Nurse Joy got a phone call, then ran up to Ash. "Ash, there's someone on the phone asking for you!"

The group went to the video phone, and an officer popped up.

"It's you!" Ash exclaimed.

The guy rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah… looks like you made it out alive somehow."

Ash crossed his arms with an irritated look. "No thanks to you! Some officer you are!"

The guy glared at him. "Hey, I'm only one officer. And I told ya it's not wise to head in there."

Ash clenched his fist at him. "You are the worst, most unhelpful officer ever! You should be fired!"

He looked to the ceiling with a bored look. "I really don't care for you lecturing me, kid! I'm here to tell you that you'll need to come and challenge me."

Ash gave him a confused look.

"I'm the island Kahuna here. You completed all the challenges here, and now just need to battle me."

"I have much more important things to deal with than you right now!"

The man shrugged. "Whatever. If you change your mind, bug Acerola. I might come." He then hung up.

"The nerve of that guy…"

Lillie walked over to Ash. "Ash… maybe you should go and battle him."

Ash gave her a confused look. "But… what about your mom?"

Lillie looked to the ground. "…I have no clue on how to get to her." She then looked to him with a determined look. "But… I'm looking into it right now! In the meantime, you should complete the island challenge."

"But Lillie…"

Lillie smiled. "It'll be okay! I have lots of repels, and Team Skull shouldn't have any reason to come after me now."

Dawn frowned. "It would be faster if we helped, though."

Lillie closed her eyes. "Me and my bother are both looking into this, as well as the whole Aether Foundation helping us…" She smiled at them. "I'm sure Ash will quickly defeat him too, with how great he is at pokemon battles! So… go on."

Ash looked at her with a serious look. "Alright… but you better not leave to go to get your mom without us!"

Lillie smiled. "I won't!"

Ash pulled out his Charizard pager, and him and Dawn hopped on it. They all said their goodbyes as they went to Acerola.

"…So, how are you feeling?" Dawn asked.

Ash gave her a confused look and asked, "huh?"

"Pikachu… he's gotten super stressed over what happened in Po Town. Are you okay?"

Ash looked down with a frown. "I… really didn't think it was going to go as bad as it did. I mean, I didn't think it'd be easy but…"

Dawn rested her head on his shoulder as she wrapped her arms around him as she listened to him with a frown. "What happened?"

Ash starred down at the ground with a serious look. "They… just overwhelmed me. I never thought there'd be so many of them."

Dawn held onto him tightly. "Maybe if I was there, you both would've been fine."

Ash smiled a bit. "There's a part of me could believe that… but in the end, I'm glad you were safe at the Aether house."

Dawn narrowed her eyes at him. "Come on Ash. You know I don't need protecting."

"I know. I just… while the grunts are a joke, all together with Guzma they're impossible..."

Dawn gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I got to where Guzma was and… the whole mansion I went to was trashed. Things ripped, broken destroyed. And when I got to him, Guzma talked of repeatedly attacking me while I was already unable to defend myself."

Dawn gave a worried look.

"And I just don't know what I'd do if you've gotten hurt by him or worse…" Ash looked down at Pikachu with a frown. "I just wish I could've kept you more protected, buddy."

Pikachu gave him a small smile and told him he doesn't blame him for what happened, even though he's forgotten all of what happened on Po Town.

Ash patted Pikachu's head.

Dawn held him tightly, thinking of something bad happening to Ash with a frown. "…I'm so glad you're okay."

Ash held onto her hand and laid against her head. "I'm glad we both are okay, and Lillie as well."

"Yeah… Now we need to rescue Lusamine."

"Yeah."

Acerola called him up and told Ash to meet him by the docks for the battle.

As they walked to the docks Ash and Dawn talked.

"So, you've met this islands kahuna before?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah… I met him on my way to rescue the children's pokemon. His name is Nanu and he's apparently an officer there at Po Town, though he's a terrible officer that lets thugs run and destroy the place," Ash replied.

Dawn frowned, now understanding why Ash got so upset with him at the pokemon center.

They arrived at the docks and met Nanu. Him and Ash agreed on a three on three and they sent out their pokemon. Ash sent out Decidueye while Nanu sent out Stableye.

Dawn gave a surprised look. "When did you get this pokemon?" Dawn asked.

"Dartrix evolved when we were fighting off the grunts to get to Guzma."

"Alright!" Dawn shouted.

"Let's get this this started," Nanu said.

"Fine by me!" Ash shouted. Ash told his Decidueye to use Spirt Shackle but was stopped in its tracks by Power Gem. Ash then tried it again, but Sableye stopped Decidueye in its tracks with a Shadow Ball. Ash tried to overwhelm him with a Razor Leaf but was stopped with Power Gem.

Nanu switched out to Krokork.

Ash was confused as to why as Krokork is part ground and thus is weak to grass but continued on with Razor Leaf.

Nanu stopped Decidueye by having Krokork use Swagger, in which confused Decidueye and made it hit himself hard enough to faint.

Ash returned Decidueye with a frown and sent out Araquinid.

Nanu recalled Krockork and sent out Sableye and used Fake Out, making Araquanid unable to attack.

Ash called out for Araquanind to use Crunch but was hit by Sableye's Power Gem. So, Ash went with Bubble Beam, but Sableye dodged and used Power Gem again. Ash saw Araquanid panting so told it to use Aqua Ring, but got hit with Sableye's Shadow Ball when setting it up and fainted.

Sableye snickered as Nanu gave an unamused look.

Ash clenched his fist as he looked down on the ground. "…I can't lose. Lillie is waiting for us."

Nanu crossed his arms. "Are you forfeiting?"

"No way!" Ash turned to Pikachu. "You up for it, buddy?" He wanted to make sure Pikachu was feeling up to fighting after just recovering. If not, he could go into Crabrawler like he was saving for last but didn't think it'll have the endurance to be able to deal with three pokemon at once.

Pikachu nodded with his fists up and ran into the field.

Buneary gave a worried look, knowing it would be extremely strenuous taking out three pokemon on its own. And there's a ground type it'll have to deal with too.

Dawn gave Ash a worried look, but placed faith in them.

Pikachu got slowed down by Shadow Ball but took out Sableye easily enough.

Nanu sent out Persian next, and in that they both used their Z-moves and both hit each other.

Ash knew Catastropika wouldn't be able to affect Krokorok, so he decided that he needed to use it here.

Persian fainted, and Nanu sent out his last pokemon.

Pikachu looked extremely worn and looked worryingly at Krokorok.

Ash told Pikachu to use Quick Attack, but Krokorok used Earthquake and knocked Pikachu out, making Nanu the winner.

Ash ran up to Pikachu. "Pikachu! Are you okay?"

Nanu walked off. "Looks like you need to train more…"

Ash glared at him as he walked off.

Buneary was right there with Ash, calling out for Pikachu.

Pikachu had a vision of when Buneary cried out to him when someone attacked him, and slowly woke up and saw her worried. Pikachu put on a weak smile to let her know all is okay.

Buneary smiled a bit when Pikachu spoke.

Dawn walked over to Ash. "…Ash, you okay?"

Ash looked down. "Yeah… But now what?"

Dawn looked down, not sure what to do. They really don't have all the time in the world with Lillie just looking for information to get to where her mom is.

Ash sighed and put on a smile. "I guess that's it then."

Dawn gave him a confused look.

Ash stood up with a frown. "I hate to go back to Lillie though without completing this trail, when she gave me this opportunity…"

Dawn put her fist up beside her with a serious look. "You can't!"

Ash looked at her with a surprised look.

"Lillie really wanted you to win here, that's why she told us to come here instead of coming with her!"

"I know… I just can't get my head in the battle with worrying about… all this!"

Dawn understands how Ash feels. She really rather go back and help Lillie and Gladion find a way to save there mom than worrying about Ash completing his Island Challenge. But at the same time, doesn't want to disappoint Lillie, ether.

There was silence between them.