Chapter 18 - Arc 2 (Akala Island) New Divide

"Well, like I said, I can look around Konikoni and alert the Captains," Olivia ended up saying at last once Elio was finished explaining the situation to her. With that, she had said goodbye and apparently, intended to leave it at that. A little shocked, Selene had almost instinctively lunged forward and lightly grabbed Olivia's arm, despite her embarrassment, and cut off the Kahuna's path to leave.

"W-wait, that's it? There's nothing else you can do?" she blurted. Upon Olivia's bewildered stare, she flushed red and explained. "I mean, don't you have… I don't know, a way of making flyers, and putting them up around, or…?" Sighing, Selene rubbed her temple. I know they don't have actual police infrastructure, but they have to have something, right? Hell, those stupid pictures on the side of milk cartons would still be something!

To her questions, Olivia almost violently flicked her wrist against Selene's hold, wrenching her hand free easily. Selene squeaked in surprise when Olivia's skin pressed tightly against her palm just as she was pulling free, however; her skin didn't feel… well, it didn't feel like skin. It felt oddly cool to the touch and almost… hard? Blinking at her hand, Selene wracked her brain, trying to figure out if she had merely imagined it in the milliseconds that her and Olivia's hands touched. Yet, it would seem Olivia had mistaken her blushing, grabbing of the hand, and fascinated stare for something else entirely. The Kahuna put her hands on her hips and unsavorily scowled at Selene. She surreptitiously rubbed the wrist Selene had grabbed against her shorts as if dusting something unpleasant from herself.

"You're more than welcome to put up flyers if you wish," Olivia muttered, "but I'm not sure what else you would like me to do…" Grunting and shaking her head, she huffed, "Now, I've… I've just got to go. Mallow, come on, let's go."

Captain Mallow, who had been very quiet so far, frowned at Olivia. "I haven't even gotten a chance to introduce myself properly! You talked all over me, bigmouth!" Grinning mischievously to herself, she tucked her hands behind her back and rocked her weight from foot to foot playfully. "Are you sure that's not the power the Tapus gave you? 'Stupid loud voice?'"

"I'd hurt you for that remark, but you can't heal yourself, and unfortunately, I need you to perform trials," Olivia snarked back at her in a dreadfully dry, low voice, but the smirk on her face and the way her posture loosened from the fleeting conflict with Selene betrayed she wasn't really upset. Dramatically sighing, she shrugged. "Alright, fine, but I'm going to head up ahead some…"

Momentarily distracted from her shame, Selene blinked in surprise. 'You can't heal yourself'? She tilted her head slightly at Mallow. So, she can heal things…? That's… actually really cool, wow…

Waving enthusiastically as Olivia started to walk away, Mallow called, "See you soon, Olivia!" Turning her attention back to the group, she beamed. "Hi! I'm Captain Mallow of the Lush Jungle. Been a Captain for a while now, and I couldn't help but notice… it looks like the three of you only have one pokémon on you?" She raised a brow. "I hope you've got more than that when you come to take me on!"

"Ae!" Hau responded right away, with a vigorous nod of the head. "Catch more on Akala, for sure!" Popper playfully squeaked at the Captain, and she giggled, leaning down to cock her head at the Brionne and stroke his head.

"He's pretty cute," Mallow almost sang. Then, with a sly grin Hau's way, she bounced back to her full height and shot something in Alolan at him. To that, Hau laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. Selene thought he might have been blushing, but she found it hard to tell… Regardless, Mallow then shrugged and put her hands on her hips, too, looking to Selene and Elio. "I'll keep an eye out for those missing parents of yours, but I doubt they'll be anywhere near where my trial's at. Still, building up your teams and strength a bit before carrying on with that mission seems like a good idea! Never… hurts to be cautious, y'know? My trial's a bit up north, by the way."

Selene didn't care for the way Mallow licked her lips after saying that, as if they were dry. "Yeah… Thanks, anyways…" I guess. Even though Olivia got too squicked out by me to really help beyond 'Oh, yeah, that sucks…' Do they just really have nothing? She glanced to Hau, Elio, and Lillie. The latter two assented Mallow, who twirled on a heel and started to practically skip away. Still can't shake the thought that maybe Alola's 'we all help each other here, cousin!' rhetoric is because they have to, considering there are so few safety nets…

"More pokémon not bad think," Hau mumbled as he intently stared after Mallow.

Lillie rolled her eyes at him, but said, "No, that isn't a bad idea… I was thinking about heading into town here to change up my look some, though, and I thought you two"—she paused and flicked her green eyes between Elio and Selene—"might want to look around Heahea and see if you can find anything on your parents."

"Change up your look some?" Elio raised a brow at her and a playful grin started to spread across his face. Yet, before he could fire off whatever he was thinking, Lillie put a finger in front of his face.

"Don't even. Remember those Dulse and Zossie people?"

Elio scrutinized the finger she was holding in his face, looking almost offended. "Yes," he pointedly answered, pushing her hand away. "What about them?"

Sounding as if she was annoyed at having to explain, Lillie huffed, "Well, they want me, and they want Nebby, so if I change up my appearance…"

"Oh!" Elio exclaimed, slapping a hand over his forehead. "That makes sense, yeah!"

With that settled, Lillie quickly wandered off into the city, ahead of the rest of them. They watched her vanish into a boutique at Elio's insistence. "Just in case," he had said to Selene and Hau's puzzled expressions. Selene wasn't sure what he thought would have happened to her in the five minutes or so it took her to get to the boutique down the busy city street, but she decided not to fight him on it. Following that, they decided that asking around about her parents couldn't hurt, and Hau once again offered his services in translation (however questionable they were, they were still better than nothing).

Selene found that Heahea was considerably large and as they explored and spoke to locals, they found a shiny tourist center, which informed her that, despite Alola's closed-off nature in recent decades, Heahea was founded originally by people from Kanto and Johto. She almost couldn't believe that. Alola's traditions and atmosphere was just so different, and Heahea was a far cry from the cramped, sterile architecture of Kanto. Then again, she supposed that in the past, it wasn't like that back in Kanto-Johto either… Strict building regulations and remodels had changed Kanto-Johto's cityscapes in the last decade or two, or so Selene had read—before she was born, at any rate. According to most texts, though, she had gleaned that Kanto was once enchantingly naturalistic, with little separating cities and towns from the hinterland, and pokémon and people frequently crossed paths (for better or for worse). Although it had sounded beautiful, it had also sounded so, so dangerous, knowing that a wild Nidoking or Ninetales could have wandered freely into the heart of a city. Not to mention, how such a society had allowed Team Rocket to bloom and fester, almost completely uninhibited at first… Remembering how dangerous their trial at the Verdant Cavern had been and thinking about how encouraged it was here to let a pokémon walk at its trainer's side, not to mention the Skull Gang members that had been openly harassing Lillie in the middle of a city, Selene grimaced. Maybe she could see how part of Alola had come from Kanto-Johtonians… they just seemed frozen in time, somehow.

Despite their efforts, they found nothing on their parents. Nobody had seen anyone that fit their descriptions, nobody had seen a Kantonian Meowth—absolutely nothing. Considering Heahea was the port city for Akala, that was a devastating blow to Selene's confidence, but she refused to panic. It wasn't as if they had talked to every person in Heahea, after all, and people could forget! Just because nobody they had spoken to had seen anything didn't mean nobody at all had. With a shaky sigh, she had suggested they return to the boutique to wait for Lillie, and Elio had defeatedly agreed. That had surprised Selene; he didn't sound anywhere near like himself. She gave him a strange look and he merely stiffened his shoulders and scurried ahead of the group, Macho trotting lazily after him on the sidewalk.

"He okay?" Hau asked her suddenly, holding Popper precariously on his shoulder. Selene raised an eyebrow at that, and he laughed. "Ah, road… road hurt flips." He pointed with his free hand at Popper's flippers to explain. "So, carry for while."

That's what Poké Balls are for, she thought to joke at him, but she decidedly kept that to herself. Pondering his question, she ended up just shrugging. "I don't know. He's been all kinds of moody since we moved here… Not that I blame him," Selene wearily huffed. Maybe he's taking not finding anything about them hard… "But… probably not a good idea to ask him about it." Weakly attempting to joke, she snickered, "He gets all sweaty and weird."

"He already sweat and weird," Hau snorted. "Is hot here."

"It really is, but still," Selene loudly groaned, then she paused. "I envy you. You've had like, almost two decades to get used to it."

"Yet… still not," Hau chuckled, wiping the sheen of sweat from his forehead for emphasis. "Is still hot! Trust!"

Suddenly, Popper barked from on his shoulder, and Hau flinched as a flash of yellow climbed his body as if he were a tree. He skidded to a halt, catching the attention of Elio ahead of them with the scraping of his sandals, and he and Selene then realized that said flash of yellow was a Pichu—and it was now perched on the top of his head, nestling into Hau's thick hair. Selene snorted ugly laughter at the scene—the three of them, standing on the sidewalk, Hau with a Brionne on his shoulder and Pichu on his head, her with her Dartrix on her own head, and Hau was looking over himself vigorously. "What is?" he asked nervously, apparently not noticing said Pichu. When he went to open his mouth to ask again, clearly unamused by Selene and Elio's giggles and grins, his hair started to puff up with static electricity given off by the little pokémon.

"Hau, I know we agreed we should get some more pokémon, but you didn't have to show us up like that," Elio teased, the earlier, crushed tone gone. "Wanna introduce us to your friend?"

Popper barked at the Pichu and Hau seemed to finally understand what was going on. He blinked and looked up, cautiously reaching with his hands to grab at the Pichu. When his hands made contact with it, however, a crackle of electricity arced across his arms and down his body, and he yelped, snatching the pokémon from his head and clutching it tightly to his chest, stuffing his hands behind its tiny body as if to hide them—which caused Popper to unceremoniously tumble to the sidewalk with an indignant squeal. To top off the spectacularly clumsy display, Hau grinned wide. "What can say? Pichu like me! Hah!"

Pichu have so little control over electricity… How did it shock him like that? Selene fleetingly thought but banished it as she giggled and shook her head. "Good Arceus, Hau, are you okay? It shocked you good!"

Dark hair now puffed up to easily twice its usual size, the hair in his ponytail sticking straight out, Hau seemed to grit his teeth as he vigorously nodded. "Ae, all good is me!"

At that, Lillie's voice abruptly interjected from behind the group. "I'll say it likes you for sure, Hau. Weird, though, Pichu are usually really skittish unless they find something that can help them control their electric shocks…"

"Lillie!" Elio exclaimed before he and Selene turned to face her. "We were just coming to catch you leave the—whoa…"

Selene intended to ask her what she had meant by that about the Pichu, but any such thoughts were lost as she gasped in shock upon spotting Lillie. Honestly, the only way she recognized her at all was by the familiar bag she had slung over a shoulder and her familiar, suspicious green eyes. Otherwise, she looked like an entirely different person. A soft, pale green pair of shorts and off-white, sleeveless shirt replaced her former pristine, quaint white clothes, and her glossy, white sunhat had been traded in for a similar one in light green, matching her shorts. Deep green sandals replaced her former silvery slip-ons, too, but the biggest change was in her hair. No longer was it a vibrant blond that spilled over her shoulders, with braids at the sides; now, her hair was wavy and a pale, soft brown, and all of it was down, over her back.

Hau poked his head in between Selene and Elio and gawked, too. "Lillie? That you?" he called breathlessly after a second.

"Yes, I went and changed up my appearance so you could all stare at me like an alien and give me away, anyway," Lillie snorted, putting her hands on her hips. With a flicker of amusement, she asked, "What, is it really that bad?"

"No!" Elio blurted immediately. "No, no, I like it! Just, didn't expect it was all—"

"I was teasing, Torchic. For someone that lives off sarcasm, you're bad at picking it up," she almost sang as she winked at him, then, she turned on a heel.

"H-ha, right…"

"So, you guys wanted to get a little stronger before heading south to Konikoni, right? Well, the trials are up north, I think. Lush Jungle, Brooklet Hill, Wela Volcano Park—find a greenshirt around and they can help you," Lillie carried on, ignoring Elio after that point, who shuffled uncomfortably after her. "I was thinking Nebby and I could wait at Tide Song Hotel until you're ready, because I was going to ask if you could help us get to the Ruins of Life on your way."

"Greenshirt?" Selene echoed, frowning, too caught up on that detail to notice Elio's discomfort. "Ruins of Life? Tide Song Hotel? What?"

"Oh… the people in the green shirts and khakis. They're actually called Trial Guides, but greenshirt is easier and gets to the point," Lillie snickered as she paused again, allowing the other three to catch up to her so they could keep speaking. "They're usually hanging out near Pokémon Centers and sometimes on the routes themselves. They're supposed to help out Island Challengers as they travel around or something like that. Anyway, the Ruins of Life…" Lillie shakily sighed. "They're actually Tapu Lele's den."

Hau jolted from beside Selene. "You? Tapu Lele den?" he practically yelped, eyes wide.

"Yes," Lillie answered matter-of-factly. "I told Nebby I'd find out what I could about him, and I know he's different from usual pokémon, so I'm thinking that there may be something in the dens… And Tapu Koko helped save Nebby."

"I was there, too, I guess," Selene sarcastically interjected, rolling her eyes. At Lillie's pointed look, Selene put up her hands in surrender. "But please, do continue."

"If Tapu Koko saved Nebby, then the Tapus might like him," Lillie explained. "If they like him, then maybe he has something to do with them. Visiting the ruins can only help… But I can't get there on my own, as much as I hate to admit it. So, would you mind taking me once you're headed that way?"

"Why not just travel with us…?" Elio questioned once she was done, furrowing his brow. "I mean, you came with us around Melemele, and we can defend you if anything too crazy starts going down…" He perked up and grinned. "I'd like to think I handled those Zulse or Dossie or whoever they were pretty well!"

"Dulse and Zossie," Lillie corrected him with an errant giggle at the end, "and yes, you did, but…" She uncertainly shifted and then hung her head. "I mean, Nebby's been in the bag a lot, and you have your parents to find…"

"What's any of that got to do with anything?" Elio innocently pressed. "It seems we'd be traveling a lot more this time, I'm sure there's private spots along the routes to play with the little space cloud. And yeah, but having you along would help us try to find them, I think…"

Bluntly, Lillie huffed, "I'd just slow you down because I have no way of defending myself."

Wincing, Selene withdrew from her a little. She has a point, Selene thought to herself guiltily. It's not right, I don't agree with it, but in a place like this where there's just… so little to help people out except for the pokémon and people immediately with you, having someone who's only defense is a can of pepper spray maybe isn't the smartest choice… She thought back to the Gumshoos in the Verdant Cavern, and how she was certain, if they had lost, things could have gotten ugly fast. Drifting on a tangent of thought, she urgently thought to herself, Arceus, we really need to get more pokémon. Bowtie is nice and all, Popper and Macho are great, too, but they can't handle everything…

Yet, she couldn't find it in herself to vocalize such worries, too embarrassed over how rude it sounded to try to tell someone they would just be a burden, and Elio took it upon himself to adamantly disagree. "No, you wouldn't just slow us down," he protested, stepping closer to her. "And what if anyone comes lookin' for you in the hotel? What'll you do, then? I mean, I'm guessing the hotel at least has some kinda security and people would help, but…" He almost whined. "Please? Come with us?"

"Elio," Lillie complained, "seriously, just—"

"Ple-e-ease?"

"Ae, what Skull go hotel?" Hau chimed in, sidestepping Elio, and standing to his right. In a tone that Selene couldn't pinpoint as amused or sad, he mumbled, "Some probably sprayed so much it not hurt… and Skull steal. Steal Nebby." He pointed at her bag. Although she had a hard time deciphering what he meant, Selene concluded that he was trying to tell her that Skull members could easily attack her in the hotel, as they could anywhere else, and potentially steal Nebby.

Glancing between Elio and Hau, Lillie eventually just shook her head. "Alright, alright," she laughed softly, in a much kinder voice than usual. "I… I'll come with…" She awkwardly fiddled with her new hat. "Ah… thanks, you two…"

"Ay! See? Selene, right? It's better if we're all together, yeah?" Elio threw a look over his shoulder at his sister, looking so, so hopeful.

Selene, however, just stared expressionlessly back at Lillie. "Yeah, of course," she emptily replied, despite vehemently disagreeing. Not to mention, she certainly didn't like the idea of those 'Dulse and Zossie' people potentially tracking them… Lillie had changed up her appearance, but was that how they had found her in the first place? She flicked her gaze briefly to Lillie's bag. Or is the 'little space cloud' a homing beacon for them? Then again, how would they not have found her before now…? It seems like she was living with Kukui for quite some time…

It was a moment before Selene realized Lillie was giving her the same look back, as if to silently tell her she knew exactly what she was thinking. Embarrassed, Selene jerked her head to the side.

"Let's just get going," Lillie mumbled, sounding oddly hurt. "I can help with the map to steer you to the next trial… there will be plenty of wild pokémon between here and there for you guys to catch…"

As Lillie took the lead, Elio practically merrily skipping at her side, Selene was a mess of worry. Hau fell into step beside her, still holding the Pichu. She chuckled at that. "So, I'm guessing you've already got yourself a new friend, then," Selene weakly joked. She still felt bad about Lillie, even more so now that she thought Lillie knew she'd have preferred her to have simply gone away to the hotel, and she hoped chatting to the goofy Hau would ease that sensation some.

Looking down at the Pichu, Hau shrugged. "Guess," he laughed. As if to emphasize his point, the Pichu squeaked and rubbed its face affectionately against Hau's shirt… which produced a small electric shock, but he shrugged it off as if it were nothing. "Name her Ikehu. Will catch soon."

"Ikehu?" Selene echoed. "That's a pretty name…" Alolan words are just kind of pretty in general, though… almost musical.

"Ae," Hau beamed. "Ikehu help with Lana! Water trial!"

Selene sighed. I want to catch some more pokémon, but I really don't want to do the gross 'beat them until they can't resist and then chuck a Poké Ball at them' routine… But the only other ways are super time consuming, and we don't have a lot of time. I don't have time to go befriending a feral pokémon and hoping for a critical capture, we've got to find Mom and Dad… Surreptitiously eyeing Elio ahead of her, Selene just shook her head, thinking about how Lillie could endanger them all, then about how Selene herself had apparently disgusted Kahuna Olivia into not wanting to do much more to help them… What a mess. All of it, she thought wearily. And Elio is just head over heels for Lillie and… I feel like I can't talk to him about any of my thoughts, because he might just freak out. He likes her and hasn't really had anyone else aside from me, and…

She decided to bite her tongue and shrug away the thoughts. Worrying herself to death certainly wouldn't help anyone.

So FFN is doing this fun thing where it's not letting me submit new docs for some reason, so I'm having to just replace the content of old submitted docs with new chapters... that's going to be fun to try to remember to fix whenever it decides to let me upload new docs.

Anyway, this chapter was also very annoying, ack, but next chapter will be sorta montage-y and also will feature more Skull, so hopefully that'll be more interesting! I'm excited to get near the end of Akala island :eyes: