I pushed Kawami off my sunburnt skin, causing her to flinch as well from her own sunburns. We both found a position that didn't agitate the pinkish patches and took a long drag of the stale cave air. Behind our bumbling, Toma carefully wrapped the Salandit egg in soft webs and carried it over with his newly upturned limbs. Although nothing much could be seen, the air resonated with the echoed sounds of Jangmo-o, Noibat, and Scyther. The cave ahead wasn't particularly dark, consisting of a straight passage right through the plateau with large chambers along its length that allowed the light through from both ends.
"Like it or not, we're in the trial now. If we leave after crossing that line", I pointed behind us to a groove carved into the floor at the portal of the cave, "we've lost. There are two steps to completing a trial: first, we gain the totem pokémon's attention. At another trial, the trial captain would guide us through how to do that or even be a trusted arbiter that decides who deserves the totem pokémon's time, but here there is no captain. We go deep enough into the dragon's lair, the totem pokémon will know we're there regardless, it's just a matter of having the chops to make it there in the first place. Second, impress the totem pokémon in battle. These are incredibly powerful pokémon, we won't beat them outright, but they will size us up and bring in some lackeys to get a better sense of our strength. We need to guarantee we can do both of those things before we reach the end of this cave."
Kawami gave a low warble in response while Toma chittered with approval. "Well, nowhere to go but forwards then.", I said. Sitting up straight again, I remembered the issue and slumped back down. "When we do go, which isn't now.", I amended. Kawami, whose burns were more severe, agreed with a mechanical waving of her wing. We spent a while licking our wounds and relaxing in eachother's company, as we had grown accustomed to over not just this brief stint of journeying, but all three years I had been a grunt. A part of me worried if Salandit would be able to fit into our well worn dynamic when she hatched.
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With another dab of the towel I had soaked in lukewarm water, Kawami was ready to keep up. 'She's a pokémon, she should get better way faster than me.', I thought, somewhat fed up. We began to walk towards the bottleneck of the first chamber when we met our first opponent. A Noibat tried its hardest to block our way forward, but didn't actively attack, since it didn't consider us worth fighting. I continued on without hesitation, attempting to slip past the small impasse and smuggle my friends across through their pokéballs, but a Gust of harsh wind pushed me back before I ever did.
"Toma, Constrict it so we can keep going.", I said, significantly more fed up. With a faint swishing sound, the Ariados was swinging from the ceiling and spitting out a spray of web that caught the Noibat by the hand at the end of its wing. In a flash, its other Wing Attacked the knot that threatened to bring it to the ground and it was free like it had never been trapped. I groaned. "Fuckin', just, like, attack 'em.", I grumbled. While Kawami sent an obvious, over-sized, and easy to avoid Air Cutter that grabbed the Noibat's attention, Toma fell with grace out of his web and into a shadow, catching the enemy in the back with Shadow Sneak and conveniently pushing it back into the path of the Air Cutter.
Our strength may not have grown much before leaving Team Skull, but our coordination and strategy had been honed over hundreds of hours of thieving together. Even without a solid plan from me, Toma and Kawami could literally plan silently through the use of a Golbat's ability to direct the sounds leaving their mouth in a beam and an Ariados's ability to move the patterns on their back. Kawami had told Toma she would use Air Cutter, which I guessed was because she didn't want to irritate her burns any more than I did mine, and Toma had supplied ample backup with Shadow Sneak to accommodate. The fight pressed on in much the same way, each of my team members covering the other's shortcomings with silent precision until the Noibat had fallen unconscious and drifted down into the corner between the wall and the floor.
"Great work!", I congratulated, "I really hope this shows we've got this trial in the bag, but I'm not gonna state that as a fact, cause it isn't." The trek that had preceded this impromptu trial had not put me in a good state of mind for tackling new and interesting problems. In fact, it did quite the opposite. I had overestimated myself and my team, burnt myself out, and now that I was so deep in, it was genuinely more sensible to keep pushing than to retreat. I was resolved in a way that was not optimistic, simply knowing what the next move was without any confidence it would work or not. 'Maybe Hapu was right about me.', came an errant thought, but I pushed on.
The next chamber was covered in pokémon. Noibat coated the ceiling the same way the Zubat had in Kawami's home, except with much more grace and personal space. Jangmo-o bustled about the area, causing a racket as they fought or played or communicated with their metallic scales. The lower din of Clanging Scales came from deeper in, unimpeded by the many higher pitched sounds in this area. An occasional Jangmo-o or Noibat would come up to us for a fight, but with the approval of the earlier gatekeeper, we were just more powerful individuals who had proved themselves up to this point in the dragon's lair rather than dangerous intruders. Even still, we couldn't turn down the challenges either, so the next few hours were spent going through the paces of what Dragon-Types considered low level battles.
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Once again, I tossed a berry to my pokémon mid-battle, this time it was a rotten one. I did this for multiple reasons. I was running a bit low on supplies, but more importantly the Jangmo-o Kawami was fighting was up close, Biding its time, so I needed my pokémon to eat it and the Jangmo-o to not. Dragon-Types are prideful, honorbound creatures that wouldn't think of eating rotten food whereas my Poison-Types were all too happy to do whatever they needed to. With a twitch, the berry flew into her gullet and she began to recover from the Tackles of the young dragon. When it reared up to strike with Bide, her Poison Fangs sunk into its vulnerable belly and incapacitated it. Interrupting our celebration, emerging from the darkest section of the cave, a Hakamo-o stood over its unconscious relative looking down on us. A vigorous shiver ran down its spine, producing a rattling drum. The second gatekeeper had appeared to challenge us.
I wasn't ready, Kawami wasn't ready, Toma could barely be considered ready, and our sweet innocent egg wouldn't be ready even if she hatched right now. Our time was up. We may not have been intruders, but we weren't residents either, and our visitation would be up if we didn't prove ourselves here and now. The sunburn on my neck flared to life in my senses and my hands clenched onto the lavender egg.
"Toma, treat it like a slab of stone!", I shouted, proud of myself for being able to sneak my intent under the radar of the enemy with such short notice. Toma jumped out from behind me and spat a Spray of caustic Acid at the adolescent pseudo-legendary, but the attack splattered impotently against its scale coat. Hakamo-o was Bulletproof.
"Shit! Uh. I don't know!?", I helpfully ordered. Hakamo-o descended on Toma with a sweeping Dragon Tail and he was sent skidding backwards across the stone before turning to red light and returning to his nest ball. "Fuck! Kawami! Eye beams!", I said in a full on panic, lucky to have a premade code phrase for the combination of Confuse Ray and Hypnosis. My lack of composure curried me no favor with the proud, Dragon-Type audience, but I had no place for honor. Kawami flung herself back into the fray, catching the Hakamo-o right where she wanted it with her sickly violet Confuse Ray. The gatekeeper swayed, in a haze for a few moments. Finally I had a plan. I returned Kawami to her poké ball.
If anyone said it was a bad plan, I'd be the first to agree, but nonetheless it was the plan I had. "TOMA!", I roared as he was released again, "Swords Dance and Baton Pass!" Toma's stinger gave a dumbstruck look, but he stayed facing the enemy as he began swaying rhythmically and scraping his legs across eachother. His Swords Dance was slow and methodical, a factor that was only magnified by needing to dodge the occasional wild swing of a Dragon Claw, but before too long he stood on blades that came to a razor thin point. "Alright, now remember how Dragon Tail and Lycanroc's Roar felt!", I advised, "Do that, but like, to yourself?" I had lost steam by the end, but hopefully it was enough.
Toma's faces scrunched up in concentration, but it was too late. Another Dragon Tail slammed him away and I brought Kawami back onto the field. "Again!" It took more doing now that Hakamo-o had caught on, but after evading a few attacks it was hit once more with Confuse Ray. This cycle continued, Kawami confusing Hakamo-o and Toma using that time to try to pass the attack increase from a new set of Swords Dances to Kawami with Baton Pass before being sent back by Dragon Tail. Each time, I'd shout more advice as I had frantically moved to the page for Baton Pass in the textbook, which I had propped awkwardly on top of the egg.
"Form your buffs into a baton, switch out, and Kawami will receive the baton!", I had lectured only to realize Toma had already been sent back. "It's more than just buffs, certain other effects carry over! They'll stay trapped if you were trapped, they'll keep your Substitute, that sort of thing.", I tried. As Toma and Kawami got more and more haggard, my adrenaline only pumped faster. Finally, Toma had formed a baton thats shape waivered like a hallucination. "Good! Good! That's the Baton, now", as I began to say 'pass' I saw Hakamo-o's eyes refocus and its posture reform and I changed my words, "DODGE!" Toma leaped back, his sharpened legs cutting into the bedrock, then he turned into red light and Kawami appeared with the baton disappearing in-between her feet.
Her wings weren't as sharp as Toma's legs had been, the Baton Pass was clearly incomplete, but right now we would absolutely take it. "NEVER LET DRAGON TAIL HIT YOU!", I demanded, and just like that Kawami was off. She cut through the air, slicing through the gap in Hakamo-o's plates with a brutal Wing Attack. It wrestled against the pain, making a terrible cacophony as the Dragon's Tail swung inward to catch the meddlesome bat unawares, but as its head was rattled from behind by a Supersonic cry, its tail only found air and scales to strike. Hakamo-o was not Soundproof. Losing all face, the Hakamo-o struck the ground nose-first.
Strutting with debatably earned confidence, we passed into the next chamber. The Hakamo-o, Scyther, and Noibat within were weary to continue challenging us with the dishonorable display from both sides in our previous bout. This was no issue to me as I began the all-too-familiar process of recuperating. Potions were sprayed, berries fed, and yawns exchanged. "Alright, practice Fell Stinger and plan for the Totem Kommo-o. Toma, get on it. Kawami, I think you'll be our backup, prep for that.", I said half-heartedly. "One last push." Grimly, I paged through the textbook to search for any spots where Kommo-o appeared.
The Totem Kommo-o was a staple of Poni Island legend, the trial having remained unchanged for over a thousand years. Talk to anyone that had taken the island challenge and you'd hear the repercussions of the Vast Poni Canyon Trial on their journey, the struggles of conquering it or, as was so common of Poni natives, avoiding it for as long as possible. I had heard horror stories hinging on any of a dozen of the dragon's moves: using Belly Drum to boost himself beyond belief and destroy an entire high level team, a Drain Punch that undid any progress one trainer had made, and Flash Cannons that swept through an overconfident Fairy-Type team, to name a few. Any and all of his moves were a threat worth taking seriously, and that was before you considered his allies and abilities. I was overwhelmed with how I would tackle such an obstacle.
'We need more practice, let's get practice.', my brain offered for my consideration. 'Not a bad idea.', I thought back to myself. Lifting my head out of the book, I looked around the cavern at the pokémon that lived here. Noibat, Hakamo-o, and a few Jangmo-o. I pointed to a Hakamo-o throwing punches into the air, its large scales each swinging out to hit the spot its fist had passed through, and called out, "I challenge you!" Kawami was excited despite her still roughed up shape, while Toma forced a smile back onto his face. And so, we fought.
I lost track of time as I pushed myself and my team to strive for better. Toma's Fell Stinger scratched lamely against a Noibat's skin, Kawami tried and failed again at using Steel Wing, and with each battle we got sloppier. My throat hoarse, I garbled out, "Hit 'em in the back!" Kawami lurched around the Hakamo-o and my eyes drooped. My limbs were heavy, my breath rough and ragged, my hair tangled in knots around my head, my thoughts came in short spurts, and new memories slid off of my brain before they could be stored. "The... back...", I eked out before passing into unconsciousness.
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A tiny shake at my belly woke me just a little bit. 'Why's everything so loud?', was approximately what I thought first. Then my eyes oozed open and I saw Toma dangling over me in a peculiar web shelter, too sparse to stop anything from coming in, but present enough to keep in some body heat and privacy. Something to the effect of, "Wuhagameh?", left my mouth before I peeled my face away from the dried pool of dirt and drool I had been sleeping in, the egg rolling away a short distance from me as I moved.
"What happened?", I asked, more coherently, if still a bit clipped. Kawami dropped from the ceiling to shoot a Hypnosis into Toma's immune eyes, after which Toma feigned falling to his side asleep. "Well yeah I guessed that, I mean, like, why?" Toma then weaved a four panel comic of a human figure running, and running, and running, and finally falling over mid-stride. "I wasn't that exhausted.", I denied. Toma and Kawami both gave me a look, in their own ways, that still held much respect for me while also saying, 'You are completely wrong about this and you know it.' "Well... with all that training, we should be ready, right?" Again with that look.
I sat silently for a few minutes. 'We can't hold a candle to these pokémon in battle, that's a fact. But we need to impress Totem Kommo-o in battle. That seems like a non-starter.' I sighed. "What progress have we made? Toma, what're Fell Stinger and Baton Pass looking like? Kawami, any progress with Steel Wing?" I didn't like the answers. Fell Stinger was okay but didn't seem to garner the full buff when it caused a faint, Baton Pass working had been very nearly a fluke and wasn't repeatable, and Steel Wing was still just not Steel Wing. 'SO WHAT THE FUCK'S THE PLAN!?', I thought as loudly and aimlessly as a thought can be while still being purely internal.
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Taking a deep breath, I opened the textbook containing my marginal notes for something to latch onto. Abilities and moves my pokémon could get but didn't have already, moves they already knew and abilities they already had, moves I had a reason to believe Totem Kommo-o knew, and notable moves of his allies. Nothing struck a chord. Listless, I thumbed through some of the unmarked pages, skimming over blurbs about this or that move's use in contests (completely useless information to an Alolan) or an ability's application in a specific industry. Finally, my eyes landed on a "Fun Fact!" bubble describing how Hawlucha's signature move, Flying Press, may have originated as a combination of Aerial Ace and Karate Chop used in conjunction, giving it its multi-typed damage effect.
"THAT'S IT!"
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Totem Kommo-o roared, and his shimmering scales rang down his chest in harmonious echoes of that roar as his diaphragm rumbled. A cadre of fellow Dragon-Types watched on as he faced his challengers, me and my team. "Kawami! Curse stack as discussed, dodge until you can't anymore! Toma! Brood web, then move with Shadow Sneak! Listen out for my call!", I yelled, already orchestrating our plan to impress Kommo-o. Kommo-o Autotomized away excess scales weighing him down, speeding up to outmaneuver my pokémon, but his movement was then reigned back in by Toma's brood web, a combination of Spider Web and Infestation. Although the web constructs of Infestation weren't used in a direct attack, they began their attrition after contact with the web enclosure.
Kawami began to visibly grow dark and shadowy from the effects of Curse as she flapped her wing slower but stronger. Seeing this, Kommo-o rattled, beckoning a Noivern into the fray. Noivern seemed to appear at its place on the field as a sound wave invisibly moves through air, and was similarly accompanied by a shockwave. Next, it lifted its head and released a radiant beam from its mouth that coalesced into the blinding white spot indicative of a Sunny Day above us. "String cocoon Noivern!", I shouted. Toma heard my call and spat his second combination move at the dragon-bat, Constrict and String Shot. Neither was much on their own, but with some finesse, which Toma had in spades, the same webs that squeezed the target could stick to them to slow them down.
Kommo-o inhaled deeply, and every living thing present held their breath. Then, a gout of fire screamed out of the lizard's throat and his Flamethrower arced towards Kawami. In a repeat of our fight against Plumeria, her wings were burned and she fell out of the sky. Unlike the fight with Plumeria, Kawami had not fallen to the attack thanks to the sitrus berry she held, and swept over the ground and under the flames towards her attacker. After all, I had pointed down. "Astonish!", I shouted, knowing this of all moves was the least expected, which would make it work all the better. As Toma slunk back into the sparse shadows of his web and Noivern began working up its voice for a Boomburst, I shouted again, "NOW!" At once, Kawami swooped up into Kommo-o's face with a flash of dark purple energy that Astonished him so greatly he flinched away from her, and on the other side of the field Toma Sprayed Acid into Noivern's back from the shadows, making its fur fall off in clumps.
"Acid absorb!", I ordered both. This was not a combination move, just a strategy. Use Acid Spray to weaken a Pokémon's defense against special moves, then use Absorb to heal off of the weakened pokémon. It wouldn't be very effective since Noivern was doubly resistant to Grass-Type moves, but effectiveness wasn't actually our goal in this trial. The strategy went forward, another Acid Spray stripping the sheen from Noivern's scales and green motes helped to heal Kawami's second round of burns this trip while Kommo-o was stunned. I would have to feed her extra rawst berries for a while. When Toma reeled back for one last Acid Spray, Noivern attempted to hit him with an Air Slash but was interrupted by Kommo-o's Vacuum Wave knocking all the other pokémon over.
Shamed, Noivern's Sunny Day turned pale and it was awash in a healing beam of Moonlight. After one last Absorption from both of my pokémon, we got serious again. "Switch it up! Kawami, eye beams Kommo-o! Toma, fatal stinger setup." Kommo-o was having none of it, another Flamethrower dragging across the field at his command that required my team to hide in-between their enemies legs. As Noivern healed back fully, although still vulnerable from the searing of the Acid Sprays and Kommo-o swung his head dutifully back and forth in an effort to erase my team from this world, Kawami Cursed herself and Toma Danced like Swords in the dark.
"Distract him with Fangs!", I advised. Following along, Kawami bit into the totem pokémon's ankle with Poison Fang, creating an agitated sore spot that warranted the cessation of his Flamethrower. Again, in a moment of brilliant coordination, Toma and Kawami moved at the same time. Toma's fatal stinger, an admittedly iffy combination of Poison Sting and Fell Stinger, sunk into Noivern like an intravenous needle and delivered its putrid payload. The combo lost Fell Stinger's additional effect and some of its damage for Poison Sting's chance at poisoning the victim. Kawami, meanwhile, whipped around the back of the Fighting-Type to catch his eyes in a Confuse Ray while she stayed upside-down. Hoping the confusion on Kommo-o held, Kawami moved to do the same to Noivern.
Noivern growled, causing a powerful Dragon Pulse that interrupted both assailants and forced Toma to bite down on his sitrus berry for much needed healing. With Noivern's ability, Telepathy, Kommo-o's confusion was mitigated while Noivern was in good condition. "Take down Noivern!", I screamed. The plan was falling apart at this point, but there were salvageable parts and I could always improvise. An Air Cutter and Shadow Sneak converged on Noivern, dunking Kommo-o into full confusion as the enemy bat fell to the floor. Kommo-o's arms swung wildly at the air, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Shadow Claw, Thunder Punch, Dragon Claw, Poison Jab, Drain Punch, Dual Chop, Sky Uppercut, X-Scissor, Focus Punch, and Brick Break all attempting to be the move that came out of him. Dragon Tail, Bulldoze, Aqua Tail, Brutal Swing, and Iron Tail did the same with his wild tail.
The flurry of uncontrolled energy radiated off of Kommo-o, powered by his totemic aura. Stray zaps of thunder arced into Kawami, heat and cold racketed Toma, and concussive bursts of Fighting-Type energy washed over my dual resisting teammates while I found a good rock to cower behind with the egg in tow. Finally, as one fist gained too much speed and twisted back into Kommo-o's face, his composure returned. He shook again and a Scizor joined his side, immediately forming a Light Screen between themselves and us. "Talk to it, then Infiltrate! Toma, show fatal stinger to Kommo-o!", I ordered. I just had to hope Kawami understood what I meant by "talk to it".
Scizor's Bullet Punch carried it forward, striking Kawami into the ground and leaving her on her last wings. Kommo-o's posture turned hard, Iron Defense making his scales stronger than simple armor. Toma fell from a section of suspended webbing in a gymnastic freefall, digging his fatal stinger into the back of Kommo-o's neck. Kawami in that moment seemed to do nothing but get back in the air, her mouth hanging open in the typical Golbat manner, but I knew she had understood my command. She had sent a Supersonic at Scizor in a directed beam the same way she communicated with Toma in battle, and Scizor looked to have been rattled inside its steel carapace. Kommo-o was none the wiser, too busy with Toma climbing over him to notice the confusion of his ally without the visual cue of a Confuse Ray or the auditory cue of a typical Supersonic.
His Dragon Tail swung around and around trying to find the arachnid Infestation, and he sent Focus Blasts across his hardened scales to try and force the attacker out to no avail. Scizor, meanwhile, was spun in circles by an Air Cutter that slipped right between the seams of its Light Screen. Its confusion mounting, it didn't see the dark, battered figure of Kawami until the Wing Attack had already struck. Scizor clattered against the floor of the cave and Kommo-o let out a draconic growl.
In an instant, Toma was bumped off of him and both of my pokémon were left barely conscious by a False Swipe that came out in the blink of an eye. He had been holding back, of course, but now, he was suitably impressed and the battle was over. My realization a few hours prior was simple, Totem Kommo-o was a move and ability enthusiast. By showing him we could make the most of our moves and abilities, and that we could do so in the heat of battle, we had achieved our actual goal and passed the trial. I bowed and walked forward into the totem pokémon's chamber.
Toma's stinger dulled along with his movements and Kawami's dark atmosphere faded slowly while her lethargy remained. Still, we approached the center of the room where a stone pedestal held many Dragonium Z-Crystals like ancient hard candy in a bowl. Now was no time to be stealing Z-Crystals for any reason, personal or Team-related, so I grabbed my one crystal and we made our way out of the dragon's lair.
The canyon stretched around us. Moonlight poured over a massive gash in the earth completely devoid of pokémon aside from a few Flying-Types that perched peacefully. Massive crags of stone lined the edges of this isolated ravine, preventing egress from the plateau's top, and the dragons prevented any intruders from within the canyon. What was even stranger was the sleek stone pathway arching upwards. It was easily a mile long, those same strange stone markers we'd seen throughout the canyon along its length. At its top I could spy a massive stone structure that looked like a massive version of the markers, though from our vantage point at the bottom it took up the same visual space as a marker some 40 feet away or my thumbnail at arm's length. The structure stood at the top of a freestanding mountain carved out of the plateau, reaching higher than anywhere else in the Vast Poni Canyon. This was Poni Altar.
"I'll walk this myself, you two need rest.", I told my friends. In spite of all their injuries they attempted to insist I let them walk the frankly ridiculous path, but I insisted harder. I was thankful they trusted me as I hiked up the smooth stone, staring up at the very nearly full moon overhead. 'It must be around midnight. We were really going at it, huh? I have no idea how long I was passed out, but I lost track of the days in the caves way before that. Guess I'll only know what day it is when I get back to civilization.' More idle thoughts passed me by as I put one foot in front of the other for what felt like just a few minutes, taking in the beautiful landscape. "What do you think, Waiola? You proud of us completing our first trial? You gonna hatch soon?", I queried our resident silent observer, the egg. Unexpectedly, the egg jostled, just a little. "I'll take that as a yes.", I said and continued up the path.
Finally reaching the end, I stood face to face with the intricately carved stone monument. A corner cut squared deus was the centerpiece of the patterned floor, surrounded by bright green grass and leading on its sides to grey brickwork paths that ended in two small platforms sunken a few inches into square pools. The pools flowed into a cross shaped waterway the bricks bridged over. Standing in front of it all was the gateway. Hewn into the peak of the mountain, two pillars bent over eachother to the left and right and back in to form a circle where four triangular slices were joined to create an eight pointed star design. On its left a pillar was topped with a symbol of the sun, on its right, the moon. The whole altar was raised several stories off of the mountain's natural surface to meet where the gateway stood in its peak.
Once again exhausted and now much more aware of it, I decided to leave my pokémon in their balls for the night. I pulled a tarp from my bag, draped it over myself and the egg, and slept on the soft grass.
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For a brief moment I swore I felt the force of the sun wash over me, bathing me in light, warmth, and energy, but when I opened my eyes it was still night and the air was still cool. Finding myself awake again so soon, I sighed and left the tarp to prepare to travel back out of the Vast Poni Canyon. Instead, I was faced with two people in white and turquoise jumpsuits. One was a young girl with a thick orange braid that fell off the right side of her head, the other an old man with a large blue handlebar mustache and a spike of blue beard hair jutting off of his chin. Both wore spacesuit-like gear that covered their entire bodies from the neck down and something like a cycle racing helmet with additional shrouds on the back and sides. Both people had skin so pale I could've sworn it was blue. 'Probably just the moonlight.'
"Alola... Who are you guys?", I greeted them wearily. The girl ran over to me. "Alola? Is that how you say hello?!", she said excitedly, the brim of her giant helmet threatening to poke out my eyes. "I asked who you are.", I reiterated. The old man stepped in, holding the girl by the shoulder to give me some much appreciated space, and said, "I am Captain Phyco of the Ultra Recon Squad, this here is Zossie, one of my associates... We're here to investigate what exists in this world and see if we might find something to restore the light of our Blinding One." "What?", I responded, confused.
"This world has a high aura reading! We know the Blinding One has been losing aura, so we came here to see if we could get some!", Zossie chimed in. "What the fuck is aura?", I responded again, less confused but with more questions on my mind. "Aura is aura!", Zossie supplied helpfully. Ignoring her, Phyco began to lecture, "From our understanding, aura is an energy that envelops powerful beings like our Blinding One or the beasts that live around our world. But that understanding is... limited, due to how much less aura our world has compared to this one."
I wasn't getting anywhere. "Back up. You two are from another world? I feel like I passed that over too quickly. That doesn't... happen.", I told them. "Well it just did happen! We got here from the Ultra Megalopolis.", Zossie retorted with impeccable logic. "That's a stupid name for a city. Does everything have to be ultra with you guys?", I butted in. "We do live in ultra space.", Phyco said straightforwardly.
"Well good to meet you two, Phyco, Zossie, but I've gotta get ready for my trip back out of the canyon." Then, I released Toma and Kawami and moved to grab my things to treat their wounds. "Wow! What are those ball thingies? What are these creatures?", Zossie pushed again. I gave her a look. "Do you guys not have pokémon?", I asked with a sneer. At their curious looks, I sighed and continued, "These are my companions, Kawami the Golbat and Toma the Ariados. These poké balls allow a certain amount of control over them, and interface with human technology. You said you live in ultra space? Then you're familiar with ultra beasts right? I think ultra beasts are kinda like pokémon, if not outright being pokémon; Though if they were you'd think someone would've caught one by now."
"Very intriguing...", Phyco muttered as Zossie looked on in awe at me applying a potion to my pokémon and feeding them a few berries each. I tried my best to ignore the two. Whether they were crazy tourists who'd Teleported directly to Poni Altar of all places seemingly without pokémon or genuinely strangers from another world, I didn't care to hear them blabber on.
"Look. If you two don't wanna get attacked by dangerous wild pokémon while lost in the caves on your way out of here, you're gonna need some method to get out of here. I would hope that whatever got you here from another world could get you out of a canyon, but I'm new to this whole ultra space thing so it might not. If not, you can wait a few years for pokémon rangers to be a profession here in Alola or..." I paused, pinching my nose upon realizing the other option. 'Why do I have to be the first person to talk with people from another world!?', I thought, then continued. "Or I could guide you out.", I finished, dissatisfaction tainting the words. I hoped that wouldn't be necessary.
"Well our travel methods are strictly proprietary, and as such we will be taking you up on your offer of guidance.", Phyco said cordially. I cursed myself internally, wishing I had the same capacity as Kawami to use the actual move. Having some strength, hardening my defenses, and slowing down a bit sounded great at that moment. "Let me get ready, I'll be right with you." Hoping it would get reception all the way up here, I grabbed my crusty old phone and sent a text to Hapu with a brief explanation of the situation. It didn't send. As I turned to guide the Ultra Recon Squad I guess, I felt a small thud against my chest. Looking down, I saw a crack had formed in the egg.
Ignoring everything else, I motioned Toma over to me and had him build a soft cushion for the Salandit once she hatched. Phyco watched from a safe distance, squinting in the moonlight at the phenomenon. Zossie meanwhile was only farther from the egg than me because of the helpful assistance of Toma sticking her weird space boots to the ground. "Quiet...", I instructed everyone. Slowly, the cracks spread across the egg, grew wider, and finally, a small claw reached out of the darkness.