Chapter 24: A Thunderous Trial

Sapphire woke up at the crack of dawn, as usual, dragging Cobalt out of bed to grab breakfast. Once he'd eaten he used the Center's showers, before going outside to the center's battlefield and released his Pokémon so they could eat their breakfast, though some preferred to just keep sleeping, while he lay in the sun.

By the time most people were waking up he was fully ready to take on the Trial and grabbed his bag from his room, snickering and patting Willow on the head as she continued to sleep. "Alright, let's shock this Trial's Captain with our skill!"

"With how often Spooks makes puns, I forgot you liked to make them as well… I just kind of tune out your Pokémon callouts unless they involve me, too…"

He walked into the observatory that held the Trial and saw a blond man with glasses and a blue coat speaking with someone behind a counter. He walked up to both and waited for them to finish before speaking up. "Hello, I'm here for the Electric-Trial?"

The man in blue turned to him with a smile, "You're a Trial-Goer? I'm Molayne, I used to be the Captain here but I'm more of an advisor now." The man held out his hand in greeting and he shook it."

"Howdy, I'm Sapphire!"

"Pleased to meet you! Captain Sophocles is a rather busy young man, I'm afraid, otherwise, he'd be meeting Challengers out here instead of staying in the Head Office. He's always looking up at the stars and calculating comets' paths and such… In any case, just follow the arrows through those doors and it'll lead you right to Sophocles. And here, a little gift!" Molayne grabbed something from his pocket and handed it over, revealing it to be a Z-Crystal, a metallic gray one with a cube of metal in the center.

"Whoa, a Z-Crystal? How come?"

"There isn't a Steel-Type Trial, so I usually give one out to Trial-Goers! If there ever is a Steel-Type Trial, I'll probably be the Captain with how many of these things I have!"

"Well, alright then… Okay, let's do this Trial, Cobalt!"

"Yeah! That Steelium could be cool to use once I evolve and get Metal Claw and moves like that!" Sapphire walked through the doors that Molayne indicated and followed the arrows, going through yet another door to find a room with several bookcases and machines, with the center of the room dominated by some form of a pad. A short, rotund blond boy was looking over the machine in the middle of the room, and he turned as Sapphire entered.

"Oh, hello. Um… Welcome to my Trial, I guess… I don't know where my Charjabug are right now, but-"

"Don't worry, I've got them right here! Was just finishing feeding them their breakfast." Molayne walked into the room with nine Charjabug following him.

"Ah, okay… um, Onejabug, Twojabug, Threejabug, onto the roller. Alright… yes, we should be ready for them to lend us their electricity. Sapphire, are you ready to begin the Trial?"

"I've been waiting for this!" He spoke as he pounded his fists together in answer.

"Oh wow, you're really into this… Okay, well, for my Trial, I need you to connect the Charjabug that are on the roller. We'll use the electricity from the Charjabug to power up the machine back there to call the Totem Pokémon. You can use those panels on the side of the roller to rotate the panels and connect the Charjabug in a line. Don't worry about how they're oriented, just that they're in a line, okay?"

"Ugh, a puzzle Trial? I'm not that good with puzzles… But we'll still smash on through! Bring it on!" He walked towards the roller, looking over the buttons at each corner. "Let's see… if the three Charjabug are here, here, and here… then I should…" He pressed a button and a Charjabug slid forward as the panels underneath it activated, before he walked around and pressed another button. "And hopefully…" two Charjabug slid to the side and were lined up. "Nice!"

The Charjabug were deposited between two of the corner buttons and electricity shot through them, powering up the wires on the ground and electrifying what looked to be a machine in the shape of a Pokémon. Its eyes lit up and a gauge on the back ticked up, the arrow rising to the top of a red-colored section. "Good job. One row of Charjabug isn't enough to call out the Totem, but the Pinger needs to be powered up slowly, or risk interfering with the other systems of the Observatory."

"Alright, bring on the next puzzle then!" Before the next puzzle was brought on, a Magnemite sped out from a vent, buzzing with electricity. "Whoa!"

"Ah, by the way, the Trial's challenge isn't just the puzzle itself, but the Pokémon that the Pinger attracts at its lower levels of charge."

"Could have said that sooner!" Cobalt leaped forward and kicked the Magnemite into a wall, landing in a crouch. "Cobalt, show 'em our moves!"

"Already on it!" The Magnemite blasted electricity at him, but Cobalt simply cartwheeled to the side, before he dashed forward and reared back, slamming a full-powered Force Palm into the Steel-Type. It flew through the air disorientated, and Cobalt quickly brought his paws together to charge and fire an Aura Sphere, knocking the Pokémon from the air, where it clanged to the ground unconscious. "...Wait, that's it?"

"Steel-Type, bud. Plus, you're our team's hardest hitter right now."

Molayne clapped at the display that Cobalt had shown off. "Wow, I've never seen a Riolu use an Aura Sphere before. Well, that and talk, of course," he chuckled.

"Well, all of my team is pretty special," Sapphire grinned back, all the while Sophocles arranged the next puzzle. Three more Charjabug hopped onto the Roller, and he cracked his fingers. "Alrighty… Press this, then this…" The Electric-Types were moved around, but one was out of place. "Dang, okay, let's see…"

"I bet Willow got this right away."

"I mean, probably. She's the smart one out of the two of us. Okay, I think I've got this!" He pressed another button and the Charjabug were finally in place, sending more electricity through the wiring and charging the gauge further, sending the arrow up a notch into the yellow. "One more puzzle then, yeah?"

"Yes, one more and it'll be fully powered!" Sophocles ran towards the last three Charjabug and began setting them up, while an Electrabuzz suddenly jumped from another vent. Its eyes locked on to Cobalt and it charged towards the Fighting-Type, only to be stopped by another of Sapphire's team. "Storm, electrify their souls!" Electabuzz, annoyed by the tiny Pokémon now in its path attacked with a fist crackling and surrounded by electricity.

Before its fist could come near, Storm began spewing Sticky Webs, slowing the Electric-Type. As the webs trapped it to the floor Sapphire's Pokémon began climbing it and biting down on various limbs and body parts with Bug Bite, causing the Electabuzz to yowl in pain. It clenched its fists and Swift stars formed around it, cutting through the webbing and flying towards Storm, who blasted them all down with more Mud-Slap.

Electabuzz tried to attack with Thunder Punch once more, but Storm just backed up and let the fist slam into the floor before crawling up the sparking arm. "Wait, don't attack! Use Charge instead!" Storm stopped in confusion, before shrugging his buggy body and began charging. The electricity all along Electabuzz's arm was suddenly drained, being pulled into Storm. "Alright, just like I thought! With your Battery Ability and regular ability to store energy, by Charging up you can absorb the power around you as if you had Lightning Rod!"

Electabuzz yelped in shock and shook its arm to get the bug off of it, while Storm chittered in excitement at the electricity flowing through his body. "Alright, Storm, Spark!" The bug launched forward and impacted Electabuzz hard, sending arcs of lightning all over the room as Storm unleashed his Charged up energy.

Electabuzz tumbled back, slamming into a wall unconscious. "Alright, great work!"

"Mph…"

"I didn't think it was possible to simulate an Ability like Lightning Rod with just a move," Molayne observed. He smiled and nodded his head, getting the remaining three Charjabug onto the Roller. "I haven't seen that performed before!"

"Well, our style does involve coming up with stuff on the fly," he chuckled. "Now, the last three buggy boys!" He walked around the machine, trying to imagine it from a birds-eye point of view. He clicked a button and sent the panels spinning, moving two of the Charjabug, before moving the third with another button. They still weren't lined up perfectly, but with a final press, they had become a straight line.

All the nine Charjabugs were lined up in a Z-formation, and electricity shot through the machine. The wires glowed blue and the machine began vibrating intensely as the arrow reached the green. Visible waves of lightning exploded out of the machine and the lights in the room flickered as everyone stepped back. "Uh, is that supposed to happen?"

"Yes, don't worry." Sophocles nodded reassuringly. "The machine has been perfectly calibrated after the first few failures at using it."

"Did you just say failures?" Sapphire was ignored, and his attention was drawn to the machine as something hopped down from several pipes on the ceiling and began absorbing the electricity. It was a round Pokémon, with a white and grey body alongside brown and black markings that looked like triangles on its back and a short tail. It turned to face them revealing small ears and yellow circular markings on its cheeks. "Volt?"

"Zzt, Togedemaru, the Roly-Poly Pokémon. The spiny fur on itzz back standzz on end and stabzz into itzz attackerzz when thizz Pokémon becomezz agitated. Itzz capacity to produce electricity izz somewhat limited, so the long hairzz on itzz back also act azz lightning rodzz!"

Togedemaru hopped off the machine and rolled around on the ground before hopping to its feet, an aura bursting to life around it and enhancing its defense. "Alright, I guess the Totem battle starts now! Cobalt, show 'em our moves! Storm, electrify their souls!" Cobalt dashed forward as Storm followed lazily, starting with a Force Palm. Togedemaru curled up defensively and took the hit, being thrown back at high speed. The Totem bounced off a wall and suddenly uncurled as electricity began emitting from its body, aiming to hit Cobalt with Zing Zap.

"Cobalt, Endure! Storm, Charge!" Cobalt spread his legs and grit his teeth, stopping Togedemaru's momentum with a grunt, before Storm crawled under them and began Charging, sucking up some of the electricity coming from the Pokémon. Togedamaru let out a cry and unleashed a blast of lightning too powerful for Storm to absorb all at once, shocking Cobalt and throwing him back across the room.

The Totem's back spines lifted, before rocketing off and spinning midair, coming down on Storm. The Bug-Type concentrated for a brief moment, before unleashing a storm of lightning that he'd built up due to absorbing Togedemaru's, which zapped the Pin Missiles midair and destroyed them. The Totem, unfortunately, took the opportunity to suck in the lightning before tackling Storm with its hard body, sending the bug flying.

Cobalt, having been forgotten about, came out of nowhere with two Aura Spheres fully charged, slamming them into Togedemaru and smashing them, adding their power to his Force Palms. The Totem let out a sound of pain, before curling up as they were thrown away, bouncing around the room like a pinball. Cobalt turned quickly to try and keep them in his line of sight, only for Pin Missiles to impact him from behind before Togedemaru slammed into his front.

"Gah! What the heck is up with this hedgehog?!" Cobalt tried to smack Togedemaru away, but the ball-like Pokémon bounced away, zipping around the room. "This thing is way too fast!"

"Then let's slow it down! Blast, blow them away!" Blast popped out of her ball, much to the shock of Sophocles and Molayne at the sight of a Flying-Type in an Electric-Trial. "Whirlwind!" Blast flapped her wings, and the wind pressure slowed down Togedemaru midair, allowing Cobalt to jump up and Blaze Kick it across the room. As it bounced off a wall Blast began flapping her wings again, slowing it down once more before it could impact with either of them.

Togedemaru growled and sparks of electricity shot out to hit Blast, but Storm Charged again and absorbed them. "Blast, grab Storm!" Blast ducked down towards the ground, avoiding several Pin Missiles, before wrapping her talons around Storm and throwing him onto her head. Togedemaru tried zapping them once again, but Storm simply Charged, causing the electricity to curve up from where it would have hit Blast and instead hit him. "And that's our new defensive move, Voltage Negation!"

Togedemaru bounced backward in frustration as his attack was negated by Storm, before unleashing a blast of electricity into the ceiling. All three Pokémon watched warily, before several Magnemite burst from vents around the room, followed by multiple Elekid and Electabuzz. "It's drawing in reinforcements with its electricity!"

"What a bother…"

"W-We can do this!" Blast flapped back away from them, firing an Air Slash forward. Several Magnemite dodged and fired arcs of electricity at her, which Storm absorbed with Voltage Negation.

"Seeker Spheres!" Cobalt slammed two Aura Spheres together and shot the dozens of smaller spheres around the room, causing small explosions as they slammed into the enemy Pokémon. "Spooks, show them fear! Mimic, let's switch things up! Volt, bring the thunder! Wave, wash them away!" Sapphire backed away as he let out his last four Pokémon, before backing away to give them all space.

Sophocles scratched his head, turning to him in confusion. "Are you sure you should be using a Water-Type in this Trial, alongside a Flying-Type?"

"Well, most people would say that it's a mistake and impossible to win… But if you throw logic to the curb and fight with your whole heart, then impossible just becomes a word," Sapphire smirked. "Go, team! Win!"

"Wave, Mimic, flood them!" At Cobalt's command Mimic became Wave, and they both manipulated her water bubble to flood forward, washing over all the Electric-Types. They were all submerged before sparks began exiting their bodies. Instead of worrying though, Wave and Mimic kept pouring more water out of their mouths and mixing with the contest seal's water, washing them farther away. The sparks began traveling towards Mimic and Wave, but only a few weak ones reached them.

"Something we learned from the internet," Volt teased, "Completely pure water doesn't have ions or whatever, so it doesn't conduct energy well! And guess how pure water is from a Contest Seal?"

"Did we drown your minds with knowledge?!" Spooks cackled and unleashed a Smog, letting it surround and infiltrate the water holding the Pokémon. Mimic leaped from the water and transformed into Inferno, spitting Embers into the Smog as Wave cut off her water bubble from the one holding the opposing Pokémon. "Toxic Armageddon!" The water exploded, splattering the room and shorting out several machines, while the Electric-Types just lay on the ground breathing heavily.

Togedemaru growled and got up, firing off several Pin Missiles towards them. Cobalt countered with Seeker Spheres, and Blast flew straight through the smoke to unleash an Outrage, throwing Togedemaru back. The Pokémon bounced off a wall and began rolling across several pipes on the ceiling all while Mimic flew up alongside them, unleashing Flamethrowers at it. The Roly-Poly Pokémon bounced along, before suddenly jumping from the pipes to hit Inferno with Zing-Zap.

Mimic transformed just in time into Chyrsant, and they tumbled in midair before Mimic was launched into a wall. "Gah!" She shook her head, transforming into Cobalt, and launched back up, spinning and using Hell Wheel to kick Togedemaru down into a Blaze Kick unleashed by Cobalt, causing the Totem to bounce into a Blaze Punch from Spooks. Togedemaru was unfazed, curling into a ball and bouncing along as it screamed, hitting everyone with Disarming Voice.

As Blast and Storm were stunned it dove down and tackled Storm off of Blast to finally hit her with a burst of electricity. Blast cried out and fell back into Wave's water bubble just as several of the Magnemite recovered from the earlier explosion, and launched their Thunderbolts and Thundershocks at them. Wave and Blast both cringed at the electricity running through them, until Cobalt grabbed Storm and threw him like a fastball, causing the bug to become submerged and start absorbing the electricity with Voltage Negation.

"Storm, keep acting like a battery and absorb all the energy that'll hurt them! Spooks, Dark Pulse! Mimic, switch it up, Claws! Flamethrower!" Mimic became Claws and breathed in, unleashing a jet of flame as Spooks fired out a Dark Pulse, both of which consumed the Electric-Types. Togedemaru suddenly rolled between them, unleashing point-blank Pin Missiles and blasting them both to the side, all while several Electabuzz dashed forward with Thunder Punches ready.

Volt suddenly zipped in, using Astonish to make Togedemaru jump back before dodging several beams of lightning with Double Team. Volt surrounded Togedemaru, distracting it with speed all while Cobalt jumped forward to combat the Electabuzz, body on fire. "Hraaagh!" Cobalt ducked under an electric fist, kicking up and launching the Electabuzz across the room and into another Pokémon, before spinning and kicking another's fist away, ignoring the buzz of electricity that shocked him.

He quickly began a series of kicks that sent Electabuzz stumbling back step after step with each blow, before uppercutting him with a final kick and setting off an explosion of flame that knocked the rest of the Pokémon back. Cobalt suddenly howled, charging up and firing an Aura Sphere larger than a usual one and let it detonate in the center of multiple Magnemite. They were all tossed aside, unconscious, before he turned and jumped, unleashing a Force Palm into the distracted Togedemaru.

Cobalt suddenly winced, pain erupting in his paw as Togedemaru flexed their spines to use Spiky Shield. Togedemaru spun in place like a top, using Discharge and unleashing a flurry of lightning bolts around the room. Storm exited the water bubble so he could breathe but stayed nearby so he could absorb the bolts that would've hit Wave and Blast, while everyone else struggled to endure the electricity.

The Discharge began weakening, until the backup Pokémon that Togedemaru had called began using Thunderbolts, supplying the Totem with more energy. "T-T-This i-i-is c-c-cheating!" Cobalt groaned through spasms of electricity. The ground underneath Togedemaru suddenly glowed yellow, which spread out and covered the entirety of the room. Sapphire adjusted his feet as they tingled from the feeling of the electric floor, it didn't have enough voltage to hurt but amplified the Discharge that Togedemaru was unleashing.

Cobalt snarled and began making his way forward, using Endure to combat the lightning slamming into him, but fell to his knees before he reached Togedemaru. "My Totem's Overload Discharge is very difficult to beat," Sophocles murmured from next to him. "If your Storm wasn't busy protecting your Seadra and Noibat, you might have had a chance to stop the Discharge with your Charjabug…"

"Don't count them out just like that," Sapphire shot back with a shake of his head.

Wave and Noibat exchanged glances with Storm and nodded their heads. Storm glanced at them before nodding back, and crawled away, absorbing energy from the Electric Terrain as he went. The Pokémon weak to the electricity began crying out but managed to stay conscious through willpower, all as Storm got closer to Togedemaru and absorbed more and more of the Discharge coming from the Totem.

As Storm absorbed more and more electricity, he began glowing brighter and brighter. Suddenly, with a burst of energy, Storm had grown in size and his body shape had changed drastically, which looked a lot like the Pinger machine. The base of his mandibles had large spikes with smaller spikes inside them, and were now more than half the length of his body and colored deep purple on the inside, the same color as the rest of his head's carapace, and yellow on the outside, brighter than his orange face, with yellow glowing eyes. Twin transparent wings fluttered on its back, covered by black armor, and it had a black abdomen sectioned into three with yellow wings, with four legs underneath it, two legs on each side, and his body was now nearly five feet in length.

"Vikakvolt, the evolved form of Charjabug," his Pokédex spoke. "In its abdomen is an organ that generates electricity, which it concentrates in its mandibles and fires. Its acrobatic and speedy flying maneuvers are used to confuse opponents before it unleashes its electricity."

"Nicely done, Storm!"

"Thanks, now I'm ready to unleash hell, let's do this!" Storm suddenly sped forward even faster than Inferno, the team's previous fastest member. He slammed into Togedemaru and clamped down on his body with his mandibles, his hard carapace letting him completely ignore the Spiky Shield, and stopping Togedemaru's spinning with Vice Grip.

Cobalt groaned and stood up, flaring with aura. "Is it just me, or is he speaking a lot more now?"

"Most Grubbin and Charjabug are slow and lazy due to building up electricity to evolve into Vikavolts," Sophocles explained to them. "It's like a hibernation state, but they're still active."

"So that's why Storm is so grumpy when he's woken up," Mimic hummed as he transformed into Sapphire, before being blasted with electricity and became Storm. "Now, how do we beat that Totem?"

"Work together," Sapphire called, "and beat 'em, Team Solar!"

Storm shook his head, throwing Togedemaru across the room and into the wall, where he bounced off and began rolling. Before it could go anywhere Cobalt had jumped into them and kicked the Totem into the ceiling. "Wave, flood!" It let out a cry as it bounced off and into the weak Electric-Types that were backing it up, while Wave and Blast unleashed a flood of water and several Air Slashes, knocking the Pokémon around and stopping them from unleashing their lightning.

"Spooks, freeze it!" Spooks shot forward next and stuck his hands in the water and used Ice Punch to freeze the water. The Electric-Types were completely stuck, with only Togedemaru struggling to get out. "Storm, heads up!"

Cobalt grinned and slammed his legs into the ice, shattering it and tossing the Totem for Storm to snatch out of the air with Crunch, holding the Totem tightly. "Alright, Storm! Breakdown Blitz!" He performed the Z-dance, crossing his arms and sending Z-energy into Storm who glowed grey.

Storm blasted forward, tossing his head and launching them headfirst into the ice that held all of the frozen Electric-Types, shattering it and slamming into the wall. A moment later he backed away and revealed the unconscious Togedemaru. "Boom, out for the count!"

"Alright!"

"Can we focus on the fact that apparently, we're Team Solar now?"

"I mean, we've got to call this team something other than Sapphire's Team," he shrugged.

"Well done, Sapphire." Sophocles grinned and nodded at him, and the Charjabug on the roller that had been watching the battle buzzed lazily. "You're one heck of a Trainer to win a battle like that, especially with two types that the Totem was effective against."

Sapphire just grinned and let Blast rest on his shoulder and Wave rolled her bubble next to him, both of them exhausted. "When Team Solar puts their mind to it, everything's possible! Because that's just who Team Solar is!"

"I can guarantee that the name won't last three days. He'll forget it by tomorrow."

"Right! Oh, and here's the Electrium Z, as a reward and proof of your victory." Just like the one in Willow's bracelet, it was colored gold with a black lightning bolt.

"Congratulations on clearing your Trial," Molayne smiled. "Sophocles is a pretty good Captain, right?"

"Yeah, that was a pretty cool Trial!"

"Ehehe, thanks!"

"Oh, if you're done here, mind giving this back to the Professor?" Molayne smiled and handed over what looked like a red wrestler's mask, "I think he said he'd be in Malie Garden or something, so as you're heading back down the mountain could you hand it off to him back in the city?"

"Yeah, no problem. Alright, everyone, let's go recover and eat some food!"

"Yeah!"


"01010011 01101111 0010000001111001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100001 0010000001110000 01110010 01100101 01101000 01101001 01110011 01110100 01101111 01110010 01101001 01100011 0010000001010000 01101111 01101011 01100101 01101101 01101111 01101110 00111111"

"Does anybody understand him?"

"Is this some weird future language?"

"No, Shieldon, I don't think anybody understands it. Binary is weird."

Metang just huffed mechanically and floated away, leaving Hemlock, Shieldon, and Inferno by themselves. "What's a binary? Can you eat it?"

"I-" Inferno and Hemlock turned to Shieldon and blinked. "No?"

"Unless you make cookie numbers," Hemlock hummed. "I help the Professor's assistant with cooking using my vines so I can probably learn how to make binary cookies."

"That sounds tasty."

"Oh no, are you secretly a Snorlax in disguise?"

"What's a Snorlax?"

"I heard something about cookies!" Chyrsant appeared out of nowhere, panting.

"Uh…"

Chrysant began hopping around Hemlock, "You're gonna learn to bake cookies right?!"

"How did you even hear that from… wherever you were?"

"I've got her," Claws sighed and padded over, grabbing her tail with his teeth and dragging her away.

"Call me when you've made cookies!"

"Huh… alright then." Hemlock watched Claws chastise the happily barking Chrysant as she lay on her stomach dragged by her tail. "Anyway, Shieldon, have you decided on a nickname yet?"

"Eh." Shieldon shrugged. "I think Aegis. It sounds cooler."

"Fair enough. I mean, I'm named after a flower that's apparently part of the carrot family, so I can't really talk."

"What's a carrot?"

Inferno ignored the question, "I think my name is pretty cool. The only Pokémon on the team who might regret their name is Spirit and Claws. And even then, Claws doesn't care about anything unless it involves protecting Chrysant and Cobalt tricked Sapphire into giving Spirit a nickname."

"Yeah, but that's funny."

Shieldon began biting Hemlock's flower. "Is your flower a carrot?"

"Ugh…"


"So, Storm finally evolved?" Sapphire nodded, patting Storm on the head as the Stag Beetle Pokémon hovered next to him, wings fluttering too fast to see.

"Yeah, it was completely awesome!" He began shadowboxing the air, visibly vibrating with excitement. "He totally sucked up all of the energy in the area before zooming forward and knocked that Totem down a peg! Plus, now he's not so lazy!"

"Well, I don't need to charge up electricity to evolve anymore, so I don't exactly need to sleep anymore."

"Yeah, that's true." He patted Storm again, causing the bug to chitter happily.

Willow hummed, "So, did you really take on the Trial with Wave and Blast? Even for you, that's a bit impulsive."

"Nah, it was fine. Everybody did great after all! By the way, why didn't you tell me that Molayne guy would give me a free Steelium Z?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Willow smiled.

"Damn, I'll have to get you back for that. How about a surprise date next time we meet?"

"Stop that."

He snickered. "Foiled again."

"You're both weird," Cobalt snorted.

"Ugh… I'm on my way to the next Trial right now, what are you doing next?"

"I've got to deliver something to the Professor, so I'm heading back to Malie Gardens. Oh, I've come up with some new nicknames for your Pokémon, but I guess we'll talk more about that next time we meet."

"Alright, I suppose I'll see you the next time I see you then."

"Duh, that's what seeing someone means. You use your eyes."

"You know what I mean," she smiled and rolled her eyes. "Goodbye, Sapph."

"See ya later!" He hung up and let Rotom fly into his bag, continuing his walk after riding the bus down the mountain. Storm was following next to him, while Cobalt sat on his shoulder. "Alright, give the Professor this mask, then we head to the next Trial!"

"Sounds good to me."

"I just want to fly around right now! Ugh, it feels so weird thinking back about how tired I always was, but now I'm so energetic!"

"You're literally filled with lightning, I think you're supposed to be energetic."

"Tell that to his Charjabug and Grubbin pre-evolutions."

"True." They walked, with Storm hovering along, back through Malie city and towards the gardens. "Do we know how to get to the next Trial?"

"We can just check Volt, right?" Storm questioned.

"I mean, the map is one of the core functions of the Rotomdex."

"Zzt, yep! Just ask whenever you need directionzz!"

They reentered Malie Gardens, making for the back where they'd met the Professor the last time they had been there, but they paused as they spotted a group of people standing around one of the bridges. "Hey, what's going on over here?"

"It's the professor and some Team Skull Grunts!"

"We might get to see the Professor battle!"

"Whoa, really?" He pushed forward and saw Kukui standing in front of two Grunts, with his hands in his pockets.

"Yo, yo, yo! Hold up, Mr. Kukui!"

"You say you wanna make a Pokémon League? You got rocks in your skull?"

The Professor just chuckled at the Grunts, shaking his head. "Four moves!"

"Eh?"

The professor grinned, holding out a hand with four fingers held up. "Bring it on, the both of you. I've been researching Pokémon Moves, yeah, so I'm always ready! Yeah! I'll take you both on in a Battle Royal, and you'll be down with just a Swift and Incinerate or two! You gotta beat the man to be the man, boys!"

"F-Fine! You asked for it!" The two grunts readied themselves, and the Professor chuckled. The people watching cheered, grinning for the Professor.

"Get 'em good, Professor!"

"You numbskulls should learn your place!"

Before the battle could begin, a new voice sounded out. "Battle Royal, huh? Nice idea you got there, Kukui. You can beat down three Pokémon at once, huh?" A man crossed the bridge, wearing black sweatpants and a jacket, with a white undershirt and a golden skull chain. Atop his white hair, he wore gold glasses and a gold watch on his wrist.

"That guy has a real murky aura," Cobalt muttered. "I don't like him."

He walked forward, leaning down slightly since he was a few inches taller than the Professor, and grinned wildly. The crowd began whispering as the Team Skull Grunts walked to the side, and he looked around to try and listen in. "It's Guzma…"

"What's he doing here?"

One of the grunts grinned, "Yo, the boss has graced us with his presence!"

"The hated boss who beats you down, and beats you down, and never lets up… Yeah! Big Bad Guzma is here!" Kukui just stared back at him unflinching with a smile still on his face, before Guzma threw his head back and laughed. "Greetings, cowering public! We have an exciting bout for you tonight! In the opposing corner, The Pokémon Professor Kukui! And in this corner, the boss of Team Skull and the hardest guy around, Guzma!"

Guzma leaned forward, talking quieter. "Here we are, Kukui… Fellow rejects who could never become Captains. We've got all these moldy old traditions in Alola- the Kahunas, the Captains… It's about time we cut all that silly garbage and make something new for ourselves. Trust me, I get that. But don't get me wrong. We've got no need for a Pokémon League. After all, everyone already knows who the strongest Trainer is on these Islands!"

"Speak for yourself, Guzma. It's not like I couldn't become a Captain, I just chose not to. I had other dreams, see?" He walked away, closing his eyes. "I wanted to see which moves would be strong enough to beat old Hala… And I finally found what I was looking for. The strongest moves you can use are the ones a Trainer and their Pokémon choose together in the heat of the moment when it really counts."

He turned, smiling. "That's when I knew that I had to make a Pokémon league, yeah, to give everybody a chance to be pushed to the limit with their team and find that perfect move! Let's see it, Guzma, show me your moves and prove you aren't just all talk! If you really can, that is…" It looked over his shoulder, right at Sapphire. "Right, Sapphire? Do you agree?"

After taking a moment to realize he'd been acknowledged, he nodded. "Yeah. That's right!"

Guzma huffed, crossing his arms and focusing on his Z-Ring. "So, you on your Island Challenge? You don't look like you're from around here!"

"Discovery! New experiences! Adventure! He's loving every minute of it!" He nodded to confirm it, and Kukui turned back. "They can unleash some really powerful moves… But your battle is with me!"

"Ha! Hey, kid, why are you on this Challenge? What's the point?"

"I'm on this journey to get stronger, and for another reason of my own."

"Hmph! Stronger, eh? Well, you're looking at the toughest guy on these islands! You want to see strong?! Here it is in human form- It's your boy, Guzma!" Both Guzma and Kukui retrieved a Pokéball, before throwing them out. "Let's go!"


Chapter done. Not much to say for this chapter, regular old Trial, some conversation between Pokémon at the Ranch, little old Guzzy boy. Writing the Prof versus Guz should be fun. Oh, and Metang's binary in today's chapter was "So you're a prehistoric Pokemon?" No one's said that they dislike the binary, so, for now, I'll be keeping it in.

In other news, within two days, I watched all 27 episodes of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and both movies and was both stoked and cried manly tears at all appropriate points. I now have the ability to summon drills using my blood and willpower, and can now kill a god. It's funny, one of the main catchphrases of Gurren Lagann "Who the hell do you think I am?!" is really similar to an original character's catchphrase "Don't you know who I am?" that I wrote for a character in a book I want to make, so I've had to change that so it doesn't sound too similar. The end result is Sapphire's earlier line, "That's just who I am/who Team Solar is."

Kinda bugs me since the character is supposed to be smarmy, and "That's just who I am." doesn't have the same feeling as "Don't you know who I am?" but whatever. Anything can be awesome when you have the will to make it badass. Row row, fight the power.

Omake name: Survival instinct

Sapphire must always win. No matter the cost.


"Did you know that Sapphire has basically no survival instinct?"

Willow blinked, turning to Anthony. "What?"

Anthony grinned back, leaning back in his beanbag chair as he clicked the buttons on his controller. "Yep."

"I've seen him making food and surviving in the wild… Although, considering what kind of food he makes when he doesn't follow a recipe…"

"Well, that too, but after watching too many anime where as long as you have the willpower you can survive a bullet to the head, he's completely foregone all common sense and survival instinct when it comes to winning something."

"What… exactly does that mean?"

"I dared him to run through a nest of Beedrill. If he didn't, then it meant that I won the bet."

"I don't think that's how bets work…"

"Yeah, well, he still did it. And quickly went to the hospital after being stabbed by and injected with several Beedrill's worth of poison."

"How is he alive…?"

"Oh, if it means winning something, he'll live. He's traded survival instinct for hardcore endurance and willpower."

"That is neither physically possible nor even plausible."

"Hey, Sapph!" The door to Anthony's room opened, and Sapphire walked in with three plates of food balanced in his arms. "Oh, got food from downstairs?"

"Yep. Your dad was making us dinner so I got us all some while grabbing some water. Now, what are you yelling about?"

Anthony smirked and paused his game, "I'll race you to the first floor, and then outside the house. First-person wins." Sapphire threw the plates to the side and sped forward, jumping through and shattering the window. Anthony smirked and turned to Willow, who now had lasagna in her hair. "Told you so."


Shorter Omake today, wanted to get this out asap. Also, funny story, a friend of mine did actually do this in real life. Granted, the window was open and we were on the ground floor, but still. Most of my friends are just as insane as I am. But anyway, leave a review on everything you liked in the chapter or just a 'nice.' Both are always great to read.

Sapphire:

-Riolu, Cobalt

-Torracat, Claws

-Midday_Lycanroc, Chrysant

-Vikavolt, Storm

-Haunter, Spooks

-Noibat, Blast

-Talonflame, Inferno

-Seadra, Wave

-Rotom, Volt

-Eevee, Puffball

-Ponyta, Spirit

-Ivysaur, Hemlock

-Chinchou

-Ditto, Mimic

-Shieldon

-Metang

Willow:

-Meowstic, Cream

-Dartrix

-Slowpoke

-Grimer, Abaddon

-Murkrow, Karasu

-Leafeon