Hello, everyone! I'm back with another chapter! Sorry that the battle scenes aren't so hot. I'm still working on how to make it sound like an actual battle and not basically two people with sticks hitting each other. Probably need to go watch some of the anime and see how they do it XD Also, just so ya'll know, I type all of the chapters on my phone, so the paragraphs seem much longer on there than on the computer. I try to add words so that it's not a bunch of short little lines when you look at it on the computer, but it doesn't always work out.
There's a reply to a certain review from the first chapter at the end of this one. It was originally right below this paragraph, but it ended up being a doozy, so I booted it to the end. I unfortunately forgot to reply to the other ones, but this one was a bit more urgent.
I spent most of the next day preparing for the festival. It wasn't until evening, and Pueo and I still needed to work on the whole battling concept. We were running about the outskirts, battling wild Pokemon as they appeared. Most of the time we were doing pretty good, but not everything went as smoothly as we would have liked.
"Pueo! Go to your left! N-no, your other left!"
"Use Leafage! Wait, no, that's a Wingull, use Tackle instead!"
"Huh? Where'd that Yungoos-OH SHIT WHEN'D IT GET BEHIND ME?"
Even when I was struggling to battle like a seasoned Trainer, we were having fun. This aspect of life-the life of a Trainer and her Pokemon-was entirely new to both of us. It was a new challenge, and it was sure to be filled with all sorts of surprises later on. The people and Pokemon we'd meet, the places we'd go...Pueo and I couldn't wait to see what was in store for us!
Evening came around, and with it, so did Kukui. He was dressed about the same as he was yesterday, though his labcoat somehow seemed slightly more tattered than it had the day before.
"Hey, Alani! Ready for the festival? I'm looking forward to seeing you and your Pokemon's moves, oh yeah!" Kukui shouted from the front of the house.
I scrambled to get ready. Kukui hadn't told me when he was going to stop by, and I was only partially ready to go at the time. Once I grabbed my bag and put on my shoes, Pueo and I rushed out of the door.
"Sorry, Kukui!" I said once I reached him. "Didn't know you'd be coming by now."
"Hey, it's alright, Alani, no harm done, yeah," Kukui laughed. "Now, let's head to the festival, oh yeah!" Kukui started to walk to the path left of my house.
"Huh? I thought the path on the right led to Iki Town..." I said.
"Well, it does," Kukui replied, shrugging a bit. "But since you have Pueo by your side, I figured we could take a different route. One where we could see more wild Pokemon, yeah!"
We started along the path known as Route One. Kukui showed me how to catch Pokemon along the way. I thought I knew how to do it already, but when he gave me some Pokeballs to catch a Pikipek, I realized just how wrong I was. It was a challenge to weaken it enough, and it was even more challenging to throw the Pokeball the right distance. I constantly missed the Pokemon because my aim was so bad. Eventually, I managed to catch it, and we continued with our trip.
By the time we reached Iki Town, the festival was in full swing. People were once again singing and dancing, but this time, there was a Pokemon battle raging on the stage. Just looking at it filled me with an excited energy.
"Alani! Over here!" a voice called out.
Kukui and I weaved through the crowd towards the person who called out. It was Hau. He was a little ball of energy, bouncing all over the place in excitement. Lillie was standing next to him, looking slightly nervous but still rather happy.
"Hey, Hau!" I said once we reached them. "Nice to see you again!"
"Woo! Hau, you certainly look full of energy, oh yeah!" Kukui laughed. "Ready for the big match?"
"I was born ready!" Hau enthusiastically shouted.
We walked over to the stage. Atop it was a heated battle between an Alolan Meowth and a Rockruff, according to my Pokedex. People were gathered around, cheering for one or the other. Hala was right at the edge of the stage, smiling brightly as he watched the Pokemon battle. Suddenly, Rockruff was able to deal a devastating blow to Meowth, ending the match. People cheered, and a very familiar Pokemon cry resounded in the distance.
I gasped. "Huh? That sound! Wasn't that Tapu Koko?"
"Yep!" Hau confirmed. "That was our guardian, all right. You know, this festival and its battles are all dedicated to it. The tapu loves a good Pokemon battle."
"So cool..." I whispered.
"Ah, why if it isn't Hau and Alani!" Hala said once he saw us. "Come over here, you two."
"You two showed up at just the right time, hm?" Hala told us once we were both there. "This battle just ended. How about we finish this ceremony with you two battling once more?"
"Yeah! Sounds great!" Hau said. I simply nodded.
We went to opposite sides of the stage. Hala introduced both of us, and we stepped up as he called our names. My palms became sweaty as tension filled the air. The battle commenced, and we sent out our Pokemon.
"Pitters!" I called out as I sent out the Pikipek I just caught.
"Go, Chuchino!" Hau shouted as he sent out a Pichu.
I winced as I double checked my Pokedex. Pichu was an Electric-type, and Flying-types were weak to electric. Pitters and Pueo were both Flying-types, so I'd have to struggle my way through this first Pokemon.
"Ok, Pitters, use Peck!" I said.
Pitters flew up to Chuchino and jabbed it with her beak. Chuchino was knocked back a little ways, then used Charm on Pitters as Hau directed. It was a direct "hit" on Pitters, and I saw her will to hurt Chuchino drop slightly.
"Peck again!" I told Pitters.
"Chuchino, Thundershock!" Hau called out.
Pitters landed a hit right as Chuchino released its move. A bright light flashed from them, and once we could see again, we were greeted with the sight of two fainted Pokemon. The crowd around us gasped.
Pulling out Pitters's Pokeball, I sent her back into it. Hau did the same for Chuchino. I smiled a bit. We were both down to our starters. This was actually really fun!
"Pueo! You can do it!"
"Go get 'em, Tarin!"
The crowd cheered as we both sent out our last Pokemon. Hau and I grinned at each other, eyes burning with the passion for battle. Our Pokemon mimicked us, ready to follow our commands.
"Ok, Pueo! Leafage!" I told my Pokemon.
"Baby-Doll Eyes, then dodge!" Hau shouted.
Tarin gave Pueo a look with very innocent eyes. Pueo's attack faltered slightly, and Tarin was able to dodge most of the leaves.
"Don't give up, Pueo! We can do this!" I cheered on.
The match was mostly Tarin dodging leaves and Pueo avoiding jets of water. Both Pokemon seemed to be doing well, but Pueo had the type advantage. Slowly but surely, Tarin grew tired from the attacks, and after a well-aimed Tackle took it off-guard, it fainted, and Pueo and I won the match.
Hala clapped. "Now that was quite the match between these two new Trainers! You both did well in bringing out the power of your Pokemon. And as for Tapu Koko..."
Once again, Tapu Koko's cry could be heard, this time sounding closer than before.
"He is pleased!" Hala said. "And with that, the festival shall conclude. Thank you all for giving our guardian such spectacular battles!"
As I stepped off of the stage, Hala pulled me to the side. In his hand was what appeared to be a bracelet made of stone that gave off a powerful aura.
"Alani," Hala began, "This is the stone that Tapu Koko entrusted to you yesterday. As the kahuna of this island, I have turned it into what is known as a Z-Ring. With this, you will be able to draw out the full power of your Pokemon as you continue to grow together."
"Really?" I asked as I slipped it onto my left wrist. "That's so cool! Thank you!"
Hala laughed. "Ah, but you won't be able to make use of the Z-Ring's powers quite yet! That time will come later in your journey, when you and your Pokemon are ready for it. For now, why don't you go back to Hau, hm? He seems to be waiting for you."
I looked over my shoulder. Hau's face appeared as he jumped to see us over the people around him. Once we made eye contact, he started waving. Thanking Hala once again, I went over to join Hau.
"Man, you and Pueo really are something," Hau said as we walked towards the exit of Iki Town. "You two looked like you've been battling together for ages!"
"Heh, it didn't really feel that way, but thanks, Hau," I smiled. "You and Tarin did a great job, too."
"Ah, c'mon, give yourself some credit, Alani!" Hau said as he elbowed me. "Most Trainers are still floundering to learn how to battle the day after they get their first Pokemon!"
"And what about yourself?" I pointed out. "You look like a pretty new Trainer to me, but you seem to be perfectly capable, too."
Hau scratched the back of his head. "Well, gramps lets me use some of his Pokemon on occasion, so I guess I already had a basic idea of the ropes. Oh, hey, here's the exit." We had reached the wooden gate that marked the road. It was time to part ways.
"Well, it was nice talking to you, Alani. See you tomorrow!" Hau said.
"It was nice talking to you too, Hau," I said with a small smile. "See ya!" With that, I started back towards home.
Train wreck chapter is a train wreck chapter. I feel like I kinda got better as I made more chapters, though. Except chapter three. That was bad. And that'll be posted next week! Anywho, review response is below this. Have an awesome week, ya'll!
Response to the review on chapter one (it's either chapter one or the prologue. naming chapters is throwing me off XD)! Imma start out with this; please be a little more polite with your wording. I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt and hoping you did not mean to come off as rude, but you really did to me, especially in that last paragraph. Now, I'll admit that you're correct about the punctuation. Dialogue has never been my strong point, so that was a good tip. I think I had read something online that gave me really bad advice on how to write dialogue, and that's what screwed me over. That should be fixed in all of the chapters by the time I post this. The other two points, however, I would have to disagree with. The species of Pokemon (as well as types, apparently) are capitalized, based on in-game text. Professor is also capitalized. I had spent awhile waffling over that one as well as a few others until I finally decided to look to the game for capitalization. Regardless of how the capitalization is supposed to be in real life, I'm choosing to go with how the games do it, even if it "spits in the face" of real-life grammar. I understand that a character waking up is an incredibly generic way to start any chapter or story, but some of the greatest stories have simple beginnings (such as the Zelda games), and considering the map distance between Pallet Town and Vermilion City, it made sense for me to have Alani and her mother to head out early in the morning. If Pallet Town had a port in-game, I probably would have had a different start. As for the waking up in the first chapter, it's referenced several times throughout the game that Alola's way the heck far away from Kanto (like a day/night difference), which also means jet lag is intense. I know I get at least a bit screwed up after heading to either coast in the US, and I remember my sleep schedule was a total wreck after I came back from Europe, so I figured something similar should happen here. Granted, I probably messed it up in later chapters, but who knows, maybe Alani's pretty quick at getting over jetlag! :D Besides, I'm doing this for fun. I fully expect myself to end up falling into cliche story parts and possibly even a few plot holes, regardless of how often I read over what I wrote.
Sorry that got so long. I just wanted to respond to all the points in your review. For future reference, please make sure to re-read reviews to make sure they don't sound too rude! You never know what kind of life a person has, and what you say can either make or break their day.
