Chapter 16

Beach Episode

With his team now having all six members he was allowed to carry with him, Mikey continued his adventure.

Leaving the cemetery behind, he and Jun returned to the path northward, but after a bit, they found that they path was blocked by a Pokémon.

It was a crab of some sort with purple shell with blue and pale yellow accents, two thick yellow antennae. One of its eyes was half closed, with the blue eyelid resembling a black eye. It stood on its four rear legs, waving its two larger front legs, which each had a large blue claw that looked like boxing gloves.

It kept gesturing with its arms, pointing them towards a small hotel complex composed by several small houses near the cliff edge.

"Guess we're going this way." said Mikey.

"Can't we just fight it instead?" Jun wondered, wanting to move on without distractions.

"I don't think so, dude. Sometimes, we just need to follow the story."

When they reached the hotel, the crab hurried on and stood by an old man that was waiting there.

"We're right by the sea! That's right! Welcome to my wonderful seaside motel!" said the old man with gusto.

"My Crabrawler sure is something, ain't he? He nabs passersby to bring them to me, so I can send them down by the bay! Though he's actually been a little too good at his job, so I've got no vacant rooms to offer you. But that doesn't mean you've come for nothing! Here, follow me this way."

The man walked on, going down a path along the cliff that the hotel was built on.

"Is that a beach over there? Let'zzz go!" Rotom piped up. "Don't worry about me, I won't rust. Bzzt!"

Before they did, however, Mikey spotted something by the hotel.

"Oh boy! It's a vending machine!" he hurried over and looked at the drinks it offered. "And all of my favourite drinks to buy are… completely sold out!?"

"Tough luck, Mikey. Come on, let's get this over with." said Jun, having to tug on Mikey's clothes to get the disappointed turtle to get back on track.

They followed the cliff-side path downwards to large beach area, and it was an impressive place with palm trees and white sand, lots of people enjoying it in all kinds of ways. Some were fishing, others were swimming, sun bathing, or surfing. Some even surfed on some kind of manta ray Pokémon.

There were also a couple of large square beach tents lined up, with stands of surfboards and various beach items, as well as a large billboard used as some form of scoreboard.

"See that!" the old man told Mikey with pride. "Look at that broad expanse of beach! Its name is Big Wave Beach. There are some interesting Pokémon to be found down on the beach, so I'd suggest having a look. And, just so you know, the path to the beach was made by none other than yours truly. That's right, just me and my Crabrawler!"

"Wow! Coney Island, eat your heart out! This place is a paradise!" said Mikey as he wandered across the warm sand.

"I'll admit, this is a nice place." said Jun.

As Mikey and Jun walked up to the scoreboard, a woman, around twenty five years old, in a yellow bikini and with long brown hair approached them.

"Hey, little cousin! Welcome to Big Wave Beach!" she said cheerfully. "You've come to exactly the right place if you're looking for some Mantine Surf! Mantine Surf is just what it says on the box. You climb up on the back of our Mantine… and then you surf!"

She pointed to Mantine, one of the manta ray Pokémon in the water. It's broad body and wing like fins were dark blue on the overside while the underside was a pale grey. It had four black rings on its overside, one on each of the wings and two on its back, the latter ones each having a black spot in the middle. Two long horn like protrusions grew from above its beady eyes, and its small mouth smiled at Mikey and Jun, with two sets of gills just below it.

Strapped onto the Mantine's back was a form of saddle harness with handles.

"Oh boy! This looks fun!"

"Surfing is the best sport, where you can enjoy travelling across the ocean waves!" the woman continued. "Though youngsters like yourself who want to get into Mantine Surf ought to toughen up and show that they can really handle it first. Surfing is a bit of a dangerous sport, to be fair. Come back when you're as tough as a real kahuna, OK? Me and Mantine will be holding our breath in anticipation till you do!"

"She's gonna die." Jun added.

"Wait, do Mantine breathe? Can they even hold their breath?" the woman wondered, having not thought about it before.

Feeling a bit disappointed that he couldn't surf yet, Mikey sighed in disappointment, and prepared to move on from the beach.

Then he heard a voice that he recognised.

"You'd better be ready for the mischief masters of Team Skull to do some Mantine Surfing, too!"

Nearby, standing on a large rock, were the two Team Skull grunts he had run into earlier, and they walked up to the bikini woman.

"Oh. Team Skull. You know you guys can't ride here." she said, being more annoyed than scared or alarmed by their presence.

"What's up with that?!" said the second of the two grunts. "We look like kids to you or somethin'?!"

"No. The real reason is…" she tried to explain, only to be interrupted.

"Yeah, the real reason is?" said the first grunt.

"Every time you try, you keep up those ridiculous dance moves even on Mantine's back. And then you end up in the water."

"You want us to stop dancing?!" the second grunt exclaimed in shock. "That's our identity, yo! It's all we've got!"

"Man, forget her, B!" said the first grunt, probably called A. "We're Team Skull! No one can stop us from acting hardheaded!"

The two ran past the woman and start harassing the Mantine, mostly by dancing in front of it.

"Somebody! Please help keep these numskulls away from Mantine!" the woman called out.

"I guess that's our cue." said Mikey, cracking his knuckles.

"Beating up fool thugs, now that's my kind of entertainment!" Jun agreed.

With confident steps, Mikey walked up to the grunts.

"Hey!"

"What're you looking at, short stuff? Huh? Huh… wait, huh?!" Seeing the young turtle, A recognised Mikey. "You're that kid!"

"You wanna scrap, tiny Trainer? A battle, yo?" snapped B. "You might've beat us in Hau'oli City, but we'll put our heads together to beat you this time!"

The grunt probably named A attacked, sending out his Pokémon.

It was a Drowzee, and it resembled a bipedal tapir with the upper half of its body being yellow and the lower half brown, making it look like it was partially covered in mud.

Mikey and Jun both prepared to fight, but they were both beaten to the punch when Kate emerged from her ball and launched herself at the Drowzee.

"You will not hurt him!" she hissed loudly, landing a Bite attack on the Drowzee's neck, making both it, Mikey, Jun, and the grunts flinch from the ferocity she showed.

Kate didn't care, as she only focused on dealing with the threat to her boyfriend. Letting go of the neck, she kept her mouth open and launched dozens of toxic purple needles, Poison Sting, at the Drowzee, knocking it out.

The whole battle only took a few seconds, which left everyone shocked once again.

"Yo, I'm feelin' mad annoyed that my team just got destroyed." said the grunt most likely called A when he was able to gather his wits, what little he had.

"Seriously, home slice?! You're too strong for a kid, yo! Argh! I've gotta go make someone else miserable to feel better!" He turned to his colleague. "Let's go mess with Ilima again, B!"

"I'm down with that. Verdant Cavern's pretty close by anyway." B agreed, then turned to Mikey. "Hey, you! You better listen to what my homie says and drill it into that thick skull of yours! Seriously! You'd better not forget, numskull!"

For as much as they bragged and boasted, all it took for the Team Skull grunts to take off was a hiss from Kate.

"Yeah, that's right! Get out of here with your nonsense!" Kate hissed after them.

"I didn't even understand half of what they were saying." said Mikey, scratching his head.

"I don't think you missed anything important." said Jun. "But seriously, your girlfriend is vicious."

"I know, and I love her so."

"You're weird..."

"Nice one, kid!" the woman in bikini said as she walked up to Mikey. "Mantine won't be subjected to their terrible surfing skills thanks to you! You're a decent Trainer. Just like I'd expect from a trial-goer on the island challenge!"

Mikey blushed a bit from the praise, while Kate glared at the woman, and Jun kept his distance from the snake.

"Why don't you take this from me?" the woman said, and handed Mikey a bottle of Fresh Water.

"Seriously?" Both Jun and Kate wondered, finding the reward to be very disappointing, and that was from people that used to fight crime for free.

"Zrrt! Fresh Water can restore a Pokémon's health." Rotom explained. "It'zz pretty useful, bzzt!"

"I bet you could take on Captain Ilima's trial with how well you handled that battle." the woman continued. "Even Kahuna Hala would probably say you're ready to take on all Alola! If he says that you're ready, come back here and we'll get you up on Mantine in no time!"

With a smile and a nod, Mikey walked away on the beach, getting some breathing room. He figured he needed to come down here and beat Team Skull in order to continue the game. However, the beach was a very inviting place to just chill and relax.

Not that he would be allowed to do that in peace, as Jun and probably several others in his party would complain that he was taking too long.

That said, they couldn't say too much if he was looking for anything useful hidden on the beach, so with a smile on his lips, Mikey strolled along the beach, enjoying the area as much he could.

The stroll was not a waste of time, as Mikey managed to find several items of interest. First was another bottle of fresh water, and a bottle of Soda Pop, which also worked as a healing item for Pokémon, so those might come in handy later. But what was most interesting were the three pearls he found in the sands, each the size of a strawberry, and which could be sold for a decent sum of money.

As he was walking south on the beach, he felt that now familiar pull, meaning that another of his friends were nearby, and he didn't like that. After having found Devina, he thought, or rather hoped, that there wouldn't be any more stuck with them, seeing as he had a full team at that point.

But if there was one more, then there were likely even more than just the one, and that made him worry that he might miss some, and that they might not get out when the other did.

Following the pull further south, he and Jun rounded the cliff base, and spotted a cave in the shallow waters.

They walked in and found a large open area filled with water. It was shallow enough to only reach above Mikey's ankles outside and just inside the cave mouth, which meant it reached Jun's stomach, so he rode on Mikey's shoulder to avoid it.

The rest of the water in the cave was significantly deeper, at least four meters, and they could spot several rocks breaking through the water, some of which seemed large and flat enough to actually walk on, if one could reach them.

Normally, Mikey wouldn't have been worried about some water, being an amphibious turtle mutant and all, but since he was currently lacking all his ninja skills, he did not trust that he could still swim, and he didn't want to find out that he couldn't.

Jun's ears twitched and perked up as he heard something moving nearby.

"Hey, something's coming, Mikey." he whispered.

They both looked over Mikey's shoulder, and saw a yellow duck with a rounded body, stubby tail and legs, a flat and wide beak, and the short strands of hair on top of its head. It waddled up to Mikey and Jun, giving them a slight nod and wave.

"'Sup guys."

"Bill?"

"Who else. Even here, wherever here is, I am still duck themed. Go figure, eh?"

"Yeah. Go figure."

Not the usual kind of beach episode, but one none the less.
And now they found Bill as well, which means that Mikey has a team of seven. But, since he is only allowed to carry six Pokémon with him at a single time, someone needs to be boxed. Who will give up their spot for Bill, or will the duck have to sit this out?