Here it is guys, next chapter! One thing I should mention (and I should have done this on the first chapter orz) is that I actually only watched Gundam Wing the very first time, so if by any chance there are some OOC moments with the Wing boys, I'm sorry. Like, go easy on me. Another thing I should say is that I've been looking up Alola's connections to the real world in the Pokemon Wiki and looking up the locations in Google Maps via satellite, so there might be some inconsistencies with how far the ride Tauros and Mudsdale trots. Wait, what is the average running speed of a bull and a horse, I wanna go look that up.
Anyway, please enjoy and R&R!
Chapter 2 - Black Spots (part 1)
*No BGM*
Long enough, the four teens reached the motel, where Remilia says is where Big Wave Beach might be. They hopped off their ride Pokémon and Remilia summoned each of them back into their ball, one at a time. The travel from Melemele meadow to the motel took nearly two hours; Remilia knew how exhausting it would be for Tauros and Mudsdale, albeit somewhat less so for the latter ride Pokémon. (And probably how boring it might be for Heero, Trowa and Quatre, since it's a two-hour ride; although they didn't seem to be showing it, at least to her.)
"We'll take the rest of the way by foot," Remilia said. "Gives the ride Pokémon plenty of time to rest, anyway."
"Why take us three to Big Wave Beach?" Heero inquired. "Is there a ferry station there?"
"Um, no, the ferry station's in Hau'oli City," Remilia replied, having told them during their trek that Alola does have a ferry station per island, including Poni Island with the exception of Exeggutor Island, largely because it's uninhabited. "If we went all the way there, it would be taking up all of Tauros and Mudsdale's energy. And besides, you'd have to order a ticket to take the ferry from one island to the next. Big Wave Beach is a lot easier because you get to surf on a Mantine to go from island to island."
"Surfing on a Mantine," said Trowa thoughtfully and slowly.
"To go from island to island," said Quatre in the same tone as Trowa's, but at a normal pace.
"Yup! It's pretty cool the more you think about it. Although the sport and I are not best friends. I would prefer riding on a Sharpedo."
"Riding a Sharpedo?" Quatre asked.
"I'll talk some more about that on the way. For now, let's get going."
Remilia immediately set off to the route that turns right towards Big Wave Beach, with the three pilots following. Amongst themselves, they begin talking.
"I was probably right about each of us landing in the same dimension as each other," Quatre started.
"Still, we need to hide our real identities as Gundam pilots," Trowa replied.
"But we're in a different dimension now, so I don't see why…"
"Quatre, we've talked about this before. Remilia wouldn't believe us if we told her, so we need to play along with the fact that we're university students from a region called Unova and sightseeing in Alola. We'll still keep the truth of us being separated from the others out in the open."
Quatre swallowed. "I fully understand, Trowa, but-"
"Well, if you do understand, then keep your mouth closed," said Heero a little rudely. "Simple as that."
"That's not what I meant. Wufei, he can readily understand, I think, and so will Duo. But he hates lying so-"
"If he lets even one bit of the truth slip out, I'll yank on his braid. I can even coerce him into lying to cover it up."
Quatre stared at Heero, his piercing blue eyes staring straight into his concern-ridden aquamarine orbs. He saw in them that Heero was actually being serious about this (he also berating himself for not knowing better due to Heero's cold stubbornness). So, he swallowed and nodded. "All right, let's just play along with this."
"Okay," Trowa spoke up. "Let's go. We don't want to lag behind Remilia."
"Right," Heero and Quatre complied.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*At Big Wave Beach*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*~Big Wave Beach - Pokémon Ultra Sun and Moon~*
"Here we are fellas, Big Wave Beach!" Remilia announced as soon as she and the others have arrived.
Heero, Trowa, and Quatre looked at the new scenery in amazement. There are several beach goers-some fully clothed, others wearing swimsuits-walking around chatting. As they followed Remilia deeper in, there were two manta ray-like creatures floating on the water's surface, wearing somewhat similar ride gear as Flygon, Tauros and Mudsdale.
"See, there's a couple Mantine there," said Remilia as she ran towards the two ray-like creatures known as Mantine.
The three boys followed suit, stopping in the same place as the Trainer. They observed that these Mantine are almost smaller than the manta rays back home, but they're still pretty big.
"Pretty cool-looking wouldn't you say?" Remilia turned back at them, smiling.
"Um, y-yeah, they are," Quatre replied. "But there's only two of them, so how are we going to get to the next island if there's four of us?"
"Well, like I said, I'm kind of terrible at Mantine surfing," said Remilia. "So
I'm out. The two of you will have to do it."
There was a brief moment of silence. "I'm afraid I might want to pass, I'm sorry," Quatre said sheepishly.
"Eh, nothin' wrong with that," said Remilia assuringly. "We can always use Flygon."
"I guess Trowa and I will have to go, then," said Heero.
"They're all yours, Heero, Trowa," Remilia gestured them to the two Mantine.
"Um, this might sound like a silly question," said Quatre. "But it wouldn't hurt the Mantine in some way, right?"
"Nope, no way," said Remilia. "Mantine are pretty friendly Pokémon, so they wouldn't care if you ride on them. Well, not unless you're massively obese or something, then that could pose a problem."
The blonde boy laughed a little at Remilia's statement. "Alright, then, we-we'll use Flygon."
"Sweet! Heero! Trowa! We'll meet you in Heahea beach! That's where this surf route leads to!"
"This beach leads to Heahea City?" Trowa asked.
"Yeah, Heahea City on Akala Island. Oh, yeah!"
Remilia reached into her messenger bag once again and pulled out a fairly large red object with a pair of lightning bolt-shaped arms, small feet and a single long point at the center of the top. She tapped it twice with the knuckle of her index finger and the previously white screen came to life. An electronic voice sounded from the back speaker, as if it was moaning.
With a sigh of what sounded like relief, the object floated and let out a couple coughs. "Ugh, it feelz good to be out of that cursed bag of yourzzz after you shoved me into it!"
"I had to because Flygon perked its head up to something," Remilia replied a little rudely.
"'Something, zzt?" the object replied before turning its attention to Quatre, Trowa, and Heero. "Ohhhh thozze somethingz!"
The object hovered towards the three teens. "Well, howdy doodly-doo! Rotom 'Dex at your service! Zzzt! Zo, you guyzzz from Alola?"
"We're not, actually," replied Trowa as he and the other two are slowly adjusting to what is before them right now. "We're from Unova University."
"Unova?" Rotom replied. "You guyz are from abroad zt?"
"You could say that," Heero replied, trying to sound as-matter-of-factly.
"Okay, that aside," Remilia intervened. "I pulled Rotom out so he and I, along with Quatre here, to record your Mantine surfing and maybe do some color commentary."
"Provided by yourzzz truly!"
"Zip it, Rotom!"
Trowa raised a brow. "I'm sorry, 'he?'"
Remilia blinked. "...I call him a he. Anyway, I'll be muting Rotom the entire time-he's pretty mouthy, by the way-so he wouldn't be such a spoiler."
"The entire time?!" Rotom asked in shock.
Remilia grabbed Rotom's point. "I'm muting you whether you like it or not!"
"You can't juzzt go and mute-!"
The pink-haired girl reached around the back of Rotom's body and turned the volume knob down to zero, ignoring the latter's mouthing rant (she cannot read lips) about her forcefully keeping it quiet.
"Okay, then," she then said, bringing her hands together. "Shall we get going?"
"Yeah," said Quatre, with Trowa saying the same thing while Heero simply lets out a small grunt.
"All right!" Remilia reached into her messenger bag again, takes out her ride pager, and pressed a button with the Flygon text next to it, summoning it to the ball and out of it. She then climbed up on it with Quatre following her, wrapping his arms around her waist and placing his hands on her stomach. "For you boys, it's surfin' 'Tine!"
Trowa and Heero carefully stepped on the two Mantine, having ignored the pun Remilia just made, kneeling down and grabbing the handles. As if on some silent command, the Mantine swam from the beachline towards the ocean. Remilia commanded Flygon to follow them as she pressed the camera app on Rotom's screen (who apparently is still protesting about being forcefully muted-not that Remilia would care) to start recording. Once the two pilots are out far away enough, Trowa became the first to carefully stand up. Heero came after, trying to balance himself on the Mantine's back.
*~Mantine Surf - Pokémon Ultra Sun and Moon~*
Remilia pressed the record button as soon as Flygon is high enough in the air. "Here we are, everybody, live in the air with Flygon and a very special guest. Quatre, say hi."
"...Hello," Quatre did as he was told, smiling politely.
"We're here today to see some surf action going on here, with Trowa Barton and Heero Yuy, both university students hailing all the way from Unova. They're gonna try their hand at Mantine surfing. Hopefully, they're loads better than me, I can hardly wait to see. Ooh, here comes the first wave! What will those two guys do? I don't think I'm the only one who's excited!"
"Me neither," Quatre replied. "I've never seen Mantine surfing all my life, so this should be interesting." And I'm hoping to God they don't drown; it is they're first time doing such a thing as this, let alone actual surfing.
As predicted, a large wave is coming towards Heero and Trowa from their right. They nearly fell off their Mantine when they suddenly moved towards it, increasing their speed a little. They went up the base of the wave, but traveled down again in the same speed as before. Both readily understood this, and decided to move along with the Mantine whichever direction it was moving towards. It's almost as if the Mantine understood that this is their first time doing it.
The two Mantine moved towards the wave again, speed increasing a little more, but this time Trowa and Heero synched themselves more properly. After getting a little more height, the Mantine plunged down again to the base. Instead of waiting, the two pilots twist and bend their upper torsos to command the Mantine to move towards the wave, their speed ever increasing. As the wave decreased in height, Trowa became the first to speed up and lift himself and the Mantine up in the air, grabbing the handles and handstanding on them, legs straight and knees slightly bent even as the Mantine hit the surface of the water, little droplets falling on him like a light rain.
"Holy shit, that's amazing!" Remilia exclaimed excitedly as Trowa quickly but carefully went back to the same position as earlier. "I've never seen someone do a trick like that!"
"Trowa works for the circus in his spare time," Quatre explained. "To think that he would employ his circus stunts in the form of surfing; it's actually pretty amazing."
"Now, how will Heero Yuy, on the other hand, top this?"
Back on the ocean, Heero observed Trowa's trick on the low wave as the wave itself increased its height again, also noticing that Trowa's farther away from him now. He slaloms the Mantine to get a speed increase, and at the lip of the wave, immediately grabs the handles and kneels as soon as he's up in the air. He pulls at one handle and pushes down at the other to make the Mantine roll twice before hitting the surface. He immediately gets himself back up with the same speed, rides up the wave while it was still high, and the Mantine jumps up higher in the air. He makes a steering motion as if turning a wheel, and the Mantine turns along with his motions, spinning twice before landing on the surface once again.
"Heero just went and done a Starmie 720, guys!" Remilia said excitedly, very nearly screeching. "This is getting good! Your thoughts Quatre?"
"I agree," Quatre replied. "Way more impressive than Trowa's handstand, even!"
The banter between Remilia and Quatre-combined with the cool tricks Trowa and Heero are pulling off despite their inexperience-continued for a few more minutes before finally reaching the beach of the next island of their destination: Akala Island's Heahea Beach.
*~Heahea City - Pokémon Sun and Moon~*
Heero and Trowa got off their respective Mantine while Flygon landed next to them with Remilia and Quatre climbing off and calling Flygon back into its ball. Like with Big Wave Beach, it does have beachgoers, only slightly fewer in numbers. Quatre made this observation apparent to Remilia, in which she replied:
"In this time of day, it's to be expected. It tends to get crowded in the afternoon and twilight."
She lead them from the beach towards Heahea city, which is a rather long walk from the beach taking nearly up to twenty minutes. Trowa, Heero and Quatre stared at how big the city is. They might admit (but not out loud), the cityscapes are more beautiful and breathtaking than the cities up in their colonies. For something of the past (not like the skyscrapers have changed much in the past 220+ years, anyway), the architecture in this city is very impressive.
"Amazed?" Remilia said amusingly, after looking at what they're observing around them. "Yeah, I pretty much was too, when I first came to Alola; I had the exact same reaction as you guys when I arrived here with a couple friends of mine and Hau'oli city."
"Wait, so you weren't born in Alola?" Quatre asked.
"No. My mom and I moved from Kanto to Melemele just a few months ago. So, I've grown to call this region my home."
"And you became a Pokémon Trainer here?"
"Uh-huh. Just a couple months after I turned fourteen. That's actually the age when a person becomes a Trainer."
"In this region, or other regions?" Trowa asked.
"Well…" Remilia bites her lower lip and rolled her eyes up towards the sky. "It actually varies from region to region. In the case of Alola, it's fourteen; in Kanto, it's eleven, Unova sixteen, Johto twelve or thirteen; Hoenn the same thing. I don't know about Sinnoh, and I think Kalos has the same age requirement as Alola…"
"Every region in the world has an differing age where you become a Pokémon Trainer?" Heero asks.
"Yeah, but the kids that come of age can opt out if they want to," Remilia replied. "Some people don't become Trainers, ever."
"Hello to you, Remilia!" a familiar voice said.
The four teens turned to the direction of a young girl with short blue hair and blue eyes wearing a white sailor shirt with blue baggy pants, a navy blue swimsuit underneath and black flip-flops and appears to be Remilia's age waving towards them in front of a building with a red roof and a… blue serpentine dragon?!
The pink-haired Trainer waved back. "Hi, Lana!"
She jogged towards the blue-haired girl named Lana. "How's it going with you?"
"I'm doing alright," Lana replied politely. "Who are those fellows?"
"Oh, those three? They're Quatre, Trowa and Heero. They hail straight from Unova and they're university students." Remilia turned towards the three boys. "This is Lana; she's a Water-type trial captain."
"Hello," said Quatre politely.
"Hello," Trowa said next.
"Hey," Heero said monotonously.
"Greetings," Lana returned.
"I was just giving those guys a tour of Alola," Remilia explained.
"Tour" might be a tad inaccurate, Heero thought.
"I see. Welcome to Alola, friends. I hope you enjoy your stay here."
"Thank you," said Quatre. "Alola is very nice, so I can understand why it seems to be popular with tourists across the globe."
"Well, actually, Kalos seems to be popular with tourists right now, but Alola's a little popular regardless," said Remilia. "At least that's what I've read. So, Lana. Watcha doin'?"
"Oh, I was doing some grocery shopping," Lana replied, subtly pointing towards the tote bags being held by the blue limbless dragon by the tail, only blocked by the two blue orbs that are a little close to the tip of it. "I only stopped at the Pokémon Center for a snack at the café."
"That building with the red roof is actually a Pokémon Center?" said Quatre under his breath, careful not to let Remilia hear.
"I see," Remilia replied. "Oh, Lana! Would it be alright with you if you give me and the boys a ride to Lush Jungle on your Dragonair?"
That's what that thing is called, a Dragonair? Trowa thought.
"Actually, let me put it this way," Remilia continued. "Quatre and I will ride with you on Dragonair while Heero and Trowa rides on Flygon."
The blue-haired girl gave an amused smirk. "You really want them to see all of Alola, don't you?"
"Mmmm, maybe. I also want to see if Mallow is there as well, to ask her what herbs she has to recommend for cooking. She's normally there at this time of day and day of the week, right?"
"Well, I couldn't guarantee that she might be there, but I don't see why not."
"Cool! Thanks, Lana!"
Lana then climbs on top of the Dragonair and pats the padded saddle, indicating that Heero and Trowa can now come on board. The two said nothing as they walked towards the serpent and climbed on, with Trowa in the middle and Heero in the back as he placed his hands on Trowa's slightly muscled stomach and Trowa's around Lana (which he notes is smaller than Remilia, making him wonder if she and Lana are really the same age). Meanwhile, Remilia takes out her ride pager again and summons Flygon from the Poké Ball. Remilia and Quatre climb up Flygon in the same position as before they left Big Wave Beach.
"You all ready to go?" Remilia asks everyone.
"Yes, we all are," replied Lana.
"Great! To Lush Jungle we go!"
*No BGM*
With those words, Flygon flapped its wings strongly while Dragonair expanded the wings on its head and flapped them once as it started to slither towards the air, Flygon following shortly. Both Trowa and Heero made small comments on how odd it is that a serpentine dragon with wings only on its head and fly smoothly, but they were more put off-guard by the fact that the Dragonair's wings went from small to big in the matter of several seconds.
"There is absolutely no way that a creature's wings such as this can get to that size in a short time," Heero had commented under his breath, taking care to not be heard by no one else but Trowa. "Especially in order to fly."
"All the science behind this world is quite strange," Trowa had replied in agreement.
Awhile, on Flygon, Quatre took the time to look down below the ride Pokémon, as he never fully got the chance to look at the sights below him while he and Remilia were commentating on Heero and Trowa's Mantine surf skills. Nearly everything below them is a fresh, beautiful green, with a few wild Pokémon that can be visibly seen roaming here and there, as well as a few people walking about. Everything about this world is as beautiful as his and the other pilots' home dimension. Quatre would simply marvel at it forever.
Speaking of dimensions, Quatre still feels a little uneasy about keep his and the others' identities as Gundam pilots a secret. Granted, he understands fully that it's protocol they must follow at all times, but suppose Remilia finds out one way or another? Would she even believe them? She would have to, because Remilia seems to be a very nice girl who's more than willing to help them, possibly even help them find their respective Gundams so that they could get themselves back home, right? Then again, they have no idea where their Gundams might be, and neither would Remilia, even she does believe that they are Gundam pilots. Well, not unless she has some sort of master plan to get all of their Gundams, but really, what are the odds of that?
His thoughts are suddenly interrupted by a distant scream. He looked around briefly before asking Remilia, "Did you hear a scream just now?"
"Huh?" Remilia responded as she turned her head so her eyes could face Quatre. "Oh, uh, I don't remember hearing it.
The pink-haired Trainer then turned her head back to its position and asked, "Did you guys hear a scream just now?"
Trowa turned his head back after hearing the inquiry. "I don't think I did."
"Neither do I," Lana coined in.
But unbeknownst to them, Heero most definitely did, even though he never said anything, nor even if he didn't hear Remilia's question. I actually did hear it, he thought. But… that scream sounded too hellish to be human. Unless…
"How much longer it might take to get to Lush Jungle?" he finally spoke.
"Well, we took off around ten minutes ago," Lana replied. "So, it might take us twenty or twenty-five minutes tops."
Heero said nothing after Lana made that statement. It takes thirty minutes to get from Heahea City to Lush Jungle. If the person who made that hellish scream could be there, and is who he thinks it might be...
Invested yet? I hope you are. The pace might pick up in the next few or so chapters (as well as the abuse of chapter parts).