They of the Sun
Chapter Ten: Just Be Wherever You Are

        There was something about being surrounded by a field of flowers that reminded me of Sinnoh... Something I couldn't quite get a grasp on but maybe it wasn't anything important...

       I plucked at the vegetation at my feet, watching as Wicked and Pan flew about... the sentient dust bunny jumping about trying to join in on their fun. It took all my focus to tune out the others... their laughs and screams.

       Something about this... made me feel nostalgic? Like I had sat here a million times... the same sun shining, the same weeds brushing against my legs. Hau and Sen had toned it down now giggling to themselves, sitting in the grass with Lillie slightly further away. I liked it this way... this gap between us. I could hear the tune from the ukulele one of them was playing.... and a voice singing.

  Why don't you just let yourself be wherever you are?

      ...This was the absolute last place I wanted to be...

      There was a buzz from my bag, warning me of Rotom waking. I must've underestimated how far away the rest of the group was from me because it had flashed a picture of us all neatly in the same frame. I was up in an instant grabbing the possessed machine, jabbing at the screen in a hopeless attempt to delete the picture. Rotom only giggled.

      Lillie's confused face, Sen with his mouth open to sing, and Hau smiling as always... and me with a distant, grumpy look. I huffed letting go of it as it slipped back into my bag, still snickering. Just as I went to open my mouth to ask if this was going to take much longer, there was the roar of a cheering crowd. Lillie scrambled up immediately, calling for Nebby to get back in the bag.

     This was like one of those nightmares where you're in front of a crowd, about to sing or give a speech and you're as nude as a newborn baby. People popped up from everywhere like a swarm of Combed and through the entrance of the MeleMele Meadow came the pounding of drum... Hala in the lead. He was chanting a tune I couldn't quite identify but it was sickeningly uplifting. As I stood, something odd caught my attention.

       On top of a cliff stood the two strange presences... watching; I couldn't tell with what expressions they wore... but I could tell you Zossie was bouncing around like a Spoink. It's like everyone was invited. All of this was one huge humiliating piece of garbage. And I'm the Trubbish playing around in it.

The townspeople gathered around us and Hala blabbed about the Grand Trial.

      "Prove your worth, your ability to this passage of rite, the Grand Trial. We battle now under the setting sun, for it will rise again on they of the sun and it will set on they of the moon. The one and the same light."

        His eyes were locked on me, serious but also... sort of mischievous? Like he knew something I didn't... I looked backed towards Hau, Sen, and Lillie. Since Sen and Lillie weren't in on the Trial Challenge it was between Hau and I; we locked eyes and his shit-eating grin told me he wasn't budging. Arceus only knows I wasn't going first. I extended my arm to him, letting him take it although I hated the feeling of flesh on flesh. Too close... too intimate. I inwardly cringed. I locked my grip around his, ensuring he wouldn't slip as I pulled him up. And over.

       There was an unavoidable silence as everyone had watched me dupe the grandson of a Kahuna. I could feel the eyes boring into me, it was kind of anxiety inducing, but a part of me couldn't help except smirk.

      "You thought."

      Sen let out a laugh as his best friend and been brought down to the ground in one fell swoop. It took Hau a moment to push himself up... he seemed to be pissed until he turned around to face me with a grin. "Nice one."

       He stood, gathering himself together. His smile never wavered off his face... but definitely changed from goofy to determined as he summoned his partner.

      I felt like he shouldn't really like me, but he still came around... and it wasn't something I understood... or really wanted to ask about.

•

       "Will you shut it!" The redhead snapped, slamming the side of her fist against a wall. Drawing in attention like a judge with their gavel. She turned to face Charon, the petrified looking old man, with pure fire in her eyes. "The boss is the only one in the world allowed to order me around! You can keep quiet with me."

      I couldn't help but crush the freshly-picked flowers in my hand... because it was always this way...

•

      "Pan! Now!" I blinked back into focus, the battling before me having been a blur. I was distracted... I was losing. The memories seem to come at the most inconvenient times.

      I could see the hardened look on her face soften as she watched me pass... her steel-y eyes no longer looked like she was forged from stone. The Commander tugged me along, but I kept my eyes glued to her. Resentment growing.

      She just had to ruin our fun.

     I grit my teeth in focus. I hated the scent of flowers. Sickeningly sweet; a bitter reminder that my life was never and would never be that way. I wish I could pour my energy into Pan... give him the boost he needed as he was knocked back towards me in a cloud of pollen. I wasn't here and I needed to be... but that conflicted with the inner notion of not wanting to be here.

      Please. "Peck!"

     He was bruised and cut. He had lumps and struggled to catch air beneath his wings. The sun was beating down with no mercy. But he moved anyway. Pan pushed through, meeting Crabrawler's punch in a flash of light. A force of energy pushed us all back. I closed my eyes to avoid pollen. Fucking Giratina, I didn't want to open them again. Or breathe.

        Oops. There I went being angsty again. I took a deep breath, unsure of what I was going to see. Everything seemed still as cheers around me began. The light hit my pupils with a flutter of my eyelids and I could see again. There stood Pan white wings outstretched, his whole body shaking... but different? His coat was darker, he wasn't as round... and he looked so edgy. (how fitting...)

        I felt a small smile form on my lips as the realization hit me that I had just won. I tugged it back the moment Hala began to speak. Because it really didn't matter... hundreds of people before me had passed the Grand Trial. I wasn't anything special. As stated previously.

         The sky was a dark blanket when I found myself sitting on a shifty little boat... my mother and the whole of Iki town standing on the marina to send us off. My mother, as much of a fake as she could be, held me close. I hadn't seen her with tears in her eyes for so long... I couldn't open my mouth to say something sarcastic. All of this was wearing my sass out...

      I stayed as far away from the railings as possible because being surrounded by this much water was enough to make me fucking flip shit. I examined the bracelet Hala had given me instead, the stone Tapu Koko had dropped faceted into the center. I don't know what possessed me to set it on my wrist instead of chucking it into the ocean.... I hated both equally... Something made me look up at the hundreds of billions of stars looming over me, the scent of the salty ocean water left me slightly nauseous. I let myself drift off into memories of flowers, the fatigue overcoming me.

       Sen was singing again, his voice was light- like the plucking of his ukelele strings...

      Isn't this such a beautiful night?

     Whoa, we're underneath a thousand shining stars...

    Isn't nice to find yourself somewhere different?

    Whoa, why don't you let yourself just be wherever you are...