As Ash and Misty headed on down to Malie Garden and changed back into their Malie Asian inspired clothes again upon reaching the place, the two did indeed find the Professor, but Kukui was surrounded by Team Skull thugs!
"Professor!" They both called out as they ran to his side.
"Yo yo yo, hold up, yo, Mr. Kukui!"
"You say you want to make a Pokemon League? You got rocks in your skull?"
"Four turns." The professor held up four fingers.
"Huh?" They uttered, confused. Kukui smiled as he boasted,
"Bring it on, both of you! I've been researching Pokemon moves, yeah, so I'm always ready! Oh yeah! I'll take both of you on in a battle royal, and you'll both be down with just a Swift and Rock Slide or two. You got to beat the man to be the man boys!"
"Yo, for real?!"
"Fine, you asked for it!"
"Come on Professor, you can take them!" Ash encouraged.
"Show these numbskulls their place!" Misty added.
"Battle royal, huh? Nice idea there Kukui." An unfamiliar voice said his opinion behind the thugs. "You can beat down three Pokemon at once, huh?" Walking off a bridge while his henchmen moved out of the way, a young man wearing a monochrome set of clothes stood in front of the Professor. He wore a white shirt under a black jacket, black pants over white sneakers, gilded glasses along with a gold skull pendant and had tattoos on his arms.
"It's Guzma." One grunt gasped.
"The boss has graced us with his presence!"
"The hated boss who beats you down and beats you down and never lets up! Yeah, ya boi Guzma's here! Greetings, cowering public! We have an exciting bout for you today! The Pokemon Professor Kukui and the bad bad boss of Team Skull, and toughest guy around, Guzma! Here we are Kukui... fellow rejects who never could become captains. We've got all these old, moldy traditions in Alola; the kahunas, the captains... it's about time we cut off all that silly garbage and make something new for ourselves. Trust me, I get that. Don't get me wrong though, Kukui. We've got no need for a Pokemon League. After all, everyone already knows who the strongest trainer is on these islands!"
"Speak for yourself Guzma. It's not like I couldn't become captain, I just chose not to. I had other dreams, see? I wanted to know which moves would be strong enough to beat old Hala. And I finally found what I was looking for. The strongest moves are the ones the trainer and Pokemon choose together. In the heat of the moment when it really counts. That's when I know I had to make a Pokemon League, yeah, to give everyone the chance to be pushed to their limit with their team and find that perfect move! Let's see it Guzma! Show me your moves and prove you aren't just all talk! If you really can that is. Don't you agree Ash? Misty?"
"Right!" Both of them agreed. Guzma's eyebrow twitched.
"Did I hear right? Ash and Misty? So you're the ones messing with my underlings while doing the island challenge? You don't look like you're from around here!"
"They just moved into Alola recently." Kukui explained. "And they're loving every minute of it! And they can unleash some powerful moves as well. So, Guzma, if you think you're the strongest trainer on these islands, why don't you battle Ash?"
"Tsk, this move fanatic is getting me all riled up! The boss scoffed with a grin. The grin was gone though when he noticed Ash's Z-braclet. "You've got Z-power, huh kid? Why even bother with the island challenge? What's the point of it?"
"It's teaching me how to be strong. I failed on my first day in my home region of Kanto, so I came here in Alola so that it would help teach me how to be a good Pokemon trainer."
"Ha! Moving from one region to another won't make you strong enough, dumb kid! If you fail in one, you'll fail in all of them! Watch closely Kukui, someday I'm going to destroy you. But first, I'll destroy everything you care about! Wanna see what destruction looks like?! Here it is in human form- it's ya boi Guzma!"
"Bagon, I choose you!" Ash sent out his dragon type.
"Golisopod, First Impression!" Sending out a samurai looking bug, it ran swiftly and attacked hard as it punched Bagon with enough power to send the Rock Head Pokemon flying, crying out as he smashed into a tree.
"Bagon!" Ash cried out as he ran to him. Misty also shrieked as she once again ran away because the bug/water type looked so creepy. "Return." Ash said to his Pokemon, after making sure it was okay. "Alright, you sure did give a good first impression, but I can give just as good as I get. Brionne, I choose you!" Sending out his water starter, he requested, "Use Disarming Voice!"
"Concentrate with Swords Dance!" Golisopod began to move in an intricate way, while swords appeared around it, they clinked together above the Pokemon, and the Hard Scale Pokemon became much stronger as it glowed and trilled. Even as it was pushed back by the Pop Star Pokemon's fairy type attack, it was barely slowed down.
"Slash!" Pushing through the pink energy, the two biggest spikes on its right arm glowed white as it delivered a very devastating blow to the water starter. She screamed as she flew into Ash's arms, causing him to land on his butt.
"Ah! Don't worry Brionne! Return!" Once she was safe, he sighed before Ash threw out another Pokemon.
"Grimer, I choose you!"
"Razor Shell! Its arms glowed with blue energy as the Hard Scale Pokemon lunged, and slashed with a strong water type attack. Even with its gelatinous body, Grimer couldn't handle such a powerful blow as it grunted from being splattered.
"Grimer, return! Charjabug, I choose you!"
"Use Razor Shell, once more!" Like before, the bug/electric type couldn't withstand the might of Golisopod.
"Return! Hawlucha, use Aerial Ace!" Sending out his Wrestling Pokemon, the fighting/flying Pokemon came out flying indeed as he flew with white streaks glowing around him.
"Brace for it!" Guzma ordered. Raising its arms, the Hard Scale Pokemon was pushed back considerably, the first time in this fight. Once the glow of Hawlucha's attack disappeared, Guzma demanded, "Now use Razor Shell!" With another slash coated with blue energy, Golisopod attacked the Wrestling Pokemon with the same strength it took down his comrades, taking him down too as he was smashed into the ground on his stomach.
"Hawlucha, return!" Ash shouted. He couldn't believe it. It was just like Misty all over again before their fight. How could it be this strong and durable? There was only one option left.
"Mudsdale, I choose you!" Sending out his last Pokemon, he said to his Pokemon, "Come on, let's show him what we've got!" Mudsdale snorted as Ash began to use one of his Z-Moves.
"So you're finally using that huh? Alright then, bring it! Golisopod, use Swords Dance!" As the Pokemon prepared for a climatic clash, both trainers then yelled,
"Breakneck Blitz!"
"Razor Shell!" The two slow Pokemon raced towards each other at top speed. Golisopod was able to reach Mudsdale first, and delivered a super strong, super effective slash which didn't just stalemate the incoming charging horse, the normal type Z-attack was outright negated as the Draft Horse Pokemon was slammed into the ground with all of her momentum arrested. Ash and Misty, from her hiding place far from the bug/water type, were shocked. He wasn't just defeated, he was curb-stomped hard. Even Professor Kukui was taken aback by how badly Ash lost when Guzma just laughed from this triumph.
"Hahaha! So this is the kid that routinely beats up my underlings? How utterly pathetic. Alright boys, take his Pokemon and his Z stuff!"
"Everyone, help Ash!" Misty, once she recovered from her shock, rant to her friend's aid and sent out Staryu, Pelliper and Slowpoke to surround and protect Ash.
"Decidueye, keep them away!" Kukui sent out the grass starter he kept all along, and it flapped its brown feathered, white speckled wings before pulling back an arrow within his wings, and proceeded to rapid fire 10 arrows in one second, deterring any thugs from getting too close as the arrows nearly got their feet. "I'm warning you Guzma." The professor was no longer messing around. "Take another step, and I'll defeat everyone here in one shot."
"Oh really? I'd like to see you try. Have at 'em boys!" Guzma ordered while they sent out their dark and poison types. Professor Kukui started to preform a Z-pose, which synced up the energies of him and his Decidueye.
"Bloom Doom." He uttered. The Arrow Quill Pokemon said his name as he spread his wings, enveloping the area in beautiful flower, which all of them were confused about how this was an attack. That was until, with the exception of his Ash, Misty, his master and their Pokemon, the field exploded with the power of nature. Literally, as the Z-Move erupted like a pile of dynamite as all of the thugs and their Pokemon was sent flying back from the force of the Z-Move. Even Golisopod was unable to withstand the attack, but it was able to use the last of its strength to protect the caught off guard Guzma from the brunt of the attack. Within a moment, it was over. The island breeze slowly moved the smoke and dust out of the area while Kukui and Decidueye stood there panting, along with the flabbergasted Misty and Ash. All of the goons were groaning and knocked out. Their Pokemon were unconscious, and Guzma was seen crawling out from underneath his faithful Pokemon, whom had its back and armored arms scorched from such a fierce attack.
"So that's the power of... a Grassium Z-move." The team boss grunted as he got out. "Golisipod, return." Withdrawing his Pokemon, Guzma stared at his fallen Pokemon in its ball for a few seconds, before looking up at Kukui. "Hmph, at least I got something out of this. Showing your new favorite that even with as many trials he's won and how many Z-Crystals he's collected, he's still weak against the likes of me. Ash and Misty. I'll remember you two and your friends... as someone I'll be happy to beat down any time." Walking past the professor and the two trainers, he spotted Hau whom had arrived after the Bloom Doom. "So you're Hau, huh?"
"And you're Guzma, huh?" He responded back. While the boss nodded his head once to that, he then shook his head as he said,
"Y'know you don't have to do this island challenge thing just because your granddad's a kahuna. Even if you finish, you might not get what you want." He then walked off. Hau turned to his friends and ran to them.
"What happened?"
"Ash... lost." Misty said, looking sympathetic as she rested a hand on the boy's shoulder, whom was now... stumped.
A/N: I was wondering when this rapid rate of a story was going to catch up and bite Ash hard. Usually it takes the characters in my stories two months or so to complete the gym challenges, before waiting for months on end to wait for the Pokemon Leagues taking place in mid summer. But here it's completely different. An island could be completed in a day. While I have been giving them off-screen training which does take up some time, there's so much happening from island to island-heck city to city that the Pokemon canon levels are shooting higher than they can train. The trial captains are one thing but Guzma's Golisopod here along with Ash's choice of Pokemon that are still around level 29-30 by this point, this was a straight up loss. I did not have this planned. I write these as I'm watching a walk-through and wow, this caught me off guard. What do you think of this twist? Let me know in the reviews.