Alola readers! Brav is back yet again with another chapter! Unfortunately I've got some bad news.
My job has sent out furlough notices to a number of employees earlier this month and I was one of the people who may end up getting furloughed thanks to the industry being hit pretty hard by the ongoing pandemic. I knew this was coming, but at the same time held out hope that it wasn't a reality. Sadly, it was disappointing to say the least. I'm still working though, but it's possible I could not be very soon.
Let's get to the chapter. Raise your hand if you're in the mood for a Totem Battle. If you're looking for a good theme to play; I wrote this one to Alak-Hul's theme from the Sunless Cell mission from Destiny. Arguably one of the most epic and frightening battles of that game and the music made dying on the nightfall over and over worth it!
I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe. Wash your damn hands.
I wasn't able to really find out that much about Elio's trial.
Professor Kukui said he was elated to find out that I had a pokemon of my own and said he could approve a trainer passport for me if I wanted to take on the island challenge! I'm so excited and now I think I can follow in Elio's own footsteps to prove myself.
But the first thing's first. I have to get Nebby home. Then I'll be ready to face whatever consequences my mother has for my actions. I regret nothing.
Lille could only describe the breakfast scene at the Aether House as...controlled chaos.
It was home to more than twenty kids of varying ages and even the older ones with responsibilities of taking care of the younger ones looked overwhelmed.
Thankfully, none of them used the kitchen stove in case they accidentally lit a fire and burned the place down. So with Acerola out for the day helping Elio with his trial, she, Hau and Leilani had suddenly become the guardians and chaperones of all the other kids as they raided the pantry for breakfast foods.
Despite the limited budget that the orphanage seemingly ran on, the kids didn't seem to mind a lack of breakfast food that required cooking. Stores of various cereals lined one of the shelves and each one had gotten themselves a bowl, pouring some with splashes of milk all along the counter.
Lillie made a face at the various sugary brands, but her stomach was in demand of food enough for her to put that aside. She loved sweet things as much as anyone else, but some foods were so incredibly saturated with sugar that it made her own head hurt and her teeth feel like it was covered in the uncomfortable sensation of plaque buildup. Hau was less concerned, but she knew that he brushed his teeth enough so that he didn't have to worry about them falling out by the time he was middle aged...unless he got into a fight that knocked them askew.
Plus, can't say no to cereal. It requires no cooking and is basically mess free.
She suddenly spotted one of the kids struggle to hold up the heavy milk jug and it dropped down, spilling it all over the counter.
Well...almost mess free.
"It's okay." She tried her best to console the little boy who was on the verge of blubbering tears after his accident. "We can clean it up."
"Okay." He nodded slowly, moving his own bowl aside and showing her where the paper towels were. Milk had a tendency to stink if it was left unchecked thanks to the enzymes, so she also grabbed a couple of kitchen wipes. After using the paper towels to soak up the spill, she wiped it down, leaving virtually no evidence left that it had ever happened.
"Don't you cry over spilled milk okay?" She calmly smiled at him. "Accidents happen."
"I'm sorry."
She offered to pour the milk into his cereal for him, finding that she suddenly was in the mood for some of it herself. It looked like light corn flakes with a dusting of sugar on them.
At this point, anything seems appetizing.
She poured herself a bowl and decided to eat it dry with the milk on the side. The thought of having soggy cereal didn't quite appeal to her and it was a far cry to anything her mother or the family chef had decided to make for the first thing of the day.
"Everything okay Lillie?" Leilani asked as she took a seat on the other side of the kitchen counter.
"Yeah. Everything's fine."
"You're worried about Elio."
"N-no! I'm not! I swear!"
Leilani let a smirk flash across her face. "It's okay. I'll help keep your secret safe. Besides, it's Elio we're talking about. I bet if he has to face off against a gigantic tyranitar by himself, he'll find a way to win. He always does."
"Yeah. He always does."
"How's your new pokemon? Are you liking the feeling that you're sort of a trainer?"
Lillie glanced back at Kalua, seeing the little vulpix happily eating a bowl of feed next to Jangmo'o and Nebby.
I finally became a trainer. Funny how I never ever would've thought of this to happen.
"She's the best pokemon I could've asked for. Thank you all for rescuing her from the fire and giving her a home. Kalua deserves it."
"That's a beautiful name." Leilani smiled at her. "And she's absolutely gorgeous...just like you."
Me? Gorgeous?
"Oh and by that I mean, gorgeous in the eyes of a certain trainer who's not here right now."
"Hehe, yeah I suppose so." Lillie looked away, trying to hide the blush creeping on her face.
"I've always been hesitant to become a trainer. You know, ever since Professor Kukui took me under his wing. It's always made me worry and I hate seeing pokemon get hurt."
She spooned a mouthful of cereal. "But as I began to travel with you, Elio and Hau; I realized there was so much more to it than just fighting. Pokemon battle one another to get stronger, both themselves and their trainers. It's a way to test and show off your skills and I never thought I'd actually find myself having fun in battling like I did this morning with Elio. He and Jangmo'o are going to be amazing. I can feel it."
The surfer nodded. "I understand where you're coming from. But if I'm going to be battling a lot, I want to have pokemon who want to get stronger. Not every single one out there dreams of battle and causing damage to others. Some don't like to fight and just want to live their lives or serve a different purpose. It's like people. Not everyone can be a professional trainer you see in all the leagues around the world."
"I guess it's something I'll have to get used to." She said assertively. "I will get strong enough to impress Elio!"
Leilani laughed at her surge of confidence. "Well well, aren't you a little smitten?"
"Wha? Maybe...I kinda like him...a little more than just as a friend."
"I can tell. Your hug to him before he left pretty much telegraphed it." She leaned forward closer to the other girl. "Let me tell you something. You don't have to do all of that just to impress him. Do it because it's something you want to do."
Her face twitched and she suddenly lurched back, hissing in pain.
"Leilani!" Lillie cried, getting the attention of the other close by kids. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I just had to use the last of my injector. I've already ordered a refill from Doctor Hansen that will arrive tomorrow." She had grit her teeth, hands reaching down to touch the silver metal band that circled her thigh before slowly breathing out of her mouth in a low sigh of relief. "Shit, that hurts." Her own eyes went wide, realizing that she had just cursed out loud in front of twenty kids.
"Whoops."
Of course one of them decided to pipe the question everyone was dreading. Lillie still had no idea how the hearing of children just happened to be so sharp. "What does that mean?"
By mid-morning, Elio and Acerola hadn't been back yet, but the three teens were watching the kids play around in the front yard. Some ran around in a game of tag with a few baby pokemon while others relaxed in the grass close by.
Jangmo'o, Nebby and Kalua were just as engrossed in a game with the other pokemon. Hau's Dartrix and Raichu stood close by as well. Leilani introduced Lillie to her primarina, Symphony and her newest addition of Hoolapanai, the turtonator she captured in the midst of escaping the wildfire. Nebby was safely tucked away back with the rest of her things, still asleep after she had fed it breakfast.
"Wow! They're such wonderful pokemon!"
"Thanks!"
She smiled again as Kalua and Jangmo'o were playing with a rubber ball alongside a small yungoos that belonged to a little girl named Kari. She was a small seven year old with fair skin and auburn hair, but as she sat with the teens to watch their pokemon, she had talked Lillie's ear off and suddenly stopped, looking up at her in the eyes.
"Your eyes are so pretty." Kari giggled softly to herself. "And Miss Leilani too."
"Aww mahalo." Leilani laughed along with her and tousled her hair. "And you're going to be just as pretty as us when you're older."
Kari giggled at the other girls touch and looked back up to Lillie. "Are you a model?"
"What? A model?" Lillie shook her head, clearly not expecting someone to call her that. "Why do you ask?"
"Because you're so pretty." She had to give the little one credit for being so openly honest. "You're pretty to make any boy fall in love with you just by looking in your eyes!"
"She's descriptive." Leilani said, impressed at the display.
"Well thank you Kari." Lillie smiled down at her. "That really means a lot to me."
More than you know.
Plumeria watched the various groups of physical activity from the underbrush of the dense foliage that flanked the Aether House. Kids were playing, pokemon too and she recognized the blonde girl and the kahuna's grandson. There was another teenage girl with them that looked just a little older and upon studying them, she realized it was Leilani Taula, the disqualified surfer.
Shame she lost to that Kalosian bitch. That tentacruel in that spot was a dirty trick.
Her actual target wasn't in sight...well...one of them at least. The blonde was the first and judging by how Guzma had described her; the other wasn't too far away.
The only problem she could see in this was that kid she had met back the outskirts of Akala Island's Ruins of Life. Elio...she recalled his name.
Guzma may have given him a good thrashing and humbling, but she had known even before that he was a powerful trainer. Making things even more complicated, he had found out that the blonde and Elio were close friends and often spent time together. He had already shown his prowess in battle and already had a longstanding infamous reputation among the masses of her underlings. The moniker "Skullbane" had circulated loosely as the one trainer that was absolutely not worth picking on.
We'll see how he lives up to the Skullbane name. She thought to herself with a smirk.
Team Skull may have been thought of as unintelligent and aloof, but Plumeria outlined a two pronged approach that had Guzma cackling and cracking his knuckles at the chance to kick the Skullbane down another notch.
Her second target was a small cloud pokemon called cosmog. Guzma didn't tell her what it was needed for, just gave off a description and explicit orders to not let it escape.
She wanted to launch her operation right away, but the Skullbane was the wild card. He was nowhere to be seen and could be anywhere...possibly the perfect place to foil their idea. It just happened to be when one of her grunts, a heavyset pervert named Lars, had found himself overpowered and thrown into a holding facility in Malie City that she found herself coming up with this plan. By the time she and Guzma found out about the attempted assault, the convicted offender was on his way to the maximum security prison in police custody on Melemele Island where there was little they could do to set him free.
He's better off there than roaming the streets anyway. She bitterly thought to herself, shooting down anyone's attempts to try and bail him out. It was almost ironic that she thanked the Skullbane for intervening. Had Lars gotten that girl alone and taken any longer, she had no doubt the nasty ex-convict would've mercilessly raped and humiliated her.
I don't care what or who people are. Nobody deserves to experience that. Ever. I know this for a fact.
So she had to stake it out, do something that was enough to draw the Skullbane out of hiding.
Then Guzma would keep him occupied long enough for her to complete her own mission.
Elio ignored the sudden chill in the air and was face to face with the pikachu still hiding in the shadows. He strained his eyes to try and pick out any features, seeing dark eyes, the round reddish electric sacs, jagged tail.
Strange fighting a pikachu in a ghost type trial. Is there some other hidden form that's part ghost type?
Sinister laughter echoed off the walls and suddenly, the speakers overhead crackled again. Gone was the melancholic, dreary sounding store jingle and it was replaced with…
Rave music?
Instead of his own adrenaline already pumping into his body from fight or fear, it was instead by that same competitive drive and determination. Through everything that the trial has done to spook him, it was still the same kind of pokemon battle with a totem.
Something flickered in the dark and surrounded it, coalescing into the familiar stat boost that he had seen with the previous totems he had defeated.
"Ghost pikachu...not so scary."
Akela became his first pokemon sent out, snarling threateningly and glaring at his opponent.
The pikachu wasted no time in spinning around, gathering electricity in its body and launching it out. Akela was more than ready, using his hind legs to jump out of the way.
"So it is a pikachu!" Elio said. "Use sucker punch!"
Akela waited for just a hairdsbreath before he jumped forward, paw cloaked in a dark purple energy. The move only worked when the opponent was readying an attack, so unless it was readying one of its own, it couldn't be done on the fly or in a reflexive situation.
However as he closed in, jumping up over another thunder attack to deliver the blow; Elio saw something strange happen.
The totem's body suddenly changed properties and right before the fist could connect, it rumbled loudly.
Before it darkened and crumbled from sight.
Literally.
What? How?
Akela landed on the ground, growling in frustration that he had lost his target. Elio was looking too, just as confused.
"Where did it go?"
A crackling sound just moments later caused both trainer and pokemon to glance around more furtively. The pikachu landed on the ground as soon as Akela turned his back, swinging a long clawed arm like a sword and striking him in the back. As he fell forward, he directed the incoming energy into a counter attack through his other paw. But as he struck out, he was met with no resistance or indication that he hit his mark.
"What?!" Elio's surprise was starting to get overtaken with a bit of anger. "How am I supposed to fight this thing if I can't hit it?"
Pikachu are all electric types. And this is a ghost trial. What's the deal?
Unless this thing is just another ghost type.
Which means this isn't a pikachu.
Akela didn't stop at the surprise that his counter didn't work and bared his fangs, intent on using crunch instead. However the totem jumped back, slamming its body against the doors of the storage room and running out into the store floor.
"Oh no you don't." With a mutual nod, both of them took off after it in hot pursuit.
Elio ignored the whispers that he swore drifted through the site's stale air as he crept along the aisles, looking down each one as if he could find the totem.
Come on, you really think it's going to be that easy? Ghost types are sneaky. They like to confound and confuse us, attacking where we least expect it.
Behind him, Akela had gone on all fours, crouching low to the ground as if he was stalking prey.
Except it might be the one stalking us.
The tension remained thick in the air and he could feel the hair start to stand up on the back of his neck. The next two aisles were empty, not even any ghost pokemon visible with the finder's enhanced lens.
Hold on, what's he doing?
Elio glanced back, noticing Akela was sniffing around. He must've caught onto something because he snarled ferociously and bared his teeth.
Why didn't I think of that? Using his strong sense of smell to find the totem.
Akela stood back up, running the opposite direction, then stopping and looking up.
"What is it?"
The werewolf growled.
Then he dug his claws into the side of the aisle shelf and quickly climbed himself up to the top.
"I sseeeeeeeee yoouuuuuu." He heard a distinct hiss.
Elio couldn't climb up to the top like his pokemon, he wasn't built for it and he didn't know how stable they were in supporting his hundred and forty pound frame. So he had to just stay at the bottom and try to see what was going on.
The totem was at the far end, already on the attack. It lunged forward with blazing speed and brandished a long curvy arm with a three digit claw at the end.
Okay that thing is NOT a pikachu.
Akela knew that using counter wasn't an option on a ghost type and jumped over it like a rope. He landed, smashing his fist on the floor and causing a torrent of large boulders to erupt out of the ground like a wave.
While the totem deftly avoided most of them, the quaking motion set the shelves to sway from side to side, causing both combatants to fight their own sense of balance as well as each other. Akela had wobbled, ironically caused by his own attack while the totem made the smarter move of jumping to the adjacent shelf, which was far more stable. However, some of the rock slide had gone its way and it whipped up another thunder attack that intercepted and shattered each boulder into powder.
The thunder had another effect too.
Blasting everything with such an obscenely strong bolt of lightning took a fine degree of skill to aim and execute, even for seasoned electric type pokemon. Having to do it so quickly, the move did have a chance of being inaccurate at the worst opportune of times. While some of the discharged arcs had blocked the rock slide; others went upwards.
To the darkened lights.
Elio was pretty sure something that strong would instantly overload the bulbs, especially if they were burnt out, but miraculously they had absorbed the energy and snapped on, bathing the small area in a harsh glow.
He gaped at the pokemon that he had initially thought of as a pikachu, with the resemblance nothing like one and so similar that it instantly set him on edge.
The creature...thing...was surrounded by a cream colored cloth that was scratched and torn. Its body was small, but he couldn't help seeing that the head was a bit disproportionate to its body, almost twice as big. It had a partially shaded pair of eyes, rose cheeks and a mouth that all looked like it was drawn with a marker. Two pointed ears had black tips and he could see the jagged tail, both different colors than he would see on a pikachu.
"What is that thing?" Wait no...it's blinded by the light.
"Now's our chance! Hit it!"
Akela roared, slamming his hands into the ground and causing another rock slide to rise out of the ground.
This time, the totem was still stunned and trying to recover when the onslaught reached it, hammering its small body from all sides. Akela continued his attack, baring his fangs as he bore down on the totem, intent on delivering a crunch to the head. Instead of a panicked screech when he snapped his jaws, he felt a struggle as it tried to buck him off.
Finally, it succeeded in flinging him up in the air, then it ran towards him, zigzagging rapidly before jumping on top, hitting it with another flurry of attacks that kicked up dust to obscure the tussle.
That looked like play rough.
What was more baffling to him was the fact that the totem thing didn't seem to take any damage from whatever attacks he had thrown.
Doesn't make sense. Rock slide can hit ghosts and crunch is a dark-type move, which is super effective. What gives?
Then he noticed the totem looked a little different. Instead of the "head" erect, it hung limply at its side, waving and whipping around as it moved like a ragdoll.
It's a decoy.
He pulled out the inert Rotom 'Dex, which quickly sensed the new pokemon in the vicinity and gave him the information.
"Mimikyu. Disguise pokemon. Although it's quiet and lonely, any attempt to look underneath its rag disguise will cause it to resist violently. If its head or neck is broken during battle or rag is torn, it will stay up through the night to patch and repair its disguise. Mimikyu is a ghost and fairy type. Additional information is available upon catching this pokemon."
Elio grumbled to himself, unaware of this and a little angry at himself for not catching it sooner.
How could I have noticed that in the first place? I'm overestimating my intuition.
Akela was just light on his feet enough to avoid another shadow claw attack and dove for a crunch. The totem mimikyu was just as nimble, hopping to the next shelf over.
Then it split in two. And then two more.
"Double team."
This thing's got a lot of tricks. And I'm kind of surprised it hasn't called for help from an ally pokemon yet.
"Let's strike it anyway. Use crunch!"
Akela growled, jumping forward and picking one of the copies to sink his teeth into. He must've found the right one, as the attack earned an annoyed hiss from the totem as it shook itself vigorously again to throw him off. Its long arm lashed out again, swinging around dangerously as Akela kept his bite locked firmly while hitting it with another sucker punch.
The mimikyu jumped up before unleashing a powerful thunder attack. Being in direct contact, Akela snarled in pain, finally releasing his grip.
"Use rock slide again!" Elio cried.
However the totem wasn't going to have any of it. As Akela landed awkwardly on one of the shelves, it's tail flashed and stiffened and it jumped forward, spinning around to smash it into his midsection. With a pained yelp, Akela was flung backwards, careening into a shelf and tumbled right to the ground, instantly fainted.
Holy crap, was that wood hammer?! This thing knows some powerful moves.
Elio did know that wood hammer caused a bit of damage to the user, so it remained a risky move, especially the more powerful it hit.
Despite the fact it was a ghost type and knew ghost type moves, it knew others with an impressive arsenal. An electric type thunder would prove bad if he went with Nani or Rufflet. Even if he had Jangmo'o, there was play rough where he had to watch out for, a fairy type move that could prove bad for dragons.
That left Torracat as the only viable option without exposing him to a dangerous attack.
So that was who he sent out, after returning the defeated Akela.
Mimikyu hissed before it split up again, using another double team. Unlike the last time, it made five copies of itself.
All five of them flicked their arm out again, each shooting a shadow ball at Torracat. Elio didn't have to tell him what to do. He jumped up, avoiding them all and using a double kick to knock one up into the ceiling where it exploded, showering dust everywhere.
The copies closed in, three of them attempting a play rough attack. Instinctively; Torracat was ready and countered with a double kick.
"Wait, they're ghost types! Double kick doesn't work!"
Elio found himself surprised when two of the mimikyus tried to dodge and disintegrated into dust when the fire cat made contact. The clouds dissolved into thin air, vanishing almost instantly.
Huh, so fighting type moves can kill the copies. Interesting.
Torracat bit the third one and launched another double kick to destroy the last. The actual mimikyu paused, as if surprised that he had dealt with all its decoys so quickly.
"Flame charge!"
Torracat growled, lighting himself on fire and rushing up. He was much more agile when climbing than Akela, able to scale the side as the mimikyu took the lead. As it got to the top, it let out an eerie shriek that almost made Elio practically jump out of his skin.
He heard some rustling and watched as a small ethereal pokemon emerge at the top. It had a spectral body with red eyes and its entire face was hidden behind a mask made out of a tree tunk. It swayed back and forth, glaring at Torracat in a challenge.
Elio scanned it with its pokedex.
"Phantump. Stump pokemon. An unknown spirit came to lodge in a tree stump, creating this pokemon. According to legend, a cure to any illness can be created by an infusion of the small leaves on its head. Phantump is a ghost and grass type. Additional information is available upon catching this pokemon."
He didn't see the mimikyu around anywhere, just the phantump ally already churning up a razor leaf attack. Torracat jumped to the side, leaping over to the next shelf to avoid it and then came back, burning himself up in a flame charge. He smashed into the smaller pokemon's side, knocking it out quickly as it dropped out of sight.
Elio heard a familiar hiss. "Torracat behind you!"
The warning was only half taken. The fire cat looked behind to see the totem reappear out of thin air and swipe at him with a shadow claw. It was so fast, he barely had time to react dodging.
However it wasn't enough. The tip of mimikyu's claw had clipped his leg, knocking him off course. As he reached the other shelf, his paws hit the top and gravity began to take over. The claws dug into the metal surface, causing a loud screech that put his teeth on edge. His weight was too much and he wasn't able to get a proper grip to haul himself up without a boost.
The mimikyu tensed in anticipation, suddenly sprouting a second arm from underneath its raggedy disguise and using them to vault itself over to Torracat's side. It casually approached, brandishing both of its shadow claw arms as if they were signature knives.
Torracat struggled, his hind legs swinging to grip the bottom of the level he was on, but he couldn't quite get them high enough to latch on.
Elio watched the totem glance down at its foe casually, as if wanting to take its time to execute someone begging for mercy.
"We're not like that are we?"
Torracat gave a threatening growl, but it seemed to not affect or faze the ghost totem at all. Instead it raised both claws to deliver a lethal final blow.
"Flame charge!"
The look of defiance on his starter's face turned to a maniacal grin as he engulfed himself in flames. Mimikyu scoffed and brought the claw down anyway.
Only for Torracat to finally grab into the shelf with his left leg and rocket up towards the ceiling, knocking the creature back in the process. He landed deftly on the center of the shelf.
Now's my chance again! "Overheat!"
It took only a couple of seconds for him to build up excessive energy inside his body and with a growling roar, he unleashed a fast moving white hot beam of his most powerful attack.
I gotta remember now that each overheat is going to get slightly weaker every time I use it. So only for the more dire situations.
Mimikyu was caught in the middle of it, rippled and tumbled back in a mess of limbs and bits of its rag disguise that smoldered with flecks of tiny yellow embers. Just before it reached the end of the shelf, one of its claws reached out to grab the side and arrest its momentum. It jumped back on in moments.
Elio was a bit shocked, seeing how it not only was able to withstand his first pokemon's strongest attack move, but how it also easily recovered and jumped back into the fray without hesitation.
"Maybe we wear it down?"
That won't work much. If this thing can take an overheat from Torracat like that and still have enough to fight as if it never got hit…
The totem charged forward, using double team again as it did...now making six of them.
Elio narrowed his eyes. "Every time it uses double team, it makes more of the decoys!"
Torracat got to work, running towards them with his teeth enveloped in fire. He growled and lunged forward, snapping his jaws over them and causing the frauds to vanish in poofs of dust. Each one seemed to react and tried to avoid his strikes, but his flame charge's secondary effect of a sharp speed boost now had him on an equal footing to the totem and its copies.
His trainer was watching with intent, as Torracat dodged one that lunged back for him in a play rough attack before spinning around to deliver a double kick. An idea was beginning to form in his head.
A crazy idea.
Fighting all the double team frauds took time and the totem certainly had the advantage of biding its own time to strike something rather devastating. After Akela went down, Elio realized that when he attacked in the midst of the double teams, the werewolf pokemon was able to pick out the actual mimikyu itself from its ability of keen eye. With him gone, he had no way of reliably picking it out every time it decided to use the move to boost its evasiveness.
Now he knew that the double kick was able to destroy the fakes, but at the same time a fighting type move wouldn't do anything to a ghost. Each one of them was reacting to Torracat regardless of what kind of attack he was doing. Anything fire or dark; they moved to dodge like a normal pokemon would.
However with the ghost typing being immune to both normal and fighting type moves and its secondary fairy typing, it theoretically had an immunity to dragon type moves.
So this totem probably enjoys not getting hit by three different types. I bet there's a way to use that against it too. Why bother dodging an attack that isn't going to hurt anyway?
Elio watched.
Torracat's double kick had targeted two more of the copies. One was already reacting to try and jump away, but his foot struck it and caused it to dissolve as quickly as it formed.
The other stared blankly ahead, as the foot had hit it harmlessly to no effect at all.
He gasped. "That's it!"
Mimikyu hissed loudly, brandishing both arms and swiping down as Torracat jumped forward, biting his foe and pushing it further along the shelf. As they broke contact, Elio could see he had a perfect line of sight.
"Use overheat!"
Torracat built up the power inside his body before shooting it out quickly. And this time, mimikyu was more prepared. The two small eyes on the lower section of the rag glowed before it used its elongated arms to stand up and above the blast. Torracat had tilted his head to adjust his aim, but the energy had run out before it had a chance to sweep across to its position. The ghost totem jumped upwards crossing its arms together and then fired its own white hot overheat attack.
"What?! How?" Elio was caught off guard as his pokemon stood, just as shocked that the totem had literally copied his own attack and used it against them.
With a pained scream, Torracat tumbled back and managed to regain his footing on one of the lower levels of the joining shelf. The totem was on it, swinging its arms around in a shadow claw attack as it rushed in close.
Torracat's mouth opened and he snapped his fangs at one that was pulled back at the last second. Mimikyu was playing it safe and knew that attacking like this meant risking getting up close in its bite or fire fang attacks.
The battering back and forth had taken its toll on both pokemon. Elio could sense that the totem was nearing defeat, but he wasn't sure how much longer his own pokemon could last.
"Flame charge in again! Don't let it escape!"
Torracat snarled, rushing back in with his fiery attack. The mimikyu's eyes glowed and it cloaked itself in fire of its own, charging forward to meet the adversary.
It mimicked us again?!
He initially had the speed advantage despite the totem's blindingly fast movement, but now that it was using flame charge, its own speed was being pushed up to match Torracat's.
Surprised to see how it adapted to the setback he had given it, Elio could only watch as the mimikyu slashed his pokemon twice over with a shadow claw before retreating and jumping up to unleash a thunder.
Torracat was slow to get up and he tried to use another flame charge to dodge, but the totem had adjusted its own aim, lighting up the ceiling and blasting him into the next shelf where he rolled to the ground limply.
Elio shook his head in frustration as he returned his starter pokemon, still seething at the fact he had a chance to take it down and blew it. It seemed the longer the battle went on, the more the totem was able to recover past any of the setbacks he had tried to use to his own advantage. He still had both Nani and Rufflet, both of which were weak to the thunder attack. But it wasn't all bad.
They both have steel type moves. If I do what I did with Rufflet against the totem vikavolt; then maybe we can bait it to use it before we use our steel type move as a lightning rod.
He hadn't tried the technique with Nani, but he knew she would be more than onboard with practicing new tactics.
Only if it's unavoidable, we'll do it.
"Let's go Nani!" He summoned his milotic and she landed gracefully, uncoiling herself and staring at the totem pokemon coolly.
"Scald it!"
She shot out a stream of the boiling hot liquid at her foe, who wasted no time jumping aside and countering with a double team, creating six copies of itself.
Elio stopped; he had no normal or fighting type moves with Nani to find a way to expose the real one again.
Wait, it's part fairy too! Fairies are immune to dragon moves!
"Let's take them all down. Dragon pulse!"
Nani formed the emerald green orb in front of her, before shooting it directly in the center of the party.
Elio saw five of them move to dodge the incoming attack. The only one that didn't was the second from the right.
"There you are."
The tender pokemon must've seen it two just as the pulse collided on their side, blowing apart rubble and tearing a huge hole in the shelf where the totem and its copies once were. The ghost itself stood unfazed by the powerful dragon type attack as Elio had expected, but it didn't see Nani rapidly slithering up the side of the shelf. Her tail fins locked together and glowed bright metallic white in her signature sword iron tail. She swung it hard, cutting through the remnants of the shelf and finally hit the totem; the super effective attack sending it crashing into the next shelf over.
Still, it managed to recover quickly, jumping on top of another pile of masonry and jumping into the air to unleash a thunder attack.
"Alright, time to show them our new trick!" Elio glanced at his pokemon to make sure she was with him. "Use iron tail and drive it into the ground!"
Mimikyu's aim was too good and she hit Nani dead center. The serpentine pokemon grunted in pain, but Elio could see that she had thrust her sword into the ground and the steel type move did its job of diverting the majority of the electrical energy harmless into the ground where it dispersed.
How about that?
The totem screeched again and Elio felt a rumble nearby, realizing the totem was calling for aid from an ally pokemon. Instead of fleeing like last time, it stayed put and waited.
Oh come on, we have to fight another one?
This pokemon resembling a walking tree came into sight. It was much taller, moving around on several roots that made it resemble a land cephalopod. The thick body was a dark oak brown in color while brushes of green leaves adorned several spots. It had one red eye with horned branches and slender limbs that ended in sharp claws. Elio scanned it with his inert 'Dex.
"Trevenant. Elder tree pokemon. It is the evolved form of phantump. Feared as the ghost of the forest, lumberjacks often bring fire type pokemon to ward them off. It can control plants to attack anyone who harms its home by tapping and manipulating the roots, however it offers kindness to beings that live peacefully in its forest. Trevenant is a ghost and grass type. Additional information is available upon catching this pokemon."
"Great. Another grass type." He was less concerned previously with the phantump because of Torracat's fire typing. But now with Nani's water, it was much more grave.
Even worse, he saw Nani moving about slowly, but sparks of electricity danced along her lithe body, causing her to twitch involuntarily.
"Oh come on!" She's paralyzed? This damn totem is getting all the lucky breaks.
The totem resumed its attack alongside its new ally. It swiped Nani with a shadow claw, jumping back as the trevenant struck with a shadow claw of its own. Nani managed to blast it in the face with a scald attack, sending it stumbling back. However, Sun got his own break when he saw that the move had burned it.
"I can't keep you fighting that much longer with that paralysis." Milotic were fast pokemon and getting paralyzed took away one of her biggest strengths. "Let's focus and keep that trevenant from getting the better of us. That mimikyu is going to have to wait."
She nodded and took off, attacking the ally with a dragon pulse. The totem jumped to its ally's defense, standing in between and taking the hit. It lunged back, using both arms in another shadow claw that she quickly parried with her sword. The trevenant jumped in, ramming the top of its head into her side with its horns glowing. Elio gasped as the attack siphoned some energy, causing a bit of damage to her, but helped to revitalize the attacker instead.
"Horn leech?! Come on!"
Nani wasn't about to give up without more of a fight. Before the trevenant could attack with another; she blasted it away with an exploding dragon pulse.
The totem's eyes gleamed again.
It used mimic again!
But it wasn't looking at Nani. Rather its trevenant ally, who was slowly getting back up.
"Oh no."
The spiked ears on the hanging "head" began to glow in the same color as the trevenants as it sprinted forward.
"If we let it hit us again, all that work we did to try and wear it down could be erased." Elio said to himself. "Let's not let that happen."
I still have my Z-move. And I have Rufflet's steel wing. Time to try it out with either one.
We could recover...no, that would just incite them to constantly use horn leech until she's done.
Through the paralysis, Nani brandished her iron tail again in preparation to meet the totem. Instead of meeting the attack; it jumped over, canceling it before spinning around to fire off another thunder attack.
Nani moved quickly to escape, but the electric sparks flickered around her body, causing her to stop abruptly. With nowhere to go, she formed another iron tail sword.
Instead of thrusting it into the ground, she tilted the blade sideways to meet the wicked lightning bolt head on. As she did; Elio saw the totem's eyes flash again.
Wait a second.
Nani thrust her sword out, discharging the thunder attack right back at the user. For a second, he thought it might just work.
But then the mimikyu's tail glowed in the same way Nani's did and it curved down to touch the ground right as the redirected thunder attack had struck. She had run out of energy herself, but the totem had cut the potential damage done to it significantly, just by copying the same trick he had taught her.
"No way."
Nani bristled to attack, then stopped, flinching sharply.
The trevenant had recovered, using a horn leech attack on a weakened Nani when her back had been turned. She stiffened before exhaustion overtook her and collapsed on the floor.
Elio recalled her, placing her ball on his left side and looking to Rufflet as his final pokemon.
This is it. It's all or nothing.
He threw out his little eaglet, who cawed proudly and glared at his two opponents.
"The rest of the team has weakened the totem down. You're all that's left. Let's make sure we walk out of here victorious okay?"
Rufflet nodded, spreading his wings and taking off.
I hope we can make it out of this. This mimikyu's the most formidable totem I've faced yet.
"Let's take the trevenant first. Use tailwind and set us up!"
Rufflet flapped his wings, causing a slight breeze to blow from his side. Having the tailwind could hopefully get him to match speed with the much faster mimikyu.
C'mon. Hit us with thunder again. I dare you.
He attacked anyway, looping around in a swift aerial ace towards the ally trevenant. The elder tree pokemon growled, crossing its clawed arms together in an X-scissor to retaliate. Unfortunately for it; the bird had easily flew up and around the attack before slashing it from behind, causing it to topple over and faint.
With it out of the fight, he could focus solely on mimikyu. Elio hoped it didn't have any allies left to call upon, but he wasn't going to wait and find out.
Mimikyu jumped again, swinging the copied iron tail around. Even when he had the tailwind on his side, it was hard to keep up in avoiding it swinging around like a club. And the more he spent time dodging, the less of a chance he had in going on the offense himself before the tailwind died down. And he was briefly vulnerable to attack while trying to restart it.
Once we get our chance. We need to make sure this thing stays down. No tricks.
Rufflet spread his wings out wide in a steel wing and rushed it. The totem paused, dissolving into the familiar dust.
"Rufflet!" Elio yelled, already sensing the tailwind setup weakening. "Get ready to move once it reappears again! We're gonna be using our Z-move when we catch it by surprise!"
He knew the totem was simply burning time until it had the major speed advantage again. The big problem was that Rufflet's own ability was hustle; a move that increased his attack power, but cut his average accuracy. Not something that was particularly helpful considering it liked to use double team a lot.
But he did have an ace up his sleeve. An aerial ace in fact.
Rufflet turned and Elio sensed the totem about to come out of hiding to attack.
"Now!"
He looped up, slashing down while confounding it with the quick temporary boost it had. Mimikyu flinched before it used double team yet again.
Instead of worrying about it, Elio found himself smiling with confidence. He sensed that the climax of the battle was approaching and doubled his determination to drive the final nail home.
Seven of the totem stood before him.
"Fury attack!" He soared forward, jabbing each one with his beak. Elio watched as they reacted and dodged.
Then he saw the one that didn't.
There it is!
"You see that?" He asked his pokemon. "That's the real one! Don't forget it!"
The other surviving copies counterattacked, one using a thunder blast and the others dashing forward to use wood hammer.
Elio saw the ones charging forth zigzag in the middle, where the actual totem was with. He blinked, losing track.
"I've lost track of it! Hope you haven't!"
Rufflet cawed, swooping down to avoid the thunder and using a steel wing on the charging copies. He had destroyed all but one and before he could attack it too; it swung its hammer hard, breaking his flight and sending him crashing to the ground.
"No!" His trainer cried. "Get up! We've come too far to lose now!"
The eaglet struggled back to his feet. Elio was surprised at how much damage the ineffective move had done to him.
We'll be lucky to survive another hit. We need to end this NOW.
"Aerial ace!"
He jumped forward again, taking off. Instead of going for the copy that wood hammered him aside, he lunged up and struck the one that had launched the thunder attack.
Elio gasped. Wait what?! It used the whole thing to confuse me? I thought the real one was on the ground this whole time!
He figured it was only a matter of time before the totem realized how he was able to pick it out from its puppet phonies and use it to trick him.
Maybe he forgot about the aerial ace.
The attack had left it wobbling up on the shelf before it lost balance and tumbled back down to the ground level.
Now's our chance!
Elio grabbed the Steelium Z and fit it perfectly into his ring's center. It glowed as soon as he pressed down and he felt the familiar high rush of zenith energy as it powered him up.
He formed an X with his arms, breaking it and slamming his enclosed fists together twice before thrusting them out together. This was going to be the first time he tried out the steel type zenith move and it seemed as if he had emulated Molayne's demonstration enough to make it work. Swirls of yellowish energy danced around him before it flickered over to Rufflet, giving him the superpowered boost.
"Here we go buddy! This is everything you got!"
Rufflet's eyes blazed with determination as he jumped up and began to spin in place. He gained speed until he was just a blur of motion.
"Z-move unleash!" Elio yelled out loud. "Steel wing into Corkscrew Crash!"
He knew that the move was originally made to appear like a drill bit boring into its victim. Unlike it though, he saw that Rufflet in the midst had lacked the bladed edges of a conventional drill and was more streamlined...like a bullet.
He exploded forward like a bullet too.
The totem had just gotten back up and it readied another wood hammer to try and defend itself.
But it was too late.
Rufflet crashed through, bypassing its feeble defensive attempt and tearing a big portion of its sturdy rag with the force of a cannon. The whole display of power created a loud bang and screech as metals grated against one another. One of the shelves wobbled dangerously as mimikyu finally collapsed to the ground, arms hanging outside of its disguise.
Rufflet landed next to it, breathing heavily from exhaustion and Elio realized he too, was just as tired from expending all that energy from using a Z-move with such power.
"We...we did it." He finally breathed. "Oh my."
The shelf creaked and a part of it tilted down right towards both pokemon.
"Look out!"
He didn't know what came over him, but he sprinted right over, grabbing ahold of the closest level he could find to hold it back. The weight pressed against him and he locked his knees to try and stop it from toppling over.
This is definitely on the do not do list for store employees. Falls are the biggest hazard.
But nobody was around.
"Rufflet, grab the totem and get away NOW!" Elio shouted. "I'll hold this for as long as I can."
He grunted, feeling its heavy weight start to gain traction over him.
Rufflet swooped down, grabbing the body with his talons and moving backwards.
Elio's muscles burned with lactic acid as he grimly realized he was fighting a losing battle against the shelf, plus gravity double teaming him. He spotted the edge and slowly moved that way. As soon as the pokemon were clear, he was going to let go and dive out of its way where it would harmlessly crash to the ground without hitting anyone.
"Okay...here we go." Elio counted down in his head and was about to make his move when suddenly, the shelf felt lighter.
And then it went upright.
"Huh?" He glanced around, now seeing some new arrivals to the scene.
The gastly, haunter and gengar were back. All of them using psychic to bring the shelf back up to a stable position. As they finished, that upbeat rave music playing over the speakers had stopped and he heard a familiar triumphant tune that the Rotom 'Dex had played.
Elio breathed a sigh of relief as the ghost types smiled and cheered. The haunter blew a streamer to add to the celebration.
"Thanks guys."
He walked over to the defeated mimikyu, who stirred and slowly stood up, glancing at him.
A smile graced his face. "Thanks for the battle. You were probably the hardest opponent I've faced." Beside him, Rufflet cawed in agreement.
Mimikyu hissed, before reaching over and touching the parts of its rag disguise that he had torn during their fight.
He saw it too and rifled around in his backpack. "I'm sorry I did that to you. Hope this makes it up and helps when you patch it up. You know, I thought you were a pikachu. But with a disguise like that and your moves...you can give any pikachu a run for their money."
The totem glanced at the bit of rope outstretched in his hand before gently taking and pulling it underneath. It gave him another respectful nod before climbing up over the shelf and disappearing back into the darkness.
It's the least I could do for busting up its disguise.
"Guess it's time for me to go."
The three ghosts looked a bit down, but nodded in agreement. Haunter circled him before going down the aisle and looking back.
Guess you're leading us out?
Acerola was smiling as the ghost types escorted Elio and Rufflet to the front of the store. The young trainer turned around, smiling with renewed confidence.
"Thanks!" He said and waved back to them as they disappeared back into the abandoned building. A sigh of relief was blown. "Whew, that was exhausting."
"Look at you!" The trial captain had put her hands on her hips. "How about I check your photos?"
Elio handed it over as she turned the device on.
"Yup!" She said happily. "That's Mimikyu all right! It's pretty hard to get to get on camera, so this is a really nice attempt! And I'm also guessing you achieved lanakila? I heard quite a kaua in there."
"Yup. It was no problem at al." Elio said smiling. "Okay, you got me. It was probably the toughest one on the island challenge yet."
"Mimikyu's a pokemon that doesn't have a lot of weaknesses. Plus it's smart too and it's very ku'ikahi. Trainers who have to defeat it and other challenges and trials after this will need to think the same. But that's enough from me!" Acerola said back to him. She handed over a dark purple crystal. "You know what this means!"
"I sure do!" He laughed, letting it fall into his hand, spinning around and thrusting it skyward in his usual pose of triumph. "Alright. Trial is complete!"
The captain laughed. "You sure have a fun way of making the island challenge enjoyable. It's the little things that I like about trial goers like this."
"Mahalo."
"And this means you've completed all the trials on Ula'ula Island! Now you have our permission to face off against the island kahuna!"
"Awesome. Let's do it!" Elio paused midway through his own celebration. "Wait, where is the kahuna?"
"Now you also have my permission to go back inside and capture pokemon."
Elio glanced back at the ruinous building. "Actually, I think I'm good."
Acerola mock pouted at him. "It's not a bad idea to have some ghost type pokemon on your team! I'll even give you some dusk balls, which let you catch pokemon easier at night or in dark places like buildings or caves!"
I knew right away when I got to Melemele and Akala Islands who they were. They both introduced themselves. But I haven't seen a single trace of who the kahuna of Ula'ula is. Nobody's given me a hint, except that they're a reclusive one.
Acerola sighed. "He's different. Sometimes it's hard to figure out where he is all the time. But if I happen to see him; I'll let him know he has a challenger."
"Sounds good. Time to head back?"
"Yeah, I feel like some lunch. Battling whips up an appetite right?"
Can't wait to show Lillie I finished! Hopefully she's bonded with Kalua even more.
Elio also received the purple petal for the Trial Flower. Like the other captains, Acerola remained tight lipped about its purpose, leading him to believe it was part of a future trial down the road.
Could it maybe be the final trial I have to take at a later time?
The walk back left his stomach growling and there was much more traffic active at the Tapu Village when they headed back down the road towards the Aether House.
"Bzzzt! I'm back online and ready to deliver my impeccable zervicezzzz! Bzzt!" Rotom 'Dex buzzed happily as he floated in front of the two teens. "Rotom Dex here faithfully at your zervice! Hazzz my mazzzter completed the ghost type trial? I'll eat my 'Dex if he hazzzzn't."
"You can save it." Elio said. "And yes. I did."
"Well you couldn't have done it without me."
"Actually I did," the boy countered. "And it was nice having some peace and quiet without you around."
"If I had feelingzzzz they would be hurt! Bzzt!"
"Where is the off button on you again?"
"Don't you dare! Bzzzt!"
As they neared the Aether House, Acerola tuned out the bickering between the trial goer and his haunted 'Dex, alarmingly increasing her pace up to the front where the door and courtyard looked to have suffered scorch mark damage. She thought she heard something crash inside.
Her intuition was correct as they saw multiple lean figures run out with something in their hands. Their headgear and bandannas were easily recognizable.
Team Skull. Again.
"Hurry." She breathed and they both took off at a sprint up the hill.
"Hey come back!" Leilani dashed out the door in pursuit of the thugs. Three other Skulls had emerged, looking rather confident with Hau right behind them.
"Stop that!" The kahuna's grandson glanced at his crush's retreating figure. "You're not getting away with this!"
What happened? Elio's mind raced as they closed in. Lillie? Is she okay?
The three Skull grunts that were confronted by Hau turned to both him and Acerola on the other side. One of them had the familiar hot pink and gold hair.
He stopped short, feeling his stomach go cold.
What did they do?
"My my." Plumeria's eyes flashed and she smiled at them. "What impeccable timing we have here. It takes these dumb grunts way too long to deal with you kids. Guess it's my turn now!"
"You don't mean that do you big sis?" One of them asked.
The Skull admin ignored him. "Take those two." Her eyes went right to Elio's, locking gazes. "The Skullbane is mine."
Thank goodness I visited a pokemon center and got a quick checkup on my team. Elio thought to himself as Akela was the first into battle, facing off against Plumeria's golbat. On his right side; Acerola sent out LaChaise who battled a large garbodor while Hau had Acheron against a grunt's gumshoos. Both the others were occupied in their own fights.
"You picked the wrong person to mess with." Elio warned. Akela slammed his fist into the ground, causing a wave of rocks to erupt and crash forward. Golbat bobbed and weaved around, but one boulder had clipped its wing and knocked it out instantly.
Plumeria looked surprised.
"Had enough yet?" He asked her.
"If you think I'm going to throw in the towel like that. You're sorely mistaken."
She threw out her second pokemon, a large spiky creature that had a small purple body and tall blue legs.
"New pokemon detected! Bzzt! Toxapex. Brutal star pokemon. It is the evolved form of mareanie. Those attacked by Toxapex's poison will suffer intense pain for three days and three nights. Post-recovery, there will be some aftereffects. Toxapex is a water and poison type. Additional information is available upon catching this pokemon."
"Rock slide again Akela!"
"Use poison jab Spiny!"
The werewolf hit the ground again, pelting the creature with large boulders, but it stood firm unlike the golbat that had fallen easily.
Spiny retaliated with a barrage of pin missiles. Unlike Guzma's golisopod Cicindel, this one was more linear, shooting out like spikes in every direction. Akela had dodged most of them, but ended up getting clipped in his rocky mane that caused him to stumble.
Elio ordered a sucker punch, knowing that it was going to attack again. He managed to get a hit off, but a second pin missile attack had struck home, dealing much more damage than the first.
"Don't let it get to you! Reversal!"
Having taken hits, it made the fighting type move much more powerful. With a roar; Akela slid past another pin missile before rearing back his fist and slamming it home.
Elio suddenly caught Plumeria smirking at him.
"Spiny, baneful bunker."
Just as he made contact, the toxapex's two front legs closed in to completely shield it from any hit. At the same time, he saw the larger poison barbs running along the outer skin extend out and glow a dangerous purple.
"Wait stop!" He called out, already knowing it was in vain.
Akela's hit harmlessly bounced off the outer skin of Spiny and he flinched with a growl of pain as a corrosive poison bubbled across his fur.
"Oh no."
Plumeria gave a huff of disdain and scowled. "Use venoshock."
Spiny smirked before shooting a noxious liquid out that blasted Akela right to the ground. He lay unmoving at Elio's feet.
"How?" He asked, blurting out loud.
"I can provide an anzzzer for you! Bzzt! Toxapex'zzz ability izzz called mercilezzzz, which allows it to have critical hitzzzz when itzzz target izzzz poizzzzoned! Bzzt! That and the venoshock attack accountzzz for mazzzzive damage!"
Hmm, I got backed into a corner without realizing it. I can't keep going and thinking all the Skull grunts are dimwitted. Plumeria, Guzma and others are a lot smarter too.
"I'm not falling for that again." He brought out Kamua, who bristled and crouched low as she surveyed her opponent. The toxapex looked uninterested, but readied its set of long poisonous barbs on its outer skin.
"You won't have to." Plumeria gestured to Kamua. "Toxic!"
Spiny splashed over a plume of purplish noxious liquid. Kamua was prepared and she deftly jumped out of its way, blowing out a gust of powder snow back. The toxapex was strong, firmly anchoring itself to the ground to resist the attack.
However neither of their opponents were finished either. She jumped up, eyes glowing as she snapped an extrasensory that clearly did much more damage than the powder snow. Spiny shot some more pin missiles, but the alolan vulpix was quicker in using a second extrasensory attack that took it down.
"Return." Elio called Kamua back and threw in Nani. She glared at Plumeria's next pokemon that came out; an arbok. The Skull admin narrowed her eyes.
"Don't think I forgot the last time you got around this." As if on cue; the cobra pokemon tucked in its hood to conceal the facelike pattern on its belly. "You'll have to be a little more skillful now."
I'll happily oblige.
Nani spun around, coiling her body close together and firing off a devastating dragon pulse. Similarly, the arbok slithered low to the ground, swinging its tail in a watery rush. It collided into her side and she grunted, bringing her own tail up in her signature blade. Both serpentine pokemon hissed at one another. Nani charged forward, swinging her sword down, but every time she had gotten a shot; the poison type craftily slithered away or had used its own aqua tail to counter or block.
Elio wasn't sure what Plumeria was planning, but he noticed every swipe and time their tails had clashed, it had left Nani just a tiny bit exposed as she tried to reacquire her target.
She finally broke when she prematurely slashed. Arbok lunged to her right, landing on the ground and springing itself right at her. Its front fangs tinged with electricity and bit right down on her midsection.
Nani struggled with the painful thunder fang, finally slamming herself onto the ground that caused them to bounce up again. She rolled back upright, firing a scald that happened to hit the tail end of the arbok's body.
The milotic hissed threateningly before she suddenly glowed a bright azure blue. A thin veil of clear water surrounded her like a liquid shield and he saw bits of it sparkle and reenergize his pokemon.
"Amazing! Bzzt!" Rotom sounded from behind. "Nani hazzzz learned aqua ring! It'zzzz a healing move that allowzzz for zmall but zteady recovery of energy! Bzzt!"
This plus recover? Nani's turning into one resilient pokemon.
"Learning a new move already? Not bad." Plumeria gave him a barely noticeable nod of respect. "Won't help you much. Arbok, gunk shot!"
Nani burst forward, shooting off a dragon pulse. At the same time, Arbok opened its mouth and ejected a foul looking glob of this putrid junk. Both attacks passed one another, striking their targets. Arbok vanished into the explosion and Nani was thrown back, covered in the nasty, slimy liquid, shrieking loudly.
Elio saw that the cobra pokemon was defeated, but the more pressing concern was the poison condition that had now afflicted his own pokemon. It slowly whittled and nagged at her form, despite the aqua ring trying to counteract its corrosive effects.
Damn. I guess we couldn't get out of this unscathed.
Plumeria's frown didn't diminish as she recalled her Arbok. She switched it out with a familiar slender purple lizard. Elio recognized it as the salandit he had battled against her earlier, now evolved into a salazzle. It was significantly smaller than the mo'owahine he had fought in the trial at the top of Mauna Wela.
"Nani return." He made to pull her out of the field, but she turned and cooed softly, flinching just slightly as the poison took off a little bit more of her health. "Huh?"
She wants to stay?
"You want to see this to the end? But you're hurt."
I don't like it, but I respect your decision.
"More in my own favor." Plumeria smirked, pointing to Nani. "Missus, Venoshock!"
Any further argument to their placement was quelled as the salazzle guzzled out a fine stream of venomous liquid that hit Nani in the center of her body. She was flung backwards, landing in a tangle of her serpentine body. She was able to get back up, but he could tell that the poison condition with the venoshock's amplified power caused her to take a huge chunk of damage.
Plumeria was in the middle of ordering it again when suddenly an idea hit Elio.
Nani looked a little puzzled at his idea, but was willing to try it with her trainer.
Missus fired another venoshock stream as Nani glanced right at the ground in front. Just before the poison attack was about to hit her again, she opened her mouth, unleashing a fast dragon pulse that exploded on contact with the ground. The blast easily consumed Missus' own attack, obscuring her from view. As they did that; Nani used the mock smokescreen to initiate a recover. Elio knew that it left her briefly vulnerable and sustaining any damage during the process could make it negligible. It was only going to buy him a little bit of time, as the poison would continue to nag at them despite the aqua ring and recover moves constantly trying to keep her active. Eventually it was going to win out.
I still have more pokemon to use.
That didn't mean Elio could let his guard down. Not one bit.
Missus stalked around, finding an opening and shooting a blast of draconic energy out. Unlike Nani's; her dragon pulse was a bright violet in color with a barely distinctive form that almost looked like a dragon of its own with wings.
Nani slithered out of its way again, swiping low with an iron tail. As Missus dodged it, she opened her mouth and blew out a scald attack. The salazzle flew back, righting itself at the last moment and then rushing forward on all fours crouching low.
She opened her own mouth, shooting off another dragon pulse. Nani did the same.
This time, they both went on the offensive instead of using it to recover. By the time the energy had dissipated from Missus' shot, she was surprised to see the milotic whip into view, swinging her iron tail sword like she meant business.
She went down, but prepared a venoshock attack as a last ditch effort to take Nani with her.
That chance never came. Elio had one last scald dished out that sent the salamander pokemon into the ground, fainting as the remnants of the waterlogged attack quickly evaporated into steam when it had hit her hot skin.
Plumeria didn't seem surprised Elio had beaten her so handily. She recalled the defeated Missus back into her poke ball.
"Hmph," she huffed. "I'll admit again, you're pretty tough. Still nothing overly special though. But now I understand why all my grunts waste so much time in trying to battle you. And how you've benefited from that."
"Yeah so now that you're all beat, why don't you get out of here?" Hau yelled from Elio's side. Dartrix stood over a fallen drowzee and drew a wingful of blade quills.
"I'm not going to be very kind if I find out you've hurt any of the kids inside." Acerola glared as LaChaise briskly drifted forward to help convey the threat.
"Oh of course I wouldn't hurt those children." Plumeria said and put a hand on her hip. "Not when I was like them. I know what they're going through."
She stepped forward. "But if you want us to return all the pokemon, the Skullbane will have to come to us." Elio stiffened as her gaze settled on him "Alone. The boss is ready to meet you."
Guzma?
"I've already met him." He took a deep breath. "Wasn't too hard to squish that oversized beetle under our heel."
"Funny. Guzma tells a far different story. Said something like your whiny hairball was a waste of his time and he wants a refund."
"Don't you dare insult my pokemon like that." His tone grew cold and even Hau looked over at his friend. "I'm not going to play around this time."
"Hey, I'm just the messenger. Either way, he's expecting you at Po Town. Better do it soon. Otherwise you might have to clean the chunks of what's left off the ground."
Clean the chunks? Elio wondered to himself as Plumeria ushered the grunts out of sight. What's that supposed to mean?
No. They wouldn't.
He went back, remembering the confrontation between Guzma and Professor Kukui, how the latter had threatened to expose something like unsanctioned battles.
He knew that underground pit fighting was still a thing, much more gritty and brutal than regular battling with no-holds barred and they were mainly to satiate the most vicious individuals with some of the most violent fights he had ever heard about. Often times, the victor pokemon would end up maiming or even killing the loser.
Elio suddenly had no idea what pokemon were kidnapped by Team Skull in the first place.
"Hey! Is everyone okay?!" And as he raced up behind the gravely concerned Acerola; it only became more horrifying once he did find out.
And that's it for this chapter! Elio has defeated the totem Mimikyu and advanced to the next part of his island challenge, but now he has to go gallivanting around Ula'ula to rescue some pokemon?! This can't be good. What pokemon were taken and will be rescue them in time?
We have much to discuss in the coming chapters. Stay tuned.
Translations:
Lanakila - Victory
Kaua - Fight/Battle
Ku'ikahi - Unorthodox
Mo'owahine - Literally Lizard-Woman. The mo'owahine is a mythical creature said to linger around the Nu'uanu Pali Highway pass and lure male travelers to their deaths off the cliffs when it took the form of a beautiful woman.
As always, mahalo for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose. I'll see you all next time.
Brav