Days passed since the incident with Team Rainbow Rocket and the Shadow Drapion. Elizabeth had gone to report the incident while the others continued with their usual day to day lives. There wasn't much they could do until they had more information and worrying about it all wouldn't do anything. So right now, Ash and Moon were home alone, sitting on the couch while watching Rotom's favorite show, Detective Laki. Rotom even had its lucky wig that matched the main character's hair! Ash was sitting normally on the couch, while Moon was once again sitting upside down. "This is the type of stuff you guys watch?"

"Yes-roto!" Rotom said happily, staring intently at the TV screen. It so happened to be a new episode so of course it was into it. "I think the Aggron did it!"

"I think it was the Magmar!" Ash said and Pikachu seemed to agree.

"Hm…" Moon furrowed her brows. She had been keeping up with the story thus far but still couldn't wrap her head around it. "I don't think we had shows like back in my Alola. Then again, I don't really remember watching TV. Anyway, I think it was the Aggron, too."

Pichu then hopped onto Moon's stomach, poking her to ask if she'd get dizzy sitting like that, with all the blood rushing to her head. "Pi?"

"I'm finnnne." Moon waved a hand. Of course as soon as she said that she ended up falling over and got dizzy. "Gah…" Swirls were in her eyes and the room was spinning. "Wait, hold on…everything's spinning…"

"Ah! It was the Aggron!" Rotom said excitedly.

"Aw man…" Ash sighed. He totally fell for the Magmar fakeout!

"What happened…" Moon shook her head. "Agh…I'm hungry."

Ash's stomach rumbled as well. "…Me too." Professor Burnet and Kukui left for shopping, leaving Ash and Moon alone early in the morning. "I guess we should start breakfast, huh?"

"Yeah, let's feed the others first." Moon hopped down the first floor. It was a good thing she did, because she saw a hungry Melmetal getting ready to eat one of the frying pans, and Rowlet was desperately trying to keep Melmetal from doing so. "Ah! It's hungry!"

"Ah! No! Melmetal!" Ash hurried down the ladder to help Rowlet pry the frying pan away from Melmetal. "Moon!"

"I got it…!" Moon had to drag one of the spare steel beams that they used to fed Melmetal. She managed to get to it in time and satiated the hunger of the iron giant. "Oh thank goodness." Moon wiped the sweat from her brow.

"We barely made it…" Ash sighed before gathering everyone up, pouring the pokemon food in their respective bowls to feed them. While they ate, Ash and Moon were still hungry. "Ah…"

"Where did they go?" Moon groaned. Perhaps it was their fault for being up so early, but still! The adults left them to go shopping for… 'important' items. They had no breakfast!

"Maybe we can go see if Mallow will…" Ash began, but Mono shushed him.

"No." Moon shook her head, an odd fire in her eyes. "Mallow's cooking is great, but we'll never survive if we rely on other people to cook for us! You said you learned to fend for yourself, right!? Well it's time to put that to the test!"

Ash wasn't exactly sure what Moon was getting at, but her determination was rubbing off on him. "So what are we doing!?"

"Catch a Magikarp for a man, he eats for a day. Teach the man to catch Magikarp and he eats for life." Moon placed her hands on her hips. "What I'm saying is we're going to make breakfast for ourselves!"

"OOOH!" Ash's eyes sparkled. Last time he tried to cook for himself it didn't end well. But with Moon? How could this go wrong!?

"…" Pikachu and Pichu looked at each other as they ate. Neither one of them could see this ending well.

Moon went into the kitchen, opening the fridge to pull out a few ingredients. "Kukui and Burnet have been buying a lot of food lately, so we have plenty of things to use! Go grab some bowls!"

"Okay!" Ash nodded and went into the cabinets, pulling out a few bowls for them.

It was then that the cooking began. Moon and Ash worked together to create a fitting breakfast for the two of them. Things seemed to be going well, but the longer the process went on, the more an odd smell filled the house and their Pokémon were catching a whiff of it. Cue to a few minutes later and two bowls had been successfully made for them to dine on! Moon was making a checklist of the ingredients they used. "We used eggs, milk, various vegetables, a few apple slices, an orange, and….." Moon glanced over with a bit of a disgusted face. "It somehow ended up purple."

Rotom floated around…the mess that was debatably called food, snapping a few pictures. "There is a 99% chance that this is unsafe to eat!"

"Oh come on! It doesn't look that bad." Moon objected. "The smell though…"

"Y-Yeah…" Ash tilted his head at their bowls. They weren't exactly sure what they made, but the smell was pretty bad.

"Okay, hear me out. Worst comes to worst, I'm sure we can find some Alolan Grimers to eat this, right?" Moon asked.

"Oh yeah! They eat anything." Ash agreed.

"Especially toxic waste!" Rotom added.

"…Not sure how I feel about our cooking being referred to as toxic waste. But with this smell…I'm pretty sure that alone constitutes as a war crime." Moon said with a sweat drop before grabbing a spoon. "But I'm sure it doesn't taste as bad as it looks!"

"I don't even know what it's supposed to be." Rotom quipped. There was nothing in its database that could describe the creation Ash and Moon had created.

"Oh, be quiet! I'm sure it's just fine! Ready?" Moon looked at Ash.

"Ready!" Ash said. They both took a spoonful of what was supposed to be breakfast and scarfed it down. "T-That's not so…" And his face started to turn pale. "B-Bad…"

"Oh…I'm gonna…" Moon's expression paled as well.

It went poorly. Ash and Moon ended up hurling the contents of their breakfast on their respective mouse companions. It wasn't a pretty sight.

"Sorry Pikachu…"

"Sorry Pichu…" Neither of the mice appreciated that.

"Wow. Your combined intelligence resulted in something so horrible." Rotom was genuinely shocked. It was effectively saying that between the two of them, their intelligence, in this instance, was…not high.

So cue the two of them having to clean up the mess they made, and eventually find a place to dump that breakfast, because it was not working. It took about 20 minutes to clean up and as soon as they finished, there was a knock at the door. Ash was the one who answered since the doorbell was being pressed repeatedly. "Coming! Who is it?" He opened the door and Takeba's finger kept jabbing into his nose. "Ah! Ow!"

"Oh!" Takeba stopped. "You two are awake, perfect!" The heiress placed her hands behind her back. She was accompanied by Marcus, Lillie and Magearna, Elizabeth, and Scott. "Pack your bag, we're going to Akala Island!"

"Huh?" Ash was a of course taken aback by Takeba's sudden request.

"I'm taking the Island Challenge!" Takeba held up her Z-ring. "I wanna use this bad boy!"

"The thing she stole." Elizabeth wasn't letting that go.

"Is no an option?" Moon asked.

"No…" Lillie shook her head. Takeba practically dragged her out of her house!

"Ah…" Moon and Lillie made eye contact, gave each other a half smile, and then glanced away. The entire thing was awkward and everyone noticed.

Everyone but Ash. "Okay! Let's go!" The young boy said excitedly.

"Great! You're coming too, Moon." Takeba placed her hands on her hips.

"Wha!? Why!? I happen to be very busy!" Moon huffed.

"You can't say no…" Marcus sighed.

Rotom then chimed in. "She left once to search for a Kommo-o, but hasn't left the house in four days since-roto."

"ROTOM!" Moon gasped. How dare it rat her out like that!

"I thought so. It looks like you've already had breakfast, so let's get moving!" Takeba turned and started to lead the way.

Scott had his hands in his pockets. "I foresee this being a rocky road."

"Wait, where's Grace?" Ash questioned.

"Oh, that…" Marcus began.

.

.

[Approximately 1 hour ago]

"Are you sure about this?" Grace asked as she and the others traversed the streets of Hau'oli City.

"Yup! I'm gonna challenge Olivia to a battle! I feel a…kindred spirit with her." Takeba nodded. "But first, we need to pick Lillie up."

"Probably because you're both exceedingly clumsy." Elizabeth remarked. "It's incredible actually. And why Lillie?"

"I'm curious to see this for myself…" Scott mumbled. It did sound like a disaster, though.

"I have a plan." Takeba grinned.

"So it's going up in flames." Elizabeth retorted.

"Hey, you!" A familiar voice caused the group to turn around. Surprise, it was K, and she was accompanied by Tupp, Rupp, and Zipp. Team Skull yet again. "I haven't seen you in a few days! It's time to battle me again!" And of course she was talking to Grace.

"Ugh…" Grace pinched the bridge of her nose. "You again?"

"Got a new fan or something?" Takeba snickered.

"She won't leave me alone!" Grace groaned. "Take your mask off or get lost!"

"Take off the mask? She is crazy!" Rupp gasped at such a notion.

"These masks are the pride of Team Skull!" Tupp stated proudly.

"Ain't no way anyone would take 'em off!" Zipp said.

"Precisely!" K gave a firm nod. "Asking to take 'em off is askin' for us to take off our pride!"

"You have that?" Elizabeth quirked a brow.

"You're one to talk! Dressin' like us!" Rupp shouted. "Poser!"

"Poser!?" Elizabeth felt a little wounded after that. "I'll show you-!"

"I'll deal with them." Grace said. "This shouldn't take long. I'll catch up with you guys on Akala later."

"Yeah, battle me!" K shouted. The eagerness and demand in her voice caused Grace and Marcus to freeze.

"….." Scott narrowed his eyes. "…That voice. No, that's unlikely."

"But…" Takeba heard it too.

"There are lots of people in the world. They can sound and look the same." Scott shook his head and proceeded to walk off. "The eyes aren't the same."

"…They're not, but…" Marcus sighed. "See you soon."

"Yeah." Grace nodded as the others walked off.

[End flashback]

.

.

"That was an hour ago?" Ash tilted his head. "So why isn't she here?"

"She's at Akala already." Scott said.

The group had arrived at the small boat Takeba owned; perfect enough for their group to cross the ocean. Takeba was just getting everything ready since, well, she was the one driving. "Just give me a few minutes."

While she was preparing, Elizabeth walked over and pointed at Moon, who was still on the beach, staring at something. "Why did you bring Moon and Lillie? Even you can tell that the air around them is awkward, right?"

"Yup." Takeba nodded. "But if they just keep avoiding each other, it's only going to get worse."

"She has a reason for avoiding her." Marcus rubbed the back of his head. "That's like if I went to another world where there was another you. Might be the same, but you're not the one I know. So…it's awkward."

"That doesn't mean they can't be friends!" Takeba said. "Besides, it's bad for Moon if she keeps sitting around doing nothing. I intend to inspire her with my grand trial! And help her relationship with Lillie."

"That's a great idea!" Ash said.

"No, it's not!" Elizabeth shook her head. "We can't leave executive decisions to her!"

"Nah, watch this." Takeba pointed to the beach, where Moon was, and Lillie was approaching her. "They're going to say hi to each other, Lillie's going to ask what's wrong, and Moon will answer."

Rotom was snapping pictures as this happened. It was very curious to see if Takeba's hypothesis was correct. "Let's find out-roto!"

"Uh, by the way…" Takeba pointed to Mageara, who was told by Lillie to stay put on the ship. "Can this thing get wet, or…"

Lillie slowly approached Moon. They hadn't seen in each other in a few days, but Lillie still wanted to try and talk to her. "H-Hey, Moon."

"Ah…hi…" Moon turned to Lillie with an awkward smile.

"You're staring out at the ocean. Is something wrong?" Lillie tilted her head and Snowy did the same.

"Well…" Moon pointed at the few Mantine lined up. "I was staring at the Mantine. I kinda want to…Mantine Surf."

Cue Marcus and Elizabeth zooming over. "Hold on, are you sure that's a good idea?" Marcus asked. They were listening in. "Do you remember how to swim or anything?"

"Of course!" Moon scoffed. "Mantine surfing is fun, I remember that much! Besides, we'll keep pace with the boat. So if anything bad happens, you'll be right there."

"I think she'll be fine." Lillie said with a nod.

"Well…if you insist." Elizabeth conceded. "I'm not diving into the water after you."

"That's Mantine's job." Moon gave a cheeky grin.

.

.

The small group was off towards Akala! Takeba was steering the ship much to everyone's dismay. Granted she did know what she was doing in this case. Ash, Pikachu, Pichu, Rotom, Lillie, Snowy, Magearna, Marcus, Scott, and Elizabeth sat on the boat, staring out beside them. Moon was properly equipped and surfing on a Mantine to keep pace with them. She had some trouble getting her balance at first, but was fine. "See! I'm totally fine!"

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous watching this." Marcus sighed.

"It's finnnnne." Takeba waved a hand, keeping an eye on the ocean ahead. Akala wasn't far away, so the trip wouldn't be that long.

Little did they know that a large Magikarp robot was trailing them from the depths of the ocean. Jessie, James, and Meowth were tailing the group underwater, peddling to keep the machine going forward. It was an exhausting ordeal. "The twerps are going to Akala, are they? We'll be sure to beat them this time!" Jessie said while huffing and puffing.

"Why couldn't we modify the machine to run on electricity instead?" James asked while peddling his hardest.

"Even with all the money that pink twerp gave us, we're just short…" Meowth sighed. Takeba's unintentional funding did support them, but it wasn't enough for them to do anything substantial just yet. So they had to make due with what they had.

"It looks like a wave is coming." Scott said, gesturing to the incoming big wave.

Moon stared at it and had an idea. "Mantine! Let's go!"

"Wait, don't!" Marcus waved his hands frantically, but Moon was going for it.

Mantine rode up the wave before launching itself into the air. Moon used this chance to perform a Starmie 720 on the first try, sticking the landing with a wide grin on her face. "Woo!" The series of turns and flips required to pull this off all happened so fast the others were shock. "That was awesome!"

"Wow, she did it!" Lillie said with a wide smile. Snowy and Magearna made noises of excitement.

"Once more!" Moon told Mantine. It complied with her wish and hit the next wave. After leaping into the air once more off the wave, Mantine performed three front flips in a row, ending with a Primarina Twist with a perfect landing. "Woohoo!"

"You're a natural, Moon!" Ash exclaimed.

"Pichu!" Pichu was waving at its trainer. It was having fun just watching her.

"I wanna see!" Takeba turned her head back to look.

"Last one!" Moon told Mantine. They hit the biggest wave, soaring high into the air. Mantine spun in all directions, performing the legendary Over-the-Gyarados spin! Anyone who kept up with Mantine Surfing knew this move was near impossible to pull off unless you were extremely skilled! Only the best of the best could perform this move. It caught so much attention that other swimmers and people out on Ride Pokémon took notice and were in awe. Naturally, Moon stuck the landing and held a wide grin. "Nailed it!"

"Woo!" The group was applauding Moon's performance. They were concerned at first, but it looked like she genuinely had it covered.

Rotom snapped a few pictures, especially of Moon's more stylish tricks. "That was amazing-roto! I didn't know she could do the Over-the Gyarados!"

"She must be an ace in her world." Scott surmised.

"I haven't seen her smile like that." Lillie said quietly. It was nice to see Moon smiling after the events of the last few days.

.

.

After a short trip across the waters of Alola, the group arrived at Heahea City. Moon was still buzzing from the Mantine Surfing. "Ah! That was so much fun!"

"You were killing it out there!" Takeba pumped a fist into the air. "I knew bringing you along was a good idea. I wanna try it next!"

"You'll fall." Elizabeth said.

"And we need someone to drive the boat." Marcus added.

"Ah." Takeba felt shot down, but they weren't wrong.

Grace applauded Moon's performance. "I happened to see you guys from the beach. Not bad, Moon!"

"Ehehe…" Moon rubbed the back of her head.

"So what happened with those Team Skull thugs?" Scott questioned.

"They got away. That girl won't tell me her name, still. Those other three punks weren't helpful either." The brunette sighed, brushing her hair behind her ear.

"Oh, you made it." That voice came from Olivia, who planned to meet with Takeba. "You wanted to take an Island Trial, is that i-" And before she could finish, she missed a step and fell over. "oof!"

"Oh no! Let me help you!" Takeba went to help Olivia up, and guess what? She fell too. The two of them were side by side, swirls in their eyes from their terrible tumbles.

"They really are too similar…" Everyone thought.

Olivia and Takeba both stood up, trying to play their terrible tumbles off. "A-Anyway!" Olivia began. "There are three trials you can take in three locations: Lush Jungle, Wela Volcano, and Brooklet Hill. Each one has a different trial for you to undertake. You only need to complete one to have a battle with me."

"I haven't seen Wela Volcano's trial…" Ash muttered. He had undertaken, or at least seen most of the trials Alola had to offer.

"Hmmm…" Takeba rocked her head back and forth. "Wela Volcano sounds like a fire type trial. I could venture into the unknown with Blastoise...I chose Lush Jungle!" Everyone just stared at Takeba, unable to follow her decision making or logic.

"I've never seen a faster 180." Elizabeth sighed. This was going to be a long day.

.

.

Next Time: Lush Jungle Showdown!