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.

9. Ke Ano Omaomao

Chapter 9: Ke Ana Omaomao

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"And who decried the world it's fairness?!" The creature cried out, webbed fingers banging pleadingly against the glass.. "Who shouts at the cubone that 'life is not fair!'? Who sticks their nose to the sky and scoffs before saying, 'get used to it!'?! Who subsides and makes way for this cruel, callous notion of ethics so willingly? You!" Each slam of its fists put another crack in the glass, and I watched in my fear and my admiration for what we created, as its own embalming fluid began to leak all over the floor. "You created the concepts of fairness, of equity and equality! You of all should know that these things were not created without you, and they will not ever come to be without you! If the world is not fair, you must simply make it so!"

~ Excerpt from "Assessment Log 96" between subject "Mew-02" and Dr. Satoshi Fuji ~

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"For we are trainers, born to fight! Flash 'em with those baby-doll eyes, darling, darling, they're your demise! One last aqua-jet – oh, don't act surprised!" With a flourish that was only somewhat unnecessary, Moon struck down the last chord just as Chlorine shot out a jet of water from her nose with the force of a firehose, sending her opponent's misdreavus spiraling into the pavement and practically into the trainer's legs. The girl across from Moon jumped, barely stepping over her pokemon in time as the water died down and the winner was made clear.

It was her; she rocked that junk.

Moon raised her arms and took a bow, recalling Chlorine back to her side with a few taps against her ukulele while her opponent tried to pick up her sopping wet misdreavus. She must've decided against it, because there was a flash of light and the pokemon was no more; returned to its ball for safekeeping while its owner turned to Moon with a shake of the head.

"You island challengers are something else, huh? Singing and everything, makes me think I need to change how I tell my pokemon to battle. Kinda thing you'd see on TV instead of real life." The girl sighed. She had long flowing black hair with a hibiscus pin keeping it from her eyes, as well as a polo with the logo of the Grimer Petroleum gas station they were battling behind. "Good thing that rain from earlier stopped, otherwise you'd have curb-stomped me." Moon threw her arms behind her head and kicked back one leg, toes to the cement.

"Wouldn't recommend it" She chuckled. "You ever try to come up with rhymes mid-battle? God forbid I ever fight something orange like a growlithe or a raichu, it's a nightmare. Honestly, if I hadn't accidentally started teaching my pokemon this way already, I might've just done it the normal way. Lot of practice." She leaned down and scratched Chlorine's head, getting in behind the ears as she whispered endearment and encouragement to her favorite little popplio.

"Really? How long have you been a trainer?"

"'Bout two weeks."

The girl blinked a few times before shrugging. She picked up a grocery bag and handed it to Moon who took it happily and without hesitation. "Well, deal's a deal. Five bags of Figgly-Wigglies, a two-liter of Bounsweet Tea, two boxes of Zebstrika Cakes, and two bucks. Don't tell my manager I gave you those, or that I was battling on my break. Cool?" Moon hefted the bag over her shoulder and flashed up the shaka.

"Cool. Have a good shift, and thanks again… Isabella." Moon had to peer over to read her name tag for a moment, but the girl gave her a wave and headed in the back door of the gas station while Moon turned and began her short trek down the gravelly path towards the beach. Battling for money was a tricky system; if you sucked at it, you'd go broke fast, and in a place as expensive as Alola, that just wasn't an option. If she was on her own, this bountiful harvest would undoubtedly last her a whole two days, three if she was careful. But between three people and six pokemon? She'd be lucky to make it last the night.

It had been four days since their stop at the Seaside Motel, and three since they had arrived at the first trial site. The "Verdant Cavern", as it was known, was a tiny stop alongside the highway that was easily missed if you weren't looking for the totems on either side of the cave's entrance that marked it a trial location. Moon had given in at the behest of Lillie to spend some time practicing with her pokemon, since her only attempt thus far had been rudely interrupted the night before. Hau was happy to volunteer since he was in the same boat, but it soon became glaringly obvious they could only learn so much from each other.

Not that Hau didn't have his own strategy when it came to battling, but after their sixth practice battle Moon couldn't help but feel that Hau wasn't a very intense opponent. It only took two battles for Moon to pick up on how he seemingly gave his pokemon random commands to confuse Moon, and three to start employing countermeasures that landed her three wins in a row. Afterwards, they agreed to catch trainers on the road who could give them different patterns and styles of battling. Unfortunately, Hau's lackadaisical style of battling had instilled a false sense of confidence within Moon.

Sure, she may have lost around twenty dollars in battling various hikers and locals along the waterfront, but those twenty dollars had gone to valuable experiences that were priceless in the grand scheme of her trainer career. For example, just because a tourist was older than the dirt she walked on, didn't mean he wasn't a complete pushover in pokemon battles. Or that anyone who traveled with five magikarp and a single gyarados was actually a psychopath who enjoyed pulling a fast one on fourteen year old trial goers.

Damn tourists.

Every couple of dollars lost was an invaluable lesson to her. Unfortunately, priceless as these lessons were, her win-to-lose ratio meant that they were fast approaching the end of their wallets' limit. It had gotten so bad that Moon had been broke that morning, and this was the closest she could get to "quitting while ahead", with a dinner worthy of the most depressed of college students slung over her back.

As she trudged from the puddle-littered gravel path down to the beachfront, Chlorine perched contentedly on the top of her head, the call of wingull above her were both a gentle melody signaling the end of the day, and an alarm letting her know that she had officially run out of time. No money meant they couldn't dedicate any more time to training; they would have to take on the trial whether they were ready or not. Was Moon ready? To Hau and Lillie, she'd have brushed off their concern without a second thought.

To herself, however…

She spotted the nook along the beach where they had been staying, hidden behind a mound of rock and sand for the sake of privacy. Hau's orange tent sat on one of the few parts of the beach's edge that wasn't made up of gravel, and there, sitting in her usual spot atop a reasonably smooth rock, was Lillie. She had a book held on her lap with one hand and her cheek in the other, eyes hyper focused on the words before her instead of anything else. Moon couldn't help a weary smirk that rose; she sure did get distracted for a girl on the run.

Her nights had become plagued with thoughts and theorizing as to what to do about Lillie. Was she really a criminal? Was she dangerous? Should she have told the detectives the truth? How could someone who she, Moon, had to constantly jump in to protect, be dangerous? The detectives said she had stolen something, and Moon didn't have to take a shot in the dark at what that could be. So mysterious that even Rotom had trouble discerning too much about it, the source of almost all Lillie's fear and care, and kept on an extremely tight leash: Nebby was undoubtedly what she had stolen.

She tossed a bag of the potato chips smack onto Lillie's book, startling the girl as she strolled up in the sand and took a seat across from her in the sand. She set her grocery bag down, allowed Chlorine to hop off with a "Bwark!" and plopped the two liter down between the two of them.

"Bone appletit, mademoiselle." Moon announced in her most dignified voice. The look Lillie gave her was not what Moon would have called dignified, but it soon turned into a small smile as she chuckled and popped the bag of chips open.

"That was… an attempt, but the correct usage would have been something akin to, 'Bon Appétit, madame.' as 'mademoiselle' is a rather outdated way of addressing someone. Do you have an actual desire to learn Kalosian?" She gently placed a single chip upon her tongue and bit down, offering one to the small slit in her bag where Nebby let out a gentle cry of happiness. The little guy loved his sweets, almost as much as he loved escaping from his bag. They had been forced to track him down twice since they had arrived at the beachfront.

A part of Moon wondered if Nebby's desire to constantly escape and run off to locations unknown was a sign of his capturing, and that he didn't want to stay with Lillie. All it took to debunk that claim was to watch the moments between the two, when Lillie would softly take Nebby into her arms and lovingly caress the little ball of fluff not for her sake, but for his. She never let him cry, or yelled at him, or denied him the opportunity to jingle and shake and chime at her when they weren't on the move.

The gentleness in Lillie's eyes as she fed a salty potato chip to Nebby, and the look of wonder and glee in Nebby's little pupils, was nothing short of a bond Moon could not relate to – not even with Chlorine. Instead of jealousy though, she felt intrigued. She felt wonder, and endearment, and something else that made her fingers twitch that she wouldn't dare put a name to. Then, Lillie would look up at Moon, like she was doing now, and for those few brief seconds Moon could imagine that look was for her, and boy wasn't that something that sent more thunderbolts down her spine than a pichu on X-Speed and–

"Moon? Are you alright? You look ill." Lillie murmured, and she was reaching out towards Moon to steady her, because she probably looked like she was about to fall over or something. Moon straightened up immediately, and Lillie retracted her hand.

Wait, no, bring it back! I think?! Augh!

"What'd you ask? Sorry, I… yeah, spaced out." Moon admitted, with a shake of the head. Lillie gave her a soft little smile, tinged with concern as she sat back and stuck a slip of folded paper into her book as a bookmark.

"Would you like me to teach you Kalosian? It looks like we'll have quite a bit of spare time while we're traveling around Alola, and while I am by no means an expert I can certainly teach you the basics of the language – if you want to, that is." She wrung her fingers together, and Moon was so transfixed by how cute it looked that she barely noticed the red marks along Lillie's knuckles. She did notice though, and her brow furrowed as she followed the soft and delicate hand of her friend fall back to her side.

Just as she was about to ask, a rustling from behind them caught their attention and Moon barely had time to reach for Chlorine as Hau came through the brush in what could only be described as one part cartwheel, one part tumble, and all parts surprising. Moon wasn't sure what was more of a miracle; the fact that he managed to avoid the rocks and instead land face first in the sand, or the fact that he stood straight up immediately afterwards without missing a beat.

"Alola, sisters!" He greeted while dusting himself off. "Sorry about that, the rocks were hidden by the ferns. Anyway, got us some good eats for tonight. Courtesy of Chef Hau and the surfer I battled – my man thought he could beat me with a newborn bruxish, but lil' Haupia here don't know the meaning of 'going easy'!" He chuckled as he passed the both of them a bag of jerky, and Moon traded him his bag of chips and a snack cake in mid-air. He flopped down across from them while Moon poured the berry-tea into their respective water bottles.

"Not a bad little feast we got here, eh? I mean, okay, 'feast' might be stretching it a bit, but for roadside food this is actually a pretty solid meal we got going on." Hau raised his plastic bottle to meet Moon's, while Lillie took a gentle sip of her own. If the look on her face was anything to go by, she was still getting used to the sweetened tea. "HipaHipa! Unfortunately, the jerky sapped the last of my allowance I'd been saving up, so that's an issue. Don't suppose you steamrolled a flock of trainers?"

Moon shook her head and stuffed a piece of tangy, tough, overpriced jerky into her mouth. "Nope, I did beat the girl at the gas station though. Convinced her to give me some of the stuff they were going to throw out instead of cash – look, just because it's a day past expiration doesn't really mean it's expired." She added as Lillie's eyes bulged. "But yeah, I've got two bucks left. This is all we got left, which means we have no choice but to either give Ilima's trial a shot, or…"

"We will be without any money for food." Lillie finished for her. It was a bit of a somber reminder after a week of traveling and having fun that they were being challenged to take on a rather serious trial. True, running across the highway and nearly getting mugged had added a little bit of excitement to their trek, but that didn't change that failure was a very real possibility. Then what would they do? Walk back home half starved with nothing more than a metaphorical participation trophy?

She had no doubt that if she called her mother up that instant and said they were low on food, that she wouldn't make the hour drive to her with either a homemade meal or a family sized bucket of chicken, but that wasn't what the trials were about. It was about proving that she was capable, that she wasn't just some silly little foreigner who liked tropical smoothies and ukuleles. It was about validating herself as an inheritor of the culture she so desperately wanted to be a part of. Not calling for help when things got a little tough. Even though deep down, she didn't think she could do any of this on her own.

And yeah, a part of it was supposed to give her a sense of meaning in the world. Who didn't want that?

Moon let out a huff of air and sipped on her tea. "Yep. So, let's hope Hau's right and they still give a cash prize to help you get to the next trial. Heck, let's hope that we're ready to actually take on whatever the trial is Considering our last few battles, well…." The setting sun against the horizon cast a lustrous hue over the group, brightening the waves that lapped at the shore to a crisp golden shimmer, and Moon looked to see the others gazing off towards it.

"Well, whatever happens after tomorrow, we'll keep coasting, yeah?" Hau added, leaning back with his hands in the sand. "So we're not the best at beating actual trainers yet – it's no guarantee we'll be facing Ilima in a head-on battle. These ain't the Kanto gyms, sister. You'll end up ruining yourself if you try to think of them that way. Besides, the way some people get competitive with pokemon battling makes it little wonder that fighting wild pokemon are the easier of the two."

Lillie nodded, nibbling on a piece of jerky. "Whether you two win or lose, I will still be here to help in whatever way I can. Even if that's just to help tend to your pokemon, or yourselves…" Lillie shot her a look, and she was certain they were both thinking of the supply of totodile band-aids she had exhausted up to this point. "I think Hau is right however, these are not the gyms you are used to from what I hear. Every bit of practice counts. If you would like, we could go over some of the moves and techniques that Rotom has available?" But Moon shook her head.

"No thanks, think at this point the best I can do is try and nail down the melodies for Chlorine and Kickback to follow." Moon shrugged. "Calliope just isn't taking to battling at all, so I'll have to hope those two can stick to the beat. She'd make some fantastic moral support if I could get her to, you know, make noise." She rubbed the pokeball belonging to her second rockruff that she and Lillie had named together; she had tried music, battles, and even putting her phone's camera in front of the rockruff, but nothing would spur the still-mourning pokemon from her bereavement.

Lillie frowned but nodded in understanding. Meanwhile Hau gave her a quizzical look, as though he was only just seeing her for the first time. "You know? You're kinda like a bard, the way you get pokemon to follow commands with lyrics and songs." Moon was too engrossed in her zebstrika cake to be certain, but she was positive both she and Lillie had the same blank expressions on their faces. Moon wiped her mouth and asked the obvious question.

"What's that, Hau?"

He gawked at the both of them, mouth wide open as though they'd asked what a malasada was. "A bard! You know, like the Mysteries and Dungeons class?" Moon looked at Lillie, and Lillie shrugged. "Okay, now Lillie I can understand, but you? Man, you should be like, all over this stuff. It's not been this popular since our parents were our age, sister!"

"Still not explaining what it is there, dude."

Hau immediately wiped off his hands, pointing at his phone and Moon's purse. "It's awesome! It's a board game – I mean, it's kinda LIKE a board game. There's the Mystery Dungeon Master, the players, and you make these characters and roll dice to decide whether or not or succeed in your action, but like- Tapui Koko above, I can't believe you've never heard of it! I can probably get the character rules online, so…" He immediately pulled out his phone and stared heavily at it for a few moments, while Lillie simply shook her head with a small smile.

The sun had dipped below the sea at this point, leaving only the lasting rays of light to fan out over the island as night soon approached. "Shall we retire early, then? I suspect you two will need the extra energy for tomorrow, especially if this is the last of our food." There was a general round of agreements and yawns from Moon and Hau, who said he'd happily teach them the rules on the course of their journey. Moon couldn't help but think back to her mother and the possibility of having to ask that she pick them up should they fail.

Then, a horrible realization set upon her.

"Shoot, shoot shoot oh my god, shoot." She grabbed her phone and strode off into the sand, feeling Hau and Lillie's eyes upon her back as she paced back and forth while hurriedly swiping through her contacts. How? How on Arceus' green earth could she forget the number one survival rule of going on a pokemon journey? The unspoken rule that every trainer, young and old, knew to adhere to if they wanted to return home safe and sound again one day. Facing Ilima's trial would be insultingly tame compared to her next obstacle on her path to completing the island's challenge.

She had forgotten to call her mother.

Briiiiiing.

Briiiiiing.

Briiiiiing.

Please pick up. Or don't. Oh God, which one would be worse?

Click. "Mahina Kanoa, when I said I want you to call me at least once a week, that was not an invitation to test how facetious you could be with my choice of wording."

Moon felt her little Alolan soul leave her body. The fact that she wasn't yelling was telling, and not in a good way. "Heeeey, Mom. Look, I am so, so sorry. I meant to call you earlier, but it's seriously been something new every day over here, and I-"

"You didn't even check in on your first night- who does that, Moon?! Seriously, what kid doesn't give their mom a text to let them know they got in okay when they're at a sleepover? Much less on a trek around the freakin' island, have you lost your damn mind?!"

Oh no.

"Mom, look, I know I messed up. My phone hasn't been getting a singal-"

"Bullshit. Try again."

Oh no, oh no no no. "I should've contacted you sooner, and I'm so sorry I didn't." Moon began, feeling her throat go dry. "But, and just hear me out, if you didn't know for a fact that I was alright, you would've called me." There was silence on the other end, punctuated by a long sigh. There was the sound of a bottle being popped open, and a stretching noise that told Moon her mother was lounging on one of their sun chairs.

"Yeah, alright, you got me there. Ku's got an anti-theft tracker on that fancy rotom-dex he gave Lillie, and since nobody has had to look up 'how to bury a body' or anything on it, we know you can't be doing too bad. Despite my protests to the contrary." Moon heard her mother take a sip of her drink for a moment before she returned with that familiar motherly sternness back in action. "That doesn't mean you're off the hook though, but considering this is you we're talking about, I should be thankful you remembered to call at all."

The rotom-dex… hadn't the detectives said something about it? No, not it directly. Damn it, how'd I forget?! A 'modified poke-dex' or something, right? Stolen from a lab? But if mom says it's trackable, why haven't they… what the hell is going on?

"Ahehe, yeaaaah. Sorry." Moon offered again, this time with more sincerity. Something about what her mother said about the rotom-dex set something off in her head, but she was trying to focus on not being grounded for the rest of her life to think any deeper about it. "It really wasn't because I didn't care, I'm just-"

"On a life changing journey while taking on the trials set forth by our people. I get it, I do." Her mother said, and her voice softened as she let out a sigh that Moon had heard before. "Which means you're probably busy and don't want to stay on the phone for too long, so let me get the mother stuff out of the way. Are you safe? Are you eating well and staying hydrated? Are you having a good time?"

Moon opened her mouth to answer with a witty retort about calling her mother while dangling from a cliff edge, but then she actually stopped to think about it. Was she safe? She thought back to the other night about nearly being mugged (Which she would NOT tell her mother about for the both of their sakes.) and what the detectives had said about Lillie. She glanced back towards the tent, which Lillie was climbing into while Hau was laying against his backpack and writing information down from his phone onto a slip of paper..

Would her mom know? Would she even tell Moon if she did? "I, well…" Oh, she had already screwed up. Now her mother would know something was wrong and that she was having trouble telling her about it. She could practically hear the gear shift in her mother's head from motherly fretting to genuine concern, and suddenly she realized she didn't want this conversation on the phone. She wanted it in person, where she could look her mother in the eyes so that screens and buttons couldn't mask the truth.

Unfortunately, a confrontation like that meant she'd have to lower her own guard when the time came as well.

"Did something happen?" Her mother's voice, so gentle and inviting, offered her. She wanted to take it, that invitation to release and say all of her thoughts and fears aloud, but she couldn't. Maybe a part of her was just scared she'd lose her nerve and her trust in her newfound friends, and that even if she was wrong, and that Lillie wasn't who she said she was, she could at least keep the illusion up a little longer.

"Nah, well, I mean, aside from the usual? Something's always happening." Moon said with a little more indifference than she had intended. "I'm safe, I'm drinking water, and I'm having a… pretty good time, I guess. I'm finally taking on the trial tomorrow, and I guess I'm just worried I'm just gonna get my ass kicked. The captain is this pretty-boy student model and he kinda annoys me, but I feel like he's gonna bust some stupidly complex puzzle out on me and I'm gonna look like a moron." In front of Lillie. And Hau, but mostly Lillie.

She stepped out into the oceans' waves, stirred by the day's rain and sighed, letting them collide against the soles of her feet as she watched the darkening horizon before her. The water of Alola had something special about it, even if Moon couldn't describe it. There was just something refreshing about the lapping of the water against her toes that made her feel deeply satisfied, like a bottle of water beside her bed at three in the morning.

"I know, I know, if I fail and mess up I'll still be a winner in your eyes for trying, all that sweet stuff, but I have no idea what to expect Mom, and I've barely won-"

"Oh no, if you fail your first trial I'm giving your ass a second kicking."

Moon blinked, recoiling from the phone for a second as she processed that. "I- what? HUH?"

"Mahina Kanoa, I damn sure did not raise you to doubt yourself. You of all people don't have any room in that head of yours for second guessing, and that's not really a compliment." Her mother said as she paused to take a drink. "You're the spitting image of desire – stop laughing, you know what I mean – you, the kid who climbed a palm tree because the internet said you couldn't. Who saved a stranger's pokemon despite leaving it probably being the smartest option. You, who apparently fought off a FUCKING TAUROS, MOON I SWEAR TO GOD-"

Guess she found out about that one. "That one wasn't my fault! It was probably gonna turn a toddler into a skewer if I didn't do something!" Moon insisted, but her mother's tone dropped back down with a sigh. She knew that sigh. It was amazing how a single exhale of breath could mean so many things, and even more amazing that Moon had been able to learn them from her mother.

"Listen to me. Really listen. Whatever you go for in life, you get. Not because it's handed to you, but because you want it enough to work for it. You told kids at school that your name meant you were the moon itself, and when they laughed and started giving you mean nicknames for it because they didn't believe you, or because they didn't want to pronounce your name, what did you do?"

"I had you start calling me 'Moon'…"

"You had me start calling you 'Moon'. You had everyone start calling you 'Moon'. It's simply who you are; you don't know when to quit, Mahina, or change your perspective. Something that I genuinely fear will get you killed one day, but…" And her mother did not sigh, but pause, as if she was at war with the very words she was trying to convey to Moon.

"Why are you trying to convince yourself otherwise?"

Moon held the phone up to her, but didn't say anything. On the one hand, it was embarrassing for her mother to have to remind her of one of her deepest values, but who better suited for it than the woman who raised her? So she said nothing, because sometimes in life there were periods of nothing that could say everything. Her mother seemed to realize this too, because she too was quiet, and Moon repeated the words over and over in her head.

After a few moments, her mother spoke once more, and this time her tone had changed once again. "So, I won't keep you, because if you're going to take on a trial you'll need your rest, and I need a shower to get this oil off me, but… I uh, I got a favor to ask, Moon." Oh no. "I kinda… need you to come home within the next three days or so." Moon's face dropped. "I've got an appointment set up for you at the end of the week, and you know our deal. I'm sorry, Moon, I know you've only been out a week, but it's-"

"It's fine." Moon replied, perhaps a bit too quickly to be believable. "It's fine, I know the rules. I'm not allowed to catch a cab, apparently, but maybe I can just like, turn around and go home after I'm done? Or something? I don't know, I'll hold up my end of the deal though, don't worry." She insisted, and she heard her mother sigh from the other end. From pissed, to reassuring, to remorseful. It was amazing how phone calls with mothers could take such drastic turns.

"Well, if you need a ride back I don't mind… rules be damned." Her mother told her, which was reassuring even if she wouldn't accept it. "Just, you know, good luck sweetie. Kick that trial captain's ass and show him what a little stubborn dork you've grown into, alright? Uh, be safe, there was a break-in not too far from where you're at the other day. Poor man got attacked in his own home by a kid with a sneasel, it was all over the news, so-"

"I'll be safe, Mom. If I can smack a spearow I can smack a person. Or a sneasel"

"Don't talk to strangers unless you're battling them. If someone tells you they have a rare pokemon under their truck, run away, don't-"

"Mom, I'll be safe!" She laughed. "Promise. Promise promise promise. I'll uh, I'll see you in the next few days, okay? And it'll be with my first… badge, ribbon, whatever the heck we get for winning. Alright? Alright. Alola au iā ʻoe."

"Alola wau iā ʻoe kekahi. Tell Lillie and Hau I wish them the best too, and if they want to come around when you get back I'll make some chicken alfredo, sound good? Goodnight Mahina, and good luck."

"Goodnight, Mom."

Click.

Moon sighed and scratched her head, staring off at the water for the moment. She glanced up and looked for her namesake, hoping to see it shining brightly in the opposite direction just over the crest of the hills, but the sky was dark and pocked with only stars. The sound of a zipper and a familiar "Pe-e-ew!" brought her attention down to the tent, where Lillie had evidently opened the flap of their tent to allow Nebby a peek outside. Lillie followed Nebby's gaze to Moon, smiled, and gave a wave.

"Bonne nuit, Moon." Lillie called gently, careful not to wake Hau who was asleep in the sand, and zipped the tent's flap back into place. Moon felt a smile spreading despite herself, and she pocketed her phone as she made her way back towards the camp. As she got ready to change and settle in for the night, (Hau had offered Lillie and Moon the tent out of respect for privacy.) Moon glanced at the tent and thought to herself that her mother was right. She didn't know the meaning of giving up, and sure, it probably would get her stupidly killed one day. But for now, so long as she wasn't alone…

What did she, of all people, have to fear?

When morning came, Moon was awakened by the sound of rustling as opposed to the glare of sunlight, and she raised her head to spots and colors swirling around her like snowflakes. She rubbed her eyes to see Lillie stepping through the brush, her large floppy hat tilted to one side and a streak of mud and sand down the side of her face. She was rubbing at it furiously with a cloth, and when she saw that Moon was awake she abruptly stopped and the two stared at each other for a moment.

"Morn'."

"Good morning, Moon. Did you sleep well?"

"Eh, like a… oh Mew, what are those things with the… the logs. God, that would've flowed well and now I've gone and ruined the whole sentence flow, or whatever. Komali. Komala, whatever they are." Moon yawned and shook some of the sand out of her hair, pointing towards Lillie as the sleep finally left her eyes. "You alright? What happened?"

"Oh, this?" Lillie scrubbed harder at the streak. "I was freshening up and when I went to spit my toothpaste I- well, I slipped, and got my own spit and dirt on my face. It's actually quite embarrassing, and I've messed up my hair too so if you'll excuse me…" She hurried past Moon to where her bag sat, pulling out various perfumes and a kit of makeup while Moon could only shake her head in wonder. A sour, almost sickly sweet, scent caught her nose for a second as Lillie passed, but she assumed it was merely one of her friend's perfumes. Some people really were sticklers for appearance.

As she brought out her pokemon and shared a meager breakfast of beef jerky bites and diluted bounsweet tea, Lillie eventually finished her refreshening with the occasional request for Moon to hold her mirror. Hau woke up last, shoving an entire snack cake into his mouth and the other into his litten's mere moments after waking up, and with white-chocolate smeared across their lips, they were ready to go.

"Ah cah way tuh do theh twyal, is goa be a blas!" Hau exclaimed as he changed into a flowing floral button-up. He leaned down and began fiddling with the white cast on his litten while Moon stepped out from the tent after changing into a tank top and a pair of cargo shorts, her bangs pulled up with the violet ribbon her mother had given her. She figured that if she was forced to wear it, she may as well do something useful with the thing.

"Hau, your mouth is full. Try again, please." Lillie instructed. She patted her bag, pausing as a slightly muffled, satisfied chime sounded from within. Hau glanced at her, swallowed, and grinned.

"Ah! I said, I can't wait to do the trial, it's gonna be a blast. I don't think I've ever been to the site itself either, and I'm local!" He finally pulled the cast off, stuffing it into his hiking bag as Lillie and Moon helped wrap up the tent. "And Alonzo is fighting fit too, finally! Got my crew ready to rumble, ah yeah." By the time they had finished and ensured they had left no trace of trash nor spoilage, they began the short hike up to the highway and in turn, Route 2.

The three of them carefully crossed from one side of the road to the other as a group, and reached the base of the hill that led up to the cavern where the trial posts stood. The sun had yet to even breach the crest of the hill, and as such the entrance was hidden in the morning's shadow, easily missed by its recess caddy-corner to the road itself. Along a gravel clearing in between the highway and the cave's entrance, was an old stone sign surrounded by large rocks that had the words, "Ke Ana Omaomao".

As they trekked up towards the cave in silence, Moon glanced back to see Lillie lagging just a little behind, and paused to wait for her. Whereas Moon had changed into the closest things that she could count as "rugged wear", Lillie still bore the same frilly white dress and oblong sunhat that she had worn when they had started their journey. In fact, Moon couldn't recall seeing Lillie wear anything else, even when she had first seen her at the gas station. For all her pristine morning routines and aversion to getting dirty, Moon hadn't expected her to wear the same outfit every day.

Not even Moon was that bold.

"Did you want to borrow something a little less… breezy?" Moon asked as she followed in beside Lillie. Lillie glanced at her, then down at her own dress before promptly shaking her head. "I just mean, you know, if you need another set of clothes- you don't have to wear the same outfit over and over. Not that I'm judging you or anything." She added quickly as she saw Lillie raise her eyebrow at her. "You just didn't strike me as the type to… do that. This sounds bad."

Lillie stared back at Moon as the rocks started to slope slightly. "Moon, I have not been wearing the same dress, that would be unbelievably unhygienic. I carry a dress for each day of the week, and will wash them as appropriate during our journey." There was a bit of huff in her voice, the kind that wasn't so much offense as it was pride, and she eyed Moon appraisingly as the barest of chuckles escaped on her breath. "Did you really think I would just wear the same dress whilst we're hiking around the islands?"

Because only having the same outfit for every day of the week is a saner choice.

Moon shook her head. "Soon as we get back to Hau'oli, we're taking you shopping. We gotta get you in a band shirt or a plaid skirt, before your outfit blinds a trucker off the road." Before Lillie could voice her obvious discomfort on the matter, Hau stopped in front of the both of them and the three nearly collided into the darkened cave's entrance. The inside was dark, as well as far larger than it had seemed from the roadside, and the glow of Alonzo's fur did little to light against the shadows that loomed inside.

The three of them stared for a moment as uncertainty began to creep upon them like a shadow, shared glances indicating that none of them quite knew what to do beyond this point. The poles on either side of them, marked with totems of colored triangles, did nothing to inspire where to go next. Unless they wished to know the way out, in which case the poles were nothing short of downright life-saving.

"So," Moon mumbled, "What do we do? Are there like, instructions inside or something?" She turned to Hau as had the insider knowledge for the challenge, but a sudden roar from above followed by the flapping of wings startled all three of them as their gazes quickly turned skyward. Cresting over the hills above them was the image of a fiery orange dragon, the azure patagium of its wings closed back as it shot towards the ground with the velocity of a hellbound missile. Its wings suddenly opened as it neared the ground, and a figure atop the pokemon let out a sharp whistle as the wind slowed their descent.

The charizard landed on the ground before them with a mighty whomp that made Moon stumble, and the figure slipped off the saddle with grace before giving them all a flourishing bow. The outfit they wore was, in Moon's eyes, the most obtrusively gaudy piece of safety wear anyone had ever had the misfortune of looking at. A black and yellow wetsuit with pads for both the elbows and knees, a backpack, puffy white pieces of padding that adorned the chest and back, thick gray boots, and a bulky helmet that vaguely resembled a hawlucha all stood before her.

If anyone ever tries to put me in something like that, I'll use their veins as my ukulele strings.

The shining, brilliant smile of Captain Ilimia met their shocked expressions as he whisked off his helmet and let his bubbly pink hair cascade out into a perfect wavy form. He gave the charizard a pat and whipped out a flat green pager with a translucent pokeball enclosed on the end, tapped the screen, and the charizard disappeared into a flash of brilliant light.

"Bonjour, challengers! And the beautiful madame Lillie herself, of course! Captain Ilima, here."

No shit!

Captain Ilima strolled past them and gestured broadly towards the cavern before them as though it were a curtained stage just waiting to be unveiled. "I hope you all are prepared, yes? I'll admit, while the trials are by no means a race, I was beginning to grow concerned when the other trial-goers arrived within the first two days. I've been circling the cavern every morning for the past five days to see if you all would show, and I am relieved that you finally did. Ah, but there is no shame in the struggle, my students." Moon clenched Chlorine's pokeball in her hand.

"Though my trial is usually the first that challengers face, I by no means offer a 'tutorial trial' in terms of what you shall face on your journey to take on the island challenge. But before we get into all that," He pulled a flashlight out from his backpack and gave it a little flip before turning it on, "I believe a bit of history and mo'olelo might help you understand the significance of what most know only as the 'Verdant Cavern'. Come!" He began to trudge into the rugged entrance of the cavern as though it were no more than a grassy meadow, and the three quickly stumbled after him.

Ilima's flashlight danced over the stalagmites and rocky outcroppings as they ventured deeper inside. For the first time, Moon was truly grateful for the boots her mother had bought her as she stepped carefully over the various elevations and declines. She turned to hold her hand out for Lillie to steady herself, but to her displeasure Ilimia was a step ahead of her and guided her over every bump and dip with warnings and callouts whenever they approached one. Moon scraped her calf on a rock and cursed.

"Now, the beginning of the cave extends roughly four-hundred feet before getting to the cavern itself, and was developed somewhere along the lines of one-hundred and fifty thousand years ago." Ilimia's voice echoed along the stoney walls, sending curious pokemon skittering off into the shadows. "You can tell by the pāhoehoe layers of lava that hardened along the left there, as well as the 'a'a layers above it. One mo'olelo tells of how Tapu Lele, the guardian deity of Akala island, came up through this cave, forming it the first time she ever arrived on Melemele."

Hau was busy looking around the cavern in amazement and wonder, while Lillie hung onto Ilima's every word. Or at least, she was trying to. Her eyes looked somewhat glazed as she walked beside them, and she stumbled more than once. Moon was trying to listen because these mo'olelo were the stories of her people, and wasn't that why she was out here? Yet her mind kept prickling like a cacnea, telling her to chip in and make some sort of smart-ass remark to sound cool. She knew she wouldn't, but her mind just wouldn't focus on what was important.

"That is a very good question, Madame Lillie." Ilimia said loud enough to snap Moon's attention to him, and they arrived in an area lit by the natural light of holes that sat in the roof of the moss-covered cavern from where they stood. "These stories may not directly correlate to the trial, but I can assure both of the challengers here that traces of these tales linger on in forms beyond just verbiage." He pointed a flashlight over towards a rock, where three rattata hissed and scampered out of sight. "The light of the islands is strong here, and that is part of why I have chosen the cavern to be the trial site. You see? Even the local pokemon know this is holy ground."

Don't say anything stupid, just keep it going, Moon. You can handle one pompous teenager.

Lillie tried and failed to cover a yawn, and she gave Ilimia an apologetic look with tinged cheeks as everyone glanced at her. "I'm so very sorry, that was not out of boredom. Just, tired." She insisted. Ilima stopped and promptly turned around, facing the three of them with stiff posture and a firm look in his eyes as held his arms behind his back. "Now, through attempting the trials during the island challenge, one can exceed their own limits. That is what we as the Alolan people believe, and as such there are rules one must adhere to validate their la victoire."

He turned to stare specifically at Moon and Hau as he spoke. "As such, one is that there may only be one challenger attempting the trial at any given time." Moon frowned and threw her arms up while Hau let out a loud groan towards the ceiling.

"Aw, are you for real? Man, that's lame." But Ilimia merely shrugged and turned back towards the sunlit clearing. Crap! I was kinda relying on Hau to back me up, kinda, sorta. A little. A lot. Keep it in, nothing smart-aleck, Moon. Make Mom proud.

"The trials are a test of your skills as a challenger, a trainer, and a native of Alola. Not on your ability to work together with someone else." He said simply. "The second is that this is still a protected park of Alola, and catching pokemon is strictly forbidden. The last rule is to test your willpower and mettle; you are not allowed to leave the trial until you succeed, or forfeit your challenge in its entirety. Are you-"

"Question!" Moon called, standing on her tippy toes to raise her hand. "What happens if I fucking die?" She couldn't contain her smart-assness any longer; his smarm was just too much to resist. Lillie looked completely aghast that Moon had said such a filthy word, while Hau had to hold his nose to stop himself from completely busting into hysterics as he physically shook beside them. To her immediate displeasure, Ilima smirked too.

"Well, then I suppose you'll be buried a failure then, won't you?" He smiled a polite, pleasant, shit-eating smile, never missing a beat as he turned and motioning towards the very end of the cavern. "Now, as I was saying, your challenge is to make it through this cavern that is currently home to three dens worth of wild pokemon, using whatever methods are available to you, so long as you only use two pokemon. At the very center of the next cavern, where the roof opens up to the sky, you will find a totem bearing a crystal, guarded by the totem pokemon itself. Return it to me, and you succeed." He glanced back at Moon, meeting her gobsmacked face with flippant charm. "Simplicity itself, non?"

Moon cracked her knuckles and swallowed, ignoring the astounded look of her friends who seemed transfixed at the invisible sparks flying between her and the trial captain. This guy acted all polite and pompous, but there was a bit of a smart-ass under all that hair gel and cologne after all. On the one hand, she respected that. On the other, the mere challenge of it infuriated her, as well as kick in her nerves a tad bit.

"Simplicity itself." Moon repeated through clenched teeth. She was screwed. Oh she loved her bravado as much as the next hormonal teenager, but this was something else. She could see more and more pokemon skittering around the pockets of natural light, never giving her a clear view of them. Just how many pokemon were in three dens? What would stop her from sprinting full force and going for the crystal at the end? She could barely defeat the bored gas station attendee, what hope did she have out here against feral pokemon? Alone?

No, shut up, stop jinxing yourself you itty-bitty idiot. You've survived worse scenarios on your own, and this one doesn't even risk killing you… probably.

"Your trial begins as soon as you step into the light of the cavern. Monsieur Hau and Madame Lillie are free to ride atop Charizard with me as we oversee the trial." He turned and clasped his hands, smiling appreciatively at Lillie before him. "Actually, this would be a magnifique time to discuss the books you checked out! Tell me, what did you think of the dialogue between the trickster cat and the ancient crystal dragon in-"

"Um, actually…" Lillie turned her gaze towards Moon briefly, beautiful and glassy in the green of her eyes, and then looked to Ilima once more. "I was wondering… if I could stay on the ground, so as to assist Moon? I understand that the challengers are not permitted outside help, but I am not a trainer and would only be able to provide medical assistance for her and her pokemon should an emergency arise." She bowed her head, respectfully waiting for Ilima's response. Moon tried to keep her glee contained, but the stupid smile that broke on her face was uncontrollable as she bounced back and forth on the soles of her shoes.

For once, Ilima did in fact look mildly taken aback, but he quickly hid it beneath a look of deep concentration that Moon couldn't discern as being genuine or for show, and motioned back towards the cavern proper. "I'm not sure, Madame. The rules of these trials are very rigid, and it would be unfair for me to play favorites, but…" Lillie clasped her hands together, and the look upon her face was both firm and soft, endearing and determined. Big eyes, a slight pout, and a slight brush of her hair behind her ear.

Holy shit, she's good at that and she knows it.

His mouth twitched for a moment, as though he had just thought of a very funny but inappropriate joke and couldn't share it. He smirked. "Very well." The smile disappeared just as soon as it had appeared, replaced by a hardened expression. "But be warned, your presence will hinder as much as it will help. In exchange for your assistance, the challenger will have to focus on protecting you as much as herself, assuming she can handle it." Moon saw the doubtful look he gave her. "Yes, I think the penalties here are fair given the advantage."

With that, he brought out the bright green pager once more and the saddled charizard materialized before them. He hopped aboard, holding his arm out for Hau to join as he brought out a spare helmet – though Moon had the feeling it hadn't originally been intended for Hau.

"Remember," Ilima said as he strapped the helmet to his head and flashed Lillie a smile, "Safety is always dashing." Hau rolled his eyes and swapped looks with Moon, looking less than pleased with the outcome of who would stay on the ground and who would not. He strapped his own helmet and buckled into the saddle behind Ilima as the charizard spread its wings and let out a yawn.

"Bonne chance, you two! Now hold tight, cousin."

"Yeah, good luck guys! Hey, Lillie, would you mind backing me up too when it's my- KA-HA-HAAAA'?!" Hau's request was quickly lost in the sudden takeoff of the charizard, who rocketed forward before flying higher and higher, towards the opening that allowed the shafts of light to pierce the darkened cavern. Moon and Lillie watched them go, with Lillie holding tightly to her hat as the gust of wind blew through and away from them, until the cavern was quiet once more.

Despite the sudden silence, Moon felt more at ease than she had up to this point in the cavern. She had Lillie! Just knowing she wasn't alone – not counting her pokemon of course – made the whole ordeal that much more manageable in her eyes. Did that make her look weak in a way? Would a victory be any less of a victory just because she didn't do it exactly the way other people did? True, you were supposed to take the trial alone, but if the trial captain himself had given the go-ahead, didn't that mean she was good? Would everyone be as accepting?

Man, this overthinking stuff is exhausting. Less thinky, more walky.

Lillie adjusted the strap on her duffel and gave Moon a smile that looked as confident as Moon felt, and they stepped from the rocky outcrop down to the grassy cave floor below. Moon held her hand out for her this time as they stepped down, and this time Lillie accepted. The moss and grass that grew in this area of the cave was still damp with rainwater from the day before, no thanks to the natural holes above them, and it made for uneven walking all around.

"Thanks for coming along, Lillie. You didn't have to, you know." Moon said as she pulled out two pokeballs and released Chlorine and Kickback out onto the ground. "I mean, I totally appreciate it by every stretch of the imagination – not that I uh, couldn't handle it alone, you know – I'm just glad you're here, is all." She whipped out her ukulele and let out a quick four-note tune, and her pokemon sprang into action. "Kickback, take the front and try to sniff out other pokemon scents. Chlorine, watch our backs and sound the alarm if you see something."

Lillie watched the two pokemon take their respective positions, looking mildly impressed as followed behind Moon. "How curious… did you teach them to set up specific strategic positions based on quick sounds cues using your ukulele? That's actually rather incredible, Moon! Even as someone who is made uneasy by pokemon battling, I cannot deny that you have a mind for it." She smiled, brushing her hair behind her ears in a way that made Moon almost trip over her own feet.

Moon's smile tightened. Damn it, I never even thought of doing that, I was just playing a jingle to get my fingers moving! That's genius!

Lillie thought for a moment before she added, "Um, as to me coming with you? Well, it only felt right… you've risked your own health to help me numerous times, and I have the opportunity to return the favor." Moon slowed to a stop, looking down at a sloped edge that led into a trench below them full of roots and ferns. They'd have to watch their footing; a misstep could easily cost them a sprained ankle or worse.

"Well, I'm glad you're here. I talk a big game, but we both know I can be pretty uh…" Moon paused trying to think of a word that wasn't too degrading. Gung-ho, certainly. Reckless? Absolutely.

"Impulsive?" Lillie suggested. Moon swapped a smile with her.

"Yeah, that." She peered through the haze of morning light shining down from the holes above them, trying to scout the best way through the maze of vines and slopes. "So uh, what kind of books did Ilima lend you? Or check out for you, whichever." She wondered if they could just book it to the end of the trial and grab the stone. But then again, with all the turns and slopes, a straight shot to the end was nigh on impossible.

Lillie sighed as they continued walking again. "You really don't like him, do you?" It didn't feel like a question so much as a confirmation. "He's actually rather polite, he just comes off as haughty because of how casual you and Hau are, not to mention he's a couple years older than us. He's probably just grown up differently than how you have; something I think I can relate to." Moon shrugged, gingerly leading them over a makeshift bridge composed of a single sawn log

"All I asked was what kind of books he lent you, yeesh!" Moon glanced back at Lillie, but her friend was giving her one of those no-nonsense looks her mother loved to give whenever she caught Moon in a lie. "Okay, fine, I think he's a pompous asshat. It's not like I hate the guy, he just rubs me the wrong way. Not my type of crowd, you know? He's a snobbish rich boy that probably doesn't like getting his chinos dirty, and I'm a young, rebellious, punk-rock girl who likes to fall into rivers for fun." She blinked into the trench; she thought she saw something skittering beneath them. "Plus, did you hear what he said about me being buried a failure? The hell, man?"

"He's not snobbish or rich, according to what Ms. Emily told me." Lillie argued, holding her arms out as she stalked across. "He got selected for a scholarship program that let him travel to Kalos, but that was only because of his grades. As for what he said to you, well… it was admittedly a bit uncouth, but…" She gave a limp shrug of the shoulders. "He's a teacher's aide, dealing with smart-aleck students probably isn't uncommon for him. And you were rather facetious with your question."

Moon huffed and looked away.

"I may not really know what 'punk-rock' is, but so what if he likes to stay clean?" Lillie countered. "I too am likely seen as far more prim and tidy than any of our peers, but you do not dislike me… I think." Moon immediately turned around, both to help Lillie hop off the log and to look her in the eyes so that she knew what she said next was true.

"Of course I like you!" … Oh dang, are my cheeks red? Can't have that. "Here! Existing. I like that you exist, that you're a person who I am friends with. And strictly- woah, the heck do you mean you don't know what punk-rock is?" The growing smile she gave Lillie was extremely forced, as was her subject change, and she knew she sounded silly, but by the Tapu's left tit, how was she supposed to recover from that? And of course, Lillie was looking at her weird. Now she'd done it. Was that a bit of fear? Disgust? Well, that was just flat out hurtful.

Except Moon realized that it wasn't that Lillie was responding to her awkward wording; she had seemed to miss that little slip-up altogether and was instead staring behind Moon with a growing look of concern. Then Kickback growled.

Moon turned around and stared, somewhat dumbstruck as a pitch black rattata, Alola's special little breed of hell-rodent, darted out from a hole in the wall and zigzagged across the rocky floor. Both trainer and pokemon followed it as it darted left and right. Lillie stepped back, and Moon gave a quick strum of her ukulele. It was time to play.

"Heed him off, no one gets through-" Moon's half-baked song caught in her throat as the rattata kicked off the ground before Kickback could so much as snap it at, and instead flew directly into Moon. Despite being only slightly larger than her fist, the rattata kicked off of Moon's chest with all its might, and Moon found herself stumbling backwards with her arms flailing outwards as her balance was completely knocked askew. The ground beneath her crumbled to muck, her stomach plummeted, and the rest of her body went with it as everything spun and her body was battered and bruised by roots, rocks, and finally the hardened dirt beneath her.

Moon groaned, rolling over on her side as she struggled for air. She heard a voice calling for her desperately, but forcing her eyes open was a struggle when she was still so dizzy. She tried to stand, but her head spun too much and she was forced onto her hands and knees. Oh Arceus, she had never liked feeling nauseous. Actually standing up earned her a wince – she had definitely scraped something – but she managed to get back up on her two feet as she took in the sight around her.

She had definitely fallen into one of the trenches; she'd have to climb up the slope, and that would take a solid minute at the least with all the moss and mud made fresh by the rain. There was the sound of growling and hisses from where she had fallen from, and she could tell Kickback was taking on the rattata that had gotten her. 'Atta boy. Better late than never. Her eyes skimmed over to Lillie who was staring down at her with her hands covering her mouth.

"Moon! Are you okay? Oh goodness, I don't know if I have enough band-aids for that…" Lillie called, her eyes flickering between the battle Kickback was waging and Moon, who probably looked a little scuffed up. Moon gave a thumbs up, leaning down to pick up her ukulele and give a quick once-over to make sure she hadn't crushed it. She found herself glad that she had used the ribbon to pull her bangs back; pushing them out of the way would have been really obnoxious right about now.

Naturally, she would never tell her mother that her stupid ribbon came in handy.

She looked back to tell Lillie she was more or less good, but Lillie was pointing behind Moon again, her eyes wide with growing panic. "There's another one! Moon, look out, get out of there!"

Moon spun and saw that, sure enough, more rattata were creeping out of their dens. The problem was that Kickback was still engaged in a fight that she couldn't even guide him through, and Chlorine was still up there with Lillie, peeking her worried little head over the side. A split second decision caused Moon to reach for Chlorine's ball, retrieving her partner in a flash of red light before she hurled the ball as hard as she could at the approaching rodent. She had never been good at baseball, or any sport really, but boy did she feel like hot shit when the ball bounced off of the rattata's face and stunned it, releasing Chlorine right on top of it.

Chlorine understood the assignment, and began to mercilessly slap it with her flippers. Like lethal pool noodles. A cry from Lillie caught her attention and she turned to see that Lillie had tried to cross the sawed log they had taken over the trench, only to be cut off by another rattata. Moon thought about trying her cool retrieval-throw trick again, but she wasn't confident she could land it a second time. Instead she gave a quick three note strum and pointed at the offending rattata.

"Uh, I- we're running out of room to run, so shoot if off with water gun!" A strum, a point, and Chlorine let loose a torrent of high-pressured water that sent the approaching rattata soaring off further into the cavern. Lillie immediately retracted, stumbling backwards and scooting off of the log as two more replaced their companion. Moon ordered another water gun, accompanied by three rapid-fire strums as Chlorine fired off three short bursts towards the log, but each one came just shy of hitting the mark. Moon watched with growing alarm as the first rattata leapt forward, only to come soaring over her head as Lillie smacked it away with her bag.

Her swing left her wide open, just enough for the second rattata to jump atop of Lillie and send her into a panic as she furiously tried to bat it off of her head. Moon stiffened, unsure of how to proceed without risking hitting Lillie with the equivalent of a fire hose on light volume. WIthin seconds she tumbled out of sight with a cry of surprise, and then a shriek of pain.

"Lillie!" Moon shouted and made a desperate leap for the roots that trailed up the slope of the trench. Her foot simply wouldn't hold in the mud, nor would the roots support her as she slid back down with a painful thwump; rocks and roots tearing at her exposed shins and arms. A shout of frustration ripped itself out of her as she stood up and went to try again, only for another rattata to come squeaking down the trench past her from where she had initially fallen. Praying it meant that Kickback had won the battle, she called up to the topside of the trench with cupped hands.

"Kickback! Protect Lillie, no matter what, got it?!" She ordered. A determined bark was the only response given, and she knew it would have to do until she could actually get back up to help.

Damn it, this isn't going well at all. I can't concentrate to sing out my commands, and that's literally the only way we've practiced, so now we're all jumbled up, and Lillie is getting attacked, and I really hate these stupid rattata right now! She turned and let out a groan as two more rattata came barreling down the trench, accompanied by the one Lillie had smacked past her. How many pokemon were in a 'den' anyway?

Just calm down, and try to play. Easy melodies, you got this.

"Disarm them with a voice so true, harmonies followed by a jet of aqua blue!" Moon sang, fingers rapidly strumming at the approaching pokemon. Chlorine let out a dissonant cry that made the charging rattata stumble, and in that short gap of their distraction she raced forward in a trail of water spray that was so fast Moon completely missed it. All three pokemon were knocked aside into the trench walls, and Moon was tempted to do a little fanfare until two of them started to get back up.

"... Uh-oh. Chlorine, we're going!" An initially simple sentiment until she realized the rattata separated her and her pokemon. She cursed under her breath as she lightly tossed her ukulele up over the edge and leapt off of a small rock, finally managing to grab onto the roots; the ones that were closer to the top were thicker, and as such much more capable of holding her weight. Her foot slid into the mud, but she forced herself up, inch by inch, as the sounds of struggle grew louder above and below her. She glanced down to see Chlorine fending off both rattata to allow Moon a clean escape.

Both rattata were engaging in what Moon could only describe in pack-like tactics as they dodged in and out of Chlorine's reach, alternating and striking sequentially whenever one of them had her poor popplio distracted – and it was obviously becoming too much. Fury gripped her like never before as she watched their scratches and bites slowly draw blood from her pokemon. The pained, fearful whine that Chlorine was letting out lashed at her like a whip, and she reached for a rock embedded in the very wall she was climbing and hurled it with all of her might towards the rattata.

"Get off of my water dog you mangy vermin shithead!" She shouted, but the rock merely clipped one of the rattata's ears rather harmlessly, and the rodent turned to her with gleaming red eyes of pure hatred itself. It left Chlorine behind, scampering over the rocks and mud and leaping off the very rock that she had, straight towards her legs that made a feeble attempt at kicking it away, only for a sudden pain like twenty syringes lined in a row to stick into her calf. The pain got deeper, heavier, and it was so sudden that her voice left her throat before she had even registered it.

Her hands were slipping, the pain was so bad it made her eyes water and her ears ring as she tried to kick off the rattata that was currently hanging on solely by its little claws, furiously trying to claw up the rest of her leg like Meowth would do with a curtain. She couldn't do it, she couldn't bear it, her hands were slipping, it was really starting to sting. She had a few choice words that her mother would've grounded her for to describe it, but mostly it just stung, harder and harder as a strained groan left her throat and her fingers began to loosen.

Her fingers went slack, only for something to quickly wrap around her wrist and keep her from falling. Through the tears on the edge of her vision she made out the frantic face of Lillie, sweaty palms gripping her wrist tight as she lay flat over the edge, desperately attempting to hoist her up. Moon wanted to help, to take her hand and pull herself over the side with her, but the pain in her leg was too distracting. She swung at the rattata a few times, the awkward angle making it nigh impossible.

"Moon… please, I can't...!" Lillie's eyes clenched tight, trying to pull Moon up over the edge but it was evident that she was gaining no ground. Her body lowered further over the edge; Moon was pulling her down with her. A drop of something warm and sticky dripped onto Moon's cheek, and she looked up with growing alarm to see streaks of crimson coating Lillie's hair down her left side; her ear had opened up again.

A sudden gust of wind nearly cost her her grip, and she glanced up to see the charizard leisurely glide overhead while Ilima watched, and Moon felt her grip momentarily tighten out of frustration. Weren't things going a bit far here? Did all the other trial goers have to deal with this?

Moon bit on her tongue, sure that it would start bleeding too as she forced herself to hold on just a little longer. She had to think of something. She didn't know the meaning of giving up, even though she could feel it seeping through her fingers and separating her from Lillie's. She glanced back and saw that two more rattata had closed in on Chlorine, nipping and biting her as her pokemon let out struggling wails as she slapped, sprayed, and headbutted over and over again. Directionless, and Moon's instrument was up on the cliff edge where she had thrown it.

Holy tits, that's it!

"Kickback, push my ukulele over the edge, boy! NOW!" She hollered as Lillie let out a whine above her. Her eyes fell down. If there was ever a time to showcase pokemon intelligence, it would have to be now. One second felt like hours. Two? An eternity. The third one wasn't that bad. The fourth was just purposefully torture as the pain seared through her leg, from the hanging rattata and the numerous scratches it was leaving on her calf as it fought just as desperately to climb as she did. She looked back up, smiling wider than she ever had as she saw her ukulele hanging in the jaws of her beloved rockruff.

"Good boy, drop the ukulele over-" WHAP! Moon's vision blurred again as the ukulele smashed right into her head, and it was only by the grace of the Tapu themselves that she bounced the hollow instrument off her shoulder in a mid-flail, and grabbed it by the neck just before it slipped out of reach. She couldn't afford to waste time, no matter how dizzy she was. She reared back and smashed the ukulele into the rattata, clubbing it into the trench wall where it limply rolled down into the mud, and didn't get back up. She wasn't sure if she had hurt the thing or merely stunned it, but the stinging in her leg was occupying most of her sympathy.

This was becoming a startlingly common occurrence.

She tossed her ukulele up over Lillie, trying not to hit her or Kickback, and forced herself through the pain as she dug her feet in the mud and pushed herself over. All the fibers in her leg felt as though she was snapping through sinew and muscle by doing it, but she clenched her eyes and rolled over the edge. She didn't care that she rolled on top of Lillie, she didn't care how badly her body burned from the sudden subjection of physical activity, she reached for her pokeball and leaned back over the side, aiming it at Chlorine.

"Move… MOVE!" She shouted at the rattata swarming her pokemon. Each time she tried to return Chlorine to the ball, a rodent got in the way. "CHLORINE, AQUA-JET!" She ordered, and with a final cry her popplio zipped through the crowd, directly into the pokeball's beam as she disappeared with a flash. Moon gasped, nearly dropping the ball as she rolled back onto her back and released Chlorine beside her.

A sharp hiss left her lips as she clutched at her calf, pain searing from her thigh to her toes as blood stuck to her hand while she cradled the injury. Sure, it probably wasn't that bad, but hot damn did it sting like nettles coated in hellfire. She didn't want to see how bad Chlorine was hurt either, but her yelps and whines were telling because Moon couldn't differentiate between her own stifled cries and her pokemon's.

She just wanted to lay there and take a moment to recover, to gather her breath. She was allowed that small selfish mercy, wasn't she? She took a long breath, in and out as the sounds around her quieted. She was okay. She lay there, eyes closed, and simply breathed. One minute went by. Then two. Three. She would fall asleep if she was left to rest, but was that so bad? Four minutes. She wanted to sleep.

She wanted the doctors to go away and let her suffer in peace. She wanted it to stop, but she wanted them gone even more. How long had she been lying there? Minutes? Hours? Time was a bullshit construct anyway, Dialga could kiss her ass. Someone asked something, but it wasn't to her. It was a pretty voice though, sharp and soft at the same time.

"Zzrrrt! Correct! While Alolan Rattata are often feared for their axe-like teeth,, they have miniscule curved claws that are curved as opposed to narrow, making them easier to puncture skin and hide! It's advised to apply an antidote followed by a thick coating of Silph Co. brand Tissue Regeneration Potion to your pokemon, following an encounter with a wild-"

"Ow- OW, SHIT!" Moon howled as her leg suddenly burned like fury. Her eyes bolted open as her fingers flexed and clenched, and she saw Lillie leaning over her, no doctors in sight. She was continuously brushing the golden strands behind her ear, (This one, thankfully, was not bleeding.) and her eyes were completely focused on the task at hand as she capped the tube of whatever she had applied to Moon's leg. Moon was so encapsulated by the sheer dedication and determination in Lillie's exhausted eyes that she didn't realize she was grabbing a spray bottle and applying it to Moon until it squeaked out onto her leg like glass cleaner.

"Ooooh my god, oh shit shit shit, oh my god… why the heck does that burn so bad?!" Moon hissed as she went to grab her leg, but Lillie held her wrist down with surprising force and pulled a roll of gauze from her duffel bag that lay beside her, rolling it over her hands rapidly. Well, she was awake now.

"You're being vulgar. Please stop moving." Was all Lillie said as she took a pair of bandage scissors and snipped it across in one fluid motion. She then did the same wrapping motion but backwards, starting at Moon's ankle and wrapping just up to her knee before putting a tiny metal clip onto the bandage itself. Moon winced; the pain was already fading, but the bandage was firm. She supposed that was the point of them, after all.

She raised her head off of the dirt, looking over to see Chlorine and Kickback staring at her with varying degrees of curiosity. The moment she moved, Chlorine came forwards and began licking her – and nearly poking Moon's eye out with her nose – while Kickback let out a happy yip that echoed throughout the cavern, hopping back and forth like he was playing a game of jump rope. Moon snorted as Chlorine licked her eye, and her nose, and her mouth, and her eye again, and she sat up to see that she wasn't the only one who'd taken some hits: her popplio was covered in togepi band-aids.

"Oh, you silly little thing you… God, I'm so sorry…" Moon murmured as she gently scratched behind her pokemon's head; she wanted to hug the little thing until her eyes popped, but she didn't want to risk rubbing against her band-aids. Or popping her eyes. Chlorine was almost completely unbothered by this, smiling as though Moon had given her a bath and a treat instead of a horrifying swarm of pokemon to face. She looked over at Kickback, who happily barked at her and wagged his tail. He was completely unharmed.

Lucky little shit.

"I had to do two coatings of the antidote to ensure no bacteria was left in your wounds." Lillie suddenly said, like she was a nurse giving her patient a post-procedure rundown, and she sounded about as exhausted as one. "I applied both antidotes and antibacterial potions to Chlorine in between your coatings. There's a bit of blood from your leg, but the claws didn't puncture too deep, which according to… to Rotom, is a good thing." She yawned and glanced around, as though worried another one might show out of the darkness and attack. A reasonable fear, all things considered.

Moon groaned as she stood. "So, what I'm hearing is I'm just a big baby?" She asked. Lillie grimaced, but shook her head.

"No, I do not think of you as such. Getting hurt… well, hurts." Lillie stuffed the rest of the medical supplies back into her bag, her face turned away. "I-it really hurts. You were probably also a little in shock, so… do not think less of yourself for it. Anyone would be to see a pokemon dangling from their skin." Moon's calf still hurt, but she could stand without too much difficulty at least. She really was just a big baby, and in front of Lillie of all people. She held her hand out to her impromptu nurse, who gave her a strained but grateful smile as she turned and took it, pulling herself up as the two dusted themselves. The rotom-dex settled itself into the zipper hole of Lillie's bag.

"Zzrrt! I am now looking for pokemon centers in your local area! Searching… searching…"

Moon was sure she looked like a wreck already, but Lillie had only managed to smudge the front of her dress with a few bits of dirt. That, and the still trickling flow of blood that was going down her hair and onto her shoulder. Moon immediately reached over to look at it, only for Lillie to hiss and clasp a hand over the left side of her head.

"Ah! Ow, ow ow ow… it hurts, i-it hurts!"

"Sorry! Sorry sorry sorry, are you okay?!" Moon's hand darted back, but tears were beginning to form in Lillie's eyes as she clutched her ear. "Hey, Lillie, you've probably reopened the wound. Let me put something on that. Please, it's my fault you got it opened again." Moon insisted, but Lillie shook her head so fiercely that she flung droplets of blood out onto the ground.

"No! No, I- I'm fine. I will not be a burden to you, and I do not want you to see me with such a disgusting tear. I will tend to my injury, could… could we hurry to complete the trial? I don't…" She blinked a few times and wobbled, and Moon held a hand out to steady her. "The longer we stay, the longer I fear I'll become more of a hindrance than help."

"You're not a hindrance." Moon said; the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them, despite knowing first hand how little sentiments like those were. Her hand moved as fast as her lips as she took Lillie's free hand and squeezed it, while the other was busy grabbing a washrag to hold against her ear. Lillie's eyes widened, and for a second she looked more awake than she had the entire time in the cavern. "Injuries may hinder, but they don't reflect who you are. Promise."

Lillie blinked at her as though her words confused her, and she glanced down towards the dirt with a half-smile. "I… suppose. If Kickback had not been protecting me, I would have been of very little help, I imagine, so… thank you, Moon. And, Kickback of course." She reached over and gave Kickback a gentle rub along his head, sending the little rockruff into an excited fit of wriggling while she squeezed Moon's hand in return. She gave her and her pokemon a strained smile.

Moon felt electricity burning through her cheeks like a pikachu strapped to a car battery, and thought her hair might bristle up from all the sudden energy she felt. Old Amoka who? I could probably fistfight a lucario right now, holy shoot hell damn heck.

"Heh, you're the one who patched us up. Thanks for the save, doc." Moon glanced off to the next part of the cavern lay, less than two hundred feet away. Beyond it, she could see light from the open sky shining down into their destination. If they could just get past three dens of rattata, or however many were left after her scuffle, cross the other trenches, and get to that clearing, they would win, right? Her earlier idea resurfaced, only this time far more realistic sounding.

"What if… what if we just run for it?" She asked Lillie, wrapping a sheet of gauze around Lillie's ear as gently as she could.. "Just make a dash. Chlorine and Kickback will keep any of the rattata off of us, we just run and get the gem or token or whatever the heck, and beat the challenge. Right?" She smiled as encouragingly as she could, giving Lillie's hand a shake as she finished her work. It was messy, and looked like someone had clipped toilet paper to her ear, but the blood wasn't dripping at least.. "A win is a win. He said whatever methods we can to get through, so… something something, smarter not harder, right?"

"I…" Lillie looked as though she wanted to argue, or at least suggest a less 'throw-caution-to-the-wind' sort of plan, but she took a breath and gave Moon the smallest of nods. "Yes… that might work. Ilimia said that it would be in the center, guarded by a single pokemon. So, running might be…" She yawned again, shaking her head as she looked around in what was almost a daze. "It might be our best bet. By your leave, Moon."

Moon felt her brow furrow. "Lillie, are you sure you're-"

"Moon, please…"

"Alright, okay! Full march everybody!"

Moon scooped up Chlorine and sprinted forward, dashing across the rocks and through a pair of stalagmites with Kickback right beside them. The sound of their footfalls slapping through the cavern echoed like firecrackers, and they were met back with chittering and skittering from out of their line of sight as pokemon either trailed after them in the shadows or made way from their mad dash; Moon wasn't sure which.

"Zzrrrt!" Rotom buzzed out a warning as his full-frame camera lenses zoomed in and out. "No local pokemon center can be located! Scans are detecting a whopping three approaching heat sig- scans are detecting a whopping four approaching- scans are detecting-"

"We get it, we're being chased!" Moon hollered as she set Chlorine on top of her head and pulled her ukulele from her purse. She really didn't want to end up becoming known as the girl who smashed pokemon in their own home with a blunt object, and instead decided to try a simple rhythmic pattern to keep her pokemon's attention focused. She started flicking her fingers over the strings for a simple repeating set of strums.

Up, down up, down up, down up. She barely had time to give her pokemon commands as several pairs of feet came skittering out of the darkened recesses of the cavern. She thought she saw a smeargle slipping between the rocks ahead of her, but she couldn't focus on that.

"Now, lash out, you can roar, and shout-" Kickback leapt forward and gave a guttural bark that sent two of the approaching pokemon into a one-eighty, tripping over themselves. "Don't let, them pass, kick, their ass, water blast-" Chlorine's tail slapped against the back of of her head in rhythm as she let out a jet stream of water from towards another rattata that had tried to flank them, spraying it into the rocks like a head-mounted fire hose.

The recoil alone from the spray nearly clotheslined her, but whiplash was a small price to pay for a few seconds more of safety. They were so close. Moon practically skipped over a rock as the natural light from the exit grew closer and closer. She turned to give Lillie some encouragement when she realized that her friend was already trailing severely behind in the short time they had been running. She skidded to a halt, pivoting on her heel as she dashed back and took Lillie's hand in her own. Lillie had been teetering on her feet, pushing past a rock formation when Moon caught her, and as Moon took her hand in hers once more she gave her friend a bright determined smile.

Both girls tore through the cavern, never looking back as they ran past pursuing rattata.

Their feet slapped against the boards of another makeshift bridge; the next room was within reach, so much so that she could see the glare of the late morning sun as a bright blue sky opened up before them. Lillie was breathing heavily, stumbling every ten or so steps, but Moon would not let go. She could not, would not, abandon neither trial nor her friend. The sky was above them, the sound of tiny skittering feet were dying away. They had made it. The grass and dirt were lush here, tickling Moon's ankles as her feet slowed to a stop. She took a second to wring the sweat out from her tank top and take a breath. She'd have to remember to thank her mother for buying a sweat proof brand.

Lillie bent over with her hands on her knees, quietly gasping and making a sort of retching sound; Moon guessed neither of them were used to running. The only sound was the flap of the charizard's wings high above them, skirting in and out of the cavern's opening. Her eyes flicked up at the rocky outcrops that surrounded them, and finally landed on the wooden totem that stood at the edge of the perimeter in front of a shaggy mound of black and cream blankets, and charred rope. Berries, crackers, what looked like old fast food encircled it.

It was simply carved: a totem of acacia koa wood as tall as Moon with two triangles on each side, and a cavity in the center like a shelf cubby. It had been sanded roughly, and the triangles bore the colors of each Alolan island: yellow, pink, purple, and red. Within the totem's cavity, there was something that gleamed from the sunlight that tipped over the cavern's walls, and Moon felt a sense of relief. That was the crystal she had to collect.

"Hey… Lillie, that's the… the thingamajig." She muttered as her breathing steadied. Lillie didn't seem to hear her; her eyes fluttered and she took another step before promptly collapsing in the grass with a soft thwump before Moon could so much as reach out for her. She immediately got on her knees, rolling Lillie over as her heart lumped in her throat and panic began to take hold of her.

"Lillie?! Hey, hey hey hey, wake up! The heck happened?! LILLIE!" What was happening? They were at the end, why now of all times did she have to collapse? Had she lost too much blood? No, that was ridiculous. The wound was grisly and probably painful, but it was hardly gushing or at risk of becoming more severe. She looked up at the sky, desperately waving her arms at the charizard. She had been yawning all through the cavern, and yet…

It didn't just start in the cavern, she's been tired all day.

"Ilima! Get down here, you prissy pink prick, something's wrong!"

A sudden rustling caught her attention, and her voice fell silent as her eyes darted back down to see the mound of shaggy blankets was rising up from behind the totem pole. The charred rope that Moon had seen slithered along the ground like a tail as two gleaming eyes glinted from within its filthy bloated form. A red tongue licked berry juice off of its flat, glinted teeth, and it began to crawl around the totem pole slowly, lashing its tail as it stood on its hind paws and reached its full height.

The enormous Alolan raticate stared her down, looking uncannily like the tourists at the beachfront restaurants always would when they'd obviously had too much, but decided they needed to make the most of their season-pass buffet coupons. And she was just a poor overworked server who was in the way. It stomped forward, each step crunching the grass like tires over gravel as it edged ever closer to the center of the clearing where it let out fluttering hiss that seemed to vibrate through the entirety of its oversized frame.

"TH-TH-TH-THHH!"

Moon took a step back, and then another. This was so not right. They had warned her not to expect the gym challenges from back in Kanto, and they had been absolutely right. Kickback bared his teeth and growled, while Chlorine whimpered from atop of her as Moon shared both of their sentiments. The raticate let out another chittering roar, and a wave of spiraling light suddenly glowed around it as though it had stood upon a spotlight, and its fur took an almost dirty golden hue as it reflected the light back. The pudgy tourists down at the "Hula Grill" certainly never did that.

It was like the light had been sucked from where it had been touching her skin, and she felt a chill go through her despite the tropical temperature. It took her a second to realize that the cavern seemed dimmer than it had before, like when a cloud blocked the sun on an otherwise perfectly clear day; the light had lessened, but there was no cloud to be seen. The rattata edged forward with a heavy stomp, and the white of its eyes even seemed to reflect back the golden light that completely encompassed it. Greedily. Hungrily.

The sound of chittering grew as little paws skittered behind her, and she turned to see that one of the rattata from the cavern had overflown into the clearing, and was now creeping towards both her and Lillie. Now she was really screwed. The totem pokemon was growing closer, each meaty step a foot closer to her and Lillie, who was unconscious. Who would be rattata food if someone didn't do something. She looked up with her teeth grinding into one another as the charizard circled overhead, lower than it had been, but still nowhere close enough to help.

"Kickback, I… Chlorine, do a… damn it, this isn't fair!" Her pokemon looked at her for orders, pacing anxiously around their trainer who knew that this was too much. Too much for her meagerly trained pokemon, too much for Lillie, and too much for a silly fourteen year old girl who wouldn't listen. Her eyes darted back and forth between the opponent before her and behind her. If she could keep the rattata distracted, she'd be able to keep the raticate's attention, just like with Old Amoka. She brought out a ball and flipped it in her hand.

"I don't care if this catches you or hits you; get lost you stupid rat!" She reared back the ball, hoping that some part of these pokemon had learned over the years to fear pokeballs. She chucked it, letting it fling off the tips of her fingers as it spun through the air, and its aim was true as it soared across the grass to the poor ratatta's face, who didn't have time to react…

As a loud "FWEEEET!" rang through the air, and a stem of vines, moss, and leaves shot out from the ground beneath them and slapped the pokeball out of the way, stopping it by inches. Moon's eyes widened as the ball flew off and hit the wall, splitting into two. The smeargle holding its tail like a broom bobbed its head as it stepped back on the rocky outcrop it stood atop, safely out of danger as the rattata blinked in confusion twice before turning back towards a dumbstruck Moon.

A staticy voice from above suddenly shouted down as though through a microphone, and she watched as the charizard swooped down to fly directly over her head with a gust that flattened the grass around her.

"This is a protected site of Alola, and catching pokemon is directly forbidden, challenger!" Ilima's sing-song voice crackled down to her. Moon felt her ears go red as she grabbed a stone and flung it as hard as she could towards the sailing charizard that was already out of range.

"YOU GOD DAMN BUBBLE GUM BITCH!" Her voice cracked as the rock landed harmlessly in the grass. A sudden force collided with her like a fuzzy beach ball at mach ten, and she felt herself rolling painfully in the dirt as her vision swirled and direction became meaningless. A soft groan left her as she pushed herself up, knowing that the danger here was much more immediate then when she had been in the trench. She glanced up to see the raticate stalking towards her, ready to belly-bump tackle her into a wall again, no doubt.

A voice called out from above, this one less garbled and more intense. "Moon! Get da Rotom, sistah!" She glanced up for only a moment, seeing Hau leaned over the edge of the saddle and pointing furiously at what she could only assume was the rotom-dex in Lillie's bag. Her eyes fell on Lillie who was still lying in the grass, completely unconscious as the rattata began to sniff and tug at her shoe like some kind of neighborhood growlithe. Her pokemon danced away from the raticate, barking and yipping, just as unsure as their trainer on what to do. Moon grimaced as she got to her feet; at least someone was looking out for her.

It would have been easier without Lillie. Without her strange pokemon, Nebby. She hated thinking that, but by every god alive was it true. The stuff with the police, the weird silent treatment from Kukui, the trial; it all would have been easier without Lillie there and Moon knew that. Ilima had known that; his words flashed in her mind.

"In exchange for your assistance, the challenger will have to focus on protecting you as much as herself.".

The smarmy bastard had been right, and Moon hated that more than she wanted to admit. She had accepted these conditions, but how could she win with them? She kicked into a dash as the raticate's claws passed beside her, and she pulled her ukulele out once more as her fingers danced rapidly over the strings. This was kicking her ass so bad, and it was only the first trial. Maybe she wasn't cut out for an Alolan trial, when she herself had grown up so far from its sands

But my heart is Alolan.

Moon started tapping her hand against the ukulele for a beat, skipping to where her pokemon were waiting. "Kickback, defend Lillie to a slow duple time, bap bap, got it?Chlorine! Beside me, we're gonna take on the big one going with fast attacks and movements, okay? Bap-a-ba-bap, got it? Now!"

I'm gonna beat this trial, and protect Lillie too. I can do both. Watch me. Watch me!

She could not consider an alternative; flagging Ilima down to take Lillie, forfeiting the trial, those weren't options. She would win, even with the extra challenge of protecting Lillie. If that was what it took to prove she was capable, that she was Alolan enough to complete these trials, then she had to do it this way. She had to finish this, and finish it fast if she wanted to help Lillie. Her foot skidded in the dirt and she pivoted, reaching over Lillie to grab the rotom-dex from where it stuck out of the bag, and she heard the whimpering cry of Nebby as she flung Rotom into the air like a frisbee..

"Dance, sucker dance, let us put you in a trance! I'd like to see another trainer fight the way we do; advance! Slick the ground, spin around, aqua-jet at the sound, ready?" Moon stepped away from Lillie as she ushered Chlorine forward, her little popplio spraying a trail and sliding along around the outside of the raticate's reach. She kept the beat tapping against the hull of her instrument, watching as Chlorine circled the massive pokemon. The rotom-dex beeped and buzzed above, flashing pictures aplenty with the flash on, leaving the raticate disoriented.

"Now, baby now, shoot a stream to leave him wowed! Show the boss we're unionizing, a water gun's what we're applying! Now, baby now! Now, baby now!" The jets of water that peppered the totem's fur certainly hit their mark, but it still roared and swiped with continued ferocity as it glowed like a torch. Moon grimaced as it brought its teeth down into the dirt where Chlorine had been seconds before, while also disrupting her muddy sliding path. Moon glanced back at Kickback, happy to see him wrestling in the ground with the rattata away from Lillie, each one snapping their jaws ferociously at one another.

When she turned back, her smile instantly faded as she saw the raticate crack its whip-like tail against Chlorine and send her flying the clearing. There was a nasty cracking noise as Chlorine collided with the wooden totem and toppled over it, going limp behind the statue. Moon's mouth went dry as she let out a weak cry for her pokemon, arm outstretched to reach a distance she could not cross, only for her attention to focus on the raticate that was now bearing down atop of her, huffing and puffing. It pulled a bright blue berry out from its fur, and seemed to almost smile at Moon as it popped it into its maw, berry juice splattering on its muzzle like a bloodstain. The few welts that Chlorine had left were now vanishing as the berry's nutrients went to work. Her heart dropped.

It's not fair. It's NOT FAIR. I can't… I can't beat this stupid thing! She backed up once, then twice, and no melody came to mind. Kickback was busy, Chlorine was possibly unconscious, and she was about to get squashed under a bloated raticate and it just wasn't fair. Beating this was impossible, no matter how determined she was. Her mother's faith had been sorely misplaced, which wasn't exactly news, but it still left her feeling hollow.

"Zzrrrt! Scan complete! Totem Raticate, the Mouse Pokemon! This big behemoth is currently under the effects of the intrinsic light power of Alola, known as Z-Power." Rotom flew down beside her, seemingly unconcerned at said behemoth's approach. "Natural toughness and endurance of the pokemon has risen by fifty percent due to the Z-Power within it! Its infant-like object permanence, horrible mobility, and surprisingly picky appetite make it one of the island's most infamous customers to restaurants around!"

"You are NOT the last thing I want to talk to before I die!" Moon snapped as she tried to tumble out of the way of the lumbering raticate, barely dodging its claws. "Say something useful or start plotting my grave, you oversized tablet!"

"Zzrrrt! Registering appointment with local cemeteries in your area now! This Totem Pokemon exhibits sluggish qualities until the Z-Crystal it's tasked with guarding is in danger! It will defend the crystal until it no longer views the crystal as being in danger!" Rotom buzzed happily as though it had just delivered a magnificent performance, and Moon resisted the urge to break it over her knee. For Lillie's sake.

"I said something useful! Useful! My god, you're the reason people say technology makes us dumber and narrow minded, you toddler-toy looking piece of –" She stopped, her voice cutting off as the word replayed in her head. Dumber. Narrow-minded. The raticate turned on her again, raising its head high for a bite as its own light reflected off of its massive tooth.

"These ain't the Kanto gyms, sister. You'll end up ruining yourself if you try to think of them that way."

"It's simply who you are; you don't know when to quit, Mahina, or change your perspective."

"Return it to me, and you succeed."

Oh, she was seven different kinds of dumb. These weren't the gyms; she didn't need to go scorched earth on the pokemon. IT was not her target. The raticate bit down into the ground, but Moon forced herself to move and instead was only knocked aside back into the ground. That was a small cost, an easy price to pay regardless of how bad she hurt. She ran, Her feet stomped against the dirt and mud with so much force that her knees wanted to buckle, but she couldn't give up now, not when she figured out how to win. She ran as fast as she could, knowing full well the divinely powered raticate was right behind her, trying just as much as she was to outpace the other.

"CHLORINE!" Moon shouted, plucking her ukulele for good measure. "Please, baby, if you can hear me… spray the ground in front of the totem pole! Now, prefer-aaAAAAAH!" Her breath left her lungs as tiny claws swiped against the small of her back; she glanced back to see the rattata had leapt onto her back and was clawing wildly. She pulled it off with a gasp, tossing it aside as it squealed and rolled into the dirt. At first she feared Kickback had lost to it, but a second glance told her the opposite. He was still standing overtop of Lillie, baring his teeth and watching Moon run with what was clearly a torn expression.

Well, that was the price of defending Lillie.

"Good boy, you're a good boy…" Moon tried to call back, but the air in her lungs was spent. She was almost there, she just needed her partner to do her part, otherwise… well, it was a good thing she didn't know how to give up. She glanced up briefly as a shadow caught her eye and she saw the charizard hovering not thirty feet above her, while Ilima watched her again. Hau was pointing behind her and shouting something, but Ilima merely watched. Watched.

Do something, asshole!

She saw Chlorine hike herself on top of the totem, huffing and bleeding just as bad as when she had been left to fend off against the rattata. Moon clenched her eyes shut and forced herself to keep going, despite the way her limbs felt like snapping.

Can't… so out of shape. Also sore. Very sore… oh God, is that a cramp?!

"Spray, away, the dust and grime of this messed up day…" She whispered, knowing Chlorine could not hear her. "Please, baby please, I need you to do this, there's no other way." She was running out of room. The raticate's tail lashed behind her. Chlorine raised her head, and sprayed a weak drizzle of water from her nose down onto the dirt and grass before her, before promptly falling off the totem pole. Moon dashed out of the way, feeling her ankle twist as she suddenly threw herself to the left, right at the foot of where Chlorine had sprayed her water.

The raticate was not nearly as nimble as Moon, no matter how much it glowed. It slipped in the mud just as she had hoped, sliding through the totem pole with a loud shriek of, "TH-TH-THHHH!" before crashing into the small den it had made out of leftover food and berries. Old burgers and sandwich bread flopped around the clearing, but Moon didn't care as she crawled through the mud to find where the stupid glowing rock had gone. There? Under the slice of tomato? The raticate was slowly getting back up, turning to face her. Where was it? Had it flown overhead?

She turned her head to see a glint in the grass, shining illustriously just a few feet from Lillie. Of course it had flown away. If she was quick, maybe she'd be able to grab it before the raticate realized what had happened. A sudden force like a pile of bricks plummeting into her shoulder dropped her to the dirt in an instant, and she could barely turn her head to see the oversized rat was atop of her, the golden aura that enshrouded it seeming to pick up and spin faster as it bared its teeth down. Her shoulder hurt so bad, she couldn't even bring herself to roll underneath the pokemon's weight, and her breath became thin.

Not like this, not losing like this! Her hand reached out in the direction she had last seen the sparkling stone at, but her vision was becoming spotted as she wheezed out the last of her air. She realized that despite the fact her airway was very much tightened, she could still breathe. Maybe it wasn't trying to kill her after all, just flatlining her until she gave up.

The stone was too far anyway, she had failed. She was going to fail, she was going to possibly die a failure even though she had promised herself she wouldn't, she had promised years ago and she was going to fail because the ridiculously oversized raticate was going to sit on her and probably crush a luing, and because her trial captain was a prick.

Arceus really did work in mysterious ways.

"FWEEEEEEET!" The familiar sound of an ear grating whistle rang through the clearing, and suddenly the weight vanished from her back as the raticate stepped back, shaking its head in discomfort. Moon gasped, more thankful for air than she had ever been in her entire life. Each gulp brought clarity as her vision slowly returned, and she could see far above her the descending flaps of a charizard as it circled down to the ground.

As relieving as it was to be conscious and alive, and as delicious as the air was to her lungs, the hollow pang of disappointment growing through her still stung. God, how had she messed up so bad? She'd had practice with the damn tauros, she should've done better at this than anyone! She'd actually tried, she'd really given it her all, but that hadn't been enough. She sighed and fought off the burning behind her eyes; crying sucked. She raised her head and turned to retrieve her pokemon and grab Lillie, but to her surprise Lillie had gotten to her hands and knees of her own accord. Her fingers pinched a small clump of dirt that she held out towards Moon's direction.

The dirt shone in the reflection of the late morning sun.

Moon's eyes widened, her mouth went dry as she scrambled across the grass and dirt to where Lillie held herself up. She practically skidded despite her scratched up leg, but she didn't care how many totodile band-aids she would need after this. Her hands wrapped around it carefully, wiping the muck away as it gleamed in her hand like a shattered piece of the sun itself. She slowly looked up to meet Lillie's eyes, her mouth open but no words available for once in her life. The trial hadn't ended because she failed. It had ended because she succeeded.

They succeeded.

"Not… a hindrance, right?" Lillie asked softly as she gave Moon a weak smile. Moon blinked at her, unable to respond before Lillie's eyes closed and she promptly slumped against Moon once more, but this time she was ready. She caught Lillie in her arms, slowly bringing her up with her as she wrapped her arm over her friend's shoulder and held her tight. Lillie's head lolled and she opened her eyes for a second, but they quickly dropped as her body went limp once more.

"I'm okay… I'm alright, just… tired. Need to sit down." She murmured. But Moon did not believe her one bit.

Something was definitely wrong.

"Je suis impressionné!" A voice that was as high as it was clear echoed throughout the clearing. Ilima spread his arms out wide, just like his smile as he approached. "That was quite something! I'll admit I was about to call it off, but seeing that ending-" Hau spent a second untangling his foot from the charizard's stirrup before stumbling away and sprinting over to Lillie where he lifted her up from below, mirroring Moon. She gave him a quick glance.

"You got her?"

"Yeah yeah, shoots."

"Good. Hold her for me."

Moon let go of Lillie and stepped forward to Ilima. Her arm reared back as her fingers curled into a fist, and in one swift second she swung it into the trial captain's face.

8. Punch a grown man. Reason need not be specific, but it must be justified. Check.

He let out a groan and stumbled back into the dirt, supporting himself with one hand while the other stretched out towards Moon, fending her off. Moon rolled her shoulder with a wince, and she imagined Blue Oak himself smiling at her with a thumbs up as she looked down at Ilima sputtering and groaning. The hand outstretched towards her suddenly snapped, and there was a whip-like crack as a vine stretched out from the grass and pulled her wrist down so fast that she was brought down to one knee with a grunt.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Ilimia shouted while clenching his cheek, the calm and classy attitude all but lost as his eyes glared at her as though she was a wild animal. A smeargle creeped up behind Moon, glaring at her as it passed; at least she knew where the vine came from. "I could disqualify you for- what even- why did you do that?!" Hau nearly dropped Lillie.

"Yo, sister, what are you doing?! Go easy on him- oh, that's why you gave me Lillie. Huh." She ignored Hau behind her, who frankly sounded more impressed than upset, and she glared at Ilimia.

"My friend is unconscious, you persnickety douche!" Moon shouted, trying to wrench her hand free from the vine. "I tried to get your attention, and say, 'Hey asshole, something's gone wrong, maybe come and show some leadership qualities outside of being the manager of poke-mart and just watching', but you wouldn't listen!" With her free hand she pointed back at Lillie, whose head bobbed up at the sound of raised voices. Her friend mumbled something that vaguely sounded like, "I'm okay." that made Hau look down just as her body shook and a string of spit fell from her lips. Hau slapped her back.

With the help of his smeargle, Ilima stood and put a thumb to his lip as though he expected blood. She hadn't hit him that hard, but his eyes told a different story as jabbed his finger into her chest.

"You took the gift of assistance, and the cost of that help was having to divert your attention. I told you as much!" Ilima countered. "You want to complete these challenges, be a daughter of Alola, then you need to take them as they come! Accept your responsibilities instead of complaining about them!" His eyes flickered between Moon and Lillie, and she saw a twinge of concern along with… was that uncertainty? She shook her head; she didn't care, it was too late for that.

"My responsibilities?! You were just gonna let her get nommed to make my trial more fair, or challenging, or whatever?" Moon countered as she kicked and pulled at her restraint. "You're no captain, you're a spectator! Just like at the school, you let us deal with the tauros instead of stepping up and acting like someone with any kind of power or authority. You're a fucking pansy who's too scared to get his kicks dirty, and a coward to boot! She actually respects you, and this is how you repay her admiration?"

"You have no idea the kind of power I have, petite fille!" Ilima shouted, spit flinging from his mouth as he turned back to her. His hair was a mess, locks of pink now covering his right eye as he took a deep breath and brushed them aside. "My pokemon were perfectly in place if you were in real danger, but you just know everything, don't you? I could boot you from your trial right now, and let the cops know exactly where she is, but I'm trying to save you both! I'm trying to do what I'm told, for Tapu's sake!" His breath was as ragged as his hair, and it took only a split second for him to realize he had made a mistake.

The restraint came undone, and Moon backed up. Hau stood beside her with Lillie as they backed away from the trial captain. There was silence for a moment before he looked at the both of them, and raised a hand limply.

"I- I meant, the police as in the emergency services. She- I- look, I had it under control. I've got the Ride-Charizard, I can take her to the hospital faster than-" But his voice died as Hau and Moon both shifted to stand in front of Lillie, who was struggling to keep her footing. Ilima swallowed, and he looked down at the dirt before nodding his head. He looked up at the both of them, and the light in his eyes died away.

"... You're right. Je suis désolé, I…" He gave his head a shake and turned to the charizard, wrangling with harness in silence before pulling out the green pager and giving it a single click. The charizard dispersed into light and energy as it vanished into the translucent pokeball on the end, and he fiddled with the screen once more. "I'm not authorized to allow untrained riders to pilot charizard, but I think this one should still get you there. From what I saw, he should like you."

Moon and Hau exchanged looks as he tapped the pager again, and there was a flash of light as the familiar bulky form of a tauros materialized into view, kicking its hoof into the dirt with a huff. Moon blanched as Old Amoka straightened out his legs and gave his head a shake and a snort before turning directly towards her. Not many things triggered her fight or flight response, but seeing the tauros that had nearly skewered her friends just seemed to have that effect.

"Taking a car might be quicker, but this keeps you in line with the rules of the challenge, and you won't get many questions. Probably." Ilima muttered as he adjusted the reins and saddle of Old Amoka, who huffed at him. When it looked back to Moon, it knelt down to a proper mounting height and stared at her with something that might've been expectation, or respect. Possibly hatred. She wasn't good at reading pokemon expressions. She wanted to tell Ilima she didn't care about the rules, but the truth was she really didn't want to be disqualified.

She needed to complete this challenge. For herself.

"Head down Route 2 and go back to Hau'oli. She's not dying, but she looks malnourished. Sickness is possible. Take her to the Professor's lab, not the hospital." Ilima stated as he practically picked up Moon and sat her in the saddle ("Woah, HEY, HANDS OFF!") before doing the same with Lillie. Lillie grumbled and slumped in her saddle, leaning against Moon's back and wrapping her arms around her waist for support. Before Moon could rationalize what was happening, Lillie's bag was pushed into the saddle by Ilima, and her pokeballs with her pokemon were handed to her by Hau. She knocked her wrist against his in thanks.

5. Ride a pokemon! (Meowth does not count; you will crush him.) Check! Hey, two in one day! That makes up for the last week!

"Tauros can only seat two, so it would seem that monsieurKaleohano and I will have to stay behind. He can complete his trial while you're gone." Hau looked up at Ilima with a look of utter bewilderment, but Ilima ignored it. "Oh, and… congratulations on passing your trial. Normally this is where I would explain about the crystal you've won, and what all this means but…" He glanced at Lillie. "This is not a normal trial challenge."

Moon took the reins, but her face mirrored Hau's. Too much was happening way too fast. "Hold up, hoooold the heck up. What's going on, why do you know that- what am I supposed to- will you please explain literally anything?!" She asked, panic growing as she realized she was about to ride a tauros without any training, and with a passenger. Nevermind that this specific tauros had tried to maim her.

Ilima gave a small smile. "Sworn not to, I'm afraid. This will probably be the last time I see the both of you, so… tell her I am sorry. Please." And with that, he gave Old Amoka a firm pat on his flank, and Moon was practically thrown backwards as Old Amoka made for the entrance of the cave. She could not look back to Hau, who she was having to leave behind, nor to Ilima who knew more than he would say, but she heard their voices as she descended back into the verdant cavern.

"Bon voyage, mes sœurs!"

"Stay safe, Moon! And tell me what the heck is going on the next time I see you, yeah?"

That's my line, isn't it?! Mew above! Moon gripped the reins as Old Amoka charged through the cave, jostling her and Lillie to and fro as they sped back out into the daylight. Moon managed to hold onto both Lillie and her duffel bag, where Nebby likely sat huddled in confusion and terror. It occurred to her that really, this was the lucky outcome. Just how close had she come to Nebby unleashing another panicked explosion?

The wind rushed past her as the morning sun clipped through the trees and the hills to warm her side as they sprinted down the dusty trail of Route 2 once more. Lillie awoke briefly, closing her eyes and holding onto Moon once more as she mumbled something about wanting to go home. Moon didn't have the energy to answer her, so exhausted was she after the day they had gone through, that she practically fell asleep in the saddle herself.

Questions flew past her as fast as the traffic on the road, and just like the cars that sped past she couldn't really get a good look of what exactly they were. She was more confused than she had been in a long time, which was an achievement all things considered. There was one question that plagued her, crisp and clear like the breeze that made her sweaty tank-top cling to her chest. One question that ran through her mind more and more every day as she looked back at her friend.

Who are you, Lillie?