Chapter 25 - Arc 2 (Akala Island) Walk Me Home
You may have noticed I started tacking on "Arc #" before the chapter titles above on each chapter. I'm doing that now because I've finally come to terms with the fact that Ultra Sun is just turning out to be way more massive than I gave it credit for during the planning phase and publicly admitting the arcs will be better so that readers understand the pacing a bit better. The SM/USUM games were just... HUGE and so this story will probably be the same LOL, with each island having its own "arc" or "saga" attached to it. I expect Ula'Ula will probably be the longest, but Poni may also be pretty big so who knows. Anyway, yeah, that's that I guess lol.
Looking out one of the windows of the Skull boat over one of Akala's deserted beaches, Gladion sighed. It was dark and he, Makua, and the two grunts had returned to the vessel for the evening to get some rest, but he couldn't sleep. His stomach felt like it was doing flips and he couldn't place the emotion that had him gnawing at his lip and idly plucking at his hair, even though the latter made his scalp ache. He now knew Lillie was on Akala, same as him—she was still in Alola and likely with the Cosmog his mother wanted so badly. Not only that, but he had been looking right at her, and he had failed to recognize her. That alone was a bizarre feeling. Certainly, he and Lillie hadn't spoken much prior to her disappearance, and they often went days and days without even seeing one another, but he would have thought he'd have recognized her even if she changed her appearance…
In retrospect, he had thought at first that he wished he would have yelled at her, made her aware of all the misery her actions had put him through, but the more he fumed on it, the hollower it felt and he soon lost that steam. She looked so different and he had no idea what she was up to, still in Alola, traveling alongside the two Kantonians and Kahuna Hala's grandson. Moreover, he didn't look that wildly differently from when she had last seen him, so he knew she had to have recognized him, and she had said nothing. That was what killed his anger more than anything. It was so hard to be angry and want her to suffer for what she had done when it seemed she didn't care to begin with. No amount of venomous words would mean a thing if she had decided she simply wasn't bothered. After all, she had seen him, attempted to lecture him on family—despite knowing where they had come from!—and then left it at that without another word. It all felt so… so pointless.
He heard shuffling and he jolted, glancing over his shoulder in time to see Makua picking his way across the cramped, dark internal quarters of the boat. The two grunts were still fast asleep on bench seats further in. Fidgeting, Makua pulled a small box of something free from his pocket, and then glanced to Gladion. "What's up?" he whispered, fitfully tapping the small box against his left palm.
A little too gruffly, Gladion muttered, "Nothing. Just can't sleep." Even though you had us hiking all over the damn place the last… I don't know, I lost track of time. I should be exhausted. And keeping those two grunts from hurting themselves might as well be a full-time job. I'm a fucking nanny.
"Mm. Well, you're in the window, so move it," Makua yawned, flopping down on the bench seat beside Gladion. He unceremoniously scrambled to get out of his way, and Makua flicked open the circular window easily, to Gladion's surprise. He then opened the box in his hand and Gladion screwed his nose up as he recognized it then as a box of cigarettes… or so he thought, anyway. The oddly sweet smell that came after Makua used a blue lighter on the stick made him second-guess his conclusion.
"So… uh, that window opens," Gladion awkwardly mumbled, unsure if he wanted to question whatever it was Makua was doing. Part of him was bitterly amused, remembering how the grunts had ragged on him for assuming they were into drugs only to have Makua, clearly a higher-up in the gang, clearly involved in something. Suddenly, Makua's general twitchiness and gaunt frame made so much more sense.
Snorting in amusement, Makua flicked the not-quite-a-cigarette and ash flew off the end of it and out the window. "Chill, it's just Exeggutor leaf extracts. Calms ya down and makes ya feel nice. Easier to go to sleep. No funny business, I swear."
Raising a brow at him challengingly, Gladion snarked, "Doubt everything you're into is that harmless, though, is it?"
Makua pressed his lips to a thin line, then sighed. "Nah. Can't lie 'bout that," he answered with a shrug. "Don't mean nothin', though." His lip twitched and he added, sharply, "I still do what I'm s'posed to, Gladion."
Looking away sharply, Gladion closed his eyes and yawned. Frankly, he wasn't interested in getting into a discussion with Makua about it. More than that, it felt strange for him to use his actual name, when everyone else in Skull seemed determined to use some nickname all the time (which confused him, as he hated the nicknames…). So, why did Makua using his actual name seem odd?
He just wanted to go to sleep and hopefully, they'd return to Ula'Ula the following day. Not only did he know about Lillie now, but that girl—Selene… She frustrated him on a primal level. She and her brother would suffer if they continued on their mission to find their parents and hell, it seemed as if Selene already was suffering, but they still refused to give up, on the virtue of 'family' alone. He understood it, but it was still depressing to have seen her, ragged and beaten down, adamantly insisting she knew what she was doing.
Oh well. People could be fickle and complicated. Side-eyeing Makua as the grunt raised a hand to cover his mouth prior to coughing uncontrollably, Gladion clenched his jaw. He suddenly missed his motel room and wished he could get back to simply trying to pry that helmet off Null. The boat simply had far too close quarters for his comfort and it bothered him, not being able to release his pokémon to rest at his side for the evening (Makua had said he didn't trust Null and that the boat was just too small).
Hopefully, tomorrow would be better, far away from Lillie and Selene both…
Panic at realizing she was enduring another vision quickly lost out to the rampant feelings of her current vessel in said vision. Considering Hau had chanced pulling her closer by wrapping an arm around her shoulders, Selene knew it had to be a memory of his, and that she was now at the mercy of his emotions there. Unlike others she had faced, this one started off intense; she was, once again, in the arms of Tapu Koko, and it felt as if every feeling under the sun coursed through her veins. Anxiety, anger, fear, sheer sadness—she had no idea what had transpired prior to the memory she was viewing, but whatever had happened, it had been awful. She felt a wave of dismayed anger as she noticed the pokémon was blasting between trees in a forest, away from something she desperately wanted him to return to. It felt as if she had lost something… Tapu Koko jumped high into the sky, landing with a thunderous boom at the wooden platform in the center of Iki Town. The force of it all knocked the wind from her lungs and Tapu Koko unceremoniously dropped her to the stage.
There, Selene curled into a ball, clamping both arms over her face as hysterical tears poured. Tapu Koko chattered in its loud, warbling cry, the mohawk on its head flaring upward; peeking through the gaps between her fingers, Selene noticed that he looked oddly exhausted. His body drooped and his breathing was haggard. Scuffs and scrapes marred him, and his shelled arms had been deeply gouged, cracking the right one down the center painfully. From that slashed, shaky arm, he dropped a glinting, yellow Z-Crystal against the stage.
Yet, that was where the vision diverged from the norm of simply showcasing someone's dark past to her. The messy, unpleasant feelings in her chest, undoubtedly from Hau in whatever horrific event this was, faded and she found she could control her own movements. Cautiously peering down at her hand, she watched with a bolt of fear as Hau's darker skin was traded for her own, somewhat paler complexion, and with a nervous glance down the rest of herself, she watched as her body morphed from Hau's to her own shape. Looking up, she found Tapu Koko still staring at her, still looking as exhausted as before, and they were still atop the wooden platform in Iki Town. No locals had come from the wooden houses, which made the village eerily lifeless. It was downright unnerving… Dreadful, she distractedly thought.
Tapu Koko then spoke. The words were clearly in Alolan, but somehow, she understood the melodic, foreign phrases as easily as if they were spoken in her native tongue. Narrowing beady eyes at her, he said, "I need you to be brave."
She just blinked at him and, slowly at first, shook her head in disbelief. "Be… what? Be brave for what…? What's happening?" She shrank away from him and clasped her hands together, her palms sweaty and warm. It dawned on her then this was no longer a memory. She wasn't merely jumping into someone's shoes in a distant time or place, and that thought was petrifying. What did this change mean? When would she go back to the present? …Would she return to the present at all? "What's happening? Th-this isn't how it usually goes…"
"The people and even some of my sisters and my brother here in Alola have forgotten why we have the systems we do in place," Tapu Koko calmly continued, bouncing closer to her. Selene bent her legs, as if she expected to be able to outrun him if he intimidated her any further. "I used as much of my power that was gifted to me long ago as I could at once to grant you this rare trait… I will not be of service for a while. I choose you, Selene, for Alola needs fresh blood and fresh views…" He faltered, having to catch himself with the shells over his arms, and looked up at her, trembling with the effort. "If we stay the course we traverse now, Alola will become little more than a memory like the ones you view. I need you—"
"I don't understand!" Selene shouted back at him, cutting him off without quite realizing it in her hysteria. Backpedaling away as she crossed her arms tightly, she shook her head violently back and forth. "No! No, no, no! I don't know what this is, or what's happening, but I'm not part of it! Why are you trying to make me part of it? What kind of pokémon even are you?!" She closed her eyes and thought back to how nice it had been to have Hau sympathizing with her, to see Bowtie's anxious expression, to hear Macho's determined yowl—proof that, despite all of the fear she had felt recently, others did care. Hau might have lied, but he had also found her, and deep down, she felt as if he weren't lying this time around. His previous insistence that it was merely the heat getting to her had sounded so out of character… His pleas for her to calm down, his willingness to showcase his own power and share his story with her—that seemed much more like the Hau she knew. She missed Elio, too—she'd never yell at him again if she could simply get out of this horrible, waking nightmare, and she'd never give Lillie anymore hardship for not understanding her. If this was punishment for being judgmental and harsh, then she'd walk the line of a saint for the rest of her days. Anything to just stop this and keep it from ever happening again!
"Selene…? Selene, please! You… alright?"
When she opened her eyes again, she found she was back with Hau on that volcanic mountainside. Tapu Koko was nowhere to be seen. Bowtie and Macho both were at her feet, staring up at her with wide, frightened eyes; Hau stood farther away, hands stuffed into his pockets, but he, too, looked anxious and scared. She blinked at him in a daze and he swallowed hard. "Ah… am sorry," he mumbled, "I… forgot, somehow, for second…"
"It's okay, Hau…" Selene choked out, finding her throat was scratchy and sore. She winced and drew a hand over her face. Although she had intended to wipe sweat free of herself, she found her cheeks were wet with tears. Looking down at her shoes, she almost hauntedly asked, "What happened… while I was out…?"
Hau scuffed a shoe against the earth. "Was sitting at first… after few second, jump up and shout… Start, uh, start cry…" He uncomfortably trailed off and she glanced up in time to notice his arms tense. "What… what did see?" he dared to ask despite not meeting her gaze.
"I saw Tapu Koko carrying you back to Iki," Selene whispered. "H-he put this… yellow crystal down, on the wooden platform, with you. You… you were very, very upset…" She grimaced and started to tremble at the rest of the vision, which had clearly not been a memory at all. It chilled her to the bone to think about what that meant. In retrospect, her panic over worrying she'd never escape it again seemed silly, but at the time, it had felt a very real possibility… It had seemed Tapu Koko was trying to tell her something, but if she were being completely honest? She didn't want to know. Whatever he wanted her to do… surely, if she refused to do it, he would find someone else, wouldn't he? She couldn't truly be his only hope, or whatever it was he had said, right? That would be madness! "After that," she continued after her brief pause to think, "it… it wasn't a vision, anymore. It was something else. Unrelated to you, I'm pretty…" She faltered as she noticed Hau had started to pale, and he was looking straight at her then. Or perhaps through her would have been a more accurate description.
"You saw… Tapu Koko give crystal…" He took a shuddery breath and nervously laughed, breaking the tension in the air as he came back to life. Rather than standing like a frozen statue at her story, he animatedly waved his hands and then turned around, shoving them back into his pockets then. "Ah… know, we should get back camp. I explain on way… ae?"
"Guess that's as good a time to explain as any," Selene wearily responded. Guiltily, she felt as if she wanted to tell him to keep it to himself, whatever it was, because she didn't want to have anyone else's story thrust upon her again. But she knew she couldn't do that. She had made such a huge deal over them 'lying…' She felt a rush of anger with herself. Maybe, instead of just being so furious and confused that people had 'lied,' she should have understood that there may have been a reason everyone wanted to keep certain secrets. Maybe that was what she was being punished for as well? Had Tapu Koko somehow known she was so annoying in regard to secrets, and had cursed her to understand everyone she came into contact with, to see how long it would take her to break under the pressure? Was that his sick game? After all, whatever had happened after her look into Hau's past didn't necessarily have to mean anything. For all she knew, that was just her mind fracturing under the stress… For example, she didn't understand Alolan. It was too dreamlike to suddenly understand a foreign language like that! …Right?
Shaking away those thoughts with a brisk flick of her head, she went to follow him, and her legs felt like lead. Surprised, having not expected the heaviness, she tripped over her own feet and it was Macho and Bowtie that caught her and kept her from landing on her hands or face. All the senses in her body seemed to come alive at once and she groaned roughly as she staggered back to her feet. "Fuck, everything aches," she complained. Hau cast her a look as if he wanted to assist, but hesitated, clearly unsure. "It's fine, Hau," she puffed at him, "I'll be fine, don't… don't touch me again, please… I'll just probably walk slow…"
"Okay…" he answered timidly. Assured she was okay after a moment or so, Bowtie followed Macho as he trotted ahead, after Hau, and once Selene found her footing, she shuffled over to Hau. He started to trudge at a slow pace, then, as if consciously trying to keep them from moving too fast so as not to overwhelm Selene.
"So, I explain now," he mumbled uncomfortably. "Vision saw was me… at eleven. After lost parents."
She cringed at that. To be brutally honest with herself, she just didn't know what to say to that right then, and so… she said nothing, awkwardly waiting for him to continue.
"Tapu Koko save me. Parents and I went to woods for something. Attack by pokémon. Not remember what," Hau sighed and his voice sounded strained. "He save me, not them. Give me crystal, even. Hala tell me, 'Tapu Koko do what best. He choose you.' He keep crystal. Turn to bracelet, here," Hau said as he pointed to his right wrist where, sure enough, a Z-Power Ring glittered in the sparse moonlight. "Give to me about time Island Challenge start. Tell me, 'Tapus chose you…' Hate that."
She just felt so, so sad for him, and rubbed her left arm as a chilling shiver ran up her spine. Her mouth dried to sandpaper as, even as tired and out of it as she felt, she slowly pieced together the reason he had been so determined to help them now. At least, the reason she thought he wanted to so badly… He's lost his parents and then it… sounds like his grandfather made it seem like it was ordained by the Tapus, or something… That he should be grateful to have been chosen or whatever it is he meant by that statement… Is that why he won't give up on me or Elio, even as mean as Elio has been on occasion…? Even though I ran off and was yelling at him like that…? Shakily glancing over her shoulders, she pondered what he had said about his parents having been attacked by a pokémon. Hau didn't remember what, but her mind ran wild with all the thoughts that realization conjured. It made her realize she had been utterly alone on a mountainside, relying mainly on her Cubone and her revitalized Dartrix, to get her safely back down and… then what? Had she really planned to stay alone and do the rest of the Island Challenge by herself? Find her parents by herself?
The thoughts alone had her shaking and she hugged herself as she looked ahead again. That was madness. That would have been truly insane, wouldn't it? She almost cringed as Hau spoke again.
"Two year come, go. Nothing. Then… one day, get upset when Kukui and Hala got fight. Went to room and throw lightning from hand," he laughed unsteadily, raising his right hand from his pocket. He balled it to a fist, but red, angry arcs of electricity laced it. "Not tell any, 'cause did not want be Captain. Did not want prove Hala right…" He stuffed his hand back into his pockets and almost whimpered, "Tapu Koko not 'choose' me. Save me 'cause I was close. Smaller. Parents big and… and like to be defend me. He save me 'cause easy, over them…"
Licking her lips anxiously, she said, "Tapu Koko… he… was badly beaten in the memory I saw," she rasped against a painful throat. "Like… like he had been fighting a lot…"
"Do not remember before he bring me back to Iki well," Hau muttered, shrugging. "Maybe he try fight wild pokémon before bring me back." A little icily, he insisted, "But not mean he 'choose' me…" She glanced up at him in time to see him roll his eyes, and then he growled in Alolan, "If you ask me, I think he tried to fight whatever it was, got beaten, and didn't want to lose face for losing in battle, so he snatched me up and left me with a dumb crystal so Hala wouldn't be disappointed or think anything of it."
Selene felt like she might be ill, so she faltered, and pressed her arms to her stomach. "Hau…" she called in a small, small voice, "please tell me you didn't say that last part in Alolan."
He paused and turned around to look at her. Raising a brow, he nervously asked, "Er… Ae. Why?"
She collapsed with her legs folded, at first. Wincing against the pain of the uncomfortable position, she unfolded them, and started to cry again. "I understood you. I understood you perfectly…" Putting both hands over her face, she just broke down more. Privately, she felt bad for glossing entirely over what he had said—she was sure that having people glorify your parents' death had to be horrible to endure—but the natural conclusion that the tail end of her vision couldn't have been false was overwhelming. She just felt so beaten and she had no idea where to begin. Truly, she felt like she was losing her mind, and with Hau's story and that vision weighing on her, it was the first time she had honestly thought about the fact this would be harder than anything she had ever done in her life, that she and Elio could very well be injured—could die there, if they weren't careful. She thought she had understood what it meant for her parents to have been kidnapped on these islands before, but oh, what had she really known?
Their parents had been kidnapped on the Alolan archipelago, which she had been told time and time again were as lawless as they came. They were structured almost purely by Tapus; fickle, wild pokémon that wielded the power of deities almost frivolously, bestowing them upon humans at their whim (and to foreigner humans as well, clearly! What exactly did Tapu Koko think she was going to do for them?!). They seemed divided between those that followed the Tapus and their chosen Kahunas at their word, loyally, and those that didn't—and the latter apparently typically ended up in the Skull Gang, who had to steal, lie, cheat, and hurt just to survive. There was nobody to assist her at the legal level with her parents and she had no idea what most others would do to or with her if they knew her circumstances. Hau, Lillie, and most of the Captains or Kahunas she had met had been nice, but they were just a handful out of an enormous selection of people, and even then, some of them hadn't seemed that great. It seemed Olivia had decided she was uninterested in helping them beyond just saying she'd ask around her home city, Kiawe had been nice but had claimed to be a friend of Kukui, and Selene had every right to think he was part of whatever plot had led to her parents' disappearances. Moreover, Hau's story reminded her that she was not invincible. Alola was not Kanto in that it did not have nearly as much security on routes, even ones that led to trial sites. She had met a few Trial Guides along the way, but they couldn't be absolutely everywhere, of course—had one of those horrible Salandit managed to bite her despite her Cubone and Dartrix's best efforts, what would she have done?
"Selene…" She heard Hau's footsteps, then he plunked to the ground beside her. He was careful not to touch her this time, despite how much it seemed he wanted to, given the way his shoulders twitched, as if itching to move nearer to her. He slipped into Alolan to speak, and although she couldn't blame him and found it eerily easier to understand him that way, it made her tense up and want to cry harder. She hated that she understood him so well all of a sudden, she hated that whatever Tapu Koko had been trying to tell her was real— "I know you're upset, but we can't stay here… not out in the open… Lillie, Elio, and I have a campsite down the way… I'm sure you'd feel a lot better there, with us, like, Elio, you know…?"
"I can't," she pathetically mewled, pulling her knees close to her face and draping her arms over her head, all but in the fetal position, just sitting upright. "I just can't, Hau. I'm just… so tired… and everything hurts…" She yelped as a hard sob wracked her body, which made a headache she didn't realize she had flare to life, rapidly pounding in her temple. Feeling all her muscles seem to give out at once, she found it hard to even remain sitting up like that as she whimpered, "I miss Elio…"
There were a couple seconds of silence, but Hau then called Macho over. "Macho, tsk, tsk," he hissed at the Torracat. Macho, who had been worriedly circling them, paused in front of Hau and cocked his head. Gesturing animatedly with his hands, Hau ended with pointing down the mountain, "I need you to go get Elio and bring him here. I need his help."
Macho raised a paw and hesitantly looked between Hau, and down the mountainside. He raised his tail, then lowered it again, and swept it across the rocky earth. As if sensing Macho's hesitation, Hau chuckled. "We'll be okay, Macho," he insisted as he playfully withdrew his right hand from a pocket and waved at him. "Salandit and them can be mean, but I have the power of 'you don't get to move anymore' in my fingertips." He grinned cheekily and winked.
Despite her hysterics and the way she still felt panicky at understanding him perfectly, she found herself giggling at what he had said. Did he actually have a great sense of humor, and it was just easily lost in translation? Of course, sobbing and laughing didn't tend to mix well, and so she ended up sputtering a few snickers before groaning in frustration at it all. Part of her thought to ask for details on his power, which seemed to be a general control of electricity, but a larger part of her just didn't want to know. What else would there have been to it, anyway? Maybe that was a discussion for another day… Slowly, she gasped out, "Thanks, Hau…"
He beamed at her and then, still cracking that lopsided grin, put both his hands behind his head in a playful, lackadaisical display. Macho mewed at him once, then turned tail and started running down the mountainside. "Don't you know, that's the way of us all in Alola?" he taunted her with a cheeky wag of his eyebrows. "We all help each other out and are one big family, cousin! Unless you're like, different from us in any way. Like, literally any way…" He stuck his tongue out and rolled his eyes.
She wiped her face and let a few ugly chortles fly before she regained her composure, though heavy breathing still wracked her body, and she still felt far too exhausted and heavy to move. "Were you always this funny and I just never got to tell in Galarish?"
He dropped his hands from behind his head and shrugged. With an anxious smile, he explained, "No idea. To be honest, I can read and hear Galarish pretty well, but saying it or writing it? Forget it. I had no idea if you guys could even understand me half the time. But, to be honest…" He looked down and fidgeted for a moment with his hands. "I know this is really scary for you, and it… it should be, but… having someone that isn't Hala that can understand me in Alolan is awesome… I mean, sure, Lillie could understand, but…"
Weakly, Selene grimaced and raised a shaky hand to mimic a spray can. "Can't imagine why she might not always be fun to talk to," she hoarsely laughed between pants for air.
Giggling back at her, Hau teased, "I have no idea what you mean. Lillie's as pure as Tapu Fini's water!"
Selene shivered as a cold chill hit her and she noticed just how chilly it had gotten on that mountainside in the dark. It reminded her of the sobering reality of her situation and the fleeting, amused reprieve with Hau was gone. She hugged herself tightly and Bowtie sympathetically landed on her shoulder, rubbing his face against hers. That somehow just served to bring her emotions hurdling back to the surface. "I'm sorry for yelling at you and… everything else, Hau," she murmured. "I had no idea about… about you, and I… I honestly can't believe you still want to help me and especially Elio after how he kept yelling at you, and…"
"It's okay," Hau easily replied. When she dared to glance at him, she found he had pressed his palms to the ground behind himself, staring up at the stars above them. "Elio's… hard to get over sometimes, not gonna lie, and I'm still pretty mad at him right now about other stuff. But… I know what you two are going through. You, especially. And, well…" His shoulders tensed. "You two aren't the only ones feeling like you're going alone on this. Between everyone seeming to think I've been chosen by the Tapus or whatever garbage that means, everyone else acts all weird because I'm the grandson of a Kahuna, and—" He paused and made a blech! sound, followed by once again sticking his tongue out. He followed with a dramatic groan. "It's all just so gross and you two, don't take this the wrong way, but you had no idea how any of that worked. So, you just acted how you felt. And sometimes that hurt, but honestly? The rest of the time it just made me feel… alive. Like I'm part of something, for once!" He closed his eyes and smiled up at the sky. "Part of something good."
Sniffling, Selene shook her head at him. "Part of something good…? How…? Elio is either joking or complaining, and I've…" She sighed. She was starting to draw an exhausted blank. "I don't even know."
"Elio's such a jerk because he wants people to treat those he cares about right. He might make me mad, but man, is it cool how he can go from laughing at stupid pictures on a screen with those awful sunglasses to ready to fight half of Alola if it means keeping you safe, hah," Hau pointed out, still never opening his eyes. A blue tremor of electricity shot up his arm, not that he seemed to notice. "Then, you got overwhelmed by all this garbage and decided you were ready to take on a whole freaking mountain and whatever Fire-type pokémon were up top. You were yelling at Skull about… man, I don't even know what, and I'm pretty sure Lillie has no fear. Like, that girl is so bold… Anyway, I have no idea where this journey's headed, mind you," he laughed, "but I know it's gonna be good. I'm finally free, or as close to free as I'm ever gonna get…" He faltered and blinked a few times. "Hah, sorry, I know that…. that maybe seems awful. Your parents… and I'm over here like, 'hell yeah, this is fantastic!' I… I really don't mean it that way." He briefly gnawed his lower lip. "I do feel really bad about that… I really wish I knew something more, but I only know as much as you guys do."
"As awful and overwhelming as it all is," Selene said, softly smiling back at him, "I'm glad I'm doing it with a friend like you… and Elio and Lillie, even. I know I was yelling at them and even you, before, but… all me running off taught me was that was stupid. Once I remembered the reality of it all, I… knew how wrong I was, and I missed you all." Cocking her head slightly, she shrugged. "I know I made a big deal of suddenly understanding you, but… I'm glad I do now, you know… You're pretty calming to talk to and it's nicer to hear the real you…"
To that, he could only beam. "That's the nicest thing I've ever heard…" Jumping up in excitement, he clenched a fist and determinedly looked down at her. "This Island Challenge ain't gonna know what hit it! You, me, Elio—we're gonna find your parents and beat this Island Challenge and show 'em we're not afraid!"
Selene chuckled sadly and shook her head resignedly at him. "I really… really hope you're right, Hau." But she'd have been lying to say his enthusiasm wasn't contagious, or that she wasn't grateful for his determination. She needed all she could get in that moment.
Shortly after that, Elio arrived with Macho leading him, and between him and Hau, she was half-carried back to their campsite. At first, Elio was flighty and fidgety, as if afraid to address her. She couldn't blame him, and though she was too exhausted to try to conjure a heartfelt apology in that moment, she had hugged him when he leaned down to help pick her up alongside Hau. "I'm sorry," she had whimpered, "I'm never going to leave your side again. I swear to Arceus."
The relief in his voice had been painful to hear. "Joined at the hip," he had hoarsely teased back at her, "and have no idea what I'd ever do without you, sis."
Back at the campsite, Selene was even happy to see Lillie, even if she couldn't think of much to say. Lillie had merely rolled her eyes and told her, "Don't sweat it, Drama Queen. We have stuff to talk about tomorrow, but you look like you got hit by a truck. Get in the tent." With that, Lillie had tossed a red, rolled up sleeping bag at her, which Elio dove in front of her to catch.
"She can barely stand and you're throwing stuff at her?" he disapprovingly hissed.
"Why would I worry about that with a brave Torchic like you around?" Lillie shot back tauntingly without skipping a beat.
To her knowing grin, Elio moodily glowered, though a smirk betrayed his amusement. He unrolled the sleeping bag for Selene within the spacious tent and sat inside with her for a moment as she got comfortable. Not that she stayed that way, as Bowtie soon decided he still was destined to sit on her head… for whatever reason.
"Thanks to that," Elio uncertainly started in a poor attempt at a joke, "Hau and I are gonna have to do that Fire-type trial all on our own, huh?"
"You can borrow my Cubone if you really want," Selene yawned, though she had meant to tease him. It vaguely dawned on her that she really needed to check on her pokémon tomorrow, Miltank egg and Cubone included. In her anger, fear, hysteria, whatever one wanted to call what she had experienced that day, she had almost cruelly forgotten to even consider their wellbeing. That dimly made her wonder if she was just as much of a fraud as she had feared Elio was… Still, she quickly moved on to weakly banter with Elio. "He… he called a Totem Salazzle… Four times weakness to Ground-type, 'cause that thing's a Fire- and Poison-type. Seriously, cakewalk with the right Ground-type moves and a few Antidotes… which I was lucky to stumble across as I went."
Abruptly, his demeanor changed and, as he sat next to her with his legs crossed, he put his head in his hands. "I'm so sorry, sis… I know I'm not handling this best as I could. I know I don't do anything like I should. I don't know what to do and I don't know what's happening, all I do know is I feel like trash and that helps nobody…"
Macho scrambled to his feet from atop Lillie's empty sleeping bag nearby and nudged Elio's right arm out of the way, climbing into his lap. With a glare at Selene, he quickly turned to rubbing his face against Elio's arms sympathetically.
"Elio…" What do I even say to him? I just want to go to sleep… I'm just glad I'm back with him… She paused. Then just tell him that, stupid, she thought blithely. "None of that matters," she mumbled tiredly. "I'm just glad to be back with you. We're gonna get through the rest of this together. I promise."
He peeked at her as if he didn't quite believe he had heard her correctly through the gaps in his fingers, then slowly removed his hands from his face. Nervously petting Macho with his right hand, he smiled and then nodded at her. "Together," he affirmed. "Game plan now is, we all need to chat tomorrow, then we're gonna hike up this stupid mountain properly so Hau and I can beat Captain Kiawe, and then train on the way down so we can heal up and then go directly to Captain Mallow. Lillie sad Heahea should offer Ride Pokémon and they have Flying-types that we can take directly to Konikoni to ask around for Mom and Dad… I promise, Selene, I haven't given up… I still got you."
Eyes shutting of their own accord, Selene smiled slightly back at him. "Sounds good, bro…"
He snorted. "Haven't heard you call me that one in a long time. Usually it's 'Elio,' in this really annoyed voice, like you wanna punt me through a wall."
"Like right now, because you won't shut up and let me sleep?" she quipped as she just barely opened her left eye to cut her gaze at him.
"Rude," he dramatically huffed at her as he started to move toward another sleeping bag. Hollering out the tent, he said, "Hau! Lillie! Drama Queen says we need shuteye!"
"I am not a drama queen," Selene pouted as she started to doze off. That nickname's gonna stick, isn't it?
"You most certainly are," Lillie remarked as she apparently entered the tent, and Selene thought to shoot something back at her, but to be honest, she passed out before she even opened her mouth.