Six: The Edgy Chapter (Or, remember that kid from the sauna? You already know where this one's going).

They lost Lillie on the Paniola Ranch. Hope was quite rambunctious and paired with Ellie the two were enough to keep Lillie's hands full (and then some). She stopped outside the Pokémon nursery to train, promising Ava and Hau she'd catch up with them for their second trial later. Hau was instantly fine with it, distracting himself by searching for a water stone for Crasher. Ava, after making sure Lillie was armed with medicine, wandered toward Route 5 as well.

Route 5 held a number of double battles, which meant for the time being Ava had to withhold herself from fighting. She loved Jäger and all his destructive ways, but sometimes she wished he wasn't her only partner. Obviously, there was nothing limiting her from catching Pokémon. But her encounter with Jäger wasn't a normal capture. Ava wanted to find more teammates in weird ways. But as she looked on down the route, it was clear she was going to have to rethink that.

Midway down the route, as she bent over to find a dropped TM, Ava felt a chill go down her spine. Someone was watching her.

"Hello?" She called out, looking around wildly. The route was filled with hills and rock formations; there were plenty of hiding places for a stalker...or a member of the mob. Ava couldn't place the uncomfortable feeling of being watched, but the more she glanced about, the less she saw. "I swear to god if you don't come out I'm going to set my Grimer on you."

"Calm down." A voice said from above her. Ava looked up the rock formation in front of her and had to shield her eyes from being blinded. A trainer dressed in black stared down at her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Ava! Look at this sick bug that won't let go of my leg!" Hau ran over. "I feel my blood levels dropping-hey, who're you?"

The edgy newcomer slid down the rock. "My name is not of your concern. All you need to know is I'm an enforcer of Team Skull, and I'm not going to let you pass unless you can defeat me in battle." He pulled out a red and black Pokéball that looked like someone had scribbled over the white bits with a black sharpie. "I am your next test of strength. If you cannot pass, your weakness will be evident. Team Skull will take this weakness and exploit it, making an example of you for all of Alola to see. Now, which one of you is going to battle me?"

Ava had stopped paying attention, instead tending to the Grubbin on Hau's leg. "Yeah sure I'll do it, hold on." She brushed the blonde off. The bug took some nudging, but Ava eventually pulled it off and instantly tried to cover the bleeding. "Oh fuck. You have any bandages?"

"Uh." The new trainer was taken aback. He yanked his hoodie off and then removed his white undershirt, revealing his pasty white skin to the Alolan sun. "Use this shirt, I won't need it anyway. Material possessions truly hold us back from achieving Nirvana anyway."

The eldest trainer muttered something along the lines of "Calm down there buddy" but took the shirt anyway. "Hau, do me a favor and text Lillie that you got injured. Actually, don't do that. She'll pass out somewhere and we won't be able to find her." Ava took note of how the newcomer stiffened at the mention of Lillie's name, but continued putting his hoodie back on. She tore the shirt into strips and began to wrap Hau's wound. "This should hold for at least a bit." Ava stood back up. "Head over to the Pokémon Center and have this checked out."

"You kidding?" Hau exclaimed. "I want to see you fight him!"

"Of course you do." Ava sighed. "All right pal, I'll fight ya. One condition though."

The blonde trainer once again readied his Pokéball. "That is?"

"If I win, you're gonna drop the shit and explain to me who you are, why you were following me, and what the fuck Team Skull has to do with this." Ava pulled out Jäger's Pokéball and held it out, clicking the button and enlarging the ball.

"Hn. That's a noble request." The trainer agreed. "Go, Bruce!" He tossed a Pokéball out and released his teammate, a Zubat he called Bruce.

Ava released Jäger. "Bite it."

"You as well! Use Bite!"

Bruce flew at Jäger, hitting the Grimer right in the mouth. Jäger bit down on the small bat Pokémon and spat it out. "Griiiiime." Jäger whined as if he realized the Zubat wasn't a snack. Bruce the Zubat flew back around as his trainer ordered a Wing Attack. Jäger was having none of that, however, and chomped the bat's wing when he was hit.

"Two hit KO?" The trainer was taken aback, recalling Bruce. "Fine then. You're stronger than I assumed. But maybe this won't be the same once you meet my partner Null." He released his second Pokémon from another probably-sharpie'd ball.

"What is that?" Ava asked, gazing at the strange horse-like beast. The body was dark grey, and it wore a brown helmet over its head. She retrieved Rotom from her bag and tried to wake them up. "Come on you dumb possessed smartphone."

Hau gasped. "It's so cool!"

The trainer chuckled. "Your Pokédex won't recognize Null. They're a specially designed Pokémon that I rescued from the clutches of evil. We have bonded over shared turmoil at the hands of corporate corruption. Pain has made us strong. And now, Null will use their strongest attack," the trainer narrowed his eyes and pointed at Jäger, "Tackle!"

"Poison Fang." Ava didn't flinch as the strange Pokémon ran straight for Jäger's jaws. This trainwreck went on for a while. Null was a strong attacker, but it fell easily to the toxic poisoning from Jäger. He too had sustained a lot of damage. As the trainer recalled his partner, Ava jogged over to her Pokémon and hand-fed him a Sitrus berry. "Hang in there pal." She tapped him on the head with his ball once he finished eating.

"Wow! What a ride!" Hau jumped up and down, immediately wincing because of the wound. "You did really great!"

It took Ava a minute to realize he was talking to the other trainer. "You gotta name?"

"Tch." He looked away. "My name...is Gladion."

"Gladion? That's such a cool name!" Hau exclaimed. He limped over to Gladion and got a little too close to the new trainer. "That's Ava, and I'm Hau."

Gladion tried to avoid Hau's excited gaze. "Uh, hello."

Ava tucked Jäger's Pokéball in her bag. "All right pal, here's what we're going to do. We're going to head over to the Pokémon Center and while Hau gets checked out, you're going to explain to me what the fuck your deal is."

The blonde trainer frowned, but as Ava began to walk away, he followed. Hau too began to follow, limping behind them. "Are you going to limp the entire way there?" Gladion asked.

"Absolutely!" Hau replied. "Ava would yell at me if I tried to run."

Gladion 'humphed' and stopped to wait for Hau. Without warning, he grabbed Hau by the legs and picked him up in a manner some would refer to as "bridal style". "You're slowing us down."

Ava held the door open for the duo once they arrived at the Pokémon Center, trying not to grin. Once they had Hau checked in and in better wrappings, the three sat down on a couch in the corner. Ava bought the trio Tapu Cocoa, Hau accepting it happily and Gladion accepting it begrudgingly. "So. Explain."

"If you insist. It started a year ago…I was fighting with my mother again. I had just discovered a secret lab, hidden in the bowels of our company's headquarters. Null was locked down there, along with a small Pokémon my sister had taken to. I was in the process of releasing him when my mother discovered me. She tried to stop me.

'Gladion, have I not provided you with enough? Is my motherly love for you not what you desired?' She pleaded with me as I packed my bags. 'Think of your sister! What shall she do without her older, stronger, more experienced brother?'

I turned away, trying not to think of my younger sister. 'She is stronger than you think. One day, I will come back for her.' I waited for my mother to exit my room. I then left in the dead of night, armed with nothing but Null and a bag of clothing.

For months, I traveled Alola. I followed the actions of my mother as her behavior grew erratic, and when I heard that my sister went missing I became enraged. Had she done something to displease my mother? Was she dead? It was then that I vowed to become stronger. For her.

I trained for days, weeks, until I found myself in Po Town. At first, I merely defeated the grunts, letting them come back for more and defeating them every time. I then took on their boss Guzma, who handily defeated Null. I begged him to train me, but he turned me away.

After that, I kept coming back again and again. I was not to give up. A few weeks ago, he finally accepted my bargain, making me a Team Skull Enforcer. Since that day I have been managing grunts and keeping them in order. However, days ago at the Tide Song Hotel, I received new instructions. I was to find a trainer described to me by two grunts, a trainer who they claimed could become a new Team Skull admin. That trainer was you."

Ava stared at him. "Are you fucking with me?"

Gladion shook his head. "Ken and Heath were under the impression you could be a part of our larger plan. Guzma had me follow you. I believe them now."

The lone female trainer shook her head. "Look, buddy, I helped those two because I wanted to keep them out of trouble. I don't want to join Team Skull."

Hau slurped up his Tapu Cocoa. "Please don't! It would break Lillie's heart."

Gladion froze again. "I must go. Thank you...for the cocoa. And consider my offer." He looked to Hau. "Next time I see you, don't make me carry you anywhere."

As he left, Ava watched him blankly. "Weird guy."

"I thought he was cute." Hau shrugged.

"What?"

Plumeria and Guzma was neck deep in Zubats, surrounding by Digletts, and yet the younger of the two couldn't get her mind off of something irrelevant. "So where'd you go?"

"Whatcha mean?" Guzma asked, before shouting to his Pokémon partner to use Razor Shell on a heard of Alolan Diglett.

"Yesterday at Tide Song when you went off to drink. You came back happy as a Clampearl but ya didn't tell us shit." She watched Queen Bey roast a Zubat or two before continuing. "Gladion told me something 'bout you watching a girl in the lobby."

Guzma chuckled. "Yeah, some cute little number from Kanto walked in on her own. I didn't mean to fuck her. But she pulled out a bottle of tequila and it went downhill from there." He called back Ed the Golisopod and sent out Evan the Ariados. "Kinky little shit clung to me real quick."

"So you finally got some." Plumeria grinned. "Good job bro. You used protection, right?"

"Uh. Evan, use Spider Web to trap these fools." Her big brother avoided the question.

Plumeria turned and stared at him. "Excuse you? You mean you didn't...you mean we might get a mini-Guzma? Ya fucking kidding me?"

"Plume, god, I didn't think about it at the time okay?" Guzma recalled Evan and the duo sprinted forward, seeing an opening when the cave Pokémon started to fade away. "I just, I dunno, she was cute!"

"Yeah okay sure you keep telling yourself that when you have a little mini-monster running around!" Plumeria shouted at him as he bolted away from a Larvitar. "I'm not ready to be an aunt!"

Guzma nearly tripped over a rock and flipped his sister off. "She'll be fine, ok?" He snapped.

Plumeria caught up with him, and the two slowed to a jog as they exited Diglett's tunnel. "So what, you just fuck and go?" She asked as they sat on a bench next to a Route Marker.

"Nah." Guzma shook his head. He thought back to that day, to after he and the girl with no name fucked.

"Now what?" Guzma asked the girl, as he traced little lines on her bare chest. Her green eyes flickered from his hands to his face. "You want me to go?"

"I don't know." She ran her hand through his short, black undercut. "My friends will be back eventually. But not yet." The girl with no name rolled over and straddled him, the mess the two made leaking out over both of them. "I could go for a shower."

Guzma tilted his head to the side, smirking."That an invitation?"

The girl laughed. It was loud and brassy, something Guzma could get used to. "Yeah. It is." She slid off of him and onto the ground. Making her way to the bathroom, she left the door open for him as she entered. He heard her turn the faucet on. "Coming?"

Hesitantly, Guzma followed. "Hey uh, I am, just don't judge or shit." He said to her, before removing his shirt and chain. He wasn't proud of the scars that lined his chest, and though his tattoos covered many of them, some were too obvious.

But the girl wasn't fazed. As he stepped into the shower with her, she ran her finger down his chest, following the grooves of one particularly large scar. "I won't ask." She replied.

The shower ran over her head, and Guzma was handed a bottle of body wash. Opening it, he squeezed a drop into his hand. Lathering up his hands, he started to rub her shoulders with the body wash. They didn't talk, as she too began to wash him off with care. It had been a while since he had fucked someone, but no one ever bothered to touch him the way she was then. "Kanto, huh." He said after a while.

She looked down, opened her mouth but closed it, as if she wasn't sure what to say. "Saffron." The girl finally told him. "I live on Melemele now."

"Why'd ya move?" He squeezed out more soap and made her turn around so he could wash her chest. Rubbing circles around each breast, he pressed his body against her. "Don't gotta tell me if ya don't wanna."

"It's complicated." She said quietly. "I'm not really in a...safe place."

"Boy, I know that feelin'," Guzma said. He knew it wouldn't comfort her, but there was something tugging on his soul that made him want to let her know she wasn't alone.

"...Then I dunno, we got outta the shower and cuddled a bit more. I left her in 'er room." Guzma finished explaining. "She was running from something or someone, Plume. If I didn't have my wits, I might've stayed."

"All that from some girl you had sex with?" Plumeria shot him a look. "Wild."

"Fuck off man." He shoved her. "Come on, we have to get to Konikoni before sunset. You have an expedition to lead tomorrow."

The two trudged on until they reached Konikoni, checking into a hostel where some of their grunts were staying. Guzma was about to settle in for the night (meaning put on some porn and drink) when he got a call from Gladion. "Whaddya want?" He slurred.

"The trainer the grunts told you about. She's strong." Gladion got straight to the point. "She's uninterested in the team."

"Hah. 'Course she is." Guzma rolled his eyes. "Think she'll be a problem though?"

"That's...yet to be determined. She only has one Pokémon with her, so if she really becomes a problem it shouldn't take more than a strong Ground-type to take her down. Or maybe even your Golisopod." Gladion reported. "I'll wait for further instructions. Goodbye."

"That kid," Guzma muttered. He lay back and got to his business, not concerned with the report. Truthfully, he had sent Gladion out on the task as busy work. He wasn't too worried about some trainer that his grunts worshipped. He was more stuck on the girl that he had encountered in the hotel, the one without a name who was running from someone.

Hau, on the orders of Nurse Joy, was to stay in the Pokémon Center and wait. Lillie promised to be there soon, but when Ava suggested she stay with Hau, Hau brushed her off. He insisted she go out and enjoy herself.

"I should take it easy anyway, and my team isn't ready to fight in the next trial in the slightest," Hau explained in a rare moment of calm rationality. "You should continue on. We can always meet back at Kukui's lab in Hea Hea."

So Ava set off for the next trial in Brooklet Hill. The quiet pools of water rippled as Ava walked down the rickety bridge.

"Aieeee!"

So much for calm.

Ava ran towards the source of commotion and stumbled upon a small girl with blue hair. A tiny blue bug was latched onto her leg, but unlike the Grubbin from before, this one seemed to be nuzzling the girl's calf. "Oh my god." Ava muttered. "You know it's not attacking you, right?"

"It's still scaring me!" The tiny girl squeaked. "Make it stop!"

"Fine." Ava called out Jäger. "Use Poison Fang."

The bug jumped off the girl's leg and dodged Jäger's slow attack. It launched at Jäger and chewed on him, before blasting off the Grimer with a stream of bubbles.

"You want to play?" Ava asked. "Use Poison Gas!"

The bug couldn't dodge the gas and began to cough. Ava ordered Jäger to use Thief, a new attack they had picked up before leaving Melemele.

The blue girl inched closer to Ava. "Here, if you're going to catch it, you might want this." She passed Ava a teal Pokéball with black webbing. "A Net Ball will make it easier to catch the Dewpider." She hid behind Ava when the bug spotted her again. "Eep! Make it go away."

"Move out of the way, Jäger." Ava chucked the ball at what the girl referred to as the Dewpider. "Come on, I don't have all day."

The ball clicked finally, and Ava retrieved it. Releasing the Pokémon, Ava caught the Dewpider in her arms before it could escape. "Hey there buddy, I don't think this lady likes it when you cuddle her."

"Piii?" The Pokémon trilled.

Rotom buzzed around Ava's head. "This Dewpider is a level fourteen female."

Dewpider rubbed her water bubble against Ava's chest endearingly.

"That feels so weird." Ava chuckled. "You're a spider-based Pokémon, so how about Arachne?" She pulled a Pecha berry out from her bag and fed it to her new teammate.

Arachne trilled again, before hopping out of Ava's arms. She skittered over to Jäger and began to poke around at him.

The girl behind Ava sighed. "I'm sorry I screamed. I may be a trial captain, but I'm deathly afraid of b-b-bug types." She stuck her hand out for Ava to shake. "I'm captain Lana, and I'm guessing you're here to attempt my trial."

Ava shook her hand. "Yeah, something like that."

So this story is based on a run I did a long time ago when I decided that instead of having a starter I'd use a random Alolan form. I went with Grimer because it was a combination of two of my favorite types. I'm currently re-running that team so I have a better grasp of the story and how some battles would go. Fun fact, I've run into two shinies in the game, both of which I'm carrying on my team for the time being. One is a shiny Pikipek named Madea, and the other is a shiny Zubat my sister named Kermit.

That's about it for author's notes.