Chapter 3

Partners

As Mikey and Jun were still trying to come to terms with their current situation, a man walked up the same path. The same man that Mikey had talked to over a video call three months prior.

"Hey there, cousin!" he called out.

"Oh no, not that guy again…" Jun groaned.

"I remember him. I talked to him a while back, over Skype, or something. He must be important."

The man walked up to Mikey, flanked by two Pokémon that followed him closely.

One a small round owl with beige feathers, white under coat and facial disk, as well as two leaves on its chest that together looked like a little bowtie. The eyes were large and black, while its stubby beak had its upper half white and lower half orange, as were its feet at the end of the very short legs.

The other was a sea lion, coloured blue with a light blue ruff around its neck that reached its shoulders. It had large eyes, small rounded ear flaps, and a long white snout with black whiskers and a round pink nose.

"Hang on, I know you…" the man said studying Mikey's face for a second. "You're Mikey, right?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"You OK? I saw you get attacked like that!"

"I'm fine. I got a bit of help." Mikey answered, gesturing at Jun.

"Look like you did! Though I sure didn't expect that, yeah…" the man said, looking at Jun. "I didn't think this little fellow would dash out on its own to help save a stranger!"

"I only did it because I was sure that this idiot was responsible for what happened to me!" Jun objected.

"But I guess I'm getting ahead of myself." the man continued, completely ignoring what Jun said.

"Welcome to Alola, the Pokémon paradise! That's what I'm supposed to be saying. I'm Kukui, yeah. The Pokémon Professor."

Kukui gestured to the surrounding area.

"People and Pokémon live and work together here in Alola, too. Don't you ever forget… you can go anywhere, yeah, as long as you got Pokémon in your corner! Wild Pokémon could be lurking in the tall grass, yeah, just waiting to leap out and bite you, but you'll be fine if you've got a partner of your own!"

Kukui then looked at Jun, then back at Mikey.

"Here, let me introduce the Pokémon that helped you just now. This is the Fire-type Pokémon, Litten."

"Fire?" Jun cocked his head. "What do you mean with fire?"

But Kukui kept ignoring Jun's questions, and kept talking to Mikey.

"Y'see, the fact of the matter is…" Kukui looked at Jun, and the cat suddenly felt very nervous. "This Pokémon will become your first partner, woo!"

"Really?!" Mikey beamed.

"Wait, what?!" Jun exclaimed.

"Heh… Maybe that's why it wanted to save you?" Kukui chuckled musingly. "Well, Litten here may use Fire-type moves, but it is one cool cat!"

"He sure is." Mikey said, picking up Jun.

"Hey! Put me down, you fool!" Jun objected.

"Just play along for now, dude." Mikey whispered in Jun's ear.

"Woo, what a fine-looking team you two are!" Kukui praised. "Now that you can have Pokémon battles, you're what we call a Pokémon Trainer!"

"So cool!" Mikey cheered through his grin.

Kukui then reached into his coat pocket, and produced a Poké Ball that he handed to Mikey.

"Here's a Poké Ball for Litten, too. It should feel nice and cozy in there. Try pressing the button if you want to register a nickname for your new partner, yeah!"

"Sweet! Thanks!" said Mikey, putting down Jun and taking the ball.

Pressing the button on the ball, a small holographic display appeared, with a virtual keyboard included.

"Hmm, what to call you?" Mikey mused with a mischievous smirk. "Maybe Furball. Or Mittens. No, wait, Snugglekins!"

"You so much as call me anything like that, and I'll scratch your eyes out!" Jun growled.

"On second thought…" Mikey gulped. "I'll just call him Jun." He quickly typed in the name on the keyboard.

"Thank you." Jun sighed.

"All right! Then let's get going up to Iki Town, Mikey, woo! Time to meet the Island Kahuna!"

"Kahuna?" Mikey and Jun asked in unison.

"Truth is, that partner Litten of yours is a gift from the kahuna, not me." Kukui explained.

"Oh, right, that old guy." Jun said, realising whom Kukui was talking about.

"So let's go show it off and say a proper thank-you, cousin. It may not be the only gift you get!"

"There's more? Sweet!"

"In case you hadn't heard, the kahunas are all crazy strong Pokémon Trainers. Be careful about getting into a battle with one!" Kukui explained as he started following the path up the slope, motioning for Mikey to follow. "Iki Town is right up here! Oh, and get Litten there in that Poké Ball I gave you!"

"What did you just say?" Jun asked worriedly. "There's no way I can fit in that candy coloured baseball."

Just as he said that, though, Mikey pointed the button of the ball at Jun, like he had seen it done in the anime, and a blue beam of light shot out and struck him, quickly shrinking him and pulling him inside the Poké Ball.

"No! Wait! Stop!" Jun objected, but to no avail.

"This is so practical." Mikey chuckled. "Wonder if Donnie could whip up something like this for Raph."

Mikey walked alongside Kukui, reaching the entrance to Iki Town after a fairly short walk.

A wide staircase had been carved out of the cliff-side that formed a sort of border for the town, and it was flanked on either side by wooden pillars that joined into an arch above the stairs.

As Mikey approached, a young boy, roughly around his current age, came running down the stairs.

His skin was well tanned and he had dark green hair tied up in a high tuff, and wore a black, baggy t-shirt, yellow shorts, orange shoes, and an orange backpack.

Spotting Mikey, he quickly ran over to him.

"Hey, hey! Which Pokémon are you going to choose as you partner? Have you decided?" he asked excitedly and energetically. Then he remembered that he hadn't introduced himself.

"Oh, yeah! I'm Hau!"

"Cool! I'm Mikey."

"Sweet! I couldn't wait for us to pick our partners together, so I came to find you myself!" Hau said.

Just then, Jun's Poké Ball opened and the cat materialised on the ground next to Mikey.

"Finally!" Jun gasped.

"Whoa! Your Litten is so cool!" Hau commented upon seeing the mutant-turned-Pokémon. Then something clicked in his mind. "Hey, wait! You already picked your Pokémon?!"

"Um, yeah, sorta…" Mikey said sheepishly.

"Sorry about that, Hau." Kukui said, walking up to the group with the other two Pokémon by his side. "We had a little accident on the way here, so I ended up letting Mikey choose his partner first without you."

"Sorry about that, dude." Mikey apologised. "I got jumped by a nasty little Pokémon with too many teeth, and Jun here came to my rescue."

"I'm really starting to regret that." Jun muttered.

"A Yungoos, huh? Fair enough." Hau said with a shrug, a smile still on his face. "I guess it was just fate for you guys to meet!"

"Fate really has a sick sense of humour…" Jun sighed.

"But you can choose one of these two, Hau!" Kukui said, letting the owl and sea lion step forward.

Hau looked at the two of them for a moment.

"Then my partner will be… Rowlet!" he said pointing at the owl. "I choose you!"

"The catchphrase!" Mikey cheered in a low voice.

The Rowlet cooed happily, walking up to Hau.

"Alola, friend!" Hau said with a big grin. "I'd decided ages ago that you're the one I wanted to have an adventure with! We're gonna do so much awesome stuff together! Just you wait and see!" he then looked at Kukui. "Professor! You'll take good care of Popplio, right?"

"You better believe I will, Hau! All right then. Popplio! Everybody! Time to get back in your balls for now!"

"Not again!" Jun squeaked, getting ready to run to the hills.

"Wait up!" Hau interrupted, and looked at Mikey. "Me and Rowlet have a favor to ask. Be our opponents in our first ever Pokémon battle together!"

"You got it!" Mikey answered, matching Hau's enthusiasm.

"Say what, now?!" Jun exclaimed.

"Let's do this! Heck yeah!" Mikey continued.

"Heck no! I didn't agree to this!" Jun objected, but was ignored by his 'Trainer'.

"All right!" Hau cheered, jumping up and down excitedly. "I'm seriously gonna enjoy this! Go, Rowlet!"

Rowlet leapt forward, readying itself for battle, while Jun only blinked at his foe.

"I have to fight an owl with a bowtie? Seriously?"

"Rowlet, use Tackle!" Hau called out, and the owl quickly followed the command, ploughing its body into Jun, knocking him to the ground for a moment before trying to do it again.

"Oh, that's it! You're asking for it now!" Jun growled and hissed, quickly getting back on his feet and jumping out of the way before swiping at Rowlet with his claws. His instincts as a fighter kicking in, Jun was able to hold his own against the owl, despite his brand new body, and the two exchanged blows for a short while.

"Okay, Rowlet! Use Leafage!" Hau shouted.

With a flap of its stubby wings, dozens of green leaves were launched at Jun, catching him off guard.

"What the *bleep* was that?!" Jun wondered after getting struck by the attack.

"Jun! Return fire!" Mikey shouted.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?!" Jun snapped back.

"No, fire! Like, real fire!"

"What are you on about?!"

But Mikey didn't get any chance to explain, before Hau called for another Leafage attack, which Rowlet launched at Jun.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl, and Jun felt something build up inside of him even as he was about to cry out for being attacked again, fire instead erupted from his mouth, and a spray of large embers were launched into the air, burning the leaf attack, and striking Rowlet.

"Oh, fire. Nice!" Jun said, a smirk forming on his lips, and he used another Ember attack, hitting the owl Pokémon, and it was covered in fire for a brief second, only for it to fall over when the fire died down, singed and with ruffled feathers and swirly eyes.
Rowlet could not continue the fight.

"Woo! Nice, Jun!" Mikey cheered.

"Meh, I've beaten bigger… guys than this bird." Jun scoffed with a hint of pride.

"Our first defeat! Sorry, Rowlet!" Hau said as he returned his Pokémon to its Poké Ball. Then he walked over to Mikey, still with a smile on his face, and handed over a small bundle of bills.

"That was awesome, Mikey! You and Litten were both so cool!"

"Thanks, you weren't too bad yourself, dude." Mikey. "That was a sweet first battle."

"Yeah! You've gotta have the kinda battles where everyone has fun. You and your partner Pokémon, too, you know?"

"Right on, Mikey!" Kukui said, as he stepped up to the two. "You and Hau both brought out the best in your partners and pulled off some spectacular moves, yeah!"

"Is this guy for real?" Jun wondered.

"One thing though," Kukui continued. "I know you're just starting out as a Pokémon Trainer and all, but you let Litten go a bit too free. Try getting in even better synch with each other, yeah. Wouldn't want ya to have your battles disqualified, right?"

"Um, no?"

"Anyway, Iki Town is right up those stairs. Come on, Mikey!" Kukui said, leading the way, while Hau hurried on ahead.

"You should totally check out Iki Town!" the boy said.

"I guess we're going to Iki Town then." Mikey said to Jun with a shrug.

"Never mind that. What did that Kukui-cuckoo mean about us having to get into better synch?"

"I'm not sure, but I think it sorta means that I'm in charge. I am the Trainer, after all, and you're my Pokémon."

"So I have to follow your orders? Fat chance!"

"Hey, I know you don't like it, but the only way we're getting out of this game is to play it by the rules."

Jun grumbled. He didn't like that one bit, but it did seem like Mikey had a point.

"Fine. If it gets me out of here, then I'll let you be my coach."

"Sweet! You won't regret this, Jun!"

"I already do." Jun muttered under his breath, then sighed. "All things considered, though, I guess it could have been a lot worse. And fighting others for money, that's what I used to do before I mutated, so I would be lying if I said I didn't miss that. But I'm not sure if I'm okay with beating up kids for their lunch money."

"I wouldn't worry about it, man. Different world, different culture. Besides, none of them are really real."

"I guess you're right, but do you know why none of them will listen to me?"

"Well, I think that I might be the only one that can actually understand you, dude. Maybe because we're in this together?"

"Terrific…" Jun sighed again. "Well, I guess that can't be helped, and maybe it's for the best."

"Don't you worry. I got this!" Mikey said confidently, kneeling and petting Jun.

"Seriously, stop all the kitty treatment!"

I never realized just how much dialog and what not that is in the start of these games. While just playing the game, I'm usually past this point in less than ten minutes.

In any case, Mikey and Jun are in this mess together and really have to work together to proceed, which clearly has given the two contradictory feelings.

Also, for those that don't know it, I started a poll on my profile last month, where you can vote for your favourite member of the Chicago Knights. I originally intended to close that a few weeks into July, which at the point of writing this is right now, but I'll let it be open until September, give you all a bit more time to cast your votes.