Chapter Text
The night skies above Alola are perfect in the eyes of Selene Mizuki.
That isn’t to say that the skies aren’t beautiful during the day. There is a serene grace to the islands of Alola that she had come to fall in love with her first months here, and for all the turbulent times she has experienced here, this has never changed.
There are days she spends simply sitting on her throne atop the League, staring up at the skies above and watching Pokemon fly overhead. Occasionally, the clear skies flash with thunder, and she knows the Tapu have come to visit, seeking again to test themselves against her team; but most days the skies are open and clear and blue as the oceans surrounding them, and she can watch the sun rise and fall and feel a measure of contentment with her life.
But the night skies- oh, the night skies. There is something beauteous about lying at the highest point of the Battle Tree and staring up at the majesty of the night sky above.
It’s a sight she had never seen in Kanto. So much of her home region is dominated by the massive city at the heart of it, the wards of Saffron and Cerulean buffeting up against her domicile on the city outskirts. Even at night, Kanto never slept. Cars drove, trains rattled to and from their destinations, and light spilled endlessly up into the sky, hiding the stars behind a veil of mankind’s selfish innovations.
So Selene often finds herself lying here, atop one of the highest points in Alola, and staring at all those tiny shining lights in the sky.
Her Pokemon accompany her, sometimes. Beheeyem likes to hover overhead, letting out a comforting whirr as he holds himself aloft and gently fans air over her too-red forehead. Other times, she brings Starmie with her. It likes to lie down beside her, the sound of radio waves inaudible but indelibly present.
And, of course, there’s Nebby. Ever loyal, ever loving Nebby. He is her ever-constant companion. Not a night goes by in which he doesn’t sit at her side, scanning the horizons for threats neither of them can foresee yet.
Sometimes- not often, but sometimes- she can convince him to take in the sights of the night sky above with her. Those nights, she doesn’t lay on the roof; she will climb instead atop his back, trusting in her closest companion to hold her tightly to his back despite the lack of saddle or spines to hold to, and he will fly her so high into the skies that the world below falls away and the tapestry of the vastness of space unfurls itself in front of their eyes.
Those are her favourite nights. She returns home with a chill every time, her fingers numb with cold and her breaths short from lack of air, but-
Nebby understands, she thinks. He understands her desire to feel… small.
It’s something she never gets to feel any more.
Not since she became Champion.
There are those among us who may be familiar with this story already. It has been passed around by sly lips whispering stories they know should be kept secret, spoken into ears that know they have no right to have heard a story so personal.
The shape of the story is familiar- terribly, terribly familiar.
There was a girl. She was too young for this; all of them are. Twelve years old, bright-eyed and with a smile affixed permanently to her face. Quiet, thoughtful, rarely speaking without thinking her words through thrice.
She was promised a silly journey, a happy journey. She met with a scientist, a politician; he offered her a choice of three, and with a single glance her eyes met that of a Rowlet, their innocent faces expressing determination and quiet resolve.
Then the cast expanded.
She met a boy, first of all. Dark-skinned, with a smile that outshone her own. A boy with a little Popplio, dancing around his own feet and tripping the two of them up that she might clamber up on his chest and clap her flippers in front of his face.
They were introduced; this is my daughter, Moon. This is my grandson, Hau. Hahaha! Look at them already, puffing themselves up with intimidating glances more adorable than scary.
A rivalry was born- a friendly rivalry, but a rivalry nonetheless, both propelling each other eternally on to new heights. Twelve years old and already so determined, so competitive.
She meets others. She is formally introduced to Kukui, a bare-chested man who speaks so energetically it leaves her blinking. She meets Hala- Hau’s grandfather, the Kahuna of Melemele island. She sees Tapu Koko once, a bolt of lightning from clear skies, there a fraction of a second before she hits the raging rivers below.
She meets-
There is another girl she meets, full of secrets and mystery.
Lillie.
How to describe Lillie?
If Selene is the moon, then Lillie is the sun.
Where Moon is quiet, Lillie is quieter- or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they are different kinds of quiet. Moon is soft-spoken, overthinking, driven more by anxiety and perhaps some mild depression than by an inability to bring herself to speak. Lillie is quiet, her eyes darting side to side, seeking any escape from a conversation before resigning herself to short, harried words if she is driven to speech at all.
And in her bag, the sun carried a nebula, a tapestry of the skies spread out before them in the shape of a curious little creature she called Nebby.
For those who have been following, the shape of the story is clear. Let us perhaps state it for those of us who are not yet familiar with how stories are drawn, however;
This, dear reader, is a love story.
The thing Lillie can’t get over about being back in Alola is the sheer heat .
Three years in Kanto has got her so used to being in a climate that’s just so much more… pleasant. Not that Alola’s climate is bad, of course! She’s just not built for that kind of climate. Her whole childhood, she grew up in the comforting embrace of air conditioning and carpeted floors. It was one of the good parts about how she grew up.
She’d made sure to wear her coolest sundress out here- and yes, Gladion, she’d remembered to slather sunscreen on her exposed skin this time! There will be no boiled Lillie today!- and it helps somewhat, but only somewhat.
But! That’s fine. She’ll get used to the heat again eventually- she did once before, even if she’d always felt sticky and gross when they had to walk farther than across the street. It won’t be that bad now, surely.
Gladion is waiting for her on the docks when the ship touches down- her eyes dart around, certain that she will find one of her other friends around- and yes, there’s Hau standing further at the back, waving fiercely to her. There’s a clear space around him, with a chair just there for her to sit down on.
He’d remembered how wobbly her legs get after travelling on a boat!
She doesn’t quite run down off the boat towards the two of them, managing to exercise some measure of restraint, but can’t prevent herself from jumping up and throwing her arms around her brother as soon as she reaches him. It takes a moment for him to reciprocate, as recalcitrant a boy- a man - as he is, but after a moment of surprise, he wraps his arms around her in turn.
Oh. It’s been a long time since she’s had a strong hug like this.
They hold the hug for a few long seconds before separating, Gladion letting out an awkward cough while Lillie beams at him. They offer silly greetings- and, eventually, a shy smile from her brother- before they head over to Hau, who is promptly greeted by another big hug himself. Hau is not half as shy as Gladion, so that hug in turn is even stronger and warmer, and-
Yes; she’s glad she’s come back. She’d missed them.
Neither of them owns a car still, but there’s a Ride Tauros waiting for them outside the docks, pre-arranged by Gladion. The ride over to her hotel- that’s something she’s going to have to figure out; her housing situation is going to be complicated for a while- is a serene thing, an easy ride on a Pokemon moving with long, loping strides that don’t risk dislodging her at all.
Conversation flows easily. What have the two of you been up to the past few years? Well, I already told you about how I’ve been working with Team Skull to start up a facility to care for lost and abandoned Pokemon? Yes, Hau, you told me about that. How has that been going?
It’s a light conversation, even if the topic itself is a little heavy. Hau is just so upbeat that he can draw a smile even out of her withdrawn brother with nary an effort; with Lillie there to bother him as little sisters are tasked with doing, Gladion never stood a chance, and soon even he is laughing along as he shares stories about Silvally’s efforts to learn to fight with poison as well as his Crobat does.
By the time they arrive, they’re swapping stories they haven’t had a chance to tell over the past three years. Hau’s told them stories about his Primarina’s struggles to learn to swim out in the open oceans, so used to the small streams and ponds they’d spent so much time in that she struggles against the waves; and Lillie in turn has told them all the stories of Bill and their shared hunt for an ancient Dragonite in the oceans surrounding Kanto.
It’s so warm. It’s so comfortable. It’s everything she’d been missing in Kanto.
There’s only one thing missing.
But that’s okay. She’s waited three years already. She can wait another day to see Moon again.
Their journey itself has been written about in a hundred tabloids and amateur blogs online in the years since Moon took over as Champion. Much like that of Red, like that of Dawn and Hilbert and Serena, their journey has become something almost… mythologized by the general public.
Their trials are all public record, of course, even though they were not recorded. Her rise, like that of Kanto’s Red, was nothing short of meteoric, lauded by all who followed her progress. Trial Captain after Trial Captain, then Totem Pokemon after Totem Pokemon, then Kahuna after Kahuna; it seemed like nothing could stop Moon and Hau as they rose up against the Island Challenge.
But there were, as ever, darker undercurrents.
There were police reports sent out to every police station in Alola, looking for a blonde girl in pretty dresses and a strange Pokemon like a nebula compressed into a creature. Long, sleepless nights with three spent hiding within a tent designed for one, the sounds of the forests around them promising danger, but less than than that posed by the police stalking the streets of the cities at night.
There were encounters with Team Skull, people who had lost all hope in the future and cast their lot in with each other in search of a camaraderie they could never find elsewhere. There was the heart-racing pulse of danger when a group of five would turn their way, when disillusioned members of society would turn and Moon would wonder, is this the moment our luck runs out?
And then there was-
Well.
It is no secret that Champion Moon does not smile any more. She bears an impassive face, sitting on the throne of the Pokemon League and casting down her judgement to those below. If she smiles at all, it is only in secret, and to whom- even her friends cannot say.
To those who monitor such things, it is no secret that Champion Moon disappears still for days at a time, returning with a team in desperate search of a Pokemon Centre. Her eyes dart around, the deep red marks of fingernails scratching at her skin out of anxiety, and another disaster is averted before it can do more than localized damage to any human or Pokemon population.
Perhaps the comparisons to Kanto’s Red are not so far off the mark in truth.
Maybe, if enough hope is held, this will turn out better than that. After all-
There is no Blue in this story.
The joy of reunification and happy conversations carries Gladion’s happy mood for hours even once he has left Lillie to sort herself out with Hau at the hotel. He returns back to his new home, Nellie carrying him home atop swift wings, and his good mood is so infectious even Silvally finds themselves rubbing their head-wings against him affectionately before they begin training again.
It lasts him right through dinner again, despite how lonely his house feels when his team is too exhausted to keep him company through the night. He’s gotten better at cooking now, enough so that he can at least fix himself up some chilli or soup- no more instant noodles or sad tins of pre-made minestrone for him, thank you very much.
It only starts to fade when he finds himself standing at the foot of the Pokemon League again.
The employees know him well enough that nobody questions him as he walks in and starts making his way up the spiralling staircase that leads him to Moon’s quarters.
Technically, they should stop him; it’s against the League’s rules for a challenger to approach the Champion without going through the full gauntlet. He’s supposed to issue a challenge first, then fight his way through her Elite Four before getting a chance to stand against her and match her strength against his.
But then-
They all know that’s not really what he’s doing here.
So he makes his way up that spiralling staircase, exactly one thousand steps tall yet somehow covering enough distance to allow him to ascend to the peak of Lanakila without exhausting himself, and by the time he finds himself standing in front of the door to Moon’s quarters, his good mood has disappeared almost entirely.
Three raps on the door are all the warning he gives her before stepping inside. Sure enough, she’s not actually in the living room here- nor can he hear any sounds coming from the kitchen or bathroom attached.
She might be asleep by now, he supposed, but-
Well, not if he knows Moon at all.
He walks in through the room, past a little plushie sitting on the couch, well-worn as though it’s been cuddled every day; past a table dotted with framed photos of the four of them, of Moon and her mother, of Moon and the kahunas, of Moon and another girl with wild purple hair; past an incongruous vinyl record player, a single vinyl record in its cover resting beside it on a table.
He heads instead to the back of the apartment, where a fold-down ladder has already been extended down. Tap, tap, tap; he knocks on the roof as he climbs, loud enough to let her know that he’s coming up, and then he’s pushing the hatch in the roof open so he can climb out, immediately shivering in the frigid air up here.
Lunala- Nebbie- swings his head to look at him, but once he recognizes that it’s Gladion, he swings his head back around to scan the horizons. Once upon a time, he’d been offended by that gesture. Now-
Well, now he’s spent enough time with Silvally to understand a bit more about trust.
He pads his way silently over to Moon, who’s laying in her usual spot, staring up at the stars above. The tiles around her are starting to fade already, like she’s rubbing the very colour out of them.
He’s got his own favourite spot up here as well. Just a bit off to Moon’s side, facing away to look over Melemele Island. He’s sat here dozens of times before.
His knees protest a little as he sits down, and he fights back a grimace. He’s going to have to go to the doctors about that one day.
Well, he’s been saying that for three years now. It can wait a couple more weeks, probably.
The silence between them is comfortable. Has been for a long time now. If there’s one person in Alola who gets him nowadays, it would be Moon, and he likes to think that’s true in return- though maybe Hau understands her a bit better. Only a bit, though.
He’s the one to eventually break the silence.
“Lillie’s back,” he says, his voice quiet enough to not quite shatter the illusion of silence and stillness around them. There’s still a flicker in the shadows, Moon’s Mimikyu darting around- where’s the doll?- but they’re not glaring at him, so tender mercies.
There’s a long pause before Moon responds.
“I know.”
Gladion draws his knees up, resting his chin on them. “She’ll be coming back soon too. On an airplane, I think. Apparently the doctors recommended she stay back for one more session or something.”
Moon just hums. Still doesn’t turn her head to look at him.
Honestly, that’s fair.
He doesn’t comment any further than that. Just lets himself fall silent.
It’s nice, in a way. Lillie and Hau are so loud in comparison. Not that that’s a bad thing- he loves both of them fiercely , even if he’d never admit it to Hau’s face- but there’s something nice about having a friend he can sit in silence with without feeling like he’s being judged.
In another way…
He sneaks a glance at Moon, and then has to fight back a sigh lest he alert her to his thoughts.
This, he thinks, is going to be the start of a rough few months.
There are bits and pieces of the story that only a select few know. Or, perhaps it might be incorrect to call this a story at all. It is less a story, and more a collection of the frayed threads of a group of people who were far too young for the situation they found themselves in.
For instance;
The story of Lusamine is known only to four children and one adult gang leader in Alola, and besides that to a single man and four doctors in Kanto. The story of Nihilego is known to even fewer; only Moon knows this one in truth, having been dragged unwillingly into Nihilego’s domain as she was. Gladion has gleaned bits and pieces of the truth, and Lillie knows the barest of the basics of what happened to her mother; but that is as far as that thread has been pulled.
For instance;
It is well-known by many now that Moon’s Decidueye has not been seen in battle for three years and change. Rumours have spread all over the islands of Alola, but there are only three people alive who know the truth of the story, and only one of them is still in this dimension. It is a thread cut short, never to be seen in its entirety.
For instance;
There are only three confidantes in Moon’s life who have been told the truth of what Moon feels about Lillie. Two of these are her closest friends in the world, the only people she trusts without hesitation or reservation; Hau and Gladion. The third-
Again; frayed threads. Little glimpses into a tapestry of which the entire story cannot yet be seen.
For instance;
A Unovan delegation is due to arrive again in Alola tomorrow. Over the past three years, they have shown themselves to be Alola’s most reliable ally, or perhaps friend; they arrive regularly, once a month, helmed by their most important figures as they offer aid and succour in the face of the devastating disasters the country still faces today.
Perhaps it would be incorrect to say this is a story at all- but then, perhaps not.
This is , in the end, a love story.
Just, perhaps, not the love story one might expect.