"Well, looks like you two had an adventure."

"Kahuna Olivia!" Lana called out as the woman approached us. We had just dropped off the Tauros at the Ride Pokemon barn and walked into the main city of Heahea.

Standing on the sidewalk, still dripping wet, and looking like wild Muks, had probably attracted some attention.

"Hehe." I offered a bit awkwardly, as I rubbed at the back of my head.

"I heard you had some trouble with the Brooklet Hill Totem."

"Ah-Eh… Ah…" Lana sort of stuttered awkwardly, and I slumped.

"The Wishiwashi Totem was… A meanie." I decided to say and Olivia snorted out a laugh before shaking her head.

"How did you know?"

"I'm the Kahuna." She replied to Lana's question with an arrogant tilt to her head before looking over the two of us. "I see you got your Waterium Z."

"I did. The Wishiwashi gave it to both of us after the battle." I said, looking at Lana who looked away quickly.

"I didn't accept it!"

"I didn't say anything." Olivia offers before smiling. "You could have you know?"

Lana just shook her head. "I'm not on my Trial yet. Besides, I only helped a little… I'll earn it for myself."

At Lana's words, Olivia smiled brightly. "That is a good spirit to have. I look forward to the day I'll see you walking around with your Z Ring."

"Thank you." Lana whispered, obviously flattered.

"Hmm. Should I offer you a Grand Trial?"

"Uh?" I instantly responded a little caught off guard, before the woman smirked.

"No, not quite yet. I want to see your rematch with Hala first at least."

"Huh… He told you about that?"

"I'm the Kahuna." She repeated and I couldn't help but snort. That just meant the Kahuna shared gossip with each other for sure.

"So after I battle Hala again?"

"Yes, I think that would be good. Perhaps a little later as well, this is your first visit to Akala. You should explore the island. Learn from it, first. Yes, I think that would be best."

"I'll do that." I promised and Olivia nodded pleased.

"I look forward to it. I heard you are training a young team?"

"Yep! I caught a bunch of younger pokemon. I'm working with them right now." I said, patting at my pokeballs. Everyone was currently resting inside their pokeball after the crazy battle we'd just had.

"Interesting. It's rare that a trainer as accomplished as you, makes a completely new team."

"Ah well… I wanted to train them all up, and… I learned a lot from my first team. My babies are going to grow to be even stronger than my first team, and then I can use them to make my first team stronger. It's gonna be fun."

"You're training a team to challenge your own team?"

"Well… Sort of. That's one benefit of it anyways."

"How interesting." She was looking at me with a calculating eye but in the end she just smiled. "Well I hope your visit to Akala was… If not pleasant, at least a fun adventure."

"Oh I had a great time!" I agreed and Olivia smiled pleased.

With that, Olivia bid us good night and Lana and I rushed to the ocean to get back to Melemele before night fully fell.

—--

"Mmm. no, go back to sleep." I muttered, as I was poked in my face despite burying my head into my pillow.

"Rio. Riolu."

I opened my eyes and glared at Riolu but she was actually not trying to mess with me.

"Hungry?"

"Rio."

"Yeah alright." We'd crashed when we got back to the island the night before, and between limited sleep, and how much we'd run around the day before, I guess I'd really slept. It wasn't even late in the morning, but I'd gone to sleep earlier than I had been.

I sat up and stretched, noticing everyone else was already up. Pokemon endurance I guess.

Only Goomy seemed to be still napping. She was still in her water plate… Where was Gible!?

I got up and breathed a sigh of relief. I'd blocked the bathroom door and that was still in place and not eaten through or anything. Instead.

"Oh my." I whispered quietly, because unlike usual, Gible was actually… Interacting?

Riolu had turned the TV on at some point, or Jangmo-o, both of them seemed to like watching TV, and Dratini had joined them, only Gible had apparently gone out of her way as well.

Gible was currently sitting on the floor, mouth open like normal without a brain cell active, but Dratini was wrapped around her, and she even had her arms holding him against her…

Oh my! Oh my, oh my! Did Gible Gable decide she liked Dratini!? Was the Chad energy already working!?

This family was too dangerous.

Ah, no, she was too young for that. Probably she just wanted to go swimming and the Dratini Innertube was too good.

Heh. "Alright, how about we all head out and get some food?" I asked the group and got interested looks from my team.

"KuuKKKuuk." I looked down, where Mimikyu crawled out of my bag…

"Oh, the other disguise not dry yet?"

He shook his head, causing his Milotic tail to flop around a bit.

"Just felt like a change?"

That got a happy floppy head nod and I grinned as I held out my arms, and he jumped into them without a word.

"Well you're going to definitely get some attention, that'll be fun. Alright, everyone, let me get ready and we'll go."

And they were back to watching TV and mostly ignoring me.

Heh.

—--

"Oh! Look at him!" Another girl cooed in delight as Mimikyu waved his hand at her, and she gushed. The older Alolan girl was ready to tackle Mimikyu I could tell, but I kept my signature look of superiority up as only I possessed the Millotic Mimikyu!

"He's the best." I agreed magnanimously, and the girl kept cooing over Mimikyu.

"I've never seen a Mimikyu make a different disguise than a Pikachu!"

"Well, my buddy knows the truth… Pikachu are well liked, but there are way cuter pokemon! Him being one of them!"

I laughed as he tangled his claws into my hair for a moment, obviously embarrassed.

"Ah, now I want a Mimikyu. Do you think they'd wear an Eevee costume?"

"Oh I'm sure you could convince them."

"Hehe!"

"There you are!" A voice called out and I looked away towards Bernice. She was…

"Did you sleep last night?"

"I did!" She growled, her hair was a bit messy like she… Oh she'd probably rushed out of her room the moment she woke up or something.

"Okay?"

"Battle me!"

I looked at her, and considered it, before nodding.

"Alright." I agreed… "Right after breakfast. Hungry?"

"Ye-No!" She stuttered and then glared and I shrugged.

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"Okay food first." I decided and looked at the older Alolan girl that was laughing, as she walked away waving which I returned.

Then ignoring Bernice I walked off to go to a nice restaurant that I had tried a few times and they had good pokemon food.

Bernice followed petulantly, but as she took a seat across from me her stomach rumbled, and she ended up ordering as well. While she did that I released my team and settled them in, and Bernice looked between all my pokemon.

"What are you doing?" She asked, and I quirked an eyebrow at her, before turning to the waitress.

"Can I get six pokemon meals? Three spicey, one bitter, one sweet, and Gible Gable will eat literally anything." I ordered and the waitress nodded as she started writing it down while Bernice just looked confused.

"And then just a breakfast platter."

"And for you?" The waitress asked and Bernice looked confused.

I rolled my eyes, was I going to have to teach another blonde how to feed her pokemon?

Yes. Yes I was.

When Bernice finally ordered I started speaking.

"Okay so I can see an issue, what is your Shellos's favorite flavour?"

"What?"

"Okay this is going to take longer than I thought. First step, of any trainer, as soon as you catch a pokemon, you have to feed them, so you need to figure out what they want to eat."

I pulled at my bag and grabbed some berries. Time to find out.

—--

During breakfast as we ate, I went through everything Bernice would need to know about basic nutrition stuff… Well at least explaining what she'd have to keep in mind, and that she could always turn to a Nurse Joy for more help.

Funnily enough, once I managed to get through to her about how important it all was, she pulled out a notepad and started actually writing it all down.

It was cute.

"So… The flavor a pokemon likes is really important." Bernice whispered looking at the notepad of notes she'd been taking.

"Yep! A trainer's job is more than just moves, exercise, more than orders. I told you yesterday, right?"

"But… This is too much!" She whined covering her head. "I feel like my head is full!"

"Hey hey, it's not that bad, you don't need to remember all of this constantly, just have some basics, and if you don't want to specialize in it, then go to a specialist. Nurse Joy, LOVE it when you stop in asking about your pokemons nutrition. Trust me. I had Blissey to figure everything out, but having Nurse Joy help is amazing."

"It… I'll remember that." She decided firmly. Scribbling away.

I just smirked and pointed "You should eat."

"Huh? Oh right." She finally put her pad away and I looked at her Shellos, which was very happily munching on a Bitter Pokemeal that the restaurant set up. The Rawst berries inside the meal were very quickly being swallowed down… Poor thing. She probably hadn't liked the normal food Bernice had been feeding her.

Seriously so many people just bought the pokechow they'd seen their parents buy and never thought that was for pokemon lazing around the house. Not pokemon actively training and battling.

I sighed. Nothing you could really do about it… Maybe a nutrition explanation for new trainers? Handed out to them when they left?

No, they were a bunch of kids, that shit wasn't going to get read.

No, what they needed was someone to explain it to them. To show them how to do it. Just like with Bernice, she had been obstinate at first, before I explained it…

I quickly shook my head. Throwing out the idea that kept creeping in my head. It wasn't me. I didn't want to be that. I just wanted to be lazy and play with my friends.

"You okay?"

"Fine!" I said as Bernice looked up at me, and she was staring.

"Okay… Battle after this?"

"Sure!" That would take my mind off it. Off the idea that I could be the responsible one.

—--

"Use Muddy Water!" Bernice yelled out, and I nodded, as Dratini was already preparing, and as the water washed over towards him a Twister shot out, scooping up the water and trying to push it back…

It just managed to overcome the power of the wave and I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Noooo!" Bernice cried out, which was a mistake, instead of staying focused she started realizing she was losing and so didn't keep calling out orders. Not long after Shellos was done and I walked over, to her pouting form.

"You shouldn't panic like you did. If a move doesn't work, or something fails, just keep calling out orders. Your pokemon relies on you for that."

"I… I panicked! I can't just.. Not!"

"Just need more experience. I get it though. I tend to get mad when someone gets the drop on my pokemon and hurts them."

"I'll.. I'l beat you next time!"

"There you go! I look forward to it… Don't forget to keep training. You did better this time." I offered to her as I stood up and stretched.

"Wha-But!"

"I can't hold your hand Bernice, and!" I declared pointing right in her face. "You're on vacation. Don't forget your journey hasn't even started yet! So don't stress too much. Just integrate some training into your routine, and when your journey starts you'll already be ahead!"

"R-right! I… Thank you." She offered after a moment looking away as if refusing to look at me when she said it.

I blinked a little surprised at her words, I honestly hadn't expected her to really thank me.

"You're welcome." I decided, smiling at her and reached out and patted her shoulder. "You have the potential. Just keep trying to improve. There is always something new to try, to see if it makes you even stronger."

"I… I will."

"Alright! I'm off! See ya later!"

"Bye."

I put my hands behind my head as I considered what to do. Olivia had offered me to explore Akala, and honestly, it sounded kind of fun. Just a day of exploring and seeing new pokemon? There were tons of pokemon I'd never actually seen in real life.

I'd just need to get a ride pokemon to travel to another island… Well right after I told my parents.

—--

"That was exhilarating. Maybe I'll catch one myself." Mama said as we handed off the Sharpedo to the Ride Pokemon controller.

I grinned at her words. She'd certainly gone full out with her Sharpedo, despite her normally lazy pace.

"Mama is scary."

"Heh! Don't you forget it!" She said, pointing at me imperiously.

I just grinned because now that we were back on dry land, Meowth leaped out of the bag Mama and stuffed him into, and was looking at both of us with very obvious dislike.

"Don't be like that. I told you, you could stay with Victor." Mama cooed, and soon Meowth was rubbing against Mama's hand.

She was… Like really good with Dark Type Pokemon. Wait… "Mama. Did you ever have any dark types on your team?"

"Huh? My team? No, you know that. Meowth, Fearow, Poliwhirl, Weepinbell, Electrode, and Beedrill. You know that." She offered counting off her fingers as she spoke.

"You should have got some Dark Types. You connect with them really well!"

Mama looked at me, and then dropped a Karate chop on my head!

"Ow!"

"That could be seen as an insult Trouble." Mama grumbled at me. "As if I'm some Dark Type trainer!"

"Dark Types are great!"

Mama pouted at me, as she walked off, and… I couldn't help but giggle. I think I'd hit a mark and she was embarrassed.

"Never ran into a Murkrow?"

"Yes… No." She denied pouting, but as we walked through the city she finally opened up. "I did travel through Johto a few times, and I met one once. I was already maxed out, he was a cute bird, probably a bit too into Fearow." She explained and I giggled again. It was funny how that could happen.

"Maybe you should catch a dark type." Then I looked at Meowth who was glaring at me. "Another Dark Type anyways. Since you have Meowth."

"Heh."

Meowth was glaring at me, as if daring for Mama to need another pokemon besides her.

"You know Meows is gonna have an interesting reaction when we bring a new Meowth home."

"Oh Meows will be fine." Mama offered, but I just sent her my most disbelieving look and she promptly looked away and ignored me!

"I'm not dealing with him."

"He'll learn to appreciate a new friend. Besides, he could use the help with all the Growlithe around."

"Meow?" Meowth asked, suddenly hearing that and Mama just scratched her chin.

"Oh don't you worry about that." Mama offered and I had a feeling Mama was purposefully lying to the poor cat.

Mama was mean.

Dark type. Total Dark Type.

—--

We ended up going through the city and then onto the routes. Mama was smiling happily as we trundled along on the back of a pair of Tauros as we looked all around the tropical paradise, and it was.

The Jungle only grew more and more lush and beautiful, and it was like exploring the Amazon, only full of cute pokemon.

We saw Metapod hanging from trees, which made Mama and I both relax, and then as we passed a Trumbeak flew past and Mama looked in shock, never having seen one.

Heck neither had I!

Then a coconut or a berry? Not sure, flew over our head, and a trio of Passimian jumped through the trees above us hollering at each other.

"Wha-?"

"Passimian, a Fighting Type. They love throwing things to each other, it's a form of training."

"I'll never get used to that Pokemon brain of yours, we've only been here for a few weeks and you can already name out every pokemon."

"E-ehehehe!" I laughed off the statement, couldn't exactly admit to decades of pokemon nerdery.

"Oh look! Those are the pokemon Ivy had!" Mama called out, and I grinned as we came to a sunny patch through the Jungle, and an entire spread of Fomantis were napping in the sun.

"Fomantis! So cute!" I cooed, as I watched the grass types napping in the sun.

"Are they friendly?"

"Nope!" I laughed at Mama's question. "The ones Ivy caught chased her around!"

"Oh that's right, you told me about that. That's how you met Riolu."

I pouted this time and grumbled. I could nearly feel the Pokeball on my hip wiggle as Riolu laughed.

That little brat.

"Oh look!" Mama called out. "What's that Pokemon?" Mama asked, and I looked over and stilled.

That…

Oh shit.

Alola. That was the generation before they got rid of the Moss Rocks. I knew 100% there existed a Moss Rock on Alola.

A Moss Rock.

That lets Eevee evolve into Leafeon.

And right there. Sunning itself on a big rock near the edge of the field, was a Leafeon.

I swallowed.

The Eevee issue had been something I'd been trying to figure out since Cerise brought it up. Hadn't Pinery mentioned she had pictures, but they still had trouble verifying it.

"Mama. Don't move." I whispered, and drew out my camera from my bag. Mama thankfully went silent as both Tauros stopped and didn't ask any questions as I started snapping pictures.

Only when I had a few for sure did I put my camera away.

"That's a Leafeon. A Grass Type Evolution to Eevee." I responded finally, and Mama blinked at the response before looking at the snoozing pokemon. "Really?"

"Yeah… Pinery, at the Eevee Evolution Lab, showed me pictures. She's the one I worked with when I went up to Mt. Moon."

"I remember."

"I need to talk to that pokemon… Hopefully without spooking it. Can you… Wait here?" I asked, looking at Mama seriously, and she just sighed and waved at me.

"Go on then. I'll watch from here."

"Thanks Mama."

A Leafeon. If I could get them to lead me to where they evolved, I could bring back proof of the Moss Stone evolution.

I was no professor, but seeing more cute Leafeon, and Glaceon around Kanto would be a reward all on its own!