I took a sip of yet another of Gerald's concoctions. Over the course of the trip, he had pulled out an entire bar of tools, glasses, and boozes from the nook and crannies of the helm. "Whaddya callit? A Tim's Ballin'?", I slurred to the sailor. "Close enough.", he answered, not all there himself, but handling the effects better, "It's one'a the more snooty drinks I like." "I lige it.", I decided, "It's like if you made a lemonade but put grass in it. Good grass." Gerald and I laughed at my commentary. "I still like the rum and croak better.", I added needlessly. Kawami squeaked a laugh from her position wrapped around my head, throwing my balance off. I fell half over before I gripped onto my chair and unsteadily righted myself.
"Go play wit Dhelmise Kawamiiiii.", I groaned, clumsily taking her off of my head and tossing her at the Ghost-Type. "Wantin' some alone time?", Gerald asked. I didn't respond, crawling out of my chair to lay on the floor in the corner of the room, which was a response in its own way. My emotions were moving faster than my thoughts, so rather than try to address them myself, I let Waiola out of her luxury ball and curled up with her. After so long observing me and the rest of the team, she caught on quickly to my needs.
Her skin warmed like a heated blanket and she emitted a soft musky smell that reminded me of my time in Po Town. As the scent sunk into my nose, I wept. Waiola looked up at me with a worried expression, and Gerald came over to see what had gotten into me. He tried to console me, but with how little he actually knew about me, the words slid off me like slick rubbery liquid. Waiola, in spite of having that close connection, had no deeper communication to help me with. I bawled on the floor, tucked into a ball as my knees grew wet with unflattering tears. Toma tried to bridge the language gap, but I was too drunk to make sense of his pictograms when describing such a complex topic.
I was working to make my life better, but it already was better before. The logical part of me knew that feeling was stupid, that being in Team Skull was stifling and unsustainable, but it was drowned out by the alcohol. 'I had so much freedom!', my emotions screamed, ignoring the freedom I currently had and the lack of control I had working towards the stupid plan. 'I miss my friends!', it shouted. I could call them anytime, I was at fault for losing touch with them. 'This journey sucks!', it concluded. I wish I could go back and shout at myself then, that that's the point, that most of the time, especially for people in our position, it gets alot worse before it gets better. I wouldn't've listened of course, but it'd be cathartic.
As I laid there sobbing, held close by my three companions, the storm faded away and the sun shone through the rain-soaked windows, the light bending in bubbly patterns across the helm. "Come on, Miser, you know I can't pull 'er into port alone when I'm this drunk.", Gerald said as he stepped out onto the deck, leaving me with my team to try and pull myself together. The ship slowed back and rocked in different directions as my face grew too numb to squeeze my tear ducts anymore. Without the steady release of endorphins from crying, I slowly tried to raise myself up. With the forward momentum of the ship halted, I overcompensated and fell towards the front of the ship. On my second attempt, I succeeded in getting to my feet. "Kawami, keep-me-up, would ya?", I gurgled.
I walked out of the helm to see Gerald toss a rope wide of the metal anchor point on the dock, only for his Dhelmise to tie it on properly with a Grass Knot. I shambled like a freshly awakened coma patient to the door leading below deck and down the stairs, Kawami's wings flapping intermittently to keep me steady. Sloppily, I grabbed my bags and hammock and went back up the stairs while leaving a trail of sweat on the wall from the clammy hand I used to prop myself up.
"Leavin' so soon lass?", Gerald asked as I moved to the edge of the ship. I ignored him, instead talking to Kawami as she stood on my head, "Lift me onto the dock, I'm not fallin' in the ocean again." I grabbed tightly onto her feet and she hovered us off of the boat. "Now that's just rude.", the sailor mumbled as I caught myself from falling over. Toma followed right behind, swinging expertly by a thread from the ship to the dock by using Kawami as his anchor point. Then, he spat out a bit of webbing and formed it into a small bridge for Waiola, chopping it down with a swing of his leg once she had crossed. "Call me if you need a ride Kau'i!", Gerald shouted down at me. "I won't!", I bit back bitterly.
As I walked away, the memory of doing the same thing to Kathy earlier the same day flashed through my head, and I drunkenly turned around. I cleared my throat with too much gusto, sending me into a short coughing fit, but it at least recaptured Gerald's attention like I intended. "Wha's your number?", I asked, craning my neck up at the tall Galarian man in his tall Galarian boat. "What's with the change'a heart?", Gerald replied. "Quick, or I'll change again. Gets so wishy-washy with the alcohol, I swear.", I joked. "Fine, fine.", he said, before finally reciting his phone number while I typed it into my phone. With that done, I walked away, for good this time. "No nice goodbye for me like with Hapu?", he asked somberly, some of his own intoxication coming through. "You're not Hapu, so no.", I slurred out.
Stumbling down the docks, I tried to move towards the city but quickly found out why sailors had a term for "sea legs" when my land legs slipped out from under me in spite of Kawami's efforts. The tour boats, cruise ships, and luxury yachts mocked me as I lifted myself again from the ground. I wondered idly how many more times I'd have to do that today before continuing forward more cautiously.
The streets of Hau'oli City were alive, bustling from high rise to high rise, apartment complex to convenience store, and hotel to tourist trap. There was nowhere else in Alola like it. Malie was all about style, which limited its vertical expansion, and thus its expansion in general on a small island shrouded in wilderness. The same things were true of Konikoni, the way others told it. Po Town was wholly artificial, and was never intended to house the grit that Hau'oli accommodated along with every other type of person. Nothing on Poni could even be called a city, and Heahea was kept neat and tidy for resort-goers. Walking through Hau'oli City felt like getting a taste of that light that formed Z-Moves for yourself, no matter what kind of person you were.
The air hummed with motion, people riding in cars, bikes, or simply on the backs of pokémon down the roads while the sidewalks, wider than I'd ever seen, were filled with pedestrian traffic. There was no standard type of person in the downtown of Hau'oli, every group, every clique, every lone person different than the last. Business men, young people out on the town, trainers from beginner to ace, tourists, buskers, the homeless, and the criminally rich all intermingled. Rather than needing effort to blend in to the crowd, it would be a far greater challenge to stand out in it. Even as I brazenly displayed my drunken ten year old self in full Team Skull colors, not an eye turned from the advertisements, window displays, and free entertainment around every bend.
'I'm gonna need to find an alley where I can sleep peacefully.', I thought groggily as the joyous sounds of the city swirled around me. Kawami was working overtime to keep me upright on my walk through downtown. In spite of my anguish a dozen minutes earlier, the energy of Hau'oli, inviting and warm, lifted my spirits enough to tackle my problems head-on. I quickly found my nook, a small cubby nestled between half a dozen bed and breakfasts, and left Toma to set up camp and guard some of my stuff. I set off down the nearest proper street with my shoulder bag empty and waiting for a fill up of supplies. After my dip that morning, most of my food was spoiled and I was aggravated to find it not so easy to dig through trash here as it was in Malie, which led me to one of the convenience stores that dotted seemingly every street corner. I may have been more used to targeted theft, but that didn't mean I wouldn't stoop to shoplifting.
----------------------------------------
Trial Captain Ilima walked calmly out of the condo of another student, his tutoring done for the day. 'I could use a pick-me-up after that, then on to more regular business.', he thought, matching stride effortlessly with the people on the sidewalk as he plotted the course to the nearest convenience store for a can of coffee and something sugary. Entering the overly air-conditioned store, he quickly perused the selection of regular confections and their souvenir counterparts and decided on something simple and chocolatey. As he moved further in to choose a black, caramel, or mocha coffee from the cooled drink shelves, the ace student was struck by the visage of a small girl.
She was short, a bit less than four and a half feet tall, sloppily tossing various food into a bag slung across her shoulders like she should've been able to hide that she was doing it but was currently failing. Her clothes would indicate a connection to Team Skull, but no chain hung from her craned neck and no beanie sat askew on her head, instead topped with an eager Golbat helping to keep the girl from face planting into the coconut waters. In all his years explaining peoples mistakes to them to help them improve from those mistakes, Ilima had honed a great skill in observing a single person as they tried, and failed, to do something. That skill told him this girl was, for one, drunk, and for another thing, she was not using the beaten shoulder bag just to reduce her environmental footprint, but to steal everything she was putting into it. Whatever situation this girl was in, he felt obligated to step in.
"I'll pay for you if you need it that badly.", Ilima said to her, in the casual and hushed tone of conversing with a stranger outside of the set situations one would be expected to. Her eyes glimmered predatorily, but her voice remained offensive in the way expected of a ruffian as she replied, "I wouldn't've needed'a do this if the city jus' kept its trash all bunched up like normal." 'She's not from the city, she's very likely a trainer, she digs through trash, and she's taking advantage of me. Interesting.', Ilima mentally noted. "I'm surprised the trash is your first option, the products here are much more appetizing.", he said out loud. "Yeah, well it's better to take what people are okay giving up.", she quipped, backhandedly poking fun at the young man's offer. More commentary on the strange girl flowed into Ilima's mind, 'Is it the alcohol or is she just this audacious?'
As Ilima grabbed a black coffee, inspired to match the girl's chutzpah, she grabbed armfuls of food and an odd assortment of other items to have paid for on her behalf. Placing his paltry order on the counter, he waited as the purple and green haired gremlin dumped out a pile of products that drowned his items in its clutter. "I'll be paying for all of that, no bag will be necessary.", the captain stated clearly to the clerk. While they furiously scanned barcode after barcode, Ilima made his move. "So, what's your name?", he inquired evenly to the ruffian girl. "Why'dya needa know?", she asked, a question for a question. "I'm Trial Captain Ilima. I expect you'll be looking to take on my trial.", he stated clearly. She scoffed, "You? Trial cabdin? I doubt it." The employee was giving them an odd look in-between scans.
Ilima pointed at the small flower shaped hair ornament that proved he was a Trial Captain. "This little piece is all I need to make my position definitive. As they say, the proof is in the pudding.", he said with confidence. "Puuuudding...", the girl drawled in response, before ducking back into the store grab a few cups of pudding. Ilima sighed a rare sigh, for him at least, that of a teacher whose student completely lacks understanding of their lesson. "I see no reason to refuse your supplies, instead I offer you this challenge: If you do not complete my trial in the Verdant Cavern by tomorrow night, I'll report you for underaged drinking.", Ilima asserted. "Hah!", the girl exclaimed far too loudly, "Well it's probly reported already, but I don't care. I'm beating your trial today, just for sayin' that."
"That'll be 126 pokédollars and 52 cents.", the clerk butted in. Ilima focused his eyes on the card reader while his mind stayed on the conversation. "A bold claim, I would enjoy seeing you fulfill it. Though if you need it, the original offer stands regardless.", Ilima returned after the interruption, pulling his card out of the machine. The girl scratched at her wild head of hair as she awkwardly said, "Hapu probably spilled the beans anyway, and if you're gonna be so nice aboudit, I'm Kau'i."
Internally, his mind caught on the mention of Poni Island's kahuna, but he continued nonchalantly. "That's funny, I thought I was being goading then and nice before that.", He said curtly, picking out his coffee and chocolate and taking the offered receipt. "Where is your trial by-the-way? I'll need to get some of my stuff from camp.", Kau'i asked offhandedly, shoveling her thing into her bag before cradling the rest in her arms. "Camp? Why camp when you could stay in the pokémon center?", Ilima asked. "You can stay in the pokémon center?", Kau'i asked back. They exchanged befuddled looks as they walked out of the store.
"We should go take your camp down.", Ilima suggested. "Egh, I kinda lige it.", Kau'i dismissed. "Is it better than having a bed, soundproof walls, and a 24/7 training area attached?", Ilima pushed. "Yeah, yeah, ok goody two-shoes.", Kau'i digged, only for Ilima to glow at the words. Ilima had always, and would always be, a proud goody two-shoes. As his two goody shoes strode down the street, Kau'i led him down an alleyway that barely registered as such, instead appearing to be a short pathway just outside the fence of a many-terraced tropical B&B. Only when the path curled behind the hollow plastic picket fence was its true nature as an alleyway revealed, alongside a barren tent affixed to the nearby buildings and fences with silky threads. Looking closer, it became clear the whole structure was made of spider webs.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
"Toma! Come help me pack. Apparentlyyyyy, the pokémon center gives out free beds on top of free heals!", the girl cooed. Emerging from the cocoon tent, an Ariados held a hiking bag on its back with a leg bent up like a human would move their arm to scratch their back, except it was upwards from the body of a spider. The other upturned leg waved in greeting, which Ilima gently returned. "Can you take that down without making a mess?", Ilima asked. "Would it do me any good to leave messes around? Believe it or not, leaving a trace is kinda the opposite of what you're supposed to do as a thief.", she responded, the snark in her voice overpowering the intoxication for a moment, fighting poison with venom. Ilima suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, instead cracking open his coffee and taking a professional sip.
"Here's my number. I'll be at the Verdant Cavern until night falls after this, which you can just ask for directions to. I'll push you to the front of the line when you arrive.", He finally said, handing the street rat a business card. It listed his name, number, and an extensive list of the positions he expected people to call him because of: Trial Captain, Pokémon Trainers' School Alumni, Tutor of Mathematics, Science, History, and Alolan Language, Move Tutor of Swift, Endure, Psych Up, Metronome, etcetera, etcetera. "Were all the titles necessary?", Kau'i asked, staring at it like it would start floating around and haunting her. "Yes.", Ilima said flatly, turning to leave. "Huh.", was all Kau'i said in return.
Sighing, the captain released his Stoutland, hopped aboard the massive canine once he reached a wider thoroughfare, and retrieved his phone for a call. He had no need of scrolling through a contact list, his ability to memorize information extended into every aspect of his life. People sometimes suggested he'd make a better Psychic-Type specialist, but he knew that was foolish. The Psychic Type was about bending and warping the limits of yourself and your surroundings, where the Normal Type simply seeked to understand and work within your limits to your utmost. He was very much so the latter, and training his Oranguru had solidified his confidence in that fact. "I am not busy at this moment. What is the matter, Ilima?", Hapu asked on the other end of the line.
Ilima signalled to his mount to take them to the Verdant Cavern while upholding his part of the conversation. "I have a trainer coming to take on my trial later today, I believe you know eachother. One 'Kau'i'?", he said, neither hand on Stoutland as he held the phone to his ear with his shoulder. Both hands were used instead to take notes in a stream-of-consciousness word cloud technique that helped to sort his thoughts as they occurred. "How is she handling the city? Both far too well and far too poorly, I expect.", Hapu responded dryly. "A fair assessment of the circumstances, though missing a vital piece.", Ilima countered.
"And what would that be? You of all people understand my endless curiosity.", she inquired in step with their beloved pleasantries. "Certainly.", he agreed, before revealing the juicy details, "She tried to rob a convenience store, drunk." Hapu didn't react at first, but his last emphasized word earned a subtle choking noise, a point for Ilima. This was a long standing tradition between the two, a game of gossip that each was confident was safe to exchange, as both Ilima and Hapu were incredibly honorable and knew the other to be the same. Whoever could reveal something that elicited an outwardly shocked reaction from the other earned a point, and being the respectful people they were, points were often given out willingly to show appreciation for the good gossip. This was not one of those times, Ilima genuinely had her shocked, which he made sure to note down.
"I assume you stepped in?", she asked tensely, holding back a cavalcade of other questions that Ilima couldn't answer. Ilima continued, first answering Hapu's question, "I am the one calling you rather than a police officer or store clerk, so yes. I agreed to pay for her things, which she took advantage of, and challenged her to beat my trial by tomorrow night, which she said was too easy and that she would complete it today. I then had to tell her that pokémon centers have rooms for trainers to stay in." "I thought she knew that. It's good to hear she's not still in a bad state.", Hapu added, leaving the explanation of Kau'i's "bad state" hanging. The sentiment was genuine, but every word spoken between them was a part of the game to some extent. "Oh? What could get a girl like her, so headstrong and clinging to life, in a quagmire?", Ilima asked, his turn to "serve the ball" as they had taken to calling it.
And then, over the next few minutes, he listened, and bantered, and was carried to the Verdant Cavern. The story was one that Ilima wouldn't soon forget, since to him it showed a different side to the kahuna he had never known. Their personal rumor mill focused primarily on trainers and figures in Alola's and the Pokémon League's focus. Only because Kau'i was now a trial-goer did Hapu see fit to include such a close and personal story, which made it all the more captivating to her confidant. Expertly, Hapu and Stoutland both finished the journeys they took Ilima through at the same time, and with a thankful farewell to both, Ilima stepped into his trial site.
He greeted the Yungoos patrolling the entrance and walked briskly to the innermost recess of the nest to chat with the Totem Raticate in his cradle of darkness. Simply by Ilima's arrival lacking any further explanation, the totem pokémon knew it would be another typical day of patronage. Having exchanged what passes for pleasantries among pokémon, Ilima moved back to the front of the cavern. He kept a tight schedule of trial-goers this early in the season, all of whom had been tested by him prior to ensure they took their new lives as trainers seriously, all except Kau'i. The children each explored the cave with vigor, faced with the challenge of getting the Yungoos or Rattata, whatever is out at the time, to scurry away and ask for help from their boss, the totem pokémon.
While the way Ilima tested the kids himself was about their strength, the trial was about wits. Getting the rodents to do what you wanted was like herding cats who were herding rats, you were forced to strategize and plan ahead. Totem Raticate valued much the same, and wouldn't allow a pass for trainers who couldn't do more than ineffectually attack the power suffused beast. The trial as whole, from Ilima's test to the Totem's, was a barrier to prove one was truly on the path of a trainer. The day passed as usual, and no insignificant amount of trial-goers failed to best it, but many more did succeed, which filled Ilima with satisfaction.
Far sooner than he expected, Kau'i waltzed up to the cave. She had her hiking bag on, stuffed full, and was noticeably less drunk, though still not sober. Ilima gave a pitying look to the next trainer in line, saying, "I'm afraid you'll have to wait a while longer, someone's arrived who will be taking the trial with my direct observation. Things will return to normal immediately afterward, just stay put." Kau'i gave him a sidelong look, but held off on a witty response, instead choosing to stand and wait for whoever was running the trial to finish.
A quarter of an hour after Kau'i showed up, a lanky beanpole of a boy came huffing out of the cave's mouth. "Damned Raticate! How am I supposed to... haaaggggh... get the totem to lift a finger... ouegh... with that many damned rats... gieggh... rushing me!", the boy shouted through coughs. Ilima patted the boy on the shoulder, his hopes of the boy succeeding having been washed away, while Kau'i just held back a laugh. After the boy left, Ilima cleared his throat to speak. "Well then Kau'i, let's see if you're as capable as you believe. You don't mind if I take notes do you?" "Nah, go ahead. Let's get movin', wouldn't wanna break my promises.", Kau'i responded coyly, moving into the darkness.
Ilima's hand stood still as he waited for Kau'i to try and tackle the trial. Instead, she turned to him. "So what's the deal with this trial anyway? Kinda my first normal one, ya know?" Ilima noted her decision to ask for more information and answered, "Totem Raticate is the boss of the Raticate, Rattata, Yungoos, and Gumshoos of Verdant Cavern. Do so much that the Totem's underlings can't handle you, and he'll be forced to step in." "Oh that's no problem then.", she said with alcoholic confidence. Ilima's notes filled rapidly as the girl quickly released three pokémon, her Golbat and Ariados as well as a Salandit, and ordered her team around.
"Kawami, do a sweep of the whole cave and tell Toma where all the burrow-holes are. When you're done with that, Waiola you'll sit back and make as much Poison Gas as possible while Kawami uses Air Cutters to spread it around. Don't make it with Corrosion, we'll be going through it. Then, Kawami and Toma will use Confuse Ray, Supersonic, Astonish, Shadow Sneak, and Night Shade to make the pokémon even more scared and run away into their holes. After that's done, Toma will just seal them in with webs and that's that.", Kau'i orchestrated.
The Trial Captain looked down at his notes, the plan laid out in a messy diagram, and returned his gaze to Kau'i as a smile spread across his face. 'If this is what she can do drunk, what in the world is she like sober?', he thought. All too soon, the Golbat was scouting out the cave as ordered and Kau'i was pulling a filtration mask over her mouth. He doodled the mask while she asked him, "Do you have something to deal with Poison Gas?" With a brief wave of his hand, still gripping the stylus, a Blissey released itself from a heal ball in his pack. "Alrightio!", Kau'i blurted.
"That was too much. I'm still drunk ya know?", Kau'i regretfully continued. "I gathered as much, yes.", Ilima said distractedly. Kau'i rambled on, "Yeah I tried to stay quiet so nobody else would notice after you sorta blackmailed me over it. The receptionist at the pokémon center totally noticed, but lucky for me she's not a narc." "For me to blackmail you, I would need evidence of your crime.", he said. "That's stupid, that's totally still blackmail.", she argued pointlessly. Ilima just rolled his eyes, contemplating again whether the girl was a savant, an idiot, or both.
Then, the Golbat returned. "Great jooooob Kawami!", Kau'i cheered, wrapping the bat in a suffocating hug that sent her tumbling over her feet and onto the ground. The physical affection was a good sign in Ilima's eyes, particularly for a pokémon that evolved with a close bond. "Okay, okay. Everybody ready?", Kau'i said excitedly after regaining some composure. Her pokémon all voiced their ascent, and she lifted herself just a bit so she was sitting on the floor instead of lying down. "Plan go!", she shouted through the muffling mask.
Just as she had described, her Salandit emitted a cloud of Poison Gas that stung at Ilima's eyes even through his Blissey's Healer effect. The gas was blown about to fill the space, puffing out of the holes in the ceiling in wisps, while the immune Poison-Types turned the cave into a nightmare for its residents. If not for Confuse Ray and Supersonic, it likely wouldn't have been effective, but the confusion the moves had made pushed the pokémon to flee. Soon after each burrow was filled, it was plugged up with webs. Ilima's stylus flew across the tablet screen as he pushed through the pain of the Poison Gas to record every detail. Kau'i, in contrast, stood passively by in a deep squat as it all played out.
"Clear the air will ya!?", the thief shouted, revealing the empty cave from behind the veil of purple smoke. A rumbling cry echoed down from the nest at the end of the Verdant Cavern. Totem Raticate was ready. Kau'i got up unsteadily, then followed behind as her Golbat led them right to the totem's nest. "Hey.", Kau'i said suddenly, stopping just before the nest. "What?", Ilima asked. "Does getting the Totem Pokémon to faint still count?", Kau'i inquired. Ilima paused, barely refraining from repeating himself. "Yes, that certainly qualifies.", he finally said. "Good. We're doin' that." With unabashed gumption, she passed through the curtain of vines into the nest of Totem Raticate with her team in tow, only having returned the inexperienced Salandit to her ball.
The massive pokémon reared back, letting loose a shrill screech that enveloped the chamber before sending an approving look at his friend Ilima. "Kawami, poison! Toma, setup!", Kau'i directed, signaling the start of the fight. The Golbat flew towards the four foot tall rat, her gaping maw drooling with toxins for a Poison Fang, but the Totem Raticate leaped out of the way for a second with his immense strength. The totem pokemon cleared a blocked up burrow with a flick of his tail, another Raticate half his size joining him, before the bat caught up to the rat and sunk her Poison Fangs down on his bulbous head. The poison seeped into the wound, but it fizzled out in moments after the totem pokémon bit down on a pecha berry he had Gluttonously stuffed in his cheek.
Kau'i's Ariados stayed back, sharpening his limbs against eachothers hard carapace in an admirable Swords Dance, before being rushed by the totem's ally. The totem himself was busy with Kau'i's Golbat, clipping her wings with a Super Fang that was reciprocated by her own Poison Fang that again failed to poison the bestial rodent. The smaller Raticate cracked into Ariados's hard shell with a Hyper Fang before being summarily taken down by his sharpened Fell Stinger.
Seeing the threat of the challengers, Totem Raticate moved to Sucker Punch the Ariados before he could attack, but stumbled when Golbat's Quick Guard tripped him. Ilima took note of both the advanced move and Kau'i's self-satisfied smile over its use. A Fell Stinger followed the fall, taking advantage of the vulnerable pokémon. Ilima's attention was suddenly caught when Kau'i gave another order, "Hypnosis!"
Easily, the Golbat met the giant's gaze and put it to sleep. Again, Ariados stabbed his Stinger into the slumbering form of the boss of Verdant Cavern. The Golbat clamped down tightly with another Poison Fang that finally dropped its payload deep inside his flesh, when Raticate stirred. Through his Sleep Talk, he swatted at them in an Endeavor to fight back, but failed to do any damage. With one last Fell Stinger, Ariados roused the sleeping giant.
Totem Raticate was worse than Ilima had ever seen him, mangy, covered in puncture wounds, and sputtering coarse breaths. Ilima, Kau'i, her Ariados, and Raticate all knew that if Ariados got in another attack Raticate would faint. Only Kau'i's bat-brained Golbat didn't know that, which Kau'i desperately needed to fix. "COME ON KAWAMI!! KEEP TOMA SAFE!!!", Kau'i rallied with all her emotions pouring out like vomit. Golbat's dopey smile turned to a determined smirk as she suddenly glowed a bright white. Her speed doubled with her wings while she dived straight into the Raticate's mouth. With a smile on both ends, the newly evolved Crobat fell limp in the totem pokémon's jaws. Totem Raticate's smile turned to a frown immediately after as Ariados's Fell Stinger cut across his belly, and with a final cough from the Crobat's poison, he collapsed to the mossy floor.
"YES KAWAMI YOU EVOLVED!! AGH!", the girl shrieked in joy, rushing to pry her friend from the totem's vice-like teeth. With assistance from her Ariados, she lifted the ragged bat out of the fleshy wet cavern of a mouth and gave her another tight hug while she spun on a heel. Ilima sighed. "I'm sure this is an exciting moment, but please refrain from moving your pokémon any more while she's still injured.", he warned, "I'll accompany you to the pokémon center, since I'll need to get the totem pokémon treated as well."
"Rodents of unusual size, heh!", Kau'i gloated, still holding her Crobat far too loosely while she stared down at the unconscious totem pokémon. "Everyone makes that reference. I like the movie, but it's exactly because it's so good that everyone makes the reference.", Ilima grumbled ever so humbly. Kau'i's face was smeared with a smug grin and she said, "Come on, I'm drunk. Gimme a pass!" "Yes, that is what I'm doing. You won't be reported for underaged drinking, consider that your bonus.", Ilima flatly responded. "That's a good one!", she said, unusually bubbly as she grabbed a Normalium Z from the pedestal at the back.
Both Ilima and Kau'i dug through their packs, Kau'i putting her new Z-Crystal away, and Ilima grabbing the cherish ball used to transport Totem Raticate in situations like these. "If you need anything else from me, you have my number.", Ilima said, turning to leave once Raticate was in the ball. "Aw don't be like that! Also, I do have some things I need from you; I need whatever petal you have for Mina's stupid trial and some help with Z-Moves if you have the time.", Kau'i said as Ariados and her fell in lockstep with him. "I should be able to assist with both, but at another time. I should focus on running my trial for today.", he dismissed. "You are so boring.", she said, trying to insult him. "Thank you.", he said.