"Huuurghhh."

I barfed on the ground before getting off of Zarlene. She looked at me with disgusted amusement, a look that left me feeling annoyed as she flew back to her Trainer. It's not my fault a sudden take-off and increase in flight speed left my stomach upset.

After a minute of collecting myself, and cleaning up, I took a look around at the dark, rocky landscape of the volcano. I was dropped off at the summit, a bit of a distance away from the trial site. Several Salandit and Fletchling were roaming around and I could see a shirtless, chiseled dude with spiked up brown hair dyed red around the edges.

"I am Kiawe. My Marowak and I are students of the ancient dances that have been passed down in Alola for generations," he said after releasing a black colored Marowak holding a bone club set on fire. "The trial of Kiawe... You will find that it is a bit different than the trials you have faced to this point, but of course, you will attempt it, right?"

"..."

That entire thing felt rehearsed. Was it part of the games? I wouldn't be surprised if it was.

"So, are you planning to attempt my trial?"

"Oh, sorry for spacing out. Yeah, I'm down for the trial," I said quickly. Kiawe smiled at my answer.

"Good," he boomed out. His voice wasn't particularly deep or loud, more gruff than anything. But it was energetic and happy, which added to his volume.

"My trial will test your observation skills. We will perform a dance… and then another. With each dance, you must pinpoint the differences. Are you ready?"

I nodded at him and two more Marowak joined the first, jumping in from out of nowhere. They then began a rather cool dance, spinning and tossing their flaming bone clubs as they moved. After a minute of their dance, they all stopped in unison. Kiawe ordered them to start another dance. This one was similar except for one Marowak sticking out their tongue the entire time.

After they danced, Kiawe asked me for the differences. After telling him, he nodded before ordering the next set of dances. The difference this time was one Marowak doing a cartwheel to the left instead of the right. The difference in the third set was one Marowak using Fire Blast instead of a short Flamethrower. Kiawe was surprised I could tell the difference.

"Astounding! My Marowak is so impressed by your attention to detail that she simply has to battle you. Are you ready?" Kiawe said with such shock I had to wonder if he truly expected some people to not pass his trial. I responded with a yes, which got me a serious look from the man.

"My Marowak is the Totem Pokémon of Wela Volcano Park. Are you sure you are ready?"

"Yes." I responded resolutely.

"Well, then, I guess we'll have to show you how much a battle can burn. Come, Totem Pokémon!"

After his shout, a loud roar was heard in a nearby cave and a giant Marowak rushed out. And when I said giant, I meant giant. She stood at 2.13 meters (around 7 feet), over double a regular Marowak. With another roar, she gained an aura around herself and began to move faster than before. A Salazzle joined her as I released Kippie for this battle. Time for us to battle together.

Marowak blitzed in with a Flame Wheel, one that was blocked by Protect.

"Soak the ground!" I shouted. Kippie immediately understood my intentions. She kept ready with Protect whenever one of the two sent an attack while she used Water Gun all around. With enough water and ground being broken by the attacks, it became muddy enough to send Salazzle crashing into Kippie's readied Rock Throw.

Battling with Nautilus, Tetsu, and myself definitely helped her in the battle. She was able to readily Protect herself and respond in kind with super-effective Water Guns and Rock Throws. Whatever she couldn't Protect against was dodged nimbly. While Kippie wasn't as fast as the Marowak, she constantly dealt with the ever-faster Nautilus in our battle royals.

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Doublade came out of her ball to watch her rival in battle. She watched with fervor as Kippie dodged attacks left and right while countering with perfectly timed Water Guns and Rock Throws. Once Kippie noticed Doublade watching, she roared and went on the offensive.

Buzz buzz

My phone notified me of a message, and I saw that Nina was asking me for my location. A portal was identified and she was going to teleport us towards it. I told her where I was and then turned my attention to the battle.

"Alright Kippie, finish this up! We gotta go soon," I shouted out. Kippie responded by attacking fiercely. Water Pulses and Mud Shots kept both Salazzle and Marowak on their toes as they tried to dodge the new onslaught. With two well-placed Mud Shots, Salazzle and Marowak were both unable to dodge the Rock Slide Kippie sent their way.

This finally knocked out the two Pokémon. Kippie was breathing hard, but she looked at Doublade and taunted her with a "Mar, mar. Stom marsh!"

I returned both back to their Pokéballs as Kiawe approached me.

"Well, that was an absolutely blazing performance! You beat-" Kiawe was interrupted by Nina popping next to us with Metang. Nina grabbed my arm and I could only yell out my name before we disappeared. We reappeared in the Lush Jungle where the rest were waiting. Cosette and Brian were setting up the instruments while Ana was setting up a tent. The shimmer of the portal's edges could be seen about 50 meters away.

Nina went to help the other scientists. I set up a tent before getting a small campfire started. While the days and evenings were warm enough, there was nothing like a bright fire to get a group of people together. Since it was already 4 pm, I decided to start dinner. I brought a table out to serve as a counter for prepping.

I set a dutch oven on the fire to heat some oil while I chopped a few onions and berries. I added them into the pan to get them properly broken down before adding anything else. I added some salt, pepper, garlic, chili powder, cloves, and some mustard powder. Once that cooked some more and I could properly smell the food, I added coconut milk. I cut some potatoes and added them to the pot to let it all simmer on one of my own portable burners.

On another pan, I let some butter and garlic heat up before I added carrots and salted Tauros chunks. As the chunks and carrots cooked and created a small layer stuck on the pan, I grabbed a bottle of wine. I moved it to my burner and used the wine to glaze the pan, covering the pan to let the meat cook a bit more in the wine. After a bit, I uncovered it and let it all reduce.

Everyone had already finished setting up and were waiting for the food to finish. Nina was drooling, almost right over the meat, so I had to kick her out of the chef's zone. Once it was all done, we served ourselves and began to eat. Brian avoided the berry stew and just went for the beef and carrots. Ana was the opposite, she only ate the berry stew.

"Wow, this is amazing Marco!" Nina exclaimed between mouthfuls as she chowed down the food like a saiyan. Cosette and Brian agreed with gratitude while Ana just barely nodded her head in agreement. Cosette told us that the portal had recently opened but, so far, nothing else happened. The equipment was already scanning the environment and portal.

After dinner, Nina went off to use some of the special equipment to gather data closer to the portal. Colette and Brian were reading and recording the data on the computers hooked up to the equipment. Ana went on a perimeter check and I was on my phone.

Kiawe sent me my rewards: Z-ring, a Firium Z crystal, 8,000$, a TM for Fire Punch, and five Quick Balls. I learned through a quick search that I didn't need to do those ridiculous dances to use the Z moves. That was a huge relief since I could barely dance to cumbias and corridos, the genres constantly played during the family parties I grew up with.

I placed the Z-ring on my left wrist and inserted the crystal. Larvesta is the only one that can make use of it, so far. I don't think any of my Pokémon can learn Fire Punch, but I'm sure I could catch one at some point. At least I have the Z-ring.

Actually, I've yet to receive a Mega Ring. I'm gonna have to change that soon. Mega-Swampert is gonna be a killer addition to the team. I'll talk to Augustine about helping me get one. If I recall correctly, Mega Rings are given out by a region's professor, Gym Leaders, Elite Four, or Champion. Mega Stones can be found in the wild or bought from the League.

I went out for a walk, deciding it would be good to see the Pokémon around us. I only saw Paras and Fomantis, though I'm sure a few trees I saw were Sudowoodo. As I got closer to the portal, there were less and less Pokémon bustling about. I let out Doublade and Kippie to accompany me. We walked in silence for about 20 minutes, having passed the portal without any strange occurrences.

As we began to head back, Doublade let me know that something was following us. I nodded and began to slow down, not wanting to bring it back to camp if it turned out to be hostile. I stopped and had Doublade watch for any sudden movements. Kippie would protect me if it slipped Doublade.

After a few moments, Ana stepped into view. She had a blank expression on her face as she quietly walked closer.

"I want to apologize for my… petty behavior," she said, her voice expressionless. I stared at her for about a minute, cause that's some weird behavior.

"What?" she asked, annoyance growing on her face.

"Nothing, just thought it was weird you walked up to me with a blank face," I replied. "Even your voice was expressionless and toneless. It made me think you were being mind-controlled or something."

"That's incredibly stupid," she spat out. She clearly doesn't like me.

"Probably, but with Pokémon that can hypnotize people, like my Malamar, I wouldn't be surprised if it ever happened," I shrugged.

It was Ana's turn to scrutinize me for a minute. "That's… actually a good point."

"So, is there a reason for not liking me? Other than me being late, that is," I asked.

Ana looked at the ground for a bit before sighing.

"Yeah, there is. I just can't help getting angry at the fact that you're so close to the professor even though you haven't been a Trainer for a full year. You also only have two badges. I don't get how you've already become friends with Professor Sycamore when it took me over a year to get a chance to meet him," she fumed and began to vent to me. I wasn't expecting that.

"Huh, that's actually pretty valid. I can understand why you don't like me," I told her. "Unfortunately, I can't really give you an explanation. But I can say that the Professor is the main reason I'm here. He helped me out when he didn't have to. I got really lucky with that and I don't intend to forget what he did for me."

That's how I truly felt. Ana nodded at me, her face lacking the contempt it had earlier. We stood there a bit longer before going back to our own tents.