The group met Kiawe at Heahea City, mostly known as a paradisiacal tourist location with big hotels and all sort of luxury attractions for those who could actually afford them. Lillie could be one of those people, and she wouldn’t have had any problem inviting her friends, who were somehow fascinated by the sights. Still, none of them were interested in those things, especially Selene. After all those months, she appreciated the simple live she enjoyed so far, interacting with Pokémon and nature, going to a normal school with nice kids. Actually, she was more excited for seeing Kiawe’s home for the first time and she didn’t have to wait too long for that to happen.

At some distance from Heahea City, completely contrasting with the urban nature of the city, Paniola Town was located. Wooden houses, hay roofs and lots of fences with Pokémon grazing calmly while enjoying sunlight and the light breeze from the prairies. Setting a foot in that place already made Selene feel she had transported to a whole new world of farmers, where time flew at a completely different and slow pace. Their trip was not over yet, since Kiawe’s house was outside of the town, being one of the bigger ranches in the area. The sight completely amazed the children. Mudbray, Miltank, Tauros… They had never seen so many Pokémon together in one single location, so close to them that they could touch them just by extending their hands. And they surely would have their chance to do so.

“We gotta eat well for all our work tomorrow, got it?”, asked Kiawe.

As part of their ‘deal’, Kiawe invited his friends to sleep in his house and taste some of the handmade products his family sold, but they all would have to lend a hand with the farm the following day. Not that the kids were against the idea, actually looking forward to work in the farm while eating along with Kiawe’s parents and little sister. Their initial excitement was not so apparent the next morning. It was still dark, but they all had to wake up already. Their work began at sunrise, but they were still half-asleep. Farmer’s life was hard.

There were a lot of tasks to take care of at the farm. Even though from the outside they could all be grouped as ‘tending the Pokémon’, there were lots of factors to pay attention to. Bringing them the right food and fresh clean water, gathering them all at one place to graze, cleaning them while paying attention to their individual particularities (some Pokémon liked water and others didn’t)… Selene wondered about how Kiawe could do that every single morning before leaving to school. Still, even though that work has hard and tiring, all the children enjoyed it, seeing it as a different way to get close to Pokémon they were not used to. Even Professor Kukui joked about it, saying “A valuable lesson indeed!”.

The morning passed by quickly while doing all those chores, but that was just one of the plans for the day. After sharing a succulent lunch with Kiawe’s family again, they were ready for the main goal of that trip: visiting the Ruins of Life, home of the Guardian Pokémon Tapu Lele. Not the most accessible place, according to the information Professor Kukui got from Olivia, the Kahuna of Akala Island. Even though she couldn’t accompany them in that occasion, she gave precise instructions to the group so they could venture into the jungle and find the right path that led them to the ruins. The group wasn’t worried about getting lost: if the worst happened, Kiawe could fly away with Charizard and get help. It wasn’t an easy trek, but after an exhausting hour or so, they arrived at their destination.

Taking away the thick trees and vegetation, the place looked rather similar to the Ruins of Conflict. An old building made out of gray blocks, covered in moss and vines. And still, they could all feel its imposing essence just by looking at it. Nobody would dare to make all the way to that place if they didn’t have a good reason. Just like them all. After contemplating the scene for a while, they looked around, but there were no signs of Tapu Lele.

“It doesn’t seem to be around here, right, Professor?”, asked Mallow while looking around.

“Maybe we can find somethin’… Why don’t we split and look for clues?”, suggested Kukui.

Said and done, the group split and scattered around the entrance, looking for any evidence about the whereabouts of the Pokémon. They didn’t feel the need to go inside such a sacred place as the ruins, but after looking for a while, they found nothing.

“Nothing here…”, murmured Lillie to herself. Then, she looked at Selene from the distance, who was looking between some bushes, and shouted: “Selene, any luck over there?”.

“No, nothing”, answered back Selene. “Honestly, if it’s as evasive as Koko, it won’t be easy to find- WOOOOAAAAH!”.

“Selene! Are you…”, tried to say Lillie, but what she saw turned her silent.

Just when Selene turned her head around to look at Lillie, she saw something huge floating at a few centimeters away from her face, so big and black that made Selene jump back and fall on the ground. At some distance, the girl could see it with more clarity: a big oval-shaped Pokémon, its body hidden in a pink cocoon with tribal motives and a pair of tiny wings in its back, slim black arms and a huge head with big eyes and what seemed like two locks falling at the side of its face, her head crowned with a pink helmet. Selene had a slight suspicion that was immediately confirmed when everybody else gathered around the girl and the creature.

“It’s Tapu Lele…”, murmured Mallow in shock.

The recently-arrived Guardian of Akala Island turned around gracefully, looking at all the children and Kukui before staring at Selene again and giggling. Maybe it found Selene’s image funny, laying on the dirt and grass with shocked face. The girl stood up slowly and tried to approach the Pokémon, feeling in her gut the pressure from the words she wanted to say to that creature. However, just after one step, Tapu Lele flew around and went towards a clearing that led inside the jungle. Tapu Lele remained there, floating in a funny and somehow taunting way, as if trying to catch everybody’s attention.

“Does it want us to follow it?”, asked Sophocles confused.

“We should be careful”, warned Lillie. “It’s said Tapu Lele can be kind sometimes, but cruel as well. I read it in a book”.

“Not that we got much of a choice, right? It’s obviously provoking us”, commented Lana.

Lana was right. The Pokémon was inciting them to follow it inside the jungle, but nobody could be sure about what it was thinking. It could very well be a trap. Selene doubted for a moment. She wanted to chase it and find answers, but she didn’t want to get herself and her friends in danger. She looked at them all, not saying anything, asking instead with her eyes. All the kids and the professor smiled at her and nodded, determined to go with her to the end. Not that Selene expected a different answer from them. Thus, everybody began running towards the Pokémon and, just as they imagined, the creature ran away, heading through a road deeper into the jungle. Sometimes, Tapu Lele turned around and waited before running away again when the group got closer.

After a few minutes, the path opened up, revealing a new area within the jungle. It was a big open area surrounded by trees. There were no buildings at all, but there was a large rectangular area on the ground covered in blocks and tiles, similar to those that made up the sanctuary, with some columns surrounding the area. The place was next to a cliff that showed a beautiful sea scenery. That place felt familiar, as if…

“This is… a Pokémon battleground?”, asked Kukui surprised.

Indeed, the place had all the elements of a modern stage where Pokémon battles took place, but all of them designed with more rudimentary materials. There were even some big stairs that seemed to serve as the benches for people to watch the battle. Everybody wondered why Tapu Lele brought them to such a place, but their questions were quickly answered when the Pokémon descended from the sky and stopped at the center of the stage, staring at Selene intensely and waving its hand, asking the girl to approach it. Everybody understood it quickly: Tapu Lele was challenging Selene to a Pokémon battle.

“Be careful, Selene”, said Kukui. “Tapu Lele is a Psychic and Fairy-type Pokémon. Jagi’s at a complete disadvantage ‘ere. It’s gonna be a tough battle”.

Fighting a Guardian was not on the list of ‘most exciting things’ Selene wanted to do in Alola, but there didn’t seem to be any other way of moving forward. The girl grabbed the Poké Ball she always wore on her belt, the one containing her dear friend Jagi, and stared at it in silence. Somehow, she could feel the Pokémon looking at her, barking excitedly, as if saying “We can do it!”. That small gesture gave the girl the confidence she needed, making her smile.

“Don’t worry, Professor. We’ll give it our all!”, exclaimed Selene.

Selene ran towards the stage, leaving everybody behind, finding a place where they could sit down and watch the battle. The girl moved to one side of the battlefield, with Tapu Lele doing the same in the opposite direction. With a swift move, the girl threw her Poké Ball into the air and released Jagi onto the stage, the Pokémon barking happily and skipping around. Her intuition was correct: her partner was ready to take on that challenge, no matter how hard it could be. Both sides looked at each other in silence for a few seconds. The Guardian might look cute on the outside, but Selene could feel an aura around it that, along with its eyes, sent a clear message: it was going to take that battle seriously. On the side, the professor walked forward, raised his hand and claimed:

“The battle between Akala Island’s Guardian Tapu Lele and… contestant Selene begins… now!”.

As soon as Professor Kukui lowered his hand, marking the beginning of the battle, Tapu Lele screamed loudly, releasing a pink aura that engulfed the whole battle stage. Selene could perceive something in that aura, as if she was floating in the air. But the real effect was more evident in her rival, a surge of power emanating from its body. The Guardian put its hands together, forming light orbs that shot towards Jagi. A mere order was enough for the dragon to avoid them swiftly and run towards Tapu Lele. Jagi jumped, closing her paw and preparing a Mach Punch. The jump and direction were precise, it was surely going to hit. However, Tapu Lele began glowing, and somehow, Jagi froze midair a few centimeters away from her rival. It didn’t matter how much she kicked, she couldn’t release from Tapu Lele’s energy. It didn’t need to do anything but move its eyes to throw Jagi strongly onto the ground, harming her considerably. Selene worried for a few seconds, but when the dragon stood up again, she sighed in relief.

Trainer and Pokémon were determined to win that battle. However, no progress was made during a long time. They could more or less avoid the Guardian’s ranged attacks, but the moment Jagi got closer to her rival, Tapu Lele used her psychic powers to throw her away violently. Selene tried to come up with any possibilities, but she was getting more desperate by the second. And at one point, the dragon laid on the ground, already tired from that continuous hammering. It was at that moment that the girl realized there was no way of winning that battle. The Guardians were very powerful and she was barely a newbie Trainer. What could she do? If the only way of getting answers was through victory, then it was not going to happen at all.

Her friends and Kukui could see it from the distance. Selene’s eyes were full of sadness and regret. That was the face of someone who accepted defeat. No Trainer that cared about their Pokémon liked seeing their friends being hurt. And considering how much Selene cared about Jagi all that time, it was proving to be more painful than she could endure. They saw Selene picking up her Poké Ball, ready to call Jagi back. Nobody was going to say anything. They understood her pain very well. With her eyes closed, Selene was about to call Jagi back when:

“Look!”.

Kiawe’s scream made Selene open her eyes and look forward. Even with all her injuries, Jagi was doing her best to stand up again, her determined eyes focused on Tapu Lele. The Pokémon was showing a fighting spirit that Selene had never seen before, but she couldn’t understand why. The only thing the girl wanted was for the fight to stop at all.

“Jagi, stop! That’s enough! You don’t have to do this!”, exclaimed Selene with some tears in her eyes.

“Raaaaargh!”.

Selene was taken aback when she heard Jagi barking at her. The Pokémon looked at her trainer, continuously barking, trying to communicate with her. During her “speech”, Jagi showed her claws and shook her scales. There was something strange. The dragon was just barking, but Selene could hear her partner’s feelings.

“You… you want to help me… just like I did to you?”, muttered Selene in shock.

During all those past weeks, they were inseparable. Selene put all her effort into helping Jagi being happy again, and especially, being her true self. The female Jangmoo she was always meant to be. They played a lot, they learned from each other. The Pokémon was thankful for everything. And then, Jagi knew very well how important it was for Selene to chase the Guardians and find the truth about herself. The dragon was willing to do everything for her, but she couldn’t do it alone. Just like Jagi trusted Selene, the Pokémon needed her Trainer’s trust. Selene still didn’t understand why everybody was willing to help her to that extent, but it was just like the professor told her. Friends help each other and it was okay to be helped when needed. The girl dried her tears and nodded.

“Got it. I’ll leave this to you. We’ll forfeit only when you want”.

Knowing that her trainer trusted her, Jagi barked happily before turning her face to Tapu Lele. She tried to walk, but she was quite weak. Without showing any pity, Tapu Lele threw another light orb that hit Jagi, making her roll on the ground. Still with her Poké Ball in her hand, Selene hesitated. She didn’t want Jagi to get more hurt, but she respected her Pokémon’s wish. More than that, she actually wished to do more for her friend. They were a team. They were fighting together. And so, gathering all her courage, she screamed:

“YOU CAN DO IIIIIIIIT!”.

Jagi heard Selene’s voice loud and clear. The Pokémon made one more effort to stand up and then:

“RAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”.