Chapter 4

Mysterious Beginnings

With Jun in tow, Mikey followed Kukui and Hau, and climbed the short stairs into Iki Town. It was a fairly small town, the houses being wooden and slightly raised above ground, and some parts of the town were on higher grounds than the rest. Up closest to the mountain, was a significantly larger building, possibly a town hall or the like, and in front of it was a large open area, most likely the town square, and in the middle of that was a raised wooden stage with two opposing ramps.

To the North of all this, there was a path leading up the mountain, and there were lots of stone pillars with faces and figures of Polynesian designs carved into them.

"And we're here!" Kukui stated. "This right here is Iki Town. This town is where folks come to worship the Pokémon that watches over Melemele Island. Tapu Koko keeps us all safe and happy, see!"

"Cozy place." Mikey commented.

"Would make for a good vacation spot, I'll give it that." Jun agreed.

Kukui then looked around as they walked deeper into town, his smile fading slightly.

"Looks like the kahuna's nowhere to be found, though…" he said, holding his bearded chin in thought. "I guess there must be some trouble somewhere on the island that needs fixing, yeah?"

"Yeah, the kahuna wandered off without a word to anyone, singing a little ditty or something." Hau shrugged, hands behind his head. "I'm gonna go stop by home for a sec. I've gotta show my mom Rowlet!"

With that, Hau took off, hurrying to another part of Iki Town.

"There's a thought." Mikey mused.

"Please don't." said Jun, catching on on what the turtle was thinking.

"Hey, I've got an idea for you, Mikey." said Kukui all of a sudden. "If you head through the village and up the hill, you can visit the ruins that belong to Tapu Koko. That's our island's guardian deity, yeah. Why don't you go and introduce yourself? If you're real lucky, maybe you'll actually get a glimpse of the guardian deity yourself!"

"That's sounds like a good idea." said Mikey, though Jun was sceptical.

"I'll stick around here and wait to see if the kahuna comes back." Kukui said with a nod.

Thus, Mikey casually strolled through the town, eventually reaching the start of the path that Kukui had pointed out, and at the start of it was a sign.

"Mahalo Trail. The Ruins of Conflict." Mikey read out aloud.

"That doesn't sound very good." said Jun.

"I'm with you there, little dude. But I think this is where we need to go, if we want to finish the game."

"Guess we've got no choice then." Jun sighed. "Let's get this over with."

The trail zigzagged up the hills and mountain side, being littered with more of the pillar like statues. Occasionally, there were stone stairs to help those walking there, but for the most part it was just a steady incline.

Near the start to the trail, the two met an older woman and a Pokémon that looked very much like the Meowth that Mikey's 'mother' had, but colour in a pale grey and with a very smug and superior expression.

"Going to pay your respects to the guardian deity?" the old woman asked, and Mikey nodded.

"It's a fickle one, but I hope you meet it." she said kindly before going back to Iki Town.

As Mikey and Jun kept going ever upwards, the turtle had some flashbacks to when he, his brothers, Sephie, Monalisa, Devina, and Tyroth had to climb the seven thousand steps up the Throat of the World when they had gotten sent to Skyrim, but luckily, this path was significantly shorter.

Eventually, Mikey and Jun reached the top of the trail, which was a larger plateau split in two by a deep ravine, a raging river flowing through the bottom, and a wooden plank bridge connected the two parts of the plateau.

But they weren't the only ones there.

There was also a young girl there. She had green eyes and long blond hair that mostly hung freely along her back, save for some side bangs that ended in long braids, and was dressed in a large white sun-hat and matching sleeveless sundress, as well as white tube socks and pale blue dress shoes. A large grey barrel bag with black, red, and white details, was slung over one shoulder and she held it closely against her side with one hand.

Before Mikey could go up and say hello, the bag shook and made noises of a higher pitch.

"I know! I know. I'll take you to the ruins." the girl said to the bag, or at least whatever that was inside of it. "So, please stay in the bag. We could get in trouble if anyone sees you."

As the girl kept walking towards the bridge, Mikey wondered what was going on with the bag.

Suddenly, whatever that was inside of the bag began pulling it so hard, that the girl was being pulled along by the handle towards the bridge. She struggled to hold on, and even more to try and fight back, until the bag opened and spilled out its inhabitant.

It was a small gaseous Pokémon with a nebula-like appearance, the colours of its gas body ranging from violet to light blue on the two wispy arms with starry specks in them. The face was black with beady yellow eyes and blue cheeks, and it had two golden half circlets, one on the top and one on the bottom, dividing it body perfectly in half.

It squeaked happily as it quickly floated out to the middle of the bridge, seemingly celebrating that it was finally free from the bag.

But its joy was cut short when three angry bird Pokémon swooped in and started attacking it. They all had rough, brown feathers on their heads, black on their backs, beige on their fronts, and red on their wings, and posses sharp talons and beaks. The nearly chicken sized birds shrieked and cawed as they circled around the now terrified Pokémon, which could only cower in fear as talons and beaks snapped and slashed around it.

The girl stood like petrified, to scared to help her little friend, and it wasn't until Mikey hurried up to her that she finally snapped out.

"Are you okay?" Mikey asked.

"Ah!" she gasped in shock, but quickly shook her head to gather herself. "Never mind me… You have to help it! Please! Save Nebby!"

She looked over to the creature, and it cried out in distress as the birds kept harassing it.

"Those Spearow are attacking it! But… I'm not a Trainer. I can't… Please! Please save Nebby!" Spotting Jun, and seeing that he looked a bit roughed up, she quickly reached into her bag and pulled out a couple of items that looked almost like some kind of spray bottles.

"I'll heal your Pokémon for you, so…" She squeezed the bottles, spraying their contents over Jun.

"Hey! Cut it out!" Jun objected. But then he noticed that he felt a lot better all of a sudden. While the beating he had taken from Hau's Rowlet hadn't been anything compared to what he used to get back as a human, he still felt a bit sore here and there, but as soon as the sprays hit him, all that pain and fatigue just melted away, and he even looked healthier to boot.

"Huh, how about that. That actually felt pretty good. Thanks." he said, even though the girl most likely couldn't understand him.

"Thanks." Mikey conveyed, and quickly hurried to the bridge with Jun by his side.

The wooden planks creaked as they ran over them, but before they had even gotten half way to Nebby, another Spearow swooped in and attacked them.

Mikey jumped over it, and rolled when he landed to get some more distance from it.

"Jun! Ember that crazy bird brain!" he called out, and Jun wasn't late to react, firing off several bouts of burning embers.

But the Spearow was agile, and flew between the attacks, landing a Peck attack with it's sharp beak right on Jun's forehead. However, now it was far too close to be able to avoid Jun's follow up attack, taking an Ember point-blank.

Wreathed in flames, the Spearow was launched off the bridge and into the ravine below, only to righten itself up and fly away before it could hit the water below, the fire quickly extinguishing as it fled.

"You managed to chase off one of the Spearow, but… oh, but there are still more! Please… Please help Nebby if you can!" the girl called over from where she stood. "But be careful… It looks like that attack may have damaged the plank bridge, too…"

And she wasn't wrong. As Mikey and Jun continued, the bridge felt unstable, rocking and creaking more than felt healthy for a wooden bridge.

With Jun laying down some cover fire with his Ember attack, Mikey was able to reach Nebby, covering the small creature with his own body. But the Spearow did not let up on their attacks, now also targeting both Mikey and Jun.

"There's too many of them!" Jun cried out, not managing to score any more than glancing hits with his fire.

Underneath Mikey, Nebby was shaking like crazy, both from fear, but also from the energy that started to build up within it.

Then it was released.

A rainbow coloured shock wave shot out from Nebby, pushing away the Spearow a fair distance, but also breaking the bridge, causing Nebby, Mikey, and Jun to plummet towards the rapids at the bottom of the ravine.

Seeing this, the girl gasped, and she was not comforted in the fact that the three Spearow once again tried to follow the falling trio.

Just then, a yellow streak of electricity swooped in, knocking away the Spearow, and proceeded into the ravine, catching Mikey, Jun, and Nebby in a single quick motion and flew back up right before they would have crashed into the river.

It all happened so fast. One second they were at the bottom, and the next they were up by the girl in white again, a strange being dropping them off there before jumping away and giving them all a hard look.

And the quartet couldn't do anything but stare back in amazement at this strange creature.

It had a vaguely rooster-like, black body, with tall, orange plumage on the top of the head, blue eyes with yellow and white markings. The lower body was comprised of four orange, feather like protrusions. It possessed thin arms with beak like claws for hands, each having a large yellow shell that could form one half of a bird mask around its entire body.

With crackling caw-like cry, the mysterious Pokémon took off into the sky, electricity trailing behind.

"Pew!" Nebby squealed after a few moments of silence, snapping the others out of the shock.

"Oh… Oh, thank goodness!" the girl cried out like a worried mother. "You tried using your power again… didn't you? Oh, Nebby… You know what happened last time you used it. You couldn't move for ages after that. I don't want to see you like that again!" she yelled the last sentence, but quickly regretted it.

"No… I shouldn't say that. I'm sorry, Nebby… I know you were trying to save me that time… and I couldn't even help you in return…"

But Nebby didn't appear to be paying attention, instead moving past the girl and looking at something on the ground where the strange Pokémon had been moments earlier, squeaking happily.

"What… What is that?" the girl asked.

"Pew pew!" Nebby squealed, picking up the object with its mouth and handing it to the girl.

It was a flat, dark grey stone, with small bits of red, yellow, and blue sprinkled across its surface, with the exception being the larger white parts in the middle.

"A sparkling… stone?" the girl said as she held it in her hand. "It feels almost warm somehow…"

It was at that point that the girl remembered that she and Nebby weren't alone, and she turned to the still slightly shaken Mikey and Jun.

"Please, forgive me…" she blurted out embarrassed. "I am so grateful to you for helping us out of that dangerous spot."

"Sure, but, um, who are you?" Mikey asked.

"I'm… I'm Lillie." the girl said a bit shyly. "And I suppose… this stone must belong to you."

She quickly handed the sparkling stone to Mikey, who was even more confused than before.

"Um… okay?"

"Please… Don't tell anyone about this… About seeing Nebby… It's… it's a secret, OK?"

"So, is that stone is supposed to be a bribe?" Jun wondered.

"Um, sure. I can keep a secret." Mikey said to Lillie, ignoring Jun's remark, at least for now. He knew that if a game gave you something, most of the times, it was something important or useful.

Having been given Mikey's word, Lillie turned back to Nebby and opened the barrel bag.

"Come on. Into the bag, Nebby."

"Pew…" Nebby sighed, but agreed and hopped back into the bag, with great reluctance.

With Nebby once again secured in the bag, Lillie began walking towards the trail back to Iki Town, only to stop and turn back towards Mikey and Jun.

"Um… I'm worried we might get attacked again by some wild Pokémon or… or something. I know it's too much for me to ask it, but… Do you think you could see us back to town?"

"Sure, no problem." Mikey said with a smile, and while Jun wasn't too happy with his predicament, he nodded in agreement. Helping someone in need was always the right thing to do, even if, in this case, the person in question wasn't really real.

Lillie smiled and bowed quickly as she thanked the duo, and the four of them began their trek down the trail.

Not the kind of activities that one would expect when just taking in the sights, and quite the scare it was too, not to mention a close call.

But Mikey and Jun are all right, and seem to have made some new friends. Stay tuned to see what happens with them.