“Pfft pfft!” I spit the sand out as I slowly rolled over so I wasn’t just face down in the dirt. “Ugh it’s in my mouf!” I whined.

“Vicky!” Papa was there, and hoisting me up and all that really did was get sand spit into his face as I tried and failed to get more out. “Vicky.”

“Sowwy.” I muttered tongue stuck out and I knew it was covered in sand.

“I got a drink, are you alright?” Mama asked as she hurried over with a drink and kneeling beside me.

“Ugh.” I took a swallow of her sweet fruit punch and swished it around before spitting it out. “Gross. Yeah I’m okay. Whew. What a head rush, that took a lot out of me.”

“What even was that!? You were glowing!” Papa demanded, and just about then we all heard a yell from down the beach.

“Whoo! Is that a first timer? Nice! Good job on your first Z move!” The older teenaged boy shouted out.

Huh.

I raised my hand which felt like lead and gave him a thumbs up which he returned.

“Z move?” Papa whispered no doubt remembering me talking about it.

“Yep. That was a Z move. The power of a trainer and Pokemon synced together.” I said and held up my Z ring. “And now I have a Z ring and Crystal.”

“Jang.” Jangmo-o whined from the sand and I leaned up as Papa looked back to check on him. He was flat on his belly too.

I pushed against Papa a bit to rise up, and he eventually helped me to my feet as I stumbled over and then collapsed next to Jangmo-o.

“That… Was awesome.” I told him, and he mumbled a bit but I could see his eyes, and he definitely wanted to do it again. I reached out and stroked his back. “We just need to rest a bit.”

“Jang.” He seemed to agree squirming a bit in the sand he was okay, but he didn’t try to get up.

Then I realized that my team had all seen it too, but they hadn’t made any noise. Turning around, seeing Mama and Papa both standing close to each other looking worried I saw my team.

Oh yeah.

All of my dragons were staring at the place where the Devastating Drake had struck.

And all of them looked like they wanted it.

Well except Gible. I’m pretty sure she just wanted to go back in the ocean.

“Gib.” She was sort of struggling free of Dratini, but he was too focused to notice.

“I’m fine.” I called out feeling better already. I looked as Mama and Papa both jumped. “It’s okay. Really! I knew I’d get tired, but I didn’t expect it to hit that hard. I’m fine.”

“We’re just…” Papa trailed off. Normally he’d say something like we’re just worried or whatever, but he was obviously more confused.

“Welcome to Alola. They have Z moves here. They’re awesome.” I decided to say, smiling brightly, and raised my Z Ring up. “And now! I have them too!” Then I flopped back down in the sand.

“Well… If you aren’t going to die, I guess I should say that was really cool.” Papa offered and I felt my smile grow.

“It was, wasn’t it?” Devastating Drake… Yeah, that’s a cool move. I would have to try out the Normalium Z too. It could really come in handy.

Well that and train all of my pokemon in using Devastating Drake. Ugh. No wonder most Alolan trainers just stuck with like one Z move. It was a pain in the butt to get it all right.

In the end I just lay in the sand for a while as eventually everyone got used to what had just happened. It was… A lot to deal with. Papa seemed to slowly calm down but Mama was more worried glancing at me and each time I threw her a happy smile.

Because I was happy.

It took almost an hour before I started feeling normal.

Definitely didn’t want to do a lot of Z moves in rapid succession…. Would I even be able to? I’d have to test it at some point, but… Maybe without the parents standing right there.

Oh!

I rose up with a groan and patted the sand off me, taking a moment to gather up my team. “I’m gonna be late to see Professor Kukui.”

“You should just take it easy! You fainted not long ago!” Mama argued instantly and I shook my head.

“I really want to ask him questions about Z moves while we do the TM stuff. It’s fine Mama. I’m fine! See.” I spun around showing that I was back to being energetic. I still felt a tiredness, but it wasn’t physical exactly, and I felt well enough.

“Let her go Haruka. She’s being stubborn, Vicky, no more of that, no more Z moves today.” Papa demanded and I nodded, easily agreeing.

With that sorted I dashed off as fast as my flip flops would allow.

—--

“Sorry I’m late!” I called out as I entered the school, which was much emptier than last time.

“In here!” Kukui called out and inside the room both Kukui and Principal Oak were already going over papers, and I saw four new Exeggutors just outside the window, all four of them from the sound of it were eating food laid out for them on the floor above.

“Sorry!” I called out again as I rushed over, and Kukui turned and gave me a look before winking.

“It’s Alola.” He corrected, and it took me a second to realize what he meant.

“Alola Professor Kukui.”

“Alola Vicky. Don’t worry. We were just going over the results from yesterday.”

“Mhmm! I’m excited to try more!”

“Haha! It’s a real Electabuzz in here!” Oak offered laughing and even trying to look like an Electabuzz as he said it.

I couldn’t help but giggle at his antics, and be glad he seemed to be sticking around.

“Well with everyone here, let’s use some TM's and see what happens!” Kukui called out, and soon the Exeggutor were returned to their balls, each of them receiving a TM then one at a time. Kukui released them and had them show off the move.

Like I’d hoped. They each showed off Dragon Pulse that the TM had been made for. Area, Orb, Pierce, and Control.

“So it does work.” I muttered looking at Exeggutor just happily back to eating as we all went over the results. “That means TM companies could potentially sell different move variances as different TM's. That’s… Quite a market.” I couldn’t help but think. If I could pick what sort of Dragon Pulse I wanted. Or Thunder? What if Thunder had some variances?

“It’s amazing.” Kukui agreed the man was an absolute font of energy as he ran around the room. There was more recording equipment this time, and he’d taken video of the TM causing the moves to be different for each Exeggutor.

I mean this was part of his direct specialty. I had no doubt he was loving it.

Oak nodded at my words slowly. “Yes, but this research will cause TM corporations some real problems as well.”

“Let’s make more TM's and try to overwrite all of them then. That way we can verify it wasn’t just that one Exeggutor not wanting to change or something?” I asked, knowing what Oak was referring to.

“Yes. Let’s do that next.” Oak agreed, smiling at me, and I smiled back up at him.

Then we got back to work.

I made more TM's with Oak, while Kukui went out with the Exeggutors and ran them through some more move tests, to verify they couldn’t seem to adjust the move into the different forms.

Each test result was the same. TM's seemed to lock in the move as the TM had recorded it, and couldn’t be replaced with another.

“I’m going to call in Lusamine.” Oak finally said as we looked at the second round of tests. We’d basically gone around and gave the Exeggutors another TM with no change, and then tried it again with another set.

Each time the same thing happened. The Exeggutors used that first TM they’d had installed and nothing else.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“Hmm. You think it’s a mechanical issue?”

“It could be. She’d know, or at least be able to get us in touch with a TM technician to help us verify this.”

“Alright… She’s trustworthy, so feel free to bring her in.”

“Excellent, that'll make the conversation easier.” Oak offered with a laugh as he left the room probably to his office.

I sighed and sat up on the counter around the table and just rested my feet. Still feeling a bit tired.

“Hmm. I guess it’s a good time for a break.” Kukui commented, noticing my tiredness.

“I’m okay. I used my first Z move today.” I explained and Kukui went from looking at papers to in my face in just a second.

“Really!? What?” He looked me over and seemed to notice the Z Ring. “You got a Z Ring!”

“Yeah. Kahuna Hala came to me today and decided that since I’d already done a Trial before coming to Alola, I’d be allowed to take part in an Island Challenge… I completed a Trial this morning, and Hala gave me a Z Ring.”

“That’s Supersonic! Congratulations!”

“Thanks. I don’t suppose you’d answer a few questions about them? Like how often should you use a Z move? And I sort of passed out, is that normal?”

“Hah! Oh man, well I’ll tell you there will be a bit of an Encore, next time you use one.” He winked at me. “But you eventually Harden up, and it doesn’t hit as hard.”

“Kukui you’re a menace.” I managed to get out from between my giggles. “Okay that’s good.” I finally managed to say, when I stopped laughing.

“Well, the question about how often you can use them… That’s a bit more complicated. Everyone is a bit different. Hala can actually do two of them in about half an hour, but that’s it for the day. He’s done. I usually need about an hour before I’m good for another, and if I space it out to a few hours I can do a few more.”

I nodded as he gave me some additional context.

“So I could end up not being able to do more than one a day.”

“That’s right. Some people are like that. Don’t take it as a negative, it’s just how it works.”

“Thanks Professor.”

“Anytime. Now, I have a question! What Z move!? I see a Normalium, and… Is that Dragonium?”

“Yep! I had the Kommonium first! But then I finished the Trial, and helped out Grandpa Forest, the big Drampa. He gave me the Dragonium, and Hala was going to give me the Normalium, so he just decided to give it to me anyways.”

“Hah! That’s just like him. He’s got a soft spot for this sort of stuff.”

“Yeah he’s nice. So I went to the beach and did Devastating Drake.”

“Jeez, right to the deep end huh? Then again, with how many Dragons you have, maybe you’re more suited for Dragon Energy.”

“Mmm! It was really fun. Jangmo-o and I synced up pretty easily, and it just was a massive rush!”

Kukui was smiling at me as I chattered, and he took a moment to grab a chair and bring it over.

“Alright, since I know Hala didn’t do it, let me give you some tips as well. There are some things you can do to make sure your Z move is just a bit better.” He explained and I instantly sat up.

“Teach me Sensei!”

“Hah! You aren’t one of my students… Yet.” He winked at me again and I was flattered that he would say that.

“Alright first, you felt the energy when the move solidified, but there are som-

—---

The man that walked in after Principal Oak wasn’t who I wanted to see, Lusamine. Instead it was…

One of her weird scientist guys, and their goofy suits. Seriously, Lusamine had an awesome outfit, but she made her underlings wear weird stuff.

“Professor! Ms. Vicky. This is Harold of the Aether Foundation. A TM Technician.”

“Alola.” The man offered with a tight nod and not much of a smile. “I’ve heard about the experiment. Can I see the results? And the differences?”

“We have it over here.” Kukui offered easily, and soon the man was slotted in looking through what we’d compiled, and even seeing the Exeggutor use Dragon Pulse themselves, a few times, and confirming the TM didn’t seem to change anything.

“Hmm. I can confirm the TM is settling. But it doesn’t…” He opened up a briefcase he’d come in with and it was actually a laptop? Neat.

He went to work pulling up a program, that was… A TM adjustment program? Interesting. I could only just register what the program even was, thanks to how familiar I was with computers from my last life. Not that Pokemon computers followed the same format.

There was no Windows or Apple here.

“I’m going to run an adjustment to the TM process. Can you? Perfect.” I brought the TM maker over already suspecting. We hooked it in, and once more Dratini was released to make another Dragon Pulse TM.

This time when it was done we installed it, and watched as the Exeggutor that had used Dragon Pulse Pierce, shifted a bit and then…

Shot out Dragon Pulse Pierce.

“That’s…” Harold looked…

“What is it?” Kukui asked, and Harold looked hesitant before shaking his head.

“I’m sorry. I’ll need to speak to Lusamine before I can confirm.”

“So it’s bad.” Kukui offered without hesitation, and Harold just shook his head. “I can’t comment. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I have to go. I’d suggest not trying to overwrite the TM like this any further.” And with that particularly uncomfortable warning the guy packed up his laptop and practically rushed out of the door.

“I’ll reach out to Lusamine again. Really.” Principal Oak uttered definitely unhappy and Kukui nodded.

“I have some contacts. I’ll make some inquiries as well. The Aether Foundation is usually good about being open about things. This is… Something is definitely wrong.”

“Well… Crap.” I decided was the emotion I wanted to convey and both men stilled, realizing I was here.

“Ah, I’m sure it’s nothing serious.” Kukui tried to downplay it and I just rolled my eyes.

“It’s serious. Serious, enough that guy just ran back his boss's boss, before giving the information out of the company. I think he just found out something that could damage the Aether Foundation, and if it can do that… How many other companies out there making TM's are can also be damaged with this? I think… This got more serious.”

“Yeah.” Kukui finally admitted with a sigh.

“Can I get a copy of everything? I want to send it to Professor Cerise, in Kanto… If that’s okay?”

“Sure.” Kukui agreed, thankfully not bothered. “Maybe he’ll be able to shed light on it as well.”

“Ah, you work with Cerise?” Oak asked, as he looked me over and I nodded.

“Yep. When I was in the conference this year, he reached out to me, and asked if I’d be willing to work with him. I’m currently a Research Fellow at his lab… Well mostly I’m just sort of doing my own thing, and helping out when he needs muscle on research trips.”

“Muscle?” Kukui asked curiously and I had to hold back my snickers.

“I don’t think he’s a very strong battler. So I help keep the pokemon from ruining his equipment and stuff.”

“Huh.” Says the Professor that moonlights as a professional wrestler, and battler.

I headed off then, heading to the Hotel. So much had happened today, and…

Yeah that was a lot. Z moves, TM research coming up sketchy, and now I had to make a long distance call.

I walked into the Hotel and straight to the Hotel Receptionist. “Alola! I need to make a call to Kanto?”

“Alola. We have business Phones over in that corner. Are you sure your parents are okay with you making a long distance call?” She asked, surprisingly not sounding judging, but just that she was making sure I was allowed.

“Oh yeah. I need to call the Pokemon Professor I work with! Thanks!” I rushed towards the door she’d pointed out and it was basically a room with kiosks. What a weird set up. I took the first one that was free and gathered my papers as I made a call.

While it went through I glanced at the research papers. Kukui for all his laid back attitude had a serious focus on accuracy while researching. He was… Very thorough. Hopefully Cerise could help.

“Viridian Research Lab? Oh! Vicky.” It was Ren that picked up, he was half leaning back in his chair and only sat up when he saw it was me. “Aren’t you on vacation?”

“Yep! Still in Alola, it’s wonderful, and I’ll tell you all about it later. I had something weird happen. In brief. Did some research on TM's and moves here and something weird is happening. I have a research paper I’m going to fax over. Can you accept it?”

“Oh sure. One sec…. Okay.” I pushed the papers into the fax machine section of the video call and it started processing. “While we wait, want to fill me in a bit?”

“Yeah, we discovered something weird with TM's. Basically I can teach Dragon pulse in a few different variants, and we wanted to see if we could make TM's of the variations. We can, but Pokemon can only learn one, and then when we try multiple it just doesn't work. They’re stuck with the first one… We had a TM tech come in to check into it, and he left freaked out, and said to stop trying it.”

As my explanation went on Ren looked more concerned as he sat up fully in his desk, and was already grabbing the papers that were faxed over.

“You’re right, that does sound serious. This tech where does he work?”

“He works with the Aether Foundation. They’re apparently the only company making TM's for Alola right now. We actually got the equipment to make the TM's from them, Lusamine their president, is apparently pretty reliable, but this had Professor Kukui, and Principal Oak shook up.”

“Yeah no kidding. TM's are… Well they’re considered part of the military defense. If there’s something wrong with them, that’s not good. Huh. This looks weird.” He muttered looking over the papers. “I’ll call Cerise right away.”

“Alright I won’t hold you, this call is long distance. Talk to you later Ren. Alola!”

“Enjoy your vacation! Don’t get too caught up in this. Bye!”

Well… Hopefully this wasn’t serious.

—--

I went up to the Hotel Room, released my team and just flopped on the bed.

What a day.

I could still feel the Z Ring on my wrist, it felt a bit out of place, but I’d get used to it. It’s not like I was going to leave it behind.

Being able to use a super power move at any time in an emergency was way too useful.

“Tini?” Dratini was there curling up on my back, his cool scales felt pretty good as he settled on top of me and then when I opened my eyes his head was next to mine.

“I’m just feeling tired.”

“Tini. Dra! Dratini.”

I smiled at his words. He was definitely trying to cheer me up. “I’m okay buddy. Today’s just been a lot.”

“Tini. Dratini.” He nodded agreeing as he then flopped down and cuddled up to me.

I felt Jangmo-o brush my fingers hanging off the edge of the bed, and I scritched him a bit. I was just starting to relax, Riolu turning on the TV would keep her occupied, and everyone was spreading out when I felt the bed sort of shift to the side. No, it was the sheets. I lifted up and looked.

“Gib.” Gible said from the floor where she was holding the sheets having just tried to lift herself up…

There was no way Gible was going to be able to climb up onto the bed like this though. I reached down and when she saw my hand she Gibbed and grabbed it. I held her tight and pulled, and she came off her feet and onto the bed.

It took a second but then she looked around. “Gib.” She rose up on tottery legs and stumbled around the bed exploring.

I flopped back down. I was fairly confident she wasn’t going to go feral and bite me anymore, and I was too tired to stress about it.

Tomorrow I still had Hala’s Grand Trial, which would be important. If I could win that…

Should I ask if I can have some of my other team sent over? I considered it before just discarding the idea. I still wasn’t sure if I was allowed to have them over, I’d have to ask, and this was…

It felt right to go into a challenge with the pokemon I had with me. This Alolan Adventure was something we all shared, so this trial would be part of it…

Yeah.

I yawned and finally felt myself drift off.

—--

Mama and Papa came in to check on me at some point, but all I remember was telling them I wasn’t hungry and that was that.

The sun coming in from the cheery Alolan sun was what finally got me, as I yawned and stretched, feeling quite warm despite not having a blanket.

Dratini purred out a yawn in my ear as I felt his weight on my back shift around a bit before sliding off. As I sat up I checked on everyone.

Brave was in her water bowl, although it probably needed a refill. Riolu like usual was already up watching TV, Jangmo-o was somewhere, and Mimikyu was cuddled up at my side…

I looked back.

“Gib.”

“Okay then.” Gible was on her back just… Laying against my leg.

I shifted her so I could get up and then stared out into the beach I could see through the window. The lapping waves and bright sun. I could completely understand why people fall in love with Alola. The whole place is beautiful, and perfect.

“Let’s wake up, get some food, and maybe a quick swim.” I called out as everyone looked at me. “Then? Then we’ve got another battle.”

“Jang!” I heard scrabbling claws on the carpet and Jangmo-o popped out from under the bed and ran around in a circle for a moment before stopping and looking up at me. “Jang.”

“Yeah. We’ll knock their socks off with our Z move.”