"Look at him! He's so cute!"

Lillie held up the newest member of her team into the air, raising him up for all the world to see. The Pokémon was a simple, white clump with a trio of pastel-colored mushrooms growing off of its body. It had two mushrooms: one lavender and one pink.

"I found him when he fell off a tree. He'd been trying to put me to sleep!" She giggled. "But Popplio helped defeat him and then I asked if he wanted to join. And now look!"

Two empty voids stared up at me blankly. The mushroom creature’s eyes were empty; it didn't even blink.

"Hello," I said.

The Morelull made a sort of squeaking noise as it waved one of its smaller mushrooms at me.

"Now, I'm proud that you managed to catch a Pokémon—great job, by the way," I said.

"Thank you," Lillie replied.

"But did you really have to camp out in the jungle overnight?"

Hope burst into laughter, and Nebby laughed from within Lillie's backpack.

It wasn't that I had been stressed (a lie, I had been), it was just that I had spent most of that time worrying that they went so long without even a call. Lillie at least had the presence of mind to contact me before midnight, telling me that everything was okay and that she had somehow argued her way into a victory against a much stronger Pokémon.

My worry had been replaced by pride after that.

Thankfully, Hope had been with Lillie, and Hope was an elite trainer capable of winning a fight against anything in that jungle. I had been happy they had entered together, but, now, the more I thought about it, the more it seemed like that delay had been Hope's idea and not Lillie’s.

I sent the Grass Type specialist in question a glare, but she just ended up laughing even harder. I started to need to suppress my own laughter, too. Hope and I spent days trying to find a Lileep. A single overnight trip wasn’t actually that unreasonable for her to gain two new members of her team. I was happy with her success, as it far exceeded my expectations.

"So do your Pokémon need healing, or should we head out?" I asked.

Lillie shook her head.

"Cherrim managed to heal my team, and I used a Potion to top them off. Everyone is in good shape. We can start moving on."

I smiled. "Then let's head out. To the Fire Type Trial, next."

Lush Jungle grew at the base of a tall mountain, a dormant volcano known as "Mount Wela." The area around it, Wela Volcano Park, was littered with Fire, Poison, and Rock Type species that thrived in such a harsh environment. Also, the mountain itself was a little strange in that it didn't have any dedicated, single route. Rather, a spiderweb of paths and passages spiraled around its sides and gave anyone a slow but steady ascent to the top.

Overall, the peak—our destination—wasn't actually that high, only requiring roughly a day's worth of dedicated traveling, by my estimates. It took us half a day to just reach the mountain, then we had the rest of the trip up to go.

Pokémon were frequent in this area: Salandit, Growlithe, Grimer, and so on. As we passed, a few Gravelers rolled down the hill, unintentionally making new paths while destroying others. The air itself had the acrid taste of smoke to it, but only just barely so.

Lillie took the lead, and, surprisingly, she temporarily took out her old hat. I was unhappy seeing a remnant of her previous, mother-selected outfit still around, but the hat was too useful to give up. On days like these, in a hot environment, it was great to give Lillie shade from the sun.

Lillie had Cleffa and Morelull practice against Pokémon that jumped out at us, and then Hope had her own team members step in every so often. Morelull relied on confusion and sleep to defeat his foes, whereas Hope trained her newly caught Steenee and Tangela in the use of pure power.

I had my own members who needed practice, but they didn't battle just yet. Primarily, Cutiefly, who was still building up his stamina by using moves to the point of exhaustion whenever we stopped to rest. He was making decent progress—he could take a single hit, and he was on the verge of expanding his list of known moves. Though, I was still hesitant to use him in battle. He definitely wouldn’t see his first here, where the common species had a distinct Type advantage over him.

The rest of my team, the stronger members, did practice as we moved, however. Ninetales worked on her control by keeping the area around us cool for hours on end, Florges did her best to "grow" plants within this dry space to push the limits of what her Grass Type moves let her do, and then Whimsicott and Altaria kept to the skies, keeping watch and sparring high in the air.

At several points, Florges scolded the pair of flying Pokémon for being too rough, but neither Altaria nor Whimsicott properly listened.

It took the rest of the day to get halfway up. We spent hours trudging up that rocky slope. I had hoped to reach the top in a day, but we had started late, and the winding slopes and paths meant we weren’t traveling in a straight line.

To camp, we found a nice, flat area that overlooked central Akala. A few masses of thick grass grew in its center, but it served as a safe place to set up a camp overall. The view was incredible, allowing us to see the vast expanse of the jungles and routes below. There was a quiet peacefulness to our campsite here. I found myself sitting near the edge and staring out in a peaceful silence.

Hope left on her own early on, saying she wanted to get more training in with her newest Pokémon. My own team either rested or had me return them to their Pokéballs, and Lillie soon walked over to sit by my side.

She didn't speak right away, but she clearly had something on her mind. She stared off over the horizon, not really enjoying the view as much as me, and doing her best to hide the frequent, subtle glances she kept sending my way.

"Um, Alex?” Lillie finally whispered. “You're... you're from another world, right?"

I blinked in surprise, not having expected this line of questioning in the slightest. I shouldn't have been caught off guard, though, as I knew she had listened in on my explanation to Kukui about some of my meta-knowledge when Hope and I first arrived in the region.

"Yes, I am,” I said.

Lillie nodded slightly, but she didn’t follow that question up right away. She bit her lip and fidgeted in place, spending a full minute not meeting my eyes.

"Do you ever miss them?" she eventually asked.

"Miss who?" I replied.

"Your family. Your friends. Everyone you left behind."

I let out a sigh and rubbed my head. The answer she was trying to get was complicated, to say the least. Her eyes bore into me as she waited for me to answer, and I just shook my head.

“Sometimes. I didn’t have anyone I was close to,” I paused, suddenly making a connection. “But this isn’t about me, isn’t it? This is about you and your mother, right?”

Lillie stiffened in shock, and I turned away to give her space.

"Look, I had a few acquaintances, yeah, but that's only if I'm being generous. For my family, I had my mother and a set of grandparents I never met. My mother, though... Well, she certainly wasn't the best. I had a nice childhood, but all pretense of care stopped when I started to grow up. Heck, when I was a teen, I all but had to take care of myself.”

Lillie sucked in a breath, and she rubbed her hands together.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t think—”

“It’s fine,” I said. “You’re probably thinking about home a lot, aren’t you?”

She nodded slightly in response.

“My mom isn’t the best person, but she’s still my mom,” Lillie said. “Everyone says all these bad things about her, but she was so caring when I was young. She started the Aether Foundation, played with me and Gladion all the time, but when Dad disappeared...”

Lillie went silent. I hung my head.

“What I’m trying to say is that even after everything, even after I ran away from Aether Paradise to make sure Nebby was okay, I still miss her. I still want her to know that I’m okay, and I still want her to be okay, too. Is that bad? She’s been really out of it, recently. But she’s still my mom! I’m allowed to care for her. Right?”

I looked Lillie in her eyes. They were puffy and red. Slowly, I lifted up my hand to rub her head, where she blinked in surprise at the touch.

“It’s fine to care about family, but you have to remember that you’re allowed to think about yourself, first. There’s nothing wrong with going on a journey and bringing Nebby with you. I can tell your heart is in the right place, and never forget that.” I gave her the most comforting smile I could muster. “If you want to make sure your mother is doing well, visit her yourself once you become the strongest in the world, yeah? You’re traveling for a reason. You can worry about home, but don’t get distracted from what’s ahead.”

Lillie closed her eyes for a moment before letting out a short laugh.

“Yeah. I think I get it,” she said, pausing briefly to sniffle. “I’m allowed to care for my mom, even if it seems like a lot of what she’s been doing hasn’t been right.”

I pulled my hand back at that, and Lillie’s body seemed to lose a lot of its tension at that last declaration. Thinking about it, this was probably a point of stress for her for a long time, and I couldn’t blame her. I saw a lot of my mom in Lusamine, funnily enough. She was that kind of parent who was difficult to have, though Lillie seemed to still be closer to her mom than I was to mine.

The rest of the time there, we stayed silent. We sat near the edge and gazed over the forest, with Lillie’s stare much more contemplative than it originally was.

Hope returned not too long after, having managed to forage a few edible roots and tubers. I tossed back a few I didn’t like—seriously, she might like Grass Type Pokémon, but some of these things were just far too bitter to use in a meal—before I started up a meal for our growing numbers currently resting in the camp. Between Hope, Lillie, and I, we had nineteen Pokémon here, with Hope having seven on her, me having eight, and Lillie having the last and final four.

Once we finished eating, we rested, sleeping in a mass group, taking a few turns to keep watch. The next morning, another ridiculous sum of food was cooked, and we headed off, aiming to reach the peak before noon fell.

The next day, we set out to scale the rest of Wela Volcano Park. The air was dry, and this high up, it was somewhat difficult to breathe. The dirt beneath our feet was rough and coarse, and at several points I could see wild Salandit half-buried within.

Now that we were even closer to the summit, Hope kept her team members in their balls so they wouldn’t have to deal with the heat. Between Lillie and I, only Altaria and Nebby were still out. Altaria’s Cloud Nine let him ignore the temperatures, and Nebby was always out by default.

We scaled higher and higher, finding trails already carved into the rock. Thankfully, our predecessor's efforts made it so we never truly had to climb using anything but our feet. Near the peak, a small cave lit with torches formed a tunnel to the very top, and we all passed through, being careful as we walked and emerging into a solidified, stone caldera.

We didn't need to search; the trial captain was right there, front and center. Dark skinned and shirtless, Kiawe had his arms crossed as he stared at us as we arrived.

"So you have come to test your might against the Wela Volcano Park Trial?!" he shouted, his voice echoing off the rising slopes around us with a slight boom. "Then you three have come to the right place! Here, your might shall be tested! Prepare for yourself for a battle for the ages!"

On cue, plumes of smoke burst behind him. He held his arms as if part of a Z-Move dance, then he grabbed a Pokéball from his side and thrust it forward.

I had to give him credit for that introduction. His short speech had been a bit generic, but he carried himself well. Everything had been decently thought out to make him seem as intimidating as possible. Unfortunately, only one third of us were here to challenge the Fire Type Island Trial, and after encountering Hala not too long ago, the young Kiawe just didn’t match up.

"Actually," Hope interrupted. "Only Lillie is going to take on the Trial. Alex and I are here for something else. I imagined Kukui informed you about the people looking into possible Gym Leaders?"

Credit to Kiawe, he didn't show us any surprised reaction at all. His expression stayed emotionless as he clipped his Pokéball back to his side.

"Excuse me one moment," he said.

Hope and I nodded to give him permission as he walked off.

After a few seconds, he turned and marched until he was firmly behind a nearby boulder, completely hidden from our view.

"AAHHH! THAT WAS SO EMBARRASSING! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THEY WEREN'T TAKING THE TRIAL! AND NOW I HAVE TO FIGHT THEM WHILE I'M COMPLETELY UNPREPARED!"

I heard birds squawking in the distance as they took off in response to the sheer volume of his voice. He waited for just a moment longer, and when he came back out, he cleared his throat as if nothing had happened at all.

"Thank you," he said. Hope and I could only slowly nod. "Now then, I only have my lower-tier Pokémon with me, so unless you want to battle—"

A keen glint appeared in Kiawe's red eyes, and his gaze rapidly flicked between Lillie and I.

"Wait a second, is she the one here for the trial?" he asked, referring to Lillie.

"Yes?” she squeaked.

"And as for you two, you wish to test me?"

"Yeah?” Hope and I replied in unison.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"Then I have a perfect solution in mind!"

Kiawe placed his fists on his hips then began to let loose a maniacal laugh. His hand pointed forward while his gaze turned to the sky, taking such an imperious pose that his head didn’t even look our way.

"I challenge you to a double battle! Test me while I test one of you in exchange!"

Lillie fidgeted in place while a silence hung over us.

"Um, sure? Is that really okay?"

"It's fine with me," I replied.

"I'll still need to fight your core team, later," Hope added, talking to Kiawe. He shrugged.

"I’ll clear my schedule for two days from now. We can battle where I would plan to build the Gym.”

There was a brief discussion about that—only truly insane trainers would build a Gym inside a volcano, dormant or not. Kiawe explained that he would have the building be created at the base of the mountain, right on the bounds of Royal Avenue to the south.

After that, we had an all clear, with only one standout question.

"What about facing the Totem Pokémon?" Lillie asked.

Kiawe grinned.

“You’ll see,” he said ominously.

The stone volcano cap we stood on was safe for a basic match, but only one that lacked Pokémon with any decently strong moves, as those could crack the rock. That worried me greatly, but Kiawe explained this usage was a tradition spanning hundreds of years. Local Fire Type Pokémon maintained the stone, and with their help and assistance from wild Rock Types, they ensured the volcano would never blow.

I nodded along to that answer, though I noticed he never explicitly stated it would be safe. Still, over a hundred years had passed. What were the chances it would crack now?

(It didn't, despite my worries. The dual-battle with Lillie and I came to pass with no problems at all.)

Most Trial Captains usually served as their own referee, but with Hope here, she stepped in like we had been doing before. Kiawe set the rules—two Pokémon for Lillie and I, four Pokémon for him, and each trainer would get a single switch each—before moving back into a spot on the opposite side of this volcano-top crater.

"Usually, the act of climbing the mountain itself serves as the trial to allow one to challenge the Totem Pokémon," Kiawe said. "But sometimes, I step in to fight a match against those I deem stuck-up or against those who just want the added challenge. For you, well, you have to test me, of course, but I can see that one of you wishes to prove yourself as well. You have a certain glint in your eyes that reminds me of those set to become strong."

Lillie blushed at that, and that was enough to make Kiawe laugh again. Forgetting Hope, he sent out his two team members and shouted "Let's Begin!" much to our temporary referee’s annoyance.

A fluffy red dog and a bird with black wings and vermillion feathers appeared on the field. Lillie whispered "Growlithe and Fletchinder" to identify them under her breath, and we sent our own initial team members out in exchange.

"Eevee!"

"Popplio!"

A "dog" and a "seal" appeared on the field, and Hope started a very obvious countdown to remind Kiawe about her role for this battle.

"Eevee should be at a slightly higher level than Popplio, but he has the appropriate strength for this match.” I whispered to Lillie. “I'll leave the strategizing up to you, but keep in mind I haven't Hyper-Trained him yet."

"Hyper Training? Like that technique in Kalos?"

"That? Oh, no. I mean that I plan to have Altaria to tutor both him and Gardevoir for Hyper Voice and Hyper Beam at the same time. He just has to evolve first, which is why we haven’t put too much effort into expanding his known moves yet. Sylveon would be a perfect member of the Pixilate squad, you know?"

Lillie sent me a bewildered look at my inane explanation, and Hope's countdown reached its expected conclusion. Without any time remaining, Lillie quickly told me to have Eevee distract while Popplio attacked, a strategy she had seemed to be fond of in the past.

When the battle started, three out of the four Pokémon moved off at once. Eevee and Growlithe ran towards the center, Fletchinder flew, and the poor Popplio sat in one place.

"Ember!" Kiawe shouted, giving two commands in one. Sparks of flame shot out of both Growlithe and Fletchinder's mouth, forcing Eevee to dodge.

A Quick Attack brought him to the side, the Embers only lightly scorching the edge of his fur, and I shouted for a Swift. The attack would hit both Pokémon at once, hopefully giving Lillie a chance to move.

Stars left Eevee’s tail and homed in on the two Fire Types. A thicker star caught Growlithe in the side, but a flying flurry only barely managed to clip Fletchinder’s tail feathers.

With Fletchinder basically at full health, it pulled its wings in and dived down for a Flame Charge that set itself aflame. Lillie finally acted at this moment, calling out for Popplio to unleash a Bubble Beam.

A shout, and Fletchinder pulled to the side. The Bubble Beam hit nothing, but the attack did seem to throw off the flying Pokémom's aim. Eevee managed to escape and focus on Growlithe.

"Focus on Tail Whip. Drop them down, pin them in place,” I said.

Lillie bit her tongue, waiting for the exact moment she needed to order whatever she had planned next.

Growlithe ran straight towards Eevee as Fletchinder pestered him with Embers from above. Kiawe was resorting to the classic, hot-heated Fire Type strategy of going pure offense, and it seemed he was planning to focus down my Pokémon, first.

Eevee’s tail lashed out at Growlithe, but it leapt over the fluff to get to Eevee’s other side. A snap of its jaws tried to latch onto Eevee, but a Baby-Doll Eyes made Growlithe hesitate enough that it only grabbed onto hair.

"Bubblebeam! Wide spread!"

This was the moment Lillie finally decided to call out her second attack.

Popplio's next move wasn't aimed at a specific Pokémon. Rather, it was aimed towards the side, and Popplio turned her head to cause the attack to behave like a swipe.

Fletchinder managed to dodge—of course, it could fly—but the Growlithe wasn't so lucky. The stream of bubbles caught it in the side, in fact, right where the star from Swift had hit before.

Growlithe winced, but it stayed up. I would have considered that fine if it wasn’t for what happened next. With the Bubble Beam swipe, Eevee was too close to Growlithe to dodge, and the Bubble Beam ended up slapping him in the side of the head.

"Sorry. I'm sorry!" Lillie shouted.

“Vee,” Eevee stated, deadpan.

He sent an annoyed look towards Popplio, who turned away from his glare. A sizzling noise brought his focus back to the field, where he barely managed to counter a dual-Ember with a weak-quick-use of Swift of his own.

“Focus on the battle! Charm!” I quickly shouted.

Growlithe hesitated to do whatever it planned on doing, which gave Eevee enough time to shape a small but still useful Shadow Ball. That move was launched towards Fletchinder, who took up evasive maneuvers in the sky. Eevee, however, was panting. After the damage he took from Popplio, he was injured, and that didn’t even account for the extreme effort he was expending to fend off both Pokémon’s attacks.

Lillie looked overwhelmed. The guilt from that mistimed Bubble Beam still lingered, clear on her face.

Accidents happened. We’ve never trained to be in a double battle like this. I can’t blame her for having a minor slip up like that.

"Continue the same strategy, or are we changing it up for what's next?" I asked to bring her back into the mindset of the battle.

"Oh! Um, hm,” Lillie mumbled. “I think I might actually have an idea."

Popplio, a Pokémon with a Type advantage over the Fire Type, was returned, which was a curious choice. Lillie sent out Cleffa, of all things, and I raised my brow.

"We're switching roles!" Lillie told me.

I was quick to catch on.

"Don't worry about distracting them, Eevee. Just focus on landing your attacks!"

Eevee let out a feral grin that wouldn't be out of place on Azumarill before he charged right in. Growlithe was caught off guard by the sudden aggression and was knocked to the ground in a Tackle.

Rather than try to finish Growlithe off, however, Eevee got up to run, trusting Lillie's plan, and he went all in on trying to take Fletchinder down.

"Aim for Growlithe! Sweet Kiss!" Lillie yelled.

Cleffa bounded over to where the Fire Type was getting up. Right when Growlithe seemed to stabilize itself, a pair of lips planted themselves right on the side of the dog’s face.

That move caused Growlithe to stumble. It blinked several times after it got up. Then, confused, it rapidly fell towards its side, taking hurried steps to keep it standing but unintentionally traveling over most of the battlefield.

“Now Charm, constantly!” Lillie yelled to follow up.

Growlithe, a puppy in its own right, was subjected to a furious barrage of an even better set of puppy dog eyes, and within its confusion, it seemed to lose almost all of its motivation to fight.

“Fletchinder, Acrobatics. Growlithe, get back!” Kiawe yelled.

Kiawe’s commands changed up the battlefield, and I noticed that he grabbed Growlithe’s Pokéball in preparation to switch.

“Finish Fletchinder off, Eevee!” I yelled.

Eevee stopped playing around.

Fletchinder and Eevee had been going at it while Cleffa kept Growlithe at bay. The bird had done several sweeping runs, trying to clip Eevee in the side. By this point, his Swift was too well-aimed to allow any ranged moves to hit, so the bird had been forced to resort to melee.

One fast-paced Acrobatics let Fletchinder clip Eevee on his back, and he cried out in pain and pushed himself low to the ground. It looked as though he was about to faint, and I kept my expression purposefully level as he panted heavily.

“Flame Charge!”

Fletchinder dived down once more, its body consumed by flame. It picked up speed as it hurtled directly towards Eevee, but that was when he stood up.

One final Shadow Ball hit it head on, a slight trick to give him better accuracy. Kiawe let out a shocked grunt as the ball of shifting darkness smashed into Fletchinder’s face. The Flame Charge ended up going out; the bird crashed into the ground, completely unconscious.

“I’m using a switch,” Kiawe said.

Hope nodded, recognizing his choice.

It seemed that despite having a full team of six, Kiawe didn’t need to think on who he wanted to send out next. The fainted Fletchinder was returned, and the still conscious yet currently hindered Growlithe was recalled to its ball, too. Replacing them was a pair of Pokémon that were far more intimidating; a red lizard with sharp claws and a flaming tail, and a Pokémon wearing a painted skull, a bone long enough to be a staff held in one hand.

That bone staff caught aflame on both ends, and I quickly identified the two Pokémon.

“A Charmeleon and an Alolan Marowak,” I said.

My identification was only half accurate; the Marowak was twice as large as it should have been.

Kiawe’s hint from earlier was now made clear. The Totem Pokémon for the Fire Type Trial seemed to be part of his team. It towered over the Charmeleon next to it, who was already larger than both Eevee and Cleffa combined.

“How are we going to beat them, Alex?” Lillie whispered nervously.

“Don’t worry. You’ve been making leaps and bounds. I know you’ll come up with a plan. As for Marowak, legally, it will have to hold back.”

She nodded slightly, biting her lip as she did. It was blatantly obvious that the Totem was much stronger than anything on the field. Lillie’s team was only roughly three stars, whereas her opponent was about four. My Pokémon were helping bridge the gap, but either way, the Totem Marowak would have to fight at a lower level to keep this match fair.

“Marowak, keep your moves at roughly the fourth tier. Focus on support rather than offense,” Kiawe said.

While it was good news that Marowak wouldn’t directly attack, it still posed an issue because Charmeleon was stronger than Kiawe’s previous Pokémon had been. It went from being a decent threat to a major threat if it was going to have the support of a Totem right behind it.

“So, what’s your plan?” I asked Lillie.

Thankfully, Kiawe was waiting for us to make the first move.

“I think I need to get Popplio out, but I’ve already used my one switch,” Lillie said with grim determination. “We’ve been trying to work out some new moves, and maybe this will be a good time to let her evolve.”

My brow raised again.

Let her evolve?

I knew it was a little strange Popplio had gone on so long still in her base form, but to know they’ve been purposefully holding it back was something else.

“Alright. I got it. Do this, Alex: weaken Charmeleon and create an opening for the rest of our team. Cleffa can only attack with Disarming Voice and Pound, which are too weak to hurt Charmeleon.”

“I’m waiting!” Kiawe shouted to interrupt. “Are you going to fight, or what?”

Lillie’s expression hardened as her nerves faded away.

“I think we can do this, Alex,” she said. “We can definitely still win.”

“Metal Claw!” Kiawe yelled.

Lillie replied with a shout for a Charm, and I called out for Eevee to try to get up close and delay Charmeleon with Quick Attack. He did manage to slam into the lizard’s chest, but that only let the Pokémon grab him in preparation to attack. Not only that, but the Totem Marowak moved in action as well. The much larger Pokémon spun its bone, the flames on the weapon’s end being dragged along to form a circle. With a wheel of flame formed, it banged its bone into the ground, and a humongous Fire Spin then went forward to encircle Eevee and Charmeleon, entrapping the pair and searing the tired Eevee with its flames.

“Sing, Cleffa! Please!”

Despite Lillie calling for an order, Charmeleon still hadn’t followed what Kiawe had told it to do. With the heat of the flames bearing down on Eevee, he wasn’t able to stop the swipe of Charmeleon’s claws from carving into him and knocking him away through the spiral of fire. Charmeleon then ran, the Fire Spin moving with it, and a gleaming claw continued forward to slashed down right onto the tiny Fairy Type.

Cleffa wasn’t very strong. In fact, she was inherently weaker than most Pokémon as she was a “baby” Pokémon by species. The single Metal Claw, a super effective move, came from the claw of a much stronger Pokémon that Cleffa wasn’t fast enough to react to. That one slash took her out, and she bounced away, over the ground, fainted.

When Cleffa was returned to her Pokéball, Lillie’s face was expressionless. She silently tossed forward the marked Pokéball containing Popplio, then said only four words.

“You have to evolve.”

A Flamethrower from Charmeleon finished Eevee off, who had been determinedly attempting to get back up. I returned him, and Togepi came out in his place. She was my only option for this—Cutiefly was still too weak, and Tinkatuff wouldn’t be able to hold up against a combination of two Fire Types.

“Togepi, support,” I said, side-eying Lillie and her Pokémon.

I wanted to see how she planned to force her Pokémon to evolve here.

On the field itself, the Fire Spin continued around Charmeleon, and it lumbered forward, sharp teeth exposed in a confident grin. Popplio puffed up her chest and used her fins to drag herself forward, then she built up speed and lunged right through the fire.

The Water Type hit Charmeleon in the chest in a way not too dissimilar to Eevee before it. The Totem Marowak tried to send out what looked to be a Will-O-Wisp, but Togepi’s Psychic was able to throw off the move’s aim.

“Hydro Pump!” Lillie yelled.

Both my and Kiawe’s attention snapped to where Popplio was wrestling with Charmeleon. A Pokémon using such a powerful move at this low level simply didn’t happen.

And it didn’t. Except, it was close.

The move Popplio used was definitely a Bubble Beam, except she was using it at a level of power much higher than normal. A huge amount of Type energy was poured into the move in an amount normally only seen during evolution. But, the reason why Popplio was able to do that soon became clear.

Popplio had overloaded herself with stored Water Type energy to use the move in such a way, energy normally not seen in such an amount except when a Pokémon evolved. It seemed that Popplio had been storing it, pushing it down all this time, and now that she had finally released it, she was beginning to evolve.

I had to stop my jaw from hanging open as Popplio's body shifted. Her overall length increased, and the color of her body became a lighter blue. After, her ears changed to resemble a chain of balls, and she gained a frill of fur around her waist.

When the light broke, the evolution had finished. Lillie had successfully timed it to take place during this battle, just like she had said.

"Congratulations, Brionne!" Lillie yelled.

"Congratulations," I mumbled, the word only barely coming out of my mouth.

Emboldened by the successful strategy, Lillie called for a Bubble Beam, not bothering to call out for the unfinished Hydro Pump again. Charmeleon, already seriously injured from the previous, super effective attack, tried to use Slash to carve through, but even when the bubbles popped, water still splashed onto Charmeleon’s body.

"Aerial Ace, Togepi! Distract Marowak!"

The Totem Pokémon looked to be moving in, intent on stopping Brionne's one-sided smackdown in one way or another. Togepi, however, wouldn't let that happen as she built up speed and charged.

Her crested head tilted forward in a superfast lunge towards Marowak's chest. The Aerial Ace was blocked by the bone staff, but it had still forced the Pokémon to pause just long enough for Brionne to finish its job.

It wasn't a Bubble Beam that finished off Charmeleon, nor was it a Hydro Pump. No, it was a basic Water Gun that shot out to snipe Charmeleon in the chest. Charmeleon had been trying to go for a Slash, a Normal Type move prone to landing critical damage, however, the Water Gun came out faster, and that sudden impact was enough to catch the Pokémon off guard, throw it off balance, and send it sliding over the ground.

Charmeleon fainted.

With Charmeleon now out of the picture, Kiawe grimaced and returned the second-stage starter. In its place came Growlithe, no longer confused or weakened like it was before.

"Can Togepi handle Growlithe?" Lillie asked.

I nodded. "Definitely.”

With that, Lillie gained a bright smile on her face and pointed forward, her hand aimed directly at the Totem Marowak's chest.

"Brionne, douse its flames!"

"Togepi, take that dog out!"

Ancient Power ripped stones out of the floor, blocking an Ember as Growlithe sped forward. Meanwhile, Brionne slid over the ground as if the rock was made of ice to reach where the Marowak was lumbering forward.

"Bubble Beam!"

"Ancient Power!"

Our two moves struck at the same time. Growlithe was hit by purple-controlled rocks, and Marowak's bone was covered with water. Growlithe couldn't withstand the attack; it quickly fell to the floor under the weight of the stone. Marowak, meanwhile, was barely affected, but the flames on its staff were snuffed out.

There was a moment's pause as we waited to see what Kiawe and the Marowak would do. Kiawe let out a sigh, whereas the Marowak stared at its steaming weapon in silence.

Then, it turned and walked off. Rather than attack, the Totem seemed to have acknowledged Lillie's win and strode off the battlefield.

“Captain Kiawe has no Pokémon left available to fight. The challengers win!” Hope announced.

Kiawe looked gobsmacked, and I had a feeling I must have, too. Brionne smiled on the field and tried to push herself towards Lillie. However, the freshly evolved Water Type had expended a lot of energy to do what it did. It ended up falling to the ground instead, so Lillie ran up and scooped the Water Type up into a hug.

“You were amazing, Brionne. I’m really proud of you.”

The seal let out a tired sigh, and from within Lillie’s backpack, I heard Nebby let out a muffled cheer.

“For Popplio’s—I’m sorry—Brionne’s evolution. How did you manage that?” I asked as I walked up, returning Togepi as I did.

Lillie grinned in response, and she held her Pokémon tighter in her arms. The tail of the evolved seal hung low and flopped about as she twisted in place.

“Simple! I listened to you. You talked about Pokémon always evolving in high stress situations, but you also mentioned that tends to cause them to evolve in serious battles. Brionne could have evolved earlier, but we held it back as a trump card in case something got really serious. It just meant we had to risk her a bit by sending her forward, increasing her stress, then bam!” Lillie giggled. “Popplio evolves into Brionne.”

I had to sit back and process that after she explained it. In a way, it was smart.

“And you didn’t do this against the Totem Lurantis? But you were okay doing it here?” I rubbed my head. “Technically, purposefully endangering a Pokémon like that for the sake of evolution is illegal in one way or another. That’s a little outside the norm of how battles usually go.”

Her face went blank, and Hope walked up behind her.

"That's what, the second technically illegal thing you've done recently?" Hope asked.

"Third, if you count stealing Nebby away into safety," I added.

Lillie, now bright red, tried to inch a hand up to pull down her hat. Unfortunately for her, she had taken it off earlier, so all she managed to do was fidget in place.

Seeing her reaction to her teasing, I went ahead to admit to her that I’d done worse, which didn’t seem to make her feel better about it at all. Kiawe saved her from this conversation, however, walking up behind her as Hope and I talked.

“Congratulations.” Kiawe said to Lillie once he was nearby. “Clever use of evolution. I didn’t expect to lose like that.”

The way Kiawe spoke made it seem like he didn’t expect to lose it at all. I noticed how he was avoiding both Hope and my eyes. He looked a bit embarrassed.

“Don’t worry. You showed off your team well. Impressive range of low level Pokémon. And Totem Marowak? Do all Totems allow themselves to be caught like that?” I asked.

“Well, no, but Marowak is a special case,” Kiawe explained. “She likes surprising people, and this is a deal we worked out in exchange. Basically, she has a Pokéball, but she can come and go as she pleases, which is great when she wants to pop up behind someone. No one ever expects the Totem Pokémon to be directly on the Trial Captain. She’s given her fair share of shocks.”

He chuckled, now looking much more satisfied with himself.

“We’ll have our own battle in two day’s time, Hope. I should fare much better then,” Kiawe said.

Hope raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, will you now?” she said.

The Trial Captain did his best to pretend he wasn’t intimidated, but his grin was strained and he sweated slightly from the nerves.

With our match finished, Lillie received her Fire Z-Crystal and a small token to mark her success. We then left to head down the mountain, aiming for where Hope and Kiawe would have their match. We didn’t climb down, rather, we took a page out of Kiawe’s book after he gave us parting advice.

I took out Altaria, Hope took out Tropius, and we set our Pokémon up to fly. Kiawe traveled up and down the volcano on his Charizard, and we planned to do something roughly the same.

The flight down was a nice rest after days of travel. This was the first time Lillie mentioned she had traveled by air, and she stood in Altaria’s basket as he brought us down the mountain. She talked animatedly about how cool this was, but I did feel my eye twitch at her comment of having flown in her mother’s private helicopter before. For this, however, she was more than insistent that flying via Pokémon was completely different, and Altaria preened under Lillie’s torrent of compliments.

With this trip, we’d be back in civilization after what was almost a full week of traveling through the inner island. It was nice to have a break from traveling, though our schedule meant we needed to wait now. After two days, Hope would have her match, then after that, we would need to rush through the rest of Akala.

We had one more Trial Captain to get through as well as Akala’s Kahuna herself. With only two and a half weeks before my Sinnoh Elite Four challenge began, we would have to be fast. Time was running out, and I wanted to “complete” Akala before I left for Sinnoh.