Chapter 16 - Arc 1 (Melemele Island) Cult Culture

When Kahuna Hala was finally ready to battle her, Elio, and Hau, they gathered onto the wooden stage and adopted one side of it for their own. Selene directed her Rowlet forward, cheekily calling him Bowtie again, and he hovered in front of her with a happy chirp. Macho lazily waltzed ahead of Elio, stretching his back and yawning, while Popper barked eagerly and clapped his flippers together. Just as Hala prepared to give whatever spiel he had to start their Grand Trial, Ilima hollered something from the gathered crowd around the stage and waved some people away from himself off. Marching forward unsteadily, he bumped his knees into the side of the wooden platform. Frustratedly groaning to himself, he stumbled backward and huffed, "I want to see how their Grand Trial ends." Before anyone could say anything, he flushed red in the face and snapped, "Not a word! You know what I mean!"

Selene had guiltily shared something of an amused look with her brother. Despite the momentary flash of entertainment, however, she just found it… sad. Ilima was in an awful mood (not that she blamed him in the slightest) and a thick, heavy set of sunglasses that looked more like goggles were covering his eyes now, and when a few more locals tried to convince him against staying out (at least that was what she assumed they were doing, she couldn't make anything out they were saying), he stiffened his shoulders and spat something back at them bitterly.

"Let him be," Kahuna Hala scoffed at last, issuing the crowd a stern, knowing look. "This is his day, too, and he's a man. Let Ilima do as he pleases."

"I appreciate it, Kahuna Hala," Ilima almost haughtily replied, jerking his head to look in Hala's vague direction (though he was off-center). Raising his chin triumphantly, he added in a much more familiar, softer tone, "Give us a battle even Tapu Koko will remember, you three! Thank you!"

Thank us for what? Selene wanted to plead. Instinctively exchanging a look with Elio, he sadly shook his head back at her, as if to tell her he didn't know, either. Unnoticed by either of them, and as Hala went on to explain the Grand Trial, Hau had stuffed his hands deep into his pockets again, and almost sulkily kept glancing at Selene and Elio, like he wished to say something to them.

Unbeknownst to them, he did, and unlike them, he couldn't communicate so easily with just a glance.

Hau had always thought he looked forward to facing down Hala in battle, but in that moment, he felt as sweaty and flighty as ever. Even verbally, he couldn't communicate well with Selene and Elio, and that was before considering how they seemed to occasionally ignore his existence when they would operate on the same wavelength. Guiltily, he supposed that made sense; they were brother and sister and seemed very close. Admittedly, he admired them for that, envied their tight bond. Yet… he just couldn't open his mouth to explain that, could he? Not only did he have his own anxiety to contend with, but the language barrier was frustratingly unforgiving. That yearnful feeling, coupled with the growing anticipation of the coming battle as Hala explained the rules (a three vs. three, in which Elio, Selene, and Hau all counted as one party of pokémon together, so their three starters acted as their 'team,' and Hala would only send one pokémon of his out at a time due to the different levels of experience his team had in comparison to theirs), was what made the Grand Trial ahead of him seem so daunting. Not to mention, his mind was practically looping an earlier interaction like a broken record in his head.

Earlier, when Hala had still been busy applauding Ilima and getting him the medical attention he needed for his freshly damaged eyes, Hau had been seated next to Lillie on a bench near the outskirts of town. With the townfolk distracted, he hadn't been too fearful of getting an earful for it, yet Lillie had raised a brow at him and commented, "Hala would have a fit of he saw you over here."

Such a statement normally would have been met with just a conceding nod from him, but in that moment, Hau had felt so frustrated with it all. All that lay between him and getting out of this oppressive cage he felt he'd boxed himself into was to beat Hala in battle; that was it. Then, he wouldn't have to worry so much at all about hiding his Captain's 'gift,' and… and… and he could start forging new relationships. New ones that weren't smothered by his status as the Kahuna's grandson, or the fact he had lost his parents when he was eleven. Trying to hide his bitterness in a veil of excited amusement as he was usually so skilled at, he had failed and instead, snippily replied in Alolan. "Then, I guess he'll have a fit."

Together, he and Lillie had watched from a distance as Ilima was practically paraded around the town of excited, chattering locals. Although Hau had known they were just wound up and everyone wanted their moment to congratulate Ilima, the entire scene had left him feeling selfishly grateful for his resolve in keeping his secret. He hadn't envied Ilima at all. When he inevitably had withdrawn from the difficult to watch sight—Ilima was tired, stressed, hurt, and clearly done with the public for the day (not that anyone seemed to notice, or care if they did)—Lillie had sighed loudly. "You don't like all of these festivities, do you?" she had asked breathlessly, in practiced, careful Alolan (secretly, he was so glad that Lillie understood Alolan; at least he didn't sound like a complete buffoon to her, unlike how he was certain he sounded outright idiotic to Selene and Elio. Maybe that was why Elio hated him so much?). At Hau's expression of feigned shock, she had rolled her eyes. "Don't look at me like that. You clam up worse than a Shellder every time anything remotely big happens and the second Hala turns his back, you're stuck to me like glue…" Shifting, she had frowned. "I don't really care, I'm just confused. Why?"

"Why… why what?" Hau had managed to squeeze out, freezing slightly under her stare. She hadn't been wrong in calling him out on how he looked as if he were out of place in his hometown, but he had been afraid of her reasoning for doing so.

"Calm down," Lillie had snorted, "I'm not gonna turn you over to your gramps for talking to me. Besides, I don't think he'd want to hear anything I have to say anyway. And I mean… why are you not like them? Celebrating Ilima, or… Well, you don't seem all that enthusiastic about any of the ceremonies. Aside from your Island Challenge debut…" She had knowingly flicked her gaze to him, even though she had kept her head pointed forward. "Like maybe you were excited to just get out of here."

I don't know why I'm not like them… He had contemplated what amount of honesty he could reply with, and at last, Hau had just sighed and weakly smiled at her. In melodic Alolan that felt so much more natural than the fragmented translations he offered to the Kantonians, he shrugged and explained, "To be honest, Iki's always felt kinda small to me. And bein' the grandson of the Kahuna and the kid who lost both his parents at eleven and then was yanked outta school and homeschooled forever after… Gets kinda lonely." He had paused and looked up at Selene and Elio, who, at the time, had been testing out different attacks with their respective Rowlet and Litten. His smile had slowly faded, and then he had nervously laughed. "Kinda just kept talkin' there even though I didn't mean to… I mean, I know you knew most of that already, but… Anyway. I'm just excited to get outta here and travel with them." An indignant bark from below him had drawn his attention downward, and he giggled at Popper pawing at his shins. "You, too, Popper!"

Lillie had silently pondered what he'd said for a moment, then had dipped her head respectfully. He hadn't been able to see, but she had smiled to herself, a tiny, pleasant one. "I can get that… I… kind of want to travel with them, too." Despite rummaging in her bag afterward, she had followed his gaze, eyeing Selene and Elio as she idly played with Nebby from within the confines of her bag. After a while, she had given a shuddery sigh. "It's kind of nice to see how they get along… I miss when I was able to talk and play with my brother like that…"

"You… have a brother?" Hau had gaped at her. As if sensing his incredulousness, Popper had launched himself into Hau's lap, winding his trainer momentarily, and then had turned his twitching, pink nose toward Lillie, sniffing her curiously. Excited at the prospect of learning of someone new, Hau had beamed, "Really? Why didn't you say anythin' sooner?!"

"Because we aren't close anymore," Lillie had muttered in a deadpan, dashing his hopes immediately. Before he had had a chance to say anything else, she icily warned, "I don't want to talk about that."

Shaking his head as he was drawn back to the present, Hau heard Hala send out a Machoke and Selene and Elio called out to their pokémon, reminding them to be on guard and ready to attack. In that moment, Hau's nervousness gave way for something much more determined.

Privately, he decided he was done ghosting in and around Iki's walls, hiding beneath Hala's shadow, and bending to his every whim. For his and Lillie's sake, he needed to prove himself to Selene and Elio. He had to prove, once and for all, that he was reliable and competent. He loved his grandfather, he really did, but if Hala's presence and the town's very borders were so constricting, and if he couldn't be who he wanted to be there, then he would have to cobble together a family elsewhere. After all, a family wasn't just one person, was it? He wasn't wrong for abruptly deciding that he wanted to salvage his relationship with the Kantonians, and stitch together a family of misfits from them, himself, and Lillie… was he?

Selene and Elio's parents were missing (and sure, perhaps they really were fine on Akala, but still) and Lillie was a runaway who had lost her brother. He had lost his entire family save for Hala, who he couldn't be honest with at all. Surely, he wasn't the only one there that sensed that! Giving Elio and Selene one last, thoughtful look, he set his jaw. He hoped their parents were okay, and he hated contending with the idea that they might not have been, but if they weren't…

He just wanted to prove himself so badly. He selfishly wanted them to like him and be there for him in the future, and he, likewise, wanted to provide the same should they ever need it. After a short delay in which he was translating in his head, Hau called out, "Popper, Disarming Voice on Machoke!"

"Growl, Bowtie!"

"You too, Macho!"

Despite the attacks readying to fly at his pokémon, Hala gave Hau a toothy, approving grin followed by a curt nod. "Machoke, they're playin' it safe! Focus Energy! Don't let 'em shake ya, we got this!"

Hau bristled at Hala's wordless approval. Somehow, in that moment, it felt absolutely patronizing.

Realizing a little late that she and Elio had failed entirely to include Hau in their battle plan against Hala, Selene was shocked to find that he worked with them remarkably well. It was as if they had always battled alongside one another, even though Hau was a new trainer, and she and her brother had hardly ever commanded a pokémon in their lives (unless one counted the hands-on experience at school they had received back in Kanto, or occasionally telling their housepet Meowth where he could or couldn't lay, or the few hits they got in on Ilima's Gumshoos before it was interrupted by those Dulse and Zossie characters…). In fact, Selene was still occasionally consulting her Rotom Dex, yet, they had fallen into a routine!

She and Elio had opted for as painless a strategy as they could come up with, due to their mutual disdain for causing undue harm in the heat of battle. Although Bowtie and Macho were too small for the time being to cause much injury, they had both agreed that would likely change given enough time… Anyway, they had both decided to try to harass the opponent with a series of Status-inducing attacks, allowing them to finish off opponents quickly and painlessly. With Hau there, however, their Growls were able to repeatedly unnerve Hala's Machoke, while Popper twirled and shot lofty, pink bubbles, which burst in a horrendous shriek of sound once they reached the Machoke's ears. The Fairy-type move would stun the Machoke and send him reeling backwards, waving his arms unsteadily, and since it was a sound-based move, it didn't so much do physical damage as it did just fatigue the opponent into submission. A win-win, as far as Selene was concerned.

"Man, that Popplio of yours is something else, Hau!" Selene had paused to call out to him, laughing to herself when Bowtie indignantly squawked at her and flapped his wings wildly. Rolling her eyes at him, Selene snorted, "I didn't say you weren't, Bowtie, I'm allowed to compliment others!" At his pouty, accusatory little bird glare, she chuckled. "I swear, it's not cheating."

"Th-thanks," Hau meekly responded to Selene's praise. Seemingly more determined than ever, he jabbed a finger forward. "Disarming Voice, again! Popper!"

Elio smirked at her knowingly, and Selene nodded in turn. "Bowtie, Growl again!"

The Rowlet chattered eagerly and flew up, then rocketed toward Machoke, stopping just short of its reach. He clicked his beak repeatedly and made an (admittedly not all that intimidating) hiss, which served to only annoy Machoke and make him bat his hands after him. Yet, his movements were slow and clunky, his body starting to quiver beneath the effects of the repeated Growls, and even at Hala's desperate call for a Revenge on Popper, it failed to react before Macho bolted in front of it and arched his back.

"Macho, Roar!" Elio triumphantly yelled. Instantly, Macho let fly an earsplitting yowl that made Hala's Machoke cringe and cover its ears, backpedaling rapidly to his trainer.

The cherry on top was Popper barking excitedly as he blew another singsong bubble, which finally convinced Hala to recall his exhausted Machoke. Despite everything that was going on with their missing parents, with the upside-down world of Alola, watching that Machoke go down under their combined efforts filled Selene with a surge of pride unmatched by any memory she could recall. Squealing in excitement, she first whirled on Elio and shook him by the shoulder, then to Hau, giving him a similar treatment. He froze under her touch at first, but then relaxed and laughed once he figured out she was just ecstatic.

Yet, as her fingers met his shoulder, she felt a slight, unpleasant tingle run up her arm, as if she had been shocked by static electricity, and once again, the scene around her dissolved into something unfamiliar. Instead of Iki Town's wooden stage and encouraging, excited townfolk, she felt as if she were in a forest. She felt so much shorter all of a sudden, as the underbrush in the forest felt unnaturally tall… She was vaguely aware of the sensation of people holding her hands on either side of her. Then, the vision faded black, and when it returned, she felt as if she were being cradled in arms. Involuntarily looking up, she saw a dim, blurry vision of Tapu Koko. It had its shelled arms wrapped around her, though it looked bigger than she remembered, and its teal eyes were stretched wide in… fear? Before she could determine if that were the proper name for the expression, she almost yelped in shock when she heard a male voice speak into her head, but… it wasn't in a language she understood. Was it Alolan…?

Hau shoved her hand off his shoulder, at last pulling her back to the present, and when she blinked a few times to readjust, she found him staring at her fearfully. "Selene…? All okay?"

"I…" No. I'm losing it, I swear to Arceus—keep it together, Selene, keep it together. Think about it later, talk about it with Elio later. Shaking her head, she clumsily nodded, "Yep, yep, fine, sorry, got… lost in thought there…" Whipping her attention back on Hala, she was relieved to see he was too busy switching his Machoke out for the next pokémon, a Hariyama, to care about her and Hau's odd exchange. Yet, Elio shot her an equally as concerned look as Hau, and at her defensive huff of annoyance, he cut his eyes at her.

"When this is over, water, food, rest," he hissed at her under his breath, in thick, rapid Kantonian. Then, he pointed his index and middle finger at his eyes, then at hers, like he was warning her for a fight. That made her break into giggles.

"Fine," she dramatically whined at last, relenting to him. Eager to get back to the battle, she hopped impatiently from foot to foot. She felt a little guilty for how excited she was to see the Hariyama go down next under their combined might… It made her feel a little better to see that Elio seemed into it, too, at least. Doing her best to push away the thoughts of the odd vision she'd had for the second time that day, she, Elio, and Hau fell back into their newfound rhythm, easily downing the Hariyama soon enough (though it certainly got in a cheap shot in the form of a Fake Out against Bowtie, and had ruined his accuracy as well with an annoying Sand Attack or two). Although she was too absorbed in their battle against Hala to pay it too much mind, she couldn't shake the feeling that Hau was staring at her in between asking Popper to attack.

It seemed as if things were going to be the same for Hala's final pokémon, a janky, new one that must have been native to Alola called a Crabrawler. Noticing the way Bowtie was struggling to remain aloft and small, painful scuffs had appeared over his body, Selene frowned and warned Elio and Hau, "I've gotta heal Bowtie this turn… You guys go ahead."

"No prob," Elio had grinned, radiating a surprising amount of confidence. Although unexpected, it made Selene feel so much more at ease to hear him that way… "Macho, Growl it!"

"Ay, Popper?" Hau jokingly called, then slipped into Alolan. Selene swore the Popplio laughed, given the way it performed something of a handstand, clapping its rear flippers together, before spitting a familiar pink bubble after Hala's Crabrawler.

Whistling to call her Rowlet back, Selene hugged Bowtie once he was close enough and then dug in the bag slung over her shoulder for a Potion. "That Hariyama really had it out for you, huh, Bowtie?" she snickered as she undid the safety on the bottle and used her free hand to spray him liberally. He trilled, clearly pleased, underneath the shower and then wriggled free of her grasp before she had even finished off the medicine, clearly eager to join back in the fight. Squawking madly as he rejoined Macho and Popper's side, the Litten and Popplio meowed and barked respectively at him, as if welcoming him back.

"Hm! You've all been doin' good so far, got your type matchups down and the like!" Hala approvingly nodded, crossing his arms. "But ya haven't won yet, bwahaha! C'mon, Blitz, let's show 'em the real power of a Z-Move, why don't we?!"

Hala's Crabrawler rapidly opened and closed its pincers and chittered in excitement, while Hala himself started to glow in a way that was all-too reminiscent of how Ilima and his Gumshoos had at the Trainers' School. Marching forward with one foot, he hollered and punched his fists rapidly again and again, the white bands of light across his body fading to an auburn, reddish-brown color, then a bolt of light arced from the Z-Power Ring on his wrist and onto his Crabrawler. The bands of light on that pokémon then turned the brownish color.

"All-Out Pummeling, Blitz!"

Just like that, the Crabrawler launched itself into the air with an impressive display of strength, strobing with the auburn pulses of color. Hala's glow faded and he was left panting and shaking, as if it were simply taking all his effort to stand, but Crabrawler landed fists-first on top of Bowtie, Macho, and Popper. An awesomely blinding flash of tan light washed out Selene's view of the battle, preventing her from seeing how directly any of their pokémon were hit, at least until the spectacular display was over and the Crabrawler stumbled back toward Hala's feet. Quivering exhaustedly, it weakly clicked its pincers, watching as anxiously as Hau, Elio, and Selene were to see if its all-out attack had succeeded in fainting its foes.

"What was that?" Elio asked in a voice hardly above a whisper, in awe.

"Was that…?" Selene trailed off, too out of breath from the mad rush of adrenaline to speak. That was AMAZING! she thought, her guilt for being excited at the battle long gone and forgotten. That's what Z-Moves do? I know they said they were super strong and whatever, but that—that—that was fantastic! Can I do that with the Normalium-Z Ilima gave us? Oh, I have got to try that!

As it seemed the dust was settling, all three of them were surprised to find their pokémon struggling back to their feet, and each of them starting to glow as well, but in a familiar, yellowish-white. Covering her mouth, Selene could only stare as Popper, Bowtie, and Macho all evolved at once. Hau whooped and pumped a fist while Elio looked just as thunderstruck as she felt. Once the veil of lights faded, her hovering Rotom Dex nearby informed her that they were now a Brionne, Dartrix, and Torracat, respectively.

As if congratulating each other, the pokémon excitedly looked one another over, Macho rolling onto his back and showing off a new, flaming orb that looked something like a pendant on his neck. Bowtie curiously leaned over his stomach and tickled him with one of his longer, white-feathered wings, to which Macho playfully batted at a long leaf protruding from Bowtie's head. Circling them, Popper melodically cried out and slapped his flippers together, moving with much more grace than before.

"I've never heard of anything like that happening before," Elio commented, sounding speechless.

Selene couldn't blame him. She felt the same way! "Me, neither…" That felt so special…

"Well, what happened?!" Ilima impatiently cut in from the sidelines. Selene snorted in morbid amusement as she noticed him pacing irritably at the edge of the platform. Someone near him hastily explained the situation to him, and he beamed in the vague direction of the stage. "Stunning! You have Hala backed into a corner! Well? Start calling out some attacks, go on, finish it!"

"Ha, not need tell twice!" Hau trumpeted. "Popper, Ice Wind!"

"Yeah, 'bout time this was done with, I guess," Elio cockily called. "Hey, Macho! Roar!"

"Bowtie, er… Razor Leaf, you know that now, don't you?"

Hardly waiting for their trainers' orders to leave their mouths, Popper, Macho, and Bowtie focused back on their exhausted opponent, and in unison, they fired off their respective attacks; Popper breathed a puff of chilling snowflakes, Macho roared in a far more intimidating way than its previous, squeaky yowl, and Bowtie lashed a wing out and leaves flew from within his plumage, striking the Crabrawler repeatedly over its weak frame.

"Ha! Well, I'll say you three won, then!" Hala uproariously laughed as he recalled the Crabrawler. Puffing for air, he planted his hands on his hips and shook his head. "What a Grand Trial, ae!"

As their pokémon celebrated amongst one another, Selene, Hau, and Elio similarly turned to one another and high-fived and whooped victoriously. Smiling at Hau, Selene was brimming with joy, and to him she beamed, "You were great out there! Your Fairy-type moves along with our Status moves? Made the battle go by fast and it didn't even have to be that violent! That was great, Hau!"

"Yeah, I'll admit, that was pretty great," Elio chuckled as he looked over Selene's shoulder. "Tough little opera singer you got there, dude."

Shying away from their praise as if unused to it, Hau grinned nervously. "Macho and Bow… Bowtie? Bowtie, ae, good too!" he exclaimed, awkwardly trying to shift the topic away from himself. "All evolve once! Work together! See?" he cried, pointing at their playing pokémon. "Do that all Island Challenge! Ae!"

"I'm sure you three want to celebrate," Hala teased as he shuffled past their pokémon, "but here, let me give ya some Fightinium-Zs and show ya how to use 'em before we forget! To show you've cleared Melemele Island!"

As the high of the battle started to ebb, Selene realized how caught up in the moment, in the battle, she had gotten. Almost alarmed by it, she just had to wonder: how could such a twistedly sinister tradition like this cultish Island Challenge be so, frighteningly rewarding when it went right? Intending to glance to Elio and chat to him after Hala finished handing out the Fighting-type Z-Crystals, she found he was down on a knee, vigorously petting Macho's head and his new, fluffier cheeks. She was taken aback by how genuinely delighted he seemed.

"You were so good out there, Macho!" he praised the pokémon in Kantonian, then retrieved his own Rotom Dex. Switching it to the camera, he awkwardly positioned himself against the wooden deck to get the perfect angle of Macho's face, then snapped a series of pictures. "Man, you look so cool. I could fill a whole album with just you…"

Maybe… maybe I'll talk to him about it and the visions and stuff later… she internally decided, unable to bring herself to ruin his good mood. Hala distributed the Z-Crystals, showcased the same pose he'd used in the battle against them, then had tiredly claimed that he'd had an eventful day and was going to turn in. Wishing them good luck with their parents (and reminding them he would let the Kahunas of the other islands know they were searching for them), he hobbled off the stage.

Turning to try to call Bowtie back so she could admire his newly evolved form, Selene squeaked in surprise when she found Hau practically in her face. "That was good, ae?" he eagerly pressed. "We celebrate, ae! Ever had malasada?"

"Have I ever… what?" she blinked. Half of what Hau had said didn't sound like Galarish at all.

"Have you ever had a malasada? That's what he was asking," Lillie amusedly clarified from behind her. Selene craned her neck to peer over her shoulder and saw Lillie standing a few feet away from the base of the wooden stage. "Hau lives off those things. There's a shop on the way to the docks, you know… But we should probably grab something that's actually food first, then malasadas." Rolling her eyes and crossing her arms, she smirked. "Can get us tickets for a ferry to Akala for the morning and then we can crash at the Pokémon Center down that way, too."

"That sounds like a nice idea, yeah," Selene answered quickly, feeling a little overwhelmed by Hau's excitement, Elio's uncharacteristic glee, and Lillie's kindness. Even so… at least it felt better than her earlier panic (or at least, she thought it did…). Although she wanted to be wary of the sense of contentment she was settling into, not wanting to allow herself to complacently believe her parents were just lost on Akala, she just… didn't feel that panicked. Sure, she was confused about the visions, but… Shaking away the disillusioning thoughts, she sighed. "Sorry, I think… I need some air, um…" Thinking of an idea, she perked up. "Oh, I want to talk to Ilima! Where's he?"

"I'm still here," he called from a distance.

Peering around Elio, she saw that he was leaned against the wooden stage now, though he wasn't looking in her direction at all. Slipping past Hau, Lillie, and her brother, Selene clicked her tongue for Bowtie to follow her and took a seat near the former Captain. Seeing the sunglasses over his face and noticing how tired and stressed he sounded planted a seed of worry in her chest, but she found his presence comforting, and she really didn't want to just never speak to him again just because he was blind…

"That was a great battle," Ilima warmly told her upon her approach, raising his chin vaguely in her direction.

"Ah, thanks," Selene ashamedly accepted his compliment, even if she were secretly questioning how he could have known. Even so… "Ilima?"

"Yes, Selene?"

"Thank you for staying… Even though you sound like you could sleep for the next week. And look like you could use it, too."

"Wouldn't have missed it for the world," Ilima pleasantly insisted. There was an uncomfortable stretch of silence in the conversation, and he shifted his weight between his feet. At last, he slowly admitted, "I… really wanted to know how the battle turned out… because I wanted to stay and thank you. I would like to thank Hau and Elio, too, but they sound like they're having a good time, and I don't want to ruin that… I wanted to thank you three for coming to challenge me yesterday even though you didn't have to… Everyone was acting as if I was already demoted long before today. It was nice to have some people not treat me like I was already deadweight." Even more quietly, he mumbled, "I'm just… sorry I won't be able to help you or your brother anymore. I really do hope everything turns out fine with your parents, and I really… hope that I see you all again."

"Of all the craziness I've had to get used to in the last few days," Selene laughed hoarsely, "you've been super helpful already. Don't think we'd have gotten through them without you, Captain Ilima." Her heart bled for the way he spoke as if his life were over. Deadweight. She had cringed at that word.

"Ah… it's just Ilima now, Miss."

She playfully (and gingerly, afraid of hurting him) touched her hand to his shoulder and smirked. "Whatever. You're a Captain to me."

"That's not…" he started, as if intending to dispute her claim, but after momentary contemplation, he merely nodded gratefully at her. "…Thank you again, Selene."

"Of course… See you, Captain Ilima. Now, go get some rest or something, for Arceus' sake," she snorted and crossed her arms. She almost laughed again when Bowtie clicked his beak at Ilima, as if for emphasis.

"Alright, alright," Ilima groaned. "I'll go." He failed to move, though, and embarrassedly asked after a halting moment. "Ah… Could you grab someone's attention and ask them to help me back to the clinic? I know you don't know where it's at, but one of them will… They want to monitor me for a while."

Flushing red as well—seriously, how could she have forgotten immediately that he was blind and would have needed assistance getting where he needed to go?!—Selene agreed, and hopped off the stage, waving to get a nearby woman's attention.

Maybe she was just judging Alola too harshly… Certainly, she still felt the Tapus were hardly worthy of the deification Alolans treated them with and that was a whole can of Dunsparce unto itself, but… Maybe her and Elio's knee-jerk fear for their parents and immediate condemnation of their infrastructure had been too hasty? After all, Ilima had been blinded by Tapu Koko, and yet, he held nothing against them. The Grand Trial against Hala had felt so good to do, and… she would begrudgingly admit, she felt as if it had drawn her, Hau, Elio, and their pokémon even closer.

Ugh, what a mess, she thought to herself as someone started to lead Ilima away. This whole place is just a mess. I don't even know how else to describe it. I might drive myself insane trying to understand it all. Glancing at Bowtie, she frowned. "Sometimes I wish I was kinda like you and didn't have the capacity to worry about whether the country I live in is horrible or not. 'Cause now I'm just gonna drive myself up the wall thinking about it."

Bowtie replied by preening some of his feathers and dramatically flicking the long leaf on his head out of his face.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Selene chuckled halfheartedly.

hi so I was possessed by the ADHD hyperfocus demon and literally did not sleep an entire night because I jus to get this finished, so if you notice any glaring problems with the chapter please let me know, but I picked through it several times over by now for the last 3 hours so it should be good lol. Hau at one point says "Ice Wind" instead of "Icy Wind" - this is intentional because of his bad(tm) galarish.

I feel like I've said this before, but in general, if Hau is speaking accurately, assume it's meant to imply he's speaking in Alolan, and if Elio and Selene are talking privately to one another, it's in Kantonian. I try to specifically point out int he story when they switch language to chat to each other but still, just fyi in case.

The fact the hyperfocus demon attacked me last night means that Im finally really getting invested in writing this story... so surprise ninja updates may be coming at you often soon. However, warning, reviews are being stupi right now and while I'm getting them in my email, they're not posting to the site. Don't worry, they'll post to the site in a few days, but yeah I like to warn readers whenever FFN decides to do that dumb shit. Feel free to leave a review/comment regardless, I love knowing what you guys think!