“Guzma. I challenge you to a battle.” I stood in front of him, a smile on my face and my hands on my hips. He just looked annoyed, his arms folded across his chest. “One versus one, my Scolipede against whoever you want. No swaps.”

  He glanced down at my wrist, frowning. “Why should I accept?”

  I caught where he was looking and removed the band, tossing it into the sand at my side. “No Z-Moves.” His brow arched, glancing at the Z-Ring in the sand and then back at me. I know Guzma wanted to prove that he could beat everyone without using Z-Power, and he had done a very good job of it. “Just the strength of our two Pokemon.”

  “What do I get if I win?” he asked, his eyes now looking over Scoly.

  “What do you want?”

  It took a moment before a smirk appeared on his face. “Give up your Z-Ring, and abandon the Trials,” he said, raising his chin a bit.

  “Deal,” I said instantly and watched as he flinched, making quite a shocked expression. “And when I win, you and I are going to sit down and have a long conversation.”

  His face scrunched up a bit as he looked from Scoly to the Z-Ring, and then to me. “Fine.” He turned and walked away, making proper space for the battle. He was still eying Scoly over his shoulder, studying her.

  “She’s a bug poison type,” I said, knowing that he had a thing for bug Pokemon.

  “I know,” he snapped, frowning at me. He had his hand in his pocket, a rather serious expression on his face.

  Ah so that was it. He was debating on who to use. I didn’t know if he had his full team roster, but I would have to assume that he did. And if that was the case the question was, would he use Masquerain for the type advantage, or Scizor for the poison immunity. Or would he ignore all that, and simply throw out Golisopod to prove that he didn’t need to rely on types to win, which was his style.

  I was taking a bit of a gamble with this. If he was the Guzma that I knew about, I had a pretty good idea of who he would choose. And if he did anything else, I would have to make him regret it and not waste anymore time on him. If he didn’t do what I expected it meant that he was very different from the games or anime and I wouldn’t be able to predict him. However, such thoughts were meaningless as he did exactly as I thought he would. The Pokemon he sent out was a large arthropod with a hunched posture, and several arms. Its purple body was covered with a silver colored carapace, and it has a sort of mask formed from its mandibles. Golisopod was a lot larger than I thought it would be, but Scoly was much larger.

  Scoly moved forward, entering the area for the makeshift battle area and entering a stance. She specifically stood off to the side, rather than directly in front of me. At least she had learned more about how sand worked. “Ready?” I called out.

  He glared at me. “Ready.”

  “Plaay baaall,” I announced as I pointed up to the sky. There was a brief puzzled expression on Guzma’s face before Scoly sprang up and curled before spinning up. Immediately a wave of sand sprayed out behind her, barely missing me.

  While he was surprised, Guzma didn’t hesitate. “Prep.” His Golisopod raised its arms, its shell taking on a far more metallic sheen.

  It took a few seconds for Scoly to rev up to max speed, as she was still getting used to sand it took a bit longer than usual, but the instant she was done she became a red streak. There was an ear splitting noise of metal grinding against metal as the two collided. The other bug tried to stand its ground, but the two of them slid back several feet past Guzma.

  Despite her still spinning, the Golisopod grabbed hold of her, or tried to, her form grinding into his hands. The thick purple goop of her poison splattering everywhere and causing Guzma to take several steps back. There was a sudden massive burst of water from his mouth that sent Scoly flying back, skipping and bouncing several times off the ground before she managed to regain herself. That had been an extremely high pressure burst, probably Hydro Pump?

  “What move is that?” Guzma asked, his brow furrowed.

  “Venom Steel Ball. Something she made,” I explained, Scoly rapidly trying to come back around for another assault.

  His expression changed, suddenly far less stern. It was contemplative, almost confused, as if the thought to do that had never crossed his mind. “You made up your own move? Protect,” he finished with an order, and the sudden burst of shield caused Scoly to ping off and be deflected to the side.

  “If you understand how moves work, and how Pokemon use their energy, it’s possible.” I waved a hand vaguely. “More luck than anything, though.” This particular move also didn’t last very long, though from the look of Golisopod, it had done some damage and poisoned them. “Hit in front and reverse direction,” I ordered. I had noticed a sudden glint around the edges of their carapace, giving it a razor edge.

  Guzma had trained his Pokemon very well, and they were quite in sync. If this had been the Guzma from the game, or from the show, I don’t think I would have had a chance. But he was still young, and at least a few years from that level.

  The sudden change caught the gray arthropod off guard, as it braced itself for another hit and catch, instead it was blasted with sand. While not quite the same as using Sand Attack, it had a similar effect. Afterwards Scoly sprung up, wobbling a bit. That was also one of the drawbacks of her attack, she was dizzy afterwards.

  “Venoshock,” I said, trying to get her to refocus on the match. Unfortunately due to her state, she missed, splattering the ground a bit away from her target.

  Fortunately the Golisopod wasn’t in much better of a shape with sand in its eyes. It tried to grab her, but mostly just flailed in her direction. There were a few grinding noises as if a blade hit metal, each one leaving a little mark.

  She suddenly reared back, swaying slightly as her horns started glowing. The other bug stumbled as he overcompensated a swing and left himself open. “Dodge!” Guzma shouted.

  Watching Scoly, I thought she was going to use Megahorn, which wouldn’t have been the best move considering her opponent was also a bug type. I was even thinking of how to better explain it, but then I noticed that the light coming from her horns wasn’t the dull green of bug energy, but a silver blue. Was she using Iron Tail with her horns? We hadn’t practiced that, but considering how often she sparred with Rio, and she tended to lean towards steel moves, being able to harness some of that was interesting.

  Then she came down, twisting her body and aiming directly with the point of her horn. Then I realized what the move was; Smart Strike. That was better battle instincts than I had originally given her credit for. She was having trouble hitting, so she used a move that always hit. Or at least that’s how it worked in the games. In reality it probably just translated to higher accuracy? The way that Pokemon learned moves was fascinating, it was like they were pulling the knowledge of how to use them from somewhere, or was that just how the energy worked? Either way, she hit Golisopod straight in the side of the chest.

  And that was enough to trigger his special ability. There was a sudden flash of red, and the arthropod returned to its pokeball.

  Guzma stared blankly for a moment as if not quite sure what happened. “I lost,” he muttered before shoving his hands in his pockets.

  I moved over and pulled my Z-Ring out of the sand, spending a moment to clean the sand off before putting it back on my wrist. Perhaps it was a bit cheap to rely on Golisopod’s Emergency Exit ability, but if he couldn’t plan around that, it wasn’t my fault. Turning back to him, I watched as he was slowly trying to walk away.

  “Oi.” He froze. “Pokecenters that way,” I said as I pointed. “Come on.” Scoly came to my side as I began walking, clearly excited at her win.

  Guzma followed, but he was clearly sulking. His hands stuffed in his pocket and his gaze locked on the ground in front of him.

  Neither of us spoke the entire time, until we got into the Pokecenter. I returned Scoly before walking inside, she was a bit too big to get through the door easily. “Alola, Nurse Joy,” I said with a smile.

  She returned my smile. “Alola, Jason.” She paused, glancing at the other person. “And Alola to you, too, Guzma.”

  He sighed as he put his pokeball onto the tray. “Alola, Joy,” he mumbled before walking over and slumping into one of the chairs, folding his arms across his chest.

  She looked a bit puzzled, looking at me as I put Scoly’s pokeball on the tray. “He lost.”

  There was a look of understanding, and she nodded as she picked up the tray. “I’ll get these two looked over,” she said before turning around and walking through the door.

  I moved over and sat down a few seats away from Guzma, leaning back in my chair and pulling out my phone. There was a text from Kukui asking what happened, since he could see the battle from the research center. I asked him how he got my number before explaining things to him. He ignored my question.

  It was several minutes of me just working on my phone before my glum companion finally said something. “Aren’t we going to talk?” he said, clearly irritated.

  “Do you want to talk?”

  “No,” he snapped.

  “Then we don’t have to,” I said with a bit of a smile before returning my attention to my phone. With someone like Guzma, trying to force the conversation would just make him dismissive.

  It was a few more minutes before he spoke again, “How did that Scolipede learn to do that move?”

  “Trial and error mostly.” I put my phone down on my lap. “A lot of the things that I’ve tried with all my Pokemon haven’t worked, but I’ve had some success. It’s still a flawed technique, as it requires a lot more energy than something like Rollout, or Gyro Ball. It takes a few seconds to ramp up to full speed, and leaves her dizzy afterwards.”

  He leaned a bit forward as I spoke, listening closely to my explanation. “So she’s vulnerable before and after the attack.”

  I nodded. “But while it’s going it’s very hard to deal with. What did Golisopod use that made the edges of his carapace so sharp?”

  He looked a bit smug. “It’s a different way to use Razor Shell. Rather than throwing sharpened shells, he uses the energy to sharpen his own shell. I’ve trained him to use it if the opponent keeps using physical moves and has a high defense.”

  “That sort of thinking is how Scoly got Venom Steel Ball,” I said with a nod. “Moves aren’t as rigid as most people think.”

  “That’s what I was thinking when I first tried it out.” He sighed and leaned back. “But it’s the only thing that I’ve managed to do, and it’s just a different use for a move that already exists. It’s not like I invented a new move.”

  “It’s the same with Venom Steel Ball.” I pulled up my phone and opened it to the notes that I had on moves. “Rather than being something completely new, it takes bits and pieces from half a dozen moves to make a new one.” I leaned a bit to show him. “We started with just Rollout and Poison Sting.”

  He also leaned over to read over what I had written, his brow furrowing. “So you just kept trying to add things until you got something to stick?”

  “Exactly,” I said with a smile.

  He laughed softly, shaking his head. “And here I thought you had just pulled it out of your ass.”

  “Things require work.” I put my phone down and sat back. “Sometimes the world gives you things easily, sometimes it takes, sometimes you have to bash your head into the wall until it crumbles.”

  “I feel that,” he said with a heavy sigh. “It’s like… All I ever wanted was to be a Trial Captain. And when Hala told me no, I ran off to Ula’Ula Island to join their old Kahuna.” He rubbed his face. “Then things just… they happened so fast. I still don’t even know what happened, but suddenly the Guardian Deities descended and sacked Po Town.”

  There was silence for a moment as I absorbed the information. This was a bit more information than I remembered.

  “I wasn’t there. A lot of us weren’t there… Everyone who was is dead. And then the Guardian’s made Nanu the new Kahuna.” He scoffed, leaning forward with his elbows on his legs, and his head hung forward. “Putting a corrupt cop in charge? The Guardian’s must really not be as good a judge of character as everyone thinks.” He was silent for a moment. “And then we’re all… What? Supposed to just pick up the pieces and move on? Pretend a bunch of my friends didn’t die because we weren’t following tradition?” He took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “It just ain’t fair.”

  “No. It isn’t.” I sighed softly, glancing over at the door to the Pokecenter, and then at the door Nurse Joy had disappeared behind. She was clearly giving us time to talk.

  “I just… had to get everyone back under the same roof, ya know? We’re all rejects, so we had to band together. That’s why I formed Team Skull. Then there’s this whole League bullshit. We’ve already got so many problems with foreigners. And then what? I get beat by some random punk from off island like it was nothing…”

  “Your loss is your own fault.” His head snapped towards me and I met his gaze. “You could have won if you chose another Pokemon. Or if you trained your Golisopod to only use Emergency Exit when it actually needs to.” I stood up, turning towards him. “You’re a good Trainer. I agree with Alma that you have great potential. But you’re scared.”

  He was suddenly on his feet, up in my face. “What do you know, huh? I’ve got nothin’ to be scared of on this island. There ain’t a single person who’d mess with me, not even the Kahuna. You think I’m scared of you?”

  “You’re scared you’re going to lose everything again.” Every muscle in his body seemed to tense at my words. “I don’t pretend to know everything. I know a lot, and I’m good at using that knowledge to my advantage. You lost to me because your Golisopod can feel your hesitation and fear. You want so badly to keep everything you have that you’d rather run away than risk it.”

  His fists clenched and I knew he was considering hitting me at this point. “Don’t talk like you know me.”

  “It’s okay to be scared, Guzma. There’s nothing wrong with being scared, it’s when you let that fear stop you that it becomes a problem. You’re a scared kid that life has been cruel to. And I’ve seen a lot of kids in that kind of situation. The hopelessness. The constant feeling of being trapped. Like at any moment everything will disappear.” I reached up and put my hand on his shoulder. “You’re a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for. Than the Kahuna give you credit for. Do you think people would follow you if you couldn’t do it?”

  He stood there for a moment, a scowl on his face. Suddenly he shrugged off my hand and took a step back. “I’m not scared.”

  “I am,” I said as I put my hands into my pockets. He just looked confused. “All the time. But when something scares me, I just do it scared. Like when I went to Alma.” There was an even more puzzled look on his face. I just smiled before explaining, “I’m scared of water. Large bodies of water like the ocean terrify me.”

  He snorted. “You’re scared of water?”

  I nodded. “Yup. But I’m not ashamed of it. There’s nothing wrong with being scared. Some people are scared of bugs.” He frowned at me. “But I love my big bug. Everyone has different fears, and sometimes they-” I shook my head a bit- “Don’t have a good explanation why they’re scared. But… sometimes they do.”

  He was still glaring at me, though not as harshly as he was. “There’s nothing that scares me.”

  With a bit of a shrug, I walked past him, patting him on the shoulder as I made my way to the counter. “Then don’t lose.”

  As I got to the counter, Nurse Joy finally came out. There was a bit of a forced smile on her face, as she had been listening while trying to give us time to talk. “Here’s your Pokemon,” she said as she put the tray down, indicating which one was mine.

  “Thank you Nurse Joy.” I turned and walked past Guzma on my way to the door. I paused in order to add, “Tradition is just peer pressure from the dead, but that doesn't make it a bad thing. But when it is, you have to make it change. Rather than fighting against that change, you should embrace it and be part of it. Alola.”

  With that I left, releasing Scoly and getting onto her back. It was dark out, and I wondered briefly what everyone else was doing. As we made our way back to the beach I wondered if what I said would do anything. Had I been too harsh? Not harsh enough? Had I said the right words? Had I even made sense? These were always the thoughts that ran through my head when I had talks like this. At least I had tried. It would be up to Guzma if he actually listened at all.

  When we finally got to the beach, the only one still outside was Cara who seemed visibly relieved when she saw us. “You could have said something,” she scolded as I dismounted Scoly.

  I couldn't help but laugh softly. “Sorry, sorry. Spur of the moment thing.”

  Her arms were folded across her chest. “Was it important?”

  That caused me to pause for a moment before I nodded. “Yeah. I think it was pretty important.” She just looked at me for a moment before nodding and moving into the tent. Scoly was quick to follow. It was the first time I had been last into the tent, and what I was met with was quite a sight.

  It looked like Dee had mostly taken my position, as she was laying on her back, with Brionne, Eevee, Goomy piled on top of her. Rio was laying against Dee’s side, looking like she was trying to keep awake, and failing, with Mikyu, Banette, and Keo on top of her. Keo and Eevee using Banette as a pillow was adorable. Diancie was sprawled out on the other side of Dee, just taking up as much room as she possibly could.

  It caused a laugh to escape me as I came over. Dee gave me a hopeful look, as if I would save her from her current predicament, but instead I just took off my coat and laid down beside Diancie, resting against Dee and getting comfortable. Cara sat down beside me and laid her head on my shoulder while Scoly laid down and put her head on my lap. It was a bit weird not being at the bottom of the pile, but I wasn’t going to complain.

  ~

  In the morning, everyone was more than ready to start training. As I watched them, I thought about what my immediate steps should be. I needed to go shopping now that Alma had eaten all my food. Oh and the massive Totem Pokemon was also here, though the rest of the Primarina weren’t. He had been watching the sun rise out of the ocean.

  I walked up beside him. “Alola, Alma.”

  He just smiled a bit. “How did things go with Guzma?”

  I just shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  “He is… stubborn. Something he got from Hala, to be sure.”

  We both chuckled. “It’s going to get quite loud around here, as most of my Pokemon will be training.” They had already finished setting up, and were just looking over at me expectantly, as I had not given them their pokeblocks yet.

  “Oh? That should be entertaining,” he said amusedly, laying down in the sand.

  “Just thought I’d let you know.” I waved a bit before heading over to the group. “Okay, so I’m going shopping today. I want Mikyu to come with me, does anyone else want to go?” As I spoke I picked Mikyu up, putting her on my shoulder.

  Banette came over, grabbing onto my coat.

  I reached down and gently grasped her hand. “Alright. Anyone else?” I was a bit surprised that no one else, not even Cara, wanted to go. “Okay, you all know what your training is.” I started to give out pokeblocks with Dee’s help, and left a batch for the afternoon for them all just in case I didn’t return before then. Mikyu and Banette were the last ones to get one, but they still got theirs. Even without training, it was a good habit to keep their vitamin levels high.

  Diancie activated her Gravity field as Banette, Mikyu, and I all made our way towards Hau’oli City. While I had been through it several times now, it was mostly just going to the Pokecenter so I hadn’t really paid too much attention to it. While it was big, it wasn’t on the scale of towns I had seen even back in Kalos. But it did have a mall.

  I hadn’t been to a proper mall in such a long time. All the ones back in my old world were pretty much dead, and there weren’t many in this world. Did the Megamart count? It sure was the size of a mall, so maybe? I can’t remember what the definition of a mall is. Probably something to do with multiple shops.

  Hau’oli City Shopping Mall was a lot bigger than the Megamart, so maybe I was misremembering how big malls were. It was also a place where people seemed to walk more openly with Pokemon. There were a lot of kids and teens walking with the three starters, Litten, Rowlet, and even a few Popplio’s being carried. Though there were also some mustached Alolan Rattata, and Pikipek. One kid even had a Pichu. And that was just outside the mall.

  Once I got in, there were even more and I realized there was a Pokemon Daycare here in the mall. I hadn’t seen one of those around… They seemed pretty rare, and from what I read they were run by Breeders. I should probably talk to a Breeder at some point and try to learn some of their tricks when it comes to making pokeblocks. Although that could wait for later. Right now I have shopping to do.

  My first stop was a crafts store, which was easy enough to find after looking at the mall's map. It was called Scizor’s Scissors which I felt was a pleasant Pokemon pun for such a business. There was even a Scizor behind a table cutting cloth. There was also an older looking woman with brown graying hair. “Alola. Anything I can help you with?”

  “Alola,” I said with a smile, approaching the counter. I could spend time looking around, but the store didn’t look busy and clearly she wanted to help. “I need a good sewing kit, and this little one is going to look for cloth.” I reached up and rubbed Mikyu a bit.

  “I…what is that?” the clerk asked, staring at the little costumed thing.

  “It’s a Mimikyu. A ghost Pokemon that makes a costume to help fit in.”

  Mikyu made a sort of crackling bow motion that caused the clerk to flinch. “H-hello. My name is- is Mikyu.”

  “Her name is Mikyu,” I translated with a smile. “The crackling is from the sticks giving her costume shape.”

  “I- I see.” She cleared her throat. “Well… it sounds like she needs some uhm… something higher quality than sticks…”

  I nodded a bit. “I’m sure she would appreciate that.” I looked down at Banette, who was staring at the colorful cloth. “Do you want some things too, Banette?”

  Her head twisted around to look up at me. It took a moment as if she wasn’t sure what I was talking about, but she nodded.

  “Alright. Find some cloth you like, okay? I’m sure Mikyu would help you, right?” I glanced at Mikyu.

  “Y-yes!” She hopped down from shoulder to the counter and then down to the floor. The two of them wandered off to look at more cloth.

  I laughed softly as I watched them for a moment. “I hope that’s alright?” I looked back at the clerk. The Scizor had stopped in its task and was watching me and the Pokemon. It looked on the older side, the colors dulled but it still had a good shine that showed it was well taken care of.

  She gave me a bit of a smile and nodded. “Yes, of course. We get a lot of people in here looking to dress up their Pokemon.”

  That was a thought. Maybe that’s what Banette wanted? If she was one of those dress-up dolls before becoming a Pokemon she might have a want for outfits. “Thank you.”

  “As for sewing kits, I assume that it would be for the uhm… Mimikyu was it?” I nodded to her question. “Right. Well,” She moved over to the side, pointing out where they were. “All our kits are over there, so she can peruse them to see if she finds any she likes.”

  I nodded, and looked around for a moment before grabbing a small cart. It didn’t take long to find Mikyu and Banette who were comparing different cloths. From the way that Mikyu was holding them up towards the other Pokemon it was clear they were looking for colors that would match her. The two of them were probably quite familiar with each other having lived in the same place, and I was sure that Banette talked to Mikyu when no one else could hear. Or perhaps they had some sort of nonverbal communication?

  “Put everything you want in here,” I said as I pushed the cart beside them. “And we’ll look at sewing kits after.”

  Mikyu immediately looked pleased, and began to go around and look at different colored cloth and threads, occasionally shoving them into the cart.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  I crouched down to be closer to Banette. “Do you have a favorite color?” I asked, smiling a bit.

  She tilted her head to the side for a moment then started to look around. Eventually she pointed at a sort of pink colored cloth, though it was a bit darker. I shifted a bit to get a look at the label which read fuchsia. I grabbed the roll and put it into the cart. She looked a bit surprised, but smiled.

  “What would you want made? A dress? Maybe a sweatshirt?” I crouched down again, although this time I picked her up and put her on the cart.

  Again she tilted her head, seeming to think for a moment before she reached out towards me and grabbed at my coat.

  “Oh? You want a coat like this?” She nodded. I chuckled a bit and nodded, reaching forward and rubbing her head. “I’m sure you and Mikyu could make a fantastic coat. I’m not very good at sewing. I can do a basic stitch, but that’s about it.”

  We spent a bit more time shopping, Mikyu getting all sorts of things before we went over to the sewing kits. It took her quite a while of looking at all of them, and then looking at them again, before she finally decided on one. I suggested that she could get two if one didn’t have everything she needed and her eyes practically sparkled as she immediately started the process over.

  In the end she managed to pick out two that she said would be more than good enough for all of her needs. We also looked at other craft supplies. I suggested wooden dowling rods could be a good thing to help prop up her costume, and we got some of those. Then we came across the cloth paint, and she went on another frenzied search.

  It was adorable to watch how excited she was, even if we ended up taking two hours in the shop. And it cost me seven thousand pokedollars for everything she wanted. Some of the cloth was expensive, and one of those sewing kits was very expensive. But it was all fine, since Mikyu made it sound like she would never need more supplies.

  After paying and storing everything into my bag, we wandered the mall for a bit. We found a few of those coin operated rides, one was of a Horsea and another was a Ponyta. Both of them immediately wanted to ride, so we spent quite a long time there. We did draw a crowd, and I was more than happy to explain what Pokemon they were, and things about them. A lot of people were put off just by mentioning they were ghost Pokemon, but others just seemed really interested.

  I made sure to take lots of pictures, and a little video of them enjoying themselves. But after nearly an hour they got tired of the little machines, and we went on to shop. I had only a few days of food left thanks to Alma, so I would have to really buy a lot. Five hundred a month for each Pokemon meant that getting enough for everyone, including myself, was six thousand a month. So I bought three months of food.

  Moving onto pokeblocks, I found that a lot of the ingredients I needed were more expensive here. The herbs and vitamins were particularly expensive. I had about a month's worth for every Pokemon and myself, so I would just try and leave before running out I suppose.

  Finally done with shopping, I left the mall with Mikyu tucking herself into my hood and falling asleep. I had to pick up and carry Banette, as her pace had been getting slower and slower. They were both exhausted from the excursion, but seemed very happy. How all this got them more tired than training I had no idea. They were probably on the young side as far as ghosts were concerned, though how exactly that worked I had no idea.

  I paused when I saw a restaurant. It looked like a high quality place, the type of place that required a reservation. Although it looked rather empty, and the hostess appeared to be chatting with one of the waiters. After thinking about it a moment I decided I’d try and see if they allowed walk-ins. “Alola, do you have any seats available?” I asked after approaching. Their hostess stand was actually outside.

  Their conversation stopped and both of them looked me up and down. “I’m sorry, we are by reservation only.”

  “Ah, that’s what I thought.” I nodded a bit. “Are there any open reservation spots that I may claim?”

  Her face scrunched a bit. “No, I’m sorry. We require a minimum of twenty-four hours for a reservation.”

  “I see, I see.” I continued to nod. “Do you know of any nearby high quality locales that don’t have such rules?”

  “Any restaurant of this quality would have such rules,” she replied, lifting her chin a bit.

  “Alright.” I turned and started to walk away. “I just figured you’d prefer having a paying customer over empty tables. Alola.”

  A rather similar discussion happened at three more restaurants. I knew I looked a bit haggard, but all of these places weren’t particularly busy. What ever happened to don’t judge a book by its cover?

  “Jason! Alola!”

  I blinked and looked over, spotting Kukui and Burnet sitting at a table outside of a restaurant that just turned me away. “Ah, Professors. Alola.” I walked over, standing on the other side of the little fence that separated the outside seating from the street.

  “What brings you into town? And without your little army,” he said with a laugh.

  “Shopping. Alma ate all my food.” All three of us laughed.

  “Yeah, he can put away quite a lot,” he said with a chuckle and nodding to himself.

  “Have you eaten?” Burnet asked with a smile. “Why don’t you join us for lunch? We haven’t ordered yet.”

  “Ah- No, I’ve not eaten. I was actually just looking for a restaurant to try for lunch. Though I’m not having much luck,” I admitted.

  “All the more reason to join us,” Kukui said as he waved over to a waiter. “This place has some of the best food on Melemele.”

  “It’s our favorite place to have lunch,” Burnet added with a nod.

  The well dressed man came over quickly. “Yes, Professor? Is this person bothering you?”

  Kukui furrowed his brow. “This is Jason, a Pokemon Expert.” The waiter immediately stiffened. “He’ll be joining us for lunch, I wanted you to ask for another chair and menu.”

  To his credit the waiter recovered quickly. “Yes, of course. If Mr. Jason would please head over to the entrance. I will be right there.” With that he dashed off.

  “What’s that about?” Kukui asked, glancing from the waiter and back to me.

  “They just turned me away at the door not two minutes ago,” I said with a bit of a laugh. “I’ll be around in a moment.” I started to make my way back to the door.

  Kukui snorted. “Maybe you need some better clothes?” he joked.

  “Probably,” I called back with a laugh.

  Rounding the corner the hostess spotted me immediately, frowning. It looked like she was about to open her mouth and say something when the same waiter rushed up to her and began to hurriedly whisper to her. Just like the waiter had done, she stiffened for a moment, but recovered quickly and her entire demeanor changed. “Alola, Mr. Jason. You’ll be joining Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet, yes?”

  I just smiled and nodded. “Yes.”

  “Please follow me,” the waiter said before turning and walking through the restaurant.

  Immediately I realized that this place was far fancier than I had originally thought and felt like I was more than just a little underdressed. Honestly it was clear why they had been turning me away as this place looked like a ‘suit and tie’ place.

  And yet outside I found Kukui and Burnet, simply wearing lab coats. Kukui didn’t even have a shirt on. Maybe I could get a lab coat and have that same sort of social invulnerability that Professors seemed to have. “Are there only fancy places around here?” I asked as I sat down, situating Banette in my lap.

  “In this area, yeah. This close to the beach has all the fancy places,” Kukui explained. The waiter handed me a menu. The first thing I noticed was nothing had a price associated, which meant this was a really expensive place.

  “Wasn’t like that twenty years ago,” Burnet added, “But times change.”

  I nodded a bit, glancing over the menu. “So what do you recommend?” I asked after a few seconds, having no idea what most of the items on the menu even were. The plush Pokemon in my lap seemed to have taken an interest in the menu and took it from me. I wondered for a moment if she could read or was just interested in it because it was new. It wasn’t like it had any pictures on it.

  “Oh everything is good here,” Burnet said with a bit of a smile at the little Pokemon in my lap, though there was still a sort of tense nervousness on her face from seeing the ghost.

  Kukui rolled his eyes. “If you’re not sure what to order, the Chef’s Special is always good. It’s what we get, since it varies, but it’s usually something new and delicious that the head chef’s cooked up.”

  I nodded a bit, though I wondered why, if they always got the same thing, had they not ordered yet? As if my question had been heard aloud, the waiter arrived with a bottle and two glasses. “And what will you three be having this afternoon?”

  “Three Chef Specials,” Kukui responded, glancing at me to confirm that is what I wanted. I nodded.

  “Excellent choice. I shall go and place your order.” He turned to me. “And what would you like to drink?”

  I hesitated a moment, looking at the menu. “Just water. I’m not a day drinker,” I said with a soft laugh.

  The other two also chuckled as the waiter hurried off. “It’s just a bit of wine,” Kukui said.

  I nodded a bit, chuckling. “True, but I still don’t like drinking when the suns out.” I shuffled around in my bag for a moment to get a pokeblock for Mikyu and Banette. Banette happily exchanged the menu for the pokeblock, and leaned back against me to enjoy it. Mikyu still seemed a bit sleepy, but when I held up the little cube little tendrils of shadow came out of my hood to get it.

  “Ah, your other ghost is here as well?” Burnet asked, glancing towards my hood.

  “That’s the new species, right?” Kukui asked, suddenly rather excited. “I wanted to take a look at it, but it completely slipped my mind.”

  I reached back to fish the sleepy Mimikyu out of my hood. She narrowed her eyes at me as I set her on the table, clearly wanting to be lazy and nap while she had the chance. “This is Mikyu, and she’s a Mimikyu.”

  It seemed like she suddenly realized where she was and started to look around, recognizing Burnet and giving one of her crickle crackle of a bow to the two of them. “H-hello.”

  “Oh, she’s cute,” Kukui said with a big smile on his face as he leaned down towards her to get a better look. “I’m Professor Kukui.”

  “The Association has been pestering me ever since I submitted the discovery,” Burnet said with a sigh, watching as Kukui examined the costumed ghost in front of him. “They want scans and photos for their archives.”

  “As long as it’s nothing under the costume. I’m not sure if a picture would have the same deadly effect, and honestly would rather not test it.” I was also watching Kukui, though I did it because I didn’t want him to die because of his curiosity. I wasn’t entirely sure if looking at a Mimikyu’s true form was deadly like it said it was in the game and anime, but I had a strong feeling that it was.

  She shrugged. “Still, do you mind if we do that before you leave Alola?”

  I nodded. “Sure. We can do that after lunch, if you have time? I plan to head to Poni Island tomorrow.” I paused. “Actually, I’d appreciate a ride over there, if you can.”

  Kukui now had a pair of Mikyu’s shadow hands in his hands and was completely focused on them. “Sure,” Burnet said, sighing at her husband's antics.

  “They feel a bit like high quality silk,” he suddenly said.

  I had to think about it for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah. Cold silk is a good way to describe her hands' texture.”

  “It’s pretty rare for a ghost Pokemon to use a move like this,” he continued, glancing at me and then at Mikyu. “She’s using the Shadow Claw move to give herself arms so that she can interact with the world around her. Most Pokemon can’t maintain it for long periods of time.”

  That hadn’t really occurred to me. Thinking back and comparing it to how Banette used her Shadow Claw, they seemed to retract and disappear quite often, but with Mikyu it was as the Professor said. “Maybe due to the nature of her true self? I’m not sure what she is under the costume, nor am I keen on looking, but she seems to be made up of shadows or ghost energy. Much like the Gengar line?”

  We continued to discuss the little Pokemon, and I did try to get her involved in the conversation, but she was a bit too nervous and didn’t really know how to explain anything. She probably didn’t know.

  When I spotted waiters coming with food I put Mikyu back into my hood. As expected of really fancy places that are incredibly expensive, the plates didn’t have much on them. There was a scoop of some sort of white sauce pasta that had… some sort of meat that looked a bit like grilled chicken. There was a small salad, and a sandwich.

  Curiously I examined the sandwich, which had a lot of cheese, lettuce, shredded meat, and a sauce that smelled tangy. “Something wrong?” Burnet asked, and I realized she had been watching my examination of the food.

  “Ah. No, just wasn’t sure what to expect,” I said with a chuckle.

  Kukui was already eating his sandwich, though it looked like Burnet was starting with her salad. “Not used to eating out?”

  I shook my head, glancing at the silverware and thankful that there was only one fork. I started with the pasta, since it was probably the closest comparison I could make to the curry. It was a cheesy alfredo sauce with something that most definitely tasted like chicken. And it was very good. Easily leagues better than my curry. The salad was pretty good, with a sort of blue cheese dressing. The sandwich was good as well, though not as good as the pasta. It had a sort of barbeque sauce taste to it, though it wouldn’t be far off to call it sloppy joe sauce.

  “Well, how is it?” Burnet suddenly asked with a clearly amused expression.

  “Hm?” I looked up. I must have been making some kind of face. “Ah. Well, it’s not bad. The pasta is very good. Makes me think about making pasta instead of using rice for my curry.”

  She nodded, clearly agreeing that that was the best part. “There’s quite a few pasta dishes on the menu, and they’re all good.”

  “The Chef is apparently from Paldea,” Kukui added, having finished his plate.

  “Paldea, huh?” That was interesting. I wondered how cuisine was spread around this world? As I considered this I gave a bit of my sandwich to Banette, curious to see if she would like it. From the expression she made, she did not. I saw as Mikyu snuck a little piece as well, though I couldn’t tell if she liked it. Hopefully she didn’t leave crumbs in my hood…

  There was a small argument happening nearby that caught my attention. Two waiters were arguing with what looked like… well a dish boy. What was that French word the little blue rat had used? Plongeur? Wait, wasn't that also the word for submarine? Not important.

  They looked like they were trying to not draw attention, keeping their voices low and not making many movements. But it was a habit to watch for that type of behavior because it can rapidly escalate and before you know it people start swinging.

  When I tried to ignore it and reach for the last bit of my sandwich I found it gone. Apparently Mikyu did like it. They never complained about the taste of the food I made, but as I got better and more consistent I would need to start varying it up or they might get tired of the same thing every night.

  “Pardon me,” a voice said from beside me, breaking me from my thoughts. It was the dish boy. He was very young, definitely before his journey. “You are a Pokemon Expert, right?” His tone was extremely polite.

  I blinked, and then nodded. “Yes.” I pulled out my identification card to prove it. “My name’s Jason, but I prefer Jace.”

  He nodded a bit as he looked at the card. The two waiters seemed to have gone back to whatever they were doing. “I- uhm… the Chef would like a moment of your time.”

  My brow arched a bit but I nodded as I stood up, picking up Banette as I did and situating her into a comfortable position. “Alright. Professors, I will meet you at the research center, alright?”

  The two of them nodded, pouring what had to be their third glass of wine. Each. “Go on,” Kukui said with a smile. “If we’re not here, we’ll see you there.”

  “Alright.” I gave a nod before following the boy back in and through the restaurant. There were a lot more people in here now, and I felt even more out of place. Everyone was dressed up quite nicely. Definitely not a place that I’d ever be comfortable in.

  The noise hit me the moment we entered the kitchen, the sound of things cooking, clattering of pans and plates, the occasional shouts. In the center of the room was an absolutely massive man, easily head and shoulders above me. It would have looked quite intimidating if not for the short little green Pokemon on his shoulder with two large olives for its hair; a Dolliv.

  The dish boy went up to him and tried to say something, but the older man cut him off. “Oliver, what are you doin’ over here? There’s dishes to clean, boy.” Then his eyes caught me and he turned to me. “And who the hell is this?”

  “Yes Chef, sorry Chef. Th-this is the Pokemon Expert,” the boy managed to say.

  “And I told you there’s nothin’ wrong with Skeld. He’s just tired from overworkin’.” I tried to mentally work out what type of Pokemon that could be and, since he was from Paldea, figured it was probably a Skeledirge with a nickname like that.

  “But… Nurse Joy said-”

  “Dammit, boy. Don’t you think I know my own Pokemon?” He had quite the scowl on his face. “Now, get back to those dishes before I tell your mom you’ve been slackin’ off again.” The boy paled slightly and then quickly rushed back over to the dish pit. The Chef watched him for a moment before letting out a huff through his nose and turning his attention back to me. “Sorry about this.”

  I just shrugged. “It’s fine. Mind if I have a look while I’m here? I’m always keen on meeting new Pokemon.” The Dolliv was staring at me, their little eyes absolutely focused.

  He seemed to think about it for a few seconds before he shrugged. “Sure.” He moved a bit towards what looked like a few dozen different heating elements that were all currently off. “The boy loves that old man, and I’ve just been pushin’ him a bit too hard.” He walked to the side of the elements, and slid open a door.

  There was a sort of outdoor area, and laying in the center on a pile of stones was a massive red and white crocodilian Pokemon. There was a little round bird on its nose made of fire that seemed to be napping. His eye opened and it glanced at the Chef before huffing out a spurt of flame and closing its eye again. He didn’t even look at me as I stepped out into the little courtyard.

  “The Nurse said there’s nothin’ wrong with him. He’s just old and tired. Just like me.” He pat his chest, letting out a deep laugh.

  “So, you were a trainer?” I asked, watching as the Skeledirge huffed out fire with every exhale.

  “Long time ago. He and I went pretty far in the Paldea League, but never managed a win.” He leaned against the doorframe. “I was always a better cook than a Trainer… And now it’s just me, Skeld, Dolly, and the restaurant.” He paused, “And the wife and kid, of course,” he added with another laugh.

  I turned to look at him and the Pokemon on his shoulder, who stood up straighter, as if acknowledging her importance. “A Dolliv, right?”

  He blinked and then nodded. “Yeah. She’s the daughter of my Arboliva.” There was a far off look in his eye for a moment before he shook his head.

  “If you’re going to talk, go somewhere else to do it,” came a low rumbly voice, and I turned towards the Skeledirge, who had an eye open and was glaring at me.

  “Sorry if we’re too loud,” I said with a bit of a smile, watching his movements.

  “I just don’t want to hear that damn fool's voice,” he said with a huff, letting out a large plume of fire as he did.

  “Did you two have a fight?” I asked.

  “No,” said the Chef.

  “Yes,” said Skeld.

  I laughed softly. “What did you fight about?”

  “We didn’t have a fight,” the Chef protested, folding his arms across his chest.

  “I want to go home.”

  “Home?” The word seemed to catch in the air and even the kitchen went silent. That sounded like I struck a nerve.

  The old Chef looked pissed, but before he could say anything, Skeld shifted and turned to look out at the water. “I know the old man likes it here, but I don’t. This restaurant was his dream, not mine.” He let out a heavy flame filled sigh. “I wanted to keep fightin’. I wanted to keep goin’. I never saw where my limits were, and now I never will. Then he starts up all this nonsense about me retirin’ and I just… what’s the point in even tryin’ anymore?”

  There was a moment of silence after he finished speaking and settled back down. I turned my attention to the Chef, who was staring at his Pokemon. Eventually he spoke, “Why didn’t you ever say anythin’?”

  There was another bit of silence before the rumbling voice gave an answer, “I didn’t want to ruin your dream.”

  “To hell with my dream,” he said as he stepped over, kneeling on the ground next to the big croc. “You know you were always more important.”

  “That’s why I never said anythin’. I knew that if I complained, you would have dropped it. And then what? No Anna. No Olive. And maybe no Dolly.”

  “You think our future wouldn’t have been as good? Keld we could have done countless other things.” He placed a hand on the Pokemon’s back. “You’re my partner. You should have spoke up.”

  “It didn’t bother me till now.” He huffed out a bit of fire. “I thought it was just my imagination, but… I’ve got to admit that… I’m too old. My fires a long way from burnin’ out, but it sure doesn’t burn as bright.”

  The Chef sat down on the stones, rubbing the back of his Pokemon. “We’re both in that boat, friend…”

  Silence fell again, and I just stared at the two of them. Why am I even here? They resolved this just fine. Just two old men that didn’t want to air their grievances and needed a little push, I suppose. Just a couple nudges. I did eventually think of the best way I could probably help, but I gave them a few moments before speaking up, “What sort of diet do you have him on?”

  The Chef looked back, a bit puzzled. “He gets the high end carnivore pokechow, and a fire type pokeblock every week.”

  I had to shift Banette a bit to one arm in order to pull out my phone and quickly searched up the recipe for that type of pokeblock. Thankfully she was pretty light. “Fire type pokeblock… fire type…pokeblock… hmm… Ah, here it is.” I took a moment to read over the ingredients. “Okay, I have two suggestions.”

  They both blinked at me.

  “One,” I held up a finger, “More charcoal in his diet. There’s a bit in the pokeblock, but a Pokemon of his size needs more than a few grams a week. Second,” I held up another finger, “Give him a ghost pokeblock as well. He’s a fire ghost type, and so he’s probably missing out on some nutrients that he needs. If you have the money, you might talk to a breeder and get a custom pokeblock recipe for him.” This was probably the weirdest part of my knowledge ability that I was becoming more aware of, being able to tell what a Pokemon’s nutritional needs were if I focused and thought about it. It didn’t tell me if there was something in particular a Pokemon was lacking, but it did give me an idea of the overall needs.

  This was also the first time I actually really thought about the fact I was doing it. It had felt so natural before when I was making pokeblocks for my Pokemon that it hadn’t occurred to me that it was odd that I could do it. Was that part of my ability? Some sort of seamless integration so that I wouldn’t notice and it would be difficult to question if I didn’t focus on it?

  The Chef suddenly stood up, which broke me from my train of thought. “How much charcoal does he need?”

  That I had to think about for a moment, but thankfully my knowledge kicked in. “About a chip a day, roughly this size,” I made a vague size of half my palm. “Too much won’t hurt him, any less than a pound a day is fine, but it won’t be beneficial.”

  “And that’ll… help, right?” He sounded a bit unsure.

  “He’s still old,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. “But it should put a bit more pep in his burner.”

  “Right.” He nodded and gave me a rather hard clap on the shoulder that probably would have caused my leg to buckle if I hadn’t been training in Gravity. The little Pokemon on his shoulder reached out and pat me on the head, telling me in her own way that I’d done a good job. Then it was suddenly as if he had a revelation. “Ah, have you eaten? Please, let me treat you to lunch.”

  “Oh I just ate, actually. Your Alfredo was extremely good.”

  His brow arched. “Oh? You actually know what that’s called?”

  I blinked at him, trying to not look too visibly confused. “Yes?”

  He seemed to think for a moment and then he laughed. “Right, you’re probably really well traveled, so of course you’d have heard of it. It’s a really old dish in Paldea.” He started to lead me back into the kitchen. “A woman a few hundred years ago invented it. Said it came from some place called Italy.” He laughed even more.

  “This was over three hundred years ago, right?” I asked, trying to not sound too eager.

  There was a thoughtful look on his face for a moment before he nodded. “Yeah. Sometime about then, I think. I dunno, I’ve never been big on history, but that sounds right.”

  So someone who was dragged over by Arceus introduced Italian food to Paldea? I wonder how many other things from my old world are here only because of one of those transmigrators… “Well, it was extremely good. Any chance I could get the recipe for the noodles and sauce?”

  His eyes narrowed. “You a cook?”

  “I…uh.” For some reason this was the first time that the man in front of me actually felt intimidating. “I am. I make a lot of the meals my Pokemon eat.”

  “Show me.”

  Before I even realized what I was doing, I was preparing curry. Of course I used none of my ingredients, and didn’t use berries, but this was a fully stocked high end restaurant so it had more than enough of everything else I needed. The old man hovered over me the entire time, watching my every move closely. He was quite interested in the way that Banette and Mikyu helped me with prep work. He commented that it was like having extra arms.

  At the end, I had a small pot of curry, and a plate already dished up. For a moment I felt like I was on one of those cooking shows, and was about to receive the harshest criticism of my life. He took a bite, then another. They were large bites, and it was a small plate so it wasn’t long before he finished it.

  He gave a nod. “Well, you’d never survive in a real kitchen working at that speed, but it’s pretty good.”

  Suddenly I had an odd sense of relief. “I think it’s pretty good, and my Pokemon really like it. But it’s nowhere near as good as that pasta.”

  There was a pause before he suddenly moved over to a different area, scooping some of the recently mentioned pasta onto a plate and walking back. I saw the utterly incredulous look of the cook that had been about to use that pasta, but against the head Chef, what could he do?

  Coming back to me, the Chef scooped the curry up and dumped it onto the pasta, barely mixing it before taking a bite. He took a moment. “Ah. So that’s why you want my pasta,” he said with an oddly knowing nod of appreciation.

  “Rice is good, but I don’t know any tricks in preparing it.” I had all sorts of different types of rice in my last life, and some of them were clearly better. I made a mental note to try and learn some of those in the future. I knew there were tricks, like there was something with butter?

  He nodded slowly, looking me over for a moment. “Alright. I’ll give you my recipe, as long as you don’t share it with anyone.” He stuck out his hand.

  I smiled a bit and nodded, grasping his hand and firmly shaking it. “Deal.”

  ~

  I was going to have to go shopping again. I would need a pasta maker, and ingredients to make the pasta. Not now, but eventually. Right now I was on my way to the research center. Or laboratory. I had heard it been called both, but I wasn’t exactly sure which it was. I guess it was a research center and had a laboratory in it? Burnet was standing outside as I got there.

  She glanced at the Banette. “Are you just gonna… carry her everywhere?”

  “She’s not a fast walker,” I said with a bit of a chuckle. I heard Banette make a soft huff noise and bonked her head against me softly, which only made me laugh more. “And I guess she doesn’t like being teased.”

  Burnet rolled her eyes, though she had a smile on her face. “Come on. Kukui is preparing the examination room.”

  She turned to enter the building and I followed after her. “Just remember, don’t look under her costume. I’d rather not watch anyone die today.”

  “I know. Don’t worry, it’s just going to be you, Kukui, and I in the room. And I told him that if he tries, and it doesn’t kill him, I’ll kill him myself,” she said with a bit of a giggle to her tone.

  I let out a bit of a snort. “Hear that, Mikyu?” I felt the Pokemon shift in my hood. “There’s nothing to worry about.” I could practically feel how nervous she was when Kukui was examining her, fully ready to prevent any mishap from happening.

  But as far as people went, I trusted Kukui to not do anything stupid on purpose. On accident, however… Well, who can tell. “We’ll just have to keep an eye on him,” I muttered.

  Burnet laughed and nodded as she pushed open a seemingly random door. Inside was what looked like a large medical operating theater. The type that had raised seating all around, which thankfully were empty.

  Kukui was standing in the center beside a large table. There was an odd looking machine nearby with four display screens, as well as something that looked like a large adjustable light. It looked like something out of a cheap sci-fi movie. But then again, a lot of this world's technology could be considered science fiction in my old one. “Ah good, you’re here.”

  I put Banette down on a nearby chair. “I am. So, how does this work?”

  “We put her on the table, and this-” he pat the strange looking adjustable light- “Will take readings of her energy as well as take pictures.”

  Moving to the table, I nodded a bit as I fished Mikyu out of my hood. “Alright. Just nothing under the costume.”

  “Right right.” He started to shift the device as Burnet moved behind him to the machine.

  When I tried to put her down on the table, she suddenly clung to me, looking up at me with pleading eyes. I rubbed the side of her face with a smile. “Is it alright if I’m here? She’s nervous.”

  “Should be fine,” Burnet said. “Might skew a few things and ping some false readings, but we can filter those out by getting different angles.”

  Kukui started to move the machine around, pausing it for a few seconds at several different places, keeping Mikyu as its focus the entire time. She eyed it suspiciously, as if it would attack her. “Very high ghost energy,” Burnet said with a nod. “And… Ah, here’s that odd stuff. Fairy energy. And- hm…”

  “What is it?” Kukui paused to look back.

  “There’s a noticeable spike of dark energy. Does she know dark moves?” Burnet asked as she turned to face us.

  “She does,” I confirmed.

  “That’s very common in the ghosts I’ve scanned,” Kukui said as he moved to look at the screen. He seemed to have more experience with using the machine. He turned a few things. “Ah, looks like I tuned it a bit too high...”

  Burnet moved to his side, looking over his shoulder. “Right... This machine is such junk… I wish the Association had actually given us a tech that knew how to use it.”

  I was extremely curious about the machine. “Maybe her main body is made up of dark energy?” Kukui questioned. “But that would make her a dark type, not a ghost type? This is very interesting.”

  “The machine is just junk,” Burnet said with a frown. “It’s probably confusing ghost energy for dark energy because of how similar they are. See? Now it’s not showing any dark energy spikes.” She came over, and started to repeat the process, going through the same motions Kukui had.

  “Yeah, no dark energy spikes at all,” he admitted with a sigh. “We’re going to have to run every test multiple times when we use this machine…”

  So they had gotten equipment from the Association… That made sense, since that’s also how they got the map. But this also raised a bit of a problem. That map was probably out of date. I made a mental note to talk to Professor Sycamore to see if I can check his map, if he has one.

  “Alright. That’s all we need.” Burnet pushed the device away and Mikyu seemed to sag slightly, clearly having been stressed out.

  “Do you want to go into your pokeball, or in my hood?” I asked with a bit of a smile.

  “Hood…” she said softly. I picked her up and put her on my shoulder so that she could move her way back in.

  “The Association is going to be mad we didn’t take pictures under her costume,” Kukui said with a sigh, adjusting the pictures to try and remove me from them as much as he could. “We’ll use your explanation for the pokedex entry, if that’s alright?”

  I chuckled a bit and nodded. “Yeah, of course. When more are found, it unfortunately won’t be long before it’s confirmed.”

  They both sighed at the same time, nodding in sync.

  That was a rather amusing sight. “So who’s taking me to Poni tomorrow?”

  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 - Slug vibes

  Mimikyu - Collected from the Supermart

  Banette - Collected from the Supermart

  Vulpix (Alolan) - Taken from Pokecenter

  How interested would everyone be in a map? Even if it would delay a chapter or two.