[1 × 1] Trial of the Guardian Deities - Pixel × Marine

Shiro explored tne city, noting thay although it was late, it was still quite busy. There were stores of all sorts, with people still busy shopping.

"Wow, Hau'oli City doesn't stop, huh?" Shiro exclaimed to himself. Caitlyn and Oliver agreed.

"Hey RotomDex, is there anywhere I can train my Pokémon around here? I'd like to get a bit better at batting." Shiro asked. Rotom highlighted all of the grassy areas in Hau'oli City where Pokémon were said to appear.

Shiro spent a long portion of the night training. None of his Pokémon leanred any new moves, but he could tell they were getting stronger. He also felt more confident in commanding them, trying to emulate how Alessa had acted earlier. As he was knocking out a Wingull, he heard a sharp cry not too far away.

"Was that a Pokémon? It sounded like it was in trouble, let's go help." Shiro said. His Pokémon all followed as they trailed the sound of the Pokémon, eventually finding a Pichu being bullied by a bunch of Alolan Rattata.

"Hey, stop that!" Shiro called. The Rattata paid no mind to him, bullying the Pichu further. That's when Shiro noticed that there was an Alolan Raticate there too - the boss, most likely.

"Fine, if you won't stop, I'll make you. Oliver, Leafage!" Shiro commanded. Oliver whipped up a whirlwind of leaves and shot them at the Raticate. A bunch of Rattata jumped in to take the attack, and then another group came and tackled Oliver down. The group was big enough to knock out Oliver in a single group attack.

"Oliver!!" Shiro exclaimed, catching the Rowlet as it fell from the sky. Oliver cooed weakly in his arms. Seeing this, something inside of Shiro triggered. His red eyes seemed to glow with passion and anger.

"Caitlyn, Blizzard. Don't hold back." Shiro said in a flat tone. Caitlyn obeyed, launching a huge blast of freezing wind at the Rattata and Raticate, freezing every single one solid. Shiro glared at them, then blinked a few times and seemed to return to his normal self. He held his head in his hands.

"Oww, what was... what just happened?" Shiro winced. He noticed that the Pichu had been unaffected by the attack, so he picked the small Pokémon up, holding it in his arms with Oliver.

"Better get these two to the Pokémon Center." Shiro told himself, running off in the direction of the Pokémon Center, Caitlyn and Rotom following close behind.

Meanwhile, Rotom had recorded the whole thing and sent it to Professor Kukui, who watched it over and over, noting the sudden change in Shiro. It was as if he'd become a completely different person for that moment. This worried him, but decided not to intervene just yet.

Back at the Pokémon Center, Shiro waited impatiently to hear about Oliver and the Pichu, who'd been rushed to the critical care unit. It felt like forever, but eventually Nurse Joy came back, with Oliver and the Pichu sitting happily on a cart.

"Your Pokémon are all better, but make sure you don't approach large packs of wild Pokémon without being prepared first next time." Nurse Joy advised. Shiro thanked the nurse, and made his way to the café in the Center. He ordered himself a Tapu Cocoa, needing a nice warm drink to calm himself down before he went to bed. The barrista gave him his order, and threw in three cupcakes as a bonus. They were the last ones of the day, and were going to be trashed anyway, so Shiro didn't have to pay for them. He thanked the barrista and sat down, drinking his cocoa while Caitlyn, Oliver and the Pichu ate teir snacks. The Pichu was so hungry that Caitlyn and Oliver ended up giving most of their cupcakes to her as well.

"You really like cupcakes, don't you?" Shiro chuckled. The Pichu squeaked happily. That's when Shiro had an idea.

"Wait here, you three." He smiled as he quickly made his way to the Poké Mart, asking for two Premier Balls. The clerk thought the request odd, but complied, and Shiro paid the money before walking back over to the cafe. He took out Oliver's Poké Ball and pressed the button, a blue beam of light shining on him. Oliver looked around in shock, which made Shiro giggle.

"Don't worry, I'm not releasing you. Here, come stay in this Poké Ball. It matches Caitlyn's." Shiro smiled. Oliver cooed happily, bopping his head against the Premier Ball. He was absorbed into it - one shake, two shakes, three shakes, click! - then Oliver popped straight back out. Shiro put the second Premier Ball on the table, in front of the Pichu.

"How about it? Want to join my team... Cupcake?" Shiro asked. The Pichu, who seemed very fond of the nickname,hqppy obliged. Much like Oliver, she approached the ball and hit the button, being absorbed inside - one shake, two shakes, three shakes, click! - before popping straight back out. Shiro smiled at his Pokémon - it'd had been a big day, but he already had so many new friends. Oliver, Cupcake, Hope, Sirena, Alessa-

That's when Shiro remembered his unlikely travel partner, who had gone to bed ages ago in the room they were supposed to share. Shiro smiled to himself, putting his three Premier Balls on the table.

"Alright, gang. Time for bed." Shiro said. The Pokémon obliged, returning to their respective Premier Balls. Shiro collected them from the table and made his way to the service counter. He returned the key to Nurse Joy, paid for the room, and then made his way to the common quarters - a large room with just beds. Shiro took a free one, made himself comfortable, and then fell fast asleep.

 

Shiro slowly opened his eyes - the common room was still dark due to being a room where Trainers could sleep comfortably. He had no idea what time it was, but a quick glance at one of the many digital clocks on the wall revealed that it was, in fact, morning.

"Alessa's probably waiting for me, I should get going..." Shiro yawned to himself. He gathered his things and navigated out of the common room, not even bothering to tie his hair up.

Shiro eventually made his way to the café, where he saw Alessa. He ordered himself a Komala Coffee and a muffin, as well as some Pokémon food for his partners, and joined Alessa at the table. She seemed busy, so he didn't bother her, and instead put the Pokémon food in a bowl and sent out his three Pokémon to get their breakfast. Then he took a sip of his coffee, a nibble from his muffin, and began working on combing his hair. When it wasn't tied up, it reached down to his ankles, so there was a lot of it. Luckily, he took pretty good care of it, so the daily brushing was usually hassle-free. A few minutes passed, and Shiro decided to speak.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked between a nibble and a brush.

 

Shiro watched the interaction between Alessa and her Pokémon, before letting out a sudden startled cry.

"I almost forgot, I captured a new Pokémon last night!" Shiro exclaimed, bending down to the floor. He picked up Cupcake and placed her on the table.

"Alessa, meet Cupcake!" Shiro beamed, Cupcake letting out an excited squeak. Shiro then went on to describe how he came to meet Cupcake in detail, even including the part where he blacked out.

"...and then we came back here, and I got them some cupcakes, and Cupcake really liked cupcakes, so I named her Cupcake! Oh, I also paid for your room, so you don't have to worry about that. Just return the key to Nurse Joy before we leave." Shiro smiled.

 

Shiro followed Alessa without a word, returning Oliver and Caitlyn into their Premier Balls, but leaving Cupcake out. He wanted to spend a bit of time getting to know his new Pokémon.

"Oh, don't forget, before we go to Route 2, we need to find the Trial Captain in this town and ask him for permission to take on his trial." Shiro reminded Alessa.

 

"The Trainer's School? Oh, I think I passed that on my way out last night. It should be just up the road from here." Shiro smiled. "I wonder what this Ilima is like. He sounds like he's a pretty strong guy."

 

Shiro quickly gave himself a pat-down, before giving a confident thumbs-up.

"All set over here, let's head in." Shiro smiled, leading the way. It took about 3 seconds for all the students to see them, the small group surrounding the duo. They exclaimed about the "real Trainers", and started bombarding them with questions. Shiro could feel his anxiety slipping through, but he pushed it out with a loud "HEY", silencing the crowd.

"I'm sure that you all have many questions, but right now my friend and I need to see Ilima, the Trial Captain. Would any of you happen to know where we can find him?" Shiro asked the crowd. The younger children murmured amongst themselves, before one of the older ones spoke up.

"Captain Ilima is here today, I think I saw him headed to the faculty office. I can take you two there." He explained. Shiro turned to Alessa.

"Guess we're following this guy." He shrugged.

 

As Shiro made his way up the stairs, his Pokémon having no trouble climbing along with him, he spoke to the student.

"So, what's the Trial Captain like?" he asked.

"Oh, Ilima? He's kinda just a big kid, really. Not to make him sound immature, but he's just got that sparkle in his eyes; the sparkle of youth." The student said with a chuckle. "But he's also amazing at his jobs - teacher-in-training, Trial Captain, and Pokémon Trainer."

"Huh. He sounds pretty cool." Shiro nodded.

Once they reached the top floor, they entered the faculty office, where they saw a few teachers doing some work at their desks, and one older woman talking to a young boy with bright pink hair.

"That's him," the student said with a point, "That's Ilima. He's talking to the principal."

"Alright, thanks for your help." Shiro smiled. The boy nodded back, and walked out of the faculty office. Shiro turned to see the principal and Ilima approaching them.

"Hello there, young ones. How can we help you?" the principal asked.

"Uh, hello. It's nice to meet you. I'm Shiro, and this is Alessa. We're on the island challenge, and were told that Ilima is the first Trial Captain." Shiro explained.

"Oh, so you know the professor then? He told me two trainers would be coming. I've actually got a class right after this, but I'll meet you two later... at the Marina. It's my favourite spot, and it gives you a chance to explore Hau'oli City. You can even stop by my house, if you like. My family always appreciate guests, just tell them you're friends of mine." Ilima said with a smile, before giving a polite wave as he exited the faculty office. Shiro turned to Alessa, a disappointed sigh escaping his mouth.

"Well, I guess we're gonna have to wait a bit more. What do you want to do now? I'm fine with anything - exploring, training, whatever you wanna do." Shiro asked.