Florian is at the Coastal Biome near the Elite Four arena and checks the time on his Rotom Phone while tapping his foot and looking around.
"Hmm... Lacey is taking a pretty long time to arrive..." Florian says to himself.
"Hi! Sorry I'm late!" Lacey says as she runs towards Florian.
"Oh hey, Lacey! What took so long?"
"I had a little incident back at the cafeteria. I had to dry my cardigan a bit."
"It got wet? How did it get wet?"
Lacey blushes.
"Y-You know what? I don't wanna talk about it..." she says in a serious tone.
"Alright then. Let's just walk around the Coastal Biome together, just like when we first met. As friends of course."
"S-Sure, Florian..."
Lacey then sees that Florian is riding a Pokémon.
"Wait. Is that a Pokémon? I've never seen it in Unova or the Terrarium!"
"Oh? This here is Koraidon. A past Paradox form of Cyclizar, a common transport option for the people in Paldea."
"Koraidon? Cyclizar? Paradox? I've never seen anything like that! Can you use it in battle?"
"I only really use Koraidon in emergencies. I would love to have you see it in its true form, but who knows what it'll do in the Terrarium."
"Oh... alright..." Lacey says disappointed.
Florian returns Koraidon to its Pokéball.
"Alright. Let's walk on foot. Besides, Koriadon needs a bit of a rest anyways from running around the entire place all the time."
As Lacey and Florian walk together at the Coastal Biome, Lacey walks a bit close to Florian and accidentally touches his hand.
Ah! Lacey gasps inaudibly.
"Is something wrong, Lacey?"
"N-Nothing... I think I might be a bit sick..."
I-I've never felt this flustered before... Lacey thinks to herself. We're just friends, right? We're not in any kinds of relationship other than friends, right?
"Oh look! Alolan Grimer!" Florian points out.
The Alolan Grimer appears to be oozing in the tall grass near some flowers.
"Oh yeah! I've heard these kinds of Grimer and Muk are used to clean up messy and grimy places, unlike the Kantonian ones, who usually are the grime themselves! But I think the unique colors have a nice charm to make them look cute!" Lacey says.
"Wow! Not only are you a strong battler, but you're pretty smart as well!" Florian compliments.
Lacey blushes a bit. "S-Stop it... I can't be that knowledgeable..."
"Speaking of which... I went to one of those teaching sections and the professor wants us to catch another Alolan Pokémon. I've already caught a Grimer, so I want to catch something much different."
Lacey spots something tall in the distance.
"Oh! Alolan Exeggutor! I've heard they're known to be one of the tallest species in the Pokémon universe! And I've heard that the tail doesn't really like being meddled with. But I think the tail's expression and the derpy looking heads make them look really cute!"
"Your definition of cute is... pretty weird. You called your Granbull cute during the elite trial, and now you're calling Grimer and Exeggutor cute. Might as well call every Pokémon cute."
"Hey!" Lacey says with a pouty expression. "It doesn't matter what they look like! They'll always be cute in my heart! And also, judging a Pokémon purely based on the looks? That's just not right!" Lacey makes an X with her hands.
"Why do you always do that?"
"Do what?"
"When you say that somethings not right, you make an X with your hands. Why's that?"
"Oh, um... uh..." Lacey stutters. "I guess it's a habit... maybe... heh heh..." Lacey rubs the back of her head.
"I think it's pretty charming."
"Oh... uh... thanks..." Lacey blushes a bit again.
"Hey, I've been wanting to ask you something."
Lacey contemplates in her mind while being taken aback. Huh? W-What could that possibly be? Is it a date? A confession? A kiss? A... A...
"Do you want to have a friendly battle?" Florian requests.
"A... A battle?" Lacey asks.
"Sure. Just a battle. Just want to test my strengths and see how well you do as well. You're a strong trainer as well."
"Uh... sure! I have my Pokémon when me!" Lacey grabs two Nest Balls and prepares to throw them.
"Singles."
"Huh?" Lacey says confused.
"One on one."
"Oh... I've been used to doing only Double Battles at Blueberry Academy... I've kinda forgotten about Single Battles... alright then! I'll bring out my cute Granbull! Hee hee!"
Lacey sends out Granbull on the field.
"Alright then. Go!" Florian throws an Ultra Ball revealing a Baxcalibur.
"Huh? That looks really strong! Is that another Pokémon I don't know about?" Lacey puts her right hand near her mouth looking surprised.
"Yup! Caught it at Glaseado Mountain in Paldea as a li'l Frigibax! I trained it to become fierce and strong! Used it to defeat the dragon type elite four's Baxcalibur actually, with Glaive Rush!"
"Huh, so Paldea has a dragon type elite four member as well! Hopefully they're much more sophisticated than that dolt Drayton anyways."
"You seem to really hate Drayton huh? You know, there is a thin line between hate and-"
"Shut up." Lacey says while blushing.
"Wait." Lacey says. "What type is it then?"
"Dragon and Ice."
"You're using a Dragon type against my Fairy type? You know I have the type advantage then."
"Yeah, I know, but Drayton, the dragon type specialist, is somehow directly above you, so who's to say about type matchups?"
"C-Can you please stop talking about that "toothpaste-haired bozo", or whatever you said what Carmine called him?"
"Fine, sorry. Let's start then! Baxcalibur, Icicle Crash!"
"Dodge the falling icicles, Granbull! And use Play Rough"
Granbull avoids the falling icicles and successfully unleashes its hit on Baxcalibur.
"Baxcalibur!"
Lacey chuckles. "Who knew cuteness can be very strong! Alright then! Use Crunch!"
Granbull tries to use its strong jaw to bite Baxcalibur, but the Baxcalibur deflects the attack!
"Nice deflect!"
"Oh... that's strong! It managed to shrug off that super effective hit!"
"I gotta say your Pokémon are still going strong! It rekindles my memory with battling you for the second time on the arena!"
"I remember! We even took a picture after defeating me! Now ain't that a cute moment?"
"I have to admit that was actually cute, especially the part where I called you cute!"
Lacey blushes. "N-Nope! Don't you remember! It's the Pokémon that are cute! Not me!" Lacey makes an X with her hands.
"Sure."
"Whatever. Granbull, use Fire Fang!"
"Baxcalibur, take the hit!"
"Huh? Why?"
As Granbull bites Baxcalibur with its fiery fangs, the Baxcalibur seems to have gained power from that hit.
Lacey looks surprised. "Huh? What was that?"
"That was Thermal Exchange! If my Baxcalibur is hit with a fire type move, then it's attack increases! And it's power can't be cut by burn!"
"Wow... that's honestly impressive..." Lacey starts sweating a bit.
"Now it's my turn! Dragon Dance!"
Baxcalibur does a mystic dance and gains another power boost.
"Now my Baxcalibur can not only move faster, but it also increases the attack boost even further!"
Lacey starts getting nervous. "Uh oh! I have to do something or this'll get out of control! This is gonna be bad!"
Lacey then remembers something. "Oh right! I have a Tera Orb! I can terrastalize my Granbull! I've only really terrastalized my Excadrill in official battles, but I guess it'll be my first time making my Granbull look even cuter!"
"Huh. A Tera Orb! I can do that too! This will be an amazing battle!"
Both Florian and Lacey terrastalize their Pokémon at the same time. Granbull is Tera Fairy and Baxcalibur is Tera Steel.
Lacey looks shocked. "Wait! You're Tera type is Steel?"
Florian smirks. "That's right! And now I have the type advantage against you."
"Type matchups are only a small part of battling, just as you said. I can still try to clutch this, I hope..." Lacey says.
"Baxcalibur! Time for a boosted Iron Head!"
"W-Wait! You have Iron Head!? That's super effective! Dodge it Granbull!"
Granbull tries to dodge, but Baxcalibur swiftly plunges it's metallic cranium into Granbull breaking the terastallization on it and knocking it out.
"N-No! GRANBULL!" Lacey cries out.
Grabull lays on the ground unconscious.
"Well, looks like the battle is set. You did pretty good, Lacey," Florian says as he walks towards Lacey.
Lacey runs over to Granbull and comforts it.
"It's alright, Granbull. You did your best."
The Granbull let's out a weak voice of affirmation.
Lacey looks up at Florian.
"Well, if there is one thing that's certain, both of our Pokémon were really cute battling it all out there!" Lacey says happily.
"But Lacey, you're the-" Florian begins to say.
"Nope! We've already done this before! Don't try again!" Lacey makes another X with her hands.
Lacey looks at the Baxcalibur. She walks up to it and rubs the side of the sharp protruding part of its back.
"You know, I think this thing on your Baxcalibur's back makes it look really cute as a really unique charming feature! It really is!" Lacey passionately says.
Baxcalibur looks at Lacey looking confused and uncomfortable.
"Alright, Lacey. Enough rubbing. You don't want it to accidentally pierce your skull and ribs when it sees a threat from a distance," Florian warns.
"Jeez, Florian! Do you really have to go that route?" Lacey says.
Both Florian and Lacey return their Pokémon to their Pokéballs.
"Wait. We were so pumped about our battle together... What were we supposed to do again...?" Florian wonders.
"Oh yeah, that's right! The Alolan Exeggutor! Let's go, Lacey! It hasn't left yet!" Florian quickly grabs Lacey's arm and rushes towards the Exeggutor pulling Lacey along with him.
"Wha-? Hey! Not so hard!" Lacey exclaims.
After catching the Exeggutor, Florian sends it out.
"Wow! That Exeggutor is probably taller than the usual Exeggutor! It looks so cute that way!" Lacey says as she smiles and puts her hands together.
"No doubt! It's the tallest I've ever seen!" Florian says.
"Oh! We should take a picture! We took a picture after your elite four battle with me! Let's take another one, but with this Exeggutor, along with our other Pokémon!"
"Good idea, Lacey! Baxcalibur! Koraidon! Come on out!"
"Granbull! And you too, Excadrill!"
After Lacey, Florian, and the other Pokémon take their positions and pose, the Rotom Phone flashes a bright flashing light successfully taking the picture of them and their Pokémon along with the Alolan Exeggutor.
