Chapter 23 - Arc 2 (Akala Island) The Real Us

Although Selene had agreed to talk with her brother, the more they spoke, the more panicked and upset she had felt, and eventually, it had just been too much.

They both retrieved some fresh water from the café and selected a booth within the Pokémon Center to relax in to discuss among themselves, and Selene took her Miltank egg from her bag to carefully cradle it and ensure it was alright. Satisfied it hadn't been harmed in the commotion at Brooklet Hill, she wrapped it up in the blanket she had swaddled it with in her bag and set it to the side, and released her Sandshrew as well. It was as if she and Elio both were avoiding the topic at hand despite having agreed to speak to one another openly about it; as she was handling her pokémon, Elio was behaving similarly, petting Macho's back idly as he released his Vulpix and carefully looked over the pokémon. He didn't let his Mudbray out, and Selene assumed that was because he didn't want to dirty the place too much. Both the Vulpix and Sandshrew still seemed oddly subdued and disinterested in them, but Selene found trying to think about why that might be was too much at that moment in time.

"So… do you have any questions about it…?" Elio asked at last. Selene wasn't sure what to call his tone. It sounded almost… measly. Small and almost whiny, but not quite there. "I don't… I don't know how much you saw, so…"

There's no need to be angry, Selene… No need for it at all… You want him on your side, don't you? Even with thoughts such as those racing in her head, the way he worded himself just irked her all of a sudden. It felt like he wanted to know what she knew so he could lie more and she couldn't help but feel as if he didn't trust her at all, which, once again, brought her to the conclusion that she didn't know him at all. They were a team, weren't they? That's what she had always felt like… She could count on him for anything, and vice versa, but it didn't seem he counted on her for anything at all now, did it… In something of a deadpan, as she tried to coax the Sandshrew to eat a handful of kibble she had retrieved from her bag, Selene mumbled, "It started with just you on the playground with like five or six other boys. The Ekans was… acting weird. You had a stick and kept prodding it. You pushed its tail in front of its face and then it… y'know. So, this other kid freaked out and went and got the teacher, and you pinned the blame on him when he got back. The other kids attested to it and that was that. It ended there."

Elio apparently stroked the Vulpix's back too hard, for the pokémon leapt away from his hand abruptly and snapped teeth at him, flattening its ears to its head. Instead of trying to soothe it, Elio cringed and withdrew his hand, apologetically looking down at it as he pulled his arms close to himself, as if trying to look as small as possible in the given space he had. Macho glared at the Vulpix, a low, rumbling growl in his throat, but Elio vigorously shook his head and hissed at him, "Macho, shh, leave it alone." As Macho lowered his head and reluctantly quit growling, Elio carefully chose his words for Selene. "That… I'm not proud of that, Selene, but that is what happened, yes… Mom and Dad don't even know the full story on that one… So, you… you definitely have something going on… I really don't know why Hau acted like that back there…"

Shaking her head, Selene didn't know why either, but he wasn't pressing on her mind right then. She took a deep breath. "Mom and Dad didn't even know about that…? So, I'm not the only one…" Unable to bridle her knee-jerk sentiments anymore with logic, Selene snapped, "You know, I'm not even upset about the Ekans. That was ages ago. What I don't understand is why the everything else." She hardened her stare at him and to his bewildered expression, she expanded on her barbed words. "Why did you feel the need to hide that so much? You were like, what, ten? If it was an honest mistake and you didn't understand at the time, why did you do so much to keep it hidden? That just makes me think maybe it really wasn't that much of a mistake and you weren't upset about the Ekans, you just didn't want to get in trouble for it." Placing her elbows on the table between them, Selene pressed her hands to her face once more, feeling so, so exhausted. Muffled by her palms, she muttered, "And that makes me wonder if… if I even know you. The real you. Or if it's all just an act. The photography, the ranting and raving for pokémon rights, the hatred for battles—you got so excited during the battle against Hala…"

"Mom was a pokémon behaviorist and Dad was a gym hand—"

"Why are you saying 'was?'" Selene bristled, throwing her hands to the table to glare at him. Whatever patience Selene might have had left vanished in an instant then. He flinched at the noise and jerked against the back of his booth seat, blue eyes rounding at her sudden display. "We're going to find them!"

"I'm sorry," Elio choked, plucking at the collar of his shirt, "I don't know, Selene, I don't know why I panicked so badly, and lied for so long… all I could think back then was that Mom and Dad are going to kill me, because they got super into caring for pokémon after the time when Team Rocket was really bad in Kanto, and I never was able to explain, and I thought I needed to be like them, and then maybe that they found out and that's why they're—… Look… I'm sorry that that's the real me, okay?" He tugged his ballcap hard down over his face. "I don't know, Selene. I don't know…"

At those words, Selene froze. "You… you think they might have abandoned us if they found that out?" She shook her head. "That's ridiculous. That was so long ago. Yeah, they like pokémon, a lot, both of them, but they wouldn't do that, Elio."

Elio had crossed his arms, though it looked more like he was hugging himself, and she almost didn't notice that he was slowly rocking back and forth. "I don't know, Selene. I don't know. I just… I just…" He shook his head hard and then fell still. "I'm not cut out for all of this… and now you know… Wish I knew how that power of yours worked—"

His self-deprecation was infuriating, and she cut him off at the end with a biting, "Why?" Rapping her knuckles against the table, she pressed, "So you could try to figure out how to lie to it, too?"

Silence. Macho nudged his arm after a moment, then glanced at Selene, narrowing his amber eyes at her. He arched his back and hissed, but before Selene could say anything about that, Elio sighed, "All this does is prove I had to keep that stuff a secret…"

Beyond frustrated, Selene growled, "No, this just proves that you can't get out of your own head long enough to see I'm not mad about the Ekans, and that I can forgive being scared, but I can't get over how you keep thinking you need to lie and cover up who you really are! More than that, I think you've already given up on Mom and Dad!" Gathering her stuff in a huff, Selene finished by zipping her Miltank egg back into her backpack and recalling the spacey Sandshrew. "I thought I needed my brother to help me get through this, but I don't know if I even have a brother, if he's just whatever charade he feels like playing that day!"

His arms fell away from himself and he gawked in something Selene couldn't define as she hopped up from the booth and started to leave the Pokémon Center, Bowtie following worriedly as he chattered after her. "Selene, wait! I didn't mean it like that at all!" Elio yelped, scrambling out of the booth. In doing so, he accidentally stepped on Macho's tail, and the Torracat yowled and spat an Ember at the floor. Standing in the doorway, Selene watched as that led to his Vulpix diving under the table and blowing a gust of frosty air at Macho. People in the Pokémon Center had already been staring, she had noticed, but at Elio's clumsiness and his Torracat fluffing out its fur at his own Vulpix, a few got up to dart over and ask him if he needed help. Disappointed on an entirely new level, Selene just pushed out the Center, leaving him to it.

Maybe he was so easily convinced their parents were gone, maybe he was ready to move on and just protect himself no matter what, maybe Hau didn't want to help her, and who knew what was up with Lillie—but Selene knew she could find her parents, with or without his help. She didn't need his guidance. She didn't need to trace his footsteps. We're not in Kanto anymore, Selene, she thought to herself bitterly as she stalked back down Route 5, and the only reason I really wanted to adopt the whole pacifist battling style was because Elio convinced me it was nicer. Kinder. Is it really? she was internally fuming. Because I've read how pokémon seem to enjoy battling no matter what. And even if they don't, I am clearly going to have to battle a lot to get through these trials and then there's that fucking, Skull Gang roaming around, and whoever took Mom and Dad are in for a rude awakening… I don't have time to piddle around and worry about this stuff anymore. And frankly, I'm sick of thinking about it all. Who the hell cares?

"Selene?"

She knew it was Hau before she even looked up at him. He and Lillie trotted over to her, trudging through a patch of tall grass, him characteristically holding Popper in his arms and Lillie clamping her arm over her bag. At least it appeared he had finally caught his Pichu, for Selene didn't see it anywhere. Uninterested in hearing him tell her she was just overheated and seeing things again, though, Selene brusquely pushed past them both, not stopping at all. She didn't have time for them to waste for her.

"Hey, wait!" Lillie called. "Selene! Where's Elio? We've all got to talk!"

"I'm done talking!" Selene snapped back, still not stopping. "You can talk to him if you want to."

"Please!" Hau whimpered after her. She heard his footsteps and she looked back just in time to see him reaching to grab her shoulder. Jumping away from that like a panicked Meowth, she practically bared her teeth back at him for daring to try that.

"Don't touch me!" she spat. "The last thing I want right now is another look inside your head! I don't care if you don't want to help me and think I'm just hallucinating. Elio apparently thinks we might as well give up on my parents, too. And you…" Selene contemptuously looked Lillie up and down as she drew closer. "I have no idea what's going on with you and frankly, I'm not interested in learning any more about you. I'm going to push through these trials by myself if I have to, and I'll go find Mom and Dad, and then I'm getting out of this stupid place!"

"Selene, I…" Hau seemed stunned as he trailed off.

"Selene, you can't just do that," Lillie desperately insisted, shaking her head. "Elio loves you. He's your brother… and he's really trying, even if you don't believe it right now, I doubt he meant to suggest that your parents are just… gone… You'll really regret this—"

"What the hell do you know?" Selene brutally interrupted her. "Elio's just concerned with saving his own skin and maybe I don't want a brother that gives up on family that easily!"

Lillie looked squarely at the ground and angrily shot back, "You've enjoyed such a great family for so long that you're ready to throw a member of it away over something so stupid. Do you not see how hypocritical you're being right now? You're really spoiled, do you know that, Selene? Have you thought about what this is going to do to both of you? Is this going to make you happy? Not to mention it's stupid to go alone, here, in Alola."

"I not know Elio long," Hau nervously interjected, finding his voice at last, "but… do not think he do that. He very protect you… He like family…"

"Just leave me alone, Hau, Lillie," Selene snapped, thoroughly fed up with them both. She tuned Lillie's uncomfortable words out. "You've probably got some crazy secrets the same as he does, and you're going to stand here and tell me to knock it off while you're probably lying through your own teeth. I hate this place!" With that, she started to stalk away again.

"Wait—!"

"Let her go, Hau. Maybe she doesn't deserve a brother if that's how easily she'll throw him away. Let's go check on Elio."

Fuck you, Lillie. You don't know anything, Selene fumed, but refused to turn back around. She fished for her Rotom Dex in her backpack, intent on finding out where the next trial was that was farthest away from her brother, Lillie, and Hau. The day might have been half over, but she was intent on getting through it before nightfall.

She would get through it before nightfall.

Embarrassed after Macho and his Vulpix had nearly gotten into a fight, Elio had withdrawn both pokémon and darted outside the Pokémon Center. Every part of his mind was screaming at him to chase Selene down and explain that she was wrong, that even if he did subconsciously fear their parents had left them behind intentionally, he didn't want to just give up. Yet, their entire fight and just… everything felt as if it were dragging him down. He didn't have the words to explain his frustration or how hurt he was. He knew it was his fault Selene was so upset and angry, not to mention the weird visions she was getting, but he just… he didn't know what else she wanted from him… If she even wanted anything from him. Ultimately, he had slumped to the ground just outside of the Center, letting Macho back out to curl up at his side, as he resignedly reminded himself: This is just who I am. She's angry and upset with just… who I am. Guess I always did wonder what she or Mom and Dad would do if they ever found out I was less than the sum of my parts, ha… Don't think I can joke my way out of this one, though… and how can I help her if she doesn't want anything to do with me? Would I really be helping her then, to go after her, or would that be just to make me feel better? He paused. Honestly, the worst part is I don't do any of this on purpose. I'm so awful I have no idea if I'm being selfish or not when I try to help others.

"Elio? Is that you?"

"Oh, Tapus, good, he here…"

Despite hearing Lillie and Hau both, Elio kept his gaze trained squarely on Macho. He hadn't released his Vulpix again, nor his Mudbray, for fear of stirring them into a frenzy with his turbulent feelings. Frankly, he didn't want to face Lillie or Hau right then—especially not Lillie. He almost wished he'd just melt away right then. He had no more jokes left to make, Selene had likely outed him for the truth, and now—all that was left was the real 'him,' that horrible person hiding behind the disguise. Now, he would never unravel the mystery surrounding the girl in white and her strange little pokémon, because she, too, would leave. Just as every friendship he had ever made ultimately went up in flames, just as his parents had ditched him, and now, just as Selene had ran off—

"What happened?" Lillie asked breathlessly, bending down next to him, curtailing those runaway thoughts.

"We see Selene," Hau explained, sitting down awkwardly in front of him, "and was angry. Tell us leave alone and… like she going Island Challenge self now… Elio, what happen?"

"What's it look like?" Elio muttered, still refusing to look at them. "I messed everything up, it's the only thing I'm good at." Yet, then, he blinked and realized something. "Wait, if she's not with either of you, then… she went off on her own?"

"Well, yeah," Lillie sighed. "She didn't seem… angry before, just upset and confused… Look, I don't know what happened in there, but Elio, you didn't deserve—"

"She can't be on her own here," Elio panicked, the waves of self-loathing soon forgotten in his fear. He looked up at Lillie and Hau with wide eyes. "I have no idea where Mom and Dad went, none at all, what if someone kidnapped them and whoever did that goes after her next? What about that Skull Gang?" Grimacing, he shook his head. "I know they seem harmless, but that was when we were all together, and that blond guy's weird pokémon attacked her! Selene has that funny Grass-type bird pokémon, an egg, and an Ice-type Sandshrew that seems afraid of its own shadow!" He scrambled back to his feet. Even if she hated him, even if she would hate him wanting to save her, he felt that would be significantly less harmful to her than leaving her to whatever terrible things could happen to her alone in Alola. He had thought she was going to group up with Lillie and Hau and then leave him behind—not go alone! Panting, he demanded, "Did she say anything about where she was going?"

"Trials…" Hau winced. "She said do trials on own…" He frowned and glanced at Lillie, asking her something in Alolan.

"Mallow's trial site is closer, but Selene went past the entrance, I think," Lillie answered slowly. Then, her face screwed up in confusion. "Wait, she's going to Wela Volcano Park? With a Grass-type, an egg, and an Ice-type?"

Elio was already pushing past them. "Where's that? Macho, c'mon, we gotta get going."

"Wela Volcano Park is a hike away," Lillie warned, darting ahead of Elio, and raising a hand to stop him, "up a mountainside and through caves. I've heard it take days for Island Challengers to get through there… And it's crawling with Salandit, which are these dual Fire- and Poison-types. If we're going there, we need some more supplies."

"And we need to catch up to Selene sooner rather than later," Elio fretted, giving a shuddery sigh. "What if she gets lost in there?" That place sounds so dangerous…

"Trial Guides there," Hau said, nodding rapidly, "but agree. Should catch her." Pausing in front of Elio, Hau hugged Popper close and then apologetically eyed him. "Am sorry. Should not tell her she was wrong… Sound like Tapu gave power. I think I protect her tell her is nothing, but… no. I just mean is safer if no-one know about Tapu power, other than us. Lillie I were to tell her and you that…" He shuffled his feet and then looked down. "Am sorry was too late…"

Elio just nodded slowly, accepting Hau's apology. Although he was upset Hau had lied to Selene, he still felt as if it were truly his fault she had gone AWOL, and… to be honest, part of him was too grateful for Hau's willingness to forgive him over and over again to want be upset or angry with him. Tentatively, wanting to pay that kindness forward, Elio awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. "It's okay, Hau… it… it sounds like you at least wanted to do the right thing… Hopefully, once we catch up to her, she'll have had some time to calm down and you can tell her whatever it is you need to tell her…"

Smiling, clearly relieved at Elio's forgiveness, Hau nodded quickly. "Ae, lot to talk about—but find Selene now!"

"Hey, I agree, but remember what I just said about needing more supplies?" Lillie annoyedly interrupted, waving her hand at them. "C'mon, follow me inside."

"What, are you buying?" Elio weakly joked as he impatiently followed her into the Pokémon Center.

Lillie grinned wickedly back at them. "No. My mother is."

"…What?" Hau blinked stupidly at her as they waltzed up to the Poké Mart counter.

"My mother, er…" Lillie thought for a moment. "She works for a large company. Let's just say I still have a card to a blanket account a lot of her employees use, and so there's really no way she can know it was me using it."

"No way," Elio started to laugh, "she hasn't changed that since you, er… went your separate ways from her, I'm guessing…? What did happen with you and your family, anyway…?"

Lillie's shoulders sagged as she looked up at the supplies lined up behind the blue countertop. "That's a long, long story, and I think we should find Selene first before I tell it. Now, hold on, I'll get the supplies, you and Hau open your bags so I can put them in there… Since, well, you know." She gestured briefly toward her own bag.

"Got it," Elio nodded. He didn't know where the influx of determination in him had come from. Just prior to Lillie and Hau coming back to the Center to speak to him, he had been quite ready to simply let Selene walk away, uninhibited. He almost was horrified at that thought.

What's wrong with me? Why, when things go wrong for me, do I lie, or, if that isn't gonna work, just lay down and… take it? Staring at Lillie as she spoke with the uniformed men behind the counter, he exhaled a long breath of relief. He didn't know how she had snapped him out of it so easily, but he didn't feel anywhere near as beaten as just a few minutes ago, and he was so, so grateful to her for that… And for Hau, too.

Of all the random people to have gotten 'stuck' with in Alola, he was quite glad it had been the two of them.

Overseeing the two grunts attempt to locate a female Salandit was certainly not something Gladion considered fun, but Makua had insisted they grab a few if they could find any before heading for the Diglett Tunnel toward the southern end of the island. Female Salandit apparently were quite easy to sell, as many trainers could be lured into buying one over hunting them down in the wild themselves. Gladion might have offered to assist the bumbling grunts in their search, but he had to keep his eyes peeled and Null at the ready. Trial Guides or, worse, if Captain Kiawe himself were to catch them there, he had been warned things could take a violent turn. "Captain Kiawe is a temperature manipulator," Makua had explained, "of objects, pokémon, and people. He won't hurt ya bad, but he'll sure make ya wish he would instead. That's how he runs us off Wela Volcano Park whenever he catches us up there. If you spot him, you an' the grunts scatter, an' if any Trial Guides spot ya and make a fuss of it, get outta there 'fore they call him down. Female Salandit are worth a lot but I ain't trynna treat anyone for hypothermia or heatstroke, got it?"

Yet, it wasn't a Trial Guide nor the Captain of Wela Volcano Park that caught his attention just thirty minutes or so into their search. Marching past him and up the mountainside, Selene, the same Kantonian Island Challenger from Route 5, was alone. Her brother was nowhere to be seen and her Dartrix flew after her, though he looked bruised and injured, and Selene herself looked to be struggling to maintain her own pace. As she went to round the corner and out of sight into a cavernous section of the volcanic park, her leg—he recognized it as the one Null had scratched with a wince—twitched and gave out, and her Dartrix had to catch her to keep her from collapsing entirely to the ground.

With some help from her Dartrix, she half-crawled to sit against the foot of a cliff, and shakily exhaled. Her face was as red as a Cheri Berry and drenched in sweat. She was clearly exhausted. Frowning, Gladion hesitantly shifted, finding he wanted to go find out why she was there alone, but confused as to why. She wasn't part of Skull and she had made her stance clear in how she disliked them. She had been happy to yell at them and honestly, he found her rant about racism and sexism or whatever it had been she had gotten to rambling about just as irritating as the grunts did. Yet… She was clearly without her brother and her friends despite the adamancy in which they had defended the concept of family from his blunt words.

He waited a few more minutes, mildly interested as the grunts succeeded in finding a female Salandit at last, but Selene's brother and her friends never showed. Staring back at her again from afar, he watched as she pulled an egg from her bag and cradled it in her arms. It looked as if she were starting to fall asleep on top of it.

Once the grunts caught the Salandit, Gladion resignedly sighed to himself. I'm gonna go over there and talk to her, aren't I? Sharing a look with the grunts, Gladion raised his chin slightly. Sigh. Yep, I am. "I want to go talk to that Selene girl again. You two stay near me and yell or something if you see any Trial Guides or whatever."

Both of them raised a brow at him, in frightening sync. "Why you gonna chat to her? Ain't she one of 'em that causes trouble?" the male grunt asked.

"Yeah, yeah, just, I want to talk to her a minute," Gladion reluctantly explained. He knew it was a risk right away, but fearing Null lashing out again, he slowly pulled the Ultra Ball from his pockets and bent down next to the pokémon. Affectionately stroking his back for a second, Gladion murmured, "Sorry, Null, but I need you to sit out for a minute…"

Null merely shook his head and then raised a paw to scratch at the helmet before Gladion recalled him in that flood of red light. He was vaguely aware of the grunts exchanging a surprised look as he started over toward the Kantonian girl. The grunts followed at a wary distance, unwilling to get too close, but Gladion was secretly glad for that. He cleared his throat once he stopped a short distance away from Selene.

She froze and then slowly looked up at him. Tensing despite how obviously exhausted she was, she bitingly asked, "What do you want?"

"You alone? Not here to cause any trouble, are you?" he asked flatly, hoping to hide under the guise of 'Skull enforcer' to keep her from questioning his motivations for talking to her too much. Truthfully, he wasn't even sure why he was talking to her himself…

"No," Selene answered him, cut off by a massive yawn. She glowered at him after that, though, hugging her egg just slightly closer. "What do you want? Did you really think I'd be a threat, just me? I told you before. I don't care. You don't look like you're up to anything too screwed up right now, so…"

"Well, your brother isn't here, for one thing, and you look like hell," Gladion snorted, putting his hands on his hips. "Just thought that was strange." He narrowed his eyes at her and gruffly added, "Which, it is."

She hung her head defeatedly, pressing her forehead to the top of the egg. Gladion winced, wondering if that was alright for the egg… "I don't know what I'm doing, but yes, I'm alone… Just leave me alone, please. I have to get up to the trial site… That's all I do know."

The Skull grunts stepped forward then, circling Selene interestedly, not that she noticed. Gladion cocked his head at her and gnawed his lower lip.

"Don't gotta go alone, y'know," one of the grunts said softly.

"Or do the trials," the other piped up.

Glaring at them, Gladion hissed, "What are you two doing?"

"Look at 'er," the male insisted with a nod of his chin. "That's what it looks like when someone realizes Alola ain't for 'em, and they ain't got anywhere else to go—"

"No," Selene spat up at them all. "Just leave me alone! Okay? I need to do these trials to get stronger and get my parents back, then I can just leave this place. I've got my own crap to deal with, okay? I don't have the space in my head to deal with your weird, borderline civil war." She coughed and spluttered after that, putting her right wrist to her forehead, as if fighting a headache.

Suddenly very anxious in a way he couldn't understand, Gladion swallowed against a dry mouth. Slowly, he mumbled, "Skull isn't just for people who hate the Island Challenge, even if that's kinda how it usually starts, you know…" He clenched his jaw. "And the Island Challenge isn't the only way to get stronger."

Selene coughed again and carefully eyed him.