In which our heroes meet a wrestler.
Diana caught a Poliwag on her way out. She made a note to catch a Wishiwashi at a later date, but for the moment, she figured having a member of a family she recognized was the best option.
Besides, she wasn't sure how the giant fish-shaped school thing worked. It might need to be near water for it to kick in, and what use would that be when they went to climb a volcano?
Of course, Poliwag not being able to walk properly was a little bit of a problem, as well, but it was a problem that she had fully expected when she first saw him.
But they backtracked through Paniola Ranch, where they found the squad of Sudowoodo that Lana was talking about. All Diana had to do was show off her newest Z-Crystal, and they all ran off in a panic. But that was not what happened when they found Team Skull, a Drifloon, a girl, and a giant horse Pokémon. Diana prepared to sit back and watch the inevitable slaughter, pleased that it wasn't them dealing with these idiots this time.
"You two! Trainers!" The girl waved them forward, and Diana suppressed a groan. It looked like she and Eli were going to have to handle this again, after all. The new character continued without seeming to notice Diana's reluctance. "I need one of you to help me deal with these people."
One of the Team Skull grunts pointed at Diana. "That's the girl from Melemele!" he yelped. "The one who did the trial! With the Murkrow!"
"I did the trial with a Rowlet, actually." Diana's innocent smile made the grunts shiver. "I beat your butts with a Murkrow."
The new girl looked at Diana suspiciously. "You know Pokémon thieves?"
"They can't steal candy from a baby," Diana protested. "They can't even steal a penny from the sidewalk. They're nothing."
"I'll make you nothing!" a grunt snapped. He sent out his Drowzee. "She's back, Drowzee! Get rid of her!"
Diana considered sending out Murkrow again, just for the easy victory. But then, how would she train her non-Flying team members if she relied only on her birds? "Rockruff, let's go!"
"That's not good!" one grunt complained after he and his friend were defeated in one move each.
The other nodded, going even paler than usual. "With all these losses, we're gonna anger our bosses!"
"Get some new rhymes!" Diana snapped.
The other girl looked up at her giant horse. "Should we stomp them, Mudsdale? I'm willing to clean it up if you are."
The grunts screamed and ran off, just like the Sudowoodo from earlier. Diana and Eli both laughed.
"It's nice to see someone else willing to get their hands dirty," said Diana, and the other girl shrugged.
"I wasn't really gonna attack them or anything," she admitted. "I just like scaring people who deserve it."
"I might have," Diana admitted. "I see nothing wrong with forcibly pushing people out of my way, just as long as I draw the line before any serious injury."
"Tell that to the Sudowoodo," Eli muttered to himself.
The girl didn't know how to respond to that. "I'm Hapu," she said eventually, deciding that she should just start from the beginning. "What about you?"
He snapped back to attention, and cut off Diana before she could speak. "I'm Eli, and this is Diana."
Hapu hummed. "Eli and Diana," she repeated. "Thanks. Now I know what names to put on the wanted posters." Mudsdale voiced its agreement. "I'm guessing you're doing a Battle Royal, huh?"
"What's that?" both cousins asked together. Diana was relieved. It must not be important to Alolan culture if Eli didn't know what it was.
Hapu and Mudsdale shared a look, and then Hapu jumped onto her horse's back. "Find out for yourselves," she told them. "I guess I'll see you two later. I have work to do."
The Royal Avenue was a boring place. Beautiful, and filled with bright, hypnotizing lights, but very boring unless you were there for the one thing that put it on the map in the first place. The heroes spent two minutes looking around, and then they wanted to leave. But then they found something that changed both their minds immediately.
What they found was Gladion, entering the building that was the main attraction, and talking to himself. Seeing how the plot clearly wanted them to come here, Diana and Eli entered the Battle Royal Dome, thinking that they would just make fun of him a little and go on their way.
Gladion was gone when they entered, as they had tried to make it seem like they weren't following him. They silently, separately considered going to look for him. Then a masked wrestler appeared, startling them both. He approached the cousins specifically, jut to tell them about the Battle Royal. "Welcome to the ultimate clash to ever grace the region of Alola!"
Worst of all was that they actually recognized him. The voice, the abs, the beard...he didn't seem to even try hiding his true identity.
"Professor?" Eli, Rotom, and Diana all said together. Rotom was shocked, Eli was confused, and Diana had that tone of voice that usually accompanies an embarrassing moment. After all, she had just caught her boss playing dress-up in public. Anyone would be embarrassed after that.
"I'm the Masked Royal!" Professor Kukui objected, noticing their open-mouthed stares. He cleared his throat, roughing up his voice a bit. "I'm here to teach you...kids I don't know...about the battle format passed down in Alola for generations - the Pokémon Battle Royal! Four trainers! One giant battle! When one trainer's Pokémon is down, the Battle Royal ends! Whoever takes out the most Pokémon wins!"
"Why not just declare the last one standing the winner?" Diana asked. "It sounds a lot less complicated that way."
"Don't question our region's bad decisions, miss!" Wow, he was really dedicated to pretending he didn't know them. "Besides, it's a lot of fun once you try! Who wants to have a match with me?"
"I'll battle, Masked Royal!" another familiar voice called. Hau ran down the stairs to catch up with the masked professor, and grinned at the cousins. "Are you guys numbers 3 and 4?"
Eli took a step back. "I only have Fire-type Pokémon on me," he admitted. "I'm falling way behind. I can't be part of this match."
"Borrow one of mine!" Diana suggested. "I'm sure they'll all listen to you if I give an official order!"
"Better idea!" Hau pointed at Gladion, who was back in view, clearly watching them and trying to make it look like he wasn't watching them. "We can ask him!"
Diana struggled not to laugh. "Only if you ask him, Hau."
Hearing the dare in her tone, Hau straightened up and approached the angry preteen, who appeared to be silently panicking about being discovered. Not paying attention, Hau started right into the request. "Hey, Gladion. If I told you I grew a brain cell since last time, would you join me and Diana and the Masked Royal for a Battle Royal?"
"What?" Gladion looked over Hau's shoulder to make eye contact with Diana, then Hau again when he noticed that she, as well as her boss and travel partners, were getting closer. "What about her? Did she get one?"
"Can't prove I didn't!" Diana grinned.
Gladion's hand twitched. "You're really not getting this, are you?"
"I get that you want nothing to do with me. But you don't seem to get that you don't get a chance to escape." She straightened up in an attempt to look intimidating. Gladion was still taller than she was, and was not impressed. Diana, surprising the others, backed down.
But Gladion didn't leave, even after winning the intimidation contest. "I might as well stay," he decided. "I'd love to see both of you get what's coming to you."
To show exactly how seriously she took this, Diana sent out Poliwag. Despite the professor choosing his own Rockruff, and the blatant disadvantage, Gladion's Null and Hau's Brionne teamed up on Poliwag, and he was the match's casualty. It only took two hits.
"You really got flattened out there," Eli commented as the competitors returned.
"Like a flower under a boot," Gladion added, not even smiling.
Diana sighed. "That was a reference to the Buttercup thing, isn't it?"
"Yes it was. Deal with it."
"So am I going to get an explanation for that, or what?" She gestured to the public computer, where a bunch of kids were watching the video of her failing at the Battle Royal and laughing. "I'm on the internet. You know my name, Gladion."
"But using it implies a level of respect that I am no longer capable of generating for you. This is the only nickname I found for you that doesn't use profanity." He paused, and Diana was once again hit by just how green his eyes were. "I can use another one, if you insist."
She considered for a moment. Then she gave up. "I guess I'm Buttercup now."
While this was going on, Hau and Eli were talking to a new guy. Dark skin, no shirt...but he wore the same symbol around his neck that Diana remembered seeing in Ilima's hair, and Lana's belt. It hadn't seemed important at first, but now she realized that it must mean that this boy was a Trial Captain.
Eli confirmed it when she asked. "This is Kiawe, the Fire-type Captain from the top of Wela Volcano. He's...apparently heard of us."
Diana gave him a pointed look. "Heard of you, you mean."
"No," Kiawe said, so serious that Diana shut up. "Lana told me you beat two trials with just one Pokémon."
"Don't worry! I can't use my Dartrix in a Fire-type trial!" She tried not to smile as she said it. No use letting him know she was planning to defeat his Totem and its allies using only a Rockruff…
"You might not be able to use just one Pokémon at all." Kiawe couldn't read minds, but he wasn't surprised when Diana flinched. "If it works out that way, fine. All I'm asking is that you take my trial like the other kids who got their amulets. No tricks, no traps, no trying to prove yourself. Just you, your Pokémon, and the Totem."
A normal trial? "Fine," Diana said, a bit disappointed. "I'll win even faster, but fine."
"You're pretty confident." Kiawe smiled. "I like that. Let's see if you can hold that fire in my trial!"