He goes and spouts off about going into Hau'oli together and then rampages into the city so absent-mindedly. To Jacky, albeit jokingly, it seems that Hau is a machine that's missing a few cogs, yet somehow runs on some strange overdrive setting regardless. This was the thought he couldn't help mulling over as he and Lillie followed Hau into Hau'oli. As they continued onwards, Rotomdex seemed to catch something in his eye and flew straight in the way of the two humans. "Woah, woah, woah-zzztzzt! Look, kid, look!"

The two kids directed their attentions to the raving techno-ghost as Rotomdex lead them towards a wall that lost a chunk off the top. With just enough gone to peer over without difficult, Jacky and Lillie spotted a Pikachu sleeping just beyond in the soft grass. This was a golden opportunity right here and both he and Rotomdex knew it. "Turn on the camera, Rotomdex!"

The mechanical ghost didn't even need the command, already halfway through turning on his camera. The boy grabbed his dex out of the air zoomed the camera for a close-up shot of the electric mouse's sleeping face. He took shot after shot of that electric pika pal, especially as two Growlithes emerged and started playing with it. "What a goldmine, Zztzzt!"

It was a good five minutes of snapshots and then sifting through said shots and deleting the lower quality ones before they continued on their way. As a matter of fact, Lillie had mentioned going on ahead midway. A smart move, considering that Jacky's next stop was the street-side beaches where he was again able to get into the mood for Pokemon snaps. Eventually, though, he realized he was holding everyone up too much and rushed off to find Lillie.

He found her at the apparel store, window shopping and eyeing some sun dresses. She seemed to be lost in thought as she eyed them closely. There it was again, that something that drew him to her, stanced in the light of the moon for the world to see. Without really thinking about it, he lifted up Rotom and took a picture of her, the snap sound drawing her attention. "Oh, sorry! I probably should've asked first… I can delete the picture if you-!"

"No, it's fine, you just surprised me is all!" Lillie glanced at the clothes again before opening up her inquiry to the boy. "Jacky, do you pick your own clothes?"

"Huh? Oh, well yeah, I pick my own clothes all the time."

"Yeah, that only makes sense, that you choose the clothes you wear. Most people do, don't they?" She breathed a sigh of melancholy before putting up a smile to ease Jacky. "Sorry, we should find Hau, shouldn't we?" She made to leave and find their friend, but Jacky stayed behind for a moment.

"She's like a ghost…"

"Zztzzt, What was that, kid?"

"I was just saying we should get going." Jacky left the clothing shop behind, hurrying to catch up with Lillie. As he cross the street, he caught sight of some shaking grass beyond a fence gate and approached to open it and check the area. Poking its head out was a small weaselly Pokemon with sharp teeth. "A new one... "

The mon growled and rushed out at him, Cinnamon popping out of his ball to blast it back with a well-placed Ember. "Spunky little one, don't you think, Cinn?" As Cinnamon yowled what he could only assume was an agreement, the Pokemon charged and tackled him, ready to further its assault before the little Litten spewed another Ember, knocking it on its backside, allowing Jacky to throw a ball at it and catch it. "How about Fionn?"

He stared at the ball with a faint smirk and nodded at the name. RotomDex emerged from hiding behind him. "Zttztt, that came outta nowhere! What a feisty rodent she was, don't ya think?" He was a bit surprised, having assumed it was a boy, but didn't dwell on it much. Her name worked either way, or rather it didn't seem particularly male or female in nature.

"Yeah, she's a feisty one, but let's just go and meet up with Hau and Lillie already." He continued on his way, ignoring any other distractions for the sake of getting to the actual hangout. Soon, he caught Hau in his sights, jumping up and waving his arms around like a nutter to signal him over, Lillie staring very hard at the ground in embarrassment to her their friend's shameless energy.

"Yo, we're over here, buddy! Over here!" He laughed as Jacky closed the distance with one pinky in his ear as if even at a distance Hau was blowing his ears out. "This is the place!" He threw his arms out into their full width to present the establishment before them. A bakery...specializing in Malasadas, a kind of fried donut special to Alola…

"Hau, your vote to decide restaurants is being revoked…" Jacky was only half-joking, hoping to god that this place wasn't his only eatery on the mind. Maybe this place is what gives him his boundless energy…

"Aw come on, don't be like that! Come on, you'll change your tune once you've had a couple!" He led them into the establishment, Lillie and Jacky grabbing a table while Hau orders some Malasadas and three beverages, according to the two's specific requests. As they awaited their order, the chitter of the other patrons filled the silence in their wait.

"Team Skull's at it again!"

"Are you kidding me? When are they ever going to learn?"

Team Skull? The way they talked about them, it sounded like they were no good, and Jacky wasn't a stranger to baddies with "Team" at the start of their group titles. In his time living in Kanto, Team Rocket was a topic of small talk and such, and he was told stories about Team Plasma by his mother. Both were horrid groups of thieves and abusers that would lie, cheat, and steal in order to come out on top. Despite the fact that Team Rocket was taken apart by a ten year-old and Team Plasma was dismantled by a fourteen year-old, they were still huge threats that could've torn apart the regions if they got their way.

But from the sounds of it as well, it seemed as though this Team Skull was either already being taken apart… or they were less a match of Team Rocket and Plasma and more akin to a-

"All those boasts and raps aren't fooling anyone!"

-A street gang… Welp, at least there wasn't much to worry about. That, at least, helped alleviate some concerns Jacky might have had. As Hau returned with their orders, Jacky nudged him to make his inquiry. "Hey, who are these Team Skull bums?"

"Oh those guys? They're a bunch of jokers going around trying to steal stuff and Pokemon from other people, but they're nothing but big talk, man! You don't gotta worry about them!" Hau set the tray with their orders down on the table, along with their drinks. He seemed pretty confident about that statement, which helped to prove his theory.

"I overheard some people talking about them and had the same idea. From the sounds of it, they're no Team Plasma…" He got some looks from his two friends, a touch of confusion and maybe some curiosity. "You guys don't know who that is, do you?"

"I believe I might have heard of them in passing once before, but it was nothing beyond their name," Lillie admitted as she took a sip of her lemonade. "Do you know more about them?"

"Yeah, I know a few things, but it's all stuff my mom told me. She's the one that had to put up with them, really." He went on to tell them all about how Team Plasma touted themselves as activists for the freedom of all pokemon, that they were being abused and held prisoner by every trainer that held a pokeball. "Some people actually took their words with some thought and I hear that some trainers even let their pokemon go free after hearing a few of their rallies."

"Dude…" Hau looked genuinely bummed out to hear something like that. "Those trainers must've felt sad to split up from their pokemon. I couldn't imagine splitting from Robin or Misa or any other pokemon I might meet next!"

He nodded in response, feeling the same with Cinnamon and Nirvana and Deagle and Wattson. Hell, the newbie Fionn was a fresh catch and even she wasn't a likely release unless she wanted to leave. "It gets worse… While I can't speak for all of them, a lot of Team Plasma worked directly under their leader Ghetsis. He pulled a lot of shady stuff that actually had members of the group abusing pokemon, kidnapping them from trainers and even kids, and committing crimes and felonies that went completely against the image they put up." He couldn't even imagine how awful that must've been, putting up with thugs and thieves like them.

"That's terrible!" Lillie practically slammed the butt of her drink against the table in her reaction to such a horrid thought. As the explanation continued, her hand instinctively reached for her bag, thinking of Nebby all the while. He went on to talk about this and that, the things they stole and such, and then came the "king" of Team Plasma.

The "king" was a boy who called himself "N" that believed fervently in the lies that Ghetsis dispensed and was always the first to defend them when they were scrutinized. Even as proof came around that they weren't as virtuous as Ghetsis said they were, he still wanted to believe that the accusations were false, even as they rose a giant castle out of the Pokemon League hall.

"A CASTLE!?" Hau and Lillie were unified in their disbelief, understandably baffled by the turn Jacky's tale had taken. He didn't fault either of them for their reactions one bit, considering even he had trouble believing this part of the story.

"It was only after N's partner, the legendary dragon of truth, Reshiram, was defeated by its counterpart, the dragon of ideals, Zekrom, that Team Plasma was fully cornered. And that's when Ghetsis showed his true colors as a shameless, scum-sucking manipulator!" He wasn't holding back on this part of the story, nor did he ever. Even as a kid when his mom told him this story, Jacky always became so forward in his passionate lack of fondness for the irredeemable leader.

Lillie and Hau became absorbed in the story and gave their full focus, even to the point that they neglected their orders and left them on the table untouched, both unaware of the mischievous Pokemon they had in their company leaving their respective holding spaces to sneak the food away from them. The story came to a close as Jacky retold the epic battle that ensued between Ghetsis and Zekrom, the black dragon of Unova enduring persistent pain to wipe out his every pokemon, bringing Ghetsis to his knees, allowing the gym leaders of the region to come in and take in Team Plasma, putting their terror to an end.

"Everything cooled off after that and the people of Unova moved on with time… well, they did until it was reported Ghetsis evaded capture and rebuilt Team Plasma later on." He could tell that neither Lillie nor Hau appreciated that kind of turnout, especially with how well things were starting to go. "But it's fine, because Zekrom and his partner came back and took them down again, this time for good."

"Oh thank goodness…" Lillie breathed a sigh of relief at the awaited happy ending to the story, before she realized something about what he'd said. "Wait, you mentioned Zekrom had a partner too. Who was it?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention that? Well, his partner was-!"

"What did you say?" One of the patrons discussing Team Skull from earlier had unintentionally raised her voice. "The docks? Are you sure you saw them down there?"

"Sure I'm sure! I couldn't mistake that weird dance shuffle they always do for the life of me!"

Jacky turned back to the two of them and smiled mischievously, picking up his malasada, reminding the two of their food and only then realizing that Nebby and Misa had stolen their donuts. While the two were stewing in their outrage, the boy realized he might get to see just what these Team Skull goons are made of pretty soon. "Guys, I'm gonna go to the docks, see if I can find Team Skull! Measure them up for myself, you know?"

Lillie looked up from her empty plate with concern all over her face. "Be careful, Jacky! Try not to get yourself into trouble, alright?"

"I'll cover the bill, buddy! You go kick their bony butts!" Hau's voice was laced with a bit of frustration, a rare thing indeed, but it was still cheery as usual for the most part.

Jacky nodded and scarfed down his fried treat, his own pokemon having not attempted to take it from him. Of course they… Then he saw Fionn circling his chair and staring at the remaining portion of the malasada. Was it planning to steal his food too? Guess it just didn't find a prime opportunity like Misa and Nebby did. He sighed solemnly and tossed the rest of his treat to Fionn. "Here you go, you little gremlin!"

After Fionn gnashed the rest of the donut away, he returned her to her pokeball and went on his way, vacating the restaurant and rushing off to the docks. Making a sprint for the docs, with Rotom leading the way, finding some amusement to the idea of seeing Jacky pummel a couple of street punks. As they arrived at the docks, they found no signs of any particularly notable people until they spotted a familiar face.

The pink-haired Prince of the Pokemon School himself was out on the docks, looking out over the ocean, enjoying the view. "Hey, Princey, what're you doing out here?" Jacky approached the regal graduate of the school, looking out over the sea himself and letting the ocean breeze wash over him, a pleasant and refreshing scent filling him.

"Ah, if it isn't the Reaper of the School! I was simply going for a walk and enjoying some time to myself, to be frank." He smiled serenely as if nothing he'd said were strange, but Jacky was internally processing that weird nickname he somehow got without knowing. Who gave it to him? Was it that little brat, Joseph, that gave him that name? If that was the case, the "leader" of the Rookie Four can expect a repeat of their battle as many times as he wanted later on. "And you?"

Jacky broke out of his revenge planning to address his question as RotomDex noticed someone approaching them. "Well, I heard some rumors and figured I'd chase them down, see what all the fuss is about."

"Oh? And who is it you're looking for exactly? Perhaps I could be of some assistance!" As they conversed the two approaching them neared, throwing out gang signs and rhythmically dancing closer and closer.

"Hey, listen up, listen good, yo!"

"We're here to take your Pokemon and we won't take no nos!"

The two blue-haired punks posed, likely to assert some sort of dominance over Jacky and Ilima. Dressed all in black with skull designs that are very clearly insignia-like in appearance. There was no doubting it one bit, these two doofuses were members of Team Skull… and they were even more unimpressive than expected. He turned away from them and continued conversing with Ilima. "I think I found what I was looking for, actually. Thank you for offering though, Ilima!"

"Oh no, no, it was nothing worth thanking, really! I wanted to help, were the offer still viable!" The two continued to exchange polite words, throwing the two thugs off as their rhymes were completely ineffective.

"Hey, hey, whatcha doing with those cold shoulders!"

"You'd better watch your pockets and your poke-holders!"

The two posed again and joined their next rhyme together, as if being in-sync would somehow make them seem bigger and scarier. "Disrespect Team Skull and not even your graves will be colder!"

Jacky sighed and pulled out a pokeball, keeping his eye on Ilima for one final question. "Two v. Two, dear Prince?"

Ilima nodded with small smile hiding much mirth as he pulled out his own ball to join the battle. "Of course! These two won't know what hit them when they find out what a real battle is like!"

With that, the two threw out their pokemon, Jacky going for Deagle and Ilima using a Yungoos, while the two punks tossed out a Drowzee and a Zubat. Taking the Zubat on, Jacky pummeled it with a few shots of Peck, while the Prince took down his opponent just as quickly. The Zubat and Drowzee lay scorched and pummeled respectively at their owners' feet. "Well, what were you saying earlier? Something about taking our Pokemon and putting us in the ground?"

"Y-You fools will get what you earned!" One scared punk scooped up his Drowzee and took off like mad.

"Team Skull will pay back this pain and spurn!" The other followed suit, rushing off away from the two.

"My goodness, it seems they plan on making a return visit! How frightening!" Hearing Ilima be sarcastic almost flew over his head, but simply the fact that he'd initially ignored the grunts along with him gave enough proof that he was a firm practitioner of passive-aggressiveness and snark. "I'd say that was quite the experience, knocking them around? Though it's rather disappointing how easy it was to repel them."

"Yeah, I mean, I'm not complaining or anything, but they could've at least put up a better fight than that! I mean the author hardly put any work into writing the fight!" He pet Deagle gently as Ilima decided to simply ignore that flagrant violation of the fourth wall.

"Then perhaps we can satisfy each other's craving where those two were sorely lacking?" Phrasing: If there was one thing he did not excel at, it was phrasing. "How would you like to take me on in a battle, dear Reaper? We'll even make it a tale to tell to the students later on, "The Prince and the Reaper Collide"!"

"Well, it would definitely be more worth my time than those two turned out to be... " He smirked at the dramatization of their coming battle, picturing himself in a ragged cloak with blood red color contacts and a scythe in one hand, a pokeball in the other and Ilima in a regal looking clothes, his hand resting on the pommel of a falchion nested within its scabbard and a pokeball of his own in the other hand. Quite the image for the two of them and one he imagined would spread hard with the right telling. "Sure, Ilima, let's have a battle!"

"Excellent!" He seemed utterly giddy to have his challenge accepted, his Yungoos even seeming to mirror his excitement, albeit at a much more lax level. After cooling off from his little fanboy freakout, he urged his Yungoos forward. "Then let us begin, Jacky!"

Jacky grinned as he paralleled the Prince's move, ushering Deagle forth to meet his challenge, the small bird being more than happy to peck some more heads. "Let's do this!"

Author's Notes:

I'm really sorry that this one took so long to get out, you guys! It was a mix of things, not the least of which was that I was kinda unmotivated to write for quite a number of days. I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner this time!