“Class is dismissed!”
The clatter of chairs, desks and loud cheers erupted around me, as the class of Hau’oli City, Melemele, stood and celebrated the end of 10th grade.
I kept my head down. My oddish, partner of many years and nocturnal little plant they were, languidly awoke on my lap and looked around in confusion. I leaned my chair back and twirled my black hair around my fingers as my brain tried to decipher the unopened paper envelope on my desk like it held the mysteries of the world.
Here we were, all young of 15 to 16, teenagers full of cheer and ambition against the world. A week ago, a select few had received prized trained starters or otherwise had registered a family pokemon of their own to start with. In just a few days, the new generation of trial goers of all four islands of Alola will meet in Iki Village, Melemele, for the yearly Tapu festival, and the island challenge will begin in earnest.
Mom had spoken fondly of her own island challenge experience - the journey, the battles, the bonds made with her pokemon - but that had been over twenty years ago. Since then, Alola had opened up to the wider world, and the wider world had lofty expectations and made lofty demands . The system was changed and expectations were set for a new, modern educative system where children would truly shine, so the politicians at the time had claimed.
The Alolan island challenge was now graded. Something closer to the gym challenge of Kalos and Galar, where the number of badges earned would open up better opportunities for higher education, or in the worst cases restrict one’s options drastically. And just like Kalos and Galar, trained regional starters were awarded, provided that your grades were high enough or your parents had the right connections.
In addition, considering the untamed nature of Alola’s wilderness, it was deemed safer for kids to travel in groups of three. The composition of said groups would be determined by the school staff based on complementary skills that the students had demonstrated over the past school years.
So here I was. At my school desk, surrounded by chatting students, oddish in lap, holding the official envelope that would tell me which classmates I’d be chained to for the following months. In blocky black print, the name Selene Matsu would be next to two others. The answer was right there, and I was too scared to discover it.
Too many bad experiences with group assignments.
Around me, classmates were already starting to group up based on their assigned composition: I saw a trio of jock boys, clearly hoping they could have been together, lament to one another about who they had been saddled with. My eye caught the look of one of the few people I’d considered a friend: a portly ginger teen by the name of Sawney, hands from two separate teens resting on his shoulders. My eyes widened and I couldn’t stop an oof , poor dude had been assigned to the Tuari twins, notoriously bad students. Averting my gaze, I looked at another triad in expensive clothing and let out an audible sigh of relief when I realized that those prep girls would be together - which meant that I wouldn’t end up with any of them .
Nearby movement snapped me out of my reverie. My Oddish, Petal, turned to me with a concerned look on their face, and one of their leaves pointed and nudged in the direction of the door.
That’s right - it was the end of the period, nothing forced me to stay and find out who was in my group now! The start of the challenge would be after the weekend on monday, and I had all the time in the world to look at my envelope before then. I whispered my thanks to my favorite plant, hurriedly packed my bags and slipped out of the class holding Petal to my chest.
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The gentle rocking of the bus on the road paused. It lurched like a record scratch as the vehicle drove across a pothole and continued on. I blinked blearily, dozily watching as road lights whizzed by on the cliff side of route 1.
In the distance, the sun set on Alola’s largest city. Gleaming chrome towers faced the sea stacking ever upward as they receded unto the bordering cliff and into the heart of Melemele. Cruise ships came and docked at the harbor, fueling the city with its endless stream of tourists and travelers. Pinap and nanab trees swayed in the wind. The twilight sun cast a gentle orange glow over the horizon.
“Oddish.”
I looked back at Petal, sitting in my lap as always. “Yeah?”
They turned fully to face me. Their leaves described a lazy arc in a half circle above their head [Question], then they touched my arm [You], and two leaves raised up in a facsimile of a smile [Happy?], concern visible on their face.
“I’m- I’m okay, Petal.” I rubbed the top of their head between their leaves, in the way I knew they liked. “Just a little anxious about the challenge, is all.”
My Oddish raised an eyebrow. “Odd. Oddish.” They pointed up, then wiggled side to side, then drew a circle that finished up [I] [Move] [Good], they touched my arm, then leaned up and touched my temple, and once more drew a circle that ended at the top [You] [Think] [Good]. Once more, they touched my arm, repeated previous motions and nodded with confidence [You] [Good] .
“I mean… you’re not wrong” I said back sheepishly, “But it’s not what I’m worried about. We won’t be alone in this. There’s going to be two more trial-goers with us, and they’ll have their own partners as well.”
Without stopping a beat, my starter’s eyes narrowed and they pointed up, then one of their leaves smacked into one other [Me] [Fight] [Them].
“Bwuh-uh no! ” I whisper-shouted as I jumped on my seat. “Petal, we don’t fight our classmates!!
Petal turned to the side with a scoff, head high and leaves crossing in a dismissive motion.
I let out a sigh and got my things, our stop coming closer. The bus stopped and we left the vehicle to find ourselves in town proper, Petal now fully awake and following along as the sun set over the ocean.
Hau’oli is always awake. Tourism ensured that businesses must be open at all times, and so cafes, restaurants, apparel and souvenir shops tickled the senses with local food and authentic fabrics. Travelers brought their pokemon along, and it wasn’t unusual to see any that didn’t belong in the region: here, a vacationing Johtoan family walked with a Snubbull in tow, there, an ace trainer chatted with a Dragonite in flying gear. Alolan pokemon still clearly outnumbered non-regionals, as Pikipek dotted the skies, bounsweet rested in bushes, and a few passimian played ball with teens on the beach.
Something at the edge of my senses irked me, though. We hadn’t quite gotten through the main road through town yet that a sound that didn’t belong could be overheard. In the distance, the rhythmic and frantic sounds of hooves galloping at maximum speed on asphalt, and the hoarse voice of a boy my age screaming my name out.
Instincts instantly told me to quicken my walking pace. Instead, I stopped and turned around, Petal moving to get between me and the perceived threat.
There was a loud screeeech as the Tauros galloping here planted all four hooves on the ground, slowed down its momentum, and just collapsed in pure exhaustion as it reached me. The boy atop stumbled off his ride as inertia carried him forward, and with a wave and a smile, simply greeted me with a “Alola!”
The boy was tall and stocky, dark green hair tied back in a high ponytail. He wore crocs, orange shorts and a dark shirt, and his face radiated cheer and amusement as he scratched the back of his neck.
“I’m Hau! Hau Halakaua - sorry, I know we haven’t spoken much in class. I’m gonna be your partner for the island challenge!”
“....Okay.”
“Man, I missed you out the class by inches - Toro here usually brings me home to Iki Village, but when I saw you in the distance, I had him race your bus on the road - oh geez, that sounds creepier than it is. Sorry. You got any water for him, by chance?”
His sudden pace and enthusiasm had my head spinning, but I had enough wits about me to grab my bag and rifle around for a bottle. I kneeled, and gently tilted the water bottle to the tauros’ snout.
The bos ira , or common Tauros, was a pokemon that I learned to be traditionally irate and violent. A bovine quadrupedal covered in thick brown fur, head protected with thick bony plates and curved horns, body ending in a trio of whipping tails. True to his normal typing, Toro’s exhausted body still displayed bulk and pure physical strength, and my hand holding the water bottle hesitated for a second.
Toro’s sniffing snout twitched. His eyes first creeped open, then his pupils dilated and crossed as he stared at the bottle with intense thirst. His bovine lips latched onto the bottle opening and he started greedily taking big gulps of refreshing water, his eyes wide and looking back up at me, more expressive than any Tauros I had ever seen. Despite everything, I couldn’t stop the compulsory smile that formed on my face - the normal type seemed imposing and strong at first, but melted on the ground and nursing the bottle as he was, he just looked a little goofy.
“Oh, um” I started, gathering saliva to talk, “Is he your starter?”
“Nah - I wish, but the big lug is a little bit too strong for the first island, apparently. He’s the calf of a Tauros from my dad’s old team, and I hear he got all the good genes. Oh,” Movement around his feet stopped Hau on his tracks. “Uh, hi there, what’s your pokemon doing?”
Behind me, Petal fiddled around Hau’s legs, slapping his calves with one of their leaves, appraising the boy like one would a race Ponyta. Then they looked at me, pointed, shook their head and traced a circle ending up: [This] [No] [Good].
“Uhhh– that’s just their way of saying hello! Say alola, Petal!”
“Oddish.”
“Alola, Petal!” Hau said as he kneeled and shook one of Petal’s leaves eagerly, “I will be in the care of you and your trainer, then!”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
This isn’t so bad, I thought for a moment. This is good, right? Hau from class seemed nice enough. Hau’s young Tauros snapped me out of my thoughts as I felt his nose nuzzle my hand in contentment. He gave me a thankful moooo and stood back up on his hooves.
“Okay, now that we’re introduced and all, Selene, I got a question,” I heard, then turned to Hau, the boy rifling through his bag and seeing a familiar crumpled up envelope bearing his own name. He opened it up and squinted his eyes as he read. “Do you know anybody called ‘Lilliane Athier ?”
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I didn’t know anybody called Lilliane Athier.
Sure, there was a tingle of recognition, like I had heard of the name before - but nothing beyond that. Hau, Lilliane and I were to be traveling together for the challenge, but for the moment, it was only Hau and I walking through Hau’oli city.
The chrome shopfronts of the main road gave way to concrete buildings as we went up the cliffs into the city proper. Past the glam and the glitz, Hau’oli was cramped and busy, there needed a lot of housing space for all this population, and a lot of stores to feed all of them. A couple of residents walked with a Furfrou and a Mime jr, Rattatas and Yungeese could be seen in the alleyways if one looked carefully, and Wingulls squawked as they perched on the telephone lines above.
Finally, one tawny girl and her Oddish, me, and one brown boy, Hau, sans Tauros who had decided to return home.
We entered an apartment complex - punched the code in, through the small courtyard, through the damp corridor, up a creaky flight of stairs - and finally unlocked the door to my family’s flat.
“Uh, come on in.” I told my guest.
Hau let my Oddish in first - then practically skipped inside, head on a swivel, looking at everything in the living room: picture frames resting on scratched furniture, a wall of old movie cassettes, mom’s novels, dad’s incomplete Kanto badge case, the wide-open door to my room where my anime posters were clearly visible– Shit!
Shit shit shit shit– my mind played this mantra on a loop as I briskly walked to the door and closed it, then turned to see Hau looking at that space with wide eyes, gears turning in his head. Was that it? Had I ruined it all? Was he going to tell everybody I’m a freak?
“Selene…” he started, head slowly turning in my direction, “...do you watch Full Golurk Alchemist ?”
I gulped and carefully, slowly, enunciated my calculated answer. “...I watch a very normal amount of Full Golurk Alchemist, yes”
Hau took exactly one second to process what I had said.
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Two hours had passed, and Hau was now my new best friend.
We laid on the couch snacking on potato chips and watching on the television the adventures of a blond aura-user and his brother-turned-golurk.
My family’s kantoan Meowth, aptly named Meowy, had claimed Hau’s knees for himself - the affection-starved feline had captured the heart of the young boy through persistent leg-rubbing and head nuzzles, and was now purring up a storm on Hau’s lap. My Oddish had mostly been chilling with us, watching shows that I had watched with them a thousand times before, and providing commentary through voice tone and gestures. A harsh critic.
Meanwhile, Hau had finally released his official starter who turned out to be far, far less friendly that any other pokemon I had met today.
The felis solum or Litten was a feline pokemon with a rich history on Alola, rumored to be one of the first few pokemon that were blessed by the Tapus themselves to be fierce protectors of the islands - at least once they evolved. The Litten bore short black fur with red stripes, said to produce the oil that would fuel its fires. Litten had always been known to be solitary and aloof - but Loa the Litten seemed to be an extreme example.
As soon as she had been released, she had turned her back to her trainer, and seemed intent on responding to as few demands as possible, and with the shortest responses she could offer. She had responded to Meowy’s greeting with hissing and arched backs, while Petal had tactfully decided to give her a wide berth. Hau seemed practically nonplussed by the whole thing, through obliviousness or denial I couldn’t discern. He had in fact at some point eagerly claimed that Loa can do this thing, where she looks at you and it makes a chill go down your spine, it’s a riot– here Loa, do the thing! and the Litten had turned to Hau and unleashed a full-force Leer in his direction. Hau simply stood there, arms outstretched and full body trembling, bearing the move with a goofy smile.
Nonetheless, Loa the litten had eventually found a high-up spot on the living room that she had deemed acceptable.
It was starting to get a little late, and Hau had to catch the bus to Iki Village at some point - so he offered, for the sake of figuring out each other’s strength and weaknesses, to have a quick pokemon battle.
Loa the Litten seemed to approve of it - the first time she approved of anything since we had met. She had come down from her perch and focused silently on Hau and I, while my Oddish had returned to my side and seemed eager to test themself as well. I wasn’t too happy - Petal may have been looking forward to it, but they still remained a little squat plant in my mind.
And so I unlocked the door, we walked down the creaky flight of stairs, crossed through the damp corridor, and entered the shared empty courtyard of the apartment complex.
“Okay. One on one battle. First to faint or surrender loses. Your mom’s Meowth’s refereeing, and we go at first squeak. Sounds good?”
I stood there on one side of our building’s apartment courtyard, and tentatively nodded to Hau. My Oddish, Petal, took position alert and ready in front of me then looked back with a surprisingly fierce look on their face. I knew worry was visible on my features, but Petal’s leaves only rustled in anticipation. On the other side of the courtyard, a grinning Hau and his litten, Loa. She regarded us with cool and calculated poise, shoulders hunched like a prowling pyroar. Hau grinned, hands in his pockets, tall and stocky and radiant as ever.
On the side, squeaky Rattata toy in mouth, mom’s Meowth grinned around his mouthful and took on his role with gusto:
“Meeeeyow me-meowth!” he yowled like an announcer at a major league event, and then with a fierce downward bite, the toy let out a loud SQUEAK.
Immediately, there was movement too fast for my eyes to follow. Loa the litten sprung into action. Before Hau could even get a command in, her lithe body had pounced forward and she was already across the field, speeding towards her opponent.
“Uhhh, scratch ‘em!” Hau shouted, startled and amused by his starter, “Just scratch ´em good!”
Petal stood their ground and glared at the litten, squat body low and leaves in front, biding their time, until Loa stood within reach - with a gulp I wrenched my frayed nerves back into focus to shout my commands: “S-Sweet scent! Poison powder!” A cloud of pink fog sprayed out from Petal’s mouth, and purple spores followed suit just as the litten’s attack connected.
A resounding smack rang out in the narrow courtyard as Petal’s body was sent tail over teakettle back a few feet. They righted themself and stood back up painfully, with visible scratch marks that drew a wince over their features. While Loa’s attack connected, Petal’s chemicals took effect: the Litten stumbled in the pink cloud with her senses overwhelmed, eyes watering and nose starting to leak, as the poison spores started to seep in her fur. I blinked, realized that this wasn’t over, and heard Hau shouting:
“Whoa! Back off Loa, get out of there! Follow my voice!”
Eyes squinted and hissing, Loa jumped backwards out of the cloud, but coughed and tripped and picked herself up. On the other side of the field, Petal briefly looked toward me, their face now clearly marked by claw lines. I know what I must have looked like, looking at them: body tense, arms close to the chest and fists balled. My Oddish’s pain scared me. I couldn’t speak.
Bouncing from one foot to the other excitedly, Hau shouted loudly: “Tapus on the mountain, this is fun ! Your Bounsweet’s got some tricks!”
“H-huhh, yeah! Thanks! …They’re an Oddish!”
“My mistake! Ember !”
Loa reared back then spat flaming hairballs at Petal who narrowly dodged the first, the second, but not the third - getting a leaf-full of fiery gunk in the process.
My eyes darted across the battlefield as I watched Loa approach the writhing Petal rolling and beating out the flames. My heart beat out loudly in my chest, and I felt like I couldn’t open my mouth - but I could see and think, and I realized that the Litten’s movement was slowing down. Though she prowled forward to finish off her prey, her steps were less graceful and her breath was ragged. Out of the three embers she had spat, the first was dodged, but the second was a misfire , as poison was coursing through her body and causing her to flinch and cough. My nerves stilled and I steeled myself.
“Okay. You got this, Petal. Leech seed. Slow her down.”
The oddish awkwardly rolled backwards and up and they stomped and power coursed through the earth. Hau let out a warning and his Litten stopped, her feline eyes narrowing in suspicion, staring at Petal and getting ready to dodge.
No projectile came. Instead, thin roots shot out the ground and painfully pinned a front leg and a back leg, breaking her balance and making her fall with a yowl to the dirt below. The roots pulsed and glowed green as vitality was slowly drained from her and siphoned to Petal, whose scorched leaves started to regain some color.
The litten started flailing desperately in an attempt to escape - “Loa! Burn the roots and slice yourself out!” - and then she stilled, focused, and all of her fur burned all at once in a flash. In one move, she sliced the weakened plants with her claws, and in another, got ready to pounce - but her sprained paws stopped her with a wince, and with another stomp of Petal’s foot, vines roped around Loa’s legs once more. This time, Loa Leered at her opponent who flinched and unfocused, and then she let out a roar and pushed through the pain, ripped the roots out of the ground and freed herself once more.
And so the back and forth went, for a minute.
The Litten was unrelenting. She moved, weaved, ducked under attacks and escaped traps but still suffered glancing blows and had her stamina steadily drained. The Oddish defended themself and impaired their opponent with tricks and hidden vines but attacks that did land on them had them reeling.
With every blow, I winced. For every inch of their skin touched by flame, I felt guilt. And yet, when I looked at their glinting eyes and their confident expression, I could see the drive that pushed them to become better and improve. Just a little waddling squat plant, and yet standing up to a trained starter of the stronger type. Petal’s pride shone through their actions, and their pride drove them to fight back, with smarter and meaner tricks.
Pokemon clash all the time in the wild, after all.
Who would I be to deny their nature?
Finally, a particularly mean hairball had my pokemon set aflame - I watched with shock as fire had truly taken over their body, them rolling on the dirt floor and letting out pained cries. I could barely register my mom’s Meowth seemingly still gleefully playing the referee role and announcing Loa and Hau’s victory while I practically wrenched the garden hose from its stand and turned the water on as hard as I can - and with a final spray of water over my starter, my first battle came to a close.
I approached my soggy, battered grass type as I felt through my bag for the potion bottle.
I gathered my wits. This battle wasn’t for me. This was for them.“I– I’m very proud of you, Petal. You did good. You were very good…” I whispered, kneeling over them, spraying the medicine over their wounds. “...Did you have fun?”
I felt one of their leaves pat my arm like a reassuring hand. “Di-dish. Ow.” I heard, and when I looked at them, I saw a tentative smile and a very clear, very obvious attempt to hide wince-inducing pain. “Oddish. Ow ow ow. Ow.”
Behind me, Hau took care of his starter with surprising tenderness - administering an antidote, patching up her wounds, while she simply looked at him with an intense look. Hau whispered something to her I couldn’t hear, she nodded, and he returned her to her pokeball.
He turned to face me, still amused and grinning but visibly exhausted. “You got yourself a little battle-junkie, there. Your Oddish is a really mean opponent. And you two used a lot of moves.”
Petal seemed to react to his words, trying to mimic a flex but flinching as the movement seemed to trigger pain in their extremities. I settled a hand on their body to calm them down.
“...Yeah. Petal has been in my life for a while, and I think they were really young when I got them, so I studied as much about their species as possible and trained them to be ready for anything in the future.” I felt a ball of apprehension in my throat, and my speech quickened. “Hau… I… I’m no good at battling, I think - but I love to learn, and I want to do research, and for that, I need to finish the island trial in its entirety. All eight trials, all four grand trials. Anything less and I can’t study anywhere that’ll let me work in a lab. If–”
“Hey! Chill, sis. We got this.” I felt Hau’s hand patting my shoulder. “I’m in. I’m all in. All four islands, all trials, the works. Loa and I are here to take on all of ‘em and beyond.”
I looked into Hau’s eyes - deep, deep into dark brown eyes like mine, I saw a spark. Embers ready to burn ablaze on a dime. Eagerness and ambition and something else buried deep within.
“Hau, what– what do you want to do?”
“Why, sis,” he said, and the spark burned in response, “I want to be the champion. ”