Who I Am - Lightning99
Chapter 57:
A Little Push
James side-stepped a wooden stall and continued sprinting, Growlie moving a few paces ahead. He kept a Lock-On the blue-haired, tank-topped delinquent hobbling, in an overly uncoordinated way, just ahead of him, following his every move; over the box, around the elderly man, a duck left then run right.
When the kid clambered through somebody's stall, James ran around it and gained some distance. He grabbed for him, but his fingertips only swiped the skin of his exposed shoulder.
James willed himself to move faster. He stretched his legs, heard Growlie bark, and reached once more. His fingers curled around the strap of the boy's tank top, and he clenched his fist, skidding to a stop. But the boy kept running, resulting in his legs swinging out from under him to an almost horizontal position. Then, he flopped to the ground, defeated.
"Got you," James said between huffs, watching as Growlie pawed at the boy's ankles. "This is the sixth time, Tupp."
"Damn," Tupp said between pants. "Thought I'd get away tha' time."
James lugged Tupp to his feet and, to much wriggling and struggling, escorted him back to the Akala Island Police Station. He almost lost him in Diglett Tunnel, but he, Jessie, and Meowth had done this enough times that he knew all of Tupp's tactics. It was easy to re-tighten his hold and carry him the rest of the way.
Whence inside the station, he pushed Tupp into a chair beside Zipp and Rapp, his partners in mischief. Jessie and Meowth were stood in front of the three chairs wearing smug grins.
"We got back first," Jessie said mockingly.
"That means you buy lunch tomorrow," Meowth added.
"Hah! Thanks, James!" one of their follow officers shouted from the background.
James sighed. "It's not fair. You stick me on the only one that's somewhat athletic."
"Hey!" Rapp commented, folding her arms.
"That's the way it goes. Don't tell us you don't like the workout," Meowth said.
James said nothing. He retreated from the room and headed to Officer Jenny's desk, who was flicking through some files. Jessie and Meowth joined him soon after, the Team Skull trio's shouts of protest, of how this was violating their human rights, echoing from the back room.
"Officer Jenny," James said, catching her attention. "We have caught Tupp, Zipp, and Rapp again."
"Good work," Officer Jenny said. "What was it this time?"
"Challenging random people in the street to battles," James said.
"I see," Jenny said. "Not the most villainous crime, but I'll have a word with them."
James opened his mouth to speak again, but he was beaten to it.
"Jenny, why are we only chasing after these dumb Team Skull kids? We've been doing this for weeks now, and nothing else. It's boring, and you just let 'em go each time anyway," Jessie said.
James sighed. He wouldn't have been so blunt about it, but he did agree the routine had long since become repetitive. They had been apprehending Team Skull since before finding that Stufful, and it was the same thing every time. They did it at least four days a week.
Jenny grumbled to herself, then released a deep breath.
"Honestly, Team Skull causing mischief is all that happens around here at the moment. There's nothing else for you to do," Jenny said. "And I let them go because they're not really doing anything awful. They pinch some left over food and water, they annoy people, they cause a little disruption here and there, but at the end of the day, that's what kids their age do. We could arrest them on some of their charges, but we've decided not to for the time being."
"Why is that?" James asked.
"Believe it or not, Team Skull is actually a good thing for these kids," Jenny said. She sat back in her chair. "Most of the kids in Team Skull are outcasts. We've caught nearly all of them that live in that warehouse, and we've done background checks. No family, no homes, only Team Skull. Team Skull takes them in, gives them a home, and a family. It's saving their lives, so we reprimand them, but we don't ruin what they have. Of course, that doesn't forgive some of their actions, but…"
"I see…" James said. It appeared it was a more complex situation that he had initially thought. Jessie still raised a few complains, but he felt his annoyance dissipate almost instantly.
"I just don't–"
"Jessie," James said, cutting her off. She glared at him, but he shook his head, and her glare fizzled into a look of disinterest. James looked back at Jenny. "I understand the situation now. We've just been keeping the peace lately, haven't we? For both sides."
"That's right," Jenny said.
"But I have a question for you."
"Go ahead."
"Is this the healthiest way for these kids to survive? Their crimes are petty, and their camaraderie is definitely something they need, but is being in a gang really the best for them?" James asked, and it was a question that was more familiar to him than Jenny probably knew.
"I have toyed with this exact question," Jenny said. "The only real problem we have with Team Skull is their leader, a man named Guzma. He is difficult to deal with. We currently have an officer posted just outside their main hideout on Ula'Ula Island, but all he can do, and all he has the effort to do, is keep the peace. He lets Guzma do what he wants so long as he doesn't truly hurt anybody. He could do more, but Nanu is a little… Anyway, it might not be the best for them, but we can't really make any changes until we solve the Guzma issue."
"In that case, send us to this Officer Nanu and we will assist him. If all we are going to be doing is fighting off Team Skull, why don't we try and solve the problem? If we can do that, maybe we can find an even better way to help these kids," James said.
Jenny looked at him, eyes wide and full of surprise. She leaned forward on the desk, resting on her elbows, and clicked her tongue in a metronome.
"Alright," she eventually said, standing up. "Alright. I'll see what I can do. Nanu doesn't like company all that much, but I can see what I can do."
"Thank you," James said, standing up a little straighter, as he shook hands with Officer Jenny.
"Before you clock off for the day, could you let those three go? Give 'em a good farewell. This might be the last time you see them," Jenny said.
They did just that, but rather than some kind words of farewell, Jessie threw a few choice words at them, they gestured back with one of five fingers, and that was that. Jessie, James, and Meowth returned to their collective office. As soon as the door slammed, James braced himself.
"What was that?!" Jessie asked in about as loud a tone as he had expected. "You wanna give us even more work, huh?"
"You've been saying how bored you are, haven't you? I did this to make our lives a bit more interesting," James said. "Besides, you can prove to the other officers how good of a Pokémon battler you are since you've been bragging about that recently, too."
Jessie looked at him, but she said nothing more.
That wasn't his real reason of course, but, deep down, Jessie probably knew that. And, even deeper down, she probably knew what his real reason was, too. But they left that conversation be and moved to a pinboard covered by a white sheet in the corner of the room. Jessie pulled the sheet away and they stood back, staring at the board.
On the board were a few loose pieces of red string connecting flashcards with words on them. And at the top middle of the board there read the title: Who Is Hunting Ash?
"No matter how much we look at it," Meowth said after a while, "we have no way of figuring anything out."
"What are these pieces of string even for? What do they do?" Jessie asked.
"I'm not sure," James admitted. "I've seen them in a few films so I thought I would give it a go."
Jessie sighed. She dropped the sheet back over the board, and then herself into a nearby seat. "We're trying to figure out who these mysterious people are, right?"
"That's the idea," Meowth said. "But we've got nothing."
"And we won't find anything new, either," Jessie said. "Not unless we return to Kanto. But that's not happening any time soon."
"No, it's not," James said.
"What should we do, then?" Meowth asked.
"Let's just go to Ula'Ula Island for now," James said. "We finally have a chance to make a difference here. We need to take it."
Meowth grinned at him. "How did we so easily become the good guys?"
"Who knows," James said. But he didn't mind the sound of that.
Saturday morning passed before Lillie even realised. She spent most of it in a state of inexplicable calm, her memories of yesterday afternoon on a loop in her head. She remained in that state even now, while pulling away from a hug with Professor Burnet, who she had just told that she would be leaving for Ula'Ula Island tomorrow.
After the hug, Burnet kept holding her shoulders, frowning with only one brow, keeping the other raised.
"Why are you glowing?" Burnet asked, and Lillie awoke from that happy stupor for the first time. It wasn't a subtle awakening, either; it was more of a jolt, for the comment had come out of nowhere.
"Glowing?" Lillie asked.
"Yes. Glowing," Professor Burnet said. Lillie wondered if hoping Burnet meant the sun was shining on her more radiantly today was too far a stretch.
"This doesn't have anything to with Ash, does it?"
Alas, Burnet seemed to have x-ray vision. Lillie felt her face heat up, and she knew it had already given her away when Burnet lips turned into a wide smile. They started trembling at the corners, and then she started laughing.
"D-Don't laugh!" Lillie said, looking away.
"Sorry, sorry. You're adorable."
"Professor Burnet!" Lillie whined. Burnet's laughter only deepened which, Lillie noticed, starting to attract attention from around the lab.
"Sorry. You just remind me of Kukui and me back in the day," Burnet said, folded over with her hands on her knees.
Lillie felt her eyes widen. "I do?"
"Yep. I was pining after him and he was oblivious. Does that remind you of anything?"
Lillie sighed.
"A little bit," she said.
"Is there anything you need any help with? I can give you a few pointers if you'd like," Burnet said, wiping her eyes.
Lillie shook her head. "I-I think I want to figure this out on my own. Thank you."
"You're growing, Lillie," Burnet said. Lillie didn't entirely understand what she meant, but she didn't question it.
"Oh!" Lillie said, remembering something Ash had said that morning. "Speaking of Professor Kukui, would you be able to relay a message to him by tomorrow morning?"
"Sure. What do you need?" Burnet asked.
After Lillie relayed Ash's request to have Kukui sail them to Ula'Ula, then she hugged Burnet and said her final goodbye. She headed towards the lift, but then stopped. She slowly turned, and she and Burnet repeated their hug-farewell twice more, giggling. Only then did she finally return to her room, content that she had properly seen off the woman she had come to see as a motherly figure.
She read for the rest of the day, then tended to her Pokémon egg – which felt cooler than ever, yet still possessed the warmth of a life – and trained with Ash in the evening. In all, a pleasant, relaxing day. The only abnormality was the slight smirk Ash wore after they finished training. It was worrying; the smirk was somehow familiar.
After Lillie brushed her teeth, she returned to the room to find Ash crouched in a corner. Deciding he was probably messing with something in his bag or talking to one of his Pokémon, she thought nothing of it. He did that sometimes.
She turned her back to pull her bed covers open and nestled her egg amongst some cushions. She was about to climb into hers when Ash called out.
"Lillie?"
"Yes?" Lillie asked.
She had half-way turned to face Ash when a blur of yellow flew straight at her. She flinched and threw her arms out and to her chest on instinct. As she did, she inadvertently caught whatever it was that Ash had thrown. It was soft, a little too large for her to properly hold, and for some reason, it had a pulse. Lillie peeled her arms from her chest and tilted her head down. Pikachu, looking snug in her arms, was grinning up at her.
Lillie's first instinct was to drop him, to flinch away, to fling him as far from her as possible. But then, in a moment of pause before her neurons reached her limbs, she realised that wasn't her first instinct at all. That was what flit across her mind, but her body didn't feel any sort of compulsion to drop him. She didn't tremble, her mind didn't race, she didn't panic. She stood there, staring into her own psyche more than at Pikachu, unmoving.
The realisation hit her like a line in a book she didn't truly understand. In that instance, she would read it once, twice, three or four times until it made sense. It was the same here: she reassessed the situation over and over, only this time, she didn't move on to the next line. She lingered on it, and when it was finally engraved in her mind, she lifted her left hand to cover her mouth, from which slipped a few gasps. She dropped to her knees, but on purpose this time, rather than out of fear, because even now, knelt on the floor as she was, she didn't drop Pikachu.
Instead, she at him. Then she looked at Ash. She looked back at Pikachu and kept her eyes there for several moments, his body heat and the shuffling of clothes her only indication that Ash crouched beside her.
"I knew you could do it," he said. Perhaps it was the moment that made his voice sound like a gentle whisper, light and affecting enough to weave between her feeble attempts at restraint, or maybe it was just her. Either way, Lillie dropped her hands from her lips, and she didn't care that Ash could now hear her cry. She wrapped both arms around Pikachu and pulled him tight against her chest. And she held him there for a long, long time.
Ten minutes might have passed when Lillie felt like she had absorbed any and all of the emotion, warmth, and comfort hugging Pikachu exuded. It could have been twenty, even, before she pulled back a little, then reached out and pulled Ash into the hug too. Ash hugged her back, and maybe another fifteen minutes passed before she found her voice. Of course, she didn't actually count any of that.
'H-How did you know?' Lillie asked, letting Ash go, but not Pikachu.
'I guessed,' Ash said. 'Yesterday, I asked you if you're still scared of Pikachu. And you said–'
'No.'
'Right. It got me thinking. I guessed you were just flinching away from him on instinct at this point. So, I gave you a little push,' Ash said. He tilted his head. 'Well, I mean, I threw him at you, but…'
Lillie couldn't stop herself from laughing. 'I understand.'
'Yeah?'
'Yeah.'
She and Ash had been in a similar situation multiple times in the last few weeks, ever since she broke down in front of him. It made her wonder just how many times he had see her break down throughout their friendship, but she was so overwhelmed that she didn't care.
That was two days now. Two days that Ash had made her happier than she had been in what felt like her entire life.
Lillie finally let go of Ash sometime later, but she didn't release Pikachu. She felt a little guilty that she had trapped him in her arms for so long, but this was a moment that she didn't want to end.
In the morning, Lillie decided to forego breakfast to showcase her new achievement to her friends. She felt a little guilty for swinging Pikachu around all morning, but she couldn't help it.
She ran up to Mallow, Lana, and Dawn first, letting Pikachu run at her heels. They commented on how close he was to her, then on the wide grin she was wearing. When she called for Pikachu to leap into her arms, they frowned. And when she caught him without a worry, they practically shrieked – Mallow even jumped up so quickly her glass flew out of her hand. Luckily, Lana had caught it, at the expense of soaking her shirt with water.
The boys, excluding Ash who watched from the side-lines, gathered around her then, and she explained her and Ash's training sessions most nights. The others settled down a little after she finished her story, but Lillie's joy persisted for the rest of the day, to the point that she was still hugging Pikachu when they walked down to the docks that afternoon.
Kukui met them there, and the pride on his face when he saw Lillie hugging Pikachu nearly made her tear up once again. They had spent a good while talking about her progress before anybody actually started prepping the boat for sailing.
"You know," Lillie heard Professor Kukui say as he stepped towards Ash sometime later. She pulled her eyes from the top of Pikachu's head and watched him pat Ash's shoulder. "When Burnet said you asked for a favour, I thought she meant a battle or something."
"My bad. Is this a bad time to sail us to Ula'Ula?" Ash asked.
"Nah, not at all, cousin. In fact, I have some business there."
"Any chance I can drive the boat this time?" Lana asked, passing the pair with a stack of lifejackets in her arms.
"Oh? You know how?" Kukui asked, and the pair boarded the boat. Ash watched them go, laughing. Lillie continued watching him as he turned and approached Brock.
"You're staring."
Lillie jumped, spinning around. Dawn stood behind her, leaning forwards, hands behind her back, with a smug grin. Lillie sighed and followed her onto the boat.
"I know I am…"
"This really is your first experience, isn't it?" Dawn asked.
Lillie nodded.
"I doubt this has ever really helped anyone, but you should say something soon."
"Y-You know I can't do that. He's still healing, and besides…" Lillie found her eyes drifting towards Mallow. She looked at Dawn, then, shaking her head. "I don't have that kind of confidence."
"You will," Dawn said, patting her shoulder. "Unfortunately, you won't have me to help you soon. You will have to get that confidence by yourself."
"Easier said than done," Lillie said. Dawn patted her shoulder and they walked to the barrier around the deck, waiting with everyone else.
But, Lillie realised, she had mustered enough courage to hug Pikachu. Maybe she could transfer that into a different situation someday. Maybe.
The time to depart fell upon them faster than Ash had been prepared for, but it was only after it arrived that he realised he wasn't prepared for it.
"You're really staying here?" Ash asked Brock, who was stood just to the side of the dock Kukui's boat was tethered to.
"Yes," Brock said. "I really do want to pursue something with Olivia, and we have agreed to meet up sometime soon. But more than that…"
Brock glanced around them. Ash looked too. Everyone else was occupied.
"There is still so much to do. I am more certain than ever that something is going on there."
"Yeah?" Ash asked.
"Indeed. I spoke with Olivia before our camping trip, as you know, and she revealed that she and the other Kahunas have lost contact with Aether Paradise. I suppose you could say the Aether Foundation in general," Brock explained.
"Even the Kahunas can't contact them?"
"Correct. Which is why I agreed to help Olivia stay in touch with them. That's another reason I decided to stay. Also, I was thinking–"
"We should let Olivia know what's going on?"
"Yes. It seems we're on the same page. You agree that having Olivia on board would be beneficial?"
"Yeah. It's not just her status as a Kahuna, though that does help. She's a strong trainer, and an even better person."
"I completely agree," Brock said.
They fell quiet, then. Ash gave Brock a sad smile.
"This is never easy, is it?" he asked.
"It isn't, especially–" Brock shook his head. "We're being dramatic. We are one boat ride away, not entire regions."
"You're right. We'll see each other again soon. But until then," Ash said, and he opened his arms. Brock chuckled and they hugged one another, patting their backs.
"See you soon, Ash," Brock said when they separated.
"See you soon," Ash said, and he turned towards the boat. Before he could, however, he heard his name in the distance. He turned around and found somebody he had not expected to see today: Looker.
"Thank Arceus I caught you," Looker said, hands on his knees for a few seconds. He soon righted his posture.
"Looker? What are you doing here?" Ash asked.
"I was, as we say, rendezvousing with Professor Burnet this morning. She alerted me as to your departure to Ula'Ula Island, but you mustn't go before I deliver an essential piece of information to you, for it is a matter of utmost importance," Looker said.
Ash nodded, feeling a sense of duty.
"You must, while exploring this new island of Ula'Ula, be wary. Keep your eyes out for any sign of Ultra Wormhole activity, for even the slightest hint will help in our research. Should you discover this, yes, you must let me know immediately. You have my number, correct? Yes, you do. Of course, you do. Call it should you find anything, and I shall come running earlier than planned."
"Earlier than planned?"
"Yes, yes. Professor Burnet and I must collate a little more information, then I will be reuniting with an old friend on Ula'Ula Island myself. From there, we will continue our investigation in more thorough detail."
"I see," Ash said. "If I see anything, I will definitely let you know."
"Thank you, once again, Mr Ketchum. Until then," Looker said, and he quickly departed the scene.
Ash and Brock watched him leave. They looked at each other.
"He's one weird guy," Ash said.
Soon enough, Kukui and Lana started up the engine. Ash looked once more at Brock, smiled, and boarded the boat.
A few minutes later, the boat started leaving Akala Island. Ash watched Lillie clasp a hand onto her hat as they sped up. Then everyone looked at him as he said what they were probably all thinking:
"Goodbye, Akala Island."
Hallo! I am back with another chapter.
This chapter was a weird one to write. I had so many ideas for it, but in the end, none of them fit, so I had to rethink it entirely and postpone some of the ideas for later on. It was a weird one, but I already said that.
Finally, the Akala Island Arc has come to an end! It's been a long one, that's for sure. And, as those of you that have been around for a while have definitely seen, one with a very sporadic upload schedule. Most of that is life, but honestly, some of it more recently has been a drop in motivation to write this specific story. I've been writing a lot of other stuff to the side, some of which might be uploaded here at some point, but I definitely burned out of this story for a good while.
But never fear, for I still really want to tell this story. The writing aspect may have become a bit tedious at one point (as that was all I was doing for days straight, with varying degrees of success and sleep deprivation), but I'm getting my mojo back gradually, and I'm constantly planning stuffs despite this being a longer break. But I suppose a little burnout isn't too bad when I've nearly hit 300,000 words. For me, that's not too shabby.
By the way! I didn't even realise my previous update was the day before, but it's been 3 years since I posted the first chapter! HOW?! Thank you to everyone that has read/is still reading it despite my aforementioned upload schedule. Ya'll held with the motivation to keep writing! :)
Until next time!