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.

18. Chapter 17

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.

17: Traveling Galar (part 2)

Author's note: There will be some light M-rated themes in the chapter.

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Lana Felicity Ketchum's POV

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"You sure you want me to go first?" Keith asked me as we lay in bed. "How come you don't wanna go first?"

"I would think that you'd wanna go first," I answered my Shy Little Umbreon cutely as I brought him on top of me.

"And here I thought it would be 'ladies first'," replied Keith before he kissed me passionately.

"Then let's find out who can last the longest," I countered back playfully. "Loser has to go first."

"Then buckle up," Keith said enthusiastically, "cuz I'm not losing tonight."

With those words, we began to have sex that would last us through the night we competed for dominance over each other in the bed. Our dance of dominance would last us for most of the night and end in a draw as we weren't able to sustain the amount of energy needed to keep going. But I will say that the night's episode of love making left us both very satisfied as it ended with us hold each other and having the blanket being brought over our bodies to cover us up by Primarina. In the next morning, Keith and I decided that I would go first in the Turffield Gym just to get a feel for the gym. He did remark that it was gonna be difficult since I usually train Water Pokémon. Keith was right, but I also had Silver Luna too and she wasn't a Water-type Pokémon.

After we had breakfast, both of us made our way to the Turffield Gym where we got a Trainer Card of Milo from someone who was walking out of the gym after someone had just crushed Milo decisively. Keith and I had also heard that the person who had won had a shiny Alola Ninetales that made it snow before being Dynamaxed. Keith and I looked to each other and knew that the last opponent had to be his oldest sister, Cynthia. Because Cynthia was the only one of us who had a shiny Alola Ninetales that could create a snowstorm without having to use the move Hail. As we entered the gym's lobby, there were many people who were abuzz with gossip after Cynthia crushed Milo. I kissed my Shy Little Umbreon before heading up to the Gym Trainer to let them know that I was ready to challenge the Turffield Gym.

"Man, that was quite the one sided Gym Battle," the Gym Trainer, who was standing in front of the gym's entrance, said aloud before looking to me. "Oh, I'm sorry. Are you looking to challenge the Turffield Gym?"

"Of course," I replied to the Gym Trainer. "I'm part of Team Storm like the last two who challenged challenged your gym."

"You gotta be kidding me," moaned the Gym Trainer. "More from Team Storm? I-I mean please proceed to the locker room to change into your uniform. [sigh] I guess since you're in Team Storm, you too have a specially made uniform too."

I gave the Gym Trainer a nod and headed into the locker room and changed into my Primarina outfit. As I changed into my Primarina outfit, my Pokémon let themselves out of their Pokéballs. They stretched and got themselves prepped for our first Gym battle together as a team. Silver Luna leapt up on the bench and went to sleep as she was still tired from the night before. But since the bench wasn't comfortable enough for her, Silver Luna just sat up and watched me change into my specially made uniform.

'I always thought that humans wore undergarments under their clothes,' Silver Luna said to me as she noticed that I had my swimsuit on under the sundress that I was wearing. 'How come you wear swimwear under your clothes?'

"I'm from a tropical region," I answered Silver Luna. "I really didn't have much need to wear 'undergarments' as I was always in and out of the water."

'Makes perfect sense to me,' my recently evolved shiny Pelipper said to me and Silver Luna. 'Why waste good money on clothes you'll never wear?'

I was quick to finish changing into my custom Gym Challenge uniform, which had me look like a character in of Keith's favorite video game series that he likes to play all the time. But, it still looked good on me nonetheless. Once I recalled my Pokémon to their Pokéballs, I walked out to the lobby where the Gym Trainer was at.

"Well, looks like you're ready to go," the Gym Trainer said to me. "Good luck to you."

I gave the Gym Trainer a nod as I then went through the door. The Gym Trainer then stepped back into her place, guarding the door as I then moved towards the open gym. Taking a five minute walk, I made my way to the gym and to the Gym Mission. As I entered the open gym area, I noticed that it looked like more like an open farm field. I was a bit… confused as to why the gym looked more like a farm field rather than a gym. I then walked towards the field and was met by the Gym Referee.

"Ah, yet another member of Team Storm," said the Gym Referee. "Your last three teammates gave Milo quite the challenge. Especially the last one. She decimated Milo without batting an eye."

The Gym Referee said that his name was Dan and then explained what the Gym Mission I was supposed to do. Seeing all the Wooloo, I was confused as to why I had to chase them. But it was made clear that I had to guide them towards the bales of straw that would be blocking my way towards facing the gym leader. Once the gym referee stepped aside, I got to thinking on how I would handle this challenge. Then I remembered watching Cynthia on Pokénet and saw how she handled wrangling the Wooloo with her shiny Ninetales protector, Lavender. I got to thinking that maybe I could do the same thing as she did and call on one of my other Pokémon to help me in corralling the Wooloo towards the blockade of straw bales. I decided to call on my Milotic to help me corral them towards the bales of straw. With her help, I was able to push the twenty Wooloo towards the blockade of straw bales. Once all twenty of the Wooloo had made it to the first blockade, they muscled their way through the bales and moved into the next open area. Milotic and I followed the Wooloo past the first checkpoint and into the second area where we were greeted by a Yamper and Milotic spotted a Gym Trainer guarding the exit of the second area. Remembering Cynthia's approach, I called on one of my other Pokémon to distract the Electric-type canine. The Pokémon that I called on was my shiny Krabby… which turned out to be not such a good idea as the Yamper was a bit hungry.

'Oh yum,' the Yamper said as he licked his chops. 'I'm hungry. Hungry for some nice Krabby Rangoon.'

'Uh oh,' my shiny Krabby replied before he started running for his life from the hungry Yamper. 'AHHHH! HURRY IT UP WITH THOSE WOOLOO ALREADY!'

Milotic and I did just that and quickly corralled the Wooloo to the straw bales. With the Wooloo going into the next open area, I quickly recalled my shiny Krabby back his Lure Ball that I caught him in. As for the Yamper, he was disappointed that he couldn't make a meal out of my Krabby. With the Wooloo in the next area, it was time to deal with Gym Trainer in my way. The only Pokémon that he really had was a Gossifleur. Even though I had predominately Water-type Pokémon, it didn't mean that they couldn't pack a serious punch against the Grass-type Pokémon. I called on my Primarina to take care of the little Gossifleur as she had more attacks than just Sparkling Aria, Water Gun and Hydro Pump.

Before the Gym Trainer could call out an attack, Primarina just flicked her tail at the Gossifleur and sent her sailing across the field, knocking her out without batting an eye. The gym trainer was shocked that Primarina just took out his Gossifleur with a flick of her tail and even I was shocked at that. With the gym trainer beaten, I moved on with my shiny Milotic and went back to herding the Wooloo towards the next set of blockading straw bales. Providing the distraction this time was Primarina as she used her singing to bring the Yamper over to her while Milotic and I were able to corral the Wooloo over to the straw bales and bypassing the next gym trainer. But the time Milotic and I got back over to the second gym trainer, Primarina had decimated him all on her own as he thought she was a wild Primarina and not caught. Once Primarina had regrouped with me and Milotic, we went over to push the Wooloo over to the final blockade of straw bales. Primarina began singing once again, luring the two Yampers over to her while Milotic and I dodged the final gym trainer to get the Wooloo over to the final barrier of straw bales. Once Primarina had finished her singing, I recalled her to her Pokéball and then stood to face the final gym trainer. Though I should've known that Primarina would want to singlehandedly deal with them herself. The female Gym Trainer's Bounsweet and Oddish didn't stand a chance as Primarina just blasted them with a powerful Hydro Pump each. With the Gym Trainers swept aside, I was ready to take on the gym leader, Milo. I looked to Pelipper and Silver Luna, my two Pokémon that I chose to have go up against Milo.

'I'm ready Big Sister Lana,' Silver Luna said to me happily. 'Let's go show our power against this Milo fellow.'

'Time to show my dazzling acrobatics,' Pelipper said as he was eager to make his debut.

"Let's help Team Storm keep the storm over Galar," I said enthusiastically.

After recalling my two Pokémon, I headed up the stairs and then waved to the cameras and the people watching me going through the gym mission. After going through the doors, it was time for me to make my appearance against the first gym leader. But before I stepped out into the stadium, Silver Luna decided to let herself out of her Dream Ball. I felt a bit uneasy about letting Silver Luna walk out with me, but Cynthia didn't seem to have a problem with letting Lavender walk alongside her out into the stadium. So I let Silver Luna stay out of her Dream Ball and walk with me. As Silver Luna and I walked out into the stadium, Milo was walking out to meet us.

"My Gym's the first one people face, so we get a lot of challengers," said Milo. "That's why I try to keep challenging, but… that didn't stop you from completing it, Lana! Proper job!

"Sure seems like you understand Pokémon real well, seeing as how you have a shiny Pokémon at your side," continued Milo. "This is gonna be a doozy of battle! I'll have to Dynamax my Pokémon if I want to win!"

Both of us walked back to a safe distance to allow for our Pokémon to battle each other. With the audience primed and ready to go for another showdown between Team Storm, that had just stormed on to the scene, and the Galar gym leaders. Milo first sent out his Gossifleur against me. I countered with my Pelipper as I went with my plan to use my captured Galar Pokémon against Milo before I began relying on my other Pokémon that caught from other regions. Primarina had let herself out of her Pokéball as at first she wanted to battle, but I shook my head and had her stay at my side as I didn't want for her to be stealing the spotlight from the other Pokémon that I had been catching here in Galar.

"Pelipper, use Wing Attack," I ordered Pelipper.

"Gossifleur, use Rapid Spin," countered Milo.

Gossifleur was able to hit Pelipper with his Rapid Spin attack, but it wasn't enough to cause serious damage against him. As for Pelipper, he managed to score a direct hit on the Grass-type Pokémon, but didn't knock him out completely. However, much to my annoyance, before Pelipper could finish off Gossifleur, Milo used a Super Potion to heal his Gossifleur giving it another chance and some more energy to try and stay in the fight against me and my Pokémon. Unfortunately for Milo it proved to be all for naught as I had Pelipper use Air Cutter to inflict some critical damage on the little Grass-type Pokémon and knocking it out. With the Gossifleur knocked out, I was one step away from securing my first Gym Badge. As Milo was getting his second Pokémon ready to battle me, I could see my husband, Keith, as he was cheering for me and whistling for me too. Seeing Keith supporting me gave me all the confidence that I needed to go forward. Before I decided to switch out Pelipper for Silver Luna, I blew a flirty kiss to my Shy Little Umbreon and he caught it with his face and blushed Chople Berry red. With me being satisfied, I then recalled Pelipper to her Dive Ball and then tossed up Silver Luna's Dream Ball, releasing her to finish strong for us.

"Woohoo!" exclaimed Milo as he was really happy and fired up despite having his Gossifleur taken down by my shiny Pelipper. "We're not going to be done in so easy! We're as tough as weeds!"

Seeing the evolved form of Gossifleur was enough for me to be confident that Silver Luna and I could pull out the victory.

'Oh, I should tell you that I learned some new moves by the way,' Silver Luna informed me. 'Hope you find the new moves to your satisfaction.'

Taking a brief look at my Pokédex, I saw that Silver Luna had gained knowledge of Ice Fang, Fire Fang and even Thunder Fang. I was quite surprised to see that Silver Luna had somehow learned those moves. I found out later that she and her brother had learned said moves from our TM Case. Knowing that Silver Luna now had an edge that could be used helped put me at ease as I made sure that she still had the Safety Goggles hold item just in case she used the Max Hailstorm Dynamax move. As for Pelipper, I had made sure that he held on to an Amulet Coin so I could get double the amount of money from winning the Gym Battle. Silver Luna then strode up to face Eldegoss and hopefully secure our first gym badge in the Galar region. With the second and final battle ready to go, it was now down to Silver Luna versus Milo's Eldegoss.

Milo then readied himself and his Eldegoss as he then exclaimed in excitement, "Come on then! It's Dynamax time! You're about to be uprooted!" Milo recalled his Eldegoss to his Ultra Ball and then focused his energy into the Dynamax Band on his left wrist as the Ultra Ball increased in size. The Turffield gym leader then tossed the enlarged Ultra Ball behind him and released his now super sized Eldegoss. As for me, I responded in kind by recalling Silver Luna to her Dream Ball and enlarging it with the Dynamax Band around my wrist. After doing that, I threw my enlarged Dream Ball back behind me and set my Dynamaxed Thievul against Dynamax Eldegoss.

'Seems like we gotta get to this,' Primarina said to me as she turned and saw Silver Luna in her Dynamax state.

"I guess so," I replied to Primarina with a nod.

I turned my attention to my opponent as I then said to Silver Luna, "Use Max Hailstorm!"

"Say what now?" asked Milo as he was confused on how Silver Luna could know an Ice-type attack despite not being an Ice-type Pokémon.

'Here I come!' exclaimed Silver Luna as she used the Ice-type Dynamax move on Milo's Eldegoss.

The Dynamax move was super effective for certain, but it didn't do much damage since she wasn't an Ice-type. Then snow and hail began to fall upon the stadium battlefield. As for the Dynamax Eldegoss, he responded back with the Dynamax Max Overgrow move on Silver Luna as then a grassy field took to blooming, despite the snow and hail that fell on the field. Despite gaining a little bit of energy back, Eldegoss had regained energy negated by being pelted with snow and hail from Silver Luna using the Max Hailstorm move. The battle between both Silver Luna and Eldegoss went back and forth as both Dynamaxed Pokémon battled each other for dominance over one another. Thanks to Eldegoss creating the grassy field and the fact that Silver Luna had created an ice storm, which she was shielded from thanks to the Safety Goggles, Silver Luna enjoyed the advantage she had over Eldegoss. Eldegoss tried one last attempt to bring Silver Luna down, but it was for not as she used Max Hailstorm one last time and brought down her opponent before she shrunk back down to normal size.

"The power of grass wilted," Milo said as he wiped the sweat off of his brow.

oooooooooooooo

"I'm so happy you won your first badge," I said to Keith, the next day after he had won his gym badge from Milo too.

"That was an intense gym battle," Keith replied to me as we began making our way to the next town with a gym.

'We shouldn't be dropping our guard,' Shadow said to me and Keith as he remained us of the past three trainers that tried to ambush us on the way Hulbury. 'Now that Team Storm has established itself as a force to be reckoned with, other trainers have taken notice of us and are bound to take as many more cracks at us as they can.'

'No kidding,' agreed Twilight as he gave a slight nod to Shadow. 'The local humans may be friendly to foreigners like you, but when it comes to competitions, they become quite fierce.'

"Let's just get to the next town," Keith said as he seemed to be in a hurry to catch up to his sister, Cynthia.

'Just don't forget to follow the 47th Draconic Rule of Accumulation, like you did last time,' Shadow said to Keith. 'I'm still mad at you because that cost me five Enigma Berries when you forgot about it.'

"Come on Shadow," protested Keith. "I was able to recoup your losses… eventually."

After repulsing yet another group of trainers, we made our way to Hulbury as the sun was starting to set after an eighty mile walk from Turffield in four days. Like before, Keith spoke to the local Pokémon about Hulbury and where to stay. Thanks to the Pokémon, we learned of a seaside hotel that had four pools, with one of them being a saltwater pool. As we made our way towards the hotel we were directed to, we saw Cynthia and her husband, Benjamin. Silver Luna stayed closed to me as usual while Twilight was alongside Keith.

'Look Sister Lana,' Silver Luna said to me, 'I think that Big Sister Cynthia and Big Brother Benjamin are coming towards us.'

"Hey guys," Cynthia said to her brother and me. "Great to see you two here in Hulbury. Hope Milo's gym mission wasn't too tough."

"Nah," replied Keith with a Mareepish grin on his face. "It was too easy."

"Though I've heard a few people say that Nessa's gym mission is a bit tougher," I chimed in as her shiny female Thievul was right there close to me. "Come on Silver Luna, there's no need to be shy with your siblings."

"Let's go get lunch since you're here," Cynthia suggested to everyone.

"Sure, I'm game for that," Keith said before he noticed Victini was missing from her left shoulder. "Where's Big Brother Victini? Tell me you didn't leave him with some strange pretty girl, did you?"

"Don't worry about Victini," Cynthia replied to Keith dismissively. "He wanted to hit on Hulbury's gym leader, Nessa. So I was quick to dump him off on her. I'm sure he's behaving himself with her."

"Hope Mom and Dad don't get mad at you for doing that," Keith said to me as he shrugged his shoulders. "You know how they are when Victini isn't with you."

"I'm an adult now," Cynthia countered back to her brother. "Really tired of having them think that I need to be babysat all the time."

"Hope you're right, Sis," replied Keith.

A few hours later, Keith and I went to the hotel that Benjamin and Cynthia were staying at to check in as check in time was around the time we had just finished lunch and they were planning on staying in Hulbury for a while. Benjamin and Cynthia had followed us back to the hotel and I wanted to talk to Cynthia for a bit. I confided in her that I wanted to start a family with Keith. Cynthia asked me why I was wanting to start a family so quickly as I had told her that on their wedding night when we had sex for the first time, I was hoping that he would get me pregnant. Cynthia was baffled by that and asked me why I wanted my Shy Little Umbreon to knock me up so quickly instead of waiting a while and enjoy life while we could, before making the decision to settle down and plant our roots.

"I wanna have Benjy's kids and have a decent sized family," Cynthia explained to me as we walked to the hotel, "but I don't feel like I'm ready for Benjy to get me pregnant just yet. So I think we're going to wait until after this trip through Galar is done before we decide to settle down and get pregnant.

"Take my advice Lana," Cynthia continued to me, "don't be so quick to want my brother to get you pregnant. Enjoy your young married life while you can and don't rush my baby bro to get you pregnant either. I'm sure your parents and mine would tell you the same thing too."

"Speaking of which, where's Victini?" I asked Cynthia as I changed the subject as her big brother wasn't on her left shoulder like he usually was. "I thought you were supposed to have him with you all the time."

"He wanted to charm the gym leader here, Nessa," Cynthia answered me. "Nessa thought he was just so adorable and wanted to enjoy time with him for a few days. No skin off my back if Big Brother Victini wants to think he can be charming with the ladies."

"Won't you get in trouble with your parents if he's not with you?" I asked as I looked a bit worried at her.

"I'm an adult now, Lana," Cynthia answered me dismissively. "I don't need a babysitter 24/7. Besides, Big Brother was happy when I told him he could have fun with Nessa."

"Hope you're right about that," I replied in a slightly worried tone.

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"Daddy, don't worry about me," Cynthia said as her parents had called her about them seeing a TV commercial with Nessa and Victini was in it with her. "Big Brother wanted to enjoy the company of the Hulbury gym leader and be his usual Victini self.

"Daddy, I'm an adult now," Cynthia replied to her father as he told her that she still needed Victini with her. "I think it's time that Big Brother stopped needing to hover over me all of the time. I've got Benjy to look after me. Not to mention that Lavender has been more of a protector to me than Victini."

"Doesn't sound like that conversation is a pleasant one," Benjamin said as we heard Cynthia arguing with her father.

"I'll get him back when I go face Nessa for my second badge," Cynthia answered her father. "Bye Daddy. Love you too."

oooooooooooooo

"I gotta say, Nessa has quite the interesting Gym Mission," Keith said to me before he noticed that I had stars in my eyes as I marveled at the gym leader's Gym Mission. "Oh boy.

"Sure thing, my Alola Mermaid," continued Keith. "You can go first here in the Hulbury Gym like you did in Turffield. 'Gee thanks, my Shy Little Umbreon. I love you too and you can go first when we backtrack to Motostoke'."

"Keith, that wasn't exactly necessary for you to act like that," I said to Keith nonchalantly. "I do love you, my Shy Little Umbreon, for letting me go first again. But please don't be so sassy."

"You call that sassy?" Keith asked me in a challenging tone. "That's not sassy. Try being stuck in an escort mission in Soleanna with Sonic the Hedghog and his pals!"

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Flashback

oooooooooooooo

"You're doing great there with the sniping, Keith," the blue hedgehog Sonic said to Keith as he was running with the young ruler Soleanna, Princess Elise, in his arms. "Keep it up, pal!"

"Uh, you do realize that I don't have an unlimited supply of rounds, right?" Keith asked Sonic before firing at one of Dr. Eggman's large robots. "So I'm not gonna be able to snipe every single one of Eggbrain's robots."

Keith could hear the blue hedgehog and princess of Soleanna laughing at Keith's last statement as he insulted in the sinister and infamous doctor. Hearing them laugh made the escort job a little enjoyable. But even though there was a break from the job, it wasn't enough to help put his mind at ease.

"One small strike team of Eggbrain's robots he said," Keith said to himself in a sassy tone. "'Easy peesy, pal', he said. Sonic's definition of a small strike team is a whole lot different from my definition of a small strike team.

"Oh well," continued Keith as he let out a sigh before reloading his modified rifle. "At least I'm not killing actual flesh and blood opponents."

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End Flashback

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"Really Keith?" I asked my loving husband as I wasn't impressed with him. "You expect me to believe that you helped Sonic the Hedgehog rescue a princess?"

"It's true Lana," answered Keith before his fashionista aunt came to us to meet us as she had texted me that she was going to meet us at the Hulbury gym to give us the next set of our special Gym Challenge outfits.

We met with Keith's aunt and she gave us the next set of our Gym Challenge outfits, which was the swimwear that we would be wearing for Nessa's Gym Challenge. Unfortunately for us, the time that we reached the Hulbury Gym was on a day that Nessa had it closed so she could focus on her modeling career. Once Keith and I received our our new swimwear, we had to go back to the hotel that we were staying at. But as we were about to turn back, Keith and I noticed that his oldest sister, Cynthia and her husband had come back to the Hulbury gym with a very needy and tearful Victini.

"So you're just… letting me keep your littl' cutie pie longer?" Nessa asked Cynthia, after the young married couple returned back to Hulbury three days later after Victini was making a scene in the Galar Mines just east of Hulbury.

"Yup," Cynthia answered Nessa as she gave the Hulbury gym leader his Cherish Ball and let him glide over to her as he became happy once again. "You must be something REALLY special if Big Brother Victini is willing to cry very loud Totodile Tears just for my husband and I to turn back and dump him off on you again."

"Aww… you cried Totodile Tears just come back to me?" Nessa asked Victini in a cute tone before hugging him affectionately. "That was a littl' mean to do to your littl' sister.

Nessa then looked to Cynthia as she held out a Dive Ball to me and said, "Take this Pokémon. Some trainer left it at my gym. Littl' thing was scared to death."

"What is it?" Cynthia asked Nessa as she handed the Dive Ball to her.

"Open it up and find out," answered Nessa as she gave me a nod.

"Come on out, Pokémon," Cynthia said as she tossed up the Dive Ball.

Sure enough, out came a shiny Scorbunny that almost looked like Keith's shiny Cinderace. Cynthia became infatuated and hugged him like she did with Victini as a little girl. Victini looked very pleased that his human had the shiny Scorbunny as he could go be with Nessa a bit longer. As for the shiny Scorbunny, he was definitely affectionate with his new human and liked that she was better than the trainer who dumped him off at the Hulbury Gym.

"I do apologize for wanting to be a bit more selfish and have your Victini with me," Nessa said to Cynthia. "The modeling agency liked the cutie pie and want me to do more shoots with him."

"You know, Big Brother," Cynthia said to Victini with a vein popping on her forehead, "you could've just told me that and I would've gladly let Nessa keep you longer. Instead, you had to do your Totodile Tears routine just to get what you wanted."

'Aww…,' Victini replied in a cute and innocent-like tone as he looked at Cynthia and held on to Nessa, 'but the Totodile Tears usually work on you.'

Letting out a huff of annoyance, Cynthia Ketchum just rolled her eyes and shook her head before looking to the Hulbury gym leader and studying the 29 year old gym leader's body language. I didn't know what Nessa was doing with Cynthia's Victini, but I guessed there was more to Nessa's reason to want my sister-in-law's little fluffy and furry big brother. But… figuring out the reason for Victini wanting to stay with Nessa wasn't my primary concern. After Nessa set Victini on her left shoulder, the two left the gym after a notice was placed on the gym, saying that the gym was closed for a week as Nessa had some personal matters that needed to be dealt with. I was a little disappointed that the gym was closed for a week, but in hindsight, that would give us time to prepare for Nessa, for me break into my swimsuit and try it out… but also plenty of time for me and Keith to make love to each other as the two of us had become quite sexually active with each other.

oooooooooooooo

"So… did Aunt Jessica tell what was supposed to happen when get in the water?" Keith asked me as I put on the new swimsuit… in front of my Shy Little Umbreon.

"All she said was 'To make instant fun, just add water'," I answered my husband as I finished putting on the new swimsuit. "So I guess we'll just have to wait until we go to the ocean to swim."

"W-Wait… the… the ocean?" Keith asked me in surprise.

'Are you wanting your wife to get captured by some nutcase who thinks she's an actual mermaid if she's seen in one of the hotel pools?' Primarina asked Keith as she looked at my husband warily. 'Lana's right to wanna go out to the ocean and swim there. There aren't going to be many prying eyes out in the ocean.'

Keith knew that he couldn't win the argument as it would end with him either getting a tail slap or yet another Hydro Pump to the face. I didn't like that I was always getting my way because Primarina was intimidating my Shy Little Umbreon into submission. I wanted there to be disagreements between us every now and then, but Primarina wasn't exactly helping me. Keith then changed into his new shiny Umbreon swim trunks in front of me, feeling a little apprehensive about doing it in front of me… and Primarina too. As Keith was changing, I motioned for Primarina to turn around and not look while Keith was changing.

'Don't get why I have to turn around while you can look at Keith without clothes on and even mate with him in bed,' Primarina said as she turned around and shook her head.

"That's because I married Keith," I countered back to my female Soloist Pokémon. "I can look at my Shy Little Umbreon naked all I want. And I can have sex with him all I want too.

"I'm sure Shadow could use company, Primarina," Keith said to Primarina, much to her delight.

Primarina hurried off to go see his shiny male Moonlight Pokémon brother and we could hear Shadow cry out, 'AHHH! FAIRY! EEK! HELP ME!'

"So nice to see that Primarina has taken quite the liking to Shadow," I said to Keith as he finished putting on his new swim trunks. "Come on Keith, lets get Primarina and head to down to the beach so we can do some swimming together."

"I'm game, my Alola Mermaid," replied Keith as I recalled Primarina to her Pokéball.

"Before we go," I said to Keith, " why not get Suiren? I'm sure she would like to help out and not be cooped up at home."

Keith sighed as I knew that he usually preferred to have his quadruped Pokémon with him. But given the fact that we saw Cynthia undertaking the Gym Mission set out by Nessa, I was certain that Keith was going to need her regardless of his preference to training quadruped Pokémon. I also had another motivation for wanting Keith to bring Suiren from home. I just wanted to make sure she wasn't left behind and feeling unloved. Plus Suiren and my Primarina were best friends with each other and I didn't want Primarina to be without her best friend. The final reason was to ensure that Shadow was kept in line with three Fairy-type Pokémon… and I knew how much Fairies terrify him. Keith reluctantly called on Suiren, sending one of his other Pokémon back home, not Twilight of course. With Suiren on the team, Keith was sure to have some form of success when it was his turn to take on Nessa's gym mission.

oooooooooooooo

"Wow Lana," said Keith as he looked at me with my new swimsuit. "You really are a beautiful mermaid from Alola."

The new swimsuit that I had on was similar to the Queen's Regal Suicune swimsuit in design as the base color was white with a transparent blue fin that was draped over my shoulders and chest. I also had belt-like transparent blue fins dangling along my hips as well with some pink that adorned the swimsuit. I had to admit that I did look just cute in the swimsuit and I wondered if the Queen had some input in the design of the swimsuit. Primarina certainly liked my swimsuit and gave a nod to me. With the personal inspections finished, Keith and I headed out to the beach to begin my process of breaking into my swimsuit.

"You ready to begin?" Keith asked me as he let Suiren out of her Dream Ball and let her get in the water.

"Yup," I answered as Primarina let herself out of her Pokéball. "Let's do this."

Keith and I went into the ocean water and swam out to deep waters where I needed to be for my swimsuit's effect to take place. Primarina and Suiren lead us out into waters that were deep but still close enough for us to swim back to shore. As we got deeper, the dangling transparent blue fins along my hips began to glow and then turned my legs into a Primarina tail with a blue skirt with pink fins. I was quite surprised with the new development as was Keith.

'Oh, you look so lovely, Lana,' Primarina said to me happily. 'Suiren and I will show you how to swim just as graceful like us. You'll be swimming like a mermaid in no time.'

I was excited and looking forward to the instruction I was going to get from Primarina and Suiren. I turned to see Keith trying to follow us and he looked really cute with his shiny Umbreon trunks as I saw that he sported an Umbreon tail just like Shadow. Keith was definitely a good swimmer like his sister, Cynthia. But since he wasn't a professional swimmer like her, he couldn't catch up as Primarina and Suiren were having me dive a bit deeper.

oooooooooooooo

"You think you can handle going through Nessa's gym mission?" Keith asked me after I had finished up the third day of Suiren and Primarina training me on utilizing the ability to swim like a mermaid.

"Considering that I've spent most of my life in the water, I think going through her gym mission is going to be easy," I answered Keith as I was in the mood and wanted to make love with him so that we could fall asleep peacefully in each other's arms.

Keith then hungrily kissed me as he was in the mood too. We began the process and had got excited as we made love to each other that night. As we made love with each other, Keith and I couldn't hear Shadow crying out in terror as he had Primarina and Suiren sleeping soundly asleep with him being sandwiched in the middle… and Diamond sleeping at the end of the mattress in the other bedroom of our hotel room. As for Silver Luna and Twilight, they had gotten accustomed to the sounds of me and Keith making love and slept on the floor at the foot of our bed together. Once we got tired from making love to each other, we fell asleep so that we could ready ourselves for the next day.

oooooooooooooo

"What the?!" asked a shocked Keith as Hayato and Vanna Kaiou had arrived in Hulbury at the same hotel we were staying in.

"Hey Keith," said Prince Hayato as he causally waved to my Shy Little Umbreon.

"Hello there Lana and Keith," Vanna said as she came up to me and then hugged me with a smile on her face as she looked to us both.

Hayato and Vanna looked like they had just gotten themselves ready for a date as the Prince was wearing white pants with a white long sleeve shirt, loafers on his feet with a yellow gold bangle on his left wrist. As for Vanna, she had on a Sylveon pink dress that made her look like one of those fairy tale princesses and I noticed that she didn't have on any footwear and that kind of surprised me to see Vanna without footwear on her feet. As a cherry on the top, Vanna had on a tiara on her forehead, which resembled the tiara that Hayato's mother wore on her forehead.

"What are you two doing here?" Keith asked his princely cousin and his wife. "We thought you two were staying in Oblivia a bit longer. What changed your mind?"

"Vanna wanted to come to Galar and find some of the local Fairy-type Pokémon," Hayato answered before looking to his wife lovingly.

"Do you EVER say 'no' to your wife?" Keith asked Hayato as he rolled his eyes and shook his head at Hayato.

"Can you EVER win an argument with YOUR wife?" shot back the Prince as he smirked at my husband.

"Shut up, man!" roared Keith as he barred his fangs at Prince Hayato as he didn't like being like being reminded that he could never win arguments with me because my Primarina would always step in and blast him with a Hydro Pump to ensure that I would win the argument.

"Boys!" Vanna chided her husband and Keith. "You two can argue with each other later! Right now, my Prince and I need to check into our room and I'm sure you two need to extend your stay here since you haven't proceeded to get the badge from this gym yet."

"Uh…," began Keith, "we already extended our stay once we learned the gym leader shut down the gym for a week."

"Well… when my Fairy Princess needs me, I go to my Fairy," said Hayato as he backed away from Keith and went to his wife. "Wanna join us for a double date?"

"We were going to swim in the ocean again," I answered Hayato before looking to my Shy Little Umbreon. "But I think a double date with you guys would be great. It'll be just like at the Emerald Crown Resort!"

Vanna giggled as she added, "At least we don't have to worry about them trying to do that Pizza Pie of Doom Challenge."

"Knowing our husbands, they'll look to see if there's an eating contest at a local restaurant that they can try," I said to Vanna.

"And Oberon and Ichigo will try to make ANOTHER bet," added Vanna as she knew Sylveon and her husband's Togekiss all too well.

"I think the double date needs to be without Pokémon tonight," I suggested to Vanna.

The Fairy Princess sighed and replied as she shook her head, "Unfortunately… since I married into Kaiou royal family, I HAVE to have a Pokémon at my side. I was going to ask Titania to accompany me."

"I could ask Keith to loan you Diamond, if you'd like," I offered to Vanna.

"I'd like that," replied Vanna with a smile on her face. "It's been a while since the Suicune Valley Conference when I last saw Diamond."

"I'll talk to Keith about loaning Diamond to you," I said before me and my husband went back to our hotel suite to prepare ourselves for the double date with Prince… I mean… with Hayato and Vanna.

oooooooooooooo

"Alright you two, when we go to the restaurant, don't be asking about any eating challenges," Vanna said to her husband and mine sternly. "We're not here to stuff ourselves needlessly."

'The Fairy Princess is right Keith… and Prince Hayato,' agreed Diamond as she was accompanying Vanna for the date night. 'Try to make sure that you do not gorge on food here at this restaurant. You two are here with your wives for a date night, not to eat food for sport.'

"Tell me why you caught that debutante again," Hayato said to Keith in whisper.

Keith didn't reply to Hayato, but waited and saw that Diamond was using her Extrasensory attack on the Prince. Hayato panicked as he was hovering over the water and then brought back on solid ground. Diamond didn't appreciate the snarky comment from Hayato and sought to ensure that it never happened again. Vanna said nothing as she wanted our double date night to start off on the right foot. After Hayato decided to be snarky, we went over to the seafood restaurant for some nice seafood for a change. As we went inside the seafood place, a lot of people were gathered to see that someone important was dinning at the restaurant too. We didn't know who it was until we saw a Charizard sitting with someone familiar that we met at Wedgehurst.

'So what do you think about those Team Storm foreigners, Leon?' the Charizard asked Galar's champion, Leon Wilde. 'It seems that we haven't seen them ALL in action. There's at least one who seems to have not gone through Turffield just yet and many hopeful challengers should've already gone through here in Hulbury.'

"I'm sure they've got their reasons for not going through yet," Leon said to his Charizard with a smile before taking notice of us and waving us towards him. "Why don't you guys come and join me and my Charizard for dinner?

We went over and joined him and his Charizard as he invited us. As I took my seat, Keith pushed my chair in, as Hayato did for his wife and for Diamond. Leon looked at Diamond and expressed amazement at the sight of her being a shiny Alola Ninetales. I guess that he had never seen an Alola Ninetales in person before and only in books.

"You got a really wicked looking Pokémon with you," Leon said to Vanna as he thought that Diamond belonged to her.

"Diamond belongs to my husband's cousin, Keith over there," Vanna said to Leon as she directed her nod to my husband.

"You're married? Already at your age?" Leon asked Vanna as he was confused by what heard from Vanna.

"We're not from this region," Hayato explained to Leon as he looked at his menu. "We're from the Atlantica Islands region. Underaged marriages at 14 to 16 are allowed with parental consent. Even the royal family makes sure that they obey that law too."

"Are you all Team Storm?" asked Leon as he looked at us in amazement as he then was quick to change the subject.

'Lady Lana and my human, Keith, are of Team Storm,' Diamond said to Leon and his Charizard. 'Fairy Princess Vanna and Prince Hayato are not of Team Storm. They had just arrived here in Galar.'

'Great… just what we need, royalty here in Galar,' snorted Leon's Charizard as he rolled his eyes thinking that Vanna and Hayato couldn't understand him.

"Hey, we're not snobs, like you might think we might be," Hayato protested to Leon's Charizard. "My mom didn't raise me to be a snob."

"Show some respect Charizard," Leon said to his Fire/Flying-type Pokémon. "I've heard rumors that the Queen of the Atlantica Islands is a pretty decent person and her people like her.

Leon looked to Hayato as he then said, "I think that I've heard of you. A motocross champion who earned the nickname, 'Sky Prince'. I kinda wanted to get into motocross, but Pokémon battles are more my thing."

oooooooooooooo

'Well, I must say that Leon human was quite charming and a gentleman for a human,' Diamond said after we ate dinner with Galar's champion.

"Why not join Keith and I for a swim in the ocean?" I suggested to Vanna and Hayato. "I got something I wanna show you. It's something to help with my gym mission for the Hulbury Gym and Nessa."

"Sounds like fun," answered Vanna with a smile. "Why not? Do you want to go swimming with Keith and Lana?"

"Sure, sounds great," answered Hayato as he looked to Vanna.

"Meet us at Room 123 at 8pm," I said to Vanna and Hayato. "Then we'll go out to the ocean and swim."

"Okay," replied Vanna with a thoughtful nod.

With the Fairy Princess and Prince Hayato heading back to the hotel with Diamond in tow, I let out a sigh of relief as I had some time alone with Keith before we would meet with Hayato and Vanna for our nightly swim in the ocean. The time was 6:45 and we had plenty of time before Keith's royal cousin and Vanna would meet us for swimming. I took Keith by the hand and we went back to our hotel suite and locked the door. Before we would go swimming, I wanted to have a nice little nap before changing and going out to the ocean to swim. But as we got back to our hotel suite, Shadow was trying to get away from Suiren and Primarina in terror as they were being affectionate with him.

'And here I thought you'd like the attention of pretty girls,' Yondu teased Shadow with a grin on his face.

'Yeah, but not by fairies!' cried Shadow as he was being nuzzled by Primarina and Suiren affectionately.

'What about your mother?' inquired Twilight. 'The others tell me that your mother is a shiny Sylveon.'

'Th-That's different!' protested Shadow as he couldn't wriggle out of Suiren and Primarina's grip. 'M-Mama Amethyst is different!'

"Guess a nap is off the table then," Keith said to me as we both sighed and I shook my head.

"Perhaps," I replied before smirking a mischievous smirk. "But you can always make out with your wife before we go swimming."

"Usually, making out with my wife leads to us having sex," said Keith… before I crashed my lips on his. "Well… I guess it wouldn't be a bad idea to make out."

'Seriously Keith?!' a flabbergasted Shadow asked Keith as he was still being nuzzled by Suiren and Primarina.

Keith and I ignored Shadow as we went to our bed and made out with each other. As Shadow made his pleas for help, like his assumption about us, Keith and I then transitioned from making out to having having sex. But us having sex didn't last as long as it usually did since we had planned on going swimming with Keith's royal cousin and his wife.

oooooooooooooo

"Wow Lana," Vanna said to me as she liked my Regal Primarina swimsuit and how it allowed me to somewhat transform into a Primarina mermaid. "That looks great on you. You seem to swim like a Primarina very well."

'Well, who do you think taught her to swim just as gracefully like a Primarina, like me?' Primarina asked Vanna proudly.

"Be nice to Vanna, Primarina," I chided my Primarina. "If you're interested…"

"Um…, I'll think about it," Vanna said as she was quick to cut me off with a sweatdrop on her forehead. "Ever since I started dating Hayato, a lot of my clothes have started to come from Hayato's fashionista aunt. And it's not always a pleasant experience being in the same room with her and her Tyranitar, Argon."

As much as I wanted to swim longer, the boat that we had rented for night had to return back to the harbor. Once we got back to the beach where our stuff was located, Hayato's aunt was there to meet us… with her shiny Tyranitar business partner, Argon. She had our things with her and… sickly sweet smile on her face as she apparently had one of her creative sparks, or still had a creative spark and this time had her sights set on Vanna, her nephew's wife.

"Hello again… my little Fairy Princess," Jessica Kaiou said to Vanna in a sickly sweet tone. "It's time for you to play 'Dress up' with me again! MWAHAHAHA!"

I think most people would've turned and run in terror, but not Vanna. I guess she knew that running from her husband's aunt was going to be futile as she and/or her Pokémon would just chase her down anyway. All Vanna did was sigh and shake her head as she knew what to expect from Jessica Kaiou since she went through it enough times. I thought I was safe from having to play "Dress Up" like Vanna, but once Jessica snapped her fingers, I was cut off from Primarina and blocked by her shiny Weavile.

"Ah, ah, my pretty little Alola mermaid," said Jessica before she cackled in an evil tone. "You think that I'm just grabbing my nephew's wife and forgetting about you?"

"Uh oh," I said as I had Jessica's Weavile staring me down, before I drooped my shoulders.

"MWAHAHAHA!" cackled Jessica as she then nabbed me as well and snapped her fingers to have her Tyranitar scoop up my Primarina and even my husband's Alola Ninetales, Diamond, thinking that she belonged to Vanna.

'H-Hey!' cried Primarina in surprise. 'What are you doing? Put me down this instant!'

oooooooooooooo

It seemed as if we had been whisked away back to the hotel we were staying at. Thankfully, we didn't go into either the suite that Keith and I were staying at nor Vanna and Hayato's room either. Hayato's aunt had made sure that the blinds were shut and the door to her suite was locked, just by snapping her fingers to get her shiny Tyranitar, Argon to make sure it was locked. It was then that she snapped her fingers again causing our swimwear to disappear and leaving us in a prone position.

"Does she always do this?" I asked Vanna as I felt uncomfortable being in a prone position.

"Yup," Vanna was quick to answer. "It's how she makes clothes for us. She wants to examine how we've grown physically and if there's any chance she can make us look even sexier for our spouses."

"Alright then my little pretties," Jessica Kaiou said in a sickly sweet tone, "who's going to go first?"

She looked to the two of us to see which one of us who was going to undergo her examination and to have clothes that she made. Jessica was quick to grab Vanna as she already had articles of clothes for the Fairy Princess already made. Since we were at a seaside hotel, it seemed obvious that she would start with swimwear and she did. But before she had Vanna put on the swimwear, Jessica handed Vanna her tiara as she then said, "Your mother-in-law said that you have to wear it when you're outside of the kingdom."

"But she doesn't wear her tiara much," protested Vanna before noticing Jessica Kaiou had her own tiara on her forehead.

"I know, but this is something that the nobles sorta forced on the Kaiou royal house," explained Jessica. "They said it's for us to identify ourselves as foreign dignitaries, but our family thinks that they're still trying to get the Kaiou family off the throne so they can take it for themselves and exploit the people and Pokémon for their own gain.

"For now… just wear it," Jessica instructed Vanna as she motioned for her to put it on. "I guess you'd only wear it for ceremonies and social gatherings at Sol Palace, yes?"

Vanna gave our tormentor a nod yes as her answer as she reluctantly put on the tiara. Once Vanna put on tiara, Jessica then went to work with her and began fitting her with the regal swimsuit she designed for the Fairy Princess. The regal swimsuit that Jessica Kaiou designed for Vanna was certainly similar to mine and the Queen's regal swimsuit that she designed herself. But Vanna's regal swimsuit was designed in the colors of a Sylveon instead of a Primarina like mine or another Fairy-type Pokémon. Once her adjustments were made, Jessica was finished and showed off her finished swimwear.

"Ah, nothing like a finished product and family to display it on," Jessica said happily as she was definitely proud of her work. "Ohhh…. my nephew will put his hands all over you and find you VERY sexy!"

Vanna and I ended up spending the entire night at Jessica's hotel suite, getting measured, getting felt up by her and having to hear her laughing like a maniacal maniac bent on world domination. Despite having to endure such treatment, Jessica ended up giving Vanna a shiny male Popplio with the Liquid Voice ability. I got a new Pokémon too out of deal after I got a new Primarina-styled wetsuit that I can swim in and a Primarina-style dress. She gave me a shiny Carvanha with the Speed Boost Dream World ability. Yes, you heard me right, I said "Dream World ability" instead of saying "Hidden Ability." Being around the Ketchum family and even the Queen's family, I began picking up on certain things that they talked about, including the Dream World and how it worked. As for Vanna, aside from the shiny male Popplio that she got, she received her Regal Fairy swimsuit from her husband's aunt along with a Sylveon inspired wetsuit and beautiful side strapped dress too.

oooooooooooooo

"So… you're going in on the gym mission then?" Vanna asked me as Keith and I met up with her and Prince Hayato at the Hulbury Gym after receiving word that the gym had reopened a bit sooner that anticipated.

"Oh yeah," I answered enthusiastically. "And I'm gonna bring a new surprise for the gym leader too."

"I see," replied Vanna before looking to notice her Sylveon and Prince Hayato's Togekiss conversing with each other. "Hey you two, don't even consider trying to make a bet with each other."

'Ah, you don't have to be a party pooper, Vanna,' her Sylveon, Oberon, whined to his trainer.

'Yeah, it was just gonna be a small wager,' added Prince Hayato's Togekiss, Ichigo.

"Nice try, boys," interjected Prince Hayato as he shook his head. "Vanna and I haven't forgotten about the last time you two made a 'small wager'."

'Aww… come on Hayato,' pleaded Prince Hayato's Togekiss, Ichigo. 'Just one small bet.'

"No Ichigo," replied Prince Hayato as he shook his head. "We're here to support Keith and Lana, not your's and Oberon's gambling addiction."

With Prince Hayato and Vanna laying down the law, it was settled before we went into the Hulbury Gym. As we entered the gym, trainers were gathered in the lobby as another trainer had out of the locker rooms in hopes to go through Nessa's Gym Mission. Unfortunately for this one, it seems like she was denied entry as she venomously snarled, "Oh come on already! This is as conservative as I wanna be! There's nothing wrong with this swimwear that I've got on. Let me through already!"

"I'm sorry but the gym leader has stated that any two piece swimwear must not be as revealing as what you have on right now," the gym trainer guarding the entrance to the gym itself explained to the female trainer wearing a black and white polka dot bikini as she was trying to remain calm. "Tankinis are permitted though."

"That's TOO conservative for my tastes," shot back the hopeful bikini-clad trainer.

"You should think about who you're representing," a new face said as he came towards the bikini-clad trainer and the gym trainer blocking the entrance.

The bikini-clad trainer turned to see who joined with conversation with a venomous scorn on her face at first. But then her venomous look of scorn melted away quickly into a look of shock as she noticed him as she was blushing rapidly. He was a tall guy at 6' 1", 158 lbs., had cappuccino brown skin, Victini blue eyes, fiery red hair with splashes of fire orange tinting on his hair and glasses on his face too. He wore what appeared to be the male version of what the female gym trainer was wearing… a Water-type gym uniform of sorts.

"You need to understand that you're not just doing this Gym Challenge for yourself," the cute guy said to the upset gym challenger. "If I'm not mistaken, you were once told to make sure that your swimwear was appropriate for the Gym Mission. Please come back when you've gotten something that's more appropriate since you're representing those who've endorsed you for this Gym Challenge."

"Uh… um…," the bikini-clad gym challenger stammered as she was paralyzed by the cutie and how sexy he looked.

There was something about the guy that seemed familiar to me, but that wasn't my concern. I approached the Gym Trainer blocking the entrance. The Gym Trainer looked to me as she said, "Hey there, Gym Challenger! Shall we start the process to get you ready for the Gym Mission?"

"Yup, Team Storm is rolling in to challenge the Gym Leader," I answered the Gym Trainer.

"Oh man, Team Storm again," the Gym Trainer said as she let out a sigh. "You guys are relentless."

Before she said anything else, she looked and saw that the bikini-clad trainer had given up trying to argue as the… tall drink of cappuccino had defused the situation and got her to calm down and back to the locker room. With the argument resolved, things were looking good for me to go through the Gym Mission. After she left the gym, I turned to the Gym Trainer as she then said to me, "Head to the locker room to change into appropriate swimwear for the Gym Mission. Please understand that we do not discourage girls and young women such as yourself from wearing two piece swimwear. We just ask that if you do wear two piece swimwear, that it's conservative and not raunchy or too revealing. You, after all, are representing those who have endorsed you for the Gym Challenge."

"Well, I don't exactly like two piece swimwear that much," I said with a slight chuckle before Primarina let herself out of her Pokéball.

'AHHH! GET THIS FAIRY TO LET GO OF ME! EEEKK!' cried Shadow as Primarina was hugging and nuzzling him affectionately and getting the attention of the people in the lobby.

'Wish us luck, cutie,' Primarina said happily before she let go of him and followed me to the locker room.

oooooooooooooo

"Well, guess it's time to for me to put this on," I said as I looked at the Regal Mermaid swimsuit that I got from Keith's aunt.

'You know you don't have to put it on,' said Primarina as she was sitting on the bench waiting for me to get ready… even though I already had on a swimsuit like I always have back home in Alola. 'The swimsuit you've got on would work just fine.'

"I know, Primarina," I replied to my female Soloist Pokémon. "But Keith and Hayato's aunt endorsed me along with everyone else who make up Team Storm. I don't want to disappoint the team or our employer."

'Well, we certainly don't want to disappoint our employer who's endorsing us through the Gym Challenge, now can we?' asked Primarina with a smile. 'Though I think that you look stunning in your Regal Mermaid swimsuit. But I think the decision is ultimately yours on wither or not you wear the Regal Mermaid swimsuit. I know that your lover and mate thinks you look very sexy when you wear it.'

Primarina was right in saying that Keith thought I looked very sexy in the Regal Mermaid swimsuit. Knowing that my Shy Little Umbreon thought I looked sexy was enough for me to put it on. I shed my swimsuit that I usually wore over my top and loose shorts and put on the Regal Mermaid swimsuit that I was to wear for my Gym Mission against Nessa's gym. I gotta admit, it felt comfortable and certainly contoured to my still developing body and sexy form. I was also very thankful that the swimsuit wasn't skin tight like I knew Ren would want and had seen her mother, the Queen, wearing from time to time to get her husband in the mood for sex. After putting on the swimsuit and tiara that came with it, I recalled Primarina to her Pokéball and headed out into gym's lobby. As I headed over back over to the Gym Trainer guarding the exit, I just calmly strode past the others, getting a lot of eyes trained on me in complete silence. There was something about my swimsuit that helped me to exude confidence and a calm presence that commanded authority and respect. As I made my way back to the Gym Trainer, guarding the entrance, Primarina had let herself out of her Pokéball again as she planned on being by my side during the Gym Mission.

"Wow," said the Gym Trainer guarding the entrance of the actual gym itself. "I'm getting pretty jealous here. You guys in Team Storm seem to be getting some really wicked looking swimsuits. Especially you ladies. You get some pretty wicked awesome designed swimsuits.

"At any rate your swimwear is appropriate for your Gym Mission," continued the Gym Trainer. "You can proceed through. Just know that once you head down there, you won't be able to use the Pokémon Box Link while on your Gym Mission. Good luck to you. You're gonna need it."

I took one last look at Keith and gave him an affectionate wink and blew him a kiss. Keith caught it and gave me a slight nod before he, Hayato and Vanna headed to the stadium to find their seats to watch me go through my Gym Mission. Primarina was able to keep up with me as we went down the stairs into the wide open area of the gym. As we went down to the open area of the gym, Primarina and I could see why Cynthia was blown away by the layout of the Hulbury Gym.

'I can see why Cynthia was blown away by this gym,' Primarina said to me as both of us were definitely surprised and amazed at the size of the pool belonging to the Hulbury Gym. 'This is an extremely large pool.'

'I certainly wouldn't mind wanting to have a large pool like this,' I thought to myself as me and Primarina went down the steps and were greeted by a familiar face.

"And… I see another challenger from Team Storm is gracing our gym," Referee Dan said to me as he approached me and Primarina. "Your Gym Mission is to run and swim through this maze. Adjust the water flow to find the correct path that'll lead you to the gym leader. Good luck to you."

With that, my Gym Mission began and I took a look at what Pokémon I had with me to use in my Gym Mission. I had Primarina with me of course as she wasn't going to leave me. Silver Luna was with me along with my shiny Pelipper, shiny Carvanha I got from Keith's aunt the other day, my shiny Kingler that had evolved just recently and my shiny Milotic. Taking a few minutes, I looked over my Pokémon and the hold items that I gave them. Before going into the gym area, I had inspected and swapped hold items around in the locker room. I gave Silver Luna the Amulet Coin, Milotic got a hold item I got as a wedding gift called a Sapphire Gem Orb. Apparently, Milotic's hold item increases the power of Water and Ice-type moves with a base power of 80 and below by 50%, but negates their secondary effects. I wagered that it was going to be a small price to pay, but be worth the trade off. I gave Primarina her Primarium Z crystal as I was planning to ensure that the Galarian Gym Leaders got a taste of home from Alola. The Luck Incense, I gave to Kingler while Pelipper and Carvanha stood at the ready, waiting for me to call on them for help if I needed their help. With my final overview complete, I moved towards the first pedestal that was clearly guarded by a Gym Trainer.

"Given your fancy swimsuit, I take it that you're yet another trainer from Team Storm," the first Gym Trainer said to me as she took notice of my Regal Mermaid swimsuit.

'Wow,' Primarina replied sarcastically, 'what was your first guess, Captain Obvious?'

"Be nice, Primarina," I chided my female Soloist Pokémon companion.

"At any rate, I'm not letting another person from Team Storm getting past me," the Gym Trainer with a hint of irritation in her voice. "Especially, not after that blonde haired chick with her right eye covered got past me without even batting an eye with her shiny purple Fox Pokémon."

Primarina and I looked at each other in confusion as she had described Isabella Greyson and Merlin. Both of us knew that only Isabella and her mother, the former Sinnoh League champion, Cynthia Greyson both had a tuft of hair that covered their right eye. Though she didn't describe Merlin well, since Lavender is also a shiny purple Fox Pokémon. After her bad description of Isabella's shiny male Delphox, Merlin, the Gym Trainer readied herself to take me on in a trainer battle. She called on a tiny Tympole while I called Silver Luna to take on the Tympole.

"Tympole, use Mud Shot," ordered the Gym Trainer as she sought to have Silver Luna's Speed get dropped.

"Dodge and use Crunch," I countered back.

The little Tympole was not fast enough as Silver Luna got the first and only move in the trainer battle. Thanks to Silver Luna being a Dark-type Pokémon, her Crunch attack was strengthened slightly because she was a Dark-type Pokémon using a Dark-type attack. With the Tympole getting knocked in the blink of an eye, the trainer battle was over and the Gym Trainer had to pay double because Silver Luna had on the Amulet Coin hold item around her neck along with the diamond necklace she also had on. Once I defeated the Gym Trainer, I made my way over to the pedestal and pressed the button to activate it. Once I pressed the button, the water level began to rise and some platforms began to separate from the main platform and became islands that I was going have to swim to. Swimming was my thing since I was born in a tropical region and I was going to show the Galar region why I was called the Alola Mermaid. Once the water finished rising, I took notice that things were certainly different from when Cynthia did her Gym Mission. The islands were now spaced farther and I was going to have to swim farther.

With a smile on my face, Primarina knew that I was going to be in my element and that made her happy as I dove into the water and felt my legs dissolving to become the Primarina mermaid tail in place of my legs. Primarina was definitely overjoyed to see that I had become a mermaid again just like the night before and when I first broke into the new swimsuit. Since I wasn't in the ocean like I was before, I had to make sure that I could still swim like a mermaid, even in confined spaces. It turned out that I was worried over nothing and I was able to swim in the exceeding huge gym pool with no trouble at all. As I swam through the gym pool… I kinda wondered in the back of my mind what the audience was thinking as I knew that they were watching me go through my Gym Mission to face Hulbury's gym leader, Nessa.

oooooooooooooo

3rd Person POV

oooooooooooooo

"Woah!" exclaimed several trainers watching Lana on the stadium screen after she had dove into the pool water and witnessed her legs dissolving and becoming a slender Primarina mermaid tail. "Now that looks so COOL!"

"Where can I get a swimsuit that makes me look like a graceful mermaid?" a female spectator asked happily. "The girls in Team Storm seem to have quite the fashion sense. They look like they could be half Pokémon in their swimwear."

A lot of the comments that were being made in the stadium's audience were mixed with amazement, astonishment and a few might've suggested that Lana was a mermaid in hiding… only to get smacked upside their head. Though there was some confusion as to why Lana was swimming around and not moving towards the next isolated platform where the next Gym Trainer was located.

oooooooooooooo

"My, my," Nessa, the Hulbury gym leader said to her lover as they had taken a short break from making out with each other while waiting for Lana to go through her Gym Mission, "someone looks like graceful mermaid. I'm a littl' jealous now."

"That's Lana for you," Nessa's lover named Jordan Kingsley said to Nessa with smirk. "Alola has forged her into a strong swimmer. She may not be like Little Cynthia, but she is pretty athletic like Little Cynthia."

"And you're not gonna tell me what to expect?" Nessa asked Jordan cutely and in a joking manner as she pulled his glasses, which were just a fashion accessory, off his face.

"I'm not a Stool Pidgey, my flawless Mermaid Beauty," replied Jordan before he affectionately brushed his forehead against her forehead.

"I know you're not, love," replied Nessa as she chuckled before planting her lips on his.

oooooooooooooo

Lana's POV

oooooooooooooo

Once I had gotten comfortable with swimming in the pool, I began swimming towards the next platform. As Primarina and I swam towards the next platform, we were stopped by a wetsuit clad Gym Trainer of whom I wasn't expecting until a little later like Cynthia had expected. I guess after Isabella defeated Nessa, the gym leader decided to change things up. But regardless, I was confident that I was ready to take her on.

"Another one from Team Storm is here," said the wetsuit clad Gym Trainer as she eyed me. "And you look like a mermaid too…. Not like the stereotypical scantly clad half naked mermaids for certain.

"Despite your really dazzling appearance, I'm here to stop you," continued the wetsuit clad Gym Trainer before tossing up her Dive Ball. "Let's go Quagshire!"

'Ready to stop the mermaid in her tracks,' said the female Water/Ground-type Pokémon to her trainer.

"Go get 'em, Pelipper!" I exclaimed as I called on my shiny male Water/Flying-type Pokémon.

As the battle was starting, I was kinda wishing that Pelipper's ability was Drizzle instead of Rain Dish. With a smirk on her face, the wetsuit clad Gym Trainer figured she had an advantage, despite her Quagshire not having the Rain Dish ability like some Water-type Pokémon. However, I was ready after all the preparations that I had made, both on my own with Primarina and with my husband, Keith. Everything was about to come to this battle as the wetsuit clad Gym Trainers were supposed to be stronger than the normal regular Gym Trainers and prevent Gym Challengers from trying to cheat.

"Quagshire, use Rock Slide on that Pelipper," ordered the wetsuit clad Gym Trainer.

"Dodge it and use Ice Beam," I countered back as the evolved Mud Fish Pokémon was about to use a super effective Rock-type move against my Pelipper.

"Use Amnesia to raise your Special Defense," countered the wetsuit clad Gym Trainer.

"Get in there and use Wing Attack," I ordered Pelipper, figuring that I was going to have to find ways to outsmart my opponent and her Pokémon.

'Got it,' replied my shiny male Pelipper after he dodged the Rock Slide attack that came his way.

Pelipper's Wing Attack hit its mark as it was slightly boosted like Silver Luna's Crunch was slightly boosted. His Wing Attack didn't knock out my opponent's Quagshire, but it did give me some options to work with. At least, that's what I thought until the wetsuit clad Gym Trainer had her Quagshire use Defense Curl a couple times to her physical Defense stats. Well, two could play that game.

"Pelipper, use Stockpile twice," I said to my shiny male Pelipper.

Pelipper complied and used his Stockpile move to raise his own physical and Special Defense stats twice. The clash between Pelipper and Quagshire went on for a while until Pelipper revealed that he knew the Grass-type move Seed Bomb, which effectively took down the opposing Quagshire. With the Quagshire knocked down, the rain had stopped and the battle was over. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that we had TMs from Keith's home region when he mentioned that he used one of the TMs that we had brought with us from the Atlantica Islands. Despite my brief moment of amnesia, we still defeated the wetsuit clad Gym Trainer and she let us pass. As we passed the wetsuit clad Gym Trainer, she went back underwater and Primarina and I went towards the platform where the Gym Trainer was waiting. As I got out of the water, my legs returned to normal and I looked to Primarina as she remained in the water as she then said, 'I'll wait for you here. Go get 'em!' Since Primarina was staying in the water, Silver Luna let herself out of her Dream Ball. We headed over to the next pedestal that was being blocked by the Gym Trainer.

"Well, well, the mermaid has to come here just proceed further," the next Gym Trainer said to me with a smirk on her face. "Think you can figure out the order of how to push the buttons?"

The Gym Trainer then sent out a Krabby against me. As for me, I chose to hold off on using Silver Luna against the Gym Trainer and instead called on Milotic to take on the female River Crab Pokémon. Both the Gym Trainer and her Krabby didn't expect to see a shiny Milotic right off the bat with me. Milotic and I were ready to take them on and we did just that. The poor Krabby didn't even get a chance to get an attack off against Milotic. All it took was just a Dragon Breath attack and the first round went to us. The Gym Trainer recalled her fallen and sent out a Corphish against us. Again, Milotic was faster than the Pokémon that was sent out against her and she used Dragon Breath against the female Corphish, defeating her too. After defeating the Gym Trainer, I activated the switch and the water level increased once again. Once I raised the water level of the pool again, I went back to the pool and dove in again and became a mermaid once again. Then, Primarina and I began swimming back to the first platform that was originally blocked by a torrent of water but now open. I got out of the water and approached the console with Primarina following me and Silver Luna letting herself out and following behind me and Primarina. I remember watching Cynthia's run through the gym and remembered seeing that console that I had approached would open a trap door, but also trap us with no way to go but down back into the pool… which certainly didn't bother Primarina one bit. Truthfully… I was in complete agreement with my female Soloist Pokémon companion, having to go back into the pool wasn't going to bother me one bit at all. Before I pressed the button, I recalled Silver Luna to her Dream Ball.

'Well… there's only one way to go, Lana,' Primarina said happily as she looked to the pool before diving back down into it after pressing the button. 'And that's DOWN!'

I followed after Primarina and dove back into pool. After seeing my legs dissolve and become a slender Primarina mermaid tail for the third time that day, Primarina and I got ambushed as the second wetsuit clad Gym Trainer surfaced as she waited for us to drop through the trap door. The wetsuit clad Gym Trainer studied me for a moment and then said, "Mermaid, mermaid, what do I see? I see a challenger trying to reach Nessa and failing to break past me."

'Uh… okay… whatever you say, Captain Obvious,' Primarina replied with a sweatdrop on her forehead.

"Be nice Primarina," I said to my Water/Fairy-type companion as I readied myself to face her next.

The wetsuit clad Gym Trainer then called on her first Pokémon which was a Pelipper. I remembered when Cynthia had battled her Pelipper, the opposing Pelipper had the Drizzle ability much like Kyogre does. As for me, I decided to take advantage of that by using my own Pelipper since he had the Rain Dish ability to help with healing him during rain storms. The first round was between two Pelippers and would be decided by which one could last longer.

"Pelipper, use Air Slash!" ordered the wetsuit clad Gym Trainer.

I was tempted to wanna give my Pelipper a name, but I remembered Cynthia's Victini telling me that I "didn't need to copy his human" and always give my Pokémon a name. He had told me Pokémon always knew the voice of their humans after they had been caught and wouldn't be confused when battling Pokémon of the same species. I ordered my shiny Pelipper to dodge it and use his own Air Slash, which it too was promptly dodged by the opposing Pelipper.

The opposing Pelipper tried to use Gunk Shot, but I had my Pelipper cancel it out by using his Steel Wing. The aerial battle between both Pelippers was pretty dead even with my Pelipper having the Rain Dish Dream World ability. Though the stalemate would be broken when my Pelipper unexpectedly used the move Shock Wave, which I didn't know that he had learned prior to entering the Gym Mission. With the double weakness to Electric-type attacks, the stalemate was broken and my shiny Pelipper won the round. The next Pokémon that the wetsuit clad Gym Trainer called was a Barraskewda just the one that I own, but not shiny like mine. I figured that I should keep my shiny Pelipper out since he had Shock Wave and that would help me out. But like my sister-in-law, Cynthia, would always say, "When man plans, Arceus… I mean Lord Arceus laughs." I should've heeded those words as the opposing Barraskewda was quick to go on the offense as they used Aqua Jet and Psychic Fangs to get a fin up on us. Before I could call out an attack, the Barraskewda's Psychic Fangs landed on my Pelipper's right wing and caused it to be injured, which was really bad. I recalled Pelipper to his Dive Ball and then looked to Primarina. My female Soloist Pokémon gave me a slight nod and swam forward to face the opposing Skewer Pokémon. Though… the end result of that fight was a bit… anti-climatic as both me and the second wetsuit clad Gym Trainer watched as Primarina just flicked her tail hard enough to knock the Barraskewda out of the water and hit the ceiling of the platform before landing back in the water.

'Eh… how many lumps of sugar do you want in your tea?' the opposing Barraskewda asked as he could comically see Pidoves circling around his head before passing out.

"Well… I wasn't expecting that to happen," said the second wetsuit clad Gym Trainer after she recalled her fallen Barraskewda and readied her last Dive Ball. "Though I'm sorry about what happened to your shiny Pelipper. Guess we weren't expecting that happen."

My Primarina remained out in front as she wanted to finish up the Trainer battle against the second wetsuit clad Gym Trainer. The second wetsuit clad Gym Trainer than called out her Octillery. Primarina didn't show any fear of the Jet Pokémon even though we had seen that it knew Gunk Shot and probably had other Poison-type attacks to use against her.

"Octillery, use Gunk Shot," ordered the second wetsuit clad Gym Trainer as she narrowed her eyes at Primarina. "Let's try to get them off balance quickly."

"Use Aqua Jet and then Draining Kiss, Primarina," I countered back.

'Here I come!' exclaimed Primarina as she charged forward quickly before Octillery could even use his Gunk Shot.

This time it was me and Primarina that went on the offense before our opponent could get the jump on us. Primarina gracefully zig and zagged while using her Aqua Jet to close the gap on Octillery and then inflicted the hit on him, even though it wasn't going to do serious damage. At least that's what I thought until I saw that Octillery took a pretty nasty hit from Primarina's Aqua Jet. It was then that I remembered both Primarina and I were very affectionate with each other and that affection translated into boosted damage. To add to Primarina's offense, she used her Fairy-type Draining Kiss on Octillery and caused affection boosted damage on him and partially healing any damage that she took from an earlier battle before reaching the Hulbury Gym. As for Octillery, he was dazed and floating in the water before saying, 'Boss, I never wanna be kissed by Fairies.'

"Oh boy," replied the second wetsuit clad Gym Trainer as she recalled her fallen Octillery. "Well, guess that's all for me. Go on ahead, the Gym Leader awaits you."

After the second wetsuit clad Gym Trainer submerged back into water, Primarina and I proceeded further to the final platform where we would make our exit from the pool and into the stadium, much to Primarina's disappointment as she liked being in the pool. As I got out of the pool, my legs returned to normal and Primarina followed suit by getting out as well.

'It's sad that we have to get out of the pool, Lana,' Primarina said to me. 'I was kinda hoping that the Gym Leader would come down here for the Gym Battle.'

"You sure that you're not trying to get me to wanna be a mermaid longer?" I asked Primarina as I rubbed her cheeks.

'Now what gives you that idea?' Primarina playfully asked me with a smile.

"Well… guess we should head up to the stadium where the Gym Leader should be waiting for us," I said to Primarina as I looked back to her.

oooooooooooooo

3rd person POV

oooooooooooooo

An hour earlier

"You sure that you want to do this?" Jessica Kaiou asked the Hulbury gym leader as Nessa had her lover, who was in the gym lobby earlier to defuse a situation with an angry Gym Challenger earlier, contact Team Storm's sponsor. "Don't you have other clothing companies you're in a contract with to not model other clothing lines?"

"Not really," answered Nessa as she shook her head. "I can model whatever clothing line I want."

Before the fashionista princess could begin her process, her shiny Tyranitar business partner, Argon, let himself out of his Friend Ball and then put his glasses on before whipping out a notepad and pencil. Seeing this was quite the revelation for the Hulbury-born Gym Leader and model. As for her lover, named Jordan Kingsley, he shook his head as he knew how the process was going to work, especially since they were going to be on a time crunch before Lana completed her Gym Mission as the Alola Mermaid had hit a road block. Argon approached Nessa as his partner had her tape measure with to begin taking Nessa's measurements. For the Hulbury Gym Leader, she had never seen a Tyranitar wearing glasses, let alone having the ability to write like a human being.

"You don't seem to be phased," Nessa said to her lover as he kept a straight face she was finished being measured.

"Seeing Argon with a notepad and pencil is nothing new to me," answered Jordan as he shook his head.

'How the Houndour do you know me, human?' Argon asked Jordan as he challenged Jordan Kingsley. 'I know quite a bit of humans, but I certainly don't know the likes the of…'

The shiny male Rock/Dark-type Armor Pokémon was suddenly cut off as Jordan slightly pulled his glasses down to reveal his trademark feature to the shiny Tyranitar, his sparkling Victini blue eyes that only Argon would know. The shiny Tyranitar was startled at first, but then recovered as he then cried out, 'Sweet mother of Mew! You're the little fluff ball that's supposed to be with Little Cynthia!'

"Glad to see you recognize me, Argon," replied Jordan as he set his glasses back on his face.

'How could I not recognize you… fluff ball?' Argon asked the humanized Victini. 'Your eyes are a dead giveaway.'

"Wow Victini, you… you definitely look sexy as a human being," Jessica said to Jordan before snapping her fingers to get Argon's attention. "I imagine that you go by a different name as a human now."

"Yes," Nessa answered for her lover as she started to get a bit defensive around Jessica Kaiou. "His name is Jordan. Jordan Kingsley."

Jordan was quick and cupped the face of his lover as he tenderly brushed his thumbs along Nessa's cheeks before beginning to brush his forehead against hers gently and tenderly and said to her, "There's no need for you to get jealous with Her Royal Highness… my Mermaid Beauty. My… Angelic… Mermaid… Beauty… she's married and has four beautiful children of her own."

"Actually, I'm pregnant with my fifth and sixth child… just last week," Jessica interjected to Jordan, as she appreciated her niece's humanized Victini averting what could've been a disastrous outcome. "But back to business with you two. I may be miracle worker, but I won't be able to get it finished in time before Lana arrives. I can't do the impossible, you understand."

Nessa sighed as she calmly replied, "Yes, I understand."

Jessica then said as something within her began to click and her tone changed, "That being said, I'm going to make you both look sexy! MWAHAHAHA!"

"You're… going to have to get used to that with Her Royal Highness," Jordan said to Nessa with a sweatdrop on his forehead.

"Excuse me, Gym Leader," one gym's staff said as she knocked on the door. "One of staffers has fallen sick with the flu. They went home as soon as they found out."

"Then please make the announcement to the audience in the stadium that the gym match between me and Lana Ketchum is being postponed for a few days," Nessa instructed the staffer. "We need to make sure that we follow Chairman Rose's protocols for cases like the flu. Don't want to take any chances."

"Understood Nessa," acknowledged the gym staffer as she left.

oooooooooooooo

Lana Felicity Ketchum's POV

oooooooooooooo

"That's kind of bummer that the gym closed before you could face Nessa," Hayato said to me after I had gotten word from a Gym Trainer that someone from the Gym's staff had gotten sick.

"Well, guess they don't wanna take the chance of getting other people sick from what the gym staffer got," offered Vanna.

"Did they say when you'd be able to battle Nessa for the Water Badge?" Keith asked me as we walked back to our hotel.

"They said that I'd be able to face her in a couple days," I answered my husband. "They wanna make sure the other gym staff haven't caught the flu bug either."

"Guess you've got some more time to prepare for Nessa," offered Keith before I looked to him with a smirk.

"Or I've got more to spend with you," I replied to my husband in seductive tone.

"Welp, see ya guys later," Keith said to the Prince and Fairy Princess. "My wife needs me."

"Uh… okay," replied Hayato before he felt the soft and gentle hands of his own wife.

"My… Prince," said Vanna as she was in… the mood, just like I was, and pressed her body against Hayato's body. "My sexy Prince… do you know what I want from you?"

"As my Princess commands, so shall her Prince obey," said Hayato as he picked her up bridal style and carried her back to the same hotel.

oooooooooooooo

It turns out that the two days turned into five extra days because a couple other people had gotten the flu that the gym staffer had passed it on to another two gym staffers. They had to be quarantined even though it was just a mild case for each of them and they recovered quickly. It seems that the protocols that Chairman Rose had put into place for combating things like the flu entailed having the city's gym close down and get deep cleaned twice before doing a final inspection and reopening the gym. During the time that the Hulbury Gym was closed, surprisingly enough, Isabella Greyson had come to Hulbury to visit and had Merlin and Rika walking alongside her. It was rather rare to see both Merlin AND Rika out and walking alongside Isabella as almost always, Rika was the only Pokémon that walked alongside Isabella.

"Hello my friends, it's been a while," said Isabella as she smiled and slightly bowed to me and Keith. "You both look well."

"Hey Isabella," Vanna said to Isabella as she recognized her with a slight nod.

'Fairy Princess,' the shiny female Constraint Pokémon said to Vanna as she acknowledged her.

'Seems you all are looking quite well,' Isabella's shiny male Fire/Psychic Fox Pokémon.

"So… what are you doing here?" Keith asked the daughter of the former Sinnoh League champion. "I mean, we haven't heard so much as a peep out of you except for the occasional congratulatory text after our gym battles."

"Oh, I've been there for your gym battles, my friends," answered Isabella with a soft smile. "You just haven't noticed me or my Pokémon. Just something that my mother taught me and my siblings… if we ever became regional champions of course."

'Man Isabella,' said Shadow as he noticed the Isabella had cut her usually long hair, which was down to her hips, 'it looks someone took a weed whacker to your hair… I mean… not too much was taken off, but still…'

"Indeed, I did decide to have some of my hair chopped off," Isabella said to Shadow with a slight chuckle. "I like having long hair, but not as long as my mother's hair that goes down to her knees."

"It looks good on you," said Keith as he had a sweatdrop on his forehead.

Isabella looked at my husband and shook her head as she replied, "There's no need for you to be worried about how I will respond to you."

'Guess someone forgot that Isabella can read their thoughts,' Shadow said to Keith in teasing manner.

"There's no need for you to be teasing your brother, Shadow," Isabella chided my husband's shiny male Moonlight Pokémon. "Besides, you're going to try to embarrass Keith, Shadow."

"So what've you been up to, Isabella?" Vanna asked our childhood friend. "We haven't seen much on your trek through Galar since the opening ceremony for Galar's Gym Challenge."

"If I had to guess, you've probably been spending much of your time practicing with your 'fire bending' power," said Keith.

"I have been doing that and staying in the Wild Areas too," answered Isabella as she then produced her incomplete badge medallion. "But I've also been going the Gym Challenge too. I stopped after I defeated Bea to see your progress and the progress of the others.

Isabella looked to Keith and me as she continued, "Seems that your sister and her husband have a lot of trainers bearing down on them hard, trying to see if they defeat the 'foreign storm that has descended upon their beloved Galar'."

"Have you had any trainers bear down on you?" I asked Isabella even though I probably knew her answer.

"Not many trainers have faced me," answered Isabella as she shook her head. "Merlin glares at many trainers that even think about wanting to try and overwhelm me."

'My lady, I keep telling you that many of those trainers have lustful hearts with lewd thoughts about what they desire to do to you,' protested Isabella's shiny male Fire/Psychic-type Kalos Fox Pokémon, Merlin.

"But, I'll tell you about it," said Isabella as we all had sat down in the hotel lobby.

oooooooooooooo

Author's note: And I'm finished with this chapter. I know I said that I'd be done with this chapter in a few months. Hopefully, this chapter will have been worth the wait for you. Let me know what you think of the chapter.