Alola
The sunlight shined brightly upon the tropical region of Alola, practically blinding Ash as he stepped foot off the plane as it was completely different compared to the Kanto region! His eyes narrowed to slits as he took a look around, Wingull and Pelipper flew through the sky above along with some strange woodpecker looking Pokemon he never saw before and palm breezes flew about thanks to the tropical wind, Ash could swear one of the trees was actually moving but he waved it off as just the heat getting to his head. He couldn't wait to get exploring and discover some Pokemon that he'd never seen before!
Ash and the others walked on into the airport lobby where after passing through the vast crowd of tourists coming and going from the facility, they'd spot Zach waiting for them by the door and it wasn't hard to miss thanks to Lucario standing right next to him. Zach had ditched his usual hoodie for a blue Hawaiian shirt and due to the intense heat Ash couldn't blame him, he also noticed what appeared to be the Sinnoh and Hoenn girls he met during previous regional trips clinging to his friend's arm which caused Ash to tilt his head as he didn't quite get what was going on at first.
"Ash, everyone I'd like you to meet May and Dawn-" Zach started only for Dawn to pipe up while tightly squeezing his arm.
"We're his girlfriends!"
"Hello everyone, nice to meet you!" May smiled before giving them a friendly wave.
"Girlfriends as in plural?" Leaf asked, shuddering to herself as she couldn't imagine sharing Ash with Serena. She wasn't judging the three of them though, what they did on their time was their business not hers.
"Awesome, way to go bro!" Flash clapped his hands as he cheered for his buddy. "I knew you had it in you!"
"It wasn't my intention to get both it sort of just happened..." Zach muttered, rubbing his arm nervously though the smile remained. "I'm just glad that everything worked out and none of us got hurt!"
Ash narrowed his eyes for a moment as he tried processing that. Was it even a moral choice to make? He'd never seen or heard of a guy having multiple ladies before. Ash had to admit the thought did sound rather appealing to him but he'd be just as satisfied with having one girl that truly loved him and looked at him the way that May and Dawn looked at Zach or the way his mother looked at his father, his goal was to become a Pokemon Master and if he went off looking for women who were into that then he'd never make progress with his goal! They were probably more rare than a legendary Pokemon!
"You okay?" Leaf asked as she placed her hand on his shoulder, snapping Ash out of his thoughts as he shook his head to clear it before looking to her with a light smile. "You've been staring off into the distance for quite some time, Zach finished catching up with us and is taking us all to his place." Leaf spoke, concern filled her words as she wondered if perhaps the heat was affecting him.
"Huh, no I'm okay! Just thinking is all!" Ash flashed Leaf a smile causing the brunette form to a light blush before edging closer to him as she took his hand.
"Then let's get going!" She was in a rather good mood, Zach couldn't invite everyone so naturally he passed up Serena due to him not really knowing her. Gary had passed on account of wanting to spend the time training and Chloe decided to stay with him. That gave Leaf all of break to try and speak her mind to Ash and reveal her feelings to him before Serena would be back in the picture, she just hoped that Ash felt the same way about her.
They soon arrived at a decently sized house along the beachside where a group of trainers appeared to be waiting for them, Zach paused for a brief moment before rushing forward as he excitedly called out to them! May and Dawn held back, letting him have a bit of time with what was obviously his childhood friends as he hadn't seen them for awhile. The three had only arrived in Alola a mere hour before Ash and the others so it wasn't like they had time to mess about!
The first one that Ash picked out was on account of the dude's attire, or lack of as he was only wearing pants. He was taller than the rest of Zach's friends and had a rather dark skin tone along with a muscular physique, his hair was natural black but dyed red in parts and fashioned to appear as if his hair was on fire! That and his red shorts led Ash to believe that he might just be a Fire specialist. A large tan and red turtle looking Pokemon stood next to him, Ash had no idea what that was but it sure looked powerful!
"Turtonator the Blast Turtle Pokemon, it gushes fire and poisonous gases from its nostrils. Its dung is an explosive substance and can be put to various uses!"
"Oh my gosh, too much information!" Leaf made a disgusted face as Ash scanned the creature with his Pokedex.
"Awesome!" Flash laughed causing Giselle to shoot him a glare.
"Heh, sounds like a cool Pokemon for a ninja. Too bad it's not Poison typed." Janine chuckled.
"Are you kidding? It's disgusting!" Misty stuck out her tongue, she may be a tomboy like Janine but even she found that gross!
"I've got to ask him for a battle!" Ash exclaimed, not seeming to react to the entry like the others as his eyes were set on the power level of Turtonator. It was the same level as Zach's Lucario and Brock's Croagunk, it'd be a powerful opponent to face off against for sure!
His eyes then scanned the rest of the crowd fixating on a girl that was slightly shorter than the rest, possibly due to her not hitting her growth spurt yet. She had short blue hair along with large blue eyes. She wore a white top that appeared to be placed over a black one piece swimsuit? She also wore a pair of blue pants with a light blue design along the bottom that resembled waves, the pants appeared as if they were designed to be quickly removed much like her shirt. Ash could only assume that she was just like Misty and loved going on spur of the moment swims and didn't want to waste time changing! Lana caught him staring at him and gave a smile before waving causing Ash to nervously blush before waving back as his attention turned to the Pokemon standing next to her, a blue sea lion Pokemon with a bright pink nose that almost appeared as if it were a clown nose at first!
"Popplio the Sea Lion Pokemon and the Water starter for trainers in the Alola region. This Pokemon can control water bubbles. It practices diligently so it can learn to make big bubbles!"
"It's so cute!" Misty gushed. "I must have one of my own!"
"Good luck, starters are quite rare to find in the wild. The only ones any of us have caught were released ones," Leaf spoke, referring to Froakie and Charmander. Treecko was a gift from Birch so naturally he was excluded. "You should probably spend your time looking for other water types, maybe even ask her? Something tells me that you two will get along."
Another trainer the same height as the Water specialist stood next to her although he was a bit on the heavy side compared to his friends, he had a short and spiked orange hairstyle while a scarf that resembled a Pikachu tail was wrapped around his neck. Ash also couldn't help but notice that his t-shirt had the original game boy console printed on the front of it in a bright orange color. Leading to Ash assuming that he spent time playing videogames, that must be Sophocles then as he overhead Zach playing Smash Brothers with somebody who had that name. He was also fiddling with some weird contraption that signified that Sophocles was also quite smart as he appeared to be inventing something of some kind. A small gray hedgehog sat by his side and bounced about in an excitable manner causing the girls along with Flash to let out an 'Awww!' at the sight, it was rather cute!
"Togedemaru the Hedgehog Pokemon, with the long hairs on its back this Pokemon takes in electricity from other electric Pokemon. It stores what it absorbs in an electric sac!"
"Well that will come in handy if we run into any bad guys with electricity as their gimmick!" Leaf laughed.
"Or Flash if you feel like pissing him off." Janine laughed.
"Hey!" Flash growled out as he shot a glare in her direction.
Up next was a rather attractive blonde girl wearing a rather luxurious dress and a large floppy looking sunhat! Her bright green eyes gleamed in the sunlight and a rather excitable expression could be seen as she approached Zach to meet him. May and Dawn began giving the blonde rather murderous looking glares as the two hugged however it appeared as if they were just simply close friends causing the two to share a relieved gasp of relief as Zach pulled away with neither casting off a lingering gaze. Leaf caught Ash staring at Lillie and frowned as he appeared to be trapped in a daze, giving his arm a hard nudge to snap him out of it!
"Huh? What?" Ash shook his head as he cast another look at the blonde girl before looking towards her Pokemon, it was a Vulpix only it wasn't like the ones back home. This one was a snowy white color, eyes were icy blue and it's head and tail fluff looked like fluffy white clouds!
"Vulpix, Alolan form. It's breath can reach a temperature of 60 below zero, freezing anything it touches!"
"It's cute!" Dawn squealed.
"Maybe we can ask Zach to help us find one!" May gushed as the two admired the cute Ice type.
"It's cute alright but I'm going to focus on evolving my Cubone into a Marowak, strategy over cuteness!" Giselle boasted.
Finally was another girl. She had a tanned skin tone and bright green hair that was tied into pigtails. A flower was attached to her hair thanks to a green hair clip that was hardly noticeable. Her pink top along with some rather short shorts was covered by a cooking apron, she seemed quite more energetic and energy filled than the other girls as she bounced about and seemed quite cheerful! A small cute white humanoid Pokemon stood next to her with a plant-like appearance, two leaves stretched out from her head and almost resembled hair. From a distance the Pokemon could likely be mistaken for a human!
"Steenee the Fruit Pokemon, it bounces around swinging the leaves on its head. They're quite painful when they smack you!"
After the Pokedex went quiet Ash could see two adults exiting the house while Zach shot straight for them before hugging them.
"Wait a moment..." Flash glanced at Zach's white skin before looking towards Burnet and Kukui.
"He's adopted, genius." Giselle nudged his arm with a light giggle as the other trainers approached to introduce themselves.
"Hello there, I'm Lillie!" The blonde girl chirped up as she held out her hand, just happening to pick Ash first by sheer coincidence! Ash felt his cheeks burning as the attractive blonde offered her hand, soon taking it while Leaf shot Lillie a harsh glare.
"I'm Ash Ketchum, future Pokemon Master! Nice to meet you!"
"I'm Lana," The blue haired girl similarly introduced before looking him over. "My... Zach didn't tell me his friend was quite a looker!" Lana was rather blunt with her words.
"Well Zach is straight, of course he wouldn't say that." Sophocles rolled his eyes before waving his hand. "Hello there, I'm Sophocles! Any of you like Smash Brothers?"
"I do!" Flash excitedly raised his hand before Giselle shot him a glare.
"Weren't you wanting to evolve Pikachu while you were here?"
"Oh right! How do I do that exactly?" Flash asked the group at random.
"By feeding it pancakes, lots and lots of pancakes." Lana responded, showing her trolling side. Unfortunately Flash took her rather seriously and took off like a rocket down the beach as he went to find a place that served pancakes!
"I'm Kiawe, the burning flame of Alola!" Kiawe shouted rather dramatically as he pumped his arms, a fire seemed to be burning within his gaze as he stared off into the distance.
"I'm Ash Ketchum, would you care for a battle?!" Ash challenged him with a rather excitable tone, Kiawe looked like he was about to accept only for Mallow to hold out her arm.
"Shouldn't you save that for the Tapu Koko festival?"
"Oh right!" Kiawe backed down. "Sorry you'll have to wait until then!"
"What is this festival about anyways?" Leaf questioned. "Zach tried explaining it but well... it's Zach, he's not the best at words."
"Oh I know!" Mallow giggled, flashing a glance towards the boy in question before explaining. "It's a festival held in Melemele every year where a mini tournament is held where trainers battle to honor the island's guardian Tapu Koko. The winner even gets to battle it!"
"Battle the island guardian? They must be quite strong," Ash clenched his fists as stars filled his eyes. "I'm gonna enter that and win!"
"There's also games and other festivities to enjoy," Sophocles added.
"It's the perfect place for a date too!" Mallow chimed in, getting Leaf's attention. "I was actually hoping that a certain somebody was coming back to ask me." Mallow nervously chuckled as she looked towards Zach.
"Um, we're standing right here." Dawn spoke up while May coughed before giving Mallow a light glare.
"Hm? Why hello, who are you two?" Mallow cheerly asked before getting a rather soul crushing response.
"I'm Dawn,"
"And I'm May,"
"We're his girlfriends!" They said the final part simultaneously as Mallow's jaw dropped before hanging her head in disappointment. Lillie placed her hand on Mallow's shoulder.
"We can still go as friends!" Lillie chirped as she tried cheering her best friend up though she cast a glance towards Zach, she always thought that Mallow and him would have ended up together. Despite their differences in goals he and her were quite similar!
"I-I'll think about it... I'm just gonna go for now..." Mallow began walking off. Lillie and Lana looked at one another as they wondered if they should follow her before deciding that perhaps it was just to let her have a bit of alone time.
"Alola, you all must be Zach's friends!" Kukui spoke up with an energetic smile. "I'm Professor Kukui and that's my wife, Professor Burnet!"
"I'm Ash!" Ash spoke up, starting the train of everyone else introducing themselves before Kukui clapped his hands together.
"Perfect! Well we got two guest rooms, all the girls can take one and the guys can have the other! Burnet's already got the food going so we should probably get in before Munchlax eats it all." He chuckled. "Zach will show you to the rooms, those of you who have bags anyways..." He noted as Janine didn't have anything except for what she was wearing.
"Please tell me you at least took a toothbrush..." Leaf muttered upon noticing.
"A ninja always comes prepared!" Janine whipped a toothbrush seemingly out of nowhere before making it vanish as she cast the brunette a smirk. "I call dibs on the floor!"
Zach led them all inside and Ash was rather amazed at the sight of a rather large fish tank that sat in the middle of the house, full of Luvdisc. Misty let out a squeal at the sight and immediately rushed over while Zach led the others down the hall, he cast a glance back to see if they were being watched before opening the door to what appeared to be his room, giving a quick nod at May and Dawn to hurry and get their stuff inside. Ash raised his eyebrow at that while Brock crossed his arms and merely gave a smirk at the action. As May and Dawn rushed inside he took the others further down the hall before pointing to his left and right. "Boys take the left, girls take the right. I'm gonna see if my parents need any help getting the food set out while you all get sorted."
"The food's delicious, Burnet!" Ash let out a delighted groan as he stuffed his face full of food. "It's almost as good as Brock's!" Zach flinched at that and cast Burnet a nervous glance but Burnet luckily didn't take offense to that.
"Really? Well then I ought to ask him some pointers later!"
"Heh, I'd be happy to! Cooking is my favorite hobby, which is great considering I had to help cook for eight siblings growing up!" On account of his mother running off for years without telling anyone where she was going, only to suddenly show up as if nothing happened one day! Boy Brock was pissed off at that, she knew full well that his dad couldn't cook!
"Huh, Flash hasn't come back yet." Giselle noted with a worried look.
"Probably still stuffing his face with pancakes," Misty laughed before turning to Lana as Zach's Alolan friends had stayed over for dinner. "Speaking of which, Lana would you be willing to show off some spots that are popular with Water types around here? I'd love to catch some and expand my team!"
"Of course, anything for a fellow Water specialist!" Lana spoke with a friendly smile.
"I'm guessing Mallow went home?" Zach questioned, finding it weird that she didn't say goodbye. May and Dawn cast each other a nervous look as they wondered if they screwed up his friendship with Mallow. They were a bit rude to her and could have told her he was off the market in a more friendly manner, he certainly would have let her off gently had she revealed her desire to go with him to the festival. Perhaps they should apologize to her.
"Where does one find a Salazzle around here?" Janine spoke up. "I'd like to add one to my team, it's quite the unusual Poison type!"
"Akala Island, I can take you there!" Kiawe offered. "However it's not going to exactly be easy to find one."
"I just need to catch a female Salandit don't I? How hard can that be?" Janine asked.
It appeared as if all of their friends had plans for tomorrow so Leaf decided to speak up. "Ash, you wanna meet up tomorrow to look for some Pokemon?"
"Of course!" Ash was quick to accept, he was really looking forward to finding and capturing some Alola Pokemon. "Though you mind if we group up later? I'd like to wake up and start my search early!" He was practically shaking from excitement as who knew what Pokemon awaited him on the island!
"Zinnia..."
"Victor." The two locked eyes for the first time in almost two months. Zinnia had changed to the disguise of a tourist to blend in while Victor remained in his cloak, preferring to hide from the shadows rather than in plain sight.
"How's the boy?"
"You'd be proud, he's got a badge and two mates to call his own. Your 'repopulate' scheme actually looks plausible if other aura wielders follow in that example as I don't think he'll get a third. He's pretty loyal and treats them with great care and respect, pretty obvious he loves them and doesn't just want a huge legacy." Zinnia spoke. "His battling style is actually a bit impressive too, not gonna lie."
"Really? Huh, I wonder if my future apprentice will have multiple girls?" Victor rubbed his chin with a thoughtful expression. He did notice that quite a lot of girls found Ash attractive. There was that brunette girl, the Kalos girl, the ninja and psychic wielders though they were better at hiding their emotions, Victor read the aura of all his classmates as he wasn't very much respectful of privacy, he was honestly a bit paranoid and wanted to make sure none of them were working for the enemy. He even scanned the teachers but oddly only Cerise and Oak's aura were readable, he couldn't read on Venom's for some reason. And upon arriving in Alola, he could tell that Popplio girl and the rich blonde both had the hots for Ash too. He certainly was popular!
"Based on what I've seen in this short time, I'd wager the answer is a yes." Zinnia answered as they kept a watch over the house from a distance.
Ash ventured through a cavern in the northern area of the island, after dinner had wrapped up the night prior he stopped to ask Zach for a good spot to find powerful Pokemon and Zach pointed to the mountains north of town, suggesting that he look there as he might just find something that he likes. Espeon was right behind him as they listened about for any nearby Pokemon, a few Zubat and a Noibat flew overheard as they disturbed their sleep. The bat Pokemon flying on out of the cave to find somewhere else to sleep while Ash shouted out an apology before continuing. As the two got further in a loud roar echoed throughout the cave, causing it to shake while Ash and Espeon turned to face one another with excited expressions. No doubt whatever made that roar would give them quite the challenge and be a great addition to their team!
They quickly raced ahead and saw a large quadrupedal shadow that honestly looked as if it were a dinosaur, that caused Ash's heart to leap with excitement as he pictured a fossil Pokemon somehow being alive and within the cave just waiting to be discovered! That caused him to increase the speed of his steps as he raced around the corner, reaching for the ball containing Froakie as he prepared to engage in battle with a Rock type! However what he saw caused him to lower his hand with a look of disappointment for a brief moment as it was just a gray colored lizard with yellow scales up across it's back! Ash had to admit that it was still a pretty cool Pokemon though and quickly fired out an order.
"Psychic!" Espeon's eyes lit up brightly as she lifted up the Pokemon with her psychic energy before slamming the lizard Pokemon into the ground! The Pokemon let out a cry in distress before going limp.
"Jangmo-o!"
Ash smirked and pulled back his arm as he proceeded to throw a ball at the Pokemon, it disappeared in a beam of red light and hit the cave floor before shaking about and eventually chiming to announce the capture complete!
"Alright, we caught-whatever that thing is!"
"Espeon, espe!" Espeon cheered with her trainer before suddenly tensing up as he reached for the ball. "Espe, Espeon!"
"Huh? What's up?" Ash asked, not understanding her at first due to how frantically she was speaking but soon caught 'run!'
"Why?"
A loud thud could be heard behind him causing him to slowly turn his head before sweating as a large reptilian Pokemon that he could only assume was the final stage of his newest capture based by it's looks towered over him before uttering out a loud roar that echoed throughout the cave! A bunch of the little Pokemon came crawling from various places where a slightly taller and bipedal reptilian Pokemon stood right by them. Apparently the entire flock showed up to teach Ash a lesson for picking on their friend!
Ash sweated nervously and raised his hands as he began backing up, Espeon slowly following in his example as she backed up with a frustrated growl. There was no possible way that they could take them on, even if their friends were there to help! The large dragon alone looked as if he could be seen in a final gym battle!
"H-Hey there, sorry about that! I didn't mean to hurt your friend, i-if it helps I can release him right no-" Ash reached for the ball only to realize that it had transported itself to the school on account of him having more than six. Ash sweated further as now the situation looked even worse. "Um, any chance for a parlay?" He nervously chuckled. The dragons began slowly approaching, causing the two to further sweat and if that wasn't enough Ash felt the egg starting to kick within his bag, resulting in him uttering a swear before reaching back to pull it out. "Not now, Arceus please don't do this! Not right now!" He hissed as the egg began glowing brightly while it started cracking apart, Ash immediately being greeted with the face of a Larvitar as it blinked innocently at him for a brief moment before letting out a happy cry.
"Larvitar!" Larvitar then turned his head, eyes quickly widening at the sight before him resulting in him uttering out a loud Screech attack, causing Ash and Espeon to cover up their ears while the dragons cowered thanks to the annoying sound which was only intensified due to the cavern's echo! Rocks began falling from overheard causing Ash and Espeon to leap forward and just in time as rocks now blocked the path between them and the dragons! However that likely wouldn't hold them for long as Ash heard loud pounding and the sound of rock crumbling on the other side.
"Of course they're part Fighting type... Larvitar, Larvitar it's safe!" Ash worked to quickly calm Larvitar down, the Rock type looked up at Ash with a cute expression before flickering his eyes about and relaxing as he realized that the scary dragons were gone, going quiet before nestling up into Ash's arms as the boy and Espeon began quickly making tracks, escaping the cave before the strange lizards could break free!
Ash soon came to a collapse once they were far enough from the cave that he felt safe, him and Espeon breathed heavily before laughing as they shot a glance back in the direction of the cave. "That was close..."
"Espe..."
"I can't wait to see what our new friend is like when we get back, as for you..." Ash looked down at Larvitar and gave it a warm smile before increasing his hold on it as he gave it a light hug. "Welcome to our world Larvitar, I'll let you enjoy the air a bit before catching you." That and he didn't want to alarm Larvitar by sending him away, he'd have to transfer one of his team members first.
Misty and Lana had arrived at a large pond and were watching as a spider Pokemon glided across the top of the water, the tip of his feet allowing him to stand perfectly atop the water. Misty's eyes lit up at the sight of the lovely Water type, the spider attributes momentarily going unquestioned as she watched it moving about with ease.
"Alright I've decided, I'm gonna catch it!" Misty shouted out as she stepped forward, catching the water spider's attention as it turned to look at her with a questionable gaze. "I've been itching for the perfect chance to use you in a real battle since I caught you in Kalos, let's go-"
"Psy!" Psyduck burst out causing Misty to face fault as Lana giggled out at the act before taking a leap back in shock as Misty's face shot bright red.
"Psyduck, for pete's sake I told you to stay in that Pokeball!" She shouted out.
"Psy!" Psyduck waved his arms frantically as she yelled at him before Misty eventually gave in and facepalmed while uttering out a sigh.
"Just use Fury Swipes!"
"Psy!" Psyduck was in one of his moods as he just stood there staring at Misty before tilting his head as Misty facepalmed again, leaving a mark as Lana raised her eyebrow and questioned if this happened often?
"Ara!" The spider lunged forward and dove underwater with Psyduck where a struggle was evidently happening as bubbles could be seen rising. Misty figured Psyduck was a goner and reached out to return him only to leap back in surprise as the spider was thrown out from the water with the familiar blue glow surrounding his body as Psyduck burst from the water, levitating over it as his eyes glowed a bright blue!
"Psyduck!" Psyduck lifted his arms before tossing the spider once more, hurling him across the grassland as the spider's legs kicked and flailed about while he flew through the air before coming to a crash as his body slammed against a tree! The spider's body went into a slump as swirls filled his eyes causing Misty to let out an excited squeal as she reached for an empty Pokeball before giving it a good hurl, the ball flew through the air before smacking against the spider's body as it was engulfed in a bright red light. The ball began shaking about for awhile before eventually chiming to announce the capture.
"Go Misty!" Lana cheered on her new friend as Misty held up the Pokeball before turning to face Psyduck.
"Good work Psyduck," She praised, giving him a light pat on the head only for Psyduck to tilt his head as he returned to his usual state.
"Psy?"
"Lycan!" A loud howl could be heard as a brown Lycanroc limped along the path while holding out it's paw. Thankfully Brock was in the area and the aspiring doctor rushed forward to check out worrisome sounding howl. The Lycanroc turned to him and uttered out a menacing sounding growl as he approached only for Brock to slowly raise his hands to show he was no danger, continuing his approach albeit more slowly.
"It's okay, I can help!"
"Croa..." Croagunk croaked out as he stood behind Brock, watching him work while also preparing to strike the Pokemon if necessary.
Brock was soon crouched beside the Lycanroc as he reached out to hold it's paw, giving it a quick look over before letting out an "Aha!"
"Just a splinter that got too deep, you should be fine!" Brock started stroking the canine behind it's ears to distract it as he yanked out the splinter with his other hand. Lycanroc let out a yelp before suddenly turning to face Brock and began to steadily lick him in the face!
"Ah, s-stop that!" Brock laughed, the words struggling to get out as Lycanroc was making it hard to breath!
"My you must be something, my Lycanroc doesn't just act that way towards anyone." A woman's voice spoke up, causing Brock to quickly jump while Croagunk prepared to Poison Jab him if he acted out. It started out as Croagunk just being possessive but Brock encouraged it as it helped keep himself in check and not flirt with other girls. Brock noticed a rather hot girl that was likely only a year or so older than he was, she had a dark skin tone similar to Kiawe along with short black hair and her outfit? Well let's just say it was basically impossible to not stare at it! Her top and shorts did a great deal at showing off her body and a lot of skin was showing due to how short her top and shorts were. Brock found himself drooling for a moment before quickly shaking his head to clear his mind while Olivia noticed his action and let out a giggle, not seeming to take offense to that.
"I-I'm Brock a breeder-er a Pokemon Breeder and a future Pokemon Doctor! I aspire to help Pokemon all over the world and help them however I can rather that be curing their sickness or anything else!"
"Croa... croa..." Croagunk croaked behind Brock, his Poison Jab activated as he remained ready to strike out.
"Really? That's quite something, I hope it works out for you! The world could use more guys like you!" Olivia formed a light smirk before blowing him a light kiss as she turned to walk away along with Lycanroc. "Hopefully our paths cross again someday..."
Brock's face shot a deep shade of red as he stared after Olivia while wondering what just happened before uttering out a loud groan as Croagunk jabbed his back with Poison Jab, causing him to collapse to the ground. "That wasn't even my fault..." He groaned while Croagunk croaked out in laughter before dragging him away.
"Oooh, my aching tummy!" Flash groaned out as he, Electabuzz and Pikachu all sat side by side at a table in a twenty four seven diner, a mountain of plates lined the tabletop while all three of their bellies were bloated from all the food they had consumed! He turned to Pikachu before uttering out another groan. "You feel anything yet buddy?"
"Pika!" Pikachu shook his head before leaning over the side of the table as stuff began coming back up. Flash quickly raced off to the restroom with Electabuzz as they felt the same situation rising, returning after awhile only to notice his girlfriend standing next to Pikachu, a thunder stone in the girl's hand as she rolled her eyes at the sight before uttering out a 'tssk' as she simply dropped it into Pikachu's hands.
"Pika!" Pikachu's body began glowing bright blue as Flash cursed beneath his breath, realizing that the Lana girl had trolled him. He spent all night stuffing his face with pancakes for nothing!
"Rai rai!" A Raichu with different colorings stood atop his tail, levitating through the air and almost appearing as if he were surfing as he glided circles around his trainer with a delighted expression across his face.
"How did you-?"
"Zach told me how Marowak and Raichu evolved before we got here, you just ran off before I could tell you!" Giselle rolled her eyes before letting out a laugh. "I beat you by the way." She tossed a Pokeball up and down as she flashed him a smirk. "That means you're paying for our date night tonight!"
"You sure you don't want my help from here?" Kiawe asked as Janine climbed off of Charizard's back.
"Please, a ninja doesn't need help! I've got this!" Janine smirked, waving him off before walking over the hill to where Kiawe said was a Salandit nesting ground. Her heart soon sank at the sight of all the Salandit as as far as the eye could see, they all appeared to be males! Janine hung her head and uttered out a loud groan, knowing that it was going to be a long day before they found a female Salandit...
"Yo yo yo, what's this now?!" Three individuals dressed from head to toe in black and white clothing had Leaf corned in the forest, stumbling across her by sheer chance. They weren't sure what to do at first but upon seeing Bulbasaur they realized that it'd make a perfect gift for their 'big sister'! "A young girly all alone with nothing to protect her?" One of the male members spoke with a mocking tone. Both of the males wore a black tank top with a white 'X' going across it, along with black shorts with a white stripe going diagonally along the side. The female wore a tube top that was designed in a similar design to the male's tank tops, however instead of black shorts she merely wore short white shorts instead! Black bandannas covered the lower halves of their faces while they also wore white caps with two black dots design on them that made it looked like it was a skull! They also wore medallions with a strange 'S' emblem attached to them.
The leader had a tall and lanky build, having short light blue hair along with light blue eyes. The female had a similar build to him body wise but her hair was a natural pink style and she had pink eyes to match! The final member was a bit heavier than them and had short dark green colored hair along with dark green eyes to match.
"I'm plenty strong to take you all on!" Leaf growled out, refusing to be intimated by these thugs. They honestly didn't look like they could hurt a fly! "Just who are you anyways?"
"I'm Tupp, that's Rapp and that's Zipp!" The leader spoke before pointing to the female and other male member of the group. The three began posing in synch. "We're Team Skull, you might have heard of us? We're quite the gangsters, don'tcha know?" Tupp smirked while wiggling his eyebrows at Leaf in a flirtatious manner.
Leaf couldn't help but shudder. "No, I can't say I have. Picking on a newbie is a bit low don't you think?" She questioned, Bulbasaur getting antsy as the three began circling around her.
"You could say that, but we've been looking to give our big sis a gift! It's her birthday you see and we've got no presents to give her!" Rapp frowned.
"Yeah but that Bulbasaur would be the perfect gift, she loves Poison types and Bulbasaur are normally impossible to find on Alola!" Zipp added.
Leaf gritted her teeth as Tupp looked her up and down. "Why not make this easy for yourself girly? Hand over that Bulbasaur of yours and we'll let you go, I'll even go out with you to show my appreciation!"
"No thank you," Leaf politely turned him down though she was visibly disgusted. "I-I suggest you back off, I'm one of the strongest in my class!" She tried bluffing.
"Really?" Rapp asked, giving her friends a glance.
"Perhaps we should send everything out at once then?" Zipp questioned as Tupp nodded in agreement.
"Let's go!" He shouted out, releasing a horde of Salandit while Rapp released a horde of Zubat and Zipp followed with a horde of Yungoos! The three tackled Bulbasaur and caused him to let out a cry as he tried shaking them off but the sheer numbers were too much for him to handle as he soon went limp as he fell into an unconscious state!
"Bulbasaur!" Leaf cried out in worry before biting her lip. If Bulbasaur went down what chance did Shellder or Nidoran have? She backed up nervously before falling onto her back as the three let out a laugh.
"Maybe I'll even get a new girlfriend too-" Tupp started before going quiet as a blue glow surrounded the horde of Pokemon and flung them all into the air! The Pokemon began flailing about before coming to a collapse as Ash and Espeon revealed themselves.
"Get away from her!" Ash growled out.
"Espe!" Espeon growled.
"She has a boyfriend!" Rapp shouted out.
"Huh?! No I'm not-"
"That's not important right now, Ash!" Leaf called out, snapping him back into focus. "H-Help?" She hated playing a damsel in distress but Ash was the only one who could actually do damage here.
Tupp looked at the defeated Pokemon before letting out a growl. "Of course not cause weaklings don't have girls!" He grabbed a different Pokeball and threw it into the air, releasing a Garbodor! Ash and Leaf jumped back at the sight while Rapp and Zipp cheered on their leader and friend.
"Go Tupp!"
"You can do it!"
"Gunk Shot!" Garbodor opened his mouth before firing glowing purple balls of garbage at Espeon, the attack made contact and pushed her back! Espeon shook herself before glaring at Garbodor.
"Return!" Espeon rocketed off across the field as Leaf's eyes shot wide.
"Ash you i-that's why even Flash figured out how to beat you, you keep using the same moves with her!" Leaf shouted out frantically with worry. Espeon landed head first into Espeon's belly and got stuck, she began flailing her legs about frantically before Garbodor grabbed hold of her and pulled her out, soon slamming the Eeveelution's body against the ground with a loud thud! Espeon didn't get back up from that as she laid on her side, uttering out a loud moan as all that action today wore her out. Ash frowned as he returned Espeon before quickly reaching for another.
"Charmander, I-"
"Ash!" Leaf grabbed his arms before staring deep into his eyes with a serious expression. "Look Ash, I love you but you keep using Espeon, Froakie and Charmander over and over and over while rarely letting the others get a fair shot! You need to branch out and get more attacks too otherwise you're not going to know what to do and wind up losing to even losers like those three!"
"Hey!" Zipp shouted
"We're standing right here!" Rapp shouted.
"Maybe I oughta teach them some manners!" Tupp grinned as he thrust out his arm. "Gunk Shot them!"
A protective barrier of aura was suddenly brought up causing the Team Skull grunts to look around for the source while Victor watched from the treetops. Hoping that they'd use that brief opening he'd just given them.
"Let's take him on together shall we?" Leaf asked as she reached for Ash's hand, Ash nodded and took hold of hers without even realizing what he was doing at first. "Nidoran, let's go!"
"Nidoran I choose you!"
"Nido!" The two Nidoran burst out and looked quite delighted to see each other again before noticing the large shadow towering over them, the Nidoran let out a terrified squeal before getting into a combat stance!
"Fury Attack!" Both trainers shouted as both Nidoran's horns glowed brightly before they repeatedly jabbed at Garbodor with them!
"Garbo...dor...!" The trash heap Pokemon fell backwards, crushing the three Skull grunts as their arms and legs could be seen struggling beneath it to get free. Tupp managed to reach for his ball, tapping it against the Unova Poison type and returning it as the three Skull grunts shot right back up and began waving their fists at Ash and Leaf.
"That wasn't fair, just wait until we tell big sis on you!" Tupp shouted before he and the others turned around and raced off into the distance, disappearing from sight as Ash stared after them with a light growl before suddenly realizing what his hand was holding. He looked down and immediately blushed before looking towards Leaf who responded with a mere smile, her face far redder than his own before she leaned forward and pressed her lips up against his, meeting him in a kiss as she soon returned it. The two wrapping their arms together as Ash finally realized his feelings for Leaf.
The Nidoran looked up and cried out with joy at the sight before nuzzling one another affectionately, the trainers wouldn't notice as they were too busy kissing but the Nidoran were currently undergoing evolution as Nidorino and Nidorina soon stood where the Nidoran once did, affectionately nuzzling each other much like they had since the day they had met!
May and Dawn arrived at the cafe where Mallow's family both lived and worked at, the two girls stood nervously outside as they looked at one another before giving each other a light nod as they stepped inside. Their eyes immediately set upon Mallow as she was helping a table with their order, they had distracted Zach for a brief bit by getting him to play some Smash Brothers with Sophocles so he was unaware of what they were doing or rather what they did to his friend.
They continued walking closer and Mallow soon turned and let out a terrified yelp at the sight of them, turning to quickly run into the back before May called out. "Wait, hold up!" Mallow turned and gave them a cautious stare as she stood with one foot in the back room, preparing to make a quick exit if necessary. "We're not mad at you!"
"Yeah, we just want to... apologize for yesterday." Dawn nervously rubbed her arm. "We shouldn't have treated you that way, regardless of how you feel about Zach you're still a good friend of his and probably have been for who knows how long!"
"We were out of line, we felt a bit... threatened. We know he'd never cheat on us but you're... well, hot. We were worried that you might try something if we didn't speak up and we weren't exactly nice to you." May frowned.
Mallow looked at them before turning around as she lowered her head. "I-I understand... you both love him the way I do, just... promise me that you'll take good care of him?"
"Of course!"
"Always, we wouldn't dream of anything else!"
Mallow smiled, sniffling lightly before wiping away some tears. "You two don't know how lucky you are, he's just as lucky to have found you..."
"I'm not sure about this Acerola," Lillie spoke to her friend as she stared across a rickety old bright that led to the ruins of Tapu Koko's shrine.
"Oh come on, that bridge has existed for over a thousand years and not once has it snapped on a Kahuna. No offense to Hala but if he can walk that without it breaking then so can you!" A purple haired girl wearing a raggedy dress spoke excitedly while twirling about in place, what appeared to be a broken Pikachu wearing a cloth over it's body stood next to her as they looked towards the blonde girl. "A dare's a dare and you lost fair and square!" Acerola laughed. "Or should I track down Gladion and reveal that Hau used to have a thing for you when you two were younger?"
Lillie gasped. "You wouldn't, Gladion would kill him!" Gladion was quite protective, even if those feelings were long dead and completely one sided.
Acerola pulled out her Rotom Phone and acted like she was dialing up Gladion. "Hello is this Gladion, I've got some news you'd like to-"
"I'll do it!" Lillie growled out, closing her eyes while taking a step out onto the bridge. She opened them back up when realizing that nothing had happened, continuing to slowly step forward and advance across the bridge while doing her best not to look down.
"Fearow!"
"Spearow, row row row!" A Fearow with a large bump on his head flew through the air before noticing a rather easy target. Upon being confiscated Fearow was released and set free into the wild but Fearow missed his master and was trying to locate him, however he shared Damien's sadistic streak and when he saw the blonde girl on a rickety old bridge that hovered over a thousand foot drop? Well how could he resist?! He sent his Spearow army down to attack the girl, hoping she'd freak out and make the bridge snap beneath her!
Lillie let out a terrified scream, merely cowering instead as she covered her head with her hands and begged the Spearow to leave her alone. Thankfully Ash was passing by with Leaf, hand in hand with the brunette until Lillie screamed again and caught his attention. His eyes landed upon the damsel in distress before his eyes made out what appeared to be Damien's Fearow. He let out a frustrated growl, of course Damien likely wasn't around but his sadistic bird was free to terrorize whatever as Venom foolishly released it without bothering to hear Ash out!
"Not now Ketchum, I'm busy!" Was all he said and that just made Ash all the more frustrated at the cold professor.
Leaf watched Ash heading out onto the bridge with worry for his safety, nervously stepping forward while Acerola was traumatized by the sight and could only stare in shock as her friend was mere minutes away from a very long drop if the Spearow continued pecking at the rope like that!
"Fearow!" Fearow's eyes light up upon seeing Ash, a sinister smirk crossed his beak as he dove forward and began furiously pecking at Ash's head, drawing a bit of blood as Ash reached out with an annoyed growl, prying Fearow right off before throwing him over the side, an action he only did as he knew it wouldn't kill him. Ash continued heading towards Lillie before reaching out to take her hand while shooing away at the Spearow as they flew about their heads.
"Buzz off!" He growled out.
"Fearow!" Fearow flew back up, his body began spinning like a drill as he went blasting straight through the rope, cutting both stripes clean in half before making a quick turn to give Ash quite the vile smirk as Ash felt time freezing for a very brief moment as he hovered in the air before him and Lillie made the thousand foot drop! Lillie held him tightly as she let out a terrified sounding scream while Ash closed his eyes and silently apologized to Gary and his other friends for not being able to keep his promise of battling them at the Kanto League.
"No!" Victor rushed forward and cursed as he stared over the ledge from the opposite side. "Damn you Fearow!" Victor charged up an Aura Sphere and prepared to make a killing blow but Fearow quickly made his retreat like the coward he was.
"Lillie!" Acerola screamed.
"Ash!" Leaf screamed out before collapsing to her knees as tears filled her eyes. It wasn't fair, she literally just revealed her feelings to Ash a little over an hour ago and now he was dead!
"Tapuuuu!" A bright yellow blur shot out of the temple behind Victor causing him to quickly grab at his cloak to keep it from flying away, the blur shot straight down after Ash and Lillie before flying back up and dropping them onto land! Lillie continued screaming loudly, not realizing yet that she wasn't falling anymore. Ash noticed a shift in the change of the wind, opening his eyes and discovering a strange looking Pokemon standing right in front of him.
"Tapu Koko!"
"Y-You're Tapu Koko?!" Ash exclaimed after the Pokemon spoke to him. The Tapu nodded it's head before holding out what appeared to be a black wristband of some sort along with a bright pink crystal perfectly slotted in place on it. "Uh thanks I guess?"
"Tapu!" Tapu Koko gave Ash a bow before taking off into the sky as Acerola and Leaf stared off in amazement at it as he flew off.
Lillie felt another blast of wind and finally opened her eyes, releasing a deep sigh of relief as she saw and felt the ground beneath her! She didn't even notice where her arms were at first before realizing that she had them wrapped tightly around Ash!
"Ahhhh!" She blushed heavily and took a leap away before quickly bowing while repeatedly apologizing to him. It felt good, no amazing! But she couldn't keep herself attached to him like that forever, it wasn't polite! "Y-You saved me?!" She asked while continuing to heavily blush as she looked him over.
"Actually Tapu Koko-"
"You saved me from the Spearow though, or tried to at least... thank you." Lillie bowed her head before stepping forward to plant a light kiss on his cheek, her face shot bright red as the two gazed at each other for a brief moment. Leaf's eyes twitched while she fumed at the sight before Lillie eventually backed away. "I-I should get going, I'll see you at the festival later this week?" She asked.
"Count on it, I'm winning it!" Ash exclaimed, fists pumped with excitement while his face retained a dark blush as Lillie couldn't help but giggle like a schoolgirl, giving him a wave before quickly running away.
A trainer that looked just like Lillie only a year older and the opposite gender stood watching from the forest as he'd just returned from a trip to Akala Island's trials to witness his sister kissing a complete and utter stranger! A growl emitted from his throat as he gave Ash a murderous glare, vowing to teach that boy a lesson as soon as he had the chance!
Multiple things happened. With both Plumeria and Gladion gunning for him, Ash has quite the hurdle to overcome if he wants to win the honor of fighting Tapu Koko! Not to mention Kiawe and his Turtonator standing in his way as well!
Hope you all enjoyed it, as always feel free to suggest/share shipping suggestions!