Chapter 40 – Arc 3 (Ula'Ula Island) Angel with a Shotgun

Plumeria didn't feel like she could stomach the sight of the bed in the upper floor of the Shady House, much less sleep in it. Yet, she knew she didn't have much of a choice. Her only other task would have been to patrol the town, which she certainly didn't have it in her to do or try to grill Lillie—and that girl had been exhausted, the last thing Plumeria wanted to do was badger her with questions after her day. She shook her head as she trudged across the warped floor of Guzma's bedroom, flopping unceremoniously on his side of the bed. She'd move over in a second (her path to her side was blocked by yet more boxes, stacked to absorb water leaking from a fresh crack in the wall).

She was still shocked by the ferocity with which the pokémonless, petite Galarian girl had fought them with. As one of Skull, most there quickly had to grow accustomed to swears and slurs being hurled at them (whether affectionately from other members or derogatory, like from Island Challenge Champion scum), but something had struck Plumeria different about the way Lillie fiercely declared her refusal to back down easily. Apparently, it had done the same to Guzma, otherwise he wouldn't have offered two weeks for them to make a final decision.

Even so, she was sick with anger at him, and when he pushed open the creaky door to the room, she immediately narrowed her eyes, squared her shoulders, and rolled to her side of the bed. As physically far from his as she could get. When she felt the bed jostle a bit from him taking a seat, she clenched her jaw. Beyond being floored by the fact he had been willing to go so far as to kidnap for Aether, she was without words for his attraction towards the Aether Foundation's President Lusamine. Maybe Plumeria and Guzma weren't a… real item, they had never exactly declared themselves as such to one another, but she had thought… For Arceus' sakes, they shared the same bed every night, made every decision together, understood each other almost beyond words, cracked jokes only they understood, they did—they did so much together! Could it have meant nothing to him so easily?

She didn't know what to think. He rested a hand on her tense shoulder, and she ground her teeth. "Plumes?" he whispered, gruff despite how low and soft his voice was. She supposed his could only get so gentle. "Talk to me."

"I don't have anything else to say to ya," Plumeria shot without looking up at him. She brought her knees close to her chest and pulled them in even further with an almost hug. It was true; she didn't know what else to say to him. There had been something else she had wanted to tell him, and it was another reason she had felt so close to him, but… with the development that he had feelings for Lusamine now on the table, she didn't dare bring it up. She swallowed hard. How could she? She grimaced to herself and felt a ball of bile rise in her throat. Maybe she could still talk to Makua about it… Not that he was emotionally available, but perhaps he would have other solutions…

"We… we tell each other everythin' though, don't we?" Guzma pressed after a moment of silence.

That made her blood boil. After he had suddenly come to her with the decision to kidnap somebody and after failing to tell her of this side bitch he apparently had? "Do we?" Plumeria snarled, batting away his hand. "Don't touch me, Guz, an' shut up. Not in the mood to talk, I said."

She felt the bed lurch, could hear him lick his lips a couple of times, and his breath hitch, as if intending to say something else. Yet, he wisely kept his mouth shut, and eventually, just dropped to lay down beside her (but taking care not to get too close to her).

She wished she could have said she preferred it that way, but she didn't. She just felt like she didn't know who he was anymore… And it sickened her to the core to know that there was a girl tied up in the next room, bound to a chair by every angle and limb, because they didn't exactly have a prison and, with how combative she had been, Plumeria was certain Lillie would find any fault in their constraints—so there couldn't be one. Plumeria had wanted to try to talk to her, plead with her to calm down at least for the night so she could release her from such an uncomfortable position, but Lillie had bitingly refused, and then had said she didn't want to talk anymore. She just wanted to be left alone.

Plumeria scoffed softly to herself. Oh, how she and Lillie felt more similar than they looked…

No. It just was too convenient.

It was far too convenient for Lillie to blip off the map, stop answering him, and then Gladion, of all people, to show themselves. Elio stood ahead of Selene and Hau, unsure if they looked so distraught due to a vision of Selene's or something the worthless scumbag ahead of him had done to them, and decided then that Gladion had to know something. It was just far, far too convenient!

His skin felt like it was on fire. If Gladion wanted to pick a fight, he fucking had one.

"Where's Lillie?" Elio spat, immediately getting to the point. He fished in a pocket, eventually locating his Firium-Z, and bent to his knees, offering the crystal to Macho. The Torracat, hackles raised and growling at Gladion already, excitedly snatched the glinting gem from his trainer's hand.

Blinking fervently, Gladion faltered. "What?" he finally asked, in a bit of a squeaky tone. His Type: Null, the same monster that had mauled Lillie, gave a mechanical growl, and poised for battle ahead of Gladion, its dark eyes latched onto Macho as it flexed threatening claws against the wet earth. "What about her?"

"Where is she?" Elio repeated himself impatiently, almost snarling the demand. How dare he act like he didn't understand! "She goes missing, and you immediately show up? After what you and that thing of yours did last time?" Elio curled a lip. He wasn't sure if he had ever felt such hatred. His heart was fluttering with it. Or maybe palpitating… Elio was starting to feel like he might faint, or that he couldn't breathe… "So, what'd you do with her?!"

"What the fuck do you mean, 'missing?'" Gladion demanded in a yelp, voice twisted with worry and anger all at once. He raised a hand to his face and plucked uneasily at his uneven, messy blond hair. "Let me get this straight, you lost my sister, and are bitching me out?" Impatiently stamping a foot, he spat, "Tell me what happened!"

"Yeah, flip it on me, that's probably all those Skull thugs taught you, huh?" Elio belligerently retorted, unwilling to take anything Gladion said seriously. Glancing down at Macho, he pointed up at Gladion's monster of a pokémon. "Macho, Fire Fang!" We'll save the Z-Move for last. That'll be sure to take that monster down.

"My Arceus, you are an idiot, and do you even think for yourself?" Gladion sniped back. Clearly, based on the glint in his green eyes, all too reminiscent of Lillie's, and his newfound confidence, Elio wasn't going to take him down so easily this time. "Why are you even acting like this? Do you even hear anything I say? And forcing your pokémon to fight because of your stupidity… Tch. Null, Crush Claw that Torracat!"

Macho, still rushing at Null with flaming jaws, yowled in shock as Null outsped him easily and brought up both of its cruel, front claws down on top of him with brutal force. Flattened to his back, the fire in Macho's mouth sputtered. His Fire Fang became a pathetic, weak chomp to Null's closest paw, the embers barely reaching past his ankle. Null easily jumped off the target and shook out his paw, as if mildly inconvenienced more than injured. With a frustrated growl, Macho staggered back to his feet, shaking out his messy fur.

Yet, it was as if Elio had been completely unaware of the battle ahead of him. He saw red at Gladion's words and stomped a foot, just as Gladion had done seconds earlier. "Why do I need to hear anything you say? You're not worth listening to! And this proves it!"

"Elio!" Hau hissed from behind, almost worriedly. Elio ignored him.

"Why?" Gladion demanded, curling his lips. "Why? What makes you so sure?"

Macho confusedly picked up his Firium-Z from where he had dropped it to perform the Fire Fang, and almost nervously swished his tail as he awaited an order from Elio—which never came. Gladion didn't give Null one, either, but the pokémon gave an electrical screech of sorts, and dove at him with those front, gleaming claws outstretched. This time, he simply swiped them at Macho's face, throwing the Firium-Z from his mouth, and cartwheeling him away brutally.

Gritting his teeth, Elio snapped his fingers. "Macho, c'mon, Fire Fang him, again!"

"Why?" Gladion snarled again.

"I don't know!" Elio finally exploded, clutching at his hat with his hands. It slipped free and his right hand dropped to his side with the ballcap clutched in his palm. Rain started coming down heavier then, further soaking his blue-gray hair to the top of his head. He brushed some hair from his eyes and shook his head at Gladion, suddenly feeling rather hollow. Why couldn't Gladion just… admit it, already…? "You just… you attacked Lillie, with that thing, and now she's missing, and—and…"

Macho's teeth started to blaze again, but he seemed unwilling to go forward with the attack. Null, too, fell back, giving Gladion an expectant look. Elio took the pause in their battle to glance over his shoulder, to see Hau standing there with a hand over his face, blocking rainwater from cascading down it. His black ponytail was wet and flattened against his head, and Selene was on her knees, arms clutched around them, a few feet away, as if she didn't care at all for the mud surely staining her clothes. Bowtie nudged her occasionally, chirping quietly. Popper squirmed out from behind Hau and past Elio, barking incessantly at Macho on the battlefield.

Finally, Macho turned to give him a look with wide, uncertain eyes, the fire in his jaws dying out entirely, and Popper did an almost playful twirl. Yet, the expression on the Brionne's face afterward seemed one more of determination and encouragement than playfulness… He clapped his flippers together and gave a louder bark, one last time, to which Macho nodded vigorously and looked up at Elio just as expectantly as Null had done to Gladion. With that, he opened his jaw, dropping the glistening Firium-Z to the ground with a roll of his tongue, where it flecked with mud. He pressed a paw to the top of it, as if to hold it there against the ground.

"I didn't do anything to Lillie," Gladion said quietly after a tense moment of silence. When Elio looked up at him, he saw the other was staring at the ground, hand still plucking at his hair. "Didn't you see how last time I was trying to call Null back? How I didn't expect that… at all?"

Elio was already shaking his head. He couldn't believe that, could he? This place, it had constantly pulled the rug of reality out from under him. Every time he thought he understood a little better, another curveball was sent his way. He couldn't really trust anything. Could he? "No," he half-mumbled, half coughed, "no, that can't—how do I—I can't trust that—"

Gladion… scoffed? Elio gave him a disbelieving glare. "Look at me like that all you want," Gladion muttered, "but it won't change the fact that you're scared. You're scared out of your mind. Just listen to yourself."

"Who are you to tell me—"

"You can barely comprehend reality you're so lost in your head!" Gladion abruptly snapped, giving Elio an equally as hateful glare. One that seemed like it somehow could see through him. Yet, it quickly softened—knowingly. "I understand… but if what you say is true, and my sister is missing, we have bigger problems right now. Fighting each other is pointless. Understand me?"

Looking at the other then made Elio think, yet again, that they weren't that different after all. In essence, they were nearly the same.

What a horrifying thought.

Recoiling as if he had been struck physically with the realization, Elio backpedaled, nearly backing into Hau, and barked, "No! You work with and for that—that—that Skull Gang! They're criminals! M-maybe people could be a bit nicer, whatever, I don't know, but it's just—it's too convenient! I bet they had something to do with this!" Yes, this is much more comfortable, this has to be right, Elio thought frantically, heart still fluttering uncomfortably in his chest, lungs still tight and pressed for air—"Y-you need to, to ask them, or—"

"Elio," Hau called again, shaking his head in disbelief after him. "No, what—why… why like this?" He looked down at Selene. "Selene? Please, um, say to—"

"No," was all Selene had to say. "I—I can't right now, Hau…" Bowtie nudged her again.

It was Macho who was the last to attempt to convince Elio to calm down and see reason. The Torracat bounced in place impatiently, lashed his tail, and gave a few purring meows to try to get Elio to listen to him. Yet, despite the worry etched on the pokémon's face, Elio clenched his eyes shut and looked away. That searing anger returned, like a fire erupting in his chest, and he whirled around on his friends and even Macho then. "Why are you siding with him?" he exploded suddenly. "You saw what happened last time, same as I did, and were even mouthing off at him with me! What the hell changed?"

Macho skirted past Elio, and headbutted Popper affectionately. If Elio had been paying attention, he might have noticed how Macho seemed to be shivering in confusion, and the Brionne was encouragingly nudging him back, small, singsong bubbles spewed from his mouth, but broken by the rain too much to be heard by most of them.

Hau seemed to flounder for something to respond with, while Selene just stared at him in abject shock. Abject, frightened shock, he noticed, based on the way her eyes were huge and round. Was she… scared? No. No, she couldn't be scared of him. That was madness. He was protecting them!

Finally, Gladion huffed, "Because they actually listened!"

Flexing his hands into fists and back again, Elio suddenly turned his attention to Gladion, marching across the space between them, unafraid of Null, even as the pokémon gave that whirring, mechanized warning. Gladion set his jaw and defiantly glared back at Elio as he approached. "I want you to prove you didn't have a thing to do with this," Elio spat, nearly in his face. "I want to talk to whoever you low-lives call a boss, and make sure they had nothing to do with this." Face scrunching up in disdain, Elio dropped his hat and reached to grab Gladion by his jacket, intending to snap, "Got it?"

But Null cut that short. The pokémon jumped between them, and headbutting Elio to the ground. Jumping atop him, Null pressed his razor-sharp claws flat against Elio's chest and those dead, gray eyes bored into Elio's with palpable anger. Gladion's attempt to call Null off was quickly silenced when the blade on the pokémon's head seemed to flare against the bronze helmet holding it in place; in fact, the dirty, golden helmet began to glow all over, and cracks began to form in the metal. With a final flick of the pokémon's head, the helmet shattered to pieces and fell apart around Elio, leaving a much sleeker, even if still clearly inorganic creature glowering down at him. The blade on its head had unfurled into three great feathers, gleaming and thin, like those of a Skarmory's wing. Its eyes, without the helmet forcing them into shadow, he realized, were a bright silvery-white… and seemed far more intelligent and soulful than he had given them credit for before.

With a threatening screech in his face that made his ears ring, Null jumped off Elio, circling him cautiously as he continued to lay against the ground, staring after the beast with a conflicting mix of fear and admiration.

"You… Null…" Gladion was looking at the now unbound pokémon with pure, gleeful awe. "The helmet… it just… fell apart, just like that… How…"

Breath and heart still feeling like they were in his throat, Elio slowly and nervously clambered back to his feet. He couldn't find the words to express how awed, annoyed, frustrated, upset, worried—everything—he was, so he just gave Gladion one last, tired look. "Please," Elio begged in a raw tone, finally, the fervor petering out. "Just please take us so we can prove they had nothing to do with this. Please. It's the only lead I have. She still hasn't said anything, and it's been hours now, she doesn't do this, Gl… Gladion…"

Stammering at the start, as if internally wrestling with a thought, Gladion said, "L-let me tell you something, okay? Skull may not be the purest group of people around, but they don't go… go… doing whatever it is you think they've done with my sister, and again, we're wasting so much time on this when—"

"Where else would you start?" Elio interrupted him, almost brokenly. Even if you're right, Elio inwardly conceded, where else would you start? We've been combing these islands for my parents and have found nothing. If it's going to be like that now for Lillie…

That seemed to give Gladion some pause. He blinked, faltered, and then swallowed hard. "…I don't know. Skull does have a lot of people out across the islands all the time…"

"So, they wouldn't be a bad startin' point, since you're lookin' for very much alive folks. Acerola's been prattlin' about some girl obsessed with Rattata while you four were dukin' it out, out here, an' that don't seem to be right, so…"

Elio jumped. In fact, all of them jumped. Even Selene jerked her head to look up at Nanu like a Deerling in headlights. Behind the grizzled policeman, Acerola poked her head out and grinned, waving a hand, happy as could be. Just the sight of her made Elio feel uneasy, given what little he understood of her ability… 'Interfacer.' He swallowed against a dry mouth. Madness, all of it. He wanted nothing more to do with her. There was something innately disturbing about knowing he was talking to someone that essentially had a catalogue of living and dead people, as well as knowing so much about said dead people.

"Nanu," Gladion stiffly said. "Didn't expect you to be here…" He frowned and sarcastically muttered, "Didn't expect any of you to be here, really, but here we are…"

"Still as cheery as ever," Nanu grunted. With that, he waved a hand and waltzed past them all. He was completely uninterested in Null, despite the transformation that had just happened. "Guess we'd better get started, then. Po Town's a good trip from here."

"You're not going to say anything about any of what just happened?" Elio asked in disbelief. Not that he really cared for the old man's questions, if he were to have any, but… but really?!

"Guess I do have one," Nanu sarcastically mused from ahead as he put his hands behind his head. "Why would I bother askin' questions anymore 'round here? Ain't you figured that out yet, Eliot?"

"Elio…" Elio mumbled his correction under his breath halfheartedly.

"Uncle Nanu, wait!" Acerola exclaimed. "I can come with!"

"I ain't your uncle," Nanu flatly replied without stopping. "And nobody's askin' you to."

"Oh, it'll be fun!" Acerola insisted with an almost pouty look. "Don't be like that, Uncle!"

"Fun, like she thinks we're going on a school field trip," Gladion growled. He was nudged on his elbow by Null—Elio had no idea what this new form was called, and part of him didn't care that much anyway—and the pokémon gave him a whirring purr. At that, Gladion slowly dropped the hand from his head that had been plucking at his hair, and gingerly touched the pokémon's head. Elio thought Gladion briefly flicked his gaze to him, but if he did, he looked away too fast for Elio to be sure. "Glad to see you without that helmet on at last," Gladion murmured to the pokémon. To the rest of them, he snapped, "Well, let's get going then, I guess. Just so you can all see you're wrong, and just to help my sister. I don't know what she saw in you idiots."

Before limping after them, Elio was passed by Hau, chatting to Selene in Alolan. But he broke away as Selene took a moment to pause and shoot Elio a look he could only describe as hopeless. "I'm done, Elio," she rasped at him after a half-second of staring.

Heart pounding all over again, sensing this wouldn't be good already, Elio sputtered, "Done—what—what do you mean, 'done?'"

"With you," she bluntly said. With a self-hug, she looked sharply away from him. "I don't know whether to be glad I have you to protect us or be terrified of you. You're barely making sense and…" Her lower lip started to quiver, and Elio flinched as she burst, "And you just rushed at that pokémon like that! Without a care about what might happen to you! Even though you've seen what it could do, what it did to Lillie!"

"What?" Elio panicked, frantically searching for a way to salvage this, to calm her down. "Selene, I didn't—" …Wasn't I just doing what… you told me to?

"And you don't even know what happened with me because you came out and went after Gladion, without even stopping to think, like you just want somebody to fight!" she heaved, putting her face in her hands. "I kept thinking I might understand, kept thinking I knew you, but every time… ugh! I don't, I don't know who you are, and I can't deal with that, too, right now, on top of everything else!" Then, he could hear that she was starting to cry. "And I'm sorry, because I know I pushed you to do that. I know I'm at fault for it, I messed up, and there's nothing I can do about it, now…"

"Everything else…?" Elio echoed, absolutely lost. "Nothing you can do…?" Blinking in disbelief, Elio stammered, "B-but what makes you say that?" She's acting so strange… Maybe she doesn't mean it. In fact, I believe she doesn't. Concernedly furrowing his brows at her, he sadly sighed. I need to be better. I can't let this get much worse. I just can't.

Without another word, she waved him away, and sped off ahead. Hau awkwardly glanced between the two of them and then muttered something in Alolan under his breath that, to Elio, sounded suspiciously like it might have been, 'What are we getting into?' After, he darted off after Selene.

Truly, as they walked, though, Elio wondered if he was having some extravagantly detailed nightmare, or if the cascading series of events he was enduring on these islands was actually real. Because the way she had spoken to him and the cutting way she had refused to keep talking to him had been devastating, even if he didn't believe she had meant what she said. It just left him feeling more determined than ever to keep her safe, more determined than ever to find Lillie, more certain that he could not fail them or anyone else, for that matter… He felt like a protagonist of an action movie, with the impossible expected of him, yet somehow having to believe he would rise above such insurmountable odds. It felt fantastical. Unreal. Intangible.

Words failed him as he tried to think of something to say to soothe Selene's obviously frayed nerves, so he stumbled after them, as if in a stupor. Yet, it was getting late… He was dismayed when Gladion and Nanu both suggested they should stop for the night at the Pokémon Center further along the route. According to them, it was the last one for some distance, and it was smart to stock up there and rest before continuing. Elio wanted to fight them, but it seemed to dawn on him all at once just how exhausted he was… and how late it was…

The rest of the evening was a blur, as he occasionally sent texts into the voids that were his mother's, his father's, and Lillie's numbers. After a while, it was less out of hope that they would respond, and more out of simply pretending that they might reply.

A sad, sad game of make-believe, if you would.

That night was a long one, and the entire time, Lillie could hear her cell phone, somewhere in the room, echoing with the sounds of notifications. Despite how furious Plumeria seemed with Guzma, she didn't seem willing to disobey him in any capacity, and since Lillie had made it clear she would fight them at any given opportunity, she had been bound up in what she could only describe as a homemade straitjacket… except made out of itchy ropes and her chosen prison a chair. There were some grunts that had been stationed outside of her door, but otherwise, it was just her, bound painfully tight to the chair, listening to the occasional ding of her phone.

She had no idea what time it was when the phone went off for easily the second hundredth time, or maybe more. She jostled the chair, panicking when she felt like it might fall over (thankfully, it didn't), and screamed in frustration at it. "Shut up!" she howled, as if the device might listen to her, her voice cutting out in exhaustion partway through.

She was so tired… but there was no way for her to sleep like that or listening to her stupid phone… Especially because she knew who it was on the other end. She felt a blow of deep-seated pain with every ding. "Just stop, Elio," she whispered to herself at last, her resolve waning as her shoulders sagged, ignoring the searing stinging in her wrists and ankles. There was a vague scent of blood mixed with the constant, earthy scent of the rain.

"Uh," a grunt nervously stammered as he cracked the door and poked his head inside, "is everythin' okay…?"

"My phone," Lillie growled, especially as it made another noise. Practically whimpering, she begged, "Find it, turn it off. Please." Her eyes stung a bit.

The grunt cautiously crept into the room and followed where he had heard the sound a second ago. Locating it in a pile of bags and blankets in the far corner of the room, stashed atop a mound of degrading boxes, he picked it up and held it up awkwardly. He attempted to press some buttons but frowned at the screen. "Says it wants a passcode," he explained.

"0-1-2-3," Lillie muttered. Closing her eyes, she almost deliriously joked, "I know, I'm creative…"

He grunted at her in acknowledgment, dialed the number, then stiffened. "You got a lot of unread—"

"That tends to happen when someone gets kidnapped and can't tell anyone where she is," Lillie snapped, biting off the rest of his words. "Just turn it off."

The grunt looked between her, the phone, and up to her again. "Uh… this one person seems real worried…" He shuffled uncomfortably. "Look, we got ya on a boat, so, what if I just tell 'em you got on the wrong boat, and cell service was awful?"

"Why?" Lillie scornfully almost laughed at him. "Why bother? Your bosses said it'd be at least two weeks before they even decide if they're going to let me go or not. Trust me, I have every intention on getting out of here, but why bother filling his head like that?"

The grunt looked down and hung her phone at his side. With a slight smile, he uneasily chuckled, plucking at the chain around his neck. "Well, ae, hope is good to have… Not a bad thing…"

She thought for a moment, then groaned. She had too much of a headache for thinking, and she hated that she found herself somewhat agreeing with him. "Fine," she whispered, "but please turn it off after. I can't… stand to hear it make another noise."

After tapping away something on the device, the grunt squeezed two buttons on the outside of the device, and she saw its screen dim in the darkness of the room. With that, he tossed it back into the pile at the corner of the room. Raising a brow, Lillie found herself half-wondering why they had kept her stuff in the same room as her. If she got out of her constraints, well, her phone was right there. She could call someone…

Oh, that was something to consider in the morning… Clearly, her captors weren't exactly experienced, she knew that. She winced as she felt another bolt of pain in her left wrist. It was the worst chafed of them all and had bled a good deal already. Dryly snickering in amusement to herself, finding herself quite funny, she wondered if she should give them some pointers about their binding technique for their captives. Yet, then, she shook her head vigorously.

Arceus, she needed some sleep. Too bad she wouldn't get any.