Chapter 37 – Arc 3 (Ula'Ula Island) …the Storm

The next morning, Lillie had to be awake quite early, if she had any hope of getting to the docks in time to make her boat. The early vessel was set to leave at 6:30 AM, and although she wasn't exactly intending to impress anyone that day, she still figured a proper shower, brushing of her hair, and the like was in order. It had been a couple of days since she had cleaned herself so closely and she was starting to notice. With a twinge of amusement, she thought that perhaps Nebby had, too, considering when she woke that morning, he was not nestled in her grasp as he normally was. With a snarky, "Cheeky bastard," at him, she had left him to sleep while she got ready. It wasn't long after that before Lana was awake as well, practically bouncing off the walls again despite the fact it was a little before five in the morning.

She went along on autopilot until she went to brush her hair, looking into the hotel room's bathroom mirror. As she held her white and blue hairbrush just away from her hair, she frowned. The pale brown dye had started to fade in parts, leaving small, dull patches of blond visible, and the slight wave that the barber had given it, despite her best efforts to maintain it, was gone. Sighing, she supposed she would need to fix that, not that her disguise had seemed to help much in the long run. Gladion and Faba had both still recognized her in the end. Brushing out her hair anyway, she vaguely wondered if dying it some off-the-walls color and getting it massively curled might alter her appearance enough to push her beyond unrecognizable. A small voice in the back of her mind told her she'd still be recognizable, she'd just also look ridiculous.

When she went to get dressed, she was grateful to find that Lana had taken the liberty at some point to wash her clothes for her. They smelled so much better. Once comfortably back in her white and light green attire, feeling much fresher, and with her leg doing so much better, Lillie finally felt like things might be going back to some semblance of normal. Mallow arrived just as she was finishing up, and Lillie was relieved to see that the wound on her leg was all but gone, save for a shadow of a scar over where it had been. Mallow noticed her staring and giggled.

"Oh, that'll go away, too," she almost proudly said. "Oh, here! For your little friend, hehe!" With that, she produced a bag from behind her back, offering it to Lillie. This one was more of a backpack. It was pale tan, with a couple of large pockets, designed to hold various supplies and equipment. To her, it seemed designed for an Island Challenger.

Smiling gratefully at Mallow, Lillie graciously took it. "Thank you," she whispered, turning back to her bed to wake Nebby at that point. "Hey, you," she crooned at him, "time for us to go. You got an upgrade, by the way." The Cosmog slowly blinked and eyed the bag in front of himself warily. Lillie chuckled at his caution and tipped it over so that he could see inside. "See? Much bigger."

He gave her a somewhat mutinous pew, but when Mallow and Lana started talking to one another in the background in rapid Alolan, he moved inside without a second thought. Although glad that had gone down without any drama, Lillie kind of missed the feistier, unabashedly curious Nebby… She picked up the bag and tossed the straps over her shoulder.

"Ready?" Lana asked her, peering over her shoulder, practically vibrating in excitement to get going. Lillie couldn't blame her. She seemed to have boundless energy, perfect for a Captain, and she had been stuck with her in a hotel room for a couple of days.

"Yep," Lillie yawned. "I'm ready… And, thank you guys, again…" She shuffled her feet some as she made her way to the door. I shouldn't be so defenseless, though. Not just for my sake, or Nebby's sake, but for yours, and Elio's, Hau's, even Selene's… I can't keep endangering everyone like that. She paused just before leaving the room. I already endangered them enough by dragging them into the stuff with Aether, didn't I? The least I can do is help them…

"Everything okay?" Mallow asked her when she didn't budge. Lillie scrambled out of their way and laughed nervously.

"Sorry, yeah, just, thinking," Lillie mumbled. I do need to help them… and for that, I need a pokémon other than Nebby. She smiled some as Mallow nodded at her, and they started to leave the room.

The walk to the docks was uneventful, save for Lana chattering away to Mallow the entire time. Patient enough, Mallow seemed to handle it fine, teasing and taunting Lana in return after a while. Listening to them bicker and joke made her long for Elio, Hau, and even Selene more. Sure, she and Selene hadn't always gotten along, in fact, they often clashed, but… it still felt familiar, at that point. Hau was subdued most of the time, but his playful nature shined through on occasion, and he could be quite amusing when he was in the right headspace. Then, of course, Elio… Oh, how she couldn't wait to see him again… Maybe then I can actually say that thing I want to tell him, to him, and not to my phone, she internally snarked at herself.

Something else that struck Lillie as they moved was how much of a ghost town Heahea City was that early in the morning. She knew that Alolan stores and the like tended to open later and stay open later than most of those in other regions, but it was eerie, just how devoid of life the streets were so early. It didn't surprise her, though. The technology the Alolan islands boasted seemed more a front, than anything, and nighttime was dangerous—that was just a fact. Nocturnal pokémon, largely unfamiliar to diurnal humans, tended to be frightening and dangerous to a person wandering alone in the darkness. Other people prowling for trouble would be far more likely to do so under the cover of the stars, too. No, the lack of life on the dark, early morning streets didn't surprise her, but it was just that that made it so unsettling. Even with two trial Captains at her side, she still felt… exposed, and the entire time, she was internally scolding herself for her stubborn refusal to train pokémon before then.

At the docks, there was a single boat. A sleeker, black boat. Lillie raised a brow at it. She had only seen white, tan, or pale blue boats used as ferries between the islands. Pausing, finding herself suddenly unsure, she glanced between Mallow and Lana, who both also stalled at the sight.

"Never seen a ferry like that before," Mallow commented, tilting her head. She and Lana both tiptoed closer to the vessel, shoulders squared, hands poised near their bags to retrieve a Poké Ball at a moment's notice. "Hello?" Mallow called out.

"Anyone in there?" Lana asked as she curiously picked her way closer to the boat's door.

A lanky man in a navy-blue uniform poked his head out from the doorway. White, thin, feathery hair fell over his forehead. "Ae? Alola, what's up?" he asked in Alolan, giving both Captains a partial grin. Yet then, he switched to Galarish, even before he seemed to notice Lillie. "Ah, Captain Lana, Captain Mallow," he started, "are ya both needin' a ride to Ula'Ula? Thought you two would'a taken a pokémon or somethin' though, to be honest."

"No," Mallow responded first, still warily looking him and the boat over. "What's with the boat? Never seen a ferry like this…" She cleared her throat and tried to defuse the tension in the air. "I know they say once you go black, you never go back, and all, hehe, but…"

Lillie almost choked on air upon such a joke coming from the flirtatious, chatty Mallow's lips. I'm going to the Distortion World for giggling at that, aren't I?

The lanky man laughed, then stepped out of the boat. He was wearing a lot of clothes. Beneath the blue uniform, which consisted of jeans, a vest of sorts, and gloves, he seemed to wear a black shirt, and she realized then that he had a captain's hat on as well, it was just sitting at an awkward angle on his head, which had made it hard to see before he had stepped out. She frowned when he spoke. Somehow, he sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. "My usual was out for repair, y'see, an' they couldn't find me another in time. I just asked if I could use my personal boat 'cause ain't usually many on these early mornin' ferries anyway. Can check inside if ya want!"

"I'll do it!" Lana exclaimed before Mallow could say a word. She skirted past the boat captain and, with a mischievous grin shot back at Mallow and Lillie, she tapped the ground with her right foot next to where the lanky man stood. He grunted in surprise as his shoes turned blue and seemed to stick to the pavement below, but before he could ask, Lana had already vanished inside.

"Now, what'd she go and do that for?" the lanky man complained, tugging at his shoes, but to no avail. Mallow laughed, then covered her mouth, as if she knew she shouldn't have been laughing. Her chuckling was contagious, and Lillie found herself giving a few giggles, too. The lanky man gave both of them a moody glance, then whined, "Shit, that's cold—I mean, that's really cold on my feet! Uh, Captain Lana? Not trynna hurry ya along or anythin', but…"

"Seems all clear to me!" Lana beamed as she came darting out of the boat again. She tapped the ground next to the boat captain again, instantly defrosting his shoes. He sighed in relief and jumped away, flicking his feet as if he weren't sure they would still work properly.

"Well, the ferries do occasionally use personal boats when the ferry ones break down," Mallow conceded. Glancing to Lillie, she asked, "But it's up to you. I think it's fine, but if you don't want to use this boat, we can always try again later!" She smiled reassuringly.

Lillie still couldn't figure out why the man seemed familiar. She sighed and shook her head. Maybe she was just being paranoid. Paranoid like Nebby. She was with two Captains, and neither of them seemed that bothered by the situation at hand anymore… and she was so, so tired of always being in survival mode. Slowly, she nodded. "This boat's fine," she said softly. Producing her ticket from a pocket (Mallow had bought it for her the day before), Lillie handed it to the lanky man, and made her way into the vessel.

The smell of… something hit her like a brick wall, causing her to almost stumble upon entry. The ferries always had funny smells, but that one was something else, entirely. Shaking her head to reorient herself, she pressed further in, taking a seat in the far back of the inner cabin. It didn't have as many windows as the normal ferries did, just a few circular, hatch windows here and there along the elongated body. The boat seemed more built for speed than carrying cargo, given the limited passenger space. She could see the captain's seat from where she had taken refuge in the far back of the boat, after all. He wasn't even separated from the rest of it. She could see a hatch built into the floor, though, and assumed that was where actual cargo was stored, in the underbelly of the vessel. Maybe whatever he was storing there was what made it smell so funny. It smelled like freshly mowed grass—burned freshly mowed grass.

The lanky man seemed uninterested in her when he retreated into the boat with her, taking the driver's seat. He started the boat right away, and Lillie jolted nervously. "Um, are there no other passengers this morning?"

"Nope, just you," he replied flatly, sounding almost nothing like the man he had been outside the boat. "Here we go, to Ula'Ula. There are seatbelts, by the way, if ya wanna put one on."

Swallowing nervously, she did just that. Part of her wanted to ask to get back off the boat, that she had made a mistake, but another part of her wondered what saying that might mean. What reason did the man have for pretending to be a ferryman if he wasn't one? Would potentially aggravating him drive him to do something worse than whatever he already intended to do, if he were really a fake? Her mind reeled with all the possible plans he could have for her in the back of her mind, and she was so, so grateful that she had remembered to pack a few of her defensive supplies with her before leaving—including her beloved pepperspray. It wouldn't stop most pokémon, if he did have any on him, but it would give her time to get away or get the attention of others… or at least, she hoped it would.

Despite her panic, though, she did not blame Captain Mallow or Captain Lana for 'putting' her in such a compromising position. In fact, the thought never even crossed her mind; it wasn't like the ferrymen in Alola had licenses or anything for them to run to double-check, and his story had seemed believable enough. A funny scent in the boat wasn't exactly indicative of anything nefarious, either. The transit agency that hired the ferrymen could possibly have been contacted, but that had seemed unnecessary a few minutes ago.

So, as she sat there, poised to defend herself and berating herself for having not trusted her survivalist instincts more, Lillie realized after a while that they were, indeed, heading in the right direction for Ula'Ula. The captain of the boat said nothing more to her for quite a while. It crossed her mind to try to text Elio, to alert him that she was on her way (even though she had already given him the exact times she'd be arriving the day before), and just to have someone to talk to, but when she retrieved her phone, it couldn't pick up any signal. She supposed that made sense. In the expanses of ocean between the islands, she supposed there wouldn't be any service, considering service was spotty at best on the islands themselves.

She did, however, have a clock on that phone. And an hour came and went… then nearly another hour had come and gone… Despite trying to calm her nerves by checking to see if she could text Elio, by occasionally playing with Nebby (she tried to not make it too obvious, in case the lanky man noticed), Lillie started to get nervous then. Her ticket had told her a trip from Heahea City Port to Malie City Port would take an hour and a half at the most. Heart starting to beat into her throat, Lillie eventually found the courage to call out, "Ah, sir? What… when should we get there?"

"Just a minute," was the reply she received. She noticed out of the small, hatch windows that it seemed to be raining outside… Or else the swells of the ocean had gotten significantly taller. Yet, the boat didn't seem to be rocking that much.

All of a sudden, the vessel stopped. Anxious to get out of there, Lillie snatched her bag up, and went to scurry for the exit, but the hatch in the floor abruptly opened before she could pass over it. Scrambling back to her seat, Lillie squeaked in shock and panted for breath, as a woman in Skull colors and tags hauled herself out of the compartment in the floor.

"Fuckin' hell, Makua, it smells like straight Exeg-leaves in here!" she hissed back at the captain of the boat. Attempting to smooth out her pink and yellow hair, tangled and frizzy from her time spent down below, she looked over Lillie carefully. Before she could say anything else, the man from the front of the boat responded, and more Skull members came out of the hatch in the floor. Four others in total. "Do you ever stop smokin' that shit? Poor fuckin' Exeggutor, I swear…"

"Well, I am the one who drives this thing the most," Makua defended himself moodily from the front of the vessel.

Makua… Lillie tensed even more than she already was. "You were the one with Gladion!" she spat at the driver of the boat. "You were the one freaking out!" Turning her gaze to the woman with the colorful hair, Lillie curled her lips into a snarl, tucking her bag closer to her. She already had a hand inside and resting on her pepperspray. "Back off! What the hell do you want?"

"Lillie," the woman started in an eerily patient tone, one Lillie could tell was meant to soothe her, but in the circumstances, only unnerved her further, "I know this is bad, I hate it, too, but it don't gotta get ugly. My name's Plumeria. We just need ya to come with us for a lil' while." The grunts near her easily filled in the space, preventing her from having any prayer of escaping.

Or so they thought.

Lillie whipped out the can of pepperspray and, clenching her eyes shut, bent low to the ground as she sprayed it liberally over them. They shrieked and cursed, diving out of her range and onto the seats of the cabin, giving Lillie an out. Makua scrambled to try to catch her as she passed him, but she was too fast, and threw her weight against the door to open it faster than turning the knob would have allowed.

…Yet, instead of finding herself on a dock, Lillie yelped as she found herself swimming. There was a dock just ahead, with a ladder on both sides, but the black boat had not docked yet, apparently. Realizing she couldn't go back to the boat but that she had no hope of making it to the rockier shore against the ocean current, she swam with all her might toward the ladder of the dock. She heard Nebby squeaking in fear above the splashing of the small waves and the idling engine of the boat, and her eyes stung somewhat—from the pepperspray or the saltwater, she wasn't sure—but she was determined to reach that ladder, and the building just beyond the cliff she could see the dock connected to. It seemed to be a motel or a small shopping center, based on the size of the top of it. That meant there had to be people there… She just hoped they weren't more Skull members.

Even so, reach the ladder she did. When her shaky fingers finally grasped the algae-slicked wood, she dug in with her nails, and hauled her heavier, wet body up it. She nearly collapsed once she reached the top of the dock, finding herself thoroughly exhausted from fighting the waves and climbing, but then she realized the boat had moved in on the docks—and the woman, Plumeria, was throwing a rope out to try and dock the vessel.

"Catch her, damn it!" Plumeria snapped. The grunts that had been with her in the vessel started to climb the ladder on the boat's side of the dock, and Lillie realized she couldn't stop just yet.

Turning away from them, she started to bolt away, but her shoes must had come loose during her surprise swim. One fell off her foot entirely mid-gallop, and she fell onto the pavement at the end of the dock, scuffing her arms and elbows painfully. Grimacing, she tried to pick herself up again, but winced and seized at the pain in her left elbow. The Skull grunts descended on her then, grabbing her by her arms, and hauling her to her feet. They awkwardly held her at a distance, though, and they were… trembling? Opening her stinging eyes, Lillie noticed that none of them looked confident. Each appeared nervous and confused, and when she found the strength to squirm against their hold, they nearly dropped her.

So, she squirmed. She pooled together all of her strength, then gritted her teeth, and jerked her shoulders. They yelped and let go, unceremoniously dropping hold of her, and she nearly fell onto her back. She could see the Plumeria woman making her way toward them then, but Lillie looked over the nearby motel. There wasn't a soul outside, but maybe… She swept one last look over the Skull grunts, Plumeria, and the boat, then booked it for the largest section of the motel, hoping it would be an office. It hurt to run without a shoe on one of her feet, but that—

She hit the ground again, this time due to her other shoe slipping free. Plumeria caught up to her and hooked an arm under Lillie's. "Lillie, stop it," she grunted, "you're just gettin' yourself hurt—"

"Let me go!" Lillie fiercely snarled, fighting against her hold, the same as she had done to the grunts. Even in her blind panic, she got the sense that Plumeria was no more into this than the grunts were. She didn't know what they wanted, why they were after her, or what they had to gain from it, but she certainly wasn't interested in finding out, even so. "Let me go, right now! I am useless to you! Fuck off!"

The grunts circled her and Plumeria, cutting off her escape again, just in case she managed to worm her way out of Plumeria's iron grasp. Plumeria cut her eyes at Lillie and moved so that her hands were clutching Lillie's forearms, so tight that Lillie thought she might bruise. "Listen to me," Plumeria growled, "I ain't wantin' to hurt ya. Nobody here does. But we need ya and your lil' pet. Just for a lil' while."

Giving Plumeria a challenging glare as she met the other's eyes, Lillie bared her teeth back at her. She knew there was one person in Alola that wanted Nebby that badly, and one person only. "For what, my mother? What did she promise you?" Lillie scoffed. "Whatever it was, she's lying, and you're all the biggest bunch of idiots for believing her. She'd say or do anything to get that pokémon."

"This ain't to hurt ya, or your lil' beastie there," Plumeria huffed, "so, please, don't make this any worse 'an it has to be—"

Lillie had quit listening. She swiftly leaned her head over and bit the softer flesh of Plumeria's inner forearm, causing her to scream, and let her go. Gasping for breath, Lillie darted away, and if her circumstances weren't so frightening, she might have laughed at the way the Skull grunts parted for her rather than attempting to stop her. Yet, with her soaked clothes and hair, her raw feet from running on wet socks with no shoes, the exhaustion from fighting the waves, she found it too difficult to keep running. No amount of adrenaline was enough to carry her toward the office of the motel. She limped closer to it, but Plumeria and the grunts easily caught up to her, and an older, rusted truck drove into the parking lot of the motel shortly after, stopping just in front of her to cut off her path toward the office. A burly, large man with golden sunglasses pushed up over his whitish hair gave her a pointed look.

"Guz," Plumeria huffed as she converged on Lillie again, swiftly lashing her hands out and grabbing Lillie by her arms, "this is fuckin' awful."

"Just get her in the truck," the man in the front seat grumbled. He seemed to make it a point to refuse to look at Lillie after that.

That must be Guzma, the leader of them, Lillie thought fleetingly, just before she went back to fighting. Sluggishly throwing her weight against Plumeria's hold, she wasn't able to break out as easily this time. Mind still racing, she thought of something else, though. She raised her left leg, and then sharply aimed a backward-facing kick right between Plumeria's thighs. Unfortunately, her slowed movements made it easy for Plumeria to realize what she was up to, and she easily dodged the strike. "Fuckin' hell, kid," Plumeria panted, "you really are somethin' else!"

"You're trying to fucking kidnap me!" Lillie shrieked incredulously, bucking against her once more, whiffing it that time, too. "What, did you expect me to go quietly?" Just how stupid are you people?

"Well, ya ain't got any pokémon, so was kinda thinkin' it wouldn't be this much of a mess, no," Plumeria almost laughed.

"This is not fucking funny!" Lillie barked, twisting in Plumeria's hold. Even though that movement was slow, it turned Plumeria's arm at an awkward angle, forcing her to let go. The grunts, frozen in place for a moment, were spurred into action when Guzma snapped at them to help. They each helped grab Lillie, and their combined weight was too much for her to spin off. In fact, it was so much that she whimpered, and her legs gave out. She sat down against the wet pavement. Distantly, she realized it must had been raining the entire time.

"Take her bag, get that Cosmog and her phone," Plumeria called above the noise. Lillie felt the grunts shift so as to hold her arms to keep her still, while one removed her bag. She heard Nebby fretfully whining and squeaking from inside, and she was filled with another burst of furious motivation. She managed to stand up for a moment, despite the four or so guys holding her down, and she tried to twist out of their grasp yet again.

"Fuck off!" she howled in an outrage. "Leave him alone! You idiots don't know what you're doing right now! If you're wanting to give Nebby to my mother, you're killing us all! Fucking morons!"

"What are you talkin' about?" she heard one of the members grunt as they wrestled her back to the ground, forcing her to sit still once more. Beyond frustrated and upset, Lillie bit one that got too close to her face and kicked another in the shin that dared stand in front of her. She felt a surge of pride when he tumbled back against the truck, knocking his head into the doorframe, sitting there dazedly after. She just wished she had the energy to try to fight her way out of the grasp of the rest of them again…

"Guz, you got a Nest Ball or somethin' for this pokémon o' hers? It's just sittin' in the bag, an' I ain't seein' a Poké Ball for it anywhere," Plumeria was saying distantly.

"Here," Guzma murmured, tossing her one.

"Thanks…" Plumeria trailed off as she stuck the ball in the bag. There was a flash of red light, then a few flashes of white, and then Plumeria pulled the green ball with tan stripes from the bag. "That was easy. Thing is weak as shit. Why are we kidnappin' a girl for this again?"

"Just get her in the damn truck!" Guzma snarled. "I don't know how long before Nanu or someone shows up here to cut us short, y'know! An' I can't exactly call Lil' Aether to make sure he stays busy, what with her here to raise hell in the background!"

The grunts went to move her again, and Lillie kicked both her legs out, and bit another who brought his hands too far up on her shoulders. The grunts cursed in Alolan and one frustratedly shoved her chest so hard that she was flattened to her back against the ground. She wrenched an arm free just to slap his hand away from her chest and bared her teeth after him. "Keep your fucking hands off me!" she hissed, then spat at his face. He avoided the hit, but shook his head in bewilderment at her, as if he couldn't believe the amount of fight she was putting up. Lillie set her jaw and felt a small bloom of pride to have intimidated him so much. Good.

"Guz, she's puttin' up way too much of a fight, what if what she's sayin' is true?" Lillie heard Plumeria saying. "This ain't right. Somethin' ain't right."

Guzma, however, was having none of it. "Plumes, we can talk about that later, just get her in the goddamn truck! Fuck's sake…"

Plumeria shouldered her way through the grunts and barked at them to help her as she leaned down to pick up Lillie. Although lagging due to exhaustion, Lillie eventually found the strength to raise her legs, and buck at Plumeria, hitting her squarely in the stomach. However, the movement left her wide open for the grunts to all grab her again. One bearhugged her from behind, drawing her arms flat against her sides, and two others leaned down to grab her feet to keep her from kicking anymore. The fourth, meanwhile, undid the bandanna around his head to tie around her hands. Once that was done, the one bearhugging her told him to take his bandanna as well, to do the same to her feet once they had her in the truck.

Yet, when they started to put her in the back of the truck, they were forced to loosen their grip thanks to the tighter space. Lillie managed to kick one of the ones on her feet off, and hooked her toes beneath the truck's door, swinging it in as they pushed her inside. It clipped one on the shoulder before they realized, and someone scrambled to grab the door to keep it from doing any serious damage to any of them. They all grabbed her feet, then, to tie them up with a bandanna as well, the same as her hands.

After that, they shut the door. She was caught. Almost hyperventilating at that point, Lillie looked up at the front seat, seeing Guzma and Plumeria in them. It took her a few seconds to gather her words and thoughts, and even then, she barely had the strength to even speak anymore, but she growled yet again, "You're both stupid. I knew Skull Gang guys were stupid, but you guys are stupid."

"Most captives don't go insultin' their kidnappers," Guzma snidely shot back at her. "If they're smart, anyway."

"Guz, get us the fuck out of here an' leave her alone," Plumeria huffed, leaning a hand against her forehead. "I can't believe we just did that."

The grunts that had wrestled her into the backseat climbed into the bed of the truck. One of them made some sort of signal with his hand at Guzma, and then they were off. Makua was nowhere to be seen, so Lillie assumed he was dealing with the boat. Not that she cared—she was still plotting, still thinking, about how she would get Nebby and herself out of this one. As much as she hated it, she was back in survival mode, concerned only with whatever would get her and Nebby out of the situation at hand, petrified of what new obstacles were now ahead of them both… and oh, not to even mention the sheer pressure.

She had no idea what these people would do to her.

She had no idea what her mother would do to her.

But she did know that her mother would kill Nebby if she got what she wanted—and that she would open a way for a beast like nothing they could imagine to come to Alola and destroy its light, if what Dulse and Zossie had said was true.

As Lillie lay there, soaked against the backseat bench of that rusty truck, she realized that she could not give up. She had to keep fighting, every step of the way, until she was free of them, until she was back with Elio and the others, because not only did she only have herself to count on, but Nebby and all of Alola had her to count on at that point. Giving in meant doom for so many beyond just herself.

Giving in meant doom for Nebby and Elio.

She narrowed her eyes at Guzma and Plumeria in the front of the truck and clenched her teeth. You want to pick a fight? Well, you've got one, Lillie thought furiously. I won't stop. I'll make it out of here, I'll keep Nebby safe, or I'll die trying. You haven't won yet. Not by far.

"Guz," Plumeria whispered in a raw, almost broken tone, "the way she fought… Somethin' ain't right. Please don't turn her and that pokémon in to Aether right away."

Guzma was quiet for a moment but dipped his head in acknowledgment. "I… I agree." He huffed. "But let's talk about it later. Let's just get her somewhere safe and comfortable as can be for now, an' then I can deal with Gladion, so he ain't figure it out."

"Gonna have to tell the grunts that came with us to keep a lid on it," Plumeria muttered. She then made a noise akin to gagging. "I fuckin' hate this, Guz. I hope this turns out to be fuckin' worth it, or that girl turns out to be right, an' we let her go."

"Plumes, please," Guzma begged. "Later. Okay?"

"Whatever," Plumeria icily growled.

Yeah, save it, Lillie thought mutinously. Having the audacity to act like you feel bad after just fucking kidnapping me… She shifted in place and growled in frustration at the way the bandannas tied around her ankles and wrists seemed to dig in harder.

They have no idea what they're getting themselves into.