In Tune

Threat

Charlie slapped her mouth,
Oh my gosh, what did I just do? she scolded herself, 
"I'm sorry-" she started pulling away from Kafu and rubbing her temples, Kafu looked confused, 
"What's wrong?" he asked. Charlie shook her head, 

"I just- I don't know, okay?" she sighed. Sooli and Noivern looked at each other in confusion. Charlie looked at Kafu but had to flinch away her gaze and tug at her hair.
"Listen it's just, I can't deal with that. We're research partners, and I can't live with knowing that I... forget it. We came for the flutes, okay?" she insisted. Kafu looked down with glassy eyes and nodded, scratching the back of his neck. 

Charlie turned to the box, forcing herself to reach for it and lift it off of the table. Her fingers lingered beneath the golden latch, preparing to open it. She tried to feel the excitement of unlocking the key to her research, but her mind kept spinning and after every circuit all she could think about was Kafu. 

Who was she? What had she turned into? Stringing him along, kissing him, why would she do that? That wasn't her! With a shaking hand, she began to lift the latch and her stomach twisting.
"Freeze! Put your hands where I can see 'em fellas!" 

Charlie and Kafu spun round to see that strange woman dressed in black! 
"You!" Charlie hissed and with her spare hand, pointed at the lady, "how did you know we were here?" 
She was standing on the edge of the cave, her giant Scizor behind her and her gun pointing right at Charlie. The woman smiled with her eyes. 

"Yup. It's me, hiya, dudes," she gave a friendly wave before grabbing hold of her gun with both hands, "oh and that? My good pal Juniper just so happened to have her ear on your door when you were discussing the flute, so I decided I was better equipped to steal them from you. Now, hand over that box right there. We got business with it, alright?" She took a menacing step toward the two, her gun still pointing at Charlie but her arm outstretched to take the box. Charlie scowled, she knew Juniper couldn't be trusted!
Noivern, Diggersby and Sooli screeched but where held back by the giant Scizor. Charlie looked at the box, then at the woman, then at Kafu. 

Her mind raced through the book, her brain filled with images of the instructions. Suddenly, she remembered something. 
From the first book, that she saw Kafu reading when they first met. A certain chapter of it. 

Without a second thought, she looked at the woman and held it out to her, 
"But release our pokemon first," she demanded. The woman rolled her eyes and gestured for Scizor to let them go. Charlie beckoned them toward her and showed them not to attack the threatening lady, whilst grabbing a hold on Noivern and spinning it to face her in front of everyone else. 

"You playin'? Hand the box over or you'll lose more than your pokemon," the woman threatened and held out her hand for the chest. Charlie, without the stranger noticing, beckoned Kafu closer to her and tossed the woman the box. The stranger grinned and put her gun away.
"Good girlie," she whispered and flipped the latch open, then began to open it. 

Charlie quickly grabbed Noiverns wings and spread them over her, Kafu and her pokemon as a blinding light began spilling out of the chest. The woman and Scizor gasped and covered their eyes, the lady dropping the box and cursing under her breath. 
"Noivern! Cover us!" demanded Charlie as she ushered the whole group past the blinded woman and- with her foot- felt around the ground until she could feel the box and slammed it closed.

Kafu pushed past Noivern and the staggering woman and scooped the chest off of the ground, 
"Sorry, but finders keepers," he chuckled and snapped his fingers. Diggersby launched for the two and punched them both in the face, knocking them down- still unable to see. Charlie grinned, 

"Find a place to trap them until we get back, Diggersby! We're counting on you!" Charlie called as she, Kafu, Noivern and Sooli all rushed back through the tunnel and into the open, leaving the woman screaming bloody murder.

"How did you know it would make that light?" shouted Kafu as they hopped onto Noivern and began flying up the altar.
"It said so in your book!" Charlie yelled back.

They landed on the platform and began to figure out a way to get the flutes out of it. It didn't take Kafu very long. He flipped the box upside-down and told everyone to cover their eyes, even covering his own with his arm. 

And with his spare hand, he unhooked the latch and the lid swung open, leaking out the same dazzling light! But this time, no one was blinded. Instead, Kafu heard the sound of the two flutes drop onto the stone ground. At the sound of that, Kafu slammed the chest shut and uncovered his eyes. 

"You can open your eyes now," he called over to Charlie. Charlie looked down at the two flutes. One blue, one orange. Both with their respective symbols attached to them. Only they didn't smile at each other, they couldn't bring themselves to. Instead, they just wandered over to their platforms and held the flutes to their lips. 

"Hold yourself there," a voice called. Charlie scowled, it was that woman's voice. Charlie looked around and saw a hand slap onto the rock cliff, and the lady hoisted her self up onto the mountain top, her scarf fell off her mouth. 
"So you managed to get past my pokemon?" Kafu shouted and scowled. The woman laughed, 
"Oh no, that wasn't me. That was my Zoroark, Zoro. It escaped and told me that it had failed. But now, you're with the real me." 

Charlie scowled,
"You're too late, we got the flutes," she snapped and gave a signal to Kafu. 
Delicately, they both began playing. They didn't even have to know the notes, they just came out naturally. Blue light began racing up the main wall of the altar, all the way up to the top-! 

Before darting down to the carvings on the floor. The dazzling blue light darted from one corner to the other until the entire symbol of the sun was filled. 
Then an explosion of light and darkness burst from the ground, swirling around in a swarm of dust as if-

"It's summoning Solgaleo or Lunala!" shouted Kafu over the sound of the swirling mass. The strange woman grinned at this and pulled what looked to be an empty wine bottle out from her bag and held it aloft until it was filled with the dust.

"What are you doing?" Charlie shouted at the woman corked the bottle and sent out her Alakazam. She laughed for a moment, 
"I guess you nerds aren't as smart as I thought! This is why I wanted the flutes, babe! To get a piece of the multiverse! It's just a bonus that this happens to be the stuff that actually SUMMONS an Ultra Wormhole!" she laughed, Charlie shook her head in horror, "but I wish you good luck. Now that you've opened a wormhole, any thoughts on how to seal the massive rip in reality you just pulled?"

Charlie looked upwards, as giant claws began to seep through the sky and rip it open, revealing the Lion pokemon she saw in the mural and an Ultra Wormhole! 
"I guess you didn't think of that, did ya? Well, this has been fun. But I gotta dash before the whole 'Ultra Apocalypse' thing happens. Sayonara, suckers! Alakazam, use teleport!" the woman commanded and with that, she was gone. 

But the lion certainly wasn't. 
"Solgaleo!" Kafu shouted. Charlie rushed over to Kafu and broke down, 
"Kafu! I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! I didn't think of a way to close the Ultra Wormhole once it was open! I'm sorry for everything! For making you think I was your friend, for stealing from you to leading you on and for kissing you! It's all my fault!" She collapsed over Kafu, crying into his shoulder over the loud noise of Solgaleo roaring- most likely out of annoyance- and the summoning dust swirling around in a whirlwind. Kafu held Charlie's head, 

"It's okay," he whispered into her ear. Charlie looked up with wet cheeks and watery eyes, 
"I'll get us out of here." 

Kafu hoisted Charlie into his strong arms and began running for Noivern. With one of his arms, he managed to be able to reach into his pocket and pull out a petri dish and flick it open to gather one sample before sealing it closed and dropping it back into his pocket. Quickly he raced past being underneath Solgaleo and jumped onto Noiverns back, laying a weak Charlie down in front of him, 
"Hold on, ok?" he whispered. Charlie just nodded and Sooli sat next to her in comfort. 

They swooped down just long enough for Kafu return an almost fainted Diggersby into its Pokeball, before shooting toward Akala Island. 
"We're safe now, Charlie," he told his research partner and tucked her single blonde strand of hair covering her face behind her ear. Charlie looked up and Kafu and smiled, before hugging him. 
"Thank you," she whispered.