《The Trash Girl is a Poison Type Expert》


 Chapter 1 - Opportunity Calls

    "I have to be off into Poni Canyon for my island challenge now, so you''ll be staying in the Seafolk Village while I''m gone. If the people you''re staying with are leaving port, just get them to talk to my old lady Hama and get you a different place to stay.", Hapu explained to me, even though I was in the room when Hama told her to figure the situation out. I could''ve predicted what would happen.


    We were riding Hapu''s Mudbray, Mah¨¡, to the Seafolk Village from where I usually lived/squatted in the ruins and village just outside Poni Canyon. Her and Hama had an obligation to help me, since the two of them together were effectively holding up the position of kahuna on Poni Island. Apparently it''s not a good look to have homeless orphans digging through trash around the corner from the kahuna''s ranch. Shoving me off onto anyone who could handle the extra food cost was a local tradition at this point, not that I was complaining.


    As we approached the Seafolk Village a few wild pok¨¦mon tried interrupting us, but Hapu''s Trapinch, Tipi, would just dig a hole under them and trap them with a Sand Tomb. The whole way Hapu just stared forward, preoccupied with her island challenge. We got to the docks of the Seafolk Village, where a cavalcade of people living out of a cavalcade of boats stayed before sailing on to the next port. Mah¨¡ strolled down the wooden lane at the center of the village before reaching an awning, clearly built by more permanently minded people than had ever lived here, to serve as a town square.


    Hapu pulled a whistle from her tiny yet worn work clothes and blew out a piercing trill from it. The people here put together and awake enough to hear it, and thus suited enough to taking care of me, slowly ambled into the square. Hapu, finally noticing a sailor she was decently familiar with, waved down an old man with vastly more salt than pepper in his scratchy beard. The sailor approached while the rest of the people made their decisions whether to sit on the benches here or back on their boats.


    "Gerald, how''s Moby?", Hapu sweet talked the man, Gerald. "Good, good.", Gerald said, "Lovin'' these clear waters! Ol'' Miser not so much." Hapu nodded her head and grabbed my shoulder, which given her short stature didn''t give the impression she wanted. "This is Kau''i. Kau''i, this is Gerald." "Oh yeah?", I mumbled. She gripped my shoulder tighter. "Kau''i is an orphan, with me going on my island challenge she needs a place to stay for a while."


    While Hapu and Gerald were busy hashing out the details, I just moved towards Gerald''s boat, a rusty old fishing boat, and looked down in the water. An anchor hung on the rocks below, covered in seaweed. Magikarp meandered around the posts of the docks, somehow clueless to the entire village above them. Hapu called out to me. "Alright, Gerald''ll be taking care of you while I''m doing my trials here on Poni Island. Once that time has passed there should be a family in our village returning from their visit to Melemele who can take care of you for the rest of the season." I nodded and grinned. Hapu grimaced.


    <hr>


    Gerald was among the more interesting of the people I''d stayed with. He was a fisherman from Galar, almost half the world away. The tales he told about his journeys were grueling and needlessly detailed, but full of things I hadn''t ever heard of. The songs he sung were infectious like nothing I''d ever heard, I couldn''t stop myself singing along in the choruses. His cooking wasn''t the best, but it was worth it for everything I learned. After a week staying with him, I had picked up $1.62 in change and he had grown restless.


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    "Ya ever gone fishin'' at sea lass?", he prodded over breakfast one morning. "Kinda, only close to the island.", I replied, not thinking too deep about his question. "How much d''ya know about mannin'' a ship like this''un?", he asked. Now I was curious. "What''s this about?", I retorted. He chuckled. "With Moby and Miser with us, even you couldn''t mess up a good fishin'' trip; At least that''s my suspicion. So tell me, what d''ya know about mannin'' a ship like this''un?"


    Knowing this would make for better food and maybe a bit of money, I showed what I knew, rather than risk going off topic with one of his stories if I explained directly. As he watched me, he hummed and scratched his chin through his beard. Finally, when I was done showing that I knew how to bait a hook and cast the rod, he looked satisfied. He turned, walked towards the helm of the ship, and suddenly shouted out "OH OL'' MISER!" I jumped and turned around to watch Gerald as an anchor, covered in seaweed and bits of shipwreck, floated out of the water, chain and all, and grinned at me.


    <hr>


    Moby, the Wailord, swam in front of the little fishing boat, scaring off larger pok¨¦mon and drawing in smaller ones. Out in the ocean, the waves varied in size much greater than I was used to. For the first time I felt seasick. Gerald just sat in his patio chair with Miser, the Dhelmise, at his side waiting for a tug on the super rod bolted into the side of the ship. The skies were clear of cloud cover and the sun only made me feel more ill. Gerald waved me down, seeing me waver in front of my own super rod. "Lass, just go below deck if ya feel so rough. It tilts less down there anyways." I nodded meekly and stumbled down the stairs to rest in my hammock.


    I was awoken when my hammock slapped me into the roof of the quarters. I fell out of the swinging cloth dazed and weary, the thunderous sound of crashing waves encompassing the ship around me. Moby let out a rumbling wail. The seriousness of the situation dawned on me as a crack sounded in the deck above me. I got to my feet and ran up and to the deck. As I opened the water tight door a pool rushed past my feet and I slid across the soaked deck floor before gripping a railing.


    Moby was nowhere to be seen and Miser was faced with a Gyarados flying around the boat, dented in three spots along its serpentine body and conjuring a raging Hurricane from the storm around her. Miser whipped its chain in an Anchor Shot through the whipping wind into the Gyarados''s midsection before being battered by her storm. Their wheel splintered shrapnel into the air as Gyarados built another Hurricane up. Miser stood stock still, seemingly letting the attack that would do them in approach, before grinning right at me and slipping down into shadow. The Gyarados flew in delighted circles as its enemy disappeared, eyeing the ship it would crash as I trembled and shook in the salt stirred air. Just as my small body buckled in fear, Miser launched up from Gyarados''s shadow wreathed in a purple glow. Gyarados''s eyes went wide as she was struck in the face with Miser''s Phantom Force and she fell to the floor. Another crack resounded out of the old ship as Gerald cheered behind me.


    "MISER YA BEAUTY! YOU''RE AS WILY AS THE DAY WE MET!" Gerald shouted from the top of his lungs around the dying winds. I stared in shock at the display as the sailor and his partner wrapped eachother in a sea soaked hug. I stared at the man who was presently my caretaker, at the massive serpent on the deck, and at my shaking hands. My presence of mind creeped back into me and I asked, "Do you know where we are?" Now it was Gerald''s turn to stand still in shock. "I don''t rightly know lass.", he said before stalking back to the helm he''d sheltered himself in during the fight with Gyarados to look at the GPS. I wandered over to the Gyarados, she was unconscious, mouth agape on top of the super rod I had been using. I looked out at the ocean and saw an island slowly shrinking on the horizon.

 Chapter 2 - Jackpot

    As we wrenched the ship into harbor in Malie City I wheezed. I had done more physical labor in the last half hour than ever before in my life to get this rust bucket back around to Ula''ula. Gerald slapped me in the back and I retched. "Right, you''re still a young''un.", he muttered. As Gerald mosied down the harbor, a grin cracked my face. ''A city where no one knows who I am with loads of junk just laying around? It''s the motherlode!''


    I slinked into the back alleys of the unfamiliar city, easily slipping from the empty harbor to the dark corners of the city proper. Once, I had been lucky enough to talk with a man in the Seafolk Village from Unova who grew up similar to me. He had told me that in cities tourists, businesses, and even normal people left a veritable litter of refuse to be picked up by pok¨¦mon working in recycling and that all of it was ripe for the taking. Until now, I hadn''t realized just how right he was. There was almost too much trash to go through! Almost.


    I was having myself a perfectly good malasada, left just sitting on the top of a pile of other trash, as I weaved between the alleys just like I would my part of the ruins. Just as I was thinking, ''These city people don''t know how good they have it!'', I spotted something brilliant out of the corner of my eye. Down a street lined with nice little houses in the weird building style of this place, was a shining bastion. A recycling plant, or in other words, the jackpot.


    I darted to the side and began my way behind the houses of the street towards my prize, house by house, past the backyards of these privileged city people. I crawled through tall grass to avoid being spotted by one home''s Rockruff, shooed and appeased a Minccino in the brush with me by giving the last of the malasada, and continued on. Finally, I was at the wire fence of the recycling plant. Grimers, Muks, Trubbish, and Garbadors gorged themselves on a sea of trash and processed them into ready to use materials. I waited in the brush for the workers of the plant to focus their efforts on a different section of the refuse mountain before clambering up over the fence and barbed wire. I had enough experience doing the same at Hapu''s ranch to do it in seconds. Before the workers looked back I was already submerged in the recycling plant''s seas.


    I dug through my putrid surroundings to find my treasure. The trash was so compact and so abundant that even my years of dumpster diving did not save me from its rank odor. My nose and tongue practically shriveled on my skull as I reached deeper. Finally, I found a handhold that wasn''t crushed or lacking structure. It was a spherical, metallic, ball with a dip cutting it in half and a raised, circular surface along that dip.


    As I realized what I had grabbed, I sucked in air to shout in joy, a bad idea in two ways. First, the polluted air that filled my mouth, and second, that I was trying to sneak in and out of here. I held back a gag as I gripped the pok¨¦ball I had found and dug my way back to my entrance. I found the fence with a hand reaching out of the trash, stuffed the pok¨¦ball in my pocket, and burst out of the garbage and over the fence. Standing above me as I hunched over in the tall grass was a gray haired man with a badge on the shoulder of his black work shirt. "Now that is a first.", he said, looking amused down at my crouched position. Then, he grabbed the back of my shirt and dragged me away.


    <hr>


    "Jaywalking, loitering, public disturbance, disrupting public services, and several counts of trespassing. That sound right to you Kau''i?" Nanu half-heartedly chided. "My Honchkrow saw everything, from the moment you picked up that malasada." I gave no response. A man in my village once told me that you should never say anything to cops you didn''t want thrown back at you like a Payback to the face. Given the way his face looked, I trusted him on that. "Good poker-face kid, I can feel the joy radiating off you. I''m gonna file this on your record, can''t lock up a kid after all. Gerald you said was your ride home yeah?", Nanu ran down his checklist of duties, again I gave no response. "I''ll take that as a yes."


    I was left in the cubicle of the unenthused officer. A quick look in the trash can revealed nothing, ''Typical.'' Without anything to do that didn''t warrant further paperwork from Nanu, which might make him actually angry, I reached into my pocket. The pok¨¦ball was minimized to its carrying size. I enlarged and minimized it repeatedly in my hands, turned it over and observed its grime coated surface. I opened it. It was empty. I slumped back in the chair and put the ball away before theft was added to my record too. At the end of the day it was still worth it.


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    After frankly too long, clearly Nanu was taking his sweet time, Gerald entered the police station with Nanu and a barely contained grin on his face. They approached me, Gerald said, "Right lass, let''s get you back to Poni ay?" while Nanu just sat back at his desk and began typing something. I glanced his way, then dropped out of the chair and followed Gerald. When we were out of earshot of the precinct he glanced around then let loose his grin. "So what''d''ya steal lass? A girl like you don''t just jump a fence fer nothin'', that I know.", Gerald practically announced. I lowered my head, kicked him in the shin when I was sure no one was looking, then briefly took the pok¨¦ball out of my pocket. Having gotten my kick''s meaning, he just nodded and smiled seeing what I''d gotten. We reached the floating bucket again as I snacked on another malasada, seriously it was like they grew on trees here or something, and I went below deck to sleep off the jitters of the day. Tomorrow I would be back helping with the ship and I wanted minimal time to dwell on that.


    <hr>


    In the dead of night, the shadow of one Gerald of Galar''s ship extends out across the harbor before forming into a short, hunched figure. The Sableye wanders off into the night to report its findings.


    <hr>


    The trip back was much less frantic, both because this time there was no need to swing the boat around to not drift out to sea and because Gerald had a new pok¨¦mon to guide the ship. The Gyarados Moby and Miser had defeated in battle was now swimming through the sky above the ship. Gerald had nicknamed her Argona. She was as intimidating as the first time I saw her, and yet she just floated about in giddy excitement to face down any pok¨¦mon who approached from the sky or the water. Gerald set the course, put a reminder in his Rotom phone, and called Argona over. He lounged in the patio chair, discussing with Argona what she would do with him in his journeys.


    I sat in my own chair, occupied with my rod and my thoughts. At several points Gerald insisted I catch whatever pok¨¦mon I reeled in with the ball. I just told him I''d think about it. All I ended up catching were 2 Magikarp, whereas Gerald caught a Huntail, Lumineon, and an assortment of other small Water Types. As his final act of one-upmanship, Gerald pulled the longevity pok¨¦mon Relicanth up from the water and onto the deck and used its distress to have Argona show what moves she knew.


    Argona started by dancing in a tight spiral in the air, forming rain clouds above the battlefield with her Rain Dance. The Relicanth became unbothered, Hardened to the events around it. Argona waved her fins and sent forward a Hurricane at the Relicanth. Now the fish was angry. It formed a pool around itself and Dived in, shielding itself from normal attacks. Argona just smiled that terrible smile as she circled the Relicanth''s pool, trapping it in a Whirlpool of its own making. The leviathan dipped and dived over the trapped fish, raising its stature with Dragon Dance. When the Whirlpool fell apart into a score of water across the deck, the Relicanth was Resting on its side. Once again falling for such a ploy, Argona danced and danced, flying in a frenzy around the ship. In one swoop across the deck, the Relicanth saw its opening and hit Argona with a flawless Take Down, taking no recoil from the head-on strike. She Flailed in protest but in moments the giant cracked into the deck of the ship in a repeat of her previous battle. The Relicanth tried to push its advantage, aiming for another Take Down, but Argona let out the frenzy she had worked herself into. All. On. Relicanth. She Thrashed and Thrashed and Thrashed and Thrashed, not giving the rocky fish a moment to interject before it was flung out of the tornado of scales, unconscious. When I ran to the railing to see where it would land, a wet, red, and unamused familiar face glared back at me and Gerald.


    Hapu kicked the Relicanth off the dock, stormed up the gangway (a rare sight from a Ground Type specialist) pressed the button on Gerald''s great ball to return Argona as he just stood there in shame, then picked me up and walked off the boat. Shaking myself, I spoke up, "I don''t have my things." Hapu paused, walked back up the gangway past Gerald as he stared at his great ball, before setting me down at the door that went below deck. I opened the door, turned and said, "Just a minute!", before bolting down the stairs and packing my spoils into the many sewn in pockets of my baggy clothes. After a moment''s hesitation, I took the hammock too. I swung the door open, ready to face Hapu''s silent rage, only to see Gerald and an otherwise empty deck. I left as quickly as I had arrived, ensuring he wouldn''t catch me in the act and could only act impressed and mildly annoyed at my success. Mah¨¡''s back was even more uncomfortable with guilt on the mind, that I had learned before.

 Chapter 3 - KA-WHAM!

    "That''ll be on your permanent record Kau''i." Hapu exhaustedly scolded. I just let out a, "mhm", since she couldn''t see me shrug behind her on her Mudbray. I had long since worn down Hapu''s energy for pushing this sort of thing, regardless of how she felt about it. Given that she was still a kid, I''d say I deserved some kind of ribbon for that. Paina, Hapu''s freshly caught Shellos, tried to keep up with the fast moving Mah¨¡ but required constant assistance from her Trapinch, Tipi, using his Dig to move them forward faster. This game of catch up led to an opening in Hapu''s defensive line, and Mah¨¡ at several points used a Double Kick to send a wild pok¨¦mon away, flinging me and Hapu around on her back. It was an uncomfortable ride emotionally and physically.


    When we arrived, I quickly slid down Mah¨¡''s side to rush away to my corner of the ruins. Before I could get away, Hapu ordered Tipi with a quick, "stop her", and I was harmlessly tripped by a Sand Tomb. She grabbed my shoulder, cutting short my second escape attempt, helped me up, and led me to the ranch house. Hapu unlocked the door with the keychain usually attached at her hip, and Hama called out, "Nanu? What are you doing here?"


    As we walked into the kitchen, Hama turned around and looked both shocked and delighted to see us show up out of the blue. It was a look only a grandparent could pull off. "Hapu! Kau''i! Welcome back, I trust you''ve both been up to something dangerous?", Hama greeted. Hapu just motioned for me to sit at the dining table, which I did. Hama brought small snacks out for us and for Hapu''s pok¨¦mon and she sat down as well. Again, Hama initiated. "So what is it this time?" Hapu sighed, "Kau''i broke into the recycling plant and was found by Nanu." "I climbed over the fence; That''s trespassing, not breaking and entering.", I corrected. Hama frowned. Hapu was still frowning. "Well that seems straightforward, Hapu what about you?", Hama pressed. "Yeah Hapu, what about you?", I joked. Hapu waved a hand and my chair sank several inches into the floor. "I went into the Vast Poni Canyon and climbed the cliff face to get Mina to give me a trial. She made me build her an elevated platform to get a better angle of the landscape for her painting.", Hapu explained. Hama became aggravated. "You climbed a cliff face with your current team when you could''ve just waited for Mina to come down!? I thought we talked about these unnecessary risks.", Hama lectured. Hapu just lowered her head and gave me the evil-eye.


    "I only came back because I got reception up there for a call from Nanu. He told me what happened with Kau''i and I came down as soon as I could.", Hapu explained. Hama had none of it, "Go to your room, you''ll be staying a week here to learn to make better choices in the future.", Hama declared. Hapu''s chair was pushed back without her input and she stomped to her room. I finished my snack, a pecha berry, in the silence and got up from the sunken chair to go to the guest room, but Hama interrupted me. "Whatever you dived in there for better have been worth it Kau''i. I''m only going soft on you because I know you wouldn''t do something like that with no plan.", Hama said. She was wrong of course, but I appreciated the support regardless.


    <hr>


    I''d snuck out that guest room window countless times, yet my excitement at finally being by myself with the opportunity of my pok¨¦ball made me sloppy and I scraped my elbow. Hapu saw me from her window and just rolled her eyes. I walked through the village, across the path leading into Poni Canyon, and off to the east side of town. Just against the rocky surface of the plateau around Poni Canyon, tucked away in the sparse jungle, was a corner of the ruins that characterized the Ancient Poni Path. It was my space.


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    I took out the rolled hammock from a pocket on my calf and strung it up between two of the trees growing out of the long forgotten foundation. It wouldn''t serve when the weather got bad but the rest of the time it was an upgrade from my mat of stolen blankets and tarps. A canopy of leaves and tarps covered the sky; Before I laid back to think I removed the tarp above the hammock to stare up at the blue sky and the crescent moon. I threw the pok¨¦ball up into the air and let it fall back in my hands. As I did this, I looked around my humble abode. The floor was layered in guano, questing roots, dirt, and litter. The walls were etched with time, vines, mosses, and lichens and marked with graffiti from the rare delinquent that came before me for a brief visit.


    As I began to lose interest and my eyes shifted again toward the sky, I was caught by the least appealing of the things in my hovel. The guano. The guano from the Zubats living nearby. My eyes locked onto the pok¨¦ball in my hands, and I was struck by how much this could change my life. No more hopping houses, no more stealing tarps from Hapu''s ranch, no more staying in a batshit covered ruin! My ticket to a better life, like all those fancy city people had, was this slippery, stinky, scuffed pok¨¦ball and a trip to a disgusting cave.


    <hr>


    Before dusk set in, I had gotten ready. I had equipped myself with the rotting trash berries I''d gotten in Malie City, a disposable poncho that was previously disposed of, a set of earmuffs for construction, and the pok¨¦ball. I left my hovel and followed the rock face west until I saw the marker I was looking for, what looked like a glacially flowing mass of guano scouring the rock wall. At that I began to climb, slipping on the patches of guano and struggling to find the strong handholds I was used to with fences and brick walls. I saw ahead of me the opening in the surface that the Zubats were living in. It took me much longer than I expected to reach it.


    Just as I started to lift myself into the cave to convince a member of the ramshackle of Zubats to join me, the light of the sun got just a bit dimmer and, while nothing else stirred in the cave, something smacked into my face from inside. My foot slipped and I grabbed at the thing in my face. A Supersonic cry reverberated in my skull, bypassing the earmuffs I expected to protect me, and me and the Zubat fell from the cliff toward the ground some two and a half meters down. The Zubat flapped its wings wildly in my hands as we crashed into the underbrush.


    The wind was knocked out of me and my grip slipped from the thin legs of the Zubat. I laid there in the bushes and ferns, heaving my tiny lungs out, and yet the Zubat didn''t move away from me. It just hovered around me as its top lip quivered. ''Is it¡­ regretful?''


    I lifted myself and looked up at the Zubat. "You''re sorry, right?", I asked. It bobbed up and down in confirmation. "If you''re sorry, how about you join me? I''m gonna be a pok¨¦mon trainer! I''ll help you get stronger." The Zubat only considered for a moment before wrapping itself around my head, making happy squeaks. I pulled the creature away from me, holding it still. "Aren''t you supposed to think more about this? We just met, you don''t know anything about me! I''m just some kid." The Zubat simply shook its head. It wanted to join me. I held out the greasy pok¨¦ball, and it practically rammed into the button of it, turning to red light in the air. The ball shook three times before settling in my hands.


    <hr>


    I spent the whole night with Zubat at my place. We decided on a nickname for her, Kawami, I talked about what my life was like and what my plans were, and she ate almost all the berries I had regardless of if they were rotten. She loved the pecha berries just like me, sadly I didn''t have too many, and left the aspear berries for last. She showed me the moves she knew as well, demonstrating a Supersonic that rattled my brain and an Astonish that could knock over glass bottles from two feet away. It wasn''t the most impressive set of moves, but we had plenty of time to make them better and learn new ones. With dawn approaching, I called Kawami back to her pok¨¦ball and set off to sneak back into the guest room. When breakfast came, everyone would be greeting a guest they didn''t know they had.

 Chapter 4 - The Newbie

    Hama called for me and Hapu and I left the guest room for breakfast. Hapu came in from the backdoor, already in another set of tan synthetic work clothes and speckled with dirt. I sat down in my usual seat across from Hapu''s and reached into my top left pocket for Kawami''s pok¨¦ball.


    Hand still in my pocket, with a grin cracking my face but my tone neutral I said,"Hama you''re missing a bowl." Hama stared at me, then at the table as she counted the bowls in her head. She looked back at me with a look of kindness and said, "No Kau''i, I''ve got it right. Three bowls for us people, one for my Delibird, and two for Hapu''s Shellos and Trapinch. Mudbray and Sandslash are eating outside." Now I was barely containing my laughter. "You forgot my Zubat.", I squeaked out. Hama gave me a confused look and I couldn''t hold it anymore. I took the pok¨¦ball out of my pocket, released Kawami, and laughed.


    Kawami flitted around the table before wrapping her wings around the top of my head. Hama looked on, dumbfounded. Hapu froze on her way to her seat and stuttered, "W-w-where did you get a pok¨¦ball? Where did you get a Zubat?! When did this happen!?" I looked her in the eyes and said, "It''s a secret, can''t tell ya." Hama took that awkward moment to ponder and grab a bowl and food for the Poison Type. Hapu released Tipi and Paina, sat down in her chair across from me, and gave me a piercing look as she tried to decipher what I had done. Hama placed the bowl of thrown together pok¨¦mon kibble and berries to my side. Kawami was eating out of it before it had been set down.


    Hapu''s eyes suddenly glinted with realization, and she looked up at me accusingly. "You stole that pok¨¦ball from the recycling plant.", she stated. I swallowed the oatmeal and pecha berries I was chewing on. "I can neither confirm nor deny.", I recited haughtily. That was another tip I learned from my Unovan friend. Hama stepped in, "Kau''i if that is what you stole from the recycling plant you could''ve just told me. It wouldn''t have survived the recycling process anyway, no one would argue you shouldn''t keep it. Plus, Zubat''s using the ball now." Hapu didn''t concede yet, continuing by saying, "There aren''t any populations of Zubats near Malie City. She caught it here on Poni, and the only time I haven''t been there to see what she was doing since she got back was yesterday after she went to her room. She snuck out and somehow caught her Zubat in that time."


    The tables had turned and I was now the one giving Hapu the evil-eye. Hama took a moment to gather her thoughts again and said, "Kau''i I thought we were over this sneaking out habit of yours. Since both of you have made such shortsighted decisions, Kau''i you''ll be joining hapu in her week long grounding here. We''ll get you up to speed on taking care of Zubat and you''ll both be getting along, understand?" I was aghast. "But I was gonna take on my island challenge!", I said. Hama just sighed and said, "Kau''i, you''re only seven years old. You''re just not ready for it." "BUT", I tried to say. "No buts. If you''re still insistent on this we can discuss it at the end of the week, at the earliest.", Hama finished.


    <hr>


    It hadn''t yet been a week, but already Kawami was fed up with helping out around the ranch, not that I blamed her. Because Hapu was busy working the field on Mah¨¡ and installing new panels for the awning outside Sandslash''s frozen cave nook, we''d been doing essentially all the menial work feeding and cleaning in the stables. Day in and day out we cared for the Mudbray, Mudsdales, Rhydon, Ponyta, and Rapidash that filled the odorous stables. Kawami wasn''t actually doing much to help, but she could still get bored, which she did readily and with reckless abandon.


    I had been wearing an oft forgotten pair of trashy sweatpants after the contents at the bottom of my usual baggy cargo pants got wet with mud and started to release a smell like the fungal corpse of a beached Wailord. When you have the option, it''s best to avoid that kind of scent. I looked like a kid in one of those disaster movies who gets dug out of rubble by the strong partner pok¨¦mon of one of the main characters. My expression even matched.


    We had fit in a few lessons getting me used to caring for Kawami. I learned what she would need to eat (just typical pok¨¦mon food with the addition of poisonous fruits and allowance for her heartier gut), what sort of jobs Zubats can help with (mostly surveying, tracking, and exploration with an inclination towards caves), and how to keep her clean (which I tuned out, she kept looking at me during the lesson like I was betraying her to a mortal enemy). All those lessons served to do was make me more aware of what I could be doing with Kawami but wasn''t allowed to.


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    After having enough of the grunt work, I trudged back into the dust-blown house, tracked mud through the dining room and hallway to the guest room, and threw the sopping sweatpants into the corner to change into my cleaned cargo pants. Kawami lifted the trinket laden pants from the dresser and over to me, and I pulled the tarp like fabric patched and pocketed with denim, polyester, and many other eclectic pieces of discarded cloth onto me. At that, Hama''s Delibird knocked on the frame of the open doorway. I flushed red before pensively following the festive creature past my faint muddy trail and into the living room, where Hama stood waiting for me.


    "You''ve still got work to do Kau''i. What are you doing inside mucking up the house?" Hama interrogated cooly. I retorted, "I''ve been in the stable all day. My legs would''ve hardened into clay if I stayed out there cleaning up any more turds." She sighed. I continued, "When can I start my island challenge?" "The year you turn eleven, like everyone else Kau''i.", She recited. I groaned at the stock answer, practically right off the shelf of a convenience store. She glared at me with eyes like twin Ice Beams freezing my uncooperative behavior.


    "Whaddya want me to do then huh!?", I asked, exasperated. "Tend to the stables.", she answered, sending a critical hit to my ego. I sweeped out of the room and through the backdoor, Kawami only behind me because she couldn''t open the door. Hapu wasn''t around to stop me and Delibird couldn''t do anything if he was confused. As Hama and Delibird followed me out the door, I called to my trusty partner, "Kawami, Supersonic both of them." She dived past Delibird and let out a pulsating shrill of sound at its head, then swung back around to do the same to Hama. Delibird tried to hit the Zubat out of the air with a move I didn''t recognize, but stumbled in its confusion and froze its own feet to the ground instead. Hama just clutched her hand over her ears. Before they could look up to see me, Kawami had disappeared in red light and I had slipped over the fence into the darkness of dusk.


    <hr>


    As I approached my place hoping to think through what to do next, I heard an odd sound. A cry of a pok¨¦mon that''s not native to the off-route jungle or the Ancient Poni Path. A grumbling, horn-like sound. As I rounded a tree, I saw a Drowzee and a young man with neon green hair in all black. "Hey! Why''re ya here?", I asked, stanced in the eroded doorway with Kawami hovering over my shoulder. "HOLY!.. Shit kid you scared me. Just checking out an old hangout spot, okay? Why''re you here kid?", the thug said. "I live here.", I answered. "Whoa this dig''s yours now? Good choice freaky girl, I''ve done some stupid shit here and it still hasn''t come back to haunt me. That''s special.", the weirdo expounded. "Who are you?", I asked, still very suspicious of the outsider in my sacred sanctum. "Oh it''s a pretty typical story, outcast punk loser turned Team Skull grunt. My friends call me Rich, cause I ain''t.", the apparent Team Skull grunt replied.


    I let myself into my hovel, sitting on my makeshift mattress, and continued my interrogation. "What''s with the Drowzee?", I queried. Rich chuckled, "Howey? He was making trouble in my town when I was young, pok¨¦mon center wanted him dealt with. If anyone but me caught him it woulda been seen as helpful, but from me they just saw it as making that trouble double. That''s pretty much what led to me joining the Team." That caught my attention. I went deeper, "Why join Team Skull anyway?" "What''s with all the questions kid? I don''t owe you any answers!", he said, getting defensive. "You''re ''hanging out'' where I sleep", I reminded him.


    He took on a sheepish grin, "Alright, fair''s fair. It''s where you go when you don''t have a place to be. Not a halfway house like with those Aether creeps, a proper place. After I left my hometown I lived around here a while, it wasn''t as bad, but it wasn''t, like, what I needed either. Team Skull, it''s like a family for people without a family. Ya know kid, you fit the description to a tee."


    I paused. The praise he sang of his Team was persuasive, in that way only an ignorant, innocent soul could intone. "Would I be able to train my pok¨¦mon with the Team if I joined?", I jumped. "Whoa!", he said, "Big questions! Uhh... Well yeah, it''s a do what you wanna do thing, and it''s outside government systems. You know Po Town, yeah? Whole place is ours, girl!"


    I had heard about Team Skull, hoodlums and petty crooks that had bones to pick with the establishment of the island challenge and the pok¨¦mon league. They weren''t on the level of teams like the infamous Team Rocket or Team Aqua, but they still made a reputation for themselves in Alola. Hearing what Rich had to say about them from the inside put their actions into perspective, they were just making a living for the whole of the Team outside the systems of polite society. Team Skull were just a buncha boneheaded misfits.


    "How do I join?!", I blurted out, on the edge of my makeshift mattress. "Again with the big questions, you little goblin! Honestly!", Rich sighed. Then, a jesterish smile spread through his lips and he laughed, saying, "You know? I think just askin'' that question like that means you''re in. I don''t think big bro Guzma or big sis Plumeria will even sneeze at you joining!" I jumped up and swung Kawami around my head by the legs in joy. Rich interrupted me, "Now, I have one question. What''s your name kid?"


    <hr>


    With Rich''s help, I got everything I owned either in my pants pockets, slung over our shoulders, in a cord-wrapped bundle of fabrics, or stuffed into his wimpy drawstring excuse for a backpack. With my things collected, we slowly waddled towards the Seafolk Village, carrying my life''s accomplishments.

 Chapter 5 - Poor Plans, Poor Results

    As we labored our way down the Ancient Poni Path, taking a long detour to avoid the immediate area around Hapu and Hama''s Ranch, I chit-chatted with Rich. He gave me advice about battling, something Hama and Hapu refused to do once I actually had a pok¨¦mon. When I told him what moves Kawami knew already, he was very visibly dumbfounded. "You''ll be gambling on getting your opponent to hit themself or flinch. Kawami is going to have alot of trouble in battles, you''ll have to train her mostly out of battles to get her to a decent level of power.", he explained to me.  "I can do that, no problem!", I said to him, but he just shook his head and kept walking. We talked more about what to do in battles, basic training, and strategy. Even though he wasn''t the most experienced trainer, his advice had given me a leg up I didn''t have before.


    We had just started talking about Rich''s early days with his Drowzee, Howey, when a wild pod of Exeggcute rolled in front of us. Seeing this, Rich tried to move around them, but they wouldn''t have it. The psychically linked seeds floated up into the air, forming a Reflective screen to block our path. While Rich fumbled for Howey''s pok¨¦ball, I called for Kawami to move in.


    The Zubat positioned herself between the Exeggcute and where me and Rich had stopped on the trail. As she flapped defiantly, one Exeggcute swirled the liquid in its cracked open shell, Absorbing Kawami''s energy. She staggered, but at that moment Rich sent out Howey and dragged away the attention from the frazzled bat. "Poison Gas!", Rich called out to his partner. The Drowzee spewed a cloud of Poison Gas from his nose out at the eggs and they began to retch and choke. I hesitated, but Kawami took that moment to swing through the ineffective cloud and shriek a Supersonic at the Exeggcute. She went wide, missing her targets and being forced to flee. Tired of the exchange of weak attacks, Howey wagged his fingers and twisted the space around the Exeggcute with Confusion, causing them to fall to the ground. The Exeggcute spun in place, not confused but again Absorbing energy, this time from Howey. I called out and Kawami swooped down once more, right at the Exeggcute, Astonishing them. The supposedly super effective move barely did anything to the pod of hardy seeds.


    Howey was bored, he could defeat this enemy easily. He looked up at Kawami, trying her best to deal with the enemy, and a mischievous grin cracked his face. He stepped forward and wagged his fingers to and fro in the Exeggcute''s faces, and the assailants fell under his Hypnosis. Rich chuckled, "He wants Kawami to practice on the Exeggcute. He''d win anyway." Kawami and I lost our composure for a moment before I shook my head and told my plan to my partner, "Astonish repeatedly, Supersonic when it wakes up Kawami." Kawami flung herself up and down through the air, flinging Astonishing energy at the Exeggcute with each dive. After the second dive, Exeggcute stirred and tried to send a Confusion at its attacker, but the move was counteracted by Howie''s own Confusion before it was put to sleep once again with Hypnosis. Kawami had no time to act on the second half of my plan. The fight continued like this, for almost a minute Kawami dipped down to Astonish the immobile or impotent Exeggcute until finally the seeds rolled onto their sides, unconscious.


    I wrapped Kawami in a hug and Rich patted me on the back. Howey just stood there snootily looking down at the fainted pok¨¦mon, basking in the victory he was able to secure almost entirely through the damage of a low level Zubat''s Astonish. "You''re first battle with me and you won!", I congratulated, "Gambling my butt, that was strategy and skill. We can totally make you an opponent worth fearing!" The comment caught Rich in the chest, but he recovered quickly. "She should be better at handling her moves now, but she''s still a fresh catch. You''ll need to train her positioning and movement if you want to make that strategy work without your opponent being in a coma. Even then, I think a Komala has a damn good chance against her.", Rich explained. "Thanks Rich, now let''s get going!", I yelled excitedly while Rich hopped on one foot, fumbling in his bag for a potion.


    <hr>


    We snuck through the Seafolk Village in the dark of night, past the hearty tree at the village''s center, to a somehow even more poorly maintained pier jutting into the waters. Rich grinned down at me as I took in his vessel. An otherwise quite impressive speed boat floated, painted black above the waterline in what was clearly not boat paint. A sloppy, graffiti styled skull and crossbones marked the side of the boat, cut off at the bottom by the improper paint being washed away into the sea. A colorful tag across the stern marked it as The Stolen Booty.


    I met Rich''s grin with a concerned frown. "I have several questions.", I said. "I was hoping you were done with questions.", he sighed. "First, what''s with the paint?" He sighed again,"Look, boat paint is expensive. Hell! Normal paint is expensive! Team Skull isn''t exactly flush with cash." I looked at him disbelievingly, "It''s a speed boat.", I stated. "Po Town used to be a rich people''s gated playground. Anything that got left behind when we took over, they got paid their insurance money for and we got to keep. Now, it''s Rich''s people''s gated playground.", he answered with a smug smirk. "Okay¡­ final question about the boat; Why The Stolen Booty?", I asked. Still with that obnoxiously smug look on his face, he said, "Is it that hard to put together Kau''i?"


    <hr>


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    The Stolen Booty pulled quickly out of the village, rocking the ships around it. Off the side of the ship I spotted a trainer riding atop a Magnezone, using Flash to illuminate the dark Poni Wilds. I looked back at the Seafolk Village, and a familiar man riding a Honchkrow landed on the rickety settlement. Neither of them looked my way. A prescient feeling of worry gripped me.


    I entered the helm and hopped up into the seat next to Rich. Rich held the controls in one hand, resting his cheek in his other hand, elbow propped on the nearest surface. He turned slightly to look at me. "Just a couple of hours, we''ll be on Ula''Ula and you''ll meet the Team!", he said. I released Kawami and dragged her down to hug, then mouthed out the words, "I saw people looking for us. Hapu and Hama are gonna keep looking for us." Kawami could hear the tiny sounds of my mouth moving, and gave me a serious nod to show she understood. I just held her closer.


    As we jetted on across the seas of Alola, I did not doze. The events of my first trip to Ula''Ula were still fresh in my memory, and it shocked me to think this all had happened over the course of a few days. One day, I was hopping houses like normal and before I knew it I had a pok¨¦mon at my side and was joining up with the no-good Team Skull. My eyes drifted across the open water, seeing the glimmer of countless aquatic pok¨¦mon''s glinting scales. ''Didn''t Gerald have pok¨¦mon to escort his boat so wild pok¨¦mon don''t attack?'', I idly thought. Suddenly, the boat lurched.


    An awful sound echoed below our feet. Rich''s arm jerked out from under him and his face slapped into a flashing panel of warnings and controls. I sent Kawami forward like a street performer with a Pidove, except that Kawami was significantly less elegant. Rich groaned and tapped his pok¨¦ball to release Howey, then slipped down off the chair and out of view. Upon coelessing from the red light of the ball, Howey immediately snapped his head down to a spot on the floor, as if peering through the ship into the water below, and shivered in fear. A translucent, haunting figure slipped upward into the air from the side of the boat, Howey''s head tracking its ascent. What looked to be a humanoid jellyfish approached, its form melting into the air from the lack of the usual miles of water it lived under. The pale, ghostly blue Frillish let out a blubbering wail that made my body shiver uncontrollably.


    I stammered, attempting to give Kawami a plan to combat the pok¨¦mon I didn''t recognize, but Howey stepped in. He was shivering too, but he wouldn''t stand down so easily. A Poison Gas moved toward Frillish, but it just sent its own almost invisible Poison Sting through the cloud. Howey pressed on, unbothered, while the Frillish gurgled unnervingly at its poisoned state. I regained a bit of composure, seeing the Drowzee''s march forward, and called to Kawami, "Supersonic!" She tried to confound the ominous intruder, but it only made the thing more angry. It spun its body around, dripping with the dark determination of an abyssal creature, and the sky formed dark billowing clouds that summoned forth a chilling rain. For just a moment, Frillish''s anguished expression turned to a frightening glee.


    As Howey again ritualistically twirled his hands for a Confusion, Frillish just stayed in the warping of space that was formed. Although it looked hurt, Frillish wasn''t any less determined, and the reason why soon became clear. As Howey''s Confusion ended, the energy left his fingers and he looked down at his hands in disbelief. Because of Frillish''s Cursed Body, Howey could no longer use Confusion. Again I called to Kawami, "Astonish it!" She dove again, low and then pulling up right in front of the Frillish''s face. The Astonish struck true, but its target didn''t flinch at the sudden attack. The Frillish stared at the pesky bat that had dared attack someone clearly out of its station, and seemed to glow. I yelled, "DEFLECT THE ATTACK!" as a Water Pulse tore through the air at Kawami. She spun in a frightful motion and let out Astonishing Ghost Type energy at the rain enhanced Water Pulse. It deflected to her left, clipping her wing and dealing significant damage. Any other pok¨¦mon would have flinched, but Kawami just glared with a look of Inner Focus and soared in for another attack. It was at that moment that Howey won us the fight. Stepping forward, his eyes glowed a sharp blue as he Disabled Frillish''s Water Pulse. As Frillish frustratedly writhed in the hold of Drowzee''s Disable, trying to use Water Pulse again, Kawami screeched a Supersonic into the back of its head. It thrashed out, confused, only hitting itself with its barbed tendrils. Now it looked bad. "Astonish it.", I told Kawami simply, and she did. The poison having wracked its body from the start of the fight, the damage it had taken was too much. Again it flailed, knocking itself unconscious.


    A clang sounded and Rich popped out of a hatch near the controls, covered in sealant and drenched up to his knees with seawater. He looked over at me, Howey, and Kawami and hoisted himself out from deep within the Booty. "That little shit tried to sink us! Ugh!", Rich cursed. I gave him the stink-eye. "How was I supposed to prepare for a Frillish coming up from its freaky trench and attacking us!? Stinkin'' Ghost Types.", he defended himself. "Frillish? Huh.", I murmured. He stomped back to the warning lights, still mostly blaring but somewhat reduced it seemed, and called to Howey as he stuck his face into the paneling. "Get the water out of the boat, will ya Howey? I know you can handle it.", he said, more like it was a necessity that Howey would handle rather than a belief that he could. The Psychic type huffed out of his long nose, cracked his knuckles like a stressed pianist, and lowered himself into the hatch.


    I grabbed Kawami''s leg, tugging her close to me, and exploded, "You did great! Your Astonish was great, I mean that deflection wow! And how''d you not flinch from that Water Pulse? It was amazing! Supersonic was perfectly timed! Well, the second one was. Still, what you did right here can become what you get right in every fight! We''ll work on getting your enemies to flinch more, also your positioning and dodging. Wait. HEY RICH WHAT OTHER MOVES CAN ZUBAT LEARN?" Rich hummed a thought in the distance before I heard a crash and he began to swear. Kawami was flying skiddy-wonk around me with her battered wing, not understanding everything I''d said, but already trying to position herself better against an invisible enemy. My blood ran thick and hot.


    After an hour repairing the ship and another hour sailing, Rich had brought us to the docks of Po Town. I had spent the rest of the journey animatedly talking with my favorite Zubat about our training plans, planning to learn two new moves, Hypnosis and Absorb. The levies and concrete walls towered over the dock, surrounding Po Town proper. Very soon, I''d be a Team Skull grunt.

 Chapter 6 - Telephone

    Nanu picked up the phone, he was just getting the last box of his stuff out of the precinct, so of course he''d get a call now. "This is the Malie City Police Station, Nanu speaking.", he answered. "Nanu, perfect. You weren''t answering your cell phone, it''s kahuna business. Kau''i''s run away.", Hama explained in a panic. Nanu checked his pocket idly for his phone, and sure enough, one of his pok¨¦mon had taken it. "How soon do you need me over? I''m kinda busy here.", he responded too late. Hama was already shaking with icy rage, "Now you dolt! All she''s got to keep her safe is a fresh caught Zubat! She is in immediate danger, now go do your job as a kahuna and a policeman!" "I quit being a policeman actually.", he corrected. "NOW!", was all he heard before she hung up. ''So that''s what she used that pok¨¦ball for. Smart kid.'', he thought as he called his Honchkrow down and flew off for Poni Island.


    <hr>


    A woman, a professor, was nearly done setting up a new piece of equipment. Behind Professor Burnet, a beeping began. She turned on a dime and rushed to the instruments making the noise. One showed a sudden spike in the measured levels, then a stabilizing at a higher background energy. Another displayed a heatmap of energy across the detectors laid out around Alola''s islands, with a distinct source of dimensional disturbance on Poni Island. An excited whisper escaped the professor''s lip, "Something came out of the hole!" She rushed to her phone to call her research partners, hoping one of them was on Poni Island to get more data.


    A researcher, no one anyone''s taken much note of in a long time, answered his phone. "Charlie, are you on Poni or can you get there soon?!", Burnet rattled. Charlie, seeing an opportunity, asked more, "What''s happening on Poni?" "My equipment says something just came out of a dimensional rift! It could be an Ultra Beast! Or a Faller! They should be on the Poni Breaker Coast!", Burnet exclaimed. Charlie, the Aether Foundation researcher, smiled. "I think I can do something to help."


    A branch chief, a titan of research in Alola, received a press on the edge of his mind. He responded, of course, and through his Alakazam and his associate''s Porygon2, turned Psychic through Conversion of course, a psychic conversation began. ''What''s the matter?'', he thought to his subordinate. ''Burnet contacted me, a dimensional disturbance has been released on the Poni Breaker Coast'', Charlie thought to the chief. ''Excellent, I''ll bring this to the president. You''ve done well.'', Faba replied tersely. He then motioned with his hand, and the psychic connection was cut before anything more could be communicated.


    A strange popping sound could be heard and a bell rang at the mansion atop the Aether Paradise. A young boy with neat blonde hair answered the door, hoping to get ahead of anything that would take his quality family time away. "Mister Faba¡­ why are you here?", Gladion asked. "Pertinent business for the president, young master. Where is she now?", Faba imposed. Gladion sighed, acknowledging his defeat this time in his fight for family time, and led Faba down the hall. Past the dining hall and the lounge, Gladion stopped at the very end of the grandiose hallway at the door to Lusamine''s study. "Mother''s in there.", he said simply, before leaving into the lounge.


    As Faba entered the door, Gladion snuck back out of the lounge and pressed his ear against the keyhole to listen in. A muffled blur of excited words followed Faba''s entrance, then his mother shouted, "READY MY BOAT THEN! THIS IS IMPORTANT!" He heard the branch chief stumble and then right himself with a thud of his foot against the floor, then a spree of stuttered words. Gladion was sure this was an important matter, sure, but he was also sure that it wouldn''t take long and would be interesting, like most of his mother''s work. He snuck off again, this time back out of the hall and up the ornate staircase to his little sister''s room.


    The young girl stared watchfully out of her window, down at the glass enclosure of the Aether Paradise and the menagerie of wild pok¨¦mon both inside and out. In the dark of the night, a knock hit her door and the girl jumped. Lillie''s head turned to the door of her orderly bedroom, the wide brimmed sun hat she was made to wear slipping to the side slightly. She laid the hat on a bedpost and moved to the door. Her brother''s voice came through the other side of the door, "Mother''s going off on her boat for something interesting, do you want to sneak onto the boat with me?"


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Lillie sighed, and opened the door. Gladion stood there, a serious expression on his face, as if this was an important moment rather than a silly plan that would get them both in trouble. "I don''t know¡­", Lillie said, hesitating, "Won''t mother be¡­ mad?" "We''ll be fine.", Gladion assured her, but she was still anxious. With a finality that usually evaded her, she said, "If you don''t actually have a plan for us to not get caught¡­ I won''t be coming with you Gladion." "I can make a plan.", he said.


    <hr>


    "My knees hurt Gladion¡­", Lillie complained, whispering. The siblings were stuffed into one of the baggage compartments in the luxury ship. Gladion''s head was pushed down between his knees, but his eyes strained up to look at Lillie. "There''s only so much space in here! Be glad I let you stretch out a bit.", he hissed. They sat in silence for a time, then again a spat broke out over their discomfort and they shifted around in the small space of the baggage compartment.


    This cycle would repeat for what felt like hours before the ship lurched and the two were crumpled together by inertia. Gladion stuck his arm out of the impromptu meatball and knocked open the door, spilling the children onto the cold floor. For a moment they laid there exhausted before getting up. Lillie sat clutching her arm, bruised in the series of impacts, while Gladion quickly moved into a dark corner to avoid being spotted. Gladion clicked his tongue to get Lillie''s attention, attempting to keep some decorum in their stealthing, but she just looked pitifully up at him and nursed her wound.


    Past the brother and sister''s silent bickering, Lusamine''s Bewear rounded a corner and walked down the side of the yacht to the gangway. Gladion saw this and grabbed Lillie into his dark pocket. She hummed disapproval, but didn''t move to leave the stealthy nook. Lusamine emerged from the stern side of the ship, called to Bewear, and disembarked onto the Poni Breaker Coast. After a thorough scouting by Gladion, the children followed their mother''s search for the thing that came out of the ultra wormhole.


    <hr>


    Nanu landed on the rickety settlement of the Seafolk Village, walked across the pier, and signaled to the ace trainer on their Magnezone to come down with a whistle. "Any signs?", Nanu asked, getting to the point. "Just an unconscious Exeggcute, we think it''s unrelated.", they reported concisely. "Hama needs you to cover the Ruins of Hope, don''t need people without the guardian''s approval messing around there.", they added. Nanu nodded, gave the ace trainer a firm handshake, and released Honchkrow yet again to move to his search area, the entire process of such a large scale search effort having long ago become second nature to him.


    As Nanu flew circles around the Ruins of Hope and the surrounding area of the Poni Breaker Coast, searching for the young orphan that had impressed him so much, he instead saw something he was never meant to see. Below him, a woman yelled at her two children, in hysterics over something they had done to trouble her. She was barking at the top of her lungs, letting loose an avalanche of demeaning words at her children. One child, a girl in a small dress, was clutching herself and crying, while the boy at her side attempted to placate his mom. No act of abuse so flagrant would get by under his watch, and so, Nanu lowered himself to release a pok¨¦mon to follow the terrible mother.


    He briefly considered what to send after the woman. Not Honchkrow, he would be needed for continuing the search. Not Absol, he would feel too obligated to reveal himself if something bad was about to happen. Briefly, Nanu reached for the ball containing his trusty Persian, but instead he indulged a desire to guarantee the despicable woman''s fall and released his Sableye. She sank into the shadows of the canopy and hopped through the shadow of the woman''s Bewear and into hers. A malicious smirk emerged from his usually flat expression, and he once again took to the skies.


    <hr>


    Floating above the Ruins of Hope, a creature known to the people of Alola only by the moniker UB-06 Adhesive glowed with mischief. They drifted over the island, strangely comfortable in this mysterious world, before a swift wooden clap echoed and darkness enclosed the alien invader. The guardian of the island swam back down through the air to its Ruins to find a place to contain the intruder.


    <hr>


    At the edge of her office chair, Professor Burnet''s eyes darted between the instruments showing the location of the dimensional interloper and her phone. She picked up the phone, once again lingering on the page for Charlie''s contact information. As her eyes flicked back to the display, she saw the energy signature fade into the blindspot around the Ruins of Hope and disappear. She cursed Kukui for not letting her put up sensors around the residences of the Tapus. Then she remembered his handsome face and decided to redirect her anger at someone who deserved it. She raised her phone and blocked the sad excuse for a researcher who''d led her on.

 Chapter 7 - Meet the Team

    The stars shone down over the dark nightscape, cheap lights of all kinds strung up between the nonfunctional fixtures built with the foundations of the stolen town. The graffiti coated walls of Po Town loomed, concealing the revelry of Team Skull''s base. Rich walked me along the rotting dock, twisting around upturned nails and broken boards, until we reached a metal gate. The fencing had clearly once been all shiny and fancy, but had since been bent, twisted, and tarnished by its new custodians. Leaning into a dip in the gnarled gate, a Pancham copying him beside, a Team Skull grunt eyed us.


    "Rich, who''s the kid?", the grunt questioned. "Adam, Kau''i. Kau''i, Adam. She''s a new recruit, was living in my spot on Poni; I told you about that spot, didn''t I?", Rich explained. "Huh, well big sis is sleepin'', you''ll wanna visit big bro in the Skull House to get her up to speed.", Adam said. "Gotcha, will do.", Rich responded. Adam seemed satisfied, but his Pancham still looked ready to gut punch me at a moment''s notice.


    We walked through the gates of Po Town''s docks and down the colorfully spray painted sidewalks and streets of the stolen suburb toward the Skull House. Along the way, we passed other grunts who greeted Rich, houses lit by house parties going on through the night, grunts passed out in the street with their pok¨¦mon out of their balls caring for them, and an entire assortment of pok¨¦mon.


    There were plenty of Zubats, Golbats, Drowzees, Hypnos, Ratatas, Raticates, Salandits, Fomantis, and Spinaraks but what caught my eye were all the ones I didn''t expect to or had never seen. A small blue frog and a floating pustule of gas danced with a boy at a party. A jack-o-lantern with ephemeral dark violet leaves and a cute face stood guard over a young woman asleep in the bushes. A strange, purely purple Grimer and a small blue and pink floating squid followed as their trainer snuck up behind another grunt to prank them, mischief on all of their faces. While they were distracted by a Kakuna using String Shot at them, an adorable but malicious cat swiped the wallet from one grunt and brought it back to its master. All the new things filling my brain and the lack of sleep I''d had since being in Malie made me dizzy; I was still young and full of energy but even kids have a limit.


    Rich practically dragged me past the sights of Po Town. Before I realized it, I was pulled through a sprawling and trashed estate to the doors of the Skull House. Rich simply pulled the door open and walked in. I cleared my head for a moment, then followed him. The already eclectic home had had its contents scattered, as if a tornado had blown through only the inside of the house. With the moves some pok¨¦mon could use, I was sure that was at least close to the truth. A grunt was asleep on a couch laying on its back in the foyer and another stared distantly at their reflection in a cracked mirror. My friend guided me through the maze of a mansion, up the stairs, down a littered hallway, and moving furniture out of a blockade to carve a path for our visit with the big bro. The whole way we saw other grunts in variable states of unconsciousness. Finally, Rich approached a grunt guarding a door with a scowl painting his face.


    "You know the deal bro, passwords.", the grunt said. "Dude why do we still do this shit?", Rich complained. "What''s the boss''s favorite ability?", asked the grunt, unbothered. "Intimidate.", came the first answer. "Who''s his most hated kahuna?", the grunt went on. "Hala.", Rich matched. "How''s the boss fix a problem?", was the grunt''s last question. "Give it a nice hard smack!", Rich answered. The grunt took on a taunting look, "You sure about that?" "Of course not!", Rich responded. I looked up at him, shock evident on my face. Then the grunt laughed, "Come on in boneheads, no yes men here are there?" Rich chuckled, "There totally are, they just don''t get to see big bro Guzma!" The two fistbumped, and the grunt stepped aside, giving a comedic bow as we passed into the room of Team Skull''s boss, Guzma.


    "Big bro! Brought a new member back from Poni, she needs to get up to speed.", Rich explained immediately, taking a familiar and friendly tone with the boss of his Team. Guzma clearly understood his favorite ability, he loomed over the room in a purple velvet chair, his outfit making him appear as if both the silhouette and the blinding light that casts it. The big bro of this town of outcasts lowered his head from the confident upturned position it had been in to look down at me.


    "What''s ya name kid? You tired?", Guzma asked me, because he cared. "Kau''i, and yeah I''m tired.", I told the man. "Alright Kau''i, you''ll show your stuff tomorrow to stake your claim as part of the Team. You got a pok¨¦mon, yeah?", he asked. "A Zubat, Kawami.", I answered. "Good, good. For now, howzabout you go down the street to our big sis''s place? Should be a good place to sleep there.", he finished. I nodded, already losing the focus I''d forced on to meet Guzma. Guzma leaned back in his throne, threw an ultra ball up into the air and let it fall back in his hand. "Good luck, kid.", he said before Rich turned and we left the room.


    <hr>


    When I woke up, a girl around the same age as Rich was squinting at me less than a foot from my face. I recoiled back into the couch cushions, and the girl chuckled. "So you''re the new kid Rich was speaking of? I do not see it.", she said in a strange accent that I only recognized after a moment as Kalosian. She had long magenta braids sticking out of the sides of her head and a ratty outfit in the classic Team Skull white and black.


    "Kau''i. Nice to meetcha.", I said dryly. "Eva.", she replied in a similarly astringent tone. I lifted myself from the couch and released my partner to accompany me. "A Zubat? He said you were from Poni, are the Golbat colonies there not as fearsome as I heard?", Eva said, just a bit impressed. I ignored her and walked out to the streets of Po Town, but Eva stayed next to me, examining Kawami.


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    "Where am I supposed to go? I''m still not technically in, and big bro wasn''t clear what I''m doing to get in.", I asked, since Eva was following me anyway. "You''re not in, Guzma isn''t your big bro yet.", she said, then sighed, "There are fields behind the Skull House for that. Just go there." I traced the half-remembered path from the big sis''s lodge to the Skull House, Eva breaking away down the correct path when I missed it. The streets of Po Town were much less hostile in the daytime, though still clearly the territory of a Team of thugs. The more friendly members of Team Skull tended to stick to a typical diurnal schedule.


    When we reached the fields behind the Skull House, a tall woman stood on a lifeguard tower. She had four long ponytails, one pink and one yellow on each side, coming down from custom skull shaped hair clips, an extra stylish set of black and white clothes, and a pink Team Skull insignia tattooed on her lower stomach. She yelled down at the grunts practicing on the fields with their pok¨¦mon, "WELL DUMMIES!? DO YOU THINK YOU''RE POK¨¦MON ARE READY FOR TAKING ON ME, TEAM SKULL ADMIN PLUMERIA?!" "NO BIG SIS!!!", came the response from the grunts, affirming their boneheadedness in the traditional Team Skull way.


    Eva looked up at the big sis of Team Skull with admiration until I broke her out of her stupor. "So what do I actually do?", I asked her. She flinched, astonished by my words, then composed herself and said, "You shouldn''t know until you''re in the middle of it, but I can tell big sis that you need to do your initiation." I gave her a quick nod and she moved toward Plumeria''s lifeguard tower. She shouted up, "PLUMERIA! WE HAVE AN INITIATION TO DO!" The admin looked down, saw Eva, then looked at me, and she cupped her hands into a megaphone around her mouth. "TAKE FIVE IDIOTS!! WE''RE HAVING A NEWBIE SHOW HER STUFF! YOU HEARD ME, CLEAR THE FIELD!", she yelled like a thuggish drill instructor.


    The grunts scattered away to the edge of the dirt field, kicking up a cloud mixed with half finished attacks. Plumeria climbed down from her platform and moved through the crowd, looking for someone. I positioned myself at one end of the field in anticipation, hand prepared to command Kawami forward. Finally, she had found someone who met her mysterious criteria, and a blue-haired girl, just around island challenge age, in fresh-made Team Skull garb was pushed by Plumeria into the position at the other end of the field. "Now you kids battle.", the admin said, before we even knew eachother''s names.


    I was prepared for that, and Kawami was on the field in an instant, but my opponent was sputtering. Finally, she chucked her pok¨¦ball out and a Fomantis appeared on the ground, hesitant to move in toward my pok¨¦mon. "Supersonic!", I ordered. Kawami dived in and screamed out at the sickle grass pok¨¦mon, confusing it. The Fomantis just stood, wobbling a bit, as its sickles and eyes grew sharper. I didn''t recognize its use of Growth, and continued ordering, "Astonish, Supersonic if it breaks out of confusion. You got this!"


    Kawami once again dived in at the Fomantis, this time shouting and showing a grim snarl to Astonish it. "Leafage Fomantis.", the girl requested, and the Fomantis complied. A small swarm of leaves was launched from Fomantis''s sickles, cutting into Kawami''s purple fuzz.


    I pointed down as she was struck and when she saw it, her fangful grin widened. This was one of the strategies we''d already worked out on the ship, a simple one. When she was hit, she would act out falling out of the sky, then swoop just above the ground towards the attacker to Astonish the enemy, which I hoped would result in a higher chance to induce a flinch or critically hit. Kawami did as planned, the purple bat went into a downward spiral as she was hit, then flashed across the field and released an Astonish right into the Fomantis''s face, causing it to flinch. The plan had worked!


    "Again! Take every opportunity you can!", I manically ordered. Kawami fit another Astonishing sweep into her flight plan before the Fomantis recovered. Its mind was still spinning with confusion, but its shock had worn off and it send forward another Leafage at its trainer''s request. I didn''t point down this time, so Kawami stayed in the air darting around her target after the leaves found their mark. Both sides were starting to look bad, but my precious Zubat looked just a bit worse. If neither side''s strategy changed, Rich''s analysis from the day before would become reality.


    "More defensive! Astonish the leaves away!", I told Kawami, shifting gears. She bobbed an affirmative, then went in for another dive. Before she could get to it, the Fomantis snapped from its confusion and sent forward another Leafage between itself and Kawami. Acting on my new orders, she suddenly flipped upside-down mid flight, Astonishing the Leafage out of her way and striking the Grass-Type in the process. Another Leafage followed her ascent away, but again she deflected the attack. All the while, the Fomantis''s trainer just stood across from me, cheering her pok¨¦mon on. It was infuriating.


    "Another Supersonic, then back to it.", I updated Kawami on what needed doing. She scrambled to screech again in the mantis''s ear, but a Leafage interrupted her plans. Several more times she tried to approach but had to send out a deflective Astonish. This dragged out to the point some of the crowding trainers had wandered away from spectating, until finally she pushed through at the right time and a wave of Supersonic sound splashed over the Fomantis once more. A quick Leafage sprung from the confused Fomantis, striking Kawami in the side from her position next to the grounded Fomantis. I pointed down.


    Kawami fell over, face down on the ground. Some of the audience stirred, assuming the battle was over, but me and the other trainer both knew better. Fomantis took a stumbling step toward Kawami, then Kawami took her chance. She suddenly burst up and into the Fomantis''s face, Astonishing Fomantis and again causing it to flinch. Kawami flew around the enemy, making a series of her most appalling faces to Astonish the Fomantis again. It raged, sending a Fury Cutter out, but stumbled and cut itself instead. It looked ready to faint.


    Kawami swooped away, moving around the dazed pok¨¦mon until it lost sight of her. Then she struck with an Astonishing scream from right behind Fomantis, just as I had ordered with a subtle pat on my shoulder. The Fomantis cried out, then fell on its side unconscious from the critical hit. The blue-haired girl returned her partner.


    "Congratulations Kau''i, you''re now a sister of Team Skull.", Plumeria said from her referee position at the side of the field. I had been so entranced I hadn''t noticed her there at all. Kawami saw my joyous face and wrapped herself around it. I ripped her away, spat out her fur, and offered a handshake to my big sis. She took it gladly.

 Chapter 8 - Spun Around

    "It was great meeting you Kau''i, you''re welcome to sleep at my house like last night anytime. My little sisters will keep you safe there no matter what these numskulls get up to. And just ask if you need advice about Poison-Types, I''m the best in the business.", Plumeria said, congratulating my induction into the Team. "Thanks big sis, I''ll see you soon.", I said back, a smile on my face. Eva just sighed contemptuously behind me.


    "Eva, there you are!", came a voice from behind our huddle around big sis Plumeria. A young grunt with blue hair framing one side of their face had approached, looking for Eva. Eva''s face grew just that bit more friendly and she introduced me, "Will this is Kau''i, some newbie Rich dragged in. Kau''i, Will here is the only reason I haven''t ordered my Croagunk to melt Rich''s eyeballs. They''re a, how do you say, a soothing presence." "Don''t say that to a kid Eva.", Will said. "I feel soothed already.", Eva quipped back.


    Plumeria walked off as our new huddle came together to get me situated. "So you''re new Kau''i? Do you know where to get your clothes all Team Skull''d? Have you got your chain yet?", Will asked excitedly. I answered back, "No, I don''t know where or how to do any of that stuff." "Well I do, so allow me to guide you.", Will said cheerily.


    <hr>


    Once again I had been dragged through the brick streets of Po Town to complete some sort of introductory process for Team Skull. My nose caught the unnatural scent of bleaches and detergents before I ever saw the clothing building. A troop of Drowzee, Ratata, and Raticate moved piles of clothes inside, to the center of the smell, and outside to black and white spattered clothes lines.


    "So you''ll be getting your clothes bleached then dyed black over most of it. Super cheap way to do coordinated outfits. Both of the two steps are done by pok¨¦mon, so it''s pretty much free.", Will explained. As we walked through the doors of the home turned dyeing factory, the process was laid out in front of me. Grimer and Muk swallowed clothes and spat them out, bleached white. Gastly and Haunter absorbed the noxious byproducts into themselves. The process continued with wood blocks carved with patterns coated in ink from Tentacool and Tentacruel pressed into the many shirts, shorts, jackets, and pants while hats were just dipped right in the ink. At the end a Smeargle had access to some supplies to embellish the clothes with extra flair and add the designs to the Team''s iconic skull caps.


    "I need to get the stuff out of my  pockets, but I''m in.", I said to Will upon taking it all in. "Already got ''em from the boat, just uh¡­ give me a second¡­", Will confirmed, reaching over their back for the strained drawstring containing my other sets of clothes. I released Kawami again and with a quick command the Zubat had helped Will bring the bag around. I snatched the bag and quickly rifled through the many pockets, accumulating a small pile of miscellaneous stolen and kludged items at my feet. Finally, I was left with just the empty clothes.


    "Where do I put these to get them bleached?", I asked, seeing no obvious designated area for it. "Just on the lawn, we are a Team of teenage criminals after all.", Eva answered with a smug grin, another snarky comment to reach her quota. I sighed and threw the clothes out of a broken window to the lawn. "And when do I get them back?" "It won''t be long, let''s get your chain in the meantime.", Will supplied, straightforwardly trying to help.


    I followed as Will climbed a set of carpeted stairs rich with mold, escaping the worst of the fumes, and turned into a small makeshift workshop. A young man laid back in a busted rolling chair at a desk, twiddling something in his hands. A mass of stone seemed to have crashed into a pile of scrap in a corner of the room. A long moment after we entered, the tinkerer put his work down and turned to us. "Is it another chain? If it''s something more than a chain I won''t do it today.", he said, unenthused. "Just a chain.", Will said for me. I gave them a confused look, saying without words, "I can talk for myself ya know?"


    "Comin'' right up.", the chain guy groaned. Then he clapped so loud it left my ears ringing a bit and the stone in the corner returned to animacy. A statute-esc rocky face floated out of the scrap, some of the metal sticking to its face in a drooping mustache. The Probopass meandered over to the guy through the air, and when it was handed a chain from a box on the desk it let out a low magnetic hum. It seemed to be groaning. A chunk of the scrap pile floated up and the statue''s accompanying heads spun around it, creating a gravelly whiring. The scrap and chain slowly turned under the compass pok¨¦mon''s control, forming into the familiar skull shaped "S" that all Team Skull members wore. The chain floated back to the craftsman, now fully formed. "Done, now leave me alone.", he said tiredly. I grabbed the chain, threw it around my neck, and did as he asked.


    <hr>


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    "You look like a true blue Team Skull grunt.", Will encouraged me. "Yes, what color of hair are you thinking? Blonde? Pale green?", Eva prodded. My nose scrunched up in disgust. "It''s not the typical Team uniform but it suits you.", Rich said. I socked him appreciatively on the shoulder. Rich''s small crew had invited me to their hangout spot, a house with an overgrown tree in the lawn and a hole in the roof. Presently we lounged under the opening of the roof unto the sky. After days of running around doing something or other, the relaxation was nice. Then again, I was already starting to itch for more training.


    "How long have you had your Zubat Kau''i?", Rich asked. "I caught her the night before I met you, so this is my third day with Kawami.", I mumbled, crunching on the stolen snacks the group had gathered for these hangouts. Eva and Rich gaped. "You mean to tell us that you''ve only trained this Zubat for three days? And you already have hand signals and complex strategies for battles?", Eva more so accused than asked. "Yeah! You and Kawami are so in sync I thought you''d had her as a pet for years before now. What kinda freaky prodigy are you?", Rich added, doubling the sudden pressure in the room. "I, uh¡­ I don''t know.", I sheepishly offered. Will burst out laughing.


    Rich continued the conversation, letting the pressure fade, "You said you were gonna train Absorb and Hypnosis next right? Weird choices for a Zubat, most grunts I know would go for Wing Attack and Poison Fang as soon as possible." "She''s weak, she''s going to need the healing from Absorb and the assistance of Hypnosis to actually deal with a large threat. Poison Fang is tempting, but we''re going to need better basics to take advantage of it." , I pensively explained my decision. Eva raised an eyebrow, looking me over. The others noticed her stare and copied it, lacking the same intent in their analysis. "How would you like to catch another pok¨¦mon?", she asked, her face morphing into a devilish smile.


    <hr>


    We crouched in the brush jungle surrounding Po Town''s thick walls. Kawami bit her lip with a fang, annoyed we were here. I sent her a look to show my agreement. Eva and her Nidorina stalked through the foliage, silently pointing out the pok¨¦mon around us. Pancham, Scraggy, Pineco, Paras, Meowth, Zubat, Grubbin, and Ledyba all made their homes here. She also pointed out a few things that weren''t pok¨¦mon but signified the presence of one, mouthing a name as she pointed to each. Scyther, from a slash in a tree. Gastly, a blighted set of trees. Rowlet, a hollow coated in dark lichens and moss. And finally Spinarak, as evidenced by nets of webbing in the canopy. Then she guided us to a bramble with a quiet space in its middle, crawling in under a tunnel-like gap. I motioned for Kawami to watch the entrance.


    "So what are you going to catch?", Eva whispered. I hesitated for a second, before responding, "Paras is nice, Gastly could work, but I think Spinarak is what I want to catch." Her face released that devilish smile again. "Alright, you''ll need to climb a tree.", she said. I sighed and left the bramble. ''Thanks for the net ball and all but why am I doing this?'', I thought. I motioned to Kawami, mouthed "Spinarak" and pointed up then put a hand over my brow as if looking around. Kawami bobbed up and down, getting my meaning, then flew up into the canopy to spot a Spinarak.


    Soon Kawami returned, and I followed her to a tree that was decorated on a side in intricate webbing that looked somehow artistic. I climbed the tree, branch to twisted branch, until I was face to face with a foot and a half wide Bug-Type. I jolted back in shock, nearly falling off the branch I stood on. The Spinarak just raised a leg and waved at me. I paused, staring at the pok¨¦mon as the face-like pattern on its abdomen began to smile.


    Kawami came up after me, satisfied nothing was going to come up behind us, and upon seeing Spinarak tried to attack it. I grabbed her to my chest before she could. "Do you mind if we join you?", I asked. Kawami gaped up in shock at me, but I ignored her as the spider led us up into its home. I set myself down in the bowl at the top of the tree where its branches spread out and where Spinarak had been a moment ago, and Spinarak climbed up a few branches and then let out a length of thread to dangle a few feet from my face.


    "I''m a pok¨¦mon trainer, and a member of Team Skull, and I want to catch a Spinarak, like yourself. This here is Kawami, she''s a bit flighty.", I explained. The spider motioned to continue. "Would you like to join my team?", I propositioned. The face on its abdomen shifted rapidly in response. First the smiling mouth broke in two to be a circle, a shocked expression, then it closed again in a straight line quirked up at one side and the eyes stretched into flat lines, contemplative. It twiddled its mandibles and began to swing slightly left and right as it thought.


    "No rush. And if you have anything you''d like out of the deal I''m up for it.", I said assuringly. The face changed again, smiling once more, and Spinarak dropped down before beginning to weave a complex pattern of webs. It went back and forth between branches and up and down its newly formed structure, like a printhead run wild. Finally, it stood back right at my side, admiring its art. And it was art. Spinarak had drawn a leppa berry, a dress, and an Ariados and had used the thickness and density of webbing to create shading akin to a tattoo.


    "So you want leppa berries, to evolve, and to make dresses?", I translated. Spinarak nodded, still admired their own craftsmanship. "I''m not really a dress girl but if you can make skirts that have pockets that I can fill while still looking like a skirt, I''ll wear them. The rest I can totally do", I said. The face on its back turned scheming in a way I would''ve expected to see from the beginning. "You''ll need a name, are you a boy or a girl spider?", I asked in introduction to the way things worked in a trainer''s world. Spinarak motioned for a while, attempting to tell me of boyhood, before gesturing ''1. yes. 2. no.'' "How about Toma then?", I asked, and Toma raised his forelimbs to cheer.


    Having established that, Toma returned to thinking about my skirt idea and I pressed the net ball on his back. The ball wobbled briefly before holding still. With my goal complete, I climbed down the tree and left the jungle for Po Town. Eva could figure out I had left herself, it was all I could do to get her back for being so tricky. Kawami snickered the whole way out of the brush.

 Chapter 9 - Special?

    When I woke up in the group house of Rich, Eva, and Will, I was surrounded with webs. I refused to get up and address the issue, instead curling closer to the fuzzy bat in my arms. I daydreamed for a good forty minutes before the door creaked, someone checking on me, and Will yelled out, "WHAT THE FUCK!?" I lurched and my hammock dumped me in a net of silk threads, Kawami pressed under me. No longer able to avoid it, I shouted, "TOMA CLEAN THIS UP!"


    I yawned as my new team member cleared a path in his gargantuan complex of webs. "We need ground rules on your webs Toma.", I told him. The Spinarak hung his head, his pattern-face frowning as he continued to weave and eat through the webbing, making a tunnel for me to leave the tomb of silk. "First, if we don''t have permission where we are, only small webs you can tear down in about a minute. Second, everyone else on the team should be able to get around them. Also try to get something out of the webs that''s more than just a web, like a hammock or something." Toma nodded solemnly.


    "Out of the ball or in, Toma?", I asked. He thought for a moment, then stamped a leg determinedly on the floor. "Do you want to ride on me somehow?", I continued, as I reached into my pocket and grabbed Kawami''s pok¨¦ball. Toma thought about my question, his expression already returning to brightness, as I released the Zubat. As soon as she was out, the spider''s faces both lit up and he ran up to her, an idea in mind.


    <hr>


    Will giggled at my side. I had my share of laughing when the two first started up this little performance, but now I was level. We left through the hardwood front door into the yard where Rich and Eva were lounging under a tree with their pok¨¦mon. Rich''s Drowzee, Howie, was the first to notice Toma suspended from thread dangling off of Kawami. Howie nudged Eva''s Croagunk, who nudged Eva, who lowered her color tinted sunglasses and said to Rich, "The prodigy has once more done something stupid yet brilliant." Rich turned his head at that point and nearly burst a lung in long, coughing laughter. Toma waved to his adoring audience.


    Eva patted Rich on the back, comforting his poor esophagus as she said, "Kau''i, you are wanting to train soon, yes? I have someone I''d like you to talk to before you get into it." "Do I have to go with you? I don''t think I''ve gone anywhere on my own since I got here.", I asked. She shrugged and said with a voice dripping sarcasm, "I will have to go along, sadly. If only I didn''t have to be near you so often either."


    We hung around the house for a while longer as I got to know the group and their pok¨¦mon better. It was peaceful, fun in a way I rarely experienced back on Poni. I had had to scrounge for every moment of solace back then, but here, with thugs twice my age, that feeling seemed to envelop all of Po Town. Far too soon, it was time to go.


    <hr>


    We walked past some unfamiliar streets around our clique''s house until locking onto a familiar path. ''We''re heading to Plumeria''s'', I realized. We made our way, Toma attracting attention by hanging off of Kawami again, until reaching the house of the one and only Team Skull admin. It was covered in tattered curtains and multicolor furniture. The house held much more presence in the daylight.


    Eva released her pok¨¦mon from their balls, Croagunk from a safari ball and Nidorina from a great ball, to do what they wanted as we entered Plumeria''s. The inside was shockingly clean of graffiti, arranged in a homey manner, and the lights and other electronics were wired neatly to the power supplies typical of Po Town, with its long since disconnected powergrid. This was as lavish as it got in Po Town, and clearly Plumeria had put in effort to make it that way.


    We passed the entryway and living room, following the sounds of activity to the kitchen. Plumeria chatted with another girl who was cooking something on the electric stovetop. Just the fact the stove was working was a testament to how much care Plumeria had for her house. "Big sis! I wanted to talk to you about Kau''i.", Eva interrupted. Plumeria politely put a pause on her conversation with the other grunt and came over to a countertop between us and the kitchen. I lifted myself into a seat and pulled Toma from his thread to stand in my lap while Kawami wrapped herself around the back of my head.


    "What''s this about, Eva?", Plumeria asked, clearly familiar with Eva''s style of scheming. "Yeah Eva, what is this about?", I doubled. "How long would you guess Kau''i here has been training her Zubat?", Eva asked Plumeria, avoiding directly answering the question. "About a month maybe.", she placed after a moment of consideration. "Four days.", Eva stated. Plumeria quirked a brow, intrigued. "And what are your plans for training?", she asked me, clearly getting at something. "I want to teach Kawami Absorb and Hypnosis. Toma needs to catch up on the strategies I''ve made for Kawami, but I''m not sure what moves Toma knows other than String Shot. They both need better basics, ways to get in position for moves and that kinda thing.", I answered. Plumeria leaned over the counter, staring into me.


    "Your Spinarak should know Absorb, Poison Sting, and Constrict as well and can learn Infestation and Scary Face at its level. For Zubat, Hypnosis is generally accepted to be an egg move for the species, though some of my grunts say it''s as easy to teach as a typical move for their Zubats.", Plumeria said, expanding on my plans in what seemed to be another test. I looked down at Toma, saying to him, "Then you''ll be helping Kawami learn Absorb, since you already know it." "Do you understand now, big sis?", Eva asked. "Yes, Kau''i has all the makings of an excellent Poison-Type specialist. Likely even better than yourself Eva, no offense.", Plumeria agreed with Eva''s silent suggestion.


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    I looked up, confused. "Damn prodigies.", Eva said, ignoring big sis''s pacification. "Poison-Type specialist? I just wanna be a normal trainer.", I piped up. "You''ll be better than a normal trainer, you''ll train faster with better team cohesion and better branding to boot, not that you''ll be getting sponsorships as a grunt.", Eva replied. "What''s this have to do with my training plans!?", I asked, still unclear on how this had happened. Plumeria stepped in.


    "You''ve just started training, and like any dumby you''re just doing what you know how to do, but in spite of that you''ve identified exactly what areas you need to improve. As an experienced Poison-Type trainer, I can say you''re on the right course. You''ve done all this in four days, and the moves you''re choosing to teach, they''re proof you should be a Poison-Type specialist. Rather than attempting to change how Kawami fights, you lean into a Zubat''s natural debilitative battle strategy. It''s a strategy inherently Poison-Typed."


    "When we went to the jungle outside, I let her decide what pok¨¦mon to catch. Her top choices were Paras, Gastly, and Spinarak.", Eva added. Plumeria pointed to Eva, saying, "Exactly my point. Poison-Types are in your nature." "But Spinarak''s just a Bug-Type?", I said, not getting it. Now the grunt who had been cooking joined in, "Nope! Bug and Poison.", she said, driving the nail into my coffin. I only had one thing to say.


    "Huh."


    <hr>


    Kawami and Toma were in a skirmish where Toma could only use Absorb, to help Kawami get the hang of it. Toma had wrapped the field in webs while Kawami darted to and fro to get an angle on him. I sat back watching them, thinking about the label placed on me just minutes ago. Poison-Type specialist. The words tumbled around as the battle raged on, Kawami slowly losing as Toma healed off of the ineffective Absorbs. Then Kawami seemed to lash out, not with an attack, but by trying anything to keep her energy from being Absorbed.


    The greenish motes of light Toma drew out of her seemed to stop, then be dragged back to Kawami. I cheered and Eva rolled her eyes. As Kawami was about to shout a Supersonic into Toma, I yanked her back and pulled her into a hug. She frowned for a moment, missing what I was so happy about, before forgetting to care about small things like that and joining in. "You figured out Absorb!", I shouted. Plumeria smiled from the sidelines, laid back in a patio chair eating with her team of Poison-Types.


    Toma and Plumeria''s Muk began tearing down the mass of webs that had built in the few minutes of the practice match, as I huddled with Kawami. "Okay, so now you just try what you did to Absorb that energy back over and over again on different things. Remember to always have a target, it won''t do anything without something to Absorb from.", I coached her. She tried to salute me but fell out of the air in the attempt.


    As we continued to train, Rich and Will came around to watch, then called even more grunts over. My training session turned into a strange battling party, with one of two grunts that ran Po Town''s Pok¨¦mon Center called in to deal with all the injuries. I met several of the grunts I saw on my first night in Po Town.


    Kass was the trainer of the Froakie and Koffing, he mostly just stuck to the dance floor, but was happy to talk about the unfamiliar foreign species. Rebecca had the weird Grimer I''d seen, informing me that it was a Kantonian Grimer and the variation I was used to was Alolan Grimer. I also met Scoop, the guy who''d stolen another grunts wallet, and he gushed about how rare his Kakuna was in Alola. Agarta, the girl who''d corrected me about Spinarak''s type, was another Poison-Type specialist. She gave me a textbook stolen from the Pok¨¦mon Trainers School on Melemele, apparently it wasn''t as good as a pok¨¦dex but would fill me in on most moves and abilities and what pok¨¦mon had them naturally. And I had met all these people while still having time to battle and grow Toma and Kawami''s capabilities with the other grunts.


    As the day stretched into night, Howie helped Kawami learn Hypnosis as I paged through the textbook trying to learn more about my team''s potential abilities. I turned to the I''s section after a while, seeing both my team members listed several times. Zubat could have Inner Focus and Infiltrator while Spinarak got Insomnia.


    My eyes immediately snapped to the description of what Insomnia does, prevent a pok¨¦mon from being put to sleep. I got up and stopped Howie and Kawami, ushering Toma over for a moment.


    "You two, practice Hypnosis on Toma. Toma try your best to resist it, you''ll be training your ability, Insomnia.", I instructed. Toma bopped excitedly, then joined in. The training continued better than ever. At that my research compounded, focusing now on Inner Focus and Infiltrator. Inner Focus''s entry said it makes the pok¨¦mon immune to flinching and intimidation, bringing to mind the battle with the Frillish on the way to Ula''ula. Kawami had taken a powerful Water Pulse to her wing, but carried out her attack with a piercing look still. The memory made me sure Inner Focus was at least developing, and would be battle ready without a fuss.


    Infiltrator was interesting, allowing Kawami to circumvent plenty of annoying effects like Reflect, Mist, and Substitute. It would be very useful in higher levels of battle, but since it was a hidden ability and not very helpful in my low level battles, I left it for another time. Seeing nothing more for my team in the I''s, I paged through the textbook until finally seeing Spinarak again in the S''s.


    Swarm would empower Toma''s Bug-Type moves by the same amount as just being a Bug-Type did. It would be a must have for making Toma stand up to larger threats. I already started planning to train with a Bug-Type specialist to grow Toma''s connection to the type for his ability. Finally, there was Sniper, the hidden ability available to Toma. It would make critical hits twice as effective. Toma would be even more formidable, but it would take a long time to train. I''d have to make him an aim training regimen.


    Ideas bubbling through my head, I watched as Kawami continued to attempt to imitate the Drowzee''s finger waggling methodology to Hypnosis with her wings, falling from the air each time. I smiled, lied back on the grass, and lazily ordered, "Use your eyes Kawami, you don''t have fingers.", as I stared up at the slim crescent moon, brimming with excitement.

 Chapter 10 - No Longer Paradise

    She was fuming, missing such an opportunity because of those brats. If she had known this was what having children led to she never would have married that man. The elevator slowed to a halt and her resulting steps left cracks in the floors of the secret labs. She may have been nearly 40, but her anger still had plenty of strength to use. She moved with haste to Lab B, the place of most importance right now.


    The masked employees blanched, not expecting visitors, but their president ignored them. She entered the specialized chamber, watched over by Fortress and Bronzongs in rotation so that the pok¨¦mon inside would be Blocked from Teleporting away. No one could step in before Lusamine grabbed the floating cloud of stardust and squeezed it like a stress ball. "WHAT! GOOD! ARE! YOU! IF! YOU! CAN''T! CONTROL! YOUR! ABILITIES!?", she screamed at the research subject, each shout punctuated with a squeezing or slamming of the pok¨¦mon against the enclosure walls. The poor creature let out a long continuous shriek, terrified and pained.


    <hr>


    Nanu idly scritched behind the ears of one Alolan Meowth whose personality was perfectly comforting during his move from Malie City into his new pad, an abandoned police station intended to serve Po Town before it fell to Team Skull. As he and his many cats sat on the unpacked boxes of awards and knick-knacks, his thoughts drifted, ''Sableye should be back by now. She sure is taking her time.''


    <hr>


    Wicke heard the commotion, the whispers of discontent that followed her boss when she was in one of her all to common bad moods. She let out a long continuous sigh, terrified and pained by the actions of her superior. She followed the whispers, which of course led her to the elevator. ''One of those days'', she thought, swiping her keycard and indicating the one floor with restricted access, B2. Stepping out into the secret labs that she dreaded so much, Wicke saw the trail of cracked flooring leading to Lab B and followed it with a determined glare. She cared about helping pok¨¦mon, no performance necessary.


    When she entered the lab, her ears were met with screaming, the kind of hoarse, manic screaming people in a stable state were incapable of. Lusamine was wrestling with the Cosmog, one of her high heels snapped and her hair thrown into a chaotic striation of its usual neat, flat locks. Wicke grabbed a luxury ball from her pocket and released a Kantonian Exeggutor into the containment cell. With only a look from Wicke, Exeggutor formed a Reflective box around the Cosmog, stopping Lusamine''s beating. "That''s quite enough of that ma''am.", she said, and though the look Lusamine sent back was full of rage, the president did not continue.


    <hr>


    Sableye had more to report than she knew what to do with. She could only skim the documents in the secret labs before needing to report back to Nanu. She skipped from shadow to shadow until finally catching a boat; It might not lead to Ula''ula but she had ways back from any island in Alola. When she did make it back to Ula''ula, she had to travel yet again across Ula''ula to get to her kahuna''s new home.


    The report Nanu got was not what he expected. Before Sableye could finish the first tenth of her story, he had needed to break out a pen and paper to write it down in detail. Sableye had never used her hand signs so fast. When she was done, an entire conspiracy was laid out on the notepad. Nanu knew he would be making phone calls all night, so he unwrapped the couch that had had its leather coat torn and replaced with a coat of memories and lied back as half a dozen Meowth parked on his body. Then he began his calls, starting with Kukui.


    <hr><hr>


    Gladion wanted answers. In the middle of the night a storm of ace trainers and international police had raided the Aether Paradise and taken his mother away for questioning. His sister wouldn''t need to join him this time. He wasn''t sure what he would find, his entire perception of his mother had been thrown into question, and he didn''t want Lillie to see anything she didn''t need to. He was trying to act like he didn''t care, but really he was furious. He''d always been a stand-offish person, but now that all was broiling out of him, trying to find something to burn.


    First, Gladion went to his mother''s room. Normally it would be locked, but the door had been busted open in the raid. He tiptoed around the splinters to the bedside table, he would need her keycard. Once he found the lanyard, he left for his mother''s study. He just needed an idea of what the hell prompted all this.


    He walked surely and steadily down the hallway and into the study his mother spent so much time in. ''That might be over now'', he thought. The door stood ajar, and documents were strewn around the room. He moved to his mother''s desk. which lay at an angle she would find unacceptable. He pressed the keycard to the faces of the drawers and cabinets one by one, building a stack of documents and digital storage devices to search through.


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    He spent hours there, at that askew desk, reading species conservation and introduction reports from Hoenn, Unova, Kanto, and Alola, bank statements from corporate and private accounts, research papers on various dimensional phenomena, including ultra wormholes, ultra beasts, fallers, and the results of Team Galactic''s actions some years ago, and finally archaeological and mythological conjecture about Alola''s history, the guardian deities, and with a particular focus on "the beast that calls the moon" and "the pillager of light". His head flooded with information he had no way to place, coming to rest back on the bank statements. ''These will be easy to understand'', he thought.


    He saw countless donations from prominent figures and organizations. Regional Pok¨¦mon Leagues had donated large sums in thanks for the introduction of foreign pok¨¦mon to their regions and individual league figures had done the same. There were also grants from several prominent professors, Prof. Samson Oak being the foremost provider. What was the most interesting however were the personal, outgoing transactions. Across a span of years, one person received repeated, large sums of money at sporadic intervals. What was the most strange though was who it was that received them, Guzma, leader of Team Skull.


    ''This has to be why we were raided!'', he thought, ''The League found out about this and wanted to put a stop to anything Team Skull might do by taking away their funding! So many Teams in other regions have tried to play out maniacal plans, that once the League stepped into Alola, they wanted a stop to Team Skull before they could become a problem.'' His mind raced, already certain of his conclusion. He needed to talk with Guzma, he was certain, but how would he get from the Aether Paradise to Ula''ula? Gladion packed his things in a flurry, slid a note for Lillie under her door, and left to find someone who would help him.


    <hr>


    Wicke was exhausted. She felt guilty for everything that had happened in the last couple of days. The president, in custody, branch chief Faba with her. All the while she hid the terrible things she''d let be done. The pok¨¦ball in her pocket seemed to be burning a hole in her hand, the shame of what she had let be done and what she had done herself was overwhelming. As she rested her head on her desk in her executive office space above the Aether Paradise''s greenhouse habitat, someone knocked on her door.


    Gladion was stood there, in an angry panic so similar and yet so different to his mother''s. Wicke silently ushered the boy in, returning to her seat. "Mother was funding Team Skull, that''s why the raid happened.", the young master said once the door had closed. Wicke was caught by this, she hadn''t known about Lusamine paying Team Skull, but it didn''t change anything. She knew why it really happened, one of the answers was sitting in her pocket after all.


    "I know.", she said, bluffing. She was used to it at this point. "I need to talk to Guzma.", he said determinedly. Wicke sighed. As much as she hated herself for realizing it, this was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the only evidence that the beast killer project had ever happened. Gladion was a good kid, maybe he''d give the pok¨¦mon a chance to live a normal life. She waved her delusions away, returning to the matter at hand, Gladion and her sins.


    Wicke opened a drawer, grabbing the key to the assistant branch chief''s boat. She wouldn''t be the assistant branch chief for much longer, maybe a week at most, so she wouldn''t be needing it. Then, she grabbed the ball from her pocket. She laid both on the table in front of Gladion.


    "The key goes to boat 10C in the docks. The pok¨¦ball contains an artificial pok¨¦mon we recovered from Team Plasma in Unova, Type: Null. They will likely attack you, but treat them well, they''ve lived through much abuse.", she lied through her teeth to the boy. Maybe one day she''d tell him the truth, when this was all behind them. Not now though.


    The fool looked up at her, thankful and confident. "Thank you Miss Wicke! Keep my sister safe¡­ alright?", Gladion said, before grabbing the keys and pok¨¦ball and exiting the office. Wicke clutched her forehead and lowered herself in her chair once he had left. She really hoped this wasn''t another decision she would regret.


    <hr>


    Faba sat across from Lusamine in their separate cells. Their pok¨¦mon had been confiscated, to be cared for at a specialized care facility while they were in jail. Lusamine had been trying to keep her composure, but Faba could literally feel her anger. His psychic abilities were much more limited than other experts in the Psychic-Type, having just an emotive sense and detection of anything poking his own mind, but he took pride in it nonetheless. And at times like this, it was invaluable.


    The investigation and interrogation by the International Police was exhaustive, but Faba had known how to respond, how to get the various officials not to take him seriously and let him go when the time came. Lusamine had not had such an easy time. She muttered, when her rage got too much, about bastards, ultra beasts, Cosmog, and her kids. It painted a clear picture to him of what had happened in the interrogation room. The president had always been the type to ramble vaguely about her plans when she had an audience that already knew the basic components.


    Presently, Faba waited. They could hold him forever, but they wouldn''t. The first day of court was tomorrow, and he would need his wits to continue garnering power after this unforeseen setback. At least he had gotten the research subject hidden away, and with his emotive sense he could manipulate the jury to dismiss the idea he had any involvement with its disappearance. Finding his way back in the reaches of Cosmog''s power wouldn''t be easy, but he''d manage it. Lusamine slapped herself, muttering again. Faba was satisfied with his preparations, so he laid himself on the cheap cushion to sleep.


    <hr>


    Lillie was scared. She didn''t understand what had happened or why. The note her brother had left only made the situation worse, saying he was running away to join Team Skull, the group of pok¨¦mon stealing thugs. She stirred in her bed, silently screaming out for someone to tell her what to do.

 Chapter 11 - Taking Whats Not Yours

    "I know you want to be training right now but this is important. You may not need to do anything for the Team, but you sure won''t be getting invited to any parties like last night. No one likes someone who won''t step up.", Will lectured. They were right that I wasn''t thrilled about it, but their tone offended me a bit.


    We''d taken a boat around the north side of Ula''ula to get to Malie City, for one reason in particular. It was full of easy marks. Will had brought me here to show me the ropes of stealing. "Alright, stealing 102; Knowing you, you have the 101 down. Your pok¨¦mon are your partners in all of life, not just battles, and that includes stealing shit. Toma might be able to pull some things from people''s pockets with String Shot, but Kawami is gonna be better cause she can distract and grab at the same time. My team''s still better for stealing, with more experience to boot, but yours won''t be half bad.", Will continued.


    I just nodded and released my team to prepare. Toma and Kawami stretched, each finding a comfortable spot. A passing sailor, seeing the Spinarak crawl up my legs to sit on my back, jumped, freezing for a long moment. Seeing that, an idea to steal a buncha stuff flashed in my head, so I grabbed Toma and set him down while Kawami followed to hear my plan.


    "Toma, you''ll be on my back while I walk around, make a scene of it, no one likes seeing a Spinarak on some poor kid''s back. Kawami, you''re swiping from people, but we have to find a dark spot for you to go to or people will catch on that you''re not wild. Also, we need to figure out what to steal." Will overheard my plan and whistled, impressed.


    <hr>


    It was funny, I was doing almost exactly what I''d been doing the last time I''d been in Malie, walking around aimlessly taking any trash I felt like, but in the couple of days I''d been away I had caught two pok¨¦mon who now doubled the output of this little venture. In the process of fleshing out the plan we''d added more steps.


    Toma tapped the nape of my neck; Though I pretended not to notice, I registered what he meant, Kawami had found a mark. Toma skittered, turning counterclockwise to tell me to go left. I veered left and heard a short gasp, followed by a slowing of steps behind me. Before the shock died, a shriek rang out, indicating Kawami''s success. I turned down an alleyway, which as luck would have it was filled with some great trash.


    I''d gotten enough rotten berries for my team and snacks for me for the day, so I moved to the back of the alley to move on. "Toma, could you make me a ladder?", I asked. He shifted up and down in excitement, then clambered down my back and began forming a net of thick webbing for me to climb. In moments it was ready to scale, so I did.


    Once on top of the smooth tile roof, I scanned the area for Kawami. The city stretched out before me, only a few buildings rising above me with their terraced roofs. On the back of one two story building, a restaurant, Kawami rested in the shade guarding a pile of stolen goods. Seeing where I needed to go, I made my way down the ladder and toward my partner.


    Down the alleyway to the restaurant I saw Will waiting for me, arms crossed but smiling. "You did good, but anyone who paid attention would know it was your plan, not the Zubat''s. You''re lucky Kahuna Nanu quit working as a cop here, he would''ve caught you just from stealing trash.", Will chided. "He did actually, last time I was here. Got away with the pok¨¦ball I used to catch Kawami though.", I said. They held their hand to their temple, head lowered. "You''re so fuckin'' lucky, you know that?", they asked rhetorically. "If you count being a homeless orphan in a gang as lucky, then yeah I guess I am.", I snapped back. Will just chuckled.


    Taking that as an end to that line of conversation, I called up to my little friend, "Bring down the haul Kawami!" A sudden clang came from above and a smartphone came sliding off the roof. Will caught it. A few seconds later, Kawami groggily flapped down with a stuffed purse hung from her mouth. Will sighed, sending out their Ratata and pointing up at the roof where the stash was with their middle finger instead of their pointer. In moments the Ratata had brought the entire pile down.


    We looked down at what I''d gotten. "Too many fucking phones, we only have so many people without them Kau''i. You''ll need to set up priorities and limits for certain items next time if you keep using your pok¨¦mon to find marks.", Will advised. "Alright I get it. No more advice, jeez!", I said. "You''re gonna need it.", they said, taking the hiking bag from their back and opening it to reveal a horde of supplies with a smug look.


    <hr>


    "I''m not goin'' on another supply run, Rich! I need to train!", I bickered. "We need all the help we can get Kau''i, this is the fifth time this week someone''s asked me to get food. I ain''t watchin'' my friends starve and big bro''s money isn''t covering for everyone like it should, we should be helpin'' out!", Rich imposed.


    He was right, though exaggerating, Team Skull''s food was being stretched thin. Nothing had been said by Guzma about it, but everyone knew something was up, most of all the people stealing shit. Since Rich''s posse originally bonded over those kinds of trips, we had all been in and out of town in the last week as the demand went up. Malie City, Tapu Village, the suburbs on Route 17, and even the Route 13 oasis were all stops on our supply runs.


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    "It better be somewhere close.", I grumbled, seeing his point. Rich just grinned, and began gathering his bags for a stealing trip. I would go above and beyond today so we would have an excess to give out and I could get back to training with Kawami and Toma. I equipped my most pocket-heavy cargo pants, shirt, and jacket in addition to Will''s hiking bag and two shoulder bags.


    Rich gave me a worried look, saying, "That''s a shit ton of bags Kau''i, you''re gonna hurt yourself and have a harder time stealing carrying all that." "I''m getting this over with for a while, I need to train Rich! Also, I''m not carrying all this the whole time.", I bit back.


    "No need to get feisty you little gremlin. How old did you say you were again? You don''t act like a kid should.", Rich defended. "Seven. Being a street rat makes you grow up quick.", I responded. "Doesn''t look like it.", Rich mumbled. "I heard that!", I shouted back at him as we made our way out of Po Town.


    <hr>


    Route 17 was our first stop, as it was necessarily on the way to Tapu Village. Neither area was easy for this work. The people living on Route 17 were used to Team Skull and knew to keep their guard up around grunts, while people in Tapu Village lived modest lives since the devastation of Tapu Bulu and didn''t have much to steal in the first place. To anyone else it seemed like a useless excursion, but we were the best of the best in the world of petty theft.


    I huddled at the gates of Po Town, ready to set my plan in motion. "Toma, set up a zone subtly with your webs, preferably along the route to get lots of traffic. Don''t get caught, use String Shot to grab stuff and hide away if needed. Kawami, spread out and bring everything back to somewhere dark like we did our first day in Malie. Run away at the first sign of trouble, you''re fast so it''ll be better to just keep going."


    I got up at that, looking to Rich and asking, "Can Howie keep track of my pok¨¦mon? If one of them gets caught they''re in trouble if I don''t get them back in their balls. Also I''m mostly gonna be sticking with you, I can act as a distraction while you do the slick shit." "Yeah, yeah I''m in!", Rich said.


    I passed the shoulder bags to Kawami and the hiking bag and jacket to Toma, returning to my look as a normal Team Skull grunt. We spread out from there, setting my plan in motion. Rich, Howie, and I all strutted down the streets of these suburbs. I slipped in and out of alleyways while strangers'' possessions slipped out and into my pockets. Rich walked across one side of the street as Howie snuck things from passersby to Rich in the blindspot created between the three. Occasionally, Kawami would fly overhead carrying one of the shoulder bags.


    In the middle of our walk, Howie suddenly looked frightened and stared across the street to a rundown police station. Through the windows I saw a familiar man slowly messaging a Meowth. "Shit!", I exclaimed and pulled Rich into an alleyway not in view of the station. "What got into you?", Rich asked, confused. "That''s Kahuna Nanu in that station, this plan just got ten times riskier!", I nearly shouted, but kept my volume down in spite of my panic.


    "What would the Kahuna be doing here? Plus, there''s tons of grunts out stealing right now, wouldn''t he be doing something about it?", Rich said, trying to calm me down. I breathed out long and slow, "You''re right, thanks Rich."


    <hr>


    Nanu looked lazily out of his window, ''Oh huh, it''s that girl again, Kau''i was it? So she ran away to join Team Skull, that makes sense.'', he thought idly before returning to petting one calm and cold Meowth.


    <hr>


    When we reached the other side of Route 17, Howie mentally poked at Kawami and Toma. Being Poison-Types, they could feel Psychic pressure from much farther away. Just being near Howie as he did it made me uncomfortable. After a few minutes eating snacks on the street corner with Rich, Toma and Kawami returned with their spoils.


    At that we began our trip off-route against the side of Mount Lanakila to go around the watery Route 15. For a few hours it was just me, Rich, and our pok¨¦mon talking about anything and everything. About this hike, Team Skull, Will, Eva, and me. It was a reprieve despite the arduous walk across mountainous terrain burdened with the goods from one town.


    Finally, we made it to Tapu Village. Rich and I took one more break from walking, heaving and coughing under the strain in our chests. "You''re pretty tough for a seven year old.", he said laughing and scruffing my hair. I knocked his hand away. "So what''s the plan?", he asked. "Give me a minute to clear my head.", I grouched.


    "Ok, ok, I got it.", I said after the allotted minute, "We just take straight from their houses, out of the chimneys and pok¨¦mon doors. Almost everyone here is straightforward and reverent, they''ll be pissed but they won''t have camera''s up or anything." "Huh. Ya know that''s more illegal than I tend to go, but I like it. Howie, you''re our eyes in the walls for this. I assume Toma and Kawami will handle actually going in?", Rich said. "Yup!", I confirmed.


    Over the next hours we went house to house down the residential alleyways, lifting calories upon calories from pantries and cupboards. When all was said and done, we were weighed down by as much food as I''d gotten in all the trips of the last week. With that we began our journey back the way we came.


    <hr>


    Type: Null was not very cooperative, but they''d learn to get along. Gladion was finally nearing his destination, Po Town. He''d been slowed by running the Aether Foundation boat aground, needing to walk from the northeast side of the island outside Malie City to the northwest. He had foolishly chosen to hike over Mount Hokulani and through the off-route rainforests and jungles, but luckily the unfamiliar presence of Type: Null at his side drove off any pok¨¦mon that would attack him, so it only cost him time.


    Now, he was on Route 17 making his way to Po Town to talk to Guzma. The people around him gave him strange looks as he walked through their little suburb in dark black and red clothes ripped and torn by Type: Null, but he just continued on. They didn''t know what he knew, and they didn''t have to do what he had to do.

 Chapter 12 - Deus ex Bestia

    I collapsed next to Rich on the streets of Route 17, legs going numb. "Why the fuck didn''t we just take the boat!?", I spat. "Shut up.", Rich moaned. My hand reached into one of the few pockets that had been full since the start of the trip, grabbing the phone Will had helped me set up, and calling them.


    "Will! You gotta come get us! We walked to Tapu Village, and we have a buncha shit, and we can''t walk anymore!", I whined into the phone. Will stammered over the line, "What?" "Bring Eva! We''re at the end of Route 17.", I grumbled incoherently, then ended the call. "Thanks Kau''i.", Rich said at my side.


    A few minutes passed as we sat waiting for Will and Eva, leaning against eachother. Kawami was still full of energy, but she was the only one. Toma had only been made to drag some extra things along behind us with webbing, but he was small enough to still be exhausted. The Spinarak sat in my lap, his pattern showing a sleeping face. Howie leaned against his trainer, the Drowzee living up to his species'' name.


    Finally, Eva''s Croagunk came running towards us. It suddenly lifted me out of the pile of people and pok¨¦mon, causing them to fall over, and carried me across the street, to Eva. "Hello Kau''i.", she said, amused. "Hey!", Will waved from behind her.


    <hr>


    I was riding tepiggyback on Croagunk and Rich was being held up at the shoulders by Eva and Will when we entered Po Town. The atmosphere was strange, conspiratorial even, as we walked towards the house. Grunts whispered and scurried away to their various hideouts to talk more openly about what was happening. I poked Eva''s  free shoulder.


    "Do you know what this is about?", I asked. "No, but I can call someone who will.", she assured me. "Huh? Did you say something?", Will asked, hearing their name. Eva just rolled her eyes. "Who?", I asked. "Hah! Back to Kau''i''s question game!", Rich joked tiredly. "She watches the gate; If everyone around the gate is talking about it, she''ll know too.", Eva said, pointedly ignoring Will and Rich.


    Sloppily, she wrapped her free arm around her back to reach into her back pocket on the opposite side. Pinching her phone out, she shifted it in her palm before quickly thumbing through the menus to call her contact. "Myrna, hello.", she said. A short pause followed and she continued, "Oh come on, why else do I call you?", she said slyly, "It''s about what happened at the gate, tell me all you know." A long moment stretched out as we continued our walk to the house, Eva listening intently to Myrna. As the sound from the speaker quieted, Eva stood up a bit straighter, a scheming grin joining her. "Change of plans, we''re going to the Skull House.", she said.


    When we got there the Skull House was surrounded in chattering. Gossips flooded the yard like some sort of mass picnicking event. A few groups of grunts climbed on top of eachother to try and see inside big bro Guzma''s room, but they were pulled back down by other grunts with more respect for privacy. The inside, however, was hushed and still.


    Our group approached slowly, me and Rich having had enough time on the way to regain some strength in our legs. The voices shifted with our approach to the door of Skull House, incorporating us into their rumors. The same grunt who''d guarded the door to Guzma''s room on my first day guarded the front door now. "Evander, let us in.", Eva ordered like the grunt was one of her pok¨¦mon in a battle. Evander rolled his eyes, "Eva, you of all people know you don''t get special treatment. Fuck off and let the boss talk to the guy."


    Eva tried to stand her ground, but I dragged her away around the corner. Will and Rich followed, unimpressed with Eva''s attempt to listen in. Before an argument could erupt, I interrupted, "I''ve got an idea to listen in, you don''t need to harass that guy Eva." I released Toma to communicate my plan, "Sneak in under the floorboards and report back what big bro''s saying. Simple right?"


    <hr>


    Tommy the Rotom stood guard in the wires of the Skull House to prevent any eavesdroppers from hearing Guzma''s conversation. Of course, that didn''t mean they couldn''t eavesdrop themselves. Just in time for Tommy to get comfortable, the teenage boy entered the boss of Team Skull''s throne room, a mix of emotions vying for control of his face.


    "My grunts tell me you know about Lusamine. Did the League send you? If they did, thank ''em for me, not every day I don''t have to bring the beating myself.", Guzma taunted the boy, getting straight to the point. At that the teen''s feelings focused into one emotion, anger. "I''m not with the League!", he shouted back at the playful jab, his hand reaching up to simultaneously clench his fist and cover his face. Guzma laughed, "Oh do enlighten me, why''re ya here kid?" "I''m Lusamine''s son.", Gladion stated, still angry.


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    Guzma looked contemplative for a moment, then said, "Ya know, that only kinda answers my question. Why''re you here?" "We both have a bone to pick with the League for what they did to her¡­", Gladion said, interrupted by Guzma chuckling. "Bone to pick, hah! You catch on quick!", he choked out. Gladion cleared his throat, continuing the sentence. "And, I''m the one who knows how to get back at them for it. My mother was very invested in what keeps the balance of nature in Alola, and by extension I know how to disrupt that balance."


    "What are we, Team Aqua? I don''t need to destroy the environment just to get back at the League. I''m the strongest in the region, I can do it myself.", the boss said, seemingly uninterested. "We don''t need anything like that. We just need to remove the League''s safety net, the guardian deities and the trainers.", Gladion assured. At the quirk of Guzma''s brow, both leaned forward, fully invested in the coming conversation.


    At that moment, Tommy the Rotom''s attention was infuriatingly dragged away by the presence of another pok¨¦mon making their way to the throne room. Zipping along the wiring of the house, they appeared in front of the Spinarak and chittered as they tied the spider in an Electroweb. The irony was masterful, and Tommy made sure to explain the brilliance of the joke to the restrained Spinarak, who happily agreed.


    <hr>


    Big bro unexpectedly appeared behind Evander, stirring the crowd of onlookers. A teen boy in a black and red ripped hoodie and shoulder length blonde hair exited behind him. As the two seemed to conspire for a moment, a Sableye and Rotom came out from the shadows carrying almost a dozen pok¨¦mon. Among them was Toma, bundled in a glowing web. Alongside several other grunts, I rushed to retrieve my little spy.


    Toma clicked joyously, attempting to tell me about his visit with Evander''s Rotom as Howie psychically unwrapped him from the conductive webbing. As we were occupied with that, an imposing voice sounded behind me. "Kau''i, right? Get over here! Gladion''s gotta show his stuff!", my boss called out. I turned to see the entire crowd looking at me and Gladion, the teen who had drawn the attention of all of Team Skull when he appeared out of the blue wanting to talk to big bro Guzma about "your missing benefactor" as the rumors put it, the same young man measuring me up right at that moment.


    Having been in his position before, I knew where this was going. I had Howie bring Toma around to the back of Skull House while I released Kawami. Immediately I was strategizing, "Toma, you''re in first. Whatever he''s got will be tough and you''ve got to set ''em up for Kawami to knock ''em down. Kawami, you know how this goes, in and out. Make them sick and dazed and hit with an Absorb every now and again to keep yourself going. Both of you watch for my signals when you can, but don''t focus on me, focus on the battle. That means you, Toma!"


    The Electroweb finally loosened, Toma dropped to the ground and nodded his affirmation while Kawami circled us in excitement. The crowd of gossips and sneaks followed us to the dirt field, Gladion arriving fashionably late. Guzma climbed into the lifeguard chair above the field, stood up on it, and addressed us. "NOW YOU NUMBSKULLS! FIGHT!"


    Toma rushed the field, but once Gladion''s pok¨¦mon hit the ground they were off like a shot. The strange chimeric creature''s mostly black fur was matted and rife with scars. They had a weighty solid stone mask enclosing their head, an axe-like crest, dark gray half-fur half-feather plumage, talons on their forelimbs and paws on their hind limbs, and a fin in the place of a tail. The audience muttered and stammered at the mysterious pok¨¦mon.


    Toma fruitlessly attempted to prepare the field with a Spider Web, but was interrupted as the enigmatic opponent ushered forth a cacophonous sound. A shriek, howl, song, and wail clattered together, whistling out of their helmet to form one clear intent, victory. Gladion just pointed at Toma. Before I could get out a word, they were on top of him lashing out in a Rage.


    Toma skid back across the ground, not of his own volition. Already he looked hurt. "Just Poison Sting!", I screamed. The thin needle shaped Poison Stings spat from his mouth, seeming to add defensive pins to the amalgamate thing. They were already on their way, Rage doubling. I bit my lip, not as a signal but because the battle was not going in any direction I could account for. Another attack crashed into Toma, bringing him down to his last. Toma would faint from the next attack.


    Frantic and showing a rare moment of seriousness, Toma darted around the dirt patch while peppering his enemy with Poison Sting. He drew the pok¨¦mon into a straight charge then shifted away before a strike could connect. Despite his efforts, the chimera made its approach, and when Toma was struck down by their Rage, his efforts didn''t seem to have injured them in the slightest.


    I returned my friend to his net ball in silence. "Full Poison-Type Kawami.", I ordered, announcing her move from around my head to the field. Gladion issued his first command of the match in turn, "Go on, Type: Null." Although this Type: Null''s true face was covered, they seemed to grow menacingly at Gladion''s call.


    Kawami retreated upwards, letting loose a wide Supersonic below herself that failed to effect the frightening unknown below it, before Type: Null leaped up. It angrily swam up through the air and gripped Kawami, letting loose its Rage as the two collided with the ground. Kawami was already ready to faint when her eyes glazed over, attempting to Hypnotize the pok¨¦mon that, for all we knew, had no eyes. Type: Null''s talon squeezed, and the battle was over.


    Another red glow shrouded my second fainted pok¨¦mon. Then, I walked forward as Gladion came to Type: Null''s side. "Good match Gladion. That was my first proper loss. Welcome to Team Skull." I stiltedly shook his hand, realizing mine was clammy with sweat. "Thanks.", he responded despondently. The grunt who ran the Po Town pok¨¦mon center ran up to me from the sidelines, "Let''s get your pok¨¦mon healed, okay honey?" At those words, my brain snapped back into the focus I''d lost at the end of my battle with Gladion. ''I''ll beat him.''

 Chapter 13 - The Middle

    I looked exasperatedly into the mirror propped against the dresser covered in knife marks. Looking exasperatedly back at me is a child, a young girl. She''s rail-thin, draped in an atypical Team Skull outfit of battered cargo pants and a dark raincoat over a ratty tank top and Team Skull chain. Her dark brown hair rolls out of her oversized Skull Cap beanie in knots down her shoulders and over her face, obscuring a pair of crystalline hazel eyes. Only noticeable in small patches, under the layers of covering, lies the girl''s true toasted orange-pink skin tone. Her hands carry a visage like pickled preservations of amputated appendages drained of blood, her bones so sharp in her figure they appear visible through the pockets of her enormous clothes. She is me.


    "I''m not even sure I wanna do this, why am I here now?!", I asked the irritating Poison-Type specialist about to mess with my hair. "You got the supplies, I''m gonna use ''em. Eva said you wanted blonde and pale green?", Fade asked. "No I don''t want fucking blonde and green, Fade!", I shouted at the grunt with the stupid nickname. He trudged on, unphased. "What do you want then? Actually you know what honey let''s just get you washed and see where it takes us."


    "See where it takes us!? Don''t play around with my hair!", I whined. "It''s a joke, please. Gladion could take it on the chin but you¡­ ugh!", he chastised. "Don''t compare me to Gladion.", I grumped. He chuckled and began dressing my hair, breaking out a spray bottle, scissors, and a brush that made my head ache every time he used it. I would swear it was a held item for Psychic-Types. I fiddled uncomfortably in the chair, receiving pokes to the neck when it disrupted Fade. With nothing else to do, I let out what was on my mind.


    "Why aren''t I training right now?", I asked dejectedly to no one in particular. "That''s a good question, backyard''s right there and it''s a screen door; You could be having your team train right now.", he cooed in a fake somber voice. I groaned as I released my teammates for training, Zubat and  Spinarak. "Absorb and Hypnosis practice guys. Toma, you catch Kawami in a web if she goes too far okay?", I coordinated. Both nodded and Toma slid open the door for them to train.


    The washing passed without much fuss as I watched my friends'' arms race between Kawami''s developing move, Hypnosis and Toma''s developing ability, Insomnia. Then, Fade''s Bellsprout spat in my hair. "WHAT THE FUCK!?", I shouted. "Hair bleach is what.", Fade quipped. "I thought... But I...", I stammered. The twit just shrugged with a stupid grin on his face. Seeing as the deed was already done, I slouched down as the bleach seared my skin ever so delicately. Even with all my frustrations, when the jackass put the colors in, I couldn''t complain.


    Again looking in the mirror, now the orange-pink tone stands on display. Matching it in locks down my face, contrasting stands of dark magenta catch the light of my bubbling eyes. Poofing out behind me, framing it all, is a puffy cyan mop. I didn''t know my hair looked like this.


    <hr>


    Gladion hung in limbo in the room Guzma had given him, a controlled splay of his now short blonde hair covering one eye in teen angst. The grunts were nice, the clothes were new, Null and him were doing well. Still, he marinaded. A voice came from the door, clearly not facing the door, "I heard your plan ya know?" He jumped up and swung the door open, Evander falling backwards onto him. The two fell together instead, Gladion onto his rear and Evander onto his arm.


    "What!?", Gladion asked incredulously. "Sorry for falling on ya.", was all the grunt said. "Well..?", Gladion said, imploring him to continue as they got up and dusted themselves off. "It''s my deal with big bro. I get to spy as long as I''m the only one who gets to spy. I said no at first, but you know Team Skull."


    "No, I kind of don''t.", Gladion said, giving his answer to the rhetorical question. "Damn, yeah I guess you don''t.", Evander said. A breathless silence spread out between them, as they both drank in the social missteps they''d brought into this interaction. "Let me start again. Hi, I''m Evander, Team Skull''s resident Ghost-Type specialist and security guy. I wanna talk to you about what you discussed with big bro Guzma.", Evander said, resetting the conversation.


    "What do you want to know?", Gladion asked cautiously. "Your mom. Her arrest''s all over the news, kinda hard to miss.", Evander replied. "What about her?", Gladion asked again, defensive. "You''re not the only one on their backup family.", Evander explained half somber, half aggressive. Gladion snapped, "What''s that supposed to mean?! Team Skull are in the same position as me, but you aren''t my family." "Team Skull is a family for everyone in Alola who needs one, you included. So let me ask you something, as family. Are you doin'' okay?"


    <hr><hr>


    "WHY AM I AT THIS PARTY AGAIN?", I shouted into Will''s ear. "CAUSE YOU HAVE TO GIVE A SHIT ABOUT SOMEONE OTHER THAN YOUR OWN POK¨¦MON DICKHEAD!", Will supplied back helpfully. I flicked their neck. "Come on Kau''i, training isn''t all there is to life. You being Arceus''s gift to trainers won''t go away if you take a day off.", Eva somehow whispered distinctly in the cacophonic room. "I''LL JUST ASSUME THAT WAS A GOOD ONE. THANKS EVA!", Will added.


    Suddenly, the music quieted just enough for our host to shout over the crowd. Rich loomed on top of the DJ equipment, Howie on his shoulders, and bellowed, "LET''S HEAR IT FOR HOWIE FOR EVOLVING!!!" The room erupted in cheers as the newly evolved Hypno spun his pendulum around experimentally. Will shoved a bottle with a Jynx on the label into my hand, "JYNX, YA GOTTA DRINK IT!" I rolled my eyes and began to sip on the Jynx''s Trick Juice, grepa berry flavored.


    The night wound on as the gathered grunts danced, talked, and dared eachother to do increasingly stupid things. It was a small turn out with all the work to be done, but we partied on anyway. Toma entertained a few drunks on a couch with his impressive web creation skills, something we had practiced extensively. He shot threads from his mouth as he laid them in parallel with his spinnerette, conjuring dazzling patterns. Will mingled with the many guests who could make it, which regrettably wasn''t everyone that had wanted to, weaving an ornate social web to rival Toma''s. Eva lingered at the bar, slipping gruesome lingual jabs onto unsuspecting drink runners.


    Kawami flew around the party, using Hypnosis on anyone before they could get into a fistfight, which was normally Howie''s responsibility. Howie leaned back against the fence with me and Rich. With his evolution, Howie was now just above my height and we both were a considerable size in comparison to Rich. "My mouth dry, I''m gettin'' a drink.", I complained to Rich as I began to meander back into the kitchen. "It''s the alcohol Kau, it''ll just get drier.", Rich said back. "Ima Poison bitch, I''ll be fine!", I rebuked. Rich didn''t bother to respond.


    I made my way into the bustling kitchen, narrowly avoiding running into a grunt standing at the end of the island countertop, and pulled another grepa Jynx Juice from the cooler. I wrestled my small hands against the twist top cap of the drink, briefly stumbling and bouncing off the leg of a passing guest, before sloppily releasing the drink from its shackles. As I lifted the drink to my lips, the scent struck my nose and my body rejected my addled mind''s premise.


    Eva whisked me out of the pool of pale vomit, ignoring our decreasing size difference and setting me on her lap. "I keep telling you, we are a bad influence; Only a special type of gang gets 8 year olds wasted after all.", she whispered chidingly into my ear.


    <hr>


    "It''s not like fucking Team Aqua''s plan or Team Rocket''s plan! It''s for the public good! No one gets screwed but the League!", Gladion shouted through the heaving breaths. "Don''t yell so much, you need air dude.", Evander lectured. He slowed to take a breath as Evander stopped to be at his side. The gremlin in Evander''s backpack reached a protein bar out between its claws over his shoulder. "Thanks Sableye."


    "This trail sucks.", Gladion noted as he chewed. "It''s beautiful!", Evander defended. "Not what I said.", came the reply. "Exercise is important for being a good trainer! Ya needa be a proper admin before the plan goes off right? Good thing Null has enough motivation for both of you.", Evander said. "The trail still sucks.", Gladion said as they finally crested the mountain.


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    Gladion collapsed into a bench in the small lookout area, Type: Null, who he had nicknamed just Null, lounging across his lap in spite of their size. "The League has it coming!", he spat. "Back to this I see.", Evander noted. "What else is there!? They screwed me, they screwed Team Skull, they''re readying up to screw everyone with their stupid Gyms!", he heaved. Evander sat down next to him, trying to calm him down.


    "They''re power hungry jerks! They sent my mother to a nuthouse for funding the Team! They deserve a taste of their own medicine, what it''s like without a safety net¡­", Gladion rambled with mania in his eyes. He was furious, and Evander just wanted him to calm down. Looking at the other boy passionately plotting against an entire government, conviction and hateful caring in every word, Evander shut Gladion up the only way he could think of in that moment.


    Evander kissed him.


    Evander''s eyes opened from the daze of the kiss to see Gladion''s own shocked expression. He pulled back. "Uhhh¡­", they both said, unsure of what to say. Then, "Sorry!'', again from both. They turned away from eachother. Null looked up from Gladion''s lap at his flushed red face. Sableye snickered in Evander''s backpack.


    "I¡­ didn''t think I¡­ I mean, I didn''t know that I liked¡­ boys.", Gladion awkwardly lilted. Evander turned and paused, making sure he had heard him right. "Does that mean you..?", Evander nearly whispered. Both turned even redder at the realized implication while Sableye and Rotom giggled.


    <hr><hr>


    Heahea was so full of tourists I almost couldn''t stand it, but when it came to stealing they came with one upside, easy marks. Even for a city they were abundant. With the tournament in Heahea today, plenty of people were bringing out their Z-Crystal collections. We were being tasked with stealing as many Z-Crystals as possible, preferably from ace trainers and other bothersome people.


    Guzma already had a monopoly on Buginium Z, forcing trial-goers who wanted a full set to face him, but these were for Team Skull''s "plan". Just thinking about the nebulus "plan" to get back at the Pok¨¦mon League sent giddy tingles up my spine. Big bro had made it clear the League was why he''d lost funding, meaning they were why I had to spend so much of my time stealing instead of training or hanging out with my friends.


    My mind focused again, spotting exactly what I was looking for. ''Bingo, ace trainer with a Z-Crystal case!'' I waltzed down the sidewalk, Kawami faithfully hovering at my shoulder as bystanders avoided me. Even if I was child, average people knew to avoid Team Skull grunts. I got behind the ace trainer, and in one whip-like motion grabbed at the crystal case. It didn''t budge.


    Fluidly, the ace trainer whirled on me as I stood dumbfounded. A Bruxish released itself from its lure ball at their hip, crushing Kawami with a Psychic Fang in a snap. The red light that had been my Zubat trailed after me as I bolted away from the failed mark. They followed after me as I wriggled my way deeper into the crowd. In my dash to safety I made it closer and closer to the tournament venue before slapping head first into a cop working guard duty for the event. "Shit!", I shouted before changing direction again to avoid both of the people now chasing me.


    Frantically, I sprinted down the streets and alleyways trying to lose my tails. The ace trainer and the cop seem to be getting along swimmingly, to my dismay. Left! Left! Right! Left! Right! I desperately dived through the labyrinthine city. ''I need a distraction!'', I thought. I whisked a brick from a pile of construction materials and followed my street rat instincts to the other half of the bricks destined pair. Right when they rounded the corner, I threw the brick into the windshield of the police cruiser.


    I only had a moment of distraction to get away. Nearly slamming into the corner of the building, I took in my options. An alleyway, no accessible rooftops, a sewer grate. ''Motherfucker!'', I thought, desperately wishing I could scream the words but knowing I couldn''t. I had no time to waver before I flipped the grate open and slid down into the darkness.


    <hr>


    "WOOOOHOO!! YEEAAAAH!", Dylan, a member of Gladion''s ever growing circle of grunts dedicated to Team Skull''s revenge, shrieked from the back seat. Gladion was blitzing a sports car across a racing course the grunts had set up through Po Town. Evander clutched the door''s armrest and the center console as Gladion whipped the car around a corner marked with artful graffiti that was both an arrow and the Pok¨¦mon League headquarters on Mount Lanakila in flames.


    "ARE YOU SURE YOU CAN DO THIS?!", Evander screamed over the wind. "ABSOLUTELY NOT!", Gladion said. He really was beginning to like being in Team Skull. He skirted around a series of criss cross turns before sliding to a stop in front of the spray painted starting line. Gladion let out a whoop as a crowd gathered. Evander sighed, then leaned across and kissed Gladion.


    "Get a room!", Dylan mocked. Gladion just gave him a glare. Null emerged from the crowd, jumping over the door of the open-topped car and into Gladion''s lap. Evander whined, "Null! I like those pants, don''t tear them!" "Those are your pants?", Dylan asked. The crowd went quiet while Dylan received a double serving of death glares.


    <hr><hr>


    "Scary Face! Confuse Ray", I ordered. Plumeria was engaging me in yet another practice battle to push my pok¨¦mon''s limits, two of mine against one of hers. Her Salazzle whipped into action, sending out a Fire Lash that was batted away with an Air Cutter from Zubat. My pok¨¦mon moved in, the Scary Face on Spinarak''s back slowing the salamander for the Confuse Ray in Kawami''s eyes to take hold.


    Plumeria barked from the sidelines, "You''ll win, Poison Gas!" It was not directed at me and mine. Salazzle absent-mindedly breathed out a miasmic cloud of Poison Gas, catching Kawami and Toma and causing them to break out in red pock marks. Salazzle''s ability, Corrosion, let her poison Poison and Steel-Types that would normally be immune.


    "Infestation and Wing Attack guys!", I called. Toma spat out an Infestation of tiny web construct spiders that stuck to Salazzle while Kawami struck it from behind. "Scale Shot!", came Plumeria''s voice. Salazzle slashed her tails out, sending a sharp hail of scales at the two of them. Two struck each of Toma and Kawami, causing Toma to faint while Kawami was left on her last wings.


    "Hypnosis and Wing Attack! Give it your all!", I screamed to Kawami. She grinned like a maniac and flew straight at Salazzle. The slender thing tried to retreat, but fell right in place for Hypnosis to reach her. Slazzle slumped inelegantly to the ground and Kawami took every opportunity she could. She dragged her wing in a spiral along the lizard in one continuous Wing Attack for several full seconds before the enemy finally stirred.


    The Salazzle unfurled from the floor, blearily rocketing scales into the back of her own head. She stumbled forward into another Wing Attack. "End this.", Plumeria commanded not just Salazzle but seemingly the whole field. Salazzle broke out of her confusion, rocketing her fist toward Kawami for a Poison Jab. Unprompted, Kawami flew into the attack, glowing bright white. Golbat Bit down on Salazzle''s outstretched arm.


    Salazzle flinched, and that was all it took. Kawami''s Wing Attack struck with both wings as she stood on Salazzle''s arm with her newly usable feet. With just one more bite from Toma''s Infestation of spiders, Salazzle collapsed. "I didn''t think that would happen. You''re ready Kau''i, congrats!", Plumeria said appreciatively as she returned her partner. I cheered.


    <hr>


    "Babe stay¡­", Gladion groaned from the couch. "Security, can''t help it.", Evander replied. The admin waved a finger at his boyfriend, "Tackle." Null jumped gracefully onto the security expert, comfortably keeping him in place."Come on honey, the newbies are shit at the job you know that! The passwords are almost a month old! I need to go in even if it isn''t strictly necessary." Gladion laid himself on the floor next to him, only Null''s legs separating them.


    "I need you. This plan is everything and if you''re not there with me¡­ I can''t think straight.", Gladion implored him. "Course you can''t, gayass.", Evander snarked. Gladion kissed him. "Alright. I''ll hear you out.", he conceded. Getting up and dusting themselves off, Null kicked the door closed again. They sat facing eachother on the worn couch.


    "So for the teams, I''m not sure where each group should go. Big bro Guzma should stay here and take care of Tapu Bulu so he can get back to Po Town if we''re figured out, right? But the rest of it''s a mess¡­ Akala and Tapu Lele are gonna be tough no matter what, Poni''s Tapu Fini is active but has less protection, and Tapu Koko on Melemele is gonna be so well guarded I don''t know if it''s even worth trying. We have no third admin, so there''s no way we can get all of them!"


    "Hm. So two groups will be led by an admin, one by big bro, and one will be left without a leader? Why not just ignore one?", Evander asked. "No¡­ we can''t do that! If any island''s defenses aren''t occupied, they might help another island. Even if we don''t succeed on one island, we still need to attack there!", he said hurriedly. "Calm down.", Evander tried. "NO! This isn''t something to be calm about! This is what we''ve been working for for 3 years! I can''t fuck this up!", Gladion screamed.


    "Agh! Gladion! Get your head out of the clouds! Do you need me for every decision on this?! I have important things to do, you have an entire entourage to ping these off of, why me!?", Evander screamed in kind. Gladion stood stock still. "You''re¡­ because¡­ because I¡­", he stammered with fear vandalizing his face. "Put me on the fourth group. I''ll take the fall for Melemele. I''m going to work, Gladion.", Evander spat with spite cursing his words.

 Chapter 14 - Guardian

    Toma knocked me from my cushion wrapped hammock. Craning my neck up from it''s compressed position against the floor, I saw big sis standing in the doorway. "Hmmph. Good job training your Spinarak''s Insomnia, he''ll be good for you at times like this.", she said. "Could I get a few more minutes, just here on the floor?", I bargained. Plumeria grabbed me under the arms and lifted me onto my feet. "No, my thick skulled protege. You''re going with the plan like everybody else.", she chided.


    I yawned and stumbled to the corner of the room. It wasn''t often necessary, but today of all days I felt obliged to wear my most Team Skull-y Team Skull uniform. A black tank top with the cross bone strips, skull cap beanie with the stamped eye design, an open zippered hoodie marred with holes, and the same cargo pants I''d had from the beginning, which now fit much better, despite looking the same due to their size.


    It was dark out, just past midnight, as the grunts assembled for the journey to Poni Island. Will and Rich were too valuable as thieves and Eva was acting as Plumeria''s contact back to Po Town while all the important figures were spread out, so I was the only one of our clique present. As an adequate trainer, former resident of the area around the Ruins of Hope, and one of big sis''s students, I was a perfect fit for the group''s guide. I would also be the leader of the less experienced grunts that would be on guard duty.


    The crowd assembled into their subgroups, who we had been training with a bit while the day approached. We looked like a club from a school for street trash, that for some reason required a matching street trash uniform, about to leave on a school trip. "One last time, what''s our job here Kau''i?", an older grunt in my subgroup asked. Even though I was young and small, they actually treated me as the leader. That understanding was one of my favorite things about being in Team Skull.


    "We lead the way to the Ruins, or more accurately I lead the way and you guys deal with any wild pok¨¦mon, then we stand guard outside. If more shouts come from inside than usual, someone''s messing with the plan and we go in. Not hard stuff.", I explained. He nodded his head and the other two gave appreciative looks our way. Finally, Plumeria exitted her home and waved us all to the dock.


    We all piled into two boats off of the ruined piers. One was for the ''Jawbones'', the grunts that had gathered around Gladion and in Guzma''s inner circle who were in and out of Po Town often and thought the Team should flex our power more, nicknamed as such for their aggression and loud mouths. There was always a contingent of them that came along on big plan stuff. The other one was for the rest of the grunts. My little party settled in on the deck of the non-Jawbone boat.


    As Fade, of all people, pulled us out of port, another of my group began a conversation. "What was it like before the whole plan thing?", the girl asked, one of the few grunts younger than me (though the number grew every day I got older). "Better. The whole team was one huge net of people, none of the Gladion/Plumeria/Guzma division thing. Lots of friend groups got split up when we had to take on actual responsibilities for the plan.", I told her. She was a good Bug-Type specialist, I was certain she''d have thrived in the Team''s more interconnected style.


    "Tell me about it! The management shit they have us do in big bro''s group keeps me away all day.", our senior said. "I don''t know, Braincase work''s not too bad. Plenty of people to talk to.", the junior retorted, using another group nickname. "It''s different! Talking to people because you gotta just doesn''t scratch that itch.", he replied. "My job with Gladion''s pretty easy. Is it different for you guys?", said the final member of our group. He was just a year older than me and would be doing his island challenge soon if he wasn''t in Team Skull. "Way different. Sinuses stealing for Plumeria or Braincases doing all the organizing for Guzma are in a fully scheduled position. With Gladion you Sockets and Jawbones just go out of town and do what you want, maybe recruit some people. No offense.", I informed him.


    "So why do the plan at all?", asked the boy. "I don''t know for sure. I''ve asked around with several people, and it seems the Pok¨¦mon League put little bro Gladion''s mom in psych care for funding the Team and that lack of funding was what started the push for responsibilities. Before that though, when big bro Guzma hadn''t made Team Skull yet, he tried to become a trial captain, but his master denied him, and now that master works with the League. It''s a whole list of things really, but those are the big ones.", I expounded. The boy looked angrily over at me.


    "So they screwed us over and we''re screwing ''em back? Serves ''em right!", he said. "You sound like a Jawbone.", the older grunt jabbed. "So what if I am?!", the would-be trial-goer defended. "Don''t be.", I butted in, "The Jawbones would rather we seem scary to everyone outside the Team than go back to being a family for any Alolans without one, like we should be. The plan''s already pushing it." "We have to show we can defend our family or it doesn''t mean anything.", the girl chimed in.


    I shrugged. "There you aren''t wrong. Wish there was a faster way to do it, but the plan is poetic at least. ''Show the League what it''s like to not have a safety net.'', it''s a good pitch, and we oughta do it while we can.", I agreed. "Are you sure you''re 10 years old? Like sure sure?", the old Braincase asked. "I mean I am an orphan, so I don''t know, but even still it''s  at most a year off.", I said.


    They went on about the plan while I stared off over the black waves, the conversation continuing without me. I nervously thumbed Kawami''s pok¨¦ball, still slick and rough like grease and concrete from its time in the trashiest garbage in Alola. That day in Malie seemed a million miles away, but, unbeknownst to me, that life was rapidly catching up to me.


    <hr>


    "So what was it like growing up here, oh great leader?", the Socket boy teased. "Do you have the path secured for the next couple hundred feet?", I asked sternly, gaze locked forwards. "Buhhh¡­ Um, yeah?", he confirmed slowly. "Alright.", I accepted, "It wasn''t great. I was juggled house to house, not like in foster care, that was just the system, but mostly I snuck out to a hovel in the ruins so I could actually build up something instead of living on borrowed kindness." The group blinked at my honest response.


    The eldest cleared his throat and broke the tension. "How''d that lead you to Team Skull? Seems unlikely.", he said. "I stole a pok¨¦ball, caught my Golbat with it, the not-Kahuna Kahuna wouldn''t let me train her, I ran away to make something of it all and stumbled into a grunt. The rest is self-explanatory.", I explained. "Hardly. You won your battle to show your stuff, became big sis''s student, people even say you and little bro are rivals!", the freshie fangirled. "Don''t spread that bullshit, if I ever get challenged by another Jawbone because of that rumor I might just make my own plan.", I denied dryly. The boys chuckled.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    "Nine o''clock!", the Socket shouted, swallowing his laughter. A rustling in the trees approached us from the indicated direction, then suddenly stopped before it could break away from the forest. "Nice one Toma!", I cheered. A bundle of webbing flew up from the canopy and fell open into trails of silk caught in the wind, imitating a firework. Toma had learned to do this trick to entertain a drunk, and it had quickly become one of his favorites. "Do we need to, uh¡­ do something about that?", the girl asked. "Nope. Toma''s got Spider Web perfected, even as a Spinarak, so they won''t be able to leave the forest.", I assured her.


    The Jawbones and Plumeria''s posse followed behind us, saving their strength, as we made our way down the coast in the faint crescent moonlight. The Poni Breaker Coast was craggy, full of small and hollowed pits of water. Navigating it wasn''t easy, since following the coast would lead you on a winding and arduous route that could strand you with the tide, you had to carve a path through the slippery gravel. In the years I''d been away it had changed significantly from the influence of erosion and wild pok¨¦mon, but I knew the pattern of the place and our pok¨¦mon were scouting ahead, so I managed.


    Just before dawn, as planned, we reached the Ruins of Hope. Down a broken spiral of porous igneous slabs, near the bottom of a vibrant tide pool that stood all but empty at the current low tide, a painted wooden entryway marked the sacred sanctum of Tapu Fini. "We''re here.", I stated for the benefit of everyone further back. Plumeria stepped forward to address the entire troop.


    "Prepare yourselves dummies! Get your teams into shape! When the sun breaks the horizon, we go in and capture Tapu Fini! Don''t kid yourselves numbskulls, we aren''t using a pok¨¦ball to capture it. This is a legendary pok¨¦mon! We will need to have a constant rotation of people keeping Tapu Fini weak, and we do not know if it has access to moves like Recover or Aqua Ring! This all is guaranteed to be a fucking problem, so get your shit together! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!", Plumeria, big sis, the admin, the Poison-Type specialist, and my mentor, commanded. "NO!!!", we replied in unharmonious unison. "TOO BAD!", she shouted over us.


    She stepped down from her lofty position, and the commanding sneer slipped from my mentor''s face as she turned to me. "Do you think this will work? I''m worried about these adorable idiots, if it doesn''t work they''re gonna be in trouble.", big sis worriedly whispered. "And they won''t be if it does work? It''s too late to be worrying about this stuff, take your own advice.", I told her, feigning confidence. "Hmph! You got me there. Watch our backs, yeah?", she said, mentally going over the plan again. "Yeah."


    All too soon, the sun graced the sky with the day''s first twilight. "GO TIME!", our admin ordered. A grunt with a battle-hungry expression arm checked me as she passed, clearly a Jawbone, and the troop descended into the Ruins. A clattering of feet followed by a clattering of battle echoed through the tide pool.


    I whistled for my pok¨¦mon''s attention. "Toma, detection web all around the Ruins. Kawami, keep the sky clear.", I directed. Both saluted, which caused Golbat to fall to the ground. "Kawami, save the salutes for when you''re a Crobat! You only have one set of wings dingbat!", I disciplined. With that done, my team rushed to keep watch like I''d told them. "Anything for us to do?", the older grunt asked. "Just watch the immediate area and back up my team. I can listen for any signals.", I replied.


    The grunts began to disperse as I heard a familiar voice reverberate out of the Ruins, "Tipi, dunes! Kalako, swallow the support!" "Change of plans! You guys take over, I need to check on them.", I called to the grunts. "Aren''t we all supposed to go in if something''s happening!?", the boy asked. "I''m not sure if something is happening. Take over!", I ordered. If I was right, I couldn''t have them follow me in. With another whistle, Kawami and Toma returned to me and I rushed down the natural staircase and into the Ruins of Hope.


    My eyes didn''t need to adjust to the darkness of the cave, it was alight with the attacks of pok¨¦mon. Tapu Fini''s presence alone coated the chamber in flowing, bubbling mist that prevented status conditions. Their serene charcoal black figure, like a mermaid straight out of folklore, was ever so subtly bruised. A glowing Aqua Ring hovered around the legendary pok¨¦mon''s totemic fish-shaped shell and glowing barriers, Reflect and Light Screen surrounded both sides of the battleground. Beneath the guardian deity of Poni Island was exactly who I had feared I had heard.


    Hapu, having not grown an inch since I''d last seen her, was astride Mah¨¡, who had evolved into a Mudsdale, giving orders to a full team of Ground-Type pok¨¦mon as they fought off Team Skull. Earthquakes had sweeped the deck with many of the Poison-Types led by Plumeria and her subordinates while her Krookodile snapped up Drowzees and Hypnos that tried to Disable Tapu Fini''s moves. I stared on in shock as my mentor and my protector fought over the deity of the island.


    The fight continued as I stood frozen, the overwhelming numbers of Team Skull whitling down Hapu''s bulwark defense. Her team destroyed the grunt''s pok¨¦mon, but not fast enough. A Hypno that had hidden in the backline finished a long and thought out Nasty Plot, then Baton Passed to Plumeria''s Salazzle, which hadn''t been on the field until now. Salazzle was not holding back, sending massive Sludge Bombs into Tapu Fini.


    Tapu Fini sent a torrential Hydro Pump through the Sludge Bombs at the lizard, but before it could hit Salazzle, she painfully shed her scales to form a Substitute that blocked the attack. Tapu Fini''s calm expression turned sour, and their fury became known. The calm pools of salt water at either side of the holy chamber burst to life, rushing up and over Tapu Fini''s head before turning a bright pink and crashing down into the surrounding pok¨¦mon. Nature''s Madness left everything in its wake beaten and bruised, alleviating them of their energy at the Tapu''s command, but this included Hapu''s pok¨¦mon.


    The grunts took advantage of this, causing her Flygon, Krookodile, and Dugtrio to faint and Disabling the Tapu''s moves. More Sludge Bombs flew up and hit them without interruption. Tapu Fini was hurt. Mah¨¡, the only pok¨¦mon Hapu had left, shook the earth beneath his hooves with a mighty tremble that eliminated the last of the grunts'' pok¨¦mon. Only the admin and her closest partner were left standing.


    As another of Salazzle''s Substitutes fell to ground, the salamander slung naughty words at the Mudsdale, Tormenting it. Unable to use Earthquake again, Mah¨¡ instead charged forward, creating a wall of sharp debris with each stomping step. Salazzle slyly dodged out of the way of the High Horsepower attack and clapped derisively, giving Mah¨¡ an Encore. The contradictory signals of Encore and Torment made Mudsdale unable to do anything but Struggle, which Salazzle also avoided. Tapu Fini tried desperately to intervene, but all their moves were still Disabled.


    As Salazzle struck down Mah¨¡, she giggled as if playing a trick. Tapu Fini, protector of all of Poni Island, shrunk back. Then, Hapu stepped in front of the legendary creature. The grunts continued pouring out of the Ruins behind me, Jawbone, Nostril, and Braincase alike. Plumeria stared Hapu down. "Back down, little missy. It''s over.", Team Skull''s big sis shouted. "No.", my big sis shouted back.


    "Without this creature, Poni Island will be beset by threats you can''t imagine! Their island is my island! Their people are my people! I will put my life on the line to protect this pok¨¦mon the same way they would for me! DO NOT LAY ANOTHER FINGER ON THE GUARDIAN OF THIS ISLAND!!", Hapu boomed. The room shook with the roar erupting from the small girl''s body.


    Hapu''s steadfast face shimmered with sweat, as her exhausted eyes wavered around Plumeria before locking onto me. "Kau''i?", she whispered. Then, a simple command, a roiling crack, and a thud. The Fire Lash had whipped Hapu unconscious in a single move. My body regained focus, my mind no longer content to let things go as planned. I ran forward with a scratchy scream rushing from my throat. Toma and Kawami followed my charge.


    I skidded into position in front of Hapu''s unconscious body. "What are you doing Kau''i!?", Plumeria shouted angrily. "Something really stupid. Infestation and Wing Attack!", I shouted back. Toma''s construct spiders dug into Salazzle''s scales as Kawami dived into her. Salazzle let out a shriek, and a Flamethrower spewed out of her mouth. Tapu Fini prevented the attack from hitting me as Toma fell to the flames and Kawami''s wing was burned, leaving her grounded.


    One last idea in my adrenaline filled mind, I whispered in Tapu Fini''s ear. The legendary pok¨¦mon smiled, and the bubbling mist emanating from them faded away. "What kinda plan is that!? Toxic.", Plumeria chuffed. Salazzle''s gaze sharpened, and Kawami hopped in front of that gaze. The Confuse Ray took effect, and Salazzle''s muscles spasmed as it choked on the bile and venom that would have formed Toxic. Tapu Fini spat a simple Water Gun at her, and Salazzle faceplanted. Plumeria fell to her butt.

 Chapter 15 - Acceptance

    The three other grunts that had been with me on guard duty pushed their way through the haze of grunts fleeing the scene. The Socket boy raised his arm to throw a pok¨¦ball, but Plumeria stopped him. "Stand down! We''re done. We can''t beat Tapu Fini without my team and we definitely can''t keep them contained. Your pok¨¦mon will just be shot down.", Plumeria''s tone was bitter, resentful, and clipped as if she wanted to keep the words in, but with the other grunts at risk she pushed herself to admit it. They all stopped, stunned, before seeming to think better of continuing to intrude in the sanctum of a pok¨¦mon that could destroy a village. Tapu Bulu had done it, Tapu Fini could too.


    "Adrenaline''s a helluva drug, huh Kau''i?", Plumeria asked as she stared at her shaking hands. "I don''t think I felt my legs that entire fight.", I agreed. "Yeah.", she sighed. The air hung still for another long moment before it was broken again. "Why switch teams?", the admin asked me as we both sat there on the smooth stone floor. "Hapu, that girl", I pointed to Hapu as she was being treated by Tapu Fini''s Heal Pulse ", was the closest thing I had to family. Her and her grandma were who I stayed with the most and they were responsible for me when I did anything.", I explained. "She''s the old Kahuna''s grandkid you talked about?", she questioned with a disbelieving look, moreso at reality than me.


    "Yeah. When it comes to why things work the way they work in Alola, she knows all there is to know. When she said that shit about ''threats you can''t imagine'', I knew we''d fucked up.", I told her. "I think I trust my fellow admin more than some girl I just beat up, no offense. If you are right though¡­", Plumeria trailed off, imagining what our plan really meant if Hapu was right. "Will you hear her out?", I bargained. "Sure, I''ll hear her out.", she tersely allowed.


    I released Kawami, the Golbat still burned from the fight, stopped her from rushing at Plumeria, and sent her to Tapu Fini to get healed with Hapu. Toma followed, his carapace cracked from the heat of the attack that did him in. "It''s over already, do you mind healing Plumeria''s pok¨¦mon too?", I asked Tapu Fini. They slowly nodded while continuing to focus on healing, and Plumeria''s team joined the circle of the wounded around the guardian deity. Slowly, in silence, Hapu and the pok¨¦mon were restored.


    Waking up, Hapu turned from her sprawled position, suddenly pushing herself off the floor in a motion halfway between a push up and a squat. Looking down on Plumeria for once, she burst into argument, "What is this scoundrel still doing here!?" "Scoundrel?! Did you only ever learn to talk from your grandpa?", Plumeria retorted, coming out of the classic Team Skull squat to loom over Hapu. "If only you could be as wise as he was, miscreant!", Hapu continued, headstrong. Using the only controlling tone I knew, that of giving orders to pok¨¦mon, I interjected, "Both of you! Shut up!"


    Plumeria sent me a bitter snarl, which I returned, while Hapu looked on in shock, not having realized I was still present. "You said you''d hear her out.", I reminded Plumeria. "I shouldn''t''ve", she mumbled bitterly. "Kau''i, what were you thinking joining these people?! Trying to capture a guardian deity?! Are you fucking stupid!?", Hapu berated me, in a rare instance of her swearing. "Definitely didn''t learn that from your grandpa.", I joked. At least Plumeria laughed.


    As Hapu was hoofing it across the floor to continue laying into the both of us, a slender hand calmly held her shoulder and ushered her in the opposite direction. Her face fell, becoming conscious again of something important to her that had been left at the wayside. As Tapu Fini led Hapu to the altar, Plumeria began to open her mouth to taunt Hapu further, but I stopped her with a sharp, "Shhhp!" I''d been present for the traditional rituals and celebrations of Poni, and I recognized this was not something to be taken lightly.


    As Hapu approached the platform, her expression was disbelieving, before filling with awe. She reached the center of the wooden structure, facing the stone totem with arms at her sides in utter silence. Tapu Fini rose above her with unparalleled serenity, and from the legendary figure a captivating swirl of yellow light enveloped a sparkling stone. The stone floated down into Hapu''s reach as the light played off its surface and again off of the surface of the tidepools at our sides. The ruins were awash with motes of its brilliant glow. Her hand quested toward the stone, flinching for a moment with doubt before cupping it in both hands. As an unseen weight lifted off of her shoulders, Hapu held the stone in front of her and began to speak.


    "I give my thanks¡­", she started, "for your great blessing.", reverence dripping from every word, "As kahuna, I will do my best for the people¡­", she paused, seeming to bask in the ritual of the moment, "and the pok¨¦mon of Alola." And Hapu closed her hands around the stone, plunging us back into near total darkness.


    As our eyes readjusted to the low light environment, Hapu descended the stairway and retrieved her phone from her front pocket. The backlight lit up the side of her face, smiling seriously, as she called a number from her contacts. I was just barely able to make out Plumeria''s confused and indignant face mouthing the word "kahuna?" as the phone rang for several awkward seconds. I just shrugged at her.


    Finally, the phone picked up. "Team Skull tried to capture Tapu Fini, Kau''i showed up and helped me defend them, now I''m the kahuna.", Hapu explained succinctly to the person on the phone. Through the quiet the reply was clear. "Most people say hi, or hello.", Nanu said over the line. "Hello.", Hapu dryly replied. "I figured about Tapu Fini, good job protecting them.", he said.


    "You''re really the kahuna!?", I loudly whispered to Hapu. "Yes Kau''i! What else would I be!?", she bit back with her hand clenching around the phone''s built-in mic. Her tone held a self-confidence that wasn''t there before. Plumeria remarked, "Pretty young for a kahuna.", under her breath, getting an angry look as Hapu''s frustration built. Right when Hapu expected to continue talking to Nanu, he beat her to it. "They got Tapu Bulu already. I even showed up to stop ''em and they still beat me.", he confessed. Hapu was shocked at the revelation, while Plumeria was the complete opposite.


    Hapu erupted at him, which made Tapu Fini''s discomfort at our lingering presence very clear. I returned my pok¨¦mon and motioned for Plumeria to do the same. Then, I stood at last and began pushing Hapu''s still tiny body out of the Ruins of Hope. As Hapu continued shouting century old insults through the phone, digging her boots into the ground, Nanu hung up. She tremored for a moment longer before calming.


    "So", Hapu huffed as we made it out of the Ruins ", what have you been doing all this time Kau''i?" Plumeria gave me a sidelong look that said, ''This is not important right now.'' "Later", I said quickly ", Plumeria''s still unconvinced Team Skull''s in the wrong." Several more antagonistic looks were exchanged before Hapu conceded. "If you insist, I''ll give you this one opportunity to change, crook.", she said, letting the anger drop out with one last word. "The story is slightly different depending on who you ask, but I can give you the version known on Poni. Honestly it''s shocking you don''t already know this!", Hapu gave as foreword before beginning her tale. Plumeria and I exchanged a clear look, agreeing that she was the weird one for knowing this stuff and not the other way around.


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    "After the sky had broken


    and the beast of moon crowned victor,


    island guardians were awoken


    and dealt with strange invaders.


    Beasts of terrible power


    with a light from outside Alola


    appeared in the fragile sky


    and laid waste on lands below them.


    The guardians stood not idle,


    bringing defeat and capture.


    And still these strangers come,


    raging against their power.


    We give thanks with each year


    to our guardians and protectors,


    for the safety of our people


    against the beasts from between the stars.", Hapu recited.


    "Beasts from between the stars? What''s that supposed to mean?", Plumeria asked, resisting the information. Hapu seemed happy to oblige the question though, answering, "Scholars used to debate that, and some still do, but in recent years the Aether Foundation has documented creatures called ultra beasts that appear from ultra wormholes around Alola, which most agree are the beasts mentioned in the story. And now, Ula''Ula has no defense against them." "It can''t be that bad.", Plumeria bickered.


    At the same time, waking to find xirself in the perfect confluence of coincidences, was UB-06 Adhesive. With xir captor unconscious, xe burrowed straight up through the igneous enclosure and toward that wonderful, hopeful feeling. Zipping around for the first time in at least a few months, xe relished the feeling of the warm alien air xe had grown used to in the last three years, not that time held much weight for xir kind.


    As if to disprove Plumeria''s argument, bursting out of the ground that stood above the Ruins of Hope, a powerful presence suddenly arrived to circle around the three of them. They shredded through pillars of stone jutting out of the irregular beachhead as a luminescent grin stayed pointing toward the humans. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?", Plumeria shouted, attempting to turn and follow the purple and fuchsia creature but failing to match their speed. "An ultra beast?", I asked, unsure of the words leaving my mouth. "An ultra beast.", Hapu confirmed with vitriol.


    "UB-06, Adhesive if I''m remembering correctly.", she went on, more academic now. "Why are you so smarmy about that!? And what do we do?!", Plumeria shouted as the adrenaline hit her again. The beast chose that instant to move in. In a snap the strange scaled thing was hovering giddily in front of my face, not attacking. Xir glowing "eyes", like shifting divots in the slick armor of the beast, beamed at me as UB-06 was content to fidget in the air in front of me.


    "Why''re they doing this?", I asked Hapu, a previously absent concern and vehemence touching my voice in the literal face of otherworldly terror. "I don''t know, but everything seems fine. Normally ultra beasts rampage when they''re in our world, but this one seems to have their head mostly screwed on. I guess they''re just better at handling the change in scenery?", she shakily offered. "And what would happen if this ultra beast thingie did go on a ''rampage''?", Plumeria asked from behind me, a harder question in my question game before Hapu would get the grand prize. Not so often we get a guest questioner. Hapu just pointed to one of the bored through pillars, then brought her arms out wide and stomped with both feet to set her conclusion. The action was more evocative than her words would have been. Plumeria was in shock, dropped head first in the consequences of her and her team''s actions, as the beast began to hover around me, accessing. "Are you sure it''s fine?!", I questioned further, my tone more exasperated than scared at the escalating ridiculousness of the situation.


    An instant later, Tapu Fini was back and snapping their shell around the beast. All eyes were on the guardian as they just stared at me. Plumeria was breathing heavy, Hapu was still with respect, but between me and Tapu Fini a strange feeling stretched out. They looked into me, seeming to notice something that had been too faint before now, drowned out or unremarkable or both. In that ethereal moment, where Hapu couldn''t see it, Tapu Fini''s hand sneaked out of their shell holding another sparkling stone, lacking the brilliant spectacle of Hapu''s. Years of felony and misdemeanor guided my hand, and with none the wiser I slipped the sparkling stone into a pocket. Just like that, Tapu Fini left again for their Ruins with the ultra beast in tow. "What was that look about?", Hapu asked with suspicion. "What look?", I asked, playing dumb. "That look from Tapu Fini.", Hapu pressed. "You''re the kahuna now, aren''t you the Tapu Fini expert here? You tell me what that look meant.", I pushed back.


    All the while, Plumeria stayed behind me, her once imposing stature shrinking with doubt. "Big sis?", I asked, noticing her sorry state. Hapu flashed a look of confusion before realizing that I wasn''t referring to her. Plumeria sighed, phlegm catching in her tired throat as she tried to steady herself. "I can''t even stand myself right now¡­", she managed, the words full of resignation. "What kind of numskull surrounds herself with dummies and thinks she''s smart? What was I thinking? Gladion''s just a kid, I out of anyone should know how stupid he is, and Guzma?!", she rambled before letting out a long, suffering sigh.


    Hapu just peered over my shoulder as I grabbed Plumeria''s hand. "What are you gonna do about it then?", I asked her firmly. "What?", she gasped. "What are you gonna do about it?", I asked again. Her face recoiled when she finally took in my question. She grabbed a love ball from her pocket, released her Salazzle, and the two curled around eachother in a hug as she began to cry. She hiccuped and babbled and gasped for air and dug her face into the scales of her partner as the make up ran in rivers down her cheeks. For my part, I backed away, grabbed Hapu by the shoulder, and lowered us both to the ground to wait for Plumeria.


    Used to long silences with eachother even after the years apart, Hapu and I waited several minutes for Plumeria with nothing but the sound of her crying and the waves crashing into the stone. I could tell from her face she was planning out everything that needed doing now that she was kahuna. I had my own things to think about as well, what would I do now that I presumably wasn''t a part of Team Skull?


    ''I guess I could stay in Team Skull, do something about the guardian deities from the inside and keep in touch with my friends. But is that what I want?'', came my first question to myself. The answer was obvious. ''No. I joined the Team to get stronger, to be independent, to do what I wanted to without question. The plan got in the way of that, but I shrugged it off. I shouldn''t''ve done that. But what do I do if not stay? What was my plan originally?'' My mind went back to the night I first caught Kawami, the mental rush and chatting through the night. ''I''ll take the island challenge. Then I''ll become a professional trainer. Maybe I could be a move tutor? Whatever. The long-term plans don''t matter. Just take the challenge, simple. Now how do I get big bad Kahuna Hapu to let me do that?'' Then, excitedly, my fist clenched around the sparkling stone and I smiled.


    Finally, Plumeria sniffled, Salazzle drying her tears as she composed herself. "I''m done.", she declared. "Guzma will be mad, but fuck that thickskulled dipshit. I have a place to hide away, if they find me anyway who cares. Call Eva for me Kau''i, I may be leaving the Team but those dummies don''t deserve to be left starving again. I''ll buy supplies and have her ''steal'' them.", she explained. Then, she reached up to her head, pulling the skull hair clips free and chucking them underhand into the air. "Sludge Bomb.", she ordered, and the hair clips were melted into slurry, falling to the ground.


    Next, she turned to me. "One last thing. This is my way of saying sorry, okay? I''m in no place to raise a baby pok¨¦mon right now. Take care of our little princess.", she said solemnly, before pulling an egg from the bag on her back. It was a grey lavender tone with pink flame patterns wreathing it. It was a Salandit egg. "What!? I can''t¡­", I blurted as the egg was pushed into my hands. "Take. It.", she insisted, poison on her tongue. "So she can steal with ease but hates gifts. How counter-cultural.", Hapu of all people joked. "Fine! Fine.", I said, exasperated. "Thank you, big sis. I''ll see ya later, okay?", I pushed. "Yeah, I''ll see ya.", she said before hugging me awkwardly around the egg.


    Then she switched her Salazzle for her Golbat, attached her harness and flew off. Hapu turned to me, a contented smile on her face. "And what are your plans Kau''i?", she asked. "Take the island challenge.", I replied curtly. "Not for another year, you''re still just 10.", she replied, unphased. Then I pulled the sparkling stone from my pocket and she groaned. "Chosen by the guardian deity?! You uppity little shit! Going right to my boss already!?", she swore at the sky. ''Two in a day, that''s a new record!''

 Chapter 16 - Begin Again

    I clutched quietly to the Salandit egg as we walked back to the Ancient Poni Path. Hapu was chattering, nose to the grindstone, as she worked out her kahuna duties. First came her explanations to the League and International Police, which shifted from Hapu''s sober retelling of events as the poor person taking the call freaked out, to an action plan for being the new kahuna discussed with the higher ups that took over the call. Then it was onto local authorities and those in charge of different aspects of festivities. Even with such a tall tail, at no point did anyone question Hapu''s testimony or her new position as kahuna.


    "I need to focus on the end of festival season.", she said to the chief of the Seafolk Village, "The Tapus are strong, they will make it. And if we want to release the guardians from their capture, we require a coordinated assault of many high level trainers, which we do not have at this time. If I am to be absent during the opening of my first island challenge season as kahuna I will either need to tell the people why, which will cause an uproar, or I''ll be seen as another Nanu." This was not the first time she had to explain this, and at no point had it been easy. I just kept my head down, projecting the same energy as all those rides on Mah¨¡ back in the day.


    We traveled west, through the east side of town beyond which my hovel lay. We passed the occasional Team Skull grunt, attempting to hide and make it back to Po Town to live another day and forget this failure had ever happened, before we made it to the familiar ruin walls and fences of Hapu and Hama''s ranch. Hapu rushed to the end of her current call with a representative from the Battle Tree, shot a text to Hama, then slapped the skull cap from my head and flicked the chain into my chest.


    I took the hint, removing the accessories marking me as a definite member of Team Skull. Still, with the colored hair, tattoos, piercings, and all black and white clothes it wasn''t really doing much, especially on a 10 year old girl. They''re not really the target demographic for that stuff usually. "I guess you''ll go back to calling it Kahuna Ranch huh?", I asked as I stuffed the offending items in my pants pockets. "I guess so.", she replied distantly. All cleaned up, Hapu looked at me and straightforwardly asked, "Are you ready?" I nodded, bringing the egg in close to my chest as we approached the door. "Hapu? Can you explain why you''re back so late? It''s just a routine prayer, you should''ve been back an hour and a half ago.", came Hama''s voice from down the hallway.


    I paused in the short entryway. Seeing the house I spent so much of my life in, I was filled with ennui. In spite of the overwhelming air of regret the whole morning had carried, I didn''t regret what I did here. Frozen, staring down the hallway as Hama walked toward us, I only wished I had let myself enjoy those times instead of focusing entirely on the tomorrow. In that moment, Hama had the same expression as she stared at me.


    "Kau''i.", Hama said, like my presence there was as certain as snow on Mount Lanakila, "How have you been?" "I could''ve been better.", I said, honestly answering her thousand little questions. "Well you''re here now.", she replied succinctly. I wasn''t the most emotionally intelligent, but I knew Hama well enough and Hama knew me well enough. There was no need to spell out the subtext. "Let''s sit down, we''ll talk about what happened.", Hama invited.


    And we did. Hapu quickly explained what had happened from her perspective, the grunts coming in to overpower Tapu Fini, fending them off for a time, seeing me in Team Skull uniform, and being struck by Salazzle''s attack. Then, the reins were handed to me.


    "I should start a bit earlier. Team Skull wasn''t this bad when I joined, just misfits working together to carve out a place for themselves. The Team changed when the League arrested Lusamine, she was funding the Team and without that money alot of the grunts started going hungry. Me and my friends helped with that in our own way, but Guzma was pissed about it. Just as we had adjusted to making do without the money and the mood started to turn up, in walks Lusamine''s son, Gladion, to give us a plan for revenge against the League and join the Team."


    Hama and Hapu were both hanging on every word. I cleared my throat nervously, then continued. "Over the last few years, Team Skull has planned out the attacks that happened this morning, as well as stealing as many Z-Crystals as possible. This didn''t happen just before the change of seasons, when the League, trial captains, and kahunas would be busy with holiday preparations, for no reason, and us grunts didn''t call it the plan for nothing. By taking the guardian deities and the League''s Z-Crystals, the League would be left without any protection, just like we were. That sort of thing is exactly what most Team Skull members were getting away from by joining."


    I stopped myself briefly. "No offense.", I said lamely, having realized the implication about Hama and Hapu from what I had just said. Hapu urged me to go on with a twirl of her hand, and so I did. I explained my side of the day''s events, from the early rise up until Hapu''s Kahuna ceremony where I motioned for her to take over in turn. I would not break the news for her, that was her right. "Of course.", she said to me, accepting the role of storyteller again and continuing on.


    "As I was approaching Kau''i and that Plumeria lady to give them a talking to, Tapu Fini stopped me." Hama looked between us, shocked but hesitant, already guessing what had happened but wanting Hapu to say it in full. "They guided me to the altar, and produced this for me.", Hapu said, pulling out the sparkling stone. Hama smiled a brilliant white, getting up from her chair to lean down and hug Hapu. "Congratulations, Kahuna Hapu.", Hama said clearly, even as her eyes frosted over with tears of joy.


    At that, Hapu seemed to let out all the excitement, relief, and accomplishment she had been holding back. Her bulwark defense crumbled to soft powder as she held Hama tighter, tearing up, laughing, and bursting with the occasional whoop of victory. I had been told that Hapu was different when I was around, less stiff, less elderly in her manners. I guessed then that Hama had a similar ability to affect her so thoroughly. While I put her on the offensive just by hanging around, Hama could tear her guard down entirely whenever she wanted to, which she rarely did.


    "Sofu would be so proud.", Hama whispered into Hapu''s ear as their embrace loosened. At the mention of her grandfather''s name, Hapu''s tears finally streamed down her dusty, determined face. "He would be.", Hapu said appreciatively. "Kind of a moot point since he would''ve had to die either way for you to become kahuna, but yeah, he''d be proud.", I interjected, clapping the tiny kahuna on the back. "This is not the time! Plus, you wouldn''t even know! You never met him!", Hapu shouted, beginning to chuckle again.


    <hr>


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    "Pull Toma! Pull!", I shouted to the Spinarak. The face shaped pattern on his back was in the usual cheery smile, with angry eyebrows added to show his effort, as he gripped tightly to the thread that dragged the stage equipment behind him.


    We had worked on Toma''s aim while I was in Team Skull, and I was sure he had fully developed his hidden ability, Sniper, but his physical strength had taken a backseat. I had learned in training his other ability, Swarm, that bug-types tended to be extreme team-players, and with Toma''s jolly disposition this was doubly true. And so I was using the social event as an opportunity to train Toma even harder with the added motivation of helping people have a great day.


    We were preparing the stage and surrounding area for Alola Day, the grand event that marked the end of festival season and the beginning of the island challenge. Already, children near my age were practicing for the various games that would be played. In the old days, the games had higher stakes and were much more dangerous, but now they were simple affairs. Trophies and prizes were up for grabs for swimming, wrestling, battling, Mantine surfing, and a dozen other things. Apparently other islands with more volcanic terrain even had lava sledding. There were challengers for both the child and adult competitions vying for each and every prize. For every competition that had existed for a thousand years, there was one that had been introduced in the last fifty to keep the newer generations engaged with the tradition. Poni Island''s Alola Day festival was the least changed from its ancient form, but some adjustments are inevitable.


    Least changed of all were the mental games, challenges of wit and memory that had been proffered to the people of Alola for a millennia. In the betting pools I had helped set up, Kahuna Hapu was the clear favorite for winning all of these, so much so that her position of kahuna had been used as an excuse to place her in the adult competition, to give the other kids a chance. Her overwhelming knowledge of Alolan history, literature, native pok¨¦mon, and religion had been clear since before I could remember. The only mental game anyone had a chance against her in was the riddles.


    I had no inclination to participate in any of it. Maybe I''d do some pok¨¦mon battles this year, but the other kids hardly deserved some weirdo sweeping through the entire competition at what would be the first opportunity for battling for many of them. Most of my time would be coordinating with Kawami to stock up on as much festival food as possible for our approaching journey.


    Finally, Toma had got the crate in the right spot. "Aaaaand done! Great work Toma, let''s take a break."


    <hr>


    As the sun was setting, the crescent moon just a small ways higher in the sky, Hapu and the chiefs of the villages of Poni pushed a canoe filled with offerings to Tapu Fini adrift out at sea. As the crowd watched their boat return to the humble beach where the festivities were held, everyone held their breath. Hapu placed her foot back on solid ground and my team and I immediately tackled her. The chiefs were all dogpiled in a similar manner. Of all the traditions, this one I would never miss out on. Originally, people had their pok¨¦mon send attacks at the returning chiefs. To make it through was proof that they deserved to rule. That original intent was very stupid in my opinion, but I couldn''t be happier with how it had been adapted as I gave Hapu an affectionate noogie under the mass of bodies.


    Upon the meat cluster breaking apart, Hapu headed again for the stage, while I headed back to Hama at our table. We watched as a few lucky new trainers were given the option of a Mudbray, Crabrawler, or Exeggcute as their first ever pok¨¦mon. Each one was ecstatic. I gave Kawami some ear scritches in appreciation of everything she''d done for me as we both held onto the egg. Once the last of the newcomers had received their starters, Hapu prepared for another stint at the podium.


    "People of Poni Island, from your new kahuna, welcome to Island Challenge Season 2017!", Hapu announced. Rising out of the waves to watch the event was Tapu Fini. The crowd cheered, all ages of people shouting out to greet the new season. Despite my usual aversion to cheering, I joined in, even if it was just for myself. Then, Hapu left the stage and returned to sit with us while Tapu Fini swam idly above the grounds.


    "Kau''i, I hope you understand the weight of taking on your island challenge. It will not be easy.", Hama said once we were all focused again on eachother. "I don''t expect it to be.", I replied flatly. "You shouldn''t.", Hapu butted in, "I''ve spoken with Nanu to arrange a team of Meowth to follow you and ensure that by no means do you leave Poni Island before you''ve done all there is for a trial-goer to do here."


    "So what are your plans then, knowing that?", Hapu asked me. "I think I''ll train in the Vast Poni Canyon, take on the trial there, and come back ready to impress for Mina''s trial. Then I''ll beat up your team Hapu, and move on to Melemele. I wasn''t going to skip Poni Island anyway, so you can call off the cats.", I explained. Hapu looked at me amusedly, saying with just her face, ''I don''t trust you for a second without those Meowth.''


    "Kau''i! The Vast Poni Canyon is incredibly dangerous, fearsome pok¨¦mon live around every corner, and there''s no access to a Pok¨¦mon Center for miles. The Dragon-Type trial at it''s deepest reaches isn''t staffed by a captain, and the totem pok¨¦mon is not fond of kids wandering thoughtlessly into his den. It shouldn''t be any trial-goer''s first trial.", Hama insisted.


    "Good thing I''m prepared for all that. An incredibly dangerous area, with fearsome pok¨¦mon around every corner, no access to a Pok¨¦mon Center, trials with no guidance, and places I should never be caught in? When you''re a criminal, that''s just how you describe every city. Plus! There''ll be plenty of weaker wild pok¨¦mon to train with, which, due to my experience going without professional healing, I can do without permanently injuring the wild pok¨¦mon! It''s a win-win."


    The kahuna and her grandmother just glared at me. "I also stocked up on potions," I excused, "just in case.", I added in a joking tone. I carefully pulled a potion from my bag that didn''t still have an antitheft clip on it to prove my point. They were unimpressed, stone cold solid. "Well if you have a better plan, do go on.", I mocked.


    <hr>


    I checked my bag one last time. All my travel stuff, hammock, potions, etcetera, etcetera¡­ Check! No holes in the bags or my pockets¡­ Check. Finally, I went out to the bathroom to check myself in the mirror. My face was as clean as it had been for years, a glistening and slightly scarred oval shape. My cheeks were perpetually speckled and a bit flushed. I had taken the opportunity to mooch, so my hair was freshly washed and dyed cyan and magenta again, though it was only a matter of time until it was a mess again. I had in my trashiest can tab earrings, the two studs in my left ear were a skull and crossbones respectively, and I had opted for spiky ends on both the center and left nose ring.


    I wore no skull cap or chain, and the crossbone strip tank top was partially covered with an ancient olive-brown aviator jacket with fluffy white trim. I hadn''t stolen the jacket, but I bought it from a secondhand store for so cheap it might as well have been stealing. As much as I loved the long white dress Toma had spun for me, with the hiking we''d be doing I had reached instead for the pair of old black and white sweatpants another grunt had handed down to me that had been handed down to her before that. All the tag said on it was "grunt", which was completely unhelpful in deciphering its origins beyond the grunt that gave it to me. My tattoos were almost all covered up, except the piece on my collar bone of a cartoonish trash can and a practice piece on my neck. Thankfully it was not Rich''s practice piece.


    I adjusted the shoulder bag, since I couldn''t hang the strap across my chest with the backpack on as well, and then I was off. I pulled Toma out of his newest project and attached him to the back of my backpack, whistled for Kawami to get out of the kitchen, and lifted the Salandit egg into my arms. With the whole team present, I entered the dining room. "I''ll be going now.", I said to Hama. "Wait just a moment Kau''i, I have something for you.", she replied.


    She shoveled through a few drawers in the corner of the kitchen before wrapping her fist around something and moving to stand in front of me. I set the egg down on the table, and she set a crystal gently in my hand. I gave it a thorough inspection, recognizing it as Icium Z. The Z-Crystal stuck to my hand as I raised my head to meet Hama''s gaze. "For everything you''ve been through, Kau''i. Best of luck on your journey, and take care of yourself, yeah?", Hama requested. "You got it, grandma."

 Chapter 17 - Keeping Quiet

    "Before we get on with it, how ''bout a reunion Kawami?", I offered my partner. She turned to me, mouth agape. That wasn''t particularly special, but she was shocked. Then, she bobbed her enthusiastic ascent and moved ahead to guide us to her old cave. We clambered through the underbrush and bits of ruin for a good while before finally reaching that familiar river of filth that was the hallmark of Kawami''s old home. Kawami went straight into the dark opening. "A ladder if you will, my good man!", I unseriously ordered Toma. He hopped right to it, literally jumping from my back and spitting webbing out onto the wall to catch himself. Before long, I was climbing to meet Kawami''s family.


    I crouched slightly as I scuttled deeper into the cave, the yellow-brown walls of the cliffs giving way to the dark tunnel. I didn''t dare pull out my flashlight and upset the Zubats, instead waiting by the entrance for my eyes to adjust. Then, I slithered my way deeper in, past a few tiny stalactites poking my head, to a larger chamber where the Zubats slept. Kawami was fluttering around in circles below the carpet of sleeping Zubats hanging from the low ceiling, making a racket that earned her Mean Looks from some of her ramshackle family.


    As I entered however, the Zubats seemed to finally take notice. They swiveled their ears and turned to me, some falling in controlled spirals from the stone to fly over and inspect me up close. The room was filled with the faint ringing of their echolocation. I gave a small wave and sat back on my butt to avoid knocking any of them with my head, then scooted across the floor to where my friendly Golbat gesticulated haphazardly at me. I moved my mouth without entoning the words, to not grate on the tired Zubats'' sensitive ears.


    "Hi. I''m Kau''i, I became Kawami''s trainer a few years ago, but I never met the rest of you. Sorry for taking her away so suddenly, but given her personality I''m sure that wasn''t much of a surprise." Kawami gave me a big frown after hearing that, but I went on, "If you have any questions on how she got so strong, go ahead and ask her now, cause we''ll be working to make her even stronger as I take on my island challenge this year."


    The Zubats stirred and trilled between eachother for another few seconds before seeming to focus all their attention on Kawami. I just sat back smiling as she frantically tried to answer every one of the dozen questions coming at her every second. As the cacophony continued, Toma wandered in to greet the ramshackle and the Zubats'' focus split. A few minutes later, after the ruckus had finally died down, I pulled a bag of berry slices from my backpack, already bruised in transit, and handed a slice out to each of the Zubats. With the Mean Looks put aside, we made our exit in good spirits.


    Toma took down his ladder so Kawami''s family wouldn''t be bothered by wild pok¨¦mon using it, and we were on our way. The Spinarak crawled along the cliff face next to us as we walked to the Vast Poni Canyon''s vast maw, giving me two contented smiles at once. Kawami just lazily clung to the top of the egg in my arms.


    As we approached, the plateau seemed like a pair of chapped lips emerging from the earth, the geological structure formally called a canyon, upon coming into view, appeared more like Groudon''s ancient jaws stretched wide to swallow up the sky. The enormous walls of multicolored layers of stone towered over us with a coincidental bridge of sharp rock that connected the two masses of compressed history. The arch seemed small from the bottom of the canyon, but taking the distance into account, it was easily 20 feet thick. In the distance, before the ravine sloped steeply upward, was an ancient gnarled tree standing alone in what at one point was presumably a riverbed or flow channel of some sort.


    Toma''s face pattern shifted to an impression of Kawami''s extremely wide mouthed awe. "Have a bit of fun you two, this is the only safe part of the canyon. I''ll get to that tree, take a break, then we''re moving on to the dangerous parts.", I told them. Toma gave Kawami a look of, "I have a plan" with his more dexterous buggy face, and Kawami promptly flew away with Toma connected by a thread. My boots, which had been given to me mostly as a fashion piece, cushioned my feet expertly from the coarse ground as I stayed the course to the tree.


    I sat down under the meager shade of the dead branches, resting my chin on the Salandit egg. "Nice and quiet, isn''t it?", I asked her. She couldn''t respond of course, but it was common knowledge that pok¨¦mon were somewhat aware of what happened outside their eggs. "I''ve been thinking about what name to give you.", I told her, watching Toma shoot complex web fireworks out as Kawami swung him around. "How''s Waiola sound? Wai means water, and Ola is life, so ''Water of Life''. Pretty good for a Poison and Fire-type, right?", I chuckled at my own joke. No response came from the egg, but I wasn''t bothered, I simply stewed in the peace of the moment.


    When Toma finally directed Kawami to meet back up with me, I returned the two to their balls and started into the cave entrance behind the tree. Bringing out my flashlight for this early incursion into the dark depths of the stone, I surveyed my surroundings. To my left a solid slab of hard rock stood upright in front of a seemingly bottomless shaft. Peering through the crack between the slab and the wall to see beyond the shaft, I spotted a few dark passages turning out of view. To make it to the other side, you''d need to both circumvent the slab and cross the gap, which would best be done by knocking the several tons of rock over the gap to form a bridge, something completely out of my wheelhouse.


    Directly in front of the entrance, the cave wormed its way up and to the right. With seemingly no other options, at least none that got me any closer to the trial at the end of the canyon, I pressed forward. Just past where someone could see from the entrance, the path upward was blocked by a huge boulder caught as if mid-roll in the tight tunnel. With no gaps large enough to fit the egg through, the only way forward here was to smash right through the thing. Even with its softer material, relative to the stone slab, it was out of the question for me and my team to tunnel through.


    "Well shit. Great start to a journey huh?", I mused. Already beginning to plan, I brought my teammates back out. "Alright guys, we''ve got our first roadblock, and I mean that literally. This way, there''s a huge slab in front of a chasm, and down the tunnel is a big honkin'' boulder stuck in the path. We''ve got to come up with plans to deal with one or the other, but I don''t think we can do either as we are. Kawami, Toma, which do you each think you can handle?"


    Toma gave an unsure gesture while Kawami flew off to uselessly attack the boulder. Without actual ideas, I pulled the beaten stray textbook from my shoulder bag and paged through to the litany of scrap-paper tabs for moves my pok¨¦mon could learn naturally. I already knew the ones we were anywhere close to learning, and none of them stood out as solutions to our problems. Maybe working towards Toma''s evolution for Swords Dance could work in a different scenario, but he didn''t have any suitably powerful physical attacks to destroy a boulder.


    Not yet out of options, I moved to the I''s of the ability section. In the margin of the page detailing Inner Focus, I had copied down notable TM and egg moves for Kawami. I had done the same for Toma on the page for Insomnia. With these notes, I began to work toward a plan. Two moves, one for each pok¨¦mon and one for each big annoying rock. Kawami would work towards Steel Wing, a powerful Steel-Type attack that would allow her to cut away at the boulder. Toma would try learning Acid Spray, a Poison-Type ranged attack that weakens its target''s resistance. With it we would wear down the massive slab and break it to bits, then just cross the gap with one of Toma''s handy webs.


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    With the training regiment set, I explained the idea to the team and set up a cute little battery-powered night light I''d found lying on the side of the road once and a blanket to sit down on while they got to it. "Acid Spray isn''t gonna be some fancy ball of goo for you, Toma! You''re not a Grimer! Think about it more like spitting up stomach acid the way you do thread. Vomit attack!", I advised. Toma briefly showed disgust on both faces at the perversion of his nature as the string spit pok¨¦mon, but steadied himself and returned to face the slab.


    With confidence that Toma could handle himself in the empty cave, I took the night light with me to check on Kawami''s early progress. It was bad. With each thrust of her wings to attempt the Steel-Type move, she either sent out an Air Cutter that curved ineffectually around the rock, or hurt herself with a Wing Attack directly into the surface of it. "It''s not a Flying-Type move Kawami.", I chided "You need to make your wings hard like metal, ya know, uh... pointy. A bit... flexible? Ok maybe I shouldn''t help with this one, I don''t get Steel-Types either. Just try hardening your wings with Steel-Type energy without attacking first, so you don''t hurt yourself, ''kay?"


    She lowered herself to her feet, and then saluted. I smiled, gave her an overpowering head rub the way she likes, and went back to watching Toma''s slow progress choking rancidly on nothing. The day passed just like that, nothing big, just training to take down some big stinkin'' rocks. When the sun went from pouring very little light to no light into the cave, we shared a small meal and moved to sleep under the safety of the dead tree.


    Toma was perfectly in his lane setting up an invisibly thin network of detecting webs encompassing us like a bubble, and even more ecstatic when I told him to close off the exits. The canopy became the hub of the expansive web that stretched up, to cover against the flying pok¨¦mon of the canyon, out, for anything exiting the myriad small caves and burrows in the walls, and across the ground, as first warning of a burrowing threat. With the nonexistent traffic in the early days of the island challenge season, we had free reign of the area.As Kawami and I wrapped around the egg to keep it warm through the night, Toma seemed to almost be meditating in the center of his web.


    <hr>


    I woke up with a stretch, accidentally rolling the egg on top of Kawami as she tried to sleep. I lazily lifted it out of her forced open mouth and wiped it down with the fabric of my tank top as I sat up. Toma crawled down to greet us and I gave him our battle signal for taking down his webs, since I was too tired for words. Toma and I completed our halves of cleaning up camp at the same time, and I got in my first words of the day. "Back to it...", I yawned.


    We entered the cave again and I set down the egg to begin surveying our progress. Kawami had not learned to use Steel Wing in the slightest. In her "training" of Steel Wing, she would move from standing still grinding her teeth together trying to solidify her wings, and recklessly throwing herself at the boulder to no avail. There was more to it than that though. When she stood still for long enough her body seemed to suck in any light in the area and her movements became sluggish. Conversely, when she attacked the boulder she seemed to glow a faint red and her high pitched echolocation shrieks turned into a low rumble that resonated in the cave. Instead of learning Steel Wing, she had learned Curse and Frustration.


    The new moves were nearly impossible to apply to Kawami''s fighting style. Curse would turn the normally fast and flighty pok¨¦mon into a slow moving tank, and Kawami just didn''t have the attacks to make use of both the boost in physical power and resistance with the lowered speed. Frustration was most effective when the pok¨¦mon didn''t like their trainer, which I hated on several levels. Most obviously, I wanted my friend to like me, but also a Golbat would only evolve into a Crobat when that bond between trainer and pok¨¦mon was unbreakably strong. If she had learned Return, Frustration''s opposite, I would be bouncing off the walls, but as it happens, Frustration would be entirely unusable going forward. Still, Kawami had taught herself an egg move and a TM move without any guidance.


    "Good work Kawami!", I said, wrapping her in a hug. She wrapped her wings around me, then paused, looking up at me confused. "You learned Curse and Frustration, two moves that are hard to learn for a Golbat. It''s no Steel Wing, but you''ve done alot! Come on, we''ll let Toma deal with the slab while you take a break." She hugged a bit tighter and we returned to watch Toma''s progress.


    Reclining again across the blanket while warming the egg, we watched as Toma dribbled a pale ochre liquid from his mouth and down his mandibles. Occasionally, he would flick it out from the mandibles, sending it sizzling down the surface of the stone. I began advising again, "Alright, you''ve got the basics Toma. There are three things I think you''re getting wrong though. First, you need more acid, that should come with time using the move but it is pretty damn important. Something to work on more actively is your technique, you need to be sending the acid outwards on its own without using your mandibles. It''s a special attack, not a physical one, you''ll just end up hurting yourself. Last, it''s not just acid, it''s an Acid Spray. You need to spread it out to really scour the target for that defense weakening effect. You got all that?"


    Toma nodded, and tried to follow my instructions all at once, creating the same awful choking noise as the day before. "Stop! Stop! Stop!", I shouted, "That''s not gonna work right away Toma! How about you try creating a spray with your webbing first, then work up your acid capacity until you can do it with that? Ok?" Again, Toma nodded and got back to practicing. It progressed like that for the next few hours, correcting Toma''s bad habits when it came to special attacks as the slab slowly melted away.


    <hr>


    "Ok Toma you got this! Give it to ''em!", I encouraged, Kawami squeaking along with my sentiment. The spider reeled back dramatically, the goofy smile on his back belying his true feelings, and spewed forth a neon rain at the withered rock. The mass of stone creaked under its own weight, and I saw our path nearly open. "Air Cutter!", I called, and Kawami blasted the weak point that Toma had created, causing the rock to crumble uproariously into pieces on the cave floor. I gave the egg a little pat, watching  as the remains of the prospective bridge were swept into the pit by another Air Cutter and Toma began to build his bridge of sturdy webbing.


    Then, a low rumbling sound came from up the tunnel and started towards us. "OH SHIT! GO! GO! GO!", I yelled to the team. I handed Kawami the egg, her feet coming up awkwardly to secure it in her mouth as she flew it to the other side of the dark shaft. "TOMA! FAST BRIDGE!", I called urgently as the rumbling got louder and louder. He paused the complex construction he had been building, instead shooting two thick ropes of webbing parallel to eachother and hastily connecting the two to form a horizontal ladder over the abyss. I gave him a worried expression, but he just ushered me forward with an exoskeletal leg.


    Out of the corner of my eye, the glittering flash of gold hit me and my hesitation melted away. As the rushing Dugtrio drew nearer, I practically ran onto the half-cocked bridge. The unstable structure bent under my weight and I fell onto it, clutching the handholds like I was digging claws into a wild pok¨¦mon threatening my life. The flashlight I had been holding spun impossibly far down the hole, breaking against the side before ever reaching the bottom. Then, the Dugtrio arrived at the edge of the abyss, its shimmering metal hairs the only light illuminating the darkness.


    I wrapped myself around each strut of the ladder, filled with terror. The Dugtrio of the Vast Poni Canyon were infamous for ambushing unsuspecting trainers, tossing them around the tunnel system like beans in a maraca. The pit stopped this one''s approach, but it was no less set on handing my ass to me. The point where the ladder was anchored on the Dugtrio''s side of the bridge twisted on its control of the earth, forcing me to either switch over the ends of it or hang from the webs over the unending drop for parts of the way to make it across. The threats didn''t stop there, the Dugtrio jostling up and down to create a mighty Earthquake that would have shook me free of my lifeline if it weren''t for my adrenaline fueled death-grip.


    "CUT THAT SIDE OF THE BRIDGE FREE!", I screamed. Kawami rushed to action, flying over and using an Air Cutter to sever the bridge from the earth where the Dugtrio emerged. The webbing dropped, slapping me coldly into the wall of the pit. The breath was knocked out of me as my body sorely hung from its tangled position caught in my friend''s very helpful web. I faintly saw Kawami uncautiously swoop closer to the Dugtrio and put it to sleep with a Hypnosis.


    When Toma and Kawami pulled me up from the wall, I let out a suffering sigh and picked myself up. "Onwards and upwards.", I declared tiredly, and began walking deeper into the caves, pulling out another flashlight.

 Chapter 18 - Ruff Patch

    I understood why the Zubat line''s ability to scout in pitch darkness was so discussed as I sent Kawami ahead yet again to check for wild pok¨¦mon we couldn''t handle. After the first Roggenrola we ran into had nearly defeated both Kawami and Toma fighting together, necessitating a stop to lick our wounds, I didn''t hesitate to use caution. Plus, with Golbat being natively abundant, Kawami blended into the crowd when separate from a trainer.


    The report came in, an exit ahead on our right guarded by a slow-moving Boldore and more tunnel to the left. I sighed, picked myself and the egg back up, and began moving left. The tunnel continued on in a switchback route, getting tighter and tighter until I was crouching and walking almost entirely with my calves before I saw light. Getting closer, I carefully moved to not hit the egg with my knees as I emerged out of the cave system.


    We were just above where we had entered, at the top of the steep slope below which the tree lay. As you got closer to the back of the canyon water grew more abundant, and the first signs of that were underfoot. A barely noticeable footpath was overgrown with plants barely clinging to life, leading across the canyon to another small opening in the opposite face. "Anything gonna pop out of the spooky tall grass at us?", I asked Kawami. Just then, a small Howl shouted from the grass.


    "Confuse Ray first, think later!", I jumped. Kawami darted right toward the origin of the Howl, clearing the weeds to reveal a Rockruff standing defiantly against us intruding on her territory. As Kawami''s eyes locked with the puppy pok¨¦mon''s, the dog lunged uncaringly through the Confuse Ray to Bite her wing. Rockruff''s Own Tempo had protected her from confusion, but Kawami''s Inner Focus had protected her from flinching in turn.


    Realizing the disadvantage we were at, I sent Toma out to join the fight. "Acid Spray and Hypnosis!", I ordered, plans flooding my brain with each beat of my heart like an infection. A Rock-Type move would destroy my Bug and Flying-Type teammates in the worst case, so disabling the opponent''s ability to attack at all was our top priority. When Kawami dropped suddenly from the sky and onto her feet to catch the Rockruff''s gaze, she was stiffly ignored as the Rockruff shifted her weight into a Sand Attack that caught the Spray of Acid before it ever reached its target.


    "Catch her off guard, Whatever comes to mind!", I bargained. As Toma jumped to hang from Kawami and combine their efforts, the Rockruff did not waiver. The dirty dog stamped down, bringing a miniature version of the craggy landscape out of the ground and kicking it at my grouped up pok¨¦mon. Exactly what I feared came to pass, and the Rock Tomb made two pok¨¦mon faint with one stone.


    As I hazily returned my friends to rest in their balls, the Rockruff did not continue attacking. Instead, she sauntered around me, yipping as if recounting every mistake I had made in the battle. "Oh screw you!", I spat. The wild mutt just stuck her tongue out at me. I went on down the path, bitter and agitated, but for some reason the wild thing followed behind me. I turned on it, "What is this? Some kind of game?!" Her head tilted in fake ignorance, and with no further response, I resigned myself to this fate.


    On the other side of the dying grass was another cave. As I got close, my captor went ahead of me into the darkness. A tight chamber lay there, hidden from the harsh heat of the canyon, with a bore hole in one corner that seemed to have been carved out by a Carbink. The Rockruff just curled up on the sharp rocky floor, laying her chin down comfortably. I brought out the blanket I''d used before and joined the mischievous mutt, but it did nothing to cushion me.


    "You did that all on purpose didn''t you?", I interrogated the thing, now that we were apparently on speaking terms. She didn''t respond. "You didn''t use Rock Tomb or even Rock Throw first, you opened with Bite to extend the fight out. You challenged yourself with that move with the Sand Attack, then finished the fight once you were happy with yourself. You even Howled in the outset to guarantee an advantage!", I accused. She shifted her head towards me and shot a look of "Who, me? I''d never.", feigning ignorance like it wasn''t just second nature but her fundamental being.


    "Oh don''t act cute, I bet you''re sticking near me just to get more experience out of my team.", I added. She just laughed a yelping laugh and went back to lounging. ''At least I don''t think she''s trying to use me for my training method of working with the wild pok¨¦mon. A dog isn''t smart enough to figure that out.'', I thought as I sat back. There was nothing to do but wait for my team to get the proper rest, so I leaned against the mostly smooth wall and napped a while.


    <hr>


    I woke with a crick in my back, groaning in pain. ''This journey stuff is actually pretty rough. I wonder how all those kids in the lap of luxury deal with this stuff. Nothing for it I guess.'', I thought. Getting up, I pulled a potion and some berries from my back and let Kawami and Toma out of their balls. Upon seeing her assailant, Kawami tried to fly at her and release her Frustration on the sly dog, only to find her wings non-operational. Toma just rotated his body to look at her and then at me, and upon finding no aggression toward the puppy, went up to introduce himself. The thing just chuckled and offered a paw to shake.


    "Kawami, Rockruff. Rockruff, Kawami. And his name is Toma. Rockruff is using us for battle experience, so don''t be surprised when she follows us around and picks a fight.", I said, formally introducing everyone to our predicament. With a hand signal, I motioned for Kawami to only tell me if a pok¨¦mon was spotted in a way Rockruff wouldn''t understand going forward. It wasn''t the first time I had needed to obfuscate orders from an opponent, and it wouldn''t be the last.


    I got my team fed and ready, and again faced with a tight spot, this time quite literally, I readied everything. Kawami and Toma returned to their balls, and my bags were placed in front of the bore hole, the egg now wrapped in the blanket snuggly in my arms. Rockruff watched with amusement from one eye as I began to push my stuff, my unborn companion, and myself up the tube of rock.


    The rough surface grated my skin as I slowly shimmied forward on my forearms and calves. The egg pressed onto my head and the pitch dark drew my focus to all my other senses. The stink of sweat and heat of my breath caught between my face and my and the blanket, the sound of my clothes being ground open on the stone, the taste of spit and accumulated dust, the sore spot on my back agitated with each scrape against the tunnel. I felt like a parasite trying desperately to get swallowed, a flower ground under mortar and pestle into a fine powder dye, or perhaps a poisonous liquid spread across the dirt until it is diluted so thoroughly it may as well no longer exist.


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    A bead of sweat slipped into my mouth, the salty taste jolting me back into focus as I heard my satchel bag tumble away into the wider cavern above. With newfound vigor, I pushed again, shoving the backpack out of the way and wrestling myself out of the claustrophobic liminal space while clutching the egg like an uptight woman with her pearls. Sprawled out on the floor of a pitch black cave, I released Kawami and mouthed, "Check for threats."


    I heard a pitter-patter behind me and gave a venomous click of my tongue as the small Rockruff waltzed out of the tunnel without a scratch. Then she shook herself off, something Rockruffs don''t normally do because of their affinity for rocks and sand in their fur, sending a wave of muck at me. My body ached as I turned on my flashlight to see her irritating puppy dog eyes.


    When all was back in order, we continued through the cave to hopefully reach a normal route to the trial site. We made our way over the razor sharp floors and through mazes of gigantic floor-to-ceiling stalagmites for what I guessed was 4 hours. I had no way to know for sure since every watch I had stolen had been sold thereafter and every one I''d found in the trash or on the ground was already broken. The whole trip Kawami went ahead of us and back again as we kept moving, relaying her scouting information each time so we wouldn''t be caught with our pants down in front of any wild pok¨¦mon, least of all Rockruff. I was unsure which direction we had gone in, only that we''d headed out.


    Seeing the sun again, the cave mouth opened to the capital V Vast landscape once more. We found ourselves on just one shelf of the ever rising cliffs, overlooking the gnarled tree where the journey had kicked off. "WE COULD''VE JUST BUILT A WEB LADDER THAT WHOLE TIME!?", I gawked. Rockruff snickered as my baffled shout echoed back to us from the surrounding canyon walls. Searching the shelves, we found two more caves and no direct routes. The first was south above the entrance to the Vast Poni Canyon, on the eastern cliff-face where we came out. Across the sharp rock bridge I''d seen from below was the second cave. With nothing else to go off of, I guided us into the second cave, since it was closer to our destination on the northern edge of the canyon based on pure distance.


    We walked down an unwavering path, splitting for small lengths and joining back up inconsequentially, worming its way down and to the left in a spiral. Before we could find an exit, the path was blocked by a large boulder that seemed to have rolled down the tunnel. Realizing something, I put my finger to my mouth for silence. Inspecting the small cracks between the boulder and sending the beam of my flashlight through them, I recognized exactly what I hoped not to see, the scratches in the floor and walls from Kawami''s Frustration earlier in the day. We were on the other side of the boulder. I motioned a zipper closing my mouth, then began walking back up the path. Rockruff wasn''t convinced, growling in disappointment, but I shushed her and uttered the only thing any of us would until returning to the outside, "Dugtrio."


    We hurried to the first cave in the south, murmuring relief. This cave was not nearly as arduous to traverse, much like the one I had climbed into from the Carbink burrow, but more linear. A few hours into the night, we emerged on the other side unscathed and set up camp under a web awning just outside the cave which Toma had attached to a strange circular stone edifice.


    <hr>


    The next day came and we got going around noon, our sleep cycle shifted further into the evening by the rest we had needed after the encounter with the Dugtrio, the Roggenrola, and with Rockruff. We walked for a time before reaching a wooden bridge, which a murder of Murkrow were guarding ominously. "Hey! No need for hostility, we''ve got an offer for you!", I shouted to them, keeping my distance for the moment. The murder gathered in a circle on the bridge, chattering and squawking for a lingering minute. At first they seemed to actually be discussing the offer, but soon the laughter and bickering made clear they had gotten distracted.


    "We''ll help you train!", I shouted again, regrabbing their attention. One Murkrow, wanting to continue the casual conversation, smacked a younger Murkrow towards us, intending to hand the problem off to someone else. The young Murkrow stumbled slightly before hopping up into the air and fluttering to a stop at the end of the bridge. "Toma, you''re the translator. Use your webs to communicate their side to me, like when we first met.", I delegated. Toma hopped to it, making an empty border of thick webs between the floor and wall, ready to fill in with representations of the Murkrow''s requests.


    "So, I should start by explaining the basic idea. I used to be a Team Skull grunt, so I''m used to training without us humans'' fancy machines and medicine, right? I brought potions along with me, which can treat any injuries in a pinch. I suggest we all fight eachother in one-on-ones, one at a time to give everyone time to rest, no moves that would deal too much damage at once, and I''ll call off a fight whenever it''s about to go too far. I''ll be issuing orders to my team most of the time, since they''ll be fighting with me any time they''re in a fight."


    "Any suggestions?", I asked, opening the floor. The Murkrow squawked for a few moments, Toma drawing out a perfect picture of Rockruff followed by a question mark. "Oh Rockruff''s not part of my team, but she''s got a mean Rock Tomb that knocked out both of my friends at once. She''s pretty much holding us hostage. We''ll do fights against her, but it''s up to you if you want to fight her.", I explained. Murkrow nodded, then chirped another question to which Toma began weaving frantically.


    Under the previous question, an intricate painting-esque diorama of a Murkrow wearing a crown pointing a feather forward as other Murkrow streamed out in the direction of their feather was wrought out of the thin webs. "You want to order the other Murkrow around?", I asked, questioning my interpretation of the artwork. Toma had really outdone himself. The Murkrow nodded enthusiastically. "If you can show us how we can get to the trial site as fast as possible later, you''ve got a deal.", I stipulated. The Murkrow proffered their wing, and I shook it firmly.


    We spent the day in skirmishes against the murder of Murkrows, coming at Kawami with Taunts, Foul Play, and Feint Attacks and assaulting Toma with Wing Attacks and endless Pursuit. Their Foul Play even secured a few brave birds victories against the imposing Rockruff, whereas my pok¨¦mon only secured one or two victories each. One thing was for sure, the young Murkrow who stood in as their "trainer" was having a blast. Still, the experience of getting trampled so thoroughly despite our over-preparedness compared to other trial-goers was very helpful.


    As the sun began to set, Rockruff bouldered into another battle with a wide grin on her face. An elder Murkrow would be her opponent, so old that, had he been a trainer''s pok¨¦mon, he would surely have used a dusk stone to evolve ages ago. The two circled eachother on the bridge battlefield, Gusts and Sand Attacks being exchanged as Rockruff slowly pushed her advantage. The Murkrow Tormented her over the repeated use of Sand Attack, and as she played out the moves for a Rock Throw in his direction, he slipped in for a Sucker Punch. Rockruff wasn''t hit though, being shrouded instead in bright white light and crashing her rocky body into the Flying-Type in midair. The dark orange Lycanroc''s Accelerock knocked the Murkrow away in a panicked tumble. "Stop! Lycanroc has won!", I called.


    Lycanroc''s mouth split with a grin of sharp triangular teeth, eyes glowing red as she turned away from the Murkrow and my group. She walked off the bridge on the opposite side, dug her Tough Claws into the ground, and leaped over the walls of stone onto the plateau''s top. Her countenance was exactly that of the sunset itself. From her perapet, a clatterous, gravelly Howl ripped from her form, reverberating off of every wall of the Canyon to create a majestic Roar that sent the Murkrow scattering and my friends back into their balls. "Congratulations, Lycanroc!", I yelled to her. She returned an agreeable bark.

 Chapter 19 - Engorge Yourself

    Lillie half collapsed over the crease in the concrete that acted as her finish line, clutching her knees for support. Physical training was the least enjoyable part of becoming a fearsome trainer, but Faba insisted it was necessary. "If you won''t have so many Psychic-Types to make up for it, you''ll need to be in shape young lady!", he''d said.


    From the side, Faba came to stand over Lillie''s side. "Just that got you in such sorts? Pull yourself together miss Junior Branch Manager.", her ever-present aide said, emphasizing her ridiculous title to straighten her spine. A bit frantically, she pulled her specialty jacket from its sloppy position tied at her waist and properly onto herself before adjusting the dozens of other little embellishments to sell her otherwise miniscule stature.


    Custom tailored for the Aether Foundation''s one and only Junior Branch Chief at the request of Faba, Lillie''s clothes seemed completely otherworldly even by the standards of the Foundation''s futuristic aesthetic. White and gold brightened the ends of an angular garb of obsidian black cloth that shrouded Lillie from head to toe. The jacket''s massive hood and covering all the way up to her mouth made her look like a space monster, with claws to match made of more cloth hanging from the odd sleeves, which hung from rather than enveloping her pale arms. The outfit had one benefit, it always hid her embarrassed face.


    "Onto the next part of your training, Miss Lillie. I''ll be driving your ship to Melemele, where you''ll be learning practical battle skills at the school. As much as I do not wish it, theory will only get you so far.", the Aide to the Junior Branch Chief informed her. "Ok... Let me, um... tell my team.", she choked out. ''If I had realized the president''s daughter was so easy, I would''ve gotten rid of Lusamine myself!'', He thought delightedly.


    <hr>


    I grabbed my knees, stabilizing myself on the edge of the bridge as I shouted after the fleeing Murkrow, "WE HAD A DEAL!", though none of them cared to turn around. When I looked back, Lycanroc had disappeared over the shortened horizon and I was alone on the bridge. "Well I guess that''s that.", I mused. With the dangers of the canyon, physical training was an absolute necessity, but it was over either way now.


    Looking down at myself, I saw the Team Skull sweatpants in tatters across my legs from "stray" attacks from the Murkrow and all the spelunking. Sighing, I returned to the web awning that we''d slept under the night before, stuffed the sweatpants into my ''needing repairs'' pocket, and changed into something more fit for the canyon. When I released everyone, Kawami just stared at me. "You just got those eyeballs, don''t wear ''em out! Have you guys seriously never seen me in overalls?", I postured defensively. Toma gave me his patented ''This hasn''t happened before but of course I support you!'' look while Kawami continued wearing out her eyeballs.


    The dingy browns and grays of the jacket and the overalls on top of it covered any high contrast leftovers from my grunt days. Rather than a strangely young thug, I seemed to be a strangely adult orphan. Both were true at the end of the day, so it didn''t bother me, but my team had known me as a grunt for three years and struggled to reconcile the two sides.


    "We''re not stopping here tonight! There''s plenty more canyon to go, we''ve gotta get a move on!", I announced. Grabbing the egg, I motioned for Toma to tear the webs down and we were on our way over the bridge and into the next unnavigable cave.


    <hr>


    The crystal blue water stretched out from every side of the boat as they traveled ever forward. Faba stood at the helm, handling the craft cunningly with navigational help from his pok¨¦mon. It had been his ship as Branch Chief, so he knew his way around it.


    "Mr. Faba... when are we going to... get there?", Lillie begged. "It should be just after sunset.", he replied distractedly. Lillie whined a bit, leaving to find a place to rest for the trip. Lying down on a deck chair, fittingly on the deck of the ship, she released a few of her pok¨¦mon to keep her company. Nebby left her hood to puff cheerily, Ribombee used the flash of red light to surprise a passing employee with a Pollen Puff in their mouth, and the regional variant of Slowpoke Faba had gotten for her appeared beside her lazily. Ribombee and Cosmoem flitted around eachother giddily while Slowpoke basked in the sunlight.


    As Lillie leaned down to pat the Galarian pok¨¦mon''s smooth yellow head, a spray of water hit her face as a Shellder jumped onto the deck. "Faba! There''s a wild pok¨¦mon on the deck!", Lillie cried. "I know Lillie, I let it on.", Faba replied expertly. "What!?", she gasped. "Your Slowpoke has his Galarica Wreath on, correct? He''ll be evolving today.", he explained in a taciturn manner.


    While she stood in mesmerized silence at Faba''s plan, Shellder made their move. They sent out a weak Water Pulse to drive Lillie and the rest of her team away, and as their mouth watered, they bit down on Slowpoke''s well seasoned head. As the Slowpoke and Shellder began to glow white, Lillie stammered, "Wha... And you... With the wreath..?"


    Emerging from the light was a Galarian Slowking, the Shellder having attached themselves to her pok¨¦mon''s head. His countenance was entirely different from before, wizened and thoughtful. The Shellder formed a towering crown of spines and splotches. What had been yellow turned a sinister violet, giving Slowking a malevolent air. "That", Faba said, suddenly right next to Lillie, "is the kind of pok¨¦mon you should be training."


    <hr>


    The murky gray water covered every inch of the cavern, from a slimy coating to pools of a dubious nature. Echoing throughout was the sound of slowly dripping liquid. I cuffed my pants and overalls to just below the knees and continued forward. With the guidance of a Golbat we wouldn''t get lost, but I was already mentally preparing myself for slipping on the wet stones alot.


    As my legs went numb from the extremely cautious way of walking I''d been using for hours to not fall and my arms grew tired from protecting the egg through all the times I did fall, I began looking for a place to rest for the night. To the side was a small outcropping of relatively dry ground surrounded by a deep pool of cave water with only a slim path to it at wading level. Ushering Kawami back to me I ordered, "Keep me from falling in. We''re sleeping there."


    I crossed without trouble, presumably because I''d tripped and slipped enough earlier. When I leaned down to clear the ground of sharp stones however, a spray of water flew across the pool right at my face. Standing over me out of the water was a Golduck. The wild pok¨¦mon glared at me expectantly, and Toma jumped onto my unsteady head. He seemed to know what to do as the Golduck pierced me with a gaze that said, ''Protect yourselves so you don''t cause trouble in my pond, or get out.''


    I stood in silence, a bead of sweat rolling down my cheek, and allowed the Spinarak to make his move. Rapidly, with his usual vim and vigor turned up to eleven, Toma shrouded the whole slice of ground with thick threads. The Golduck seemed to be mollified by just that, using another Aqua Jet to propel themself across the pool, but Toma continued. Decorative A-frame struts, a chandelier, several paintings made with his mastered thread shading technique, and a faux-window that showed the scene outside using the same technique. As he darted around the now room, Toma glowed white.


    When the light reflecting off of the pale webbing dissipated, Toma''s evolved form lingered over my head. His green carapace had turned an aposematic red, his presence somehow exactly as cheery as before despite the drastically more frightening figure. Two of his legs turned upwards for easier three dimensional movement and his mandibles and horn grew longer and sharper. His pattern was no longer a proper face, only able to bend the dots on his rear into different shapes, yet still his wide smile was as obvious as a blinking hazard sign. "That", I announced to the room, "is the kind of training we need to be doing."


    <hr>


    Lillie moved quickly off the boat, relishing the stability of dry land after the rocking motions of seafaring. Emptying out her stomach, she gave a pleading look to her Slowking. "Dump it out!", she shouted to her teammate. Slowking swished the noxious potion left and right before reluctantly pouring it into the seawater. After retaking the reins of her physical health, she followed the rest of the Aether Foundation employees into the private dock.


    "What''s he doing here!?", an employee yelled from across the water, having put down a bag of fertilizer to point at Faba. "What did Mr. Faba do?", Lillie muttered under her breath. "Haley, darling, could you get that man''s name?", Faba asked an employee following close behind as if it wasn''t an order. Haley marched over to interrogate the man posthaste. Rather than letting her speak for him, he stopped what he was doing to join her and confront Faba directly.


    "I''m Employee Yoshi, I work in environmental protection and foreign species introductions. Former Branch Chief Faba, I believe you are the epitome of everything wrong with our organization.", the man said concisely. Faba smiled, as if his knuckles hadn''t turned white the moment his former position was brought up. "Aid to the Junior Branch Chief, Faba,", he replied, his tone magically clean of emotion, ", I''d like to know what makes you say that."


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    "The crimes you''ve committed against pok¨¦mon are truly despicable.", Yoshi answered coldly. "Crimes, yes. But to say they were against pok¨¦mon is slanderous! I was charged with complicity but did no such thing myself, as you would know if you read the publicly available court record! The orders came from the president, I simply followed!", Faba debated, leaking fake panic into his voice. "Don''t give me that shit,", Yoshi said sharply, "you did plenty of those things yourself. Getting to walk around to do whatever you want, even staying in the Foundation, without anyone watching you; It''s a farce."


    "I''m... Um, I''m watching Faba. I''m the Junior Branch Chief.", Lillie squeaked. "Or is he watching you?", Yoshi pondered aloud as he leveled her with a withering glare. The employee''s fury bubbled over and out of him before he finally turned and got back to the bag of fertilizer. "That''s not... not true, right Mr. Faba?", she cowered. "It''s not.", Faba said automatically. "Now let''s get on with it.", he added darkly.


    As they passed Yoshi on their way to the exit, Lillie found some courage. "That''s a very mean thing to accuse someone of doing. I''m sure if you knew-", Lillie started, but Yoshi cut her off with a scowl, "I don''t need to hear it miss, not from you." Lillie''s emotions went a bit haywire in response to Yoshi''s statement, but in the end she just kept walking.


    <hr>


    I relished the feeling of dry ground beneath my boots after the days of waterlogged passages. Emptying out my wet boots, I hung them from a loop on my backpack to dry and equipped some flip flops. "Forward march!", I shouted to my team, angling the egg left and right as if it was walking in the air on little feet. In my defense, the long journey was affecting my mental state. Before long we reached a new bridge.


    "Get out of here!", two punks shouted from across the bridge at a Team Skull grunt attempting to get to the other side. "WHAT''RE YOU DOING?", I called to them. Turning his head to look at me, the grunt asked, "Who are you?" While he looked away, the punks walked across the bridge to bring the confrontation to the fore.


    "I''m Kau''i, and you all are?", I introduced myself. "I''m Kogan, those two won''t let me pass cause I''m a Team Skull grunt.", the teen at my side answered in kind. "I''m Adam, this is Anna. We''re ex-grunts. We of all people would know how the plan was the worst of Team Skull all bundled up. We''re not letting this guy just waltz around like it''s fine, yeah?", said the older man, nearly an adult at this point. "She''s just a kid, why tell her about the plan?", the other punk whispered to her accomplice. "Adam?! Hey, you remember me right?!", I said excitedly. Pulling the skull cap from my bag, I put it on to help jog his memory. Adam had been the gate-guard when I first moved to Po Town, the first grunt I properly met after Rich.


    "Wait you''re that Kau''i!? You went with Plumeria''s group for the plan right?", Kogan asked, shocked. All three of them were staring at me now, what had been some random trial-goer kid they now recognized as the unofficial little sis of Team Skull, stupidly rumored to be Admin Gladion''s rival. "You were part of one of the assault teams!? Arceus help me, I''ll strangle you kid! Have you seen the ultra beasts running around Ula'' Ula'' because of Team Skull''s bullshit?", Anna accused.


    "Have you done anything about that yourself?", I responded, "I have plenty of friends still in Team Skull that are doing more about it than me or you! I did my part when I stepped in to help Tapu Fini, and even then I needed a wake up call to do it. It isn''t black and white." Adam and Anna huffed, but they were clearly thinking about what I said. "It''s not true right Kau''i? The ultra beasts can''t be Team Skull''s fault!", Kogan stammered. "No, that''s totally Team Skull''s fault. I saw an Ultra Beast being contained by Tapu Fini with my own eyes, lucky they were a weird one and didn''t go on a rampage.", I said, twisting the knife where he had expected reassurance. "I mean I''m not a grunt anymore for a reason, come on man.", I added playfully.


    As I passed the three to continue my trip, Adam spoke up. "What are we supposed to do then?! Fight ultra beasts?!", he asked. "I don''t know. I''m just getting back to my life, I''m the last person you should be asking. You can think for yourself can''t you?", I told him plainly. All three seemed to be caught in a sudden flow of emotions from the barrage of bombshells I had dropped, but I just kept walking.


    <hr>


    After a short commute, Lillie and Faba had arrived at the Pok¨¦mon Trainers'' School. Through the trudging footsteps of the student body, Faba led them over a babbling canal that flowed out from the school''s Water-Type training pond and around the various facilities of the complex. Passing the battlefields, the two entered the sturdy brick of the main building. After treading a path through the halls a ways, Faba grumbled derisively under his breath, "Now to deal with Asuka."


    Taking a moment to check his resolve, Faba swung the door to the principal''s office open. "Stay quiet.", Faba whispered to Lillie. The principal, whose name plate read Principal Asuka, stared down her nose as the Foundation members entered. With a click, Alakazam appeared next to him and a Light Screen, Reflect, and Barrier encased the room. "Apologies, but I can''t have anyone hear me say what I''m about to say. Lillie, I trust you can keep a secret?", Faba explained himself. With a quick nod from Lillie, he was ready.


    ''Take caution Faba,'', he warned himself, ''with Lillie present I''ll need to tread lightly.'' "I would like to hold you to the favor you owe me, Asuka, and get the young miss some expert training.", Faba opened. "Favor!? I don''t owe you anything Faba.", Asuka replied tersely. ''Here''s the gamble, but if it fails, what''s one more accomplice thrown under the bus? Especially one so uncooperative¡­'', he schemed internally before realizing the scheme aloud. "Oh, don''t say that!", he drawled, "We did so much for eachother in that farflung golden age, worked on some many groundbreaking and unprecedented projects together, if anything it feels like I''m still doing so very many things for you." Lillie stayed sheepishly quiet in the corner as Faba''s veiled threat sank in. "Alright Faba.", the Principal said through clenched teeth, "She''ll get the royal treatment."


    Leaving the school with a schedule in place, Faba leaned down to whisper in his supposed boss''s ear. "Lillie, you need to remember one thing; Although no one knows it, Cosmoem is your ace. A legendary pok¨¦mon has decided for you to be its trainer, that is an undeniable opportunity. As much as you can, train with Cosmoem. Until it has mastered Teleport it will not evolve! I am your aide but also your mentor, you are my boss but also my successor. I want what''s best for you."


    Early the next morning, Lillie''s teacher Emily opened with a harsh lecture, "Your team is unbalanced! Your Cubone is your only physical attacker, your Sylveon doesn''t have the bulk to be the special wall you need, your Slowking, I''m told, has no way to make use of his Poison-Type, your Ribombee isn''t taking his support role seriously, and your Brionne does not have the range to cover for all of these weaknesses. You will either put serious time into correcting these flaws, or you will fail as a trainer, do you understand?"


    The training began in earnest from there, drilling new moves and fighting practice battles in each pok¨¦mon''s role. Although the mishmash of pok¨¦mon Faba and Lillie had each insisted on adding to her team was unfavorable, through charging into the problems over and over their outlook turned ever brighter.


    After a week of hard training, Lillie''s aide appeared at her door early one morning as the sun rose. "Excellent work these past few days my trusty protege!", he greeted. "More¡­ training?", she asked tiredly. "No, no. I do believe you and your team have earned a treat. Not everyone is gifted with my unerring drive, some frozen dairy should keep your spirits high so that we might save those poor ultra beasts.", he told her. In no time flat, the group had obtained and retreated with their prize under an awning where the sun didn''t reach. Lillie was pensively eroding a cup of oran berry frozen yogurt and observing her pok¨¦mon enjoy themselves. ''I would say it''s a shame other people of my like don''t use positive reinforcement as I do, but then I''d have more competition. Regardless, I will reap the rewards.'', Faba thought as he sat back and chewed on the minty desert he''d picked for himself.


    <hr>


    Now in the northeast corner of the Vast Poni Canyon, I trudged through the reedy plants and muddy ground of the second wettest part of the massive geological formation. A slow and small river poured down the adjoining mountainside and into the canyon, creating a wetness that permeated through the soil and dispersed into the rest of the canyon''s ravines and cave complexes. Passing under the dead roots of a large tree, I grumbled, "How big is this stinkin'' canyon!?"


    Kawami swung back to me with another progress report, the murder of Murkrow we had trained with days before was perched on another dead tree. "Toma, Spider Web.", I whispered. As we watched from below, Toma enclosed the tree in innumerable invisibly thin threads, keeping the Murkrow from escaping. At our success, I approached. "You still haven''t filled your part of the deal!", I called up to them. They immediately scattered, almost all being caught in Toma''s web while a few stopped themselves before running into it.


    "You''re not getting away with it this time!", I roared triumphantly. The young Murkrow that made the deal with me initially flew down to face me. Sheepishly, they offered a wing with their head bowed, which I shook. "Alright, get organized and plan, we''ll be doing the same. You''re guiding us to the trial at dusk and we can keep training there.", I said to the Murkrow before turning to my team.


    "Toma, Kawami, today we''ll be getting you used to the roles you''ll take as a part of the team in the future. I''ve thought alot about this. Kawami, you''re fast, you''re hard to hit, you can hit hard, and you''re immune to Ground-Type moves that the other Poison-Types have to worry about; You''re our problem solver. With Infiltrator and Haze, in the future you''ll deal with any bullshit the opponent sets up. If a new strategy or idea comes to mind that you''ve never tried, I want you to try it against the Murkrow to learn to solve unexpected problems."


    "Now Toma, you aren''t as versatile. You specialize in a few things, a few things that everyone on the team will thank you for. You''ll be our setter, trapping a bad matchup in the ring with you with Spider Web, boosting your stats up and passing the boost along with Baton Pass or even taking them out yourself to do it again. You''ll be learning a bunch of status and support moves down the line, but today we need the foundation. Go out there and listen to your new instincts, you''ll be training Swords Dance and Fell Stinger."


    We went right into training from there, Kawami failing over and over as each new strategy gave her enemy a new opening to take her down. I gave her advice about strategizing, but it was an uphill battle. Toma lost repeatedly as well, in the worst case scenario for a setter over and over since his only opponents were Murkrow. The "trainer" Murkrow had a twinkle in his eyes the whole time, and I worried I had unintentionally created a new terror for the travelers of the Vast Poni Canyon.


    As promised, we were guided to the entrance of the trial site at sundown which we camped in front of. Another day of training and mounting successes was capped with Kawami complaining about a sunburn. I gave her an oran berry and told her to shrug it off as I went to sleep. I woke up to a stinging pain across my head, neck, and arms. "Ow! Ow! Ow! What the fuuuuck?!", I groaned as I lifted myself. Immediately the pain shrunk in places where the sun didn''t reach. "Mother fucking... Arce''s Judgment...", I swore incoherently as I retreated into the cave that was the ancient trial site.

 Chapter 20 - Through the Threshold

    I pushed Kawami off my sunburnt skin, causing her to flinch as well from her own sunburns. We both found a position that didn''t agitate the pinkish patches and took a long drag of the stale cave air. Behind our bumbling, Toma carefully wrapped the Salandit egg in soft webs and carried it over with his newly upturned limbs. Although nothing much could be seen, the air resonated with the echoed sounds of Jangmo-o, Noibat, and Scyther. The cave ahead wasn''t particularly dark, consisting of a straight passage right through the plateau with large chambers along its length that allowed the light through from both ends.


    "Like it or not, we''re in the trial now. If we leave after crossing that line", I pointed behind us to a groove carved into the floor at the portal of the cave, "we''ve lost. There are two steps to completing a trial: first, we gain the totem pok¨¦mon''s attention. At another trial, the trial captain would guide us through how to do that or even be a trusted arbiter that decides who deserves the totem pok¨¦mon''s time, but here there is no captain. We go deep enough into the dragon''s lair, the totem pok¨¦mon will know we''re there regardless, it''s just a matter of having the chops to make it there in the first place. Second, impress the totem pok¨¦mon in battle. These are incredibly powerful pok¨¦mon, we won''t beat them outright, but they will size us up and bring in some lackeys to get a better sense of our strength. We need to guarantee we can do both of those things before we reach the end of this cave."


    Kawami gave a low warble in response while Toma chittered with approval. "Well, nowhere to go but forwards then.", I said. Sitting up straight again, I remembered the issue and slumped back down. "When we do go, which isn''t now.", I amended. Kawami, whose burns were more severe, agreed with a mechanical waving of her wing. We spent a while licking our wounds and relaxing in eachother''s company, as we had grown accustomed to over not just this brief stint of journeying, but all three years I had been a grunt. A part of me worried if Salandit would be able to fit into our well worn dynamic when she hatched.


    <hr>


    With another dab of the towel I had soaked in lukewarm water, Kawami was ready to keep up. ''She''s a pok¨¦mon, she should get better way faster than me.'', I thought, somewhat fed up. We began to walk towards the bottleneck of the first chamber when we met our first opponent. A Noibat tried its hardest to block our way forward, but didn''t actively attack, since it didn''t consider us worth fighting. I continued on without hesitation, attempting to slip past the small impasse and smuggle my friends across through their pok¨¦balls, but a Gust of harsh wind pushed me back before I ever did.


    "Toma, Constrict it so we can keep going.", I said, significantly more fed up. With a faint swishing sound, the Ariados was swinging from the ceiling and spitting out a spray of web that caught the Noibat by the hand at the end of its wing. In a flash, its other Wing Attacked the knot that threatened to bring it to the ground and it was free like it had never been trapped. I groaned. "Fuckin'', just, like, attack ''em.", I grumbled. While Kawami sent an obvious, over-sized, and easy to avoid Air Cutter that grabbed the Noibat''s attention, Toma fell with grace out of his web and into a shadow, catching the enemy in the back with Shadow Sneak and conveniently pushing it back into the path of the Air Cutter.


    Our strength may not have grown much before leaving Team Skull, but our coordination and strategy had been honed over hundreds of hours of thieving together. Even without a solid plan from me, Toma and Kawami could literally plan silently through the use of a Golbat''s ability to direct the sounds leaving their mouth in a beam and an Ariados''s ability to move the patterns on their back. Kawami had told Toma she would use Air Cutter, which I guessed was because she didn''t want to irritate her burns any more than I did mine, and Toma had supplied ample backup with Shadow Sneak to accommodate. The fight pressed on in much the same way, each of my team members covering the other''s shortcomings with silent precision until the Noibat had fallen unconscious and drifted down into the corner between the wall and the floor.


    "Great work!", I congratulated, "I really hope this shows we''ve got this trial in the bag, but I''m not gonna state that as a fact, cause it isn''t." The trek that had preceded this impromptu trial had not put me in a good state of mind for tackling new and interesting problems. In fact, it did quite the opposite. I had overestimated myself and my team, burnt myself out, and now that I was so deep in, it was genuinely more sensible to keep pushing than to retreat. I was resolved in a way that was not optimistic, simply knowing what the next move was without any confidence it would work or not. ''Maybe Hapu was right about me.'', came an errant thought, but I pushed on.


    The next chamber was covered in pok¨¦mon. Noibat coated the ceiling the same way the Zubat had in Kawami''s home, except with much more grace and personal space. Jangmo-o bustled about the area, causing a racket as they fought or played or communicated with their metallic scales. The lower din of Clanging Scales came from deeper in, unimpeded by the many higher pitched sounds in this area. An occasional Jangmo-o or Noibat would come up to us for a fight, but with the approval of the earlier gatekeeper, we were just more powerful individuals who had proved themselves up to this point in the dragon''s lair rather than dangerous intruders. Even still, we couldn''t turn down the challenges either, so the next few hours were spent going through the paces of what Dragon-Types considered low level battles.


    <hr>


    Once again, I tossed a berry to my pok¨¦mon mid-battle, this time it was a rotten one. I did this for multiple reasons. I was running a bit low on supplies, but more importantly the Jangmo-o Kawami was fighting was up close, Biding its time, so I needed my pok¨¦mon to eat it and the Jangmo-o to not. Dragon-Types are prideful, honorbound creatures that wouldn''t think of eating rotten food whereas my Poison-Types were all too happy to do whatever they needed to. With a twitch, the berry flew into her gullet and she began to recover from the Tackles of the young dragon. When it reared up to strike with Bide, her Poison Fangs sunk into its vulnerable belly and incapacitated it. Interrupting our celebration, emerging from the darkest section of the cave, a Hakamo-o stood over its unconscious relative looking down on us. A vigorous shiver ran down its spine, producing a rattling drum. The second gatekeeper had appeared to challenge us.


    I wasn''t ready, Kawami wasn''t ready, Toma could barely be considered ready, and our sweet innocent egg wouldn''t be ready even if she hatched right now. Our time was up. We may not have been intruders, but we weren''t residents either, and our visitation would be up if we didn''t prove ourselves here and now. The sunburn on my neck flared to life in my senses and my hands clenched onto the lavender egg.


    "Toma, treat it like a slab of stone!", I shouted, proud of myself for being able to sneak my intent under the radar of the enemy with such short notice. Toma jumped out from behind me and spat a Spray of caustic Acid at the adolescent pseudo-legendary, but the attack splattered impotently against its scale coat. Hakamo-o was Bulletproof.


    "Shit! Uh. I don''t know!?", I helpfully ordered. Hakamo-o descended on Toma with a sweeping Dragon Tail and he was sent skidding backwards across the stone before turning to red light and returning to his nest ball. "Fuck! Kawami! Eye beams!", I said in a full on panic, lucky to have a premade code phrase for the combination of Confuse Ray and Hypnosis. My lack of composure curried me no favor with the proud, Dragon-Type audience, but I had no place for honor. Kawami flung herself back into the fray, catching the Hakamo-o right where she wanted it with her sickly violet Confuse Ray. The gatekeeper swayed, in a haze for a few moments. Finally I had a plan. I returned Kawami to her pok¨¦ ball.


    If anyone said it was a bad plan, I''d be the first to agree, but nonetheless it was the plan I had. "TOMA!", I roared as he was released again, "Swords Dance and Baton Pass!" Toma''s stinger gave a dumbstruck look, but he stayed facing the enemy as he began swaying rhythmically and scraping his legs across eachother. His Swords Dance was slow and methodical, a factor that was only magnified by needing to dodge the occasional wild swing of a Dragon Claw, but before too long he stood on blades that came to a razor thin point. "Alright, now remember how Dragon Tail and Lycanroc''s Roar felt!", I advised, "Do that, but like, to yourself?" I had lost steam by the end, but hopefully it was enough.


    Toma''s faces scrunched up in concentration, but it was too late. Another Dragon Tail slammed him away and I brought Kawami back onto the field. "Again!" It took more doing now that Hakamo-o had caught on, but after evading a few attacks it was hit once more with Confuse Ray. This cycle continued, Kawami confusing Hakamo-o and Toma using that time to try to pass the attack increase from a new set of Swords Dances to Kawami with Baton Pass before being sent back by Dragon Tail. Each time, I''d shout more advice as I had frantically moved to the page for Baton Pass in the textbook, which I had propped awkwardly on top of the egg.


    "Form your buffs into a baton, switch out, and Kawami will receive the baton!", I had lectured only to realize Toma had already been sent back. "It''s more than just buffs, certain other effects carry over! They''ll stay trapped if you were trapped, they''ll keep your Substitute, that sort of thing.", I tried. As Toma and Kawami got more and more haggard, my adrenaline only pumped faster. Finally, Toma had formed a baton thats shape waivered like a hallucination. "Good! Good! That''s the Baton, now", as I began to say ''pass'' I saw Hakamo-o''s eyes refocus and its posture reform and I changed my words, "DODGE!" Toma leaped back, his sharpened legs cutting into the bedrock, then he turned into red light and Kawami appeared with the baton disappearing in-between her feet.


    Her wings weren''t as sharp as Toma''s legs had been, the Baton Pass was clearly incomplete, but right now we would absolutely take it. "NEVER LET DRAGON TAIL HIT YOU!", I demanded, and just like that Kawami was off. She cut through the air, slicing through the gap in Hakamo-o''s plates with a brutal Wing Attack. It wrestled against the pain, making a terrible cacophony as the Dragon''s Tail swung inward to catch the meddlesome bat unawares, but as its head was rattled from behind by a Supersonic cry, its tail only found air and scales to strike. Hakamo-o was not Soundproof. Losing all face, the Hakamo-o struck the ground nose-first.


    Strutting with debatably earned confidence, we passed into the next chamber. The Hakamo-o, Scyther, and Noibat within were weary to continue challenging us with the dishonorable display from both sides in our previous bout. This was no issue to me as I began the all-too-familiar process of recuperating. Potions were sprayed, berries fed, and yawns exchanged. "Alright, practice Fell Stinger and plan for the Totem Kommo-o. Toma, get on it. Kawami, I think you''ll be our backup, prep for that.", I said half-heartedly. "One last push." Grimly, I paged through the textbook to search for any spots where Kommo-o appeared.


    The Totem Kommo-o was a staple of Poni Island legend, the trial having remained unchanged for over a thousand years. Talk to anyone that had taken the island challenge and you''d hear the repercussions of the Vast Poni Canyon Trial on their journey, the struggles of conquering it or, as was so common of Poni natives, avoiding it for as long as possible. I had heard horror stories hinging on any of a dozen of the dragon''s moves: using Belly Drum to boost himself beyond belief and destroy an entire high level team, a Drain Punch that undid any progress one trainer had made, and Flash Cannons that swept through an overconfident Fairy-Type team, to name a few. Any and all of his moves were a threat worth taking seriously, and that was before you considered his allies and abilities. I was overwhelmed with how I would tackle such an obstacle.


    ''We need more practice, let''s get practice.'', my brain offered for my consideration. ''Not a bad idea.'', I thought back to myself. Lifting my head out of the book, I looked around the cavern at the pok¨¦mon that lived here. Noibat, Hakamo-o, and a few Jangmo-o. I pointed to a Hakamo-o throwing punches into the air, its large scales each swinging out to hit the spot its fist had passed through, and called out, "I challenge you!" Kawami was excited despite her still roughed up shape, while Toma forced a smile back onto his face. And so, we fought.


    I lost track of time as I pushed myself and my team to strive for better. Toma''s Fell Stinger scratched lamely against a Noibat''s skin, Kawami tried and failed again at using Steel Wing, and with each battle we got sloppier. My throat hoarse, I garbled out, "Hit ''em in the back!" Kawami lurched around the Hakamo-o and my eyes drooped. My limbs were heavy, my breath rough and ragged, my hair tangled in knots around my head, my thoughts came in short spurts, and new memories slid off of my brain before they could be stored. "The... back...", I eked out before passing into unconsciousness.


    <hr>


    A tiny shake at my belly woke me just a little bit. ''Why''s everything so loud?'', was approximately what I thought first. Then my eyes oozed open and I saw Toma dangling over me in a peculiar web shelter, too sparse to stop anything from coming in, but present enough to keep in some body heat and privacy. Something to the effect of, "Wuhagameh?", left my mouth before I peeled my face away from the dried pool of dirt and drool I had been sleeping in, the egg rolling away a short distance from me as I moved.


    "What happened?", I asked, more coherently, if still a bit clipped. Kawami dropped from the ceiling to shoot a Hypnosis into Toma''s immune eyes, after which Toma feigned falling to his side asleep. "Well yeah I guessed that, I mean, like, why?" Toma then weaved a four panel comic of a human figure running, and running, and running, and finally falling over mid-stride. "I wasn''t that exhausted.", I denied. Toma and Kawami both gave me a look, in their own ways, that still held much respect for me while also saying, ''You are completely wrong about this and you know it.'' "Well... with all that training, we should be ready, right?" Again with that look.


    I sat silently for a few minutes. ''We can''t hold a candle to these pok¨¦mon in battle, that''s a fact. But we need to impress Totem Kommo-o in battle. That seems like a non-starter.'' I sighed. "What progress have we made? Toma, what''re Fell Stinger and Baton Pass looking like? Kawami, any progress with Steel Wing?" I didn''t like the answers. Fell Stinger was okay but didn''t seem to garner the full buff when it caused a faint, Baton Pass working had been very nearly a fluke and wasn''t repeatable, and Steel Wing was still just not Steel Wing. ''SO WHAT THE FUCK''S THE PLAN!?'', I thought as loudly and aimlessly as a thought can be while still being purely internal.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Taking a deep breath, I opened the textbook containing my marginal notes for something to latch onto. Abilities and moves my pok¨¦mon could get but didn''t have already, moves they already knew and abilities they already had, moves I had a reason to believe Totem Kommo-o knew, and notable moves of his allies. Nothing struck a chord. Listless, I thumbed through some of the unmarked pages, skimming over blurbs about this or that move''s use in contests (completely useless information to an Alolan) or an ability''s application in a specific industry. Finally, my eyes landed on a "Fun Fact!" bubble describing how Hawlucha''s signature move, Flying Press, may have originated as a combination of Aerial Ace and Karate Chop used in conjunction, giving it its multi-typed damage effect.


    "THAT''S IT!"


    <hr>


    Totem Kommo-o roared, and his shimmering scales rang down his chest in harmonious echoes of that roar as his diaphragm rumbled. A cadre of fellow Dragon-Types watched on as he faced his challengers, me and my team. "Kawami! Curse stack as discussed, dodge until you can''t anymore! Toma! Brood web, then move with Shadow Sneak! Listen out for my call!", I yelled, already orchestrating our plan to impress Kommo-o. Kommo-o Autotomized away excess scales weighing him down, speeding up to outmaneuver my pok¨¦mon, but his movement was then reigned back in by Toma''s brood web, a combination of Spider Web and Infestation. Although the web constructs of Infestation weren''t used in a direct attack, they began their attrition after contact with the web enclosure.


    Kawami began to visibly grow dark and shadowy from the effects of Curse as she flapped her wing slower but stronger. Seeing this, Kommo-o rattled, beckoning a Noivern into the fray. Noivern seemed to appear at its place on the field as a sound wave invisibly moves through air, and was similarly accompanied by a shockwave. Next, it lifted its head and released a radiant beam from its mouth that coalesced into the blinding white spot indicative of a Sunny Day above us. "String cocoon Noivern!", I shouted. Toma heard my call and spat his second combination move at the dragon-bat, Constrict and String Shot. Neither was much on their own, but with some finesse, which Toma had in spades, the same webs that squeezed the target could stick to them to slow them down.


    Kommo-o inhaled deeply, and every living thing present held their breath. Then, a gout of fire screamed out of the lizard''s throat and his Flamethrower arced towards Kawami. In a repeat of our fight against Plumeria, her wings were burned and she fell out of the sky. Unlike the fight with Plumeria, Kawami had not fallen to the attack thanks to the sitrus berry she held, and swept over the ground and under the flames towards her attacker. After all, I had pointed down. "Astonish!", I shouted, knowing this of all moves was the least expected, which would make it work all the better. As Toma slunk back into the sparse shadows of his web and Noivern began working up its voice for a Boomburst, I shouted again, "NOW!" At once, Kawami swooped up into Kommo-o''s face with a flash of dark purple energy that Astonished him so greatly he flinched away from her, and on the other side of the field Toma Sprayed Acid into Noivern''s back from the shadows, making its fur fall off in clumps.


    "Acid absorb!", I ordered both. This was not a combination move, just a strategy. Use Acid Spray to weaken a Pok¨¦mon''s defense against special moves, then use Absorb to heal off of the weakened pok¨¦mon. It wouldn''t be very effective since Noivern was doubly resistant to Grass-Type moves, but effectiveness wasn''t actually our goal in this trial. The strategy went forward, another Acid Spray stripping the sheen from Noivern''s scales and green motes helped to heal Kawami''s second round of burns this trip while Kommo-o was stunned. I would have to feed her extra rawst berries for a while. When Toma reeled back for one last Acid Spray, Noivern attempted to hit him with an Air Slash but was interrupted by Kommo-o''s Vacuum Wave knocking all the other pok¨¦mon over.


    Shamed, Noivern''s Sunny Day turned pale and it was awash in a healing beam of Moonlight. After one last Absorption from both of my pok¨¦mon, we got serious again. "Switch it up! Kawami, eye beams Kommo-o! Toma, fatal stinger setup." Kommo-o was having none of it, another Flamethrower dragging across the field at his command that required my team to hide in-between their enemies legs. As Noivern healed back fully, although still vulnerable from the searing of the Acid Sprays and Kommo-o swung his head dutifully back and forth in an effort to erase my team from this world, Kawami Cursed herself and Toma Danced like Swords in the dark.


    "Distract him with Fangs!", I advised. Following along, Kawami bit into the totem pok¨¦mon''s ankle with Poison Fang, creating an agitated sore spot that warranted the cessation of his Flamethrower. Again, in a moment of brilliant coordination, Toma and Kawami moved at the same time. Toma''s fatal stinger, an admittedly iffy combination of Poison Sting and Fell Stinger, sunk into Noivern like an intravenous needle and delivered its putrid payload. The combo lost Fell Stinger''s additional effect and some of its damage for Poison Sting''s chance at poisoning the victim. Kawami, meanwhile, whipped around the back of the Fighting-Type to catch his eyes in a Confuse Ray while she stayed upside-down. Hoping the confusion on Kommo-o held, Kawami moved to do the same to Noivern.


    Noivern growled, causing a powerful Dragon Pulse that interrupted both assailants and forced Toma to bite down on his sitrus berry for much needed healing. With Noivern''s ability, Telepathy, Kommo-o''s confusion was mitigated while Noivern was in good condition. "Take down Noivern!", I screamed. The plan was falling apart at this point, but there were salvageable parts and I could always improvise. An Air Cutter and Shadow Sneak converged on Noivern, dunking Kommo-o into full confusion as the enemy bat fell to the floor. Kommo-o''s arms swung wildly at the air, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Shadow Claw, Thunder Punch, Dragon Claw, Poison Jab, Drain Punch, Dual Chop, Sky Uppercut, X-Scissor, Focus Punch, and Brick Break all attempting to be the move that came out of him. Dragon Tail, Bulldoze, Aqua Tail, Brutal Swing, and Iron Tail did the same with his wild tail.


    The flurry of uncontrolled energy radiated off of Kommo-o, powered by his totemic aura. Stray zaps of thunder arced into Kawami, heat and cold racketed Toma, and concussive bursts of Fighting-Type energy washed over my dual resisting teammates while I found a good rock to cower behind with the egg in tow. Finally, as one fist gained too much speed and twisted back into Kommo-o''s face, his composure returned. He shook again and a Scizor joined his side, immediately forming a Light Screen between themselves and us. "Talk to it, then Infiltrate! Toma, show fatal stinger to Kommo-o!", I ordered. I just had to hope Kawami understood what I meant by "talk to it".


    Scizor''s Bullet Punch carried it forward, striking Kawami into the ground and leaving her on her last wings. Kommo-o''s posture turned hard, Iron Defense making his scales stronger than simple armor. Toma fell from a section of suspended webbing in a gymnastic freefall, digging his fatal stinger into the back of Kommo-o''s neck. Kawami in that moment seemed to do nothing but get back in the air, her mouth hanging open in the typical Golbat manner, but I knew she had understood my command. She had sent a Supersonic at Scizor in a directed beam the same way she communicated with Toma in battle, and Scizor looked to have been rattled inside its steel carapace. Kommo-o was none the wiser, too busy with Toma climbing over him to notice the confusion of his ally without the visual cue of a Confuse Ray or the auditory cue of a typical Supersonic.


    His Dragon Tail swung around and around trying to find the arachnid Infestation, and he sent Focus Blasts across his hardened scales to try and force the attacker out to no avail. Scizor, meanwhile, was spun in circles by an Air Cutter that slipped right between the seams of its Light Screen. Its confusion mounting, it didn''t see the dark, battered figure of Kawami until the Wing Attack had already struck. Scizor clattered against the floor of the cave and Kommo-o let out a draconic growl.


    In an instant, Toma was bumped off of him and both of my pok¨¦mon were left barely conscious by a False Swipe that came out in the blink of an eye. He had been holding back, of course, but now, he was suitably impressed and the battle was over. My realization a few hours prior was simple, Totem Kommo-o was a move and ability enthusiast. By showing him we could make the most of our moves and abilities, and that we could do so in the heat of battle, we had achieved our actual goal and passed the trial. I bowed and walked forward into the totem pok¨¦mon''s chamber.


    Toma''s stinger dulled along with his movements and Kawami''s dark atmosphere faded slowly while her lethargy remained. Still, we approached the center of the room where a stone pedestal held many Dragonium Z-Crystals like ancient hard candy in a bowl. Now was no time to be stealing Z-Crystals for any reason, personal or Team-related, so I grabbed my one crystal and we made our way out of the dragon''s lair.


    The canyon stretched around us. Moonlight poured over a massive gash in the earth completely devoid of pok¨¦mon aside from a few Flying-Types that perched peacefully. Massive crags of stone lined the edges of this isolated ravine, preventing egress from the plateau''s top, and the dragons prevented any intruders from within the canyon. What was even stranger was the sleek stone pathway arching upwards. It was easily a mile long, those same strange stone markers we''d seen throughout the canyon along its length. At its top I could spy a massive stone structure that looked like a massive version of the markers, though from our vantage point at the bottom it took up the same visual space as a marker some 40 feet away or my thumbnail at arm''s length. The structure stood at the top of a freestanding mountain carved out of the plateau, reaching higher than anywhere else in the Vast Poni Canyon. This was Poni Altar.


    "I''ll walk this myself, you two need rest.", I told my friends. In spite of all their injuries they attempted to insist I let them walk the frankly ridiculous path, but I insisted harder. I was thankful they trusted me as I hiked up the smooth stone, staring up at the very nearly full moon overhead. ''It must be around midnight. We were really going at it, huh? I have no idea how long I was passed out, but I lost track of the days in the caves way before that. Guess I''ll only know what day it is when I get back to civilization.'' More idle thoughts passed me by as I put one foot in front of the other for what felt like just a few minutes, taking in the beautiful landscape. "What do you think, Waiola? You proud of us completing our first trial? You gonna hatch soon?", I queried our resident silent observer, the egg. Unexpectedly, the egg jostled, just a little. "I''ll take that as a yes.", I said and continued up the path.


    Finally reaching the end, I stood face to face with the intricately carved stone monument. A corner cut squared deus was the centerpiece of the patterned floor, surrounded by bright green grass and leading on its sides to grey brickwork paths that ended in two small platforms sunken a few inches into square pools. The pools flowed into a cross shaped waterway the bricks bridged over. Standing in front of it all was the gateway. Hewn into the peak of the mountain, two pillars bent over eachother to the left and right and back in to form a circle where four triangular slices were joined to create an eight pointed star design. On its left a pillar was topped with a symbol of the sun, on its right, the moon. The whole altar was raised several stories off of the mountain''s natural surface to meet where the gateway stood in its peak.


    Once again exhausted and now much more aware of it, I decided to leave my pok¨¦mon in their balls for the night. I pulled a tarp from my bag, draped it over myself and the egg, and slept on the soft grass.


    <hr>


    For a brief moment I swore I felt the force of the sun wash over me, bathing me in light, warmth, and energy, but when I opened my eyes it was still night and the air was still cool. Finding myself awake again so soon, I sighed and left the tarp to prepare to travel back out of the Vast Poni Canyon. Instead, I was faced with two people in white and turquoise jumpsuits. One was a young girl with a thick orange braid that fell off the right side of her head, the other an old man with a large blue handlebar mustache and a spike of blue beard hair jutting off of his chin. Both wore spacesuit-like gear that covered their entire bodies from the neck down and something like a cycle racing helmet with additional shrouds on the back and sides. Both people had skin so pale I could''ve sworn it was blue. ''Probably just the moonlight.''


    "Alola... Who are you guys?", I greeted them wearily. The girl ran over to me. "Alola? Is that how you say hello?!", she said excitedly, the brim of her giant helmet threatening to poke out my eyes. "I asked who you are.", I reiterated. The old man stepped in, holding the girl by the shoulder to give me some much appreciated space, and said, "I am Captain Phyco of the Ultra Recon Squad, this here is Zossie, one of my associates... We''re here to investigate what exists in this world and see if we might find something to restore the light of our Blinding One." "What?", I responded, confused.


    "This world has a high aura reading! We know the Blinding One has been losing aura, so we came here to see if we could get some!", Zossie chimed in. "What the fuck is aura?", I responded again, less confused but with more questions on my mind. "Aura is aura!", Zossie supplied helpfully. Ignoring her, Phyco began to lecture, "From our understanding, aura is an energy that envelops powerful beings like our Blinding One or the beasts that live around our world. But that understanding is... limited, due to how much less aura our world has compared to this one."


    I wasn''t getting anywhere. "Back up. You two are from another world? I feel like I passed that over too quickly. That doesn''t... happen.", I told them. "Well it just did happen! We got here from the Ultra Megalopolis.", Zossie retorted with impeccable logic. "That''s a stupid name for a city. Does everything have to be ultra with you guys?", I butted in. "We do live in ultra space.", Phyco said straightforwardly.


    "Well good to meet you two, Phyco, Zossie, but I''ve gotta get ready for my trip back out of the canyon." Then, I released Toma and Kawami and moved to grab my things to treat their wounds. "Wow! What are those ball thingies? What are these creatures?", Zossie pushed again. I gave her a look. "Do you guys not have pok¨¦mon?", I asked with a sneer. At their curious looks, I sighed and continued, "These are my companions, Kawami the Golbat and Toma the Ariados. These pok¨¦ balls allow a certain amount of control over them, and interface with human technology. You said you live in ultra space? Then you''re familiar with ultra beasts right? I think ultra beasts are kinda like pok¨¦mon, if not outright being pok¨¦mon; Though if they were you''d think someone would''ve caught one by now."


    "Very intriguing...", Phyco muttered as Zossie looked on in awe at me applying a potion to my pok¨¦mon and feeding them a few berries each. I tried my best to ignore the two. Whether they were crazy tourists who''d Teleported directly to Poni Altar of all places seemingly without pok¨¦mon or genuinely strangers from another world, I didn''t care to hear them blabber on.


    "Look. If you two don''t wanna get attacked by dangerous wild pok¨¦mon while lost in the caves on your way out of here, you''re gonna need some method to get out of here. I would hope that whatever got you here from another world could get you out of a canyon, but I''m new to this whole ultra space thing so it might not. If not, you can wait a few years for pok¨¦mon rangers to be a profession here in Alola or..." I paused, pinching my nose upon realizing the other option. ''Why do I have to be the first person to talk with people from another world!?'', I thought, then continued. "Or I could guide you out.", I finished, dissatisfaction tainting the words. I hoped that wouldn''t be necessary.


    "Well our travel methods are strictly proprietary, and as such we will be taking you up on your offer of guidance.", Phyco said cordially. I cursed myself internally, wishing I had the same capacity as Kawami to use the actual move. Having some strength, hardening my defenses, and slowing down a bit sounded great at that moment. "Let me get ready, I''ll be right with you." Hoping it would get reception all the way up here, I grabbed my crusty old phone and sent a text to Hapu with a brief explanation of the situation. It didn''t send. As I turned to guide the Ultra Recon Squad I guess, I felt a small thud against my chest. Looking down, I saw a crack had formed in the egg.


    Ignoring everything else, I motioned Toma over to me and had him build a soft cushion for the Salandit once she hatched. Phyco watched from a safe distance, squinting in the moonlight at the phenomenon. Zossie meanwhile was only farther from the egg than me because of the helpful assistance of Toma sticking her weird space boots to the ground. "Quiet...", I instructed everyone. Slowly, the cracks spread across the egg, grew wider, and finally, a small claw reached out of the darkness.

 Chapter 21 - Oddballs

    "Is it always so devilishly bright here?", Phyco queried. "I don''t know Phyco, I like the light! There''s so much color!", Zossie contradicted. "Bright? I mean it''s almost a full moon so it''s pretty bright for nighttime", I said, but Phyco interrupted halfway. "Ah, that explains it. So this moon gives off more light at different times, how quaint." I cleared my throat. ", But", I cut in before he started rambling, "it''s several times brighter during the day, when the sun comes out. You can''t look directly at the sun, it hurts even my eyes. There''s enough light that the sky turns blue and the stars can''t be seen anymore." Both Phyco and Zossie were stunned silent at that. I wasn''t bothered, enjoying the opportunity to pet baby Waiola in silence.


    Waiola was, oddly enough for a female Salandit, a recluse by nature. Her and I got along, but she shied away whenever other people or pok¨¦mon were involved. The little lizard had retained her proclivity for being held in my arms from before she hatched, curling into a bundle whenever the space was free. She barely even used the luxury ball I had gone to such lengths to steal from a tourist in Malie Garden. My fingers gently massaged her head, giving an extra squeeze to the two scaly... fins? Not ears, lizards don''t have external ears, and there were no holes. Protrusions. Flaps. Thingies. Her two neck flap thingies, I gave them special attention, both from curiosity and trying my best to do a good job petting her. She enjoyed it, the fiery streaks on her back thrumming like a purr formed from temperature instead of sound.


    "My legs are tiiiired! Can we take a break?", the alien child asked. I turned to my two least favorite new traveling companions. We weren''t even out of the canyon where the altar stood. "Sure. I''ll go ahead to the trial site and make sure the dragons are okay with you guys passing through. I completed the trial already, hopefully that''ll give me a leg to stand on.", I answered. I was beginning to get an inkling that it wasn''t intentional how strange these people were socially, it was just a difference between how we lived. I still didn''t like it, but I would manage.


    <hr>


    With Totem Kommo-o''s blessing, we passed through the trial site. As Zossie stared at some sort of readout on the strange high tech gauntlet she wore, I pulled her back from the pedestal with the Dragonium Z-Crystals. She pouted but I didn''t let up, and before long we were out the other side. Phyco just gave a calculating look to every new pok¨¦mon we passed. "The aura readings in that place seemed ridiculous! Why did you stop me Kau''i?!", Zossie interrogated once we had left.


    "It''s a dragon''s lair, and I only had permission to get you out of there, not to loiter. You two haven''t completed the trial like I have, if you messed with the dragons, nothing was stopping them from ripping you to shreds.", I told her succinctly. She gave me a look, something between shock, doubt, and bitterness, but Phyco stepped in to help me again. "We''ve just gotten here, with this world''s aura your measurements may be on the fritz. If this place or these trial sites in general have a particular connection to aura, we may study that in due time.", Phyco consoled her.


    "Do ya really think aura''s got anything to do with the trial sites or totem pok¨¦mon? With what you guys know about it already, I wouldn''t be surprised.", I said offhandedly. Already having forgotten her consternation, Zossie jumped at me, "Why!? Is there something special about them?" "I dunno, you said aura was most common around powerful creatures, totem pok¨¦mon are powerful creatures. Makes sense to me.", I stated. "Certainly a worthwhile starting point, unless you have any other ideas Kau''i.", Phyco said. My idea was simple, and I was happy to share it. "I''ll get you connected with people who actually know about all this ultra space junk and make you their problem."


    <hr>


    As the sun began to rise, the squad members insisted we take a break to adjust. I grabbed two pairs of sunglasses for each of them and, with nothing else to do, called for Kawami to track down some Murkrow for a shortcut out of the canyon and set to making a meal for everyone. A camping stove, small pan, and bag of "just add water" pancake mix appeared from the many compartments of my bags, and before long I was cooking. "You guys want berries in your pancakes or not?", I asked. "What''s a berry?", Zossie said, answering my question with a question.


    "Oh it''s this again.", I said, primarily to myself. "What do you guys eat? You know, for nutrients or whatever?" Zossie gave me another strange expression, and Phyco once again butted in. I was beginning to get the rhythm of talking with these two. "With limited access to the light from the Blinding One, we grow nutrient dense algae that is later formed into a sort of hardtack. That is the only form of ''food'' available to us that remains from before the Blinding One''s aura grew weak. Outside of the occasional bit of toxic meat or vegetation scavenged from beyond the borders of the Ultra Megalopolis, which have to be thoroughly processed for consumption, the algae is all we have.", he explained morosely.


    "Yeesh...", I capitulated, processing what he''d said. "Well then I''ll add the berries for you, I''m sure you''ll appreciate the sweetness. Just give me a couple minutes and you''ll have some proper food." I made sure the little pancakes I gave to Phyco and Zossie were the most evenly cooked; My pok¨¦mon and I were used to things being a bit off, but these slapdash rawst and pomeg berry pancakes would be the first *real* food the two otherworlders would ever eat. Carefully, I built the shortstacks on each paper plate and drizzled just enough syrup on each that it soaked in but didn''t overflow.


    The moment Zossie bit into it, her face lit up with elation and she practically spat it back up as she shouted, "THIS IS AMAZING!!" Phyco ate in silence, his face glowing with delight and shock as, for the first time in his long life, he ate food made for taste instead of simple nutrition. Zossie continued, scarfing down the entire stack in moments. Phyco took his time, savoring not just each bite but each chew and the changes that occurred as the confection was slowly digested by his saliva. Both seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the meal.


    I would like to say I had given myself the most burnt pancakes, but once Kawami returned she practically begged for the burnt batter and scraps, provided I dumped extra syrup over all of it. Alongside her, a familiar Murkrow watched us from a small landing in the cliff face, spry, young, unruffled, and with an alert gaze. Seeing the bird, I tossed the last of my little pancakes up to them. They swiped it out of the air as they flew down to meet us. "Will you show us the way out?", I asked the young Murkrow who had acted as the trainer of the other Murkrow when we trained with them.  With a sage nod, they told us in no uncertain terms, ''This one''s on the house.''


    <hr>


    When we reached a cave entrance on the far side of the canyon from where we started, Murkrow squawked instructions to Kawami and flew off. "You know where to go?", I asked Kawami. With a bob of confirmation, I turned to the Squad. "Alright, stay quiet while we''re in there. I had an encounter with a Dugtrio on the way in, still have some of the bruises and it''s been at least a week. If you need to say something, mouth the words, Kawami will hear you and will send it to Toma, who can translate it into web pictures. Otherwise, silence." "If you say so...", Zossie agreed. "Of course.", Phyco seconded.


    In moments we were cloaked in darkness, all people and pok¨¦mon present except for Waiola pulling ahead of me as my eyes adjusted. Faintly, the salamander glowed red and followed at my side in a measured, silent skitter. As we took turn after turn around stalagmites and past pits, the figures ahead slowly came into more detail. With so little light, only the sensitive monochrome receptors in my eyes registered anything and color seemed like a forgotten memory.


    After something like an hour of walking, a gurgling sound interrupted our faint footsteps. With the six of us huddled in a tight circle, Phyco mouthed a few words as he curled his handlebar in frustration and his eyebrows knit together. The message was passed along and Toma drew out a stomach with jagged lines radiating off of it, a stack of pancakes with foul lines rising from them, and a skull and crossbones. His stomach wasn''t handling the pancakes well. Thinking on it, I realized that should have been the obvious outcome; The people of the Ultra Megalopolis had never eaten berries or grains and didn''t have the gut bacteria to digest them, which would lead to an upset stomach.


    I mouthed for Kawami, "There''s nothing we can do about it, especially here. All we can do for now is take breaks and keep going.", which Toma rendered as a shrug, a picture of a cave entrance, an even larger shrug, people walking, sitting, and getting up to walk again. Zossie gave Phyco a mocking bump on the arm, then her stomach growled as well and she frowned. After another minute or so, we got up and pressed on.


    Vaguely, as we pressed further, the cave seemed more and more familiar. Finally, as we took a right turn I was certain where we were. "Mother fucker!", I shouted, unconcerned with the consequences. Everyone stopped to stare at me and look around frantically for threats, but I ignored them as I pulled my flashlight from my shoulder bag and turned it on, blinding our friends from ultra space. "This is where the Dugtrio attacked us, the exit is across that gap.", I said with a scowl. The actual realization that prompted my swearing was this: the path we had avoided all that time ago because of that Boldore would''ve led us straight to the trial site. "Does this mean we can talk again?", Zossie asked with a palpable twinge of excitement.


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Quickly, Toma constructed a fully-fledged web bridge over the chasm that had threatened my life just a short while ago, which I told him to leave up for other trainers. The pair once again equipping their pair of pairs of sunglasses, the Ultra Recon Squad and I left the cave.


    <hr>


    The townsfolk had been very conspicuously ogling the people that, in the bright Alolan sunlight, were very clearly blue the whole way over. After years as a Team Skull grunt I was used to it, and continued pushing them all the way to Kahuna Ranch. I knocked on the door, gave a small smile to Phyco and Zossie, and waited.


    Finally, the door opened and Hama gave me a hug, her cold hands wrapping around my shoulders as she laid her head on top of mine. I hung limp for a moment before clearing my throat, to which Hama pulled away from me. "This is the Ultra Recon Squad.", I introduced, "They came here from ultra space and don''t know anything about pok¨¦mon, so I brought them along to meet Hapu." Keeping her face calm and cool despite the outstanding circumstances, she responded, "I''ll call her over, but she''s busy so you''ll have to wait."


    Hama welcomed the aliens into her home with grace and I showed them quickly to the bathroom. "I made them pancakes and they''ve only ever had algae. Do you have some kind of probiotics?", I explained to Hama as we walked back to sit in the dining room. "I have froyo and that Yanmalt liquid yogurt stuff. No proper medicine.", she replied as she burrowed into the fridge. "They might be lactose intolerant, maybe hold off.", I told her with an abundance of caution. Hama stared icy daggers into me at that. No one could stop a grandmother from offering snacks to a guest. I lowered my head, silently petting Waiola.


    Walking back into the room, Zossie''s pearlescent eyes locked onto the small bottle of Yanmalt and bowl of froyo set in front of the empty chair next to me. "Is this more food!?", she exploded. "Eating it will hurt your stomach more, and there''s a good chance it''ll be even worse than before. Is poisoning yourself like that worth it?", I asked her frankly. "Oh please, I know plenty of lactose intolerant people who still eat dairy!", Hama helpfully sprinkled on top of my comment, making it go down smooth. Just like that, Zossie slammed the Yanmalt back and began shoveling the froyo into her maw.


    As Phyco''s disheveled face came around the corner, Zossie shouted "OW MY HEAD! POISON! MY HEAD IS FREEZING!" Phyco''s hand clenched and a mechanical arm made of the same flexible material as their suits'' joints emerged from his high tech backpack and handed him an odd device. He pointed it at Zossie, looked at it confused for a moment, before normalizing and stating plainly, "Nothing is wrong, your nerves have misunderstood the exposure of your mouth to extreme cold. Do not eat cold foods so fast." "We call it a brain freeze.", I supplied. "The proper term is a cold-stimulus headache.", Hama corrected. Zossie pouted.


    While Phyco sat down to join us all snacking, Hama called Hapu. "Kau''i''s back.


    Yes the Salandit did hatch, she''s calling her Waiola.


    No I''m not wasting your time young lady, you''re the one asking poor questions.


    Thank you. Kau''i met people in the canyon who claim to be from ultra space, she brought them back to the ranch with her.


    Yes, as soon as you can. Bring probiotics." I stared at Hama in shock at their exchange. The efficiency she had shown dealing with Hapu was chilling.


    As Phyco and Hama began to prattle on about pok¨¦mon types and the effectiveness chart, I snuck out the back door. "Finally, some alone time. Waiola, do you mind showing me your moves? You should have Scratch and Poison Gas to start, then we''ll go through egg moves." At my request, Waiola Scratched the air, leaving faint white trails behind her claws. "A good start, we''ll need to work mostly on power for now since you''re freshly hatched. Poison Gas?" Following along again, Waiola was wrapped in a thin veil of purple haze. "Not great, but I already have ideas to improve. Plumeria told me that the way a Poison-Type is poisonous is vitally important for training, and her example was her Salazzle. Your species burn your bodily fluids to create gasses, but those fluids are still toxic in their own way beforehand. If we build on your fire now, your gasses will be better and Ember will be easy to achieve. Those are our paths forward, fire and power."


    Waiola shrunk back as Zossie leaned over my shoulder. I pushed her out of my personal space. If these people didn''t have our social norms, I could break social norms to get them to act with basic decency. It was honestly getting to be slightly cathartic. "So what type is Waiola?", Zossie asked with her arms wrapped coyly behind her back. "Poison and Fire-Type.", I said dryly, returning the pok¨¦mon in question to her luxury ball. "And Kawami? And Toma?", she pressed. "Poison and Flying-Type and Bug and Poison-Type.", I said in the same tone. "What''s with you and Poison-Types? Isn''t that weird?", she continued. "Not really, most trainers are some kind of specialist, even if they don''t specialize in a type. I train Poison-Types cause I have a knack for it, or at least people say that about me. I kind of get it, but I wouldn''t just not catch a non-Poison-Type.", I answered. All she had left to say was, "Huh."


    With nothing more to do here and the Ultra Recon Squad firmly someone else''s problem, I walked away from Zossie and hopped the fence with considerably more ease than when I''d last lived at Kahuna Ranch, taking care not to further rip my overalls. Oddly enough, Zossie followed, clambering awkwardly over the fence in her spacesuit. I turned and questioned her, "I''m leaving. Shouldn''t you stay with your captain?" Staring at me with a stupid grin, she raised her forearm to her mouth and spoke into it with glee, "Captain Phyco do you copy?" Phyco''s voice came through the gauntlet with crystalline clarity, "Indeed I do Zossie. Is there something you wanted to say?" "I''m leaving with Kau''i! You have my location right?", she said. "Yes of course. Best wishes.", he confirmed, and the call ended. I sighed.


    <hr>


    "You lived here!?", my blue and orange tagalong choked. "Yeah, a couple years ago. I''m an orphan, I don''t know what you expected." Weeds, mosses, and molds had taken over the shattered ruin I had used as a hideaway years prior. Unlike Rich, I wouldn''t be bringing Zossie into Team Skull after returning to this little nook. Releasing the rest of my team, I sat down on the corroded pile of blankets and towels that had been my bed and opened my textbook. "What are you doing?", Zossie asked, leaning over my shoulder again. "Shut up.", I answered, pushing her away again.


    I needed to shore up our shortcomings, first and foremost being Waiola''s overall inexperience. Next, a few small things for Toma to practice and two new moves for Kawami to learn. The debate over what to do next scrawled across my marginalia, but this seemed the most sensible way as things actually stood. I began to instruct while Zossie hung on every word. "Waiola, your heat is an internal force. It flows through your body with your blood and venom. When you spit gas, you''ll light it on fire with that heat and shoot it outwards. Your poison and your fire are tied together. Focus on Poison Gas, using the heat to boil your saliva, and once you''re ready, use your breath instead and try to light the gas with it."


    "Kawami,", I turned, "I want you learning Screech and Swift. Screech should be jarring, take what you know from Supersonic and Astonish in that area. Swift is a move that never misses so it''ll be super useful for you. Apparently it should make little stars, I''d bet they''ll shoot from your mouth. Overall, I want you to give alot of thought to Normal-Type energy, since it''ll be important for these moves. You know Frustration, that should help." Kawami slammed into me for a hug and I gave her a scratch behind the ear before she took a corner for herself to practice.


    "Toma,", I said to the trees around us where he was hiding, "keep guarding the area. Shoot some threads Waiola''s way for practice, but mostly I want you to focus on positioning. Make some progress on Baton Pass if you can and see if you can''t make a half decent Night Shade with the shadows you''re so good at moving through. Night Shade won''t be an attack for you as much as a way to hide." Hearing the end of it, a web firework shot up from the canopy where I was facing. Zossie stared at me. "What? Never seen a pok¨¦mon trainer before?", I joked.


    <hr><hr>


    I walked to the Seafolk Village with the whole posse in tow. Phyco, Zossie, Hapu, and all the pok¨¦mon we had with us strode down the road through the Poni Wilds. "I truly appreciate you two kind ladies escorting us to the Seafolk Village.", Phyco said from atop Mah¨¡ where he sat behind Hapu. He was so much taller than her, I couldn''t hold in a chuckle at the sight of him chastely holding onto her shoulders. "And for letting us spectate your trial Kau''i!", Zossie added. "Better I do it than let some poor random trial-goer deal with the combination of Mina and the Ultra Recon Squad.", I said with what anyone who knew Mina would agree was an appropriate amount of dread in my voice. We rounded a corner onto the docks, and approached Mina''s houseboat, which we were assured she would be actually staying in for the whole day.


    Hapu and Phyco dismounted, Hapu''s team were returned to their balls, and she knocked on the door. Mina''s parents answered the door and greeted everyone with a smile. "Come in, come in! She''s a bit distracted, but only a bit. I''m sure you''ll get your trial in no time.", Mina''s father said. I had slept here a few weeks in total when I was being raised by the village, so to speak, and Mina''s parents were quiet folks. They''d wait for months without seeing their daughter, and at the time they still weren''t used to that. I''d heard stories of her wandering off and getting lost in pursuit of a good painting, even stranding herself in Kanto when she was young, but time proved she always ended up back home eventually. Every time I talked to Mina herself, it was like trying to get an attack past Protect, she was a solo act.


    Hapu did her sweet talking with the parents and the Recon Squad flanked me at either side, lost in their readouts and gizmos. I stood silently, watching Mina as she painted an abstract depiction of a flock of Sensu Style Oricorio flying over the ocean''s surface. Each shape flowed out like a liquid, and as she continued the strokes of the brush the reflections of the Flying-Types took on brilliant color in the water of the painting. Pausing, she lifted her hand to her chin in a comical thinking pose, dabbling her chin with pale periwinkle paint from the brush in that same hand. Then she lifted the easel and placed it in the corner of the open studio space. "You''re the trial-goer right? What''s with the whole audience you brought along?", Mina asked, skipping all pretext.


    "Aliens, they''ll be doing some science measurements or whatever, but let''s put that aside for the time being.", I answered. "Can only they see the Time Being?", Mina asked with a hint of fear. "What?", I stammered. "The Time Being! Is it gonna hurt me?! Do they worship it!?", she said, freaking out now. "Huh? Holy Arce you mean... Shut up!", I struggled, working through the trial Captain''s joke. "Heh heh heh heh!", she chortled at my reaction, any pretense of the joke having disappeared like a Substitute after serving its purpose.


    She recovered, finally, and spoke, "No but really, what are they here for?" "They are actually aliens, from ultra space. They''re investigating something called ''aura'', think it might have to do with trials and totem pok¨¦mon.", I informed her. "Is that why their skin is blue?", she asked. "Yep!", Zossie answered for me. "Can I paint you two after this?", she continued questioning, now at Zossie. "Sure!", Zossie replied. "If these measurements ''bear fruit'' as you say, then certainly we would owe you that favor.", Phyco agreed. "You do not want to owe her a favor.", I told him. Before he could ask why, Mina set things under way.


    "Little Kau''i, are you ready for your trial?", she said imperiously. "Yeah.", I confirmed. "Well then you gotta fight me.", she declared. "What?", I reeled. She just laughed some more.

 Chapter 22 - Half the Battle

    Biting her tongue and looking into the middle distance, Mina rifled through the athletics bag on her back with her arm hung awkwardly up and over its own shoulder. "Is this actually the trial?", I asked, thrown off by the captain''s odd behavior. "Kinda.", she answered, leaving nothing actually explained. Finally, she pulled two paint splattered pok¨¦ balls, one actually being a specialty cherish ball, and released two pok¨¦mon onto the field. A Ribombee and Jigglypuff each landed on the thick rug of natural fibers, confident expressions on their faces.


    Hapu and Mina''s parents looked around the paper divider, all of them disappointed. "Not in the house!", Mina''s mom admonished, though Mina seemed to be deaf to it. "I specifically disallowed double battles, your trial already oversteps certain boundaries Mina.", Hapu berated. Shaking off the disconcertion from Mina''s behavior, I spoke up, "I''m fine with it, I got this." Mina''s eyes widened, shimmering with inspiration as she gazed at me. Hapu looked at Mina''s expression, hardened herself before a smile could break the surface, and nodded. Calmly, I pressed the button on the luxury ball to call Waiola to my side to watch the fight. Then, I tossed two balls forward, placing Kawami and Toma across from Ribombee and Jigglypuff in the center of the room. Hapu stood against the folding screen to referee the fight.


    "Do whatever!", Mina said with a totally straight face. The cartoon mustache of hot pink paint that continued onto her brushy dry hair almost visibly curled up in excitement at the bobbing of her head. Ribombee zipped across the room, air dropping a Pollen Puff onto Toma while he was distracted waving to Jigglypuff. "Fang the bee, Spray the puff!", I called.


    As if in the midst of an aerial dogfight, Kawami swerved in a tight spiral to catch Ribombee in-between her dripping Poison Fangs. Ribombee slipped out a blink later, the excess poison somehow falling off of her in doughy clumps. Below the fluttering combatants, Toma Sprayed the stationary Jigglypuff with Acid as instructed. Jigglypuff wiped its face of the acid, revealing a furiously Competitive scowl glowing with pink light and covered in caustic pockmarks. With an adorably raised hand, Jigglypuff sent a crackling Charge Beam through Kawami. As the sparkling energy lingered around Jigglypuff, Kawami flapped desperately to course correct from a collision with the ground.


    I began to shout, "Air Cu-", when Ribombee buzzed out a Round of song. Kawami was momentarily buffeted and Toma stumbled in his skitter. Jigglypuff was hit the hardest, the sound shaking her violently, but the whole time she had a devious smile on her face. Staring slack-jawed, I watched as Jigglypuff picked up the Round. The room was filled with her powerful melody, sparkling rainbow light following the waves of sound that pounded Kawami, Toma, Ribombee, and even Waiola into unconsciousness.


    "Mina wins!", Hapu declared with uncharacteristic smugness. I stuck a finger in my ear and cleared out a bit of wax. "Did I hear you right?", I asked, the overload of the Round fading from my ears. "Mina won.", Hapu repeated, smugness unwavering. "Shouldn''t there be some sort of repercussions for causing Waiola to faint? I wasn''t gonna send her in, she just hatched!", I said bitterly, continuing the millennia old tradition of arguing with the referee. "We didn''t know that, and since your other two pok¨¦mon fainted first it''s legal enough. This isn''t a gym Kau''i.", Hapu said, defending her decision in keeping with the same tradition.


    "Well you lost either way.", Mina yawned, "Try again some time I guess." "We get to do this again!?", Zossie exclaimed. "No, I''m doing the trial on my own next time.", I fumed as I returned my team to their balls. Zossie and Phyco began a huddled conversation with Mina, who was much better equipped to handle them than I was. I just walked out of the Whishcash shaped houseboat, Hapu following behind me.


    "Right now, which are you more: angry or disappointed in yourself?", Hapu digged. "Right now? Angry.", I spat. "That''s the wrong answer.", she piled on. "You''re not helping with that.", I stung back. "Nor should I be, I am the Kahuna of Poni and you are a trial-goer. I am the challenge, you, the challenger.", she said with pride. Then, we entered the Seafolk Village Pok¨¦mon Center. The atmosphere was strange, everything was clean, white, comfortable, and kempt. "Are pok¨¦mon centers always like this?", I asked, my nose scrunched up slightly. "Like what?", Hapu asked back particularly informally. "So... bright?", I specified. Hapu chuckled. Normally, she would either laugh boisterously or not laugh at all, but here, she chuckled. "What? Are you usually too busy keeping your head down, away from the cameras!", she joked, still choking on every breath. I shot her a withering look and continued to the front desk.


    "Welcome to the Seafolk Village Pok¨¦mon Center!", the receptionist greeted brightly. "Uh-huh.", I replied distantly as I placed the pok¨¦ ball, nest ball, and luxury ball on the counter. The receptionist''s smile cracked slightly as she looked over my black and white ensemble of clothes. "Can I see your Trainer ID little miss?", she asked with a broad customer service smile. "Trainer ID...", I dribbled out, then raised a hand to forestall her while I dug through my shoulder bag for the slice of ever-important plastic. Having foraged it out, I passed the ID to her. She held it up to the light, brought it back down, marked it with a marker, wiped the mark off, shined a backlight on it, and finally set it down on the counter with a frown.


    "The ID is real. She was a scoundrel of Team Skull within the month however, so I don''t judge you for your apprehension.", Hapu butted in. The lady looked at Hapu and was dumbstruck. "I''m not being shown an illusion, right?", she asked without any of the propriety of her job. "Indeed you are not. I happen to have a... history... with this hooligan. While she is on Poni Island she''s my responsibility as Kahuna, and I''ve arranged for surveillance of her that will remain when she continues on from Poni. If there''s anything to worry about, I''ll be the one worrying.", Hapu stated. The poor receptionist''s customer service abilities were completely outclassed by Hapu''s lifelong training for taking responsibility for anything and everything. "Do I look that bad?", I interjected. "Yes.", Hapu stated.


    Taking the pok¨¦ balls, the receptionist turned away from us and into the back, using the opportunity for a moment to think rather than leaving it to one of the pok¨¦mon on staff. "How did her Jigglypuff get the power for that attack?", I asked, still considerably mad about my loss. "You''re the trainer, it''s your job to know that sort of thing.", Hapu said dryly. I made a display of rolling my eyes. She pointed to a computer booth on the wall. "Look it up Kau''i. There''s so many ways to find the answers for that on the internet that I''m not sure where to start." Her tone said I was an idiot so many ways that I wasn''t sure where to start. "I just don''t like it... Maybe I know I''ll get sucked in or something, but there''s just nothing backing up the words of people online.", I receded.


    "Kau''i, best in her age bracket at separating trash from tools, isn''t confident she can use the internet without getting duped.", she quaked sarcastically. "Fine. Fine! Shut up, okay?", I grumbled, sitting down at the computer. "You have a phone.", Hapu pointed out. "For now, not on the phone.", I insisted. Not bothering to overcomplicate things, I used the default engine and searched for "Jigglypuff abilities". Salacpedia, a mind bogglingly huge online encyclopedia, listed Jigglypuff''s ability as Cute Charm and its hidden ability as Friend Guard. Neither explained the power of the Round Mina''s Jigglypuff had used, and other information about the Fairy-Type seemed to be missing as well.


    Moving awkwardly back to the original search results, I instead opened Jigglypuff''s page on FairySala, an equivalent encyclopedia site specifically for Fairy-Type specialists. Here, three abilities were listed in total: Cute Charm, Competitive, and Friend Guard. I moved to the page for the Competitive ability, but the FairySala page was confusingly adventurous and buried the effects of the ability in advice for training various Fairy-Types to gain the ability. I moved back to Salacpedia and found the page for it there instead. Competitive heavily raises a pok¨¦mon''s special attack if their other stats are lowered by an opponent, which would''ve triggered when Toma used Acid Spray on Jigglypuff. Already knowing about Round''s boosting effect, I moved through Ribombee and Jigglypuff''s page on both sites and pieced together what had happened.


    Ribombee''s Shield Dust had kept it from being poisoned by Poison Fang, Jigglypuff''s Charge Beam had given her an additional damage buff, and the Round had cleared everyone out before anything could be done. Mina knew the reputation of Fairy-Types being weak and tricky and went with a full force strategy, relying on her pok¨¦mon''s ability to cover the gaps, to counter anyone who underestimated her like I did. If I had been less confident in our Poison-Type moves and used a more cautious strategy, Hypnosis would have failed thanks to Ribombee''s Sweet Veil and Pollen Puff would ensure Jigglypuff had the time to ensure that same finale. Most of all, Mina''s one order at the beginning of the fight, "Do whatever!", was brilliant. My stumbling with having to order my pok¨¦mon led to a predictable strategy with a delay between call and action, whereas her pok¨¦mon synchronized wordlessly and acted as needed. Hapu''s words bounced around in my brain, "You''re the trainer, it''s your job to know that sort of thing."


    "Kau''i! Your pok¨¦mon have been healed! Kau''i!", the receptionist called, breaking me from my researching fugue. I placed my backpack in front of the screen, reserving my spot, and moved to the counter. "Miss Kau''i, there is one issue.", she said, still holding onto the small tray of pok¨¦ balls that held my team. "None of these pok¨¦mon are registered to a trainer."


    "Well they wouldn''t be. I''ve never properly been to a pok¨¦mon center before. Like Hapu said..." She interrupted me there, "Kahuna Hapu." "Right, yeah, her; I was part of Team Skull a month ago, so I would''ve been in trouble if I went to a pok¨¦mon center. And after the season started I went straight into Vast Poni Canyon for my trial, so I haven''t needed to visit since I got the option. You could release my pok¨¦mon right now, they''ll show you I''m their trainer. My Ariados could even spell it out for you with pictograms."


    She sighed. "I believe you, if only because Kahuna Hapu seems to trust you at least that much. I''ll go have them registered to your Trainer ID. What are their names?" I gave her a thankful smile and answered, "The Golbat is Kawami, the Ariados is Toma, and my Salandit is named Waiola." She wrote down the names on a notepad, and after I confirmed she had the right spelling, she left again.


    <hr>


    I stood in front of my team on the wooden training platform behind the pok¨¦mon center, hands on my hips. "Alright guys! We''ve got one goal: fight alot! Mina gave us the runaround and I won''t stand for it. We need experience to make up for all of our failures. If you think you can make progress somewhere in the thick of it, go ahead, but the main goal is overall improvement.", I announced. Kawami shrieked approval, Toma bowed, his back limbs outstretched comically, and Waiola nodded silently. From there, I introduced myself to any fellow trial-goers and pushed for a battle. After a good few odd looks that I was immune to, one strange kid came up to me in exactly the same way I had been doing.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    "Hey!", the girl said in a vile manner, "Me and my team need to get stronger for Mina''s trial.", she continued in the special matter of fact tone of a thug proposing a deal with an attached threat, "You wanna fight?", she finished simply. "Yeah, I''ve been going around asking for that.", I said. Her pigtails swung as her posture became less hunched and her face more cheery. "Okie-dokie! How''d you like my impression of you?!", she said, her voice lacking any of the underpinning distaste from her "impression." "Is that really what I sound like?", I grumbled. "Yup! Your Team Skull roots are suuuper obvious. Honestly, wear as little white and black as you can, anyone with a brain will still spot you a mile away!", she practically sang. I frowned.


    "We gonna fight?", I asked venomously. "We gonna fight?", she copied in that impression again, laughing after. "Oh yeah we are! I''ve got two pok¨¦mon, so how about two 1v1s and the stragglers fight if we''re tied after?", she proposed. "Okay.", I confirmed. She mouthed the word but didn''t give voice to the impression while she grabbed two plain pok¨¦ balls from her belt. I snapped my finger, and Kawami flew down from above, Toma hanging from her in what had become a well practiced routine. "Oh that''s a good one! I''m sure Ori''orio will love that!", my opponent cooed, releasing her Senshu Style Oricorio across from us. "Toma, you''re up, do your thing!", I ordered. "Three!", the girl shouted. She looked at me expectantly. "Two?", I dribbled. "One!", she continued, pausing before staring at me again like I was the biggest idiot there ever was. ''You said one, is that not good enough?'', I thought before conceding. "Go!", I declared with frustration.


    Toma scampered out, creating thread monkey bars to maneuver through, all the while moving his legs in the practiced motions of a Swords Dance. "Air Cutter!", the impressionist called, finger pointed out in the style of so many famous up and coming trainers of the past. Ori''orio followed after Toma in a graceful flying arch, his Dancer ability copying Toma''s Swords Dance before he twirled for a spiral Air Cutter. Toma pulled back from the sting of the super effective attack, taking the opportunity to slip into a Shadow Sneak. "Feather Dance!", the other trainer yelled, trying to secure higher damage for her side, but the irritating feathers never caught onto Toma before he struck the bird in the back with a devastating super effective attack of his own. In one strike, Ori''orio collapsed.


    The girl didn''t flinch for a moment before moving on. "Welp, that''s round one! You''re pok¨¦mon are tough, how long have you been training them?", the girl with jungle green hair said, returning her first pok¨¦mon to his ball. "Around three years, but it mostly wasn''t for fighting until these last few months. My Salandit just hatched though.", I explained, more cordial with a win under my belt. "Okay!", the girl announced, getting on with things, "Round two, Sue''s turn!" Appearing in the Oricorio''s place in front of her was what appeared to be a small potted bonsai tree. My eyes narrowed and I stamped my foot. As expected, at the slightest signal, Kawami rushed to the field. "It''s a Rock-Type, not a Grass-Type. If it''s on our level it''ll be tough, so wear it down like back in the day okay?", I laid out our strategy. Kawami wiggled her ears, annoyed she was being told not to just Bite the thing, but still readied for battle. "Sue is a she, not an it!", my opponent shouted. "Go!", I announced again, not waiting for the little girl''s little routine.


    "Copycat!", the other trainer yelled dramatically. Sue the Bonsly opened her eyes, watching Kawami carefully. Then the two locked eyes, each hitting the other with a Confuse Ray. "Now a Rock Throw!", came the order for Bonsly. Dutifully, a stone was formed, flew through the air, and crushed Kawami''s wing, bringing her down for a moment. In her confusion, her wing swung up into her face and she bit down on it. "To your left!", I directed, hoping to push through the confusion. "More rocks!", the impressionist directed, copying my hope as well. Kawami slammed into Sue, Biting down on the fake tree while Sue swung around, Throwing her hanger-on into the Rocks she had littered around herself. After a few seconds of this repeating, Kawami fell off of the tree-mimic, unable to move.


    "Well, that''s tie game. You never should''ve won in the first round, made it easier to copy you!", my opponent joked. "What''s your name? I just realized I don''t know it.", I asked as we walked into the pok¨¦mon center to heal up for the tiebreaker round. "I''m Copy Kathy, mimicry specialist!", she said with rehearsed bravado. "Kau''i, ex-Team Skull grunt, and supposedly I''m a Poison-Type specialist.", I reciprocated.


    "Supposedly I''m a Poison-Type specialist. What''s that supposed to mean?! Are you or aren''t you?", Kathy questioned, all the while handing the receptionist her pok¨¦ balls and ID behind her back. "I don''t care about the title. If it gets me a job someday, sure, I''ll be a specialist, but I''ll do whatever I need to do at the end of the day.", I explained. "Do whatever I need to do...", she mocked under her breath, stifling a laugh and turning away to give me access to the counter, "That is the most Poison-Type thing I''ve ever heard. Definitely using that if I need to come off as a Poison specialist.", she commented. "People always say shit like that! And wouldn''t you need a Poison-Type pok¨¦mon for that to work?", I bickered. Kathy just laughed.


    Our loudness was attracting attention from the other trial-goers at this point, which Kathy seemed to bask in. For a moment, I felt bad for her that Alola didn''t have a pok¨¦mon contest circuit. "You really should just dedicate yourself to being a specialist. Not to toot my own horn,", here Kathy played a bit of air horn, "but being a specialist is a good move. Why do you think 90% of the top trainers are specialists? Being a generalist is messy and overcomplicated, but once you have that focus of a specialist, you have a path forward." Kathy rubbed her nose pridefully, clearly thinking she had won me over. "Nah!", a boy shouted from behind us, "Generalists are better! The top of the top, Champions like Cynthia and Steven, are mostly generalists! Don''t you wanna be strong? Don''t you wanna be like Red?"


    "Nope. I don''t wanna be strong, I wanna be happy.", I said, concentrating my perspective down into a few words. "And Red is not someone you should aspire to be like, I''ve talked to people who''ve met him; You''ve gotta have something wrong in your brain to make you that obsessive, and lucky to have it work out. None of you are gonna be like that.", I continued, essentially throwing tear gas on the kid''s dreams. "How about this? Copy Kathy, if you beat me in our final match, I''ll become a specialist. If not, I''ll continue to do whatever I want.", I offered. In truth, I would do whatever I wanted either way, but it seemed like a good way to keep the crowd from killing me for heresy. Not like I could bet money I didn''t have. "You''re on!", Kathy declared with gusto. And then we sat down and waited for our pok¨¦mon to be healed, which took some of the air out of the crowd''s sails.


    <hr>


    "Three! Two! One! Go!", the crowd cheered. Toma leaped forward at the Bonsly. "Copycat!", Kathy directed, preening in the attention of the spectators. "Hold out!", I countered. I wasn''t just gonna sit back while she took away our advantages. Toma didn''t Infest little Sue just yet, instead twisting around to hit with the weak Poison Sting. While Sue''s Copycat Poison Sting barely left a scratch on Toma''s carapace, Toma''s was potent with poison. The hairline fracture on Sue''s face festered as she winced. "Now go.", I said smugly. Both pok¨¦mon generated Infestations of tiny critters to attack the other, Toma''s crawling towards their target while the fake tree just chucked her constructs right at her opponent. Toma seemed genuinely impressed to see another pok¨¦mon use his beloved techniques, even if poorly, but it wouldn''t distract him from the fight.


    Toma was shrouded in darkness as he rapidly circled his enemy. Sue was angry and in pain, but still she Threw Rocks at the predator she had lost any way to defeat. One hit Toma, causing the shadows to fade and marking his moment to end the battle. Toma ran to the Bonsly and Constricted her in tight thread before sinking his Fell Stinger into the other pok¨¦mon until she fell helplessly limp in her cocoon. After the fight was done, he cut the cocoon open and it took on its second purpose, a blanket.


    "I''ve been bested!", Kathy wailed like she was performing a play. "Yup. I get to do whatever I want to. Still.", I responded unseriously. "Fair is fair.", she said regally. I laughed a little. She had her moments. While she returned to the front desk to have Sue healed, the crowd collapsed in on me for some reason. All I did was win, Kathy did all the theatrics, so I was confused. I also never received that kind of concentrated attention in a positive way. That much attention had only ever come with a botched thieving before that point.


    After pushing most of the people away, I was able to arrange battles with some of them. A generalist needed help training his Trumbeak''s Skill Link ability, which made dealing with its Rock Blasts a nightmare. The speed and reflexes garnered from that fight would serve us well. One trainer''s Buneary seemed to Endure any attack and dodged expertly any attempt that would whittle down its health to circumvent Endurance. Waiola got practice with a Magikarp to work on her positioning and with a Fighting-Type specialist whose pok¨¦mon offered unique opportunities for her. A Stufful pushed her to use Ember due to its Fluffy ability and a Mienfoo demonstrated a proper Fake Out right in her face. By the end of the day we were in prime condition and I had learned everything I could about Mina and her Fairy-Types.


    <hr>


    As Jigglypuff''s boosted Round ended, Toma finished her with his Fell Stinger. "Alright, I guess it''s time to stop holding back.", Mina said, scratching her chin. Responding to her trainer''s words, Ribombee turned and crushed Toma to the ground with a Psychic attack, causing him to faint despite being decently healthy. Kawami didn''t stand by, fighting through her paralysis to cut into the frightened Bug-Type with a retaliatory Wing Attack. Ribombee too fainted. "Ready for the boss fight?", Mina asked, slipping an ultra ball from her oversized sleeve and tossing it forward. I expected this, having read about Mina''s propensity for forgetting to mention extra pok¨¦mon online. "Yeah, I am!", I shouted defiantly, slinging the luxury ball from my pocket. In the middle of Mina''s home studio, Kawami and Waiola faced off against a fearsomely Intimidating Mawile.


    Immediately, Waiola slithered up to the Steel-Type and clapped in her face, the Fake Out causing her to flinch for a moment. Waiola used that time to get back away from the beast. Kawami tried to shoot an Air Cutter at Mawile in her moment of weakness, but her wing froze up and she was forced to twirl away. The twirl left Kawami open, and when Mawile moved again she swung her Iron Head into Kawami like a baseball batter. Kawami didn''t flinch at the forceful attack thanks to her Inner Focus, and properly sent an Air Cutter back at the Mawile that hissed against her tough skin. While the two were distracted, Waiola let out Corrosive Poison Gas toward Mawile''s side of the room.


    Mawile hacked a cough, experiencing something it clearly never had before, poison. Kawami looked at Waiola with wonder and swooped her up in her legs to get out of Mawile''s reach. Rather than swing fruitlessly at the attackers, Mawile breathed out a Fairy Wind from her crocodilian jaws like a dragon. Only thanks to her resistance to the Fairy-Type did Waiola not faint then and there. Joined together, Kawami''s Air Cutter sent Waiola''s full force Ember forward, where it was caught inside Mawile''s mouth. The critical hit licked at the inside of Mawile, burning her badly.


    Mawile would not give up, choking on her spit and sweating profusely, she trained her eyes on the bat and salamander. As Kawami flapped for another Air Cutter, Mawile pushed herself into the air with her massive mouth and pushed Kawami to the ground with a Sucker Punch. Kawami, Waiola, and Mawile all fell to the floor in a bundle. Waiola was crushed under the two larger pok¨¦mon, fainting, Kawami Attacked furiously with her Wings, and Mawile stalwartly followed gravity''s pull. Kawami then quickly backed away from the humanoid pok¨¦mon, ready for a fight despite her battered state. Instead, Mawile swayed and finally collapsed under the stress of the poison and burns.


    "Well, you won.", Mina said, returning Mawile to her ultra ball. "Is it okay if I go heal my team up before facing the totem pok¨¦mon?", I asked as I gave Kawami a vigorous victory petting. "That''d be a very good idea, yeah.", she said. I could hear the grin she was hiding. "What are you not telling me?", I hissed. "Lots of things.", she answered nonchalantly. "Have I earned a fight with the totem pok¨¦mon?", I asked clearly. "No.", she said, a seelie smile smearing itself across her face, right under the paint mustache. I groaned, she laughed, then she held a resin encased pink flower petal out to me.


    "What''s this?", I queried. "The pink petal of the rainbow flower. Every trial captain has a different color petal, you have to fight each one to get them all. Once you come back with the full flower, you can face the totem pok¨¦mon.", she answered, brazenly cheerful. "How is that allowed?!", I asked, floored. "Mostly it''s not, I only get to do this with Poni natives or certain special cases that can make it around the islands faster.", she explained. "And what''s the trial for everyone else?", I continued. "Oh I just have them paint paintings until Totem Ribombee likes one.", she said offhandedly. I snatched the stupid petal from her hand and whirled my backpack around to stick it in the darkest corner where no one would think to steal from, scowling all the while. As I left, all the little things Mina and Hapu had said to purposefully obfuscate this part of Mina''s trial bubbled feverishly in my brain.

 Chapter 23 - Grounding Exercise

    "Hey!", I shouted into the air. A passing sailor gave me a questioning look, but I waved them away. "Meowths! Hapu had you follow me, she told me so, one of you go tell her I''m leaving for Melemele." Then, just like after the first fight with Mina, I stomped through Seafolk Village to the pok¨¦mon center. Quickly depositing my pok¨¦ balls, I sat down into a single person chair with no others facing it and crossed my arms. I grunted lightly, recalling the verbal circles Mina and Hapu had run around me, and the grunt echoed from my right.


    "Let me be angry alone, Kathy.", I said. "Aww! But you''re so cute when you''re angry!", she replied, bending over the arm of the chair to have her face fill my right periphery. "Are you from Poni?", I asked, which seemed off-topic to her but I now knew to be very pertinent. "Born and raised.", she said with a thick Poni accent and swing of her bent arm, "Why?" "You get the special trial. You fight Mina, she gives you a flower petal for winning, and then you have to fight Every. Other. Trial. Captain. After you get all of their flower petals, then you can fight the totem and finish the trial.", I informed her. "Huh... Do you think she''s trying to prep the other trial captains for being gym leaders some day?", she asked lightheartedly. "If I had to guess, I''d say she used that as her excuse to get Hapu to agree to it. Mina just wants an extra roadblock so people take in more of the scenery, it''s what she would do.", I told her, unenthused.


    Copy Kathy continued talking to me for the next hour while I waited for my pok¨¦mon to be healed, but I barely engaged. She went from the Alolan Pok¨¦mon League project, to gym leaders in other regions, to specialists in general. She had just started talking about Duplica, a Ditto master from Kanto that inspired her own specialization, when I was called to the counter. I released my team, Toma crawled up my legs to attach to my backpack, Kawami hovered around my head, and Waiola curled up in my arms. "See ya Kathy.", I said, walking to the door. As I did, my phone rang. Picking it up, Hapu''s voice assaulted me, "I just got the report from one of the Meowth. You haven''t fought me yet, no leaving Poni Island until you do."


    "I can''t take the grand trial if I haven''t completed Mina''s trial. I''m going.", I responded thinly. "Who''s that?", Kathy asked over my shoulder. "Hapu.", I told her, leaning away from the phone. "Kahuna Hapu!?", Kathy gasped. At the same time, Hapu was lecturing me, "It won''t be a grand trial, but I still won''t let you go until you fight me. You''ll get something out of it, I promise." I nodded to Kathy to say, "Yes, Kahuna Hapu. Now would you be quiet?", and responded to Hapu''s lecture out loud, "That''s stupid, but whatever. When and where do you wanna fight?" Kathy mouthed along with my words, holding down shock. "I''m busy, at the Ancient Poni Path this evening will have to do. We can do it in front of the canyon, that should be suitably dramatic for my first grand trial battle.", Hapu said with authority. "You just said it wasn''t a grand trial.", I reminded her. She huffed and hung up.


    "You know the little kahuna!?", the resident annoyance accused before I could take another breath. "Her and her grandma, yeah. I''m an orphan, they kinda sorta raised me. A little bit.", I explained. "Daaww! Widdew found famiwy?", Kathy mocked. "Shut up! I''m leaving.", I snapped. "Wait! Don''t go, I don''t have your phone number! How are we gonna meet again?!", she shouted after me. "We won''t." I jabbed, the door closing behind me.


    <hr>


    The wind whipped around the route through the Poni Wilds, my hair tangled into thick knots by the gusts that seemed to come from a different direction each time. Kawami''s Flying-Type was shining through as she used the wind to come to rapid mid-air stops or shoot across the brush searching for pok¨¦mon. ''Note to self: Teach Kawami Tailwind soon.'' Once that thought was stowed away, I was immediately distracted again when a Crabrawler was flung from a palm tree straight at my face by the wind. Waiola spit an Ember at it protectively while Toma jumped in to intercept. In moments, the decapod was wrapped in webs and rolling wherever the wind blew it as we moved on unphased.


    The canyon loomed as we crossed from the Poni Wilds to the Ancient Poni Path, the winds carrying sand from the canyon and pelting us with it. I''m sure I looked ridiculous wearing ski goggles in the middle of a sandstorm, but they worked to keep my eyes from succumbing to wind erosion. Kawami made a game of trying to clear as much of the sand around her as she could with a single flap of her wings, while Toma walked at my side to catch me if I was blown over. Waiola would''ve stayed in my arms, but I needed all my strength across all of my body to push on, so she was in her ball. I barely even paid attention to what I saw through the brown haze, following my teammates directions instead. ''What an awful day to go on a walk.''


    As my legs threatened mutiny, I finally pushed through the doorway of Kahuna Ranch and dragged myself to the guest room for a breather. Two-time "Kahuna''s Closest Family Member" Hama passed the door of the guest room like it was never there. "Don''t rest too long, your fight''s at the end of the day.", she said with delicate pressure. I gurgled in resistance, but eventually rolled over at least to take the bags off my shoulders. I pulled the straps of the backpack away, my hands getting coated in sticky dust and meeting coarse blockages as I tried to push through my fossilized hair.


    Letting out a nearly visible sigh of air, Hama lifted me by the pits off of the bed and into the adjacent bathroom. Ruthlessly, she pushed my head backwards into the sink and turned the faucet on, drenching me in cold water for far too long before it finally turned warm. "We could''ve talked before you went pushing my head around.", I said. "Good, you''re ornery again. That means you''re mentally present.", she commented coldly. I gave a challenging glare as she continued brushing the grit from my fadingly multicolored mane. Chuckling internally at the thought, I wormed a hand into my backpack and pulled out the first box of hair dye I could feel. "Since you''re treating my hair so nice, mind redying it for me?", I joked. She tugged my hair to the side with the same force as the northern wind that caused the mess in the first place and snatched the box from my hand.


    Having put in the conditioner, I saw my opportunity. "If we''re gonna actually do this, could you at least get me a chair?", I begged, my knees growing sore from squatting. "I have another thing to get for you anyway.", she capitulated, releasing her cold dead grip on my head and leaving the bathroom. When she returned, she had dragged a chair from the kitchen that carried aluminum foil, gloves, and another small object. A black and white wool wristband like some Team Skull members wore sat there, a heavy watchface-like thing attached to the front. Picking it up like I was going to lose the opportunity to, I looked to Hama for confirmation. She nodded, and I slipped on the Z-Power Ring. The white trim and zigzag running through the middle of the band were made of strong cord to hold the ring together under the weight of the now refined sparkling stone, holding the whole piece snuggly to my wrist. Before I could admire it anymore, I was pushed down into the now empty chair and my head was yanked back to wash the conditioner out.


    The hairdryer pushed my hair around for the third time that day, then Hama moved to the dying. "Have you done this before?", I asked, honestly curious and, since I was unable to inspect my new gear any closer, turning to the next highest on the list of curiosities. "For Sofu; He wanted his black hair to stay even after it started greying. His beard was about as long as some people''s hair, so I''m not new to the foil part either.", she chattered. Her hands combed through the ends of my hair, blending the fading color of my usual cyan with a dark green. The result was a murky sea green, bordering on turquoise, that became the darker of my two hair colors. The faded purple seemed bright in comparison to the new mixture. "You didn''t have to bother with the foil;", I told her as she turned me around to look in the mirror, "A bit of green on my skin is the least of my worries."


    "There, you''re right. What''s your plan for fighting Hapu?", Hama said, freezing me in place. I looked through the mirror at Hama, her snowy silver hair and puffy old face, and without a hint of shame I asked, "Any intel on what she''s training?"


    <hr>


    According to Hama, alongside Hapu''s core team and the Rhydon, Mudbray, and other pok¨¦mon the family was always stabling at the ranch, Hapu was training up a Sandygast, Gabite, Claydol, Diglett, and Barboach as well as taking care of Cubone, Larvitar and Trapinch for some league trainers. "She''s really taking to her role as Kahuna.", Hama had said. I had a thousand obnoxious jokes I could''ve replied with, but there were so many that I missed the proper timing. "What will Hapu do?", I asked rhetorically to myself while my pok¨¦mon stared at me. "No! What won''t Hapu do?", I continued louder, drawing more confused eyes from the Mudsdale in the stables.


    I fell into my old Team Skull squat, it helped me think. It was also more stable in the still high winds, though thankfully the blown sand was down to a sprinkle. "What are the right questions to even ask?", I pleaded. I pulled out the textbook and poured over my notes while my expression turned more and more sour until I realized I was doing nothing instead of something, which had to be wrong. I then mentally questioned that assumption, which just made the insistence that I wasn''t getting anywhere stronger.


    "Alright! Here''s the plan!", I finally decided, "Toma, Keep working on Night Shade and Baton Pass. Both could be important, so just focus on whatever''s coming to you easier. Kawami, finish working on Swift. If she uses a pok¨¦mon with Sand Veil, which she probably will, you''ll follow the stars to keep track of your target. Waiola, try for Dragon Rage. Your Corrosion was excellent in the fight with Mina, so I want you to challenge yourself. Dragon Rage deals a set amount of damage, so the energy will be a bit odd, and it''s your first attack other than Scratch that''s not tied to your heat and poison. Even if it''s just a wimpy little version of the attack, that''s good enough. Work with eachother, I''ve got my own training to do."


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    It wasn''t really anything, essentially I was just pushing for the same things we were already working on. With my sloppy plan set in motion, I went back inside for a lesson from Hama. Finding her in the living room, curled up with a book on her recliner, I snuck behind her chair and poked her on the shoulder. "Teach me how to do a Dragon-Type Z-Move." She turned to me, nerves as cold as ice, and answered, "Sure sweetie." She closed her book, unwrapped herself from her blanket, and worked the leg-rest closed with some effort before finally standing and guiding me back out the way I came in. Every one of her movements was tempered by time.


    "You didn''t put a Z-Crystal in it already did you?", Hama asked first. Showing the empty slot of the Z-Power Ring, which I only then recognized I''d been caressing occasionally since I''d put it on, I prompted Hama to continue. "Using a Z-Move is dangerous.", she began to lecture, "When you use a Z-Move, your energy as the trainer is exerted through a dance specific to each crystal which is converted through the Z-Crystal''s Z-Power into type energy that fuels just one move from your pok¨¦mon. The first time a trainer uses a Z-Move, they''re all but guaranteed to pass out from the drained stamina. If a young or weak pok¨¦mon is subjected to the overwhelming energy of a Z-Move, they can be seriously injured or even die if the move that is being fueled by Z-Power would normally cause recoiling damage and is not used properly." I wrote down what she said vigorously, since information on Z-Moves was very exclusive, even if the phenomenon was well known to exist.


    "Now, what do you plan to do with a Z-Move in your fight against Hapu?", Hama interrogated me. I choked a bit before responding, "I was thinking of having Waiola use Dragon Rage and boost that in case we''re up against Gabite.", I told her. "You will not be performing a Z-Move today.", Hama informed me. "What?!", I exclaimed. "What did you just write down?", she pushed deeper. "What you were saying about Z-Moves, why?", I asked, confused. "Read it out, and this time pay attention.", she instructed coldly. I did. "Using a Z-Move is dangerous... a dance... drained stamina... young or weak pok¨¦mon... seriously injured... not used properly.", I mumbled, reading her words again. "Do you understand?", she asked. "Yes...", I confirmed dejectedly. My plan was almost the worst thing you could do with a Z-Move. ''Well, not the worst.'', I thought, before refocusing.


    "So what? I just fight her like it''s nothing special? That''s not how this goes, she''s gotta have something up her sleeve; Something I need to deal with or I''ll be sitting around here even longer!", I ranted toxically. "Yes, she will," Hama stated with crystalline clarity, "but life can''t be planned for every step of the way. It''s good to learn what you need, to know what you''re getting into, but you won''t always know those things, least of all in a pok¨¦mon battle. Keep a cool head, make steady progress towards your goals, and I know you''ll do well Kau''i."


    I tried to give her the stink eye, but couldn''t force it. I sighed instead and gave her a tight hug. "Thank you.", I said reluctantly, nearly swallowing the words back down, "Now I need to go train."


    <hr>


    Hapu called as twilight gave way to night. "Time to go!", she said confidently. I confirmed tersely and hung up. With a wave, my pok¨¦mon stopped their training and followed me over the gate, for old time''s sake, and down the road to meet Hapu. Kawami had gotten a good handle on Swift, Toma''s Night Shade was seemingly fully developed, but it was hard to tell with its link to a pok¨¦mon''s inherent strength, and Waiola had gotten Dragon Rage to maybe three eighths of its usual power. That was incredibly impressive for just a couple hours of dedicated practice, and I suspected Waiola might have an affinity for Dragon-Type energy.


    The wind was somewhat calmer now, but that only made the gusts that much more destabilizing. With Waiola and Toma at my side and Kawami circling overhead, I hoped I was adequately intimidating as I walked into the wind to meet Hapu. At the other end of the road, Hapu stood headstrong, like she wasn''t the shortest kahuna in history. The night was dark, only starlight and open windows lit the dirt road. One of her pok¨¦mon had compacted the earth to create an outline of a battlefield, trainer boxes and all.


    I stepped into my box on the west side of the road and returned my pok¨¦mon to their balls for the time being. "Are you ready Kau''i?", Hapu asked from the opposite side. "What''s the reward you talked about?", I asked first, probably because of having to deal with Mina. "I don''t lie like that, you would know. Have I lost all the trust I earned helping raise you?", Hapu rebuked. She was right, I was being ridiculous. I moved on. "No switches, three pok¨¦mon each, and no ''grass, fire, water'' bullshit, we both release our first pok¨¦mon at the same time.", I hissed. "Like I need any of that to beat you.", she replied, agreeing.


    I''d thought alot about who to lead with. She knows I''m not an idiot and I know she''s not an idiot, so deciding between the usual opener, Toma, and the mix-up, Kawami, was difficult. In the end, I made my decision based on one thing: Hapu intentionally gave me less than a day to prepare. My hand was glued to the grimey pok¨¦ ball in my pocket. I leaned over, eyes narrowed and poised for battle. Hapu counted us in, "Three. Two. One. Go!"


    Kawami fluttered over the field, faced with a Diglett. I had done research on the Ground-Types Hapu was training, and had learned that there were two kinds of Diglett, Alolan and Kantonian. Luckily for me, this Diglett was the more familiar Alolan kind; Unluckily for me, it was a Steel-Type as well. As soon as he was released, he moved to whip up a Sandstorm. "Quick and clean!", I ordered Kawami. "Iron filings.", Hapu matched, also using a disguised order. She flew in to Bite into the Diglett, but came up with just a mouth full of sand as he was lost in the Sand Veil. The sandstorm grinded against Kawami''s wings as she tried to find her opponent.


    "Remember your Swift!", I shouted into the cloud, getting my own mouthful of grit. Even through the debris, I could see her eyes light up at that. She shook off just one Swift star and followed it, homing in on Diglett. As she got close, Diglett swung his strands of razor wire hair at her. The Metal Claw, even empowered by his ability, Sand Force, didn''t deter her as she Bit into the mole. With the damage that Bite did, it was clear Diglett was meant to be sent in against Toma. Working through Diglett''s Tangling Hairs, she separated from the Steel-Type and the cycle repeated.


    Kawami followed her Swift in for a Bite, catching Diglett on the head. Diglett''s head swung around, scraping its Metal Claws on the critical area inside Kawami''s mouth, but Kawami powered through, Biting down until Hapu''s first pok¨¦mon fainted. She didn''t look much better, likely to faint in a moment if the sandstorm stayed up, and I had a sinking suspicion that it would stay up, so I withdrew her alongside Hapu returning Diglett.


    Again, Hapu counted us in, since both of our pok¨¦mon were being switched in at the same time, "Three. Two. One. Go!" The mystery of what I would send out wasn''t hard to solve, and Hapu had clearly picked a pok¨¦mon just to match Toma. A Larvitar stood across from us, barely distinct through the sandstorm. This pok¨¦mon too had Sand Veil. I was beginning to sense a theme. "Finish Him!", I boomed my order to Toma, imitating an old game a grunt had stolen an arcade cabinet for. Hapu held down a laugh, like she always did when she refused to acknowledge that fun is a normal experience, then she ordered much more plainly than me, "Rocks."


    Toma shrouded himself in Night Shade, slipping into the streams of sand. When he struck forward a moment later, all his Fell Stinger caught was the Rock Slide Larvitar had set him up for, breaking the attack to bits before it could land. The sand was already taking its slow toll on my spider friend. Relentless, he went in for another Fell Stinger, this time finding his target. As Toma was pushed away by the runty Larvitar, he was struck by the enemy''s Scary Face. Hitting him right in his soft heart, Toma lost track of Larvitar as it was once again cloaked in sand. From my position outside of the dust devil, I could see that Larvitar was using its opportunity to renew the dying Sandstorm.


    Whether Toma''s instincts were that of a seasoned predator or a caring and dependable friend, they guided him to the Larvitar just as it put the sands back in a crescendo. Getting the drop on the Rock-Type, his Stinger sunk into its side. At this point, Toma had only been sanded down by the weather while Larvitar had been dealing with the long game instead of doing damage. Toma was ready to earn Fell Stinger''s execution attack boost, and Hapu was having none of it. "Smack Down!", she yelled, the words rumbling in the air. Before Toma could fall back into the thick darkness, Larvitar''s crest formed a boulder that it then Smacked Down onto Toma.


    He didn''t leave the opportunity on the table, grabbing Larvitar''s crest with his two free limbs and latching onto the poor thing. A sound I''m sure most people would find sickening cut through the gusts of wind as Toma''s Fell Stinger was sharpened to a point on the defeat of his foe. Larvitar faded into red light and Hapu sighed. She taunted something un-Kahuna-like, but it was buried under the whistling of the swirling sand. Then, just like I had begun to dread, Gabite was released in Larvitar''s place. "Put them in their place!", Hapu''s gratingly confident voice shouted. With that, since both pok¨¦mon were out, the match began again.


    Very informatively, Gabite shot a jet of burning blue-purple Dragon Type energy. "Deflect!", I snapped, causing Toma to flare out his Night Shade to the full power he could muster. Something about the similarity between Dragon Rage and Night Shade caused some of the Gabite''s usually infallible attack to disperse along with all of Toma''s Night Shade, canceling eachother out. That moment would stick in my brain, but I stayed focused in the moment.


    "Never surrender!", I demanded. Toma launched forward with all eight limbs, running his Fell Stinger across Gabite''s chest. Before Gabite could do Toma in for that offense, Toma fell into the floor and struck it in the back with Shadow Sneak. Toma had squeezed everything out of his attack boost, but this was were it ended. Dual Chops converged on Toma, and despite his strength, the fear in his muscles from the earlier scare slowed his reaction and he was cut down. I pressed down shakily on the button of Toma''s nest ball and reached for my last. ''Victini help me.'', I prayed. I wasn''t the most pious person, but these were extenuating circumstances. Plus, Victini is not the deity your typical Alolan is asking for a blessing. If I needed anyone though, it would be the Victory Pok¨¦mon.


    Waiola was on the field as the sand thinned out, and I only had two words to direct her, "Do whatever!" She''d already pulled one fight from the brink through sheer luck and cuteness today, what''s one more? Hapu''s Gabite leered down its massive shark nose at the little salamander. Gabite whipped its arms in spiraling motions, bringing the Sandstorm back up. Waiola stared daggers at Gabite, building up a righteous Rage while Gabite stood still behind the Sand Veil. It hadn''t moved, and it wouldn''t, so Waiola knew exactly where to aim.


    A pale stream of blue flames and fumes pushed away the sand and seeped into the Gabite''s skin. Thanks to Dragon Rage''s unique properties, even when under developed, the damage it deals effects all pok¨¦mon, no matter their strength or defenses, the same. Gabite fell to the dark ground, and I swooped Waiola up into her favorite spot and sat down to curl up with her.


    With an odd stomp of her foot, the road returned to normal and every sand particle in the air was dropped straight downwards, stopping the Sandstorm in an instant. I raised an impressed brow as I looked up at Hapu. "Tipi. He''s grown alot.", Hapu explained. "I don''t see him, he''s a Flygon now right?", I pressed curiously. "You think dragons can''t dig?", she pushed. With that short exchange at its end, Hapu joined me and Waiola on the ground.


    "Well, Trial-Goer Kau''i, you. are. free. to. go. Poni Island awaits your return with the rainbow flower.", Hapu said peacefully. "You should never have allowed that trial.", I told her pointedly, "Also, you aren''t free to go. You haven''t given me my reward." Hapu sighed, "No dramatic reveals? Are you above proper ceremony and drama?" "Yes, now hand it over.", I said. "If that''s how you want it.", Hapu sneered, then put on a thinly veiled fake smile, "Here''s your Poisonium Z; Since you already know how to use it, I won''t teach you the dance or anything. Have fun on Melemele, goodbye forever. Don''t forget to brush your teeth twice a day." After pushing the glimmering purple crystal into my hand she slowly walked backwards while talking. My mind finally catching up, I ran after her as we both made our way back to the ranch.

 Chapter 24 - Familiarly Unfamiliar

    I had everything packed, I had called ahead for Eva to get all the stuff I left in Po Town to a spot she knew on Melemele, I was ready. Hama even sent me a document guiding me through the Z-Power dances that weren''t tied to a trial or grand trial, which the League gave out to trainers in the know (thanks to Hapu, I now fell into that category), and a separate public document on the Dragonium Z dance. Nothing was keeping me on Poni Island. ''Time to Fly!''


    I gripped tightly onto Kawami''s feet, and I was confident that we would make it all the way to Melemele. Kawami was shrouded in the darkness of a powerful Curse, which should help her last through the journey. "Let''s go!", I shouted, and with a few strong wingbeats we were off. We started low, my feet barely above the ground as Kawami picked up speed. The air rushed behind us as we passed over the Poni Breaker Coast. I looked back at the retreating island as we flew a few dozen feet above the water and was confused to see Hapu waving back at me with an expression she only wore when she knew something I didn''t. Then, we fell.


    Kawami dropped into what the aviation community calls a "death spiral", dragging my arms down before my grip slipped and setting me in an uncontrolled spasmatic frontflip. My hair swung below me and back into my face as I turned upright again. Every limb flailed in a desperate attempt to find equilibrium. I heard a loud splat as Kawami hit the waves, wings outstretched, then swiped the hair from my eyes just in time to join her. The entire front half of my body felt like it had been slapped. I was underwater now, the Magikarp bolting away from me. My bags were trying to sink me and my brain screamed for solutions that I didn''t have. I used all my effort to stay up, gulping down air whenever the waves brought me close to the surface. Then, an oozing mass came up under me, situating me on its back and rising out of the water.


    I blinked my eyes clear of the salt, cleared my lungs of their ballast water, and spun my head around to take in my surroundings. Kawami had carried us maybe forty feet offshore before we fell, where the water was deep enough that we could fall into it and not hit the bottom but not so far out that the waves would take us out to sea. Hapu was standing on the shore, hands on her hips. If I needed any more confirmation of who had perpetrated our Snack Down, Hapu''s Gastrodon, Paina, bringing me right back to her pretty much confirmed it.


    I winced when I looked back out at the water and saw Kawami trying to fly with her wings half submerged and still red from the impact on the way down. I decided to return her to her pok¨¦ ball instead of letting that play out long enough for a fish to come along and try to swallow her. As the steady Surf Gastrodon carried us on dropped away, I dismounted and stood in front of Hapu.


    "Why.", I demanded. Hapu rolled her eyes, answering, "Because you would have never made it to Melemele. Safer that you fall close to shore where Paina can pick you up than falling miles from land." "Even assuming you''re right,", I gave her a look to make sure she knew I didn''t think she was right, "why not just stop me before I''m in the air?" Hapu avoided the question. "I''ll get you to someone who will take you to Melemele. Ready?" "No, I''m not ready, you just dumped me in the ocean.", I replied. "Good.", she said. Paina disappeared, a Claydol filled her place, and with one of its hands on each of our shoulders, Claydol shifted the world around us. Hapu, Claydol, and I glowed white for a moment before the air snapped and we were somewhere else.


    While I didn''t recognize the ephemeral feeling, some deep part of my nervous system did.


    Every panic signal I had was sent in waves through my body.


    My ears rang.


    I was struck with vertigo that buckled my legs out from under me.


    My heart palpitations shook my chest in polyrhythm with my ragged breaths.


    The distant smell of vomit was disregarded as just another untouchable stimulus.


    What I was seeing seemed irrelevant to my current state as my body shuddered, until Hapu''s face was in front of me.


    I hadn''t even realized she had lifted my head.


    "Kau''i! KAU''I!" Her shouts dug past my muddled senses. I forcefully blinked away some of the fog clouding my thoughts. "Are you trying... to hurt me?", I squeaked out. "No, no, no, Kau''i! This was a mistake! I didn''t know you would respond like this!", Hapu was frantic. "Okay," I said, still hyperventilating, "just never do that again." Slowly, Hapu helped me up out of the pile of slimy throw up that I had just then realized was mine.


    The twinge of acid left behind in my throat and mouth was grounding. I had been Teleported, had a reaction or several, and freaked the fuck out, but now it had passed. I was shaken, but I was present, and if anything was seriously wrong, I was in a pok¨¦mon center and could receive care. I was in a pok¨¦mon center and had just appeared in the middle of the lobby, soaked in seawater and loaded with bags, collapsed to my hands and knees, up chucked at some point, and then blearily accused the kahuna of trying to hurt me. Everyone who could stand the sight and smell was staring at us, including, to my chagrin, Copy Kathy and Mina. "Private room.", I imposed on Hapu. She complied and we were soon in an empty treatment room.


    I closed the curtain, dropped my soaked through bags with significant disregard onto the tile floor, and began digging for anything dry. Not necessarily clean, just dry. I almost laughed seeing what made it through. A pair of deeply synthetic white parachute pants and a thin black puffer jacket had shrugged off the water, protecting my skull tank and nothing else. Fate wanted me in Team Skull uniform. I put on the dry clothes and a pair of soggy flip flops and began sorting through my other pockets for anything that wouldn''t recover from the water damage.


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    "That doesn''t sound like you''re putting on clothes, are you decent?", Hapu asked. "Who says ''are you decent''? Also, yes, I''m decent.", I grumbled. Hapu opened the curtain and immediately turned up her nose, which didn''t do much since she was barely above eye-level with my disposal pile on the raised operating table. "Are you gonna help fix this? I''ll accept that the Teleportation thing was an accident, but you definitely meant to dunk me and this is all because of that.", I asked. She sighed, a regretful expression plastering her face, then she put a hand on my shoulder. I flinched away. She retracted her hand. "I''m sorry Kau''i.", Hapu said. "Sorry for what?! I don''t even know for sure what you intended and what just happened!", I bit back on reflex. Hapu looked taken aback for a moment before composing herself.


    "You''re right, I should explain.", she began, taking my outburst in stride, "I knew that you would try to Fly with your Golbat to Melemele, the Meowths reported you practicing for it. I also knew you wouldn''t make it, like I said, so I intervened. For anyone else, I would have stopped them before taking off like you said earlier, but you take things to heart when you learn them the hard way, and we know eachother, so I decided to drive the point home. As for the Teleportation, it''s a known phenomenon that those experiencing it for the first time get nauseous and often vomit, but I have never heard of, much less seen, a reaction like yours. That was an accident."


    I gripped the travel sized sewing kit in my hand to hide the shaking. "Do you think that''s good kahuna behavior?", I said, pushing the words through my teeth. Hapu stayed as still as a statue while she apologized, "No. In retrospect, it was obviously a misstep. I hope I can make it up to you." I paused and let out a long sigh. "As long as the way you''re getting me to Melemele isn''t Teleport... I''ll be fine.", I admonished. I continued parsing the contents of my bags and pants pockets, and Hapu joined me at my side.


    <hr>


    "Why do you have all of those things!? You have a biohazard strapped to your back!", Hapu exclaimed good-naturedly as we walked under the awnings of the Seafolk Village''s town square. "Good thing we cleaned it out in a medical facility then, biohazard disposal was right there on the wall.", I bantered. I was feeling mostly better, but if I wasn''t on a boat with a washer and dryer, I would slip something into Hapu''s drink the next time we met. We passed many people, native, local, and fully foreign, and many boats from pok¨¦mon shaped contraptions and glittering yachts to rust-lined fish trawlers. When we stopped, we were faced with both of the latter. "Gerald!", Hapu greeted, buttering up the crabby old man in front of the decrepit fishing boat.


    In the intervening years, the pepper in the Galarian sailor''s beard had been drowned entirely in the salt of the sea. His rough face still carried that power to float above it all or dive into something with everything he had. After years, Kawami would finally meet the confidant who gave me the opportunity to train her. "Been a while you old dog.", I introduced. "Hapu, I heard aboucha becomin'' Kahuna! Poor button-tosser who told me had to listen while I put morse code through a Fishious Rend. Now who''s the little punk lass to be callin'' me an old dog, ay?", Gerald spouted.


    "I guess you wouldn''t recognize me.", I said offhandedly, then kicked him in the leg and slipped the still trash encrusted pok¨¦ ball Kawami  now called home out of my pocket to show him like it was a closely held secret. His eyes lit up. "The theivin'' lil'' orphan! Forgive a sailor who''s seen too much, but I can''t say I remember yer name lass.", the seafarer said excitedly. "It''s Kau''i. I''m on my island challenge this year, only through the grace of Tapu Fini.", I explained. "Sounds like a story, I do hope ya''ve gotten talkative enough to tell it.", he joked.


    Hapu cleared her throat. "I''m pleased this is going well, but my work leaves no room for idle words. Gerald, you will take Kau''i to Melemele Island, yes?" The look on her face was stiff and unreadable. "Don''t worry little lady," Gerald said, getting a sharp glare from Hapu, "I''ll get yer little sister here to Melemele, safe as can be." I joined Hapu with my own stink eye. With a wry smile, Gerald turned away from us and walked up the ramp to his boat. "Come ''ere Kau''i, let''s not waste more of the Kahuna''s time.", he called.


    Rolling my eyes, I moved to join him when Hapu grabbed my shoulder and turned me to face her. "Goodbye. When you come back, make sure Kawami Flys you here, ok?", she said with a stoney face that she barely kept from crumbling. I tilted my head down a tad to look her right in the eyes. ''Three years ago, she was taller than me.'', I thought. I answered her, "Yeah, alright, just don''t dunk me in saltwater again." She buried me in a hug despite her size, hiding her face in my poofy hair. I brushed one of her pigtails out of my face, saying quietly, "Since when did I matter so much?" She brought her head up to look me in the eyes, answering, "You''ve always mattered." "Ugh!", I groaned, rolling my eyes at the sentimentality and breaking the tension. A smile cracked Hapu''s face that looked wider than the Vast Poni Canyon ever had. I broke away from Hapu and with a simple, "Bye.", that she returned, I slipped up the gangway and down below deck.


    A few minutes later, the boat lurched forward and we began moving out to sea. First, I searched for a washer and dryer to clean my still damp bags. I found none outside of Gerald''s quarters, which I wouldn''t enter. Next, I set up the hammock I''d once stolen from Gerald right back in the spot I''d found it. It had a few patches where it didn''t before, but that just meant I''d made it mine. Setting down my bags and wiping my hands on my pants, I went back up the stairs to the deck. "Diligent lass arenchya?", Gerald commented at my return.


    "It''ll be a short trip, no need to pack everythin'' away like we''re sailin'' to Indigo.", He continued. I told him, "Call me cautious, but the last time I ended up unexpectedly in the ocean, my bags nearly drowned me." "And when was that?", He inquired. "This morning, when Hapu shot me out of the sky.", I remarked venomously. His eyebrows raised and he said, "Ya don''t say? I''d''ve sworn you two just conquered the world together with the way yer goodbye went." I pulled my hood over my head and backed away from him to take a seat on the deck. "Sensitive subject? Ya''d think after so many years I''d have more¡­ tact, but alas.", he said as I retreated.


    As I slumped into the artificial straps that connected the empty frame of a chair, Gerald busied himself with jobs to do on the boat. He called to his pok¨¦mon, Moby the Wailord and Miser the Dhelmise, to organize something, and then pulled everything that wasn''t bolted down on the deck into storage. Finally, he came to my chair. "I''ve gotta put this below deck.", he said, ushering me off the thing, "We''ll be using a poorly advised sailing technique, since we''re carrying special cargo.", he said. Then, he winked at me. I groaned a little. "Come on, yer gonna like it! Here, to the helm!", he cried, setting me down in a seat with an array of buttons. Most of the controls had their original labels covered with masking tape that read "DO NOT TOUCH" in red marker.


    Gerald left me alone in the helm while he made a course around the ship. He stopped next to the back of the ship, returning Miser to a ball on his belt, then did the same at the front of the ship as he returned Moby. Finally, he moved to the center of the deck and pulled out his third ball. "FULL POWER YE MAGNIFICENT BEAST YOU!", he roared as Argona the Gyarados began to circle above the ship in an Intimidating, no, terrifying, Rain Dance. In moments, the sky and sea turned black and rain pounded down on the deck. A terrible Tailwind pushed through Gerald''s trenchcoat as Argona called forth mighty Surfs, Waterfalls, and Whirlpools to will the ocean to carry us forward. The bright blues and greens on the horizon stood in stark contrast to the force of nature Gyarados had called down in service of my quick transport. All the while, Gerald held is head to the sky, cackling like a madman.


    I got out of my seat, found a contraption Gerald had hooked together so he could pull a cord hanging from the ceiling of the helm to sound the boat''s rusted horn, and pulled it. Gerald finally broke from his madness, pushing through the wind and into the helm. "Ya know, sometimes, I wish I had one''a them old sailboats. With a proper galleon, Argona could take me across the seas faster than this damned engine I have to finagle e''ry two minutes!", Gerald thought out loud after closing the heavy door behind him.


    "What are we supposed to do while that''s happening?", I questioned him, pointing to Argona still dancing in the air above the ship. Gerald held up a hand placatingly. "Before that, a quick confirmation. You''re in Team Skull, yes?" "I was, pretty much the whole three years since last time I saw you.", I answered. "Good, that means yer the repeat offender, not me.", He said, pulling bottles of liquor out of a box beneath the steering column that was disguised as a footrest. "How are you friends with Hapu?", I asked him. "I hoped ya''d figured that out on yer own. I''m great at keepin'' secrets. Now! I doubt those Skull punks know how to make even a half-good Mai Tai!"

 Chapter 25 - Might Might Make Right

    I took a sip of yet another of Gerald''s concoctions. Over the course of the trip, he had pulled out an entire bar of tools, glasses, and boozes from the nook and crannies of the helm. "Whaddya callit? A Tim''s Ballin''?", I slurred to the sailor. "Close enough.", he answered, not all there himself, but handling the effects better, "It''s one''a the more snooty drinks I like." "I lige it.", I decided, "It''s like if you made a lemonade but put grass in it. Good grass." Gerald and I laughed at my commentary. "I still like the rum and croak better.", I added needlessly. Kawami squeaked a laugh from her position wrapped around my head, throwing my balance off. I fell half over before I gripped onto my chair and unsteadily righted myself.


    "Go play wit Dhelmise Kawamiiiii.", I groaned, clumsily taking her off of my head and tossing her at the Ghost-Type. "Wantin'' some alone time?", Gerald asked. I didn''t respond, crawling out of my chair to lay on the floor in the corner of the room, which was a response in its own way. My emotions were moving faster than my thoughts, so rather than try to address them myself, I let Waiola out of her luxury ball and curled up with her. After so long observing me and the rest of the team, she caught on quickly to my needs.


    Her skin warmed like a heated blanket and she emitted a soft musky smell that reminded me of my time in Po Town. As the scent sunk into my nose, I wept. Waiola looked up at me with a worried expression, and Gerald came over to see what had gotten into me. He tried to console me, but with how little he actually knew about me, the words slid off me like slick rubbery liquid. Waiola, in spite of having that close connection, had no deeper communication to help me with. I bawled on the floor, tucked into a ball as my knees grew wet with unflattering tears. Toma tried to bridge the language gap, but I was too drunk to make sense of his pictograms when describing such a complex topic.


    I was working to make my life better, but it already was better before. The logical part of me knew that feeling was stupid, that being in Team Skull was stifling and unsustainable, but it was drowned out by the alcohol. ''I had so much freedom!'', my emotions screamed, ignoring the freedom I currently had and the lack of control I had working towards the stupid plan. ''I miss my friends!'', it shouted. I could call them anytime, I was at fault for losing touch with them. ''This journey sucks!'', it concluded. I wish I could go back and shout at myself then, that that''s the point, that most of the time, especially for people in our position, it gets alot worse before it gets better. I wouldn''t''ve listened of course, but it''d be cathartic.


    As I laid there sobbing, held close by my three companions, the storm faded away and the sun shone through the rain-soaked windows, the light bending in bubbly patterns across the helm. "Come on, Miser, you know I can''t pull ''er into port alone when I''m this drunk.", Gerald said as he stepped out onto the deck, leaving me with my team to try and pull myself together. The ship slowed back and rocked in different directions as my face grew too numb to squeeze my tear ducts anymore. Without the steady release of endorphins from crying, I slowly tried to raise myself up. With the forward momentum of the ship halted, I overcompensated and fell towards the front of the ship. On my second attempt, I succeeded in getting to my feet. "Kawami, keep-me-up, would ya?", I gurgled.


    I walked out of the helm to see Gerald toss a rope wide of the metal anchor point on the dock, only for his Dhelmise to tie it on properly with a Grass Knot. I shambled like a freshly awakened coma patient to the door leading below deck and down the stairs, Kawami''s wings flapping intermittently to keep me steady. Sloppily, I grabbed my bags and hammock and went back up the stairs while leaving a trail of sweat on the wall from the clammy hand I used to prop myself up.


    "Leavin'' so soon lass?", Gerald asked as I moved to the edge of the ship. I ignored him, instead talking to Kawami as she stood on my head, "Lift me onto the dock, I''m not fallin'' in the ocean again." I grabbed tightly onto her feet and she hovered us off of the boat. "Now that''s just rude.", the sailor mumbled as I caught myself from falling over. Toma followed right behind, swinging expertly by a thread from the ship to the dock by using Kawami as his anchor point. Then, he spat out a bit of webbing and formed it into a small bridge for Waiola, chopping it down with a swing of his leg once she had crossed. "Call me if you need a ride Kau''i!", Gerald shouted down at me. "I won''t!", I bit back bitterly.


    As I walked away, the memory of doing the same thing to Kathy earlier the same day flashed through my head, and I drunkenly turned around. I cleared my throat with too much gusto, sending me into a short coughing fit, but it at least recaptured Gerald''s attention like I intended. "Wha''s your number?", I asked, craning my neck up at the tall Galarian man in his tall Galarian boat. "What''s with the change''a heart?", Gerald replied. "Quick, or I''ll change again. Gets so wishy-washy with the alcohol, I swear.", I joked. "Fine, fine.", he said, before finally reciting his phone number while I typed it into my phone. With that done, I walked away, for good this time. "No nice goodbye for me like with Hapu?", he asked somberly, some of his own intoxication coming through. "You''re not Hapu, so no.", I slurred out.


    Stumbling down the docks, I tried to move towards the city but quickly found out why sailors had a term for "sea legs" when my land legs slipped out from under me in spite of Kawami''s efforts. The tour boats, cruise ships, and luxury yachts mocked me as I lifted myself again from the ground. I wondered idly how many more times I''d have to do that today before continuing forward more cautiously.


    The streets of Hau''oli City were alive, bustling from high rise to high rise, apartment complex to convenience store, and hotel to tourist trap. There was nowhere else in Alola like it. Malie was all about style, which limited its vertical expansion, and thus its expansion in general on a small island shrouded in wilderness. The same things were true of Konikoni, the way others told it. Po Town was wholly artificial, and was never intended to house the grit that Hau''oli accommodated along with every other type of person. Nothing on Poni could even be called a city, and Heahea was kept neat and tidy for resort-goers. Walking through Hau''oli City felt like getting a taste of that light that formed Z-Moves for yourself, no matter what kind of person you were.


    The air hummed with motion, people riding in cars, bikes, or simply on the backs of pok¨¦mon down the roads while the sidewalks, wider than I''d ever seen, were filled with pedestrian traffic. There was no standard type of person in the downtown of Hau''oli, every group, every clique, every lone person different than the last. Business men, young people out on the town, trainers from beginner to ace, tourists, buskers, the homeless, and the criminally rich all intermingled. Rather than needing effort to blend in to the crowd, it would be a far greater challenge to stand out in it. Even as I brazenly displayed my drunken ten year old self in full Team Skull colors, not an eye turned from the advertisements, window displays, and free entertainment around every bend.


    ''I''m gonna need to find an alley where I can sleep peacefully.'', I thought groggily as the joyous sounds of the city swirled around me. Kawami was working overtime to keep me upright on my walk through downtown. In spite of my anguish a dozen minutes earlier, the energy of Hau''oli, inviting and warm, lifted my spirits enough to tackle my problems head-on. I quickly found my nook, a small cubby nestled between half a dozen bed and breakfasts, and left Toma to set up camp and guard some of my stuff. I set off down the nearest proper street with my shoulder bag empty and waiting for a fill up of supplies. After my dip that morning, most of my food was spoiled and I was aggravated to find it not so easy to dig through trash here as it was in Malie, which led me to one of the convenience stores that dotted seemingly every street corner. I may have been more used to targeted theft, but that didn''t mean I wouldn''t stoop to shoplifting.


    <hr>


    Trial Captain Ilima walked calmly out of the condo of another student, his tutoring done for the day. ''I could use a pick-me-up after that, then on to more regular business.'', he thought, matching stride effortlessly with the people on the sidewalk as he plotted the course to the nearest convenience store for a can of coffee and something sugary. Entering the overly air-conditioned store, he quickly perused the selection of regular confections and their souvenir counterparts and decided on something simple and chocolatey. As he moved further in to choose a black, caramel, or mocha coffee from the cooled drink shelves, the ace student was struck by the visage of a small girl.


    She was short, a bit less than four and a half feet tall, sloppily tossing various food into a bag slung across her shoulders like she should''ve been able to hide that she was doing it but was currently failing. Her clothes would indicate a connection to Team Skull, but no chain hung from her craned neck and no beanie sat askew on her head, instead topped with an eager Golbat helping to keep the girl from face planting into the coconut waters. In all his years explaining peoples mistakes to them to help them improve from those mistakes, Ilima had honed a great skill in observing a single person as they tried, and failed, to do something. That skill told him this girl was, for one, drunk, and for another thing, she was not using the beaten shoulder bag just to reduce her environmental footprint, but to steal everything she was putting into it. Whatever situation this girl was in, he felt obligated to step in.


    "I''ll pay for you if you need it that badly.", Ilima said to her, in the casual and hushed tone of conversing with a stranger outside of the set situations one would be expected to. Her eyes glimmered predatorily, but her voice remained offensive in the way expected of a ruffian as she replied, "I wouldn''t''ve needed''a do this if the city jus'' kept its trash all bunched up like normal." ''She''s not from the city, she''s very likely a trainer, she digs through trash, and she''s taking advantage of me. Interesting.'', Ilima mentally noted. "I''m surprised the trash is your first option, the products here are much more appetizing.", he said out loud. "Yeah, well it''s better to take what people are okay giving up.", she quipped, backhandedly poking fun at the young man''s offer. More commentary on the strange girl flowed into Ilima''s mind, ''Is it the alcohol or is she just this audacious?''


    As Ilima grabbed a black coffee, inspired to match the girl''s chutzpah, she grabbed armfuls of food and an odd assortment of other items to have paid for on her behalf. Placing his paltry order on the counter, he waited as the purple and green haired gremlin dumped out a pile of products that drowned his items in its clutter. "I''ll be paying for all of that, no bag will be necessary.", the captain stated clearly to the clerk. While they furiously scanned barcode after barcode, Ilima made his move. "So, what''s your name?", he inquired evenly to the ruffian girl. "Why''dya needa know?", she asked, a question for a question. "I''m Trial Captain Ilima. I expect you''ll be looking to take on my trial.", he stated clearly. She scoffed, "You? Trial cabdin? I doubt it." The employee was giving them an odd look in-between scans.


    Ilima pointed at the small flower shaped hair ornament that proved he was a Trial Captain. "This little piece is all I need to make my position definitive. As they say, the proof is in the pudding.", he said with confidence. "Puuuudding...", the girl drawled in response, before ducking back into the store grab a few cups of pudding. Ilima sighed a rare sigh, for him at least, that of a teacher whose student completely lacks understanding of their lesson. "I see no reason to refuse your supplies, instead I offer you this challenge: If you do not complete my trial in the Verdant Cavern by tomorrow night, I''ll report you for underaged drinking.", Ilima asserted. "Hah!", the girl exclaimed far too loudly, "Well it''s probly reported already, but I don''t care. I''m beating your trial today, just for sayin'' that."


    "That''ll be 126 pok¨¦dollars and 52 cents.", the clerk butted in. Ilima focused his eyes on the card reader while his mind stayed on the conversation. "A bold claim, I would enjoy seeing you fulfill it. Though if you need it, the original offer stands regardless.", Ilima returned after the interruption, pulling his card out of the machine. The girl scratched at her wild head of hair as she awkwardly said, "Hapu probably spilled the beans anyway, and if you''re gonna be so nice aboudit, I''m Kau''i."


    Internally, his mind caught on the mention of Poni Island''s kahuna, but he continued nonchalantly. "That''s funny, I thought I was being goading then and nice before that.", He said curtly, picking out his coffee and chocolate and taking the offered receipt. "Where is your trial by-the-way? I''ll need to get some of my stuff from camp.", Kau''i asked offhandedly, shoveling her thing into her bag before cradling the rest in her arms. "Camp? Why camp when you could stay in the pok¨¦mon center?", Ilima asked. "You can stay in the pok¨¦mon center?", Kau''i asked back. They exchanged befuddled looks as they walked out of the store.


    "We should go take your camp down.", Ilima suggested. "Egh, I kinda lige it.", Kau''i dismissed. "Is it better than having a bed, soundproof walls, and a 24/7 training area attached?", Ilima pushed. "Yeah, yeah, ok goody two-shoes.", Kau''i digged, only for Ilima to glow at the words. Ilima had always, and would always be, a proud goody two-shoes. As his two goody shoes strode down the street, Kau''i led him down an alleyway that barely registered as such, instead appearing to be a short pathway just outside the fence of a many-terraced tropical B&B. Only when the path curled behind the hollow plastic picket fence was its true nature as an alleyway revealed, alongside a barren tent affixed to the nearby buildings and fences with silky threads. Looking closer, it became clear the whole structure was made of spider webs.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    "Toma! Come help me pack. Apparentlyyyyy, the pok¨¦mon center gives out free beds on top of free heals!", the girl cooed. Emerging from the cocoon tent, an Ariados held a hiking bag on its back with a leg bent up like a human would move their arm to scratch their back, except it was upwards from the body of a spider. The other upturned leg waved in greeting, which Ilima gently returned. "Can you take that down without making a mess?", Ilima asked. "Would it do me any good to leave messes around? Believe it or not, leaving a trace is kinda the opposite of what you''re supposed to do as a thief.", she responded, the snark in her voice overpowering the intoxication for a moment, fighting poison with venom. Ilima suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, instead cracking open his coffee and taking a professional sip.


    "Here''s my number. I''ll be at the Verdant Cavern until night falls after this, which you can just ask for directions to. I''ll push you to the front of the line when you arrive.", He finally said, handing the street rat a business card. It listed his name, number, and an extensive list of the positions he expected people to call him because of: Trial Captain, Pok¨¦mon Trainers'' School Alumni, Tutor of Mathematics, Science, History, and Alolan Language, Move Tutor of Swift, Endure, Psych Up, Metronome, etcetera, etcetera. "Were all the titles necessary?", Kau''i asked, staring at it like it would start floating around and haunting her. "Yes.", Ilima said flatly, turning to leave. "Huh.", was all Kau''i said in return.


    Sighing, the captain released his Stoutland, hopped aboard the massive canine once he reached a wider thoroughfare, and retrieved his phone for a call. He had no need of scrolling through a contact list, his ability to memorize information extended into every aspect of his life. People sometimes suggested he''d make a better Psychic-Type specialist, but he knew that was foolish. The Psychic Type was about bending and warping the limits of yourself and your surroundings, where the Normal Type simply seeked to understand and work within your limits to your utmost. He was very much so the latter, and training his Oranguru had solidified his confidence in that fact. "I am not busy at this moment. What is the matter, Ilima?", Hapu asked on the other end of the line.


    Ilima signalled to his mount to take them to the Verdant Cavern while upholding his part of the conversation. "I have a trainer coming to take on my trial later today, I believe you know eachother. One ''Kau''i''?", he said, neither hand on Stoutland as he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder. Both hands were used instead to take notes in a stream-of-consciousness word cloud technique that helped to sort his thoughts as they occurred. "How is she handling the city? Both far too well and far too poorly, I expect.", Hapu responded dryly. "A fair assessment of the circumstances, though missing a vital piece.", Ilima countered.


    "And what would that be? You of all people understand my endless curiosity.", she inquired in step with their beloved pleasantries. "Certainly.", he agreed, before revealing the juicy details, "She tried to rob a convenience store, drunk." Hapu didn''t react at first, but his last emphasized word earned a subtle choking noise, a point for Ilima. This was a long standing tradition between the two, a game of gossip that each was confident was safe to exchange, as both Ilima and Hapu were incredibly honorable and knew the other to be the same. Whoever could reveal something that elicited an outwardly shocked reaction from the other earned a point, and being the respectful people they were, points were often given out willingly to show appreciation for the good gossip. This was not one of those times, Ilima genuinely had her shocked, which he made sure to note down.


    "I assume you stepped in?", she asked tensely, holding back a cavalcade of other questions that Ilima couldn''t answer. Ilima continued, first answering Hapu''s question, "I am the one calling you rather than a police officer or store clerk, so yes. I agreed to pay for her things, which she took advantage of, and challenged her to beat my trial by tomorrow night, which she said was too easy and that she would complete it today. I then had to tell her that pok¨¦mon centers have rooms for trainers to stay in." "I thought she knew that. It''s good to hear she''s not still in a bad state.", Hapu added, leaving the explanation of Kau''i''s "bad state" hanging. The sentiment was genuine, but every word spoken between them was a part of the game to some extent. "Oh? What could get a girl like her, so headstrong and clinging to life, in a quagmire?", Ilima asked, his turn to "serve the ball" as they had taken to calling it.


    And then, over the next few minutes, he listened, and bantered, and was carried to the Verdant Cavern. The story was one that Ilima wouldn''t soon forget, since to him it showed a different side to the kahuna he had never known. Their personal rumor mill focused primarily on trainers and figures in Alola''s and the Pok¨¦mon League''s focus. Only because Kau''i was now a trial-goer did Hapu see fit to include such a close and personal story, which made it all the more captivating to her confidant. Expertly, Hapu and Stoutland both finished the journeys they took Ilima through at the same time, and with a thankful farewell to both, Ilima stepped into his trial site.


    He greeted the Yungoos patrolling the entrance and walked briskly to the innermost recess of the nest to chat with the Totem Raticate in his cradle of darkness. Simply by Ilima''s arrival lacking any further explanation, the totem pok¨¦mon knew it would be another typical day of patronage. Having exchanged what passes for pleasantries among pok¨¦mon, Ilima moved back to the front of the cavern. He kept a tight schedule of trial-goers this early in the season, all of whom had been tested by him prior to ensure they took their new lives as trainers seriously, all except Kau''i. The children each explored the cave with vigor, faced with the challenge of getting the Yungoos or Rattata, whatever is out at the time, to scurry away and ask for help from their boss, the totem pok¨¦mon.


    While the way Ilima tested the kids himself was about their strength, the trial was about wits. Getting the rodents to do what you wanted was like herding cats who were herding rats, you were forced to strategize and  plan ahead. Totem Raticate valued much the same, and wouldn''t allow a pass for trainers who couldn''t do more than ineffectually attack the power suffused beast. The trial as whole, from Ilima''s test to the Totem''s, was a barrier to prove one was truly on the path of a trainer. The day passed as usual, and no insignificant amount of trial-goers failed to best it, but many more did succeed, which filled Ilima with satisfaction.


    Far sooner than he expected, Kau''i waltzed up to the cave. She had her hiking bag on, stuffed full, and was noticeably less drunk, though still not sober. Ilima gave a pitying look to the next trainer in line, saying, "I''m afraid you''ll have to wait a while longer, someone''s arrived who will be taking the trial with my direct observation. Things will return to normal immediately afterward, just stay put." Kau''i gave him a sidelong look, but held off on a witty response, instead choosing to stand and wait for whoever was running the trial to finish.


    A quarter of an hour after Kau''i showed up, a lanky beanpole of a boy came huffing out of the cave''s mouth. "Damned Raticate! How am I supposed to... haaaggggh... get the totem to lift a finger... ouegh... with that many damned rats... gieggh... rushing me!", the boy shouted through coughs. Ilima patted the boy on the shoulder, his hopes of the boy succeeding having been washed away, while Kau''i just held back a laugh. After the boy left, Ilima cleared his throat to speak. "Well then Kau''i, let''s see if you''re as capable as you believe. You don''t mind if I take notes do you?" "Nah, go ahead. Let''s get movin'', wouldn''t wanna break my promises.", Kau''i responded coyly, moving into the darkness.


    Ilima''s hand stood still as he waited for Kau''i to try and tackle the trial. Instead, she turned to him. "So what''s the deal with this trial anyway? Kinda my first normal one, ya know?" Ilima noted her decision to ask for more information and answered, "Totem Raticate is the boss of the Raticate, Rattata, Yungoos, and Gumshoos of Verdant Cavern. Do so much that the Totem''s underlings can''t handle you, and he''ll be forced to step in." "Oh that''s no problem then.", she said with alcoholic confidence. Ilima''s notes filled rapidly as the girl quickly released three pok¨¦mon, her Golbat and Ariados as well as a Salandit, and ordered her team around.


    "Kawami, do a sweep of the whole cave and tell Toma where all the burrow-holes are. When you''re done with that, Waiola you''ll sit back and make as much Poison Gas as possible while Kawami uses Air Cutters to spread it around. Don''t make it with Corrosion, we''ll be going through it. Then, Kawami and Toma will use Confuse Ray, Supersonic, Astonish, Shadow Sneak, and Night Shade to make the pok¨¦mon even more scared and run away into their holes. After that''s done, Toma will just seal them in with webs and that''s that.", Kau''i orchestrated.


    The Trial Captain looked down at his notes, the plan laid out in a messy diagram, and returned his gaze to Kau''i as a smile spread across his face. ''If this is what she can do drunk, what in the world is she like sober?'', he thought. All too soon, the Golbat was scouting out the cave as ordered and Kau''i was pulling a filtration mask over her mouth. He doodled the mask while she asked him, "Do you have something to deal with Poison Gas?" With a brief wave of his hand, still gripping the stylus, a Blissey released itself from a heal ball in his pack. "Alrightio!", Kau''i blurted.


    "That was too much. I''m still drunk ya know?", Kau''i regretfully continued. "I gathered as much, yes.", Ilima said distractedly. Kau''i rambled on, "Yeah I tried to stay quiet so nobody else would notice after you sorta blackmailed me over it. The receptionist at the pok¨¦mon center totally noticed, but lucky for me she''s not a narc." "For me to blackmail you, I would need evidence of your crime.", he said. "That''s stupid, that''s totally still blackmail.", she argued pointlessly. Ilima just rolled his eyes, contemplating again whether the girl was a savant, an idiot, or both.


    Then, the Golbat returned. "Great jooooob Kawami!", Kau''i cheered, wrapping the bat in a suffocating hug that sent her tumbling over her feet and onto the ground. The physical affection was a good sign in Ilima''s eyes, particularly for a pok¨¦mon that evolved with a close bond. "Okay, okay. Everybody ready?", Kau''i said excitedly after regaining some composure. Her pok¨¦mon all voiced their ascent, and she lifted herself just a bit so she was sitting on the floor instead of lying down. "Plan go!", she shouted through the muffling mask.


    Just as she had described, her Salandit emitted a cloud of Poison Gas that stung at Ilima''s eyes even through his Blissey''s Healer effect. The gas was blown about to fill the space, puffing out of the holes in the ceiling in wisps, while the immune Poison-Types turned the cave into a nightmare for its residents. If not for Confuse Ray and Supersonic, it likely wouldn''t have been effective, but the confusion the moves had made pushed the pok¨¦mon to flee. Soon after each burrow was filled, it was plugged up with webs. Ilima''s stylus flew across the tablet screen as he pushed through the pain of the Poison Gas to record every detail. Kau''i, in contrast, stood passively by in a deep squat as it all played out.


    "Clear the air will ya!?", the thief shouted, revealing the empty cave from behind the veil of purple smoke. A rumbling cry echoed down from the nest at the end of the Verdant Cavern. Totem Raticate was ready. Kau''i got up unsteadily, then followed behind as her Golbat led them right to the totem''s nest. "Hey.", Kau''i said suddenly, stopping just before the nest. "What?", Ilima asked. "Does getting the Totem Pok¨¦mon to faint still count?", Kau''i inquired. Ilima paused, barely refraining from repeating himself. "Yes, that certainly qualifies.", he finally said. "Good. We''re doin'' that." With unabashed gumption, she passed through the curtain of vines into the nest of Totem Raticate with her team in tow, only having returned the inexperienced Salandit to her ball.


    The massive pok¨¦mon reared back, letting loose a shrill screech that enveloped the chamber before sending an approving look at his friend Ilima. "Kawami, poison! Toma, setup!", Kau''i directed, signaling the start of the fight. The Golbat flew towards the four foot tall rat, her gaping maw drooling with toxins for a Poison Fang, but the Totem Raticate leaped out of the way for a second with his immense strength. The totem pokemon cleared a blocked up burrow with a flick of his tail, another Raticate half his size joining him, before the bat caught up to the rat and sunk her Poison Fangs down on his bulbous head. The poison seeped into the wound, but it fizzled out in moments after the totem pok¨¦mon bit down on a pecha berry he had Gluttonously stuffed in his cheek.


    Kau''i''s Ariados stayed back, sharpening his limbs against eachothers hard carapace in an admirable Swords Dance, before being rushed by the totem''s ally. The totem himself was busy with Kau''i''s Golbat, clipping her wings with a Super Fang that was reciprocated by her own Poison Fang that again failed to poison the bestial rodent. The smaller Raticate cracked into Ariados''s hard shell with a Hyper Fang before being summarily taken down by his sharpened Fell Stinger.


    Seeing the threat of the challengers, Totem Raticate moved to Sucker Punch the Ariados before he could attack, but stumbled when Golbat''s Quick Guard tripped him. Ilima took note of both the advanced move and Kau''i''s self-satisfied smile over its use. A Fell Stinger followed the fall, taking advantage of the vulnerable pok¨¦mon. Ilima''s attention was suddenly caught when Kau''i gave another order, "Hypnosis!"


    Easily, the Golbat met the giant''s gaze and put it to sleep. Again, Ariados stabbed his Stinger into the slumbering form of the boss of Verdant Cavern. The Golbat clamped down tightly with another Poison Fang that finally dropped its payload deep inside his flesh, when Raticate stirred. Through his Sleep Talk, he swatted at them in an Endeavor to fight back, but failed to do any damage. With one last Fell Stinger, Ariados roused the sleeping giant.


    Totem Raticate was worse than Ilima had ever seen him, mangy, covered in puncture wounds, and sputtering coarse breaths. Ilima, Kau''i, her Ariados, and Raticate all knew that if Ariados got in another attack Raticate would faint. Only Kau''i''s bat-brained Golbat didn''t know that, which Kau''i desperately needed to fix. "COME ON KAWAMI!! KEEP TOMA SAFE!!!", Kau''i rallied with all her emotions pouring out like vomit. Golbat''s dopey smile turned to a determined smirk as she suddenly glowed a bright white. Her speed doubled with her wings while she dived straight into the Raticate''s mouth. With a smile on both ends, the newly evolved Crobat fell limp in the totem pok¨¦mon''s jaws. Totem Raticate''s smile turned to a frown immediately after as Ariados''s Fell Stinger cut across his belly, and with a final cough from the Crobat''s poison, he collapsed to the mossy floor.


    "YES KAWAMI YOU EVOLVED!! AGH!", the girl shrieked in joy, rushing to pry her friend from the totem''s vice-like teeth. With assistance from her Ariados, she lifted the ragged bat out of the fleshy wet cavern of a mouth and gave her another tight hug while she spun on a heel. Ilima sighed. "I''m sure this is an exciting moment, but please refrain from moving your pok¨¦mon any more while she''s still injured.", he warned, "I''ll accompany you to the pok¨¦mon center, since I''ll need to get the totem pok¨¦mon treated as well."


    "Rodents of unusual size, heh!", Kau''i gloated, still holding her Crobat far too loosely while she stared down at the unconscious totem pok¨¦mon. "Everyone makes that reference. I like the movie, but it''s exactly because it''s so good that everyone makes the reference.", Ilima grumbled ever so humbly. Kau''i''s face was smeared with a smug grin and she said, "Come on, I''m drunk. Gimme a pass!" "Yes, that is what I''m doing. You won''t be reported for underaged drinking, consider that your bonus.", Ilima flatly responded. "That''s a good one!", she said, unusually bubbly as she grabbed a Normalium Z from the pedestal at the back.


    Both Ilima and Kau''i dug through their packs, Kau''i putting her new Z-Crystal away, and Ilima grabbing the cherish ball used to transport Totem Raticate in situations like these. "If you need anything else from me, you have my number.", Ilima said, turning to leave once Raticate was in the ball. "Aw don''t be like that! Also, I do have some things I need from you; I need whatever petal you have for Mina''s stupid trial and some help with Z-Moves if you have the time.", Kau''i said as Ariados and her fell in lockstep with him. "I should be able to assist with both, but at another time. I should focus on running my trial for today.", he dismissed. "You are so boring.", she said, trying to insult him. "Thank you.", he said.

 Chapter 26 - Sub Plot

    I woke with a lurch, my balance spinning out of control as I winced from the psychic pain of the light entering through my eyelids. I groaned, waving a hand around to get the blanket off of me. Sleeping in a full bed was still weird to me, having made due with sleeping bags, hammocks, piles of cloth, and the occasional air mattress throughout most of my life, and I wanted out. My vision blurred as I lifted my head from the pillow, and I hastily caught myself with my hands before I fell over. It wasn''t my first time having a hangover, but they''d never been that bad. ''Gerald said something about sugar making hangovers worse right? Fuck, how much of the candy did I eat yesterday?'', I thought at a glacial pace.


    Toma had already weaved a "good morning!" pictogram web, but he gave me a wave from his corner on the roof anyway. I tried to roll my eyes, but it was too painful. Finally, Kawami stirred from the chair she had flopped herself across. With a spasm of her forewings, which were distinct from the Crobat''s newly grown hindwings, she pushed off of the cushion and across the room before catching herself in the air on her hindwings to place herself right in front of me on my bed. With a now fully formed set of teeth instead of lonely fangs, she grinned like an idiot. "Good morning Kawami. I know it''s an alien concept to you, but I feel like shit and don''t wanna move." She pouted, but was content with the idle scritches I gave her as I continued to collect myself.


    ''What did I do yesterday?'', I asked myself. Everything before the boat ride was still clear, too clear, if anything. ''Then I got drunk with Gerald, set up that useless camp, and then all the stuff with Ilima.'' That was when the memories started clicking back into place. ''Ilima paid for my stuff, I tore down the camp, went to the pok¨¦mon center, got a room, and trained for the trial for a bit.'' The things I said while drunk, upping the challenge from Ilima and all the quips I made made me wince. ''I was talking like Kathy.'' As I remembered Kawami''s incredible progress with Quick Guard however, my mood improved slightly and my petting grew faster. ''Then I smoked the trial, Kawami evolved, Ilima and I talked about when I''d fight him for the petal and some other shit before he left, and we celebrated in my room before I passed out. When did we schedule that for?''


    I hummed absentmindedly, before realizing the song I was humming was stuck in my head. I frowned. "Toma, could ya get my phone?", I asked. Toma rolled his pattern eyes, since his spider eyes couldn''t. Belatedly, I realized my phone was still in my pockets when I fell asleep. Taking it out, I found I hadn''t put Ilima''s number into my phone yet. "Gimme the stupid business card Toma.", I grouched, less polite than my previous request. I typed the trial captain''s number into the numpad, brought the phone to my head, and waited through four ear splitting rings before he picked up.


    "Ilima speaking. Who is this and what can I do for you?", Ilima greeted me through the aging phone speaker. "It''s Kau''i. What were the things we scheduled yesterday? The memories left with the alcohol.", I explained. "That''s no problem.", he said, "The day after tomorrow, that''s this thursday, the twenty-third, at 1:45 PM at the Pok¨¦mon Trainers'' School is our fight for the orange petal. Then from monday to sunday, the twenty-seventh through the second, is Trial-goer Boot Camp, also at the Pok¨¦mon Trainers'' School." "I signed up for that?", I sighed. He defended the event, "It''s exclusive to a promising set of new trainers. You''ll make connections and it''s the perfect opportunity to learn to use your Z-Moves."


    Ilima continued, asking, "Why ask me all this at two in the afternoon?" "I just woke up.", I growled, recognizing the celebration lasted longer than I first remembered. "This is, like, my least favorite part of being a trainer. Scheduling things and all this bullshit.", I complained. Ilima laughed, saying, "In my experience, trainers have the least busy schedules of any profession besides authors and other pure creatives that don''t need equipment. Almost anything a trainer does is an immediate interruption of whatever they''re doing or can be done at any time." "Lucky me.", I oozed sarcastically before hanging up. That song was still stuck in my head. I would be staying in bed a while longer. "Bring Waiola up here, she''s joining the trash pile.", I said to Toma.


    <hr>


    Later that day, I walked down the street with an air of nonchalance, looking down at my phone as I neared the dropoff point Eva had set for me. Her texts had been far too straight-to-the-point for her to have only done this for me, so I guessed she''d taken on the role of the woman on the inside after Plumeria and I left the Team. I ducked into an alleyway, aiming to enter a mostly vacant office space from the side door Eva had directed me to, when I ran into someone else.


    Both of us stopped when we noticed the other and reached towards our hips. Then, I recognized his face. "Evander?", I questioned. "Kau''i?", he returned. "What''re ya doin'' here?", I asked. "That''s my line.", he quipped. I paused before I responded again, taking in the situation. Evander had been the leader of the Melemele strike team, and there had been no word of Tapu Koko being stolen successfully or ultra beasts on the island. Now he was here, at the dropoff for supplies from Team Skull for ex-members. I relaxed my posture. "Eva sent your stuff here, didn''t she?", I asked flatly. Evander finally put the pieces together as well. "Yep. Alright, let''s go. Do you wanna have your Golbat do lookout or should I handle it?", he moved on like that misunderstanding never happened. "My Crobat can handle it, yeah.", I answered smugly. Evander gaped, just a little.


    Kawami was released from her ball, hovering with ease just over my head. "Keep watch, okay?", I told her. Finally, keeping herself up with her hindwings, she set one forewing down at her side and saluted with the other. I laughed and rubbed her head. "Congrats on being able to salute in the air, Kawami.", I said sincerely, before gesturing to Evander with an expectant smile. "I''m not doing the bowing thing. I don''t have to spice up my life of standing in front of a door all day anymore, thank Arceus.", he said tersely, opening the door without holding it open for me. ''Chivalry found dead in downtown Hau''oli, more at nine.'', I thought to myself as I pushed the door on my way in.


    "She evolved just recently then?", Evander asked, referring to Kawami. "Yeah, yesterday during Ilima''s trial.", I answered as we entered the stairwell to avoid running into other people in the building. "So that''s what you''ve been doing huh? Takin'' the island challenge? With a Poison-Type team you should be able to beat Hala pretty easily, that''s good progress for less than a month into the season.", He said, impressed. "I also did Poni Island already.", I corrected him, seeing as he clearly thought I only just finished my first trial. He quirked an eyebrow as we entered the fourth floor hallway, before saying, "Guess calling you a prodigy all those years wasn''t wrong. All of Poni Island''s trials?!"


    "Well technically no. Mina''s trial is stupid, I have to beat all the trial captains for flower petals and come back before I can face the totem. I did fight Hapu after, but that was more of a grudge match.", I explained. "Still, most people take a whole month if not longer to finish the Vast Poni Canyon trial. Just getting there is a pain, not to mention facing that mean old Kommo-o. Also, a grudge match? What do you and the little kahuna have to beef over?", he continued. "What don''t we have to beef over?", I said rhetorically. "That doesn''t answer my question.", he bickered. "No, it doesn''t.", I agreed unhelpfully as I finally pulled open the door of the small office our stuff had been stored in.


    Around the room were stacks of cardboard moving boxes as well as a few odd large items or packages all labeled with the names of the ex-members that owned them. Two boxes were labeled with my name while five boxes and a chair had Evander''s name on them. "This is way too much shit to just pick up and walk away with.", I thought out loud. Evander had the same defeated expression I did. "My money should be in here, we could rent a storage unit.", I said after staring at the boxes for several silent seconds. Evander moaned in anguish. "I have a place, but you need to find your own space for your own shit at some point.", he eventually griped. "Alright. I can help you move it, I don''t expect your Ghost-Types will do a good job hauling stuff.", I offered. "Sure.", he sighed.


    Over the next few hours, with the assistance of Toma and Kawami, we moved all our stuff out of the office building and into a tiny apartment tucked away where the shadows of towers covered the lowest common denominator. We got some odd looks dragging the webbed up conglomerate of boxes down the street, but with the cover story that I was helping him move for some pocket change for my island challenge, we were left alone long enough to get everything to Evander''s apartment.


    Evander gave me an ultimatum once we were done, "If you don''t get somewhere else to put your shit, in a few days I''m dumping it back in the garbage." "I got it.", I assured him, "I''ll buy you lunch for the trouble, and if you need some pointers on stealing I can do that too." "I''ve got a job dammit, I don''t needa be stealin'' for my food.", he said spitefully. He was clearly not doing great, but I decided to not bring it up and make it even worse. I grabbed his number so I could call him when I came back to move my stuff out, then left to get some sleep for the night.


    <hr>


    As I walked out to the training grounds, I saw a Meowth slip away from my peripheral vision. Because of the limited ground space in Alola and particularly in the middle of Hau''oli, the training grounds were set up with one field on each of several floors with open air flow like a parking garage. The floor we entered was empty, so I set Waiola and my bag down and grabbed my textbook to check my notes. The next step my team needed to take was obvious, get Waiola up to speed with the rest of the team.


    Both Toma and Kawami were now fully evolved, while Waiola was just barely above the newbie level in spite of her incredibly clutch performances against Mina and Hapu. Her role was more than just a reliable source of poisoning from Poison Gas and consistent damage from Dragon Rage, she would be the most controlling member of the team. Where Kawami would undo our enemy''s progress, Waiola would stop it before it could start. Before she could do that though, she''d need to get stronger.


    "Tomorrow''s our fight with Ilima, I want Waiola to hold her own. Toma, your poison is closer in style to hers, I want you to help her train. Waiola, get Dragon Rage working consistently and work towards Smog and Sweet Scent. I''ll be helping you through the process. Kawami, you''ve earned some more relaxed training. Go around, find the Meowths Nanu has trailing us with your echolocation, and give ''em a good scare with Screech. Everybody ready?!"


    Kawami offered a much less refined salute than the one she gave the night before, then rushed out of the open building to catch one of our cat tails. Waiola was hesitant to begin, but Toma''s cheerful attitude was unbeatable, and she eventually gave in. "Start with the basics, yeah? Toma, explain how you use Acid Spray and what getting it working was like." Toma launched into his explanation, occasionally weaving a picture to help him along. Waiola nodded along, her eyes never meeting Toma''s as she looked away from him with a mask of pride. When I noticed Toma''s pictogram was now completely unrelated to poison or even an analogy that could be tied to poison, I interrupted him.


    "Let''s move on to practice battles. Waiola will think through her smoke moves while she practices Dragon Rage. Toma, any ideas on how to give Waiola targets to test her moves without you needing to take direct damage?" Toma smiled, scratching his armored chin with a mandible. I knew he loved to apply his skills in new and strange ways, which is why I gave him that challenge, but even I didn''t expect what he did next. In a flourish, he spat out the web constructs he used for Infestation and connected each tiny web spider to himself with a thin thread. Then, he waved his arms back and forth, and the constructs followed along. "That is amazing, Toma! Alright, here''s the deal: you can do whatever you want to avoid Waiola, Shadow Sneak, massive webs, whatever, but you can only attack her through the puppets."


    After that, I counted them in and the skirmishes began. Toma brought himself up to the roof with a thread before Waiola could hit him with an Ember, and the Infestation began to rain down. Tiny spiders made of webs surrounded the Salandit, and she was pushed to improvise. A Poison Gas poured out of her skin, her fire lines glowing as she tried to push back against the tide that Toma was sending at her, but the Corrosive mixture was only able to melt through a few of Toma''s puppeteer strings before she was overrun. She tried to burn the things off by flashing heat throughout her body, creating a brief Ember all over her, but the onslaught just kept coming after that. Eventually, I called off the first round.


    "Okay, that was some good stuff Waiola, but you''re not quite there yet. Do you know where you went wrong?" Waiola just pouted at my question. "If you don''t wanna fight, we can quit and you can stop getting stronger.", I offered rhetorically. Waiola scoffed at the idea and started paying attention again. "Your poison isn''t strong or fast enough. If you can work it up to Smog, you''d melt those puppets before they ever got to you. Your control, what you''ll excel in down the line, also lacks. If you could use Sweet Scent the waves would come slower and you might even be able to catch Toma slipping. Remember, this isn''t just you versus the puppets, it''s you versus Toma. And when you fight Toma, he''d shrug off your attacks, even Ember, so work up your heat for a stronger Fire-Type move or hit him with Dragon Rage to punch up. This is the perfect training regimen to get you up to speed, that is, if you actually give it your all."


    I was pretty proud of that lecture, and Waiola was properly fired up after it. Letting Waiola stew for a second, I whispered to Toma, "Don''t go so hard from the beginning, she needs general fighting experience too. Give her enough to clear with that full-body Ember or good movement and keep upping the pressure from there." Without a doubt in his eyes, he nodded along. "Alright, let''s go another round!"


    We continued these skirmishes for hours, Waiola''s gas shifting in power and smell with each attempt she didn''t take frustrated pot shots at Toma with Dragon Rage. By the fifth time I had to lift my head up from my studies on Ilima''s pok¨¦mon to shout, "Keep your blood pumping!", the determined scowl she wore was stuck to her face. After almost an hour, Kawami came back with a devilish smile to report her success in scaring one of the Meowth up close before leaving again. This too repeated over the course of the day, each new scare coming quicker, then slower for a time while the Meowth seemed to coordinate around Kawami, then quicker again. After the sun set, Kawami returned and I asked her to stay and watch the last skirmish between Waiola and Toma.


    Toma once again backed away into a Spider Web to pour out an Infestation of puppets while Waiola was already busy washing the field in an invisible cloud of Sweet Scent. Toma never bothered to cover himself in the darkness of Night Shade as the aroma lulled him into a false sense of security. The smell in the room got Sweeter and Sweeter as Waiola danced around the wimpy first waves of marionettes until she finally was satisfied and switched tacks. A grimy grey smoke rolled off her scales and out of her mouth, stopping the slow march of the Infestation. Toma''s control threads tensed, and the faux-arachnids jumped through the Smog to get a chance to claw at the salamander before she melted them.


    Waiola was ready to go at that point, pushing the Smog out of her mouth to clear the way as she rushed towards Toma. This was the farthest she''d gotten by a wide margin, successfully setting up Sweet Scent to inhibit Toma''s frankly stupid ability to avoid contact with his opponents when he could set the field, dealing with the first wave while occupied with Sweet Scent, properly switching over to a powerful enough Smog without much downtime, and getting in close.


    Where Toma probably should have run, his intoxicated mind instead decided to send as many puppets as possible at the approaching lizard. Showcasing incredible presence of mind, Waiola continued to surround herself in Smog to shield from the horde while she breathed in and spewed forth a gout of Raging Draconic flames. Toma hopped out of the flames, his surprise at being caught by the attack evident on his face, before he was hit with another attack. Too busy scurrying around listlessly, he made no more puppets and was hounded by the little princess until he collapsed. I clapped.


    "That''s the fight! Excellent job Waiola!", I congratulated. Waiola was shaken for a moment, expecting more struggle, her face still on edge, before reality hit and she slithered in excited circles. I picked her up, Kawami standing on my head, as I gave her the attention she would never admit she needed.


    <hr>


    Ilima stood at the other end of the concrete battlefield. A small crowd of students on their lunch break watched from the sidelines while they ate their meals. A straight-laced young girl barely older than me that seemed to be copying all of Ilima''s style choices, and in a genuine manner unlike Copy Kathy, held her hands up for our attention. Ilima''s prot¨¨ge would be our referee for this battle. He had the impression of someone just about to be an adult, but apparently he was about to age out of his captain position, so he was training up the girl to take on the mantle while he moved on to focus on whatever else he did. I wasn''t clear on the details.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    "This will be a single battle, each trainer may use up to three pok¨¦mon and switch twice. No Z-Moves will be permitted for this match, otherwise, standard Alolan battle rules apply. Upon her victory, the challenger Kau''i will receive the orange petal from Captain Ilima. Upon his victory, Captain Ilima will receive the right to revoke his previous reward to the challenger from their prior bargain. Are these terms acceptable?", the captain-in-training said.


    "Fuckin'' narc!", I shouted over at Ilima upon hearing the reward he would get if I lost. That got a few chuckles and noises of agreement from the crowd, but the referee was frowning. "Is that a rejection of the terms?", she asked. "No, I agree, just stating facts.", I clarified. Even Ilima laughed a little at that. The referee looked to her mentor. "I also agree to the terms, though I''ll be using only two pok¨¦mon.", he stated confidently. She collected herself, and began the countdown, "Three. Two. One. Begin!" "Waiola, make ''em feel small!", I taunted, throwing my first ball in. "Your favorite motif, Smeargle.", Ilima said cryptically.


    I had expected something straightforward to start off, a Komala or maybe a lower skill Gumshoos if he had used three pok¨¦mon. Instead, Ilima was opening with what was typically the ace of his team regardless of the level. In keeping with our strategy, Waiola immediately Faked Out the painter pok¨¦mon, causing her to flinch. The Smeargle didn''t just stand around as she flinched though, her tail slipped limply from her fingers as she tensed into a runner''s stance. The Smeargle was Moody, and her stats were in flux from moment to moment. Waiola might be able to deal with her, given the low attack abilities of Smeargles, but I wasn''t going to risk it. Her Dragon''s Rage would be a useful tool against any bulky Normal-Types down the line, so I raised my hand and switched her out.


    Seeing what she saw as an annoyance be switched out brought Smeargle back into stability, holding her brush tail again in a relaxed posture as she Focused her mental Energy. Clearly Ilima had trained some control of her Mood swings into the pok¨¦mon. I hoped Toma would be able to capitalize on the pok¨¦mon''s weak offense, maybe even pull away with a Fell Stinger boost, so I reached for his nest ball in my pocket. I sent him out before the referee could call me on wasting time, and the fight began anew. Smeargle''s eye thinned to slits, tracking Toma''s every moment as he spun around the field through webs and shadows to cut deeply into her when I called for a Fell Stinger, but she did nothing to retaliate.


    Her tail flexed, her arms bulged with vascular motion, and she stood in an inadvisably wide stance. Her eyes never once left Toma, Locked Onto him, until Ilima shouted, "Now!" With a vicious grin, she laid into Toma with brutal Tail Slaps. Paint splattered the field as, with 3 quick and 2 strong brush strokes overflowing with Technique, Smeargle turned Toma from a blank canvas to a broken impression of himself. Then, Smeargle sat down criss-cross-applesauce to look over her work. In one move that I hadn''t bothered to prevent, Toma was out of the fight.


    I wasn''t going to let that happen again, so I sent in our problem solver. Kawami was over the field in a snap, and in another snap she had Infiltrated her way right into the Smeargle''s lap and Bitten down on her side without any input from me. The Smeargle sprawled out on her back, fainted yet still smiling and satisfied with her performance art. Taking her place on the field, a Gumshoos stood with his stubby arms at the ready for a tussle, an anticipatory intensity rolling out of him.


    I called a codeword for our strategy, and they were off. Kawami flitted through the air as the two exchanged introductory attacks that never hit until she slid in and gripped him in her Poison Fangs. Sternly, the Gumshoos wrestled Kawami to the ground and bit back with a Hyper Fang. His body shuddered from the nasty poison my team was all too equipped to deliver, but he showed no signs of letting up. A Crobat''s damage just couldn''t match a Gumshoos''s at our level of play. Again, I raised my hand and switched out the pok¨¦mon on the field. Gumshoos was quite obstinate about the interruption, and ran in Pursuit after the red light that now comprised Kawami, ripping a chunk from her digitizing form. In spite of how alarming that move was, Kawami seemed to have scraped by without fainting, as evidenced by the flickering glow around the scuffed ball''s button.


    Waiola reappeared, anxious to fight, or she was just generally anxious, or both. All of the above were plausible with the tsundere scamp. She was still less powerful than the rest of the team, but I needed her here. "Punch up!", I ordered her. Putting on a brave face while the Gumshoos nearly hacked up a lung, she thought of her friend who got one-shot by these enemies and threw that righteous Dragon''s Rage at the Gumshoos. He pushed through the flames even as they seeped into his skin before striking the unassuming salamander in his passionate Pursuit. Waiola was crushed by the weight of the mongoose as he also went unconscious from the pain of his poisoning. I smirked.


    "Salandit was unable to fight before Gumshoos. If that is all, I believe Captain Ilima has won.", the student announced. The crowd stirred, but Ilima hushed them with a simple gesture. "Kau''i, if you would?", he asked, opening the floor to me. I smiled wider and pressed the button on that greasy old pok¨¦ ball, releasing a still conscious Kawami back out in the open. "Kau''i still has a pok¨¦mon able to fight, she wins!", the captain-to-be declared, bringing the crowd to a mixed cacophony of support and dissent. Ilima and I met at the center of the field with Kawami at my side. "My petal, please." , I said in an uptight Galarian accent, to which Ilima acquiesced, grabbing one of several dozen petals from a simple pouch in his butt fanny pack. I couldn''t help but think, ''It would''ve been way easier to just steal the petal.''


    <hr>


    I meandered through Hau''oli the next day, looking for something to do to pass the time. We''d done some training after healing up from the fight with Ilima, but I did not want a third day of nothing but training and fighting in a row. The version of me that was busy doing shit for Team Skull all the time would''ve screamed her head off at the me of that moment, but luckily she had been supplanted by time.


    I could also have traveled to Iki Town to fight Hala for the Melemele Grand Trial, but I wasn''t gonna throw myself into that too recklessly, given Hala''s reputation. He was known to go easy on newbies, but he was still a capable trainer and Master of the Fighting-Type. Even if all of my pok¨¦mon resisted Fighting-Type attacks, he had every ability to shut me down anyways. And so I waited around for Ilima''s stupid boot camp and tried to find something else to do.


    Waiola was laying across my shoulders and around my neck, providing extra body heat that just made me sweatier than the walk would''ve already made me. I passed down another street of expensive hotels, small businesses, and fancy brand stores when I saw a bustling to my right. Some sort of impromptu fair was running, turning a small brick lined road into a consortium of classic pop-up stalls. Lemonades, hot dogs, corn dogs, and deep fried foods of all kinds flew down people''s throats as they browsed through jewelry, knick-knacks, and "local specialties" no one living here had ever touched. A banner was strung up between the buildings that had the misfortune of lining the street that day, plastered with the logo of the company that had shilled out to get this event going.


    This was a pickpocket''s wet dream, but I had a feeling being too bold stealing here would lose me the good grace Hapu had convinced the League, the captains, and the kahunas to give me. I sighed and mixed into the crowd, only grabbing a few wallets, and only from a few shithead tourists just about to reach the end of a food stall line. They''d freeze the cards when they realized they hadn''t just forgotten their wallets somewhere, so I''d get myself some nice things while the opportunity still existed.


    I moved to the line of an authentic taco truck, waiting patiently to get my food. I''d never had tacos when I was living the orphan life, but a few grunts refused to go without eating tacos every month at the least and I had been treated to a faithfully constructed version of the dish many times. I was excited to try the "street tacos" that so many of the grunts from other regions swore were a superior form that couldn''t be fully enjoyed without getting them straight from a man who only cooked in a truck trailer. I moved to grab my textbook, to go over the next steps for my team again while I waited, when I noticed someone out of the corner of my eye.


    Maybe some Team Skull members wouldn''t''ve recognized him as he was, but I did. That claw marked jacket was what he wore when he first joined, long before he ever became an admin. Team Skull Admin Gladion was searching through the crowd with an annoyed expression, looking for someone. I grabbed Waiola off my neck and pulled my hood up. I was pretty sure he was looking for Evander, his boyfriend, and not me, but I wasn''t taking any chances. Of course, the act of pulling on my hood was what caught his attention, and, with a flash of recognition in his eyes, he came up to me. I wasn''t going to abandon the tacos!


    "What do you want, Gladion? I''m trying to get food.", I hissed. "Kau''i, long time no see.", he greeted, a hint of desperation in his voice. He expected something from talking to me, but he wasn''t here for me. "Do you want me to announce who you are to everybody or are you gonna be normal?", I said, my temper thin. Our relationship had always been strained, since I never wanted the rumors of us being rivals to spread while he let it all happen. I guess the admin having an overwhelmingly one-sided "rivalry" with some talented girl who just never shaped up was a good narrative. Those thoughts were just making me more infuriated with him when he hadn''t done much of anything to me today, so I focused up. "Or as normal as you can get.", I added on top of the lengthy silence that had both of us lost in thought.


    "Do you know where Evander is? He never came back to Po Town after the plan.", Gladion said, deciding to ignore all the baggage between us. I liked Evander a great deal more than Gladion, so I wouldn''t give him up to Gladion without talking to him about it. "Nah man. We were in different teams for the plan, you know that. As far as I know, he could be anywhere.", I fibbed. All of that was true, it just left out that I had met up with him, had his phone number, could''ve gotten in contact with him through Eva or Plumeria even without that, and had plans to go to his apartment to get my stuff and have lunch with him tomorrow. Gladion sighed.


    "Tell me if you see him, will ya?", he said intensely, the years of integrating with thugs clear in his otherwise upper-class speech. "I might, if I had a way to call you.", I replied, again sticking to technical truths. Gladion groaned and pulled out his phone. "Number.", he demanded. I recited it, and felt a buzz in my pocket. Gladion had sent me a single period. "Can I order my tacos now?", I asked, pointing to the truck we were now right in front of. He huffed before walking away to continue his fruitless search. How well did he even know his boyfriend? He wouldn''t be caught dead in a place like this.


    "Tacos please, whichever one''s got beef.", I requested. The cook reached out a hand for payment, and I passed him one of the debit cards, since I wouldn''t be able to use those anywhere I''d put the card in the machine myself. A few minutes passed before I was waved back over. "Make sure you squeeze those limes on ''em.", the man said as he handed over my order, knowing this must''ve been my first time eating this kind of food. It was great advice.


    <hr>


    I called Evander in the morning, receiving a curse from him on the other end. Apparently he was working the night shift and I had stopped him before he could get some sleep. I told him quickly about Gladion, and that I''d be over before noon so we could get lunch afterwards. "We can talk about Gladion over food, I need rest. My Rotom will let you into the apartment.", he had rebuffed me when I tried to push for more details about the situation between the two.


    I found myself walking to a storage rental place I had been recommended. Apparently it was where alot of Team Skull members put their stuff, because it was absurdly secure for how cheap the rent was and because the management didn''t ask questions. When you''re friends with thieves and a thief yourself, you begin to appreciate good locks, and apparently this place somehow had alarms for intrusions using type energy. No one bothered to ask how they could do that with such low prices, and I wouldn''t be the first.


    I took one step, then another, and another. I turned down an alleyway, and what I was hearing didn''t change. ''I wish Gladion wasn''t so desperate.'', I thought, taking note of the second set of footsteps following me down the empty alleyway. I rolled my shoulder innocuously, signaling my pok¨¦mon covertly. Gladion continued to follow me, and when we reached the middle of the alleyway, I turned to face him. "Gladion, long time no see.", I mocked. How he thought I wouldn''t know he was trailing me, I didn''t know. I had been stealing things from people in as covert a fashion as I could for years, my team knew how to check my back. It wasn''t a skill I had much use for lately, but I had an inkling it might come up.


    "You know where Evander is! I know it!", Gladion yelled at me. Overall, it was a terrible interrogation tactic. He was always assuming something; Assuming he''d talk with Guzma when he first got to Po Town, assuming the plan would succeed, assuming all of this would just work out. Even when he was right, it pissed me off.


    I pointed up at the roofs of the buildings on either side of us, to the crowd of black cats watching us. Then, I began my speech, "Ya know, Hapu never trusted me all the way. She asked her pal Nanu to keep an eye on me, the Meowth are his way of doing that. I''ve had Kawami practicing her tracking by chasing them down these past few days, and when I got her to tell them I could offer up a Team Skull Admin on a silver platter..." A venomous smile bubbled up and onto my face.


    Gladion reached for a pok¨¦ ball, but I held up a hand, the smile turning to a toxic scowl in a flash. "No need for that.", I cautioned him, "Just turn around and walk away. If Nanu wanted you that bad, I doubt he would need the Meowth to tell him where you are. Just leave me out of your stupid love troubles and your stupid Team, and we''re done." "Why do all this then!?", he shouted at me. "One of my favorite things I learned from Poison-Types," I explained, "show you''re a threat, and suddenly people take you seriously."


    Gladion looked like he wanted to argue, like he wanted to scream, but he didn''t have anything useful to add. "I''ll walk first then. You have my number if you ever wanna call, shithead.", I said playfully, turning around again to leave the alleyway and get back on route to the storage rental.


    <hr>


    My team and I finished moving my stuff out, and I was now treating Evander to the promised lunch while we talked. "He really did that?", Evander asked, an olive stuck to his lip. I finished sipping from the plastic Trubway cup before speaking, "Yeah, he did. Now, you still haven''t explained what led up to this whole thing. You must''ve had a reason to cut contact completely instead of just plain leaving the Team like I did. Why''d''ya do it?" I bit into my jalepe?o bread monstrosity while he explained, a blended mess of sauces dripping onto the paper wrapping.


    "We had a big argument before the plan. Well, not really an argument, it''s complicated. He kept me at home with him for a whole month before the plan, and maybe a week before I just needed to do something other than sit around and kiss. So I pushed him to let me work, and he didn''t, and I insisted he let me work, and he didn''t, and then we screamed at eachother, and I stormed out telling him to have me handle Melemele. He kept going on about how we had no chance of actually capturing Tapu Koko, but that we still had to try so we could waste Hala''s time and whatnot, and I didn''t want his plan to fail, so I offered myself up to take the fall for it. I did sound pissed as hell when I did that though, so I don''t think it came off as the romantic gesture I was hoping for."


    "Hmm.", I hummed through my sandwich. I swallowed the congealed mass of ingredients and breathed out before continuing the conversation. Evander flinched when he smelled my breath, but I ignored it. "And leaving the Team, why do that? It sounds like you were pretty on board before it happened, hell! You had a front-row seat to the planning of the plan! Why only in the middle of it did you change your mind?"


    "You did the same damn thing!", he retorted, offended. "The girl who helped raise me took a Fire Lash to the fucking face from my years long mentor after giving an impassioned speech so good she got to be the kahuna over it!", I recounted furiously. "Damn! Really!?", he exclaimed. I looked through his eyes at his soul as I shouted, "Yes!" "Alright, alright, yeah, I''ll tell you.", he conceded. The girl at the counter was giving us a weird look, but no one else was in the store, so I didn''t care.


    "When we went to capture Tapu Koko, or I guess to fail to capture Tapu Koko, I led the group so we didn''t run into anyone on our way there. The Ruins of Conflict aren''t like the other ruins, you can''t really get there without going through Iki Town. That was what Gladion used to sell Guzma and Plumeria on me leading the Melemele team; My Ghost-Types could scout ahead and get everyone to the Ruins without being seen."


    "So anyway, I go in and Hala is already there, meditating. I get the whole group inside, we try to fight him off, and he just trounces all of us. I think at one point he fought a pok¨¦mon himself since his pok¨¦mon were all busy. And after he beat us, he had us all tied up with rope and gave us a lecture on ultra beasts. Says they''re dangerous, how he fought one off years ago and it nearly got away, all this shit, and I''m still mad at Gladion for all his bullshit."


    "So I find this out and I''m cursing myself for being such an idiot. Gladion always said he didn''t know too much about ultra beasts, and I thought that was just because nobody knew that much, but it turns out he just made this whole plan off of practically nothing! And part of me thinks that''s incredibly impressive, and the other part wants to pop his cute little head like a water balloon!"


    Then he finally stopped ranting, breathing in like he''d forgotten how. The last of my sandwich clung to my cheek as I stared at him. "If I had a nickel for every time a kahuna explaining the dangers of ultra beasts got a Team Skull member to quit, I''d have three nickels.", I said offhand. "Six actually, some of the other grunts on my team also quit with me.", Evander corrected before taking a rejuvenating sip of soda. "I think you should talk to Gladion.", I stated. Evander choked on the soda, cleared his throat, and asked, "What?"


    I argued my case, "I''m not a... romance person... but you''ve been in a shit mood every time I''ve seen you lately. You clearly still care about Gladion, even if it''s different now, I mean you called him cute while talking about popping his head open." "I did, didn''t I?", he mumbled. "You maybe shouldn''t keep dating, I don''t really know, and you probably shouldn''t tell him where you are either at this point, but you both still have alot that needs talking out. Give him a call, clear the air, try to be... normal about things. It''ll make you feel better, and it''ll definitely make him feel better. He''s almost worse than when he first joined, after his mom got arrested. He''s confused and needs something to steady him.", I told him.


    Evander looked at me for a while, thinking over what I''d said. "Are you gonna eat that?", I interrupted his train of thought, pointing at the half of a sandwich turning cold and wet in front of him. He pushed it over to me and stood up. "I''m gonna think it over. I''ll text you if things change, cause if they do you probably deserve credit at this point. Thanks for the meal Kau''i, I''ll see you around.", he said. With a considering expression weighed down by exhaustion, he left the Trubway to get some rest in his apartment. I finished the rest of his sandwich, which was more subdued in its flavors than my own, and walked out of the restaurant myself after snatching a box of cookies by the door.

 Chapter 27 - Promising Upstarts

    Professor Samson Oak, not to be confused with his cousin, Professor Samuel Oak, straightened his collar in anticipation of the coming week. Today would be the first day of the annual boot camp for promising beginner trainers. Beginner is of course a generous term, while some of the trainers this year haven''t had a pok¨¦mon partner at all until a month ago, others have had a team for years. What all of the trainers in this boot camp had in common was little combat experience and the recognition of talent to own a Z-Power Ring. And this year especially, it had shaped up excitingly, with five different trainers all signed up.


    Samson clapped. ''Don''t get ahead of yourself old man,'' he thought, ''the day has just begun.'' With a stretch to remove any errant cricks in his back, he left his home just a block away from the school campus to get an early start to the day. He had a cup of coffee in the break room, a quick review of the lesson plan, and a lovely bit of small talk with his fellow teachers and school staff.


    This, more than anything, was what Samson considered to be the quintessential difference between himself and Samuel; While Samuel buried his nose in his research, from when he first became a trainer to all his days since getting pok¨¦dexs into as many hands as possible, instead Samson sought a balance between his passions and the people around him. The environment and people always played a role in how the complexities of the world developed, that was Samson''s belief. How could he not believe that, when he studied the very differences in form those environments produced, from the littlest Cherrim to the beasts of ultra space?


    ''There goes your mind wandering again!'', he chided mentally, ''The only environment I have to worry about today is those kids'' learning environment.'' He chuckled to himself, before entering the courtyard where this boot camp would begin. Only one trainer was already present, Ilima''s student Mikala, all prim and proper, but the rest would either show up soon or be removed from the program. It''d be a shame, but not the first time it happened. With the rise to power that got you into this boot camp came a matching rise in ego, and it wasn''t particularly uncommon for trainers to think they were too good for it. Guzma had been one of those trainers.


    Fifteen minutes before the scheduled beginning of class, the second trainer arrived, the Aether Foundation''s Junior Branch Manager, Lillie. Alongside her was her assistant, Faba. Their clothes were utterly ridiculous, the girl in a massive shroud of black while her assistant wore bright white and gold, but since the two had been staying at the school a while, Samson was used to it. Lillie gripped the sides of the folding chair she''d taken opposite Mikala, pushing down a ball of stress. With them present, the two non-trial-goers had arrived for Trial-goer Boot Camp. The name was more of a formality anyways.


    Nearly exactly on time, two more students arrived. Selene, a promising young trainer from Kanto that Kukui had recommended, darted her steely grey eyes around nervously before she sat next to Lillie. Both Lillie and Selene were far from the usual examples of putting up with whatever clothes someone chose for you, but their awkward postures made clear that was what was happening. The two''s quiet demeanors collectively dampened the atmosphere.


    The other was Kau''i, Kahuna Hapu''s delinquent foster sister, ex-Team Skull grunt, and the only dedicated type specialist in this class. She sat next to Mikala on the left side of the chair arrangement. Her unbrushed tangle of hair bunched in front of a pair of shifty amber eyes that stopped on each of the people here, but she seemed unwilling to start a conversation on her own. The other girls all stayed silent as well, for one reason or another.


    Samson did not begin. He didn''t foresee his last student ever fully skipping the event, he was too humble to do that. Instead, Samson waited while the trainers who had arrived twiddled their fingers. Finally, a good six minutes after the intended start of the boot camp, Hau, the grandson of Kahuna Hala, skipped over and sat down in the middle seat. "I hope you didn''t wait just for me.", he said, sheepishly smoothing out the muddy swimtrunks he was wearing.


    Samson cleared his throat from the small podium that had been set out for this little opening ceremony. "Hello, hello, and alola to all you young trainers.", he started, "Today is the beginning of this year''s Trial-goer Boot Camp, where talented beginners like yourselves are given the special attention they need to balance out their unwieldy growth. You''ll all be learning to use Z-Moves, manage larger teams than most people ever train, and get the advice you need to find what form you''ll take when all that potential is unleashed."


    Every year, the reaction to that little speech was just as different as his delivery of it, but Samson knew to pay attention to that reaction by now. Hau leaned over his seat, excited to take on the challenge. Kau''i sent a dubious glare right at the professor, trying to figure out whether this was all a waste of time. Selene didn''t do much of anything, letting it all just happen to her. Lillie held a firm look, a determination that couldn''t have come from the quiet girl, given to her by someone else. Last was Mikala, focused and taking notes on everything. Selene and Kau''i''s reactions were the most worrying, for opposite reasons, but he would have plenty of time to give all of them the help they needed.


    "We''re going to hop right into it, since I find introductions tend to just make everything more awkward. How does everybody feel about learning to use Z-Moves?", Professor Oak prompted the kids. Hau shouted affirmation, Kau''i was already digging through her bag for something, and Selene seemed to focus ever so slightly. The other two simply became more intense while doing the same things as before. ''A real mixed bag these five.'', he thought, moving in front of the podium for the demonstration. Now properly in the rhythm to teach, he began the first lesson, "Remember, this is just practice, you''ll need to get the movements of each dance down before you try it with the Z-Crystal in your ring. Make sure your ring is empty, then we can continue. We don''t want any Z-Power getting let loose without anywhere to go, that could be dangerous."


    "Ready?", he asked. After five nods, he instructed simply, "Watch what I do, then we''ll go step by step." Muscle memory guided him as Samson Oak performed the Normalium Z dance. His posture straightened, he puts his arms up in an X across his face, pushed out and down in oval shape with his fists, brought them out in front of himself, the left atop the right, swung them down to just below his right hip, opened his palms while drawing his left hand up his arm and chest to make a diagonal shape across his wingspan, and finally bent his elbows, right then left, inwards to create a Z shape, and once again closed his fists.


    Samson let his arms fall and addressed his students, "I want you to try to recreate the dance based on just that demonstration. Give it your best shot, but don''t be disappointed when I come to correct you." Hau''s hand shot up to volunteer on reflex, "Oh! I wanna try!" "Sure Hau, let''s see it.", Oak responded, waving the kid out of his chair where the group could see. Hau skipped the initial steps, putting his fist out in front of himself and spreading his arms in a diagonal with the wrong arms up and down, but brought his arms in correctly with the proper stance. "Not quite right, you''re missing a few things, but the stance was correct and that is the foundational point.", the professor said, "Now, let''s get someone else to try. How about... Selene! Come on up!"


    Hau walked back to his chair and patted Selene on the back to encourage her. Selene stood up and entered the focal point of the little field set aside for the boot camp, no emotions obvious on her face. Samson watched in shock as she perfectly reenacted the z dance and sat right back down. "Amazing Selene! That was exactly it! Your mind is like a steel trap!", he praised, and she deserved it too. The other students stared, Hau clapped a little, but Selene just smiled tightly and lowered her head. It was an odd reaction from the one and only person to ever, to the best of Samson Oak''s knowledge, perform a z dance perfectly on their first try. He fought to keep himself on track again, ''This won''t be the last weird thing to happen this week, best to move on Samson.''


    "Now let''s see the rest of you give it a shot.", he said. The other three each tried to recreate the dance, but did the usual thing and failed in little ways. Mikala got all the major steps, but missed little details like the opening and closing of the fists and the order of the arms bending inwards. Kau''i was sloppy, her stance was too loose, her movements didn''t keep the necessary rhythm, and she cut corners in several places. Lillie was anxious, pausing to try and correct herself in the middle of each motion and often switching from the right step to one she made up in her fervor. Over the next few hours, the lesson became less and less formal with less and less prompting from Samson. He would go from person to person, straightening backs, correcting off course motions, and repeating steps over and over until finally, every last one of them was ready to use their first Z-Moves.


    "Is everyone ready for an early rest?", Oak asked, getting them all back into a line for the end of the first day. "Whaddya mean? We still haven''t actually used a Z-Move.", Kau''i pushed. "Exactly my point! Mikala, surely you can answer this one.", he replied with a dopey smile. Mikala pushed her glasses up her nose, answering matter-of-factly, "The vast majority of trainers collapse from exhaustion after they use their first Z-Move. This fact has been corroborated by multiple studies from Professor Kukui and his contemporaries." "We''re going to fall asleep after doing it?", Lillie asked meekly. "Nah, more like pass out.", Kau''i replied. "I''ve never passed out before. Might be interesting!", Hau commented absent-mindedly. "You won''t like it.", Mikala and Kau''i said in unison before looking at eachother funny.


    "If everyone''s on board, please take out your Normalium Z-Crystals and a strong pok¨¦mon that knows a Normal-Type status move. Using an offensive Z-Move is more dangerous when untrained, and also would need clean up, so we''ll save that for the next few days. I''ll go grab the mattresses.", he said, giving the students an affirming smile before he turned to go inside and grab the aforementioned mattresses. "Aaww! With it being a boot camp I was hoping to sleep in a cot again.", Kau''i groaned as he stepped through the door.


    He came back out, his Kantonian Exeggcutor helping to drag the beds over. "Let''s be more orderly this time, left to right now, do your first Z-Move." "Your left or our left?", Mikala asked. "My left.", he clarified. They all got up on a mattress and Mikala began. Her Buneary stood ready in front of her, the Z-Crystal held in her watch style Z-Power Ring. "The power may be a bit overwhelming for both of you, but I know you can handle it!", Samson advised. Mikala closed her eyes, took a long breath in and out, and began.


    "Z-Splash!", she screamed. Her hands shook slightly as she went through the dance in, out, forward, down, across, and back in. Mikala was covered in bright yellow light that rushed out of her and into her Buneary. The rabbit pok¨¦mon leaped several stories upwards, landing in a new crater at the same time as her trainer lost her battle with the exhaustion of Z-Moves and fell face first onto the mattress. The Buneary rushed over to his trainer with the drastically increased power from Z-Splash, making sure her glasses weren''t broken. "Kau''i, you''re next!", Oak ordered.


    Kau''i rolled her eyes, and stepped up with everything in order. She looked to her Crobat and grinned venomously. "Z-Screech!", she called, performing the dance as instructed. The yellow light came again, rushed to the Crobat, and then the noise began. A near imperceptibly high-pitched Screech echoed off of every surface, reverberating inside of the professor''s head as everyone but Mikala, who was still unconscious, and Kau''i held their hands to their ears. Samson registered Kau''i''s industrial earmuffs and stupid smirk as she collapsed into a ball on her mattress. Finally, the sound teetered out and the Crobat breathed in. Samson waited for his ears to stop ringing before he said, "Hau, it''s your turn."


    The boy blinked, stared into the middle distance, and asked, "What am I doin''?" Professor Oak understood a bit of confusion after the Z-Screech, but this kid was seriously out of it. "Your Z-Move, if you would.", Oak reiterated. "Right, yeah, okay.", the Kahuna''s grandson said distantly, before getting into an unsteady stance. "Z-Play Nice!", he wailed to his Pikachu, going through the dance with a complete lack of confidence. Hau quivered, moving in jerky stops and starts that mangled the release of Z-Power. Trainers messing up their first Z-Move certainly wasn''t uncommon, but it didn''t usually go like that. The Z-Power aura flared and Hau fell to his side before the power moved to his pok¨¦mon. Luckily, Oak''s comment at the beginning about uncontained Z-Power was just for motivation. When some of the loose Z-Power got to Hau''s Pikachu, he frantically took to caring for his trainer with the power of a Z-Play Nice, if an incomplete one. The professor sighed.


    Moving on to clear the tension, he faced Selene. "Your dance has been perfect from the start, show it to us with Z-Power." Selene stayed serene while she spoke for the first time Samson had heard. "Z-Foresight.", she strictly ordered her Rowlet, before doing that same perfect z dance again. Yellow energy roiled off of the girl and into the bird as they faced eachother. Her Rowlet''s eyes sharpened, Selene''s eyes closed, and the Rowlet caught her head and laid her gently down on the bed.


    "You''re the last one Lillie. Show me and Faba what you''ve got.", Oak said in a friendly tone. Faba joined in, "You''ll do exquisitely, I just know it." Lillie shot them both a strained smile before focusing her eyes on her Sylveon. "We''re gonna do a Z-Calm Mind, alright?", she consulted the intertwining pok¨¦mon. With a nod from her partner, Lillie took her position. She crossed her arms, made an oval, rested her fists on top of eachother, swung them down to her right, stuck her left arm up into the air, and then brought it all together in that Z shape. Sparkling yellow light bounced from Lillie to her Sylveon, and the Fairy-Type closed his eyes and absorbed every last bit of the energy around him, looking refreshed in spite of the lingering effects of Z-Screech on everything else. Lillie''s smile became genuine for a brief moment, then turned sour as she dropped onto the cushion.


    "Do you mind helping get these kids into the dorms?", Oak asked the Junior Branch Manager''s aide. "I''m quite busy actually.", the man replied, releasing an Alakazam that lifted the mattress Lillie was on into the building while he walked away.


    <hr>


    Lillie rubbed her eyes as she woke up. She had really hoped that she could stay awake after using the Z-Move, but it seemed she fell short of her hopes once again. Her assistant, Faba, was already up, sipping on a cup of coffee at the desk in the corner of the dorm room. Nebby the Cosmoem laid, still asleep next to her. "Are you ready for your second day, young lady?", the enigmatic man prompted. "Yes Faba.", she replied. Faba did not leave the room as she went through her daily routine of changing into her "signature outfit", as he called it. He said it would make her stand out even among the Aether Foundation and help her make connections, but it didn''t feel like that to her. Still, he''d never steered her wrong before, right?


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Nebby nestled into the obelisk shaped hood of her jacket, and her and Faba left the room to meet the other campers for breakfast. ''You''ll need more than just Faba with you to help Necrozma and all the ultra beasts. Time to make those connections!'', Lillie hyped herself up, putting on a brave face. As she entered, she saw most of the others already eating. Kau''i was guzzling eggs with her Poison-Types, Hau was laying into a bowl of cereal while his team ate some kibble, and Mikala and her pok¨¦mon were all patiently chewing on bowls of berries and oatmeal. Selene was still in line with the regular students. Lillie got in line behind her while Faba stood over the spot at the campers'' table where he wanted her to sit.


    Selene got her own bowl of cereal and moved along past the pok¨¦mon food without grabbing anything. Lillie freaked out a little, holding up the line with her indecision. "Tuesday is waffle day, just get those. It''s not hard.", the boy just behind her griped. Lillie choked out a small, "Okay...", and picked up a waffle for each of her and her teammates. When she sat down in front of Faba with the tray and released her pok¨¦mon for them to eat, the crowd gawked. Sylveon and Brionne, both quite rare pok¨¦mon, were joined by three more that the others could see, the fully evolved Ribombee and Alolan Marowak, and one pok¨¦mon very few in Alola had even heard of, much less seen, Galarian Slowking.


    While everyone else was impressed, Kau''i and Mikala gave her dubious looks. "Your team''s a mess, the composition is totally off balance.", Kau''i commented. She chuckled politely, "That''s what the instructors have all told me. Faba wanted me to be a Psychic-Type specialist... but it didn''t really work out." "Did you plan to evolve that Sylveon into an Espeon?", Mikala asked astutely. Lillie responded cautiously, "Yeah actually. After that went wrong, I started taking care of more pok¨¦mon I just... found interesting... and it spiraled out from there. My biggest goal right now is to... uh... well, to make it work I guess."


    "Goals are good!", Hau said automatically, "I have some people I wanna prove myself to, that''s my goal." Mikala joined in again, "Goals are a great boon to productivity. I am working to be the next trial captain of Verdant Cavern, of course." Kau''i added her perspective, "I just know being a trainer is something anyone can make a living off of if they''re good at it, and, well, I''ve already got three pok¨¦mon so I''m in it now. Gonna complete the Island Challenge and get some sorta job bein'' a trainer." "Pretty much the same here.", Selene whispered while she pulled out specially prepared meals for each of her teammates, "I''m good with pok¨¦mon."


    Faba laughed mirthfully. "Now is a good time to be an up and coming trainer in Alola.", he said, "The League is coming in, creating more jobs, even hoping to establish a circuit of Pok¨¦mon Gyms. I''ve heard some buzz abroad about bringing over Pok¨¦mon Contests as well, but some trainers your age, with talent in the field to boot, would have to show a great deal of interest to get any money moving on that. I suspect that, if everything goes to the League''s plan, specialists in particular will be in high demand, what with the gyms and Elite Four roles needing filled."


    "Good news for you poison girl!", Hau said. "I''m not a Poison-Type specialist.", Kau''i bit back in a poisonous manner. "You should be.", Mikala stated. "Do you see what happened to Lillie''s team when she tried being a Psychic-Type specialist? It''s a disaster.", Kau''i spat. Mikala didn''t back down, saying, "Lillie doesn''t have what it takes to be a Psychic-Type specialist, I don''t have what it takes to be a Normal-Type specialist, that''s why that path hasn''t exactly worked out for either of us.", she gestured to her own team then, two Normal-Types and the Rock and Flying-Type Minior, "You have more than enough aptitude to be a Poison-Type specialist, any trainer with a brain could tell you so at a glance." By the end of her tirade, Mikala''s tone was sharp and frustrated, even as she continued to be concise and coherent in her words.


    "You don''t get to make decisions for me!", Kau''i shouted and made a show of stomping off. Her Ariados stayed behind, drawing a pictogram of a stick figure bowing with spider silk before scurrying away to catch up with his trainer. "Did you need to... push her like that?", Lillie asked Mikala. Mikala shrugged, answering frankly, "Probably not, but she should hear it before she tries to become a generalist and messes up her team just like you did." Lillie couldn''t muster up anything to say to that, so the table went quiet. After a dozen minutes of awkward chewing, everyone else had finished and left to get to the day''s class.


    "I''m just... saving this for later...", she made her excuse even when no one could hear her, then picked up the seventh waffle, returned her pok¨¦mon that had pok¨¦ balls, and walked back to her dorm room with Faba close behind. She closed and locked the door, pulled her hood up, and lifted the plate for Nebby to eat from. "Are you doing okay up there? I hope the boot camp is exciting enough, it could be really bad if you popped out in front of important people like them.", she chattered. Nebby floated down in front of her face, after swallowing up the waffle in a moment, and smiled brightly, squeaking reassurance to its closest friend. She wished she had more time with the legendary pok¨¦mon, that their goals weren''t so important, but it was a stupid wish. Lillie hugged the Cosmoem tightly to her chest for a moment, before letting go and placing it back in her hood.


    With a forced smile so weak it barely showed, she joined the other campers in the same courtyard as the previous day. "Now that everyone''s here," Professor Oak announced, "how''re you all feeling?" Kau''i grumbled next to Selene, having moved seats to be opposite Mikala, who Lillie was now sat next to. "I''m good.", Hau said from the middle chair. Mikala cleared her throat to explain the situation to the professor, "Kau''i and I had an argument over her being a Poison-Type specialist." Oak went right into a lecture, "Mikala, just because specialization didn''t work out for you doesn''t mean it can''t work for Kau''i." "I''M NOT A POISON-TYPE SPECIALIST!", Kau''i shouted furiously, her mop of colorful hair bouncing along with her outburst. "Oh.", was all Professor Oak said in return.


    Lillie was confused, concerned even, over the girl''s conviction that she wasn''t a specialist. Faba had just talked about how being a specialist fit perfectly with Kau''i''s goals, but something about the idea seemed to agitate the scary girl. Lillie tried to think through what made Kau''i act like that, ''She seems... scared. But why? What''s scary about being a specialist? Everyone else already sees her as a specialist, what''s different if she agrees with them?'', she thought, but it got her nowhere.


    "Well, I hope you''re feeling good enough to do some guided training and practice battles, cause that''s what we''re doing today!", the professor said cheerily to clear the air from the awkward situation. Lillie wasn''t expecting this to be much different from her training with the tutor she had been working with before boot camp, but she prepared herself anyway. Leaving his podium, the professor began walking and talking as he led the campers to the poured asphalt training fields at the front of the school. " Everyone but Kau''i and Lillie, please release your full teams, and I''ll discuss the methods the school recommends to further your teams'' effectiveness", Professor Oak explained.


    Once everyone had followed his instructions, the professor first approached Lillie. "You''ve been with us for weeks Lillie, you know what we think of your team.", he told her in that familiar tone that said he was about to get right to the point, "What you haven''t done much of is actually battle. You''ll be working with Kau''i, whose main two pok¨¦mon are at around the same level as yours, and she''ll be giving you the practical experience you need while she bounces strategies off of your team."


    Then he moved over to Kau''i. "Ilima tells me you have a penchant for rapid growth, which is why I want you to slow down.", he said. Kau''i looked furious, but waved her hand for him to continue like she was Taunting him to start throwing punches. "You have great potential, but if you push yourself and your team without taking the time to think about what''s right in front of you, rather than building healthy muscle your growth would be more like a cancerous tumor. I''ve heard the reports on you from both Kahuna Hapu and Kahuna Nanu, too often you run straight into your next challenge without a care, and that needs to be fixed."


    Kau''i snarled under her mess of hair. "Why do you think I''m here?", she sneered. Lillie hung her head to avoid the conflict, but the professor didn''t flinch at the girl''s display. "Well I''m glad you were aware of that flaw, it should make this much easier for both of us.", the professor replied, showcasing a level of obstinacy Lillie had never seen from him before. Kau''i huffed, then laughed a bit and said, "Alright, fair enough. I''ll do it." Lillie had no idea why the exchange had calmed the girl''s combative attitude, but she was thankful that it did. She did not want to face Kau''i like that, not yet.


    Professor Oak moved on to the others, explaining what sorts of roles their pok¨¦mon could fill and what pok¨¦mon they should consider for their team going forward, which he had strangely left out of his talk with Kau''i. Finally, he moved the three lower leveled trainers to the side to practice new moves and stood facing the entire training area while he waited to referee the fights between Lillie and Kau''i.


    Lillie was full of nerves, bouncing on her heels in anticipation, but Nebby rested comfortingly on her head to cool her down. "Two pok¨¦mon each, no restrictions, you ready?", Kau''i asked after turning from her whispered strategy meeting with her team. "Yeah... I guess...", she answered lamely. "Okay, let''s do this!", Kau''i cheered herself on. Lillie didn''t actually feel ready, but the countdown from Professor Oak came all the same. "Three," he said, making eye contact with Lillie, "two," he met Kau''i''s gaze as well, "one!", he declared finally, looking intensely out at the field.


    The first thing Lillie noticed was that she had no plan for dealing with Kau''i''s Ariados and Crobat, and by extension she had no clue what pok¨¦mon to use for this battle. As Kau''i''s Crobat took centerfield, Lillie panicked inside. ''Well Psychic beats Poison and Poison resists itself so!'', she rushed before throwing out her Galarian Slowking, Merlin. Kau''i''s glare grew concentrated, and she ordered right away, "Bite and keep Biting!" Lillie called for a move too, "Future Sight!"


    The Crobat descended on her pok¨¦mon, clamping herself onto Merlin''s arm. Unperturbed by just another thing Biting him, in spite of the super effective damage, he succeeded in foreseeing the Future Sight attack. ''Now to get Merlin''s special attack even higher for when it hits!'', she thought, proud of herself. "Nasty Plot!", she directed. Kau''i looked at her, confused and slightly annoyed, while her Crobat continued Biting her Slowking''s arm. ''Why''s she looking at me like that?''


    Merlin began to meander around the field, twiddling his claws behind his back as he Plotted for the coming Future Sight attack. Crobat spat out the Slowking''s left arm and Bit down onto his right, wearing down the hexpert pok¨¦mon further. Kau''i just raised her eyebrows like she had expected something obvious that wasn''t coming. ''What am I missing?'', she worried, but she didn''t have the time to think on it. Before another Nasty Plot could compound onto the previous one, Kau''i''s Crobat used one last Bite, no, one last Crunch to take down Merlin. Then, the Future Sight grabbed hold of the Crobat as she seemed to be crushed into a ball by thin air. Both pok¨¦mon collapsed and Lillie finally understood.


    An unboosted Future Sight had easily taken down the Crobat. She could''ve ordered another Psychic-Type attack, like Eerie Spell, after Future Sight and taken out Crobat and Ariados! Kau''i knew that, but tried to win anyway. Lillie slumped. She may not have lost yet, but it already felt like a loss with such a massive blunder under her belt. Kau''i''s Ariados was already waiting for her second pok¨¦mon, and she wasn''t sure what to send out. With another panic driven decision, Lillie went for her Sylveon, Espy. He knew Stored Power and Swift, so he couldn''t be a bad option, right?


    Kau''i smirked in anticipation, ordering her Ariados, "Puppet master!" Lillie matched the mysterious order with a more direct one, "Espy, Swift!" Before the Swift stars Espy shot from his ribbons could hit the Ariados, their target had dropped into the floor with Shadow Sneak. Unable to course correct in time, the attack cut uselessly into the asphalt. Now on the complete other side of the field, the arachnid began shooting threads out of the field confines onto the fences, walls, and trees nearby to create a massive Spider Web stretching over the entire battle ground. At Lillie''s hurried call, Espy pushed in, trying to disperse the Night Shade cloaking his enemy with a Fairy Wind, but the Poison-Type just shrugged off the attack and finally lifted himself up into the canopic network above the field.


    Then, the Infestation began. Tiny spiders made of webbing trickled down from the ceiling Kau''i''s Ariados had installed, surrounding Espy in moments. Kau''i was eyeing Lillie, waiting to see what she would do, if she would make a mistake again. "Quick Attack!", Lillie sputtered under the pressure of her gaze, not wanting to repeat her previous mistake. Espy pushed between the falling spiders at her command, taking scratches from each construct as he jumped his way up the onslaught with paws and ribbons. Before the Ariados could respond, Espy had struck him in his midsection.


    "Dance then Sting!", Kau''i yelled up at the two, turning away from Lillie. Ariados stopped directly puppeteering his Infestation and began a swinging Swords Dance away from the invader and into his web. Both pok¨¦mon ambulated strangely around the nets of silk, turning over their own bodies as they stepped through all three dimensions available with their multitude of specialized limbs. With the acceleration of another Quick Attack, Espy crashed into Ariados, doing everything he could to keep up with the Bug-Type before he could crawl away. The Infestating constructs hadn''t deteriorated yet, still clawing at Espy''s smooth fur. The Ariados swung himself up a bit of thread and, like a trained Sniper, spat out a Poison Sting right at Espy when his mouth passed the right spot. The poison took hold.


    Lillie knew this was a losing battle. She couldn''t see where she''d gone wrong, but it was too late to recover. The only thing she could do was hold out for something lucky, so she went for the highest damage move Sylveon had, "Swift!" The stars sliced through the webs straight towards Ariados. "String cocoon.", Kau''i declared with a dramatic snap of her fingers. Between the approaching stars, String Shot out of the Ariados''s mouth again. All at the same moment, both pok¨¦mon hit the ground and were hit by the other''s attack. Swift buffeted the spider''s shell, but didn''t take him down, while the ball of silk threads exploded and Conricted around the ethereal creature Lillie had tried to lead to victory. The poison wore him down, and with one last cry as the constructs bit into him, Espy fainted.


    "Sylveon has fainted, Lillie has no more pok¨¦mon that can fight, so Kau''i wins!", Professor Oak announced. Lillie sighed and returned Espy to his ball. Kau''i walked over and began talking, "Oak''s right, you do need more battle experience. Your Sylveon knows Stored Power right?" The professor didn''t like his title being dropped. Lillie was confused by the question. "Yeah... Why?", she asked. Kau''i explained herself, "One Calm Mind boost and Stored Power could''ve destroyed my Ariados, though your Marowak probably would''ve done even better." Lillie hung her head, hiding her distraught expression that would''ve been clear with even just her eyes visible above the mouth cover of her jacket.


    "You tricked me into setting up when I should''ve attacked and attacking when I should''ve set up.", she accused listlessly. Kau''i considered her words for a moment before saying, "Maybe the second time, sure, but the mess up with Future Sight was all you." Kau''i''s words did not make her feel better. "Don''t worry Lillie," the Professor chimed in, "this is exactly the kind of thing you''re here for. Making decisions in the heat of the moment is an important skill, and you need to improve it." She wasn''t so sure about that, so she just handed the professor the balls containing her injured teammates and moved over to where Faba was waiting for her.


    In the meantime, she trained her other pok¨¦mon, except Nebby, with Faba''s guidance. Kau''i had her Ariados use his Infestation puppets as training for the others. Not too long later, their pok¨¦mon were healed and Lillie was having another skirmish with Kau''i. They agreed that Lillie couldn''t use Merlin in their matches, since he could win against all three of Kau''i''s pok¨¦mon all on his own when she didn''t screw up her orders. With a bit more experience under her belt, Lillie took Kau''i''s advice about Marowak and pulled out a victory for their second match. A bit more training, a bit more waiting, and their third match came around and into full swing.


    Her Ribombee, Ribbon, had gotten lucky with a Silver Wind and taken out Ariados without much trouble, but got revenge killed by the Crobat right after. Espy was now out to clean up the mess. "Calm Mind and Stored Power!", Lillie said, excited to win again. Kau''i wasn''t scared though, biting her lip with her canine in excitement for whatever she had planned. Lillie didn''t like it, but she was confident she wasn''t going to fumble around and slip up this time. Kau''i''s Crobat sent a Swift up into the sky without any input from Kau''i, not a good sign, while Espy used Calm Mind. Lillie began to bite her lip too, for the opposite reason Kau''i seemed to.


    As Sylveon got into position for Stored Power, Kau''i screamed like a school girl who just got a great present, "ACID DOWNPOUR!" The girl cackled as she went through the Poisonium Z dance, Professor Oak staring on in shock. First came the basis for all z dances; Her arms formed an X shape in front of her face, then swung out in an oval, and back in to make the fist on top of fist pose. Then she turned to her left slightly and raised her left hand up while making wriggling claw motions and lifting her left foot, finally going into a deep lunge forward with her right foot and drawing her arms out as if ripping a piece of meat in half. The yellow and orange light cascaded out of her and right into her Crobat, and somehow, Kau''i stayed conscious.


    Her Crobat''s Poison Fangs shot a dark purple liquid out like cannons up into the sky and down in waves onto the ground. Professor Oak fumbled for a pok¨¦ ball at his hip, an Alolan Exeggcutor joining him to hold back the tide from leaving the limits of the battlefield. Espy was not so lucky. The Acid Downpour scouring the Sylveon''s skin was pouring down like rain as its waves roiled around, getting caught in his mouth and eyes. As the Z-Move dissipated, the poison stopping its endless flow from the Crobat''s fangs, and Sylveon seemed to pull through to land a Stored Power, a cluster of stars fell from the sky. The Swift attack knocked Espy to the ground, and the fight was over.


    "Lillie''s pok¨¦mon can no longer fight, Kau''i wins!", the professor shouted as the psychic barriers fell away and the students watched in awe. Lillie stood still while everyone crowded around Kau''i, asking her about the Z-Move. Almost everyone did, at least. "Come now Lillie," Faba said, "you need some rest." With a sigh and an affectionate nuzzle from Nebby, she followed Faba back to her dorm room.

 Update - Crossover

    Ollo, dear readers! You may have noticed I''ve been away. The discredit for that is mostly on me, but a special shoutout goes to Egg_Company on ao3 for pushing me to keep reading the shit out of Worm instead of writing this fic.


    Chapter 28, Eat and Be Well, is still being written, and should be out shortly. It should be, by the new schedule that I''m announcing right now by explaining this, out by January 3rd. I''m moving to one chapter every two weeks, deadlines every other friday. I really can''t keep a schedule, but I''m gonna put my whole pussy into this one.


    Fear not though, I haven''t stopped writing entirely. As my almost christmas present to you (to those who celebrate), but mostly to myself, I''ve written a long ass crossover short story between Trash Girl and the Parahumans series, that thing I was told to keep reading. If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    It''s alot more adult, in fitting with the setting, and I had a ton of fun making it. There''s some spoilers for Worm, the first book of Parahumans, but they''re minor enough that they should fade from your brain by the time they matter or won''t ruin the fun. If you''re reading Trash Girl as a holistic project, here''s your signpost to switch over to that.


    As a last order of business, I''m now crossposting on both RR and ao3! Both accounts are me, in the slime. I''d say the reading experience is still better on RR, but I''ve always preferred giving people the choice. Ao3 definitely gives you a better look at what to expect from the crossover if you''re on the squeamish side, so I''m not gonna knock it.


    Happy holidays, enjoy the crossover, and I''ll see you soon :>

 Chapter 28 - Eat and Be Well

    Mikala was pissed. No, that''s not quite right, take that again. Mikala was frustrated. She was frustrated with Kau''i. Professor Oak, in his usual unusual teaching style, had been waiting for her and the other "trial-goers" when she got to the cafeteria for breakfast, and had lectured in circles about food and the expenses of caring for a team of pok¨¦mon. He touched briefly on sponsorships, which of course everyone had except Kau''i.


    When she pushed the vagrant about it, the little snake had just said, "I don''t need one.", and shrugged. One look at the ravenous appetite of Kau''i''s Crobat, which ate like it still had the yawning abyss that passed for a mouth on a Golbat, told her that was patently impossible. Somehow, Kau''i was supporting her three pok¨¦mon team with the budget of a self-identified orphan, which logically meant she was stealing some, if not all, of her supplies.


    When she texted her sponsor, Ilima, about it, he confirmed all her suspicions and more. Kau''i was an ex-Team Skull member who had been caught stealing by Ilima himself and was under constant surveillance by Kahuna Nanu. For whatever reason, she remained unsponsored, but whatever strings her kahuna foster sister had pulled meant the League valued her enough to allow the serial thefts. If there was one thing Mikala got out of those discoveries, it was a tampering of her assurance that Kau''i should just be a Poison-Type specialist already, because anyone in her situation clearly also has the makings of a great Dark-Type specialist.


    Mikala looked down with a sigh to see the mess that thought process had made of her notes and turned to a fresh page. Team management was the focus of the day, not Kau''i. They would be given a crash course of everything from jobs, sponsorships, and expenses to team composition, roles, and new additions. Just as Kau''i had shown she didn''t need much out of Tuesday''s basic orientation, Mikala suspected she''d be the good example for Wednesday''s lessons.


    She knew both sides of the team expansion coin, whether thoroughly planned or spur of the moment, the priorities needed by both specialists and generalists, and had the foundational goal that preceded all of those decisions. Still, Kau''i had gotten some brief advice yesterday, so she didn''t doubt Professor Oak would have a nugget of wisdom that she could chew on throughout the day. She would take another important step towards her goals, show off the fruits of her labor, and gain a foothold in her self-imposed mission to fix Kau''i''s bad ideas.


    Now she felt better. If there was ever a time Professor Oak would tell Kau''i straight to her face that her team building strategy would cripple her, it would be during a team management lesson. Mikala carefully erased the dunce cap and devil horns she''d instinctually added onto her crude drawing of Kau''i being steered straight by the professor. Kau''i was not a fiend or an idiot, she reminded herself; It was more like she fell out of a hole from another world and was set loose to scamper around and break all of the rules while hissing at everything. Mikala smiled and added alien antennae and fangs to the drawing before falling in line with the rest of class while they went out for the proper start of lessons.


    "As you''ve probably guessed," Professor Oak began anew from the center of the semicircle teaching area, "today''s lessons are on how to grapple with the more worldly troubles of being a pok¨¦mon trainer." The man didn''t overgesticulate as he spoke, leaning onto and off of the podium to emphasize his words, but not once letting go of its sides. "We''ve already had my little pre-lecture lecture on feeding your pok¨¦mon, which can be summed up as, ''feed them well and feed them often!'', but there''s so much more to cover!", he said excitedly. Mikala''s stylus danced across the tablet screen.


    "Each problem ties back to the others, so forgive me if I go off track again. I think a good place to start properly is partner acquisition, both the thoughts and actions that go into taking a new pok¨¦mon under your care. The very first thing to keep in mind is that just because you found, helped, or even befriended a pok¨¦mon in the wild does not mean you have any right to force it onto your team. Pok¨¦mon are our friends, not tools, as I''m sure Hau and Kau''i can corroborate." He gestured to the two trainers whose pok¨¦mon had succeeded in passing a "friendship evolution", a Pikachu and Crobat respectively. "I have plenty of friends that are tools.", Kau''i snarked when the attention of the group fell on her. Professor Oak chuckled lightly and moved right along.


    "Not every pok¨¦mon wants to fight, and as trainers you''ll need to respect that decision. If you have the time for it though, I highly recommend taking care of a noncombatant. There''s more to life than training, that goes for you and your pok¨¦mon." Mikala thought the professor''s advice was excellent, and leaned forward to catch his words with better clarity. "Every pok¨¦mon has goals, wants, and hobbies just like you do; Meeting those needs is part of your job as their trainer. When you take a pok¨¦mon under your wing, you assume responsibility for them. If you''re found to not live up to that responsibility, it can do terrible things for your position as a trainer."


    The professor took a deep breath to explain his next point. "The most simple way to avoid failing your pok¨¦mon is to not take on responsibilities you can''t handle. That starts with only catching or taking on pok¨¦mon whose interests align with yours. We all go into the world with grand plans, ideas that we could be champions, battle facility heads, or world renowned professors." Oak paused after his joke for a laugh that didn''t come, before he continued, saying, "You may want to catch a certain species or form of pok¨¦mon, to make that perfect match, but it''s a necessity that you settle for what will work in the long run."


    "For example!", he shouted suddenly, "I wanted, when I began my research in truth, to have a Kantonian form of every pok¨¦mon that also had another regional form, so I could compare the two forms against eachother in detail. Catching so many pok¨¦mon, housing them, and accommodating the conditions that make their regional forms arise in the first place was all together too much for my poor teacher''s salary, even with government subsidies. In the end, I''ve settled for paying trainers who already care for those pok¨¦mon for their time and using the biological data from my cousin''s own research. Those sorts of compromises aren''t the slightest bit uncommon, and you''ll have to learn to make them."


    Taking a moment to herself while the professor let his point sink in, Mikala glanced at the other students. Though her face was mostly obscured, Lillie''s eyes were full of anxiety, no doubt beating herself up about her own mistakes with adding new pok¨¦mon to her team. Kau''i was paying attention, but not taking notes, despite having some old book Mikala had seen her scrawl in the margins of. Selene had been knocked out of her usual unexpressive shell, a cloud of doubt and worry hanging over her. Hau just seemed completely checked out. The reason behind it, whether because his grandpa had already taught him all of it a thousand times or because the spry boy just wasn''t engaged by the lesson, was beyond her.


    Mikala had to erase an erratic mark she''d made after Professor Oak began speaking again. "It''s not all misery and compromise though! Just as often as you''ll find yourself buckling down with something that isn''t perfect, you''ll come across a pok¨¦mon that fits all your needs and more! Just like a trainer can give an otherwise unmotivated pok¨¦mon a reason to enjoy fighting, your pok¨¦mon, new pok¨¦mon especially, can show you things you didn''t know you wanted to pursue. Our pok¨¦mon reflect us. We learn from eachother and grow together. Let yourself go along for the ride, and they''ll improve your life just as much as you improve theirs."


    It was a sappy, sentimental argument, but one Mikala wholeheartedly agreed with. Oak really was preaching to the choir with her here, not that she could''ve said it any better. He continued on past that, slipping back to the topic of team composition without a moment''s hesitation. He recounted famous competitive level battles and the roles each pok¨¦mon played in those battles, and further how each pok¨¦mon could also fill different roles in battles against different opponents.


    He brought up Mikala''s Buneary, how with the advent of mega evolution a Lopunny could be a strong offensive core. He moved to Kau''i''s Crobat, which could serve as a sweeper or a utility, with an extra boon as a defensive pivot against Ground-Types for a Poison-Type team. Kau''i bristled at the observation. Finally, he talked about Lillie''s Galarian Slowking, his passion for regional forms shining through as he described its ability to harass the other team with Regenerator and Chilly Reception in addition to its suite of utility moves.


    "Now let''s go to the training grounds!", he announced after finally taking a breath again. Beginning to walk, Oak explained, "I''ll give each of you personalized advice while you train, since a comprehensive course on team management would take much longer than this week, forget fitting it all in today. I''ll start with the important things each of you needs to hear, so you have time to think on it. Any plans or problems with your journeys can be brought to me, and the rest of the staff and I will offer our aggregate wisdom for your use. You youngsters need it more than us besides!" As he wrapped up, we had already gotten to the training ground.


    Each of the students took their own field, since there was no set plan, and training began. Mikala sent out her team, going over her notes from the previous days on the ups, downs, and plans for the future. Cunic, her Buneary, needed to work on her strength. Grus, her Porygon, was working towards a faster processing speed. Konpei, her Minior, lacked the positional awareness they needed to work around their Shields Down ability. And she... She peered down at the other half of the notes from yesterday, frustrated and bitter words in a sloppy shorthand. She was missing something.


    "You''re a generalist, not a specialist. You have the benefit of breadth, a perspective that lets you focus on a pok¨¦mon''s strengths not in relation to anything else. It''s simple, lacking depth, but that perspective is powerful. Go back to your team and think about how to train them with fresh eyes.", Oak said to Hau, and Hau nodded furiously and turned to his team. It was hard to tell when the boy was actually paying attention, but he at least seemed to be actually engaged. Mikala wanted that kind of advice, the words that just clicked things into place. Oak moved on to Lillie.


    Mikala tried to tune out Oak''s lesson for Lillie on being more self reliant, but she couldn''t convince herself she had succeeded after seeing her notes filled with the things the professor had said and a doodle of the scowl Lillie''s assistant, Faba, had made for a brief moment when the professor started speaking. "You''re still only a child," Professor Oak was saying, "you don''t need to sacrifice yourself for the Aether Foundation." Lillie''s eyes slid off to the side after that conclusion. Mikala was no mind reader, but she looked dismissive, which was not something Mikala expected out of Lillie.


    Konpei was staring at Mikala, waiting for direction, and she pushed them away. "You have talent," the professor said to Selene, "more talent than anyone I''ve seen come through here." Selene reacted as if she''d been slapped in the face by a parent she refused to start a fight with. Oak paused, not expecting that reaction, before saying in a gentle but insistent tone, "Figure out why you want to be a trainer. No matter what road you go down, you have a bright future, so go down the road that makes you happy." Selene moved away, more to hide her face than discuss with her pok¨¦mon. Finally, Professor Oak approached Mikala.


    "You''ve been listening.", he said, apropos of nothing. "I have.", she replied, pointing with her stylus at the notes. Samson nodded and said, "You''re diligent Mikala, it reminds me of myself." His approach was entirely unlike Professor Oak, he was talking to her as a friend does. "Thank you.", she said firmly, trying to hold on to formality. Samson smiled. "I was like that too, too diligent if anything. I tied myself down to my research, and I nearly drowned in it. You''re not there yet, and I don''t want to see you go there.", he said, old voice creaking. "Are you saying I shouldn''t try to be a trial captain?", she asked, feeling fragile.


    Samson frowned and answered, "Not at all. I did become a professor after all of it, you should achieve your goals. You need to stop chasing who you should be without looking at who you are. Your goals do not define you in entirety." "I KNOW THAT!", she shouted louder than she had intended, "Why do you think I have Konpei? I know my goals aren''t everything." He didn''t crack. "Your Minior is just an acceptable exception to your gold standard. They''re not a Normal-Type, no, but you''re smart, you know type specialists don''t train exclusively pok¨¦mon of their chosen type and that not only specialists can be trial captains.", he said, the Alolan shirt and bright smile disappearing behind the years of experience.


    He continued, "What''s more indicative of a trial captain, a type specialist, or someone who takes care of pok¨¦mon in need of care? The answer is obvious. You know it, I know it, but you cling to that choice as proof that you''ve learned your lesson. I did the same thing, once. Remember my story about trying to catch one of every regional form of pok¨¦mon? When I decided to not pursue that, it became my example that I wasn''t destroying myself, but I still was. I paid hundreds of thousands of pok¨¦dollars to study trainers'' pok¨¦mon with regional forms and spent countless sleepless nights writing papers. I lost friends over it, and the research was unpublishable. Trial Captain Mikala will go down in the history books, if you''d only let yourself be Mikala."


    Mikala''s hand stopped writing. She looked up at Samson Oak. "I don''t, um, I... That might take a while.", her mouth fumbled out. He smiled, and it was the old man''s smile, not the professor''s. "I know.", he said, "Don''t try too hard to do that either, it causes the same problem. For now, you probably want to take notes on what I''m going to say to Kau''i." Mikala nodded, and Cunic hopped up into her arms. She held the Buneary in the crook of her arm while her hand began writing notes again.


    Kau''i saw Professor Oak coming and raised her hackles. Mikala could already guess what the professor was going to talk about with her. Oak had used a dismissal of her anger to calm her down before, but it didn''t seem possible to deliver this advice and keep her calm. "Kau''i.", Oak said flatly. "Professor.", Kau''i responded, expectant. "You''re not an idiot, are you?", He asked. Everyone turned to watch at that. Kau''i spat, "What''s this about?" She was incredibly intimidating for a ten year old. "You have a choice you''ve been putting off. Most would call it an easy choice. ''Are you going to be a Poison-Type specialist or not?''", the professor explained, his tone hard.


    "AND WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO CHOOSE, HMM?!", Kau''i spewed. Oak didn''t flinch, saying firmly, "I don''t want either. I want you to make the choice so you''ll stop doing things like this." "REALLY!? YOU DON''T WANT EITHER?!", she sputtered, indignant. "BULLSHIT!", she accused. "You''re at an impasse.", he stated, acting like he didn''t mind her attitude, "You have three Poison-Types, no matter which way you go from here that stays true. Are you going to pursue greatness in another aspect of training than specialization or are you going to dedicate yourself to the Poison-Type? Both paths open doors and close others, but those doors will never open if you don''t choose."This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    Kau''i walked away from the field, grumbling something. She''d already decided to be angry, and the professor wasn''t going to change that. Most of what Mikala had written down were notes on Professor Oak''s approach to broaching a difficult subject he knew would cause conflict. The way he made Kau''i look unreasonable, likely even to herself, and kept himself level throughout. Mikala was going to end up in that position as a trial captain one day. She recognized the presumption and overcommitment in that thought right as the professor looked at her. He gave her a smile and eyed her past his forehead with his head tilted down. He knew she''d just slipped, somehow. He hadn''t been lying when he said he had been in her shoes.


    Mikala tapped back to her notes from before Professor Oak started giving all the students their big pieces of advice. Strength for Cunic, speed for Grus, positioning for Konpei. Mikala faced her team and dictated her regimen, "Cunic will be turning Endure into Work Up, Grus will be learning Agility, and Konpei will be using Rollout for as long as possible without hitting something. Strength, speed, positioning. Go!" She thanked herself that her notes were as extensive as they were, then sat back to ruminate on Samson''s advice to her.


    Ilima took notes in a boundless canvas that could be zoomed in and out infinitely, and she wished she did too. Her brain was too cluttered for that to ever work, so she went page by page. The page of notes on Samson''s advice was full to bursting, and she had to bookmark it and hop between it and a fresh page to get her thoughts in order. She corrected Konpei on his form and gave Grus her phone to better understand Agility, and when she looked down again she had written on top of other notes. She needed a third page for her thoughts.


    "Who Am I?", one page read at the header in big block letters. The header took up too much space for such a weighty topic. "Student? Teacher? Trial Captain. What else?", was spilling down one side of the page. "Why Trail Captain?", and its related musings took up the bottom third of the page where the overlap had occurred. "Who is anyone? What they do? What they remember? What they think? Soul?", was just another line of thought that got her nowhere. The third page was more productive, less existentially terrifying, but not by much. "What do I want?", the third page''s much more reasonably sized header asked.


    She stalled. Staring back up at her pok¨¦mon, she scrolled through to the page her most recent training notes were on that she was keeping quarantined from her disturbing self reflections. Cunic was doing well, diligently working herself up to a proper Work Up. Grus strafed back and forth, lacking the limberness that defined Agility. Konpei was following a well tread path as their Rollout sped up to keep from slipping out of place. The regimen. Mikala''s eyes shone as she returned to the ruminating notes. "STRUCTURE", she wrote on the third page, far too big again. She noted the irony of writing that word is such an unstructured way. "My pok¨¦mon are like me. They want structure. I looked for/instilled that.", she transcribed her thoughts.


    From there, her third page of pondering filled out. "Knowledge", was one answer to the page''s prompt, self-explanatory in its clarity. A small section labeled, "Peers", had written under it, "Selene? Promising. Lillie? Probably not. Hau? Maybe. Kau''i?" She drew a cartoonish thumbs down after Kau''i''s name. "Direction", she wrote, before immediately drawing a line from it back to the "STRUCTURE" header and squiggled in long curly script along the line, "stupid." Kau''i chose then to rejoin the class.


    She''d done ruminating of her own, judging by the expression she wore, and like Mikala, she wasn''t done. Both of the girls threw themselves back into training their pok¨¦mon, and the day passed in a blur of background thought. Professor Oak gave more advice on team management, most of which was directed away from Mikala. lunch came and went. Mikala shifted around her training regimen several times to match her teammates'' progress. At some point in the day, the thumbs down next to Kau''i''s name had been flipped upside down. Finally, dinner marked the end of their classes and the coming night.


    Mikala dreamed of failing to become a trial captain, and for once, that dream wasn''t bad.


    <hr>


    I didn''t sleep Wednesday night. I''d heard the "you should be a Poison-Type specialist" talk a thousand times before, I only heard the end of it when I stopped living around Poison-Type specialists fulltime and left Team Skull, and that came with a Poison-Type pok¨¦mon as a going away present. Still, something about Professor Oak''s version of the talk hit me where none of the others had. I had rejected the idea in the moment, but he seemed genuine about not seeing it as a foregone conclusion. To him, someone who''d seen hundreds of students come and go in his tenure, it was just a conclusion that needed concluding.


    I was able to stay in denial through the day, but during dinner I just couldn''t keep it up. I spent the evening even more angry instead of confronting it. When my head hit the pillow, I was so restless I began rustling through my notes. I spent hours there, light on with Toma at my side as us two Insomniacs poured over possible directions I could take my career as a trainer. There were any number of specialized jobs in industry, production, research, development, or testing, and then there was everything else; Move tutor, breeder, contest challenger, scientist, professor, employee at the Aether Foundation, field employee for the League, ace trainer, ranger, trial captain, kahuna, facility head, gym leader, elite four member, champion.


    Eventually I had to move to the library to use the computers, since my phone was loading pages too slowly. The most promising were an industry or production job, where Toma and Waiola could excel, or a job as a ranger or ace trainer, where Kawami''s ability to scout was invaluable. The more typical jobs were more achievable, in fact I could''ve probably gotten those jobs right away if I was older, but I was drawn to the other two, which had higher pay and incredible positions to climb to up the totem pole. I also wanted to continue battling, and you don''t battle much when helping pump out spider silk pants.


    The more I searched, the more the unbiased sources tended to agree. A team of Crobat, Ariados, and Salandit was best fit for a Poison-Type specialist with a focus on battling.  That was stirring up a mix of unhealthy feelings. It wasn''t even that I wanted to be a generalist, I just didn''t want to choose. When I first picked up that pok¨¦ ball, it was opportunity, grease-coated possibility in the palm of my hand. Then I caught Kawami, and it was great, but all the possibilities for that pok¨¦ ball collapsed at the same time. My decisions as a trainer still laid ahead of me, but Kawami was going to be part of that life no matter what.


    Then my decisions as a trainer collapsed as I ran away from Poni Island. I needed a place I wouldn''t be tied down, and Team Skull was that place. Then there was Eva getting me to catch Toma, the shift in the Team, the years of providing for grunts who would go hungry without me and the other nostrils, the plan. By the end of it, I''d been used more than I''d been provided for. Throughout it all, every decision, I had very few regrets. The plan, sure, that was a disaster. Terrorism, if you wanted to be hyperbolic. But stealing for some displaced teens? Running away? Hell, all the way back, omitting the truth from a police officer? I wouldn''t change any of it.


    I had worked through the bargaining and most of the depression by the time the librarian arrived and kicked me out to start his day. I woke Kawami and Waiola, and was still in a funk as we ate breakfast. The eggs seemed rancid to my pallet, even though I knew they were fine. I went in the staff room and poured myself a cup of coffee, and no one bothered to chastise me for it. Theft, confidence, intimidation. The routine of it brought back some of my energy.


    Professor Oak followed me out of the staff room and to the boot camp table. "Well trainers," he said cheerily as the coffee mug obscured my vision, "it''s the middle of our week of lessons. To help you not fall out of step with your usual routines, and to let you adjust those routines with what you''ve learned so far, today will be self-study. I''ll be coming by to check in with each of you, but you''ll decide what to do and where. All we require is that you stay safe and be back by dinner. I''ll be open to questions and discussions all day, so if you need me, just call me."


    It was a rare occurrence, but all five of us young trainers were united in our despondence at the announcement. Maybe me and Mikala would''ve been okay on any other day, but yesterday had left us with unfinished business. Lillie never seemed to know what to do with herself, and Hau had gotten into a groove just going along with what the professor said. Selene was still a closed book to me, but I didn''t need to know the reason why to tell that she wasn''t looking forward to self-study. Oak waved a too-cheerful goodbye, and the table was left to eat in silence. Even the pok¨¦mon stayed mostly quiet.


    When I finished eating, I didn''t move from the table. Hau followed suit, and so did Selene and Mikala. We all just sat there, only yawns and the occasional peak in Lillie''s chewing filling the air. Lillie finally left with a plate of leftovers, her assistant behind her, and that was our wake up call to start moving. Mikala went off to the library, Selene back to the dorms, and Hau went straight through the front door into Hau''oli proper. I had had enough of the library that night, so I ducked out of the back door and into the jungle beyond the school grounds.


    I just walked into the brush, brain still curdling with the acidic feelings eating away at it. I''d been walking pretty much everywhere for years now, and something about it diluted my unease. I only had my shoulder bag on me, having left the backpack in my room. I let myself fall into the rhythm of pushing through ferns and bushes, stepping over gnarled roots, and turning where Kawami and Toma told me to. The moist air enveloped me and Waiola warmed the back of my neck while she perched. The area around the school was managed as an area for young trainers to encounter wild pok¨¦mon, but we were already well past those boundaries and into the off-route zone.


    Slowly, and with a conscious effort to think about it, I clarified my thoughts about what Professor Oak had said and everything I''d looked up. I would need to make the decision, and my preferred option was already obvious. ''That''s that, isn''t it? I prefer being a Poison-Type specialist to being a generalist, and I need to choose a side. Since I already have three Poison-Types, wanting to be a specialist and being a specialist are essentially the same thing. So what changes? Nothing?'', I thought, then slowed to bat a branch away from my face.


    ''No, I know I''m a specialist for good now. I need to plan around that. Kawami and Toma are important pivots in battle on a Poison-Type team, for one, so we''ll have to train around that. I''m setting myself up for a Physic-Type weakness across the board, I was already working on that with Lillie but it''s more important now. Oak was right, I did need to figure this out. Ugh, I hate that he was right.''


    The further derailment of my train of thought was stopped by Kawami screeching for help nearby. I ran through a sheet of ivy to see Toma blocking a Vivillon''s Psybeam with his Infestation puppets before it could hit Kawami. "Everyone, fight! Dragon Rage!", I ordered, pointing at a fourth Vivillon joining the two harassing my team. One Vivillon was already collapsed on the ground, the cut of a Wing Attack across its thorax, and the third and fourth each sent Psybeams at Kawami before Waiola could attack.


    The salamander sprung from my shoulders and the flames of Dragon Rage flew across the clearing, invading number four''s body and leaving it haggard. Number two dropped a moment later from another of Kawami''s Wing Attacks, but took Kawami down with it. My eyes burned from the lingering rays of dark blue and bright yellow light as I returned her to her pok¨¦ ball. Number three flitted up to the canopy to hit Toma, leaving a line across his carapace.


    The fourth Vivillon tried to take out Waiola, but Toma made an Infestation to substitute for Waiola. Waiola returned the favor, sending her Dragon Rage through a branch to hit the third Vivillon up in the trees. A Psybeam shot down from the branches, again aimed at Waiola, and Toma swung the Infestation around to take that attack as well, destroying the wriggling swarm of constructs. The Vivillon at ground level and Waiola each sent their attacks upwards, putting Toma on the brink of passing out and taking the other Vivillon out of the fight.


    The Vivillon next to Waiola, now alone, realized the position it was in and tried to take out Waiola again, but Toma spat out a new Substitute as he dropped from the tree, blocking the glimmering Psybeam. The silvery blue of Waiola''s Dragon Rage raced forward, and Toma politely moved his Infestation out of the way for the Vivillon to be burned by the attack. The last Vivillon fainted, and I wiped the sweat from my face. Most was just from the muggy environment.


    I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye, tensed, then relaxed when I saw what it was. A Grimer was eating the ruins of the battle, the burnt branches and clumps of broken web constructs, not worrying about us at all. I focused on my team. I sprayed Toma down with a super potion and brought out Kawami for a moment to give her the same treatment, then put her away again. Waiola and I helped Toma wrap the Vivillon up so they couldn''t attack us if they woke up, with a clever slipknot to let them free when we left so they weren''t doomed.


    The weirdness of the encounter was setting in as we began walking again, this time back towards the school. Vivillon weren''t even supposed to be in Alola, and the region''s conservationists were so ravenous that there were barely any unrecorded species, even in the off-route areas, and these were of a bright blue and orange sunrise pattern I''d never seen before to boot. I wondered if it was another round of introduction efforts by the Aether Foundation, but I had no way of finding out.


    I scrunched up my nose, checked that thought, and found that I was wrong. I did have a way of finding out, one of my peers in boot camp was the Junior Branch Manager for the Aether Foundation. Getting to the acceptance step about being a Poison-Type specialist had not unchurned my buttery smooth brain. ''Riiight, Poison-Type specialist.'', I thought, getting back to the plans I needed to make and change with my change in identity, or at least trying to. The Grimer was following us.


    That annoyed me more than it should''ve. "Shoo! Get outta here, go!", I urged the pile of sludge. It was completely unbothered, yellow goop dribbling off of its lip. I continued following Toma''s silk trail back to civilization, and the Grimer followed too. It reminded me of having to drag the Ultra Recon Squad around by the tail, expectant Deerling-eyed stares and all. "Are you going to keep following me?", I asked it. The gummy substance shifted around to create a shelf below its face, then the shelf lifted at the far ends. A shrug. I kept walking, but I couldn''t focus.


    Professor Oak was waiting for me at the edge of the jungle. I wanted to blame my frustration on whatever Psychic-Type he used to find me, but I knew that was wrong. "You''re being followed.", Oak observed, skipping formalities. He caught on quick. "Yeah," I said sarcastically, "even on self study days the professor just won''t leave me alone." He chuckled, then asked, "Is the Grimer yours?" "Nope, he just started following me. Do you know where Lillie is?", I said, avoiding the conversation as much as I could while in the middle of it. "The track field. Why?", the professor asked. "Some pok¨¦mon I encountered off-route, figured the Aether Foundation would know about it.", I told him, already walking off.


    Professor Oak fell in lockstep with the puddle of toxic ooze, following behind me. My eyebrow twitched, but I kept going. Across the campus from where I went for my walk, Lillie was running around an oval of rubber and polyurethane grit, hood up and bobbing like one of those tube men used for advertising. I waited at the end of the track, where her assistant and some of her pok¨¦mon were standing.


    I was so distracted by Toma making a little ribbon for when she crossed the line that I missed the Grimer thoughtlessly continuing onto the running track. Lillie was looking up to keep the hood out of her face, huffing like a paint addict, and barely noticed the green slime before she ran her legs through him. Instead, she jumped over him, losing her balance in the air and landing awkwardly on her ankle, which caused her to fall on her side. She let out an involuntary "Egh!" as she rolled. Faba ran over to her, and I went to the Grimer.


    "Pay attention!", we both chastised in unison. "You could''ve been seriously hurt, that would''ve put us back months!", Faba told Lillie harshly. "Humans will get hurt touching you, don''t get in their way. Hurting them gets you in trouble. Do the other Grimers not tell you stuff like this?", I ranted at the wild pok¨¦mon. Lillie looked sufficiently cowed, but the Grimer just shrugged again.


    "Why are you here, Kau''i?", Faba asked me. It felt weird, off tempo, but it was what I wanted to get around to, so I didn''t question it. "I saw some Vivillon off-route, so I wanted to ask Lillie if they were introduced by the Aether Foundation or migrated or something.", I explained. Professor Oak spoke up, "Oh, Vivillon! What colors were their wings?" "Blue, Orange, and Yellow," I said, "like a sunrise.", I finished, with Oak matching my words. "Fascinating.", he decided.


    Faba cleared his throat and said, "Vivillon are a species the Aether Foundation is looking to introduce to the region, but they''re in an early phase of the process. There should only be four fully evolved individuals in the region right now." The whole time, Lillie was silent. I nodded along to Faba''s answer, but my focus drifted to her. "She''s recovering, don''t worry.", Faba said, like I was expecting an answer. I kind of was, but I''d wanted it from Lillie. I didn''t fuckin'' like this guy, which was a shame cause I really didn''t mind Lillie, and I mind most people.


    "I should go.", I sputtered, and left Professor Oak with the two while I ran elsewhere. The Dark-Type gurgled along behind me. I found a nice tree and laid down in its shade. Between staying up all night, going through an identity crisis, walking through the jungle, and dealing with Lillie''s creepy assistant, I was exhausted and feeling it. I curled up in a nook in the tree roots, and the Grimer came up to look at my face.


    "Are you really gonna keep following me around forever and ever?", I grouched to my hanger-on, the tiredness hitting me all at once and making me sound drunk. He nodded determinedly. I pulled one of the berry pouches from my shoulder bag and dumped it on the ground. I spoke groggily, voice fading out as my coordination disappeared, eyelids already heavy regardless of the sun bearing down, "Have at ''em dude. Toma, webs up, I''m takin'' a nap..." I was already asleep when my head hit the trunk.

 Chapter 29 - Gummed Up

    Something wet and lukewarm touched my hand, and a stinging sunburn kind of pain radiated out of the extremity. I stirred and my scalp dug against the bark of the tree I had slept under. My eyes finally opened and I pulled my arm away from the Grimer. Toma lowered himself down by a thread to give me the ritual smile and wave good morning. I wasn''t normally one to care about bed-head, but this was the kind that people found Joltiks in months after the fact. "Toma, the brush. It''s at the bottom of the felt bag in the middle pocket."


    I kept looking sideways at the Grimer while I forced the brush through the clog of my hair. It was supposed to be a detangling brush, but advertising and reality were two different things. The effort of the brushing flared the pain of the burn the Grimer had given me. I hoped the burn was chemical and not something worse. A shockingly large clump of... something... came out with one heaving pull, and the wild thing swallowed it up. ''Better him than my hair.''


    I got up and beckoned Toma to pass me my backpack. He hoisted it over to me and I buried the brush back inside before mounting it on my back. "Web down.", I ordered, and Toma first cut out a sighing resented face from the walls of silk around the tree before tearing away the rest of it. "Grimer, do you wa... Okay, you do, cool.", I said, the wild pok¨¦mon already eating the fallen webs I was about to ask about. That was Toma''s least favorite part of the whole spinning process.


    Professor Oak jogged over after spotting that the shroud was gone. "Kau''i! You were in there quite a while, I assume you''ve talked things out with Grimer here?", he asked in that way that said there was an answer he expected, the way he hadn''t sounded when giving his big advice. "Nah, just doing some... special training.", I lied lamely. The lie wasn''t what disappointed him, but he was disappointed.


    "You should talk with Grimer about it joining your team.", Oak all but ordered me in his friendly tone. But he hadn''t ordered me. "Why?", I challenged, "It''s just some wild pok¨¦mon that''s following me around. It hurt me and nearly hurt Lillie. I don''t need to train some multicolored toxic mess that hurts people because it doesn''t know any better." Oak laughed lightly at me, staring at my purple and green hair, before he composed himself. "Something funny?", I bit. He shook his head no. ''Weird old man.''


    "My point is that you should consider it. This Grimer seems attached to you already, and you have the experience to train it. You are a Poison-Type specialist, are you not?", he asked rhetorically. It annoyed me, not that he was right, but that he''d figured it out all on his own.


    "Yeah. Okay. Fine. Grimer, do you wanna join my team?", I short-temperedly sprayed out. The Grimer just looked even more confused than usual. "See? He doesn''t get it.", I told the professor. Oak seemed to understand something I didn''t about the situation. "Grimer," he prompted, "are you part of Kau''i''s team?" The top of the Grimer sludgy body waved back and forth while he smiled. A nod.


    I looked between the two of them, stupefied. "I didn''t say that!", I protested. Then I turned to Toma, hanging on the last thread in the tree. "Help translate, I''m figuring this out.", I told my Ariados, then turned back to Professor Oak, "And you, get out of here." The professor smiled and said, "You know, Dark-Types are immune to Psychic-Type attacks." "I know that already, and it doesn''t matter! Go!", I urged him. "The door is closing.", he said sagely.


    The Grimer stayed perfectly still through it all, looking up at me with toxin glazed eyes. Finally, Professor Oak acquiesced, walking back across the campus to Mikala. Impotent discontent seemed to be something Professor Oak was trying to harvest from me. I sighed and spoke to the Grimer. "You''re not on my team. Why''d you think you were?" Grimer bubbled something in response, and I only understood some of the intent.


    Toma drew out the pictogram translation, a drawing of me (which Toma had gotten very good at making over the years) with a speech bubble expanding out to show the next panels were representing something I had said. Then, a drawing of Grimer behind me, walking, with an analog clock design in the corner at twelve. Then the same panel, again and again, the clock moving to a different position and the shading matching the supposed time of day each time, until the final panel, showing a broken clock face with the scene drawn in thin strands to represent pitch black night. ''Are you really going to keep following me around forever and ever?''


    I looked down at the sludge on the ground, surprised. "Why?", I asked it. It flapped its lips a while in response. The translation showed the Grimer looking through a pair of binoculars at me and my team, smiles and action lines from where we were moving were emphasized and a series of fireworks were above us. "You saw us and wanted to join us?" Grimer shook his three-fingered hand in a so-so gesture, leaving a few splotches of acid around, then said something again. Simplified from the last drawings, Toma drew the pair of binoculars pointed at a smiley face. ''It seemed fun.''


    "Let me think about it.", I told him. I grabbed the textbook and rifled through the pages. I''d long since marked every page relevant to my team, but the textbook was not a pok¨¦dex, it was a resource on abilities and moves and what pok¨¦mon could use them naturally. I found Alolan Grimer and Muk listed on some of the same pages as my teammates, since it could learn some of the same moves, but I wasn''t getting a comprehensive view of his capabilities.


    I didn''t like mucking up where I did my research and where I talked to people, "Don''t shit where you eat.", as they say, but this needed to be done without bringing Grimer into a public library. I pulled my phone from a pocket near the ankle of the skirt Toma had made me all those years ago, where I kept it to weigh the thing down. It was low on power, so I pulled my brick of a portable battery from another low pocket.


    Then I went to the FormeSalac page for Alolan Grimer, a Salacpedia branch that focused on pok¨¦mon with different forms. It was always a good idea to go to the most obsessed community available for this kind of info; Breeder Salac could tell you more than you would ever want to know about Dittos, for example. I did my usual researching tango, something I''d gotten much better at since losing to Mina.


    I was dancing between FormeSalac, where Samson Oak was hailed as a god, for all the known moves and abilities of Alolan Grimer and Muk while I skipped the included biology lesson, Able Salac, for the details on Gluttony and the line''s signature hidden ability Power of Alchemy, Tacklepedia, where Kukui was hailed as a god, for most of the related utility and Z-Move information, and Poison Salac, for the details on Poison Touch, the line''s Poison-Type moves, and the forum and talk pages of specialists sharing their personal discoveries. I would''ve checked Dark-Salac too, but that site was so full of malicious editors that it was useless.


    I wrote my notes on a sheet of blank paper rather than dedicate space in the textbook to it before a decision was made. Finally, I had my key for what an Alolan Grimer could be, if the internet was to be believed. I looked it all over and my eyes twitched reading the giant wall of information. It was too much all in one place, so I opened the textbook to various tabbed pages while covering most of the Grimer notes with my hand.


    My brain filled in the parts that gelled with my own team''s capabilities. Acid Armor, a powerful defensive utility move, on a team that lacked defense. Knock Off, another option along the lines of Haze, which I''d planned for Kawami to learn. Clear Smog was an egg move, but incredibly tempting in its synergy with my existing plans for similar moves. The more I looked, the more I saw. Something about the strategy of it, the place it held in my new plans as a Poison-Type specialist, skipped over my hesitation to choose. I could feel it bubbling in my stomach, urging me to stop, but I was already getting out my array of pok¨¦ balls.


    I kind of made it a thing to steal pok¨¦ balls after that first experience in Malie City, and there had been plenty of demand in Team Skull, so I had a dozen standard pok¨¦ balls, half a dozen great balls, a small clutch of ultra balls, and a smattering of different odd balls. I rolled them out on the ground in front of Grimer, who I had yet to give a name, and said, "You''re in. Pick a ball."


    Its gummy smile parted the sea of its face in a happy arc as it looked at me. He''d already forgotten about the balls. I pointed down at them. His eyes widened again, and he poured over the selection, metaphorically. Finally, after some slow-drip deliberation, it pointed out an ancient ball I was surprised was empty. The white bottom had yellowed with time, creating a funny effect with the intentional yellow on the top. A level ball, the only one I''d ever seen, and I''d stolen it.


    I picked up the level ball, enlarged it, and carefully pressed the button against Grimer''s outstretched finger. It was wrapped in red light and pulled into the ball, mimicking the red V shape on the ball''s cap. It swirled around in my hand, then fell still. That smile when I''d told him I would let him join the team was still sticking in my mind, and it gave me the first idea for his name. I let him back out immediately and asked, "Are you okay with the name Kum¨©?" He smiled that dopey smile again and nodded too fast, sending out specks of poison. My own smile faded as I realized something else.


    "Shit! Kawami''s still hurt!"


    <hr>


    "Kum¨© is registered and your other pok¨¦mon will be healed shortly.", the nurse said, handing me the level ball that held my least trained pok¨¦mon. "Okay.", I said as I took it. She was slightly aggrieved by my short response, but let it pass with a service industry smile. I made my way up into an empty training ground with Kum¨© still in his ball so he didn''t leave a mess. Then, I shat where I was supposed to shit, metaphorically.


    The phone rang once, then again, then a couple more times. Then it started going to voicemail and I hung up. Then I called again. It rang four times before she picked up, "Hello?" "Heya big sis, how''s retirement?", I greeted Plumeria. "I''m not anyone''s ''big sis'' anymore, and I shouldn''t be.", she said. I defended myself. "Well you were my big sis before, and we both left at the same time, and we''re both Poison-Type specialists, and at the end of the day what is family?", I said, vomiting up sarcasm fast enough to make her miss the news for a few moments.


    She sputtered, then said, "You''re not a Poison-Type specialist.", in a confused lilt, before I heard the pause and smacking of her forehead through the crappy phone speaker. "THIS IS HOW YOU TELL ME?!", the one and only ex-Team Skull admin shouted at me. "Yup.", I said, self-satisfied. Then Plumeria continued in a much more restrained tone, "Why now?" "Samson Oak is some kind of wizard. Turns out I have this complex about making choices now, he figured that out and got me through it for the specialist thing.", I explained.


    "Right, Professor Oak. He tried to get me out of Team Skull before it even formed, should probably apologize for how I treated him about that. He''s a ridiculously good teacher.", Plumeria said, mostly to herself. I replied anyway, "Yeah, he is, it''s really annoying." "That would be how you see it, numbskull.", she commented. "Can''t be a numbskull if I''m not in the Team anymore.", I snarked. "Right.", she said, and her voice was distant in spite of being right next to the receiver.


    "I... Uh... Are you..?", I choked out, trying to be reassuring. Plumeria interrupted me, "I don''t know Kau''i. I''ve got alot to think about and not alot to get me to stop thinking. Nanu and Molayne check in sometimes, talking to them again is nice, and Eva delivers my supplies herself most times, but it''s bad here. Maybe I deserve it. I don''t know." "Okay.", I said, taking it in.


    Finally, I found something to say. "Should you really be telling this to a ten-year-old?" She snorted a little and answered, "No, I probably shouldn''t.", then shifted topics, "Um, how are you? The egg, your journey?" After that, we talked for a good while about me and my island challenge, about the Vast Poni Canyon, the Ultra Recon Squad, Mina''s trial, my reunion with Gerald, Ilima''s trial, running into Gladion in Hau''oli, bootcamp, and finally Kum¨©.


    "I''m still new to this whole Poison-Type thing.", I said, eliciting a laugh from Plumeria. I cleared my throat and asked, "Well, do you have any tips on fighting as a Poison-Type specialist?" "Uh, poison them? Use status conditions.", she instructed simply. "What? That''s your advice, poison them?! I was doing that before, and honestly it''s kind of losing its luster at my level.", I told her. She sighed. "I was... never that good of a Poison-Type specialist.", she admitted. "What do you mean!? You were an admin of Team Skull!", I exclaimed.


    Plumeria sighed again, and began to talk, "I knew the facts and I could learn what any pok¨¦mon could do pretty easily, I was great in school, ya know, but I never had a real connection to Poison-Types! And Team Skull aren''t exactly hot shit, even colder shit back when I was promoted. Fuck, I''m not giving you my whole life story Kau, but I sorta just did whatever my friends thought would be cool! I had my Salandit, and they said I should get more Poison-Types, cause they thought a punk style suited me, and then they''re copying me after that and we''re following Guzma around, and he doesn''t get the trial captain spot and Team Skull forms, and it all just happens!"


    I let the word vomit settle for a moment before speaking up. "So you were Plumeria, Alola''s greatest Poison-Type specialist and admin of the devious Team Skull... because of peer pressure?" "AND I WAS GOOD AT IT!", she agreed loudly. We laughed together. "Holy shit," I chuckled, "my Poison-Type specialist mentor is a worse specialist than me!" "I could still kick your ass, but yeah, you''re probably better with the type than I am.", she told me through giggles. She was twenty and giggling. We had never been this candid in Po Town.


    "Alright," I declared, swallowing my laughter, "it was great talking to you, but I''ve got that Grimer to train." Plumeria caught her breath and replied, "It was great. Good luck with that Grimer, they''re messy, and come visit me when you come to Ula''ula! See ya Kau''i." "See ya.", I said into the phone and hung up. I texted Eva the news rather than bother her, since it''d either take away from the time she was using to support us ex-grunts or would linger too long the same way the call with Plumeria had, then I took the stairs back down to the lobby.


    My pok¨¦ balls and an agitated nurse were waiting for me, so I grabbed them quickly and slipped out of the door. I released the team all as one as I walked back to the school. Maybe I couldn''t keep people from stepping in Kum¨©, but the presence of the whole team definitely could. Waiola stayed draped over my shoulders, watching the three of them behind me. I could hear Kawami squeaking out rapidfire questions to Kum¨© and Toma answering the questions on his behalf. I smiled venomously as we passed scared and awed tourists.


    In the outskirts of Hau''oli, before we could reach the school, Hau walked up to us with a wave, a massive piping hot malasada in his other hand. "Hey Kau''i!", he said cheerfully, speaking perfectly around the bits of malasada in his mouth. "Hau. What''re you using your self study for?", I asked poisonously, which was a tone that had immediately grown tenfold in effectiveness when I''d dedicated myself to the type. "Not. Training.", he announced. He seemed over the moon about it.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    "Not training? How''s that work? I can''t imagine it''s very good for your battling.", I questioned him. "It''s not! That''s the idea.", he answered. I gave him a puzzled raise of my eyebrow and responded, "Uh... Okay? Just a heads-up, dinner''s in a few hours, so maybe try something other than ''not training'' before then." "I won''t.", he informed me before taking another bite of his malasada. Somehow, he seemed more genuine about this than I''d seen him the entire time he was at boot camp. ''Weird.'', I thought, and kept moving.


    Now that my team was all raring to go, I wanted to fit in Kum¨©''s inaugural fight before dinner. It would be best to do it with one of my peers, and Hau and Lillie were otherwise occupied, so Mikala was the obvious choice. I went straight to the library after getting to the school campus. I found Mikala in a veritable fortress of books, tablet and laptop bathing her dorky face in blueish white. "What''s up?", I asked in a completely normal manner, if you ignored how I had put my mouth right next to her ear while she wasn''t paying attention.


    "BWAUGH!", she said, eloquent as always. "No, seriously, what''s up?", I repeated in the same position, but now significantly further from her ears since she had tumbled away from me. "Self study.*", Mikala said, trying to be feisty while still holding herself up between the adjacent chair and the table. I looked at the books she had in the short pile on the inside of the book fort, "Trial Captains: Alola''s Legacy" by Holly Malpighi, "Evolution" by Franz Klawfka, and "Helping Hand: How Pok¨¦mon Help Us Help Ourselves" by Rem Moreaid.


    "You sure look like you''re studying yourself.", I joked, "Sure you don''t need a biology textbook?" Mikala just pointed to one brick in her wall of knowledge. "A Complete Guide to Human Anatomy, Twelfth Edition" by Dr. Nurse Joy. "No time for a battle? I caught a Grimer, really wanna show him the ropes.", I continued on, letting the sting of my joke being right worm its way into her brain instead of poking at it. "No, I can''t.", she replied humorlessly. "Can''t, or won''t?", I inquired. "Can''t and won''t.", she said without looking at me. I took that for the sign it was, shrugged, and left the library.


    That only left one other person in boot camp who might be down for a fight. Selene had gone to her dorm room, and as far as I could tell, she was still there. I had Toma lay some invisibly thin threads outside her door for detection, then waited in my own room so as not to look like a creep while in the process of being a creep. I don''t know exactly why I didn''t knock, it felt weird.


    I got to show Kum¨© around while we waited for that signal, but there wasn''t much to show, so it was down to just hanging around before long. I''d done enough hanging around that day, so it annoyed me. Kawami was in the same boat as me, but the rest seemed content to chat and play little nothing games. I grabbed Kawami in a tight hug to spend the time, and it devolved into an overly loud wrestling match.


    I was hanging several feet off the ground from Kawami''s hindwings when the thread signal snapped and Toma began urging me to the door. I landed too hard on the ground and left my temporary dorm room entirely too fast. The door swung open and scraped at Selene''s elbow as she passed. She turned to look at me, fearful, eyes red and puffy, and rubbed at the scrape with her hand. All that dribbled out of my mouth was an "Uh...", before she began fast-walking away.


    Kawami caught up to me, she had been busy talking about the signal with Toma, and began pushing me forward once she saw Selene getting away. It didn''t take me long to start running on my own. "Wait! I caught a Grimer, do you mind if we have a match?!", I shouted to her. She stopped long enough for me to catch up, then kept walking without responding. I followed as she went to the dorm''s common area, filled a disposable cup with water, and went back inside her room. I was left in the hallway to wonder if I''d done something wrong.


    Before I could freeze up too much, Selene exited the room, a belt strapped to her waist with pok¨¦ balls attached and drinking from the cup of water. "Only a short match.", she said timidly. I opened my room''s door to get the rest of the team in their balls, then guided Selene and Kawami to the practice fields at the front.


    The atmosphere was strange without people using the other fields. The air was still and empty of most sound. "Best of three one-v-one''s, no switching, I won''t use my Crobat.", I announced the rules, anticipation building in my stomach. "Agreed.", she replied. I counted us down right away, not wanting to have to cut the match short for dinner, "Ok! Three, two, one!"


    I tossed my level ball forward, and Selene matched with a great ball. Kum¨© met Selene''s Inkay. "Bite!", I ordered, while Selene pointed at Kum¨© and directed, "Peck." Kum¨© looked at me confused while the Inkay took the opportunity to float up behind him and Peck a hole into his jelly body. Kum¨© spun to face the assailant, but the Inkay had already floated all the way over his head to stay behind him.


    "Any Poison-Type move!", I tried desperately. The Inkay Pecked him in the back again, and Kum¨© was too focused tracking her to follow my directions. "KUM¨©! POISON FANG!", I screamed at it like I was being run through with a chainsaw, to get its attention. Kum¨© just looked vaguely scared. "Use your mouth on her, poisonously.", I explained. Inkay came in for another Peck and I shouted, "NOW!"


    With a clumsiness unique to a creature made of liquid, Kum¨© wrestled Inkay out of the air and wrapped his mouth around her like she was a lollipop. ''This is going awful.'', I thought. Then, I had a brilliant idea. "Kum¨©, you''re cleaning this up afterwards, f.y.i.", I said offhand. I reached into my backpack and grabbed a special baggie from the pocket where the designer intended for me to put a phone, with a hole so a headphone cable could run out of the backpack. Then I took a crystal from my baggie and placed the Poisonium Z in my Z-Power Ring.


    Selene was looking at me with a mix of awe, jealousy, and disbelief. "Acid Downpour!", I announced, performing the z dance. The basic form, the turn, the claws, and the lunge. Energy poured out, and I directed it to Kum¨©. The orange and silver and gold flames left me behind, and I was immediately back to how I was under that tree. Tired as shit. I began falling to the ground as Kum¨©''s mouth exploded with a stream of acid, and Kawami caught me before my head cracked on the pavement.


    <hr>


    Hau didn''t remember when he woke up, but he was now at breakfast. He knew he would be focusing on his goal again, but as soon as he''d gotten back from "self study" the pressure had hit him again like a Dusknoir''s Shadow Punch. He was able to smile genuinely in these moments between the pressure, and breakfast was good. His best friend, Pecha the Pikachu, stood in his lap eating. It was a nice moment. Professor Oak started talking, and he could feel himself start stressing again.


    "Well students, today won''t be as exciting as the last few days, but it will be just as important.", the professor said, and Hau missed the next sentence in a wave of dissociation.


    <hr>


    When he came up again, he was in a classroom, a real classroom, with a long string of numbers and mathematical symbols on the blackboard. The other kids from boot camp had their heads down, filling out a worksheet, but whoever had been teaching the class wasn''t present. Hau breathed out, his ever-present smile turning more relaxed.


    The worksheet was about the calculations you could do to predict how much damage one pok¨¦mon could do to another, something he could remember Grandpa Hala being excited about when Professor Kukui had developed it. The memories helped him stay in control as he filled out the sheet at a leisurely pace. The stress threatened to creep in again, especially with something so potentially... important, and the absence of his pok¨¦mon wasn''t helping.


    Three quarters of his way through the math problems, the door opened and a teacher he didn''t recognize walked in.


    <hr>


    A different set of problems was in front of him now, and the blackboard had a new series of equations on it. If he was less experienced with his dissociative disorder, he would''ve slipped back down right then. Instead, he took the fact that he was present as a good sign, calmed himself, and got to work on the new worksheet. He hoped that whatever part of him was at the helm when he wasn''t there had done a good job finishing the last assignment.


    The menial work, problems, and puzzles that he convinced himself he would never be able to apply to his training due to his condition were a respite. He was only present in the respites, and that wasn''t so bad at the end of the day. There was a reason humans'' brains would start working that way. Did it steal a huge portion of his life? Absolutely. Was it terrifying? Yes. But another thing about humans is that they can get used to pretty much anything, so Hau was used to it.


    These problems were about financial calculations: price by weight, budgeting, repeated purchases, and compound interest, that sort of thing. Hau was familiar with these problems, and he knew if he dissociated he would still pass with flying colors, so he was able to stay present the whole time. It was strange, the familiarity with these problems was entirely due to what had given him this disorder in the first place, and yet he was calm. He didn''t, wouldn''t, let it get to him though. He wanted this time to be himself. He never wanted to lose himself to dissociation for months at a time like he had before, so he focused on the math problems.


    The teacher reentered, and he held onto his composure with a mental deathgrip and a smile on his face. The math teacher was a middle-aged woman in semiformal attire, her brunette hair done up in a braid and semicircular glasses perched in front of her pupils. "Finish those problems, then you''ll move to the next class.", she said, and sat down at the wide desk in the corner of the room.


    Hau complied, rounding off the last of the thirty or so questions. The teacher stood up a few minutes later, retrieving everyone''s finished work and ushering them to leave. The walked down the hall to the next classroom. The calmness fell out of Hau as he approached the door.


    <hr>


    Hau was in the new class, and the teacher was behind him out of sight. The board read "The Law and Trainers". The stress welled up again.


    <hr>


    He was present again, still in the law class. He had to force down that feeling that would steal his time away. Reading material had been handed out, he didn''t know by who, and it sat in front of him on the desk. Kau''i was seething with anger in the chair next to him, but he ignored it with a smile. The teacher was silently watching, which wasn''t helping him hold on, but he kept his head down and ignored it.


    Dissociation was a defense mechanism for not feeling something that made you feel like shit, so the most simple way to avoid falling into it was to ignore those feelings the mundane way. That was still easier said than done though. The thick pamphlet about pertinent laws for trainers to know was full of landmines for Hau''s stress, the main trigger of his dissociation. He had to be smart about where he held his eyes.


    Carrying capacity was simple and stoked no fires in his brain. Every trainer had a maximum of six combat ready pok¨¦mon they could carry with them at any time, and would be disallowed from releasing one of those six if they caught another over their carry limit. Exceptions were made for newborn pok¨¦mon and pok¨¦mon being cared for temporarily under assignment or approval from the League.


    Off-route and travel laws were more worrying, so he hopped around to where he knew he wouldn''t be stressed. Off-route areas had pok¨¦mon that weren''t cataloged in the regional pok¨¦dex, though that wasn''t a concern here in Alola. That added danger meant the League required additional precautions and measures trainers had to take when off-route. Travel was similar, extended time in the air or over the water drastically increased your chances of encountering high-level and aggressive wild pok¨¦mon. It wasn''t so much all of that that pushed his buttons, just the associations, so he was surprised by how much he was able to read.


    He turned the page and cursed himself for forgetting to check the page numbers for what he''d seen in the index at the beginning. Trainer employment practices were a sore spot for him, even if he ignored the trainer part. ''You were fine with the financial problems!'', he told himself.


    <hr>


    He was walking out of class, thanking muscle memory for making walking easy to keep up with after coming back. They were passing by the classrooms without going in. ''Lunch!'', he realized with excitement. He''d get to see his pok¨¦mon again. Some friends in the past had been worried he had an eating disorder, but he didn''t care either way. Meals were almost always a stress free haven in Hau''s days, plus, he''d dissociated through dinner and most of breakfast, so he wanted to actually feel it.


    He let Pecha out as they walked, and his friend climbed his back to stand on his shoulder. A right down one hallway, then straight through the section full of computer and science labs, then a left towards the double doors. He gave Pecha a rub right above his neck at the back of his head, his favorite spot. The contented squeaks were a balm on Hau''s soul. After getting nearly the entire day to be him yesterday, it stung to go back. He was used to it, but that balm still helped immensely.


    As usual, Selene broke away to eat her pre-prepared meals with her pok¨¦mon. Kau''i forced herself as far forward in line as she could manage, which got her well ahead of the rest of the kids in bootcamp. Hau was left in front of Mikala and Lillie as the queue plodded forward. Conversations chattered on, the regular students getting ready for the big tests of the year in a bit over a month.


    He grabbed a tray and a carton of chocolate Miltank milk, then shuffled down the line. A "pizza boat", as the students called it, was his entree, along with a cup of cheese and broccoli for himself and a bowl of kibble for each of his team members. Then he grabbed a bag of chips and a lemonade at the end of the line where the items that cost extra were. He balanced the three bowls on the remaining space of his tray while slowly walking to the table. Pecha caught his bowl before it could spill from his rough set down.


    He released the rest of the team before digging in, Leppa the Litten at his left and Nomel the Noibat at his right. The other kids watched him as he counted him and his team down, "Three! Two! One!" They all began stuffing their faces with the delicious food. Hau Tackled the cheese and broccoli first so he could squeeze the ranch out of the bottle onto his pizza with his free hand. The saltiness and savoriness of the cheese gift-wrapped the crisp, subtle bitterness of the broccoli.


    Hau paused before moving to his pizza, assisting Pecha in pouring some ketchup on his kibble. Then they both got their serving of tomatoes. Whether the "pizza boat" nickname was meant to refer to the cheese floating on the sauce, the grease floating on the cheese, or the general shape of the whole thing was unclear, but it didn''t matter in the face of culinary perfection.


    Everyone at the table except Kau''i was giving him dirty looks, even Lillie''s assistant. He felt judged by the older man.


    <hr>


    His pizza was gone and he was halfway through his chips when Hau found himself in control again. He slowed down to savor the aftertaste of what he''d eaten while he was gone. He was angry with himself for falling into such an obvious trigger for his disorder, but he didn''t let it stop him. The chips were crunchy and salty and slick with oils that coated his tongue. An excellent distraction.


    He washed it down with the chocolate milk while his mouth was still full of salt. The frothy rich ambrosia was only accentuated by the sharpness of the lingering salt, and he was mildly disappointed when the aftertaste faded. Even on its own though, the sweet creamy liquid was a treat to his palate. He left the lemonade for later in the day, an emergency grounding tool if he needed it and a cherry on top of his day if he didn''t.


    With food out of the way, it was time for the other great part of his day, the talking. "Our fight''s not over, Selene.", Kau''i announced between bites. "It is.", Selene replied simply. Kau''i swallowed a large something in her mouth and spoke at length, "''Best of three one-v-one''s, no switching, I won''t use my Crobat.'', those were the rules. We only did one of those three, and I won! Are you gonna continue the fight or are you gonna lose?" "Why''d you only finish one of the three fights?", Hau asked, intrigued. "She passed out.", Selene answered quietly. "From a Z-Move that won me the fight.", Kau''i clarified. He continued his questioning, "Didn''t you stay awake using a Z-Move before?" "Not this time clearly.", Mikala jeered.


    Kau''i was fuming by the end of their dialogue. "It''s not my fault I passed out! Probably Kum¨© couldn''t handle the energy properly, he is a fresh catch.", she defended herself. "You knew the risks.", Lillie''s assistant noted. Hau smiled while Kau''i took an exaggerated swig of her chocolate milk. "So Kum¨© is your Grimer? How''d you have the time to catch a pok¨¦mon yesterday?", Hau asked, shifting the topic to keep her from exploding. He knew he sometimes made bad jokes when he dissociated, but he liked to think he was a good conversationalist normally.


    "Went on a walk off-route, I''m such a great Poison-Type specialist that it couldn''t help but follow me back here.", Kau''i bragged sarcastically before taking a final bite of her meal. "I thought...", Lillie started, but trailed off. Hau finished for her, "Didn''t you say you weren''t a Poison-Type specialist?" "I wasn''t, now I am. Only a stupid person would have a team of four Poison-Types without being a specialist.", Kau''i argued with no one. She seemed off-kilter, and Hau empathized. He was always fighting to be on-kilter.


    "What''s everyone else''s newest pok¨¦mon? Mine is Nomel here!", Hau said cheerily, scruffing his Noibat''s head fur. "My Minior. They''re a rescue.", Mikala replied succinctly. "Ken, er, my Seel, is my last catch. I don''t regret him, but I think I regret catching him, if that makes sense. Sorry.", Selene said, off-kilter in her own way. Hau looked to Lillie with his hands down on the table, arms wide, to hopefully move the conversation along to her. "Brionne.", Lillie squeezed out suddenly, then clarified, "We got her from Professor Kukui after the challenge season started. She''s already pretty much caught up to the rest of the team."


    "Professor Kukui is a good guy.", Selene commented. "Yup!", Hau agreed, trying not to guide the conversation too much and just enjoy where it went on its own. Kau''i joined in while scratching her Ariados''s back, "Never met ''em, though I can''t say I wanna meet more pok¨¦mon professors right now." Hau jumped in, "He really is nice!" Kau''i shrugged. Mikala added, "His thorough research is the reason the Pok¨¦mon League adopted Alola''s existing Z-Move regulations when Alola joined. He is a personable, practical, knowledgeable, and powerful man." When she finished, Mikala looked at Hau and Selene with naked envy. Clearly a big fan.


    Kau''i looked annoyed as she said, "Jeez, I was just makin'' a joke about Professor Oak guys. Is Kukui really all that?" All at once, everyone at the table except Kau''i responded, "He is.", even Lillie''s strange follower. Kau''i laughed a bit, and Hau found himself laughing along. A wave of cheer rippled around the assembled pok¨¦mon. Pecha and Leppa giggled behind him. Kau''i''s Crobat and Ariados snickered around her. Espy the Sylveon, Ken the Seel, and Mikala''s Buneary spread the laughter around the table.


    The laughter slowly cleared like a fog bank dissipating. The bell rung, and Lillie stuffed her usual leftovers into a refrigerated pouch in the fancy backpack that blended into her costume. Her assistant spoke up, "I''ve already been told where your next lecture will be, allow me to chaperone you all." Hau leaned down, gave each of his pok¨¦mon a solid petting, clicked the buttons on their pok¨¦ balls, and followed the other kids in a cluster back through the double doors.


    Down the hall the way they came, a right back into the labs section, and the green haired man stopped them in front of a computer room. "We''ll remain here until your instructor arrives.", the assistant said. Hau was getting more and more unnerved with him. He couldn''t recall the man''s name even after nearly a week around him, and he made a point of remembering names. It was a warning sign. The teacher arrived, a man fresh out of college with a bushy beard and round frame, and they were let into the computer lab.


    "Campers!", the teacher said, forgetting to introduce himself, "I''m going to be splitting you into two groups for this one. Selene, Mikala, and Kau''i, you''ll be one group, Hau, Lillie, and Faba will be the other." He finally knew his name, Faba. The teacher continued, "Each group will receive a random unevolved pok¨¦mon to focus on. You will then research and outline a complete care guide for that pok¨¦mon, including grooming, diet, environment, and training regiment and goals. This should include that same information for any evolutions that pok¨¦mon may experience. This class will be twice the length of the others, you have until the end to complete the project!"


    Everyone separated into their groups, and the teacher went to grab something. It was a hat filled with shreds of paper. The man held the hat out to the other group, and Kau''i pushed Mikala forward to pull from it. "Pawniard", she read from the paper before handing it back to the teacher. The hat moved to Hau''s group, and he immediately stepped forward to grab a slip. "Crabrawler", he announced, giving the paper to the teacher. With everything decided, he joined his group as Faba guided them to one side of the computer lab.


    He could hear Kau''i and Mikala get down to business dividing different tasks among their group. Faba stood over the two, cleared his throat, and said, "I will write our findings into a digestible format. I have over a decade of experience doing such things, it''s only natural. The two of you will research Crabrawler and Crabominable. Hau, you''re the grandson of a Fighting-Type Master, I expect you to handle the training side of things. Lillie, you will pursue the other half of this research. Is that all clear?"


    It was clear. The expectations were written all over Faba''s face. He tried to distract himself, to focus on the other group when they exploded with a mix of shock, awe, and annoyance, but it wouldn''t work. Hau didn''t come back to himself until breakfast the next day.

 Chapter 30 - Masquerade

    Faba awoke to the mental pressure of his Hypno, Vacuos, pulling at him, as was his routine. Part of it was convenience, but it also preconditioned him to wake if he was being psychically attacked. He rose out of the master bed where his boss once slept and set to work. Anytime he could pull Lillie away from the Aether Paradise, he slept here. Where she slept wasn''t a concern, his Alakazam was a master of Teleportation.


    The sun hadn''t even hinted at rising yet, and he was already dressing himself in the face-obscuring uniform of the laboratory employees. He may technically be an intern working only as the Assistant to the Junior Branch Chief, a position he''d managed through arguing his existing relationship with the girl and leveraging his connections still embedded in the Foundation, but the ongoing research projects couldn''t be overseen by anyone but him!


    He Teleported again to the usual landing spot, taking the place of another employee who had been elated to keep receiving his income and benefits without having to work. As always, his Psychic-Types confounded both electronic and pok¨¦mon-based security systems that might flag such behavior, even from inside their balls. And of course, it had been Faba''s idea in the first place to allow employees to commute to the Aether Paradise via Teleport.


    It was April first, and the Alolan air was already comfortably warm through the nights. The enormous cuboid building that housed the base of the Foundation''s operations filled his view. His work in designing, engineering, and fabricating the masterpiece VLFS called the Aether Paradise had been one of the major factors in earning his Branch Chief position. Ex-President Lusamine had both elevated him to that rank and lost him it by getting the League involved. Ignoring the vexing thoughts of his former superior, he walked directly into the building, to the elevator, and rode down to the high security laboratory.


    Three of his subordinates greeted him as he arrived, having received the signal that the elevator was accessing this floor. "Chief Faba.", they chorused. He proceeded past them without a second glance, silently relishing the status he still held here. He had made a point of not hiring anyone into the secure lab positions with psychic abilities like him, as a matter of posterity. Human psychics and Psychic-Types were two different beasts, and he was self-aware enough to know his limitations warding against the prior.


    Needing no nonsense, Faba first entered the stations for their most important ongoing project, the beast balls, which had taken over Lab B entirely. Ultra beasts were, by all accounts his teams had investigated, essentially pok¨¦mon, but any attempts to catch them in a pok¨¦ ball were useless. Additionally, ultra beasts were known to be attracted to dimensional anomalies and disturbances, primarily being ultra wormholes and those who''ve traveled through them. The beast ball project aimed to create a pok¨¦ ball that generated a strong, comforting dimensional disturbance so ultra beasts could be caught, contained, and trained.


    The core premise was exciting, no doubt, but Faba''s main reasoning behind continuing the project, even after the arrest of its inceptor, was Necrozma. Scholars and theologians of the Alolan tradition were split on whether Necrozma, the Pillager of Light, was just the first of the beasts from between the stars to appear or was entirely separate from them. If it was truly an ultra beast, the beast balls would be invaluable. As they were now, they wouldn''t even be useful for catching a confirmed ultra beast.


    "Chief Faba.", the head of prototype production greeted him as he looked over the remains of the latest attempt at creating a functioning beast ball. They had been unable to fit the usual components of a pok¨¦ ball and those used to create the dimensional disturbance into the same shell space, and any miniaturization of those devices resulted in implosive forces that ripped apart the balls upon being powered.


    "I keep telling you Charles, we will have to try alternative solutions to combining the two devices. Disregard the standard pok¨¦ ball shell''s dimensions. As long as the container space is maintained, it will function.", Faba instructed the man. Charles, Charlie to his peers, sighed and nodded. "You''re right Branch Chief, I''ll do that immediately.", the employee conceded, but he was frustrated and slightly spiteful internally. "Good.", Faba replied, already leaving for his other duties. If every emotional issue was addressed, nothing would get done.


    In Lab A was where they handled the rest of the projects needed for the Necrozma effort. They had relegated the Beast Killer Project that had been Lab A''s focus to a few file cabinets in a corner while historical accounts and data analysis of Cosmog, Cosmoem, and the UB''s continued to cover every available surface. The employees researched ultra space and how it functioned, the power inside of Z crystals, and the underpinnings of legendary pok¨¦mon biology.


    The biological study of that "Nebby" thing had elucidated that this "light" all the old stories referred to was somehow connected to type energy, the fundamental force that made pok¨¦mon so powerful. That same light was what fueled Z-Crystals and Z-Moves, and because of that coincidence, a small cohort inside the labs were certain that Necrozma was connected to the Z-Crystal phenomenon. It was a promising theory, but had no real backing, only speculation.


    A project leader waved Faba down when she spotted him, the head for the group gathering and analyzing recent first hand accounts of ultra beasts, which had been increasing since Team Skull captured Tapu Bulu. "Chief Faba, sir! This needs your immediate attention!", she said, the excitement he could feel from her doing strange things to her face. "Well you have it.", he replied primly. Some of these researchers got so entrenched in their work that they believed the most inconsequential of things to be important.


    The woman spoke rapidly, no doubt fogging up her mask, "One of our employees on Akala Island has been in contact with blue-skinned people claiming to be from ultra space and having first hand experience with Necrozma! I used my own network to gather what I could, and it seems Kahuna Hapu has already met with other members of this ''Ultra Recon Squad'' and believes in their validity!" "This is important.", Faba confirmed, already getting to work. "Horatio!", he called to the head of the team focused on records of Necrozma, "Send over three members of your team to Angeline''s, we have a development. If it''s serious, they''ll be forming a new team later, so choose wisely."


    Faba oversaw the temporary team for validating and scrutinizing the accounts of the Ultra Recon Squad. "Montego," he said, speaking to the leader of his investigation team, "get one of ours in direct contact with the Ultra Recon Squad, posthaste." Before Monty could question him, Faba was back in the thick of things. This was the biggest development they''d seen in years, and Faba wasn''t going to miss it.


    Faba''s Hypno nudged his brain again, and he withheld the agitated groan he felt. "I must be going now. Keep this group together until the investigations team can confirm whether these people are legitimate, and quarantine further conclusions from their testimony to this group as well, faulty data makes faulty science.", he loudly commanded. Then he was Teleported back to the Aether House to change into his usual attire.


    His coffee in hand, a quick breakfast ingested, and uniform donned, Faba Teleported back outside of Lillie''s dorm room. He always awoke before the child, but on occasion she was alert by the time he returned from Aether Paradise, so he played out the theatrics. Right as he appeared however, the Poison-Type brat collided with him. His coffee clattered to the floor and he pushed the hooligan to the side to keep his balance. He straightened his back as he felt the anklebiter''s anger pour out of her. Curiously, there was also a tint of panic in her.


    "What the fuck are you doing Teleporting into the middle of the hallway!?", Kau''i Screeched just like her Crobat, and Faba felt her panic peak at the word "Teleporting". He responded immediately, putting aside the intriguing source of trauma for another time, "Well it wouldn''t be polite to Teleport into Lillie''s room when she might be indecent." "That''s it?!", she fumed, then winced. "Shit! I cut my hand, you dickhole!", she said, staring at a bleeding laceration on her palm where her skin had met a piece of the ceramic mug in the process of cushioning her fall.


    Faba ignored the girl and her steadily returning exhaustion, a sign of minor insomnia leaving its scars on her emotional state, and reentered Lillie''s dormitory. His charge was already awake. "I hope you weren''t subject to that. Awful interaction, truly.", he said, immediately taking charge of the conversation. Of course, he knew she hadn''t heard specifics, or she would be frightened rather than confused. "No... What happened?", she asked obediently. "Myself and that Kau''i girl collided in the hall. She didn''t handle it gracefully.", he answered smoothly.


    Then the conversation was over, and he seated himself at the desk in the corner while she got ready for the day. The sense of him always being present was important for his control of the girl, and his plans bent around that singular factor. He needed control. That was more important than the research or any of the other projects. This was his job, seven days of the week, fifty-two weeks of the year. Without the girl, he wouldn''t have the Beast that Calls the Moon. Without the Beast that Calls the Moon, controlling Necrozma was a moonshot amongst moonshots. Not that the legendary creature didn''t suit him as a consolation prize.


    Lillie was ready, resignation and obedience never fading from her mind. When they left, the little gangster was already gone, along with the bloodstains and ceramic that previously littered the brickwork thoroughfare. Doubtlessly the work of the wretched thing''s Grimer. Faba and Lillie kept a steady pace entering the sorry excuse for a cafeteria. Maybe it was his experience designing the various facilities of Aether Paradise, but the lack of care behind the room offended his sensibilities. At least Kau''i was absent.


    While Lillie waited in line for food, something he left to her purely for the choice paralysis it gave her, Faba watched over the camp children''s table. Only Selene had sat down to eat, and Faba luxuriated in the child''s mounting despair. The mix of self-hatred, panic, dread, guilt, and dysphoria was something he rarely got a close-up look at as it ripened. The lost thing had so much talent and was now all too aware that it was being squandered, which only compounded the existing loathing for the position the child was in. Quite the array of complex emotions for one so quiet. If Faba wanted it, he could''ve broken down Selene''s walls in minutes with his emotive sense, but he didn''t.


    The kahuna''s grandson was the first to exit the line, food not piled as high as usual. He only stopped dissociating when he sat down at the table across from his friend. Faba was slightly curious why the fool was so secretive about his condition, but, again, he wasn''t at this contemptible school to solve these halflings'' problems. The trial captain prospect sat far from the other two, her anticipation at talking with the missing gremlin warring with the anger that she was looking forward to it whatsoever. They focused on eating and their pok¨¦mon rather than starting up a conversation.


    When Lillie finally arrived, taking significantly longer than any other student to pick out her meal as usual, Faba used a nonverbal signal to pressure her to speak, just so he wouldn''t be bored. It was like the pathetic whelp was clicker trained. "Selene, um... You did a good job yesterday in our fight. Don''t feel bad you can''t beat me... okay? You''ll be way better than me in no time anyways.", Lillie said, hurrying to find words after his command. The child responded with a simple, "Sure.", before returning to her food. Lillie''s words hadn''t changed anything. Faba''s approving smile towards his charge was genuine.


    "Plus!", the boy interrupted smoothly through his chewing, "You also beat Mikala, Selene! That''s pretty much two trial captains you''ve fought under your belt." "As much as I''d love to be a trial captain, I haven''t come close to earning that title yet.", the perfectionist commented with a sneer. Even if Faba hated being in this school run by that devil Asuka, at least this batch of infantile annoyances was endlessly fascinating to observe. Mikala was the least twisted up of them, but still entertaining. She was constantly attempting to reconcile her personhood with her idyllic view of greatness. He imagined this was what many of his employees were like in their childhoods.


    It was then that Professor Samson Oak approached the table. Faba kept himself from scowling at the deluded old codger. Always chipper, on task, doing his best. He''d never be as lauded as his cousin, everyone knew it, so Faba wondered why he put up the carefree act. Samson was so deep in the lie, he thought, that it was second nature. A benefit of old age, most certainly, one he''d seen repeated in various elderly individuals who seemed to have given up on any regard for status, at least in their emotions if not their thoughts.


    "Hello, alola students!", the old coot greeted, "You better eat fast, we''re running on a tight schedule today. We''ll be going on a supervised field trip as a final test of your training abilities!" Hau raised his hand to ask a question, confused. At Samson''s prompting, the boy asked, "Where''s Kau''i?" "She was injured earlier this morning, I''ll be driving her out myself once she''s been treated. In the meantime, Dr. Faba will be your guide.", Samson informed the children. There had been quite the drought in people calling him "Dr. Faba", and if not for the sense of closeness it instilled in Lillie to call him "Mr. Faba" he would order her to use the title immediately.


    He gave Samson a nod and picked up the explanation of their childish field trip, "We leave at a quarter to eight. I will drive you all to our destination and chaperone for the duration of the outing." The bookworm immediately checked her watch to see how much time they had before they were due, and immediately after that began furiously throwing back her disgusting meal. The rest followed suit. "I''ll see you all soon!", The old man announced between the cacophony of flapping mouths.


    In short order the professor had gone and the table of jibbering infants was silent save for squelching chews and gulps. This was why he''d withheld the information of their excursion, the cessation of the children''s delightfully inane and sightless flatulations. Before anymore foolhardy declarations of prowess or determination could be made, seven forty-five had come and Lillie had run to her room to feed Cosmoem. Faba sighed and escorted the children to a small school bus, leaving behind his Alolan Raichu, Auster, to guide Lillie when she was finished.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The halflings all crowded in the back where it was difficult for him to hear them, and Faba strapped himself into the front seat. It had been a long time since he''d driven a motor vehicle, what with his Teleporting pok¨¦mon and the Foundation''s chauffeurs. Lillie finally arrived, sitting behind him rather than with her peers. He shifted into drive and began moving along the route to Melemele Meadow.


    His focus was on his own thoughts and the road, the vocal and emotional ebbs and flows just a background hum that went unprocessed. Even the things he focused on were mostly automatic. Did he turn at the upcoming intersection? No, the turn was another five hundred feet. Would he separate Lillie from himself at the meadow? Yes, she''d still feel his presence with his pok¨¦mon around and needed the experience. Straightforward. Down the coast on Route 1, taking a right before Iki Town onto Route 3, across the bridge, and up the harsh incline of the mountain road.


    A mix of confusion and excitement filled the back of the bus as he pulled into the dirt parking lot outside of Melemele Meadow. Faba faced the back and declared, "We''ve arrived. Lillie and Hau, Mikala and Selene, you will be in pairs. When Kau''i catches up, Mikala will be joined to me and Kau''i will accompany Selene instead. Don''t lose track of your partners. All groups will be attended by one of my Psychic-Types as well. You''re free to go anywhere inside the bounds of the meadows, but please refrain from entering Seaward Cave." With his piece said, he opened the doors.


    They gathered outside the bus on the tarmac, and Faba herded the kids through the brief tunnel that connected the seaward side of the mountains to the lush valley within. No psychic powers were needed to notice the awe that each of the impish troglodytes was feeling when they stepped through. The valley flattened out into smooth fields of knee-high yellow wildflowers and the occasional tree or rocky patch. To the west and south, the meadow was hemmed in by jungle, to the north and east by the sheer slopes of the mountains.


    Personally, Faba didn''t see the appeal of it whatsoever. People always assumed empaths were people who actually understood where others'' emotions came from, some sort of perfect therapist or great friend who always had the tools to help, but that wasn''t Faba. He wasn''t a therapist, he didn''t go out of his way to help people, and he certainly wasn''t anybody''s friend. His empathic sense would be used for his benefit and no one else''s.


    Auster followed Lillie and Hau south while Faba''s Claydol, Cuniculus, trekked north with Selene and Mikala. Vacuos stayed at his side, the relay at the center of his psychic network. Psychic-Types were incredibly adept at using abilities you wouldn''t suspect based solely on their battle techniques. It came part and parcel with their essence, beings that bent the rules of nature to their whim. Dark-Types were so effective against Psychic-Types, in part, because they entirely broke the same rules Psychic-Types tried to bend.


    Vacuos maintained a powerful barrier that kept out the curious wild Cutieflies and Cottonees. He just waited, off to the side of the entrance to the meadow. Time passed and reports came through, but nothing required his attention. Lillie and Hau were having training matches with other young trainers. Selene and Mikala had scared off an evolved Floette. All the while, Faba stood sentinel, commiserating the ridiculousness of how vital a role this juvenile operation played to his plans.


    Before he worked himself into self-deprecating laughter, Samson and Kau''i arrived at last, the latter of which had had bandage and gauze wrapped around her right hand. "Professor.", he greeted. The aposematic ingrate rolled her eyes, contempt for him fizzling on the surface of her awe at the surrounding vista. Samson Oak reciprocated, "Yes, yes, hello again. I trust nothing''s gone sideways quite yet." "No, but I should take Kau''i to Selene. They were supposed to be paired. Can I trust you to handle overseeing my psychic network?", he answered smoothly. "Of course.", the professor replied.


    ''Patch Samson Oak into the network, but do not relay my orders or replies to them. Reports to him are to be made as if I have left the network.'', he mentally commanded Vacuos. In a moment, the elderly man fell to the ground clutching his head. As a specialist in Psychic-Types, one of the few in Alola, and a psychic himself, Faba was quite used to the abundance of information conveyed through mental links. Samson had not acclimated like he had. The gangster gave him another scowl.


    Slowly, the professor stood upright, unsteady on his feet. "Sometimes," Samson gasped, "I forget that you''re a specialist at all." Faba just shrugged coyly and spoke directly to Kau''i, "We best get going." He left his Alakazam, Lunatum, behind with the older man and began hiking northbound. "They should be in this general direction.", he told Kau''i, neglecting to mention that he knew Selene and Mikala''s exact position through his network.


    In short order, they had made it in sight of the other group. From there, Cuniculus guided the two girls over to him. He didn''t let the interaction linger, instead beginning to walk away from the repressor and the criminal immediately and relying on Mikala to follow in his footsteps as she was wont to do. They headed east, and Faba slowly let Mikala take the lead so he could focus again on his network.


    Kau''i and Selene didn''t take long exchanging pleasantries, from Cuniculus'' report, instead almost immediately deciding to head near the entrance to Seaward Cave. Faba smirked and ordered the Claydol to allow the two to stumble into trouble without interference. Mikala, rather than fighting with the wild pok¨¦mon, was showing a flock of Oricorio how to use Work Up with the help of her Buneary. She fancied herself a teacher, like her mentor did.


    Precisely half an hour later, another report from Cuniculus caught his interest. The girls had gotten into a fight with a formidable Jynx that had ventured out of Seaward Cave. Faba checked that Mikala was still occupied, and closed his eyes to see entirely through the eyes of Cuniculus. The short-statured vagabond pulled no punches, her entire entourage being put to task beating back the Jynx. The prodigy''s Rowlet assisted, drawing the Ice-Type''s attention away at key moments while putting itself at great risk.


    The Jynx wouldn''t be bested, however. Faba had his Claydol put up Reflect and Light Screen, but the Jynx''s Psychic attacks still picked off Kau''i''s Poison-Types one by one. First, the Ariados was crumpled before it could Swords Dance its way to a swift knock out, then the Salandit when its Dragon Rage rendered it less mobile. The rest were all feeling the pain of Icy Wind. The Rowlet collapsed out of the sky, and its trainer dived to catch it, putting herself right in the face of danger.


    Faba watched in fascination as Kau''i ran to Selene''s aid, putting herself in the way of any attacks the wild Jynx might make. And attack the wild thing did. He wished Cuniculus had his same emotive sense, just to feel what went through that detestable brigand when her hands were twisted and crushed by space itself. Skin ripped along the backs of her knuckles, her palm wound began overflowing again, and blood began to drip from her hands which were sealed in place by the powerful Psychic grip of the Jynx. Kau''i''s eyebrows knit tightly together, but she held back any screams in her clenched jaw.


    Selene was beside herself, eyes and tear ducts equally dilated. The sorry thing clung to her partner pok¨¦mon like a life-preserver. All present parties quivered, Kau''i and Selene for evident reasons, the Jynx because of the insidious poison that Crobat had delivered before freezing to the ground, and Faba because he rarely had prime mezzanine seating to such unadulterated art!


    It was then that Samson Oak''s voice was beamed through the network into his head. ''Kau''i and Selene are in danger!'', the galoot managed to shout through his mind, ''I''m ordering your Claydol to step in. When the situation is over I need you to bring them to the bus for first aid! They''re outside Seaward Cave!'' Faba sighed and sent back a simple, ''Understood.'', then waved to the mentee. "There''s an emergency. I''ve been asked to respond, and thus you''ll need to join me.", he told her. She conveyed her departure to the pok¨¦mon that had gathered, and they began moving north again.


    One Ancient Power from Cuniculus had divested the Jynx of its consciousness. When Faba and Mikala arrived at the scene, it was a mess. Selene''s emotional dam had finally burst, the doubt and despair drowning her while she wept on the ground, obscured by flowers. She''d stop training, at least for now, Faba was sure. Maybe she''d even interrogate the queer feelings he''d felt boiling inside of her since they''d met after the current system shock. As grand a spectacle that would be, it would also be a drawn out affair that Faba didn''t have the time for.


    Kau''i, on the other hand, was angry. Anguish at her pain and suspicion towards himself blended into a swirl of hate. It was delicious, but this was no time to indulge. His reputation was, if only slightly, at stake. Mikala, having not spied Selene in the carpet of yellow ilimas, rushed to Kau''i and her crippled hands. While the miscreant guided her friend to the first aid kit in her overstuffed backpack, Faba set himself down in the silvery-leafed foliage next to the broken child. He could tell that it was only the care she was receiving that stopped Kau''i from coughing her lungs out screaming at him in the meantime.


    He felt no affection for Selene, but she took the invitation of his presence regardless. The twintails she hated coiled on his shoulder as she leaned on him, crying into her bunched up shirt. The sobs mounted to a fever pitch alongside her emotional turmoil. Her fears, that even if everyone told her she was the perfect trainer she would never have the gumption to go on, had been vindicated. Faba had a solid understanding of her emotional ranges, which let him intuit this understanding of what she felt.


    For his part, Faba just closed his eyes and focused on the network. Professor Samson was pacing, his face drawn, skin tight against his muscles despite his age. He couldn''t quite make out what the expression meant without the man being in range of his emotive sense, but it belied urgency most clearly. He ordered Cuniculus to carry the keening wreck and pronounced to the others, "This is not the place for this, let''s get moving. The professor will meet us at the tunnel."


    His feet ached, wanting for rest, but this too was necessary. Mikala took his scowl to mean he was upset with the situation, but the venomous girl gave him no such benefit of the doubt. He kept his eyes fixed towards their destination. Samson rushed to meet them as soon as they were distinct against the fields of hibiscus. "Good. You''re here.", the professor said, clipped. He rushed to the side of Faba and carried Selene out of Cuniculus'' hold.


    "I saw some of what happened," Samson said, breathing heavily, "but I didn''t get a good view of Kau''i''s injuries. How is she?" Mikala replied, "Aside from the crushing, which is bad on its own, the insides of her hands seem to be twisted out of place. The muscles all look wrong and bones are misaligned. It''s very serious." Serious was an accurate assessment, such an attack required well refined application of the twisted space of Psychic. Faba made a mental note, something much more actionable as a Psychic-Type specialist, to capture that Jynx.


    Finally, they laid the two down in the elongated bench seats of the bus. "Faba.", the professor said, his worry gyrating and gelatinous, "Drive these girls to the pok¨¦mon center in Iki Town and check them in for emergency care. My car has room for the other three students. You are needed elsewhere." Faba suppressed the urge to show what he really felt about that order, that he was overjoyed, as easily as he breathed, then responded, "Absolutely.", in a serious tone.


    Appearing to hurry them out, he ridded the other two humans of heathy mind and body from the bus, returned Cuniculus to its ball, and drove off. Vacuos maintained his connection to Lunatum and Auster, which entertained him along his drive down Route 3.


    Selene continued wallowing in self-pity while Kau''i nursed her wounds and swore under her breath. He could feel the emotional release of obscenities in the bubbling cauldron that she was, but for some reason she refrained from screaming them at him. An allowance for the crying child? He didn''t take the ne''er-do-well for that type, but the trepidation in her proved it true.


    Auster reported exactly what he had been waiting for while he drove, Lillie and Hau were in over their heads against a collective of wild Cutiefly who were offended by her Ribombee''s bragging. ''Shield the children and theirs, then Discharge.'', he ordered through the network. With that little action it was all worth it. Lillie''s belief that she needed Faba''s help would be cemented. The plan was coming together fabulously.


    He dumped the two urchins at the reception desk, Kau''i ambling in without his support out of an abundance of spite, before absconding to the bus. He drove it back to the school, consciously checking on the network whenever he stopped and relishing being apart from any ungrown brats in the middle of the day. He was still accomplishing his goals, after all. Once the bus was parked, he left his pok¨¦mon on Melemele with a set of instructions to keep things orderly, then recalled Vacuos and allowed Cuniculus to Teleport him back to the Aether House for some ever-appreciated relaxation.


    <hr>


    Selene woke up Sunday morning, but it didn''t seem to matter. Any optimism she had for becoming a professional trainer had vanished. What was talent, without power? Without drive? Without effort? Selene supposed that it was just like her: Useless.


    Because Kau''i had the energy to push through her pain to attend the ceremony at the end of boot camp, Selene felt the need to go as well. After all, Selene had gotten away with only scrapes and bruises while Kau''i experienced real pain.


    It wasn''t much of anything. A speech from Professor Oak, a show match between Kau''i and Lillie, another between Hau and Mikala, another speech. Selene could recall it all perfectly, but she didn''t care. She didn''t think she could.


    She walked home, thanking her quiet persona that she didn''t have to keep talking or hanging around the others. The memories of boot camp, all the embarrassing, stupid things she did and every way she failed the whole week replayed as she did.


    Her mom had said she was welcome back anytime along her journey. Selene was going to test that. She opened the door as quietly as possible, which was very quiet in the newly built house, and snuck into her room to curl into a ball and cry.


    Her Rowlet, Sora, offered herself as a pillow while she sniveled. She drained enough of her sorrow from now and the constant crying yesterday that she managed to crawl around out of bed, literally. She checked her belongings, still packed.


    To her shock, her secret collection was safe. She would''ve bet that it would be thrown out at some point along the way from Kanto to Alola, but here it was. The laundry she always did in the middle of the night. Her button-ups, suits, vests, and ties.


    Immediately, some of the despair dropped away. Unconsciously, she pulled the hair ties from her head, then lifted out a wrinkled white top, pinstripe pants, a pale yellow checkered sweater vest, and her favorite green bowtie from the box. Her tear-stained clothes were torn from her body with fervor.


    She stealthily slipped into the bathroom and posed in the mirror, for once not loathing looking for herself in it. She grabbed the brush and straightened out her hair into the walls of black that naturally framed her face. It made her jaw look so strong. The small bowtie made her neck seem larger than it was. The vest changed her figure, her chest. Sora posed proudly on her shoulder.


    Again, she crept to her room, admiring how the suit pants made her seem less curvy along the way. She swapped the yellow sweater vest for a grey one and the bowtie for a short kind popular with schoolboys back in Indigo. Finally, she added a suit jacket and fixed the collar. Sora approved, and she hugged the bird until she felt her press against her chest. It was then that mom walked in.


    "Oh Arceus, Selene you''re home!", her mom said without hesitation. She expected a rebuke. Shock. An acknowledgement that she was doing something wrong, even if it felt good. What she got was a hug. She couldn''t hold back the tears anymore.


    "I''m sorry!", she said through shaky breaths, "I can''t be a trainer. I can''t. I just can''t." "Selene.", he mother said firmly, causing her to flinch, "You absolutely can be a trainer. Do not give up on yourself, cause I certainly won''t give up on you!"


    She hesitated, frozen in her mother''s arms. "R-really? You won''t?", she asked. "Never.", her mom answered resolutely. "Even if you keep wearing spiffy suits instead of what I buy you.", she added jokingly. "Did one of the other campers get it for you? You look great, honey.", she continued, and Selene melted.


    The tears were flowing again, babbling brooks of relief. "Woah, woah, what''s wrong?", his mom asked. "I don''t know," he answered honestly, "but this is good." "This.", she replied absentmindedly, then reaffirmed, "Okay, I''ll complement your suit however many times you need until you feel better. You make the wrinkles look good! Your vest matches your eyes! I love what you did with your hair!" She trailed off as they both laughed and hugged again. For a second, he thought he saw Kau''i looking at them funny through his window.

 Chapter 31 - Flimsy

    I was never drinking those Jynx drinks again. That and I was kicking Faba in the balls if we were ever alone. With those and the specialist thing, it had been a good week for personal promises. I didn''t need pain medicine to think weird things, but it certainly helped. Even with the meds though, my hands hurt like hell. My right hand was in an extra layer of bandages to keep both the surgery stitches and the cut from Faba''s Teleporting coffee mug from reopening, but I wasn''t supposed to move either of them much.


    While I felt that cut vividly, I was pretty numb to the Psychic that had broken my hands the whole time. It still hurt like hate fucking Giratina, but the adrenaline made a hell of a difference in how much I really felt it. With my seething rage at Faba, which was further fueled by him sticking around me, that adrenaline was still running thick even when they were trying to put me under for surgery, which necessitated a rescheduling to later the next day. I''d taken the nurses advice, got my hands pretty much glued in place, and gone on a walk down Route 1 to clear my mind.


    Pretty much everything beneath the skin was in the wrong place after the attack, and that had been done without once tearing anything apart except for some of the skin on my knuckles. If it wasn''t the most awful thing I''d ever felt with my body I''d be tempted to say it was impressive. Even through the numbness, the sensation of being scrambled like a jigsaw puzzle was gut-wrenchingly vile.


    Now my hands were different. Long stitches that would be scars ran up the backs of both hands, from the base of my wrists to the webbing between my ring and middle fingers. Just under half of my nails sat askew on their beds. The creases of knuckles and palms didn''t line up where they should, and arteries weaved differently than I remembered. Rather than being comfortable, reliable, and grippy, my reconstructed hands felt tender, unresponsive, and slippery. I hoped that was all temporary.


    If I had been out in the wild when this happened without a pok¨¦mon to heal me or transport to a pok¨¦mon center or hospital, I would have definitely lost my hands completely. Now, I was in recovery. Massive mitts that kept my hands still and slightly splayed, check-ups, and absolutely no involved training. I was pushing the nurses to let me paw through my notes as part of my treatment, and it worked without fuss. What were they gonna say? No? Not with my tried and tested blend of pitiable and intimidating they wouldn''t.


    I guessed I was lucky this happened when it did. Kum¨© needed lots of battles to get up to speed with the team, and my team could do skirmishes without me easily. Kum¨© may have been a wild pok¨¦mon, but it was practically a non-combatant. The only trouble was making sure people didn''t think they were wild pok¨¦mon hanging around the training grounds. I got out when I could, but the drugs made me sleep like a brick and just being outside my room drew attention from my medical team, so I was paying some kid to stand around and act like he was training them.


    Normally I''d keep any cash I scored to myself, it was getting rarer and rarer in people''s wallets after all, but I had had a harmonious windfall. Because injuries like mine meant I couldn''t go out and do trainer things, and most trainers needed to do trainer things to feed themselves and their teams, I was benefitting from the system being helpful for once! I got paid a small chunk every day I was stuck in the hospital.


    It had already been a few days, and I desperately wanted to just get back out again, but my hands, sadly, were still fucked. The prognosis was looking up for a while, despite how serious the situation was, but it was looking more and more like I would never make a total recovery. The whole medical team agreed, I''d likely have some mix of sensitivity, twitches, tremors, numbness, stiffness, and nerve pain in my hands for the rest of my life.


    ''Eat food!'', Toma repeated through his pictograms. He was right, being hungry and high made me a mess. "Call.", I told him, and he lowered my phone down so I could poke around the screen with my nose. I had moved this number to the top of my favorites for my own convenience. The phone didn''t even ring before it was picked up.


    "What, Kau''i?", Mikala asked. "Food.", I said, distilling down the conversation. She sighed, then asked, "Wings again?" "Lemon garlic and whatever that second hottest one was, yeah.", I responded immediately. "You could just call them yourself. It''s a pizza place. I''m just ordering exactly what you ask for every time as soon as you hang up.", Mikala complained. Normally I would''ve just smiled and not given an inch, but I couldn''t hold in my laughter under the meds'' influence. She hung up on me that time.


    Forty minutes later, I had taken over for Joey in the training grounds nearest to the hospital and was eating with Mikala. I''d gotten her to order me food from Scolipizza at least once a day since I woke back up. While I ordered practically the same thing every time, lemon garlic wings and the spiciest wings I thought I could stomach in that moment, Mikala grew increasingly desperate for a variety to emerge from the boxes of burgundy and purple cardboard.


    "Pasta.", I observed. She nodded slowly, as if wary that I could be right, and said, "It looked better on their menu online." While Waiola lifted another wing to my mouth with her tail, something simple to train her to control where her poison was concentrated, Mikala pushed a disposable fork through the sickeningly gray Clauncher scampi. Why they''d needed to freeze and reheat the meat when Clauncher were native to Alola was beyond either of us. I pushed her the box of lemon garlic wings.


    We ate in companionable quiet, occasionally interrupted by me swallowing the mouthful of spit my burning mouth had created. We watched our teams practice, and for once Mikala wasn''t taking notes. It was because of the excessive wing sauce on her hands, but still. Kum¨© was as bad as ever at fighting, but Waiola and Toma made for good teachers. Mikala was encouraging more exchanging of strategies between her teammates after seeing how much my team seemed to benefit from it.


    "What pok¨¦mon are you looking for next?", I asked, slurring through my numb lips and breaking the silence. "You remember what we discovered during our care guide project?", Mikala said rhetorically. "You actually think Kingambit is real?! And you''re gonna train one?", I sputtered skeptically. She replied smugly, "Maybe not, but if it is... well, Minior aren''t exactly the most reliable of sweepers, so I think they''ll play very well off of eachother." I could tell by her face she was more proud of this plan than even her pompous tone implied.


    "Is this what you''ve been planning out while you live the Leech Life on the back of my superhuman training abilities?", I questioned her between bites of habanero something or other wings. "Something like that.", she responded noncommittally. My throat was dry from both the spice and the fact I''d mostly been drinking via intravenous saline, so my groan came out extra anguished and scratchy. "Are you allergic to answering questions normally?", I begged her. She smiled and asked back, "Are you addicted to asking questions?" "Touch¨¦.", I conceded.


    I subvocalized an order for Kawami to give me room to speak clear of the spicy wing, then let out the pent up trainer ideas that had been stewing in my head. "Waiola, Kum¨©, you need to reach Kawami and Toma''s level.", I stated to my fresh-eyed teammates. Waiola brushed me off pridefully, but Kum¨© didn''t mind the truth. "Kawami, Toma, you still need to adjust to your roles in battle.", I continued, addressing my closest confidants. They were both excited to mend that gap. "And all of you need to practice being more Poison-Type.", I concluded.


    "There''s one solution to all of that that just so happens to not require me to use my hands.", I declared smugly. Mikala had cleaned her hands during my speech and was taking notes again. "Toma and Kawami, keep fighting Waiola and Kum¨© until you''re evenly matched. No pok¨¦mon centers, don''t hurt anyone too bad, otherwise...", I said, and smirked, "**no limits.**" Waiola slinked reluctantly over to Kum¨© to begin scheming, but their inexperience was showing. Kawami snuck up on Waiola and took her down with a single Crunch, and their gauntlet began.


    <hr>


    Mikala waved to Evander on my behalf as he approached. We were both bored of only having the other to talk to after so many days, so I''d gotten Nanu to give my fellow ex-grunt an escort of Meowth to keep Gladion from pulling something while he went to meet us. Kum¨© was growing steadily, but we could only watch the same fight so many times before getting tired of it.


    The Ghost-Type specialist opened the gate and sat down with us on the other side of the training field. "Evander, this is Mikala, she''s Ilima''s replacement. Mikala, this is Evander, he''s that stupid Team Skull admin''s boyfriend.", I introduced the two. "I already told you we broke up Kau''i.", Evander said darkly. "Congrats.", I replied, half-sarcastic. They shook hands and began awkwardly staring forward at my team''s training.


    Waiola was sending spiraling puffs of burning gas, Flame Bursts, towards Kawami and into Toma''s Spider Web while Kum¨© acted as her vanguard. While Toma maintained his webbing in the dark of Night Shade his Infestation of spidery constructs kept the pressure on his opponents, and with Kum¨© so close holding off other attacks Waiola couldn''t use her Corrosive Smog to melt aways the tiny things.


    Kum¨© took lunging Bites out of Kawami when she tried to attack, but it wasn''t much. Waiola''s Sweet Scented fumes had made Toma and Kawami more sloppy than usual, but the gap in experience was still too much. As Kum¨© missed another of its Bites, Kawami Infiltrated their formation and took out Waiola with a passing Wing Attack. Toma took the opportunity to eliminate Kum¨© with a Fell Stinger from above.


    With the round over, Kawami and Toma brought their unconscious teammates over to us for recovery. Evander looked at me with shock. "You''re training this hard when you''re injured?", he asked. I explained, "This training doesn''t need my input at all, and it''s getting my newer pok¨¦mon up to speed fast. Waiola''s too prideful to give up and Kum¨© will keep going whether it''s hard or not, so the brutal style suits them. Kawami and Toma would do the same in their shoes."


    "I never trained like that.", Evander commented coldly, then reiterated, "Never." Mikala joined in, "I wouldn''t expect you to. It''s a very Poison-Type approach to training." "It is!", I said proudly, "Grit and survival and desperation! Trying anything and everything to get ahead! That''s the fuckin'' Poison-Type!" They were both looking at me with narrowed eyes, but Mikala was still taking notes so I took it as a win.


    From the pocket of my jacket my phone started buzzing, and Toma helpfully lifted it out and put it on speaker. "KAU''I WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH EVANDER!?", Gladion shouted, his voice coming out crunchy through the phone speaker. I replied acidly, "We''re just hangin'' out. It had nothing to do with you until just now." He was silent for a while, and I looked to Evander, who was watching me and the phone carefully. "Bullshit.", the admin finally decided.


    "Please, explain.", I requested. "You...", Gladion started, "you ruined the Poni Island mission. You''re close with Kahuna Hapu." I interrupted him to say, "We''re pretty much sisters. Also she wasn''t the kahuna at the time.", not because I cared about the correction but because it would annoy him. "YOU''RE SCHEMING TO TAKE DOWN TEAM SKULL!", the phone crackled angrily. I snorted, "Scheming?! I''m glad you think so highly of me." Mikala tittered and Evander closed his eyes, trying to keep a scowl off of his face. His texts had painted a picture of how not well their talk had gone.


    I gestured with my head from them to the phone, seeing if they wanted to say something. Mikala cleared her throat and said clearly, "No schemes are required to dismantle your organization, it would fall apart from a light breeze." "Who... was that?", he petulantly pushed. "Mikala," she said, "successor to Ilima and future Trial Captain." Gladion raged non-distinctly on the other end.


    I spent the effort to mute our end of the call, which stung the inside of my finger, and turned to Evander. "Was he always this angry?", I asked. He looked haunted as he answered, "No, but he was close. I think he just doesn''t have a direction anymore, he lost the drive of the plan, so he''s focusing on me." I nodded. "The plan that led to Tapu Bulu being imprisoned?", Mikala questioned us. I just unmuted the call.


    Gladion had been going the whole time, pausing halfway through sentences as he put his jumbled thoughts into jumbled words. "Gladion!", I shouted into the microphone. "WHAT!?", he screamed back. "You''re right.", I said. Everyone went quiet, and I rolled my eyes at the two with me in person. "I''m going to release Tapu Bulu, and I already have a group of grunts on the inside to help me do it. Nanu''s helping too. There''s nothing you can do about it.", I lied blatantly.


    "I have one idea...", Gladion said, "I''ll stop you." I hung up. "Now you don''t have to deal with Gladion.", I told Evander, grinning mischievously. "Is any of that true?", Mikala insisted. "What? No," I said, "just giving him a direction. If what I just said gets Team Skull to start infighting, all the better, but what am I gonna do about an island guardian being trapped in a town full of trainers imprisoning him?" I got more strange looks.


    "You could do exactly what you just said you would do.", Mikala answered my rhetorical question. Evander joined, "You''re the closest out of anyone to Eva, and she''s the inside man for the ex-grunts right now. You even coordinated with Kahuna Nanu to let me meet up with you today. You could do all of that." It was my turn to give them a weird look.


    "I''m not Red, okay? I don''t dismantle evil organizations in my free time. I''m a little girl. That''s not happening.", I told them bitterly. "You could actually do something about it though," Evander shouted, incensed, "make up for what we did!" "I''m not a hero!", I shouted venomously, "I don''t do things for people! I have my own problems! I am a homeless! orphan! If I don''t do well as a trainer, my life will continue to be shit."


    "This is just like the specialist thing.", Mikala stated derisively. I choked on my fury, tapped on my phone, at significant cost to my nerves, and called the second number in my contacts. "You''ve reached Scolipizza, how can I help you?", some teenaged sucker droned through the speaker. Mikala glared at me, and it was almost as good as my own glare. Almost.


    <hr>


    Just as the nurses had said, a man entered my room at exactly two pm. "Kau''i, hello.", he greeted me, taking a seat in the rolling chair next to my bed. "Physical therapy time?", I prompted. "Not quite," he replied, "this first appointment is to gauge the range of motion in both of your hands and arms and how we''ll be addressing that." "So only pretty much physical therapy.", I joked. He chuckled. "I''m Doctor Kit, I hope we get along well.", he finally introduced himself. He knew not to try to shake my hand.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "So I''ve looked at your charts. I have all the records of your injury both before and after surgery. You''re really lucky, usually such a powerful attack from a wild pok¨¦mon would go from the outside in, but because of the nature of the Psychic that injured you all of the parts of your hands were still present when you were admitted for surgery. Still, full reconstructive surgery is nothing simple.", he monologued.


    Dr. Kit rolled the tray table next to my bed over so it was in front of me, then placed a set of red and green wooden blocks and two bins of matching colors on the table. "First test, dexterity.", he announced. I offered my hands to him so he could remove the more stiff and thick wrappings, then I got to work. The blocks were sized so I didn''t need to squeeze them to hold them as I lifted them to the matching bin, and light so I wouldn''t struggle there either.


    Still, my hands where so stilted, jittery, and stiff that I struggled to hold onto the blocks with any consistency, and the incoherence between my skin and muscle made everything slip rather than grip. I didn''t resort to pushing blocks with one hand and scooping them into the other, but I came close. Dr. Kit noted my results and moved on.


    Next was a stress ball. "Just squeeze?", I asked him. He nodded and said, "Don''t overexert yourself, but yes, just squeeze." I squeezed. It was pathetic. The ball deformed around my fingertips, but I couldn''t muster enough force to push at all deeply into the foam. The same was true for both hands.


    The doctor pulled out a strange device next. "The same thing as the ball," he explained, fitting the rings on my fingers, "but in reverse. Pull against the elastic and try to spread your hand out." Finally, he fixed the cuff of it around my wrist. The weirdness of the device gave me no sudden boost in strength, and it went about the same as the stress ball for both hands.


    "Final test, just give me your hands and I''ll move them very slowly in different places.", he declared, pulling out a set of protractors. "I''d love to give you my hands," I said, "these ones are awful and I think I''d like a new pair." We both laughed at my joke while I lifted my hands over to him for the test. "Tell me as soon as it begins to hurt.", he instructed, cradling me. I acknowledged, "It always hurts, but I know what you mean."


    He started with the left wrist, which had lots of pain points at weird angles but was mostly functional when he worked around them. He jotted down the angles after each distinct motion. Then the palm, pokey in places but it wasn''t very flexible in the first place. The thumb was supposed to be a monolith of muscles, but now it jerked and twitched as the doctor assessed its ranges.


    The other fingers were less interesting. I couldn''t touch my palms with any of them and they universally refused to splay far from their neighbors. The stiffness was most apparent in the fingers, since they were supposed to be such precise instruments. All but the pinkie didn''t bend much at all after the final knuckle. Each of them shuddered while Dr. Kit tried to move them in smooth and steady motions.


    Then the doctor repeated the process with my right hand, noting minor differences in how they''d ended up after my surgery. He paid special attention to my right palm, where Faba''s stupid mug had cut me. It made my whole right hand less strong and flexible after reconstruction. I mentally redoubled my promise to kick the Assistant to the Junior Branch Chief in the balls.


    "Okay. I have all that I need from you. I know you''re taking your island challenge right now, but please do check in regularly. No one expects you to travel back to Melemele for that. Once you leave, just talk to the local physical therapist wherever you are and my office will send them your patient data.", he explained. "Got it.", I said.


    "That is all I need from you, but you still need something from me. These are yours.", he said dramatically, placing a few items on the table. Another stress ball, tweezers, and some kind of gloves. "Toma, do you mind?", I requested. Toma grabbed the items off the table with string from above us. Dr. Kit looked up in shock, only to see Toma giving him a polite wave while he packed the things in one of my bags.


    After gathering himself, he told me, "Those are for exercises. If you think you''re falling behind in your progress in spite of your adventures, use those." I smiled at him and said, "I''m pretty sure I already had all those things, except the weird gloves, but thanks." "You should be back out in the world in the morning, once the hospital has processed these papers.", he informed me, gesturing to the notes and forms he''d filled out over the visit. Then Doctor Kit rose from the rolling chair with his stereotypical doctor''s bag and said, "It was good meeting you Kau''i, good luck."


    <hr>


    Ilima had almost refused to tutor my pok¨¦mon at all, but when I explained that the money I was using was the pay from my hospital visit, he eased up. It had taken just over a week in hospital and a few days out of it, but my hands were finally in good enough shape to be actively training. I could form a most-of-the-way closed fist! With both hands! The dates lined up, and just after a quick sandwich I didn''t bother to buy with my morally upright money, I joined Ilima and Mikala at a private training field further into Hau''oli which he apparently owned.


    "Hello Kau''i, I''m pleased to see that you''re on time.", my move tutor greeted me, "Do you have the Ariados of the hour with you?" A Smeargle was already at his side, ready to join in the teaching. He wasn''t Moody like the one we''d fought for the orange petal, Ilima trained many Smeargles. "Of course, I''m not gonna waste my own time and money.", I brazenly responded. I looked back to Mikala, but she just stood back taking notes. She wasn''t my friend at the moment. In the here and now she was Ilima''s mentee. I released Toma before it got awkward.


    "Toma, hello! Me and my team will be helping you learn Baton Pass and Substitute today.", he said smoothly, and Toma glowed. I''d gone out of my way to make this a surprise for him, since he was surprised so infrequently, being the sleepless lookout for our little crew, and because he loved surprises. His buggy eyes sparkled at Ilima while his pattern face gave me a grateful and beaming smile.


    "First on the docket, please demonstrate both moves to the best of your ability.", Ilima requested. Toma nodded excitedly, then focused intensely on Baton Pass. I readied Kum¨©''s level ball for a switch. Baton Pass was a move that required me to be just as on the ball as my team so that whoever switched in had time to receive the Baton before it dissipated, which was why I needed my hands in decent shape.


    Just like in the fight against the Hakamo-o in Vast Poni Canyon, Toma''s Baton slowly formed into a translucent mirage rather than a solid stick. He tossed it up and disappeared, and I sent Kum¨© out to catch it. The Baton Pass broke apart in the air before he could. Kum¨© didn''t seem bothered by it, but I was more than a little disheartened. We''d spent almost a month on this one move, and it wasn''t even consistently at the level it had been under stress at the beginning of the process.


    I switched Toma back in and told him, "Time for Substitute." I would let Ilima break the news into digestible chunks, these weren''t my moves to teach. With a force of effort, Toma spat up a knot of webs the size of his thorax in front of him. Ilima''s Smeargle flicked his painterly tail at Toma, and a stream of Razor Leafs struck his Substitute and shredded through the webbing easily.


    "Okay, that should be enough. I know where to point you to make progress.", Ilima said to us, "Smeargle, Substitute please." At the command, Ilima''s Smeargle drew a classic Substitute doll in front of himself with a few stamina draining strokes, then spread his arms and basked in the sun for a moment, using Synthesis.


    "That is what a proper Substitute looks like. The two forms that best hold the energy of the move are those of the doll and of the user.", Ilima instructed, "As for Baton Pass, its ease of use varies with how much it''s transferring. The move is hard to use without any buffs to transfer, easier with a light buff that can be freely condensed, harder again as the buffs get more numerous, and easier again as the pressure of even more buffs compresses itself."


    He continued, "This Smeargle knows Heal Pulse, so I want you to form Substitutes repeatedly and try to Baton Pass them to another pok¨¦mon. When you use these moves together, it''s best to form the doll-shaped Substitute to match both yourself and whoever the Substitute passes to. Is that all clear?" I nodded, Toma nodded, and I gave the go ahead to begin.


    Over the next several hours, Toma honed both Substitute and Baton Pass into a useful state. Even though we''d been practicing Baton Pass on and off for nearly a month now, Substitute came much more naturally to Toma''s skill set. He''d cobbled together some version of the move in the fight with the Vivillon even without my input, whereas I''d had to coach him through that first lucky use of Baton Pass.


    Toma spat up a fully formed Substitute doll made from his webs, then began his Swords Dance. Ilima wanted us to practice using Baton Pass in that awkward middle stage to prove he actually had the hang of it. He had also given the pok¨¦mon a lunch packed full of leppa berries to keep their type energy flowing, but both Toma and his Smeargle were still drained from it all. My hand nearly seized up in pain as I threw forward Waiola''s luxury ball in time for her to receive the Baton from Toma.


    The doll stood dutifully in front of Waiola on her entrance. Ilima gestured to the Smeargle, and Waiola raked him with a powerful Scratch to demonstrate the successful transfer of Swords Dance''s attack boost. Finally, the trial captain''s shoulders relaxed and he declared, "Toma is now fully trained in the use of both Baton Pass and Substitute. Congratulations." I smiled, tapped the buttons on each of my pok¨¦ balls gently, then ordered, "Team, hug ''em for me!"


    Ilima tried to get away from us, but he''d taught his prot¨¨ge too well in the art of observation. Mikala had caught my intentions and blocked Ilima in just long enough for Kawami to get on his head. After that, it was all over. Toma wrapped him gingerly in thread, Waiola clung to his chest, and Kum¨© carefully pooled around his feet. It had taken way too much time to get Kum¨© to not touch people with the parts of it that hurt to touch. Mikala walked me back to my room at the pok¨¦mon center as Ilima was unspooled. I''d pushed my hands way too hard.


    <hr>


    "This has been a great distraction," Mikala started, "but I have training to do without you. Don''t you have other friends?" "It''ll be fun!", I shot back, gesturing widely to the beach. "Why train at the Melemele Sea anyways?", she grouched, squinting her bookish eyes. "To get you some sun.", I deadpanned. I''d had Kawami sleep through the day as her species is supposed to do so she could scout out a secluded patch of coastline for us. Apparently Professor Kukui had his dinky little lab somewhere in the area.


    "TOMA!", I called suddenly, "CHANGING ROOMS!" He uncurled himself from around my midsection and pushed off my back to get to work. In a short few seconds, two circular curtains of silk hung from threads in the middle of the beach. I entered the closer of the two, pulling out towels and a mismatched top and bottom. "I didn''t bring a swimsuit!", Mikala shouted over to me. I passed Kawami a one-piece suit and a towel and told her, "Airdrop."


    I hear the swish as they fell. "Agh! What is this thing!", Mikala cried. "You gonna wear it or not?!", I yelled over to her. She let out an aggrieved sigh, and I helped Toma pull down the curtain I''d dressed in while she continued to gripe as she changed. When she finally left the impromptu changing room, she glared daggers at me. "A boys leotard? You didn''t have anything better for me?", she interrogated me.


    She didn''t look bad in it, the square shape of it fit her short hair and tall forehead. I put on a nonchalant grin and walked behind her to take down the other silk sheet. "I have what I''m wearing and that. I also have a pair of swim trunks, but no second top. What did you expect? I don''t buy things.", I rambled to her without facing her.


    "What''s the actual reason you picked the beach?", she asked, walking next to me down to the surf. I looked from her down to the pok¨¦ balls I''d clipped to my hip and rubbed them gently, conscious of the twisting of my thumb. "Gonna work on learning Toxic with Waiola and Kum¨©.", I explained, "They should pick it up faster than my other pok¨¦mon, and it''s a pretty obviously important move for a Poison-Type specialist to be able to teach. If I go the move tutor route, Toxic will be my money maker."


    She bent down, laying out her towel a few yards from the water. My finger slipped going through my therapy exercises, the nail biting into the tip of my thumb. I laid out my towel. "How does the beach relate to teaching Toxic?", she asked, curious. She was always curious. "Melemele Sea is full of Poison-Types, and Toxic is meant to make concentrated poison, it can''t be dispersed like other Poison moves. We practice in the shallow water and all the gunk gets cleaned up naturally by the Tentacool and Mareanie.", I explained properly this time. Mikala rushed to get her tablet to take more notes.


    I released Waiola and Kum¨© while she was away. "You''re both gonna be learning Toxic.", I told them, receiving excited stares, "Almost every pok¨¦mon can learn Toxic with enough practice because almost every pok¨¦mon is at least a little toxic. They''ve got stomachs and guts and can vomit, you Poison-Types are just better at all that. What we need for this is a distilled shot of what makes you toxic at your cores."


    "Kum¨©, for you I think that means your nastiest parts. You can digest almost anything and make it clean, but you get dirtier doing it. Take that waste that builds up in you, gather it together, and spit it out. Waiola, for you that means your fluids, your corrosive blood. Don''t heat it up into a gas, don''t let just a little out, let all the blood parts filter through and launch out just the accumulated venom."


    "I think you guys will get the basics pretty fast, so the main thing is to start slow and work up until you''ve mastered the move.", I concluded. Mikala had been writing nonstop since she''d retrieved her tablet. I purposefully rolled my eyes at her as I walked with Waiola and Kum¨© into the thin stretch where the waves lapped at the sand. You''d think from just looking at them that Waiola would fare better in the water than Kum¨©, but because of her Fire-Type it was the other way around.


    "Okay Waiola, first attempt.", I said, lying on my belly to get on her level, "Get your blood flowing through her jaws, you know how to do that." She nodded fiercely. "Good. Now use those pores your blood seeps through for Poison Gas or Poison Fang to separate the normal blood and the toxins. Carefully push the gunk through without letting it mix back into your blood.", I instructed.


    Waiola concentrated, but her poison didn''t. She shook her head and opened her mouth, showing her regular toxic blood had pushed through her pores along with the more dense poison. "That was close. Keep trying. You can spit the failures into the water as revenge.", I reassured her, giving her a chaste pat on the head. I got up, moved, and crouched down next to Kum¨©.


    "Now it''s your turn. You feel all those undigested bits and pieces? They should be all over you, really mixed in to keep them at low concentration.", I directed it. It gave a low effort thumbs up. "Well we don''t want low concentration anymore, so bring all the really bad stuff together, right at the back of your mouth if you can so I can see it before you launch it.", I ordered.


    He gurgled, then opened his mouth to show me the wad of evil he''d gathered. "You brought along a bunch of less poisonous shit when you pulled that together.", I observed, "Break it apart and try again." Kum¨© didn''t mind the effort, and began working on his second attempt right away.


    I coached them through the move again and again until both Waiola and Kum¨© could use Toxic to a bare minimum standard. Mikala wrote copious notes from the sidelines, occasionally dipping into the water to cool off. From there I focused on Kum¨©, since Waiola was competent enough to make progress without me. Both took turns spitting their Toxic bundles into the sea, getting progressively faster as they grew accustomed to the move.


    "You might already be the best person in Alola for teaching Toxic without a TM.", Mikala commented. She''d snuck up on me while I focused on Kum¨©. His Toxic wasn''t coming out fast enough. I finally responded, "No way. Plumeria''s got more pok¨¦mon and I''d bet all of them know Toxic, she''s also a Poison-Type specialist. Hell, Ilima could probably do better than me, not to mention all the professional move tutors the Battle Tree employs."


    "Ilima hates teaching Toxic to his pok¨¦mon, something about there being no consistency between how different pok¨¦mon use the move. As for the Battle Tree, the move tutors there specialize in powerful attack moves, nothing like Toxic gets taught there.", Mikala informed me, then looked up from her notes at me. I walked over to my towel and began drying off. "And, for my sanity, by Plumeria you mean the woman who admitted you have a better grasp of the Poison-Type than she does, right?", she added.


    "Okay so those were bad examples," I sputtered through the tobacco scented towel, "but there''s got to be someone in Alola who''s better than me! Salandit and Grimer learn Toxic naturally, and they''re not even done learning it yet!" She glared again when I emerged from the towel and I looked away. "When did we get here?", she pushed. "Like an hour ago?", I replied, confused. "You taught Toxic to two pok¨¦mon at the same time to a battle ready state in an hour!", she shouted, pushing my shoulder. I backed away.


    "How''d you do it?", she pressed. "It''s about biology.", I said, suddenly nervous. I started getting snacks out of my bag. "What about biology?", she continued, neck craned over her tablet. "Everything processes something to live. We eat waste, we create waste. It''s about identifying that densest source of poison and focusing it outwards, so for Waiola that''s her blood and Kum¨© it''s digestive byproducts.", I obliged. She didn''t look at me.


    "What would a Minior''s be?", she pondered out loud. "Minior?", I dribbled, separating the rotten and fresh berries, "What do they eat? How do they eat?" "Atmospheric dust. It accumulates into their shells.", Mikala rallied back, excited and matter-of-fact simultaneously. "Then the shell and the outer layer would be the area used for Toxic. The nubbins too.", I decided, unusually jittery. I stared at Mikala''s brown eyes as she recorded what I''d said. My hands hurt. I slowed down.


    "Team Kau''i!", I shouted, "Food!" They all came running, Toma from his network keeping out pok¨¦mon from the land and Kawami from the water where she had done the same. Mikala backed off to take notes of her notes. "Waiola, Kum¨©," I said, affecting a smile, "I think after this, you guys can actually beat Kawami and Toma." Waiola''s eyes glimmered with anticipation from her position on the fringe of the group. I helped myself to a pecha berry. We ate fast.


    With food done, I began packing up. "Mikala, I should get going. Gotta get some rest, then start training for my grand trial fight with Hala.", I said, towel under my arm. "Oh.", she replied, stirred out of her focus, "Then I should get changed and give you back this stupid thing." "Uh, yeah.", my mouth oozed. Toma was more tactful than me and threw up a curtain for Mikala. I took a swig of water from a bottle on my bag and returned Waiola and Kum¨© to their balls to rest.


    "Here.", Mikala said, handing me the leotard and towel, "Call me the next time you''re training like this. We''re friends regardless of if you''re in the hospital." "I should focus on preparing for Hala, like I said. It won''t be like this.", I brushed off. "Okay, well if something is then you have my number and should use it.", she stated. I nodded, then offered a weak, "Bye.", and left without her.

 Chapter 32 - Grand

    I chased after Kawami and Toma as they chased Kum¨© and Waiola through Hau''oli. I could smell the Sweet Scent that trailed behind Waiola, but it had a way of making pok¨¦mon forget about it. I''d need to work on making my team more aware of those kinds of effects, but I''d wait until Waiola and Kum¨© were able to beat Kawami and Toma to prioritize it. They needed every advantage.


    The crowds of people and pok¨¦mon cleared ahead of us, revealing an empty street without the Salandit or Grimer in sight. Kawami and Toma looked around in confusion, the Sweet Scent making them less coordinated. I spotted the telltale signs of Kum¨©''s residue on a sewer drain, but my other teammates didn''t.


    Right from under Kawami, Waiola and Kum¨© popped out of a manhole and began their surprise attack. The Poison-Type was not one for raw power however, like Normal or Fighting were. Instead many Poison-Type moves relied on good timing; Attrition, preparation, and decisiveness were the name of the game. Rather than an opening barrage of crippling strikes, Waiola sent a dark magenta wad of Corrosive Toxic stew at Kawami''s back and Kum¨© washed Toma with a paint stripping greenish Acid Spray.


    Kawami spun rapidly with her four wings to face her challengers, already picking up speed for a Wing Attack. She was getting used to being poisoned by Corrosion from the constant fights, but she still didn''t like it. The shimmering blade of Wing Attack stood out as Kawami was engulfed in the crackling silver-blue flames of Waiola''s Dragon Rage.


    Meanwhile, Toma had set up a sprawling Spider Web that filled the area and began driving an Infestation towards Waiola. Even as an Ariados, he lived up to Spinaraks'' classification as the string spit pok¨¦mon. With practiced efficiency, he had strung together a net of sticky silk and a posse of more heavyset Infestation constructs in seconds. Now those constructs followed up on Kawami''s Wing Attack to hound Waiola.


    With a grin, Waiola just looked at Kum¨©, who looked at Toma as its eyes flashed a bright blue. Kum¨© had Disabled Toma''s ability to use Spider Web, and Toma nearly fell to the ground as he found himself unable to form the web around him as he moved without the use of Bug-Type energy. Sloppily, he retreated deeper into the existing network. The Sweet Scent was still doing its job.


    On that note, Kawami slashed across Waiola''s back with her wings in an ineffective Cross Poison. Even if it was quite different from the mouth focused Poison moves they were otherwise limited to, the move came very naturally to Crobats, which was probably why she''d defaulted to it. The attack still left Waiola staggering, but she maintained enough presence of mind to follow through on her and Kum¨©''s plan.


    A spinning ball of Flame Burst through Toma''s web and roasted his already weakened shell. He was down, and his Infestation became noticeably clumsier than they had been even with his intoxicated commands. The fires quickly spread, sweeping through the webbing and turning it to a thin smear of ash along the ground before I could fumble Toma''s nest ball out of my pocket and return him to it.


    Kawami, staring too long at the embers fluttering in the air, never thought to get back into the air away from Kum¨©. Even with her surprise at his harsh Bite digging into her, her Inner Focus kept her from flinching. The Crobat used her three free wings to slip free of the ooze and began a high speed maneuver as soon as possible.


    In a stupid state of mind, but still determined to win, Kawami arced upside-down in a smooth curve that helped maintain her momentum right over Waiola and Kum¨© before launching herself in a straight line right back at the pair. Her hindwings flapped so quickly they buzzed as she stretched her forewings wide for a devastating Wing Attack. The Zubat family were already known for their manginess, rabid and unflattering, but with the Dragon Rage, Bite, and Toxic all eating away at her, Kawami was the epitome of mangy in that moment.


    There was a hiss as the air was cut apart by Kawami''s attack, then a crash. Waiola rolled across the ground, unconscious. Kum¨© was split in two and slapped messily back into the rest of its body after the Wing Attack cut through it. Kawami flipped over herself after the force she''d lost in the swipe left her off balance, slipping into rest on the ground as Waiola''s Toxic poison finally punched her ticket.


    I returned the two fainted pok¨¦mon and approached the standing victor. "Well Kum¨©," I announced, "congrats on catching up to Kawami and Toma, but I think we need to clean this mess before we get in trouble." As usual, the dark green goop didn''t sweat the small stuff and began eating up the burnt webs and flecks of poisonous liquid. I got to work stomping out embers.


    <hr>


    "Toxic teaching, round two!", I declared, hands on my hips in front of my team, on the beach again. "And what''s your plan of action?", Ilima asked, standing next to me in somehow professional looking swim shorts. "Well the first step is knowing the pok¨¦mon. I mean biologically knowing, okay? Where are they toxic? How are they toxic? How does that connect with the move Toxic?", I rambled. Ilima''s hand moved far too little to be getting every word, and he would get every word, so he must''ve been using shorthand. "Can you explain more?", he asked, and I obliged.


    "Well I''ve already taught Toxic to my Alolan Grimer and my Salandit. Grimers are pretty much all poison all the time, so for them using Toxic is just a matter of gathering the really Toxic toxic stuff without anything else in-between. Salandit have corrosive venom in their blood and fluids they use for Poison-Type moves in different ways, so for her the trick was separating out the venom from the blood."


    "For these two, well I have different plans. Come here Kawami, Toma.", I ushered them over. "So you guys don''t ''naturally'' learn Toxic like Salandit and Grimer do. It''s a challenge, rather than a natural progression of your abilities that a wild pok¨¦mon would make.", I preempted, Ilima continuing to take notes behind me.


    "Kawami, you''re similar to Waiola, you''ve got venom. But unlike her it''s not in your blood, it''s separate already. But you''re also like Kum¨©, you''re a little bit toxic all over. You wouldn''t be primarily Poison-Type if you weren''t a little anathema to the world at large. Cross Poison doesn''t use your venom, it uses your general grime. I think you need to use all of that to make Toxic work, but I''m gonna need your help figuring out what that means." Kawami let out a squeak of excitement. Ilima quirked an eyebrow at my use of the word "anathema".


    "Toma, you aren''t a primary Poison-Type, so this will be harder for you. You also have to mix different sources of poison I think, your venom that comes out of your fangs and stinger and your stomach acid. I''m guessing it''ll be something like using Acid Spray and Poison Fang at the same time, then launching the result out. Not gonna be easy or fun to put together, but we can do it.", I explained. Ilima looked very focused on what I was doing. "Now let''s get started!"


    Toma was always the type to have a good first idea, so I left him to it and supported Kawami first as she almost tried everything that came to mind to mix her grime and venom. I held her back from biting herself with Poison Fang, cutting her mouth open with Cross Poison, and several variations on those same basic ideas. We were going nowhere fast, so I asked Ilima to have one of his pok¨¦mon keep her from hurting herself. As much as he tried to keep up appearances, he was very clearly patronized by my reminder of her Infiltrator ability.


    When I switched to focus on Toma he was making that same retching noise he had when he was learning Acid Spray a month ago. "What''s the deal?", I asked him, crouched slightly to be at his level. He evacuated a stream of sewage-brown liquid from his mouth into the seawater and stared at me with an awkward, self-defeated look. Looking closer at the liquid, I could see the yellow color of his Acid Spray blended into the vivid purple of his venom.


    I stood up and addressed everyone present, "I''ve figured out something about Toxic. I said it before with Mikala, but I wasn''t thinking about it. Toxic is about concentration in the chemistry sense, how pure and rarified the toxins are. Toma, don''t just hack up your acid and dribble in venom, get it dense with that nasty shit. Same goes for you Kawami. I think this is gonna be less physical and more based in type energy, so you guys will probably better understand what to do, in fact I bet it''s involved in how Waiola and Kum¨© use it too."


    Having come to that conclusion, I released Kum¨© and Waiola from their balls. "Both of you, explain how you use your type energy for Toxic. Toma, translate so me and Ilima get it too." Kum¨© immediately began blabbering while Waiola was still going through her indignant act over my sudden orders.


    Toma drew directional waves and ripples, somewhere between arrows and stink lines in a comic strip, which this arguably was, to represent the Poison-Type energy that pushed a simplified cloud of particles together. In the following panel the Poison-Type energy wrapped around the gathered ball in a bubble and radiated empty bubbles. Titration? Precipitation? Reduction? Was I gonna have to learn chemistry to be a better Poison-Type specialist? The final panel showed a pure black ball of the starting particles being launched outward.


    Waiola''s explanation was much the same, showing how the type energy helped her in keeping the blood from following the venom into her mouth to form the move. I would need to ask for more of these explanations going forward, but I was confident I had enough for teaching Kawami and Toma Toxic.


    "Kawami, you gather gunk onto your wings for Cross Poison right? Just gather it where you can mix it with your venom instead. Both of you, use your Poison-Type energy like they described to concentrate your Toxic, then we can work on faster methods of doing that same thing.", I ranted again. I was getting into it now.


    The rest of the training went by in a flash. Kawami struggled for a while until we landed on dragging the venom out of her mouth instead of dragging her grease and grit in, then launching her dark purple Toxic with her wings like a tennis racket. Toma had the same struggles with Toxic that he''d had with every special attack he''d learned. He was a physical sort of spider, the complications of hoodoo type energy confounded him all the way until they didn''t. After that he just acted silly about shooting his dark black Toxic balls with their faint orange hue.


    "You''re certain that this methodology is reliable?", Ilima questioned me once it was all done. "Certain? No. It''s gotta be at least useful though. I mean, even though most pok¨¦mon can learn Toxic, this method requires familiarity with Poison-Type energy, so honestly it''s probably not that applicable. Lots of those pok¨¦mon don''t even learn other Poison-Type moves! If you can figure out some way to acclimate other pok¨¦mon to Poison-Type energy, for one tell me, but for two, that should complete the method.", I replied, getting out another monologue. I idly wondered if I was acting like this because I''d eaten something I shouldn''t''ve.


    Ilima hummed, again writing down every word of my feverish rant. "There is the Terastallization phenomena of Paldea, but even if you lived there it would still be less accessible than a technical machine for Toxic.", he said, as if he was obligated to be accurate. "I have no idea what that means.", I told him flatly. "That''s understandable.", he commented.


    "I''m gonna get going. I''ve got a fight with Hala to get in order.", I told him, already returning everyone on my team but Waiola. "I have one last question.", he prompted. "Can''t figure out what to do from what I already told you?", I asked, incredulous. He shook his head and continued, "No, it''s unrelated to Toxic. Why didn''t you want Mikala here? The two of you are, ostensibly, friends."


    I felt my forehead flush with sweat, but it was shrouded in the faded purple nest of my hair. I really needed to get it bleached and redyed. "She was here the first time, no need for redundancy.", I spluttered. "Kau''i are you a lesbian?", Ilima suddenly asked, straightforwardly serious. I choked, then coughed, then answered, "WHAT?! FUCK YOU!"


    "Actually, that''s a fair reaction. Sorry for the offensive phrasing. Do you like girls in that particular manner?", he doubled down. "I''m not an ANYTHING, and I don''t like ANYONE in ''that particular manner.''", I spat back at him. He quirked his eyebrow at me again. "I know what you''re thinking.", I said, staring at his face. "I''m thinking that this is exactly like your refusal of the identity of Poison-Type specialist that Mikala told me about.", He confirmed.


    I roiled, frothing at the mouth, "YOU WEREN''T EVEN THERE! And for the record, this is completely different!" He tried to talk again, to apologize a second time maybe, but I didn''t care. I raised a hand to stop him, then walked away. Like the honorable fuck he was, he just let me.


    <hr><hr>


    After two straight days of arduous planning for Hala''s team, I was stood across from the kahuna on the ceremonial stage in the center of Iki Town. There were a few possibilities I just couldn''t win against, but they depended on an abundance of critical hits only landing in favor of Hala. You would think that since I used Poison-Types and he used Fighting-Types it would be an easy win for me, but no, he''d picked out a powerhouse roster just for me.


    Hau had come to be our referee while the actual trial guide whose job that was stood off to the side, maintaining the protective barrier around the field with her pok¨¦mon. A few people watched from the sidelines, but it was mostly those who just happened to be free and passing by. Hala fought these grand trial fights several times a day, so it didn''t particularly draw a crowd all the way out in the boonies.


    Hau counted us in, "Ready! Set! Go!" Me and Kahuna Hala both said, "You know the plan!", at the same time as we released our pok¨¦mon, Kawami facing his Scraggy for our opening bout. The difference was that I had a pretty good idea of what Hala''s plan would be and he had no way of knowing mine. Scraggy held his pants up, Intimidating in a way I felt might be how other people saw me. Shaking off his presence, Kawami dived down to get behind Scraggy, and Hala''s eyes widened when he saw that, instead of attacking, she was enveloped by the darkness of a Curse.


    <hr>


    "Hey Hau.", I greeted over the phone. "Hey!", he replied excitedly, but I just kept talking. "So I''ve got my fight with your gramps scheduled in two days," I continued, "and since my team''s at a weird level I wanted to see if he was okay with giving me the information about his special team like a typical trial-goer would have for his normal team. Also, like, establishing the rules in advance, posterity stuff."


    I could hear Hau grin on the other end. "I can go ask him right now.", he agreed, followed by a mute tone. I stared at the extensive history of recorded matches of Hala on a League website. It wasn''t as long as some foreign gym leaders'' records, since Hala wasn''t a League figure and didn''t have every official match recorded, but he''d been at it so long that it hardly mattered. His oldest recordings predated the modern Pok¨¦mon League by decades, home videos of Grand Trial and Lanakila Festival battles that had been archived through some miracle.


    Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Hau unmuted and said, "He told me what you need to know, said something about making it a battle of planning." "Okay, so what''s the deal?", I pressed. He answered, "Three switch outs, four pok¨¦mon each, one held item per team, Z-Moves allowed. He''s using a Bewear, Passimian, Scraggy, and Hariyama, all specially for your team. That was all he said to tell you, but I should say that those pok¨¦mon are all being personally raised by him, not one of his students. Grandpa Hala isn''t called a Fighting-Type Master for no reason."


    "Thank you Hau.", I said harshly, and hung up. I was already focused, looking at the various wiki pages for the team of pok¨¦mon Hau had given me and trying to find fights Hala had used them in before. I combed through footage, picking out the Fighting-Types I would be fighting and analyzing them to put through the Kukui equations. After three hours, I had each of their last known capabilities plugged into an online calculator for the damage predicting equations, along with several scaled up versions to match or slightly surpass my own team.


    Just looking at the numbers, Scraggy was the obvious opener for Hala''s team, which forced me to open with Kawami or get my ass torn apart by a lizard constantly pulling up his pants. He wouldn''t set up on me like Toma could, just tear holes in my team I couldn''t repair. With Shed Skin, Moxie, and Intimidate for abilities, that unevolved pok¨¦mon could run roughshod over my team if I wasn''t careful.


    Wing Attack couldn''t take even the most generous estimations of Scraggy out in one hit, not that I''d be planning based on those, and would boost the Payback Kawami received to boot. Even still, Hala was sure to have as many plans spiraling off this one starting point as I needed to make. No, I would open with my strongest mix-up, something only my team and Totem Kommo-o knew Kawami could do.


    <hr>


    Scraggy''s shadowy backhand lacked the righteous vengeance that made Payback such a feared move, barely moving Kawami''s darkened body as it hit. Hala called out, adjusting to my curveball maneuver, "Press!" Slowing with the spectral weight of her Curse once again, Kawami was unable to move out of the way of Scraggy''s brightly glowing head as it met her own in an unnatural echo. The Zen Headbutt rippled across her body, worse than the Payback had been, but still not enough.


    With a powerful flap, Kawami rose above Scraggy, then pushed forward with all four wings. A gust of pressure glimmered against the psychic barrier around the field behind her as she sliced through Scraggy''s scales with a single Wing Attack. His pants fell to the ground, out of his grasp, and he disappeared into digitized red light. Some other pok¨¦mon would have to deliver Payback in his place, and they would.


    <hr>


    "If we assume that Scraggy goes down to that first Wing Attack, with two Curse stacks you could sweep through everyone but Hariyama.", I explained to Kawami, looking at the calculator, "Hala might give us a freebie, but I doubt it. I also doubt that Hala lets us get the third or fourth Curse to one shot Hariyama. The thing is, I still want you facing Hariyama." My eyes gleamed, looking at the flowchart of events I''d been sketching out over the last day and a half. My eyes hurt, but my hands hurt much worse.


    I went on, "Hariyama has Belly Drum, and we don''t really have any good options for if that somehow goes off. He tears through at least two of our team with Sheer Force before going down, and from there we''re thoroughly fucked. He''s got Guts, so we can''t outlast him, and Thick Fat keeps us from having Waiola take him down. This is why the whole opening goes towards forcing Hariyama below where he can use Belly Drum, okay?" Kawami nodded vigorously. "Unless you get a crit, in which case I will be very happy, you go down to Hariyama to achieve that."


    <hr>


    You could say that Hariyama took Scraggy''s place on the field, but that would be misleading. Hariyama filled an entire third of the arena with his behemoth stature, a mountain of heavy muscle and fat. "Poni one!", I shouted, the name of our mainline plan. We might''ve shifted over to the Melemele plan if we''d gotten a crit or another lucky break, all but guaranteeing a win, but for now it was standard. "Press!", Hala repeated to his own pok¨¦mon.


    Both pok¨¦mon rocketed towards eachother and before anyone watching could force themselves to blink, myself and Hala included, the glowing white forehead of Hala''s Hariyama met my Crobat''s own glowing wings. The slice of Wing Attack continued across Hariyama''s entire body, seeming to imply the creature had two different sets of skin stitched together vertically, agitated and sore around the seams. Zen Headbutt on the other hand was much less subtle. Kawami spasmed in the air, wrapped in pink light, and involuntarily spat up a ball of fluids before falling to the ground.


    <hr>


    "How the fuck are we supposed deal with that!?", I exclaimed, earning a few looks from the other people in this area of the pok¨¦mon center, none of them understanding. No matter who I put Hariyama up against, there were no good options, even if I ignored Belly Drum. If I took each matchup on its own, each of Hala''s four against each of mine, Hala beats me with ease.


    Toma''s not bulky enough to setup against him, Kum¨© gets trounced by his same type attack bonus Fighting-Type moves, and Waiola is as vulnerable as ever to his coverage moves. Kawami could last, but not long enough to matter. She might get him low if he decided to use Belly Drum after getting Wing Attacked, but I''d still have to lose my only good answer to Scraggy. Nothing seems to put the beast down.


    I looked down at the flowchart I already had of what I planned to do. I played out the way I expected it to go in the calculator again, ending up with Kawami with two Curses having taken out Scraggy. ''Who does Hala switch in against that?'', I wondered. I switched the Scraggy stat sheet to a middling estimate of Bewear''s. Kawami destroys him. I switched to a higher estimate. The same result appeared. I did the same with Passimian. She''d also get destroyed by Kawami''s Curse stack.


    With a jolt of excitement, I put in a high estimate of Hariyama instead. She wouldn''t flinch from a Fake Out due to Inner Focus, so we could rely on her to outspeed him. Her Wing Attack would get rid of more than half of his health, but she''d get wiped out by Zen Headbutt after that, which this team would definitely have learned before going against me. ''Is Hala trying to teach me a lesson? This team is ridiculous!'', I thought, avoiding more stares by keeping my complaints to myself.


    This did look good, it was the best outlook on Hariyama I could find, but I still didn''t know how to seal the deal without sacking a second pok¨¦mon to him. If that was what I needed to do, I''d do it, but I wanted advantages. I put each of my pok¨¦mon in against the post-Curse Wing Attack Hariyama, and it was still bad. They all needed two rounds of attacks to finish him and all fainted to one attack. I just needed a bit more damage.


    My eyes fell again to the open notebook. The page for the move Camouflage had a full page next to it with only a dotted outline of a Kecleon, which I had covered instead with all the moves my teammates already knew. Just a bit more damage, that''s all I needed. ''Is there a way I can get an extra turn? Bribe the ref?'', I pondered.


    Then my eyes fell on the third ever move Waiola learned, Fake Out. My thumb locked up as I rapidly put the damage from Fake Out and Dragon Rage through the Kukui equations. It was a guaranteed knockout. Again, I couldn''t keep the stares away. Can''t miss an opportunity for an evil cackle.


    <hr>


    She was in her ball before she touched the ceremonial wooden platform, and just as fast, Waiola was on my side of that platform. The joints of my hand and everywhere around my wrist throbbed in protest, but my brain knew better than to get distracted. While Hariyama sized up his new opponent, finding she was indeed quite small, Waiola took a step back as if to avoid Hariyama. I hadn''t needed to say why Waiola was out on the field right now, there was only one set of actions here.


    When Hariyama finally advanced on Waiola, rumbling the stage, Waiola immediately switched her demeanor and sprung towards his face, slapping him with her tail. Despite his training and the minimal damage, Hariyama couldn''t help but flinch at the Fake Out.


    While he stood still in shock, Waiola didn''t wait, bathing him in sparkling Dragon fire fueled by her persistent Rage at the world. It poured from her mouth and sunk into his tough skin, attacking something central about him rather than the Thick Fat that protected him from other kinds of fire.


    With a creak that echoed around the small town, Hariyama collapsed onto his belly like a felled tree and shook the earth. I could see Kahuna Hala''s belly jiggle as the monster was returned. Waiola smiled, wide and toothy, and rolled her eyes haughtily. Plumeria had been right when she gave me her egg, she was a princess. No lucky breaks for me, but none for Hala either. Onto the next stage of the plan.


    <hr>


    I stared at the Able Salac page for Passimian''s Receiver ability. What a nightmare. It gains one ability of the pok¨¦mon that faints before it. I looked through the other abilities on Hala''s team. What if she came in to receive one of Scraggy''s abilities instead of Hariyama or Bewear''s? Intimidate might be useful, but I doubt it. I spent twenty minutes mapping out where that result led anyways. A tough fight, but it would work out in our favor. Shed Skin and Moxie were useless against Kawami''s Curse stack, so that would bring us back to the main plan at an advantage.


    Hariyama''s Guts seemed useless, banking on my team slipping up and poisoning Passimian to do anything significant. For a bulky pok¨¦mon like Hariyama it did wonders to limit me, but it wasn''t the same with Passimian. It was an easy win. Thick Fat was similar, though slightly tougher to wrangle. I''d need to use some of my switches to do it. Sheer Force... Sheer Force was scary.


    I exhausted myself planning the route for Sheer Force, going to bed to plan more in the morning. When I woke up, I was faced with more of the same as I ate breakfast. I had Kum¨© with me practicing to use what he''d learned with Toxic to realize Poison Touch. I couldn''t rely on it in planning, but it would absolutely be useful.


    Bewear had Fluffy, Klutz, and Unnerve. Fluffy was similar to Thick Fat when given to Passimian, just easier to circumvent if it worked out for me and harder if it didn''t. Unnerve was situationally useful, but like Guts I didn''t see Hala wasting Receiver on it. I was convinced Receiver was a lynch pin of this team.


    When my eyes fell on Klutz, my fresh and awake mind knew it was exactly what I needed to worry about. Hala had specified that we could use one held item for a reason. Klutz ignored the effects of a held item. Passimian could learn Bestow, which forced the user''s item onto the target. Hala was going to stick us with a detrimental held item effect. I opened Held Salac, groaned at the joke built into its name, and began my search.


    I planned out the lines for a few of Klutz Passimian''s options, ultimately deciding that the most likely possibility was a Flame Orb, which she could pass to Toma to shut down any attempts to sweep unless I set up Toma before Passimian even came in, which is what I planned to do. It made Bewear more tricky, but it was worth it for the certainty. It also locked in my earlier musings that I would need to give Toma a sitrus berry for the fight. The day rolled on, and I planned for every crit and strategy I could foresee. Melemele, the easy route, Poni, the expected amount of challenge, and Ula''ula, for an extra unlucky streak.


    <hr>


    Standing on Hala''s side of the stage was Passimian. ''Okay,'' I thought, ''we might be on the Melemele route after all.'' Then I saw the Flame Orb under her arm like a football. ''But... without Klutz...'', I pondered, before it hit me. Guts. I quickly raised my hand and switched out Waiola before the Guts-boosted lemur could wipe the floor with her. I ignored the waves of shame and pain that washed over me and thought over my options.


    I hadn''t planned for this, but I knew what it took to take out Passimian and generally how dangerous her attacks would be. Hau looked at me expectantly as he counted down to when I would effectively forfeit the match by not sending a pok¨¦mon out. Toma or Kum¨©? Toma or Kum¨©.


    I threw out the level ball with a different hand from my last throw. I was ambidextrous, so it just made sense. Kum¨© hit the deck and I shouted, "AKALA THREE!" Why Akala? Because I''d never been there, so it was the obvious choice for callouts for when all my planning flew out the window. Before Kum¨© could act on my callout though, Hala bellowed "Destroy!" and Passimian ran right at it, Thrashing.


    <hr>


    I finished my explanation of the branching plans to my team with one last piece, "And if, somehow, none of that is what happens, we have the Akala callouts. One for offense, two for defense, three for support moves like Confuse Ray or Disable, four for other support moves, five for Toxic. Not hard, but you probably won''t have to remember them anyways."


    <hr>


    The composed and serious Passimian suddenly turned into a tornado of limbs bearing down on Kum¨©. Splashes of green liquid smeared the psychic barriers, but abruptly stopped as its eyes flashed blue. Her Thrashing had been Disabled at the source, her type energy. Once again in her right mind, Passimian stood back from Kum¨©, coated up to the shoulders and hips in green and flecks of yellow. Her eyes sagged under the weight of poison.


    Before she could attack again, I raised my hand again. I much more slowly raised Kum¨©''s level ball to return him and lobbed Toma''s nest ball underhand. Despite the calm appearance of those actions, my heart clenched in my chest and a determined sneer was glued to my face. I just didn''t need the pain in my hands distracting me. I was going to run out of switch outs just on this one pok¨¦mon.


    By this point Passimian was waiting for my next pok¨¦mon, and Toma took a full speed charge head on when he appeared. The Take Down rattled her head, but Passimian wasn''t much worse for wear from that compared to the stacked effects of the Flame Orb''s burns and Kum¨©''s poison. "BROOD WEB!", I yelled at Toma, hoping he could act as fast as I hoped on the old command.


    <hr>


    "Regardless of all that, we''re a Poison-Type team, okay?", I concluded, "We outlast, we dig in our heels, and we win. They run out of energy, we keep goin'', they get sick, we shrug that off, they go in believing they''ll win, we win anyways." I scratched Kawami''s head as hard as I could, just like she liked, nudged Waiola softly with my head while she sat on my shoulder, and smiled wide at Toma and Kum¨©. "Now let''s get some good sleep for tomorrow!", I announced.


    <hr>


    Having already barreled through the arachnid once, Passimian bounced right off the psychic barrier for another Take Down the other way. As she approached though, Toma pulled himself out of the way with a broad smile like a matador, going straight up into his Spider Web. Then his Infestation dropped out of the web right on top of Passimian as she kept running. She hollered and fruitlessly tried to shake the little web creatures out of her fur. Toma chewed on his sitrus berry with a smile on his face.


    I raised my hand, getting a boo from a man who''d stopped to watch. ''I don''t like it any more than you buddy.'', I thought, switching the nest ball back for the level ball. Toma flashed back to his ball as red light. His Spider Web fell gently to the ground without the support of his Bug-Type energy and Kum¨© slurped up the bit that it appeared on top of.


    With a final mad dash, having lost all of her presence after three different irritants had been laid onto her in the form of her burns, poisoning, and Infestation, Passimian Took Down Kum¨© and herself at the same time. "Sorry Kum¨©.", I whispered to his level ball. It didn''t feel good to sacrifice him when I hadn''t planned to, but it helped that he probably wouldn''t mind anyways.


    <hr>


    "And here, we have Toma Acid Spray Passimian and switch to Waiola to finish her off with another Fake Out and a Flame Burst before Defiant can make a difference. It''s not a one hundred percent reliable plan because she might be faster than Waiola or we might not do enough damage, but we need it. That''ll be Ula''ula three for both of you.", I explained carefully before moving on to the next step of this branch.


    <hr>


    Hau counted us in again, since both sides were sending in a pok¨¦mon, "Ready! Set! Go!" In a repeat of earlier, I put Kum¨©''s level ball back in my pocket and grabbed Toma''s nest ball. Hala grabbed his own love ball, something far more tacky than I expected from the Kahuna of the island, and Bewear, the only pok¨¦mon left on his team, cracked his neck. Toma was on his last legs against the Unnerving bear, even after you factored in the sheer number of legs he had and the sitrus berry he''d eaten.


    "Ula''ula three!", I yelled. Another bystander groaned, because apparently they didn''t like my callouts either. Toma agreed, showing a raised eyebrow on his stinger even as he continued to face Bewear. Toma had always been the first to question me when I did something questionable, and with Waiola''s clinginess and Kum¨©''s unflappability that wouldn''t be changing soon, but he knew to follow my lead in a fight even when I was being weird.


    "Retaliate.", Kahuna Hala declared, smiling for the crowd but still very much focused on our fight. And so, even though we both knew it would make Bewear''s Payback all the more painful, Toma hosed him down with an Acid Spray. Bewear''s fur sizzled and smoked in the sickly yellow liquid, but his face still didn''t change expression as his massive paws grew pitch black with anger-fueled Dark-Type energy. The overly expressive insect fell to the flat faced mammal with a resounding thunk as Payback was delivered.


    Finally, I''d done it. I grinned madly as I reached for Waiola''s luxury ball. Hala could see it too, and gave me a proud smile. He hadn''t expected to lose, but his job was to give trial-goers a good challenge, and he''d certainly achieved that, so he was happy regardless.


    <hr>


    I picked up a piece of trash someone had left on the side of Route 1, an empty potion bottle, and stuffed it in my bag with enough precision that I''d count the move as my dexterity exercise for the day. "Always, always recycle.", I told Waiola sagely as she thrummed with heat on my neck. We were nearly to Iki Town.


    <hr>


    Waiola''s back burned a bright red as she faced Bewear. "FLAME BURST THIS FOOL!", I yelled, giggling. With a matching laugh, Waiola stood on her hind legs and began to glow even brighter, pure white now. Bewear charged at her, still wearing that same eerie smile, but was engulfed in popping balls of fire that seared into my vision. Waiola''s laughter grew, through some magic, even more prideful and conceited. When we all opened our eyes, Bewear had ragdolled on the floor and Waiola wasn''t a Salandit anymore.


    I pushed against the psychic barrier around the central part of the stage, stumbling as the trial guide dismissed it, and rushed to hug my wonderful Salazzle friend. Just as I''d expect of her, she was watching me out of the corner of her eye as she showboated. Her flames fell back into her skin as I wrapped around her, and we cackled in unison.


    Slowly, with proper hesitation, Kahuna Hala approached us as well. As he did, Waiola pushed me off of her with her two shorter tails, making distance as she became aware of the onlookers again. She had three of them now. I shook my head to get at least a little bit of my hair out of my face, then turned to the kahuna.


    "Congratulations Kau''i.", he said jovially, still smiling. "That team you put together was evil, you were trying to make me lose.", I accused Hala. He let out a laugh of his own and responded, "I will not deny that, but it is always more satisfying to lose when you did not think that you could, going no-holds-barred. Thank you for giving me a good show, I never would have seen that Curse coming." He offered his hand to shake, but given his reputation, I just bumped it down with my fist rather than letting myself get squeezed. More gently than his handshakes, he placed a Fightinium Z in my hand.


    With the fight out of the way, even though Hala was still a huge and powerful man, the atmosphere was soothingly friendly. "Kawami learned Curse and Frustration tryin'' to learn Steel Wing actually.", I explained, walking off the stage with him as Waiola strutted behind me. Hala chuckled good-naturedly and replied, "Ho! That sounds like a story! How about you tell me and Hau all about it over some sweets? Food is the heart''s reward for a good fight, that is what I was taught."


    "Yes!", I barked in approval, and Hau joined us as we piled into Hala''s rusty old truck not far from the town center. More accurately, me and Waiola climbed onto the bed while Hala and Hau wedged themselves in the cab. We trundled down Route 1 towards the nearest malasada shop, and neither me nor Waiola took our eyes off eachother to look at the island passing by. I''d leave the rest of the team in their balls for a bit, today was the princess''s special day.