Just a quick thanks to the people who are still here. I don't know why I continue this madness sometimes. (Just kidding, it's for both me and you, the one reading this!)

5-5: stigmata

Selene found herself overcome with a sickeningly sweet feeling of glee seeing that fearful look in the Team Skull grunt's eyes. Experimentally, the girl flexed her fingers, feeling how her nerves tingled with anticipation all the way to her fingertips.

This was why…

This must be why people craved power so much, wasn't it?

Selene slowly took a step forward, tickled with fascination at how the Team Skull grunt cautiously began to draw a foot back, his eyes widening with a visible fear that only further empowered the girl. She…

She liked this feeling, relishing in his blatant weakness.

All things considered, he should have been the stronger of the two. Selene's complete and utter loss little over a day before at his hands ached like a scarred wound remembering the very strike which tore it into existence. But here (and her heart practically fluttered with excitement at the thought), that wasn't the case.

Selene wouldn't lose this time. If anything, she couldn't lose - not when she could already see the fear and defeat in her opponent's eyes.

Nevertheless, Selene couldn't help but remember the iconic opening words of one of her most idolized trainers, the draconic champion Lance himself.

"There is no need for words now."

The best assertion of one's strength was to test it against that of another. The proof would lie in her victory once she took it with her own two hands.

(She'd seen it so many times - televised to the rest of the world, of those who would bet their heart and soul on the battle against another's, of those who wanted to prove a point against those who had no faith in them -

Of those [children, even...!] who merely wanted to reaffirm their rightful place from where they believed sat, upon everyone else.

Selene had seen it so many times, and she let the envy and hate simmer in her stomach.)

It was that very motion, of Selene's hand hovering over one of her pokeballs, that forced the Team Skull grunt's own. With a startling roar, he hurled a battered pokeball at Selene's head, the girl scrambling out of the way to put as much distance as she could between her and the potential threat.

The pokeball skittered to a halt a little ways off behind the girl, coming to a stop just outside the entrance before releasing the pink, eerie eyed pokemon from before. Quickly, the girl sent out all three of her own pokemon (the fairness of such tactics be damned), her mind already racing through potential strategies as the teenager let out a squawk of indignation.

She could do this! Her pokemon were well rested now, unlike the last time she had fought this Team Skull grunt. Her head wasn't hazy with power poisoning, and for whatever reason, the Team Skull grunt did not seem inclined to go for the other two pokeballs on his person.

His loss, Selene supposed, narrowing her eyes at the opponent pokemon before her.

"Shiinotic, for your information," Rotomdex hummed from where it hovered by her head, "is fairy and grass type, so you should - EEP!"

Selene let out a strangled noise as Rotomdex forcibly shoved its way back into her backpack as a Moonblast was fired in their general direction, though the attack went wide enough that the girl couldn't help but think Rotomdex had overreacted. Yet for a moment, a Razor Leaf that would have killed a human being flashed through her mind, and the girl almost froze up.

Pokemon didn't deliberately direct their attacks at defenseless humans.

"Watmel," Selene found herself saying stiffly, her mouth going dry. "Go after the shiinotic with Payapa. Liechi, help me with -"

A pained groan made the girl whirl around, and dimly, she remembered that the shiinotic had a trainer. The old man from before was doubled over on the ground, clutching his stomach as he hacked over and over again, his Team Skull grunt assailant now making a desperate dive for the berries.

He quickly changed his mind, having spotted Selene charging at him with her grubbin in her arms, and managed to roll backwards out of the way of a String Shot attack onto his back.

"Shit," the young man snarled, scrambling backwards as fast as he could from his awkward position. "Just my fucking luck to run into you again."

Selene took up a protective stance in front of the old man from before, threateningly holding Liechi in her arms. The Team Skull grunt's eyes drifted to something behind her, and for a moment, the Kantoan girl thought she saw the final light of defiance in his eyes flicker out before he resumed glowering at her contemptuously.

Did he expect her to attack him, defenseless as he was now?

Selene cooly wondered what the Team Skull grunt would do next - surely he knew that she had a significant advantage over him with her pokemon already out. He had the alomomola and one other unknown pokemon, but seeing as he hadn't brought out the other, it perhaps was the weakest of his pokemon. Given his brash, aggressive personality, he didn't seem like the type of trainer who wouldn't aim to crush his foes from the start.

In that case, she definitely had the advantage here: Watmel and Payapa were a far better match for the shiinotic together, and Liechi had Electroweb for his alomomola.

However, much to her shock, the Team Skull Grunt did the one thing Selene hadn't been expecting.

He ran.

Fleeing? she couldn't help but think indignantly, remembering how arrogant and condescending the older boy had been during their last encounter. The drastic shift in reaction from before made her want to sneer. What a hypocritical coward!

"After him, Liechi!" the girl shouted, breaking out into a sprint she set her grubbin free. With an affirmative squeak, the grubbin burrowed after the Team Skull grunt, the ground shaking as it tore after him from a shallow depth. "Don't let him get away!"

Selene's blood pulsed maddeningly as the girl casted off her backpack with an unceremonious thud and took off after the two through the orchard. She could hear his ragged, panicked breaths between the frantic crashing of both their footsteps, using the former to chase after him.

Dammit, he was going to pay…!

Pay for what he did to her, to that man, to -

However, the Kantoan girl was anything but in shape, and after what was only a minute, her lungs and legs were already burning up, forcing the girl to come to a complete halt and double over, heaving for breath. Angrily, her blood throbbed through her ears like a scream.

When Selene finally was able to stand again, the older teenager was well out of her reach and sight as was Liechi, and it was then that Selene realized how dark it had become.

The trees in the orchard loomed over her like menacing shadows against the silent, pitch black sky, and no matter which way Selene turned, much to her sudden horror, it all appeared the same to her - cold, unhelpful, and unforgiving. The girl looked up the tiny flecks of light that dotted it, and Selene felt so small and insignificant. A breeze crept through the winding maze of trees, and a visceral shiver rattled her body, prompting her clutch at her sides. Like a fog unfurling before her eyes, it lifted from her - the contempt, the anger, the hate which had come forth from... where exactly?

The angry, vengeful haze she had felt was suddenly replaced with exhaustion and a heavy sense of shame. Horrible, horrible emotions (she had wanted to see herself in a position above him, wanted to gloat, wanted to drink it all in for every single drop) bubbled to the surface during this encounter, and Selene wasn't sure why. A hand went up to her mouth as she took in this revelation, raggedly breathing in and out as she stood still in the cold, empty darkness.

Moments later, Leichi popped up out of the ground, making the girl jump in fright.

"Gosh!" Selene gasped, a hand clutching at her jacket.

The grubbin offered its trainer a few clicks in apology before determinedly wriggling its way over to the girl. With a sigh, Selene picked up the little pokemon, absently brushing wiping off the dirt on the grubbin's body as it squirmed into a comfortable hold.

"Did you catch him?"

A shake of its head made the girl frown. In the ground, surely Liechi should have been considerably faster than any human, no matter how much of an athlete he or she was -

Right, the orchard, Selene thought tiredly. The roots of the berry trees would have made it impossible for Liechi to navigate through them effectively.

She sighed, holding back the urge to pinch her nose. The girl really hadn't been thinking straight, which made her previous behavior all the more bizarre in retrospect.

Yes, there was a sort of relief - glee, even - to be had with being the one others were running away from for once. After all, Selene could remember so clearly the wild, cornered look in the Team Skull grunt's eyes; his frantic, desperate flight; the terrorized gasping of air of prey that knew it was being hunted -

...But her sense of joy hadn't come from any newfound agency, had it? In the end, she was merely grateful to not be the one on the receiving end for once, even if that meant -

(So long as people and pokemon continue to live, continue to exist, there will always be someone who ends up hurt, a small voice deep within dared to whisper.

The only thing you can do is make sure it's someone else and not you who - )

The girl shook her head violently, shivering all the while from a chill that wasn't of the night.

It was on that sour note that Selene returned to the older man from before, who, much to the girl's horror, had yet to get back up onto his feet. She rushed over to kneel beside the man, who still lay on his back, groaning miserably.

"I'll be fine," he insisted, though he made no move to get up.

Selene couldn't help but exchange skeptical looks with the crowd of the man's delibirds, all of whom looked prepared to pile onto their owner.

"M'fine!" he gasped when all his pokemon proceeded to prod at his sides with their flippers. "I'm just… getting on in the years. Go check on your pokemon, lass!"

With one last worried glance over at the man, who was letting himself be propped up by his delibirds, Selene walked over to the entrance of the orchard, where the random patches of upturned dirt were fortunately the only sign that a battle had taken place.

The Team Skull grunt's shiinotic lay on the ground unmoving, Payapa, with an open mouth, toothy smile, triumphantly sitting on the pokemon for good measure. A pleased chirp prompted Selene to direct her gaze a little higher up to where Watmel hovered above, clutching a pokeball in its little talons.

The girl sighed in relief - thank Arceus that her pokemon had been okay on their own - before she nervously regarded the shiinotic, not certain if it was unconscious or…

No. Don't even think about that.

"Payapa, you can… er, get off of it now."

The grimer did so with a widening smile, holding the shiinotic by a thin arm questioningly. Selene pinched her nose, the irony from their last encounter not lost on her.

"Yes, you did a good job. Watmel, pokeball?"

The rowlet dutily flew over and dropped it into her open hand, and Selene couldn't help but pause at the unfamiliar scuffs upon the device's surface.

What would prompt a person to abandon one of their pokemon so recklessly…?

"Oh my," came a groan from behind her. "I don't think these bones can keep up with doing this much longer."

"Ah!" Selene gasped, whirling around while clutching the pokeball in a death grip. "Are you okay? Do you need me to call for help?"

"Not at all!" the orchard owner laughed. "You already did enough by chasing off that Team Skull grunt. If anything, I should get around to thanking you once I - geez, these joints of mine need a bit of rest - get my skeleton back into place."

Selene looked back to the foreign pokemon from before, not actually sure what to make of this turn of events. Even though the mushroom pokemon unnerved the Kantoan girl, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity for the shiinotic that had been left behind. Had that Team Skull grunt actually abandoned his pokemon so suddenly…?

"Do me a favor and put that shiinotic back into its pokeball, would you?"

Selene blinked before offering a stiff nod, awkwardly doing just that.

Something about it didn't feel right.

Uncomfortably, she held the pokeball in her hands, nervously moving it around in her palm so that her skin wouldn't map out the scuffs that lay on its surface. The pokeball didn't feel like it belonged there, suddenly so heavy as she clipped it to her belt as a slight grimace found its way onto her face.

"Sir," she began one more time, face still troubled. "Are you sure you're alright -"

With a loud series of bone cracks that made the girl cringe, the old man let out a roar, final stretch seemingly doing its job.

Though he still looked rather winded, a grateful smile graced his face. "Now, let me thank you for helping me out there. I'm not sure what would have happened if you hadn't been there to scare that hooligan off."

"I don't know," Selene said sheepishly, waving a hand dismissively. "That sort of thing feels like something you should do instinctually. Being praised for something like that feels a little wrong."

The man let out a hearty laugh and shook his head, smiling all the while. "Whether or not you think the action was worth thanks has nothing to do with the fact you did me quite the favor there."

"In fact," he began, gesturing with a hand back towards a single tree off from the rest, fallen berries scattered around its base, "why don't you take some berries from this tree right here?"

"Oh no," Selene mumbled weakly, hands up in surrender, "I couldn't -"

"But I insist!" the man said jovially. "I always leave these trees right there so that travelers on the island challenge and otherwise can take some berries for their own perusal. The pokemon absolutely love them!"

The delibird at his feet ran over to the pile of berries, each holding a different berry as they nodded up at the Kantoan girl in agreement. Selene couldn't help but giggle, even more so as she felt the weight of three familiar gazes upon her.

"I'm pretty sure your last meal wasn't too long ago, guys!"

Three indignant cries in unison disagreed, and Selene snorted. Greedy little gluttons, all of them.

"Besides, I have this enormous orchard right here," the man said with an amused smile. "Giving away a few berries won't be the end of the world. If anything, it's a clever little marketing strategy of mine: you have to spend a little to make a lot. I have quite the following in the Hau'oli mall during the night markets."

Selene found her will caving beneath her pokemon's increasingly intense looks, so she finally nodded, feeling relatively better about taking the berries, all things considered. Walking over to the tree, Selene was struck by the bizarre assortment of berries that seemed to be growing from just one tree of all things. How on earth did that even work?

"Never seen a polyflora berry tree before?"

The girl shook her head. "There's none in Iki Town or the Hau'oli outskirts, maybe because of the terrain? (That was true as far as Selene knew.) It's one thing to hear about a tree that might as well be a berry vending machine, but another to … see it in person. I just can't help but wonder how something like this came to be."

"Fair point," the old man conceded with an amused smile. "Well, that's certainly not the first question most young ones I've met ask me. You seem like a bright young girl. Just starting your island challenge?"

Selene nodded, hoping that she wasn't implicating herself in any way, and knelt down by the pile of berries.

"You've probably never been this far from home, have you?" the old man mused, looking thoughtful. "Iki Town is pretty far out from Hau'oli."

"Yes," Selene said slowly as she looked away to examine a few of the berries. A pensive, little smile made its way onto her face.

If only he knew exactly how far.

"This… This is my first time."

"You seem like a bright young girl - even more so seeing how you succeeded in Hala's little bonding test with your rowlet there."

Selene willed herself to not freeze up, not sure what the man would think if he were to know that wasn't the case.

"I would hope so," the girl laughed, feigning embarrassment as she scratched the back of her head with one hand, blocking her face from view of the orchard owner. "Hey guys, feel free to pick out a few berries you like."

With a cheer, all three of her pokemon eagerly rushed over to the pile, jostling each other and their trainer in the process. The girl couldn't help but watch with immense fascination the way each of the pokemon went about choosing their berries.

As expected, Watmel merely took the berries closest to it without any care for what kind they were. Liechi, on the other hand, was far more preoccupied with taking only its favorites, going out of its way to push away unwanted ones with its mandibles, even as the rowlet shot the grubbin an unimpressed look.

As for Payapa…

...Oh, Payapa, Selene thought with faint amusement.

Seemingly overwhelmed by the power it now possessed, the grimer stared at the pile, mouth agape as it remained frozen in place. Hesitantly, the pokemon reached out with a slimy hand to pick up a berry, and before Selene could tell her grimer to stop, it took an enormous bite out of the berry, leaving nothing but the leafy stem. Only Watmel's disapproving squawk stopped Payapa from putting back the eaten berry, the groomer nonetheless shooting its teammate an annoyed look as it greedily drew a sizeable stack of berries closer to itself.

While the two pokemon were distracted, Liechi crawled over to swipe some berries from Payapa's pile to put into its own. Letting out a betrayed cry upon discovering this treachery, Payapa lunged at the grubbin, forcing Watmel and Selene to pry the two squabbling pokemon off each other.

Selene let out a tired yet amused sigh as she held an unusually angry Liechi in her arms.

"All right, since you guys can't do this nicely, I'm going to limit you guys to… twenty berries each. Figure it out. Liechi, don't take from Payapa's pile, and Payapa, don't sample berries. Watmel, you're doing fine."

All three pokemon let out unhappy noises, glaring at each other as though only they were at fault. Watmel looked especially offended at how its teammates looked at it balefully.

The man let out a hearty laugh from where he stood, watching the spectacle with immense entertainment. "You named your pokemon after berries? Why, what made you do that?"

She coughed awkwardly. There was something about such an innocent little naming scheme that always ended up so much more embarrassing when someone else pointed it out to her.

"Well, I always thought that the different kinds of berries were just interesting in their own ways," Selene explained weakly. " The way one looks and feels might not match how you thought it was going to taste. But after a while, you get used to it and that entire package becomes the berry - look, taste, feel and all."

"That's… quite a poetic thing to say," the man said thoughtfully. "Sounds like you have some familiarity with berries."

Selene smiled sheepishly. "Well, I guess you could say that."

Back at Mr. Fuji's, one of Selene's favorite things to do was help prepare each pokemon's daily meals. While the man had a constant supply of standardized pokemon food (thanks to generous donations from all over Kanto), it wasn't so simple when working with rescued pokemon, especially pokemon who had been traumatized by Team Rocket or struggled with health defects.

For pokemon who had been mistreated by humans, having a fit and healthy adult attempt to feed them was out of the question, and it was one of the main reasons Mr. Fuji often asked the children of Lavender Town to help him. Children appeared far less threatening in terms of stature and potential danger, and pokemon were already inclined to be hesitant to harm the younger, frailer humans.

"Always be remember of the complexity that divides human and pokemon. Both are so weak, so strong, so afraid - in such different yet similar ways," he had always told them. "Even the act of putting a bowl of food or liquids before a pokemon should remind you of this contradiction. Pokemon are so much more physically powerful than humans, and yet we've seen how humans can hurt them just as badly all the same."

Some pokemon wouldn't trust the food which was offered to them, so it would take a lot of experimenting finding the right mix of berry powders to sprinkle onto the food to entice them. Selene found that the act of grinding berries into power, especially by hand, to be very relaxing and satisfying. Mr. Fuji had always emphasized the importance of working with one's own two hands for something like this, and so mortar and pestle was used over berry grinding machines. Not even the complaints about how long sun dehydration took swayed the man, much to his young helpers' dismay.

There was just something so fun about being able to fill up the old man's stock of berry powder, seeing all the colored jars lining several shelves in the Volunteer House's store room. Watching as a pokemon finally ate was just so rewarding, and thanks to all the time Selene had spent helping out Mr. Fuji, she was familiar with many berries by taste and eventual powder color. The key berries used in most berry based medicine and health drinks.

The Kantoan girl remembered being stuck on a name for the rowlet the professor had given her, and it was after a visit to Mr. Fuji's home that Selene had come across her new partner's name. Her companion had remained nameless for several days, even though it was by her side all the time.

Eager to sample some berries, Watmel had knocked over the basketful that Mr. Fuji had given her as a celebratory gift for finally getting a pokemon of her own. The two watched in muted horror as the berries landed with dull thuds onto the floor, rolling away to reveal now bruised skins.

Selene had immediately dived for the floor, doing her best to corral the spill away from any small gaps beneath the kitchen appliances before haphazardly stacking them back into the basket. Mind on autopilot, she had mistaken the rowlet for an enormous watmel berry and unceremoniously set her pokemon on top of the basket of berries. Only when she had moved to place berries on what was actually the rowlet's head and not the watmel berry she had thought it was had Selene noticed her error.

The rowlet looked just as confused as its trainer from where it had been set upon the pile of berries, probably having gone along with Selene's antics because it had assumed she had known what she was doing. The sight of her pokemon awkwardly sitting on the bowl, its tiny feet sticking out in front of it, had made Selene laugh so hard she'd had to clutch at the kitchen counter to hold herself up.

For all the agonizing Selene had done earlier about naming her rowlet, the name "Watmel" had been a spur of the moment decision. But it had stuck, and now Selene had fully committed to the naming scheme.

All things considered, watching as Liechi and Payapa suspiciously regarded one another from behind their tiny berry piles, she didn't regret it. Looking over to her starter pokemon, Selene couldn't help but smile.

Her rowlet wasn't particularly picky about flavors, but it had gone out of its way to save itself as many watmel berries as it could.

It was a testament to the sheer overwhelmingness of Alolan hospitality that Selene found herself swept up in a whirlwind of delibird and the orchard owner's insistence that he give her a proper thanks for what he had done. She'd been all but pushed into his abode before she or her pokemon, who found themselves carried along without their precious berries, could protest.

The girl and Payapa found themselves sat in chairs around a wood table while Watmel and Liechi had been tossed unceremoniously onto its surface by the delibirds. Her grubbin let out an affronted squeak, facing the direction of the door where its horde of carefully picked dry berries had been left unprotected. However, it stopped in its tracks, suddenly cowed upon noticing its uncomfortable height off the floor, before turning around to demand Watmel to carry it down.

Well, judging from how the rowlet's feathers ruffled up in response to Liechi's incessant clicking, that's what Selene was going to assume it was.

"Worry not, my friends," the old man chuckled, now rummaging through his fridge. "Go get their berries for them, would you?"

A cacophony of caws answered, and Selene and her pokemon watching in faint disbelief as the six delibirds saluted with their free wings before toddling off in unison towards the front door and carefully stacking to let themselves out. Before Selene could remark at the spectacle, three clear bowls of varying colored gelatin cubes were set on the table.

The orchard owner shot her pokemon a faintly amused smile. "I hope this will do for now - I think you three could use a little cooling off after all the work you've done. As for their admirable trainer, what kind of berry drink are you in the mood for now?"

Selene blinked hesitantly before responding. "Um… something sweet with a bitter aftertaste, I guess."

At the man's intrigued hum, Selene realized that she felt herself uneasy at the level of hospitality this man was providing to her. She was a stranger, child or not, and all Selene had known growing up was a Lavender Town constantly paranoid and suspicious with the new influx of visitors after Team Rocket.

Her anxiety seemed to rub off on her pokemon as well. All three quietly looked between each other and the bowls of treats before coming to an impasse, seemingly confounded by the additional reward that they weren't expecting. Selene quickly slid each pokemon their own bowl, hoping to prevent any squabbling beforehand.

"Don't get used to it," the girl said, trying to sound humorous in spite of the overwhelming sense of discomfort. "I don't have the money to maintain your luxurious lifestyle."

All of her pokemon nodded eagerly, though Watmel was the only one whose eyes weren't on the bowl in front of them. The orchard owner smiled gently as he watched the pokemon dug in with happy cries, setting a glass of rosy pink berry juice down on the table for Selene.

"Some freshly squeezed berry juice just for you - sweet with a bitter kick at the end, like you asked for."

Selene quietly gave him thanks before taking a sip of the juice. She could feel the coldness trickle down beneath her ribs, incredibly refreshing despite how late it already was. As for the taste -

Well damn.

"This is amazing," Selene said with a gentle smile. "I'm amazed that you can come up with the perfect combination with something as vague as my request."

The man merely gave her a pleased smile. "Care to take a guess what was used?"

She took another slow sip, carefully considering the aftertaste as well as the bitter zest on her tongue. "Might I guess… custap and watmel?"

"Impressive, impressive," he chortled. "I don't often meet a youngin' like yourself who can remember berries by their degree of flavors. Even more impressive that you were able to pick out the two which have purely sweet and bitter flavors."

"However," he continued, making Selene's triumphant little grin slip off her face, "no dice on that guess."

Immediately, Selene spoke up with another response, feathers ruffles by the challenge. "Then, judging by the color, I would say roseli with durian rind."

At that quick new assessment, the man raised an eyebrow. "That's a pretty creative and smart assumption, but…"

Selene glanced down at her now empty glass, looking at what was left of the drink.

"It's kasib with ributa zest."

"...Damn," Selene said in defeat. "I suppose there's far more to the art of berries that I was ever aware of."

She put her hands into her lap. "Well, I must concede defeat then."

The old man laughed, his eyes crinkling. "I've been doing this since even before Kahuna Hala was even a Kahuna. I'd like to think that I would have improved since then."

Selene nodded, and she couldn't help but feel a little chastened. "If this is what the work of several decades looks like, I strive to be someone like you."

It was humbling to say the least. Perhaps Selene had gone into this a little too overconfident, priding herself in what seemed like niche knowledge. When she had gone to school, berries only ever mattered in the context of battles.

"Oh my, the girl is quite the flatterer too!" he said with an amused exclamation. "Now, you're making me wish that my own grandchild would be so polite and respectful."

"Not at all," the girl said sheepishly. "Behaving properly should be the bare minimum when interacting with other people. There's no need to praise me for something I already should be doing."

"Ah, yes, you did mention that," the man said, providing her with three plastic containers for her to hold the berries from earlier in. Payapa made a grab for one, only for both Liechi and Watmel to hold the grimer back, shooting it a dirty look as if remembering their punishment from earlier. "Nevertheless, with people like Team Skull running loose, your attitude is a commendable one."

"Well, I suppose I should accept your praise then," Selene said, a little embarrassed. Nevertheless she still felt as though she had embarrassed herself in front of the man."I don't think I did all that much though."

If anything, the girl couldn't help but think that the man with his six pokemon could have taken on the Team Skull grunt himself without much issue, given how little of a challenge he had been for her with her pokemon at full health, almost laughably so.

It was almost strange even, how unprepared he had been for a trainer of that age.

"You did amazing! Not only did you scare off that hooligan, you also can also…" The orchard owner trailed off, suddenly looking hesitant as he considered Selene for a moment.

He coughed awkwardly, mulling over his words.

"Well, you can do that shiinotic a favor by releasing it from its trainer."

Selene nearly froze up, but as to not stir up trouble, she only tilted her head and smiled. The girl really hoped he hadn't seen.

(Please don't notice, please don't notice.)

Inside, she was screaming, resisting the urge to look over at Watmel, Watmel who had, who had -

No, it wasn't her pokemon's fault. It was Selene's somehow, wasn't it? She had let something slip. Poisoned her pokemon in the same way her association with her father's dewgong and her poor choices had ultimately led to its death.

But nevertheless she couldn't let that show.

It was strange because Selene was so used to bottling up her feelings, yet there was a part of her that screamed at the injustice that despaired at being caged for what merely felt like existing.

When had that happened, the girl wondered. When had she finally had enough? Why did she feel so angry all of a sudden?

"You're right," the girl said neutrally, unsure what the appropriate reaction would be. Selene placed an elbow on the table to prop up her head, trying to not to start at how Watmel paused from eating to look at her curiously.

The man nodded slowly. "I don't like having to reveal to youth like you the unfortunate circumstances we face today, but with Team Skull running amok like they are… it happens."

She shook her head, a troubled frown on her face. "No, if Team Skull remains a problem, this is all we can do, right?"

"Though," Selene continued, relieved he seemed just as uncomfortable as her, though for different reasons, "I'm, er, not sure how you do that?"

"Ah yes! You mentioned being from the outskirts, so you probably aren't too familiar with the newfangled technology that has been all the rage the last five years."

The mention of technology only made Selene pause. It made her think of the things she had read about out of curiosity when she would browse the internet for anything really to get her mind off of the monotony - the monotony of being alone with nothing but the feeblest will to keep going.

There were always challenges that came with the coexistence between human and pokemon, with that imbalance of power and intelligence. The capability of pokemon defied what physics and chemistry told humans was possible, so much so that recent precedence had been set to split the sciences based on the inclusion of pokemon in the field of study.

Humans could not hope to compare in terms of brute strength, and yet somehow, they survived. They had one strength over pokemon: their ability to create technology which allowed them to overcome their glaring physical weaknesses, to survive in the most unsuitable and incompatible of environments, to accomplish feats far beyond their physical capacity.

This was merely one of them.

"Basically, when you head to the pokemon center, you can turn in that shiinotic's pokeball so that the staff can release it without need for the trainer's consent."

"That easy, huh?" Selene said, feigning innocent curiosity. On the inside, her blood had run cold. That didn't sound legal at all. At the very least, not in Kanto.

Then again, she wasn't in Kanto anymore. The rules and values there had absolutely no meaning here.

It was on that pleasant note that Selene thought of Watmel being ripped away from her without either of them wanting it, and she hated, hated that thought. But then the girl remembered what she had done to Watmel.

How she had endangered her pokemon that day on the bridge, how she had contemplated almost hurting her rowlet while it trustingly slept next to her, how…

How the pokemon had attacked a human with the intent to harm.

There was no such thing as going easy on a human, and Selene knew that all too well. Even the weakest of pokemon could do such devastating harm to a human being.

But even then, she had to remain calm. Had to listen. This was important information she needed to know, just in case it ever -

It ever was relevant.

(In Selene's darkest thoughts, the real concern was whether or not it could be used against her in any shape or form.)

Selene's heart fluttered like leaves helplessly being carried off in the wind. This was the perfect time to ask a few questions, so long as she didn't completely lose her nerve.

"So how does this... system work anyways?" the girl said, with a frown. "It… it seems like it could be abused. I wouldn't want to have any of my precious friends released by someone who had a grudge against me."

"Well, I suppose it is scary isn't it?" the man said thoughtfully, a hand going to his chin. "Technology is just going by so fast nowadays."

"If anything, it feels like we're taking the sort of thing for granted, and we're just realizing what it - we're - actually able of," Selene found herself saying. "I m-mean no offense, I just… I really can't help but feel that it's like the type of thing that could be used for no good if someone really wanted to."

He looked at her oddly, and Selene felt the fear in her spike again. Damn it all, she had to stay quiet. She knew how to stay quiet - otherwise, her previous years of schooling would have been more of a nightmare than it already was.

But there was a difference here.

Her classmates wielded life ruining threats over the heads of scholarship students like her (especially people like her, of whom they decided didn't deserve them).

Silence was wanted. Silence was expected. Silence was deference and respect.

But here, it seemed as though if she remained quiet, if she refused to open up -

"Be careful about how you enunciate your words and the way you carry yourself," the professor had warned her a lifetime ago, when she was studying for the trainer's license exam. " In Alola, it's best to lay yourself open. Otherwise, they'll think you're hiding a terrible secret and plotting something treacherous."

She'd made a face.

"... But isn't that what you're doing now with your league?"

Professor Kukui had laughed heartily at that, dark eyes crinkled in a devious smile when he looked her way, some strange feeling twisting up inside her stomach.

"Exactly! They just think I'm an idealistic idiot who should stick to studying pokemon!"

The old man laughed, and Selene wondered how anything about this could be funny at all.

"Well, yes, it definitely could be abused if it weren't for the brilliant mind of the young man behind this system. He used to be a trial captain, you know! If the system could be so easily abused, the Families would have never let it pass."

"Basically," the man explained, pulling out his trainer license, "the system checks to see if the trainer's license is still valid. If it finds that the license isn't, the pokemon is automatically released!"

Selene nodded, immediately thinking of her own trainer's license in her backpack. It made good enough sense as far as she knew since renewing a license was practically effortless.

Nevertheless, there was a part of her that wanted to ask if that meant what she thought that did.

She thought of how there had been systematic profiling against the possession of certain combinations of pokemon in the wake of Team Rocket. After all, the revelation that some of Silph's employees had secretly been a part of Team Rocket had been frightening to the public and its notion of safety. Background checks had become more intensive for job applicants, so much so that her mother quitting her job at Silph seemed virtually inadvisable had it not been for the spot they had guaranteed her at the League administration.

Having a spotless reputation meant everything, and Selene had been involved in an incident that irrevocably marred the academic and trainer histories of those caught in its aftermath - children of powerful, wealthy families.

The principal's offer to stay had been meaningless. Selene was socially unsalvageable now. Her peers knew what she had done, what she had been a part of, and it would have never left her as long as she stayed there.

And no matter how the media, how the League had tried to hush it up - all of Kanto knew. Everyone knew what had happened.

Giovanni, long time gym leader of Viridian City, had been Team Rocket's leader all along, right under the noses of enforcement and the League. In all but a year there was a stigma against using ground type pokemon, nevermind being a ground type specialist. Even Blue himself had come under scrutiny for becoming Giovanni's official successor, stellar as his reputation and achievements were.

The truth was the truth, but its consequences were insidious. This wasn't something that would only take a decade for Kanto to recover from.

This was just like that, wasn't it? Team Skull was definitely a problem, so she shouldn't be afraid.

She wasn't like them. Absolutely not.

But no matter what she thought, there was a part of her that was afraid of leaving such possibility for others to exploit. Again and again skin too pale and a demeanor too unfriendly struck her as reasons for them to do such things

Even worse, what about something like that permanent stain on her public record?

What if…

What if that information could be easily searched up…?

Oh, but Selene didn't want to think that.

She didn't want to think about how she only cared now because it was a problem that personally affected her. It was a sobering thought that not only made her feel afraid but hideous as well.

So all Selene did was nod and nod because she didn't want to think about any of those things. She didn't want to think, but thinking was all she did all she could do.

"With measures like these, hopefully Team Skull will peter out in a few years, and peace will be restored to Alola. I honestly don't understand how they're holding themselves together as it is."

Selene couldn't help but think of Team Rocket and how they had gone under the Kanto League's radar for unacceptably. How the region had been into an uproar when it was accidentally uncovered by two children of all things. How law enforcement should have done more. How the Elite Four should have intervened. How the gym leaders should have done something knowing that something was going on in their cities.

Pokemon were a separate yet integral part of Kantoan society. But people such as the gym leaders and Elite Four were not paid to enforce - they had other duties that kept them busy. Nevertheless, the belief that they were strong meant people thought they should have intervened.

Because they had strong pokemon, they had the responsibility to -

If that was the case, Selene could understand why vying for an Elite Four position seemed more trouble than it was worth. For those who just wanted to prove their worth as trainers, often times it seemed as though you would get far more baggage than you had bargained for.

Selene had a feeling that things were different here, with the Trial Captains and Kahuna seemingly integrated into important political roles within Alolan culture, bizarre as that was to her. If anything, it seemed as though the Alolans were eager for that sort of responsibility, strangely enough.

"It's probably the fact that Akala and Ula'ula don't have Kahunas as good as our Hala, I suppose. What a shame too," the orchard owner sighed, confirming her suspicions.

Selene remembered what had been going on in the dinner with the Kaluahas and what had been said about the other Kahunas. Though something about this didn't sit right with Selene in any way. Nevertheless, the Kahunas of Akala and Ula'Ula seemed to be very controversial among the public, to say the least.

Mulling all this over, Selene knew it was best to go along with what he was saying - it was something she had learned by brutal trial and error trying to navigate a social environment she had sorely stood out in.

"If people of Kahuna Hala's caliber were easy to come by, then he wouldn't be so amazing."

"You're right!" the man laughed heartily. "I suppose that would be the case, wouldn't it?"

It was then that the man took a seat on the opposite side of the table with her. The sheer difference in size, so apparent to Selene, overwhelmed the girl.

She scooted her seat a little back to give herself space, feeling his gaze upon her as she internally bemoaned the smaller Alolan personal bubble. His kind face outwardly offered no treachery, but that only made Selene more wary than she would have been otherwise.

"By the way, I noticed something."

Selene froze up just a little.

"Your Standard. It's got quite the strange accent to it."

The girl instinctively brought up a hand to her mouth as if ashamed, but the man merely smiled at her gently, eyes crinkled shut.

If they were open, would she see hell in them?

"O-oh, really?" she murmured, looking away. "I hadn't noticed."

"Well it sounds nothing like the accented Standard that you'll hear here - even the best have strictly Kantoan accents that echo the ones you'll hear from tourists," the man commented, looking at her curiously.

Scrutinizingly, suspiciously, her paranoia insisted. He knows! He knows!

"But I have to say, yours doesn't sound like any I've ever heard in all my years of having tourists here. How'd that happen?"

Selene squirmed, uncertain if Alolans were always so unreasonably forthright. To leave one's thoughts so out in the open… It was bold, daring, almost frightening even. A part of her upbringing balked at the absurdity of it, but the other part feared the consequences of not answering an adult's questions when asked.

"I've just run into a lot of Kantoans for a while," Selene said vaguely, knowing well what would have to give in that case. "You know how it is, with all the tourists coming around lately."

"Huh," the man merely said, taking a slow sip of his drink. The way he proceeded to say nothing made Selene wonder if he was savoring his beverage or her words. She worried that he didn't believe her.

"Still something about the way you speak…" he said contemplatively. "It's definitely a Kantoan accent all right, but the way you enunciate your words... It's different. Very different from what I usually hear. I'm not sure how to put it."

Selene squirmed, unsure if silence was the most appropriate thing to do. She felt like she was lying with this otherwise friendly man, who, if anything, seemed to harbor a harmless curiosity over her way of speech.

If he had resented her for it, he would have thrown her out, just like the Team Skull grunt from earlier, right?

Right, she was just… unused to talking to people if she didn't know them well. After all, the last time Selene had been in a serious conversation with strangers (back with Ilima and his family), she hadn't said much, only watched. When she did speak, most of the time the girl had done so with prompting.

Selene shuddered internally at the thought of her behavior - he must have seemed so unfriendly, rude, almost like an eavesdropper to a conversation that she had technically been a part of.

The man looked at her, and his face was kind. It wasn't anything like the tense air that she had felt with the Kaluahas, who seemed to be preparing for a war of sorts alongside the professor.

She…

Selene was just so helpless sometimes.

"Well," Selene conceded as a mumble, "I lived in Kanto for a while when I was younger, a small little town that you probably haven't heard off."

That was a little more honest, at the very least, though Selene still couldn't help but feel wary. Letting her walls down the way that the Alolans did was just…

It was just too much. Perhaps the point was that when it was mutual exchange, there was little chance for abuse, and yet all the same -

"I see," the man said thoughtfully, his tone a little lighter. "Family?"

The girl nodded sternly, hoping that such a short answer would end the conversation then and there. The man seemed to take that as the case because he leaned back in his chair, a nonjudgmental expression on his face as he finished the last of his berry juice.

"I suppose it explains a lot. Youngin's are quite impressionable. It can't be helped."

Selene nodded eagerly, but the anxiety in her stomach did not subside.

"I see that you've got an Island Challenge amulet," he said, changing the subject. He was gesturing to the trinket attached to her backpack. "So, you'll be staying in Alola permanently now?"

"Yes…? As an Alolan citizen, I'd like to think so," Selene said with faint confusion. There was some kind of expectation she thought that he had, but she wasn't sure what it was. "Though I just started, so I'd like to complete as much of it as I can."

The orchard owner laughed. "There's no need to rush, you know! The island challenge will be good for you, any way that you intend to do it. Sooner or later, you'll be an Alolan in the truest sense of the word."

"Ah, thank you," Selene said, feeling a bubble of encouragement and joy. "That's… That's very kind of you to say."

"Truly, it's a commendable effort on your part," the orchard owner insisted with a wave. "I don't come across many like you - with such humble conviction and willingness to prove yourself."

"I guess you're right," Selene sheepishly said, playing with her fingers. "Though I'm not sure if you can put a positive twist on my late start since I am starting a little late."

"Not at all! Not when a bright girl like you is doing her best. Now is the time for you to grow into the respectable Alolan you were always meant to be."

It was then that she noticed Liechi in her lap, and the fact nearly startled the girl right out of her seat. How had she not noticed the pokemon's weight in the first place?

As if that wasn't enough, Rotomdex began to ring furiously from where it was situated in her backpack, hanging from the back of her chair. Awkwardly, Selene picked up Liechi and set the grubbin down on the table, wondering what was wrong. When she stood and turned around, she found Watmel pecking angrily at her backpack.

The girl shot her rowlet a confounded look though the pokemon did not take heed, angrily chirping as it continued its assault on her oddly silent backpack.

"Er, sorry about this! May I take this call somewhere private?" the girl stammered as she glanced back at the orchard owner, incredibly confounded as to what was going on.

She moved to zip open her backpack, only for Watmel to immediately dive into it with renewed fury.

"Hey!" Selene hissed, utterly baffled. "Watmel, what the hell are you -"

A noise from behind her made the girl turn around yet again. Arceus, what was going on with her pokemon nowadays? Selene watched with faint terror as Payapa all but looked its trainer dead in the eye before deliberately swatting Liechi's bowl of gelatin clear off the table besides Selene. The dessert violently splattered across the floor, drenching Selene's bottom half in sugar.

The girl openly gaped, no longer having a clue what was going on.

"I'm so sorry," Selene groaned, placing a hand on her forehead. "Payapa's my newest pokemon, and she's probably not used to table manners yet."

For whatever reason, Liechi and Watmel turned on Payapa, shooting their teammate accusatory looks. The grimer merely grinned as if it had done nothing wrong.

"Actually," the girl muttered, "I'm not used to having more than one pokemon yet..."

The aggressive manner in which Liechi and Watmel were acting was strange to say the least, but having to suddenly deal with three misbehaving pokemon? It was more than she could bear right now, her mind still whirling with thoughts of not being good enough, of having the very little she had left taken away.

Selene was in half a mind to start crying, and it must have shown, for the orchard owner looked at her sympathetically.

"It happens. I have six rascals running around the place myself because they give me the eyes when I think about putting them back in their pokeballs!"

"But at the very least, let me clean up the mess my pokemon made -"

"No, no!" the man chuckled with a dismissive wave. "My own mischievous delibirds are quite familiar with spills, so worry about yourself! The bathroom is the first door on your right."

"T-thank you!" Selene bowed, still shooting a concerned look at the sugary mess on the floor "I'm so sorry about all this, by the way…"

"Not at all! I can see you've been raised quite well, in spite of everything against you. This is the least I can do as your host!"

With that said, Liechi and Payapa promptly joined forces to shove Selene away from the table to clean herself up, Watmel using its small wingspan to block Selene's sight of the spill from where it flew at her eye level. Her backpack, with the strangely silent Rotomdex inside, hung precariously from its talons.

Her pokemon couldn't get her into the bathroom fast enough, Selene's heart pounding maddeningly beneath her ribs as Payapa unceremoniously swung the door closed behind them.

"Payapa, manners -"

The grimer put a slimy hand in front of its mouth, almost as if it was shushing her, much to the girl's consternation.

A poke to her back made Selene stumble around in the cramped room, where Liechi sat on the vanity with both a change of clothes and Watmel atop its body. The rowlet expectantly looked up at its trainer, nudging the clothes forward with its talons.

With a glare of long suffering, Selene gave into her pokemon's demands. It didn't feel as pleasant as she was expecting, changing into some clean clothes. The anxiety fluttered in her stomach like dirt being kicked up into the air without any chance to settle.

But why? the girl thought in distress, trying to fold away clothes with her violently trembling hands. What do I have to be afraid of?

After putting away her clothes in a spare trash bag for dirty clothes, Selene finally took out Rotom, letting out a shaky sigh. She needed answers now.

"All right Rotomdex," the girl sighed frustratedly, mussing up her hair with one hand. "Who did I miss a call from -"

Selene stopped, looking at Rotom's screen with mild befuddlement. She couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"...Rotom, can you explain this?"

The notification screen was blank: no missed call. Before Selene could go to the call log, Rotom pulled it up for her.

Nothing there either, So why had Rotom run?

Rotomdex's face reappeared on the screen as the pokemon awkwardly rubbed its two arms together. "I… bzzt… might have pretended to… bzzt…"

"To…?"

"... To act as if I was receiving a call for you," Rotom reluctantly admitted, turning away in shame.

"W-Why?" Selene sputtered indignantly. "Why on earth did you do that?"

Rotomdex only offered her an equally confused buzz in response, diving behind where Watmel was perched on the Liechi, much to both pokemon's audible chagrin.

"I don't know what you mean by danger!" Rotom exclaimed in frustration, waving its arms at the other pokemon. "There's no life or death situation here to get so worked up over!"

All three of Selene's pokemon looked at each other dubiously, making Selene squirm even more.

"Yes, there's no reason! What is there to be afraid of?"

Selene stiffened, unsure if she was comfortable with the implications of those words. Something about that felt important as if she was forgetting something crucial, and whatever it was, it was out of reach for now. The thought filled her with unbearable dread.

She turned to Watmel with a question on her lips, only to remember the fact that the rowlet couldn't speak. Damn, that was inconvenient, wasn't it?

"Just… take some time to focus on yourself right now," Rotomdex said uncertainly, flying back up to her eye level. "Think a little. How do you feel?"

"How… How I feel?" Selene repeated in disbelief. "Why is that even important?"

"Just do it," Rotomdex insisted tiredly. "Please."

Regarding Rotom and the encouraging nods from her other pokemon, Selene gave in, closing her eyes for a moment. Her heart fluttered weakly beneath her skin, her fingers and toes tingling unpleasantly.

"I've spent too much time here," she hesitantly concluded. "I've already made too many detours in the past few days."

It made sense given the tight deadline she was on for the professor. If anything, Selene felt a little ashamed Rotomdex and the others were more worried about her progress than she was. As far as Selene knew, she was getting further and further behind with her mediocre physical ability.

Rotom's screen went blank for a few seconds, and it wasn't comforting at all.

"That'll… That'll do," it said slowly. "You should get going."

"Get going? Now?"

"Do you want to stay here any longer?" Rotomdex braved, for whatever reason still looking at Watmel and the others.

The girl paused for a moment then shook her head furiously. This whole thing had stressed her out enough, and now she was feeling too restless to stay put any longer.

"Still…" Selene said, a small frown on her face. "I don't know. Something about leaving like this seems too abrupt and rude. On top of that, it's really dark out, isn't it?"

Watmel devolved into a flurry of angry chirps, aggressively shaking its head. Liechi and Payapa took that as their cue to follow suit, and the sight would have been funny to Selene had she not been so distressed and uncertain of what was wrong.

"Please, just listen to yourself. What is your body telling you? Trust yourself, Selene." Rotom insisted, a level of strain in the pokemon's voice that only worried her even more.

Selene looked between Rotom and the others, hesitating. She had always had doubts about her own ability to protect herself, about the intentions of those around her, about the expectations she needed to live up to. Her Pokemon, however, she trusted to do things for her sake and the team's.

"O-Okay…" she finally conceded, quickly scrambling to pack up all her stuff.

When the girl finally exited the bathroom, taking a minute to compose herself once she was done, Selene had convinced herself she was going to leave.

Even if it meant running away like a coward like that Team Skull grunt.

"Thank you so much for the berries and the berry juice sir, but I think it's about time that I go," Selene said with a bow, too afraid to look up into her host's face. "My friend just called to tell me that he's already made it to the first trial area, and there's no way I can live that down."

She could hear the man pause at her words. Her heart stilled as well, bile making its way up her through.

"Well, I know you kids can be competitive, but don't you think it's getting a little late?" he asked curiously. Especially for someone as young as you?"

The girl shook her head insistently, even as she glanced out a nearby window and nearly recoiled from how dark it was. Shit, she didn't want to go out there now.

"Not at all! If anything, I was planning to travel at night because it's so hot during the day."

"Hot?"

"Dehydration and heat stroke!" the girl insisted frantically. "And I hate sweating!"

"...It's a girl thing," Selene added, immediately wishing she could just throw herself out the window for saying something so monumentally stupid.

Thank Arceus that the man only cackled, humoring what probably just seemed like a childish whim."Are you sure about that? Even if the nights here are rather warm, it's dark out."

"You've seen my pokemon. With my rowlet, I think I'll be fine. Besides, I plan to reach the next rest stop, and that looks like it's an hour away?"

"Yes, that's the orphanage operating a motel rest stop," he replied, looking thoughtful. "If you're in decent shape, that'd be a great place to stop for the night."

Selene perked up. A warm bed sounded really nice right about now.

"Oh, really?"

"Yup, old lady Aquila runs it. The motel helps the kids build up valuable work experience, and the Kaluaha family funded its building. They're a great family, you know. They understand the true meaning of the Alolan way."

"Definitely," Selene agreed with a curt nod. "I can't help but be amazed by what they've done."

"The Kaluahas are truly here for us little people, you know. Even someone like you can go far if you catch their eye, and you seem to be quite talented."

She couldn't help but stare at the orchard owner, realizing just exactly how far he'd accomodated her. The girl couldn't have imagined such a thing happening back in Kanto, and to think this was probably closer to the norm here in Alola...

"Thank you so much for the kind words," Selene said finally. "It means so much coming from someone as generous as you."

"Ha ha!" the man laughed, a big smile on his face. "You'll be a fine Alolan, youngin'."

Selene couldn't help but smile back. All things considered, the Alolan way was pretty nice.

"Well, I gotta get going! The longer I stay, the more my friend is going to tease me for taking the scenic route."

"All right then! Get going. But feel free to stop by here any time and take some of the fallen berries. Just be careful, okay? It sure would be a shame to have a little mishap on the road."

The girl's smile stiffened at that.

Oh gods. Just remind her again that she was making an incredibly impulsive and probably terrible decision. Selene of merely a year ago would have cried at the prospect of doing something like this.

"One last time, thank you!" she shouted, hoping that it would give her courage.

With that, the girl ran off, finding herself jogging for a good few minutes, agitated beyond belief as she tried to tell herself again and again that she was not afraid. She was not afraid!

Only when the lights behind her became as distant as the stars above did the girl slow to a walk, blood thundering through her ears and warmth pulsing through her body.

In spite of the physical activity, Selene felt more relaxed now, even though it was so dark outside she couldn't see that far in front of her. Terrified by that realization, the girl finally came to a stop, crouching down as low as she could before removing her backpack.

"Rotomdex, could you please help me find my flashlight?" she asked meekly.

Selene didn't fear the dark. Thinking about to her encounter with the Team Skull grunt, what she really feared the lack of an adult presence.

Dammit, don't psych yourself out now. You can't go running back now - that would be even worse! You'd have to explain yourself to that man again.

Meanwhile, Rotom hummed as it flashed a brilliant, white light at her backpack, the girl rummaging through the big section for a flashlight. Selene muttered a "whoops" upon realizing that it was still in its packaging, and the girl crudely ripped it open before shoving the plastic and cardboard back into her backpack. Maybe Payapa would appreciate the snack later.

With that done, it was time to begin walking again - she had a motel to get to.

After a few minutes of just taking in the ambiance of the night along the trail, the girl finally spoke up, having ruminated long enough on a certain, troubling thought.

"Hey, Rotom?"

"Yes?"

"What were you talking about before?"

The pokemon went silent, and the girl couldn't help but turn to look at Rotomdex in faint confusion. Poor Rotom seemed to deflate a little beneath her gaze, uncomfortable with being put on the spot.

"Well," it began, electronic voice tinged with discomfort, "Didn't something about the way that man spoke to you rub me the wrong way?"

"No!" the girl said a little too quickly.

"... Really?"

"W-why are you asking?" Selene said defensively.

Something akin to shame was boiling up in the girl, and she did her best to quash it as much as she could. It didn't make sense. Was there anything to be upset about? It was true that she had left the orchard in a hurry, but maybe she was just feeling a little restless about completing the Melemele portion of her Island Challenge on time.

"I only have two weeks, you know," she began heatedly. "I have to get these trials done so that the Old Families will accept me. The professor is counting on me. This isn't about me being -"

"...Oh," Rotom said slowly. "Oh no."

Selene froze, looking at the pokemon strangely. "Oh no? What do you mean by 'oh no'?"

"Selene, you need to calm down."

"Calm down!? Rotom, what are you -"

"I don't know how to say this kindly. I'm so sorry, Selene. It's just… I don't really… understand how to be kind in the way humans want to be towards each other."

In the backwash of the light of the pokedex's screen, the girl could see Rotomdex visibly sag, reminding herself to compose herself. She was a little on edge, but that wasn't an excuse to take it out on anyone else."

"It's okay," she murmured. "You're doing the best that you can, and I'm grateful for that you know."

Even so, Rotomdex let out an unhappy hum. "If you say so…"

"Well, I think you're not very well versed in Alolan culture and … attitudes, are you?" it asked.

The girl blinked once, not expecting that question. "I did study about the culture and what-not quite a bit for my trainer's license?"

"Studying the culture… Let's just say they're not going to have you study the negatives about Alola. No one likes to admit that sort of thing ever. Especially here."

"Rotom, what on earth are you getting at?"

"I'm saying that…" And here Rotom paused, almost as if the pokemon was hoping it was going to say the right. "Now that you mentioned the Old Families… Well, I think that man thought you were mixed."

Selene paused, the significance of that sentence sinking in.

"I'm sorry, but could you repeat that?" Her voice came out half confused and half distraught.

"I'm saying that… he assumed you were half Kantoan."

"…Rotom, are you implying… implying that he thought…" Selene's voice dripped with more and more venom at what felt like the most absurd thing she'd heard since… since...

"He thought that I was less because I clearly have Kantoan blood?" Selene found herself snapping, body tensing up defensively just like it had when… when… "How the hell would he know that!?"

For a while, Rotom did not say anything, and Selene came to a halt.

As she let that suggestion sink, the likely probability becoming more and more apparent as the girl thought back to cruel whispers of gossip entertained by children. Everything was fair ammunition for mockery. Anything, Selene found, could be twisted into something to be ashamed of had you given in.

(Just as she had, again and again.)

Hot tears burned at her eyes, but she couldn't be bothered to wipe them away.

"You…" Selene managed accusingly through the urge to sob. "That's just… Do you actually think that?"

"I think so…" the pokedex finally confessed. "Actually, I'm pretty sure he was."

"What proof do you even have, Rotom -"

"Selene, do you think he was actually praising you or -"

"Stop…" Selene murmured, shaking her head. "Just stop!"

"Do you honestly think people talk about what it means to be Alolan with a random child they've just met? I can tell you right now that you were being condescended."

Selene let out a sob of denial. She remembered eyes that had followed her in disgust when her numbers always, always, always came short.

You don't belong here, they said in her nightmares. You didn't earn your place here. At least we have the money or grades to be here. Do you even know why you are here in the first place, freeloader?"

She hadn't known then that the price had been a life. But even now, Selene wasn't sure if this was fair either.

"But… I helped him," the girl insisted, trying to find something to cling to. "And he let me have some berries and berry juice, and he said that if I came by again, he'd welcome me. Are you saying that was just fake hospitality?"

"No, I'm not."

"Why are you so hellbent on trying to twist things into a negative light, Rotomdex?" Selene snapped. "Maybe he was just proud of me."

"He said I was…" she tried to continue, heaving for breath. "He said…"

Selene's voice petered out. She couldn't bring herself to say anymore.

"But Selene, you felt it, didn't you?" Rotomdex said quietly. "Deep down, something inside you felt that it was wrong. After all, you already knew going into this Island Challenge business that there would be people who would condemn you for being from Kanto."

"But… But he… he didn't know I'm actually an immigrant, did he?" The girl nervously looked over her shoulder. "Right? He wouldn't. R-Right?"

Rotom let out a low hum that didn't do anything to reassure her.

"I… wish I could say more to help you, but... Sometimes the hate that you'll face will just be a suggestion, a possibility. Something that isn't really there in front of you but present enough to just… be in your mind."

"What are you trying to say? I don't…"

"Selene, look at it logically. Discriminating people based on birth and birthplace is generally frowned upon in modern culture, isn't it?"

"Y-Yes?"

"Well, it's the same here. Say nasty things about tourists here, and you're doing no favors for your reputation, but that doesn't change people from, well, not feeling the best about those different from them."

Rotomdex hovered around the girl as it struggled to put into words what it was trying to say. Selene couldn't do anything but stand there, wondering how eerie it must have looked to have a light cast upon her solitary figure in what was now pitch black.

"It's like how we pokemon instinctively recoil from super effective moves unless we're trained by humans. It's just an instinct that's there, but with time, with enough exposure, you come to learn that it's not always the end all, be all that you think it is."

"Are you saying that sort of prejudice is natural?"

"I'm not," Rotom quickly began. "I just… Selene, try as I might, I still am just a pokemon… That's really the best I can do to explain things with the secondhand information I know."

"No, it helps. I just… Something about this really scares me - being scrutinized for things that are just a part of my existence. Knowing that the way I speak or look could out me is someone who doesn't belong, who's less…"

Selene let out a shaky exhale before continuing. She almost wanted to laugh at the childishness of her next statement. "It's so scary."

"And that man… If what he was saying was truly what you're implying, then…" the girl began to tremble in fear. "What would he have done if he had known I'm actually fully Kantoan?"

"That didn't happen. Don't think about that. Worrying about hypotheticals that didn't come to pass won't help you."

"It will happen, Rotom!" Selene said angrily, her voice shaking with years of pent up emotion that crackled in the chill of night. "They're going to find out - he Old Families, one way or another. And likely the rest of Alola too, won't they?"

"I'm just so scared…" she mumbled, covering her face with her hands. Selene felt so small and insignificant. "I try not to think about it, but it'll happen. As long as Tapu Koko treats me as koa, as long as Alola sees me as koa, It. Will. Happen!"

Oh gods, it was inevitable, wasn't it? The thought almost made her want to break down laughing!

"You know, I didn't really think too much about it. Back when I was in Kanto, I used to be pushed around by my classmates for my dialect. Not only did I sound poor, apparently I spoke too quietly and sounded like… like...!"

Like my pokemon had died.

"But it was my fault. I didn't belong there. Some nobody kid from some creepy little town going to one of the top academies in the region?" Selene wildly gestured to the empty open. "Of course, the fault lay with me!"

She shook her head, burying the urge to laugh. Rotomdex remained silent, perhaps horrified by what it was now witnessing.

"But here, I need to fit in," Selene muttered. "I want to fit in… This is what the island challenge is supposed to be for, right? But what if… what if it's all in vain?"

"Selene, you're worrying too much."

"Are you sure?"

"This… This isn't good for you."

"You're not answering the question."

"Selene, that's only the worst-case scenario, one situation in many -"

"Answer my question, Rotom. Answer me, dammit!"

"…"

"If you can't, then answer this one: How many immigrants have completed the Island Challenge?"

"… You can't expect me to know that."

Selene let out a dark, cold chuckle. "That bad, huh?"

"Selene -"

"You can't lie to me, can you? So the best you can do is omit the information. The number must be really low, right? What happened to them? Who are they? What are their stories? Are they even still here?"

"Selene, you're getting hysterical, please… Your blood pressure and heart rate is starting to increase -"

"Why shouldn't I be hysterical?" the girl shouted into the night, heart full to the brim with instinctual fear and anger. "There's nowhere for me to run and hide. Running away isn't even an option at this point. As much as I want to, I can't!"

She really couldn't, Selene thought morbidly. She was all but locked into this path at this point, for better or for worse. Gods, what awful path she had ahead of her.

"...From a practical standpoint, it's not possible. We just moved here. Even if I could leave, all I'd be doing is dumping problems onto people like the professor and Hau, and they deserve so much better than that."

"But Selene, getting hysterical over something you can't change -"

"Sometimes, you can't help but be afraid of the inevitable!" the girl snapped, whirling around to glare at Rotomdex. "I know that life isn't supposed to be easy, but that doesn't mean I want to grit my teeth at this shitty fate that's been handed to me for no good reason." She couldn't help the urge to start pacing around. The girl was just so full of anxiety, and she needed somewhere for it to go. "I know that there's nothing I can do about Tapu Koko. I know that people will judge me for not being their definition of Alolan. But Rotom, for better or for worse, I need to become Alolan, and I'm afraid of what I'll become once the dust settles. I hate that - knowing that I'll change. Sometimes, when the inevitable comes, you dread it with all your heart. You wish that you'd die before it arrives. But no matter how unpleasant it may be, you usually end up in one piece. At the very least, that's what it's like for humans."

Rotom, beneath her expectant glower, shied back, shied back like her mother involuntarily did (And oh how that bright smile had withered away like autumn leaves!) when forced to confront her child in those weeks after her dewgong had died. Are you scared of me now, Rotom? Selene thought, seeing the reflection of hell in her eyes upon the pokedex's screen. Should the good, little Alolan child be above tantrums like this?

"When Isolde was dying, I wasn't thinking about what would happen after. I couldn't comprehend it. It was a future unimaginable to me -" There was a tired, bitter, defeated smile on her face now. "But that future is one that I'm living right now. I didn't know that things would turn out like this. I wasn't ever prepared for something like this."

"When you put it like that…" Rotomdex said slowly. "...Are you implying that you resent how things have turned out since then?"

A silence came over the night, and Selene did not say anything. Rotom fidgeted nervously, fluttering so brightly in the dark like illumise and volbeat.

"I… I honestly don't know. There's a lot to consider with a question like that. Is the answer something that really matters in the end?" Selene argued, not sure what she believed anymore.

She felt like dust drifting aimlessly through the air, with no sense of direction or purpose without something external pushing her along. After all, she was helpless, useless, meaningless -

No, don't think that, you coward. You need to live and remain accountable for the choices you've forced others into. Don't you dare run away -

"I guess I'm just trying to say that there's a lot of things that I can't exactly fight against: Tapu Koko's will, how the islanders may perceive me because of my birth, that I must go do the island challenge. But the things I can affect - that sort of responsibility scares me the most. The me who will exist when all of this over… A part of me never wants to meet that person I will be if I ultimately fail."

"That might not come to pass, Selene," Rotomdex said quietly.

"But it could."

(And it could, that treacherous voice within told her again and again.)

I'm not dead, I think! My health took an exceptional turn for the worst over the past few months, and my condition only started to improve as of now.

... There's a part of me that gets a bit downtrodden, sometimes. This chapter started as 8K, and it ended up a whooping 13K behemoth, not to mention the second half I cut off from this (since I was starting to go nuts from editing). This was perhaps the first big segment I was excited to share, but I spent probably more hours staring at the draft because I was so frustrated that it never seemed good enough.

...I still don't think it is, but I'm at peace with it now. That and very, very tired.

Just one more chapter til Ilima's trial, I swear! Thank you so much for your patience and reading thus far.

I think I've dropped enough hints this chapter about what will happen in the next one. But for one explicit hint, let's just say that Alola's use of technology is... creative in enforcing its values, to say the least.