“Mmnnn…why ghosts?” Cara mumbled, eying two of the three new members.

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction. Eevee was sitting in my lap while Goomy sat on my shoulder. Vulpix had joined Rio in meeting the rest of Team Speed Shell. I could also hear the bipedal canine excitedly recounting how brave I was back in the megamart to the group. Mikyu and Banette were leaning against my side, seemingly content. Brionne was still out with the Primarina learning how to be a seal; I wasn’t sure she even noticed we left.

  Diancie and Dee were digging a hole. It was good to see that Diancie was getting along with someone. I had noticed that she seemed to just watch others do things. She had just been confused when I asked her about it. Though I was a bit curious how that became their little bonding activity. I did have to admit it was cute.

  “They’re just little cuties,” I said as I pet the two stuffed Pokemon, who were sitting on the coat that I had laid beside me. As I looked at the two little ghost Pokemon at my side, I thought quite a bit about them. Honestly Banette’s personality surprised me the most. Since according to the pokedex entries from the game they were supposed to be abandoned toys given life through the grudge of being abandoned. But that didn’t really make sense since they were the evolution of Shuppet; a Pokemon that fed off negative emotions.

  Cara let out a soft sigh. “Alright. Fine. Three new girls to the family,” she said as she sat down behind me, leaning back against me.

  “See? There you go. Don’t think of them as ghosts. They’re just new members of the family,” I said with a smile, leaning back against her. I realized that she was leaning quite heavily against me, her back was quite warm. “Tired?” I asked softly, looking at her over my shoulder.

  “It’s exhausting to keep them all from getting bored…” she admitted. “And I thought just the two of them were difficult when they were little... Oh how naive I was.”

  I laughed. “Well, it looks like you did a decent job.”

  With amusement, I watched as Mikyu curiously wandered closer to Cara, slowly making her way into the lap of the canine. I could feel the muscles in Cara’s back tense for a moment before relaxing, and she hesitantly began to pet the thing in her lap.

  “Mikyu did a really good job on her costume, didn’t she?” I couldn’t get a good look, but Mikyu looked pleased at the attention.

  Cara just nodded. I had introduced all three of them at the same time, and had emphasized Mikyu’s special nature and the reason for her costume. I had been rather surprised to find out from the Professor during the trip back that Mimikyu was a completely unknown Pokemon to her. She had made quite a few phone calls as a result, only to be surprised that no one had information on it.

  It was apparently a new Pokemon. That I had just casually gone and picked up, while explaining it in detail to the Professor. When she had asked how I knew so much, I told her that I was from a different world. She had scoffed at me, complaining that if I didn’t want to tell her, I didn’t have to make stuff up.

  Not my fault she didn’t believe me.

  Banette drew my attention as she shifted to lay her head on my leg. I used my free hand to gently start rubbing her head. She really just felt like a plush doll. Soft with that sort of false warmth that came from how the material reflected heat. She looked up at me for a moment before grabbing hold of my hand and just sort of hugging onto my arm.

  A sudden thought entered my head, though I’m not quite sure where it came from. There were lots of Shuppet’s in that place, but no people. What were they feeding on? Why were they gathered there? Both Banette and Shuppet were supposed to be inanimate object type Pokemon. Had toys been one of the things that was already stocked? That would make sense since they’re goods that don’t expire.

  So… from what my knowledge was telling me, due to the influx of ghost type energy, some of the toys were transformed into Pokemon. So this Banette had been abandoned in a different way, and never actually experienced getting thrown away. Instead she was left to rot on a shelf.

  I had to close my eyes for a moment. That was a weird experience. The more time I spent, the more I realized that I really did seem to have some sort of knowledge based power. While I might have come to some sort of conclusion if I thought about it long enough and gathered information, the way that this information had just come into my head as if it was a fact that I already knew was interesting.

  And concerning. Interesting and concerning. It was concerning because that knowledge felt like my own. It was more like remembering something than being told something. I was going to have to stop thinking about it before I had some sort of identity crisis.

  The sun was starting to make its way down, and I quickly did a headcount. Twelve including me. First thing was to do a quick nature test on the three new members. Keo liked spicy, and surprisingly didn’t like sweet, so she had a brave nature. I expected Mikyu and Banette to have a lonely nature, and while I was right about Banette, Mikyu actually liked bitter and disliked sour. That meant her nature was gentle.

  Something I found interesting as I watched Banette, was that she had a mouth above the zipper. Where I had thought that the zipper was keeping her mouth closed, it was actually more accurate to say that it was her lower lip. Or perhaps it was her lower teeth and her mouth was just always open. I wasn’t sure. The zipper could also move around, as I saw it doing so sometimes.

  I called Dee over to help with the food, and to my surprise Banette actually got up to help me as well. What surprised me even more was how quickly she took to food prep. Then Mikyu joined in as well, the two of them using their shadow claws to great efficiency once I told them what they needed to do and how to do it.

  It wasn’t until I was starting to pass out portions that Brionne returned, in probably the best mood I had ever seen her. She had leapt onto my back, wrapping her flippers around me to hang on as she began to excitedly talk about her day. Apparently she still had a lot to learn. Because she was abandoned so young, there were some rather basic things she didn’t know how to do, or wasn’t very good at. Like swimming in deep water and survival skills.

  She also didn’t know how to use moves very well under water, which is apparently what they spent most of the day doing. The bull Primarina apparently didn’t like coming to the beach and there was an underwater cave system that he lived in. According to Brionne he was huge and covered in scars. Apparently he got into a fight with a pack of Gyarados last year, and though he won, it put him out of commission for a while as far as fighting was concerned. She then went on to meet the three new members as we all had dinner.

  I wanted to see how our new members reacted to the food, so I paid close attention to them. I didn’t expect it to work some sort of miracle on Keo, but I figured it would at least maybe heal some internal injuries. She absolutely loved the food and ate like it would disappear if she took her eyes off it. Mikyu was the most subdued in her reaction, though I could see the way that she got a sort of shine from her eye slits after the first bite.

  Banette had an interesting and rather concerning reaction, her eyes watering slightly. And it wasn’t just from the spice of the food. I think it was at that moment when she started to eat and saw everyone eating around her that she realized she was one of us. Though she didn’t start crying, I could see her sniffling a bit to fight back the tears.

  It was as we were eating that the Professor showed back up. “Alola. That’s quite a lot of food,” she commented, seeing them all indulge. “What is that?”

  “Special curry,” I said in between bites of my own food. “Alola.”

  “Do you feed them this every night?” she asked, looking at some of the cooking pots. I had overestimated how much I needed to make so there was a bit left over.

  “Every night we’re not in a Pokecenter,” I continued my explanation. “They also get a pokeblock in the morning, and in the afternoon, and then one after dinner.”

  She turned to me with quite a perplexed expression. “Every day? Those must get extremely expensive.”

  “I make them,” I said before turning my attention back to my food. “After the initial investment of a blender and pokeblock machine, it’s not that much to make them.”

  Her face scrunched up a bit. “Those recipes are pretty complicated and hard to get. We outsource ours to breeders.” She paused. “Do you make them to suit every Pokemon’s individual tastes? Not just dietary requirements?”

  “I do, I think it’s important if you want them to be strong and happy. Keo, Banette, and Eevee may all like spicy food, but each of them need slight additions to their actual dish. And the same goes with pokeblocks.” I explained while I finished off my curry. “Eevee is still recovering from being sick, so she needs a lot more nutrients in her pokeblocks to help facilitate that. But Keo has internal injuries and is going to require a different mix to help her recovery.”

  The Professor looked over at Keo, a bit of a concerned expression. “Internal injuries? Did they not completely heal her at the Pokecenter?”

  “I’m sure they were in the process, but it’s just like me.” I tapped the side of my head. “I’m still suffering from the long term effects of a concussion. Not all injuries can be immediately fixed, even at a Pokecenter.” This wasn’t like the games where things would just magically be healed back to one hundred percent. This was evident by the fact I was still affected by my concussion. It wasn’t that serious, it just meant that I was more susceptible to getting another concussion.

  “A head injury sure explains a lot,” she said with a nod. Several Pokemon nodded.

  “Hey,” I said indignantly, which just caused everyone to laugh.

  She was still laughing when she continued, “Well, if you can make pokeblocks, then you sure know your stuff about the diets of Pokemon.”

  I thought about it a moment and then shrugged. Each recipe was about a page or two, so it was a bit time consuming. “You can have some of the curry if you want- ah but avoid that one unless you really like spicy stuff.” I gestured to the pot containing the remnants of the spiciest curry.

  Curiously she tried some, and immediately regretted it. Her entire face immediately went red, and desperately went for the water that I offered her. “That is! Way too! Hot!” she complained, trying to soothe her burned mouth.

  Several Pokemon were snickering, or just straight up laughing from the display. “I warned you.”

  “I like spicy food,” she argued. “But that was… way more.” She was actually fanning herself, her face having gone quite red. “What did you even put in that?”

  “It’s a spicy curry mix, with cheri and touga berries.” I had been rather surprised to find the berries that used those weird e-reader things, but they were apparently a thing. Touga were extremely spicy, so much that even making those curries made my eyes water. If I had to equate them to anything from my previous world, they were like ghost peppers but worse, but not quite as hot as the hottest peppers.

  “Okay, that explains the heat.” She seemed to calm down a bit. “Pokemon have a much higher tolerance than we do. So since you're making the curry catered to their taste, you have to take it to as extreme as possible.”

  I nodded. “Exactly.”

  She gestured at my plate. “And what about you? What are you eating?”

  “A mixture from three pots,” I said as I pointed them out, “The sweet one, dry, and sour. And like less than half a spoonful from the spicy pot.”

  After my explanation she got a plate and joined us all to eat. Even though most Pokemon had finished, some of them, like Scoly and Diancie, were slow eaters. I was glad that I had taught them how to wash their own plates, though it was mostly Brionne doing the cleaning while everyone else just tried not to get wet. She found it hilarious.

  “Did you have any plans for lodging?” the Professor asked after having her dishes cleaned, having barely gotten wet from Brionne’s little game.

  “Pokecenter. Or camping out,” I responded, also having gotten my plate clean. I was less lucky than the Professor and got pretty wet.

  She nodded. “Well, our Pokecenters don’t have lodgings. But you’re free to camp out here on the beach.”

  I smiled a bit and nodded. “Thank you. Ah, before you leave I wanted to ask you about something.”

  “I’ll schedule a meeting with the Kahuna tomorrow. I’ve got to go explain the situation to him.”

  “Oh it wasn’t about that.” I laughed softly, glad that things would be moving fairly quickly. “I actually wanted to talk about pokebeans.”

  She stared at me for a moment. “What about them?”

  “I wanted to get a bunch,” I said as I started to pull out my camping things. “Maybe some sprouts?” Seeing me starting to set up camp, Dee and Cara came over to assist.

  “Hm…well, getting you a bunch of pokebeans wouldn’t be difficult. Although I do have to warn you that they don’t really grow well in other climates.” She put a hand under her chin as she thought about it.

  It wasn’t like I actually had a place to grow them. I just wanted to know how open to the idea she was. Berry farms were apparently a rather heavily monitored thing, and you had to have special permission to set one up. The Association didn’t want the price of berries to tank, as it would hurt their pokeblock monopoly. “I’m sure I could figure something out.”

  Greenhouses were an extremely under utilized technology in this world. They did exist, but they were for the purpose of keeping and raising grass Pokemon rather than growing plants. The problem would be getting a location, but with how much money I was going to be making and the fact I was in no hurry let me plan for something like that.

  Now that the tent was properly set up, I took a look at what everyone was doing. To my not surprise, Rio was being ganged up on in another play fight. However her opponents were now a very large bug horse, an icy fox, and to my actual surprise, a little dragon slug. The three of them were actually giving her quite a hard time, though it was mostly Scoly that was batting her around. I could hear her complaining that no one was on her side.

  Eevee, Banette, and Mikyu were sitting on the blanket watching the ocean, which Brionne was out in, playing and doing a few new tricks she had learned. Diancie was also out on the water, though not actually in it, seemingly enjoying helping to throw the little seal high up into the air so that she could do more flips and twists.

  Cara and Dee had gone over to sit on the blanket once the tent was up, split between watching Brionne show off and the battle. “I’m glad they all get along…” I said softly.

  “Hm?” Professor Burnet looked over at me, and then out at the Pokemon. “You’ve got quite a lot of them.”

  I chuckled a bit at that and nodded. “Yeah… And I’m going to have so many more.”

  She arched a brow at me. “How many do you plan to get?”

  I paused, thinking about it for a moment before I shrugged. “A hundred? Maybe more?” I said with a laugh. “Someday I’ll have a huge ranch full of hundreds of Pokemon of all sorts and regions.”

  “That’s a pretty lofty goal,” she said with a chuckle.

  “Yeah. But wouldn’t it be wonderful?” I waved my hand in a vague sort of sweeping motion. “Pokemon that I love as far as the eye can see, all living happily.”

  There was a moment of silence before she nodded. “It would be nice. But the Association would never let that happen. You’d be too much of a threat.”

  “Screw the Association,” I scoffed. “I’ll just go find a big island and make my own country if I have to.” I suddenly realized that that might not actually be a bad idea. Professor Sycamore said there were a lot of places that weren’t under the Association… I could just find some place.

  “That’s very dangerous talk,” she said, still laughing a bit. Clearly she was taking everything I said as an over exaggerated joke, but the more I thought about it the more it sounded like a good idea. Not something I could do within the next ten or twenty years, but maybe someday.

  “Oh for sure,” I said as I joined in on the laughter, but for other reasons.

  “Alright, I’m going to go talk to the Kahuna now. I’ll swing by tomorrow. Alola,” she said as she turned and made her way back towards the research center, or whatever the building we were next to was.

  “Alola,” I said with a bit of a smile before I opened the tent, momentarily being startled by the sheer size of the inside before remembering. “You’d think I would get used to that…” I muttered as I moved in, putting down the large amount of bedding that I had slowly been buying.

  With more Pokemon came the need for a larger sleeping area. The ground wasn’t particularly comfortable, but with enough padding I could sleep anywhere. “Is it sleep time?” came a soft voice.

  I turned back to see Eevee, who was slowly making her way into the tent. Her footing seemed unstable, and her legs shook a bit every now and then. “Not yet,” I said softly before sitting down and pulling her into my lap.

  She let out a sigh of relief at not needing to stand. “This place is nice…” she said softly, looking out of the open tent flap. It was rare for her to talk, but as her jaw got better it became easier for her to do so.

  “Yeah… I’ve always wanted to come here.” I started to pet her and she pressed into my hand. She’d gotten so much more affectionate lately. A few minutes passed as we sat, watching the other Pokemon play in the slowly dimming light. “Eevee?”

  “Mm?” she made a little noise, letting me know she was still awake.

  “What do you want to do?” I asked, gently rubbing her side.

  She looked up at me, tilting her head to the side.

  I smiled down at her. “I mean, when you get better, what do you want to do? Do you want to battle? Do you want to just be a lap Pokemon? Evolve? Maybe-” I hesitated a moment before taking a deep breath, “Find your previous owner?”

  Her ears drooped back and she put her head down. “I don’t think I want that…”

  “It’s okay…” I said softly, pushing my fingers into her mane and using them to brush out her fur. “I just want to know what you want to do. What sort of future you want.” Thinking about my own future plans had made me think of the little brown fluff.

  “Future?” she muttered, not quite understanding what I meant.

  “What you want to do. Like, if you want to evolve there are quite a number of things we would have to plan for,” I explained. “If you wanted to be a Flareon, we’d need to get a fire stone. Or a leaf stone for a Leafeon. Or we can work on a friendship evolution, like Espeon or Umbreon, or Sylveon.”

  She seemed to mull it over in her head, though she seemed quite confused, or conflicted. Maybe both.

  “Of course you don’t need to decide now, or anytime soon.” I rubbed the side of her face and she leaned into my hand. “You’ve got lots of time.”

  “I don’t like being sick…” she mumbled.

  I scratched behind her ears, smiling down at her. “You’ll get better. You’re getting better.” She closed her eyes as I rubbed and pet her. I had a feeling she was going to be a lap Pokemon.

  While I had the time I decided to make more pokeblocks for everyone. Everyone’s dietary needs had changed, and with all the new Pokemon they needed their own. Thankfully I could easily tell what they needed, information that was provided to me like a mental guide. I didn’t have all the ingredients I wanted, but I had more than enough to make some good quality pokeblocks that would get all eleven Pokemon through another month.

  I actually really liked making pokeblocks. It was less like cooking, and more like chemistry. You had to balance the ingredients in a far more precise manner. It wasn’t just a vague mixture of berries, herbs, and vitamins, it required patience and being able to measure things properly. I had failed quite a few of those early batches, but now it was more a matter of how good they were. And of course higher quality meant that they would be more beneficial.

  As I was finishing up there was a sudden Pokemon flopped next to me, and I looked as Rio put her head on my leg, looking up at me. “That little ice fox is tough,” she complained. I could see that most of her fur was covered in frost. I laughed softly as I started to scratch under the jackal’s chin.

  “That was fun,” the little ice fox in question said as she came in, looking roughed up, followed by Scoly, who was equally a mess. “It’s nice fighting someone who actually fights back.”

  “We still barely beat her,” Scoly complained with a sigh. “Even with all three of us.” The bug horse laid down beside me, and I realized Goomy was riding on her back. I was nearly knocked over as the bug rolled onto her side and against me, much to the surprise of the slug on her back.

  “Rio is good at close combat,” I said, trying to shift and not get rolled over by a bug. “But her greatest strength is shrugging off hits. With a bit of training Keo could beat her solo by focusing her down with ice attacks.”

  “Why are you against me?” Rio whined, softly batting at my arm as I continued scratching under her chin.

  I chuckled and smiled at her. “It’s something that you need to be aware of. You’re slipping out of your block or deflect focus again.” I grabbed hold of her muzzle, wiggling her head a bit. “You're good at tanking, but you’re not supposed to get hit that hard.”

  She stuck her tongue out at me, not being able to make a rebuttal because I was holding her mouth shut. Keo tilted her head. “What’s tanking?”

  “Ah, it’s one of the three forms of defense.” I went into a brief explanation of the forms and how they worked. “If you plan on battling, you need to choose one to focus more on. That includes you too, Goomy.” I reached over and started to squish-pet the slug, who looked quite pleased at the attention.

  Keo sat down next to Rio, her brow furrowed. “Which one do you think I should do?”

  I blinked. “You want me to choose?”

  “You’re the trainer,” she said, gesturing at me.

  With a chuckle, I nodded. “True. But you’re the only one who asked.” I thought about it for a moment, trying to recall what I had seen in the fight. “I think dodge would fit you best. Losing a leg hasn’t apparently slown you down, you just move differently now, and the injury would throw off opponents who would think you weren’t fast. Your speed is really good, and with some training could get even better. Especially if you evolve-”

  “I want to evolve.”

  I paused. “Are you sure?”

  She placed her paw onto my leg and nodded. “My mother is a Ninetails. She’s… so powerful.”

  I nodded a bit. “If that’s what you want.” I wondered if evolving like that would heal her… My knowledge power wasn’t giving me an answer. Evolution was something that was unfortunately not well known. Many evolutions were unknown, at least according to the pokedex app. Professor Oak’s reaction to me saying how many Pokemon I knew of had been rather subdued, but when Professor Burnet had said that Mimikyu was an unknown Pokemon, I looked up how many Pokemon were actually in the pokedex. It had less than seven hundred listed. I should ask Professor Sycamore about it, he might know.

  There was a big smile on the little ice fox’s face, and her tails were wagging. I reached over to rub at her cheek. It was at that moment that I realized that I didn’t have enough hands to pet them all. “I…want to do…that third one…” a small and unfamiliar voice said.

  Looking from where it came from I could see the little slug that was still sitting on Scoly and looking at me with a determined expression. That was the first thing she had actually said, and it brought a smile to my face. “Tank?” I asked, and she gave a nod. “That’s a very good choice for you, since you have the Gooey ability.”

  “Gooey?” she questioned.

  “Rio, did you notice when you hit Goomy, a bit of slime got on you?” I turned my gaze to Rio, who had her eyes closed.

  “Yeah. It was like… if I hit her hard enough, it would kind of splatter me a bit and after a while it made it harder to move,” she said as she held up her arm, gesturing to a bit where there were some splatters left.

  “That’s what the Gooey ability does. The more you physically hit her, the more goo will get on you, which sticks and slows you down.” I could see the way that Goomy’s eyes seemed to sparkle as I described the ability.

  “I want to train more,” Rio suddenly whined.

  “We can do some training tomorrow,” I said and looked up as Cara and the rest started to make their way into the tent.

  “How will the new ones train?” Cara asked. She was carrying Mikyu in one arm, and leading Banette by the hand with the other. Her fear of ghosts could not overpower her extremely fierce motherly instincts.

  “Well that depends on if they are interested in training.” I looked at the newest members expectantly. They wouldn’t have to battle if they didn’t want to, but training would help them get stronger. Unsurprisingly all of them wanted to train, especially Eevee, but she understood that she was too weak to start yet. With a nod I took a moment to think about how to start them off. “I’ll sit with them at the edge of the field. The Gravity is weakest at the edge, and if they’re struggling too much I can get them out.” That seemed to satisfy her curiosity and she nodded.

  The sleeping arrangements had suddenly become very complicated. Cara still had her spot, with Rio sort of laying on her with her head on my thigh. Scoly now took up my entire lower right side, though she put her head under my hand and I felt some of her legs laying on mine. Dee made herself comfortable as my pillow. Eevee tucked herself into my neck above Cara. Keo put herself on my right side, laying mostly on my bicep, and Goomy was next to her on my shoulder. And then everyone else was on top of me. Banette and Brionne laid on my chest, while Mikyu laid on my stomach.

  I was well and thoroughly pinned. Thankfully the only heavy one that laid on top of me was Brionne, and she still felt pretty light. The only thing that I could really move was my left arm, but Diancie had laid down on the other side of Cara and grasped my free hand. I wasn’t entirely sure if she slept or just laid with us and held my hand.

  ~

  Waking in the morning wasn’t a struggle, but getting everyone else to wake up was the hard part. Cara was the only one who got up quickly and helped unbury me. Everyone was rather reluctant to get up, until I mentioned that they wouldn’t get any pokeblocks until they came outside.

  That got everyone moving, even those new to the group. Dee and Cara helped me pass out pokeblocks to everyone. The reaction from Keo, Mikyu, Banette, and even Goomy, from their first pokeblock was quite a sight. Their whole being seemed enraptured, a moment of utter bliss radiating off them. Of course, everyone had a similar reaction, but those who never had one before always had such a strong reaction. Of course I ate one from my personal stock. They were like super vitamin gummies and I had seen the fantastic results it had had on my physical abilities. I was stronger, and had a lot more stamina.

  This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

  In order to start training we had to move out of range of the tent, since I was fairly certain it wouldn’t withstand the force. I put out markers for everyone, as well as the training balls. “I want everyone to keep at it from their last session, but Scoly.” I pointed at the bug. “I want you to try and do as little damage to the ground as possible. It’s good training for your control, but I also don’t want to mess up the beach.”

  She nodded after a moment. Everyone got into position as I walked back to the tent. I didn’t even make it a few steps before Gravity suddenly spiked as Diancie decided it was time to start. It caused me to stumble, but other than that I was okay. Goomy started to do her laps, still struggling to move properly in the Gravity, especially now in the sand.

  “Keo, Banette, Mikyu.” I stood at the edge of the Gravity field as I called them over. “Your main goal for the time will be to get used to the increased Gravity.” They looked at me a bit confused. “You’ll understand when you cross that line,” I pointed at the clear indentation that the Gravity made in the sand.

  Mikyu was the first to venture in, immediately being crushed under the weight. “Ah- heavy-” she whined, struggling. I heard a few cracks from the sticks inside her costume, but she otherwise seemed fine.

  “Just try and keep breathing,” I said, mostly to Keo since I didn’t know if the two ghosts actually needed to breathe.

  Keo entered next, immediately hitting the sand. I saw the panic in her eyes.

  “Just breathe,” I said softly as I knelt down. “I’m right here if you can’t take it. I can-”

  “No,” she managed through grit teeth, looking at the rest of the group who didn’t even look to be struggling under the weight. “I can do it…”

  “Just keep breathing.” As I spoke, Banette came in as well, hitting the ground harder than the other two. It was clear that Banette and Mikyu hadn’t done any previous training. It was probably a bit too harsh to start them off immediately into the Gravity field, but I didn’t really have any other options.

  It was a few hours before Keo actually managed to get up slightly. The Primarina had also shown up, watching the excitement with cheers and applause. They had enough sense to not try and enter the gravity field after testing it a bit. It wasn’t long after that before Professor Burnet approached. “Ah, training?” Her brow furrowed as she looked at the three on the ground. “Alola. What’s wrong with them?”

  “Ah, Alola, it’s their first day of training. So they’re- ah! Wait don’t-” but my warning came too late.

  The moment she entered the Gravity field her legs buckled and she nearly ate sand. She had barely been able to catch herself. I moved over quickly and pulled her out of the field. She was panting and gasping for air once I did. “What…what the fuck was that?!” she yelled.

  “Gravity,” I said as I gestured to the area. “Diancie can create a large field of it, increasing the weight of everything ten times.”

  She was still breathing kind of hard as she stood up with my help, her legs were a bit shaky. “How… how are you fine?”

  “I’ve been training in it, too. It’s still hard, but after a few months it gets easy enough to move in.” I took a step back, reentering the Gravity field.

  The Professor stared at me for a moment before looking over at the training Pokemon. Then realization dawned on her. “You train all of your Pokemon like that?”

  “It’s an effective method.” I looked down at the struggling trio, making sure that none of them were struggling too much. “Increases strength, speed, and endurance. Bit rough at the start, though.”

  She put her hand under her chin. “I’ve never heard of this sort of training before.”

  “Yeah that doesn’t surprise me,” I said as I looked back at the training Pokemon. “How did the talk with the Kahuna go?”

  “Well, he wants to talk to you before making a decision…”

  “Alright. When does he want to meet?”

  “Right now,” came a voice from the side. I turned to see an older looking man in a blue shirt and yellow sort of flowery robe. “Alola.”

  “Kahuna Hala, Alola,” I said with a smile and a slight bow of my head.

  “Ho? So you know who I am on sight.” It’s not like it was difficult. He looked me up and down, or at least I think he did considering his eyes looked closed. He then looked behind me to see my Pokemon training. “So this is how a Pokemon Expert trains Pokemon?” To my surprise he stepped forward, entering the Gravity field. He acted like he didn’t notice the change, but I practically felt the way his muscles tensed.

  “It’s how I train them,” I said with a bit of a soft laugh.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of using Gravity to increase the difficulty of training.” I was fairly certain he was looking at me out of the corner of his eyes as I felt a scrutinizing gaze.

  “I will admit I didn’t come up with it, but I saw its effectiveness. And I was lucky enough to have a friend who knew the move.” I gestured towards Diancie.

  “A mythic,” Hala said. There were a few moments of silence as we watched before he spoke again, “You came here for a Z-Power Ring.”

  “I did,” I admitted.

  “And what makes you think you’re worthy of one?” He turned to face me, folding his arms in front of him.

  “I don’t.” I continued to watch my Pokemon, though I matched his stance and folded my arms. “But it’s not for me. It’s for them.”

  “Ho?” He arched a brow at me.

  “They want to be stronger. And I promised that I would help them.” I smiled a bit. “Z-Moves. Mega Evolutions. Dynamax. Terastallization. If it can help make them stronger, then I’m gonna try and get it.”

  “Hm. Well, I don’t know what those are, aside from Z-Moves.” He sounded interested, but it was rather hard to tell as he was keeping his tone rather neutral.

  “I would show you, but I don’t-” I stopped, and then reached into my bag and pulled out my key stone. “Actually, I can Mega Evolve one of my Pokemon. I’ve not gotten the stones for the others.” I looked at the group of training Pokemon. “Diancie! Gravity off.”

  The effect immediately ended and she looked over at me, blinking. I waved for her to come over. “Yes?” she questioned as she floated over.

  “We’re going to show the Kahuna something,” I said with a smile. I tried to think back to the moment when Andrew’s Lucario had Mega Evolved. He hadn’t done anything special as far as I could tell aside from using energy. And it had looked like it had been the Lucario that had triggered the effect. “I want you to empower your Diancite.”

  She just blinked at me.

  “Push energy into it,” I tried, hoping that that explanation would be enough. It took a moment but there was suddenly a flash of light, swirling energy encapsulated her for a brief moment, and when it abruptly broke she was very different. I felt a massive pull of energy from myself that I hadn’t been expecting. I should have, considering what I knew of Mega Evolutions. I was the source of the energy that allowed her to Mega Evolve.

  Her forehead diamond had taken on a more heart shape. Her dress had expanded, now having flowing lace. Her diamonds had grown and now took the form of a skirt around her. The rock that had been her lower half was now just a big pink diamond. “Oh!” she exclaimed, doing a twirl.

  Everyone, including the nearby Pokemon, gaped at her new appearance. She giggled and twirled at the attention. “That is a Mega Evolution. A temporary spike in her overall power.”

  “How…how long does it last?” Professor Burnet asked.

  “Till she can’t maintain it, or reverts herself.” I held out my hand and she rushed over to grasp it, giggling.

  “And… all Pokemon can do this?” the Professor asked, taking a look at Diancie.

  “Only if you can find a matching Mega Stone. Of the known Mega Stones that match those in my group, there’s one for Lucario, Audino, and Banette.” I twirled Diancie around, much to her delight.

  “How much of a power spike is it?” Hala asked, finally having picked his jaw up off the floor.

  “It varies too much from Pokemon to Pokemon, but it should be a noticeable boost. Professor Sycamore might have more exact data.” I still wasn’t sure if stats could actually be given numbers.

  Diancie suddenly burst into light, and returned to her original form. “That was cool!” she exclaimed.

  “Did you end that, or get tired?” I asked, a bit concerned at how short that had been.

  “It was starting to feel weird,” she said. “But I could have done it for a lot longer.” It sounded like it was a case of her just not being used to it, and it made her uncomfortable.

  I nodded a bit and looked at the Kahuna. He seemingly looked at me as well, scrutinizing me. “You just want power?”

  I shook my head. “No. They want to be strong, and I want to help them.”

  “What’s the difference?” Professor Burnet asked, her brow furrowing.

  “It’s power for their sake, not my sake.”

  Hala watched me, scrutinizing me. It was obvious he was trying to keep his expression flat, but the shock of what I had just shown him had caught him off guard. After a few moments he nodded. “I will give you one chance.”

  The Professor blinked. “What?”

  I smiled. “That’s all I ask for.”

  “So now you’re changing your mind, Kahuna,” the Professor said, frowning.

  He held up a hand with a laugh. “Burnet. It won’t be me he has to convince. He has to convince one of the Guardians that he is worthy. That will be his first Trial.”

  ~

  A few hours later I found myself in the Pokecenter, having just handed everyone over for a checkup. “Here’s the pokebeans that you wanted,” Professor Burnet said, handing me a pouch. I nodded a bit as I took it and put it into one of the outer pockets of my bag. I had been warned not to put a spacial bag inside of another, or they would both stop working. “I’m sorry about Hala. He told me he was going to tell you no. I didn’t think he’d just give you an impossible task.”

  I reached up and rubbed at the Comfey that was sitting on my shoulder. “You think it’s impossible?”

  “Only the Kahuna’s are ever acknowledged personally by the Guardians. It’s part of the ceremony.” She sighed as she leaned against the wall. She sighed again after a moment. “I’m going to go talk to him. Alola.” She left before I had a chance to say anything.

  I chuckled a bit. “Oh ye of little faith.” I turned a bit to look at the little Pokemon. “You believe in me, don’t you Comfey?”

  They responded with a nod and a soft, “Of course.”

  At that moment Nurse Joy appeared. “Ah, Jason. Here are your Pokemon.” She had Dee beside her, who was carrying one of those little trays that had nearly a dozen pokeballs on it.

  “Thank you,” I said with a smile, quickly scooping them all up and tucking them inside my coat. Once they were all collected, Dee passed the tray to Nurse Joy who took it with a smile.

  “I wish you luck, Alola” she said with a smile at me before turning away and going off to assist someone else.

  “Alola,” I said, giving Comfey a pat before heading back outside. “Does anyone have faith in me?” I asked the air as I rubbed the top of Dee’s head.

  Suddenly there was a Rio standing in front of me, her hands on her hips. “I do!” she declared.

  I let out a soft snort as I reached over and ruffled her head. “Well I’m glad you do.”

  “I think we all do,” Cara said after popping out from her pokeball as well.

  “I’m honestly not too worried about it,” I said as I retrieved Eevee from her pokeball. Since she was recovering from a sickness, the stasis that the pokeballs put her in was detrimental to her recovery time. She actually bonked her head into my chest after I picked her up, which brought a smile to my face. “Either I succeed, or I don’t. And while it would be beneficial to get it, it won’t be the end of the world if I don’t.”

  “What’s so important about these things anyways?” Rio asked, her head tilting to the side. Everyone else came out as well, not wanting to stay in their pokeballs if they didn’t have to. Brionne, Goomy, Mikyu, Banette, and Keo all riding on Scoly’s back. The only one who didn’t come out was Diancie, as I had warned her not to come out inside towns. Even without her, we were drawing a lot of looks. Most people didn’t walk around with more than a single Pokemon out.

  “Z-Moves are extremely powerful.” In terms of the games they were pretty broken and unbalanced. Neat gimmick, though. Before I could go into more detail a group stepped in our path.

  In the front was a rather young looking man, dressed in a white suit. He had purple hair, which matched his shirt and his shoes. Behind him were two rather large men dressed in black suits, wearing sunglasses and even had ear pieces. They were clearly there to be intimidating, but all I could think was how they must be suffering in this heat. I could see one of them whispering to the young man, looking like he was explaining something but from the expression on his face he wasn't listening very much.

  “Hey, you,” the young man called out.

  “Yes?” I looked the young man up and down, though now that I actually got a better look at him there was no way that he was even old enough to start his journey yet.

  “You have some strong looking Pokemon. How much do you want for him?” he said as he gestured towards my group of Pokemon.

  I looked at him for a moment, trying to figure out what sort of nonsense did his parents do that gave him such confidence. My brow furrowed and I shook my head. “Not for sale.”

  His mouth looked like he had suddenly sucked on a lemon. “Not for sale? What do you mean? I want you to sell him to me,” he said with another gesture at the group. “How about thirty thousand?”

  “Look, kid. I’m not going to sell any of my Pokemon to you.” I glanced at the two bodyguards that were doing their best to look intimidating.

  “Fine, fifty thousand for him.” He was clenching his fists, clearly losing his temper.

  “No. Look-” I paused as I realized something. “Wait. Who- who are you even talking about?”

  The question seemed to catch him off guard as he stared at me for a moment. “What? What do you mean who? Him,” he said as he gestured vaguely at the group.

  Now I was just confused. I realized why something about what he was saying was off. “I don’t have any male Pokemon,” I said after a moment of thinking. Of course that was the moment I realized it myself. All of them were girls. How did that happen? I was going to have to get some male Pokemon or people are going to think weird things and jump to ridiculously dumb conclusions.

  There was a moment of silence as he stared at me like I was an idiot. Eventually he seemed to snap out of whatever shock he had. “Yes. You do, right- Whatever. The dog one, the taller one. I want him.”

  I paused as I looked over at my group again, a bit more confused at who he was even talking about. However I realized who when I saw the looks on Cara and Rio’s face. I turned back to him, frowning a bit. “No. Also, all of those Pokemon are female. I don’t have any males.”

  He stared at me, still having that same expression. “Are you stupid? That one. Right there,” he pointed but I didn’t look back. “Whatever! Just, sell him to me. I’ll give you sixty thousand, and my bodyguards won’t beat you up.”

  My eye twitched slightly. I took in a deep breath. “First of all, this is not going to happen, you self entitled brat. Kids like you always make things so difficult…” He looked absolutely gobsmacked by my words. “Secondly, that is a female Pokemon. All of them are female,” I tried to put as much emphasis on that as possible.

  His face was going red with how made he was getting, which was honestly quite impressive to watch him turn into a tomato. “You-”

  “What’s going on here?” Professor Burnet asked, quickly coming over.

  “Ah, Professor. Alola.” The way both of the bodyguards stiffened was honestly satisfying. “This young man is demanding that I give him one of my Pokemon.”

  “Is he?” It was an Officer Jenny that asked. I didn’t even know she was there, but she practically materialized from behind the Professor, apparently they had been talking to each other nearby.

  “I did not! I wanted to buy him!” the kid practically shouted.

  “And I said no, you cannot buy her,” I said, putting emphasis on the last word. “And yet you kept demanding and threatening me. That is attempted theft by coercion I believe, Officer Jenny?”

  “Indeed it is.” She put her hands on her hips. “You three. Come with me. Now.”

  For a moment it looked like the kid was going to argue, but then one of the men put a hand on his shoulder. “Of course, Officer. This is just a misunderstanding and I’m sure we’ll be able to clear it up.”

  I didn’t hear the rest of the conversation as I walked off. I wasn’t about to be bothered with that. “What was that about?” Professor Burnet asked when she caught up.

  “Exactly as I described. That kid was demanding I sell Rio to him and wouldn’t take no for an answer.” I glanced at Rio, who for the first time since I had known her looked a bit scared. Not the type of scared she’d been by the ghost’s, but an actual look of fear. “But there’s no way I’m letting that happen. She’s my family, and I’m not letting her go,” I said, mostly to reassure Rio than to convince the Professor. Which seemed to work as both jackals eased a bit.

  However the Professor’s eyes narrowed a bit. “Feels like a bit more than that… but alright.” She sighed a bit. “Anyways, I talked to the Kahuna, but he’s-”

  I interrupted her with a pat on her back. “Have some confidence, Professor. You’re talking like I’ve already failed.” She just stared at me, and I gave her a wave as I headed off up the mountain towards the ruins of conflict. “Alola,” I called out.

  I returned everyone so that they wouldn’t accidentally draw more attention. Scoly asked if I wanted to ride her, but I just pet her saying that I actually wanted to walk the island. We’d get plenty of running around later. She was a bit grumpy about that.

  Everyone was back in their pokeball but Eevee and Goomy, the little fox was placed back into my hood while the slug was placed on my shoulder. They seemed quite excited to see the place, and that made me feel bad that everyone else couldn’t see it very well. But there were too many people and we were drawing too much attention.

  As soon as we were back outside of the city, I let them all back out and we got to walk for a while, heading up towards the mountain. Though most of them were being lazy and just riding on Scoly while enjoying the scenery. I took the scenic route around the island, listening to them chatter about the things they could see. As we approached Iki Town, I had everyone but Eevee and Goomy return again.

  “You think it’ll be that easy?” a voice called out, and I looked over at Hala who was standing in the middle of the arena. Iki Town was a nice little place, and would have probably been a lot more pleasant if everyone hadn’t been staring at me. This was the last place I had to pass by before entering Mahala Trail and the ruins.

  I looked up at the man, standing on the battle platform. In response to his question, I laughed. “No. But-” I spread my arms out, “You gave me the Trial. What kind of person wouldn’t even try when they’ve been given a chance?”

  He glared down at me for a moment before nodding. “If you want to access the trail, you must beat me.”

  “Changing the rules because I won’t back down, old man?” I said with a laugh as I got up onto the other side of the platform.

  A booming sort of laughter escaped him as well. “You can think of it as this old man just being stubborn about tradition.” He took his place opposite me. “How many Pokemon do you have that are ready for battle?”

  “Full six,” I said.

  He nodded. “Three on three, then.”

  There was a crowd forming. I could feel a bit of sweat on my palms… this was my first official Pokemon battle, and it was not going to be a simple opponent. Another person came up on the side of the arena, putting up their hand. “This is an official battle between the Kahuna Hala, and the Pokemon Expert Jason. Three versus three. No swaps. Any Pokemon that is returned will be considered knocked out. Kahuna, are you ready?” He nodded, pulling out a pokeball. “Challenger, are you ready?”

  I wondered why I was considered the challenger when it was clearly Hala that initiated. But I nodded, pulling a ball of my own. “Ready.”

  “Release your Pokemon,” the referee called.

  We both threw our pokeballs at the same time. Both burst into light, revealing Brionne on my side, and Hariyama on the other. That was one of the Pokemon he used in the League battle back in the game. “Brionne, eh? I was expecting one of your Lucarios,” he said with a chuckle. Hariyama was already using a buff move without any order.

  “Moonblast,” was my response, and Brionne unleashed the blue-violet burst of energy without hesitation.

  Hala arched a brow at me, but his Pokemon simply palmed the blast, causing it to explode into a violet cloud.

  “Up,” I instructed as the Hariyama lunged forward through the remnants of the swirling energy and struck forward, his fist colliding with nothing but the jet of water that Brionne had just used to launch herself into the air.

  That clearly caught both trainer and Pokemon off guard, but she had used too much effort when doing it and launched herself too high. Downfall of being so used to Gravity. But she managed an absolutely stunning pirouette to orient herself and an Aqua Ring burst around her before she came down right onto the fighting Pokemon, causing an immediate burst of smoke and almost comical sound effects to erupt out as she used Play Rough. Part of training was to keep using moves of the same type to the last one I called.

  I had sent out Brionne because fighting was weak to fairy. When the cloud disappeared and both Pokemon separated, they both looked battered. Unfortunately Hariyama’s response to Play Rough had been Close Combat. I was starting to think that this might be a bit too much for Brionne’s first official battle and I might need to pull her out, but she just looked so determined to keep going.

  “Hariyama, throw her,” Hala called out.

  I smirked. “Oh? Brionne, look at him going to give you a hug. I think he needs a kiss,” I said as I folded my arms.

  The moment the fighting Pokemon grabbed her, she gave him a big smooch on the cheek. Again both trainer and Pokemon were stunned at the action. But before Hala had a chance to respond, his Pokemon fell back, its eyes rolled back and very clearly knocked out.

  There was another moment of silence before the referee raised his hand. “Hariyama is unable to battle.”

  Hala stared at his Pokemon, and then at me. “Draining Kiss,” I explained, still smirking. Even though that was the case, and Brionne had clearly won, I could see that she was in rough shape. Hariyama had been on his last legs when the kiss landed, so she hadn’t drained much health, and the only reason she was still standing at all was Aqua Ring slowly restoring her.

  “Well, that was sure a surprise,” Hala said with a laugh as he returned Haritama and pulled out another ball. He tossed it out and a Poliwrath appeared on his side.

  Brionne was in no state to continue, and even if Poliwrath was weak to fairy, he also had Water Absorb and would heal if hit with any water moves from her movement technique. So I pulled out her ball. “Good job,” I said before returning her.

  I had focused on fairy moves because Hala’s Pokemon were weak to them, and it had worked, but Brionne still nearly got knocked out by getting hit by just one Close Combat. If he hadn’t tanked that initial Moonblast and instead dodged, the Draining Kiss wouldn’t have been enough and Brione would have gone down from the Seismic Toss. “Brionne has withdrawn. Jason, please send out your next Pokemon.”

  Tossing my second pokeball out, the burst of red revealed Scoly, already stanced up and ready to go. “I apologize in advance for your arena. We’re still working on her control.”

  He gave me a puzzled look, but the moment the referee dropped his hand to signal the start of the fight, the giant bug horse turned into a ball and immediately spun up. It occurred to me that if she was blue I’d call her a hedgehog. But she was red, so an echidna?

  Poliwrath, unsure what to do braced himself and nearly put down the hands it had put up to block before he was barreled into by a red streak. To my surprise, the water Pokemon wasn’t knocked over, but his feet left rather harsh grooves in the wood as he absorbed the blow, which he probably regretted when he saw his hands covered in purple goop.

  Scoly had had the best success with any of the experiments I had tried. She couldn’t do it for long, but we had successfully created a new move by combining aspects from Rollout, Defense Curl, Iron Defense, Gyro Ball, Poison Sting, and Extreme Speed. It didn’t have the benefits of all of the moves, but if she’s given a moment to charge up her spin she was a bouncing poison metal ball of doom. She named it Venom Steel Ball.

  The next time the red blur shot at the blue Pokemon, he was ready for it. He delivered a rather surprising Sky Uppercut that shifted the angle of her momentum and caused Scoly to be shot upwards at even greater speed, quickly becoming just a red spot in the sky. I had to squint upwards, trying to see what she was doing next. “End it,” Hala said, and I saw Poliwrath begin to slap its stomach. Belly Drum? A move that maximizes attack power at the sacrifice of half the user's health.

  I didn’t think that was a good move, considering the Pokemon was already poisoned and had taken two hits, even if it had blocked both. He was betting on mutual destruction? Then I heard a cry from above, and looked up just to see Scoly ramrod straight and plummeting towards Poliwrath. “Meteor Horn!” she screamed.

  And then the arena exploded.

  My arms shot up to block the scattering of debris. After a moment I peeked over my arm to see that a good third of the arena was gone, and it had been replaced by a huge crater. In the center of that crater was a large red figure, attempting to get her head unstuck from the ground. I looked around, seeing Poliwrath a few dozen feet away and embedded in the wall of the Kahuna’s house.

  She had missed.

  But even with a miss, the force of the blow and the damage the poor water Pokemon had taken was apparently enough to knock it out. Hala had also not escaped unscathed, having had to dive from the platform to not get hit by the blast, and he was now peeking over the edge to survey the destruction. “I thought you were joking!” he shouted at me, clearly talking about my earlier comment about destroying the arena.

  I just shrugged at him, brushing some dust from my coat. Scoly had used Megahorn combined with her large size and weight, and amped up her defense while in the air to survive the air strike.

  She finally broke free of the ground, gasping for air. “I live!” she declared, striking a pose on the center of the crater.

  I looked over at the referee, who had also dived back and was hiding behind part of the arena. “Are you going to call it?”

  He startled, looking over at me for a moment. Then he looked at Scoly, and then over at Poliwrath. “P-Poliwrath is- is unable to b-battle!” he managed to call.

  Scoly jumped up, landing in the arena near me with a sort of grace that seemed unnatural to her size and previous action. “How was that? Came up with it myself.”

  “You missed,” I said, pointing over at the Poliwrath.

  She froze, looking down into the crater. “Huh. So I did…” she said sheepishly. Even though I was kind of glad that she did, as I wasn’t sure if that Pokemon would have survived that.

  “But, good job adapting and taking advantage of your situation.” She looked immensely pleased, though I did notice that she was swaying. “You good for another?”

  “I… I’m a bit dizzy,” she admitted. “My head hurts.” It had been a struggle to make them realize that telling me they were hurt or tired was not admitting they were weak, but helping me to make them better. With the fact that Pokemon could have long lasting damage, pushing himself in a fight could have pretty severe consequences.

  I nodded and returned her before she could protest. Hala climbed back onto the arena, taking his position. “Okay. Yeah, I admit that I really underestimated you.” He looked quite thoughtful as he spoke, returning Poliwrath. “I’ll forfeit,” he said with a nod.

  The referee opened his mouth, but I cut him off. “Are you sure? You still have Crabominable and your Fightinium Z.”

  That caused him to pause, clearly wondering how I knew that. But after a moment he shook his head. “This was a test, and you’ve already passed. There’s no need to continue.”

  I could immediately feel the annoyance coming from Rio, whose ball I was already holding, as the referee called out, “Kahuna Hala has forfeit. The winner is Pokemon Expert Jason.” He held up his hand on the same side as me.

  To my surprise there were suddenly cheers. I blinked as I looked over, noticing that we had a crowd of at least fifty people. “Huh. That’s a pretty interesting feeling,” I muttered as I hopped down from the stage. I could see a Pokecenter, and that was my destination.

  But I was stopped. “What was that big bug Pokemon?” a rather excited kid said.

  “Her name is Scoly, and she’s a Scolipede.” I was confused for a moment, as I was fairly certain that Venipede was available in Sun and Moon. Then I realized that it wasn’t in Ultra Sun and Moon, so this was probably based on that? Or maybe they weren’t available on this island? That was confusing.

  What followed was a bunch of people congratulating me on passing the test. It honestly felt weird because I didn’t understand why it was such a big deal. Probably impressive to them, but Hala’s Pokemon weren’t on the same level as those that I had watched in the League finals. In fact all it has done is make me realize everyone still has a long way to go.

  Eventually I made my way through the crowd and to the Pokecenter. Nurse Joy was outside, as well as a Blissey. Had they also watched? “Everyone is acting like I just beat the Champion or something,” I said with a chuckle.

  “Well. Hala is one of the strongest trainers on the island,” Nurse Joy said with a smile, leading me inside.

  “Ah, well, I guess that makes sense then.” Though that was disappointing, since I felt he had taken it easy on me. It was like he didn’t use his best Pokemon against me? I knew he still had a Z-Move if he wanted. Maybe that’s why he was the strongest trainer, because he didn’t have to rely on gimmicks to win fights. I placed all of my pokeballs on a tray, planning to have all of them checked on while I was here. Dee immediately burst out, determined to help out like she always did.

  “They fought well,” Blissey said as she took the tray, her and Dee disappearing into the back.

  I had to agree with that. They had both done a very good job. They both fought opponents who were stronger than them, and had more experience, but used their speed and maneuverability to win. Well, in Brionne’s case the reason she won was because of spamming type advantage, and I wasn’t against using such tactics against someone like Hala. And in the end, a win is a win.

  As I sat waiting, continuing my work on my cell phone notes and continuing to ignore my Kalos liaison, suddenly the door was flung open. There stood a man with a white ball cap, sunglasses, a doctor's coat without a shirt, gray shorts and green sandals. Professor Kukui. His eyes immediately locked onto me, lounging with my feet dangling off the side of the couch. “Alola! You’re Jason, right?” he said with a big grin as he made his way over.

  “Yeah that’s me,” I said slowly. “Alola.”

  “When I heard someone was fighting the Kahuna I came running at extreme speed, but seems I missed the whole fight. You made a mess out of the arena,” he said with a laugh as he sat down in a nearby seat.

  I shifted a bit and sat up. “Yeah that was Scoly,” I said with an amused tone.

  “Hala said it was one hell of a move, and if he didn’t know better he would have sworn it was a Z-Move,” he said with a chuckle. “But… he also mentioned that he gave you a Trial.”

  “He did,” I said with a nod.

  He frowned a bit and sighed. “Damn old man making things difficult… If you had asked me, I would have helped get you a Z-Power Ring.”

  That caused me to laugh. “Where’s the fun in that? I came here to do Trials. To have myself tested and prove that I was worthy of it.”

  He stared at me for a moment before laughing and nodding. “My wife did say you were quite the character. Glad it’s a good one.” There was a smile on his face. “Well, I’d say you’ve at least proven your strength to the old man.”

  I waved a hand. “And what does his opinion matter?” I said with a chuckle. “It’s the Guardians that will determine if I’m worthy.”

  “And what if they say no?” he asked, an amused look on his face.

  “Then I guess I fail and move on.” I tucked my phone back into my bag. “I feel like everyone expects me to give up if I fail.”

  “Many do,” he said with a sigh.

  Team Skull immediately came to mind and I sighed as well. “Professor. When you fall, what is the first thing you do?” Dee came out with Blissey, holding a tray with all my pokeballs. They were excitedly talking about things, currently about how Dee performed her medical duties out in the wilderness.

  He thought about it for a moment, his hand on his chin. “Cuss out whatever I tripped over?”

  I snorted softly, smiling as I gathered up my pokeballs, returning Dee. “Okay, yeah that’s fair.” I shook my head, giving him a bit of a smile. “You get up. And if you can’t get up on your own, you ask for help.”

  Again he thought for a moment before nodding. “A good way to look at it.”

  We wandered out of the Pokecenter after I thanked Blissey and Nurse Joy. We stopped in front of Mahalo trail, a few people were cleaning up the area around the arena and discussing what to do about the crater. Someone just suggested turning it into a pond, and many others agreed.

  “Do you think you’ll succeed?” Professor Kukui asked, looking up at the mountain with me.

  “That’ll depend on Tapu Koko,” I said before starting my hike. “Alola!” I waved back at him before releasing everyone. A mountain hike would be some good training.

  “Freedom!” Rio announced, her fists in the air.

  I laughed. “Are you going to do that every time you have to spend time in the pokeball?” I reached over and rubbed her head.

  She had the good grace to look a bit embarrassed at her actions, but then she looked a bit sad. “Jace…uhm… about earlier. What that guy said…”

  I smiled a bit as I leaned forward, tucking my hand behind her head as I pressed my forehead to the top of her head. “You don’t have to defend yourself with me, Rio.” I gently rubbed the back of her head as I spoke. “You’re my good strong girl.”

  A giggle escaped her as she put her hands up, pushing my face away. “Gosh, don’t embarrass me in front of everyone,” she complained as she hurriedly moved away, her face had turned a bit red, but I saw that tail wagging.

  We hiked for a few hours before coming up to the rather simple looking entrance in the mountain. The path up continued, but I knew this was it. “Are we going in there?” Scoly asked, a bit hesitant with going underground considering what happened last time. Most of the group was riding on her back.

  “Well, this is ruins rather than a cave,” I said with a bit of a smile as I walked forward. Inside was a rather large chamber, the two pits in the center I remembered from the game were large pools of water, but the rest of it was how I thought it would be. A blocky figure eight surrounded by a drop leading to plants and flowers, trees climbing the walls.

  “Whoa…” Eevee said from my shoulder. I reached up and scratched absentmindedly under her chin. The ceiling was more tree canopy than actual roof, but that wasn’t very concerning to me as I made my way through. Behind I could hear the little clitter clack of Scoly’s claws on the floor as she followed.

  Cara had chosen to walk beside me, having been uncharacteristically quiet since that kid approached us. But she had been clinging to the edge of my coat. She was trying to keep it under control, but every now and then I felt the wisps of her aura. Fear. Concern. Anger. Sadness. She was struggling to keep her emotions in check.

  Coming into the room at the end, I could see the grand stand above, though surprisingly the area below that I remembered was a large battle arena. I could see old marks of battle scattered throughout the room. But what I couldn’t see was the Guardian.

  Slowly I crossed the room, and made my way up the stairs onto the raised platform. There was the stone totem. I slowly removed Eevee from my hood and handed her and my bag to Cara. “All of you go down and wait. This is going to take a while.”

  Lucario - Mother of Rio

  Lucario - Daughter of Cara

  Scolipede - Adopted daughter of Cara

  Brionne - Rescued from aquarium

  Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon

  Diancie - From Reflection Cave

  Eevee - Taken from Pokecenter

  Goomy - Clinging for dear life

  Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart

  Banette - Collected from the Supermart

  Vulpix (Alolan) - Taken from Pokecenter