Strange plants and vines slithered around my ankles as we rushed through the jungle.

My body had gone on auto-pilot as I'd heard the news from Hau; if Loa the Torracat had gone alone into the jungle, then we had to run after her.

We'd collected our things as fast as we could. Camp supplies hadn't been packed, they had been shoved inside, the tent hadn't been folded in as much as rolled into a burrito I could tie up in rope; and so we rushed after Loa's trail as soon as we were able. Hau in front, Petal the Oddish held to my chest and Oran the Dunsparce recalled in his ball, Lilliane and her Pokemon behind.

I had no idea whether the other team had followed.

If they were smart, they probably wouldn't.

Humidity had gradually set in as we went deeper and deeper through the brush, a heavy weight that seemed to stick to the clothes and skin uncomfortably. I found myself panting with exertion as we cleaved a path through thick undergrowth and under hanging vines, like a green ocean we had to cleave through - except the ocean was plants and they were so many hiding spots for a weird bug or snake to bite my leg at a moment's notice.

What we were following were nothing but embers, scorch marks, paw prints, clear signs of the Torracat's distress. At the same time, we were keeping an eye out for signs of other pokemon too; weird movement out of the corner of our eye, distant audible chittering, claw and paw marks imprinted onto the wood and ground of the surrounding jungle.

"Huff– how bad– how bad is it?" asked Lilliane.

Hau didn't stop– but he did slow down, and we heard him gulp loudly to try and bring saliva back to his parched throat. "...What?"

"Going into the Melemele jungle, off-route– huff– how bad is it?" It had been a while since we'd last heard Lilliane's voice dip into a truly fearful tone.

"It's kinda– it's– it's not good!" I snapped back in Hau's place, panic driving me forward. "It's not allowed! It's– it's dangerous, we're told. Trial-goers sometimes return here to train, but only after they've cleared two islands worth of Trials– so yes, we're really out of our depth."

Gears turned in Lilliane's head, and she almost tumbled as her foot bumped into a thick tree root. "Agh– are you sure that we can't contact the Rangers and ask them to go after her?"

I saw Hau look back and shake his head no, the mental image of telling my parents that my partner's Pokemon had run into the jungle became clear in my mind, and I decided here and there that I wanted none of it– "Absolutely not. We just need to find Loa, g-grab her, and get back– find our way back to the Route quickly, before we anger some local Pokemon, or…"

"You two can go back."

Now it was Lilliane and I's turn to look at Hau like he'd grown a second head.

He'd stopped his movement, hand against a nearby tree, eyes still scanning the ground for signs of Loa's trail. He turned to us, sporting a truly pained expression.

"This whole thing is my responsibility– my fault. I'm– I'm thankful for you two coming with me so far, but I shouldn't force you to deal with my mistakes. If you don't want to rush into danger," his eyes turned to Lilliane for a second, "then you two can make your way back to the route. I can continue alone."

"Hau, you– you don't have any Pokemon, right now." He visibly winced at my response, reality slapping him in the face. "You won't be able to defend yourself if you're attacked."

"None of us would be able to defend themselves if we're attacked by anything here."

"Still, if we stay together together, we–"

And there, a firm hand pushed me aside, Lilliane's head came into view, face red in anger; shoving herself into Hau's personal space and staring daggers at his face.

"You– you catastrophic idiot!" She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "You unbridled moron, you!"

"I– I don't understand–"

"Do not say that again, is that clear?? Stop trying to– to kill yourself constantly. We're coming with you, and that's final." She regained her composure, stepping back, straightening out the creases she'd just added to Hau's clothes. "It's as Selene said. We find Loa, grab her, and leave. That's it."

Hau's face went through a flurry of emotions; shock, shame, relief, eventually it had settled on something of a small mareepish smile.

A sleepy Petal the Oddish seemed to approve, nodding in my hold with a nasally cry.

Nowhere to go but after the feline.

"I'm still surprised the jungle hasn't started burning down." Lilliane pointed out another ember and snuffed it with a stomp of her foot.

"The Incineroar wouldn't live here if that was the case." Hau whispered back, pushing tall grass out of the way. "It's got something to do with a pact with Tapu Bulu or whatever."

"...More and more, it feels like you know things that you shouldn't be privy to. I'm starting to think that Rui really had a point there, yesterday."

Hau pouted, cheeks red. "Tell me about it."

The three of us continued our scramble through the jungle.

We'd decided to be a lot more quiet about it. As we ventured deeper and deeper, signs of other Pokemon became more and more apparent: deep, jagged claw marks into the trees, bushes that had been striped bare of their berries, shining eyes from the treetops that had us double back and find another way forward.

Loa's path was still visible to us.

Hau stopped suddenly, running his hands across a broken, low hanging-branch. We had seen an increased amount of those on the way, along with three-toed paw marks. In the distance, there was the constant hooting grunts and cries of a pack of Pokemon.

We'd all come to a realization as to who this territory belonged to– the question remained; how long we could avoid them.

"Shit, shit shit–" Hau's eyes widened and he pushed Lilliane and I back behind a small cranny formed around a mossy boulder, casting a fearful glance up into the tree tops. The three of us cowered behind the rock, Lilliane's Ledyba zipping down to join his trainer.

Silence, for a moment.

Then; faint thumping, the creaks of trees and rustle of leaves, distant hoots and growls of many creatures rushing this way at a frightening speed–

Chaos erupted as we cowered and made ourselves as small as possible. Two entities crashed nearby– one impacted a tree with a wet sound, a dark gelatinous body bending around the tree trunk before it caught itself with its many tentacles. Two blue prongs clacked erratically underneath its body as the red caps atop its wide blue head gave an eerie glow.

Another entity landed onto the ground floor with a powerful pull of its arms, swinging in from the treetops. It crashed feet and fist-first, leaving deep imprints in the earth and shaking the ground, rising its bristly hairy body and releasing a blood-curdling cry at the interloper–

In the span of a few seconds, we'd found ourselves in the middle of a territory dispute between a Tentacruel and a Primeape pack.

Many, many Pokemon accompanied the Primeape on its warpath– we dared not look up and see them but we felt them, shadows dancing across the ground, the impact and creaking of so many leaping across the treetops. Hoots and grunts echoing in the air as so many seemed set on goading the two fighters on.

The Tentacruel screeched and the Primeape hollered back louder. Then two meaty thwacks in quick succession– the Fighting type bounded forward and crashed into the jellyfish Pokemon, meaty fists crashing onto its blubbery body with impact radiating out its flesh like waves. The Tentacruel screamed - a sound so loud and strident it had me covering my ears and eyes in discomfort.

Forcing my eyes open - we needed out, as fast as possible - I witnessed Lilliane and Hau in similar states of distress. Lilliane had shrunk into a ball as Toku the Ledyba kept a tense vigil. Hau kept an eye on the action, wringing his hands, arms shaking. What we needed was an out, fast, before we were found out–

Two, three– no, four swift sounds of displaced air, a sound like blood being pumped and a guttural yell from the Mankey. Us three trainers pressed ourselves harder against the side of the rock like it was our lifeline. We heard a grunt then a creaking sound like many rubber bands being pulled, a whoosh and a crash against the ground and a shriek of pain from the Tentacruel.

"Come on, this way" whispered Hau as he pulled Lilliane and I a little further away.

The Fighting type groaned and shrunk back from the Water type in spasms – it pulled and three tentacles stuck in its body shot off, purple liquid dripping off of their pointed tips. It jerked forward and stumbled groggily as purple veins snaked down its arms.

The Water type wasn't doing that much better, large welts marking the hardened exterior of its blue domed head. Still it shot half a dozen tentacles at nearby trees and wrapped them around the trunks and branches and pulled itself in the air, and angled its body so that its two prongs faced its opponent.

Silence for a moment. The cries of the crowd had even stopped in anticipation. Mist seemed to spin and coalesce to the tip of the Tentacruel's beak, a ball of glowing blue softly forming there–

Then - whoosh-CRACK - a wave of water shot forward like a cannon and crashed against the Primeape head-on, forcing it back by a dozen feet. Water dripped down the ape's body, skin raw and red where the attack had impacted.

Before the Fighting type could recover, mist turned to frost, breath fogging up before our eyes– and twin colored beams shot off the Tentacruel's red caps. They collided with the advancing Primeape once more with a sound like glittering bells as ice caked its arms and head, movements starting to become sluggish– until it screamed and tore off a tree to use it as a shield.

The Tentacruel's Aurora Beam teetered as its bruised cap flickered in and out. The beam veered off-course, hitting an horizontal line around itself, leaving ice formations in its wake - nearly hitting us in the process! - and it righted itself in the air with a flick of its tentacles, directing all of its ire on the incoming ape.

Even as the tree cracked and split under the drop of temperature, the Primeape advanced. As frost caked the edge of its fingers and the skin turned black, it advanced. Even as he swung out the tree and took the beams head on, covering its head and face in frost, it screamed through it and crushed the Water type with its improvised weapon.

Squished under the weight, a few tentacles from the Tentacruel meekly rose to try to escape– not before the Primeape could pick its weapon and batter it away in the distance.

With another holler and a shout, the Fighting-type leaped through the jungle. In a flurry of movements, the pack of Mankey followed in their leader's wake.

…

"Are they gone?"

"...I think so," I whispered back.

Grasping Hau's outstretched hand, I pulled myself back to my feet.

Legs trembling, heart thumping in my chest, Petal the Oddish prodded me in the knee softly. I leaned down to look at them and they reached up with their leaves to wipe the tears blurring the edge of my vision. A quick hug felt so, so well deserved.

"Aw, shoot." I couldn't help but whisper out, as I saw the large hole in my shirt where nearby branches had ripped it open. That must have been while we were running through the jungle earlier, or maybe when Hau had pulled us into the underbrush just now.

"You okay?– Oh." Lilliane whipped around with initial worry– until she saw the actual damage. "This is nothing. We can fix this in a jiffy."

She wore an intensity to her eyes I had seldom seen - though she kept on wiping the tears coming down her cheeks. Her other hand gripped hard onto her backpack's bangle, knuckles white. Her own outfit had been marked with large rips and tears during our initial chase.

"Um– your whole dress is all ripped up, though… are you gonna be okay?"

"Oh, this?" She held up one long ripped up strand, letting out a 'tsk'. "It's nothing. I have plenty of dresses just like this."

This maybe wasn't the right time, but here my curiosity got the better of me– "I've always seen you wear the same thing."

That took her by surprise. Her eyes widened and a blush colored her cheeks - clearly this was something sensitive. Even Hau, who up until now had been keeping a very careful vigil, couldn't help but tilt his head and wordlessly turn his attention toward our conversation.

"It's–" and Lilliane paused, her gaze softening as she considered her outfit in tatters.

"It's my mother," she sighed out. "I have… appearances to keep, I am told. This is what my whole wardrobe is like." She fiddled with the hem of her wrecked clothes. "I, uh, I allowed myself to change it up a bit when we did the first Trial, but– when the others joined us, I couldn't risk a picture leaking out of our group– so I changed back."

"...That seems unfair," Hau replied. "You should be allowed to wear something better for hiking at least!"

Once more, Lilliane's expression took a dark turn, and we all momentarily tensed. "I have been punished for less."

Something stirred in my heart - it hurt to see her this gloomy, in a way it wouldn't with someone else.

"Do you– I don't know anything about fashion or whatever, but," she turned to me as I said that, and I felt my heart speed up in my chest. "Would you wanna try on some clothes together? We don't have to buy them, just be in a private dressing room and see what you like..?"

Her gaze turned distant. She mulled it over for a second, then softly said "I would like that very much."

Hau sighed. He took another careful look around, searching for more traces of Loa's path. "We should probably keep moving."

So all three of us came out of our hiding spot.

We rounded the bend, and–

"Uh."

Three Mankey had stayed behind.

There's a boy in our class - Spencer, a boy I had neatly filed in the 'sports-jock' box - that has a Mankey as a starter. Said Mankey is a critter that certainly has its way of worming itself into someone's heart. Even I couldn't help but crack a smile at the sight of the soft fuzzball, with his spindly furry limbs, twitchy ears and snorting nose; a creature more motivated by his stomach than he is by anything else.

What stood but ten feet from us weren't anything like Spencer's Mankey.

They stood a foot taller than the Mankey we were used to. Their fur was coarse and bristly, bald patches revealing pulsing veins, scars and welts. Their limbs looked more like tangled cords of muscle and sinew, skin taut, twitching occasionally. Pupils were narrowed to slits, the expression intense and unreadable.

Far in the distance, muffled crashes and cries echoed through the jungle. One of the Mankey turned its head toward the still ongoing battle, ears rotating to the sound.

The other two didn't share the same sentiment. They took a step closer, noses flaring and sniffing, feet stomping aggressively upon the earth.

"Alola," Hau softly said. "We don't want to intrude on your territory, here." He paused, arms raised and head lowering, trying to look small and unthreatening. "We are looking for a Pokemon that's lost a little deeper in the jungle – we just wanna find her and be out of your way."

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

That seemed enough for that distracted Mankey. It gave off a snort and turned, leaping after the rest of the pack.

The other two shared a look.

One of them took an aggressive step forward, hackles raised, sharp teeth showing under its upturned snout.

"Uh–" Hau took another step back. Lilliane held her breath. Now, it was Toku and Petal's turn to advance and protect us, putting on a brave front even though the situation didn't look good. Could we fight them, even? "Is there any way to resolve this without a fight? We'll– we'll leave, really–"

"We have berries!" I attempted to negotiate– they'd leave us alone if we just gave them a few, right? "We– we found a sitrus bush yesterday and I have one in a plastic bag, so if you just give me a second…"

Both Mankey released their tension, locking their intense eyes onto mine and waiting for me to move. I carefully removed my bag from my back, keeping my eyes on the Fighting types to study their body movement.

They watched as I zipped open my backpack, slowly moved my laptop out of the way and got the berry in a cellophane bag.

Gently, I put the berry on the ground and rolled it toward them. The lead Mankey grabbed it and gave it to its second, watching it sunk its teeth into the sweet fruit.

Then it pointed at me and grunted.

I shared a look with Hau, Lilliane and our Pokemon. "That's, uh, that's all I have so–"

The wild Pokemon now snarled and shrieked, eyes narrowing and shaking its pointer finger in my direction. It took me until I followed its finger to my bag that I realized that it meant… "My laptop ?"

It turned its palm and made a beckoning motion.

There are primal reflexes that the brain calls to in these moments of pure panic – here, there was no freaking way I would hand over my whole computer to a wild monkey in the Melemele jungle and so my entire body recoiled backwards as I shoved my laptop back in the bag, hurriedly zipping it back up and shaking my head no.

Whether that was a good idea did not cross my mind in the slightest, heart stuck in my throat at the idea of losing so much of my notes and personal stuff– and already, the Mankey barked in indignation, huffing and snorting in anger. It stomped the earth powerfully with its feet, shrieked and lurched forward to loop a furry hand around the strap of my backpack.

It pulled– and I lost my balance as I was dragged forward and fell to a knee on the jungle floor with a painful thud.

Pandemonium followed.

All of our pokemon immediately jumped to the action– with a nasally battlecry, my Oddish rushed forward to intercept– the droning sound of Lilliane's Ledyba moving closer– and just to my side, there was another thud and a yelp of pain–

Then Hau's hands shoved me back until I regained enough wits about myself to scramble backwards (my backpack still intact!) and finally get a good look at what was happening.

Hau, unbelievably, stood in a fighting stance with one fist outstretched forward, as the offending Mankey held up its bloody nose and shook in pure fury. He hopped back to narrowly avoid furious claw swipes as Toku dove in front of Hau with Reflect and barely stopped the Mankey's assault.

To its side, it looked like the other Fighting-type had given up its berry snack to rush forward– only to trip over an opportune root from Leech Seed. It stood back up with its eyes squinting in a coalescing cloud of Sweet Scent.

I got up and tried to control my hyperventilating as I focused on Petal's battle. Already the Mankey was grasping the roots of Leech Seed with one hand and ripping them off the earth, leaping toward the Oddish to pummel them into submission – "A-Acid! Wide!" – until Petal stood their ground and sprayed a splash of caustic fluid into the Mankey's strike.

Force and pressure collided in a wide spray of acid mist– the Fighting type recoiled, shaking its aching paw as my starter was thrown back. They narrowly stopped themselves from colliding a tree, feet skidding into the ground as their head sported a visible bruise.

The situation was dire but okay! Okay!! This was salvageable! "Sleep Powder, all around yourself!"

Petal shook their head to clear their dizziness, then focused, leaves blooming as a fine cloud of grey particles was puffed out; enough time for me to scramble to the side opposite our opponent.

Already it had recovered and rushed forward– only to leap, jumping over the cloud with ease and swinging itself off of low hanging branches.

So it was then that it suddenly found itself dangling there, those same branches having snaked and twisted themselves around its wrists as Petal focused on Leech Seed!

In a tumble it crashed into the cloud of Sleep Spore, huffing and puffing in exertion against its restraints as more vines moved to constrict it. It would take a little while for drowsiness to set in but it couldn't hurt to try.

For the moment, Petal had it covered – I took a quick glance toward the other fight.

The smaller Mankey was crashing its fists against the shimmering Reflect of a struggling Toku. Hau cradled his bleeding nose with a bruised fist as Lilliane held onto the boy and gave desperate orders to her pokemon. Was that a new black eye on that Mankey?

Both fighters moved in an erratic dance - the Mankey trying to gain ground and side stepping quickly, the Ledyba flying into the Mankey's attacks and blocking it on every turn. Every few strikes, Toku let his shield flicker out long enough to shoot a quick psybeam– and narrowly blocked the next attack.

The dance was tense. The Mankey was furious, unusually so, fists slamming into the Ledyba's Reflect again and again, Toku straining against the pressure. With every blow, cracks in his defense widened a little bit more, and with every volley, retaliation came a little too hastily.

"Oddish!!"

Focus! Don't stay distracted!

The lead Mankey rushed toward my Oddish in renewed fury. Its arms and legs portrayed new bruises, skin rubbed raw where its bindings had once restrained it. It seemed just as, if not more active than before– had the Sleep Powder not worked at all??

In a quick flurry of motion, its furry mitten closed over the base of my Pokemon's leaves– and immediately it raised them off the ground, over their head and slammed them into the earth.

My breath caught in my throat. It raised my starter by the root once more, cocking its head curiously at the downed pokemon.

As dust cleared off and revealed the dangling Oddish, Petal glared weakly at the offending Mankey, a spray of poisonous spores coating the arm holding them up.

One violent blur of movement, and Petal was thrown onto the ground once more.

Dirt was thrown in the brutal outburst– my Oddish now unmoving.

Wuh–

What do I do, now?

The Mankey began to approach.

Shadows of the jungle grew tall. I felt alone, helpless– last time Petal had fainted, it had been a matter of giving them a few potion sprays and access to a center not far – could we get emergency aid? Out there, in the woods?

Why did we even come here?

A few paces over, repeated strikes against a Reflect made sounds like bells ringing throughout the jungle. Toku the Ledyba struggled, exhaustion clear in his eyes, limbs trembling in exertion, no longer trading back with his opponent to focus entirely on maintaining the forcefield. His opponent grinned manically as it kept up the assault.

Lilliane and Hau watched helplessly as cracks formed across Toku's Reflect.

It made sense, in hindsight– we had no chance of fighting against denizens of the jungle, and they themselves didn't need to use complex strategies when they could just overpower their way through. What were we, if only trainers and pokemon a month into their junior Challenge?

Lucidity flashed through my brain – not a solution, but a reminder; I quickly recalled my fainted starter and brought my trembling hand to my Dunsparce's ball.

What for, Selene?

The Mankey got closer, its snorting breath within breathing distance. Its furry hand reached to me.

What do I do? This is not an animal, this is a person– a very angry one, one that wants my belongings and won't take no for an answer– I know we're here to look after Loa but for once I wish, I wish so so badly I were at home with Mom right now–

"Get the fuck OFF, you creep!!"

Out of the corner of my eye, a little furry thing with white fur and red spots just blurred into view– and the Mankey recoiled in pain, a psychic blast having hit it head on!

"Selene, you okay?" Unbelievably, I felt Tuula's hand on my shoulder, the worried pink-haired teen helping me to my feet. Shock continued its paralysis over me as I witnessed the other members of her group burst out of the jungle and into the action.

Rui's Rattata speared through my original opponent with frightening speed. The little rodent weaved its way through its legs, gnawing precisely at its ankles and wrists and drawing blood with each bite. The Mankey tried to retaliate– but its attack was sent off-kilter with a twirl of Tuula's Spinda, the Mankey's attention drawn unnaturally to its psychic sparkles and twirls.

Sawney's Grubbin practically shot out of the ground, mandibles open, and crushed them brutally over the other Mankey's leg - giving Lilliane's Ledyba an opportunity to shoot a volley of Psybeams.

"You came?" My voice felt small and weak.

Tuula's nervous glance around broke as she answered me with something of a pout. "Of course we did– you could have waited for us! Or asked us, at least."

"I thought– I thought you guys wouldn't come," gasped out Hau, disbelievingly.

"I have my beef with you, Hakalaua, but that doesn't mean I'm fucking heartless!" Rui shouted out another order to his Rattata, then held a hand for Hau to help him up. "Eugh. I would have to be a real ass to let you go alone in the woods."

With the combined effort of four Pokemon, now– we actually had enough firepower to push off our assailants. Already, I could feel Tuula's tight hold spur me forward, and four Trainers and their Pokemon followed in our path as we continued our desperate trek deeper in the jungle.

…

"Hakalaua, before we actually continue this, you're gonna have to answer me a question."

We were following Killer the Rattata's nose, now. That was how they were tracking us, once they went after us in the forest. Good thing he was here, as we had completely lost track of Loa's trail at this point.

We'd all filed in a packed line - we had a clear guide now, and no intention to stick our noses anywhere they didn't belong. Sawney and Tuula were in the back, keeping an eye out to make sure we weren't followed. Sawney practically trembled and clacked his teeth.

Hau, Lilliane and I were in the middle, with Lilliane's composure starting to break, her starter still safe in her ball and her bruised Ledyba trying his best to console her. We had stopped a minute for me to spray potion over Petal's bruised body, then back in their ball they went, safe until they could rest.

Hau stuffed a bloodied cloth into his bag - his nose bleed had finally stopped, though a black bruise remained on his face. Killer the Rattata stood in front with his trainer in tow, Rui Tuari turning to Hau with a scowl.

"Your starter– your nation-mandated golden fucking critter– ran away." Rui stopped suddenly, getting his face really close to Hau's, staring daggers into his eyes. "You being violent with your Pokemon, Hakalaua?"

"What the heck? No! I would never!" Hau couldn't look more mortified at the idea, shaking his head and waving his hands side to side.

Tension I hadn't felt dropped. Rui made a motion at his Pokemon to continue, and we all resumed our walk. "So why did she run, then?"

Hau dragged his hand over his face and gave a big sigh.

I couldn't help but listen intently.

"I think I figured it out– just after you beat me, actually," Hau began, with an unusually grave tone. "You really got me thinking, about what I wanted to do with my life beyond the challenge. What I stood for and all that."

He had taken off his bag as he spoke. Rummaging through it, he retrieved a bundle of papers– crumpled now after weeks of travel unprotected in a bag.

"So I don't know– I re-read all this stuff, here, 'cause it's bullshit that the school gave me when I was given Loa and I originally gave it a skim through. All rules and expectations and junk and–" He sighed once more, breath heavy. "I mean– this shit's heavy, you know? But a few things started to actually click."

He flipped through the pages, pointing out paragraphs of it outlined in blue. "Here, it said that Loa is, uh, 'of mature age plus one' which I understood means that she is a year older than the usual National Starter. In this other page, it's mentioned in a special note section that she is, uh, 'reassigned', and that's super weird, right?"

Nods from all around.

"And here, finally," he pointed out to a paragraph circled and outlined many times in blue pen ink, "This is the important part. Ahem. 'In the events that the applicant has failed to reach and surpass the Akala Grand Trial (equiv. to Four (4) standard issue Pokemon League Gyms) by the end of the Challenge, the applicant will have to relinquish ownership of their National Starter for reassignment.' "

Six trainers and four Pokemon blinked at once, the pin finally dropping.

A Litten – one that is proud, temperamental, stronger and older in a way younger Litten aren't. One that strives so, so hard to succeed and feels so, so much when she fails. Scared of connecting and opening up to her trainer, keeping her distance, hurt in a way that is obvious that something happened in the past we didn't know anything about.

"Loa didn't evolve early– she evolved late." I gasped it out. Everything started to make sense. "She was someone's National Starter last year. And that person didn't make it through four Trials and then the second Grand Trial– so she was taken away from them. And this year, she was 'reassigned' to you." Hau gulped and nodded.

This was– this was horror. I couldn't imagine any of my Pokemon being torn away from me.

"I– I don't know. I don't know if she ran because she felt shame at her defeat – or because I wasn't good enough of a trainer for her. But that shit doesn't matter. What matters is that she's still hurt, and she threw herself into danger." Hau turned to Rui once more, conviction returning to his voice.

"So yeah, Rui, you were right. I don't deserve a Starter like her– but her safety and happiness is still my responsibility." His knuckles clenched and he grimaced, tears brimming at the corner of his eyes. "We're going to rescue her. We're going to rescue her, and I'll ask her if– being Starter is her choice. If she'll give me another chance.

"And if she really wants to leave, then… I'll let her go."