Track 7 - "Yertle the Turtle"
Leinani sighed as she took in the hot Alolan sun. She readjusted her umbrella that she had positioned in the black sand so she could enjoy the shade.
Kaiko, dressed in a striped swimsuit, ran through the ocean water, letting his Togedemaru chase him back and forth.
"We still got awhile on Ula'ula Island, but it does kind of bum me out to think that we'll be leaving soon," Leinani told DJ and Shure. She petted her Rowlet on the head. "I want to make sure that we see everything Ula'ula has to offer before we take out."
Rowlet cooed happily in response.
Leinani and Kaiko decided to take a small break from training and adventuring, which brought the group to Route 14's beach. Had they continued a little farther into the route, they would have found the abandoned Thrifty Megamart. Leinani wanted to explore it, but after her encounter with Tapu Bulu, she was afraid to explore into places where she wasn't allowed.
"Come join us, Leilei! The water is nice and warm!" Kaiko called while waving his hands over his head.
Leaving her black hat and her regular clothes on the beach towel, Leinani stood up and slowly walked over to shore. She stuck her toe into the water, and just like Kaiko had said, the water was nice and warm.
Rowlet and Sandshrew both observed the water curiously. Neither one of them were used to the ocean and didn't quite understand what was going on. Up until this point, it had been nonstop training.
"Toge!" Togedemaru said happily. He floated on top of the water, spinning circles around Kaiko.
Rowlet flew into the air slightly before plopping down onto the surface of the water. She was rather buoyant, so similarly to Togedemaru, she just floated. The water was nice on her feathers, and she trilled with pleasure.
"Shrew?"
"C'mon in, Shure," Leinani said, now with half of her body in the water. "Kai is right. The water is great."
"Shrew!" the Pokémon exclaimed before leaping up into the air. He crashed down hard into the water and sank with a solid thunk. Everyone waited patiently for him to resurface, but after a few seconds, nothing happened.
"Shure?!" Leinani yelled. She dove into the water, quickly finding her Pokémon on the bottom. He appeared confused and worried. She grabbed him and then pulled him to the top.
"It looks like Shure can't swim," Kaiko said.
"Go ahead and get some rest in your Poké Ball," Leinani said while returning the Pokémon. "I'm sorry about that." She sighed and then clipped the ball onto her bikini bottoms.
"I special ordered some ride Pokémon," Kaiko said. "We can go exploring farther out into the ocean when they get here."
"For now, let's see what we can find," Leinani exclaimed. She peeked her head into the water and began to swim forward. Rowlet followed close behind just in case she was attacked, but Leinani had no sense of fear. She had swam around Malie City's beaches countless times. She believed she could handle herself.
One Pokémon stuck out to her. It was a small Pokémon, mostly made up of a purple shell. It stuck its tongue out from its shell, hoping it'd bait some prey.
Leinani resurfaced and pulled her hair back. "There's some Shellder over here!"
"You can find Shellder anywhere, Leilei!" Kaiko said. He pointed to the sky. "Look!"
A white Pokémon with blue tipped wings was nearing the two. It had a massive yellow bill which it used to store things inside of. It flew overhead before landing on the water and slowly floating closer.
"You can find Pelipper anywhere, Kaiko," Leinani said in a mocking tone.
The Pelipper bent forward and opened its mouth, revealing two Poké Balls. Kaiko took the two Poké Balls and smiled. "It's our ride Pokémon!" He tossed the two balls into the air and two different Pokémon emerged.
One was light blue with a large grey shell. It had a long neck and thick flippers at its side. The ocean sparkled around it, as if it had some mystifying quality about it.
The other one was pink, rather chubby, and had a shell that appeared to be clamped down onto its tail. It had a dopey expression on its face, and it looked towards Leinani and Kaiko, but they couldn't tell if it was looking at them or through them.
"Dibs on Lapras!" Leinani yelled while holding her hand into the air.
"Dibs?"
"Dibs!"
"But I was the one who ordered them!"
"Don't you dare try to disrespect dibs, Kaiko. You'll get the Slowbro, and you'll enjoy it!"
Now that the two had their ride Pokémon, they were able to easily go out into the sea. The clear light blue water slowly shifted into a darker shade, indicating that they were now in more dangerous territory.
Leinani observed the dark water closer. Just below her, she saw a dim flash of light. As though it were echoing, something under the water was shining off and on again. Careful not to fall off of Lapras, Leinani tucked her head and looked underwater. For a moment, it was complete darkness, but the rhythm of the light continued, revealing dozens of small blue antennaed Pokémon with the power to light up the ocean.
Leinani brought her head back over the water and shook her black hair out of her eyes. "There's a herd of Chinchou near here!"
"Look over there!" Kaiko said while pointing.
A group of Pokémon were swimming in a line and jumping out of the water. They were pink in color and heart-shaped. Leinani immediately recognized them, as they were the most popular Pokémon in February.
"Luvdisc," she said with a slight hint of disdain in her voice.
They continued on their sea adventure, which led them to a rock in the middle of the ocean. Surrounding the rock were pearl colored Pokémon who moved as though their bodies were stone, lacking the joints for proper fluidity.
"Corsola," Kaiko said. "They're so pretty."
"What's that thing?" Leinani said while pointing towards a round creature. It sat in the middle of some of the Corsola, and Leinani thought that it was a potato for a moment.
Once again, she put her face in the water and looked right at it, examining it closely. It had small purple spikes coming from it, and a white, star-shaped mouth. Suddenly, it jolted forward, releasing some of its white insides. Leinani, panicked, pulled her head out of the water and fell back onto Lapras' carriage.
"Pyukumuku," she said. "You're not supposed to get that close."
"Pyukumuku?" Kaiko wondered. He used Leinani's Pokédex to scan the Pokémon.
"Pyukumuku, the Sea Cucumber Pokémon. It lives in shallow seas, such as areas near a beach. It can eject its internal organs, which it uses to engulf its prey or battle enemies."
"Gross, but cool!" he exclaimed. "The Pokémon of the sea are so beautiful, don't ya think?"
Leinani nodded. "Yeah. They're pretty cool, and Alola is full with so many."
"It's too bad."
"What is? I just said they're pretty cool."
"Not that. Most of these Pokémon won't have trainers ever. Trainers don't want Pokémon like Shellder or Luvdisc, because they're hard to handle outside of the water. Most of these Pokémon won't ever know what it's like to be in a proper Pokémon battle!" Kaiko said.
Leinani looked down at the Pyukumuku. "I guess you have a point. But, maybe you think too much." She put her head back in the water once more to blow bubbles at the Pokémon.
Kaiko laughed, and he looked around. He gazed up at the sky where not a single cloud could be seen. "Beautiful," he muttered. Then suddenly, the sky began to shift slightly in one area. The light blue morphed into a purple and dark blue. It started to change, as though there was something siphoning the sky from a straw.
"Leilei!" Kaiko yelled, but his sister's head was under water, so she couldn't hear him. He looked at her and screamed once more, "Leinani!"
Leinani finally came back up and she rubbed her eyes before looking back at Kaiko. "What?"
Kaiko pointed to where the siphon had been, but it was now gone, and the sky was crystal clear once again. "There's a weird thing!"
Leinani looked up. "A weird thing?"
"I saw a weird thing!"
The two sat in silence for a bit until Leinani rolled her eyes and then sighed. "You're a weird thing."
Kaiko slumped. "I saw something. I can't explain it. But, I saw something."
After the two finished exploring, they decided to head back to the beach. It was beginning to get dark, and they needed to get to the Pokémon Center before it was too late. They began their surf back to the beaches of Route 14, but when it came within eyesight, they noticed a group of people dressed in white lab coats, walking around the beach with long devices that looked like metal detectors.
When the duo reached the shore, Leinani immediately got off of Lapras and ran for her bag where two of the people in lab coats stood with their devices. She grabbed her bag, making sure that her headphones were still there.
"Back off! Get away from my stuff, you perverts!"
The two in lab coats, who were females, looked at one another, shrugged, and then walked away.
A man with lime green sunglasses approached Leinani. He was balding with light blonde hair, and he had a small hunch and a crooked nose. He put his hands together and grinned. "Hello, little miss. My name is Faba. I'm the Aether Foundation's branch chief."
"If you come near my stuff again, you'll be the branch chief of my foot in your-"
"Leilei," Kaiko interrupted. "I'm sorry. My sister really loves her stuff, and it was kind of rude for you to go through it."
Faba tried to stand up straight, but his neck had been ruined by years of bad posture, so nothing changed. "Anyways, as I was saying. We're the Aether Foundation. It's our mission statement to keep any and all Pokémon safe from harm. We take in sick Pokémon and give them the proper treatment they need before we send them back into the world."
"Yeah, we've heard of you," Leinani mumbled.
"Your company built the fifth island!" Kaiko exclaimed. "The Aether Paradise!"
Faba seemingly bowed his head slightly. "I'm glad you've heard of us."
"What do you want?" Leinani asked.
"We've received some… special reports that there's been some… special activity coming from Ula'ula Island recently. We were curious if you two have seen anything… special?"
Leinani didn't like the vibe that Faba gave off. Something about his crooked smile and his inability to look at her directly in the eyes gave her the wrong impression. However, she did remember that after her battle with Enoka at the Lake of the Sunne and Moone, she heard something odd and thought she saw something-as Faba would put it-special. And then there was Kaiko with his weird thing.
"Nope!" Kaiko exclaimed. "Nothing special! Nothing weird!"
Leinani was surprised. She thought with how excited and nerdy Kaiko was, he'd be more than willing to share his little experience with the Aether Foundation. Either he was making up the weird thing or he also didn't like Faba's overall aura.
"Oh," Faba said. "Well, if you happen to see anything, don't be afraid to contact the Aether Foundation. Here's my card." He handed out a small white business card with green and red text.
Leinani, her hands still damp from the ocean, took the card and immediately crumpled it. "Okay, then. Thank you. Buh bye."
Faba frowned and then grumbled to himself as he walked away. He took the other members of the foundation with him, and within a few minutes, they had cleared the beach, leaving Leinani, Kaiko, and their Pokémon alone.
"What's up?" Leinani asked when they were gone. "You didn't mention your weird thing."
Kaiko shrugged. "I didn't like his vibe."
Leinani smiled and patted him on the head. "You're a good kid."
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
I don't really have much to say about this chapter. I wanted to show off ride Pokémon, Pyukumuku, and introduce the Aether Foundation. I had mentioned a while ago that the Aether Foundation would be more a problem whenever Logan is in Alola, but I've since changed my mind, because I don't plan on going back to write Logan's whole adventure in Alola. So, instead, they'll be Leinani's problems! Yay!
CrescentApple - "The necklace. I never would have guessed it! I thought the necklace "S" was just for style and glossed over it! This battle is far different than the last battle. Leinani's battle expressed how hard she and her pokemon worked to gain victory, and its great. I was confused how Rowlett escaped Savage Spin out. But I think it was Shadow Sneak. Rowlett tapping his talon to her beat in rhythm tells me she will probably do a Z move much quicker than Cyan." - Yeah. There's a new reformed Team Skull, and the little mousey Uhuli is a member! DJ escaped with Shadow Sneak. I don't think Leinani will struggle with Z-Moves. One of the reason why Cyan was unable to do them was because he was holding onto a lot of deep sadness (the disappearance of his sister).
UKEagleClaw - "Very enjoyable gym battle. Shure vs. Wimpod was very interesting on a tactical level and DJ having to use her speed and manoeuvrability to beat Pinsir. I also liked reading the musical references (the Driftveil, the tapping and mentions of rhythmunique to Leinani's perspective. Looking forward to reading what happens next! :D" - Glad you pointed out the speed and maneuverability! It's a key to DJ's character and battle style! And the mention of music will be a constant thing. If I were a good enough poet, I'd actually have Leinani rap when she gives commands, but that's something for another day.
