Chapter 5

We followed the crowd off the dock and into a building gated by a turnstyle. I was letting Luke take the lead, but I couldn't help looking around in wonder. This was entirely different from the port in Castellia, smaller and more simple. Luke mentally informed me that this port was smaller because Alola is an island nation and smaller than Unova. I acknowledged, but my curiosity was still piqued. We exited the gate, quickly went through the building, and stepped out onto the street.

The sight that greeted me almost made me gasp. The town had a completely different feel than anywhere else I'd ever been. The place was spacious, but lively with people strolling about casually. Unusually tall trees with long, broad leaves—which I later learned were common to Alola—dotted the streets. Luke told me these were palm trees, and warned me to beware of falling coconuts as it would probably hurt if we got hit with one. As I took in the new sights, I noticed on occasion people would double-take at us and stare at us over their backs, looking abruptly away if we made eye contact. I felt self-conscious and was reminded of the magnitude of our strange situation.

"I know, awkward, huh?" I heard Luke say mentally, "Let's remember not to draw too much attention."

"There you are!" I turned and saw Akoni approaching from the port building, "Don't rush off like that!" Not drawing attention was going to be impossibly hard with him shouting at us like that. I tried to keep cool, but I sensed Luke becoming a bit exasperated.

"You again…" Luke was not looking forward to having Akoni shadow him. In fact, neither was I.

"Yeah, me again," Akoni folded his arms. "Alright kid, a promise is a promise. Lead the way and let's get this over with. Where are we going?"

Luke glared sourly at the uninvited guest, "I'm going to my parents'. That's why I came to Alola to begin with!"

"I knew that, but I don't know where the hell you want to go!" Akoni barked back. He paused, rolled his eyes, then sighed, "I know, I know Dalia, don't nag me like that. Sorry for complaining." Akoni didn't sound sincere at all about the last part.

"Just shut up and come along if you don't want to get left behind!" Luke snapped as he headed east towards the edge of town.

"Why do we gotta put up with that nasty-ass grouch?!" I heard Luke think, "He's such a wet blanket! He'll ruin my whole trip…"

"No kidding," I projected an agreement, "We gotta figure out how to lose him. Even if it's just for the visit."

"Yeah, good idea! Maybe we can drop him for the visit at least. Let's brainstorm." I felt Luke begin to concoct and discard various ideas. I decided to follow, and thought up some ideas myself. Maybe we should try to just ditch him somewhere? No, he'd find us on the short trip to the house. Maybe we should just tell him to leave? No, he's too stubborn. Then maybe just running away really was the better plan.

Maybe?

As we debated a plan, I took a second to look at this lush new place. We were leaving town; I was still letting Luke take the lead. I noticed this place was full of green, much more so than Unova. The hills were full of those palm trees, and I could hear cries coming from the tall grass, including several I didn't recognize. All of a sudden, the grass gave me a wild idea. We could take a detour through there and hide in the bushes when Akoni least expects it. Then we could sneak off while he was distracted. As soon as the idea came to me, I felt Luke agree excitedly. To him this was an even better idea than just running away. I felt him respond to my idea with a cunning pleasure, it seemed like he was looking forward to blindsiding Akoni. I couldn't help mirroring him again.

"You gonna go or what?!" Akoni snapped from behind us.

That was when I realized neither of us were moving because we were thinking. Luke pointedly ignored him, pulling out a note from a jacket pocket. We read it together. It was directions to Luke's parents' house. We looked over the note, though I didn't understand the words on it. I found it easier to just learn from Luke. From what I gathered, we just needed to follow the path down this route and arrive at the house atop a hill. Seemed easy enough.

Now to find a way to get rid of Akoni...

The way ahead split off into a grassy patch over a hill, one that seemed suitable for our plan. I couldn't help grinning on the inside as I imagined tricking that grumpy old man. I hoped I wasn't smiling on the outside too. We meandered into the grass—with Master making an obvious point of looking at the note—to begin the escape. I could feel Master beginning to get excited, and me too.

"Now where're you going, kid?" Master ignored Akoni's voice again, instead making another point of looking around the grass.

I realized we needed to be ready to fight if needed. "Do you remember where our balls are?" I asked mentally. For some reason, Luke found this remark funny and snorted while trying not to giggle. I was puzzled for a moment, and then I realized through Luke's mind that "balls" was also a male body part reference. I still wasn't sure why that was supposed to be so funny though.

He must have felt my confusion. "You're so naive, Lapis," Luke mind-spoke to me with an amused overtone, "I'll explain later."

"Uh… the Pokéballs?" I changed the subject awkwardly.

"Relax, they're in my backpack. It's not that far so we should be alright with just my four Pokémon and us as the last resort. Once we drop the old fart, I'll call my folks to let them know we're coming. I've…got a lot of explaining to do."

Master kept looking back and forth, pretending to get his bearings as he meandered into some tall grass. I could tell he was mentally distracted by the idea of trying to explain our situation to his parents. He kept anxiously rehearsing and discarding how he was going to begin the conversation he would soon have. I hadn't realized he was that worried about how his parents would react. He seemed pretty stressed about it, more than I first noticed. Poor Luke. Still, I didn't quite understand why Master himself was feeling these things, even though I could read him so closely now. Reading feelings and knowing feelings were different in ways I didn't really anticipate...

I didn't know what to suggest at all, so I concentrated on losing Akoni instead. I heard Akoni protest about us going too quickly and to slow down from behind us. We both couldn't help being amused by him complaining already. Master made another dramatic point by looking up from his note, this time to figure out how Akoni was getting on. Right as we caught sight of him Swanna-stepping his way through the grass, Akoni yelped, caught his sandal on a rock, and face-planted right into a berry bush. Even though he roared out another foul-mouthed epithet at the blunder, we both had to hide a laugh at the comic timing.

"Now's our chance! Let's go!"

I gleefully agreed with Luke as we picked up the pace. Luke was getting into an impish mood, and I had to remind him that running off too fast would be noisy. Even so, I couldn't help getting caught up in his emotions again. We rounded a bend in the path, past a fork, and then hid between a palm tree and a boulder. By the time we managed to conceal ourselves in the shadows, I could hear Akoni cussing like a sailor and calling Luke's name. Subtlety was obviously not Akoni's strong suit.

"Heh, heh, get a load of his face!" Luke mind-spoke with a barely-held snicker, "He has no idea where we went! What an idiot!"

"Damn it kid, this is not a joke!" Akoni growled as he continued to waddle through the grass—more carefully this time, "Get your ass back here right now, I mean it!"

I got another idea just then. My psychic powers have greatly improved since I evolved. I could create a diversion by psychically throwing our voice down the opposite fork in the path. Hearing us from the wrong direction should send Akoni that way and leave us a chance to escape while he was busy chasing our phantom voice. No sooner than I thought of this than I felt Luke enthusiastically agree. I couldn't hide a smirk this time: Master's mischievous streak was infectious! I readied up a little psychic energy and mentally told Luke to let me do this part. I projected the energy and spoke aloud, "Akoni? Where'd you go, I can't see you!"

"You! Stay right where you are, and no more funny business!" Akoni grumbled another string of curses under his breath as he left down the fork of the path we didn't take. It was all I could do not to laugh, and Master snorted into a hand as we watched Akoni go down the wrong fork.

After several moments, Master took us out from behind the tree and waved with a mock grin. "Haha, catch you later you cranky son-of-a-Trubbish!"

I beamed, letting Master see it, "Let's hurry before he catches on."

Luke nodded and we continued down the path. I could sense something coming, and I stopped to investigate. We nearly fell over and Luke protested, "Hey, what gives? Is something here, Lapis?"

Before I could even reply, a brown blur of feathers swooped down out of nowhere, talons wide for an ambush! I tried to deflect it with my psychic, but the angry bird latched onto our hair instead. Luke panicked, understandably, and swatted the Pokémon. It squawked and fell off, landing in the grass at our feet. I could see the culprit now: a Spearow. Instinctively, I let out a battle-cry and squared my stance. This foe was weak, barely even worth my time. Then I remembered Luke was with me and hesitated.

Luke reassured me, "Remember what I said earlier? I want to learn how Pokémon fight. Take the lead and don't hold back! Pretend we're just training, like we did in Castelia the other day."

"Right." I knew I wasn't feeling nearly as confident, but Luke returned encouragement to me. That made me feel better, so I turned my attention back to the Spearow. I loosed a Psychic attack at the Spearow. It hit point-blank, knocking out the Pokémon. I smiled triumphantly. That was so easy! Maybe I was worrying too much.

I felt Luke share my victorious mood, "Ha, what a breeze! Is it always that easy for you?"

"Well, it was my first time fighting with you. It went better than I expected, and I'm glad we're unharmed."

I felt Luke smile mentally, "Sure thing! That was easier than ditching Akoni."

This time I laughed out loud. "Yeah, good riddance! Now we can go to your parents' in peace."

"Hey, about that," I projected a querying emotion and let him continue, "I still gotta make that phone call. I may as well do it right away..."

Luke was even more apprehensive now, but was doing a great job of keeping it out of his thought-speak. "Try not to talk, ok? I wanna let them know gently. They might wig out even harder if we were both speaking."

"Got it," I acknowledged with a small nod, "We'd best get a move on now."

"Wait." I could sense a growing trepidation from Luke, "I…I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna call my folks."

I sent him a warm reassurance, "I'm right with you."

Luke snort-laughed again, "Yeah, like we have a choice! Haha, thanks."

He drew his cell phone out with a shaking hand and began fiddling with it in a way I recognized as making a phone call. I sensed he was even more nervous than earlier. Our hands were shaking with each number Luke dialed. I tried taking over for him, but I sensed him reject my help. He wanted to face this himself. Well, as much by himself as we could manage right now. I couldn't help wanting to support Master, never mind his insistence otherwise.

The phone started ringing. Master was feeling even more anxious now. I took a few calming breaths to help him steady his nerves. He was appreciative, but still reticent. Poor guy. Then there was no more time to prepare. A voice answered the phone.

"Hello?" a female voice asked.

"M-mom? It's me." Master replied with a shaking voice. I projected my support, but I wasn't sure Master noticed.

"Luke, is that you, muffin?" Master cringed internally at being called that. Not wanting to embarrass him, I pretended to not notice the nickname. Master can't have bought that for an instant, but I was trying…

"Mom! That's such a childish nickname." He was reddening up already.

"And you'll always be my child dear." The woman giggled a bit, "Put the video on. I wanna see your blushing face!"

Master swallowed hard, hands shaking. "I-I can't, not right now." His emotions were so strong that I started mirroring them subconsciously. I tried my best to remain calm for his sake, but I was clearly failing. Sharing emotions like this was so confusing!

"Mom, this is serious! I…I need you and Dad…to know that I…might look different." I could sense his anxiousness grow as he spoke with stilted words, "There was an…an accident. I'm okay, d-don't panic."

His mom shrieked into the phone, nearly causing Luke to drop it. He held the phone at arm's length as she screamed, "An accident?! Tapus spite me, now I have to see you! I'm sending the video inv-"

"Mom! Calm down for Arceus' sake!" Luke cut her off as she continued babbling worriedly. "I'm okay. It wasn't that kind of accident. I'll be at the house in just a few, so…see you soon."

"Wait just a second! I'll meet you halfway!"

"What the hell's all this shouting for?!" Luke swallowed hard; he knew that was his dad. None of this was going according to plan.

"Um, there's a wild Pokémon here, gotta go!" Losing what courage he had, he abruptly hung up the phone. I reassured him, but it was kinda futile. I was absorbed in Master's intense fear. His emotions were all over the place, but mostly angry at himself for ruining the phone call, and further terrified at his parents' reaction to his…predicament.

"Damn it… I blew that so fucking hard," he muttered, "Dad's gonna kill me!"