We spent a few days without anything happening. Our team, and a few others throughout Alola, gathered quite a bit of data. It wasn't anywhere near enough, especially since nothing came out, but it was a nice start to the work we were gonna be doing. The portal closed without problems and we left almost immediately after since we still had most of the day left.

The three scientists went back to Kukui's lab to process everything they recorded. I left for the Totem Lurantis so I could finish Mallow's trial. Each trial had their own unique spin on getting the Totem Pokémon to acknowledge the challenging Trainer. For Mallow's trial, this meant finding the Lurantis, though it was more often that Lurantis found the Trainer and initiated the battle immediately.

Sure enough, Lurantis flash stepped in front of me within 10 minutes of me leaving the group. She stood in front of me, silently waiting for me to make a move. Her eyes blazing in determination to beat me. I grabbed Doublade's Pokéball and sent her out. Doublade silently watched Lurantis, who managed to scoff at my choice.

Lurantis gave out a sharp, shrill cry and was covered in a red aura before being joined by a Kecleon and Comfey. Doublade hadn't stayed still during that time, opting to go with the basic opening I told her about of Autotomize and Iron Defense. As soon as she was done, I whispered for a Shadow Sneak and then the constant targeting of Comfey.

While not much of an offensive threat, I knew from the games Comfey would be an annoying healer. That's why I wanted Doublade to take Comfey out as quickly as possible. In fact, leaving Comfey for last could be the worst idea in this situation.

Lurantis shot forward with shining scythes while Kecleon set up a Sunny Day. Doublade immediately merged with her shadow, reappearing behind Comfey and avoiding Lurantis' attack. Before Comfey could react, Doublade slammed into it and released a Flash Cannon point blank.

Whenever Lurantis or Kecleon tried to hit Doublade, she would use Shadow Sneak to get close to Comfey and keep its bullying going. It didn't take the Totem long to realize what was happening and stick close to Comfey, but it didn't matter at that point. Comfey was on its last flower and would faint soon.

Sure enough, one Shadow Sneak later and Comfey was out of the battle. Now, it was time to deal with Kecleon, who had been setting itself up the entire time while Lurantis was chasing around Doublade. Just as the Sunny Day was starting to fade, Kecleon set another one up for Lurantis to make use of.

Lurantis, meanwhile, tried to slash at Doublade with what looked like a Leaf Blade, but Doublade dodged it with another Shadow Sneak, this one aimed at Kecleon. While the Ghost-type move wouldn't affect the Normal-type, the move served to get her close. Just as Doublade moved in with Brick Break, Kecleon's claw glowed with a dark, malevolent energy.

The two moves canceled each other out, showing how much Kecleon had buffed itself. Kecleon countered with a Flamethrower, forcing Doublade to use Protect. Lurantis also moved in, this time with a much stronger Leaf Blade. This probably meant Solar Blade.

"Sneak out! Flash Cannon and then Fury Cutter," I commanded. Doublade waited until the last second to dodge, resulting in Lurantis' scythe getting bathed in flames. Not wasting a moment, Doublade's Flash Cannon slammed into Kecleon and sent it rolling away. With Kecleon dizzy, Doublade was able to focus just fine on Lurantis for a few moments.

Lurantis and Doublade exchanged a flurry of attacks, Doublade using Fury Cutter with one sword and Brick Break with the other while Lurantis switched between Night Slash and Solar Blade. Doublade's Brick Breaks countered the Night Slashes, while her increased defense ensured Solar Blade didn't do too much damage.

Kecleon jumped into the fray, only for Doublade to hit it with a powered up Fury Cutter. The hit sent Kecleon flying away, knocking it out. Man, I love when stuff like that happens.

It was now just Lurantis and Doublade. Lurantis had used Synthesis to heal up some of the damage, but she was starting to tire out. Doublade was still ready for the next round, so I let her continue.

"Alright, Doublade, this is the last stretch of the challenge. Show them how tough your blades are!"

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With that, Doublade disappeared into the shadows. Lurantis decided to keep herself moving instead of being a sitting duck. Little did she know just how proficient Doublade was with Shadow Sneak. With the same skill and finesse she had when attacking Comfey while Lurantis was nearby, Doublade shifted in and out of sight while slashing at Lurantis.

Each time Doublade materialized out of thin air, Lurantis suffered a Fury Cutter. With all the hits that stacked on tops of its power, it was a wonder Lurantis hadn't been knocked out by any of the hits. It didn't matter how tough or willful Lurantis was. This was a death by a thousand paper cuts, or, more aptly, a fainting by a thousand Fury Cutters.

With Lurantis out cold, Doublade cried out in victory before rushing over and slamming into me. I gave her a tight hug, grateful for my strength. If not for that and the training I did, Doublade would have flattened me. After the embrace, I went over to Lurantis and sprayed a potion over its wounds. Comfey was starting to stir, immediately hurrying over to heal Kecleon once it came to its senses.

Lurantis got up quite suddenly, looking at me with a disappointed expression. I held my hand out, which she carefully shook with one of her scythes.

"That was a great battle," I told her. "You and Kecleon definitely gave Doublade a challenge. If we hadn't targeted Comfey, we definitely would have lost."

My words were probably adding salt to Lurantis' literal wounds that were still healing if the sour expression on her face was anything to go by. However, she nodded and went off into the woods without any trouble. A few minutes later, Mallow gave me a call to tell me she heard of the battle.

I received 8,400$, a TM for Leaf Blade, and the Grassium Z-Crystal. I decided to do a few tasks while I was still in the jungle, making sure to earn enough to cover the costs of food for the next month. I also gathered some berries after finding a few rarer berry trees like Occa, Magost, and Liechi trees.

I grabbed two of each before leaving them alone. Didn't want to get too greedy and upset the locals. I left for Konikoni City, opting to run instead of flying on a Charizard again. I made it just after dusk set in so I went to the PokéCenter to rest for the night. I set a pizza party for us in celebration of Doublade's amazing performance and win.

We ate several boxes of pizza and had a little dance party amongst ourselves. We were so slumped we sprawled ourselves all over the floor and fell asleep immediately. The next morning, Larvesta woke me up to answer whoever was knocking on the door. I groggily got up and washed my face to wake myself up a bit more.

I opened the door to find Olivia, who was looking at her phone.

"Alright, you've completed Kiawe's and Mallow's trials. Time for us to battle. I'll see you in front of Diglett's Tunnel in an hour!"

With her announcement over, she walked away. My alarm went off a minute after. She must've gotten up hella early if she was up and ready before my alarm went off. I trudged to the bathroom for a quick shower, cleaning Doublade right after since Kippie had decided it was a good idea to lather up Doublade in the pizza grease.

As I got ready, I could hear Kippie chuckling while talking to Nautilus.

"Kippie, I'm gonna start giving your share of cookies to everyone else if you keep on pulling this shit on us," I loudly said, ending her laughter. She ran over to give me her puppy dog eyes. I looked her straight in the eyes and said, "If any of your pranks make extra work for me, I'm gonna stop cooking your food and just order the diet pellets from the store."

I could see the color drain from her face and she cried out something that told me she wouldn't cause me any trouble. After everyone had their breakfast, I headed over to Diglett's Tunnel. It was pretty early and the sun was just starting to peek through, slowly illuminating more of the surrounding nature with an orange glow.

I let out Kippie and Doublade since they would be the ones to take on Olivia. If her online stats were anything to go by, the two would be enough to handle her usual team. I arrived about 20 minutes early, which gave me some time to look through my notifications. I saw that Araceli had sent me a message asking about Doublade.

Her message reminded me of a crucial factor in this study of hers. They want to find a way to terastallize the Pokémon, but they don't have any Tera Orbs. I sent that concern to Araceli before going through my other messages. Professor Kukui wanted to battle soon, while Augustine asked how Alola was going.

Olivia showed up a minute before the hour was up. She didn't say anything. Instead, she took a Pokéball from the belt that hung loosely around her hips and released a Carbink. Not wanting to wait any longer for the battle, I released Kippie. She looked at the little floating rock and grinned savagely, apparently thinking it would be easy.

"Don't get cocky, Kippie. This is the top dog's Pokémon. You underestimate and you'll lose," I warned her.

"That's a good mind you've got. Most people don't find Binky here threatening, but most people never get past it. Let's see if you can, let's start now!"

"Power Swap!" / "Amnesia!"

Shit, Carbink knows Power Swap. That means Kippie's attack and special attack stats would be swapped in the game. I don't think it's that simple here, but I guess I'll find out. Though it'll be difficult to know how much weaker Kippie is with Carbink's stupid high defenses tanking her attacks.

"Trick Room!" / "Work Up!"

I figured Olivia would continue to set up to ensure Carbink's win, but holy fuck is this gonna be a tough one. Maybe I should've started with Tetsu.

"Stealth Rock!" / "Double Team, get in close and grab hold!"

As Carbink flooded the area with sharp tiny rocks, Kippie used Double Team to increase her reaction time dodging ability. She rushed in, but I wasn't planning on using an actual move. Since Carbink would be moving a bit faster through the Pokémon world's magical mumbo jumbo, I wanted Kippie to get a hold of her.

Kippie ran in, dodging the few attacks Carbink sent her way as she weaved in and out of Kippie's range. It was like a dance, if you could describe a larger animal angrily trying to grab hold of a smaller rock that kept getting away as a dance. Most people didn't realize that moving like this during battles actually consumed quite a bit of energy.

That was why my Pokémon had such long training routines. And Kippie was currently trying to tire out Carbink. Once she could grab hold, her innate strength would prevent Carbink from escaping, unless it knew teleport. Kippie's tenacity would make sure of that. Low and behold, Carbink started to slow down, giving Kippie the opportunity to grab it.

Before we could continue, a massive portal opened up inside the tunnel. Before we could do anything, a zombie-like monster came out with two cannons on its shoulders.