As kahuna, I will do the best for my people...and the Pokémon of Alola." Hapu then turned around and noticed she was no longer alone. "Oh! So you three were watching?"
"Sorry about that," Emma apologized. "Congratulations on becoming kahuna!"
"Thank you," Hapu replied as she turned back towards the altar. "My grandfather...my grandfather was also chosen for this honor. The honor of being our island's kahuna. But he suddenly died some years back, and we were left without a kahuna on Poni." Hapu then looked down. "I tried to follow in his footsteps, but I was not chosen by the Tapu back then. So I started my own sort of Island Challenge, traveling Alola and trying to grow stronger." She then turned back to the girls. "Lillie. The kahuna you wished to meet is right here."
Lillie's dropped jaw turned into a friendly grin. "O-oh! Of course!" Then please, Kahuna Hapu! Tell me about the Legendary Pokémon!"
"Me too," Emma said with a teasing smile. Kitty rolled her eyes.
"So, you want to know about Solgaleo, who we pay tribute to at the Altar of the Sunne?" Hapu clarified. She already knew the answer, but she just wanted to be completely sure.
"I must go after my mother!" Lillie declared in the most determined voice anyone had ever heard from her. "She disappeared into some far-off world...And a fearsome creature who lives in that world. A Pokémon called Necrozma...That's why I want to ask the Legendary Pokémon for its help. The Legendary Pokémon is the only one who can go back and forth between worlds."
"A world where beasts reside, eh…" Hapu began to think, turning away from the girls to speak to herself. "I reckon that must be the kind of world you find at the other end of those holes that open up in the sky, just as my grandfather once described." She then turned back to the girls. "Alright. I will tell you what I know."
"Oh, thank you, Hapu!" Lillie practically cheered.
"But what I know is not much." Hapu admitted in order to keep the girls from getting their hopes up. "Just that there is a ceremony held for the Legendary Pokémon at the altar. A ceremony that used two particular flutes to somehow give the Legendary Pokémon power."
Lillie then pulled out the Sun Flute. "It seems that my mother had it…"
"Ho!" Hapu exclaimed as she looked over the Flute. "That looks to be the Flute that used to reside at the lake on Ula'ula. The other is said to be held on Exeggutor Island. I do not know why it's there of all places, but it has been passed down that that's where it belongs."
"Exeggutor Island...I think I've read about it before." Lillie admitted.
"So have I," Emma chimed in. "It's an uninhabited island off the coast of Poni, right?"
"Yes. And no reason to dally here. Let us go and speak with Mina." Hapu said. "Lillie, you take Mudsdale. We proceed to Seafolk Village!"
"Let's get moving!" Kitty cheered as everyone headed back outside.
Into the untamed wild we go after Solgaleo! And just as a heads up, I just started college, so updates will most likely be a lot less frequent (school always comes first). I have no intentions of abandoning these stories (I can not wait to begin Brick and Sky's stories). However, in my spare time, I wrote out another story. It's unconnected to this, but I'm also planning to start posting that. I highly recommend you check that one out! Anyways, see you soon!