Track 28 - My Way


The Koa siblings decided to stay on Melemele Island for a little bit longer. Leinani enjoyed training with her Pokémon in ways that didn't involve direct battling, and finding ways to bond with them made her feel like her team was getting closer. If she had to perform in any double battling scenarios, she felt confident in her team's compatibility. Also, it had been a while, but the words from the old lady on Ula'ula Island about her weak bond with Rowlet had stuck with her. If there were any lingering doubts from Rowlet, she wanted to squash them.

This meant more time on the beach, multiple hikes up the mountain, and exploring the jungle.

"So, what is Marshadow even about? Is it a strong beast or a timid freak?" Leinani asked Kaiko. The group had found a spot in the jungles of Melemele Island where Marshadow could walk around freely. It had been a couple of days since it revealed itself to Leinani, and the two hadn't interacted besides Marshadow tossing her around the one time.

"I think it's very powerful, but it's just lost. I don't think it really needs our help, ultimately, but it can't hurt to help it, right?" Kaiko said.

"If we get wrapped up in some scheme with a new version of Team Skull, we could absolutely get hurt," Leinani exclaimed. She examined the mythical Pokémon closer. "However, maybe it'd be cool if Marshadow joined my team. It could help me win the Manalo Conference."

"That's selfish of you!"

"It's not selfish! If we help Marshadow out, then why can't Marshadow help us? Eye for an eye!"

Kaiko looked at Marshadow and then shrugged. "It's not interested in joining your team."

"Huh?"

"It told me. It's not interested. It doesn't like you."

"It doesn't like me?! How could it not like me?!"

"It likes your team! But, it's scared of you."

"I'll break its legs!"

One of the bushes suddenly started to move, and Leinani and Kaiko raised their arms, prepared to fight. Marshadow sunk back into Kaiko's shadow, revealing only his red eyes. And then, from the bushes, the mousey Ulani Alo emerged.

She was in a different condition than they were used to. She still wore her pink spaghetti strap top and white skirt, but they were dirtied from traveling. Her usually pale skin had been tanned slightly and covered with scratches and bruises. Her hair was a slight mess and the singular thick braid that she had had seemingly tattered. By her side was Brionne, who also appeared exhausted.

"You chill?" Leinani asked. "You look like you got hit by a truck."

Ulani's eyes brightened momentarily before she pulled herself from the bush. She ran to the two siblings and smiled. "It's so nice to see you again! We're fine! We've just been training a lot!"

"So have we," Leinani said. She realized that there was now a distinct smell coming from Ulani and her Pokémon. "But we're still managing to shower once a day."

Ulani laughed. "Well, we've been kind of training nonstop. We haven't been to a Pokémon Center in a couple of days. Melemele's jungle is a great place! There are a lot of friendly Pokémon!"

Before Leinani could ask Ulani why she was training so intensely, she focused on her rival's necklace with the 'S' pendant. Kaiko caught her eye, realizing the same thing. They exchanged glances, but Ulani didn't seem to have noticed.

"If you've been training too, maybe we can have a sparring match or something!" Ulani exclaimed. "If I remember correctly, we haven't actually had a battle against one another yet. Since we're rivals, I think it'd be fun!"

Leinani folded her arms. "I'm not sure. I mean-of course you'll benefit, but what do I get out of it? Also, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the term 'rivals'. I barely know you."

"Oh," Ulani muttered, looking slightly dejected. "I've just been having trouble with the gym leader, so I thought it'd be good to get in a practical battle. We've used the same attacks on trees over and over. It's starting to get stale."

"I think you should try out a battle!" Kaiko exclaimed happily. Leinani wasn't sure where his sudden burst of energy came from, but his smile looked genuine.

"It can't hurt," Leinani muttered. But she knew that if she somehow suffered a loss to Ulani, it would very much hurt her pride. Losing to an Elite Four member like Aoi was understandable, but losing to a rival meant that she was behind.

"Yes!" Ulani exclaimed. "My team isn't really built very well to fight against Tanium. So, if you could, can you battle with your Sandshrew please?"

Leinani shrugged. "I'd like to get in some more practice with my Charjabug too. Boombox is close to evolving, so I want to make sure she's nice and strong before we go to Poni Island. Let's make it a two on two battle."

Ulani nodded. She looked around the small clearing that they were in. They were surrounded by rocks and trees, which wouldn't be around when she battled with Tanium again. But she knew that battling on various fields would be good for her overall experience. Ulani did Leinani the favors and ran to the other end of the field before waving her arms around to say that they could begin the battle.

"Okay, Boombox, you're up!" Leinani shouted while throwing her Poké Ball forward. Charjabug appeared and wiggled her pincers around.

"I don't want to make it easy for you!" Ulani exclaimed. "So, I'm going with Rockruff!"

Her Pokémon materialized from the light and then howled as soon as she took to the field.

"Rockruff, the Puppy Pokémon. When it rubs the rocks on its neck against you, that's proof of its love for you. However, the rocks are sharp, so the gesture is quite painful!" Leinani's Pokédex chimed.

"They can be hard to raise, but if Ulani has one under control, then that's only a testament to how good of a trainer she is," Kaiko muttered.

"Boombox, use Mud Shot!"

Charjabug squealed and then dug her pincers into the ground, her voice quickly becoming muffled. She then spat some of the earth that she dug up, sending it straight for Rockruff.

"Iron Defense!" Ulani shouted.

Rockruff got low and then barked. She took the attack directly, and it did its fair share of damage, but the Rock-type had managed to focus her defensive energy fast enough to wade off some of the pain.

"And now, Play Rough!"

Rockruff ran through the mud with ease and then leaped into the air. She barked, letting out a small pellet of pink energy from her mouth. It exploded against the ground, creating pink smoke. She dove into the smoke, and while no one could see what was happening, they could hear the two Pokémon struggle. Eventually, Rockruff won whatever fight they were having, and Charjabug was launched from the smoke.

"Follow up with Thunder Fang!" Ulani shouted.

Leinani grinned and then snapped her fingers. "That's a mistake, Ulani-girl! Boombox, Spark!"

Rockruff relentlessly crunched down onto Charjabug, but the Electric-type couldn't help but simply laugh. She sparked her body, and Rockruff yelped before backing away.

"X-Scissor!" Leinani ordered.

"Another Iron Defense!"

Charjabug was slow in doing her attack, and by the time that she slashed out at Rockruff, the Rock-type had already focused her defenses. She bounced off of Rockruff, her pincers injured from the seemingly immovable Pokémon.

Now Ulani snapped her fingers in the same way that Leinani did before. "Rock Tomb!"

Rockruff howled, ripping up stones from underneath Charjabug. The stones lifted the Bug-type into the air before they all tumbled to the ground, burying the Pokémon. Leinani waited momentarily, but when nothing happened, she ran to the rocks. She removed the one on top, revealing her fainted Pokémon.

She really got the jump on me that quick? She's good, Leinani thought. She withdrew Charjabug, tightened her fist, and then ran back to her makeshift trainer's box. She drew her Poké Ball from her belt and then clicked her tongue. "You want Shure! You got Shure! Go, Shure!"

Her Alolan Sandshrew materialized on the field and then waved his arms around in an effort to intimidate Rockruff; it didn't work.

"Use Rock Tomb!" Ulani ordered.

"She's fast! Shure, bring them down with Metal Claw!"

Although Rockruff was quick to rip up the stones around Sandshrew, the Ice-type knew exactly what to do. He spun around with his arms out, slicing through every stone as though they were butter.

"Thunder Fang!" Ulani yelled.

"Defense Curl!"

Rockruff darted across the field. She leaped from one of the tree stumps and then started her fall, gaining momentum with every second. Electricity formed around her body before she clamped down onto Sandshrew. But then, she yelped as it felt like chewing on rocks. She backed away and shook her head, dizzied by the impact.

"And finish this with Metal Claw!" Leinani commanded.

Sandshrew rolled forward and then uncurled before slashing once more, hitting Rockruff directly in the snout. The Rock-type twisted before colliding with the ground, her body instantly going limp.

Ulani nodded and then lifted her Poké Ball, retrieving Rockruff. "You did great!" She tossed her next Poké Ball into the air, and a vaguely familiar small green and pink Pokémon appeared.

"Fomantis, the Sickle Grass Pokémon. It loves the sunshine. When it basks in the sunlight regularly, it grows up with vivid coloration," Leinani's Pokédex chimed.

Leinani nodded. "We've beaten bigger," she said, referring to the Lurantis that she battled with so long ago. Little did she remember, she didn't exactly beat the Pokémon.

"Use Razor Leaf!" Ulani commanded.

"Defense Curl!"

Fomantis started to wave around her arms, sending out a hoard of leaves from her sides. Sandshrew curled up once more as the leaves collided with his body, doing no damage.

"Swift!" Leinani shouted.

Sandshrew began to spin in place, blasting star-shaped energy from his body. They managed to connect directly with Fomantis, doing very little damage.

"That's okay!" Leinani said. "Try Ice Punch!"

Sandshrew stopped spinning and then slowly uncurled. He waved his right claw around, forming icicle energy around his small arm. He then started to run forward, but at his speed, Ulani could easily make a counter-command.

"Slash!" she yelled.

Fomantis extended her limbs, sharpening the edges of her scythe-like arms. When Sandshrew came in close, the two swang their attacks, but it was the Ice-type who won the battle of strength.

"Energy Ball!" Ulani yelled.

Sandshrew went for a follow-up strike to directly hit Fomantis, but the Grass-type was much faster. She leaped into the air and generated a green ball of concentrated energy in front of her before launching it downward. It exploded, doing a lot more damage to Sandshrew than any of the previous attacks.

"Another one!" Ulani ordered once she saw the visible damage that it had done to Sandshrew.

"Shure, block with Ice Punch!"

Fomantis released another ball, but Sandshrew cut through it, causing it to explode without doing a lot of damage. Sandshrew then did what he did best, and he rolled into a ball before barreling down the field, much quicker than before.

"You want practice against a Steel-type? Here you go! Shure, use Metal Claw!"

Continuing on his path, Sandshrew stuck out one of his claws before he sideswiped Fomantis. The small Grass-type was tossed back, slamming into Ulani and knocking her over. They tumbled to the ground and were silent for a while until Ulani slowly sat back up.

"You win," she muttered while withdrawing Fomantis. "It looks like Steel-types just have my number!"

Leinani put her hands on her hips. "Stand up. No one has your number."

"Huh?"

"I said stand up," Leinani repeatedly, now with a stern expression on her face.

Ulani did as she was told, getting back to her feet and wiping off her skirt.

"No rival of mine is gonna let anyone have their number!" Leinani said. "You're gonna challenge Tanium again, and you're gonna win."

"I don't know. They're seemingly unst-"

"Stop. Shut up. Stop. And listen," Leinani said. "I don't want to see your whole team, because I don't want an unfair advantage against you when we inevitably fight at the Manalo Conference."

"But if I can't beat-"

"I said shut up!" Leinani shouted. She reached into her bag and pulled out a thick CD case. "I have hundreds of moves at my disposal. You'll owe me a favor, but why don't we spend some time teaching your Pokémon interesting attacks?"

"Wait, are you serious?" Ulani asked, a smile forming. She could also feel tears making their way up, but she had to fight them back. "You would do that for me?"

"Don't get sappy. I'll hit you," Leinani said. She unzipped the case. "Alright, let's get to learnin'!"


AUTHOR'S NOTES:

A short battle, but I wanted to bring back Ulani for one chapter. I won't be showing her battle with Tanium. This was just to show some development for Leinani's attitude toward other people. I might come back and rework this one someday.

Next chapter, I'll bring back another character to harass Leinani.

REVIEWS:

CrescentApple - "I can't figure Leinani out. She seemed so hostile even when Aoi asked her a simple question. If this was in Orre I get it, but Alola is supposed to be very cultural in which everyone almost knows one another." - I just think she's a complex character. A lot of it might just be an act though, as we can see that she's deep down kind of nice.