Chapter 7 - Arc 1 (Melemele Island) Speak Your Truth

Awed, Hau loudly asked, "Is that… loft?! Cool!"

"It's private!" Lillie snapped, running ahead of him, putting herself between him and a ladder that led higher up in the professor's lab… or shack, really. Selene wasn't sure what she had been expecting his lab to be like, but it hadn't been what looked more like an abandoned cabin from a beachfront horror movie. Of course, that thought had been banished immediately by Lillie's defensive warning to Hau. She thought that was odd… Lillie had leapt to Hau's very defense the day before when Elio had gotten a little… She sighed. What had Elio even shoved Hau for? She had tried to press him after, but he refused to talk to her about it. Part of her thought it could have been jealousy, but it wasn't like Hau had even shown a remote shred of flirtatious interest with Lillie, and more than that, Elio himself had only just met her…

"O-oh, sorry," Hau apologized meekly, backing away decisively from the ladder.

Honestly, it just made her head hurt. Curious, but deciding it ultimately wasn't anything she was owed more information on, she turned her attention to her brother, almost certain she'd need to reel him in. She was not wrong.

"Nice place you got here, professor," Elio remarked with a snide tinge to his tone as he sauntered around the lab, idly touching and poking at the various equipment haphazardly strewn about. His Litten seemed eager to do the same, winding its way across every available surface in the room.

"Elio, leave his stuff alone!" Selene huffed exhaustedly after him. Sometimes, she felt like she was the older sibling… She lunged forward to catch a glass tube that his Litten knocked free of a shelf, and then shooed the pokémon off, ignoring the annoyed hiss it gave her. Her Rowlet clicked his beak after it warningly. Even though he saw her, Elio made no effort to stop his invasive inspection of the laboratory. Rolling her eyes, she internally grumbled, I guess I can try to reel him in, but I can't guarantee anything.

Professor Kukui abruptly clapped his hands, loudly. "Hey, hey, cousins! Attention!" he laughed as the group of four slowly gathered back around himself. "Oi, you're all as wound up as a bunch of Klink, yeah… Look, I wanted to call you here to give three of you Rotom Dexes, yeah."

Elio just raised a brow at him. "Rotom Dexes?"

"Yeah! They're the next-gen Pokédexes, super rare in Alola, yeah!" he beamed. "I was lucky to get these in! Had to really beg ole' Kahuna Hala, yeah." He staggered over some long-forgotten piles of papers and books on the floor to a computer desk stuffed in the corner of the room, and fetched a gleaming, silver box that looked much unlike anything else in his possession. Everything else was wooden and rustic save for the computers themselves, but even then, they were white and faded yellow with age. Fleetingly, Selene cocked her head as she remembered something Lillie had sniped at the professor during one of their forays into Iki Town…

You're already an outcast to everyone that isn't a Kahuna or Burnet, Kukui, it's different for you, you utter quack.

As Professor Kukui stepped forward and opened the box to reveal three Pokédexes that… Selene had to admit, looked fairly standard, she wondered what Lillie could have meant by that. The disparaging, unimpressive laboratory, laughable in comparison to the several in Kanto she knew of, seemed indicative that Kukui had difficulty funding himself. Frowning, she wondered why that was… Did Alola not have anything in place to help their scientists and was Kukui funding himself entirely alone? Or, was he, too, shunned partially as Lillie was? Yet, that didn't entirely make sense either… She had seen Kukui talking to several people in Iki, including Kahuna Hala.

Something else Lillie had said hadn't made sense, either, she realized. She claimed that those that didn't participate in the Island Challenge were shunned, as Selene had clearly seen Iki's townsfolk do to her, but Kukui had added that people in the town would forgive Selene and her brother for associating with Lillie, since they were foreigners. Wasn't Lillie a foreigner, too? Why did they hold her refusal to participate in the Island Challenge against her so bad…? I suppose Lillie's just… really blunt about her dislike for it and they might see that as super disrespectful to the Tapus, Selene reasoned to herself uncomfortably, not wanting to chase her tail down that rabbit hole any longer, but another frightening thought took root, forcing her to. Elio can be really blunt, too… and I'm pretty sure he's already feeling really lonely if that talk yesterday morning was any indication… She worriedly side-eyed him. If he's not careful, he could shoot himself in the foot if people here take this Island Challenge this that seriously…

Remembering Kukui was still droning about Pokédexes, she jerked her attention back to him. "They don't look special, yeah, but they can do something incredible!" He winked and set the box down, still open, then dug in his pockets for some Poké Balls. Tossing them free, a few Rotom were released, zipping about the room excitedly.

Lillie cringed and groaned, "Professor… is letting them all out at once really a good idea? You know how…" She paused and grimaced. "You know how playful Rotom are."

"Nonsense!" Professor Kukui laughed and grabbed the Pokédexes from the box. "Here, Rotom, Rotom, Rotom, check out these Pokédexes! Perfect for you to take control of, eh?"

The Rotom free in the room zipped just over Hau, causing him to yelp and lower his head abruptly, covering it with his arms, then they disappeared into the Pokédexes Professor Kukui was holding. They sparked with some blue electricity, and then their casing morphed slightly, growing larger in the back as eyes appeared over the plastic.

"Uh… you know those things are Ghost-types that likely wanna do evil things, right?" Elio asked, face pale.

Selene shook her head exasperatedly. Rotom weren't evil. Ghost-types weren't evil. She had read about them plenty of times as she agonized over the sickening data collected from pokémon shelters around the world that suggested Ghost- and Dark-type pokémon were eight to ten times as likely to be abandoned, traded away, or given up as any other type. Of course, collecting verifiable data on the motivations for the disturbing behavior Ghost-types were known to get up to tended to be difficult, but the unofficially-accepted theory behind their seemingly malevolent behavior was that Ghost-types could see a different world from those around them. They saw the spirits and memories of people and pokémon alike, long gone and past, in the atmosphere, and would try to recreate what they saw to those around them in a bid to communicate stories. She had read quite the interesting article that had collected observational evidence that Ghost-types tended to be more intelligent pokémon as a whole, with the most interesting distinction being that they could create art if given the appropriate tools—and they almost always would. Gengar, in particular, had been shown to be capable of complex writing and detailed paintings.

Although her mind was swimming with those thoughts, it had truthfully only taken a few milliseconds at most to mull it all over. Deciding she didn't want to pick a fight with her brother over whether Ghost-types deserved the same compassion as other pokémon, she merely decided to tease him with, "Don't mind the big Combusken, these Rotom Dexes sound awesome, Professor. What does having the Rotom inside do, though…?" She did have to wonder… if Ghost-types could find a more practical use in everyday human life, would people still be as unkind to them? That was certainly a thought…

"Hey. I am not a Combusken!" Elio hotly defended himself.

"Mm, you're right," Lillie smoothly interjected.

"Thank you—"

"—You're a Torchic."

Hau broke into raucous laughter when Elio just gaped at her.

Professor Kukui was clearly fighting laughter—or perhaps a tension headache, Selene wouldn't have blamed him—as he tried to explain. "Well, Selene, Rotom can record data on some pokémon itself without you having to remember to pull the Pokédex out and so on. Voice recognition is also really handy!" he nodded. "I'll admit, it's more for us researchers than for you guys, yeah. Data shows that Rotom Dexes record way more data than a standard Pokédex simply because they'll record without the trainer having to remember to use the Pokédex, yeah."

"Human laziness at its finest," Elio sighed, dramatically pressing the back of his right hand to his forehead.

"I know you are not talking," Selene quipped with a scoff for emphasis.

As if to prove her point, Elio's Litten yawned and flopped onto his feet, deciding they were a fine place for a nap.

The Rotom Dexes were distributed to Hau, Elio, and Selene, and then Professor Kukui shared some quick words in Alolan with Lillie. She rolled her eyes at him and then searched the lab for a few minutes. Before Selene had a chance to ask her what she was looking for, she reappeared from beneath a desk with a small, whining space cloud in her hands. "Sorry, you," Lillie almost sang at him, "we have to go out for a while."

"How did you know he got out…?" Hau asked dumbly. "I did not see him escape!"

"If I take my arm off the bag for too long, I can basically guarantee he escaped, and we were in the lab, so I didn't bother holding him in there. I'm trying to keep him safe, not torture him, and you all know about him already so there was no point in hiding him while in here," Lillie answered matter-of-factly. With that, she cooed a few more words at him and was able to coax Nebby back into the bag. She swiftly strode ahead of the three of them and stopped at the door, tossing a look over her shoulder. "You three coming?"

"Where are we going?" Selene asked curiously.

"Trainers' School. Need to test you three to make sure you know basic battling stuff, so you don't die while traveling the islands. Not to mention, that's likely where Captain Ilima is. He's a teacher there." She was talking to all of them, but her knowing, almost taunting gaze was locked onto Elio. "He'll be your first trial."

"The first Captain is a teacher?" Elio asked. He crossed his arms and cockily smirked. "Yeah, I'm not too worried."

Lillie just giggled to herself as she walked out the door. "Oh, we'll see about that," she practically sang.

Selene made a gagging gesture and pointed at her face as she walked past Elio. "Gag me with all the reverse flirting you two are doing," she complained.

"We are not," Elio hissed.

Selene just made another gagging sound and followed Lillie. Although she liked that her brother was making a friend in that girl, she did have to worry… What if Elio befriended the fierce, sharp-tongued Lillie, and followed down the same road of isolation she had forged? Although Selene didn't agree with the way others had looked over Lillie as if she were an alien that day in Iki she had strode back in with her leg bleeding following their meeting at the Plank Bridge, if that was how their society worked, well… It wasn't like Selene could change that, could she? How arrogant would that have been of her, to decide an entire town's collective ideology was wrong?

Even so, she feared for Elio's mental health if he chose to unabashedly ignore the subtle warning signs. It wasn't like Lillie, as Selene knew her so far, was worth throwing away potential friendships with so many others… Lillie had been vulgar, bitter, and overtly standoffish to date. Even the way she had invited them to Kukui's laboratory that morning had been full of dry, biting humor that Elio flocked to like a Mothim to a flame, her thorny tongue only taking a break when Selene's mother had waved them all goodbye. Selene had tried to opportunistically take the lapse in her guardedness to initiate some small talk, but Lillie immediately adopted her cool, crisp aura all over again, swiftly dodging Selene's attempt at conversation with ease. Not that Selene hated her or thought she was undeserving of friendship, but… She kept coming back to the question of whether she was… worth it.

She wondered why Elio didn't want to befriend someone less… like that. Like Hau! Hau had been so sweet and excited to battle them both, without a care in the world as to who they were when he had first seen them, poised to do nothing more than make fast friends, and in Iki, he had been so genuinely happy to battle Selene's Rowlet with his Popplio. Yet, if yesterday's interaction between him and Elio had anything to say about it, it seemed Elio had already decided he wanted Lillie's wry, unpredictable attention over Hau's exuberant friendliness. Was it because Hau had asked for a battle?

She just shook her head. Maybe I should talk to him about that…

Babysitting.

That's what Lillie felt like she was doing as she led their mismatched group to the Trainers' School in Hau'oli. Not that she was unused to the sensation. Between Kukui and Nebby, it felt as if all her time was spent babysitting someone. Of course, it was different with a grown man and a small pokémon; corralling a group of three teens, especially considering how Elio had apparently decided he hated Hau's guts for some reason, was misery. Upon reaching the Trainers' School, she had ignored everything they all had to say and shut her eyes so they couldn't distract her in any way. Arm still clamped over her bag, she loudly said, "Follow me and don't make a scene. I'll check you all in and then they'll have Captain Ilima come and put you through a short test. Depending on how well you do on that, we can be out of here by the end of the day."

"What? I've been through school. I swear to Arceus, if they ask us if Water-type is super-effective on Fire-type or something—"

Without even opening her eyes, Lillie already knew it was Elio, and she cut him off with a sharp, "You're going to what, Macho? Write them a strongly-worded letter? Put a one-star review online?" Not that you really can, because the Internet on these islands is a fucking joke, but still. Finally daring to open her eyes, she smirked at the way Elio scowled at her. Hau had shied from them, standing awkwardly to the side, and Selene was eyeing her sandals as if they had suddenly become so very interesting. Sighing resignedly, Lillie shook her head at him. "It'll be quick. Even Alolans here that went to school have to do it. It's a safety thing."

Turning on a heel, Lillie led them down the asphalt to the entrance. Upon buzzing the doorbell, a woman asked who they were, and Lillie supplied they were three prospective Island Challengers requiring their safety exam. Stepping aside, Lillie waited patiently as a kindly, dusky-skinned woman exited the building and distributed visitor's passes to each of them. Selene and Elio followed her inside, but Hau paused at the doorway and cocked his head at Lillie. "You coming?" he asked in Alolan. Unlike his Galarish, Hau's Alolan was much more relaxed and fluid, and tended to be packed with slang. Even for Lillie, who had already known the language fairly well by the time she started living with Kukui, it was occasionally difficult to make out what he meant.

"Not a chance," Lillie answered him dryly, returning the Alolan since she knew how little he understood of Galarish. Not unless you want me to throttle Elio. Softening her expression, she reluctantly mumbled, "Good luck, Hau. I'll be out here for whenever you guys are done…"

He hesitantly nodded back at her. "Well… alright. Seeya, Lillie!" Flashing her a practiced, faux smile, he vanished inside.

Lillie just felt like she might have been getting a migraine with the way her head started to throb. What does Kukui have to gain from sending me out with these clowns? He knows about Nebby and me. Although I didn't tell them everything that happened back on Aether, they still know Aether is crawling all over these islands and wants Nebby back some kind of bad… It just didn't make sense. Setting her jaw, she looked down at the bag beneath her arm. Maybe it wasn't meant to make sense. Maybe she had been wrong in interpreting Kukui and Burnet as trustworthy people, and the idea was to send Lillie out so that she and Nebby would eventually be caught. There was a pronged pang of hurt at that thought—she had started to truly feel like Kukui could be trusted—but she suppressed it quickly. She didn't blame Dr. Wicke, even as the thought dawned on her; it wasn't like Dr. Wicke could have known.

But I should have known better, she internally chided herself. Kukui, with his distracting body and entertaining façade, was a pupil of deception. Not that he had ill intentions, but Lillie recognized him for what he was. Having visited Kanto in the past and even participate in their Indigo League, Kukui had told her that he had been fascinated, alarmed, and incensed by the Indigo League all at once. Fascinated in how much better the infrastructure in Kanto was, both in and out of the context of the League, alarmed by how pitifully small in comparison Alola was to Kanto, and incensed by how the League Staff of the country had been so dismissive of him due to how they viewed Alola as harmless and barely even as a veritable country. More than that, he had complained in the past that attempts to share research with the rest of the world often were ignored, such as his and Burnet's research into Mega Evolution that challenged Professor Sycamore's suggestion that positive bonds between trainer and pokémon allowed pokémon to mega evolve. All of that had made Kukui almost bitter about Alola's traditionalist Island Challenge and complacent refusal to consider updating their infrastructure at all. Despite that, Kukui still played the part of friendly local to anyone new he met and would grovel on his knees to the Tapus if asked—then curse them behind his back in his shack of a laboratory.

In fact, Lillie knew that others in Iki Town had picked up on Kukui's two-faced nature. Although they didn't outwardly comment on it and Kahuna Hala decidedly ignored it, it was the reason he had so few friends outside of herself and Burnet, why he had moved to that shack on the beach in the first place. Few trusted him and thought he was toeing the line of respect and disdain for the Tapus for potentially self-serving reasons. So, what on Earth had led her to believe she could have truly trusted him? Desperation? Wanting to believe that he was trustworthy? Perhaps it had been their mutual skepticism over Alola's Island Challenge and how the natives tended to leave everything up to the Tapus, to the point even police officers and 'laws' were viewed as suggestions rather than fact. Ultimately, it was the fear of retribution by the hand of the Tapus and human goodwill that kept those in Alola safe… Clutching her bag a little more tightly and hearing the plaintive pew! of Nebby inside, Lillie just shook her head. That was to say, Alola was deceptively unsafe. Its sunny shores, beautiful skies, and rumors of harmonious relations between people and pokémon lured people in like the sticky sweetness on a Carnivine's teeth, while any number of the caveats would bring that Carnivine's jaws crashing shut.

"Just you and me, Nebby," Lillie huffed in the end, exasperated, rubbing her hand over the bag. "I'll stick with these jokers a while longer since they can help keep us safe and I don't think they know anything about Alola in that way yet… But it'll always be you and me first."

That's how we got this far, anyway.

"That wasn't so bad, I guess," Elio admitted as they exited the classroom. Selene followed suit, nodding in agreement.

"That was really easy. Like Lillie said, I guess it was just to make sure we know enough to keep ourselves safe… Still, seems odd they'd require everyone to do that, even those that have already been through school…" she trailed off, rubbing the back of her head as she frowned. What exactly was so dangerous out there that required a standardized test to determine whether one was able to travel on their own at all?

Bounding out after her, Hau skipped ahead of them and cast them both a wide grin. "Easy, right?" he asked after a pause.

"Yeah," Elio tersely replied, narrowing his eyes.

Starting to open her mouth to shoot something in Kantonian after Elio, Selene was cut off by a smooth male voice from behind them, also exiting the classroom. She smiled up at Captain Ilima as he politely stepped into view, holding a couple of books to his chest, completely forgetting anything she had wanted to say to her brother. She wasn't sure what she had expected Captain Ilima to look like, but his soft, rosy hair and kindly eyes were so pleasant… Averting her gaze to avoid drawing attention to her staring, Selene shuffled her feet uneasily. I am so not any better than Elio when it comes to being interested in people for that reason, she thought with a shameful flare of amusement in her chest. And he's a teacher, Selene! And a… Captain, whatever connotations that has!

"You all did very well," Captain Ilima said kindly, dipping his head respectfully at the three of them. "I'd like to see you all battle before I give you approval to move on, if that's alright."

"I don't—"

Captain Ilima cut Elio off with a knowing smile, his slate eyes seeming to bore right into her brother. "You don't like to battle. You find it to be an ugly blood sport and feel as if you are being forced to participate."

Selene and Elio both gawked at him, while the prior glanced to Hau and found he looked completely unfazed. "H-how did you…?" Elio stammered. Swallowing, he repeated more sternly, "How did you know that? I didn't… write it or say anything about it in there…"

Hau just blinked at them both. "This Captain Ilima," he said simply, as if that explained everything.

Looking Captain Ilima up and down with a newfound reverence that made his attractiveness suddenly seem so much farther away, Selene almost instinctively stepped closer to Elio. "What… what does Hau mean? What's going on, Captain Ilima?"

Jolting in surprise, Captain Ilima tilted his head. "My apologies, nobody must have explained that to you… Oh, dear. Well," he sighed, flicking his gaze to Elio, "why I know isn't very important right this moment, as I want to reassure you that these battles are not going to incur terrible injury to your pokémon or the opponent's. More than that, the Litten you had out earlier is antsy for battle. Litten and its evolutionary line do not appreciate a pacifist's lifestyle. You'll find that pokémon will grow bored and potentially even upset if you refuse to let it battle…" Turning his gaze to Selene, he added, "Rowlet, too. You don't believe in the same as your brother, but I can tell you have your concerns." He nodded slowly. "I promise, it will be okay."

"No, seriously, how the hell do you know all of that?" Elio barked, blue eyes bulging somewhat as his voice rose an octave. Selene felt a rush of embarrassment as he took a step ahead of her, but she was too unnerved to dispute Elio's protectiveness right then… In fact, she felt rather grateful for it. It was downright eerie how much Captain Ilima knew about them despite how little they had spoken prior to and during the exam.

"Elio," Hau hissed, wincing at Elio's fierce glare, "do not talk like th—"

"I'll talk however the fuck I want until he explains," Elio belligerently retorted, defiantly raising his chin at Hau. The other backed away, face reddening, and crossed his arms as he decisively stared at the floor.

"Hey, hey, easy!" Captain Ilima interrupted softly, looking a little more nervous now. "It's…" He heaved a sigh and pressed a palm to his forehead. "It's hard to explain. Captains are—"

"Ilima!" a woman shrieked from down the hall, beyond what Selene could see. "Come quickly! Skull members out front! We need your help!"

Captain Ilima's expression fell in an instant and he swept a cold look across them. "Follow me but keep inside the building. Let's go!"

With that, he darted down the hall, leaving Elio, Selene, and Hau standing there. Shooting Elio and Selene a furtive glance, Hau tore off after the Captain. Selene and Elio gaped at each other and incredulously blinked.

"Skull members?" Elio scoffed in disbelief. Groaning and stomping a foot, he loudly snarled, "What the hell is wrong with this place? I don't understand!"

Me neither, Selene thought helplessly. She suddenly grabbed Elio's arm and meekly whimpered, "Maybe… maybe we should follow him, though… To see what's going on…" And maybe he can finally explain… I could rip all my hair out! Alola, the paradise islands… yeah, right… I wonder when the 'paradise' starts?

He looked down at her, then ahead. Grunting, he nodded. "Alright. But stick with me. Okay?"

She didn't question his commanding tone, not in that moment. This was not the time to argue and she didn't want to, anyway. Nodding curtly in agreement, they both bolted after Hau and Ilima.

Notes: I have fixed some continuity errors with Lillie's age in the last couple of chapters. She's 18 and Gladion is 19. Selene is 17 and Elio is 19. I had it mixed up and had said Lillie was 17 in a few places. Also changed the "over the course of the next 4 years" in the prologue to 5 years as it was supposed to be initially (as the last year Lillie talks about was meant to be a fifth, but I felt it was not clear enough without the edit).

Ultra Sun will run from now until the end of September. Reviews/comments/PMs welcome! Feel free to follow me on Tumblr as well (undeadtrashessDOTtumblrDOTcom) if you want to get updates or art stuff there. I'm not super active at the moment but will be posting more here soon.

If you're enjoying Ultra Sun, feel free to check out my other Retold stories, Black and Black 2! Though, full warning, they are both probably a good deal darker than this story will ever be, lol. Unova is messed up man.