Ezra fidgeted in his seat on the boat, feeling nervous. "Let me guess, first time on a boat?" Sabine asked him. Ezra stammered, "W-well I uh… no." She chuckled, and Ezra felt himself go hot with embarrassment. "Don't worry, first I was on one, I got nervous too." Ezra wanted to move to another topic that wouldn't make him nervous, "So, what do you think Alola will be like?" She shrugged, "I dunno. From what we heard, there are no Gym Leaders, but there's an island challenge, and some Pokemon have different forms."
The day before…
The door to the lab opened, "I'm back!" Ezra ran out of his room and down the stairs, "Professor Sycamore!" Dev croaked a greetings, "Welcome back!" Kanan, Sabine, Hera, and Zeb showed up a few seconds later. "I guess it's time for us to go, then?" Kanan asked. Sycamore replied, still smiling, "Well, I did hear about a region that's different than the rest. I believe they call it Alola." Ezra's curiosity perked up, "Different than the rest? What do you mean?" Sycamore turned to face him, "In Alola, they have what they call an island challenge. No Gym Leaders. And I believe there are some Pokemon that were native to Kanto and Johto, but have differents forms." Dev tilted his head to one side, "Different forms?" Zeb spoke up, "Well, it'll be a chance to meet new people and friends." As Kanan's group and Sycamore were talking, Ezra spoke with Dev. "So, I know we are Sycamore's assistant, but…"
"But what?"
"I think we should go to Alola."
"You serious?"
"Yeah."
"Okay! I'm actually pretty excited, myself."
Ezra turned to face them, "I want to go to Alola."
Several days after departing…
Ezra walked down the ramp, half watching where he was going, half looking around him. In the sky, a trio of bird Pokemon he had never seen before chirped to each other, almost as if they were singing. He felt his right foot hit something, and before he realized it, he was on the ground, the bottom of his chin stinging with pain. "Ow…" he grunted, rubbing his chin. He turned to see what he tripped over.
A light brown dog Pokemon was staring at him with blue eyes. It had white fur around its neck, with what looked like brown stones protruding from them. Its white tail stood straight in the air. "I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" he asked Ezra with concern. Ezra sat up, "I'm okay. And it's not completely your fault." The Pokemon barked happily, "Thank goodness, I thought you would be mad at me." As Ezra stood up, the Pokemon bounced around his feet, bombarding him with questions.
"Are you a trainer?"
"What's it like on a boat?"
"Where are you from?"
"What Pokemon is that?"
"What's your name?"
Ezra heard Kanan and the others approaching. The little dog stopping jumping when he spotted them, wagging his tail. "Hello!" he barked. He ran up to them in excitement, hopping around them, asking the same questions he asked Ezra. Kanan looked at Ezra, and he shrugged in response. Then they heard laughter. They all turned to see a man wearing a lab coat with no shirt, a cap on his head, glasses, and grey pants. Ezra whispered to Dev, "First day here, and we already make a fool out of ourselves."
"Tell me about it," he croaked back, sounding disappointed. Kanan took a step forwards, "I'm guessing you're Professor Kukui?" The man stopped laughing, but his smile stayed. "Yes, I am. Sycamore told me to pick you guys up. Didn't expect Rockruff to find you first." Rockruff barked, "I'm faster! Yay! Though I wish he'd call me Wolf." Soon, they were walking with Kukui to Iki Town, which was where the island challenge supposedly starts. "Come on, Crystal! We're gonna be late!" A female's voice rang out from ahead of them, and they saw a girl with brown hair and eyes running in their direction. Running at her feet was… a white Vulpix? The girl spotted Kukui and them. "Hi Kukui!" she waved, then turned right, disappearing up the hill along with the Vulpix. "Who was that?" Ezra asked. Sabine chimed in, "And why does Vulpix look different?" They continued walking, "That was Cat and her Alolan Vulpix, Crystal. You see, a few Pokemon like Vulpix have different forms here, which also changes their types. For example, Alolan Vulpix is an Ice type."
"Oh, okay. So that means that battles with them will be different than what we're used to?" Sabine asked, clearly interested with these Alolan Forms. "Yes, they will be different, but new experiences are what we want our trial goers to feel."
Nicki sat on the ground, brushing Angel's fur. "Angel, how exactly did you get your fur tangled again?" she asked the Absol, fighting a knot with the brush. "Well, I might've gotten into some trouble with a couple of Rattata and a Raticate. But once they understood I meant no harm, everything was fine," he answered, the fur on his chest rising in pride. "Uh huh, right," Nicki rolled her eyes as she got the stubborn knot to untangle itself. Kahuna Hala had let them stay in Iki Town ever since she became wanted by the Empire. She saw Cat running by, Crystal in hot pursuit. "Hi Nicki! Hi Angel!" she greeted quickly as she went by. Crystal did the same, dashing by with the same speed. "How can those two have so much energy?" She asked aloud. A few minutes later, Kukui was walking by with a group of people she had never seen before.
"Alola, Kukui. How's your day?"
"Alola, Nicki. It's been very well. How about yours?"
"It's been fine. Just wish Angel would stop wandering off without telling me."
Angel yawned, "This is boring." He almost stood up, but Nicki held him by the scruff. "Not done brushing your fur yet." The girl with multicolored hair chuckled slightly. Nicki looked at the group, "So who are you guys?" Kukui gestured to each of them, "Oh, these are Ezra, Sabine, Kanan, Hera, and Zeb. They came from Kalos." Nicki paused from brushing, "Kalos? I've heard about it once, before. Wasn't it featured before over those stones in that one town?" Ezra spoke up, "I believe the town was Geosenge Town." Angel grumbled, "Well isn't he a smart one." Ezra shot him an angry expression, so Nicki pulled the brush hard through one of the knots. "Ow! What was that for!?" he yelped. Nicki just stared, "Sorry, that knot was a stubborn one. Had to do it." Turning back to Kukui, she smiled, "Anyways, don't let me keep you here any longer. It's obvious you have somewhere to go."
Cat came to a full stop at the kahuna's door. She raised her hand and politely knocked on the door, containing her excitement. The door opened, revealing a a dark skinned boy with grey eyes, dark green hair, a black shirt yellow pants with an orange flower pattern, and orange shoes. "Alola, Cat! What brings you here?" he asked with a cheerful smile. Cat smiled back, "Alola, Hau. I came to see Hala. Is he here?" Hau shook his head, "Nah, he went off somewhere without telling anyone." Cat sighed, "Again? Man, I was really looking forward to visiting Tapu Koko with his permission." Crystal tackled her leg, "Come on! Can we have one battle while we wait?" Hau looked at Crystal, "What she say?"
"Crystal wants to battle while we wait for him to come back," Cat replied. "Well then, you're on!" Hau smiled. "Let me go get Rowlet." He ran back inside, calling out for the small owl Pokemon. A few seconds later, he came back with Rowlet, "Okay! We're ready!" The two rushed over to the wooden platform where Pokemon battles were held for the festival. They stood opposite of each other, and both Pokemon looked each other in the eye. "Just letting you know, Rowlet and I are going to win this time!" Hau cheered. Cat chuckled, "Well, Crystal and I are totally in sync." They both counted down together to start the battle.
"Three, two, one, GO!"
Cat wasted no time giving her Vulpix an order, "Crystal! Use Powder Snow!" A freezing wind was released from Crystal's mouth and shot at Rowlet. "Rowlet! Dodge it!" Hau ordered. The small owl flew upwards, maneuvering around the snowy wind. "Now! Use Leafage!" Rowlet flapped his wings, and green energy in the form of leaves shot out towards the fox. "Crystal! Use Moonblast and repel that Leafage!" In an instant, Crystal had already charged a strong enough Moonblast to fire. Once she released it, the Leafage and Moonblast connected, creating an explosion mid air. Cat and Crystal watched the dust that was now falling towards the ground with caution. As if they predicted it, Rowlet came flying at them from the dust, his beak glowing. "Use Peck!" they heard Hau call out, and the move landed a hit on Crystal. The fox landed on her back in front of Cat. "Crystal!" she called out in concern. Crystal got back on her paws, "Alright, time to show them what we can do!" Cat nodded, watching Rowlet. "You may have landed a hit, but we're still standing. Crystal! Get up close and use Moonblast!" she ordered, knowing that dodging a close ranged attack like that was almost impossible.
Crystal, in astonishing swift movements, had already gotten within striking range. A pink orb was already generated from her mouth. She released the pink beam, not failing to miss Rowlet. The small owl was now on the ground, unable to battle. "Yes! We won!" Cat cheered. She then ran over to Hau, "Coming out of the dust like that, we could never expect that sneak attack! That was a good battle." Hau smiled, using a Revive and a Potion on Rowlet, "Well, if the opponent can't see what you're doing, they won't know how to dodge. That is, unless they are really skilled." A Pokemon's cry made them look up from what they were doing. A light blue frog Pokemon had hopped onto the platform, clearly excited. "That was awesome! Do it again, please!" he hopped up and down in place. "Dev! You can't just ask them to battle again!" a boy with blue hair and blue eyes ran up to the frog. "Sorry. As soon as Dev saw the battle, he just wanted to see it again," he apologized, picking Dev up off the platform. "It's okay," Cat chuckled. "I can see why Dev wanted an encore." The boy let Dev perch on his right shoulder, "Anyways, I'm Ezra. I came from Kalos with my friends." Hau jumped off the platform, "Kalos? What's it like?" Cat looked around for Ezra's friends, then spotted Kukui with three people and one black and red fox-like Pokemon she had seen earlier. "Are those your friends over there?" she asked him. He glanced over his shoulder, then nodded, "Yep. That's them." He waved them over to where he was standing.
Once they were with him, they introduced themselves. The girl with multi-colored hair was Sabine, the woman with green hair and blue eyes was Hera, the man with brown hair and teal eyes was Kanan, and the Zoroark was named Zeb. Cat had never seen a Pokemon that could speak human before, which was actually kind of cool. "I'm Cat," she began. "And this is my partner and best Pokemon, Crystal." Crystal ran up to each one of them, "Hi! How are your days going?" Hau chimed in, "I'm Hau, and this is Rowlet." The small owl hooted, "Nice to meet you!" Dev, a Shiny Froakie, croaked, "So I heard about this Hala guy. Is he here?" Cat shook her head, "No, Hala's not here at the moment. He went up without telling anyone." Ezra, Kanan, and Dev were a little shocked when Cat answered the question out loud. "Wait," Kanan asked. "You can understand Pokemon?" She nodded, "Ever since I was a little kid, I could understand them. My mom says I'm special that way. The only Pokemon that I can't understand, though, are the ones that are owned by these really weird trainers. They don't show any sympathy or care for their Pokemon." There was silence, then Hera asked Cat a question, showing interest, "What weird trainers?" Cat looked down at the ground, seeming unsure. "I've only seen a few around. Not that I've battled anyone of them, no, but I've seen a few battle other trainers before. Just a few days ago, I saw one with a Houndoom." She noticed that Kanan seemed to freeze up after she told them what she knew, but she said nothing about it. But it seemed obvious that to them, these trainers were bad news. "Should we be careful around these trainers?" Cat asked with concern. If these trainers had bad intentions, she wouldn't want Crystal, or anyone for that matter, to get hurt.
"Yes, you should. There's no telling what they can do," Kanan replied sternly. What if they target us even if we try to avoid them? Cat was about to ask, but decided not to. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blond-haired girl wearing a white dress and hat head up the trail leading to the Ruins of Conflict. Where are you heading, Lillie…? Crystal and Cat seemed to ask the question silently, almost as if they shared the same mind. "I'm going to see if the bridge heading to the Ruins of Conflict is still there. You know how old it is," she informed them. Ezra took a step forwards, "Can I come too?" She nodded, "Of course."
Okay, so I this chapter was a little bit longer than the previous chapters. Been working hard on the series, using any free time I got to make edits and changes.
