While exploring the area around the cavern, a Pokemon appeared that caught Alex's eye. The little bug buzzed contently grass and trees. She gasped and squealed excitedly. "It's so cute!" she cried, pulling an empty Pokeball from her bag, as well as the Rotom Dex. "Cutiefly, huh?" she mumbled, looking at the information on the screen. "Your name is accurate. Come here, little friend!"

She held the ball in her hand and giggled. "Welcome to the team, little friend!" she cried excitedly. She healed the little Cutiefly and decided it was time to head for the cavern.

At the entrance of the cavern, Ilima stood, looking into the darkness of the cave. He turned when he heard her walking up the path. "Greetings, Captain Ilima here," he said and smiled. Yeah... I didn't forget who you were. "And my trial..." He turned and looked back into the dark cavern entrance, "begins mere stops from here in Verdant Cavern." He looked back at her, his usual light smile on his face. "Note that the Pokemon living within Verdant Cavern are quite fierce. I wouldn't venture in unless you've prepared some Potions and so forth. Though attempting the trials during the island challenge, one can exceed his or her own limits... That is what the Alolan people believe." His expression turned stern. "Once you enter Verdant Cavern, you will not be able to leave until you have completed the trial. Are you prepared for the trial?"

Alex closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and nodded. "Yes, I'm ready. I got my potions and everything."

Ilima smiled softly. "I'll be waiting for you!" He walked inside.

Alex paused, looking at the entrance of the cavern. This was it... here first trial. What was it that she had to do in here? Well, she wouldn't know unless she went inside. She slowly walked in.

She felt in awe once she got inside. The ceiling of the cave had large holes, allowing beams of sunlight to stream inside, leaving veils of golden, shimmering light. The rocky pathways were covered in moss and vegetation, blending the whole area with earthy greens and browns.

"Let me formally welcome you to Verdant Cavern! I am your captain, Ilima," he said in a more official tone. "Allow me to explain the basics of my trial." Oh thank goodness, there is an explanation. "What you should attempt to do is..." He turned to look into the open area of the cavern. An Alola Rattata ran across the ground and into a burrow chiseled into one of the rock platforms. "Defeat three of the Pokemon that lurk here in their dens!" He pointed to the back of the cave where an exit was, just pure white from the darkness inside. "Then reach the pedestal deep within the cave... and collect the Z-Crystal there! You'll need to be completely in sync with your Pokemon to succeed." Alex jumped when a Pokemon's cry ripped through the air, coming from the exit.

Ilima paused. "Oh dear! And there's one more thing I forgot to mention. Many strong Pokemon make their home in this cave, but one stronger and more fearsome than all the rest, known as the Totem Pokemon, also resides here! It will be the greatest obstacle you face as you attempt to clear my trial!" He folded his arms. "By the way, until you clear the trial, you will not be able to catch Pokemon in Verdant Cavern." He paused again, staring at Alex calmly. "This is but one of the eight trials you will face during your island challenge..." His stern expression reappeared. "And it begins now! The trial of Captain Ilima!"

He sure says his name a lot... She took a deep breath again and stepped forward. So... my trial is just to bother a bunch of Pokemon in their home? That seems pretty rude to me... She shrugged and approached one of the first burrows. "Hello little friend!" she called into the hole. "I'm here to annoy you for my trial!" The Rattata cried angrily and charged out.

"One left to go..." Alex said to herself while she walked the raising path in the middle of the cave. She looked around and saw a long, wooden plank stretching the cap between the stone platforms. She glanced down into the gap and frowned. "That... looks deep..." She swallowed and looked forward, carefully walking across the plank.

Once thankfully across, she could see movement in one of the dens. She looked around, seeing multiple burrows. "I see..." she mumbled. "Do you move around between those then?" She moved up to the burrow where she saw the movement and crouched down. "Hello little friend!" she called out into it. She bent down further, looking into the den, and there was nothing. She looked around and saw movement in a hole on the opposite side of the cave. "Oh, you're going to be a trickster, are you?" She ran across the rocky ground to the next burrow and peeked into it. Once again, nothing.

She huffed and turned around, seeing movement once again at another burrow, one right below the one she looked in the first time. "Stop that!" she barked and ran back. She got to it, bent down, and peeked inside.

Nothing!

She snorted and stood up to see eyes staring at her from the first burrow. She puffed her cheeks, making her way back to the first burrow she saw it.

She got half way to the burrow when she heard the sound of shoes pounding on the stone floor. Two Team Skull members rushed forth, once again doing their weird hand stuff. "Yo, yo, yo!"

"It's your bad beach boys, back... back again! Remember us?" the second one said, also throwing his odd hand signs.

Alex sighed and shook her head. "Of course... how could I forget?"

A put his hands on his hips and laughed. "Whoa! Even though we look identical? That's pretty impressive actually!" Man you guys are dumb...

"Who cares about that anyway?" B said to the first. "We're here to mess her trial up, yo!"

"Oh yeah, that's right! Yo, let's get that Pokemon, homie!"

"Hey, don't bother me!" Alex snapped. "This is my first trial and you're getting in the way!" B slowly approached her, taking a Pokeball from his pocket.

"What's up with that?!" the grunt shouted, throwing his hands faster.

"For real, though?! I can't get my skull around it! This kid's mad strong, yo!" his friend said, now standing beside him.

The two took a few quick steps back and huddled closer together. "Naw, it ain't even like that. This kid is straight up dangerous, homie!" A whispered back to him.

"I don't know, man... Isn't this whole place trouble?!" B whispered back.

"Yeah! It totally is, homie! I mean, that thing is so strong that regular Pokemon don't even wanna come out and battle!" A and B ran deeper into the cave.

Before they disappeared, B ran back towards her. "Yo, kid! You know there's a mad strong Pokemon lurking back here somewhere, right? I'd run if I were you."

A moved a little closer. "Naw, we're not going out like that!" he shouted. "We gotta get our revenge! Go stand over that den and catch that skulking Rattata, yo!"

B snorted and furrowed his brow. "For real?! Fine!" he shouted back to his friend. "I got no bones to pick with you!" The two ran off, blocking a few of the burrows.

Alex stood there, watching them gesturing at the burrows. She rubbed her chin and looked back and forth between them. The Rattata wouldn't get close to the burrows that they were at. "Let's see..." She moved to the third burrow, the one that wasn't being blocked. A Raticate screeched at her from the hole. "Ha, found you!"

"All right..." she said to herself, looking at the light pouring in through the exit at the end of the cavern. "Now I just have to go to the pedestal."

At the exit stood a guide. "I'm a Trial Guide, here to help young boys and girls attempting the island challenge." Oh, he must be here to make sure people don't just rush to the pedestal without doing the trial. "Fantastic! You proved your strength to all three Pokemon! Then go right ahead inside!" He stepped away to allow her to enter.

She shielded her eyes while she stepped back into the bright light. The next area was small and closed off. Tucked in the back was the cylinder shaped pillar with a sparkling stone sitting in the little cubby near the top. She approached the pillar, then looked around. She felt something was looking at her, but she couldn't find anything around here. Just vegetation and rocks. She reached her hand towards the Z-Crystal, the sparkling object in the cubby, and froze when a shadow cast over her. She looked up and, on a ledge about the pedestal, was a giant Alolan Raticate.

Alex cried out and stumbled back, and the Raticate leapt down from the ledge to stand between her and the Crystal. So the Totem Pokemon is this giant thing?! She got up slowly, and it continued to stare her down. It seemed like it was blocking her from the pillar. "All right... I have to beat you!"

The Raticate ran off, disappearing into the darkness of the cave. Alex turned to the pedestal and sighed in relief, looking at the Crystal again. "What an incredible trainer you are!" Ilima called out from behind her. She turned and saw him walking towards her. "For you to be able to defeat the Totem Pokemon that I had trained up to such a powerful state... I don't know what I can say!"

"Wait, you trained that thing?!" she gasped.

He smiled. "Working in harmony with your Pokemon, you have cleared the trial of Ilima! You're a phenomenal trainer!" Alex sighed. She was sure he said that to every trainer that passed his trial. "The Z-Crystal from the pedestal is yours now!" Alex turned back once again, moved her hand forward, and took the Crystal in hand. The prize in hand... She had really finished it!

"What you have just received is the Normal Z-Crystal! It's known as Normalium Z! Now if you let a Pokemon that can use a Normal type move hold that..." He paused and swung his arm, striking a pose, "and strike an elegant pose like this one... then you will be able to strength a Normal-type move by unleashing Z-Power!" What is Z-Power, really? "Moving right along..." He turned and began to walk back into the cavern, then stopped and glanced back at her. "Ah, yes. First, there is one thing I forgot to mention. The Totem Pokemon! In every locale where a captain holds his or her trials, you will encounter a particularly strong Pokemon, like Raticate just now. And during battles against such Pokemon, they may summon allies to shore up their offense." Alex nodded. The Totem Raticate had managed to call a Rattata to join it in the battle. "It's not a tactic often seen in other regions. Perhaps Pokemon in Alola are simply more inclined to help one another?" He shrugged at his own musing. "Since you have managed to defeat the Totem Pokemon and proved yourself, you can now catch any of the Pokemon you find here in this cave. In fact, have some Great Balls." He held out the balls, and she put them all in her bag. "And here, let me see your Pokemon after all of their hard work in there!" He healed her Pokemon for her. "If we're done here, I have something interesting I'd like to show you. Come with me to Route 3."

Alex looked at the Crystal in her hand and held it up towards the sky, closing one eye to watch it sparkle in the light. It certainly was pretty... but she didn't quite understand what it did. "Maybe I should give it to Yungoos?" she mused, then returned it to her bag.

She stepped back into the darkness of her cavern, the cave completely black while her eyes adjusted to the lower light. "Ho! So she claimed the light of the Z-Crystal as her own, with the aid of her Pokemon..." said a familiar male voice to her side. She looked over, her vision focusing to reveal the pale duo standing there.

"The people of Alola overcome these trials willingly to obtain this mysterious power... to gain access to Z-Power. Is that it?" the woman explained to him. Alex shrugged, having no idea what Z-Power even was.

The two moved closer, giving her their strange, square Alolan wave. "Depending on no one but yourself... That is a fine aspiration," the man said. "Quite different from out tendency to use our technology to solve all of our problems."

The woman nodded. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Soliera."

"I am Phyco. Ah, yes! I believe we are expected to greet you with an "Alola". Is that right?" She nodded slowly. It was nice to finally have names to put to their faces. They definitely were from some strange, foreign place.

"We are investigating the Z-Crystals found here in Alola for our own particular reasons," Soliera explained. "And I also find those Pokeballs that you use to be most intriguing..." Alex tilted her head to the side. So they really don't know what Pokeballs are then? "Perhaps we will find a reason to work together sometime in the future." The two did their strange wave and both left.

"Those two sure are... unique," Alex said to herself while she watched them leave. Where in the world could they have come from that left them so pale, with no Pokeballs? If they were investigating the Z-Crystals, she would no doubt run into them again.