5-6: taunt me
Nightfall had not been the mercy Selene had thought it would be. Even as the sky grew darker, the uncomfortable humidity lingering in the air refused to desist, and the Kantoan girl's skin crawled beneath what felt like an oppressive grasp she couldn't squirm her way out of.
She hated the feeling with all her heart. It made her remember angry tears that burned at her eyes she'd desperately tried to force dry and that boiling, simmering resentment which would seize her whole body. Then came that visceral (almost primal in how much she wholeheartedly despised it) disgust, as always because -
What right did she have to get so upset?
The girl couldn't help but clench her teeth violently, her head trembling from the pressure. Only her tongue, painfully pressed up against the roof of her mouth, stopped Selene from letting out a distraught scream into the abyss.
The dim light from her flashlight that only showed more and more emptiness. The labored crunch, crunch, crunch of her shoes half walking, half dragging against the dirt trail. The slight, hazy headache that was coming on. The awkwardly painful sound of every breath, every heartbeat. The battered part of her that kept reminding her over again and again that her feet ached and her backpack felt heavy, and I'm so tired, so, so tired -
It was all just so damned loud.
Selene was sorely regretting her hasty, impulsive retreat from the berry orchard. Like a child throwing an irrational, childish tantrum, she hadn't been able to steel her temper and had only made the situation far worse.
You are just a child, the bitter person in her seethed.
Would it really have to pretend she hadn't noticed the casual prejudice against her if it meant having a bed and roof over her head for the night? The orchard owner didn't necessarily have anything against her, anyway! He had praised her despite everything, considering her an exceptional -
"Ah," she said so pointlessly into the dark. "Just an exception."
Spending the rest of her life struggling to maintain that status, having to show such overwhelming merit that proved that she did have a place, making it clear that she was willing to try as hard as she could to be a "true" Alolan - all of it as an unspoken apology for the Kantoan blood flowing through her veins.
The anger came again. It left just as quickly.
In the end, Selene was only a child, and children didn't have meaningful or serious reasons for feeling angry or upset. Her feelings were merely whims that were supposed to be gone as soon as something else snatched her attention. Wasn't the mind of a child just so wonderfully carefree?
(Even so, the damage had already been done, and she did not, could not forget.
And sometimes, Selene wondered why adults treated children like an alien species completely separate from them. As if children weren't people too, only in smaller, more inexperienced bodies that hadn't yet learned the rules of the world. As if they were unworthy of empathy. As if they weren't human yet.)
"Maybe I should have just been a shut-in for the rest of my life," Selene mumbled, head hanging lower and lower the more she thought about the incident with the orchard owner. "People are just… they're just so…"
The childish words died in her throat.
People could just be so cruel. People would go out of their way, consciously expend their energy and time to be cruel. And here Selene was, struggling to do even the simplest of things without getting anxious.
Even so, such a sentiment felt so hollow. After all, Selene didn't hesitate to waste all her time and energy avoiding other people, whenever possible. People didn't do things because it was a good use of their resources, they did it because they could. Because it came so easily, so naturally to be afraid and to feel hate and spite.
Because, in the end -
The girl shook her head nervously. Best not to dance so close to an uncomfortable truth.
So she was going to be treated differently based on how she looked, and Selene couldn't do anything about it but grit her teeth and pretend that it didn't hurt, acting that she was truly sorry for being born the way she was.
The whole matter of being mistaken as mixed was so troubling because it was the best-case scenario. Who knew what would have happened if she accidentally let slip her true origins, much less the role that she would have to play in the future? There would be eyes on her at all times, hoping to see her falter and fail, ready to eat her alive with every mistake she made.
Some people performed better under pressure.
Selene was not one of them.
The girl stopped in her tracks, forcing herself to slow down her heaving, shaky breaths. She had to learn to calm herself down when she was on her own and didn't have anyone she could rely on - that was the point of this journey, wasn't it?
(But the thing was, it wasn't that easy.
You wouldn't tell a person paralyzed from the waist down to suck it up and start walking. You wouldn't fault them for being unable to do something that would be physically impossible for them to accomplish in the first place.
But when the damage was beneath a person's skin, where it couldn't be seen to the naked eye -
Suddenly, willpower was the magical cure that you were supposed to just pull out of nowhere, as if you could somehow fix your DNA. That you were pathetic, useless, and weak if you couldn't rewrite reality.
And worst of all, when you had sunk to your lowest, people were more inclined to sneer at you in your pitiful state then to lend that hand you so desperately need.)
Speaking of which, her current state was quite pitiful now, wasn't it? She needed to find somewhere - anywhere - to rest for the night and fast. Selene wasn't exactly opposed to sleeping outdoors, but she had perhaps counted a little too much on Professor Kukui's reassurances that finding a place to stay for the night would be exceptionally easy for the first stretch of Melemele. The girl made a face, dreading that prospect more now.
Of course, she just had to go and make a hasty and impulsive decision that she was reluctant to take back. Would it have been more mature to quash the discomfort and anxiety she felt if it was harmless? Or had she made the right choice in being unwilling to put up with that sort of condescending sentiment under any circumstance?
Of course not, Selene thought sourly. No matter what you ended up deciding, you would have given yourself shit for it anyways. You can always count on yourself to do that.
Her stomach helpfully chimed in with a violent growl, and Selene let out a demoralized groan. Right. She hadn't exactly had anything filling while she was at the berry orchard. She'd been too caught up in the excitement, or maybe that was just in hindsight because it wasn't like Selene had figured it out herself -
It was what it was. Maybe Selene was just biased because she had opted for this over a nice, warm bed, which seemed so much better than walking alone in the dark. All she had to do was swallow her feelings and pretend her worth didn't hinge so heavily upon social acceptance. Damn, if this was what the rest of her journey was going to be like, it was going to suck.
Okay, focus on the problem at hand, the girl reminded herself. I should probably stop and grab something to eat.
But the thought of sitting down, vulnerably eating in the dark with just the light from Rotomdex and her flashlight, was enough to make Selene want to curl up into a ball and cry. Her previous lies of bravado and naivety only felt more foolish because she had known better than to turn away a bed for the night.
Her shortsighted, terrible decision had gotten herself stuck between a rock and a hard place, and she didn't know what she could do about it. Okay, that was a stretch - Selene knew her options, but she didn't like any of them. It was terribly foolish, given the fact that she had landed herself in this predicament in the first place.
Nevertheless, her paranoia was running high after what had transpired at the berry orchard, so of course she had to leave. The ideal scenario was to keep going until she had gotten to a rest point, but the girl knew that her body wasn't capable of that as it was. Her progress had come to a crawl, and Selene was not exactly built for endurance, much less walking for such a long period without -
She was being so damned childish, wanting something she wouldn't be able to achieve.
It was now that Rotomdex finally forced its way out of her backpack, the blinding backlight from the screen making the girl glare sourly at her companion. A petty part of her wanted to blame Rotom for putting all these ideas into her head and goading her into leaving in the first place.
"Selene -"
The girl vaguely swatted at Rotomdex in an attempt to get the pokemon to back off, though taking it out on the pokemon only worsened her mood. Rotomdex remained unfazed, prodding at Selene again and again to try and coax the girl into taking a rest. Selene ignored the pleas, even as her body all but screamed that it wanted to give up.
The alternative was unacceptable. She had to keep going or else -
(She wasn't going to die, but I'm going to die I'm going to die was the only thing she could think.)
The girl stumbled over her own feet in the middle of her stupor, causing Rotomdex to fly at her.
"See!" it shrieked, ramming into Selene's front to get her to halt in her tracks. "You really need to stop Selene! This can't be good -"
Selene opened her mouth to say something - argue, agree, Selene wasn't sure - when she swore she saw something dark in the sky grow larger, causing the girl to come to a pause. "Uh, is it me, or is there something coming toward us?"
The shadow of something round definitely seemed to be gliding towards them, picking up more and more speed. Selene apprehensively took a step back, fumbling for one of her pokemon's pokeballs.
Rotomdex whirred nervously as it turned around to look in the same direction Selene was facing. "Oh dear. I can't see anything."
"You can't, but I can?"
"This thing doesn't exactly come equipped with the best camera for long-range footage captured in the dark," Rotom quipped. "What does it look like to you?"
Selene squinted at the silhouette, which was definitely growing in size. "Round, big, and - oh, it's flying."
"Then if we consider what pokemon are native to these areas of Melemele, it would be - GUARDIANS ALMIGHTY THAT'S A DRIFBLIM!"
"Drifblim?" the girl barely had time to ask before Rotomdex began to desperately push at Selene's front, urging her to turn tail.
"A ghost type pokemon!" it shouted, as if that was explanation enough. "If you get carried off by it, who knows if you'll ever be found! Did you know that there was once an incident in which a man took a trip riding a drifblim, only to go missing - oh, it's way too dark for anyone to see you if it takes you now! Selene, we gotta get moving -"
The girl nodded slowly. "I get your point, but um, which way are we supposed to get moving? Because I don't see that drifblim anymore."
Rotom let out a grating screech worthy of a horror movie, burying itself into her shirt. "We're all going to die!"
The girl sighed, feeling a little bad that she probably was underreacting by Rotomdex's standards, and sympathetically patted the pokemon with one hand. "We might or we might not, depending on how we handle this."
"What are you, the pokemon whisperer now?"
"Well, we've been caught either way," Selene figured. "I would try and outrun it if I could, but honestly, we both know that isn't possible right now."
Rotomdex let out a frustrated wail that shook them both. "Why is it that you choose now to be apathetic?"
Selene merely shrugged, slipping her free hand towards her belt. There was probably a good chance that her attitude from back in Kanto was returning in full force, but Selene had grown used to the presence of ghost pokemon, resigned to the fact that their shenanigans weren't exactly something she could put a stop to anyways. All she could do right now was bank on her own judgment to deal with the ghost pokemon.
A spine numbing chill pricked all the way down Selene's back, and the girl felt something firmly wrap around her waist from behind. Rotomdex's scream ringing in her ears, Selene did her best to twist around in the grip and squarely smacked the pokemon with an empty pokeball in her free hand.
In the second that the pokeball activated, freezing the drifblim in its capture conversion beam, Selene scrambled her way out of its grip and haphazardly threw her pokemon's pokeballs at the ground by her feet.
A loud crack echoed through the dark, confirming something that Selene had been hoping for.
"You," the girl said flatly, pointing rather accusingly at the drifblim now that she had all her pokemon out, "you belong to a trainer."
The balloon pokemon hovered close to Selene, its softly glowing, red eyes looking down at the Kantoan girl. Selene merely stared the pokemon down - asides from the otherworldly presence she could feel radiating off the pokemon, the pokemon honestly didn't look all that scary. The girl didn't necessarily believe that ghost pokemon could sense your fear, but presenting herself that way wouldn't hurt.
After a few seconds, the drifblim let out what sounded like an affirmative squeak and patted the girl on the head, something that neither Selene nor Rotom had been expecting.
"Hey!" Rotomdex snapped, swatting off the appendage. "Stranger danger! Buzz off!"
The other pokemon seemingly let out a tired sigh, deflating a little.
Rotomdex buzzed agitatedly, unmoved by its fellow pokemon. "You 'only' have good intentions, huh? Selene, don't trust this pokemon. In fact, if you hold the pokedex, I will personally deal with this -"
"Is there a camp nearby?" Selene cut in quickly. Things had changed drastically knowing that she was looking at a pokemon under the care of a trainer. Being able to rest soon was her priority above all else, everything else be damned at this point.
At the word 'camp', the drifblim perked up, nodding eagerly. It reached over as if to grab Selene, only to be chastened by a very annoyed Rotom.
"Selene," Rotomdex sputtered, putting itself between the girl and the large pokemon, "are you asking to die?"
Selene thought about it for a good moment then shrugged. "How bad could it be?"
Things could, in fact, get quite bad.
Well, shit, Selene thought dimly, frozen in place at where the drifblim had politely dropped her off.
The girl had neither the eloquence nor the vocabulary to describe how she was feeling about what she was seeing right now. Judging from the dumbfounded looks on the two familiar (much to her horror) Team Skull members sitting before a meager campfire, they didn't either.
An uncomfortable silence lingered for a good minute or two as all three awkwardly stared at one another, uncertain of what to say, much less say.
"Why, hello there," Yew said finally, the Team Skull admin offering her a casual wave as he all but ignored the appalled look on his fellow Team Skull member's face.
Their last encounter must have stung, the girl thought drily, though Selene wasn't feeling much sympathy for a person who seemed hellbent on claiming other people's property as his own as if he was somehow entitled to it. It was the bitter taste on her tongue that allowed Selene to muster up the courage to let out a very empathic "hell no" and turn on her heel. Selene wasn't going to put up with a round three if she didn't have to.
However, she only walked face-first into the drifblim from before, stumbling back more than she needed to. The pokemon silently and menacingly floated at a height greater than her own, looming over her as if to intimidate her.
And intimidate her, the drifblim did. It refused to move out of the way, floating to match her own hesitant movements, and nudged at her person with its ribbon-like appendages. Selene could feel the heat draining from the areas where she had been touched like shadows of death, a familiar sensation but not a welcome one. She could not discern what the beady crimson eyes looking down on her aimed to convey, but Selene knew better than to test the patience of a ghost pokemon in any situation.
With a shudder, she reluctantly turned back around. Basil seemed too uncomfortable to say anything, his stare shying away as soon as her gaze moved anywhere close to him. Perhaps Yew really had punished him for what he had done to her. On the other hand, said Team Skull admin examined her with a half-lidded gaze, unamused from where he was sitting cross-legged.
"You are a foreigner," he said drily. "That or you might just be too dumb to have made it as long as you had without adult supervision."
Selene didn't feel the need to argue, much too tired to come up with a meaningful defense. "I'm not afraid of ghost pokemon. They only try to kill you if you overstep your boundaries or seem too much like a stranger."
Basil made a choking noise at the crude statement coming from such an unassuming girl, while the Skull admin looked on and let out a rumble that could have been a laugh. As much as the latter threw her off, Selene thought of the old man, of kind gestures that belayed condescension, and put her guard up, eyes narrowing with suspicion.
"So," Yew drawled, where did you come from, brave little bird?"
The undertone of we know you're not from here dripped from every word. Selene scowled at the nickname, trying to parse the meaning of each word for something more. Was she a bird because he expected her to fail and fall to her doom?
Out of habit, she almost started to say that she lived on the outskirts of Hau'oli but managed to think better of it. The cautiousness she had learned growing up reminded her that there was no need to say any more than she had to. She had no obligation to these people, and quiet obedience hadn't worked as well as she thought it would in the past.
"Here," Selene answered, watching as the older man rolled his eyes.
"That's helpful."
Selene didn't feel like helping him out any more that, offering him an equally useful shrug. "I'm not looking to help you, especially on that matter. Now, I'll just go on my merry way, and we can pretend this never happened."
"Do you really think we can let you go, knowing that you could report us to the authorities?" Basil snarled, moving as if he was going to get up and try to stop her. "I don't trust you either."
A twinge of guilt twisted the girl's stomach as she suddenly remembered her conversation with the old man from earlier. Selene immediately felt for the battered pokeball attached to her belt, tossing it vaguely in the Skull grunt's direction. His eyes widened comically as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, and Selene might have laughed if this whole affair wasn't so awful in the first place.
"This is…?" he sputtered, pointing in disbelief at his pokeball.
"Your shiinotic," Selene finished for him. "It's yours, right?"
He only continued to look at her, completely dumbfounded and unable to say a word, which was satisfying, to say the least. Selene didn't miss the low, curious hum that came from the admin, quietly watching the events unfold from the side.
She didn't like that, and the girl couldn't help but Selene narrowed her eyes suspiciously. She didn't owe these people anything. She didn't enjoy having to be open because that was "just how Alolans were", so she might as well follow suit if she wanted to fit in. It would be really nice if she could just get going - something about this scene made her stomach twist.
"Wait," Yew said suddenly. The girl actually stopped moving, wondering why on earth she was going to hear him out. Selene cursed the man's almost magnetic authority, his dark eyes glinted ominously in the light of the small fire.
It's because you cling to the comfort of authority. You've never been good at being independent.
But, Selene thought insistently, I know so little. I don't know what to do. I want someone to tell me what to do so that everything will be okay.
The other two had caught onto her hesitation, and the girl cursed herself for showing potential weakness they could capitalize on.
"What," Selene snapped, slipping some venom into her tone. She was tired. She was stressed. She was really damn afraid, and after this encounter, Selene wasn't sure how she was ever going to sleep if she ever reached the motel that had been her destination.
"You ran into Basil earlier at the berry farm," the Team Skull admin said coolly. "Did the old man give you berries?"
"What does it matter to you?" Selene asked defiantly, though she was a little curious as to why the Skull admin would ask such a question.
Basil seemed to tense up as if he knew where this question was going to go, gnashing his teeth in displeasure. "Dammit, Yew, shut up -"
"What about berries that could cure poison?" the young man asked, not paying the teenager any heed.
Selene almost immediately thought back to when she had taken the free berries from the open tree. There had definitely been some pecha and lum berries, now that she thought about it…
Well, this situation wasn't what she was expecting.
"...Yes," Selene said finally, intently looking at the two to gauge their reaction. She wasn't sure what good there was in lying, and it seemed like a harmless enough question. And if it was so important to the two, she'd gladly hand over whatever she had - it seemed like more than a fair enough price to save her skin. The way Basil involuntarily perked up made her think that was plausible, though...
"But why would I give them to you?" she asked, crossing her arms. "If you don't remember, your friend over there nearly killed me."
Yew let out an entertained laugh, though his eyes narrowed into a rather intimidating smile. "I'm asking because I imagine you're a good kid."
Had he silently conceded that the skull grunt had tried to kill her? Selene considered that carefully, unwilling to let her suspicions go just yet. "You two, on the other hand…"
The grievances she wanted to say were now trapped in her throat. Hateful, angry feelings whirled around in her head, but the thought of saying them out loud made her falter - as she always had, so uselessly. Her feelings weren't important to other people in the end, were they?
(After all, who was she but just a small child with even smaller problems and fleeting feelings.)
"I suppose you're not wrong," the Team Skull admin admitted, shrugging at her. "Most of Alolan society would agree with you. Most of Alolan society would tell you that we're good-for-nothing lowlifes not even worth a single brain cell." He looked right at Selene, his dark eyes full of an emotion Selene couldn't make sense. "But tell me, would you punish a pokemon for the sins of its trainer?"
Nevertheless, the question unsettled her because it was too close to home for comfort. She thought of -
No, no don't think about Isolde now.
Selene glowered at the man, suddenly full of anger for the memories he had unwittingly dragged up. She should just up and leave right now. "You just went completely off-topic. Why should I bother get into a moral debate with people like you?"
"Don't try to be a smartass with me, kid. What if I told you that a pokemon's life was at stake? Would you fault it for being in our possession?"
"I would say that as its trainer, you have a responsibility to ensure its wellbeing. If you can't do that, you shouldn't be its trainer in the first place," Selene found herself saying, voice shakily beginning to rise. "You should have made for the nearest pokemon center."
"Do you really think they'd provide us service?"
"Of course not!" the girl snapped, wondering why the hell she was still here. "I'm not feeling inclined to help you either, the impression that one over there has given me!"
She knew that Ilima and the professor had told her to be sympathetic, but trust had to be earned. Selene did not forget so easily. The abruptness of their last encounter, the strong emotions, the violence -
He threatened to take away your pokemon as if he knew what you had been through, as if his first assumptions about you were true. Do you remember the terrible things that he said to you? Can that be forgiven? Would he even bother apologize to her?
Maybe, a quiet part of her coldly thought, she should have kept Basil's shiinotic as a card to play. It made so much sense that she was quickly regretting her earlier generosity. How the hell was she going to get out of here safely?
Couldn't they just forcibly make you hand them over without the need for all this banter? her brain treacherously argued back. They could have just mugged you as soon as the drifblim dropped you off here, but they didn't.
Shut up, Selene fired back.
"We'll let you stay by our camp if you give me those berries!" Basil suddenly blurted out, wild desperate now in his eyes.
The girl apprehensively took a step back, only to remember that the drifblim was still behind her. An uncomfortable feeling sunk to the pit of her stomach, and Selene thought of a child who had cried and cried, all for nothing. This wasn't what she'd signed up for on her island challenge.
"What makes you think I would feel safe doing that?" Selene sputtered, trying not to get hysterical at the sheer absurdity of the offer. "A young girl alone with two young adults? Do you think I'm that idiotic?"
The Team Skull grunt looked flabbergasted by the question, unable to say a word.
"If that's all you have to say," the girl said, anxiously grinding her teeth, "then I'll be leaving."
"Did you feel welcome at the orchard?" Yew quietly cut in. "You had a perfectly warm bed there, so why did you leave it?"
It was Selene's turn to be momentarily floored, though she quickly got over it and shook her head. The notion that she and they could possibly be the same - she didn't even want to contemplate it. "I think I've been talking far too long with strangers much older and stronger than me. Besides, why would I want to stay with questionable people?"
"Do you have a solid judgment of us in the first place?" the admin asked, looking at her curiously.
Selene thought of the man from the orchard, of expectations unpleasantly overturned, and tried not to shiver. Her judgment there had ultimately failed her, but it was her decision that got her here.
"Are you saying I don't already?" she asked instead, doing her best to stave off Kukui's and Ilima's words. She had wanted to sympathize with Team Skull after what she had heard, but when confronted with the very people who had scared her so, it was far harder to put into practice.
He quietly stared her down, and Selene was forced to avert her gaze.
"I think that you're mostly afraid or rather, you've always been like that." The young man gestured with his hand, and without a single noise, the drifblim was now at his side. Much to Selene's utter confusion, Yew promptly returned the pokemon to its pokeball, before plucking two more off his belt and tossing all three into a ratty little knapsack.
He turned to Yew, reaching up with an upturned palm. "Oi, Basil, hand them over."
"Why the hell would I -"
"I said," the admin calmly repeated, "hand them over."
Before Selene knew what was happening, Yew had put two more pokeballs (one of which was the shiinotic's) into the knapsack before tossing it at the girl without so much as a warning.
The girl looked down at the knapsack apprehensively before "Um -"
"The closest place to rest is a motel about an hour away, assuming you're jogging at an average pace the whole time. You look like you're barely in any condition able to take another step."
Selene continued to stare at Yew as though he had lost his mind. "I honestly have no clue what you're trying to say, much less what you intended to get out of this."
The young man snorted, though Selene wasn't sure what the hell was funny about anything that had just happened. "It's my policy to never be cruel to kids - the only thing I gain from this is peace of mind." He paused for a moment, as if considering his words carefully. "I also don't think someone so young needs to push themselves this hard to prove themselves."
"Not cruel doesn't mean you willingly hand over your Pokemon," Selene said stiffly, scowling at him. "And don't speak as though you know who I am."
At that, Yew let out a quiet laugh. It was surprisingly comforting and normal. Human, even, and Selene didn't like that at all.
(In her nightmares, all she could hear was laughing that mocked her for being so naive and helpless. It was Isolde's funeral song.)
"Forgive me and this idiot over here for the bad impression. Is there anything I can do to alleviate your worries further? Specifically, what objections do you have to us?"
"Once again, this is fishy," Selene said with a pained grimace, holding the knapsack like it was a ticking timebomb.
"I suppose you're not wrong, but you're clearly in a position of power over us right now," Yew pointed out. "Would I have done that if I was the character you suspected me to be?"
Selene felt herself begin to falter in the face of that logic. He wasn't wrong, yet a small part of her still protested that it all could be an elaborate scheme. "You're, you're Team Skull," she weakly insisted.
The Team Skull admin merely raised an eyebrow. "What does that even mean? Does an emblem deserve such scorn? Am I a bad person?"
Selene couldn't think of anything to say to that, but it felt like they were questions meant to get her to trip up and embarrass herself. The easy way out would be to say yes and attribute the black and white thinking to the foolish ignorance of a child who didn't know any better. However, she did know better, and the guilt of pretending she didn't know heavily weighed down on her. This situation was so obviously familiar - judging people so superficially was so easy to do when she wasn't the target.
It was so easy to be cruel when she didn't have to remember the taste of cruelty she dealt.
"What does Team Skull even mean to you that you'd carry that emblem in the first place?" she finally settled on.
Much to her surprise, the admin's face suddenly darkened, his eyes narrowed and stormy. The immediate defense she had been expecting was nowhere to be seen, and Selene hadn't been prepared for that at all. Neither had Basil apparently, who was now awkwardly looking away.
After a few moments, Yew seemed to have composed himself, and he let out a slow, measured exhale before speaking again in an even tone. "If he begged, would you share your berries with him?"
Selene openly gaped at Yew. That was the last thing that she was expecting to come out of a Team Skull member's mouth.
"Or would you prefer him to get on his knees and grovel instead?" he offered. The girl, floored by the escalation, squirmed uncomfortably beneath his expectant gaze. "I'll join in if that'll convince you."
Much to Selene's disbelief and subsequent horror, Basil really did get down on his knees, prostrating himself before the Kantoan girl. "Please," he said shakily. "If you have any berries that could cure poison, then I'll… I'll… I'll do anything… but please… I know you hate me, but one of my pokemon is… is…!"
The way his voice cracked made Selene flinch, that tone too familiar to her. It reminded of the way she stared at her father's dewgong as every heaving brought it closer to death, how she had begged some higher power to save her pokemon who had done nothing wrong, if anything she should have been the one who was punished, but look at how things had turned out. It was that despair of outliving someone you loved, outliving someone who deserved to live far more than you did.
And for all the bitterness Selene felt towards the Skull Grunt, the feeling that had been ever-present was a bitterness directed towards herself. All looking at him did was make her resent herself a little more.
"Okay," she said finally, caving in the more she thought of her pitiful, helpless self from two years ago.
(Of the kindness that she had wanted but didn't receive. Of the way Basil looked at her as though she was the answer to all his problems. Of how that made her shudder.
Was this what it meant to be a godlike figure? Was this the kind of expectation that was going to be foisted upon her in the future? Was this what being on the other end really felt like?)
Hopefully, she wouldn't regret this.
The skull grunt dived for a small sack he must have been carrying with him, and Selene immediately removed her backpack to pull out the lunchbox of berries. However, there was one more thing she needed…
While she was rummaging through her backpack, Basil had come rushing over with what appeared to be a small white pokemon in his hands, and its pained, labored wheezing pained Selene's heart so much it was almost enough to make her look up.
"Focus," Yew's voice chided her. He had quietly made his way over as well, methodically picking out the few pecha berries and lum berries as quickly as he could. Once he had found them all, he firmly put an arm in front of Basil, who was eyeing the berries with intensity, Selene suspected he was about ready to feed the entire berries to his pokemon.
"Moron, you know better than to have him eat the berries full," Yew said drily, immediately swatting the younger Team Skull member across the forehead. "Keep your wits about you. You're smarter than you think. Well, I hope you're smarter than that." Yew glanced over at Selene. "Hey, kid, you have anything that can maybe crush -"
The Team Skull admin stared in disbelief as Selene pulled out a stone mortar and pestle, a set that she had gotten from Mr. Fuji. It was useful crushing berries into a powder that could be mixed with water for an easy to drink extra for very ill pokemon. Selene had kept it around because it was an acceptable, productive outlet for stress relief.
Without so much as a word, the girl quickly began to grind the pecha berries first - those were the ones that were easier for most pokemon to handle the flavor of. She was caught up in the familiar and soothing motion, mashing the berries into a pinkish paste, which was really the best she could do without letting it dry before grinding it again. Selene couldn't help but grimace - this wasn't ideal, but it would have to do.
The nudge of something cold against her hand made her notice the steel thermos Yew had quietly placed before her. "Just dump it all in here, and I'll whip it up while you finish the next batch."
The girl awkwardly did as she was told, using the pestle to scrape off as much of the paste as she could into the thermos, which had maybe a quarter of water. How well this was actually going to go was beyond her.
She went back to her previous task, this time accompanied the clatter of the metal utensil the admin was using to stir the paste and water together.
Once he seemed satisfied, Yew muttered something under his breath before handing thermos over to Basil. The younger Team Skull member gingerly accepted the container with his free hand, and Selene found herself unable to look away from how gently his pokemon was cradled in his other arm. The scene stirred up a morbid sort of fascination in Selene, the tiny white pokemon so small in Basil's hands - so much so that Selene couldn't help but think that he could have put it out of its misery if he really wanted to then and there.
When she realized what she had thought, a chill went down her spine. Thank Arceus she hadn't said such a terrible thing out loud.
Yet the pokemon in question was so thin and small, its pained and labored breathing so easy to see with the way the pokemon's body visibly heaved for air. Low, reassuring murmurs came from Basil as he carefully coaxed the pokemon into taking sips of the berry water, cautiously bringing the thermos up to its black face.
For several tense minutes, all three humans were transfixed by the sight of the small reptile pokemon, only taking their eyes away in order to prepare more berry water. The entire time, Basil spoke to the pokemon in a soft, gentle tone, almost as if he was speaking to a younger sibling or perhaps his own child. In spite of the apparent pain, the pokemon made the effort to nod in response. The young man only remained stony-faced as he continued to cradle the pokemon in one arm and fed it with his other hand, uncaring of liquid that dribbled down the pokemon's maw and onto his bare arms.
Meanwhile, Selene came to stop from where she had been grinding berries with her mortar and pestle. She had gone through all of the pecha berries, and while there were lum berries left to use… The girl squirmed at what she might have to suggest next. Lum berries were an excellent item for curing any and all status ailments, but all the same… Their bitter taste made it hard for pokemon with certain tastes to consume them. For the young and the ill, the bitter smell of the powder alone could trigger the gag reflex if it was too concentrated.
Selene looked worriedly over at the sickly pokemon, whose breathing was starting to steady itself at the very least. For his pokemon's sake, she wanted to stop, but Basil scared the hell out of her because he seemed like the type of person who would shoot the messenger.
Much to her horror, it was then that Basil looked up at her, his eyebrows furrowing at her halt in berry grinding. However, before he could speak, Yew silently pushed the pile of lum berries away from Selene, drawing attention to himself.
"I think that's good enough for now, Basil," the Team Skull admin said in a flat tone that demanded no argument. "Any more and your salandit might burst."
For a moment, indignation flashed across the younger boy's eyes before he took a slow inhale. He closed his eyes for a moment then nodded slowly.
"Right, I should have known that," he mumbled, looking chastened. "Guardians, I was so worried that I probably would have gotten 'im killed with shortsighted treatment."
With that, he looked up at Selene, his eyes no longer filled with the stormy emotions that the girl was used to. If anything, his dark brown eyes betrayed exhaustion and hopelessness.
"I honestly owe you one for that. You didn't have to help me, especially after what I did to you yesterday." The teenager awkwardly rubbed the back of his head, clearly ashamed having to remember what he had done. However, Yew reached over and smacked him on the forehead, causing the Team Skull grunt to glare at him.
"You know, it's a good idea to start off an apology with an 'I'm sorry', moron. Where the hell did you put the manners I taught you?" Yew asked dryly, pinching his nose. "Please don't tell me you left them on Akala."
"Yeah, yeah, I get it, Yew," Basil said huffily, nevertheless scooting out of smacking range. "This is just awkward because, oh, I don't know, there isn't exactly a very good way to word 'I'm sorry for trying to mug you and take your pokemon while insulting you for being a foreigner.'"
"Well, if you're going to word it like that, of course your apology is going to be fucking terrible," the admin fired back, all while shifting himself closer to Basil. "But for now, it's the fact you understand what you did wrong and are willing to admit that those were not choices that you should have made, for any reason."
Yew let out a long, dramatic sigh before giving Selene an apologetic look, as if he was the parent of a troublemaker. "On his behalf, I am incredibly sorry for what this dumbass has done. I've…" He glanced over at Basil and rolled his eyes, letting out an annoyed scoff. "Well, I know I raised him to be better than this."
"Well, thanks so much, Mom."
Yew looked over at Selene, his expression calm and almost… soothing, which felt like an absolutely weird thing to say about a stranger Selene barely knew. "I sincerely hope you can forgive him. I know that he's a bit…"
Yew considered Basil before snorting, causing the teenager to let out an offended "hey" in protest. "Well, he's a bit rough around the edges and has some anger issues, but I will vouch for him when I say that he's a good kid deep down. He's doing the best he can."
"Yew…" the younger boy managed, his voice quiet and touched. "I…"
"Of course, he also nearly killed you with powder poisoning so if you dump him like a sack of rotting berries, I won't blame you for that either. In which case, I'll make sure he never gets within eyeshot of you ever again. Me too, if the memory was especially bad for you."
Selene blinked in disbelief at what she was being told. An hour ago, the Kantoan girl would have thought it crazy that she would be talking to people of Team Skull so soon, much less being apologized to respectfully.
They really weren't bad people, as the professor insisted. In fact, if anything, Selene couldn't help but respect how… well adjusted the two seemed if what she had heard about Team Skull's circumstances being true. If it had been her…
Selene smiled bitterly. She wasn't sure if she could have been that strong herself.
"I accept your apology," the girl said finally, watching at how Basil slowly perked up the words. Maybe he wasn't as bad as she had initially thought. "But I won't forgive you just yet. The powder poisoning was just ..."
"Won't forgive?" Basil repeated indignantly. Well, she'd be more surprised if he didn't react this way.
Yew mercilessly whacked him across the back of his head. "Whatever the young lady says, you accept it. She's not obligated to forgive you for the tasteless shit you pulled. Don't even bother bargaining, though you're free to grovel."
For once, the reprimand seemed to have stuck, and the Team Skull grunt simply deflated. Hesitantly, as if he was afraid of Selene, he went quiet as if he was actually thinking about what to say next.
What a funny reversal of events, huh, the girl thought morbidly, opting to say nothing as Yew seemed to be doing.
After what felt like forever, he finally spoke up. "I… I really mean it - I'm so sorry. I don't deserve any forgiveness for what I did, but even worse than that, I can't ever repay you for what you did for my salandit." He looked down at the pokemon in his lap, voice growing heavy. "A part of me knew that deep down, I probably deserved a refusal but -"
"I wouldn't have been able to live with knowing that I had the power to save a pokemon but chose not to," Selene said quickly, afraid that he might go back to groveling.
(She thought of having three children at her mercy, the very least she could get for what they had done, and yet -
No. That wasn't what she really wanted.
Vindictive satisfaction and the suffering of others would never be a substitute for what she actually wanted.)
The two Team Skull members just stared at her, another uncomfortable silence falling over the small camp. Basil appeared utterly confounded by what she had said while Yew intently scrutinized her, as if she was a book in a language he couldn't read just yet.
"I don't need your life story to know your pain," Selene said stiffly, averting her gaze. "If I'm being honest, I didn't really do it for you. I made that choice for myself and… for your pokemon."
Selene thought of how she had stood before her father's empty tomb (the year of the raid on Silph Co. noted as his year of death). The girl had held the gray urn which held Isolde's ashes and, opening the tomb with the permission of a channeler, poured the ashes inside. She had tried not to shudder how some of the ashes refused to settle, lingering in the air like dust almost.
A single tear had fallen onto the grave. Selene refused to cry any more than that, out a mix of grief for her pokemon (no, her father's pokemon) and a sense of emptiness thinking back to the man who was her father in everything but her heart.
Not that they needed to know that.
Yew shrugged, though Selene could have sworn that his eyes flashed with something. "Even if it was a selfish choice, as far as you seem to be concerned, it doesn't change the fact that Basil and I are beyond grateful for what you've done. You still did the right thing, and that's what counts."
Selene smiled at him awkwardly, though the way her lips twisted felt more like a grimace instead. The right thing in the moment, perhaps, but in reality…
(In the back of her head lingered the possibility that she could use this debt as an advantage in the future. What kind of future it would be, Selene didn't know, but she needed to hold close all the cards she could for her own sake.)
"I'd hope so," she laughed, closing her eyes as she gave him a grin. Closing her eyes so he couldn't see the hell that burned underneath them.
"Oh, no, you did," Yew insisted, crossing his arms sternly. "And don't try and argue with me because that is not a fight you're going to win."
"Trust me, no one ever does," Basil muttered, shooting the admin an exasperated glare. "He's the worst."
"I don't see you following around our lady admins like a little ducklett though."
Basil shot Selene a completely done look, one that screamed see, he's on his bullshit again. "He's just…" the boy began, thinking long and hard about what to say. "Well, he's the least evil of them all."
"Evil? That's not a very nice thing to say."
Basil rolled his eyes. "If I had to choose between you and my pokemon, I wouldn't even think twice about saving the friends I've known longer than your ass"
"If you considered otherwise, I would have kicked your sorry behind," Yew replied cheerily with a thumbs up.
The Team Skull grunt huffed, then turned back to Selene. "Anyhow, thanks for helping me out, kid. I guess… I guess I'm okay if you stay at our camp for the night."
Selene stiffened up, not exactly sure if she was going to take the two up on that offer. While the thought of setting up camp alone really unnerved the girl, walking to the next rest stop seemed impossible. However, being alone with two strangers… That was just… Even by Selene's standards, that just seemed really weird.
Given her last encounter with another person, she honestly should be getting better standards sometime soon for her own sake.
"We're not suddenly friends," she said uncomfortably, looking down at her hands as if she should somehow feel bad for finding the offer strange.
"Yeah, don't worry," Yew said drily, waving a hand at her. "If I was in your position kid, I would find that pretty creepy, and if you thought of us as friends, I would have given you a dressing down myself -"
"I was trying to be nice!"
"Your 'nice' is very creepy," the Team Skull grunt admin scoffed, waving his teammate aside. "Admittedly, I'm of the same opinion as this creepy 'nice' guy here. You honestly are looking pretty tired, and while your apprehensions are very much legitimate, I think we can make some arrangements to make this work for all three of us."
Selene stared back at the young man dubiously. "And that would be…?"
"You can keep the pokemon that we handed over to you," Yew replied coolly. "That should make you feel pretty safe. Basil's salandit isn't exactly the fighting kind of pokemon, so I hope you'll let him keep an eye on the fellow throughout the night."
"Yew, do you have any idea what you're saying -"
"Basil, she's just a kid. She has every right to be afraid of us," the admin said in a shockingly gentle tone. It was a tone that unsettled Selene in ways she didn't want to have to think about, adding more and more complications to her understanding of what was to be her new home. "You used to be that small too."
"Oh, all right," Basil conceded, appearing ruffled nonetheless. "As long as I can keep Salandit with me, it'll be fine."
The two looked back to Selene, silently deciding that the decision was up to her. She, on the other hand, was still unsure. The girl was pretty sure that the right thing to do (right as what? As an Alolan? As Koa? As a person going on their first journey?) would be to persevere on to the rest point instead of taking the easy way out.
"Well, I don't think you guys are as bad as I thought you would be," Selene admitted finally, "but I'd like to hold onto your pokemon for now."
Unfortunately, Selene would rather do what was easy.
"If you want," Yew added helpfully, "feel free to have your pokemon out."
"Yew, do you have any idea what you're saying -"
"You need to learn to be patient, Basil. Given your background, I would expect you to have a lot of that, but it only seems reserved for pokemon." Yew said cooly, clearly used to having his ways protested even by someone who seemed to greatly respect him. "If only there was a clone of you running around Alola, I'd put you both in the same room and see how long it would take before you two try to kill each other."
Basil opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but nothing came out. The girl could see the gears in his head turning before he finally spoke. "All right, all right… if Yew says so, it's all up to you."
Selene studied Yew cautiously, unsure what to make of this Team Skull admin, who was leaving himself completely vulnerable to attack from another person's pokemon. Unless he had a secret means of protecting himself, that was either really considerate or just him being too dumb to live.
The way he was regarding her in turn, with an amused crinkle to his eyes, almost made her jump, almost as if he was silently telling her I know what you're thinking. Considerate it was, Selene figured. She wouldn't put it past him to have mindreading powers.
"Sure, I guess," Selene said with something of a grimace, sitting down but not relaxing until she had released Watmel and could feel the small bird pokemon perched on her shoulder.
She saw a flash of recognition cross Basil's eyes, and dimly Selene remembered what cause the Team Skull grunt had to be afraid. She discreetly bit down on her lip, hoping she hadn't royally screwed things up. Fortunately, Yew either didn't notice or elected to ignore the younger boy's reaction, tugging him to a sitting place directly opposite Selene across the small campfire.
After a few moments to settle down (and on Selene's part to get Liechi and Payapa situated around the bag of the other people's pokeballs), an uneasy lull fell over the group. Basil seemed torn between staring down Watmel and keeping a near constant vigil on his pokemon, eyes flickering back and forth so much that Selene almost felt sorry.
"So, you're going on your island challenge huh?" Yew finally spoke, having spent the last few seconds munching on a sandwich he had pulled from yet another knapsack. He had offered one to Selene, but the girl refused, having a feeling that she probably had more supplies than the two Team Skull members put together.
"Uh, yes," Selene said stiffly. There wasn't any point in denying it when the professor's carved amulet was hanging conspicuously from her back.
"I see."
This was followed by another long pause, Selene unsure where to look. Wasn't it odd to strike up conversation in a situation like this?
The admin snorted, for some reason finding all of this funny. "I'm just trying to make small talk. I didn't realize I was stuck with not one but two conversationalists."
Selene gave him a dirty look, pulling Watmel into her lap so she could hug the rowlet and get some much needed confidence. "Suffer in silence, then."
"Heh, I'll save that one," she heard Basil chuckle, though it was immediately followed an "ow".
"I'll offer you a trade," Yew said calmly, as if he hadn't just flicked Basil in the forehead.
"A trade?" the girl repeated skeptically, squinting at the admin.
"Yes, a trade of questions and information," he said slowly, taking her question seriously. "Feel free to ask me any question you like as long as you answer mine, to whatever extent you're comfortable with."
His eyes once again crinkled in what was probably a smile beneath his bandana. The narrowness of his eyes made her wonder if there was any ulterior motive to all this. "Humor me, would you?"
After a moment of consideration, Selene finally nodded. Perhaps this was a chance to learn something she wouldn't otherwise, and it wasn't like he'd be able to tell if she was deliberately omitting or choosing her words carefully.
"All right," Yew began, easing back against the tree he and Basil were leaning against before gesturing to the island challenge amulet. "What on earth is a Kantoan kid doing taking the island challenge?"
Selene merely stared the admin down, emboldened by the fact her very Alolan pokemon were all settled around her and doing the same.
"Why would a Kantoan be doing the island challenge?" she shot back defensively. "I live here."
"Well, they wouldn't be doing it," Yew supposed, slowly rolling his eyes. "Even Hala's not that open minded. I guess that means you're a mixed kid returning from abroad, then?"
Selene nodded again, figuring that was better than admitting she was full blooded Kantoan. The thought of saying such a lie with her own mouth, however, did twist her stomach a little, though she figured this one right here wouldn't affect her all too badly in the long run.
He let out a low, sympathetic whistle. "There really isn't a good way to explain that, is there? People are just going to assume you're either a really bold tourist or if you're lucky, a mixed kid who didn't really win in the looks lottery."
Indignation rose up in Selene, but she thought better of it. Clearly, he meant that she didn't appear Alolan whatsoever - which was fair enough, pale as she was. She made a show of huffing and letting the displeasure show on her face. "It's not my fault I don't look like my mom at all."
Yew shrugged noncommittally. "I'm not saying it isn't. There are a decent amount of paler Alolans anyhow, but general mistrust against foreigners and tourists has made that… a rather unfavorable trait recently, to say the least."
"That's stupid," Selene found herself saying before she could catch herself.
"It honestly is," the Team Skull admin echoed, his unamused tone suggested he probably felt the same. "I mean, look at this dumbass over here. Having a drop of foreign blood in you, much less looking pale, is as good as being Kantoan to the general population." He glanced at his teammate then scoffed. "Though, the average person doesn't think that critically, so it's to be expected."
"Hey!" Basil hissed, glaring daggers at Yew, which probably would have been more terrifying if he wasn't so carefully rocking his salandit back and forth at the same time.
"Well, you were quite the ass for assuming she was a tourist. For all you know, she could be an unluckily pale Alolan, and you targeted her because of looks out of her control."
"But -"
"But what?" Yew asked softly, eyes narrowed menacingly. "Exactly what excuse do you have, given the one who stands above you?"
The realization that flickered across Basil made Selene curious as to what they were talking about. The sheer scorn in Yew's eyes, so full of unfiltered contempt, that it only made her want to know even more, not that she was crazy enough to ask.
"That's…" the Team Skull grunt began snippily, as if this was a familiar topic he was sick of hearing, "you hafta remember he's above you, too. "
"I will decide for myself where my place is, not anyone else, like the kid over here should," Yew said coldly, all while jabbing a finger in Selene's direction. "Though there's nothing wrong being Kantoan whatsoever. I personally don't see a correlation between her birth and the strength of her character, which she appears to have in bounds like any other person. On the other hand, there are definitely prejudiced scum around here who will find in it them to be angry."
"I'm immigrating to Alola," Selene cut in awkwardly, not sure what to make of the sudden change in mood. "I think I have a right to take the challenge, and I'm doing it because I want to fit in."
"You're not wrong. It's definitely your right. But just because it's your right doesn't mean that people here will respect it or think it so." The Team Skull admin let out a low growl that made Selene nervously squeeze Watmel. "Hell, even children aren't as sacred as they should be in Alola."
"So," he drawled, looking at Selene in his usual nonchalant manner, "why don't hit me with a question."
"You're a Team Skull admin," the girl stated more than asked, still cowed from before.
The young man merely raised an eyebrow. "Yep. That's a pretty basic question, but I am not going to complain. So what does that mean to you?"
Basil choked on the sandwich that Yew had offered him, and Yew patted him on the back all while keeping his eyes on Selene. Selene looked at him indignantly, wondering if she should refuse to answer that question and just end the game already.
"I'm not well informed enough to give you a proper answer to that question," Selene slowly enunciated, knowing fully well that was only avoiding the question all together. "Sounds like someone I shouldn't cross though. Whoever they are, they sound like they'd be scary."
Yew thumped Basil across the back a little harder than he really had to when the teenager muttered "you got that right", the admin's eyes crinkling into that easygoing, yet ominous smile.
"Hm," he simply responded, betraying nothing. Granted, that was easy to do when half his face was covered by a bandana. "You've been raised quite properly, though I'd warn you to know when to play the ignorant child and keep that card hidden."
Selene scowled at the implicit threat. "And just what do you mean?"
Yew laughed openly, though Selene wasn't sure what about this was funny. Basil, who was now looking away from the admin as if he had lost his mind, pretended to preoccupy himself with his salandit.
"Just warning you about the dangers of being able to behave more maturely and intelligently than you appear." With that, he shrugged. "Well, you don't have to worry about that with little ol' me. You really have to go out of your way to get on my nerves. I like to think myself very patient and understanding, and I certainly don't get angry at people for existing."
"Well, he's not wrong about that," Basil grumbled, "Even if his patience and understanding involve more 'tough love' than necessary. Our two other admins, though, those two bitches are quite the nasty pieces of - Ow!"
The Team Skull admin didn't look sorry at all. "Now, that's not nice to say, much less behind their backs."
"You don't get along with them either," the Team Skull grunt fired back.
"That doesn't mean I wave my dirty laundry in people's faces every chance I get, Basil. That's asking for a fight and a punch to the face."
The Team Skull grunt rolled his eyes, muttering about how he would like to punch Yew in the face. Coughing from his salandit had him immediately change his tune, worriedly staring at and talking to the pokemon as if it was a baby.
It was surprisingly cute and even funnier to witness, if Selene was being completely honest. Though given the context she had, Selene considered more soberly, it felt wrong and tasteless to think that way.
"So erm," Selene began, suddenly getting cold feet when the other two turned to look at her, this is more of a question for Basil, but…" She trailed off, wondering if she could ask it.
"Go on," Yew urged, though Selene swore there was a hint of sadism in his voice. He enjoyed watching other people squirm, didn't he? "The only foolish question is the one you don't ask."
"Um, I'm just curious about your pokemon," she finally managed, hoping that wasn't too much.
"That's not a question -"
"Oh, shut up, Yew, you smartass," Basil grumbled, though there was little bite to his words. If anything, he seemed a bit dismayed, judging from how he seemed to be curling in on himself. "I don't mind explaining the situation to someone who is willing to listen." He let out an empty, bitter bark of a laugh. "Who the hell had thought about listening to me in the first place? But hm, where do I even begin…"
"Oh right, you ever heard of shiny pokemon?"
Selene nodded. "Of course. They're pokemon whose coloring differs from the norm of the species. The odds of that happening are exceptionally slim, usually because that kind of mutation usually doesn't benefit the pokemon and ends up being detrimental to survival."
"The more 'valued' ones, that is," Basil amended. "When the shiny of a species looks completely different, they're all screwed in the wild. Others…" The teenager trailed off, a dark, intense look on his face. "Others become targets for humans - breeding projects."
"B-But, breeding shiny pokemon is -"
"Illegal?" he scoffed. "Since when has that stopped people who don't give a damn doing that sort of crap anyways? There's only two surefire methods to get a shiny pokemon in any decent amount of time: ditto abuse and inbreeding."
Selene let out a shocked gasp, staring at the now sleeping salandit with faint horror. "Are you saying that your salandit is -"
"An inbred, yes," the Team Skull grunt finished for her. "Most shiny pokemon made like this end up with a shitton of nasty health issues, but this little guy has it especially rough. Salandits have an ability known as 'corrosion' - their poison is so strong it can hurt other poison and steel types." He gingerly stroked his pokemon, and now Selene could see how fragile the trainer regarded the salandit. "In this one's case, the poison hurts him. Pretty fucking ironic, huh?"
"So why…?" Selene asked slowly, not sure if she wanted to know how Basil had come into possession of such a pokemon in the first place.
"Of course, the novelty and bragging rights you get from owning a shiny pokemon is still worth it to the buyers,even with all the additional health costs you end up racking up," Yew politely added. "They go for such an fucking absurd amount of money too - probably more than any of us will ever see in one place."
He glanced over at Basil, who had gone disturbingly quiet. "You may not know this, Selene, seeing as you probably didn't grow up in Alola, but Salandit is a species of pokemon that can only evolve if the individual is female."
And then, Selene understood, and the truth was making her taste bile in her throat. "Basil's must be male, which means -"
"That good for nothing, trash guzzling buyer bitched about the sex, even though they knew that it couldn't be guaranteed," Basil snarled. "After all the fucking bullshit abuse that they forced on those pokemon, they were going to throw a hissyfit and say 'this isn't what our snobby rich asses paid for!'"
"So you -" Selene started to say.
"I had to save the poor fella," Basil continued, all but ignoring Selene as he continued on his rampage. The gnashing of his teeth was grating in the quiet of the little camp. "They were going to toss him aside and murder him when they were the ones who brought him into the world miserable and suffering - fucking rich people and all their stupid money and sellouts who can turn a fucking convenient blind eye if they can have a taste of that dirty cash -"
"As you can probably guess," Yew cut in, his voice soft and calm, "he used to be from one of those family owned breeding practices, and all it took was just one unfortunate turn, an accidental eavesdropping for -"
"I got thrown out," Basil said bluntly, his voice shaking with anger, even if he had noticed to lower his volume from Yew. "My family was pressured to disown me and pretend like I never existed in the first place."
Selene could feel the blood drain from her face - that was something out of her worst nightmares. "Your family -"
"Hey now, don't jump to conclusions," the teenager immediately snapped, causing Selene to flinch and her pokemon to draw themselves protectively in front of her."My family - they're legit breeders who deserve to take pride in the work they do. But when you have money, laws can go fuck themselves apparently. Where on earth is the goddamned justice in this world?"
The last sentence came out as a vicious snarl, and the girl couldn't say anything. She had thought the same two years ago, and it sickened Selene to think she wouldn't ever find the answer.
Basil's salandit let out an agonized wheeze as it was awoken from its slumber, and the Team Skull grunt cursed profusely for losing his temper.
After returning the salandit to its pokeball, Basil continued with his rant, though he continued to speak in a low voice as if the pokemon was still out. "It's garbage, ain't it? Those scumbags turned the tables on my sorry ass by claiming I had attempted to steal 'im, that I was the one selfish enough to let a pokemon continue to suffer because it happened to 'look' special."
"Wait," Selene said slowly, trying to process everything she had been told. "Continue to suffer? Are you saying that -" The girl cut herself off, sickened by the words that were on the tip of her tongue, and hugged Watmel tightly.
Arceus, were her worst fears true?
Basil nodded grimly. "That's the Alolan policy for pokemon that aren't 'healthy enough'. There are the few lucky shinies that somehow turn out okay or happen without the breeder trying, but I'm damn sure buyers use that rule to off shinies that end up deformed or undesirable for other reasons."
"'That's just nature', people say," he continued heatedly, aggressively making air quotes with his fingers now that he didn't have to cradle his salandit. "But you know what I say to that? We humans are fucking part of nature too. If it's really so wrong for me to hope that Salandit gets to live the rest of his life as comfortably as he can, then you know what? Let's see one of the Guardians cast judgement on me. I fucking dare them to."
Selene grimaced - there it was again, invoking the name of the Guardians. For what, for meting out punishment as if the Alolan people couldn't be told the difference from right or wrong? "I don't think you're in the wrong for saving Salandit, but er, are you sure that - um, no offense - you're really in a position to take care of a pokemon like that?"
"Honestly, he's not," Yew answered drily, rolling his eyes. "This moron gives that salandit most of the little he has, which means he's not taking care of himself. You know what that means? I'm the one who has the honor of having to make sure his sorry ass doesn't die while taking care of his pokemon and lets him mooch off of me."
"He's not wrong," Basil admittedly, not all too happy that he was so dependent on the admin.
Selene frowned. "Then why -"
"He's free to make his own decisions," Yew said firmly, crossing his arms. "And I will support them so long as they're not made with the intent to cause harm."
"You're… You're not like Team Rocket at all," Selene inadvertently said out loud, eyes widening as soon as she said it.
"No," Yew agreed, mirth flickering in eyes illuminated by only a fire. I'd like to think we're not like Team Rocket."
"No, you're not," Selene said again, though it felt like the person she was really saying that to was herself.
It was an interesting thought, thought Ilima and the professor had indicated this would probably be the case. Perhaps, could Team Rocket have been -
A violent chill went down her spine at the treasonous thought.
Absolutely not.
She dreamed of children who became killers. Children who were abandoned.
A voice whispered to her. You can end the violence now.
Destroy everything in your way - without mercy, without hesitation, before you can be hurt and you will never become one of them. Do not yield.
Like a scream, rising above the other voices, drown them all out.
All things considered, the night had gone by extremely well. Her pokemon apparently had taken it upon themselves to sleep in shifts out of concern for their trainer, if the way Payapa was shaking Liechi awake while Watmel contentedly dozed off was any indication when Selene finally woke up.
Still unused to the drastic change in time, Selene had woken long before the two Team Skull grunts had, the two still fast asleep against the tree that they had propped themselves up against. It was a striking sight, to say the least, the state of sleep providing a far softer look to the two young men. Basil had his salandit in his lap, a hand protectively rested on the pokemon's back. Yew had his arms crossed, looking almost… innocent-like.
Selene felt a little awkward just up and leaving, but the idea of just sitting around there waiting for them to wake up seemed pretty damn weird and creepy. The girl sat up, wincing as she swore she could feel her bones creak, and squinted around the meager campsite to see if there was any trash that she could take - might as well help clean up while getting Payapa some snacks.
The girl did her best, she really did, trying to stuff the trash she had her pokemon fetch into her backpack as quietly as she could. However, one misplaced shove prompted Rotomdex to come out with a very loud 'Hello', making the two Team Skull members start back into consciousness, much to Selene's shame.
"Leaving already?" Yew asked, an amused shine in his eyes. Despite everything, he seemed pretty alright with his rude awakening.
Selene looked down into her backpack awkwardly. The admin just had a way of casually speaking that just made you feel chastised.
"Well, I'd like to get going before the sun gets a bit too strong," Selene muttered, wishing her backpack was big enough for her to crawl into so she could just die. "Sorry about waking you up."
Basil groaned, clearly not as adjusted to waking up as Yew had been. The salandit on his lap let out a long shakey yawn, causing the young man to snap to attention, worriedly stroking the pokemon's back.
Yew shrugged halfheartedly, thoroughly entertained by what he was watching. "Being a light sleeper is something very useful when you're in Team Skull. Unless you could make like a ghost, you would have woken us up, one way or another." The Team Skull admin looked around at the campsite and let out a low, impressed whistle. "Tidied up too? You're quite the guest."
Selene opted to not dignify that with a response, instead looking for something she could remove from her backpack to lessen the weight and space taken up. "Here," The girl said triumphantly, pulling out the container of berries before removing the spare meal kit. "Will this be good enough as thanks?"
"Why, I couldn't," Yew protested, a hint of affront to his voice, as Selene held them out to him, looking at her as if she'd lost her mind overnight. "You'll need those for your island challenge -"
"I'm pretty sure you'll need them more than me," Selene countered, taking some satisfaction in his visible affront.
Once he had composed himself, Yew did his signature eyebrow raise, though the way the early morning light caught his eyes betrayed his entertainment. "Do you think yourself more capable than us?"
"I don't see how you being more capable than me means that you wouldn't get that more use out of those berries," the girl replied, crossing her arms. It helped that she had her entourage of pokemon doing the same as best as they could. "Besides, I can easily get more."
Yew rolled his eyes, muttering about kids these days. "Well, if you insist," he sighed dramatically, letting Selene hand him the items. "If you regret it later, that is entirely on you. Good luck on your island challenge by the way - I expect great things out of you."
Selene couldn't help but freeze up at that last portion, her face twisting into an uncomfortable scowl. "You say that like we're going to see each other again."
"What?" the admin asked, a hint of mischievousness to his voice. "Don't want to?"
"Yeah, I'm not so sure about that," Selene said drily, making a point of squinting dubiously at the two Team Skull members. Even if her opinion of at least these two had changed, now that she had gotten a night's worth of rest, Selene remembered to be more suspicious. The impressions she had gotten may not be reflected in the rest of the group. "Are we going the same way? Because if then, maybe."
"We're not going that way, unfortunately," he chuckled, and Selene swore he sounded genuine. It was an observation she didn't know how to feel about. "We've got to take a long detour."
Basil let out a small huff, giving the girl an unimpressed look. "So after everything, you still hate people like us, huh?"
She shrugged, more preoccupied with returning her pokemon back to their pokeballs. They had a long day ahead of them. "Someone I know said it well: 'I don't hate people just because they happen to exist.'"
Basil let out a little strangled noise that sounded like he was caught between laughing and choking, but merely Yew nodded at her, a mirthful look to his eyes. "They sound like quite the smart person."
Selene shot him a dirty look. "Don't flatter yourself."
"I guess I'll be going now," the girl said with an air of finality, walking away.
The past night had been an interesting experience, all things considered. A fatally curious part of Selene couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if they had met under different circumstances. Then came the whispers, the sobering reminders of the reality that they all were actually living in, the reality that had brought them to this encounter in the first place.
Selene thought of that grand scheme that she was one way or another, a crucial cog to. Realistically speaking, if she saw them again, that would mean -
Her blood ran cold. No.
No matter what, Selene would never let that come to pass.
Notes:
I'm not sure what to say, other than to sincerely apologize for taking so long - both in updating and with this fic's pacing in general. It's not a good time to be of poor health, unfortunately, and I haven't been improving much over the past few months.
But enough of that. For the people who have been waiting for the return to the game's story points, the wait is finally (and uh, sorry about that) over! Ilima's trial will be next, and thank you for putting up with me thus far. This fic is already so, so long, but I promise it'll all tie back eventually! Perhaps my vision for this fic is overly ambitious, but as someone who writes for fun, it's a learning process for me. I'm probably juggling too many plot threads and concepts in one fic, but that's just the kind of writer I am, I think.
I'll be honest and say I had most of this chapter done months ago, but the overwhelming editing/reviewing/rewriting process is probably my Achilles heel. Perfectionism is my worst enemy, and I'll strive to overcome it.
I have put a lot of thought into trying to flesh out Team Skull, so you could say that this and the previous instances are what you can expect of how I try to flesh out the otherwise meaningless encounters in game. I hope it's interesting, because this is the sort of original content I've been looking forward to writing.
Thank you so much for reading, whoever you are.
Also, to the madman who put this on the Gen Pokemon Fanfic Recs for TV Tropes, I don't even know what to say. It's a dream come true! I will do my best to live up to your expectations.