Hapu pointed at a small corner of the cave, but it was too far for Selene to see anything. Noticing that, Kukui took out a pocket spyglass from his coat and handed it over to the girl. Now that she could see better, she knew what Hapu meant: slowly, a small Jangmo-o walked slowly outside from the depths of the cave. It seemed to look at the grown-ups askance, as if trying not to be detected, and walked slowly away from them. It was then that the girl noticed something: its claws and the scale in its head were chipped.

“Are those injuries?”, asked Kukui to Hapu, which made it clear to Selene that the professor had noticed those chips as well.

“I thought it could be because of training, but I’m not sure anymore. You’ll see why”, explained Hapu.

They all kept observing that Jangmo-o as it continued its sneaky journey towards a group of dragons that were building a nest together. As it approached the group, the others exclaimed happily, letting it join them in their play.

“Aw, that’s so cute”, murmured Selene while watching the scene.

“Wow, it was true! It’s playing with them”, commented Kukui in surprise.

Seeing that reaction, Selene looked at the professor with confusion. What was so strange about that Pokémon playing with the others? However, both he and Hapu seemed to focus on their own conversation.

“Not just playing”, added Hapu. “Whenever possible, it joins the girl group and do stuff with them. At first I observed it playing with the boys sometimes, but it never felt comfortable. And one day, it was just like this”.

“So it is not an isolated situation. And looks like all Jangmo-o accepted the reality. What about the others”, asked Kukui.

“Hakamo-o focus on their own stuff and leave children alone. Among grown-ups, it’s fifty-fifty”, answered Hapu.

It was hard for Selene to follow their conversation. She still didn’t know why that Jangmo-o was so peculiar, but it was obvious that Kukui and Hapu knew it.

“I don’t get it, Professor. Why is it so strange that it’s building a nest with the other Pokémon?”, asked Selene.

The professor was so absorbed in his conversation that he had forgotten about Selene, her question catching him off-guard. For a moment, Selene could see that the professor was doubting, still not sure how to explain it to the girl.

“It’s not strange actually, but it’s… uncommon”, explained Kukui. “I know this happens with other Pokémon species, but not with them. You see…”.

However, the professor couldn’t keep talking, his words interrupted by a scandalous yelling coming from the cave. Kukui, Selene and Hapu looked back at the cave and saw one Kommo-o, or more like THE Kommo-o, a bit bigger than the others and with a defiant look in its eyes. All the other Pokémon stepped away from it as it walked, like showing respect towards it.

“Is that the leader?”, asked Kukui nervously.

“Yeah, but he’s not usually like that!”, exclaimed Hapu. “Although I’ve been hearing that voice lately. It had to be him”.

That Kommo-o looked around and then layed his eyes on the group of Jangmo-o that were building the nest. He left out another roar, as intense as the previous one, that made all the children run away except for the Jangmo-o the group was observing. That little one stepped back to the wall and crawled, its eyes showing immense fear as the big dragon walked toward it.

“No way! Is it angry because of that?”, exclaimed Kukui.

“At this rate, he’s going to attack it!”, warned Hapu.

However, all those comments didn’t reach Selene. The girl remained silent, looking at the scene. Looking at that little Jangmo-o, so scared in front of the leader of the pack. She couldn’t understand. It wasn’t doing anything wrong. It was just playing. Why was the other one attacking? Why was nobody else protecting her? It was alone, in front of that danger… and something burned inside Selene, The urge to stay by its side, to rescue that little Pokémon and protect it… no matter what.

“Don’t… Don’t you dare!”, shouted Selene as she began running suddenly.

“Selene, wait!”, exclaimed Kukui while extending his arm, but he couldn’t catch the girl in time.

Selene couldn’t hear the screams from Kukui and Hapu. She couldn’t listen the roars of the Pokémon. Everything blurred in her eyes except one thing: Jangmo-o. She might not be very athletic, but she used all her strength to run as fast as she could, each second feeling like an eternity. The distance that separated her from the Pokémon felt like an infinite trail. She just blinked once and suddenly, she had that Pokémon right at reach. A few meters away, Selene jumped and covered Jangmo-o with her whole body. Feeling her touch, the Pokémon and the girl made eye contact. The Pokémon was shocked at seeing a human being, but didn’t try to run away. The girl, sweating and panting, was looking at it with kindness.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you”, said Selene with a gentle voice.

Selene looked back at the Kommo-o. It was big from afar, but now that she had him in front of her, that beast was gigantic, especially because she crawled on top of Jangmo-o. However, the Pokémon was frozen: the sudden appearance of a human shocked him so much that he didn’t know what to do. But then, regaining his composure, he screamed again and raised its claw, ready for an attack. The girl knew she couldn’t do anything else, willing to protect the little Pokémon with her body. But then:

“Slow down!”

Out of nowhere, two light flashes appeared between Selene and Kommo-o, revealing two new Pokémon that the girl hadn’t seen yet. One was a bronze-and-black-colored horse with braids in its head, while the other looked like a big rock statue with a round chest and huge arms. Suddenly, Hapu appeared running and stood in front of Kommo-o.

“You know very well not to meddle with me, fella”, claimed Hapu looking at Kommo-o with a menacing gaze.

Nobody moved nor said anything. All Selene felt was her heart beating fast against Jangmo-o’s skin. Each second was a slow as the previous one. The girl understood why Hapu was the Kahuna, she had that aura that could stop even that Kommo-o. Slowly, the creature lowered its claw, admitting its defeat. However, it screamed loudly one last time before turning around and leaving. The other Pokémon, who had been looking at the whole scene with scared eyes, did the same, following their leader. Everybody except Jangmo-o, who instead of trying to walk after them, it lowered its head and wailed.

“Wait, where are they going? And why isn’t Jangmo-o going with them?”, asked Selene with confusion.

While all of them kept looking at the pack leaving into the cave, Hapu sighed and said:

“Because… it has no pack… no more”.

After all the Pokémon were gone, Hapu and Kukui took a better look at Selene and Jangmo-o. The girl was fine, just a few scratches on her knees, but the same couldn’t be said for the Pokémon. A closer look revealed that the Pokémon already had some injuries, probably from previous attacks from the leader. The professor urged everybody to run back to Seafolk Village and visit the Pokémon Center. By the time they arrived there, it was already getting dark. Jangmo-o was taken inside the facilities and since nobody else could go inside, they decided to have dinner right there while they waited. However, Selene was so worried about the Pokémon that she didn’t have much appetite. Instead, even though she couldn’t do anything else, she sat down on a bench close to the door Jangmo-o was taken. On their side, Kukui insisted Hapu to go back home while they waited there, promising to share news if something happened.

After bidding farewell to the Kahuna, Kukui went back to Selene. It was obvious that the girl felt sad. That had been a dangerous situation, but the girl was willing to do that for that wild creature. That showed the professor how much her bond towards Pokémon had grown in such a short time. Still, it had been a while since he saw the girl that down.

“Hey, Selene. Feeling okay?”, asked Kukui.

Selene didn’t know what to answer. Instead, she sighed and said:

“I’m sorry, Professor”.

“Why?”, asked Kukui.

“I promised you not to get in danger during this trip and, at first chance, I do this. I’m sorry, I just… couldn’t stop myself”, explained Selene.

From all the things he expected to hear, he didn’t expect that to be the first thing that worried Selene. While he was concerned, he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Sure, that was crazy! But ya know… this is what living with Pokémon is: humans and Pokémon help each other when needed and you did right”, explained Kukui. “I would be mad if you had no reason, but you wanted to save that Pokémon. You’re not the only one who would do that. Just… think a plan next time, got it?”.

Kukui patted Selene’s head, making her giggle. She prepared herself for a severe scolding, and somehow, she felt she deserved that. Still, she was grateful that the professor was that kind. Then, her mind went back to Jangmo-o and that incident.

“I still don’t get it. What happened back there”?, asked Selene. “Why was that Kommo-o that angry? Why did it try to attack Jangmo-o?”.

Kukui’s face turned serious. Of course, it was normal that Selene was curious about all that, especially because he didn’t get to explain the reason of their research. The professor sighed and scratched its head.

“You see… with most Pokémon species, they are usually divided in male and female. However, there are Pokémon that go beyond that limit. There are Pokémon that are none of them and there are species that, no matter how their body looks, they act their own way. There are male Pokémon that look female and female Pokémon that look male. Jangmo-o was like that”, explained Kukui.

In her head, Selene remembered the conversation between Kukui and Hapu at the mountain, about how it played a lot with the girls and was not comfortable with the boys. At first she didn’t understand, but somehow, Kukui’s explanation gave her a clear picture in her mind.

“You’re saying… Jangmo-o played with the girls because she was a girl, but her body looked more like a boy?”, asked Selene.

“Essentially… yeah!”, answered Kukui, surprised by how quickly Selene understood it. “It wouldn’t be strange that a male Jangmo-o could help sometimes, but that one… she really felt more integrated with the other female ones. She was one more of them in her mind and heart, even if her body had these differences”.

It really made sense for Selene. The way that Jangmo-o was playing happily with the other female ones and how much she enjoyed it… it was clear for the young girl that Jangmo-o was one more girl in the pack.

“But then… why that made the Kommo-o angry?”, asked Selene worried.

“Well, as we said, a big part of the pack accepted Jangmo-o as a girl. The leader, though…”, answered Kukui with concerned voice. “The thing is, there are species in which this situation is much more normal while it’s not that common in others. That Kommo-o probably never saw something like this and… he didn’t want to accept it”.

“Well, that Kommo-o is a jerk!”, insulted Selene while grumping.

“Sure he is. But those packs have a strong hierarchy: the only way to oppose the leader is being stronger. Nobody wanted to face him so… they all left Jangmo-o alone”, said Kukui with sadness.

Alone. That word made her remember her first day at the hospital. She was alone, not knowing everybody else. But quickly, Professor Kukui was there to help her, as well as Officer Jenny. And then all her friends in the class. She found people to help her when she was alone… but Jangmo-o didn’t have that luck. Was that the reason she rushed towards the Pokémon? It was true, she couldn’t stand seeing that creature alone. That was why she wouldn’t leave that bench until it got better.

“What’s going to happen to Jangmo-o?”, asked Selene.

“Dunno. Let’s wait first until it comes out of the clinic, got it? I’ll talk to Hapu later about what to do with her. Maybe we can find her a new place”, said Kukui.

A new place. A place where Jangmo-o could be safe and play and build as many nests as she wanted. Somewhere she wouldn’t be bullied by mean Pokémon. If such a place existed, that little creature could be happy for the rest of her life. After talking so much, after letting out all her worries and thinking about that comforting idea, Selene felt tiredness engulfing her body. The little girl let her head rest on the professor’s arm and, before falling asleep, she murmured:

“I hope she… finds a happy place…”