FEARFUL OF THE NIGHT

By: Cy Mendoza

CHAPTER 12

ROTOM VS LITTEN

What happened at the hospital was still on Chip's mind as he walked into the malasada shop. His stomach growled and whined for food, but his heart felt heavy. Rotom was back in its PokeDex and floating along beside him, expression dejected. Chip hoped for both their sake that the malasada cheered them both up.

After a brief discussion with Rotom, Chip decided to order a sweet malasada—a pastry filled with strawberry and blueberry fillings and dusted with powdered sugar. He waited at a table with Rotom for the order to arrive, his mind drifting about in his thoughts. Chip had an uneasy feeling that Rotom was thinking about the abandoned pichu and its fate, especially since it had fretted so much about Chip replacing it someday or forgetting it. He hoped to the deity that Rotom wasn't thinking about it too much, but given how he knew Rotom tended to be, it was probably fixated on that.

He, too, couldn't put the thought out of his mind. No wonder some pokemon like Mimikyu didn't like trainers. Hell, after what happened today, he couldn't really blame it. Chip couldn't help but find himself imagining the pichu's betrayal and terror, being left alone in that cage to starve. He wanted so badly for it to have survived, but the world wasn't as pleasant a place as he had thought. He had never been very naive, but with this being his first jaunt into the real world, it shocked him how people could be.

"Roro, um… how are you feeling?" he asked.

Rotom looked up at him. "I'm okay. Just waiting for the malasada, zzzt."

Chip wasn't sure if Rotom was being honest with him or not, but decided not to press the subject for now. He didn't want to end up stressing Rotom out by making it talk about the pichu's death, especially not when it connected so intimately to the fears Rotom suffered. If it wanted to talk about it, Chip would be there, but for now, he just hoped that Rotom wasn't thinking about it at all, even if that was too much to ask for. "Do you want the strawberry ones or blueberry?"

"We should share them both," Rotom said. "How many do you get per zzzerving?"

"I think you get two of each. So we could each have one, huh?"

"Zzzounds good to me!"

About five minutes later, the waitress brought their malasada, fresh from the fryer. The sight of it made Chip's mouth water. He split the dish up into two plates, then handed Rotom's over to it. Rotom popped out of the PokeDex for the moment, then picked up one of the fried pastries with one electric wing and took a bite, then let out a yelp and dropped the pastry, fanning its mouth.

Chip laughed and pushed a glass of water toward Rotom. It grabbed the glass and drank half it down in desperate gulps. "It just came out of the fryer, of course it's hot! Just give it a couple minutes and it should cool down enough to eat."

"Ro-ro," Rotom complained.

"Just think, a couple days ago you couldn't even pick something up without frying it yourself," Chip said, patting Rotom on the head. "You've come a long way with controlling your electricity."

The two munched on the malasada with delight. The restaurant was quiet until someone pushed the door open and let out a hearty yell. "Guess who's home again! The malasada shop will always be my home-away-from-home!"

Chip turned to look over his shoulder. The one who'd been screaming about malasada was a young boy about his age, but with darker skin and dark hair. He had a wide grin on his face, and behind him followed a litten that looked around in the shop curiously. Rotom saw the litten and immediately looked interested, possessing the PokeDex once more and floating up a little so it could see over the table better.

"Wait… the kahuna had mentioned his grandson got a litten," Chip said.

"That'zzz correct! This must be Hau, the island kahuna's grandson! And his litten… I want to take a picture of it so badly, zz-zz-zz!"

Hau glanced around the shop, then noticed Rotom with a gasp. He immediately dashed over, his eyes wide as the smile on his face. "Hey, you have the RotomDex that the professor was talking about! Are you the kid who came here from Kanto?"

"That's me. My name's Chip." He tilted his head. "And you're Hau, right?"

Hau laughed. "Wow, my reputation precedes me! Is it because I'm in the malasada shop? Haha, but you'd be right! Well, I knew it was you because the professor said he only had one RotomDex, and when I went to see if he'd give it to me, he said he'd given it to the kid who came here from Kanto! It's alright though, because I'll still meet tons of pokemon and catch 'em all. That's what we do as trainers, right?"

The litten jumped up onto the table and grabbed one of Rotom's malasada puffs in its mouth. Rotom let out a little cry of protest and chased after it as the litten dashed toward the door. "Hey, wait!" Chip called out.

Hau looked behind himself and laughed. "Oh, yeah, Litten does that. It's a little food thief! But I guess I don't blame it! I think I'd do the same thing if I were a litten. Hey, I'm waiting for my order to be ready, so we could go grab our pokemon and maybe have a little battle. I think they ran out the door." He leaned to the side to see if he could catch a glimpse of his litten, but it had indeed slipped out in an attempt to carry off its prize.

A battle? Chip hadn't fought against a trainer before, if he didn't count those Team Skull jerks.. but Hau seemed nice enough, and Rotom was fully healed, so he nodded. "All right. I'll ask Rotom and see what it thinks, but I'm up for it."

"Great! Let's go find them then! Hopefully the battle's done by the time my malasada is ready!"

The two boys headed out of the shop, looking around to see where their pokemon had gone. Hau took a PokeBall off his belt and tossed it into the sky. A moment later, a pikipek appeared from the data. "Hey, can you go find Litten? It ran off again." The bird chirped and flew off, flying in a wide circle as it looked around for the two missing pokemon.

"This is really unlike Roro," Chip said, feeling nervous. "It doesn't usually like being away from me."

"Malasada can change a person, and pokemon too! Do you really blame it? It probably really wanted that second piece."

Chip was about to speak again as a streak of black and red dashed by. He watched, stunned as Litten jumped onto a fence and finished off the rest of the malasada in its mouth. About one second behind it, Rotom came flying, waving its arms. "Give that back, you—zz-zz-zz—you ATE it! Litten! That wasn't yourzzz!"

Litten stuck its tongue out then started washing its paws.

"I'm sorry about that, Litten has a lot of personality," Hau said. "I'll give you one of my malasada for your Rotom, okay? By the way, my grandfather told me you picked a popplio. Where is it?"

Rotom immediately stopped complaining about the malasada when it heard that question. It seemed that Hala hadn't filled his grandson in with what happened, or they just hadn't seen each other lately. Hau was still smiling, but after a couple of seconds he seemed to realize he'd said something very, very wrong, and that smile died into a frown.

"Um, what's wrong? Should I not have asked that?"

"It's a long story," Chip said quietly. "I don't have Popplio anymore, Rotom is my partner."

"Your PokeDex is your partner?" Hau looked bewildered, scratching his head. "Well, okay! I guess that makes sense! Rotom is a pokemon after all, right? So I guess you could have that as a partner if you want."

Chip glanced at Rotom, then noticed Litten was crouched on the fence, its rear end wiggling a little as it stared intently at Rotom. A moment later, the cat pokemon jumped on Rotom, knocking it out of the air. Rotom yelped as it hit the ground. Litten looked down at the ghost then turned in a tight circle and lay down on its screen. Rotom flailed its arms and feet, making some sounds of protest, which were muffled by Litten laying on the audio speakers on its front.

"Awww, they're already friends!" Hau said. His pikipek dropped down from the skies and landed on his shoulder. "Hey, so did you want to battle? How many pokemon do you have?"

"Just the one," Chip said, watching Rotom flail with amusement. After unsuccessfully struggling to get Litten off, Rotom separated from the PokeDex, its electric wings fluttering rapidly in annoyance.

"Oh. One? Really? I have three, but that wouldn't be a very fair fight, so how about we just have Rotom and Litten battle? Nothing too serious, just for fun!"

"Are you okay with that, Roro?" Chip asked. Rotom looked at him and huffed, buzzing in a circle before it glared at Litten. The cat pokemon just stuck its tongue out at it, then started licking the front of the PokeDex. Rotom looked absolutely offended by that, darting around in frustration and letting out little annoyed chirping sounds. "I think Roro's ticked off by Litten… so I don't think it'll mind a battle. Let's get a little further from the malasada shop though, so we don't end up damaging anything."

"Great idea!" Hau said. He gestured for Litten to follow him as he headed more into the street, and the cat pokemon looked at him for a moment, as if contemplating disobedience, then padded away from the PokeDex.

Chip chuckled a little to himself as he leaned down to pick up Rotom's home, wiping some of the saliva off the front of the screen. Rotom pointed with one of its electric wings then flew in the direction Hau was going. Beside the street, there was a patch of short grass, perfect for a trainer battle. It was well lit with street lights as well, which Chip appreciated. After deciding how much money they'd put up in a bet over the outcome (which was equivalent of two malasadas), Hau grinned and pointed forward.

"All right, Litten! Let's make Chip pay for our malasada!"

Chip rolled his eyes a little as Rotom darted out in front of him. He'd never seen Rotom get so irritated before, but maybe it just thought Litten was an asshole. The cat pokemon was sitting in front of Hau with an amused look on its face, head tilted slightly as it watched Rotom, as if the presence of the ghost didn't disturb it at all. Rotom puffed its cheeks, its electric aura arcing greater and sparking around its body.

"Start off with Thunder Wave, Roro!" Chip called out.

"Litten, use Lick! Rotom's a ghost-type pokemon, so you'll deal double damage to it!"

Rotom shot into the air and blasted electricity at Litten. The cat pokemon's fur puffed up in static, then it stumbled a little bit, trying to get its bearings again. Now paralyzed, Litten struggled to get into a pouncing position.

"Uh… maybe not Lick! Okay, use Ember!" Hau said, rubbing the back of his head. Litten took a deep breath, arched its back, then shot a fireball at Rotom. The ghost-type pokemon darted to the side, watching as the fireball landed in the grass and started to smolder.

"Thunder Shock, Roro," Chip said. "And keep an eye on the fireballs, they're coming a little faster than you normally move!"

Rotom nodded, electricity arcing out of it and electrocuting the cat pokemon. Litten hissed, then shot a couple fireballs at Rotom in quick succession. The ghost managed to dodge the first and the second, but the third hit it in the face, knocking it back. A burn—deep red in color—had formed on Rotom's head spike, making it whimper in pain.

"Good job, Litten! Keep using Ember until you knock it down!" Hau jumped a little in excitement, punching a fist into the air. "Free malasada! That's a great way to start the day! I can't wait!"

Start the day? It was night! "The battle's not over yet, Hau!" Chip called out. "Roro, use Confuse Ray! Then follow that up with a Thunder Shock!"

Rotom had never used Confuse Ray before. It jittered around a little bit, then took aim and shot a swirling array of stars at Litten. Litten's next fireball dissolved in its mouth as it tried to avoid the stars, but it couldn't move fast enough when paralyzed, and the attack hit it in the face. Litten shook its head, stumbling around in confusion as it tried shooting fireballs at Rotom, but kept missing.

Remembering Chip's instructions, Rotom zapped Litten with Thunder Shock again. Litten yelped, then made a large fireball in its mouth, but it backfired in an explosion and the cat pokemon fell to the ground. A moment later, Litten's body dissolved into red data and returned to the PokeBall on Hau's belt. The dark-haired boy stared in shock, then started to laugh.

"Wow! I can't believe you managed to inflict two status conditions on my litten! That's crazy. Man, you really know what you're doing, don't you? Hey, I have this Burn Heal here, if you need it— I'm gonna run to the pokemon center before the malasada's ready, but I'll meet you back at the restaurant, okay? It won't take long! Nurse Joy loves me!" Hau dashed over to Chip and handed him a small container of burn healing lotion, then waved and dashed back toward the pokemon center. "Don't start without me!"

Rotom floated back over to Chip with a grin on its face. Its burn hurt, but it had beaten a litten! Rotom was over the moon; it just couldn't comprehend that it'd knocked a litten out. Litten was as strong as a popplio, and it'd spent so long putting itself down for not being as good as Popplio as a partner to Chip. Sure, Hau didn't seem like a very strong trainer, but it didn't matter. It beat a litten! It was hard staying still while Chip applied the burn heal to its head spike when it was so excited, but the moment the burn faded, Rotom blasted off in jagged movements, chirping in happiness.

"Hey," Chip said, laughing at the way Rotom was squealing as it zig-zagged around him. "Come back here!" He held the PokeDex up, and Rotom returned, zapping into the machine.

Rotom looked down at itself briefly to make sure all the litten slobber was off its screen, then waved its arms in excitement. "I beat a litten! I beat a LITTEN! Zzz-zzz-zzz!"

"You did a really good job too," Chip said with a smile. He could feel the pride and confidence radiating off Rotom, and seeing it so happy made him feel amazing. He wanted Rotom to feel confident in itself, and he hoped this victory would be enough to boost its spirits. They still needed to challenge the Verdant Cavern, and Chip was starting to feel like Rotom might be successful against the totem pokemon. Given that it was normal type and normal attacks couldn't strike Rotom, he was getting more and more thrilled about their upcoming challenge.

Chip tilted his head, noticing something as he looked at Rotom. The ghost blinked and stared back at him. "What? Zzr?"

"You have injuries on the PokeDex," he said, mystified. There were scratches on the screen and scuffs, as well as what looked like singe marks. Even one of its arms had a crack in it. Rotom looked down at itself, then separated from the PokeDex. As soon as the ghost left the PokeDex, it looked pristine again, untouched by the damage. "I guess you have a couple injuries I need to fix up. Look, there's a couple on the side of your head, and a little on your… body. I think that's your body."

The boy reached into his backpack and pulled out both potions—the prescription one, since it'd been thirty minutes since they'd been in the pokemon center, and a regular potion for injuries. He sprayed Rotom down with the regular potion first, pleased to see all of the injuries disappearing, then gestured for Rotom to show him its electric wings. The ghost buzzed closer to him and held one out for him to spray, then the other.

"Are you still hungry?" Chip asked, moving back in the direction of the restaurant.

Rotom re-entered the PokeDex as soon as it was healed, then shrugged. "I wouldn't mind having more malasada, but if that litten stealzzz it again… I might have to beat it up again, zzrt!"

Chip laughed, waving a hand as he headed back into the restaurant. His table had been cleared off, but that was all right because he had finished everything he had bought. He grabbed a table again and waited there for Hau to return, Rotom floating beside him. It picked up one of the menus and looked at it while Chip kicked his feet. "Do you feel stronger after fighting the litten?"

Rotom lowered the menu. "I don't think so, zzz. I don't feel any stronger, but maybe…"

"Hmm," Chip said. "Maybe tomorrow we'll try some training again. For now, eating and going to the beach sounds all right… the beach is pretty well lit… and maybe Hau will come with us too."

The ghost looked annoyed. "Great… that meanzzz Litten will come too!"

"That's a good thing. Maybe Hau and I can train together," Chip said, feeling a rush of warmth. Fighting against Hau was so much less anxiety-ridding. He could trust Hau wouldn't hurt a pokemon in a battle beyond what it could handle, and Chip felt like they were a fair match. That helped too.

About five minutes later, Hau strolled into the restaurant with his litten right behind him, the same wide smile on his face as before. He glanced around to find Chip, then waved when he spotted him. "Hey! I'm back, and I'm ready to eat some malasada! Did you miss me?"

Chip laughed, waving one hand in greeting. "Should I?"

"What? Aww, come on! I owe you and Rotom a malasada, right? That's a good enough reason to miss me." The dark-skinned boy carried a platter of pastries over to Chip's table. Hau's order was ready, and he happily tucked into it the moment he sat down. There were five of them on his platter, and one by one his pokemon came out of their balls to grab one. It appeared that Hau had a litten, a pikipek, and… a pichu.

Rotom and Chip exchanged glances as the pichu giggled and reached to grab one of the malasadas on the platter. Hau smiled at the two and held the extra one out. Chip reached to take it, cautious of it being too hot, but it looked like the pastries had been done before Hau returned to the shop. It was hot but not so much that it burned his fingers. He split it in half, then offered half to Rotom. The ghost slipped out of the PokeDex, leaving it deactivated on the table, and picked up the malasada with a delighted chirr.

"Hey, can I see your PokeDex while your rotom's out of it?" Hau asked with a mouthful of pastry. Chip shrugged then nodded, and the boy reached to take the PokeDex. Without Rotom inside it, it was dark and lacked the spike at the top as well as the appendages and feet. Hau looked it over with a chuckle, taking another bite of his pastry, then set it back down. "It's pretty cool. So what do you think of Rotom? Is it a good partner?"

"Yup! The best," Chip said, reaching to pat Rotom's head as it munched on the pastry. Rotom looked up at him and grinned.

Chip finished up the pastry and licked his lips. Now that he'd eaten two of them and half of Hau's, he was no longer hungry—honestly, he was feeling a little uncomfortably full. Taking a nap seemed appealing when he was full like this, but he knew he should go to the beach, as a little exercise after eating was better than lethargy. "Hey, Hau… Roro and I were thinking of going to the beach after this. Um, maybe you'd be interested in coming with us?"

Hau blinked and looked up. He finished the bite of malasada in his mouth then grinned widely. "Oh yeah, I'd love to go with you! Maybe we can find some pokemon on the beach, or even in the water. Do you have a rod? I wish I had a fishing pole, man…"

"I don't, sorry," Chip said. "But I've never been to a beach before, so even just going is nice."

"It is. I live in Iki Town, so I've always been pretty close to the beach," Hau said, stuffing another pastry in his mouth. "Mmm… hey, Chip, have you challenged the Verdant Cavern yet? I was thinking of doing it tonight, but if we're going to the beach, I can always do it tomorrow. It shouldn't be too hard for my litten, but it's my first trial, so… I'm a little worried about how I'll do at it. Maybe we could even do it together?" Hau glanced at Litten. The cat pokemon had finished its malasada and was looking at the pichu's with interest. The tiny mouse pokemon hadn't finished its malasada, and when it noticed the way Litten was looking at it, it sparked and growled, pulling the pastry closer to it.

"I haven't yet, though I met Captain Ilima earlier," Chip said. "Are we allowed to take trials together?"

"...I guess we'd have to ask Ilima, huh? I dunno... Oh! What'd you think of him?" Hau said with a grin. "Everyone who meets Ilima thinks he's gorgeous. Doesn't matter if you're a boy or a girl! They all do!"

Chip felt his face growing uncomfortably hot. "I… um… I didn't think about it…"

Rotom finished its malasada, then looked at Chip and laughed. "Ro-to-to! Roto!"

"Shush," Chip said, putting a hand over Rotom's mouth. "Honestly, I didn't… really notice? But Rotom and I were battling a fearow that was too much for us, so… I wasn't… really focused on anything but making sure Rotom was okay. It got really injured."

"Ah, right, I would be too," Hau said. There was a brief frown on his face before it was replaced with a smile. "Well, you'll see him again at the Verdant Cavern! And hopefully nothing goes wrong when you do, so you can see what I mean! Haha! But don't worry, since I'll be there with you, I'll make sure you don't forget!"

Chip wondered if Hau enjoyed teasing everyone who laid eyes on Ilima. It didn't seem like Hau was particularly affected by Ilima's apparent charm. Still, he quickly searched for a new topic in hopes that Hau would stop teasing him. "So your grandfather is the kahuna?" Chip asked.

"Yup! I have pretty big shoes to fill… but I'm excited about it too, you know? I'll take the island challenge and make my grandfather proud. It might take me a while, but I'm not in any hurry. It's not like I'm racing you, right?" Hau laughed.

"I think we'll be taking our time too, so I get where you're coming from. Oh… speaking of the challenges, do you know where Ilima lives? Since we have to ask him about taking the trial together."

"Oh, yeah! If you go toward the pokemon center, then head left, you'll be on the street that Ilima lives on. It's the house with the pool, so you can't miss it. He's super nice, so he'll definitely be happy to help! Of course, I'll come with you too! Since I wanted to show him my litten... maybe he could tell me whether he thinks it's ready."

"That's why I want to see him also, so I can see if he thinks Rotom is ready," Chip said, wiping his face off with a napkin.

"Yeah…. Hey, what do you say about another round of malasada before we hit the beach?"

A/N: Did you enjoy Hau's introduction? Let me know in the comments!

Also, if you're interested in a cameo in this story, let me know! Post a review with some information about your OC - personality, appearance, why they'd be in Alola, and whatever partner Pokemon is closest to them.