//------------------------------// // Chapter 44 – Pick Your Poison // Story: Pokémon Eclipse // by moviemaster8510 //------------------------------// “Raichu,” Alice commanded, “Thunderbolt on Golbat!” “Archen,” Sam cried, “finish off Spinarak with Ancient Power!” Charging its cheeks, Raichu shot a heavy stream of electricity at a blue bat with purple wings and a mouth that spread across its entire body. Archen threw its wings up, causing several stones with fossils on their surfaces to crash through the top of the roof where it and Raichu were fighting on. Flapping its wings at a small green spider with yellow and black legs, the stones all shot out at it, each one hitting the Pokémon. At once, both the Spinarak and the Golbat fell back, limply rolling to two male grunts who stood shocked at their opponents’ strength. Both of them called their Pokémon back to their balls before one of them walked up to them, reaching into his pocket. “Congrats, guys.” He handed them a slip of paper. “So what this is your first, second…” “Third win,” Sam immediately answered. “Well, I guess I wasn’t going to be wrong all the way. Here you go, yo.” Alice took the paper from his hand, pulling out two other folded slips from her own pockets. Organizing them neatly atop each other, Alice tilted them up towards the sun, the light allowing the images on the other two sheets to bleed through the top. Alice grimaced to see that not only were these dots placed in seemingly random spots on the stepping-stone grid, but there were none on the first row at all. The second grunt spoke up. “Yo, so I’m guessing you’re still pretty held back?” “Yep.” Alice quickly folded the papers back up into her pocket, mildly defeated. “So we’re going to have a fourth battle?” Sam asked. Alice shrugged before walking to the stairway entrance. “Maybe not. Thanks guys.” “Good luck!” Both grunts waved Sam and Alice off as they both went to the stairs. Plumeria stood behind the glass doors of the center balcony of the mansion as she watched Sam and Alice approach the moat. Plumeria widened her stance, readying herself to meet them downstairs if they were to cross. Down below, Sam and Alice examined the first row of stones, trying to find any telltale signs that would betray the sinkers from the sturdies. As Plumeria continued watching them look at the moat, she moved her foot back with the other, sighing with the knowledge that she’d still be there a while. “Okay, so…” Sam kept his eye on one of the stones. “How do you want to do this?” “Well, I’d just figure we–” Alice hopped to a stone and planted her feet, keeping her arms up to maintain her balance. Sam gasped through his teeth as he anticipated his sister’s legs sinking down, only to relax himself once she had maintained her footing. “How did you know?” Sam wondered, still a bit shaken. “I… honestly didn’t.” Alice kept her eyes on the next stones ahead. “I just wung it.” “Where’s the next stone?” Alice pulled out the papers and held them to the light, frowning even wider. “It’s two rows down and then to the left. I could probably get there with a running start from this rock, but there aren’t any stones past that point that I’m sure are solid, and I’d have to keep going with that momentum and risk one being a sinker.” “Here, let me see those.” Sam came to his sister and looked at the sheets himself. A few stones down, there was a stone on the second row, another diagonally to the right on the fourth row, and then another one straight across on the seventh and final row. Sam grinned, giving the sheets back to Alice. “I might be able to make that.” “Make what? Sam?” “You’ll see, just watch!” “Sam, wait!” Sam wouldn’t listen as he ran at an angle at the first solid stone, leading with his left foot. Making it, he leapt across to the second stone, ready to hit it from the side to get the angle. Making it again, he then pushed off as hard as he could to the last stone, only for his foot to slip off the second and send him tumbling into the moat sludge. “SAM!” Alice cried, watching her brother get fully submerged. At that moment, a blob rose out from the spot where Sam fell and raced across the moat back to the other side, tossing Sam and a piece of the moat with it. Sam wiped as much of the sludge off of him as possible as the blob transformed into a Grimer, which looked eager to battle Sam for falling onto it. “Play stupid games…” Sam quietly said to himself as he tossed out a Poké Ball. “Go, Archen!” Sam’s stony prehistoric bird emerged from his ball, facing the Grimer with a proud sneer as it held its clawed wings up. “Okay, Archen,” Sam shouted with a point, “hit the Grimer with Bulldoze!” Archen charged at the Grimer with its wings held over the ground, its speeds picking up the mud and dirt on the ground and fanning the mud at its target. Behind the muddy curtain, Archen could not see nor hear a clap and a subsequent ball of green gunk shoot out through the attack and strike Archen in the face, forcing it to tumble to a stop. The wave continued on, hitting the Grimer hard and nearly throwing it back into the moat. As both Pokémon got back up, Sam tensed with worry as he saw Archen convulse, its entire body pulsing with purple splotches on its body. “No, Archen!” Disheartened by Sam’s cries, Archen half-heartedly positioned itself for another attack. “Don’t give up, buddy! You can finish him! Use Acrobatics!” Archen charged once again at Grimer, who awaited the bird’s advance. Grimer wound its arms back once again for another Gunk Shot, and with a clap, it sent another blob of itself back out at Archen. Archen, baring its fangs, leapt up into a series of flips and twists, avoiding the attack below. On its way down, it swung its wing up, striking the Grimer beneath the jaw. Alice and Sam triumphantly watched as Grimer was thrown back into the moat where it sank to rejoin the others inside. Sam shuddered again as he saw Archen swoon, just barely catching itself with its claws. “Hold on, Archen! I’m coming!” Swinging his bag around and sliding to him on his knees, he pulled out both an Antidote and a Super Potion with both hands. He first sprayed the Antidote over the purple spots on Archen’s body until they had all disappeared. He then tossed the Antidote away before spraying the Super Potion on his Pokémon’s body. Having healed up, Archen excitedly perched onto Sam’s shoulder and nuzzled its coarse face against Sam’s. Alice walked up to him, annoyed. “I told you to wait and you did it anyway!” Sam stood up with Archen, looking to his sister through the corner of his eye. “If I didn’t slip, I would have made it.” “Yeah, I’m certain you would have, but I don’t have as long of legs as you, and one of them isn’t made to be overworked, so unless one of those other stones before were sturdy, I wouldn’t have made that jump.” “Okay, I’m sorry, you’re right. If it’s all the same to you, I say we just take on the last team. I think I used my last Antidote there, and I don’t want to risk poisoning more Pokémon before we face the Totem Pokémon.” Alice nodded a single time. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Now let’s go; I think I know where they’re hiding.” As Alice jogged back toward the town, Sam allowed Archen to perch on his arm before taking out its Poké Ball and returning it inside. He then ran to catch up with his sister. Alice opened the door to the building they first entered upon arriving in Po Town. The fireplace was still lit, but there wasn’t a soul in sight save for them. Sam glanced around. “You think those same guys are–” “We only saw six people at the moat before the trial started,” Alice explained, “and those two in here ran upstairs to get ready. Yes, I think they’re here.” Spotting the stairs, the two briskly walked across the room and went up each step two at a time. Reaching the top, they found the male and female grunt standing at the end of a barren, wooden room with the last map piece pinned to the back. “Hey, it’s about time you two showed up!” The pink-haired grunt greeted. “What, did you actually try getting across early?” Her blue-haired partner added. The silence between Sam and Alice was enough of an answer. “Haha, whoops! Slip-sliding is no way to go, so now you’ll just have to battle with us, yo!” He then took out a Poké Ball. “Go, Salandit!” The pink-haired grunt tossed her ball at the same time. “Go, Mareanie!” Along with the small Salandit that appeared from the grunt’s ball, another Pokémon joined its side, appearing as a purple stalk with two tired, yellow eyes, a row of small jangled fangs that curled past its lips, and ten blue, spiny tentacles that draped off the top of its head. “Whoa.” Alice pulled out her Pokédex. “Never seen this thing before.” “Mareanie,” the Pokédex recited, “the Brutal Star Pokémon. It plunges the poison spike on its head into its prey. When the prey has weakened, Mareanie deals the finishing blow with its 10 tentacles.” “Okay then.” Alice threw out a Poké Ball. “Go, Mudbray!” Out from Alice’s ball, her brown donkey landed on the floor and kept its sights between both the grunts’ Pokémon. Sam threw out his ball next. “Go, Archen!” Once Archen was freed from its ball and joined Mudbray’s side, Alice glanced to her brother to open her mouth, but was interrupted. “You brought out a Pokémon weak to water too, so don’t start lecturing me!” “I was…” Alice awkwardly flexed a pointing finger at the enemy Pokémon. “…just going to say to take out Mareanie first.” “Oh… sorry.” “You’ll be sorry alright!” The male grunt shouted. “Salandit, hit Mudbray and Archen with Poison Gas!” With a deep inhale, the Salandit violently expelled a wave of purple fumes from its mouth, which sprayed over Sam and Alice’s Pokémon, who quickly began to cough hard with it tickling and then burning their throats. When the gas subsided, both Mudbray and Archen were both covered in purple spots and looking significantly weaker. “No! Not again!” Sam clenched his fists and pointed out. “Archen, hit Mareanie with Acrobatics!” With gusto, Archen ran full speed at the Pokémon and before it could run into it, it dug its wing underneath its tentacles and yanked upwards, exposing its underside. Continuing its momentum, Archen flipped around and kicked the Mareanie up into the air with its talons. “Nice one, Sam!” Alice yelled. “Mudbray, hit them both now with Bulldoze!” Archen hopped up off the ground and flew a safe distance up. Mudbray charged between the Salandit and Mareanie and threw a wave of mud from the ground onto them. Instantly, the Salandit was struck back and rolled to its grunt’s feet, already physically spent. The Mareanie, upon landing, dug into the floor with the base of its body and the spikes at the end of its tentacles, allowing it to hold its ground as the wave swept into it. The pink-haired grunt looked to her Pokémon as it parted its front tentacles away to reveal its face. “Don’t worry, my ‘mon! We’ll avenge him! Mareanie, hit Archen with Venoshock!” The purple tips at the ends of the tentacles began to sweat, and with a lean forward, the Mareanie whipped its tentacles out at Archen, flinging poison at it that struck into it like spears, sending it down to the ground. “Archen! Are you okay?” Sam fretted as Archen weakly got back up, frightened over succumbing to the poison. “That’s okay, we got this! Hit Mareanie with Ancient Power!” With a weak shout, Archen threw its wings up and brought several fossils up through the floorboards. With a fan of its wings, the stones quickly floated into the Mareanie, several hitting its tentacles while a couple hit its face. “Let’s get this over with,” Alice exclaimed. “Mudbray, finish off Mareanie with High Horsepower!” Mudbray ran out at the Mareanie, who fearfully closed its tentacles back up. Mudbray was undeterred, whipping its back end around and kicking the Pokémon into the back wall, also managing to dislodge the pin holding the paper, causing both it and the Mareanie to tumble to the floor. With a huff, both grunts called their Pokémon back with their Poké Balls. “Hah,” the blue hair grunt exhaled. “Good effort.” “Nice teamwork, Mareanie!” The pink-haired grunt turned back around to face Alice as she approached. “Welp, looks like you both won. Here, as promised.” The grunt turned back and picked the paper off the floor before handing it to Alice, the two shaking hands with their free hands. Alice was suddenly distracted by the cries of Mudbray behind her, who began to sway to the effects of its poisoning. “Oh, shi– right! Coming!” Alice ran back and pulled out an Antidote and Potion from her bag, spraying both on her Pokémon and affected areas. Sam began spraying Archen with another Super Potion as he cradled it, but the Pokémon looked miserably bemused as its purple splotches wouldn’t go away. Alice was finishing healing her Pokémon and giving it affection before Sam called to her. “You don’t happen to have any more Antidotes, do you?” Alice continued petting Mudbray. “No, that was my last one too.” “Oh… Any Full Heals? Pecha Berries?” “I don’t have any of those things. I’m sorry.” Sam brightened back up. “Hold on! There was a Pokémon Center on the other end of town! We can–” “Oh, man, she didn’t tell you?” The blue-haired grunt interrupted. “Sheesh, we’re all a little rusty today.” “Tell us what?” “The Pokémon Center,” the pink-haired grunt clarified. “It’s a no-go zone to trainers in the middle of the trial. I mean, you could go there and heal your boy up, but you and your sis would have to call it quits.” “I have a poisoned Pokémon on me! What are we supposed to do?” “You are just going to have to deal with it until we can hit up the Pokémon Center afterwards,” Alice hissed. “I don’t want to sound like a bitch right now, but you have to make the decision. Either we redo the trial and lose daylight on finding Twilight’s friends, or Archen will just have to tough it out.” Sam looked down at the Pokémon, who, despite the despair and agony on its face, tried to encourage Sam with its eyes. With a hard, painful breath, Sam looked into Archen’s face. “You think you can handle it?” Sam asked. “You can be the last Pokémon out so it won’t be as hard. Deal?” Archen weakly nodded to Sam before convulsing, their deal reluctantly struck. Sam pulled a Potion from his bag and sprayed Archen once more before getting out its Poké Ball. “Thanks a lot. We can do this.” The red beam of the ball brought the bird back inside. “Thanks again.” The grunts gave Sam and Alice a farewell salute. Once Sam put the ball back on his belt, he shared a look to his sister, who pulled out the remaining three sheets from her pocket to add to the fourth. With nothing more to do, the two of them went down the stairs to exit the building. Sam and Alice reached the edge of the moat once again. Unbeknownst to them, Plumeria turned back from the balcony and headed further inside. Holding the four papers to the orange sunlight, she quickly began to run her fingers between the black dots to the other side of the moat, finding a path. “Okay, Sam. This time, follow my lead.” She stuffed the papers into her pockets as she eyeballed her path, ensuring certainty. With a placement in her footing, she began to run. Leaping over the first row of stones, she put her foot on one in the second row before leaping to one two rows down and a stone to the right. With a weaker hop, she landed on a stone one space diagonally to the left. She then jumped straight across to the seventh row and landed on the stone there, able to walk to the other side. “You got that?” She asked back. “I… I think so.” Before he could think more about it, Sam took a running start. Alice breathed in hard as he hit the first stone she did, but relaxed more and more when he got to the next stone right, then left, and then straight across with complete confidence. Alice pinched the bridge of her nose. “Why would you do that if you didn’t know?” “Relax! I knew! Jeez, so uptight!” Sam smugly strolled his way to the front door of the mansion, his sister begrudgingly following him. “That wasn’t funny! We don’t need you slipping up again!” “Yep, I guess it’s not funny only when I do it.” Without another word, Sam and Alice each pulled a side of the door open, revealing a massive, empty carpeted foyer with a large grand staircase in the back that branched off to both sides and lead to a wrap-around balcony on the floor above. They then looked at the midsection of the stairway, finding a pedestal similar to the one at the Verdant Caverns standing beneath a metal “S” drawn into the style of a skull, which reflected the light from the balcony window to the floor. As they took their first steps toward the stairs, the doorway banged shut behind them. Turning around they found that the doors had indeed closed themselves. “So, you finally made it.” Plumeria’s voice echoed from the top of the stairway, and jerking back around, Sam and Alice saw her slowly coming down to the midsection. “I saw you try and make it over early. It was an admirable attempt, but hopefully your Pokémon aren’t too beaten down now to handle what’s coming next!” Plumeria then snapped her fingers, the crack ringing harshly through the air. Just then, a small door on the top stair slid open, and slowly from it a glob of thick green, yellow, and pink sludge began to ooze out of it and pour itself down the stairs. Once it reached the bottom, a pair of massive arms slid out of it as its midsection split open into a gaping blue-tongued mouth. Jagged stones stuck out of its body, the ones around its mouth giving it the appearance of teeth. The creature roared at Sam and Alice, it’s already towering physique frightening the two. “So that’s the Alolan Muk,” Sam growled. “But they won’t be alone!” Plumeria shouted back down. Emerging from each side of the hallway on the second level, two Pokémon rushed out and leapt off the balcony to join the Totem Muk’s side. One Pokémon had a similar appearance to Mareanie, though its body was the same exact same size and its tentacles were flatter and longer, holding itself up like a tent. The second Pokémon appeared like a torn green trash bag with a sharp-toothed mouth between two large eyes covering a lumpy sandy-brown body. Its right arm ended with a stubby hand with three pipes for fingers, and the other arm ended simply with a bigger tube. “Garbodor…” Alice took out her Pokédex again and aimed at the other Pokémon, “and that must be the evolved form of Mareanie.” “Toxapex,” the Pokédex said, “the Brutal Star Pokémon. To attack, this Pokémon sends toxic spikes flying at its enemies. Ones that come close get mown down by the claws on its feet.” “Yep.” Just then, a purple circle formed to the left of the Garbodor, and rising out from it was a cheeky-looking purple apparition with a jagged disembodied head and two large clawed hands. “And a Haunter.” Sam suddenly noticed more shapes beginning to appear from the hallways, making him warier. Lining up around the balcony and leaning over to watch were dozens of grunts, each of their eyes trained menacingly onto the two trainers. They both looked back at Plumeria, who smiled, happy to see the effects of her audience working their magic. “So the gang’s all here then.” Plumeria pointed to the pedestal behind her with her thumb. “You’re going after the Poisonium Z. In order to get it, you will have to defeat this Muk and its buddies together.” “So,” Alice began to realize, “that means that–” “In order for you to complete this trial, both of you will need to have at least one Pokémon each that can fight. Once one of you runs out, I will declare the trial forfeited. Knowing that, do you still wish to face them?” “Like I have a choice at this point.” Sam clutched a Poké Ball and threw it out. “Go, Doublade!” Alice threw out a ball herself. “Let’s do this, Raichu!” Doublade and Raichu both appeared from their balls and faced the four Pokémon there, the grunts above cheering and hollering. Outside, the clouds began to roll in over the sun, cutting off the light shining into the room and bathing it in partial darkness. Plumeria took a step back and leaned against the wall, watching comfortably from her spot. “This is going to be good.” “Let’s get rid of the Haunter first!” Sam shouted. “You go ahead! I’m going after Toxapex!” Alice threw a pointed finger at her target. “Raichu, use Thunderbolt!” Raichu brought its arms in and tensed its muscles, heavy lightning thrusting out from its cheeks and hitting the top of the Toxapex’s head, electricity showering all over its body. The Haunter grinned as it held its hands apart, a shadowy orb enlarging inside of the space. With a push and a single bassy laugh, the Haunter hurled its Shadow Ball at Doublade, hitting it dead in the center of its cross. The Totem Muk then chucked its arm out, a glob of dark-brown mud being slung off of it and hitting Doublade dead center, forcing it to support itself on the tips of its blades as it tried to quickly recover. “Doublade!” Sam shouted. “Hang in there!” The Garbodor aimed its right arm out to its left, and from the three tubes, a sticky purple liquid sprayed out from them and covered the entire floor of the battlefield up to Sam and Alice’s feet. Honedge lifted itself back up just as the liquid spread beneath it. Alice then noticed small objects inside the slime, small orbs with large barbs. “Shit,” she hissed. “Toxic Spikes!” The Toxapex pulled itself toward Doublade, sliding easily on the slime. With its tentacles raised, it slapped them into Doublade with heavy watery splashes accompanying them. The force was hard enough to knock Doublade to the floor, its cross broken with both swords lying in different directions. “Doublade, no!” Sam looked back into the Toxapex’s taunting grin as it slid back to its side, using its tentacles to place the poisoned spikes back from where it had originally pushed them away. Doublade then began picking itself back up, slowly reforming its cross formation. “Okay, you got this? Good. Now hit Haunter with Shadow Claw!” On Sam’s command, Doublade shot itself out toward Haunter and with a dual glowing slash, Haunter was struck and thrown into a hallway to the right of the staircase. As it floated back into position, Alice nodded with what she knew she had to do. “It’s on the ropes now,” she huffed. “And we can’t let them keep their numbers! Raichu, use Psychic on Haunter!” The end of Raichu’s tail began to light up, and tilting it so the flat bottom faced Haunter, Haunter began to glow bright with magenta as well. With a flare in Raichu’s tail, Haunter was suddenly stretched up as its outline fizzled and cracked, the Haunter screaming in pain. Once Raichu regained balance and stood flat on its tail, Haunter floated back to the ground, unwilling to make its next attack. Cries of awe were audible amongst the crowd of grunts. “Yes! Thank you, Rai–” Sam’s celebrations were cut off short as Doublade was suddenly assaulted with a flurry of yellow-glowing pins that pelted into it. Despite each one seemingly bouncing harmlessly against it, Doublade was still pushed over, limply falling flat to the floor. Sam shuddered as his Doublade’s eyes shut, fainting on the spot. On the other side, Toxapex smiled at its victory, a new set of spikes appearing on its tentacles. Both Alice and Raichu turned and gasped at their fallen comrade. “No, Doublade!” In their distraction, they didn’t see as the Totem Muk’s outstretched arm reached over and wrapped its entire hand around Raichu, quickly pulling it away. “Raichu!” Sam and Alice both screamed. Raichu cried out for help as the Totem Muk opened its mouth and held Raichu inside, its stone-teeth then clamping down as Raichu screeched in pain. Meanwhile, Garbodor stuck its left-hand tube into its mouth and poured a hefty amount of purple liquid into its mouth, its body engorging. Finally, Raichu managed to pull itself out of the Totem Muk’s grasp and floated back to Alice, who winced to see her Pokémon’s body already so beaten up. Sam took out his next Poké Ball and gave it a hard look before throwing it out. “Go, Fomantis!” Alice and Plumeria both looked stunned as Fomantis emerged from the ball, landing down on the liquid and getting its foot caught on one of the many countless barbs. Fomantis whined as it kicked the barb away, only to moan as deep purple spots began appearing all over its body. “Sam!” Alice shouted. “I know you lucked out at the Wela Volcano, but this is a really stupid move on your part!” “I’d have to send her out anyway!” Sam then straightened his body imposingly. “Besides, my next target… is Toxapex!” Alice’s face lit up with realization, suddenly understanding what she had to do. “Okay, I got you. Raichu, hit Toxapex with Thunderbolt!” With a massive surge of electricity flooding out of its body, the stream washed over Toxapex and seemed to greatly hurt it. The Totem Muk responded with another Mud Bomb hurled off its body, nailing Raichu in the gut. As it doubled over, Toxapex quickly spun itself around, slinging dozens of spikes about that blasted Raichu into the wall behind the door. Alice turned around and watched helplessly as it fell onto its stomach, showing no attempt to catch itself. Alice cupped her hands over her mouth, trying to hide the horror she felt at the terrible final blow. Sam bared his teeth at the remaining three Pokémon. “You’ll pay for that one. Fomantis, hit Toxapex with Leaf Blade!” Fomantis sprung into action, sprinting out at its target while nimbly avoiding the barbs on the floor. The Garbodor, angered by its approach, contracted the muscles in its stomach until it’s head bulged, suddenly spitting out a glob of toxic phlegm that was headed right where Fomantis was running. Kicking forward, Fomantis slid through the slime and avoided the Sludge Bomb as it passed overhead. The grunts surrounding them from above cheered the maneuver. “Yeah, atta’ girl!” Sam shouted with a punch. Toxapex looked frightened as Fomantis approached with nothing to save it. Winding its right arm out, Fomantis dove inside Toxapex’s tentacle canopy and thrust forward, slicing one of its cheeks. As it slid back, Fomantis skated back through the slime to rejoin its next partner. With the poisoned spots pulsing, Fomantis tensed up and fell over on its side, whining as it became weaker. “Don’t worry, girl, I have a plan.” Alice finished calling her Raichu back before replacing its ball with another. “Your turn, Noibat!” As Noibat flew out of the energy from the ball, it circled over its surroundings, making instant note of the slicked floors and the poison barbs covering it. Keeping airborne, Noibat flew back to rejoin Fomantis’s side. “Okay, so now what can they do?” Sam wondered aloud. The Garbodor expanded once again, ready to try another Sludge Bomb, while the Totem Muk reeled its right arm back for a punch. The Garbodor spit out its next attack at Noibat while the Totem Muk aimed its punch at Fomantis. The entire fist separated from its arm, hurling itself at Fomantis, who was too stunned to avoid it as it rammed into it, sweeping it away. The Garbodor’s poison mound knocked itself into Noibat’s head, slightly disorienting it as it screeched in discomfort, only to quickly maintain its air balance. A new hand formed onto the Totem Muk’s wrist as it looked to see if its attack did the trick. Sam shuddered a laugh as Fomantis weakly, but eventually emerged from the pile of mud that was left in the corner of the back wall. Plumeria watched as Fomantis went back to its spot and panted, still finding the energy to keep fighting, making her smile. “Okay, we got this now!” Sam shouted. “Let’s take out that Toxapex once and for all!” “Sounds like a plan!” Alice pointed her finger at the aquatic Pokémon. “Noibat, hit Toxapex with Super Fang!” “And then finish it off with Leaf Blade!” Noibat swooped down as Fomantis hopped and skipped over toward the Toxapex, their fangs and arms ready to strike. The Toxapex quickly draped its tentacles over its body, shielding itself from the oncoming blows. “That won’t work!” Sam pumped his fists. “We got this!” Noibat’s mouth opened wide as Fomantis readied its swing. Just then, the spikes on the Toxapex glowed bright purple, Noibat taking one in the roof of its mouth as it attempted to clamp down as Fomantis was prodded in the stomach, its eyes bugging out over the sudden sharpness of it. Noibat flew away fearfully, only to begin coughing and gagging loudly. After spitting out an unnaturally large amount of saliva, Noibat’s face and wings began to glow with the same deep purple that Fomantis was. “Noibat!” Alice screamed. “What happened to it?” “That’s Toxapex’s true secret weapon after all!” A blue-haired grunt up top spoke in. “Baneful Bunker,” another answered. “Pretty sweet, huh?” Sam watched as the splotches on Fomantis’s body began to fade before it limply fell onto its back, losing the will to continue. “No, it’s pretty much the exact opposite of sweet. Good effort, Fomantis!” Sam called his Fomantis back into its Poké Ball, returning it to its belt and feeling the balls of his last two Pokémon. “Not the most ideal Pokémon in this situation.” Alice and Plumeria listened into Sam’s external planning as it stared vengefully at the Toxapex. “But I have to imagine that thing’s nearly finished up, and this will finally take it down!” Sam grabbed his ball and threw it. “Go, Salandit!” Sam’s black lizard popped out and landed on the ground, it’s back foot stepping on a poisoned barb. With an unpleasant hiss, Salandit nonchalantly kicked the barb off and faced the three remaining Pokémon. Plumeria nodded and smiled, expecting this. “Awesome!” Sam shouted. “Now, finish off that Toxapex with Dragon Rage!” With its mouth filling with blue, Salandit spat out a blue aura that soared over the floor and left a clean, parted path from the slime where it passed over. The attack hit the Toxapex with a warm blast as it was flung to its side and rolled down the hallway to the staircase’s left before stopping. It lifted three of its tentacles up in a futile attempt to get back up, only for it to settle back down and accept its defeat. “Yes! Nice job, guys!” Alice then watched as the Garbodor, looking anxious, filled its mouth up with purple liquid from its left hand tube, fattening up further. “Your Stockpile isn’t going to do you any good against this! Noibat, hit Garbodor with Super Fang!” Noibat rose up on a few wingbeats before shooting back down, it’s mouth slowly opening in anticipation. The Garbodor could only tremble before it instinctively put its right arm over its head as its only means of protection. Noibat ignored this and went at the Pokémon’s upper chest, biting hard enough to puncture a hole in its green upper body, causing spurts of purple liquid to shoot out. The Totem Muk turned to its wailing partner and reeled its arm back. Once it threw its punch and another disembodied fist out, the Garbodor leaned as far back as its still bloated body could allow, leaving Noibat exposed to the oncoming Gunk Shot. Alice gasped. “Watch out!” The attack knocked Noibat off of the Garbador as the fist grazed its stomach. Noibat was slammed against the wall by the attack and slowly slid down with the leftover grime. A bunch of grunts cheered as Noibat could only muster enough strength to roll onto its back so it could breathe before closing its eyes and resting. “You’re amazing, Noibat!” Alice quickly aimed its Poké Ball at it. “You can rest now.” After returning Noibat into its ball, Alice replaced it with another, taking a meditative deep breath before smiling. “Now that we got that out of the way. Go, Mudbray!” Tossing her next ball out, Mudbray came out from it and landed on the barbed slime, instantly hopping up and kicking its hooves out upon landing on the spikes. Dark purple spots appeared over Mudbray’s legs, belly, and neck, Mudbray groaning in discomfort as its stomach violently growled. “I’m so sorry, girl!” Alice called. “We got this though!” “We sure do.” Sam quickly replaced the Fightinium Z in his Z-Ring with Firium Z before crossing his arms together, the flash of light brightening the room up for just an instant. The grunts were awash with amazement as Sam and Salandit continued the ritual, both of them putting their arms to their side and crossing them out before fanning up with their hands and finishing with their left hands on their right arm thrown down to aim at the Garbodor. Sam’s Z-Power flooded into Salandit as it surged with a bright aura, causing flames to erupt down its back. “Shit!” Plumeria pulled two Ultra Balls from her belt, throwing each one up each side of the stairway to the second floor. “Muk! Salazzle! Protect them!” On the top of the left stairway, a smaller Alolan Muk appeared from its ball, and from the other ball, a Salazzle stood guard, Plumeria running up the stairs to stand behind it. “Even with all that extra cushion,” Sam growled, “let’s see you try to survive this! Salandit! Hit Garbodor with Inferno Overdrive!” Salandit opened its mouth wide as flames danced around in a sphere and enlarged to nearly twice its size, the fires on its back fizzling down. With a hack, Salandit shot out the massive fireball that hit the Garbodor dead center, causing it to get engulfed in a fiery explosion that shot straight into the ceiling, the Totem Muk blocking as much of its face as it could. The flames spread up the staircase and branched to the sides, the Muk and Salazzle ready to intercept them. “Muk, Protect! Salazzle, Flamethrower!” The Muk rose itself up into a wall and blocked the flames from going any further up while the Salazzle shot a stream of fire at its oncoming flames, creating a controlled burn that kept the fires from getting no farther than the Salazzle’s body. The ceiling flames raced across, forcing the grunts to fall to their butts and lay low, shielding their faces from the heat. “This dude is cray!” A blue-haired grunt shouted. “That Salandit is cray-cray!” A pink-haired grunt retorted. In an instant, the flames dissipated, a blackened, soot-covered Garbodor left standing there. With a single cough of smoke, it weakly slumped over, Sam and Alice clutching their fists as they hoped to see it fall. However, it stood back up straight again and began to squeeze its gut in, getting noticeably slimmer as it did so. When it finally went down to its normal size, the Garbodor energetically shook the black dust off itself, facing Salandit and Mudbray with new vigor. “Dammit!” Sam hissed. “Not only did that not finish it, it used Swallow!” “No, that was good, Sam!” Alice breathed excitedly. “Now it’s not as strong against our attacks. I think we can do this! Mudbray, finish Garbodor off with High Horsepower!” As the grunts went back to their original spots, they watched from above as Mudbray galloped at the once-again terrified Garbodor. Spinning itself around, the slide of the poison spray beneath its hooves keeping its speed up, Mudbray bucked the Garbodor in the gut, sending it flying into the end of the right stair banister, where it pinballed off and slid to the fainted Haunter at the end of the room, lying still with it. “There we go!” Alice shouted. “Only one left! And we still have four Pokémon on our side!” Plumeria came down the stairs with Salazzle, Muk coming down with her. “But they haven’t even attempted to land a hit on it yet. We’ll see if they can do this.” The Totem Muk, letting out a roar of rage, threw its arm out at Salandit, a small glob of mud coming off and hitting it in the face. Sam watched nervously as the mud splattered into the wall, Salandit’s head sticking out of it. With a final, tired cry, Salandit let its head down and fainted. “No… Dammit!” Sam took out Salandit’s Poké Ball and returned it inside. “Not you, girl. You were awesome. I’m just nervous for our newest guy…” With a defeatist reluctance, Sam put Salandit’s ball back and took out his last, giving it one last look before he tossed it out. “Go, Archen!” Archen emerged from its ball, Plumeria gasping to already see splotches of purple on its body. Archen looked back up at Sam, frightened by the Totem Muk’s imposing size. “It’s okay, bud,” he cooed, “that’s the last one. We got rid of the rest for you. Now, let’s take him down so we can get you better!” Archen, invigorated by this prospect, held its wings up and screeched as loudly as its tired lungs could allow. “Come on,” Alice said. “Let’s call this one together!” “I like what you’re thinking! Okay, Archen!” “Mudbray!” “Hit Muk with Bulldoze!” Mudbray began the charge, creating a monsoon of mud ahead of it as it plowed forward. Archen flew up and then swooped down above Mudbray’s wave, its wings picking up more mud and doubling its size. The wave slammed into the Totem Muk as it and much of the wave swept its way up the stairs, stopping just before the Poisonium Z pedestal. The Totem Muk thrashed its way out the sheet of dirt it had been submerged in before rolling down back to the bottom. It then flexed its arms as its entire body began to drip itself to the floor, the Totem Muk beginning to appear less and less viscous. With another deep shout, Muk threw its arms up, its form appearing like suspended water, much to Sam and Alice’s amazement. “Was that…” Sam wondered aloud. “Yes.” Alice straightened her glasses, preparing for the challenge ahead. “Acid Armor.” “Still, that double Bulldoze should have already done a number on it. We don’t have much left! Archen, hit Muk with Ancient Power!” From the mud still on the floor, Archen summoned a half-dozen fossils with its raised wings. With a clap of them aimed at Muk, they all shot out, each one hitting it. The fossils easily penetrated through the Totem Muk’s body, leaving six large holes that left it looking nothing like its former self. Alice then saw the Totem Muk begin to reform, gasping at the strategy that popped into her head. “Quick, while it can’t see you, use High Horsepower, Mudbray!” Mudbray charged forward and spun around, ready to hit the Totem Muk in its eyeless head. With an effortful buck, Mudbray and Alice were both terrified to see the head open a hole for Mudbray’s legs to go through. Before it could reel them back in, the Totem Muk reformed its head around Mudbray’s legs and opened up its newly formed mouth, its eyes emerging to look down on its target. Mudbray whinnied and screamed as it tried to pull itself free from the Totem Muk’s hold, only for the mouth and the stones on the edges to bite hard down on it, Mudbray screaming even louder. “Mudbray, no!” Alice howled. Archen’s eyes quivered in fear as its stomach churned, making it double over in both stress and pain. Muk then forcefully spit Mudbray out, sliding it back to Alice, where, to Alice’s relief, it stood up quickly. As it readied itself for another go, it’s legs suddenly began to buckle and Mudbray to retch with its mouth closed. Breathing quickly, Alice was powerless to watch as her Pokémon tipped over and limply fell to its side, its purple spots disappearing. “Oh, god…” Alice solemnly returned Mudbray inside its Poké Ball. “It’s okay, girl. You did your best.” Alice put the ball back onto her belt and grabbed her final one, resting the top of it onto her forehead. “We don’t have much left. Don’t let Archen down, okay? Now let’s end this, Rockruff!” Tossing her ball out, Rockruff popped out from it and landed on a patch of dried mud from the last attack. Alice and Sam were both confused to see Rockruff yip and hop back, holding up its front left paw as it whimpered. Spotting the glimmer of a barb inside the mud, Alice let out a mixture of a sob and a laugh as deep purple spots began to appear beneath her Pokémon’s fur. “Of course one made it to the surface.” “Come on!” A blue-haired grunt shouted to the Totem Muk. “You got ‘em on the ropes!” “Kick their asses!” A pink-haired grunt jeered. More and more grunts began to heckle Archen and Rockruff and egg the Totem Muk on, the poison feelings in their guts and limbs only adding insult to injury. “Just ignore them, Archen!” Sam shouted. “They’re only giving you shit because we’re close. Now, try and finish Muk off with Ancient Power!” “Sam!” Alice shouted. Archen, screaming through the insults of the grunts, brought its wings up and pulled several fossils from the ground, and with a flap of its wings, sent them flying into Muk, who, like last time, let them shoot through its body, quickly reforming its body good as new. Alice turned to her brother. “Why didn’t you finish him off with Bulldoze! You had the shot!” “No!” Sam faced the Totem Muk. “I’m not going to take down Muk if it means taking Rockruff with it!” Alice winced. His care for her Pokémon was palpable, but so was his reservation. “Fine, we’ll try and finish this! Rockruff, use Rock Tomb!” Rockruff barked two times as its collar began to glow. At once, four small bell shaped rocks shot out from the white fur in its neck, quickly growing to the size of oil drums as they began to fall toward the Totem Muk. One by one, the stones struck Muk, each only splattering it across the floor until it was just series of small, technicolor puddles on the floor. Alice panted, feeling uneasy about the look of things. “Is it over? Did we get him?” As if to answer, each splatter of the Totem Muk began to recede back toward the bigger spot, its body forming over the stones as they began to break down in its sludge. Once all of it had rejoined, Muk’s eyes and limbs reformed as it let out a triumphant roar to the sky. “Oh no,” Sam mumbled. “Everybody, look out!” With a wave of its hand, the Totem Muk shot a Mud Bomb out at Rockruff, the attack too fast and big for Rockruff to avoid. The glob hit it in the head and chest, sending it rolling back to the wall. “ROCKRUFF!” Rockruff laid still at the corner of the wall, the Mud Bomb caked onto it. Plumeria stared at it for a few moments, waiting for the slightest twitch. Seeing nothing, she gave a disappointed sigh and rose her arm to make the announcement. She stopped herself upon hearing the Rockruff’s whine as it slowly got up. The grunts on the side of the balcony leaned over to watch as Rockruff rolled to its stomach and picked itself up with its paws. “Hot damn!” A pink-haired grunt wiped her brow. “That little puppy’s got spunk!” “Took that Mud Bomb like a champ!” A blue-haired grunt agreed. As it passed Alice, its step began to falter as its stomach groaned. Plumeria kept her hand up as she waited for Rockruff to fall over and not get back up. However, with trembling legs, it straightened itself back out and continued its walk. The grunts all sighed as Plumeria let her arm drop, knowing the battle was not quite yet over. The Totem Muk squinted and sneered, angered at the puppy’s perseverance. “Rockruff…” Alice began to sob joyfully. “You magnificent…” Just then, the clouds in the sky began to part, the afternoon sunlight streaming back through the balcony window, reflecting off the skull icon and onto the middle of the battlefield. Rockruff, mystified by the orange light shining there, let out a shrill howl as it ran into it with new vigor. Once it fully ran into the light, Rockruff glowed bright green as its body became a swirling green aura. “Rockruff!” Alice shouted. “You’re… no way!” “Woah!” A pink-haired grunt shouted. “This has never happened before!” “This is like the best day ever!” A blue-haired grunt pumped its arms and stomped about wildly in celebration. Rockruff began to transform, it’s small body elongating into a sleek, slender physique, its poofy tail whipping out thrice and growing larger each time. The fur around its collar also expanded out, four spikes shooting out from the corners as more fur expanded on the top and rounded over its head. After its snout elongated, Rockruff glowed brighter before the light shattered off of it. In Rockruff’s place was a Lycanroc with orange-brown fur with white legs and paws, the spines in the corner of its collar and the tip of its head crest colored black. With its evolution complete, it let out a louder, fuller-bodied howl, stunning Plumeria solid. “That’s… impossible!” Plumeria blinked hard, unsure if her eyes deceived her. “It became a Dusk-form… right here?!” Alice stared at her new Pokémon and the purple spots that continued to plague it. Despite this, Lycanroc stared back and expected her next move with direness in its eyes. Alice nodded as she reached into her vest pocket. “Yep. Right!” Taking her Rockium Z and putting it into her Z-Ring, she crossed her arms before her face. When the Z-Ring flared to life, Lycanroc stood on its hind legs, displaying uncanny balance as it matched its trainer’s motions. “I don’t care what tricks you think you have left.” Alice and Lycanroc put their arms down and crossed them back out. “No way you’re surviving this!” Hopping into a squat, they then stood back up and flexed their arm muscles before they hopped into a sideways lunge and flexed their arms once more. Z-Power erupted from Alice’s back and quickly swirled its way into Lycanroc’s body as it regained its four-pawed stature. “Alright, boy!” Alice shouted. “Get ready for it. Now, finish Muk off with Continental Crush!” With the black tips of its collar glowing, Lycanroc let out another howl as the mud on the floor began to fly off and into the ceiling, forming into large stones that began to accumulate and form their way down directly over the Totem Muk, whose wide eyed stare implied it saw its demise coming. More stones began to rise out through the carpet and continue enlarging the small mountain above. With nowhere to run, the Totem Muk put its arms over its head as the still-forming boulder forced down onto it, flattening it until there was no space between the floor and ceiling. The cracks in the rock began to glow and spread all over, the entire structure soon glowing white before it exploded out into numerous small fragments that quickly disintegrated as they were hurled through the air. The grunts looked down at the Totem Muk, whose eyes were shut and it’s mouth open wide, its body stretched to the thinness of a crepe. It showed no signs of movement or intention to keep battling. “Holy shit!” A blue-haired grunt whispered. “What an ending!” “That was so dope!” another agreed. Satasfied, Plumeria smiled as she rose her arm up. “The Totem Muk and its allies have been defeated! Sam and Alice have cleared the Poison Trial!” “Yeah! Come here, boy!” Alice squatted down with her arms outstretched, allowing Lycanroc to run to her and tackle her, excitedly licking her face and wagging its tail. Sam, overcome with relief, fell to sit on the floor, taking deep breaths to slow down his heartbeat. His rest was promptly interrupted as Archen chirped and ran into his lap, hugging his waist with its wings. Sam returned the hug with his hands gently laid onto its back. “I knew you’d be alright.” “You two.” Sam and Alice looked up to Plumeria as she approached them. “Let’s hurry and get you to the Center. Your Pokémon are all a little worse for wear.” Both Lycanroc and Archen both squirmed as their poison hurt them both. Glad nonetheless for Plumeria’s approval, Sam and Alice quickly stood up, ready to follow Plumeria there. Inside the empty Pokémon center, save for Sam, Alice, Plumeria, and the eight grunts from the trial, Plumeria faced the two victorious trainers as she put her hands up to offer them something. “I went ahead and pulled these out for you.” Plumeria turned her hand over as Sam and Alice held their hands up, Plumeria dropping a purple Z-Crystal into each of them with a skull and X icon inside of it. “It’s the Poisonium Z. Now, let me teach you how to use it real quick.” Plumeria first crossed her arms in front of her face before swinging them down and crossing them back over. She then pulled her left arm to her torso and held a clawed fingered hand over her wrist and pulled up, finishing with a falling to her right knee and holding both arms out down to the right with both hands forming claws. As she stood back up, she then pulled two purple disks from her pants pocket, holding them in between her index and middle fingers. “Here’s another little something to help you on your journey. They’re the TMs for Poison Jab and Sludge Bomb.” Sam and Alice both took one, examining them. “Wow,” Sam replied. “Thanks a lot, Plumeria!” “Just think of it as an apology for keeping you here. Now go. You have friends to save.” “Thanks again. By the way, you wouldn’t happen to know if the Thrifty Megamart’s along the way?” Plumeria nodded. “It’s just west of the Haina Desert, which is where Nanu, Guzma, and Ace went off to.” “You’ve been a great help.” As Alice began her goodbyes to Plumeria and the grunts, Sam looked over to the back wall behind the counter, seeing a tank-top just like the ones the grunts wore hung up like concert merchandise. “Hey,” Sam said with a pointing thumb, “how much for the shirt?” “Yo, you want a souvie?” One of the blue-haired grunts asked, his eyes widening. “It’s ¥10,000 a pop.” Sam smirked as he fished into his jacket pocket and pulled out a single Comet Shard, something each grunt, even Plumeria, seemed surprised to see. “You got change?” Sam slipped the tank-top over his naked torso before putting his hands to his hips and admiring his new purchase. “Hey, looking sharp, kid!” A pink-haired grunt playfully teased. “And we should know!” A blue-haired grunt responded. “We do like to wear these, like, all the time!” “Okay, are we done here?” Alice crossed her arms, her stern tone breaking Sam out of his admiration. “Yep, we should get going now.” With Alice leading the way, Sam and Alice both ran to the exit of the Pokémon Center. “See ‘ya! Thanks for everything!” The grunts cheered and hollered their departure as Plumeria cooly crossed her arms, giving them a salute just as the doors began to close. “Yep. Later.” Outside, Sam and Alice pulled out their Ride Pagers and called out their Charizards. Both Sam and Alice sprung up onto them and climbed into their seats. “Okay, so where first?” Sam wondered. “Megamart or Desert?” Alice shrugged. “Well, if the Kahuna and two other trainers are already there, then they’re probably on top of it.” “You… you mean…” Alice smirked, confirming his thoughts. “Let’s go get your Doublade evolved!” Sam squeed with excitement as he pointed up to the sky. “Okay, Charizard, to the MegamAAAAAAA-!” Sam’s Charizard shot up into the air, climbing quickly on its wings to pass the top of the wall. Alice’s Charizard flew close behind them. With a dip over the wall to Po Town, Sam and Alice’s steeds picked up speed as they rounded the island eastward.