Chapter 33 – Arc 3 (Ula'Ula Island) Welcome to Paradise

It's Elio hours againn

With Selene still subdued and disturbed by whatever she had discovered in the book, Hau behaving oddly reserved, and Lillie far away back on Akala Island in questionable safety, once they arrived at Aether Paradise, Elio was feeling quite anxious—except it was undercut by surges of protective fervor, which made him snappy with Dr. Faba, suspicious of the various Aether employees, and stick to his two companions like glue. Almost bullyingly so, he stuck as close to Selene as he could get, whereas Hau lingered just a little away from them. Of course, at the docks of Aether Paradise, Dr. Faba was quick to pawn the group off on a woman named Dr. Wicke, making the arrival all the more nerve-wracking. For Elio, landing on those sleek, metallic shores and witnessing the massive, marvelous insides—a true wonder of human engineering—was far more unsettling than it was awe-inspiring as it were. Detailed, small habitats, designed for recovering pokémon soon to be released back to the wild or relinquished to satellite conservational centers, should have been brilliance he would have once gawked at. Yet, in that moment, he had been too paranoid to, because Lillie had told him what secrets this place had harbored… and what she knew wasn't even the full story.

His own, suspicious side-eyeing of the enclosures had made him feel a pang of sadness. At first, it was because he missed feeling excitement over learning new information regarding pokémon conservation efforts, but then, because one of the grasslands enclosures included a Meowth. A Kantonian one, amongst a few other Alolan Meowth (that looked absolutely ridiculous, he had to say). Before he had too much opportunity to stew on that visual, though, the genuine, kindly Dr. Wicke led them to a computer so she could enter information for their missing person reports, which she explained would alert all their employees visiting the main Alolan islands to be on alert. Apparently, they had assisted the locals in finding a few people this way.

Of course, as she spoke (and as Elio and Selene struggled to answer her, in their combined, uncomfortable states), Elio remembered this woman from all Lillie had told them regarding her stint at Aether. Dr. Zyra Wicke was one of the Aether Foundation's many scientists, though she specialized in more relevant matters to the conservational efforts of the Foundation (as opposed to Faba, who, according to Lillie, worked almost exclusively on whatever project Lusamine sweettalked him into). On a tangent, it was hard for Elio to temper his resentment for that malevolent man whom he refused to refer to as a 'doctor' of anything, what with all he remembered from what Lillie had said that night on the Wela Volcano Park mountainside.

"I figured out later that the experiment that… hurt my father," Lillie had mumbled, wincing at the word 'hurt,' "was engineered by Faba, almost alone. He used a lot of research from other people, but what I gathered from the stuff I read about it was that it was almost all just him in the end. Mo—ahem, Lusamine, she was angry at him. Really upset, at first. Slapped him across the face and everything, and I thought for a while, maybe he really did just feel bad and that's why he was being so nice to her and did anything she asked…" Lillie had curled her lip and contemptuously growled, "But I know now that's absolutely not the case. If I had to guess, he just groveled at first because he was terrified she'd fire him, and maybe slander his name so he would never get his hands on any shiny science toys like what she offers him ever again. And then, Lusamine fell for every fake sweet thing he ever said… Me and Gladion weren't stupid. We knew something was going on between them before long. I just…"

She had trailed off at that point and the hurt permeating her tone had filled Elio then with a lurid hate for the scummy man that had taken it upon himself to singlehandedly exacerbate the dismantling of Lillie's family, all in the name of his own selfish, prideful ambition. Even as Dr. Wicke happily chatted away to Selene and Hau and took information from the prior about their missing parents, Elio was privately fuming over Faba. He couldn't fathom how anyone could knowingly harm others that didn't deserve it, knowingly put their own hurtful desires above others they supposedly cared for, knowingly pursued their wants without minding what it would take to get there. Personally, he felt that Faba would make a fine companion for Giratina in the Distortion World, whenever his end might come (which, he mutinously thought, couldn't seem to be soon enough).

"Ah, Elio, was it? Are you alright?" Dr. Wicke asked, prying him from his tunnel-visioned thoughts. When he jerked his head in surprise to face her, he found she was smiling innocently at him and had her head tilted slightly to the side, waiting patiently for his response. Despite the thick layer of niceness layered over her voice, though, her pale green eyes were almost glassy and distant. Elio met her gaze and for a moment, he felt a flare of panic as he was inundated with the uneasy sensation that this woman was silently drowning, wanting help but refusing to ask or look for it. He wasn't sure why he got that sensation, but it was enough to make him swallow hard and flounder for his words.

"I-I'm fine," he answered quietly, shuffling even closer to Selene (much to her protest, since that meant he was practically standing on top of her feet). "Ah, thanks… Dr. Wicke, for your help."

"Elio," Selene hissed, weakly shoving at his right shoulder, "get off me." With a huff, she sidestepped away from him and shot him a glare. "There's an entire floor here, you know."

Hau snorted in amusement involuntarily and Elio gave Selene a moody glare back, feeling a pang of embarrassment. He knew why he was clinging to her so closely, but that wasn't exactly something he wanted to go explaining in front of them all. Instead, he irritably puffed, "Exactly, you can move," he taunted, barely pulling off the joking delivery. Ugh… Jokes are my 'thing,' when did I get so bad at telling them? he thought with a slight grimace. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he heard Lillie reminding him how she loved it when he joked because he genuinely was relaxed, not because he felt he had to, and he sighed.

"You two seem great," Dr. Wicke commented with a soft, breathy laugh, folding a hand over her mouth as she did. Elio got that uneasy feeling of watching someone drown again as she stepped away from the computer at last and offered, "If you like, I can show you around some more of the conservational deck. And of course, whenever we're done, I can arrange a boat to take you back to an island of your choice."

Elio and Selene exchanged a glance, and while he was sure they had both settled on the option to simply return to Akala, they had only just opened their mouths when Hau rushed past them and looked up to Dr. Wicke. Extending his hands toward her, as if he wanted to grab her hand and beg but had just barely stopped himself, he blurted, "Would like see more of con… con… deck, thing." He anxiously licked his lips.

Frustrated, Elio snapped, "Hau, dude, L—" Idiot, don't say her name! Maybe she trusted Wicke in the past, but what if something's changed since then? "I mean, what about our friends back on Akala?" Hoping Hau would get the message, Elio gritted his teeth slightly and hissed, "They're relying on us to get back soon, remember?"

Dubiously looking back at Elio, Hau nervously grinned, in that way that was clearly meant to defuse a situation but meant anything except that Hau was happy. More like a grimace disguised as a smile to try to endear the other person into calming down. Elio might have had his focus primarily on his sister and Lillie most of the time, but he wasn't blind to Hau's quirks. "Please," Hau seemed to plead. He shuffled his feet and flicked anxious eyes between the three of them, explaining, "Two pokémon. One… hurt family, ae, want know if Aether know… about that… other… met pokémon and man from other region, time ago. Never learn what… pokémon it was…"

Interest clearly piqued, Dr. Wicke pushed up her glasses and tilted her head down at Hau. Picking up a clipboard from the computer she had just finished entering Selene and Elio's parents' data into, she clutched it across her chest and smiled warmly. "Do you remember anything about these two pokémon? Perhaps I can help in identifying them!"

His face lighting up with hope, Hau beamed, "Ae!" Except, just as he attempted to explain to Dr. Wicke in Alolan, the stark, white floor below them all tremored violently. Hard enough to make them all stumble for their balance. Instinctively, Elio grabbed for Selene's hand and clutched it tightly, refusing to let go even as he vaguely heard her protest and tell him to knock it off. Hau splayed his legs and looked up, as if expecting the ceiling to collapse in on them, and Dr. Wicke carefully tried to pick her way toward the banister overlooking the conservational deck, down at the habitats below.

"What's going on?" Elio barked, still holding Selene close.

Maybe a little too tightly. "Elio, ow!" Selene spat, wrenching her hand to try to get him to let go (and failing, as the action only succeeded in making the panic-stricken Elio tighten his grasp). "Let me go, damn it!"

Not a chance, he thought distractedly, failing to vocalize his thoughts. Gaze locked firmly on Dr. Wicke, he saw her gripping the banister tightly to steady herself as another lurching motion seized Aether Paradise. She strained to turn around without falling and exclaimed, "Get down!"

Before any of them could ask what was going on, behind her, Elio saw something he couldn't begin to describe. Levitating from the lower conservational floor (as he, Selene, Hau, and Dr. Wicke were on raised catwalks over the habitats), something akin to a Frillish, except much larger and seemingly made of glass rather than soft flesh, appeared. It was faceless, and tentacles hung from its body like glittering pieces of a fancy chandelier, swaying and moving slightly with its every, tiny movement. Elio, Selene, and Hau had frozen at the sight of it, failing to heed Dr. Wicke's orders to get down, and so, when the creature harshly swayed all its tentacles and emitted a high-pitched, clanging noise that ricocheted off the walls and felt as if it raked at their ears, they all yelped and hit their knees immediately. Elio had let Selene go out of reflex, but once the grating noise was over, he scrambled to get close to her again.

Mind racing, he internally berated himself for agreeing to come to the manmade island, as he scrambled to think about what they could do about the situation. Frightened enough at this unrecognized monster and Dr. Wicke's obvious panic (telling him this was certainly not supposed to be happening), he was further terrified when the beast lashed out its tentacles, and sharp, gleaming projectiles flew from its body. It looked like the move Power Gem, with the shards of rock wedging themselves deep into the metal walls and floors all around him, and a very powerful one at that—given the way one had cut deep into the floor next to him, far too close for comfort. He swallowed hard and covered his throat with his left hand, wincing at the other, darker possibilities swimming in his mind if that shard had just been a little further over…

Elio protectively hugged Selene then, an all-encompassing bearhug, much to her dismay. She squeaked, asking him what he was doing, but when another barrage of Power Gem shards rained down, she quit resisting and clung back to him just as tightly. He could feel her trembling and he could tell she was whimpering in fright, what with her face buried against his chest. With his chin defensively pressed over the top of her head, he furiously glared back at that beast, seemingly mindlessly attacking the facility, and bared his teeth almost animalistically at it. "Dr. Wicke, what the hell is that thing?" he managed to yell above the screeching alarms that had started blaring at some point. Funnily enough, in the chaos, Elio had all but failed to notice them until then.

"Nihilego," Dr. Wicke panted back. She had sunk to the floor at the banister, still with her back to the beast. She was breathing hard and when she tried to move, she yelped and would fall back into place. "Just stay down… someone will… will take care of it shortly…"

Before or after we get turned into living kebabs? he wanted to frustratedly demand, but further down the catwalk they were hiding on, Elio noticed an elevator bring Faba up—but he wasn't alone. Two heavily armored people, too much so for Elio to make out any of their features aside from the fact one had a catchpole of sorts extended from their arm, were behind him. At the end of the catchpole, a pokémon much like the one Gladion had used to attack Lillie was tugging, as if to get away. Much like Gladion's Null, it was a quadruped with a thick, dull gold helmet, blade projecting from its head and all, but there were subtle differences in the creature's movements and appearance. For one, the blade wasn't as thick, but longer and curved up toward the end, as if designed for forward slashing movement. The aquatic tail of this creature was horizontal rather than vertical, and all four of its paws were draconic, with long, sharp talons clacking along the floor as it moved. The Type: Zero kept turning its head to look at the beast in the center of the room, and every time it caught sight of it for too long, it would make a clanging, mechanical noise, like an unholy bark, and lunge toward it; each time, the armored man holding the Type: Zero hostage would struggle to pull it back and regain control. A few times, the pokémon whirled back on the armored man and lashed its claws at his feet, or tossed his head forward, as if intending to slash him with the deadly blade on the top of its head, but the catchpole kept the creature safely at bay, much to its apparent frustration.

Faba paused a short distance away from Elio, Selene, Hau, and Dr. Wicke, and ordered, "Let him go. Type: Zero, Muddy Water the target!"

The catchpole receded from the pokémon's neck, and Type: Zero immediately launched itself at the banister, jumping over with a powerful thrust of its hind legs. Rather than falling back down to the conservational deck below, however, bronze, metallic wings spread from a compartment on its back, and it rushed at the Nihilego with a flap on the bottom of its helmet open. A stream of brown, thick water was jetted at the beast, and it recoiled from the attack with a shriek that made the entire facility quaver. While Type: Zero circled Nihilego for a few seconds, gliding on its Skarmory-like wings, the Nihilego faded in and out of view, before sinking down and vanishing altogether with a mournful cry.

"Yes!" Faba hissed nearby, grinning and pumping a fist.

Elio growled like an Arcanine.

"What the hell are you happy about?" he demanded hotly, still hugging Selene (and she still made no efforts to push him away). "That thing could have killed us! Could have killed some of you! Could have killed some of the pokémon here! 'Yes?'" Outraged, Elio glanced around at the various shards of rock peppering the otherwise perfect, white steel walls and floors around them. "Don't you see all the Power Gem rocks? Any one of those could have—"

"I understand your point," Faba replied at last, icily cutting him off, "and that is why I had my Type: Zero go after him. Understand? I was excited because he succeeded with far more ease than I anticipated. Not that I ever doubted my creation, mind you…" Faba trailed off and simpered, pressing his hand to his chest. "After all, I am—"

To everyone's shock, he was silenced by Dr. Wicke marching up to him and slapping him clean across the face. Jolting in shock, Elio's mouth fell open and Selene squirmed to look up at what was going on at last.

Stunned, Faba staggered away from Dr. Wicke, and sputtered. "Wh—Wicke, why—how—"

"How dare you!" Dr. Wicke unloaded, sounding as if a dam had finally broken within her. Pointing a finger out at the conservational deck, she railed, "That thing could not have come here on its own if what you told me the other day was correct, the Nihilego, so one of your stupid experiments must have allowed it to—and while we have visitors, no less! And then you bring that—that—that—THING out here, knowing full-well that it can barely be trusted in normal circumstances, much less when there's a UB to worry about!"

"Dr. Wicke, bite your tongue," Faba growled, curling his lips into a snarl. "There are non-staff present—"

"I don't care!" Dr. Wicke shot back, her voice starting to crackle. Elio saw her shoulders tremble. "I keep trying to understand what you and Lusamine are going through, but Dr. Faba, I just don't anymore, and I'm just trying to run what we're supposed to be and I feel like I'm doing it alone now. A conservationist group for pokémon that are already here, right now. Meanwhile, you and Lusamine are trying to invite creatures that we can't even be sure are pokémon in from other worlds! How crazy does that sound to you, Dr. Faba?" Brokenly, and gesturing around herself to the rocky shards around them, she demanded, "How many people have to get hurt for this fantasy of yours and Lusamine's before it's enough…?"

Elio thought he might have seen Faba's lips twitch uncomfortably, his expression falter for a split-second at Dr. Wicke's words. But it was too fast for him to be sure, and Elio was in no mood to give this horrible man the benefit of the doubt. "I-it is no mere fantasy," he sneered, arching his shoulders and descending on her with a pointed finger. He jabbed it at her chest as he kept walking forward, forcing her to backpedal away from him. "I make fantasy and science fiction reality, here, Dr. Wicke, and I wouldn't expect you to understand. I have achieved things others have merely dreamed of. While underlings like you take care of these trivial matters like making sure there's enough Magikarp left in the world to feed the Sharpedo or something, I will break open worlds that could change our world irreversibly, for the better, and only I will be the one to thank for that!" Getting into her face, he growled, "Do you understand, Zyra?"

"Sauboh," Dr. Wicke whimpered, "you need to get Type: Zero back, before it—"

He grabbed at her shirt, balling the fabric in his right fist. "Do you understand, Wicke?" he repeated, loudly, in her face.

Infuriated, Elio let go of Selene and rushed to Dr. Wicke's defense. Before he knew it, he was seeing red, and his left fist seemed to rear back of its own accord, then come barreling at Dr. Faba's stupid yellow goggles before he had a chance to react. They shattered on impact and Faba yelped, falling to his rear as he scrambled to knock away the broken pieces from his face. "You little Rattata!" Faba bellowed. "How dare you! And after I brought you here to help you!"

Shaking out the dull ache in his knuckles from the force of the impact, Elio snarled, "Oh, yes, and you did that out of the goodness of your cold, dead, little heart, didn't you?" Bristling, he hissed, "Or, and here's what I believe, you did it to get us away from Lillie. Not as slick as you think you are, Faba!" I don't think I have anything to worry about with Wicke anymore…

"Maybe not, but I have far more control over the Foundation and these islands than you or that pathetic bitch Dr. Wicke ever will," Faba sniped back as he scrambled to his feet. The two armored people that had previously been helping with Type: Zero awkwardly attempted to assist, and Faba elbowed them away. "Get away from me, ingrates! Go catch Type: Zero before he chews a banister and I hear about it for the next week from Lusamine, or something! You know how that woman is about her beauty or what have you…"

The visor of the armored helmets the two people were wearing flashed a pale blue, and then both of them dipped their heads. Wordlessly, they turned around and trotted away, back for the elevator that would take them to the conservational deck below.

"You… were after Lillie?" Dr. Wicke breathlessly asked Faba, chancing getting close to him again despite her shaking limbs. "Sauboh, is that true?"

"Keep my name out of your mouth," Faba bristled, glowering at her. Yet then, his face twisted into a cruel grin and his cyan eyes gleamed. "So, what if I am? Ready to admit yourself as a traitor and tell Lusamine that you helped her escape? Her, and her ungrateful brat of a brother?"

"You and Lusamine need help, Faba!" Dr. Wicke desperately exclaimed. "And so did they! They actually were willing to try to get help, at least, unlike you two…"

"So, you did!" Faba gleefully cried, converging on her again with a predatory grin, as if he had found something to sink his teeth into. Elio jumped between them and he had to snort in amusement at the way Faba nervously skirted away from him, shooting him uncertain looks. A small streak of blood on his nose and a darkening patch in the middle of his face told Elio that shattering the glasses had at least done some damage. Good, he thought venomously. Just sad I didn't get his eye or something instead.

"Dr. Faba," Dr. Wicke tried to patiently start again, "please. Let's get these three out of here and we can discuss whatever it is we need to discuss then. They don't need to be—"

"Indeed," Faba agreed, blithely talking over her. "They can go to the next boat out of here. All three of them."

Selene and Hau anxiously stood just behind Elio but said nothing. Realizing that and noticing the way Selene almost expectantly kept looking up at him, Elio narrowed his eyes hatefully at Faba, feeling more confident than ever. They trust me. They trust me, and I will not make them regret it, he determinedly thought.

Hesitantly, Dr. Wicke cleared her throat, "They said they came from Akala Island. The next boats are scheduled to head for Ula'Ula."

"Then, I guess they're going to Ula'Ula," Faba nastily said, as if it were obvious, before turning away. "Take them away, Wicke, or when I come back up here with my Type: Zero, the catchpole might just… slip away from me." He tossed a knowing look over his shoulder and issued a fake pout. "President Lusamine would just be so devastated if something happened to you, wouldn't she? What a sad letter to have to write back to your family in Galar, Wicke, tsk, tsk…" He snickered darkly. "How sad for them to never get your side of the story! I'm sure they'd love to hear your voice again, mhm…"

Heart pounding and blood roaring in his ears with that unbridled anger all over again, Elio lunged forward and hollered, "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Glancing back at Dr. Wicke, he finally understood the lost, drowning look in her eyes. She was in far, far over her head, and from what he gathered, she wanted so badly to change Lusamine and Faba—and Elio already felt confident in judging that there was nothing that could change this heartless man ahead of him, and he wasn't feeling that much more hopeful about Lusamine, either, if she was the ringleader of this circus and liaised with such a clown. Turning on Faba again, Elio moved as if he were going to rush at him, but Selene and Hau both protested, each of them grabbing one of his hands and digging their heels into the ground below. Elio stopped at the pressure (but not after dragging them along some, surprising even himself with how easy it would have been to shake them off and continue going after Faba). Still, he spat at Faba from a distance, "Whatever, you won't succeed! Not on your life!"

"Try me," Faba snarked, then disappeared down the elevator.

Anger renewed, Elio hopped and jerked his arms out of Selene and Hau's grasp, throwing them off easily. Yet, he was stopped by Dr. Wicke's painfully raw voice: "Elio, wait…"

Turning back around, his eyes stretched wide as he realized how frazzled she looked. "Shit, I'm sorry, Dr. Wicke, are you alright? I know he grabbed your shirt, but… did he hurt you?"

"No," she quietly answered, gaze glued to the ground below them. She was still shaking. "I know you three want to go back to Akala, but… you need to get out of here. I'm sure there will be boats from Ula'Ula to Akala…" She swallowed hard. "So, he's after Lillie… is… is she your friend that's back on Akala…?"

"Yes," Selene chimed in, clearing her throat. "Sh-she… we…" She took a shuddery breath and closed her eyes. "I wanted to come here to try to find my parents… Lillie was left with Kahuna Olivia, as we thought she could keep her safe until we got back…"

"Am sorry," Hau interjected with a quivering voice suddenly. Looking to him, Elio saw that he was wildly fidgeting his hands, occasionally stuffing them into his pockets in that telltale way he did when he needed to snuff out electricity that had started forming at his fingertips. "Should not ask about the… pokémon, should have just… leave… Not big deal, anyway, those pokemon… what happen happen already, cannot change, so…" He sounded so strangled.

"Not true. Well, it is true we can't change what happened, but you shouldn't feel bad for having been curious…" Selene softly replied, though she didn't seem to have much energy to put as much passion in her tone as she normally would have. "Wasn't all bad, though… We learned more about Aether, and… and about Wicke, here." Settling her focus on Dr. Wicke, Selene sorrowfully dipped her head. "Dr. Wicke, I'm… sorry. I had no idea… Lillie told us Lusamine and Faba were trouble, but this…"

"It's crazy, isn't it?" Dr. Wicke asked, barely audible. "I keep hoping for the best, but keep learning more, and I just… They do help people, some of the Aether employees, but then there's… Faba, and Lusamine…" She shook her head. "Mm. Nothing much more to say about it than that, really…"

"We… really have to find our parents, and I really don't know what we can do about any of this," Selene admitted. But then, suddenly sounding fierce, she adamantly said, "But know this. Lillie is our friend now and she cares about you. We don't leave anyone behind. If there is anything we can do to help you, to stop whatever Aether is doing here, we will." She set her jaw. "Someone like Faba shouldn't be able to get away with what he's doing."

"Selene, are you sure about this?" Elio asked her in whispered Kantonian, floored by her abrupt change of mind. Just on the trip to the manmade island, she had been regretting her 'gift' from Tapu Koko, and had told him plenty about how she wanted to find their parents and then all of them—their parents, Selene, himself, Lillie, and Hau—could skip out on Alola if they so pleased. Yet, it seemed she had now decided she wanted to use it for something… more. "What are you trying to tell her?"

"I was given this ability for a reason. And maybe there's a reason Kahuna Kaua went off the deep end like he did," Selene answered in Kantonian without ever looking up at him. She had an intense look in her blue eyes, lost somewhere in the distance. "I can cave in and let this place do what it wants to me, to everyone I care about, to everyone we care about, Elio, or… I can try to use this power to help them." She let out a sigh. "There's no guarantee we'll even find Mom or Dad, anyway… And I can't let this place mess me up." She paused. "I am grateful we came here and learned what we did, Elio, but I'm sorry I forced us to go here and leave Lillie alone… That was kind of selfish… She doesn't deserve that at all. It's not her fault, how everything's panned out for her. I want to help her if I can…"

The more he listened, Elio just… felt a surge of pride. He hadn't realized just how much he had hated the fearful pressure Selene was under until then, and to hear her speak highly of the burdensome 'gift' she had been saddled with for once, her heroic declaration to do what she could to help… He just smiled. Oh, yes, that was his sister alright, and he would have followed her to the end of that world and the next in that moment. He warmly replied, "And I'm with you."

Dr. Wicke, who had been patiently allowing them to share the small, private conversation, responded to Selene once there was a lull in their dialogue. "Thank you, Selene…" She chuckled sadly. "I'm just happy Lillie has friends like you all. Come… let's get you out of here."

As they made their way out of the damaged Aether Paradise, ducking and dodging the employees scrambling to begin what Elio could only assume were cleanup processes, Elio pulled out his phone and texted Lillie.

Your conversation with Pepperspray️

You

A lot of crazy shit went down at Aether were all ok but there having to take us to ulaula

Are u ok?

We can come back on boat on ulaula or arrange to meet u somewere or something is kahuna oliva keeping u companie?

He cringed a bit at the texts. I can speak Galarish, but hell if I can write it, he thought with a distant pang of amusement. Too many grammar rules, if you can even call them that. Sometimes the words are just fucking random.

Pepperspray️

I'm fine, Torchic, lol ️

Kahuna Olivia was busy so pawned me off on Captain Lana. She's like a comic book character. At least I'm not bored!

Also, what happened at Aether? Are you, Selene, and Hau okay? I really wouldn't have thought they'd try anything on you guys… I'm so sorry…

You

Well they didnt do it on purpose to be fair but fabas a fucking trip he started being a dick to wicke and… hay ill explain rest later cuz not sure how but lilly! i got to punch faba!

Pepperspray️

…You didn't. Oh my ARCEUS, Elio!

Almost makes me wish I'd have gone, I'd PAY to see that man get punched

You

Broke his stupid gogles

Pepperspray️

Stop, no you didn't! oma Elio lol!

At least she was okay, and with Selene and Hau, they'd make it through this.

Maybe, they'd even do more than just survive it.

There was supposed to be heart emojis after the "Pepperspray" name for Lillie, and also after her "I'm fine, Torchic, lol" reply, but because FFN hates fun I can't add in emojis and I can't even do the emoticon for a heart because it deletes the less than symbol for some reason. You hate fun, FFN.