Waking up with a grunt, Jared felt his knees screaming in pain from the two days of abuse.

Noting the sun is not as bright as he would expect, he tapped his phone for the time and finds the symbol for six am staring back at him.

Jared mumbled, "An hour early, well... no sense going back to sleep now,"

Feeling his neck ache, he looked at his mattress and clicked his tongue, "This was too uncomfortable! Next month I'll have to buy a pillow... and that means I'll save even less money..."

A short time later, he finds himself once again staring into the pot of cooking rice in a daze. Recalling what he had memorized last night, he mouths some words,

"It was a waste"

(Memorizing that book was almost a complete waste of time!)

Besides learning the names of the cities, and their cultures, all it talked about was how they went about unifying the islands, and how they heroically fought the original inhabitants off the island two hundred years ago, and how they liberated them from their barbaric ways by teaching them civilized culture, and forcing them to only speak their language.

Having finished reviewing the information, and now fully prepared for the day, he once again headed out into the morning Alola Sun.

He looks around briefly at the deserted alley, and soon decides to sit on the front steps to take in the morning aroma.

Despite it being summer, he feels a slight sting in his nose when he breaths in, all due to the salty air.

(Maybe I should call Kukui, it's been more than a week since I last spoke, but it's only seven-thirty am, if I call him now will he be awake)

He threw that thought out of his mind and decided to do it anyways while rationalizing the reasoning with a silly pun, (a sunny guy probably rises with the sun, so it's probably fine,) but it was really due to the fact that he had a question that he needed to ask, and now he wanted to know if his silly pun would come true.

Jared then pulls the number out of his pocket, and dialed him up, and after only three rings it was answered in a cheerful tone.

The dialer chuckles when he hears the overly friendly voice, (It seems my pun rings true!)

Gazing distractedly up at the broken window next to his home, Jared quickly replies, "Hey Kakui, it's Jared!"

"AHH! Jared!, I'm glad you finally got a phone! did everything work out okay, did you get your memories back?"

(Heeh, this guy is really too energetic!)

"No, but I'm living well, I just thought I'd call to thank you again for saving my life and ask you a few questions"

(Not exactly well, but... I don't want to baggage him with my problems.)

"Ahh, that's too bad, but I'm sure you'll get your memories back in no time!"

An annoyed voice can be heard in the background, it was telling Kukui to not be so loud early in the morning. Jared identified the voice to be Bane.

Kakui gives an unbothered chuckle and then continues in the same cheery tone. "Sorry about that Jared, I'd be glad to help you, what do you want to know?"

After his sentence, Jared smiles when he hears a defeated sigh from Bane.

"I'd like to know if you've ever seen a pokemon start glowing gold"

"Mmmm, no, not gold, but when a pokemon uses a move, they will faintly emit white steam for a moment, is that what you saw?"

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

"Not exactly..."

(What did he just say??)

"Wait, why would they emit steam?"

Jared felt he could almost hear Kukui smiling through the phone now.

"Hehe! So you didn't know? don't worry, Professor Kukui will tell you then! Pokemon use their own stamina and body fat and convert it into power, this is the reason they are much stronger than us humans!"

Kukui pauses to think for a moment, then continues, "Ah right, that's also the reason why pokemon grow stronger as they grow larger, It's all because they have more energy to work with!"

Jared replies with obvious interest, "That makes sense, but doesn't that mean that a smaller pokemon species will always be weaker than a naturally larger one? "

"Oho! you ask some good questions Jared! Yes, that is true, but with enough training, they can bridge the gap! Anything can be achieved with a bit of hard work and determination!"

Jared's mood begins to brighten. He felt it difficult to be unhappy when talking with such a bubbly person.

"Thanks for letting me know Kukui, I just have just two more questions"

"Sure, ask as many as you like, I'm happy to help!"

"Have you lived in Alola all your life?"

"Sure have, but since I found my partner Lapras five years ago, I became a Sponsored Pokemon Trainer, and I've been traveling around to different regions since!"

Jared's mood dips. He was about to bring up a heavy subject, but before the words leave his lips, he instead chose to ask about something else,

"Sponsered trainer? then If you don't mind me asking, what's a Sponsored Pokemon Trainer? who sponsors you, and what do you do when you become one?"

"Mmm, that's a complicated question, but I can at least tell you how I became one!"

Kukui clears his throat then speaks up, "To become a Sponsored Pokemon Trainer you need to be recognized by a government-run lab, you can find them in almost all towns and cities, and it's actually very difficult to become sponsored!"

Kukui laughs heartily while recalling a memory, he then continues, "To tell you the truth I used to run a pokemon lab myself, but a free spirit like me can't be contained in a lab all day you know!"

He clears his throat again, "Usually you become one by placing top three in a local tournament. These tournaments happen every three months in the cities, while in smaller towns they'll either hold the tournament every nine months, or in other cases only winning first place gets you the honor, and while I can't speak about other regions... but for the Alola islands the matches are always one on one until knockout, or forfeit."

Kukui pauses, "Ahhh, that reminds me, there should also be some prizes for lower placings, but what really draws the trainers in is the allure of becoming an official trainer!"

He then laughs cheekily, "Hehe, but because I used to be a professor, they let me become one when I asked, it was super nice of them!"

Bane can be heard muttering through the phone, "Or they wanted your hyper ass gone"

"Haha Bane, always the joker aren't you, so Jared, were you thinking of becoming a registered trainer like me!?"

Before Jared could open his mouth Kukui interjects. "Oh right, as for what I'm supposed to do... *cough* erm, I'm supposed to go around winning tournaments to bring publicity and honor to the lab, but... instead I travel the world to see how pokemon live in their natural habitats, and send my findings back to the lab!"

-On kukuis end, some beeping can be heard from a different phone, Kukui pauses to whisper with Bane, then quickly speaks back into the phone, "I very much enjoyed our chat Jared, but if you don't have any more questions I have to cut our conversation short. I'm getting a call from the lab you see!"

Finding himself already before the school gates, Jared replies "I'll catch you next time, I have to go as well actually."

"Hehehe call back anytime my friend!"

Jared hangs up with a smile as he weaves his way past the Pidgey.

During his two-hour session with the youthful yet stern tutor, the two hours quickly come and go as Jared felt himself thoroughly enjoying the lecture due to his happy mood.

(Koi guy may be young, but he really knows how to keep my interest, but I suppose that's to be expected, he must spend most of his time teaching hyperactive children after all... wait, are those thirty year old ten year olds even hyper?!)

.

Twenty minutes later Jared was back home, but this time with only a single book in his bag.

(I know it's only been a few days, but I think I've learned enough history, especially when I have to go through great pains to ingrain the knowledge into my head, yes, it's time I focus on the knowledge that will help me become a trainer!)

The thunking tome of a book he was reading this time was called, "A beginners guide to the skittish, the nonreactive, and the bold, the behaviors of all 251 pokemon species."

He had scanned the pages of the pictureless book before beginning the session, and found the knowledge to be exactly what he was looking for.

After eating some food he passed another painful day with bleeding knees, and suppressing screams. Due to the sheer size of the tome, he was only able to barely memorize around six percent of it by the time the sky became dark.

Shakily, and with throbbing knees, he dragged himself onto his hard mattress, and after a few minutes started to drift off.

Before sleep could take hold, the recurring nightmare was back!

He froze, Jared held his eyes fast shut, he could feel it, the feeling of a foul hissing wind!

It was coming closer through the blackness.

(Oh god, what do I do? the shapeless demon in the dark is back! and it's here for me!)