Chapter 9 - Arc 1 (Melemele Island) Family Values

Selene's mind was still reeling as she and her brother finally returned home. They found the front door unlocked, it easily opening when Elio went to knock, but she didn't find that too unusual. Everyone living near their new home had seemed quite friendly (at least to their parents, Selene and Elio were starting to have their doubts), but she was a little more concerned when they couldn't find their parents right away. They didn't call out to them, nor did their Meowth come running up to greet them at the front door. That's… so strange, Selene thought worriedly as she frowned. I know they can't be here literally all the time, but they wouldn't just leave the door unlocked like that, would they? And Meowth… Mom would never let him leave the house…

Both siblings paused in the center of the bottom floor, straddling the divide between living room and dining area, and shared a look. They spoke no words, but in that moment, it seemed they didn't need to; it was clear Elio had drawn the same questions Selene had. With nothing more than a curt nod between them, they had wordlessly agreed to keep deathly silent until they had inspected the entirety of the house, with Elio scouring the larger downstairs, his Litten interestedly following at his heels, and Selene examining the smaller upstairs.

Picking her way as quietly up the stairs as possible, Selene shushed her Rowlet, who was standing on her head again and clicking softly, and then carefully checked her closet, beneath her bed. Finding nothing in there and with the air still as could be, she turned her attention to the bathroom in the upstairs hall. Flicking the light switch before nervously rounding the corner, she poked her head into the room uncertainly. It was quiet in there, too, and nothing appeared out of the ordinary… Creeping forward, she went to draw the shower curtain to check just in case, and a shout from downstairs made her nearly rip it clear from the curtain rod.

"Selene!" Elio hollered up the stairs. "Found a note! It's all clear!"

He scared the hell out of me! Selene thought frustratedly, her breath coming in fitful gasps as her heart pounded wildly. Her Rowlet shrieked and had puffed his feathers out at her sudden reaction. "Sorry," Selene apologized to it insincerely, feeling a little too on-edge to really feel that bad about it. Giving a small scratch on the side of its body as a peace offering, she twitchily clambered down the stairs, finding Elio standing at the bottom.

He was clutching a ripped piece of lined paper, his brows furrowed at it, like he didn't trust it. Selene wasn't sure what to make of that… His unease made her equally as unsure. Clearing his throat, he read, "'Selene, Elio, if you come home early and find us out—we decided to take on an Island Challenge of our own! Haha, not really. Joke. My job choice fell through so your Dad's taking me to Akala Island for a few interviews. We might be away for a few days and we're not sure how reliable cell service will be, but still feel free to call us! We'll call as soon as we can and we're settled in over there. Love you both!'"

Craning her head to look over the paper, she blinked confusedly. "Mom wrote that…?"

"Yeah," he said tersely. "Or… so it seems… I mean, it is her handwriting, I think…"

"But it's written in Galarish," Selene pointed out, more and more weirded out by the second. "Mom barely knows Galarish."

"Maybe Dad helped her write it for practice?" Elio suggested lamely. "I mean… he was the one really pushin' for us all to practice it, and it was Mom who struggled with it the most…"

It was true, Selene felt as if she and her brother were fairly fluent, struggling mostly with just lesser used words, while their mother could flounder trying to put together a basic sentence. Their father understood the language the best, there was no doubt about that, so… Selene supposed it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that she had written the note with his assistance. Of course, that brought forward another question. "Well, why didn't he just write it himself? I don't see how having her write it would help much for practice… She can barely speak it, let alone read or write it, I'm not sure what writing a note with him just giving her the words would help with… Also, where's Meowth? Mom would have a heart attack taking him anywhere. That's just odd…"

"I'll text 'em and see if they respond," Elio muttered defeatedly, like he didn't have the energy to talk about it. "While I do that, though—can you tell me what that Captain Ilima guy told you? I mean, I asked Hau about the Skull dudes, but he really can't speak Galarish and I dunno if I got it right." He grimaced. "And try and make it quick… I need a shower. This pepper spray stuff is relentless!"

"Oh!" Selene jolted, then groaned. "Oh, Arceus, everything he told me was a mess… Well, I think starting with Skull actually isn't such a bad idea, because the stuff about the Captains is something else… So, the Skull Gang…"

…The day before…

Despite Gladion's best efforts, he, Null, and the rest of his fledgling team were thrashed by Guzma's beastly Golisopod. For a moment following his Riolu's defeat, Gladion had simply stood there in shock, shivering. The driving rain sheeting over Po Town's hulking walls, even in the heat, had sank to his bones and he was feeling so, very cold… Or perhaps it was the wolfish, hungry grin on Guzma's face that sent chills down his spine. Plumeria and the other grunts that had followed them out were leaned against the walls of Po Town, hardly even bothering to look at him anymore, except for Plumeria. Her yellow eyes were locked onto him as Guzma started to circle him and his fainted Riolu like a Sharpedo.

"Still gon' run your mouth now?" Guzma jeered. After making a full circle around Gladion, on his second approach, he snatched him by his jacket's hood, and it was as if Gladion suddenly came back to life. Realizing that he had lost, had no usable pokémon, and now was entirely at the mercy of the notoriously violent leader of Skull, he threw all his weight against Guzma's hold and kicked, throwing mud up at the other's shoes. Yet, it was all futile; Guzma was built like a truck, and in his panic, Gladion had yet to think about slipping out of the jacket. Instead, he fell still and fearfully looked up at Guzma. He had heard quite a few tales about how unforgiving Guzma could be… He was known for severely injuring, losing himself in blind fits of rage, at anyone that really crossed Skull Gang's members, such as harming one of their grunts.

"Well?" Guzma snorted and shook him. "Are ya?"

Gladion didn't remember the question. His bravado from earlier had long since faltered. "Uh… what?"

Laughing, Guzma let go of him by throwing him slightly, knocking him to the mud. Blinking in confusion, Gladion didn't get up from where he had caught himself with his palms, watching as Guzma shrugged and put his hands on his hips. "Well, ya did give me a run for my money in the start with that crazy pokémon o' yours. Null, was that whatcha called it?"

Still unsure if Guzma was tricking him or not with the show of mercy, Gladion wiped the stunned look from his face by narrowing his eyes again and pressing his lips to a hard line. He had to admit that he was more than frightened to be without any usable pokémon, but he also knew that if Guzma actually was impressed with him despite losing, he couldn't start showing weakness then. Getting up slowly, he slung the mud and water off himself, pulling his drenched hood over his head. He wondered then if it was really worth it to save him from the rain, considering how wet the fabric was… As he spoke, he recalled his Riolu. "Yeah. Null. Was an experimental pokémon developed by the Aether Foundation."

"Tell me, what brings you out here? Rando kid from Aether Foundation with a, probably very expensive, experiment in his pocket?" Guzma asked pointedly, licking his lips. "I'm just sayin', it looks a little odd. You show up here lookin' like hell ran over and demand to see the boss with that little gem in your belt. You're either runnin' from somethin' or you're here to screw me over in the end. And yeah, that pokémon's strong, but I still ain't appreciate you mouthin' off at me at the start. Ain't nobody in Skull gettin' nowhere by actin' like they're better than anyone else. You got a lotta learnin' to do if you wanna live as Skull, Lil' Aether."

"There's nothing left for me back at the Aether Foundation," Gladion said sternly, almost growling it. "My name is Gladion. I'm the Aether Foundation president's—"

"Your name is whatever the hell I tell you it is until you learn better," Guzma cut him off, spitting at the ground. "Get to the point."

"Right…" Gladion felt a prickle of anger, but swallowed it down, like so many other emotions, always swallowing them down… Maybe it would be helpful to share a little. "Want the point? Aether was torturing Null with its experiments. And it was torturing me. My father's gone, my mother's lost her mind, and my sister bailed on me. I couldn't stay there anymore. I couldn't let Null stay there anymore…" Taking a shuddery breath, he shook his head. "Null's strong, but I know if Lusamine decides she wants him back, I'd be easy to find on my own, and I know Alolans would have a hernia over me not bothering with the Island Challenge. So, I came to you guys. Because I have nowhere else to go and I know I can be of help. I disappear into your folds and you get a powerful ally."

"What I'm hearin' is, the richest and most powerful woman in the region wants your ass, and you wanna hide out in Po Town and lead her right to us," Guzma gruffly huffed once he was done. He raised a brow at Gladion's frozen stare. "Don't look at me like 'at. You gotta understand somethin', Lil' Aether, we ain't a charity and I got people to look out for here. I can't be havin' you actin' like a beacon for any kinda trouble. Ain't like you fucked up your Island Challenge. Go do that with your strong mutt of a pokémon, and you can build yourself a nice life, away from crazy bitch mom and deadbeat sister."

"You don't understand!" Gladion exclaimed, desperation eating away at his brusque façade. "I can't go out there alone! At least with a group, I have a chance, and you guys are the farthest from Aether Foundation anyone can get in these islands! I can tell you stuff about Aether and Lusamine, and maybe, if they get on your tail, I can help you throw them off! I won't even be staying in Po Town, there's a motel down the way that I'm staying at now, I'll stay there, and—"

Guzma yawned and groaned loudly, ending his nervous meltdown early. Once he was done with the obnoxious interruption, he grunted, "Listen, Lil' Aether. I'm doin' you a favor. I'm serious. I doubt crazy bitch mom can track ya down that quick. You can move through the Island Challenge fast and with that creature, you could earn plenty o' cash to get off these islands, get somewhere nice. Away from all this shit."

"No," Gladion adamantly insisted, "you're not listening to me!" I can't face her alone. I can't face her alone. That's why I came here. I won't go back without a fight, but I don't want to fight her alone. I can't fight her alone… I've been fighting her alone for so long… A tremor ran up his spine as he remembered so many painful nights, virtually alone with Lusamine, at Aether Paradise. It was no secret that she hated him, and it was no secret that he hated her, but the truth of the matter was that she was far stronger than he. She had so many people at her command, and he… he was nothing. Despite his age, he had had no autonomy at Aether. Everything was as Lusamine wanted, and when she didn't get what she wanted… He shook away the thoughts, and fleetingly thought of Lillie. Violent anger tore through him at that point. "Damn it, I know what I'm doing, why does everyone on these islands think they know better than me?!"

"Guz," Plumeria butted in, strutting up beside him with her arms crossed. "I think he's tellin' the truth."

"Yeah, an' like I said, he'll be a beacon for trouble!" Guzma hissed at her, bristling under her stare. "Never said he was lyin'! Kid's got some issues but otherwise got a good thing goin' for him. He ain't like the rest of us. He ain't failed the Challenge. He's—"

"What are you talking about?" Plumeria challenged, eyes flashing fearlessly as she took a decisive step forward. Despite being shorter than him and so much thinner, she seemed unfazed by his threatening figure, and when she moved closer to him, Guzma stiffened uncomfortably. "You didn't even fail the Island Challenge. Remember? That ain't why you're here. That ain't why plenty of us are here. That ain't what fuckin' binds us together. That's what everyone else wants to think it is, but it's not. Don't put all o' us down to just that, Guz, 'cause that's what they want!" She cast Gladion a look then, and he felt a flutter of relief. For someone that sounded so fierce, Plumeria had an oddly soft look on her face. He even thought he saw her give a small smile. Turning her attention back to Guzma, she bared her teeth as she continued. "He's someone who ain't got no place to go. That's what holds this family together, Guz. If—"

"He's someone the Aether Foundation wants!" Guzma repeated stubbornly. "You can shout at me all you want about who Skull is and what we mean, blah blah blah, but that's not gonna change the fact he's wanted by people who are so fuckin' rich, they were able to have an island built!"

"So, what?" she spat, still refusing to back down. "Like you just said, Aether's rich as hell and their image means the world to 'em. You think they want anythin' to do with us? Even if they discovered he was workin' for us, he won't be stayin' with us. He'll be at the motel like he said. We'll keep him outta Po Town as much as possible. Nobody takes us seriously or gives a shit about us, Guz, so what would they come guns blazin' in here for? You just look at this place funny and Alolans get a twist in their panties, you really think Aether wants to touch any o' that?"

Gladion didn't realize he had been holding his breath until Guzma conceded at last. Crossing his arms and setting his jaw, the hulking man snarled, "Fine! Fine. Whatever." Sucking in a breath, Gladion couldn't fight the stupid grin off his face. Upon spotting it, though, Guzma jabbed a finger at him and prodded him in the chest with it, painfully hard. "Listen to me, though, kid. You do what you're told by me an' Plumeria, no questions asked, or anyone else we put in charge o' ya. Don't do any stupid shit with a Skull mask or chain or whatever on ya. And don't bring your ass into Po Town unless we ask for ya. Got it?"

Frankly, Gladion was too relieved to care about Guzma's biting tone. Though, he was confused… "Yeah, yeah, of course," he answered quickly, "but… what do you mean by 'don't do anything stupid?' I mean, not insulting anyone, I swear, but you guys do a lot that could be considered stupid… So, I just wanna know what…"

"Plumeria!" Guzma snapped, turning on a heel away from Gladion. "You get an hour with him in Po Town, then I want him out! Got it? Answer his dumb questions. I ain't got the time."

"Yeah, I gotcha, Guz," Plumeria answered him distractedly.

With that, Guzma waved a hand at her dismissively and then started walking back toward the white doors that led into Po Town. He paused to bark at the grunts gathered around it, "The fuck are y'all doin'? I know ain't all o' you on guard duty right now. Y'all'll catch pneumonia standin' out here for no fuckin' reason. Whose rotation is it?" Two grunts raised their hands. "Okay, then. You two stay out here and the rest o' you, inside. Idiots…" he trailed off, muttering to himself, as he effortlessly forced open the door, hastily followed by a gaggle of six or so grunts.

"He means well."

Gladion jumped and jerked his head to see that Plumeria had moved to stand next to him. That smile he thought he had seen earlier was gone, and she looked almost… bored, as she side-eyed him. She flicked a hand up from where she had her arms crossed, gesturing vaguely toward Po Town. "Guz, I mean. He means well. He ain't the best person out there, no. But he means good."

"Uh… yeah," Gladion uncertainly answered, not sure what reaction she wanted out of him. She couldn't have been trying to comfort him, could she? Sure, she might have stood up for him, but, well, he figured she had only done that because she was impressed with Null. After all, she had shown zero regard for the potential of Aether Foundation tracking him down to the motel. So, her comforting him wouldn't have made any sense. He gritted his teeth. He needed to keep his wits about him and that thorny exterior up. Neither he nor Null could afford for him to misunderstand someone else's actions as kindness, especially considering how impossibly rare kindness was… Yet, it was so hard to deny that he felt a bit of warmth when he looked at her, and it would have been an outright lie to say he wasn't thankful for her help. He… kind of wished he could have thanked her.

"'Fore we even get inside, I got somethin' to tell ya about Skull," Plumeria started tensely. "Failin' the Island Challenge may not be the glue that holds us together, but it's a pretty close second. Make fun o' anybody in here for their experience with the Island Challenge, and I'll personally kick you out." Before he had a chance to respond, she kept going. "Second, as for what he said about don't do nothin' stupid… Don't do anythin' that'll piss off the Tapus. Don't do nothin' to the Captains, Kahunas, or trial sites. And definitely don't fuck with the Tapu dens."

Blinking feverishly, Gladion frowned. "I thought… that's what you guys did, though. You messed with people on the Island Challenge…" That was what he had heard from so many Alolans. Everyone hated the Skull Gang and its moronic members because they constantly meddled in the Island Challenge, sometimes even preventing people from making meaningful progress… But that didn't make sense if what Plumeria was saying were true…

"We do," Plumeria shrugged, "but we don't do it that directly…" Her shoulders sagged and she looked down. "Follow me, ah… Gladion, right?"

"Yeah."

Silently, she moved ahead of him and Gladion followed. With a little more effort than Guzma had put in, she kicked open the sliding door into Po Town, and Gladion narrowly rushed inside before the door closed on him. Inside, he came to a dead stop. It felt like a scene out of a movie where a record should have skipped and the background music halt. Yet, the sounds of the driving rain and distant voices didn't falter.

Po Town was in shambles.

He had heard that about it before, the broken town, ravaged by Ula'Ula's Tapu Bulu, but he had never seen it. In fact, if what he had been told by other natives were to be believed, almost nobody aside from Skull members themselves had seen inside of it. Bad luck, they had called it. Po Town is a cursed place, others had said. To go there of your own volition is an insult to the Tapu alone. Yet, no amount of their endless, fearful rhetoric could have prepared him for that sight.

The streets looked ancient. It looked like handmade cobblestone, overgrown with moss, and flooded by the rainwater. Jagged metal spires occasionally jutted from the ground around them, and it wasn't until he spotted one that was still mostly intact (save for a busted bulb) that he realized they had once been streetlamps. Trees, logs long rotten, were felled all over the place. Various beat-up trucks were stashed around, some along the uneven, perilous road, others lodged axle-deep in mud. The dull, red-roofed buildings that made up Po Town's structure were all missing something. One didn't even have a door, most had shattered windows, and many were missing entire patches of roofing. Even the Pokémon Center had no lights, looking significantly older than the other Pokémon Centers he had seen across the islands. The red Poké Ball symbol over its front door was shattered. There was a particularly massive mansion he could just barely make out over the horizon of the town… Gladion wondered if that building was any more in one piece than the rest of the buildings…

Of course, that wasn't even to speak of the pokémon or people. All sorts of pokémon roamed the town, such as Shellos, Pelipper, Slowpoke, Rattata, and Yungoos, but Sliggoo and Goomy seemed particularly fond of the area. He supposed that more than made sense, given how both needed extremely wet environments to survive, but that observation also created a sense of dread… Sliggoo, in particular, were known for their indiscriminate hunger, due in part to their devolved, sightless eyes. Even though Goomy, its pre-evolved form, was the weakest of all Dragon-types, most trainers were steered away from raising it as a first-time Dragon-type due to Sliggoo's horrifying ability to mistake its friends for food and devour them in acidic slime. All lovely nuggets of information he had come to learn during his years helping Lusamine at Aether.

"Take a good, long look," Plumeria told him grimly, even though he was sure she could tell that was exactly what he was doing. "This is what happens when you piss off the Tapus. This is why we can't be but so much of a nuisance."

Gladion's attention was pulled to a truck half-sunken into the mud to his right when a girl (who looked maybe fifteen at the most) leapt onto its roof, triumphantly holding up a silver chain like the one around her own neck. "I got it!" she laughed, utterly ignorant to the rain that soaked her body. She, too, was wearing no jacket or anything, much like Plumeria. Another Skull grunt, a boy that somehow looked even younger than her, skirted the base of the truck, looking for a way up. The girl on top giggled again and just stuck her tongue out at him. "Told ya I'd take it and you wouldn't know! That's how good I am at pickpocketing! Got it right from around your neck!"

"Soh, give it back!" the boy whined.

"I had… no idea," Gladion said, gulping uncertainly as he looked at Plumeria, suddenly not wanting to look at it all anymore.

"We manage," Plumeria snorted, striding along the gross, mossy cobble path, prompting Gladion to start after her again. "It ain't all bad, and ya can't let it get ya too down… But another thing. You're shiverin' like a leaf. How long you been out in the rain?"

"I… don't know," he admitted sheepishly. "It was a bit of a walk over here, and we were out front a while…"

"Don't stay out for more than 3 hours in this mess and you gotta read normal temperature on a thermometer before you can go back out in it," Plumeria bluntly informed him. "Any more than that, or leave while you're still cold, an' you're riskin' hypothermia and pneumonia. These idiots are supposed to be wearin' raincoats out in it, too, but they been growin' out of 'em lately and we ain't had it to get new ones. Not to mention most of 'em ain't even bother with it no matter how many times I yell at 'em about it…" She rolled her eyes and shook her head disappointedly. "Anyway, what else…" She threw out her arm in front of him, abruptly coming to a halt along the path, then pointed at a Sliggoo circling the base of one of the broken streetlamps. "Stay away from the Sliggoo. They ain't your friends. Been some months since we had an incident with them, and I'd like to keep it that way. They soak up a ton o' rainwater, though, keep this place from floodin' or the ground from turnin' to just soup along with the drains we built in the walls, so that's why we let 'em stay."

Nodding along as she spoke, Gladion couldn't shake the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. These people were living in conditions little better than he'd seen many of Aether's abused pokémon come from, and they had been living in it so long that they had it down to a science, such as how long one could be outside before they'd fall ill… Not to mention, he had seen those two younger teens playing… It was so eerie to see them playing in such a desolate town. A wave of nausea struck him as Plumeria beckoned for him to follow again, and he just had to shake his head. It was hard, to see all of that, and then pretend not to care… Even for him. "W-wait… I just… Why?"

"Why what?" she pressed as she raised a brow at him.

"Why… why stay?" he asked in an almost strangled tone. "Why stay here? Wouldn't it be… easier to just…"

"Wouldn't it be easier to just live apart, alone, dealin' with the way Alolans shun Island Challenge failures on our own?" Plumeria filled in for him, and he thought he caught a twinge of amusement in her tone. "Maybe. But we don't mess with the Island Challenge just to mess with it, Glad."

Glad? He curled a lip at the nickname but said nothing, even though he really wanted to bark at her to never use it again. Only his backstabbing family had ever used that nickname for him, particularly his sister… Oh, how he hated remembering her…

"We mess with it and we try an' talk to the challengers. All o' this you see around you?" She held out her arms and gestured vaguely to the rest of the town. "All o' it could end. This is all 'cause o' the Tapus." She sneered, "Y'know, one o' the four pokémon everyone thinks is a god on these fuckin' islands. They can give people some wonky powers and shiny rocks, and suddenly, the fact they can destroy entire towns gets swept under the rug…" She trailed off and Gladion saw her fists ball at her side. "This ain't the only town. Tapu Village, too. Just ain't nothin' left of it and nobody lives there."

"I mean… I've heard that it was a Tapu that did this to Po Town, and it was because of something a Kahuna did, but… what could he have done?" Gladion disbelievingly asked. "I just… I can't imagine what could have been so bad that it… deserved all this…" Even turning your back on the Tapus… I mean, that's what I was told he did… I get that the guy was a Kahuna, and the Tapus might have felt betrayed, but this… Making so many people suffer… I can't understand it…

Golden eyes boring into him, Plumeria grunted. "Follow me. Don't want you out here in the rain any longer. I'll get to show ya some o' Shady House while we're there, anyway."

Morbid fascination with the history of Skull and Po Town had stolen his desire to look tough, so he didn't argue against her worrying for him being cold (not to mention… he was freezing). He just wordlessly chased after her, finding it was a decent walk down the broken, craggy cobble path until that mansion in the distance started to come into focus. Along the way, he spotted more people playing around outside like the earlier teens, noticing a few that somehow seemed even younger than the earlier ones did. One such kid, a little girl, was prodding a stick at a Sliggoo, and Plumeria stopped to snarl at her to knock it off. Without a second thought, the girl had dropped the stick and scattered, vanishing into one of the broken homes along the road.

Still, once the mansion was properly in view, his earlier question was answered. It was just as badly damaged as the rest of the buildings in the town. Perhaps even more so. Not a single window still stood in the building, but thick, white… tarps? He assumed that was what they were, anyway, blocked the windows from the inside, likely to keep the rain from sheeting inside. Two grunts in black raincoats were playing rock-paper-scissors in front of its door, and Gladion noticed that part of the roof directly over the center of the building had entirely caved in. As they drew even nearer, his jaw dropped open slightly. There was an in-ground pool to the left of the mansion. That, coupled with the sheer size of the building, told him that, at least somewhere along the line… this building had once been a very nice place.

Glancing over his shoulder, he swallowed hard. In fact, the entire town might have once been such a nice place… In fact, he found it eerily easy to imagine. In place of the dreary, waterlogged landscape he had been looking at, he saw a shiny new Pokémon Center, streetlamps on every corner, the houses all having matching color schemes to create a homely atmosphere, a handmade cobble road to complete the intricate aesthetic… a town where people lived in harmony and comfort, and there were no fortified walls defensively sectioning them off from the rest of the island.

"C'mon, Glad," Plumeria shot at him, wrenching him from his stupor. He blinked rapidly and found the same gray, rain-whipped town instead. Almost sympathetically, Plumeria whispered, "C'mon… Inside," and he felt her place her hand on his shoulder.

He uneasily shouldered her hand away and moved inside, finding that it was warmer, but only because there was no more rain to compete with the natural Alolan heat for his body temperature. That was to say, it was thick with humidity, muggy, not the dry heat that he would have found comforting right about then. Still, anything was better than the endless rain. He shook his head and heard a small buzzing in his ears… He hadn't realized just how loud the rain was out there. Blinking to get used to the lower light level inside, he realized that the room he was standing in might have once been a living room, evidenced by a TV stand laying in pieces at one end and the recliner with a spring sticking out of it in the corner. Boxes filled most of the space, though, and Plumeria flopped down on top of one such box. He awkwardly followed suit, tentatively sitting down on another. He had been afraid it would cave in on him, but it did no such thing. It was an uncomfortable seat, whatever was inside the box uneven and sharp in places, but at least it was something.

At his quizzical expression, Plumeria explained, "All the rain means mold gathers easy in fabrics. Like 'at chair. So, we try an' use these boxes where we can, since we can just toss 'em out to dissolve in the rain after a while. They're just filled with broken shit to keep 'em from cavin' in on ya. Pieces of rooftops and whatnot." She stretched her back then, and rubbed her face, flicking water off her head. "Kahuna Kaua."

"Huh?" Gladion gawked stupidly at her.

"Kahuna Kaua. That was the ole' Kahuna that ran Skull before Guz," Plumeria shrugged. "Some ten years ago. He recognized the Tapus for what they are. Stupid powerful pokémon. Not the benevolent gods everyone wants to believe they were. He rallied as many other people as he could find that agreed with him. Named the group Skull, because he felt that by lettin' these pokémon run Alola, Alolans were givin' the Tapus permission to kill Alola… Eh, I'm not good at explainin' symbolism. Anyway, he established Po Town. Taught everyone that came in Galarish here in the Shady House, made sure they all spoke it well enough, taught 'em about the Tapus and how it wasn't the traditions that were bad, it was the fear of the Tapus… He just wanted people to live happy, for themselves, and not for the Tapus. And then, Tapu Bulu showed up one day."

He… actually sounds like he was a decent guy… "And it did all of… this?" Gladion said breathlessly, almost hauntedly. Then, Gladion tried to steel his nerves. Think about the source, Gladion. She's clearly high in the ranks here in Skull. Of course she has something good to say about him. Though, the reality of it was not that Gladion doubted her story. It was that he found it almost painful to believe. Curse his naturally bleeding heart… This had so not been what he had expected from meeting the Skull Gang. He had expected criminals he could easily hate from a distance. Yet, he was already starting to like Plumeria despite his best efforts not to.

"Yup. Killed Kahuna Kaua. Left Po Town in ruins. Now, it wasn't just that the rest of Alola was mad at Kahuna Kaua and his little 'Skull Gang,'" Plumeria huffed, "they all thought they was cursed, too. So, after Tapu Bulu ruined the place and set up that permanent rain, the people who did survive that mess tried to go back to normal lives. If they weren't outright attacked and driven back to Po Town, they were mocked and refused basic services. Couldn't get jobs. Families disowned 'em… Guz was part o' that original Skull Gang. Like so many others, he came back to Po Town and found a whole buncha other people hangin' out there, scared of their own shadow. Most of 'em teens like himself. Guz picked up the pieces and put this place back together…" She snorted. "Yeah, believe it or not, that, what you saw out there, is way more put together than it used to be."

Shaking his head as she kept talking, Gladion finally couldn't take it anymore. "No. There's no way. How could it be that bad? If this all happened ten years ago, how come so many of them out there look so young? You look too young to even have been in it ten years ago…"

"See, that's the extra fun part," Plumeria muttered. "The Island Challenge used to be a forced thing everyone had to do just to show honor for the Tapus. If you failed or couldn't finish it, won't no big deal. You still tried 'cause you was wantin' to impress the Tapus."

Bracing himself, Gladion dared to ask, "And now…?"

"See, a lotta old Skull members gave up on their Island Challenges to go support Kahuna Kaua or to stay at Po Town for a while. After all that went down with Tapu Bulu, people that gave up on their Island Challenge? People were suspicious of 'em. Alolans didn't want nothin' to do with 'em. Why give up, why not prove your loyalty to the Tapus by finishin' it?" She spat at the ground, much like Guzma had earlier at the gate, and rolled her eyes. "Ain't nobody thinkin' about how there are some people who can't finish it, because they just ain't cut out to be trainers, or how some people might not be physically able to do all that travelin'…" She practically growled. "Everyone's fear o' the Tapus is makin' this place miserable to live in. They ain't even got laws! Because, if you shouldn't do it, well, the 'Tapus will show their disapproval,'" she mocked. "We got guidelines. Police can suggest people follow 'em for their safety and whatnot, but they ain't absolute."

Never had Gladion understood the Alolans' reverence for the Island Challenge. He had spent most of his time tucked away at Aether Paradise, and before that had been fully built, in the Aether House. He interacted with Alolans, sure, and he had learned their language, but he was never all that close with them (which was part of why Lillie abandoning him to Lusamine had been so painful); yet, even he had thought there may have been more to the Island Challenge than met the eye. He just… had no idea just how deeply steeped in beliefs, whether they were right or wrong, it was…

"So, earlier, when I said that Guz meant well?"

Gladion stared her in the eyes, unsure if he wanted to know.

"It was 'cause he was tryin' to keep ya from gettin' stuck in this mess," Plumeria uttered in a deadpan. Her face was stony. "And that's why I dragged ya in. Because that pokémon o' yours can really help us out. You mighta had a chance to do the Island Challenge and then skip town 'fore your crazy bitch mom found ya. But I knew I couldn't let ya go that easy." She reached into an open box next to her, and then threw a silver chain, a black, cloth mask, and white beanie at him, which he let clatter to the ground in front of him in his shock. "Welcome to the Skull Gang, numskull."

I knew she couldn't have been acting out of kindness! he thought furiously to himself as he snatched the articles off the floor. I mean… I really don't think I could have kept away from Lusamine long enough to get off Alola, and… even then, where would I go? But still… He ground his teeth together as he mulled over the items she had tossed at him. Standard Skull wearables. He clenched them tightly in his fists, wanting to voice his frustrations, but unable to find the words. Besides, it wasn't really her fault that he had wanted to trust her… Hadn't he learned his lessons yet?

There was a long pause before Plumeria stood up. "It ain't personal, Glad… I hope I can help ya understand in the future. An' I don't care what any o' the others might say, or Guz. You're family now. That means we'll protect ya like one of our own. Even if crazy bitch mom decides to come after ya. Ain't gonna drag you in this mess an' leave ya high and dry… Eh, that pun wasn't intended."

"Family," Gladion snarled the word back at her, rejecting it, glaring at her with all the hatred he could muster. In his anger at her metaphor, he was lost to the intent behind the words. "If only you knew what that word means to me." Nothing. It means nothing.

Digging in the box to her left again, she tossed a thermometer in a plastic tube at him that he instinctively snatched out of midair. "When you're readin' normal temps again, get out," she muttered. "Guz'll have a heart attack if you're still here for too much longer. Come back tomorrow mornin', though, to the gate. The grunts'll call me up to it and we'll see what you can really do."

Too angry to care about her instructions and, on a practical level, unsure if he wanted to use that thermometer (how well could it have been cleaned beforehand if it had been sitting in a box and everyone had to use them according to her rules?), he threw the thermometer right back at her. Holding his new Skull garments in one hand, he darted out of the Shady House and hurried down the cobbled path, and out of that town of horrors.

Never in his life would he have assumed members of the Skull Gang had such a strong belief system behind them. Much like everyone else, he had been led to believe they were simply full of people who quit the Island Challenge and hated it for unknown reasons. For a time, he had agreed that their meddling was stupid and annoying, but now… He hated that he sympathized with them. He hated that he sympathized with the people who had just sucked him into their twisted family. He had just escaped his! He didn't want to be in another! Sure, it wasn't like he really had anywhere else to go, so Plumeria hadn't really hurt him in any way… but it was the principle of the matter.

He fumed over that as he sloshed his way back to the motel, wanting nothing more than to rest and heal his pokémon. They were his real family—not Lusamine, not his traitorous sister, Lillie, and most certainly not Skull. He had to stay true to himself and to Null. He had promised Null he would help break him out of the helmet, and he had promised himself that they would find a better life. Feeling bad for Skull and fighting their battles was just a steppingstone. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"So… this old Kahuna pissed off the Tapus and now everyone's even more cagy over the Island Challenge, and there's a bunch of angry dudes in a gang that wanna make everyone else miserable for it. And on top of all of that, the Captains and Kahunas have superpowers," Elio said flatly. He and Selene had slipped back into Kantonian as they had discussed what Selene had learned. Even she had found it difficult to translate so much information. After she nodded grimly at him in confirmation, Elio tossed his head back. "Sure! Sounds legit!"

"I know!" Selene almost laughed. It was almost funny. Almost… The story about Kahuna Kaua that Ilima had presented her was quite disturbing. He had apparently wanted to capture the Tapus and had been rallying people to help him, so they could overthrow the Tapus' control of Alola. Following that, due to how many people had quit the Island Challenge to assist him, quitting or otherwise stopping one's Island Challenge early (or never going on one at all), was considered a slight against the Tapus. It was such a shame that a single person had scared so many people across the land to the point it affected their beliefs… Even worse that they were still terrorized by the leftover followers of that person. Yet, she couldn't blame them. One of the Tapus had apparently leveled an entire town in its rage once the original Skull Gang grew large enough to be a threat… Swallowing hard, Selene had started to understand why Alolans considered the Tapus gods. "I just… don't understand why nobody could've told us that from the start… Like, why didn't Kukui tell us about that? Did Mom or Dad know?"

Elio looked at her and frowned. "That's… a good question." Shrugging, he yawned. "Oh, well. All of that sounds fucking insane, don't get me wrong, but I don't think it's hit me yet, and I need a shower so my body stops being on fire."

Selene nodded. "Yeah… I think I'll just… go to sleep. Maybe a good night's sleep will help me understand it all…" She paused. "Did Mom or Dad text back yet?"

Elio, who had already vanished upstairs, called down, "Nope! I'll call in the morning, they're probably still traveling."

If you say so… Selene sighed. She couldn't shake such a bad feeling in her gut…

He said, she said! Who's right, who's wrong, who's telling the truth, and who's lying? Who knoooows! :D