Chapter 36 – Arc 3 (Ula'Ula Island) Calm Before…

It had been an entire day and some since Gladion had been at his motel room, spending his time at Po Town instead, and he had started keeping Null in his Poké Ball much more. Strangely, despite the lessened time they spent together, Null seemed to almost appreciate the distance; whenever the pokémon was released from then on, he seemed calmer, less anxious to claw at his mask, more focused on the task at hand. In turn, that eased Gladion's nerves, and they worked so much better together.

Not that they had done much battling, of course, other than to scare off the occasional Sliggoo or Goodra that got too close to Shady House's doors and broken windows. Po Town was much less comfortable than his motel room, thanks to the persistent rain, but somehow, he enjoyed it much more there. He stayed in the Shady House for the most part, crashing on the bunks, assisting other grunts with trivial, household tasks. It was oddly comfortable and domestic; enough to almost make him forget that Skull was there due to a legendary pokémon's wrath and deadly prejudice from the rest of the islands' inhabitants. He was getting to know names, getting to know their stories, and getting to understand just how life as an ordinary Skull member worked. He had had an idea beforehand, of course, but watching them up-close, constantly, was something different entirely—because most inside of Po Town seemed to just have fun.

He found that, even though Plumeria constantly snarled at them to leave the Sliggoo roaming the town alone, a favorite game of many of the younger members was to throw handfuls of rocks or pieces of broken trees, or any number of other debris, near one and bet on which piece the creature would go for first. And if the pokémon ever got too close to any one of them, they tended to squeal in thrilled excitement, and dart away from it, only to circle back around like a mob of curiously playful Meowth with its prey to see which it had gone after. Another game was where someone would be labeled the 'pickpocketer,' and their job was to try to snatch any item off any of the others playing the game without them noticing, like a janky game of 'It.' Of course, this led to the pickpocketer tending to be avoided the entire day, and others in on the game running away from them whenever they were noticed. But that was for the younger members, of course; there were older ones, like Plumeria, Makua, or even Guzma himself.

Even with just a day and some in Po Town, Gladion quickly realized that Makua, despite his age and how he had been implied to control the town's medicine stock, was not well-respected or even cared for. Gladion didn't see Guzma much, but in the times he did, the leader seemed to be the only person to take Makua seriously. The rest of the time, when Gladion saw Makua, he seemed almost skittish, avoiding the other members, or snapping at them with angry vitriol, as if his biting tone were all he had to get them to listen. He didn't seem to really have control over the medicine stocks, either; the reserves were in the Shady House, and although he could access the room, Plumeria and Guzma kept close tabs on him. Gladion caught them reminding him to take some sort of medicine at one point as well, and, well…

"Makua, don't," Plumeria had huffed in aggravation, a palm pressed to her forehead, her other hand on her hip. Then, she raised that hand at him, holding a pill bottle in it. "Don't be an idiot right now, 'kay? I just can't afford you goin' an actin' a fool today. This is to help ya. Can't ya understand 'at?"

"You ain't a doctor! You don't know shit about what you're givin' me, Plumes, and more an' that, I don't need it!" Makua had bristled, clenching his fists at his sides, glaring at her. A few grunts had moved in next to Gladion just outside of the doorway of that storeroom, dubiously eyeing the scene ahead as well. Gladion was sure Plumeria had to be able to spot them at that point, but if she had noticed, she didn't make it known.

"They argue like that all the time," a grunt whispered at Gladion. "Makua's nuts."

"Yeah, not listenin' to Big Sis' is just dumb," another snorted, then had left, as if uninterested in however this confrontation between Plumeria and Makua might resolve. Gladion had eventually followed. It made him uncomfortable in a way he didn't quite understand to watch Makua… Even if it did make him feel a bit guilty, since Makua was clearly an outcast by all except Guzma. And although he was still deeply bothered by the belligerent side to Makua he had seen out on Akala, privately, he couldn't blame him for any of it. If everything Plumeria had said was true (and based on what he had seen)… Makua had been dealt a very poor hand in life indeed.

The other higher-ups such as Makua, though, went nameless to Gladion, but they seemed much better respected. The grunts would actually listen to them, and from the pokémon Gladion saw walking at their sides, they seemed to be decent trainers. Unlike Makua, they didn't cut their eyes in suspicion at Gladion, either. Plumeria had told him she had gone to each of them and explained what had happened, who he was, and it seemed since then… most were happy to have him in Po Town.

…Except for Guzma.

The leader of the Skull Gang had made it abundantly clear to Plumeria that he was worried about the Aether Foundation hunting him down, but Plumeria had refused to back down. From outside of Guzma's room at the upper end of Shady House (the path to which was covered in debris from a partially caved-in roof, the hole above now covered in a tarp), Gladion had heard them arguing fiercely within. In the end, Guzma had relented, and Plumeria had gotten her way. Although it made him nervous to know the leader himself didn't care for his presence, Gladion had to admit, he got a kick out of the fact Plumeria seemed to really pull the strings in the town more than the so-called 'leader.' Guzma called the shots, but if Plumeria didn't agree, there would be hell or highwater before his plan would come to fruition thanks to how much the town depended on her to function.

So, that meant at present, when he heard them arguing again as he hung out with a few grunts in the Shady House, he was curious. In fact, all of them were. Sharing a look among a few of the grunts, they all came to the same, nonverbal conclusion to listen in on the conversation. Together, they curiously climbed the stairs, and pressed their ears against the wall to listen.

"Plumes, please! Don't ya understand? What he's offerin'… this could be the big break we need! Imagine what all we could do if we wasn't stuck here all the time workin' on shit, an' we didn't all have to be micromanagin' everything all the time. This place could be completely fixed and done with!" Guzma was pleading. "Half our problems would be over."

"An' for it, he wants us to kidn—"

"Plumes—"

"Don't interrupt me!" Plumeria hissed. "Guz, I've followed ya into a lot of stupid shit, but this takes the fuckin' cake! We don't do that to people!"

"It's not that bad, Plumes, not like we out there tryin' to murder he—"

"No, we're not, but it's not like what he wants us to do is much better!" she scoffed. "Guz, this is shit that people in Malie do to us if they catch us in the city borders! Or worse! We ain't like them!"

Guzma sounded quite done with the conversation. Gladion still couldn't catch what it was about, but as the leader growled, he felt a queasy panic start to rise in his throat. "Plumes, I ain't arguin' about this! You ain't gonna yell your way through me on this one, 'kay? We need this. One lil' thing a bit under our principles to get to a point where we ain't gotta live like beaten, stray, mangy Rockruff. That doesn't sound that bad to me."

There was a long pause before Plumeria answered. "I really can't convince you against this, can I? If I don't do it, you're going to go after her yourself, aren't you?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah," was all Guzma responded with. "I will. I respect ya Plumes, I love your input. I don't want ya to be upset about this… but really, this time, my mind's made up."

Another long pause. "If anythin' happens to this girl beyond just bein' held while she's here, I swear to Arceus, Guz, I will raze this fuckin' town myself. Do I make myself clear? I am not like those bastards that killed my brothers and sisters, an' I will not stand with ya if you decide to be like them."

"Plumes," Guzma said in an unusually soft tone, "I promise. Nothin' funny. I swear."

Heart pounding, Gladion realized he wasn't hearing anymore words, and then he heard a door ahead. Scrambling to get away from the wall, he pushed past the other grunts and motioned for them to follow, darting down the stairs and back to sit on some boxes piled up in the room below. The other grunts clumsily followed, one awkwardly falling to the floor in the middle of the room. Plumeria appeared before he could get up, so instead of jumping to his feet, he merely relaxed with an uncomfortable grimace, trying to make it look as if he had been laying there the whole time.

Plumeria raised a brow at him. "Get yo' ass off that floor. It's nasty. Prob'ly got more diseases in it than a Rattata."

"Yep," the grunt replied with, jumping up and brushing himself off rapidly. Some other grunts snickered at him as he did. "You are very right, Big Sis, yep."

But Gladion was not so easily amused. He stared at Plumeria as she started to walk past. He felt hot and sweaty after listening to that conversation, not understanding what girl they were talking about, or what they were intending to do. Apparently, his concentrated stare tipped off Plumeria, who paused just before leaving the room and met his gaze. "What?"

"Nothing," Gladion brokenly said, swallowing hard. He jerked his head away from her a bit too noticeably. Plumeria remained still there for a moment, and Gladion felt like he might drown if she didn't just leave the room… Felt numb as she walked over to him. Suddenly, he didn't know if he wanted to know what she was going out to do. He had been enjoying his time here, hadn't he? Did he want to jeopardize this new version of normal he was looking forward to accepting? Did he want to potentially find himself outcast again, if he found something deeply, troublingly wrong here at Po Town beyond what he already knew?

He wasn't ready for that… It was so hard to take root in such a muddy, dangerous environment, but he really hated the thought of something changing that plan already…

"You heard," she whispered once she was standing over him.

He flicked his eyes up at her but shook his head. "Just… heard you arguing with him… not sure about what…"

She closed her eyes and bit her lower lip. "Just want ya to know, Glad, what we do is for the best of all o' us. 'Cause ain't nobody out there lookin' out for us, but us. Don't none of us mean any harm to anybody."

He looked down. He already knew that. She knew he already knew that. That was not easing his anxiety. "I know," he mumbled dejectedly. Chancing the question, he asked, "What are you going out… to do?"

"I'm not even sure," Plumeria muttered with a grimace as she turned and walked away from him, disappearing out the room at a brisk pace.

A storm was brewing over Po Town, and it wasn't just the rainclouds for once.

It was early the next morning when Selene awoke to something shaking her shoulder. She stirred, blinking blearily, as her Dartrix flared his wings to keep his balance on her chest. When her vision cleared, Selene realized that Hau was trying to gently shake her awake—and Bowtie was having none of it. He had his beak opened threateningly, and every now and then, swiftly moved to nip Hau on his fingertips. Popper was leaned up against the bed, and giving tiny, annoyed growls to Bowtie, who was utterly ignoring him.

"Selene?" Hau was saying, just as he withdrew his hand at lightning speed to avoid another of Bowtie's angry pecks, "can we talk? And… can you maybe call off the angry bird?"

Shooting upright, Selene nervously stammered, "U-uh, yeah, sorry—Bowtie, stop it!" She waved her hand at the pokémon and then comfortingly tried to pick him up, to soothe him. The Dartrix clicked his beak a few more times in aggravation but relaxed upon Selene setting him down beside her.

"Elio's still asleep," Hau whispered, still in Alolan as before, awkwardly sitting down at the far end of her bunk. "It's… kind of early… sorry…"

"It's… it's okay," Selene said, rubbing her left shoulder uncertainly. She was still upset with him, but a larger part of her was just… concerned, now. There was also something else—deep down, part of her was also afraid. She hated that, being afraid of him in any capacity, but… the way he had lit up like a ferocious, scarlet lightning bolt and sent a shock through the entire building had been intimidating, to say the least. She had seen him use his powers some before, and she had read about them in the book, of course, what with the warning about Tapu Koko Proxies being volatile. There was something so very sad about imagining Hau in that way, though… because as angry as she had been at him yesterday, as much as she had wanted to dig into him and make him hurt in her frustration, she didn't hate him, and she knew he only meant the best. She just didn't want to imagine her friend as volatile, or dangerous… because it was Hau. He wasn't like that. Was he?

"I was scared," Hau said through that smile-but-not-really-a-smile he always did when so nervous, "but… Hah, we can't let that stop us, can we? Um… if you want to try going into my, ah… memory again, to talk to Tapu Koko… you… you can."

There was no telling just how much courage that had to have taken him, considering how fearful he had been just the night before, Selene realized. Feeling a twinge of awe, she smiled brightly at him, and scooted a bit closer. No, Hau wasn't like that. "Hau?"

"Ae?" He looked up at her.

"Thank you," she said with a nod, full of conviction. "And whatever happens… We are still in this together. Right? E-even if I figure something out that I can do to help… all of this, all of the everything going on, I'm not going to leave you out to dry. You… do know that, right?"

That fake grin faded, and he took a deep breath. Popper jumped onto the bed then, worming his way into Hau's lap, and he laughed, stroking the pokémon's head. The more genuine smile there then seemed so much more natural and nicer on his face. Hau nodded at her at last and reached a hand to her expectantly, as if waiting for a handshake. "I do," he said determinedly. "Now, let's find out what Tapu Koko wanted, ae?"

Steeling her nerves and taking a deep breath, Selene nodded, focused on him, and clasped her right hand to his, tightening her hold once their palms met.

There was the nauseatingly overwhelming rush of emotions from her last vision having to deal with Hau. The anger, the sadness, the hurt—and she was once again being held by Tapu Koko. Same as last time, she was dumped on the wooden platform at the center of Iki Town, and Tapu Koko looked beaten within an inch of his life. Yet, this time, the vision didn't diverge from its usual pattern, unlike last time where Tapu Koko had started speaking to her. She remained in a fetal position against the wooden platform, Tapu Koko made a sadder, pained warbling noise, and there was an ear-shattering boom! as he bounced away from the town. Overtaken by the emotions of her vessel in that vision—Hau—she couldn't muster the frustration that this wasn't going as planned. It was just so… gutturally depressing. Even as people moved in on her in the vision, Kahuna Hala pulling her off the ground and anxiously checking her over and sounding so relieved she was alright, she just felt… done. Out of it. She could not find the words to describe such a feeling. It felt as if a bomb had gone off in her chest and she was being torn into shrapnel from the inside out.

"Ah! Selene, ow…"

When she came back to the present, she found she was sweating profusely, and clutching Hau's hand painfully hard. She let go, withdrawing her arm, and apologized meekly. "Sorry, sorry…"

"Anything…?" Hau pressed nervously.

Looking down, Selene swallowed hard. Bowtie nudged her arm worriedly and she offhandedly moved her right arm to stroke his back. "No…" she whispered. "Just a vision… nothing from Koko…" She shivered. "I don't understand… he said he needed to talk to me, he was going to tell me something last time, but…" She trailed off, wracking her brain over last time for all that Tapu Koko had said. Something about his… brother and sisters forgetting something… 'If we keep going the way we are now, we'll become like the memories you view,' or something like that… ugh, what else…

She froze.

"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 will not be of service for a while,'" Selene whispered aloud, almost hauntedly.

"Huh?" Puzzled, Hau frowned at her. "What'd you say?"

"When Tapu Koko last spoke to me in the vision, he said he wouldn't… wouldn't be 'of service' for a while," she explained, bewildered. She shook her head. "I don't know what that means…"

Popper suddenly wrestled his way out of Hau's grasp, and slipped off the bed, to the floor, with a plop! Blinking after him, Selene wondered what had encouraged him to move so fast, but then she saw him pop his head back up at the end of the bed, next to Hau. His nose was pointed toward Selene's bag, hanging from the corner of the bedframe. He couldn't reach it with his short, stout frame, but he jumped and nudged the bottom with his round nose, barking again and again at it.

"Why are we being loud already?" Selene heard Elio grumble in Kantonian from the other bunk. He turned over, ignoring them.

"What's in my bag that he wants?" Selene wondered aloud, but quietly, too quiet for Hau to hear.

"Shh, Popper," Hau hissed, leaning over to try to pick the Brionne up. "Stop that, h—" Popper dodged his hands, mischievously clapping his flippers when Hau started to topple off the bed. Selene caught him, helping pull him back upright, and he glowered after the Brionne. "Not nice."

To that, Popper only scooted back over, and started to jump up and point at the bag again.

Deciding that perhaps it was worth humoring Popper (or maybe she just had something in her bag he really wanted to get to), Selene got up and retrieved the bag. Settling it on the bed, she opened it, and Popper leapt up onto the bed again. He squirmed out of Hau's grabbing distance, and then nosed his way into Selene's bag. She snickered at the sight of him disappearing inside for a moment, but the amusement was quickly forgotten when he pushed the book about Alolan 'gifts' back out at her. She stiffened and scooted slightly away from it, while Popper stuck his head out of the bag, giving her a bright, expectant look.

"I already read about mine in there," Selene mumbled. "I don't know what in there could be helpful for this… Nothing in there exactly explains how to talk to the Tapu with it… Barely anyone understood my power because Kahuna Kaua wouldn't cooperate with people who document this stuff, or… or something like that…"

Hau sighed, and then tried to lighten the mood. "Well, why don't we just try again later, ae?" He tilted his head playfully at her, and then reached to pull Popper from her bag. The pokémon protested with a few whiny barks, and whimpered while looking at the book some more, but after a few seconds in Hau's arms, he seemed to forget all about the book.

Of course, part of Selene was unnerved by how Popper had known about the book in the first place… Gnawing her lower lip and deciding she didn't really want to think about that right then, she nodded. "Yeah. Let's just try again later. Yeah." Not that I know how many more times I can handle that vision of yours, Hau… Does it just play on loop like that in your head, or something…? At least with others, I seem to get a random memory… Yours is always… that…

"You two are loud," Elio huffed, speaking a broken mix of Kantonian and Galarish, as he sat up. His blue-gray hair was in a tangled mess framing his face. "What are we talkin' about already this morning?" As if remembering the night before, he blinked a few times and nervously glanced at Hau. "Uh, you doing okay, today, Hau…?"

"Oh, yes," Hau answered shyly, giving that false smile, and waving back at Elio anxiously. "Sorry. About day before… Should not be so…" He trailed off and shook his head, turning back to Selene. "Selene and I fix, yes."

"That's, uh, good," Elio yawned. "Well… I'm gonna text Lillie, since I think it's too early to call, and see what she wants to do about meeting her at the docks. Whether we're doing that today or tomorrow." He went like he was going to stand up, paused, then groaned and flopped back down. "Fuck, I feel like I've been hit by an Arcanine… maybe in a few more minutes…"

Selene snorted. "Considering all the times he's kept me up from sleeping in, I should go wake him up."

Laughing, Hau teased in Alolan, "Ae, probably so tired from punching out Faba's glasses and panicking so much yesterday."

"Because we were all the perfect picture of 'calm,' right?" Selene retorted immediately, crossing her arms, and giving him a knowing look. "I still can't believe all of that happened…"

Rolling his eyes, Hau conceded with a dip of his chin. "Ae, ae, got me there. But to be honest, though, he gets really into it." More sheepishly again, that relaxed, teasing moment gone, Hau said, "He seems like a good brother to me…"

Although she winced a little, feeling a twinge of shame for how frustrated she could get at Elio for his sometimes-secretive nature, she smiled slightly and nodded. Thinking of yesterday, and how he had pulled through every time she needed him the most (or whenever anyone needed him, if she were to be completely fair), she got an idea, and she smirked, eyeing him out the corner of her eye. He might have been laying down, but she knew he wasn't totally asleep. A little loudly, she said, "He is a good brother." Maybe, if I can't talk to him directly… She chuckled when she noticed him physically stiffen from where he was sprawled across the bed, facing away from her, signaling he'd heard her for sure.

I couldn't imagine doing this all without him.

The day following her conversation with Elio, Lillie was, as promised, visited by Captain Mallow. Captain Lana was thrilled, very much looking forward to seeing her; even more so than Lillie was, she amusedly thought, even though she was the one with the injury, not Lana. Yet, Lana was up and down, jittery with excitement, until the Grass-type user arrived at the Hano Grand Resort. Lillie had taken to texting Elio and relaxing with Nebby until Mallow arrived, and the entire time, Lana had been saying, "I can't wait to see Mallow again!" Or something like, "Though, could do without her cooking… I don't know what she puts in that stuff, but it is so spicy!" At some point, she was playing the gaming console again, and she had chattered away, "You know, I got Mallow to play something like this with me once. She beat me, but I'll show her!"

Smirking to herself, Lillie had just grunted in acknowledgement, then just had to text Elio.

Your conversation with Torchic

You

Okay, maybe I'm coming totally out of left field here. But I really think Lana has a crush on Mallow

Torchic

Hahahahaa really

You

She just… will not stop talking about her. It's kind of adorable. Y'know, if Mallow wasn't almost a full-grown woman and Lana wasn't… however old she is.

Torchic

The hart wants wht the hart wants, dont juj

At that, Lillie had paused and snorted. Her attempts at holding laughter failed and she had ended up cackling at the horrific mispelling.

You

I'm sorry, don't what now?

Torchic

Juj… like… make funn of

You

I know Galarish isn't your first language, but I get to make fun of you for that one. 'Judge.'

Torchic

Look u dont juj me ether k?

Rolling her eyes, she had dropped the phone when Lana had suddenly darted toward the door of the hotel room and squeaked, "Oh, Mallow messaged, she's here!" With that, the Captain had bolted out the door, swinging it shut behind herself, loudly.

It wasn't long before Lana came back with Mallow to the room, and the Captain of Lush Jungle asked Lillie to lean back and relax in the bed. With an almost bitter chuckle, Lillie snarked, "Oh, something new. No worries, though, I can do that."

Yet, Mallow had offered little more than a forced laugh at Lillie's joke, and pressed her palms to Lillie's shoulder. She shut her eyes, and green energy flowed from her shoulders and down to her hands. A pleasant, almost cooling sensation washed over Lillie, and she fell limp as the healing took place… but it didn't take long. Almost as soon as it had begun, it felt like, it was over. Mallow went to take a step back and staggered somewhat. Glancing over at her worriedly despite the rush of relief thanks to her leg's pain finally ebbing, Lillie flinched when she noticed a wound had appeared on Mallow's leg in her stead.

"I… know that's how that works, but…" Lillie grimaced. "Captain Mallow, are you sure you're…?"

Mallow just shrugged and waved a hand at her. "Oh, I'll be fine. I heal a lot faster than you do," she taunted, a little more like her usual self. "Besides, we need to get you back with your friends." Mallow paused and seemed to smile even brighter. Awkwardly shifting, with her newly injured leg, she seemed to sputter into a joke, trying to avoid the somber mood of Lillie's circumstances… Lillie wondered just how much Mallow or Lana knew about her, or what they thought about Kukui. She supposed it didn't matter, though. "They're pretty good friends, aren't they? Especially that Kanto boy, hmm~?"

Rotating to get out of the bed, Lillie put her feet flat against the carpeted floor and sighed in relief at the lack of stinging pain that usually came when she moved her damaged leg. She had forced herself to walk some even while hurt, of course, but this was definitely much more pleasant. Standing up, she walked back and forth a bit, then turned to face the bed. Nebby was watching her intently but seemed unwilling to come out after her with Lana and Mallow there. "Look, Nebby," Lillie softly called to him, "all better!"

He squeaked and raised his puffy, nebulaic arms in acknowledgment, but as soon as Lana shifted in place, he retreated behind her pillow. Sighing, Lillie supposed that was fair… The attack from Gladion's beastly pokémon had been intimidating for them all… She couldn't blame the defenseless Nebby for being so skittish. She just hoped that wasn't permanent…

"So, ah, when do you think you want to head to Ula'Ula to meet up with the others?" Mallow asked after a moment. At Lana's insistence, she sat down on the opposing bed in the room to take the pressure off her freshly wounded leg. (To which Lana continue to fuss over her, but Mallow waved her away.) "We can walk with you to the docks and make sure you get on a boat to there, so we know you're safe and there's no funny business, you know."

Biting her lower lip, Lillie eyed Mallow's leg. Well, I'd love to go today, but… I know she said she heals fast, but she looks really hurt now… "Maybe tomorrow morning…? Would that be okay…?"

"It would have to be really early," Mallow winced. "I have to meet with Kahuna Olivia to train the new Totem Lurantis some more…"

"I don't mind going early to go with you two!" Lana exclaimed excitedly, bouncing from foot to foot next to Mallow.

"Early should be fine," Lillie laughed softly. "I don't mind…" Snickering to herself, she tossed a look over her shoulder and at Nebby. "Do you have any complaints about waking up early tomorrow?" He just blinked at her. "I'll take that as a no," she giggled.

"So, uh, six in the morning work for you guys?" Mallow asked, hopping up from the bed with a bounce in her step. She yelped as she remembered her new wound and heavily leaned to her uninjured side. "Right," she cheekily grinned at Lana's worried stare, "I'm fine."

"Six is fine," Lana replied distractedly, bending down to frown at Mallow's leg. "Shouldn't you at least bandage that—"

"Lana," Mallow whined, scooting away from her, "I'm fine. Really!" She broke into a fit of laughter to try to defuse the annoyed tension in the air.

"Six is fine for me, too," Lillie interjected, internally laughing herself to death at Lana's fretfulness. She definitely has something for Mallow, she thought delightedly. Poor girl. Like having a crush on a coworker or a professor or something. Never gonna happen. Also, she's like, what, fifteen? Fourteen? I don't remember.

"Then it's settled," Mallow piped up with a singsong tone, "tomorrow at six in the morning, Lana will already be here, and I'll come meet you to make sure you get to the docks, safe and sound." With that, she limped toward the door of the hotel. "You know, so that Elio can see you again, hehe~"

"Yes, that reason, and that reason only," Lillie dryly snorted, sitting back down. Shaking her head at Mallow's playfulness, she tried to give a sincere thanks for her help, nonetheless. "Thank you, Captain Mallow. For everything."

"Ah, just Mallow's fine," she stammered. Before Lillie could dispute that, she raised her hands up. "Anyway, I better go. See you guys tomorrow~!"

"Will you be okay getting back to—"

The door shut before Lana finished her question, and the Captain sulkily sat down on the opposing bed. Lillie tried to fight the giggles building in her throat, but a couple escaped, to which Lana glared at her. "What's so funny?"

"Nothing, nothing!" Lillie quickly said. "Nothing at all…"

She went to text Elio again to tell him that now she was certain Lana had some kind of feelings for Mallow, but she was overwhelmed by how relieved she was to know she would see him again soon. Instead, she simply texted…

Your conversation with Torchic

You

Hey, Mallow just left. My leg's doing much better, and they can have me at the docks by six tomorrow morning. I guess that means I'd get to Ula'Ula about 7:30 or 8:00? I can give you guys a more accurate time after I talk to Lana some more, but I just wanted to let you know…

She thought for a moment, gnawing on her lower lip, debating whether to say what she really wanted to tell him. In the end…

I really miss you…

Torchic

Hey ofc that time is no problm. Glad leg is doing beter! i.. was so worred about that haha…

I miss u to, lilly..

She sighed a long, pining exhale and wondered just what to say next. Not that it bothered her. Having him say that, even in his broken Galarish of a text, was so, so sweet, and she really did cherish it in that moment.

It would be so nice to see him again tomorrow, and maybe Nebby would stop being so panicky once he was back around familiar faces…