"Here we are!" Kukui said, spreading his arms. "Welcome to the Manalo Stadium! This is the culmination of decades of dreams and work, which I've been doing ever since I met Ash!"

"...uh," Kiawe began, looking completely lost. "Didn't you first meet Ash when he came here to help teach us?"

"No, that's when I first met Kukui," Ash replied. "It's easy to get confused. I first met Kukui then, but Kukui first met me when he was… what, six?"

"You got it, Move Kahuna," Kukui confirmed. "Yeah, time travel, are you surprised? It's not like Ash hasn't had Dialga turn up for a class."

"That was a weird class," Lillie murmured. "It taught us a lot about general relativity though."

"I was wondering if it was too advanced, but I got at least some of it and that's better than normal," Mallow said. "But… anyway, I know we've heard a lot about the Manalo Conference, but how is this going to work?"

"The Manalo Conference is-" Kukui began.

"Un-Alolan!" someone interrupted.

The three grunts from Team Skull all pointed finger-guns at Kukui.

"You've gotta understand, old man, wrecking this place is our plan!" Tupp said.

"That's right!" Rapp agreed. "That's so right! We're gonna wedge ourselves into this fight!"

"And make a noise all night," Zipp said.

"...so you're entering?" Ash asked.

"What?" Tupp asked. "No, no way! We don't want to take part in-"

Zipp pulled him and Rapp aside, and there was a burst of frantic whispering.

"Yes!" Tupp said, once that was over. "We're all entering! All of Team Skull, like, we're entering, and our boss is entering, and her boss is entering! And we'll all do great, and we'll all win, and we'll all cancel the League in future! That way it won't wreck Alolan culture!"

"I don't get it," Sophocles admitted. "How would the Pokémon League wreck Alolan culture?"

"Because it's replacing the Trials, you dig?" Rapp said. "Which we also don't like."

"No, no, our boss doesn't like them," Zipp said.

"That means we don't like them either!" Tupp announced. "All for one and one for all! Team Skull shares a single brain cell!"

"Shouldn't that be a single brain?" Rapp asked.

"No, no, it's definitely something to do with cell," Tupp answered. "Hey, isn't that all for one and one for all thing Kalosian? And there's that Pokémon from Kalos which is made from cells! So it's the same thing!"

Zygarde sat down on their haunches and put their paws over their eyes.

"I am feeling second paw embarrassment," they mumbled.

Then Keldeo materialized next to them.

"Hi!" he said. "Uh, quick question, where am I?"

"Manalo Stadium!" Ash answered. "It's in the sea around Alola."

"Oh, that's good," Keldeo decided. "I was about to be set on fire, so I aimed for the sea!"

"Hey, what's with this pony?" Tupp said. "You think we're a little hoarse?"

"Tupp, don't be coarse!" Rapp said. "You're so right, but this Pokémon's so cute!"

"Yeah," Zipp agreed, though it wasn't clear who he was agreeing with or about what.

"What happened to all for one and one for all?" Lana asked.

"That's the way of the Swords of Justice!" Keldeo declared, stamping his hoof and transforming to Resolute Form. "Wait, what were you talking about?"

"Do you need a lift back to Unova?" Ash checked. "Or wherever you were."

"No, it's fine, I'll head back in a bit," Keldeo said. "This place is in the sea, huh… is it an artificial island or a giant ship?"

"That's actually a good question," Lana admitted. "Professor?"

"It's floating," Kukui told them. "It's anchored to the seafloor, though, and it's also very big so we shouldn't have trouble unless there's a hurricane. And with Ash's team on call, we shouldn't have a hurricane."

"...so, we should be registering, right?" Ash asked. "It's open to anyone?"

"That's right," Kukui confirmed. "The first round is the Battle Royale, in keeping with Alolan tradition!"

"That's not Alolan tradition," someone said.

"Guzma," Kukui decided. "Are these your goons?"

"We're no goons!" Tupp said, making a gesture. "We're mooks!"

"That's so right, the difference is our looks," Rapp agreed.

"Gadzooks!" Zipp gasped.

The newly-identified Guzma gave the other three Team Skull members a look.

"Zipp it," he said.

"Yes boss!" all three mumbled.

"I'll destroy this Conference myself," Guzma added, poking Kukui in the chest. "I'll become Champion myself, and then I'll make sure no more Pokémon Leagues ever take place in Alola!"

"Yeah, we know," Sophocles said.

"They already told us," Lillie explained, pointing at Tupp, Rapp and Zipp.

"Why don't you want there to be an Alola League?" Kiawe demanded. "Ash has told us all about how a League is a great way for the strongest trainers to test themselves against one another!"

Guzma snorted. "That's the kind of nonsense Hala said. I prefer to become strong on my own. No Z-ring, no Z-crystals, no League, just personal strength!"

"Then don't enter?" Ash tried. "It's open to everyone, but nobody has to enter."

Guzma folded his arms. "I don't care about that. I'll go ahead and win. And you know why?"

He leaned in, getting in Kukui's face. "Because you want there to be a Pokémon League, that's why."

"Er…" Keldeo said. "Am I the only one feeling like there's loads of history here that I don't know?"

Guzma snorted. "Kid, there's always history. What matters is putting your mon where your mouth is, and this trainer here, Kukui, who organized this whole League, has consistently failed to do that. He never gets in Pokémon battles! And why is that Pikachu sniggering?"

"You wouldn't get it," Pikachu waved off, knowing that Guzma would get the gesture even without being able to understand him.

"All right, everyone!" Kukui said, the next morning. "My name's Kukui! I'm here with local Alolan celebrity, the Masked Royal's Incineroar!"

"Incin," Incineroar agreed, straight-faced.

He was quite good at that.

"And I'm Lusamine," Lusamine introduced herself, taking up the rest of the commentary duties. "Since neither of us are taking part in the upcoming League battles, we're doing the commentary."

"And the structure of that League is… Alolan!" Kukui declared. "First off is the Battle Royale, which will cut down the number of competitors to sixteen! All four of our wonderful Kahunas will be acting as referees, but a lot will be happening, so everyone keep your eyes on the arena!"

"I'll be honest, I'm not sure if this is going to work, but it's going to be a lot of fun," Lusamine said. "What do you think, Incineroar?"

"Roar," Incineroar provided.

"Oh, of course," Kukui realized, and put a sheet down in front of Incineroar. "There you go."

Lusamine looked at it.

"Is that… a large plastic sheet with a list of paint colours on it?" she asked. "That's amazing! That's a colour commentary joke, isn't it?"

"Absolutely!" Kukui agreed.

"Oh, no," Lillie groaned. "My mother's being enabled."

Snowy nudged her ankle.

"I know, I know," Lillie smiled. "Let's just enjoy ourselves."

She went over the notes she'd made again, then nodded. "All right. Here goes!"

The most common kind of Pokémon battle that most trainers put effort into learning about was a one on one battle. Even wild Pokémon would often battle one on one, though it wasn't a rule in general.

Pokémon in Alola were more inclined to battle in groups, perhaps partly because of the influence of the Totem Pokémon, and Double or even Triple Battles were less ubiquitous but were hardly obscure – just not commonly used.

There were very, very few people who could properly handle the chaos of the Manalo Conference Battle Royal, mostly because there were over a hundred and fifty individual Pokémon involved in battling.

Of course, some Pokémon could manage it anyway.

"This is brilliant!" Torracat declared, darting left and then right to avoid attacks from Zipp's Garbodor, then set herself on fire. "Hey, big guy, come and have a go if you think you're inflammable enough!"

"Inflammable and flammable mean the same thing!" Ash called.

"What, really?" Torracat asked, flicking her ears. "Wow, language is stupider than I thought."

Ash shrugged. "Not really my fault!"

"I'm not willing to believe that," Torracat said, then jinked aside as Garbodor tried to hit her with a shopping cart. "Okay, take this!"

She frowned, briefly, and used Psychic Fangs. Then she hoisted Garbodor into the air.

"Sitout scoop slam piledriver!" Ash called.

"Hey, hey, what move is that?" Zipp said. "Guys, help me out here!"

Tupp's Salandit and Rapp's Zubat combined their efforts, dousing the battling Torracat and Garbodor in, respectively, Flame Burst and Venoshock.

Since Torracat wasn't poisoned and was on fire, the main effect all this had was to set Garbodor on fire.

Then Torracat tossed her head, lobbing Garbodor at Zubat, before using Psychic Fangs again and slamming them both down on top of Salandit.

"I think that might have been a different sort of piledriver," she admitted.

"That was still great!" Ash told her. "Now, move on to those Pokémon over there!"

"Got it!" Torracat declared.

"I'm really glad of Mr. Ketchum's lessons," Sophocles said, looking back and forth. "Vikavolt – over there! Now, Discharge!"

The blast of electricity unleashed by his Vikavolt hit three Pokémon around him, knocking out one of them entirely – an unfortunate Toxapex – and did mild damage to two others, before a Boldore kicked Vikavolt and sent him flying.

"Bank left!" Sophocles called. "Now right! Now – Signal Beam!"

A flash of bright light pulsed out at Vikavolt's target, and Sophocles cheered as it hit the target.

"Great! Now, up to speed, and let's use String Shot!"

"String Shot?" one of his opponents repeated. "String Shot? Really?"

"Really!" Sophocles said. "Tie up that Boldore, Vikavolt!"

"Turtonator, spin on!" Kiawe ordered. "Keep up that spin and nobody will be able to stop you!"

Turtonator said something which included the Turtonator-ese word for Kiawe, and seemed to mostly be various flavours of vague complaints.

"I know, I know, but it keeps you safe, right?" Kiawe encouraged. "Keep it up – now, Shell Trap!"

One of Turtonator's shell spikes went wham, and he spun crazily around the arena and knocked out four Pokémon.

Then Lana's Eevee, Sandy, jumped on Turtonator's belly. The excitable Eevee ran around in the same direction as Turtonator was spinning for a moment, speeding up to incredible velocity, and launched himself at an Oricorio with a veEEee sound.

"...you're welcome, I guess!" Kiawe said. "Turtonator, look out, someone's about to attack!"

"Turrrrr," Turtonator said.

"I don't know, just… be generically aware of it!" Kiawe shrugged.

"My word, but that Lycanroc there is doing well," Kukui said, pointing. "Isn't that your son's Lycanroc?"

"Yes, that's him," Lusamine agreed. "Of course, I wouldn't dream of being biased in favour of my children, mostly because it wouldn't work and partly because I don't need to be."

Incineroar's muzzle moved as he tried to work that one out.

"But yes, that was an excellent use of Stone Edge there," Lusamine added. "And – oh, look, there's Faba's Alakazam! Faba's one of the Aether Foundation's scientists, and his Alakazam is very good at playing the spoons."

"Isn't that a bit of a stereotype?" Kukui asked.

"Perhaps, but he still does it," Lusamine replied.

Incineroar pointed at the colour 'Taupe'.

"Good point," Lusamine agreed. "And you can really see how strong Alakazam is. That Hyper Beam knocked out an Exploud in one hit."

They nodded.

"Really, it was quite ingenious of Ash's Incineroar to pick him up and point him at her opponent," Kukui said. "Most Pokémon don't think fast enough to realize their new options only seconds after evolving like that."

AN:

It's time for the Manalo Conference.

I should also now reveal that one of the causes of a reduced posting rate on this fic – not the only one, but one of them – was a massive rewrite or re-edit of huge chunks of early Ashes of the Past (up to the second movie, Power of One), along with posting that fic to AO3 as well (which is ongoing but I'm well into Sinnoh).