Chapter 180 (Part 1) (Patreon)

Announcement: Thank you for waiting through the delay! I’ve left a comment below to explain what went on. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to get the second half of this chapter finished until Thursday or Friday (my current aim is to get it out at the usual Thursday time), but the usual schedule should return as normal on Monday. I wanted to leave you all with something, at least, so please enjoy the first part of Chapter 180.

This is only the first part of Chapter 180. The rest of the chapter will be posted at a later date.
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With Hope having her battle with Kiawe coming up, we had two days to pass by. That meant two days of no travel, two days of no progression, and two days of my nerves building up about how much time I had left until Sinnoh.

Our current plan was to take the northeastern Route 7 to circle around Wela Volcano Park and grab one of those “challenge stones” when we head towards the north. From there, we’d rush down to face the Water Type Trial—both testing the Trial Captain for a Gym Leader position and letting Lillie challenge the Captain for her Island Challenge—then we’d head directly south to Konikoni City and face Akala’s Kahuna.

I had two weeks to do that, which meant there would be little time for delays or anything else. Even more, I’d have to leave directly after that if everything went according to schedule, because that was when my own challenge against Sinnoh’s Elite Four started.

So yes, I was stressed, and I was half-wondering if I should just skip the Kahuna until I came back. But, I didn’t let that stress cause me to skip out on training.

For these two days, we stayed in Royal Avenue, a decently-sized settlement built around the Battle Royal Dome. What started as just the aforementioned building by itself and a paved road was now filled with parks, hotels, large stores, and what was called the “Thrifty Megamart.” This area had the strange vibe of feeling solely like a tourist attraction, except the four-way battles of the Battle Royal Dome had developed into an Alolan pastime over the years.

We didn’t enter the Battle Royal Dome just yet—but we did plan on doing so later. Instead, after waking up in the morning, we found a clear spot past the edge of town and trained our Pokémon.

Lillie was with me. Hope was not. Hope left to enter the jungle proper to “practice in a place that synergizes with my team.” For me, I focused heavily on ensuring the stronger members of my team would be well prepared for our rapidly upcoming Elite Four matches, then I spent a bit of time working with my weaker Pokémon.

“When I trained Cutiefly, who struggled with dealing damage initially, I started with a basic power-building regiment,” I said to Lillie, who was listening alongside her Pokémon with rapt attention. “The idea was we needed a stronger basis to work with, so we focused on increasing Cutiefly’s power reserves. Cutiefly, if you will.”

Cutiefly let out a buzz of acknowledgement before sending out a Fairy Wind from his body. This exercise resembled his initial attempt of the move, but instead of attempting to send it far out like an attack, he purposefully kept it in front of his body.

“Ninetales was a big help with this, since she helped Cutiefly get the initial stages down,” I added. Ninetales barked proudly not too far away. “Once Cutiefly was able to maintain this for a decent amount of time, we shifted into applying this newfound strength into his moves. Now Cutiefly—”

He already started. Unfortunately, his control wasn’t high enough that he could send the previously-created cloud of Fairy Wind out, but he could at least make a new one and launch it forward. This new sparkling cloud shot out at a speed that was fast enough for an attack, Cutiefly displaying the move properly. On the ground, Togepi clapped happily.

“Finally—and this is the step we’re currently on—we’re trying to expand his newfound power into other moves,” I said, finishing up my lecture. “For special Fairy Type attacks, there's primarily Dazzling Gleam and Moonblast as options, but there’s also Draining Kiss, which I tend to skip over due to the inherent risks involved in the move. It may be a Fairy Type attack, but it heals for far too little to make the low damage it deals and the requirement of getting up close worth it.”

Lillie nodded her head, furiously writing down everything in her own personal journal. I let her finish up the section she was on before I waved to Cutiefly to complete this demonstration with another move he was in the process of working on.

Most of Cutiefly’s recent practice had been developing Stun Spore, but the basics of this move had been building up for longer. The small bug focused, bringing as much Fairy Type energy as he could into his control, and then he released it all in a faint burst of light.

It was like he had turned on a flashlight inside his body—a small, barely working flashlight. Yes, he had a sort of gleam around himself, but it was neither a Dazzling nor was it a Flash.

“Great job, Cutiefly,” I said to the bug, who puffed up his chest proudly in reply. “As you can see, that was Dazzling Gleam, or at least the basic starting point of one. More practice and more battles will mean he can increase his reserves even further, and then he can turn this flash into a proper searing light.”

Unfortunately, Dazzling Gleam was the strongest Fairy Type move his species could learn. Moonblast would have been nice as its range would compliment his eventual high speeds, but Cutiefly’s true eventual strength would be planted firmly in the Bug Type.

Fun fact: his species was the first species to use the move “Pollen Puff” on record.

I admit, I still wasn’t the largest fan of bugs, but they were a lot easier to get used to than the small and less-sentient creepy crawlies of my old world. What really tipped the scales in their favor was the power they could wield, as ridiculous as that sounds. Between Pollen Puff, Bug Buzz, and the incredible self-buffing move, Quiver Dance, Cutiefly would become a threat to behold.

He just needed to get his basics down, first.

“So this is the move-focused training regiment you were talking about,” Lillie said, closing her notebook. “You focus on training moves, because to improve a move, a Pokémon has to improve themself at the same time. Rather than straight Type Energy control, you use teaching moves as a guide to encourage your Pokémon to build themselves up. Then, once the Pokémon learns that move, you have them use it in new and exciting ways to push them even farther.”

I blinked, then I scratched the back of my head. She was right, but such a succinct summary meant I had little left to say.

“You got it!” I said excitedly, pretending that she hadn’t just predicted everything left I had to say. “I’ll still do physical training here and there because move training doesn’t help with speed outside of certain techniques, but other than that, you’ve summarized the basis of how I train my team. Great job.”

Lillie beamed at the praise, and her Pokémon around her clapped politely at the end of the lecture. Some of them weren’t clapping for me, but for Cutiefly, and the small bug curved up his eyes into a smile as his proboscis wasn’t capable of much emoting. With the bulk of my lecture over, Lillie then opened her mouth to ask a question or two (more like a half dozen, which I encouraged her to ask), but that was when a deep squawk emanated from the sky.

It wasn’t a threat; it was just a call to get our attention. Everyone here looked up, only to see a large-beaked Pelipper wearing a blue cap, gliding down.

“A delivery?” Lillie asked, clearly more familiar with what was going on than me.

The pelican Pokémon swooped down to flap in the air in front of me, then it flicked its head up to retrieve a letter from inside its mouth.

(The paper was surprisingly dry.)

“Thank you...?” I said slowly, pulling the letter from its beak. “Do I tip you, or—”

“I got it!”

Lillie reached into her pack and pulled out a berry, which she then tossed into the air. The Pelipper shot upwards, swallowed the fruit whole, then it flew off to take care of its other deliveries.

How did it eat that if it’s storing letters in its mouth?

I shook my head, pushing that errant thought away, and I focused on what I had at hand. Lillie walked over to eye it curiously, and I tore it open after confirming it was indeed addressed to me.

“Wandering Elite Alex,” I read outloud.

“I have been informed of your presence on Akala Island, and it would be remiss of me to not pass an invitation to you. As a fellow Pokémon trainer, I wish to invite you to a game of Pokémon Golf in Hano Grand Resort, which shall take place at noon. Snacks will be provided to both you and your whole team, and I believe both of us would appreciate having an Elite-level match.

“Please consider my offer, and if you accept, pass this letter to the employee working the front desk. You will be led to the course where our match will take place.”

I brought my arms down once I finished reading the letter through.

“Who’s it from?” Lillie asked.

“I... I’m not sure. It doesn’t say.”

I frowned as I read it over once more.

Hano Grand Resort? Pokémon Golf?

Whoever sent this letter had to be rich, given the location, the game, and the hiring of a delivery Pelipper to deliver the note to me too quickly.

“Want to come, Lillie?” I asked.

“You’re going?”

“Why not? It’s weird enough and completely out of the blue, so whoever wrote this definitely caught my interest. The idea of an Elite match is what sold me—it would be a good way to train my team, even if it involves whatever the game of ‘Pokémon Golf’ is.”

From next to me, Ninetales let out a bark, having run over when I received the letter. From the look on her face, the free snacks had sold her over, and I let out a sigh as I rubbed her head.

“I think I’ll stay here,” Lillie said in response to my question.

“I’ll have Whimsicott and Altaria stay with you, then.”

She shook her head as if to say that was unnecessary, and raising an eyebrow, I bid her to explain.

“I want to visit the Royal Battle Dome,” she replied. “I’ve always heard about it, but I never had the chance. The amount of skilled trainers competing there is high, and plus,” Lillie blushed, “I heard the Masked Royal will be there today, too.”

I chuckled, but I didn’t say my immediate thoughts. I doubted Kukui wanted me to reveal his secret identity.

“I can trust him to keep you safe in an emergency, but let me at least leave you someone to keep you company.”

In the end, I didn’t have any fliers go with Lillie. Instead, I handed over Florges’s Pokéball, and Cutiefly would travel with her too—he wanted to watch the matches of the Battle Dome as well. After informing Hope of my choice via a message on the Holo Caster, I left after dropping Lillie off at her destination, now heading to Hano Grand Resort, which was located not too far away to the southeast.

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Author Note:

Thank you for the kind words of support from everyone! There won't be a new, full chapter on Thursday, but I will strive to get the rest of this out then.

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