Chapter Text
Anger issues are hard to resolve when you spend a long time kicking it leading a team of like minded delinquents angry at the system they couldn't beat, especially when suddenly you aren't doing that anymore. After the last battle with MC on the beach and getting your ass handed to you after declaring you'd never change, it's a bit hard to avoid the bitter taste in your mouth, only exacerbated by that old Hala deciding it's a good chance to come in and humiliate you further. It's whatever. It makes one unable to care much at this point.
It's not a great state of mind when someone is dealing with anger, sadness and frustration in exceeding amounts, so much that is almost leads to an internal failsafe system, and when Hala says he'll make a good trainer out of Guzma yet, and offers him a helping hand, he just says fuck it and goes with it. He already lost the island challenge years ago, missed out on being a trial captain, and had to disband his team he'd actually grown fond of recently, so who cares if his dignity goes out the window anyway? Guzma is so sure he's going to absolutely regret this, and yet he goes with the Kahuna anyway. The walk to Iki town is spent in a moderate silence, broken only by Guzma's angry grunting and kicking a couple rocks along the way. Surprisingly, the old man turned to go down the hill rather than heading directly into the village marked by the site of the grand trial and the entrace to the ruins of conflict.
This was when the silence was broken by more than a disgruntled man's attempts at venting frustration.
"I take it you probably don't want to stay at your home in Route 2?" Said the Kahuna, in anything but a casual manner. Even though Hala was walking ahead of him, Guzma still had to look away for a moment before being able to conceive an answer in his head.
"..."
"..."
And that was it. Given his still fresh feelings of antagonism toward the Kahuna, a herald of the system that kicked him down so harshly, he wasn't about to open up to him so suddenly, especially about that one subject.
"Your silence tells me everything I need to know, my boy. Don't you worry. Hah!" He exclaimed with a hearty laugh as they skipped past a couple of Youngsters rearing for battle. Guzma just let out an angry sigh, unhappy that he wasn't sure if what old Hala meant was patronizing or if he had something in mind. It was apparently the latter as both stopped in front of a ran down beach shack, poorly mended with wooden boards and with a broken sign that was under repair and thus impossible to read. Was this some form of punishment, was what Guzma thought. When Hala stepped up and knocked twice before opening the door, a loud booming voice confirmed that exact thought.
"Alola!!" A familiar voice exclaimed, booming through the house that was definitely larger than it seemed on the outside, and out into the door and into Guzma's ears. Oh hell no. This was too much.
"You know, Guzma." Old Hala said with a very tiny jokester undertone. "Kukui's assistant just left for Kanto, so he's been looking for one! Everything works itself out, hahaha!"
Guzma just stood there, speechless. Too much to process at the moment.
"Yeah, she even left the room neater than she found it. It's gonna be great, Woo!" Als-"
"Yo, hold on for a moment." Guzma interjected.
"Y'all are talking 'bout how I'm gonna do this or stay there and whatever! What the fuck!"
A brief pause.
"The hell do you see me as? Some idiot you can push around and patronize so y'all can feel better about yourselves? Nuh uh, I'm not goin' back into that, nah."
Hala and Kukui just sat there in shock, but not at Guzma's outrage, but at the fact that it was so uncharacteristic. There was no reckless screaming, no putting hands in his head, just a colorful interjection. Almost like he seemed tired, a side of him that wasn't particularly public.
"Screw that. I'm out." He exclaimed before he stormed off to the other end of the beach. Kukui wanted to follow, but Hala placed a hand on the professor's shoulder in a way that said to let him go for now. The way Guzma saw it, it wouldn't take that long to walk back to route 2 to his old home, but before that, he had to take some time out to figure himself out and put everything into place, something he hasn't practically done ever. When you consistently hide behind your anger and an image as an imposing figure of authority, you don't need to do much introspection, but with Team Skull gone and with Plumeria also in a trek issued by Nanu and Molayne to better herself and become a good trainer, he really didn't have much left. What would he even do if he went back home? Where would he go from there? Ugh.
The sun had gone down at this point, and as he sat there on a rock on the beach, looking at the moon's reflection on the waves as they gently crashed on the shore, no sort of epiphany came to him. Instead he just felt angry, confused, and like he'd been done wrong. Sure, he was the one to disband Team Skull, but he couldn't help but feel like it was yet another thing that was taken from him. Ugh.
"GUZMA, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!??" He shouted angrily at the sky before throwing himself at the sand, his view suddenly turning to one of the night sky filled with stars as far as the eye could see. Still no epiphany. Rather than continuing the train of thought of introspection that just pissed him off further, he just laid there looking at the sky, sighing from time to time. This was it. Absolute rock bottom, here's the big bad boss guzma, who always comes back to tear you down lying there on the sand, angry at himself and at the world for taking everything from him. God damnit.
Unfortunately, the angst train could only ride for so long, and winding down from what had been an emotionally exhausting couple of days, Guzma fell asleep, the soft sand of Alola caressing him as he dozed off.
He didn't really dream that night, or if he did it was something that was so brief he couldn't even begin to recall. When he began to rouse, he could tell from the state of his body that it had been several hours since he'd dozed off, but the pillow was so soft and the covers were so comfy that he didn't really feel like getting up just yet. Wait. What.
In a feeling of panic he fumbled around messily and fell off the bed onto the wooden floor with a loud thud. With his face on the floor, he spotted his shoes neatly placed by the bed and his shirt hanging neatly on the wall, apparently washed clean. A more present look around gave him a better sense of his surroundings as he got up. As his mind reached the conclusion that he was where he thought he was, a head popped up from the ladder that led to the loft that was the room he'd slept in.
"Alola cousin!" It exclaimed with a cheery disposition as the person said head belonged to made his way up the stairs and stood before the still sleepy Ex skull leader. Professor Kukui was always a weird fellow. Most people found it weird that he walked around half naked all the time while still being chipper and jolly consistently, but frankly Guzma always thought that if he had a bodyodyody like his he'd do the exact same thing. It was, of course, hard not to stare.
"''Ey, eyes up here buddy." He said jokingly before putting his hands to his hips and smiling brightly. "You wouldn't believe my face when I walked out to the beach and saw you passed out there! If I left you there you'da probably been rattata bait, so I figured it'd be best to bring you in." The professor concluded.
Guzma, of course, at the thought of being found unconscious and probably snoring on the beach by Kukui and then princess carried and tucked in just made him turn beet red. How the hell did he carry him up the ladder without waking him up?? What the hell???
"W-well...!!" Guzma spat out, trying not to embarrass himself but knowing he inevitably would. "It's not like I wanted ya to carry me here anyway! I didn't even wanna be here in the first place! The hell'd ya do that for?"
This was of course, redundant. Kukui had just told him why he carried him there, and even at Guzma's attempt to hide his embarrassment by looking angry, the professor flashed a grin and put his hand on his shoulder. "Doesn't matter why I did it cousin. All you need to know is you're free to stay here 'till you get yourself sorted out."
Such blatant generosity was a language Guzma didn't understand in lieu of never having been exposed to it much, so he replied with his usual attitude. "Ya better not be expectin' me to do any lab work 'round here. You've known me long enough t'know I end up breaking things one way or another anyway."
"Ah, about that." Kukui intervened. "Don't worry yourself none. I asked Hala to bring you here because I got a large amount of foreign bug pokémon from professors across the sea to study, and with Lillie gone I figured maybe you'd like to step in for a bit."
Some silence before the professor scratched the back of his head, still smiling. "I'm not forcing you to do anything, but I figured maybe it could be good for old times' sake, yeah?"