This chapter and the next contain scenes of grieving characters.

Totem Trial over, Ash went to go and do his Island Trial.

That, in turn, meant finding Tapu Fini, and the basic problem with that was knowing where to start because the Tapus were not very commonly seen.

So Ash put a bit of thought into it, and then went to the Altar of the Sunne.

"Hey," he said. "I don't know if any of you are there, but it feels like a good place to start! I was wondering about why it is that Poni Island doesn't have a Kahuna at the moment."

There was a long pause, then Ash shrugged.

"I guess Fini isn't here, or doesn't want to talk," he decided. "Arc, can you send a message to Tapu Fini? Make sure to send it without distracting her if she's busy."

"On it," Arc complied. "Message sent."

"Ash!" a familiar voice called. "I should have guessed you would be on Poni Island."

"Gladion!" Ash replied, turning to wave at his friend. "You're here to train, right?"

"Actually, I'm here to get some advice – or, closure – from Tapu Fini," Gladion replied, climbing down from Silvally's back as the Flying-type landed. "Since Lillie's here, it feels like this is the best time."

Ash frowned. "…so I know Tapu Fini has the ability to let people see their loved ones who have passed away… is it to do with that?"

Gladion blinked.

"I should really stop being surprised when that happens," he said. "Yes, it's because of our father. He died when we were very young – Lillie doesn't even remember him, except through photographs – and, well…"

He shook his head. "It'd be nice to say goodbye? But contacting Tapu Fini is hard."

"I actually did get Arc to send her a message a minute or so ago," Ash told Gladion. "So, hopefully we'll get something from her. That was about why Poni doesn't have a Kahuna, though."

Silvally opened their RKS System drive, tapped the ground with a claw, then did a deft little head-flick and sent their current Memory disc into the air. Gladion caught it without looking, sliding it into a disc holder, and frowned.

"I think the previous Kahuna's actually passed away," he said. "The Kahuna role is hereditary, mostly, but it's not just hereditary, the person who's taking up the role has to be related and they have to be confirmed by the Kahunas…"

The Alolan trainer thought. "I think the previous Kahuna's granddaughter might live on his farm? I've met her once. Hapu."

"Oh, we met her!" Ash said.

"Yeah, she didn't say anything about being a potential Kahuna, but that might just be because the topic never came up," Pikachu pointed out. "Maybe we should go back and ask her."

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Or if Tapu Fini shows up first, we could ask her if Hapu is the next Kahuna."

He thought about it. "We should probably wait here in case Tapu Fini shows up… how are your Pokémon doing? I can see you've got a great routine with Silvally!"

"Yes," Gladion confirmed. "It took a lot of practice with blank discs, but now we can swap them out easily. I've got spares, too, since I found out what documentary Faba used and got a few more sets of it."

Arc manifested.

"Do not worry, this is merely a social issue," they explained. "Silvally, I hope you do not mind, but I would like to ask you some questions about how you have been feeling recently. If there are any issues with your design it would be better to find them sooner rather than later."

"That would be appreciated," Silvally said, tilting his head. "I've been getting Pokémon Centre checkups but it's a bit hard for them to decide anything. It's usually either 'well, we've never seen this Pokémon before', or, 'yep, looks about the same as last time'."

"Yeah, that happens," Ash agreed. "It's especially with Legendary Pokémon. But I guess if you do feel like you need help, you can head to Pallet Town in Kanto because there's usually a Xerneas there."

"That's a nice offer," Gladion smiled. "Thanks, Ash… and Umbreon and Lycanroc are fine as well. There's… another Pokémon that I might try to find, but that's different."

"Oh?" Pikachu asked, interested. "That sounds like a story."

"It's up to Gladion if he wants to share," Ash said, as a little way away Arc asked Silvally to stretch his left leg up, and then back down so it was tucked under his body.

It was important to test the full range of motion, and also to do the hokey-cokey. Which was what it was all about.

"They're a Zoroark," Gladion explained. "And they were one of my father's Pokémon. Possibly his only one, because… Zoroark."

"Yeah, I know the feeling," Pikachu said, flicking Ash with his tail.

"Hey, I'm not an Absol at the moment," Ash protested. "So, I guess what it is is that you know they're out there, but it's really hard to work out exactly where, because… Zoroark."

"That's it exactly," Gladion said. "I don't suppose you'd be willing to let me have some of that potion that Lillie's told me about? It's a long shot, but maybe it'd be easier to track Zoroark down if I could relate to them that way."

"It sounds like you don't know what gender they are?" Pikachu said.

"Maybe he doesn't," Ash replied. "Because Zoroark. But, uh… it might make it easier, but it's not impossible that it could make it harder instead. If you ended up as a Dark type, then Silvally couldn't use telepathy to communicate with you, and since you don't speak Pokémon… is something wrong?"

"I can't believe I never put together that Silvally could probably do that with the Psychic Memory," Gladion groaned.

"All right, what is it?" Tapu Fini asked, without preamble.

"Hi!" Ash waved. "So, there's actually a lot of things, but I'm not sure which of them is most important… let's see… I think the main ones are, my friend Gladion would like to get some closure with his father if that's possible, then, I'd like to know why Poni doesn't have a Kahuna because that sounds important? I think it might be Hapu who's supposed to be but you'd know more than me about that for obvious reasons. And…"

He frowned. "Apart from that it's mostly asking the others. I'm not sure how much you're able to use the mist, but it depends how much you're willing and how many people want to speak to loved ones."

Tapu Fini shook her head. "You don't ask for much, do you?"

"Sorry?" Ash tried.

"No, that wasn't sarcastic," Fini replied. "You actually don't. Honestly it's all sort of tied into the same thing, or at most two related things, I do need to sort out the Kahuna thing but I've been procrastinating because it's awkward."

She raised her hands. "How do you approach a young girl and tell her that she needs to confront – and move on from – how she sees her grandfather as someone who's always going to be better than her?"

"Uh," Ash frowned. "I guess you'd need to put it as, asking her if she's ready? And then if she says she is, there's not a problem, and if she says there isn't, you say that that's the only remaining reason why she isn't?"

"Okay, clearly I should have got advice from you before," Fini decided. "Now, as for you…"

Her mist swirled out from her hands, and eddied around them before spreading to cover the entire area.

Then stopped.

"Hmm," she said, drawing it back in. "I'm going to need to check with the rest of your friends, but this one here doesn't have a dead father to connect him to."

"Huh, that's weird," Ash frowned. "So, does that mean that Gladion's dad isn't dead?"

Gladion's jaw dropped, as Tapu Fini gave a confirmatory nod.

"What," he demanded. "How is that – why isn't he – why has he been gone all these years?"

"Hey, it could be because he doesn't know how to get back!" Ash pointed out. "Or there could be something else weird going on! But now you know that he's out there somewhere to find, that's going to help a lot!"

"Now, as for your friends…" Tapu Fini began. "There is a price for my help."

"Let's try that one more time!" Kiawe called. "Ready – and – Aerial Ace!"

Charizard slashed down from the sky at the target Kiawe had thrown, a berry, and scored a direct hit at blazing speed.

"Yeah!" Kiawe cheered. "That's great!"

Then a beam of light flashed out from nearby, and hit his wrist.

"Huh?" Kiawe asked, looking down at his wrist and the weird clock that had appeared there, then up at the source of the beam of light.

He was a bit surprised to see that it was a Legendary Pokémon.

"Uh. Tapu Fini?"

"So, Tapu Fini's giving you a test!" Ash called, coming out from the rocks nearby. "You need to hurry to get some scales from Tapu Lele, on Akala Island, or it could be really bad!"

"Really bad-" Kiawe said, then choked the question off. "Isn't Tapu Fini associated with destruction and death?"

He looked down at the thing on his wrist, which had water in it, and noticed that the water was moving from one side to another.

"We really need to hurry, Charizard!" he said. "I don't know how long we've got! Come on!"

Tapu Fini and Ash watched as Kiawe's Charizard left.

"I'm surprised he didn't ask why you were okay with it," she said, eventually. "Does he trust you?"

"Yeah, I think he does," Ash replied. "But Kiawe's the kind of person who doesn't always realize what he realizes."

"No, you're going to have to go through that one again," Fini requested.

"I think Kiawe knows that it can't be too bad if I'm okay with it," Ash ticked off. "And that trials are challenges, not life-or-death. And if he'd actually asked about it, he'd know for sure that the really bad outcome is that you wouldn't give him a Flynium Z."

Fini considered that.

"Right," she said. "Now, Kiawe's proper place for his journey is in the air, but there are others here that seek closure."

Ash took a Pokéball from his waist and sent Torracat out, and she closed her eyes for a long moment before opening them again as Fini's mist swirled around her.

There was a long pause, then a Stoutland ambled out of the thick swirls towards her.

"Stoutland," Torracat said, voice catching. "I'm sorry I wasn't there."

"It happened while I was asleep," Stoutland replied. "You couldn't have been there without spending every moment by my side, and you would have seen nothing anyway."

He shook himself. "Don't worry about it. As I told you already, I lived a long life, and a good one, and now I've moved on."

"You're so much stronger now," Torracat marvelled. "I hadn't really… to me you'd always been strong, but seeing you now without your age…"

She ducked her head, swiping at her eyes with a paw.

"Live well, Torracat," Stoutland advised. "Though there is one final piece of advice to pass on, daughter of my heart."

Torracat swallowed, looking like that had almost set her off again. "What… what is it?"

She winced. "I don't want you to go, but… I want to learn from you."

"I want your last memories of me to be happy ones," Stoutland insisted. "Which is why I'm passing on a lesson that will help you out, once you've evolved."

He smiled. "How to bite things with your mind! Excellent against Fighting types."

AN:

Because Zoroark.

Mind biting is a useful skill.