The Tapu Festival

"You saw Tapu Koko?! No way!" Kiawe exclaimed in disbelief as Ash excitedly filled them all in about what had happened later that day. "You're not even from here, nor were you raised here! Why did Tapu Koko choose to show itself to you?"

"Because it was saving our lives, we'd have fallen to our deaths otherwise!" Lillie spoke up in Ash's defense.

"What?!" Everyone looked shocked at that.

"How did you fall?" Lana asked.

"You know the rope bridge that leads to Tapu Koko's shrine? Well Acerola dared me to step out onto it, I didn't want to at first but she blackmailed me and said it was fine... then Spearow attacked and I was scared!" Lillie sweated as she and Acerola hung their heads, both feeling it was mighty stupid of them.

"And then Damien's Fearow showed up and tried to kill us when I went out to save her!"

"What?! That bastard's not back is he?" Flash quickly looked around as if he expected to see Damien watching them nearby.

"No it was just his Fearow, remember how his Pokemon were confiscated from him after his license from stripped? They were all set free, no doubt Fearow's looking for his old master not sure why else he'd be in Alola of all places." Ash explained.

"I hope that creep stays gone, there's no telling what sick game he's getting up to now." Giselle shivered.

"Probably wanting revenge on Ash, he already hated Ash's guts before and tried killing me at one point solely to spite him. Now that Ash is responsible for Damien losing his trainer license that hatred probably intensified by a great deal." Zach glanced around before edging closer to May and Dawn in a defensive manner, the two leaned their heads up against his shoulders and smiled.

"Well even if he was around Damien wouldn't strike out while Ash was around a large crowd such as this, Damien's a coward." Brock stated while Misty nodded in agreement.

"Right."

"There was also this," Ash spoke before holding up the black wristband and strange looking crystal that Tapu Koko had given to him. "Anyone of you know what this is?"

"A z-ring?!" Kiawe exclaimed in shock.

"A z-power ring to be precise," Zach spoke up, retrieving a blue variant from his pocket as he showed it off for a brief moment before returning it. There was a crystal attached to it but Ash didn't get a good enough view to see what color it was. "Trainers in Alola receive a z-ring when they pass a trial and then get to upgrade to a z-power ring once they beat a Kahuna!"

"Which he obviously didn't do!" Kiawe crossed his arms while giving Ash a harsh look. "It's against tradition, you're supposed to earn those like we did!"

"Relax Kiawe, it's no big deal." Zach waved it off.

"Yeah a island guardian gave him it. It's not like Hala himself is giving them out like candy, Tapu Koko wouldn't just give them out to anyone!" Lana spoke with amazement as she gazed towards Ash.

Kiawe let out a huff, showing how hotheaded and stubborn he could be as he suddenly pointed at Ash and issued him a challenge. "Then I challenge you to a battle! We'll see if you truly are worthy enough to wield that!"

"But Ash doesn't even know how to use that, and none of us know the movement that Psychium requires!" Zach tried reasoning with Kiawe but he wasn't having it.

"I-I do..." Lillie quietly spoke up causing the others to look at her. "I-I memorized all the z-moves!"

Lillie turned to face Ash as made a motion of her hands as if she were activating an invisible z-ring. "F-First you activate it, then you do a series of movements which is different for every crystal..." Lillie started moving slowly so Ash could get a good view of the movements he'd need to make in order for the move to work. "A-And then you call the name of the move, you have Psychium so you'd be using the Psychic attack Shattered Psyche!"

"Wait that means I'd need to-" Ash paused as he remembered Leaf telling him that he was relying too heavily upon Espeon, Charmander and Froakie lately. He knew that she did have a point but this time it couldn't be helped, Espeon was the only one with Psychic attacks!

Kiawe raised his eyebrow before tapping his foot impatiently, Ash took that as his cue to get started. The others stepped away and made room on the beach for Kiawe and Ash to have their battle together.

"Turtonator, I'm counting on you!" Kiawe shouted as he threw the ball containing his trusty partner Pokemon forward!

"Turto!"

"Espeon, I choose you!" Ash grabbed at Espeon's ball before throwing it, the Eeveelution had been resting inside since the encounter with Team Skull earlier that day.

"Espe!" Espeon burst out with a delighted cry before she looked eyes with Turtonator and let out a deep growl.

"Smog!"

"Turto!" A thick cloud of smoke blew from Turtonator's mouth causing Espeon to begin having a cough fit as her face turned an even brighter shade of purple than usual! Ash gritted his teeth as he realized Espeon had just been Poisoned! He thought carefully for a moment, Turtonator was a Fire/Dragon right? That meant that Ground attacks should do fine against it!

"Espeon use Dig!"

"Espe!" Espeon began to burrow underground, disappearing from sight as Kiawe looked frantically about the field.

"Turtonator get ready to use Inci-"

Espeon burst from the ground behind Turtonator and struck out only to touch one of Turtonator's spikes resulting in a large explosion happening that sent Espeon flying away!

"What was that?!" Ash exclaimed in shock as he'd never seen anything like that before!

"It's shell can detonate if somebody attacks it!" Lillie called out, Leaf gave her a light look before turning her focus back to the battle.

"Unique ability that only Turtonator possesses!" Kiawe boasted with a smirk before shortly throwing out his arm. "Turtonator use Dragon Pulse!"

"Turto!" Turtonator fired an multicolored dragon shaped beam of energy from his mouth, the attack flew towards the recovering Espeon and quickly sent her flying once more as Ash had an alarmed look of distress!

"Espeon!" Espeon slowly began to stand back up from the attack, giving Ash a light smile to show she was okay before turning her attention back to Turtonator.

"Espe, Espeon!" Espeon cried out, shocking Ash as she told him that they should use the z-move now!

"Right now? You sure?!"

"Espe!" Espeon cried stating that they might not have a chance to otherwise, Turtonator was both a powerful opponent and had quite the unique abilities. It was nothing like the Fire types they were used to back home!

"Alright then, let's go!" Ash began posing while the Psychium shined brightly as he and Espeon prepared the attack. Kiawe formed a smirk at the sight and quickly did the same with his own z-power ring, activating a fiery red crystal as he did a separate stance of poses

"Shattered Psyche!"

"Inferno Overdrive!"

A large psychic barrier appeared in front of Espeon before breaking apart as if it were made of glass, the shards began flying across the battlefield towards her opponent! Turtonator meanwhile had gathered up a massive ball of fire before launching it towards Espeon! The two attacks met and began clashing up against one another as Ash and Kiawe gritted their teeth and wondered which attack would come out on top? The psychic shards eventually overcame the intense heat and struck the Fire attack apart before continuing to fly towards Turtonator and make contact with him! A light explosion happened and sand went flying everywhere causing some of the others to begin coughing and also wiping their eyes while the view was obscured by all the dust and sand flying everywhere! Eventually the dust and sand faded to reveal the defeated form of Turtonator as Kiawe dropped to his knees in disbelief while Ash let out a laugh before collapsing to his own knees, holding his arms out for Espeon as the Eeveelution raced straight for him before nuzzling against him in an affectionate manner!

"We did it!"

"Espe!"

"I-I..." Kiawe stuttered before Sophocles and Lana walked over to help their friend up. It took a fair bit for Kiawe to properly process the events but he eventually shook it off and approached Ash with a light smile before extending his hand to him. "I'm sorry I misjudged you, it may not be tradition but you're definitely worthy of wielding a z-ring."

Ash gave Kiawe a smile before standing up to take his hand, giving it a shake as he exclaimed. "That's alright, it was a great battle though and that Turtonator of yours is quite impressive!"

"Next time we battle things will be different!" Kiawe vowed as Ash could only smirk in response as he'd made a new friend. Nothing was like a friendship forged from the battlefield!

"There he is!" Meowth excitedly exclaimed as the Rocket trio had their eyes locked on Ash and Leaf has the two walked through the forest alone together later that day, the two wanting to get away from the others for a bit and just enjoy some quality time with one another and the Rocket trio saw this as their perfect chance to lay an ambush for him!

"It's about time, it took forever to track him down!" James groaned out.

"Well what are we waiting for? That Espeon will be quite the prize to take back to our boss not to mention his other Pokemon!" Jessie smirked, the three never met the true boss. They were hero worshipping the puppet Giovanni who much like Pyro was there to cover for the real boss and keep his identity secret, of course Giovanni was quite the established businessman himself and it wasn't public knowledge he was affiliated with Team Rocket just yet.

"Let's do it!"

"Bewear!" A large red panda Pokemon suddenly burst out from the bushes behind them causing the three to let out an alarmed shout before attempting to make a run for it however the large bear proved to be too fast for them, scooping them up into her paws with ease before rushing them off into the forest as they cried out with frightened expressions, worrying for what the bear planned to do to them.

"Looks like we're blasting off again!"

"Huh?" Ash looked back resulting in Leaf stopping to look at him with concern.

"What's up?" Leaf blinked, increasing her hold on his hand as she tilted her head.

"I-It's nothing, I just thought I heard Team Rocket is all."

"Please if they were here they'd have attacked us by now. Come on, let's just enjoy the peace and quiet!" Leaf spoke before pressing her head up against his as the two soon met in a kiss, enjoying the quality time they had with one another. Victor turned around and left to give them privacy but there was another secretly watching that hadn't gone unnoticed by the elder aura guardian, he just chose not to reveal her presence as much like the Rocket trio he sensed a pure heart in her. Lillie had tailed Ash out there and watched him and Leaf as a jealous expression formed on her face, her eyes slightly burning with desire.

The sun had set upon the small village of Iki Town, the only light source left was the torches that were spread out throughout the village. Multiple booths were set up along the town to celebrate the festival where several villagers could be seen participating to win prizes! Zach had just won some as he could be seen handing both May and Dawn large scaled Eevee plushies causing both girls to let out a squeal before wrapping their arms tightly around their boyfriend, Flash was relentlessly hammering away at a 'test your strength' thing and causing a line to clog up as he was determined to win something for Giselle, and Ash, Sophocles, Kiawe and Lana were scarfing down hotdogs in a eating competition with Ash eventually proving himself the winner and winning a years supply of malasadas! Ash had no idea just what those were but Lana promised to show him in exchange for him giving her one! Brock was busy chatting it up with Misty, unaware of Olivia's presence as the girl watched him from a distance. Croagunk noticed her though and silently watched her in return while croaking softly.

Leaf was watching Ash and showing her support by cheering him on in the crowd however she noticed that Lillie was doing the same thing, a glare quickly formed across the brunette's face before she realized that Lillie seemed to have a genuine look of affection in her eyes, she didn't appear to be just some girl that desired him like most girls she encountered. Leaf clenched her fists for a brief moment before shooting a glance towards May and Dawn, the two girls seemed genuinely happy to be with Zach and didn't mind sharing at all as he gave them both an equal amount of attention! Leaf then glanced back towards Lillie before silently rubbing her chin with a thoughtful look, wondering if that same sort of situation could work with her and Lillie? The girl was sweet after all and seemingly didn't have a mean bone in her body, she'd be perfect for Ash! Not to mention Leaf had to admit that she was rather attractive, she just needed to learn more about Lillie first rather than just outright accept her.

"Attention please!" The village had suddenly went silent, showing that whoever was speaking was somebody of great respect! The only noise that could be heard was Flash grunting as he continued hammering at the 'test your strength' machine before Giselle impatiently yanked the hammer right out of his hand and gave the mallet a hard smack, winning the game for him as the bell went flying straight off the machine from the force she'd used!

The voice belonged to an old man that was a bit on the heavy side, he had a tanned skin tone tone and wore quite the relaxing looking attire of gray sweat pants, sandals, an open yellow Hawaiian shirt with a blue t-shirt beneath it. He stood to the side of a battlefield that laid in the center of the village.

"Who is that?" Ash hissed out to Lana as she was still standing next to him.

"That's the Kahuna of Melemele Island, Hala!" Lana hissed back. "He's one of the most powerful trainers in the region and the only one Tapu Koko will speak to on normal occasions. He's quite respected!"

"Powerful, eh?" Ash asked as he looked Hala over as a smirk started to form across his face.

"Don't think about it, Hala only accepts challengers who've beaten a trial. He's quite traditional!" Lana hissed. Ash lowered his head in a fit of brief disappointment.

"Today is the day that we honor and celebrate our beloved guardian Tapu Koko!" Hala spoke with a deep voice that sounded deserving of respect. "As always we end the festival with a small tournament where trainers may battle to test their might against Tapu Koko, the winner will receive the honor of facing Tapu Koko himself! So if you're looking to compete I suggest you step forward now before the slots fill up!" Ash noticed that most of the villagers stayed back, the only one that stepped forward was a much younger version of Hala, one that had to be the same age as Ash and the others! Ash also saw Zach, Flash and Giselle stepped forward. He knew that Janine would compete had she been there but Kiawe informed them that she stubbornly refused to leave until she captured a female Salandit and would stay all night if she had to! Ash couldn't help but feel sorry for her due to the fact that male Salandit didn't have evolutions. Leaf was just letting her team relax as they'd been through a lot lately and was honestly experiencing some self doubt in her skills while Misty didn't much care for Tapu Koko, it was an Electric type as she unfortunately found out from Lana the Water guardian was on Poni island!

As they were getting signed up Ash noticed what appeared to be a male version of Lillie standing at the desk, already having signed up. The male turned to look at him before giving him a harsh almost murderous looking stare causing Ash to leap back as he wondered what his problem was.

"Gladion, hi!" Zach excitedly reached out to shake his friend's hand only for Gladion to ignore him as he brushed on by, only glancing back to continue glaring at Ash.

"Yoyoyo, big sis is gonna kick your ass!"

"Oh no," Ash groaned out as he heard the three annoying Skull grunts, turning around to face them as they had began posing.

"Big sis Plumeria is here and you're not prepared for her sass, she's gonna kick your ass!" And sure enough a fourth showed herself, dressed in a similar clothing scheme to the grunts only unlike the female grunt, she wore a pair of black pants much like the male grunts while a pink S emblem was tattooed across her chest! White eyeshadow could be seen around the woman's piercing yellow eyes and her pink hair had quite the strange yet unique style to it along with yellow highlights!

Plumeria raised her eyebrow at the sight of Ash before letting out a tsk. "So you're the one giving my family trouble, eh? You don't look so tough, looking forward to teaching you some manners!" She said before writing her own name down. Ash growled out as he watched her walk away and soon the battles would begin! Strangely enough Flash and Giselle were paired up against one another with her newly evolved Alolan Marowak standing across from his Alolan Raichu.

"Shadow Bone!"

"Marowak, wak wak!" Marowak raced across the field while spinning his bone club as the green flame attached to the ends turned a bright purple, Marowak soon slammed the bone club right against Raichu's face causing the electric mouse to let out a loud cry before falling onto his back as his eyes turned to swirls. The crowd gasped out at how quick that ended but Ash and the other classmates weren't, they'd seen Giselle in action multiple times and she was one of the top battlers in the school with Gary, Zach and Sabrina being the only ones that rivaled her sheer strength and strategy!

Flash lowered his head as he returned Raichu, further humiliated than he had been before. He didn't stop from congratulating her though as he stepped aside to support her. Ash then watched as Zach's Raboot seemingly refused to battle a Pokemon that it had a clear advantage against, forcing Zach to release Combusken and have it deal with the opponent.

"Flame Charge!"

"Combusken!" Combusken became cloaked in flame as he raced across the field at blinding speed before slamming his body up against what Ash learned was a Lurantis, the grass type fell to her side as swirls formed within her eyes.

"Go Zach, go go go!" Dawn cheered on the sidelines for him, having sneaked off to get into her cheerleader outfit.

Raboot glanced back with a jealous look before quickly staring back into space. Lucario caught her look however and smirked, Zach had no intention of neglecting her in favor of Combusken it was the rabbit Pokemon's decision to keep sitting out on every battle she was offered. Lucario hoped that it wouldn't be too long before Raboot had enough and they got their friend back to her old self!

"Zach caught a Combusken?!" Ash exclaimed with a jealous expression, having always found Blaziken as an amazing Pokemon.

"Well it figures he'd have something to show from his time there," Leaf noted.

Plumeria was also paired against an opponent that wasn't exactly notable. Her Salazzle burst out and make rather quick work of a black furred Raticate which Ash assumed was the Alolan variant of the species! The Raticate laid on it's side after a 'Fire Lash!' attack was ordered. Ash couldn't help but grit his teeth as those Team Skull grunts weren't kidding, Plumeria was one tough cookie alright!

"Go sis!"

"You can win this!" The Skull grunts cheered her on as flashed Ash a smirk before vanishing into the ground.

Likewise Gladion breezed through with an Umbreon, Ash was disappointed that it wasn't something new to him nor was the opponent as it was a rather pathetic Ledian!

Finally it was Ash's turn as he was paired up against the boy that looked like a younger version of Hala, Hau as Hala announced it.

The two stood on rivaling positions across the battlefield as they gave one another a smirk.

"Rowlet, I'm counting on you!" A small green and white grass owl Pokemon burst out and let out a coo!

"Nidorino, I choose you!"

"Poison Sting!"

"Nido!"

Multiple poisonous darts of poison went flying out from his horn, flying in the direction of Rowlet before pelting the owl!

"Leafage!" Hau shouted, proving to be a bit inexperienced as Rowlet released multiple green leaves from his body, sending them flying towards Nidorino in a tornado-like fashion before pelting the Poison type! Nidorino flinched lightly before looking itself over and shrugging while Hau hung his head with a groan.

"Aw man, I screwed up didn't I?"

Ash felt sorry for the boy as he issued another Poison Sting attack!

Nidorino fired off another set of poison darts from it's horns, pelting Rowlet once more before the owl collapsed to it's side while swirls formed within his eyes as it laid in defeat.

"Alright way to go Nidorino!"

"Nido, nido!" Leaf's Nidorina cheered for her mate on the sideline causing Nidorino to blush before being returned to his Pokeball.

There wasn't much of a break before the next round as soon as a few others wrapped up, Hala went straight to announcing the first match up!

"Plumeria and Giselle!"

"Be careful babe, she's scary!" Flash shouted before flinching as Plumeria cast him a deadly glare.

"I'll be fine babe, I'm gonna win for the both of us like usual!" She rolled her eyes before letting out a light laughter as he joined in showing the teasing was just in good fun.

Plumeria could only smirk at the sight of Giselle's wrist and her lack of a z-ring. Zach, Ash, and Kiawe may have been honorable enough to not unleash a z-move on an opponent that lacked a z-ring but she sure wasn't!

"Marowak, let's win this!" Giselle smirked as she released her faithful starter.

"Marowak, wak wak!" Marowak twirled his bone club before pointing it at Plumeria and Salazzle in a threatening manner.

"Let's give them a taste of our Bonemerang!"

"Marowak!"

However both of them paused in place with wide eyes as Plumeria lit up her z-ring with a smirk and began posing. "Acid Downpour!"

Purple clouds formed in the air while the ground beneath Marowak turned into a toxic purple liquid, the Alolan form Pokemon soon sank beneath the water and began struggling beneath as bubbles could be seen raising upwards, the water soon faded away to reveal the defeated form of Marowak as he laid in defeat, swirls in his eyes.

"Wak..."

"Hey that was cheating, you can't just use a z-move like that when your opponent doesn't have one! It's not fair!" Zach growled out in defense of his friend as Giselle lowered her head feeling ashamed to having been robbed like that while Flash went to comfort her.

Plumeria merely waved him off with a disinterested look. "Like I care what you think, I'm just here to teach him a lesson and deny him the shot at facing Tapu Koko!" Plumeria pointed towards Ash who growled out in response, vowing to beat her to revenge his friend. He might not be as close to Giselle as Zach and Flash were but she was still a friend!

"Well you picked the wrong target cause Ash is going to kick your ass!" Leaf shouted.

"What she said!" Flash shouted in agreement.

"Please you're just a bunch of kids, you can't touch me."

"Then why did you use a z-move?" Zach countered causing Plumeria to twitch before casting him a venomous glare.

"I-Gah!" Plumeria shouted before stomping off into the crowd.

The event soon continued and witnessed Gladion continuing to sweep the competition with his Umbreon, proving to be quite the opponent. No doubt their match would be quite exciting! Next up his friends that remained in the competition, Zach and Kiawe stood across from each other, the two friends cast each other a smirk as they released their Pokemon.

"Go Turtonator!"

"Goomy, let's go!"

"Gooomy!"

"What?!" Flash face faulted at the sight.

"Goomy's quite small and Turtonator's... he's big! What on earth is he planning?!" Giselle gasped, knowing that Zach had to have a plan. He didn't rush into battles like certain trainers did, she cast a glance towards Flash as she thought that.

"Rain Dance!" Goomy twitched and a heavy downpour came down upon the battlefield, Goomy letting out a happy cry as he felt the water droplets touching his body!

"Water Pulse!" Goomy shot a powerful blast of water from his mouth, blasting Turtonator and pushing him back. Kiawe gritted his teeth before tossing out his arm.

"Dragon Pulse!" Turtonator countered with a multicolored beam of dragon shaped energy, firing it at Goomy and blasting the small Dragon type into the air as it let out a cry!

"Gooomy!" Goomy landed on his back before flopping back into an upright position as he turned to give Turtonator a hard look.

"Water Pulse, one more time!" Zach shouted out with a smirk. Goomy let out a cry before opening his mouth and sending another powerful blast of water Turtonator's way, the attack proved to be too much for the dragon turtle to handle and he soon collapsed to his side as swirls formed within his eyes. Kiawe lowered his head for a brief moment before looking up with a proud smirk as the two friends shook hands.

"Gooomy!" Goomy cried out happily, enjoying the feel of the rain soaking his body until it eventually died out and he was returned to his Pokeball.

"Go Zach, go go!" Dawn cheered, leaping up and down before kissing his cheek as he joined back up with her and May on the sidelines.

Now all that remained was Ash's match against Plumeria as another group of random trainers had finished battling it out with one another along with him facing off against a trainer with a Litten, Ash taking home the victory thanks to Nidorino! Zach and Gladion were fortunate enough to not cross paths, leaving Ash and Plumeria as the final match of the round!

Plumeria flashed Ash a smirk as she stepped out onto the battle field, Ash gave her a light glare before taking the opposite corner as he reached for a Pokeball, knowing that she was likely using Salazzle again he decided to go with his Unova capture!

"Sandile I choose you!"

"Sandile, dile!" Sandile growled out as he looked upwards at Salazzle, the Fire/Poison type giving him a smirk before licking her lips as she figured this would be easy prey.

Plumeria activated her z-ring without waiting for Ash to make a move. "Acid Downpour!"

"Dig!" Sandile burrowed beneath the ground, vanishing from sight and avoiding Plumeria's attack as the Skull admin let out a frustrated grunt and flickered her eyes about the field in an attempt to locate the annoying crocodile.

"Dile!" Sandile soon burst out from behind Salazzle, sinking his teeth right into her tail! Salazzle's eyes shot wide opened as she let out a terrified scream before slamming her tail about in a fight to get Sandile off of her but Sandile was as persistent as his trainer, refusing to let go!

"Bulldoze!" Sandile kept his grip on Salazzle before suddenly summoning up a sheer amount of force, pulling Salazzle to the ground as he slammed his feet into the ground causing a massive shockwave to form and strike Salazzle from up close, knocking the fire lizard away while also causing a great deal of damage!

"Grrr, Poison Fang!" Salazzle opened her mouth, her fangs glowed a venomous purple as she sank her teeth into the crocodile! Sandile let out a grunt as his face became tainted purple as he was Poisoned!

"Sandile!" Ash called out in concern. "Let's wrap this up with Dig!" Sandile flickered his gaze towards Ash and gave a nod before burrowing back beneath the ground, vanishing from sight before reappearing beneath Salazzle and lashing out! Salazzle let out a cry as she was sent flying towards Plumeria before knocking the older woman over as they both laid dazed on the ground from the defeat they were just given!

"Go Ash, I knew you could do it!" Leaf cried out while Lillie gazed at him in silent admiration which didn't go unnoticed by Leaf.

"Yeah, you kicked her ass!" Flash shouted out.

"Booo!"

"That was rigged!" Tupp, Rapp and Zipp shouted.

Plumeria let out a frustrated growl as she stood up, returning Salazzle to her ball while Ash approached and held out his hand to her, offering her good sportsmanship despite Plumeria being a jerk. Plumeria glanced at his hand and growled before slapping his hand away. "I don't need your pity, you're gonna regret messing with us kid!" She shouted before turning her back to him as she walked away. The Skull grunts quickly following her while giving Ash rather rude looks, Tupp even giving him the bird.

"We're on our final four now!" Hala shouted out with an excited tone. "Such amazing battles and and exciting night to be had for sure! It won't be long before we know our winner so let's continue shall we?" Hala drew names from a hat for the final time that night, revealing who the first match up would be.

"Ash, Gladion." Hala revealed.

Ash looked towards Gladion who'd been glaring at him pretty much nonstop the entire time, only time that he wasn't was when Gladion was battling somebody. Ash offered a friendly wave and gave Gladion a smile despite his cold attitude. "Let's give it our best shall we?" Ash grinned only for Gladion to not crack a smile or change his look in the slightest, merely taking his place on the battlefield while Ash stood opposite him.

"Your z-move, I want you to use it." Gladion spoke causing Ash to tilt his head, wondering if Gladion thought he was stupid enough to use it on his Umbreon. However it was Umbreon that Gladion sent out, it was a chimera Pokemon!

"Silvally!" Gladion shouted.

Ash couldn't help but show a delighted expression as his eyes laid upon the quite bizarre yet powerful looking Pokemon! No doubt it would be quite the powerful opponent!

"Use your z-move," Gladion coldly repeated as he could be seen inserting something into Silvally's head, it's head and tail began changing color while Ash wondered what he was doing.

"Ash don't it's a tra-" Sophocles tried to warn him.

"Shattered Psyche!" Ash shouted as he let Espeon out from her ball, Espeon twitched her tails as her eyes glowed bright blue before a protective barrier of telekinetic energy formed before her, the Eeveelution then broke the barrier causing the shards to go flying towards Silvally, the attack made contact with the chimera but oddly enough it didn't appear to do any damage?

"S-Silvally's a Dark type too?" Ash stuttered before looking down at his Pokedex. He'd quickly scanned it's typing to see if Gladion was trying to make a fool out of him and the Pokedex stated that it was Normal but didn't list much else information on the strange Pokemon for some peculiar reason, now however Silvally's information had been updated to Dark!

"What just happened?!" Ash jumped back with an alarmed expression as Gladion formed a smirk. Lillie shot her brother a glare, knowing he was just trying to make Ash look like a fool in front of everyone by humiliating him!

"Multi-Attack!" Silvally became cloaked in a black colored aura before repeatedly striking Espeon with his claws as the Psychic type let out a pain filled cry before suddenly going limp beneath him as Ash let out an alarmed gasp before looking up to meet Gladion's face, the blonde boy giving him a harsh glare before he returned Silvally to his Pokeball and turned his back to Ash.

"Consider that a warning to stay away from my sister," He warned, looking back solely to give him one last cold stare. "And know that I can hurt you if I wanted to!"

Ash raised his eyebrow in confusion for a brief moment before rushing forward to check on his downed Pokemon, slowly helping her up before handing her a max revive. "You okay?" He whispered.

Espeon lowered her head and tails, feeling ashamed for losing as easily as she had.

"Don't feel so bad, a lot of the Alola Pokemon aren't like ones we're used to. Gladion's powerful but that just means that we've got to work even harder if we plan to beat him, we'll get him next time!" Ash clenched his fist around Espeon's paw while giving her a determined expression. Espeon slowly began to smile before nodding her head in agreement, glancing after Gladion with a determined look. Next time they faced off things would be different!

"Torracat!" A girl with short black hair with a hat that honestly looked like a giant glove raced towards the defeated cat Pokemon as Noibat fluttered about the air about, letting out a victory screech!

"Selene is unable to battle, that means the final round will be Zach vs Gladion!"

Zach cast Gladion a light glare as Gladion continued to give Ash deadly looks despite having proved his point to the Kanto born trainer.

"Hey why don't you use Silvally against somebody who knows how it works? Or are you too scared too?" Zach was a tad bit frustrated at Gladion for making a fool of his friend and wanted some payback by beating Silvally! He was one of Lillie's best friends so of course he knew how to get under her brother's skin. Gladion turned to face him with a growl before making his way to the battlefield.

"Lycanroc, let's go!"

"Roc!" Lycanroc burst out with a growl as she glared across the field at Gladion. Gladion narrowed his eyes at the sight of the strange Lycanroc while everyone else let out a gasp at the sight!

"Is that Lycanroc orange?!" Sophocles gasped

"It looks like a mixture of Midday and Midnight!" Mallow exclaimed.

"Huh? What's going on?" Ash questioned, finding it weird how all the Alola trainers were making a fuss about this.

"Lycanroc can normally only evolve into Midday and Midnight form!" Lillie explained, showing her Pokedex to him and Leaf as she pointed the evolutions out. "Midday evolves at well day while Midnight Lycanroc happens if you evolve Lycanroc at night!"

"Meet Dusk Lycanroc, she evolved at dusk!" Zach smirked, stroking his canine Pokemon before the ear as she let out a pleasured filled howl of content.

"Incredible, so if a Lycanroc evolves when the sun rises it could also evolve into something different?!" Leaf asked only for Lillie and Zach to shrug as they honestly had no idea.

"It's still a Rock type!" Gladion shouted as he inserted a blue drive into Silvally's head. Silvally's head and tail turned into a blue color as a smirk crossed Zach's face, sliding a crystal onto his z-ring but he remained silent for now, not wanting to let Gladion in on the fact that he was being played.

"Accelerock!" Zach ordered as Gladion raised his eyebrow for a moment wondering why he was acting stupid while Lycanroc charged at Silvally before slamming her body up against him!

"Multi-Attack!" Silvally let out a cry as blue aura surrounded his body, the Pokemon lashed out and struck Lycanroc. It did a great deal of damage but Lycanroc managed to stay standing, gritting her teeth before flashing her trainer a smirk as the two nodded at one another.

"Gigavolt Havoc!" Zach suddenly shouted catching Gladion by surprise as he rushed to change out the drives only to quickly pull back as he realized he wouldn't be fast enough and didn't want to risk frying himself in a foolish move. Gladion did have a z-ring so their next attack was completely justified. Zach's z-ring glowed a bright yellow as a large electric ball of energy formed within Lycanroc's mouth, the canine let out a growl before throwing out her head and launching the electric attack across the field! The attack met Silvally and gave the Pokemon a powerful shock as electricity flowed through it's veins, Ash's eyes lit up as he was inspired for his next battle with the chimera. Silvally's eyes rolled upwards before falling to his side with a loud thud as swirls formed within his eyes, groaning out as Gladion let out a sigh before returning him.

"I suppose I deserve that." He muttered.

"He just beat Silvally!" Kiawe gasped out.

"Wow!" Mallow breathed as she couldn't help but stare in admiration after the intense battle.

Lillie flashed a smirk at her brother before quickly rushing out to give Zach a quick friendly hug, Ash felt a tinge of jealousy flowing through him at that action but soon calmed down as Zach made no attempt to return it nor even give her a second glance. Their relationship was strictly platonic! Lillie caught Ash's look as a dark blush formed across her head, giggling to herself while Gladion walked over to meet Zach, casting a quick glance at Lillie before whispering.

"You should really date her, I'm sick of chasing away all these fools trying to win her over! At least you're loyal enough to not hurt her and strong enough to protect her from danger!" Gladion revealed that he did care for Lillie, he just didn't respect her feelings. "Plus you're not an idiot... most of the time."

"Lillie can like whoever she likes, there were a few times where I was tempted a long time ago but I'm quite happy where I am now!" Zach exclaimed, casting a loving look in May and Dawn's direction as the two were cheering loudly for him. "I want Lillie to be happy and Ash is the perfect person for her, he's not a bad person you know. He's one of my best friends!"

Gladion let out a laugh at hearing Ash referred to as 'perfect', giving Ash another cold hearted look. "Sure he is, just you watch he'll break Lillie's heart. I won't rest until I've proven that he's not right to her or he loses interest."

"Geez you sound just like your mother, she's been trying to set me up with Lillie since we were ten!" Zach rolled his eyes before turning to walk away from Gladion, knowing that his words wouldn't get through to the boy. Ash would have have to prove himself the hard way.

"Don't compare me to her!" Gladion hissed out with disgust, giving Ash one last glare before turning to walk away.

"Koko!" Tapu Koko burst onto the battlefield in a burst of bright yellow light, blinding everyone other than Flash as he was the only one with sunglasses on despite in being nighttime. Tapu Koko waved his hand at Zach, beckoning him to start the battle as the crowd cheered out with excitement, looking forward to seeing Tapu Koko fight!

"Well Zach, you've won so now you get to battle against Tapu Koko! You can begin whenever you're ready!" Hala spoke as Zach turned to look at Lucario before the two were quick to give each other nods.

"No, we're not worthy... but he is!" Zach pointed towards Ash. "I've never gotten to meet Tapu Koko outside of the festival but he has, he'd have probably beaten me if Gladion didn't want to be such a jerk and be a poor sport about things." He spoke with a rather humble tone as he approached Tapu Koko before giving him a bow of respect. "Can you face my friend instead of me?"

"I-Is he really giving up the right to face a legendary?!" Flash exclaimed in shock. "The nerve of him, a chance like this only comes along once a lifetime!"

"Oh come on, it's sweet!" Giselle nudged him. "He's giving up the chance so his friend can battle him instead!"

"Huh, he's just like his father." Victor noted, recalling how his sister mentioned that Hilbert had passed up the opportunity to fight the three musketeers so Gloria could fight them instead. "Very honorable."

"He'll definitely live up to the champion title, if he gets to that point." Zinnia added with a bit of respect visible in her tone.

Mallow's eyes sparked with admiration for him, actions like that were part of why she grew so fond of him over the long years of knowing him. He often helped out around her restaurant too and had helped her find and gather rare herbs out in the forest.

Tapu Koko kept his gaze locked firmly on him for a moment before reaching out and clasping his hand around Zach's, giving it a tight squeeze before pulling away and Zach felt something still in it. He opened up his hand and discovered a light yellow crystal with what appeared to be Tapu Koko's shell in place of the usual type marking that donned most z-crystals.

"What's this?" Zach asked aloud as Hala couldn't help but laugh.

"Tapunium Z, that's a rare gift that hasn't been bestowed to anyone other than a Kahuna since the ancient days!" Hala remarked before giving him a thumbs up. "It's not a gift to take lightly, Tapu Koko trusts you to look after it and in turn if you activate the z-ring and crystal anywhere within the region, he'll come to assist you if necessary." Tapu Koko gave a nod of respect before flying towards Ash and locking eyes with the boy.

"Koko!"

Ash clenched his fists as he stared at the guardian deity with determination. "Alright, let's fight!"

Zach quickly raced off the field while Ash took his place, looking towards Espeon before shouting out. "Return!"

"Espe!" They did rely on it a lot but Ash wanted to see just what it'd do to a Pokemon like this! Ash knew he wouldn't win, he only had one badge after all but he could still enjoy the experience of battling a legendary! Espeon raced across the field in a blinding light, a bright aura surrounding her body as she slammed against Tapu Koko, knocking the guardian deity back as it gave a look of surprise before smirking.

"Koko!" A dome of yellow electricity surrounded the battlefield as Tapu Koko summoned up an Electric Terrain!

"Shattered Psyche!" Ash shouted as he began to pose while his z-ring shined a bright purple color. Espeon's eyes light up as she summoned a telekinetic barrier before breaking it apart as the shards began flying across the field and pelting Tapu Koko! The Tapu Pokemon was further pushed back by the attack, giving Ash a look of surprise before clapping his hands together as he let out a cry. His body became coated in yellow electricity as he quickly soared through the air before striking Espeon with Wild Charge! The Eeveelution let out a cry as she was sent flying through the air before landing in a collapsed heap next to Ash. Tapu Koko remained up and able to battle but there were rather obvious marks on him that proved Ash and Espeon had put in some dents, how far they actually went into it's health was a mystery that only Tapu Koko would know.

Ash smirked and felt thankful that he at least got to put in a dent, racing out to help Espeon up and check on her before looking up at Tapu Koko with a challenging smirk. "That was an amazing battle, I hope we can battle again someday when we're stronger!" Tapu Koko gave him a nod, seeming to agree to his challenge before disappearing in a bright yellow light as he shot back up into the sky and flew away!

"That was remarkable Ash, you actually put a dent into Tapu Koko!" Lana gushed as they walked back home from the festival.

"Yeah most trainers can't even touch it!" Lillie piped up with an admirable expression.

"I could have!" Flash boasted.

"I couldn't." Zach calmly stated.

"Nor I," Leaf frowned, watching all her classmates and friends battling it out made he feel like she was out of her league. They had put her quite the intimidating battles and she couldn't help but think that she'd quickly fall if she had come across any one of them in a tournament. She needed to get stronger and quick or else she'd fall behind!

"It's the experience that really mattered!" Ash spoke with an excited tone. "The day Espeon and I met we saw this legendary phoenix Pokemon and have been hoping that we'll get lucky enough to face it someday, getting to face Tapu Koko today... it makes it look as if we might just get that chance!" Ash looked up at the sky with a determined expression as Espeon copied his actions. "Ho-oh wherever you are, I'm going to find you and battle you someday!" He called out.

"Espe!" Espeon cried out in agreement as her tails twitched with excitement.

"Do we really have to do this in front of my girlfriends?" Zach groaned out as Burnet and Kukui pulled him into a hug as they said their goodbyes.

"Well who knows when we'll get the chance to do so again with you now collecting badges!" Burnet proudly spoke.

Kukui smirked and flashed him a thumbs up. "And we couldn't be prouder, we're glad you're pursuing your dream! Good luck with getting your second badge, maybe even your third if we don't see you by then!"

"I'll try and visit soon." Zach assured them, giving them a light push as May and Dawn couldn't help but giggle at the sight, pulling him right into another hug as he got away.

"Don't worry you two, we'll take good care of him!" Dawn reassured.

"Yeah, he has us looking out for him!" May added.

Burnet laughed before she and Kukui waved them off as they left.

"I notice you didn't comment on the fact you discovered they were sleeping in his room," Kukui flashed his wife a smirk. Burnet didn't mean to snoop, she just walked in as Zach had left the window open while he was away one day and she winded up tripping over May and Dawn's bags!

"Oh please, they're teenagers." Burnet rolled her eyes before smirking. "We weren't so different when we were that age!" The notable lack of rubber in the room did concern her but she wasn't going to say anything about it, if something happened she knew Zach would be responsible and do right by the girls if anything happened.

Soon as Zach and the girls were a safe distance away, Victor flew on through the window and landed perfectly in the middle of the room. Burnet let out a scream while Kukui quickly stood in front of her.

"Kukui, Burnet we need to talk..." He pulled down his hood causing the two to instantly go quiet at the sight before hearing him out.

"Bye guys, have fun back in Kanto!" Lana waved at their new friends as they stood in front of the airport, her gaze fixated on Ash in particular.

"I hope you two get stronger cause next time, we won't lose!" Kiawe shouted.

"Turto!" Turtonator cried out.

"Next time I'll show you where you can find Alolan Geodude!" Sophocles promised Flash as the Electric specialist got an excited look.

"Seriously? Geodude are Electric typed here?!"

Janine suddenly raced in completely out of breath as she held up a lone Pokeball. "I... I did it..."

"Good luck with-you know," Lana whispered to Misty, referring to her sisters as Misty let out a nervous laugh.

"Thank you, good luck making... bubbles or whatever it was you wanted to do?"

"Maybe next time I'll find a Pokemon too," Brock placed his hands behind his back as he stretched out. He hadn't had much luck this time.

Mallow raced forward and hugged Zach without uttering a word, enjoying how close they were for a brief few seconds before pulling away with a dark blush. "G-Good luck becoming a champion, I know you can do it!"

"Thank you, good luck with your restaurant!" Mallow silently glanced at May and Dawn, giving them a hopeful look before they both gave her a thumbs up to reassure her that they were there for him every step of the way! Mallow formed a light smile and backed away.

"Where is he?" Zinnia asked, tapping her foot impatiently as she couldn't sense Victor anywhere. The plane for Kanto was leaving before the Hoenn one and she wanted to make sure that he was on board.

"Looking for someone?" Victor spoke as he suddenly appeared from the shadows, his hood back over his face.

"There you are, I was hoping that they wouldn't leave withou-wait where were you?" Zinnia narrowed her eyes.

"I was saying thanks to his adopted parents, I just thought that they needed to know as I might not get the chance to later. I almost died once and had so many regrets, I want to die without any this time." Victor cast a glance towards his nephew. "They agreed to keep it quiet, they know about... everything. They won't tell him I'm still alive as they think it's best I tell him myself, which I don't aim to do. It's better if he thinks I'm dead."

"You really don't expect to live to see the end of all this do you?" Zinnia asked as Victor shook his head before gazing towards his nephew.

"So long as he survives and the cabal falls, that's all that matters. Nothing else!" Victor turned and disappeared into the shadows as Zinnia could hear his Dusknoir for a brief moment, no doubt taking him to the luggage compartment of the plane.

"Last call for Vermillion City!" Could be heard over the PA system.

"Well that's us," Ash spoke, turning around to go before Zach held out his hand to him.

"I'll be back in Kanto before you know it so let's promise to battle soon, eh?"

Ash smiled before taking his hand and shaking it. "You know it!"

"I'll battle you too and win this time, just watch!" Flash smirked, giving his best friend a fist bump before walking on by with Giselle.

"Wait!" Ash turned and saw Lillie carrying a rather huge case of luggage, the girl struggling to even move due to the sheer size and weight of it causing him to wonder how she even got there with it!

"Lillie?!"

"I-I'm coming with you!" Ash blinked for a second as he wasn't sure who she was speaking to. Was she going to Hoenn too or...? "Please don't go without me!" Ash then realized that it was Kanto as he and Brock were quick to rush forward and help her out with her luggage as Lillie let out a light thanks.

Gladion crossed his arms with a furious expression as he watched Lillie go. "I can't believe you just let her go like that, we may disagree on many things but we always agreed that she should get with him!" Gladion pointed towards Zach, still rather furious about the fact that he shot down a chance at getting with his sister.

"Oh Gladion, you needn't worry. It's obvious that it was never going to happen," Lusamine waved it off as Gladion gave her a harsh glare before stomping off, muttering about how he couldn't wait to track down Ash and kick his ass again.

"I can't wait to see Kanto, I bet there are so many cute Pokemon there!" Lillie squealed out.

"There's plenty, I bet Leaf will be happy to show you around!" Ash exclaimed.

"Huh?" Leaf blinked at him with a questioning look.

"Cause I'm gonna get straight to preparing to take on the Cerulean Gym once we get back!"

"Oh, yeah I don't mind!" Leaf smiled lightly before focusing her gaze on Lillie. "I can show you around no problem!"

"Shame we're leaving Alola so soon, it feels like we just got here..." Giselle sighed out.

"Don't worry, I have the feeling that we'll be back soon!" Flash smirked while back in Alola? A portal opened up within the Alolan forest as a lone nebula cloud Pokemon appeared and slept rather peacefully in the forest!

But what of Team Rocket? After the Bewear took them back to her den she proceeded to stuff berries into their mouths as if they were her young much to their protest!

"Wear!" She cried out affectionately before pulling them into a tight embrace, trapping the trio in her tight almost crushing grasp! Eventually the three managed to get away but before they could leave the forest Bewear quickly found them and took them back to her den to continue taking care of them as they let out groans of defeat, figuring that it'd take quite some time to escape from Bewear.

More stuff happened. I loved Team Rocket's Bewear so I decided to fit her in somewhere

I debated rather or not to have Ash lose but it made more sense for Ash to lose his first encounter, he didn't know what Silvally is and I didn't want Gladion to come off as a copy of Calem, losing but still hating Ash.

Next up is Leaf and Lillie doing a bonding exercise at nugget bridge while Ash loses his beloved hat?