Chapter 15 - Arc 1 (Melemele Island) The Multiverse Mosaic

Stroking Dulse's Furfrou, Zossie was hardly paying her colleague any attention, only vaguely aware that he was droning on at her as they sat near the edge of a cliff overlooking the ocean (he had insisted they discuss a distance away from any routes to give themselves some privacy). The pokémon panted contentedly below her hand, waving its tail happily, and she was still in awe at just how fluffy he was! Dulse had owned the Furfrou for a few days at this point, but… that didn't change her wonder at it. Back in Ultra Megalopolis, nothing quite like his Furfrou existed (well, aside from Cosmog and its evolutions, Poipole and Naganadel, and Necrozma itself, which could only be considered similar in the fact they were nonhuman, powerful living creatures; what she meant was that there was nothing cute, fluffy, and obedient quite like Furfrou back there). Scratching below the Furfrou's chin, she giggled in delight at the way his back, left leg started to kick involuntarily against his stomach. What a strange quirk!

"Zossie!" Dulse hissed, wrenching her from her thoughts. "Pay attention!"

"To what?" Zossie whined, reluctantly withdrawing her hand from Furfrou. He whimpered and she snickered, almost losing her train of thought again. Recovering it, she pouted at Dulse. "We can't find Cosmog again with our tech until it uses its powers again, but it using its powers is dangerous, so we gotta track them on foot, blah, blah, blah, I know, Dulse. What else have you been rambling about?"

She could practically see him scowling at her based on his voice alone, even though a thick, opaque set of goggles covered his eyes. She wore them, too, and despite their appearance, there was actually a thin slit of space in them that allowed them to see. The goggles mostly acted as a protective barrier between their weak eyes and the blazing Alolan sun. "It is more complicated than that," he annoyedly reminded her. "We cannot afford to surprise that girl like that again. That Lillie R—"

"Please stop saying her full name," Zossie exasperatedly cut him off. Honestly, Dulse's rigidity bothered her. They weren't in Ultra Megalopolis anymore. Couldn't he relax and enjoy the time away? Didn't he… enjoy this, at all? Alola was beautiful and shone so bright. There were so many creatures there that just didn't exist back at home. Sure, they were there on business, and that came first, of course! Just… did it have to be so grim and serious all the time? Shoulders sagging, she pursed her lips. Didn't that weigh on him to constantly think of how, if they, Phyco, and Soliera failed, their world—and many others after—could be destroyed? Much more defeatedly, depressed even just thinking of it in passing, she added, "I know who you mean by just Lillie, Dulse."

"Fine," he begrudgingly replied, pacing ahead of her. "We cannot afford to surprise this Lillie again. She has proven to be more difficult than we previously anticipated…"

"A lot of locals reacted pretty strangely when we showed ourselves before," Zossie pointed out, giggling to herself at the memory. "Nobody else wears anything like us, so I can't say I blame her for freaking out at us."

"Caught up on such mediocrities…" Dulse trailed off and planted his hands on his hips. Turning his attention to the Furfrou lazing on the ground, he snapped, "And that Furfrou, as they call it, wanted to flee rather than fight. The people here use pokémon to battle, so why did this one run away?"

"Didn't you see the weird way that Gumshoos was glowing? And it was so big!" Zossie dramatically flailed her arms wide, as if Dulse needed a visual for it. She lost her balance in doing so and toppled onto her back with a squeak. Furfrou barked excitedly and rushed over to her, sniffing her face curiously. Almost shrieking in laughter, Zossie batted him away as she struggled to sit back up. Between gasps for breath, she clarified for Dulse, "I mean, that Gumshoos was way bigger than a normal one. Maybe it was just a special Gumshoos and it scared him?"

"President Lusamine warned us that Lillie would not willingly comply, but she also told us that she would not be capable of battle. That much is true, but we did not account for the fact that she would naturally surround herself with those that are," Dulse continued, unfazed by Zossie's playfulness, as if he had decided to utterly ignore her. Rolling her eyes beneath her goggles, she supposed that was just like him… "This proposes a problem. Yet, we cannot afford to allow the Aether Foundation to send anyone less qualified after Cosmog. They do not fully understand its capabilities as we do and could potentially frighten it into opening another wormhole."

That had been part of what had initially led her and Dulse to Aether Paradise upon their arrival in Alola. They, Soliera, and Phyco had been allowed to travel through Ultra Space until they located this world thanks to evidence suggesting recent manipulations of wormholes—careless ones, at that. Drawn to Aether Paradise, they had spoken to President Lusamine and discovered that she wished only to help pokémon, or inhuman creatures of any kind, really. Intrigued, their superiors, Soliera and Phyco, had decided to chance speaking with President Lusamine and asking her for help with Necrozma and their soon-to-fail Megalo Tower. Ultimately, their priorities had been split up: Soliera and Phyco stayed at Aether Paradise to work with the Foundation and come up with ways to ease Necrozma's pain, so that should it escape its confinement it might not rampage across the multiverse, while Zossie and Dulse were tasked with assisting the Foundation on ways to combat Necrozma, should they fail to find a way to help the ailing pokémon and need to subdue it by any means necessary. Uncontrolled, errant wormholes by a clueless Cosmog were a threat to her and Dulse's mission because, if the pokémon accidentally happened to open a way inside of Megalo Tower… She banished that train of thought immediately. Her thoughts abruptly switched gears. It was so odd that this Cosmog didn't understand its powers! Where in the extended multiverse were its parents? It was so strange that there were no Solgaleo or Lunala in Alola…

Yet, despite her racing thoughts, all she had said was a teasing, "Imagine if they sent that Faba guy after it!" She giggled and leaned forward with her hands on her knees.

Halting, Dulse groaned and planted a hand over his face. "I would rather not," he curtly mumbled, muffled by his palm.

Leaping to her feet, Zossie jabbed a finger forward at Dulse, pointing at him. "'Give it here, you brat!'" she mocked, her voice suddenly scratchy and unpleasantly nasally as she tried to mimic Dr. Faba. "'Stupid kid! Can't you see you're no match for the Aether Foundation Research Branch Chief?!'"

The tiniest, rapid exhale of air from Dulse that betrayed his amusement made Zossie victoriously squeal and tap him on the shoulder, right on the black, Megalo Tower insignia. "You laughed!" she trumpeted. "You laughed, you laughed, you laughed! See, I knew you had some humor in there!"

"This is serious," he complained, batting her hand away and shuffling away. "Zossie!"

It's always serious, she thought in annoyance. "Anyway, what do you think we should do?"

"We must hone our skills in battling. Perhaps Poipole can be of assistance. I did bring mine with me," he sighed. "I would rather not send him out to battle, but… We may need to. That being said, I would prefer it if we could somehow lure Cosmog away from Lillie, so that there is no commotion at all, to minimize the risk of frightening it…"

Something about separating Cosmog from Lillie and capturing it that way. Got it. Zossie proceeded to unceremoniously flop back down to the ground and play with Dulse's Furfrou again, too impatient to listen to him finish talking around his elbow to get to the point. He claimed his precise language helped to get his points across more clearly, but Zossie just found it irritating, as if it made his dialogue less clear because of how long it took to get the meaning out of it. When he finally shut up, she distractedly asked, "How're we gonna do that?"

"…I just said that I learned from Dr. Colress that most pokémon appear to love honey. If we can follow Lillie to a remote location and lay honey traps, we may very well capture Cosmog without a scene."

"Dr. Colress is really smart," Zossie conceded, tilting her head. He was strange, too. Much like their superiors, he stayed and worked at Aether Paradise. Although he was not an official employee, he acted much like one for the time being. She wasn't too sure what he got out of his temporary employment there… Well, aside from money, but even with her limited understanding of this world's society, she didn't think Dr. Colress seemed like he had any need for cash from the Aether Foundation. Similarly, Zossie didn't know why a younger woman with long, brown hair, named Rosa, stuck to his side like glue. She definitely didn't offer anything to the Foundation, but apparently, Dr. Colress had refused to assist without President Lusamine agreeing to allow the woman to stay with him. Regardless, Dr. Colress was a genius, and had managed to even alter their suits to do a few cool things! Like turn invisible! Sure, it didn't make them inaudible, so its usefulness was a little limited, but it was still super cool! …Where had she been going with that? Oh, right! "I'd trust what he says about what entices a pokémon."

"Good. Then we will do that. In that case, I need you to gather the supplies for traps while I locate Lillie and follow her," Dulse explained. After a short pause, he dryly asked, "Can I trust you with that, Zossie?"

Indignantly puffing out her chest, Zossie retorted, "Uh, yeah! I was trained and everything the same as you, Dulse!" Rude!

Taken aback, Dulse seemed to search for something to say for a moment. "My apologies, Zossie," he said sincerely after a moment. "You are correct. You are an equal and I have no right to not treat you as such." He reached a hand up to twist a knob on the left side of his helmet, and although she could still see him with the assistance of her goggles, Zossie knew he was now invisible to the naked eye. "I will locate Lillie. Please keep your communication lines open."

"Yes, sir!" Zossie beamed back at him, playfully saluting him as he recalled his Furfrou with a Great Ball. "Alola, Furfrou! We'll play later!" she called out earnestly before he was fully sucked in by the red light, hastily throwing together an Alolan handwave that looked nothing like the real thing (not that she realized). With a curt wave at her, Dulse started to march away.

She loved that hand gesture. It was such a simple, sweet one, but to be honest, she was just fascinated by how close-knit Alolans seemed from her brief observations. Aside from the people aboard Aether Paradise—who mostly didn't seem to originate from the islands, all things considered—Alolans had so many little traditions and cute cultural quirks! Sure, she didn't understand them and still had so much to learn, but… it was so different from the suffocating atmosphere of Ultra Megalopolis, the lightless wasteland where fear was thick enough in the air to cut with a knife (thanks to Megalo Tower's degrading technology and Necrozma's growing restlessness).

Then again… She felt a little guilty about wanting to learn and enjoy as much about Alola as possible. It was their fault Ultra Megalopolis was in such a state. Well, it wasn't literally her, Dulse's, or anyone else's fault that currently lived in her home world, but their ancestors' faults. They had created that oppressive culture and loveless world in their ignorance and fear, and although she and the rest of the Ultra Recon Squad were doing their best to undo or at least maintain what semblance of freedom they had…

Part of her really wanted to lose the forest for the trees and simply relish Alola's light. Despite all of her training and how she felt it was the least she could do to try to undo the damage the rest of her race had done to her home world, it was so… hard to think about it… when this sunny, beautiful paradise was beckoning her like a siren's call. Gritting her teeth, she shook her head. No, Zossie, you need to go get some traps and talk with Dulse and get this over with! You know better! Hopping back to her full height, she followed in his stead and turned the knob on the right side of her helmet, cloaking herself in invisibility. She'd remain like that until she absolutely had to reappear, so as not to draw unwanted attention. Lightly humming to herself, she skipped out back toward the route. Honey… honey at the store… and traps… I don't think that'd be at the grocery store…

Ugh, maybe she should have paid better attention so she would have remembered to ask Dulse where she was supposed to get those things. Then again, she could always call him…

If Kukui had done anything to Selene and Elio's parents… Well, suffice to say, Lillie was already mentally turning over everything she had in her bag and wondering what the most painful thing would be she could shove where the light didn't shine on him. Having walked the distance between Iki Town and his shack a million times before without incident, she had almost entirely forgotten her recent run-in with Zossie and Dulse, and even at the rustling of a few bushes, she put it off as simply some of the wild pokémon. After all, Kukui's shack was surrounded by thick, unkempt grass.

But then, an all-too human squeak of surprise came from one such rustling bush, and in a moment of blind instinct, Lillie whirled on that bush and snatched whoever was inside by their arm, wrenching them out into view. Selene yelped and fell over, nearly dragging Lillie with her when she lost her footing. Blinking in surprise, Lillie let her go, dropping her unceremoniously. "Selene?" Once the surprise worse off, she narrowed her eyes and pointedly demanded, "What were you doing sneaking around in the grass behind me?"

"Following you," Selene answered bluntly, spitting out a blade of grass and dusting herself off as she stood up to full height. Her Rowlet clicked its beak exasperatedly as it fluttered out from the grass on tiny wings after his trainer. Then, Selene whined, "Arceus, are you an escaped lab experiment or something, Lillie? You nearly tore my arm out of socket!"

"And you decided to follow me like a stalker because?" Lillie pressed impatiently, feeling flustered by her hyperbolic question. Something like that, she thought in callous amusement. Really, she didn't understand Selene's actions and had just reacted out of reflex; it wasn't like Lillie would have been opposed to having Selene come along. She had just figured that she would have wanted to stay in Iki Town to help her brother and Hau search for information regarding her parents. Not to mention, she was fairly certain Selene didn't care for her at all.

"Well, honestly?" Selene challengingly met Lillie's gaze with intense, blue eyes. "I don't trust you and I wanted to check and see if there was anything at home we missed."

"Don't trust me?" Lillie scoffed, starting to internally fume all over again. "What are you getting at, Selene?"

"Don't play that game," Selene snapped. "I've had it with this place, and I've had it with you. I don't know what happened to you, I don't know why you're such a b…" Growling in frustration, she shook her head. "I don't know why you're such a jerk, or why you won't tell us a thing about yourself other than stupidly vague, ominous shit, but if you don't want to play nice, that's fine! But I'm done playing nice and keeping quiet." Taking a step forward, Selene wagged an accusatory finger at her. "So, don't act so surprised that I don't trust you and the eyes you're making at my br… brother…"

"For your information—" Lillie had intended to fire back an angry retort in retaliation, to insist that she was not 'making eyes' at Elio and that her caginess was to protect them from all of her baggage as well as herself, but Selene's eyes seemed to glaze over and she shuddered, then her knees buckled. She lurched forward and landed on them with an unpleasant thud! Confused, Lillie backpedaled and raised a brow at her. "Selene…?" Reaching out to try to shake her out of it, Selene suddenly flinched, as if someone might have moved to hit her.

"Why… why…?"

"Selene, what the fuck are you doing?" Lillie squeakily demanded as her mouth dried out. Feeling a bolt of fear, without thinking, she (as lightly as one could, anyway) slapped Selene on the cheek. Recoiling immediately just in case, Lillie watched, poised and ready to run if needed, as Selene winced and shook her head vigorously.

"What the hell was that for?" Selene whined, rubbing her face over the slight, pink handprint there. Blinking fervently, she gasped, and her jaw fell open. "What just happened? That was so weird!"

"I don't know, you tell me!" Lillie almost shrieked. "You went like a zombie and hit the ground!"

"I was… somewhere else…" Selene frowned and touched a hand to her chin as she got back to her feet. "But that doesn't make sense, does it…?"

"No, it doesn't," Lillie frustratedly agreed. "What are you babbling about?"

"Ay, alola, cousins! What's up with all the ruckus? You two're louder than an Uproar over here, oh yeah!"

"Kukui!" Selene yelped, dusting herself off in something of a blind panic. "I-I mean, alola, professor!" Flustered, Selene offered him a laughable attempt at the Alolan handwave as he approached from behind Lillie. Shooting him a dirty look, Lillie moved out of his way, but never broke eye contact.

"Alola," Kukui laughed at Selene, lazily placing his hands on his hips. "What's up?"

"Actually," Selene started, uncomfortably rubbing her left arm with her other hand, "I had something we needed to ask you about…"

"Where are her parents, Kukui?" Lillie butted in. "I'm sure you know something."

All Selene knew was that one second, she had been telling off Lillie, and the next, the view of the route around her had melted into something totally different. She felt as if she were running, even though she knew her knees were planted firmly below her against the dusty ground, and she saw a cavernous room stretching out around her. There were people shouting, and at one point, she felt as if she had looked over her shoulder, and there, she saw people in white suits chasing her. Turning her attention back ahead of her, she felt as if she had skidded to a halt, while those people in white uniforms converged on her. Feeling as if her lips were moving of their own accord, she spat something she couldn't make out, and then a blue light had started to glow beside her. Finally, she had felt Lillie's unceremonious slap, drawing her back to reality, the vision of the sterile, manmade landscape giving way to the soft, beaten path of Route One.

It had felt like a dream or perhaps a memory, but it was broad daylight, she was most certainly not asleep or narcoleptic or anything of that sort, and she couldn't remember a time she had been madly dashing through white, stiflingly clean halls like her life depended on it… Whatever it was, it had been so fuzzy and difficult to make out anything auditory… As Lillie informed her that she had looked like a zombie and she realized she had fell to her knees, Selene had internally despaired. Am I going crazy? she thought in near anguish. This place is so insane, I'm losing it. I'm actually just outright losing it. Elio and I need to get off these Arceus-forsaken islands, if it's the last thing we do.

Her high-pitched yelping of Kukui's name had come from the fact he had torn her away from her thoughts unexpectedly. Yet, when Lillie questioned him so rudely, Kukui looked puzzled and frowned at them both. "Where are her parents? Selene and Elio's? Er, I dunno… I mean, I haven't seen 'em come or go lately, but I didn't think anythin' of it, yeah."

Tired of repeating herself, Selene impatiently explained the situation to him, which only served to make him look more and more genuinely concerned. Despite her focus on him, however, Selene was not blind to the way Lillie just stared at him, as if she intended to bore through him with her eyes alone. Exasperated, Selene decided not to comment on it. On one hand, she didn't trust Lillie, and that was why she had told her brother and Hau she was going back to check on their home to see if their parents had returned (though really, it was mostly so she could spy on Lillie, even if she did intend to check the house, too), but on the other, Lillie seemed genuinely interested in helping them. Maybe Lillie was just so callous that even her helpfulness felt backstabbing. Mutinously internally joking to herself, she wondered if that could have been considered an inhuman gift. Maybe Lillie was a Captain and didn't know it.

"I'm real sorry, cousin," Kukui shook his head, "but I don't know anything, yeah. I'll call my wife and ask her if she does and I'll go talk to Hala as soon as I can… I'll have to wait for all the festivities with Ilima to be over though, yeah."

"Why weren't you there?" Lillie sharply asked, ignoring his soft tone. For a fleeting moment, Selene was begrudgingly grateful to have Lillie there, because she hadn't realized that he hadn't been present for such a seemingly important (even if horrifying) ceremony.

"They wouldn't care about me not bein' there or not, cousin," Kukui answered in something of a deadpan. The corner of his lips twitched as he stared down Lillie. Shifting to Alolan, he muttered something at Lillie and then took a step back, reaching into a pocket of his labcoat.

"Whatever you have to say, you can say it in Galarish," Lillie coldly insisted, darting to put herself between him and the path back to his shack, as if she had anticipated that he was leaving. "Go on. Say it."

"I don't really want to see someone get maimed, either, cousin," Kukui grumpily repeated himself. Glancing at Selene before shaking his head, he sarcastically jeered at Lillie, "I know, cousin, how awful. I didn't wanna see the kid I watched get promoted to Captain some years and years ago get permanently blinded, yeah."

"Kukui," Lillie impatiently growled, hanging her head, "that's not what I was blaming you for, and—"

"So, you thought I had somethin' to do with their parents goin' missing, yeah?" he challenged her, raising a brow, and crossing his arms.

Incredulously, Lillie dropped her arms to her sides, balling her hands to fists. "Actually, yeah, I thought you maybe did!"

"Lillie!" Selene felt like she was going to melt into the floor. "C'mon, he said he'd help… he's been nothing but helpful since we got here… He's the one that helped my family really get themselves straight before moving here, after… all…" As the words left her mouth, she realized how they didn't help her case. In fact, it just made her realize that if anyone knew anything, it should have been Kukui. Regarding him with a newfound fear, Selene tensed and backed away. "You… you kept tabs on us the entire time before we moved in, and you knew that we were heading out… you sent us out to get those pokémon and encouraged us on the Island Challenge…"

Licking his lips nervously, Kukui shook his head vigorously. "Cousin, listen, that… I'll admit, that looks bad. But I swear I didn't have anything to do with your parents goin' missing, I had no idea they were even gone before just now, yeah!"

"Where are they, Kukui?" Lillie pried, utterly ignoring the way he waved his hands defensively at them.

Frustrated, Kukui kicked a sandal against the ground, throwing up some sand at them. "I don't know!" he burst, squaring his shoulders. "Y'know what, cousins?" he asked tauntingly, then turned on the heel of his foot. As he stalked away and blithely pushed past Lillie, heading for his cabin, he sneered, "Find 'em yourselves, yeah. I don't need this. I got bigger problems. I just suggest you keep up with the Island Challenge, yeah, or else, I hope you like rain." To emphasize the point that he wanted to be left alone, he tossed a Poké Ball, and a frightening pokémon Selene didn't recognize appeared behind him. Her Rotom Dex squirmed its way out of her pockets and, distantly, she heard it call it a 'Midnight Lycanroc,' but that was partially drowned out by the way the pokémon growled at them and threateningly lashed its claws at the ground in front of itself. A wordless warning that if they didn't back off, it wouldn't hesitate to defend itself and Kukui.

"Is everything out here a lie?" Selene similarly combusted, whirling on Lillie. "You lived with him! Surely, you have to know something!"

"Believe me, I wish I'd have known just how much of a two-faced monster he is," Lillie blustered, unfazed by Selene's anger. "I knew he didn't believe in the Tapus' godliness, or whatever the hell, and lied to the whole town about it, but that's all I knew. I don't know what else he's up to and he won't tell me. It's not like I can force him, either. If you want to sic your Rowlet on that Lycanroc, be my guest, but I'll tell you now, it'll eat him for lunch. I had to call someone to repair the cabin after Kukui tested some of that thing's attacks before." Marching ahead of Selene, Lillie walked a short distance, then stopped. Hanging her head and adjusting her hat, she called back, abruptly sympathetic. "Come on… let's go check your house and then see if Elio or Hau found anything."

I guess I don't have any better ideas, Selene despairingly thought to herself. Silently nodding, she trudged after Lillie. Her Rowlet sympathetically chirped and landed on her right shoulder, nestling against her neck. Subdued, Selene just scratched the top of his head. "You're about the only honest one here, Bowtie," she dryly joked to herself, thinking to the silly, bowtie-like pattern on the pokémon's chest. "I guess that could be your nickname. I don't have the creativity for anything better."

Elio was excitedly pacing the length of the pathway leading into Iki Town when Selene and Lillie reappeared at last. Before either of them could get a word out to him, he rushed at them, Macho hot on his heels, and beamed, "Hau and I found something! I got good news—whoa, you two look like hell, what happened down there?"

"Thank you, Torchic," Lillie sarcastically muttered.

"Well, for one, she tried to rip my arm off," Selene flatly said, jabbing a finger at Lillie, "and then, we ran into Kukui, who I'm pretty sure, despite him yelling about how he didn't, had something to do with all of this with our parents."

"Uh… Actually, I don't think so," Elio laughed uneasily. At least, I hope not… I want to believe what we found out… "Someone in Iki said that they saw them heading for the Hau'oli docks, alone, just our parents. So, y'know, voluntarily." Blinking, he frowned. "Wait, why did Lillie try to rip your—"

The sound of sandals slapping the dirt next to him made Elio jump, and he rolled his eyes when he saw that Hau was standing there. Animatedly waving an arm, Hau triumphantly exclaimed, "We found thing! We found thing!"

"Really?" Selene gasped and covered her mouth. "Oh, thank Arceus!"

"Still doesn't explain why they aren't answerin' their phones…" Elio admitted, forgetting all about what he wanted to ask her. "But still! This is good news!" Pausing, his expression turned cross, and he scowled at Hau. "Though, it's not all good news. Someone might have told Kahuna Hala we were gonna battle him for our Grand Trial. Today."

Shrinking underneath Elio's glare, Hau anxiously rubbed the back of his head and defensively stammered, "I… ah… well… he ask me, can't… not say no… I mean, we can all together!" Nodding eagerly, he glanced to Selene, as if asking for help. "You, Elio, me, battle him together! Easier that way. Not have come back here then. Go Akala after, find parents, figure all out. All okay! See?"

"Really?" Selene whined, pressing her hand to her forehead. "Our parents could be in trouble, and we're seriously still talking about doing that Island Challenge right now…" When Hau looked like he was going to say something else, Selene just waved him off. "I know, I know, I know, trust me, I've figured it out at this point, it's the end-all, be-all of everything. Got it…"

Deflated, Hau stilled himself and nodded, meekly murmuring, "Yeah… Sorry… Still, ah, what found out is promise, ae? Maybe actually at Akala!" Yet, Hau's hopeful, borderline apologetic words went ignored, and he tucked his hands into his pockets and scuffed his sandals against the ground.

"Gotta let them finish, uh…" Elio wrinkled his nose. "Celebrating Ilima's captainship, though." Celebrating. 'Ah, yes, congratulations on having a superpower for a little while that helped us get along for a few years! We'll probably be back at each other's throats within the decade, but hey, was fun while it lasted! Sorry about your eyes, though, bro!' Honestly, this whole thing is sick. No wonder this place's cable is so bad. Who needs TV when you can see crazy shit just outside your door every day? At the very least, he was still so relieved to know that his parents were likely fine, even if potentially lost or without cell service on another island… He wanted to cling to that belief, anyway, no matter how upside-down this region seemed to be. Loping over to Selene, recognizing that she looked stressed and out of it, Elio looped an arm around her and chuckled. "Hey, I'm sure it's all fine," he coolly mused in Kantonian. "We battle Hala with Hau's help, beat him, head to Akala, find our parents, and beg them like worthless Dunsparce to take us back to Kanto. Sound like a plan?"

Smirking slightly, Selene snorted and replied in kind, "Yeah. Maybe throw in a little groveling, too, to be extra convincing."

"Tapus might like that, too," Elio snarked back at her. "Might make them a little less mad at us for existing or not pledging our undying allegiance to them, or whatever the reasons are they attack people here… Y'know, just in case our parents want to stay in this Distortion-hole, for whatever reason." Though I fully intend to pull some questionable stuff to get them out of here even if they do want to stay, for whatever reason. Selene and I will go full partners in crime on their asses.

"Language barriers are fun," Lillie rudely announced. Giving Elio and Selene a look that Elio swore was jealous, somehow, she stalked away toward a bench below a streetlamp near the outskirts of Iki Town. "I've got to tend to Nebby some. Catch me whenever you're done with Hala."

Sputtering but ultimately not stringing together anything coherent, Hau embarrassedly waved at them, scooped Popper up from the ground, and hurried after Lillie. They exchanged a few words in Alolan, then both took a seat on that bench. Elio couldn't help the twinge of annoyance he felt as he watched them get along so well.

"You know, something else weird happened while I was out there, though," Selene yawned.

"Hmm?" Elio jerked his head back to face her. She looked beat. Elio felt about the same. "What?"

"Well… I didn't trust Lillie and still felt like she might know something about our parents, so I was following her without telling her. She caught me, though, and dragged me out of the bushes by my arm—which fucking hurt, by the way," she complained loudly, rolling a shoulder as if trying to exercise the soreness from it. "Anyway, after she did that, I got mad at her and then… I had this weird vision…" She trailed off anxiously. "Elio, I think I'm losing it, here."

Concernedly furrowing his brows at her, he cocked his head. "I… guess it has been a wild week and some," he conceded uncertainly. Still, uh, hallucinations aren't good. Arceus… "You drank anything today?"

"Oh, Arceus, just because Mom and Dad aren't here doesn't mean you get to mommy me," Selene groaned. Amusingly in tune with his trainer, her Rowlet slapped a wing over his face disappointedly.

"I am not mommying you!" Elio protested hotly.

Raising a brow at him, he practically saw the gears turning in her head and before she even said her joke, he was already giving her a warning stare. "Oh… are you daddying me, then?" she taunted. Immediately, she made a gagging face and shook her head. "Oh, that's awful. That joke is awful. Why do people say that?"

"I don't know, but I'd appreciate it if you never did it ever, ever again, especially not to me, your brother."

"…Point taken! Shall we go find something to awkwardly do until Hala's ready and forget we ever had this conversation?"

"Yep, sounds great to me!"