Gladion awakes early the next morning. Carefully, he creeps out of the tent, leaving Moon to sleep in.
He shivers as he enters the brisk, dawn air. The sun is rising on the horizon behind the large monument, casting a long, dark shadow over the alter. He tip-toes barefoot across the cold stones to the edge of the perimeter, far out of earshot.
The sound of Lillie's phone ringing plays softly through the speaker as he brings the phone to his ear.
"It's 5 a.m., this better be important."
"Did you get the flute?"
"Yeah, I guess we forgot to call each other yesterday. Did you guys find the alter?"
"Yup, I should be able to find it on Charizard from now on. Which would be preferable, it's not an easy journey by foot."
"Gladion, I'm worried! Have you been following the news reports?"
"I'm trying not to think about it..."
"Well, you should be! You're going to have to put your big boy pants on soon or thousands of people will lose their jobs. You've told her, haven't you?"
"Not yet, and before you-"
"Damn it Gladion! She needs to know, stop playing with her!"
"Needs to know whaaa?" Hau stammers in the background as Lillie wakes him with her yelling.
"Has anybody ever considered that maybe, just maybe, I don't want to be president?"
Lillie goes quiet.
"I don't want this! I didn't choose for any of this to happen, I thought I made that clear by running away. But again, I'm not free to choose my destiny!"
"Gladion, I-"
"It's easy for you to talk Lillie, but what do you have to do? Nothing! Sure, everyone hopes you'll follow in father's footsteps. But not once, has anyone, ever told you what to do with your life. Enjoy following your dreams Lillie, the sky's the limit!"
Gladion abruptly ends the call.
Leaning far over the outer wall of the monument, Gladion stares down at the water, far, far below him. He squints to see a lone Fearow, flying over the distant water below.
For a split second, he considers joining it.
_______________________________________
You have the charisma of a mole!" Lusamine barks, her eyes glisten with tears of rage as she knocks a stack of papers from the podium.
Gladion shudders as the papers fall around his feet.
"You're a disgrace to this family!" she screams wildly, "Your father would be so disappointed..."
She grabs the young teenager roughly by the chin, her fingernails dig deep into his cheeks.
"You will do nothing until you perfect it. How are you supposed to follow in my footsteps if you can't even memorize a simple speech?!"
Gladion stoops to pick up the papers, he winces in pain as his fingers are crushed under the toe of his mother's shoe.
"You won't be needing these now, will you?" she croons with an insidious smile on her face.
"Again!" she barks.
The boy opens his mouth, stuttering over the opening words as he cowers in front of her. As pain begins to consume him, Gladion clutches his wrist, staring down at his twisted, broken fingers.
A loud crack comes from behind the closed door as Lillie walks past. She pulls her calculus book tight to her chest as she takes off running down the long, white, hallways. She can hear her mother screaming wildly at her brother over the hollow click-clacking of her shoes as she flees.
_______________________________________
I gently rub Gladion's shoulder, he stirs, looking up at me with drowsy eyes.
"I got us all packed up already."
"Huh?" he says, rubbing his eyes.
Null shifts as Gladion sits up, he seems to have fallen asleep with the beast curled protectively around him.
"Why are you out here anyway?"
Gladion sniffs, blinking several times, "I woke up really early and couldn't go back to sleep."
"Well, obviously you did," I say, bluntly.
"Yeah, I guess so," he says sheepishly.
"Well, I talked to Lillie and Hau."
Gladion nervously runs his fingers through his hair.
"What did they say?" he whispers.
"That they found the flute."
"Anything else?"
"Just to hurry up and get back," I say, handing him a bottle of water.
Gladion is strangely quiet. A mist of sorrow seems to hang over his head as we navigate our way back through the winding caverns. I'm lost in my own head, trying to find ways to break the silence, but it seems impossible at the moment. Something is definitely not right with him today.
His eyes narrow as he hears the familiar, nasally voice echoing through the chamber. The long shadows of two men glide across the rocky walls of the cavern. An excited shriek echoes through the cave and the sound of footsteps reverberate as they grow near.
"I'm so glad we ran into you guys," Green says, before sliding down a sloping ridge.
Red follows shortly behind him.
He wipes the dust from his pants before joining us.
"Look Gladion, I'm really sorry about the other day, I think we got off on the wrong foot."
Gladion nods, listening respectfully to the chatty man.
Red folds his arms and huffs, he seems to be irritated by Green's non-stop talking. His chiseled, angular, face studies Gladion and I suspiciously. He seems to be completely opposite in character as his partner Green.
"I'm going to try not to gush here, but I am a huge fan of your father's research! Mohn is one of my heroes, I've read all of his books like a hundred times."
"Anyway, just in case you didn't know I'm the grandson of Professor Oak. I met you once as a kid, but you were probably too young to remember..."
Gladion listens patiently as Green rambles for several minutes about his love of Mohn's research and construction marvels.
A strange feeling creeps over me.
The name.
The uncanny similarities.
It couldn't be...
"...quite possibly the most brilliant engineer in human history," Green concludes.
Gladion kicks his foot in the loose dust on the cavern floor.
"I don't know what to say. Thank you," he says softly.
"I didn't want to say anything in public, but I'm really glad to see you are alive and well Gladion," Green says in a very serious tone. "Your secret is safe with us."
"Thank you, I'm going to have to come out eventually. I just need some time, time to-"
"Yeah, I understand. Well, I wish you the best, and good luck with the Aether Foundation. I'm sure it will bounce back, the damn press are just a bunch of vultures!" he says, pulling a red poppy flower out from behind his ear.
Green puts his hand on Gladion's shoulder and hands him the single, red, flower.
"Our thoughts are with you my friend," he whispers.
My head fills with the sound of my teeth chattering inside my closed mouth. It couldn't be possible.
Green waves as he leaves with Red. It all seems like a weird dream.
"Moon..."
"MOON!"
I slowly turn to face Gladion, his expression is a cross between worried and irritated.
"Everything okay?"
"Just thinking about your dad. W-what happened to him exactly?"
Listening to Gladion's explanation only intensifies my feelings. I'm not very knowledgeable on the topic of ultra-space, but there's too much coincidence not to say anything.
"Do you have a picture of him?" I ask, trying to conceal my feelings of astonishment.
Gladion runs an image search on his phone and his screen fills with pictures of Mohn.
I nearly faint from the lack of air, I find myself struggling to breathe as the revelation settles in.
"Are you sure you're okay? You look like you've seen a ghost," he says, rubbing his hand up and down the middle of my back.
"...because I have."
Gladion's mouth opens, but he seems to have difficulties finding words.
"You might want to sit down," I whisper under my breath.
Gladion takes a seat next to me on the rocky ground, the tension between us is almost unbearable.
"Moon, say something. You're scaring me!" he blurts out. His face is hard, but there is no hiding the fear in his expressive eyes.
My finger trembles as I struggle to open the photo files on my phone, accidentally opening several apps in the process. My hand is shaking so hard that I drop my phone.
Our hands touch as we both reach for it.
"Does this man look familiar to you? It's someone I met a few months ago."
My heart begins to palpitate as I make a second attempt at showing him the picture.
Gladion's pupils constrict sharply, he drops the phone and clutches his chest. Beads of sweat immediately form on his forehead and he begins to shiver violently.
I find myself panicking as he starts to hyperventilate. Thinking quickly, I kneel down in front of him and make exaggerated steady breaths, hoping he will follow my lead. Slowly, he calms down slightly.
I wipe the rolling sweat from his forehead, his face is burning up. I wet my spare shirt with some water and press it against the side of his neck. Fearing he may choke if I give him water, I wet his lips with the soggy shirt. He weakly sucks some of the liquid from the fabric, his wide eyes seem to thank me.
After what seems like hours, he finds the strength to speak, "W-where did you get that picture?"
I hesitate, this is going to be very difficult to explain. I don't even know where to start.
"He takes care of my extra Pokemon, Gladion, on a pelago island! I don't think he knows who he is. He seems very confused at times, but I have known him for months now."
"Nobody can know about this," he whispers. "We tell Lillie and Hau, no one else, you understand?"
"I understand, but-"
"It's for his own protection. This has to be handled discreetly."
His eyes close tightly as he thinks, he runs his open hand across his lips in a self-soothing motion. My heart is lifted as a wide smile grows on his face.
His eyes twinkle as he takes a second look at the picture, he laughs to himself under his breath.
"So, he's been on this Island the whole time huh?"
"As far as I know...he seems very happy there. Honestly, he's one of the most pleasant people I've ever came across!"
"And no memories of what happened?"
"Not that he's ever spoke of. He gets really flustered and confused when I ask where he grew up and stuff like that. I guess I kinda assumed he was simple, in a way. He doesn't have any memories of you, I know that."
"Talking about me??" Gladion asks, smirking.
"I tell him everything!" My hands cover my mouth, wishing I hadn't told him that.
Gladion snickers.
I hope he is feeling the overwhelming joy that I'm feeling, this all seems too good to be true.
But, it is.
Gladion climbs up a large rock on the side of the canyon, he holds his phone out, searching for a signal.
I begin to worry about how Lillie will react when we tell her the news. Gladion is having Ms. Wicke fly out to Poni Island to help break the news. Outside of that, nobody can know about it, not even the staff. I fear someone will overhear. If Lillie reacts even half as much as Gladion, it's going to call a lot of attention to us.
Regardless, I'm guardedly excited. I don't know what I would do if somebody told me my father was still alive. This crazy mixture of emotions has me feeling, drunk almost.
"She's on her way. I say we rest for a little bit, then page Charizards. They should be able to get us out of here quickly."
Ha! Rest.
I'll be amazed if any of us sleep tonight.