Author's Note: A very special thankyou to my new Beta Reader DementedScribbler25 for helping me polish up this chapter! Go check out their work if you'd like!
Guzma looked out over the entire class with his hands on his hips. It was Friday morning and hence all of them were quite restless. The last thing all of them needed right now was to be cooped up inside for over an hour, which was why he had taken them out to the school's courtyard for a second time. He found this to be good timing anyway, considering it was now the time for them to learn how to properly instruct their Pokémon; a lesson which simply would not work indoors. The aim he had given them was to be able to clearly command their Pokémon to do something, such as retrieve an item or do a small trick for example. Considering that the majority of the students had either freshly caught wild Pokémon or baby Pokémon, both of which would still be learning to understand human language, he had given them until Wednesday next week to be able to do this. Then they would need to demonstrate to him individually that they could actually do it.
In his mind this was a simple enough task, they just had to speak clearly and with authority to their Pokémon. If they understood, they should listen. It's the understanding part they would need to work on though, especially if they don't spend much time with their Pokémon. Guzma had already demonstrated clearly what they needed to do with his Golisopod, now he and the goliath bug were keeping watch as everybody else practised with their Pokémon.
Hayley, Jon and Kavika were clearly doing the best out of all the students considering how involved the three of them are with their Pokémon. Kavika's Rockruff and Growlithe in particular were extremely obedient and excited about the attention, probably because they were just pets prior to their trainer attending the school. Guzma could not help but smile when he spotted Yume and Amelia, the girls were working together to teach their Pokémon to follow instructions through dance, creative. The girls giggled to each other after their Bounsweet and Cleffa performed a cute twirl just as they asked. Keahi was trying her best to get her Makuhita to do what she wanted, but it clearly just wanted to play. He would've offered some assistance but Nathan, who appeared to actually be making progress with his ever-hungry Mareanie, was helping her just fine. At least that little prick had one redeeming quality, he guessed. The man stood up straight and looked around for the other students. Golisopod was over by Minnie and Kalino, who actually managed to get to school on time for once. The pair were working together to try and motivate Meowth to listen to its trainer. His bug appeared to be trying to encourage the small Pokémon; Guzma smirked proudly, good boy.
He then spotted another one of his students, Curtis, who had positioned himself further away from the other kids. The boy was sitting down and there was something between him and his Espurr; Guzma frowned at the sight of it. That odd, exotic Meowth-like Pokémon unnerved him at the best of times, its large purple eyes seemed to peer deep into his soul whenever it looked at him. Apparently it was also a ticking time bomb; if someone were to lift its ears, psychic energy would blast everything within a hundred metre radius to pieces. Just the thought of that was terrifying. He couldn't understand how anyone could find it even remotely cute.
Nevertheless Guzma headed over to check on Curtis's progress. At least if the Espurr went off the rails his bugs could deal with it relatively easily, they did have the type advantage after all. But as he got closer to the boy he noticed something odd; Curtis appeared to be arguing with his Pokémon, the Espurr had its tiny arms folded and was sticking its nose into the air, actively refusing to listen to him. There were a number of playing cards floating in the air between the two of them.
The boy groaned, "Come ooooon Espurr, just put the cards back in a deck already! It's not hard!"
The Pokémon stuck its nose up higher and turned away from him.
"No! You have to do this! …Don't talk back to me like that! No! You can play it later! Put the cards back into a deck! Please!"
The Pokémon just squeaked at him as Curtis argued with… himself? Guzma now felt highly confused as he watched the two of them, staring at the playing cards floating in the air. The Pokémon was doing that… right? He approached the boy from behind, prompting him the flinch and look up at him, the cards suddenly fluttered to the ground.
Curtis sighed at his teacher's puzzled expression then asked, "can you give me a hand please? He doesn't want to do anything I say and I'm having trouble convincing him to listen."
Guzma then crouched beside his student. "Uh… Well, do you know why it ain't listenin' to ya? Does it know what you're tryin' to get it to do?"
Curtis grumbled in frustration, "Oh, he knows exactly what I want him to do. All he wants to do though is play his stupid ukulele and refuses to do anything else until I give it to him. But if I do, he'll just strum it and ignore me!" he spat, throwing up his hands in utter annoyance.
Guzma stifled a laugh at that response and then grinned. "Your Pokémon plays music?"
"Yeah, I taught him how." The Espurr opened one eye and peered at the two of them as they spoke.
"Well then… Don't let it get its way; it'll never listen to ya if you do. Maybe make a deal with it," he suggested, "if it behaves for the lesson it gets its ukulele for the rest of the day, if it don't then it gets nothin'. That's what I'd do anyway, it's gotta learn to work for what it wants."
Curtis looked back at his Pokémon, which was now watching the both of them. "You hear that? Do what I want for the lesson and you get the instrument for the whole day, I'll even tune it right for you."
The Espurr looked away for a moment, seemingly considering its options. It then clapped its tiny paws together and squealed in delight at its trainer.
The boy smiled. "There we go… Thanks teach."
"It's nothin' kid."
Guzma decided to stay and watch for a moment to see if the Pokémon would actually keep its end of the bargain. Some of them could be crafty little suckers. Curtis held his hand out in front of him, a faint yellow glow materialized around the fallen playing cards; they floated into the air in an organized rectangular formation. Guzma rubbed his eyes then stared in utter disbelief at what he just witnessed. What the fuck?
"When I let go, put them back into a deck," he instructed.
The yellow glow was promptly replaced by a pink one; the cards organized themselves back into a neat deck, which Curtis then plucked from the air. The boy grinned and rubbed his Espurr's head, the Pokémon purred happily in response. He then glanced back towards his teacher, who was staring with his mouth slightly agape.
Curtis's expression became slightly uncomfortable as he muttered, "What's with that look?"
"Did you just… How the hell…"
The boy defensively snapped, "I can make things move, ok? Happy? Want me to lift you up too?"
"No no… I just… I ain't ever seen someone like you in Alola before… I've seen people do stuff like that on the TV, I always thought it was some kinda camera trick though. But man, that kinda thing just doesn't happen here," he admitted, fascinated.
Curtis seemed to ease up and smirked a little. "That's because this weird, backwards region of yours doesn't have anything normal in it. Weird Pokémon, weird traditions, a weird… Vibe? I can't really explain it but something feels off about this whole place. This strange… feeling… comes in bursts sometimes… It even happened this morning… I don't like it."
Guzma shrugged. "I'unno what you're talkin' about. I didn't feel nothin' and everythin' in this region is normal to me," he said, before shifting in his spot awkwardly. An uncomfortable look suddenly crossed his face as a thought came to him. "You can't… Ya know… Read my mind, can you?" he asked.
"I can, if I try hard enough, but I won't. It's not like I want to do it anyway, I don't need any more voices invading my head. Espurr there already talks my ear off and of course my parents just had to move into a house near Route 2," he rolled his eyes at that, "because constantly getting to hear the daily business of the local ghost Pokémon is sooo much fun," he sneered.
Guzma looked visibly relieved. "That's good then… I'll leave ya alone now, but if I find out you've been lookin' through my private business then you're in deep shit with me, kid," he warned coldly.
"I don't care about what goes on in your stupid head, not like you'd have anything worthwhile or interesting in there anyway," the boy remarked.
He began to grow angry at that comment, but then decided against starting something; he had more important things to do anyway. Guzma stood and turned back towards where the majority of the students were, only to spy Iolana flagging him over. He headed over to her, hoping that for her sake she'd keep any snide comments to herself.
"What's up?" he asked.
The girl adjusted her scarf and looked up at him with an awkward half-smile on her face. "Uh, a couple things…"
He folded his arms; he was still quite grouchy from yesterday. "Spit it out then."
She put her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels. "I... Um… First up I kinda wanted to say that I'm sorry for egging you on yesterday boss… I sorta made all that worse, huh?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Well this is a first…"
"Also, um, just to clarify, I did actually think you broke it. I was just trying to tease because it was funny. I didn't know that Nathan sabotaged it…"
"It ain't a big deal, what you said. I wasn't even that mad until I saw his shit-eating grin."
She snorted before chuckling, "Okay, I'm stealing that expression!"
He smirked, "You didn't hear nothin' from me."
"Oh! Also boss, I actually wanted to show you something! I gotta say I was REALLY embarrassed during that first outside lesson… So I've taken your advice when it comes to Wingull! We're all chill now!" Iolana looked towards her Pokémon, which was scratching around in the dirt a few meters away. She stretched her arm out and shouted, "Wingull! Here!"
The seagull squawked at her before taking off and fluttering gracefully onto her arm. She grinned up at him smugly.
Guzma smiled, slightly impressed. "Well would'ja look at that? It doesn't wanna kill ya anymore."
"Yeah we've been having some quality bonding time, look I even taught her to do this! Wingull, do a flip!" she commanded excitedly.
The bird Pokémon quickly took off from her arm and performed a backwards loop in the air before returning to perch on her arm. Her teacher grinned when she gave it a pokebean for its trouble.
"Looks like you've got this in the bag, squirt," he commented.
"Yeah, nothing to worry about here, I just wanted to show off. But before you go, can I ask one more thing?"
"Go ahead."
"Can I touch your hair? Pleeeaaase?" Iolana looked up at him pleadingly.
"Why the hell would you want to do that?"
"Well, I've always liked it! The way it sticks up makes it look so fluffy! Come on boss, please?" she begged.
Guzma looked away for a moment before reluctantly sighing, "Fine."
He leaned over just far enough so that she could reach. Iolana ran her fingers through his fuzzy looking hair, her excited smile slowly morphing to an expression of disgust. She cringed as she spoke, "oh… That… That feels like straw… Yikes…"
Guzma stood up and spoke matter-of-factly, "that's what bleach followed by hair dye does to ya, kid."
"Um, no it doesn't… That's what happens when you don't take care of it right, I have dyed hair too ya know. You should honestly get some better conditioner, or use any at all."
He scowled at her recommendation, "I don't have time for that."
"It takes literally less than ten minutes out of your day to make your hair soft and fluffy. Boss, seriously, it feels terrible," she stated.
"I'll keep that in mind if it'll make you shut up about it. And stop callin' me 'boss' already, I ain't anybody's boss, least of all yours."
"Alright, how does 'Mr Grumpypants' sound instead?"
"Tch." Guzma had had enough of this for today. He could hear her snickering to herself as he walked away. It looked to him like most of the students had things sorted out. Even those struggling seemed to at least be making some progress through asking for help from their peers. But he couldn't help but feel like he was forgetting about someone, he then spotted Donnie. The kid was having massive trouble getting his Pichu to even acknowledge anything he was saying, the electric type was just running around, playing and pulling on its trainer's clothes. The soothe bell tied around its neck appeared to be doing next to nothing.
Guzma walked up to him and looked down at the two of them. "Need some help?"
Donnie stood up and adjusted his glasses as the Pichu began clawing its way up his legs. He winced before quietly saying, "Yes please… Perry doesn't listen to anything I say… He's always been this way, I've been doing everything you've told us to and he still hasn't changed one bit!"
He was clearly extremely frustrated. "You might be doin' somethin' wrong then… Here, let's see if ya boy can help you out."
This was nothing to worry about; a troublesome Pokémon was nothing new. However, what was new to Guzma was that forty minutes later the two of them had made absolutely no progress. The Pichu was still as rowdy as ever and had even managed to steal Guzma's shades. It sprinted away from them whenever they tried to catch it, its cries and squeaks were beginning to sound mocking.
Guzma glared down at the yellow creature, his eyelid was twitching and his knuckles were white. Donnie had his arms folded and was looking away in shame; he had become very quiet a while ago and resigned to letting his teacher do most of the work. Guzma's lip curled into a toothy snarl as the Pichu taunted him, waving his glasses in front of its face, begging him to chase it.
"This is absolutely friggin' stupid Donnie…" he growled.
The boy flinched and mumbled, "sorry…"
"You say it's always been like this?"
"Yes… Ever since I caught him… The only thing I've managed to do is stop him from tearing up my clothes and sheets… But that's because I bought him lots of poke toys… Sorry… I know I'm a bad trainer…"
"It don't look like you're the problem, Donnie, that damn Pokémon of yours is," he said as he tapped his foot angrily, "here, lemme try somethin'"
Guzma put two fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly, his Golisopod headed over to him post haste. The creature looked at its partner human adoringly.
The man spoke quietly to his bug, "you see that little shit of a Pichu right there, Golisopod? Can you try talkin' some sense into it or somethin'? You know what we're doin' today, I don't gotta explain what you need to tell it."
The large Pokémon let out a low, guttural growl and nodded in understanding. It moved in front of the Pichu, which dropped Guzma's sunglasses as it was shadowed by the towering bug.
They appeared to converse for a few moments, exchanging growls and squeaks. The yellow mouse then tilted its head and asked, "Piiii?"
Golisopod leaned further down towards it in response.
"PIII!", it cried as sparks crackled out of its pink cheeks. A thundershock erupted from the small Pokémon, electrocuting Golisopod. Once it stopped convulsing the goliath bug stared at the smiling Pichu as smoke poured out from the gaps in its hard shell. The entire class was now silently watching, absolutely dumbfounded. The bug suddenly roared, rearing back a massive clawed limb. Guzma rushed between them and pushed his Pokémon back, its claws were still raised. He turned his head and looked back down towards Donnie, who was now standing in front of the yellow mouse with his hands in front of him, mortified.
"H-he didn't mean it! I-I swear! P-Pichus do that all the time! I-I'm so sorry sir! I-It won't happen again! I swear!" he frantically assured. Perry poked its head out from between the boy's legs and poked its small tongue out at the two of them.
The boy's panicked expression quickly turned to terror as rage spread across Guzma's face. "You, with me, now," he growled, "Return that stupid thing to its ball while you're at it." Donnie fumbled for his pokeball as Guzma returned Golisopod. The man turned to the rest of the students and yelled, "Y'all keep doin' what you're doing! No one leaves here until I come back!"
When everybody nodded he picked up his glasses and stormed over to the far wall of the school with a trembling Donnie in tow, they were now out of the class's earshot. Guzma placed his hands on his hips and leered down over the shaking boy. "Do you have any idea what you're doin'? 'Cuz I'm two damn seconds away from givin' you a detention for that…"
Donnie frantically began to apologize, "i-I'm sorry… I-I'm sorry… I-I swear I didn't tell him to do that… S-"
Guzma quickly cut in, "it's not what it did that pissed me off! It's what YOU didn't do! You should'a punished it there and then. But all you did was cover its ass when it played up and hurt MY Golisopod!"
The boy was nearly in tears, he was looking at his feet. "I-I'm sorry… I-I won't do it again… I-I just don't want to yell at Perry… S-sorry…"
He tilted his head. "What? Punishing it doesn't mean 'scream at the poor bastard'. You coulda scolded it then put it back in its damn ball!"
"I-I didn't know… I-I just… I-I'm so sorry sir…" he had begun to choke up.
Something tugged at Guzma's gut as he scanned the boy up and down. The way Donnie was apologizing made this situation seem far too familiar to him, but instead he was in the opposite role. He took a step back away from the child. There was something off here. He was just making it worse by scaring him. He exhaled through gritted teeth and gave his hands a quick shake before looking back at the boy and asking in a much calmer voice, "Donnie? Are you ok? Is somethin' wrong? Other than me bein' an asshole just then I mean."
Donnie took off his glasses and buried his face in his hands as he broke down in tears. A pang of guilt stabbed through Guzma's chest. "Hey… Hey I'm sorry Donnie… Here, let's sit down…" he quietly ushered. He sat down beside the boy, who slowly moved down beside him. The man felt pained to watch this; he hesitantly put an arm around him, moving as though the slightest touch might break the child. Donnie leaned into him, shaking and sobbing hard. "I… Fuck, I… I'm sorry… I overreacted badly, I shouldn't have yelled at you…"
More shudders wracked Donnie's small frame as he spoke, "Y-you were right though… I-I… I-I don't know what I'm d-doing… I-I'm a bad trainer…"
"That's not true," Guzma insisted, "you're an amateur trainer. That ain't a bad thing though. Everyone's a lil' rough around the edges when they first start out, that's why I'm here, to polish y'all up before you get thrust out into the world."
"Y-you don't get it though… I-I'm a failure… A-And if I don't get Perry to calm down I-I'll always be a failure…"
Guzma furrowed his eyebrows. "Who told you that?"
Donnie took a deep breath and slowly began to speak. "Th-they… I-I just… I-If I can't get Perry to start behaving soon Mom and Dad are g-going to make me give him away or d-dump him on Akala Island… I-I know he's naughty but he's the first Pokémon I ever caught and my best friend… B-but I'm just so stupid and disorganized… I-I can create dumb little pictures that mean nothing so easily b-but I can't even pull myself together enough to save my best friend… If I c-can't even do that then there's no hope for me becoming a trial captain… No hope at all…"
"…Everythin' you just said about yourself is a load of crap, ya know? You can't be a failure at somethin' if you never even got the chance to try, Donnie."
"B-but I do try… And nothing works…"
"Then I'm gonna help ya make it work."
The young boy looked up at his teacher, confused.
Guzma gave him a small half smile. "That Pichu ain't goin' nowhere. I'll pick you up in the mornin' tomorrow and we'll go train it up so it listens to ya, ok?"
Donnie wiped his eyes "You… You'd really do that?" His teacher nodded. "I… I'd probably just let you down though…"
"I doubt that… Look kid, I know what it's like to be beat down and beat down until you start believin' all the bullshit that people tell ya… And when that happens, you either shove it back in their face to prove 'em wrong or you end up makin' everythin' they said about you a reality… I did the latter after failin' at the former… You don't wanna end up like me; tryin' to scrape together anything remotely salvageable in my life because I decided to take a baseball bat and wreck everythin' in it. I want you to be that kid that shoves everythin' back in their faces, who wakes up in the morning feelin' proud of everythin' he accomplished despite what they all said… And I'm gonna help ya get there, alright?"
Donnie slowly looked down at his still shaking hands; Guzma was gently rubbing his arm now. "I-I… I don't know what to say… Do you want anything for this…? Money?"
"Nah… I ain't broke no more and it's not like I got anythin' better to do…"
"Well… But… Even though you're my teacher you're kind of a stranger sir…" he sounded nervous.
"I'm alright… Just go ask Hayley if you're unsure, I helped her catch that Cutiefly of hers; also Jon and Minnie. Trust me, I ain't gonna hurt ya," he assured.
"Then… I'll meet you out the front of the school gates ok? Is eleven good? Should I bring anything?"
"Yeah that's fine; just bring your Pichu and snacks or whatever. Come on, I gotta get back to the others," he said, standing up.
Donnie nodded and got to his feet, wiping his eyes and putting his glasses on as he walked back to the others with Guzma. He felt a little better, knowing that at least one person seemed to have just that tiny bit of faith in him.
…
The following day was quite cool and overcast, giving a nice neutral lighting to Melemele's scenery. Guzma strolled towards Hau'oli city with his student; he enjoyed days like this the most, not too bright and not too hot. But as they walked he swore he saw a flash of light spread through the clouds. Though it wasn't supposed to rain today the forecast was sometimes wrong. This wasn't a big deal anyway, he enjoyed the feeling of rain on his skin and Donnie would need to learn to train in all weather conditions at some point, that day might as well be now.
Guzma stopped before the entrance to Hau'oli City and turned to the right, he gestured for Donnie to follow him as he began heading up one of the walking trails through Melemele Island's forests behind the city. Donnie followed behind him apprehensively and asked, "um… Sir? Where exactly are we going?"
"There's a little spot up the trail just off the path a bit; I used to train there as a kid. This way we can train you Pichu without it causin' too much of a fuss for anyone but us."
Donnie shivered as a cool breeze rushed down the path and zipped up his coat. "Ok… That sounds good… So, what exactly do you have in mind? How are we gonna get him to listen?"
Guzma smirked down at him and said, "I got two things in mind. Thing is though, I can't do all the work; otherwise it'll probably just listen to me and not you. So I made ya somethin' last night for you to go through on your own." He then reached into his pocket and handed a notebook to him.
Donnie studied the front of it. Written in familiar bold, jagged handwriting was 'Lessons On Tough Love – By Ya Boi Guzma'.
He began to explain, "that there notebook has got a shit ton of lil' tips on trainin' troublesome Pokémon to pull their heads in and listen to ya. I learnt all that through my Pinsir, but I toned down most of the rough stuff considerin' it's a Pichu we're dealin' with here."
The boy tilted his head and flicked through the pages briefly. The written advice was accompanied by some of the worst artwork Donnie had ever seen in his life, but nevertheless they conveyed the intended messages just fine. "What do you mean by 'rough stuff'?"
He scratched his undercut and looked away. "Well, ya see, my Pinsir is real violent. He would actually try to kill you if it saw ya… He sometimes steps outta line towards me as well, but a swift kick to the face normally straightens 'im out. Now don't get it twisted, that doesn't hurt 'im, it just reminds him who's boss… I didn't include any of that stuff in there though 'cuz I don't recommend punting a Pichu to teach it a lesson. That's just cruel."
"Oh… Ok…" Donnie looked curious now. "So how are we gonna teach Perry a lesson then?"
Guzma grinned down at the boy. "We're gonna show it that it actually gets somethin' outta listenin' to ya. The best way to drill that into its skull is to beat it down in a battle. Have ya ever battled before, kid?"
"Uh, no," he said nervously.
"Well this probably ain't gonna count as your first time, because if my hunch is right that Pokémon of yours will ignore ya and do its own thing. I'll smash it easy if it does that. Then we'll try to get it to battle with you for real."
"B-but… I'm not even a good trainer… How would I make him better…?"
"You can see things it won't and you're a lot more level headed than that thing. You'd do the thinkin' for it, and trust me; you're a lot smarter than that Pichu."
The boy adjusted his glasses. "Ok… I guess you're right."
"I am."
He shrugged as Guzma suddenly cut in front of him and began to head off of the trail down a long overgrown path. Donnie looked around quickly before following after him.
After a few minutes of trudging through the underbrush along the thin, dirt path the two of them came to a clearing. In front of them was a long abandoned battle area, it clearly hadn't been maintained in years and grass sprouted out of the cracks in the hard packed dirt. The white paint outlining the borders of the space was eroded and faded. The entire area was scarred long ago by hundreds of battles.
Donnie walked around the area, taking in the scenery. "Woah… I had no idea this was here…"
Guzma gave a nostalgic smile. "Yeah… There's a bunch of places like this all over the island, you just gotta know where to look. But damn, I didn't expect it to look this shitty. Does no one go out to train anymore?"
"I think most people just like to stick to the city, I do."
"That ain't no fun."
"Maybe you just liked being a loner?"
"What? No. I used to come out here with all my friends. Heck, we even marked our names over there." Guzma gestured to a mossy fallen log as he took an ultraball from his pocket.
Donnie walked over to the log and looked around it curiously. He wiped away some of the moss on the side of it, there were indeed a number of names scratched into it. A few of them he didn't recognize, but there were three that he did. Guzma, Kukui and Molayne.
Donnie's eyes widened, but before he could comment Guzma called out to him, "hey! We've had enough fun now! Get your butt over to the other end of the court and battle me!"
The boy quickly headed over to the opposing side, the sight of his teacher throwing that ultraball up and down caused nervous butterflies to flutter in his stomach.
"You know what you gotta do, right? All the moves your Pokémon has?"
He took a pokeball with a painted case out of his pocket and shakily answered, "y-yes!" Donnie released his Pichu in front of him, yellow bolts of electricity erupted upwards from the ball when it opened. The small Pokémon turned and looked up at him, confused. The boy crouched and explained, "Perry, we're going to have a battle right now. I need you to listen to me, ok?"
The Pichu's eyes widened, it turned back towards Guzma and put its tiny paws on its hips, there was a mean looking grin on its face. Donnie didn't know what to make of that response, but at least it seemed to understand.
Guzma called out, "you ready, kid? 'Cuz here I come!" He flung the ultraball onto the field. Donnie braced himself for the sight of a massive, imposing bug type, but instead was met with a black, lizard like Pokémon. A Salandit. The lizard folded its arms with a sinister chuckle and cockily waggled its tongue at the Pichu.
Donnie stared at it, confused. "Wh-what?"
His teacher grinned and squatted close to the ground. "I got more than just bugs, kid! You seriously didn't expect me to use my team, did you? I'm tryin' to beat you down, not grind your Pichu into dust!" He pointed at the yellow mouse and shouted, "Ember!"
"Dodge it and use Sweet Kiss, Perry!"
Small flames spread down the orange patterns on the lizard's back as sparks formed from Perry's cheeks. Salandit shot a burst of fire at the mouse, which met the fireball with a well aimed Thunder Shock. Both attacks collided into each other, dissipating into smoke before reaching their targets.
Pichu then burst through the smoke, sprinting towards Salandit.
Guzma called out, "Sweet Scent!" The Pokémon took a deep breath then blew a pink hazy cloud all over its own side of the court.
"Stop running and use Tail Whip!" Perry ignored him and ran straight into the cloud. Donnie groaned in frustration as his Pokémon stopped running and put its nose in the air, it began to wander around, curious about the source of the smell.
The lizard looked back at its trainer, who gestured to the Pichu and commanded with a cocky smirk, "get it with a Scratch!" It scampered up behind the distracted Pichu, which turned its head at the last minute, only to be scratched across the face by the opposing Pokémon's sharp claws.
The mouse Pokémon squeaked in pain and rushed back to its side of the court near its trainer. It then turned and faced its opponent with a furious look on its face. The Salandit chuckled menacingly and waved its tail in the air. Donnie yelled, "Perry! Get it with Sweet Kiss!" Instead the small Pokémon developed a Nasty Plot in its head and rubbed its paws together with a devilish grin.
"Again with Ember!" The yellow mouse leapt above the fireball and rushed towards the lizard, sparks rushing from its cheeks. "Get outta the way and use Poison Gas!"
Salandit leapt out of the way as a stream of lightning connected with where it just stood. The orange pattern down its back turned purple as it spat a purple cloud directly around the Pichu. It froze in the cloud and quickly ran out of it. The small Pokémon began to cough; it was Poisoned. The lizard then began to scamper up to it faster than the Pichu could recover. Donnie cried out, "Thunder Shock! Now!"
But the electric type only looked at its approaching opponent in terror and began to sprint away from it.
Guzma triumphantly called out, "finish it off with Scratch!"
Salandit out-sped the Pichu with ease and leaped onto its back, holding it down as it screamed. One last Scratch, combined with the Poison was all it took for Perry to faint. The lizard climbed off of it and gave a proud, sinister chuckle.
Donnie walked up to his fainted Pokémon in shame as the Salandit rushed back to Guzma, looking for praise. He picked up his Pokémon, the Pichu was having trouble keeping its eyes open, but he could tell it was extremely angry. "Perry… You know exactly why you lost, don't you?" The small Pokémon looked away and continued to cough; Donnie held it close and walked up to Guzma, who was giving his Salandit a scratch on the tummy for its efforts.
Guzma returned his Pokémon and held a hand out to Donnie. "Give it here; I have some stuff here to fix it right up."
He handed the Pichu to his teacher, who proceeded to completely heal the electric type, when he was finished it looked like it hadn't even battled at all. Donnie then picked up his sulking Pokémon, its ears were flat against its head and it was gritting its needle sharp teeth. "We're going to try that again, ok? This time I want you do to everything I say Perry, Guzma's a top class trainer, we can't defeat him if we don't work together…" Perry pouted and looked away. "I know you're strong and independent, but you need to work with me if we're going to bring out your full potential. We're best friends, remember? We can't do this alone…"
The Pokémon then looked up at him; the boy gave it a small smile. "Please?" A determined look came to Perry's eyes; it gave a small nod in response. Donnie's eyes lit up. "We're going to beat him this time, ok?"
Perry grinned. "Chuuuu!"
Guzma stood up and stretched. "Y'all ready to go again? Then get back over to your side so I can wreck ya a second time," he told them with a cocky smirk.
Donnie grinned. "Not going to happen sir!" Perry leapt out of his arms and cried, "PiiiiCHUUUU!"
The two of them began to head over to their end of the court, filled with determination and excitement, but Donnie stopped when Perry froze, its ears pricked straight up. "What's up? Is something wrong Perry?" he asked.
The small Pokémon had begun to growl; its tail shot straight into the air. There was a rustling in the bushes ahead of them.
Guzma looked towards them and called out, "hey! What's the hold up? Hurry up you… two…" The man stared in disbelief, for an otherworldly creature levitated in front of the two of them. An Ultra Beast. Nihilego.
Perry hissed as Donnie took a step back, he began to tremble. "Wh-what the heck is that?!"
Guzma had completely frozen. Not again. No. No no no.
The beast curled its front two appendages up towards itself and let out what could only be described as a distorted giggling sound before starting to approach the three of them. Donnie flinched and sprinted back to his teacher's side, Perry quickly followed. "Sir! S-Sir what the heck is that thing?!" No response. "What… Guzma?" He looked up at him. Guzma stared ahead at the beast; there was nothing but pure terror written on his face.
Perry hid between Donnie's legs as the creature drew closer. The boy shook his teacher hard. "Come on! We have to get away from it! Guzma, come on! What's wrong with you?!" Guzma had begun to breathe harder; there was a distant look in his eyes.
Donnie bit his lip and looked at Perry, "go! Thundershock it!"
The little Pokémon shook where it stood for a moment before rushing out in front of its trainer and unleashing a Thundershock upon the approaching Nihilego.
A small amount of smoke drifted off of the beast, its tentacles spasmed as it unleashed a shrill cry towards them. "Run around it! Dodge anything it throws at you! See if you can get a Sweet Kiss on it!"
Perry sped off towards the creature and began to circle it fast. The mouse Pokémon couldn't tell whether it had an opening or not, for the beast had no eyes. Meanwhile Donnie attempted to shake Guzma out of his daze, but the man failed to budge. Perry decided to rush towards the beast, lunging at it. But the creature disappeared before it could make contact. The Pokémon looked around in confusion as the Nihilego appeared behind it. Its eyes widened as the Ultra Beast unleashed a Power Gem towards it, shooting a beam of hard light into it. Perry slammed into a tree and fell to the ground, wheezing.
Tears welled up in Donnie's eyes as he punched his teacher's arm, yelling, "Guzma! Come on! Please!"
The Nihilego then slowly turned back towards the two of them, giggling. Guzma's hands were shaking. The beast moved to lunge at them, but stopped at the sound of a cry behind it.
Perry had slowly pushed itself to its feet. The little Pokémon had just managed to tough it out; it was covered in dirt and bruises. It gritted its teeth as the Nihilego turned back around to face it. Sparks flew wildly from its cheeks, it screamed at the beast as its body was enveloped in a blinding white light.
Donnie covered his eyes, the boy gasped when the light faded. Perry looked down at itself then clenched its tiny fists. With a malicious grin it raised its arm across its body, "PIKA" –it drew its finger across its neck- "CHU!"
"Distract it in any way you can! Don't let it hit you!"
Perry shot off just before another beam of light hit it. It moved around the beast with lightning speed, fading in and out of visibility. It then slammed its first directly into the Nihilego's cranium with a Quick Attack, leaping off of the clear dome and back onto the ground. The Ultra Beast remained still in the air; it trembled as it tried to move, Perry's static had paralysed it.
Donnie quickly ran backwards from his teacher; he still wasn't moving. The boy took his glasses off and put them into his pocket, he would apologize for this later. He spun on his heel and, sprinting quickly, slammed his body into the larger man, sending the two of them crashing to the ground.
Guzma shot upright and looked around panicked, only to see Donnie on his lap. The boy grabbed his hoodie and shook hard, yelling, "SIR! Are you with me now?!"
"Y-yeah… What the fuck is going on?! Why are you…" His eyes had drifted back to the Nihilego struggling to move as Perry continuously Thundershocked it.
"You need to get rid of that thing! It's too strong for Perry! It'll blast us to pieces if you don't do something!"
The man blinked, dispelled his fearful look then gritted his teeth. "Move." Donnie moved off of him, allowing Guzma to get to his feet. He pulled an ultraball from his pocket and threw it onto the court, unleashing his Scizor.
Guzma pointed to the Nihelego and roared, "Iron Head!"
The Scizor's head turned radiant silver as it shot towards the beast. The attack connected hard, sending the creature flying back.
"Use Bullet Punch! Crush that thing! Don't let up!"
The bug type didn't even let the Nihilego flinch before its hard claws relentlessly connected with its cranium over and over again. The beast, however, was soon able to wriggle out from under it and rush off into the forest.
Donnie stood there out of breath as Guzma returned his Scizor. "Get your damn Pokémon," he commanded, "we need to leave. Right now!"
"Perry! Come back!" The Pikachu ran back towards its trainer then tripped, it was absolutely exhausted. Donnie returned it and flinched as Guzma tightly grabbed his wrist and yanked him along as he stormed out of the clearing. The boy looked up at him, his teacher was visibly shaken. "Wh-what the heck was that thing? I-I've never heard of any Pokémon like that before…"
Guzma quietly snapped, "not now. Later. We need to get out of here. It'll come back."
"B-but… Why did you freeze up like that? That's not like you…" he asked, extremely worried.
The man shot a glare at him. "Don't you know what 'later' means? Shut it."
Guzma let go of Donnie's wrist when they had made it back to the main trail. The two of them quickly headed back down towards the exit; there was no time to waste, but as they were walking a strange man in a brown overcoat rushed up the trail towards them. Before Guzma could say anything the man stopped in front of them, placed his hands on his knees and huffed, out of breath. He held a finger up to them before standing up straight and adjusting his coat. "Please excuse me you two. I only need a moment of your time. Perhaps three," he said.
Donnie looked between the two of them; Guzma seemed just as confused as he was.
The man took out a leather wallet from his coat and showed them the badge inside. "I am with the International Police, my code name is Looker. I must speak with the two of you very briefly."
Guzma stiffened at the sight of the badge. "'Bout what?" he asked suspiciously.
"There have been sightings of an extremely dangerous creature very close by to this location. I must ask you both to evacuate the area immediately!" he promptly ordered.
Guzma gritted his teeth in frustration, "that would've been fuckin' great to know about an hour ago!"
Looker's eyes widened. "You have encountered the creature? Please tell me exactly where!"
"Up the trail more on an old path to the right, keep an eye out or you'll miss it."
"Ah, I thank you. Please stay safe and pass this information onto anyone you encounter." Looker moved past the two of them, but before they could continue walking he stopped and turned back to them. "Pardon, pardon. In a moment of rushed trepidation I forgot to ask. You match the description of a man named Guzma, is this person you?"
Guzma stopped walking, braced himself and turned back to Looker. "Yeah, that's me."
"Ah! Yes. You are quite the difficult person to track down. I have an urgent piece of information that I must share with you! Two actually!"
He raised an eyebrow. "Go on."
Looker quickly approached the both of them and looked down at Donnie. "This is not for yours ears. I am about to share classified information. But I cannot allow someone your age to wander unsupervised with that creature around. I trust that you will not tell a soul?"
Donnie had gone pale, he swallowed and nodded. "N-Not a word…" he agreed.
"Ah… Good," he said before looking back up at Guzma, "In the wake of the recent incident involving the Aether Foundation, Ultra-wormholes have been appearing over the skies of Alola. Considering your involvement with that incident I must inform you that you are now a 'Faller'. Put simply, because you passed through an Ultra-wormhole your body has absorbed some of the energy it emits. Ergo, Ultra Beasts will be attracted to you, thinking that you are a wormhole."
Guzma stared at him in disbelief before saying, "Wh-… what?! You're kidding right?!"
"I am surely not! I must urge you to be vigilant whilst the International Police are dealing with the Ultra Beasts. Keep on your toes! Now… Oh! Before I forget!" Looker rummaged through his pockets before taking out an orange medicine bottle. "This is for you. Though your contact with UB-01 was brief, a small amount of its toxins may still be present in your body. Please complete the entire script; it will counteract any remaining poison."
Guzma eyed the bottle briefly before taking it from him, there was a white card with a phone number taped to it. "One sec, before ya go… Hold your hand out." Looker complied, Guzma dropped five unarmed Beast balls into his hand before saying, "I want nothin' to do with this. Ya hear? I'm done with all this Ultra Beast and wormhole crap. So don't come to me askin' for favors or nothin', got it old man?"
"Yes, I do. I completely understand. This is quite the harrowing situation we are in. Please stay safe. If you encounter any more Ultra Beasts please call the number on that card. Au revoir!" Before either of them could get another word in Looker had resumed running up the track.
Donnie was highly confused as the two of them continued down the trail, but decided to stay quiet until he was sure the two of them were out of danger. Once they were back on the main road Guzma headed down Route 1 and flopped down onto the nearest bench, putting his head in his hands. Donnie sat down next to him and looked downwards; he put his glasses back on and traced the patterns on the green painted wood with his finger. He then glanced over at his teacher. "S-so… Um… Are you ok…?" he nervously asked.
Guzma exhaled. "I've been better, kid."
"Well… Uh, what was that thing…? I've never heard of a Pokémon like that before…"
He rested his hands on his lap and sat up straight before explaining, "that thing back there was a creature called an Ultra Beast. They're stupid-dangerous Pokémon from another dimension called Ultra Space. That one in particular is called a Nihilego."
"Um… Ok… Super dangerous inter-dimensional Pokémon… G-got it…" The boy adjusted his glasses before continuing, "But… How come you reacted like that to it? You wouldn't move… You beat it easily with that Scizor too…"
Guzma winced and put a hand in his hair before turning to his student. "Imma keep this short, but I've had a run-in with that thing before… I followed someone through one of the wormholes like a jackass and tried to catch it… But… It possessed me…"
Donnie's breath caught in his throat. "P-possessed…?"
"Yeah… Now I ain't scared of nothin' or no one kid… Nothin' but that thing…" A distant look came to his eyes. "When it possessed me my body started movin' on its own… I saw things, heard things; things that couldn't possibly have been there… I lashed out; I couldn't do nothin' but destroy shit and scream… It was terrifying… After it let me go I somehow managed to pull myself together before those two girls showed up, the ones that rescued me… Fuck that would've been embarrassing, actin' like a wreck in front of them…"
The young boy was pale now. "H-holy crap…" He made a mental note to buy Perry the most treats it had ever seen in its life.
"Yeah… Honestly that cop was prob'ly right about the poison still bein' in me… Ever since that happened I've just had this feelin'… This constant creeping dread; hope those pills get rid of that…" he admitted.
"I hope we never have to see any of those things again…"
"You shouldn't, not with-…" he paused, his eyes went wide. "Oh no… Oh fuck, fuck, fuck!"
"Wh-what?!"
The man gripped his hair tightly. "You remember what he said, right?! Apparently I'm a walkin' freak magnet now! I can't… I can't be around y'all… I'll just lure those monsters to the school and then… SHIT!"
"Woah, woah! Wait!" Guzma stopped and stared at him. "Didn't you see how quickly you got rid of it though?! You could protect us!"
"The damn principal can do the same thing!"
Donnie stood up on the chair and looked down at him, shouting, "No she couldn't! Remember what you told me?! You're the best bug type trainer in all of Alola! The BEST! And after seeing you fight off that thing with just one Pokémon I really believe that! Not to mention you actually know about those things and what they can do! Besides, they might just show up without you there anyway! No one can protect us better than you can! So please, stay!"
Guzma looked defeated and dropped his hands to his sides. "…Alright… Sid'down… On Monday y'all are gettin' one heck of a special lesson."
Donnie sighed in relief and sat back down.
"But… Donnie…" He reached over and gripped the boy's shoulders; there was an almost crazed look in his eyes as he warned, "if you ever see that monster again… Don't let it get you. It will find every little horrible thing you tried to bury deep down and shove it right in your face until it finally has you… And if it does manage to get you, don't let it break you…"
He began to tremble, but swallowed and nodded in response. "O-ok…"
Guzma let go of him, rubbed his eyes and stood up. "Let's just… Let's go to the Pokémon Centre… We gotta get that partner of yours fixed up…"
As the two of them walked Donnie ran his fingers through the spiked side of his hair. "Well… I-I guess at least one good thing came out of this… Perry really started to shape up today…"
Guzma nodded. "Yeah. Yeah it did. I saw. It's a Pikachu now… I actually got somethin' in mind to help y'all out more, but ask me about that later, kid… I need to chill out before I try to do anymore thinking…"
Donnie grimaced as he remembered something. "There's… Something else I should tell you too… Nathan and Keahi are planning to pull a prank on you on Monday… A really nasty one…"
The man groaned. "That can wait too, tell me again later… I've had enough bullshit."
The young boy nodded as they approached the Pokémon Centre.
Guzma took a deep breath. "Just… Fuck… I need a tapu cocoa…"
