4.11: The Prodigal Brother
Kanoa
There was once a very proud vikavolt who claimed dominion over all the skies. He hunted down any bird that flew above the trees for challenging him. The birds grew weary and hatched their own plan.
Talonflame spoke with his friends, Honchkrow and Toucannon, in a clearing near the insect’s roost.
“That vikavolt says he’s fast,” she said.
“And he is! I heard he could fly from one island to the next in three days!”
‘One,’ Vikavolt thought. ‘No, less than that.’
“I could do it in two!” Talonflame said. “That makes
me the fastest flyer in Alola.”
“The fastest by far!” Toucannon agreed.
“Then prove it!” Vikavolt sprung from his perch and gave chase.
Talonflame flew above the canyon walls of Poni and Vikavolt followed.
Talonflame flew above Ten Carat Hill and Vikavolt followed.
Talonflame flew above Mauna Wela and Vikavolt followed.
Talonflame flew above Mauna Lanakila and Vikavolt followed.
Talonflame flew above the clouds and Vikavolt followed.
Vikavolt grew tired and hungry and knew he had left his domain behind. But Talonflame still flew ahead and he could not let himself be defeated.
They flew and flew until they reached the stars. They still chase each other to this day. And while the arrogant vikavolt still hunt some of the birds, they have learned not to try to drive them all from the skies lest their ambition imprison them in the heavens.
*
2015
Allana is the only person you know who would wear a hoodie in Alola. It’s at least kind of understandable on a night like this with a nice breeze. At least she’s wearing shorts. She might die of heatstroke if she wore jeans everywhere.
You don’t know why she always covers up in too many layers or the loosest clothing her family lets her get away with. Puberty was a lot kinder to her than to you. Last time you went to the mall in Heahea to buy her real clothes she zoned out for most of it and walked out with a couple t-shirts for a band she doesn’t even listen to. What a shame. She’d be cute if she tried even a little bit.
“What are you thinking about?” she asks.
You could have this argument again. You know how it would end. She’d deny she’s pretty or insist that’s a
bad thing because of all the weird stuff her family’s inherited from ‘five proud generations of military service’ or something. There was something else you wanted to talk about anyway.
You flex out one of your legs to poke hers. “You turn thirteen in a couple weeks, right?”
“Yeah. Can’t wait.” She’s smiling. It’s so rare to see her smile anymore.
“Sooooooooooo. Let’s talk starters.”
Her family’s been weird about letting her get a starter okémon. Jabari got his machop when he was twelve and Allana’s furious she has to wait an extra year because he was more mature or whatever. You’re pretty sure her parents just don’t want their daughter having any of the okémon she thinks are cool. She could’ve had a skitty two years ago if she’d agreed to it.
Allana rolls her head so her cheek rests on the grass. “What’d you have in mind?”
“Paired starters. I get a tauros and you get a miltank. Pa has some good ones lined up.”
Allana scowls and looks back up at the stars rather than towards you. “Bullshit. I want a tauros.”
“Miltank are cool,” you insist.
“Nah. Tauros are way cooler. Three tails and big horns and they don’t take guff from no one.”
You’re not really sure she could handle it. She’s at the ranch a lot but doesn’t really do the chores the way you do. Your official starter will be like the eighth okémon you’ve raised. Hers will be her first. Miltank are a little more forgiving. Thankfully, Allana’s really easy to argue with.
“You know that miltank are harder to raise, right?”
She rolls her eyes. “Stop. I’m not dumb.”
“No, it’s true! Ever seen someone try to ride a miltank?”
“If it’s such a challenge, why don’t you wanna try it? Be the first miltank-riding paniola on the island.”
“Because I’m not up for it! You’re a lot braver than I am.”
She turns to glare at you again. “I know what you’re doing. It’s not going to work.”
You bat your eyelashes at her. “And what’cha you think I’m doing?”
“You don’t think I can handle a tauros so you’re trying to distract me.”
“Aw. Maybe I just think you match.” You reach out and flick her side ride beneath her chest. “Tryin’ to get you to find your feminine side.”
She stands up and clenches her fists. “That’s it. I’m finding a tauros and riding it and putting all this to rest.”
This is going to be fun.
You unlock one of the barns and find her Malachai, a younger stag resting in his stall.
“Well?” you ask Allana. “Gonna show me what you’ve got?”
“Yeah. Fine.” She unlatches the stall door and walks in. Malachai snores away beside him. Bad idea. Really don’t want to startle him. But the tauros’s horns have little caps on them because of a recent fight, so Allana shouldn’t get too badly hurt.
She keeps an eye on the horns and turns around to slowly lower herself down on the tauros’s back.
He snorts as soon as Allana makes contact. He blearily turns around to look at her and Allana’s already bolted up and stepped back away from the tauros. Good choice.
“Now watch how it’s done.” You get some oats from a dispenser and walk over to Malachai. You slowly lower your hand towards his face.
He sniffs and starts licking his food out.
You rub his forehead and slowly move to sit down on his back.
The tauros lazily looks between you and Allana before lowering his head again to go back to sleep.
“So. You want to meet your future miltank?”
Allana’s face scrunches up, but she doesn’t protest. You’ll count it as a win.
*
November 7, 2019
You bow to Kahu and present him with the bowl of rindo berries he had requested. The totem oranguru yanks it out of your hands and starts eating. He’s very precise, snapping every pod just so and slurping down the contents. He doesn’t acknowledge you at all until he’s finished with his meal and handed the bowl back.
Good produce is your end of the bargain for him coming out of retirement to act as totem again. You’re pretty sure your grandfather fought him way back in the day. The totem wasn’t a youngster then.
“What have you lined up today?” he asks through his usual mix of speech and telepathy.
“Two first trials and a second.”
“Hmm. Easy enough.” He walks away and pulls himself up a tree and into his hammock to sit. “You seem stressed by something. What is it?”
Always blunt. Usually right.
“One of today’s challengers is a very old friend. More of a brother, really. But he moved away years ago and we didn’t see much of each other.”
The oranguru stares at you for long enough that you almost continue before he leans back and speaks. “Why does this bother you?”
You look down at the ground. “He’s mad at me. My family, really. We coulda taken him in, shoulda taken him in, but didn’t. I don’t know why. Never got a straight answer. Think I’ll need to try harder to get one.”
“I’m confident you can be annoying, er, ‘persistent’ enough to do that.”
You ignore the jab and keep going. “I tried to keep in touch for a while after he moved away, but he kept moving, I went on my journey, and… I should’ve done more. I just don’t know what.”
The oranguru waves his hand. “Yes, yes, regrets and all of that. You’ve found him again. Congratulations. What do you want from him now?”
“I don’t know,” you tell him honestly. “I would like to be friends again, but he’s different now. Angrier. And he was plenty angry before. I… I don’t know. I want things to be like they were, but they can’t be and… I don’t know.”
Kahu snorts and leans back in his hammock. He reaches into the side pouch and pulls out a pair of blue oran berries. “Want one?” he asks.
You shake your head.
“Suit yourself.” He peels the berries before licking out the insides. Then he eats the peels. He’s real particular about his berries. “Now,” he says between bites. “What you get depends on what he wants to give. I’d just be clear that you’ll take whatever he offers.”
Maybe. You’re not sure you want that, though. He was real angry when you talked. Kinda mean. You don’t need that in your life. Your parents deserve it, you don’t.
“For today, does that mean I should hold back against him?”
“No.” You’ve always been pissed when captains did stuff like that. Felt like a violation of your duty. “Fight how you normally would.”
“Sure, sure. Whatever. Need anything else from me?”
“Not now. First challenger arrives in thirty. I’ll bring ‘em back when it’s time.”
*
“You know,” Kekoa says as he sits down across the board from you. “I’ve been reading up on chess just for this trial. I hope you’re ready.”
Has he? Good. You’ll play for real, then. You usually screw around a lil’ bit in the early trials.
He makes solid opening moves. Then he leaves himself open for a scholar’s mate. Disappointing.
“Checkmate,” you announce.
“No way…” Kekoa looks more at the board and scowls. “Oh, come on.”
“Afraid that’s how it is.”
You glance back to the treeline. You can’t hear or see any rustling. Assistant missed his cue.
“I said checkmate.”
That gets Amber to bark and run out into the clearing. Poor lillipup probably fell asleep after he wasn’t needed in the first trial. He keeps yapping at Kekoa until he catches on and sends out a pikipek.
Oh! Great choice. Your toucannon is still one of your best battlers. He knows how to use her, too. Just has her fly way out of the lillipup’s reach and fire off echoed voices. It’s what he should be doing.
The poor lillipup growls and growls like you’ve taught him, but all of his excited jumps come up short. He looks at you with pleading eyes begging for help or advice or something.
You’ll throw him a bone.
“Kinda cowardly, don’t you think? Not even trying to get in and finish things.”
“It’s strategic,” he scoffs.
“Nah. You’ve just got a weak, common partner and don’t think you can handle a little puppy in a fight.”
He scowls. “Fine? You want to see how good Hekeli is? Rock smash.”
You could always get him to do anything if you framed it as a dare.
The pikipek dives, but with all the growling and intimidating Amber’s been doing, she’s just a little too reluctant to get close. Her beak connects, but not with anything too important. Amber is all too happy to tackle the bird and try to bite down on it. He doesn’t get much of a chance. The pikipek’s a bit too squirrely and her rock smashes are a pinch too strong for the weakened lililpup. When it’s all said and done, the pikipek’s still bleeding and holding one wing up like it’s sore. You’ll take it.
“Well, you showed me, I guess. Come on. The totem’s waiting.”
*
March 19, 2020
“What am I going to do with you, huh? You’re not making this easy.”
Anuenue the miltank looks up at you and snorts before lowering her head to eat more hay. She’s locked up in her stall again for the day. You let her out with the other miltank for an hour and she started causing problems. Damn freemartins think they’re tauros. Except, you can’t put her with them, either, because she starts fights she can’t finish.
“Are you going to shape up and mind your manners or am I going to need to send you off somewhere?”
She moos in annoyance before going back to stuffing her face.
Great. Just great. You make sure her stall gate is locked and leave the barn.
You don’t have the facilities here to give her a pasture of her own. It’s not fair to keep her anymore if she’s going to keep doing this. But she was your sister’s pet project once and she can’t stand the idea of her being sent to the butcher.
She really just needs a trainer. She’s quite happy to fight whenever she gets the chance. But she’s not starter material. You’d need someone with at least a little experience to take her.
Well. You do know someone who fits the bill. He’s a bit of a cantankerous freemartin, too. Trouble is, you’re not sure if he’s up for it. Kekoa’s not dumb and he proved during your trial that he could manage his team in a fight well enough. You tried to bait him into doing something stupid again and he ignored you. Just had his grubbin tie down Kahu in as much string as he could (even hit him in the mouth when he tried to use yawn) and then had his pikipek outmaneuver and peck at the totem until he got annoyed and called the match.
There’s a difference between knowing how to handle your pokémon on the field and off it. He never did learn much about husbandry from you. From what he admitted in your calls you don’t think anyone ever did teach him. Is giving him a quarrelsome pokémon just going to make everything worse.
You look up at the stars. Vikavolt and Talonflame are shining bright tonight.
You have no doubt at all that Kekoa thinks he can handle it. He thinks he can do a lot of things. Arm wrestle his brother, jump over the creek, ride a tauros, you name it. Now he thinks he can, no, needs to kick Selene out of her job. He’ll chase her to the top of the mountain and beyond if he has to, long past the point where it stopped making sense.
You’ve made some plans to reconnect with him. Maybe you’ll just keep an eye on him and try to get a better idea of who he’s become.
*
March 23, 2020
There’s an early morning mist in the air. The forecast predicts it’ll become a proper drizzle in a half hour or so. Just in time for Kekoa’s trial.
Mallow locks her phone and slides it into her pocket. “How’s the jungle?” she asks. It was her trial site for five years. Every time you meet up she asks about it like an anxious mother interrogating her child’s babysitter. You feel bad about it because she didn’t want to move and her being here is kind of your fault. You got promoted when Ilima went off to college. Oranguru are only found in the jungles up north, so when you picked Kahu as your totem Olivia shuffled Mallow and her lurantis down to Akala Meadow. Asking to be here to watch is putting you further in her debt, but she’s a big softie so she allowed it.
“The plants are fine. It’s not as bad as it could’ve gone if volcarona stayed in her cave.” A few of the most fragile flowers wilted. The comfey and lurantis are already restoring those. “Most of the surviving raticate hustled back south when the light came back.”
There have been raticate in the jungle since the rodents arrived in Alola. The forest adapted. The Blackout sent half of Alola’s raticate scurrying north. Even with the gumshoos following and you working hard as hell to kill them off, they still ate through a good chunk of the forest’s wildlife. The forest could take a lot of years to recover.
Mallow sighs. “At least the meadow has fences.” The raticate almost ate their way through Akala’s oricorio once. Much of Akala’s central meadow was fenced off with reinforced barriers. Things have been slowly going back to normal since then.
You know that the meadow didn’t get as many castform as Mallow wanted during The Blackout. You wonder what it looks like now.
Someone walks towards you through the mist. They look about Kekoa’s size. Not that anyone else is walking up to a gated-off trial site at the same time he has scheduled. You get a good look at him as soon as he’s fully visible. He’s slouched over with his hands shoved deep into his pockets.
You walk forward and wrap your arms around him.
Mallow walks closer and politely waits until your hug is finished. “Welcome. You ready for your sixth trial?”
“Yeah.”
“Alright. Just letting you know that the last three trials are going to be harder than what you’ve faced before. Still up to it?”
“Yes.” He sounds annoyed that he’s even being asked.
“Let’s do it, then.”
Mallow walks over to the gates and you follow with Kekoa. You shoot him a sly smile meant to say that it’ll be okay. He smiles back more timidly.
The gate swings open. When you walk through you can hear and even feel the electricity from the fence buzzing around you. The gate automatically closes once you walk through. The meadow itself is… well, this part seems dead. Just a few woody shrubs left, the skeletons of past flower bushes. The castform must not have reached out this far.
“There’s more life deeper in the meadow,” Mellow says. Then she pulls out four pokéballs from a pouch hanging from her belt. She releases the pokémon inside one by one to reveal a sudowoodo, a red floette, a yellow petilil, and a blue fomantis. “I’m going to give these four time to hide in the meadows. Then you’ll have a half hour to find them all. Any you don’t find you’ll have to battle. Questions?”
Kekoa shakes his head no and Mallow motions to the pokémon. They all run off. Well, the sudowoodo runs off. Petilil and fomantis shuffle off. Floette floats off, flower propelled by an invisible breeze.
Then you wait. They’re slow pokémon, and even if the trial site is only a fairly small portion of the meadow it’ll still take them time to reach their positions. You wonder how their usual hiding spots have changed with the dying. All of them have at least a half dozen because of people sharing info online. It’s unsporting and Mallow complains a lot. Olivia still won’t investigate anyone who does it.
After five minutes Mallow glances at her watch and speaks up. “You can go. Half hour on the clock.”
Kekoa finds three of them, even without being allowed to use defog. Mallow always stays back for a moment to comfort the pokémon that get found. At the end you find your way to the central clearing, an area of the meadow with a small pond, some bushes, and a little less fog. The petilil he couldn’t find comes out and gets defeated almost immediately.
Mallow withdraws the petilil a second later. “Well. Hope you’re ready. The totems won’t be holding back anymore.”
A massive shadow appears in the fog. The lurantis walks off the boardwalk and slowly becomes more visible. She’s eight feet tall with gorgeous pink flowers and long, wicked scythes. Most people think of lurantis as a soft pokémon best left to breeders and coordinators. They mimic scyther because they can’t fight on their own.
They should know that a well -rained lurantis is
stronger than a scyther.
A loud hissing roar echoes through the meadow. It’s met by a warbling war cry as an oricorio jumps from the flowers and a splash of water as a lileep rises up from the edge of the pond.
Three on one. Trial’s on.
Kekoa takes a few steps back to the corner away from the three pokémon. You and Mallow walk past the totem to stand on the boardwalk.
Kekoa reaches to his belt and a cloud of red light falls to the ground.
*
May 20, 2020
You look down at the charjabug Kekoa’s sent out.
“Could’ve sworn I took her off your hands.” You buried his grubbin yourself when she wanted to leave. Wasn’t a big deal. Not like anything else was growing in that field with the lights out.
“I got a new one later on Melemele.”
Very committed to the line, even after it doesn’t work out for him. Chasing that talonflame over the hills.
“And how are you avoiding all the problems you ran into last time?”
“Found a translator. Made a deal. I’m renting a thunderstone to keep around him if he agrees to fight a little bit some of the time. And he agreed to stay around after he evolved a while back.”
Well. He’s actually talking to it. That improves the odds he sticks around once he grows his wings.
“Alright, but you need to take it easy on him. Have a clear plan. In and out.”
*
The charjabug immediately starts spewing out lines of web before Kekoa says a word. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern. Just blasting them out and letting them fall. Good. He has the plan. Now let’s see how much he makes the poor lil’ bug put up with.
The trial pokémon aren’t idle. Lileep rears back his head and tosses jagged rocks into the air. They stay levitating several feet above the ground. Stealth rock. That’s going to be really rough for Kekoa’s birds. The oricorio stands on one leg and stays perfectly still. Calm mind.
He had a plan. You’re not sure if he really should’ve bothered sticking to it once he saw the opponent’s helpers. You’re really questioning Kekoa’s choices here. Lileep barely move. Lurantis are pretty agile and can move around webs decently well. This is really only going to slow down the oricorio, and they like to fire off attacks at range, anyway. He’s just giving the bird time to set up.
The lurantis lumbers forwards as her allies set up. He reaches out and picks the charjabug off the ground, just giving him more height to spit webbing from. The totem’s fangs gleam and the charabug spits one last glob of silk right into the totem’s mouth before Kekoa withdraws him. The lurantis sputters and works her jaws as she tries to get the silk out.
Well, what’s done is done. He got a good coating of webs on the field. And on lurantis. She flexes her arms. They move, but there’s more resistance from the joints are bound up. Her teeth might be useless for the rest of the fight.
The field’s dangerous with webs on the ground and the lileep’s rocks hovering above it. Hazards are a double-edged sword. They can hit both sides equally. The trick is to setting ones that your team has trained for maneuvering around or that hurt the other side more. You’ll have to see what Kekoa has in mind.
*
May 20, 2020
A rufflet.
Well, that’s not a normal-type you see every day.
“Takes a mighty bit of patience to raise one of those,” you tell him. “Didn’t know you had it in you.”
His face flickers between a few emotions before he rolls his eyes and settles on mild anger. “He needed a place after his parents kicked him out. I get it. And if he’s willing to work for it, who am I to say no?”
The rufflet screams in agreement. You’re guessing that telling a rufflet they have to fight for their keep is like telling anyone else they’ve gotta eat, sleep, and breathe if they want to stay. Any other species and he’d need a talking to.
“And what are you planning to do with him in the trial?”
He smirks. “Like you said with Makani. In and out.”
That’s not going to go over the best with the little guy. You kneel down to get closer to his level.
“Alright. I’m sure he’s got whatever you want to do down. Today, I’ll let him have some combat practice with one of my core squad.”
Kekoa starts to object and you cut him off with a raised finger. The rufflet cries out in joy.
You’ll let your stoutland play with him. He’s good with training the pups.
*
A small bird takes the bug’s place. Bad idea. He’s still chasing the original plan when it just doesn’t make sense anymore. The opponent can set up, too, and he’s throwing away the best opening on the totem he’s going to get. The rufflet screams to the sky and the winds begin to blow the fog and stealth rocks away. Slower than you’d expect. Must be defog, not tailwind. You never did work on that one with him. Lileep stops setting up and starts throwing out oddly shaped chunks of glowing stones at the rufflet. Ancient power. Another move that will make the lileep stronger as the fight goes on. Oricorio continues to meditate. The totem once again moves, slowly, against the wind and the webs that bind her.
She wreathes a scythe in darkness before bringing it down on the rufflet. He dodges when Kekoa gives the order. Impressive. Many of them won’t bother, however strong the attack is. They see it as an attack on their honor. At least Kekoa’s gotten something through the bird’s thick skull. And you know from experience that the lurantis’s strikes are damn hard to dodge once she’s in motion. Maybe it’s the wind, maybe it’s the webs, maybe it’s being a small target, but the rufflet just keeps dodging. He weaves between hits and keeps pecking or slamming a wing into the totem’s legs for over a minute. The totem struggles to safely hit so close to his own body and the lileep gives up his ancient power for the moment. But the totem is old and clever and the rufflet is young and untrained. Eventually a wicked night slash launches the bird across the arena. He’s withdrawn before he hits the ground.
He didn’t stick to the plan. Let the rufflet do what he wanted to. That speaks will of him. Maybe he can handle another battle-hungry normal-type.
*
May 20, 2020
You evaluate Kekoa’s starter. Her condition isn’t
great for a trumbeak, but it’s better than it could be with the darkness and everything. You’ll have to give Kekoa some pointers on diet and best exercise practices. You’ve spent hundreds of hours trying to figure out what does and doesn’t work for your ace. She’s at least big enough that evolution should be coming soon. She’ll really need that for the last stretch of trials.
“You changed up your strategy for her since our last match?” you ask.
He wiggles his fingers to say that it depends. “Melee attackers need to be outranged, ranged attackers she needs to get up close. She’s very adaptable.”
“Yup. Enjoy that speed while she has it. Toucannon hit a hell of a lot harder, but they’re not quick in the air. Now, the question is, who are you going to target when you’ve got a mix of up-close and far-away fighters on the other side?”
*
May 23, 2020
He never gave you a straight answer past ‘it depends.’ You wonder if he thought you were going to leak his big, bad plans to Mallow. You wouldn’t and you’re a little hurt he might even consider it.
“RS, lileep,” Kekoa orders. Hmm. You get that the lileep is a worse match for his team, but the oricorio’s boosted and the lurantis is still slowed. This feels like the worst choice.
The trumbeak dives down as the oricorio twirls around, a small tornado forming around her. The taller plants that had just stopped swaying in the wind stir again. Lurantis moves forward. Too slowly. Trumbeak’s hit lands on the lileep’s flower with a mighty crack. Then another.
Well. The trumbeak’s neck muscles did look up to snuff when you inspected her.
Oricorio’s hurricane flies in and the trumbeak launches away. It’s not enough. Trumbeak are bad at getting up to speed in a pinch. They need a moment to get going. The trumbeak gets caught in the winds and falters in midair. An ancient power hits the trumbeak’s wing, sending her into a tailspin. The totem lunges in and snatches the bird up with the most dexterous part of her scythes. She brings Kekoa’s starter high and gapes her mouth open. One of her fangs has come unstuck and she bites down on the bird with it. Trumbeak screams and thrashes ineffectually. Leech life. It’ll buy the lileep time to recover while dealing some damage.
Out of the corner of your eye you see Kekoa go through the steps of a ritual dance. It seems like the normalium dance. Why? As much as you can appreciate someone using your Z-crystal, what’s he hoping to do here? Does he not have the flying crystal? You didn’t ask. You ‘spose it’s a bit of a pain to get it now without a captain.
When the dance reaches its zenith light flares up around trumbeak.
“Supersonic!” Kekoa shouts.
The trumbeak answers in a horrible, warbling shriek. Lurantis drops her and the oricorio staggers back. Lileep stands still and the rocks swirling around him drop back to the ground.
Z-Supersonic. More stalling for an opening. He needs to stop doing that and actually hit something for once. Never thought
he’d have that problem.
“RS lileep,” Kekoa calls again. The trumbeak gets airborne on shaky wings before diving back down to the pond. The lileep notices a bit too late as the trumbeak strikes a solid blow with her beak. The oricorio tries to send out another hurricane but it flies far wide. The lurantis is still stumbling around in confusion.
So that was the point. Letting him take out the lileep without getting triple teamed. Again, why?
The lileep’s rapidly coming to his senses and forming another cloud of swirling dust and stone. Another hit rings out but the trumbeak is visibly shaking. Maybe not enough strength left for another blow.
It doesn’t matter. The lurantis staggers forward and lands a lucky strike wreathed in black energy and trumbeak goes flying. Knock off. Kekoa’s starter collapses in a heap as the oricorio begins to return to her senses.
Kekoa pulls the trumbeak’s ball back out and moves to withdraw her. Bright light illuminates the clearing.
White light. Not red.
Evolution.
A little earlier on the challenge than yours evolved… wait, no. Mallow said it was the sixth trial, not fifth. Forgot for a moment that he’s doing the weird VStar path.
You’ve been trying not to think about that. Trying to tell yourself that it’s not his fault that he’s so removed from the 'Āina.
The new toucannon rises out of the flowers with an angry squawk. She’s smaller than yours and the colors are still off. Not the end of the world. New evolutions usually have a bit of growing to do, and most people don’t get the exact supplement blend right for maximum vibrancy. Kekoa at least said he’d look into your suggestions but wasn’t sure about the money. You asked if he’d quit buying drugs for his own health and he said he’d give up conditioner if he had to.
Of course he would. You bet he uses some weird three-in-one stuff, anyway.
The new toucannon charges towards the lileep with wings held out to the side flapping uselessly. To make her seem bigger? To fly? Probably that. You remember yours had to stay grounded for about a week after evolving before he figured out how to hold his beak. Should be easier for his toucannon since yours can give him tips.
A fiery glow appears around the toucannon’s as she rushes to the lileep and stabs it hard in the flower. She hits the stem uselessly with a wing before going for another hard peck.
“Lileep’s down,” Mallow calls out before withdrawing the fossil. “Carry on.”
“Up!” Kekoa orders. The toucannon flaps her wings and gets a foot or so off the ground. It’s far too slow and awkward. Another hurricane catches her wings, sending her tumbling right back to earth.
The lurantis greets her on the ground with another knock off, launching the bird into the flowers at the edge of the field. Toucannon are ungainly on the ground and awkward fliers at best. Their real strength is in their ranged seed attacks. Those have to start being prepared well before the battle starts. The evolution bought the bird a second wind but she won’t really be able to use it.
“Supersonic!” Kekoa sounds desperate. He must have realized the same thing.
This supersonic isn’t nearly as loud. Unpleasant and grating more than debilitating. It’ll buy one or two strikes, tops.
“Pluck.” The toucannon stumbles forward, tripping over her own ally’s webbing, but manages into the lurantis’s thorax with a powerful peck. On a follow up she opens her beak wide and partially closes it around the bug. She continues to squeeze until there’s a soft crack of the outer shell (skin or exoskeleton or maybe bark, you don’t know the plant terms) chipping.
It’s enough to knock the totem back to her senses. With one final hit with the flat of her scythe. she launches the toucannon back into the flowers.
She doesn’t get back up.
The crack’s pretty small, but it’s still something to work with. He has two pokemon left to end things. The oricorio had a chance to setup and Kekoa’s still facing two pokémon at a time.
It’s a good first try. Maybe he can go all the way. You hope he does. You’d bet he won’t.
He had so much potential. A family line of good trainers, friends with multiple future trial captains, a sense of bravery and a willingness to fight. And then he got yanked away from it all and stewed in his anger. From what Cuicatl told you about Kekoa during her trial, the xenophobia and misogyny and all that, it sounds like he’s been left adrift. At least he’s had the good sense not to make an ass of himself around you.
*
May 20, 2020
“Huh.”
The drifblim bobs up and down as they evaluate you back.
“You a bird trainer, then?”
Kekoa snorts. “It wasn’t intentional. She just stumbled into me, too.”
At least he’s willing to change up his plans. Many people are not.
“Did you have a plan for your team when you set out?” You bet he did. He’s like that.
“Yes.”
“And it’s changed?”
He exhales. “Yes. A lot.”
You smirk. “And it doesn’t bother you at all that you’re building a less than perfect team?”
He clenches a fist. “It’s good enough to go all the way.”
Right. All the way. He’s still committed to that.
“Well. You must have a mighty impressive drifblim, then.”
“He’ll show you what he’s capable of.”
You blink. “He? Didn’t you just… I thought
you’d be more sensitive to that.”
“Fuck off.” He rolls his eyes. “He’s genderfluid. Told me it changes based on what story’s he’s absorbed lately. And he’d rather you just pick one and be wrong than use ‘they’ when there isn’t a translator around. I don’t get it. He insists.”
Interesting. Very interesting. You haven’t really thought much about ghosts. That’s Acerola’s deal, and you can hardly get a word in edgewise when she’s around. Girl has a lot more questions about farming than you’d ever expect from someone like her.
“Well, then. Let’s see what she can do.”
*
May 23, 2020
Kekoa picks out his dusk ball and unleashes his drifblim. She immediately floats into the air above the lurantis’s reach. Both of the trial pokémon crane their necks back look up at the ghost.
Kekoa smiles. “Hypnosis.”
You’ll learn something strange later: lurantis don’t have eyelids. The totem can’t just close her eyes and avoid the attack. The leaves and grass around the totem rise up and twist into sharpened arrowheads before blasting off towards the ghost. The attack lands true and at least three of the darts puncture the balloon. The air around the pokémon distorts from the oricorio’s revelation dance, but the drifblim is already blasting away at a far greater speed than you’d expect from the round ghost. Punctured drifblim go faster but last less time. Let’s see if Kekoa finally uses an opening to the fullest.
“Gust.”
Huh. You’d figured he’d have a stronger flying attack than that by now. Drifblim learn air slash, right? Or at least air cutter? You’d figured he’d only been using gust against the petilil just to save energy and blow back the spores.
Still, the vortex is a good size. Shadowy spirals pulse in eddies from the drifblim’s body and make the shape of the wind visible. The lurantis’s next attempt at a leaf storm ends with half the leaves blowing away before they can be sharpened. The rest fall to the ground as the totem’s head dips.
Drifblim is using the gust and leaking cuts to keep moving ahead of the ripples in the air from revelation dance. You wonder what the oricorio’s fourth move is. Roost? Hidden power? Neither is helpful here.
The next leaf storm lands true. It opens more shallow cuts and the drifblim zooms off. More and more purple is mixed into the gusts. The problem with spirit attacks is it’s hard to tell just how hurt the victim is. Lurantis could easily outlast the drifblim or topple any moment.
An air slash from oricorio
just misses drifblim. Another flying move, huh? Looks like she’s just going for anything that might hit now. You wonder if that was planned in advance or adjusted on the fly.
Officially, all trial pokémon are supposed to have their moveset locked in before the fight starts. But the captain is the ref and you don’t have to tell anyone what you were planning, so you’ve heard some captains and totems play fast and loose with those rules.
The battle stays in a holding pattern for another two minutes as the drifblim slowly depletes, dodges or takes trivial damage from leaf storms and revelation dances, and keeps on hitting the lurantis with gusts. That must’ve been the point of throwing everything at the lileep: a lucky ancient power hit could’ve ended this. As it is, the trial pokémon can’t really touch Kekoa’s.
The totem collapses before the drifblim deflates. She slowly bends over and falls, catching herself with a scythe before lowering all the way to the ground. Seems like she wants a nap. Fair. Totems don’t always go to their limits every fight, even when the captain says they should.
You would know: your totem is probably the laziest of the current set.
The drifblim turns back to the oricorio and launches a volley of shadow balls. They don’t do nearly as much as they should because of the calm minds Kekoa let the bird set up. And attacking means the drifblim has to stay still long enough to fire that a revelation dance can finally land. The balloon deflates and crumples before red light snatches her out of midair. The oricorio turns to Kekoa. Even with the boosts she’s not holding herself with the same confidence as before when she could attack with two allies.
Kekoa spends out his final pokémon: a carbink.
This is going to be a spectacular stallfest.
*
May 20, 2020
“…huh.”
Of all the pokémon you expected from Kekoa Mahi’ai, a carbink would never have crossed your mind. He struck you as more of a ‘the best defense is a good offense’ kind of guy.
“Well, good to meet’cha honored servant of Hi’iaka.”
They bob up and down in place. You have no idea how well this one understands human speech.
“So is this some kinda trick? Let opponents let their guard down then, bam, explosion? Shell smash?”
“They can learn shell smash?” He sounds very excited by that.
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask Olivia. Closest I ever got to training a rock-type is a wigglytuff.”
“…wigglytuff?”
“We’re getting off topic. Now, show me how you actually use your carbink.”
*
The oricorio’s revelation dances don’t do much to a pokémon with as weird a nervous system as a fairy rock. Hurricanes will just annoy them. The rock type’s ancient power attacks also do way less than you’d expect from a super effective hit. Carbink aren’t really offensive powerhouses until… well, ever, but certainly not until they get power gem and moonblast. Weirdly, Kekoa hasn’t rushed out to buy TMs for those. He’s been more focused on getting ancient power more consistent.
But the aincient power hits do add up, and there isn’t much the oricorio can do in return.
You can respect stall. It’s a good tactic, and one that your team is well-suited for. Honestly, you’re pleasantly surprised by this. He’s not taking the bait to try and finish this faster or with overwhelming force just to show he can. It speaks well of him.
At long last, the oricorio gracefully twirls down to the ground in defeat. Mallow withdraws her.
“Congratulations on completing your sixth trial. For the efforts of you and your pokémon, you have earned the Grassium-Z…”
Mallow drones on and shows the basic steps of the ritual dance. She’s not even pretending to be enthusiastic. Is that because of the length of the match? Some personal dislike? Or is she just always like that. You at least pretend to be excited during yours.
Kekoa grins smugly nonetheless. If he minds it doesn’t show.
You’re not sure if Kekoa can handle Anuenue. He has listened to at least a few of his pokémon, enough to know about his drifblim’s gender fluidity. He’s adapted his team based on what’s come his way. Even learned to accept that he can’t keep a pokémon around forever once it wants to leave. But none of his pokémon other than the rufflet and
maybe the charjabug are actually that challenging to raise. He’s not doing anything exceptionally clever with them. Talked more about strategies than husbandry during your training session.
It’s probably best for his sake that you find someone else to raise Anuenue
*
May 25, 2020
The warm water runs through your hair and down your back. The grime and blood from the hunt is washed away with the water. Showers are always most satisfying after a day of hard work. Admittedly, most of it was just spent in a tree. You had to bait out a stoutland. The local dogs are usually pretty tolerant of trainers stomping around their territory. They even like to give some of their puppies to trainers who want them. But these aren’t easy times. The whole food web is shot and one stoutland decided that small humans are easy prey.
Thankfully he wasn’t rabid, just desperate. A rabies outbreak… you shudder despite the water’s warmth. Thankfully, the commonwealth and APHIS have kept that out of Alola.
After your body is clean you turn off the water and grab a towel. Now that the unpleasant business of the morning is over you have something big to look forward to in the afternoon: Kekoa’s coming over. It will be the first time he’s been to the ranch in years. He’s different now. Obviously, you’re different, too. You grew up. But you feel like you grew up in a way that made sense for the girl you were. Kekoa just feels angry and empty and you haven’t quite reached the person you used to know buried underneath. Given what happened it’s easy enough to imagine why.
When you’d found out about his parents you had a long talk with your parents about why they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, take him in. Money, they’d started. A lack of knowledge on traumatized kids, they’d continued. And, when pressed far enough, they’d never really liked him.
They thought he was a lesbian and a bad influence. It took you months to get reassurances that they wouldn’t misgender or deadname him to his face if he came to visit. You hadn’t thought your family would’ve had a problem with it. Maybe it’s best that he didn’t end up living with you. Your parents have been great to you and your sister, but it turns out that love was always conditional.
You’ve been spending a lot more time by your trial site lately.
*
You rush to the door when the doorbell rings. Kekoa’s in front with his traveling partners beside him. He seems nervous and only gives a half-hearted smile when you hug him. Probably not sure how to feel about being back here after all this time. You understand. Well, not understand, but at least imagine what he’s going through.
You’ve met Cuicatl and Lyra before during their trials. Kekoa’s talked about them a little bit. Cuicatl’s dressed in something woven and colorful. Probably traditional for her culture. Your parents will ask her about it. Lyra’s wearing a glossy light jacket and stylish jeans. Chic hiker aesthetic. Cuicatl seems uncertain and is fidgeting with her cane. Lyra gives you a confident and friendly smile. You’ve heard on the grapevine that her parents are socialites down in Heahea. Figures that she can at least pretend like she’s in her element.
“Come on in.”
Kekoa moves Cuicatl’s hand onto his elbow and helps escort her in. Lyra steps ahead and walks beside you. “Nice place,” she says.
“Thank you.” It
is a nice place. Your great-grandpa and his pokémon built it themselves out of wood and brick. It was meant for an extended family. These days its home to you, your sister, your parents, and your paternal grandmother. (Oddly enough, your grandmother is completely fine with Kekoa being who he is even when your parents aren’t.)
“Smells nice,” Cuicatl adds. “Is it real meat?”
“No. We only kill tauros that are too unruly for trainers. Haven’t had one in a while.” You almost never eat those yourselves. Best to make sure the kill happens off-site. That way the other tauros can believe it just went to a trainer. Eating the flesh of something you helped raise also feels deeply wrong to you.
And real tauros meat is
way out of your family’s price range, anyway. You can’t afford to not sell it with the profit it brings.
You end up walking to the kitchen first. At least your grandma is there. Ma shouldn’t make a scene in front of her. You walk in with Kekoa and Cuicatl. Lyra lingers back by the door.
Grandma perks up and smiles at Kekoa. She starts walking over, arms outstretched for a hug. Kekoa steps forward and gives it to her. “Good to see you again, dear.”
Ma watches on and doesn’t say anything.
Kekoa nods at her and she nods back.
“Anything I can do to help around here?” Cuicatl asks. “I’m a good cook, despite…” She trails off. Her cataracts and cane do a good enough job of explaining.
“You’re a guest, darling,” Ma says. “We couldn’t possibly—”
Grandma waves her hand and turns around. “If she wants to help, she can help. There are some vegetables that need cut.” She glances back. “Can you do that?”
Cuicatl nods. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good. Follow my voice and I’ll show you what needs doing.”
You take that as your excuse to leave the room. You’ll talk more to them at dinner, for better or worse.
Pa is waiting in the living room. He looks up at Kekoa and curtly nods, muttering out something that might’ve been ‘welcome,’ before going back to reading his magazine. ‘Modern Farming Monthly.’ There’s a photograph of cracked earth on the cover with a signpost saying something in Spanish.
“Reading up on Argentina, huh?” Lyra asks.
“Yeah.” He sets the magazine down. “Shame what’s happening over there. We get out of our disaster and they plunge right into theirs.”
“It should keep tauros prices high, won’t it?” Lyra says. “More if it turns to riots and the socialists take over. I’ve heard some interesting rumors about that.”
She waves you away with a hand clasped behind her back. Was there a strategy here? Cuicatl and Lyra deal with unsupportive parents to keep Kekoa away? Or were they just planning to let you have Kekoa to yourself. You and Kekoa walk away without a word from your dad.
“How does she know anything about Argentina?” you ask. “She doesn’t look like she’s from there.”
“Her family’s rich. Probably heard it from them.”
Perhaps. You were surprised when you found out he was traveling with a socialite given what you know about the boy he’s become. There’s probably a story there. Maybe you’ll get it before the night’s over. You walk towards the back porch and hold the door open for him. He rolls his eyes but steps through without complaint. You follow.
It’s shaping up to be a good night. Sunset on the horizon and cool air. There’s a moisture to it that feels like incoming rain. Even a slight breeze that runs through your hair. Down in the valley behind the electrified fences the tauros herd is moving towards their shelter while your stoutland keeps an eye on them from the other side of the walls. In the less fortified kennel by the porch, your tauros is digging in the dirt while your wigglyuff and toucannon are napping beneath their shelter. Palekeiki is tending to some of your sister’s newborn mareep, gently guiding the sheep back into a shelter while trading soft hits with the most rambunctious one. Once he’s had his fun playing with the blissey he’ll go in with all the rest.
It's a good night. The kind of night you’d really miss if you had to leave this place forever. You wonder how Kekoa’s feeling right now. You look back to him and see his lips spread thin as he looks at the tauros. “Your parents don’t like me much, do they?”
“They… ‘don’t approve of your choices.’” You make big air quotes to show that the words aren’t yours.
He scoffs. “I’ll walk out of dinner if they start shit.”
“I’ll walk out with you.”
“Good.”
You settle into comfortable silence, watching the ranch wind down for the evening. The wind gusts again and you wish you’d worn a jacket out. It’s not cold, not in the way The Blackout was, but it’s not pleasant anymore.
“So, toucannon?”
He smiles. “She’s proud of herself. I am, too.”
“Cool. I promised you some tips on caretaking for them. I’ve got a journal I put together upstairs. Oh! And I have some supplements to mix into her fruit. Don’t use too much, now! A little goes a long way. It just makes up for some vitamins that she might not be getting with the cheap and common fruits.”
“Thank you,” he says. “I, uh, didn’t know about the supplements. They weren’t in the ‘dex entries I read.”
“Still a new field. Most trainers don’t use ‘em, and they aren’t strictly
required, but mine likes them and it makes his feathers pop more.” You stop yourself. If you don’t, you could talk about this for hours and waste your chance to reconnect. “It’s all in the journal.”
“Cool. It’ll help.”
Maybe you misjudged him. There are a lot of people who won’t take correction on how they’re raising they’re team. That means admitting they didn’t know something or were even doing something wrong. That’s hard to admit when you’re defining yourself as a trainer. And he did pull out a win, even depriving himself of a satisfying endgame in the battle to take it. Didn’t squirm when told that people who were once like aunts and uncles are judging him. Didn’t even flinch. You know it must hurt, but he doesn’t show it at all. And is he really so adrift if he’s found people who have his back and make plans to help him out without a second thought?
He’s always been stubborn. Maybe that’s not a bad thing when dealing with a stubborn old cow. Besides, if he has problems, he has people who can help. Lyra has at least one ungulate on her team and Cuicatl seems to revel in picking problem pokémon from what you’ve seen in the captain groupchat.
“Kekoa?” you ask.
“Hmm?”
“Do you want another pokémon?”
He looks over at you. “I will need six, yeah.”
“We have a miltank. Freemartin. Not quite male, not quite female. Uh. I’m not saying that’s what you are, you’re a boy. Didn’t mean to offend you.”
“You didn’t.”
“Good. Good.” You collect your thoughts before going on. “I, um, she did make me think of you a little. And she’s getting a little stir crazy. Keeps attacking other miltank and even the tauros when she gets a chance. I think she’d do well with a trainer. Might like all the fights and the chance to explore.”
Kekoa gets to his feet and tucks his hands into his pockets. “She strong?”
“As strong as any miltank on the ranch.”
He nods. “Alright, you have me sold. Where is she at?”
“Not going to insist on a tauros?” you ask with a smirk. “I remember you being a stickler for that.”
“Is there a tauros that needs help?” he asks.
“No. Not really.”
“Then this works.”
“Good.” Really good.
You get up as well and start walking to the main tauros barn. “Well, don’t get ahead of yourself. First you’ve got to convince her to come with you.”
“Right. Any tips?”
Aw. He’s even asking for help.
“Yeah. Give her a sugar cube to get her attention. Hold out your hand for her to sniff and don’t flinch if she tries to scare you. Then send out whatever pokémon you think can take her in a fight. Prove that you can help train her. That should do the trick.”
“Where should I hold my hand? I don’t want her to actually bite me.”
You wave a hand dismissively. “She never has hurt any of the humans around here. She knows where she falls in the pecking order.”
“Do they need to be kept in their place?” Kekoa asks. “Cuicatl says that’s, and I quote, ‘dumb and stupid and how people get eaten by dragons.’”
“Well. Girl has a good head on her shoulders.”
He gives you a very unamused look. “No. The best way not to get eaten by a dragon is not to train giant dragons and stick to normal ass pokémon.”
“But where’s the fun in that?” you ask. “I think exotic monsters are great.”
“You literally have six normal-types. Half of them are probably fucking barnyard pokémon.”
“I don’t see what you’re getting at.”
“I—” He stops and huffs. “You’re trolling me, aren’t you?”
“Lil bit.”
“Fine, fine. Let’s just get into the barn and do this.”
You unlock the barn’s side door and walk in. You brought Anuenue in from her pasture earlier. She probably hasn’t been thrilled about that.
When you reach her stall, Anueneu looks up at you and Kekoa. She snorts in greeting before going back to eating hay from her trough. She’s big for a miltank, over six hundred pounds, but not quite as big as the average tauros. Her fur is deep black typical of the females of her breed. Tiny nubs grow from her head. Not horns, but at least the start of them.
Kekoa takes your advice. Anuenue decides to eat the sugar cube by wrapping her entire mouth around his hand and licking the cube into her throat. Kekoa tenses but manages not to flinch. He even keeps himself from immediately wiping off his hand.
“I’m here to battle,” he says. “And I can give you a lot of battles if you want to stay with me.”
Anuenue knows what a battle is and bellows out a challenge.
“Good. See you outside.” He looks to you for guidance.
Yeah. You can handle the next part. You unlock her stall door and stay between her and Kekoa so she doesn’t try and charge him. Then you slowly walk backwards away from the miltank. She matches your pace and follows you. When the cool evening air hits her fur, she huffs and stamps the ground before lowering her head towards Kekoa.
He sends out his toucannon before he gets charged and gored.
Miltank’s eyes narrow and she stamps a foot in challenge. The toucannon flares her wings out in her own display of dominance. Then Anueneu moves. It’s not a full charge, that takes time, but it will be. The bird just sneers before opening her beak. Seeds spray across the battlefield, each with its own sonicboom like bullets. At least three hit Anueneu and she bellows in pain and confusion.
“Now supersonic,” Kekoa orders. The screech isn’t nearly as bad as the one in the grass trial but it still stuns the miltank. She stomps the ground and bellows while swinging her head from side to side as she looks for the toucannon right in front of her. Probably not the best idea to get a miltank angry and confused during a proving battle. Palekeiki is leaving the mareep and waddling over towards the battle to take care of any pokémon that get hurt. What a good blissey. Hopefully Kekoa ends this before too much damage is done. Or before Anuenue can break any of the toucannon’s bones and maybe some of his in her confusion.
The toucannon’s eyes narrow and she opens her bill once again. More little gunshots blast out grazing the miltank’s sides and carving deep burrows in the earth where they hit. It’s a good thing you’re standing by Kekoa or you could have ended up in the blast radius. He really needs to work on accuracy before he gets a citation.
Anuenue moos in a very strange harmony. The breeze stills and the grass seems to stand a little taller. Her eyes narrow and she stares down the toucannon. Heal bell. Huh. Didn’t expect her to remember to use that. Miltank aren’t exactly the brightest of pokémon.
“Good trick,” Kekoa says. “I can teach you more.”
Anuenue almost certainly doesn’t understand the words. But she knows the intent. She’s known that from the start. After a moment of consideration, she slowly bows her head. Palekeiki rushes in to tend to the miltank’s wounds while you hand her pokéball over to Kekoa.
“Good job.”
“Yeah.” He’s smiling. It’s one of the first real smiles you’ve seen from him since your reunion. Maybe the very first. “I think I’m getting a hang of the whole trainer thing.”
“There’s always more to learn, but I’m sure you’ll do great.”
And you mean it. He surprised you in the grass trial. Didn’t take the approach you’d thought he would. Didn’t here, either You were expecting him to ditch the supersonic and skip right to the blasting like a real vikavolt would.
No. He can stop. Think. Change. There’s more to him beneath the surface, even if he won’t quite open up to you enough to show it to you yet. He’s learning. Becoming his own man. You’re happy for him.
Even if he couldn’t come into his own here with you.
