Chapter 10 Homesick

  (Disclaimer: I don't own "Change" by Blind Melon. It's not being used commercially)

  The tribute ceremony the Oricorio performed was quicker than the previous one thankfully, and even though the Oran Berries offered weren't fully ripened yet, the dancing fire-birds ate them up all the same. Rylee seemed to be in a better mood, holding Selene and Rapp's hands as they made their way along the raised walkway over the meadow. The boys remained distant and silent though, and music comforted him in his newfound isolation. Well, songs from his "before world" at least. Being in basically a tropical paradise did give a certain vibe to the tunes in his head. Most of them to be the old Jack Johnson tunes he'd learned throughout high school, laid back, acoustic guitar songs that Suzy had encouraged him to learn. Ian groaned as Suzy's name came across his mind once more and he pushed those songs from his mind. No matter how fitting acoustic guitar music from a guy who grew up in Hawaii is, it feels like poison in my veins right now. He forced himself to think of other things, like some of his or his mother's favorite songs, and then-

  Oh, those... Ian smiled as he remembered the high school guitar class he'd taken with the school choir teacher. His presentation one week was to perform a medley of songs from the Pokemon games, but with an acoustic guitar. As he picked up the rear of the party, he figured no one would get weirded out as he played on an imaginary guitar, playing the tunes exactly as he remembered. Even though I haven't held a guitar in five days I can still remember how to play these little ditties like it was yesterday.

  When they got out of the Akua Jungle and back on their bikes, the sky had begun to darken with rain clouds fast approaching.How often does it rain around here? Ian continued humming various tunes from Pokemon games and observing the rest of the group. Selene having Rylee ride on her bike's handlebars as Rapp rode by their side, Rapp now in possession of the treasure bag. Tupp and Hyde rode in silence, and Ian noticed Plumeria seemed deep in thought about something too as Po Town's mighty walls came into view.

  After putting their bikes by the gate, Plumeria signaled for them to come in close. "Rapp, you take Rylee to Pulani's daycare. Hyde and Tupp, you're good to go. Selene, you and Ian come with me."

  "Actually Big Sis, can I come with?" Tupp asked. "I wanted to talk to boss-man when we done."

  "Fine, but I'll warn you, he's in a shit mood," Plumeria said.

  Selene turned to Rylee and knelt down, giving the seven year old a big hug. "I'll be back okay? Rapp's gonna take you to Auntie Pula. I'll see you soon, I promise."

  Rylee nodded, giving Selene a big squeeze. "Okay..."

  Tupp kept his distance from Ian as the group of four made their way up The Spine. The sun had disappeared thoroughly behind the clouds by now, and something about Plumeria's silence made Ian a bit uneasy. "You wanna know what happened?" Ian asked.

  "We'll talk about that after we see Guzma," Plumeria said dismissively.

  Upon their arrival in Guzma's throne room, Ian noticed Guzma's Larvesta hanging from the ceiling by its string shot, swinging aimlessly. Guzma got up from his throne and grabbed Larvesta by the horns and whispered something to it, causing it to release its String Shot from the ceiling and Guzma seated himself back on his throne with Larvesta on his lap. Ian stole a glance at the beautifully illustrated map on the wall. Oh yeah, Mina's somewhere in this town. Wonder when I'll meet her? When Plumeria zipped open their treasure satchel, Guzma smiled at the Nugget, but eyed the green, red, and blue shards with skepticism. "The fuck are these doing here?"

  "Ian says they can be made into Star Pieces, but he wasn't very clear on how," Plumeria said bitterly.

  Guzma eyed Ian expectantly, and the nervous young man cleared his throat. "Um... Well, I read somewhere these shards could be combined with Stardust to create a Star Piece."

  "Stardust?" Guzma asked with a scoff. "You know how rare that shit is?"

  "Uh... no..." Ian admitted.

  "Almost as rare as this damn Nugget," Guzma said in annoyance, leaning over and scooping the golden Nugget from the pile, making Larvesta panic and scuttle to an armrest. "Throw these shards in the dumpster and make sure pizza boy here actually knows what the fuck he's talking about next time. Now get out of my face."

  "Boss, if you give me some time-"

  "I said 'GET OUT OF MY FACE!'" Guzma shouted angrily, eyes full of sudden hatred. Larvesta squealed timidly and crawled behind the throne. Silence fell on the room at the outburst, and Ian froze as Guzma got up with a scowl. "You're in my town, dumbass. When I tell you to leave, you leave."

  Ian nodded fearfully. "Y-yeah..."

  "QUIETLY!" Guzma roared.

  Ian turned to leave, a tightness developing in his chest at being so suddenly and thoroughly emasculated. He went to open the door to Guzma's throne room but struggled with it. C'mon, not now...

  "Tupp, what the fuck do you want?" Guzma asked in anger as Ian finally got the door open. He didn't realize Plumeria and Selene were behind him until he was halfway down the hall.

  "Selene, Ian," Plumeria whispered.

  Ian turned around, a sour look on his face. "What?"

  "We need to talk," Plumeria said.

  "Can it wait?" Ian croaked. I'm not exactly in the mood all of the sudden.

  "No," Plumeria said coldly. "What happened in the Ultra Storm?"

  Ian rolled his eyes and gave Selene a look.

  "Well, we encountered a couple Pokemon, then Rylee appeared and we helped her," Selene said.

  "When did the Alpha come in?" Plumeria asked emotionlessly.

  "We were still helping Rylee when it showed up behind us," Selene said.

  "How far away was it?"

  "Like ten, maybe fifteen feet?" Selene asked.

  "So you had a chance to get away instead of engaging it?" Plumeria asked, a rather bitchy tone coming into her voice.

  "It all happened so fast," Selene continued. "One moment we're trying to comfort Rylee after she emerged, and the next moment there's a six foot tall Alpha Crawdaunt behind us."

  "Crawdaunt's aren't that fast, it sounds like you could've disengaged," Plumeria stated.

  Ian shook his head. "We tried to keep our distance but-"

  "But what?" Plumeria demanded.

  Ian shook his head in frustration. "It did this thing with its claw, it struck the ground and propelled itself."

  "The thing was huge, there's no way it could go very far with it," Plumeria said.

  "It used Water Gun on the ground to keep itself up," Ian said.

  "There's no way a little Water Gun attack could've kept that thing airborne in any capacity," Plumeria said damningly.

  "Well I fucking saw it my own eyes, so did Selene!" Ian fired back. "I don't know what else to say about that, we got out of there with Rylee okay, what more do you want?"

  Plumeria's face contorted into a scowl, and she remained silent for what felt like a minute but was really only a few seconds. "You're not getting it, Ian," Plumeria began seriously. "You keep lucking out of these desperate scenarios. If it's not one of us bailing you out, it's Tapu Bulu, and if it's not the fucking legendary it's your overpowered deer. What happens when Sawsbuck goes down and you need to use your other Pokemon? We can't bail you out of everything, Ian," Plumeria explained harshly.

  "Yeah, I hear you..." Ian croaked, looking down at the ground dejectedly.

  Plumeria shook her head. "So because you're not getting the message I'm trying to tell you, you're suspended from my squad."

  "What?" Ian asked in confusion.

  "Big Sis..." Selene chimed in. "He wasn't lying about the claw thing, it was crazy-"

  "Not the point I'm trying to make Selene," Plumeria spat. "I'll tell Rook you're with him for a couple days."

  Ian opened his mouth to protest, but realized anything he'd say right now would just dig his proverbial hole deeper. Great… I was hoping to test this EXP Candy thing out and then NOPE. Plumeria turned to leave and Selene followed, pleading with Plumeria to reconsider. Ian sighed, trying to calm himself with a deep breath and looking up to the flickering, uncovered lightbulb hanging right above. No matter what he thought of the timing of Plumeria's suspension, he knew there was little else he could do about it. What did mom say when she talked about getting through the divorce? Something like "just keep yourself so busy you don't have time to be upset about anything that's bothering you." Now's probably a good time to take that advice to heart. Maybe do some Litleo bonding... Ian made sure to drop the EXP Candy under his bunk's blanket for safekeeping and made his way out of Shady House and to his surprise, the heavens had opened up with sheets of rain. Perfect timing.

  Thankfully it wasn't too cold, which was an odd sensation, being in warm rain. Ian made his way down The Spine, seeing a few Team Skull grunts dashing into abandoned houses to escape the rain, and he made his way to the Pokemon Center's front doors. He reached to open them and pulled on the handle but the door wouldn't budge. He noticed no one inside and figured they'd closed for the day. Even better. Ian made his way back up The Spine, letting the rain crash over him. At least I don't need to shower at this point. A sudden gust of wind blew the hat right off his head and Ian chased it down just a few feet away. What is going on all of the sudden? Just focus on Litleo.

  Ian trudged past Shady House and made it to Backstreet, seeing his all too familiar tree and the site of the battle that had estranged Tupp the day previously. Even when I win it feels like I lost... That wasn't even mentioning the victorious bout with the Alpha Crawdaunt and Rylee rescue that he'd been rewarded with a suspension for. Ian shook the thoughts from his mind as he leaned against the tree trunk under the shelter of its canopy, reaching for Litleo's Poke Ball.

  "Alright Litleo, let's turn this shitty day around," Ian said, forcing a smile as he tossed Litleo's Poke Ball in front of him. Litleo materialized in a flash of red light and scanned its surroundings quickly before turning around and hissing at Ian menacingly, its orange tuft of hair remaining one color. "C'mon, I know it's raining, but we gotta figure this thing out, Litleo," Ian said in his customer service voice. Litleo gave another growl and its mouth began to glow with heat. "Litleo, it's been a shit day-"

  Litleo wound up and unleashed a burst of embers, forcing Ian to cover his face behind his arms which suddenly got extremely hot for a moment before he looked at Litleo, who snarled intimidatingly. "Damn it, Litleo," Ian said, reaching for Litleo's ball and recalling his hissing lion cub to its ball. "Great, just great!" Ian felt his eyes start to water and he shook his head, trying to tell his body "no."

  Past some of the cul-de-sac houses, Ian eyed the wall and noticed some trees from the berry grove beyond it. Maybe Ariados is chillin' out under a tree and Sawsbuck and I can get some more berry growing done. Of course that means getting to the other side of town, but it's better than nothing. Ian steeled his resolve, reminding himself the rain wasn't too cold, it was just annoying when the wind came up and made his way back down The Spine once more. There didn't seem to be many Team Skull members milling about anymore, having presumptively found shelter. Ian trudged along, focusing on the open gate up ahead. As he passed the Pokemon Center, he noticed a male and female pair of Team Skull members embracing each other sucking face and Ian felt a visceral need to gag. He closed his eyes and turned away, hoping to be rid of the site, but then the image of Suzy and Alex in the same position appeared and Ian cursed loudly, scaring the couple.

  "Hey, what the fuck bro?" The guy yelled.

  Ian shook his head and waved them off dismissively. Fucking Suzy. If she wasn't such a cheating cunt I might not even be here... Plumeria had made a bit of a deal about the last words he spoke on his bed, which if Plumeria was to be believed, was a catalyst for appearing in an Ultra Storm. Or maybe I was always destined to come to this shithole. Ian continued to sulk, making his way through the gate and along the path back around to the berry grove. His socks were finally wet, no matter how many puddle-filled potholes he weaved around on his way around. When he did reach the trees, he released Sawsbuck, who appeared to enjoy the rain, prancing around happily as the perimeter plants began to shift with growth and increasing fruit density. Ian sighed with relief, finally having something to keep his mind off the BS of the past half hour.

  Ian and Sawsbuck made their way in slowly, scanning the treetops before seeing a pair of glowing red eyes moving frantically toward them. "Really?" Ian called out, with Alpha Ariados giving a loud Alpha Roar in response. Sawsbuck whimpered with fear and turned. "Yeah, I know bud," Ian said, turning around. "Guess we'll just go to the other side, prick!" Ian shouted to the Alpha Ariados as they made their way back to the road.

  They crossed the bridge and made sure they got pretty deep onto the creek's other bank before moving in deeper to the grove. Less than a minute later, another Alpha Roar was heard and a pair of red eyes appeared in the canopy, frantically moving closer to Ian and Sawsbuck. "Fuck off Ariados! I'm trying to help everyone!" Ian shouted, shaking his head and hustling back to the road. His eyes began to water and he looked up to the cloudy sky, blinking back tears. Just great. I bet most Pokemon fans would kill to be in Alola, just not in this dump... Ian trudged back to the other side of the creek,hoping maybe Alpha Ariados would tire or finally not notice. As he crossed the bridge, Alpha Ariados gave another Alpha Roar from the treetops, red eyes lurking close to the edge of the grove. "Wonderful..." Ian muttered.

  "Hey pizza boy!" Guzma's voice shouted in anger from behind him. "What the fuck are you doing out here?"

  Ian groaned silently before turning around, seeing Guzma and a red metallic mantis Pokemon with pincers for hands and a necklace with a red stone around its neck right behind the Team Skull boss. Scizor. "Trying to do something helpful," Ian replied bitterly.

  "Well you're pissing off Ariados. And here I thought we were under attack or something with how loud she's being," Guzma explained.

  Ian took a deep breath, trying to calm the storm inside. "I'm just trying to help solve the food problem."

  "Well you actually made it worse bringing in the little girl. She's just another mouth to feed," Guzma stated. "Not even mentioning you."

  "Then let Sawsbuck and I hang out here to help solve it-"

  "I've seen plenty of newbies come in here and think they're going to help change things, and you know what? It happens the same way every time, consequences come for their actions and they get shown why we do things the way we do," Guzma explained.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Ian grimaced, unsure if his rebuttal was worth whatever penalty would likely come his way. You know what, fuck this. "Boss, how many newbies have had their Pokemon blessed by Tapu Bulu?" Ian asked, bracing himself for an earful.

  Guzma smiled. "Well looks like you finally grew a bit of a backbone."

  A sense of relief came over Ian, if only briefly as he realized Guzma wasn't finished.

  "But that's not why I'm here, pizza boy. Ariados keeps this place safe, and I don't compromise on that," Guzma said grimly.

  "I hear you boss," Ian lied as he turned to leave mid eyeroll, recalling Sawsbuck into its Heal Ball.

  Guzma scoffed and gave a light chuckle. "Yeah, how about you go do something useful then?"

  Ian's chest tensed as a cacophony of curse words came to his mind. He took a deep breath and turned around with a scowl. "Fine, I'll just go feed myself to your fucking Ariados, I'll finally be useful then won't I!?" Ian yelled as he stormed off..

  "Where you going then? She's right there!" Guzma pointed out.

  If it's just gonna be like this from now, it may be time for me to leave this shithole. Ian trudged back to the front gate with his head drooping in the warm rain. When he got to the fork in the road just outside the front gate, Ian eyed the road south down The Straightaway, doing math in his head for how long it would take to get to the abandoned ranger cabin at the Ula'Ula Meadow. Gonna be a while on foot with this rain. It'd be faster if I could ride Sawsbuck but... Ian paused that sort of thinking. Now was probably not the time to try to learn how to ride his stag, even if it was okay with being ridden. Chalk that up for later. It'd be cool to be roaming around the island like Wyrdeer in Hisui though. Ian took one last wistful look at the road full of possibilities and begrudgingly turned to the gate. I'll be on suspension, maybe I just say I'm going fishing and just dip tomorrow. Might be the best way forward.

  Ian made his way to the front gate and noticed Rook, Plumeria, Tom, and another middle aged adult with a bunch of fake teeth in his smile standing underneath an awning across the street from the gate. "Hey new guy, where's boss man?" Rook demanded.

  Ian threw up his hands in defeat. "No clue."

  "Do you know if he's still out there?" Tom asked.

  "Don't know, don't care," Ian said, turning left away from the group.

  "Ian, are you okay?" Plumeria asked.

  "Who gives a shit," Ian said, waving her off and turning away from The Spine.

  Plumeria followed after him. "Ian, look-"

  Ian turned around with a tense face, doing his best from letting his emotions show, and Plumeria grimaced, like she was seeing his pain. "I need to be alone..." Ian said hoarsely.

  "Okay..." Plumeria said. "And if you need a place away from the rain..."

  Ian paused, silently waiting on her words.

  "...go up that alley on the right, third little house on the left is empty," Plumeria explained.

  Ian gave her a quick thumbs up and trudged onward, seeing the alley and counting the houses on the left. He heard a sudden feminine yelp from a house on the right and turned, noticing an open window, followed by a male grunting loudly. Ian felt another tear fall from his eye only to be absorbed into the rain drops on his face he'd basically become numb to. Ian pushed on, the feminine yelp reminding him of once more of Suzy, causing another pain in his chest and more tears to fall from his face. He got to the third house, noting the lot next door was a pile of charred wood and ash on top of exposed concrete foundations. Ian pushed the front door open with ease as he finally got some relief from the rain. Water dripped off of him with every step into the house, and he found a dusty old grey sofa to bury his face into, helping suppress his sobs. Why the fuck am I here? Why am I in the Pokemon world and why does it suck all of the sudden? With the lack of raindrops covering for his tears, they poured out. "Fuck man, what am I gonna do... Stuck in this shithole, can't stop thinking of Suzy all of the sudden..." Ian paused as the realization that made him burst into tears again crossed his mind. I'm never seeing mom again...

  After a couple minutes with no shortage of sobbing, Ian blinked back tears and cleared his throat, taking his head out of the couch and eyeing the room. The green lounge chair next to his sofa didn't seem as dusty and he realized why Plumeria knew about this place. This is her spot to let it all out... He now understood he didn't actually know much about Plumeria's past, she was so tough to read and just completely mysterious but not intentionally like Hyde was. Ian sighed, taking in the rest of the living room of the house he was now taking shelter in, praying for something to take his mind off of his emotions.

  One of the front windows was cracked, and the sound of rain outside and the draft he was now feeling meant one of them was shattered and unboarded. Turning to the floor, brown hardwood blended well with burgundy rug underneath the sofa and chairs. An empty TV stand rested in front of the couch, with the cupboards already swung open and looted of its valuables. A framed, dusty photo of a couple, a toddler, and a baby graced the wall to the left, and an electronic keyboard instrument rested on a stand to his left. Next to the keyboard was a long black case shaped-

  Ian gasped. "No way..." He said in disbelief as he sprung from the couch with newfound energy. He found the latches on the case that surely held a classic acoustic guitar and Ian's jaw dropped as the case opened, revealing a perfectly preserved acoustic guitar. "Wow..." Ian said, a warmth bubbling up inside him all of the sudden. Ian shook the water from his hands and looked around for a towel or napkin so he could rest the guitar's wood on his lap without getting it too wet, and upon finding one in the slightly looted kitchen, returned for the instrument. He noticed a pick hanging on for dear life on the guitar's headstock and cracked a slight grin as he slid it out and brought the instrument to the couch he'd just been sobbing into minutes earlier.

  He gave the strings an experimental strum and instinctively began tuning the thing. Once he'd gotten it decently enough, his hand on the neck of the guitar went naturally into the "A" chord and something clicked inside his mind. Mother's Day had only been a few weeks ago, and besides getting her flowers, chocolate, and a card with a free spa day voucher, he'd done something else for her: he'd learned to play and sing her favorite song.

  He didn't even realize he'd already begun playing the ominous opening notes and continued strumming softly, almost delicately and his mouth opened involuntarily and began to sing.

  I don't feel the sun's comin' out today

  It's stayin' in, it's gonna find another way, yeah

  A tear fell down his cheek as he caught a glimpse of the rain outside the window and shook his head as he continued on. Suddenly his mom's voice echoed in his mind with each word as he started up again.

  As I sit here in this misery

  I don't think I'll ever know, Lord

  See the sun from here

  Ian felt more tears come down his cheeks as car rides with her blasting this song flooded his memory, plus all of the little things, like holding him when he was nine when he'd broken his arm and telling him it was gonna be alright. He continued on singing the rest of the verse like it was his mom telling him what he needed.

  When you feel life ain't worth living

  You've got to stand up

  Take a look around, look up way to the sky

  And when your deepest thoughts are broken

  Keep on dreamin' boy, 'cause when you stop dreamin'

  You know you're gonna die, and right now I don't wanna die

  The words hit him hard and he leaned over as they weighed heavily on him. He continued singing through the next verse and kept playing with every emotion he'd felt, every tear he'd shed since he arrived in Alola. This is mom's way of speaking to me… It's the only way she can. Another tear fell down his cheek as he tried to drown himself in the music once more and the challenging solo he'd forced himself to learn came up. Even though he was rusty, he forced himself to be perfect, to land each note correctly and to slide precisely like the song deserved having become the ode to the mother he'd likely never see again. Upon the solo's completion, Ian found himself with a hint of a smile on his face as he started the next verse, the guitar strums became ominous as they had at the beginning.

  And oh, as I fade away

  They'll all look at me and say

  They'll say, "Hey look at him"

  "And where he is these days?"

  When life is hard, you have to change

  When life is hard, you have to change

  When Ian made his final strum, he exhaled and basked in the silence, a sudden sense of relief washing over him and the release of tension flowing out of him simultaneously. He closed his eyes and whispered "thanks mom," his eyes no longer watering but the words felt no less emotional. He put the guitar aside for a bit, deep in thought as the highs and lows of the past few days replayed in his mind.

  He didn't know how long he remained on that couch, but by the time he'd about summed up his thoughts and feelings, the rain had stopped. So I'm here, and there doesn't seem to be anything I can do about going back home, so just do the best with what I got for right now. Ian sprang up from the couch, suddenly re-invigorated. He put the guitar back in its case, telling himself he needed to find a place in Shady House to store it in the near future. He turned to exit and felt a need to give thanks to the space itself. I really needed that.

  Ian made his way back up The Spine as the sun lowered in the sky, still partially covered from clouds. Shady House seemed bustling with activity and Ian wasn't quite feeling dealing with all of that, so he veered right and made his way to Backstreet. As he turned the corner to cul-de-sac, Ian noticed a familiar face standing under the training tree.

  "What's up, Tupp?" Ian asked softly.

  "Got my ass chewed out by the boss," Tupp said.

  "Same," Ian said, a grin coming onto his face.

  "You first," Tupp said.

  Ian sighed, taking a spot next to Tupp, leaning back on the trunk. "I think Guzma was in a bad mood for whatever reason and took it out on me," Ian said. "I tried to have Sawsbuck grow some more berries out in the grove, but I pissed off Ariados and he came over the wall all mad at me."

  Tupp nodded. "Yeah, he didn't like being the bitch in the little peace deal with Surge."

  "Oh... Yeah, what happened with that?"

  "We can't go in his territory again without permission and we gotta cut off relations with Outrigger for a few weeks," Tupp explained.

  "Do we do a lot with Outrigger?" Ian asked.

  "We get some food and stuff, but not a lot," Tupp said. "It's more the optics."

  "Ah... that's why he was mad," Ian said. "So what'd he yell at you about?"

  Tupp sighed. "I remembered what you told me at lunch, and I asked him how he uses his Ariados in battle since I never really paid attention to how he used it, just that he won a lot with it..."

  Ian nodded, waiting on which way Tupp was about to take this.

  "...and he explained he uses it exactly like you said he does. Webs 'em up, poisons them, keeps his distance until he goes in for the kill. Then he told me it's always been funny to him I never figured out how to use Golbat like that... I told him I didn't wanna fight like a bitch, and bro, he went off on me."

  Ian nodded. "Asshole..."

  Tupp shrugged. "Yeah well, I figured you'd come by here at some point, and I wanted to apologize to you bro. My head's been thick as Po Town's walls."

  Ian shook his head. "Guzma should've told you this way back," he said, putting a fist out and to the side. Tupp fist-bumped him and the two gave each other knowing nods. "And I should've done better than to leave you high and dry in that fight."

  "It's all good man. I need to get some learning done on how to use Golbat right," Tupp said.

  "Only if you help me with handling Litleo," Ian said with a grin.

  Tupp shook his head. "It's not that hard yo."

  "I dunno, it fired an Ember at me here earlier," Ian said.

  "He just testin' you, proud little shit," Tupp said. "You still got that empty Poke Ball?"

  Ian reached for Sobble's ball, but wasn't sure if Tupp was ready. Sobble is pretty wimpy.

  "I think I need something that's kind of skittish, get me in the zone for not just jumping into the fray, you know?" Tupp said. "Plus it'd be cool to go catch another Pokemon..."

  Ian smiled, taking Sobble's Poke Ball out from his belt. "Bad news for you Tupp, I already caught something with the ball."

  Tupp shook his head. "My bad man, I shoulda-"

  "But I caught that something for you, bro," Ian said, revealing the Poke Ball and holding it in front of Tupp. Tupp took the ball hesitantly and opened it, the red energy released onto his shoulder, manifesting the timid blue amphibian with a yellow fin on its head. Sobble gave a scared yelp and crawled behind Tupp's neck and used his head for protection as it eyed Ian cautiously.

  "What's this yo?" Tupp asked.

  "It's a Sobble," Ian replied. "It's a starter Pokemon trainers from Galar receive."

  "I take it it's a Water Type?" Tupp said, making eye contact with his new Pokemon.

  "Yup. It's pretty frail and can't take a lot of hits," Ian said. "But it can blast opponents from range."

  Tupp nodded. "Sounds perfect for what I need to learn, yo." Sobble then crawled up Tupp's head and caused his hat to fall, with Sobble resting on top of Tupp's head, its light blue skin sort of blending with Tupp's blue-green hair. Sobble gave a contented trill and settled into Tupp's now messed up hair. "Lil' guy already likes me."

  Ian smiled. "Yup."

  Tupp's focus turned back to Ian. "Thanks bro."

  Ian nodded. "I owe you a lot more than just this, bro."

  Tupp shrugged. "If you say so..."

  The two remained in silence for good ten to fifteen seconds before Tupp opened his mouth again. "You know bro? With you being starteejic' and shit, and me helping you get a handle on your Pokemon, we gon' be hella strong man."

  Ian shrugged. "Hopefully."

  Tupp shook his head, causing Sobble to almost fall off. "Nah bro, I'm being real." Tupp's grin oozed with contagious pride. "Po Town ain't gonna be ready for the two of us, yo."

  Ian initially thought of downplaying things, but something about the conviction with which Tupp had made his declaration made Ian believe too and he put his fist up for another bump. "You're damn right about that bro!"

  "Bro!" Tupp exclaimed, making a big deal of fist-bumping once more. "Watch out Ula'ula, Tupp and Ian are here, yo!"

  Author's Note:

  Link for the song used…

  (Music won't normally be incorporated like this, this was a rare occurrence.)