Chapter 4: Verdant Cavern Trials (part 2)
Ash's Pokémon:
Rowlet
Pikachu
Drifloon
Hau's Pokémon :
Litten
Ghastly
Krystal's Pokémon:
Leaf (Rowlet)
Petal Flabébé)
Rowan (Growlithe)
Luna's Pokémon:
Ivy (Ponyta)
Missy (Misdreavus)
complaining corner: Augh, I feel really weird at the moment. While I haven't gone to the doctor for a proper diagnosis, I believe I have Anemia, considering lightheadedness or dizziness, chest pain and fatigue are all symptoms, and a year or two ago I did have a blood test which said my iron levels were lowish, but the pills I was given were not really going to solve it.
While I have always had a low heart rate along with low blood pressure, I have never gotten any breathing or chest pain with it until now. While it's been getting down to forty I have noticed when my average is the high forties, but that's only when I'm waking up or resting basically still, when I do things or try to breath more it goes up. I am only measuring it with my fitbit, too. W
When I woke up this morning was low for me, and I had a feeling like the one you get in your chest after holding your breath for a while. When I do excurse that get's it up to the teens in a hundred and up to and above 120, I don't notice this pain/discomfort, or it goes away, which I would guess is a good thing, considering I am not even twenty yet, and my parents have low blood pressure for one and low heart rate for the other.
My sister also got anemia, so she had a vitamin B12 injection left over, which she has given to me. Not sure if I notice a difference yet, but my muscles for all weird, like I, have been clenching them for a long time, or like they're on the verge of spasming.
Considering all this, Anemia or a virus are the most likely options, both curable without seeing a doctor, which is why I haven't. If it starts getting worse or hasn't started to improve by the end of the month, I will then.
Anyway, here is the chapter.
The next morning, Luna and Krystal both rose early, or earlier than the other three, anyway. They had not shared what time they were going to get up, nor when they would head out for the trial this morning, if at all in the morning: no one had said what was supposed to be happening, so the girls decided to get up at the normal time, which was twenty to seven.
Luna was a little slow to start, from only just enough sleep to see her through the day, which was five and a half hours, but after a while, she picked up and became her normal self. Krystal was bright and cheery as usual from the moment she woke up, evidently, she had slept fine!
After packing their stuff into their backpacks, and then grabbing the pokémon, they left the key in the room and went down to breakfast. Not sure what they were going to do when they booked the two rooms the other day, and they had no idea how long they'd stay, Nurse Joy had suggested they booked the rooms until today, and then if they decided to hang around to book them again: she was unlikely to get them booked in that time.
Considering the time they had gotten up at, Luna and Krystal weren't entirely surprised to see that the boys weren't down yet, being more a time to wake when you were on the road, whereas seven twenty, seven-thirty was a more respectable time if you were travelling to a location no more than five minutes away, then coming back.
But they didn't appear, even when Luna and Krystal had ordered food for themselves and their pokémon, and then the food had even arrived and no boys. There was not a hide or hair of them, and the girls found it very odd, considering they always appeared when food was in the equation.
"I would have thought they'd be up by now: Hau always has plenty of energy, and I'd be surprised if he could sleep considering what today is," Luna said, sounding genuinely surprised. "He and Ash seem to be able to smell food from a mile off, too."
"Same. If they haven't come by the time we finish our meals, how about we go and wake them up?" Krystal suggested.
"Sounds good: that is the only option apart from heading off without them," Luna agreed, not wanting to do that.
"Nah!"
"Miss?"
"Flea?"
"Growl!"
"Row!" Their Pokémon said, agreeing with that statement and agreement.
"Glad you guys agree," Krystal said, smiling at them.
When they had finished eating, Luna and Krystal looked around one more time for the boys, but still no sign of them. So, they assumed the boys were still asleep, and they went up to their room with pokémon in toe.
"I just had a thought, Krystal. Do you want me to put Missy away? I know you're afraid of ghost pokémon, after all," Luna asked, half stopping.
"Miss, miss!" Missy said, not looking pleased or happy about that suggestion.
"It's alright, she can stay out. It's not fair on Missy to be kept in the pokéball all the time, or even most the time. Just, make sure she stays with you and doesn't prank me or something," Krystal said softly.
Luna nodded, continuing on, glancing over at Missy who seemed to enjoy floating alongside them. Missy gave a cheerful cry, and Luna hoped part of it was a thank you to Krystal. It seemed to be the case, as Missy acted very warmly to Krystal for the next few minutes, at least, but Luna stopped observing after that.
When they reached the boys' room, Luna decided to knock first, before doing anything else. No reply. Luna knocked again, still no reply, much to her frustration. Then Krystal tried her luck with awakening the others. She knocked and called out, "Hey, boys! It's time to wake up, lazybones!"
"Pikachu?" Pikachu replied: someone was up! That was something, and it would be useful for getting the humans up.
"Morning, Pikachu! Do you think you can wake the boys up? I take it they're still asleep," Krystal asked through the door, as they heard what was quite possibly Pikachu coming over.
"Pika, pika piki!" Pikachu agreed. He was quite hungry, so he was eager to go and eat.
A few seconds later, they heard Pikachu make the same sounds he made when he used thunderbolt, then they heard the professor, Hau and Ash cry out. Luna and Krystal meanwhile, high fived.
"H-e-y! Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed when Pikachu stopped using thunderbolt. There was a thump at about the same time, so Krystal wondered if someone, possibly Ash, fell out of bed.
"Well, it is time to get up! Don't blame Pikachu for you being lazy!" Luna called annoyedly.
"Oh! Hi, Luna! What do you mean?" Hau asked with a yawn, or they assumed he yawned, anyway.
"Well, Krystal, our pokémon and I have had breakfast, and we want to be heading out to Verdant Cavern sometime today. I'm sure you want breakfast before we go, too," Luna said, a bit of anger in her voice.
"Okay, we will be right out!" Professor Kukui answered. "Thanks for waking us, girls!"
"Alright! We will wait for you downstairs," Krystal said. Then she, Luna and their Pokémon started downstairs, thinking about how lazy their male travelling companions were.
"Do you think they will actually get up?" Krystal asked when they were out of earshot.
"If not, I'll send Missy on them. She might not be very good at causing fear yet, but I bet she could get them moving," Luna said, giggling slightly.
"Miss, miss!" Missy sniggered, liking that idea.
"I don't like the sound of that tone," Krystal said, shivering and holding herself.
"Don't worry, she wasn't plotting against you," Luna said. Then she added very quietly, "I don't think so, anyway."
"Good," Krystal said back.
Five minutes after they returned to the cafeteria area, Professor Kukui, Ash and Hau appeared with their Pokémon and backpacks, though they looked like they had just rolled out of bed. Ash didn't look too bad, though his clothes needed ironing, Hau's hair was a mess and his, but Professor Kukui looked okay. Though his hair was the obedient sort, and his outfit was not complicated, but one of his coats' patches needed fixing, and his cap looking like it had been slept on.
They quickly went and ordered something, then they came over and joined Luna, Krystal and their pokémon (just next to the table) at their booth. Rotom popped out then and floated over to the window. He said, "Nice idea with the wake-up call, zrrt!"
"Thanks, Rotom! Glad you approve!" Krystal said brightly. "You could have woken them up, though."
"Pika, pika!" Pikachu said, feeling quite smug.
"Mind you, it was nice to be woken up by Pikachu: I haven't had him do it for ages! I had forgotten the energising feeling it gives you," Ash said, stretching out.
"Are you sure it's energising, and not just not all the electricity hasn't left your body yet?" Luna asked, tilting her head to the side.
"Pretty sure," Ash answered.
"Being exposed to pokémons' moves once in a while is actually very good for you," Professor Kukui said sagely.
"Is that an actual fact?" Hau asked, curious.
"Yep! It is," Professor Kukui verified. "I know from personal experience!"
I suppose that makes sense because aren't black belt trainers really healthy and strong? Isn't part of their training is having their Pokémon attack them?" Luna asked, trying to remember what the book she had read training and the different sort of trainers.
"Yep, that's right, Luna. You have a good memory," Professor Kukui remarked. "They also live for a long time, too."
"I do enjoy reading learning books, and I want to earn the Ace trainer rank. Even books most people find boring I find interesting," Luna said, shrugging.
"That's weird," Hau said, sounding like he didn't believe it. Everyone else laughed at him, while Krystal and Ash, (though, Ash only partly,) could understand where Luna was coming from.
######$$$$$$####################!########################
When they had all finished eating, they left the Pokémon Centre. Professor Kukui said, pointing to a cave with two wooden structures on either side of the entrance, "That's it: Verdant Cavern, the home of Captain Llima's Trial, and your first steps' to completing the Island Challenge."
"What are those strange wooden things?" Hau asked with a cheesy grin.
"Hau! Would you stop that!" Luna exclaimed, irritably glaring at him.
"They're Trial Gates. Once you, Luna and Krystal go past them, you have to complete your trial before you can leave, or get defeated. Keep this in mind: you may use any amount up to the normal limit of six pokémon in this trial. That's part of the reason why there are captains for the trials: so they can make sure people are not cheating, especially in later trials when the amount you can use is less. Two years ago, we discovered people were indeed cheating, so we chose some captains to make sure everyone behaved during the event: we only finalised everything a few months ago, so the captains are all very new to their jobs, still," Professor Kukui responded.
"So, we shouldn't go in until we're ready?" Luna asked.
"Yes. Are you ready?" Professor Kukui asked though it was more of a polite gesture rather than a question.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Luna sighed.
"Yes, same," Krystal nodded.
"Yeah, well... I was born ready!" Hau said excitedly.
"Come on then, let's go!" Ash said, thinking they should get this over with. Then, with him leading the way, they went into Verdant Cavern.
As they passed the wooden structures outside the entrance, Luna said softly, "Well, we either pass or fail, 'cause there is no turning back now."
"Don't worry, you will be fine," Professor Kukui said reassuringly. Ash reflected on the Professor and wondered if he and his wife, Professor Burnett, were planning on having a family. While he did not know the other Professor that well, they both seemed, to him at least, have great parent potential within them.
As they entered the cave, they saw Llima waiting for them, reading a book on something, no one could quite see: surely he must have a crick in the neck? Krystal and Ash both knew they would in five minutes if they read a book like that.
That aside, Verdant Cavern was quite a spacey place: there was a large crevasse in the middle of it, with two boards going over the gap in two different places. Now, that looked safe, and Luna did not look forward to crossing it: none of them did, but she had a problem with heights on unstable structures.
Around were lots of rocks, (unsurprisingly,) and a few pokémon, who would live here, also unsurprisingly. Some of the rocks had a bit of moss on them: Ash wondered if it was the right sort to get Eevee to evolve into Leafeon. It could be, but as moss was moss to Ash, he was certainly no expert. He glanced around: the only way to tell would be if there were any leaf stones: Eevee evolving moss seemed to grow near or be the creator of leaf stones.
There were a few patches with light coming down from the roof, and they could all see an exit at the back of the cave: Luna, Krystal and Hau wondered where that went, though, Ash knew it was part of the trial, and the light came from parts of the roof that had been dug out by flying pokémon, wanting access to the cave.
"Welcome," Llima started walking towards them as he chatted. "Welcome to Verdant Cavern, the home of my trial and lots of Yungoos and Rattata. We can't forget the pokémon, can we?"
"Thank you, Llima," Luna said politely.
"Now, as you probably know, until you have completed all stages of the trial you are unable to leave this place. Well, Ash and Professor Kukui can leave if they so wish, or need to go and get urgent supplies," Llima said, being completely and utterly clear.
"Wait, how did you know I had already done this trial?" Ash asked, trying to work it out; he scratched his head at the same time.
"The Kahuna Hala told me," Llima said simply. "He informed/informs all the trial captains of trainers who have completed the trials, so they can come in and catch the pokémon without us stopping them."
"So, what do we have to do in this trial?" Krystal asked anxiously.
"Well, see that hole the wall just down there? There are several of those throughout this cave. You need to look in them because pokémon live inside them: they're the dens of pokémon, for a lack of a better word. What you need to do, is this: you three will need to find three yungoos, and then defeat them. Whoever goes second, you will have to find three rattata. Since there are three of you, you will have to go one at a time for this trial. Also, Ash and Professor Kukui may go with you, but they are not allowed to give or take any advice," Llima said, interacting the pokémon den thing he had been talking about.
Then a loud growl came from the exit at the back of the cave, which echoed throughout, causing them all to jump. Llima said, smiling and looking embarrassed, "Oh yes, I forgot to mention the Totem Pokémon, Gumshoos, lives here, and after you have defeated the three Pokémon, you will need to defeat Gumshoos or my totem Raticate. So, who's going first?"
"Hau, would you like to start us off?" Luna offered kindly. She didn't want to go first, and she thought Hau should put his money where is mouth is, so to speak.
"Yeah! I don't mind waiting," Krystal said hastily. Luna suspected Krystal was beginning to feel some nerves: it had taken time but she made it to that stage, but she got there, or so it seemed.
"Errr, okay," Hau said, sounding unsure, wondering how he got into this.
"it's alright Hau, I'm sure you'll be fine. So, without further delay, Hau: your trial starts now," Llima said, then, Hau, Ash and Professor Kukui were off with Llima in their wake, though, Hau looked reluctant to go.
When they reached the den Llima had pointed out earlier, a yungoos jumped out to attack Hau, snarling and growling menacingly. Hau quickly sent Litten out (not that Litten would have let him use another) and commanded an ember which got rid of the Yungoos.
Luna and Krystal could watch most of Hau's trial: the yungoos who attacked him were pretty weak and were down in one or two attacks, albeit, the final one took a full-on battle. Litten started off with ember, which it dodged, then he used scratch and lick, but sadly the yungoos dodged those attacks, too.
Hau then changed tactics and got it to use growl and leer to lower the other pokémon's stats and put it off, allowing him to temporarily immobilise it with ember then finish with a combo of scratch and fire fang. After that, they entered the room way out the back, meaning Luna and Krystal could no longer see them.
About fifteen minutes later, though perhaps closer to twenty, Hau, Llima and Professor Kukui came back. Hau was grinning, and he had a Z bracelet on his wrist complete with a crystal. Krystal and Luna knew it was one because Ash had one and they all looked exactly the same. "You passed?" Krystal asked, knowing the answer already.
"Yep! Gastly gave it his all, and Litten evolved!" Hau said excitedly.
"Really? Well done!" Luna said, smiling shyly.
"That's excellent news, Hau," Krystal said, smiling warmly.
"Yes. Hau did really well!" Professor Kukui said, giving him a gentle slap on the back.
"I just have to go and prepare some things while you decide who goes next," Llima called, running off into the distance.
"So, Ash, who was captain when you did this trial?" Krystal asked chattily.
"There wasn't one, so the Kahuna was overseeing the trials, well, some of them, anyway: can't really remember mine," Ash stated, explaining what happened.
"Oh, okay," Luna nodded, recalling Professor Kukui had said something similar just before.
"So, which one of you will go next?" Professor Kukui asked, turning to Luna and Krystal.
"if you don't mind, Luna, can I go now? Just if I don't think I'll be able to do it if I wait too much longer," Krystal asked, almost begging if Luna was honest.
"Sure, you can go next," Luna said, somewhat begrudgingly. She was happy to let Krystal go next, but Luna did want to get it over and done with.
"Alright! I think I'll start with Rowan," Krystal said grabbing Rowan's pokéball and enlarged it.
"I wonder how long Llima's going to be until you can start?" Ash wondered out loud.
"I hope he'll let me come along and watch! I want to see you two do in your trial!" Hau said jumping up and down. He might be annoying, but Hau was a good friend from the fact he liked to help them in battles, and he seemed to want to watch Krystal's, at least.
"Yeah, hopefully," said Krystal, being agreeable.
"Llima shouldn't be too long," Professor Kukui said thoughtfully.
Ten minutes later, Llima came back, running all the way. He said, "Alright, who's going next?"
"I am," Krystal responded.
"Alright, Krystal. You may start now: trial starts now!" Llima nodded.
"Can I come too? Just to watch, of course," Hau asked.
"Sure. Actually, I could use your help for something, anyway, Hau: so that would be good," Llima nodded, looking happy about this.
"See you, Luna!" Krystal chirped.
"Yes, bye! Good-luck, Krystal!" Luna called as they headed off.
When Krystal passed the first den, she was not attacked, so she looked in the den, stuck both her arms in and pulled out a rattata. Rowan was then sent out to deal with it. As they disappeared temporarily, Luna sighed and shivered: by yourself, this place was really creepy!
Krystal found another rattata a few minutes later. Luna was only alerted to look over there when she heard Krystal screamed. She was a bit obscured, but it looked like a rattata had bit her on the leg. She quickly sent Petal out and a combined attack from her and Rowan made the rattata faint in one hit.
They continued on, but Luna could not watch as she got obscured by the wall of the cave. She could hear Krystal order attacks, though. After a while, Luna pulled her pokédex out and started looking at that.
When almost half an hour passed and they weren't back yet, Luna was worried. Was everything alright? Was Krystal having trouble? But then she saw Llima run towards her, which eased her fears slightly, just because no one was with him, she assumed they were waiting for her at the other end. He asked, "Are you ready? Krystal passed her trial."
"Okay, I'm ready," Luna nodded.
"The others are waiting at the other end: I asked them to because some Team Skull grunts have been getting in here and causing trouble, and the last thing I need is them stealing the Totem Pokémon or disrupting a trainer's trial," Llima said, sighing.
"Okay, that's reasonable enough," Luna nodded yet again. However, Krystal and Hau came up then, jumping down the small ledges directly across from where Luna had been standing. Krystal was lagging a bit behind, and had a bandage on her leg: the rattata must have bitten her after all
"We thought the Professor and Ash could keep Team Skull at bay if they did come," Krystal said, explaining why they were here.
"So we thought we'd come and watch Luna," Hau added quickly.
"Alright, that's okay. Luna, you ready? Your count down starts now. Three, two, one: go," Llima said, a little wrong-footed but then coming back into the swing of things. On the word of go, Luna started down the track the others had taken. As for Hau and Krystal: they were walking behind Llima, who was walking just behind her. She found this eerie: it felt like holes were being burned into her back, and all three of them were silent, which made it even worse and even more creepy than being here on your own.
As Luna passed the first den, she heard a rustling sound inside. When Luna got down to look inside, she spotted a yungoos which ran off at the sight of her. Then Luna saw it -what she was pretty sure was the same yungoos- come out of a den further down: all these den cave things would be connected, or so she guessed. Luna ran down there, in order to try and grab it.
However, when she got down there, the Yungoos fled yet again and appeared at the den further up. Luna quickly realised she needed to trick it, so she sent Missy out.
"Missy! Come on!" Luna said and she started walking up the hill to the yungoos.
Meanwhile, Krystal muttered, glad it wasn't her, "This one is being annoying! If I was Luna, I would be about ready to lose it by now!"
This worked, for it turned and ran back into the den straight away. Luna told Missy to wait at that den to chase it back up here. It worked: the Yungoos came out of the one Luna was standing near, meaning she could force it into battle. She quickly sent Ivy out and asked for an Ember.
Being surprised about the fact Luna was down here, the Yungoos didn't get out of the way and got hit head-on, making the attack a critical hit. However, it quickly recovered and countered with a bite. Ivy dodged this, then she was asked to use Ember again. This hit and made the Yungoos faint. "Yay! One down two to go," Luna cried happily.
"Well done, Missy and Ivy: return," Luna said, returning her two pokémon and place the balls back on her belt.
She continued on with the others following. Because it was in a dark shadow, Luna didn't see the next den, which meant when a Yungoos jumped out at her, she jumped a foot in the air from fright. "Yaahh!" Luna cried, she then lost balance and ended up falling on the ground.
Quickly getting up, Luna sent Missy out. "Missy! Use Psywave!" she ordered briskly.
"Mis!" Missy replied and sent Psywave out. This missed, but after being asked again, Missy used Psywave again, and this time, she made it cover a wider area.
After that, Missy was hit with a bite, which really hit a sore spot; and Missy struggled to recover from that. She did eventually and ended the battle with another Psywave.
"One to go, Missy!" Luna said as Missy returned to her.
"Misdreavus!" Missy cried happily, then they walked on.
Luna had forgotten about Llima or anyone else for that matter, with them being so silent, and she toned into the plentiful natural sounds. Well, that was until Llima decided cough, just as Luna crossed one of the bridge replacements, over the great gap in the middle of the cave. Luckily, Luna didn't really jump anywhere, otherwise, it would have probably meant she fell off the edge.
She did, however, lose balance and look down. "Yah!" Luna cried, hoping, trying to get her balance back desperately, and she was beginning to panic.
"Luna!" Krystal cried, reaching for Leaf's pokéball.
Luna managed to stop herself falling off for long enough: she managed to get close to the other side, and then leap the remaining distance. Here, she collapsed, and sighed, "That was close."
"Yes, it was," Llima nodded, happy she didn't fall off. Now, that would be awkward.
"Please don't do it again, Luna," Krystal said, looking worried.
"Yeah! I just about had a heart attack!" Hau grumbled.
"Sorry. But trust me, I'm not in a hurry to repeat that," Luna said breathlessly. She stood up and continued on then, having recovered enough.
The next pokémon she found was a Gumshoos, assuming she was supposed to defeat it, she went after it. However, this Gumshoos played the same game the first one did. Having done it before, though, Missy and Luna both managed to trick it quicker. Gumshoos being stronger then Yungoos caused more of a problem for Missy, but she just managed to concur it.
"I don't think I'll use Missy against the totem," Luna thought as she put Missy away. Gumshoos had beaten her up quite badly, and Missy was also very tired from the previous yungoos.
"Alright, Luna, time to head out the back for the final stage!" Llima said brightly. Luna nodded, feeling more confident about the last battle.
"Okay," Luna nodded. With that, she headed towards the second exit with the other three following: she did try and make sure she kept them in her mind, to not forget about them.
Upon reaching the exit, she saw Ash and Professor Kukui hanging around, talking. It was then Luna glanced at Krystal and noticed she had a bracelet like Hau and Ash had: Luna guessed if she passed, she'd get one.
When Ash saw Luna, Krystal, Hau and Llima, he said, "Yay! Your nearly there, Luna!"
"How's it been?" Llima asked.
"Pretty good. Two Skull Grunts did try to cause trouble, but Ash and I sent them packing with a Z Move combo!" Professor Kukui said excitedly.
"Now that would have been something. So now you both are pretty tired?" Llima asked.
"Yeah, a little," Ash admitted with a small nod.
"Pika!" Pikachu said, looking quite tired, and a little unbalanced.
"But, anyway! Trial first, talking later!" Krystal said, clapping her hands They walked out into the area just through that exit. It was surrounded by cliffs and mountains. There was a little grass right in the middle, but other than that, a few plants were growing among the rocks and cliffs but that was it.
"This is it, the last part of the last trial I am overseeing today. Luna, see that sparkling crystal over there? Go and collect it," Llima said pointing at a small tower with something sparkling in it.
"Sure," Luna answered, thinking that sounded like child's play.
But something told her there was something else attached to this, but Luna didn't know what or how. She suspected it might have something to do with the anxiety coming from Krystal, or the anticipation coming from everything else, or the fact Luna was supposed to defeat the Totem and she hadn't seen it yet. Yes, she saw a Gumshoos, but something told her that wasn't the totem, as it was very small and she had heard the totem pokémon were gigantic.
As she approached the tower, Luna felt a pair of eyes fall on her: she gripped Ivy's pokéball, ready to throw it as soon as she needed to. After Luna had felt them for a while, she looked up to find the owner of those eyes. Just on the ledge above her, there was a huge Pokémon looking down at her.
Luna realised after a while that this Pokémon was the Totem Pokémon, Gumshoos. Gumshoos jumped down from the ledge landing between Luna and the tower, then let out a mighty roar. Luna quickly sent Ivy out to battle.
An orange flare appeared around Gumshoos. Not knowing what it was, Luna pulled out her Pokedex and it said it was Gumshoos' aura. It had come alive and had risen its defence. Luna noticed this Gumshoos was very tall: would be taller than the Professor! She wasn't sure if she had ever seen anyone that tall, apart from pokémon.
Gumshoos wasted no time starting off with a bite. Ivy quickly managed to dodge this without a command from Luna. Luna asked for an ember, which only partly hit Gumshoos, unfortunately. Gumshoos then called out; Luna guessed it was calling another pokémon for help, she had heard of pokémon doing that, after all. A few seconds later, a Yungoos came to its aid.
Luna commanded Ivy to use Flame Charge on the Yungoos until she hit. It didn't take too long for Ivy to hit, but that might be because Flame Charge increases speed every time she used it. She used the speed of her hit of yungoos to hit Gumshoos, which was an effective strategy.
The Yungoos fainted pretty quickly. Then Ivy used Flame Charge on Gumshoos again. It hit, but due to the risen defence, it didn't do much. The Gumshoos called another Yungoos, which Ivy had to beat again. When it called forward another one, Luna realised that to defeat Gumshoos, she was going to have to defeat it, then it's yungoos because it would just keep calling them.
This called for a strategy switch. Luna asked Ivy to use a full-powered Bounce on Gumshoos. This did a lot of damage, however, Gumshoos attacked Ivy with a Thrash which couldn't be avoided as the fire horse was coming down from a bounce attack when it started trashing. Thrash, being a powerful attack, Ivy was hurt badly, and Luna struggled to concentrate because she could feel Ivy was in pain.
Seven tough long minutes later, Ivy was exhausted and she could barely move. Her moves and steps were weary, her sides were puffing like mad, and she was covered in scrapes and bruises. Whereas Gumshoos, to compare her with, looked pretty good. It looked like quite a bit of it's HP had been taken off and it was huffing slightly, but other than that, the totem pokémon looked fine.
As Gumshoos used a takedown attack at the same time as Ivy was using ember, Luna noticed Gumshoos withdraw back when it's hand got burnt. That gave Luna an idea! "Ivy! Surround yourself in fire! Then use Bounce!" Luna called immediately.
"Meh," Ivy responded, then she got to work at once.
It took Ivy a few tries to get the flame to surround herself, but that was probably due to not doing it before. Once she got it, the flames stayed. Then Ivy Jumped high into the air. As she came down, Gumshoos tried to get out of the way, but unfortunately, it wasn't able to.
After Ivy had hit, Luna noticed that then there were small flames in its coat, which meant Gumshoos had gotten burnt! Ivy was then asked to use back to back Flame Charge. Because Gumshoos was slowed down due to the burn, and Flame Charge rose Ivy's speed, they all hit. Ivy kept doing it until Gunshoos eventually fainted, then she used all the strength she had left into Flame Charging the Yungoos, (the Flame Charge made it faint instantly).
"Yay!" Luna, Krystal, Ash and Hau cried, then Luna ran forward to Ivy.
As Luna approached, Ivy rejoiced a little too. But not much, due to she would probably fall over if she did it too much: she was barely managing to stay up and not faint. As Luna stroked her, she could feel Ivy sigh tiredly. "Hard work, wasn't it, girl? But you proved that you could do it," Luna said gently.
"Well done, Luna and Ivy! Awesome work!" Ash said coming over with the rest following.
"Yes, that was great! And that Fire Bounce was pretty sweet too!" Professor Kukui said. Everyone laughed slightly on how typical of Professor Kukui it was.
"Yay! We all passed our trials!" Hau said in typical Hau fashion.
"Zrrt! Well done, z'everyone! That meanz off to your Grand Trial now, zzrt?" Rotom asked appearing from Ash's bag.
"Something like that," Professor Kukui replied.
"Well done, Luna. That crystal on the tower there, it's yours," Llima said. Luna nodded, and she went and picked it up.
"That crystal is called Normalium Z. That is proof that you passed your first trial. So, take this Bracelet," Llima said hand her a bracelet identical to the ones Hau, Ash and Krystal had. Professor Kukui also had one, Luna now saw.
"Thanks," Luna said taking it. She noticed that there was a hole in it the exact shape of the Z crystal. "Is that where I put the Z crystal?"
"Yep. Now, the Z crystal will power up normal-type moves, like a tackle attack. How about I show you how to use it?" Llima said, suggesting the last bit.
Everyone nodded, so he sent out a Smeargle. He said, "Right, first, you tap the crystal while asking your Pokémon to ready the attack. Go, Smeargle! Prepare to charge tackle!"
"Sme, Smeargle!" Smeargle replied getting ready.
"Then you move your arms like this, and then do a stylish pose like this, and say: Now! Breakneck Blitz!" Llima said, moving his arms in a pattern the striking a pose.
Everyone could see something happen which made Smeagle's aura come alive as it used a powered-up version of Tackle called Breakneck Blitz. Smeargle aimed the attack at a boulder and said boulder was turned to dust.
"There, that is how you do it," Llima said, now a bit breathless and shaky. Smeargle, used to it, managed to hold his ground and not stumble nor look tired, impressively.
"Nah!" Ivy said as if she was applauding.
"Thank you. I think I've got it," Luna said, sounding unsure. It looked quite complicated.
"So, shall we go and have lunch, heal our Pokémon and then have that battle, Llima?" Ash asked.
"I think that is a good idea," Llima said, nodding.
"Shall we march, then?" Krystal asked.
"Nah!" Ivy said, then she nudged at her Pokéball in Luna's hand.
"Ivy thinks so: huh? Oh, right!" Luna said at the same time, then she returned Ivy to her pokéball.
"Cool! I was thinking a Malasada would be good right now," Hau said.
"You and your Malasadas," Luna said, shaking her head as she put Ivy's pokéball away.
"Come on, then: lunch isn't going to eat itself!" Professor Kukui said, causing them all to laugh. Then they left Verdant Cavern, as one big happy group. Before they left, Llima left some sitrus berries and revival herbs out for the pokémon Luna and Krystal had battled.
Meanwhile, a shadow at the top of the canyon-like thing the Totem Pokémon was battled in, had been watching, fixated on all the battles, but particularly the last one.
As they left, the shadow said, giggling and lifting a white tentacle, "Looks like that girl with the chosen one is the one I have been looking for. Ooh! Perfect! The boss must be informed as soon as possible so the plans can be made. But for now, I shall continue to watch her, and work out how to get her away from the chosen one."
Then the shadow followed them.
Sorry about my complaining, earlier, just by the way. Also, I have a pairing poll, please vote. BTW, I'll warn you now, this story may get a little creepy, considering a few things, which I won't say because it is SPOILERS! That's not until later, so it's safe for the time being.
Bye!