Author's Note: Oops, I may have gone overboard on the whole Nanu / past kahuna thing. Hopefully we still learned something about our boy in this chapter! PS The title is a reference to something my grandma always used to say, some old radio drama she listened to as a kid. Seemed to fit Nanu.
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The truth was, Alondra had already caught every single Pokémon on Mount Hokulani her first time through. Rushing her Island Challenge was never an excuse to miss out on a chance to work with and raise new Pokémon. Still, she'd told Molayne and Sophocles that was what she was here to do, so once she bid them goodbye, she headed down the mountain path into the tall grass and resolved herself to catch a second Ditto. It gave her time to think, anyhow.
She'd never expected Molayne to be so forthcoming with information. In fact, it had gotten far heavier than she could have ever guessed, certainly a very different experience than the one she'd had with Kukui. The man had noticed something going on with his friend at least, even if he hadn't acted on it, and clearly felt bad for that inaction. Maybe there was a chance Guzma and Molayne could be friends again, if Guzma would ever allow himself that much.
But Molayne's attitude aside, the information he'd provided confirmed all her suspicions when looking at the dates on trophies. It lined up with Kukui's story, and even made it clearer why the decision had hurt him so much that he would run. Gosh, to win the battle, to think you've achieved your dream, and then to have it taken from you… Would he have even gotten another chance being that he was already 16? Of course it wasn't enough to justify starting a gang and tearing things up, but what Molayne had said about the third-person talk, the distancing himself from others, the bruises… She couldn't help but feel there was more to it besides losing the position. The question was, where else could she look for answers?
Her thoughts were broken by the emergence of yet another Fearow. She sighed and shooed it away in annoyance. There weren't many more places to look from Guzma's childhood. But Molayne had opened a new path of questioning, one that centered around where he'd gone TO and not FROM. How did he end up on Ula'ula? Was it a coincidence that the one Kahuna who'd approved of him was from that island? Had he wanted to fight the Tapu alongside this person as a way of getting back at tradition? Well, she was here anyhow. Maybe there was someone in Po Town who had known him through Team Skull for a while. Someone like…Plumeria.
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The doors to Po Town were no longer locked shut, but thrown open wide. Team Skull was disbanded after all, they no longer had a claim on the place. When she stepped inside the fortress city, she was struck by a feeling of desolation despite the rows of houses on either side of the main street. Under the cold gray sky and the never-ceasing rain, the streets were deserted. Sure, they must have done some work; the barricades that had impeded her progress towards the mansion before were no longer there. Still, it looked more abandoned then ever without the grunts posturing in the street. Her heart sank. Maybe there was no one here to ask after all…
"It's quiet, huh?"
Alondra jumped, completely startled by the sudden presence of the island's kahuna stalking up behind her like his favorite Persian. Pretending her heart was not racing from the surprise, she sighed. "They're all gone?"
"No, not all. Some of 'em haven't got anywhere else to go, after all, so I let them stay. In this weather, they need a roof over their heads at least. That's about all they have here though, so I hope those kids get a plan put together." Nanu frowned in annoyance, but she knew from experience he was more annoyed at the situation than at the kids themselves.
"What's the plan for this place, then? And for them? It can't be easy to figure out, but it's been three months since all that Aether Foundation stuff blew up. I take it you're not throwing them in jail?"
Nanu sighed wearily. "So full of questions…my favorite." He paused. "No, these kids aren't hardened criminals. Jail time would only make things worse, not better. The ones that left either had to retry the Trials as a sort of character improvement plan, or head home to their families and submit weekly reports on their activities. The ones that didn't have either option will stay here and work community service to clean the place up." The man glared up at the sky. "Which would be easier if it would ever stop raining, but apparently even the kahuna can't sway the Tapu when it's got a grudge."
Seeing him look so tired and defeated, Alondra felt sorry for the grizzled police veteran. All of this had been thrust onto his shoulders, after all; it wasn't like he'd asked for any of it. "I thought for sure once all this business got sorted out the Tapu would be satisfied. I just don't know what else it could demand…"
Nanu snorted. "If I ever run into my predecessor I will personally taser him as a form of stress relief therapy. He made such a mess."
They stood in uncomfortable silence for a moment. Or, perhaps it was only uncomfortable for Alondra, as Nanu seemed unperturbed. She tried again. "Well, that's all for the grunts, but what about the leaders of Team Skull?"
"You already know what happened to Guzma." Point blank, Nanu threw it back in her face. She blushed in embarrassment. Her usual tricks apparently did not work on him. "We'll see if Hala's solution will be enough when they get back. As for his second in command, she gave me quite the thrashing the other day." Alondra's eyes widened in shock. He didn't look hurt… Seeing her expression, he chuckled. "In battle. The girl's got a lot of talent. Not sure if she didn't get much experience when she was younger or just had bad luck, but she's the real deal. Probably has beaten five of her seven trials by now."
Ah, so Plumeria was not here. Though it was disappointing news, Alondra was glad that the intense and protective young woman was finding her calling. It was easy to imagine her being a powerful trainer in her own right, and after seeing how she cared for her grunt 'siblings', it was hard to hold Team Skull against her. Thankfully Nanu saw it the way she did.
"So, what are you doing here, exactly?" Nanu, it seemed, would be doing his fair share of the interrogation. Uff, running into him hadn't been a part of the plan at all!
"Well, I was actually looking for Plumeria. I had a question for her, but I see I won't be finding her here. Plus, I was on the island anyway on other business and it seemed easy enough to drop by," Alondra answered casually.
Nanu's eyes narrowed, though it wasn't necessarily in suspicion. "A question for Plumeria, huh? You might catch her back on Melemele. She'll be waiting there to beat Hala once he's returned. Anything I can help with?" Man, he knew there was something going on. He didn't get to be the head of the Ula'ula police force for nothing!
"Well…" Alondra looked around at the dreary city, still shocked by how lifeless it appeared. Her eyes rested on the mansion, the heart of Team Skull and of the city. Perhaps Guzma had left some clue in his room? "Is the mansion still open?"
The request seemed to surprise even Nanu. He grunted in affirmation, studying her carefully.
"I want to see if something is still there that I saw the last time. You can follow if you want," she offered, hoping to ease his suspicions.
Nanu simply shrugged. "I've got nothing better to do today. I'd be interested in seeing what you find so intriguing." Pushing past her, he led her forward in the direction of the towering building.
"Did the former kahuna live here?" she wondered aloud, staring up at the imposing façade.
Again, the kahuna responded with a simple grunt. Never was a man for many words.
"Such a huge place for one man. Even Hala's lodge is more modest than this. The last kahuna must have been a very rich man."
"Yes, well, there was a reason he wanted to build the Thrifty Megamart even against the wishes of the Tapu." If she didn't know Nanu as well as she did, she'd have missed the hint of bitterness in his tone. "Wealth and power meant a lot to him. Tapu Bulu has always been known as the most attracted to power, and I guess that backfired when he picked that man to be his kahuna. They just ended up in a power struggle that got everyone else sucked in."
"That must have been difficult to deal with as the police chief," Alondra said, unsure of how the quirky man would deal with sympathy.
"Damn right. Can't just arrest the kahuna for being an idiot." Nanu stopped in front of the mansion's doors. "When he knew he was fighting a losing battle, he took off for Kalos. Probably retired fat and lazy and left all the shit he caused to the people back here. Disgusting, that anyone can have enough money to just abandon an entire city, much less a mansion of this scale." Alondra knew Nanu lived in his police station with the barest of necessities and a small army of Meowth. No wonder he felt disgusted with his predecessor.
"Do you ever think about moving in here being that you are the Kahuna?"
Nanu didn't answer at first, pushing the door open with an ominous creak. "No. My job is and always has been to be the police chief. I cannot do my job hiding in a mansion in a crumbling town."
"Surely people would provide the money to fix the place up! I mean, the Kahuna has to live somehow!"
"Kahunas usually get by from their battle winnings and donations of supplies from the local towns. They don't make enough money to repair an entire city. I will say, because Aether nearly ripped the world apart, they are providing a substantial sum towards the rebuilding of Po Town. But even if they get it fixed up, I would never live here. It's not my style." No, it really wasn't when she thought about it. Nanu hated attention, excess, and anything similar. "So what exactly did you want to look at?" he changed the subject.
"Upper floor east wing, back bedroom," she replied quickly.
"Guzma's old room."
She was grateful for the dark that hid her embarrassed expression. Unless those red eyes could see in the dark… Somehow, where Nanu was concerned, the thought didn't surprise her. "Right. Still don't know why they left that obnoxious chandelier in the middle of the stairway, so I guess we'll be taking the long route." A grunt, followed by a change in direction.
Once they'd completed the obstacle course to his room, Nanu's hand rested on the doorknob. "This may interest you or it may not, but the grunts haven't set foot in here since he disbanded Team Skull and left. Not sure if there is some kind of freaky reverence for the guy or what. Guzma hasn't returned since then either."
Well, at least that would mean nothing was tampered with. Or it could mean Guzma took everything with him when he'd left. Only one way to find out. The door creaked open, and Nanu flipped on the lights. One of the only places in town that still had electricity, they flickered weakly for a moment before stabilizing.
Nothing had changed since the last time she'd been here. Well, the laptop was gone, but that was about it. The bed was still askew from the wall and unmade. The throne was still positioned high on the risers. The rack was still full of empty bottles. Wordlessly, she approached to get a better look at them. Taking one in her hand, she read the label. Vodka. Worriedly, she looked up at the rest. A lot more vodka, some gin, all of it hard liquor. "Did he drink all this?"
She didn't mean it as an actual question to be answered by her companion, but Nanu replied. "Yep. Good cheap stuff he could afford, nice and strong so it would go a long way. It wasn't for social drinking, after all."
Alondra turned, wide-eyed. "How do you know that?"
Nanu raised an eyebrow. "I'm the police. I've been tailing these guys for years making sure they never did anything too horrible."
"So you know his drinking habits?"
He cleared his throat. "I've been inside the mansion. Part of the deal of not arresting them was that I do random inspections of the place. Checking for stolen goods, that sort of thing. I thought it very weird how there would never be any stolen goods or Pokémon, whether I pulled a random grunt for a search or tore apart a random house in town. They always lived like paupers, always having just enough to take care of their large numbers. But everyone knew they were stealing, so where did it all go?"
"Aether."
"Bingo. At least, as of a few years ago. It was a good plan on Lusamine's part, I'll give her that. Have these desperate kids do the dirty work, pass off the goods, and have no evidence to bust them with. She pays them just enough under the table that they can survive."
"Did they steal Pokémon before Lusamine?"
Nanu shook his head. "I can't say. I don't know when they officially joined up with her. That would be a Plumeria question, if she chooses to answer it. She doesn't have to, legally."
"Ah, I see." Alondra paused, looking back down at the bottle. "You said not for social drinking. I take that to mean he wanted the buzz it could give him."
The older man sighed. "I've seen him drunk off his ass during random inspections. Sometimes he was passed out and Plumeria would be handling things. I only have guesses, but I think it helped him calm down. Depressant and all that. Dulled the pain his demons caused him."
Roughly, she shoved the bottle back on the shelf, her stomach twisting at the thought of him drinking himself into a stupor because he was hurting so much. Her eyes roamed to the opposite side of the room where she knew the shards of glass were. "I know he could get ugly when it overwhelmed him. You remember that day I showed up here to get that Yungoos back?"
"Yep. Glad I didn't have to haul out your corpse. You certainly schooled them, right down to the man himself. He couldn't have taken that well."
"I thought he'd hurt me," she blurted, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She moved towards his throne and fingered the gouges gashed into the arms. "He was so mad his own underlings ran away. But he didn't touch me, he just stormed out. Am I crazy, Nanu, to think he wouldn't hurt anyone when he's in his right mind? Sometimes it's like seeing two different people and I don't know how to reconcile that."
The Kahuna was no expert on making people feel better, and he never pretended he was. As the girl before him sniffled, he heaved a sigh. "You should know I wouldn't have let you go in there if I thought there was any possibility of him harming you in any way. He doesn't know how to deal with his frustration and anger and he likes to take it out on the objects around him, but the bottom line is that he wouldn't have the loyalty of every grunt in the organization if he had gone around beating on people when things got bad."
His words were what she needed to hear. She wasn't the only one in the world who believed he could restrain whatever violent urges he had when it came to people. The voice of suspicion was telling her he didn't want to hurt others the way he had been hurt, but she quickly dismissed it as unfounded. Nodding, she turned her attention to the corner. It was now vacant, but there used to be a chest filled with Bugonium. "So what happened to the…"
"Bugonium? I'm hanging onto it for now."
"I guess you have to try and find the owners, huh?"
"No. I know exactly where the owner is. I'm just guarding it for him until he gets back from his training."
Alondra spun around and stared in shock. "What do you mean? There's no way he owns all of these!"
"Well, at first I thought he stole them too. But, I witnessed a battle of his one day early on when I was shadowing him. Turns out, he battled trainers that came looking for the Kahuna. Back then, the Bugonium was given to initial trainers because there was no master for it. When he'd defeat them in battle, he'd demand they hand over their Bugonium instead of prize money. Mind you, this was before the team grew to be so big, so there wasn't the financial pressure. Nobody really objected, because nobody really trained bug types closely. He earned all those z-crystals fair and square."
She thought of that chest overflowing with the green crystals, of how she'd taken one from him upon his defeat. In a way, it was his own Captain's Trial, unofficial as it was. The relief she felt at knowing he hadn't stolen something so valuable and in such large quantities was immense. Besides, it made total sense for Guzma to want to earn them by defeating his opponents; thievery may be more subtle, but Guzma always seemed to enjoy a show of his power. "Well, I guess he sure showed them just how badly a bug Pokémon can mess you up, even without the powerup."
"Indeed. I've seen him work. If he had a Z-ring, he'd REALLY be destruction in human form."
The Z-ring. Remembering how he'd flung it over the side of the cliff in his rage brought a fresh wave of pain. "All that Bugonium and he could never even use it."
"Yes, that is one thing I don't understand. I know he passed his trials, so he should have one. Maybe he just doesn't want to use it because it reminds him of things he'd rather forget." Alondra nearly corrected him before stopping herself; Nanu didn't need to know she was piecing together the whole story.
"Nanu, do you think Hala will be able to help him?"
"Hala has known Guzma a long time, and I think he feels guilty for the way things played out. All I can say is that he'll do everything he can to get him on track. The rest is up to Guzma. You've seen him last. Do you think he's capable of change?"
Always turning the tables on her! How had he known? She closed her eyes and tried to picture the way he stared off into the horizon that day on the beach. Reaching into her pocket, she squeezed the Dawnstone. "Yes." And this time, she was certain of her answer.