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“Come with me?” Selene said, extending a hand with a bright smile.
Lillie grimaced. “I’m not even a trainer,” she insisted, shaking her head. “I have no reason to be in even the vicinity of a trial!”
“Please?” said Selene, giving her a set of Lillipup eyes that were far, far too effective for Lillie’s own good.
So it was that she found herself dragged out to an abandoned supermarket, trying to put on a brave face. Nebby hung out in her bag, cooperative for a change. Buried a pocket deeper, she knew her favorite Poké Doll was close at hand. She let that knowledge give her strength. She had her Doll. She had Nebby. She had Selene. They would be just fine.
Selene nudged open the door to the old, broken-down Thrifty Megamart. The glass doors slid well, with a little bit of effort, but opening them did nothing to change the gloomy atmosphere inside.
“Can we at least leave the door open?” she said, tentatively following Selene inside.
Selene looked back at her, shrugging. “I don’t see why not.” Turning back, she continued deeper into the store.
Lillie glanced around, clutching the straps of her bag tightly, looking for something to say. She saw her own breath as she exhaled. It was chilly in here, despite the warm sun outside.
“Professor Kukui once told me that a sheer cold like this is highly indicative of the presence of ghost Pokémon,” she shared, rotely.
“That makes sense.” Selene seemed utterly immune to fear, giving a little smile without hesitation. “Acerola gave off that vibe, you know? I was trying to figure out what type she specialized in earlier.”
Lillie startled. “You could figure that out just from, what, her clothes?”
“I guess? It’s more of an aura thing. And how Brionne reacted to her.”
“What do you mean?” Lillie hadn’t noticed anything odd about Brionne’s behavior, but then, she’d been distracted by Nebby at the time.
Selene frowned, coming to a stop in front of a mess where the shelving had been ravaged and knocked over. “It’s hard to say exactly… Brionne didn’t seem to take much notice of her. As if he wasn’t totally sure she was there.”
That sounded ghost-like alright. Lillie shuddered.
Selene, trying without luck to lift a fallen shelf blocking the way to the back of the store, paused. “Lillie? Are you afraid of ghosts?”
“You’re asking that now?!”
“I thought you’d say something earlier if you were!”
Lillie pouted. “I’m hardly afraid of them! I’m just not very accustomed to them,” she argued. “But there are far worse things than ghost Pokémon. I’ll be fine.”
“Thank goodness.” Selene smiled, relieved. “Sorry that I didn’t ask earlier. I guess I got caught up in the excitement of meeting them.”
“Excitement?” Lillie asked, surprised to hear that.
Selene didn’t have the chance to respond. There was a loud crash somewhere to their left in the dark supermarket. It was followed by a frightening cackle, with high-pitched, cruel delight. Selene dropped the shelf she was lifting, straightening up. Lillie screamed instinctively, jumping closer to Selene in her fright.
Far calmer, Selene reacted quickly. “Go, Umbreon!”
Umbreon leaped into action right away, the golden rings around its ears bright in the darkness. She yowled, clearly sensing something.
“Use Dark Pulse!” Selene commanded.
Lillie watched with awe, still stuck tight to Selene’s side, as Umbreon bowed her head and released a wave of energy in the area to their left. From the darkness, as the wave swept over it, she could suddenly see a Haunter floating past. The pulse hit it strongly - it flinched back, its fingers uncurling with the shock.
The Haunter, now fully visible, attempted to recover from the blast. It rose from the ground, its eyes glowing red, and cast a spectral image of itself in Umbreon’s direction. But Umbreon shook it off, barely fazed.
“Finish it!” shouted Selene.
Umbreon made a gentle howl of obedience, and dashed straight for the Haunter. Its eyes widened and it tried to float away, but Umbreon tore into it with a dead-on bite. With a little shriek, it passed out, and faded entirely from sight.
“Is it over?” Lillie asked, taking a deep breath.
“Yeah, think so. Great job, Umbreon!” Selene said, praising her partner and crouching low. Umbreon leaped over to her for some admittedly well-earned head scratches.
“Thank you, Umbreon,” Lillie added, smiling. “That Haunter really spooked me.” She glanced at her bag to check on Nebby. Nebby was, of course, not in her bag, but it was at least close by, huddled near her shoes. With a sigh of relief, she picked Nebby up and returned it to its spot.
Selene returned Umbreon to her Pokéball, and looked up at Lillie, smiling. “You’re okay?”
“Just fine. I’m so sorry for getting all clingy with you.”
“Don’t be,” Selene said, winking.
Lillie found herself tongue-tied, for a moment. She looked away, really, really wishing she was better at saying no to Selene. Or tolerating her jokes. They were jokes, right?
“Oh, right,” said Selene, immediately distracted by something. “Go, Shiinotic!” Her mushroom friend appeared in a burst of light, and illuminated the supermarket far more clearly. They could now see the path to the back of the shop. Shiinotic made a magical little bubbling sound, happy with himself.
Lillie sighed. “That’s much better. Why didn’t you do that earlier?”
Selene frowned. “Didn’t think of it.”
“Right. I guess you did say you were excited to meet the ghost Pokémon?” Lillie said, leadingly.
Selene nodded. She was looking over the shelf that had fallen in their way again. Instead of trying to lift it out of the way, she very carefully stepped over it, avoiding broken glass and discarded soup cans. “I know it’s weird, but I’ve always thought they were neat. I loved hearing about ghost stories when I was growing up. One of my friends who moved in nearby was from Lavender Town. He always told the best ones!”
“I’ve only ever heard that they’re dangerous,” said Lillie. “And dangerous, mysterious Pokémon… They worry me. Not like you, Nebby,” she clarified, hearing a curious chime noise. “But other things. Worse things.”
Including some dangerous, mysterious things that she wasn’t sure were even Pokémon. Things that had taken her already difficult mother, and changed her to a breaking point. Things she didn’t know how to deal with, or fix, and maybe never would.
Lillie shook her head fiercely. She didn’t want to think about that right now.
In front of her, Selene had turned around, halfway across the shelving. “I think if you follow what I do, you’ll be safe.”
Lillie flinched. “I didn’t pay close enough attention. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to apologize.” Selene took a step back towards her, watching her footing, and reached out.
She still couldn’t say no, could she? Lillie sighed and took Selene’s hand, and carefully, anxiously, stepped up to the shelf. She was sure she would slip, or cut her shoes, or fall.
But Selene took her other hand, too, and nudged her feet, and guided her well. “There you go,” Selene said brightly. Behind them, Shiinotic sat down with a fond noise, smiling placidly and continuing to shine.
One step at a time, they made it across. It was almost like a dance, Lillie thought, embarrassed. Selene was so close to her, and so gentle. It didn’t matter if she was bad at this. It didn’t matter as long as she trusted Selene, and pressed forward.
Her kindness, her bravery… Lillie could never match up. But maybe she was learning, slowly, how to follow.
She was startled out of deep thought when Selene let go of one of her hands, stepping down safely to the floor.
“Just like that,” Selene said, beaming. “Here we are! That’s most of the trial conquered, just like that!”
Lillie smiled at her, infected by her cheer. “You did it! But what about Shiinotic?”
“Oh, don’t worry about that.” Selene lobbed her Pokéball to recall Shiinotic. For a moment, the store was plunged back into darkness, and Lillie shuddered. She thought she heard the snicker of a Gastly, somewhere, everywhere. But as soon as his Pokéball returned to her hand, Selene tossed it again, this time ahead of them. Shiinotic returned, shaking spores from his head with amusement.
“That’s cheating,” Lillie said, giggling and relaxing again.
“Just using my head, like someone keeps telling me to,” Selene replied, giving her a wide grin. “Hey, Lillie?”
“What?”
Selene’s bright smile didn’t budge, but Lillie still sensed a change. “You don’t think I’m weird, do you? For liking them?”
Lillie frowned, shifting on her feet. “Weird… No. But… Ghost Pokémon have a reputation. Sure, some of them can be little pranksters, but some can do real harm.” She winced as her mind ran away with awful possibilities: possession, haunting, psychological tricks, being spirited away… Being changed. Being stolen. “I just hope your fascination doesn’t get you hurt.”
“Ghost Pokémon can be dangerous, sure. But any Pokémon can.” Selene huffed a breath, clearly thinking something through. “I believe I know what I’m doing. If you’re worried about me, I understand. But if something does go wrong, I want you here. I know you can help. With you, I’ll be just fine.”
Lillie felt herself redden at Selene’s faith. “But I’m not even a trainer…”
“So? You’re so clever, and you know so much. I’m not the one who can recite Kukui’s teachings at the drop of a Patrat, let alone follow half of what Burnet’s researching about dimensions,” Selene said, praising her warmly.
Lillie didn’t know what to say. She rarely did when receiving compliments, truthfully. After a moment, Selene reached forward. Lillie stilled, to keep herself from flinching away, but Selene simply adjusted the brim of her hat. It had fallen slightly askew in all the commotion.
Once it was fixed, Selene, still holding her hat in her hands, smiled at her. Her face was only inches away. If she just leaned forward, a little… But Lillie didn’t have that kind of courage. Yet.
Selene settled back, satisfied. “I’m here to fight and maybe catch ghost Pokémon, but I’ll play it safe, I promise. You’re the one person I most want with me for something like this. I trust you to have my back. Okay?”
Lillie took a deep breath, and steeled herself. She couldn’t fix everything. But if Selene believed in her, she wanted to rise to that challenge. To be worthy of her kind words, and worthy of her in general. Selene made her hope that maybe, just maybe, she could fix things. Someday. “Okay,” she agreed, surprised to hear the determination in her voice.
“Thanks, Lillie. Come on. I bet the Totem Pokémon is just ahead!” Selene rolled her shoulders back, a competitive fire in her eyes as her focus left Lillie and returned to the shadows in front of them.
“I’ve got you,” Lillie promised.
Selene stepped forward, but Lillie held her back by the shoulder. When Selene looked at her questioningly, Lillie smiled, and as Selene kept doing for her, she held out a hand. For once, she was treated to seeing Selene flustered. Gracefully, Lillie decided not to point it out to her.
Hand-in-hand, they stepped into the gloom.