{What's going on, Omega? Why are there strange creatures like Alpha here?}

She hissed for me to shush. {I want to watch what they do with Delta and Beta.}

"This is Delta; she's one of the holdover therapods, one of the survivors from the second group," he explained to the humans holding the large, black objects pointed at the two of them. "Now watch this. If I show any sign of weakness whatsoever..."

Alpha bowed his head submissively and began making weak-sounding noises. What was wrong with him? Had he been injured?

Delta didn't take kindly to his display of weakness; she lunged at him-only for him to shoot out his arm at the last second. Delta hung on, trying to sink her teeth into the brown, leathery thing Alpha had put over his arm, but he didn't seem phased by the attack at all.

"See that?" he told the others. "She takes the opportunity when she gets it; these raptors will do anything to climb their social hierarchy."

"So, they're savage beasts already?" one of the others asked him. The one who said it was wearing a white coat.

"They know me, so if I'm on the catwalk above the newly-constructed Paddock they shouldn't be a problem."

"But if, somehow, you end up in the pan area? Will they obey you then?"

"Well, then there'll be a problem. But that's why we implant the animals with shocking trackers, you know?"

"That's correct, Mr. Grady. Safety is a top priority with these animals."

"Ugh, the formality; just call me Owen."

"Right...Blue, though. You know that I programmed her genetic code to give her more empathy than her peers; have these genes presented themselves yet in any form?"

"Watch this, doc."

Alpha scooped up Delta into his arms and put her back with me and Omega.

{I almost defeated him,} she complained. {If I'd been just a bit quicker...}

{That was closer that I've ever gotten, Delta,} Omega chippered. {Maybe you'll get 'em next time.}

{Not if Beta gets to challenge him first. And it looks like that's what she's going to do now.}

Alpha positioned Beta to stand in front of him, then made the same whimpering noises he had with Delta. There was an odd look in her eyes, and she cocked her head to the side. Strange...She didn't seem like she wanted to fight him, It looked more like she was...

Concerned for him.

Beta lightly touched his hand with the end of her nose, making light, comforting trills.

{Alpha? What happened?} she chippered. {Did something hurt you? D-did Delta hurt you?}

What was she doing? She didn't even bother trying!

"Hey..." Alpha raised his head, as though nothing had ever been wrong with him in the first place. "I'm okay!"

{Alpha? You're okay now? Will you be alright?}

Alpha's eyes twinkled inquisitively; he tilted his head to one side, and Beta did the same. To the other side-she mirrored his movement.

"See that?" he said to the other humans. "She's tilting her head, she's craning forward, increased eye movement; she's curious...She's showing empathy."

"Yes, Mr. Gra-er-Owen Grady. My apologies."

"Don't sweat it, doc."

"That's exactly why we're here. So far, it seems things are going exactly as I'd hoped."

"Absolutely, doc."

"Erm...Mr. Wu, please.

"Right, right. Anyway...Blue is the key. You have Blue, you get these raptors to do anything."

"Excellent; this compliance should make training less of an issue; as the Beta, the others should follow her example."

"Sounds about right; they're pretty smart."

"Yes, they are very intelligent animals. Now, aside from Blue, have any of the others shown any defining personality traits?"

"Well, they've all got their different quirks, just like people."

"Yes. Would you mind giving me some examples of what you've seen thus far? I just want to make sure none of them are behaving erratically."

"Okay, Mr. Wu, um...Well, Charlie. She's the youngest, so for now, she's the Omega. Little bundle of energy; hops all over the place looking for somethin' or someone to play with. And she's always hungry; she's all over the place when I throw out the grub."

"Interesting. I didn't think she'd make it through a month, she seemed so weak at first, but she seems alright now, doesn't she?"

"Yes, Mr. Wu. And Delta; pretty smart, even for a raptor. A little brighter than Blue, but, as you've seen, she lets that hunter instinct take over a lot more willingly than the latter."

"Yes, well, as you know, Owen, we used a significant amount of avian DNA in her construction, some of which came from the rare Glaucous Macaw; I theorize that this addition to the code may have contributed some to her coloration; the bird has bright teal plumage."

"Really? Pretty neat. Anyway, she knows when something's up; you saw what she tried to do to me."

"Yes. And what about this one?"

I saw the man point to me.

"Oh, Echo's a card; she's the Gamma, so she and Blue have a nice tight bond. She likes to roughhouse, but she's never really taken on Blue before. Don't know why; probably either because she doesn't have the heart to, or she's afraid of what'll happen if she does."

"Or both," the man in the coat-"Mr. Wu," was it?-added.

"Yeah. If I were her, I wouldn't want to get on Blue's bad side either."

"Might I ask an...odd question?"

"I'm all ears."

"Why did you decide on the name 'Echo?'"

"Well, no matter what happens to her when she fights-if she gets a little bruised, or if her neck is nearly slit open-she always seems to bounce right back; like an echo.

"Ah, I see. Well, it seems as though everything is going smoothly so far? We haven't had any...incidents yet?"

"Heh. Not yet we haven't."

"Good. I'm glad. This idea of training the specimens is progressing quite well. I don't suppose you know what happened the last time we tried to keep Velociraptors contained? They were absolutely vicious; hunted and killed everything in sight, according to the people who visited the first park. Some were absolutely lethal as soon as eight months."

"Not good. But my girls are different, aren't they?"

"Yes. My only concern is whether they'll stay that way."

{Does any of this make sense to you, Omega?} I asked my youngest sister.

{Not a thing...I'm hungry.}

Omega chirped to Alpha for something to eat.

"There goes Charlie, beggin' for food."

"I see; well, we won't keep you any longer, Mr. Grady."

"Owen."

"Right..."

The other humans left, and Alpha went to fetch us our food. What did the strange person call him?

I started to process the conversation; I remembered those strange names...

Charlie.

Delta.

Blue.

And the names of the human in white, "Mr. Wu?" He was a bit strange, I thought.

What did he call Alpha?

"Mr. Grady"...or was it "Owen?" "Owen Grady?" He had used all three names. "Owen Grady" sounded the most accurate to me, though. The humans had odd names for me and my siblings...Was "Owen Grady" Alpha's human name? Yes, yes, that must be the case. Alpha-or"Owen"-He told Mr. Wu to "just call him Owen," so I figured I would do the same. I was glad that he trained us so well, so that we didn't end up vicious like those...

Vel...lo sa...whats? It was a hard word to remember, but once I reflected back on what Mr. Wu had said, it came clear.

"Velociraptors." What was a "Velociraptor?" What happened the last time they tried to keep Velociraptors contained? Apparently, it had already happened once. Was it happening again?

I guessed it didn't matter, as long as these vicious creatures didn't somehow get to me and my pack. I was still preoccupied with the thought of what the humans called me.

I remembered the last description Owen had given Mr. Wu; I was the Gamma. I had the tightest bond with Blue. I liked to roughhouse. I had never challenged Blue.

And like an echo, I always bounced back.

"Echo"...was me.

That was my name.

It all made sense to me now...Which meant that I could now focus on something else.

It had been pushed to the back of my head until now, but I was still baffled as to why Blue hadn't seized her chance to become the new Alpha when it was given to her. When Owen had acted weak, she was no less than worried for him. She didn't even bother attacking; it was almost pathetic.

All of a sudden, I started to hatch an idea...Not just any idea.

A terrible, malicious scheme of an idea.

...

"Is she going to be okay?"

"Should be, now that we've got her cooled down well enough. I'm kinda surprised Hau decided to leave so early; the two of them seemed to me like peas in a pod."

"He seemed bothered by something, didn't he?"

"I know. I went ahead and asked him, but he just said it was nothing."

"And that's when he left, right?"

"That's right."

"Hey, I think she's waking up!"

My eyes fluttered open and my vision slowly cleared. I was back in the lab, and Lillie and the Professor were hovering over me.

"You okay?" Rotom buzzed; he was standing on the tiny nubs he had for feet just a foot from my head. "You just scratched at the door for a few seconds, then when the Professor opened it you fell right through the doorway onto the floor here, bzzt!"

I was suddenly aware of the cold sensation on my head; it was covered with a large, damp cloth, which was draped over every part of my face except for my eyes. The uncomfortable heat had faded, and in its place was a wonderful cooling sensation.

"It's a good thing you decided to come back when you did," the Professor stated. "If you'd been much farther away, I don't know how long it would have taken for us to find you, and you could have been worse off. I was kinda worried about you passing out like that; I thought you might have bitten he dust for a second when that happened!"

I, however, couldn't have been more glad to have blacked out; It all came back so suddenly; so many memories had flooded back in so short a time.

My Alpha.

My origin.

My name.

{I remember now! I remember!}

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy, girl! What's wrong!?"

{Nothing's wrong! Everything is right! My name! My kind! I remembered!}

They backed away from me as I scrambled back onto my feet, wide-eyed, startled and confused. And then I remembered something else; all they could hear from me was an incoherent spew of screams and squawks. How could I...

The passport. We needed to change the passport!

I frantically dug into my bag and pulled out the little booklet, then I placed it on the floor for them to see and turned to the first page.

"Name: Unknown"
"Age: Unknown"
"Species: Unknown"
"Birthday: Unknown"

I tapped the first and second lines with two of the three claws on my clean hand.

"The Trainer Passport?" Lillie acknowledged.

"She's pointing to the name line...Maybe she figured something out!"

{Yes, yes! YES!} I nodded eagerly.

"What'd you find out, girl?"

I forgot all about Rotom's ability to translate in my ecstatic frenzy, grabbing the Professor by the arm with my free hand and dragging him outside, the passport clutched in my other.

"Hey, hey, chill out, buddy! The heat is what made you black out in the first place!"

I didn't care; besides, I didn't plan to be out here for very long. I stepped away from the lab, shook my head, took a deep breath...

Then screamed.

The sound spread all over, and the sound returned to me and the Professor once...twice...three times...four...five! I must have been loud. Good; I wanted to make it as clear as possible.

"Wow..." He seemed impressed by what I'd managed to produce. "Nice echo."

I barked right after he said the word.

"What? The echo?"

I nodded.

"What about it?"

I opened the passport to the first page again and tapped on the first line.

"Name: Unknown"

"That...that's your name? Echo?"

Another nod.

"Like, that's what you wanna be called?"

Yet another nod. It wasn't just what I wanted to be called; it was what Alpha called me.

"Well, How about that? Looks like you're finally finding yourself, buddy! Erm...Echo. Sorry. I kinda got used to callin' you pet names."

Understandable; I wouldn't have minded it on occasion anyway.

"It suits ya, bud. What made you think of it?"

Now was when I remembered Rotom; I ran back into the house, still excited by my recollection, then barked at my PokéDex to explain my intelligible speech. I explained everything to him so quickly that even he had a hard time understanding me.

"Uh, no offense, but would you mind slowing down juzzzt a wee bit?"

I glanced to the side in embarrassment, then took it from the top.

"Alright, here she goes, guyzzz. She says that...She didn't come up with it; her name was always Echo. She sayzz that her Alpha gave her the name. And he named all of her sisterzzz, too!"

"Sisters?" Lillie interrupted. "So, there's more of her kind somewhere?"

I nodded in response to her question.

"They have names too, buddy?" the Professor inquired.

"Oh, she told me all about them just last night!" Rotom replied. "Charlie, Delta and Blue, I think she said their names were. Is that correct?"

{It is.}

"Yeah! Thozzze were their names! And you said that you had an Alpha, too, right? He's the one who named her, bzzt!"

{Owen...} I gurgled.

"What'd you say?""

{Our Alpha. His name was...Owen Grady.}

"Professor, you ever hear of a guy named 'Owen Grady?' She says that was her Alpha's name!"

"Doesn't ring a bell," he answered.

{And Mr. Wu!}

"Mr. Wu?"

"Whose that, now?" the Professor asked us. And I explained.

"She sayzzz he was a person in a labcoat, like yours! He asked this Grady guy about her and her siblings, and he said something about how one of her sisters, Delta, was uh...'constructed?' Constructed using the DNA of a...of a what? A 'Glaucous Macaw?' Never heard of anything like that before."

"Neither have I. Definitely isn't any Pokémon that's been discovered so far."

"Strange, isn't it?" Lillie remarked.

"I will say this; that 'DNA construction' thing does sound familiar. It's normally used to restore fossils."

"Like how the scientists extract DNA from fossils for Trainers and restore them back into Pokémon?"

"Exactly! The DNA extracted from the fossils is usually degraded to some extent, though, so the geneticists use DNA from extant Pokémon to fill in whatever gaps might be present. The genetic code of the original Pokémon isn't completely pure anymore after said procedure, but it's usually at least pretty close."

"Come to think of it...She does kind of look like one of those restored Dragon-Types. Tyrantrum, right?"

"That's right, Lillie, but according to my analysis the other day, Tyrantrum isn't the closest match to her genetic makeup. She is built a bit like one, though; long tail for counterbalance, large head full of sharp teeth, you know. I would say Echo's a lot slimmer than your average Tyrantrum, though, and her eyes are more suited to the dark; she's built more for speedy night-hunting than for solo, daytime attacks like the Tyrantrum is."

"'Echo?'"

"Yep. That's her name."

"Huh...Echo. I like it."

I swelled with pride.

"I'll look into these 'Owen Grady' and 'Mr. Wu' guys you were talking about; it sounds like there's a lot going on with genetic manipulation, so it at least gives us a clue as to where you might be from. Maybe, if we're lucky, we can find them all for ya!"

I assume that they expected me to be overjoyed that they would do such a thing for me. And I would have been, and I was indeed grateful for the offer, but deep down, I knew that their search wouldn't produce any valuable information; it would be a lost cause. Besides, after what happened on Main Street that day, I doubted any of them would still be...

No...Don't dwell on that. I have a new pack now.

"Well, at least we got some of our questions answered," the Professor stated as he erased the word "unknown" on the first line and replaced it with my real name. "Maybe later on this evening when it cools down, we can break the good news to Hau!"

"Yeah..." Lillie agreed. "Hey, uh...I'm kind of curious, Echo; do you happen to know why he was acting so weird? You were with him for a bit, right?"

{Oh...I might have an idea,} I rasped, casting a guilty glance to the side of the room.

"D-did something happen out there?"

{Rotom, you saw what happened; I won't keep something like this a secret.}

Rotom and I gave a full confession of what went down; the Malasada Shop, Team Skull, the Pokémon battle...what happened right after.

"Oh, dear..." Lillie squeaked.

"I didn't think those Team Skull thugs would find their way to Melemele to cause trouble anytime soon," the Professor groaned as he massaged his temples in frustration. "At least you and Hau handled 'em well, right?"

"Professor. She wants to know if you're mad that she...uh..."

"Well, in all honesty, that Skull Grunt got what was comin' to him the way he was acting. And if he was comin' at you like that, then that means you must have done it in self-defense, so I don't blame you for putting your foot down."

Even with reassurance from the humans, I was still uneasy about the whole thing.

"And I mean, call me crazy, but if you still feel bad about it, then, well...That's good!"

{What?}

"W-what?" Lillie read my thoughts exactly. "Why?"

"Well, it means that, even if she's not a human, she has some degree of...well...humanity."

"Oh. I...guess that makes sense."

"Yeah! She's not some ruthless fighter like a lot of wild Pokémon are; she exhibits compassion, awareness, understanding...empathy."

"Empathy." Mr. Wu and Owen had said something about Blue; he had said that she had more empathy than Charlie, Delta and I did. I knew that Blue was caring and kind, but me? I never really saw myself in that light, but, now that I thought more about it, and reflected on what I'd been through over the past couple of days...I supposed it could be true; I did want to be a good Alpha for my new pack, and who would be a better example to follow than my eldest sister?...Maybe Owen, but I felt as though I could related to Blue a bit more, seeing that we were of the same species...whatever said species was called.

"Well, you're alright now, aren't you, bud? Sounds like you held your own in that Pokémon battle you said something about too; Rowlet's gettin' stronger, ain't he?"

"Oh, she didn't use Rowlet against Team Skull, Professor?"

"Say what? But, then what did-"

I cut the Professor off with a bark, then dug into my bag, fished out a Poké Ball and released my newly acquired Hawlucha.

"Wow! You managed to catch one of those!? Those things are feisty! You must have put up some good fight, yeah!"

Red posed valiantly, taking the Professor's remark as a compliment, before flitting about the house, making another each time he landed somewhere.

"That Hawlucha must think he's a star or something," Lillie joked.

Red, unfortunately, didn't take too kindly to her comment, and shot her a glare.

"Haw! Lucha!" he squawked angrily, folding his wings together crossly.

{What'd he say, Rotom?}

"Ha! He says that he doesn't think he's a star...He knows it!"

...

The sun was barely touching the horizon, and the sky was turning shades of soft golds, violets and pinks. The heat had long since lifted, and now was the perfect time to go out and stretch my legs again. Stepping out onto the front porch, I gazed out at the road that lead to Iki Town; that was where we were all headed.

I couldn't wait to break the good news to Hau. Although, I might have to clear up some things between us, first...

"You go on ahead, Echo. We'll catch up," the Professor told me.

I nodded back at him in understanding, then hopped onto the sand and started my run to the village-and I could have sworn I heard the Professor mumble something about my impressive speed as I took off. I could have cared less about any further praise; all I had my mind set on was fixing things between me and Hau.

Finally, I skidded to a stop just outside the Iki Town gate, then continued my search for him, nose to the ground. I picked up his now familiar scent almost right away, and it was leading me north. And there was the dirt path that continued up to...

{Rotom. What did you say the name of that place was?}

"The Ruins of Conflict?"

{Yes. It smells like he went up that way.}

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go! Zzt!"

{Is it...dangerous?}

"I don't think so. What makezz you think that?"

{Then, why is it called the Ruins of Conflict?}

"I'm...not entirely sure. I think it might have something to do with the history of thizz place, though; it doezzzn't literally mean that if go up there, you'll be 'ruined by conflict.'"

{Alright. Let's go.}

I hopped over the wooden battle stage and continued through the overgrown path; there were several series of stone stairs along the path, which I ended up having to try and completely clear in one jump, as they were too narrow to accommodate my strides. When I reached the top, I caught sight of the ravine, and the sturdy, new-looking wooden bridge that served as a link between my side and the entrance to the ruins. And just to the right of the bridge, sitting on the edge of the cliff was...

...Hau.

It sounded like he was talking to someone else, so I stayed quiet and concealed myself among the brush along the side of the path.

"No, you're right, girl. It wasn't good to just leave like that."

"Bwark..."

"I dunno. She just had this...unnerving look in he eye when she did what she did. It just sorta...put me off, I guess."

"Bwark? Bwar, bark!"

"Yeah...Maybe I am overreacting a bit. Besides, the way she handled that guy...I doubt they'll be back to bother us anytime soon, regardless of what kinda threats they chuck at us. Guess I should be...grateful, huh?"

"Bark."

"Yeah...Should I go back there, and uh...say something to her?"

I saw the Popplio give her Trainer a nod before.

"Yeah. Come on, Popplio, let's-"

He started to stand up, and then...I could have sworn I heard a bit of a shifting noise coming from the edge of the cliff. Hau froze.

"Popplio..." he rasped. There was an unmistakable tone of horror in his suddenly weak voice. The human scooted farther away from the edge of the cliff, just a tad, and I heard the ground make that odd noise again. It was almost like the ground just under him was about to-

The small piece of ground Hau had been sitting on started to part from the rest of the land, a small gap separating each section. The little blue Pokémon scurried away from the edge of the cliff, and hopped into the brush-right into my leg.

"Bwark!?" It seemed very startled by my sudden appearance.

{Go get the Kahuna, Popplio,} I ordered, despite her not being my own. {We'll probably need help.}

Much to my pleasure, my Rowlet's rival nodded understandingly, then made her way back down to the village as fast as her flippers could carry her.

"Follow her, Rotom. Make sure they get here quickly enough."

"Bzzt! Yes, ma'am!"

He zipped through the air after the other Pokémon. Now, it was my turn to do my part. I emerged from the leaves and let out a bark to announce my presence; the last thing I wanted was for me to startle Hau and cause him to...

"W-what are you doing here, bud?" he questioned, doing his best to lighten the mood, despite staring death straight in the eye.

I didn't answer, rather I extended my clean hand for him to take. He took the hint, slowly and shakily lifting one of his own hands off of the loose chunk of land and reaching out to mine.

The earth beneath him shifted again, and he was suddenly much quicker to take hold of me, his comparatively short fingers clasping securely around my much longer ones. As soon as I tightened my own grip, though, I could see him wince.

"Okay," he almost squeaked. "One the count of three, I'm gonna jump clean off this thing; how's that sound?"

I nodded.

"'Kay. One...Two-"

The piece of earth seemed to jerk further down, almost as though it was being pulled by an invisible force, and then, it completely gave way.

The next thing I knew, I was seeing my human friend dangling off the edge, one hand desperately clawing at the dirt of the remaining ledge, and the other gripping mine like it was his lifeline.

Which it very well was at the moment.

The sudden increase it weight almost too much; I dug the claws on my feet into the earth in order to prevent myself from falling, then began pulling up as much as I could, grabbing onto Hau's other arm once he ran out of dirt to hold. Not enough; I just wasn't strong enough to pull him up. We were both going to share the same ugly fate at the hands of the rushing water far below.

{...No.}

A rush of energy sprung forth inside of me, and I suddenly felt ten times stronger. It was adrenaline, and it flowed through my veins along with my sheer determination. I didn't hesitate; I grabbed Hau as tightly as I could, then, with a single, powerful tug, pulled us both right back up onto solid ground, and I dragged him a good four yards away from the edge. A heavy sigh of relief escaped from each of us.

"Heh...Hey...You did it, bud...you did it..."

{I did it...I did, didn't I?}

"Kudos to you, pal. You...you saved my hide."

He let out a small groan, then he hissed in pain.

"Heh...arm kinda hurts. I think I might of...pulled something...Ow..."

I stood up and nudged the arm he was holding, just to make sure he was still alright. I only did so much as inhale, and I smelled it. I looked down at his arm, and I saw him remove his hand.

There, just below the wrist on the upper part of the arm, were three deep puncture wounds, and the blood I'd mistakenly drawn was running down to his elbow and dripping onto the dirt.

"Oh...Guess it's a little worse than that. Heh heh..."

I was absolutely mortified.

I backed away in fear and in shame; if I had only hurt him when I was trying to help, then what other vile things would I be uncontrollably capable of?

"Hey, I'm okay, bud! I'm okay," he reassured as he stood to his feet and approached. "A little..."

He stopped and sighed, and I caught sight of an oddly comforting glint in his eyes.

"A little blood lost isn't a big deal if you compare it to the life you just saved."

I began to process his words; I had put a few bad holes in his arm, but...it was only because I'd held on so tightly. And if I hadn't, odds are we both would have ended up falling into the ravine and dying an ugly death.

"Don't worry about it, bud; I can patch myself up at home."

Finally, I stopped backing away. Hau got close enough to extend his arm again and run his hand down my snout. And then, without warning, he flung his arms around my neck.

"Thanks, bud. I owe you one. Really, I do..."

I chuffed in response. I guess I did pretty good after all.

"Hey! Guys!"

{Professor?}

I looked down Mahalo Trail to see Hau's Popplio bouncing back to us, Sure enough, the Professor, Lillie and the Island Kahuna were coming up close behind. Hau released his grip, and the two of us faced the rest of the group.

"We...We got 'em!" Rotom announced, his eyes still wide with panic.

"What happened?" Lillie asked. "Rotom and Popplio lead us here, but they wouldn't give us the details. Is everything alright?"

"Uh, heh...Yeah. But it wouldn't have been if not for her."

"Echo? What'd she do?"

Hau flushed pink with embarrassment; obviously, he didn't want to admit that he'd nearly died just now.

"I was sittin' on the edge of the cliff with Popplio, and then, uh...well...the ground gave way. It was a strain, but she managed to pull me back up."

"You saved him, girl?" the Professor asked.

I nodded.

"If you hadn't been around," the Kahuna said to me as he approached us. "I...We would have been too late."

He didn't say the word we were both thinking of.

"The Professor said something about you on the way here; it's Echo, now, right?"

I nodded again.

"Echo. Words cannot describe how grateful I am for what you've done. Thank you. Thank you for saving my grandson."

He pulled me into another embrace, and I rested my head on the human's shoulder.

"Hey, bud. I got a question; how'd you know I was here?"

The Island Kahuna let me go, and I answered the question with a bark and a low trill.

"What'd she say, Rotom?"

"She picked up hizzz scent from Iki Town, and she followed it there!"

"Looks like the results of my skeletal analysis weren't far off. Her nasal cavities take up a large portion of her skull; even more than a Lycanroc's, and their keen sniffers were already impressive. I'd say that she would be able to pick up a scent from at least a mile away!"

"Dang; I'm impressed, bud. Erm...Hey. Sorry I acted kinda weird earlier. You were just trying to do the right thing."

I gave him another chuff as forgiveness.

"I guess I was just sort of...shocked by how much you managed to do to that guy. I guess, for a while I forgot that..."

"You forgot what, Hau?" Lillie asked.

"I forgot that...she wasn't a person."

I looked at the ground in shame.

"Hey, not like that's a bad thing! You're not a human, but you're still cool! And I guess I forgot, because, well...You act so much like a human! You catch and fight Pokémon, you carry a bag around on your back, all that stuff. You even sat at the table and dined on a Malasada like any proper person could!"

I raised my head again and reflected on what he said. I supposed that, if I acted so human that Hau nearly forgot that I wasn't one could be a good thing; it would help me...fit in more. People would be less skeptical of me, like the nurse at the Pokémon Center had been. I nodded again and flashed Hau a toothy smile.

"Yeah! That's the spirit! One more question, though; any particular reason you decided to sniff me down?"

"Oh, yeah!" the Professor exclaimed. "She remembered a few things about herself! Wanted to share 'em with you guys here!"

"Really? Like, what sorts of things?"

"Well, I'll get the most important one out of the way; she remembered what her name was!"

"No way, you guys serious!? Let's hear about it, bud!"

{You know what to do, Rotom.}

He and I explained what I knew yet again to Hau and the Kahuna; my name, how I got it, and I reiterated the details I knew about my sisters, our Alpha, Owen, and the strange man in the lab coat, Mr. Wu, who talked to him about Delta's DNA composition and Blue's empathy.

"That's...pretty nuts."

"No kidding! Zzzrt!"

"And if she keeps piecing more information together, it's probably gonna get even weirder," the Professor added. "But the important thing is that she's safe and happy where she is. Ain't that right, Echo?"

I barked in agreement.

And then, all of a sudden, I heard a noise ring throughout the air.

"Ko-ko, kooooo!"

It sounded like it was coming from the opposite side of the ravine. I looked over the gap in the land and turned my gaze towards the sky. There was something...odd floating just in front of the entry to the Ruins of Conflict. A small black head, somewhat hidden behind an intricate yellow and orange shell of some sort, looked right at me from above and ahead with its intelligent eyes. It nodded, seemingly approvingly, before darting off through the sky like the swiftest flying bird beyond our sight. Even after the being had left, we all continued to stare out at where it had been.

What had we just witnessed?

{What was that?} I wondered aloud.

Despite the language barrier between us, the Kahuna seemed to know exactly what was going through my head.

"Echo, dear," he said to me. "It seems as though Tapu Koko has witnessed your act of bravery."

I chippered in confusion.

"Tapu Koko," the Professor inserted. "The Guardian Deity of Melemele Island. The people here go to the Ruins of Conflict to pay their respect to the Pokémon. If you've pleased it, then, well...Things are lookin' up for you, pal."

I remembered the Professor having mentioned something about the "Guardian Deity" before. I never expected to actually meet the Pokémon, much less earn its approval.

"Come, Echo," the Kahuna said to me. "Let's head back down to the village."

The walk back was a slow one; probably because of all of the jumping I had to do earlier in order to actually get there. By the time we stepped foot back into the village, it was bathed in the golden glow of the sunset, giving it an almost otherworldly aura. I was so overwhelmed by the beauty, I almost didn't notice...

"A-ha. So you're the Scarface those two troublemakers were talking about. Well, I must say, you look a lot less threatening than I expected."

The voice was one I'd never heard before. The human was standing right there in front of the battle stage and I probably would have missed him had he not said anything. The human was tall and thin, and exhibited a gentle and dignified mannerism, albeit somewhat plain.

"Ah, Captain Ilima! We weren't expecting to see you here!" the Kahuna greeted.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Oh, no, no. We were just coming back from up Mahalo Trail. Why, if you hadn't shown up just now, I probably would have fetched you anyway to tell you about-"

"This one, right here?"

The human-"Ilima"- gestured to me.

"A couple of those Team Skull fellows crossed my path a while ago; looked like they were in a hurry. One of them said something about a monster, uh...'beating down on his homie?' That's the phrase he used. The two of them must have gotten into something pretty bad; one of them had a few nasty marks on his face, and when I bothered to ask about it, they went right ahead with the disclosure. Honestly, I didn't understand most of what they said, but from what I could piece together, some sort of monster beat them in a Pokémon battle before lashing out at the one. They warned me to stay away from it if I saw it, but knowing them, I knew they had probably done something to the creature-whatever it could be-for it to have attacked them the way it did. My curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to come down here and ask you about it, and, well...It looks as though the question of who the monster was has been answered."

"Oh, well, I wouldn't say she's a 'monster,' Captain," Hau stated in my defense. "You were definitely right about them trying to gang up on her, though; and she gave 'em what for."

"I don't blame her; those goons are always getting into some sort of trouble."

"Captain Ilima," the Professor said to him. "This is Echo. We found her on the beach and took her in, and since then, she's proven herself capable of some pretty amazing things."

"'Echo,' is it?"

I nodded, emitting a quiet, raspy gurgle in further response.

"It suits you. Certainly much more than 'Scarface.'"

"'Scarface?'" Hau echoed. He turned to me, then seemed to squint, as though he had eyed something on the side of my snout. What was he looking at?

Ah, well; I had more important things on my mind at the moment.

"I've approved her for training, and to partake in the Island Challenge. I don't supposed she's tried to take a shot at your trial yet?"

"No; I haven't seen her until now. Echo, perhaps you'd like to swing by Verdant Cavern when you get the chance. My trial is the only one on Melemele, so if you manage to beat that, you get to go right on to the Grand Trial."

If I'd wanted to, I probably would have found my way over to Verdant Cavern right then and there to complete my first trial. But after everything that went down that day, I decided to hold it off until the morning; I'd long since tired myself out.

I chippered to Rotom for him to translate my response.

"Kzzrt! She says that she'll come just after daybreak! That should give us plenty of time to complete it before the heat sets in!"

"Not a bad idea. I see that your PokéDex serves well as a translator."

"Oh, I-I'm just doin' my job!"

I nodded at my Beta, then stifled a yawn.

"Heh heh...Guess we better be headin' back down to the lab," the Professor said to me. "The last thing I want is you keeling over again."

I chattered at the Professor in agreement.

"Hate to cut this short, but I guess we'll be seeing you guys!"

"Take care," the Kahuna replied. "And, dear Echo, thank you again for what you did."

{Not a problem,} I crawed.

As we parted ways, I looked back at Hau, who, in turn, did the same. First he flashed a grateful smile, but then...he squinted again and tilted his head, like he had before at the side of my face, and before he turned back around, his expression turned thoughtful. The first time I'd just brushed it off as something petty, but now my curiosity was getting the best of me.

{Rotom, is there...something wrong with my face?}

"Bzzrt? What? Why would you say something like that?"

{I was just wondering, that's all.}

"Well, I think you look just fi-"

He turned to face me, then paused. He was eyeing the exact same spot that Hau had.

"...Oh."

{What is it?}

"Um...Well...It'zzz...Nothing serious. I, uh...thought I saw a spec of dirt! That'zz all!"

{And was there one?}

"It, uh...It blew off!"

He was plainly nervous; I could tell that he knew something that I didn't, and he wanted it to stay that way.

{Are you sure there's something that I need be aware of?} I asked, somewhat more pryingly.

"Absolutely! Nothing to worry about!"

{Because I-}

"H-hey! We're falling behind! Better catch up!"

He bolted ahead of me. I was more confused by Rotom's odd behavior than I was offended by it. At the same time, however, I did understand if he didn't want to make me upset; despite our building connection, I could sense that he was still somewhat unnerved by me-a reasonable thought, seeing what I'd proven to be capable of earlier in front of the Malasada Shop. Still, he was probably overreacting; after what had happened the previous night during the storm, I figured the PokéDex would have become somewhat more open to me...But bothering him about it didn't seem like the best idea, so I decided that, whatever it was that he knew, I would find it out by myself the next time I got the chance...

...Unless the truth revealed itself to me beforehand.