There were ways for a traveling trainer to make money, even where no league existed.

One method in Alola was looking for any unreported Totem Pokémon.

Kahuna's appreciated finding new potential trial sites to set up. Trial Captain's appreciated the options for them to follow their chosen type. Random civilians appreciated the lack of giant Raticate eating their refrigerators.

It was not the safest way of making money, nor the easiest. There was no set number of Totem Pokémon, no rhyme or reason for their appearance. Beyond 'can't evolve further' there were no limits of what Pokémon could become a Totem.

It was fine for Gladion.

He lived for danger. His life was suffering.

Further stress wouldn't kill him if the pain he had suffered so far hadn't.

"With that Totem Slowbro detailed, we should be good for a while, won't we?" the darkly dressed teenager mused to his first partner, who was filling in for a campfire as there was a fire ban in progress.

"Umb." The Umbreon agreed as Gladion reached for his bag.

Umbreon narrowed his eyes at this as Gladion sighed.

"Allow me a guilty pleasure, and one that is not self-destructive."

With that in mind, and by the light of his now annoyed partner, Gladion began his re-read of his favorite book series from the first to the latest volume.

FROM THE PUBLISHER THAT BROUGHT YOU THE MAKE OUT AND NINJAS OF LOVE SERIES

ALPHANEGAN CHRONICLES

"I must prepare for the new release, would you have me be unprepared for Chekhov’s Guns or Gunmen?"

"Umbre."

"It's not all that. It's twenty percent at the most. These books have everything: extensive exploration of urban and rural conflicts, gray and gray morality plays as observed by outsiders, exploration of family and familiar roles by the young, the differences in the perspectives of the tall and the short, ostracized minorities seeing things from both the bottom and top of society, and so much more. 'When you are the bottom you have all the freedom and none of the security, but on top you have no freedom and little security': such penmanship. Quotes and the plot are what make this story so grand and wonderful, the smut is just filler!" Gladion declared with a passionate twitching arm.

Umbreon responded with a look of doubt, and by dimming his lights completely, leaving both of them in the dark.

"...I don't know if I should be more annoyed at you, the weather, or the new moon, but I am annoyed at something."

Gladion sighed as he rotated to his side, seeing as sleep was the only thing left to him now. Umbreon nodded in approval.

The people of Alola smiled too much.

"Alola!"

"Umbre!"

They were friendly to a point they felt inhuman. Smiling to a point one had to wonder if they ever truly meant it.

Smiles were vectors of lies. A frown or a scowl was always truthful.

"Alola!"

"Umbre!"

Gladion had come up with that one himself from observation of his mother.

"Alola!"

"Umbre!"

Hello and goodbye: a two-faced word.

It didn't help that Umbreon was constantly being friendly to them.

"Hey punk!"

Gladion stopped, his plastic bag of groceries crashing into his bag side like a car braking, as he turned to see a white-garbed sailor glaring down at him.

Oh his lack of height: why did he fail to get the one thing of his mother he actually would have liked to have?

"I don't like kids who don't take care of their clothes!" the sailor declared.

"What you gonna do about it, sew them up?" Gladion snarked.

"I'm going to teach ya a lesson!" The Sailor pointed a Pokéball at him. "Then I'll sew your clothes up!"

"Oh will you now?" Gladion quipped as he reached for his belt. He felt his Umbreon tense at his side, but he wasn't going to fight that way today.

It didn't help that after the sailor said he'd sew his clothes up Umbreon nodded. What, did Umbreon want his clothes to look clean and without personality? He couldn't be sure that Umbreon wouldn't 'take one for the wardrobe'.

His hand instead landed on another of his four Pokéballs: specifically his Ultra Ball.

"Skull Bash!" the sailor shouted.

Gladion didn't flinch as the giant turtle shot at him. Such a minuscule threat couldn't make him flinch.

"Counter."

Between him and the flying turtle stood his Lycanroc, who grinned as the turtle came his way.

He crossed his arms as the impact was made, before glowing and letting out a great shout.

The attack was sent back with twice the force, sending the foreign Pokémon flying and onto its back behind its sailor master: defeated.

"Hnnn," was all that Gladion had for the stunned sailor and his muttering about poorly dressed punks.

If one was going to give fashion advice, one should back it up with authority and power.

"...Wait kid, don't go."

Gladion was about to turn and walk away, but the sailor's words paused him for a moment.

"Please...I have a son...he is always ripping his clothes...I can't...can't...stand seeing anyone with damaged clothes."

Gladion was ready to come up with a pithy comeback, but Umbreon stepped on his left foot. It pushed his big toe down, having it rub against shoe bottom with no barrier in between.

His sock had a hole in it, it would seem.

"...Do you do socks?"

"Aye; I was voted best sock sewer in the navy five years running."

The hill was nice.

It was sunny and warm, especially with that sock hole patched/sewed/something he didn't care the exact term for.

His stuff was safely in place, he had nothing to do, and it was a nice day. There weren't any jobs he could be doing to give himself more funds.

So there was really one thing to do.

Gladion plopped down on a rock that emerged from the earth, and opened up his Alphanegan Chronicles book for rereading.

"Um!"

Umbreon again was not interested in him sating his literature hunger.

"Would you rather I loiter?" Gladion questioned before he turned a page, a grin forming on his face as he did so.

"Such wordplay: The Architect of the Wilderness. To think that would be a plot point in the fifth book. The Urban Primary too."

Umbreon gave him a long look that he ignored for a few pages and minutes.

"The city has loitering signs, hills don't."

Umbreon stared more and got his response in only a page.

"Do you want training? I guess that we could catch the 4:00 ferry to Akala for the Royal, but it would be tough. Lycanroc already got his workout today, Golbat doesn't really like the spotlight, and as for Ty..."

Gladion paused as his eyes skimmed a word.

"...Huh, hints of the urban-rural tensions appeared this early in the first book? I really do need a refresher."

The plot started simple enough after all: a wandering warrior named Oleac saved two twins from slavers. The twins, who were named Velutina and Lamial, both possessed the same birth marks as Oleac (an alpha and an omega symbol), told Oleac of the cruelty of King Agrilus. The trio decided to travel together, which led to the discovery of others with the birth marks, the fall of kings, and a somewhat overestimated amount of smut.

Even at the simplest beginnings, many hints were dropped that a reader only noticed a second read through. Every scene thus was required to be extensively analyzed.

Every scene. Every...

A splashing sound distracted him. His attention immediately moved to Umbreon, but for once Umbreon was not trying to stop his reading.

Umbreon did have that look on his face though, particularly at the sound of merry shouts rang from the same origin as the splashing.

"I am not going swimming instead of reading. I don't have any swim trunks, and these pants aren't trunks."

Umbreon bounded over to a overlooking point of the hill, and with a sigh Gladion followed.

What he saw below...

"Wah!"

"Lana, what have I said about scaring people from the water?!"

"He he..."

"There are three girls on that beach," Gladion observed.

"Umbr."

"Interesting: since you don't want me reading..." Umbreon nodded in response.

"...you would instead point me in the direction of three girls, who appear to be only a few years younger than I am, in swimsuits," Gladion deadpanned. Umbreon nodded, before realizing what he just said.

Umbreon promptly put a paw to the face as Gladion smirked.

"Yes, clearly you'd rather me be a voyeur than merely reading a book..."

"...My Foot! Something rubbed against my foot!" one of the schoolgirls shouted. The words lingered in Gladion's mind longer than they should have for some reason.

"Well, if you'd excuse me I'd rather not be arrested for being a creep so I'll be returning..."

"It was just a Wishiwashi, Lillie, emphasis on the 'just one' bit!" the girl who had been laughing earlier shouted. Both her shout, and the word she shouted, interrupted Gladion's thoughts.

Lillie?

He focused his gaze down towards the water, where the swimmer was now calming down. White swimsuit, blond hair, pale skin that reminded him just how much of his budget went to SPF products for his own skin, questionable phobia of Pokémon (though the Vulpix that ran up to her and didn't cause her to react was a surprise), and...

The third girl, a green-haired girl with native skin tones, had darted up to her, and Lillie dwarfed her by a good few inches.

White swimsuit, blond hair, pale skin that was probably covered in sunscreen, fear of singular Wishiwashi, and a height that reminded him of his mother that he himself lacked.

It was Lillie.

How odd this was how he'd see her again after all this time.

...Well, time to go. He was getting tired of this hill anyway.

"Oh what do we have here?" a female voice rang from behind him. Umbreon had already turned around and he mirrored his first Pokémon, only to find a surprising sight.

A girl even taller than Lillie seemed to be (if his mental math of the average height of a beach umbrella parallel to her had been: the fact he knew the average height of a beach umbrella was a long story involving an argument with ol' James Hobbs), with dark hair and gray eyes. Her skin was native, though he had no idea what those marks under her eyes were. She was dressed in a white blouse and green shorts, with a beach bag on her shoulder...and surprisingly the girl broke what he had thought was a fairly consistent rule of feminine body types.

That (outside of Alphanegan books), women were generally either really tall, or really well endowed. This girl was somehow both of these things, blurring the line of literature and reality.

"Here I am wanting to spend a bit of fun time on the beach with my friends and my brother..." the sound of someone being yanked into the water by giggling girls reached his ears, and an inexplicable desire to have Lycanroc send a Z-Move towards said person who got yanked flowed through Gladion for reasons he was fairly sure were illogically extreme yet oddly warranted, "...and I just happen to think I saw something. How interesting it turns out to be a pervert watching my friends from a hillside."

"A what?" Gladion demanded as he felt his hand pose in a threateningly dramatic manner.

"I am not a pervert, peeping tom or otherwise."

The girl's eyes drifted towards the book in his hand, before she bent over a bit at the hip and grinned a wicked grin.

"That book isn't helping your case."

"It is good literature, not some three bit fantasy!" Did she think it was Fifty Shades of Gray or something equally bad?

"Oh it is good literature, but it is still rather damning. But I'm fair. Maybe you are just reading it innocently on a hill overlooking my scantily clad friends, and now brother if you swing both ways." He didn't. "I suppose there is only way to find out just what your motives are." His twitching ball hand suggested it was not 'honest discussion'.

"I suppose there is only way to find out just what your motives are." his twitching ball hand suggested it was not 'honest discussion'.

His ball hand twitched. It hungered as it only did when a battle was about to begin.

"How's three on three sound?"

"Good, though are you sure you want to? I don't want your Pokémon to be hurt for no good reason." Truly he didn't. He liked battling, not having his Lycanroc whack rookies around. Lycanroc didn't like it either: it was why they left that kid with the Popplio and the malasada bag pass without challenge.

She grinned before holding up her arm. This motion hid her eyes from him for a moment, and revealed a ring.

A Z-ring, and the way her grin poked out from behind her arm suggested she had seen his own.

"Oh don't worry about me, you should just worry about yourself right now."

….

The boy wasn't a poser.

Well, he was posing with his arm twitching like it was possessed by the bloodlust of a sword. Or perhaps he was trying to perform a Chidori. Velvet was tempted to ask, but it might be a medical condition of some sorts and doing so might be incredibly rude.

Her mom had never quite forgotten the time she asked a guy with only one arm what happened to it. In her defense she was five.

No, he wasn't a poser in the sense that he was using a false Z-Ring. She had seen a few trainers try to do that, though Team Skull had caused that tendency to drop off a bit because they were fond of jumping guys or girls who did that to feel better about themselves.

They then had a bad habit of trying to jump Kiawe while on their ego high, scaring his little sister, and getting Inferno Overdrive for their crimes in a dramatic fashion.

She could tell: both she and her brother always could.

They didn't know the exact term for it for many years, but they always could see if a person or Pokémon had performed a Z-move. With a bit of experience they even started to tell how well the move was performed, how often it was performed, and they could even figure out what sort of Z-Move if they knew what to look for (white for Normalium Z, red for Firium Z, etc).

It apparently made their eyes glow some sort of orange-brown when they did so.

It was something only she and Frax knew about, and they'd like to keep it that way. A Frax and Velvet only secret, joining many others they had minor and major. Major of course including the other Bloodline they could do...but it wasn't relevant right now.

It was the fact that, even with her arm partially obscuring her active power, she could tell this guy not only had used a single Z-Move she didn't recognize, but he was experienced with the move's use, and with two of his Pokémon.

She could see two glowing residues of Z-Ring energy on two of his Pokéballs: an Ultra Ball and a regular one. It wasn't coming from his Umbreon though.

What could she make from that information? Well for one that his Z-Move was not one she was familiar with. It wasn't the Electric, Normal, Fire, Dark, Grass, or Fighting Z-Move.

Two, as Umbreon didn't seem to use it she could probably assume that the type of moves an Umbreon could use were also out. So, if she recalled that time Lillie and the Rotom Dex got into a trivia off that meant Ghost, Psychic, Ground, and Steel, though she wasn't sure if she'd safely say that Ghost was fully out of the picture.

She was sure it wasn't roughly half the types: she'd have to narrow it further.

"Go!" Velvet called while noticing his hand point at her dramatically.

"Get out!" Gladion declared as he sent his Pokémon out. He had the feeling the girl was looking him over.

It wasn't the same way as Umbreon wanted him to look at his sister and her friends, so it was probably analytical. She was probably trying to determine what Pokémon he had and what to throw out first.

She knew he had four, he didn't know how many she had. She also knew one of his Pokémon, Umbreon.

He'd have to use that to his advantage.

His hand swept very quickly over his belt before pointing his hand and shouting his command, while sticking his foot forward slightly.

This stopped Umbreon, just as his hand opened up just wide enough for the Pokéball he had secretly snagged to open.

He couldn't help but grin at how well that little sleight of hand had worked out.

"Gol!"

"Cue!"

…

Velvet felt her eye twitching.

That little sneak...he tricked her.

She had sent out her Cutiefly, caught during a Aether Bug catching contest a while back, expecting that Umbreon to come out. He had even moved as if to send it at her.

But it was a trick, and now she was looking down a Pokémon that could beat Cutiefly royally, and she wouldn't have Cutiefly to fight that Umbreon later.

The only good thing about that was how Golbat wasn't one of the Z-Move using Pokémon. She could safely assumed that meant the Flying and Poison Z-Move weren't going to be a problem.

Still that didn't help her now, and she'd have to play that one carefully.

"Stun Spore!" she called. Cutiefly's wings began to sparkle with orange glittering light, before blowing the glitter towards the Golbat in a storm of paralyzing pollen.

Golbat flew out of the way of the dust, flying higher and gaining height on her bug type.

"Air Cutter!" The trainer's command was followed by a rain of blue wind slices descending from above. Like rain it was unavoidable.

At least, if you were Frax. Being non-identical twins had advantages after all.

"Fly up and use Protect!" she commanded. A blue sphere formed around Cutiefly as the bug flew into the attack storm without fear: the attacks bouncing off the marble like shield like rain drops.

"Interesting...Acrobatics!"

Her opponent responded with a blue glowing dive.

Was she trying to face him head on? What was her game?

His Golbat was now mere feet from Cutiefly, no longer shielded by Protect...and turned sharply as to avoid Golbat's charge entirely?

How? He heard that Cutiefly could sense auras, was that it? He hoped that didn't meant the girl had a Riolu, or worse, up her sleeves.

He'd love to have one, and he'd hate to fight one. A typical but true response to any Pokémon of known renown.

"Use Swift until you can regain altitude!"

Golbat shed the blue glow of Acrobatics before spinning and releasing golden stars. Golbat angled back upwards, but the stars kept flying after him.

"Silver Wind!" The Cutiefly followed the command, releasing a particle laden wind that collided with the Swift stars, coating them and knocking them towards Golbat again.

Golbat easily avoided the now slower stars, though that raised the big problem.

He could've probably taken out that Cutiefly with one hit, but hitting it was going to be tricky. Protect and aura senses...

"Use Haze!"

The Golbat began to spew out a obscuring cloud, engulfing the field.

A fourth move and no Poison attacks? If he had another Poison type she'd have to reconsider if Poisonium Z was outside her concern.

More urgently, she had to handle the lack of sight of where Cutiefly or Golbat were.

"Cutiefly, try and keep track of Golbat's location. If it gets close, use Stun Spore!" Assuming that Gladion didn't move to Air Cutter or Swift, but in the smoke that would do more to dampen the blindness it caused.

"Acrobatics!" her opponent called. She watched the smoke for any flash of light from the move, and spotted two brief glimpses through it.

Glimpses that were climbing upwards into the smoke draft.

"Below you!" she shouted to Cutiefly.

For a moment, the cloud was silent. No impacts, no light, nothing... then a shape fell from the bottom of the cloud towards the ground.

Both she and her opponent activated their Pokéballs to retrieve, unsure in the split of the moment of whose Pokémon it was.

The red light streams hit the Pokémon at the same time, and hers cancelled out. A paralyzed Golbat, no longer able to keep flight and falling rapidly, was recovered.

Cutiefly burst out of the air seconds later before landing on her head and fluttering a bit.

He lost it seemed.

He probably could have pushed further, but he didn't need Golbat's paralysis kicking in mid-air again. That wasn't safe, and getting this girl to go away wasn't worth the risk.

He could take the next two rounds easily, Umbreon and Lycanroc both. Golbat had gotten her to blow a potential ace early, and he'd punish her for it.

"Go!"

"Get Out!"

And so round two started, with Umbreon out for real against a Magnemite.

…

Magnemite floated above Umbreon, gears spinning and ready to fight.

This would've been a by-the-book fight.

"Magnemite, Thunder Wave!"

Velvet's call led to sparks emitting from the top of Magnemite's screw, before firing a wave of yellow electrical energy right at Umbreon.

The electricity wafted over Umbreon, even as Umbreon's yellow streaks flashed brightly.

An aura briefly formed of the same color around Magnemite, but to no lasting damage.

Synchronize had failed.

"Now use Mirror Shot!"

So that was her game: she knew that it would be safe to paralyze without activating Umbreon's ability.

He still had that Cheri Berry, right?

She was a fool if she assumed that he had no experience with slow Pokémon. Type: Null had given him all the experience necessary to handle this setback.

"Dark Pulse!"

Metallic light collided with solid darkness as the two beam energies met, with Dark Pulse winning out and pushing through to strike Magnemite.

The Magnet was sent flying to the ground.

"Dark Pulse again!"

Umbreon fired the shadows once more, before flinching as the paralysis took hold.

The attack was stopped early, but half a wave of darkness was still a wave of devastating shadow.

"Double Team!"

The illusions flared up and rotated Magnemite's position in an instant.

The Dark Pulse, or half a Dark Pulse anyway, only struck a fake Magnemite.

That left four Magnemite floating.

"Charge Beam!" All four Magnemite glowed with a ball of electrical energy forming in front of each one. Four beams then exploded from the ball towards Umbreon, striking the dark Eevee evolution.

Only one actually hit, of course.

Her lips curled up into a grin as a brief aura flared up around Magnemite.

Charge Beam's additional effect had kicked in. It was now time to clinch this.

The four Magnemite were still floating about, still playing with the Double Team.

He had seen exactly where the actual hit came from, and Umbreon knew as well.

The Double Team was not going to inconvenience them this day.

"Umbreon, use Psychic on the upper-left Magnemite! Send it flying!"

Umbreon nodded as his eyes glowed blue. The targeted Magnemite's eye shrunk in shock as it was affected, before being flung up high into the air, the Magnemite duplicates fading away as the illusion was fully broken.

"Now Moonlight while that thing is saying hello to the birds!" Umbreon glowed a healing pink.

"Magnemite!" Velvet shouted as her Pokémon was sent flying into the air.

She waited for science to kick in, gritted teeth and all.

What comes up must come down after all. She was pretty sure that had a formula with a negative number in it.

As the Moonlight faded away the paralysis seemed to have taken a hike for now. He'd end it now.

"Bring Magnemite back down, and use Dark Pulse!"

Umbreon nodded, once more with glowing eyes. With a single, solid nod motion Umbreon latched on telekinetically to Magnemite, sending it flying down faster than what gravity dictated.

The shadows began to form into another Dark Pulse moments later.

'Magnemite, quick! Counter with Mirror Shot!" shouted as she saw the glimmering metal that was Magnemite become visible again.

The Dark Pulse hit Magnemite head on before Mirror Shot could be fired, blowing Magnemite back her way.

She moved to catch her Pokémon, but Magnemite flew past her and struck a boulder, shattering it.

She didn't need to look to know that Magnemite was unable to battle after that.

"Well, it appears that we have one more round to go." the boy noted as he pulled a Cheri Berry and flung it to Umbreon. Umbreon jumped and caught the berry in its mouth as the paralysis relief began.

"Yeah, it does." She returned Magnemite as she looked at the two balls that he had left to use.

The two that had Z-aura around them. This was going to be tricky.

As he reached for the ultra ball on his belt, she grabbed a Pokémon of her own who could fight Z-Move to Z-Move.

"Go!"

"Get Out!"

On her side appeared her first Pokémon, a Meowth. The dark cat tensed as the Pokémon her opponent had chosen manifested before them.

With glowing red eyes and a wicked grin, the Lycanroc, Midnight edition, was standing over Meowth with a wicked grin.

Velvet quickly recalled what the Rotom Dex and/or Lillie had ever said about Lycanroc, and it quickly became clear.

The Rock Z-Move was the one in play against her today.

Meowth unsheathed his claws in preparation for battle, though how the battle should be approached was eluding Velvet at the moment.

Midnight Lycanroc was capable of using Counter, and she couldn't tell if that move was on tap. She'd have to approach this carefully.

"Meowth use Screech!"

Meowth gave a stage cough, before inhaling and blowing out a massive sound shockwave towards Lycanroc with the volume of a Dugtrio concert behind it.

Minus the wigs of course.

Lycanroc crossed its arms, taking the sound blast head on and being pushed back.

Weakening his defense? Did they want to try and one hit K.O Lycanroc to avoid a Counter?

Interesting idea, but it wouldn't work.

"Stone Edge!" Lycanroc, still being struck by the sound attack, bellowed before punching the ground. Stones began to form around Lycanroc in an orbiting fashion before Lycanroc pushed his arms into the Screech, before firing the stones into the cacophony.

The stones flew through the sonic force right at Meowth.

"Deflect it!"

The Meowth ceased bellowing before slicing the stones in a deflecting manner. The stone edge was sent flying in other directions, and Gladion was briefly concerned the rocks might hit Lillie in the head.

Then science reminded him that was highly unlikely.

"Brick Break!" Gladion called.

Brick Break huh.

"Feint Attack, then get out of the way quickly!"

Lycanroc and Meowth charged towards each other, each with a glowing arm. Lycanroc with a white arm and Meowth a shadowy paw.

Lycanroc swung first, but Meowth ducked beneath the strike and struck Lycanroc in the armpit.

The wolf howled in pain, even as Meowth darted out of range of a potential counter.

"Stone Edge!"

Or at least, a Counter counter.

The rock storm flew right at Meowth, striking before Meowth could attempt to block it.

Lycanroc was still in pain from that Feint Attack, but Lycanroc was tough. He could take a hit.

Meowth couldn't it would seem. The cat was struggling to stay up after just one Stone Edge.

"Crunch!"

Lycanroc charged forward, jaw open with glistening fangs.

Meowth darted out of range of the attack before it could connect. Before the attack could take the match.

"Your Pokémon may be fast, but they can't take a hit. This will be over in one more hit," Gladion declared as his opponent scowled at him.

"Don't talk like that'll be easy!"

"Meowth!" The dark-type agreed.

"Let's see about that: Stone Edge!" Lycanroc once more entered the stone firing stance.

Meowth glared back at him, before glowing.

Lycanroc lowered his stance as both trainers and Umbreon looked on in surprise.

"Is that..." the girl asked as the glowing Meowth got on all fours and elongated. Meowth's head rounded, the coin turning into a spherical jewel.

The light exploded away, revealing the full extent of the evolution.

"Per!"

"I can't believe it!" Velvet shouted in joy. Her Meowth evolved, and in the middle of a battle no less!

"Neither can I." Her opponent muttered as Persian's jewel sparked. Stars shot out of the jewel in a manner that reminded her of one of Sophocles's old gaming machines, firing right at Lycanroc.

They struck Lycanroc in the chest, exploding with damaging force.

"That was Swift...do it again Persian!" Velvet ordered. Persian was quick to respond with more homing stars from his center jewel.

"Bat them back!" Lycanroc's arms glowed with Brick Break's power as Lycanroc began to deflect stars on impact before they could land more damaging hits.

A few stars were even knocked back to Persian, who avoided them with a quick shuffle to the side.

"That's not going to work. My Golbat knows Swift: Lycanroc knows just how to deal with that attack. Stone Edge!"

Lycanroc opened fire once more, stones flying right at Persian.

They struck Persian, but seemed to almost bounce off Persian's coat like they were nothing.

Velvet felt like this was in a lesson she might have only half paid attention to. The day that Rotom tried to find their missing Z-Crystals without checking his wig if she recalled correctly, the same day that Kiawe went on a surprising amount of ballistic rampages.

Still she felt like she know what just happened, but she couldn't argue with the results.

Fur Coat. It had to be Fur Coat.

He had to jinx it by commenting on Meowth not being able to take a hit, didn't he?

He recalled that someone like Murphy was to be blamed for this.

Whoever Murphy was though, he'd be beaten down and made a non-issue.

"Brick Break!"

Lycanroc charged forward at Persian: arms glowing bright with force.

The attack struck Persian right in the head.

Lycanroc growled at the furry cushion that absorbed part of the impact, but the force still got through. He saw Persian's leg buckle.

He'd had preferred to not strike Pokémon in the head, but the head of a Persian could take the beating. Too much hot air and fluff to be hurt, an old saying went.

A blue light began to spark from impact, and Gladion briefly wondered if Persian could use Counter. The blue beam that burst out of Persian's jewel, scorching Lycanroc's arm suggested otherwise.

"Was that Power Gem!?" His opponent asked in wonder.

Yes, yes it was.

"Hit it again Lycanroc!"

"Screech!"

Before Lycanroc could land another blow, Persian let out a roar in a massive air tunnel, pushing Lycanroc out of range.

Lycanroc shook off the sonic attack, though Gladion would prefer to not risk a hit with two Screech attacks in play. He was going to end this now.

"Let's go," Gladion told Lycanroc as he crossed his arms and began the Z-move.

Lycanroc mirrored him.

"Persian, first Z-Move after evolution! Let's win this!" His opponent began her own stances for a Z-Move. But he began it first, and he was an expert at poses.

Umbreon laughed at him, but he had immense practice. He would get his move in before she could use hers.

He felt his face move into a grin as Lycanroc lit up with their shared power.

"Continental!" Lycanroc jumped into the air as Z-aura began forming a massive boulder above Lycanroc's head, easily larger than his childhood room.

"Black Hole!" He couldn't believe what he was hearing. She was that far into the Z-Move already!?

Her brother had it in his head that because they were Bloodliners they might be able to do what people died trying to do: multiple Z-Moves in short succession.

He kept passing out in fields working on his idea, but the fact she wasn't an only child yet suggested he was on to something.

She preferred a more practical approach: she could see Z-move energy more clearly than most so she preferred to try new ways of increasing the efficiency and speed of Z-Move positions.

Given the ones taught in Alola were cultural she never had a chance to test it on a non-brother or Skull Grunt, given that Kiawe would probably have a Miltank over it, but this guy hardly looked like the devout type.

The specific stance combination she had used fired faster at a 3% loss of power efficiency, but with the two Screech attacks she felt like the risk was worth it. The traditional Dark Z-move was thankfully less complicated a stance than Normal or Grass.

"Crush!" her opponent bellowed.

"Eclipse!" she countered as Meowth charged the dark aura and fired it.

The two attacks collided with the force of a thousand furies, illuminating the area with pure force.

The resulting explosion sent all five of them: two humans and three Pokémon, flying.

Tapu Koko looked on as the female human and her Persian were sent flying.

His great mind knew that she'd be fine. She could take more abuse than the average human...

"Wha...what's that!"

"Is that...Velvet!?"

"Sis!"

"I got this! Popplio, catch her!"

...Plus, the adolescent human group he occasionally observed was around, including the short one with a interest in powerful bubbles. Bubbles would ensure that the girl would be fine.

It wouldn't pay for one like her to die so easily. He didn't spread the power of Alola to her lineage for just the amusement of stealing from the old one after all. That was merely a side benefit.

Kahele was quite clear about the importance people like her would have on the future of the world, though he was convinced it would involve his children or grandchildren. A reasonable assumption, had it not been for that jerk from Bulu's island.

The jerks always came from Bulu's island. There was a reason Bulu resided in that desert.

Still, even if Kahele and Lif's little 'this will happen in the future and we should probably be ready for it' plans were really premature, they were in play now. He'd have to play his part.

Though he did wish the others had forgotten about it: he'd have loved to steal a Hala made ring for that girl on Akala. Stealing from the old man they used to have there wasn't nearly as amusing.

But no, Lele had to remember something for once.

The human he had grabbed alongside a Lycanroc and a Umbreon stirred, reminding Tapu Koko he had to do something about this kid.

He could just drop him off somewhere, maybe in a heap? Perhaps continue that joke about him being a peeping tom and find a hot spring to drop him on the funny side of it. Or were hot springs Tapu Lele's thing?

...They were.

Oh well, Tapu Koko had another idea of where to put this boy!

And so Tapu Koko flew into the forest.

….

It was back at home several hours later where Velvet finished explaining in full what had occurred to her brother.

Said brother, currently in a pair of checkered sleep shorts and an old T-shirt, had stayed in place to hear his sister's tale like a good brother. Or perhaps only because his Litten had fallen asleep on his legs and could not be moved by any force that wasn't the smell of food.

Possibly both.

"...He sounds tough. Wish I had been there. I'd love to battle him," Frax Lono, twin of Velvet Lono, declared with enthusiasm. Velvet just shook her head.

"Yes, instead you got to spend all day with our female classmates in swimsuits. Truly you had the worse day than I did," Velvet snarked. The girl couldn't help but chuckle at her brother's reddening face.

"Not quite the beach day I had expected, but battle and a beach day. Yes, I'll call this a good day," Velvet mused as she reached for a drawer her mother wouldn't normally open. She pulled out her copy of the first Alphanegan book and opened the page to the bookmark carrying page and began reading.

Frax picked up his Pikachu from the floor and plopped her on top his face in response.

"Really? This book is hardly the worst thing I could be reading. Who knows what sort of books Lana has hidden in places her sisters can't grab them. Plus I distinctly remember you liking these books until half way through Book Two. I honestly don't see why'd you drop them there: the only part of the series I think could make someone drop it immediately was Book Three's middle act…."

"They're just...creepy," Frax muttered, muffled by Pikachu's fur. She caught it clearly enough though.

"Creepy? Might I suggest you take a look at a book series called Gor at some point? That shit is creepy."

Frax removed Pikachu from his face to continue, even as the female electric type eyed him in a 'do make up your mind' manner.

"I don't know what Gor is, but I doubt it's the same thing. Velvet, do you ever read those books and think 'this is me?'"

"...That's sort of the point of books, Frax."

"I don't mean 'I want to be a wizard' or 'I want to be a demigod', or even 'I want to be a fairy who gets tricked by a child mastermind with a butler named Butler'. No, the more I kept reading the books the more I couldn't help but think that Lamial wasn't just sort of like me. Lamial was just like me, and Velutina like you."

"You exaggerate."

"We both have odd marks on our faces, we both have strange powers, We both have people who look like us everywhere: I could go on about it. Velvet...we saw that Indigo tournament with that Ash and Red and Ritchie, and do I have to remind you about Kiawe's senior trial captain on Akala who also looks like us? Seriously, if I didn't know better someone we know is writing about us."

Velvet shook her head in disbelief.

"Why can't you overthink on essays instead of this...is this why you accused Lana of being a time traveling smut writer that one time?"

"In my defense Mallow was experimenting with mushroom dishes and I was hungry."

"The same mushrooms, brother, than made Rockruff bounce like a Spoink for an hour. Trust me brother I looked up the guy who writes these: he isn't Lana from the future but a Archaeologist during the off season. The tabloids confirm he's definitely a guy. Really, you are talking crazier now than you did when you were crazy on Mallow Mushroom Samba."

After all, Harper and Sarah weren't far from 'fanged monstrosities trying to eat Frax's face', especially since puberty.

Gladion woke up in the middle of a forest, lying in a heap with Umbreon and Lycanroc.

Pushing himself off his Pokémon, he looked around into the depths of the forest with annoyance.

"Okay, how the fuck did I end up here? I was blown up...honestly I should be dead."

"Um!" Umbreon agreed, he and Lycanroc back on their feet and looking around the forest in equal annoyance.

"Well, none of us are going to get back before they close down the restaurants. You two remember what berries smell like, right?"

After all without wild fruit, what else was there to eat? They didn't exactly have a big lunch.

Come to think of it, did they even have lunch?

Before Gladion could recall this, a pair of massive arms surrounded all three of them.

"Beee!" an excited shriek pierced the forest from the arms owner.

Following that the massive form of the Bewear holding them turned around and lumbered off, uncaring of the squirming of trainer and Pokémon alike.