"What?! Really?! NOOOOOO!" Misty shrieked as she collapsed onto her knees while the three walked while retelling their experience to Misty after Ash won his trial too. "How can my favorite type cross with the worst type ever?! Surskit is at least cute but a 10 foot spider?!"
"Sheesh, sorry for saying so." Hau became anxious as he didn't mean to send this girl to tears. "What's her deal with bugs anyway?"
"I don't know." Ash sighed. "She won't explain why she doesn't like carrots and peppers either. And she doesn't like the fact I have a Grubbin on my team." Then he remembered. "Oh yeah, so when Grubbin took down Araquanid, it evolved into Charjabug!"
"Really?! Cool! What's it like now?"
"I'll show you. Charjabug, come on out!" Letting loose his bug/electric type Pokemon, it was no longer a white grub, but more like a green cube. A small green cube with blue square eyes, a square mandible with its teeth zigzagging vertically and orange spikes where its cheeks would be.
"Ahhhhh!" Misty screamed as she ran down the path ahead of them. "What did I say about keeping that away from me?!" Ash could only sigh in response.
"Sorry about her Charjabug, but you are cool. The way you used Spark on its back over and over? That was a great strategy we came up with." Ash told his Pokemon, which... tried to move to indicate happiness? It was difficult to tell since it didn't have appendages to move.
"So that's how it did it? I first tried to fry it with Pikachu before having Eevee finish it off." Hau told him for comparison.
"Cool." Ash said in response.
"Guys!" They heard Misty call out from the distance she ran towards. "There's Sudowoodo in the way!"
"Guess I'll have to take care of this." Ash shook his head with a grin. "Charjabug, return." The boys went down the path to see Misty and a boy standing in front of two Sudowoodo. "Brionne, I choose you!" Sending out his Pop Star Pokemon, the water type clapped her arms as she laughed. "Use Water Gun!" She proceeded to spray the rock types with water, and they ran away screaming in panic.
"Why didn't you use that Waterium Z move?" Hau asked.
"What if I need it later? Ash responded. "I need to conserve my energy for an actual battle."
"Oho!" The three teens heard. From behind, the sci-fi people walked past them to observe the sudowoodo. "These Sudowoodo are fascinating as well! Worthy of being a research all on their own!" The captain exclaimed. "The way they mimic plants in order to avoid water. How very interesting."
"Just as our research suggested, Captain Phyco." His female subordinate agreed.
"Indeed. We must gather data about Pokemon if we want to win Pokemon battles after all." The two of them turned to the teenagers and incorrectly greeted them again with their version of the Alolan hand signs. "That being said, there's no need for us to use these odd Pokemon here. Soliera, would you kindly?"
"Trainer, could I ask you to face me in a Pokemon battle?" Ash remembered what they said about Nebby, so Ash wasn't sure about battling her again, but Hau stepped right in.
"I don't know, can you?" The boy then laughed at his joke. "Haven't you heard that when two Pokemon trainers connect eye contact they battle? You have so that should be an obvious yes!" Ash groaned from his friend's unnecessary help.
"Really? What a weird custom. Seems impractical and time consuming. Well, I asked and now I know the answer. Then I will face you with my Poipole!" Jumping back, the woman sent out a weird Pokemon. It's a bipedal Pokemon that's floating in the air, colored dark purple and fuchsia with needles coming from its large, bulbous round head.
"Alright, fine." Ash rolled his eyes, having to interact with them. "Brionne, use Water Gun!"
"Dodge and use Venoshock!" Flying above the incoming water, Poipole aimed the needle at the top of its head at Brionne and spewed out purple liquid. Brionne got drenched in the toxic liquid and groaned from the damage.
"Get to it with Aqua Jet!" Generating water around herself, The Pop Star Pokemon shot up and rammed into the poison type Pokemon. It rolled back through the air a couple of times.
"Counter with Fury Attack!" Going right back at the water starter, it used its head to stab at the Pokemon a total of five times, each time had her yelping in pain in response as she fell to the ground.
"Brionne!"
"Venoshock, again!" Spraying poison onto the Pokemon, her injuries now might become infected.
"Brionne, return!" Ash called her back, not wanting her to suffer more than that. "Hang in there, you'll be okay." Now determined to avenge his starter, he sent out his flyer.
"Hawlucha, I choose you!" Once his fighting/flying type was out, he ordered, "Use Aerial Ace!"
"Venoshock!" When Poipole tried to douse the Wrestling Pokemon with more poison, the much faster Pokemon was able to leap into the air, surrounded by streaks of white energy, and bashed into the poison type with a lot of power behind it. It yelled in pain as it flew back.
"Counter with Peck!"
"Aerial Ace!" Poipole tried to land a blow, but Hawlucha was too fast as he ducked and fell towards the ground before spreading his wings to perform a U-Turn, and once again used his flying type move to deliver the final blow. The two Pokemon crashed into the ground, where Hawlucha stood on the knocked out Pokemon. "Way to go Hawlucha!"
"It is not Poipole that failed in this battle. It is I, as a trainer, who have failed." Soliera groaned as she returned her Pokemon. "Thank you very much. I was able to understand Poipole better, but it seems my Pokemon battle skills leave much to be desired."
"Boy, that bracelet around your wrist, and those crystals... its light feel somehow nostalgic."
"What do you mean?" Ash inquired, covering his Z item.
"It might be the same light my ancestors gazed upon, maybe? The light said to have come from The Blinding One? Who can tell? Yet it is our duty as the Ultra Recon Squad to find out."
"Huh?" Hau uttered.
"Well, farewell then." Both of them said as they did their sign and walked back where they came.
"What's an Ultra Recon Squad?" The native boy asked.
"I don't know." Ash responded. "But I don't trust them. They said they'd always be nearby so long as Lillie has Nebby on her."
"But she isn't with us." Misty pointed out. "She's still at the hotel in Heahea City. Or at least I think so. Not sure if she's left by now."
"I'm sure we'll come across her eventually." Hau shrugged off. Continuing on their way, the group soon found by the next area they were headed a Mudsdale. It is a rather tall, and mighty looking horse with a black mane around its head and tail, ending in red though. The mane reselmbed a combination of a mohawk in the center and dreadlocks down the sides. Around its legs are a protective coating of red mud which is part of its body. It neighed as it spotted them.
"You three, can you come to my aid?" A rather young girl asked them, barely reaching up to Misty's shoulders. And behind them were Team Skull members!
"Yo yo yo, don't turn your backside on us!" The thug on the left demanded.
"And you three! Y'all three numbskulls are from Melemele Island, yo!" The right recognized our heroes.
"These scoundrels are Pokemon thieves. And you're on familiar terms with them?" The girl asked.
"Ummm..." Ash thought about it, but the exact memory was failing him. "We've met Team Skull several times, but I'm not sure if I remember these two exactly. Their gang members look so similar to one another." The two gang members gasped.
"Yo, that's gang profiling!" The left said offended.
"How dare you, you gang-ist?!" The right accused Ash. Ash put his hands up defensively, apparently having offended them while Misty chuckled from how seriously they were taking it like they were an actual minority being discriminated like race or sex.
"Nonetheless, I'm Hapu Lepo. Life in the big city sure is something else. Pokemon thieves running about brazenly. But we'll put a stop to you. It's four to two."
"We're not thieves! It's a legitimate business!" The left defended himself.
"We got straight messed up on Melemele! Got exiled to Akala. But we ain't going out like that! Go Drowzee!"
"Go Rattata!" The other thug yelled.
"Mudbray, I choose you!
"Go Staryu, my steady!"
"Eevee, let's go!" Before the Team Skull grunts could say anything, all four of the good trainers gave their commands.
"Use Heavy Slam/Bulldoze/Bubble Beam/Swift!" With all these incoming attacks all at once, the Team Skull Pokemon were terrified as they hugged each other before being subject to a four move combo, resulting in a large explosion. The grunts went flying onto their backs, along with their roasted Pokemon.
"Ah! Too strong! The bosses will be mad for sure!" The right thug uttered, scared straight from the display of power and teamwork.
"Mudsdale, shall we stomp these scoundrels?" Hapu asked her Mudsdale. "I'd be a mess to clean up afterward, but if you're willing..."
"Ah! Time to break out the retreat!" Not wanting to be stomped by a 1 ton horse, the grunts ran for their lives while returning their Pokemon. Coming out of hiding, a Driftloon floated to Hapu.
"You'll be fine getting home?" The girl asked the Pokemon. It only said its name in response before going off. "Glad to see that Driftloon will get home on her own. I've got you all to thank. I could have handled them easily, but help is appreciated from trial-goers. Give me your names, please."
"I'm Ash. These are my friends, Misty and Hau."
"Hmm, fine names." Hapu smiled. I like the way you lead your Pokemon. Interesting you have a Mudbray. Mudsdale and I are always wandering all over Alola to try and reach our goals, so perhaps we'll meet again someday. I am indebted to your aid after all. I suggest heading to Royal Avenue down the road. I think it would suite you all well." Mounting her Mudsdale, Hapu and her Pokemon strolled off.
"I have a feeling we'll see her again." Hau commented.
"I hope so. It would be interesting to see which of our Mudsdales would win when she evolves. Right?" Ash asked his Pokemon, and she bayed with pride.
"That would be cool to find out, but let's go see what this Royal Avenue place is first." The native teen suggested. The three did so after they returned their Pokemon and they walked until they found the avenue, and it certainly looked festive. There was a circular park filled with pretty flowers, and a street filled with stands along with a done being promoted by a Machamp. Someone they recognized with Gladion entering the dome.
"Oh man, if Gladion is participating in something like that then I want in!"
"Aha, glad you could make it!" The teens jumped as a masked luchadore dressed man welcomed them from behind. "I'm here today to spread the word! Oh yeah, about Battle Royal! The call me... The Masked Royal! Woo!" All three recognized him from how he said that last word and asked,
"Prof-"
"ShhShhShhhh!" He abruptly hushed them with panic in his eyes before getting back into. "Pardon me, but I don't think we've met! We don't talk about what's under secret identities! Here, I am The Masked Royal and no one else!" Misty caught on as she said to her friends on the act, sounding sort of phony,
"Come on guys, that's The Masked Royal. It would be, 'impolite', to just blurt who's under the mask, right?" She stressed the middle word in her sentence, and the two boys also got it.
"Oh yeah!" Hau said with obviously fake astonishment along with a smile on his face. "The Masked Royal! Yeah he's really awesome. We don't need to know who's under the mask."
"Haha, there we go!" TMR laughed.
"In fact, I'm not even sure if I want to know." Ash said, wanting to see how far he could go. "For all I know, it could be just some random guy under there."
"Huh?" TMR uttered, confused.
"Yeah! If under The Masked Royal turned out to be some big loser, than I would seriously lose respect for The Masked Royal for having such a low life alter ego." The two others were trying to keep their chuckling in while the luchadore looked around nervously.
"Alright, that's enough."
"Well hey, what if he's someone important underneath there? Like Professor Kukui?" Misty asked, still phoning it in as hell and yet could barely contain her laughter.
"Him? No way!" Hau denied. "He's probably out playing with his Rockruff trying to learn a new thing about moves and such. As cool as he is, how can he compare to The Masked Royal? He looks like a freaking super hero! In comparison, the professor's just a nerd!" The man before them didn't say anything to that.
"Yeah, I'd more believe it was one of the Team Skull thugs. Maybe under the mask is one of the females!" Ash suggested. All three of them laughed as they collapsed on the floor holding their guts laughing. While the man they've been talking about was not appreciating the humor, he did have the ability to save face and laugh with them, if a bit forced.
"Hahaha! How can I be a female! I've got a muscular bronzed chest, and I'm not wearing those sexy underwear tights women wear! Come with me, and let me tell you a thing or two." Grabbing Ash's hand, he proceeded to drag Ash, who proceeded to drag Misty, who proceeded to drag Hau as they became one dragged line of laughing teenagers as they went into The Masked Royal's room in the building. Seating them all on a large chest filled with costumes, the man took his mask off to reveal his face.
"Professor Kukui?!" They all gasped like they totally had not seen that coming what's so ever at all.
"Okay cousins, yeah, I get the joke." He said hastily, trying to get to the point. "I get you were just having fun who was under this but you didn't need to turn it into a deliberately badly acted roast. Especially at my expense."
"Hehe, sorry." Misty apologized as she kept giggling to lesser degrees. "We couldn't help ourselves."
"Yeah, I'm sorry about the nerd thing." Hau said with both a genuine and nervous grin. "I think you became double as awesome now that I know you're some part time wrestler."
"Actually, I'm not a real wrestler. That's just part of the gig out there. I've been teaching others, inspiring them, how to participate in this format for years."
"That it's a battle royal?" Ash asked. "Like more then two people?"
"Yeah. Four trainers, three Pokemon from each, for one big Pokemon battle. You can probably guess the rest since the concept isn't that hard."
"Well I certainly was wanting to battle in it anyway!" Hau exclaimed. "Gladion is here! And I was wanting to try my hand at him again!"
"Very well! It shall be Ash, Hau, Gladion and myself!" Kukui decided.
"Me?!" Ash questioned, shocked he was just suddenly involved.
"Yeah come on Ash!" Hau encouraged him. "While I can do it with just anyone, it'd be more fun if one of my closest friends was doing it with me! Plus, you have a Wrestling Pokemon for crying out loud! He'd fit right in!"
"Huh. When you put it in that way, I guess I can do it. It does sound like fun."
"Boys and their wrestling." Misty rolled her eyes with an amused grin. She stood up. "Well, it's alright. I don't think I'd perform well in an environment like this and I'd imagine the costumes would be uncomfortable. And unnecessarily sexualized since they like beautiful woman in skimpy costumes. I've already had plenty of that." While she was amused at first, Misty became more and more agitated as she said that before slamming the door.
"What's her deal?" Hau wondered.
"Uh, it's best not to question her." Ash defended his friend. "Only I know why and it came after a pretty big fight we've had."
"Oh yeah." Kukui remembered. "That was pretty rough before things got patched up."
"Alright, if it's that sensitive then I don't need to know."
"Good then. Well, let's get this match going underway!"
In the ring itself, Ash, Hau, The Masked Royal, and Gladion to his surprise, would up in the ring. A referee watched from outside since Pokemon battles were too dangerous to be that up close. The announcer spoke up.
"Hello ladies and gentlemen! Here we are once again at the Battle Royal Dome! The dome is packed and filled with excitement! In the green corner we have Ash Ketchum and his Hawlucha!"
"Hawlucha!" The Wrestling Pokemon boasted as he walked around, posing like a professional which drove the fans wild.
"In the yellow corner, we have Hau Hoaloha and his Torracat! In the red corner, we have The Royal and his Rockruff! And finally, we have Gladion Hartley and his... uhhh... I'm not sure what it is but this Pokemon sure looks scary looking!" The announcer said about Type: Null. "Let the battle commence!"
"Hawlucha, use Karate Chop on Rockruff!"
"Rockruff, Protect!" As the fastest Pokemon, Hawlucha was able to run first and try to land the first blow, but the rock type puppy protected himself with a green force field.
"Torracat, Double Kick!" Hau commanded so that the Fire Cat went on the offense.
"Counter with Aerial Ace!" Gladion retaliated. The Synthetic Pokemon charged with white streaks of energy, and easily beat the fire type with a superior move to go along with its greater strength as the cat howled from discomfort.
"Rockruff, use Bite!" Royal ordered. Dropping its shield, the Puppy Pokemon tried to take a bite, but Hawlucha was too agile for the rock type.
"Karate Chop, again!" Using his glowing hand, the fighting/flying type gave a powerful super effective move to the side so strongly it sent the poor Pokemon howing and flying through a corner post, breaking it.
"Aw! Rockruff!" The Masked Royal cried out as he went to his Pokemon's side. Everyone gasped from what just occurred and the whole match even had to be suspended due to damage to the ring and worry for Rockruff. Ash and Hawlucha were flabbergasted with shock and terror.
"I'm so sorry Masked Royal! We didn't mean ruin the match like that! It was an accident, I swear!" Ash pleaded and cried as he apologized on his hands and knees. He was surrounded by his friends, Gladion and Hawlucha.
"Hawlucha!" The Wrestling Pokemon said with the same tone as his owner in the same position.
"Don't worry, it's not a big problem." Royal sighed. "I'll pay for the damages you caused since you don't look like travelers with a lot of money. However, the next time you decide to TKO, do it into the floor. It was designed to withstand a Snorlax performing a Slam on it."
"Hmph, would've been nice if these imbeciles were warned ahead of time." Gladion scoffed with an eye roll.
"There you are." A voice spoke to them. Everyone turned to see a dark skinned guy with a trial captain piece in the center of his necklace. "I saw how each of you started the match. While the ending was unexpected, I saw a fiery passion in your beginning performance. I hope you bring that fire with you and burn up my trial. I'm Kaiwe Kiahi, the fire captain. You trial-goers can get to Wela Volcano Park from Route 7. I'll be waiting on the peak. If you plan on seeing your island challenge through to the end, climb to the top with your strongest team!" He then left.
"What was that about?" Misty wondered. "He just told us what to do then left."
"Oh, that's just how he normally is, treating everything seriously." Royal told them. "So, trial-goers, huh? How has your progress been?"
"Ash and I both completed our trail with Lana." Hau answered, then gained a smile. "I'm having a blast! How about you Ash?" Ash was still on his hands and knees the whole time, just watching everything up to the point where he stood up, along with Hawlucha.
"Oh, they're really fun."
"Yeah! What about you Gladion? Why would you want to even do a battle royal? Trying to get stronger by beating everyone? Or maybe you just want to make some friends? Haha." Hau laughed. The blonde haired emo huffed at the suggestion as he looked away, raising his right hand to dramatically cover the side of his face obscured with his bangs.
"I'm not here to play. I'm here because you can't protect anything when you're weak." He then left as well, leaving all of them puzzled.
"Wow, he's just a ray of sunshine, eh? He should just let himself have a good time with everybody else. You can do a lot more together too."
"Not everyone has that positive of a mindset." Misty pointed out to Hau. "He might have an agenda that he takes very seriously and can't let himself get soft with 'good times'."
"She's right. While you should always have fun, it doesn't always mean you can." Royal agreed. "But anyway, it might be time to take on Kaiwe's challenge. Just head on up the Northeast of here and you'll find yourself on Route 7, and you'll eventually find the volcano park. I have stuff to take care of. Till we meet again, yeah." Once he went to pay for damages, the trainers themselves decided to see what Kaiwe's trial was like, so the journey resumed.