Getting to Hano Grand Resort was done through the miracle of wealth; with the money I'd accumulated over the years, I was able to hire a taxi to bring us there.

Cars were a bit weird in this world, since most cities were walkable or since many people chose to travel via Pokémon instead. For here, however, there was enough of a road in between Heahea and the resort itself that we arrived within a short few hours.

Altaria rode with me the entire way. Being inside a car piqued his interest enough to distract him from his loss of his prized possession, and even though he was feeling better by the time we arrived, he still whined to be carried in my arms.

Walking through the main gates, I arrived at the resort with the bundle of fluff that was Altaria held firmly against my chest.

The main building of the resort itself sat in the distance with its many pools stretched out in front. The sun would set soon, so not many people were out here, but it didn't take me long to recognize a small, familiar group.

What first drew my gaze first was the sleeping Venusaur. The heavy Pokémon rested poolside with its flower open wide on its back. Right in the center of its flower was another flower—Cherrim—who kept her petals unfurled and a calm smile on her face as she took in the fading sunlight. Likely, she would switch back to her overcast form once day turned to dusk.

As I approached the group, a woman lounging on a low chair sat up and took off a pair of sunglasses in surprise.

"Wait, hold on, Alex?" Hope asked, squinting her eyes at me in confusion. "Weren't you supposed to get here tomorrow?"

"Hello Hope. And, no, just because I'm not on time like usual doesn't mean I'm going to be a day late."

She shrugged and sat up, stretching as she did. Venusaur heard her sit up and took that as a sign to move too, letting out a big yawn as well. That caused the starter Pokémon to tilt back as it opened its mouth, removing any sense of balance Cherrim had and making it roll off and onto the ground. The much smaller Grass Type chittered unhappily as she sent Venusaur a dirty look..

"Cherrim, he does that every time. You should know better by now," Hope chided.

Cherrim huffed as Venusaur was returned, then the small, flowery Pokémon hopped up to be caught in Hope's arms. Also, a flick of movement caught my attention behind Hope, and I glanced over to see that Kartana was still locked in place behind her.

“Looks like you’re really taking advantage of the resort while you can,” I said.

“Yup,” Hope replied, emphasizing the last consonant so it popped in her mouth. “Kahili’s been great. She offered us some rooms, free of charge as long as I battled her a few times. With her permission, I got recordings of them too, so we can either rewatch them to take notes or challenge her together for a test.”

“I think I want to take a break,” I said, shifting slightly to ensure Altaria remained comfortable in my arms. “We can just watch the recordings. I trust you.”

She nodded in response and collected her things with a free arm as Cherrim happily nestled into her side. Hope sucked down the rest of a tall glass of orange liquid through a looping straw and grabbed her towel right after.

"Anyway, what’s with the delay?” she asked. Her eyes trailed downwards to Altaria, whose position meant I was carrying him like a princess. “Is Altaria alright?"

Altaria gave her a mournful squawk in reply, though at this point, I could tell he was starting to play it up more than he was actually upset. As for me, I gained a frown.

"Plumeria,” I said scornfully. I could practically feel the venom dripping from my voice.

"The Team Skull member?"

"Yeah. I think I dislike her more than Giovanni."

“Ha!” Hope laughed for a single second, but that look quickly faded when she saw the seriousness of my expression. "Wait, you aren't kidding."

"She attacked us on the road as payback for Lillie fighting off their grunts. Specifically, she had her Pokémon's acid destroy Altaria's flight basket."

Hope gasped.

"That's awful," she said.

"She beat up Togetic and Tinkatuff, too," I added. “But, uh, that's on me. I didn't want to face her with a stronger Pokémon. Felt like she didn’t deserve it. Wanted to show that all she was good for was practice, instead."

Hope just clicked her tongue and shook her head. We started to move off towards the main building of the resort with nothing left behind.

"That’s a little dismissive of your Pokémon, isn’t it? It kind of feels like you used those two as fodder rather than actual fighter."

“I mean, it was training?” I offered. The side-eye she sent me made me wince.

"That being said..." Hope chuckled as we approached the main doors of the resort itself. "I probably would have done something similar. From everything you told me, it sounds like Plumeria was acting like a total bi—"

A loud shout interrupted Hope's words, and we turned our heads up to look at the sky. A white blur zoomed downwards, then Whimsicott was suddenly right in front of me.

"He was on patrol," Hope said as the Grass Type excitedly bobbed around me in the air. "He's taken to keeping an eye on a wide area, recently."

"I know. His results are half the reason Plumeria went after me."

Hope let loose a genuine laugh. “Yeah, he’s a bad influence,” she said, smiling.

At first, Whimsicott was lost in the happiness of seeing both Altaria and I again, even though it'd only been a few days. He chattered on and on, likely trying to inform Altaria about all the mischief he’d been up to, but when Altaria hardly reacted, he let out a questioning few words and moved closer to the bird in my arms.

It took a poking and prodding from Whimsicott to get Altaria to speak as Hope and I watched. Eventually, the bird let out a single, sad wail, and Whimsicott gasped. I kept silent as Altaria pressed his head into my shoulder. Whimsicott looked him over, rubbing his chin, and a mischievous look glinted in his eyes.

Not even a second later, and Whimsicott grabbed Altaria’s wings and yanked him out of my arms.

“Hey!”

Altaria’s own squawk mimicked my voice, and it took all of his training to flail around enough to enter the air before he hit the ground. Whimsicott pointed at him and giggled before rushing off with Tailwind. Fuming, Altaria gave chase, and the two began to race around in the skies.

"Leave it to Whimsicott to find a way to get Altaria's mind off of his loss," I mumbled, watching the pair fly around. "Is Lillie inside?"

"Yup. She's in the third indoor training field. Feel free to greet her. I’ll be back down shortly."

I thanked Hope as we split, entering the main lobby of the resort and moving off to different directions. Altaria and Whimsicott would be fine outside, and I knew Whimsicott could lead Altaria back, if needed. I walked over the carpeted floor, eyeing the pools of water that surrounded the room and made the place seem like an inside, floating island. It was hard to imagine staying in a place as fancy as this, but, then again, both Hope and I were technically part of the resort’s target class.

No one really paid me any mind as I moved through the building. A single maid did a double-take, but that was the only look I received as I searched for the training rooms.

A quick question to a nearby employee and a map on the wall eventually brought me to a set of back hallways that contained their private training room. This place catered to a vast variety of people, and it seemed these rooms were here to appeal to the resort's Pokémon trainer guests.

Upon reaching the third numbered room, I opened the door and quietly made my way inside. In there, a familiar voice shouted in a regular pattern, ordering a set of Pokémon while they marched in place.

"One, two! One, two! One, two, then use your move!"

Lillie blew a whistle, and the four Pokémon immediately burst into action.

A merry Cosmog bounced in place with Splash. A pink Clefairy wiggled its arms with Metronome before unleashing a screeching Metal Sound. At its side, a blue seal in a natural, frilly skirt released a powerful Bubble Beam, and the hollow-eyed Shiinotic sent out a puff of spores before gurgling.

"Great!" Lillie cheered, pumping her arms. "Now, one, two! One, two! One, two!"

The process started back up, and I silently closed the door behind me. Looking around, I could see that this was a simple, indoor battlefield with fake windows on the ceiling that gave the illusion of a skylight above. Against a wall, Azumarill had her eyes closed as she leaned back with her arms crossed. With my entrance, one eye peeked open and she gave me a nod, and I then approached to move closer to the rest.

"Attack!" Lillie yelled.

Once more her Pokémon released their moves, a Teleport, a Charm, a Disarming Voice, and a Mega Drain being used as fast as her Pokémon could. A second later, they returned to marching, and I used the distraction to quietly move behind Lillie.

I cleared my throat when I was confident she had no clue I was here.

"You know, a great trainer once told me that the best strategy is to develop plans that let your Pokémon fight on their own."

Lillie yelped and immediately jumped. Her blond ponytail practically went straight into the air before she landed hard on the floor.

"Hey! What's the big—" she paused, looking up at me in shock. "Alex?"

"Hi, Lillie."

"Alex!"

She stood up excitedly and pulled out two books from her pack. She didn’t wait even a moment before unleashing her thoughts right at me.

"I read through your journal and it was really interesting cause I saw that you really put a lot of thought into training up your Pokémon's moves so that made me think I should do the same so I bought my own journal and started working on recording my own team's developments and training practices so now we’re working on getting their moves in order so that way we’re stronger in battle alongside preparing ourselves to further develop—"

"Breathe," I interrupted.

Lillie paused and took a deep breath.

"I’m glad you’re back,” she said, smiling. “We've made a lot of progress. Gladion helped a bit before, uh, you know. I hope coming back wasn’t an issue."

I chuckled.

"It was fine. Want to show me your progress?"

"I do!"

Lillie turned around and started to shout orders for her Pokémon. As she did, she discussed her plans for future developments while her Pokémon demonstrated their key techniques.

Starting with Shiinotic, Lillie wanted to turn him into some sort of "drain tank" on her team. Inspired by Hope, she planned to train him up into a Pokémon skilled at both draining opponents’ health while also inflicting debilitating status conditions. To help with that, the Pokémon had learned Strength Sap, courtesy of Hope, which meant that it could punish any opponents that got up close. That, combined with its powder moves and ability, Effect Spore, meant Shiinotic could punish anything that attacked it up close, which encouraged its foes to stay at range, where the Pokémon was more skilled at battling.

She also mixed in a few comments about working with Shiinotic to further its “battlefield control,” but I could tell the idea was still basic and a work in progress.

Next, for her Clefairy, Lillie was split between trying to make her Pokémon a prime special attacker or some kind of perfect manipulator, as Clefairy had her choice of moves to make her an absolute pain to fight. Between Gravity, Encore, and both Follow Me and After You, she had so many ways to mess with her foes in battle.

After Clefairy was Brionne, and Lillie went all-in on talking about how hard they’d been working to train her to become a powerful special attacker. Between Icy Wind, Bubble Beam, and Disarming Voice, Lillie was trying to turn those attacks into Ice Beam, Hydro Pump, and Moonblast respectively. Unfortunately, she was having trouble doing all of that at once, so she was just having Brionne build up its innate energy and power for now.

"And for Nebbie..." Lillie hesitated for the slightest of moments. "He's great, but I'm worried he's falling behind. Out of everyone, he's the least likely to take a hit thanks to his growing mastery of Teleport, but he genuinely doesn't have any other options in battle. Not only that, but when he does take a hit—"

"I don't think you need to worry about that," I said to interrupt her, not wanting her to get stuck in the trap of just listing off flaws. "Teleport is an incredibly useful move—just ask Gardevoir—and it sounds like he'd be great at stalling if Shiinotic can poison your foes. Even more, while he's not gaining any offensive moves now, imagine just how strong of a baseline you're helping him develop for later on."

"You're right," she sighed. "Azumarill has been great with helping him practice Splash, too. I just want to make sure everyone is keeping up with the rest of the team."

I nodded my head in agreement.

"But!” she continued. “What are your thoughts on my plans?"

Lillie looked up at me with a hopeful smile on her face, giving me the widest puppy dog eyes she could manage. I could immediately tell that she had been practicing the look, developing some kind of human-powered Charm that was undoubtedly encouraged by Hope.

I turned away, not willing to let myself fall under its powers, and I held back a chuckle as I looked over the three Fairy Types and one Legendary Pokémon that made up Lillie’s team.

"You have a good plan, but you’re leaving a few things out. For Shiinotic, going solely into utility and healing moves right now might hinder Shiinotic's growing special attack. You have a similar problem with Clefairy, except that she’d be a worthwhile wall once she evolves, especially if you develop both her Magic Guard and Unaware abilities. Actually, just that combination alone would make her incredibly hard to take out. Just make sure your Pokémon have attacks that can take out your foes instead of only ways to hinder them."

Lillie furiously nodded her head, and she pulled out a journal to jot down notes.

"As for Brionne, I agree with everything you said, but you should try focusing on developing one Type of move instead of doing them all at once. I recommend focusing on Water or Fairy Type moves before branching out from there, as she’ll eventually evolve into a dual Fairy and Water Type. And for Cosmog, you already know my thoughts. He's a late bloomer, but he'll be significantly more powerful once he evolves."

"B-because he'll be a Legendary?" she asked.

Lillie's voice contained a strange amount of fear in it.

"No, because Cosmoem is ridiculously sturdy, and he'd be able to learn a defense-enhancing move on top of that, too."

Lillie blinked. I hadn't really talked about Cosmog's second stage in the past, and she silently mouthed the word "Cosmoem" once I had finished saying it.

Then, she paused, and her eyes widened in realization.

After all, if I was bringing up Cosmoem right now, I was implying there was a chance Cosmog might soon evolve.

(I didn't know for sure, but I felt like he’d been trained enough that there was a good possibility of it happening.)

"Thank you!"

Lillie shouted and bowed, bringing the top of her body to a full ninety-degree angle.

"Whoa, whoa. You don't need to do that," I said, hands raised.

She sent me a confused look before Hope walked in, laughing loudly.

"Sorry, Lillie. I knew Alex would get embarrassed by that."

Lillie's face turned bright red while I just scratched the back of my head.

"Welcome back, Hope," I said.

"I should be saying that to you."

I shrugged and reached into my pack. With Hope having changed back to her usual outfit and now arrived, everyone was here, which meant there wasn’t any reason to delay.

"Anyway, since we’re all together again, you should know I stopped at Burnett's. She gave us gifts to test out. Here."

I went ahead and pulled out the three identical items, and Lillie let out a gasp. In my hand, I held the three newly developed Pokéballs, offering them for Hope and Lillie to take.

"These are—"

"Beast Balls," Lillie said quietly.

I immediately turned my head.

"You know them?" I asked.

She didn't respond for a second, merely taking hers from my hand while Hope cautiously did the same.

"I... I think so?” Lillie said. “I remember seeing partial schematics back at Burnett's lab when she first took me in. But now that I'm seeing them in person..." Her gaze turned upwards, her expression turned hard. "The Aether Foundation has these. I'm sure of it."

I cursed. Thankfully, Lillie didn’t hear.

"Someone fill me in?" Hope asked.

“These are Beast Balls, like Lillie said, and they do what the name implies: they catch Ultra Beasts. They aren’t that useful for normal Pokémon in exchange, but nothing save for Master Balls will compare to their effectiveness against Ultra Beasts. The problem is that Burnett was working on them alongside the Aether Foundation, and if she only just figured out how to make them now—”

“The Aether Foundation has had them for a while,” Hope concluded with a grumble. “Man, this sucks.”

"Yeah. It does," I replied.

There was more we needed to discuss about these, but that was hard to do given we genuinely had so little information about what was going on. The Aether Foundation was up to something, but we just didn't have the knowledge to figure it out.

Lillie, at least, was able to change focus to a much happier topic pretty quickly. There might have been the implications these balls brought, but there was also the realization of a more immediate use, too.

Beast Ball in hand, Lillie walked over to where her Pokémon were waiting, and she kneeled down in front of Cosmog. She rotated the deep blue Pokéball in her hands a few times before looking up and starting to speak.

"Nebbie," she started. The little Legendary looked up at her and cocked his body to the side. "I... I know we’ve been training and traveling together for ages now, but you’ve never had a Pokéball until now. We’re friends, but I don’t want to restrict you if you don’t want to, and I know that you don’t like being forced to hide inside my bag. But, I really want to be your partner, regardless of the fact you’re a Legendary. Even... even if you have to leave when you fully evolve, I want to, at least for now, ask if you want to—”

Nebbie didn’t let her finish that thought. His movements interrupted her. The Pokémon huffed and waved its two puffballs on its head around to immediately deny that statement. Lilllie blinked, then she laughed through growing tears.

“So, if you want to—”

He interrupted her yet again. This time, one of the puffs snapped downwards to tap the button on the front of the Beast Ball. Lillie seemed to freeze, and then Nebbie turned to light and was sucked up inside.

A moment passed as the ball shook. It shook a second time, then a third.

There was a tense second as no one moved.

Then, a ding.

Lillie blinked.

“Um, does this count as catching a new Pokémon?” she asked.

“Yes. You have to hold the ball up and cheer now, Lillie,” I replied, keeping my voice completely serious.

All three of Lillie’s Pokémon rushed to her side at that, saying their names excitedly as she stood to her whole height. Brionne leaned back to clap her fins, Clefairy smiled at her trainer, and Shiinotic’s mouth stretched to become even wider than it had been before.

At the sight, Lillie sniffed, and then, smiling, she did exactly what I said.

“I caught a Cosmog!” she yelled.

She held the ball high into the air as Nebbie released himself to cheer at her side as well. As she and her team laughed, Nebbie floated up to bring himself into a hug, and the rest of her Pokémon willingly followed.

I wasn't one to be outdone when it came to training my Pokémon. It'd been far too long since I'd properly dedicated time to the newer members of my team. My goal for these coming months was to get them in the best shape possible before the Conference at the end of the season.

Alola's Island Challenge divided up its nine-month period into four, somewhat equal sections. For each primary island, trainers were scheduled to spend two months to take on its Island Trials, with the remaining month spent either dedicated to the challenges of Poni Island or just for free roam.

With February coming to a close, it was the scheduled time to move on to the third Island in Alola, Ula'ula Island. Five months remained in the season, and, with Lillie involved, we joined a flood of beginner trainers onto one of the many boats that were traveling over the ocean today.

About a dozen kids ran back and forth on this boat as it sailed over the seas. Lillie and Hope waited in their seats below as the trip between islands progressed, but I decided to use this opportunity to have a conversation with a certain set of four Pokémon on the top deck.

"So," I said, clapping my hands, "how is everyone feeling?"

As the midday boat to Ula'ula Island sailed over the water, Eevee and Togetic cheered while Tinkatuff and Cutiefly stayed relatively silent.

"I know," I said apologetically. "I know. I'm sorry. Scheduling has been tight these past few weeks, but I plan to really pick up the pace now that it’s all behind us. All of you are in a good state to progress further—especially you, Cutiefly. Overall, you four have a good baseline to improve off of. Specifically, I'm talking about picking up new moves and preparing you for evolution."

That got everyone's attention. Even Tinkatuff tilted up her head, and Eevee literally vibrated in place.

After all, evolution into Sylveon had been his plan for a long time.

"Togetic, you know you can evolve at any time. It's up to you when you want to become a Togekiss. I think we should pick up a few new moves first, as it’ll make you more prepared for when you eventually reach your final stage.”

She bowed her head in agreement. I had a feeling she had tips from her mother to work out before she evolved, too.

"Also, we can’t forget you have a King's Rock we can make use of, and developing Serene Grace would make moves like Air Slash worth teaching. Honestly, we can follow Cynthia's lead and even learn more relatively esoteric moves like Water Pulse, too."

As Togetic smiled at the thought, I turned my gaze to the other members of my team.

"Eevee, Tinkatuff,” I said to the pair of them. “For you two, your evolutions are just a matter of time. I want you to stay out as much as possible, Eevee, and we'll do some bonding exercises to help you get closer to becoming a Sylveon. As for you, Tinkatuff, we'll build up your strength and increase the variety of physical moves you know since you just need practice. What if we stop at a hardware store to get more materials for your hammer?"

Tinkatuff froze. She looked completely caught off guard. Honestly, it seemed that it never even occurred to her that we could simply buy materials for her to work with. Her default state was one of an independent scavenger, and I had made the mistake of assuming she'd ask for assistance when she wanted it.

Listing off the possibility of a hardware store let me see an expression I didn't see often; Tinkatink's eyes curved up and she gained a deep smile.

“Tuff!” she said, vocalizing her absolute agreement.

"Great. We'll visit one once we have a chance to in Malie City," I replied. "Now, Cutiefly—"

As I spoke his name, the tiny bug buzzed up into the air. Unlike Togetic, he wasn't prepared to resist the breeze blowing over the boat, and he was blown right into my chest. I caught him before he could be knocked back any further, and I carefully set him back on the ground. His small feet helped him stick to the deck, but the fluff on his body was certainly frazzled.

Togetic walked over to help smooth him out, and Eevee bumped his head into him comfortingly.

"Well, Cutiefly, you can evolve into Ribombee, and I don’t even think it’ll take that long, too,” I said. “Getting to your second and final stage will greatly enhance practically everything you can do, making you a Pokémon of incredible speed and decent special strength. I mean, Pollen Puff, Bug Buzz, Quiver Dance..." I paused. "Honestly, just Quiver Dance alone would drastically increase your ability to fight. Evolution will be our priority for you."

With Togetic and Eevee helping him out, Cutiefly was able to quickly recover with his brush with harsh winds and excitedly nodded his head. One thing I failed to mention to him too was that he would gain a proper set of hands on evolution, but I felt that best to leave it a surprise. One of the main reasons I made sure Florges would be with us for this section of Alola was so she could help Cutiefly train upon evolution, too. His species tended to develop the move Pollen Puff close to when they evolved, so given that Florges knew the move and that Cutiefly had spent the past two months just building up his baseline, I knew we could ensure he was ready to reach his next form in no time at all.

A staticy sound rang out as I continued to talk to my Pokémon. The captain’s voice popped up above it, and it announced to everyone here that we were almost to shore.

With that, I said a few more encouraging words and returned both Togetic and Tinkatuff. That left Eevee out to walk beside me and Cutiefly out to rest on my shoulder. We then moved to the deck’s edge to take in the sight of the rapidly approaching Malie City.

(Cutiefly didn’t get blown off on my shoulder. As a bug, he was generally decent at sticking to surfaces when grounded.)

As the announcement was made, Hope and Lillie soon met up with me from where they had been talking to their own Pokémon below decks. Lillie’s eyes sparkled as she took in the city growing larger in the horizon, and I glanced over to where Hope had her Rowlett trailing by her side.

"Ula'ula Island,” Hope said, naming the landmass. “What's on our schedule for here?"

"Well, it's the biggest island, but it actually has fewer trials than Akala. For Lillie, we have the Electric and the, uh, Ghost Type trials here," when I hesitated to say Ghost, Hope rolled her eyes, "and for us, alongside those Trial Captains, we have two potential Elite Four members and a pair of bonus trainers, too."

Lillie blinked, turning around.

"What do you mean by bonus trainers, Alex?" she asked.

Hope answered for me.

"Kukui originally gave us a list of trainers to test for both Gym Leadership and potential to place in the Elite Four. Off the top of my head, we have both Molayne and Nanu to test for the Elite Four, but for the bonus trainers..." She paused. "I know we want to test that egotistical Ryuki here, but who's the second?"

"Guzma. He's headquartered in Po Town, which Team Skull has reportedly taken over."

Lillie pressed her lips onto a thin line. Like most natives of Alola, she wasn't too big of a fan of Team Skull, especially after her encounters with some of their members. Honestly, after Plumeria, my opinion of them was soured as well, but I still wanted to give Guzma a chance.

I really hoped that my memory of him from the games wasn't completely off.

Neither Hope nor Lillie got a chance to reply before the boat docked at a port. Alongside the other trainers that practically ran off into the city, we disembarked, and we started to head out.

"Spend today and tomorrow exploring the city?" Hope asked to propose.

"I'm down. Malie City is a big place," I replied.

"I want to see Malie Garden!” Lillie added. “It's inspired by famous locations in Johto!"

Plan set, we started to move out, intending to take it slow for these first days. Unfortunately, I had forgotten something rather important:

We weren't the only people entering Ula'ula today.

All of the other trainers participating in the Island Challenge were arriving alongside us as well, and that also included a certain protagonist from the games.

Not even a minute after we arrived, both Hope and I got a message on our respective devices that beeped with the sound of a low-priority alarm. This didn’t happen often, only occurring when Ace Trainers needed to be on standby or move in during times of emergency.

"Huh," Hope said.

I just rubbed my temples out of frustration.

"What is it?" Lillie asked.

"Looks like you might be seeing Malie Garden sooner rather than later,” I grumbled. “Right now, both Guzma and Elio are having a battle in the middle of it at this very moment."