Chapter 24 - Arc 2 (Akala Island) Run Wild

"No."

Gladion jolted in surprise at Selene's abrupt response. She couldn't believe she had actually pondered what they were saying for a moment. She was angry at Elio, Hau, and Lillie, but she wasn't about to go joining the local gang to express that! Moreover, she had no idea what new troubles doing so would bring, and she had more than enough problems for the moment. That would be like joining Team Rocket during a fit of rage! It felt too hard to think right then, even, and here they were trying to recruit her like Mandibuzz! Panting for breath, as the air on this mountain was so hot and arid, she found it hard to breathe, Selene glared back at the three Skull members surrounding her. "No. This has nothing to do with any of you. This is personal. Me, myself, and I. That's why I'm alone. Nothing more, nothing less—I'm still looking for my parents." Focusing on Gladion then, she huffed, "And you're not going to win me over in thinking I should just abandon that, so get lost."

The two grunts muttered to one another, but Gladion raised his hands and wearily sighed. "Suit yourself." Pausing, he gnawed his lower lip momentarily. "The trial up ahead is with Captain Kiawe. He's a Fire-type specialist and a temperature manipulator. If you don't have something that can deal with Fire-types well, there are some Cubone around who might help… And be careful of resting in any grassy patches. The Salandit are venomous and they're everywhere in the grass."

Selene narrowed her eyes at him and shook her head. "Why are you trying to help me? What do you care?" You were raving about how family is pointless and so on before… I thought that meant you were a pretty heartless person… so, what are you doing, Gladion? Who are you?

Seeming to think for a long, hard moment, Gladion shrugged in the end. "I guess I just don't like to see someone else put themselves through the grinder for family that probably doesn't care about them, anyway." When Selene bristled with intent to snarl something back at him, Gladion cut her off. "I've been where you are, believe it or not. Telling myself they care and that if I just behaved differently, everything would get better, and it'd all go back to normal one day." He crossed his arms tightly and clenched his jaw. "Trust me, I don't think it'll work out as well as you're wanting it to."

"Then I'll prove you wrong, too," Selene sharply puffed back at him. She felt so light-headed… Hysterical, was probably a better term to describe what she was feeling, but she was too exhausted and physically drained to show it. "I'll prove you and Elio and Hau and Lillie all wrong."

Gladion lurched and looked as if he had seen a ghost, given the way his skin paled and his expression turned unreadable. "L-Lillie?"

"Leave me alone!" Selene shrieked at him, uninterested in whatever else he was about to say. I just want to be left alone for a while! I can't even hear myself think with everyone else in my head all the time! Sometimes, literally! Bowtie caught on and he flew at Gladion, squawking and flaring his wings widely in a threatening display.

"Glad!" one of the grunts hissed. "We got company! Lookin' like Kiawe's headin' down this way!"

"Fine. Stay here, then," Gladion quickly shot down at her. "See what I care." With that, he turned on a heel and gestured for the two grunts to follow him, then they all bolted downhill of the mountain.

Warily, Selene glanced to where the grunts had been looking before. Trekking up the mountainside had been far harder than she had imagined—not that she had exactly ever hiked up anywhere before—and she was afraid of what else might happen that day. She realized then just how tired and beaten her team was… She had hardly gotten her Sandshrew to battle, thanks to the massive typing disadvantage he was at, and so, Bowtie was her primary defender, and he was missing huge clumps of feathers and his breathing was raggedy with exertion. Her Miltank egg occasionally twitched and she thought that meant it would hatch soon, but even then, she knew it wouldn't be worthwhile in battle for a while yet afterward. Overwhelmed with the turbulence of the day so far, when Selene caught sight of the dark-skinned man heading her way, she just leaned her head down on the egg in her grasp. What am I doing? I don't know what to do without Elio. I know that. I can rant and rave all I want about not needing him or figuring this out on my own, but can I? I'm a wreck without him… and… and I miss him already…

"Is all okay?" the man asked once he reached her. Peeking just over the top of her Miltank egg, Selene noticed he had a couple of pokémon trailing behind him. She blinked as she saw that they looked eerily like Marowak, but… they were singed black and teal, otherworldly flames burned at either end of their bone clubs. Without any prompting, her Rotom Dex buzzed a few times and hovered free of her, circling the man—Kiawe, she assumed, based on what the Skull members had said—and his odd Marowak. Before Selene could answer him, he saw the Rotom Dex and his face lit up. "Oh! You one of Kukui's Challengers! Look tired and hot…" he frowned and tilted his head at her. "Ah… is all okay?"

His Galarish was a little broken, but not nearly as badly as Hau's. Selene just shut her eyes and looked away from him. "Just stellar," she mumbled. "I'm just tired… I'll rest a bit here and then I'll head up to challenge… oh. To challenge you, I guess. You're the Captain, right?"

"Ae," Kiawe nodded and smiled warmly. "Captain Kiawe is me. Was taking walk after practice with Marowak…" He gestured to the pokémon behind him and they perked up, twirling their bone clubs excitedly. "Keep eye out for Skull Gang, see, and challengers like you." He snickered a bit then. "Lot of challengers, ah…" he trailed off, apparently searching for a word. "Oh! A lot of challengers underestimate mountain, ae. Let help you. Would be happy to take on one Kukui's hand-picked Challengers with Rotom Dex."

…he's a Fire-type specialist and a temperature manipulator… Selene nervously looked up at Kiawe. Despite the kindly look on his face (and even then, what did that mean? Everyone else there seemed capable of lying through their teeth), it intimidated her to think he could just… alter temperatures around himself. At least, that was what Selene had assumed Gladion had meant by 'temperature manipulator.' Yet, he suddenly pressed a palm to her shoulder, and closed his eyes. She stiffened uncomfortably as she felt the heat in her body slowly begin to dissipate. Although she was begrudgingly appreciative of that, her mind ran wild in a panic as she fretted over him touching her, worrying about what distressing vision she might see this time—which, ironically, her panic only seemed to induce said vision.

Yet… this one didn't seem quite as distressing as others she'd seen. It was much shorter than the previous ones she'd endured, and all it showed was Kiawe, looking perhaps a little younger, training with Kahuna Olivia. It seemed she was trying to help him learn to control his temperature manipulation. She had a Lycanroc at her side (or at least, Selene thought that was what it was; it looked different from Kukui's, though) that would nose rocks closer to him, and Kiawe would then press his left palm to them. Olivia would tell him about what temperature she wanted it to be, he would do his best to get it there, and Olivia would then raise a thermometer gun at the stone, reading the actual temperature back at Kiawe.

Blinking in confusion once she found herself back in the present, Selene realized she hadn't even zoned out long enough to concern Kiawe. He removed his hand from her shoulder and then clapped his together, as if satisfied with his work. "Should feel better now," he explained with a winning smile. "Hmm… have Potions or anything on you?"

Selene sulkily looked down. "I used them all on Bowt—I mean, my Dartrix, getting up here…" I brought a Grass- and an Ice-type to a volcano. I'm a genius.

Kiawe laughed to himself as he pulled a shoulder bag to attention, digging through it for a moment. "Have any other pokémon on you?" he asked idly as he selected something from the bag.

"A Sandshrew," Selene mumbled halfheartedly. "This egg… That's it."

Raising a Super Potion toward Bowtie, Kiawe raised a brow at her. "And… you heading to my trial?" He uncapped it and shook it some, then sprayed the Dartrix unceremoniously with the fluid. Bowtie indignantly fluffed his feathers and opened his beak as if to complain, but soon soothed by the healing spray, he relaxed and settled down next to Selene.

"…Yeah," Selene forced out. Thinking fast, she sputtered, "B-but I was going to try to catch one of the Cubone around here, first. You know? I just… uh, haven't had that much success yet."

"Here," Kiawe cheerfully suggested as he rifled in his bag some more, soon producing three blue and yellow Poké Balls from it. "Kinipōpō Wikiwiki. Ah, Quick Ball, think is how you know it. Throw before attacking—might surprise you and catch without having to battle!"

Awkwardly accepting the gift, Selene stared at the Quick Balls in her hands for a moment. "Oh, wow… thank you… At least, back in Kanto, these are pretty expensive… You're just giving them to me?"

"Friend of Kukui is friend of me," Kiawe explained, standing proudly, and laying his right hand over his heart. It was the same gesture she had seen Hau make a few times before. She wondered if that meant anything, like their Alolan handwave… "If all better now, I should go make sure Skull not causing any trouble down mountain…" He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Always trouble with them. Will be back at my trial site soon, though, promise! Hope to meet you there!"

Deciding she didn't care to comment on that right then, Selene just nodded slowly. "Thanks, Captain Kiawe…"

With a friendly wave at her, he started back down the mountainside, his fiery Marowak trailing behind him. Her Rotom Dex informed her they were yet another Alolan regional variant. For a moment, she sat there to gather her thoughts, and she abruptly frowned as she mulled over what Kiawe had said. 'Friend of Kukui is friend of me…' I still think Kukui's a Rattata, and didn't Lillie say not many people liked him on Melemele? He lived off in this shack, too… and was so unhelpful about Mom and Dad… Groaning to herself, Selene put her head in her hands. Whatever Kukui wants me and my brother to do on this Island Challenge, Kiawe must be in on it. Great. Then he wasn't exactly helping me out of the kindness of his heart, was he? Of course he wasn't. Who the hell is, here?

Scanning the terrain around her, Selene noticed a patch of grass ahead rustling, and then a Cubone poked its head out. Steeling her nerves—so, what if Kiawe helped her for that? He had still helped her and she still had to beat him!—Selene quickly started to pack away her Miltank egg again, urging Bowtie to follow her as she slunk closer to the Cubone. Stalking slowly toward it, she readied one of the Quick Balls, and then hurled it at the pokémon's head. It was sucked inside with a flash of white and then the ball clattered to the rocky ground, rocking back and forth violently.

These islands would not beat her.

Ascending Wela Volcano Park's trails was just as difficult as Lillie had made it sound. Elio was panting and struggling for breath within the first hour, and Lillie wasn't doing any better. Hau seemed to be the only one with the endurance to handle such a climb, but Lillie eventually called the group to stop, admitting that she just couldn't go any farther for the time being. That was how it was up the entire mountainside, and they had hardly made it a quarter of the way up before nightfall. The most concerning part for Elio was that they never caught sight of Selene in the entire time they were there. Somehow, she had either gotten farther than they had already, or they had been wrong about where she had gone.

As he assisted Hau with getting a makeshift campsite out of some supplies they had bought back in town set up for the evening, Elio's mind raced with endless possibilities. He knew he was just working himself up for no reason, it wasn't as if there was anything else he could do then, he and Lillie were just too exhausted to carry on, but he couldn't help it… When they finished setting up the tent and unraveling sleeping bags and the like, Lillie offered to make some sandwiches out of the food supplies they had taken with them, but Elio refused.

Hau huffed at him. "Need eat. Cannot exact climb mountain without that."

"I just can't eat when I'm so worried," Elio complained loudly. "I've been texting and calling her, and we haven't seen her at all, and… and…"

"Elio… it's okay…" Lillie quietly tried to reassure him. "The trek up this mountain is awful, she's probably just resting somewhere a bit up ahead…"

"But I don't think she even had supplies like all this," Elio protested, side-eyeing the tent, "so who knows where exactly she's resting, and there's those Salandit everywhere…"

There was a short pause before Hau stood up. "I go look."

"What?" Elio and Lillie both asked in unison, jerking their heads to stare at him. Elio blinked fervently and shook his head, tacking on, "Aren't you tired…? And you want to go… alone?"

"I can protect self," Hau insisted, "and am not as tire as you and Lillie. But…" he trailed off, shifting uncomfortably. "Can keep Popper here, and Macho come with? Water-type better against Fire-type. Lillie no pokémon. If take Popper, you have just Macho, Vulpix, and Mudbray. Mudbray and Vulpix not train yet, Fire- not good against Fire-…"

It took Elio a moment to decipher what Hau meant, but afterward, he nodded vigorously. He wants Macho because Popper can defend Lillie and me a lot better in case anything goes down… I mean, I hope he'll be okay with just Macho and his Pichu, though… "Yeah, sure, of course…" Elio reluctantly agreed in the end, his worry for Selene guiltily winning out over his concern for Hau. "Macho?"

The Torracat was lazily sprawled against the stone nearby, and at Elio's call, he just slowly blinked at his trainer.

"Macho, can you go with Hau for a bit?" Elio asked, gesturing to Hau animatedly. Hau bent to his knees and patted them, clicking his tongue. Seeming to catch on to what they wanted, Macho jumped up, stretched, and loped over to Hau. He glanced to Elio expectantly, who insisted, "Macho, I need you to go with Hau, please… listen to him and keep him safe, okay? Popper's gonna stay here to help us out."

The Torracat didn't look like he completely understood, but when Hau shared a few words in Alolan to his Brionne, Popper turned to Macho and clapped his flippers together a few times and barked eagerly. Macho jolted in apparent surprise, cocking his head, and mewing back at his friend. Popper nodded, seemingly satisfied, and then waddled closer to Elio and Lillie, settling on top of Hau's sleeping bag in the opening of the tent.

"Okay. Should be all," Hau said at last. Waving excitedly at Elio and Lillie with the signature Alolan handwave, he beamed, "Okay, I go ahead now. Will head back before long. Alola!" Clicking his tongue at Macho, he bolted uphill, and the Torracat sped after him, kicking up dust and stones in his wake with his powerful, clawed paws.

"This is all such a mess," Elio whimpered after Hau and Macho were out of earshot, practically hugging himself as he sat there just outside of the tent. Although the air had cooled significantly with the evening, it was still hot, and he felt horrible from the stresses of the day. His head throbbed with the beginnings of a headache, his breathing was heavier than usual thanks to the exertion of earlier, and his muscles ached from traveling so much in the last two days, but none of that matched the way it felt as if the insides of his chest were churning. More than all of that, he couldn't believe he was speaking so openly with Lillie now, and he was internally yelling at himself for not resorting to the practiced, tried, and true jokes he knew would lighten the mood. Yet, despite the internal beratement, he kept spilling his guts anyway. "I knew it'd be bad i-if I was found out, but I didn't…" Shivering, Elio started to look around, at the volcanic mountainside they were camped out on, at Lillie, at Popper curled up in the opening flap of the tent. "I never could have expected anything like this, like how moving here's been…"

Lillie shuffled closer to him, her bag abandoned for the moment (Nebby had apparently escaped it and, with an errant squeak at the both of them, he dove into the tent, wagging his arms at Popper and enticing the Brionne to play). Elio froze as Lillie tentatively clasped her right hand to his left, drawing him back out of those thoughts. She nervously looked up at him with sad, green eyes. "It's… it's okay…" She sighed and looked away from him then, staring absentmindedly at the tent. "I can't know what you or Selene have to be going through… Not exactly, but I can imagine… It's nothing to be ashamed of, you know."

"Yes, it is," he whispered, a small voice in the back of his head urging him to shut up, but he just wouldn't listen. He just couldn't listen, could he? Ever. All he could hear were the things Selene had said to him… "I don't know how, and that's almost the worst part of it all. I was so stuck in my own head, I just… I don't even know how this all happened, y'know?" He pulled his phone free of his pocket and even though there was barely a signal up on that mountainside, he tried texting Mom and Dad again, and idly scrolled through the dozens or so of messages he had left them since their disappearance. He chanced sending a new one to Selene, then, too. Lillie noticed and she squeezed his hand gently, surprising him into staring at her.

"My father disappeared quite a while ago," Lillie started softly, looking him dead in the eyes. Her grip was steady on his hand—not hard enough to hurt, but enough to keep him rooted in the present as opposed to getting too lost in the whirlwind of his own thoughts. "After he disappeared, my mother… was not the same. She… she hated me. She hated my brother. I thought if I just… if I just did what she wanted, if I just took it all in stride, it would get better. That never happened. I let her get between me and my brother… Gladion. The blond guy from Skull."

Elio's eyed widened. "That… was your brother?" Mortified, Elio groaned. "The same guy I told to shut his damn mouth. Joy." Grinning anxiously, he rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry…"

"No, it's okay," Lillie snorted. "He was absolutely out of line, with that pokémon of his attacking Selene…" She paused. "I don't know what that pokémon was… I don't know why he joined Skull Gang, really… After the accident with my father, we didn't talk much."

Elio cocked his head to the side, curious, then. "Lillie, I… don't think I understand… what happened?"

Lillie chuckled. "It's a long, long story. I don't think I even understand." She abruptly leaned a little closer to him then, nearly pressing her shoulder to his, and his breath hitched in his throat for a second. "So, settle in Torchic, 'cause this might take a while… but after, I expect you to explain some things. I've gotta say, I think there's more to that story about the Ekans than you let on."

He winced at her last sentence, but a part of him was shocked to hear it. So, Selene didn't tell them in the end…? Looking over his unobstructed shoulder for show to cover his internal, scrambling thoughts, Elio dryly teased, "Don't worry, I don't have anywhere better to go." He looked back at her and tauntingly asked, "So, what's the story, milady?"

"…Hah, 'milady?' Are you for real?"

"Oh, come on! Story time me!"

"Okay, Torchic. Here goes…"

Hau just hadn't been able to sit still, knowing that Selene was still out there, thinking he disbelieved her and on her own. That was what kept him motivated despite the burning in his muscles and lungs, and he had asked for Macho's assistance partially so Lillie would be safer, but also so that he had a pokémon that wouldn't be as bothered by the rugged, hot terrain as Popper would be. Macho was also far more mobile than Popper was.

Despite their search for Selene, though, Hau found himself running alongside the Torracat and simply having fun racing him to the next segment of trail up the Wela Volcano Park mountainside. It felt so wild and free, ironically, despite the high stakes of the situation. Macho was energetic and seemed to lavish Hau's challenge (not that he was much of one; Macho easily outpaced him at every turn). After forty minutes or so of darting ahead, looking around, pausing to rest, rinse and repeat, Hau was panting for breath and he flopped down inside part of the mountainside's cavernous trails. Macho darted closer to him and playfully batted at his orange sandals. Pokémon could be so much fun… Hau sighed. He knew why it seemed everyone in Alola saw them as merely safety nets to protect against wild pokémon and the nefarious Skull Gang, but he wished it weren't that way. Macho seemed like tons of fun even outside of battle.

When they got to moving again, Hau was discouraged within the next twenty minutes when he found no signs of Selene anywhere. It was quite dark by then, and despite the daytime's blistering heat, it was starting to get quite cold. Halting and looking up the winding trail of the mountain, Hau thoughtfully ground his teeth. Glancing back over his shoulders and down the mountain as well, he huffed. "Macho, part of me wonders if she actually made it this far up, or if we passed her," he murmured in Alolan to the Torracat. He fell into step next to him and raised his head, purring. Smiling back down at him, Hau snickered mischievously. "I wonder if we could get her to come to us?"

Macho cocked his head back up at him, then tensed as Hau raised a hand up to the sky. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "Here goes nothing…" He concentrated hard on that raised hand and electricity, coursing yellow arcs over his chest, raced up his arm and turned red as it neared his fingertips. A scarlet bolt launched to the sky and settled once it reached the inky blanket of stars overhead. The red, glowing orb turned blue and brightened the entirety of the mountainside as if it were a small sun.

Hau, panting from the exertion, beamed up at the result of his labor. Despite all his fear of his ability, all the fear that came with keeping it a secret… in the rare moments whenever he did get to use his control of electricity, it was beyond satisfying. It was even fun. There was something just so primally enjoyable about it all… Was it pride, what he was regarding that electrical sphere in the sky with? He didn't know, but he did know that he needed to get away from where that bolt of lightning had shot from his fingertips. Selene wasn't likely to be the only person camping out on Wela Volcano Park, and others could come to investigate it aside from her, so he decided to hide and make it seem as if he had come to check out the strange light in the sky the same as them… unless Selene came alone. He had a few things he needed to say to her.

Hunkering down in the bushes nearby, Hau tried to call Macho back to him as well, but the Torracat hesitated, standing there, and staring at the crackling sphere above them. It washed his fur in a sheen of blue and he sprawled out below its light lazily. Hau ended up just shaking his head and leaving him to it. The sphere wouldn't be there forever, and he was sure if he really needed to, he could call Macho back—

Just as he was thinking that, a volley of bladed leaves shot from the shadow behind a jagged rock projecting from the ground nearby, and struck the craggy earth near Macho's side. He immediately was on his feet, hissing and bristling his fur at the source of the attack. Hau stumbled clumsily from the grass and readied Ikehu's Poké Ball, ready to fight if he needed to. "Who there?" he snapped, suddenly wary and keenly focused. As fun-loving as he could be, he knew the dangers of losing one's caution completely in Alola's wilds.

To his shock, Selene stepped free of the shadow behind the rock, Bowtie landing on her shoulder and a Cubone nervously trotting after her. "Hau?" she hissed, squinting against the bright light overhead. "Is that you?"

"Selene!" Hau exclaimed, stuffing Ikehu's Poké Ball back into a pocket. Macho relaxed as well, purring loudly as he rushed closer to her. "Tapus, am glad see you! We need talk!"

Yet, when Macho neared her, Selene took a decisive step backward and called for her Cubone. Macho stopped in his tracks and confusedly tilted his head up at her. Hau, too, faltered and swallowed hard. "Selene, am not here for fight," Hau begged, "please, listen! I wrong before! I do believe—"

"I'm not interested, Hau!" Selene spat, narrowing her eyes at him. "Why do you have Macho? Where's Elio? Where's Lillie?"

"Back camp," Hau answered dutifully, hoping his cooperation might ease her nerves. Gesturing vaguely behind him, he explained, "Lillie not able walk so much. She and him tire. I go ahead try and find you. And I did!" He bounced excitedly from foot to foot for a second, then dryly swallowed. "Listen… You have Captain power. Or… Kahuna power, even," he laughed nervously, "but I lie before because need not tell any about this…"

Macho yowled then, at Bowtie, it seemed, and the Dartrix just stared back down at him unblinkingly. Shaking his head in apparent disbelief, Macho sank his claws into the rocky earth below himself, and the fiery pendant around his neck flared to life, fire spitting out either side of it as he snarled at Bowtie. Hau couldn't speak the language of pokémon, but even he could recognize that Macho seemed to be demanding Bowtie to see sense, to not just blindly follow his trainer's fear-driven knee-jerk response to the day's stresses. Selene tensed at Macho's display and, although hesitant at first, Bowtie slowly spread his wings and then took flight, landing beside the Torracat, chirping away anxiously.

"Bowtie," Selene swallowed hard, "get back here, please…"

Macho's pendant settled down again and he rubbed his face against the Dartrix, who wrapped wings around his friend affectionately.

"Selene…" Hau shook his head and pleadingly looked her over again. "I know you hurt. I know… scared." He dared to move toward her, and, to his surprise, Selene didn't dart away again. "'Cause I been there before. Have Captain power and have no idea what do next… I was wrong… But, can do this together. See?" He stopped and gestured to the crackling orb of azure light above them. "That? Was me." He took a deep breath and concentrated hard on his hands again. Arcs of golden electricity zipped over his arms and across his palms before flickering out of sight altogether. "But not point. Point is… I know is scary, and… Alola good at making everyone scared. But do not have to be scared. Let us help…" As if sensing the rebuttal she'd have ready, Hau added, "Elio want help. He hear you ran alone, and make us come find you. He worry. We all worry. Let help… please?"

"You… you have one, too?" Selene all but squeaked, frozen in place. Her eyes were as wide as saucers.

Thinking he had started to make progress, Hau nodded. "Ae. See? Not alone. Do not have be alone. Let us help—"

"How many of you are lying?!" Selene burst, stomping a foot fiercely. "Fucking Arceus, I just—I—…" She trailed off into a growl of frustration and grabbed fistfuls of her hair with either hand, clearly beyond frustrated.

Taken aback, Hau blinked rapidly. "I… I not understand, Selene—"

"Then understand this," Selene interrupted with a hardened glare focused on him, "I don't know what's going on here on these islands, but I beat Kiawe earlier. I'm tired, I'm pissed off, I'm tired of everyone lying around here, and I'm going to beat these trials, find my parents, prove to Elio they didn't abandon us, and then we're getting out of here! And I don't need you to do that!"

"Stop!" Hau shot back at her, steeling his voice. Her sharp words hurt, but he knew the source of them. He remembered how he felt as if the very ground had been jerked from beneath his feet when he had discovered his power, and Selene's was far more intrusive than his… It seemed she had little control over the 'memory jumps' she had described. There was no telling what she had seen beyond what she had told them. Yes, her anger, her vitriol, it hurt, but… he didn't want to give up on her. Not yet. "Selene, think this. Islands make people scared! You are scared! Want to be scared? Or want to prove it wrong?" Scrambling, he frantically tried to think of a way to translate his next thought. "You all about… all about make things fair. Right? If act like this… if play by their rule… you show that this is right. That way Alola work is right."

That seemed to get her attention. Feverishly blinking, she curled a lip and sneered, "What are you getting at?"

"If come with us, if let help, if we find parents, if beat Island Challenge, maybe… maybe we change how all works. But cannot do that if you lose self for… for fear. Please," Hau desperately begged, gesturing to Macho and Bowtie, both of whom were staring back at her with equally as imploring gazes. "Look them. Look me. Think Elio. Do you want live by Alola law, all fear? Or you want to find parents and make all you know to use?"

The electrical orb above them started to falter. Hau knew that it wouldn't last long, and it cast odd shadows and glints of light over Selene as her body sagged and she slowly sank to the ground. "…No," she whispered at last. "No…" Tearing up, she whimpered, "No, I don't want to do it all this way, Hau…"

Relieved, Hau trudged toward her, feeling as exhausted as she looked. He nodded vigorously as he dropped to his knees in front of her, cautiously offering his hand to help her up. "Okay… We help, then." He smiled weakly at her. "Is what Alola should be about…"

A few tears streaked down her face and she wiped them away, nodding slowly. "That's what I thought it would be about… that would be so much nicer…" Crying harder, as if a dam had broken, she withdrew her hand from his to cover her face. "I'm sorry, Hau, this place has just been a nightmare, and now I have no idea what happens next. I'm so scared to know what happens next… and Elio… I just…"

"Is okay…" Hau insisted, settling into place next to her instead. Macho curled up beside him and Bowtie landed next to her, nudging her apologetically with his beak. He awkwardly looped an arm around her shoulders. "Will be okay…"

She bawled for a few minutes, and he was caught entirely off-guard when she spluttered, "Thank you, Hau…"

"Of course, Selene… Is friend."

At first, he thought she had merely fallen silent in that she was trying to calm down, but then he noticed the dazed look on her face. He blinked and waved a hand in front of her. When she failed to react, he winced and quickly unraveled his arm from around her, scrabbling at the rocky earth to get away from her.

He had just managed to talk her down, and then, given her another vision. Perfect, he thought sarcastically. I have no idea what she's going to see and she's already super upset… I'm sorry, Selene… I forgot…