Chapter 29:

Team Skull's Big Sister

Location: Konikoni City

"I present," said Hau, getting out his Passport. "The Akala stamp!" He had a pink stamp with presumably Tapu Lele on it.

"Great!" I said. "And what about the Z-Crystal?"

"You'll have to find out what Type she uses," Hau told me.

"Rock?" I asked.

"How did you know?!" Hau asked.

"She ownzz a shop that sellzz rockzz, obviouzzly. Roto."

Olivia arrived at that minute. "Alola! Boasting about your new victory?" she asked.

"Yep!" Hau replied. "I don't have any Rock Type moves on me, but I'll see if I can teach any!"

"Great!" Olivia said, smiling. "Okay Elliott, we will have our trial at the Ruins of Life. It's at the Akala Outskirts on top of Memorial Hill. We will have it tomorrow morning as I have some special guests from Sinnoh coming in to have a look, a father son duo apparently who love rocks. So, you will have to rough it tonight. Get plenty of training in!"

"Fine with me!" I said. "Come on, let's set out!"


Location: Memorial Hill

Memorial Hill was a graveyard, hence the name. Lots were mourning for their loved ones, both people and Pokémon. It was also a maze of sorts, with bushes not making it easy to traverse. There were not as many graves as the one's at Hau'oli though.

Anyway, I turned a corner and a Gentleman spotted me.

"What are you doing here? This is no playground!"


Elliott Vs. Gentleman Smith

"Go Umbreon!" Smith shouted, sending out a black Pokémon with yellow rings around it.


Umbreon (ブラッキー)

#158

Dark Type

Moonlight Pokémon

3'03" (1 m)

59.5 lbs (27 kg)

It lurks in the dark of night looking for prey. At the moment it pounces, the rings on its body glow dimly but ominously.

Eevee -Happiness at night- Umbreon


"Hariyama, go!" I shouted. "Use Fake Out!" Hariyama clapped in front of Umbreon, making it flinch. "And now use Force Palm!" Hariyama grabbed Umbreon and clenched its fist, doing Super Effective damage.

"Umbreon, Feint Attack!" Umbreon appeared from behind Hariyama and attacked it; it wasn't very effective. "And now Quick Attack!" Umbreon dashed into Hariyama.

"Now Hariyama, Vital Throw!" Hariyama threw Umbreon. Upon impact, Umbreon fainted.

"Oh, you're taking on the Grand Trial. Excuse me."


I continued walking through the cemetery. Well, I tried to. A Preschooler pounced at me from round the corner.

"Boo! Did I scare you?!"


Elliott Vs. Preschooler Liam

"Go Jigglypuff!" Liam shouted, sending out the round-pink cutie.


Jigglypuff (プリン)

#168

Normal/Fairy Type

Balloon Pokémon

1'08" (0.5 m)

12.1 lbs (5.5 kg)

Recordings of Jigglypuff's strange lullabies can be purchased from department stores. These CDs can be found near the bedding area.

Igglybuff (B) -Happiness- Jigglypuff


"And I'm using Torracat!" I shouted. "Use Fire Fang!" Torracat sunk its teeth into Jigglypuff. It burned it.

"Jigglypuff use Double Slap!" Jigglypuff slapped Torracat in the face a few times.

"Now Torracat, Double Kick!" Torracat kicked Jigglypuff twice. That was enough to knock it out.

"Can you do it Ledian?" The other Pokémon was Ledyba's evolved form, but it had a large head.


Ledian (レヂィアン)

#021

Bug/Flying Type

Five Star Pokémon

4'07" (1.4 m)

78.5 lbs (35.6 kg)

In battle, it throws punches with all four arms. The power of each individual blow is piddly, so it aims to win by quantity rather than quality.

Ledyba -Lv 18- Ledian


"Ledian, Mach Punch!" Ledian flew up quickly to Torracat and punched it for little damage.

"Now use Fire Fang!" Torracat's teeth were set alight, and it chomped down on Ledian for great damage. It was defeated.

"Maybe I shouldn't be scaring people at graveyards…"


Following that, I was almost out the graveyard. The only thing separating me and the end was a patch of tall grass. So, I walked through it soundly. Just joking, I came across a Pokémon. It was brown and floating. It looked like a possessed stump.


Phantump (ボクレー)

#250

Ghost/Grass Type

Stump Pokémon

1'04" (0.4 m)

15.4 lbs (7 kg)

These Pokémon are the stumps possessed by the spirits of children who died in the forest. Their cries sound like eerie screams.


"Go Torracat!" I shouted. "Use Fire Fang!" Torracat chomped down on Phantump, doing lots to it. Phantump came back with Feint Attack, appearing behind Torracat and attacked it. "Use Bite!" Torracat bit down on Phantump. It was finished.


"Finally out of there! Roto!" Rotom Dex said as we exited the cemetery.

"Yeah," I replied. "Okay, let's get a move on and set up camp." However, I learned quickly that our progress would be halted. "Oh great."

It was Team Skull, and they were having a quarrel with some members of the Aether Foundation. Two Team Skull members were male and there were two Aether Foundation members. One was female and dressed like the ones I met on Route 8 whilst the other had green glasses and a green beard.

"Yo! Let us through! This is our turf!"

"I don't think so," said the main wearing the green glasses. "You Grunts are so annoying. Why can't you keep your goings on in Po Town."

I ran up to them. "What's… going on?" I said, a slight shake in my voice. I didn't trust the Aether Foundation either, but I wasn't going to let Team Skull get away with what they were doing.

"Oh, it's you!" the green-man said. "Yes, Colress informed me that you had been taking down these Grunts!"

"Thank you green man," I said.

"Call me Faba," he replied.

"We've got to take down thozze Gruntzz! Roto!"

I chose a Pokéball. "Way ahead of ya."

"Keep out of this yo!" Grunt A said.


Elliott Vs. Team Skull Grunt

"Go Raticate!" the Grunt shouted, sending out an Alolan Raticate.

"And I'm using Trumbeak!" I replied. "Use Rock Smash!" Trumbeak hit Raticate with its wing, lowering its Defense.

"Use Bite!" Raticate bit down on Trumbeak.

"Use another Rock Smash!" Trumbeak hit Raticate once again. One more would do it.

"Now use Hyper Fang!" Raticate sunk its two teeth into Trumbeak.

"One last Rock Smash!" Trumbeak used one last move, knocking out Raticate.

"Yo, you are strong!"


"Nice!" I told Trumbeak, recalling it.

"I heard you were strong," Faba said. "But wow, you didn't break a sweat! We can see why your taking on the Island Challenge!"

"Okay that's enough," said Grunt B. "It's my turn."

"What are you imbeciles doing?" Suddenly, from behind the Grunts, appeared a female. She had pink hair that went down in four parts from skull bands. Two retained the pink whilst two were yellow. She was wearing a two-piece black outfit that looked a bit like Team Skull attire and she had a tattoo of a Team Skull logo around her belly button area.

"Big sister Plumeria," both Grunts said. They pointed at me. "It was him, he's too strong!"

Plumeria shook her head. "Are you kidding me? This single kid?"

"I'm not a single kid!" I replied.

"He izz about to take on hizz second Grand Trial! He'zz more than that! Roto!"

"Is that so?" Plumeria replied. "You two, get back to base. I'll deal with him."

"Yeah big sister," they both replied, running the direction of Konikoni City.

"Wait," she said. "Are YOU the one whose been beating all the Grunts?"

"Yes," I said. "And I'll beat you to!"

Plumeria clenched a Pokéball in her fists. "You… really need to stay out of our way!"


Elliott Vs. Team Skull Admin Plumeria

"Go Golbat!" Plumeria shouted, sending out a flying-blue Pokémon with great-purple wings.


Golbat (ゴルバット)

#081

Poison/Flying Type

Bat Pokémon

5'03" (1.6 m)

121.3 lbs (55 kg)

They can suck down over 10 ounces of blood in one go. They have bene known to drink so much blood that they can no longer fly.

Zubat -Lv 22- Golbat


"Go Snorlax!" I shouted.

"Golbat, Poison Fang!" Golbat sunk its jaws into Snorlax.

"Snorlax, come back with Body Slam!" Snorlax jumped onto Golbat for lots of damage.

"Use Poison Fang again!" Golbat once again chomped down. "What the? Why is it not poisoned?"

"Elliott! Roto! Snorlax hazz the Ability immunity! Zzt zzt!"

"Excellent!" Faba said. "Immunity prevents the Pokémon from getting poisoned!"

"Brilliant!" I said. "Now Snorlax, Body Slam!" Snorlax jumped onto Golbat once again, finishing it.

"I'm not done. Go Salandit!" Out came the Fire and Poison Type.

"Thanks," I told Snorlax. "Go Slowpoke!" Water and Psychic was the way to go.

"Use Smog!" Salandit breathed poisonous gas at Slowpoke. It was fine. Slowpoke then opened its mouth and started creating a ball of water.

"Could that be?" I asked.

"That must be Water Pulse!" Faba said. "What an amazing time to learn it!"

"You bet! Okay Slowpoke, Water Pulse!" Slowpoke fired the ball of water at Salandit for lots of damage. Additionally, Salandit became confused!

"Urgh. Salandit, Dragon Rage!" Instead, Salandit hurt itself. It was down. "Okay. You are pretty good." Plumeria quickly recalled Salandit. "I won't forget this. Like I said, stay out of our way." With that, Plumeria ran off.


"Thanks for that!" said Faba. "My my, you are quite strong!"

"Don't mention it," I said.

"We must do something for you in return for all the help you've given."

"You don't need to do that!" I replied. I wanted little to do with them. Was I obsessive over this potential epiphany? I didn't know. "Your safety is my reward!"

"No no, I insist!" Faba said. "Meet me at the Hano Grand Resort in two days. I understand you have your Grand Trial tomorrow. We will arrange for you to come to our HQ at Aether Paradise. Please do that, we insist!" With that, he walked off.

"He'zz… a bit strange. Roto. You gonna do it?"

"Yeah," I said. "Because I have a feeling that we might be able to find something out about them…"


Rotom's Move Dex!

Zzt! Hey guyzz, it'zz me! Roto! We met the big bad Team Skull Admin Plumeria today, who uzzes Poison Typezz! And that'zz the Type we will look at today!

Clear Smog! Roto!

It can get annoying when the oppozzition keepzz raizzing it'zz statzz, so how about we ruin their strategy? Roto? Enter Clear Smog, a move that can rezzet a Pokémon'zz stat changezz! It'zz weak, but very handy!

Pokémon that can learn Clear Smog include Magmortar, Torkoal and Garbodor!

I really hope that breathing it in doezzen't erazze all my data! Roto!