Chapter 6: The Painful Edge of Truth

Gladion stepped off of the boat as it had docked at the harbour, it was good to be home. "Ah, Master Gladion. How are you?" spoke Wicke as she came to greet the blonde boy. "I'm fine, thanks, Miss Wicke. Is Lillie back yet?" he inquired.

Wicke stopped to think for a moment before nodding. "Yes. She's back, she got back earlier after clearing her Ula'Ula grand trial." Gladion was quite surprised to hear that his sister had gotten so far into the trial, and had suspected that she wouldn't be able to beat Nanu for some time. "I guess I have to stop underestimating her."

"Oh, if you're going to look for Lillie, do be mindful, she's been acting a little strange since she's gotten back." Wicke said as she left for a laboratory. "Strange? That's not unlike her, I should check on her anyway."

But before he could continue towards the manor house, where he'd assume she'd be, Silvally had sprung out of its Pokéball, and began to sniff the ground, seemingly following a trail of something, before the synthetic Pokémon looked up and let loose a mechanical growl, before running off. "Silvally, wait!" Gladion exclaimed as he took chase after the rowdy Pokémon.

Lillie was writing in her journal about the events that had happened, not really having a proper chance to considering what had gone on lately. She glanced to the photo in the forest she'd taken, with her and her team, Kartana included, and the Baile style Oricorio dancing around in the background. She'd cherish this memory, no matter what happened.

It was then in which her door crashed open, considering it wasn't shut, that her brother's signature Pokémon, Silvally, burst in, with a furious look on its face, it approached Lillie, growling. Lillie got up and slowly backed off. "Silvally? Wh-what are you doing? It's me, Lillie!" she cried, worried about the large chimaera-like Pokémon. Then the telltale sounds of footfalls as Gladion burst into the room.

"Silvally, stand down!" he said as he grabbed his Pokémon around its neck and wrangled it away from Lillie, before returning it to it's Pokéball. "Lillie, I'm sorry about that. Silvally's been acting strange ever since we got here..."

Lillie stumbled back to her desk, closing her diary behind her back so that her brother couldn't see the photo, before running forward and locking her brother into an adoring hug. "Gladion, I missed you." she said, grateful that he was back. "You too, Lillie. You had no idea how worried I was when mother called me, I was on the first boat back to Alola. What happened exactly?"

"It was Team Skull, Gladion." Gladion frowned at this. "B-but don't worry, Mister Guzma said he'd sort it out!" she frantically followed up with. Gladion was still not satisfied however. "I'm still going to have some choice words with him. He should've kept his team on a leash." he practically growled.

Lillie sweatdropped again, she didn't want this to escalate, and felt as if Gladion was going to press her with more questions. But her mother was her saving grace, as she had poked her head into the room. "Oh! Gladion, darling. You're back! I thought I heard you." she said as she moved to lightly ruffle Gladion's unkempt hair, much to the teen's discomfort.

"Come on, let's go and have some dinner, I had the intern pick up some take-out from Sushi High Roller." she spoke. The thought of Faba having to run simple errands like picking up take-out was amusing to Lillie.

Dinner was eaten in relative silence between the family, as they began to eat their various food sets. "Mother? I'm planning to visit Professor Burnet tomorrow." she said, as her mother looked up, nodding but not responding due to eating.

"Why's that, Lillie?" Gladion said as he looked up from his food. Lillie faltered under his gaze. "Uhm, it's been a while since we've spoken, and I didn't get the chance to thank her for her gift." she responded. Gladion's features sharpened. "And what of the PokéGear I got you? Where was that when you ended up in the hospital?"

"It, it was out of battery, Gladion. Things need time to charge." she tried to calmly respond. "Well then you should've been more careful then!" he fired back. "I didn't know it would attack, me... yeah? Alright?" she responded, faltering again. Gladion raised an eyebrow at the mention of 'it'. "It?" "I... I mean he, alright? It all happened so fast." "Enough, Both of you. I didn't order Sushi High Roller just to have an argument over it, children." Lusamine intervened.

"I'm not hungry anymore, Mother." said Lillie as she glared at Gladion and stormed off. The telltale sound of a door slamming shut gave away her location to the rest of the family.

"Mother? Has she always been acting like this? I thought she had changed with her resolution to be stronger. Her Z-Powered form, she called it?" Gladion asked. Lusamine sighed. "Yes, I must admit that it's true. But still, you didn't have any reason to provoke her like that, you know it was very stressful for her."

"I know, but it was for me too! I was left in the dark, I didn't know if my baby sister was dead or alive. I was regions away, a few days at least from finding out." Gladion countered.

Lusamine's heart fluttered a little at hearing Gladion call Lillie his 'Baby Sister', but continued nonetheless. "It's not always about you, Gladion. You should go and apologise. She was the one who was on the brink of death, after all." Gladion knew she was right. So after dinner, he had gotten up and made his way to Lillie's room. He could hear the girl talking to herself on the other side of the door, before knocking. "Lillie? It's Gladion, can I come in? Please?"

Lillie's heart stopped, she was talking about the situation to Kartana, seing as her other Pokémon were at the conservatory. She returned it as she responded, in an effort to mask the sound of a Pokéball recalling a Pokémon. "Uh, yeah... Sure, come in."

Gladion opened the door. "Were you talking to one of your Pokémon?" "N... No. No I wasn't. I just, look. It's a habit I picked up." Lillie had inwardly cursed. It didn't work. "Oh, alright then. Listen, I just wanted to apologise for how I acted at dinner. You have to understand that I was very concerned for you, Lillie. You're my little sister after all, and I love you." Gladion responded, a guilty look on his face.

"It's, fine. Look. I'm going to visit Burnet tomorrow as you probably heard." "Oh, can I come?" "N-No! I mean, no, it's sort of a private conversation." Gladion was taken aback. He was confident that his sister was hiding something now. "Alright. That's fine." he responded, a smile covering his face.

But in truth, he needed to get to the bottom of this. Something was bothering Lillie, and his brotherly instinct was screaming at him to find out what.