After everything was over and done with, the Unovan Pokémon League moved in just a handful of hours after Team Rocket had left. Then, over the next few days, the Abyssal Ruins—which is what people had dubbed the risen city—was claimed by researchers and historians. Cynthia, too, almost seemed to take it as a second home away from home, moving there to camp out with the rest of the visitors once she had time for herself. However, both she and I had to first fill out and prepare forms and our reports. Ash and his friends got to live the quiet life while Cynthia and I worked. I considered this choice as a silent apology, as we had effectively used them as unknowing bait. That wasn’t something you did to friends, though it was needed to get such good results against Giovanni.

As for our reports themselves, they only included surface details and lacked many basic facts. There were no references to any of my meta-knowledge, and details about the Legendary Pokémon were kept to simple mentions at most. The capture of Dr. Zager was played up the most, treating that as the true victory, and the fate of Cynthia's Porygon-Z was mysteriously absent from what was submitted.

(Though, as we wrote, Cynthia made a comment to me about wanting to see the look on Lance's face when he eventually read a certain email in his personal inbox. She lamented being unable to be in the room when he saw the secret information sent to him by the mysterious informant, "Deep Z.")

Meloetta was already gone. For a Legendary that so much worry had been done about, she stuck around for a surprisingly small amount of time. Ash had initially met her in the same way I had met Diancie, in a sheer random encounter with the Legendary Pokémon back when he was in Virbank City. After everything that had happened, it was time for Meloetta to return home, so she parted ways and was retrieved by a person that lived in a hidden village alongside her.

Diancie, on the other hand, expressed interest in staying in Unova for a while longer, and, to avoid giving myself an aneurysm, I purposefully didn’t think about how excited she was to travel with a certain anime protagonist.

Finally, for me, once everything was properly filled out and the local League had properly taken over for the cleanup, I had a few hours of relaxation that I chose to spend making travel plans back to Alola. Even though this was technically supposed to be a vacation trip, I had a duty to return to, and I'd rather return to Hope and Lillie and relax there than selfishly spend time here away from them.

"...and that basically sums up everything that happened here," I said over one of the villa’s video phones to that exact pair of people.

My tale of Legendary encounters and criminal conspiracies had been wild. Hope stared at me through the screen, mouth agape, and Lillie looked like she was at a loss for words. However, there was an underlying current of morbid curiosity that was shared between them as we continued our call.

"That's so much, Alex,” Lillie eventually whispered. “How are you talking about all of that so calmly?"

"Honestly, at this point, stuff like this feels normal."

Hope looked like she wanted to interject, but after taking a moment to consider my words, she nodded her head in agreement.

This was like, what, my fourth or fifth time something this big happened?

Actually, now that I think about it, it’s closer to eight or nine. I’m probably skewing a statistic in a classified file somewhere. At least I’m not Ash.

"Anyway, enough about me. What's going on with you two? I haven't been able to call these past few days for obvious reasons," I said.

"You know how we headed out after I beat Olivia?" Lillie asked.

I nodded, remembering the story of her battle to get through Akala’s Grand Trial.

"Well, we finally found Gladion!” she said. “But, uh, I don’t think he wants to talk to me for a while."

Lillie said that statement with such a smile on her face that it took me a moment just to process what had been said. I did my best to send Hope a look through the video phone monitor, and Hope let out a tired yet amused laugh.

"Lillie met with Gladion,” she explained. “He didn't speak much and looked bewildered that we were even there. He was nice, well, except—"

"Azumarill challenged his Pokémon to a fight," Lillie said, proud for some reason. "She swept his team in half a minute."

The girl practically beamed at that, and Hope uncomfortably looked away. I could imagine why Gladion might react negatively after that. He was a little awkward socially but wanted to get strong. Being confronted with just how much of a gap was between his team and mine was probably a bit jarring.

Though, if one Pokémon could do that to his team, I bet he’ll just be even more motivated to become stronger, now. I wonder what decisions he’ll make later on now that he’s seen how Lillie’s been developing as a Pokémon trainer, too.

We chatted a bit more after that, mostly talking about the lesser things that had gone on. For example, Lillie hadn't evolved her Clefairy yet, but Morelull had evolved, becoming a perfectly uncanny Shiinotic. Also, Kahili had gone and invited the pair to stay at her resort for the last few days, as the two-month period for the trainers taking part in the Island Challenge was set to shift over to Ula’ula at the end of the month. Hope talked so excitedly about being able to both stay in a fancy resort and battle against an Elite Trainer almost daily that I didn't have the heart to remind her she'd need to file a report informing the League about her stay. Otherwise, she could be accused of taking bribes.

Our conversation continued as time passed, and an alarm went off that told me I needed to leave. I had a long flight scheduled, after all, so I had to say goodbye.

"My flight is soon, and I should probably stop neglecting everyone else here," I said.

"You do that, Alex. We can talk more when we meet back up," Hope replied. "By the way, when you get back, you should stop in Heahea to visit Burnett. She wanted to talk to you. When we last saw her, she seemed a little... off."

"That's concerning," I mumbled.

"I hope she's alright," Lillie added.

We said our last goodbyes, and I hung up, heading outside.

I was still in Cynthia's villa, of course, and Ash and almost everyone else was still here. I’d already said goodbye to Cynthia as she was trying to spend as much time as she could in the Abyssal Ruins before she had to leave for the start of this year’s Lily of the Valley Conference.

My exit through the back doors was met with a few people waving to me at my reappearance. I had a somewhat remorseful smile on my face. I knew what would come next.

"Hey, everyone." I said, walking over. "It's just about time for me to leave."

“What?! But you just got here!” Ash cried out.

“I have people I need to return to. I never planned to spend that long in Unova. It was nice seeing you again, Ash. And it was nice to meet you, Iris, Cilan.”

I moved a bit closer to give a proper goodbye to the group, and a few of my Pokémon who had been out here while I was on the call did the same. Dedenne and Pikachu traded weak, electrical attacks as a final parting exchange. Eevee tearfully said goodbye to some of the group’s weaker Pokémon before running and jumped into my arms, where he was returned.

Carbink, however, sniffled and gained tears in their eyes as they turned up towards Diancie. Diancie gave them a soft smile, ruffled the fluff around their neck, and she held up a finger as if to mischievously shush the suddenly wide-eyed Rock Type.

(When Carbink floated over to be returned after one last, tearful embrace, I noticed a single, pink, crystal seed planted in their fluff where Diancie had just rubbed. Carbink acted like they were trying to hide it for some reason, so I pretended to not notice.)

All of my Pokémon ended up being returned in one way or another, and I gave everyone else one last look before I left. Jervis, Cynthia’s butler, had offered to give me a ride to the airport, but when I glanced at Iris for a final time, an idea came to mind.

“Huh,” I said. “I never really gave a demonstration of Mega Evolution in the end, did I?”

I hummed as both Cilan and Iris suddenly stood up a lot straighter. Ash gained a wide grin on his face.

“Altaria!” I shouted as I tossed his Love Ball into the air. “Let’s do this!”

My Pokémon appeared in the sky with a twist of his wings, and I dug into my pack to retrieve his Altarianite before tossing it into the air.

“Mega Evolve!” I shouted.

At this point, the phenomenon was a regular occurrence to me, but to Cilan and Iris, it was something entirely new. They watched with awe as Altaria glowed and changed forms. His body increased in size, and his already fluffy feathers grew out and covered even more of him than before. Where once he was a bare, wispy cloud, he was now a grand, bird-like cumulous, barely even needing to flap his wings to land on the ground.

“Mega Altaria,” I said to announce him, and Altaria unleashed a single, proud squawk. “He might still be a Dragon Type, yeah, but now he’s also part Fairy.”

Iris finally understood, though she had to do a double take at my words. Meanwhile, Cilan wiped tears from his eyes. As a Pokémon Connoisseur, he worked to ensure the compatibility between trainer and Pokémon. Mega Evolution stood at the peak of what he sought to achieve.

“You know, I can do that with Charizard, too,” Ash grumbled. Iris responded with a roll of her eyes.

“You’re such a kid,” she said for one, final time.

With that done, I went ahead and hopped onto Altaria’s back, whose Mega Evolution made him just large enough for me to grab onto and ride.

“Again, it was a pleasure meeting you all!” I shouted. “Diancie! Make sure you don’t get in too much trouble with Ash!”

Diancie sent me a smile and an excited salute, then I turned my eyes to the sky.

“Let’s go, Altaria,” I whispered.

And then we were off.

A single flap of his empowered wings sent us launching into the air, and the dual Dragon and Fairy Type flew off and away from Cynthia’s villa.

...Unfortunately, as dramatic as that exit was, flying on the Mega Evolved Altaria’s back wasn’t the safest way to travel. Once Ash and the rest were infinitesimally small specks in the distance, I gave Altaria my praises, we touched down, and he shifted out of his Mega Form. Afterwards, I went ahead and set up his dorky-looking basket, and we continued onwards to the airport with a much less dangerous method of transportation.

The plane flight back to Alola was boring, mostly due to the sheer amount of time it took. My Pokémon either rested at home or sat in their Pokéballs for the trip, and when we touched down, I made a quick stop at the airport’s Pokémon transfer machine to ensure I had the proper team with me for my time back in Alola.

Eevee, Tinkatuff, Togetic, and Cutiefly were with me once more. Alongside them, Ninetales, Dedenne, Florges, and Altaria tagged along, too. With everything in both Sinnoh and Unova finished, it was time to properly train and develop the newer members of my team while we went through the rest of Alola’s remaining League candidates.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to meet up with Hope and Lillie right away. The airport was on Melemele, and I had to take a boat to Akala to reach their island. I made sure to switch what outfit I was wearing, too, as Alola was still overwhelmingly hot even during this part of the year, in Spring.

Nothing of note happened on the way over, outside of seeing a pair of Team Skull grunts run off after they watched me disembark from the ship.

"You know what? I'm not even going to think about that. I’ll worry about it later.”

The boat docked in Heahea City, letting me arrive on Akala in the same place I arrived last time. It took a single, short walk to reach the interior of the city, and a satellite dish-covered building was soon within sight. There, Professor Burnett's lab was almost the same as I left it, with the sole exception being that I couldn't even tell there had been a hole made in its side when Kartana “attacked.”

It was oddly quiet when I went inside, and I sent the Professor a message as I waited in the lobby. A few minutes and one response later, and the notably pregnant Professor Burnett waddled down the stairs. Shocked, I stood up to greet her.

"If I'd known how far along you were, I would have gone up to you," I said.

"Oh, don't you worry about it.” She waved me off. "I'm not at the point where I need to be cared for all the time. But, uh, if you're offering, I would love it if you could pick up a few sour malasadas at a place nearby?"

I chuckled.

"Done. Consider it a thank you for treating us and Lillie so well."

Professor Burnett smiled at me as if I was a messenger sent down from Arceus themself, but that look quickly faded away as she moved over and sat down behind the lobby’s main desk.

Her expression suddenly kept level, Burnett leaned over to fiddle around inside a desk drawer. Shortly, she pulled out a long case, which she opened up on top of the main counter.

There was a brief moment of silence as I digested what I saw: three, blue Pokéballs of a certain, familiar make.

“It was strange, designing these,” Professor Burnett said quietly as we both took the sight of the balls. “After analyzing the data I scanned from Kartana and Nebby, I grabbed a few incomplete designs sent to me by the Aether Foundation and gave them a shot. They... it all fell together like pieces of a puzzle.”

“That’s good... right?” I said as I picked up one of the three balls. Professor Burnett chuckled slightly, but there was no humor in her voice.

“I suppose, but puzzles are rarely simple coincidences. Most of the time, a puzzle is a deliberate creation, designed to slot together in a certain way. In this case, it was like I was working with the incomplete pieces of a completed picture. If anything... it was less like figuring out something new and more like filling in blanks that used to be filled.”

She frowned, eyes lingering on the Pokéball in my hand as she seemed to become lost in thought. I took that moment to go ahead and rotate the ball around, checking to see if it was exactly what I thought it was.

This Pokéball was a deep azure that shifted between blue and purple depending on the position of the light. A net of cyan grooves wrapped around its entire surface, and four, yellow protrusions crept around the sides like the grip of a claw.

“I’d call it a prototype, but the Beast Ball came out too complete to deride it like that,” Professor Burnett said, shaking her head. “I’d declare them functional despite the fact they haven't been tested in the slightest.”

I could already tell that testing would be pointless. This Pokéball was the exact variant Pokéball I remembered from the games. Beast Balls were designed to catch Ultra Beasts to the point that they could barely catch non-Ultra Beast Pokémon otherwise. I couldn’t see any differences between the image from my memories and the three identical Beast Balls here.

With a prodding gesture from Professor Burnett, I took the trio of Pokéballs and slowly placed them in my pack. She didn’t say anything as she returned the case back to its position in the desk drawer. Between us, the silence lasted for several moments until I finally interrupted it by clearing my throat.

Neither of us wanted to explicitly state the implications the existence of these balls brought.

“Thank you. I’ll deliver these to Hope and Lillie. There’s three—one for each of us, right?”

“Right,” Professor Burnett replied. “I hope... I hope you're able to put them to good use.”

“We will,” I promised.

I left without saying anything more. I said goodbye, of course, and I made sure to stop at her requested malasada shop and set up a delivery, too. If there were more treats in the delivered package than necessary, then Burnett definitely deserved them. After all, if she’d been sitting on the realization that the Aether Foundation has had Beast Balls for months, she deserved at least something nice to take her mind off the topic for a little while.

As I walked through Heahea, trying to ignore the tension that was now in my body, I felt as though the Beast Balls in my pack were making it weigh ten times more than usual. In reality, like most Pokéballs, they were light, but I couldn’t stop thinking about them and the revelations they carried.

The main thing I was stuck on was why the Aether Foundation had thought it was necessary to hide their invention from Professor Burnett. If they had a working version of the Beast Ball, why not inform the premier Ultra Space researcher in Alola? Wouldn’t they want to share their invention, at least to help promote regional safety? At least someone there would want to do that, right?

The Foundation’s choice was so confusing and bewildering that I didn’t even notice when I reached the edge of town. It wasn’t until the buildings disappeared around me and I became surrounded by solely palm trees that I realized I needed a faster way to travel if I was to reach the resort by tonight.

“I’ll talk to Hope about this later,” I said to myself, purposefully speaking out loud to try to get my mind off the topic.

I released Altaria from his ball, and I placed his basket down in front of me one last time. It took a quick minute to unfold it to bring it to full height. Altaria puffed up in excitement as he prepared himself to bring us through the skies to our destination.

Though, despite my efforts, my questions regarding the Aether Foundation still lingered in my mind. Due to that, I didn’t notice we weren’t alone, and I didn’t notice the person approaching before it was too late. Unfortunately, if I hadn’t been hit with such a revelation in town, I might have remembered that pair of Team Skull grunts running away from me at the docks.

I frankly wasn’t on high enough alert to be ready for this.

“Acid Spray!”

At the stranger’s command, Altaria was quick to act, rushing forward to slam his fluff-covered body into me to send me to the ground. I felt as if I had been just slapped with a hardened pillow, and I sat there, dazed. Unfortunately, while good intentioned, his action proved ultimately pointless as the attack hadn’t been aimed at either of us.

Something sizzled. From the ground, both Altaria and I turned our heads up to watch in stunned horror as the Poison Type move ate away at his prized basket. The woven exterior dissolved into smoke from the corrosive spray. The metal perch on its top melted downwards. An entire side of it warped inwards, essentially making it unusable. We might have been able to wash it off, but I had no Pokémon with a Water Type move on me.

The assault didn’t continue; it seemed the attack had simply been a way to ensure we couldn’t leave. Neither Altaria nor I looked to see who it was until the Acid Spray’s destruction was completed. We were too busy watching the basket—the same basket that we’d had since Hoenn, and the same basket that had carried us through the likes of Sky Pillar, Kalos, and Sinnoh. It became nothing more than scrap in front of our eyes.

I was so shocked I laughed.

“This is a joke, right?” I said as I stood up. “Destruction of property, technical assault—I mean, I don’t even know how to classify an attack like that!”

I was in such disbelief and shaken rage that I could feel the edges of my vision start to turn red. It was like someone had stabbed me in the heart. I wasn’t that materialistic of a person—heck, I had technically been homeless for two years straight—but that basket had still carried a bit of meaning for our entire team, and I hadn’t even realized it until now.

“Don’t get yourself in a twist,” the woman waiting for us snapped at me. “Salazzle wasn’t aiming at you.”

At her side, a slender, bipedal salamander wiped its snout and let loose an almost mocking grin. I felt myself gape at how she completely missed the point.

It took me a second to recognize her, now that I was looking. With tanned skin and hair pulled into two sets of pink and yellow tails, the woman across from us rolled her eyes and crossed her arms out of annoyance. A sigh left her mouth as my own words failed me. For a moment, my gaze flicked towards her necklace that was in the shape of the infamous Team Skull “S.”

“Plumeria,” I eventually said. When I spoke, the name practically came out like a hiss. It wasn’t that I disliked her from the games, but this was not the introduction I expected to get from the sub-leader of Alola’s resident gang.

“You know me?” Plumeria paused for only the briefest of moments. “Whatever. I’m just here to teach the person messing with my cute brothers and sisters a lesson.”

My clenching fists slackened as I processed that. Briefly, my growing anger faded away.

“But I’ve done nothing to Team Skull?”

“THAT DOESN’T MATTER!” she screamed. Plumeria threw her hands to her sides before she realized what she had done and recollected herself with a huff. “You’re protecting that girl, the one that’s always messing with all my lovable idiots. I would have taught her a lesson, but if it wasn’t for that green demon...”

Plumeria shuddered.

“Globs of wet cotton getting stuck in your hair, seeds appearing in uncomfortable places in your clothes... Sometimes, when we tried to get closer, vines would spring from the ground and hold us up for hours.” She stared off into the distance, a haunted look in her eyes. “We never see it, only appearing to us as flashes. Green and white, the color of true fear...”

The words hung in the air ominously, and I swear I could hear the faintest of giggles in the distance.

“But you,” she continued. “You. If we can’t reach her to show her why it’s a bad idea to mess with Team Skull, we’ll teach you a lesson instead!”

Plumeria gained a toxic grin as she tossed an Ultra Ball forward. A Golbat with poison dripping from its teeth appeared in the space between us, and the Salazzle next to her stepped forward to join it on this impromptu field.

“Go on, send out your Pokémon!” Plumeria shouted. “I challenge you to a battle! Let me show how pointless it is to go against Team Skull!”

I stayed there, staring blankly at her two Pokémon. I could see that they were strong—her team probably reached five or six stars if properly judged—but I didn’t move. I didn’t even bother to reach for any Pokéballs. Behind me, I heard a soft whine leave Altaria’s beak as he stared at the remains of his basket and almost seemed to solemnly ask “Why?”

On my face, a twitch. Unconscious to me, my lips quivered up into a smile that didn’t quite fit the situation.

“Ha,” I chuckled.

“Excuse me?” Plumeria hissed.

“Ha.. ha hahaha!”

I laughed, simple as that. I had to clutch my stomach to stabilize myself, and I even felt tears leave my eyes.

“Oh! You— That demon— Whimsicott— Teach us a lesson?” I was currently a little more manic than I would have liked. “Come on, have you seen my Pokémon in battle? Know what they’ve done? Yeah, no. You’re not worth it. I’m going to use you to train, instead. Come on out, Togetic, Tinkatuff. Let’s practice against the Poison Type.”

Plumeria scowled, a hard gaze digging into me like she was trying to shoot me with her eyes. I turned away from her to look over my Pokémon, checking if they were up for a fight.

Togetic might not have evolved into a Togekiss yet, but that was since she had changed her mind upon meeting her mom. She flapped her wings in the air and swung her arms to warm up. On her face, a smile, but it was less friendly than it usually was.

As for Tinkatuff, it’d been a while since she had a decent battle, so she was more than willing to fight. Her hammer had been tinkered with to far past perfection, and I could already see frost crackling on its surface as she readied herself for an Ice Hammer.

I estimated both of them to be equivalent to Pokémon on a strong four star team, meaning that with the current difference of strength, this match was essentially an assured loss. However, one of the best ways to gain experience was to fight opponents stronger than you, and Plumeria was the perfect chance to give both of them practice fending off primary Poison Type Pokémon.

As my two Pokémon appeared to lazily stretch in preparation for this match, Plumeria almost seemed to turn purple with rage.

“...Use me for training? Use me for training!?” Plumeria spat on the ground. “Your Pokémon won’t get squat with how quickly they’ll fall! We’re starting! Golbat, use Poison Fang! Salazzle, support with Toxic!”

“Move in with Ancient Power!”

Though our commands were different, the resulting clash was surprisingly the same. Golbat and Tinkatuff rushed to meet each other in the center while the two Pokémon in the back unleashed their own attacks to support them with cover.

Rocks were torn from the ground as Togetic conjured an Ancient Power that sent several large stones through the air. Globs of sticky poison sailed past Golbat as Salazzle unleashed a spray towards Tinkatuff.

Both charging Pokémon were hit; Golbat was clipped in the wing by some of the smaller shards, and Tinkatuff was hit with several splotches of the purple tar. Golbat’s flight stuttered as a result, and as Salazzle’s Corrosion ability let it bypass Tinkatuff’s Steel Type immunity, Tinkatuff slowed from the nausea the badly poisoned condition caused.

The two damaged Pokémon were still able to attack, regardless.

Golbat moved in first, attempting to bite down on Tinkatuff, unaware of her partial Steel Type rendering her immune. Tinkatuff took advantage of its lack of knowledge, forsaking all means of defense to swing her hammer, which was now much bulkier thanks to the ice.

Unfortunately, the flying Poison Type saw the Ice Hammer coming, and it flapped its wings hard to shift to the left and avoid her overhead swing. The Poison Fang was canceled as a result, and the Ice Hammer completely missed.

Meanwhile, in the back, both Togetic and Salazzle readied another barrage. However, Plumeria interrupted that by quickly giving a new set of commands.

“Supersonic. Fire Lash,” she said.

With Tinkatuff in the center of the field, both attacks focused on her.

Once again, Golbat was first to move, and it used its large mouth to unleash a high-pitched screech. The noise caused Tinkatuff to stumble backwards, where she gripped her hammer even tighter, and she wobbled in place as the confusion caused her to lose her sense of balance.

At that opportunity, Salazzle then flicked its tail forward. Flames lashed out in a whip underneath Golbat, striking Tinkatuff right across the chest. Given that Fire Lash was a Fire Type attack, Tinkatuff took super effective damage, and she let out a cry of pain as the move hit her.

“Psychic!” I yelled.

The one good part of Tinkatuff being attacked by both opposing Pokémon was that it gave Togetic time to move in. With her foes distracted, her eyes glowed, and Golbat was caught off guard. With the power of Psychic, the Pokémon’s wings were held still via telekinesis, which forced it to the ground. It became locked in the perfect position for Tinkatuff to properly strike with her Ice Hammer, but she was too confused to do anything but struggle to not fall down.

“Ugh! Finish them off! Flamethrower! Air Cutter!” Plumeria screamed.

Her Pokémon moved immediately. A gout of a flame left Salazzle’s mouth to sail over the grounded Golbat’s head and strike Tinkatuff right in the face. It was super effective yet again, and she fell back as a result. Togetic tried to adjust her Psychic to save Tinkatuff from being thrown to the ground, but that proved to be a mistake.

Golbat was able to go free.

With its movements no longer restricted, the bat pushed up to stand on its flat feet, which gave it plenty of time to flap its wings to conjure up that ordered Air Cutter. Sharp gusts of wind shot forward, and the force of the attack was enough to knock Tinkatuff up and into the air.

Blasted out of the telekinetic support of Psychic, Tinkatuff sailed over the field. I winced at the sight; Golbat must have been stronger than I thought to cause that kind of movement.

Togetic tried to position herself to physically catch Tinkatuff, but she lacked the upper body and wing strength to stay in the air. Upon impacting together, the pair of Fairy Type Pokémon fell to the ground in a tangle of bodies and limbs, and Plumeria grinned a sharp grin before pointing forward for one last command.

“Venoshock!”

Needles. The two opposing Pokémon used their moves in sync. Crying out, they caused long spines of rich, solidified poison to form around them, and their conjurations were launched forward.

Tinkatuff was completely immune, but Togetic wasn’t. Stuck under her confused and poisoned team member, she suffered from two, simultaneous super effective attacks. I could tell Plumeria was unfamiliar with Tinkatuff’s species, as Tinkatuff was actually partially targeted by the Poison Type move as well. However, even with the protection that afforded Togetic, the difference in power was too much, and Togetic fainted right as Tinkatuff succumbed to that continued Toxic.

It was over, but I could better see where we stood to improve.

“There,” Plumeria panted, breathing heavily. “That was pathetic. Your Pokémon are weak. Training? They hardly put up a fight. If you’re supposed to be some big shot trainer, I can’t see it. You’re just a pretty face that’s all bark and no bite.”

You’re ignoring how a pair of weak Pokémon almost took out your Golbat.

I wanted to snap back with my own cutting remark, but Plumeria’s words gave me pause. I had to take a moment to process that last thing she just said.

“Hold on, you think my face is pretty?” I asked, bewildered.

Plumeria responded by sharply turning around and snapping for her Pokémon to follow.

“We’re leaving. It’s not worth paying any more attention to these fools.”

Without delay, Plumeria strode off down the road. Golbat pushed through what injuries it sustained to move to fly at her side, and Salazzle fell into pace. Altaria and I were left alone with the pair of Togetic and Tinkatuff fainted on the ground ahead of us.

I watched the Poison Type group go.

One last moment passed before I sent Florges out from her Heal Ball. The flowery Fairy Type practically glared at me when she appeared, fuming and silently asking why I hadn’t sent her out to fight until now.

“Plumeria’s not worth it,” I said to explain. “I didn’t want to give her the validation of taking her seriously. This way, she can get upset at how the match didn’t go how she expected, and Togetic and Tinkatuff gained more out of fighting her than if you or anyone else swept her team.”

Florges huffed, expressing her disapproval, but I did have a slight point. Florges just didn’t like it when other Pokémon got hurt, especially in situations that could have been avoided.

Regardless, she went ahead to treat the pair of fainted Pokémon, using both Aromatherapy and Wish to cure their poison and get them back up. I watched quietly as she worked, up until the point when the silence was interrupted by a soft, mournful squawk.

Altaria finally looked away from his broken basket. His black eyes were wet.

“Altaria,” I said softly. “I’m so sorry.”

I scooped up my depressed Pokémon as soon as I could, bringing the entire bird into my arms. He let out a sad moan as he rested his head on my shoulder, and I moved him away from his old basket.

“I’ll ship it back home. I won’t throw it out. We might be able to get it repaired, but we can’t bring it with us right now.”

He gave me an unhappy chirp in response.

Thanks to Florges, both Togetic and Tinkatuff were soon conscious once more, though they needed to rest. Florges’s Aromatherapy vastly overpowered any form of poison Plumeria’s Pokémon could inflict, and she had enough practice with healing to ensure the pair could even battle again even now, if they so wished.

Now healed, Tinkatuff flopped onto her butt to stare at her hammer, eyes already flicking over it to think of improvements. As for Togetic, she sent me a smile and tapped her hands together. I could tell she was already willing to take what she learned here and apply it to a tougher battle.

Tinkatuff needed improved defenses, and Togetic needed to work on her offensive power now that she was no longer a baby Pokémon.

I returned the pair of them alongside Florges as I worked on a plan to figure out how exactly to move this broken basket back home. Altaria started to shift to escape from my arms, climbing over my shoulder to awkwardly move to my back. With his size, all I could see was white and blue fluff for several moments, as he wasn’t exactly a Swablu that could fit neatly on my head. However, he was still somehow able to position himself to sit on top of my backpack, and he rested his wings on my shoulders for balance and placed his head on top of my own.

This set-up was ridiculous enough that I actually let loose a small laugh. This time, it didn’t contain any confusion or anger.

“I know you like flying people around, but let me taxi you around for the day instead,” I said. “I might have told Hope and Lillie we’d meet up with them tonight, but I think they’d understand if we showed up a little late.”

The squawk he let out told me he’d like that, and, with him on my back, I started to walk back to Heahea City. I would have to arrange another delivery, but soon after that, I’d meet back up with Hope and Lillie at the nearby resort. After, we’d finally be able to continue our travels through the rest of Alola.

But, man, what a welcome back.