The World Flows Through Me

by Social Coyote

Alola is a region of beauty and connection, but how much can spirituality and scenic views really fix? Moon must find out whether or not Alola can truly solve the pains life has thrown at her, or if she's beholden to fate after all. She's not the only one with something to run from however, and soon she may question whether she's running from fate, or towards it.

6. The Secrets We Keep

Chapter 6: The Secrets We Keep

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"I saw so many things on my journey. People, pokemon, places that those fancy high-definition TV screens won't be able to do justice. Sure, I lost a lot, but do you have any idea what I gained? I don't mean being named champion or taking down the Plasma Organization – go, walk outside. Take off your shoes, step into the grass, and just start running, past the skyscrapers. When your feet get sore, lay in the grass and look at the stars, the mountains, the sounds, take it all in. Oh, it'll hurt, but it should. You'll change. You'll finally go where you're needed instead of where you want, if you listen to the gentle call of the open road."

~ Hilda "Holly" McConnell, 51st Champion of Unova ~

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"Break!"

Moon dashed right with Chlorine on her heels as Hau and his litten rotated left, circling the tauros as it charged forward. It followed their spiral, chasing after Moon in a headlong charge that wound undoubtedly incapacitate her if not outright destroy her. She had seen what had happened when her mother had rear-ended someone one time; if those horns could punch through a steel car, her chest probably wouldn't stand a much better chance.

"Lillie, info please!" Moon cried as the tauros approached. In hindsight, she realized that learning to dodge a rather enraged tauros was a surprisingly vital skill she wished school had taught her, as opposed to having to remember mitochondria was the powerhouse of the cell. Right now, the only powerhouse around here was the tauros. She heard the snaps of the rotom-dex flying above her, analyzing and studying at a rapid pace. She just hoped it could accurately pick apart her opponent as well as it could her.

It was getting closer. Their constant circling impacted its charge very little, and Moon knew she was going to have to jump out of way sooner rather than later. Could it climb the bleachers? She didn't have time to try; if she got too far away it would just charge after Hau and Lillie. So she just had to time it.

Three… two… one! "Chlorine, dodge!"

Moon skidded in the dirt and kicked off the ground to go left, tumbling in the grass as she rolled to her knees. A sudden sting shot through her leg and she forced back a yelp as she tried to inch out of the way. A quick glance told her one of its three tails had lashed against her calf mid-roll, a sign of just how close it had been as the beast charged past her. When Moon got to her feet, she saw Chlorine had listened well and dodged to the opposite side. She raised her ukulele and started strumming away, skipping backwards in the opposite direction.

"Uh, scream and cry, we've got no choice! Disarm it with your wailing voice, back up and spray, stay outta the way, cause if it gets us we'll probably die!" It wasn't the most motivating set of lyrics, but skipping, playing an instrument, and assessing a battle all at once kicked her brain into overdrive. Quantity over quality, after all. To her relief, Chlorine understood her perfectly as she sprayed a stream of water along the grass and began to slide away on her back. As she did, she opened her little muzzle and let loose a shrill cry that nearly made Moon trip as she skipped.

The tauros wasn't as lucky; it skidded to a halt as Moon and Chlorine skirted around it but as soon as it turned around to lead another charge, the alarming wail from Chlorine seemed to actually stun it for a second. It shivered as though flicked on the nose, stomped its feet, and shook its head as it tried to get back in the groove of trampling them down. Moon on the other hand grinned as she saw the little flash of red prowling through the grass to her left, unnoticed by the tauros.

"Alonzo, fire fang!" Hau called, throwing his arm out in declaration. The little black and red cat leapt out of the grass and pounced onto the tauros' back, sinking its teeth into the flank with ease as a glow erupted from its mouth and erupted. The tauros cried out in pain, shaking violently back and forth as it tried to free itself from the litten's tiny teeth. Moon took the opportunity to gain her distance again, ready to send Chlorine to keep the pressure on.

Ah, but wait, if I do that there's a good chance she'll get stomped on. Or kicked. Or rammed. Or skewered. Or-

Two things happened at that moment. The first was the rotom-dex finally ceased clicking and zoomed back to Lillie's hands, beeping and hopefully relaying the information back to Lillie (Moon was thankful it hadn't tried to tell them itself, she didn't need bitcrushed audio on top of tauros roars.) The second was that with one final buck, Old Amoka finally shook off and sent Alonzo the litten flying off into the tall patches of grass it had leapt from with a shrill wail. The good news was that hid the little guy from view. The bad news was that now Moon was the closest thing not hidden from view. Again.

"Lillie! Lillie, info! Now- NOW NOW NOW!" Moon turned and belted across the grass once again, trying to run in a direction that wasn't the school, Lillie, or Hau. The sound of massive hooves pounding behind her was more terrifying than she had ever considered, and she forced herself to keep going despite how out of breath she was. She had never considered herself out of shape, but it was only at this moment that she realized that didn't make her fit. Those malasadas seemed like such an awful idea now.

What could she do? Bashing this pokemon with her ukulele was definitely not an option, her adrenaline would probably only keep her going for so long, and this thing was strong enough to go head to head with the kahuna of the island. Then an idea struck Moon, and she looked to the Z-Ring attached to her wrist that had been so vaguely bequeathed to her. He had told her that it was a connection between her, her pokemon, and the very island itself. She had taken his "Z-Power" talk for metaphor at the time, but…

She smacked the ring, poking it and twisting it and feeling around for some kind of switch or lever to activate its so-called power. Was it voice activated? Did it have requirements? What if she had put it on wrong?! She shouted at it, and nearly tripped in the process. The magical island power would not save her now. Her circling around the field was only delaying the inevitable, she could practically feel its humid snorts against her legs as she ran. Behind it, she could hear Hau chasing after while calling out attacks for his pokemon.

"Hau!" She cried, not daring to look back. "Your grandpa lied, this ring doesn't do anything!" She eyed the bleachers sitting upon the dirt as she turned, the grass around it long trampled and bare; that wasn't near anyone.

"Uh, yeah, he does that! Something about old people and metaphors, I- I don't know, man!" If the strain in his voice was anything to go by, Hau was starting to grow tired too. If they kept this up, the tauros would trample them both. "I… I think you need a- a crystal, or something?"

"Why the HECK didn't he give me one, then?!" She turned and leapt on the bleachers hoping to ascend and escape. Her foot slipped on impact and she felt her knee collide painfully with the metal, throwing her woefully off balance. Panic choked her lung as she forced herself up, climbing the stairs as he hoped the bleachers would impede it long enough to get it off her back. Instead, it ran into the bleachers at full force and practically tumbled up them, not five feet behind her.

Go after Hau for once, you old fart!

She turned and saw Lillie waving towards her as she tried to catch her breath, her companion's voice somehow still soft even when she called across a distance. Meanwhile Hau had taken the opportunity of Old Amoka's uneven footing to unleash breath after breath of fire from his litten.

"Keep firing! Get on its hindlegs, Alonzo, before it skewers her!" Hau cried out, desperation dripping from his voice as he skittered on his feet in case the bull turned on him. Alonzo tried to leap upon its back one more, but was thrown off with another cry before he could get a grip in. Moon finally heard Lillie call out to her as her companion bridged the gap enough to be heard over the ruckus of the tauros' flailing hooves against the metal.

"Moon! It says that tauros in Alola are generally passive, and-"

"Well this one sure isn't! How do I knock it the heck out, Lillie?!" She clambered higher, then higher as the many dips and rises of the bleachers kept Old Amoka from pursuing. Where was Chlorine? She looked around frantically and finally saw her little flash of blue blubber below her, right next to the hole the tauros had initially burst through.

"I- I'm sorry! Uh, it… historically ridden worldwide, no… the scars on its horns signify- oh, drat! Rotom, please I need- oh!" Moon glanced up immediately at Lillie's yelp, and it was with dismay she saw that the tauros had learned it couldn't climb the bleachers fast enough, and was quickly scrambling down the few feet of leverage it had gained to turn towards Lillie. "H-h-hooves! Its forelegs are strong but unsteady, and it's already sustained heavy injury!" The tauros was on the ground once more, and Moon thanked the stars above that Lillie had the sense to run back this time.

No no no, focus on us! Please!

"Hau, can you give me time?"

"On it, sister!" Hau said, already ordering his litten forth, and this time it managed to sink its fangs into the tauros' shoulder which elicited another roar of pain from the mad beast. Hau took a step back, and Moon stumbled down the metal stairs as it started to buck and flail wildly once again; its quarry momentarily forgotten. She glanced over to see Chlorine slipping through the dirt beside her and knew they had another short window to try and trip this thing up, or take it down. But how?

Moon eyed the dirt being kicked up by Old Amoka, and another idea struck her as her hand instinctively reached for her ukulele again. Hau was teetering nervously on the ground beside her, looking for an opening that likely would not come. Not for his litten, no, Moon was starting to figure out exactly what they had to do.

Come on, do the thing Ms. Emily said. Assess the battle… what's my tempo?

The tauros was acting sporadically, kicking and bucking with reckless abandon with no clear strategy - that made sense since it was technically a wild pokemon. Trying to match it would get her and Chlorine nowhere; if either of them missed a step then there was a good chance someone would get hurt. No, her usual fast paced music wouldn't cut it. She needed a slower, more concentrated tempo that would allow Chlorine to focus on dodging and getting her licks in when she could. Most of all, she had to focus.

Adagio, here we go. Lyrics, lyrics, lyrics, please…

Her foot tapped against the ground. Step. Step. Step. Step. Her finger slid against the strings.

"Steady now, my pokemon, let the rhythm guide your strikes,

Hold your ground, be patient, let every movement be precise.

Grace the ground with your gift, let your heart and spirit soar,

You're a force of nature, now unleash it, let it pour."

It was a good thing Hau had told her she needed some stupid crystal for the Z-Ring to work, because in that moment she would have sworn she felt something glow within her. Something warm, something powerful and excited to get out like an antsy kid in the car, except she was the car. Whatever was the antsy child in this scenario, she wanted to let it out, let it be free, but the doors were still locked. She could not channel a mysterious energy from the islands, but she didn't need to. All she needed was to pour her soul and intent into her pokemon, and music was a magic that did just that.

Chlorine did not speed forward like she usually did, instead Moon opened her eyes for the brief second she had closed them to consecrate to see her little popplio sliding calmly on the grass. A stream of water poured forth from her nose like a living power washer, and the dirt below the tauros began to grow dark and thick, slowly congealing into mud with bubbling efficiency. Chlorine slid forward to spray the small patch between her adversary's hooves, but Moon could see Old Amoka stomping in her direction. She strummed, Chlorine rolled, and the song continued.

She had to focus on the fight, focus on the music. She wanted to see if Lillie was okay, but she couldn't. She stepped down the last of the bleachers, landing on the grass beside Hau who was encouraging his litten to keep biting, but she had to tune him out. Any second now, surely. She felt her eyes follow as Alonzo lost his grip again, rolling off the back of Old Amoka as it reared up and bucked with its hind legs –

THWUMP!

The sound of the tauros' hoof connecting with the litten's chest was surprisingly dull, as though it had bucked a sack of potatoes. Alonzo was sent flying through the air, past Moon, past Hau, into the grass where it rolled twice before coming to a stop without so much as a mewl, and went limp. Hau's shout from beside her made her want to look too, and the rapid change in events would have been enough to distract her completely and upturn her song if not for one thing:

The buck had put all of Old Amoka's weight on his forelegs, and the mud below had finally formed enough to take out most of the friction in his stomps. The old tauros fell to its belly immediately, crying out in confusion and pain as it tried and failed to regain its footing. Hau sprinted off behind, while Moon tagged in with her hands already switching up the melody that had kept Chlorine on the defensive.

Allegro.

"Drown its rage with your own tide, let your voice crash and collide!" Chlorine sprang forward, sliding through the mud as she sprayed the tauros directly in the eyes. It let out a ferocious "Mroooo!" and tried to stand, but with a strum from Moon's ukulele Chlorine let out another shrill cry that made the old beast collapse once more. "Give it all, every note, every spray! Rush little Chlorine, don't delay!"

Strum. Spray! Dodge slide duck. Strum. Spray! Dodge slide dash! She repeated the melody over and over again, watching so intensely she was scared to blink as Chlorine beat the beast into the ground. When it did not attempt to rise after Chlorine's disarming cry, she knew that it was over. Old Amoka's eyes closed, his head hitting the ground with a small crash as his old body finally gave out, and then all that was left was the climatic silence of a hard battle well fought.

Or it should have been, but Moon threw her arms up into the air and screamed her lungs out.

"MEW AND BOTH OF HIS HOLY POKEBALLS, EAT IT YOU BOVINE BEEF BASKET!" A part of her recognized that she should have been a bit more respectful given the age and reverence Old Amoka had on Melemele, but the jubilation of youth drop kicked that respect aside. Her breath and energy left her all at once as her hands were forced to hold her up by her knees, spitting out thick globs of saliva as she did so. She was absolutely not fit, and now everything felt gross, sweaty, and sore.

She almost sat down on the bleachers to catch her breath until she remembered that she was not alone in this fight. Without the blood pounding in her ears and the roar of one angry tauros, she could finally hear everything else going on in the world as she trudged over to Hau, picking up Chlorine in the process. Car horns, footsteps, even sirens in the distance if she concentrated. Hau was walking towards her, though his eyes were on his litten of whom he cradled in his arms like a broken doll; the fear on his face made Moon stop in her tracks.

"He- he's not breathing." Hau mumbled. "I- I don't- what do I do?" He asked, looking at her with a hopeless expression that she had no answer for. His gaze turned back to the pokemon in his arms, but he could do no more. "I told him to… told him to get off, could tell Old Amoka was about to buck, but he…" He shook his head, his breath becoming audible and heavy with panic. Moon was so caught taken aback by this that she barely heard the hurried footsteps behind her until Lillie slipped past her and brought her arms around Hau's shoulders, the rotom-dex following just behind her.

"Hau, p-please listen to me. I need you to hand me your pokemon. I- no, Hau I'm going to help, I'm going to help. I can help, please… there we go." She took Alonzo into her arms and without looking up gave out orders, tracing a finger gently along his belly. "Rotom, kindly scan him for any signs of… um, internal damage? M-Moona? Would you kindly go and um, get… get something to- someone, get someone who can help? That's definitely a bone pushing against the fur..."

Despite her mumbling and stutters, Moon was silently impressed by Lillie's handling of the situation. The quiet lull that had held her hostage from stepping forward to initially stop the tauros had almost rendered her useless again, but Lillie's directions, however frantic, spurned her into action. She was turning on her heel to run back to the school when there was a flash of light beside her, and she looked over to see only a single pokeball rolling on the ground with Old Amoka nowhere in sight. It was pure intuition and reflex that she reached down and grabbed the ball, just as a pair of voices called out behind her.

"Hey, yo! You got it! Ah man, good catch sister!" Moon turned back towards the gaping hole in the wall, a wave of relief flowing over her. Finally, bystanders had got off their lazy butts to help the situation after it had already been dealt with. However it was only two figures crawling through the hole, and familiar ones at that. They both wore matching tank tops and shorts, though one wore a white beanie despite the heat of the afternoon sun while the other had a dirty looking bandana hanging loosely from his neck. The slink in their posture as they approached reminded Moon of a movie she had seen as a child about a hunchback.

"Shoot, you saved us a bundle kid. Our pokemon got loose, see, and we've been looking all over for it. Damn, glad nobody got hurt, haha. Here, let me have it-" He made to move towards her but Moon stepped back. There was so much going on despite everything having calmed down, she did not need whatever this was right now.

"Moon, assistance please?" Lillie asked from behind her. Moon was immediately no longer interested in the clowns in black. She stepped over to Hau and Lillie, keeping a strong hold of the pokeball while trying to make sure neither of them had sustained any injury during the ordeal. Hau was shaking and dripping with sweat, but otherwise seemed fine aside from some scrapes and bruises, and Lillie was only mildly out of breath and dirty from where Moon had tackled her.

"Hey, you two good? No like, broken femurs that you're only just now noticing because the adrenaline is wearing off?" She asked quietly. Lillie nodded, still murmuring to herself while Hau said nothing.

"... possibly internal bruising, lungs maybe? Oh goodness, I just don't know…" The rotom-dex beeped beside her and she squinted at the screen before nodding. "That makes sense. Hau, I know it's probably gross, b-but breathe into his nostrils, and t-then put him into his pokeball. I think that should um, Rotom says that should keep him stable until we get to a center." She gently returned Alonzo to Hau's arms who followed instructions without hesitation. When she turned to Moon her face shifted from concern, to relief, to confusion, and then concern again as she looked past her towards the two newcomers. "Moon, did you- who, who are they? What's going on? Y-you're bleeding!"

Moon looked down, seeing several long dribbles of blood that were sliding down her calf into her socks. She remembered the tauros' tail whipping her and wondered with mild curiosity why she hadn't noticed it bleeding so profusely before now? It didn't even hurt. Either she was just that badass, or the fading adrenaline had kept her from feeling any of the pain in her calf or knee whatsoever.

Oh, wait, there it is.

Moon winced as the pain shot through her like a dull razor, and tried to push back any tears. Crying would ruin all of the cool points she had accrued from beating the tauros, and crying in any form sucked, much less in front of her companions and two strangers. Before she could answer Lillie with a nonchalant lie of how it absolutely didn't hurt at all, the first stranger spoke loudly from behind them.

"Hey! Don't just walk away while I'm talkin'! Man, that's stealing right there, macking off with the tauros that's been in my fam for generations-"

"Dude." Moon stated as she took a sharp intake of breath and jerked her head to face him. "I am talking to my traveling companion. This tauros has roamed Alola for years without a trainer, and you literally just caught it right in front of me. I will deal with you in a second." She turned back to Lillie who was offering her a totodile band-aid from her bag.

"Totodile?"

"Totodile, yeah. Thanks"

From behind she heard the stranger speak again. "Oh, uh, my bad sister. Take your time." The first one said, stepping back respectfully. His partner with the bandana slowly turned to look at him before smacking him in the back of the head and jerking his head towards her. "Ow- fuckin' sorry, geez. Uh, look sister, either you're going to give me back that pokeball- my pokeball, yeah, or I'm going to have to like, report you for the theft and unlawful withholding of my personal property, under the court of law. Haha, yeah man."

He bobbed his head to an invisible beat as though he had made a compelling argument, while his partner's teeth were ground into dust behind his bandana. Moon could feel herself doing much the same; her dentist was going to love that.

Oh boy, today's the day I get to cross off my 'Justly punch a grown man' entry in my to-do list!

"Jus' gimme da ball, fakin haoles brah, gahddamn." The second one suddenly reached forward, grabbing Moon by the wrist with one hand while reaching for the pokeball with the second. Moon lurched, grabbing his wrist in turn as she tried to pry him off. Lillie gasped, and she heard Hau start behind her.

"Get your fucking hand off of me dude!"

"Hey! Let go of her this instant!"

"Let go da fakin ball, now!"

"Gramps!"

Looking back, Moon surmised there was so much happening in that moment, in that entire day as a whole, that from an outsider's perspective her perception was the equivalent of a highway pileup. She never even saw Kahuna Hala crawl through the hole, who she swore blocked out the mid-afternoon sun as he towered behind the man in the bandana. One moment she was digging her fingernails into her assailant's wrist, the next he was lifted off of the ground and hurled like a pillow behind the kahuna as he rolled awkwardly through the grass.

"LAY YOUR HAND ON A DAUGHTER OF ALOLA, WILL YOU?!" He roared, standing in front of the three of them as Lillie took Moon and pulled her back several steps. "CADS, COWARDS, THIEVES!" The remaining thug turned the sprinted back towards the hole the moment the kahuna had opened his mouth, but his common sense saved him only seconds as vines whipped from the ground like the rigging of a ship, tightening around his ankles and wrists and pulling him to the ground taut.

Moon was beyond dumbstruck, and she could only watch alongside Lillie and Hau. The wrath of a man like the kahuna was just as intimidating as she had imagined, and despite the fact that she knew he meant them no harm, she felt as though she was facing down the tauros all over again. A smeargle gingerly walked past them while holding its tail like a boom, almost unnoticed. In its wake, a voice high and clear echoed through the empty schoolyard.

This was who she was suppose to defeat in a battle?

"Bon, but not bon enough, I'm afraid! Lovely binding there, mon amie." Ilima strolled so casually through the aftermath of the tauros' rampage that Moon silently questioned if he had even noticed what was going on or if he simply reveled in the opportunity to show off. Sure, come out and save the day after the mess has been cleaned up. The smeargle slapped the tip of its tail against the ground, and grass vines stemmed from below to bind the man the kahuna had thrown, who could only groan pitifully in response.

The kahuna snorted much like the tauros they had fended off, but seemed otherwise satisfied as he turned to Moon, Lillie, and Hau. "Are you three quite alright? Hm?" He shook his head and turned disdainfully towards the two bound men, and Moon could only imagine the anger festering behind those squinted eyes and bushy brows. "Po'o. In all my years, I have never seen someone… so ignorant as to try and capture Old Amoka. I knew as soon as I got word he was thrashing about in the city that something was wrong, a beast so gentle would not act like this without cause. And when I sat atop him and saw the injuries beneath his pelt, I knew…"

The kahuna threw a hand over his eyes, shaking his head and letting out a short but tired breath. "I've been following him around all day, because I knew he'd lead me to these babooz. He must've seen them first, because he panicked so suddenly and so fiercely that he stormed off before I could stop him." When he turned and looked back, Moon was surprised to find regret plastered across his face instead of anger. "It is my shame that a grown man, a kahuna no less, allowed such a predicament to fall onto your shoulders and put you amongst many others in danger. I hope, in time, you will forgive me for this."

"Gramps, come on, you didn't-" Hau began, but the kahuna held up a hand and shook his head.

"There will undoubtedly be consequences, for both them and Old Amoka. I, too, must take responsibility. A kahuna is beholden to his actions like any man, Hau." The two of them shared a look, and something unspoken passed between the two of them as Hau bit his cheek and nodded, looking away. The kahuna put his massive hand on the boy's shoulder, and when he spoke next his voice was gentle.

"You sulk as though you expect me to put myself behind bars, boy." He chuckled. "Chin up. By the Tapu as my witness, I'll have this city right as rain by the time you circle the return to challenge me." He squeezed Hau's shoulder briefly before turning to Moon and Lillie. "I suggest, however, that you get a start on that journey while you can. I think you lot are ready to face the island, and as I suspect classes will likely be canceled for the rest of the day… yes indeed, best you all get a move on." He jerked his head towards the school entrance.

Moon blinked and looked at the kahuna, unable to hide her confusion at the sudden push. "Wait, so like, you mean right now? Shouldn't we like, go explain to Ms. Emily, or say 'bye' or something?" She glanced at Hau and Lillie; to leave now made it feel like she was fleeing the scene. Hau looked unsure, but Lillie was staring at the entrance with newfound hesitation at the kahuna's words. "Don't we need to explain what happened to the cops? Get checked over by an ambulance… guy – whoever they have in ambulances?" The kahuna raised a single bushy eyebrow at her, turning to face her fully.

"I was under the impression you were eager to explore Alola, young Mahina." He said in a light tone that she almost dared to call facetious. "But if you'd like, you can certainly wait for the good men and women of the law to arrive. I'm sure they'd be quite pleased to get full-length accounts from each of you, well into the night. They'll likely want to inform your mother of everything that happened too, no doubt, though how cooperative she'll be to let you start the challenge once she hears of what's happened, before you even left the city?" He gave her a grim smile. "Young Kukui told me she was quite hesitant to let you go, but if you're confident she won't change her mind-"

"Ababababa, nope, nah, we're good!" Moon waved her arms back and forth, hurriedly kissing Chlorine on the head and whispering her praises for taking down the tauros before returning her to her ball. She had to give the old man credit, he was damn good at making a point. "Yeah, nope, I'm all ready to go. I've had my fill of school for a lifetime, let's bolt." As she slung her purse over her shoulder, Hau stepped forward.

"But Grandpa, my litten… I need to go next door to the center, I think Old Amoka really messed him up." Hau was fingering his pokeball like a nervous tick but the kahuna shook his head once more, raising a yellow sleeve towards the west.

"No, not here. You'll want to take him to the one at the end of town, by Route 2. This one here is going to be filled with all of the people from the street who might've taken shelter, or whose pokemon might've been injured in the commotion." He glanced at Lillie for a moment, and all was silent between them as though waiting. Listening. Moon could only hear her own heartbeat however, that, and the sirens in the distance that were steadily approaching. After only a second of this, Lillie's eyes grew wide and she turned to Moon and Hau.

"The kahuna is right… we n-need to leave." She said suddenly, grabbing her duffel and throwing it over her shoulder.. Moon felt like she was being denied some crucial information and opened her mouth to ask what exactly the kahuna had magically informed her with his kahuna mind powers, but he had already turned to Ilima who was sitting on the back of one of the would-be thieves.

"Off you trot now, me and Captain Sida here will make sure to tell the others where you've gone. Keep that pokemon in its ball until you get to the center, Hau." He said gruffly without so much as a backward glance. "Young Ilima, my boy, we'll need to get our story straight on how we handled this." Ilima stood and dusted his chinos, approaching the group and bowing with what Moon thought was a bit too much flourish.

"Parted so soon, but alas! Time is nothing when it comes to blooming friendships, is it not?" He took Lillie's hand and placed his lips upon the tips of her fingers, which elicited a tint to her cheeks that clearly had nothing to do with the Alolan sun. "Enjoy those books, ma chère. You can tell me what you think of them when you all arrive to take on my trial. Speaking of which," He turned to Moon and Hau with a smile and clasped hands. If he tried to kiss Moon's fingers, she would get to cross the 'Punch a grown man' entry off her list after all. The fact he wasn't technically a "grown man" didn't sway her; she was willing to be lenient.

"I look forward to seeing how you two tackle my trial." He said, a hint of earnestness creeping through his voice. "You've certainly proved you're worthy to be granted the opportunity, but as for if you can truly pass my test? Well, we'll just have to see. You'll want to take Route 2 straight north, past the pineapple plantation. You'll find my trial located off of the shore by the pokemon center, in the Verdant Cavern. Do watch for the trial totems, those shall be your landmarks."

Moon sniffed and started walking towards the entrance; the sirens were getting closer, and the sudden tension in the air made her feel uncomfortable. If they were trying to get rid of them, Moon was ready to leave. "Righty-o." If you put as much effort in making your trial as you did helping us deal with the tauros, I reckon I'll be just fine. "C'mon Hau, let's get your little guy to that center." She gave a wave of farewell behind her as did Lillie, while Hau flashed them the shaka. "See you later, Kahuna Hala! Thanks for the save!"

"Alola!" Hau and Lillie called as they carefully stepped through the broken brickwork after Moon. Lillie readjusted her bag a few times as they all fell into a line against the sidewalk, but none of them spoke. They walked for less than a minute before a squad car pulled around the corner ahead of them and quickly belted off towards the direction they had come from. Lillie's hand gripped Moon's wrist for a moment, but as the blaring sirens and flashing lights filtered past them she slowly loosened her grip and the three continued walking.

Moon did not ask why the sirens elicited such a reaction. Not yet.

The trio was quiet as they walked away from the trainer's school into the pit of Hau'oli City. It was a slightly surreal feeling, to be able to walk through a dense and populated city with no adult supervision, and to be walking away from the scene of a commotion they had been a part of. Moon couldn't quite put the right word to it, but something about it felt inherently evasive in a way that made her feel as though they were breaking a rule. It was like sitting on a table; years of being taught not to made you feel guilty and awkward if you purposefully sat on a table, and that was how she felt now.

She wondered if the other two felt that way, and decided that breaking the silence to address their sudden change in plan might be beneficial, if only to break the silent tension between them all.

"So, did anyone else feel like we kinda got shoved out of there?" She asked, glancing behind her to Hau and Lillie. "Like, your grandpa was right about the cops probably keeping us there for hours, but it kinda felt weird how like… I dunno, like they were purposefully trying to get us out of there quicker than necessary? I figured we'd have paramedics check on us or something at least, like you see on TV." Her legs started feeling a little wobbly and she had to force herself to straighten up as they walked; the adrenaline surge was fading, and boy was she sore.

Lillie hummed softly and looked towards the palms that they were passing by as cars and trucks did to them. "He was probably just trying to save us the trouble, like you said. What if they forced us to not set out because of it? Speaking of trouble, um… your grandfather isn't going to go to jail, is he Hau?" Her change of subject had both girls looking back at Hau who had been staring behind them at the direction the squad cars had gone as though he too were lost in thought. Upon realizing, he chuckled and rubbed the back of his head while fingering his pokeball.

"What? Nah, he's the kahuna. He'll just spend every waking moment fixing the damage Old Amoka caused even if he's gotta set the bricks and mortar himself." Hau explained with a shrug. At Moon's questioning look he smiled and said, "If you're thinking he was trying to scoot us out because he thought we'd get in trouble, or he would, don't. Gramps is so beloved I doubt the police would put him behind bars if he ordered them to, honestly. The man's kinda impacted everyone's life here on the island in one way or another, it's just who he is."

That was a fair response, and at the end of the day, who could guess at the machinations of grown ups? "So, when he was making a point to emphasize the importance of responsibility, that was…?"

"Eheh, aaaah, that's just him trying to make a lesson out of everything. Tūtū kānes, am I right?" Hau gave a nervous chuckle that almost bordered on embarrassment before sticking his hand out towards the street. "Man, I dunno about you two, but that whole scrap with Old Amoka got me worn out, and I don't really feel like footing it all the way to the other side of Hau'oli flip-floppin' city. You mind if we take a cab? We're still allowed to use transportation in cities."

Moon nodded while Lillie let out a small sigh of relief. "Yes, a cab sounds… quite comfortable compared to walking right now.".

The weirdness of their afternoon had indeed put all of them out to a degree, and walking from one end of the city to the other didn't quite have the exciting ring to it that it had this morning. So it was that Hau taught them all how best to hail a cab in Hau'oli ("Make sure not to bend your elbows, and you're supposed to do it from at least a block or so away, that way they got time to change lanes.") and soon the three of them were comfortably riding in the backseat of a taxi towards the western part of town.

Moon watched the various businesses and glamorous hotels pass them by, her head leaning gently against the glass as her eyes fluttered. The gentle rock of the car was enough to almost lull her into sleep despite the fact it couldn't have been past four in the afternoon. She reflected on her relatively strange day and found herself hoping that they'd be on their way towards their first trial soon. She felt like once they got away from the hubbub of the city, that things would smooth out and feel a bit more normal. When she looked beside her she saw she wasn't alone, with Lillie nodding her head several times while Hau had his eyes closed against the headrest.

We just gotta get out of the city, then we can start living. All of us, she thought silently.

The relieving air conditioning from the taxi had been a welcome reprieve from the heat of the afternoon, and when they stepped out into the humid summer air once more it was like being hit with a semi-truck. She wobbled on the pavement, peering at the red and white dome before her with flashing neon lights like some kind of Celadon City night club. Even breathing seemed to take extra effort; just what was the temperature today? Hau and Lillie stepped out behind her, with Hau speed-walking through the automatic doors of the center. Moon and Lillie swapped glances before following in after him.

Moon had only been to a pokemon center twice before; once to get Meowth fixed, and another to help an injured pidgey she had found in Kanto. Both times she hadn't been older than eight, and hadn't even thought about the facilities since then since she never had reason to. Stepping inside the centers of Alola held some differences, such as their more shiny hardwood floors and distinct inclusion of a cafe and tables in the corner, but there was one thing that was the same as their Kantoan counterparts. It was something that made her stop and wince the moment they entered.

Disinfectant.

She hated the smell. It wasn't like she was going to break down and cry about it, of course. She wasn't a kid, she could handle a smell that she associated with some not so nice memories, but by all the Tapu above did it sour her mood. She forced a few deep breaths to try and get herself acquainted with it; if she was going to be a trainer she'd have to get used to it eventually, wouldn't she? If she could kick a tauros' butt, a little bit of cleaning spray was pitiful in comparison.

Hau sped to the front of the center, bouncing on his tip-toes as he waited for the man in front of him to finish talking to the nurse at the reception. Lillie looked around a little before approaching the cafe, and Moon considered following after her. Maybe that area of the center smelled more like coffee and baked goods than industrial cleaning sprays.

"Uh, Alola." Hau greeted quickly as he reached the front of the line. "My litten got kicked in the chest really hard, he wasn't breathing and uh, I think like… maybe something was wrong with his lungs? Or his ribs?" Moon watched from beside the doorway as the nurse, a woman with dark curls and bronze skin, took the pokeball from Hau and set it in a machine that reminded her of a giant ice cube tray. A single light glowed beneath the ball as a stock image of a litten popped up on the screen behind the nurse, followed by text that began to type itself out procedurally.

"First time in a center?" The nurse asked with a knowing smile. Hau nodded, glancing between her and the screen. "Figured. Try to relax, every trainer goes through the jitters the first time their pokemon gets injured. You did good keeping him in his ball – can't tell you how many people bring their pokemon in their hands, usually it's the older folks." As the words finished typing away, she looked back to the screen. "Let's see, sternal fracture, a rib fracture, pulmonary contusions on the lung tissue…"

Nocturnal hyperhidrosis, infection, fatigue…

That was about as much as Moon could take. She found herself stepping back out into the dizzying heat without a word, walking off a few steps until she spotted a bench that was partly shaded by the center, and decided to have a seat. She didn't dare walk further with how her legs still felt partly like jelly, and she wanted to be sure Hau and Lillie could still see her. The question was: what now? So much had happened on her first day as a trainer that she didn't even know where to begin, and she wanted to talk to someone about it. Hau was understandably preoccupied, and Lillie was… well, they were still getting to know one another.

Who else did that leave but her own mother?

Six hours into your pokemon journey and you're already calling mom. Truly, the beacon of teenage independence.

She sighed and pulled out her phone, checking the time in the corner as she swiped up on the screen. It was roughly her mother's break time, and if she knew her mother, she wouldn't miss an opportunity to talk. How different things were from when she was little. Her finger hovered over the "call" button briefly, but she didn't press it. She simply stared at the contact photo of her mother's smiling face, and slowly exited out of the call app as she exhaled out of her nose. What would she even say?

"Hey Mom, how are you? Guess what wacky hijinks I got into on my first day as a trainer?" It was too early to be homesick, and the kahuna was undoubtedly right that her mother would revoke her permission to be a trainer. No, it was better to just wait and call her mother another time. She could always text her later if she really wanted, so instead she could just exist for a while. Sitting and watching the traffic, that was exciting.

She thought about practicing her ukulele for a few minutes, that was her go-to after all, when the sound of automatic doors sliding open caught her attention. Part of her wanted to look in case it was one of her traveling companions, but another part of her thought it'd be silly to look and she would be better off pretending not to notice on the grounds that it might be someone else entirely. But then again, who would blame a stranger for looking at a nearby noise? Did all teenagers think stupid thoughts like this?

When the soft footfalls against concrete stopped beside her, she knew pretending not to hear was a stupid idea, so why was she still doing it even though someone was standing right next to her? Why couldn't she just look up and be normal? It was obviously Lillie, who else would tiptoe on the sidewalk; she just had to look and greet her instead of acting like a moron and pretending she wasn't there when she very obviously was and –

"Oh, heya Lillie." Moon turned, greeting her companion with a smile. "Sorry, was zoned out, didn't notice you there."

FOR GOD'S SAKE.

Lillie stood beside the bench so patiently and still that Moon could easily imagine her as one of those living statue performers she saw on the boardwalk sometimes. In her hands were two clear cups topped with lids and straws, one yellow and the other a muddy brown color. She offered the yellow one to Moon gently though she would not meet her eyes, and nodded towards the empty side of the bench.

"Might I accompany you?" She asked. Moon couldn't imagine declining after being offered a drink, one that Lillie had clearly paid for with her own money no less, and scooted up to offer some of the shaded half as she took the drink with a nod. Lillie however sat in the sun, tilting her floppy hat slightly so as to keep the rays from her eyes, and when she looked to Moon there was the smallest of smiles across her face. "I wasn't sure what to get you, but I find lemonade to be associated with summertime, so I thought it might be fitting."

Moon sucked her lemonade through the straw with surprising fervor; a testament to the heat of sitting outside for only a few minutes. "Thanks, you didn't have to do that. What'd you get?" She asked, glancing at Lillie's own cup. Lillie raised it carefully with a small smile. Moon thought she seemed a lot less nervous than when they had been walking from the school. Perhaps it was because there was less of a chance of being interrogated by police, which she imagined would have given the poor girl a heart attack with her lack of social confidence.

"Roserade tea. It's familiar in name; I think I used to drink it quite frequently before I lost my memories." She brought the straw to her lips and sipped, only to wince and pull the drink away with a reproachful look. "It's… cold, and incredibly sweet. That is the exact opposite of what I was expecting. What on earth…?" Moon nearly spat out her lemonade, instead she let out a hacking cough as a single drop dribbled down from her nostril and she quickly wiped her nose. This girl could not be serious.

"You- ahem, sorry. You've never had sweet tea before? Seriously?" She asked, trying to cover up her coughing with her drink. "You just said it was summer, were you planning on drinking hot tea while it's ninety-eight?" Lillie sighed and shrugged, mirroring Moon as she too took another tentative sip and scrunched her face.

"I think not, no. Er, to the first question, not the second. I suppose I had planned on drinking this inside to help settle the butterfree in my stomach after today's events." The way she spoke was so refined to Moon, like every word was a song note laid out in the event of an orchestra of a conversation appearing. "But then I noticed you walking outside, and I thought I'd do well to say 'Thank you' this time for saving both mine and Nebby's lives. Again." She sipped her tea again, this time with a bit less mortification.

Moon blinked as the cars passed by in front of them. Had she? All she'd done was thrown them to the ground when she heard the tauros charging, and then told her to run. Was that really life saving? Really, it felt more like Moon continuously threw her own life in harm's way and Lillie was just close enough to be a spectator to it, but she wouldn't say that.

"We're in this together, right? You saved me and Hau by coming back for us and getting us info with the living chatterbox." She thought back to their conversation at the bleachers, of how they had agreed to try to be friends. "It would have been super easy to just keep running and get somewhere safe, but you came back for us even though you barely know us. That meant a lot. Also buying me this. For someone who has never had a friend, you honestly are doing a better job than some friends I've had."

Lillie chuckled; another note in the melody. "Well, even with a lack of memories and social experience, I can say for certain I would have been a poor friend indeed to not try and repay the favor when given the opportunity. The drink doesn't exactly express my thanks properly, but I don't either, so…" She trailed off and looked at her bag, unzipping the zipper slightly and whispering soft words inside of it to Nebby who seemed to be acting fussy, but Moon smiled and lightly tapped her arm.

"You did good. Anyone who buys me something to consume into my face hole is doing pretty alright by my standards." For a moment they sat there in silence, each waiting awkwardly for someone to say something to continue a conversation neither of them knew how to pursue. Not that Moon minded; just because she never shut up didn't mean she couldn't enjoy a comfortable silence between two people. When it was comfortable, at least. Her eyes gazed absently over the traffic as it rolled to a stop, while Lillie held the straw of her drink up to the bag while looking around cautiously.

Finally Moon thought exactly of what she wanted to say and opened her mouth to speak, only for Lillie to speak first.

"You don't like pokemon centers." It wasn't a question. Moon figured she felt about the same way Lillie had when she had drank iced tea instead of hot tea, though she tried not to show it. How did you dodge a statement? Had she purposefully said it like that, just so Moon couldn't dodge it? Was she, in fact, secretly trained in the art of doublespeak; a tactical distortion of language that Moon had read about on the internet once? For someone who had never even been inside of a school, this girl could pick up on emotions like nobody's business, and that was both impressive and mildly concerning.

Or maybe Moon was just embarrassed over being so obvious.

Lillie's eyes met hers for the first time since they had arrived at the center, curious and questioning without even having to ask. Moon had questions of her own.

Do you know?

Did they tell you?

Are you pretending as much as I am right now?

Moon shrugged and leaned back in the shade. "Eh, about as well as you like sirens." She said nonchalantly. Was that insensitive, bringing attention to it? Moon didn't know, by all the Tapu she had no idea how to make friends. It sounded completely lame, even to her, but it was unabashedly true. She glanced at Lillie, trying to see if she had been too callous with her wording.

Lillie however was looking at her very curiously, as if she was studying her and trying to figure out how she worked in a way that not even Moon knew about herself. She wasn't sure if she liked it or not. Finally Lillie nodded, turning to look out as the late afternoon traffic started to move once more as she seemingly completed her analysis.

"I see. In that case, I apologize for bringing it up." She said simply, taking a long sip of her tea. Moon looked at her, but Lillie's eyes merely glanced at her. Was she being clever again? Moon felt like she was, which was bad, because Moon was clearly inexperienced at regular conversation, much less one with undertones or insinuations. When eyes of green rose to meet eyes of blue, Lillie smiled. "Would you like to leave, then? I don't know how long it'll take for the staff to treat Hau's pokemon, but I'm sure he'll understand if we need to walk around for a bit."

Moon stared at her and found herself unable to answer as the question tripped her up, and yet it was this small act that made Moon sure that Lillie did not know. It was such a small thing, a genuine thing, to just accept her response and offer a way to remedy it instead of prying.

But I was right about her being clever. She's accepting my response while also admitting that she doesn't want to talk about her stuff, which… is fair.

Moon met her smile with one of her own and smiled. "Nah, I'll be fine… actually, you know what? Sure. Let's go grab some extra food for the road, or something. We'll should see how Hau's doing first." They sipped their drinks in silence for a moment after that, but this time around it didn't feel quite as awkward to Moon. Maybe that was just one part of becoming friends with people, getting to learn about herself the more she figured out about Lillie. Of course if that was the case, Moon figured there was still a lot that they both had to learn. At least they would have all of Alola to do that.

Just as Moon stood to peek into the windows for Hau, the sliding doors opened once more and he stepped outside. The gust of cool air that followed him from the inside was welcoming, but fleeting, and when he turned to face them his expression held a lot less concern than when they had all entered. Moon took this as a good sign.

"Tsk, man I see how it is." He chided with a shake of the head. "I'm in there worrying about my pokemon and you two are out here bonding without me. These wāhine aren't loyal."

Moon immediately felt her stomach drop; she had just left Hau in there, hadn't she? She had been lucky, she had gotten off scot-free without Chlorine being injured or harmed, and had been more concerned with the kahuna's behavior and her own discomfort. Hau had fought the tauros side-by-side with her, keeping it at bay while she worked on a plan, and despite how little time she had spent with Hau he had already proven to be a loyal companion. Where was her loyalty?

"Hau, I-" She stuttered. "Dude, I am so, so sorry. It's been such a hectic first day and my mind has been everywhere. Is Alonzo okay? What did the nurses say?" She tried to find something to do with her hands while she spoke, but failed and felt as useless as her apology. Hau, on the other hand, smiled and sat in the space between her and Lillie.

"Psh, come on brah, I'm yanking your chain. The nurse up front said that he's gonna be fine, they're gonna put some kind of chest brace on him and keep him in those rejuvenator module machines for about an hour just to help the bones mend and stuff." He gave Moon a playful punch in the shoulder and chuckled. "I uh, I'm sorry for worrying so much. First time your 'mon gets injured like that, you feel… responsible, I guess."

Moon nodded. "Oh bet, I'll be crying like a baby the first time Chlorine gets hurt." She stood and stretched, popping her neck as she patted the pokeball on her hip. Lillie stood as well. "Well that works out. Me and Lillie were talking about going for a walk, cause centers make me nauseous. I think there's that big outlet mall down off of whatever that street is, wanna come with us to get some pokeballs and junk? Maybe a bite before we actually head out?"

Hau stood up immediately. "You had me at 'mall', but I'll stay for the 'bite'! You can buy me a soda since you guys wanted to get one without me too." He teased, and now it was Moon's turn to punch his shoulder. As the three began to cross the street, Moon caught Lillie staring at them with a crooked smile from behind.

"Do friends normally punch each other? I couldn't begin to explain how counterintuitive that sounds…"

"Oh, only the best of friends, sister." Hau insisted with a grin that was only growing bigger. "C'mere, let's be best friends Lillie!"

"Wha- no, Hau! Hau, do not punch me! Hau, do NOT- EEP!" Lillie skipped across the rest of the street as Hau chased after her, laughing, but Moon caught him by his shoulder as he passed and gave him her most genuine smile.

"Hey, uh… mahalo. You ran to help me distract that tauros when nobody else did, you and Lillie both." She chewed her straw as they stepped onto the other side of the street, while up ahead Lillie seemed to realize the danger of a friendly punch had momentarily passed, and looked back at them. "Like, I know we're just traveling buddies, but that really meant-"

"'Traveling buddy'? Man, nah, stop with that junk." Hau said to Moon's surprise. "When me and Lillie carried you down to Iki Town after you fell, I made up my mind that we were gonna be friends. Just how it is sister, that's that Alola spirit in me, yeah?" He met her smile now, and it was undeniably infectious. "If we're traveling pals, that's cool too, but you're my friend whether you like it or not. You're worth being friends with."

… Oh.

Hau lowered his voice as he nodded his head towards where Lillie waited for them. "If you consider us friends though, you'll help me mess with her by running towards her. We're gonna make her our friend too. Ready?" Moon smirked and nodded, glancing ahead at Lillie for a brief second as she readied her legs that had finally recovered.

You know, I've tried really hard to not make friends, Moon thought as she broke into a run alongside Hau. Kept telling myself it was better that way, for them, not me. And maybe I'm still right. I think I am actually, regardless of what Hau says.

"Moon? Hau, what- oh, really?! Both of you?! Stop, no! I do not wish to be punched, leave me alone! This is the exact opposite of what friends do! Noooo!"

But I guess there's nothing wrong with being a little selfish once and a while. It'll make the hurt worse, but that's… that's okay. Moon smiled, and for the first time since before she had left Kanto, she ran alongside friends. There was a little burst of something within her, a lightness that sprang out from her chest and ran up through her shoulders in the form of excitement. It belted her forward and carried her all the way to the mall.

The long stretch of grass and dirt before them was hazy in the late afternoon sun. Palms swung loosely in the breeze as they stood at the edge of the sidewalk, the wind gently pushing at their backs as though the island itself was silently encouraging them to take that first step. Far to the west the muffled sound of vehicles soaring along the Route 2 highway was the only sound to break the silence, if only just. Early evening wasn't far off as the sun sank past the highway, towards the horizon where the sky and the water intersected.

Nobody wanted to take it. That first step forward.

There was a sort of silent agreement between the three of them that this first step would change everything. Not in a monumental way, of course. There would be no fireworks or cheers, no visible difference made by stepping from the sidewalk onto the dirt aside from their footprints. But that would be enough. A sign that they were leaving their old world behind, the world that they all knew, for a world where nobody quite knew what to expect. Their journey had officially begun that morning, but this was where things truly started to move into action.

Lillie tapped out a few things on the rotom-dex, and when Moon glanced over to her right she saw a map pulled up on the western side of the island with a dotted line following the perimeter.

"According to the GPS app in the rotom-dex," Lillie said while focusing intently on the screen, "It'll take roughly sixteen hours to walk from here to the Verdant Cavern where your trial is being held. That's based on the average walking speed of hikers polled by the Ranger Association of… last year." On Moon's left, Hau nodded.

"So, we'll probably get a few hours in today before sundown. That's about four hours, give or take, which will let us do two six-hour treks tomorrow and the day after." Hau held his arms behind his head and yawned, as though the mere existence of mild math had fatigued him.

"Three days out, then." Moon concluded. Today, tomorrow, and the day after. "Assuming we don't get bogged down by anything, and that we can keep up with whatever pace the average hiker does." It was obvious they were stalling from taking that step, but eventually one of them would have to take the first step. There was simply nothing else to it. The first song on her album of traversing the islands, of her pokemon journey. It had to start somewhere, didn't it?

Moon stepped forward.

Just as she had thought, there was no change to be found as she left the pavement, in this step or the next. But it was different, because now the journey had officially begun. Anything could happen. Hau stepped after her, Lillie followed, and soon they were walking side by side along the dirt trail of Route 2 onwards. The hills on their right leading ever higher with bushes and foliage while on their left was the wide open earth before the highway and the open sea beyond.

They passed under telephone poles and by the occasional pathway leading to some out of the way neighborhood, each step pushing them further and further from Hau'oli City. Twice Moon found herself looking back, wondering about how her mother was doing at work, or how the kahuna had fared explaining the situation with the police. Soon those thoughts drifted from her mind like the steps they took, left behind as they walked in the sun towards the future.

It was beautiful, in the way that only the open road could be. The blue of the sky high above, decorated generously with cumulus clouds that seemed to showcase just how wide the sky, and in turn the road before them, was. When the path led them through a small dip underneath the highway and put them closer to the ocean, Hau broke the silence they had all slipped into with the start of their journey.

"So," he said casually while pulling out a water bottle, "you've been in Alola a while now. Got to see the city and bits of the culture, like our very own local trial captain. Is he what you were expecting?" Moon could have sworn that Hau knew she didn't particularly like Ilima, and was purposefully goading her into complaining about him judging by the grin on his face, and she almost did. She glanced at Lillie briefly, who had turned to listen to the conversation, and Moon knew that she couldn't just bash the man when Lillie clearly got along well with him.

"He's…" Moon began. "He's alright, I guess. Definitely different from what I was expecting. When Kukui and the kahuna were talking about trial captains, I guess I was expecting some kind of ranger or… an expert or something, but Ilima is just a student. An honor-roll student, but like, he's just another guy, you know?" She brought out her own water bottle and took a sip, trudging through the grass. "I think I was expecting something more like the gym leaders we have back in Kanto."

This caught Hau's attention. "Yeah? I've heard of how other regions do it, with gyms and whatnot. Me and Gramps used to watch the reruns of battles and league tournaments whenever they'd show up on TV. What are they like? The gym leaders?"

Moon thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "I guess they're more like… celebrities? Local heroes? I dunno, I've only met two-"

"Woah, pull in the reins." Hau said suddenly. "You say they're like celebrities, but you met two of them?! Was it like while you were out grocery shopping? Which one's did you meet? Did you get an autograph?" Moon chuckled at Hau's growing excitement and nodded, stepping over a rock.

"Uh, kidna. Hehah, alright so Blue Oak actually babysat me a couple of times.."

"You met the Blue Oak?! Ninety-fifth holder of Indigo League Championship Title, grandson of the Professor Oak, rival of the youngest Kantoan champion-"

"Shhh! Moon's trying to tell us." Lillie interjected, a finger to her lips. She turned to Moon and smiled, urging her to continue. Moon nodded her thanks and continued, though she couldn't deny that Hau's knowledge of foreign championships was impressive. She certainly couldn't have recited any of that.

"Yeah, so, in Kanto my mom helped sell houses and it kept her busy during the day a lot." Moon explained over a passing car. "I think I was probably like, four? Maybe five? It was summer vacation, and my mom was super busy, so while she was out on one of her days off she saw Blue outside of the Viridian Gym – no idea who he was. She saw him leaving, thought he was a trainer for the gym, and asked if he wanted a job babysitting for a week."

Lillie looked rather surprised at that. "Your mother asked a complete stranger to watch you? Isn't that a bit… dangerous?"

Moon shrugged. "She told me her reasoning was that she was desperate, since this was around when we first moved to Kanto and didn't know anyone. But, she talked with him a bit and got to know him. She said she knew that someone associated with a gym wouldn't want to risk a hard-to-land job like that by stuffing a kid in an oven or something – her words, not mine." Lillie looked mortified, but Hau was still grinning widely. "Anyway! I guess he felt bad or was so surprised she didn't know who he was, because the guy actually took it!"

"What was he like?" Hau asked almost instantly.

"He was pretty cool. Can't say the guy knew a whole lot about babysitting, because I remember him making a lot of microwavable dinners. Not that I was complaining." Moon could almost remember the taste of cheap frozen tempura, and it practically made her salivate. "But the most memorable part of it was when he took me to the park, and I got into it with this other kid because he… I think he took my stuffed chansey and shoved me or something, so naturally I went to Blue and told him about it."

"Did he get it back for you?" Lillie asked, walking closer to listen. Moon cracked a grin and shook her head.

"Uh, nah. Not quite. I told him what the kid did, and I remember he lifted his sunglasses to look at me funny and he straight up said, 'Hit him back then.'." Lillie's mouth formed a small 'o' while Hau's grin reached his cheeks. "So, you know, I went over there and asked for my doll back and when he tried to push me I uh, I decked him right in the face. Knocked him flat." She giggled to herself as her new friends looked at her with varying degrees of surprise.

"Oh for goodness sake."

"Haha! Heck yeah!"

Moon nodded and let out a few chuckles alongside Hau. "Yeeeeah, so like, I got my chansey back, and then I remember Blue started mumbling what I now know were curse words under his breath, because my mother pulled up at that exact moment and the kid's mom was marching over there at the same time." The open sea rashed gently against the sands below them, the smell of sea-salt reaching her nose. "'Course he high-fived me right before he got chewed out. That was the last time I remember him babysitting me, funnily enough."

Lillie shook her head as Moon and Hau laughed together. "That explains quite a bit about you, now that I think about it." There was a moment when Moon thought she saw the ghost of a smile on her friend's face, though it was gone just as quick as it had appeared. Was she thinking of that moment where she batted a spearow? Like her, Lillie was having to learn how to make friends, and Moon would have to remember that to make sure didn't exclude her as that was the last thing she wanted. Thankfully Lillie looked back at her, curiosity etched upon her face as she spoke up again.

"Who was the second one, if I might ask?" Moon was a little surprised since Lillie had lost her memory and likely wouldn't know of any gym leaders, but took it as a sign of wanting to be a part of the conversation, and Moon was happy to oblige in that regard.

"Roxanne Simmons, lead singer of 'Poisoned Preferences' and gym leader of Virbank City." Moon said proudly. Lillie, naturally, gave her a blank stare but a polite nod while Hau's eyes lit up like the little meteor pokemon she saw fall on the beach occasionally. He was so excited that he nearly tripped on a rock hidden amongst the grass as they walked alongside the highway.

"Isn't she from Unova? I've never – woah! Whoop, I'm good! – I've never listened to her music but I think her music videos get recommended to me online every once and a while. White hair?" Moon nodded as an eighteen wheeler roared past them, nearly taking Lillie's hat with it as she clenched down on the brim tightly. There was a silent unanimous decision to cut back towards the route proper as they snaked under another bridge. Once they had crossed back on the path, Hau asked, "How'd you meet her? Oh! Did you win one of those sweepstake things, where you got picked to go and hang out with her for a day?"

Moon hoped they didn't notice her grimace. "Uh, yeah. Something like that… it was cool. She signed a poster, gave me some souvenirs, even got to hang out backstage and watch her perform and battle live. Wouldn't trade it for the world." Her hand rested on the head of her ukulele that stuck out from her purse, now bursting just a bit more with provisions they had picked up from the mall. She hadn't thought about that event in a while.

Their conversation died down shortly after that, which gave Moon a bit of time to think and appreciate the scenery as they traveled. Occasionally they would sprout up with small talk, genial conversation that held little purpose outside of filling their time as they walked. She and Hau would carry the conversation for the most part, while Lillie listened in and offered occasional questions for the both of them. By tomorrow, Moon was sure she wouldn't remember any of the specifics regarding their discussions, but that was okay. It was enjoyable in the moment, and that was what mattered the most .

Their trudging along the dirt path occasionally took them deeper into the hills and shrubs of Route 2, and further from the highway. Without the roar and exhaust of the road, they started to see wild pokemon for the first time that evening, leading to Hau excitedly chasing through the grass for a pichu, only to throw an empty pokeball instead of his litten. With the sun beginning to set and nobody particularly energetic after such a long day, they agreed to set up camp amongs the trees.

Moon yawned, feeling the fatigue of a day's worth of hiking and exercise as it washed over her like early morning waves. Hau fiddled with his hiking bag for a few minutes before blinking at it, shrugging, and throwing it to the ground where he used it as a pillow.

"I don't feel like setting up a tent, and it's a nice night." He mumbled, pulling out the pokeball belonging to Alonzo and releasing the little fire cat before him. He looked a lot better than when Moon had seen him last, considering he was breathing now. A small white cast had been fitted over his body, which gave the impression that he was wearing a fancy little vest. Hau caught her eye and smirked. "He looks kinda silly, yeah? The nurse said he's gotta wear it for at least forty-eight hours, but Old Amoka's hoof left a wicked scar on his little belly. Still, the little guy's gonna earn his keep."

Understanding Hau's intentions, Moon stepped off and began breaking sticks and branches from the surrounding trees, along with a few stones she rolled over back to their camp. As she tossed her findings into a neat little pile, the red fur along Alonzo's back glowed like soft embers as he spat up a ball of fire into the twigs, igniting their campfire and shedding light against the surrounding trees. Moon had to hand it to Hau, picking a fire-type was pretty handy when you knew you were going to be traveling in the wild.

As Hau pulled a small metal folding rack out from his bag, Moon looked over at the sudden harsh smell of lemongrass and saw Lillie spraying the perimeter of their camp with a green aerosol bottle. After she had finished and deposited the can back into her bag, she turned and caught sight of Moon watching her work, and even in the flickering light of the fire it was obvious she was embarrassed.

"I… apologies, the rotom-dex says that yungoos and rattata frequent the areas around here." Moon sniffed but waved the apology away while Lillie bowed her head without another word and began to unpack her sleeping bag. The smell was soon replaced with the succulent scent of meat from the metal rack as Hau stuck hotdogs onto a set of collapsible skewers and held them over the fire. Moon's attention was quickly snatched, as was Lillie's who had just pulled a book out from her bag and was now staring questionaly as Hau pulled out buns.

"Hungry?" He asked, smiling as he slid the first one into a bun and handed it over to Moon. "Ain't got any condiments, so it's no puka dog, but I thought these would do us well out here under the stars." Moon squealed her thanks, eagerly accepting the hotdog with one hand as he fit another one and held it up for Lillie. "Bought a twelve pack, so whatever we don't eat tonight I'll cook up and wrap in foil and we can eat on them tomorrow." Lillie looked at the hotdog Hau was handing her, seeming a little unsure of what she was supposed to do.

She looked around. "Do you have a plate of some kind, by chance?" Lillie asked. Moon shook her head and wiggled the fingers of her free hand while Hau just smirked and threw more dogs over the fire.

"Finger food, Lillie." Moon said. "You just eat it." Lillie nodded as though she had known all along this was her fate, and gingerly took the bun in both her hands. She took a single careful bite from the side as though she were playing the flute, and after a moment nodded her head and swallowed, looking back up towards Hau.

"It's different, but quite good… thank you, for sharing." She took another small bite while Moon took a pack of sodas from her purse that she passed around, though Lillie declined in favor of water. After the hotdogs had been cooked and wrapped, for a long while there was just the crackling of the fire, the wind blowing gently through the trees while far off in the distance the lights of the highway danced and glided through the darkness. Bug pokemon off in the woods played their natural chirps and hums, and Moon felt compelled to join them as she stuffed the last of her hot dog into her mouth.

The tune she played on her ukulele was gentle, calm and slow with only a few notes ever being played within a measure. There was no real tune, just short little melodies that she would repeat as the three of them looked up at the stars far above, a twinkling patchwork quilt of possibility above them that never ended. There, in between the branches of the koa trees, her namesake shone down upon them. She wondered who else in that wide world was staring at the moon, but she was just as intrigued about those closest to her that stared up to it as well.

She didn't even realize Hau had fallen asleep against his backpack, arms folded peacefully over his stomach with Alonzo dutifully curled up beside him. Lillie seemed to be feeling the draw of sleep as well, for she had shut her book and gently set her hat atop her duffel. Moon continued playing, watching out of the corner of her eye whenever she opened them from her laid-back plucking, and as she watched she noticed that Lillie had far more sleeping rituals than she or Hau combined. She tied her hair into a complex bun that kept every strand tight and taut, while placing her duffel precisely behind her back to act as support, and then carefully shimmied into the sleeping bag with a small stuffed clefairy doll that she held to her chest.

When she turned to Moon, she gave her an embarrassed shrug and squeezed the plush toy. "I know I am probably far too old for toys or dolls, but it's… comforting. It was a gift from Professor Burnet when I first washed up on the beach. She gave it to me to hold when the police interviewed me about who I was, and where I came from. I used to use Nebby, but that's not quite practical out here." She lifted her arm and daintily laid it over her duffel bag behind her, her fingers gently stroking through the hole in the zipper where Nebby gave out a soft chime in response.

Moon didn't stop playing; so long as nobody was bothered by it, she would happily play until they were all asleep. Instead she crossed one leg over the other, her back against the trunk of the tree as she paused to release a very sleepy Chlorine from her ball. Chlorine yawned, blinked, and promptly sat her head on Moon's lap where she began to fall back asleep.

"I think you're good." Moon said as she patted her pokemon gently. "I used to cuddle with my mom's meowth, whose name is in fact 'Meowth', when I was little. Little buttmunch would always wake me up to scratch at my door at two in the morning." She chuckled briefly as she continued her playing, but the question that had slowly burned through her head all day didn't feel like waiting any longer. "How much do you remember about your life? I mean, if you're okay talking about it… I know I prefer not to talk about some things that bother me but, you know, everyone's different."

Lillie said nothing. For a moment Moon wasn't sure if she had stepped too far across a boundary again, but after a few seconds Lillie spoke up from beside the fire.

"It's hard to explain." She croaked. She turned on her back and gazed up into the starry night. Even this close to Hau'oli, the Alolan night sky beamed with thousands of stars more than Kanto. "It's mostly impressions that I feel rather than any solid memory. I can stand in a school and know I've never been in one before, but I am coherent enough that I must've had an excellent education. I have never had malasadas before today, but I know it's a poor substitute for a breakfast compared to whatever I had before."

She lifted her hand from the bag and held it out towards the stars. "I know there are expectations in my presentation, but not why. I know that the sight of pokemon battling hurts me greatly, but not why. It's like how we see the stars above as shining dots, we know they are more than just dots, but we can't see behind the curtain of space and the night to see them as they truly are. The body remembers, but the mind forgets." She lowered her hand back to the duffel with a soft thwump and sighed. The weight of that single breath could have sunk freighters, Moon knew.

"I know that I used to hear music before I went to bed." She said again after a few moments of silence. She turned to Moon then, and the smile she had on her face was so gentle, so kind, that Moon nearly stopped playing. "It's a small comfort, but a familiar one all the same. Thank you, for your kindness as well. You both have been incredibly welcoming despite me being an outsider to your culture and adventure, and it means a lot. That, I know for sure." Moon did stop strumming at that, and she found herself twiddling with the tuning pegs of her ukulele despite the fact that it had already been tuned, just to do something with her fingers.

"Local, haole, we're all children of the land, sister." Moon murmured after she had needlessly tuned her pegs enough. Moon wasn't a smooth talker, or a good comforter, but she knew what she had wanted to hear when she felt like an outsider stepping in on another culture. What Hau had told her after being lectured by someone she felt she had no right to disagree with. Lillie said nothing, but her smile didn't waver either, and for once Moon thought she might've managed to say something clever. She had never been clever before, but talking to Lillie made her want to be.

Lillie closed her eyes, the stuffed clefairy held tightly to her chest as her breathing slowly but surely began to relax. Moon finished her impromptu lullaby and stowed the ukulele beside her, just within reaching distance in case she needed to bonk something in the middle of the night. The fire crackled and popped as she gently petted her snoring pokemon, the light smell of smoke and not so light smell of lemongrass somehow cradling her away as she stared up at the stars.

She did not know when she closed her eyes, but it had to have been before the stars in the sky swirled and glimmered like cosmic glitter and spun into hundreds of humanoid shapes. They were silhouettes of stardust, gleaming beautifully around her and above her in all directions in all shapes and sizes; outlines of different outfits and hairstyles, of body shapes and heights. Coats, hats, glasses, no two were exactly the same, but they were all of one idea. One identity.

One in front stepped forward, the milky outline of a backpack slung over its shoulder with a mesh hat on its head as it held its hand out towards her in offering. Moon rose from the ground and raised her own arm to meet it, and when their hands locked she knew the familiar round shape it was bequeathing to her was a pokeball. Her own body shone brighter than the gentle glimmer of stars as she joined the mass of those before, and the light of the moon was her light as she was whisked away into the starry night of possibility.

---

The knocking at his door woke him up like a dizzy punch to the gut, snapping Kukui awake from his desk where he had apparently fallen asleep. Again. He looked up at the various tabs and half-written draft on the screen that he was supposed to send to the board members organizing the Alolan league. He blinked with bleary eyes at it, peering at the last sentence he had written before apparently slumping over onto his keyboard.

"Further excavation for the sake of aesthetic additions muts beuntil approval by the Alolan Conservation Committee has bean ';p9iiiiiiiiiiiiiiii9999999999999".

Truly his finest work. He rubbed his eyes and closed off of the document; he'd write it in the morning. He always ended up overdoing it when Burnet was away, and now with no Lillie to wake him up and remind him he actually had a bed to sleep in, nights like these were sure to become more frequent. He stretched his arms and rolled his chair out of the way, gazing at the pair of sleeping luvdiscs in his aquarium when the knocking upstairs made him realize why he had been snapped awake in the first place. He grabbed the lab coat he had slung over a set of boxes and quickly began tying his hair into a bun as he hopped up the stairs two at a time.

"ʻAe, ʻae, I'm coming." He called, nearly tripping over one of his lycanrocs as he reached the top. He whispered quiet apologies as he stepped over to the door and flipped his porch light on, a yawn escaping his lips. He hadn't even bothered looking at the time. He finished tying his hair up just in time, opening the door to see two figures standing out on his rickety front porch before him.

The woman on the right pulled back her hand, evidently preparing to knock a final time. She wore a clean black suit with a stiff tie and a crisp button-up beneath, her lilac hair wavy even in the long tail that she wore it in. The man beside her was dressed in a chocolate vest and a long coat despite the climate, his posture loose but guarded as though he expected trouble. His hair, combed but bristly, was the color of coal with ashy flecks of gray sprouting along the side. His face was stern despite the laugh-lines etched into his cheeks.

The woman smiled, formal and practiced. "Good evening Professor, I apologize for the late visit. I'm Agent Chase with the International Police, and this is my lieutenant, Agent Looker. Is this a bad time?" He looked over at the analog ticking quietly on the wall in the kitchen, realizing it was nearly half-past midnight. "We'd like to talk to you about a crime that may have taken place recently, and we were hoping someone with your expertise might be able to answer a few questions for us."

"Am I to assume I'm a suspect of breaking international law?" He asked, not bothering to keep the weariness out of his voice. He wasn't tired anymore though, he was more awake than he'd ever been. People were just a lot more willing to forgive tongue and cheek when you were tired, he'd learned. The woman, Agent Chase, shook her head.

"You're not a suspect, no sir. We're just hoping you could help us with a lead, maybe answer a few questions, and we can let you get back to bed." The woman's eyes were sharp as a talon, flickering back and forth so quickly he might've thought he was imagining it. Of course, he knew what being studied looked like, what professor didn't? He opened the door and welcomed them inside as any good Alolan citizen would. If they came this late, he knew it meant they wanted information that couldn't wait until a decent hour, no matter what they said.

"Happy to be of service. Watch the lycanroc, yeah? She just evolved and has been acting snippy." He closed the door behind them, flipping on a few lights as he moved into the kitchen and danced around sleeping pokemon. "Must be important to come this late. Not an emergency, I hope?" The two officers stood in the living room, taking in the foyer like one might admire one's attempt at redecorating.

"Not yet. As a matter of fact, we're hoping to avoid just that, with your help." Agent Chase said, stepping carefully towards the kitchen. Kukui set the coffee maker up with tea bags, and when he turned to lean on the counter, he saw that Agent Chase had pulled out a photograph. "We've been tipped off that a securely contained P.C.N., that being a 'Pokemon of Catastrophic Nature', was stolen out of a research laboratory off the coast. This," and here she held the photo out for Kukui to take, "is our lead suspect based off of security footage and testimony from the lab's security division."

Kukui took the photograph and stared as casually as he could at the picture of a young girl with shining green eyes and bright blonde hair smiling innocuously back at him.