Team Shadow (SuMo Fanfic)

Hello! This is Hime, and I bring to you my fanfic about Sun and Moon!

I'd love to hear on how you guys are liking the story, and if there should be any improvements, don't be shy to reply to this thread or send me a message directly!​

CHAPTERS​

• Chapter 1 - New Faces and Familiar Faces
• Chapter 2 - The Festival
• Chapter 3 - The Alolan Crisis
• Chapter 4 - V.S. Hele
  • Chapter 4.1 - Astrid's Feelings
• Chapter 5 - Smoke and Shadow
• Chapter 6 - Rangers!
  • Chapter 6.1 - Altair's Dream
• Chapter 7 - A Letter
• Chapter 8 - Astrid's New Friend
  • Chapter 8.1 - The Vision
• Chapter 9 - Another Confrontation!
• Chapter 10 - Sweets Festival
  • Chapter 10.1 - Infiltrating the Base
  • Chapter 10.2 - It's Not Easy Being Lilah
• Chapter 11 - Pâtisserie Karamellin LATEST

Without further ado, I present to all of you, my fanfic, Team Shadow.​

INTRODUCTION
​

10 Years have passed ever since Sun became the first Pokémon League Champion of Alola.

Everyone was very amazed of his battling skills... As well as saving the world from the Ultra Beasts that attacked Alola once.

However... Just recently... He vanished.

No one ever heard of him after he disappeared. Not even his mother. He was completely gone. No one was able to track him down.

What did happen to him? It would be impossible that someone had kidnapped him, he could've defended himself.

But there are many secrets in this world that even us, normal trainers, don't know.

But now is not the time to be depressed.

Because it is the time for a new hero to rise!​

 

CHAPTER 1 - New Faces and Familiar Faces​

It was a fine and sunny day in Alola. Nothing much was happening, until now.

"Star! Come on now, you don't want to be late!" My mom said as she knocked on my door.

"Coming!" I said. I quickly went outside to see if mom wanted me to do some chores, but I get no such thing. Instead, she came up to me and gave me a letter.

"You know, Professor Kukui sent you a letter. It seemed really important, so I woke you up from your nap" Mom said, quite cheerful.

"Hmm, I really should read this letter. Although what could it contain...?" I thought. "Give me a few minutes, I'll read it in my room" I said. After saying that, I quickly went inside my room.

My name is Star, and I live here at Iki Town. My parents came here from Sinnoh, and we have been since adapting to the ways of the Alolan people. Kinda like a Pokémon's Alolan forms! My father works as an assistant of the Professor, so I kind of know the Professor himself. He is very... strange, from other professors, but that's probably why professors become professors in the first place, right?

The letter didn't really contain that much, but the letter said that the professor wanted to meet me. I was very excited to know that the professor wanted to meet me, partially because this is the part in TV shows where the professor sends you a letter, and then gives you a Pokémon! And I've really wanted to get myself a Pokémon for a very long time now. So I quickly came out of my room, told mom the news, and headed straight to the professor's lab.

"I'm here!" I announced as I opened the door. The lab looked more like a house, not until I was led by an assistant to the basement of the house. The basement was filled with computers, fish tanks and some complex looking machines.

"Glad you made it here!" The professor said. He was with two more people who looked around the same age as me. "Alright, now that Star's finally here, it's time for ya'll to get your... trainer passports!" He said.

"Oh. Passports. I should've known. But aren't we supposed to get Pokémon first before that?"

"Now, I know what you're all thinking" He said as he gave us our passports. "But professor, shouldn't we get Pokémon first before these? Well, yeah, technically Pokémon go first than passports, but the kahuna's out now in the island, and he still hasn't come back. He's the one who is gonna give you Pokémon, but for now, take those passports first" He added.

"Maybe now's the proper time for an introduction though" An assistant said. He was watching us? Creepy.

"He's right! These two already know each other, but Star, this is Astrid on my left" He said as he pointed at her. Astrid has wavy, blonde hair. Her hair color matched with her blue eyes. She was also wearing a black cardigan, a red skirt and sneakers. "And this is Altair on my right" He added. Altair had brown, quiff hair and green eyes. He was wearing a green sleeveless jacket, peach shorts and sneakers.

"Hi!" I said, awkward as always.

"Nice to meet you, Star" Astrid said. She's probably the cheerful one. Altair didn't speak at all. "Altair's pretty much the quiet type. You'll get used to it" The professor said.

"Anyway, the kahuna's going to be at Iki Town any minute now, so we should get going!" Professor Kukui said, energetic as always. Lead by Professor Kukui, we quickly arrived at Iki Town. The kahuna, however, was nowhere to be found. I've never actually seen or met the kahuna before, so how was I going to know how he looked like? I did hear that he was always busy with maintaining the island.

A few minutes later, and we found ourselves sitting on the benches. We've been waiting here for almost 10 minutes, and there was still no sign of the kahuna. Maybe he got abducted? Kidnapped? But I hear that he's the strongest in the entire island, so I don't know if that'd be even possible.

And at long last, the kahuna finally arrives. "What took so long kahuna? The kids have been waiting!" Professor Kukui said, patting the kahuna's shoulder.

"Well, it's been a rough day. The same Tauros from 10 years ago still keeps coming back to Hau'oli City's Beachfront" The kahuna said, scratching the back of his head.

"Star, Astrid and Altair, I'd like you to meet Kahuna Hau of Melemele Island!" The professor said, cheerfully. "Anyway, enough for introductions, Kahuna Hau, please give them their Pokémon already!" The professor added.

"Sorry for the long wait! Come on out, everyone!" Hau said as he threw the Pokeballs to let the Pokémon out.

"Koooo!"

"Meow~"

"Bwark!"

"And there they are, your potential starter Pokémon! Rowlet, Litten and Popplio!" Hau said. "All you gotta do is to pick one, and see if it picks you as well!" He added.

"Hmm... Who do I choose?" I said as I was thinking on which Pokémon to choose.

"I choose Rowlet!" Altair announced as he picked Rowlet up.

"I'll get Popplio then!" I said as I picked up my own Popplio.

"Well, I guess it's you and me Litten!" Astrid said as she picked up her Litten. She quickly hugged it after picking it up.

"None of them seem to object their new owners!" The professor said, quite happy with how everything turned out.

"I hope you're all happy with your new partners!" The kahuna said.

"We are, we are!" We all announced happily. We played with our Pokémon for a while.

------------------------------

"Yes sir, I found him"

"He's at Iki Town right now, and he seems pretty distracted"

"Shall we commence the attack now?"

"At the... Got it sir"

 

CHAPTER 2 - The Festival​

"Now that you have Pokémon, you could now take part in tomorrow's competition!" Hau said happily.

"Oh, maybe we should also take some free stuff from stalls tomorrow!" Astrid suggested.

"Woo! I'm so excited for tomorrow!" Altair said, finally saying something cheerfully after 15 minutes.

"Well, I guess it's getting pretty late. Star, I take it that you'd be able to go home from here, right?" The professor asked.

"Sure I can! I have Popplio by my side anyway" I said, proudly.

"Nice seeing you again Hau. I just gotta drop these kids off to Hau'oli's Outskirts. See ya'll tomorrow!" The professor said, while taking Astrid and Altair with him.

"I guess it's also time for you to go then!" Hau said.

"Bye then!" I said, hugging Popplio tightly.

---------------------

I reached our home in just a short walk. It wasn't really that far away either, Iki Town isn't even as big as Hau'oli City, and you'd never get lost here.

"Oh, you're finally here! And you even have a Pokémon with you, Star!" My mom said, happily.

"Yup, the professor gave Popplio to me today! He even gave me my trainer's passport!" I said.

"That's just great! Glameow and Riolu have someone new to play with!" My mom said.

"Bwark! [Hello Glameow and Riolu!]" Popplio barked. Maybe it was trying to talk to Glameow and Riolu?

"Nya~ [Nice to meet you, Popplio!]" Glameow purred in a cute way. I guess they were trying to talk.

"Olu! [Hey there Popplio!]" Riolu screamed. It's always been a kind Pokémon to others.

"I guess the news was right! My girl did get a Pokémon of her own!" Dad said as he came inside the house.

"News really spread fast around here at these parts huh?" Mom said. Surprisingly, she didn't seem to be bothered by it either.

"Cario, carrrrio! [Nice to see another face around the house!]" Lucario screamed. I'm not gonna be surprised if Popplio replies to that shout.

"Bwark bwark! [Hello there!]" Popplio did bark. Everyone seems to be getting along nicely.

We all had some tasty dinner and I had some time bonding with Popplio. It was an adorable Pokémon too! It was getting quite late, so we decided to hit the hay and finally sleep.

---------------------

"I said get it done already! Didn't you hear me the first time I said that?!"

"Sorry ma'am!"

"These... Do any of you even have brains?! Get that done quickly already! We have to track that Pokémon!"

"Yes ma'am!"

---------------------

"The festival begins at 5:00 dear. You might wanna go to the center already and try your best to get some free items from the stalls. Your dad and I will come there to watch your battle, promise!" Mom said. She was looking out at the balcony, so I don't see why she just wouldn't go out there already.

"Okay, okay. See you there!" I said, gleefully.

I quickly ran outside and went to the many stalls set up. There was a great assortment of food, and everything tasted deliciously. I had a great time getting everything I could possibly get from the stalls. Until it was finally time to battle for the first round.

The first match was a battle between Astrid's Litten and a Yungoos, and the Astrid won. The second match was a battle between a Pichu and a Bonsly. It was a close fight, but Pichu overpowered Bonsly. The third match was a battle between a Pikipek and Altair's Rowlet, and surprisingly Altair won. The fourth match was a battle between a Munchlax and a Wingull. Poor Munchlax couldn't even hit Wingull, so Wingull became the victor. Every other fight after that was very lackluster; there was even a battle between an Alolan Rattata and a Slowpoke where the Slowpoke couldn't even dish out any attack since the only offensive move it knew was Confusion, an attack that does not even scratch a Dark-type. Even my battle ended quickly; It was my Popplio versus a poor Salandit. It took just a few Water Guns and the battle was already over.

The next round, the quarterfinals, became a bit more interesting. Astrid's Litten fought against the Pichu trainer, and with Litten's powerful Ember attacks, Pichu was unfortunately burned and later on fainted. Then, Altair's Rowlet fought another Flying-type, Wingull, yet Altair still won. He's quite the smartypants if I do say so myself. I found myself battling an Alolan Rattata, yet Disarming Voice did the trick. The last battle was between a Spinarak and a Pichu, and the Pichu won.

In the semifinals, everything got interesting. Astrid and Altair battled against each other, and even though Astrid's Litten should've won because of the obvious type advantage, Mr. Smartypants did it again, yes, his Rowlet won against Astrid's Litten. Meanwhile, I battled the Pichu trainer, and even though it was a bad type matchup against my Popplio, I still managed to win.

And yes, the finals round. I wasn't surprised to see Mom and Dad appearing now, as they always tend to show up late.

"And now, the final round... It's a battle between Altair and Star!" The Kahuna said on the top of his lungs.

Altair V.S. Star
Altair sent out Rowlet!
Star sent out Popplio!

"Popplio, use Disarming Voice!" I said, commanding Popplio to use said move.

"Rowlet, quick, use Leafage!" Altair commanded.

The Disarming Voice was not intercepted by the Leafage, and both attacks hit both Pokémon directly. However, Popplio was more damaged than Rowlet was. This battle, from the start, has already been a bad matchup!

"Rowlet use Peck!" Altair commanded, making Rowlet use it's beak to attack Popplio.

"Popplio, act fast and use Growl!" I commanded, trying to lower Rowlet's Attack Stat before it even damages Popplio.

The attack will probably land successfully... But if Popplio moves during the last moment, maybe it could strike it afterwards...

"Quick Popplio, dodge that!" I commanded, hoping that Popplio will dodge in time. And she did!

That's perfect, Rowlet lost it's momentum after missing!

"Alright, use Water Gun!" I commanded, knowing that Rowlet could resist that. But at least it's a direct hit.

"Don't let it get away with it, use Leafage!" Altair commanded. I can see that he was quite dumbfounded after Rowlet missed the attack.

He's also lost his momentum!

"Popplio, get ready, dodge that and use Pound!" I commanded. I can feel that Popplio could follow my commands well.

And Popplio dodged that Leafage again, and attacked an open Rowlet! The crowd is going crazy!

"If this keeps up... I'm gonna lose..." Altair whispered.

"Get ready, Rowlet, use Le-"
"Alright, Popplio, use Disar-"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM!

"Huh?"

"What the-"

"What happened?"

"What was that?"

"A Thunder attack... The Tapu!" The Kahuna said, alarmed. He quickly ran to the direction of the Ruins.

 

CHAPTER 3 - The Alolan Crisis​

"The kahuna!" A man screamed.

"I'm going to follow him" Altair announced.

"I'm going as well" I said. All I knew is that whatever happened there was dangerous.

Later on, I see Astrid in the crowd, following us as well.

"What's going on...?"

"Is everything okay?"

"Alright everybody! Let's all calm down! The kahuna's on his way to the Ruins to find out just what really happened" The professor said, trying to calm the crowd. "For now, the festival's over. I know it's sudden, but the kahuna asked me to tell you guys so that you'd all be safe" He added. This made a bunch of murmurs within the crowd, wondering what really happened, but they all leave the stage to go to their homes later on.

---------------------

"Intruders spotted. They're approaching the Mahalo Trail Bridge!"

"Quick, get that Pokémon already!"

"On it!"

---------------------

We were running to the direction of the Mahalo Trail Bridge, when all of a sudden, we heard a scream from a girl.

"C-calm down n-now Ursaring!" A girl said, nervously. She was trying to back away from where the Ursaring was.

"RAAAARGGH! [Puny human, you're done for!]"

"Crabominable, come on out!"

Kahuna Hau V.S. Ursaring
Hau sent out Crabominable

"Crabominable, use Ice Hammer!" Hau commanded. However, Ursaring was able to dodge the attack.

"RAARRGH!" Ursaring said as it used Thrash. This greatly damaged Crabominable, but it was still standing!

"Alright, use Close Combat!" Hau commanded. This prompted Crabominable to use Close Combat, a super effective move that landed on Ursaring! It's badly damaged, yet it was still standing!

"At this rate... I'll never get there in time to help the Tapu..." Hau said.

"Maybe we could sneak past the Ursaring while it's busy fighting?" The girl suggested.

"But how are we supposed to help Tapu when our Pokémon are just Level 10?" I said.

"But maybe we could help the kahuna! Litten, come out!" Astrid said, while throwing Litten's Pokéball, forcing it to come out.

"Nya nyaaa~ [W-what?]" Litten purred, quite scared.

"Alright, Rowlet, help out too!" Altair said.

"Popplio, use Disarming Voice!" I commanded. The command was followed by Popplio easily, but it looked like it did no good to the Ursaring.

"Litten, use Ember!" Astrid commanded. Again, it didn't seem to do much to Ursaring.

"Rowlet, use Leafage!" Altair commanded. Even though Rowlet was quite powerful, it didn't manage to scratch Ursaring.

"I'll take care of this!" Hau said. He then crossed his hands... Did a pose, and it later powered Crabominable.

Z-POWER: ALL-OUT PUMMELING!

Crabominable was then given lots of power, striking the Ursaring in every punch it throws. Late on, it strikes it directly, causing the Ursaring to finally faint.

"W-wow! What was that?!" Altair asked, quite surprised and excited.

"That was a Z-Power. I'll tell you 'bout it later, now we need to go and help the Tapu!" Hau said before running to the bridge.

---------------------

"Alright, everything's finished. Let's get out of here, quick!"

---------------------

We arrived at the ruins, however, there was no longer a trace of the Tapu near the ruins. Later, we entered the ruins itself, where Hau went to pray.

Hau was silently praying at the altar... when he suddenly said something. "N-no... The Tapu's... Gone"

"Wait, what?!" We all asked in unison.

Hau didn't reply, but after a few minutes of standing there, the girl began to cry.

"I-if I hadn't been t-there to block y-your way to the ruins... You c-could've still saved it... It's all my fault isn't it!" The girl said, later curling up in a ball.

"No. It's not your fault. Maybe because the Tapu was in danger, it let out waves to let the Pokémon in the nearby area know that it's in danger. But I guess they thought you were the enemy, and not the aggressors who attacked the Tapu" Hau said. "But in any way you put this... It's a crisis for the entire Alola Region. Even if just one of the Tapus gets harmed, this will disturb the region's ecosystem, so I'm not going to be surprised if some Pokémon in Melemele Island become aggressive as well" Hau added.

"So what do we do about it?" Astrid asked, quite scared.

"We have to warn the other Kahunas about the impending danger. And the Elite 4 too" Hau said. "But for now, let's return to Iki Town" He added.

---------------------

After hearing about this Alolan Crisis thingy, this quite scared me. What if this affects our relationship with our Pokémon? Whoever's behind this must have a dark purpose for even taking the Tapu captive.

This also affected Iki Town as well. Everyone got scared after they heard of what happened to the Tapu. If even their Tapu got stolen, the most powerful in the island and one of the guardian deities, then how are they supposed to protect their Pokémon from those who stole the Tapu?

 

CHAPTER 4 - V.S. Hele​

Today was quite tense. I could barely try to bond with my Popplio. Everybody in town were scared and most didn't even dare to leave town. I wasn't planning on leaving our house, until the professor and the kahuna personally picked me up from our house. It was quite embarrassing that they had to do that, but I'm in no position to judge. I was left in the town's stage, and later I was joined by Astrid and Altair.

"Now, I know what you're thinking," The professor began "that just because the Tapu got kidnapped, you won't start your adventure" He continued. "But you will still start your adventure to explore the region" He added.

"Take these." The professor added, before giving us some crystals. A green one for Altair, a red one for Astrid, and a blue one for myself. "Those are the Z-Crystals for the final evolutions of your starters. Altair received the Decidium Z, Astrid received the Incinium Z and Star received the Primarium Z" The professor said. "You'll need Z-Rings to use this, but the Tapus need to know if the three of you are worthy of having one first."

"Also, take your Pokedexes!" He added.

The Pokédex that we received was shaped quite strangely. It looked like something that was fitted for a Rotom. But hey, I'll take it!

"Just as a little mission for you, I want you to try and fill up the Alola Pokédex for me! But that's if you only want to do it, it's not necessarily a requirement" The professor said.

"If you guys want to get stronger, you might wanna head to Verdant Cavern. There's something interesting you'll see there" Hau said.

"Something interesting? Like what?" I asked inquisitively.

"You'll find it out for yourselves. But before you all leave, it'd be a good idea to say goodbye to your family now" The professor said.

"Good idea. Once I finish saying goodbye, I'll head straight to Route 2 and go to that Verdant Cavern place" Altair said.

---------------------

I finished saying goodbye to my family, with my father hugging me tightly as he just can't see me go far away from home. Mom was quite emotional as well. I didn't really openly express my feelings, but I knew that I'll miss them so much.

After all those emotional moments, I found myself passing through Hau'oli City's Shopping District. Knowing that I like shopping myself, I quickly went to the Boutique and the Salon, where I changed my clothes and hairstyle. I also caught a Pichu roaming around the grass in the city itself.

Later, I decided to finally enter Route 2. I battled quite a lot of trainers, winning against all of them. I also caught a Growlithe and a Cuitefly, both of which I kept on my team. Before finally entering the Verdant Cavern place, I entered the Pokémon Center to heal up all of my Pokémon.

Standing in front of the cave gave me chills, but Hau said that it'd be something exciting, so I guess my nervousness quickly dissipated after I remembered that. I ran to the entrance of the cave, and later saw an automatic door opening as I came close. What is this place? I thought as I entered the strangely built cave. As I entered the cave, I saw two totem poles that looked quite strange from the ones I've seen, until a girl came up to me.

"Hello there, you must be a challenger huh?" The girl began. "I'm Hele, the leader of this gym" Hele said. A strange guy then came up to her. "Oh Hele, are you giving spoilers to your challengers once again?" The guy said.

"Oh Ilima, it's my gym after all!" Hele protested. "Yes, it is, but I ought to look after you until you learn the basics of being a gym leader" Ilima countered.

"Anyway, my challenger, you won't be able to battle me until you battle all of the trainers in the Verdant Cavern and get all of their keys to unlock the stone door. Past the stone door is my room, where we will battle" Hele said, completely ignoring Ilima.

"I hope that you succeed in winning against the new Gym Leader of Verdant Cavern" Ilima said before finally accompanying Hele to the room behind the stone door.

"This will be quite easy. Hopefully" I said

"Hey! This is a place only for strong people! Allow me to test your strength here!" A trainer said before finally challenging me to a battle.

TRAINER ZOEY HAS CHALLENGED STAR TO A BATTLE!
Star sends out Pichu!
Zoey sends out Yungoos

"Pichu, use Thundershock!" I commanded.

"Yungoos, dodge that! Then use Tackle!" Zoey commanded.

The battle was a seesaw. There were times where I land hits that do massive damage, and there were also times when Zoey was able to do damage to my Pokémon. This kept on and on and on, until I finally defeated all of his Pokémon.

"Yes! 1 key down!" I said while holding out the key on the air. I battled more and more trainers, until I finally realize that I finished collecting all of the keys.

"This is it" I thought as I placed the keys in the keyholes of the stone door. Slowly, light creeped out of the keyholes, lighting up the rest of the engraved path in the stone door. Later on, the door opened with light coming from the room. This was truly it, as Hele was waiting at her own stage.

"Glad to see you getting past this door. However, this will surely be not your last time coming to this room" Hele said, getting quite pumped up.

"Let's do this!" I said.

"The official rules of this gym states that the Gym Leader and the challenger may not switch out their Pokémon unless it has fainted" Ilima said. "Ready, fight!"

GYM LEADER HELE HAS CHALLENGED STAR TO A BATTLE!
Star sent out Pichu!
Hele sent out Komala!

"Alright Pichu, use Thundershock!" I commanded. This was followed by Pichu's Thundershock hitting Komala.

"Komala, use Yawn!" Hele commanded. This made Pichu drowsy!

"Crap, I can't even switch out my Pokémon!" I thought, feeling a bit frustrated.

"Pichu, use Thundershock one more time!" I commanded, trying to make the best out of Pichu's condition before he fully falls asleep.

"That did a lot of damage... Komala, use Rollout!" Hele commanded, prompting Komala to follow the orders. Pichu was hit by Komala multiple times, causing even more damage each hit. What bothers me is that Pichu couldn't even manage to avoid it because he's so drowsy!

"Komala use Rapid Spin to finish off Pichu!" Hele commanded.

"Pichu, dodge that!" I commanded desperately. But it didn't work. Pichu fainted.

"You're pretty good" I said as I was withdrawing Pichu back to it's Pokéball.

"Same to you" Hele replied.

"Alright, Cutiefly you're up!" I said as I threw Cutiefly's Pokéball, causing it to appear.

"Komala, use Stockpile!" Hele commanded.

"Cutiefly quick, use Stun Spore!" I commanded. Cutiefly released spores that induces paralysis. But it didn't look like Komala was affected by it. "Wait, why isn't Komala paralyzed?!" I asked out of frustration.

"You see, Komala's ability is Comatose, and thanks to that, it cannot be afflicted with any status conditions" Hele said, proudly. "Komala, keep using Stockpile!" She commanded.

"Fine then, Cutiefly, use Silver Wind!" I commanded. I know that Silver Wind can increase all of it's stats, but I'm hoping that it does right now.

"Hmph, not going to work! Komala, use Stockpile!" Hele commanded. That was it's third time stockpiling!

"Cutiefly, Silver Wind!" I commanded, trying to make Cutiefly do some damage to Komala.

"Komala, use Swallow!" Hele commanded. This fully healed Komala's health.

"No way!" I said in anger and frustration. "Cutiefly, use Silver Wind!" I commanded out of rage.

"Komala, use Rollout!" Hele commanded.

"Oh no you don't! Cutiefly, stop Komala in it's tracks using Silver Wind!" I commanded. It stopped Komala in it's tracks, and it even raised Cutiefly's stats!

"Komala, hit Cutiefly right now using Rollout!" Hele commanded. Komala was trying it's best, but it's just being stopped by Cutiefly's Silver Wind. Eventually, it gained enough power to hit Cutiefly greatly.

"If you think you're the only one with healing moves, then you're wrong!" I said. "Cutiefly, use Draining Kiss then follow up with Silver Wind!" I commanded. If they could heal up, then why don't we heal up as well? Komala was drained of it's health, and it got defeated by Cutiefly's Silver Wind, which also increased its stats.

"Good job Komala, get some rest" Hele said as she withdrew Komala back to it's Pokéball. "Nice work there Cutiefly" Hele said, complimenting Cutiefly. "Alright then, Stufful come on out!" Hele said as she threw Stufful's Pokéball.

"Cutiefly, use Draining Kiss!" I commanded.

"Don't let it do that! Use Brutal Swing!" Hele commanded. I didn't really think it'd do much damage since it's a Dark-type move, but it really dealt massive damage against Cutiefly.

"Cutiefly use Fairy Wind!" I commanded, trying to distance Cutiefly from Stufful as much as possible.

"Use Bide!" Hele commanded. Stufful tried to absorb the damage it was receiving.

"Use Silver Wind!" I commanded. "That'll finish Stufful for sure!" I thought.

But my thoughts were absolutely wrong. Stufful was able to tank the damage Cutiefly was able to give it, and it gave it back to Cutiefly.

"Use Bide and hit Cutiefly with it!" Hele commanded. Even with Cutiefly's stats up, there was no way it could resist that Bide after being exposed to battle after a long time.

"Come back Cutiefly. Thanks for the help" I said as I withdrew Cutiefly from the battlefield. "Alright, Growlithe you're up!" I said as I threw Growlithe's Pokéball to let him out.

"Stufful, use Brutal Swing!" Hele commanded. It hasn't even been seconds after I let Growlithe out!

"Retaliate with Flame Wheel, now!" I commanded, hoping that Growlithe could at least brush off the attack. The two attacks collided, but neither Pokémon are giving in an inch. And yet, luck seems to still be on my side. Thanks to the Flame Wheel, Stufful got burned!

"What're you going to do now with Stufful burned?" I said, tauntingly. "Growlithe, use Bite!" I commanded.

"We're not going down easily, Stufful, use Tackle!" Hele commanded. Again, both Pokémon collided with their attacks, but thanks to the burn reducing Stufful's attacking power, Growlithe got the upper hand and won against Stufful.

"Thanks Stufful. Get some good rest" Hele said. "My next Pokémon will be my last, but can you defeat it?" Hele asked, before finally throwing the Pokéball of her next and last Pokémon. "Trumbeak, go!"

"I wasn't expecting that. But it makes it more interesting! Alright, use Flame Wheel!" I commanded.

"Trumbeak, fly up and avoid Growlithe!" Hele commanded. Trumbeak's quite at the advantage here, Growlithe can't fly, so how are its attacks supposed to reach it? "Use Echoed Voice!" Hele commanded. Trumbeak let out a voice that could blow up eardrums thanks to that. Growlithe was starting to feel the pain too.

"Growlithe, use Ember!" I commanded. If that's how Trumbeak wants to be unfair and fly to avoid any physical attacks, then our attacks will go flying too!

"Too bad Growlithe's attacks are slower than Trumbeak" Hele said as Trumbeak swiftly dodged the Ember.

"Don't stop Growlithe, use Ember to hit Trumbeak!" I commanded angrily.

"Dodge all of those then use Supersonic!" Hele commanded. It's already been a tough fight, but it'd be more tough if Growlithe was confused!

"Growlithe, snap out of it!" I said in frustration. I was hoping my voice could reach out to him. But it didn't.

"Use Pluck!" Hele commanded. Every second we waste trying to snap out of the confusion is giving Hele and Trumbeak enough time to strike.

"Growlithe, come on!" I said.

"Use Pluck one last time!" Hele commanded. And she was right, that was the last time because it made Growlithe faint.

"You did your best Growlithe" I said. "Get some rest" I said as I kept his Pokéball.

"I'm down to my last Pokémon, and she's down to her last as well" I thought. "Popplio, come on out!" I said as I threw Popplio's Pokéball.

"Bwark! [Ready!]" Popplio barked, quite excitedly.

"So what trick are you going to have this time?" Hele asked. "Well, we're just going to see. Trumbeak, use Echoed Voice!" Hele commanded.

"Then a battle of voices it is! Popplio, Disarming Voice!" I commanded. Both attacks collided, yet none prevailed. "Use Aqua Jet!" I commanded.

"Don't let it hit you Trumbeak! Dodge that! Then use Pluck!" Hele commanded.

"Keep on following Trumbeak! Don't let it dodge!" I commanded. But the question is, how long can Popplio keep this up?

Trumbeak and Popplio's battle seemed more of a dance routine and an opera, sometimes Popplio chases after Trumbeak using Aqua Jet, while sometimes they battle using their voices.

"Use Disarming Voice! And try to overpower that Echoed Voice!" I commanded. I know that Echoed Voice is probably stronger now, but I'm sure that Popplio could overpower it!

Yet my thoughts failed me again. Echoed Voice slowly overpowered Disarming Voice. "Popplio!" I screamed, feeling the pain as well.

"Let's finish this! Use Supersonic!" Hele commanded. This made Popplio get confused. "Not confusion again!" I thought. I lost Growlithe due to confusion earlier, but not now when it's my last Pokémon!

"Use Pluck on Popplio!" Hele commanded.

It felt like I was being tortured too. Seeing Popplio being attacked internally and externally makes me feel like I'm being tortured too. Is this really Popplio's limit? Isn't there another way?

"Popplio, snap out of it already!" I screamed, not knowing what to do.

"Use Pluck one last time, and make sure that the fight will be over after that!" Hele said, quite happy that the battle will be finished.

This is it. The first time where I try to challenge a leader, yet I couldn't even do it.

"Popplio!" I screamed right before Trumbeak was able to hit Popplio. Then all of a sudden... Popplio started to glow, causing Trumbeak to back away from Popplio.

"W-what?!" Hele asked, quite surprised.

"Is Popplio..." I said quietly.

"It's... Evolving!" Ilima said as he was watching Popplio evolve.

"Brriiiiiiiiooooooooooooooone!"

"It... really evolved!" I said. I quickly hovered my Pokédex over it.

"Brionne, the Pop Star Pokémon. A skillful dancer, it creates a sequence of water balloons as it dances, and briskly bombards its enemies" The Pokédex said.

"B-brionne?!" Hele asked, quite surprised.

"I guess we still have a chance. And I'm taking it!" I said. "Alright, Brionne, use Disarming Voice!" I commanded.

"Counter that with Echoed Voice, Trumbeak!" Hele commanded, quite frustrated.

Two screeching voices that are clashing could be heard, but it didn't look like Disarming Voice at all.

"That's... Hyper Voice!" Ilima said.

Later, Hyper Voice successfully overpowered Echoed Voice, and it damaged Trumbeak greatly.

"Finish it off with Aqua Jet, full power!" I commanded.

Gathering water to encase itself with it, Brionne headed to where Trumbeak was, straight on. It dealt massive damage, thereby making Trumbeak faint.

"T-trumbeak... N-no!" Hele said as she ran over to where Trumbeak was.

"A-and the winner of this battle is the challenger, Star and her Pokémon!" Ilima announced.

"I did it! I won my first gym battle!"

 

EXTRA - Astrid
CHAPTER 4.1 - Astrid's Feelings
​

Here I was, running off on my own at nighttime, after leaving our apartment. I sat on a cobblestone wall, with Litten sitting on my lap, looking at my face, but I reflexively kept ignoring it. My attention was fully captured by what had happened earlier. My parents instantly got enraged after hearing that I'd like to go in an adventure. They said that they wanted to keep me safe and such, but I don't see that point here. I'm sure there's truly another reason for why they didn't want me to leave, as kids around my age get to go on an adventure, without their parents getting aggressive over it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

"Mom, Dad, I'm going on a journey with Litten!" I shouted at my mom excitedly.

"What? Who told you that you were doing exactly that?!" My mom asked angrily, stammering over the first few words.

"Didn't we talk about this already Mom?"

"No we didn't! I never agreed on that!" My mom shouted angrily at me.

"If you'd only remember what you said seven years ago, you said that you'd fully support my decision on becoming a trainer one day!" I screamed, frustrated.

My Dad then came in the apartment, and I tugged his polo quite a bit and asked him.

"Dad, didn't you both agree that you'd let me go on a journey seven years ago?"

After hearing those words, my dad's expression changed from a calm one to an enraged one.

"That was before, Astrid! That was before things suddenly got out of hand here in Alola. Now that Tapu Koko is gone here in Melemele, there's no telling on what will happen to us next!" Dad said, angrily.

"But I want to explore the region! I want to grow as an individual!" I protested, but it was no use. They were always like that, they never give me anything I wanted for myself, even once.

With rage filling me up, I lost absolute control. I know that I just wanted to release it all "You've never let me have anything that I wanted for myself ever since I was a kid, and now I'm asking you just one wish, one wish that could make up for all those holding backs you did for me! You always tell me that it was for my own protection, but how am I supposed to protect myself if I don't train Pokémon that could save me when I'm in danger?!"

The next thing that I knew is that my mom had already slapped me. "You have no idea on why we did our best to protect you from the world's dangers, do you?! You insolent, ungrateful child!"

I faced her again with shock and horror.

"Now, choose! Your family or your journey?!"

That was it, the rare chance where I was given the chance to decide for myself.

"If you think you could keep controlling me and stop my destiny that I have to fulfill, you're dead wrong! I'll show you one day that the 'sheltered, poor little princess' you've taken care of all these years is not so dependent as you think she is!" I screamed in frustration and anger, before finally storming off outside the apartment. I knew the consequences that my parents could disown me and leave me be, but going on a journey is the only thing that could make me happy.

And the only way to go on a journey and finish it is to change from a sheltered little princess to an autonomous brave warrior who will face everything on her own, without needing help from other people. This was it, the beginning of my journey, where my fate lies on my own hands.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Clenching my fists, I tried to calm myself down. The pressure was really true, as I've never done something like that in my life before. I feel like I've been holding back all these years, holding back my true potential. What really helped me release my true potential are the cheerful people who were always around me, the professor, the kahuna, Star, Altair, but most especially, Litten. I met with its eyes, eyes that looked upon me with great sympathy. Litten knew what I was going through. I decided to hug Litten tightly, as it was the only one who could help me recover from my situation.

Then I finally decided. I'll get stronger and become an autonomous brave warrior for Litten and my other Pokemons' sake.

 

CHAPTER 5 - Smoke and Shadow​

Usually, nothing really surprises me, except for this one time. Popplio evolved into Brionne, and I got the chance to strike back and win against Hele. Hele was also quite shocked herself, it was probably the first time she witnessed a Pokémon evolve in-battle. I quickly ran over to where Brionne was, and I hugged her tightly.

"Brionne... Thank you!" I stammered. I couldn't hold it back, I was probably crying due to joy by now. Brionne yapped a few times.

"Wow... I guess losing for the first time did the number on me." Hele said, disappointed. She was sitting on the ground. Ilima quickly came to where she was, and he tried to cheer up his little sister.

"C'mon now, a challenger's victory is also your victory, you know!"

"It just... Maybe I really don't know too much about being a Gym Leader yet. I'm glad that you still stayed here with me, even though I keep pushing you away several times."

"Well... I just can't leave you be. I'm sure one day you'll learn how to be a good Gym Leader. But for now, we gotta show that we're happy that Star won her first Gym Battle!"

"You're right. This would also help me becoming a better Gym Leader!" Hele enthusiastically rose up from where she was sitting, signaling the Gym Guide to bring something in. After that, she came towards me, trying to wear a smile.

"You know Star, you're the first trainer to beat me. I know I might cry, but I know that I'll be cheering you on for the rest of your journey." Hele then turned around and took the pillow from the Gym Guide. "As proof that you've defeated the Verdant Cavern Gym, I hereby give this to you, the Normalium Z. It lets you turn your Pokémon's Normal-type attacks into the Z-Power move Breakneck Blitz." Hele added. I humbly accepted the Z-Crystal from her.

"You know," I said as looked at Brionne and took out Pichu, Growlithe and Cutiefly's Pokeballs, "This is your victory. Remember that!" I said, happily.

"It will be your victory and your Pokémon's victory. I can assure you that." Ilima said.

"Anyway, enough of all this drama! Since the Verdant Cavern Gym is the only Gym in the entire island, it's time that you made your way back to Iki Town to finally challenge the kahuna to a battle!" Hele stammered a few times before managing to get things sound business-y like.

"Well, I guess so." I said as I kept the Pokeballs of Pichu, Growlithe and Cutiefly. "Brionne, return!" I said as I withdrew Brionne to her Pokéball.

"If you're one of those adventurous trainers, you should really use Route 3, since you can traverse it now, to get back to Iki Town instead of Route 2. Route 3 has the Melemele Meadow, where you could see and smell the fragrant flowers. You could also probably get lucky and even get the chance to see an Oricorio there as well!" Ilima said, being more excited than I was supposed to be.

"I guess I'd like to see the meadow for myself, so maybe I'd go to Route 3 instead to get back to Iki Town." I shrugged. I just really heard that Oricorios are quite rare, and I just don't believe that I'd see one for myself if I go there. "I'm going to leave now, thanks for everything!" I ran towards the stone door, where I turned around and waved my hands to Ilima and Hele. They immediately waved back.

After coming outside the Gym, I quickly ran to the Pokémon Center in front of it so that I could heal my fainted Pokémon. It was getting quite late, and I wasn't really a daredevil that I'd go traveling at night, so I decided to reserve a room in the Pokémon Center for me to sleep. The room I got was at the topmost floor of the Center. To my surprise, I saw Astrid coming out on one of the rooms in her pajamas. She was quite shocked as well.

"Star! What are you doing here?"

"I just finished my first Gym Battle, and I came here to get some rest before heading back to Iki Town."

"That's great! You'll get to face Hau soon. I wonder where Altair is though, I'm pretty sure he's done the Gym Battle by now."

"I didn't see him there. Did you already finish your Gym Battle?" I asked.

"No, I haven't gone in there yet." Astrid sighed disappointingly.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, it's nothing. I'm just... really stressed out today." Astrid stammered. I quickly knew that she was lying, but I didn't persuade myself enough to ask her back.

"Well, I guess it's better if we call it a day. It's pretty late, so we should get some sleep."

"Yeah, I'm going now. Night." Astrid said, quite weary-eyed. She quickly entered her room afterwards, leaving me alone.

"Guess it's time to rest now." I said as I came inside my room to find myself jumping towards the bed,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

I woke up to a sound of a knock in the door. When I opened it, I saw Astrid in her daily outfit, hair unkempt.

"Hi." I said, still in my pajamas.

"I'm planning on leaving right now, but I did want to ask you if you wanted to come with me back to Iki Town. You could set the route that we'd traverse instead of me."

"Yeah, give me just a sec." I said as I struggled to tie my hair. "Also, just wanted to let you know that I'm going to use Route 3 as my route." I added.

"Uh, you do know that I can't go there, right?" Astrid came inside my room, closing the door.

"You can, actually. If you're with someone who's like, already won a Gym and has the Z-Crystal necessary to enter the route, you could actually join that trainer on said route." I said. I did read the guidelines last night.

"Oh, that's great! Though how long are you going to be in your pajamas?" Astrid sniggered.

"S-sorry! I should be done in... 10 minutes!" I said as I rushed into the bathroom.

"Alright, I'll wait for you!" Astrid said. I could hear her laughing from behind the door, but the sound was quite muffled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

We quickly passed by the Check gates, and scanned if any of us had the right Z-Crystal. Of course, I had the Normalium Z, so we passed by it normally by just walking through it. True enough, Astrid was able to come to Route 3 with me. We had to battle some trainers before we found an opening on the middle of the route. Even before entering the opening, I was already able to small the fragrance.

"We're here!" I shouted, quite excitedly.

We were about to enter the opening, when suddenly two trainers dropped down from above, positioning themselves in front and behind us. Astrid was the one who turned around.

"This is no place for little princesses to play on!" A trainer said, readying his Pokéball.

"We're just here to see the flowers, and uh, get a glimpse of Oricorio." I said, raising my hands above my shoulders. They slowly took steps toward us, thereby making me and Astrid hit our backs.

"Psst, listen! We've gotta fight our way out of here!" Astrid whispered.

"Doesn't seem like the best option, but that's our only option, so why not?" I replied. "Growlithe, come on out!" I shouted, throwing Growlithe's Pokéball, followed by a bark from Growlithe.

"Oh, a battle is what you want hunh? Raticate, come on out!" The guy said as he threw his Raticate's Pokéball.

"Butterfree, we need assistance!" Astrid said as she threw Butterfree's Pokéball.

"Ariados c'mere!" The woman said as he called on Ariados from it's Pokéball.

STAR AND ASTRID ARE CHALLENGED BY A MYSTERIOUS MAN AND A MYSTERIOUS WOMAN!​

"For the great leader, Raticate, attack with Hyper Fang!" I saw how Raticate enlargened its fangs and headed straight to the direction of Growlithe.

"Butterfree use Gust!" Astrid commanded. Controlling the wind using its wings, Butterfree managed to stop Raticate from getting to Growlithe.

"Growlithe, use Fire Fang!" Growlithe used fire to emulate large, vicious teeth that could chew down it's opponent. Of course, Ariados would take twice the damage, so Growlithe set all of it's attention to it.

"Ariados use Poison Sting!" The woman commanded. The sting was however stopped by Growlithe's flaming fangs, and Growlithe's attack made a direct hit!

"Butterfree, use Poison Powder on Raticate!" Letting out spores with Poison, it surrounded Raticate until it was completely poisoned.

"Don't just stand there! Use Quick Attack on Growlithe!" The guy commanded. "Use String Shot on Growlithe to stop it from moving!" String then began to come out of its horn, trapping Growlithe. The string was quite thick which rendered Growlithe immobile. A few moments later, the Raticate came near to Growlithe.

"Use Whirlwind, now!" Controlling the wind using its wings, it created a whirl of air in the center, effectively scooping in Raticate and Ariados.

"Take them down with Flame Wheel!" I commanded. Growlithe enveloped itself in flames, and headed straight for the whirlwind. Locating where Raticate and Ariados were, it quickly made the two Pokémon faint.

"Tch, it's going time!" The guy said before throwing in some smoke balls at the ground. We saw nothing but the smoke that they could've used to escape. It took quite a while before the smoke fully dissipated.

"They escaped!" Astrid said, shocked. We looked around the area, but saw no sign of them.

"Wait, they left something!" I quickly pointed to what I saw lying on the ground. It was a badge with the initials S and S.

"S and S? Aren't those the initials of that evil organization that are reported on the news quite often?" Astrid said, quite confused.

"Initials of the team... What team was that again?" I said, thinking. S and S.

However, before we were able to figure out what team it was, a small gadget came rolling at our feet, trapping us inside a black, transparent cube. It was too late before we realized the evil organization that had the initials S and S.

It meant Smoke and Shadow.

We were captured by the evil organization that has been rampaging nonstop for months, the elusive and stealthy Team Shadow

 

Quick Update:​

​

New Chapter will be posted tomorrow, sorry for the delay!​

 

Thanks so much for your opinion! The ways of battling in the main games is probably the most simplest among Pokémon's other games, so I wanted to try and incorporate it in my own style. I honestly don't know if my writing is that different from others since I've been just adapting my own style to how people seem to like it.

I have been trying my best to let the readers enjoy how Alola looks, in Star's own way of describing the places she sees, though it is quite tough on its own. Thank you so much for taking the time to type all that and tell me how you've been liking the story so far!

 

CHAPTER 6 - Rangers!​

My head still felt like something was moving it as I awaken from my sleep. And here we were, trapped in a sphere cell with no bars, and a force field. Yet it didn't seem like it was just us. The darkness inside the cell was somewhat also there, slowly creeping up on us. Nothing made the cell even creepier than silence. I'm not the only one who's afraid of silence, right?

A few minutes later, I notice Astrid finally waking up. Looking around the cell, she turned her body in different directions, as if trying to find an escape route. I attempted to break the silence that has been creeping me out for the past 5 minutes.

"Glad to see that you're already awake." Astrid quickly turned to my direction, seemingly not noticing that I was here before. "You looked quite shocked to see me."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Astrid stammered. "It's just so dark here that I didn't see you there."

"It's fine, though what are you looking for? A crack in the cell? I can assure you that even if there was a crack in the cell, we won't be able to get out because of the force field."

"A force field?!" Astrid said, surprised. "Just how well equipped with machinery are they?!"

A few seconds later, I saw Astrid throwing Litten's Pokéball, calling for help. "Come on out!" She shouted. But the strangest part was that it didn't stop mid-air as it completely fell to the ground.

"That's strange." I said, puzzled. I tried calling out for Brionne's help, but it was no use either.

"No way... They also have Pokéball Jamming Systems here?" Astrid took a step back, losing her determination.

"This is bad." I said, looking at Brionne's Pokéball. "If we can't call our Pokémon out, then there's really no chance of us escaping, other than of course, someone freeing us. But by the looks of it," I said as I looked around the area, "I'm not seeing someone who will free us anytime soon."

We tried calling our Pokémon out from their Pokeballs for a few more minutes, but to no avail. A few seconds later, we heard a 'bang' coming from outside the cells. I also heard some punching and some screams of agony from some trainers outside. Desperate for help, I collected myself as I called out for help.

"If there's anyone there, please, help us!" I screamed. I don't know if whoever came in heard me, but I at least announced my presence to whoever that was. Seconds later, I saw a Thunderbolt striking the top of the cell, probably where the force field was coming from. It slightly and temporarily lit up the cell, but after it was over, the force field was also gone. A guy then came in the cell, wearing something that I believe are called, Ranger Uniforms.

"They also imprison kids here? They really are an evil organization!" He said, quite angrily.

"Good thing we were here, or else they could've been trapped here forever!" A girl entered the cell.

"Who are these people?" Astrid stammered. Sure, we know they're rangers, but what are even their names?

"We're rangers!" Another guy came in.

"We know that, we mean what are your names?" I said, quite frustrated.

"Oh, that." The girl said. "I'm Kate, this here is Keith, and this one is Kellyn. We're Pokémon Rangers who were sent on a mission to protect Alola after what happened to Melemele Island's deity."

Kate had brown hair and blue eyes, with her hair looking like double buns, yet they don't look like buns at all. Kellyn, like Kate, also had brown hair and blue eyes, with a part of his hair sticking out. Both look alike; I wouldn't be surprised if they are related. Keith had brown hair and brown eyes, and was much taller than the other two.

"We should really get you guys out first." Kellyn said, planning on how to let us escape.

"Maybe we could split up? One of us could guide them outside while the other two continues the mission." Keith suggested, putting his hands behind his head.

"No, that'd be dangerous. We don't even have the entire layout of this place memorized yet!" Kate replied, quite annoyed that her friends were so simple-minded.

"You don't have to assist us out of here; we could just come with you." I said. That seemed to surprise the rangers as they turned to my direction after I said that.

"No, that's too dangerous! You'll get in trouble!" Kate said, putting her hands in my shoulders and shaking me slightly.

"But we're not exactly defenseless, we're Pokémon Trainers!" Astrid countered.

"You may be trainers, but you can't get involved in our mission." Kellyn said in a serious tone.

"Perhaps we should just really guide them away from here safely first." Keith suggested. That seemed to upset both Kate and Kellyn.

"But what about the mission?!" Kate screamed, frustrated.

Keith began to clench his fists. Uh-oh, looks like we're in for a fight.

"It's always a ranger's duty to protect anybody who is in danger, and like the professor said, the safety of anybody is more important than a mission! Always remember that!"

It took a good few seconds before Kate responded. "Fine. Let's get them out of here first." Kate sighed, letting go of my shoulders. "We can get out the same way we got in."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Running with Pokémon Rangers seemed more like a race. Sure, Astrid and I were fast, but they were even faster. It was like their feet were always prepared for anything that seemed to require being able to run.

We were led by the Rangers to a vent. We had to crawl our way through the vent, obviously. I occasionally hit my head, slowing me down. When we got out of the vents, we were at the building's basement, full of crates and machines. It was pretty dark here, no wonder they got in easily.

"This place is barely protected by any guards. They usually leave this place after 20 minutes." Kellyn said.

"Well, I don't think anyone's here. We should be able to slip out of this place without being noticed." Keith replied, confident.

As we were headed straight for the gate, an alarm rang, and the lights opened. The gate also opened, revealing a truck that was carrying some cages. We were right in front of it, so we got noticed immediately.

"Intruders!"

"Get them!"

We were immediately surrounded by grunts. We knew that we were in for a fight, but we were heavily outnumbered.

"I'll take care of this!" Kellyn then ran off to the direction of the truck. He was chased by a few grunts, resulting in us getting a fair fight.

TEAM SHADOW GRUNT IS CHALLENGING STAR TO A BATTLE!
Star sent out Pichu!
Team Shadow Grunt sent out Grimer!
​

"Pichu, use Thundershock!" I commanded. Pichu generated electricity from its cheeks, surrounding its entire body.

"Grimer, use Acid Spray!" Grimer ejected acid, but it was quickly dissipated by Pichu's Thundershock.

"Use Thunderbolt!" Pichu once again rubbed its cheeks, generating electricity that surrounded it. Pichu let go of it, hitting Grimer. It also paralyzed Grimer, rendering it unable to use its attacks for a while.

"Crap!" The grunt said, pulling out a Full Heal from his pocket. He immediately sprayed it at Grimer, causing it to recover from paralysis. "Get it with Poison Fang!" He pointed at Pichu, which was followed by Grimer receiving a large fang which appear to be made of poison.

"Use Volt Switch!" Pichu then let out an electric shock, before returning to it's Pokéball. "Use Take Down Growlithe!" After throwing his Pokéball, Growlithe braced itself and faced Grimer head on. Both landed on their intended targets, however, Growlithe got recoil. It didn't get poisoned though.

"Minimize!" The man commanded. Grimer then proceeded to make itself smaller, making it quite evasive.

"Flame Wheel!" Growlithe then curled itself up in a ball, surrounded itself with fire and headed straight for Grimer. However, Grimer was too evasive for Growlithe and was unable to hit it even though it has been making 3 laps already.

"Use Bite!" Grimer quickly bit Growlithe, inflicting pain to my Pokémon. I ordered it to use Flame Wheel again, yet to no avail. Grimer was able to avoid all attacks. I thought hard on what to do, then I realized Growlithe had the perfect move in order for it to finally hit Grimer.

"Use Odor Sleuth!" Growlithe proceeded to sniff out Grimer, giving it an accurate reading of its position. "Fire Fang, now!" Getting the chance, Growlithe created fangs of fire, and instantly hit Grimer. However, it wasn't enough to defeat it.

"Pachirisu, use Helping Hand!" Hearing the voice, I quickly turned around and saw Kate running towards us, with Pachirisu rolling in the air to get near Growlithe in time.

"Kate?" I stammered, quite shocked to see her. I then saw Pachirisu's hands glow, touching Growlithe, causing Growlithe to glow as well. "Use Fire Fang!" I said as I pointed to Grimer. Creating fangs of fire that looked more fiery than usual, Growlithe was able bite and defeat Grimer, with the help of Pachirisu.

"Argh!" The man grunted, withdrawing his Grimer. He quickly ran off.

"In the games, even grunts give you money!" I screamed, angry. Turning my attention back to Kate, I asked her. "Thanks for the help, but what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be helping out Kellyn and Keith?"

"Oh, they got it all handled." She said as she pointed her hand to where Kellyn and Keith were. Using their stylers, they were able to capture the Pokémon locked in the cages, making them destroy the cage and help out in distracting the other grunts.

"So amazing..." I stood there, quite surprised and amused. There were still some grunts who looked ready to be battled, but after seeing the powerful Pokémon that they trapped in cages get free, they quickly ran towards the elevator, scared.

"What a bunch of cowards." Astrid remarked. I couldn't agree more with her.

"Looks like they left their keys." Keith said, sitting where the driver's wheel was. "Everyone get in!" Kellyn said as he signaled us with his hand. Astrid, Kate and I quickly ran to the truck. When we got it, Keith drove us away from the building. I saw that the grunts called reinforcements to help out with the Pokémon getting out of their cages, but after we drove past the ramp, I wasn't able to see anything else.

It took quite a while before they were able to drop us off to Route 1, but we gladly thanked them for saving us, and apologized that we got in their way. Still, they once again said that the lives of people and Pokémon were more important than any other mission, so they told us that it wasn't necessary for us to apologize since they could go back there again, albeit a bit harder. We each gave our own goodbyes until the drove off into the horizon. And now, we're back to reality.

"What are you going to do now then?" Astrid asked.

"I guess... challenge Hau?" I replied, smiling. "Iki Town is quite close, so I should be able to challenge him before sunset."

"Oh, I'll come with you then!" Astrid cheerfully said.

"Okay then."

We went to the direction of Iki Town, but it would still take quite a while before we could get there, and I can't wait any longer to finish my first Grand Trial!

 

EXTRA - Altair
CHAPTER 6.1 - Altair's Dream
​

I wasn't sure if I really wanted to find him; find my father to where he disappeared to. I didn't want to see him, probably because I grew up hating my father because of my deceased mother. But I thought that maybe everything that my mother has told me have been changed since the past few years, so I decided to go to go find him. I know that a lot of people may worry about me just disappearing like a bubble popping, so I decided to write a letter, a letter that I've kept somewhere in secret, a place where only my best friend, Astrid, will know.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

To Astrid,

If you've been looking everywhere for me, please don't bother; wherever I may be now, I know that I'm safe alongside my Rowlet. I haven't explained a lot of things that you should've already known before, so I'll try my best to explain them in this letter. Remember on how my mother hated my father for changing his personality to somewhat like a villain stereotype? Well, I thought that maybe, just maybe, he's changed. So I've set off to where he could be. All I know about him right now is that he's disappeared as well, but I'll make sure that I'll get stronger to chase after him, to get answers on why he changed, to get answers on why he disappeared.

It's going to be a long journey for me, but I don't want you to chase after me because I chased after my father. So please, after you read this letter, forget about looking for me. Continue your journey to discover all of Alola's secrets, and continue your journey to prove your parents wrong. We all have dreams that we want to come true, and one of my dreams is to finally meet my father.

Please remember that even if we're far away from each other, I'm always rooting for you, no matter what.

From your probably stupid friend if that's what you think of me now,
Altair

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CHAPTER 7 - A Letter
​

Just as expected, we reached Iki Town not long after; passing by trees and Pokémon in the wild. Trainers were gathering, battling and accepting challenges. We were back to the place where we first met our Pokémon, but we still feel quite incomplete as Altair was not with us. =

However, when we reached the heart of the town, we didn't see Hau. He wasn't there, even in his house. It was really odd, when I was young, I'd often see him around the town talking to its citizens. We asked around and asked if they saw where he went, but none seemed to know.

"Guess my challenge will have to wait." I disappointingly sighed. I was very excited for my Grand Trial, and yet here I was, unable to finish it.

In the distance, we saw the professor approaching us. "Oh, what brings you back here?"

"Well, Star was supposed to battle Hau since she already beat the Verdant Cavern Gym, but it seems like he's not here." Astrid explained.

"You wouldn't be able to see Hau for weeks. He went to Kanto to meet an old friend of his."

"What? Aw man, how am I supposed to be able to finish my first trial now?" I said, frustrated.

"Well, you could wait for Hau to begin Melemele's Grand Trial." The professor replied, smiling.

Unusually, Astrid became instantly cheerful. "It'll give you more time to prepare. Hau is quite strong, don't forget that."

"I guess so." I folded my arms afterward, looking down at the ground. Much later, Astrid pulled me towards her, whispering something.

"Besides, we could use the time to look for Altair." Astrid sounded concerned as she whispered that to me. They really seem close.

"You guys should probably visit your parents. It's getting quite late." The professor suggested.

"Oh, I'd rather not do that now." Astrid stammered, quite noticeably. There was probably some sort of dispute within their family, but that was her business, not mine.

"You should come to our house! Call it a sleepover!" I held her hand high, my eyes twinkling. "Uhm, yeah... sure." She nodded, quite awkwardly.

"It's nice to see you two, but where's Altair?" The professor asked.

Astrid and I looked at each other, thinking of what to reply. "Uh, we haven't crossed paths with him yet." I replied, nervously.

"That's odd, I know that Altair wanted to challenge the gyms and become a Pokémon Champion one day, so it's odd that you haven't seen him yet, because I'm definitely sure that Route 2 was the only way to the gym other than Route 3, which shouldn't be accessible till' you get the Z-Crystal from that gym."

"Maybe we'll meet him again soon." Astrid replied.

The professor, still thinking about where Altair went, decided to say goodbye. "Anyway, you two should get going as well, you need to regain energy. I'll see you next time!"

"Bye!" Astrid and I waved our hands as we saw the professor waving his hands back as well.

After that, Astrid and I went to my house, surprising my parents. I saw Riolu, Glameow and Lucario again, and most importantly, mom and dad. We had a lot of food for dinner, having a lively discussion while eating as I narrated my adventures and my first Z-Crystal. Of course, I had to keep us being kidnapped a secret, as they'd definitely tell me to stop my adventure.

As the moon had finally risen, it suddenly began to rain. I prepared myself to go to bed with lightning and thunder lighting up my dark room quite a bit. I was about to sleep, but I was later alarmed when I didn't see Astrid in her futon. I quickly went outside my room and looked at the patio where I saw Astrid.

I came up to her and decided to speak. "You really miss him, don't you?"

"Yeah. We're best friends, and being separated feels like I lost a big part of me."

"You must've been friends for a long time now."

"We have been. We've shared most of our childhood together."

This just feels like one of those dramas where two people become best friends and then the other falls in love with the friend and both end up together and such.

"I'm going to assume that you two are inseparable."

"I guess you could put it that way." Astrid stammered as she scratched the back of her head. Rain was still falling, but I didn't get bothered by it. I've always loved the sound of it when it drops to the ground; it feels just refreshing somehow. It was also getting quite cold outside.

"Have you ever had strange feelings when you're with him?"

"What?" Astrid asked, confused and shocked by the question.

"I mean, it just feels like your story matches a common drama."

"No, I don't! And even if I did, that's too personal!" Astrid stammered, quite enraged.

"Whoa, calm down, why are you getting enraged?" I raised my hands near my waist.

"I just... Argh, forget it!" Astrid said as she stormed off and came to my room.

"Well, at least she's back in the room now. But you are still weird as always, Star. You stupid girl! What were you thinking?!"

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After getting ourselves breakfast, we decided to leave the house to do some adventuring; otherwise known as looking for Altair. We looked for him at his house but the doors were locked. I thought that she'd finally give up after that, but then she lead me to a small hole near Altair's house.

"Uh, what are we doing here?"

"To go to our secret spot." Astrid folded her arms.

"Ooh, you have a secret spot?"

"Its just... where we play and stash some of our old stuff!" Astrid stammered, quite embarrassed. "Be honored that you're the first outsider to get there! "She said, angrily. "This small passage here leads to a cave."

The hole was quite small, it didn't look like anybody could get through it. "Are we even going to fit inside that hole?!" I shrugged. Astrid kindly pulled some flowers and weeds aside, showing that the hole is actually quite big. "Get in."

"Huh?

"Get in!"

"Okay!"

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I was very surprised when we got inside the cave. It wasn't just one straight line; it looked more like a staircase without stairs. Water was dripping from the ceiling and many stalactites and stalagmites can be seen. It was beautiful; it really makes you appreciate the beautiful sights in Alola. "It's beautiful here."

"Yeah, why would we put our stash here if it wasn't beautiful?"

I looked around and saw an opening inside the cave. "Is that where you stash your items?" I pointed to the direction of the room.

"Yes, that is." Astrid quickly entered the room without a doubt. It was full of items, rocks, cards, Pokeballs and some jewels. In the middle of the room, there is a pedestal showcasing an orb of sorts.

"What is that thing?"

"Oh, that's the first item we ever got in this place. It's a Life Orb. It's actually an item for Pokémon to hold, but we decided to keep it here."

"The orb... looks like it has a lot of history." A few seconds later, I notice Astrid trying to dig the dirt out. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for something. Altair will always leave a letter here in this room if he leaves, I'm sure there's a letter here somewhere."

I didn't bother helping her out, but I did try to look around the place in hopes of seeing that letter. I then saw something shining; no, it was reflecting the light. It was a bottle! It looked like it had a letter in it too. "Maybe that's what you're looking for?" I immediately pointed at the bottle, prompting Astrid to run towards it. Instantly, she grabbed the letter like her life depended on it. The bottle was closed in by a cork, which is so old fashioned.

The paper was still quite dry and crispy as when Astrid unfolded it, it created a satisfying-expected-from-a-letter-sound. Astrid quickly read through the letter, leaving me out of it. I did find it in the first place!

"So what did the letter say? Did it clear anything?"

"Yes. Quite a bit actually. The letter says he's trying to look for his father." Astrid finally showed me the letter. The letter was directed to her completely, no doubt. When I saw the words "All I know about him right now is that he's disappeared as well" I quickly got enraged.

"Why did he try to look for him if he doesn't even know where he is?!" I threw the letter into the ground, agitated.

"Even I don't get it. When he told me the story before, he held back some details, but he did tell me his father left him something; something to contact him. What I don't get is that the thing that his father left him was some sort of Rubix Cube that functions just like a regular Rubix Cube, so it'd be impossible that that exact thing was the way his father contacted him."

"So uhm, does this finally end our search for Altair?" I asked, shyly.

Astrid quickly got enraged and replied with furious eyes. "No! Of course not!" I could just imagine her with a background where things start exploding. "We're going to look for him!"

"Uh, you do know that I'm going to challenge the Pokémon League right?"

"Yes, and that's why I'm coming with you to the next island. I'm going to come with you. On the way, we might even see him!"

"And how are you sure that you will see him when you travel with me?" I folded my arms, questioning her idea.

"I don't know! I know I just need someone as strong as you to help me here. If I have a friend who challenges all of the gyms in Alola, then I'd be able to come with you and explore Alola to try and find him!"

"Basically you're just going to use me!" I said, enraged.

"Please! Let me come with you on your adventure! You're the only one who could help me right now." Astrid held my hand.

"What about your parents?" She began to look pale and she quickly let go of my hand.

"I couldn't rely on them anymore."

"What?!" I thought. What happened between Astrid and her family? She was showing signs of not wanting to see them yesterday too. Was that dispute really that bad? "What happened?"

"Long story. I don't want to talk about it for now." She stammered, turning her back on me. I didn't want to ask anything about that further cause to be honest, she's the only one I could travel with right now. I quickly patted her on the shoulder before she turned around and I started smiling.

"Well... we did start our adventure at the same time. Maybe it's really right for you to come with me. We already got Altair splitting with us, and we can't split any further. Sure, I might not be your bestest of friends like Altair is to you, but... I could be a good friend to you instead. Our dreams may be different, but I feel like they're all connected." I said. I didn't know what I was saying but... it actually turned out to be great as Astrid quickly hugged me.

"Thanks..." She whispered. "But don't. Ever. Treat. Me. Like. A. Princess." Her voice turned quite cold all of a sudden.

"Okay." I nervously said as I pushed her gently away from me.

Astrid quickly opened her Town Map. "Even if I'm not the best trainer ever, there's gotta be a way where I could help you out." She said, scrolling through her map. "According to the order of the Gym Challenges, which we don't have to follow, but I assume you will anyway, the next island after conquering Melemele is Akala." She pointed to the island next to Melemele. "But to get there," She closed her map, her face turned grave. "One of us needs to finish the Grand Trial, and Hau's not coming back for weeks."

I quickly remembered that Hau will be gone for weeks as he went to Alola. "Oh. That's a problem."

Astrid folded her arms and thought of something. "But I heard that if you get permission directly from the kahuna himself, you could go to Akala without beating his trial!" After hearing that, I imagined myself jumping in joy. "There is still hope!"

"Yes, there is. But for now, we should stay here in Melemele until we're able to contact Hau himself." Astrid got quite cheerful after that.

"I got an idea! You should probably challenge the Verdant Cavern Gym!" I enthusiastically encouraged Astrid to do so.

"Uhh... I don't know about that..."

"If we want Hau to believe that we could handle ourselves in Akala, both of us should at least get one Z-Crystal here!" I saw Astrid thinking about it deeply, realizing that battling and challenging gyms were not really her cup of tea. "Okay, I mean sure, I'll challenge the gym."

"Great! That'll be a great show to watch until we could get a hold of Hau!"

I noticed that Astrid's face lit up quite a bit, probably feeling confident. I could probably help her train before challenging the gym so that she could battle Hele's tactics and battle style more efficiently, so we'll see how it turns out one day.

 

CHAPTER 8 - Astrid's New Friend
​

"Use Fire Fang!" Growlithe immediately created a large fang made out of fire, heading straight towards Astrid's Litten.

"Dodge that!" Litten tried to evade Growlithe's attack, but unfortunately it landed, causing Litten to lose balance.

I quickly ran to where Astrid and Litten were with Growlithe. "You know, I'm starting to worry about some stuff. You can't just have one Pokémon on your team if you want to take on a Gym Leader!"

"We've been practicing for a day now. There's still time you know!" Astrid protested.

"Yes, we have, but still, you need to catch some new Pokémon on your team!"

Astrid looked me in the eye before standing up. "Fine. Where are they?"

"I'm sure we'll find some while we take a walk around the whole route." After I said that, Astrid quickly ran straight ahead with her Litten. "Naive as always." I sighed.

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​

Whatever she sees, she tries to catch it. That's exactly what Astrid was doing. And she kept on failing. We encountered an Alolan Rattata, a Spearow, Abra, Drowzee and a Yungoos. Not even one of them were caught. They kept on dodging the Pokeballs Astrid were throwing before running away, because Astrid didn't even bother fighting them with her Litten.

"Ugh, this isn't working!" She said as she threw a Pokéball on the ground.

"Because you aren't doing it properly!" I screamed, frustrated.

"And how are you supposed to do it Miss Know-It-All?!" Astrid said as she leaned towards me. I quickly looked around the area, until I saw a wild Yungoos.

"Guess that'll have to do. Get it Growlithe! Use Fire Fang!" I sighed. Growlithe responded to my command by creating a fang made of flames that hit Yungoos. Yungoos quickly retaliated with Tackle, damaging Growlithe quite a bit.

"Ember!" Shooting out small flames from its mouth, Growlithe managed to burn the Yungoos. "When the Pokémon you want to catch is already weakened, like this Yungoos here," I said as I came near Yungoos. "that's the perfect time to catch it with a Pokéball."

"You do know you could've said that earlier!"

"Well, I was trying to teach you earlier, but you said that you could handle it and I was treating you like a princess!" I protested. Astrid ran off to another direction, trying to look for another Pokémon.

The search was futile; we didn't find any Pokémon on the route we were in. This angered Astrid quite a bit. "I can't believe we can't find any Pokémon when we're trying to find some! I mean look at that Meowth!" She said as she pointed her hand to it. "Why didn't that show up earlier? I mean why didn-"

"SHH! You'll scare it away!" I said as I place my finger on her mouth to silence her. "It's an Alolan Meowth."

Astrid took Litten's Pokéball and threw it in the air. "Litten, use Fire Fang!" After coming out of its Pokéball, Litten executed the move, surprising the unsuspecting Meowth.

"Nyaarrrr" Meowth purred as it extended its claws, using Scratch. "Dodge that!" Litten quickly heard the command, enabling it to dodge Meowth's Scratch. "Use Ember!" Shooting out small flames from its mouth, Litten managed to stop Meowth from coming near it.

"Go, Pokéball!" Astrid said as she threw a Pokéball. She managed to hit Meowth's forehead, but unfortunately, it wasn't weakened enough as it broke free from the Pokéball.

"Meeeooowr~" As it once again extended its claws, Meowth uses Fury Swipes, successfully hitting Litten.

After using Fury Swipes, Meowth once again headed straight towards Litten, opening its mouth and made its fangs larger in order to use Bite. "Litten, dodge it and use Fire Fang!"

Litten almost got away, but Meowth managed to bite Litten's tail while it was jumping away from Meowth. Later, Litten creates fangs that are made of flames, biting Meowth this time around. Being hit a few times, Meowth had lost some of its energy, making it unable to stand for seconds.

Seeing as it was the perfect timing, Astrid threw a Pokéball at Meowth. "Now!" Hitting Meowth's forehead, the Pokéball took it inside, falling into the ground. It shook a few times the stopped moving, until stars flashed from it, signaling that it was captured.

Astrid ran to where the Pokéball was, raising it in the air. "I caught it!"

"Yup, thanks to me." Astrid quickly glared at me, before returning her gaze back to Meowth's Pokéball.

I insisted Astrid to continue training her Pokémon by battling some wild Pokémon. Sure enough, Astrid came to learn a few things about battling; type advantages and possible battle strategies. She managed gain some experience herself too. Of course, I had to help her train as well. Battling is definitely not her forte, but I believe that even if it isn't your strongest side, you can still train it to make a better version of yourself. Expanding your knowledge in something you don't specialize can get you in many places that you didn't even dream of in the first place.

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​

"Use Fairy Wind!" Flapping its wings, Cutiefly releases a strong gust of sparkling wind, effectively stalling Meowth.

"Meowth, return!" Astrid said as she withdrew Meowth. "Litten, come out!"

"Meowr~"

"Jump on different directions to reach Cutiefly then use Fire Fang!" Litten did exactly what Astrid wanted to do. It ran, changing its direction each time. While it was doing that, it created fangs that were made of flames and headed straight to where Cutiefly was, biting it.

"Come back Cutiefly!" I said, holding up Cutiefly's Pokéball. "Come out Brionne!"

"Use Leer!" Strengthening its glare, Litten managed to scare Brionne, lowering its defense stat.

"Use Aqua Jet!" Enveloping itself in water, Brionne headed to where Litten was, striking it with water. This dealt massive damage to Litten, but it managed to hold itself up. "Roar!"

Roaring at Brionne, it managed to switch out Pichu. "Use Scratch!" Extending its claws, Litten headed straight towards Pichu.

Not letting a moment go to waste, I told Pichu what to do. "Use Thunder Shock!" The electricity produced from Pichu's cheeks managed to shock Litten, raising its tail and some of its fur. This effectively paralyzes Litten, forcing it to switch out. "Come on out Meowth!"

Meowth came out ready for a fight. "Use Feint Attack!" Meowth ran towards Pichu. "Use Thunder Shock!" Pichu did follow the command, however, Meowth jumped behind Pichu, effectively making the Thunder Shock miss. Meowth attacks Pichu behind, hurting Pichu badly. "Sweet Kiss, behind you!" Pichu turned around to use Sweet Kiss on Meowth who turned around, but it was gone once again.

"Use Feint Attack!" As Pichu wasn't looking, Meowth managed to attack Pichu, which cause it to be pushed off in the distance, making it unable to battle.

"Pichu, return!" I held out Pichu's Pokéball as I withdrew him. "Meowth's getting really faster now." I remarked, quite amazed.

"It has been training nonstop!" Astrid replied, grinning.

"Okay, come out Growlithe!"

After being let out Growlithe yapped a few times, waiting for my command. "Flame Wheel!" Growlithe rolled itself into a ball, covering itself in flames. It was headed straight to where Meowth was.

"Use Screech!" Meowth quickly opened its mouth, shrieking loudly, releasing white waves from its mouth that irritated Growlithe, forcing it to stop moving.

"Now use Fury Swipes!" Getting the chance, Meowth extended its claws, scratching Growlithe mercilessly a few times, hurting the already hurt Growlithe in return.

"Growlithe, focus and use Reversal!" Focusing its energy, it turns the damage it took earlier into power, ready to hit Meowth. "Oh no, you don't! Use Screech!" Meowth once again opened its mouth and shrieks loudly, causing white waves to come out from its mouth, irritating Growlithe once more, losing its focus. "Now use Feint Attack!"

With Growlithe preoccupied, Meowth was able to take advantage of it and came closer to Growlithe. However, Growlithe had been tightening its focus for a while now, and Feint Attack and Reversal both clash, rendering both Growlithe and Meowth unable to battle.

"You're getting really good!" I smirked.

"Thanks?" Astrid quickly shrugged. She still wasn't confident in her Pokémon and abilities. That could be a problem. "Come out Litten!"

"Come on out Cutiefly!" We each sent out our Pokémon on the field. Litten was still paralyzed from Pichu's Thunder Shock earlier, so Astrid sprayed Litten with some Paralyze Heal, curing it from paralysis. "Now the battle's fair." Astrid announced.

"Silver Wind!" Flapping its wings, it lets out a cyclone of wind with silver crescents and strikes Litten. Being a Bug-type move, Litten resisted it a bit, but it also allowed all of Cutiefly's stats to go up.

"Fire Fang, now!" Creating fangs made from flames, Litten heads to where Cutiefly was. "Use Struggle Bug!" Green orbs came out of Cutiefly's body, attempting to hit Litten, but none of them managed to hit Litten, instead, they hit the ground. With no more options to do, Litten was able to land a powerful Fire Fang at Cutiefly.

"Sweet Scent!" Cutiefly twirls and releases pink powder that effectively makes Litten relaxed, unable to execute commands quickly. "Litten, use Bite!" It took a good few seconds for Litten to jump and attack Cutiefly, so it was able to dodge it with ease.

"Struggle Bug!" Releasing green orbs with a light green ring of aura around them, they strike the slowed Litten, creating dust and smoke that covers Litten. "Litten!" Astrid screamed, not knowing what happened to Litten.

"Finish it with Silver Wind!" Flapping its wings once more, it lets out a cyclone of wind with silver crescents, striking the place where Litten was. Much later, the smoke had disappeared, revealing an unconscious Litten on the ground.

"Litten!" Astrid quickly ran to where Litten was. "Use this." I threw a Super Potion at her. Astrid nodded to where I was, before spraying the potion on Litten. "It just needs to rest of a bit, and it'll be fine." I came up to where Astrid and Litten were. Carrying Litten in her arms, she stood up, holding Litten's Pokéball. "Thanks for everything Litten. Come back."

"Your Pokémon have been growing well after training for 3 days." I remarked.

Astrid quickly turned her attention to me. "Thanks. I'm not sure how, but I feel like somehow, I've gotten stronger as well." She clenched her fist, full of will.

"You are growing with your Pokémon as well, don't forget that. You're learning new battle styles and techniques."

Astrid blushed, feeling complimented. "But do you think those skills would be enough for me to win against Hele?"

I thought about it hard. "I don't know. But I feel like you guys are ready to face her already."

Astrid's eyes grew bigger, grinning. "I feel like I've discovered a part of me that I never thought existed."

"Dad says journeys make us become even better people than we were before."

Looking at the sky, Astrid began to walk. "You're lucky to have such supportive parents."

I remembered on how she said that she couldn't rely on them, her parents, anymore. I gathered courage so I could finally ask her about it.

"What really happened?"

Astrid became pale and silent for a few minutes. The breeze of the wind, carrying leaves and petals made the moment feel more sad.

"They... didn't want me to go on a journey. They wanted to protect me from any kind of danger. I couldn't take it anymore, so I ran away with Litten."

I looked down on the ground. "I didn't know about that. Were they always like that on your idea of going on a journey?" I stammered a few times, losing my courage to ask any further.

"No... seven years back, they agreed to let me go on a journey, but after agreeing, they started disallowing me from having things that I wanted for myself. They said it was to protect me, but I knew that wasn't the real reason why. Then, after getting Litten, I finally got the courage to run away and start my journey. To weave my own destiny that I wanted for myself, and not wear the one that my parents had already tailor-made for me." Astrid began to cry, falling down to her knees. I quickly comforted her, hugging her.

Sadness filled me in. I didn't know that she had to run away just to begin her journey. It must've really been her dream; a dream that she didn't want to go unfulfilled.

"That's why... I wanted to get stronger. To prove them wrong. To prove them that they don't have to protect me anymore, because I can protect myself." Astrid kept on sobbing, but I also kept on hugging her.

I guess Astrid wanted to travel with a person who challenges gyms because she wanted to learn from that person on how to become stronger, to prove her parents that they were wrong.

And the responsibility of keeping her safe and making her stronger falls under my hands. And that is why I swear... I'll do my best to make sure she becomes stronger, so that she could show her parents that she has something in her that cannot be broken!

 

I'm just here to announce that updates will be less... frequent, I guess? I don't really have too much time to write chapters, but I promise that if I finish a draft, I'll post it here as soon as I can. Thanks for reading up to this point!

 

Hooray! Finally, a new update, after like, a month! Sadly, this isn't an official chapter, and it's another one of those 'filler' chapters. Enjoy!

EXTRA - Star
CHAPTER 8.1 - The Vision
​

"Alrighty then, Meowth, use Feint Attack!" Swift as always, Meowth managed to get behind Growlithe. Naive as always, I command my Growlithe to turn around. "Growlithe, behind you!" Growlithe managed to turn around, but it was too late. Meowth was behind him once again. Astrid shouted from the top of her lungs. "Now Meowth!" Meowth hit Growlithe unsuspectingly, and here I was, hoping that we'd be able to catch it from behind. Guess it just wasn't our lucky day.

As I ran towards Growlithe, I began commenting on Meowth's skills. "You know," I picked up Growlithe from the ground before continuing. "Meowth's getting more accurate now. Feint Attack usually doesn't work on Growlithe thanks to its Odor Sleuth, but wow, I'm impressed!" Astrid smiled at the compliment directed to her Pokémon. "Thanks. You think that'll be enough to get past Hele?"

I began to walk towards the Pokémon Center. "To be completely honest, Hele's got a lot of tricks up her sleeve. She may be a new Gym Leader, but she's pretty tough." Astrid followed soon after with Meowth, gasping for a few moments. "But I'm sure that she won't be expecting your tactics, just make sure to not make it too obvious tomorrow." A sigh of relief quickly came out of Astrid. "Well, I'm glad that our training isn't for nothing." As we approached the back door, it soon opened, allowing us to enter the Center. "But training's made me and Meowth quite famished. I think that's enough training for today. Let's get some grub!"

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​

Astrid and I had a... very healthy meal. We got steak and salad and awkward silence watching over us. We haven't been too close since we've only been doing training, but I feel like I'm slowly getting closer with her. I just usually assume that none of us talk because we're famished and tired, and we didn't mind the silence either, so everything was good for us.

Then time for sleep finally came. I'm not one to sleep at sleeping hours, so I wasted a few hours starting from 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM by playing around with my phone, playing with any apps inside of it. One certainly caught my interest, and the app was named Magikarp Jump. It's a game where you play as a Magikarp Trainer who goes on a League to see if his Magikarp jumps the highest of them all. Suddenly, I had this strange feeling of being sleepy. Sure, it might not be strange, but it was strange since I just passed out without getting rid of my phone in my hand.

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​

Daytime finally came. My eyes were unable to open properly for a few seconds due to the sunlight hurting my eyes. However, something was definitely strange. I found myself lying on what seemed to be... transparent glass? Professor Kukui was standing right in front of me. The sky was reddish-purple, as if a meteor just recently came into contact with the Earth's atmosphere. Professor Kukui was speaking, but I couldn't hear him. It was as if I were deaf. He was pointing outside this gigantic glass dome. When I leaned to see the outside, I somehow fell down from the dome. The next scene was what truly scared me. Thousands, no, I think millions of Team Shadow Grunts were marching towards the glass dome!

Things started to get real crazy, I suddenly floated into the air. As I was floating in the air, I noticed two humanoid-beast-like Pokémon who were walking with the Grunts. One was reddish-orange, and looked like a muscular insect-like male human, while the other was yellowish-white, slender and would probably be a model if that thing was a female human. Tagging along with those two beasts were two humans who were floating on their hoverboard-like devices.

As I decided to run to the back of this marching army, I felt like I was being swallowed by millions of marching Team Shadow Grunts. I attempted to run ever further behind from this marching army, everything was going black. It was probably the black uniform of the Grunts, but no, my eyes felt like they were the ones giving in. Everything started going darker. "Almost there! You can do it!" I pushed myself even harder in this swarm of Grunts, running even faster. I hoped that everything would finally stop. Before I passed out, I managed to reach the back of this huge army. As I dropped down into the ground, I looked up, and saw a strange figure riding what looked to be a mecha suit. The man looked very familiar, but due to the fact that everything was going black, I was unable to identify who he was. The last I remember of being in this place was that I was on the ground, passed out.

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I suddenly sprung out of bed, screaming. I was back in the Pokémon Center, back in my bed. Everything was real, I wasn't levitating, I wasn't deaf, everything is back to normal. What I witnessed in my dream, or so I believe, felt like they happened just a few seconds ago. "Phew, everything's fine... hopefully." It took me a good few minutes before I decided to come down from my bed. I still wasn't able to get over from what I just saw in my dream, I felt like that was a warning, or a sign, but I couldn't figure out what it means. I know that Team Shadow is evil, but what could they be possibly be trying to do back there?

 

CHAPTER 9 - Another Confrontation!
​

As I finally regained my senses after taking a shower, I realized that it was finally time for Astrid to challenge Hele. She's been working very hard for this day, and I knew that she had it in her. Meowth and Litten are both on fire, a pun intended on Litten, and I'm sure that they'll succeed and get Astrid her first Gym Badge. I ran down the stairs of the Pokémon Center, noticing that Astrid and her Pokémon were quite early in eating this morning. I quickly went to their table and sat down in a chair, directly across Astrid. "Hey, today's the day right?" I excitedly asked. Astrid glanced at me for a second. She didn't seem excited as I was. "Oh yeah, today."

I couldn't help but notice how silent and quiet she was. Litten and Meowth were getting along nicely while eating and Astrid was not even giving any attention to them. She was quite enthusiastic about beating Hele, but now, it felt like she was completely empty. I worried that she might be sick or something. "Are you alright? You don't... look fine to me." I asked in a calm voice. "Do you have a cold?" Astrid put down her chopsticks before responding. "I'm... just fine. But, Star, look, I-"

Astrid's reply was completely cut off by a video commercial from the TV. "A-L-O-L-A! Show of your Pokémon in a completely different way!" A Togekiss was looping around a girl with dark blue hair, a Piplup being encased in ice by a Buneary, a Quilava using Fire Spin, and a Pachirisu using a Thunderbolt to make the stage look more brighter. "Get ready, as Pokémon Contests will now hit the sunny shores of Alola! See you there, future Coordinators!" I saw how Astrid was completely putting all of her attention to the commercial. I can feel that she wants to try out Pokémon Contests instead of battling.

As the commercial ended, Astrid began speaking once more. "Um, this is what I wanted to talk to you about..." I instantly knew where this was going. She wanted to become a Coordinator instead of a Trainer. "I was wondering if it was okay for me to-"

"Hey, if this is what you really want to do," I cut her off before she even finished what she was supposed to say. "then I can't stop you from doing so. I can't stop you from following your dream, because I don’t even want to!" I cheerfully added. Astrid’s eyes began to shine with excitement. I knew that from today onward, things are going to get interesting. We continued eating our food, before I noticed a girl sitting at the table behind our table. It looked like she was staring at Astrid quite intensely, but the look wasn't full of anger or hatred. In fact, it looked more like an empty glare. She had lilac hair, and was wearing a violet dress. I didn't dare to look at her, maybe she was just thinking of something else and since Astrid was the one in front of her, Astrid's back was the only one she could look at right now.

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"Are you ready? We've got a long day ahead of us." I said as I watched Astrid pack her bag. "Oh come on Star, are you giving up on me now because I can't even handle my own bag?" She tauntingly asked. "No, it's not that! It’s just..." I stammered a few times, making Astrid laugh. "You're a nervous wreck. Did something happen earlier?" I shook my head multiple times, denying that I was feeling low today as well. "At any rate, we can't have you down like that, so full steam ahead towards Iki Town!" Astrid stood up and posed like an idol. I couldn't help but laugh a bit before we finally decided to leave the Center.

I put my hands at the back of my head, thinking about what I should say to break the silence that has been creeping up on us for minutes. "We wasted half a week to get you and your team into shape to battle Hele, and then you just threw it all away." I yawned, taunting her even further. "Jeepers, you wasted my time! I could've already gotten to the next island if you didn't tag along." Astrid finally got irritated, satisfying me for a bit. "And if you didn't have me as your good luck charm, you're probably stuck to your house, crying on how you got defeated!"

I couldn't help but laugh; a good luck charm? "Hah! Good luck charm? You think up of the weirdest things Astrid." I calmed myself down before I could die due to lack of air. "You haven't even proven how you give me luck." A sharp voice came from right in front of us. "Luck? Don't you think that's... too shallow?" A girl with lilac colored hair, wearing a stylish lilac trench coat appeared out of nowhere. "That girl!" I thought. Astrid and I stood there in surprise, watching as this girl laughed in front of us. "Quite stylish and snobbish." Astrid discreetly whispered in my ear. The girl's eyes squinted, which means that she probably heard what Astrid said. "I beg your pardon?" Astrid and I froze in shock as we were intimidated by this girl, who was clearly the same age as us, yet she was completely dominating me and Astrid. As we were starting to melt like ice, she began to laugh once more, taunting us even further. "You two are... quite interesting." She said as she walked away from us.

Before she got too far away from us, she spoke once more. "See you at the Contest Hall." The girl said before she really walked away from us. I stared at Astrid, who was already quite shocked from what happened. "Looks like you've found yourself a rival." I said, trying to make the most out of this situation. Astrid took a few seconds before she was able to reply. "I think I've seen that girl somewhere... I don't know where, but I think I already knew her." I laughed at her statement. "Maybe you've already met at the Pokémon Center, I saw her today eating at the table behind us." We continued walking, still discussing the subject. "Maybe, but I feel like I know her for a long time already. Hmm, I guess she's worth looking into." Looks like Astrid was getting detective-ish from that.

Silence ensued, and I couldn't think of something else to talk about. Moments later, Astrid came up with a question. "Hey, Star, I have to ask you something." I nodded at her, gesturing for her to ask me the question. "Was challenging the Pokémon League really your first idea?" I got quite surprised by the question. "Oh wait, lemme rephrase that. What I mean is, did you always want to challenge the Pokémon League, or did someone tell you to do so?" I felt like this would head to another talk between her family, but I didn't mind. "I guess so, yes? I've always loved watching the Pokémon League in TV." Astrid nodded, feeling content with my answer. "Good for you. You're very lucky that you aren't being restricted from what you want to do. Not like me, who feels like I was being chained all the time." Astrid answered in a very grave tone. I knew it'd be something related to freedom and such. But hey, I think talking about her problems is helping her. She looks quite cheerful every time she finishes talking about that.

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Our trip back to Iki Town was quite peaceful, in fact, we only ran through a few trainers. However, we didn't manage to get back there before sundown, so we had to camp out for the night. Astrid gathered some twigs to put at the campfire, while I set up our tent. None of us knew how to cook, but luckily, Nurse Joy kindly gave us some snacks that'd probably be enough for the whole trip back to Iki Town. We sang a few songs in the campfire, played a few games before going to bed. NO! It didn't go like that. Everything was still silent, with a few remarks here and there, but nothing more. Astrid decided to play around with her Pokémon, while I decided to do a bit of training before going to bed.

I was supposed to fall asleep already, but there was one thing that was keeping me from doing so, and that was the dream I had yesterday. It was more like a nightmare, but still, I couldn't get over it. What were they doing there? I don't know. All I know is that it's currently affecting me by preventing me from sleeping. I thought that maybe that little training I did wasn't enough, so I decided to go out for a walk until I finally felt sleepy enough. The forest felt quite serene, most of the Pokémon were already asleep, while some Pokémon were still up. However, even though some of them were still up, it still didn't interrupt the serene silence that can be heard throughout the forest. This is probably the first time I'd appreciate silence, since I'd normally hate it.

I ran across a small river with crystal clear water reflecting the light of the moon. When the sun rises, it'll be reflecting the shine of the sun. I sat near the river, letting my legs get in the water. I kicked my feet in the water, making small, water splashes. It was quite fun, to be honest, until I heard some sort of explosion nearby. The explosion was so powerful that the wind caused the river to make a small wave, causing my torso to get wet. "Aw, I'll have to get dry later!" My attention was quickly drawn from my pajamas into the direction of the explosion. Normally, most people would run away from the explosion, but I was different. I'd be a daredevil and go to the center of the explosion.

The explosion was more powerful than I had expected, as hordes of Pokémon were running away! I lost my balance for a few times until I regained it, but the stampeding horde of Pokémon made the ground rumble lightly a few times, until they were far enough for the ground to rumble. When I got closer, light kept getting bigger. As much as I wanted to come near it, the light was too bright, and it prevented me from pushing myself any further. I decided to wait, and my patience paid off as the light eventually disappeared, revealing a massive crater in the middle. "Why am I not surprised from this?" I saw Team Shadow Grunts from the distance, and a woman with a weird looking humanoid insect which was colored white. That humanoid insect was the same one I saw from my nightmare! Was I dreaming again? I couldn't stop making small noises until the Team Shadow Grunts and the woman saw me.

"My, my, what are you doing here?" The woman asked. "But we can't let any witnesses leave, I'm afraid. You there, take that girl!" A few Grunts began approaching me. I didn't have my Pokémon with me! "Heh, you not having a Pokémon makes this easier! Passimian, go!" As the Grunt threw his PokéBall, a Passimian came out from it. I back away from the Grunts, not knowing what to do. "Alright, c'mere you mischievous girl!" I was about to give myself up, until I heard a scream from the distance.

"Meowth, Feint Attack! Brionne, Water Gun! Growlithe and Litten, Ember! Cutiefly, Fairy Wind! Pichu, Thunder Shock! Go!" Astrid and our Pokémon were running towards us, each of our Pokémon dishing out a flurry of attacks. Brionne's Water Gun hit the Grunt that the Grunt with a Passimian was with, Growlithe and Litten both hit Passimian, Cutiefly stopped the Grunt with the Passimian from moving and Meowth landed the final hit on Passimian. "Astrid! everyone!" I shrieked as I saw all of them coming to save me. "We heard an explosion, so we had to come here as fast as we could!"

"Tch, get rid of that other girl too!" The woman ordered. The Grunts nodded, before commanding his Passimian. The other Grunt let out his Oranguru.

Star and Astrid are challenged by Team Shadow Grunts!
Star sent out Brionne!
Astrid sent out Litten!
Team Shadow Grunt sent out Passimian!
Team Shadow Grunt sent out Oranguru!
​

Our Pokémon were heavily outmatched by the two clearly stronger Pokémon. "Passimian, use Take Down on Litten!" Passimian began to be covered in a white aura, before running straight to Litten. "Brionne, Hyper Voice!" Brionne began to scream, letting out a blue wave of energy towards Passimian. It looked like it worked at first, but somehow, Passimian was able to resist it. Being able to do nothing, Litten got a direct hit from Passimian, causing a lot of damage. "Oranguru, Confusion on Brionne!" Oranguru began to be surrounded in a purple aura, as well as Brionne. Brionne was unable to do anything, due to the fact that it's mind was being controlled by Oranguru. "Litten, Ember on Oranguru!" Before the small flame was able to hit Oranguru, Passimian was able to block the attack for Oranguru. "Take Down on Litten!" Passimian began to run towards Litten once more. "Dodge that Litten!" Litten quickly began to run in high speeds in order to evade. "Oranguru, Psychic on Brionne!" Without any form of warning, Brionne, controlled by Oranguru, collided with Litten, buying Passimian some time to get to Litten, and in only a few seconds, Passimian successfully hit Litten.

"We can't win this!" I said, losing hope that we will ever win. Our Pokémon were already exhausted and their Pokémon were still up and running. "Staraptor, Whirlwind!" The sound of flapping wings followed the loud voice that came from the trees. "It's the Rangers!" I thought, surprised on seeing them again. Staraptor created a strong gust of wind that pushed the Grunts and their Pokémon back into the crater. From the side opposite from where we are standing, another voice popped up. "Floatzel, Surf!" Floatzel then jumped on the gigantic wave that it made that later consumed the entire crater. "Now Kate!" Looking at the sky, Kate was flying on another Staraptor with her Pachirisu. "Pachirisu, Thunderbolt on the water!" Being a great conductor of electricity, those who were in the water caused by Floatzel's Surf got electrocuted badly. Some machines also overheated due to the extreme electricity, causing them to explode. "Abort mission! I repeat, abort mission! Get back on the plane!" The woman commanded, which were followed by the Grunts. They retreated on their large plane, before taking off.

"I'll catch up to them!" Kate volunteered to get there, but Keith and Kellyn both shook their heads. "Today isn't our day." Kellyn said. Kate decided to release the Staraptor that she captured, before the three of them regrouped back at the center of the crater. "Well, we seem to run into you guys often." Keith cheerfully said, followed by a smile from Kellyn and Kate. "And these two seem to run into Team Shadow often as well." Kellyn added in a grave tone. "Well, Team Shadow has been quite active, so I wouldn't be surprised." Kate said while crossing her arms. Astrid and I didn't dare speak while they were speaking, so we just let them do what they need to do. "Did you get the info from the guy earlier?" Kellyn's eyes were meeting Keith's as he asked the question. "Yeah, I did. I got the papers here." Keith showed us the papers, which were held together by a single paper clip. "Looks like that woman earlier was an admin of Team Shadow, and her name is Primarosa." An image of the woman earlier was glued in the paper, with her name on the right side. "Hm, that's one down. We still gotta find out who the other admins of Team Shadow are." Kate said, looking into the ground.

"Still, we have to make sure these two get out of here safely." Kate added, before smiling at our direction. "Where are you guys camping at? We'd be happy to guard your campsite until tomorrow morning, just to make sure that Team Shadow doesn't abduct the two of you again." Keith fiercely said, exciting the two of us. "Well, our camp is that direction." I pointed to the east from where we were standing, before Kellyn nodded. Kate quickly gave a suggestion on what they should do. "Alright, two of us will be scouting the forest to make sue that there's no Team Shadow Grunts in this forest while one of us stays in their camp to guard the two of them." Before long, Keith and Kellyn both agreed to scout the forest while Kate agreed to stay in our camp.

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Still, after being exhausted, I couldn't force myself to sleep. Fire was still flickering from the campfire as I found Kate sitting in one of the foldable chairs, throwing some twigs at the campfire. When she noticed me coming out of the tent, she smiled, before turning her attention back to the fire. "Mind if I sit beside you?" I asked as I was about to sit next to her. She nodded before I sat down. Again, there was complete silence between two people and the fire was the only one keeping the place noisy. "Hey, um, can I ask something?" I asked, followed by Kate smiling at me. "What is it?" Silence followed for a few seconds before I continued asking. "Why did you want to become a Ranger in the first place?" Kate laughed before responding. "I've gotten that question before at the Ranger School in Almia. And my answer will always be the same. I wanted to become a Ranger because I wanted to help better the world that we live in. I want to help both people and Pokémon that are being oppressed or being harmed by the others." Kate then returned to her calm and serene face. "You must really have a pure heart, huh?" I said, making her laugh once more. "Well, if you put it that way, I guess so."

Silence followed once more, this time however, I got sleepy and without realizing that I was still sitting on the chair.

 

CHAPTER 10 - Sweets Festival​

When I finally woke up from my seemingly comfortable slumber, I felt ashamed since I found myself on the foldable chair that I was sitting on last night. Kate wasn't there anymore, and Astrid had just also recently woken up from the tent.

"Oh, you're here." She said as she put her hand to stop the tent from hitting her face. "I didn't notice you coming out of the tent." She added, standing up. I blushed quite a bit, embarrassed that I slept in the chair.

"Oh, I got up early today! Haha." I stuttered, blushing even more. "Are you alright?" Astrid said as she craned her neck to check if I was fine. "Are you sick or something?" I shook my head, relieving Astrid's worries about my condition.

"Hm, where's Kate and the others?" She looked around our campsite to see if the Rangers were still there, but it appears that they've already left. "Well, we should start packing now." I suggested, before folding the chair that I was previously sitting on.

Before we were even able to finish cleaning up our campsite, Keith swung down from a large vine, jumping off from it after it got close to us. "Looks like you two are leaving, huh?" He asked, Astrid and I giving him a slight nod.

"We gotta take our leave soon as well, we'll prolly get another mission to deal with Team Shadow's shenanigans, again." Kate swung down from another vine, releasing her grip from the vine before gracefully falling down to the ground. "You seem tired to be focusing on one enemy again Keith." Keith scratched the back of his head after the statement from Kate.

Suddenly, Keith's Styler began to ring, which meant something was up. At least, that's what I think.

"This is Rhythmi, do you copy?" A female voice suddenly came out from the styler, prompting Keith to press a button. "Roger, I copy ya. This is Keith." He grinned afterwards. "I know that already, you idiot!" A squealing voice followed.

"Anyway, you have another mission to do." The girl added, calmly.

"Oh, it's so hard to guess! Lemme think, hm, this has got something to do with Team Shadow right?" Keith sarcastically said, laughing afterwards. "Looks like someone already got the mission. Bye bye then." The girl responded.

"N'aww, you got jealous because some other Operator told us the mission already?" Keith said, taunting the girl even further. However, the girl didn't bother to reply, almost as if she hung up. Kate sighed before butting in. "Rhythmi, I know you're still there, you're not fooling us with another one of those tricks."

"Fine." The voice from the Styler came back. "Anyway, you gotta infiltrate their base, again. This one's more serious than the last mission you decided to abort." The voice was a bit more serious this time, causing Kate and Keith to become serious as well.

"Um, we'll just be over there. This one's kinda... confidential." Keith said, putting his hand on his Styler and pointing his other hand towards the direction in front of them. Astrid and I gave him a go ahead nod, prompting them to move a few meters away from the site.

"Their mission must be that serious, huh?" I whispered in Astrid's ear. "Well, they are rangers after all. Let's just pack up and go before we bother them any further." We continued cleaning our site for a few minutes, causing our site to look like nothing happened there at all. When we finished cleaning, Kate and Keith were also finished talking things with the Operator girl, so we each said goodbye before we parted ways.

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Same issues while travelling with Astrid happened once more. Instead of trying to relieve the awkwardness that was already present, Astrid made it even more awkward as she began to take a small book from her bag and began to read while we were walking. "Oh great." I thought, getting awkward even further.

Astrid finally decided to break the ice. "Uhm, do you know any pâtisseries around here that I could get an internship for a while?" A pâtisserie? "What's a... pâtisserie?" I asked, not knowing what that actually meant

"Oh, pâtisseries are shops that specialize in sweets and stuff." She probably just read that in her book. "And internship? Why'd you want to do that?" I asked even further, wanting to know what her motives were.

It took a few seconds before she was able to respond. "Well, I want to give sweets and stuff to my Pokémon during Contests, cause I hear it can make their attacks more flashy and such." Okay, I'd probably agree about that, but there's just one problem. "Let's say you'll get an internship and then you get in. But do you even have any knowledge in doing such things?"

Astrid was quite flustered. She didn't know how to respond. "Well, um..." She stuttered, panicking a lot. "I've watched a few baking stuff at our house before..." She added, gaining a bit of confidence. "So, it'll be fine! Trust me! Haha..." She began to regain her normal voice to try and not make me worry, but that even made me worry even further.

"This'll mean that we won't be going to Iki Town together. So, I guess we'll have to part ways?" I sadly asked. Moments later, Astrid pounced for my arm and grabbed it tight. "N'aww, separating won't be necessary! We can get an internship together!"

Wait, what?! First, it was just Astrid, and now it also has to include me? "I thought that you're the only one doing that!" I tried to pull my arm away from Astrid once more, but she kept on hugging it even more which made it seem like my arm was being squeezed instead of being hugged. "Ow, let go!" I screamed, feeling pain. She withdrew her arms before silently murmuring that she was sorry.

Oh boy, her persuasion didn't just stop from there. This time, she brought out her puppy eyes. Hooray. "Tch, fine, I'll join you." I reluctantly said. The graveness in my answer was enough to make Astrid jump in joy. "Yay!" She hugged me once more.

"Ugh, I knew I was going to regret this in about a few seconds and now it turns out that I'm so right. I should become a fortuneteller instead." I thought, rolling my eyes. "We're going to have lots of fun baking stuff!" Astrid exclaimed quite happily.

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Just as we were about to go crazy of not being able to get to a nearby town, we managed to find one to stay for the night. It wasn't the greatest town ever; it was probably the most quiet place you'll ever find in Alola. The inhabitants kept personal business to themselves, there were no streetlights and only the moon and the lights from the houses served as our guides. Paper and dust were being blown everywhere by the wind.

"Not the busiest town ever, huh?" I murmured, afraid of the silence all around. "Well, this is the only place we could stay at right now, sooo..." Astrid responded to my question quite forcefully. I thought that maybe she didn't like this place either. We entered the Pokémon Center anyway and took a good night's sleep.

Normally I'd wake up at the sound of my alarm clock, but this time was different once more. Instead of waking up in the regular world, I found myself in another one of these visions. I see people talking and screaming, but I couldn't hear their voices. Right in front of me was a humongous monster with a mouth at its belly. It has many pincers that made me think that it was over for me. However, just like before, I just passed through it, remembering that I'm just a holographic thing in this dimension. Still, this monster was destroying and eating buildings twice or even thrice its size. Wherever it walks, it leaves a large crater that appears to be its footprints on the ground. The last thing I saw was that I was about to be crushed by a large building debris, before waking up and realizing that it was all just a dream.

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When I woke up, I sprung out of my bed, realizing that it was already daytime. "That's quick, I could've sworn that I've only been sleeping for two hours." I thought. As I put my feet down at the ground from the bed, I realized that my alarm clock still hasn't rung. Quite odd.

Later, I find myself looking outside the window. Apparently I woke up because the town was quite noisy with all the commotion outside. "So that's what that noise was." I said before finally getting inside the bathroom.

After a few minutes, I come out, my hair still wet. I combed it a few times before sitting down to continue. It wasn't everyday that I was waking up to a commotion outside, so this was a big change. Just as I was enjoying everything, Astrid just suddenly came inside my room.

"You're awake, good!" Astrid excitedly shrieked. I was surprised to see her just barging inside my room without permission. "Wait a second, that door's locked! How'd you open it?!"

Astrid stood there before she raised her hand to show a key to my room. "Nurse Joy." She added as she kept the keys in her pocket. "Anyway, the more important business here is THIS!" She showed me a large poster with cakes, macarons, puddings and chocolates. At the top part of the poster was a large logo, containing the words 'SWEETS FESTIVAL IN BEIGNET TOWN'

I quickly looked at her eyes afterwards. "And I'm assuming we'll be attending this too." Astrid nodded, followed by my eyes rolling shortly after. "Aw, come on! This'll be fun! We'll get to see how stuff works in the kitchen today!"

I screamed internally when I heard today. "Today? Today today?!" I asked, frustrated. "Yes, today is the day! So get dressed already! The festival is about to begin, look out-"

I quickly cut her sentence. "Yeah, I already saw that. That's the reason why I woke up." I continued combing my hair. "Do you mind giving me a few minutes before leaving, you've stressed me enough already with the training you wasted, Astrid!"

She folded her arms, obviously irritated. "Fine. Five minutes then. If I don't see you at the ground floor later Star, I'll definitely ditch you somewhere." Astrid said as she stormed off my room.

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​

Astrid and I barely managed to squeeze ourselves in the massive crowd that was right in front of us. Hordes of people, no, children, were running aimlessly just to try out everything that was free in the festival. Astrid also decided to join in the fun as she went to check out some stalls. Okay, definitely not what we were supposed to do. "Internship, find something that says internship Star!" I looked around, jumping to see the signs in the crowd.

All of my attempts went in vain. I was being pushed around by this massive crowd that I don't even know where I was being pushed to. All I can hear was a very loud person talking at the microphone. Seconds later, I found myself being dragged by this same exact person. "Here's another eager contestant!" The man said as he kept dragging me towards the stage.

I was then led to a small kitchen counter with an oven and some baking tools and accessories. "Oh great, what was I dragged into? LITERALLY?!" I thought before panicking. There were five other people in the stage with me, each having their own mini-kitchen, equipped with the same tools as mine. I panicked, I didn't know what I was supposed to do and what I was supposed to be doing here. I felt like I was just randomly picked by this guy for this contest competition whatever to begin.

Every second felt like I'm lightheaded. I wanted to leave, but the man will probably scream at me. Best to just play along then, ugh. "The only thing that the contestants need to do is to bake us any kind of sweets. A cake, macaron, pudding, chocolate, tart, donuts, you name it, anything!" The man said in a very cheerful tone. "There are a few reminders though, one is that all of the ingredients are not yet at the kitchen and are at the front of the stage!" Oh great, I'm going to have to drag ingredients from the front to the back.

"There is still a catch to that though, each contestant gets to have two Pokémon to help them out either gathering ingredients or helping them bake." Two? Goodness, that'll take forever, at least. But more importantly, what am I supposed to be making?! "Another reminder is that at one of the cabinets contain a cookbook, which allows the contestants to get the proper timing and proper temperature." Okay, I guess that's solved then.

"So, dear audience and our lucky contestants, let us begin!"

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​

The other contestants send out their two helping Pokémon, asking them to bring ingredients. I decided to ask for Growlithe and Brionne's help. Growlithe fetched me some ingredients while Brionne helped out in looking for utensils. I didn't know what to make at first, but I thought that maybe something like a mille crêpe would do. It'd at least make up for my failed appearance in front of the stage earlier.

Mixing the butter, eggs, flour, maple syrup, milk, and salt took soooo long. Don't even get me started on flipping them all in the pan. Some just got stuck and took me minutes before I was able to dispose of them. A few sides were also burnt. Creating the custard took much of my time as well. When I started putting it on the crêpes, most of the cream got spilled on the counter or on the ground. I had to wait for three hours to finish mine, but it was okay since the competition was a day-night event.

The end result? Disaster. Instead of looking like a proper mille crêpe, it looked more like a pancake now. Oh boy, I wonder who wins this one?

The contestant with Makuhita and Machop made a fruit tart. It was quite advantageous for them at least because they've got more manpower. The second contestant made a donut, but it seemed like it was a failure too. The third contestant who looked quite familiar with her lilac hair made macarons. However, they were special as they were designed to look like a cat. Someone's got a lot of time on their hands. The fourth one made a cheesecake and looked very tasty with all of their toppings. The fifth one tried to make waffles, but like the second contestant and mine, they were a failure as well.

They were presented to the judges, each having their own opinion. The guy who made the fruit tart was praised for the, uh, balanced taste? I don't really know. The second one who made donuts got a very... inspirational message from the judges. The lilac haired girl was praised for the perfect harmony between design and taste, praising her creativity and her resourcefulness. The cheesecake made the judges very happy as the taste was on point. The fifth one also got an inspirational message from the judges, until it was my time to receive judging.

"What's your name, miss?" The female judge asked. "I'm Star." I replied nervously. "What do you have for us today?" The male judge at the right side asked. As I approached the table with the cloche in my hand, I continued speaking. "Mille crêpe." I stuttered quite a lot with those words as I opened the cloche.

The judges weren't very convinced that the one I baked was mille crêpe either. Can't blame them, things got so wrong while cooking. "Well, let's not judge a book by its cover, so..." The judges took a bite, trying to comprehend what they were eating. "Horrible, right?" I murmured, trying to ask them to just end my suffering already.

To my surprise, it wasn't another inspirational quote that I got. "This... is actually tasty!" The female judge said. "Except for the burnt parts, still good though." The judges began to slowly eat the mille crêpe I made. Huh, who knew?

Half an hour later, the judges were ready to announce the results. "Before we announce the winners, we just want to remind everyone that the top three will have an internship at Pâtisserie Karamellin, currently Alola's most famous pâtisserie." Internship?! Oh god, Astrid should've been here instead!

"Anyway, let us begin announcing the results!" The man who dragged me earlier announced happily. "Our 6th placer is... Marc and his donuts!" A very weak applause followed. "Next up is our 5th placer, Selina and her waffles!" Another weak applause followed. If I was the one being applauded like that, maybe I'd take it as offensive instead. "The 4th placer is none other than... Paul and his fruit tart!" A much proper applause was given this time.

I'm surprised I wasn't given 5th or 4th place. They somehow kinda liked my crêpe, but the design was still horrible. I think Paul should've been higher up in the ranking. "We're down to our last three. And our 3rd placer is..."

"Star and her mille crêpe!" I was then asked to come forward, then go to the right afterwards. A loud applause followed. This honestly surprised me, not because I won, it was because I felt like I should've been 5th or 4th instead. "2nd placer is Aaron and his cheesecake!" He was asked to come forward and then go to the left. An even louder applause followed. The lilac haired girl was the one left, so she was asked to come forward. "And our 1st placer is none other than Lilah and her cat macarons!"

I wasn't able to cheer Lilah on as I was looking for Astrid. She should be the one in this competition to go to Pâtisserie Karamellin for an internship, not me! I tried hard to look around the crowd below us, but I still couldn't find her.

Moments later, I find her, smiling in the crowd. Then I realized that she was looking at Lilah, probably amazed by her sweets as well. If I were her, I think I'd be standing in awe as well.

This was a very crazy Sweets Festival that I attended; I accidentally got an internship for Pâtisserie Karamellin and now I gotta figure out how Astrid is going to come with me there.

 

EXTRA - Rangers
CHAPTER 10.1 - Infiltrating the Base
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"Um, we'll just be over there. This one's kinda... confidential." I said, putting my hand on my Styler whilst pointing my other hand towards the direction in front of us. Astrid and Star gave us a go ahead nod, prompting us to move a few meters away from them.

"Alright Rhythmi, we're clear. Watcha got?" I said after removing my hand that was covering my styler. "The Union wants you to infiltrate Team Shadow's base and learn what their true motives are before they send out any form of backup." Rhythmi calmly said.

Kate sighed disappointingly. "Have you briefed Kellyn on this yet?" Kate asked as she began to relax her body. "Yup, and he's waiting for you outside of that Route." Well, looks like someone got way too ahead of us. "Also, you might wanna do this mission at nighttime."

I gasped, "Nighttime?" I thought. Defenses were already on full alert at their base even before we tried to infiltrate it before, so I'll assume that the mission will prove to be a bit more tense. "I'm not really confident with just the three of us working on this mission," I stopped for a few seconds as I scratched the back of my head. "but if it's what the Union wants us to do, then we have no choice."

"You guys can all do it, remember the crisis here at Almia? If you managed to stop it from becoming even bigger, then I'm sure you can take down this one too."

"Rhythmi, thanks for trying to cheer us up but... this one's more serious now. This isn't just Alola anymore, it's involving the whole world now as well." I sighed, feeling burdened about the fate of the world. "We'll be on our way to where Kellyn is after a few minutes." Kate said before walking towards Astrid and Star. "Talk to you later Rhythmi." I quickly hung up, following Kate afterwards.

We went to say our goodbyes and wishing each other good luck on both our journeys. Astrid and Star both left for Iki Town while we quickly heaed to where Kellyn was. He was hiding at a large bush near the road. Not really Kellyn like if you ask me. "Okay, first off, why here Kellyn?"

A very irritated Kellyn responded. "We can't go to their base all willy-nilly anymore." He quickly turned his gaze back into the road. "Team Shadow sends out Grunts to lock strong Pokémon inside cages to prevent trainers from capturing them."

I was still confused on what the relation was on this one. "And how are we supposed to get to their base by using that plan of yours?"

Kellyn sighed heavily before turning around to face me. "We're going to follow them to their base, obviously!"

I was flustered, I didn't realize that the first time I heard of the plan. "Oh, yeah, of course."

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Waiting for this truck to appear at this road felt like forever. I already expected that we will be waiting for a while, but come on, not for hours! As I kept on being annoyed and irritated, the truck finally appeared on the horizon. "It's here. Get ready, we're getting on it." Kellyn said as he went on his stance before leaping atop the truck. Kate followed afterwards, gracefully jumping. I jumped on it last, but thankfully the Grunts weren't able to notice a thing.

"Get down, we'll have to lay low as possible." After hearing the command from Kellyn, Kate and I laid down on our stomachs, our arms stretched in order to grab something so as to not fall down from the truck.

As we were seeing the base of Team Shadow in the distance, Kellyn already knew what to do since they were going to be checking the trucks. "I'll roll over to open the door of the truck." Kellyn quickly rolled over to fall down from the top of the truck, standing on the step that was right below the door. Kate and I slid at the edge of the truck's roof, checking to see if Kellyn was having any problems.

Kellyn tried to open the door, but there was a lock preventing him from doing so. "Keith, get me a lockpick, now." I quickly checked my pockets to see if I had any, and luckily, I do. I reached my hand out to him, giving him the lockpick, allowing him to open the door of the truck.

"Get in before they see us." Kellyn managed to get in first, followed by Kate who swung down from the roof of the truck. I jumped over to the step in front of the door, closing it afterwards.

Everything was going smoothly, except for one thing. The door. It was opening and closing for every bump that the road was having, and judging by how it opens and closes every single time, there are lots of bumps. "What do we do about that?" Kate asked, worried of our current situation. It wasn't long before Kellyn was able to come up with an answer.

"Kate and Keith, grab the door to close it properly." Kate and I hold one side of the door as Kellyn decided to use his laser beam to cut open a small square, but the top was left intact. Using the small flap or opening of sorts, he reached his arm outside along with the lock in order to lock the door in place once more. "Alright, we gotta hide, now!"

There were all sorts of caged and covered Pokémon inside the truck, which gave us many possibilities on how we could all hide. Kate hid under the cloth that was hiding a large caged Bewear inside, I hid under the cloth of a caged Kommo-o while Kellyn hid under the cloth of a caged Golisopod.

The truck stopped moving as it was bound for inspection before getting in, probably to make sure that Rangers like us don't suddenly get inside their base. Since we locked the door from the outside, the two Team Shadow Grunts didn't notice a thing. They used used flashlights to check the dark corners of the truck, but they were so lazy that they didn't even check the cages. Afterwards, the truck moved forward once more, causing Kellyn to stop hiding.

"We're in, so how do we get out?" I asked, waiting for an answer.

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As the forklift was carrying the cages outside, we decided to make a break for it, running behind the large crates at their warehouse. Nobody even noticed, not even Grunts who weren't using the forklift and were supposed to be looking out for anything suspicious.

Kate sighed. "Good thing we're here." All three of us began to pant as we tried to get some air after getting tired for so long. "What do we do next?" I stuttered a few times, glancing at Kellyn. "I'm all out. We're still just at their basement and we gotta make our way up there."

Up there. Of course, the vents! I quickly explained the plan to them, using the vents to get in once more. When we all agreed in our plan, Kate decided to climb up the large crate. Good thing it was pretty dark out there. Kellyn and I followed shortly after, seeing the grate that was just a few meters away from the edge of the crate. I quickly removed it, careful so that it wouldn't fall down and make a large sound.

Kate quickly leaped and hung on the exposed vent, before somersaulting to get inside completely. Kellyn followed, jumping up directly. Soon after, it was my turn, and I had to close the vent. Problem was is that I couldn't close it as it could only be closed from the outside, so I brought the cover inside and flipped it so that I could close it from the inside, which would probably look suspicious.

Instead of the usual vent situation that we were faced with everyday, this vent was a lot more spacious as instead of crawling, we were just crouching. We didn't know the layout of this place, but the grills on the vent allowed us to see which rooms were below us. We walked past the Control Room, a room where tons of people were typing away and a conference hall.

Much later, we came across what seemed to be a dressing room, filled with the outfits of the Team Shadow Grunts. We all looked at each other, probably thinking the same thing. "Well, if we want to learn something about Team Shadow, we should become Team Shadow." I said, followed by Kellyn's approval. We open the vent, jumping off of it one by one. Each of us took a full set of Team Shadow clothes, changing inside the dressing room.

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​

I quickly came out of the dressing room, still fixing my belt. Kellyn was looking quite cool with the red and black opened vampire collared vest worn atop the grey shirt. His belt wasn't positioned correctly, but it was intentional. He was also wearing long, black pants and grey boots. Kate was wearing a red and white vampire collared vest that only reached her stomach, worn atop the grey shirt. She also had a belt which was similar to how Kellyn's belt was positioned. She wore a black skirt while wearing grey, heeled boots. I was wearing the exact same thing as Kellyn, still struggling with the belt. We lso attached a badge containing the logo of Team Shadow.

"Hm, not bad for an outfit." I remarked, quite amazed with what the Team Shadow Grunts were wearing. Kate quickly undid her buns, letting her hair flow naturally. "What'd you do that for?" I asked, confused.

"We don't want them recognizing us easily. Change your hairstyles too!"

Kellyn decided to style his hair to make him look a bit more formal. I decided to change my hair and shape it into a quiff, and then we were all ready to head out. However, the door opened moments later, revealing the woman that we saw yesterday, the one who was commanding the Team Shadow Grunts in getting Star and Astrid. "Primarosa." I thought.

"My, my, still haven't finished dressing up, rookies?" She said in a very calm tone. Rookies? Must think that we're new recruits. Best to just play along. "We've got a very long day ahead of us, my future Team Shadow Grunts..."

 

EXTRA - Lilah
CHAPTER 10.2 - It's Not Easy Being Lilah
​

"Do as you like, Lilah."

Those words kept on haunting Lilah's head. As you like. What did that mean? Ever since she was a kid, she's been hearing the word like millions of times, yet she was having problems in comprehending what it truly means. The dictionary wasn't able to help her either.

Lilah was walking down the road, donning her lilac trench coat. Everything was peaceful until she heard something in the distance; a loud noise, perhaps. She investigated even further, searching for the source of the noise. When she finally located it, she hid under a bush.

"Growlithe, focus and use Reversal!"

"Oh no, you don't! Use Screech!"

A Pokémon battle was taking place right in front of her very eyes. "Nothing interesting to see here." Lilah murmured as she silently left the area. Lilah also had her own fair share of problems, and that was entering the first Pokémon Contest in Akala Island. In order to do that, she needed to train all of her Pokémon.

She quickly approached the battlefield that was right in front of the Pokémon Center. This was the perfect time for her to train. "Steenee, Gothita, and Eevee, come out!" One by one, each of her Pokémon came out from their Poké Balls, excited for their training.

Lilah quickly sat down on her knees, with the Pokémon coming even closer to her afterward. "We're moving on to Akala soon, so let's get all of your moves polished, okay?" Lilah calmly said as she stood back up, dusting off her trench coat. "Steenee, let's see what you've got."

Steenee happily went a bit further from the field, while the others went near Lilah's feet. "Steenee, Sweet Scent!" Steenee spun gracefully, releasing pink powder from the leaves on its head. The powder got even thicker afterwards, causing Lilah to ask Steenee to use another move.

"Steenee, use Magical Leaf!" Steenee's hand began to glow in light green, creating a circle motion using its glowing hands. Afterwards, a green orb appears, shooting out multiple light green glowing leaves which absorb the Sweet Scent, leaving a pink trail as the leaves circle around Steenee.

"Use Double Slap on the leaves!" Steenee uses its sepals and spins around to hit some of the leaves to create a swirl of leaves with pink trails. Moments later, they fall down from the sky and are headed straight for Steenee.

"Aromatherapy, now!" Steenee began to glow light green, releasing a green wave of energy that causes the falling leaves to sparkle and dissipate in the air as it leaves a trail of sparkles that shower Steenee.

Lilah was amused by the performance, clapping her hands. "Nice work Steenee!" Steenee happily jumped in joy before running towards Lilah. "Gothita, you're up." Gothita quickly ran towards the center of the field, raising its hand while waiting for an order from Lilah.

"Gothita, Psyshock!" Gothita quickly leaped into the air, forming a thick mass of blue and purple energy that encircled it, firing it directly into the ground.

"Telekinesis!" Gothita's eyes quickly glow in the color of green, controlling the blue and purple energy that was about to strike the ground. They continued to flow into the air, others in high speeds while others were slowly floating.

"Spin around while using Psybeam!" Gothita quickly began to glow in different colors, spinning as it released a multicolored beam of energy that hit all of the blue and purple energy in the vicinity, causing them to explode like fireworks.

"Nice work Gothita!" Lilah once again complimented her Pokémon who began to run towards her once more. "Eevee, are you ready?" Eevee happily skipped towards the center, waiting for Lilah.

"Eevee, Swift!" Eevee quickly creates golden starts that surround it, before it began moving and dancing around. The stars were still following it, making Eevee's dance even flashier.

"Double Team!" Copies of Eevee appeared one by one, dancing like the original. "Run around!" All of the Eevee copies form a line and start running. "Jump up!" The Eevees leaped, followed by the stars. The Eevees quickly fall down back into the ground while the stars are left in the air until they collide with each other, causing the Eevees to be showered in sparkles. One by one, they disappear, revealing the lone Eevee.

"Baby-Doll Eyes!" Eevee's eyes began to sparkle as it made a very cute face and pose. "Good job Eevee!" That marked that it was over, causing Eevee to run back to where Lilah and the others were.

Lilah began to sit down in her knees once more, her Pokémon around her. "With your current state, I'm sure we can manage to pull through before we all leave for Akala." She smiled, causing her Pokémon to be overjoyed as well.

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​

A few days after their training, Lilah decided to take a rest in the Pokémon Center for a few days. She has been having plans on moving on to the next town, but not until after she's told her mother on what she will be doing next. She was currently standing near the computers of the Pokémon Center that allowed them to contact people.

"You're so close to Beignet Town, why don't you go there?" Her mother said as she glanced at her own Town Map. "You'll get an idea on how to properly make sweets there."

Lilah sighed, feeling undermined. "Mom, I already know how to bake and stuff. I don't need to go there."

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong Lilah." Her mother said before pulling a large poster. "Look at this." Her mother showed here a large poster with cakes, macarons, puddings and chocolates. At the top part of the poster was a large logo, containing the words 'SWEETS FESTIVAL IN BEIGNET TOWN'

Lilah kept her straight face, unfazed by the poster and what it was for. "And...? You want me to go there because...?"

Her mother sighed disappointingly, not knowing what to say as she took back the poster. "What kind of child have I raised." She murmured, scratching her forehead. "You're going there to better your skills."

Lilah lowered her head, shaking it afterwards. "It's no use. I've learned everything I could possibly learn, so why bother going there?"

"You're wrong again, dearie. You still haven't learned everything about making sweets." Lilah was intrigued, she didn't know what she was still missing. "But hey, if you don't want to go there, then don't. I'm not trying to force you into doing so." Her mother smiled at her in order to cheer her up. "Anyway, that wasn't the reason why I called you, mom." Lilah said in a very serious tone.

"Oh, is that so? Then cut to the chase."

"Mom, I'm..." Lilah was quite nervous, she was already expecting the worst possible answer. "entering a Pokémon Contest."

Her mother became silent for a few seconds, before opening her mouth and speaking once more.

"Do as you like, Lilah."

There it was again. Those words, mocking her every single time. "I mean, that's your life, I have no control over what you want to do." Her mother added, but Lilah wasn't able to listen properly as she was still bothered by her mother's words. "Lilah? Are you alright?"

Lilah put on her smile before responding. "Yes, I'm fine. I'll also go to Beignet Town." Her mother was surprised. "Huh. Normally you'd tell me you don't want to do things that I suggest, so that's quite different of you today."

Lilah's seriousness came back once more. "I probably ate something yesterday. Anyway, I'll see you later mom." Lilah waved her hand without wearing an expression on her face. "Bye Lilah." Afterwards, the screen reverted back to the menu screen as Lilah put her hand back down.

"Being perfect has its own problems." She thought as she turned around and began to walk away from the computer. Another one of her issues is apparently being amazing at doing everything. Good at academics? Check. Sports? Check. Music? Check. Cooking? Check. Ever since she was a child, she has displayed extraordinary uniqueness from the rest of the kids.

This is probably one of the few reasons why she couldn't understand what like really means. Due to being impossibly good at everything without trying, she has had an absolute lack of telling on whether or not she likes doing something or not, because she can't truly enjoy what she is doing. It's almost as if she's a robot and not a human being at all.

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​

"I was wondering if it was okay for me to-"

"Hey, if this is what you really want to do, then I can't stop you from doing so. I can't stop you from following your dream, because I don’t even want to!"

Lilah has been spying on another conversation by two people during lunchtime. If she remembered correctly, they were the same people who were battling a few days before. "How does it really feel to like or want to do something?" She thought, annoyed on how she has been living her life.

She didn't even bother on listening on their full conversation as Lilah quickly stood up to go back to her room at the Pokémon Center. She quickly lied down on the bed her back, closing her eyes. "What happened for me to be like this?" She asked herself, frustrated of her abilities. "It almost feels like I'm a robot or something."

It's definitely not easy to be Lilah, a beautiful girl of many different abilities who cannot bring herself to like anything in her life.