Chapter Text
Lillie was already in bed when the door creaked open and Gladion padded into their shared room.
“You okay, brother?” she asked.
Gladion said nothing. He could feel in his throat that his voice would come out all watery if he did. He lay down on his bed and waited a few minutes before speaking. “I can’t do this anymore,” he said. He’d said it many times, but this time, he meant it.
“I know,” Lillie said. “I’m sorry I keep letting you do this for me.”
Gladion again said nothing. He didn’t know what Lillie thought he’d just taken the fall for, but this time his crimes had been his own. His mom had caught him visiting Type: Null without permission and had burned his hand on a laboratory heat disk as punishment.
Gladion didn’t want to be so cold to Lillie. But he’d promised himself one thing: unless Lillie was coming with him, he wouldn’t say a word about Type: Null. That way, when the two of them disappeared, there’d be nothing their mom could do to get answers out of Lillie. It would protect them, and hopefully it would protect her- at least, for long enough for him to get strong enough to protect her better, or for their mom to snap out of her Ultra Space obsession.
“You could come with me, you know,” Gladion offered as he stared up at the ceiling of the room he shared with his sister. It was a conversation they’d had many times. This time, it was a little more urgent. Gladion had figured out how to break Type: Null out of containment last week, and the guilt was growing on him every day that he hadn’t found the guts to do it.
“I couldn’t,” Lillie answered, not for the first time. They’d had a bunch of conversations about how Gladion would protect her, would help toughen her up, and they’d all ended about the same way: Lillie staying convinced that she’d never make it out there.
“You’re right,” Gladion conceded. “I’m sorry I won’t be here to protect you anymore. I’ll come back once I can.” He swung his legs over the edge of the bed and started shuffling to the door. He heard Lillie sit up in bed behind him.
“You’re… you’re actually…?” she asked, sounding like she was going to tear up.
Gladion turned back to her. Visible by the moonlight outside their window, she had her pure white covers pulled up to her chin, and was looking at him with big, scared, watery eyes.
“Yeah,” he whispered. He put a finger to his lips. “Shh… goodbye, Lillie. I love you.”
There was no need for him to give her advice on how to stay safe without him. They’d already had that talk.
Lillie’s eyes filled with tears. Gladion shut his own eyes tight and turned away, feeling a stab of guilt run through him and praying that Lillie wouldn’t try to stop him.
Gladion opened the door, then closed it carefully, peeled his shoes off, and quietly stalked down the hallway, listening for any sign of Lusamine being nearby. This was actually happening. Even with the months of build-up, it seemed so sudden that it felt like a dream. The guilt was still in his chest, but excitement was flowing through him as well.
Bringing Type: Null out of cryrogenic freezing was as easy as throwing a switch- the Aether Foundation staff had to let it move to train it, after all- but its thick, glass exterior would take a bit of a trick to break. During his many visits to Type: Null’s enclosure, Gladion had noticed that it had developed a tiny hairline crack at the corner. Thankfully, it seemed like no one else had noticed, because it was still there when Gladion returned to it.
Once Gladion threw the switch, he knelt down beside the crack, Type: Null lowering its head to watch him with great interest. Gladion dug a small Phillips screwdriver and a rock from his pocket, put the screwdriver’s point against the crack, and hit the screwdriver with the rock. With each hit, the crack got not only bigger, but deeper, and Type: Null watched it for the moment when the crack reached its side of the glass. After tapping away until he starting to get callouses, Type: Null began chuffing. Gladion looked up at the beast, understood what it seemed to be saying, and got out of its way. The beast lowered its axe-like head, charged at the crack, and shattered the pane instantly.
Soon, Gladion was outside, his getaway bag over his shoulder, riding on Type: Null as they rode from the artificial island of Aether Paradise to Ula'ula Island. Its tail motored along behind them, stirring up droplets of water, and by the time Gladion reached the empty shore, he was soaked to the bone and shivering.
Thankfully, Gladion had prepared for this much. His bag was waterproof and had fresh clothes in it: clothes and a bag that he’d stolen one piece at a time from Aether Foundation workers. Gladion didn’t exactly feel good about stealing, but if his clothes had started disappearing from his drawers, Lusamine would’ve noticed when she picked their outfits every day, and then there’d be trouble. He looked around the beach to make sure it was empty, then found a bush in which to trade the dripping white silk for a plain black jacket and sweat pants.
Soon as I make a little money from Team Skull, I’m getting myself some real clothes. And frankly, this was already a big improvement.
Gladion mounted Type: Null again and headed into town. The Pokémon Center he stopped by had a few kids sleeping at it, snuggled up in sleeping bags with their partnered Pokémon, but that wasn’t an option for him. Where he was going, it was best to show up at night. Gladion nabbed a map from the center and kept on. The duo reached Po Town just as the sky was beginning to turn purple with sunrise.
Two grunts, one male and one female, stood at the high brick gates that were the only sign that this dilapidated town had once been a gated community. The male grunt looked around fifteen- a kid, as Team Skull did allow kids to join, but still a lot older than Gladion’s eleven. Suddenly, this plan seemed ill-advised at best. He had no plan for if he was turned away because of his age. The female grunt was even bigger and older. Gladion would’ve guessed twenty-five. Their eyes were trained on Gladion as he hopped off of Type: Null and made his way to the entrance, hoping they’d just let him through.
The female grunt stepped in front of him. “Name and Business?” she asked.
“Gladion. I’m joining Team Skull.”
The grunt pressed her hand against her mouth and gave an ugly, half-stifled snort. “Lusamine’s brat wants to trade the lap of luxury for our finest dumpsters? Sure. Look, kid, if you came here for some sort of rebellious thrill, we gotchu. Come on in, all our best narcotics are available for a price. You could probably find a motorcycle to bum a ride on. Ya don’t have to lie to me.”
Gladion’s face scrunched up in annoyance. He was sleep-deprived, desperate, and wasn’t going to be insulted so easily. “I am here to join Team Skull,” he asserted.
The grunt’s eyes narrowed, and Gladion was pretty sure she was smirking behind her bandana. “Fine, then. Beat me in a Pokémon battle, and I’ll show you to our boss. How’s that sound?”
“You’re on,” Gladion replied. Even with its containment helmet, Null was powerful. It could do this. Gladion was sure of it.
The two backed up enough to give their Pokémon room, and the grunt tossed out a Gengar.
“Crush claw,” Gladion ordered.
Null pounced on the ghost, its powerful talons exposed. But they phased right through the Gengar like it wasn’t even there.
Now, both grunts were laughing, and Gladion didn’t even know why. He grit his teeth. The next minute or so was a humiliating series of x-scissors that landed and crush claws that mysteriously never did, all while Null was clobbered by focus blasts until it fainted.
“You never learn, do you?” the female grunt said. “You know what? I will show you to the boss. I’d like him to get a load of some little wannabe who doesn’t even know that ghosts are immune to normal-type moves.” She turned away and bobbed her head in a ‘follow me’ gesture. And Gladion, furious, humiliated, and defeated, followed.
As the two walked through Po Town, several of its residents- playing cards, spray-painting buildings, drinking and smoking Arceus-knew-what- took notice and voiced their thoughts.
“Even his walk is rich.” Gladion consciously loosened his posture. Lusamine would’ve scolded him for walking like this, but it seemed like here, the opposite applied.
“Heh, the little rich kid thinks he’s got swagger.” Back to his normal walk it was, then.
“Look at those skinny arms. Probably never worked a day in his life.” Lusamine controlled what he ate. Said that growing too fast was “unbecoming.”
“Probably doesn’t even throw his own pokéballs. Has a butler throw ‘em or something.” Gladion had indeed never thrown a pokéball. Lusamine had gone mad long before he was old enough to go on a journey, and now she wouldn’t even allow them to think of it. It was probably why he hadn’t remembered his type chart… not that it made him feel any less pathetic for it.
Finally, they got to the shady mansion at the end of the path. A male grunt’s shady eyes bore down on Gladion from behind the dark bottle he was nursing, but thankfully he didn’t say anything as Gladion stepped in. Music pounded in the shady house. Gladion passed by grunts dinking, smoking, dancing, and injecting needles as he made his way through, leaving grime and spray paint on the walls and floors and generally making a house as big and fancy as Lusamine’s unrecognizable. At the top of the stairs, lounging in his makeshift throne and watching over it all, was Guzma, the boss of Team Skull.
“Hmph. What’cha brought me?” Guzma asked.
“Lusamine’s brat,” the grunt explained. “He says he wants to join. He doesn’t even know his type matchups. What should we do with him?”
Guzma got up off his throne, got into Gladion’s space, and squatted down to be at eye-level with him. “Well, you’ve got nerve, I’ll give you that. Alright, kid. Give me one reason to let you stay, and maybe I’ll consider not beating you down like the punk you are.” His eyes were sharp and mean, and his breath smelled like alcohol.
Gladion’s fists were tight at his sides. Every part of him wanted to run… or to snap at Guzma and everyone else for talking to him like this. “I… I need to get stronger,” Gladion snapped. “For my sister. And for my Pokémon, Null. Team Skull is supposed to be for people with no future. Well, I don’t have one if you don’t let me in. Live up to your standards and let me become a good member of Team Skull!”
Guzma crossed his arms and closed his eyes, contemplative. Behind him, his grunts watched, rapt, like they were waiting to watch him be torn apart.
“Yeah, okay, you can join,” Guzma said, his voice anticlimactically gentle.
“What?” one of the grunts said, throwing his arms back like he’d almost fallen over in shock.
“Relax. Not as a full member,” Guzma continued, sitting back down on his throne. “We’ll send you little tasks to do for money, and you can live in Po town. If you get tough enough, you can be a full-fledged member once you’re a teen. Got it, errand boy?”
Gladion gave a stiff nod. He supposed he should be relieved, but somehow he didn’t.
“Great. Now scram. I’m trying to enjoy the ambiance.”
Gladion did scram. Not running, not even walking fast- he didn’t want to look weak. Once he was out of the shady mansion, he crept along a random street, listening for voices, until he found a house that seemed empty. Its floor-level window had been broken, so he climbed through it, careful not to cut his hands on what was left of the glass in the frame. And once he’d run into an empty basement room, he curled up in the corner and finally let himself hyperventilate.
He was safe. He was safe. He was safe. His mom wasn’t gonna hurt him. Like so many times after he’d dealt with an angry Lusamine, that was all he could think of, and this time, it was permanent. A tear fell down his cheek.
After that sunk in, his perspective broadened a little. He was in Team Skull. He’d have work. Places he could stay. Hopefully food and enough money- otherwise he’d have to resort to stealing. He still wasn’t sure how any of this was supposed to work, but at least he wouldn’t have to choose between going back to Lusamine and wandering around with no place to go.
The room had no furniture except for an empty bedframe. But Gladion was tired, and too scared to deal with knocking on any more doors to find a better place to stay. He let Null out of its ball, still laying on its side, fainted, and touched a revive to its nose. The creature’s eyes glowed to life within its helmet.
“Hey. We’re sleeping here today, Null.”
Null rose to its feet and let out a whine and looked around the dark, empty room. Then it turned back to its trainer and seemed to sense his distress. It circled around him and laid down, and Gladion laid down with it, head on its back.
There were people here who could hurt him. But they were much easier to leave than the Aether Foundation. No one here could control him like that ever again, but no one would keep him from starving or getting killed out here, either. Except Null. The two of them would have to make it together. He would be okay. He hoped so, at least.