Track 5 - "Can't Help Falling in Love"
Leinani and Kaiko spent the next couple of days in Po Town. Kaiko knew that the best thing to do for Leinani was to give her distance, so he'd stay at the Pokémon Center while she went to Route 17 for training. Occasionally, he'd sneak off to the meadow to play with the wild Pokémon.
"DJ, Tackle! Shure, Scratch!"
Leinani had found a clearing for training, and she had her Pokémon stand on opposite sides. She'd give them both orders consecutively, and then they'd strike repeatedly. The two were teammates though, so they were holding back, and Leinani noticed.
Rowlet took into the air before shifting her body. She stuck out her talons and then dove towards the ground while Sandshrew ran forward. He stuck out his arms and then slashed. The two connected, and they held out momentarily while they tried to match each other's strength.
"Push!" Leinani yelled.
With one more desperate attempt, the Pokémon put all of their effort into their attacks. It didn't quite go how either one of them intended though, and they ended up crumpling into one another, their heads clunking together. They both fell to the ground. Sandshrew was relatively okay, but Rowlet looked dizzied by the blunder.
Leinani approached the two, and she sighed. She knelt down and then helped Rowlet to find her balance. "We need to be stronger. When we fight someone like Guzma, we need to put every effort we have into hitting hard and fast. Don't pull any punches."
"Row," the Grass-type trilled.
"Shrew," the Ice-type added.
"Even when you're battling with each other," she said. "We shouldn't make it a habit to go easy."
"Alola, Leinani," a soft voice said from behind.
Leinani snapped around with her arms extended out if she needed to strike. She was completely taken by surprise from the voice. She recognized it, but she wasn't sure from where, but once she saw who it was, she eased up. It was the girl that ended up with Popplio the day they all got their starter Pokémon. She had long black hair that was pulled into a ponytail except for a thick braid on the right side. Her skirt was white, and she wore a pink spaghetti strap top. Around her neck dangled a small necklace with what appeared to be a golden small, stylized 'S' as the pendant.
"Alola," Leinani replied. She couldn't remember the girl's name. She never thought that they'd meet again, so she didn't care to remember it.
"Ulani Alo," she said softly. "We met about a week ago."
"I remember. You chose Popplio," Leinani said cooly. She was still a bit frustrated that both Enoka and Ulani chose before her. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, I'm from Po Town. I was saying goodbye to everyone and challenging the gym leader."
"How was it?" Leinani asked. She was afraid to ask, but word vomit dictated that she asked immediately.
"Very difficult," Ulani responded with a heavy sigh. She appeared stressed by the question and overall very mousey.
Leinani put her hands at her side. "Yeah, but I'm sure you'll get it."
Ulani appeared like she was unsure of how to respond. She just scratched the back of her head. "So, what are you doing out here?"
Leinani turned to her Pokémon. "We're training. You can never be too strong!"
"I guess so. Did you battle the gym leader in Malie City already?"
Leinani froze. "No."
"Oh. I was wondering if you had advice."
Leinani raised her eyebrow and then looked back at Ulani. "Well, maybe I can give you some advice if you give me some advice on Guzma. What's his deal?"
Ulani cocked her head. "His deal?"
Leinani then gave up trying to be cool, and she looked at the ground. "The truth is, I lost too. He beat me without giving an inch. And now, I'm not sure what to do. I don't know how to beat him."
"Oh?"
Leinani looked away, afraid of what Ulani would think of her.
"Well, why don't we train together for a bit?" Ulani asked. "I can share what I know, and you can share what you know, and maybe we'll come up with something?"
Leinani always studied independently at the school, and she had always refused help from other classmates and teachers. If she couldn't figure it out, then she'd have to think outside of the box. But that was always with puzzling strategies and basic Pokémon care. With Guzma, it was different. His entire strategy was to be as violent as possible, and no one ever taught her how to handle that.
But at this point, Leinani was willing to throw her pride away for a moment to get past this particular issue.
"Alright. Let's train together for a bit," Leinani said. "But, we're gonna listen to my music. What kind of tunes are you into?"
"Music?" Ulani asked.
Leinani unplugged her headphones from her device and then began to shuffle around the insides of her bag before pulling out a set of small speakers. "Yeah. I mostly listen to rap, hip hop, and various forms of rock. What are you into? I got everything."
"Um, I like slow music. It's old, so I'm sure you won't like it," Ulani said timidly.
"Classic?"
"Some would say that. Um, Elvin."
"Elvin? Elvin Pretzley?"
"Yeah. Please don't laugh!"
Leinani didn't laugh. She instead looked at her device and played with the touchscreen for a few moments. She put the device near the speakers, and the sounds of soft rock and roll began to radiate from them.
"The only kind of music that deserves to be laughed at is the stuff from Driftveil City in Unova," Leinani said. She stood up and then shrugged. "But even then, it has some good qualities."
Ulani smiled. "Let's get started!"
The two began their training. They started by showing each other the techniques that their Pokémon already knew. Leinani understood that Ulani was well read, and she probably knew the basic techniques that Rowlet had, so she wasn't paranoid to show her off. Ulani also didn't seem like the kind of person who was looking to get an upperhand in any way.
"Right now, from what I can see, you battle in a straight line," Ulani said after a few minutes of battling. She had observed all of Rowlet's and Sandshrew's attacks. "There needs to be more flow, and you can make better use of the space given to you."
"Flow? Are you saying I battle wooden?"
"Yeah," Ulani said while putting her two pointer fingers together. "I'm sorry."
Leinani usually would have been bothered, but after a momentary reflection of her only two battles, what Ulani said made sense.
"I get ya. Don't apologize," Leinani said. "Flow." She thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to work with what Ulani said.
"Why don't you try the music?" Ulani said while motioning towards the speakers.
Leinani snapped her fingers. "That's not a bad idea, Ulani. But, I don't think I can find a real flow to Elvin."
"You can change it. I won't mind."
Leinani didn't hesitate. She ran to her device and began to mess with it for a while, a smile coming across her face. She looked at Ulani and then snickered before making her selection.
What followed were sounds that Ulani had never heard before. It had an undeniable rhythm to it, but the beat of the music was made out of what sounded like distorted organ chords. It was like a punch in the gut, but she found herself loving the energy it put out.
"Jewel Runners," Leinani said. "Best rap duo on the planet."
"It sounds cool!" Ulani responded. "Let's train!"
The two quickly got to their positions on the field, and without much hesitation, Leinani started.
"Use Peck!" she ordered.
Rowlet trilled while taking off into the air and then blasting straight forward.
"Bubble!" Ulani instructed.
Leinani watched the field, but with the rhythm of the music flowing through her body, it all seemed different to her. It stopped being a regular battle.
"To the right!" she ordered on a beat.
Rowlet followed, and on the next beat, she twisted her body and then flew to the right, avoiding all of the bubbles that Popplio had unleashed on the field.
"Oh yeah!" Leinani yelled out. "Keep it up! Go!"
Rowlet reared her body on the next beat and then shot downwards, avoiding all of Popplio's attack.
"Popplio, watch out!" Ulani warned, but Rowlet was too fast.
"Stop!" Leinani ordered while she stuck her hand out.
Inches from Popplio's face, Rowlet stopped. The energy that she built up in her beak faded away, and then she slowly floated towards the ground.
"Popplio is our training partner. There's no need to go all out," Leinani said. She smiled, and then the song came to an end, transitioning into the next. But to everyone's surprise, the volume suddenly decreased. Leinani shot a look over to her speakers where Kaiko stood. He held the control in his hand.
"Hey!" he exclaimed. "I brought you lunch!" He held up two plastic bags filled with small lunch boxes of food bought from a convenience store.
"Don't touch my music!" Leinani screeched.
"Lunch?" Ulani wondered. She felt her stomach, and it grumbled. "Sounds great."
Leinani hadn't noticed herself that she worked up an appetite, and she was furious with Kaiko for muting her music. But after she retrieved her speakers and made sure that her device wasn't smudged with her brother's fingerprints, she calmed down slightly.
The three took a break, and they sat down on a blanket that Ulani had brought with her. She shared with them malasadas from her favorite shop in Po Town, and in return Kaiko gave her some of the fried food that he had packed in the boxes.
"So, why did you want to become a Pokémon trainer?" Ulani asked quietly after finishing a bite of her malasada.
"I want to become the champion," Leinani responded. She kept her eyes down while she ate. "I also want to make a career as a rap and hip hop producer."
"Do you think you can do both?"
Leinani nodded. She softly pet Rowlet on her head. "I kind of have a dream of sampling the sounds of Pokémon and turning them into beats."
Ulani didn't quite understand what Leinani meant, and her confusion was visible.
"Like, every Pokémon has a distinct voice and sound they make when they battle and speak. It's complicated, but I want to record those sounds and turn them into music," she explained.
"Oh! That sounds fun! You can do it!" Ulani cheered.
The three were silent momentarily. Kaiko was hoping that Leinani would ask Ulani about her dreams and such, but she wasn't exactly the best at conversational catchball.
"How about you?" he finally asked after Leinani refused to. "What do you want to accomplish as a trainer?"
Ulani perked up and smiled. "It's my dream to bring contests to Alola! Right now, I want to get strong, and then I want to travel to the East and become a coordinator! I think that Alolan contests would be magical!"
"That sounds amazing!" Kaiko exclaimed. "Don't you think so, Leilei?"
Leinani shrugged. "I don't know. Never seen a contest."
"I'm sure you'd love them if you ever saw one," Ulani said with a grin. "Should we get back to training?"
"Yeah!" Leinani said happily.
After setting up her speakers once more and blasting music that made her blood pump wildly, the two were ready for another practice battle.
"I'll go with Cutiefly!" Ulani exclaimed. She threw her Poké Ball forward, and a small yellow Pokémon that fluttered in the air materialized.
Kaiko scanned it with Leinani's Pokédex, and the robotic voice said, "Cutiefly, the Cutiefly can pick up the auras of living things. It skillfully reads those auras to predict its foes' movements and make fools of them."
"I figured it'll be good training for your Rowlet if you have to battle in the air. You can practice your flow more!"
Leinani nodded. "Sounds dope. DJ, you ready?"
"Row!" she trilled in response.
Leinani waited momentarily as she wanted to give her order on a beat like she did before. When it finally came and she could see that Rowlet was feeling the groove, she commanded. "Use Peck!"
"Cutiefly, try Fairy Wind!"
The two Pokémon flew through the air. Cutiefly swirled around as she released a pink dust from her body. The dust whipped up before blowing straight towards the oncoming Rowlet.
"Dodge to the left!"
Rowlet did exactly as told and quickly moved to the side. But this time, Cutiefly had more control over her attack, and the energy began to follow Rowlet through the air.
"Keep dodging, but never lose your momentum!" Leinani instructed.
Rowlet felt the energy of the music flow through her small body, and she darted throughout the air in a rhythmic fashion. As the music got more aggressive, so did her movements, but it was all in an effort to get closer to Cutiefly.
"She's fast," Ulani said, unable to keep track of the Grass-type.
"Now!" Leinani said.
Rowlet trilled, and her body was suddenly enveloped in a shadowy energy. She darted towards Cutiefly, and then momentarily disappeared. Everyone gasped and then waited for what came next, not sure what just happened. Then, Rowlet appeared behind Cutiefly from a burst of black energy. She raised her talons and prepared to strike, stopping right before she could.
"Good," Leinani said. She was sweating bullets from watching the two do their aerial dance.
"What in the world?" Ulani wondered. "What was that?"
The two Pokémon descended back to the ground, and Rowlet took her position on Leinani's hat.
"That was a move called Shadow Sneak," Kaiko explained while reading from the Pokédex. "DJ has gained a lot of experience in the past couple days of training."
"Shadow Sneak?" Leinani wondered. She looked up and caught Rowlet's gaze. "Dope."
Ulani smiled. "I think with Shadow Sneak and feeling the flow, you'll have a little bit of an edge over Guzma! Your Pokémon are clearly getting stronger."
"You think so?" Leinani asked. The two had only been training together for a couple of hours, but she did feel like something was improving. "I'm afraid to ask, but did you already win? You just said that the battle was hard. You didn't tell me if you won. I assumed you didn't, but you seem like you know what you're doing."
Ulani knelt down and put her bag on the floor. She pulled out a small rectangular case and a white bracelet. Leinani recognized the bracelet as a Z-Ring, and she could feel her jealousy building up. She tried not to show it. Ulani popped open the rectangular case, revealing a badge. It was silver and divided into three rectangular shapes, forming what appeared to look like samurai armor.
"The Pest Badge," she said. "I earned it this morning."
Leinani's shoulders slumped. "And you got a Z-Ring."
Ulani quickly tucked it away and then smiled. "Yeah. But, don't worry! You'll be sure to beat Guzma next time! He was my mentor, so I think I knew what I was getting into."
"Your mentor?" Leinani wondered. She looked at Ulani from head to toe. Her gentle smile and demeanor was nothing compared to how aggressive Guzma was. "I don't see it."
Ulani chuckled. "He's a softy when you get to know him. Just, try not to say anything that'll upset him."
"Seems like everything I said upset him."
"That's why I don't really say anything!" Ulani responded. "Thank you for training with me today. I was sad that we didn't get to talk much after we got our starter Pokémon."
Leinani shifted her eyes and took a step back. She grabbed Rowlet from her hat and then held her in her arms. "No, thank you. I think I'd be stuck here for days if it weren't for your help. I'm sorry for being rude before."
"Do you think we can be friends?" Ulani asked timidly.
Leinani froze. "F-friends is kind of a strong word. How about rivals?"
Ulani's eyes widened, and she smiled. "I don't have any rivals! It sounds fun!"
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
This chapter took me the longest to write, but I think I liked how it turned out. I like Ulani. Her timid nature is a nice foil to Guzma's temper. If you go back and read her physical description, there's something interesting about her too. I'm curious to see if anyone can figure it out.
REVIEWS:
UKEagleClaw - "Nice opening to set the scene and to show what's changed in the years that have passed by. And Nurse Joy stirring things up, haha. Enjoyed the description of the gym's interior. Very intriguing layout, and Guzma was great as always. Liked how you introduced him, and got some annoyance w/Uhuli in their too. 'Insect Kingpin' sounds awesome too. I'm pleased Guzma won really. Got to reclaim some honour, haha. He probably went a bit overkill too, haha, but I'm interested to see where Leinani goes from here. A good way to humble her a bit, I think. Really nice repetition of 'they echoed' in the last scene, and Kaiko's perspective at the end was very interesting too. Very much looking forward to the next chapter, seeing how Leinani reacts in greater detail!" - I love the nickname 'Insect Kingpin.' I think my experience with pro wrestling kind of lets me give the gym leaders intriguing gimmicks and such. We've talked about it before.
CrescentApple - "Hey a loss is just as good experience as a win. This will be a lot better for Leinani . Good point to put on the chapter." - Logan lost his first gym battle in Unova, and Yurie lost her first contest. Cyan happened to win his first trial, but it's common for my main characters to eat a loss first.
wisdom-jewel - "Leilani should have trained more before battling a gym. Gain more experience and bond more with her Pokemon. Of course, tomorrow is another day and she could do more work." - She's slowly getting more experience. I'm so excited to show off the battle that I have planned next!
