Gamelover41592: I normally try to match the Pokémon to the girls' personality.
Matt (Guest): That was what I was leaning towards anyways.
llusionSign (Guest): I was thinking about that, but most likely not.
Omni Spectator (Guest): Why wouldn't he?
Alright, time to meet the second member of the Aether Paradise's screwed up family: Gladion!
After spending a bit of time exploring Heahea City, Emma and Kitty headed straight to Route 4. Sure, they wanted to do their journey together, but they were siblings. And siblings were competitive. So they wanted to be the first to complete their Island Challenges over the other. But Emma's lust for research got the better of her and she stopped in the middle of Route 4 to analyze some of the Pokémon there. Releasing Torracat, Charjabug and Rockruff from their Pokéballs so they could explore, Emma propped herself up against a nearby tree and began scanning some of the nearby Pokémon.
"Charja?" Emma looked at her bug-type with a fond smile.
"Are you hungry?" She asked. There was a berry pile on the other side of the tree and she had already checked to make sure there were no Crabrawlers hiding in there.
"Charja!" Charjabug made what Emma guessed as a happy smile.
"Alright, come here," She grabbed a couple berries from the pile and set them down in front of Charjabug, who gleefully began eating them. The happy cries ended up attracting Torracat and Rockruff, who came looking for berries as well. Emma laughed as she gave them some of their own. She was about to sit back down when she felt something nuzzle her leg. She assumed that it was one of her Pokémon, but was surprised to find a Mudbray looking up at her expectantly.
"Bray."
"Can I help you?" Emma asked. The Mudbray just sat down in front of her. "Are...are you looking for berries?"
"Bray!" Glancing at her own Pokémon to see if they minded, Emma grabbed the last couple berries from the pile and offered them to the Mudbray, who took them with a happy cry. Once it had finished eating, it cuddled up to her.
"This is going to be how I get new Pokémon now, isn't it?" She asked no one in particular. Not that she really minded. After all, it meant that she was building trust from the get go. She hoped that Kitty hadn't already beaten her to Paniola Town.
"SO MANY CUTE PIKACHUS!" Kitty was pretty sure she was in heaven. After all, there were Pikachus and other cute Pokémon as far as the eye could see. She completely forgot about her challenge as she snuggled all the Pikachus that happily rushed over to her.
"Hey Emma!" Hau greeted Emma as she walked into Paniola Town. "Glad I ran into you…"
"How the heck did you beat me here?" Emma asked. "I know I had a head start on you!"
"Heh, maybe don't waste all that time playing with your Rotom-Dex!" Hau pointed out. Emma laughed. He had a point. "So, you wanna see who's stronger? I got a Z-Power ring from my gramps, too, after making it through his Grand Trial! Besides, having a battle in a place like Paniola Town feels like we're in an old-fashioned Western showdown or something, right? This is so cool!"
"Maybe calm down a little?" Emma offered. She was all for having a battle. After all, she had two new members on her team to try out.
"Sorry, I'm just really excited," Hau replied sheepishly. "Though, if we're gonna be real honorable cowboys and girls, we've got to make sure our teams are healthy first."
"Agreed...pardner," Emma said with a smile. She had gotten into a couple battles on the way over. A quick stop to the Pokémon Center later and the duo was ready for battle.
"Dartrix, go!" Hau called out as his Pokémon got into position.
"Torracat, time to win!" Emma declared as she tossed her own Pokémon out. "Now, use Flame Charge!"
"Torra!" Torracat surged forward, covering itself in flames.
"Dartrix, dodge out of the way!" Hau called out. Dartrix narrowly got out of the way in time. "Okay, now use Razor Leaf!"
"Dart!" The attack landed, but Emma wasn't worried. Fire resisted Grass after all.
"Flame Charge again!" Emma ordered. This time, Torracat landed the hit, knocking Dartrix out almost instantly.
"Alright Pikachu, time to shine!" Hau said as he switched out his Pokémon.
"Torracat, come back!" Emma said as she recalled her starter. "Mudbray, let's do this!"
"I see you've been catching new teammates too!" Hau noted.
"And they're ready to take you down! Mudbray, bulldoze!" Emma called out. The attack landed, knocking Pikachu out almost on contact. Hau returned it to it's Pokéball before sending out a Noibat.
"Noibat, use Wing Attack!" Hau ordered. Noibat was able to get the attack in before Emma called Mudbray back in exchange for Charjabug.
"Charjabug, Spark!" Emma cried as she thrust her hand out.
"Charja!" The attack landed, but didn't do enough damage.
"Noibat, Wing Attack again!" Hau ordered. Emma didn't have enough time to order Charjabug to dodge, causing it to take heavy damage.
"Charjabug, come back!" Emma said as she returned Charjabug to it's Pokéball. "You did great. Rockruff! Finish the job!"
"Ruff!" Rockruff cried as he lunged out of his ball.
"Okay Rockruff!" Emma began. "Use Rock Throw!" With another cry, Rockruff launched the attack, finishing Noibat off. Down to his last Pokémon, Hau didn't waver as he sent out his new Eevee. Undaunted, Emma sent Torracat back out, who easily took out Eevee.
"Ma-a-an, that was some kinda battle!" Hau cheered. "Dartrix and everyone all look like they had a blast, too! Right then. I'll share my bit of good luck with you, Emma!" He then handed Emma a Dire Hit.
"Thanks," She said. She never used them, but appreciated the gesture and thought behind it. Kitty then came running over.
"Sorry guys! I got distracted!" She said as she attempted to catch her breath. "Seems like I missed a pretty awesome battle!"
"You could say that," Emma replied. "I managed to add a Mudbray to my team."
"Nice one, Em!" Kitty complemented her sister as she pulled her into a hug.
"You know, Pokémon battles are just, like, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose." Hau noted. "But you're only really a loser if you don't have any fun while you're at it, right?"
Kitty cracked a smile. "You said it, Hau!"
"The Alolan way is to always have fun and try your best," Emma chimed in with a smile of her own. The three kids shared a hardy laugh together.
"Anyways, I'm heading off to Paniola Ranch," Hau revealed once they stopped laughing before running off.
"Honestly, we should probably head over there too," Emma noted.
"Maybe just a little exploring," Kitty said.
"Fair enough," Emma agreed.
"Thanks for stopping by!" Mallow greeted the sisters. She had been on Paniola Ranch and the girls had been invited to see her. "The Moomoo Milk from Paniola Ranch is the best! It's so rich and creamy when you use it in white sauce and other things...Mmm! The taste can't even be described."
"Maybe you could make something for us someday?" Kitty asked.
"I'd love to!" Mallow agreed. "Oh, by the way! Since I was lucky enough to run into you two here, I'll do you a little favor." She then took the girls' Ride Pagers and registered a Stoutland. "See, Stoutland can sniff out items for you that are buried in the dirt where you can't even see them!"
"That sounds so helpful!" Kitty exclaimed as she summoned Stoutland and started taking selfies on it.
"Good luck, girls! There's all kinds of stuff lying around waiting for you to find it!" Mallow encouraged. "And Stoutland will bark louder and louder the closer it gets to some item buried in the ground! If you go all the way down Route 5, you'll come out on Brooklet Hill. My friend Lana is up there, so say hi to her for me if you see her!" With that, she ran off. Emma and Kitty took that as their cue to leave.
"Hau?" Kitty asked. Once they found their friend, he was battling with a strange teen.
"Hahaha!" Hau laughed. "Man, I lost again!"
"Are you even taking this seriously?" The boy asked.
"I am!" Hau assured him. "So seriously! I'm seriously enjoying this!"
"...Enjoying it?" The boy questioned, almost as if he couldn't believe what Hau was saying. "You can enjoy Pokémon battling when you put everything you have into it...which you clearly haven't."
"Tourist," Emma and Kitty both agreed as they walked over to the boys.
"Whoa! Hey, Emma! Hey, Kitty!" Hau greeted the girls once he saw them. "This guy is plenny scary!"
"You two are Emma and Kitty?" The other boy asked.
"You know us?" Emma asked, taking a step in front of her sister in case this creep tried to do something.
"Hmm. So you have enough sense to be wary. Not bad…" The boy said. "I'm Gladion. Me and my partner, Type: Null, are training to get stronger...we have to get stronger! Though most of our time these days goes to working for Team Skull as their muscle. One of you, battle me. I won't take no for an answer."
"Fine!" Emma barked, continuing to stay in front of Kitty.
"Emma, it's fine," Kitty attempted to assure her sister. "I can do it."
"Kitty, relax," Emma replied, turning back to give her sister a reassuring smile. "I can handle this. I don't want to risk you getting hurt." The battle began, with Emma easily defeating his first two Pokémon, with Rockruff, But it was his final Pokémon that caught her eye.
"Emma, what is that?" Kitty asked.
"I...don't know…" Emma agreed. The Rotom-Dex came out and attempted to scan Type: Null.
"Error!" Rotom called out. "Pokémon not found!"
"This is Type: Null," Gladion said stoically. "My partner. And it will defeat you!"
"Torracat, you handle this!" Emma decided she would feel better if her own partner battled Type: Null. "Alright, Flame Charge!"
"Torra!" With that, Torracat surged forward. The attack landed.
"Type: Null, Tackle," Gladion ordered. Again, the attack landed. Torracat stumbled, but overall seemed fine.
"Alright, again!" Emma called out. Torracat hit again and this time, it was a knockout.
"How annoying!" Gladion snapped. He looked enraged at his loss to Emma. "Hmph...it's not like me to slip up like that. I've got to keep fighting stronger opponents. Looks like I'm still not ready…"
"Ready for what?" Kitty asked.
Gladion ignored her and turned to Hau. "That kid there. Her Pokémon aren't weak. And sure, it's fine to enjoy battling...but this brat...he's just using that as an excuse not to try hard because he can't beat the Kahuna. Because he can't beat Hala when he's serious!"
"But...didn't he beat Hala?" Both Emma and Kitty thought.
"You know my gramps?" Hau asked, completely missing the point. "Wait. So you think I'm stronger?"
"Awww, look at you, little Gladion! Aren't you just a real cool guy? Heh heh heh…" Two Team Skull grunts, one girl and one boy.
"I guess it's not a surprise a homeless kid would turn out spineless, too, huh?" The girl said. "No worries! We've got enough backbone to cover for you!" The boy then started walking towards the kids, who were already ready for battle.
"Just give it up already," Gladion snapped.
"Huh?"
"You know you can't beat me." Gladion continued. "You'll just get your Pokémon hurt for no reason. They're good Pokémon."
"We came all this way and for what?" The female grunt asked. "For a big fat waste of time, thanks for you! If you hadn't gotten in our way, we could've stolen the Totem Pokémon for Brooklet Hill! Let's get out of here. Look, the Murkrow are crying, and it's time we should be flying." With that, she walked off.
"Listen up good, Gladion." The male grunt barked. "The boss does like you. That's true. But you're just some hired help we keep around for when we need you. You aren't part of Team Skull, not really. And you never will be. Got it? You better get it." Then he walked off, leaving Gladion standing alone. Gladion sighed, then walked off.
"Thanks, Emma." Hau said. "You both gave it your all!"
"Hey Hau...you did beat Hala, right?" Kitty asked.
"Of course I beat him!" Hau reassured them. "I don't know what that guy's problem was, but I'm fine! Still...looks like I gotta train up my team if I'm gonna take on the Trial at Brooklet Hill next!" With that, he ran off. Emma and Kitty shared a look. This journey was slowly becoming less and less simple.
Oh you girls have no idea how much more challenging this journey is going to be for you. Anyways, next time, we head to Brooklet Hill for Lana's Trial! See ya!