TOXICITY [☠] SKULLSHIPPING

PART 2 [☠]

PO TOWN, ULA'ULA ISLAND, ALOLA

The torrential downpour that plagued this area was no match for the Charizard that brought her here. It threw her off right before the fortress walls and went right back the way it came. As Plumeria gazed up at the giant gray walls, she had to wonder just how Team Skull acquired this city. How fortunate it was that they could push everyone out and claim these walls as their own. That way, Alola's scum could be locked away from the rest of the region.

Her bandana was starting to stick to her shaved head. With a frustrated huff, she ripped the fabric off of her head and crammed it into her pocket. So much for trying to make a fashion statement. She heaved the heavy doors open, just barely ready to face what she would find inside.

There was hardly anyone left. After Team Skull was disbanded, everyone made their way back to wherever they came from. The ones who stayed behind were the ones who truly had nowhere to go. Her heart aches thinking about it all. Team Skull was all that she and many others had.

And Guzma... What a prime idiot he is. Plumeria is going to set him straight for doing this to her, to everyone. All of her little brothers and sisters that he just left here, forsaken in this nowhere town. And she, too, had been abandoned by the one she thought would always be there. The rain is all that is keeping her cool and calm; just the thought of how she was betrayed is enough to enrage her.

A male grunt comes jumping out from the PokéCenter's broken windows. He bounds at Plumeria, his eyes wide with exasperation. He comes to a skidding halt just before her and immediately begins shouting.

"Plum! Big sis!! Is Team Skull comin' back, yo?" he exclaims. His excitement is only contained by the bandana that muffles his voice.

"No," Plumeria replies in a blunt tone. "You know we're nothing without Guzma. Where the hell is he?"

"Yo, you're telling me he ain't with you?" the grunt replies. He switches his excited expression for a blank gaze.

"I came all the way out here only to find out that he's gone?!" she shouted.

"S-Sorry sis! Nobody knows where he's at. I thought you would—"

"That's a lie," she said, "You know where he's at."

"The big boss... He left the Shady House a couple months ago... He never came back, yo, and we've been lookin' for him too."

Plumeria sighed. "Someone in this damn town knows where he's at! He didn't just disappear!" she yelled. She turned away from the grunt, ignoring his pleas for her to stop, stay, listen to him. If she did that for everyone left in this town, she'd be here for weeks.

Another grunt tries to walk up to the two and join in on the conversation, but he halts in his tracks. He watches Plumeria walk away with her shoulders square and golden eyes dead-set straight ahead. That's body language for 'mission,' and nobody interrupts her when she's on a mission. As sweet and caring as she could be, the girl is lethal when she's after something.

The rest of the grunts all stopped to watch and stare at Plumeria as she made her way into the Shady House. The mansion was left how she remembered it. It was absolutely filthy, with paint covered carpet and graffiti on the walls. Mounds of trash and discarded spray cans littered the floor and gathered in corners. A once glorious chandelier now laid in pieces on the stairwell. This place, this total dump, was once her beloved home.

She pays no mind to the grunts inside as she steps her way around broken glass and stacks of garbage. Guzma's throne room was just up these stairs and at the other end of the mansion. She anticipated that if she was going to find any answers, she would find them in this room.