Turning along the bending path of Route 5, Sam and Alice both saw the familiar sight of a Pokémon Center, sitting on the shore of a small lake that surrounded it on the left and back sides. The roaring sounds of waterfalls were not far off, as an old wooden stairway not even fifty feet from the Pokémon Center would lead them to the mouth of Brooklet Hill. The scent of freshwater mist wafted heavily from the west, and it was intoxicating to everyone in Sam and Alice’s small group.
“So this is Brooklet Hill,” Starlight said. “Your next trial site.”
“I wonder if swimming will be involved,” Fluttershy said.
“I wouldn’t mind it,” Alice said. “This is the first time we’ve gotten to do much of anything with water other than the ferry here.”
“Then it’s really a good thing I got by bag,” Sam said. “Wouldn’t want to not have a swimsuit to change into.”
“Well, we already healed our Pokémon in Paniola Town, so you all ready for this?”
A chorus of affirmation sounded out amongst Sam, Starlight, Fluttershy, and Lady, who continued standing atop of Starlight’s back. Just then, a young woman ran up the stairway entrance to Brooklet Hill and approached the five of them.
Her solid-blue hair was cut short and messy, and her dress consisted of a dark-blue long-sleeved full-body wetsuit with the legs concealed with wide ice-blue cargo pants made of polyester tied snugly to her waist by a white cotton belt, the pockets on the thighs and shins stuffed to the brim. With the pants cut just above the ankles, a pair of black water slippers were on her feet.
“Hey there!” She waved to them. “Are you here for your trial?”
“Yes, we are,” Sam answered. “You must be the captain.”
She smiled instantly. “That I am! Call me Lana. I appreciate your coming here, but I regret to tell you that Brooklet Hill is off limits right now.”
“What?” Sam and Alice shouted at the same time.
“Why’s that?” Starlight asked.
Lana turned back to the stairway. “A wild Mudbray wandered off into Brooklet Hill late last night, and something must have spooked it, as it keeps running around and attacking nearly every Pokémon it sees.”
Starlight and Fluttershy turned to face each other, intrigued by Lana’s wording.
“We have about half a dozen ranchers trying to rescue it,” Lana further explained, “but even with our combined efforts, we haven’t been able to calm the poor thing down. Until this issue gets resolved, I can’t let any trainers in there and risk them getting hurt too.”
Fluttershy came forward, a warm smile on her face. “I have a very special way with animals, as well as Pokémon. I can help in any way you need me to.”
“And you two must be ponies from that wormhole earlier this week.” Starlight and Fluttershy nodded at her inquiry. “As a trial captain, it would honestly make me more nervous to let you in and jeopardize your safety.”
“Please, listen,” Starlight said, “two of our friends also ended up on this island, and I have reason to think they might be in here. You said that something spooked that Mudbray; maybe it’s them. Please, we came all the way from Melemele Island to try and get them back home.”
Lana looked at Starlight with seemingly no hint of her decision changing then. She looked back to the pathway to Brooklet Hill, seeing two burly men in plaid shirts and overalls talk amongst each other. She then looked to Sam and Alice.
“Fine, you can go in,” she said, elating Sam, Alice, and the ponies. “To make it easier on yourselves, I’ll let you take the trial together. That way, you can team up if you happen to run into it.”
“Does that mean we’re allowed to catch it if we find it?” Alice asked.
“Considering the trial site now starts at the top of Brooklet Hill, I’m afraid you’d have to abide by trial rules: No catching of wild Pokémon until the trial has been completed.”
“Hmph, fine.”
“Just know that you’ll be doing me and these fellow ranchers a huge service if you can manage to calm it down, or, worst case scenario, have to battle it.”
“I’ll do my best to ensure it doesn’t come to that,” Fluttershy said.
“Great. With that, I just have to ask you one last thing. Have either of you brought a bathing suit?”
Sam and Alice smiled, excited for what Lana’s question implied.
Sam and Alice both emerged from the Pokémon Center with their bags, Lana, the ponies, and Lady waiting outside. Both of them smiled at their friends’ fresh new appearances. Sam wore a dark-grey pair of trunks with faded black flames decorated on the bottom of the legs, along with a pair of black water slippers. Alice came out with a bikini, the top striped with desaturated shades of blue with red borders and straps. Her bottom was a solid shade of the darker desaturated blue, the borders around the waist and leg openings also a solid red. She wore a pair of matching expensive-looking blue flip-flops on her feet and a pair of stylish looking prescription goggles over her eyes. The belts holding their Poké Balls were tied to their waists.
“Wow,” Lana chuckled. “Nice threads.”
“Thanks.” Sam quickly tied the string holding his trunks tighter without breaking eye contact. “All from Lumiose.”
“Oh, nice! They make such wonderful clothes there. Well, now that you’re changed, let’s head down, shall we?”
As Sam and Alice passed the ponies, Fluttershy couldn’t help but notice Alice’s right shin. What her green socks usually concealed was revealed to be a long scar running about eight inches down the right side with several small dot-shaped scars running alongside it. Fluttershy opened her mouth to speak, but as Starlight began to walk with Lana, Sam, and Alice, she closed her mouth and followed as well, finding the timing of her would-be query inappropriate.
Lana led the way down the stairs with the ponies, Sam and Alice lagging not too far behind. With every step down, Alice seemed to have to stop to kick a pebble out that had slipped under her bare foot. Sam walked slowly beside her, allowing him to also enjoy the trees that served as a beautiful tunnel for them.
Finally, they reached the bottom, the two tribal posts serving as the trial site’s entrance greeting them.
“Now,” Lana said, stopping just inside the trial gate, “while you have the extra-credit task, per se, of finding and calming down that wild Mudbray, your real task will be in the lakes along your way down. There’s a certain Water-type Pokémon making a ruckus in them. Trust me, you’ll know when you see them. Beat each one and face the totem Pokémon on the bottom. Sound good?”
From behind them, two farmers, male and female, each wearing red plaid shirts and overalls, approached them, each sporting natural red hair and fair-colored skin.
The woman farmer was the first to speak. “Lana, what are those trainers doing here?”
“Didn’t we say not to let anyone in here until we get the Mudbray out?” the man added.
“I did, but…” Lana then stepped back to give attention to the two ponies she revealed to them. “These two ponies have been traveling with these trainers, and have come here from Melemele to find their other friends who got stuck here Monday night. Apparently, one of them has a ‘magic touch’ with Pokémon. We’ll give them a try, and if they can’t help calm down that Mudbray, then we’ll go back to square one.”
“But we just heard you going over your trial rules. What’s that all about then?”
Lana jutted her jaw to the side and her eyes up, unable to make up another excuse, “Well, since they’re already here, I thought–”
“It’s fine,” the woman farmer interrupted. “It’s your domain, and if you think these trainers and ponies can help us bring back that Mudbray, then I wish them all the luck in the world.”
“Thank you. Let’s get a move on, then.”
Lana stepped forward, and Sam, Alice, and the ponies ventured past the trial gate and toward a wooden platform stretching to the other side of the lake. Lana stopped halfway, and the others formed a line beside her at the edge facing the larger portion of the water. Alice slipped off her sandal and dipped her big toe in the water, bringing it back upon feeling the chill.
“If you look carefully,” Lana explained, scanning her finger about the water’s surface, “you’ll notice some splashing coming up over–”
*SKPWOOSH*
A louder splash sounded in front of them, accompanied by a burst of water as it converged where Alice had jumped in, a sheet of water landing on Starlight, Lady, and Sam. Fluttershy and Lana, who were still safely out of the splash’s reach, still stepped aside for safety’s sake looking to their drenched friends with a sense of dreadful sympathy. Lana looked to Alice, who spread her hair back as she surfaced, wading with her chest and up above the water. With a joyous shout, she had acclimated to the cold.
“Feels nice, doesn’t it?” Lana laughed. “Brooklet Hill is a lovely spot for swimmers and fishers alike. However, there are certain Pokémon that get a little nervous about intruders.”
Alice didn’t seem to think much of her statement until her entire body tensed up with the sensation of something toothlessly gnawing at her toes. With a shriek, she grabbed hold of the platform and pulled herself up to sit, hugging her legs close and spinning back around to safely stand.
As Alice skittered back to Sam’s side, he couldn’t help but notice and be entertained by her rubbing her bitten toes along the platform. “Hey, thanks for taking the bullet on that one!”
“Screw you, Sam.”
Just then, water began to rise up from the center of the lake like a graceless fountain, which Lana pointed to. “Over there. The Pokémon that nibbled at you is the one making all that commotion. Why don’t you go over there and see what it is?”
“Thanks,” Sam said with full sarcasm, “but I’d prefer not being shark food today.”
“I never said to swim over there. That is, unless, you have a Ride Pager.”
“Ride…” Suddenly, Alice remembered their final meeting with Hau and Ilima. She then excitedly reached inside her bag and pulled out her device, tapping on the buttons and the screen until she found the Pokémon she was looking for. “Lapras. Bingo.”
As Sam looked through his bag, Alice watched as a solid-grey metal Poké Ball warped into the top ring. Taking it off, she tossed it out above the water, releasing the Pokémon inside. Now floating on the water was a blue plesiosaur-like creature with a cream-colored underbelly, curled ears, and a large grey shell upon its back, a tall red seat strapped to it.
“Oh my gosh!” Alice’s voice couldn’t help but squeak as the Lapras looked at her. “Hi!”
The Lapras smiled in respect as it waded alongside the platform, looking to Alice and jerking its head away, signaling her to hop on.
“Oh, okay!” Alice leaned herself toward the shell and gently hopped on, using the protrusions on its shell for placement. Climbing up the tall steps, she finally reached her seat and plopped down. “Woo! This is awesome!”
“Alright, hold on!” Sam tossed out his own metal ball, sending out another Lapras virtually identical to Alice’s, seat and all. “Wow… hey there.”
Sam put his arms out to his Lapras, who swam over to him and rested its chin on them. He then laid his forehead down on its own and stroked his right hand down its neck. Lana smiled warmly as she heard the Pokémon purr.
“Come on!” Alice shouted. “Let’s get this show on the road!”
“K’, fine!” Sam backed away from his Lapras and pointed at its shell, nodding to it to gain its approval.
The Lapras arched its neck, ready for Sam’s mount. With a running start, Sam leapt from the platform and onto the edge of its shell, holding on as he and the Pokémon rocked about for a few moments. He then climbed up both the shell and the steps to his seat, sitting down and looking to Lana and the ponies below.
“Come on up, Starlight!” Sam shouted with an inward wave of his arm. This is so cool!”
Starlight smiled, excited to join her friend. “Hold on tight, Lady.”
With a mew and a wrap of her arms around Starlight’s neck from the Eevee on her back, Starlight charged her horn and magically levitated herself to the top of the Lapras’s shell, keeping her front hoof on the first step. Lady hopped off of Starlight and went on the knobs beneath her, perfectly balanced.
“Ready now?” Alice asked.
Sam nodded once with vigor. “Yep. Let’s sail! Lapras, that way!”
With a point towards the splashing, both Laprases paddled further into the lake. Lana stood in observance with her arms crossed, leaving Fluttershy to take off from the platform and fly alongside Alice and her Lapras. Starlight looked about her as she could see more of Brooklet Hill from her vantage, mouth agape at the plateaus behind her and the many waterfalls that crashed into the next plateau below. She suddenly nearly lost her footing as both Lapras’s came to a stop just a few feet from the splashing spot.
“Okay,” Sam muttered, pulling out one of his Poké Balls, “time to go to work. Go, Fomantis!”
With a gentle lob, Fomantis emerged from its ball and landed on the base of the Lapras’s neck, which instinctively rotated to allow it to see better.
“Let’s do this, Pikachu!” Alice held her ball and let Pikachu out on her lap.
Alice’s Lapras turned to the left, the Pikachu knowingly hopping off and standing upon the top of its shell to Alice’s right. Though both of their Pokémon were out, the splashing continued.
Alice thought up an idea. “Lapras, slap where they’re splashing!”
The Lapras did as was told, slamming its right flipper over the splashing spot. The water calmed itself for only a second as two shapes broke through the water and blasted some up as high as Sam’s head. Looking back down at what they’d have to fight, Sam and Alice seemed a bit perplexed by what they saw.
Wading with their heads above the water were two small white fish with blue backs and grey underbellies, their puddle-shaped eyes and perpetual frowns only serving to make them look more pathetic.
“You’re… you’re joking, right?” Sam asked to no one.
“Nope.” Alice’s face suddenly seemed frighteningly serious as she looked at the fish on the left. “You chewed on my foot. You need to go bye-bye.”
Plasma danced along the sides of Pikachu’s face as it awaited Alice’s instructions.
“Pikachu, Thunder Shock!”
With a loud yell, Pikachu shot out a strong bolt of electricity that shocked the fish Alice pointed at. It suddenly swam off towards a wall of boulders with spaces wide enough for the fish to swim through, a small waterfall along the other side. Sam looked to the other fish that faced him and his Fomantis, taking out his Pokédex from his pocket.
“And what exactly are you?” he asked quietly, opening it and scanning the fish.
“Wishiwashi,” the Pokédex spoke, “the Small Fry Pokémon. When it's in trouble, its eyes moisten and begin to shine. The shining light attracts its comrades, and they stand together against their enemies.”
“Well, until then…” Sam pointed at it. “Fomantis, use Leaf Blade!”
With a shout, Fomantis leapt off Sam’s Lapras and lashed at the Wishiwashi with its glowing green leaf arms, the strike strong enough to throw it back into the water. Sam and Alice watched as the Wishiwashi, like the last one, quickly swam for its life to the waterfall. Trailing their eyes there, they suddenly found Lana standing on a boulder closest to the waterfall’s edge, balanced perfectly.
“That was easy!” she shouted over the sound of the water’s crash below. “Looks like they swum down to the next lake! I’ll see you down there!”
Before Sam or Alice could respond, Lana leaned back and pushed off, bending back to dive to the next lake down.
“Oh, crap!” Sam sat up and tried to look over as much of the waterfall’s edge as he could. “She’s sure adventurous.”
“She’s probably made that jump dozens of times,” Alice commented, her Lapras swimming to the shore. “Come on. Let’s keep going.”
Follwing Alice, Sam and his Lapras swam to the small beach where the pathway down continued for them. Upon their Laprases’ bellies sliding into the sand, Sam, Starlight, Lady, and Alice climbed down while Fluttershy landed on the beach, awaiting them.
Sam pet his Lapras on the side of its face as he brought its ball out from his Ride Pager. “We’re not quite done yet, girl,” he said. “See you in a bit.”
The Lapras returned inside the ball. As Alice began returning her Lapras, Starlight noticed their bags still left on the platform. With a concentrated chew on her tongue, she focused her magic upon both bags and flew them both forward, splitting them off to place them in front of their respective trainers.
“Oh, right!” Alice slung her bag over her shoulder. “You’re a lifesaver, Starlight.”
“I do what I can!” she responded.
“Come on,” Sam began walking to the path. “Maybe the Mudbray will be here.”
“Maybe…” Alice muttered as she followed her brother closely with the ponies and Lady.
The path was guided on both sides by small canyon walls no taller than twice Sam’s height. The solid dirt was quickly replaced by taller grass, making Sam and Alice stop in their tracks.
“Why are we stopping?” Fluttershy wondered
“The Mudbray may be hiding out in here,” Alice said. “We don’t want to spook it and make it attack one of us.”
“How small is this thing?” Starlight asked.
“If they’re anything like what we saw at the ranch, probably no bigger than you.”
“Here, I can go ahead for this part.” Fluttershy gently flew over her friends and floated down to the front. “Hello there, little Mudbray! Don’t be scared. We won’t hurt you!”
Fluttershy walked slowly ahead as Sam and Alice just watched her go.
“All things considered,” Alice said, “these passageways are narrow enough that finding it shouldn’t be that difficult.”
“Not to mention,” Starlight added, “possibly finding our friends.”
Lady mewed in agreement.
“Fair enough.” Sam let Starlight and Lady be the first to step forward behind Fluttershy, followed by Alice and then himself.
“Mudbray,” Fluttershy continued to coo. “Come out, you sweet, little Mudbray!”
“Twilight!” Starlight cried out. “Rainbow Dash? Pinkie Pie!”
As the group continued downward through the winding slopes, Sam and Alice felt a bit of unease.
“Does something seem… off to you?” Sam asked.
“Yeah,” Alice said. “Other than those Wishiwashi, we haven’t really encountered any wild Pokémon since we got here.”
“Maybe that Mudbray scared them off?”
“Or perhaps… nah.”
“What’s nah? You mean Team Prism?”
“Well, that, and…” Alice jerked her head back to point her chin at Starlight and Fluttershy. “…their other friends. I don’t have any reason to believe wild Pokémon would have anything to fear from any of the ponies.”
“Now that we’re talking about it, what about–”
“Those Wishiwashi? What are you, high?”
Sam dropped the conversation with a shrug, continuing to look forward to the ponies, the last thought he had still nested in the back of his mind. With another left turn, the grass had once again been replaced by dusty and sandy dirt, and the canyon began to open wide to reveal another lake, the water’s surface just the slightest bit choppier than the first with the waterfall pouring water from a higher-up cliff to their right.
Standing on a boulder jutting up twenty feet from the shore was Lana, who waved upon seeing the group. “Hey there! Any luck with finding that Mudbray?”
“Not yet!” Sam shouted. “Haven’t found any other ponies either!”
“I’m sorry about that, but look!”
Sam and Alice began to scan the lake, and on the farthest sides of it were similar splashes to the ones the Wishiwashi had done before.
Sam looked to the splashing closest to the waterfall. “I’ll go ahead and take that one?”
“Please do.” Alice had already began breaking out her Ride Pager. “Much rather not get wet again today if I can help it.”
“Looks like you’ve got the jist of it! I’ll leave you be! See you on the next level!” Lana dove off the rock and began swimming toward a wooden fence and wall of stones blocking off a section of the lake where another waterfall was dropping off.
Not much longer, Alice had called out her Lapras, who held its fin up to allow her to step on and climb up to its shell.
Sam began taking out his Ride Pager. “Would you like to hop aboard again?”
“That’s okay,” Starlight responded, “Fluttershy and I will watch over your bags while you go out.”
Sam nodded and smiled. “I’ll pick the three of you up when we’re done. If these guys are anything like the last, that shouldn’t be long.”
Starlight hummed with a proud nod and smile of her own. Sam took his Lapras’s ball from the top slot and tossed it at the water, his Lapras calling out as it eagerly awaited him. Suddenly, Sam felt himself being lifted off the ground, the sudden tingling sensation he felt all over making him shout loudly several times before he was set down on the seat on the Lapras’s shell, looking down to see Starlight’s aura fade from her horn and then himself.
“You may want to hurry!” she exclaimed. “You don’t want Alice to beat you!”
“Not if you end up giving me a heart attack!” Sam’s final quip as he and his Lapras sped off was met with secret chuckles from both Starlight and Lady.
Behind him, Alice had already brought out her Pikachu as Sam was still about thirty feet from the splashing spot. The mist splashing off the lake where the waterfall landed suddenly washed onto Sam’s entire body, making him tense up and shield his face. Unable to see, he was suddenly slapped in the mouth by a Wishiwashi’s tail.
As he regained his sights and loudly gagged and spit out the Pokémon’s body film, he took out a Poké Ball. “Ugh, sick! Come out, Honedge!”
Honedge emerged from Sam’s ball, completely unfazed by the wet breeze spraying onto it. Both it and Sam looked down in front of his Lapras, as a Wishiwashi faced them, leaping out of the water and flipping backwards, swishing its tail before it fell back into the water.
“No, once was enough, thank you!” Sam pointed at their target with his hand. “Honedge, Brick Break!”
Flying downward, Honedge shot itself toward the water. As the Wishiwashi attempted to dip beneath the surface and dodge the attack, Honedge swung its blade into the water, flinging the fish out and toward the waterfall leading to the lower lake. Just as the Wishiwashi regained consciousness, he saw as the Wishiwashi that Alice had defeated swam through the rocks and down the falls, the one Sam defeated closely following it.
“Nice one!” Sam’s Lapras spun around so Sam could face his sister. “Need me to pick up the ponies?”
“Please do!”
Sam rolled his eyes as Alice returned back to the shore, Sam continuing to the beach on the other side. Once Alice’s Lapras, slid to a stop upon the sand, Fluttershy flew beside her while Starlight floated herself and Lady up to the Lapras’s shell.
“You’ll have to forgive my lazy brother,” she huffed. “I heard he did promise to pick you up.”
Behind them on the other side of the lake, Sam got off of his Lapras and returned it inside. As he began pacing around to wait, a Mudbray galloped out from the next sloping canyon and straight into Sam’s gut just as he turned around, sending him flying back into the water.
“To be fair,” Fluttershy said, “you… shouldn’t have offered.”
With Alice pouting at her with a furrowed brow, Fluttershy blushed as she gave her friend as innocent of a smile as she could, only for her ears to droop and her mouth to curve down in fright as she saw the Mudbray herself hopping franticly on the sand around where Sam floated.
“A… A– A– A– It– It– It–” Fluttershy gave up speaking and pointed out to the other side of the lake, leading Alice and Starlight to see the Mudbray gallop back down the canyon along with Sam just starting to stir back awake from the shore.
“SAM!” Understanding Alice’s cry, Lapras sped across the water as fast as its flippers could carry it.
By the time, Alice and her friends reached the other end of the lake, he was already back on his feet, coughing hard as he tried to recalibrate his body. Starlight and Lady hopped off the Lapras and galloped into the canyon, Fluttershy flying close behind.
“We’ll go after the Mudbray!” Starlight called out. “Take care of Sam!”
Alice ran up to him, crouching down to his level. “Hey, you alright?”
“Yeah–” Sam was brought to another violent coughing fit, finally managing the strength to stand. “Just got the wind knocked out of me.”
“That’s good, let’s go help Starlight and Fluttershy.”
“Right.”
Alice ran ahead, Sam trying his very best to keep up while still bending over to cough.
The Mudbray continued galloping on through the canyon until it reached the next lake. Upon seeing the water, it turned run back, its hooves slipping on the sand a couple paces before it could gain its footing. Before it could run back, Starlight, Lady, and Fluttershy came through and blocked its path, bringing it to a halt.
“Uh, hey there!” Starlight awkwardly waved to it. “It’s okay. There’s nothing here that can hurt you.”
The Mudbray glanced up, stepping with anticipation of its next plan. Suddenly, it got a galloping start and leapt high above both ponies, landing behind them and continuing to run back the other way.
“Ugh, come on!” Starlight and Lady ran back and Fluttershy came close behind.
As they made the next turn, they were relieved to see Sam and Alice blocking the Mudbray’s way with Fomantis beside them and Noibat flying above them. Mudbray turned back to see Starlight, Lady and Fluttershy blocking off that way. The Mudbray spinned around as it tried to find the right path to escape, its mouth hung open with an oncoming cry. Sure enough, the Mudbray sunk to its shins and let out a terrified yelp, trembling to the ground. Sam and Alice softened their defenses as looked down on it.
“Aw, you poor thing!” Fluttershy gently fluttered over to it and laid beside it. “You don’t need to be afraid. We won’t hurt you.”
Sam and Alice watched in amazement as her voice alone stopped the Mudbray’s tremors, but when she stroked its back with her hoof and then hugged its neck, the creature appeared to melt in her arms, pushing its head into hers. Alice then slowly approached the two of them and knelt down beside the Mudbray. With a couple of gentle strokes, the Mudbray looked to her, the comfort it felt from Fluttershy making it feel safe around her too.
“Hey, there,” Alice whispered. “You can trust us. We want to help. You wouldn’t mind showing us what scared you, would you?”
Fluttershy’s face brightened with realization. “You wouldn’t by chance have seen ponies that look like me or my friend here, have you?”
Just then, the Mudbray got to its hooves and walked back down to the next lake. Alice and Fluttershy walked directly behind it, sharing a content look of a job well done. Once they got to the lake, Starlight, Lady, and Sam came close behind the three. Suddenly, the Mudbray spun itself behind Alice, finding comfort hiding behind the backs of her legs. Looking out to the lake, she saw two splashing spots far out close to the shore where the next downward canyon led. Once she made the connection, the hope on her face deflated.
“You can’t be serious.”
Pikachu’s Thundershock took out the Wishiwashi, which quickly swan toward another waterfall that led to a larger lake down below, the last one before they reached the sea. The Mudbray was huddled on the Lapras’s shell still trembling from Alice’s battle.
“You see?” she called to it. “They’re just stupid, little fish. Nothing to be scared about.”
However, her words of encouragement didn’t seem to settle it down this time. Before she could think of something to calm it further, Lana’s voice broke out from the last canyon.
“Hey, congrats! You found her! Any idea why she was so scared?”
“Yeah, she’s scared of the Wishiwashi.”
“Oh… I see.” Her voice sounded darkly sympathetic, confusing Alice. “Well, whenever you’re ready, the Totem Pokémon is waiting in the next lake.”
Alice just sat still atop her Lapras’s seat in thought, just as Sam, Starlight, and Lady swam over on the other Lapras with Fluttershy flying beside it, all their bags slung from the knobs on its shell.
“You got yours?” Sam asked.
“Yeah,” Alice said, “but I think there’s something to these Wishiwashi that we should be careful about.”
Sam lowered his voice in a mocking tone. “What, are you high?”
“Well, they’re the reason this Mudbray is really scared, and what Lana said… I mean, the way she talked about them made me think there’s something else about them.”
Sam took his sister’s words into consideration, and then nodded. “Either way, the Totem Pokémon is down below. Maybe it’s a sign.”
“I guess.”
Both Sam and Alice beached their Laprases on the shore, allowing their passengers off. Fluttershy stayed down with the Mudbray as Alice climbed off her Lapras. Finally, both Alice and Sam got off and retrieved their bags, returning their Laprases back into their balls.
“Last part,” Sam said.
“Mmhm.” Alice nodded. “Last part.”
The group all traveled down the canyon together.