My trial takes place at the abandoned site where the supermarket used to be," Acerola explained. "When you want to go, I'll meet you out front of the Aether House to show you the way!"

"Well, I think I'm ready. Could we go now?" Acerola grinned, and the two stepped outside.

"What do you think you're doing?! Stop! Stop it right now!" Lillie shouted.

Standing in front of Lillie, at the bottom of the steps, was a Team Skull grunt. "For real, girl?!" he shouted back. "Your bag was moving! Right in front of my eyes! And I'm supposed to just ignore that?! If you've got some rare Pokemon in there, I'm gonna have to take it and make some cash! Even if it's not that rare of a Pokemon, I bet I could still get paid, yo."

Lillie leaned away from him, holding the bag protectively in her arms.

"Hey, knock it off!" Alex yelled and ran down the stairs to stand between the two. and the two walked along the path, leading south of the Pokemon Center in Tapu Village.

"Alexandra!" Lillie gasped in relief.

The grunt stared Alex down, and she returned the look. "Oh, so we're following that script, are we? A trainer dashes forward to save the girl, huh?" He scoffed. "I'm not gonna let you be the hero in this scene!"

"When I saw that adorable Drowzee, that was enough for me! Later!" He ran off.

Lillie let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Alexandra... I just wanted to go for a stroll on my own, to see what it must feel like to be a trainer... so Hapu and I went our separate ways... but then Nebby tried to get out of my bag..." She glared down at her bag. "Didn't you! Go on, you little troublemaker, you'd better thank Alexandra, too!"

Alex sighed. Of course Nebby was causing trouble again, when wasn't he? Nebby let out a pathetic cry from inside the bag, like a sad apology.

"Oh, and... um... When I was out shopping, I kept thinking I wanted to be some help to you during your island challenge... and then I saw these." Lillie handed her some Luxury Balls.

Alex's eyes widened. "Whoa, these are expensive, aren't they? Are you sure?"

Lillie chuckled nervously, giving her an equally nervous smile. "I bought them without even thinking!"

Alex smiled. "Thanks!" She stowed them away in her bag.

"Oh! Lillie!" Acerola ran down the steps towards them. "What's the matter? You look all worn out. Do you want to rest at Aether House awhile?"

Lillie nodded. "Oh, Acerola... Thank you! I think I might take you up on that."

Alex nodded. "Sounds like a good idea. You do look pretty tired."

Acerola darted a little down the path. "And you, Alex!" Acerola called. "We can reach my trial from Tapu Village! Come on, follow me!" She continued running down the path towards Tapu Village.

Alex waved to Lillie. "I'll see you later!" She ran off after Acerola.

Acerola stood at the path that led south from the Pokemon Center. "The old supermarket where I hold my trial is right down this way. Down Route 14!" Acerola explained once Alex reached her. She ran down the path, leaving Alex to follow her once again.

Route 14 was on a shore of a black sand beach. Alex looked down at the sand in awe, squatted down, and picked up a handful of the sand. "I've never seen black sand before..." she said to herself, slowly pouring it back onto the beach. She looked up at the rest of the area.

Aside from the black sand, there was a crumbled road that curved along the beach. And the end of the beach, where it became rocky and the sand stopped, stood Acerola, between the pillars that marked the trial area.

"Here we are! Climb up these steps and my trial begins!" Acerola announced, gesturing to the steps behind her. There were cracks in the concrete steps where patches of grass were poking through that lead up to a run down supermarket. Acerola once again ran, easily gliding up the steps, with Alex tailing her.

"The time has finally come, Alexandra!" Acerola said. "So I guess I should explain what kind of trial this is, huh?"

Alex nodded. "Yeah, that would be helpful."

"This old building is full of lots of Ghost-type Pokemon. Did you know that?" Alex glanced at the building. It certainly had the 'haunted' look. "Here's where the trial part comes in. You've got to find the Totem Pokemon of this site and snap a shot of it with a Poke Finder! The totem is a bit of a trickster, and it likes to play hide-and-seek and mess around. If you take pictures of the other Ghost-type Pokemon inside, it'll definitely come out to get in on the fun and have its photo taken, too! So, if you see something weird happening inside this old place, try to check it out. I bet you'll find a Ghost-type Pokemon causing the mischief, so get its photo before it's gone!"

Alex nodded. It sounded simple enough; just look for weird things going on and take a picture of it.

"I'll just borrow your Poke Finder for a sec." Alex handed Acerola her Rotom Dex, and the girl giggled. "And your Rotom is a Ghost-type, too! Just just do this, and..." she mumbled, tapping the screen. "There! I've set it up to use a special shooting mode just for this trial."

Alex nodded. "Got it."

"You'll only be able to use it at this site, though. As soon as you enter the building, your trial will begin. Got it? And you can't catch any of the Pokemon, either. And you can't leave without giving up, tooo, so make sure you're ready for anything!"

Alex nodded. "Got it." She then turned to the building, opened the creaky door, and stepped into the dark supermarket.

The inside looked as Alex was expecting: the lights were broken, as well as some tiles on the floor, shelves knocked over, cardboard boxes open and strewn around the building, and shopping carts parked randomly, some laying on their sides. While Alex was carefully making her way through the clutter, one of the conveyer belts at a checkout counter turned on and began to move. The sudden sound in the otherwise silent building made her jump. She sighed, her hand on her chest, her heart pounding. "Jeez..." She took the Rotom Dex into her hand, opened the special Poke Finder, and aimed the camera. Through the Poke Finder, she saw a Gastly floating above the checkout counter!

After she chased off the Pokemon, the conveyer belt stopped. "All right, back to wandering the store."

She began to maneuver the maze of fallen shelves and boxes, a lone grocery cart began to rattle. She looked through the camera again and this time, saw a Haunter flying around it.

The Haunter was now gone. Out of the corner of her eye, Alex saw something, a Pikachu maybe, run deeper into the building. Was that... a Pikachu? But why would a Pikachu be in such a place? "I must have seen it wrong," Alex reasoned to herself. She moved deeper into the building.

Alex snaked through the shelves and moved closer to the back of the of the building. On a flat display sat a few a large Pikachu plush and a Marrill plush.. but they started floating in the air. "There's another one," Alex mumbled to herself and pointed the camera.

The Gengar had seemed to purposely dodge the camera. From the corner of her eye, once again, she thought she saw the Pikachu again. It ran in through the double doors that stood in the back of the building. "What is that?" Alex carefully walked over to the doors, and saw...

"What are you doing in here, Acerola?" Alex asked. The girl was standing in front of the double doors.

"Who are you?" the girl whispered, but kept her gaze straight ahead.

"Uh... It's... Alex, remember?"

Acerola shook her head. "Oh... Never mind that. Looks like you're done with the trial, right? We should hurry up and leave this place."

Alex paused. Something seemed... off. "But I'm not done yet," Alex responded. "I'm supposed to get a picture of the Totem Pokemon, right?"

Acerola shook her head again. "This place is dangerous. You should give up on your trial and get out."

Was this... really Acerola? A trial captain wouldn't have taken a trial-goer to a dangerous place. Was this... a test? "I'm not done yet," she said again.

"I told you to get out," Acerola said sternly, but she still wouldn't look at Alex.

"I'm not leaving."

"Get out," the girl growled.

"No!" Alex shouted.

"Get out. Get out! Get OUT!" Acerola started shouted, her voice getting louder... but she still wouldn't look at Alex.

The shouting did scare her a little, but she remembered what Acerola said: "The totem is a bit of a trickster, and it likes to play hide-and-seek and mess around." Besides, if she left now, she would fail the trial and have to come back. She held up the Rotom Dex, took a picture, and...

Acerola was gone. Alex sighed heavily, her heart pounding like crazy. So she was right to tough it out... It was all just an illusion. "That was actually scary..." She looked at the double doors and cautiously went totem is a bit of a trickster, and it likes to play hide-and-seek and mess around.

When she was inside, she felt like something was watching her. She jumped again when the Poke Finder opened on its own. "So something is here..." she mumbled. She looked around the room through the camera, turned around slowly... and saw... a Pikachu?

No, it wasn't a Pikachu. It looked like it was just wearing a costume. Was this the Totem Pokemon?

"Mimikyu..." Alex mumbled and sighed. As always, the Totem Pokemon was a challenge... but then again, if it was easy, it wouldn't be a trial. The Mimikyu had vanished, but she had a fuzzy picture of the totem. "That was all I needed, right?" She sighed again, crept through the silent building once again, and returned outside. She squinted in the sunlight; the clouds had cleared away.

Acerola waved to her once she saw Alex. "Welcome back, Alexandra! I can check your pictures right away."

"Right..." Alex held out the Rotom Dex to the girl.

"Now let's see how you did..." Acerola looked through the pictures and smiled. "Yup! That's Mimikyu all right! It's pretty hard to catch it on film, so this is a really great attempt!" She held out the Rotom Dex, and Alex returned it to her bag. "Which means..." Acerola held out the purple crystal.

Alex suddenly felt elated. She took the Z-Crystal into her hand and thrust her fist, which was clutching the crystal, into the air. "Yeah!" For some reason, she felt more accomplished as usual. Maybe because the whole thing with the Totem Pokemon was so creepy...

"If you want to use Ghost-Type Z-Power, then you've got to move like this!" Acerola struck her pose, moving like a ghost appearing. "And since you passed my trial, Alexandra, you now have my permission to catch Pokemon in the trial site. So, in that old building there. Here you go!" Acerola handed her some special Pokeballs, Dusk Balls.

Acerola smiled thoughtfully and put her hands on her hips. "It's not a bad idea to have some Ghost-type Pokemon on your team!"

Alex nodded and looked back at the building. "I do have Decidueye already... but it's worth looking for others, huh..." She was reluctant to venture back in there. "I have to ask... I saw what looked like you near the back room, and it got pretty scary..."

Acerola chuckled, seeing her nervousness. "What's that? You say I was in there and then you went in the back room?" She giggled again. "Ooh, cut it out, Alex! You're trying to scare me, huh? You'll have to come up with something a bit more believable than that! I was here the whole time, and there's not even a room in the back of the shop, for starters! How gullible do you think I am?"

Alex looked back at her and narrowed her eyes. "I'm not joking."

Acerola paused, and her eyes widened, wrapping her arms around herself. "Brr! I feel like I'm getting chicken skin... Like a chill through me for some reason..." She walked away, her eyes still wide.

Alex watched her leave, her eyes still narrowed. "I don't believe she didn't believe what I said... She knew that all of that was going to happen, huh?" She sighed and looked back at the building. Was she serious about the back room, though? "I'm going to go back in there and check.."