Chapter 12 - Arc 1 (Melemele Island) Witch Hunt
Waiting alone outside of the Verdant Cavern was far from comfortable for Lillie. She occasionally checked on Nebby in her bag, bouncing her leg impatiently as she waited for Elio, Hau, and Selene to finish with their trial (much to Nebby's vocal displeasure). Captain Ilima's trial was simple enough, not to mention Verdant Cavern wasn't that large, so she hoped that meant they would be done soon… Surveying the route just beyond the entrance to it, she could just make out the edge of a Pokémon Center, but otherwise, it was lush, grassy path with the odd berry tree dotting the landscape. She knew the cliff beyond the Pokémon Center overlooked the sea, but the scent of saltwater on the lively breeze was lost on her, as she had long since grown accustomed to it.
Of course, nothing seemed capable of going right for her, and so within just a few minutes, a familiar duo of Skull members crested the shallow hill leading to Verdant Cavern's entrance. She froze, and it seemed they initially intended to just keep walking, but one spotted her out the corner of his eye and gestured with a nod of his head in her direction. His buddy scoffed and rolled his shoulders, then started to walk away, as if totally uninterested in a confrontation with her. Lillie couldn't help but smirk, wondering if he had been the one she had sprayed… Truthfully, she didn't remember what he had looked like, not that there was really much information to go off, considering the masks and hats they wore. Ultimately, the first of the duo snatched his friend by the shoulder, steering him in her direction as he trotted over to her.
"What do you want?" Lillie icily asked once they were within earshot, her muscles taut and poised to act on a moment's notice. Although she personally just found the Skull grunts irritating on the worst of days, she had to brace herself in case they decided to exact some revenge for her actions the day before. She tried hard not to let perceptions blind her to what people were capable of. She had learned quite a while ago people could surprise one in the worst of ways.
Based on the first's voice, they were, in fact, the same grunts she had accosted the day before. "Ay, homie," the first joked upon his approach, "you in a better mood today?"
The other hung back decisively, mutinously shooting glares between his friend and Lillie. She had to admit, that made her smile some, a sinisterly fake smile. That was because they were amusing her, but truthfully, she didn't know why they had even taken such a shine to her the day before. Sure, she looked familiar to 'someone they had taken in,' but even then, what would they care? That was what put her so on edge about their approach the day before, and it was still bothering her then. Her smile wasn't the only fakeness going on. Indeed, she was certain their friendliness was as false as it came. It had to be.
"Yeah, I'm feeling better today," she taunted him. With a voice dripping in degrading sarcasm, she musingly asked, "Why? Are you boys not finished with little ole' me yet~?" At least most of the time, the Skull Gang seemed rather harmless. It was only their leader, Guzma, Lillie had heard one needed to be worried about. It wasn't like they knew about Nebby, and otherwise she wasn't packing any pokémon, so she wasn't fearing any thievery like the grunts were known to do. Of course, she didn't let that soften her guard; it was just all she could do to keep a lid on her nerves. She wouldn't hesitate to spray them both down or bolt into the Verdant Cavern for cover if need be, sacred trial ground be damned. Oh, she thought she was clever for already thinking ways out of her predicament before anything had even happened.
The first opened his mouth like he wanted to jeer at her again, but he and his friend abruptly tensed and then whipped their heads to look over their shoulders. "You see that?" he asked his friend in Alolan, sounding so different from the jesting tone he'd used seconds ago.
"See what? I heard somethin', but…"
"Look, see that bush? The hell was that?"
They both lowered their knees slightly, bent in a way that suggested they were ready to run, too. Their unease was contagious, as Lillie slowly slunk off her rock and craned her neck to look over their shoulders, feeling an almost primal need to group with the Skull men. Strength in numbers and all of that. For a breathless second, she saw nothing out of the ordinary, but just as she went to return to her rock and snidely call them a couple of scared Meowth, a horrifyingly familiar figure took shape inches away from the Skull grunts.
A gleaming, silver and navy suit that hid a surly man's expression beneath a set of opaque goggles materialized, gazing firmly at Lillie, and the two Skull grunts wasted no time in fleeing the scene, shouting to each other in panicked Alolan. Yet, just before vanishing over the hill, one of them paused to peer over his shoulder at her. His blue eyes were wide and fearful, but in the end, he jerked his head from side to side and bolted after his friend. Even as she locked up in terror, Lillie couldn't blame them for their cowardice. This wasn't their battle, and for people that could regularly be assaulted for daring to show their faces outside of Po Town, it wasn't like they didn't have reason to fear the man in his otherworldly getup… Still, she had to wonder why he had bothered to stop and look back at her at all…
Shaking her head vigorously to refocus her attention on the suited man ahead of her, Lillie narrowed her eyes at him. She recognized him right away, as well as his colleague who poked her head out from behind him. They were the same two people that had tried to assist the various Aether Foundation employees in capturing her during her original escape with Nebby. They were just as terrifying as she remembered, just as mysterious… and how on Earth had they just appeared like that from nowhere?!
"Did we scare them off, Dulse?" Zossie asked quizzically. Before Dulse had a chance to respond to her, she pouted and whined, "Aw, I don't mean to scare anybody!"
"Zossie, focus!" Dulse hissed at her, though he was staring squarely at Lillie. "Lillie Rae Aether, we need to discuss something with you immediately. We have wasted enough time trying to locate you on these islands through trial and error in pinpointing Cosmog's signature. We have no more time to waste."
Lillie took a step backward, chancing a rapid glance to the Verdant Cavern's entrance behind her. When she looked back on Dulse and Zossie, she found they had fanned out in front of her; Zossie, with her arms clasped deceivingly politely behind her back, smiled uncertainly, while Dulse had his arms planted firmly at his sides, what little she could see of his expression blank. Not that Lillie paid much mind to their body language, as she was searching for a way out of this confrontation with them. She didn't know what they were, what they wanted with Cosmog or the Aether Foundation, but she knew they were bad news. Her options then had dwindled down to just one: flee into the sacred Verdant Cavern.
"I can see you are distressed," Dulse commented flatly. The way his mouth move made Lillie falter for a moment. She had thought before that the pale, blue over their faces had been a bodysuit, but as she watched him speak… She realized that she could see into his mouth. Gaping in horror, she realized the pale blueness was just their skin. She whipped her gaze to Zossie, noticing she was the same. "Lillie Rae Aether, we do not wish any harm upon you. Cosmog is a potential harbinger of destruction to your world and ours, and so we must—"
"Shut up!" Lillie spat, bristling in almost feral fear. "I don't care! I don't care about what you or what my mother wants!" She was dimly aware of the way Zossie lunged forward to try to grab her bag as she whirled around to dart into the Verdant Cavern, running as fast as her feet would carry her. She heard Nebby mewl pathetically from within her bag as it bounced against her hip, but she didn't have the luxury of being kind to him in that moment.
Inside the cavern, she noticed that shafts of light occasionally penetrated the murkiness through holes in the ceiling, and that dens and fallen logs dotted the upward incline of the mossy, overgrown cave. It smelled musty, like a mix of saltwater and grass, and the floor was damp underfoot. Glancing fervently around to try to spot Elio, Hau, and Selene, she cursed under her breath when she heard the distant cry of a Gumshoos and deduced that they must have already descended into the Totem Gumshoos' den. Deciding that a hollowed-out cove beneath a fallen log would have to do, she scurried inside and wrenched open her bag. She immediately grabbed Nebby, holding him down, as she thrashed the rest of her bag's contents, letting out a puff of relieved air when she found her heavy duty repel spray. It was a special blend, made specifically by the Aether Foundation, that staved off wild pokémon no matter what pokémon the person was using. Part of their humanities initiative by making the world a safer place for non-trainers, she thought bitterly. It was a nice thought, but the knowledge that Aether had created it and would get credit for the patent was outright depressing, considering all she knew about them.
Squashing down her misgivings about it, she sprayed the repel, and apologetically frowned at Nebby as he recoiled from her grasp, flaring his little arms. "I'm sorry, I know, it smells bad and you really don't deserve this…" she mouthed at him, capping her spray, stuffing it in the bag, then zipping it shut once more. Sighing to herself, she realized she was trembling in fright, leaning her head back against the stony wall behind her. Closing her eyes and biting her lower lip, fighting off the nauseating wave of fear and despair, she whispered, "Neither of us deserve this…"
She hoped the rotten log in front of her would protect her from Dulse and Zossie's prying eyes.
"Good Arceus on a stick, why is it so big and so mean?" Elio blustered as he backpedaled away from the oversized, glowing Gumshoos hissing at him and his Litten. They had been fighting it for quite a bit at that point, and it was still just as wily and furious as ever. Despite Elio's obvious uncertainty, his Litten looked completely unfazed and, in fact, invigorated by the opponent ahead of it. The dark fur of its back was puffed up and its eyes blazed intensely as it yowled back at the Gumshoos, undaunted. In fact, a faint red glow surrounded the Litten, bringing some light into the shadowy den. There were a few shafts of light coming from the roof to light up the mossy stone that surrounded them, but it was much, much darker there than it had been in the rest of the Verdant Cavern… "Uh… Litten, Ember… on the… Gumshoos, right?"
Hau was more reserved, ordering Popper to attack in Alolan. Selene found she couldn't quite make out where the words began or ended in his native tongue, due to the way he spoke so fluidly, not to mention how it sounded like he was almost… singing, with the melodic way the words rolled off his tongue. Still, it was obvious what he was asking Popper to do based on the attacks that it issued. This time, a simple Water Gun, based on the jet of water Popper blasted the Gumshoos with. After the Gumshoos reeled from the hit and furiously snapped its teeth after Popper in retaliation, Hau offered some crooning words of encouragement to his partner, pumping a fist excitedly. He almost acted like an entirely different person in battle.
Selene, on the other hand, was scrambling to try to find out what moves her Rowlet could use on her Rotom Dex. She knew Leafage was an option, but was there anything else it could use that would be useful? As she withdrew the device from her pocket, though, it wriggled free of her grasp and a robotic voice asked her what she wanted to know, the round, blue eyes of the Rotom blinking at her innocently. "What else can my Rowlet use?" Selene asked breathlessly, irritated that she couldn't just scroll through the device normally. Somehow, even though the Rotom Dex started spouting off move names at her, it felt as if it were slower. Elio's Litten bought her some time by firing off the Ember it had been building in its throat.
Although she had enjoyed her battle with Hau in Iki Town, she had to admit, facing this angry Gumshoos, easily twice her size and pulsing with an otherworldly glow, she was feeling anything but joy. It had dawned on her, as the battle progressed, and as the Gumshoos bellowed in a way that shook the walls and floor, that they had essentially loped their way into a wild pokémon's den unsure if they could actually defeat it or not. What would happen if they failed? Sure, Captain Ilima had said that, traditionally, challengers would have to wait a day to face the trial again, but why was that? Selene had thought before it was to give the pokémon in the trial a chance to rest, but now she was wondering if it was instead to ensure the challengers were okay and able to face the trial again… Her eyes locked onto the Gumshoos' sharp, jagged teeth protruding from its jaws, and she swallowed hard in the beginnings of a panic. How on Earth could anyone have faced this thing alone? she thought desperately. After a point, she just growled and shook her head, waving the Rotom Dex off, "Ugh, Rowlet, just use Leafage on it!"
As her Rowlet dove off her head and at the Gumshoos, its body cloaking in leaves and tendrils, a Yungoos scurried from the shadows around the edge of the den. Hau had Popper attack it so that Rowlet was uninterrupted, but when Rowlet did barrel into the Gumshoos, he bounced off hilariously like a soccer ball. Flailing his wings annoyedly, he caught himself before he hit the ground, all the while, the Gumshoos did little more than shake its head in irritation.
"Right," Selene almost laughed to herself, "I forgot that Rowlet doesn't seem all that attack-oriented…" Floundering for what to do next, she almost slumped in relief when the Gumshoos suddenly stood to its back legs and stepped a few paces back, twitching its head as if trying to hear something in the distance. The Yungoos at its side hissed and abruptly dove into a crevice in the rocks surrounding them, vanishing as quickly as it had appeared.
"Move!" Hau exclaimed suddenly, snatching Popper in his arms, and jumping to the far right of the cavern. Selene and Elio exchanged a bewildered look, and then followed, waving their arms for their Litten and Rowlet to come with. Almost as soon as they retreated, the Gumshoos crashed forward on all fours with a hefty thud against the floor, and scurried out of its den, down the hill that led back toward the main passage of the Verdant Cavern.
There was a short stretch of silence before Elio finally fractured it. "So, uh… what just happened? Did we win?" He and Selene both turned quizzical expressions on Hau. Elio's Litten hissed after the Gumshoos, but didn't give chase, while Selene's Rowlet reclaimed his throne atop her head and started to preen himself. She just rolled her eyes at him.
"What am I going to do with you?" Selene teasingly asked her Rowlet in Kantonian, scratching his side gingerly.
Focusing back on Hau, disturbed was the only way Selene could describe his face as he peered unblinkingly after where the Gumshoos had gone. Without answering them, he clutched Popper a little more tightly to his chest and then carefully picked his way forward, stepping lightly, like how Selene had seen pokémon in nature documentaries do when they were listening for a threat. It jarred her, almost, to see how instinctive his reaction and movements were… how practiced they were. Unnerved, she crept after him and whispered at last, "Hau…? What's going on…?"
He flinched and shushed her, then pressed forward some more before his shoulders slacked. "Sorry," he puffed, "Totem…" Frustrated, he snapped his fingers and couldn't seem to find the words to explain what he wanted to say. Suddenly, Selene's Rotom Dex zipped ahead of her and hovered between her and Hau.
"I can help!" it buzzed in a monotone statement, waving its little arms. "Hau! Just speak in Alolan, and then I'll translate!"
"You can do that?" Selene asked dubiously. "How…?" Then, she paused. Her mouth fell open. "Wait, wait, wait a second, are you just—did you just—are you speaking to me? Like, in my language, like you understand me?"
"You pick up a lot as a digital Ghost-type in this place," her Rotom retorted in an eerily playful tone. "And this thing's speaker lets me speak! I guess that's why it has that name…"
"I've never heard of Rotom talking even when they take over things that have speakers," Elio hoarsely muttered, barely above a whisper, reflecting Selene's shock. "So, what—"
"Well, who wants to yap to Kanto-Johto people that are gonna experiment on me for days?" Rotom taunted. "Anyway," the floating device whirled around to face Hau, "go on! What's going on with the Totem? Don't be shy! You look like you've seen a ghost!" Her Rotom then issued a few bzzrts! that sounded uncomfortably like laughter. Selene didn't know whether to be amazed at how intelligent the Rotom seemed to truly be, or whether to be horrified at learning it was possibly even more intelligent than her or any other human.
Hau suspiciously narrowed his eyes at the Rotom Dex, but begrudgingly started to speak, anyway. Once he was done, he stroked Popper's head and tensed even more when the Rotom Dex repeated his words in perfect Galarish. Selene might have thought his reaction was amusing if she didn't feel like reacting the same way.
"Totems only flee battles when their trial site needs guarding, so that means someone that shouldn't be within it is inside, or worse, the trial site is being damaged in some way!" With another bzzrt!, the Rotom Dex hovered close to Selene. "The Totem will only return to battle after it's protected the trial site!"
"What would mess with a trial site? Or… who?" Elio sounded much more concerned than Selene had expected. She had to stop from groaning as she soon figured out why. "I mean, Lillie was out there… Would Lillie coming inside do it? Why would she go inside, though?" He abruptly darted ahead of Hau (much to his chagrin), and worriedly glanced between him and Selene. "Would the Gumshoos hurt her if she went inside?"
Hau bit his lower lip and then looked down. After he mumbled something, Selene's Rotom Dex piped in with, "I don't know, he said! Zzzzrt!"
"Yeah, screw that. Something's wrong," Elio hissed. "C'mon, Macho, let's go!" With a wave at his Litten, he bounded down the slope leading back into Verdant Cavern's main passage. His Litten's fur fluffed out all over again and it raced after him.
"Macho?" Hau echoed the nickname. "What that mean?"
"Not important right now," Selene answered, perhaps more abrasively than she should have, but she was too busy scrambling after her brother to think too hard about how she spoke to Hau right then (though she had certainly internally rolled her eyes at the nickname since it seemed based on Lillie's taunting names that she would call Elio, and considering he hadn't used it yet in the battle, he must have just decided on the name). Totem or trial site or not, she was not about to let her brother throw himself at that behemoth of a Gumshoos on his own. Her Rowlet took flight once she started to run and flew at her side, flapping tiny, adorable wings rapidly to keep up with her as she skidded down the slope.
Heeey look I'm alive, though I'm gonna go dark for those 2 weeks after tomorrow, I'm sorryy
In other news, if you read my Black and Black 2 stories, you'll maybe remember that there was a dude named Taven in them. As I mentioned before, Taven is actually an OC from a friend of mine, ClumsyReaper. They've been writing out Taven's story in more detail over on Archive of Our Own under the title 'Child of Unova,' though their penname is also ClumsyReaper over there. Feel free to give it a read! Taven's story seems like it's going to take a more nuanced look on Pokemon White's version of events by focusing on worldbuilding more so than the events of the game, such as how the gym leaders and League function.
Saying that to say, my version of Taven is set in a different universe from his version - so you'll notice some key differences between them if you do check it out. You'll also notice some other cool parallels between his world and mine, too, such as the existence of certain characters. Anyway, it's not that long and you should check it out :)