In which several important events get covered at once.

They got back to Malie Garden at sunset. Professor Kukui was there, with two Team Skull grunts.

"Not again," Diana muttered.

The grunts didn't notice the new arrivals, and neither did the crowd that had gathered to see the professor stomp Team Skull with his tiny Rockruff.

"You got rocks in your skull?" one grunt asked. "What are you thinking, making a Pokémon League in Alola?"

Kukui held up four fingers. "Four turns," he said. "I've dedicated myself to researching Pokémon moves. I can defeat you both in just four turns. Let's have a Battle Royal, right here!"

"Let's let them," Diana agreed.

But then someone else arrived. "Let's not."

He sounded like he had authority. Diana wasn't sure how much authority, but she was very aware of the Team Skull symbol on his neck, catching the light.

This must have been the boss, then. Not even Plumeria had worn gold.

The boss was taller than the professor, even when slouching. He either had natural dark circles, two blacked eyes, or he wore makeup to make himself look more intimidating. And, like his minions, he did not seem to notice Eli and Diana.

The crowd seemed to recognize him, as they all hushed. The Skull boss seemed to like that. "That's right," he said, sounding just like a heel wrestler getting the crowd to riot. "The hated boss that beats you down and never lets up…Big bad Guzma is here!"

Diana smiled slightly. "I hate this man on principle," she whispered to her cousin, "but you have to admit, he's fun to watch."

"Agreed," Eli said instantly.

Guzma wasn't done. Diana was pleased. He raised an arm, another mockery of wrestling matches on TV, and gestured to the professor. "In this corner, Professor Kukui! And in this corner…" he didn't gesture to himself, but he did straighten up a bit, adding more intimidation points. "In this corner, the boss of Team Skull and the hardest guy around. Two rejects who could never become captains. All these old traditions in Alola…kahunas, captains, tribute battles to creatures who don't care about us puny humans…I get why you want to ditch everything. But we've got no need for a Pokémon League. So point me in the direction of your chosen Champion and I'll show them what a tough trainer really is!"

Kukui shook his head. "We weren't meant to be captains, Guzma. I found what I was looking for when I searched for the moves to beat Hala. You need to find something better for yourself, too." Kukui turned around, and was not surprised to see the kids standing there. "You two don't need to be captains, do you?"

"Not really," Diana said with a shrug.

"Hala wouldn't let me if I wanted to," Eli added.

Guzma approached the kids, noticing Diana's amulet and the fact that her cousin didn't have one. "You're on the island challenge, huh?"

"This is Diana," Kukui confirmed. "She's one of my assistants, currently out on a field research mission to investigate rumors behind Pokedex entries, while taking the island challenge to get into new places. She and her Dartrix…"

"Decidueye," Diana interrupted helpfully.

"Decidueye," Kukui corrected himself without missing a beat, "have completed two trials…"

"Three."

"Three trials with not even her other Pokémon backing them up." He wasn't even surprised. "If you think you're the strongest trainer in the region, Guzma, why don't you battle her? I'm sure she's stronger than even me."

Guzma pointedly looked at Diana's Z-Ring. "Big deal. I'll bet she used those fancy Z-Moves. Why even bother with the island challenge?"

"Because I like sparkly things," Diana pointed out. "And if passing trials gets me more sparkly things, why not?"

Guzma paused at that, seeming almost impressed. Then he laughed. "Ok, Buttercup," he mocked, and Diana's teeth clenched at hearing Gladion's nickname for her coming from a man who made it sound less like an attempt to annoy and more like a swear word. "You want to see what destruction looks like? Here it is in human form – it's your boy Guzma!"

Guzma's first Pokémon was one that Diana had never seen before. He called it a Golisopod, and it almost took out Murkrow with a single powerful attack called First Impression. Diana used a Super Potion, which let Murkrow take the Razor Shell and use Wing Attack.

Then, when it started to look weak, Golisopod switched itself out for an Ariados.

"What?" Diana was angry, now. "What was that?"

"That," said Guzma, "was Golisopod's Ability – Emergency Exit. You call yourself a scientist?"

That just made her angrier. "Wing Attack," she said through her teeth.

Murkrow proceeded to one-hit KO Ariados, bringing Golisopod back out. Diana switched, too, and Stanford used Spirit Shackle to finish it.

Guzma was not a graceful loser. He screamed at himself, he screamed at his bugs, and he screamed at Diana and the professor. He only stopped screaming when the leg of his pants caught fire, and he saw Eli's eyes closed in concentration.

Guzma casually shook the flames off. "Let me guess. Eli Frost?"

Eli's eyes opened. "The one and only."

"Stop that."

And Guzma pushed his way through the crowd. The crowd that was applauding for Diana.

Professor Kukui tapped her on the shoulder before she could get a big head. "Those were some great moves," he told her. "And speaking of moves, now that Stanford is in his final form…" He gave Diana yet another Z-Crystal. "That's the Decidium-Z. Exclusive to Decidueye, and it can turn his Spirit Shackle into Sinister Arrow Raid."

Diana frowned. "But Spirit Shackle is a Ghost-type move. I don't know that dance yet."

"I'm sure you will."

Eli cleared his throat, alerting them to the fact that the crowd was gone. "Professor, Molayne told us to give you something. You…uh. The Masked Royal left this behind at the observatory. You can give it back to him, right?"

Diana held up the mask. Kukui paled slightly at the sight of it, and quickly stuffed it into his lab coat pocket. "Of course I can. He'll be glad to see it again."

And he shuffled off. Diana turned to her cousin, annoyed.

"You actually referred to the Masked Royal like he was a different person?"

"His wife told us to let him have this," he reminded her.

Oh. Right. "And you controlled the fire that sent Guzma scurrying away?"

"Kind of." He grinned. "I couldn't control where it went, but I didn't want him to hurt you or the professor. I just wished for a distraction. Maybe that's the trigger."

"A subconscious manipulation of reality." Diana hummed in thought. "It's kind of similar to what Mom can do. Definitely like Grandma's gift. Maybe Aunt Stella makes the weather obey her, not just senses it…" Diana held out her hand to study it. Despite being in the sun in a tropical region, she was as pale as ever. It was like the sun had never touched her. Then she looked back to her cousin, who was also unaffected. Then she matched his smile. "Well, then. We found it. Now it's my turn to figure myself out – my ability is nothing compared to the power that comes from my Pokémon. The strongest Trainer in the world, and her pyrokinetic partner in crime…sounds fun, doesn't it?"

The sound of Lillie's laughter distracted them both. Acerola was still with her, and she immediately jumped into the conversation.

"Did you find the planet your ancestors came from?" Acerola asked, and Diana cut Eli off before he could speak.

"No, but I did get the Electrium-Z from Sophocles!" She opened her Z-Crystal pouch to show them, and couldn't help the laugh of her own as she saw the ones Molayne and Kukui had given her, too. "And some others. It's been a busy day."

"Good for you!" Acerola poked Diana's bag, where she knew Rotom was hiding. "Team Skull's gone now, Rotom," she pointed out. "You can take them to the next trial up past Route 11. It's close to Tapu Village."

Tapu Village. Rotom marked the map, but didn't come out of the bag, even as he spoke to Acerola through it. "And what type is the Totem?"

"I'm not telling!" Acerola giggled. "All right, Lillie! Time for shopping!"

"I already went to the boutique," Lillie protested.

"Not the boutique! I want to make another dress, and I can make one for you, too!"

Lillie and Diana both looked at the dress Acerola was wearing. It looked like it was barely held together. "I'd rather not," Lillie tried to say, but Acerola got behind her and pushed her along.

"Nuh-uh! I just spent an entire day and a half in the library helping you! We're going to be even before I even think of letting you go!"

"Help," Lillie whimpered, but neither of the cousins bothered.

"She'll be fine," said Eli. "Unless they get arrested."

Route 11 was boring, but there was a Pokémon called Komala, which, according to Rotom, spent its entire life asleep. This was an exciting development, but Diana didn't want to waste any time catching and breeding one just yet. But the woman at the barricade said that the next one was a Ghost-type trial, so she did get some useful information.

Route 12 was another story. The path was littered with rocks, and they had to rely on the sudden, convenient appearance of Hapu to help them.

"If you're going to travel around Ula'ula, you should do it on a Mudsdale," was the answer given when they asked why she was there. "I should've put Mudsdale on your Ride Pager when we last met, but I was just so distracted by Lillie and how lovely she was that it slipped my mind."

"We've all been there," Diana reassured her, thinking back to when she herself was distracted by Olivia. And Lillie, too, come to think of it. And Gladion. And especially Ilima...

She groaned again. Why was everyone in Alola stupidly attractive except her?

"It's a straight shot to Tapu Village," Hapu said, distracting Diana from her thoughts. "I'll be cheering you on in your island challenge!"

Diana looked back at the rocks and frowned, even as Hapu left. She looked down at her clothes. She didn't have the shoes to walk across such sharp rocks...but changing into her riding gear outside was just stupid.

Oh, well. "I guess it's a good thing that my skirt has hidden shorts," she said to herself. Then she poked her bag. "Well, Rotom? I've never ridden a Mudsdale before, and the Taurus and Stoutland went easy on me. Pull up the camera and get my failure to handle bumps, ok?"

When they got to Route 13, Hau was there. So was Gladion.

For once, Gladion did not try to be insulting. Instead, his visible eye - such a pretty green - moved from one face to another, before he settled on Diana and spoke.

"Team Skull is looking for a Pokémon called Cosmog," he said. "Do any of you know anything?"

Hau smirked. "I know 2 and 2 make 4."

"I know how to start fires," Eli added.

"I almost learned what lava felt like once," Diana said, glaring at her bag when she remembered that Rotom had stopped her.

"So more than I thought you knew," Gladion summarized. "Don't worry. Cosmog isn't even a strong Pokémon. But it has the potential to summon Pokémon much stronger than itself. If something like that happened, it would be a disaster for all of Alola."

"And Team Skull wants to cause that disaster to make people take them seriously?" Diana asked. "Is that why they hired you?"

"I want to prevent that disaster, Buttercup, not cause it. If you know where Cosmog is, keep it safe." He looked away from them as his glare faded, turning to...suspicion? "I don't know how they found out about Cosmog in the first place...it couldn't be..."

Then he ran off, back the way the Melemele kids had come from.

"That really wasn't much of an explanation!" Hau called after him. He swallowed, and Diana noticed that he was shaking. Was he cold? Scared? The look on his face told her it was the latter. "If Team Skull is looking for Cosmog...is Lillie going to be ok?"

"Um..." She didn't know how to answer that. "I'm sure we can protect her while we protect Cosmog. I like Lillie. Eli likes Lillie. You like Lillie..."

Hau cleared his throat nervously. Eli's eyes lit up.

"You like Lillie, don't you?" he asked, his voice implying something much stronger than like.

"She's...ok." Hau looked embarrassed, though. That answered every question. "We should just take on the next trial to get stronger, right, Diana? That way we can protect them both!"

She smiled happily. "Are you ready to fight ghosts, Hau?"

"You bet!" Hau's fear left, and he was back to being the ball of energy they remembered. "I'm gonna fight a ghost, and everything that comes after! Tapu Koko will recognize my strength, and someday I'll be Melemele's kahuna! We can be real champions, Diana!"

And the cousins realized that he probably could. Was he one of the potential League Champions that Kukui was talking about?

Was Diana the other one?

When they got to Tapu Village, Hau was already there, talking to construction workers. They confirmed that they were putting the finishing touches on the League building up on Mount Lanakila, and Diana was just as excited as Hau. After all, one of them might be the first-ever Champion of Alola, and even if they weren't, they could still defeat the first-ever Champion of Alola.

He also told them that the captain was located in the Aether House. One quick trip to the Pokémon Center (and a cup of Tapu Cocoa) later, and the kids were on their way, to what was most likely Acerola's trial. Things were going great.

Then Eli surprised them all.

The Vulpix in his arms, freed from her recent ball, was not orange and brown like the ones Diana remembered. It wasn't even gold, like the shinies. Eli's confident smile brought one from his new catch, too.

"Told you I wasn't going to be a Fire-type specialist," he said mockingly, looking over at Rotom in particular.

"It's still related to Fire-types, though," said Rotom.

"Buzz off."

Diana looked at Rotom curiously, and he explained. "Alolan Vulpix is an Ice-type. Not Fire/Ice, though that would be awesome, but pure Ice. Pokedex entries say that its breath can get up to -58 Fahrenheit."

Diana got that 'experimental' look on her face again. "One way to find out." She stood in front of Eli and Vulpix, arms spread wide. "Hit me, Vulpix! I won't feel a thing, promise!"

"So how will you know?" Rotom asked, and Diana lowered her arms.

"Ok," she said, this time much calmer about her experiment being rejected. "I'm sure the professor has something instead. But I'll keep that one in mind."

"Is she for real?" Vulpix asked, and Rotom groaned.

"Unfortunately."

Vulpix shook her head, but allowed Eli to return her to the ball. Hopefully the boy wouldn't be a constant source of stress for her.

Poor thing.