A/N: I have to apologize for making you wait this long for an update. I've been preoccupied with other stories and other crappy personal stuff. But I promise to pay more attention to this story. So hope that comes out sooner rather than later. Enjoy
Pokémon: Adventures of Sun and Moon
Chapter 9: Akala Here We Come
A Day after his intense Melemele Grand Trial, Sun tiredly rose up and he yawned. He stood off his bed and he looked himself in the mirror. "Right!" he got dressed and he noticed that his cap was missing. "Uh, where is my cap?"
Litten walked into Sun's room and he was holding Sun's cap with his mouth. Sun happily smiled and he took it from the fire cat. "Thanks Litten." He placed his cap on his head and he took his backpack, putting it over his shoulders before looking down to his partner. "Ready Litten?"
"Mrow!" he happily meowed.
He then heard a knock on his door. After hearing his mother open the door, he heard: "Oh, Alola Moon. What brings you here?"
"Well I'm here to pick up Sun, we're heading to Akala Island today, and I want to make sure Sun doesn't get lost on the way." Moon said.
"Oh how nice of you." Sun walked out of his room. "Oh Alola, Sun. I was just talking to Moon. So you're finally heading out for good this time."
He scratched the back of his head. "Y-yeah… so uh…"
His mother laughed slightly. "Oh stop, it's not like you're going away forever. And Meowth and I will be waiting for you to come back. We're going to take a look around Melemele anyway. This is our home now."
"Hehe, thanks mom."
"Well Sun's mom, we better get going." Moon said.
"Of course, and by the way, you can just call me Celeste." Sun's Mom happily said, revealing her name.
"Oh thanks Celeste." Moon said, smiling cheekily.
"You still have to call me mom!" Celeste said pointing at Sun while smirking.
Sun awkwardly laughed. "Hehe, yeah I will."
"In saying that, enjoy yourself out there Sun."
He smiled as he stood next to Moon. "I will thanks."
"Have fun, be nice and maybe find a girl on the way."
"Mooooom!" Sun moaned.
Moon patted Sun on his left shoulder, while she laughed. "Haha, like that will happen. This guy knows nothing about girls."
"Well, then I hope you could teach him a few things, Moon."
Moon chuckled. "For you, I'll do it Celeste."
Sun then grabbed Moon and was pushing her out the door while his cheeks were red. "O-okay well we've got to go, bye mom!"
"Alola, Sun! Good luck!"
The door closed and when they were both outside, Sun was comically fuming while glaring at Moon. "That wasn't funny!"
"It was for me haha; your mom and I are going to get along great."
Sun calmed down and he looked away. "So are we heading to the next island or what?"
"Oh yeah, but first lets pick up the others." Moon then threw up her Pokéball and Popplio came out.
They both arrived at outside Kukui's Lab in order to pick up Lillie. "I hope that you're ready, the Island Challenge isn't going to be easy." Moon said
"Of course I am… plus I'm kind of looking forward to seeing what kind of Pokémon I'll be seeing out there."
"Hey there's one right now."
"Pew." Nebby was harmlessly floating outside Kukui's lab.
"Nebby! What are you doing out here?"
Nebby with the constant looking smile on her face, floated over to Sun and happily waved her gaseous arms.
From outside the lab, they could hear loud shuffling from inside. There was even the sound of furniture being turned over.
"Nebby! Where are you!?" they heard from inside the wooden house. They knew that it was Lillie yelling this and she was in obvious distress.
"Don't worry Lillie; Nebby couldn't have gotten too far, yeah!" Kukui said.
Moon knocked on the door and Kukui opened it. "Oh Sun, Moon. Glad you're here, we need your help."
"We heard." Sun said
Moon held up Nebby. "I believe you're looking for this."
"Nebby!" Lillie cheered and she ran over to both Sun and Moon. "T-Thank you so much, I don't know what I wouldn't have done if I lost Nebby. And you, I keep telling you not to wander off on your own. It's for your own safety."
"Well we're glad we ran into you, we're going to head to Akala Island, soon. We're here to pick you up Lillie." Moon said.
"Oh, I thought we were going to go on the Professor's boat."
Moon laughed. "Boat? We don't need no boat! No I've got a better way we can get there!"
"You do?!" Sun and Lillie exclaimed.
"I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for you." Kukui said while smiling.
"Yeah, yeah! Let's get going!" Moon said trying to rush them.
"W-wait… How are we getting there?" Lillie asked as she was pretty anxious to know what Moon was planning.
In Iki Town, Eclipse was found staring at one of the large tiki masks that hung from one of the houses. "I do not get it… is it supposed to resemble a Pokémon?"
"Heey Eclipse." She turned around and saw Hau cheerfully walking to her.
"Alola Hau… what is it that I can do for you?"
"Well I just thought it's about time we head to the next island, you know… continue our Island challenge?"
"How do you plan on us getting there?" Eclipse questioned.
"We can take a boat from the marina."
Though their brief conversation had halted as heard footsteps and they both turned to see the two space suit figures from the day before that talked to Kukui and Hala. "Beware Hau… I sense danger in those two." She protectively stood in front of Hau.
"It's okay Eclipse. I'm sure they will be friendly with us."
The two figures approached them and stopped. The male figure was twirling his moustache. "So you are the children that are the source of the aura we've been tracking. And through our research, we believe that is comes from the light that your Z-Rings put out." He paused for a second. "Apologies for the sudden intrusion I am Phyco. Ah, yes. I believe we are expected to greet you with an 'Alola' Is that right?"
Eclipse raised her arms and performed the Alolan greeting. "Like that."
Both Phyco and his associate performed the greeting, albeit their arms moved in a more robotic fashion. The female associate spoke soon after "We have asked around, and we have learned that the people of Alola overcome these trials willingly to obtain this mysterious power… to gain access to Z-Power. Is that it?"
"You bet!" Hau exclaimed. "By the way, I'm Hau. And she's my friend Eclipse." He said pointing her her.
"It is a pleasure to meet you both. My name is Soliera."
"May I ask why you two are here?" Eclipse asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice.
"We are investigating the Z-Crystals found here in Alola for our own particular reasons. Also, we find those Poke Balls that you use to be most intriguing…" Soliera said.
Hau was perplexed; they acted as if they've never seen Poke Balls before. "So we went and made a duplicate model of your Poke Ball, and used it to catch an Alolan Pokémon Specimen. And to our surprise, it actually worked." Phyco revealed
"You guys made your own Poke Balls, nice!" Hau said. "It's definitely better than having to buy them at the Pokémon centre."
"Interesting, we weren't aware we could purchase them." Soliera said. "Either way, we'd like to test the functionality of the Poke Ball and the Alolan specimen that we had captured."
"You wish to battle?" Eclipse asked.
"If that would not be too much trouble," Phyco said.
Hau put his hand on Eclipse's shoulder. "I say you do it, Eclipse. What could be the worst that could happen?"
Eclipse nodded. "I see. Then I shall do it." She took out he Pokéball and she tossed it. The Pokémon that came out was her Oricorio.
"Cori! Cori!" Oricorio cheered as she started to dance in a manner similar to a cheerleader.
"Okay, Soliera test the subject."
"Yes, sir. I will do so at once!" she had taken out an odd looking Pokéball. It was deep blue with sky blue lines all over the ball with four bright yellow attachments on it. Coming out of the ball was a poodle-like Pokémon with ruffled fur.
"Ooh a Furfrou!" Hau commented.
Soliera looked at Furfrou. "So it's called Furfrou, right. Now Furfrou attack!" Soliera said. Furfrou charged forward towards Oricorio.
"Oricorio jump up!" Oricorio leaped up and she was flapping her wings as she hovered above Furfrou. "Now use Air Cutter!" While Oricorio was flying, she flapped her wings and bright blue blades of wind had crashed into Furfrou and she stepped back slightly. The ruffled poodle growled slightly.
Soliera threw her arm forward. "Furfrou use another attack!" Furfrou decided to turn around and used his rear paws to kick up sand that had gotten into Oricorio's eyes. The yellow bird had fallen to her talons and tried rubbing the sand out of her eyes. "Furfrou attack now!" Furfrou shot forward and she used Headbutt again. Oricorio bounced hard on the ground and she barely got up to her feet.
"Oricorio…" Eclipse said, feeling a slight worry for her Pokémon.
Soliera was slightly smiling. "Right it seems like I am getting the hang of this."
Eclipse looked at Oricorio. "I cannot lose; Oricorio and I have been training… Now use Double Slap!" Oricorio got up and sprinted right to the head of Furfrou and she slapped it with her pom-pom wings. The slaps held so much force that Furfrou's cheeks were glowing slightly red.
"Attack again!" Soliera commanded
Eclipse though had a plan for her. "Jump up off her head." Oricorio leaped back before she jumped on and off of Furfrou's head and into the skies. "Turn around and use Revelation Dance!" Oricorio flapped her wings and sparks of electricity had surrounded her. She flapped her wings forward and arcs of yellow electricity had crashed down into Furfrou. Oricorio landed on the ground. "Oricorio run forward and use Double Slap." Oricorio ran to the dazed Furfrou and she ran forward and slapped her in the face over and over with her wings. When she was done, Furfrou falls to her side and remains motionless.
"It is over." Soliera said with an emotionless tone. They both got closer to Hau and Eclipse after the battle.
"So that is what a Pokémon battle is! Considering that there are strong trainers like you around, perhaps we do not need to play any great role in this endeavour." Phyco said
Hau scratched his head. "I uh have no idea what you are talking about."
Eclipse let Oricorio stand perched on her shoulder. "What would require you to seek out strong trainers?" Eclipse asked.
"We need to get stronger; we figure the best way to do that is to battle strong trainers. We apologize if we caused any inconvenience."
Hau smiled while Eclipse simple gave an emotionless stare. "Haha, don't worry it was nice meeting you."
"We shall investigate this island further." Phyco said
Soliera though took a good look at Eclipse. The two eyed girl simply blinked. "I am sorry, but have we met before?"
"I highly doubt it… you must be confusing me with someone else." Eclipse stated.
"I see… I apologize."
Both Phyco and Soliera had performed their robotic Alolan greeting before they left. They looked to be heading to the Ruins of Tapu Koko. Though they wouldn't get very far since the bridge was still destroyed.
Though as they left Eclipse kept her gaze on them, "I do not trust them." Eclipse said in a low tone so they wouldn't hear her as they left.
"C'mon Eclipse, they didn't seem bad. I mean they aren't as bad as Team Skull or anything."
"Oh yes… I have heard of them. Apparently they are a bunch of petty Pokémon thieves. I wonder why they don't get real jobs?" she asked.
"Heeey!" they heard. They saw Moon, Sun and Lillie walking to them.
"Alola!" Hau greeted as he and Eclipse approached them.
"Who were those space-men looking guys?" Moon asked.
"I have no idea..." Hau replied.
"Anyway we're heading to Akala island! You two wanna come with?"
"Haha, you bet! Akala here we come!"
Rotom had jumped out of Sun's backpack and he looked to the group. "Alrrrright, brzzt! To the Marina we go!"
Moon scoffed at Rotom. "No, we're not going to the marina."
"But how will we get to the next island without a boat?" Lillie asked while a question mark appeared on Rotom's display.
"You'll see Lil." Moon threw out her Ride Pokéball and Tauros shot out. Tauros mooed when he shot out. Lillie slightly yelped when she saw him. "Alright…" she jumped on his back. "Who wants a lift?"
"Me." Eclipse monotonously said. Sun, Hau and Lillie were surprised that she would want to get on Tauros with Moon. "What? Should you be surprised by all of my actions?"
A bead of sweat fell from Lillie's face. "Hehe, I guess not." She chuckled.
Moon who was already on her Tauros took Eclipse's hand and helped her up. "Up ya go!"
"This feels strange; I've never ridden on a Pokémon before."
Moon chuckled. "Heh, try riding a Charizard."
"Chari-what?" Eclipse asked.
"Hehe, never mind just meet me at Big Wave Beach." She tightly gripped the handlebars and looked forward. "Hang on tight Eclipse." Eclipse grabbed Moon by the waist and held on. Tarous had charged through Iki Town and through Melemele to get to Big Wave Beach quickly.
Hau gave a wide smirk. "Alright you two, follow me." Hau said and he had started running. He realized that he was running on his own so he turned and waved to Sun and Lillie. "What are you waiting for?"
"Enthusiastic isn't he…" Lillie said.
"Well that's Hau for you, so let's catch up to them."
On top of Tauros, it didn't take Moon and Eclipse to arrive at the Big Wave Beach. Tauros stopped on the sand and they both jumped off of him. "Thanks, big guy." She gently rubbed his fur before she returned him to his Pokéball. "Now what is-?"
"Yo, give us that surf Pokémon!" both Eclipse and Moon looked to the shore to see a woman in a yellow bikini standing in front of blue Pokémon that was gently hovering in the water. She looked to be keeping two Team Skull grunts from doing harm to the Pokemon.
Moon pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ugh them again…" Moon walked up to them.
"I am sorry, but you two are going to have to leave." The woman sternly said.
"Fine, if we can't take it, then lets both ride on it!" one of the grunts said.
"Ah yeah, we can't afford to take a boat to Akala. So we'll hitch a ride on this Pokémon!"
"I'm sorry, but Mantine cannot carry the both of you! You'd be too heavy."
"TOO HEAVY!" the grunts said in shock. They both felt insulted that the woman would say that.
"Yo do I look fat to you?"
"Ehem!" both grunts turned to see Moon behind them with her arms folded. "Do we have a problem here?"
"Huh!? Oh you again! I'm ready for you this time! Huh." He was confused because he saw Eclipse slowly walking to them. Her black boots were crunching the sand as she got closer. "Hey, who are you?"
Eclipse stopped walking and gave the grunts a blank look. "Excuse me, but would I ask that you stop terrorizing that Pokémon and leave. Please?" She said in a calm tone.
Both grunts laughed at her. "Yo is she for real!?"
"I am being 'for real' this is your last warning." she monotonously warned.
One of the grunts threw out a Pokéball and it was the same Drowzee from last time. "Alright, let's see what you got." Eclipse emotionlessly took a Pokéball out of her Pikachu backpack. Suddenly the Pokéball was thrown right into the grunt's nose and he held it in pain and he fell to his butt. "OW!"
"Oh man, she's crazy!" the other grunt commented. After bouncing off the grunt's face, the Pokéball was in the air. It opened and Misdreavus revealed herself, she smirked as she looked towards Drowzee.
"Misdreavus, use Astonish!" Misdreavus' eyes turned red and she clashed into the unprepared Drowzee and it was on its back with swirls in his eyes.
The grunt who threw out Drowzee got back up and he still held his nose. "Ow… what was that all about?" he saw Drowzee was knocked out. "NO I lost!? ALREADY!?"
Eclipse gave the grunt a blank stare. "Now will you leave?" she blankly asked. "I won't ask again."
Both grunts looked at her blunt face in fear, almost as if she was about to do something. But Eclipse only proceeded to stare at them blankly while the cowered in fear. She simply blinked slowly and the that was when the grunts lost it.
"OKAY, We're leaving!" they both sprinted off, one of the grunts tripped before he quickly got back up and followed his friend.
Moon chuckled and wrapped her arm around Eclipse in a friendly manner. "Nice Job Eclipse, you sent those guys packing!"
"I didn't like that they were terrorising… what's the Pokémon's name?"
The woman stepped forward. "She is Mantine, and we both appreciate the two of you stepping in like that."
The woman eyed their Island Challenge amulets on their backpacks. "You two are taking the island challenge aren't you?"
Moon nodded. "Yep, we're heading to Akala Island."
"Well, just hop on Mantine and she'll be happy to take you there."
Moon smirked. "Haha, well I love Mantine surfing." She then looked at Eclipse. "You're probably going to want to change into something more… uh do you have a swimsuit?"
"No…"
Moon sighed. "Right, I suppose I have to get you one. We do have some time to kill."
…
When Sun, Hau and Lillie arrived at Big Wave Beach, they saw Moon and Eclipse and they were in their swimsuits. Moon had a black tight tank top with swim shorts, both had red lines on each of the sides, her shoes were orange. Eclipse was wearing a simple one piece swimsuit.
Hau blushed for a second before he shook his head, regaining his composure. "Hehe, looks like you two are ready to go!" Hau said.
"Well Eclipse sent two skull grunts packing." Moon said while she smiled. "So what are you three waiting for, suit up. We're going surfing."
"S-surfing!" Lillie gasped. "You never said anything about surfing. I thought we were going to Akala Island."
"Sure we are." Moon pointed over the ocean to an island in the distance. "There's Akala, and we're surfing to get there!"
Hau got excited. "Ah yeah, I absolutely love Mantine Surfing!" he exclaimed.
"Wait, you surf on a Pokémon?" both Sun and Lillie said.
"Yep, something I'd expect from a couple of outsiders." Moon said as she smugly folded her arms. "Did you even read up about Alola before you came here?"
"My mom kind of hogged the travel guide."
Lillie fearfully stepped back. "Oh n-no… I can't… I…"
"What's the matter Lillie?" Sun asked.
"I…I…" Lillie shook her head. "…" she whispered something intelligible.
"I am sorry I could not hear you."
She muttered under her breath again, though her voice was slightly higher pitched. "Wait… what did you say?" Hau asked.
Lillie then decided to let it all out. "I SAID I CAN'T SWIM!" she quickly covered her mouth. "I'm sorry, I just thought it was embarrassing."
Sun and Hau looked on in pity, Eclipse looked indifferent and Moon was slightly shocked. "Whoa, whoa, whoa… You live in a region that has islands and you can't swim?" Moon exclaimed. Lillie had shrunken down and she looked away from them.
"Knock it off, Moon." Sun said as he stood by Lillie. "It's not a big deal if Lillie can't swim."
Moon let out a long sigh. "Well I guess you'd like to teach her huh?" she said in a suggestive tone while smirking at the two of them.
"Moon!"
"Man, you make it too easy to make fun of you, Outsider." Though her insinuations had completely flown over Lillie's head,
"I-it is okay, I guess I will take the professor's boat… though I doubt how sea worthy it is." She said. "Though he is leaving soon, so I should probably get going."
"Alright, I'll see you at the next island." Sun said.
"U-um yes sure… um…" she looked like there was something she wanted to ask of him. Luckily Sun picked up on this and he looked to the others.
"You guys go on ahead, I'll join you guys later." He said.
"You heard him, c'mon guys." Hau said.
"Yeah, alright. Just don't take too long." Moon winked at Sun, causing the boy to roll his eyes at her behaviour.
"So what's up Lillie?"
"You see… there has been something I've been meaning to ask of you… It's just that you're on your island challenge and all and I'm not sure if you'd even want to help me-"
"Lillie, of course I'll help you." Sun said assuring her of his assistance.
"R-right, you see… Nebby is… her real home is far away from here. And I want to help her get home."
"Real home? As in outside of Alola?"
"S-something like that. It's like I told you before… Nebby saved my life once when I was in trouble. Now I want to save her!" she said showing a shy face of determination. "I feel like there is not much I can do on my own, since I'm not a Pokémon Trainer…" she was clenching her fists as her own weakness before she directly looked at Sun. "But if I had a real Trainer like you helping me, Sun, then maybe…" She looked away slightly as she was very nervous about asking Sun for his help, but she felt like she needed all the help she could get when it comes to helping Nebby return home. However she didn't want to burden Sun at the same time. "But I probably shouldn't ask a near stranger to help, right? I know it's just my own wish and it has nothing to do with you…"
Sun didn't even think about his answer as he gave his response. "Of course I'll help!" Lillie's shy expression suddenly softened. "I wouldn't exactly say that we are near strangers, heck I invited you to my house. I see you as my friend, Lillie. And if you and Nebby need me then I'll be happy to help." He smiled at her and Lillie had turned around to hide her blushing cheeks. "Um are you okay?"
"I-I…" she turned around and regained her composure, "I am fine, thank you." She took a deep breath before she continued. "Thank you so much, Sun. I'm so glad! I really didn't know what else to do! Then I suppose the two of us will be heading to the next island as well."
"Yeah, though I'm going to take my chances with the Mantine." Lillie giggled.
"I'll see you soon Sun." Lillie said as she began to make her way to Hau'oli City.
"Yeah, you too Lillie."
Once Lillie was out of earshot, Rotom had shot out of Sun's backpack. "You've got a lot of nerve bzzt!"
"What are you talking about?"
"You know I'm a bzzt Sun-Moon shipper!" the Rotom dex said with an annoyed tone. "You're ruining thizzz for me!"
"Okaaayy I don't know what issue you have with your software, but I don't want to hear it…" Sun said slowly backing away from Rotom.
"Don't you kzzzt walk away from me young man!" Rotom followed after Sun.
Sun and Hau had quickly changed, both of them were wearing shorts and they were both barefoot. Hau had green shorts with black stripes going down the sides while Sun had blue shorts with blue rings at the bottom. Moon already arranged for Kukui to take their backpacks to Akala Island.
"Alright, let's do this already!" Moon said cracking her fists.
"She's really excited huh?" Sun questioned.
"Of course she is. Moon is one of the best Mantine Surfers on Akala Island." Hau said.
Moon turned to the two. "You talkin' about me?"
"Zz-Sun was just saying how excited he was to zzee you Mantine Zzzzurfing." Rotom said.
A large bead of sweat had appeared next to Sun's face. "That isn't at all what I said."
Moon smirked, folded her arms and looked to the sea. "Hmph, thanks Sun. Keep that up and maybe I'll drop the 'Outsider' nickname."
While Sun would appreciate that, he knew all too well that Moon was lying through her teeth. "Don't get my hopes up Moon." Sun joked.
She let out a single triumphant laugh. "Ha, you know me all too well!" she said putting her hands on her hips and turning away. "But let's make this interesting, how about we race to Akala Island."
"How is that fair? I've never Mantine Surfed before."
"Don't worry; I'll be doing tricks the whole time, so it will be easier to beat me… That being said, you couldn't beat me even if I was standing still."
"Oh really, then I accept your challenge!" he said,
"Fine, and when I win. You have to… um…" Moon was stumped on what she would have wanted to gain from Sun. Rotom had an idea and he whispered it in her ear. "Heh, yeah a free dinner does sound nice."
"I have to- Rotom!" Sun said growling at Rotom.
"Bzzt, don't worry cause if you win, Moon will zz-stop calling you 'Outzzider' for life!"
"I have a sneaky suspicion that a bet wouldn't stop her from that." Sun said.
Moon shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, he's right. Then how about I owe you a favour, I'll do anything you ask me to once!Within reason!"
"It's better than nothing, I guess."
"Then it looks like we have a race." She looked back at Sun. "Hope you have deep pockets, cause I know a great place at Akala that serves the best food in all of Alola!"
Sun glanced at Rotom. "Sometimes I really don't like you…"
Rotom ignored Sun and he saw Mantine. "So you must be Mantine." Rotom said and he scanned the Mantine.
'Mantine the Kite Pokémon – Many people have taken up surfing because they admire how magnificently Mantine swims.'
"That's right." The woman said. "It is very common for the people of Alola to ride the waves on the backs of Mantine. They can also fly 300 feet into the air if it builds up enough speed." Mantine hummed in jubilation. "There are enough for four of you, take your pick." There was a Mantine that had happily leaped out of the water and sparkly water droplets had surrounded the Pokémon, and there weirdly was a small grey fish attached to his right wing.
"Dibs!" Moon exclaimed before she ran into the ocean towards the aquatic Pokemon. Rotom noted the grey fish that was attached to the right wing.
Rotom notices. "Heeeyy look I spot a Pokémon!" he took a quick a snapshot and the picture of the fish Pokémon appeared on his display.
'Remoraid the Jet Pokémon – This Pokémon clings to Mantine and shares in its prosperity. When its Mantine is attacked, Remoraid will fight alongside it!'
Hau ran into the water. "Aw that fish is soo cute." He touched Remoraid with his finger and it wiggled slightly.
"Well I am going to find Lillie and the profezzzor… My electronics aren't waterproof, so I will be going with them. Laterzzz!" He floated off in order to locate Lillie and Kukui.
…
Moon poked Sun in his chest. "Get ready to lose, Outsider!" she then zipped up her yellow and black life jacket. The ride gear had already been attached and there were four Mantine floating in the water. Moon had jumped onto her Mantine and she smoothly rubbed his head.
Both Sun and Hau had the life jackets and ride helmets. Eclipse had a scuba mask that covered her eyes, a snorkel over her mouth and she had swimming flippers that covered her feet. She struggled to walk in the flippers. "Why are you wearing all that?" Hau asked.
"I thought it would be necessary since I have never surfed before." She then looked towards Mantine, then to the woman who was getting them ready to surf on them. "So how do we steer them?"
The woman chuckled. "Oh no, the Mantine will surf to the next island by themselves. It is up to you to surf the waves, just lean to the side."
"I see." She walked over to her Mantine. "Please get me to the next island safely." She requested.
Both Sun and Hau got on their Mantine. Moon smirked as she looked ahead. "Alright, let's go!" Moon exclaimed. The four Mantine had started to surf along the water taking the four trainers towards their destination of Akala Island.
Moon was the first to stand up fully, and this was followed by Hau, then Sun and then Eclipse. Though Eclipse wobbled up to her feet and struggled to stand up straight. "You know what, I am just going to stay down." She fell back to her knees and just let Mantine surf her along the water. Moon saw the first wave coming and she smirked.
"Here it comes. Watch and learn!" she steered her Mantine to the left and Mantine started to climb up the wave which slowed Moon down, but she quickly leaned left to surf Mantine away from the wave and this increased her speed, shooting her past Sun, Hau and Eclipse.
"She's picking up speed, follow my lead Sun!" Hau said. Sun followed Hau, Eclipse had decided to stay behind. Sun followed behind and they had copied what Moon had done before, both of them were picking up speed and they were behind Moon.
"He didn't even fall off yet… man that boy learns fast. Okay Sun let's see if you can keep up." She was moving at a faster speed and she made her Mantine move up the wave. Using it like a ramp she shot off the wave and into the air, she rolled three times to the right, and on the fourth roll she did three quick rolls before landing back on the Mantine's belly. Sun and Hau were in front of Moon and she winked at the two of them.
"She's good isn't she?" Hau said.
Sun looked at the wave to his right. "Okay, I'm going for it!" Sun leaned to the right and headed for the wave. This slowed him down and his Mantine leaped off of it. Once Sun was in the air he performed two rolls to the right before he accidentally rolled to his left. The Mantine had flopped in the air like a Magikarp would before they landed back on the water. "H-hey, I did it!" Moon had surfed up to him.
"Please, anyone on Alola can perform a Magikarp Splash. Let me show you something really impressive." Moon launched herself off another wave and once she took off she performed a backflip, then a frontflip and second backflip and Mantine performed a huge back flip of his own and he landed back on the water.
Sun looked on at her and there were almost stars in his eyes. He shook his head to snap out of his temporary trance. "H-how did you do that?" he asked as she surfed up to him.
"I'm awesome that's why." Moon leaned further forward, putting herself ahead of Sun. "Now try and keep up if you can." Sun refocused and he surfed alongside her trying to beat her to be the first to Akala Island.
"Careful you two!" Hau yelled to them as they were already out of earshot.
…
Meanwhile Eclipse was surfing slowly across the water and she moved past a rock with a Corsola on top of it. "Alola friend."
"Corrr-corrrr." She jumped on the rock in jubilation.
"Hop on." Corsola hopped off the rock and onto Mantine's right wing. Eclipse continued to move slowly across the water.
…
Both Sun and Moon were racing across the ocean; the both of them were avoiding obstacles that were in their way, from avoiding Pokemon like Tentacool, a they both managed to narrowly avoid a Wailmer. Moon had performed a few tricks just to spite Sun and Sun could only really perform a couple of rolls in the air.
"You're getting slow Outsider!" Moon playfully mocked.
Sun said nothing as he managed to stay beside Moon, but he never was able to overtake her. He kept surfing up and down the waves in order to gain speed. It wasn't long before he was able to pass her. "Hey, slow down, you're going too fast!" Moon warned.
Sun ignored her and he decided to go up the wave in order to perform a trick and when he was in the air, he tried to copy Moon's last biggest trick.
"He's trying the Lanturn 360?"
Sun managed to perform a frontflip, but he tried to do a backflip he couldn't get enough momentum into it and was falling into the water. Sun was upside down when he crashed into the water, and the wave crashed down on both Mantine and Sun.
Mantine had floated back up but without Sun. Moon's eyes grew. "SUN!" she looked at her Mantine. "DIVE, we need to dive down and get him." She said with a panicked tone. Mantine dove down and Sun's Mantine had followed them.
Once underwater, she saw that Sun was drowning and she noticed that he was pulling his lifejacket, but it had failed. Moon had jumped down from her Mantine and was swimming towards Sun. She stretched out her right hand to reach him, he did the same and they were fingertips apart. Moon managed to grab his hand. She pulled on the cord on her lifejacket and it quickly inflated and the pair were speeding up to the surface.
When the two of them splashed out of the water, they both took deep breaths and Sun was coughing. "It's okay! It's okay! We're safe." Moon said trying to calm him.
Sun was still trying to figure out what had happened. "You saved me?"
"Yeah forget about that! Are you okay?" she asked, sounding very concerned as she firmly held his shoulders.
"U-uh huh." He nodded very slowly, he seemed like he was still in shock. Soon he then hugged her and buried his head in her lifejacket. "Thank you!"
Moon's cheeks were heating up and she looked away. "Y-yeah sure… just let go or you'll drown both of us!"
He let go and he looked away while blushing. "Y-yeah… sorry." The Mantine they were riding had floated towards them.
"C'mon, let's get to Akala already." Soon they saw Eclipse slowly floating across the ocean with a Corsola, a Remoraid that was on the right fin and a Magikarp was flopping in front of where Eclipse was sitting.
"Alola, I met new friends." She said as she floated slowly across the water.
Both Sun and Moon shrugged their shoulders as it became almost normal for Eclipse to surprise them with her actions.
Hau was the first to reach Akala Island, by the time he passed Sun and Moon. Moon was underwater trying to rescue Sun, so he didn't notice them. He leaped off Mantine. "Land Ahoy! Or land ashore?" he then quickly looked around. "Huh, Sun, Moon, Eclipse?" Behind him, he noticed his three friends making it to shore. "Heey there you are. I was getting worried." Hau said. "Looks like I win haha."
"You weren't part of the bet!" Moon pointed out.
Eclipse un-mounted her Mantine and looked to Corsola, Magikarp, and Remoraid. "You are free, roam the ocean my friends…" the two of them had moved into the water. Magikarp was flopping around and it struggled to make it back into the water. The girl lightly kicked it back to the water. "Freedom..." she dryly said.
"Hey, you okay there?" Moon asked, looking to Sun as he took off his helmet. "I'm fine, stop worrying so much." he assured.
"What happened out there?" Hau asked.
"Nothing…" they both replied suspiciously in unison.
Hau hummed to himself before he shook it off. "Eh, whatever. So we made it to Akala Island! Mantine is the best!"
"Yeah definitely..." Sun said while he worriedly glanced back at the sea. Moon noticed this unease and started to worry.
"So, do you think the professor and Lillie are already here, too? Let's split up and see if we can find them in town anywhere!"
"Well yeah, but we should probably change into our normal clothes." Moon said.
"I agree, I am starting to think that this snorkel was a bad idea." She noted, taking the snorkel out of her mouth.
After they changed into their regular clothes they had left Heahea Beach and walked right onto the path that would take them to Heahea City. When they got there, they were met with the sight of Kukui, Lillie and Rotom. The professor was the first to notice them.
"Hey, guys! You nice to see you guys made it. How was your trip on those Mantine?" he asked.
Sun quickly flashed back to when he almost drowned and an image of Moon rescuing him had flashed into his head. "U-uhm… well it was alright." He nervously said.
"Pfft it was awesome!" Moon said confidently.
"I beat Sun and Moon in a race." Hau bragged.
"I made new friends." Eclipse monotonously said.
"Aw man, I wizzsh I could have been there!" Rotom said as he floated out from the boat.
Kukui looked at Sun. "Haha, well don't you worry, little cousin! I'm sure Mantine wants you to give it another try sometime!"
"Uh… well I think it's safe to say that I won't be Mantine surfing for a while." He said looking down.
Lillie who had gotten off the boat earlier grew concerned, Sun didn't look as eager and confident as he always did. "Um… are you really okay, Sun?"
"Yes I'm fine, really! Could we drop it?" he said in a slightly raised tone. Since Moon knew what was really bugging him, she didn't know if revealing Sun's issue was a good idea, so she decided to stay silent. Even Eclipse could read the tension so she decided to not say anything.
"U-um. So Lil how was your boat ride?" Moon asked.
Lillie nervously laughed. "The professor's sailboat is… well… it has seen better days." A rear chunk of Kukui's boat had broken off and it fell into the water.
"Wait, so Mantine's even faster than that old boat of yours, Professor?" Hau asked. "That's soo cool!"
"Well… I thought I was going to fall off as some point." Lillie said.
A new voice had interrupted their conversation. "Still haven't managed to find a shirt that goes with your lab coat, hmm, Kukui?" everyone looked to the street of Heahea City and walking towards them were two woman. The older one was Olivia, and the younger one had tanned skin with leaf green hair tied in two long pigtails. Her clothes consisted of a grey apron that was also a pair of low cut shorts, underneath that was a pinkish red shirt. She wore green slip-on sneakers and the laces looked like leaves. She had a vine crown with a flower, tied around her head.
Olivia had continued talking to Kukui. "I've told you you're gonna scare off strangers looking like that…" Kukui chuckled to himself.
"S-so I'm not the only one who thinks that?" Eclipse said. Kukui looked to her. "What? It is a bit weird if you ask me."
"Haha, well… anyway… Let me introduce everyone, Olivia meet Sun, Lillie, Hau and Eclipse."
Olivia chuckled. "Why hello everyone. Nice to meet you all – I'm Olivia."
Moon folded her arms and smirked at Olivia. "You two missed me that much, that you had to come rushing by?"
"Don't be silly, Moon. Mallow and I were doing fine without you."
The girl next to Olivia had spoken as well. "Yeah, since you were gone, I had more food to serve to our customers." Both Olivia and Mallow chuckled slightly.
"Oh har, har, har. Good luck trying to search for ingredients in the Lush Jungle without me, Mallow." Moon said with a smirk.
"Moon, you know them?" Sun asked.
"Of course I do, I mean I live on Akala." She replied. She then looked to everyone. "Well then, you all should know that Olivia is the Kahuna of Akala island, Mallow here is a Trial Captain."
"Hey, Mallow here." Mallow greeted. "Thanks for stopping by! My trial will be a chance for all the fine ingredients that make up your team to shine!"
"She's a cook, so that explains the food talk in her words." Moon muttered.
"Hey! Thanks for spoiling it for them!" Mallow exclaimed.
"So what brings you here Olivia?" Kukui asked.
"I was on my way to see who was pulling into port and ran into Mallow here while she was out on a delivery."
"I was on my way to Paniola Ranch, to deliver some milk."
"Yo Mallow, how are the others doing?" Moon asked.
Mallow chuckled. "Same as always, Lana was fishing by the lighthouse this morning and I haven't seen Kiawe since two days ago."
"He's probably dancing again; he takes it too seriously at times."
"So? What's the plan, kids?" Olivia asked.
"Well that's up to these kids. They're doing the island challenge together after all!" Kukui said.
Moon excitedly clenched her fist. "I already know where I'm heading, I'm going to see Lana about getting a Waterium Z!" she declared.
"I see, so that must mean you chose Popplio." Olivia said.
"Waterium Z?" Eclipse asked.
"A water type Z-Crystal, duh?" Moon said.
"So I assume that your friend, Lana is a trial captain as well?" Lillie asked.
"Yep." Moon answered. "And I want to get going as soon as possible."
"Well then, Enjoy your time on your island challenge, kids, along with your Pokémon. I'll be waiting for my chance to face you in battle when the time comes." Olivia said.
Hau got excited. "You can believe we'll be there and we'll be stronger than ever!"
"Well I'm looking forward to seeing what you got!" she was about to turn around. "Nice t' have you back Moon, be sure to visit Konikoni soon."
"I will."
"Let's go, Mallow."
"Right, later guys." Mallow said and she and Olivia left the dock.
"So she's the Kahuna huh? She seems a bit less serious than Hala." Sun noted.
"You're be wrong to underestimate her Sun. But deep down she is sweet. She probably came here to see that you kids made it here all right… But she'll never admit it to you! Hah! That's Olivia for you. She's a kind kahuna, deep down."
Moon chuckled. "She's sweet alright. You should see her room, it's full of- Never mind, I don't want to ruin the surprise."
Hau though looked disappointed. "Aww, I wanted to know."
"Well there are three trials here on Akala Island. The closet one is at Brooklet Hill. Just head up Route 4 there and keep on goin' until you get to Paniola Town."
"Shoots, I know where I'm going first, and that is straight to the Pokémon centre!" Hau exclaimed. "I wonder what kind of Malasada they make on Akala, eh?" Hau rushed off to find the Pokémon centre.
Lillie walked up to Sun, Moon and Eclipse. Maybe I'll see about some shopping of my own… And I should find out about the ruins for Nebby's sake, too…" she said.
"Pew!" as soon as Lillie mentioned the ruins, Nebby tried to escape the bag but Lillie quickly zipped it up.
"No Nebby, you can't get out yet."
Moon looked up at the sky. "Perhaps we could use a break before continuing our island challenge."
"Y-yeah." Sun said.
Moon looked at Kukui, Lillie and Eclipse. "You three go on ahead. I'd like to talk to Sun."
"Yeah, let's go you two." Kukui ushered both Lillie and Eclipse towards the Pokémon Centre.
"Sun… talk to me." Moon said. "I know it's about what happened at the Mantine Surf. You shouldn't feel too bad. Heck I wiped out a few times myself."
"It's not about that! Moon I almost drowned, it was very scary… If it wasn't for you I would have." Sun started to shiver and he hugged himself.
"Well it's my fault. I pushed you to try something that risky when I shouldn't have. Sorry…"
"No… I can't blame you… besides you dove in to save me. You're very brave."
Moon blushed and looked away. "Flattery will get you nowhere… but listen… you'll get over it… but if it will make you feel better, then the next time we go surfing, then I'll be right there with you. I'll teach you how to surf right."
"W-well thanks Moon." Sun genuinely thanked.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah… don't tell anyone I'm being nice to you! I have a reputation to uphold, got it!"
Sun chuckled. "Right, my lips are sealed."
Moon gave him a friendly punch on the shoulder. "Atta boy, C'mon lets meet everyone at the Pokémon centre before they get worried."
"Hehe yeah…"
"So uh… I guess this means we're officially friends… right?"
"I guess so, but why does it need to be a big deal?" Sun said.
"You're right, anyway let's get to the Pokémon centre!" they both walked to meet the others at the Pokémon centre.
Sitting at the outdoor benches of the Ferry Terminal were a couple that looked like Alolan tourists. "Trainers…" the man said. "And they are also on this Island Challenge we keep hearing about."
The woman looked on at the two leaving. "Do you think they will help us with our assignment?"
"I can only hope so; we can't hope to find all of the cells by ourselves. We will need their help."
"Fine… but we need to make sure we test them first."
"Great idea Sina." The man stood up. "And I know the best way to test them." It was seen that the two of them had white bracelets on their wrists with a multi-coloured marble on top of it.
"Right… I'm ready when you are Dexio." The woman stood up as well and the pair was walking through Heahea City to wait for Sun and Moon before they made their move.
A/N: Hey there, again sorry for the long wait. I promise the next chapter will be more action packed than this one. Also I finally got around to listing the teams of our main characters, it was suggested to me some time ago. Anyway, I'll see you on the next update.
Current Teams
Sun: Litten (M), Grubbin (M)
Moon: Popplio (F), Trumbeak (M), Lillipup (M), Ride Pokemon: Tauros (M)
Hau: Rowlet (M), Pichu (F), Crabrawler (M)
Eclipse: Abra (M), Misdreavus (F), Oricorio (F) [Pom-Pom Style]
