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.

15. Chapter 14

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.

Author's Note: This chapter contains some light M-rated themes. I'll keep it as light as I can.

14: Kindled Alolan Love & the Suicune Valley Conference (part 2)

Two months prior to the start of the Hybrid Storm

'You're absolutely sure that this procedure won't cause harm to her or her offspring?' Sargasso, a shiny male Dragalge, asked his counterpart, head of Team Trident's Angel Corps, Doctor Nakamura, as the two observed the newlywed couple of Keith and Lana Ketchum that they had placed into a magic-induced stasis.

The 87 year old doctor looked at her two patients and then sighed. For someone who was 87 years old, the head of Team Trident's Angel Corps certainly didn't look like an 87 year old woman. She looked as if she was physically still in her early 30s with lime green hair, blood red eyes and a body suit in the colors of a shiny Dragalge, like her brother next to her.

"You know that I've done this procedure many times," Doctor Nakamura answered her shiny Dragalge brother, Sargasso. "I've done it as practice runs and had to do it a few times for real before Milady Rhea's plan could begin.

"Milady Rhea wants this young lady to become the mother of a whole new generation of mermaids," continued Nakamura as she looked at the sleeping form of the two month pregnant Lana Ketchum and her husband, Keith. "She carries within her the seeds of the Ocean Queen, the Primarina mermaid who lost her life during the Blood Moon Purge. We must do everything in our power to ensure that her bloodline does not end."

'So… doing the Phase 3 gene therapy of Project Akatsuki is going to help preserve her line?' Sargasso asked his sister.

"Yes," answered Nakamura as she readied the syringe that held Primarina DNA. "Splicing Primarina DNA into the mother and her offspring will help begin the reseeding process."

'Yeah, I remember Milady Rhea saying that Primarina mermaids and mermen were plentiful and lived in peace,' commented Sargasso as his sister began the first stage of the Phase 3 gene therapy.

"Yes," replied Nakamura as she nodded in agreement. "Duchess May Ketchum is a direct descendant of the Ocean Queen. As is her son. The genes of the Primarina mermaid queen are locked away in the offspring of Lana Ketchum. This gene therapy will assist in unlocking those genes."

'You better make sure that neither Lana or her offspring will get hurt,' Lana's Primarina said as she was being held down by a couple of Toxicroaks.

"There's no need to worry, Soloist Pokémon," Nakamura reassured Lana's Primarina before waving off the two Poison/Fighting-type Pokémon away from her. "Sargasso and I are doing everything in our power to ensure no harm comes to your human and her offspring. Your human has a big role to play and she'll definitely need your help."

'Well… I can't very well say 'no' to that, can I?' Lana's Primarina asked as she straightened herself upright.

oooooooooooooo

Present Day

oooooooooooooo

Keith Ketchum's POV

"It's been a while, Keith," my royal cousin, Hayato Kaiou said as with a big grin on his face. "You seem to be doing quite well."

"Same to you," I replied to Hayato. "How's the Sky Fortress Conference treating you?"

"It was difficult," Vanna answered for Hayato. "We won the tournament, but we couldn't even get to my Dad."

"Her mom went all out against us and we couldn't even get past Mrs. Seabright," Hayato added in a dejected tone.

"I thought the Sky Fortress Conference tournament started around the same of the Suicune Valley Conference tournament," I said to Hayato and Vanna.

"They started a lot earlier and my Prince and I really had to play catch up with getting gym badges from the Oblivia gym leaders," Vanna explained to us as I knew she always called my cousin her prince. "I'm guessing they had to do so because of the Royal Cup tournament being held this year.

Vanna looked to Lana and then realized that she hadn't introduced herself to my girlfriend as she then said, "I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself to you. I'm Vanna Seabright and I'm from the Oblivia region. You must be Keith's girlfriend."

"I… I'm Lana Felicity," Lana replied to Vanna before Vanna caught an eye on Oberon receiving a pink Poffin from Ichigo.

'Pay up, Ichigo,' Oberon, Vanna's Sylveon, said to Hayato's Togekiss, Ichigo with a smirk. 'A bet's a bet.'

"Seriously? They still make bets?" I asked Vanna in annoyance of their gambling addiction.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe some of their ridiculous bets they've made," Hayato said to me.

"Get those two into rehab or something," I suggested to Hayato and Vanna.

"We tried that," Vanna and Hayato both said in unison with a blank stare on their faces. "Those who were doing their rehab ended up needing rehab themselves."

"Ouch," I replied as I had a grimaced face.

"But at any rate," Vanna said as she changed the subject and looked to Lana. "I hear you have a Fairy-type Pokémon."

"I'm not sure that I follow you," replied Lana as she looked to her Primarina and then back to Vanna. "I know that Primarina is a Water-type Pokémon."

"Your Primarina is indeed a Water-type Pokémon," Vanna explained to Lana. "But she's also a Fairy-type Pokémon too."

"Oh yeah… guess I forgot about that from Pokémon School," Lana said as she scratched her head in embarrassment.

"So, how did you get your Primarina?" Vanna asked Lana.

"I rescued her from some thugs from Team Skull," began Lana as she began to explain how she got her Water/Fairy-type Pokémon. "Team Skull is just a bunch of thugs and crooks who sell Pokémon for money to the highest bidder."

"They're sort of like Team Rocket from my dad's home region in Kanto when they were in power," I added to the explanation. "But they're not defeated yet. And we don't know who their leader is either."

"But back to what I began," Lana interjected and cut me off, "I rescued Primarina when she was a Popplio and kept her.

"I would train her on occasion, but not often," continued Lana as Vanna listened to her story. "But that kinda changed once Cynthia arrived in Alola with her friends."

"So when did you get her evolved into a Primarina?" Vanna asked Lana.

"She evolved into Brionne and then to Primarina along the way to Samiya, the temple of the People of the Water," answered Lana. "I had no idea that Cynthia was one of those People of the Water."

"I'm of the People of the Water too," I said to my girlfriend in a deadpan. "So is my mom and my other sister, Lisa.

"Grandmother Caroline and my Uncle Max are also of the People of the Water too," I continued to Lana.

"I am too," chimed in Hayato as he raised his hand. "My mom's entire side of the family are of the People of the Water too."

"Oh," replied Lana as she had no idea. "At any rate, she evolved into Primarina and we've become a lot closer to each other."

'And then Lana and Keith became lovey-dovey with each other,' Shadow interjected as he looked to try and embarrass me with grin.

"Shut up Shadow," I shot back before looking to Oberon and Ichigo. "Hey Oberon and Ichigo, I think Shadow wants to hi to you boys."

'Hey, it is Shadow,' Oberon said to Ichigo before having a smile on his face. 'Let's go say 'hi' to Shadow.'

'Yeah, we haven't seen Shadow in a while,' agreed Ichigo as both Fairy-type began making their way to my shiny Dark-type Moonlight brother. 'What up Shadow? Been a while hasn't it?'

'AHHH! NOT YOU TWO FAIRIES!' Shadow exclaimed in absolute horror of the two Fairy-type Pokémon as he then tried to run away… only to run into Lana's Primarina. 'EEEE! GET THIS FAIRY TO LET GO OF ME! HELP!'

'Yay,' Lana's Primarina said happily as she nuzzled Shadow affectionately, 'I just knew that you would come and see me. Hooray!'

'Why me?' moaned Shadow as he didn't like being shown affection to by Lana's Primarina.

"Wow, he's just as bad as Francesca's Hydreigon, Nidhoggr," Vanna said as we watched Shadow being tormented by Lana's Primarina and Oberon and Ichigo joining in.

"Huh? Who's Francesca?" Lana asked Vanna in confusion.

"Francesca is my older sister," Vanna answered Lana. "I have two older siblings who are fraternal twins."

"Francesca trains Dark-type Pokémon," Hayato added to the conversation. "And yeah, her Hydreigon is a big weenie when he gets ganged up on by Fairy-type Pokémon. Mostly by Oberon and Ichigo."

"That sounds really mean of them," Lana said before she looked over to her Primarina and watched as she was still cuddling with a reluctant Shadow. "But then again… Primarina is always hugging and cuddling with Shadow and he's not always willing to enjoy her affection."

"Huh?" I asked as I noticed a ring on Vanna's ring finger. "Is that an engagement ring?"

"Yeah, it is," answered Vanna with a beaming smile on her face. "Hayato proposed to me and our parents approved of it."

"But… aren't both of you too young to be thinking about marriage?" asked Lana as she was confused. "I mean… you two are about the same age as me and Keith."

"For Hayato, his reason is part of his linage," began Vanna. "And the other part is of course because he loves me."

"Those born in the Kaiou royal house honor our founding matriarch, Makoto Kaiou," Hayato chimed in. "Our founding matriarch made a promise to a Suicune lord. 'Help me to conceive offspring to establish a house and I shall bear you as many offspring for your house in return'.

Lana listened with interest as Hayato continued, "Our Royal matriarch was 14 when she made her pact with the Suicune lord and established our royal house."

"For someone born into the Kaiou royal house, once they turn 14 they honor their founding matriarch and become engaged and married at the age of 14," added Vanna. "Trust me, my parents weren't too keen on the idea themselves, but they agreed so My Prince could honor the founding matriarch of his family."

"When's the wedding?" I asked Hayato and Vanna.

"Please… don't worry about us," answered Vanna as she dismissed the matter quickly.

"Hey speaking of which," began Hayato, "I haven't had the chance to do anything fun with you in a while."

"Let's go to the paintball range and get some target practice in," I said to Hayato as I hadn't been able to shoot my paintball guns in a while either. "Lana hasn't exactly let me get much use out of my paintball guns since Lady Sheba tuned them up and gave them back to me."

"Keith," Lana said to me as she set her hands on her hips.

"It'll be fine Lana," Vanna said to my girlfriend. "Let the boys have their time to play. Besides, I wanna get to know you and…"

"And what?" Lana asked Vanna cautiously.

"And make sure that Keith is good enough for you," answered Vanna as she winked at her with a silly smile on her face. "Besides, I need a little break from Hayato and I think you could use a little break from Keith yourself."

Lana looked a little apprehensive about being away from me, but I knew that Vanna would take good care of Lana while Hayato and I went and played paintball for a while… provided that my team's rivals weren't going to try and ambush us. Besides, they wouldn't be able to ambush us in the Princess District anyway and if they tried, they'd be arrested for sure. After getting our paintball stuff together, Hayato and I left the hotel and headed to the paintball range while the girls got to know each other better.

oooooooooooooo

Lana's POV

oooooooooooooo

"I know you feel a bit uneasy about letting Keith out of your sight," Keith's friend, Vanna, said to me, "but even he needs some space. Though, I'll admit that I felt a bit like you when I started dating my Prince."

"So… what's it like dating an actual prince?" I asked Vanna Seabright as I was curious.

"It's a challenge," answered the Fairy-type trainer with a grin. "I mean sure I get hounded by people who wanna meet Hayato and they try to use me in order to try and meet Hayato."

"I don't think that I could handle that," I said as I grimaced at the thought of other people using me just to meet royalty.

"Once I mastered the use of Fairy Aura, I was able to begin sensing people's emotions and their intentions as well," said Vanna as I had never heard of Fairy Aura before.

Before Vanna could begin explaining what Fairy Aura was, the door to our hotel suite opened and Keith and Hayato returned much sooner than expected. As much as I wanted be happy that Keith came back earlier, I noticed that the boys were pretty battered from what apparently had been quite an arduous battle. They covered in welts and bruises from being struck by paintballs without protective armor as well as being covered in paint as well.

"Dude, what did you to those guys that they decided to ambush us before we could leave the Princess District?" Hayato asked Keith as he looked at my boyfriend through his paintball mask. "They should've known better to not cause any ruckus in the Princess District. We'll be lucky if we're not charged by the police for being part of that ruckus."

"The police can't blame us for defending ourselves," shot back Keith. "Besides, they hit a few innocent bystanders in their attempt to ambush us… or rather me."

"What happened to you two?" Vanna asked Keith and Hayato.

"Some rivals of Keith's paintball team ambushed me and Keith before we even got to exit of the Princess District," Hayato said as he took off his shirt and went to the bathroom to set his shirt in the sink. "Those guys were nasty and a few innocent people got hit by those rivals."

"Where are your paintball guns?" Vanna asked Hayato and Keith.

"We voluntarily surrendered them to the police for their investigation into the attack," answered Keith. "They promised they'd return them once the investigation was completed."

"Maybe you should give up paintball," I suggested to Keith.

Before Keith could respond to my suggestion, a letter had been brought to the room from one of the families of those who were caught in crossfire of the ambush attack. Keith opened the letter and read it. The letter stated that the family was grateful to Keith and Prince Hayato for their bravery and helping their family member get out of the line of fire. The letter also stated that if they needed anything, they would happy to help them out to repay the boys for their kindness and heroism under fire. As for me, I helped Keith out of his shirt and saw all of the welts and bruises on his body. Whoever those rivals were, they certainly crossed the line when they attacked Keith and Hayato. But before I could say anything, there was knocking on the door and Hayato answered the door, shirtless.

"We just would like to return your paintball weapons to you, Prince Hayato and to Keith Ketchum," Officer Jenny said as she and her shiny Lampent returned his and Keith's paintball guns to them. "Never thought those Smoke Heatmors would try something so underhanded and dirty outside of Paintball League play."

'I do hope that you and young Keith are alright, Prince Hayato,' Officer Jenny's shiny female Lampent said to Prince Hayato as she noticed all the welts and bruises that adorned Hayato's body.

"Please stop calling me 'Prince'," Hayato requested of Officer Jenny's Lampent. "I really hate being addressed in that manner."

'He's definitely like Her Royal Highness alright,' Lampent said to Officer Jenny.

"At any rate," Officer Jenny said to Hayato, "the Smoke Heatmors are being charged for their ambush attack on you and Keith Ketchum in the Princess District. The head of the Eclipse Lunar Guild is also seeking to press charges on them for the battle they instigated."

"Eclipse Lunar Guild?" I asked quizzically and in confusion.

"The Eclipse Lunar Guild is a guild that's in charge of running all of the lodging districts in the kingdom," Hayato explained to me. "The Princess District here on Emerald Cove Island is their crown jewel with the Emerald Crown Resort being the brightest jewel in the Princess District."

"I take it that the Eclipse Lunar Guild is another Pokémon-run guild, right?" I asked Hayato.

Instead of getting a verbal answer, I got nods from Keith, Vanna and Hayato as they answered my question. Knowing that Pokémon ran businesses all on their own impressed me. Though Mallow did tell me that the one who taught her how to cook was a Pokémon himself and ran his own restaurant business back in Alola. I had never thought that Pokémon could be quite intelligent enough to own and run their own businesses. But the Atlantica Islands sure surprised me when I first came to the region with Keith's oldest sister, Cynthia… and her Victini big brother. Once Keith and Hayato had gotten changed, into something a little nice and causal, Vanna and I changed and got ready for dinner as we were going to eat at one of the resorts fine restaurants. Hayato had suggested a restaurant that gave us a view of Emerald Cove Island's gym as a gym battle was about to take place within the hour. I was a bit surprised to hear the gym leader allowed there to be spectators watching the gym battle, but I kept being surprised with a new discovery almost every day. After Vanna Seabright and I finished getting ready, we joined our boyfriends and headed to the restaurant for supper… and a gym battle for our viewing pleasure.

oooooooooooooo

Keith Ketchum's POV

oooooooooooooo

"Huh?" asked Lana as we saw the gym battle end before it began as our meal was being served to us. "What just happened? That trainer didn't even call out an attack and she got disqualified just because she became infatuated with that Victini. I don't understand."

Me, Hayato and Vanna giggled a bit as Lana looked at us with a confused look in her eyes. I had guessed that she forgot about what was said during the speech that Mom, Aunt Relena and Cynthia's godmother had made during the party meant for us. I looked to Lana and asked her, "Did you already forget what Mom said during the party for us?

I continued, "She said that we'd have to face the mind games of the gym here on Emerald Cove Island."

"The gym leader here likes to use mind games to test a challenger's mental fortitude and resilience," added Hayato before waving to the gym leader, who waved right back along with the shiny male Victini. "Aunt Rena and 'Suki haven't lost their touch one bit."

"Who?" Lana asked Hayato in confusion as she looked to the gym leader and her shiny Victini.

"That's the gym leader down there," I answered as I pointed to her. "She's Hayato's aunt and can be very devious. The shiny Victini with her is named Akatsuki, 'Suki for short."

"Well, I've had experience being exposed to Victini charm from Cynthia's Victini big brother," Lana said to me with a smile. "I think we might be alright."

"Yeah, and Bea is practically charm-proof and Victini-proof," I said as remembered how hard our Victini big brother tries to charm women into giving him affection and attention by using his charm.

"No kidding," agreed Lana.

"Well then… shall we dig in?" Vanna asked us as we looked at our food.

"Compai!" we all exclaimed as we raised our glasses and then began to dig in to our meal.

As we began eating our meal, Bea finally showed up and apparently tracked us down to the resort. She had a look of disgust on her face when she finally caught up to us. In all honesty, I kinda had hoped she had thrown in the towel once she learned that Lady Amelia was really a Pokémon and the gym leader of Amber Island. But then again, I knew she was like my older sisters and Ren. Once her mind was made up, nothing short of Lord Arceus would stop her.

"What are you two doing here?" Bea asked me and Lana as she glared at us. "Living your fancy lifestyles here? I thought you came here to train for the next gym battle."

"And I thought you would've thrown in the towel after learning about Lady Amelia really being a Suicune along with being the gym leader of Amber Island," I countered back before biting into my meal. "Wait a minute, I recognize this cooking."

Lana then took a bite of her meal and then widened her eyes in surprise as she replied, "Hey! This is Mallow's cooking. I recognize it anywhere."

"Huh? Mallow?" Vanna asked she was confused at first. "You mean the chief's apprentice?"

"How can she be an apprentice?" Lana asked Vanna in confusion. "She learned to cook from an Oranguru."

"I did learn from Teacher," Mallow said as she came to our table. "The chief here at this restaurant heard that I got such wide praise for my cooking, especially from Tapu Koko, and he fought tooth and nail with other hotels to try and get me on as an apprentice chief."

"Oh wow, hard to believe that Tapu Koko gave you such praise for your cooking," Lana said to Mallow.

"If you're such a good cook," began Bea as she eyed Mallow, "let me try some of your cooking."

Before Mallow could protest, Bea snatched up some fluffy cookies and ate one of them. I thought that the Galar native would just spit it out, but instead of doing that she seemed to enjoy the cookie and instantly fell in love. That caught certainly caught me by surprise as I never pegged Bea to be someone to like cookies and just be one of those "my body is a temple" nutcases.

"I've never had biscuits quite like this before," Bea said as she dreamily enjoyed the second cookie she ate.

"I think I need your Primarina to slap me with her tail again," I said to Lana as I couldn't believe my eyes.

Lana's Primarina did indeed tap me on my right shoulder and as I turned to face her, she said after slapping me with her tail, 'Wish granted.' Hayato was quite surprised to see that I took such a hit to the face and wasn't bothered by it. My princely cousin shook his head and said, "Man, you're braver than I am to allow a Pokémon to slap you around and not be bothered by it."

"She also uses Water Gun and Hydro Pump on me too," I said to Hayato.

"Yikes, I can't imagine taking such a punishment like that," said Hayato as he grimaced uneasily.

"Yeah, well I hear you're terrified of Vanna's mother and you let Vanna terrify you too," I countered back to Hayato.

"You stand before Mrs. Seabright when she's angry," shot back Hayato in slightly terrified tone. "It's like standing in front of a supersized Primal Groudon. Not fun man."

"So then," Mallow began as she looked to Bea, "are you hungry? I've got a menu that I'm working on. I even have a special burger that isn't made with meat at all. It's a Tapu Koko approved dish."

"I assume that this Tapu Koko is a Pokémon," replied Bea before getting a nod from Mallow. "Why not? You've got my interest. I've been on a recent meatless binge and I've been craving something new."

"Coming right up," Mallow said happily before Hayato got up and pulled out the chair for Bea.

"You know, you don't have to put on a gentleman-like façade just for me," Bea said to Hayato, much to Vanna's displeasure.

"Whoa, easy Vanna," Hayato said to his girlfriend to try and calm her down.

"You know, you shouldn't have said that to my cousin," I said to Bea. "He's also a prince too."

Bea choked on my Pecha Berry smoothie and widened her eyes in shock as she learned that she was rude to another member of the royal family. As for Hayato, he sighed and said, "I take it you met Mom… in the Commerce District in Costa del Sol."

"Your mom is the Queen of this region?" Bea asked Hayato in surprise and shock.

"My Prince is always a gentleman," Vanna said to Bea as she glared at the Galar native. "His mother raised him to be a gentleman."

"O-Okay," Bea nervously replied as she finally sat down and let Hayato push her chair in.

oooooooooooooo

"That was a really good meal," I said as we all made it back to the room after dinner. "Mallow certainly has improved since the last time we saw her in Alola."

"No kidding," agreed Lana with a smile on her face before it soured slightly. "Though I was kinda hoping that Bea had thrown in the towel and gave up. And I think that Primarina was thinking the same thing too."

"Like I told you and Primarina," I began, "she's like my sisters and Ren. Once she makes her mind up, nothing short of Lord Arceus will stop her."

"Will you stop referring to Pokémon as lords?" Bea asked me in an upset tone before slowly falling asleep. "They're just Pokémon. Nothing special to make them appear as if they're all powerful."

"She's really getting on my nerves," I said as I wasn't liking that Bea hadn't given up.

"Well, at least we'll be able to train for the gym battle for about a month without her annoying us," said Lana before she grabbed my hand and yanked me into the bathroom for both of us to take a shower.

"W-Wait a minute Lana," I stammered as I wasn't liking the position I was about to be in. "Don't you think your parents will be upset if they found out we showered together?"

'Yay, Lana's here!' Lana's Primarina exclaimed happily before using her Psychic attack to boot me out of the bathroom so the two of them could have time for a bath. 'Let's bathe together.'

Lana tried to protest, but it was to no avail as her Primarina wasn't going to budge as it seemed as if Lana's parents told her to keep an eye on Lana and make sure no shenanigans happened between us. For once I was a bit relieved to see Primarina acting as a buffer and making sure nothing happened between us.

oooooooooooooo

"I'm really surprised that we're getting a lot of money here," Lana said after she and I defeated a pack of rich kids who thought they could buy powerful Pokémon with money.

"Well, Emerald Cove Island is home to a lot of wealthy people," I explained to Lana as we continued our training two weeks after getting settled in at the Emerald Crown Resort. "A lot of the snobby kids really hate it when they see their opponent or opponents having Pokémon with an Amulet Coin or a Luck Incense."

"What usually happens to the rich kids when they lose?" Lana asked me curiously.

"What the Houndour were you thinking, Winston?!" A wealthy man screamed at his son after he lost to us and had to hand over a pile of money to Lana and I. "Did you even think to check and see if their Pokémon even had an Amulet Coin or a Luck Incense?!"

"I'm sorry Father," the trainer that Lana and I defeated said in a dejected tone. "I thought I could win against them."

Lana and I didn't stick around to hear the wealthy kid's dad chew his son out for being reckless and not checking to see if we had an Amulet Coin or Luck Incense hold item with our Pokémon. Oh well, the more reckless the rich kids get, the more money we get to line our pockets with cash. I even told Bea that and gave her one of our spare Amulet Coin hold items so she could line her pockets with cash too. As for finding any new Pokémon to catch, Emerald Cove Island wasn't exactly the best place to find them. The Safari Islands, just a ferry's ride down south had a lot of Pokémon for us to catch, but not battle like the old Safari Zones back in my dad's home region of Kanto, as well as Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh. But there was also another catch too. The Safari Islands admittance price was very steep too and the only way be able to get in at a more reasonable price was to win the Emerald Jet Badge from Hayato's aunt, who was still the gym leader of Emerald Cove Island. And I was hoping to get over there soon, but with Bea still hanging around us I imagined that she was going to make us wait for her until she won her badge.

A few hours later, Bea met up with us after she had finished training her Pokémon. The Galar native had a satisfied look on her face as she smiled to me and Lana. I was a bit nervous when she smiled at me and Lana. I about half expected her to finally collect on that rematch she said that "I owed her."

"I've gotta say that having a Pokémon of mine holdin' an Amulet Coin has seriously helped me rack in a lot of cash," Bea said to me as she still smiled at me. "By the way Keith, I heard that you got ambushed by a paintball team and held your ground… you and Prince Hayato.

It was then that she produced armbands similar to the band that she wore on her right wrist as she continued, "You're a real bloody piece of work, Keith. I want you and Lana to have these Dynamax Bands. I think you've earned them along with my respect."

Lana and I were a bit shocked to see that Bea had a change of heart and was now giving us the Dynamax Bands. Even though Lana and I had a Z Ring on our wrists, we still accepted the Dynamax Bands and equipped them on our wrists and for some strange reason, they seemed to come to life. Bea took notice of that and then said, "That's really unusual. But then again, my Dynamax Band seemed to come to life when I battled you over on Tsunami Island and I was able to have my Bewear go to Dynamax size."

"How come our bands are acting like this?" Lana asked quizzically as she was confused.

"I think it's because of the region we're in," I answered Lana. "There's very little insight on to how the Atlantica Islands were created. All researchers know about the region is that there's some mysterious power within the region that's affected people and Pokémon some how."

"Are there… any stories that give partial insight into how this region came to be?" Bea asked me as she too was confused as Hayato and Vanna joined up with us.

"Some Pokémon tribes that have lived here say that Lord Arceus created this region as a way to ensure that the forces that allow life to flourish on our planet are regulated and distributed equally among the other regions of the world," Hayato said to Bea and Lana before looking to the Galar native, who had a disgusted look on her face. "I'm sorry if you don't like that either Keith, myself or our siblings refer to various Pokémon as lords or ladies. But my mother taught us to be respectful to the Pokémon who wield such power beyond our control. I'm asking you to buck up and deal with it. Neither of us are asking or gonna force you to do as we do."

"Though some of those Pokémon here might demand that you bend the knee and address them as such," I chimed in.

'And those that do demand such convention can be very touchy if you don't address them as such or even bend the knee,' Shadow added to Bea.

Bea facepalmed herself as she didn't like hearing that she was going to have to bend the knee and address Pokémon as lords or ladies. Sure, Pokémon were her companions, but to address one as a lord or lady that crossed a line for her.

oooooooooooooo

"That was… really weird," Bea said with a cringe after she won her Emerald Jet Badge from Hayato's aunt. "What was that shiny Victini trying to do?"

"Just be thankful that you're charm-proof and Victini-proof," I said to Bea as we had won our gym badge just before Bea. "That's one of their signature mind games at that gym. Rena and Akatsuki test the trainer's mental fortitude and not let Akatsuki get inside your head with his charm."

"At any rate, we should be able to go to the Safari Islands and catch some more Pokémon for our teams," Lana said with a smile.

"I'm surprised that you were able to resist that shiny Victini's attempts to charm you into giving it affection and love," Bea said to Lana as she was a bit surprised herself.

"I've dealt with a Victini belonging to Keith's oldest sister, Cynthia," explained Lana. "So I was prepared to deal with Akatsuki's charm and mind games."

"Huh, not bad I guess," replied Bea. "Well… I guess you're wantin' to go to the Safari Islands to catch more Pokémon."

oooooooooooooo

"Wow, I got some really good Pokémon in the Safari Islands," said Bea as she had a grin on her face. "Never thought I could find a shiny Riolu in the wild. Or even a Mienshao like that Dojo owner."

"Well, I'm glad you were able to find more Fighting-type Pokémon on the Safari Islands," I said to Bea.

"Where's the next gym at?" Lana asked me as we boarded the ferry for the next island.

"We're heading to Diamond Bay Island for the next gym," I answered Lana. "Getting the Diamond Shield Badge won't be easy either."

"That's an interesting name for a badge," Bea said with a smirk on her face.

"But I hope you caught some Eevees, because you'll need them for the sixth badge on Sapphire Island," I said to Bea. "The gym leader on Sapphire Island requires you to have Eevee or its evolved forms to battle her for her Sapphire Eevee Badge."

"Dare I ask what Eeveelutions the gym leader owns?" Bea asked me before realizing that I wouldn't answer that question. "Right, you'll not be answering my question."

"How many gyms are here in the Atlantica Islands?" Lana asked me before Bea could ask the question.

"There's seven gyms here in the Atlantica Islands," Hayato answered for me as he and Vanna Seabright joined the group. "For us, we're completely different from other regions that have eight gyms."

"If you want, we'll be able to explore and train along the way to Diamond Bay Island instead of using the ferry," I offered to Bea and Lana. "It would save us some money from having to rent an apartment for a month on Diamond Bay Island and the demand for apartments is crazy stupid this time of the year."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Bea said with a smile. "It's been a while since I last went camping in the wild."

"I'm game too," agreed Hayato, much to Bea's surprise.

"You sure you wanna go camping?" Bea asked my princely cousin out of concern.

"I may be a prince," began Hayato, "but I'm not like one of those people you might see on TV or read about in the newspapers. I don't care much for fancy hotels or even the stupid notion of 'glamping'."

"Really?" Bea challenged Hayato as she raised an eyebrow in interest. "The Emerald Crown Resort was pretty fancy if you ask me."

"We stay there because my aunt owns the resort and we get a special family discount too," explained Hayato.

After all the explanations were out of our systems, we chartered a transportation guild to take us to Diamond Bay Island after finding out that the ferry that had limped back into harbor was attacked by an unknown party. Apparently, some claimed that the attackers were the infamous and soulless group, Team Blizzard. I shuddered at the thought of Team Blizzard breaking out of the quarantine area and starting their rampage of terror once again after Mom gave birth to me. But I had gotten a message from Lily Sakura back in Kanto that Team Blizzard had attacked various criminal groups in the Kanto region and she was working with the son and daughter of Kanto's current champion, Mikki Stone, to fight the Blizzard Witch's minions and drive them out of Kanto before they could gain a foothold there. I was hoping that we wouldn't encounter Team Blizzard during our trek to the Suicune Valley Conference tournament on Denali Island.

oooooooooooooo

"Hayato, you jerk!" Vanna exclaimed to my cousin, as she was slapping him, after he and I had gotten out of a harrowing battle against Team Blizzard. "You scared me half to death! What would've happened if you had gotten killed against those Team Blizzard goons? How could I ever face your family, let alone your mother had you gotten killed?!"

I didn't fare any better with Lana as she too slapped me for my brash and reckless action as she angrily shouted at me, "You worried me sick! That wasn't the time for you to try and be a hero! I know your's and my parents told you to keep me safe, but what would've happened had you gotten killed?! How could I ever face your mother if she found out you got killed?"

'Yikes,' Shadow said to Lana's Primarina as he cringed as the two of them were watching me and Hayato getting slapped for our reckless actions to help a Pokémon tribe get Team Blizzard back into a quarantine zone. 'I'd say those two are gonna be in the Growlithe House for a while.'

'No kidding,' agreed Oberon as he and Ichigo watched Vanna go to town on Hayato. 'I don't need to make a bet on how long Hayato will be in the Growlithe House.'

'Yeah, I can imagine how long Lana will keep Keith in the Growlithe House for what transpired against those Team Blizzard guys,' Lana's Primarina said to the other Pokémon as they were watching Hayato and I still getting slapped around by Vanna and Lana.

"Ow, ow, ow!" me and Hayato moaned as we felt our lovers slapping us with everything they had.

oooooooooooooo

"So… how much longer are you gonna be in the Growlithe House?" Hayato asked me as he got let off the hook a week later after that destructive battle that ended up destroying the Team Blizzard cell that tried to escape their prison.

"Shut up, man," I shot back to Hayato as I was stuck sleeping on the couch… and luckily not on the floor. "You're lucky that Vanna is very forgiving and patient with you. I'm stuck on the couch and Primarina will blast me with a Hydro Pump if I try to get in bed with Lana."

"You know Keith…," Hayato began as he began to smirk at me.

"No way man," I shot back to Hayato as I knew what he was thinking. "Not happening. I'm not doing that."

"Don't you want out of the Growlithe House?" asked Hayato as his smirk got bigger.

"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" I shouted at Hayato as I knew that on occasion, he could be just sneaky as Aunt Relena.

"Wow Keith, I guess you don't love Lana as much as you say you love her," replied Hayato as he had an evil smirk on his face as I fell for his trick and like my oldest sister… and Mom, I let my temper get the better of me.

I clinched my fist and channeled aura energy into my fist and slugged my royal cousin as hard as my aura charged fist could hit him. Hayato was caught by surprise when I slugged him with my aura charged fist. He wanted me mad, but I don't think he was half expecting me to punch him. His eyes went wide in surprise at first before he exclaimed, "Dude, you hit me!"

"That's right," I shot back to Hayato. "Gonna do something about it?"

Hayato then slugged me right back, across my face. Hayato slugging me, caught me by surprise as he usually wasn't violent. My princely cousin was usually a bit timid and shy, but at that moment he looked mad.

"What's your deal, man?" I asked in shock. "You're my cousin!"

"Sometimes I wonder about that," retorted Hayato as he recovered and then crossed his arms and rolled his eyes.

I had had it with Hayato and then roundhouse kicked Hayato back onto a tree trunk and had some Roseli Berries fall from the tree that Ichigo and Oberon were quick to pick up before Hayato had a chance to recover.

"What's your deal, Keith?" Hayato asked in an upset tone. "Kicking already?"

"How bad does it hurt?" I shot back as my question

"Find out for yourself," answered Hayato as he then did a sweeping kick that tripped me backwards and caused Vanna and Lana to take notice.

I was quick to get back up and then lunged at Hayato, spearing him back into the same berry tree and causing 5 Enigma Berries to fall from the tree… of which Oberon and Ichigo were quick to pick up before they got smashed. It was then that our fight became something like out of a corny cartoon as at start of our fight, all anyone could see was a big dust cloud and parts of our bodies coming out of that dust cloud. And the worst part was that Vanna, Bea and Lana were watching us fight each other.

"You can color me amazed that Keith's got it in him to fight a royal prince," Bea said to our girlfriends.

'I'm just surprised that Prince Hayato has it in him to be that sneaky like his mother, Her Royal Highness,' Oberon said to Bea.

"Oh Hayato," said Vanna as she was worried about her boyfriend as our fight continued to devolve into nothing more than something similar to a street fight.

oooooooooooooo

"Hayato, that was reckless of you to do that," Vanna said to my princely cousin as she had to pull a picture off of Hayato's neck that I smashed on him.

"Poor Keith," Lana said to me as she helped to clean my cuts and bruises as she felt sorry for me and… surprisingly enough, let me out of the Growlithe House. "That was rude of your cousin to do that to you. Let me clean you up."

'Seriously? Lana fell for that?' Lana's Primarina asked in disbelief as she was dumbstruck by Hayato's plan actually working.

'Just make like that human movie 'Frozen' and let it go,' Oberon said to Lana's Primarina as he shook his head and then smiled. 'Besides… their fight yielded us some very rare berries. Enigma berries are ridiculously rare and the fact that we even got 5 of them is an even bigger jackpot.'

'Whatever,' replied Lana's Primarina as she watched her human clean and bandage me up from the fight with Hayato.

"If you promise to not to try and be a hero, I'll let you out of the Growlithe House," Lana said after she finished bandaging me up.

With one quick move and a big grin on my face, I was quick to sweep Lana off feet and hold her in my arms as I replied, "Your wish is my command… my Alola Mermaid."

'Doesn't he ever get tired of calling her that?' Lana's Primarina asked in annoyance after hearing me call her human my pet name for her.

"Aww… but I love it when Keith calls me an Alola Mermaid," Lana replied cutely to her Primarina before she pulled me into a possessive and passionate kiss, which I didn't resist. "It makes me feel so special and unique."

'Hey, Vanna loves the pet names that Prince Hayato has for her,' Oberon said to Lana's Primarina. 'The Prince calls my human, his 'Beautiful Fairy' and his 'Precious Fairy'. And Vanna LOVES the Prince's praise of her.'

'Yeah, but that's Prince Hayato, not Keith Ketchum,' shot back Lana's Primarina.

"Give it a rest, Primarina," I said to Lana's Primarina, before she blasted me with another Hydro Pump.

oooooooooooooo

"Man, that gym was really hard," I said to Lana after we won our Diamond Shield Badge from Dr. Curie. "Really had to hit him with everything we had."

"No kidding," agreed Lana with a slight nod.

'Even with me being Dynamaxed, that gym leader had a very strong defense,' Lana's Primarina said as we were sitting on a beach bed in a covered cabana before looking to me and Lana. 'Just don't forget that I'm here to make sure no funny business happens between you two.'

"We're not planning on any funny business," Lana said to her Primarina. "At least not until we're married to each other."

With that, Primarina was satisfied and got off the bed, allowing me and Lana to have it to our ourselves for a change. But I had a feeling that she'd sneak back on the bed and slide in between us, given the chance. Once Primarina was off the bed, Lana then pulled me closer to her and I didn't resist her at all as I wanted to be closer to her and for us to be romantic with each other. Just because Primarina was off our bed, didn't mean that she wasn't watching us for the most part… until her attention was diverted towards being affectionate with Shadow.

'EEEEE! GET THIS FAIRY OFF OF ME!' cried Shadow in terror, much to no avail as Lana and I were too engrossed in kissing each other passionately and cuddling.

oooooooooooooo

"So… why are you dressed like ninjas?" Bea asked me and Lana as she saw that we were dressed in the ninja outfits that Lana and I had purchased on Diamond Bay Island.

"It's the theme of the gym here on Phantom Ninja Island," I answered Bea after Hayato and Vanna had just completed their run for the Phantom Ninja Badge. "You can always… I dunno. Throw in the towel and quit. This region's Pokémon League and gyms are the toughest in the world."

"Not a blinkin' chance," shot Bea as she eyed me for my umpteenth attempt to get her to drop out of the Suicune Valley Conference competition. "You'll not be rid of me so easily. I would've thought you'd know that by now.

"Like you said," continued Bea with a smirk, "I'm like your older sisters and Princess Ren. Nothing short of the Alpha Pokémon will change my mind."

"Well Keith, it's time for us to begin our run for the fifth badge," Lana said to me dressed in her Primarina ninja inspired outfit and her Greninja at her side.

"Hey Lana, after we get done here, I got something I gotta ask you," I said to Lana as I tried to hold her hand, but she pulled it back as if I had done something wrong or forgot something important.

"Sure, fine Keith," replied Lana before walking into the gym with me and Shadow following her.

oooooooooooooo

Taking a better part of the 30 minutes, Lana and I were exhausted after going through the obstacle course that we had to go through just reach the gym. Despite me telling Lana what to expect, we still struggled as I had figured that the gym leader had to have changed the layout of her obstacle course after my sister and Benjamin Summers had blown through it in only half the time it took me and Lana to reach the gym leader.

"They… they weren't… weren't k-kidding when they… said we would be tested," Lana said to me as we were panting heavily and sucking in large amounts of air just to keep from collapsing.

"I welcome the son of our region's top members of the Atlantica Islands Elite Four," the gym leader said as she hid herself in the black mist. "I also welcome to my gym his lovely companion from the Alola region. You two will now face the test of my gym. Defeat my Pokémon with the Pokémon who came up with you while you made your way up the obstacle course."

"Where are your Pokémon?" Lana asked the concealed gym leader.

"That's for me too know and you find and defeat," answered the gym leader. "Many who come to this gym with hopes of claiming my badge end up meeting in frustration and defeat.

"Can you overcome this final test of the Phantom Ninja Island?" the ninja gym leader asked Lana and I.

As the battle started, a pair of Shadow Ball attacks came at Greninja and Shadow from the black mist causing our Pokémon to dodge one attack only to get hit by another one. Seeing this made wish I had paid more attention to the stories that Mom and Dad had told me and my siblings when we were kids. They told us about how hard it was for them to find and defeat the opposing Pokémon that were concealed in black mist. As for Lana, she called out attacks, only for them to miss by a country mile. My girlfriend was starting to get frustrated by the difficulty of the gym and I wasn't doing much to help out. After Shadow got blindsided by a Sucker Punch attack, I then decided that I needed to channel my Aura power that I had learned to use from Master Lucario at Cameron Palace.

"Greninja, use Water Pulse at that ledge," Lana ordered her female Greninja.

"Not there," I said to Lana as I was glowing with Aura energy, much to Lana's shock and surprise. "Aim for the third pillar at my 3 o'clock."

"You heard Keith," Lana said to her Greninja. "Aim where he said to aim."

Lana's Greninja complied and managed to land a critical hit on one of the gym leader's Pokémon, knocking them out. The defeated Pokémon was revealed to be her Gengar, much to my disappointment. I continued to guide Lana and her Greninja to defeat the Pokémon the gym leader sent against my Alola Mermaid and her Pokémon. Lana and her Greninja managed to defeat a Mawile and Cutiefly, much to my surprise as I never thought of those Pokémon as Pokémon that a ninja would use. Once Lana's opponents were defeated, I turned to Shadow and nodded to him.

'I'm with you Keith,' Shadow said to me as he stood at his ready position. 'Let's… get… dangerous!'

With the tide turning against the gym leader, Shadow and I were able to drop the gym leader's shiny Banette, Venemoth and Ninjask. Once my three opponents were defeated, the black mist was then dispelled as the gym battle was over. Much to my shock, the gym referee was Mom as she stepped out of mist and pulled down her ninja mask to reveal a smile.

"The winners of this gym battle are the challengers Keith Ketchum and Lana Felicity," Mom announced before Lana and I finally collapsed as the adrenaline in our systems was finally conking out.

"You said you had something to say to me?" Lana asked me weakly.

"Y-Yeah," I answered as I was trying to muster enough energy left in my reserves. "Happy 16th birthday to you my Alola Mermaid."

"Was afraid you forgot about my birthday," Lana replied to me as she was still pretty weak.

"Will you marry me, Lana?" I asked as I tried to pull out the box holding Mom's engagement ring she got from Dad, only for me to finally collapse and fall asleep.

"You bet," answered Lana before she too collapsed tired.

oooooooooooooo

I woke up and saw that Lana and I were back home in my bedroom back on Tsunami Island. I was confused as to why Lana and I were back home instead of at the Pokémon Center on Phantom Ninja Island. It was then that I felt Lana pulling me closer to her as she asked, "Keith, let's sleep a little longer, 'kay?" I noticed that she had on the engagement ring that I tried to give her back on Phantom Ninja Island after our gym battle. After taking notice of Lana wearing my mom's engagement ring, I fell back asleep with a smile on my face as I enjoyed Lana's embrace. Unfortunately, Lana and I weren't going to be able to sleep for much longer as the door to my bedroom was flung open and we felt a Pokémon jumping on my bed happily.

'Wake up lovebirds!' Suiren exclaimed happily as she kept jumping on my bed.

"Too early Suiren," I said sleepily as I held on to Lana.

But my shiny female Primarina wasn't going to give up so easily as she kept jumping on my bed until we opened our eyes and found Yondu and Shadow right in our faces looking to see that we were awake. Both of my male quadruped Pokémon startled Lana and I as we clung to each other and cried out in a startled terror. Once the Pokémon saw that we were awake, they got off my bed and Shadow called out to Mom, 'Hey Mom, Keith and Lana are awake!'

Then Shadow said to us, 'You two really sleep like a couple of Snorlaxes. How you two were ever able to sleep for ten hours amazes me.'

"Shut up Shadow," I replied lazily as Lana and I slowly woke up, "and go play with the Fairy Pokémon."

'NOOOO!' Shadow cried absolute horror as Suiren scooped him up and took him out of my bedroom.

'You two should get up,' Yondu said to me and Lana as he got off my bed. 'Your mom's got something she wants to talk to you two about.'

"Uh oh," I said as I cringed at the thought of Mom wanting to talk to both of us. "Hopefully, it's not another chat about the birds and Beedrills again."

"I don't think so," Lana said as she stretched and got out of bed. "But lets head down there and find out what your mom wants."

Both of us got out of bed and changed into fresh clothes before we headed downstairs to meet with my mom. As Lana and I made our way to the living room, where Mom usually was in the morning hours. Once we reached the living room, Lana and I found not only Mom, but some of our friends and our both of our parents and families too.

"SURPRISE!" Everyone shouted cheerfully for Lana and I.

"Congrats on getting engaged to Lana," Cynthia said to me as she clapped my back playfully. "Never thought you had it in you to get a girlfriend and then get engaged."

"Babe, be nice to your brother," Benjamin Summers said his fiancée. "He just got engaged."

"I'm impressed Keith," Isabella said to me with a smirk on her face. "You've come quite a long way."

'I'm so happy for you, Little Brother,' Latias added as she came down and started to hug me tightly.

'Come on Sister Latias, you need to let him go,' Cynthia's Victini "protector" chided Big Sister Latias as she was hugging me tightly before looking to Lana with a smile. 'It's good to see you again, oh tender mermaid of Alola. Might I add that you've become quite a beautiful young woman and will become even more beautiful as you get older.'

"Let's go Big Brother," Cynthia said to Big Brother Victini in an irritated tone as she snatched him by his left ear and yanked him away from my fiancée. "Some mermaids are off limits to you. And that includes this mermaid from Alola."

'Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,' moaned Victini as he never liked it when he was getting yanked by his left ear. 'Why must appreciation for female beauty be so painful?'

Lana was amused by Big Brother Victini's praise of her and just giggled in amusement to Victini's antics and attempt for friendly affection and attention. It seemed that Lana took a liking to our Victory Pokémon big brother would always give him attention and affection, much to his pleasure. So Lana went over to Victini and gave him the attention and affection he wanted from her despite Cynthia trying to tell Lana that day was for her and me… not our Victory Pokémon big brother. Oh well, as long as our Victory Pokémon big brother was happy, who was I to complain so long as I didn't have him trying to consistently hit on Lana for such attention and affection. Back to my mom, she had invited our family friends and some friends she had made during her time as a Pokémon Coordinator, back when she was around my age at the time. It was nice to see our family friends, except for Lily who was still in Kanto fighting against Team Blizzard. Lana seemed a bit apprehensive about the engagement party for us… and so was I because Cynthia was supposed to get married during the week. But my big sister told us that she decided to push her wedding with Benjamin back to the following week so that we could have our time before she got married… with the approval of our parents and Benjamin's parents. That was really big of my sis to say that to us… but to be honest, I think Benjamin had gotten cold feet about getting married the same week there was supposed be an engagement party for me and Lana.

oooooooooooooo

"You two certainly took your time," Bea said to me and Lana as we joined her on Sapphire Island a week later. "I've already got my sixth badge and I'm considering going for the next one."

"The last gym badge, is gonna really tough for you to get," I said to Bea. "The Royal Gym is the most challenging gym in the world. A lot of trainers avoid the Royal Gym."

"Which gym is next?" Bea asked as she was taking a sip of some Pinap Berry juice.

"The Royal Gym," I answered Bea plainly. "But the Royal Gym is optional and you don't have to challenge it if you don't want to."

"Then what's the bloody point of having a gym that you don't have to go to and challenge?" Bea asked in a sarcastic tone.

"Two reasons," Cynthia answered as my recently married sister approached us with her husband and Shiva frantically following in tow. "You gain automatic entry into the Royal Cup competition that happens every four years much like the Olympics happen every four years."

"And… the second reason?" Bea asked Cynthia in a quizzical manner.

"The Royal Gym poses a unique set of skilled challenges," answered Cynthia. "They combined all of the set challenges you've faced with the past gyms, of whose badges you've acquired so far."

"Plus you get some really rare prizes just for going through the Royal Gym," I added with a smile.

"Hmm… sounds like some interesting I might have to try," Bea said as she gave the idea of challenging the Royal Gym some thought before having to take a look at her cellphone. "Uh… on second thought, maybe challenging the Royal Gym isn't gonna work for me."

"Something come up?" Lana asked Bea.

"Aye, I've gotta return to Galar," answered Bea with a slight nod. "Seems that the gym leader who's supposed to take over as the gym leader of Stow-on-Side this year fell ill and Chairman Rose is asking me to return to Galar to be the gym leader again."

"That's real bummer," I replied to Bea. "I was hoping that you'd collect on that rematch before the Suicune Valley Conference tournament."

"Well… if you're ever in Galar," began Bea, "look me up and I'll collect on that rematch you owe me. I might even endorse ya and Lana should ya both decide you wanna enter Galar's Gym Challenge."

'Well hello to you foreign beauty,' Big Brother Victini said as he became infatuated with Bea and was trying to fish for attention and affection from the Galar native. 'If one were to were to look up the definitions for beauty and brawn, your picture would certainly be there. And might add that you're also quite the knockout as well.'

Bea was confused as to why Victini was trying to charm her until Cynthia grabbed him by his left ear and said in an irritated tone, "Alright Big Brother, time for the dictionary to deliver the knock out punch on your attempt to hit on my little bro's friend. Besides, she's charm-proof and that also means that she's Victini-proof too."

'Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,' moaned Victini as Cynthia yanked him away from Bea.

"Sorry about Big Brother Victini," I said to Bea as I bowed to her. "He does that every time he comes across beautiful girls."

"He reminds us of one of Daddy's traveling friends," Cynthia added to Bea. "Oh, I'm Keith's oldest sister, Cynthia Ketchum. Well, now it's Cynthia Summers since I married my sexy bad boy husband, Benjy."

Benjamin's face became Occa Berry red in embarrassment as my sister brought up one of her pet names for him. Benjamin didn't so much mind the pet names my sis had for him, but it was once she brought them up in public that he would become embarrassed. Bea didn't seem to care about my sister using her pet name for her husband. After the silliness, Lana and I escorted Bea to the airport and see her off back to Galar. As the plane carrying Bea taxied towards the floating runway, Lana's Primarina let herself out of her Pokéball and she sighed in relief. I looked to my fiancée's Primarina and asked, "Why are you sighing in relief about Bea leaving?"

'It's quite simple,' began Lana's Primarina, 'there's one less girl for you to gaze upon and take notice of their beauty… instead of putting your entire focus on my human.'

"Come on Primarina," I shot back in protest, "I never took notice of Bea's body or any other detail about her I shouldn't have noticed. Not once!"

oooooooooooooo

"So our parents are going to have us get married in three days?" Lana asked me after we won the Sapphire Eevee Badge from the Sapphire Island gym leader.

"That's what Mom said," I answered Lana.

"I would think that we have a say on when we wanna get married," Lana said to me as the two of us walked back to my parents' studio apartment they bought and owned on the island.

"It's a quite a bit different here in the Atlantica Islands," I tried to explain to my lovely Alola Mermaid.

"Here," interjected my sister, Cynthia, as she and Benjamin were on Sapphire Island to enjoy the relaxing hot springs, "once the underaged couple gains parental consent to marry, it's up to the parents to arrange when they can marry and the details of the wedding."

"It's kind of a double-edged sword," added Benjamin. "Once you get married before the age of 17, it can be quite liberating and you're not completely dependent on your family as much. But marriage before 17 also means that you're no longer a kid or a teen. You become a legal adult by law."

"Speaking of which," I said as I looked to my fiancée, "we gotta look for a house or someplace like the apartment Mom and Dad let us stay in to train for the Sapphire Eevee Badge."

"I'm surprised the gym leader decided to ease off the rule of only using Eeveelutions to battle against her," Benjamin said as he remembered having to capture some Eevees and evolve them.

"Not everyone uses Eeveelutions, Benjy," my sister replied to her husband with her favorite pet name for him.

'Oh, if you're looking for a house, get one that's on stilts and sitting on the ocean!' Lana's Primarina exclaimed happily as she was waving her hand to get my attention.

"Kinda wanna make sure that I've got land for all of my non-Water-type Pokémon, Primarina," I replied back to my fiancée's Primarina. "Don't get me wrong though, I wanna be on the water. For me, a nice beachfront property would work."

"A beachfront property would be kinda nice," chimed in Lana with a smile on her face before she started shivering. "Be better than here on Sapphire Island, where it's cold all the time."

"You two better get on it then," Cynthia told me before Big Brother Victini decided that he needed attention and affection from my Alola Mermaid.

'Oh my dear tender mermaid of Alola,' began Big Brother Victini as he took Lana's hands, 'it's not right for one such as yourself to be shivering in this dreadfully frozen place when you most certainly belong in the warm tropical environment.'

'Lana, stop falling for his tricks to charm you into giving him affection!' Lana's Primarina shouted to her human as she was getting a bit jealous of the attention Lana was giving Victini.

"But he's so nice and warm," Lana said to her Primarina as she showered Victini with the attention and affection that he wanted.

'Still can't believe you were able to resist that shiny Victini, only for you to fall for this Victini's trick to give him affection,' Lana's Primarina replied as she rolled her eyes.

"Hey, if you guys want, let's stick together for house hunting," suggested Benjamin. "The land that we had our eyes on at Ruby Island got bought up by someone else."

"Sure, why not," answered Lana as she stopped shivering.

'Oh goodie,' Victini replied happily as he was satisfied.

"And that means you'll keep your needs for attention and affection to a minimum," I said to Victini as I grabbed him by his left ear, like Cynthia usually does and yanked him away from my fiancée.

'Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,' moaned Victini as he never liked getting yanked away from a pretty girl by his ears.

oooooooooooooo

"This property is perfect you," the real estate agent said to me and Lana as we were on Ruby Island looking for a home in a short amount of time. "The home is 3028 square feet and has five bedrooms, 4 ¾ bathrooms, a recently remodeled kitchen done with stainless steel appliances, vinyl laminate floors that look like cherry wood floors and 2 ½ acres of land."

"It's at least got an open concept floor plan," I said as I remembered watching all of house hunting shows with the family, "the flow through the house seems perfect."

"Wow Little Bro," Cynthia said to me with a cheeky grin on her face… before punching me on my left shoulder, "I see watching all of those house hunting shows is definitely helping you out."

"You do realize, Sis, that we're on the same house hunting show that we always watch with Mom and Dad, right?" I asked Cynthia as I rubbed my bruised shoulder.

"Is… everything alright?" the real estate agent me and Cynthia as she was a little confused by what was transpiring between me and my sister.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Sis answered the real estate agent. "Please continue."

"This house also has two detached suites that are underground and have the most beautiful view of the ocean," the real estate told us as she lead us to an elevator that took us underground. "This house used to serve as an old research laboratory belonging to the Atlantica Islands branch of DuPoint until they were driven out of the kingdom."

"Uh…," I began nervously as I looked to my fiancée and my sister.

"There's no need to worry," the real estate agent reassured us before showing us one of the detached suites. "Everything belonging to the company was removed before the complete remodel and overhaul. And here is one of the detached suites. This one used to belong to the head of research facility and has been remodeled as a master suite for anyone staying as a guest… or… if you want to make it your own so you won't be bothered by the children."

Both Lana and I had our faces become red as a Chople Berry when the real estate agent mentioned the possibility of having children. Lana and I did talk about wanting to have a family, but our discussion was kind of private and we had never mentioned it to anyone. Though my guess had to be that she was a mother herself and had pretty good woman's intuition. The agent then showed us the other detached suite which was almost as fancy as the first one. Both suites had a California king-sized bed that faced the ocean, thankfully a blind to drop if we ever wanted privacy, a walk in closet and a pretty good sized master bathroom that made mine and Cynthia's jaws drop. One bathroom had slate grey granite tile walls with subway glass tile sandwiched in between the granite tiles in the shower that had a rainfall shower hooked up to the ceiling, a jacuzzi tub, dual gray deco-glass vessel sinks that were set on a white onyx vanity top and of course… a small skylight that gave us a good view of ocean and the marine life. Once we were shown a decent sized media room, the agent took us back to one of the detached suites, where Lana's Primarina was waiting for us outside.

"So then?" began the real estate agent. "What did you think of house?"

Lana's Primarina tapped on the 15 inch thick plexiglass and exclaimed happily, 'We'll take it! We'll take it!'

I ignored Primarina and then said, "Can the furnishings be negotiated in with the price? Lana and I don't have any furniture to our names."

"I believe so," answered the agent as she gave me a thoughtful nod. "The seller is looking to sell the property quickly and I believe that they'd willingly part with the furniture.

"How much do you think this property is worth?" the real estate agent asked me and Lana.

"I dunno," answered Lana as she was nervous about the prospect of purchasing the home. "$60 million?"

"I'll say $20 million," I answered as I thought the home was quite extravagant and way higher than our budget of $3 million.

"Believe it or not," began the agent with a smile, "the seller is asking for $1.4 million. The seller is looking to sell the home quickly and told me he can afford to take a loss on the home."

"Woah Bro," Cynthia said in amazement before Benjamin made sure he had a hand on her right shoulder to keep her from approaching the agent. "You're getting it for a steal."

"And we're not gonna take it from them either, Babe," Benjamin said to my sister as he kept her in place.

"Well Lana?" I asked my lovely Alola mermaid. "You wanna buy it?"

"I guess Primarina's right," Lana answered me with a smile. "We will take it."

oooooooooooooo

Lana's POV

oooooooooooooo

"That's a really nice home you've got," was the text that I got from Bea after purchasing the house on Ruby Island. "One of the gym leaders here in Galar would more than likely fall in love with your home. I also heard that you and Keith are getting married. Seems kinda soon for ya both to be gettin' married. But who am I to criticize?"

"You're more than welcome to come back to the Atlantica Islands for our wedding," I texted back to Bea.

"Wish I could, Lassie," replied Bea in her text. "But I can't leave Stow-on-Side for your weddin'. Best of luck to both of you and your weddin'."

'Lana, it's Primarina,' Primarina said as she knocked on the door. 'Your dad is here.'

"Thank you," I replied to my female Soloist Pokémon as she made her way from the door and my dad entered the room.

"You look beautiful in that dress," Dad said to me with a smile on his face before scratching the back of his head. "But I'm still kinda apprehensive about giving you away."

"I know," I replied to Dad. "But at least Keith and I have a home to place our roots in."

"Yeah," agreed Dad with a slight nod. "And it's a nice place too. Your mom and I were surprised you two could afford that place. Guess this region is treating you good.

It was then that we could hear the change of music coming from the chapel and Dad said, "Guess it's time for you to finally become a woman and be with your man."

oooooooooooooo

"Congrats to you and Keith," Vanna said to me as we hugged after the wedding and were now at our reception, held at the Ketchum House instead of at Sol Palace like I thought might happen. "Marriage is a big commitment. Hope you and Keith stay committed to being faithful to each other."

"Oh I'm pretty sure Keith will be faithful to me," I replied to Vanna with smirk. "But I heard you and Hayato finally tied the knot. Wish I could've been there for the ceremony."

"My Prince and I wanted a very small ceremony to avoid the press and social media," Vanna explained to me. "Our wedding ceremony was what we wanted. Plus the Queen wanted to make sure that we were protected from the press."

"I see," I replied to Vanna. "Guess since you married into the Royal Family, they had to keep knowledge of the wedding under very tight wraps."

"Yeah, but in the end things worked out," Vanna said with a smile. "May you and Keith have a blessed marriage together."

"Thanks Vanna," I said to Vanna as we hugged each other again. "That means a lot to us. And believe it or not, we came across a Luvdisc who blessed us with eternal love."

"You're really lucky Lana," Vanna said to me with a beaming smile on her face. "You two will definitely have a blessed marriage with undying love."

"Hey there my beautiful Alola Mermaid," Keith said to me as he and Hayato had approached us. "Ready to dance?"

"You bet," I answered with a smile on my face as I took my husband's hand and we headed to the dance floor.

oooooooooooooo

"Well, I'm just glad that the wedding and reception are over," Keith said to me as we got settled into our new home. "Would've thought that Bea would show up. You did invite her to our wedding, didn't you?"

"Yeah," I answered Keith. "But she told me that she couldn't leave her gym in Galar just to come to our wedding. She did wish us luck with our wedding though."

"I see," replied Keith as he got back into his usual shiny Umbreon clothes that he liked to wear. "So… where do you want our master suite to be?"

"I want us to have one of the underground detached suites to be our master suite," I happily answered my newlywed husband. "I think it'd be romantic for whenever we decide to finally have sex with each other."

Keith didn't have to say anything, but I could tell he was trying to so hard to fight the urge to wanna take me right then and there. But since we were finally husband and wife, I thought it was time for us to end our 'no premarital sex' agreement. My parents and his parents were surprised that the two of us had held to our agreement for as long as we did. But enough about the parents, my needs were surfacing and I was quick to take the initiative with Keith and crashed my lips on his in a very possessive and passionate kiss to signal to him that I was ready. Keith was quick to wrap his arms around me and pick me up bridal style. Then the two of us proceeded to the detached suite that we were claiming as our bedroom. (*)

oooooooooooooo

Keith's POV

oooooooooooooo

"Hey, don't worry my Alola Mermaid," I said to my wife, a week later, "we've got plenty of time before we start having children and building a family together."

"I know," replied Lana as she felt a bit dejected, "but I was kinda hoping to start a family for us."

"Were you thinking that I wanna start a family right away?" I asked Lana as I brushed my right thumb on her left cheek.

Lana didn't look at me, but she nodded her head. I sighed and shook my head as I cupped her face and kissed her gently before I said, "My love, I'm not ready to start a family just yet. I want us to enjoy ourselves before I get you pregnant with any beautiful mermaids you might give birth to."

"Really?" asked Lana as she looked to me before kissing me possessively.

We pulled out of the kiss and I answered her, "You bet, my sexy mermaid. But if I get you pregnant before we're ready, then we'll begin our laying foundations of our family… together."

"Okay," replied Lana as I looked to notice her Primarina outside looking at me and Lana.

"So… whaddya say we finish off the gyms and ready ourselves for the Suicune Valley Conference?" I asked Lana with a bright smile on my face.

"I'm ready to go," answered Lana with a beaming smile on her face.

oooooooooooooo

"Congratulations to you two," Uncle Nathaniel said to me and Lana as Lana had gone through the cooking portion of the Royal Gym's ten challenges. "The way to Checkpoint 2 has been opened.

"You know, I'd recommend stopping there and not proceeding further," Uncle Nathaniel said to me and Lana. "Your dad was pretty reckless when he went through our gym. I believe he even tried to plow through it all in one day too."

"I'm not like my dad," I replied to Uncle Nathaniel plainly. "Our Pokémon are tired and they need to rest."

"Sounds good to me," chimed in Lana with a smile. "Besides, I wanna rest too. Not to mention, my shy love…"

"Oh I know what you want, my Alola Mermaid," I said to Lana as I picked her up, off her feet. "And we'll definitely make love tonight."

'Woah, too much information!' Uncle Nathaniel's Slurpuff said as he didn't wanna hear me and Lana talking about sex. 'Just get to the Checkpoint, so you can do whatever you wanna do. Besides, the gym's closing for the night anyway and the royal family's done for the day.'

"Sorry Slurpuff," Lana replied to my uncle's male Meringue Pokémon. "Good night to you."

"Good night," replied Uncle Nathaniel after Lana and I got out of our chief's outfits.

"Good night Uncle Nathaniel," I replied to my uncle before the two of us headed for Checkpoint 2 to stop for the night, even though we were going to have stop at Checkpoint 3 and stop once again for the day.

oooooooooooooo

"Man, I never thought that we'd get through the Royal Gym," I said to Lana in between pants and on my knees before the Queen Mother, who was still the gym leader instead of Aunt Relena.

'Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,' moaned Shadow as he was lying on the ground in pain from the tough gym battle. 'I'm so sore and battered.'

'I've got so many bruises that are covering other bruises,' whined Lana's Primarina as she pretty beaten up herself once the smoke cleared.

"Nidoking and Nidoqueen are unable to battle," Aunt Jessica announced as both Poison/Ground-type Pokémon were unconscious and dazed from a very hard fought battle. "Primarina and Umbreon win! The challengers Keith and Lana Ketchum win the final match of the Royal Trial of the Royal Gym."

"Well done to both of you," Great Aunt Michiru said to me and Lana as she helped us to our feet. "It's been a while since the Royal Gym was defeated by a pair of young newlywed Ketchums. Your mother and father battled really hard throughout the Royal Gym when they first challenged it."

"Th-Thank you," Lana replied as she was slowing her breathing down.

"Take this Royal Trident Badge," Great Aunt Michiru said as she presented us with an aquamarine gem in the shape of a trident with white diamond tips. "This badge guarantees you automatic entry into the Royal Cup tournament held once every four years.

Great Aunt Michiru wasn't finished as she had on a silver platter two Apricorn Pokéballs. Yeah, you heard right, I said two Apricorn Pokéballs on a literal platter made of silver. One was a Fast Ball and the other one was a Lure Ball. She smiled to both of us as she then said, "For defeating me, along with the prize money you've won, you get a special Pokémon from me.

Lana and I looked to each other in confusion at first as Great Aunt Michiru continued, "These Pokémon are from a region called Galar and have begun seeding this region by establishing their own communities. For you Keith, in this Fast Ball is one of the Starter Pokémon, a Fire-type called Scorbunny."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing from Aunt Relena's mom. I was getting a Fire-type Starter Pokémon?! I had stars in my eyes at first… before remembering that almost ALL Fire-type starter Pokémon weren't quadruped Pokémon. And if any of the Fire-type starter Pokémon did evolve into a quadruped Pokémon, they'd evolve right back into a biped Pokémon. I was almost tempted to decline the Pokémon, but I knew that I'd be insulting a family member, let alone a member of the royal family. Before my preference could rise to the surface, Great Aunt Michiru looked to me and said, "I know you prefer to train quadruped Pokémon, but I think giving you this Scorbunny would be a nice new change of pace. Please take this shiny Scorbunny. You might find that you like him and I know you used to like playing soccer as a little boy."

"Oh boy!" I exclaimed as the little boy in me came back and I took the Fast Ball. "I always wanted a soccer buddy!"

"Guess you've sold my husband on taking the Scorbunny, Your Highness," Lana said to my great aunt.

"As for you, dear Lana," my great aunt said to my wife, "I tried to find a Water-type starter from Galar for you, but I wasn't successful in acquiring one."

"That's okay," Lana replied with a smile as she took the Lure Ball. "If there's a Water-type Pokémon from Galar, I'll still accept it. I wanna train lots of Water-type Pokémon."

"The Pokémon in the Lure Ball is a shiny Arrokuda," finished Great Aunt Michiru as she and Lana ignored me letting the shiny male Scorbunny out and getting acquainted with him. "And he has the ability Propeller Tail. While your husband's shiny Scorbunny has the ability, Libero instead of Blaze."

"Thank you," I said to Great Aunt Michiru as I had my new shiny Scorbunny sitting on my left shoulder. "Looks like he and I will be getting along just fine."

oooooooooooooo

"Well, now that the Pokémon are out of their Pokéballs, we can relax a bit," I said to my wife with a smile on my face.

"You bet," agreed Lana as she shed the clothes that covered up her sexy swimsuit. "Now let's relax by watching our new aquarium."

"Sounds good to me," I replied as I shed my clothes to reveal my shiny Umbreon swimwear before joining Lana in our bed. "At least we don't have Primarina trying to sneak into bed with us anymore."

Before Lana could make a reply, as if on cue, her Primarina showed up and looked at us curiously… along with Suiren, my shiny female Primarina. Both of them looked at us as if what we were doing was strange to them, especially since there was still plenty of daylight outside. After studying us for about another ten minutes, Primarina and Suiren just gave up and swam away from us after realizing that we weren't going to move from our bed. With both of our Primarinas gone from our view, Lana and I looked to each other and kissed each other passionately. Both of us just wanted to take things a bit easy before the Suicune Valley Conference tournament and even give our Pokémon a chance to relax and even get used to the house and the property. The Pokémon weren't going to be living in the house like the Pokémon that belonged to my parents… my big brothers and sisters who raised me along with Cynthia and Lisa.

oooooooooooooo

"Wow, who knew that your aunt was one of the co-champions of the Atlantica Islands," Lana said to me after the opening ceremonies concluded. "And I never knew that your parents were members of the Elite Four either."

"That's part of why I didn't say anything," I said to Lana. "I'm just glad that I didn't have to stay silent about it any longer. I don't wanna keep any more secrets from you."

"Sounds good," replied Lana as we got to the hotel. "You left your paintball guns at home, right?"

"Yes dear," I answered as I let out a sigh. "Though the team might need me. Captain's told me that the paintball tournament is gonna be on Denali Island.

Lana sighed in frustration as I finished, "Besides, I'm the team's other sniper, next to the Captain."

"So what, you're just gonna throw in the towel just so you can go compete with your paintball buddies?" Lana asked me in an upset tone. "I didn't agree to compete in the Suicune Valley Conference just so you can use it as an excuse to do something else while you only put in a half-hearted effort in this tournament."

"Lana, I plan on giving this tournament everything I got," I said as to Lana as she had turned her back to me. "My family's name is at stake and I'm not going to ruin the Ketchum name by quitting now."

"You better not… Little Bro," Cynthia said to me as she and her husband approached me and Lana from behind… with my case of paintball guns that went missing the day before we left for Denali Island. "By the way, you need to find someplace to lock up your paintball guns. Especially if you and Lana plan to have kids in future. And you certainly don't want your Pokémon getting hurt because you left them out in the open."

"I DID lock them up!" I protested to Cynthia as I knew that she had to have broken into my locker again… for the umpteenth time. "You broke into my locker again!"

oooooooooooooo

"Can't believe that we're on Sora Field," I said as I remember Dad telling us about his and Mom's debut in the Suicune Valley Conference tournament. "I must not be able to escape my parents' shadow if I'm… I mean if we're starting out on Sora Field like Mom and Dad."

"It might not be as bad as you think," Lana offered in an attempt to lighten the mood for me. "Maybe it's a sign for us during our run through the tournament."

"Well, do you have your Pokémon chosen for our first match at Sora Field?" I asked Lana as I was choosing my Pokémon, only for my shiny soccer buddy I named Blaze, to jump in.

'You're gonna need me, Keith,' my shiny male Cinderance, Blaze said to me happily as he was playing with a soccer ball. 'I've been working on my kicks and accuracy too. Plus you should take into account my ability, Libero. I can change my type based on whatever you move you tell me use.'

"Kinda like Lana's Greninja with her Protean ability," I summarized as I caught on to what Blaze was saying.

'Exactly,' Blaze replied as he nodded his head to me.

I nodded back to Blaze and then went to work choosing my team to use on Sora Field. Blaze, of course, was going to be in the party with me and Lana. I also chose to bring Shadow and Diamond, much to Shadow's horror as he didn't want to be partnered with a single Fairy-type Pokémon. Blaze was okay with him, but he didn't want Diamond on the team. Unfortunately for Shadow, the decision was mine to make and I wasn't going let his fear of Fairy-type Pokémon make the decision for me. As for Lana, she chose to bring her Greninja, her recently evolved Barraskewda and… much to Shadow's horror and dread, her Primarina.

oooooooooooooo

"And now folks, you're in for quite a treat here," the announcer said as Lana and I made our way to green platform that we were directed to go to. "The son of our region's top two Elite Four is making his debut on the competition stage here in the Suicune Valley Conference. Alongside his newlywed wife from the Alola region, whose also making her grand debut here in the Suicune Valley Conference. This is the first time someone from the Alola region is competing in the Suicune Valley Conference."

I let out a sigh of nervousness as I still had a knot in my stomach that made wanna turn and run away from competing. However, I had Lana with me and I wasn't going to let her do all the competing while my fear of big audiences took hold of me. Our opponents had entered onto the red platform as they looked like they were veterans of the Suicune Valley Conference tournament. I remembered that Mom told me that she and Dad had battled against veterans in their first match of the Suicune Valley Conference. To be honest, I would've preferred to start the trek at a different field.

However as both platforms rose into the sky, I began pondering on how Lana and I ended up at Sora Field like my parents did when they were close to my age would have to wait until our first win. Our opponents called out very powerful Pokémon right out of the gate. They called out a Reuniclus and a Buzzwole, an Ultra Beast from Alola, right out of the gate. It definitely looked like our opponents weren't playing around or going to take a chance especially since our last name was Ketchum. I shook my head in disbelief that our opponents were intent on going all out against a couple Suicune Valley Conference rookies, like me and my wife. But I guess there's no such thing as "taking it easy" on opponents in the Suicune Valley Conference. Aunt Relena and Uncle Ritchie made sure of that when they won the tournament when they were seven years old. They didn't want opponents treating them lightly or special just because they were kids… or from the Kaiou royal house. So our opponents weren't going to treat us that way either.

"Match begin!" the ref exclaimed as I called on Blaze and Lana called out her Greninja.

Our opponents were quick to go on the attack as one opponent ordered her Buzzwole to go after Greninja with a Bug Bite attack thinking that they could use type advantage against my Alola Mermaid. But that was a mistake that they made as Lana had her Greninja counter that with her Acrobatics attack as she wasn't carrying any hold items with her. Once Lana's Greninja changed her type to Flying with her Protean ability, she nimbly struck the Bug/Fighting-type Ultra Beast and inflicted a massive amount of damage on it. As for me and Blaze, I had him use Snarl to begin making use of his Libero Dream World ability. Blaze then went from being a Fire-type to a Dark-type, making the Multiplying Pokémon's Rock Slide attack not as effective as the opponent wanted it to be. Blaze was took the brunt of the Rock Slide, but he made it through like a champ. While Lana's opponent had her Buzzwole knocked out by that powerful Acrobatics, I was having a difficult time with my opponent's Reuniclus as they used everything they could to keep me and Blaze from landing anymore direct hits. Though I didn't understand why they didn't switch out their Reuniclus, especially if it had the Regeneration Dream World ability. Despite my quandary, I was determined to press my advantage with Blaze's Libero Dream World ability. But I had to make sure that the weakness of the Libero Dream World ability weren't used against me. After dodging a fourth Rock Slide attack, Blaze used his signature Pyro Ball attack at our opponent and finally brought him down hard as the wind was blowing in the direction of the opposing Pokémon. Not only that, but the wind speed helped to increase the hitting power of Blaze's Pyro Ball attack and cleaned the Reuniclus's clock.

"Reuniclus and Buzzwole are unable to battle," announced the referee as he raised the green flag in our direction. "Cinderace and Greninja win! The winners of the first match are Marquis Keith and Duchess Lana Ketchum!"

The crowd went wild with our first victory of the Suicune Valley Conference tournament. Seeing a brand new Pokémon from the Galar region was a treat for the audience, let alone that Blaze was a shiny Pokémon from Galar. Our opponents than gave us each an uncut emerald gemstone cluster. Lana looked to me in confusion and for an explanation as to why we were given such a valuable prize. I sighed as I remembered how winning and defeat worked in the Suicune Valley Conference tournament worked.

"You see, certain fields in this tournament require both sides to have a prize ready to cough up in case they lose their match in this tournament," I explained to my beautiful Alola Mermaid with a smile. "Sora Field usually requires the loser to hand over a prize when the loser is defeated. It's rare for Sora Field to not have the loser hand over a prize for losing."

"You didn't think to tell me that information before we walked out?" Lana asked as she smacked me upside the head.

"Well, I didn't think we were gonna lose," I answered Lana as I rubbed my head. "But I did have a prize for us ready in the case we were gonna lose. I have a Master Ball that I haven't used at all."

"Why would you not use the Master Ball?" Lana asked me as we walked away from the field after our match was over.

"I was taught to never use the Master Ball," I answered Lana. "My siblings and friends were taught that the Master Ball was considered a form of cheating in Pokémon battles."

"How?" Lana asked me in a confused tone and had a look of bafflement on her face. "I don't see how a Master Ball is considered cheating in Pokémon battles. You're guaranteed to capture a Pokémon and it won't be able to break out. You can even catch legendary Pokémon with it too."

"I still think of it as cheating," I replied to Lana as we walked to one of the other fields to watch the competition. "It robs a trainer of having that sense of enjoyment, the thrill of catching Pokémon and being able to have joy when the Pokémon are finally captured."

Before Lana could reply back to me, Lana received a text from Bea in Galar. Lana looked at her text from our friend from Galar and then smiled. I looked at my phone and saw that I had gotten a text from Hayato and then cringed at it.

"Something wrong?" Lana asked me as she noticed me cringe.

"Vanna and Hayato are at Factory Field," I answered as I was still cringing. "I hope Vanna will be alright."

"Is there something that would cause Vanna to be uneasy at this Factory Field?" Lana asked me.

"Vanna has the ability to use Fairy Aura and had mistakenly undergone Phase 2 gene therapy from Team Trident's Project Akatsuki," I explained to Lana. "She had Sylveon DNA spliced into her before she was born."

"Uh… okay," replied Lana as she was a bit confused.

"Long story short, Vanna can't touch any iron or steel like most Fairy-type Pokémon," I was quick to summarize for Lana. "She exhibits various traits of Fairy-type Pokémon."

"Huh, that explains why she asked the waiter for different cutlery," said Lana as she remembered something from back on Emerald Cove Island. "Is she afraid of all other metals?"

"Just iron or steel," I was quick to answer as we approached Factory Field and found a seat close to Vanna and Hayato. "Well, she's got her Mawile, Titania, out there. That's a good sign.

"And Hayato has his signature Pokémon ace, Daisy, out there," I finished up as we watched Hayato and Vanna facing off a pair of veterans themselves.

"Let's go Daisy!" exclaimed Hayato as he was smiling to his shiny female Swallow Pokémon. "Put that Aerodactyl down with your Steel Wing!"

"Titania, use Iron Head on that Beartic," Vanna ordered her female Deceiver Pokémon.

Both female Pokémon complied and connected their boosted Steel-type attacks with their intended targets. The opposing Pokémon were no match for seasoned battling veterans and battle partners like Daisy and Titania. Once the referee announced that Hayato and Vanna were the winners of their match, Vanna let out a sigh of relief before recalling Titania to her Pokéball and getting on Hayato's back as the floor off the challenger's ring was made of steel. Hayato sighed and wished that Vanna would make use of a pair of shoes so she wouldn't have piggyback on Hayato's back. That or have some shiny Arcanine, that they met in Kalos, to ride on. Once Hayato was clear of the steel floor, he let Vanna down off his back and the two of them came to meet us in the stands.

"Surprised to see you two here at Factory Field," Hayato said to me and Lana.

"We heard you two won your first match at Sora Field," chimed in Vanna. "Congratulations to you two."

'Hey, where's that cutie from Galar?' Oberon asked me and Lana. 'She was quite the knockout.'

"She went back to Galar, Oberon… AND Ichigo," I answered both male Fairy-type Pokémon as I figured that even Ichigo wanted to know where Bea was. "Thought you two could do better than Big Brother Victini?"

'Uh… no comment,' Oberon answered quickly as both male Fairy-type Pokémon had a sweatdrop on their foreheads.

'I'm too bruised to knock you two around with my Iron Head attack,' Titania said in an upset tone to Oberon and Ichigo.

"Hey, let's go get dinner," I said to my wife and friends. "I know a good pizza place a few blocks from Aurora Village where the competitors stay."

oooooooooooooo

"Compai!" all of us exclaimed as we raised our glasses and clinked them together.

Before we got our pizza, Lana decided that she should text Bea back since she didn't text her after our match at Sora Field. To be honest, I wanted us to be with our friends, but Bea was a friend too and didn't wanna be a sourpuss and keep Lana from texting Bea back.

"Sorry about not texting you sooner," Lana began her text to Bea. "We went to go see the match for one of our friends who's also competing in the Suicune Valley Conference."

"It's not a problem," Bea replied back in her text. "I saw your first match and you two looked fairly good in your match. I'm also jealous to see how the Suicune Valley Conference operates compared to the Pokémon League here in Galar."

'Oh boy!' Shadow exclaimed in excitement as he saw the four huge plates with pizza with his mouth watering in excitement. 'PIZZA! My favorite FOOD!'

'Our team leader is acting so uncivilized,' Diamond said as her debutante nature took hold of her.

Before Shadow could reach our table to join up for the food challenge we were going to try, he met a plate face first that was held up with psychic energy. The one who used that Psychic attack to hold the plate in front of Shadow was a shiny Lampent who had a chief's hat on his head.

'Slow down there, Scooby-Doo,' the shiny Lampent said as he was accompanied by a few employees that were bringing the pizzas to our table. 'This Pizza Pie of Doom Challenge is for humans only. No Pokémon are allowed to partake in it.'

'Aww…,' whined Shadow and Yondu as they wanted to partake in the challenge.

"Alright then," the waiter said to me, Hayato, Lana and Vanna, "the Pizza Pie of Doom Challenge begins when you hear the jukebox start playing music. You and your lovely spouses have got one hour to eat both extra large pizzas. And that means eating the whole pizza, toppings, cheese and stuffed crust."

'You will be provided with as many drinks as you wish,' the shiny Lampent said to us. 'But you will not be able to get up and relieve yourselves until time is up or you manage to eat both extra large pizza pies with all of those toppings and the stuffed crust.'

'I got four Babiri Berries that say they can complete the challenge in thirty minutes,' Ichigo said to Oberon

oooooooooooooo

3rd Person POV

oooooooooooooo

"Oh man," Keith Ketchum whined as he was being led out of the restaurant after they failed to complete the Pizza Pie of Doom Challenge. "That was brutal. Didn't think that pizza had so much in toppings and so full of cheese in the crust."

"Maybe you and Hayato will think about thinking before letting your stomachs do the talking for you," Vanna said to Keith as she was helping the young prince back to Aurora Village.

"You both better hope that we don't have to compete tomorrow," Lana added in a strict tone to her husband and Hayato. "Because neither Vanna nor I will be the only ones competing if you two are sick from trying to eat those two pizzas."

"But they were so good," Hayato said in a pouty tone.

"My Prince, Lana is right," Vanna said to her husband calmly and patiently. "We were thankful that they let us take the leftovers home.

'The idea of wasting food for sport is definitely uncivilized, in my view,' Diamond said as she was in disgust of Keith's current state. 'Why should good food be used in such a distasteful manner?'

'Well excuse some of us for wanting to enjoy some entertainment,' shot back Shadow as he wasn't happy with Diamond being there and especially her judgmental attitude.

'Not everyone can be debutantes or act civilized,' added Ember as the shiny female Arcanine sought to smooth things over and calm things down. 'But we should still get Keith and the Prince back to the village so they rest from gorging on that pizza.'

'Any chance of us helping ourselves to the leftovers?' Shadow asked Lana and Vanna with a hopeful smile on his face.

'Lady Lana and Fairy Princess, I think it to be not wise to allow the others to eat such distasteful food,' Diamond suggested to the wives of Keith and Hayato.

'Aww… you didn't seem to have a problem when we had pizza back on Ruby Island,' moaned Shadow as he looked to Diamond.

'I was only being polite,' the shiny female Alola Fox Pokémon. 'I do not like eating such wasteful food.'

'Oh… look at Miss High and Mighty over there,' Yondu said in mockery of Diamond.

'I do know Aqua Tail and Iron Tail, just so you know,' Diamond calmly countered back as the group entered Aurora Village as she gave him a Cobalion-like glance.

oooooooooooooo

Lana Ketchum's POV

oooooooooooooo

"You and Hayato should be grateful that we don't have to compete today," I said to Keith as he was lying on the couch instead of in bed with me.

"Come on Lana," Keith whined as he looked at me, "cut me a little bit of slack, would ya?"

'And where you're currently at is the result of you, gorging on food in a wasteful manner,' Diamond said to her human as she sat next to him.

"People do competitive eating for fun," Keith protested to Diamond. "It's not like I was gonna go over to competitive eating as a job."

I looked to my cellphone and saw that we got a message from the tournament officials and breathed a sigh of relief. Diamond looked to me and noticed me letting out the sigh of relief as she then asked, 'Is everything alright, Lady Lana?'

"You don't have to call me 'Lady Lana,' Diamond," I replied to Diamond before looking at the message from the tournament officials. "And today, Keith and I don't have to compete today in the tournament. We've got the day off today.

My cellphone buzzed and I got a text from Vanna and I nodded with a smile as I then added, "Looks like Hayato also got lucky too."

'The Fairy Princess and Prince Hayato are off today too, I take it?' Diamond asked me before she laid down next to Keith.

"Yeah, they're off too," I answered Diamond. "Guess Keith and Hayato are both lucky that they got today off."

'Indeed,' replied Diamond before she nodded off asleep as Shadow was being terrorized by my Primarina.

With Keith still sleeping off his eating binge from the night before, I figured it would be a nice idea to go off for swim by myself. The thought was a nice one, but since I married into Keith's family, the thought was quashed as I figured that having one of my Pokémon with me would be a smart idea so I wouldn't get hounded by the press or some other opponent from the tournament… or even worse, a rival team that had a huge beef with Keith's paintball team. The only Pokémon that I had available to me was my Greninja as like I mentioned earlier, my Water/Fairy-type best friend was busy terrorizing Shadow. Taking a brief look to ensure my swimwear was still under my clothes, I was satisfied and got my Greninja and we headed out to go swim while Keith was resting. I went down to the pool, where I met up with Vanna and her Mawile, Titania.

"Wow, you must be psychic if you decided to come down and swim too," I said to Vanna with a grin on my face.

"Not really," replied Vanna with a sly smile on her face. "I just wanted Hayato to have time to rest from last night's pizza eating binge."

"Well, great minds think alike, like they say," I replied to Vanna before diving in the warm saltwater pool.

Vanna jumped in after me along with my Greninja, while Titania kept watch over us as we enjoyed ourselves in the pool. The two of us enjoyed our time in the pool as it was a nice time together. We also talked together too. Talked about how we were enjoying the married life and made a few other competitors, who were there at the pool, a bit uneasy as we talked about… how our husbands do in the bed when we make love with them. After a couple hours of swimming and talking, both of us went back to our rooms where our husbands were still sleeping. Though Vanna and I saw Keith looking enraged and gearing up after we both took notice of a black right eye and Keith putting on his replacement pair of glasses as his first pair were broken in a struggle. The other thing that we noticed was that Diamond was missing and she was usually at his side whenever Keith was sick or when Shadow was with my Primarina… unwillingly most of the time.

"Keith, just call Officer Jenny and report the break in and blitz attack," I said pleadingly to Keith as he finished gearing up.

"No way," Keith replied as he readied his paintball weapons. "Those guys are gonna get what's coming to them. And I know where they're hiding.

"Gotta move now before they sell off Diamond for money," continued Keith as he brushed past me. "And I'm getting really tired of the blitz attacks and ambushes. I'm taking the fight to them."

"But…," I tried to protest to no avail as I knew that he wasn't kidding as he walked out of the hotel.

oooooooooooooo

"You alright, Diamond?" Keith asked his shiny female Ice/Fairy-type Fox Pokémon as the two of them returned back to our hotel together.

'I am,' answered Diamond as the shiny female Alola Fox Pokémon was alongside her human. 'Thank you for not abandoning me to those dishonorable fiends.'

"You're part of my family with my older Pokémon brothers and sisters," Keith said to Diamond. "We never abandon family.

Keith looked to me as he smiled and then said, "Hey good looking mermaid."

"Where are your paintball weapons?" I asked Keith as I was a bit upset with him for not calling Officer Jenny and letting the police handle the situation.

"The Captain has them," answered Keith as he was quick to give his answer to me. "I'll be serving a self-imposed two month suspension from the team for the retaliatory Rambo-style attack I did on the Dark Drapion squad, who blitz attacked me and nabbed Diamond.

Keith looked to me as he continued, "The Captain and the rest of the team arrived right as I was about to pistol whip that prick captain of the Dark Drapions. And believe me, I wanted to pistol whip him but Diamond talked me down and convinced me to let the authorities handle things with them.

He finished, "After Diamond talked me down, the Captain was going to scold me. But I knew her rules and handed over all of my paintball weapons and told her that I would serve a self-imposed suspension from the team."

I breathed a sigh of relief to hear that my husband wasn't going to participate in the paintball tournament like he wanted to do and wasn't going to have his paintball weapons with him for a while. As much as I wanted to scold Keith, I decided not to do that figuring that Diamond would probably talk me out of scolding my own husband for his reckless actions. But if he was serving a suspension from his paintball team, that was enough to make me happy as we could now focus on the Suicune Valley Conference tournament. Keith then got word that we were suspended from the tournament in regards to an attack that happened earlier in the day. I wasn't liking what was going on as Keith's paintball hobby was starting to get out of control and he said that one of Dark Drapions made an accusation that he was the one who instigated the conflict before the paintball tournament was to start.

oooooooooooooo

Keith's POV

oooooooooooooo

"You see what that jerk did to me?" The captain of the Dark Drapion paintball team asked the tournament officials as he showed him the bruises that he sustained from Keith's retaliatory attack. "That little punk came at us as we were about to sit down have some lunch. Came at us without rhyme or reason. He even used his paintball pistol and pistol whipped me viciously."

"That's a load of garbage and you know it," Keith countered back to his accuser. "Your team blitz attacked me while I was recovering from… a lapse in judgment from the night before. I was with my wife and Prince Hayato and his wife last night and tried to take on the Pizza Pie of Doom challenge and failed… pretty badly I might add."

"We have video evidence that you left the hotel and Aurora Village, all geared up and looking like you were about to wage war against someone," Mr. Goodshow said to me.

"I'm not gonna deny any of that," I testified as I shook my head. "My wife wanted me to call Officer Jenny and let the police handle dealing with the Dark Drapions."

"Why didn't you call Officer Jenny?" Mom asked me as she was sitting on the inquiry panel. "Surely Officer Jenny and police could handlethings a lot better than the way you acted. You were acting like you were Rambo, which you're not."

"When the Dark Drapions attacked me, they stole Diamond, my shiny Alola Ninetales, from me," I answered the panel. "I knew that they would look to sell Diamond off for cash and I had to act quickly before any transaction could happen."

"What's to say that was your Ninetales?" my accuser asked me.

"Simple," I answered back. "Diamond always has a white diamond snowflake necklace around her neck. She was still wearing it when I came for her. Plus, Diamond is a Pokémon that was raised to be a debutante. I know her debutante nature and demeanor all too well.

"Ask Diamond," I continued as I looked to the panel. "She'll tell you herself."

"Please," retorted my accuser. "Who's gonna believe the word of a Pokémon over a human? Besides, it's humans who make the laws, not Pokémon… loser."

"Enough!" snarled Mr. Goodshow before he looked to me and my accuser. "Did you ever pistol whip this man?"

"Believe me when I tell you this," I began as I looked to Mr. Goodshow and the panel, "I wanted to pistol whip him."

"He admits that he wanted to," my accuser butted in before getting glares from the inquiry panel.

"I wanted to pistol whip his face, but Diamond calmed me down and talked me out of it," I finished my answer to the panel. "Again, ask Diamond. She'll tell you what happened and confirm what I told you was true."

"They're not gonna believe the word of a dumb Pokémon over a human," my accuser snarked at me in triumph.

"Thank you," Mom said as she brought the focus back her and the rest of the panel. "Keith, you'll return to Aurora Village for the time being and your's and Lana's next match is currently suspended until the end of this inquiry."

"If we find that your conduct was unbecoming of a competitor of the Suicune Valley Conference tournament," Rena Patterson, another family friend and member of the inquiry panel, added, "then you and Lana will be disqualified from this tournament and you will serve a five year suspension from Pokémon League competitions here and around the world. You will also be ineligible to compete in the Royal Cup tournament this year and four years down the road."

"This sentence cannot be appealed," added Dr. Curie. "The ruling of the panel will be considered final unless new evidence is presented prior to the ruling being placed on record for the Royal Archives."

"If either of you two have something to say before we retire and make our decision, please speak now," Mom said to me and my accuser.

My accuser had nothing to say as he was bursting with confidence that the panel would rule in his favor. As for me, I took a deep breath and then said, "Diamond and all of my other Pokémon are my Pokémon siblings just as much as Mom and Dad's Pokémon are my Pokémon siblings. They taught me and my sisters to never abandon family and that families stick together."

"I think I'm gonna be sick from this touchy feely garbage," snarled my accuser.

"I did what I had to do for a sibling," I continued as I wasn't going to let him beat me. "And if I had to it all over again, you better believe I'd do it again in a heartbeat. And put myself on a suspension for doing it all over again."

"You're… suspended from your paintball team?" Mom asked in interest as she and the panel weren't given that information.

"I arranged for it and the Captain approved it," I explained to the panel. "The team has my paintball weapons and gear."

oooooooooooooo

"You'll pay for this, you hear me?!" my accuser shouted at me as he was being arrested after the panel ruled in my favor and lifted our suspension from the Suicune Valley Conference tournament.

"Shut up man," I replied back to my accuser. "Next time, do your homework before you try to frame someone.

Before Officer Jenny took my accuser away in the police car he was in, I finished by saying, "My paintball pistol is a converted Ruger SR1911 model. I've never used a Government 1911 model pistol in my life."

"Now since that's done," Lana said to me as she wrapped her arms around my waist, "let's go get something to eat. No Pizza Pie of Doom challenge."

"Aww…," I moaned to my wife.

"I'm glad to hear that you beat the charge against you," Lana began to say.

"Lana, I'm sorry you got drug down with me," I said as I cut her off. "It's not fair that you got suspended from competing in the Royal Cup because of me."

"Well, there's always four years later, right?" Lana asked me.

"You're right, my Alola Mermaid," I answered as we went back to Aurora Village and saw that there were food trucks that were serving competitors and their families.

oooooooooooooo

Two matches later, Lana and I found ourselves in the same position my parents were in when they went through the Suicune Valley Conference tournament. We sat at the top of one bracket division and were going to have to defend our position as top of the Umi Field Division… just like my mom and dad. I called my parents and told them that Lana and I were sitting on Umi Field as the top trainers defending the same field that they defended when they went through the Suicune Valley Conference. Mom and Dad told us to make sure that we work together as a team while defending our top position. Mom told me to make sure that I didn't try to pull any cowboy moves or antics like Dad did when they went through the Suicune Valley Conference. Dad was a bit embarrassed when Mom brought that up, but he agreed with Mom and told me to not make the same mistake that he made. Dad mentioned that Mom threw him out of the hotel after the argument they had. I cringed at the thought of trying to argue with Lana, but I was really a bit too shy and couldn't say no to my sexy Alola Mermaid.

"Guess we should think about what use in battle while we defend our position at Umi Field," I said to Lana after we finished talking to my parents and her parents an hour earlier, before we got ready for bed.

"Well, you already know what I'm planning on using," Lana replied to me with a smile on her face as she pressed her body against mine.

My face became Occa Berry red when Lana began pressing her body against my body. That, plus Lana had a seductive look on her face which meant she wanted to have sex with me. It had been a couple weeks since we last made love with each other. But before we could undress each other and make love, we could hear Vanna and Hayato next door to us as they were having sex with other.

"Oh my Prince, keep going," we heard Vanna saying in moans of pleasure coming from both of them. "Pound in me like a Steel-type using a Corkscrew Crash Z-Move."

"Whoa," I said as my face became even redder as Lana and I heard Vanna say that.

"Great," said Lana as she huffed. "Just when we're about to have sex, Vanna and Hayato decide to have sex themselves."

"M-Maybe we shouldn't have sex tonight," I weakly suggested to my Alola Mermaid.

"I… don't… think… so," Lana replied in a smooth and silky tone as she began… what I called 'the process,' "my shy little Umbreon."

"Oh yes, My Prince," Lana and I heard Vanna cry out as the two were close to their climax. "M-My Prince! Oh yes! M-My Prince… YEEHAW!"

"In all of the times I've been exposed to sex, I've never heard the word 'Yeehaw' used in that manner," I said to Lana as she made sure that we were both ready to make love with each other.

"You might hear that from me tonight," Lana replied to me as she laid on her back and brought me over on top of her.

"Oh Arceus," I replied as I knew not to try and resist Lana and began having sex with my wife.

oooooooooooooo

The next morning, Lana and I went down to the open area outside our hotel and caught up with Vanna and Hayato for breakfast. Vanna seemed to have her face appear beaming and so shiny. As for Hayato, his face was a bit Cheri Berry red in embarrassment. I was a bit confused as to why Hayato looked embarrassed when he came down for breakfast. It was then that I remembered that the two of them usually had early morning sex too… plus I think I heard Vanna screaming out "Prince Yeehaw" again. I was really thankful that Lana wasn't in the mood for having sex in the morning. My princely cousin then looked to me and said, "Hey, morning there, Keith."

"Morning to you too… 'Prince… Yeehaw'," I replied in a mischief tone as I grinned at him.

"Sh-Shut up, Keith!" exclaimed Hayato as he tried to keep me quiet and the other competitors from hearing his little nickname.

My sister Cynthia came down to get breakfast for herself and Benjamin and then walked towards us as one of the food trucks that she liked was in the direction we were heading. As usual, she had Big Brother Victini at her side and Shiva frantically following behind her. I had no idea why Big Sis let Shiva follow her, but I imagine that Shiva would've caused some damage to the hotel room Cynthia was staying in with her husband if she wasn't following right behind her. Sis looked to me and Hayato and made her way over to us.

"Hey there Little Bro," Cynthia said to me with a smile on her face before turning to our princely cousin with a grin on her face. "So… how was the sex last night and this morning… 'Prince Yeehaw'?"

Hayato looked down to the ground as he was really embarrassed by my older sister until he saw Lana and her Primarina and headed towards them… only for both of them to also greet him as "Prince Yeehaw." To be honest, it almost looked as if Hayato was about to melt into a pile of goop from embarrassment as his face got redder at first and then went brighter as Cynthia, put on sunglasses and my glasses became sunglasses themselves. It would've been interesting to see Hayato melt into goop, but Vanna came into save him from amount of embarrassment and playful teasing we were throwing on him.

oooooooooooooo

"I'm really sorry about this," I said to Lana, a week later after the Battle Royale, when I fell ill from some light food poisoning. "We got disqualified because I got sick from the burgers we bought from the dinner food truck. And on top of that, I got us suspended from this year's Royal Cup because I went Rambo on the Dark Drapions to rescue Diamond."

"It's not your fault for getting sick," Lana replied to me as she and Diamond were taking care of me. "But I still think you could've gone to Officer Jenny and reported the Dark Drapions to her."

'What is past is past, dear Brother Keith,' said Diamond as she sat next to me.

"So… what's the next move for us?" Lana asked me, now that we were out of the Suicune Valley Conference tournament… and unable to participate in the Royal Cup. "We can't participate in the Royal Cup. And you can't join your team for the paintball tournament."

"I say, let's go home and we'll figure out what to do from there," I suggested, much to my wife's delight. "But we gotta wait until I get better and the doctor gives me a clean bill of health to head home."

Lana's response was to give me a kiss on my forehead with a seductive wink. I knew what the seductive wink meant when my beautiful Alola Mermaid gave it. Before we got married, it meant cuddling and making out with each other. But now that Lana and I were married, the seductive wink meant all of the previous… plus making love to each other in our aquarium bedroom. Knowing that I wasn't going to get out of sex once we got home, I sighed as I was resigned to what we would do. But neither Lana nor I would be ready for the brand new challenge that would be set before us as our cellphones buzzed with a text from Bea, that we ignored that day.

oooooooooooooo

Author's note: And cut! Another chapter in the books. Hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Please favorite and review this fic. Do you like it? Do you think there needs to be improvements to it? Let me know what you think of it. Until then my friends, see ya soon!