A/N: Thank you to everyone who has been reading this fanfic (despite how little of you there are. XD). I was surprised that the first chapter garnered a lot of attention and then by the second chapter it died down. I can't blame you if this story wasn't your cup of tea, but I'm hoping that's all it is. The site has been experiencing bugs recently, so I hope that isn't blocking people from my fic (even though I haven't had any issues finding it in the search and such). But anyway... this chapter came out a little quicker than I thought it would. It was originally going to be longer. However I think it was better that I ended it on the note that I did and not add an extra scene. A lot is supposed to happen in the next chapter, so I thought it was wise to keep it all together. In the meantime, I hope this next chapter is entertaining enough and that it gives people a few laughs. I'm not too good with humour, but I still try... XD

Also, for clarification, any Pokedex entries that are used in this fanfic in the future will be mixed together from multiple games and not just one. It's just something I thought I'd get creative with. Plus more than one could apply to my fic's story, so it makes sense to match it for context sake.

Chapter 3: Auras Never Lie

Loud yapping, howling and banging were the noises Viola found herself waking up to the moment her eyes opened.

The blonde sat up with a startled cry on her mattress when she processed the nearby commotion, freezing up for a few seconds as she listened to the noises and tried to gather what was going on. They sounded close by but were partly muffled, like they were coming from outside of Kukui's home.

'What in Xerneas…?' Viola scratched at her bed head and yawned, glancing down at herself with a heavy blink. She was currently wearing a long-sleeved, light pink pyjama top and dark pink trousers, which she recalled changing into before she fell asleep. 'What time is it? I remember heading straight to sleep after unpacking last night. But-'

Kukui's encouraging yell cut into Viola's thoughts as it pushed through the racket still going on outside, making Viola flinch and look to the front door. "Oh yeah, Rockruff! Give it everything you've got!"

'Professor Kukui?! What is going on out there?!'

Viola pushed the blanket off her lap and knelt in preparation to stand up, but she paused when she heard Lillie's tired groan from the sofa bed and glanced over to her. The nearby skylight illuminated the loft with faint sunlight, so it wasn't difficult for her to see Lillie lying on her side and facing her way, curled up in her own blanket with her eyes partly open. Her long blonde hair was down and scattered everywhere, making her look as dishevelled as Viola was.

When the two girls locked eyes, Lillie was the first to quietly speak up, her tone reflecting her exhaustion. "… Is the professor at it again?"

"At what again?"

"His-" Lillie yawned loudly and raised a hand to her mouth, her eyes watering a little in the process. "His research…"

Viola's eyes widened as she did a doubletake, quickly glancing back and forth between the front door and Lillie as the commotion roared on in the background. "… You're kidding." She pointed towards the door. "That's research?"

"Mhm," Lillie mumbled.

"What is he even researching-?"

A bang from outside caused the loft to shake slightly for a few seconds, causing Viola's body to stiffen and Lillie to sit up quickly with a high-pitched shriek, her hands going to her chest.

'Well, at least Lillie's wide awake now.'

Once the shaking ceased, loud howling and barking soon followed.

"Raaaa-oooooohhh! Raff ruff!"

Both Viola and Lillie slumped at this, with the former groaning and the latter letting out a quiet sigh.

"Sounds like things are heating up out there," Viola grumbled.

"At least the professor is outside this time. We won't have to patch the roof." Lillie pouted. "But his lab coat is probably shredded. I'll have to mend it, and I'm not good with sowing…"

Viola glanced up at the roof when Lillie mentioned it, recalling the planks of wood she'd seen nailed onto the outside just yesterday. 'What could the professor be researching to cause all this mess and noise?'

"Then that's our cue to go and break it up," Viola replied as she got up from the mattress and stretched her arms above her head, noting it had fallen silent for the time being.

Lillie went to follow suit. But as she lifted her blanket from her person, she blinked twice at noticing Nebby wasn't beside her like it had been last night. "Nebby?"

Viola glanced over when Lillie addressed the Pokemon and raised parts of the blanket to search for it, her focus briefly switching to the other blonde's sleepwear. It seemed to follow the same style as her previous outfit, but consisted of a sleeveless, white top, blue shorts and white ankle socks.

'I don't think I've known anyone who has matching clothes and sleepwear. But to each their own, I guess…' "Everything okay, Lillie?"

"I can't find Nebby." Lillie tossed the blanket from the sofa bed and stood up, her brow furrowing. "It was sleeping right next to me last night, but now…"

'Now that she mentions it… I haven't heard Lucario since I've woken up. And it's usually very sensitive to noises.'

Viola's eyes had a quick scan of the loft at that realisation, only to see that there was no sign of Lucario anywhere. She recalled the Pokemon had slept behind her on the floor with a pillow and blanket of its own. But staring at them now, she could only see the pillow and the crumpled blanket.

"Lucario's missing too," Viola said, her gaze turning to the front door again as she placed her hands to her hips. "Although, knowing how that Pokemon is, I can probably guess where they both might be…"

Lillie was about to question what Viola had meant by that. But before she had the chance to even open her mouth her attention was drawn to the front door as it opened. The two girls saw Kukui walk inside with his hands in his pockets and a big grin on his face, looking unharmed. Behind him followed a stoic Lucario and smiling Nebby in its hold, with an unfamiliar brown, puppy-like Pokemon just in front of them wagging its fluffy tail.

"Good job, Rockruff! We made progress today!" Kukui praised as he faced the Pokemon in question, with "Rockfuff" barking and staring up at the professor with bright blue eyes. Kukui reached down to ruffle the fur atop Rockruff's head, causing it to pant and its tail to continue wagging. "Your moves were so stylin'. If you keep up with this pace, you'll be strong in no time!"

Viola tilted her head to Lillie when she heard the latter sigh, watching her place her hands to her chest for the second time that morning. "Just as I thought."

She took that as her cue to move to the ladder and climb down, with Lillie in close pursuit. The sound of their approach had Kukui looking their way with a bright smile. "Good morning, you two. You look like you've slept well."

"A little too well…" Viola mumbled and rubbed her arm across her forehead, her gaze switching to Lucario and Nebby as she and Lillie walked over. "Lucario and Nebby were up before us, it seems."

Nebby giggled and floated from Lucario's arms over to Lillie while she wiped at one of her eyes, prompting Lillie to pat Nebby on the head with the shake of her own. "Oh, you! Why must you sneak off when my back is turned?"

Kukui crouched beside Rockruff to give it a quick scratch behind the ears. "Actually, Nebby and Lucario were watching Rockruff use its moves." He turned to Viola and Lillie with a forced chuckle. "I don't know if you two heard us…"

Viola's eyes drooped, her next words coming out sarcastically. "Oh. That was you shaking the house? Never would have guessed."

Kukui's smile was crooked. "I'm sorry. I thought conducting my research outside wouldn't disturb your sleep."

"What research, Professor?"

"Research of Pokemon moves, of course!" Viola's brows raised, which Kukui took as his cue to continue. "My area of expertise is studying Pokemon moves and the kinds of effects that weaken and strengthen them."

'… Well, that explains the holes in the roof and the commotion from a moment ago.'

"The professor normally does his research inside, so we were very lucky there was minimal damage this time," Lillie commented while giving Kukui's lab coat a quick look up and down, her cheeks puffing slightly. "I hope your lab coat isn't ruined though, Professor. I've just washed it."

"No worries, Lillie." Kukui tugged at the collar of his coat to prove his point, with Viola silently staring at Lillie with a blink. "It's still intact and clean. I know you do so much for me already. It's only fair I avoid burdening you with extra work in return."

'It sounds like Lillie's role as the professor's assistant is more to do with chores than partaking in his research.' Viola's eyes drifted to Nebby, who was hovering by Lillie and listening in to the discussion. 'Unless part of that research somehow involves helping Nebby, like she said-'

"Oh!" Viola perked up and briefly looked to the loft at realising something, where she knew her shoulder bag still was with the items Professor Sycamore had made her bring. "Is that why you're interested in studying Mega Evolution?"

"Exactly," Kukui answered. "I've already done a lot of research into Z-Power and the effects it can bring about. And since Mega Evolution is supposedly used in a similar way but has differing effects, I thought it was interesting to look into."

Viola put a hand to her chin as yesterday's events came to mind briefly, along with the items currently inside her bag. 'Ah. That explains why he thought I was a Trainer. And that also must be why Professor Sycamore had me bring the Mega Ring, the Key Stone, and Mega Stone that formerly belonged to- Wait.' Viola tilted her head at processing the unfamiliar term "Z-Power", disrupting her current train of thought. 'Z-Power? What's that?'

"Which reminds me," Kukui said as he stood up and turned to Viola, causing her to blink herself out of her thoughts for now. "I spoke with Professor Sycamore while you were resting."

"You did?"

"I did." Kukui put a hand to the back of his neck. "Although he was quite surprised it was me and not you."

"Yeah. I was supposed to check in with him when I arrived to Alola." Viola shrugged her shoulders and let out a forced laugh. "But, as I suspected, my holo caster doesn't work outside of Kalos. I couldn't contact him. And then I completely forgot about it. Heh." Lucario grumbled and folded its arms at seeing her reaction. "He wasn't mad about that, was he?"

"No. The professor was very understanding. But I'll be sure to let him know what you've just told me."

"Thank you. And what about the misunderstanding? What did he say?"

"It turns out he forgot to tell me."

Both Viola's and Lillie's eyes widened, but only Viola replied. "He... what?"

Kukui nodded and grabbed at the front of his cap with a light chuckle. "The professor explained he'd originally planned to send someone else who was a Pokemon Trainer. But when he changed his mind and sent you instead, he didn't remember to check the details he'd already discussed with me."

Lillie tilted her head. "So, it just slipped his mind?"

"Yes."

Lucario leaned its head back and slapped a paw against its forehead with a loud sigh, clearly showing just how fed up it was with Professor Sycamore's antics. But then it noticed Viola's reaction from the corner of its eyes, causing its eyes to narrow. She was staring at Kukui without blinking, her arms pressed close to her middle. Even when she spoke Lucario could hear how quiet and croaky her voice had become.

"Oh, yeah. I'd forgotten I was his second choice." 'That's a lie. But what he said makes sense. There was only five of us in our group, four of whom were trainers. And out of those four he was the only one to learn to use Mega Evolution. I was by his side more than the others, so…'

Kukui and Lillie frowned at picking up the change in Viola's demeanour, with the former being the one to speak as the pair shared glances. "Are you okay?"

Lucario's ears drooped as Viola loudly cleared her throat and placed a hand to it to help fix her voice, forcing a smile that occasionally twitched. Despite how hard she tried to hide it, Lucario knew exactly how she was feeling. "I'm okay. I was just caught off guard. You were saying?"

Kukui stared at Viola for a long time before briefly closing his eyes and pulling his cap down on his head. "Anyway, the professor apologised for the confusion, since I was looking for a Pokemon Trainer who can use Mega Evolution. However, he mentioned his first choice could use Mega Evolution, and that you were partnered with them on your journey."

"I was." Viola pointed towards the loft behind her. "In fact, the stuff I brought belonged to that same trainer." She turned her gaze to the ground. "Still, I suppose it's no use to you unless someone can use it…"

"I wouldn't say that," Kukui said with a grin, walking closer to Viola and putting a hand on her shoulder, prompting her to make eye contact. "Professor Sycamore sent you because you witnessed something not many trainers get to see in their lifetime. And that is very valuable to what I'm studying."

Viola leaned forward slightly, squinting. "So… does that mean I still have a reason to stay here?"

"Of course!" Kukui gave her a rough pat on the shoulder, causing Viola to flinch. "But even if you hadn't, I wouldn't have turned you away."

Viola gave a quick blink. "Really?"

Kukui's grin widened. "Really. If you see a person or Pokemon who needs help, you help them. That's just how we are in Alola."

Viola didn't say anything at first. But when Kukui pulled away she did peek at Lillie, who closed her eyes and smiled widely. 'Geez. She wasn't kidding. Professor Kukui is generous…'

"… Thank you. Your hospitality means a lot."

"It's my pleasure." Kukui rubbed his hands together. "With that being said, it doesn't end there."

"What do you mean?"

Kukui jabbed a thumb in the direction of the stairs behind him. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, I'll leave you and Lillie to get ready. You're still going to show Viola around Hau'oli City, aren't you, Lillie?"

Lillie nodded, holding Nebby close to her person. "Yes, just like you asked."

"Great! See me downstairs before you go then. I have something to give you." Kukui pointed at Viola as he started to back up towards the stairs. "And don't forget the items from Professor Sycamore."

Viola gave a half-hearted salute, while Lillie nodded a second time out of acknowledgement. "Understood."

When Kukui turned around and left the room with Rockfuff bounding after him, Viola tilted her head back and exhaled loudly. 'Wow. Not how I expected my morning to go. But at least everything has been straightened out.' She closed her eyes. 'Although it sounds like the professor doesn't know the reason why I became the replacement. Maybe Professor Sycamore didn't feel it was necessary to go into detail unless I'd already brought it up…'

Lillie's giggle caused Viola to open her eyes and peek at the other blonde, who was smiling widely her way with flushed cheeks. "See? I told you not to worry."

Viola responded sarcastically, but there was a slight smile when she said it. "Indeed you did." She yawned soon after and scratched at her head, her fingertips encountering the tiny lumps in her hair that she could only assume were knots. "But I should take that as my cue to clean myself up before I eat something. It's gonna be a long-"

A paw put itself on Viola's closest shoulder, making the blonde stop and look back. Lucario was standing right behind her with its ears still drooped and gaze unblinking. Viola should have been surprised by this odd behaviour but instead she returned Lucario's stare and said nothing, reaching out a hand to ruffle the fur on the Pokemon's head. 'Oh, Lucario. It affected you too, didn't it?'

Lucario closed its eyes and twitched its ears at the contact until Viola pulled away, while Lillie observed the interaction with a furrowed brow. Viola didn't speak again until she started walking away towards the bathroom, with Lucario fixated on her back as she did so. "I'll be back."

Viola didn't look back to see the reactions of the three still standing around. But upon reaching the aquatic tank she began to let her guard down, her lip quivering a little.

'I won't mention it to the professor unless I really need to. But I hope our conversations about Mega Evolution don't lead to him being brought up. I came here to get away from that, after all…'

It was around late morning when Viola was finally ready to head out. Having changed into her usual outfit and tied her hair into its signature style, she did as Kukui had instructed and went down the stairs to the basement after eating breakfast and grabbing her shoulder bag from the loft, with both Lucario and Nebby in tow behind her. They were still waiting on Lillie, so she thought this was the perfect opportunity to see what Kukui was up to while also exploring the rest of the house.

"Professor?" Viola called out as she followed the first set of stairs down, only to stop at the top of the second at noticing how dimly lit it was. The two Pokemon with her followed suit, the trio staring ahead at the punching bag, dumbbell and brown bench opposite the stairs. 'Geez. It's dark down here. I can just about see where I'm going.'

When Viola was met with nothing but silence, she slowly made her way into the room while sticking close to the bannister, her eyes wandering to the right side of the long room at seeing no sign of Kukui. "Professor? Are you still down here?"

More objects came into her view by the time she reached the bottom of the stairs, such as the glowing aquatic tank at the far-right of the room. Unlike the tank upstairs it was smaller and cylindrical, containing two Luvdisc swimming around in front of three rectangle, transparent screens on the glass. Just in front of the tank was a black sofa, while two bookcases lined the back of the room behind it. But the professor didn't appear to be in those areas either.

'This room differs from the one upstairs. It looks more like a working space.'

"Over here, Viola."

Viola looked towards the far-left corner when she finally heard Kukui answer her, finally spying the professor standing next to a desk with two computer monitors and a large screen on the wall behind them. But that wasn't what caught the attention of Lucario and Nebby. They had their eyes fixed on the pokeball designed incubator just in front of Kukui, where eight pokeballs were placed in two rows of four.

"Pew!"

Nebby was the first to float straight over to the incubator and stare at the pokeballs with wide eyes, prompting Lucario to bark and quickly jog after it before Viola even had a chance to move. It wasn't until Kukui chuckled at Nebby and placed his hands on his hips that Viola approached him, briefly observing Nebby as it lingered on the opposite side of the incubator with Lucario standing beside it. The Aura Pokemon's eyes were fixed on the Nebula Pokemon, observing its every move in case it did anything to cause trouble. The incubator was open, so it suspected Nebby was likely to mess with one of the pokeballs.

"So, this is where you've been hiding all your tech, huh?" Viola commented. "Now I'm starting to believe this is a lab."

"Well, the basement gives me more privacy. Not to mention it was the only space big enough to store all of my equipment in."

"I can see why you do most of your research upstairs though…" Viola had a quick glance around. "If you tried getting a Pokemon to use its moves in here, you'd put holes in the floor."

Kukui looked away from Viola when he noticed Lillie wasn't there, his eyes wandering to the stairs for a few seconds. "Where's Lillie?"

"She's still getting ready. She should be joining us soon."

"I see…" Kukui stroked his chin and focused on Viola's bag around her shoulder. "I was hoping to show both of you the surprise. But since we'll have to wait on Lillie, how about we go over the items you brought?"

"Sure. Better now than never." Viola slid her bag off her shoulder and reached in to pull out a bracelet and two small, round stones, putting the bag on the floor beside the incubator after she'd done so. "We'll need to be careful, though. Some of these items are small. They're easy to lose."

Kukui smiled slightly. "Spoken from experience?"

Viola returned it. "Not mine."

She placed the bracelet on the desk first and the two stones beside it, allowing Kukui to move a little closer to see them. The bracelet was coloured plain black and had a thick exterior with a slight and tiny circular dent on its side. The two stones were different colours and had different markings on them. While one of the stones was multi-coloured with a black and striped sigil, the other stone was primarily orange with a blue and red streak going through its middle. Viola always thought that they could have easily been mistaken for marbles because of how much they resembled them.

"Amazing," Kukui muttered and leaned over Viola's shoulder to get a closer look, running a finger along the bracelet. "This is a Mega Ring?"

"Uh-huh."

"This is the first time I've seen one up close." Kukui turned to Viola and held his hand out over the bracelet. "May I?"

"Be my guest."

Kukui gently lifted the bracelet from the desk and held it up to the light illuminating from the aquatic tank, closely scrutinising it by twisting it around slowly at different angles. "Incredible." His eyes eventually locked eyes with the dent, which he poked at with his other finger. "Is this where you put the Key Stone?"

"Yep."

"And which one would that be?"

"This one." Viola picked up the multi-coloured stone between her finger and thumb and stretched it forward for Kukui to see. "The other one is the Mega Stone. The Key Stones always look the same, whereas the Mega Stones are different depending on the Pokemon."

The Key Stone glistened in the dim lighting, catching the attention of a certain Nebula Pokemon as it looked away from the incubator. Nebby's mouth fell open as its eyes fixated on the small stone in Viola's possession, which Lucario's eyes soon widened at. After a few seconds of staring Nebby's gape morphed into a wide grin, suddenly moving forward with an excited "Pew!". Luckily Lucario was quick to react and darted around the incubator in a blur, accidentally nudging the side of it with its elbow when passing it by.

The group remained oblivious to the incubator briefly shaking and swaying the pokeballs from side to side slightly, with one of the pokeballs on the right side being forced forward as a result of the movement. The pokeball rolled towards the edge of the incubator and dropped to the floor mere seconds before the incubator fell still, silently landing in Viola's bag by the time Lucario caught up with Nebby. It grabbed the small Pokemon between its paws when it was inches away from Viola, quickly pulling it to its chest with a scowl as the Nebula Pokemon let out a high-pitched squeak.

Viola's and Kukui's reactions were delayed, only turning to the two Pokemon with quick blinks when Lucario had subdued Nebby. Lucario turned Nebby around and narrowed its eyes, causing Nebby's arms to droop and its lip to quiver.

"Lucario, don't be so hard on Nebby," Viola said as she handed the Key Stone over to Kukui, allowing him to slot it into the dent. "It doesn't know what these are. It can't help being curious."

Lucario relaxed its expression and turned its gaze away, but that didn't stop the Pokemon from loudly snorting in objection.

"Professor Sycamore was right." Kukui's comments drew Viola's attention back to the professor, who was turning the Mega Ring and attached Key Stone around in his grip again. "It functions similarly to a Z-Ring. How interesting."

Viola frowned at the unfamiliar term, but before she could question it Kukui changed the topic at peeking at the Mega Stone on his desk. "So, the Trainer wields the Key Stone. But what about the Mega Stone?"

"The Pokemon has to hold it," Viola answered immediately, reaching for the stone on the desk and putting it in her palm.

"You mentioned the Mega Stones look different depending on the Pokemon who holds it, right?"

"Right." She held the stone close to Kukui so he could get a better look at it. "Each Mega Stone is named after the Pokemon who it's supposed to go to. In the case of this stone, it's "Lucarionite". So only Lucario hold it to Mega Evolve."

"Lucarionite?" Kukui repeated with the raise of his brows, side eyeing Lucario just as Nebby started lightly nudging the side of its face with one of its arms, which Lucario's eye and mouth kept twitching at. "Does that mean…?"

Viola knew exactly what Kukui was thinking even when he'd trailed off, which is why she decided to explain the moment she followed the professor's eyes, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. "Yes, this Lucario can use Mega Evolution. Lucario has had two partners. It learnt how to Mega Evolve with its first trainer."

Kukui remained fixed on Lucario as the Aura Pokemon eventually huffed and tilted its head away to avoid Nebby's nudges, causing Nebby to giggle and increase the speed of its actions in response. Viola didn't need to look at Kukui to know what was probably going on in his head right now. She suspected he was already connecting the dots from their earlier conversation. "Didn't you say the Mega Ring and its stones used to belong to the trainer you travelled Kalos with?"

'And there it is.' Viola crossed her arms and kept her eyes on Lucario, doing her best to avoid making eye contact with Kukui. 'I don't want to be dishonest. But if I look him in the eyes, I'll lose my composure. And the same could apply to Lucario too.'

At catching Kukui facing her from the corner of her eye due to her continued silence, the blonde quietly gulped before she spoke. "… I did."

"And Lucario doesn't belong to you."

"… It doesn't."

"So, if Lucario had two trainers, would that make the second trainer-?"

"Professor! I'm here!"

Lillie's voice interrupted Kukui, distracting the two humans and Pokemon enough to turn towards the stairs. At seeing Lillie making her way into the basement with the same outfit and hairstyle as yesterday (and the same bag, Viola noticed), Nebby immediately floated over to the other blonde and stopped her in her tracks when getting right up into her face, while Viola placed a hand to her chest with a quiet sigh.

'Oh, thank Arceus. I was saved by Lillie.'

Lillie smiled and lightly patted Nebby on the head. "I hope you've been behaving yourself for Viola, Nebby."

Lucario grumbled and folded its arms at that, prompting Viola to side-step over to the Pokemon and nudge it in the arm with her elbow. "Ssh."

Nebby waved its arms around at the head pat, following Lillie when she walked over to where the other three were standing. "I'm sorry for taking so long. I hope I haven't kept you waiting."

"No worries, Lillie! You're just in time," Kukui replied, beckoning to Viola with a hand while locking eyes with the Lucarionite she was still holding. "I'll take care of these for you, if you don't mind."

"Not at all." Viola's eyes drooped as she handed the stone over, briefly looking at Nebby when the Pokemon's eyes followed her movement. "I doubt they'd be safe from Nebby in my belongings anyway…"

Kukui approached his desk after taking the stone from Viola and opened the top drawer to put all three items inside. It was here that Lillie took notice of the open incubator, her attention lingering on the empty spot. "Why do you have the incubator open, Professor? Are the Pokemon in there okay?"

Kukui answered without looking up from the drawer, with Viola and Lucario watching as he took something red out after swapping it out for the Mega Ring and stones. "They're fine. I'm taking three of them to Iki Town today for the kahuna. His grandson is finally starting his Pokemon journey."

"Grandson?" Viola repeated.

"That's right. I have a feeling you'll meet him at some point. He spends a lot of time in Hau'oli City. But anyway…" Kukui closed the drawer with a gentle nudge of his elbow and faced Viola and Lillie with the object in both hands. "Viola," Kukui grinned as he held the object out towards her, turning it around so it was upright. "this is for you. Consider it my welcoming gift."

Viola carefully took the object from Kukui's hands and brought it close to her person with the tilt of her head, prompting Lucario, Nebby, and Lillie to move to her side so they could see the object for themselves. It was a small, red device with a square shaped body and an arch shaped head fitted with a black screen. There were oval shaped points protruding from the bottom of its body and the sides of its head, along with two ovals on top of the screen connected by a small black arch. To Viola, these features made it look like the device had eyes, feet and arms, due to how similar it was to Nebby's body structure (without the inclusion of the "feet").

"What is it?" Viola questioned.

"It's a Pokedex."

"A Pokedex?!" Viola shouted, leaning back as she stared at her wide-eyed reflection staring back. "But I'm not a-"

"I know. But since you're not native to Alola, it'll still come in handy when familiarising yourself with the region's Pokemon."

"I suppose that's true…"

Viola turned to Lucario at seeing the Pokemon lean over her shoulder, its nose twitching as it sniffed at the screen of the Pokedex. But then the Pokemon pulled away with a low growl, baring its teeth in the process. "What's the matter, Lucario?"

"Lucario must have realised it isn't an ordinary Pokedex."

Viola and Lillie looked at Kukui with a quick blink, with the former being the one to speak up. "What do you mean?"

Seconds after Viola had asked the question the Pokedex's screen flashed on, drawing the girls' and the two Pokemon's attention to its white background and blue, diagonal magnifying glass symbol in the middle. The same applied to the screen's "eyes" (as Viola had chosen to nickname them for now), which lit up completely white. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary yet… until the "eyes" slowly blinked open. Viola and Lillie briefly froze up at seeing this. But when a mouth appeared on the screen and morphed into a teeth-bearing grin, the pair gasped loudly and jumped backwards alongside Lucario when the Pokedex floated up out of Viola's hands, hovering above them with blue pupils.

As the Pokedex continued to boot up its body's design shifted: two wide arms sprouted on either side of its body from its back (one of which had a camera lens), its "feet" stretched out to look longer, and a thin point grew on top of its head. While this was happening Nebby cried out and flew straight into Lucario's chest, forcing the Aura Pokemon to fall backwards onto the floor with a loud cry and thump.

'Holy Xerneas!'

Kukui threw his head back with laughter as Lucario groaned and rubbed at one of its thighs, waiting until he'd calmed down before facing the girls with a wide smile. "Did that surprise you?"

Lillie scowled and turned her nose up to the air, closing her eyes at the heat rising to her face. "That was not funny, Professor."

"You're telling me…" Viola grumbled, frowning and crossing her arms.

Kukui chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I should have warned you about the Pokemon in there."

"Pokemon?" Viola and Lillie said simultaneously.

The Pokedex (who had been silently staring at the pair during all of this) floated down to Viola and hovered in front of her at face level, prompting Lillie to instinctively move closer and grip at her closest arm, which Viola peeked at her for. But then her attention shifted when the Pokedex spoke up in a robotic voice.

"Alola! Zzt-zzt! Pleasure to meet you! My name izzz Rotom Dex!"

"Rotom? A Rotom's in there?" Viola muttered as she stared up at the Pokedex with a squint. "I recall Rotom having the ability to occupy electrical appliances. But not a Pokedex."

Lillie relaxed and released her grip on Viola's arm. "I've read about the same thing. None of the forms Rotom can take mention a Pokedex, last I checked…"

"This form is relatively new," Kukui explained, walking over to stand beside the Rotom Dex with his hands in his pockets. "It operates just like a normal Pokedex, except Rotom is the one in control of everything."

Viola opened her mouth to ask what Kukui meant, but she became distracted when Rotom Dex floated close to Lucario and Nebby when the former stood up with the latter in its arms. Lucario's shoulders tensed when the Pokedex hovered before it, while Nebby watched it with its jaw slacked. The trio silently locked eyes until Rotom Dex touched its screen with one of its hands, causing two bright flashes and loud clicks to follow its actions in succession. Lucario yelped and covered its eyes with an arm. Nebby whimpered and blinked quickly in succession, having also been affected by the flashes.

With its job done, Rotom Dex quickly whipped around and returned to Viola's front, showing her its screen. Its mouth was briefly replaced by an image of Lucario as it popped up, alongside a lot of writing that detailed all the information currently known about the Pokemon. Instead of allowing Viola to read it, however, Rotom Dex said it as a quick summary.

"Lucario: The Aura Pokemon. A Fighting and Steel type and the evolved form of Riolu. By catching the Aura emanating from others, Lucario reads its opponent's feelings and thoughts. Only those with justice in their hearts can earn Lucario's trust."

Lucario snorted and rolled its eyes at this, but Viola's eyes soon lit up as they remained fixed on the Pokedex. "Oh. I get it. Rotom collects the data by itself."

"Exactly," Kukui replied with a bright smile. "Professor Sycamore told me you've had experience with a regular Pokedex before. I thought you could give it a test run while you're out today."

Viola nodded in understanding. "Thank you. I'll take good care of it."

The data on Lucario quickly flashed off the screen and was replaced by an image of Nebby soon after, prompting said Nebby to fly away from Lucario and close in on the screen with a wide blink. However, after a few seconds, three red question marks phased in front of the image, prompting the following words to leave Rotom Dex's mouth:

"No data. No data."

"Huh?" Viola frowned and glanced at Nebby, who tilted its head at the screen with a slight gape. "Where's the data for Nebby?"

"There isn't any," Lillie answered quietly and started tugging at her bag strap when Viola looked her way. "Cosmog is a rare Pokemon who was recently discovered. Which is why there's currently very little existing data and research on it."

"We're still compiling the necessary data to put into a Pokedex entry," Kukui continued. "So until then Nebby won't be featured in the Rotom Pokedex."

'A rare Pokemon, huh.' Viola retreated into her thoughts as she watched Nebby slowly circle around Rotom Dex to look at it from different angles, while Rotom Dex silently hovered there and followed Nebby with its arms and feet occasionally twitching. 'That sort of explains why Lillie is being secretive and hiding it in her bag…'

Eventually Lucario approached the group when Nebby got right up in Rotom Dex's face and made it lean back with a loud "Zzzt!", its mouth flipped upside down. The Aura Pokemon grabbed Nebby by its sides and pulled the Nebula Pokemon away, allowing the Pokedex to slump with a loud sigh. It soon straightened out when Kukui gave the Pokedex a gentle pat on the back, briefly gaping out of surprise.

"Rotom, give Viola a "Helping Hand", yeah?"

Rotom Dex shook its body around to recover and went back to grinning, giving Kukui a quick salute. "Roger! Zzzt!"

The group then observed Rotom Dex fly down to Viola's bag and slip inside with a final buzz, prompting Kukui to turn towards the four still standing around and wave his hands as if to usher them away. "That was everything I had to give you, so unless you have any questions then off you go. Hau'oli City isn't gonna explore itself."

Viola took that as her cue to walk over to her bag and collect it from the floor, while Lucario handed Nebby over to Lillie so she could put Nebby inside her own bag and zip it up. With their belongings collected and secured, Viola and Lillie headed for the stairs with Lucario in tow, with Viola and Lillie briefly glancing back when Kukui spoke again.

"Viola, I'll explain the mix up to Hala when I see him, so don't worry about it."

"Alright, thanks."

"And Lillie, you take good care of Viola, yeah? I'm counting on you."

"I will."

"And be careful. We don't want a repeat of yesterday."

"We will," Viola and Lillie answered at the same time as they went up the stairs, with the former's eyes drooping.

'He's starting to sound like my mom…'

Kukui fell quiet as he watched the trio disappear from the basement, putting his hands on his hips and grinning while listening to their retreating footsteps. He waited until he heard the front door close upstairs before shaking his head and facing the incubator. "Right. With that sorted, I'd better get those starter Pokemon to- Huh?"

Kukui's eyes widened when he saw one of the pokeballs from the incubator was gone, forcing himself to blink to make sure he wasn't seeing things. When he could see that he wasn't imagining things, however, he was left gaping.

"Where'd that pokeball go?"