Chapter 49 – Arc 4 (Poni Island) For What It's Worth

Heyyyy people who read my stuff- this is SUPER IMPORTANTE

So, I noticed a pretty MAJOR continuity error in this story recently. Actually, like, 3. Please CHECK MY PROFILE for the full changelog, but I'm going to sum up the changes here, so hopefully nobody has to go reread a ton.

1) Way back in 'Arc 2 (Akala Island) - She's So Gone,' Selene gives a big pep talk at the end of it where she basically tells Elio to be as protective as he wants. In the original version of the chapters following this, it was like Selene got amnesia and completely forgot this, and she was blaming him for... being exactly as she wanted him to be... So, in eveyr chapter since then, I've changed it so she's less bitching him for being like that, and more privately bitching herself that she can't muster the courage to talk to him and admit that she was wrong. This comes to a head in 'Arc 3 (Ula'Ula Island) - Big Girls Don't Cry.' PLEASE RE-READ THAT CHAPTER, or else it's highly possible some stuff in the coming chapters won't make sense! You may also want to reread the last few paragraphs of 'Eternal Cycle' prior to that.

2) Kahuna Kaua was actually NOT the Kahuna of Ula'Ula prior to getting struck down by Bulu - he was the previous Kahuna of Poni. This has intentionally been left unexplained thus far, but I edited a detail in 'Sound the Bugle' to reflect this. Selene was too distracted by everything else in the book to think too much about it.

3) 'Ultra Deep Lament' was overhauled toward the end of Elio's segment, the part where Dulse and Zossie's Lunala get struck with Power Gems. Please reread from that point onward! It'll be very important later!

Okay, I shouldn't need to do any more major plot surgery like this! I'm sorry, lol! But that continuity error, after getting pointed out to me, was REALLY BOTHERING ME! So, I combed through every chapter since all the way back in Arc 2's She's So Gone to fix it! But like I said before, a more proper changelog detailing everything is available on my profile, so you should totally go check that out if you're curious as to what exactly changed!

Thank you guys for all the continued support. This one's been a long one, but I've been having the time of my life writing it, and even had fun editing it, so I hope the overhauls help the story flow better and make more sense!

Arriving back on Akala Island had taken a few hours by boat. Everyone had managed to calm down from their discussion on Poni's docks… in fact, they had all hardly spoken a word since. Selene thought it almost seemed quaint and normal. Seated in a row of three seats all beside one another, Selene found herself at the window, while Gladion took the seat to her right, and Lillie took the aisle seat. Brother and sister awkwardly exchanged conversation here and there, but for the most part remained decidedly silent. Only when Gladion unexpectedly grabbed Selene's hand did she give a start of surprise but managed to keep her composure. She expected the onslaught of a vision immediately, but instead of freezing in panic, succumbing to the idea she would have one like she always had done in the past, she briefly tensed her muscles and took a deep, calming breath. No. She was not in the mood for that right then.

…And yet, somehow, that worked. All she felt was the obvious anxiety in his hand as he lightly squeezed hers, fingers trembling slightly. He withdrew it after a moment more and swallowed hard, appearing to stare at the seat in front of himself pointedly. "Sorry," he whispered offhandedly to her, never breaking eye contact with it. If she were in a more easily amused mood, Selene might have laughed. It looked like he was having a staring contest with the seat.

Although he didn't clarify what he was sorry for, Selene felt that she understood. The awkward exchanges between Lillie and Gladion were bittersweet to listen to. They sounded like old friends that had long forgotten one another's hobbies and interests, but were trying to stitch together a conversation, nonetheless. They tiptoed around certain topics, like Skull, Aether, or Nebby, but grasped for every opportunity at another conversation. Admittedly, it did make Selene quit paying them mind after a while, and just stare out the window onto the open ocean, observing the occasional Basculin or Magikarp leap from the water, or the rare sight of a Gyarados' tail breaching the waves. Although Kukui had pried a reaction out of her she couldn't describe, and she had had time to deal with the encroaching numbness following Elio's… departure… she still didn't want any reminders. She wanted to take what had happened at Aether and bury it in a tiny box, way down deep—and then let it go. She didn't dare think about her parents, either, that were still in Interpol custody as they continued their search along the ocean floor for whatever evidence they could hope to collect from the Atlantean ruins of Aether. It wasn't exactly like she had visitation rights, either, with people that were accused of assisting in acts of heinous cruelty to pokémon, kidnapping, illegal fabrication of pokémon, and Arceus could only remember what else they had told her Inaba and Miki could potentially end up charged with.

Privately, she liked this semblance of normalcy doing something as simple as riding between the islands granted. It was a mirage, and she knew it, but she appreciated it, anyway. Maybe with Hau, they could all feel even more normal, and the daunting task ahead of understanding just what Tapu Koko had asked of her—no, them, she reminded herself sternly—wouldn't be so overwhelming.

What she hadn't expected, upon arriving at Akala and meeting at the Lush Jungle as Captain Mallow had insisted (apparently, Lillie had called her sometime before they boarded the vessel), was for Hau to recoil at the sight of them and turn his back, immediately crossing his arms. They were halfway into the trial area, where undergrowth came up to their calves and Mallow had some cooking supplies sprawled on a mat around a broiling pot, wild Fomantis and Comfey peering out cautiously at them. Bowtie slunk around the edge of the slight clearing, drifting in and out of trees, as if he were at home in the shadows of the trunks. Lillie and Gladion had stayed put a short distance away while Selene and Mallow themselves stepped forward to try and talk to Hau.

"Hau," Selene softly called, smiling slightly. She felt almost lame as she couldn't seem to find the words to say and just almost laughed, "Uh, hey…"

He shuffled in place, his arms still crossed firmly over his chest. "I don't want to talk," he muttered back to her in Alolan. Coldly, he added, "If I wanted to, I'd have come and found you, wouldn't I?"

Sighing, Selene guiltily gnawed her lower lip. She hadn't known what to expect from this interaction, but whatever Hau was feeling, she couldn't help but feel responsible. Maybe it was Nanu that had convinced her to round them all up and head to Aether Paradise on that ill-fated expedition… but what if she just hadn't put her powers on display for him? Wincing at the thought, she thought of how Elio had shown up there. A scary thought played in the back of her mind. Had she just been destined to lose Elio that day, no matter what, due to her past mistakes? Pushing such a thought away immediately, Selene shook her head. "Hau, maybe you don't want to talk, but we need to."

His shoulders arched somewhat. "About what?" he snapped.

Inhaling sharply, Selene admitted, "It's… no secret that everything that happened on Aether was nothing short of a disaster, Hau…" Choking up a little, she grimaced. "I think it was such a disaster because I stopped talking to you. I quit talking to you, and acted like I knew best, all on my own… and I didn't. I didn't, I couldn't talk to Elio, and… we all got into something way bigger than we should have, without knowing what we were doing…"

She saw Hau's muscles loosen. "I…" he trailed off, sounding as if he were trying to drum up some courage. "I thought me and P-Popper could take Zero… on our own… and I knew you were frustrated with Elio, but… even though you were, you acted like you had it under control…" He scuffed a foot in the grass and roots below himself. He still hadn't turned to look at her. "I wanted to be like that. And that surge from Zero, that we got in the hall, back at Po Town… For a moment, I felt like a real-life superhero. More than someone on a clock, like I always felt before, with this little trick of mine, I felt like more than someone serving someone else's needs… I felt alive. And I wanted to be like you… so, I fought Zero alone."

"I'm sorry, Hau," Selene whispered, daring to step closer to him. "I'm sorry…" Glancing at Lillie and Gladion, who both nodded at her encouragingly, Selene swallowed hard before continuing. "I just… want us to be together, now… so nothing like that happens again. To any of us. I-I'm afraid of what's going to happen to us, alone… you know?" Inching even closer, until she was standing beside him, she dared to look him in the face. He jerked his gaze away from her, jaw set and tight. "I'm… I'm afraid it'll all have been pointless. If we hold onto all the bad that happened there… And Hau, I told you what Tapu Koko said…" She crossed her own arms, apologetically mumbling, "I'm… I'm sorry I didn't take it to heart at the time. I don't think I understood it, back then…"

Unclenching his jaw enough to speak, he pressed, "Do you understand it now?"

"Not really," Selene admitted. With a nervous half-smile, she nudged his shoulder. "That's… kind of why I wanted to find you. So maybe we could figure it out."

She thought he heard him make a 'tch' and he groaned, turning to regard them all with incredulousness. "Do you have any idea where we'd even start? What's the end goal?" With a sweeping gesture of his hand, he motioned to all of them, then stopped on Bowtie. She thought she heard his voice catching in his throat as he spoke, but he pushed through. "What are we going to do? It's over. We lost. Lusamine got what she wanted, and others paid for it." He started to pant as he clearly became more riled up. "Nebby's… whatever it is he is, now, and everything's still just as screwed up as it was before. Where would we even start? What is it you want to fix?"

"I'm going to stop you there, Hau. We didn't lose."

Surprised at Lillie's interjection, Selene and Hau both paused and turned to watch her as she walked up to them. Selene noticed the way Hau took her in as if he had never seen her before and she remembered that he likely hadn't seen her since the interrogations following the sinking of Aether. Even though the dye in her hair had started to come away at that point, she looked much more like her original self, right then. She lacked her original braids, but her hair sat in a ponytail, making a wave of blond hair fall down her back. Part of her hair was parted around her face and sat in long, straight lines at the side, framing her. Her green eyes glittered as she took a deliberate step forward, setting her jaw as she looked up at Hau. She overturned her hand and showed him a handful of Poké Balls, including one that was striped green and tan—a Nest Ball.

"The Nest Ball is Nebby. The rest are Elio's," Lillie explained. She closed her hand over them again and dropped her arm back to her side. "Nebby lived through that little stunt of theirs. All of their notes suggested he should have died. He lived, but he's… unresponsive." Closing her eyes, she exhaled slowly. "As for Elio's pokémon, I haven't even named them, even if I've been training them some. He told me before that he wanted to name them, he just couldn't decide on what… and then, well… you know how everything went downhill…" Opening her eyes again, she took another decisive step forward, narrowing her eyes determinedly. "He's going to get the chance to name them and I'm going to find a way to heal Nebby. Lusamine hasn't won yet. That's what we need to do, Hau."

Blinking at her fervently, he shook his head slowly. "And what about the everything else? Nobody wants to talk to me except for you guys because of what happened with Popper! A-and on top of that, we still have stuff like this"—he raised a hand, showing them the arcs of electricity dancing between his fingers—"to worry about! Things are still screwed here, even though Aether's gone!" Almost sarcastically curling his lips, he spat, "It's not like that was all that was wrong, here."

Lillie glanced between Selene and Hau both. "I have an idea for that, actually. When I was training on Poni, I talked to some locals… Did you two know that Poni doesn't even have a Kahuna?"

"Really?" Selene and Hau exchanged looks.

"Nanu acts as the Kahuna for the island, on top of being Ula'Ula's Kahuna," Lillie shrugged, "but Tapu Fini hasn't named another Kahuna for that island in years, over a decade. Something else interesting about Tapu Fini—she is said to be able to cleanse the toxins away from anything, or anyone." Tucking the Poké Balls into her shoulderbag, Lillie added, "If Lusamine lost her mind because of Nihilego toxins like those fun Interpol guys suggested—it's a wonder they keep anything secret there, really, as much as they lit slip to us, by the way—then maybe that's what's bothering Nebby, somehow… I still don't know what that box was they put him in, after all… And maybe while we're there, you two can test out your theory." She locked eyes with Selene. "You know. How you have the power to listen to the stories of others, and Hau is who can make them listen. Look, I understand about as much about what that means as the next guy, but… who knows. Maybe it'll help if Selene tries to listen to her and talks to you about it, Hau."

Hau flicked his eyes between them all and then nervously stumbled, immediately stammering, "N-no, there's just—"

"Hau…"

Captain Mallow this time. She clasped her hands in front of herself and gave a sad, knowing smile. Instinctively, Selene and Lillie parted for her, giving her space to approach Hau. She was followed by a few Fomantis excitedly bouncing near her feet as she unfolded her hands to gently take Hau's into them, leaning her forehead forward to touch his. Unlike how standoffish he had been with the rest of them, he readily accepted her touch, even if he still looked incredibly anxious. "Ae, Mallow?"

"You can't stay here forever, you know that, right?" she whispered to him. Selene tried to avert her eyes to give them some privacy, but she could still hear everything. "I knew that when you first showed up…"

"But…"

"Ae, we hung out, we had a fun time… sometimes, really fun," Mallow laughed playfully, then cleared her throat, "but, I knew it wasn't forever. You know? You were hurt… and you needed some healing." Without even looking at her, Selene could see her encouraging grin. "That's my job. That's what I do for Alola. Tapu Lele might scare me, but I do that for me, not her, truthfully. It makes me feel good to help others out when I know they need it, and you needed it… But Hau, you don't need that anymore."

A long pause. "If I don't, then why don't I want to leave? And just… what's the point?" He almost scoffed. "After all of that…"

"What was the point of all that hurt if you just stay here?" Mallow asked quietly, almost too quiet for Selene to hear. "From everything you've told me, from what I've picked up on, you are meant for something so much bigger, you know. You've already sacrificed so much for it, too… Maybe you should finish what you started. Hey… it's not like I'm going anywhere. Whenever you need time to rest and pick yourself back up, you know where I am."

Quavering, he finally seemed to agree, and Selene let out a breath of relief she hadn't realized she had been holding. "You're right, Mallow… You're right." She risked looking up at them, finding that Mallow had her arms draped across Hau's shoulders, and he had returned the gesture as close as he could, hugging her tightly in response. "Thank you. For everything…"

Smiling warmly, Mallow gently pushed on his shoulders, forcing some space between them, and dragged a finger up his chin, forcing it upward in an almost symbolic gesture. That encouraging expression changed to one of mischief as she grinned and then teased, "Now, go put those electric fingers to better use than me, would you~?"

Sputtering in disbelief and flushing red, he jolted away from her. "M-Mallow!" he whined, an uncomfortable laugh escaping him against his wishes, it seemed. "In front of—"

She cut him off with wild laughter, the Fomantis around her feet scattering as she had to take a few steps back to catch her balance. "Well, hey, it worked! You laughed~!"

Having been equally as caught off-guard as Hau, Selene let out an ugly laugh and covered her mouth as she grinned playfully at him. Regaining her composure with a few puffs for breath, Selene managed to squeeze out, "S-so, you're coming with us?"

He abruptly laughed more, like he was remembering how good it felt to do so. "Ae, yeah," he agreed, laughing even harder. "Yeah, I'm coming with." He wiped an amused tear away from his eyes and rolled them at Mallow, still blushing hard. Shaking his head and wagging a finger at her as he walked by, he pretended to scold her, "That was low. Guess you don't get any more 'electric fingers.'"

"Arceus, can we stop with the electric fingers?" Gladion complained from the sidelines, a hand planted firmly over his face. Mallow's humor feeling a little infectious, Selene shared a devious look with Bowtie, who had crept up back to her side, and skipped over to Gladion.

"What is it, Glad?" she dared to tease him, her hands plastered firmly behind her back.

He blinked at her dubiously, like he didn't understand what she was doing. Flushing a little red, he growled, "Well, it's just that—"

While he was distracted trying to explain, Selene prodded his shoulder out of nowhere, and he scrambled away, cursing under his breath. Glowering at her once he regained his composure, he pointed at her. "That wasn't funny," he told her flatly.

Yet, her giggling said otherwise. "What, afraid it was—"

"The next person that says electric fingers is getting zapped," Hau warned as he rolled his eyes and stalked between them, headed toward the entrance of the Lush Jungle.

"Oh, I thought I wasn't getting any more, that's all I have to do?" Mallow cheekily piped up immediately, a Cheshire grin spreading across her face.

Just like that, Gladion groaned and followed Hau, leaving Selene and Lillie alone with Mallow. Turning to face the Captain, Selene dipped her chin respectfully. "Thank you… We really can't do this without him…"

She shrugged. "I meant everything I said. I didn't do it just for you." With that, she playfully waved at them. "But I-I better get back to cooking, for the Totem Lurantis. I know of some recipes that help calm them down, pokémon, and, well… Calming a Totem down is a good way of making them better-adjusted to the job…"

Catching the slightest tremor in Mallow's tone, Selene briefly wondered if, despite how well Mallow seemed to be handling this goodbye, she was sad to see Hau go.

"Selene?" Lillie cleared her throat. "Should we go?"

Breaking her stare away from Mallow and shaking her head to focus again, Selene nodded. "Y-yeah. Let's go." Pausing awkwardly, she attempted the Alolan handwave in Mallow's direction. "Alola, Captain Mallow."

"It's just Mallow," Mallow laughed, sounding a little forced. "Alola, Selene, Lillie."

"Getting to the Ruins of Hope—that's where Tapu Fini supposedly lives—won't be easy," Lillie had warned them as they had gathered supplies from a Poké Mart and from a normal department store in the local Konikoni City. "Most of Poni is barren. Canyons and badlands. People only really live around the docks. And without a Kahuna… well, we're just relying on maps and our own common sense to get there."

This Lillie was so different from the Lillie he had known before. Although Hau kept turning over Mallow's final words to him in his head, drawing strength from them, he found Lillie's words almost just as encouraging. He didn't know where this determination of hers had come from, but he admired it, almost like he had admired Elio's fire before he had stormed out of Po Town that fateful day. Admittedly, he wasn't sure what to say to Selene; he didn't want to truly blame her for anything. Nanu had been the one to push her to trust her powers more than she should have—they still had far too much to figure out about them, after all—and although she had pushed Elio to behave so defensively in the days and weeks leading up to the tragedy aboard Aether's decks, he knew she hadn't meant to. Not to mention… she had apologized. Hau wasn't a spiteful person. Holding onto anger was difficult and not in his nature. At her heartfelt, sincere apologies, it had started to dissipate, all that tightness in his chest from his anger with her decisions… After all, they were a team, and she was his friend. She had made mistakes, but hadn't he? Swallowing hard, he grimaced as he reminded himself that, for example, it wasn't Selene who had brought Aether Paradise to the ocean floor…

After packing up all they felt they needed for the coming journey from the store, they had crashed in a Pokémon Center for the evening, and it felt almost domestic, to sit around a hostel room, just the four of them, without any immediate danger looming over their shoulders. Well, he supposed that wasn't true… At some point, Gladion asked Lillie for more about what she planned to do with Nebby and Elio's pokémon.

"I'm going to give his back to him, just like I said before," Lillie explained simply, with a one-sided shrug. "I'm going to help Nebby, however I can… and a long time ago, Dulse and Zossie pulled me aside, and they warned me. I think I might have told you guys about it… But they warned me that in their home world, there was a creature, kind of like a pokémon, but a creature who could destroy a world's light if allowed to find it…" She gave a shuddery sigh. "They were worried that if Lusamine got Nebby, she would find that creature, and she'd set it free. I don't know if Lusamine's alive. I don't know if she found that creature or not. For all I know, she tried to go to it, and it destroyed her in one hit or something," she snorted contemptuously, "but… if there's a chance that Elio's still out there, if there's a chance that she could do that… I have to stop it. I owe it to him, and to Alola." She set her jaw and bitterly looked away when Gladion seemed like he wanted to comfort her. "It was my fault I was so defenseless, back then. I had nothing to fight Skull with other than my mouth and my own two hands and feet when they kidnapped me. It was because I was up on my high horse, refusing to train pokémon, because I was convinced I wouldn't hurt anyone or anything that way… I was wrong."

That sure sounded like danger, but… it wasn't imminent. It wasn't like before, where there was a constant fear that someone was on the hunt for Lillie and Nebby. At least that was nice… He almost rolled his eyes. Somehow, the news that a world-ending beast might have been lying in wait on another world didn't seem to bother him nearly as much as he imagined it should have. Was it shock dulling his response to that, or had he just seen so much, he couldn't imagine it being that much worse of a situation than he'd already handled?

"Her fault, his fault, your fault," Gladion abruptly interrupted everyone's thoughts, scoffing. Null, laying at his feet, perked up and looked at his trainer, seated at the edge of the lower mattress of the left-hand side's bunk beds. "I really wish everyone would stop trying to toss around blame." He scuffed a shoe against the wooden floor, then kicked both his shoes off, flopping back onto the bed and sighing at the apparently welcome comfort. "Everyone screwed up a little that day. It is what it is. All we can do now is do better and move on, and we're doing that. Right?"

Selene, from the bunk above Hau's, said, "That's… yeah…"

She didn't sound all that enthused, but Hau supposed that was to be expected. He didn't exactly feel like forgiving himself just because Gladion had said so, either, but he did find some solace in the words. It felt nice to know there were some that had been there that knew he hadn't intended for things to go so fantastically wrong that day…

"No. Sorry, you're wrong on that one, Glad," Lillie quietly replied from the bunk above his. She, too, had laid back in her bed, not even bothering to sit up as she talked. "None of that would have happened had I never been kidnapped in the first place. Don't be naïve. You, yourself, rarely even walk without Null by you, right? Why's that?"

He uncomfortably fidgeted his hands and took a moment to reply. "Because I got jumped not that long after I joined Skull. A bunch of guys who hated Skull. They were picking on a little girl from them. I tried to talk them out of it, and they attacked me. I didn't even have time to throw Null's Poké Ball…" He licked his lips as he trailed off. "I don't know what would have happened if Guzma hadn't stopped them."

"You felt helpless," Lillie simplified for him, "defenseless, and you had to have someone else risk themselves for you. You didn't want that to happen again. It's the same logic, Glad."

Familiarly nervous smile pulling at his lips, Hau tried to defuse the situation. "Maybe we should all just try an' get some sleep, ae…" Or at least talk about literally anything else.

It was Selene that replied. "Yeah, I agree with Electric Fingers."

Groaning as he flopped onto his back on the mattress below him, Hau clamped both hands over his face. "Would you stop that!" he hissed in Alolan.

"Oh, no, that's a thing now, sorry," Selene taunted, a cackle following.

"Gross. I'm going to bed," Gladion declared. Hau spread the fingers over his face enough to see him turn to the wall beside his bed and fluff his pillow. He didn't even bother getting under the covers or getting out of his jacket, and Null immediately joined him, curling up at the foot of the mattress.

"Goodnight, Glad," Lillie yawned. "Selene, Hau."

"Night," Selene called back.

Snorting in amusement, Hau stood back up out of his bed. "Ae, everyone so tired, we just leave the lights on," he teased under his breath, going over to flick the switch off. Making his way back to his bed, he hesitated as he went to lift the blankets to curl up beneath them. As of late, it normally would have been Mallow joining him in bed, and before her, Popper. Without either of them, the prospect of going to bed seemed a lot more daunting. Mulling over that for a second, he ended up releasing his Umbreon, Ho'ololi, to join him. Curling up beneath the covers, Hau patted the bed to encourage the pokémon to join him. After a few curious sniffs at where he was patting, the Umbreon seemed to decide there was no harm in trying to join him, and tucked himself into a ball at about Hau's knees.

It wasn't the same, but at least it was a little more familiar.