Episode 37: It's ya boi Guzma!

It wasn't until the trio made it to route 17 that Niko finally realized how much Incineroar hated anything to do with water.

He really, really hated water, particularly in the form of rain.

The day after catching Drampa, Niko and his friends left Ula'ula Meadow and continued their trek towards Po Town, where they expected to face Nanu in the Grand Trial. However, the weather quickly, and unexpectedly, switched from light fog to heavy rain, and the trio weren't necessarily ready for it.

"I—I think I have a jacket in my bag…" Niko said, hastily throwing down his backpack, zipped it open, and rummaged through until he found a raincoat at the bottom. He thrust it out, threw it on quickly, and turned to see Charlotte and Warren do the same. "Phew," he said with a sigh of relief. "Got that out of the way…"

Charlotte nodded, also with a relieved expression. She handled rain better than her male companions, but only with some sort of raincoat. Niko enjoyed the rain but preferred to not walk around in it all the time—as Pallet Town didn't see much rain year-round, he wasn't exactly used to it. Warren simply didn't prefer it.

They continued walking through the route, carefully moving around and away from mud puddles of varying shapes and sizes. The weather didn't provide much opportunity for them to train their Pokémon, and neither Niko nor Charlotte liked the idea of standing around in the rain so that their Pokémon could practice. In addition, only a couple Pokémon were truly comfortable in the rain—Vaporeon and Drampa for Niko, and Lapras and—maybe—Flaaffy for Charlotte.

Eventually, however, they had to stop to eat, finding a large tree under which they were protected by most of the rainfall. The trainers each took turns sending out their teams of Pokémon to feed them. Warren went first since he had the smallest team. He gave Litleo his jacket so the little fire feline wouldn't be too bothered by what little rain was slipping through the treetops. Charlotte went next, with Lapras sitting out from under the tree to give more room to the others.

Then it was Niko's turn. He sent out all five Pokémon at once, like his friends had done. On accident, Incineroar's pokéball was closest to the boundary of the space covered by the tree. He was next to Drampa, whose enormous size accidentally pushed the Heel Pokémon outside of the tree's protection and into the rain.

Niko had never seen a Pokémon as enraged as his.

Incineroar shrieked as loudly as possible before focusing his eyes on Niko. He then spun forward towards his trainer to use darkest lariat. In response, Drampa moved in front of Niko and erected a thin veil before unleashing dragonbreath onto Incineroar. This momentarily halted the Heel Pokémon before Vaporeon jumped in front of Drampa and stared up at her friend angrily.

Vaporeon and Incineroar leered at one another for a solid minute before the latter looked back at Niko with an expression that suggested a mixture of anger and dejection, and walked over to the where his pokéball was, kicked it, and instantly went inside.

"Oh, come on…" Niko said with a heavy sigh. "Don't be like this. It was an accident," he held Incineroar's pokéball.

"Guess now you know what he truly hates," Warren commented. Niko glared at his friend.

"Yeah, I'm aware," Niko replied bitterly before pocketing the pokéball. He then looked at Drampa and Vaporeon, "thanks, by the way. He's not normally like this, as you know Vaporeon."

The two nodded. Vaporeon seemed just as confused and hurt as Niko and showed this by slowly eating her lunch that day. Drampa seemed more fed up than anything, as he was still fuming by the time they left for Po Town.

Po Town gave off a similar feel to Tapu Village, only without the decimation due to the rage of an Island Deity. For starters, there was a sky-high wall separating the town from the outside world, with two massive concrete doors allowing for passage in and out of the town. When the trio approached—in the rain—they had to knock on the concrete, which somehow alerted someone on the other side of their presence. Moments later, the gate opened, and they were allowed in.

"Why are you here?" the man at the gate asked. He wore a black cap with a black and white striped shirt and baggy black shorts. He looked similar to the Team Skull grunts they had encountered in Malie City, only without the logo.

"We're here to see Nanu for our Grand Trial," Charlotte explained. "Acerola told us that he might be here."

The man looked at them curiously through a thin pair of glasses. "Yeah, he's here. Come on in," he said with a lazy sigh. The trio then entered and didn't see much else worth noting in Po Town.

The entire place was beaten and run down. If there was ever a town that epitomized the opposite of hope, then Po Town was it. It didn't help that the weather—also constant rain—painted a dreary picture of the place. There was a single main road that ran for about a mile northward, with houses situated on both sides of the road in a suburb-like fashion. One of the closest buildings to them was a Pokémon Center, which bore an interesting collection of spray painted pictures and phrases. At the very end of the road, Niko noticed, a massive, dilapidated mansion sat.

What kind of place is this…? Niko asked as he looked around. He turned to the man at the gate. Before he said anything, the man walked off to a nearby home. Oh, alright…

The first place they entered was the Pokémon Center so that their Pokémon could heal up and they could dry off and find a room to lodge in. Fortunately, they easily found a room. Unfortunately, however, it was just as run-down as the rest of the town. The beds were cold and not very comfortable, and the blankets were thin and covered in some weird fuzzy material.

Niko placed his bag down and could have sworn he saw a rattata run by him, sending a shiver up his spine. "This place is great, isn't it?" the question elicited a shock expression from Charlotte, with whom he would share a bed with. "I'm joking. This place sucks."

"Why is it like this?" Warren asked as he looked out the window, only to see the concrete wall. "I've never seen a more miserable place."

"Neither have I. Guess we'll have to ask Nanu tomorrow," Niko said, looking around again. "For now, let's try and eat something and get to bed. We can look for him tomorrow."

Charlotte and Warren both nodded, and the three exited their room in search of a place to eat. When they came back a couple of hours later, the trio immediately fell to sleep on their relatively small and beaten down beds, choosing not to let their Pokémon sleep with them outside of their pokéballs this time.

Niko awoke to a dripping of water, supposedly coming from the ceiling. He woke up feeling hungrier than before, which he didn't think was possible, and sat up to look around him. It was clearly early in the morning, judging by the lack of shades on the windows and the gray light seeping through. He turned to see Charlotte slowly waking up as well. When their eyes met, they simply shook their heads, as if thinking the same thing—this placed sucked.

Later on, when Warren eventually woke up, the three of them attempted to take a shower—with cold water, that is—and get dressed before heading out into Po Town in search of Nanu.

Suddenly, when Niko opened his bag to grab his belt that had his pokéballs, he noticed it wasn't in his bag. "Um…guys," he said, his head deep into his bag in search of the belt. "I can't find my pokéballs."

"Neither can I," Charlotte added, looking through her bag as well.

"Wait, what?" Warren said with shock. "Neither can I! Who did this?"

Niko then jogged over to the door, checking to see if there was a lock. "It doesn't work…the lock, I mean."

"So someone came in while we were sleeping and took our Pokémon?" Warren asked.

"No, I don't think so…one of us would've woken up. They came in while we were getting food, I think."

"Who would take our Pokémon?" Charlotte asked. They all turned to Rotomdex.

"It wasn't me!" the pokédex shouted.

"No, we know that," Niko said with a half-smile, "can you tell us anything about Po Town?"

"O-oh…right. Let's see…Po Town used to be occupied by Team Skull before it disbanded years ago."

"That makes sense," Niko said, cupping his chin in thought, "because the gatekeeper looked really similar to those grunts we saw in Malie City, right?" Charlotte and Warren nodded.

"Then Team Skull is still around? They disbanded though."

"Maybe so, doesn't mean they can't still steal Pokémon," Charlotte added.

"We need to find them, and quickly," Niko said before grabbing his bag and running out of the room, Charlotte and Warren behind him.

They first asked a pink-haired woman at the front desk about their Pokémon, and she responded with a nonchalant shrug. "I didn't see nothin'," she said, eliciting a sigh from the trio.

"Well, if you do, please let us know, alright?" Niko asked. She nodded lazily and shooed them away. As they were leaving, Charlotte shot her an ugly glare. "She probably knows something."

"That's how mobs act, right?" Warren asked. "And Team Skull gives off a mob vibe to me."

Niko nodded, looking out onto the town. "We should probably first look for Nanu. He might know where to look."

"If Nanu lives here, maybe he's part of Team Skull too," Charlotte surmised.

Niko hadn't thought much about it. It did make sense. His persona seemed uncaring and aloof, similar to the Team Skull members they've met thus far. It would also mean that finding their Pokémon would be a million times more difficult without an Island Kahuna on their side.

"Let's hope not," he eventually said before moving on.

After trying several houses, Niko and his friends eventually noticed a shorter man in all-black attire walking down the street. His police badge and gray hair were familiar to them.

"Nanu!" Niko shouted, waving his hand to the Kahuna, catching his attention. Nanu slowly looked up, took a moment to recognize Niko, and walked forward.

"Ah, you three. What the hell are you three doing here?" Nanu asked.

"Acerola told us that you'd be here. We've completed the trials and are ready to challenge you," Charlotte explained.

Nanu smirked. "Ah, gotcha. Well, I'm ready whenever you are."

"However…our Pokémon were stolen," to this, Nanu hardly seemed surprised.

"Makes sense. That happens a lot in this town. Shoulda been more careful."

"Can you help us? Or at least direct us to where they could be?" Niko asked, genuinely hoping that Nanu wasn't a member of Team Skull.

"Are you a member of Team Skull?" Warren asked.

"Of course not," Nanu said simply. "They're delinquents. In my day I dealt with scum like them for a living. However, to answer your first question—yes, I do know where they are. Would you like me to take you to them?"

The trio nodded in sync.

"Hm. Alright then, follow me," Nanu said without emotion, leading them down the street to the mansion at the end of Po Town. Niko was now able to get a better picture of the place. It was covered in graffiti and grime and was only two stories tall. "This is the 'Shady House.' Here lives the former head of Team Skull—Guzma."

"If Team Skull is disbanded, why did we meet some members in Malie City?" Charlotte asked.

"Also, why are they still stealing Pokémon?" Niko added.

"There are members trying to re-build the team," Nanu answered, "and…to the second question, there will always be people out to steal Pokémon. I'm sure you're aware of this, Niko."

Niko was surprised that Nanu seemed to imply he was a far more travelled trainer than either of his friends or most of the Island Challengers in Alola. He didn't say anything in response, though.

"Guzma is probably behind taking your Pokémon. I'm sure he'd love to provide you with the reason," Nanu said, opening the front door with relative ease. Inside, the mansion was far more torn up and destroyed than the outside. Furniture was overturned, paintings hanging to the sides, and the floor was covered in either stained carpeting or ripped up wood paneling.

In a nutshell, it was an atrocity.

"My Mom would kill me if this was where I lived…" Niko muttered, looking around.

"So where's Guzma?" Warren asked, looking around. They noticed Nanu pointing directly upwards.

"There. That's his room. Be careful getting up there."

"You're not coming?" Niko said as they started to walk and noticed Nanu wasn't following.

"Yes, but don't expect me to battle on your behalf. Guzma isn't like that, anyways. It isn't his style."

Niko didn't exactly know what Nanu was referring to but shrugged it off and continued. They leapt over a cabinet to climb the stairs to the left of the room, taking them to the second floor. From there, they had to climb over an overturned bed frame to get to what they believed to be Guzma's room. With slight hesitation, Niko opened the door and entered.

"Ah, it's my boi Nanu!" A short man sitting on a golden throne-like chair said from the back of the room. Around him were a collection of money sprinkled with small light green Z-crystals that Niko didn't quite recognize.

The man himself was average height with white hair, dark eyes, and black eyebrows. He wore a black jacket with a zigzag pattern on both sides. He wore a white shirt, some black pants with two white X's under his knees and a pair of white shoes. He also had a purple tattoo of Team Skull on his left arm and a golden watch, while on his right hand were black and white bracelets. Lastly, he wore sunglasses with a golden frame on his head, and a locket with a yellow Team Skull logo around his neck.

"Guzma," Nanu said, nodding to the former chief of Team Skull.

"How ya doing!? It's been a while," Guzma said, sitting back in his chair, one leg sitting on the knee of the other. He crossed his arms around his stomach and glared at Nanu before turning to the trio. "And…who are these youngsters? New Trial Captains or whatever garbage you're putting them up to?"

"Two of them are Island Challengers, in fact, and all three of them have recently had their Pokémon stolen from them. I'm sure you know something about this?"

Guzma smirked evilly. "Maaaaybe I do. Tell me—" he looked at the trio, "who are you?"

"I'm Niko from Pallet Town."

"Charlotte from Castelia City."

"Warren, also from Castelia City."

Guzma nodded, "and you're Island Challengers? Why?" he seemed almost enraged now. "Why are you choosing to take part in that trash competition? What do you gain from it?"

"I want to be a Pokémon Master," Niko said. To this Guzma laughed.

"Ya kidding yaself, boy!" he said, laughing maniacally. "Why would ya think you can do that? Who can honestly call themselves a Pokémon Master? That trash boy Ash Ketchum? Maybe…but I doubt a mere Island Challenger can."

"He's a League Champion, too!" Warren spat back. "I wouldn't underestimate Niko."

"Oh? You've won a Pokémon League. Impressive. Well, how about this," he snapped his fingers, and a grunt brought him three bags of pokéballs. "We battle, then. Two on two. You win, and you get your Pokémon back. I win—and I keep them."

"Deal," Niko said, confident in his abilities. Turns out, so were his friends. Although Charlotte nevertheless gripped his hand with hers. "I got this," he said softly to her.

Guzma threw one of the bags to Niko—the one containing the luxury ball—and got out of his chair. He motioned for the trio and Nanu to follow him out of the room and out of the Shady House, onto a battlefield in the backyard…in the rain.

"Ya ready?" Guzma asked. Niko nodded. "Ariados, come on out!" he shouted, summoning the arachnid-like Pokémon that Niko was familiar with—as well as frightened of.

Niko looked down at Incineroar's pokéball, wondering if it was worth it. It was raining—and he knew how much the Heel Pokémon hated it. But he seemed so dejected earlier that it didn't seem right to do that to him, no matter how high the stakes were. I can win this without Incineroar, Niko thought to himself.

"Trumbeak, I choose you!" Niko shouted, summoning the Bugle Beak Pokémon. He explained the stakes. "I trust you, Trumbeak."

His bird turned to Niko and nodded before taking flight. Niko began with a drill peck, while Guzma ordered Ariados to use sucker punch. Trumbeak dove down to Ariados, landing the attack successfully. However, the Long Leg Pokémon leapt to the side before jabbing Trumbeak in the side of his body, forcing him into the ground.

"Thas right, Ariados! Well done!" Guzma shouted. "Use fell stinger now!"

"Trumbeak, dodge!" Niko shouted. Trumbeak nodded, rolling across the ground as he evaded a second jab from his opponent before opening his wings once more and taking to the sky. "Echoed voice!"

"Fell stinger!" Guzma commanded, although Ariados seemed more annoyed by the sound Trumbeak was making and unable to focus its attack successfully. Trumbeak continued this, his voice heightening in pitch before he dove down and landed a drill peck, successfully defeating Ariados.

"Ariados is unable to battle boss," the Team Skull grunt acting as the judge declared. "You should use ya second Pokémon now."

"Yeah yeah I know. Golisopod, you're up!" he shouted, throwing out an ultra-ball. "Niko, you're about to truly meet your match. I am destruction in human form! I am ya boy Guzma!"

"You're doing great, Trumbeak. Just keep it up," Niko said softly. Trumbeak nodded as he leered at his new opponent.

It was a large, arthropod Pokémon with a hunched-over, humanoid posture. It had a light purplish inner body armored with a silver exoskeleton. Its eyes were black and angular in shape, each with a light gray pupil that looked like a four-pointed star. Behind its head were three roundish segments of its shell, each with a long, upwardly-curved protrusion on either side and marked with a greenish triangle on the front; these segments covered its jutting neck. It also had three pairs of arms. The two frontal pairs of arms were thin and tipped with a sharp, black claw. The rearmost pair were the largest and ended with two large, purple "hands" equipped with two large claws each.

"Eeek! That's a Golisopod, Niko! It's known as the Hard Scale Pokémon, and it a bug and water type. The shell covering its body is as hard as diamond. This Pokémon will do anything it takes to win."

"Trumbeak, use drill peck!" Niko shouted.

"Swords dance!" Guzma commanded. Orange swords surrounded Golisopod as they crossed and clanged before Trumbeak slammed down onto its hard exoskeleton. Upon impact the Bugle Beak Pokémon rolled forwards and off of Golisopod before spinning around and smashing into its back with rock smash.

"Well done, Trumbeak!" Niko shouted, thrusting a fist into the air. Golisopod collapsed forward, turning back to leer at Trumbeak, who flew back into the air, only to get hit by a razor shell thrown directly at it. "Trumbeak!"

"Slash!" Guzma shouted. Golisopod, taking advantage of the opening offered to it, charged forward to meet Trumbeak as he fell to the ground and, successfully enough, slashed at him, thrusting him backwards and towards Niko, who caught the Bugle Beak Pokémon in his arms.

"It's okay, buddy. Someone can step in if you can't battle."

Trumbeak looked up at Niko as if he were crazy and finagled his way out of his trainer's hands before collapsing onto the ground. He slowly got back up and immediately began to illuminate a bright white color.

The bird began to grow into a much larger Pokémon with the same black and white feathers characteristic of Pikipek and Trumbeak. However, now its beak was long and curved like a toucan's. Around the beak were bands of red, orange, and yellow and progressively lightening as they got closer to his head. Niko recognized this Pokémon—Kahili of the Elite 4 used one.

"Toucannon…" Niko said, turning to Rotomdex, who had already shown Niko what these looked like. "Let's win this, buddy," he said with a new determination.

Toucannon leered at Golisopod, who did the same back. Then the Toucan Pokémon's beak began to light up, as if it were on fire. As soon as Golisopod charged towards him, he shot forward as well. The two collided in the middle of the field and ran past one another.

Toucannon simply stood there, wings wide open, as he hunched forward in a finishing pose. Golisopod did the same until it collapsed forward towards Niko. It was defeated.

"G-golisopod is…unable to battle, boss," the judge said, in shock and fright.

Guzma eyed Niko skeptically. "Fine, whatever. Take ya damn Pokémon and leave this place. A deal is a deal."

"I didn't take you as the type of guy to not immediately renege on a deal, Guzma," Nanu said, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Yeah, whatever old man. Niko proved himself. He didn't even need a second Pokémon. That's what got me…it wouldn't have mattered how many Pokémon I used. You had five, and if they're all as strong as that Toucannon, then I can't see myself winning."

Nanu nodded.

"Thank you, Guzma," Niko said with Toucannon standing next to him.

"Sure, sure kid. Go do your Island Challenge crap and leave us be."

"Got it," Niko said. He was sure there wasn't much he could say or do to convince Guzma that what he believed in was misguided, and so he gave Charlotte and Warren their pokéballs back before turning to leave the Shady House.

"Also…" Guzma said, turning to Niko. He threw them two Z-crystals. "Maybe you'll find these handy."

Niko looked down at them. "What are they?"

"Buginium-Z. You can use bug type Z-moves with them, like Savage Spin-Out. Maybe you'll find it useful. I don't really know."

"Oh…well, thanks," Niko said casually. "Have a good day, I suppose."

"Ya, okay."

"Let's battle tomorrow," Nanu said as they exited the Shady House. "If you're both ready, that is."

"Will it be in the rain?" Niko asked, looking up.

"Possibly, although it doesn't rain every day here. Most of the time, but not all of the time."

"Where should we go?" Charlotte asked.

"There's a battlefield just outside of the walls of Po Town, to the east. If you walk along the coast you'll find it. It's not very well hidden," he turned to leave, "the battle will be three-vs-three, if you must know. Noon. I'll see you there."

With that, Nanu left the company of Niko, Charlotte, and Warren. Their Pokémon back in their possession, the trio went back to the Pokémon Center, so the couple could prepare for their third Grand Trial in Alola.

Author's Note: Hey y'all, a close friend of mine is in the middle of writing a Fantasy story on , the sister site to . If you're at all interested in fantasy stories, I highly recommend it. It's incomplete, but the author is looking for feedback to help them continue. The story is called FireHeart, and here is the link for the author's page:

u/1107346/BlitzGirl

Enjoy!