IIIII NEVER MEANT TO CAUSE YOU TROUBLE...IIIII NEVER MEANT TO DO YOU WRONG

000

The following week went about rather normally, with nothing of much interest occurring in the days leading up to Friday.

Hakamo-o and Lucario hadn't been as awkward as they used to, and actually started to enjoy each others company in order to get a head start on their future relationship.

Incineroar just spent his time playing against his fiance in Overwatch on the seventh floor, with a few of the others from the opposing cast watching, and Lycanroc cheering him on.

Tsareena just continued hanging around with Infernape, all the while keeping up her unintelligent act, which pissed Slowking off to no end.

Meanwhile, Dhelmise stuck with Tepig and Zorua since they were the only ones that interested him.

Soon enough, Friday came, and the fifteen competitors decided to have a beach day before Victini's cast had to leave.

000

Ahh, Hano Beach, the perfect place for sun, sand, and surf, if you were capable of it. The fifteen contestants were all having fun in some form, which was not a rare or difficult feat with Alola's warm, friendly weather and ravishing scenery.

Dhelmise was once again with Tepig and Zorua. The fox was only watching on in horror as the two assholes shared humiliating information about their own casts. Dhelmise didn't really have much to say about the remaining four, but he had a ton to say regarding the ones that were eliminated prior to them getting there, with Tepig listening intently like a curious child.

"So the bloke really thought he banged a Salazzle?" Tepig inquired with a chortle.

"Yep, he just got suffocated by her pheromones and passed out. Then she just made it seem like sex happened," Dhelmise explained. "Overall, it was just dumb, and so was he since he apparently liked Hakamo-o."

"Welp, it's a bit too late for him, now," Tepig said, glancing over at the water, where Lucario and Hakamo-o were wrestling.

"Oh definitely," Dhelmise agreed, seeing the two girls flip and grope each other in the water. "I just don't want to be in the room some action happens between them."

He then turned and saw Scrafty and Umbreon napping next to each other on towels. "And then you guys have those two, who I guarantee will find something in common at the very end of you guys' show and fuck each others' brains out."

"I could sorta see that," Tepig said with a chuckle.

Zorua sighed to herself, shaking her head as she tried to mute everything that was hearing.

-000-

Lycanroc was talking to Shuckle away from everyone. The Wolf Pokemon knew why the bug- and rock-type was appearing to be miserable, and after he asked her about her issue, she initially didn't want to tell him, but eventually, she decided to explain it.

When she did, Shuckle grew sympathetic, having to fight back tears. "That's sad. Like… really sad."

"Yeah," Lycanroc said softly, staring down as she drew a crude picture of a Rockruff, Ursaring, and Lycanroc in the sand with one of her claws. "Well, he's in jail now, so at least it can't continue."

She drew three vertical lines across the Ursaring's face.

Shuckle sighed. "Now I feel like I'm upset for a petty reason compared to yours," he expressed, sounding empathetic.

"No, no," Lycanroc replied before sighing. "This is why I hate talking about this side of my life. People always feel bad for me or they feel like they're required to compare it to something that happened to themselves in some way."

"Now I feel bad for feeling bad…" Shuckle drawled.

Lycanroc moaned in discontent and just flopped on her back, letting the grains of sand enter her fur.

-000-

Incineroar was teaching Gallade a few wrestling holds out of boredom. Sure, things were awkward between the two of them, but there were some things that they had in common, well, mainly one thing: strength.

The muscular tiger had already taught the Blade Pokemon six moves prior; however, those were all standard. Now, he was going to start showing a few that his fiance came up with that were a bit unorthodox.

"Okay, and this is one that my man came up with," Incineroar said, walking behind Gallade. "Now, try not to panic or anything, because…" He suddenly realized something. "Wait, I forgot you're straight; you probably wouldn't be comfortable with the move."

He moved back in front of Gallade, but he insisted. "So, you are confirming that the move you're about to show me will cause mental and semi-physical discomfort in addition to the pain?"

"It depends on whether or not you're comfortable with a certain area of someone's body being near a certain area of your own," Incineroar replied.

"I'm strong enough to handle discomfort," Gallade responded. "Bring it on. This could be beneficial for me in the future."

"You sure?" Incineroar queried. "I'm pretty sure-"

"Just… do it," Gallade groaned.

Incineroar shrugged as he walked behind him once again. He had a feeling that the Blade Pokemon wouldn't like this at all.

-000-

Slowking had been sleeping on a raft in the ocean when he suddenly felt himself being thrown into the water. The rush of water hitting his entire body shocked him awake; he resurfaced, panting. Upon breaching the ocean's surface, he saw that Lucario had taken over his raft.

"Hey!" he bellowed irritatedly.

"What?" Lucario responded, sounding a bit brash.

"That's my raft," Slowking prodded, placing his arms on his inflatable resting toy. Suddenly, Hakamo-o rose from the depths directly in front of him.

"No, sorry, it's ours now," Hakamo-o mocked. "We really need this raft."

"Wha-" Slowking started before Hakamo-o swam away from her, pushing Lucario on the raft. The Royal Pokemon groaned in annoyance.

Not willing to risk being pummeled, even with his type advantage, he decided to swim to shore. Upon feeling the grains of sand under his feet, he let out a soft sigh of discouragement.

He peered over and saw that Infernape was catering to Tsareena like some kind of servant, in his mind anyway. The Flame Pokemon was lathering Tsareena's back with sunscreen, as the Fruit Pokemon didn't think that rubbing it on herself in public would be a good idea if she wanted to keep up her facade. The cool white lotion being slathered on her back caused her to sigh in relief, and Infernape had magical fingers that massaged her shoulders and back.

Once he was finished, Tsareena rolled onto her back and Infernape helped her sit up. Slowking glowered at the Fruit Pokemon and took a seat in front of the two of them, eyeing Hakamo-o and Lucario as they lied on the raft together.

Tsareena smiled to herself upon seeing Slowking in front of them.

"You smell… really nice Tsareena," she heard Infernape compliment as he handed her a Komala Coffee, which she purposely dropped in the sand.

"Did you use Sweet Scent or something?" the ape continued. "Because it has this like… floral-"

"No, she DID NOT USE SWEET SCENT!" Slowking growled.

This sudden outburst made Infernape jump. "You okay, dude?"

Tsareena winked at Slowking as he grit his teeth. "I-I'm fine. Just a little on edge today."

Suddenly, Victini's voice blared over a megaphone. "UH, MY GUYS! EMERGENCY! I NEED YOU ALL OVER TO MEET AT THE DOCK!"

"Ugh...I'm not going!" Umbreon shouted. "I'm taking a nap!"

"COME ON!" Victini shouted, sounding flustered.

With groans, all of the members of Victini's cast started heading back toward the dock of Akala Island. The players bid each other farewell, with Hakamo-o and Lucario hugging and Infernape picking up and hugging Tsareena as she went limp to keep up her facade.

As Victini and his cast left in a hurry via speedboat, leaving the final five very confused.

"So, uh… Hakamo-o. How does she taste?" Dhelmise teased, referring to Lucario.

The dragon- and fighting-type turned and glowered at the Sea Creeper Pokemon, trying to hide a blush. "Fuck you, Dhelmise."

A few seconds later, Solgaleo padded up behind them. "There you five are. Where'd everyone else go?"

"They're gone," Incineroar replied, watching the speedboat disappear in the distance. "Victini sounded panicked or something, so he just told them all to come to the dock. Then they left."

Solgaleo rose a brow upon hearing that. It was strange, but there was no reason to think much about it. "Huh. Well, I guess there was emergency that needed to be taken care of. Oh well."

"So, is everything back to normal now?" Lycanroc inquired, curious if they would be getting any more visitors.

"Yes," Solgaleo responded, expecting to hear that question from one of them. "There are no other crossover plans."

"Good," Dhelmise commented harshly. "I'm tired of dealing with other morons that I don't give a Rattata's ass about."

"Aw… so you care about your fellow competitors?" Solgaleo teased. "How sweet."

"Oh please," Dhelmise replied, sarcastically. "I don't give a shit about any of these losers. I'm in the final three!"

"Yes, I heard that from Lunala," Solgaleo said through grit teeth. "I had to take a couple of antidepressants and drown my disappointment with cheap liquor."

"But… isn't taking drugs and alcohol together a bad thing?" Hakamo-o replied, a bit concerned after hearing that.

Solgaleo blinked. "Alright, time for you guys' next challenge," he said, ignoring Hakamo-o's concern. "Let's get to Poni Island."

"Are you teleporting us or do we have to ride the stupid boat again?" Dhelmise questioned.

"You're immune, so you get the stay here, much to my enjoyment and relief," Solgaleo purred.

"No, I'm 100 percent sure that the enjoyment and relief extends to all of us, too," Incineroar said with a cheeky grin.

"Well, this must suck for you, because I'm still coming to watch," Dhelmise replied. "I'm in the final three, but that doesn't mean I can't come. Plus, Lunala said that if there's a reward for the challenge, I can still participate."

Hakamo-o and Incineroar looked to Solgaleo with borderline pleading eyes, with the exception of Tsareena who was still staring out in the distance, and Lycanroc, who wasn't really bothered. Solgaleo had an agitated and

"Please don't say that this is another reward challenge…" Hakamo-o beseeched.

Solgaleo only blinked in response again, a blue light enveloping the six of them before they all vanished.

000

The six of them found themselves in a wide open field, the lush greenery radiating life and peace in the environment. Palm trees were sporadically growing in different sections of the fields. The air was clean and the ambience was very serene, giving one the feeling of overwhelming bliss.

"Thanks for the answer," Hakamo-o said through grit teeth, clenching her fists, glaring up at the white lion.

Solgaleo grumbled to himself before padding before them all and facing them. "Welcome to your next challenge," he hosted. "As you can see, we are currently in the peaceful Poni Plains…"

"A tongue twister, how enthralling…" Dhelmise drawled.

Solgaleo remained quiet for a while, screaming in his head. He took a deep breath before continuing his expounding of the challenge.

"Here in Poni Plains, there are Braviary and Mandibuzz that occasionally fly overhead, as well as Fearow that are just local to the vicinity," Solgaleo explained. Immediately, the five, excluding Tsareena, started scanning the sky and saw figures flying around above them, presumably the three flying-types that Solgaleo had just listed.

"Now, today's challenge will be split into two parts," Solgaleo explained. "Whoever wins the first part wins an advantage in the next part. Simple."

Dhelmise groaned. "Just get on with it, already! What's the challenge and the reward for this challenge?"

Solgaleo remained silent again. He swore to himself that he was going to take more pills when he got back to the hall. Dhelmise was that irritating. "You alls challenge is to collect as many feathers as you can from the bird species that reside and roam around here. The player that has the most feathers by the time I declare the challenge over will win the advantage."

"Yeah yeah yeah, what's the reward?" Dhelmise pestered.

Solgaleo screamed with his mouth closed, his eyes wide as he stared at Dhelmise from the corner of his eyes.

"Uh, Dhelmise… you might not want to irk him too much," Lycanroc advised, seeing the crazed look in the legendary host's eyes.

"Oh please, he'll be fine," Dhelmise said nonchalantly. "He just needs to tell us what the reward is and be done with it."

"I hate you," Solgaleo remarked. "I'm not saying what the reward is until the second part of the challenge, so you're either participating or you're not. Make up your fucking mind. Now."

Dhelmise remained quiet for a while before grumbling. "Fine. I'll participate. This stupid reward had better be worth it."

"And there is no sabotage allowed on each other," Solgaleo replied. "We don't want another repeat of the last challenge."

"Wimp," Dhelmise remarked.

"Could you just keep your non-existant mouth shut and stop antagonizing him?!" Incineroar growled. The constant interruptions were eating away at the Heel Pokemon's already fractured nerves.

"Could you choke on a Rapidash dildo and suffocate?" the Sea Creeper Pokemon shot back, causing Lycanroc and Hakamo-o to unconsciously blush and their eyes to widen.

Incineroar growled, clenching his fists, his knuckles popping. "You know… I'm getting reeeally tired of you…" he said, turning to him.

"And why do I care about that?" Dhelmise questioned nonchalantly. "You've been tired of me since we first started this stupid show. And you always talk out of your destroyed ass and make hollow threats that you never go through with, so you talking shit to me literally does nothing."

Incineroar twitched, before attempting to swat at Dhelmise; Lycanroc held him back, though, keeping him away. "I will tear you apart; I swear I will. I will incinerate your body and spread your ashes all across this wonderful region."

"How if I'm already dead?"

"OKAY!" Solgaleo roared, getting their attention back. "Let's get back focused on the challenge alright? I'm sure that we all wish that Dhelmise could die a horrible death and hope that his body can never be found again, but we need to continue."

Hakamo-o huffed, Tsareena simply stared into space, Incineroar folded his eyes, throwing an irritated gance toward Dhelmise, who looked completely unbothered, and Lycanroc just leaned against Incineroar's side.

"Now, one other rule. Even though I'm sure you all would like to, you are not permitted to help each other in the challenge," Solgaleo stated. "Failure to comply will result in you being disqualified from the first part of the challenge."

Hakamo-o, Incineroar, and Lycanroc all shared a collective groan of disappointment, while Dhelmise chortled. "Sucks for you, losers…"

"And a final rule, no using any type of supernatural abilities," Solgaleo explained, glowering directly at Dhelmise. "You will only be permitted to use the moves that you know and the environment around you. Understand?"

They all nodded in agreement except for Tsareena, who just blinked.

"Alright, the challenge begins...now!"

Immediately, Incineroar, Lycanroc, Hakamo-o, and Dhelmise went their separate ways, and Tsareena stood in place before collapsing on her back and staring at the sky.

000

"Meh. It's not an elimination challenge, so I have no need to do anything," Tsareena replied. "Even if the reward is good, what'd really be the difference? The hotel still has food, comfortable living arrangements, and entertainment."

000

Upon being told that they couldn't help each other, Hakamo-o got into competitive mode. She needed to win the challenge and get that advantage; maybe she'd have a chance to win the final reward. She just hoped that it was worth it.

She wanted Dhelmise to lose this challenge just so he would shut the hell up. But, upon remembering how he is, she knew that even if she won, that'd meet nothing and he'd still run his trap. She just sighed.

As she crossed the plains, the grass tickling the bottom of her feet, she found herself thinking about Lucario momentarily. She still couldn't believe that she practically had a girlfriend now, the first relationship she's ever had. If things hadn't gone wrong, she'd have thought that Passimian would actually make a move with what he'd been talking about regarding her, but… he got eliminated, so there was no need to dwell on him.

And what was the most weird was the fact that both she and Lucario were extremely awkward regarding relationships. After they kissed Monday night, the twosome spent most of their time together for the rest of the week, leading to them being fully comfortable with each other enough to grope each other and wrestle playfully rather than just as a battle strategy.

Her thoughts completely clouded her mind, causing her to walk right into a tree. Hakamo-o growled, rubbing her head. She heard the leaves rustle, letting her know that there was a Pokemon there and looked up to see a large, brown bird fly out of the tree.

Her eyes widened as she saw the Fearow fly away. Gasping, she immediately started running after it.

"HEY! GET BACK HERE!" she shouted as she ran after the Beak Pokemon.

The Fearow seamlessly ignored her and continued flying. Growling, a white aura surrounded Hakamo-o and rocks appeared around her, which she promptly fired at the bird.

A few of the rocks struck the bird, causing it to squawk out in pain and annoyance. It turned back toward Hakamo-o, giving her a scowl.

Hakamo-o grinned and beckoned for the bird to come at her. Falling for the taunt, the Fearow practically dive bombed toward her. As Hakamo-o prepared for the blow, a chain fired from the side, entangling the Fearow and yanking it to the side.

Hakamo-o gaped and looked over to see Dhelmise reeling in the Fearow. "HEY, YOU MOTHER FUCKER!"

"SCREW OFF!" Dhelmise retorted as he knocked out the Fearow with a Power Whip.

Hakamo-o growled, clenching her fists as she walked away.

000

Lycanroc, having seen the unwanted interaction between Dhelmise and Hakamo-o, sighed. It seemed like with every challenge, Dhelmise's taunts got worse and worse. She still didn't have a personal problem with the ghost- and grass-type, as hardly any of his taunts got to her or were specifically aimed at her, but she felt annoyed that her friends got annoyed.

She sat against a tree, unsure about what she should do at this point. She wanted to help others out mostly, but seeing as helping wasn't allowed, she didn't know. Sure, she had an advantage, being a rock-type, but that didn't help with how she was feeling.

She prefered working together with others a lot more than just working alone. She didn't know why, but she just felt so much more comfortable being with others. She looked around and caught sight of Incineroar chasing after a Braviary that was flying suspiciously low to the ground.

She giggled to herself upon seeing that and rose onto her feet with a sigh. She might as well participate; who knew when Solgaleo was going to say that the challenge time was up?

"Well, time to find my own bird to-"

She suddenly heard rustling above her head, followed by a few leaves falling down around her. Shaking her head fur, she got a bit of dirt and leaves off before looking up and seeing an Emolga there.

"An Emolga?" she inquired. "Huh. Not what I was looking for, but I guess they're around here, too."

The Emolga's tail began emitting sparks before a large, orange-yellow sphere formed from it. Lycanroc's eyes widened and an aura surrounded her. A white orb appeared in her hand and she aimed it at the Emolga just as it launched an Electro Ball at her.

Lycanroc leapt out of the way before firing rocks at the Sky Squirrel Pokemon. The attack hit, knocking the Emolga out as it collapsed onto the ground.

"Sorry!" Lycanroc said as she rushed away from that tree. She noticed a shadow on the ground near the edge of the plains and looked up to see a Mandibuzz flying in a circle.

Following what she did a few seconds ago to the Emolga, she used Rock Throw, hitting the Mandibuzz as it fell to the ground.

"Sorry," Lycanroc apologized as she approached the fallen Bone Vulture Pokemon. She walked over and started plucking a few feathers from its back.

The Mandibuzz squawked in pain from every loss of a feather. With an irritated growl, it got back onto its feet and kicked Lycanroc in the face, stunning her momentarily before taking flight once again.

Lycanroc groaned, rubbing her face before the buzzard fly off. She looked at her paws and saw that she had successfully plucked off six of the Mandibuzz's feathers.

000

Dhelmise, so far, had collected twenty feathers in total from the one Fearow that he stole from Hakamo-o. And luckily, because he didn't attack her to get the bird, it was technically allowed.

"This is completely stupid," Dhelmise stated as he floated away from the Beak Pokemon. "No sabotage, no helping each other, no 'supernatural' help? How will their precious ratings ever go high without the key elements of comedy?"

As he floated around the plains, he gazed upwards at the numerous birds that flew past each other. He had a feeling that this challenge was going to drag on due to the lack of action that'd occur. He was only participating for the prize, but now that he was thinking about it, it probably wasn't worth it if this was all that was going to happen.

He looked around the plains to see how the others were doing. Tsareena was lying on her back, unmoving, as he expected. He still couldn't believe that the dumb Slowking and Infernape were trying to convince him that that ditz was actually smart. He then looked over and saw Lycanroc walking around aimlessly with a couple of feathers in her paws.

Hakamo-o was walking around, looking in the air for birds to grab.

Incineroar was jumping up and leaping for a Braviary. As he passed by a tree, though, he found himself being tackled by a Primeape, allowing the Valiant Pokemon to escape. Dhelmise laughed at this.

"Pathetic," he commented before he took note of the amount of birds that were around here. "This is so stupid…"

000

Incineroar had been chasing the same Braviary for almost ten minutes, and ended up being taken down by a Primeape.

"Oh what the HELL!?" Incineroar exclaimed before being repeatedly punched in the face by the Primeape.

Growling, Incineroar shoved the angry Pig Monkey Pokemon off of himself. His right arm became surrounded by a black aura with a purple outline. The aura formed into the shape of a claw and he slashed at the Primeape, knocking it back.

"THIS CHALLENGE IS SHIT!" he shouted toward the sky.

He looked around the borderline barren, uninteresting plains before glancing upwards at all of the birds flying. He growled before glaring over at Solgaleo, who was seemingly just taking a nap in the center of the plains. The challenge was even boring him!

Growling, the tiger went over to the larger, sleeping cat, the sun shining down intensely. Approaching, he pat the Sunne Pokemon on the head in an attempt to wake him up. It hadn't even been that long, and he was already getting annoyed.

Solgaleo groaned to himself, groggy from the nap he was taking. He wasn't expecting anyone to wake him; he was actually going to end the challenge once he woke up on his own, but it looked like that would no longer be the case. He eyed Incineroar agitatedly, yet curiously.

"What is it, Incineroar?" he asked, rubbing his face. "Shouldn't you be collecting feathers?"

"This challenge is crap," Incineroar stated annoyedly. "It's completely boring around here. If we can't help or do anything to each other, nothing's gonna get done! Plus, the birds are flying too high up to be able to be caught!"

With a sigh, Solgaleo got to his feet as he looked around the area. Almost every contestant was just dragging along, almost as if they were sulking. He rose a brow. "Hmm, I suppose you're right. This challenge will most likely end up dragging on," he said as he looked up. "I guess I didn't count the fact that the birds may just remain in the sky the entire time."

"Yeah…" Incineroar said, as if it was completely obvious.

"FINAL FIVE, COME BACK OVER!" Solgaleo roared.

000

"What is it now?" Dhelmise groaned. "You already have us doing a pointless, boring challenge, so what else do you want from us?"

"Change of plans," Solgaleo hosted. "I've realized that this challenge is rather unpredictable and will be rather boring if you're not allowed to help each other."

"Oh, so you admit that trying to censor and provide hindrances for me makes your show boring," Dhelmise said before turning to the cameras. "Well you've heard it here first everyone. This show is boring as shit without me, so let's-"

"DHELMISE!" Solgaleo roared furiously, startling Tsareena, Lycanroc, Hakamo-o, and Incineroar. Dhelmise chortled at the host's anger. The Sunne Pokemon took a deep breath. "Just… shut the fuck up… and follow me," he instructed, holding in his rage the best that he could.

The lion started walking northwest from the spot where they were all standing. The final five exchanged glances before following the host. As they trailed the psychic- and steel-type, Lycanroc noticed that Tsareena was still standing there, stable.

The wolf sighed before nudging Incineroar.

"Hmm? What's up, Lycanroc?"

Lycanroc gestured behind them. The tiger looked behind himself and saw that she was likely referring to Tsareena. She wasn't moving; she just stood there and blinked. Incineroar looked back at Lycanroc. "Really?"

"Please?" she replied.

Groaning, Incineroar walked back over toward Tsareena. Lycanroc glanced forward and saw that Solgaleo, Hakamo-o, and Dhelmise were entering a cave-like opening with purple flowers dangling from the top. She had to admit, she was a bit curious. Turning back around, she saw that Incineroar was heading back with Tsareena strewn over his right shoulder.

"Come on…" he said as he continued walking, heading to the same cave that Solgaleo led Hakamo-o and Dhelmise to.

000

"So, apparently since Incineroar complained about how unfair and lame the challenge was, Solgaleo decided to make up another challenge on the spot," Hakamo-o said. "Has that ever happened before in these shows?"

000

When Lycanroc and Incineroar, with Tsareena over his shoulder, entered the 'cave', they found themselves in a much larger vicinity than they thought was there. There was a rather light fog in the area. There were numerous large trees with purple flowers dangling from the branches. There was a pond in the area with numerous lilypads inside. There was another path leading above and beyond the pond.

There was a wooden table set up with a white tablecloth over it. There were five glass jars sitting on the table, each with name tags in front of them. Each jar had red lines wrapped three-fourths of the way up the jar, near the lid. Along with the jars on the table, there were juicers.

"Welcome, to Poni Meadows, the site of your next challenge!" Solgaleo explained.

"Whoa whoa whoa, so you're just gonna ignore the previous challenge?!" Dhelmise queried. "I had the most feathers!"

"Yeah, well sucks for you. There's not gonna be an advantage," Solgaleo said, not caring about the Sea Creeper's feelings. "Now, this challenge is going to involve all of the flowers that you see in these trees, as well as nectar that you may find around here."

"You each must gather as many flowers and nectar as you can and, using the juicers or your own methods, fill your designated jar up to the red line," he explained. "Then, you must drink the concoction. The player that is able to do that the fastest will win the reward: An all-expense paid, weekend long spa trip at Dalton's Resort in Kanto!"

There wasn't any cheering, but there were looks of supreme interest. Dhelmise, upon hearing that reward, scoffed. "Really? A fucking SPA TRIP!? That's what we're competing for?!"

"Yes," Solgaleo said. "So…"

"Ugh… I should have known not to expect anything actually good from you screwups…" Dhelmise muttered. He let out a sigh. "But, I suppose I wouldn't mind having shank yanked and massaged…"

Everyone stared at him for a few moments.

"Okay, so for this challenge, the only rule I'd say this time is… no sabotage," Solgaleo explained. "Feel free to help each other and whatnot. The challenge begins… NOW!"

Dhelmise, Incineroar, Lycanroc, and Hakamo-o all scattered, while Tsareena remained standing there, unmoving.

Seeing this, Solgaleo groaned.

000

Incineroar and Lycanroc immediately teamed up and headed toward the tree nearest to the pond. Sinking his claws into the dense bark, Incineroar began his climb up the tree.

There were a few bunches of flowers dangling from the branches. Lycanroc remained on the ground, looking up at her friend.

The trees themselves didn't have many foliage on them other than the purple plants. Incineroar reached the top and crawled out onto a branch where the plants dangled. He started shimmying across the splintery wood and started swatting at the plants.

"Come on…" he said as he pulled himself forward a bit more.

"You can get them, Incineroar!" Lycanroc cheered him on.

Suddenly, the tiger heard cracking, causing his eyes to widen. He looked around and eyed the base of the branch, which was slowly bending. He started to hear cracking as he grabbed onto the purple flowers.

"You've gotta be kidding me…" he groaned.

The branch snapped, dropping him down to the ground with a pained grunt. Lycanroc winced at the impact before taking a few steps forward and rubbing his head. "You okay, big guy?"

Incineroar groaned in response. He had landed on his stomach, and if you've ever landed on it, you know how much pain he's in. He shakily got onto his feet, his voice sounding strained. "Yeah, I'm okay…" he said holding his stomach. He reached down and saw that he had landed on a bunch of flowers.

Lycanroc giggled. "You crushed the flowers?"

"Well sorry if my big body caused an issue," he replied playfully as he ruffled Lycanroc's fur.

The wolf giggled as the Heel Pokemon moved his paws. "Well, you've got your flowers, now I need to get mine…"

Incineroar glanced over at the branch, which was hanging on by a sliver and resting against the tree trunk. There were a couple more bunches of flowers attached to the branch. "Well, there are some still on that branch…"

Lycanroc looked over at the branch dangling from the side and gained a smile. She walked over to the branch and plucked the flowers from the branch. "Thanks."

"What's our strategy gonna be for this challenge anyway?" asked Incineroar. "Do we just collect as many as we can and then juice and drink? Or do we do it as we go?"

"Either way is fine, I think," Lycanroc expressed. "As long as we complete the challenge and one of us wins, it should be fine."

Incineroar nodded. "So, I have one flower, and you have two," he acknowledged.

"Maybe we should split this third flower," Lycanroc acknowledged, holding up the third flower. "That way we're the same.

Nodding, the two walked back over to the table.

000

Hakamo-o went up the curved hill leading higher and further into the meadows. On the way up, she acknowledged the large, twisting branches extending from a tree near the back. She eyed the purple flowers that were growing along the wall and smiled to herself. Maybe she had a chance.

Once she made it atop the 'hill', she peered back and saw Lycanroc and Incineroar already back at the table, which didn't really surprise her, as she saw them head to the nearest tree. She looked back over at another tree, along with a small gap that was between the land.

Jumping across the gap with minimal difficulty, she began her ascent up the high tree on the other side. There were a few flowers at the base of the tree alone, but she decided to go for the ones that were higher up due to the accessibility of the ones at the bottom.

"Alright, grab the ones all around up here and then go back down to get the others…" she told herself as she climbed up the trunk. As she continued her climb up, she felt something warm, wet, and sticky running down the creases of the large, perennial plant.

"What the-" she started, looking at the substance that was trickling down her arm. The main thing that caught her eyes was the color. "Purple. Wait...nectar."

She looked up and saw that numerous flowers were dripping nectar onto the tree trunk. She gained a sneer. She continued her climb up and reached up for the flowers that were dripping nectar.

She got up onto a tree branch and took a seat on it before starting to pick the dripping plants. She looked down at her claws, which still had a bit of the nectar on them. She had never tasted any nectar before, so she was a bit curious as to what she and the others were going to be put through when they'd have to drink.

Raising her claws to her tongue, she took a lick before almost instantly gagging at the taste. It tasted like a combination of spoiled milk, grape medicine, and sweaty socks. She spit out the nectar repeatedly, clawing at her tongue.

"Arceus, that's fucking awful!" she remarked, wiping her mouth. "How could Oricorio drink that stuff?!"

Now knowing how bad the taste was, she shuddered as she started picking the flowers. She grabbed six of them that were all bunched up and then looked out onto the extending branches that were curling around corners and rocky walls. There were more flowers hanging from the branches. Keeping the ones in her arms, she slowly crawled her way across the branches, feeling lucky that the weren't moving at all.

She found herself gazing at the distance and just so happened to see Incineroar falling from a pillar. She suppressed her urge to laugh, as she could fall from the branches at any time.

"Come on…" she growled to herself as she reached out and reached for a couple more flowers. In doing so, she didn't notice that more of the disgusting nectar secreted from the flowers in her arms, making her underside a bit slippery, sticky, and uncomfortable.

Grabbing hold of them, she gained a smirk before deciding to drop down from the branch. However, she ended up tripping as she got onto her feet, landing on the ground with a THUD.

Groaning, Hakamo-o got back onto her feet with her flowers. "Ugh…"

She rushed back down the hill and headed to the table, passing by Lycanroc and Incineroar. Hakamo-o placed all of her flowers on the table and started pounding the flowers flat and slashing at them before tossing them into her jar, nectar and all.

"Whoa, nice work, Haka," Lycanroc complimented, walking over.

"Thanks," Hakamo-o replied, looking at the clumpy, purple substance in her jar. " I have to say… this is going to fucking suck."

"How come?" Lycanroc asked curiously as Incineroar headed over.

"The nectar tasted awful," Hakamo-o explained. "I have no idea how this is gonna play out for us…"

"Hey, it can't be that bad," Incineroar said, holding another flower. He dipped a claw into the flower, a bit of the nectar on his claw. He rose it to his lips and licked it before recoiling and bit at the sour, pungent taste. "Okay never mind, it can be that bad…"

Lycanroc rose a brow before dipping her own claw into the flower and tasting the nectar. Her nose crinkled a bit, but she didn't gag, so it was okay. It wasn't good, but it wasn't that bad, either. The wolf shrugged, much to her friends' bemusement.

000

Dhelmise was sitting at the bottom of the pond, taking a nap. He was bored of the challenge. Solgaleo told him no sabotage, so he had nothing to do. The only thing he had to do in the challenge was use his ghostly kinesis to get all of the flowers that he'd need, squeeze and crush them, and toss them into his jar. Easy as pie.

He had been asleep for almost twenty minutes, with Barboach, Magikarp, and Dratini smacking into him or gnawing on his body a bit.

The constant attention from the fish and dragons caused him a lot of agitation, leading to him waking up again. "Ugh… will you stupid fish leave me alone?!"

The Sea Creeper moved back a bit under the water, heading into the cavern. "Ugh… if I was my fucking full size, none of these fucks would bother me."

At this point in the game, Dhelmise really didn't care. He was in the final three, so he could basically just distract and belittle whoever he wanted without the threat of being eliminated. And if there were two people that he wanted to leave, it'd be Lycanroc and Tsareena.

He respected Lycanroc, but he was there to fuck around. She hardly ever seemed to give him a reaction when he insulted everyone; it really ate at him. She had really thick skin, so he knew that she wouldn't be as easy to manipulate and fill with rage if she made it to the final three as well.

As for Tsareena, he just hated dumb people. They were such a waste of space in the world from his point of view. He still didn't get why Slowking was trying to tell him that Tsareena was smart. It was so stupid to say.

Hakamo-o and Incineroar were the ones who gave the best reactions, so having them make it far would be very fun and easy for him. So, he'd need to ensure that the wolf and plant didn't make it that far.

He decided to rise up and investigate how far along the others were. Rising up from the water, he looked at the jars on the table and saw that some of them were filled up a bit. Hakamo-o's was, surprisingly, almost at a halfway point in the jar, while both Incineroar and Lycanroc had a small amount of fluid in their jars. And, of course, Tsareena's was empty.

He chuckled. "Losers…" he commented before lowering himself back down.

000

Incineroar, Lycanroc, and Hakamo-o decided to work together to collect more flowers. Incineroar's height allowed for him to reach the flowers that were growing along the wall. There were four, so they each were able to get one and one was left over for whoever.

"This almost feels unfair," Hakamo-o laughed. "I mean, I haven't seen Dhelmise since the challenge started."

"Good, that bastard deserves jack shit…" Incineroar commented, folding his arms

The three of them made it up the hill and turned to the right. They saw branches and vines creating pathways across different platforms, as well as numerous other flowers hanging overhead.

"Wow, this place looks amazing," Lycanroc commented, seeing the scenery that expanded beyond the entrance.

There was more water in that area, seemingly expanding from the pond that they saw earlier. As they continued through, they had to be careful when they went across the 'bridges', as they looked very unstable.

Going across one at a time, a thought appeared in Hakamo-o's head as her feet moved across the thick stems and felt the gritty textures of the branches. Once she made it across, she immediately moved toward the other bridge and got onto the other platform, where more grass and flowers were.

Lycanroc and Incineroar followed suit, and once they were next to her.

"Wow, this place is much bigger than I thought," Incineroar said, looking around.

"Guys, I think I have a way for us to… oh wait, fuck," Hakamo-o growled as he ripped out a flower from the ground out of anger.

"What's the matter?" Lycanroc inquired as Incineroar folded his arms.

"I was gonna suggest that we form an alliance and get into the final three by voting for Dhelmise and Tsareena, but I forgot that the rat bastard already won because of the last challenge..." Hakamo-o growled. "So, I guess it'll just be Tsareena and then...we just let what happens happen."

"And what if there's an automatic elimination?" Incineroar replied.

"Then, may the best player win," Hakamo-o replied with a smile. "And let's just hope that Dhelmise doesn't win…"

Incineroar nodded, while Lycanroc simply remained silent, arms behind her back. She had no comment on the subject whatsoever.

"Okay, let's continue this challenge, shall we?" Lycanroc advised, picking up a couple of flowers from the ground.

Infernape chuckled. "Yeah, I think that'd be best. "I need a good massage after all…"

"HA!" Hakamo-o laughed. "If you think that you are the one who's gonna win this, you've got another thing coming…"

Incineroar scoffed playfully. "Please. As if I'm letting you win anything…"

"Well we'll see now won't we?" Hakamo-o questioned as she picked up more flowers that were around them.

Lycanroc looked over and started heading over in order to climb up a tree.

"Hey!" Incineroar called as he started yanking flowers out of the ground and looking around the area.

He noticed a cave in the far back and grew curious. "Hmm, I wonder if there are more flowers in there…"

As he began walking over, he grabbed more flowers that dangled from low hanging vines. "This challenge is unbelievably easier than I thought it'd be."

The Heel Pokemon moved toward the wide platform and slowly moved toward the cave opening. It was decently illuminated, but he didn't want to stray too far from the main area. Sure, this cave was part of the area, but he couldn't see any sign of the purple flowers that they were supposed to be gathering.

He cursed to himself before hearing his name be called.

"Incineroar! Where'd you go?!" Lycanroc called.

Incineroar turned and started heading back, holding all of his flowers. As he did, he heard a low growl from deep within the cave, causing him to pale. He slowly turned back and the sudden darkness of the cave caused him to blanch and rush toward the others.

000

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Incineroar bellowed.

000

Dhelmise, getting bored with waiting, floated out of the water just as Hakamo-o came down the hill with numerous flowers. He rose a non-existent brow as Hakamo-o went to the table with all of the jars. Incineroar and Lycanroc followed suit soon after.

He chuckled to himself. "Losers…"

Looking around, he noticed that Tsareena was no longer in the vicinity. "Huh. She probably wandered and fell somewhere. Oh well…"

Dhelmise immediately began floating numerous flowers toward himself. Since there was no rule against it, he was easily able to manipulate all of the flowers that weren't gathered by the others.

Upon seeing what he was doing, they gaped.

"HEY YOU ASSHOLE! THAT'S CHEATING!" Hakamo-o roared.

"No, it's not!" Dhelmise replied. "He said his only rule this time was no sabotage," Dhelmise reminded. "So, fuck you and your feelings."

Soon enough, the Sea Creeper had a vast amount of flowers swirling around him. With a furious growl, Incineroar blasted a Flamethrower at the flowers swirling around Dhelmise, living up to his name, and incinerating them.

"Well, this challenge is completely screwed now thanks to you, numb nuts!" Dhelmise commented.

Solgaleo teleported into the Poni Meadows, having been watching the live feed. "For fuck's sake!" the lion groaned. "Is today just a bad day for you guys or something?!"

No one responded as Solgaleo grunted in annoyance. "Okay, well, I guess this challenge is over and nobody wins…"

"WHAT?!" Everyone yelled.

"How is that fair!?" Hakamo-o bellowed.

"Well, considering that Dhelmise practically stole every single fucking flower out of this place and Incineroar burned them all, there aren't any more flowers that you can gather for nectar. And the ones that you have aren't going to fill up your damn jars, either!" Solgaleo exclaimed.

Dhelmise chuckled. "Way to go Lion Ding-a-ling. You've completely failed as a host this time arou-"

The Sea Creeper was immediately cut off by Solgaleo rushing forward and pinning him under an oversized paw. "I will end you…" the Sunne Pokemon threatened, sounding deadly serious.

Dhelmise huffed and phased away from the angry host. "Sheesh. No need to be a pussy about it…"

Solgaleo twitched, startling the other three as they exchanged nervous glances.

"Uh… Solgaleo?" Lycanroc started.

Blue aura surrounded all of them. Tsareena entered the area again before tripping, making everyone stare at her before they were all teleported away.

000

They all appeared in front of the hotel. Immediately upon returning them, Solgaleo teleported away without saying a word.

Once the host was gone, Hakamo-o and Incineroar turned to Dhelmise with angered expressions.

"Oh wipe those frowns off of your faces," Dhelmise demanded. "The dumb host screwed up today. Two challenges failed because of bootleg Siegfried and Roy, here…"

"BASTARD! YOU WERE THE ONE WHO FUCKED OVER THE FLOWERS!"

"You're the one who burned them, dumbass," Dhelmise said. "Now all of you still have to deal with me for the weekend. Aww…."

Hakamo-o growled as the Sea Creeper Pokemon headed toward the hotel doors.

"If that bastard wasn't already in the final three…" Incineroar growled.

"We need to knock him down a peg," Hakamo-o stated. "Today was just… awful."

"Yeah, none of us won anything," Lycanroc added.

Tsareena, overhearing this, smiled to herself.

000

"Hmm, so it would seem that the others are finally going to try and knock Dhelmise down a few pegs…" Tsareena explained. "Sadly, it will only backfire on them, as he is still in the final three regardless. And with five of us in total, they won't be able to touch him unless two of us without immunity gets eliminated."

Tsareena sighed. "It's quite sad. If only they'd developed this mindset sooner…"

000

Solgaleo was banging his head against the wall of his room, creating dents. He took a few antidepressants before lying on his bed. "I hate my life…" he groaned before noticing the camera.

He quickly sat up. "Oh, uh, yeah. Nothing happened. Today was a complete failure and a total headache for me. I hope you somehow found enjoyment out of that shit. Hopefully Lunala has a better time than I did, here on Total...Pokemon...Alola…"

He lied back down on his bed, his stomach grumbling.

000

Nothing to say. I hope you all somehow found this enjoyable and I'll see you next time on Total… Pokemon...Alola! See ya guys, BYE!