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.

18. Chapter 18: Reunion

Chapter 18: Reunion

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"My older sister said you can't trust the negative things you tell yourself, because you've got an unfair type advantage. It's not a fair fight. Nobody knows your weaknesses better than you, you know?"

~ Yasu Moriyama, Yakumo High Student ~

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By the time Moon finally stopped at the restaurant Hau and Lillie had settled on, her eyes were drooping and she had already passed it twice. It wasn't that it was far, but she'd received a lecture from a cop about wearing the proper safety harnesses and protective equipment while on a poke-ride registered pokemon. Too paranoid of her warning turning into a ride to the station for questioning, Moon simply apologized and went the rest of the way on foot. She didn't care if that detective had said he didn't have access to "proper channels", she didn't trust him, and she wasn't going to take that kind of risk.

Unfortunately, this meant she was back to walking in the sun as opposed to riding in it. Her body felt weak and exhausted under the sun's unforgiving heat that seemed to have a particular bone to pick with her, and her alone. Nobody around her seemed to be too bothered by the heat, aside from the occasional tourist flapping a fan or someone wiping the sweat from their brow. For Moon though, it felt downright murderous the way the heat just completely sapped her. It was all the discomfort of a warm-sided pillow, and it left her with as much energy as a dead vikavolt.

Each step took way too much effort, and more often than not she had to grab ahold of something just to stop her next from crumpling. She was just so tired, and wanted nothing more than to crawl into a bed somewhere and sleep the summer away along with all of her problems, but as usual something so easy and idyllic wasn't really an option for her. Her little skirmish with heat stroke had really done a number on her. That's all it was.

She walked through the wooden gate for "Big Ocean Grill" and forced herself to straighten up as she saw Hau and Lillie sitting at a table on the other end. She couldn't help but groan internally; couldn't they have picked a table inside? At least the outside dining area had a thatched roof to block the sun. and Moon couldn't argue with that after walking along the open sidewalk for twenty-five minutes. Hau was twirling a fork between his fingers when he spotted her, and Lillie was buried within a menu.

"Ah, there she is," Hau said with a smile as he gave a small wave that Moon managed to return. Lillie glanced up from her menu for a moment in curiosity, only for her face to contort into a glare before burying herself deep enough into her menu that Moon could no longer see her, and vice versa. Moon had been so worried about getting back to them that she'd almost forgotten Lillie was still upset at her for what had happened with the Aether Foundation. Part of her thought that she was still totally justified in snapping back at the two. The rest of her knew Lillie had every right to not want to see her still.

If she closed her eyes she could practically imagine her turning her nose up and going, "Hmph!" like some kind of stuck-up cartoon character, crossing her arms and turning away as if it wasn't obvious she was mad at Moon. She silently chuckled at the image of little cartoon Lillie, imagining her with that enormous white hat she always wore, and-

CRASH!

Moon's eyes snapped awake just as she tumbled along the floor, the empty chair she had tripped over clattering loudly and grabbing the attention of everyone in the restaurant, including Lillie and Hau. For but a second it was silent as she clutched the spot on her hip where she'd landed on the upturned chair, before several voices around her all spoke in a mix of grumbles and whispers.

"You alright, kid?"

"Mew almighty."

"Oh hey, parents don't watch their kids in this region either."

Moon felt the blood rise to her cheeks and keep going all the way to her ears as she picked herself up. On the plus side, she was wide awake. On the other, she really wished that tumble had killed her right about now. She muttered her apologies to those closest, quickly making her way over to her friends' table and plopping herself down into an empty chair, deliberately avoiding their eyes as they watched her sit.

Lillie looked at her strangely, while Hau gave her a rather sympathetic look, patting her on the shoulder and sliding his menu towards her. "Hey, that's minors sister, minors. One time I was at a big luau with gramps and I ran right into one of the guys playing a steel guitar. Gramps wanted to buss me up so bad, he coulda clobbered me with that guitar, yeah." He gave her a light chuckle and when Moon didn't reciprocate, he gently slugged her arm. "Ey, you ain't the first person to trip over something. Relax and get some grinds, you look beat." Moon just grunted. She didn't feel hungry, and time was no longer as luxurious as it had once been.

"We need to skip lunch," she said, causing Hau to stare in abject horror. "I ran into that same detective we met at the motel on Route 2 about half an hour ago. He was at a coffee shop a mile away from here, and like, he…" Her head was aching. Was that the heat, or just the situation? "I don't know, he said he was off-duty, and he… no, his partner, said they'd seen the people who looked like the uh, the guys. The guys who jacked our pokemon. Them." Arceus, what was wrong with her? Hau and Lillie both just stared at her, like she'd just spoken gibberish instead of warning them. Then again, maybe she had only spoken nonsense.

Lillie looked between Moon and Hau for a moment, but Moon couldn't quite describe the expression her friend wore. Was that contemplation? Worry? Disgust? Some bizarre mixture of the three, maybe? She looked at Moon again, and her eyes glanced towards the way Moon had come in from.

"... That fall was genuine, wasn't it?" she asked softly, her analytical eyes flickering back to Moon. Moon wanted to groan and throw the menu at her. Didn't she care about the part where the detective was on their trail? She'd certainly lectured her for putting her at risk of being caught, but when it came to warning her, she was more concerned about whether Moon had faked a spill? God, she picked the weirdest girl to crush on.

"I was trying out a stuntman routine, see if I could pursue that line of work if I can't get my pokemon back," Moon quipped. "Of course it was real! Wha- why would I even do that? I don't purposefully go around trying to make an ass of myself, you know!"

Aaaaaaaaaaaah, shit.

"You very well could have fooled me," Lillie said in a placid tone, and just like that Moon felt an inch tall. She sighed and turned from Moon to glance round the room, as if she expected the detective to come barreling over the fence, something that Moon felt wasn't an impossibility herself. She tapped her foot in what was obviously nervousness, but she took a breath and nodded back to Moon again. "We can order our food to go, but you need to sit for a while. You look unwell." Moon opened her mouth to tell her how ridiculous that was when Hau spoke up in her place.

"Yeah, you ain't looking too good there, sister," Hau murmured, peering closer at her. "Straight up pulled a Lillie the way you went down l'dat."

"Hush, Hau."

Lillie reached over and placed a hand to Moon's forehead, frowning for the few seconds that it made contact. Was that concern in her eyes? Moon definitely saw the vexation still in there, but from her angle she swore there was worry mixed in there too. The moment Lillie's hand touched her forehead, it was like a gentle icepack was being pressed against her. Without thinking she took Lillie's hand and brought it down to her cheek, sighing aloud at the sheer relief that it brought her. She was about to press it against the other cheek when the tiny rational part of her brain caught up with the instinctual side, and her eyes immediately locked onto Lillie's in realization and horror.

Lillie's face was flushed pink, something that was ever so noticeable on cheeks as pale as hers. On the one hand, she didn't look quite as mad anymore. On the other hand, Moon really wished that tumble had killed her now. She released Lillie's hand much to the other's surprise, and her friend glanced down at her hand as though she expected to find something on it before quickly regaining her composure. Moon wished she could do the same as easily, but unfortunately her skill at hiding emotions was self taught, as opposed to being officially trained like Lillie seemingly was.

"You're burning up," Lillie murmured, and Moon cursed her vulnerable heart for flushing up over something so stupid. She could see tomorrow's clickbait-y web article now; 'Stupid Alolan girl dies from heatstroke after minimal contact with another girl'. "You need to sit, and rest for a few minutes at the minimum. I will not have you hurting yourself for my sake. Let me see if we can acquire a few wet towels for you."

"That's uh, really not necessary," Moon tried, but Lillie shot her a look that clearly and plainly told her to stop talking and stay seated, so that was what Moon did. She closed her eyes and took a few breaths while Hau handed her his water to sip on. Lillie, meanwhile, flagged down a waiter who quickly came over with a notepad in hand.

"Howzit keiki, you ready fo' order?" She gave her pen an audible click, but Lillie shook her head.

"Uh, yes, I believe we are. But my friend here is overheated, so we'll have to make our orders to go. Could we get a few wet towels for her as well?" Precise and to the point when she wanted to be, Lillie held one hand over the other and gave a very polite smile to the waitress. How this girl was nervous talking to some people, and just fine to others, Moon did not know. The waitress nodded and quickly began jotting down their orders, pointing at each of them as she did so.

"I would like the tropical salad with chicken and mango, please."

"Shuah, you?"

"Ey auntie, lemme get one poke bowl wit' da lemon rice? Mahalo!"

"Shuah, you?"

"Aaaah, just uh… a crunchy pork taco, no lettuce. Oh, and can I get a feraligatrade?"

"Shuah, shuah, we get dat and da towels fo' you fast kine." Another click, and she took the menus in a flash before disappearing into the restaurant proper. Moon looked at Lillie, unable to hide the confused smirk that sprouted on her face as Lillie briefly met her stare.

"I thought you were mad at me," Moon said.

"I am."

"But you're still being nice to me?"

Lillie scoffed and rolled her eyes, glaring at Moon as she began making sure her few belongings were all packed tight in her duffel bag for the trip ahead. "Yes, Moon, I'm mad at you, therefore I must want you to suffer from heatstroke for Arceus' sake. Honestly, I thought I was clueless how friendship worked, yet you continue to outdo me at record intervals." She triple checked that Nebby was secured in her bag with a huff, whispering promises of the soon-to-arrive food before turning her nose up with an audible "hmph" just like Moon had imagined. It would have been hilarious if it didn't feel like an, albeit warranted, punch in the gut.

Hau glanced between the two of them curiously as he sipped from his soda. "Yeeeah, see this is why a lot of guys say girls are confusing. It's like learning type advantages with you two, sometimes."

"Hush, Hau," both girls groaned in unison. Hau merely shrugged and raised his hands, the ghost of a smile on his face.

"Just sayin'."

Their food came quicker than Moon had expected, along with the towels to boot, which took a load off of Moon and Lillie's minds respectively. Moon wasn't convinced there wasn't actually a group of officers waiting to bust them the moment they stepped back out into the street, and the sooner they left, the better for her psyche. Lillie didn't seem pleased with the idea of leaving while Moon was still hot, but the threat of imminent detainment was not one any of them wanted to test the waters of. So after paying for the meal and tipping their waitress, the three hurried out into the street with quick glances and quicker feet. Moon felt a bit silly with towels around her neck and on her, but if it kept her going just a little further, she could look like a mime jr. for all she cared.

To Moon's surprise, there was nobody waiting for them along the streets. No squad car cut-offs, no smug detective stepping out from an alley as they passed, just the regular sights and sounds of people going to and from their day to day. Route 4 was only a few streets over, and the three of them quickly scampered along the sidewalk through the throngs of people, pikipeks, pikachus, and plenty of other pokemon in between. They came across the entrance to Route 4, a wide swath of grass at the edge of the city that sat neatly between a hotel and an office building like a natural alleyway.

Moon stepped up to a sign bearing a bright "04" at the top, reading the brief description of the trail ahead.

Twelve mile trail… Beginner friendly. Habitat for eevee, mudbray, venipede… Now this was a trail. Moon glanced back at her friends as she adjusted her towels; Hau was staring distractedly at the chain separating the city's limits from the natural trail before them, and Lillie cast an anxious glance up towards the office on their right. Moon casually walked up beside her, nodding towards the building.

"You good?" she asked softly. She was sure Lillie didn't want both her and Hau noticing her growing nerves and tried to keep her voice low, but Lillie scarcely looked her way before turning her attention to the trail's entrance.

"I am quite fine, thank you for asking," she said stiffly. Moon gave her a look and Lillie sighed, opening her duffel's zipper to check on Nebby, likely to put off having to answer. When Moon didn't walk away, Lillie relented and crossed her arms. "Fine. Professor Burnet is likely in that office right now; it's the research lab she works at. I'm merely thanking Arceus that she was not looking outside the office's windows. She wanted me to visit her here someday, though this was before we arrived on Akala, so I doubt that offer still stands. She thought it would interest 'an intelligent wahine like me'."

Moon's heart cracked at the disappointment in her voice. She didn't like thinking about what had happened the night they had arrived on Akala Island, so she tried to push it out of the way of conscious thought as much as possible. Lillie didn't seem to be quite as lucky.

"I'm sorry," Moon began, her voice low, "I know how close you were to the professors. Do you uh, do you want to talk about –"

"I have no desire to talk about it with you right now," Lillie said bluntly, and she cast one final glance behind them towards the road as she shouldered her bag and began to approach the trial. "I am still frustrated and would prefer you focus on keeping cool so you do not endanger yourself." Moon could tell just by her tone she desired to simply get a move on, and so Moon quickly nodded and backed away, hands raised.

"Yeah, yeah of course. Maybe later. Thanks uh, thanks for ordering the towels." She started to turn back towards Hau and the trail, but Lillie's voice stopped her dead in her tracks once again.

"Moon."

"Yo?"

Lillie closed her eyes and took a breath, and though when she opened them she did not look at Moon, her voice had lost a smidge of its coldness and edge, the sparks of warmth making an appearance again once more.

"Thank you, for rushing to tell us about your encounter with the detective. Perhaps by the time we make camp tonight, I will be willing to listen."

Moon tried to stop the hopeful smile that sprouted from Lillie's words, but it was no use. She needed that today, something to look forward to at the end of it all to help her feel even a little bit better after everything that had happened. Getting the chance to talk and apologize for being a total stupid bitch sounded like desert after a particularly satisfying dinner.

"Radjah dat, sister," Moon said, but Lillie merely began walking towards the trail without another word. Hau trudged behind her, and put at first what she thought was a comforting hand on her shoulder. Instead he clicked his tongue and shook his head like an unimpressed older sibling.

"Naaah, nah. Don't do that," he said softly, and when Moon realized he was talking about her pidgin she rolled her eyes and shrugged him off.

Route 4 awaited them, though none of them seemed especially keen on continuing with so many uncertainties ahead. There were certainties behind them, but none of them good. The thing about the future was that, as bleak as it looked, none of them could be absolutely certain of what awaited them. It was strange how the same aspect that made them nervous was the same one that was their only source of hope. Maybe they'd get their pokemon back. Maybe they'd be arrested. Maybe they'd give up.

Who knew? Not them. It was amazing how something could be so hopeful, and so terrifying..

For the first ten minutes or so they were quiet, each reflecting in their own way at the strange paths their lives had managed to stumble upon, as they all had plenty of thoughts to occupy themselves. Yet, silence was never known to linger amongst troubled teenagers, so it wasn't long before Hau spoke up and began telling them about the supplies he picked up for the section of their journey. Thermal sleeping bags, plenty of dried meal packets, water-purifying straws he was eager to try, as well as another tent so that the three of them wouldn't be stuffed into one should the weather turn sour. He had even gone as far as to buy a map and compass, should the worst happen and they lose the rotom-dex or be separated from Lillie.

"I'd like to evenly distribute the supplies, but we don't really have time to do a full unpack," Hau explained. "How about for now, I'll hold onto the light foodstuffs like the protein bars, and Moon, you get the waters. Lillie can get the dinner packs."

"Yeah, no problem. Geez, dude. How much did you spend on all this?" Moon said, taking the waters from Hau and stuffing them into her pack.

After insisting Hau take some of her money to offset the costs, Moon wasn't surprised when Hau curiously inquired as to what the two of them had gotten up to in his brief absence. Moon immediately felt her lips curl into a grimace; she had to give props to Hau for his subtle attempt at getting to the bottom of her and Lillie's sudden coldness, but she wasn't quite ready to divulge that yet. That would mean admitting she'd been a total ass. Lillie didn't acknowledge Hau's question, which left him staring at Moon expectantly like a kid asking his mother an embarrassing question. Moon felt about as comfortable.

"Bought some hiking clothes, stuff we won't suffocate in," Moon answered, trying to sound nonchalant. "Couple tank-tops, some waterproof joggers. Tried to get an even mix of sleeveless and long-sleeved since we're going from a marsh, to a forest, to a freaking volcano. Alola is wild, you gotta love it." She gave a shake of the head, deciding not to mention the slip shorts. Any uh, chance you heard about those jackasses who stole our pokemon?" she asked. Hau merely shook his head.

"Nah, I was honestly so busy making sure we were good food-wise I completely forgot." He huffed and shook his head, giving her a strained smile. "Some trainer I am, eh? I wanna hear more about what you heard from the police guy. You looked like you were dead on your feet when you were talking about it earlier; you doing alright now?" The genuine concern in his voice sent a twinge of affection through Moon, and she felt bad now for keeping so many secrets from him. The towels had definitely helped regulate her body temperature; but the heaviness in her steps and the sheer lack of energy still sapped her something fierce.

She frowned as the last sights of Heahea disappeared behind them. "It's… kinda hard to say. He said… he said he 'didn't have access to the proper channels', which doesn't make a lot of sense, but then he told me his partner had seen people wearing clothes like that dude who tried to mug us going to Paniola. And that guy had the same clothes as the people who stole Chlorine and Alonzo, so…" She shrugged, glancing off towards Lillie. Was she listening? Moon couldn't tell. "But I don't know if he was telling the truth, or if it… like, bait? But if that was the case, I don't know why he didn't just… you know, book me then and there."

Hau looked just as confused as he answered with a shrug. "He didn't mention anything else? His partner didn't cuff the guys or something?" Moon went silent for a moment, thinking about her brief interaction with the detective. She almost considered confiding in how he had wanted Moon to help them not to arrest Lillie, but to help her. She gave a small shake of the head; she didn't need to risk putting seeds of doubt in their heads, especially one so obvious.

"Afraid not. It was really… confusing. That's what makes me think it might be a bait-and-switch, but it's the only lead we really have going for us." There was a collective sigh between them, and they fell into silence once again as they marched along the trail, side by side. Every now and then a pikachu would scamper by, or they'd pass someone on the trail who would offer a battle only for them to be forced to refuse. It was hard to be hopeful when every fifteen minutes something reminded them of what they had lost. What would they do if they met a pokemon who wanted to pick a fight? Would they just chuck pokeballs at it and pray, or would Moon smack it with her ukulele?

A thought crossed her mind as she remembered her ukulele, and she glanced at the downcast and focused expressions of her friends. In Mysteries and Dungeons she played a bard, known for their ability to inspire acts of bravery and morale with their singing and musical expertise. True, she couldn't exactly play a little ditty and make her friends buff as heck, but she could try to take them away from their negative thoughts and fears if only for a little while. That was what music was for.

She slipped the ukulele out of her bag by its neck, propping it up as she tweaked the pegs a few times just to ensure it was in tune, before giving it a test strum. Both Hau and Lillie glanced back at her with raised brows, but Moon didn't focus on them as she skipped in between the two of them and started playing the first melody that came to her mind, bouncy and cheerful. What they needed was a traveling song, but since Moon didn't know any, she'd just start yapping like she always did until it made sense. That's where the best ones came from in her experience.

"Oh, we're taking on a challenge and I know we'll win. What's shakin' is the makin' of a worldwide hit, woah!" She smiled and turned to face them, and she could see both of their expressions twist in opposite directions. Hau began to grin, while Lillie's lips pursed as though she was trying to stay angry, and Moon knew she absolutely had to break her. "It's a pain to be so talented, aah ah."

Lillie snorted, and Moon beamed at her as she continued to strum. "We're walking down a trail now and it's pretty cool, I'm running outta lyrics for this awesome tune – he-ee-ey. Don't look at me like I'm a fool… yooou fool." She stuck her tongue out at Lillie as her friend shot her a look, and Lillie stuck hers out right back only to reel it back in, as if she realized she was accidentally having fun. Moon turned to Hau and nodded, motioning for him to give her a countdown. Each step was another beat, another word, another inch closer to their destination. Every goofy note was another second distracted.

"A one," Hau chanted, "a two! A one, two, three, four!"

"Everybody loves my songs, I feel like I belong! No no, don't feel the need to sing along, I'm a one woman show after all." Lillie huffed and rolled her eyes at that, but even she couldn't fight off the endearing smile Moon was working so hard to bring out. "And I'ma strummin' as we're runnin' from the cops, maybe? It's okay cause they got nothing on our youthful speed! Ba-duh-duh-da-duh-duh! Finish us off, Lilllie!"

Lillie blanched as Moon held the imaginary microphone out to her, raising a hand and shaking her head with an awkward half-smile.

"I'd uh, really prefer not to, thank you."

Moon rolled her eyes and hopped onto a rock they passed, singing loud enough to scare off any of the wild pokemon in the area. "Everybody loves my songs! I can see it in your eyes. Don't worry Lillie I know you do too, and soon, you'll reeeeealize. Ba-dum bum!" Moon finished the final strums of her ukulele before throwing her hands up and letting out a call like a wild lycanroc. The wind blew through her hair just a little, and Moon quickly tugged her hat down a little further just to be safe, but the breeze did give her a feeling of rejuvenation in a way. She stared out at the wide expanse of Route 4 for a moment, taking in the beauty of Alola's hills and dense rainforests.

She nearly slipped off the rock as a surge of dizziness overtook her, and she mumbled something along the lines of "Wuh-oh" just as she plummeted for the dirt. She immediately felt the stabilizing hands of Hau stop her from kissing the sweet Alolan dirt, and through swirling colors she managed to glance up at her friend and give him a thumbs up. After ensuring she could stand, Lillie came over and checked her temperature again, to far less embarrassing effect, and shook her head.

"A spirited performance, but perhaps you should save those for nightfall when the heat will not heckle you," she said, and Moon nodded in agreement. The song had seemed to actually lift their spirits somewhat, with Hau laughing and humming to the melody as he propped Moon back up, and even Lillie had the ghost of a smile on her face after watching. Moon, despite her sudden nausea, felt both invigorated and exhausted after such a performance.

So why did Lillie look so sad whenever Moon caught her eye?

The rest of the day went with only minor bumps as they trekked across Route 4. For all its luscious foliage and beautiful sights, the route was laden with hills and slopes that left them out of breath as they carried their packs, now laden with dried food and supplies. Moon quickly soaked through her regular clothes, and they stopped so she could change into her new ones which helped immensely. Even with her new hiking-friendly clothes though, this trail felt miles longer than Route 2 had, despite being a third of the size. Twice did Moon almost fall over from fatigue, her body simply not used to this level of excessive exercise, while Lillie had to take several breaks just to prevent herself from following suit.

Beginner level my ass.

Once the sun had lowered somewhat and the air began to cool, they decided to take a crack at Hau's plan to catch themselves a pokemon. They'd managed so far solely using Lillie's repel spray to keep from having to deal with any wild critters, but to cover all three of them burned through the spray faster than they could reasonably cross the trail. So they decided to set up an ambush spot, with Lillie keeping watch using the rotom-dex while Hau and Moon would simply chuck as many pokeballs as they could at the first pokemon they came across.

"See anything, Lils?" Moon whispered as she peeked up from the bush she'd hidden herself in. Thorns and leaves prodded and rubbed against her incessantly, but she was too stubborn to give up at this point. Hau sat across from her in a similar position, nestled between three trees that had grown closely together. Lillie hummed softly from her spot on a rather tall rock that gave her a decent look through the trees, slowly scanning the surrounding area with Rotom.

"No, I am afraid not. Unless one of these trees is a sudowoodo, in which case – oh! Oh, there! Um, oh, southeast, southeast!" Her voice dropped to a low hiss, and both Moon and Hau sank deeper into their hiding spots frantically. "It is a um, a mudsdale? No, a mudbray! Rotom says a mudbray is approaching from the southeast!" Moon peeked through the brush to try and spot it, only to earn her finger a poke from the thorns. Hau called up in a hoarse whisper from his spot, while Moon sucked on finger.

"Okay, sister. Go to the dex's encyclopedia, and play the mudbray cry!" he ordered, and Lillie gave a quick nod in response. Moon could hear the approaching mudbray now, its steps crunching the debris underhoof as she held her breath in fear of ruining the plan. An animalistic cry rang out from Lillie's direction, and the approaching mudbray met it with one of its own. It was coming this way now, she could practically see it through the leaves! She just had to be patient, and wait for the signal… any moment now…

"NOW!" Hau shouted just as the mudbray began to sniff in the clearing. Moon quickly began chucking pokeballs, scratching her arms repeatedly but refusing to stop after all the effort they'd gone to set their genius ambush up. She heard Hau chucking them just as fast, and suddenly a beam of light lit up the clearing. Moon immediately leapt from her hiding spot, silently thanking the Tapus that she didn't have to hide there any longer, and readied another ball. The mudbray was gone, and in its place was a wobbling pokeball, but she was smart enough to know they probably wouldn't nab a perfectly healthy pokemon on the first ball that made contact.

Hau rose from his spot too, clamboring out of the tree's knot as he grabbed one of the pokeballs that had missed and readied it himself. The ball wobbled once, and went still. Then it wobbled again, before falling still once more. A third wobble…

FLASH! The clearing lit up from the pokeball's light once more and the mudbray reappeared in the middle, with Moon hastily throwing another pokeball the moment she saw the light with a yell. Instead of catching the pokemon off guard like she'd anticipated, she watched in utter shock as it reflexively kicked out at the ball, and sent it spiraling straight into Hau's face like a pin-missile with an audible slap!

Hau sank to the ground and clutched his nose with a groan, while the mudbray scampered off into the woods once more with haste. Moon didn't even bother trying another throw; she simply let her arm fall and a sigh escape her as she pulled her ankle out of the berry bush with a disappointed tug. She heard Lillie carefully sliding down the rock with her medical supplies already being pulled from her bag, and looked over to see blood seeping from between Hau's fingers.

"This sucks," Moon sighed as she picked the last thorns out of her socks, kneeling down by Hau who had stopped rolling in pain and was now simply lying on his back. "Aw dang, you alright man? Holy hell, that thing shot it right at you. Did it break anything?" Moon couldn't stop herself from wincing as Hau pulled his hand away, revealing massive splotches of blood that covered his face and hand.

"Aaah, nah. I don't think so, just… decked me right in the schnoz," he groaned, covering his nose again. "That's all I got in me, I give, I don't wanna catch pokemon without one anymore." Lillie carefully knelt down beside him and winced as well, allowing Rotom to fly out of her hands and take a couple of assessing pictures of Hau's face before letting out a chirping buzz.

"Zzrrt! No broken bones or nasal fracture detected! Structure damage minimal! Minor trauma detected!" Rotom announced, orbiting around Hau while noticeably remaining just out of reach of Moon. Lillie sighed and gently raised Hau into a sitting position, while handing Moon a bundle of tissues.

"Wasn't that traumatizing…" he grumbled, and Lillie shook her head.

"Wrong kind of trauma, Hau. It's just a nosebleed, thankfully. You'll want to sit up so you don't swallow any blood, and pinch just under the bridge," she said, to which Hau gave a thumbs up and a smile with blood-stained teeth. She then turned to Moon, and gave her a once-over as well. "Are you alright? I didn't see you get hit, but if so-"

"Nope," Moon quickly said, pulling another thorn out of her shoe, "just been given a rather thorny hug from mother nature, 's all. Can we set up camp? I genuinely don't think I've got it in me to keep going after all that. It's almost dark, and Hau'll need to clean up too." She was met with a small chorus of agreement, and so with only mild disappointment and scrapes the three of them quickly set about putting up the tents and getting a small fire started within the clearing. They worked in tired silence, only speaking when necessary and usually accompanied by yawns when they did.

By the time their tents were set up and a fire was crackling, night was well upon them and with it came surprisingly cool weather that forced Moon out of her sweaty hike wear and back into clothes with more coverage. Hau had stayed awake just long enough to eat his takeout from lunch, and stuff a rolled up tissue into his nostril, before promptly collapsing into his tent with his feet sticking out of the entrance. Lillie was hardly any better, nodding off as she stared into the fire and holding her duffel bag like a giant stuffed animal, until Moon nudged her awake and handed her one of the sleeping bags Hau had bought for them.

"Ah, thank you… my neck would have been quite sore had I slept like that. I think I shall depart for the evening. Goodnight, Moon," Lillie murmured, giving her a small wave as she rubbed one eye. Moon said nothing, but gave a small wave in return as she watched Lillie disappear behind the tarp.

She'd been hoping that she'd get the chance to speak to Lillie, to talk about what had happened that afternoon and properly apologize for acting so carelessly, but she didn't blame her for wanting to sleep. Moon had the entire day to think about it, going over her actions a hundred times, and slowly becoming both embarrassed and ashamed of how she'd acted. It was like her arguments with her mother; when the guilt finally crept in, it hit like a sucker punch.

Their failure at catching a pokemon had been an unfortunate reminder of the gravity they faced in still trying to take on the trials. Nobody had talked about it, but Moon knew that it was the sort of thing that was just another nail in the coffin for their journey. They could push and kick against it all they wanted, but if they let too many problems close in on them then it would be game over. If they couldn't get pokemon, they couldn't complete their trials, and if she couldn't do that, what kind of Alolan was Moon? How could they protect Lillie if they couldn't protect themselves from an unsuspecting mudbray?

It was then Moon realized that despite the fatigue in her bones, the exhaustion that coursed through her body like a welcomed poison, she wasn't tired. How did that make sense? Exhausted, but not tired. Weary, but not sleepy. She should've wanted nothing more than to curl up in their tent and sleep until noon, but she knew if she tried she'd get hot and uncomfortable and stare at the tarp above her for hours on end.

"Freaking knew the insomnia was back," she muttered, standing from the fire and stretching her arms as she looked around. All was quiet; unlike Route 2 which was never more than five hundred feet from a road or highway, Route 4 was truly a piece of Alola's natural geography, with little to no human involvement. There were no blinking lights in between the gaps of the trees, no quiet roar of automobiles in the distance, just her, her friends, and the pokemon who lived there. There was a sort of beauty in that isolated darkness, a beauty that was two parts relieving, and one part eerie. It didn't bother her so much though; she was no stranger to being up late.

That gave her an idea, and she quickly grabbed her notebook from her pocket and scribbled down under her to do list:

6. Explore the deep wild with no adult supervision. Check!

Satisfied, she quietly grabbed her ukulele and strolled off, never moving far enough to not glimpse the flickering of the fire. Once she was a safe distance away where she wouldn't wake anyone, she threw her ukulele over her shoulder and hefted herself up onto a sturdy branch of a nearby tree, just high enough that she could kick her feet in the open air. This was the perfect time to play, since there was nobody around who would be disturbed, or more importantly, who would overhear. It had been weeks since she had been able to relax and just play, to let her soul break out and scream all the things that words alone could not convey. It was as much a megaphone as it was a shield.

With a careful glance towards the camp, she put herself into the ready position. The others had never heard her really sing, she realized. Sure, they'd heard her goofy on-the-spot lyrics and little tunes when she was battling, or when the mood struck her like it had earlier when they had needed a pick-me-up. They had heard her goofing around, what she had allowed them to hear. They had never heard something like this, and if she was lucky, they never would. With a strum, and a low hum from her lips, she let her soul slip out for the first time in months.

"There's definitely something wrong with me. I can feel it in my bones

It's something nobody else can see, so I'm left here alone.

To be broken with myself, isn't that just so ironic?

To act like I'm some savior when really I'm an atomic

bomb.

Waiting to go off, but

There's definitely something wrong with her. Something I can't figure out.

Is it a flu or even something worse? Dunno what it's about.

And I'm broken not alone, for the first time in my life.

But I kinda miss when she was just a dumb girl with pretty eyes.

But I guess, we're just a mess? And that's alright.

I'll get some rest, and I'll bet we'll be alright.

The breath that Moon let out as her fingers strummed the last chord was one she'd been holding in for weeks on end, maybe even months? It did not take away the pain, or the fear, but it helped her meet it in a way that said, "I know you're there." without giving it any ground over her. She'd thought about the lyrics all day while they had walked, and she decided they were actually good enough to keep, with perhaps a bit of tweaking down the line. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her notebook, scribbling down the words as she tried to keep track of them in her head. They reminded her of the lyrics she'd thought of when she confronted Lillie in the bathroom.

Just as she had jotted down the first line, a sudden crack! from her right startled her so bad she nearly jumped out of the tree with her ukulele ready to swing. Instead of a pokemon though, she saw the bright green eyes of Lillie, wide as a rowlet's and as terrified as a deerling in headlights. For a second she was relieved, lowering her guard for just a second before becoming absolutely mortified.

Dear God, how much did she hear?! I knew I should have stopped to check in-between the chorus! Stupid, stupid, stupid!

"Um… hello," Moon said rather intelligently as she balanced her ukulele on her knee. From below her, Lillie seemed to be struggling with words herself.

"H-hey there," she squeaked, only to fall silent. The only sound Moon could hear for a moment was the bug-types, far off in the trees, along with the ungodly beating of her own heart. Finally, Lillie let out an awkward chuckle and broke eye contact, glancing towards the ground. "Well um, it certainly seems we are on equal footing now, doesn't it?"

Oh dear God!

"You have stumbled upon my singing, unintended, and now I you."

Oh thank God!

Moon felt her heart still trying to break free of its rib cage prison, and she begged her brain to get the stupid bastard under control before she had an actual heart attack. After a couple of deep breaths to ensure that she was in fact not dying, Moon lowered her notebook and glanced around, as if she feared someone else stumbling upon her. When her heart finally took its metaphorical medication, she turned back to Lillie.

"Hah, yeah… whoops. You got me. How much did you, uh… hear?" she asked, scratching her ear nervously.

"Only the last part," Lillie answered, and Moon felt a smidge of relief in the sea of panic. "I take it you were having trouble sleeping again?"

"Oh, yeah actually… it's just a thing that happens, sometimes. Did I uh, did I wake you? I wasn't trying to – obviously, I was just uh, you know, doing my thing." Why did talking to Lillie always have to be awkward? She wasn't sure which was worse, when their conversations were littered with anger, or awkward tension. A sudden thought struck her as she looked down at Lillie, still in her nightgown. "O-Oh, shoot uh, were you going out to vom- I mean, shit, sorry, I meant 'purge'. That's the term, right?"

Ah yes, a true bard, known for their overwhelming charisma.

Lillie blinked as her own face reddened, visible even in the darkness on cheeks as pale as hers. "A-ah, um… not quite. I merely woke up to um, to… pee. I heard the music and came to investigate… my apologies for interrupting, I know such things are best when alone." Her voice was soft and timid, nothing like the clear and assertive tone she'd had earlier, and Moon could tell she was embarrassed. Desperate to make up for her wrong assumption and ease her discomfort, Moon said the first comforting thing that came to mind.

"That's cool, nothing like a leak in the woods at night."

GOD DAMMIT.

Lillie looked up at her with a bemused smile, shaking her head as Moon contemplated how many swings it would take to knock herself out with her own ukulele. Before she could excuse herself for an early grave, Lillie leaned against the branch Moon sat upon, crossing her arms over it as she let out a little giggle and closed her eyes.

"You are so unbelievably uncouth. You know this, don't you?" She let out a sigh and when she opened her eyes, they were already staring off into the darkened woods beyond. "I do not think you would last a day in polite society. In fact, half a day might even be too kind. Were Hau not with us, I might think all kids our age are as vulgar and brash as yourself." Her words were harsh, but there was a gentle warmth in her tone, and Moon could just barely tell that she was smiling.

Moon tried to imagine herself in whatever lavish lifestyle Lillie had lived; fancy dresses that were picked out for her, well-kept and styled hair to impress other people, learning to speak like a watered down noble from their M&D game. It sounded miserable. Forget half a day, Moon would be screaming and cursing after an hour at the most. But when she imagined herself in something like a mullet dress, with a leather jacket on over it like that cool Galarain trainer she'd seen on TV did, standing beside Lillie… Well, she supposed she could stomach that.

Moon shrugged and tapped her ukulele, staring off into the darkness alongside her friend. "Eh, nah. I'm one of a kind. Knew people from my old school who were just as timid as you, and some who were worse than me, if you can believe it." She snickered at the thought of Lillie experiencing a public school, and found herself glancing over at her. "But hey, I bet if we got you some black mascara and some new duds, we could pass you off for a scene kid. Skater punk, maybe, if we got you a baseball hat or a beanie." The visible shiver that passed through Lillie nearly took Moon off the branch.

"I think we've already discussed my fashion sense enough for one day," Lillie chided, but when she looked over at Moon there was a gentle yet curious expression on her face.

"Who was she?" she asked, meeting Moon's eyes. "The girl you were singing about. That is, assuming you were not singing another's lyrics. I don't exactly know what songs are 'popular', as it were." Moon felt the breath she was holding shakily leave her, trying her best not to look utterly surprised. Was this a joke? There was no way Lillie was dense enough to think she was talking about anyone else, surely? Unless, she was just giving Moon far more credit than she deserved. It wasn't exactly subtle that they both had issues, after all.

"I suppose I'm assuming an awful lot; it almost sounds like a song to one's self, the more I think about it," Lillie said when Moon could find no answer. "An exchange between who you were, and who you are now. It was… rather beautiful, if you do not mind my saying so. You have a surprising gift for poetry." She smiled again, a soft and beautiful smile that made Moon feel stupid and warm and happy all at once. It also made her feel utterly relieved; Lillie really did overestimate the complexity of her lyrics. Now she felt like a true rock star.

"Thank you," Moon finally said, neither confirming nor denying Lillie's guess. Lillie nodded, and for a moment they both simply sat in comfortable silence with one another. Moon found it much preferable to the awkward kind they were so often stuck in. After a time though, she noticed a stiffness in Lillie's shoulders, and knew that her friend had something she wanted to say as she pursed her lips and glanced down at the dirt below.

Eventually, she turned back to Moon. "I… want to say that I am sorry, for today. That I regret what I did, and that I overreacted to your actions without thinking of your side," she murmured. Before Moon could interrupt Lillie, she continued. "I want to say those things, but I cannot. I am not sorry for how I responded, and even while thinking all day about it, I cannot bring myself to apologize for being upset at what you did. I felt incredibly embarrassed, betrayed, and… used. It truly felt like you used me as an excuse to be vile, and I did not like that."

Moon's words died on her lips before they had the chance to leave. Her ears burned with shame, because she was right. Lillie didn't owe her an apology, she owed Lillie one. Yet as much as she wanted to, doing so felt hollow in comparison to how Lillie felt. What was "sorry" but a word to be used as an excuse? How could she express that she truly felt bad for what she had done, not that she felt bad for being confronted about it? She wasn't sure she knew how, and that alone was a surprisingly scary thought.

"I… don't think saying that I'm sorry actually fixes anything," Moon said, knowing from experience it did no such thing. "But, I am. Not because you called me out, but because I didn't take into consideration your feelings at all when I did it. I was only thinking of being a jerk, and… yeah, I used you as an excuse. I wish I had done things differently." She sighed and hung her head, unable to look at Lillie. "I swear that I didn't mean the things I said, I was just… so frustrated and angry, at like, six different things. I wasn't always like that, but recently I've been getting more aggravated. And I'm sorry for that too."

Lillie looked at her, and Moon could feel her eyes like spotlights shining onto her. Searching for the truth.

"I know saying I'm sorry is one thing and actually showing that I want to be better is another, so I'll prove that I regret what happened," Moon promised. "And the first opportunity I get to make it up to you, I-"

"You already have." Lillie cut her off. Moon wrinkled her nose in confusion, and she saw that there was actually a look of concern growing on Lillie's moonlit features. "Your exhausted state did not go unnoticed when you came into the restaurant. At first when you tripped over the chair, I thought perhaps you were trying to make a show of yourself, or garner some kind of sympathy so I would be less upset with you." Moon felt a twinge of hurt at that, but Lillie shook her head. "I was wrong, and I apologize for assuming it of you. You were on the verge of heatstroke, and yet you pushed yourself to find me to keep me and Nebby from being caught…"

It didn't sound all that great to Moon, it honestly sounded pretty stupid from her perspective, but Lillie did not give her a chance to speak. "I knew I wanted to forgive you then and there, but my emotions were still too strong for me to be able to. I hope you can forgive me for that… it seems we both have work to do on ourselves." Lillie let out a small giggle,, and Moon couldn't help but smirk at it. She loved that sound. "I… do regret how I spoke to you, actually. It was too much like how my mother used to speak to me, and I remember not liking being on the receiving end of such a voice."

Moon scooted over and hopped off the branch, meeting Lillie face to face without embarrassment or shame. "I'll forgive you if you forgive me. It uh, it took me a while to calm down and see what a jerkass I was being too, so I get it. Aaaand, as an added bonus we'll both try to be better. Deal?" She held out her pinky, and Lille looked down at it before wrapping her own around it.

"We have a deal. I believe, after all, that friends give friends second chances."

The both of them stood there for a second, smiling at one another in relief and understanding, until something Moon never expected to see on Lillie manifested: a mischievous grin. "Now, since we are on recovering terms, I believe it is only fair to ask if that song was truly about yourself or not? You never did give me an answer, and I am deathly curious." She smiled widely at Moon, who felt all the stupid blood in her stupid body make a return trip to her stupid ears. Again.

"Nope! You heard what the end of the song said, I'm gonna get some rest," Moon replied quickly, but Lillie tugged on her sleeve just enough to stop her.

"Was she a friend from Kanto? Will I ever get to meet her?" The goofy smile on Lillie's face was enough to melt Moon, and she knew if she stayed here any longer she'd be secretless and never able to look Lillie in the eyes again.

"Go pee, you weirdo!" Moon insisted as she wrenched herself free from Lillie's grasp, leaving the girl to watch her with a smile and hold her hands behind her back. Moon couldn't take it; if it had been anyone else besides Lillie, she would've been convinced they were screwing with her. But with Lillie, whose genuine intrigue and curiosity was so innocent and naive, Moon was sure if she ever even suspected Moon's sexuality, Lillie's first response would be something along the lines of, "B-b-but, girls c-can't like other girls!" That was just the price she had to pay for crushing on a girl who came from such a traditional and proper upbringing.

Why couldn't she have fallen for some rebellious punk rock girl?

She still didn't feel like she'd be able to sleep when she crawled into the tent, forcing herself to close her eyes and stop thinking so hard about the last fifteen minutes. When the tent flap opened after a minute and she saw Lillie climb into her sleeping bag beside her, she was surprised when rather than the back of her head, Lillie turned to face her instead.

"Is there anything I can do to help you fall asleep? I'm aware the chances are low, someone in my family suffered from insomnia as well, and nothing we did ever seemed to help. But if I can…" She slipped her hand out of her sleeping bag and gently took Moons into her own,a heartfelt smile drawn across her face. "I would very much like to." Every word that came out of her mouth could be as warm and smooth as melted butter, or as bitter as a busted lip. It floored Moon every time, and her brain told her not to use her friend's kindness and naivety for her own selfish emotional comfort.

This kind of friendship was a gift she likely did not know the true value of, and pushing her emotional fantasies into it would sour the friendship from a sweet wine to vinegar. But the heart so rarely heeded the brain, and Moon squeezed her friend's hand for no other reason than she wanted to. She did not need another.

"This won't get me to sleep any faster, but it'll keep me comfortable on the way," she said, giving Lillie a toothy smile. Lillie returned it as she slid her duffel bag into the space between them, first retrieving a familiar clefairy doll out and offering it to Moon, and then pulling a yawning Nebby out and stuffing him comfortably between the two of them.

"Then I am happy to acquiesce," she murmured, still facing Moon with eyes that were finally beginning to droop from a long day. "I would offer to stay up alongside you so you do not feel as alone, but-" As if to prove her point, a sudden yawn overtook her and she daintily raised a hand to cover it. Moon smirked and shook her head, squeezing Mrs. Clefairy close to her chest.

"Nah, you're good. I'll stay up and keep watch." Moon turned and laid flat on her back, looking at the tent flap above them. She had a lot of sleepless nights ahead of her. On the one hand she hated it, because the last thing she wanted was several hours alone with her thoughts, and she couldn't even listen to her music since she had no way to charge her phone through the night. On the other hand, she really enjoyed the comfort of someone else being close by. To be lonely with someone else was better than being alone, after all.

A thought struck her, and she turned to Lillie whose eyes were already closed. "Lils?"

"Hm?" Her eyes did not open. How awake was she, really?

"I don't want to argue anymore… I know I'm a jerkass, and I'm really, really sorry that I am, but… I don't want to argue. I hate arguing. I mean, I know stuff is inevitable, but I…" She squeezed Lillie's hand, and she wanted to pull it to her face, to place it along her cheek to fight off that loneliness just a little more, but she knew better. "I want to be a better friend. You… make me want to be a better one. Is that… is that even possible?" She let out a breath, half expecting Lillie to already be asleep and having not heard a word. Instead, Lillie squeezed her hand back.

"Get some rest, and I bet we'll be alright," she murmured in a partly sing-song voice. She shifted once and let out a soft exhale, and Moon knew that she was actually out this time. She took a breath, smiled, and turned to stare at the tent's ceiling once more. Words started forming in her head as if out of the blue, as they had a habit of doing, and she both quickly and quietly jotted them down before they could dare escape her, glancing over every few seconds to ensure the sound of a pencil scratching didn't wake her friend.

After she had the last word down, she stuffed the notebook away and sighed, staring up at the darkened tarp above her. The lyrics weren't for the song she had been singing before, no, this was for something else. She'd already thought up a part of them weeks ago, when she had first encountered Lillie hunched over in her bathroom. True, it wasn't the most romantic origin for a confession song, but love was messy and stupid, weird and sublime all at once, wasn't it?

She smiled, and closed her eyes.

The lies get deeper and my love does too,

But I'm scared of just how far I'll see this through

Because how do you scare a girl with nothing to lose?

You cause her to write a song at 2.A.M. to figure out she's in love with you.

---

When morning came, Lillie was naturally the first to awake, finishing her morning routine just as the sun scuffed the east and began its ascent. Hau followed an hour later, and Moon groggily stepped out of her tent after Lillie was forced to wake her so they would stay on schedule. Moon could barely keep her eyes open, the heavy weight of such little sleep dragging her limbs as much as her mind, and as she leaned against a tree while brushing her teeth she blinked longer than she had intended and opened her eyes to see Lillie standing before her, hands on her hips and concern on her face more clear than the makeup she wore.

"Moon, you have shadows under your eyes," she said, peering closer and lifting Moon's chin. Moon chuckled.

"Do I? Nice, natural punk makeup." She gave a grin and spat out her toothpaste, but Lillie wasn't letting her get away.

"You look like your mother."

"Thanks, she grew me herself."

Lillie huffed as Moon turned away, but it was simply something they couldn't just stop and cater to. Moon knew that they had plenty of reasons to keep moving, between avoiding the police and ensuring local pokemon didn't challenge them for territory, time just wasn't a luxury any of them really had. So what if she was a little tired? She was a big girl, she could handle it. She called out to Hau for breakfast and completely missed the protein bar he tossed her way. He chucked another one, and it landed against the tree that was ten feet behind Moon. They all exchanged tired, silent looks, with Moon handing one to Lillie.

They had places to be.

Between her late start and trying to figure out how exactly to roll the new tent up, it wasn't until nearly noon that the three of them set out on the trail once more, and the sun was no less forgiving than it had been the day before. At least Route 4 was kind enough to provide shade with its trees, and the breeze that blew from the more elevated hills of the trail were just enough to cool them down when they ascended them. This didn't stop them from resting every hour just to make sure nobody succumbed to the heat again.

Lillie seemed to suffer the most from this. At first she seemed exuberant, using Rotom to take pictures of the pokemon they passed to analyze. An hour and a half in though, Moon watched Lillie heave through her dress as they strode up a hill and around a bend, sweat soaking her through and leaving her bangs a matted mess. Moon exchanged a worried glance with Hau; he'd seen Lillie collapse during their trial on Melemele too. They silently kept a close eye on her until the second hour, whereupon Moon watched as Lillie collided with a tree, leaning against it to keep herself steady as she took a raspy breath.

Moon immediately stepped over to help her up, coaxing Lillie to sit with gentle words as she busted out a water bottle and handed it over.

"Easy there, easy. You're gonna get yourself hurt, you doofus," Moon teased, trying to keep the mood light. Lillie grumbled and tried to wave Moon away to no effect.

"Honestly, I'm fine. You are the one… who has already suffered from the heat. I merely am not accustomed… to such exercise," she insisted, but Moon noticed her wince as she sat down, one hand rising to her head as she took a breath. Moon was tempted to remind her she'd already used that excuse, but instead her eyes widened as Lillie drew her hand back, revealing a familiar sticky red liquid staining it. She'd reopened the tear on her ear.

"Uh oh. Uh, Hau? Gauze please."

"Yep, on it. Uh, Lillie's bag, right? Right."

Moon knelt down and opened up her pack, digging through the clothes and supplies until she found another bottle of water to clean the blood with. She knew Lillie hated getting dirty any more than hiking required, but she couldn't figure out why Lillie had started to be affected so strongly by the heat. Because Lillie was right; if anyone should have been susceptible it should have been Moon. Regardless, she needed to ensure Lillie was alright, and it was almost time for them to take a break anyway. She pushed around her bag a bit more to grab water for them all when she found something that she hadn't been expecting: a crumbling protein bar, still wrapped up.

Moon lifted it and raised an eyebrow. Hau was still holding all the protein bars, since they'd forgotten to divy up supplies the night before, so what was one doing in her bag? She'd eaten hers, and she'd given Lillie one as well, so where had it come from? Suddenly a light went off in her head, and she strolled back over to Lillie while holding the protein bar between her fingers, kneeling down to where her friend sat. Lillie saw the protein bar and immediately lowered her head like a scolded growlithe.

"Dude." Moon kept her voice soft, not wanting to embarrass the poor girl any further. "We've got like, a whole island, two natural parks, and a forest to get through. You're not gonna make it if you don't eat." She handed the bar to Lillie, but all she received was a small shake of the head as Hau handed her the gauze.

"No, I'm… fine." It was her first response, she probably hadn't even considered what Moon had actually said, she just knew she had to decline assistance. Maybe they were more alike than Moon thought. Hau cast her a worried look, gently wrapping the gauze around Lillie's busted ear until she waved him off too, and began to do it herself. Moon frowned.

"Lils, you're starving yourself." she whispered. It left her as a whisper, as if such a dirty secret could summon wild pokemon like a scent lure. "You got your ear cut over a month ago, and it still hasn't healed up properly? You're not getting enough nutrients, or something, your body is literally running on fumes." She poked and prodded at Lillie's cheek with the protein bar, hoping to entice her with the grainy granola.

Lillie sighed and took the energy bar, but she merely stared at it as she finished bandaging her ear. "It's the only way I can maintain myself with you watching me to make sure I don't purge…" she mumbled, and with that she carefully unwrapped the bar and began to chew miniscule bites. Whether it was to placate Moon, or simply the realization that she had to put something in her stomach to continue, they were unsure. Moon wanted to press on, to try and help Lillie open up about her problem, but she thought back to what they had said the night prior about arguing. She exchanged another uncertain, worried glance with Hau, both remaining silent as they all sat under the shade and refueled themselves.

After fifteen minutes and ensuring that they were all ready to keep going, Moon helped Lillie wash some of the blood out of her hair, despite her protests, and they continued on into the Alolan heat. She wasn't the type to really worry about things, like Hau, she enjoyed going with the flow and keeping things mellow. But Lillie's condition and mindset of continuing to deprive herself of proper nutrition tore at her. She couldn't pretend to know the why or how, but it scared her a little. It hurt to see someone so sweet and gentle suffer at her own hands, convinced that whatever it was she was doing to herself was okay.

She wanted nothing more than to help, but how could you help someone who wouldn't help themselves? Was it even possible to change her mindset? Moon simply didn't know.

Another hour of trekking through the heat did little to help with any of their problems, and Moon made sure to stay close by Lillie just in case she stumbled again, but as the mid-afternoon rolled around they all heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of buildings, roads, and civilization. The end of Route 4 connected almost directly to the Paniola sidewalk right at the start of the town, giving the three a long view down the street of the various shops, houses, and the occasional municipal wedged in between.

Paniola was noticeably different from a lot of the other Alolan towns Moon had visited so far. The main street they had stumbled into looked like a rural mainland town from years past. Almost every building had a false front, like an old western saloon or general store, only with dense jungle trees behind them instead of rocky valleys and sandstone buttes. Moon was so surprised by the humble architecture and lack of glamorous hotel that she didn't realize she was standing in the road until Lillie pulled her back onto the sidewalk.

"Moon, be careful!" she warned as a woman atop a mudsdale rode by. Moon couldn't help but stare up at her, too. The mudsdale paid her no mind, its neck completely covered in rings upon rings of leis, but the woman riding him was dressed even more colorfully. Her skirt was a native dress, decorated in every color under the sun and as vibrant as the flowers that blossomed along the trails and roadsides. Moon didn't realize she was staring until the woman looked down and smiled at her, and suddenly Moon couldn't stare at anything but the ground.

"Oh man, pa'u riders!" Hau said, standing on his tip-toes for a better look. "I ain't never seen one before! They're uh, like cowboys, but wahine!" Lillie pulled out the rotom-dex and snapped a picture, peering through the sunlight to make out the text that popped up on screen.

"According to Rotom, pa'u riders are women who ride atop mudsdale and other equestrians, all while wearing long skirts that are specifically made so that they may ride astride, as opposed to sidesaddle. They're quite popular in Paniola due to the many ranches and agricultural sites in town," she recited, letting out a small contented hum as she pocketed Rotom and looked around. "I suppose there must be a festival coming up."

Finally picking her face off the floor, Moon gave another look with the others. This was the type of town she'd want to live in, as opposed to Hau'oli. They wandered down the street for a few minutes, admiring the shops and restaurants (Moon saw a little green building that appeared to be the town's history museum, and desperately wanted to take a tour), before coming to a stop at an intersection and turning to one another.

"Okay," Hau announced with a small clap of his hands, "this is it people, make or break, yeah? According to the detective Moon ran into, some punks that got the same outfit as the ones who stole our 'mons were last seen around here, right?" He turned to Moon for confirmation, and she nodded.

"Yeah, allegedly. I don't know how long of a gap there might've been between when he heard that, and when he told me." It was the biggest frustration regarding their lead; there was very little to actually go off of, and even less that supported the idea their pokemon would be here.

"But, it's all we got," Hau reaffirmed with a solemn nod. "Otherwise, we gonna have to start considering the possibility of catching new 'mons. Let's spread out, ask around town for these pau ʻole. Maybe they're still around, or someone can point the way they went." He looked at each of them, and Moon gave an uneasy nod. She glanced over at Lillie, and remembered the way the detective had panicked thinking that she was all alone for whatever reason. She turned back to Hau and jerked her head.

"I don't think we should all split up, especially if we're looking for guys who might be in a gang," she began. "These guys have stolen our pokemon, and assaulted us a couple times now. It might not be as efficient, but without pokemon, we really need to stick together for safety." It hurt to know she was potentially choosing between her pokemon and Lillie, but she knew it was the right decision. Hau and Lillie both nodded at that, and they all stood up straighter. Hau shouldered his pack.

"Right, I'll ask around the south side, if you guys want to head down main street and check up that way. Maybe look over by the ranch at the end of town?" He gave Moon a fistbump, which she returned, and Lillie a set of finger guns, which she did not. "We got phone service here, so text fast kine if you find something, yeah? Meet back here in… an hour. Alright, good luck!" And with a sudden dash he sprinted down the street, not even looking back at the two surprised girls who watched him run up to someone, ask a question, and immediately dash the other direction once he got his answer.

Moon let out a low whistle, while Lillie sighed and clasped her hands behind her back. "He cares quite deeply for his pokemon. He's been hiding his concern though, I think. I worry for him."

"Yeah… he's a good friend. I hope he hasn't been keeping all that in for our sake. It's pretty scary for all of us." Moon shouldered her own pack and started walking the opposite direction, reminding her of the day prior. Lillie followed behind her, and when she glanced backwards Moon saw that she held Hau's same look of concern just as Moon did, and she fell back slightly so they were walking side by side. "You got enough on your shoulders, you know, you don't have to carry our burdens too. You should be taking it easy, the way you are." She tried to sound concerned as opposed to condescending, but Lillie shook her head.

"Absolutely not. I promised I would help you, and that is what I will do," Lillie huffed, adjusting her hat to block out the sun. "Especially as I still feel partly… responsible. I cannot claim to value the Aether Foundation's original vision if I do not work to uphold it, can I?" Moon stared at her, fighting back the smile that formed on her lips. She definitely had convictions in her, and that resonated deeply with Moon. When she looked at Lillie, she saw there was worry there, yes. Worry, guilt, but also a spark of determination that refused to die out. Lillie noticed her stare, and Moon quickly looked away.

"Alright, fair enough. But if I see you start looking wobbly, we're taking a break, okay?"

She gave Lillie a nod, and received one of confirmation in return. With that, the two set forward down the sidewalk, pausing to ask trainers and locals alike as they passed whether or not they had seen their dubious pair recently. Most people shook their heads, or simply kept walking as the girls approached them, leading to a rising feeling of hopelessness within Moon. They carried on though, popping into restaurants, the general store, and even a barbershop, and while a few had at least seen the duo the day before, nobody knew exactly where they had gone.

Moon stepped out of the barbershop with a sigh, pulling out her water bottle and staring at it disdainfully. What if she never saw Chlorine again? What if those sickos had sold her pokemon for a few bucks? Lillie stepped out soon after, looking just as dejected if not moreso, and Moon could tell Lillie was beginning to feel more and more guilty about the whole ordeal. Moon spotted a large man with a stetson in a truck just at the curb in front of them as a girl with green hair slid milk crates into the back, and she sighed. Was there really a point still, or should she just give up and try to start a new team? Without a word to Lillie, she strode up to the pickup and waved as the man rolled down the passenger window for her, flipping the dial down on his radio.

"Alola, keiki. What you like, eh? Need sometin'?"

"Hey there, uh, Alola," Moon mumbled, not even bothering to try and match the pidgin. "I'm looking for two puaʻa who stole my pokemon. Black tank-tops, uh… jewelry, white skull bandanas… You seen them anywhere?" She made sure to add in the part about having her pokemon stolen; she didn't want a repeat of the tourist couple after she promised to behave for Lillie. The man thought for a moment before shaking his head, and Moon didn't even have it in her to be disappointed.

"Eh, dey wen take your 'mons? Bummers, yeah?" He let out a low whistle, shrugging as he leaned back in his seat. "Me, I jus' da delivery guy, but if I spot 'em on my rounds, I go make da call, yeah? Sound good to you?"

Moon nodded; it was better than nothing. She waved her thanks and went to turn away when a voice called out to her, and she turned to see the older girl who had been shoving crates into the bed plant her foot on the rim and stare down at her. Her long green hair was tied into two twintails that draped down like vines, and she wore a pink hibiscus that was tied neatly around her head like a pin. Her eyes were the color of sage and they bore down at Moon with one hand rested lightly atop her knee; her overalls had been roughly cut in the middle of the thigh, giving her a pair of very crude shorts.

"Yo honeygirl, you mean Team Skull?" she asked, a slight croak in her voice as though she was used to shouting orders. Moon nodded. "Shoots, yeah, I know where dem buggahs stay. I seen two of 'em ova by Paniola Ranch not half an hour ago, was thinking fo' go give 'em da boot, but I gotta haul dis milk first 'fo the sun spoils it. Dey ain't doing nottin' bad, but shoooot, I no like dem hanging out dea." She turned to lean in towards the window, looking towards the driver before turning back to Moon. "Should've figured dey was hiding out 'cause dey went and stole somethin'. You going chase aftah dem?"

Moon nodded again, and the girl gave her a boisterous grin. "Aight den, take dis road goin' north, yeah? Das Route 5. You see da big field in da distance? Das where you gotta go. If anybody give you beef, tell 'em Mallow sent you fo' pest control."

Moon could barely contain her excitement; a lead! An honest to goodness lead! Her chest swelled with hope and she gave a nod, glancing over with a smile as Lillie approached. "That's… that's awesome! Thank you much, Tapu above, you're a lifesaver!" Moon bounced on her tip-toes as she met the girl's fistbump.

"Minors, cuz. Give 'em hell," the girl said before giving a shaka and settling down in the back of the bed to hold onto a few loose crates, the truck steadily rumbling to life. While it drove on, Moon turned to Lillie, unable to contain her excitement any longer as she took her friend's hands into her own and let out a squeal.

"Lillie! My pokemon! We're gonna beat the snot out of those tool bags and get my pokemon back! It's happening!" Moon jumped up and down, giggling to herself as Lillie was forced to hang on to prevent falling over. The fact that they were here was like an espresso shot into her bloodstream; even if they weren't the ones who took their pokemon, they were from the same gang. She'd just smack them with her ukulele until they told her where their quarry was.

"M-maybe not that first p-part, but I am certainly- eep!" Lillie was cut off as Moon dragged her down the street, dashing towards the northern end of the town with Lillie in tow. "Moon! I- hang on, I'm going to fall!" But Moon barely registered her request. This was it! The lead they needed, something to give them some kind of hope that this wasn't all for nothing! Moon needed this hope, and she knew the others did too. She took Lillie's hand like it was her own, pulling her up to run beside her as she reached in and clumsily typed out a text out to Hau.

You: Hau, got word from loca l team skul in ranch go north

She jabbed the send button several times, forcing herself to calm down and relax before she ran out into traffic. Lillie gasped as they reached a crosswalk, her hands going down to her knees as Moon immediately felt a flash of guilt course through her. She'd almost forgotten about Lillie's lack of energy, and while she was sure that was what the girl preferred, she had no intention of so callously putting her friends' problems on the backburner.

"Sorry, sorry sorry sorry, I forgot, I'm sorry," Moon whispered, rubbing her friend's back. Lillie heaved as though she might hurl, holding up a hand at Moon who stepped back at once. After a few seconds of labored breathing and a few gasps, Lillie shakily stood back up straight, wiping her mouth with her arm and looking disgusted by the action.

"It's… okay," Lillie wheezed, which made Moon feel like it was very much not okay. "Just… need a second. I'm more than thrilled to help you regain your pokemon, however running there seems to be a little out of the question. I apologize. If you need to go on ahead…" Her arms were wobbly and Moon leaned over to help steady her against her shoulder, giving her another couple seconds to breathe. Moon didn't say anything, but for a brief second she worried that if they didn't hurry, the thieves might get away. What would she do? Would she just leave Lillie and go on ahead like she requested, hoping that Hau would meet her halfway?

Hell no.

"You're fine, Lils. Promise. Take a breath; from what that girl said those guys are hanging out at the farm, they're probably not going anywhere. Don't overdo it." She kept her voice low and calm, not wanting to give her so much as a suspicion that she wanted her to speed up. Lillie looked as though she was about to argue, but seemed to think better of it and nodded with a yawn. After a moment of catching her breath, and Moon stubbornly forcing her to eat some of her trail mix, they continued on at a reasonable pace through town and down the road where the ranch sat.

It was at least a good mile out, giving Moon plenty of time to mentally prepare herself for whatever kind of encounter they might face. The excitement at getting her pokemon back was muddled with growing nerves that threw nasty outcomes and possibilities at her like stones at a window. Moon could feel her nausea slowly building, and tried to force any sort of bile back down. She needed to be strong. She glanced over at Lillie and saw that she still looked just as worried as she had been prior to their revelation, and decided that some mood lifting was in order.

"Have you ever read books about the wild west? Like, herding miltank and tauros, riding rapidash and mudsdale across the plains?" Moon asked casually. She knew there was next to no chance she had ever watched a western. Moon wagered she'd probably never even seen television before coming to her house. Lillie looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking her head.

"I… do not believe I have. What are they like?" Her genuine curiosity had a way of tugging at Moon's heartstrings, but she merely cracked a grin, before continuing in a high squeaky voice with a distinct twang.

"Hoo-wee, well Lillie, ah tell ya hwhat, I reckon I'm just cruisin' for a bruisin'. Needa teach them yellabelly varmints a lesson and get our pokemon back squat."

Lillie glanced at her, a bewildered smile slowly spreading across her face. "What?"

"You heard me," Moon said, nodding seriously as she pulled a reed from the roadside and stuck it between her lips. "We gotta get a wiggle on an' dish out some frontier justice, lickety split. They've yee'd their last haw, they have."

Lillie let out a breathy chuckle, shaking her head as she looked around as if Moon was talking to someone else. Finally she turned back, still smiling, and asked, "What on earth are you talking about? What does that even mean?"

Moon winked and tipped an imaginary cowboy hat like the man in the truck, the ridiculous persona giving her a brief surge of faux confidence. "C'mon now, my lil' honeysuckle sugarlump buttercup chickadee, don't tell me you ain't speak cowpoke-" Her banter was quickly cut off by Lillie's loud snort as she descended into full-blown belly laughter. Moon stopped purely in awe and watched Lillie completely lose herself in that moment, clutching her sides with tears slowly beginning to manifest in the corners of her eyes, as she laughed so hard that it echoed across the road. No polite giggle, no quiet chuckles, just pure unrestrained laughter that overtook her.

Moon couldn't help the smile that grew on her face as she watched, listened, to such a sound. It was the freest thing she'd ever heard, loud and obnoxious, but undeniably lovely.

"That- those are not real words!" Lillie insisted through her laughter, her smile wider than Moon had ever seen it. Even Nebby peeked a glowing eye through the gap in the zipper up at the sound, and Moon leaned over to hold Lillie up as she threatened to topple. For a moment they both stood there, laughter descending into giggles until finally Lillie wiped her eyes and looked up at Moon with a smile as genuine and warm as the sun itself, only for Lillie to quickly reel herself back in.

"I- I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me. I just- Every word you said was so ridiculous and I just couldn't-" She took a deep breath and sighed, returning back to her original composed posture. "That was rather unladylike, and juvenile, and I apologize for losing myself like-"

"I thought it was beautiful," Moon said before she could stop herself, and she immediately regretted it despite the fact that she meant every word. Lillie's eyes widened and she fell silent, staring at Moon like she couldn't quite believe or understand what she had said. Moon could hardly believe it herself. As they stood there, staring into one another's eyes at length, Moon wanted to say a hundred more things that would undoubtedly damn her, but Lillie looked away. Her stare was distant, as though she were somewhere far away in a time long before that moment between the two of them, and for a few seconds she said nothing.

Finally, she said, "Thank you. I'm sure you saying so comes from a kind place, but I would ask that you not refer to me as such. It is not a word I use to describe myself." Moon stared back at her for a second, wondering if she had overstepped her boundaries, and immediately began cursing her stupid tongue for wagging before her brain could think. She could assume at least that she didn't suspect Moon, as her voice was neither sardonic nor cold, merely apathetic without a hint of distaste or offense. It was merely a request, one that hurt Moon's heart.

Moon nodded. "Sure, of course. I'm sorry-"

"There is no need for apologies." Lillie cut her off, giving her a brief smile as they continued walking. They did have somewhere to be after all. Despite this, Moon continued throwing out the occasional proverb in a funny voice, eager to keep Lillie's smile up, but soon found themselves at the gate of the Paniola Ranch. There were no ranchers or farm hands to greet them or bar them from entry, and so they continued down the property line, keeping an eye out for their targets as they crept along the outside, but they didn't have to search long. The two figures leaned up against a tree far from the road, just in front of a dirt mound that split the area down into two paths. Both were clearly trying to avoid the sun, and Moon tugged Lillie down to crouch behind a discarded hay bale.

"Is that them?" Lillie whispered, and Moon gave a quick nod.

"Has to be. Why they're hanging around here, I have no idea." Moon peeked up and looked around for some kind of sign or clue as to what they were up to, but there wasn't much to go off of. According to the detective, they had been there since yesterday. She knelt back down as a miltank waddled over on the other side of the fence, sniffing them. "I sure hope they're our guys, but if not, well… we can always try to get info from them." She didn't want to think about that possibility, but it was something they had to be prepared for.

Lillie nodded, edging away from the fence as the miltank tried to graze on the brim of her hat. "Eek! Um, no no, that's not food! Shall we um, wait for Hau then?" Moon felt an urge to just jump out and grill them for answers, but she knew without pokemon that numbers would be their best bet. She nodded, and the two watched anxiously to ensure that the two goons didn't slink off while they waited. Thankfully, it didn't look like they were leaving anytime soon.

After about ten minutes, Hau crept up behind them and nearly scared them both from their hiding spot, as he had a habit for doing. After whispered apologies, Hau poked his head out from behind the hay, a serious look on his usually mellow features. He turned back to Moon, jerking his head forward.

"Looks just like the receptionist at the Hano described, yeah? That's gotta be them," he muttered. "Alright, here's the plan. Me and Moon go up, scope the scene, see if we can bribe 'em or something. Lillie, you stay back here, and if things go sour, run towards the ranch and get help, yeah? I talked to one of them on the way over, managed to convince one to rent me an eevee, so they know we're over here." His fingers clenched and unclenched, a nervous lick of the lips telling Moon he had about as much faith in the plan as she did. But when you couldn't call the police, what else could you do?

Lillie didn't look too confident either. "They have your pokemon, and probably pokemon of their own. You two won't be able to take them on with just your fists and one pokemon…" She glanced between the both of them, clutching her duffel anxiously, but Moon shook her head and flipped the green pager between her fingers.

"Eh, worse case scenario, I unleash Old Amoka on them. Something tells me he won't need convincing to chase down people wearing those clothes after what happened back at the school." She was trying to sound optimistic, but Lillie merely gave her a disapproving look.

"Ilima said that Poke-Ride authorized pokemon are not legally allowed to engage in battles," she muttered. Moon rolled her eyes.

"Hey, I'm already aiding a criminal. If I'm gonna be charged for the egg I might as well be hung for the 'mon." She clenched the pager tight, giving Lillie a confident smirk as she stood up beside Hau. "Besides, what are they gonna do? Call the police? C'mon, Hau, let's go get these buggas."

"Radjah dat."

Lillie huffed and crossed her arms, keeping down low behind the hay bale as she watched the both of them leave. "Be careful…" she whispered as she squeezed her duffel bag.

Hau and Moon strode up along the grass, each trying to ignore the jitters that were filling their stomachs with butterfree. The underlying danger of approaching two thieves who were part of a local gang, with only one pokemon to defend themselves with, a ukulele, and a tauros that wasn't even legally allowed to fight. Moon could see Hau fingering the pokeball, the only visible sign that he was nervous for the approaching encounter. Moon could feel her cheeks burn as she squeezed the pager with one hand and kept her other on the head of her ukulele. She was glad it was still afternoon; her breathing and sweating wouldn't look out of place at all.

The two figures had clearly been at the tree for a while; their bandanas had long been soaked with sweat with one having taken it off entirely, and a pack of half-empty green bottles sat just beside them. The first, a skinny man with bright blue curls, puffed on a cigarette and sighed, not even noticing Moon and Hau as they approached, and instead looking far off towards the road. The second, a toned woman with neon pink hair and thick eyeliner, had slid down the tree and hung her arms over her knees as she stared up towards the sky, her mouth open in a silent groan. Moon's eyes narrowed; she could see a hiking backpack sitting just between the two of them.

As they approached, they began to pick up the two's conversation.

"... where the little bastard is. Already a day late, and I'm getting tired of loitering 'round here. People keep giving us looks. I mean, one of these little guys is supposed to be top dollar, right, and we're out here pissing in the wind," the first one grumbled, taking a drag. The second one didn't look at him, she simply kept staring upwards.

"We're early, and he's late," she sighed. "Plumeria said he probably wouldn't get here 'til today, and I doubt they expected us to get it done so fast. You're the one who wanted to sit out here and wait."

"Hey, there's a good couple thousand in cash riding on one of these things. I'm trying to take it seriously, you know, not my fault communication in the team is still ass. Tapu's balls it's hot… you want a drag?"

"Nah thanks, trying to quit."

The two finally noticed Moon and Hau's approach, and the scrawny man quickly coughed and snuffed out his cigarette. "Ah, shit. You kids lost? Not really looking for a battle right now, sorry." He sniffed and stared at them, but Moon didn't seem to recognize them in any sense. Moon narrowed her eyes.

Are these the right guys? Did he just break into a random room without knowing who was in it?

Moon shook her head and cast a brief glance at Hau. It certainly sounded like they were talking about stolen pokemon, but neither she nor Hau had any substantially rare or expensive pokemon. If they'd heard the conversation correctly though, they were expecting big money from their pokemon, which meant bribery was off the counter.

Moon straightened her back up straight, staring the man down as hard as she could. "Sup?"

"Sup."

Oh God, what am I supposed to do?

The stocky girl frowned and stared up at them, squinting through the sunlight. "Do you kids need something, or…"

Frustrated and confused, Moon almost thought about backing out and just coming up with a new plan, until she saw something that caught her attention. The scrawny man had a thick gauze around his palm, and something Lillie had told her to reassure her suddenly flashed in her mind.

"There is no guarantee that the blood we saw was not of human origin, after all."

Moon whipped out her ukulele and slung it over her shoulder like a bat, staring the both of them down with fury burning her face crimson. Hau noticed and immediately released his borrowed eevee, materializing the little guy right in between them and their thieves.

"Woah!"

"Oh shi-"

"Shut up!" Moon barked, her fingers lacing around the strings. "I know you jerkasses were at the Hano and stole our pokemon! Give them back now, or so help me I'll be using your teeth as backup picks!" She took a step forward, watching to make sure neither one reached for their belt. She technically played fingerstyle, but they didn't need to know that. Both grunts raised their hands, the scrawny man dropping his cigarette in the process as his face paled.

"We- what? We weren't- we ain't stolen shit, kid, you got the wrong-"

"Bullshit. Give me the backpack, now." Moon hissed, nodding down at the bulging hiking pack. The pink haired girl started walking forward, hand outstretched as if she was going to force Moon to stand down, and the eevee growled at her, biting at the air and making her step back in surprise. Moon glanced at Hau. and he gave a nod. She gripped her ukulele with one hand, and slowly leaned down to pick up the bag when a new voice suddenly cut across them.

"You know, Barry, this is why you were told to do a dead drop. Not sit in front of a tree for two days and look more suspicious than a weavile in a bank vault," a voice spoke from above them, and as Moon instinctively looked around for the source, the man named Barry quickly flicked a pokeball from his hip. The slippery black form of a salandit snaked across the grass in a second and bit down on Hau's eevee so hard that parts of its fluffy cream fur immediately streaked red, and its cry rang out through the field.

Moon's eyes widened and she promptly swung her ukulele, sensing the pink haired girl would rush her, and rush she did. Too late did Moon realize the girl was going for a tackle, and her ukulele only clipped her as she shouldered into Moon and sent her tumbling backwards into the dirt with the air being smacked right out of her lungs. Her vision went fuzzy as brights and darks swirled around her like chocolate in milk, and the sounds around her simply did not make any sense. She tried to breathe, feeling like she'd forgotten how to use her lungs, and instead could only wheeze as she planted her palms firmly in the dirt.

Her vision would not stop swimming, her nausea was coming up in full force, and she could not fight it back. She tried to get back up, but could not make sense of what she saw, could not tell up and down apart as she fell back over before she ever even stood. Her hearing returned, and she tried to pick apart what was happening between the voices, the shouts, and cries of pokemon.

"What you take our mons for, eh? You like beef, eh, bunch o' no good buggahs?!" Hau shouted, and Moon could hear the yips and hisses of the eevee and salandit still tussling. A sudden heavy weight pushed Moon deeper into the dirt, and she couldn't suppress a groan as she looked up and saw the swirly image of the girl with pink hair glaring down at her, a foot placed squarely on her chest.

"You're gonna get yourself hurt, kid. Stay down," she said firmly, and Moon winced as she tried to suppress the urge to puke. The girl released her own pokemon; a raticate, and Moon bored her eyes into the face of the girl standing on her, forcing her vision to focus just enough to make out her face and stare her down. She felt the anger and vitriol that she had spent the last day suppressing rear its ugly head, and Moon held the door open for it.

"Fucking punk-ass klepto… hope you… hope you get your jaw broken by a mudsdale hoof…" She wheezed. "Let me up and I'll do it myself, pussy…" The girl met her eyes, but said nothing. Instead she turned and ordered her raticate forward, double teaming Hau's poor eevee as it struggled under the weight of a second foe. Moon fought the nausea away as best as she could, but there was nothing to be done under the weight of the girl's foot. She tried to reach the poke-ride pager, but it lay forgotten in the grass just a few feet from reach.

The unknown voice spoke again, and she turned towards it to see the dizzy image of a figure in a black hoodie, open zippers and a plethora of cuts revealing red beneath. Their face remained covered as they slid down the dirt mound, their hands stuffed into their pockets and not an ounce of hurry in their gait. They stepped up beside the man named Barry, watching Hau try and fail to fend off both trainers as his eevee started to stagger.

"Stand the eevee down before it gets hurt. You're not winning, and forcing it to fight a losing battle is just cruel." Their voice was light, but at the same time there was a weight to it that made it sound disinterested, and flat. Hau glanced between the three, realizing he was more than outnumbered, and his eyes met Moons. The girl above her put more pressure down, forcing a grunt of pain from Moon, and Hau relented. He recalled his barely standing pokemon, stepped back, and raised his hands with a defeated expression on his face.

As soon as Hau surrendered, the one in the hoodie immediately lost interest in him and instead turned to the two members of Team Skull, muttering something Moon could not hear. Hau, however, cut them off.

"Hey!" he shouted, "You gonna rob us, least tell us what for, eh? Them ain't even no special mons, man." Barry put his hands on his hips, a smug look on his face as his salandit circled Hau and snapped at his ankles every couple of seconds.

"Initially, my respect for others' privacy dissuaded me from doing such a thing," he announced proudly. "However, my lack of respect for the privacy of someone who could afford to contribute to the vastly harmful tourism industry that's pricing locals out of their homes and harming the ecosystem, resulted in me overcoming my inhibitions on the matter!"

"Also, we hadn't eaten in two days and your fridge had leftovers," the girl above Moon said. Moon punched her ankle, and she stepped harder.

The figure in the hood looked between the two grunts, and then down at the hiking bag. He turned to Barry, and Moon could hear their hushed whispers from where she lay.

"What pokemon did you get?"

"Uh, there was a rockruff, two actually, one damn near bit straight through my hand. You have no idea how bad it hurts, man. Uh, a pichu, a litten, and a brionne."

"... None of those are valuable. What pokemon exactly did he tell you to grab?"

"Well shit kid, I dunno. The Guz-Man didn't say, just told us the room number and that we'd know the pokemon when we saw it, said it would be 'unlike any you've ever seen', but they all looked pretty standard so we just said 'screw it' and took them all. Cover your bases, you know. Man- what am I telling you this for, I ain't gotta explain shit to you."

Moon's breath caught in her throat; they were after Nebby. They had gone in after Nebby, but since Lillie always kept her duffel bag with her, it had been down in the food court when they had gotten robbed. So they had taken her and Hau's pokemon instead. Hau seemed to realize this as well, because he shot Moon a look and she gave a quick little shake of the head. They needed to keep quiet, for once.

"Well shit, let's ask them while we got them here, if you wanna be an ass about it," Barry said, and turned to face Hau as his salandit snapped again. "Hey, kid, you got any other pokemon? Anything special? Because if not, I'm gonna tell my friend to break your friend's ribs. And trust me, with what she's been eating lately, it probably won't take much effort."

"Fuck off, Barry, you beer-gut having piece of-" The girl put more pressure on Moon's ribs, and she let out an involuntary cry as she immediately reacted and dug her nails into her captor's ankles, though it did little to alleviate the weight. Moon's eyes clenched shut, feeling her frustration, her nausea, and her futility all swirl into one bundle of hopelessness, and she knew all she could do was hope one of the ranchers saw what was happening and step in. Even if just one person, anyone, showed up to stop this, she might be able to catch her living paperweight off guard.

She just needed one person to step in.

"Please, stop! Don't hurt them, they're my friends! Please!"

Not that person!

Moon's head stretched to see Lillie, running up through the field with her duffel bag swinging right along, and her heart froze. That was what they were after. Whoever these clowns were, they wanted Nebby, and Lillie was bringing him right to them. All for her and Hau's sake. It would have been poetic, if it didn't make Moon want to bash her head into the dirt. She tried to wrestle the thug off of her using the surprise of Lillie's appearance, and for a thrilling second she felt the weight release from her chest… Only for a sudden sharp pain to spread through her ribs, as the girl delivered a swift kick to them, and then planted her foot firmly on Moon's back.

"Oh for Arceus' sake… can everyone just screw off so we move this along? Barry, check their pockets or something, this one is trying to bite me," the girl muttered as she stared down at Moon, who was, in fact, trying to bite her.

Lillie ran up, completely ignoring Moon's pained head jerks signaling her to run, not even registering Hau's tiny shake of the head. She ran right into the throes of danger, looking scared, uncertain, but utterly determined as she clenched the strap of her bag. She practically skidded along the grass, coming to a stop before them with heavy breaths and wide eyes as she looked in between them all, but her gaze honed in on the hooded figure (What's with these weirdos and wearing hats in summer, Moon wondered.) and she let out tiny gasp. Her breath hitched just enough that Moon could hear it, but she didn't know why.

The two thieves were looking at one another in confusion, while the hooded one remained completely still, facing Lillie head on. Moon tried to squirm, to warn Lillie, to do anything, but Lillie didn't even seem aware of her. Her eyes were glistening slightly, the small, hopeful ghost of a smile spreading on her lips as she raised a hand up to her mouth. The tiniest squeak came out, barely audible even in the silence.

"G-Gaddy?"

Moon blinked, her nose wrinkling as she looked over at the hooded figure. The hell kind of name is Gaddy?

The figure slowly raised a hand of their own, pulling back their hood from the top as golden flaps of choppy blonde bangs spilled out into the light. Four scars sliced across the left side of his head, parting his hair and showing the raw skin beneath. Sharp, emerald eyes slowly widened as they took Lillie in, and his hand seemed to twitch for a split second before he clenched it tight. His lips parted, and they spoke a single word aloud that split the silence.

"Sis?"