#alolatrained

It’s great to see you, my friend! We hope you had a great time on your family trip! We’re glad to see you ready to jump back into roleplay. We missed you and the lovely Moon! Welcome back!

What?! You mean you can’t keep up on activity while being busy on vacation? That’s just absurd. But I guess we can get you a hiatus since you asked so nicely. A road trip sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun and we hope you have a fantastic time! Moon will be on hiatus until July 13th. We’ll see you then!

It wasn’t terribly often that Nanu strayed from the area around Po Town. Even now, he still felt like he needed to keep an eye on things. Ex-grunts still lived there, and although they’d become pretty quiet since the disbandment, he could never be too sure. Not to mention that he had little reason to head out beyond the Tapu Village area anyhow. Though sometimes it really was nice heading down to Malie City to enjoy some time away from home.

Though, in this case, he’d come down due to an appointment he had with a certain first Champion of Alola. Moon had called him up out of nowhere one day. He hadn’t heard from her in quite some time. She was probably busy with Champion things. As far as he’d heard, Champions tended to be like that. Besides, Po Town was just so out of the way. There wasn’t anything interesting around for miles. Regardless, he was happy to hear from her. It had been far too long.

The two had first met right before the shitstorm that went down at the Aether Paradise. Nanu hadn’t been too sure about her or her skills at first. In his opinion, any kid trying to get into Po Town was a damn fool. But she had been so determined to get in the town. Nanu let her in, albeit reluctantly. She probably would have just found another way to get in if he didn’t help her. And though he’d never admit it, he thought she was dead meat when she first went in there. But that hadn’t been the case. She defeated Guzma and she would go on to prove herself a formidable Trainer for being so young. Nanu had been an island champion in his childhood days, but he couldn’t even think to compare himself to her at that age.

After all was said and done, Nanu had been happy to meet such a strong Trainer. Moon was something else indeed. Nanu had offered to meet her down in Malie City after she had contacted him. No reason for her to drag herself all the way to Po Town and besides, the restaurant there was damn good and worth the travel time. It was the early afternoon then as he came up to the restaurant. Moon was already there, waiting for him to arrive. He approached her with his usual vigor and enthusiasm.

@alolatrained

The volume of the noise around her steadily increased, as if her headache hadn’t been bad enough before. Her eye twitched incessantly from lack of sleep, all due to the rock-hard beds that were offered at the hotel. Trainers from all over the region and other regions buzzed around her, excited for the events to come.

It was a huge convention where trainers got to show off their Pokemon, whether in battle or in a contest, and make new friends. The fourth and final day was supposed to end the con with a bang, so to say, where top trainers from all over were to go into an all-out battle. The whole thing was hosted by the Pokemon League for children to become more interested into becoming Pokemon trainers in the future, as if there wasn’t a lot of interest already. Everyone’s lives revolved around Pokemon.

Somehow, Kris was considered to be one of those top trainers. She had received a letter in the mail stating that she was invited, and that all housing would be provided for her for the duration of the con. Unfortunately it had been her mom that had opened the letter and had insisted that she go, despite all of Kris’ protests. And here she was at the first day of the con.

She headed over to the line in front of the registration desk, already searching through her backpack for her trainer card. And of course, to none of her surprise, it was a wreck in the bag. Super potions were strewn here and there - her mom’s favourite thing to buy with her money. It was Kris’ fault for not checking what her mom had packed, but she had never imagined it would be this messy. In the end she stuck her hand into the bag, hoping to find the card by touch.

Once Kris found something that felt like it could be the card, she removed her hand, effectively knocking out a super potion, which broke as it fell onto the ground, spilling onto the poor girl that was in front of her. And this is why you should always keep everything neat and tidy, mom. “I am so sorry, I did not mean for that to happen. Here, I’ll help you clean it up,” she said to the shorter girl.

It was a crisp and beautiful spring morning, and DJ Mary had spent all of it by the fountain feeding Pidgey.  She didn’t have a lot of time before her usual radio show began, but Mary came here anyway just for the tranquility of it.  The park was peaceful.  As she watched the Pidgey pick at the bread crumbs, her thoughts wandered to everyone she had met during her time at the station.  It was Friend Day, after all, and her show would be all about spreading that joy between neighbors.

But what of her own friends?  The Director, her interns, Professor Oak, DJ Ben… Mary blushed then, Ben’s huge grin filling her heart with glee.  Friendship, she decided years ago, was something that must be cherished.  That was why she created this event.  And her listeners had followed suit: they came through with such aplomb that astounded her in every way.  They really were the best.

And as DJ Mary walked back to her office, and flipped the ON switch to her microphone, she thought about everyone else who hadn’t participated, but who had love and friendships of their own.  And she wanted nothing but the best for them.

HAU, PROF. KUKUI, and SABRINA—Congratulations!  Your names were the first to be drawn in the raffle.  You may now pick one (1) shiny Pokémon as your very own, so long as it is a Flying, Grass, or Water-type. There is no need to wait for the other winners to make their pick; everyone can choose whichever type they desire, regardless of what other types were chosen.

         The meadow was a blossoming sunburst.  Yellow flowers covered its entire expanse, winding their way through trees, bushes, even on the rocky outcrops of the mountainside.  The fresh aroma of its nectar was sweet as honey.  Pokémon and people alike sought this place for its sereneness and for the cheerful Oricorio whose bright yellow feathers were gifted from the flowers themselves.  For Guzma, the meadow brought other feelings.  Memories he’d not lived in a long time.

         He meandered down the worn path, slouching, with his hands deep in the pockets of his hoodie.  It was a position he was familiar with, and one he took when his thoughts took over all else.  The sun shone brilliantly down on the meadow below.  He basked in it briefly, allowing it to warm him, but soon he moved under the shade of a banyan tree and its warmth left him.  Several people stared at him as he passed.  He felt their hate with ever step.  Guzma kept his head low and ignored them.  He continued until he was well away from the other visitors before stopping at the base of a thick rain tree.

         This was far enough.  Guzma took a moment to glance at the massive canopy.  Its branches reached across the meadow, greedy for the sunlight and the rains that followed.  The way it swayed in the breeze and overshadowed everything else reminded him of the woman president of Aether.  He shivered.  Guzma slumped against the rain tree, resting an arm on his raised knee, and pulled his thoughts from her.  He stared at the clearing nearest him with impassive eyes.

         A Pokémon chirped nearby.  Guzma thought about Metapod, his thoughts drifting off to that fateful encounter.  He’d been a child then, and tiny.  His black hair was thick and messy, and his clothing dirty, but his toothy grin negated all of that.  He couldn’t have been more different than he was today.  A Cutiefly landed on his arm and glowed.  Guzma didn’t appear to notice.  He was walking now, entering through overgrown bushes and pretending he was a Pokémon Trainer.  He’d entered the forest due to a noise—and followed it into the clearing adult Guzma was dozing off in.

         It was his first experience with a wild Pokémon.  His father had never allowed him one, but he’d seen them, and he’d wanted them, and if he could just have five minutes, father, please, he wouldn’t ask again, he’d do all his chores without complaint, then he would be happy.  Guzma’s eyes closed.  Now he was on his belly before Metapod, watching it struggle with its metamorphosis.  It looked at him helplessly, and the child knew what he had to do.

         “Come on,” he encouraged it.  “I know ya can do it!”  His younger self repeated his chant, urging Metapod on.  It seemed grateful to its efforts.  Soon Guzma was on his feet, shouting at the open air, his arms spread wide under the sky blue skies.  “Go, Metapod!  Go!”  Child and Pokémon locked eyes, and for one moment time stopped.  Metapod shone, its thick green body enveloped with radiating light.  Out from its back burst the most beautiful Butterfree he’d ever seen.

         It chittered at him, and his younger self giggled and laughed and ran after it as it flew for the first time.  Yellow petals danced in the air around them in a whirlwind of color.  He chased it until the sky turned dark and the surroundings gloomy.  Frozen, twisting trees of crystal took the place of towering palms.  The ground was obsidian instead of dirt.  Butterfree flew on without him, and fear knotted in his stomach.  Light refracted off the trees in a rainbow gloom, and though he ran to keep up with Butterfree, his footsteps made no sound.

         A man stood in the center of the clearing.  And where Guzma expected to find the Butterfree, he found Pinchy.  In the man’s hands was a Poké Ball, shiny and red.  Guzma’s face turned the color of curdled milk.  He knew what came next.  “N-no,” he whimpered, coming closer even though he wanted to run, run, run as far away as he could.  His father towered over him, big and mean and angry.

         His father shouted words he cannot remember.  His voice boomed in the void.  Pinchy stared at him with loving eyes.  “Not Pinchy,” Guzma cried, his words thick with emotion.  And as he watched, his father hurled the Poké Ball at the unsuspecting Grubbin, and he was too late to stop him, to protect Pinchy, to save him—

         The Pokémon exploded in a cloud of dust.  A woman cackled.  Her voice was a nightmare, echoing through the night and its crystalline trees.  Lusamine leered at him, all gold and emerald, her million poké smile flashing behind a terrifying laugh.  He was small, too small, a child.  Defenseless.  She reached out at him with nails like claws.  “No, no, no,” he moaned.

         Her claws transformed before his eyes.  He blanched as her arms lost their bones and thrashed at incomplete angles, her fingers elongating and resembling tentacles… And then her arms flashed and he was blinded by its light.  A soft and menacing buzzing enveloped him.  When he opened his eyes, he was staring into the bulbous bell of Nihilego.  “NO!” Guzma shouted, his body twisting in real life.  Hundreds of tentacles grabbed him, burned him, ensnared him in their electric embrace.  It was too late to scream.

A-lo-la!  That’s how you island folk greet one another, yeah?  Sounds like fun–not to mention friendly!  Guess there’s no beating a tight-knit community when it comes right down to it.  Heck, even your rivals have their own way of doing things… Please have Moon show us her own island trial by following everyone on the Masterlist!