Chapter 28 – Arc 2 (Akala Island) Silhouette

"That's it, something's wrong, I'm going to go back to the Lush Jungle and check on him," Selene announced, hopping out of her chair in the Pokémon Center lobby. It had been hours! Where on Earth was Hau? Captain or no Captain, she was determined to ensure he was okay.

Elio, who had been whining because Lillie was making more headway with his Vulpix's trust than he was, jerked his head to look at her with anxious blue eyes. "Alone?" he asked squeakily. Clearing his throat, he repeated in a deeper, more forcibly relaxed tone, "Alone?"

She opened her mouth to say, "Yes," but that died in her throat and she shut her jaws with an audible click. Sighing and looking down at her Miltank egg, swaddled up in blankets on the table between her, Elio, and Lillie, Selene shook her head. "No… Can you both come with me…?" …I really don't want to be alone again… Not to mention, she hated the immediate nervousness in Elio's form when she had sounded as if she were going off on her own again. Something told her that her storming off had been far more damaging than he let on… Although he had been as honest as the rest of them that day resting on the mountainside, admitting to even accidentally killing the Ekans when he was younger to Lillie and Hau, he had been almost standoffish about the entire thing. Although he had agreed they needed to talk and had claimed to enjoy them all being on the same page for once, he hadn't sounded happy about it at all. Selene had simply explained it away as discomfort at being so open when he was usually a closed book, but maybe there was more he had wanted to say but had been too afraid to… potentially because of her previous reaction.

"Of course," Elio perked up. He started to recall all his pokémon aside from Macho.

"It's going to be dark soon…" Lillie warned, although she had already started gathering her things. Nebby, hiding beneath the table per Lillie's stern warnings, complained via a series of pews and huffy snorts as he was urged back into the bag. "So, we should hurry."

"Why do you just… keep doing that to him?" Elio asked hesitantly. "Like… why don't you have a Poké Ball for him?"

"What, and enter him into the data systems of the worldwide PC networks?" Lillie asked pointedly, raising a brow at him. "Alola might feel like an alternate reality, but it is somehow in the same universe as the rest of the regions, and the computer systems are one of the only things properly connected to the outside world. It would automatically send data about Nebby everywhere. Rudimentary data, mind you, but data, nonetheless." She finished with Nebby and clamped her arm over her bag, tiredly tilting her head over on her shoulder. "Then, I could have more than just my mum on my tail." Lowering her voice to a nearly inaudible whisper, she added, "I imagine that's why she kept him in a tube like from a sci-fi movie rather than in a Poké Ball, too."

Standing up alongside Lillie, Elio snickered again and again to himself. Finally, Lillie shot him a glare and demanded, "Just what is so funny?"

"You don't speak in any one accent," he said, grinning cheekily at her. "One second, it's 'mum' like you're a bigshot from Galar's league and then you have a little Sinnohan twang going on and then you sound like the Alolans—"

"I've lived pretty much everywhere, what accent should I have?" Lillie cut him off jokingly. "Sinnoh, Galar, Alola… Sinnolanish?"

Selene felt like her eyes might roll out of her head. She snapped her fingers at them, recalled her Sandshrew, and started to tuck her egg safely away in her bag, leaving just Bowtie perched on her shoulder. "Hey, you two Chatot, focus," she hissed, starting for the door of the Pokémon Center. Without waiting to see if they would follow (knowing that Elio would once he saw she wasn't paying his jokes anymore attention), she went to push the door open, just to have it swing open for her—and she found herself face to face with Kahuna Olivia.

"Oh!" Selene yelped, backpedaling from the door.

Selene ungraciously pushed Lillie and Elio out the way as she did, inciting Lillie to snap before she realized what was going on. "Selene, what the hell are you—oh, Kahuna Olivia…"

Olivia paid them no mind and strode into the Center without saying anything. Behind her, Captain Mallow and Hau both followed suit—and they were a wreck. Selene gasped as they both limped after the Kahuna. The left side of Mallow's blouse was caked with dirt and blood, looking as if it had come from a cut a little above her hip. While appearing uninjured, Hau's hair was a mess, and his breathing heavy; when he caught sight of Selene, he dazedly watched her for a second, then sharply looked away with a wince, as if the speed of the motion had been painful.

Others in the Pokémon Center's lobby stared and traded hushed whispers as Olivia approached the main desk, telling the lady behind the counter that, "I need you to bring a couple of your Chansey out." The lady behind the counter sputtered a few times in confusion before Olivia snapped at her to simply do it, and so she obediently obeyed. Hau and Mallow found a nearby table to sit down at. Oddly, everyone else in the Center kept their distance, despite their obvious curiosity.

"Hau…" Selene gasped, scurrying after him, feeling panicky. She noticed then that he didn't have Popper at his side, as he usually did. "What happened?"

"Nothing," he moodily told her in Alolan without daring to look up at her. He had his gaze fixed to the floor, but from what she could see of his brown eyes, he looked so… beaten. Not in the same way as Mallow, as he wasn't bloody nor limping, but… something was so, so wrong. She cringed at his next words. "I just forgot my place, was all… Met Tapu Lele. Sat with Mallow while the Tapu chose a new Totem Pokémon."

"What's he saying?" Elio asked with a twinge of irritation, peering over Selene's shoulder.

"Old Totem Lurantis dead after battle," Hau bluntly replied in his callous, broken Galarish. Mallow jerked her head to look at him in alarm, but she quickly drew her hands closer to herself and gnawed her lower, lip, just looking down, saying nothing. "Tapu Lele come choose new. With Mallow when happen."

"It… what?" Elio choked, blanching. "The Lurantis… thing, we fought earlier, it died? The funny pants bug?"

Oh, no… Selene remembered how Elio had gotten the finishing blow with the Z-Move she and Hau had had to talk him into being willing to use in the first place. She sensed his rising hysteria, and apparently, so did Lillie.

They shared a quick glance before Lillie cleared her throat and placed a hand on Elio's left shoulder. "Elio, it—"

"It was sick," Mallow meekly interjected. "At least, I think she was long before that battle… Z-Moves look flashy and scary, and they are way more powerful than a normal move, but they're still not… fatal… She was a very old Totem Pokémon. She was the Totem Pokémon through several Captains before me, you know…"

Elio backed out of Lillie's hold, attracting more stares than Mallow, Hau, or Olivia, which didn't serve to ease him at all, given the way he nervously flicked his eyes around the room. "No, but the… the Z-Move things, they use power based on the trainer, their Ring or whatever, right?"

"Well, yes…" Mallow answered, blinking in confusion, "but what does that have to do with—"

"It's me," he cut her off in Kantonian, shaking his head rapidly. He turned and looked as if he were going to leave but bumped into Olivia instead. He bounced off her as if he had hit a stone wall, and staggered to catch his balance, freezing as he looked up at her.

"Captain Mallow and Challenger Hau just need some time to recoup and the Center here has some Chansey that are going to heal their minor wounds," Olivia tersely explained. "But you three are stressing them out, and they have already had an eventful enough day. Hau says that you three are who he is traveling with. I told the woman at the counter I'd pay for a room here for you four. Go get the keys and Hau will come up when he is ready."

Selene anxiously looked between Elio, Olivia, Hau, then back to Olivia again. This is bad. Think, think, think, think—okay. We can't leave Hau, something's wrong, but Elio's freaking out… Let's see if he can stand to stay while Hau or Mallow explains some more… She set her jaw and pointedly looked the no-nonsense Kahuna right in the eyes. "Not until you tell us exactly what happened."

"Selene," Elio desperately whimpered, "I… I need to go…"

I know, but… Opening and closing her mouth like a Magikarp out of water, Selene wasn't sure what to say. Glancing back at Hau, as if to ask him for help, she was further disturbed by his refusal to so much as look at her, much less speak.

"Thank you, Kahuna Olivia," Lillie said, pulling Selene's attention back to her as she pressed her palm to Elio's shoulder again. She then graciously dipped her head, and in a respectful tone so unlike her usual sarcastic edge, continued, "Me and Elio will head up if Selene's not ready to… That was very generous of you to offer to help with the room…" She shot Selene a sympathetic look as she started to walk Elio over to the counter.

"Thank you," Elio weakly mumbled to Lillie, so quiet that Selene almost didn't catch it.

Suddenly, Hau spoke in tense, bitter Alolan. "Go with them."

Selene whirled around, shocked at his words. "What? You want me to… to go?"

"Will explain later," he muttered, still not looking at her. "Doesn't matter right now. Go."

Unnerved by the complete change in his disposition, Selene just took a step backwards and nodded stupidly at him. Oh, Hau… What happened out there? "Oh… but, Hau—"

"I said to go," Hau snapped, coughing after. The woman from behind the counter approached then, tailed by two Chansey, and she ordered them to use Healing Wish on both humans. As Selene confusedly obeyed Hau, shuffling away from them, she had a million questions. Why did she bring them here if they're injured? Surely, there's a hospital in Heahea? Or… can't Captain Mallow heal? I thought that was her power. Why can't she do it if they need it too urgently to get to a hospital? Did Tapu Lele attack them? Why would she if she were just there to choose a new Totem Pokémon, or whatever? If she's known to attack people, why did Mallow have to be there? Why did she ask Hau to stay? Oh, Hau… "I just forgot my place, was all…" What does that even mean? She felt a cold chill run up her spine and, catching sight of Elio and Lillie heading up the Pokémon Center's stairs, she thought to follow them, but then second-guessed herself. A guilty tremor ran through her. He hates to be open around me… What if he's different with Lillie and can actually talk to her? Would me being there mess that up?

Slinking away from the curious eyes of everyone else in the Center, Selene decided to head up the stairs, but to keep her distance. She'd watch to see what room Elio and Lillie went into and join them later… She supposed Hau could just ask the woman at the front desk for their room number, if he still wanted to be with them later. She hugged herself tightly as she put her plan into motion, trailing behind Elio and Lillie at such a distance they wouldn't notice, and throughout it all, she rubbed Bowtie on the side.

She appreciated the Dartrix, certainly, but moments like these made her miss her parents so much more. Her mother tended to be her number one choice for advice and comfort through any problem she was facing. They had not gotten along well when she was younger, but over her teen years, she had come to understand her mother so much better, appreciated her even more, found peace, and they had grown so close. Yet, even without pulling her phone out, she knew that her myriad of text messages and calls had gone unanswered, and as intuitive as Bowtie could be, he was still just a pokémon, and that wasn't the same as her mother.

Even so, after she saw Elio and Lillie retreat into a room, she sunk to the floor just outside of the door and snapped her fingers, urging Bowtie to her lap. He bounced from her shoulder and tilted his head up at her, and she just poured her heart and soul out to him. Words and feelings she knew he couldn't understand, not in the same way her mother had, but she just… needed to tell someone. To tell someone about how she hated how Elio refused to be open around her, to tell someone about how scared for Hau she was right then, to tell someone about how shaken she was in general. Once again, she just felt so shocked at how different and frightening Alola was, and so, so lost. She vaguely realized as she spoke that she could have just touched Hau to probably understand what he and Mallow had gone through, but… part of her was glad she hadn't. The idea of living through whatever had happened to them was daunting.

She hated this power to dive into a person's mind, to jump through their past. She had not often struggled with disliking herself, not since she was a good deal younger, but a wave of self-loathing urged her to spill her thoughts about that to Bowtie, too. She ranted about how she hated herself for having been caught up in something so stupid and for as much as she had started to tensely understand Lillie, she almost wished she had left that girl in white alone back in Iki Town, left her to flee to the ruins alone. As tears started to form, she also angrily told Bowtie about how angry she was at her parents for having sent them off on the Island Challenge, for listening to Professor Kukui, or how she was angry at herself for having caved so easily. She and Elio were 17 and 19. They could have easily stood their ground and refused! Yet, they had reasoned that perhaps their parents were right… Would things have been different if they had stayed? They'd at least know why their parents had left… or, if they hadn't left as voluntarily as believed, they'd at least have known what had happened…

"Bowtie," Selene whimpered at last to the pokémon sympathetically cooing at her, "I just… I miss how things were. I thought Kanto was dreary and a little suffocating. I had no idea…"

She scoffed and put her face in her hands.

I had no idea.

Elio, upon entering the room, had immediately darted over to the window looking outside of the room. He drew the curtains to the side and stared at the darkening sky, at the stars starting to come out, ignoring Macho as he jumped onto the nearby bed and meowed urgently at him and Lillie, too, as she softly called his name to try to get his attention. Looking out over the island and the ocean in the distance, Elio felt as if he were on fire, much like how he had felt during the trial against the Totem Lurantis when he had used that Z-Move.

Inferno Overdrive. He had enjoyed it, too—performing the dance, feeling that rush of violent, awesome power that had coursed from his fingertips and into Macho, turning him into a living fireball… It had been invigorating. He had never felt so alive, and it had felt so right, but now he was ablaze in a different way. He had allowed himself to believe Hau, Selene, and Lillie when they told him he had nothing to fear from simply battling to get through the Island Challenge and finding their parents. The rudimentary confidence they had nurtured was going up in flames and with it, the effort it had taken to convince himself he was wrong about their parents, too, making him think he had been right all along, that they had been abandoned because of how awful and destructive he could be.

So, out the window he stared, wanting so badly to just be anywhere but there, living the same nightmare over again, choking on the smoke of his own mistakes and inadequacies once more. Maybe there was a reason Macho chose me after all, he bitterly thought, remembering how Kahuna Hala had allowed their starter pokémon to choose them. He could sense how destructive I was from a mile away…

"Elio…" Lillie sighed, and he heard her footsteps as she drew closer, then the sound of a zipper and Nebby pewing excitedly as he was allowed free of her bag. "Please. Talk to me."

I can't. I can't, I can't, I can't—say something, stupid! He focused on that night sky outside. "Do you ever wonder what's out there?" he asked dumbly, anything to avoid her questioning.

She groaned. "Elio, please… Listen. You didn't even get to hear the full story and like Mallow said, she was old, she was sick, not to mention, from what Selene said, that Lurantis started the battle with you guys by attacking you. If she didn't think she could handle a battle, don't you think she would have left you alone?" As if to support what Lillie had said, Macho gave a small hiss.

Lillie, please… Elio was absolutely transfixed on that window. Meekly, he said, "Because I do," all as if she had never spoken at all. Maybe not out in space, mind you, he thought to jokingly add, but just… out there… away from everything… away from me. Of course, I know I can't get away from me, but…

Switching gears, as if realizing she wasn't going to get him to talk so directly, Lillie fell into step beside him and followed his line of sight. "Ah… do I ever wonder what's out there, in space? I mean… Not particularly. Honestly, I get so wrapped up in here that I don't think I ever think much about it… and my mother's experiments, although they mentioned somewhere called 'Ultra Space,' I… don't think it's actually the same as just space in general…" She scoffed. "Then again, maybe it is. Dulse and Zossie." She shrugged and then laughed. "Isn't it kind of crazy that I can just mention a couple of aliens and shrug it off now, that that's just normal for me?"

He shrank away from her, not wanting to think about that right then. It was so incredibly overwhelming, like that fiery sensation of the Z-Move, rushing up and down him like a furious, all-consuming blaze. He hugged himself and sidestepped away, even though he still mournfully stared up at the sky. "Maybe not so much out there, I guess… just… away…" He snapped his mouth shut and closed his eyes. "I don't know. Not like I'd actually go anywhere, or do anything, for that matter. Barely any bark, let alone any bite." He retreated to the bed with Macho, but when the Torracat tried to get into his lap, he stiffened his legs and blocked the pokémon with his arms.

Macho backpedaled, nervously lowering his ears to his skull, while Lillie shook her head at him. "Elio… I don't understand… Bark, bite… where…?"

Will you get it together, Elio? he thought harshly to himself. You fucked up and you hurt someone—this time another pokémon—doing so. What else is new? Get up, move along, pick your head up. Be guilty about it on your own time. You've still got Selene to look after, Lillie needs your help getting to those ruins, you don't get to just wallow in stuff like this. You just don't get to. With that, he gave a shuddery sigh and looked up at her, forcing that practiced grin. "Sorry. I don't know. Just… needed a minute, I think." He rubbed his left arm idly as he distractedly asked, "So, Mallow and Hau and Tapu Lele, I guess… I knew Mallow slipped him a note asking for something, but I figured she just wanted a date, or to hang out sometime, whew…" He laughed halfheartedly, wagging his eyebrows. "And given the way they looked, hah… things got a little wild, huh?"

Sourly, Lillie glowered at him and crossed her arms. "I might not have known you for long, Mr. Funny Man, but I've known you enough to pick up that whatever this is, whoever it is that cracks dumb jokes like suggesting Hau, Captain Mallow, and Tapu Lele engaged in something unmentionable, it isn't you."

Elio cringed under her accusatory, blunt tone and felt that hot, all-consuming sensation run up his spine again as he burst, "Then who is 'me,' Lillie?" He shouldered Macho away as he pawed at his arm again, causing the Torracat to stumble and fall, rolling into the wall behind him. There was a light thump from where he hit his back against the wall, and Elio shot a series of apologies in Kantonian as Macho recoiled to the other end of the bed. The pokémon was rubbing his head again and again, shooting him wary looks.

"See?" Elio defeatedly huffed. "If I'm not this funny person, if I'm not there for Selene, then what am I good for? I just, I—" He broke himself off and laughed darkly, staring up at the bunk above him, anything to not focus on Lillie. "I destroy everything I touch. You'd all be better off without me but I can't stand the thought of actually going anywhere, of actually leaving Selene, because our parents are already gone. I somehow hate myself but not enough to do anything about it."

Lillie, shaking her head, sat down beside him, ignoring the way he went stiff as a board. She looped an arm around his shoulders and determinedly told him, "You're wrong. You're scared, you're lonely, but you're not… destructive. You're no danger to Selene. Your sister loves you and you're right. With your parents gone, she needs you…" She leaned closer to him and he slowly relaxed as her head touched his shoulder. "You have no idea how much she'd miss you… I am not that close to Selene, no…" Lillie trailed off, paused, and then raised a hand to pat the bed near Macho, urging the Torracat to come to her. He cautiously looked her up and down, but decided in the end to trust her, moving to partially lay in her lap. She stroked his back soothingly. "But I've been in her shoes… Sometimes, I wonder, if I had just told Gladion how much he meant to me, how he was everything to me after everything went so south with Mom and Dad… maybe things would be different now… but he just felt so far away…"

Nervously, Elio swallowed and leaned slightly into her hold. "You… you think…?"

"I think Selene's in the same place, yes," Lillie replied softly. She raised the hand she had planted on Macho's back, and he jumped up, crossing their laps to lay in Elio's. He tensed, but didn't push him away this time, awkwardly laying his right hand down on the pokémon. Macho started to purr as Lillie sighed deeply. "If I could have just told him how much I loved him, maybe he wouldn't have gone away, maybe he would have believed in me like I used to believe in him… Not to say I couldn't have talked to him beforehand, mind you… I just felt like we were so far apart as it was that I couldn't trust him."

"I don't talk to her as much as I should," Elio mumbled, scratching Macho's back affectionately. He balked at the idea of her not trusting him enough to talk to him. "I've ruined so much on accident… She's all I've really got…" He grimaced. "And she already… almost left me… after finding that out about me with the Ekans…"

"There was so much more to that than just the Ekans, Elio," Lillie whispered. She moved her right hand to rub his back in small, comforting circles. "She was just scared. She moved to a scary new place and on top of that, the local god decided to give her the gift of seeing inside of everyone else's messed up heads. I don't know if you've noticed the way she clings to you now, but I have…" She halted her ministrations and raised her head from his shoulder to look him directly in the eyes. She gave him a sad, small smile. "She loves you and doesn't really want you to go away… I promise."

He blinked back at her slowly. Something about that statement felt so, so believable, despite coming from her and not from the source, and her touch suddenly felt so much more comforting, rather than intimidating (as it had at first). The harrowing revelation regarding the Totem Lurantis seemed far away right then. "Thank you, Lillie…" He gingerly touched a hand to her free one. "I'm sure your brother loves you, too, even if it doesn't seem like it right now… Maybe he's just scared, too…" Giving a much more genuine chuckle this time, Elio commented, "I can't imagine why he wouldn't."

"You… think so?" Faltering slightly, Lillie also asked after a short delay, "Wh-what do you mean…? By that last part, I mean…"

"Well…" Elio uncomfortably shifted. "You're smart. You're way more selfless than most would think. I mean, you gave up everything for that little space monster over there." Elio snickered lightly and briefly moved his hand from Macho's back to point at Nebby, who was investigating every nook and cranny of the room. He dove under a pillow on a bunk on the other side of the room and carried it with him momentarily, squeaking happily to himself. "And you're tough as nails to be able to be able to do that…" He cocked his head at her and smiled gently, then winked. "I think those are all great qualities to love. Even if you do pepperspray me every now and then."

"Oh, my Arceus, will you people let that go?" Lillie groaned, throwing her head back, giggling. Elio beamed as he pressed his hand back to Macho, feeling him purr louder and louder. "I did it once and I was just upset because of the Skull guys, and still felt like I was on my own! I wouldn't do that to you or Hau or Selene now!"

"Oh, we're deemed worthy of non-pepperspraying?" Chancing being brave, Elio leaned closer to her and teased, "Because you love us."

She raised a brow at him, but hesitated. After a second or two, she smirked at him and taunted back, "Maybe," in that tone she loved to use while coyly trying to avoid admitting something.

As much as he didn't want to accept the wave of new, tantalizing emotions that came from that small, playful admission from her, he couldn't help it. He, in a swift, unexpected burst of emotion, hugged her tightly, more like how a child might bearhug a stuffed animal more than how one might gingerly hug a loved one on his excitement. That earned a shocked squeak from her, and Macho jumped from his lap due to the abruptness of the movement. Lillie laughed, "Where did that come from?" Then, she playfully pushed at his arms before accepting his attention and hugging him back.

"I don't know," he answered, giggling, feeling as if he were toeing the line between laughter and tears due to the sheer relief he felt. He didn't understand how good it had felt to be so open with her, to not fear doing so would hurt her. He was so, so grateful for her right about then.

"Is 'I don't know' your answer for everything?" Lillie snorted from how hard she was laughing. "Also, you're squeezing me!"

Immediately, he knew his answer, and he quipped through gasps, "I don't know!"

Wriggling out of his hold, she shoved him away and gave him a mock scowl, betrayed by the small smile pulling at the corners of her lips. "Are you laughing or crying?"

He cackled like a Mightyena as he felt a couple tears escape him. "…I don't know!"

"Oh, pfft!" She hung her head. "I should have seen that one coming."

Beaming back at her, he wiped his face and nodded rapidly, trying to calm down despite the fits of giggles that still came and went. "Oh, yes, you should."

Once they had taken a moment to compose themselves, Lillie's front of faux irritation faded, and she nodded slowly. "See, this is so much better. I like it when you're being funny because you're feeling playful… not because you think you have to, or I won't be interested… I think Selene would like that better, too…"

Looking down at Macho as he curled up at his feet, Elio closed his eyes and hummed in acknowledgment. "That was pretty nice for me, too…" He sighed and shook his head. Despite the lightheartedness of that moment with her, he still felt guilty for what had happened to the Totem Lurantis, and not to mention, the subsequent consequences it had caused for Hau… but then, he set his jaw. Giving a stern nod to himself, he turned back to Lillie. "Whatever is wrong with Hau, I'll be there to help him, if I can. I'll be there for Selene, for him, and for you. I might mess up sometimes, and bad, too, my parents might be gone, and they might be gone for good—"

Lillie winced. "Elio, that's—"

"—but that doesn't mean anything about what I meant to happen. I am here, I am here now, and I will do everything in my power to be there and be what I can…" He raised his chin to look back out the window, at the vast, black sky and the glittering stars above. Whatever was out there would have to remain undiscovered. "Thank you, Lillie."

Although hesitating at first, Lillie eventually dipped her head in agreement. "I'm glad you're feeling better…"

Aaaa I know this story is taking forever I am sorryy I just felt like they needed a little fluff before we could properly move on -

I think Arc 2 will have 2 more chapters and then we'll finally be moving onto Arc 3. This chapter was heavily inspired by Owl City's "Silhouette" and "If I Could Tell Her" from the Dear Evan Hansen soundtrack. I know not a lot happened but I still hope it was fun nonetheless. Also (evil cackling) foreshadowing, foreshadowing, foreshadowing everywhere but none of you know what it is yet and I can't waittt

I am VERY excited for this next chapter though... It's called Cain Instinct. I'll let you think about what that means 👀