Chapter Text
The sun shines on the Alolan Island of Akala, the active volcano at the land’s heart billows smoke from its burning core- though no resident carries fear of its might, they trust that the fire pokemon that dwell in its depths will not allow it to erupt.
The beach is well populated with trainers and pokemon alike. A young trainer, a teenager, with eyes just as blue as her hair stands underneath an umbrella putting on sunscreen. The teal treecko that is her starter runs about within the sand, the grains catching it off balance due to the nature of its sticky feet.
The treecko, irritated by the sand, decides it’d be funny to whack her tail upon the sand and send it onto her trainer.
“Mint, you bastard,” the trainer, Kei, snorts as she reaches up to wipe her glasses, “Now the sunscreen is gonna get all sandy- fuckin’ gross. I’m not about to burn alive today.” The pokemon merely chitters in amusement at her trainer as Kei shakes her head.
Another trainer, Oparu, sits in the shade of a tree, a pair of black headphones upon their blonde-haired head. They sit on a towel, a dark sweat jacket tied around their waist as they read on their poryphone, glasses down on their nose in order to do so. Near them lies their starter, a pale yellow charmander with darkened spots. The fire starter is enjoying the heat, purring lightly when her trainer reaches over to pat her head.
“Fond of this heat, aren’t ya, Eclipse?” Oparu chuckles lightly.
Nearby is a third young trainer, with dark tousled hair and eyes that matched the similar shade of dark green as their starter. Hyena drizzles some water from their bottle onto the dark snivy, Durante, to keep him hydrated in the heat. The grass type pokemon very much enjoys it, doing a small little dance and clapping his paws together.
Under an umbrella sits Izumi, an annoyed look upon his face. The young trainer is dressed in a yellow sweatshirt and some long pale blue jeans. He pushes his glasses up to his freckled nose, of which is coated with needless amounts of sunblock thanks to his oh-so-doting (when she wants to be) mother.
“Go onto the beach she says… get some sun, she says…” he grumbles, “Oh, I bet Rex would love a good swim.” He rolls his eyes. “Right- let me just wade right into that death pit. ‘Cause there’s DEFINITELY not an angry pokemon ther- REX DO NOT EAT THAT LADY’S SANDWICH!” Izumi is cut off from his thoughts when the speckled totodile that is his partner snatches a sandwich from under the same umbrella that Kei had been standing at- though currently that particular trainer is trying to wrangle her own treecko, Mint currently playing in the water.
“No! Absolutely fucking not, Mint- you are NOT a water type and neither am I get the f-” Lifting the dripping trecko from the water is one thing. Coming back to her umbrella to see Rex eating her sandwich is something else entirely. For a moment she just stares, before sighing.
“Rayquaza help me,” she curses.
Izumi scrambles to pick up his little friend, who gives a sharp “DILE!” in response, dropping what’s left of the sandwich into the sand.
“You little shit-” the teen hisses.
Kei looks between the trainer and totodile. “Ahah- I assume he’s uh… yours then?”
Izumi bites back the response of ‘No, I’m borrowing it from a friend, genius’, instead opting to respond with, “Yes. Rex is mine. Apologies, I can buy you another sandwich-”
He’s cut off when Kei just waves the apology away with a hand. Meanwhile Mint sticks out her tongue at Rex, who snaps his jaws in response.
“I... might take you up that, actually,” she says, before raising an eyebrow, “what’s your name?”
“Izumi, yours?”
“Kei.” the other responds as she places down her starter, who immediately proceeds to shake herself off. Kei flinches.
“Man, fuck sand,” she remarks, before glancing at Izumi’s partner and squinting, “Oh, shit, are you from uh… Johto? Never seen a totodile in person before.”
Izumi nods, “Yeah, Johto. And you’re from… Hoenn? I’ve read a lot about that place.”
Kei nods in turn. “Yeah, it gets a little wild, but it's home. Ended up coming here on vacation but I guess that’s not uncommon.”
“I got dragged down here.” Izumi grumbles with a sigh.
Meanwhile, Hyena stops pouring water on Durante, prompting the starter to go “SNIIII-” angrily. His trainer simply responds by shrieking back. The sound draws Eclipse’s attention, the charmander raising her head and tilting it to the side, before getting up and moving to investigate.
“Ah, was it parents that dragged ya down here?” Kei raises an eyebrow.
“Yup. Sister’s stupid college internship bull.” Izumi huffs as they kneel down to pet Rex.
“Jeez. I mean, good for her, I guess, but that’s gotta suck. Especially if you’re not used to the heat. Hoenn is hot and even to me this is a bit ridiculous.”
Izumi just shrugs, before setting down Rex. The water starter immediately wanders over to where Durante and the curious Eclipse now stand. When Rex moves to sniff at the snivy, the grass type places a paw on his forehead to stop him. The water type merely spits some water on the grass type in response, who shrieks. Eclipse makes an amused sounding chitter, before perking up when her trainer moves over.
“There you are,” Oparu chuckles, before looking over at Hyena, “Oh, heya.”
Hyena gives a small wave, before going, “Uh- hi.”
“Sorry ‘bout Eclipse, she likes to wander the second I look away.”
The charmander gives a happy little “Char!” in response.
“Eh, it happens,” Hyena says with a shrug.
Rex slaps his tail on the ground, scattering sand everywhere.
Izumi looks over, “For FUCK’S sake- REX!” He comes over, moving to pick up Rex. Oparu removes their headset and has it resting around their neck as the other two trainers approach as well.
“Heya,” Oparu greets with a wave, Izumi waves back before he picks up Rex again.
Kei and Mint move over as well. “Eyyy, hi-” she says to the others,
“What’s up?” They tilt their head.
“Just grabbing my annoying starter. Sorry for him bothering you,” Izumi responds.
Hyena shrugs.“All starters are assholes.”
This is a statement that causes Durante to make an offended sounding “Sni!” as Izumi nods.
“Aww, come on, they’re not too bad.” Oparu snorts.
A fifth trainer had been sittin in the sun, as her oshawott played in the water close by. Artemis bore a white and orange outfit, vibrant blue hair, and glasses. Listening to the conversation at hand, she decides to join in.
“Starter pokemon are like children. They are wild, crazy, and the world is so new to them. I mean, Tsunami is so curious about everything. This is the first time we’ve been out of Unova.” she gestures to her own pokemon as she comes over.
“Oh you too?” Oparu says, tilting their head, “this is my first region besides Kanto, surprised my parents let me have a break.” They snort lightly.
“I don’t want children.” Izumi huffs.
Oparu snorts harder.“Arceus, mood.”
Kei chuckles. “Then don’t get pokemon,” she waves, “eyy- not my first time out of Hoenn, but first time in Alola. It’s like… chill here? No one is drowning.”
Oparu makes an ‘guh’ sound at the prospect of someone drowning.
“You say that now. I don’t see a lifeguard anywhere,” Izumi comments.
“Mew, don’t jinx it, maybe no one will notice,” Kei responds.
“Oh yeah, it’s way more relaxed here than in Unova.” Artemis chuckles, “Do not get me started on Castelia City. It’s nice to get away from the hustle and bustle.”
“Ugh, I don’t like big cities.” Oparu shakes out their head, before going, “So, what are y’alls names? I’m Oparu.”
The responses come quickly:
“Izumi.”
“My name's Kei.”
“The name’s Artemis.”
“It’s Hyena.”
Mint meanwhile wanders into the water, kicking at it with her feet.
Kei huffs lightly. “Godsdammit.”
Oparu looks over. “Oop, they must like the water.” They chuckle.
Durante gives another shriek, to which Hyena responds by holding his snout closed, much to his dismay. Rex throws back his head to give a shriek of his own, Eclipse joining in with her own chirps.
“Aren’t y’all talkative,” Oparu muse.
Kei watches, before offering, “Anyway, uh, Johto boy over here owes me a sandwich, so maybe we could... go eat?”
Oparu looks over. “That’d be sweet, free food is always a yes from me.”
Hyena gives a nod in agreement, going to collect their things.
Izumi pauses and blinks. “Well, it’s not free but, yeah, well… unless you’re gonna steal.”
Kei snorts as she moves to pick up Mint once again.
Oparu laughs, “Fair, fair.” they kneel down to pick up Eclipse, who settles around their shoulders.
Izumi just shrugs. “They sell some… bun things up by the town.”
Artemis chuckles and picks up Tsunami. “Speaking of food, you guys haven’t lived until you’ve had a Castelia Cone. They are the bomb!”
Oparu tilts their head. “A what?”
“A Castelia Cone. It’s this killer ice cream in Castelia City that is only available on Tuesday. If you ever come down to Unova, you gotta try it.” Artemis puts on a large sun hat as Tsunami chirps.
“That’s… oddly specific. Neat.” Oparu smiles.
“Huh, never had one. Sounds cool though,” Kei says as she packs her things into a large beach bag.
“To town?” she asks, “Also, I can only assume you guys are staying in the nearby hotels-”
“Yup.” Izumi mumbles, Oparu nods as well.
Durante snatches the water bottle that Hyena had been holding with his vines, before pouring it onto himself. Hyena snatches him off the ground afterwards, the snivy smacking their hands with his paws. Izumi squints at the pokemon, before Rex throws back his head and screams. Again. Mint makes a noise vaguely reminiscent of laughing, Eclipse joining Rex with a screech. Oparu flinches. “That was iN MY EAR ECLIPSE-”
The charmander merely smirks.
“This is why I wear a headset,” Oparu jokes.
Izumi shakes his head and fixes his glasses. “Rex, enough.” The water type snaps his jaws, then mimics his trainer’s action, though he has no glasses.
After a moment, Mint decides it is a wonderful time to scream as well.
“Nooooo, shshsshshhshut the fuck up Mint,” Kei shushes the grass type, to no avail.
“By the three birds, they’re all doing it.” Oparu laughs.
Rex hops down from his trainer’s arms to play with Mint, the treecko hopping down and landing on the totodile's back.
“Rex, you are obnoxious,” he huffs.
Eclipse watches the other pokemon, flaming tail wagging readily. “Eclipse, if you’re going to do that, please get down, you’re going to set me on fire.”
The spotted starter sticks out a forked tongue at her trainer, before hopping down and scampering over to the other starters. Tsunami becomes excited, joining the shouting. Artemis starts to pet her, going “shhhh” to calm and quiet down the oshawott.
“Gods, this one was annoying when I first got her.” she chuckles.
Izumi glances at the pair, quietly noting their movements. He’s quite sure that if he tried that with Rex, he’d lose a finger.
“They’ve got SPUNK,” Oparu laughs, adjusting their headset to be on their head. No music is playing from it, they just like the feeling of it.
“Yeah, that’s a good word for it, I guess.” Kei snorts. “Mint is uh… something alright. I love her, but she can be an absolute clown out of battle.”
“Oh, Eclipse too, she’s here for a good time, not a long time,” Oparu jokes.
Mint places one of her sticky hands onto Rex’s snout. The water starter panics and thrashes his head around. Eclipse laughs as Mint is thrown off and lands face first into a pile of sand.
Kei snorts quietly. “That’s probably enough of that.” As she moves along to pick up Mint, she remarks, “Sand for brains.”
Izumi whistles, and Rex toddles back over to him as Oparu clicks their tongue to get Eclipse for the same.
“Sorry about that,” Kei comments, “sticky hands get stuck to everything. I know she can control it too, she’s just a little bastard.”
“No harm done,” Izumi mumbles, rubbing their knuckles on the scoot scales in Rex’s head.
“Right uh- food! Shit you don’t gotta pay for this whole crowd by the way, Izumi,” Kei says as Mint latches onto Kei’s shoulder, shaking sand all over the trainer’s jacket for the... ninth time?
“Yeah, I’ve got some money on me. We could all like… split it or something.” Oparu says as they pick up Eclipse.
“Eh, it’s fine.” Izumi shrugs.
“You’re gonna have to steal my money to prevent me from buying my own shit.” Hyena states, holding the shrieking and squirming Durante.
Izumi shrugs again. “Maybe I will.”
“Yeah, good luck finding it,” Hyena shoots back.
“How about we win it in a battle, huh?” Artemis suggests.
“Sometimes, I forget that fistfighting for money with magical creatures is legal,” Oparu comments.
“Hm, you make a point Artemis.” Izumi nods.
“Tsunami is ready for her first battle, isn’t that right?” Artemis looks to Tsunami, who chirps and squirts some water from her mouth.
“Can we eat BEFORE we battle?” Kei asks.
Mint smacks her tail against the trainer’s back with a notable thump as Kei sighs. She seems to get the message of ‘oh no, you’re not getting out of this.’
Oparu tilts their head as Eclipse perks up. “Pokecenter recovers are free, right? Like they heal your pokemon for free? Just wanna make sure here,” they ask.
“Oparu, they would heal your pokemon for free if you brought in Arceus,” Artemis says.
“Aight, sorry. Was just making sure.”
“We are all mostly beginner ‘trainers’,” Izumi chimes in, using the term ‘trainer’ lightly. “So honestly it’s fair you wanted to be sure.
Oparu gives a thumbs up, “Still new to this ‘trainer’ stuff.” They chuckle lightly.
“Ah, yeah. My mom gave a whole lecture when I got Tsunami.” Artemis says.
“Gods imagine having a parent who tells you things instead of just expecting you to know them.” Oparu snorts. “Couldn’t be me.”
“Yeah, even though they never took the time to tell you,” Hyena huffs. Oparu nods, mhmming in agreement
“Being a trainer is kinda wack no lie, especially in the beginning?” Kei says. “Kinda glad I didn’t go straight into going for the gyms… even if Mint could kick the Rock Gym’s ass.”
“Wack indeed.” Oparu nods.
“Well, in Unova, you gotta have street smarts to survive.” Artemis says in a jokingly ominous fashion.
Kei shrugs. “Hoenn ain’t so scary anymore, I mean, there’s like… a few large cities I guess but it’s otherwise ok. So long as you don’t live in the shadow of a big ass volcano.” She snorts and glances to the smoking mountain that looms over the island. “Having one here kinda feels homey… in a real morbid way.”
Izumi shrugs. “I just like getting lost in the woods and breaking into places.”
“Aw, I WISH there were places to break into, that sounds cool.” Kei chuckles.
“Arceus, yeah. That’d be awesome.” Oparu nods.
“Mmmm. Ghost hunts make brain go brrr.” Izumi says, completely deadpanned.
“Brrrrrrr.” Kei agrees.
“Wonder if there’s any places like that here,” Oparu wonders.
In response, Izumi gives a “Probably. There’s a whole ass haunted island here. Ula’ula.”
“Places to break into…” Artemis taps her chin. “We have the ruins on Route 4, and the dreamyard… that’s about it for Unova. Supposedly, the ruins held an ancient legendary dragon.”
“Ruins? Holy fuck I wish!” Kei chirps. “I mean, I guess there’s a couple places in Hoenn with some suuuper ancient cave paintings but-”
“Oooo cave paintings? That’s pog,” Oparu chimes in.
“Yeah- it’s about Groudon and Kyogre, it’s cool. Uh- oh shit there’s the Sky Pillar but not a lot of people get to go in there,” Kei shrugs. “Man… legendaries are - they’re cool?”
Oparu and Artemis nod in agreement.
“I heard the legendary dragons were released in Unova at some point. If they’re still around, I kinda wanna try to catch one,” Artemis says, Tsunami chirping in agreement.
“I wanna catch god.” Oparu deadpans, making it hard to tell if it's a joke or not.
“Pfff- catching what’s practically a god? That’s insane- I mean you do you but… isn’t that what makes people go a little power crazy? Y’know, like all those evil teams in that used to exist before they got their asses kicked to the curb-”
Oparu snorts. “Contrary to popular belief, I have enough of a braincell to NOT do that.”
“Suuuure-” Kei hums jokingly, before yawning, “But man, I would love to do some ghost hunting, though... without decimating a graveyard.”
Izumi gives a no in agreement, Oparu does as well.
“That would be neat, to catch a ghost type pokemon.” They hum.
“There are so many neat pokemon,” Artemis says in turn, “A ralts would be nice. We have a bunch of unique pokemon in Unova, and I haven’t seen any other region’s pokemon before.” Hyena listens, making note that they and Artemis are from the same region.
“I’ve only seen what Kanto has- but pseudo-legendary dragons? Like garchomp and haxorus? They’re wild and I love them. I mildly wanna try to find one.” Oparu says.
“Oh! I’ve seen lots of ralts before- they’re common in smaller towns where I used to live,” Kei chimes in, “I like the idea of getting a diverse team honestly…”
Izumi listens, half of these pokemon are only ones he’s read about.
Kei keeps humming to herself. Then her stomach grumbles,
“Right- shit food- ..what if we ate and then did a tournament? Just among us somewhere. Might do our pokemon some good considering we aren’t exactly uh… experts.”
“Sounds fair.” Izumi nods.
“Yeah!” Oparu agrees.
“Yeah? Then to the cafe?” Kei tilts her head, Oparu nods, and the group of trainers begin to walk.
“Oo, have you ever had a bagel dipped in ketchup?” Artemis asks, “Now I’m in the mood for one.”
Izumi bites back a gag as Kei exclaims, “What the FUCK?”
Oparu gains a confused expression as Artemist starts to crack up,
“Hey, when you’re in a pinch and don’t have time to butter and you’ve only got a McGolduck’s ketchup packets on you, you do what you can to survive.”
“Yeah- bro I… I mean I GUESS?? If you like it-” Kei makes a confused sound.
Izumi just goes, “Stop talking.”
“Guh, I think I’d rather just eat it plain.” Oparu shakes out their head.
“If everyone's ready, we can head to the cafe.” Artemis says.
Kei responds, “We are WALKING.”
Oparu nods with an “Eyup.”
“I mean, it’s not THAT far.” Kei hums, with Oparu going, “I sure hope it’s not.”
“Mm. Walking. Cars suck.” Izumi comments as he goes,
“Gods, imagine taking cars.” Kei responds,
Oparu chimes in with, “Ew, cars. I’d rather just like… scooter.”
“We bicycle into walls like men.” Artemis jokes.
“That’s a good way to break limbs.” Izumi comments.
“Bro, what the fuck is up in Unova,” Kei chuckles as Oparu snorts.
“Bro, we be vibing,” Artemis responds.
“In the WALL?”
“If you mean the metaphorical wall that is capitalism, then sure. But other than that it’s a nice place, really.” Artemis deadpans as she walks.
“Stop… stop talking,” Izumi pipes up, shaking his head.
“Oh my fucking Rayquaza,” Kei snorts.
“Ouch, no need to be so real, we’re just going to a cafe.” Oparu chuckles.
“Alright, Alright. I’m done,” Artemis raises her hands in mock-defeat, “So… how did y'all get your starters?”
Izumi answers, “I went to get registered, and I like lizards, so I chose Rex.”
Kei is next to answer, “I lived like… a whole minute away from the professor’s lab, and the thing just kinda… showed up in my room? I had my window open. I went to give her back and he said I could have her.”
Hyena nods, before chiming in, “My dipshit wouldn’t let go of my leg and kept crying. So of course I took him.” They snort a bit, Durante makes an offended sound.
“My parents just kinda… got Eclipse for me. Don’t even know how. One day it was just ‘surprise! Have a pokemon!’ without like… any prep. They just told me to do the research and shit.” Oparu sighs.
Kei furrows her brow. “Oh yikes-”
“Yeah screw that.” Izumi shakes his head.
Oparu nods. “Yeah.”
Artemis attempts to lighten the mood with her own story. “Tsunami was a present for my birthday. They had me choose between the three starters, and me and my little girl just… clicked!”
“Aww, neat.” Oparu says,
“Yeah, that’s sweet at least.” Kei nods.
“That’s nice.” Izumi hums.
“We like our funky little dudes in this house.” Kei stops. “Oh, I think this is it?” She gestures to the orange roofed building before them.The image of a slurpuff’s face is above the door, and a sweet scent wafting from the open door. The sign above the door reads, “Malasada Shop!’
“Yeah, this is the place.” Izumi nods, moving to enter. The others follow suit.
“Thought so,” Kei says, “passed it earlier.”
“Oh this is cute…” Artemis comments as they move in.
Within the warmly lit shop were two clerks at the desk, both of which were keeping an eye on a rather shady figure by one of the tables- a slouched man with white hair and golden glasses. A few other patrons sat around, enjoying a meal. There’s a man in a blue wetsuit, a golden anchor on a chain around his neck, he’s simply sitting at one of the tables- feeding a dark blue vaporeon the last piece of a malasada.
Kei gives a wave to one of the shopkeepers, setting her bag down at one of the tables. The others move to sit as well, Hyena squinting at the shady man. This man was one with a bit of a… reputation. The leader of the infamous local gang, Guzma.
The Team Skull Boss eyes the kids. Ah. Tourists. He thinks with a scoff.
Izumi sits. “Order what you want,” he says to the group.
Artemis squints, and then a mildly evil grin widens on her face. “A bagel.”
“If you put ketchup on the bagel and eat it in front of me, I will legitimately strangle you,” Kei threatens
Artemis only chuckles.
“Hey tourists. It’s a Malasada shop. Not a bakery.” Guzma moves forward, walking towards the group.
“What’s a malasada?” Oparu decides to ask, as Kei pinches the bridge of her nose.
“It’s like fried sweet dough, often topped with sugar and cinnamon,” Izumi recites.
“Oh sweet!” Oparu responds, the pun intended.
“But hey, at least this way Artemis won’t have the chance to put fucking ketchup on it.” Kei snorts.
“Stop talking,” Izumi says, “no ketchup.”
“Yo, that’s just foul,” Guzma comments, leaning against the wall, “Where the distortion are you all from, anyways?”
“All over the place,” Oparu hums, “I honestly lost track of where everyone is from, my memory is SHIT.”
Kei chimes in, “I’m from Hoenn personally, you’ve got a charmander, Oparu, so… it’s Kanto right?”
“Yup.”
“Me? Oh, it’s… pretty popular. Uh, your mother’s bedroom?” Hyena blurts out, causing the other kids to burst into laughter.
Guzma is taken aback for a brief moment, before laughing as well. No one in the gang has the balls to joke like that with him.“Damn. Good one. Walked into that.”
“Hyena I’m- oh my fucking gods that was good,” Kei says through laughter.
Izumi sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, Rex mimicking him.
Oparu chuckles. “Niiiiiice.”
Guzma then asks, “So you’re tourists? What are you gonna do here?”
“Enjoy my diddly damn vacation,” Kei responds, “I hope. Maybe catch some pokemon? Fight some people? Who knows.”
“Try to relax and get away from my damn parents and work. Maybe catch a pokemon or two,” Oparu huffs.
Guzma nods. “Ah. Boring tourist shit.”
Hyena merely shrugs at the statement as Izumi orders their food.
Kei scoffs. “Yeah, I guess- what would you say isn’t boring tourist shit to do then?”
“Not boring shit? The fun stuff. Mostly illegal. Guess softies like you ain’t into that.” His tone shifts to a teasing one.
Oparu raises an eyebrow, and Hyena comments, “Maybe admitting to doing crimes isn’t the smartest when there are plenty of workers that can HEAR you.”
Guzma merely chuckles. “They can’t touch me here kid, people know who I am and know what I want. No one can stop us here.” He looks at Kei. “Tell you what-” Guzma shifts closer and glances over his shoulder at the man in the wetsuit.
“See him there? That pirate lookin fella… see that thing he’s got?” Guzma’s voice lowers to a whisper as he points out a small disk that is on the table the other man is at, silver with a multicolored orb at the center. “Wanna help me snag it? I’ll explain why later.”
Oparu keeps their head tilted, looking mildly interested as their gaze shifts to the others. After a brief moment, the man in the wetsuit recalls the vaporeon he’d been with and slips away from the table- heading towards the restroom.
“Snag it,” Guzma says, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “No one here’s gonna stop you. They’re pushovers.”
“You are the sketchiest motherfuck I’ve ever seen, lookin’ like you smoke ten packs a day. Lookin’ like you fall over when you stand up too quickly,” Hyena squints, “I’m in.”
“We can’t look a gift ponyta in the mouth when it comes to making this vacation actually interesting, I’m in too., Oparu agrees.
Kei nods, and without a word she moves and snatches it from the table. She makes eye contact with Guzma as she hands it quickly off to Hyena.
Guzma chuckles and nods. “Alright. I like you kids. How long are you all stayin’?”
“Honestly man? No clue.” Oparu says,
“Ah sweet Rayquaza, like… a couple weeks?” Kei scratches her head, “Maybe a month? Parents are on a research trip with a professor.”
“Well, keep that thing hidden. We’re taking your order to go, kids, before the guy who owns it comes back.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Oparu nods. The group stands, and all quickly begin to move out- Izumi holding the box of malasadas. Hyena quickly shoves the disk down their shirt.
Kei goes quietly, “Good idea.”
Once they’re out of the shop, Izumi asks, “So what’s that thing you shoved down your shirt, Hyena?”
“Yeah, it had some kind of glowy… orb in the middle? Shiny... wonder what the fuck a pirate had it for…” Kei mutters.
Hyena just shrugs, looking at Guzma, who also shrugs.
“Ya know? Beats me,” he says, “Just know I hate that guy and his organization and that thing looked important. What better way to inconvenience him than steal it?”
“So… we don’t know what it does?” Izumi asks as Kei reaches over to grab a malasada.
“Nope. No idea- guess we can find out later.” She takes a bite out of the pastry.
“Huh, cool. Maybe it could be sold for a good amount of money once we figure out what it does.” Oparu muses as they take a malasada, Hyena as well. “But yeah, we can do that later.”
“Only sayin’ later cuz if we stick around he might actually find us. Didn’t look super smart though so what could go wrong?” Kei shrugs.
“Dooooon’t jinx us.” Oparu shakes their head.
“Then let’s keep moving and find somewhere quieter and less crowded to eat.”
Guzma takes one of the malasalas. “Yup. Kinda stupid. That’s why I assume this is important. Only idiots leave important shit on the table when they go to piss.” He takes a bite, “Y’all are free to come to the manor to figure out what the hell that thing does. And I’ll tell my pals to leave ya alone, so you shouldn’t get much trouble around here. As payment for taking the thing.” Kei says, “You have a manor? Sweet.”
Guzma nods.
Hyena pokes Izu with money to pay him back, he looks over, “No.”
“Say no again and it’s going down your throat,” they respond.
Kei looks over, “Sweet fuck, take the money before they kill you.”
“I used my mom's money and I’m not giving it to them so shut up and take my ill-spirited hand out,” he responds.
“Then you keep it, idiot.” Hyena responds,
“I don’t want it.”
“Aw, come on. Just accept their money- you paid for all of it, getting paid a bit back is the least we can do,” Oparu chimes in.
Kei watches them continue to bicker as she munches on the malasada. “Hmm… guess we should find a good clearing to do that tournament actually…” She mutters, mostly to herself, as the others continue.
“No, my mom paid for it.” Izumi waves the credit card. “Let me do this out of spite.”
Oparu snorts and relents, “Aight, spite is an acceptable and universal payment in my book.”
“THEN KEEP IT YOURSELF, I’M SPITEFUL TOO,” responds Hyena, Kei sighs,
“Sweet fuck, are- are you done screaming over money?”
“No. Suck my ass,” they say back, and Kei bites back responding with ‘what if I did’.
“Unstoppable force meets immovable object.” Oparu chuckles as Izumi pushes his glasses up his nose.
“I don’t- why don’t you just-” Guzma sighs and shakes his head, “Money is money, kid.”
Izumi responds by flipping them all off, and Rex attempts to mimic them. This inadvertently creates a chain of the rest of the group's starters all mimicking the gesture, the trainers chuckling lightly.
“Fuck capitalism,” Kei snorts.
Oparu nods, “Fuck capitalism, all my homies hate capitalism.”
“Yo, I like you kids.” Guzma smirks.
“That sounds like your mistake, buddy.” Oparu shoots back jokingly.
“I get that a lot.” He shrugs.
“Niiiice.”
Hyena, deciding to be done with talking, shoves the money down the back of Izumi’s shirt. The teen shouts and pulls away. Rex snaps his jaws and attempts to bite at the pokedollars.
“Do not,” Izumi huffs.
“What if I do, huh? Gonna cry?” Hyena says, jokingly.
“Shut up,” he huffs again. Durante reaches over with a vine and pats Rex, the totodile choosing to chomp down on the vine. Durante shrieks angrily, and Hyena instinctively holds his snout closed. “That was my fucking ear, you wrenched little man.”
“Oh, so you’re just starting? They’re babies, man,” Guzma says, smiling a bit. “Damn, I remember when Bugsy was that little.” He snorts, before moving over to try and pet Eclipse, the little charmander raising her head.
“Yeah, we’re all just starting out, I think. We’ve all got lil baby mans.” Oparu nods.
Eclipse purrs a bit as Guzma pets the pokemon with a small smile. “Damn cute when they’re this young, but a handful for sure.”
“Oh yeah, that's a definite.” Oparu nods.
“Yeah... handful is a good word for it,” Kei comments.
“So what you kids doin’ now?” Guzma asks them, curious, Izumi mutters that he’s ‘not a kid.’
Oparu responds with, “Currently? Walkin’.”
“Oh wow, ain’t you hilarious.”
The teen just clicks their tongue and finger guns at the Team Skull leader, who shakes his head.
“I mean, we were planning on battling a bit.” Kei shrugs.
“Oh fun. How many of you have battled before? No offense, but y’all seem new to this,” Guzma asks.
“I actually haven’t battled yet,” Artemis admits, the other teens nod.
“Never battled before either. Watched a few, but I haven't myself.” Oparu says.
“Yeah, same.” Kei nods. “I got Mint just before we left.”
“Really?” Guzma tilts his head. “Never battled? Well, you’re going to need someone to teach you the ropes.”
Oparu blinks, “I mean… that’s probably a good idea.”
“Yeah that… doesn’t sound like a terrible idea- I mean I assume you’re offering, ‘cause you’re at least a better trainer than us,” Kei says.
Guzma gives a nod, before Artemis pipes up, “And afterwards we can find out what that disk thing was, ‘cause I’ve got no clue.”
Guzma nods. “Yeah, me neither. I just don’t like the guy.”
“Looks cool at least,” Kei chimes in with a shrug.
“We should find out what it does, yeah.” Izumi agrees,
“We can find out what it does when Hyena releases it from the bowels of their shirt, okay?” Kei chuckles, “The cleavage is holding it captive.”
Izumi snorts at the statement, and Artemis stifles a laugh.
“We must free it from it’s bouncy prison,” she jokes.
Hyena throws back their head and cackles.
Kei wheezes a laugh. “Fuckin’... I can’t… right, uh, learning how to battle until the hostage is released from mommy milker entrapment?”
Izumi chokes at the statement as Kei snickers, wondering how many other ways there were to phrase it poorly. Hyena continues to crack up, Oparu giggling.
“We gotta take it from its pecker panopticon.” Artemis chuckles, as Kei continues to cackle along with Hyena.
Izumi clears his throat and says, “Take them from their titty tortue.”
“tITty toRtURe-” Oparu chokes.
Artemis laughs again before taking a breath and speaking, “Right, right. Battling.” She places Tsunami down.
Guzma just shakes his head, chuckling lightly at their antics.
“Who’s going first?” Artemis asks. Kei scans around, the area around them being just outside of the settlement they’d been to, the lush grass of the island beneath their feet and the distant calls of wild pokemon in the air.
“This place ain’t bad, good clearing,” she says, before looking over to Artemis, “I wouldn’t mind going first if you wanted.”
Izumi steps back, preferring to watch first. Oparu does something similar. They lean against one of the palm trees, adjusting their headset and dropping it down around their neck to listen as Guzma begins to speak.
“Alright. So you kids at least know how to start a battle, right?” Guzma asks.
“Yeah, you release both pokemon, and then they fistfight,” Artemis responds.
“It’s a little more than that kid. You and your partner have to be in sync, and you have to think about type matchups. Find your strengths.”
Kei raises an eyebrow as she places down Mint, listening.
“So what’s the type advantage here?” Guzma asks the two.
“Uhhh.. not me.” Artemis observes.
Kei snorts. “Yeah, water is weak to grass, I think.”
“Alright, good.” Guzma nods. “So, do you know what moves your pokemon know how to do?”
“I know Tsunami knows tackle, and tail whip,” Artemis responds.
He nods. “Right. Babies. Okay, that’s not bad.”
Kei gives a thumbs up. “I know that much at the very least, now it’s just a matter of who is faster.” She looks at Artemis. “Ready?”
“I think so, let’s do this, Tsunami!”
Guzma backs up to watch, crouching down and resting his elbows on his knees.
“Right then,” Kei says, “Mint, use leafage!”
At the command Mint leaps forward, a flurry of leaves appearing as she goes. The treecko leaps up and sends the leaves flying down onto Tsunami, the oshawott yelps and stumbles back as Mint lands in front of Tsunami.
“Oh, wow! That’s a lot of damage…” Artemis responds, noting the drop in Tsunami’s health from her pokedex. “Tsunami, use tackle!”
The water type growls and tackles Mint, knocking the treecko back.
“Mint, use leafage again!” Kei shouts, the treecko sends more leaves at the water type, nailing her in the face and knocking her down.
“Ooookay I think that’s enough for a Tsunami. I resign.” Artemis says, retracting Tsunami to her pokeball.
“Nice fight, you two,” Oparu says, giving a thumbs up.
Izumi nods in agreement. “That was cool.”
“Good first battle,” Guzma hums, standing up and heading over to the two. “Here, take this to heal your little friends there.” He hands the two a potion each. They both use them to heal their partners with a ‘thank you’.
“Good battle.” Kei smiles. “Who’s next?”
“I can go! Rex and I have never battled before,” Izumi pipes up,
“Ooh, can I go against you?” Oparu asks, Izumi gives a nod. “Pog. Let’s go Eclipse!”
The charmander chirps as Izumi sets down Rex. The two trainers take their position and prepare for battle.
“Alright. Eclipse, use growl!” Oparu says.
The pale charmander bares her teeth and gives a loud snarl. Rex yelps and scrambles backwards, vaguely attempting to hide behind his trainer.
“Hey- Rex! No… no, Rex, go! Use scratch!” Izumi sighs. The totodile hesitates, before dropping onto all fours and lumbering over to attempt to scratch at Eclipse. He just barely grazes the pokemon.
Oparu watches, before saying, “Use scratch,” to the fire type.
She returns Rex’s attack, slashing her claws across his snout. Rex goes off command, snapping his jaws angrily and attempting to scratch at Eclipse without being commanded, however he barely connects with the attack.
Izumi sighs, moving to pick up Rex. “We can stop now. I know neither of us are exactly fighting material... sorry for wasting your time.”
Oparu tilts their head. “It’s alright- no need to apologize.” They pick up Eclipse. Izumi just shrugs and rubs his knuckles on the rough scales between Rex’s eyes.
Kei hums. “Guess it’s you and me then?” She raises an eyebrow and looks at Oparu.
“Let’s do it,” they respond with a grin.
Both trainers shift into position, Kei smiles. “Right! Mint, use pound!”
The teal treecko dashes over to Eclipse, jumping up and bringing her tail down onto the opposing pokemon. The charmander yelps and stumbles back, shaking herself off.
“Eclipse, use ember!”
The fire type hisses, sparks igniting in her jaws as she spits sparks and flame at Mint. Kei flinches as Mint leaps back, singed by the attack.
“Mint, use pound again!” This time, the treecko’s attack critical hits, the blow to the head knocks Eclipse down and unconscious. Kei yelps,
“shIT- Shit ,shit, I’m sorry-” She yanks up Mint from the ground, the pokemon looking rather proud at her victory.
Oparu jumps and flinches. “Fuck! Eclipse you good-?” A bit of distress leaks into their voice.
“We- we should probably need to get to a pokecenter-” Kei says, Oparu nodding.
“Shit- thought that would go the other way to be honest. Here, come on.” Guzma starts walking “Pokecenter is just downtown.”
“Me too, honestly. Mint, what the fuck. I mean, good job, but sweet Giratina-” Mint merely looks proud, smirking slightly as the group heads to the pokecenter.
“Nice one though. Good job,” Oparu comments.
Guzma goes, “C’mon. Let’s go, don’t waste time when your pokemon is down.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m going-” Oparu picks up their pace a bit.
“I just need more pokemon. Probably a fire type…” Artemis mutters as they enter the pokecenter.
“More pokemon sounds nice,” Kei comments. “You have any balls?”
“No… oh you mean pokeballs. Yeah, got a few. I’m aiming for a ralts, maybe a litten?”
Izumi rolls his eyes. “Loving your priorities, guys.” He walks with Oparu up to the counter of the pokecenter, placing Eclipse’s pokeball down.
“HI! HEALING, PLEASE,” Oparu yelps, the nurse gains a vaguely concerned look before taking the ball and placing it within the machine.
Oparu leans against the counter and sighs, adjusting their headset and putting on a song to calm their heart rate. Kei hands over Mint’s pokeball as well to heal the treecko.
“A litten?” Kei looks over at Artemis. “You’d need to find this region’s professor then, and hope he lets you have one. Wild starters are suuuuper rare.” She takes back her pokeball with a quick “Thanks.”
Oparu lets out Eclipse after getting her ball back, scooping her up. “By Mew, you scared me a bit.” They chuckle.
“Oh that dumbass?” Guzma huffs in regards to the professor. “Good luck getting him to focus long enough to give you one.”
“Oh wait, that's a starter here? Damn, I just want a fire type, man.” Artemis huffs lightly.
Oparu looks over at the others, tilting their head and listening,
“Yeah, that’s a starter.” Kei snorts, “I’m sure there are plenty of fire types here though, I mean there’s a volcano.”
“Maybe a darumaka, or litwick. We could go to the volcano and see. Maybe get some other pokemon on the way, trainer up. I think it could be fun.” Artemis suggests, the others nod.
“I’ve done a lot of reading, the volcano is home to mostly marowak.” Izumi hums, petting Rex before having the totodile healed.
“Aww!! The little bone guys? Aren’t they fire here in Alola?” Kei asks.
“Ghost-Fire.” Izumi nods.
“Alolan Cubones are cool.” Oparu nods.
“They’re just normal cubones here,” Izumi corrects.
“Nah, cubones here look different from how they do in other places though,” Kei replies.
“No… no they don’t,” Izumi says, “the cubones look the same. The marowak are different.”
“Oooooh shit right.” Kei nods,
“Yeah. The only difference is the evolution.” Izumi hums.
“Well, as long as something covers my grass weakness, I’m okay with it.” Artemis says.
“Oh, you’re one of THOSE trainers,” Guzma comments. “Smart thinking.”
“Don’t all trainers think about that though? Save for maybe gym ones-” Kei asks.
Guzma shakes his head. “For some it’s about the aesthetic. For others it’s about what they can use for their own jobs and benefits.”
“Who knows, maybe we’ll stumble upon some legendary pokemon. Any legendaries you guys would think about catching?” Artemis asks curiously.
“What the fuck is with y’all and trying to catch gods?” Kei snorts.
“Because catching gods is cool, and they’re powerful.” Oparu responds.
“Gods, another fuckass who wants to catch gods? Isn’t that like… bad?” Guzma shakes his head.
“See! He gets it.” Kei gestures to the man, before pausing. “Wait- another?”
“Did I fucking stutter?”
“Ahhh shit- I thought people didn’t do that anymore after the several times the world has almost ended,” Kei huffs.
Oparu tilts their head, curious.
“Nah. Maybe… oh… a couple months ago? We had a bitch of an organization fucking with our island bullshit and trying to rip a wormhole to alternate universes. Rumor has it they succeeded or something. Cause, y’know, that’s a great fucking idea.”
“Seriously?! That’s actually kickass,” Artemis comments. “Dangerous, but still metal as hell.”
“Alternative UNIVERSES? That’s wack, and sounds like it’s ASKING for a disaster.” Oparu says, looking surprised.
“Oh, that sounds like a hot fucking MESS,” Kei responds, “and you said there was a rumor they’d succeeded? What were they… trying to summon?”
Guzma shrugs, “Dunno, but probably nothing good.”
“Huh… and this is why we don’t catch gods, kids,” Kei comments, “I mean, I guess some are less damaging than others but like… I’d just wanna see one before ANY of that.” She yawns a bit. “Uh… right… so... volcano?”
“That’s up this way.” Guzma points to a path further along the way. “I’ll let you dumbasses go on your way, eh? Ya ever need anything just come and find me. Ya boi’s got ya back.”
Oparu gives him a thumbs up. “Thanks! Did we... Did we ever get your name?”
“Oh. Not used to people not knowing who I am. Guzma, the head honcho of Team Skull.”
“Oh neat. Cool team name.”
“Yeah? Pretty sure Plumeria came up with that name. I’ll let her know ya like it.” He chuckles a bit.
“Oh! Nice,” Kei responds,
“Should we be off?” Artemis asks.
Kei gives a thumbs up.“Yeah, how hard could it be?”
And with that, the group sets off down the path and towards the large volcano, blissfully unaware of just how hard they’ve jinxed themselves.
----