"Hey!", I shouted into the air. A passing sailor gave me a questioning look, but I waved them away. "Meowths! Hapu had you follow me, she told me so, one of you go tell her I'm leaving for Melemele." Then, just like after the first fight with Mina, I stomped through Seafolk Village to the pokémon center. Quickly depositing my poké balls, I sat down into a single person chair with no others facing it and crossed my arms. I grunted lightly, recalling the verbal circles Mina and Hapu had run around me, and the grunt echoed from my right.

"Let me be angry alone, Kathy.", I said. "Aww! But you're so cute when you're angry!", she replied, bending over the arm of the chair to have her face fill my right periphery. "Are you from Poni?", I asked, which seemed off-topic to her but I now knew to be very pertinent. "Born and raised.", she said with a thick Poni accent and swing of her bent arm, "Why?" "You get the special trial. You fight Mina, she gives you a flower petal for winning, and then you have to fight Every. Other. Trial. Captain. After you get all of their flower petals, then you can fight the totem and finish the trial.", I informed her. "Huh... Do you think she's trying to prep the other trial captains for being gym leaders some day?", she asked lightheartedly. "If I had to guess, I'd say she used that as her excuse to get Hapu to agree to it. Mina just wants an extra roadblock so people take in more of the scenery, it's what she would do.", I told her, unenthused.

Copy Kathy continued talking to me for the next hour while I waited for my pokémon to be healed, but I barely engaged. She went from the Alolan Pokémon League project, to gym leaders in other regions, to specialists in general. She had just started talking about Duplica, a Ditto master from Kanto that inspired her own specialization, when I was called to the counter. I released my team, Toma crawled up my legs to attach to my backpack, Kawami hovered around my head, and Waiola curled up in my arms. "See ya Kathy.", I said, walking to the door. As I did, my phone rang. Picking it up, Hapu's voice assaulted me, "I just got the report from one of the Meowth. You haven't fought me yet, no leaving Poni Island until you do."

"I can't take the grand trial if I haven't completed Mina's trial. I'm going.", I responded thinly. "Who's that?", Kathy asked over my shoulder. "Hapu.", I told her, leaning away from the phone. "Kahuna Hapu!?", Kathy gasped. At the same time, Hapu was lecturing me, "It won't be a grand trial, but I still won't let you go until you fight me. You'll get something out of it, I promise." I nodded to Kathy to say, "Yes, Kahuna Hapu. Now would you be quiet?", and responded to Hapu's lecture out loud, "That's stupid, but whatever. When and where do you wanna fight?" Kathy mouthed along with my words, holding down shock. "I'm busy, at the Ancient Poni Path this evening will have to do. We can do it in front of the canyon, that should be suitably dramatic for my first grand trial battle.", Hapu said with authority. "You just said it wasn't a grand trial.", I reminded her. She huffed and hung up.

"You know the little kahuna!?", the resident annoyance accused before I could take another breath. "Her and her grandma, yeah. I'm an orphan, they kinda sorta raised me. A little bit.", I explained. "Daaww! Widdew found famiwy?", Kathy mocked. "Shut up! I'm leaving.", I snapped. "Wait! Don't go, I don't have your phone number! How are we gonna meet again?!", she shouted after me. "We won't." I jabbed, the door closing behind me.

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The wind whipped around the route through the Poni Wilds, my hair tangled into thick knots by the gusts that seemed to come from a different direction each time. Kawami's Flying-Type was shining through as she used the wind to come to rapid mid-air stops or shoot across the brush searching for pokémon. 'Note to self: Teach Kawami Tailwind soon.' Once that thought was stowed away, I was immediately distracted again when a Crabrawler was flung from a palm tree straight at my face by the wind. Waiola spit an Ember at it protectively while Toma jumped in to intercept. In moments, the decapod was wrapped in webs and rolling wherever the wind blew it as we moved on unphased.

The canyon loomed as we crossed from the Poni Wilds to the Ancient Poni Path, the winds carrying sand from the canyon and pelting us with it. I'm sure I looked ridiculous wearing ski goggles in the middle of a sandstorm, but they worked to keep my eyes from succumbing to wind erosion. Kawami made a game of trying to clear as much of the sand around her as she could with a single flap of her wings, while Toma walked at my side to catch me if I was blown over. Waiola would've stayed in my arms, but I needed all my strength across all of my body to push on, so she was in her ball. I barely even paid attention to what I saw through the brown haze, following my teammates directions instead. 'What an awful day to go on a walk.'

As my legs threatened mutiny, I finally pushed through the doorway of Kahuna Ranch and dragged myself to the guest room for a breather. Two-time "Kahuna's Closest Family Member" Hama passed the door of the guest room like it was never there. "Don't rest too long, your fight's at the end of the day.", she said with delicate pressure. I gurgled in resistance, but eventually rolled over at least to take the bags off my shoulders. I pulled the straps of the backpack away, my hands getting coated in sticky dust and meeting coarse blockages as I tried to push through my fossilized hair.

Letting out a nearly visible sigh of air, Hama lifted me by the pits off of the bed and into the adjacent bathroom. Ruthlessly, she pushed my head backwards into the sink and turned the faucet on, drenching me in cold water for far too long before it finally turned warm. "We could've talked before you went pushing my head around.", I said. "Good, you're ornery again. That means you're mentally present.", she commented coldly. I gave a challenging glare as she continued brushing the grit from my fadingly multicolored mane. Chuckling internally at the thought, I wormed a hand into my backpack and pulled out the first box of hair dye I could feel. "Since you're treating my hair so nice, mind redying it for me?", I joked. She tugged my hair to the side with the same force as the northern wind that caused the mess in the first place and snatched the box from my hand.

Having put in the conditioner, I saw my opportunity. "If we're gonna actually do this, could you at least get me a chair?", I begged, my knees growing sore from squatting. "I have another thing to get for you anyway.", she capitulated, releasing her cold dead grip on my head and leaving the bathroom. When she returned, she had dragged a chair from the kitchen that carried aluminum foil, gloves, and another small object. A black and white wool wristband like some Team Skull members wore sat there, a heavy watchface-like thing attached to the front. Picking it up like I was going to lose the opportunity to, I looked to Hama for confirmation. She nodded, and I slipped on the Z-Power Ring. The white trim and zigzag running through the middle of the band were made of strong cord to hold the ring together under the weight of the now refined sparkling stone, holding the whole piece snuggly to my wrist. Before I could admire it anymore, I was pushed down into the now empty chair and my head was yanked back to wash the conditioner out.

The hairdryer pushed my hair around for the third time that day, then Hama moved to the dying. "Have you done this before?", I asked, honestly curious and, since I was unable to inspect my new gear any closer, turning to the next highest on the list of curiosities. "For Sofu; He wanted his black hair to stay even after it started greying. His beard was about as long as some people's hair, so I'm not new to the foil part either.", she chattered. Her hands combed through the ends of my hair, blending the fading color of my usual cyan with a dark green. The result was a murky sea green, bordering on turquoise, that became the darker of my two hair colors. The faded purple seemed bright in comparison to the new mixture. "You didn't have to bother with the foil;", I told her as she turned me around to look in the mirror, "A bit of green on my skin is the least of my worries."

"There, you're right. What's your plan for fighting Hapu?", Hama said, freezing me in place. I looked through the mirror at Hama, her snowy silver hair and puffy old face, and without a hint of shame I asked, "Any intel on what she's training?"

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According to Hama, alongside Hapu's core team and the Rhydon, Mudbray, and other pokémon the family was always stabling at the ranch, Hapu was training up a Sandygast, Gabite, Claydol, Diglett, and Barboach as well as taking care of Cubone, Larvitar and Trapinch for some league trainers. "She's really taking to her role as Kahuna.", Hama had said. I had a thousand obnoxious jokes I could've replied with, but there were so many that I missed the proper timing. "What will Hapu do?", I asked rhetorically to myself while my pokémon stared at me. "No! What won't Hapu do?", I continued louder, drawing more confused eyes from the Mudsdale in the stables.

I fell into my old Team Skull squat, it helped me think. It was also more stable in the still high winds, though thankfully the blown sand was down to a sprinkle. "What are the right questions to even ask?", I pleaded. I pulled out the textbook and poured over my notes while my expression turned more and more sour until I realized I was doing nothing instead of something, which had to be wrong. I then mentally questioned that assumption, which just made the insistence that I wasn't getting anywhere stronger.

"Alright! Here's the plan!", I finally decided, "Toma, Keep working on Night Shade and Baton Pass. Both could be important, so just focus on whatever's coming to you easier. Kawami, finish working on Swift. If she uses a pokémon with Sand Veil, which she probably will, you'll follow the stars to keep track of your target. Waiola, try for Dragon Rage. Your Corrosion was excellent in the fight with Mina, so I want you to challenge yourself. Dragon Rage deals a set amount of damage, so the energy will be a bit odd, and it's your first attack other than Scratch that's not tied to your heat and poison. Even if it's just a wimpy little version of the attack, that's good enough. Work with eachother, I've got my own training to do."

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

It wasn't really anything, essentially I was just pushing for the same things we were already working on. With my sloppy plan set in motion, I went back inside for a lesson from Hama. Finding her in the living room, curled up with a book on her recliner, I snuck behind her chair and poked her on the shoulder. "Teach me how to do a Dragon-Type Z-Move." She turned to me, nerves as cold as ice, and answered, "Sure sweetie." She closed her book, unwrapped herself from her blanket, and worked the leg-rest closed with some effort before finally standing and guiding me back out the way I came in. Every one of her movements was tempered by time.

"You didn't put a Z-Crystal in it already did you?", Hama asked first. Showing the empty slot of the Z-Power Ring, which I only then recognized I'd been caressing occasionally since I'd put it on, I prompted Hama to continue. "Using a Z-Move is dangerous.", she began to lecture, "When you use a Z-Move, your energy as the trainer is exerted through a dance specific to each crystal which is converted through the Z-Crystal's Z-Power into type energy that fuels just one move from your pokémon. The first time a trainer uses a Z-Move, they're all but guaranteed to pass out from the drained stamina. If a young or weak pokémon is subjected to the overwhelming energy of a Z-Move, they can be seriously injured or even die if the move that is being fueled by Z-Power would normally cause recoiling damage and is not used properly." I wrote down what she said vigorously, since information on Z-Moves was very exclusive, even if the phenomenon was well known to exist.

"Now, what do you plan to do with a Z-Move in your fight against Hapu?", Hama interrogated me. I choked a bit before responding, "I was thinking of having Waiola use Dragon Rage and boost that in case we're up against Gabite.", I told her. "You will not be performing a Z-Move today.", Hama informed me. "What?!", I exclaimed. "What did you just write down?", she pushed deeper. "What you were saying about Z-Moves, why?", I asked, confused. "Read it out, and this time pay attention.", she instructed coldly. I did. "Using a Z-Move is dangerous... a dance... drained stamina... young or weak pokémon... seriously injured... not used properly.", I mumbled, reading her words again. "Do you understand?", she asked. "Yes...", I confirmed dejectedly. My plan was almost the worst thing you could do with a Z-Move. 'Well, not the worst.', I thought, before refocusing.

"So what? I just fight her like it's nothing special? That's not how this goes, she's gotta have something up her sleeve; Something I need to deal with or I'll be sitting around here even longer!", I ranted toxically. "Yes, she will," Hama stated with crystalline clarity, "but life can't be planned for every step of the way. It's good to learn what you need, to know what you're getting into, but you won't always know those things, least of all in a pokémon battle. Keep a cool head, make steady progress towards your goals, and I know you'll do well Kau'i."

I tried to give her the stink eye, but couldn't force it. I sighed instead and gave her a tight hug. "Thank you.", I said reluctantly, nearly swallowing the words back down, "Now I need to go train."

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Hapu called as twilight gave way to night. "Time to go!", she said confidently. I confirmed tersely and hung up. With a wave, my pokémon stopped their training and followed me over the gate, for old time's sake, and down the road to meet Hapu. Kawami had gotten a good handle on Swift, Toma's Night Shade was seemingly fully developed, but it was hard to tell with its link to a pokémon's inherent strength, and Waiola had gotten Dragon Rage to maybe three eighths of its usual power. That was incredibly impressive for just a couple hours of dedicated practice, and I suspected Waiola might have an affinity for Dragon-Type energy.

The wind was somewhat calmer now, but that only made the gusts that much more destabilizing. With Waiola and Toma at my side and Kawami circling overhead, I hoped I was adequately intimidating as I walked into the wind to meet Hapu. At the other end of the road, Hapu stood headstrong, like she wasn't the shortest kahuna in history. The night was dark, only starlight and open windows lit the dirt road. One of her pokémon had compacted the earth to create an outline of a battlefield, trainer boxes and all.

I stepped into my box on the west side of the road and returned my pokémon to their balls for the time being. "Are you ready Kau'i?", Hapu asked from the opposite side. "What's the reward you talked about?", I asked first, probably because of having to deal with Mina. "I don't lie like that, you would know. Have I lost all the trust I earned helping raise you?", Hapu rebuked. She was right, I was being ridiculous. I moved on. "No switches, three pokémon each, and no 'grass, fire, water' bullshit, we both release our first pokémon at the same time.", I hissed. "Like I need any of that to beat you.", she replied, agreeing.

I'd thought alot about who to lead with. She knows I'm not an idiot and I know she's not an idiot, so deciding between the usual opener, Toma, and the mix-up, Kawami, was difficult. In the end, I made my decision based on one thing: Hapu intentionally gave me less than a day to prepare. My hand was glued to the grimey poké ball in my pocket. I leaned over, eyes narrowed and poised for battle. Hapu counted us in, "Three. Two. One. Go!"

Kawami fluttered over the field, faced with a Diglett. I had done research on the Ground-Types Hapu was training, and had learned that there were two kinds of Diglett, Alolan and Kantonian. Luckily for me, this Diglett was the more familiar Alolan kind; Unluckily for me, it was a Steel-Type as well. As soon as he was released, he moved to whip up a Sandstorm. "Quick and clean!", I ordered Kawami. "Iron filings.", Hapu matched, also using a disguised order. She flew in to Bite into the Diglett, but came up with just a mouth full of sand as he was lost in the Sand Veil. The sandstorm grinded against Kawami's wings as she tried to find her opponent.

"Remember your Swift!", I shouted into the cloud, getting my own mouthful of grit. Even through the debris, I could see her eyes light up at that. She shook off just one Swift star and followed it, homing in on Diglett. As she got close, Diglett swung his strands of razor wire hair at her. The Metal Claw, even empowered by his ability, Sand Force, didn't deter her as she Bit into the mole. With the damage that Bite did, it was clear Diglett was meant to be sent in against Toma. Working through Diglett's Tangling Hairs, she separated from the Steel-Type and the cycle repeated.

Kawami followed her Swift in for a Bite, catching Diglett on the head. Diglett's head swung around, scraping its Metal Claws on the critical area inside Kawami's mouth, but Kawami powered through, Biting down until Hapu's first pokémon fainted. She didn't look much better, likely to faint in a moment if the sandstorm stayed up, and I had a sinking suspicion that it would stay up, so I withdrew her alongside Hapu returning Diglett.

Again, Hapu counted us in, since both of our pokémon were being switched in at the same time, "Three. Two. One. Go!" The mystery of what I would send out wasn't hard to solve, and Hapu had clearly picked a pokémon just to match Toma. A Larvitar stood across from us, barely distinct through the sandstorm. This pokémon too had Sand Veil. I was beginning to sense a theme. "Finish Him!", I boomed my order to Toma, imitating an old game a grunt had stolen an arcade cabinet for. Hapu held down a laugh, like she always did when she refused to acknowledge that fun is a normal experience, then she ordered much more plainly than me, "Rocks."

Toma shrouded himself in Night Shade, slipping into the streams of sand. When he struck forward a moment later, all his Fell Stinger caught was the Rock Slide Larvitar had set him up for, breaking the attack to bits before it could land. The sand was already taking its slow toll on my spider friend. Relentless, he went in for another Fell Stinger, this time finding his target. As Toma was pushed away by the runty Larvitar, he was struck by the enemy's Scary Face. Hitting him right in his soft heart, Toma lost track of Larvitar as it was once again cloaked in sand. From my position outside of the dust devil, I could see that Larvitar was using its opportunity to renew the dying Sandstorm.

Whether Toma's instincts were that of a seasoned predator or a caring and dependable friend, they guided him to the Larvitar just as it put the sands back in a crescendo. Getting the drop on the Rock-Type, his Stinger sunk into its side. At this point, Toma had only been sanded down by the weather while Larvitar had been dealing with the long game instead of doing damage. Toma was ready to earn Fell Stinger's execution attack boost, and Hapu was having none of it. "Smack Down!", she yelled, the words rumbling in the air. Before Toma could fall back into the thick darkness, Larvitar's crest formed a boulder that it then Smacked Down onto Toma.

He didn't leave the opportunity on the table, grabbing Larvitar's crest with his two free limbs and latching onto the poor thing. A sound I'm sure most people would find sickening cut through the gusts of wind as Toma's Fell Stinger was sharpened to a point on the defeat of his foe. Larvitar faded into red light and Hapu sighed. She taunted something un-Kahuna-like, but it was buried under the whistling of the swirling sand. Then, just like I had begun to dread, Gabite was released in Larvitar's place. "Put them in their place!", Hapu's gratingly confident voice shouted. With that, since both pokémon were out, the match began again.

Very informatively, Gabite shot a jet of burning blue-purple Dragon Type energy. "Deflect!", I snapped, causing Toma to flare out his Night Shade to the full power he could muster. Something about the similarity between Dragon Rage and Night Shade caused some of the Gabite's usually infallible attack to disperse along with all of Toma's Night Shade, canceling eachother out. That moment would stick in my brain, but I stayed focused in the moment.

"Never surrender!", I demanded. Toma launched forward with all eight limbs, running his Fell Stinger across Gabite's chest. Before Gabite could do Toma in for that offense, Toma fell into the floor and struck it in the back with Shadow Sneak. Toma had squeezed everything out of his attack boost, but this was were it ended. Dual Chops converged on Toma, and despite his strength, the fear in his muscles from the earlier scare slowed his reaction and he was cut down. I pressed down shakily on the button of Toma's nest ball and reached for my last. 'Victini help me.', I prayed. I wasn't the most pious person, but these were extenuating circumstances. Plus, Victini is not the deity your typical Alolan is asking for a blessing. If I needed anyone though, it would be the Victory Pokémon.

Waiola was on the field as the sand thinned out, and I only had two words to direct her, "Do whatever!" She'd already pulled one fight from the brink through sheer luck and cuteness today, what's one more? Hapu's Gabite leered down its massive shark nose at the little salamander. Gabite whipped its arms in spiraling motions, bringing the Sandstorm back up. Waiola stared daggers at Gabite, building up a righteous Rage while Gabite stood still behind the Sand Veil. It hadn't moved, and it wouldn't, so Waiola knew exactly where to aim.

A pale stream of blue flames and fumes pushed away the sand and seeped into the Gabite's skin. Thanks to Dragon Rage's unique properties, even when under developed, the damage it deals effects all pokémon, no matter their strength or defenses, the same. Gabite fell to the dark ground, and I swooped Waiola up into her favorite spot and sat down to curl up with her.

With an odd stomp of her foot, the road returned to normal and every sand particle in the air was dropped straight downwards, stopping the Sandstorm in an instant. I raised an impressed brow as I looked up at Hapu. "Tipi. He's grown alot.", Hapu explained. "I don't see him, he's a Flygon now right?", I pressed curiously. "You think dragons can't dig?", she pushed. With that short exchange at its end, Hapu joined me and Waiola on the ground.

"Well, Trial-Goer Kau'i, you. are. free. to. go. Poni Island awaits your return with the rainbow flower.", Hapu said peacefully. "You should never have allowed that trial.", I told her pointedly, "Also, you aren't free to go. You haven't given me my reward." Hapu sighed, "No dramatic reveals? Are you above proper ceremony and drama?" "Yes, now hand it over.", I said. "If that's how you want it.", Hapu sneered, then put on a thinly veiled fake smile, "Here's your Poisonium Z; Since you already know how to use it, I won't teach you the dance or anything. Have fun on Melemele, goodbye forever. Don't forget to brush your teeth twice a day." After pushing the glimmering purple crystal into my hand she slowly walked backwards while talking. My mind finally catching up, I ran after her as we both made our way back to the ranch.