Kitty sighed slightly as she glanced upwards towards the darkening skies of Paldea. That guy Giacomo had been nice enough to give her directions to Mezogoza…though it was proving to be a LONG walk.

To top it all off, the guy mentioned Tagtree forest was on the OTHER SIDE of Paldea!

She was going to have to figure out a better way to travel…

…still…Giacomo reminded her a LOT of her brother…
She smiled very lightly. She missed her brother…wonder what he would think of her comparing someone to him?

Kitty glanced behind her, where Harpuia and Freezer were walking behind her, looking like they were getting worn out from the walk. She stopped walking and turned to face her Pokemon. "Hey…why don't you guys head back to your Pokeballs? I'll keep going until I find a good place to camp."

The Toxtricity and Alolan Sandslash glanced towards each other, before looking back at their trainer in concern.

"Krr…"
"Tox…"

She couldn't understand them, but she was pretty sure they were concerned about her being tired as well. "Don't worry about me guys, I can keep going for a few more minutes. I just need to find a flatter area so I can try making that curry stuff that Selena introduced me to."

Kitty gave her Pokemon a peace sign. "Give me thirty minutes. I promise."

Harpuia crossed his arms and gave Kitty a sarcastic look.

"I PROMISE, pretty boy." Kitty put her hands on her belt and took out two Pokeballs.

Harpuia shook his head slightly and Freezer rolled his eyes as they were sent back to their Pokeballs. As they disappeared in a flash of red light and were safely snuggled into their balls, Kitty turned and kept walking up the incline of the mountain she was scaling.
She swore she could see some wind turbines ahead…maybe that meant she could find some people to either buy a meal from, or at the very least, find a nice flat surface where she and her team could set up camp.

Once she managed to get to the top, Kitty let off a heavy sigh…she KNEW Harpuia was going to give her 'the stare of doom' once she let him out of his ball. The walk had been much farther than she thought and she had-

"Whoa…" Kitty let off a gasp and turned as she beheld the view of what was on the other side of the mountain. It looked like a nice quiet town…and a little ways further was an enormous city. Mezogoza. She could recognize the top of Uva Academy from HERE!

…If only she hadn't left some of her flying Pokemon back in Alola…she could REALLY use her Noivern about now…

She reached for her belt and took out her four Pokeballs, letting out her team-

Only for Harpuia to materialize RIGHT in front of her with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face. Kitty sweatdropped and put up her hands, a nervous smile on her face. "We're here, Mr. Vanity." she teased. "We're not going any further, I swear."

Harpuia rolled his eyes and put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a stern look…before turning and walking off to investigate their surroundings.

"EMBOOOOOOAAARRR!"

Kitty looked over as Fefnir let out his greeting to the world in the most AGGRESSIVE way he could. By shouting out to the heavens. This irritated Leviathan and Freezer to no end.

"Prrrim." By Arceus, Fefnir, do you HAVE to disturb the peace?!
Leviathan scowled at Fefnir, motioning towards the slope of the mountain. It is NIGHT!

"Boar!" So what? I'm just saying Hi!
Fefnir smirked and glanced over towards Freezer, who already was scowling at the large brute in front of him.

"KRRR!" You moron! We're in the wilds! Who knows what Pokemon you just irritated?!
Freezer scowled. This is Paldea! Not Alola! Not every Pokemon is going to be ready to just REASON with us!

Even in Alola, not all the Pokemon were ready to reason.
Harpuia made his way to the Emboar and frowned. Fefnir. Your duty is to protect our trainer. Not bring possible threats to the area.

Heh.
Fefnir turned to look towards Harpuia, putting his hands on his non-existent hips.
I heard you were the first to get knocked out in the Alolan tournament, Harpuia. That's such a disgrace to this team.

Harpuia scowled and narrowed his eyes. Fefnir…

"Guys?"
The four Pokemon looked over towards their trainer, who was in the middle of building a fire. "If you're not too busy starting a civil war with each other; could you help me find some Oran and Cheri berries for the curry?"

The four Pokemon glanced back towards each other, before Harpuia, Fefnir and Freezer set off to forage, while Leviathan chose to stay and protect her trainer.

Not too far away, a pair of topaz eyes watched the group from under a bush, nose twitching from the new scents of the Pokemon and human it was watching…

***AL***

Spector tied a box against his shiny Noivern's back tightly, causing the dragon/flying type to lurch slightly in pain. The Noivern panted slightly, but kept his gaze fixed on the ground, knowing better than to make known his discomfort.

After all…his trainer cared nothing for his health, as could be seen by a professional. The Noivern's ribs could be seen very slightly, and parts of his tail was scarred and even shredded.

The dark look in his eyes never left though…he couldn't help but feel a lasting taste of hatred…

"There. We're supplied." Spector tied the last knot to the Noivern and cracked his knuckles. "Galar is a long fly. If you want your dinner, you better make it to our first checkpoint without any incidents, got it?"

Noivern gazed at the ground…and looked away from Spector when the man took a step up.

"DON'T provoke me again." Spector smirked. "There's PLENTY of Ice shards from where those last ones came."

"EY."

Spector paused and glanced over his shoulder, seeing a somewhat buff, but very punk-like young man heading in his direction. The guy had black and white clothing…somewhat similar to the punks Spector had beat down earlier.
He had odd hair, which was white on top, though his lower sideburns were black as raven's feathers. The guy also had an odd pair of sunglasses which lens shapes didn't match each other.

Turning away from his Noivern, Spector smirked at the young man. "Yeah? Ya want somethin?" he asked snidely, a challenging look on his face.

The other guy didn't seem pleased by Spector's demeanor as he stopped when he was almost right IN FRONT of Spector, a smug, yet dark smirk on his face.
"Oh I see…we got a tough guy here." The guy scoffed, narrowing his eyes towards Spector. "Think that has got any effect on Big Bad Guzma?"

Spector only grinned evilly at the 'introduction' he was given. "Guzma huh?" He chuckled lowly. "I think I've heard of you. Used to be a pupil of the Kahuna? Dropout of an Island Challenge?" Spector's grin widened and his eyes darkened. "Self-proclaimed 'Big Bad' of the worthless team Skull?"

The man known as 'Guzma' narrowed his eyes dangerously, though his smirk never left him. He wasn't ABOUT to give this creep the pleasure of seeing him pissed off.
"Well. Ain't we the wise guy? Look's like someone's done his homework."

Guzma suddenly PUNCHED Spector in the stomach, grinning as he successfully landed his blow, causing the man to take a few steps back, holding his gut.

Spector's Noivern glanced towards the conflict…but looked incredibly distant…as if he didn't care what was going on.

"I'm gonna give ya this warning ONCE, punk." Guzma snarled. "Keep yer hands off my posse. Ya mess with even the LOWEST member of Team Skull, Ya mess with me."

Spector was quiet for a moment…before he looked up, smirking. Like lightning, he SNATCHED Guzma by the scruff of his shirt and PUNCHED him across the face. Guzma stumbled, allowing Spector to SHOVE Guzma to the ground.

Not stopping there, Spector put his fingers to his lips and whistled. Like lightning, his Absol Lumine came charging from behind Noivern, eyes narrowed. The blade-like arch on Lumine's head started to glow as he prepared a Slash attack for Guzma.

Guzma's eyes widened and he quickly chucked a Pokeball in the air.
"FIRST IMPRESSION!" he yelled as the Pokeball popped open, releasing a large Golisopod. Hearing the order, the Bug/Water type's claw started glowing green and was LUNGED into the Absol's side.

Lumine cried out in pain as the super effective move caused him to go tumbling across the ground and land on his side, panting in pain.

Spector watched Lumine lay on the ground…he had been taken out in one hit. A smirk came to his face and he looked back towards Guzma, chuckling lowly. "Well played, loser. Not everyone can take out my ace in one hit."

"Who are you calling a 'Loser'?" Guzma snarled, scowling darkly at Spector. "You're the one who lost."

"A mere battle." Spector took out a Pokeball and aimed it towards his wounded Absol without looking. "Not the war I'm fighting. So tell me something, punk…Selena Hoshi Fog? Friend of the current Champion Katrina?"

Guzma paused at the names…and frowned.

The reaction didn't go unnoticed. Spector's eyes narrowed and he smirked. "Know anyone by the name 'Selena', big boy?"

Guzma was silent for a long time…before he placed his hands in his pockets and smiled dangerously in Spector's direction.
"Never heard of her. I don't pay attention to Kitten's friends. Now back to the topic of my posse…" His eyes narrowed. "If ya know what's good for ya…you'll ditch Alola before I make your life a living hell. I don't take kindly to creeps who mess with my gang"

Spector laughed lowly and gave Guzma a mock-peace sign. "Gang. Hah. What a joke." He turned and climbed on the waiting Noivern's back, glancing back towards Guzma. "Oh how rude of me…Name's Spector." He glared at Guzma evilly. "It WASNT nice meeting you."

"The displeasure's all MINE, scumbag." Guzma spit on the ground in contempt, while Spector's Noivern took to the air and started flying north.

Guzma and Golisopod watched the creep fly off…before Guzma glanced to the side, frowning. "...what's Kitten gotten herself into?" he grumbled, a scowl on his face.