Alola! It's time to re-do chapter two!
This time around, I'm not going to do the dumb game chapter(s). It was a dumb idea in the first place and I still don't have enough ideas to play the game without making it straight-up sexual, and that's not a direction I want to take with HOPL. Still, if you have any ideas you can leave them in the reviews.
With that being said, let's go!
Chapter 46: S&M Q&A
I slept well.
You'd think I'd be at least somewhat cautious toward sleeping in an extra-dimensional mansion full of powerful Battle Legends, but I actually find it quite cozy. The room we got all for ourselves is almost as big as the one in Richissime, but we are the ones that get to decide what the room looks like. The closet and the bed are big enough to support both of us and we finally have windows in our room, for when we want sunlight to get in. All we have to do is pull up the blinds and see the endless sky beyond the glass. I've never actually even seen the sun in this dimension, so I don't even know where the light comes from. During the night it becomes a dark void, empty of stars and asters. Even the moon is nowhere to be seen, which makes looking out the window more like looking at a black hole. It's pretty creepy.
Moon is already up when I wake.
"Rise and shine, Sun."
She smiles, looking at her collection of clothes in the closet. I think she used up all the money Looker gave her on clothes. I don't blame her though, I did it too. Those damn bags are so enticing. I don't know how the Kalosians do it.
""Morning."
I groggily get up and rub my eyes. Sleeping is one of the things I love most in life. It's pure bliss, laying down on a comfortable bed that smells like home and resting the whole night so I can wake up full of energy. It's what drew me to catch Snorlax and Komala and it's what made me check every bed in Alola. I guess that's creepy when you think about it, but I never saw it that way. Every bed has a unique feel and I wanted to see each one, just like catching Pokémon. Moon loves to sleep too, but she falls asleep sooner and wakes up earlier most of the time. I guess it has something to do with our separate dimensions, but I wouldn't know about that.
"Do we have to do anything special today? I don't feel like doing anything."
I ask while perusing my closet.
She shakes her head, clothed in a gray flower-print top and some green Capri pants. She decided not to bring her bag and keep her favorite red cap. That thing is so comfy I sometimes use it when she's not looking.
"We just have to answer questions and ask them whatever questions we have."
Questions? I didn't really think about that. What questions do I have for the Battle Legends? I can ask Red why he doesn't talk and ask the Kalosians how they fly without Pagers, but I think that's it. I guess I'll have to think of something else. The other thing is, I have to answer whatever questions they may have. What would they ask me? What questions would they have for someone like me?
"Alright."
I sigh, closing the wardrobe. I want to make a good impression, so I chose to show them how I dress while still appealing to their sense of fashion. The blue cutoff jeans are because everyone else wears jeans and the surfing tank is to show I like to be loose and have fun stuff on my shirt. Nobody can resist Pikachu surfing on a rainbow wave. I'm also sporting a street cap without using a backpack because who walks around their house with a backpack. I'd use some sunglasses, but I think that's trying a bit too hard.
"Let's go eat. I can't think with an empty stomach."
I catch her smile again as I open the door.
The kitchen is big. It's a huge room divided between the kitchen and the kitchen table. Since it has to harbor around 14 people three times a day, I guess it was made to give space. All the kitchen appliances and necessities like the refrigerator and the oven are on the wall to the left. In front of all that is a sort of table with a bunch of stools that makes the ensemble look like a bar. In front of this is finally the kitchen table, which has 16 chairs. No one sits at the top or at the bottom. Instead, they all sit on the sides.
Right now, at the very end of the table, Red and Leaf are to the right in front of Gold and Kris. Closer to us are the Hoenn and Sinnoh Legends. Ruby's arguing about something with Diamond while Dawn and May laugh together. Next, the two Unova pairs sit in front of each other. Hilda talks to Black as he silently eats while Nate yells over at Gold from the other side of the table. Rosa tries to stop him but Kris just encourages him even more, waving her arms in the air above the heads of the other trainers. Calem and Serena awkwardly stare at us on the left side of the table, occasionally glancing at the empty chairs in front of them.
"They're ours, I think."
Moon mutters.
"Congratulations, Alola guys!" Nate yells with a grin.
"You're officially the first Legends to wake up after everyone else on your first morning!"
I frown.
"Is that bad? I guess I just like a good night's sleep."
I then follow Moon to our seats.
Nate rolls his eyes and Leaf smiles. I remember her in Kanto. She was very nice.
"What are you eating?"
How did I almost forget? Did Nate distract me from my Guzzlord-like hunger?
"Pancakes."
I blurt out. Alola has great pancakes. Nobody really knows why they're better there than in any other region. Maybe it has something to do with Psychic-type Pokémon.
"I'll go ahead and make some."
I get up to protest and say that I can make them myself, but Nate puts a hand on my shoulder. Why do I have to sit next to him?
"Let her make them for you. No way your cooking is better than hers. Plus, since we all already ate, we can start the Q&A right now."
I sigh and nod, even though I doubt she can beat my pancake skill.
"We're starting the Question Segment!"
The Kalos trainers announce. Are they supposed to do this? Is this Legend tradition or something?
"Move to the end of the table so we can all see you."
Rosa points to where we move our chairs.
It's a lot more intimidating from here. Thirteen experienced Battle Legends all looking at you when you haven't even eaten your breakfast doesn't make you feel very good. At least Red isn't looking at me. No, wait, he is, his hat is just covering his eyes.
"Do you want to start?"
Kris asks.
I shrug but nod.
"Sure."
I look around. I guess it's time to ask my questions. Let's see...
"Why don't you ever talk?"
Everyone turns to Red, who slightly raises his cap so his face is visible. He's smiling.
"I do. I just don't like it."
He says his answer and goes back to his Pokédex. Do they use it like we use the RotomDex? It lets us access different apps like the Festival Plaza and manage all of our info like our Trainer Passport. We also used it to communicate between each other. It's how Mohn gave me daily updates on my friends in PokéPelago.
Like the man that just spoke, everyone else in the room becomes quiet. They're expecting another question.
"How can you just ride on your Pokémon without Pager gear? Doesn't your weight put some strain on the Pokémon you use to fight?" Moon asks.
Now they all frown.
"What do you mean? What's a Pager?" Gold asks.
Moon and I share the same confused looks. How do they not know what Ride Pager is? Have they gone their entire lives without using them? And I thought we in Alola had the lesser technology of the world. I guess the Aether Foundation's progress really boosted things. Or, maybe it was Colress. Whatever.
"The Ride Pager is a piece of technology we use in Alola as a mean of transport." Moon explains as Leaf places our pancakes on the table.
"It uses the same technology used in PCs to transport pokéballs containing Pokémon that are specifically prepared and geared up for riding."
She holds up the Pager and selects one of the options to make a pokéball appear in the ring at the end of the device.
"We can then use these riding Pokémon to surf on water, ride on land, fly in the air, break solid rock, push heavy objects and find hidden ones as well. What makes this thing even better is the fact that it also instantly equips you with your riding gear, so you're comfortably seated on the Pokémon in a way that secures your safety. If this wasn't there you would all off the flying Charizard or get trampled on by a Mudsdale."
Moon visibly shudders, so I do the same to agree.
Instead, Ruby shrugs.
"I never had to wear anything and I rode on a Latios."
I promptly almost choke on Leaf's delicious pancakes.
A LATIOS!? HOW IN THE NAME OF HOLY ARCEUS DID HE SURVIVE RIDING ON A FREAKING LATIOS!? THAT THING CAN OVERTAKE JET PLANES!
"How did you do that!?" Once again, Moon asks so I don't have to.
Ruby shrugs again.
"I don't know. I just did it. Riding Mega Rayquaza to space helped."
I'm done.
"You rode Mega Rayquaza to space." I ask.
He nods nonchalantly.
"To catch Deoxys."
I guess I know why they're Legends. These guys are crazy.
"What did you do?"
This time Nate is the one that speaks. I still don't like his face.
I stay silent for a bit, looking for something to say. I never did anything like Ruby. The one time I rode a Pokémon without gear was to follow Solgaleo through the portal and I fell almost immediately upon landing in the Ultra Space. Oh yeah! Ultra Space!
"Do you know what Ultra Beasts are?"
Dumbfounded looks and shaking heads.
"They're these really weird creatures that come from an alternate dimension called the Ultra Space. They're unlike anything we've ever seen, including Pokémon."
"They're not Pokémon?" May asks.
I shake my head and continue.
"We've only found 7 and we still haven't discovered how they function. Solgaleo, Lunala and Necrozma also look like them and have that connection with the Ultra Space, but we don't really consider them Ultra Beasts because they actually communicate well enough and are a lot more powerful. We can show them to you outside if you want."
I finished my pancakes, so there's no need to stay here.
Diamond desperately nods and gets up before we do.
"Yes, let's go!"
The first one is of course, Nihilego.
"Nwowowouiiiii!"
Its weird alien cry pierces through the outside air. It hovers hesitantly like it always does, extremely cautious and extremely dangerous. I guess I'll read Wicke's data for them.
"UB-01 codenamed Symbiont. There have been sightings of Nihilego in Alola's past. Its most distinctive feature is its parasitic capability. When Nihilego latches on to a host, it does not manipulate its actions directly. Rather it awakens the host's own capabilities and boosts them to an extreme extent in order to protect itself. It injects the host with a sort of neurotoxin to achieve this effect. The neurotoxin of Nihilego's is incredibly stimulating and inspires feelings of extreme excitement and a lack of inhibition in its host. In other words, anything or anyone that a Nihilego latches on to will have its native skills forcibly activated to their fullest extent and will then act as it naturally desires to."
"Oh." Serena, who was about to touch one of its tentacles, backs off slowly.
Out of all the Ultra Beasts, I think I dislike Nihilego the most for what it did to Lusamine and her children. On top of that, its parasitic nature and its constant silence just creeps me out. The fact that it doesn't have a face doesn't help, either.
It goes back into its Beast Ball without a sound and is replaced by the muscular figure of Buzzwole.
"BRRREEEEEEEE!"
It lands on its four legs and starts flexing almost instantly. Its small bug-like wings fllutter for a second behind him and his antennae quiver as it moves its head look around.
"UB-02 codenamed Absorption. Buzzwole, like many other Ultra Beasts, was found after the Ultra Wormhole was opened. Its most distinctive feature is its skill to strengthen itself. Buzzwole is able to absorb energy and then achieve a chemical reaction between the energy it has absorbed and its own body fluids. As a result, Buzzwole's body swells to an almost explosive extent. Its muscles bulge and are so thick and dense that they are even stronger than steel. Both its Attack and Defense experience a clear leap in power. It also displays a habit of striking a pose each time that it takes any sort of action. It is thought this might serve as a method of communication, but it is not well understood."
"Awesome." Kris grins at the monster, which puts its arms up and flexes in response.
Buzzwole is weirdly very muscular and intimidating, but I find it to be the least dangerous. The way it strikes a pose every time it does something makes him a lot more human in my eyes. The only time I've been genuinely creeped out by it is when it ate a Puff by draining it with its mosquito-like sucker.
The last thing it does before going back in its Beast Ball is fist-bump Gold.
"Auuuphraaaaaaaa!"
Moon releases Pheromosa because it only appeared in her dimension.
Unlike the others, it stands almost perfectly still and gazes at the Legends with a hand on its hip.
"UB-02 codenamed Beauty. Pheromosa's lithe, elegant body is capable of sudden feats of acceleration, able to twitch its limbs at an estimated 120mph/200kmh instantaneously, a speed previously unseen in the world. It also produces a sort of disarming pheromone which was described as "previously unknown to science" that causes those nearby to become awestruck by its presence."
I see that the other Legends are just as weirded out by it as I am. Still, it doesn't avert its gaze or change its nonchalant stance.
I don't really know much about it besides what Moon told me about it but I do know I don't like it. It kind of reminds me of the old Lusamine.
It goes back in its Beast Ball without any protest.
"ZZZZRRRRRRRRRRTZZZZRRRRRRRRT!"
Xurkitree's cry sounds more like an electrical current than anything else. It stands lightly on its two legs and waves its tail around behind it without any care in the world. It then proceeds to wave its arms around randomly and playfully power the lights on its body.
"UB-03 codenamed Lighting. Xurkitree's most distinctive feature is an organ that can generate power. This UB's bodily makeup is highly reminiscent of electric wiring, thus enabling it to conduct electricity with great efficiency. It can discharge as much as a million volts of power at a time. When it begins to run out of power, it stabs its legs and tail into the soil, entering a treelike state as it absorbs electricity from the ground."
"I like it." Nate goes to give it a high-five and gets immediately electrocuted.
Rosa laughs as she picks him up from the ground and helps him dust off.
"Right. Electric tree thing. I forgot."
Xurkitree is like Buzzwole in the sense that it's very dangerous but it doesn't act like it. The power it generates when in tree state could incapacitate any Pokémon or human, but instead it decides to wave its arms around and use the electricity only to feed. The fact that it has no face is a bit creepy, but not to the point that it makes me dislike it.
"Bwooooo-wooooop!"
Moon gets out her Celesteela right after I retrieve Xurkitree. The giant beast makes the ground shake and creates large cracks on the floor when it lands. That thing weighs like a thousand tons and that's not counting the floating steel pillars that it uses as arms. Its enormous size and gray hair-like drapes cover the fact that it has a weird tiny face atop a thin wide neck. The combination of its sharp head and its large bottom with multiple cylindrical legs makes the whole ensemble look like a giant steel rocket.
"UB-04 codenamed Blaster. Celesteela's most distinctive feature is the energy that it stores within itself: a flammable gas that it can shoot from its two huge arms. This is mostly used to propel itself in flight and for battle, but it is thought to have sufficient power and lift to even fly into space. Despite being a Steel type, Celesteela's body is plantlike and can absorb nutrients from the soil."
"Oh great." May mutters.
"Exactly what we needed. More Pokémon that can go to space."
"It's not a Pokémon." Moon protests.
She's right. No one in their right mind would call Celesteela and all the other creatures that came before it a Pokémon. They're too...unnatural.
I don't really know what to think of Celesteela. I didn't even know it had a face until Moon pointed it out to me and proceeded to feed it Poké Puffs. It was horrifying. Still, I don't see anything particularly dangerous or intimidating about it apart from its size and weight. The fact that it's blasters are so powerful they can send that weight to space is disconcerting, but it doesn't do it often so I'm not too worried.
After it goes back in Moon's Beast Ball, I release my Kartana.
"Kuuuuukrrreeeeeeee!"
It's so small at first that the other Legends have to huddle around it to get a better look. I don't know how it does it, but it manages to glide in the air without a problem despite its paper weight. Literally, its whole body has the weight, texture and look of origami paper. It doesn't have a face either, but the X on the front of its head pulsates to show the yellow underneath.
"UB-04 codenamed Blade. Kartana's most distinctive feature is its thin and razor-sharp body, of which every edge has a cruel a cutting edge as any well-honed blade. The edges on its arms are particularly in a class of its own. Any opponent who tries to attack it will be cut down with a single strike of its 'blades'. Its thin body also allows it to evade attacks by dancing lightly out of the way. This is a very dangerous creature, considering its excellent offensive and defensive capabilities, but due to the nature of its body, it is also highly vulnerable to fire and moisture."
"Cool." Gold smiles at it. In response, Kartana dances away from it rapidly.
"It's very fickle."
Kartana was the hardest to find due to its size, I think. Also, the sheer speed it has lets it dance away faster than I can attack it. It might be the only thing that challenged my pokéball-throwing aim as well. I kind of feel bad for it though, because it's so fragile pretty much anything that hits it will make it faint. I dread the moment one of them gets hit by a direct hit of Flamethrower.
"GRRRRRRRRWRRRRRRRRR."
The tiny Kartana is replaced by the monstrous Guzzlord, making everyone instinctively jump back. Its thick black tail breaks the ground it hits thanks to the spiky ball at the end. It slowly moves its jaws so the two black pincer-like tongues can comfortably move around. The two blue glowing eyes above its mouth blink occasionally, but the smaller ones above its head do not.
"UB-05 codenamed Glutton. Guzzlord has been sighted in Alola in the past and was targeted by the International Police in a top-secret mission at that time. Its most distinctive feature is its limitless appetite. It feeds without pause every moment that it is awake. It uses the two large tongues that protrude from its mouth to catch and devour everything in its path, be it organic or inorganic matter. And while it eats such an inordinate amount, Guzzlord excreta (poop) has never been discovered. It is though that it might fully convert the things that it eats into energy for it to use."
The Legends stay silent for a moment until Nate blurts out:
"Ha ha, he said poop."
I shake my head and sigh, putting the monster back in its Beast Ball. I don't want to show Solgaleo, Lunala or Necrozma because we don't actually know anything about them and I don't want to disappoint.
"Are we done?" I ask.
"Yeah, for now." Diamond nods with a hand under his chin.
Pew?
I have an important announcement to make. (No, I'm not stopping or changing my schedule.)
As I discussed last chapter, I'm going to stop uploading for this fic and start a new one that begins with the Alolan welcome. I thank the people that stuck with me this whole time despite everything that has happened and I tell you that if you enjoyed what you read here, you can go read the next fic instead. Thank you all so much!
However, I'm not going to post that fic until next week so I have at least three chapters to post immediately.
Laters!