Chapter 25: Shadows

Guzma tossed out a single Ultra Ball, which popped open and revealed a hulking Pokémon, about seven feet tall, and covered in silver armor. It had six arms, the two outer ones muscular with sharp claws, while the four inner ones were more stick-like, and probably not used for fighting. Its two legs, similar to the outer arms, were muscular and looked powerful. "Volt?"

"Zzt, Golisopod, the Hard Scale Pokémon. The clawzz on itzz armzz are itzz greatest weaponzz, with the ability to cleave seawater- or even air- in two. While it may battle expertly with itzz six armzz, it can be found meditating peacefully on the seafloor, accompanied by Wimpod."

The Professor calmly sent out a Pokémon of his own, one that looked similar to a Pokémon that Sapphire was familiar with from Kanto, but had several differences. It was a fox-like Pokémon, had a pale blue coat of fur, which looked wispy and seemed to be flowing lightly in the breeze. It had seven tails, and the tips of each tail became less blue and more white, along with the lower halves of its legs. It peered at the Golisopod with blue eyes, padding ain a circle gracefully.

"Man, they could challenge Spirit to a contest of haughtiness. That's a Ninetales, isn't it?"

"Zzt, correct, Alolan variant. Due to Alolan Vulpix and Ninetalezz living atop Lanakila, they have become the Ice-Type instead of the Fire-Type, though they seem to be just azz graceful azz any other Ninetales. Any who anger it can be frozen stiff within an instant, and it guidezz people down to the mountain'zz base, due to wanting them to hurry and leave."

"Alright, Golisopod, knock them out of here with First Impression!" The massive silver bug shot forward, much faster than Sapphire assumed it could move. Ninetales simply moved to the side gracefully, all while breathing out a cloud of ice that began freezing the ground. Golisopod lost its footing as it flew past, crashing to the ground.

"Speed and power isn't everything," the Professor spoke, and while he was facing and talking to Guzma, Sapphire got the feeling that he was also speaking to him. "Sometimes, having a good defense or the ability to dodge an attack can be more useful than overwhelming strength."

"What good is your evasive crap if it means you don't land a hit in return?! Pin Missile!" Golisopod roared and slammed its hands together. Launching a wave of missiles towards the Alolan Ninetales. Ninetales' eyes suddenly turned pink, and all of the attacks stopped midair before they turned and were launched back towards Golisopod, making the Bug-Type cry out.

Ninetales' eyes then flashed light blue, before a sudden wall of frost exploded from their fur, whipping through the air and bringing a chill with it, even to the spectators standing far away while chunks of ice began hitting the grass. "Whoa, that's some Blizzard!"

"Zzt, incorrect, that izz a Hailstorm created by Ninetalezz' Ability, Snow Warning."

"Oh. But don't those kinds of abilities activate at the beginning of a battle?"

"Zzt, correct, but well trained Pokémon can choose when to activate their unlocked abilitiezz."

The silhouettes of Golisopod and Ninetales were barely visible within the Hailstorm, but Ninetales seemed to have the upper hand in the battle so far, dodging as Golisopod closed in once more and began swiping at the Pokémon, cleaving through the ice and snow with little effort all while its shell was battered by hail.

Globs of mud suddenly splattered on the ground out of the storm, fired by Golisopod at the graceful Ninetales, all of which were either avoided or frozen in midair by blasts of Powder Snow and Icy Wind, after which they shattered on the ground and splintered into pieces. "Your Ninetales is fighting like a coward!"

"Heads on fighting may seem 'strong,' but if you don't win then it doesn't matter how 'strong' you are. Ninetales, Ice Shard." Ninetales, who had ducked beneath the larger Bug-Type, fired several sharp icicles into Goliosopod's underside, causing it to grunt in pain as it was stuck. It began to back away, swiping its arms to try and clear the Hailstorm from around it, Only for a flash of bright light to slam into the armored Pokémon, making it back up and cover its eyes, hissing.

Golisopod suddenly roared, slamming its fists into the ground and shattering it with the help of Rock Smash, sending up shards of ground and stone. Ninetales managed to avoid most of them, but several clipped them, cutting into her fur, which did extra damage due to their Ice-Typing.

With Ninetales off-balance, Golisopod took the opportunity and sped forward at full speed, using Liquidation to cover their body in water. Ninetales finally caught themselves just as Golisopod was about to crash into them, but instead of taking it, the fox breathed in and unleashed a hellishly cold wave of frost, so bad that it got most of the spectators to back away and cringe.

The water covering Golisopod was frozen solid, trapping the larger Pokémon, and leaving them open for a final attack. Ninetales whipped their nine tails, and a vortex of ice and wind surrounded them, spiraling upwards into the sky like a tornado of frost. The Hailstorm died down after the tornado did, revealing Golisopod trapped within a massive block of ice. "And that's that," the Professor nodded, recalling Ninetales into the ball.

Guzma, on the other hand, was calm and smiling for all of five seconds before exploding. Not literally, thankfully. "GUZMA! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" He pulled at his hair and began screaming into the air, acting like he was having a temper tantrum. "Now's the time for your vaunted team to let loose and destroy everything!" He finally calmed down, gritting his teeth and returning Golisopod, shoving his Ultra Ball back onto his belt.

He pushed past the Professor and Sapphire, growling and not paying attention to his Grunts as they followed behind. Before he could exit the gardens, he slowed down and turned to Hau, who had shown up near the end of the battle, considering nobody had seen him beforehand. "You're the Kahuna's kid, yeah?"

"Yeah. And you're Guzma."

"Y'know, you don't have to do this Island Challenge thing just because your granddad's a Kahuna. Even if you finish, you might not get what you want."

As Guzma and his goons finally left, Sapphire snorted. "I guess when you lose you suddenly become a philosopher, huh?"

"Losing makes you enter Sage Mode."

"Ew."

The Professor suddenly clapped him on the shoulder opposite the one Cobalt sat on. "So, what'd you think of that battle?"

"It was awesome, Professor! I didn't know your Pokémon were so tough!"

"Ha, we have been Training together for quite some time after all," the Professor answered with a chuckle. "By the way, I wanted to give you something…" He reached into his pocket and retrieved what looked like a Z-Crystal, one that was an earthy light-brown and had what looked to be artwork of a black wolf's head inside of it, however, unlike normal Z-Crystals, the ends of it seemed to bulge outwards slightly, into two more crystals. "This is called Lycanium Z, a special Z-Crystal that reacts only to Lycanrocs."

"Only to Lycanrocs?" He took the crystal and looked it over, placing it in a slot in his Z-Ring before turning back to the Professor. "Are there other Z-Crystals that react only to certain Pokémon?"

"Yeah! Unfortunately, there are relatively few of them. Lycanium, Kommonium, Pikanium, Aloraichium, Decidium, Incinium, Primarium, Snorlium, Eevium, and finally Mimikium."

"Wow! That… actually, that's not that much. What, maybe ten?"

"Correct! We're uncertain whether there are more Pokémon-specific Z-Crystals, but so far none besides those few have been found. And even then, they are very limited and extremely rare, much more so than the common Type-specific Z-Crystals."

"So there's none for Riolu or Lucario?"

"Unfortunately not, Cobalt," The Professor chuckled as he answered the Pokémon's question.

"And no Vikavoltium?" The professor just blinked at Storm, since only Cobalt could translate himself for other humans.

"He asked if there was no Vikavoltium, but I'm guessing there isn't. So… why give this to me?"

"I have a feeling about you, Sapphire." Professor Kukui grabbed his shoulder and smiled, "You're going to go far, fly higher than any other Trainer as if you were using Dragon Ascent! You'll do great things, and I want to help you along the way."

"Thanks!" He smiled brightly, before reaching into his bag and retrieving the mask that Molayne had given him. "By the way, I was supposed to give this to you."

"A-Ah!" The Professor laughed nervously, grabbing the mask. "That's the Masked Royal's headwear! I'll make sure it gets back to him, safe and sound." Sapphire just blinked, before shrugging. He had no idea who this Masked Royal guy was, but he sounded pretty cool. The Professor looked towards Hau, who was still staring after Guzma. "So, did you enjoy the battle as well, Hau?"

"Uh, yeah! It was mega-awesome!"

"Ha! Maybe someday Guzma will figure out what it is people learn while on the Island Challenge. So anyway, what happened to Lillie? She get lost somewhere again?"

"I'm right here, Professor." Lillie walked up, alongside the weird girl that had shown them the book in the library. "And so is Acerola!"

"Oh, howdy, owo girl." Acerola giggled at his words.

"Alola to you as well!"

"I saw them leaving, you fought them, Professor? Just thinking about fighting makes me worry…"

"C'mon, Lils, you don't gotta worry about fighting with me, Hau, and Willow around!" He grinned and gave her a thumbs-up, causing her to smile and nod.

"I'm not sure where you get your confidence from, but it certainly reassures me."

The Professor smiled at their byplay, before placing his hands on his hips. "Well, I'm heading off to Mount Lanakila. I've gotta make sure that the Pokémon League is getting finished so that everyone has the chance to find their perfect move!" He began walking away, nodding to him and Hau. "Make sure to keep training hard on your Island Challenge. One day the two of you will make it there too! Oh, and make sure you register a Mudsdale on your Riding Pager at the exit of the city, you'll need 'em to traverse Ula'Ula!"

"Got it, Professor!" Sapphire crossed his arms and hummed to himself. "You know, we've come up with a bunch of combos and unique moves, but we don't really have a signature move, do we?"

"True. Maybe something with aura?"

"Aura Apocalypse?"

"Oh damn, that sounds good… Giga Aura Catastrophe?"

"Heaven Piercing Aura Drill!"

"Yeah th- wait an Arceus damned minute."

Sapphire quickly reverted to his natural language, suddenly screeching in Japanese as he began to pose. "SUPER TENGEN TOPPA, GIGA AURA BREAK! MY AURA IS THE AURA THAT CREATES THE HEAVENS!"

"I should have known this would lead to an anime reference…"


The Thrifty Megamart creaked ominously around them, but Willow paid it no mind, while Cream just kept an eye out for more Pokémon. Their goal, given to them by the Captain, had been to take a picture of the Totem Pokémon, but so far all they'd found was a Ghastly, Haunter, and a Gengar.

Willow knelt, peering underneath several boxes, and caught a glimpse of some yellow shape running. She got up and peered around the fallen shelves, but found nothing. She sighed in annoyance, not noticing the two different pairs of eyes watching her and Cream, one intrigued and orange-red, while the other was black and looked to be made of charcoal.

"Come on, Cream. I'm sure we'll find this Totem soon enough."

I feel something… we should be careful.

"What do you feel?"

It's kind of like whenever Spooks is planning a prank while invisible, Cream explained. You get this feeling like something is nearby, and a chill on your skin. But this is more sinister…

"It's most likely the Totem." She shivered in fear at the thought of something watching her and rubbed her arms. "This place is so creepy…"

I thought you liked Ghosts and all that stuff.

"Just because I like them doesn't mean I can't be frightened."

Another few creaks rang out, and they continued to walk through the destroyed supermarket. They both spun as they heard the sound of doors slamming closed, and made their way around destroyed shelves, trying to locate what made the noise. Why is this place destroyed anyway?

"This market was apparently built on sacred grounds for Tapu Bulu, which enraged the Guardian enough that it completely destroyed the building."

Is that why the beach is made of black sand?

"No, black sand is a natural occurrence." She completely forgot about her wariness as she began explaining the properties of black sand, and Cream rolled her eyes as she followed her Trainer. Cream knew that Willow's quiet side had confidence of its own, unlike the fake confidence her charismatic persona had. As long as she got Willow talking about something she had an interest in, the girl would completely forget about her fear. Of course, the charisma that exuded from Sapphire whenever the two Trainers hung out helped as well.

Cream giggled at the thought of them, and then her and Cobalt. They had formed a sibling-like relationship, Cobalt and herself, with her being the younger of the two, and after she'd evolved she found the thought of her 'older brother' being shorter than her incredibly amusing. She was broken from her thoughts as they eventually found a set of doors that seemed to lead into the storerooms of the building, and they pushed through to find a maze of hallways.

"Alright, I suppose we should start exploring." Just as the doors were closing behind her, a shadow-like object- or perhaps a creature- shot out of the shadows beneath several boxes faster than one could blink, and became one with a shadow that was inside a crack in a wall. Cream blinked and turned, sensing something, but upon seeing that nothing was there she turned back.

They walked down the twisting hallways, and Willow frowned as she looked around. "This is wrong. These hallways have gone on longer than the building itself…"

We haven't turned around at all, right?

"No, we've taken one right." Willow looked around, trying to see where they came from. "Leafeon, I require your assistance." With a pop and a flash, Leafeon appeared, looking around the hallways. "Leafeon, start laying a trail of vines, we'll use them like breadcrumbs." Leafeon nodded, placing a paw on the ground and making a vine burst from the concrete. As they walked it tied around her back paw, lengthening as they went.

They wandered for several minutes until they found the spot that the vine had taken root from. They turned around and found an empty hallway, the only things there were the flickering lights. "Well…" Leafeon sat on her haunches and looked around in confusion. Cream did so as well, though she was still standing up.

It's some kind of illusion, obviously, but how do we break it?

Willow stood still, staring at nothing before she slowly pointed to the ceiling. "W-We push past it!"

What.

"I-It's just like Sapphire says!" Willow was blushing, but she set her stance and grabbed her hips. "If there's no way around, under, or over, you push through! Cream, use Psychic!"

I think Sapphire's influenced you way too much. In any case, Cream concentrated, before a bubble of psychic energy expanded from her, moving along the walls and distorting the building. Eventually, a set of doors was revealed ahead of them, and once Cream focused her power on them, they fully manifested. Wow, that actually worked!

Leafeon blinked and shrugged, while Willow nodded. "Sapphire can be too excitable sometimes, but there's always a method to his madness… usually Cobalt, but sometimes his madness does involve a plan. It's just that his 'plan' involves beating logic and reason to a pulp."

They walked forward towards the doors, not noticing the shadow creature behind them shoot forward and assimilate with Willow's shadow, a curious gleam in its eyes.


Both Sapphire and Hau yelped as their Mudsdale made their way over the rugged terrain, trying to keep their balance and stay seated. When they eventually made it across they both sighed, getting off of the Pokémon. Sapphire leaned back and cracked his back with a sigh before he leaned too far back and fell over. "...Bruh."

"Great job, Oh Fire-Type Master."

"I will destroy you." They had stopped outside a small hotel at a crossroads between Routes, and as it was getting late it was a good place to stay the night.

"Come on, let's go get some rooms!" Hau cheered and stretched, causing Sapphire to chuckle at the boy's excitement until someone new spoke up.

"You only have one volume, don't you? Haven't you ever heard of the expression 'silence is golden'?" The new person was oddly familiar to Sapphire, as he was sure he'd never met the blond, black-clad boy until it clicked. He was the one that Willow had spoken of and sent a picture of, the boy with Type: Null.

"Gah, it's you!"

"You know him as well?"

"Yeah, his Pokémon are really strong…" ignoring Hau, the boy turned to him.

"I've never met you, yet you know me."

"My friend battled you before. A girl with an Espurr, at the time anyway. She told me about you, how you're part of Team Skull or whatever."

"Hm… she was tough. And as your girlfriend probably told you, I don't care much for the team. I use them to get stronger."

"I mean, I'm sure there are better ways to get stronger, but you do you, I guess. Unless you doing you involves stealing Pokémon, in which case, don't do you." He ignored the girlfriend comment. After all, Willow would probably start dating him eventually.

"So one of you is a loudmouth and the other a child. Wonderful." Gladion, if Sapphire remembered right, sighed and walked closer, looking between the two of them. "Listen here, Team Skull is on the lookout for a pretty powerful Pokémon, two of them, called Cosmog. Do you two know anything about them?"

"Why would we know anything about them?" Sapphire crossed his arms, and Hau nodded.

"N-Not that we'd tell you if we did know!" Sapphire elbowed Hau, and Gladion shook his head at their interaction.

"So you do know something."

"Damn it, Hau!"

"Sorry!"

"Look…" Gladion rubbed his head, evidently annoyed by them. "Cosmog aren't even strong Pokémon. But they have the potential to summon Pokemon so terrifyingly strong that you don't even know. If something like that happened, it would be a disaster for Alola and the world."

"Yeah, well, I'm guessing Team Skull wants Cosmog just for that reason then! Come on, you can't tell me a team of thieves like that wants Cosmog for, uh… what's the word? Virtuous? Yeah, virtuous reasons?"

"Why do you think I'm telling you two this?" Gladion scoffed, nodding at Hau. "You have potential, but you're not the best. And if you're friends with Willow, then you're probably a strong Trainer. So if you really do know about Cosmog, protect them! Keep them safe. I'm working for Team Skull so you may not trust me, but I'll tell you this. Make sure those Pokémon are out of harm's way, no matter what."

"I mean, I don't really feel like letting a disaster happen," Sapphire snorted.

"Yeah, I agree with you there," Hau sighed.

"I still don't even know how Team Skull found out about Cosmog in the first place…" Gladion shook his head and began walking away. The Trainers watched him go and Hau rubbed his arm, frowning.

"If they're really looking for two Cosmog, then… Is Lillie gonna be okay?"

"As long as Team Skull doesn't find out about Lillie having Cosmog she should be safe. Cobalt?"

"His aura was… eh. Obviously, he's helping to steal Pokémon, but he was telling the truth about wanting to protect Cosmog."

"Oh, I know what I'll do!" Hau grinned and interrupted them, "I'll take on the next Trials to train with my Pokémon. I know Guzma was saying all those things, but I really wanna complete my Island Challenge and help people learn about Pokémon Battling! Plus, I gotta make sure I really get what my partner's feeling, too!"

"Makes sense to me!" Sapphire chuckled and stretched. "Alright, let's get two rooms and head out tomorrow."

"Nah, now I'm getting pumped up! I'm gonna take on the next Trial today!" Hau ran in the direction of the next Trial, and Cobalt snorted.

"Isn't the next Trial the Ghost Trial? He's gonna take that on in the middle of the night?"

"If he even reaches the next Trial location tonight. Now come on, let's get some rest."

They quickly got a room and stayed the night.


The next morning they set out by walking, Sapphire gaining a healthy distrust of Mudsdale after the previous day's torture on his butt. Hau was with them, as the boy had gotten lost after setting out so late at night and had to return to get a room at the hotel.

Eventually, they had reached Tapu Village, and Hau began looking around while Sapphire worriedly held a hand out, thinking he felt a rain droplet. The village was average-sized, nowhere near as large as Malie City. "So, it looks like we're almost at the Aether House! That's where the Captain is supposed to be, right?"

"Yeah, right." Sapphire was a bit worried about going to a place with the name 'Aether' in the title, but hopefully, with the Captain there, nothing would go wrong.

Hau suddenly ran ahead, looking up a staircase. "So up that way is Mount Lanakila, right? And there's a Pokémon League up top too!"

"Not yet, they're still making it," he corrected.

"Hey, you're from Kanto, right? The Professor said that Pokémon Leagues in other regions have four crazy strong Trainers in them that they call the Elite Four! Man, the Elite Four and Alola's Island Kahuna's… I wonder which are stronger?"

"My dad actually beat a league," Sapphire reminisced with a smile. "He managed to defeat the Elite Four, but he had a draw with the Champion. Probably for the best though, he wouldn't want to be tied down in one place, and instead continue traveling."

"Man, that's- oh, Alola!" Hau began waving, and Sapphire twisted to see Dulse and Zossie approaching them. Sapphire frowned as he thought to himself. If the Ultra Recon Squad was working for Lusamine and the Aether Foundation, did they have darker purposes as well? Or did they really just want to protect their home from Necrozma?

"Their auras are positive," Cobalt noted, only translating himself for Sapphire. "They have good intentions, so it's possible that they're just being tricked by Lusamine."

"Alola, Sapphire and Hau." Dulse and Zossie made their more robotic Alola gestures before Zossie jumped forward to begin petting Cobalt. "So this place is Tapu Village? We must learn everything we can about this place." Dulse looked around, while Zossie continued to rub Cobalt's head.

"Why? Does it have to do with Necrozma?"

"Correct. There are many stories in its past, but once, long ago, the Blinding One battled against the Tapu in this spot."

"Yeah!" Zossie stopped fluffing Cobalt's ears so she could face them, lifting a finger. "So, it's thought that the power pouring from the Ultra Wormhole at the time is the source of Z-Moves! Like, they poured into Pokémon and formed Z-Crystals or something! And maybe specific Pokémon were affected and got species-specific Z-Moves!"

"Whoa, just from the power of the wormholes? That's kinda insane…"

"Indeed, the light that the Blinding One, Necrzoma, can wield… It seems that our ancestors were greedy, attempting to steal Necrozma's light and use it for themselves, hurting Necrozma in the process. They left it incomplete, and in such a state it went mad with fury."

"And that's how your light was stolen, wasn't it?"

Zossie sighed as her constant energy dimmed. "Yeah, now our world is all dark and dreary…"

"It is at peace though, thanks to the Megalo Tower keeping Necrozma contained. The tower is reaching its limits, however, and Necrozma hungers for light."

"But, but!" Zossie began jumping up and down again, "even if Necrozma is running wild and stuff, it did once give us light, so we want to help heal Necrozma back to its true form so it isn't in pain anymore!"

"Do you have any idea how you can do that?" Hau asked.

"Unfortunately no," Dulse sighed. "However, you Alolans, and Earthlings in general, have different ways of thinking from us. If you have any ideas on how we could heal Necrozma, would you share it with us?"

"Yeah, I'd love to help out!"

Sapphire nodded, adding to Hau's exclamation. "What he said. Thinking of someone being in constant pain like Necrozma might be doesn't sound all that nice, so we'll do our best!"

"Thank you once again." With that, the Ultra Recon Squad wandered away, and Sapphire cupped his mouth so only Cobalt could hear.

"So, did they just come over here to exposition all over us, or…?"

"Don't ask me."

"Man, that was a thing… I guess those Ultra Recon guys are in a pretty bad spot, huh?" Hau smiled and placed his hands on his hips. "I just wish that everybody could be happy and find something to smile about, even that Necrozma!"

"Yeah, I agree."

"I dunno, when there are thugs like Team Skull or Team Rocket in the world that doesn't exactly sound plausible."

"Ha, you think that'll stop Team Solar?" Sapphire grinned and slammed a fist against his chest, "we'll just blast through every obstacle in our way until we can make a world where anybody and everybody can smile! Sound good to you?"

"Sounds cheesy."

"I like it!" Hau cheered.

"Good, Hau is now a technical member of Team Solar!" After doing a cheer together that made Cobalt groan, they continued to walk towards the Aether House. The building was just after the entrance to Route Fifteen and was a large white structure several stories in height with light spilling from the windows.

They walked up to the doors and let them slide open near-instantly, walking inside to see two separate doors on either side of the reception area, as well as a large, white monkey-like Pokémon with a fan of leaves in its hand that stood behind the desk. "So, this is the Aether House, huh?" Hau asked as he looked around with a grin.

"Strangers! This means it's battle time!" Two children suddenly ran up to them, a little girl with a Yungoos following her, and a little boy with an Elekid.

"W-What?! Why?!" Hau backed away in panic as the Yungoos began gnawing at his calf, and the little boy pointed his finger at Sapphire.

"We'll protect our home while Acerola's away!" Elekid jumped up and whirled its fist, sparking with electric energy. The punch impacted with Sapphire's nose, but besides him tilting his head back from the punch's force, he didn't react. "W-what?!"

"Yeah, Storm usually zaps me with more volts, and I've been hit in the face by so many different objects that I think I've lost all feelings of pain in my face." Cobalt snorted at Sapphire's explanation and grabbed Elekid's arm, tossing the Pokémon back to the ground.

"Aw man, I thought I would win that!" the boy pouted, while Hau ran around the room as the Yungoos continued to chew on his leg.

"Yeah, so maybe don't randomly attack people that come into the building," Sapphire sighed. "Unless they're Team Skull of course. Then you Thunder Punch them."

"What's going on in here~?" A familiar voice asked, and Sapphire turned to see the girl from Malie City. The two kids ran up and began hugging her, and even Yungoos let go of Hau's leg to run over as well.

"Acerola, you're back!"

"Looks like I finished my shopping trip just in time! Looks like you already met everyone!"

"If you mean fist-to-face, then you'd be correct."

"Oh, hey, where's Lillie?"

"She's with Hapu right now, they should be coming by soon. So for now, why don't we get these Trials going!"

"Huh?"

"Well, I am the Captain of the Ghost Trial after all!"

As Hau made a noise of shock, Sapphire took in her tattered outfit and oddly colored hair. "...Well, it doesn't surprise me." Acerola giggled at his words, waving her arms lazily. "How did you get here before us anyway? I'm pretty sure Willow was doing her Trial, like, yesterday."

"Charizard Glide of course!"

"Right, forgot about that…"

"Well, I'll go first!" Hau stepped forward, grinning. "Let's win this Trial!"

"I'm fine with that, I've got to come up with some signature moves."

"We're not copying the Giga Drill Break."

"My Aura can create the heavens, I'll do what I want."

"Stop replacing Spiral and Drills with Aura, it doesn't fit."

"I'll make it fit, damnit. What about the Super Galaxy Boomerang Cutter?"

"No."

"Infinity Big Bang Storm?"

"What did I just say?"

"Auric Kamehameha?

"How about no anime references in general?"

"You think I'll stop with the references? Ha. That's what you think. You can't stop me, not when I have Aura on my side."

"That other guy has already left, Mister," the boy suddenly cut in.

"Ah, thanks, kid. Alright, let's get some training in before it's our turn for the Trial!"

"Creator save me from this idiocy…"

Sapphire walked back outside, only to pause as he saw that it had started to rain. "Ah. Well then."

"Should we wait it out?"

"Hm… well, we can try doing some specialty training using the rain…"

"You're going to get sick."

"Not if I wear a raincoat."

"A raincoat won't help when you're running around in the mud."

"Semantics." Cobalt rolled his eyes and he grinned in return, grabbing a rarely used raincoat from his bag and running out into the cold rain.


Chapter done. It meets my minimum requirements of at least 5,000 words, but I didn't try to drag it out any longer since it seemed like an okay stopping point. Thankfully since my Omakes are usually around 500 words, they give y'all some extra content. The next chapter is the Ghost-Type Trial, I should be able to make it pretty fun. Hopefully.

The end of Willow's section was fun to write, with her natural introverted personality starting to mix with her fake extroverted one thanks to Sapphire's energetic influence. Just like how Willow inspires Sapphire to put some planning into his bullheaded strategies, Sapphire inspires her to have confidence in on-the-spot planning, they cover each other's weaknesses. Oh, if you can guess what Pokémon is now interested in Willow from her section, you get… I dunno, internet points.

Omake Name: Morosexual

Willow learns she might be attracted to an idiot.


"Running Riot!" Sapphire whooped as the television announced his killstreak, and tapped several buttons on his controller, switching weapons and jumping into a vehicle at the same time.

"Ha, man I am carrying you guys!" Sapphire tapped a button to check the scoreboard, hours of experience letting him check the board within the brief moment it popped up on the screen, showing his name at the top with several dozen kills and only a few deaths.

"Yeah, because you spend all your free time playing this game," Anthony snorted. "You're average when it comes to any other kind of game."

"Yeah, I may be okay at Smash and other stuff, but when it comes to First Person Shooters or one-on-one fighters, I'm the king, baby!"

Sapphire splattered an enemy before grabbing a Rocket Launcher to blast two enemies into oblivion. He snickered as the television once more spoke up, "Un-friggin-believable!"

"...I still don't know how to shoot…" Willow spoke.

"Press the right trigger," Anthony explained, leaning over to point at her controller. She pressed the button he indicated, firing her grenade launcher. The projectile bounced off a wall and rolled to a stop beneath her character's feet, blowing her up.

"Oh." After she respawned she was immediately killed by a player on the enemy team, causing her to blink in shock.

"You've got to think fast when playing shooters, there's no real planning that you can do unless you know where vehicles or power weapons spawn on certain maps." The match quickly ended with the blue team's victory, and the scoreboard revealed that Sapphire was still at the top, with Anthony around the middle and Willow dead last. The opposing team hadn't even gotten out of the negatives, getting fewer kills than the number of times they had died.

"Welp, I need to head to the bathroom. Don't lose a game without me!" Sapphire grinned and walked away, before looking out the window and spotting the rain that had started to come down, noting how trees were shaking in the violent wind. Cobalt, sitting on the kitchen counter and eating cookies with Cream noted his look.

"Sapphire, don't."

"But I must."

"Ugh…"

Back with Anthony and Willow, the blond boy leaned back and stretched. "So, you two aren't dating yet?"

"Ah! Wha- no, we aren't!"

"Didn't he say he liked you or whatever?"

"Well, I have to prepare myself… I've never dated someone! I don't even know if I like him like that."

"Uh-huh… well, if you did, you know you'd be a morosexual, right?"

"A what?"

"Morosexual. Someone attracted to dumbasses and dumbasses exclusively."

"I don't think that's a thing… and besides, Sapphire isn't that unintelligent."

Anthony raised an eyebrow, pointing a thumb behind him out the window. Willow turned and beheld Sapphire standing shirtless in the storm, screaming into the wind and rain even as the trees around him shook violently, threatening to be uprooted. "COME AT ME! YOU THINK THIS IS A STOOOOORM?!"

Cobalt groaned from his seat on the counter.

"ZAPDOS! LUGIA! ZEKROM! STRIKE ME DOWN, IF YOU HAVE THE GUTS!" Lightning then struck him, and after the flash of light, Sapphire was revealed to be lying down in the mud. One second later and he was standing back up, screaming again. "IS THAT ALL YOU'VE GOT?!"

"Oh my god I'm a morosexual," Willow groaned.


Inspired solely by that one video of the guy screaming at a storm while shirtless and holding the American flag. Because if that isn't metal, I don't know what is.

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

-? ? ?

See y'all next time.