It has come to my attention that I haven't called Roxie in quite some time.

Context first. I had trudged back through Route 4 just after the meeting. The next ship out to Alola was due to leave the next morning, though Poni Island was the farthest island away. I didn't know the world well enough and Wimpod were such shy Pokémon that the only place I could even think to try and catch one was there.

The fastest and cheapest way to get there is to take the boat to the Aether Paradise and then take one of the smaller ships that depart from there. Oh, and by quickest, I mean that the boat to the Aether Paradise would take about a week to travel the oceans. People always forget that boat travel is slow as all hell compared to airplanes, hell, to get to the closest region other than Alola would take between two to three weeks.

My total cost was about seven hundred for the trip there, and I'm not sure what the return prices will be.

Regardless, I had a day in Castelia to get prepared for my week-long trip full of boredom and unstable X-transceiver connections, leading me back to the topic of calling Roxie.

She hadn't called me yet for whatever reason, but if I ended up on the high seas with no connection and she tried to call, that could look bad. So, the only reasonable thing to do was to give her a call while I still could. I booked a room in the Pokémon Center, called out both Entoma and Gargantua, and gave her a call.

The X-transceiver ringed once, twice, thrice, and then Roxie picked up. She had her usual attire on, though her hair and face had a little bit of sweat on them.

"'Sup, Nico! Been a minute," her naturally slightly slurred speech came through the speaker, "'Ya got good timing, though. Me and the band just finished up practicing. What'chu been up to?"

"Hey, Rox, a fair bit actually." I pointed the watch's camera over to Gargantua, who was resting on the bed. "Meet Gargantua, our latest addition."

"So ya' got that Dwebble you were lookin' for, eh? What's he like, then?"

"He's pretty fun. A lot more of a handful than Entoma. Much more naturally violent, too. You should hear his screech when he engages an opponent, it's like something from a horror movie."

"Ah, yea?" she snorted, "I'll have to hear it next time 'ya come 'round here. Since you actually managed to catch one, I might as well tell 'ya. Dwebble use some kinda acid spit to carve up their rocks to make 'em livable. Now it ain't enough for any major poison-type attacks to be learned naturally, but I did get a bit of info that someone taught their's Poison Jab. Meaning, if 'ya put some effort into it you should be able to get him able to use Toxic."

"Well, now that's interesting," I murmured.

I suppose it makes sense that the devs would make the tank Pokémon capable of Toxic stalling. Shit, if I could get Entoma to teach him Protect and Toxic, I could have two viable Toxic stall users. Once Roxie makes gym leader and I can use these publicly, I'll be able to do some real damage.

"Well," I kept going, "I'll definitely give it a shot at teaching him. I'm not sure if Entoma can teach it or not, but it would be rather nice to have two Toxic users."

"Definitely! And hey, if you can't figure it out, you could always get some 'ol fashioned Roxie schoolin'!"

"Well, I certainly wouldn't pass up some of the master's lessons. Anything else that you've been up to? I figured you'd have taught your bandmates how to use Toxic by now."

"Yup. Now that my Whirlipede has taught it once, he can do it a lot quicker. My bandmates have pure poison-types for the most part, makin' it even easier. Took less than a day for both of 'em."

The conversation continued for some time before I managed to get the topic to my Alola trip.

"Yea, I'm heading out tomorrow for the Aether Paradise. Unfortunately, I don't think the X-transceiver will work out on the ocean. Perhaps in Alola itself, but I'm not sure."

A grimace crossed Roxie's face. "Ah, hadn't thought of that. Yea, most places use their own communications. Indigo's got PokéGears, Hoenn's got some kinda phone thing, and PokéDexes work pretty much everywhere. I think Aether has something, but I don't believe it's public. I guess you'll probably be out of contact for a bit."

"Ah, that's unfortunate."

"Yup. Hey, 'ya better call me first thing when you get back from there, got it?"

"I'll be sure to," I chuckled.

"Well, it's been good talkin' to 'ya again, Nico. I've got some stuff I've got to get doin', but I'll be waiting for your call when 'ya get back, yeah?"

"Sounds good to me Rox. Have a good few weeks."

I hung up the call. As nice as it is to not have to deal with the responsibility of maintaining the relationship for a while, I think I'll miss Roxie a bit. How strange.

Eh, I'll be fine.

Anyhow, I had the rest of the day to myself in a big tourist destination and half of a hundred thousand Pokédollars. The only logical choice of action is to spend the rest of the day relaxing in my room, researching random tidbits. So, that is what I did.

Turns out, the EDM and Rock scene was reaching its peak in this world; I might need to pick up a fancy music player and some headphones. Metal was still a niche genre, unfortunately.

The boat I booked was surprisingly nice, I noted as I got on board. It wasn't a cruise ship, more of a large ferry, but I got my own room, so I was happy. It was a small room with dark grey walls. The bed was nice and comfortable. Overall, a solid seven out of ten.

Entoma and Gargantua could both be out at all times, but no attacks that could potentially damage the ship were allowed to be practiced. That meant I couldn't train Toxic into Gargantua, or do any of the previous exercises I had been using. Though, I could have Entoma teach Gargantua Protect as it was not going to cause any damage.

I made sure to keep practice sessions in my room. The deck of the ship was full of people engaging in the ancient art of trying to keep their children quiet while they relaxed. They were surprisingly effective at it. It seems that either parenting is much more effective or children are more naturally obedient in this reality because they somehow were succeeding with only a few minor issues an hour.

My routine consisted of a couple of hours in the morning where I watched Entoma teach Protect while eating the provided breakfast. Once lunch hit, we would be done and go eat. Between lunch and dinner, I simply relaxed on the deck. After dinner, I would sleep. Every couple of days, I would swap up and relax in the morning while training in the afternoon.

It was one of those days where I was sitting in my room with a plate of nachos in hand when Gargantua finally got Protect down. To be exact, it was on day four of the estimated seven total days. Now with Protect down, I had nothing else to do but relax for the next three days or so.

It was nice, I suppose. It got a little boring if I'm completely honest.

I was a little leery of going into the direct territory of what's essentially Team Plasma 2, but they were a reasonable conservationist group until Lusamine went insane, from what I remember. Unfortunately, I had no idea if she had found the joys of extradimensional jellyfish yet.

Eh, I'll deal with that problem when I get to it.

We arrived at the Aether Paradise midday of the seventh day, and by God was everything bright. Every single wall of the place was painted a solid, clinical white with the occasional black or yellow highlight. I was not a fan.

The boat to Poni Island was departing in a couple of hours, so I had time to tour the facilities. It was rather impressive. The main building was enormous. Every floor had a variety of different environments and the scientists giving the tour seemed genuinely invested in the care of the Pokémon there.

I didn't see a little blond girl running around, so there was uncertainty on what point in the Sun and Moon timeline I was in. There was a tall, incredibly attractive, and excessively styled blond-haired woman that the scientists called "president," so either Lusamine hadn't been defeated and dragged off by Lillie for family therapy or whatever, or, she was an incredibly fit fifty-year-old.

Regardless, it seems that I wouldn't have to deal with a crazy woman summoning extradimensional beings right now. Huh, was I technically an Ultra Beast?

I caught my boat to Poni Island, which would only take a few hours to get to Seafolk Village. Looking back, nothing of importance happened during the trip. Other than the information on Lusamine and Gargantua's protect technique, I mainly sat around the whole time.

Now, I like a bit of vacation as much as the next person, but a whole week of nonprogress after the constant barrage of improvements and struggles was whiplash to my system. As much as I complained, something was satisfying about going through massive deserts, crossing bridges, and making some money. Hell, I hadn't even had the opportunity to walk around all that much on the ferry here.

That's it, I'm not sleeping at the PokéCenter tonight. I need to get back into the rhythm, back to the struggle, back to the quintillionare grindset.

The boat arrived about an hour from sundown. It was quite a lovely sight, the floating town framed by the mountainous island with the orange glow of the setting sun casting long shadows. You can tell why the artist trial leader set up shop here. Unfortunately, I had no time for sightseeing, as lovely as it may be.

The town had little to offer me. Just behind it, however, were the Poni Wilds, where I was setting up shop for the night. The important thing in the town was the large map of the island, giving me some hints on where to get a Wimpod. Just off of the Poni Wilds was the Poni Beach, and there was a Poni Breaker Coast that seemed promising.

I figure that if I'm looking for a water-type then perhaps the beach is where I ought to start. There was enough time between now and my beauty sleep to go and do a quick search. So, I set up my campsite in the Poni Wilds and headed out towards the beach.

The beach was similarly beautiful if a bit stereotypical. My chosen search methodology was to walk along the beach, looking through any rock formations. Entoma and Gargantua walked right along with me, and my Larvesta egg was safely in my backpack.

Huh, I really ought to start thinking of a name for her or him. If it's a male, then Demiurge is the obvious choice. Past that, I can't really think of any fire-based female characters in Overlord. A flame atronauch comes to mind, but that's The Elder Scrolls. There was that one female demon under Demiurge's command, was it Lust or Envy? Regardless, naming it after a sin is a little tacky.

Hmm, could Demiurge work as an androgynous name? It would certainly make it a lot easier to name it. Demiurge, Demiurge. Well, I'll keep it in mind.

The walk along the beach was simple enough. I was being hampered by the beach's genericness, as there were almost no rock formations along the beach. I was used to black sand beaches where half of the beach was rocks, but the white sand beach was almost irritating in its perfect smoothness.

It took about an hour to walk to the end of it, though admittedly I had slowed to a leisurely pace. Upon reaching the end, I noticed a few formations that I figured were worth a look. Climbing up on them didn't give me any Wimpod, but I wasn't deterred quite yet. I made sure to check whatever crevices I could.

I spend about fifteen minutes searching the rocks, and I didn't find any Wimpod. I did find something interesting, though. In one of the crevices lay a pearl. Not just any pearl, mind you, but the biggest damn pearl I had ever laid my eyes on. The diameter of this thing was about three inches (about eight centimeters) and I couldn't help but fall in love with it. This thing is staying on me at all times.

Maybe I could make it into a necklace or something. I am a bit vain, admittedly. Though now that I think about it, it would be awful cumbersome to keep a massive pearl dangling off a chain around my neck. Regardless, I'm keeping it in my pocket till I can figure out what to do with it. I know at the very least, it can be sold for a few thousand.

That's another idea for money-making, rare materials. I know for certain that there's some Stardust, Starpieces, and perhaps even a Comet Shard in the Giant Chasm in the games. Though, now that I think of it, perhaps it's best to keep away from Kyurem's den in case the stories of it snatching and eating people are true.

We walked back down the beach, and when we arrived back at camp it was already night. Unfortunately, this seemed to bring an Alolan Raticate to our doorstep. The little bastard was rummaging through our tent as we returned, and suddenly I was very grateful that I had kept the Larvesta egg on me at all times.

Most Pokémon may not go around eating each other, but dark-types were known to be particularly capricious. Didn't need it to decided today was a good day to go egg tossing.

We chased it off relatively easily. Gargantua shot rocks at it and Entoma got in close to beat it with Poison Tail. More interestingly was Entoma's sudden development of Bug Bite, meaning that her evolution was getting really close. Aww, my hug-bug will be too big to hug soon. This is a travesty.

Back to the tent, it was intact. I assume the rat was just scrounging for food, but I kept that in my bag. Nothing had been taken and everything was unbroken, but the incident left me worried enough that I had Entoma and Gargantua make sure nothing goes bump in the night.

I, too, kept alert. Unfortunately, this meant my sleep schedule would suffer. Every couple of hours I would wake up to some random chirping or rustling.

I awoke when the sun rose, having what must have been a total of fewer than four hours of sleep. Entoma was similarly drowsy, but judging by Gargantua's chipper attitude, he had simply passed out rather than worrying about potential intruders.

As much as I wanted to be angry, it's exactly what I would have done if I wasn't spooked.

"You win this one, Gar."

He had the audacity to give me an innocent look. Whatever, we had a second beach to find, so I packed up my stuff and set out.

I was starting to regret my decision to be all tough and survivor-like. I could have slept in a bed at the Pokémon Center and been nice and well-rested, but now I get to hike through a semi-mountainous path while only half awake.

Knowing me, I'd probably remember this fondly like some kind of troglodyte. How stupid do you have to be to experience all this and then come back for more? Honestly, I think I overestimated my mental faculties.

Whatever, it had been an hour or two, I wasn't counting, and I had made it to the crumbling sandstone buildings I assume make up the Ancient Poni Path. More interesting, there was that one painter chick painting a bit of the scenery. I'm going to be honest, I completely forgot her name and personality, but I was desperate to have an excuse to take a break.

Walking over to her I greeted, "Hello! How are you?"

I waited a moment as she made a couple of strokes on her canvas. She turned over to me once she had finished, and I got a good look at her. She had a messy white dress that was splattered with various colors of paint. The ends of her messy blonde hair were dyed pink had a similar colored stripe going across her face. It was certainly a strange look, but it wasn't like she looked not good.

"I am doing well," she quietly responded while she looked at Entoma and Gargantua. "Would you like to battle?"

I was a bit surprised by the sudden offer but replied regardless, "Err, no thank you. I'm on the look for Poni Breaker Coast and some Wimpod, would you happen to know the quickest route there? Also, I was a bit curious about your art."

This time, she was the mildly surprised one. "I can help you get to Poni Breaker Coast. There are Wimpod that frequent there. What would you like to know about my art?"

"Admittedly, I'm quite unknowledgeable about painting. I hadn't met anyone involved in it until now, so I was curious as to how exactly one goes about it. Mind giving me the rundown?"

Either this lady was particularly enthusiastic about sharing her craft or the overtly kind nature of the Pokémon world was once again shining through, as she began to walk me through her process of painting. I declined her offer to try painting something myself, citing my desire to not be tied down quite yet. She didn't take it harshly, though, simply continuing to talk about her hobby. Is it a career? I assume that being a trial leader is her career and painting is her hobby.

I got about half an hour to relax as she spoke. It was somewhat interesting, even if not a hobby I would likely be engaging in anytime soon. Entoma also seemed interested, but Gargantua lied down to relax as if he wasn't the one who had gotten sleep last night.

Eventually, she began to wind down and I decided to dip.

"Well, it's been fun, but I think I got to keep going. Mind giving me the directions to the coast? Oh, and I just realized I never got your name!"

She laughed under her breath and responded, "It's Mina. And what's yours?"

"Nico."

"If you want to get to the coast, just keep heading along the path that way and take a right whenever you get to a fork in the road. It's only half an hour or so away."

"Ah, thank you. Hope to see you again!"

"Certainly. Perhaps we could paint or battle next time we meet."

What a friendly lady, that Mina. Now that I had a bit of rest and directions, I was all ready to go and get myself a Wimpod. As I began my walk, I realized that I only had one Pokéball left. Guess I'll have to restock when I get back to Seafolk Village. Not before I get my Wimpod, though.

I walked down the path Mina pointed to with my Pokémon in tow. Rather than the hills and climbs of before, this path was a rather smooth downhill. After two forks in the road, both of which I took right turns on, I found myself seeing what must be the Poni Breaker Coast.

Stretching out in front of me was a massive chunk of black stone with water-filled craters. Pelipper and Wingull rested in the water-filled craters, but otherwise, it was seemingly desolate of Pokémon. Seemingly was the keyword. Every couple of minutes, a small purple and blue Pokémon would dash between rock to rock cover.

There's my prize. The problem with Wimpod is they dine and dash as quickly as they can in every conflict. If I wanted one for myself, I would need to trap them. The first thing was to track one down.

Tracking a Wimpod is pretty easy. They seemed to polish the stone they go over, so just look for the shiniest lines.

I did exactly that. The closest set of shiny lines to me was a short walk away. I still had Gargantua and Entoma with me, so I made sure to keep them instructed.

"Alright, you two. No toxic, as per usual. These things love to run, so Entoma, keep Pursuit on them. Thing is, they may be too fast to get with Pursuit. So, Gar, gonna need to keep you to keep on the other side. Make it too hard to flee as fast as it can. They can't keep max speed if they have to go around attacks and all that."

Entoma nodded and Gargantua let out his usual screech of fury and excitement. Yup, we're ready. Be very, very quiet, we're hunting Wimpod.

It didn't take all that long to find one. Unfortunately, it was all for naught. I had neglected to make my Looney Toons quote out loud to Gargantua, so he let out his battle cry as soon as one came into view. It turned out, I was right about Entoma's pursuit not being quite fast enough to catch the fleeing bug.

I made sure to thoroughly educate Gargantua on the merits of silence while on a stealth mission as we searched for another Wimpod. It only took another fifteen minutes to get another trail, and this time we approached nice and quiet.

The little crustacean was a little larger than anticipated, but that's how Pokémon bugs are sometimes. It was happily devouring a half-rotten berry pile with its back turned to us. Entoma and I hid behind a small outcrop of rocks, and I motioned to Gargantua to start sneaking around.

He began to huddle up into his rock and slowly crawl in a wide arc around the Wimpod. Every few paces he would peek out to check if the Wimpod was still munching away and plot a path. Over about two minutes, Gargantua managed to sneak over to the other side of the path, pinning the Wimpod between us.

I gave Gargantua a flick of the wrist and a point, the sign to start. With a cry, he started to blast rock blasts at the living Roomba.

The Wimpod gave a surprised screech that I, frankly, was not expecting. It sounded more like something a cat that just had its tail stepped on would let out than a bug's cry of terror. After its screech, it promptly about-faced and began to rush away towards where Entoma and I were hiding.

Three, two, one, now.

"Entoma, Poison Tail, followed by Pursuit."

The Wimpod was about five feet away from our little rock when Entoma suddenly flipped over the rock to bash its head in with her venomous tail. It was a sign of just how fast and mobile Wimpod are, as it managed to almost completely shift direction around the attack in about a second, but ultimately a close-range attack at that speed just wasn't feasibly dodged.

Wimpod took the blow to the head and was launched back into the no-man's-land between Entoma and Gargantua. The bug landed on its back, in no position to keep running. Regardless, Entoma slammed into it with a Pursuit, launching it back into one of Gargantua's Rock Blasts, and that was it could handle before passing out.

Not the strongest little thing, but if it got me a Golisopod, I'm set. I walked over and tossed my last Pokéball on the little thing. One shake and a click. Yup, that's what I thought.

Well, I've got a Wimpod. Should I do a pose? Heh, nah.

I've got some time, and frankly, I quite liked the scenery. Might as well take a couple of hours to relax. There isn't a beach, per se. The igneous rock of the Poni Breaker Coast simply tapered out into the ocean, smoothed by erosion. The waves beat far harsher than the calm, resort-like Poni Beach, but I adored the sound of waves crashing against the stone.

Ah, not much beats the scent of the sea and the sound of the ocean wave. Yup, I'm camping here. Not right here, but pretty close. I'm not sure how high the tide is, after all.

I walked back far enough that I could still see and hear the ocean, but clearly high enough that no tide would be drowning me out. I set up my tent and figured that now was as good of a time as any to meet my new little lobster... thing. Of course, I don't want to give him any chance to run away, so I got into my tent with Entoma and Gargantua, zipped it up, and released the Wimpod.

Huh. It was still unconscious. I hadn't considered that.

Well, more preparation time. It seemed like he was a big fan of that rotten berry pile, so here's hoping that he's easily bribed with food. I extracted a chunk of my rations from my bag and held onto it for the time being.

About a minute or two later, the moderately bruised Wimpod awoke. It froze as it looked at us, unsure what to do. Here goes nothing.

"Hello, I don't suppose you're interested in working for me in exchange for food? I find myself very interested in commanding a Golisopod, and if you agree, I'll make sure you're plenty fed."

That's when it noticed what's essentially a nutrient block in my hands, and suddenly he was significantly less twitchy. It was not completely gone, but that flight instinct was lessened with the offering of food. It didn't do anything, so I broke off a chunk and tossed it. The chunk landed just in front of the Wimpod and it began to slowly bite down.

After the first two bites, a switch flipped in its head. It quickly devoured the entire chunk, before turning to me with stars in its eyes. Err, turned to the block of food in my hand, I suppose.

"So, do you agree?"

The Wimpod couldn't nod its head fast enough.

"Heh, alright." I tossed the whole block over and turned to my two original Pokémon, asking, "So, what gender is it?"

The two looked at the ravenous crustacean and back at me before Gargantua pointed at himself.

"Male, eh?" I thought about a name for a male Golisopod, and when it came to Overlord characters, there was only one option. "Hey, Wimpod? How do you feel about the name Cocytus?"

He looked up from his meal, nodded, and went right back to eating.

"Good, because if you didn't, I would probably have to call you Gluttony. And, really, that would just be a boring name."