Chapter 17 - Arc 1 (Melemele Island) Of Shutters and Memes

Once the high of the victory had worn off, Elio had made good on his mid-battle threat to fight Selene over getting water, food, and rest. While Hau darted ahead of them into the heart of Hau'oli, playing with Popper as he went, Lillie idly explained that he was likely headed to a certain restaurant down the way with a name Selene couldn't have hoped to pronounce, and Elio declared that they'd be heading there, then—and that Selene would be getting some actual food and drinking plenty of water before they moved on. "I'm not a child," Selene had indignantly shot at him after a while, "I don't need you, Sir Picsalot."

"Mm, her sass game could use some work," Lillie dryly commented from a few paces ahead of them.

Snorting at his sister, Elio crossed his arms and knowingly smirked at her. His Rotom Dex hovered around his head and then abruptly, a lens on the back of it flashed, catching Selene off-guard. As she recoiled from it, Elio beamed, "Sorry, I told Roty to start taking pictures whenever you say something stupid. You'd be lost without me," he proudly sang, raising his chin and dramatically sweeping a stubborn flick of slate hair from his face. Adjusting his hat, he added, "I'll keep that picture to remind me of how you said you 'don't need me' whenever you come to me, mhm."

"How about you get a picture of this one?" Selene mutinously asked and then stuck her tongue out at him. To her shock, he didn't skip a beat and flicked her outstretched tongue. She yelped in shock and backpedaled, causing Bowtie to squawk and take flight from her head. "Gross, Elio!" she complained.

"I'm your brother, that's like my job or something," he teased, grinning mischievously at her. "Don't test me, sis, I win by default."

"You win what? The moron contest? I don't think anyone's testing you on that."

"If you two are done yet, children," Lillie announced, pausing in front of them, "We're here."

Admittedly, stopping at the restaurant and relaxing for a moment did ease her nerves. She had convinced herself that her parents were fine, lost on Akala, but fine, so she was no longer in a blind panic over that (though… she still was concerned about Kukui… she just pushed the thought of him away). Hau had put in their orders for them at the counter, and when he received his two malasadas he had ordered, he balanced one on Popper's nose, showing off Popper's impressive balance. To add to the effect, Hau laughed and tried to balance his on his own nose (which really just ended with it sitting on his face), and then he snapped his fingers. Popper successfully tossed his malasada up and caught it in his mouth, while Hau nearly dropped his to the floor, catching it with a squeak in his hands. Thoroughly a mess, he laughed as he looked back up at them, earning chortles from the rest of them and even their pokémon. Lillie handed Elio some napkins to pass to Hau, but Elio left them in front of him and snapped a picture of Hau instead.

"Hey!" Hau had protested. "Why—"

"You look like you were trying to take a bath in that malasada, why would I not take a picture of that?" Elio cut him off. "A guy's gotta have blackmail material!"

"I thought you specialized in pokémon and landscape photography," Selene pointedly asked him. "Stop tormenting Hau."

"Look," Elio said, expression and tone shifting to something more serious as he pressed his elbows to the table and lazily flicked the napkins to Hau at last, "Someone out there has got to provide all the meme-makers of the world with fresh content to meme on." Pointing at his Rotom Dex, he beamed, "I've willingly made this sacrifice." That earned him eye-rolls and groans from Selene and Lillie both.

"Hmm, maybe I can just get us three tickets for the ferry tomorrow morning," Lillie slyly mused. "Torchic can join us after he learns to swim."

To Elio's chagrin, Selene smirked at Lillie. "He does have this most adorable Eevee float that could help him swim there…" Lillie broke into giggles at that, and Selene tilted her head at the other. She just couldn't pin Lillie down. Most of the time, she seemed unapproachable, vulgar, and even outright cruel, yet, she also clearly cared for Nebby more than anything else in the world and admittedly, Selene had realized that, as she internally scrutinized her and Lillie's earlier interaction with Kukui, she didn't think Lillie meant them any harm. She was exceedingly rough around the edges, but that didn't make her dangerous. Well… as long as you stay out of her pepper spray radius, Selene thought dryly to herself.

"What… meme-maker?" Hau frowned, lost as to where the conversation had gone.

Elio gasped and clasped his chest like he had been struck in the heart. Macho, nestled between him and Lillie on their side of the booth, picked its head up and opened a single eye at Elio, then rested again, completely uninterested in whatever his trainer was panicking over. Looking up at Hau, who was seated next to Selene in her side of the booth at that point, Elio dramatically cried, "You don't know what a meme is?!"

"Uh…" Hau nervously smiled and stroked Popper as the Brionne squirmed its way into his lap. "No…?"

"Oh, boy, here we go," Selene mumbled.

"Oh, Hau, buddy, my man," Elio shook his head disappointedly. "We gotta show you some more of the world, my guy." Fishing his phone out of his pocket, Elio started to animatedly scroll it.

"We should really be heading for the Pokémon Center," Lillie complained, though she was smirking.

"No, the memeless heathen needs me," Elio insisted, waving her away without looking up at her.

Looking at his fingertips, Lillie raised a brow. "Wave your hand in my face again and I'll bite it."

"Ooh," Elio simpered and jerked his head up from his phone screen at that point, "I didn't know you were into that, Lillie! Learning new things about you already~!"

She just narrowed her eyes at him and Nebby offered a plaintive pew! from where he was snuggled into her lap. "Maybe I'll just pepper spray you again," she thought aloud in a sickeningly sweet tone, earning her a moody glare from Elio.

"What… is go on?" Hau asked Selene at last, turning that nervous grin to her. His uncertainty made Selene want to laugh, but she felt bad. He likely didn't understand half of the conversation happening around them and as much as she loved Elio's silliness, his false dramatics could be quite convincing at times.

"Don't mind him," Selene shrugged. "He's just joking around. That's his way of showing he likes people. He's about as straightforward about his feelings for people as a Meowth. Dad used to joke and call his name and when Elio came to see him, he'd go, 'Oh, sorry, I meant the Meowth… got your names mixed up there.'" That thought made her stop and think. Even though she had convinced herself again and again Mom and Dad were fine and on the next island over, she missed them so much already… She wished they could at least pick up their phones…

"He… like me?" Hau blinked dubiously. Face starting to light up, he went to ask, "Rea—"

"Hau!" Elio cut him off, eagerly thrusting his phone at Hau's face. "Look! Look!"

Selene couldn't help but crane her neck at the meme on his screen, which was a picture of Champion Lance in his stupid cosplayer-looking cape, compared to the young Champion Leon of Galar, who wore a somehow even gaudier and more perplexing outfit, topped with a cape. Then, a third picture below them was of a black and red shag carpet that looked suspiciously like both their capes. Bold white letters at the top read, "Who wore it better?"

"That one's old as the hills, Elio," Selene snarked at him as she chuckled in a way someone might do at a decent knock-knock joke. "You need fresher content—"

She was cut off by Hau giggling at the picture. "Even I know Champ Le-on," he said, laughing harder and harder. "That is meme-maker?"

"Nah, that's just a meme!" Producing sunglasses from his backpack he had hanging off his right shoulder, Elio grinned as he flicked them on. "I am the meme-maker. Fear me."

"You're such a clown!" Selene raucously laughed at last, causing Bowtie to shift on her head. "Oh, my Arceus, take those sunglasses off."

He crossed his arms and moved his hat so that the brim was off-center his head. "Nah."

For such a challenging start to their stay in Alola, Selene was starting to feel like it would all be okay, and as she failed to have anymore visions for the rest of the night, she started to write them off as mere accident thanks to the Alolan heat she was unused to.

Yeah, that made more sense anyway…

"I dunno if Guz or Plumes have said anythin' about me," Makua was mumbling to Gladion as they marched down the grassy path of Route 4, "but I've heard a bit about ya. Thanks for comin' with."

Not like it's that big of a deal, but alright, Gladion thought, fending off the urge to roll his eyes. Nobody had exactly threatened him into submission to tag along with Makua, Plumeria had just visited him at his motel and told him to head for some docks off Ula'Ula's western shores, and left a couple of Skull grunts that couldn't have been older than sixteen each with him. They had moodily looked him up and down, a Drowzee and an Alolan Meowth respectively at their sides, then curtly offered to show him to the 'Skull boat,' an unnamed, matte-black speedboat (apparently, they kept it as unmarked as possible and refused to name it so people wouldn't be able to locate it to vandalize the vessel; Ride Pokémon were also out of the equation for anyone affiliated with Skull, he had learned). He had gathered from them as they traveled that they were going to meet a senior member of Skull over on Akala Island and assist him in restocking some of Skull's 'medical supplies.' Skeptical, Gladion had raised a brow at one of the grunts, a girl, and snarked, "Medical supplies, huh? Is that how you say drugs around here?"

She had glowered at him along with her friend. "No, it's how we say medical supplies," she had retorted. "Clean your ears out, Blondie. We can't exactly go to the doctor 'round here, seein' as they'd sooner sic a Rockruff on us than treat us, but Makua got connections on Akala, so he hooks us up. Antibiotics, painkillers, band-aids, fuckin', allergy meds. It ain't that deep, cousin."

"And Makua keeps that shit locked tight, yo," her friend had shrugged. "Tells us he'll run our skulls together if we fuck with any'a his stuff, so…" He had crossed his arms and curled his lip slightly in annoyance. "And he's got a lock."

Now, standing next to Makua—who really looked like a thinner, ganglier version of Guzma, down to the mop of unkempt white hair on his head—Gladion understood a little better, but he was confused about one thing. "I'm an enforcer, it's my job to be wherever Skull needs me," he had flatly said in response to Makua's grateful remark, but as they stopped in front of a silvery sign partially hidden by overgrown trees, Gladion frowned. It read Pikachu Valley: Electric Paradise. "But what are we doing at Pikachu Valley? Isn't that a place for Challengers to come play with Pikachu or something? There's Trial Guides in there and everything."

"It is," Makua conceded with a dip of his head, though his hands and eyelids twitched and, indeed, his entire body seemed to constantly tremble, and he was always sniffling. Gladion didn't know what to make of that. It made him a very anxiety-inducing person to look at for too long. Made Gladion feel itchy. "But you'll see. Let that pokémon o' yours out now, just in case, though."

Gladion obediently tossed Type: Null free and clicked his tongue at him. "Null, by me," he called quietly, and the pokémon fell into place next to him. With that, Makua cast a look over his shoulders at their two younger Skull grunt tagalongs and waved an arm to tell them to follow. They marched into the space between the trees and found that on the other side, what appeared to have been the start of a canopy was really just a natural barrier to a brilliant grassy meadow, blemished only by a yellow trailer, painted poorly in the image of a Pikachu, in the far end of the grassland. A few people in green and khaki uniforms paced around it, but what really stole the show were the massive groups of Pikachu roaming the fields. A waterfall shrouded by trees on its shores seemed to be their favorite spot, as they gathered at the bank and lazily lapped at the water in between chasing one another playfully. Pichu skittishly skirted between their older brethren as well, shaky and unsteady on their feet, clearly still new to the world.

Makua led them further in, unbothered by the openness nor by the Trial Guides outside of the Pikachu trailer, and twitchily waved a hand once the Guides noticed them. A black woman with a wide, green sunhat was accompanied by a portly, paler man with dark hair, and both of them stared like a Deerling in headlights for a moment at Makua. At last, the woman uneasily clasped her hands together and hastily rushed toward Makua, Gladion, and the two Skull grunts. "You are Makua, yes?" she asked in rapid-fire Alolan.

"Mhm," he answered, halting in front of her. "Don't mind the numskulls followin' me. Safety an' all, that's all it is."

"I don't mind who you brought, we just need to make this quick," she briskly replied, sweeping a quick glance across Gladion and Type: Null. He noticed her eyes widen in shock and she looked like she wanted to say something, but she clamped her jaws and shook her head vigorously, turning away from them and marching back to the trailer. Whatever she had wanted to say, she had decided it wasn't worth it, and Gladion felt a flicker of satisfaction at that. Answering stupid questions over Null and getting people to see he was more than the monster they believed him to be was frustrating, and part of him almost believed they didn't deserve to know, anyway. Regardless, he thought that her flightiness made sense, given the fact she was a Trial Guide, but Gladion was still confused as to why she was helping them at all. They hadn't threatened her, at least not right then… perhaps Makua had done so in the past? He raised a brow at Makua, not that the senior grunt noticed, merely beckoning for him and the two grunts to follow him up to the Pikachu trailer.

The portly man side-eyed the group, sourly crossing his arms. He muttered something under his breath and the dark-skinned woman shot back out from the trailer with a trash bag full of what Gladion could only assume was the so-called medical supplies they were there for. She glared at her colleague and snapped, "Shush! You agreed, I don't want to hear it!" With that, she dropped from the trailer, a few Pikachu spilling out after her, and held the bag out to Makua. With a sympathetic half-smile, she tilted her head. "Here."

Snatching up the bag, Makua winked at her and nodded, a little too vigorously given the situation. All of his movements were so exaggerated, like a cartoon character. "Thanks, Mihu."

"Now get out of here," the male Trial Guide suddenly growled at them.

"Stop that!" Mihu spat at him, whirling to face him. "They're just—"

"Mihu, no. We'd all be better off if they'd just die off, already, and here you are giving them band-aids and shit. And I didn't so much agree as tell you that I wouldn't report it. I don't want you to end up like any of those bastards, but that doesn't mean I have to like it," her colleague hissed, cutting her off. He seemed to narrow his brown eyes at Gladion then, who got the sense that if looks could have killed, he would have dropped dead right about then. At Gladion's mildly stunned expression, he barked, "What? You got your stuff, now get lost, all of you."

Gladion wasn't sure where the surge of indignance and anger came from, but he curled a lip and went to advance on the Trial Guide, only to feel Makua bring a hand against his chest to stop him. His touch was shuddery and unpleasant, causing him to step back at the contact. "What?"

"Don't," Makua shook his head at him and then shook the bag with his other hand. "We got what we wanted. Don't go pickin' fights for no reason."

"But I'd win," Gladion bluntly protested, scowling at the Trial Guide again at that point. Better if we all just died off… He's lumping me in with them. I'm not even wearing their crap, just working with them… He realized then that his anger didn't come from just vanity, from being upset this man was saying such nasty things; instead, he came to understand there was a twinge of fear in the pit of his stomach. He had seen firsthand how awful people could treat Skull members—hell, three men had been quite ready to kill a child back on Ula'Ula—and this unbridled declaration of hatred had brought those feelings rushing back from that encounter. Without noticing, he had shrunk slightly closer to Makua and the two grunts at the Trial Guide's dark words.

"I know you would," Makua softly told Gladion. "But ain't no point in gettin' his pokémon hurt just for him to get us riled up. C'mon." Dipping his head at Mihu again, he said, "Thanks again, Mihu. You the best."

"Get lost!" the male Trial Guide repeated in something of a vicious snarl, drowning out whatever Mihu had tried to say. "Before anyone else comes in here and notices you fools."

"Better start learnin' to hold your tongue, gramps," the female grunt—Gladion realized he had never asked her name—snapped at him. She and her friend flanked Gladion and Makua then, defensively. "That's our homies you's threatenin' over here."

"Enough," Makua snapped at them. "Let's go." With that, he slapped the male grunt over the white beanie on his head and started to march for the entrance of Pikachu Valley. Muttering under his breath, he huffed, "Idiots… This is why Plumes deals with most o' ya…"

The display earned a whine from the grunt, and Gladion hated the way he had given an ugly snort of amusement at the scene. Shooting the male Trial Guide one last scowl, Gladion brought up the rear of their squad, Null following hot on his heels. The pokémon still occasionally stopped to paw and scratch at its mask, but he seemed mostly in a good mood, something Gladion was grateful for as he pondered what Makua had said. Ain't no point in gettin' his pokémon hurt just for him to get us riled up. The statement really blew Gladion's mind open as they started back down Route 4 and made him think about just how pointless so many pokémon battles could be… People getting pokémon hurt for their own vanity and gain under the thinly-veiled lie of 'getting stronger.'

He set his jaw. He would make no such mistake again. He would only battle if absolutely necessary, or against partners that were the same caliber as he and would help them grow stronger; beating down weaker opponents was wasteful and cruel on his part, otherwise. Looking up at Makua as they headed back for the Skull boat, Gladion felt a pang of something he didn't understand. A sensation somewhere between longing and mourning. After a few seconds of idle staring, he cursed to himself and shook his head. I can't be feeling attached to these idiots, can I? I just got here not that long ago! Plumeria lied through her teeth to Guzma just because she wanted to use Null! Half of them hate me and I can't get a single goddamn one of them to call me by my actual name instead of some nickname…

Null then accidentally stepped on his foot, drawing a talon over his shoe and up part of his shin. Yelping, he jumped away and caught himself at the last second from toppling over on his side. Glancing to Null, he saw the pokémon had bounced away from him, kicking at the mask on its head violently, the shllk-shllk! of its claws on the bronze metal sounding off across the route.

"Ay, Blondie, you good?" the female grunt called to him as she, Makua, and her friend stopped a little ahead of him.

"That mutt o' yours causin' issues?" her friend pressed, curiously peering over her shoulder.

"You're bleedin'," Makua gruffly interrupted, waving both the grunts away. "Here, let me help."

"I don't…" Gladion went to tell him off, but his voice died in his throat. The lanky man leaned down in front of him and wrenched open the bag Mihu had given him. As he lifted Gladion's pant leg (or brushed it to the side, really; Null's claw had split it open), Gladion let out a sigh he didn't know he'd held. "Thanks," he begrudgingly mumbled after an awkward pause. The word felt almost unnatural on his tongue. Null quit scratching at the helmet at last, and apologetically hung his head, slinking toward Gladion nervously. Though Gladion didn't say a word, he gave the pokémon a knowing nod. It's alright, Null. I know you didn't mean it.

"Don't mention it, numskull," Makua chuckled. "Your mutt's strong, but he's clumsy as hell."

"Not a mutt," Gladion murmured, tiredly, instead of the usual anger. "His name's Null."

"Well, Null's clumsy as hell, then," Makua corrected himself with a roll of the eyes.

Gladion snorted, wincing as he felt Makua draw a cloth over his new cut to clean it. "Better," was all he replied with.

Going to Akala Island the next morning had been a simple venture. Before Selene, Elio, Hau, and Lillie had turned into the Hau'oli City Pokémon Center for the prior evening, they had stopped by the docks and picked up enough tickets for the four of them the following morning. Despite the relaxing end to the day she had enjoyed, laughing and goofing off with her brother and their new friends (or whatever Lillie was…), Selene had difficulty getting to sleep, unable to put that nagging, depressed sensation over her parents' failure to answer her and Elio's calls and texts to rest. That was to say, the next morning, she had felt quite cranky and she and Lillie were not getting along nearly as well as they had the day before on the boat ride to Akala.

She was more than grateful when they arrived at the docks and, perhaps a little more rudely than the others would have expected, she wrestled her way to the front of their group and out of the ferry before them. Huffily crossing her arms, Selene waited for them. Why did I rush off like that? she thought with a twinge of frustrated amusement at herself. I still am traveling with them…

Lillie descended from the boat next, her trademark arm clamped over her bag and an amused smirk on her face. "Everything okay, Early Bird?" she asked Selene tauntingly.

Selene just looked at her. "So pissed," she practically hissed at her, despite the errant giggle at the end of her declaration.

"No, you're not," Elio loudly announced as he unceremoniously dropped from the stairs behind Lillie. He planted his hands on her shoulders and beamed at Selene from behind her comically wide sunhat. "You're just tired. If you had an Ability like a pokémon, it'd be Insomnia. Do you ever sleep?"

Blinking, Selene looked away from them and shook her head. "So pissed!" she repeated, despite the smile pulling at her lips. Hau paraded from the boat then… and instead of walking down the stairs to the docks like a normal person, he hopped the banister and landed with a thud!, wobbling feet, and a set of flailing arms desperately trying to regain his balance.

"Land ho!" he announced once he caught himself and proudly pressed his hands to his hips. Popper launched himself from the boat's railings then, too, and stuck the landing on Hau's head by a single flipper. Scooping him off his head, Hau hugged him close and laughed.

"You're all full of energy for such an early morning," a sultry female voice laughed at them. Selene whipped her head up to see a tall, fit woman with dark skin and soft, wispy, deep brown hair staring back at them. A younger girl with long, green locks bounced happily from foot-to-foot at her side, but Selene was completely uninterested in her, eyes locked onto the leanly muscular woman instead. Dozens of necklaces with various charms and stones in them adorned her neck and each of her limbs were decorated with likewise bracelets. She was stunning, and Selene couldn't get over how… taut and beautiful she was. Her arms fell from their folded position and just stared. She was quite suddenly speechless.

She was also completely unaware as Hau bounded up next to her, grinning at her expression. Apparently, her instant fascination with the woman ahead of them transcended all their communication and cultural differences. "Ay," Hau snickered, "close mouth, 'fore Cutiefly flies in." At that remark, Selene had just puffed her cheeks in annoyance at him. Briefly, she thought it was strange that he would remark so openly about that… Perhaps it had been crude of her, but she had assumed most Alolans wouldn't be so accepting of a girl showing such blithe attraction to another girl. Then again, Hau seemed a little odd, anyway. You know what they say about assumptions, Selene, she thought to herself resignedly.

"Alola, Kahuna Olivia, Captain Mallow," Lillie greeted the two women in a much more formal tone than they had been speaking with a moment before, though she didn't remove her hand from her bag to wave at the newcomers. Elio opened his mouth to say something and, as if it were a sixth sense to detect that he was about to say something stupid, Lillie elbowed him in the gut. He doubled over and opted to simply wave a hand at their new friends.

Snorting, Olivia—Selene didn't think she needed pointers to know the taller woman was undoubtedly the Kahuna rather than the spacey-eyed girl at her side—cocked her head to the side and performed the Alolan handwave. "Alola, Lillie. Did Professor Kukui ever manage to find a shirt to match that labcoat of his?"

"Nope," Lillie shrugged. Mocking his voice as best she could, Lillie puffed her cheeks and snidely announced, "'Shirts don't last long in my line of work!'" Shaking her head and returning her voice to normal, she carried on, "Anyway, I know, you're probably wondering why I'm here without him…"

"No, he told me you'd be arriving with some friends," Olivia coolly cut her off. She shot Selene a winning smile, but at Selene's staring, seemed to shy away slightly. Selene felt her cheeks surge with the heat of shame. Maybe her assumption hadn't been so off the mark, after all. "Welcome to Akala Island, Selene, Elio, Hau. My name is Kahuna Olivia. I'm the youngest of the Kahunas, but I'm no pushover. Akala has the most trials of any of Alola's islands. I look forward to battling you three in Konikoni City when the time comes. I wanted to come say, 'hi,' and let you three know to ask me or any of the Captains any questions you might have…" The way she trailed off uncomfortably made Selene wish she could have melted and slipped through the cracks of the dock and into the ocean below her.

Elio, however, seemed ignorant to the social cues happening around him. Catching on to the fact Selene had been momentarily enamored with the Kahuna, he started to laugh at her, obnoxiously so. For once, Selene was grateful when Lillie groaned and exasperatedly chimed in, "These two clowns do have something they would like to talk to you about, contrary to how they're acting would suggest. Selene, didn't you want to ask the Kahuna here about your parents?"

Frowning at her, Selene knew she was right, but she just felt such a violent mix of petty annoyance and embarrassment at being asked to talk to Olivia after the awkward, silent exchange they had already shared. Selene had made a terrible first impression, indeed. So pissed! she thought again in mild frustration. Turning a sickeningly sweet smile on Olivia (and briefly waving at Mallow as she attempted to introduce herself), Selene clumsily stuttered, "H-hi—Alola, I mean, uh—we—my br-brother and I are looking for our parents. They left a weird note and said they were coming to Akala, but we haven't been able to get ahold of them on the phones, and…"

"Huh," Olivia's expression fell to concern, and she shifted her weight, making the muscles in her legs ripple for a moment, and then she nodded thoughtfully. "Well, if you tell us a description, I can let the Captains here know. We have Captain Mallow here, but also Captain Kiawe and Captain Lana. They all would be happy to keep an eye out. I work in Konikoni City, too, which has the most immigrants in the region…"

Selene was rather grateful when Elio decided to take over in the description of their parents, because so much of what Olivia had said went in one ear and out the other. When he did that, Selene was able to gather her thoughts and internally fumed at herself. She is a Kahuna! Also seems way uncomfortable with your gawking! You hate this place! You and Elio are gonna get your parents and you're gonna leave and never look back and—ugh, Selene, your parents are literally missing, get it together! As if Bowtie might help root her into the present somehow, Selene tossed her Dartrix's Poké Ball, grateful for his presence atop her head. There, now I look as much like a birdbrain as I feel like, she internally joked.

"No feel bad," Hau whispered to her, making her jolt in surprise as he wrenched her from her thoughts. He flicked his gaze to Mallow, and nervously smiled. "She nice, too…"

"You… are so not like anyone else here, are you?" Selene asked him after a delay, privately grateful to have him there right about then. Man, this is so not my morning.

Hau clicked his tongue and dropped his gaze to the ground. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he cheekily chuckled. "Oh, you no idea…"

Is platonic fluff a thing? I have no idea. Anyway, this was supposed to be a lighter/funnier chapter that got us to Akala Island, lol. I am sorry not much happened in it/if it seemed awkward. I rewrote it like 3 times before saying screw it, this is how it's happening, hahaha.