Calem's Alola Adventure

Chapter 17

By: Gandire

Calem, despite his late night, is one of the first to awaken the next morning. The only person up before him is Gladion who's at the dining table sorting through various documents. Aether foundation employees enter the room to pass him documents or boxes. Calem decides he shouldn't disturb and passes through with a "morning." With nothing to do, he sets out for the courtyard to care for his pokemon.

Lana is the next person to awaken. With a "Good morning," she claims a spot across from Calem and does the same with her pokemon. They exchange a few words, but most of their attention is on their pokemon. Almost an hour and a half passes before anyone else joins them. First, Acerola, then, Serena, and finally, Mahina.

Not long after, Lillie steps out of her mother's quarters. No longer wearing her hat, she blocks the sun with her hand as she approaches them with her head held high. Her hair, outfit, and bag are all different. She still mostly wears white, but now it's a hooded shirt and pleated skirt. An orange backpack replaces her duffle bag. She faces everyone with a confident smile and eyes full of determination, "These are the clothes we picked up in Malie…"

Lana and Acerola both clap their hands and circle Lillie to examine her. Acerola says, "I was worried about the orange at first."

Lana says, "Yes, I really thought a teal or aquamarine would be better, but I see now how wrong I was."

Mahina giggles, "Told you. Sometimes a new color just makes an outfit bloom."

Calem says, "I would have at least added green a hair band for to her pony-tail. You know, to compliment her eyes?"

While Lana, Acerola, and Mahina give him looks of disbelief and shock, Serena says, "I said the same thing, but we failed to agree on what shade would compliment her best."

Acerola cups her chin as she appraises Calem, "Calem has a sense for fashion, I would have never guessed." She then pats Lana's back, "You should definitely let him take you out shopping. Who knows, maybe he'll be able to add some life to your wardrobe."

Calem pretends to ignore the scene for Lana's sake. He says to Lillie, "You look great."

Serena says, "Be careful around Calem. He likes to pull pony-tails."

Calem turns to Serena, "We were ni- wait. Is that why you stopped wearing one?"

"Yes! Every day I wore one, you tugged it. You did it every, single, time!"

Calem thinks back, "Yeah, I guess so… Why did I do that?"

"How would I know? You should tell me!"

"Maybe I'd remember if I could pull it again?"

Serena shakes her head and makes an X with her arms while saying, "Not! Happening!"

Lillie and everyone else giggle at the exchange. Calem also gives a rare smile as he turns to Lillie, "So, what brought this on? A sign of your determination?"

Lillie nods once, "I feel like there's so much I have to do now… to save Nebby… to save my mother… I… I want to be like you. All of you. I want to be strong enough to face any trial. That's why I'm going to try my hardest! This is my Z-powered form!" She then does a Z dance that ends with her arms making a Z.

Serena claps while saying, "Lillie-Z!"

Gladion steps out onto the courtyard while saying, "So this is where you were." He hands Lillie a silver flute, "The Moon Flute, it was in one of the labs. It's an artifact from Alola's past that's said to be played under the moon's light. If you believe the old myths, you can call the legendary pokemon by sounding the sun flute and moon flute together. Looks to me like that woman was even planning to add legendary pokemon to her little collection. Calem," He tosses him a master ball and adds, "I'm counting on you to help Lillie. This is the least I can do."

Lillie says, "But… what are you going to do, Gladion?"

"Deal with this mess. I've going to clean up Aether Paradise. I wanted to get as far away as I could with Null from this place, but in the end, it looks like Silvally and I both ended right back here again…"

Hau calls to everyone upon stepping onto the courtyard. He runs up to them, "Morning, guys! You all sleep well? Hey, Lillie, is that you? What happened? You look… fantastic!"

Gladion shoot Hau a look full of murderous intent, "What was that?"

Lillie glows with excitement at Hau's question, "Yes, it's me! Now I'm ready to use my full force, too!"

Hau ignores Gladion with a smirk, "Yeah, me too! I'm going to train even harder! I've gotta do more! I didn't contribute nearly enough like all of you. No way am I becoming a weak link in the future! If I can't save pokemon on my own, then I'll never be an Island Kahuna and never be able to make people smile."

Calem says under his breath, "You know, at least Beedrill have wings…"

Lana says in a just as quiet tone, "Kahuna, not kakuna."

Hau turns to Acerola, "And I still haven't done your trial or anything. I've got a lot of catching up to do."

Mahina hammers a fist into her palm, "That's right!" She turns to Lana, "I still need to do Akala Island!"

Gladion says, "I'm sorry for dragging all of you into our family mess."

Hau says, "Yeah… but we got to see things that almost no one would ever get the chance to see! Maybe if I set out to train harder, I'll get to see more amazing things like that again!"

Calem and Serena exchange looks. Serena smiles and says, "That is true. You never know what life will show you when you are alongside pokemon."

Gladion scowls and says, "Yeah, well… our mother likes taking things to extravagant scales."

Lillie says, "I was really glad that you came too, Hau."

Gladion sighs a Lillie's words. "I can get all of you to whatever island you need to go after breakfast. Come on, Wicke said we can eat whenever we want."

Calem turns to Acerola as they all follow Gladion. "Where does Nanu keep that medicine? I think I'll take some now."

Everyone boards the boat after breakfast. Calem, able to enjoy sea travel for the first time, sits on one of the railings. He secures himself by keeping a firm grasp on the rail with both of his hands and wrapping a leg tight around one of the supporting bars. The occasional spray against his back from water breaking against the boat is a novel and enjoyable experience.

Midway to their first destination, Poni Island, Lana says, "You know, Sharpedo love challenging boats. They make a habit of ramming into them as fast as they can. They consider it a victory if anything falls into the water. The bigger the object, the better the prestige."

Calem looks over his shoulders, first his left, than the right. A triangular fin breaks the ocean surface off in the distance, but swims in the opposite direction. "I think I'll be fine."

Hau stands up, "That reminds me!" He walks toward Calem with his arms wrapped behind his head. He wears his usual grin as he says, "Remember what happened when we first went to Akala Island?"

Lillie giggles, "That's right, Ca-" A splash cuts her sentence short. She whips her head towards the sound, but Calem has vanished.

Hau laughs from where he stands, "You were too sea sick for revenge before, but now is different!"

Serena jumps up from her seat and dives over the railing. Her sudden action ends Hau's laughter. The others join him and look towards where Serena dived. All of them stare with clueless expressions. Serena surfaces a few moments later with Calem under her arm. He hacks and gasps for breath, but also tries not to struggle.

Gladion, having heard the commotion, brings the boat around. Lana tosses the two a life ring. Serena ensures that Calem has a firm grasp on it before signaling for everyone to pull the ring back.

Calem climbs onto the boat first and Serena follows. No longer in the water, he's able to clear his lungs and take deep breaths. "Honestly… didn't think I'd… come that close to dying… again so fast."

Everyone but Serena give him a questioning look. She backs away while Lana asks the question everyone else is thinking, "What do you mean?"

Calem averts his gaze to the side. His voice is soft, but everyone hears him says, "I… I can't… swim…"

Acerola looks to the rail. "And you were sitting there? What would you have done if Serena wasn't here?"

"Drown? Depend on the good will of a passing pokemon?"

Lana says, "That isn't funny! What about that time we went fishing? You were casually swinging around Lapras's back! That's being too reckless! Aren't you afraid about falling in?"

"Not really, I just have to make sure I don't fall in. If I do, all that'll happen is that I'll drown." He then looks himself over, "More than that, I'm soaked…" He strips off his shirt and lets it drop against the ground with a wet plop.

Lana blushes and turns her face at first, but feels silly realizing she's the only one. She moves her hands away from her face and takes a hesitant look towards Calem. A black, flame shaped, scar spreads around his waist below his bandages.

Hau points at Calem's side and says, "Dude, what happened? Did you get that yesterday?"

Calem looks down at himself and shrugs. "No, I got that during the Last Night of Kalos. It's usually just a reminder to always be careful around legendary pokemon. Right now, it a good distraction." Calem then looks towards the inside of the cabin.

Curious, everyone follows his gaze. Serena, having changed into fresh clothes without any of them noticing, waves with a smile. She then tosses Calem a fresh shirt she pulled from his bag.

Rotom floats out of Calem's wet clothes and says, "On the pluszzz szzzide, I'm water proof! Buzzt!"

A bit later, when everyone is busy with their own conversations, Lana sits down next to Calem. She speaks in a low voice so only he can hear. "Is that… from Yuveltal?"

Calem nods, "It's healed now. The skin just looks dead."

Hau walks up to Calem and says, "How is it you don't know how to swim? What did you and your friends do during the summer?"

Calem clicks his tongue, but shrugs. "I didn't really go swimming with them all that much. The few times I did, I would play near the shore and watch."

"And you never cared enough to learn?"

"I'm a racer. That means going to the stables early in the morning until evening whenever I had free time. Nothing else really mattered."

Acerola's joyful shouts of, "Lana, Lana, when were you going to tell me about your date?" grabs everyone's attention. In her hands she waves one of the pictures of her and Calem dancing.

Serena holds the rest in her hands. "Calem, how exactly did the two of you kill time back then?" She didn't stop at getting him a fresh shirt, she raided his bag.

Lana panics at everyone's smirks and blushes. She shakes her head, "No, no, no, no!"

The first stop is for Calem and Lillie on Poni Island. Gladion says to them, "The Kahuna of this island also watches over a shrine where Alola's people worship the legendary pokemon. You might be able to find some clues there."

Lillie says, "Gladion… thank you for this. But… when you took Null and left Aether Paradise two years ago… you left me alone with mother! She was so bad after you left! If I hadn't had Wicke with me…"

"I'm sorry… I wasn't there for you when you needed me. All I could think about back then was finding a way to save Silvally… That was the battle I was fighting. Now, you've found your own battle to fight. I know you can handle it."

Everyone waves their goodbyes as the boat sails away. Mahina says, "Give us a call once you find something. We've come all this way together, don't exclude us at the end!"

Calem and Lillie wave goodbye and turn to explore the pier they disembarked onto. Calem says, "How are you holding up?"

Lillie shakes her head. "I'm OK. You don't have to worry. I know what I have to do now. And… I don't know. Maybe this sounds strange, but I'm kinda excited." Her eyes shine with anticipation as she speaks.

Rotom says, "Well then, Poni Island, here we come! Bzzt-bzzt! What kinds of new pokemon will we get to rub elbows with here, eh, Calem, Lillie? If only I had elbows, bzzt!"

Lillie giggles at the joke. As they're walking, someone from atop of one of the ships says, "Nice to see some new faces around here! This island is pretty uninhabited, so new comers always stick out."

He jumps down, and as Calem and Lillie approach him, Lillie says, "I-I'm sorry. Who are you?"

The man stands proud and says, "Me? I'm the chief of the seafolk. It's my job to keep everybody together."

Lillie says, "The… seafolk?"

"Yes ma'am! What'd you think all these boats 'round you are here for?" He gestures to the various ships docked to the pier, "We seafolk have spent years navigating the seas and searching out new wonders. When we find rare things, we bring 'em here to Alola to trade. The ports of the other islands are busier these days, but we still always seem to end up back here on Poni, eh? So, what did you two come here for? You collecting berries, like us? Or is this some sort of date?"

Lillie turns crimson as she shakes her head and hands, "Oh, no. I-I could never do something like that! Not to Lana and Serena…" She struggles to regain her composure as the man laughs.

Calem says, "We're here to visit the kakuna."

To the man's confusion, Lillie says, "Kahuna! Really, do you say that on purpose?"

"It's actually a habit now."

The man says, "The Kahuna? Hmm. Maybe you should go to little Hapu's place? Her house is the only one still standing on Poni, after all? Where else would you go, eh? You can recognize little Hapu's house at a glance… thanks to Mudsdale. That pokemon is huge."

Lillie says, "Oh! So Hapu lives here on Poni Island? Serena and I ran into her back on Ula'ula. She was really helpful in visiting the temple ruins. Thank you very much."

Lillie turns to Calem as they leave, "Let's go. It will be good to see Hapu and Mudsdale again!"

"For you. She doesn't like me."

"I'm sure it'll be fine once we explain it was a misunderstanding."

Calem shrugs and says, "More importantly, did you really have to panic that much back there?"

Lillie blushes and says, "Me? How about you? You didn't panic at all! Actually, I don't think I've ever seen you panic!"

Calem places his palm over his heart. "That's true. I lost that ability during the Nightmare following the Fall of Kalos. I do still feel fear and anger, though."

An uneasy smile comes to Lillie's face. "So… what do you think of Lana and Serena? Sure, Lana might still be a kid to you, but in a few years…"

"Honestly, I can't feel such complex emotions right now. I'm too traumatized about Kalos. But, when I think back to everything I felt during my adventure in Kalos, and if the Final Night never happened… Well, I'd probably never have come to Alola, not like this at least. I'm getting off track… If I wasn't like this, then Serena and I, we wouldn't have remained just friends."

Lillie blushes at Calem's words. "How… how can you say something like that so… so… so easily?"

"I'm a very emotionally mature person for my age. Seeing the end of the world does that to people."

"I know you're being serious, but it really feels like your teasing me…" She sighs and smiles, "Then again, the current you is much livelier than when we first met."

"I'm probably not that different from you. A lot of horrible things happened, but I'm… happy… I guess? Whatever I'm feeling, I just know that I don't regret being here."

"You're right. Going through all of this with you really has been an experience. I really don't feel like I have anything to worry about with you here."

Calem scratches his cheek. "You say that, but I tend to run from most battles."

Their conversation lasts through the Poni Wilds to Hapu's house on Ancient Poni Path. Mudsdale grazes on the front lawn. He neighs upon seeing Calem and snorts. Calem says, "Well, let's get this over with."

Lillie walks towards the ground pokemon with a smile, "You're worrying too much." To the pokemon, "It's good to see you again, too, Musdsale! You look to be in fine form." At Mudsdale's proud neigh, Lillie says, "Wow… Pokemon trainers really do amaze me. It seems like a hard path to walk, but even so, you don't let the fear of seeing your pokemon friends get hurt hold you back…"

Calem doesn't respond. That fear crippled him for years and continued to prevail when he started this journey. He controls it better now, but it still nags at him during every battle. Then, when he reflects on those battles, if nothing breaks his concentration, he's liable critique himself for hours.

Lillie's final sentence, "You just keep striving forward together," leads Calem to say, "That's all we can do."

Hapu steps out of her house at her Mudsdale's commotion. From the exhausted and forced way that she walks, she must have recently given her all against an impossible adversary. She didn't lose, but she didn't win either. "Oh! Been a while, Lillie… I see you brought this guy along?"

Lillie says, "Yes, it's good to see you, Hapu! But, you may have misunderstood about Calem. He's a really good person."

Hapu looks Calem over, "The person in question doesn't care much about what I have to say, though." She then looks back to Lillie, "Gotta say, you look different now. Like you're ready to go all out in something."

"Thank you, Hapu. I've finally discovered what I need to do. This is my Z-powered form!"

"Ho! Then you do your best, Lillie! No one could call you lily-livered!"

Lillie gives a bashful grin, "Um, so, Hapu… do you know where we can find the Kahuna?"

"The Kahuna? Hrmm, don't have one here on Poni."

"What! Calem, what do we do now?"

Calem gestures to Hapu with his face, but doesn't say anything.

Hapu says, "Sharp, I'll grant you that much. To tell the truth, now that I've finished my battle against that odd little thing that appeared out of the sky… All right, let us proceed to the ruins. Make sure you stick with me, Lillie. I'll take you to the Ruins of Hope."

Calem tries to follow, but Hapu says, "Not you, you're not qualified. Wait here."

Lillie goes to complain, but Calem stops her and shrugs. He sits on a broken wall and calls out his pokemon to groom them. Lillie says, "Then, I'll be back as soon as I can, Calem. I'm going to see if Tapu Fini can wash away whatever is happening to Nebby with its mystic water…"

"You really think that will work?"

Lillie puffs her cheeks, "I'm gonna make sure it does just to show you, Calem! This time, I'm going to be the one who saves Nebby."

"Good, that's exactly the spirit you need to do this." Lillie nods and leaves with Hapu who says, "Come on, Lillie."

Mawile places herself in front of Calem so he can scrub the back of her head. She sighs out and says, "Maw?"

Calem says, "Normally, yeah. But right now, we can't really let ourselves be that selfish. We're depending on the Tapu's good graces after all."

Noibat squeaks in agreement from atop of his shoulder.

Lillie and Hapu return a few hours later. From their happy expressions, something must have happen. Not seeing Nebby means that whatever happened must have been to Hapu. Did she become the new kakuna?

Lillie runs up to Calem upon spotting him. "We need to go to Exeggutor Island! According to Kahuna Hapu, we can find the Sun Flute there. After that, we can hold the ceremony to call forth a legendary pokemon."

Hapu says, "That's right, but we'll do best to wait until tomorrow. It's a full day's trek to get there. I'll go with you to see the seafolk chief in the morning and have him ferry you over."

Calem says, "Then, I'll head back now and see you all then."

Lillie says, "What, you're leaving?"

Hapu sighs and says, "You really are a sharp one. Honestly, for you to be scum is a real waste. Come on, Lillie, there's a spare bed at my place you can use tonight."

Calem's pokemon burst from their pokeballs as he walks back to the port. They voice their complaints to which he says, "We'll battle her soon enough." He rubs Mawile's head at her, "Maw," and says, "Sorry, Rapidash will be fighting Mudsdale."

Rapidash's snorts to which Calem says, "Exactly."

A/N: The past few chapters were so intense that this one feels tame in comparison, but not in a bad way. If anything, this chapter makes for a refreshing change of pace. Seeing Calem now and remembering how he was in the first chapter, it really makes me want to say, "He's come a long way." However, his story isn't over yet! There's still much more to come and things to learn. Take this chapter for example; he can't swim and has some sort of interest in pony-tails. That surprise any of you?

Thanks for reading, leave a review,

Gandire