I heard the door creak open behind me while I was stuffing food into my bag. "No way," said a familiar voice in excited disbelief. I whipped my head around to see my old friend staring at my bag with wide eyes. I quickly kicked my backpack underneath my bed. "Oh, don't try that garbage!"
"Nice to see you too," I joked. It had been a few months since I last saw my Malia. "And don't try what?" I said, trying to play it off. She caught sight of my neutral face and raised an eyebrow at me. One of her signature "oh really?" glances was enough for my serious demeanor to crumble into a toothy grin. "I, uh, I heard about a bagon nest last night, and I was just trying to see if-"
"You were going to try to catch one, I know." She rolled her eyes. "Some things never change, do they?"
"Come on! Dragons are cool!"
"They're dangerous, especially for a newbie trainer like you."
"I'm not a newbie!"
"Just because you're older than the other beginning trainers doesn't mean you're not a beginning trainer yourself." Malia folded her arms. I took it as a hint that the debate was over. In defeat, I fell back onto my bed. She broke the silence after a vacant moment. "You wouldn't be a newbie if you had just accepted the starter that Hala gave you."
I lifted my head up from the covers and glared daggers at my friend. "I told him I wanted a dragon-type. He got me a poliwag."
"And you should have expected that! Don't you remember all the times he said that ''the dragons native to Alola are far too dangerous for a young trainer to handle?'" she said, mimicking Hala's deep, booming voice.
"Yeah but-" I shook my head dismissively and grabbed my backpack from the floor. "Don't you have some trial to be doing or something?'
"No Kal, today's the starter ceremony, remember? My little brother is getting his first pokemon." I vaguely remembered her saying something like that over the phone a few days ago.
"Great. Another year watching little kids get the pokemon they wanted. Can't wait." I flung my bag over my shoulder and threw open the front door. "See you later tonight."
"Seven o'clock, Kal! Seven!" I was already too far into the streets of Iki Town to give her an audible response. I headed to the southern exit of the town, as the bagon nest was allegedly located in, er, on Ten Carat Hill. Specifically on its highest ridge.
But as I soon figured out, Ten Carat Hill was not my friend. My entire day was spent getting blisters on my hands and scraping every inch of my body trying to scale the darn hill. Whenever I needed a handhold, it seemed like the cliff would purposely dislodge the rocks that I would grapple onto. I couldn't even take two steps on its highest ridge or even get a decent look at the nest before I heard the chanting in the distance. I had taken too long. The ceremony was starting.
The steep gradient combined with the loose soil of the crag threw my feet out in front of me, sending my body tumbling down into the interior. I may have been hearing things, but I could have sworn I heard it laugh. Or maybe it was the sableye in the cave. Who knows.
The only thing I did know for certain was that the chanting in the distance meant I had to get moving back to Iki Town. Fast.
I busted out of the area through the cave and made a beeline to the small ledge by the old lab. I tried to push myself over it, but my arms gave out, forcing me to pathetically roll over the bluff like a sack of potatoes.
The scent of the ceremonial smoke grew stronger, as did my sense of urgency as I sprinted up the final stretch of hill between me and Iki Town. I stopped dead in my tracks at the base of the wooden staircase that led up to the town to catch my breath. The air was hot and thick, making my next breath more and more of an effort. I glanced up from the ground and saw a familiar face. My stomach turned. "H-Hey Ma-"
"You're late." Malia held out her hand to help me up the stairs.
"H-Hey Ma-"
"Look at you! You're a mess!" I glanced down at my clothes. My shorts were ripped, there was dried blood plastered to my neck, and my backpack was… gone. Shoot.
"Well, you see-"
Malia started to giggle. "I don't really care, Kal. Go get some food or something; you look hungry."
She was right. I was hungry. Dodging the festival-goers, I made my way to the food table. I took a paper plate, and loaded myself up with all kinds of meats and breads that were made specifically for this occasion.
I felt a large hand land on my shoulder. "My oh my, Kaleo, save some for the rest of us!" My eyes traveled up until they made contact with a familiar man in a yellow robe.
"Out of all the people here, you should be worrying the least about this," I retorted with a smile, elbowing Hala's stomach.
Hala let out a fit of booming laughs that drew the eyes of many festival-goers. "I'm very glad you could make it, Kaleo. Go have some fun." He winked at me. I didn't have any time to process what that meant before he gave me a mighty pat on the back, which sent my food, and myself in turn trying to keep it all on my plate, forward towards the benches where Malia was perched.
Her eyes widened when she caught a glimpse of my mountain of food. We joked around for a while as I devoured my monstrosity of a meal, catching up on the happenings of our lives.
"Your parents were looking for you before," she started, stopping to stifle some giggles. "Your mom looked furious!" I craned my neck to see my father in the group of fire dancers and waved to him, letting him know I was here. He flashed me a smile and raised his eyebrows, which I translated as "you should see your mother." I shook my head and turned back to Malia.
"I think I'm gonna pass on letting my mom know I'm here for now." We both laughed.
Once we calmed down, she showed me Noelle, her newly evolved ninetales, and got a few ooh and aahs from the rest of the festival-goers.
"So," I started. "How long are you here for?"
Her smile melted away and she looked down at her clean plate. "Only for tonight. I have to leave for the ferry tomorrow morning to get to Malie."
"Oh, alright." If I had known, I wouldn't have spent all day away from her. "Why so early?"
"I have a scheduled battle at the Malie Gym."
"The gym!? Like, the new one?"
"Yeah, that's the one," she confirmed. Her enthusiasm was pitiful. "If I get the badge, it'll waive one of the Ula'Ula trials," she answered with a melancholy grin. "Bug-type."
"Nice. So, uh, when are you gonna visit us next?"
"I-I don't know, Kal. Ula'Ula and Poni are the most expending parts of the island challenge. Heck, it could take me a few months just to get through Vast Poni Canyon." I blinked, unsure how to respond. "But I'd really like to stay longer, I really would! But, people have been telling me that I have some great potential, and I can't just step on the brakes right now."
I nodded.
"You know, if you had a pokemon, you could join me on my island challenge. You could leave Iki Town. Have some actual fun for once," she suggested, leaning forward.
"Only if I get a dragon-"
She took in a quick breath as if she was preparing to scold me, but slowly let it out instead with a shake of her head and a grin on her face. "You're a funny breed, Kal."
Maybe I was. Who knows? But shoving the goal of my lifetime away just to start my journey without a dragon just felt… odd. All these years of waiting would be in vain.
The chanting became louder and louder, until all conversations were taken over by the fire dancers. The Iki Town residents gathered in the middle of the town square around the raised wooden platform in the center. A large figure in a yellow robe that I quickly recognized as Hala climbed the stairs with booming footsteps just as loud as his laughs. The murmurs and side conversations died out as Hala stood in front of everyone silently.
"Alola, everybody. Welcome to the Festival of Beginnings." Cheers and applause erupted from the crowd. Hala's mustache shifted, and I knew there was a huge smile hiding underneath it. "Before all of you this evening, several of our youth will be receiving their starter pokemon. These pokemon will travel aside, win aside, lose aside, and live aside Iki Town's youth as they complete their island challenge. These pokemon will become the young trainers' best allies, and best friends. May great prosperity come to those who train their pokemon with respect and love."
Hala paused and looked up at the orange sky. "Let us take a moment to thank our island guardian, Tapu Koko, for blessing us with this opportunity to partake in such a special occasion." The crowd looked towards the sky above in the same manner as Hala. I looked to my left at Malia, who rolled her eyes.
"Some things never change, huh?" I mocked, letting out a snort of laughter. Malia punched my shoulder.
Hala lowered his gaze to the crowd, surveying everyone before he continued. "Let us begin!" he bellowed with a heavy clap. The fire dancers responded out a resounding chant.
A man climbed up onto the platform and handed Hala a pokeball. The kahuna squinted at the pokeball before clearing his throat. "First off, we have Makani!" A young boy rose from the crowd and joined Hala on the platform, looking straight up at the old man with a nervous stare. "Inkay, come on out!" A flash of red came from the pokeball, and materialized into an inkay. "Makani, this is-" The squid pokemon attached itself to Makani's head, much to the crowds amusement. "Oh ho ho! Would you look at that! Inkay already likes you."
Hala returned the inkay to its pokeball and gave it to the boy, who pranced off the stage with a wide, toothy grin on his face.
Hala repeated this sequence of events, and eventually Malia's little brother was called up onto the platform.
"Last, but certainly not least, I would like to welcome Mano up onto the stage. Hala released the pokemon, and Mano's eyes stared with curiosity at the orange canine pokemon in front of him. "Mano, this is Growlithe, your starter. Do you uphold your the promise to be a virtuous trainer?"
"Y-Yes," he muttered with a nod.
"Great! Now hold your hand to him." Mano offered the back of his hand to the growlithe, who promptly licked his hand and barked in amusement. "And it looks like he accepts you too!"
I chuckled as Malia stood up and clapped for her brother. Mano's face turned a bright shade of red and he quickly ran off the platform to avoid any more attention.
Malia turned to me. "A growlithe! I can't believe it! It's perfect for him!"
"And when it's fully trained, it's going to destroy your ninetales," I pointed out.
"Oh shut up, Kal. Noelle can handle her fair share of fire-type moves."
"Whatever you say," I whispered.
"What was that?"
The crowd began to stir and funnel out of the seating area. Hala cleared his throat and lifted up a hand, and all the murmurs disappeared immediately.
"I actually have one more trainer to entrust with a pokemon." He chuckled.
I shot a confused look at Malia, but she answered with a shrug.
"This… certain trainer has made quite the name for himself in the last few years." Snorts of amusement and giggles made rounds through the confused crowd. "He is a very capable young man, and has shown a certain stubbornness even I haven't seen before; denying the starter I offered and trying to catch his own!"
My stomach lurched as I finally realized what was going on. Malia seemed to have noticed the draining of color from my face and immediately burst out into laughter.
"Kaleo, would you join me up here?" Reluctantly, I shuffled through the dense crowd and clambered up the stairs.
Hala placed his hand on my head and tousled my hair. "Would you please tell these fine folks why you refused my starter?"
"I, uh." I looked into the crowd to find some reassurance, but only found Malia wearing the dirtiest smile I'd ever seen from her. "I-I wanted a dragon-type."
"That's right, ladies and gentlemen. This young trainer wanted a dragon-type as his first pokemon. When he first told me this, I thought it was just a phase. Surely he would have given up on this by now, right?. However, he has shown a certain stubbornness that I have never, ever seen before. The kind of stubbornness that I have deemed fit to train a dragon."
Hala looked down at me, and let out his signature booming laughs when he saw the wide smile plastered to my face.
"I guess this is your lucky day, Kaleo." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. A red flash came from the pokeball he was holding and materialized into a pokemon that I had never seen before.
"This, Kaleo, is a jangmo-o. A dragon. Do you uphold your promise to be a virtuous trainer?" I nodded.
"Spit it out boy!"
"Yes! Yes I do!"
"Now hold out your hand and see what he thinks of you."
I knelt down on the wooden platform and held out my hand to the creature. It touched the large, heart-shaped scale on its head to my hand and held it there for a brief moment. My heart was pounding.
"Congratulations, Kaleo."
"Jang!" it shouted. Then it bit my hand.
