Pokémon: Journey of the Next Generation

by NEBSparky86

10 years have passed since Ash and May have settled down into their positions as members of the Atlantica Islands Elite Four. Now the time has come to pass the mantle on to the new guard of Pokémon trainers. Follow Cynthia Ketchum along with other new trainers as they find new friends and perils. Slight Advanceshipping... sequel to May and Ash's Unova Journey.

14. Chapter 13

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and story elements of the Pokémon franchise. Game Freak, Nintendo and the Pokémon Company all have ownership of it. I'm just borrowing them for this story to entertain readers for fun.

13: Kindled Alolan Love & the Suicune Valley Conference (part 1)

AND (Arceus's New Dawn) 8

"I thought those two would never calm down," 25 year-old Keith Ketchum said to his wife, Lana Ketchum, after he put their firstborn twin daughters to bed. "Thank goodness that Primarina was able to sing to them and get them to fall asleep."

"Well, you didn't think I had my Primarina perfect her singing just for entertainment and calling out for mating, did you?" 26 year-old Lana Ketchum asked her husband as she tapped the bed for Keith to join her in bed.

"Never crossed my mind, my beautiful Alola mermaid," answered Keith as he joined his wife in their California king sized bed.

"Keith, I've got something that I gotta tell you," Lana said to her husband as the two snuggled together. "It's really important."

"Wanting to go on another vacation with Sango and Suiren again?" Keith asked his wife before kissing her on her forehead.

"Nope," answered Lana as she shook her head. "I'm pregnant again, Keith."

"Oh…," replied Keith as he was surprised to hear Lana telling him that she was pregnant again.

"'Oh'?" Lana asked her husband as she was a bit upset with Keith for her reaction. "That's your response? 'Oh'?"

"I'm sorry Lana," replied Keith as he knew she was upset with him again like when she told him that she was pregnant with their twin daughters, Sango and Suiren. "You know that I'm happy to hear that we're going to have another child."

"You're definitely just like your dad," Lana said as she turned her back to Keith and then fell asleep.

"Hey come on Lana," protested Keith. "That's not fair."

Lana would not respond back as she had fallen asleep. Keith let out a sigh as he then started to fall asleep. The youngest son of Ash and May Ketchum looked up at the skylight on the ceiling of their master suite.

"It's definitely been a long road to get here," Keith said to himself aloud before spotting a Jirachi that wizzed by. "Guess our wish came true."

oooooooooooooo

Present time

Keith Ketchum's POV

Three months had passed after going through the Alola Island Challenge with Lana alongside me. The two of us went through the different trials and even encountered Team Skull that Sis had warned us about. Despite our best effort to try and defeat the group, the thugs of Skull were rooted in pretty deep and we never got the chance to find out who was leading them. The battle against Skull ended up taking us a whole year. Whoever lead Team Skull was obviously smart. Though Team Skull wasn't the only enemy that we encountered. A wicked and cruel Weavile who went by the name of Dark Blizzard fought against us even though we tried to avoid contact with him. Despite our best effort to face him, Dark Blizzard was too powerful for both of us even though we double teamed him. Despite the bad guys we faced, Lana and I were able to compete in the Island Challenge and go through the Alola Pokémon League. We didn't win the Alola Pokémon League, but it was enough of a confidence booster for me that I now wanted to try and take on the most difficult Pokémon League conference of all. That's right, I wanted to take on the Suicune Valley Conference with Lana. But I needed to talk to Lana and get her opinion on the matter. I really didn't wanna take on the Suicune Valley Conference if Lana didn't wanna challenge it. During the Pokémon League at Mount Lanakila, I had turned 14 while my older sister Cynthia had turned 16.

oooooooooooooo

"I'm really sorry that it took us a year to get into the Pokémon League," I said to Lana after we got back to our apartment after being defeated. "I guess I thought we could quickly defeat Team Skull."

"Hey, don't apologize," Lana replied as she kissed me on my lips. "Team Skull is a threat to Alola and to the other regions. Even I thought we could put them down quickly."

"I got something that I wanted to ask you during the Pokémon League," I said to Lana as we cuddled together in bed.

'It's so nice to see that you've finally warmed up to me, Shadow,' Lana's Primarina said to Shadow in the room next door to us.

"So… what do you wanna ask me?" Lana asked me as she smiled at me.

"I was wanting to challenge the Suicune Valley Conference," I began as I was trying to sell Lana on the idea of taking on the toughest Pokémon League in the world, "and I really would like it if you joined me."

"Will we be able to compete together as a couple?" Lana asked me as she was a little worried.

"Yeah, most definitely," I answered, bursting with my dad's confidence and enthusiasm. "That's how Aunt Relena and Uncle Ritchie became the co-champions of the Atlantica Islands."

"Then yes Keith," Lana said happily. "I wanna compete in the Suicune Valley Conference with you. So long as we compete together… side by side."

oooooooooooooo

"I gotta be out of my mind to be doing this," I said as Shadow and I went back Konikoni City, the next day as I told Lana that I wanted to look and see if I could find more shiny Eevees, to go talk to Lana's parents with beads of sweat going down my face.

'Hey, you wanted to talk to them about wanting to marry their daughter and take her back home to compete in the Suicune Valley Conference,' Shadow said to me as he remained stoic.

"I'm not nervous about asking them to let us bring Lana home with us to compete in the Suicune Valley Conference," I replied to Shadow. "It's…"

'You're worried about their reaction to when you make your request to marry their daughter,' Shadow said as he then had a wicked grin on his face. 'This is gonna be fun… well for me at least.'

"Not helping to ease my nervousness," I said to Shadow as my face was as red as an Occa Berry.

'You're right Keith,' replied Shadow before I knocked on the door. 'I'm gonna relish in your agony and torment.'

"Ah, Keith, it's good to see you," Mrs. Felicity said to me as looked to me and then to Shadow. "And hello to you too, Shadow. Please come on in you two.

"There's no need for Shadow to worry," Mrs. Felicity assured me and Shadow with a smile. "Harper and Sarah are with their father… fishing."

'Thank Lord Arceus for that,' replied Shadow as he let out a sigh of relief.

"Lana's father will be home in 30 minutes," Mrs. Felicity said to me and Shadow. "You said that you have something you wanted to speak to us about something, right?"

"Yes ma'am," I answered Lana's mother.

"Honey, I'm home," Lana's dad said as he came in home a lot earlier than Mrs. Felicity said he would be home. "The girls started getting tired, so I decided to bring them home.

"Oh hey there Keith… and Shadow," Lana's dad said to me as he saw me and Shadow as he had Harper and Sarah in his arms. "I'll be right back. Need to put these two in their bed for a nap."

Shadow let out a sigh of relief as he saw that Harper and Sarah were out cold. Lana's younger twin sisters were another two objects of dread for Shadow as they liked to chase him. The two were like Fairy-type Pokémon, they terrified him. It took Lana's dad only ten minutes to put both girls to bed for their nap. Once the ten minutes were up, he came down and then sat down next to his wife. Once both of them sat down, my heart began to pound like crazy as meeting with them was terrifying. As for Shadow, he was enjoying me sweating bullets.

"You know son, if there's something you gotta say," Lana's dad said to me, "then just spit it out."

"Well," I began after I calmed down somewhat, "I spoke to Lana about competing in the Suicune Valley Conference."

"Wait, you mean the most insanely difficult Pokémon League Conference in world?" Lana's dad asked me as he raised an eye brow. "Tell me you didn't talk her into competing in it."

"Um, I asked her if she wanted to compete in the Suicune Valley Conference with me," I replied to Lana's parents.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Keith," Lana's dad said to me. "You're from that region and you've got an advantage since I'm sure that you've competed in it."

"Actually, it'll be my first time competing," I said to Lana's dad. "I wanted to compete alongside Lana. Not against her."

"I see," Mrs. Felicity replied with a smile on her face. "You're afraid that if you two compete, you'll have to face off against the one you love. Afraid if you have to face off against Lana, that it might damage or destroy your relationship with her."

I didn't answer her, but she was right. Hayato also has the same problem, especially when it came to him and his girlfriend, the Fairy Princess, Vanna Seabright. He could never face off against Vanna, even if he wanted to. And I certainly didn't wanna face off against Lana either because I love her. Lana's dad then looked to his wife as the two looked at each other silently and then back to me.

"Well, I guess if Lana's wanting to compete in the Suicune Valley Conference and compete alongside you," began Mr. Felicity, "then who are we to stop her?"

"You'll take care of Lana while you two are competing together?" Mrs. Felicity asked me gently.

"You have my word, ma'am," I answered Mrs. Felicity with confidence.

'You need to ask them about the other thing too,' Shadow said to me. 'You know, where you wanna ask Lana to marry you and get their permission to do so.'

"Shut up, Shadow!" I exclaimed to my partner and brother as I was then sweating even more bullets and my face was Chople Berry Red.

"Oh? You want to marry our little girl, do you?" Mr. Felicity asked me as I wasn't aware that he could understand my shiny Umbreon little brother and then had a dark aura behind him… along with his wife.

"Is there a specific reason that you want to marry Lana?" Mrs. Felicity asked me in a calm yet dark fury. "I certainly hope that it's not…"

"I swear," I cried out in terror to Mr. and Mrs. Felicity as the sweat bullets were pouring out, "it's not for the reasons you might think. Mom would hamstring me and Dad would throw me in the middle of a stampede of a raging Tauros herd if the reason you think I wanna marry Lana is my only reason to wanna marry your oldest daughter."

Mr. and Mrs. Felicity kept a wary eye on me at first as they still had a dark aura behind them. I was still profusely blushing, redder than a Chople Berry and still profusely sweating bullets. As for my shiny Umbreon brother who let the Skitty out of the bag, he was grinning and enjoying my torment at the hands of Lana's parents. I then glared at him and decided to turn the tables on him as I called out, "Hey Harper, Sarah! Shadow wants to play with you two… and play with Primarina too!"

It took only a few minutes to hear Lana's younger twin sisters, Harper and Sarah to run down the stairs with happy smiles on their faces once they saw that Shadow was there. As for Shadow, he became terrified once he saw Harper and Sarah before trying to bolt for the door. But Harper and Sarah were a bit faster and caught him as they playfully tackled him to the ground and then went out the backdoor towards the backyard where Lana's Primarina was at.

'AHHH! GET THIS FAIRY OFF OF ME! EEEE!' Shadow cried out in terror.

'Hooray, Shadow came to see me,' Lana's Primarina said happily as she was able to scoop him up from Harper and Sarah. 'I'm so happy! Let's play with Harper and Sarah.'

'Why me?' moaned Shadow.

"Feeling better, son?" Mr. Felicity asked me as I let out a sigh of relief.

"Um, a bit, sir," I answered Lana's dad.

"So, you promise your reason for wanting to marry Lana is not so that you can," Mrs. Felicity began to ask me.

"I swear to Lord Arceus, it's not so I can just have sex with her and have a family," I was quick to answer Lana's parents. "I love Lana with all my heart and I wanna spend my life with her. Lana makes me happy and she was the only one who was able to get me out of my Shellder shell."

"When do you plan to ask her to marry you?" Mrs. Felicity asked me before Mr. Felicity could step in and grill me some more.

"As soon as we win the badge from the Phantom Ninja Island gym," I answered Lana's parents. "It'll be Lana's 16th birthday by the time we get to the island and then go through the gym."

"So what does that have to do with Lana turning 16?" Mr. Felicity asked as he was confused.

"I… I just…," I stammered as I was really nervous talking about it to Lana's parents.

"You just what, son?" Mr. Felicity asked me as he was starting to inch closer to my face.

"I think that Keith thinks that a gym badge and an engagement ring would be a nice birthday present for Lana," Mrs. Felicity answered as she pulled her husband back before looking to me. "Do I have that right, Keith?"

"Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh," I answered Lana's mom as I nodded my head as the sweat hadn't stopped for me.

Taking twenty minutes as they stepped away from the living room, Lana's parents talked about wither or not they would give their blessing to me to ask Lana to marry me. The only thing that kept me from hyperventilating was the cries from Shadow as he was being tossed around in water bubbles by Lana's Primarina and being chased around by Harper and Sarah. Once the twenty minutes were up, Lana's parents came back into the room and then sat down.

"You two are a bit young to be even thinking about marriage," Lana's dad began. "But I don't think that you would be asking for our blessing if you didn't at least have a plan in place."

"It'll be wonderful to have you marrying Lana," Mrs. Felicity said with a smile on her face. "You have our blessing and permission to ask Lana to marry you."

"Just because you have our permission," Mr. Felicity began to say as he was eyeing me.

"Lana and I have held to our agreement of no premarital sex at all," I said to Lana's parents as I was assuring them while still profusely sweating bullets. "And neither of us intend to break that, even when we get engaged."

"Good lad," Mr. Felicity replied as he clapped my back with a cheeky grin.

'Ahh! HELP ME! EEEE!' Shadow cried out in terror as he was trying to run away from Lana's Primarina as well as Harper and Sarah.

'Come back here Shadow,' Lana's Primarina called as she chased after my shiny Umbreon brother. 'We wanna play with you, Shadow. Me, Harper AND Sarah!'

"P-Please don't tell Lana I brought this up to you," I requested to Lana's parents.

"Oh we won't talk about it to Lana," answered Mrs. Felicity with a smile on her face. "But if you're taking Lana back to your home region, at least let her know that we'd like to talk to her before she leaves for the Atlantica Islands."

oooooooooooooo

"It's so wonderful to see you again, Lana," Mom said after Lana and I spent 18 hours flying back home from Alola. "Ash and I saw you and Keith competing in the Pokémon League in Alola together. I hope Keith wasn't too much of a problem for you to handle."

"Mom!" I exclaimed in embarrassment to my mother after she said that.

"Keith wasn't any trouble at all, Mrs. Ketchum," Lana replied after she giggled. "Though I was surprised when he brought up wanting to compete in the Suicune Valley Conference."

"Your parents are alright with you competing in the Suicune Valley Conference?" Mom asked Lana.

"Uh huh," answered Lana as she smiled at Mom and Big Brother Manaphy, in her arms. "They gave me their blessing and told me to become the first person from Alola to blaze a trail through the competition."

"Well, you'll certainly be the first from Alola to participate in the Suicune Valley Conference," Mom said to Lana cheerfully. "But since you're from Alola, you'll need someone to act as your legal guardian while you're here in the Atlantica Islands.

"Would give me your parents' contact information, please?" Mom asked Lana.

"How come?" Lana asked my mom. "Did something bad happen?"

"When Keith was six," began Mom, "the region had trainers that came from other regions and had gotten killed during their trek to get necessary badges in order to compete."

"After those trainers had gotten killed by the Pokémon tribes that were at war with each other," Dad said as he too had come to the airport to pick up me and Lana, "the regional Pokémon League officials and the government then created a law that stated trainers from other regions had to have local individuals from the region act either as sponsors or a legal guardian for those under the age of 17, coming to compete in the Suicune Valley Conference."

"Oh I see," replied Lana as she was then a bit worried.

"There's no need to worry about encountering any tribal wars, at least not for now," Dad said to Lana. "The royal family told the Pokémon tribes and clans that if they're at war with one another, that their fighting has to cease once the Pokémon League season begins."

"When does the Pokémon League season begin?" Lana asked my parents.

"It begins in a few months," I answered my girlfriend.

"Then… how come we came back here three months earlier?" Lana asked me in curiosity. "Are you planning something?"

"Well," I began as I didn't wanna ruin the surprise of wanting to propose her, "I was wanting to do an underwater safari over at Ruby Island and at Amber Island. You know, since you showed me a good time with those underwater safaris back in Alola."

"Huh," replied Lana as she thought about the idea of being taken on an underwater safari by me. "That does sound like a good idea. I never did get the chance to fully explore the islands of this region."

"Before you two even consider doing such exploring," Mom began as she was calm, "it would be best for you to come home with us and let your bodies rest from traveling.

Mom then looked to Lana as she said, "Once we get home, I'll need your parents' contact information so I can speak to them about becoming your legal guardian here."

"Sure, no problem, Mrs. Ketchum," Lana replied happily with a gentle on her face.

oooooooooooooo

May Ketchum's POV

oooooooooooooo

"So why is this necessary, Mrs. Ketchum?" Lana's mother, Sapphire Felicity, asked me out of concern, after we brought Keith and Lana home from the airport.

"It's to protect those trainers who come to the Atlantica Islands to compete in the Suicune Valley Conference from different regions," I explained to Lana's parents as they were disturbed that I was asking them for consent to be their daughter's legal guardian while she was here in the kingdom. "The kingdom had a small handful of trainers who came from Johto, Kalos and Sinnoh who were caught in the crossfire between two warring tribes while the Pokémon League season was going on and they were killed."

"Oh I see," replied Lana's father. "Your region's government is just trying to protect those foreign trainers who go to your region to compete."

"You and your husband have our permission to act as her legal guardians while she's in the Atlantica Islands," Sapphire said to me quickly and decisively. "Is there anything that we need to sign or write out to show that you and your husband are Lana's legal guardians while she's there?"

"I'll need to send this form to you from our Ministry of Immigration and Customs," I answered Lana's mother as I showed her to form that Ash and I had gotten as we brought Lana and Keith home. "Please make sure that its signed and notarized. Do you have somewhere where I can fax this to you?

"One last thing I should tell you two," I said to Lana's parents. "The only way that Ash and I can no longer be your daughter's legal guardian is when she becomes a legal adult. Wither she turns 17 or gets married before turning 17."

"We understand," replied Lana's mother as she looked at me as if she was telepathically telling me something else.

"I see," I said to Lana's mother. "So my son worked up the courage to ask you to for your blessing to marry Lana."

"He did," replied Sapphire as she nodded her head to me. "But the poor boy was really terrified, had his face as red as a Chople Berry and was even sweating bullets too."

oooooooooooooo

"So… we have to wait for a week before we can do any traveling?" my son asked me in confusion as I told him and Lana that their underwater safari trip was going to be on hold.

"How come?" Lana asked as she too was confused by what I had told the two of them.

"Your parents sent over a form that allows myself and Keith's father to be your legal guardians while you're here in the Atlantica Islands," I explained to Lana. "In other words, me and my husband are responsible for your safety while you're here in the Atlantica Islands."

Both teenagers looked at each other at first and then sighed as they couldn't leave until Lana was recognized as under mine and Ash's custodial protection. Though they weren't going to be bored as there were plenty of Pokémon here at our home. My children were pretty much raised by mine and Ash's Pokémon whenever we had to travel for my Pokémon Coordinators' tours or even the Pokémon World Tournament that was being held in different regions after being introduced in the Unova region. So Ash and I figured our children's "older siblings" would be there to provide entertainment and certainly make Lana and her Primarina feel at home. Though Latias had been causing trouble recently, posing as me while I was gone doing business for the Elite Four or for the Pokémon League. Hopefully with Lana around, Latias wouldn't be causing trouble for anyone else as there would be a new person around who give her attention or she would just be happy that Keith was back from Alola.

oooooooooooooo

'I'm so happy to see you're home,' Latias said to Keith as the female Dragon/Psychic-type Eon Pokémon was cuddling and hugging Keith affectionally. 'I thought you were gonna take me with you and Shadow to that Alola place.'

"Ugh… sorry Sister Latias," Keith replied to Latias as she was hugging him a bit harder than usual.

"Um…," Lana began as she was confused by what she was seeing.

"You'll have to forgive Latias," I said to Lana. "She tends to be affectionate with Keith and his father. She also tends to transform herself into me or a family friend, Bianca, from Alto Mare in Johto.

"She might try to transform into you if she doesn't get enough attention and affection," I warned Lana. "And her transformations are very convincing too."

"Really?" Lana asked as both of us watched Keith playing with Latias. "Hey, where's Shadow at?"

'AHHHHH! GET AWAY FROM ME FAIRY! EEEEEE!' Shadow cried out in terror as he ran away from Lana's Primarina.

'Come back, Shadow!' Lana's Primarina called out to Shadow. 'I thought you were gonna show me around this place!'

"I take it this happens often back in Alola," I said as the scene before me was something that wasn't new.

"I take it something like this happens a lot?" Lana asked me curiously.

"I've seen a Hydreigon belonging one of Keith's friends being terrorized by a Sylveon, belonging to another friend, and a Togekiss, belonging to one of his royal cousins," I explained to Lana as I was referring to Francesca Seabright's Hydreigon, Nidhoggr, being terrorized by Vanna Seabright's Sylveon, Oberon, young Prince Hayato's Togekiss, Ichigo.

"Oh wow," replied Lana as we watched Shadow being chased around by her Primarina.

'AHHHHH! EEEEEE!' Shadow cried out in terror before Lana's Primarina made a big enough bubble for her to use and leap up on and launch herself at the young terrified shiny male Moon Pokémon.

Lana watched as her Primarina was successful in glomping Shadow and began hugging him affectionally and nuzzling as we heard him ask, 'Why me?' I said nothing and did nothing as I wasn't going to get myself involved. Once Shadow usually asked 'Why me,' his mother would come along and watch her son being chased around or being shown affection to by Fairy-type Pokémon. Sure enough, not ten minutes later, Shadow's mother came along as she was taking a walk along the beach, enjoying the gentle breeze of the ocean. Lana was certainly taken aback at the sight of Shadow's mother, a shiny female Sylveon I came to name Amethyst. Amethyst greeted me with her usual greeting of extending her ribbon feelers to me.

'Oh? I see we have a guest here,' Amethyst said to me as she gazed at my son's girlfriend and then saw Lana's Primarina being affectionate with her son, Shadow. 'Two guests I take it and the other guest is a Fairy Pokémon too.

'And it looks like my son is still quite the magnet for Fairy-type Pokémon, I see,' continued Amethyst before let out a sigh.

oooooooooooooo

Keith's Ketchum's POV

oooooooooooooo

"You've got quite a family," Lana said to me after all the silliness had calmed down. "I never thought that all of those Pokémon would give me that kind of greeting."

"That's my older brothers and sisters for you," I replied to Lana as we held each other in bed.

"You really think they're your siblings?" Lana asked me as she looked at me.

"Of course I do," I answered Lana. "They've always been there for Cynthia, Lisa and I when we were younger. They introduced themselves as our older siblings when we were born.

"Come on Lana, don't tell me that you think we're weird for saying that our parents' Pokémon are our siblings," I said to Lana as I was afraid that she was gonna say that I was a weirdo or even worse… break up with me.

"It is a bit… unusual," Lana replied as she was choosing her words carefully. "I don't think I've ever heard of someone calling a Pokémon their older sibling."

"Well… that's the way I was raised," I said to Lana before falling asleep. "Or have you forgotten about Cynthia calling Victini her… big… brother."

oooooooooooooo

Lana Felicity's POV

oooooooooooooo

"So how do you like the Atlantica Islands, Lana?" Mom asked me as I couldn't sleep and needed to talk to my parents.

"It's really nice here," I answered Mom. "Mr. and Mrs. Ketchum are really nice of course."

"Have you two begun your journey yet?" Dad asked me as he was there on the video phone too.

"The Pokémon League season doesn't begin for another few months," I answered Dad as I shook my head. "It seems that right now there some Pokémon tribes and clans that are at war with each other."

"You're not hurt are you?" Dad asked as he was upset about hearing about Pokémon tribes and clans being at war with each other. "Keith didn't lead you through a war zone, did he?"

"No Dad, we're still at his parents' house," I answered Dad as I shook my head. "Mrs. Ketchum hasn't let us leave their house yet."

"I'm sure that Mrs. Ketchum is just making sure that you're safe from those tribal wars," offered Mom as she gently smiled to me.

"I guess," I replied as I shrugged my shoulders. "But I've been here before. Keith's older sister, Cynthia, brought me here before.

"To be honest, I wanted to talk to you about Keith," I continued as I looked at my parents.

"Are you two getting along alright?" Mom asked me as she looked at me.

"Yeah, we're getting along fine," I answered Mom. "But…"

"But?" Mom and Dad asked me as they looked confused.

"Keith has said that the Pokémon belonging to his parents are his 'siblings'," I explained to my parents.

"There's nothing wrong with that," Mom said to me with a smile. "I find it quite cute."

"Yeah, but Keith insists that they've been his siblings since he was born," I said to my parents as I was a bit flustered.

"Well Honey, that comes from being raised in a household with lots of Pokémon," Dad replied to me as he relaxed himself.

"Sometimes Pokémon, belonging to the parent or parents, will take on the responsibility of becoming a sibling to children when they're very young," Mom explained to me. "And there's something that you need to think about too, Lana."

"What's that?" I asked Mom.

"When you started dating Keith," began Mom, "you agreed to accept everything about Keith. And that includes the fact that he says that the Pokémon he grew up with are his brothers and sisters."

"Keith accepted everything about you when you two started dating," added Dad. "He accepted your faults and everything about you."

"Guess… I never really thought about it," I replied as I drooped my shoulders down.

"It's all part of being in a relationship," Mrs. Ketchum said as she joined the conversation from behind. "I apologize for butting in your family conversation, Lana… Mr. and Mrs. Felicity."

"There's no need to apologize, Mrs. Ketchum," Mom replied to Keith's mom with a smile. "Your words of wisdom help as well."

"My son loves you very much," Mrs. Ketchum said to me. "I can tell that."

"And I love Keith too," I replied to Mrs. Ketchum. "I love him with all my heart.

"But it's…," I continued as I threw my hands up, "it's just hard to grasp that someone would say that Pokémon are their siblings."

"I can assure you that neither my husband nor I told our Pokémon to say that they are our children's siblings," Mrs. Ketchum said to me and my parents. "Well… I might've told Victini that he would be Cynthia's big brother. But the other Pokémon took it upon themselves to become the siblings of Keith and his sisters."

"Oh," I replied as I then remembered that Keith's older sister still calls her Victini her big brother… even after got she engaged to Benjamin Summers.

"Neither Mr. Ketchum or myself would ever force our Pokémon to call our children their siblings," added Mrs. Ketchum.

"Well… I believe you," I began as I still had my concerns.

"I understand Lana," Mrs. Ketchum said to me with a confident smile.

"We understand how you feel too, sweetie," Mom said to me as she too smiled. "It's going to take a while getting used to that."

"But I'm sure you'll warm up to the idea," added Dad with a smile.

oooooooooooooo

Keith Ketchum's POV

oooooooooooooo

The next morning, Mom got something from the Ministry of Immigration and Customs in the mail. Apparently, it was something in regards to the form that she had Lana's parents sign and notarize. Unfortunately for Lana and I we weren't going to be able to start our journey yet as she wanted us to stay home for a while longer and finish up spending the week with her and Dad… and my Pokémon siblings. That certainly pleased Sister Latias as she was quick to try and carry me off and leave Lana behind. But I wasn't going to leave the love of my life behind just so I could play with Sister Latias. Even though Sister Latias was a little down about not being able to play me by herself, but she was happy once I suggested that she play with Shadow.

Sister Latias eventually warmed up to playing with Lana and her Primarina. She had never encountered a Primarina before even though Cynthia had brought Ariel home with her. But she did have to drive off Dad's Muk any time that he wanted to try and smother Lana. Even Primarina had to assist Sister Latias in driving off Muk even though she was at a type disadvantage against him. After a few Psychic attacks, Dad's Muk got the message to not try his greeting with Lana again.

The next day, Mom and Dad had us fly over to Sol Palace once they had gotten word from the Draco Ruby Trading Guild and a shiny Diancie hybrid, Tamako, from the Golem Steel Mining Guild that serval warring tribes had called for a ceasefire before the royal mandated time ordered to cease tribal and clan wars. Mom told us to go to Aunt Relena and stay with her and Uncle Ritchie until the week was over and she would send over our Pokémon to us once we let her know that we had arrived. It only took a couple minutes for Lana and I to reach Sol Palace on the back of Dad's Pidgeot since he flew us there at Mach 1. Once we arrived at Sol Palace, Aunt Relena warmly welcomed us as she hugged us. Lana bowed to Aunt Relena after she hugged us.

"Lana, there's no need for you to bow to me," Aunt Relena said to Lana as she sighed. "I really hate being treated as if I was better than everyone else."

"Hey Aunt Relena," I said to the Queen as I didn't bow to her like Lana did.

"Hello there Keith," replied Aunt Relena with a cheerful smile as she hugged me. "I saw that you and this lovely young lady competed in the Pokémon League of the Alola region. Congratulations to you for reaching the Top 5. You're definitely quite the trainer like your father."

"Please, don't compare me to Dad," I requested as my face was as red as a Chople Berry. "I hate being compared to my father."

"Sorry Nephew," replied Aunt Relena as she set her right hand on my head. "I keep forgetting you and your siblings hate being compared to your dad.

"At any rate, you two will staying in your family's guest quarters of the palace," continued Aunt Relena. "You two will be staying here until all of the tribal and clan wars have all reached their temporary climax."

"Can't I take Lana on an underwater safari here on Tsunami Island?" I asked Aunt Relena as I was pouting too. "I mean… there aren't any tribes or clans here that are at war with each other here on the island. Is there?"

"No," answered Aunt Relena as she shook her head. "Tsunami Island is a sanctuary island. I can allow you to take Lana on that underwater safari. Just not today.

"So your mother will at least be happy that I kept you overnight," finished Aunt Relena.

"Thanks Aunt Relena," I said to the queen.

"Call your mom and let her know you two here," Aunt Relena said as she walked away.

oooooooooooooo

"I'm glad to hear that you made it to Sol Palace so quickly," Mom said to me as Lana and I called her at Aunt Relena's suggestion. "To be honest, I thought you would've had your father's Pidgeot take you on that underwater safari you want to take Lana on."

"You told us to go to Sol Palace and Aunt Relena right away," I said to Mom. "So Lana and I came to Sol Palace.

"Could you please send our Pokémon to us?" I asked Mom. "You said that you'd send our Pokémon to us once we got to Sol Palace."

"So I did," answered Mom with a thoughtful nod. "I'll get your Pokémon sent over to you. I want you two to stay at Sol Palace until I tell you two that you can leave and start your journey."

"Yes Mom," I replied to Mom as she looked at both of us.

"Alright then," said Mom after she was able to corral and get Lana's Primarina in her Pokéball. "I'm sending over your Pokémon now. Oh, the administration from the Royal Pokémon Academy called me and said that you've officially graduated from the Academy. Congratulations Keith."

"About time," I replied as I gave Lana her Primarina's Pokéball to her.

"I'm so happy for you, Keith," Lana said to me as she kissed me on my cheek… in front of Mom.

Mom chuckled before she sent over the rest of our Pokémon to us. Well… she sent over my Pokémon as Lana left almost all of her Pokémon except for her Primarina at home in Alola. I asked Lana why she left those Pokémon back in Alola when she could've brought them with her. Lana's answer was that she wanted to have a fresh start in the Atlantica Islands, but if she needed them, she'd call her parents and have them send her Pokémon to her. Her reason made sense and I wondered if I should make a fresh start for myself. But then I decided against it as the gyms here tend to be very powerful. Especially the gym on Ruby Island. To be honest, my reasoning for wanting to arrive home early was to help Lana get a head start on training and catching new Pokémon for her to use in the Suicune Valley Conference. Though I admit that I had forgotten that various Pokémon tribes and clans were at war with each other and the time that I wanted to help give Lana a head start was still during the time in which the tribes and clans could be at war with each other. Though with the experience from the Alola League, I guess that would be enough of a head start for Lana. But still, the Suicune Valley Conference remains the most difficult Pokémon League in the world to conquer and no outsider has ever conquered it… at all.

oooooooooooooo

"I hope we don't get in trouble with your mom," Lana said to me after we left Sol Palace the next morning. "She did tell us to stay at the palace until all of the warring tribes and clans stopped fighting for the Pokémon League season."

"Aunt Relena said that as long as we don't stray from the areas she told us about on Ruby Island, we'll be fine," I said to Lana reassuringly. "But for the first few days we'll be on our underwater safari tour, we're staying here on Tsunami Island. This island is a sanctuary and the Pokémon tribes and clans are forbidden from bringing their conflicts here on the capital island or any human settlements on the other islands."

"That's a relief," said Lana after she let out a sigh of relief. "I wouldn't wanna be caught in the middle of a tribal war."

"Well, at any rate our guide should be here soon," I said as I scanned the beach for our guide.

Our guide did show up and I wasn't expecting the guide to be a Pokémon that I had a history with. Our guide was an employee of the Dungeon Explorers' Guild founded by Isabella Greyson's dad, Lucas Greyson. The guide was a shiny Feraligatr that I had a big problem with when I went and explored an area off the coast of Costa del Sol. Seeing our guide, made me remember the thirtieth Draconic Rule of Accumulation. Lana was amazed by the sight of the shiny Feraligatr as she hadn't yet seen one in person.

"YOU!?" Me and the shiny Feraligatr named Jasper shouted at each other as pointed our index finger at each other

"You two know each other?" Lana asked me as she confused by me and Jasper having a glaring contest.

'I'm sensing there's probably bad blood between those two, Lana,' Lana's Primarina said to her as she let herself out of her Pokéball.

"Lana, meet our… our… guide," I said to my lovely Alola mermaid before I went back to glaring at Jasper.

'I swear, if you quote thirtieth Draconic Rule of Accumulation, I will tear you a new one,' Jasper said to me in a threatening tone.

"Um, what does he mean by the 'thirtieth Draconic Rule of Accumulation'?" Lana asked me quizzically.

"'When getting directions, never trust a Feraligatr or its pre-evolved forms'," I answered Lana as I quoted the one rule that annoyed Jasper perfectly to a T.

Jasper didn't like that I quoted the thirtieth Draconic Rule of Accumulation and wanted to fire off a Hydro Cannon at me, but had to walk away for the moment and fire it off in another direction. Lana and her Primarina were confused by what the Draconic Rules of Accumulation were and what purpose they served. Before I could explain, we heard Jasper banging his head on a tree and stomping back to us before letting out a sigh.

"Are you okay there?" Lana asked Jasper out of concern.

'There's no need to worry about me, little human,' Jasper answered Lana as regained his composure. 'I'll live.'

'Good,' replied Primarina before she grabbed my ear and Jasper's ear and pulled us towards her. 'Because I don't want either of you two to be causing Lana any trouble. Next time, I inflict a concussion on both of you if you two argue.'

"Ow, ow, ow, ow," I replied as Primarina was pulling my ear hard.

'Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,' moaned Jasper as he had his ear pulled hard too. 'Mama never pulled my ear this hard.'

'I'm glad that you two could put your problems aside for Lana,' Lana's Primarina said as she let go of our ears that she pulled.

'Your girl has a crazy Pokémon,' Jasper whispered to me. 'Where did you find them?'

"They're from Alola," I answered Jasper. "Now can we get to the guided underwater safari?"

'Yeah, yeah, let's do this,' answered Jasper as he rolled his eyes. 'Make sure that you have the proper equipment before we start our tour.'

Lana and I got ourselves ready for the underwater safari that we were about to undertake. I was quick to get my shiny Umbreon wetsuit on over my swim trunks. As for Lana, she took her time getting her wetsuit on. I was going to make Jasper turn his back, but he said that he had something to take care of. Lana had shed her swimsuit in front of me and revealed her naked beauty to me. It was really hard for me to not wanna drop 'em and take her, but I gave Lana my word that we wouldn't take each other's purity until we got married. Plus the other thing that kept me from caving in to my desires was the thought of Lana's dad wanting to make me sleep with Sharpedos should I cave into my desires. Lana looked at me with concern at first as my nose was bleeding, but then smiled as she then asked, "Like what you see from your sexy Alola Mermaid?"

"Not really," I replied as I shook my head but then smiled. "I love what I see of my sexy Alola Mermaid."

"I know that it's really hard and you wanna give in," Lana said to me in a silky soothing tone, "but you know that we both made that promise.

"Even I want to give into my desire for you," finished Lana as she noticed me taking in every detail of her growing sexy body, even as she slipped the skintight and formfitting Primarina swimsuit over her body. "But for now, let's wait a little longer. 'Kay?"

"Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh," I answered Lana as my nose was still bleeding and I nodded my head quickly and she put her Primarina wetsuit over swimsuit.

'Keep it together, Keith,' Lana's Primarina said as she smacked me upside my head with her tail.

"Ow," I moaned as I didn't like getting smacked upside my head at all.

"You ready to go?" Lana asked me as we got our diving gear ready right as Jasper came back from whatever business he had.

"Yup," I answered Lana before I shared a kiss with her. "Let's get going."

oooooooooooooo

"Well, that was a nice safari today," Lana said as we got back from our first underwater safari. "I think the guide did a nice job."

'So much for the 30th Draconic Rule Accumulation, eh Keith?' Primarina asked me with a grin on her face. 'The guide did just fine with giving us directions.'

"Probably because his job at the guild was on the line," I said in retort as I rolled my eyes… before Primarina smacked me upside my head… again with her tail. "Ow! Stop that Primarina!"

'You need to be a bit nicer, Keith,' Primarina shot back at me before dousing my face with a Water Gun.

"Lana," I moaned to Lana as I wasn't liking that her Primarina was smacking me around with her tail and dousing me with a Water Gun, "do something about your Primarina."

"Sorry Keith," replied Lana with a giggle. "But you do need to learn to get over what happened in the past. Especially with Jasper."

"Go play with Shadow, Primarina," I told Lana's Primarina. "He wants to play with you."

'Goodie! YAY!' Primarina exclaimed happily as she left our bedroom and found Shadow.

'AHH! GET THIS FAIRY AWAY FROM ME!' Shadow screamed in absolute terror as he tried to run away from Primarina, only to run into the shared pool that the royal family shared with my family and the Seabright family.

"You do realize that Primarina does have to be with us, right?" Lana asked me.

"I know," I answered Lana with a smirk. "But I wanna be alone with you for a bit before she realizes that I tricked her."

Lana then shrugged her shoulders and accepted my answer as the two of us went to my parents' master suite instead of going to my room. I figured that if we were gonna stay at Sol Palace for a bit, that we should enjoy our time before we had to hit the road. And… I figured that Mom and Dad wouldn't mind if we stayed in their master suite while we waited to start our journey. They hardly stayed at Sol Palace once my sisters and I started getting older. We spent more time in Kanto at Dad's childhood home in Pallet Town than at Sol Palace. A couple hours after dinner, Lana and I enjoyed some time in the pool together as she wanted to swim, even though Primarina and Suiren were in it. Though as we were swimming, I felt that I needed to go over some things with Lana before we departed from Sol Palace. Lana looked like she was having a wonderful time, especially when her Primarina was launching her up into the air and then catching her.

'I'm so happy we get to play together,' Primarina said to Lana as she happily hugged Lana.

Lana then looked to me and then said to Primarina, "I'm guessing that we better enjoy it while we can. Keith's got that look on his face."

'Uh oh, I worry about that look,' replied Primarina as she and Lana swam over to me. 'Is there something that we need to know before we leave here?'

"I'm really hoping that I made the right decision," I answered Primarina as I looked at her and her human. "The Suicune Valley Conference is the most insanely difficult Pokémon League conference in the world followed by the Sky Fortress Conference in the Seabright's home region of Oblivia."

"Well… you wanted to compete in the Suicune Valley Conference," Lana replied to me as she rolled her eyes. "No backing down now."

'Back to our original question,' said Primarina as she and Lana eyed me,'is there something that we need to know before leaving Sol Palace?'

"As we travel through the region," I began as we treaded water, "each island gym will be stronger than the gym before them. And it'll take us time to train up before being able to take on the island's gym leader."

"How long do you think it'll take us to train up our Pokémon before we can face the gym leaders?" Lana asked me out of concern.

"If we're doing it right, it'll take us about a month," I answered Lana.

"A month?!" Lana asked in shock.

"The gym leaders here are very strict and they're good evaluators on how well you train your Pokémon," I explained to Lana. "You hastily train your Pokémon, they'll cut your Pokémon down to size. I've seen other trainers try to use Pokémon, that other regions dub as legendary, get thrashed by even the first gym leader."

"Oh," replied Lana as she was shocked to hear my explanation. "Guess I never thought of that."

"As we train our Pokémon, we'll need some place to live while we're on the islands with gyms," I continued my explanation. "I've got enough money to cover rent on the islands with gyms."

I went on with telling her about the gyms as I wanted to give her an idea of what we were going to be up against. I especially told her about the gym on Phantom Ninja Island and the Trident Battle Palace… which wasn't a gym. As I went into detail about the gyms and Trident Battle Palace, Lana and I moved over to the shallow end of the heated pool. Lana listened to me patiently as I explained what to expect and how we should proceed through my home region. I finished up as I was tired of talking about the journey ahead of us before we left the Palace.

oooooooooooooo

"Wow Lana, you look beautiful in that dress," I said to Lana a few days later after we talked about what to expect when we were going to challenge the Suicune Valley Conference. "Aunt Jessica did a great job making it.

"Thank you Keith," replied Lana before she kissed me on my cheek and then look to the shared heated pool. "Will Primarina be alright by herself? Shadow is coming with us…"

"Suiren is gonna be here too as she said that she doesn't wanna go to the party and see her mom, Ariel," I answered Lana as I held out my left hand out to her. "Ember also said she didn't wanna go to the party. And after that incident where Yondu got aggressive and battled both of those Lycanrocs, I don't think taking him with us is a good idea. He wrecked everything around him with that 'street fight' he had and ruined your 15th birthday party."

'The others also said that they don't wanna go either,' chimed in Shadow. 'I would've thought Diamond wanted to go.'

'But I do wanna go,' my shiny female Alola Ninetales, I named Diamond, said from behind Shadow as he shivered in terror. 'And I see that Shadow is trying to dissuade the others from going to the party. For you and Lana.'

'I truly don't wanna go,' my shiny female Arcanine, Ember, said from her resting place as she looked at me and Lana. 'I'm not a Pokémon who likes being around so many humans. Too many humans in one room make me feel… fidgety.'

'I still haven't been released from my probation after that brawl in Konikoni City at your girlfriend's house,' my shiny male Dusk Form Lycanroc, Yondu, said as he laid on a beach chair.

My other Pokémon gave their reasons for not wanting to go to the party that Aunt Relena had set up for me and Lana before we left on our journey through the Atlantica Islands. Pretty much, they just weren't interested in going except for Diamond and Shadow. Shadow tried to keep Diamond away because of her being part Fairy like Primarina and Suiren. After Lana helped make sure that Diamond was ready to go, she told Primarina that we were heading off to the party and make sure that the other Pokémon behaved themselves.

oooooooooooooo

"Hey there, Little Bro," Cynthia said as she had come to the party at Sol Palace with her fiancé, Benjamin Summers.

"Hi there Sis," I replied to my oldest sister as she had Shiva with her. "I see you got Shiva with you. She still doesn't wanna leave your side?"

"Of course not," answered Cynthia as she shook her head. "I can't cuddle with Benjy without her wanting to be in the bed with us. Really sucks."

"At least you two aren't thinking about having sex," I replied as a suggestion. "You're not like Ren. She's a Grade-A slut."

"And you know she'd thank you for calling her that," countered Cynthia as both she and Shiva noticed Diamond. "Wow, you got a shiny Alola Ninetales too. How'd you manage that?"

'What the?! Diamond!?' Shiva asked in shock and surprise as she recognized Diamond with her diamond necklace in the shape of an Ice Stone and sniffed her too.

'Hello there Shiva,' replied Diamond as the two walked towards each other. 'I see you're still acting prissy, spoiled and clingy.'

'This coming from the debutante of the tribe,' Shiva replied in retort as she glared at Diamond.

'Someone had to be the face of the tribe when Mother would let her nature take over,' shot back Diamond. 'But tonight is not the night for us to argue and bicker. This night is for my human and his love.'

Before Shiva could add anything to their argument, Aunt Relena then tapped a fork on a glass to our attention as she was hosting the party for Lana and I. All of the guests then gave my aunt their attention as she said, "As you all know, my nephew, Keith, and his girlfriend Lana will be making a run through the gyms so that they can enter the Suicune Valley Conference as a pair together." My family and our friends, who had come to Sol Palace, then applauded me and Lana for our bravery to start our challenge of the most insanely difficult Pokémon League conference in the world.

Aunt Relena continued, "Having gone through the Pokémon League of the Alola region, both of them will be facing new challenges. Challenges that make most trainers turn and run away from our fair region. Keith and Lana will be challenged not just with their skills as Pokémon trainers, but they'll be challenged mentally and physically themselves as our gyms in the Atlantica Islands challenge the trainer's mind and body along with their connection to their Pokémon."

Mom then stepped forward, next to Aunt Relena, as she added, "My son and Lana will be facing the strict discipline of Fort Ruby Sword, the unexpected shock and surprise from the gym of Amber Island, mind games from the gym on Emerald Cove Island and other challenges set before them at the other gyms to come."

'Should this pair overcome the challenges set before them,' chimed in Lord Aurora, Aunt Relena's Suicune father, 'they will then, as other trainers as all will, battle for the prestigious honor of battling the Elite Four and trying to dethrone our beloved co-champions who have proudly sat on their thrones for twenty seven years.'

"Wow, the co-champions have been there for 27 years?" Lana's mom asked in surprise. "That's truly amazing to be on their thrones for so long."

"Who are the co-champions of this region?" Lana asked me as she wanted to know.

Unfortunately for Lana, I had to keep silent about that as Aunt Relena bound me, my siblings and our family friends to silence as she didn't want anyone to know that we personally knew the co-champions of the Atlantica Islands. And that was a royal command I was not going to disobey. I tried to think of a way to Buizel out of telling her that Aunt Relena and Uncle Ritchie were the co-champions of the region but sighed as I couldn't think of some elaborate excuse to Buizel out of telling Lana the truth. So I just answered, "Sorry, but I'm pleading the 12th amendment which protects from self-incrimination."

"Uh…," replied a confused Lana.

"It's best if you don't know right now," Cynthia said as stepped in my defense. "You'll eventually find out once you proceed through the Suicune Valley Conference tournament."

"No one can tell me who the co-champions are?" Lana asked as she was upset.

"Sorry Lana," answered Benjamin as he joined the conversation too. "We're bound by Royal Order not to reveal that information."

"But you've gone through the Suicune Valley Conference," protested Lana as she eyed Sis and Benjamin.

"You haven't gone through the Suicune Valley Conference yet," Cynthia calmly said to Lana. "And like Benjy said, we're bound by Royal Order to not sing like a Chatot."

"Hey guys, Mom isn't done yet," Mizuki, one of my other royal cousins said to us as she directed our attention back to Aunt Relena and Uncle Ritchie. "I believe that Grandfather Thor is about to speak."

Sure enough, Mizuki was right as Uncle Ritchie's shiny Raikou father, Lord Thor, took his place and then telepathically spoke, 'Also, for the first time, someone from the Alola region will be participating in the Suicune Valley Conference.'

It was then that everyone looked at Lana as Lord Thor had directed the comment to her. It was true that no one from the Alola region had ever participated in the Suicune Valley Conference, let alone registered to challenge the gyms after Aunt Relena opened the Atlantica Islands to world seven years ago. Even Lana's mom looked at her daughter as Mrs. Felicity knew that Lord Thor spoke about Lana. As for Harper and Sarah, they stood in awe of Lord Thor as they had never seen a Raikou, let alone a shiny Raikou. Even though Shadow was at the party with us, he hid once he saw that Harper and Sarah had arrived with alongside their mom. Cynthia was confused as to why Shadow hid from Harper and Sarah and I told Sis that they were like Fairy-type Pokémon. Harper and Sarah terrified him was my explanation to Cynthia.

"To our family member and friend, Keith Ketchum and his beloved companion from Alola, Lana Felicity," Aunt Relena finished up as she and the other guests held up a glass high, "may you both find your courage and resolve to go through the gyms and finally to the Suicune Valley Conference tournament."

"Stay strong and true as your greatest strength is the bond you have with each other," added Mom.

"The path set before you both is a difficult one," chimed in Isabella Greyson's mom, for whom my oldest sister was named after. "But persevere and weather the storm before you and you will come through much stronger than ever."

"To our son Keith and his girlfriend Lana," finished Dad with a big smile. "I look forward to watching your progress through your gym challenge and Suicune Valley conference tournament."

"Compai!" we all exclaimed in the native language from Kanto, Johto and Sinnoh as was our tradition when finishing a toast.

Twenty minutes later, Ember and Yondu came to the party as both of them were hungry and wanted some food. I was a bit apprehensive about allowing Yondu at the party, but Ember assured me that that my shiny male Dusk Form Lycanroc had been on his best behavior while they were resting and relaxing at the shared pool while Primarina and Suiren were playing around with each other. I think Cynthia and Mizuki were surprised to see Yondu there and even Ember. Ember helped herself to a meatball sandwich that was smothered in mozzarella cheese and some berries too. As for Yondu, he asked for a couple lunch meat sandwiches and a slice of Cheri Berry pie with Pecha Berry juice. Yondu behaved himself and didn't cause any trouble for anyone.

oooooooooooooo

"That was a good breakfast," I said as Lana and I finally left Sol Palace after Lana's twin sisters were rounded up after they tried to chase Shadow around.

"I certainly never ate that good before," replied Lana as she rubbed her belly with a satisfied look on her face before frowning. "Though… your Pokémon seem to eat like you. The food flies everywhere."

"What?" I asked Lana as I was embarrassed. "We can't help it when delicious food is put in front of us."

"I bet you two like living in very comfortable conditions," a new person said in a thick Scottish accent as she approached us with a glare on her face.

The new person had grey hair, a black hair band with a black and orange ribbon on it, grey eyes, a black sprint suit underneath white shorts with splashes of black, orange and the number 193 located on the left thigh of her shorts and white knee pads. The girl also had a white shirt with same colors on it as with her shorts over her skintight black sprint suit that showed her six pack abs… which was a bit sexy. Though I kept my composure as I didn't know the girl and Lana's Primarina would slap me with her tail if I ever had any thoughts of cheating on her human with another girl. The other thing that helped me to keep my composure was that I figured the grey haired girl wasn't gonna be interested in paintball gun toting nerd like me.

"What's that suppose to mean?" I asked the girl as I didn't like what she was implying. "Are you implying that you think we're just a couple rich kids who don't care about anything else?"

"So what if I am?" the grey haired girl asked me as her answer in retort.

"My parents taught me never to rely on material possessions to show my place in the world," I answered the girl. "Even Master Lucario taught me and my older sisters that too.

"'The acquisition of material possessions will always be the errand of fools and selfish individuals who do not seek what they truly desire in life'," I told the grey haired girl as I recited the words of Master Lucario from Cameron Palace.

"Wait… 'Master Lucario'?" The unfamiliar girl asked me as she eyed me in interest after hearing me refer to the Lucario from Cameron Palace as my master. "You're telling that an Aura Pokémon is your master? You seem to have things mixed up. It's the other way around. Humans are the ones who are masters over Pokémon."

"Do you not know what region you're in?" I countered back to the grey haired girl.

"Who are you?" Lana asked the grey haired girl as she interjected and jumped into the conversation. "I'm Lana Felicity. This is my boyfriend, Keith Ketchum."

"Ketchum?" The girl asked as she eyed me further. "You mean you're related to the Champion of the Pallet Town?"

"He's just my dad, nothing special about him," I answered the girl as I shrugged my shoulders.

"Well, that seems kinda bloody cold of you to say," the girl replied in a sassy tone.

"'Titles are temporary'," I shot back as I quoted Aunt Relena this time, "'but true friendships will always endure through time'.

"Now then," I continued, "how about you answer my girlfriend's question. We told you our our names. How about returning the favor and tell us your name?"

"Aye, aye," replied the grey haired girl before sighing and shrugging her shoulders. "My name is Bea. Bea Wallace and I'm from the Galar region."

"Galar?" Lana asked Bea as both of us had never heard of the region before. "Never heard of that region before."

"I've never heard that region before either," I said as I too had never heard of the Galar region.

"Enough talk," Bea said as she readied an Ultra Ball and eyed me throughly. "I'm challenging you to a Pokémon battle. Feel up to the challenge?"

"You're on," I answered as I wasn't one to back away from a challenge like Dad.

"Bewear, you're on!" Bea exclaimed as she called on the Pokémon from the Ultra Ball.

'Ready and rearing to go, Mistress Bea,' the male Strong Arm Pokémon said to Bea as it stretched itself.

"I'm sure that you are," I said to Bewear, catching both him and Bea off guard as they didn't expect that I could understand her Bewear and then readied the Moon Ball that held Helios and then pinched the frame between my lenses. "Helios, it's go time! Time make your battling debut in the Atlantica Islands."

'I'm ready to go, Keith,' replied my shiny male Fire-type Dark Pokémon as he readied himself for battle.

"They think that they're prepared for us," Bea said to herself and looked to her Bewear. "Time to unleash Galar's power on them. We'll toy with them for a bit and then…"

"Helios, use, Rock Smash on Bewear," I said as I wasn't waiting for whatever surprise that Bea and her Bewear had in store for me.

'On it,' acknowledged Helios as he charged at Bewear with the super-effective Fighting-type move. 'Take that!'

'Gah! Not that!' exclaimed Bewear as he was caught off guard.

"Helios, use Flame Charge," I ordered my shiny male Houndoom as I planned to keep the momentum in my favor.

"Oh no you don't," countered Bea. "Bewear, use Rock Slide."

'On Mistress,' acknowledged Bewear as he then hurled huge boulders at Helios.

"Dodge it and use Poison Fang," I countered back.

'Ah! He got me,' said Helios as one of the large boulders hit him. 'But I can still fight. Take this!'

'Ow! That mutt poisoned me!' Bewear cried out as he was indeed poisoned by Helios's Poison Fang.

"Guess it's time," Bea said to herself as she then revealed a bracelet on her left wrist that was concealed by a sweat band. "Time to reveal Galar's power to them, Bewear."

Bea then recalled Bewear to his Ultra Ball and then channeled energy in it with the bracelet and then turned around as she threw the then super-sized Ultra Ball behind her, releasing a gigantic sized Bewear before turning back to face me. Seeing this new development completely floored me and Lana as we had never seen Pokémon become so tall as a skyscraper. Bea smirked as she figured that she had the advantage over me. But for me, I took one look at the skyscraper sized Bewear and smiled as I said, "Wow. This is new."

"This, my unfortunate friend, is the power of the Galar region," Bea said to me as she made herself look as if she was ready to fight me, with her Bewear following her motions. "What you see before you is called Dynamax. A Pokémon can become much bigger than before and their moves become Max Moves.

"We also have another variant of Dynamax and it's called Gigantamax," Bea continued as she sang like a Chatot… much to my enjoyment. "But enough about that, Bewear, Max Rock Slide!"

'YOU… GOT IT!' Giant Bewear exclaimed as super sized boulders then came hurling towards Helios.

"Helios, use Protect!" I countered back.

'Nice try,' Helios shot back as he put up a protective field to block the giant Rock Slide attack.

The giant sized Rock Slide attack was broken up and the bits were flung all over the place and I think a few bits went in the direction of Sol Palace. Once Dynamax Bewear had finished his attack, I focused energy into my Mega Choker as Helios focused power into his Houndoomite Mega Stone. The energies from both resonated as they collided and engulfed Helios as he Mega Evolved into Mega Houndoom. Bea didn't seem any bit fazed as she felt that she still had the advantage over me and Helios.

"Helios, use Sunny Day and Inferno!" I exclaimed as I planned to make use of Helios's ability while he was mega evolved and a feeling I had in my gut about Bewear's ability.

'Uh… you got it," Helios replied nervously as he didn't like the Solar Power ability that came with his Mega Evolved form.

Helios then made the sun's rays become more intense and Bea's Bewear became nervous with the sun's rays becoming even more intense. Seeing Dynamax Bewear becoming nervous meant that my gut feeling was right about his ability not being Klutz or even his Dream World ability, Unnerve. With the sun's rays intensified, I hoped to see Bea being nervous but she kept calm and didn't even flinch for a minute. Helios then fired off high powered intense fires with his Inferno attack. Helios and I were fortunate that his Inferno attack struck the super sized Bewear and caused more damage thanks in part to Helios's Mega Evolved ability and Bewear's ability, Fluffy.

'AHH! TOO HOT!' Bea's Dynamax Bewear screamed in pain as he was lucky that the poisoning from Helios's Poison Fang wasn't replaced by the burn status.

"Wha-What just happened?!" Bea asked in shock and disbelief as her Bewear had fallen on his back.

"I'd say this fight is pretty dead even," I answered Bea with a giant smile on my face.

"What do you mean by that?" demanded Bea as she glared at me.

"Your Bewear's ability is Fluffy," I explained to Bea as her Dynamax Bewear got back up after having more of his health sapped from the poisoning from Helios's Poison Fang. "It's a double edged sword like Helios's mega evolved ability Solar Power."

"How my Bewear's ability a double-edged sword?" Bea asked me in confusion.

"Fluffy halves the damage taken from moves that make direct contact like Helios's Poison Fang," I continued to explain. "But Fire-type moves inflict double the damage on Bewear.

"Helios's Solar Power ability increases his Special Attack by 150% in direct sunlight," I finished up. "But…"

'But I lose 1/8 of my current health as recoil,' Helios chimed in before he winced in pain.

'You didn't know about my ability, Bea?' Bewear asked his master out of concern.

Bea didn't answer Bewear as she looked down with her face as red as an Occa Berry in embarrassment. Just the fact that she didn't know Bewear's ability or know much about abilities spoke volumes to me. The battle ended with Bewear fainting after being struck with a Flame Charge and a Flamethrower to nail the lid on Dynamax Bewear's coffin. Bea's Bewear was no match for Helios as he had been forged in the ways of his tribe and pack. Once Bewear had shrunk back to normal size, Bea recalled him to his Ultra Ball and sighed in defeat. Lana hugged me and then kissed me on my left cheek.

"Nice battle," I said to Bea as I held out my hand to her. "Maybe we'll see each other again in the future."

Bea looked at me and then to my hand I held out to her. Instead of shaking my hand, Bea ran off in another direction leaving me and Lana by ourselves. Lana was confused as to why Bea had run off after I beat her. I wasn't sure if it was because I beat her strategy or any other reason. But as Bea ran off, I was brought back to reality by Lana's Primarina using her tail to slap me upside my head. The second and third slaps from Lana's Primarina were directly to my face and really caught me by surprise.

"What did I do now?" I asked Primarina.

'You know exactly what you did,' Primarina answered me in a stern tone. 'I saw you looking at that Bea girl with a look of lust. Seeing her athletically toned body, skintight track suit underneath her shirt and shorts!'

"I swear! I would never cheat on Lana!" I protested to Primarina before she slapped me with her tail one more time for good measure across my face.

'Good,' replied Lana's Primarina as she glared at me. 'That last slap was for good measure to ensure you don't cheat on Lana.'

"Why me?" I moaned dejectedly as I finally understood how Hayato felt whenever he had glares bearing down on him and getting "adjustments" from other Pokémon.

"You weren't actually thinking of cheating on me, were you?" Lana asked cutely.

"And have your dad make me sleep with the Sharpedos?" I asked as my answer as I shook my head. "No thank you."

"I really don't think that Dad would do that you," Lana said calmly.

"I dunno my Alola mermaid," I replied to Lana. "Parents tend to be more frightening than the fiercest looking Pokémon… save for Lord Arceus."

oooooooooooooo

"I really hate those guys," I said after dealing with an ambush from one of my paintball team's rivals. "They fight dirty and they certainly don't like the Captain either."

"Why did they ambush you like that?" Lana asked me as I disassembled my replica DMR paintball gun.

"Like I said, they fight dirty," I answered Lana. "That team is known for assaulting opponents and ambushing them outside of paintball matches. No one was able to prove that until my team came in and the Captain helped expose their dirty tactics."

"You seem to speak highly of your team's captain," Lana said to me.

"So you're one of those military otakus and gun toting geeks?" Bea asked me as she had arrived on the scene after I repulsed the rival team singlehandedly.

"What's wrong with being a military otaku and a gun toting geek?" I asked Bea as I had a vein popping on my forehead.

"It's wrong on so many levels and you forget what the true art of fighting is really about," answered Bea before she kicked one of the opponents I beat.

"You mean kicking an opponent while they're down?" I asked sarcastically.

Bea just glared at me in response to my question to her. Lana thought she could see friction between me and Bea as both of us glared at each other… before I decided to shoot the same guy Bea kicked down, with a paintball pistol I had in my hand. Bea rolled her eyes at me and shook her head as she said, "You're unbelievable. But you're not gonna be rid of me so easily."

"Huh? What the Houndour are you talking about?" I asked as I was caught flat footed as was Lana and her Primarina.

"I'm coming with you," Bea answered with an evil smirk on her face. "You OWE me a rematch in due time."

"Yeah… uh, what's the word I'm thinking of?" I asked Bea rhetorically.

'Oh I know what it is,' spoke up Lana's Primarina as she raised her hand. 'It's NO! Not just no, but not a chance on Lord Arceus's good and green earth.'

"I'm sorry, but did I say 'If it pleases you, Your Majesty'?" Bea shot back as her question and with authority. "I'm coming with you to collect on that rematch. And there's nothing that you can say or do to change my mind."

"Keith…," Lana said to me as she was nervous about another girl joining the group.

Lana's Primarina glared at me as if to tell me to do something about Bea forcing her way into our small party. But girls like Bea… once they make up their mind, there's no point in trying to change their mind. Nothing or no one short of Lord Arceus was going to change their mind… EVER. My sisters were like that too and nothing or no one short of Lord Arceus would ever change their minds. I sighed and shook my head to Lana and Primarina, only to get a blast of Primarina's Hydro Pump in my face for not taking action to be rid of the Galar native.

"I can't do anything about it, Ladies," I said Lana and Primarina, only for Primarina to use Hydro Pump on me again. "And you can use all of the Hydro Pump attacks on me all you want, Primarina. She's like my older sisters, nothing and no one short of Lord Arceus will change her mind."

"'Lord Arceus'?" Bea asked as she heard me reference the Alpha Pokémon with the title of 'Lord'. "Just who the blaze is this 'Lord Arceus' you speak of?"

"Really? You've never of the Alpha Pokémon, Arceus?" I asked Bea sarcastically. "Lord Arceus created all life. Humans and Pokémon alike. It's because of Lord Arceus that we're able to breathe the breath of life."

"Mad," Bea said as she rolled her eyes and shook her head in disgust. "You're bloody mad for thinking that a Pokémon created all life."

"You should watch yourself while you're here," I cautioned Bea. "A lot of people here in the Atlantica Islands worship and give praise to Lord Arceus. But you've got your opinion and I respect that you think that I'm mad… looney and loco in head."

"Uh Keith, shouldn't we be going?" Lana asked me after she recalled Primarina to her Pokéball.

"We've gotta stock up on some stuff before we head out to Ruby Island," I answered Lana. "What the? No, no, no, no…. Snorlax!"

"What's the matter with you?" Bea asked me as I frantically searched my bag for certain gear that we needed.

"Mom said that there was a package sent to the house and I forgot to go get it," I answered Bea.

"That's not good," replied Lana.

"You're right," I said to Lana. "Take Bea and head to the Commerce District to stock up on supplies and especially head to the Caribbean Sector of the Commerce District to help Bea get the appropriate gear she's gonna need as we travel through the kingdom."

"Bloody… what's the Commerce District?" Bea asked me in confusion. "And better yet, why do you think I need gear just to travel through this region?"

I didn't answer Bea as I activated my family's private RPS and called for Dad's Pidgeot to fly me back home to go get the package that I said Lana and I would pick up before leaving for Ruby Island. Dad's Pidgeot arrived and I climbed on his back to fly back home, leaving Lana with Bea.

oooooooooooooo

3rd person POV

oooooooooooooo

"So… you and Keith have known each other for a long time, I take it," Bea said to Lana as the two girls made their way to the Commercial District of the capital, Costa del Sol.

Lana said nothing to Bea as she was nervous being with her Fighting-type specialist alone. She was afraid Bea might try to start a fight with her. As for the Galar native, she was getting upset that Lana had not said a single word to her after Keith had flown back his family's house to retrieve a package that he nearly forgot to pick up. Bea began to feel insulted by Lana's silence and was getting angry with the Water-type specialist from Alola. Before the pair could continue any further, Bea cut off Lana and then said to her, "I dunno what bloody region you're from. But in Galar, people do have conversations with each other. Say something already lassie."

Before Lana could reply to Bea, a shiny Dragonite descended down as the two had finally entered the Commerce District of the capital of the Atlantica Islands. Seeing such a shiny and majestic Dragon/Flying-type Pokémon was a rare treat for the Galar-born trainer as she had never seen a Dragonite up close and personal, but only in books that she read as a little girl. Bea looked to the shiny male Dragonite with her eyes widened in shock and awe of the extremely rare and elusive Dragon/Flying-type Dragon Pokémon.

'Good day to you two young humans,' the shiny male Dragonite said to Bea and Lana. 'Welcome to the Commerce District, operated by the Draco Ruby Trading Guild.'

"What the?" Bea asked in complete shock as she looked at the shiny Dragonite. "You… you… you… you're a shiny Pokémon."

'That's quite the observation, young lady,' replied the shiny Dragonite as he looked at Bea.

"Wh-where's your trainer?" Bea asked the shiny Dragonite as she was still in shock.

'No human owns me,' the shiny Dragonite answered Bea as he shook his head.

"He's saying that no human owns him," Lana spoke up as she looked to Bea.

"Then you need to be captured," Bea said as she readied a Pokéball to try and capture the shiny Dragonite. "It's the way things are and has to be."

The shiny Dragonite then pointed to a sign that showed a red X over a Pokéball to indicate that capturing Pokémon in the Commerce District was illegal. He then pointed to another sign that indicated that trainers couldn't battle each other in the Commerce District either. There were other signs that the shiny Dragonite pointed towards to show Bea and Lana the other rules of the Commerce District.

"Huh," said Lana as she read the final warning that was pointed to by the shiny Dragonite. "That's interesting."

"What?" asked Bea as she looked at the sign and then to Lana.

"Says that violating any of the rules will result in expulsion from the Commerce District by the Draco Ruby Trading Guild," Lana explained to Bea.

"A guild? Seriously?" Bea asked in disgust as she rolled her eyes. "What is this? The Stone Age?"

Several people then turned and looked at the Galar-born native with sharp daggers as they glared at her for blatant disrespect of the Dragon Pokémon and other Pokémon-run businesses that called themselves guilds. Even some Pokémon looked to Bea as they didn't like that they were being called primitives because their collective businesses were called guilds. As for the shiny Dragonite, he said nothing but remained patient as he worked hard to not let his rampaging nature take over. Bea certainly wasn't helping herself with the locals as it appeared as though that she had no respect for the people or the Pokémon who ran businesses within the Commerce District of Costa del Sol. One individual had overheard Bea's jab at the guilds and made her way towards Lana and Bea. The shiny Dragonite saw the person and recognized her right off the bat as he bowed to her. Bea was confused as to why Dragonite was bowing until she turned and saw the Queen herself standing in front of her. As for Lana, she slightly bowed to Relena to acknowledge her presence.

"Lana, I told you that you don't have to bow to me," Relena said to Lana as she huffed in annoyance. "I hate it when people bow to me like I'm someone who's better than they are."

"Huh? Just who are you?" Bea asked Relena as she glared at her.

"You're glaring at the queen of the Atlantica Islands," Lana said to Bea, who then widened her eyes in shock at the revelation and embarrassment.

"P-Please forgive me Your Majesty," Bea said to Relena as she bowed and got on one knee. "I didn't realize that you were the Queen."

Relena sighed, shook her head and then said to Bea, "On your feet and lift your eyes to me.

Bea obeyed the Queen as she then continued, "I'll say it again and for the last time. I hate it when people bow to me like I'm someone who's better than they are. So please don't bow to me again."

"But… but it's just common sense to bow to royalty," Bea said to Relena as she thought she was being bold.

"Titles are always going to be temporary," Relena responded back to Bea. "They can always be taken away. I taught my children that because that's what my mother and grandparents taught me."

'Ah Your Royal Highness, you honor Lord Sahara by gracing the Commerce District with your presence,' the shiny Dragonite said to the Queen.

"It has been a while since I came down to Commerce District myself," Relena said to the shiny Dragonite before looking back to Bea. "I also see that someone seems to think that humans need to be in control of Pokémon and not live together as partners… as equals alongside humans."

"But that's the way things have been… for hundreds of years, Your Highness," protested Bea as she tried to make her argument.

"Not here in the Atlantica Islands," Relena calmly said to Bea as she shook her head. "Here, Pokémon and humans live side by side. Pokémon here own businesses, live in communities that they've established for themselves or even live alongside humans."

"Um…," replied Bea as the Galar native had a very big shock to her system delivered to her.

"We also have learned to communicate with the Pokémon who live here and around the world, as equals," continued Relena. "It's how many of them have come to respect the people of this region. Many Pokémon species have also emigrated here to this region as well so their species can thrive."

"But… but… but what's with the shiny Dragonite being out in front of people so boldly?" Bea stammered as she was still trying to process the fact that a shiny Dragonite stood before her until a shiny female Lucario walked past her.

'Ah, Your Royal Highness, it's good to see you again,' the shiny female Lucario said to Relena with a smile on her face. 'I do hope that your husband and offspring are well.'

"They're doing just fine, thank you," Relena replied to the shiny female Lucario before they noticed a stunned Bea trying to comprehend what was before her eyes.

Bea tried to find words to express what she was seeing, but couldn't find anything to say to express the stunning revelation before her. Bea could only spout things that were unintelligible as she was trying to process what was before her. The shiny female Lucario looked to Relena and then said, 'Is that human alright? It seems as though she's unable to comprehend her surroundings, this foreigner.'

"This whole region is new to the foreigner," Relena said to the shiny female Lucario. "It's going to take time for her to adjust to this region.

"So where are you two heading in the Commerce District?" Relena asked Bea and Lana as the shiny female Lucario walked away.

"Keith said to take Bea to the Caribbean Sector of the Commerce District," Lana said to Relena.

"The Caribbean Sector is this way," Relena said Lana as she lead the Alola-born trainer and Bea. "Is there a reason you're going to the Caribbean Sector?"

'This girl forced her way into our party after she was defeated by Keith,' Lana's Primarina explained to Relena as she let herself out of her Pokéball. 'What a sore loser.'

"Now, now Primarina, be nice," Relena said to Lana's Primarina.

"What's with all the shiny Pokémon around here?" Bea asked Relena as a few shiny Pokémon had just casually walked by Bea like it was nothing. "I… I was under the impression that shiny Pokémon are ridiculously rare regardless of what region you go to. And there's a whole bunch of shiny Pokémon here."

"We have no idea how it is that shiny are able to thrive alongside normal Pokémon," Relena explained to Bea. "All we know is that various Pokémon ingested certain types of berries and caused a change to those Pokémon who became shiny Pokémon.

"And that was passed down through to their offspring," finished Relena as the four had arrived at the Caribbean Sector of the Commerce District. "We're here at the Caribbean Sector."

"Whoa, not what I was expecting with the name 'Caribbean Sector'," Bea said in amazement with the various shops that were more sports oriented then for tropical getaways.

"The Caribbean Sector is for those who are sports enthusiasts," Relena explained to Bea and Lana with a slight chuckle. "I'm guessing since you forced your way to Keith and Lana's journey through the Atlantica Islands, they want to make sure that you have the necessary gear to help you out.

"You'll especially need to make sure that you have swimwear for when you arrive at Ruby Island," continued Relena as she looked at the Galar native.

"Any particular reason for that?" asked Bea as she looked confused.

"Ruby Island is always hot and humid," explained Relena. "You're better off just going around the island with your swimwear on your body especially if you insist on wearing clothes."

"Uh… okay," replied Bea as she was still confused before hearing the thundering sound of a rampaging Tyranitar that Relena knew all too well.

oooooooooooooo

Keith Ketchum's POV

oooooooooooooo

"I don't think that I ever wanna go through that again," Bea said after she and Lana had exited the Commerce District and met up with me at the port for the ferry to Ruby Island.

"Oh brother, not Aunt Jessica again," I moaned as I figured that Aunt Jessica had gotten to Bea.

"Hey there Keith," Lana said to me as she ran over to me and kissed me. "Bea and I just left the Commerce District."

'She nearly got us banned before we could enter the Commerce District,' Primarina said as she once again let herself out of her Pokéball.

"What?" Bea asked as she saw Lana's Primarina glaring at her after making sure that her shirt was over whatever it was she had on underneath it. "How was I suppose to know capturing Pokémon in the Commerce District was illegal or those other rules."

"It's called 'Read the signs,' you moron," I answered in retort to Bea.

Before Bea decided to try and punch me in face for my retort, she took notice of a shiny Skaromry eyeing her, waiting for her to make a wrong move. Bea then decided to relax her clinched right fist so not to get the ferry's security forces involved. Once the ferry to Ruby Island arrived, we boarded the ferry and then saw Mom waving to us as we got on the ferry. I waved back to Mom with a smile on my face. Lana also waved to Mom happily, as did Primarina. Bea looked and saw my Mom and wondered who she was and also saw Big Brother Manaphy, who was usually with my older sister, Lisa.

"Who's that person you're waving to?" Bea asked me and Lana.

"That's my mom and Big Brother Manaphy," I answered Bea.

"What the?" Bea asked me as she looked at me with a confused look on her face.

"You'll get used to it… eventually," Lana said to Bea. "Keith was raised in a household with lots of Pokémon and they raised him and his older sisters whenever their parents traveled."

Bea shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes as she said, "Fair enough I suppose."

Our journey had started once we left the harbor from Costa del Sol. Once the ferry had reached the perimeter of Sol Harbor, it began to move at a faster speed as the ferry all of a sudden then jerked us slightly and began to speed towards Ruby Island. With our first destination ahead of us, Lana wanted to take a nap and took me with her down below deck to one of the rooms where we could rest until we got to Ruby Island and our first gym. As for Bea, she stayed on the deck and trained herself until we got to Ruby Island. I wasn't really tired, but for Lana I fell asleep and napped with her. Four hours later, a call on the PA came to us announcing that Ruby Island was 20 minutes away and that passengers disembarking needed to make sure that they were prepared for the hot sticky humidity that would hit them like bricks if they weren't prepared. I woke up and found that Lana was still asleep… but she had pressed her body so close to mine. I could feel her chest brushing up against my chest, other parts of her body brushed up against mine and then felt her arms wrapping around my waist. My face was as red as a Chople Berry and I was really fighting my biological urge to wanna make love to my Alola Mermaid. Lana and I had made our agreement of no premarital sex and we were gonna keep it that way. Five minutes out of landfall and Lana finally woke up. She looked confused as to why I was sweating and looking like someone was gonna tear me a new one. Lana then looked and noticed that her body so close to mine and then smiled… before she kissed me happily.

"Sleep well?" Lana asked me cutely as she still held on to me.

"Uh huh, uh huh, uh huh, uh huh," I answered nervously as I nodded my head.

"That's good," replied Lana as she let go of me and sat up before checking herself and making sure that she still had her swimwear on under her clothes. "Well… I'm ready for the heat and humidity of Ruby Island. How about you? Are you ready?"

"Um yes," I answered Lana as I double checked to make sure that I still had my swimwear on under my clothes.

"Hey you two lovebirds," Bea said as she knocked on the door. "We're about to make landfall. You guys ready yet?"

"Uh yeah, we're ready," I answered Bea. "You got your gear all together and your swimwear on too?"

"Of course I do you dummy," Bea answered in retort. "I'm just waiting for you two to realize you're not on the Love Boat."

"Attention passengers, we have made landfall on Ruby Island," the PA rang throughout the ship. "This ferry will be making it's way back to Tsunami Island and Costa del Sol in three hours. The ferry to Amber Island runs on Monday, Thursday and Saturday."

"Guess we better get outta here," I said as Lana and I got our stuff together and we joined Bea in disembarking from the ferry.

oooooooooooooo

"It's gonna take us a MONTH?!" Bea asked me in shock as she glared at me after asking how long it took a trainer in my home region to train up Pokémon to face the gym leader of Ruby Island. "Well… where is the gym at?"

"It's at Fort Ruby Sword, home to our kingdom's Royal Army," I answered Bea.

"Humph, well… I'm gonna go challenge the gym leader then," Bea said in defiance. "I really don't think you need a month to train against a gym leader. Let alone the weakest gym leader."

"I strongly recommend you listen to my advice," I strongly urged Bea much to no avail as she walked off towards Fort Ruby Sword.

Bea just waved to me like she knew what she was doing. As for me, I shuddered at the thought of Bea being crushed and flattened like a pancake. As for Lana and I, I directed Lana to the Housing Authority so that we could get an apartment to rent for the month while we trained to take on Sgt. Goldstein, the gym leader of Ruby Island. I paid the security deposit and the amount for rent during the month that Lana, Bea and I were gonna be at the apartment. Lana actually chose the apartment for us. She picked out a recently remodeled 2100 sq ft 3 bedroom apartment that had also 2 ½ bathrooms, an eat-in kitchen with new stainless steel appliances, faux granite countertops and a very beautiful view of the ocean.

Not two hours later, Bea and her Bewear came to the apartment battered and bruised after trying to take on Sgt. Goldstein. The two of them tried to use the Dynamax gimmick and got overpowered by the Sarge and his Pokémon. I did try to warn her, but Bea was stubborn and refused to take my advice. Though the Sarge was well prepared because I told Aunt Relena about the Dynamax and Gigantamax gimmicks that Bea sang like a Chatot to me about. I figured that Aunt Relena had warned the gym leaders and the Elite Four about "Galar's power." Bea glared at me as she refused to admit that I was right about the gym leaders and even looked as if she was gonna interrogate me on how Sgt. Goldstein knew about the Dynamax and Gigantamax gimmicks of Galar. I kept my mouth shut as I was no Stool Pidgey and wasn't gonna sing for her. Even her threats didn't phase me, despite the fact I was sweating from the interrogation. The only thing that kept her from proceeding further was the delivery of four pizzas to the apartment that I had ordered from a local pizza place. With Bea's stomach rumbling from the shame of defeat, she stopped her interrogation and snatched the pizzas from the pizza delivery Magmar who was able to keep our pizzas nice and hot.

'Hey, you gotta pay for those pizzas,' the young male Magmar said in protest as Bea walked off to the kitchen with our pizzas.

I went up to the Spitfire Pokémon and handled the payment of the pizzas and he also handed the bottles of soda, breadsticks and a dessert pizza that came with all the points that I had racked up with the local pizza joint. Once I paid for the pizzas, the Magmar left and I went to the kitchen where Bea as about open the pizza boxes. I glanced at the battered and bruised Galar native as a way to tell her that I told her so. Bea noticed that I was glancing at her and glared at me as she said to me, "Come on, go ahead and say, 'I told ya so, lassie'."

"I have no reason to say that," I replied to Bea as I remained calm. "Your's and Bewear's bruises tell the whole story. "

'I would've thought that our Dynamax would be a major factor in defeating the gym leader,' Bea's Bewear said as he was nursing his bruises.

"The gym leaders here know how to battle against Legendary Pokémon and mega evolved Pokémon too," I said to Bewear. "But now that you two showed them Dynamax, they're gonna be working hard with their training to counter it."

"Perhaps," replied Bea as she let up on her glare at me, "but it almost seemed as if they were expecting the Dynamax to be used against them."

"Do I look like a Stool Pidgey to you?" I countered back at Bea before my stomach rumbled.

"Nay, but I better dig in before you attack the pizzas," Bea replied as she helped herself to a couple slices of pizza. "And I hope you don't plan to be eatin' nothing but pizza and junk food while we're traveling. I prefer to make sure that I'm still eatin' healthy."

"I don't always eat junk food," I said to Bea. "I like having pizza once in a while.

"But I hope that you learned your lesson," I continued as I grabbed three slices of pizza before Yondu and Ember looked at the pizzas on the kitchen island counter and licked their chops along with Shadow. "Don't underestimate the gym leaders here. They're much stronger than you think they are. You're gonna have to train harder now that you've gone and foolishly challenged the gym leaders before you were ready to take them on."

Bea rolled her eyes and snorted in retort to my statement before shoveling a piece of pizza down her throat. As for my other Pokémon, Diamond waited patiently for the other Pokémon to claim their food… and wait for the pizza to cool down as she was very fussy and didn't like food that was hot. Food that was warm was alright for Diamond, but she didn't like hot food, not even spicy foods. Helios just helped himself to any slice of hot pizza as he wasn't going to wait on everyone else. Bea couldn't believe her eyes as she watched my Pokémon eating pizza. She then looked to me quizzically.

"Don't you even get them their own type of food instead of making them eat human-made food?" Bea asked me in disgust.

"Oh, they're fine," I answered Bea as I rolled my eyes. "This is a once in a while treat for them. And I keep them from eating chocolate, raw onions and anything made from grapes.

"I learned what to feed them from when I was in Kanto with Dad," I continued. "I learned from one of Dad's friends who used to journey with him when he was younger. He's a Pokémon Doctor in Pewter City."

'Stop grilling Keith about every little thing he does,' Shadow said to Bea after wolfing down a breadstick. 'He takes very good care of us and feeds us well too.'

"We'll start in the outskirts tomorrow morning and train there for a week and then move outward with each week, moving out to train against stronger Pokémon that are out there," I said to Lana and Bea.

"Are there any Fighting-type Pokémon here on Ruby Island?" Bea asked me warily.

"Oh yeah, there are lots of Fighting-type Pokémon here on Ruby Island," I answered Bea with a cheeky grin. "If you'd like, I'll take you to Rikku's dojo tomorrow. She can definitely help you find the Fighting-type Pokémon that you're wanting. If you're lucky, you might even get the chance to meet Shadow Fist too."

Bea thought about it for a moment at first and then smiled to me as she replied, "Sure. Aye, I'd like to meet this Rikku person and hope that I might get to meet this Shadow Fist."

I said nothing as Bea was going to be in for yet another shock as I allowed the Galar native think that Rikku was a human. I kinda had hoped that Bea would open up to the idea of Pokémon being business owners and living in communities either like humans or alongside humans without fear of being captured on sight. Guess Aunt Relena had only sown the seed and it was up to me and the others around the region to open her eyes and see Pokémon as more than just pets or fighting partners. The rest of the night was quiet as Bea went on the balcony to train herself and work off the calories from our evening meal. As for Lana, she wanted me to take her to a pool so that we could go swimming and leave the Pokémon at the apartment while we took time to ourselves. Bea initially protested and told us that she wasn't going to be babysitting our Pokémon. I told her that Ember and Diamond usually were the ones who did the babysitting whenever Lana and I went out by ourselves. With Bea satisfied, Lana and I left the apartment by ourselves and found an aquatic center that was run by a Simipour. Lana was quite fascinated by the layout of the aquatic center and was eager go through the entire area. Unfortunately for Lana, we had arrived two hours before it was to close for the night and many of the Floatzel lifeguards had left for the night and were replaced by a few Buziels who usually were there as a skeleton crew until it closed for the night.

oooooooooooooo

"I'm really looking forward to going and meeting this Rikku person," Bea said as she was really giddy in the morning.

"Uh… sure," I said in reply with a sweatdrop on my forehead.

After walking fifteen minutes from the apartment, Bea and I made it to Rikku's Fist Dojo. I let out a sigh as I hoped that Bea would be ready for the biggest shock of her life since the Commerce District the other day. Because next big shock was about to come… if she didn't see the shiny Hitmonlee that had just exited the dojo. Bea was indeed quite surprised by the shiny Hitmonlee as she pointed him out to me with widened eyes.

"Th-That was a shiny Hitmonlee," Bea said in surprise.

"Uh yeah," I replied to Bea before sighing. "I would've thought that you'd be used to seeing shiny Pokémon by now."

Bea said nothing in retort as we entered the dojo and she then looked like she was about to have a heart attack with what she saw in front of her. Many shiny and non-shiny Fighting-type Pokémon were working out, training themselves and even going so far as to spar with humans to sharpen their skills. Bea was in complete shock as she watched as a few Fighting-type Pokémon were giving instruction to some of the humans that were at the dojo. As for her Bewear, he let himself out of his Ultra Ball and then became quite fascinated with the activity in the dojo.

'Oh wow,' a fascinated Bewear said as he looked very happy. 'Now this is my kind of place to train. Right Bea?'

"Uh… yeah, I guess," answered Bea as the dojo owner came to greet us.

'Welcome to you, young Aura user,' the dojo owner, a shiny female Mienshao, named Rikku, said to me before taking notice of Bea. 'I see you've brought a new friend with you. Is she someone you are intimate and romantic with?'

"NO! There's no way on Lord Arceus's good and green Earth that I'd wanna date her," I answered Rikku as my face went Chople Berry red. "Besides, she hates gun-toting geeks like me."

"I'm not interested in dating right now," Bea said to Rikku. "But I'm looking for the owner of this dojo."

'You're looking at the owner of the dojo,' Rikku said to Bea as she motioned to herself.

"You're the owner of this dojo?" Bea asked Rikku as she looked at the shiny female Martial Arts Pokémon.

'I take it this human is one of those who still holds on to the belief that only humans make the biggest contribution to life and that Pokémon are only here to 'serve their human masters',' Rikku said as she made her observation of Bea. 'She's definitely a foreigner and not used to the ways of our home region.'

"You think, Captain Obvious?" I asked Rikku in a sarcastic tone… only for her to use a Force Palm attack and knock me down.

"I'm liking you already," Bea said to Rikku as I was paralyzed from the Force Palm attack from Rikku.

'Let us get started with your training, young lady,' Rikku said to Bea as the two went off to begin Bea's training.

oooooooooooooo

A month later, Lana and I had finished our training as we had went around the Island training our Pokémon and even helping Lana catch new Pokémon for our gym battle against the gym leader of Ruby Island. She caught herself a shiny male Seel with the Hydration ability, shiny male Wingull with the Rain Dish ability, shiny female Froakie that had the Protean Dream World ability, a shiny female Shellder with the Skill Link ability and even managed to get very lucky and capture a shiny Suicune from Lord Aurora's clan as well. As for me, caught a few more Pokémon. I captured a shiny Shinx with the Rivalry ability, a shiny male and female pair of Litleos as both of them had the Moxie ability, a shiny male Vulpix the Drought ability, that I evolved into a Ninetales right away and found out that he was interested in Ember… romantically and I reunited with a shiny Virizion named Hinoki who became my friend when I was four. With my team set up and ready to go, I was confident that I was ready to take on Sergeant Goldstein. Of course Shadow was my team leader, but to back him up, I had Hinoki, Nala, the shiny female Litleo that I evolved into a Pyroar, my recently evolved Luxray as we trained really hard along with Ember and Diamond. As for Lana, she chose her Primarina… more like Primarina insisted that she be in the party with Lana. The other Pokémon that she chose to bring to the gym were her recently evolved Pelipper, Dewgong and Greninja. With her Greninja having the Protean ability, I was confident that we would have a slight advantage. But I knew that we couldn't let our guard down as the gym leaders in the Atlantica Islands were very smart and knew how to counter almost everything thrown at them. I had half expected Bea to tag along with us to Fort Ruby Sword, but the Galar native said that she wanted to train some more with her Bewear and the other Fighting-type Pokémon that she managed to acquire for herself.

oooooooooooooo

"I sure hope that I'm ready for this challenge," Lana said as we entered the fort and saw many recruits doing calisthenics along the perimeter of the fort.

'Don't worry Lana,' her Primarina said as she let herself out of her Pokéball. 'We've got Keith to help us out… or to smack around if we lose the gym battle.'

"Hey come on now, Primarina," I protested to Lana's Primarina with a sweatdrop on my forehead, "that's not fair."

Lana recalled her Primarina to her Pokéball and we continued towards the gym leader. We had to battle some new recruits and a few drill instructors along the way to Sergeant Goldstein. Lana and I were able to demonstrate to them the level and dedication of training of our Pokémon. Despite our victories, they did take a bit of a toll on our Pokémon. Thankfully, Mom had slipped some berries into my backpack to go along with the potions and other healing items that we bought in the Commerce District on Tsunami Island. The Leppa berries really did help as Ethers and Max Ethers were crazy expensive in the Commerce District. After healing up our Pokémon, we finally made it to the gym leader as he was waiting for us.

"I see that the son of our region's top Elite Four members has finally decided to challenge the Suicune Valley Conference," Sgt. Goldstein said as he smirked and had a mocking tone about him. "I really hope you'll perform just as well as your sisters and parents before you. The last opponent I had, a month ago, bragged about how 'Galar's power would overwhelm the Atlantica Islands and the Suicune Valley Conference would no longer be the most difficult Pokémon League conference in the world'."

'Definitely sounds like Bea,' Shadow said as he let himself out of his Dream Ball. 'But enough about that lass, on to our challenge.'

"You know the rules of the gym battle here, right son?" Sgt. Goldstein asked as his drill instructor tone set in, quite quickly.

Lana was about to ask, but I squeezed her arm gently to get her attention and shook my head… before silently telling her to follow my lead. I then stood at attention with Lana following my lead, yet remaining silent. Sgt. Goldstein then looked at both of us, examined us and paid attention to every detail that he took in of us. The gym leader then said, "This gym battle will be a Double Battle since you both are competing together as a pair. The two of you will choose three of your Pokémon each to face off against my six Pokémon.

"Do you get me?" Sgt. Goldstein then asked us both, still in his stern drill instructor tone.

"Sir, we get you sir" I replied for both me and Lana.

"Alright then," replied Sgt. Goldstein as he gave a slight nod and motioned for a private to come to the referee's position. "Let's get started."

"The gym battle will be a 6 on 6 Double Battle for the Ruby Sword Badge," the referee announced to those who then came to watch our first official gym battle. "The challengers, Keith Ketchum of Tsunami Island and Lana Felicity of Konikoni City in the Alola region, each will use three of their own Pokémon in order to battle against the gym leader's 6 Pokémon."

Lana was quick to decide which Pokémon she was going to use. Her Primarina still insisted that she be part of the gym battle. Along with Primarina, Lana chose her Greninja and Pelipper. As for me, I chose Diamond to start out with and Nala and Hinoki for support. As the referee made the signal to start the battle, I called out Diamond. Before Lana could call on another Pokémon, her Primarina let herself out of her Pokéball to join Diamond.

"Primarina, I wasn't going to call on you," Lana said to her female Soloist Pokémon.

'Don't worry Lana,' her Primarina said in a reassuring tone. 'Diamond and I got this.'

'I dunno Primarina,' Diamond said to her battling partner. 'We might be trouble if the gym leader calls on a Poison-type Pokémon.'

"Go Toxicroak and Beedrill," Sgt. Goldstein called as he did indeed call on two Poison-type Pokémon like Diamond feared.

'I was afraid of this,' said Diamond as she frowned at both Poison-type Pokémon.

'Oh goodie… fairies,' Sgt. Goldstein's Beedrill said as he looked at Diamond and Primarina. 'Time to give them the sting of our poison.'

"Toxicroak, use Mud Bomb on Primarina," Sgt. Goldstein ordered as his first Pokémon. "Beedrill, use Toxic on that Ninetales."

Both Pokémon comply and launch their attacks against mine and Lana's Pokémon. Diamond didn't need me to tell her to dodge that Toxic from Beedrill, but Sgt. Goldstein's Beedrill had followed through with an unexpected Poison Jab and poisoned Diamond. As for Lana's Primarina, she used Hydro Pump to cancel out Toxicroak's Mud Bomb… only for him to use Throat Chop on her. With Primarina's main weapon for battling out of commission, it looked like we were going to be in trouble once the gym leader's Beedrill used Poison Jab and poisoned Primarina. Having Primarina out with Diamond was a bad idea and got worse Sgt. Goldstein's Toxicroak used Venoshock and caused much more damage to both Fairy-type Pokémon as I remembered that Venoshock did double the damage to poisoned Pokémon. Being weak against Poison attacks didn't help much either for Diamond or Primarina. But thankfully for me, Diamond was able to expel the poison from her body… um… in an unladylike manner that I'd rather not say. It took Primarina a bit longer to expel the poison from her body too… also… in an unladylike manner. But once both of them had expelled the poison from their bodies, they were gonna have to catch up to Toxicroak and Beedrill.

"Diamond, use Psyshock on Toxicroak," I ordered Diamond as I was going to trade opponents with Lana and Primarina.

"Primarina, use Psychic on Beedrill," Lana ordered her faithful friend.

Both of our Pokémon used their attacks on our opponents and hit them dead on and knocking them out in one go. Both Poison-type Pokémon were caught by surprise with how powerful both super effective Psychic-type attacks were. Both Lana and I were affectionate with our Pokémon and being affectionate with our Pokémon paid off in the long run as Toxicroak fainted due to having a double whammy weakness to Psychic-type attacks by being a Poison/Fighting-type Pokémon. But the Beedrill was quite stubborn and didn't go down as quickly. Nonetheless, two Aqua Tail attacks put the Bug/Poison-type Pokémon down for good. After taking down Toxicroak and Beedrill, both Primarina and Diamond were looking pretty battered after taking such punishment from both Poison-type Pokémon. Sgt. Goldstein then called on his Rhydon and Magmortar to try and finish the job. Lana and I were thankful that the Sarge didn't tell us that we couldn't substitute our Pokémon. I recalled Diamond so she could get some rest and Lana recalled Primarina, even though her companion thought that she could still battle.

"Let's go Ember!" I exclaimed as I called on my shiny female Arcanine instead of Nala like I was initially planning on doing.

"Go Greninja," Lana said as she tossed up a Dive Ball holding her shiny female Greninja.

'I'm ready to go,' Ember said as she readied herself against both Magmortar and Rhydon.

'I too stand ready,' added Lana's Greninja.

"Magmortar, use Lava Plume on Greninja," ordered Sgt. Goldstein as he quickly reviewed Ember and Greninja. "Rhydon, use Bubblebeam on Arcanine."

"Huh?" Lana asked in confusion. "Why is he doing that?"

"Ember, use Dig to dodge that Bubblebeam," I ordered Ember.

'Got it,' acknowledged Ember before she began digging.

"Greninja, use Stone Edge to block that Lava Plume," Lana ordered her Greninja as she was going to try and take advantage of her Greninja's Protean ability.

'Understood,' replied Greninja as she used the Rock-type move and had her typing changed to Rock-type.

"Exactly what I was hoping you two would would do," Sgt. Goldstein said as he smirked evilly. "Rhydon, use Earthquake and put them down quickly!"

'Sorry Magmortar,' Sgt. Goldstein's Rhydon said to his Fire-type companion before using said Ground-type attack.

"Greninja, quick dodge that Lava Plume and use Water Shuriken instead," Lana said as she changed tactics quickly.

Lana's Greninja dodged the Fire-type attack and fired off multiple water shurikens at her opponent. As for Ember, she had applied the same tactic that had beaten her when Shadow and I captured her in Alola. Ember had used Double Team and added Extreme Speed to the mix as she struck Rhydon, despite taking a big hit from Rhydon's Earthquake attack. Lana's Greninja did take some damage herself from the Earthquake attack. The damage she took wasn't as bad as Ember got, despite using Double Team to try and raise her evasion. Ember looked as if she had taken quite a licking but Magmortar had been knocked out from the Earthquake attack. Ember herself managed to stand despite the massive amount of damage from the Ground-type attack from Rhydon.

"Quick Ember, use Iron Tail to put Rhydon down," I said to Ember as we needed to get ahead of the gym leader after the slow start and disadvantage that Primarina put us in.

My shiny female Arcanine was eager to put her opponent quick as she used the Steel-type move and caused a lot of damage to the Drill Pokémon. With the super effective Steel-type move used on Rhydon, Lana and I were one step away from claiming the Ruby Sword Badge from Sgt. Goldstein. But the last round wasn't going to be easy for us as he was going to go all out and pull all the stops to try and stop us from claiming victory.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Hooray we did it!" Lana exclaimed to me happily as she kissed me on my right cheek, causing me to blush as red as a Chople Berry as we were back at our apartment, waiting for Bea to challenge Sgt. Goldstein again. "We got our first gym badge together!"

'Owowowow, I'm too bruised up to say anything or wanna smack Keith around," Lana's Primarina said as she was nursing some of her bruises.

'Lana and Keith won their gym badge,' Diamond chided Primarina as she slowly lowered herself on her bed. 'There is no need for you to smack Keith around for any reason.'

"I never thought that Sgt. Goldstein was gonna be that tough for us," Lana said to as we watched our battered Pokémon each find their resting place and lie down.

"Welcome to the Suicune Valley Conference, my beautiful Alola mermaid," I replied to Lana as we hugged each other. "Even my older sisters and parents had it tough for them. The gym leaders here don't pull any punches."

Before Lana could reply, we heard knocking on the door to our apartment and Lana answered the door. A shiny Wingull came by and had delivered a video message for us as she turned on a message on the iPad she carried. Much to my surprise, it was my royal cousin, Hayato, and his girlfriend, Vanna Seabright.

'Hey there Keith,' Hayato began with his message. 'Vanna and I heard that you finally graduated from Royal Pokémon Academy. Congrats to you on FINALLY graduating from the Academy.'

'Hayato, you said that you'd be nice about that,' Vanna chided her boyfriend as she punched him on his left shoulder.

'Ow, come on My Fairy,' complained Hayato as he rubbed his bruised left shoulder. 'You didn't have to hit me so hard. You hit just as hard as your mom.'

'Anyway, Keith, we heard that you journeyed to the Alola region and took on the Pokémon League there,' Vanna said in the message. 'That must've been a big step for you to finally leave home and take on Alola's Pokémon League in its inaugural season. Hayato and I were gonna take on the Suicune Valley Conference this year after we took on Kalos's Pokémon League, but I wanted to come home and we decided to take on the Sky Fortress Conference this year instead just to build up Hayato's confidence a bit more.

'My Prince was wanting to battle you in the Suicune Valley Conference since you two were in the Royal Pokémon Academy,' continued Vanna, 'but since I wanted come home, I kinda put the kibosh on that plan. Sorry about that.'

'Hey, we even heard that you got a girlfriend too,' Hayato chimed in as he smiled. 'I bet she's a real cutie… uh…, almost as cute my Beautiful Fairy.'

'Good boy,' Vanna said to Hayato as she patted him on his head, much to his displeasure before looking back to the screen. 'I hope you're at least taking care of her and making sure that she's enjoying herself in the Atlantica Islands.'

"Of course I'm enjoying myself," Lana said to the screen with a smile on her face.

'We might return back to the Atlantica Islands in a month or so just to meet with you and your girlfriend,' Vanna said as the message was wrapping up. 'Let's try to meet up on Emerald Cove Island at the Emerald Crown Resort before you go for your third badge, okay?'

'See ya soon!' Hayato and Vanna exclaimed as they waved to me and Lana before the message ended.

"Who are they?" Lana asked me.

"That's my cousin Hayato Kaiou," I answered Lana. "The girl with him is his girlfriend, Vanna Seabright. They've been friends since we've all been kids.

"Vanna's family have been friends with my family and the Kaiou royal family," I added with a sigh. "Hayato's been shy… until he warmed up to Vanna."

'And Vanna pulled out all the stops to get Hayato to like her too,' Shadow chimed in before falling asleep… next to Lana's Primarina.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

"It's cool to see that you got the Ruby Sword Badge, finally," Lana said to Bea as she showed us her badge that she obtained after she went through her second attempt for the badge.

"Aye, I thought we'd never get it," replied Bea. "And that guy was a lot stronger than before."

"So does that mean you'll listen to advice before going in with brute force?" I asked Bea sarcastically.

Bea looked at me as she glared at me in response to my sarcastic question. I didn't glare back at her as my focus was on the next island, Amber Island. The day before the ferry was supposed to arrive, we cleaned up the apartment as our lease was only for the month we were staying on Ruby Island to train and battle the gym leader. After getting most of our laundry done, we called it a night as we were all tired. Though Bea didn't help much with cleaning the apartment, leaving Lana and I to do it. The only bit of cleaning she ever did was her own laundry and that was it. While we cleaned, she went out to train herself and her Fighting-type Pokémon. I was really sore at her for that. The apartment wasn't like Air B-n-B, part of the lease stated that the occupants had to do the cleaning before they vacated the apartment or they'd get hit with a penalty fee.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

"So where are we off to next?" Bea asked me as we boarded the ferry.

"We're going to Amber Island next," I answered Bea. "Lady Amelia is the gym leader there and her badge is the Amber Spear Badge."

"Not bad," replied Bea with a smile on her face. "Can't wait to face this Amelia person."

I shuddered as I knew that Bea was going to be in for another rude awakening. Bea had no idea what she was going to in for once she met Lady Amelia. I had met Lady Amelia before at Sol Palace as she was the wife Aunt Relena's Suicune father, Lord Aurora. Plus I learned the truth about her when my sister, Cynthia dragged me with her and the Summers siblings as she made her trek to take on the Suicune Valley Conference. Bea was still being quite stubborn with the belief that Pokémon had to be under the control of humans. I really had hoped that seeing Lady Amelia would be the biggest surprise of her life. I know it was the biggest surprise of my life, as well as Cynthia's life.

The ferry to Amber Island was a smooth ride and we encountered no Pokémon tribes at war with each other, as per the Royal Order to cease all tribal conflicts prior to the start of the Pokémon League season. In fact, we even got a chance to see a large pod of Wailords and Wailmers being escorted by a mercenary guild of Tentacruels and Jellicents as it seemed as though they were transporting something or someone valuable to Amber Island and it required quite the amount of protection and firepower. One of the Tentacruels took notice and waved at us before his guild began pulling back into the open waters and the Amber Island division of Costal Hurricane Corps. took over escort duties in guiding the pod into the harbor. As for us, Lana's Primarina had let herself out of her Pokéball and then let a sigh of relief out.

'Thank Lord Arceus that guild of Tentacruels left the harbor,' Lana's Primarina said as she still had a few shivers running up her spine. 'They make me feel uncomfortable.'

'There were also Jellicents in that guild too,' Diamond said to Lana's Primarina. 'But I too share your in your discomfort of the Poison-type Pokémon.'

"Well, I don't think you'll have to worry about Tentacruels," I said to Lana's Primarina. "That guild normally doesn't approach populated areas unless they meet for a contract job.

"And that guild isn't allowed to come to Amber Island anyway for the way they handled a riot on the island when I was six," I continued. "The authorities banished them and told them that they couldn't go into the harbor, let alone be on the island."

"That's gotta suck," commented Bea.

"Attention passengers," we could hear on PA. "The ferry will make landfall in five minutes. Please make sure that all of your belongings are with you as you disembark. The ferry for Emerald Cove Island leaves in two hours and on Mondays and Fridays as well."

"Well… another island, another gym," said Bea as she was ready to begin training again.

"We need to find somewhere to stay for the month of training before taking on the gym leader of Amber Island," Lana said to us as I was trying to remember where Amber Island's Housing Authority was located.

"If you need a place to stay, I would be happy to let you three stay with me," a new person said as she was behind us.

The three of us turned and saw someone right behind us. The person behind us was someone that I knew all too well as I had met her whenever my parents had to meet with the other gym leaders and the Elite Four members. The person was a head shorter than me with a fair complexion. She had ruby red eyes, long flowing purple hair like the mane of a Suicune. She was dressed in an outfit that made her look as if she was indeed a Suicune in human form. Her outfit had a sleeveless blue shirt, Suicune blue capri pants, a Shiny Charm necklace, long white ribbons that came out of her shoulders and nothing on her feet as she preferred to be barefoot. Lana and Bea didn't know that Lady Amelia, the person standing before us, was indeed a Suicune in human form. But I wasn't going to tell them that as I had no obligation to tell them that. There were some things that I could tell them and other things that I couldn't tell them.

"And who might you be, shortie?" Bea asked Lady Amelia… much my horror.

Bea got no direct answer from Lady Amelia, but a very swift and powerful Hydro Pump from her. Bea got knocked into the water as she was in complete shock that human was able to use the powerful Water-type move. Lady Amelia always hated being called "shortie" and would respond with either a Hydro Pump or an Ice Beam attack. As for Bea, she climbed out of the water, sopping wet and her clothes clinging to her body and revealing her features. I had to will myself to not take in all of the details of Bea's athletically toned body… least I got many more correctional tail slaps from Lana's Primarina.

'Good boy, Keith,' Lana's Primarina said to me as was eyeing me and making sure that I wasn't taking in the details of Bea's body through her sopping wet clothes.

"Lady Amelia," I said to the gym leader of Amber Island as I bowed to her.

"Young Keith," replied Lady Amelia as she gave me a curt nod. "It's so good to see you again. And I see you have a companion in this young lady with her Primarina."

"Um… hello there," Lana said to Lady Amelia as she was a bit apprehensive when meeting her.

"At any rate young Keith," said Lady Amelia as she brought focus back to why she came to meet us, "I would like to offer to let you stay with me for the month of your training to take on the gym leader."

"And just who is the bloody gym leader?" Bea asked Lady Amelia with an eye brow raised.

"You're looking at her," answered Lady Amelia in a deadpan. "The one you just called… 'shortie'."

Bea's blood ran ice cold as she widened her eyes in shock at Lady Amelia revealing that she was the gym leader. I knew that Lady Amelia always hated being called shortie. Even after using either the Hydro Pump or Ice Beam attack on the person, she could be subtly vindictive. But she would wait until later to exact her subtle vengeance on Bea. As for Bea, her face went Occa Berry red in embarrassment for calling the Amber Island gym leader "shortie." Unfortunately for Lady Amelia and any female Suicune that take the form of a human, they are shorter than their male counterparts that take human form and their white ribbon-like tails protrude from their back. Though luckily for Lady Amelia, neither Lana nor Bea could tell.

"Your mother asked me if I would allow you to stay at my home," Lady Amelia explained to me. "Normally, I do not like showing special treatment to certain individuals. But since the properties I own are full, I think I can make an exception for you three."

"Thank you," said Lana as she and Primarina bowed to Lady Amelia.

"But to cover your rent for staying with me," began Lady Amelia, "you will help with cleaning, some cooking and various errands around the island for me. And none of you will Buizel out of helping out, otherwise I will evict you. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," the three of us answered Lady Amelia in unison.

"I will also not tolerate violence in my home either," Lady Amelia informed us sternly.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

"I see," Mom said as I had contacted her after we settled into Lady Amelia's home. "So this Bea girl called Lady Amelia 'shortie'."

"Yeah, and Bea got a Hydro Pump back into the harbor for it too," I explained to Mom. "You know, Mom, they're gonna find out eventually."

"I know dear," Mom replied to me. "But you can't be revealing anything about hybrids to them. We don't know how they'll react to being told about hybrids. Not every region has individuals who like hybrids. Even here, there are people who don't like hybrids, but most of them still accept them because they contribute to the society of the kingdom."

"I would've thought Lana would know about hybrids," I said to Mom. "Didn't Cynthia tell Lana about hybrids along the way to Samiya?"

"Oh… yes, that's right," answered Mom as she had a sweatdrop on her forehead. "I almost forgot about that. Even though Lana knows, I am forbidding you to tell Bea about hybrids."

"To be honest Mom," I began, "I dunno how long I can that a secret. Aunt Relena did open the kingdom to the rest of the world and there's been quite a storm of mixed reactions. Maybe many in Galar didn't see the documentary on the Atlantica Islands."

"Or perhaps Bea didn't see it herself," Mom suggested before I could sense Bea approaching from the other side of the hall.

"I gotta go Mom," I said to Mom before Bea got closer. "I'll talk to you later."

"Okay Keith," Mom replied with a slight nod and blew a kiss to me. "I love you and good luck on your training."

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

A month later

"Congratulations on winning the Amber Spear Badge from me you two," Lady Amelia said to Lana and I as squeaked out another victory for our second gym badge.

"What the bloody…," Bea began to ask in shock and surprise after witnessing the startling revelation that Lady Amelia, Amber Island's gym leader, was indeed a Pokémon herself and yet was a gym leader too. "A Pokémon as a gym leader?! That's completely unheard of. It's complete bloody madness!"

'Hey, none of us complained,' Banana, Lady Amelia's shiny Infernape, said to Bea. 'Lady Amelia was straight forward with us and she even gave us the chance to walk away from being apart of something new.'

"I don't know… if… I can," Bea began to say as she was still in complete shock and horror at seeing Lady Amelia in her true form as a Suicune.

Lady Amelia was about to say something, but Bea ran off before she could say anything to the Galar native. Even Lana was still trying to process the startling revelation of Lady Amelia actually being a Pokémon that commanded other Pokémon as a gym leader. But with Primarina's help, Lana was able to overcome the shock from the startling revelation of Lady Amelia's true identity. Lana and her Primarina then looked to me as if ask what our next move would be. I had no clue what to do myself, but Lady Amelia looked to me and Lana as she said after transforming back into her true form, 'Worry not about your friend from Galar. Go ahead to Emerald Cove Island and begin the next leg of your trek to the Suicune Valley Conference. The Sky Prince and Fairy Princess are eagerly awaiting your arrival.'

"Sky Prince? Fairy Princess?" Lana asked quizzically and confused.

"My royal cousin, Hayato Kaiou, is called the Sky Prince because he's a motocross geek and trains Flying-type Pokémon," I explained to Lana. "His girlfriend, a family friend of ours, is Vanna Seabright. She's from Oblivia and she's known as the Fairy Princess. She does act like a Fairy Pokémon too. Can't touch anything iron-based and hates poisons and Poison-type Pokémon too. She's the girl from that message we saw back on Ruby Island. Along with my cousin, Hayato."

'She sounds quite fascinating,' Lana's Primarina said to me as she listened to my explanation.

"Just don't let Oberon and Ichigo suck you into their horrendous gambling addiction," I replied back to Lana's Primarina. "They bet on almost everything. They use berries, Poffins and whatever hold items they find on treasure excursions they go on. "

"Who are Oberon and Ichigo?" Lana asked me.

"Oberon is Vanna's Sylveon and has been with her since the day she was born, like Big Brother Victini has been with Cynthia since she was born," I explained to my beautiful Alola Mermaid. "Ichigo is Hayato's Togekiss and first Pokémon. Vanna gave him to Hayato as a Togepi for his 7th birthday."

'Oh wow,' replied Lana's Primarina. 'So his first Pokémon was a Fairy-type. Not bad.'

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

A few days later, Lana and I made it to Emerald Cove Island on the ferry. Bea hadn't joined us for this leg of the journey as she was still in shock and still trying to process the fact that Lady Amelia was indeed a Pokémon, despite the fact she was the gym leader of Amber Island. Even though Bea wasn't with us, both Lana and I breathed a sigh of relief as we didn't have to worry about her being a bother to us.

"So… are we staying at another apartment?" Lana asked me.

"Nope," I answered with a Mareepish grin. "We're gonna stay at the Emerald Crown Resort this time. I know the owners there. Hopefully, Aunt Rena and Uncle Daniel still have a room that we can book and take for a month."

"Hotels allow you to do that?" Lana asked me as she and Primarina were quite confused.

"Oh yeah," I answered Lana. "And rent isn't gonna be as bad as the rent on Ruby Island was. We just have to pay for our meals through a dining plan."

'What about feeding us?' Lana's Primarina asked me.

"The plans include feeding the trainer's Pokémon too," I answered Lana's Primarina. "So you're not gonna have to worry about starving while Lana and I go get something to eat."

After we left the harbor, I lead Lana to the Emerald Crown Resort so we could get a room for us and our Pokémon. I was really hoping to get there before booking had ended for the day as the hotel front staff ended booking for the day at 3 in the afternoon. A few trainers tried to stop us with Pokémon battles, but it was all for naught and we managed to collect a hefty chunk of change since our opponents were inexperienced rich snobs and I told Lana that we should make sure Primarina and Diamond were holding Amulet Coins so we could double our winnings. I even had my recently captured and sly shiny Liepard thief, Charon, hold an Amulet Coin too. The best bonus for me when I caught Yondu was when I learned he knew the egg move Pay Day that Meowths and Persians knew. Having him hold an Amulet Coin and knowing Pay Day… it certainly was going to be a very big pay day for me and Lana while we trained before taking on the gym leader of Emerald Cove Island.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Welcome to the Emerald Crown Resort," the front desk receptionist said to me as Lana and I had ran from our last Pokémon trainer battle before we gained entry to the Princess District. "Oh my. You two look out of breath."

'You're not kidding,' Shadow said to the receptionist as he spoke for me and Lana. 'My human and his girlfriend are wanting to get a room for the month. While they train to take on the gym leader of this island.'

"Unfortunately, the last room we had was just booked by Prince Hayato and his girlfriend," the receptionist explained with a grim look on her face. "Though they did say that they were expecting two… possibly three guests. I need the names of your out of breath human companions."

'My human's name is Keith Ketchum,' Shadow said to the receptionist.

"And the young lady," began the receptionist, "is her name Lana Felicity or Bea Wallace by chance?"

'Her name is Lana Felicity,' Lana's Primarina said for Shadow… before scooping up Shadow in her arms.

'AHH! MAKE THIS FAIRY LET GO OF ME!' Shadow cried out in terror as he tried to wiggle out of Primarina's grip, getting the attention of guests and staffers alike.

The receptionist asked me and Lana to provide some form ID to prove we were who we said we were. We gave the receptionist our Pokédexes so she could confirm our IDs. Once she confirmed our identities, the receptionist gave us back our Pokédexes and then gave us special room keys after informing us that the room was already paid for and a meal was already set in place. I sighed and rolled my eyes as I knew that it had to Hayato's doing. Don't get me wrong though, I was grateful for Hayato doing that. But I thought he needed to save his money for once the time came for him to settle down with Vanna. Plus Hayato had at one time thought that he could buy friends… and that didn't go over so well with him.

"Well, my Alola mermaid," I said to Lana after we recalled our Pokémon, "you ready to meet my royal cousin and his girlfriend?"

"You bet," Lana answered happily and gently.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Author's note: Here's another chapter in the books for you guys. I should be at least two chapters away from starting to bring everything together. I thank you for your patience and hope you're enjoying the fic so far.

Please let me know what you think of the fic so far. Any and all comments are welcome as usual.