Everyone, having taken in the sights of Malie City, rendezvoused at the edge of the city, leading to a path that worked it's way around the mountain, "Alright, is everyone here?" Will asked. Everyone gave their affirmations. Lynn then smelled something sweet.
"Did someone get candy or something?" she asked.
"Well, I did treat Mareanie to a Malasada. I was pretty lucky, since he gave me half a dozen Malasadas for free, just by being the 100th customer this month," Lincoln replied. The sisters, apart from Lynn shifted uncomfortably at the irony at what he had just said. Lynn, however, scoffed.
"Yeah right. You probably got the misshapen ones they didn't want to sell. As if YOU could ever be considered lucky, Stinkcoln. You're Bad Luck, remember?" Lynn rudely snapped.
"No, they were perfectly shaped. Speaking of which, I found this under the bench Mareanie and I were sitting at," Lincoln said, showing them a Key Stone.
"My word! That's quite the find!" Fluttershy commented.
"I found a Key Stone too," Silver Spoon said, showing her find as well.
"We found one up near the garbage plant," Toby said, showing them his Key Stone.
"We found one too," Serenity whispered.
"So, what's all this 'Key Stone' stuff?" Lori asked.
"They are crucial pieces to something called 'Mega Evolution'. I'll explain it to you once we're up the mountain," Lisa replied.
"Here you go Serenity. Cool as Mega Evolution sounds, I don't think I'll be using it any time in the future," Lincoln said, giving Serenity the Key Stone he found.
"Thank you," Serenity squeaked, moving to the other side of her mother, in a shy manner, as they made their way along the path. Silver Spoon, much like the others from Ponyville, was rather curious about Lynn's fixation on calling her brother "Bad Luck".
"Lincoln, I hope this isn't prying too deep into your personal business, but what's the deal with all this 'Bad Luck' talk?" she asked. The Loud Sisters, except Lynn, who seemed to be peeved by someone poking their nose where it didn't belong, froze up. Lincoln sighed.
"Well, why don't we wait until we're at the top of the mountain? Then, I can tell you everything," Lincoln replied.
"All YOU are going to do is keep your mouth shut, you stupid jinx! What happened to us is a family issue! In other words, you're not turning them against us like you did with ALL of Royal Woods!" Lynn snapped harshly.
"Lynn, please. We've been traveling with these guys for days now. I think it's more than fair that they know what happened," Lincoln calmly retorted.
"Our brother is correct. We shouldn't withhold any secrets about that incident if we want them to trust us," Lisa added. The other sisters shared reluctant sentiments with their brother and brainy sister.
"Fine! But don't even think of making anything up!" Lynn seethed, grabbing Lincoln by the collar of his shirt.
"I'll just tell it like it happened," Lincoln replied, maintaining his calm demeanor. A shadow raced over them. Looking up, they all saw what looked to be a very large bird with blade like wings flying into a nearby bush. They son saw it was covered in all manner of scratches.
"What kind of Pokémon is that?" Luna asked.
"That's a Skarmory," Will replied.
"Skarmory, the Armor Bird Pokémon, a Steel and Flying Type. It nests in bramble bushes, which helps it's armor grow stronger. The armor rusts easily, so it takes shelter whenever it rains," Rotom explained. Skarmory then noticed the large group, but focused mostly on Lori.
"Skarmory can be very territorial around humans, so we should try and not disturb it," Will suggested, as the group walked past it. They soon came to what looked to be a bus stop, where some Team Skull grunts were loitering, including the Butt Grunt, "Looks like trouble."
"Yo, yo, yo! What are you boneheads lookin' at?!" the Butt Grunt taunted.
"Ain't none o' you chumps seen someone take a bus stop before?! Go steal your own!" another Grunt said, as they sent out a large group of Pokémon, including some Grimer, Zubat, Salandit, Rattata, Scraggy, and Trubbish.
"Well, this is going to be a problem," Toby commented, as he sent out all of his Pokémon, who were raring to go.
"We'll help too," Will said, as he sent out his Grimer, along with Marowak and Goodra. Fluttershy and Silver Spoon sent out Primarina, Pupitar, Steelix, Azumarill, and Magneton.
"I want in on this battle too!" Lynn said, sending out Gyarados, "Go get them Gyarados! Hydro Pump!" Lynn ordered, only to find no water attack. She turned to see Gyarados coiled up, facing a different direction, "HEY! I gave you an order!" Lynn stomped.
"Lynn, just leave this to them," Lori suggested, as the battle went under way. Needless to say, it was one sided in favor of our heroes, as Team Skull's Pokémon all fell one after the other.
"Oh come on!" the Butt Grunt yelled, as they all recalled their Pokémon, "WE WON'T FORGET THIS!" he yelled, as they ran off. It was then that Braixen, Charmeleon, Torracat, and Quilava all became engulfed in a volley of fire, which seemed to grow hotter, and bigger. When the flames dissipated, there stood four larger Fire Pokémon. Braixen had evolved into a larger fox Pokémon with it's fur grown all the way down to it's feet, giving it the appearance of a robe. Torracat had evolved into a tiger like wrestler Pokémon with a belt of fire around it's torso. Charmeleon had evolved into a Charizard, and finally, Quilava evolved into a larger weasel like Pokémon.
"Well, this certainly is lucky. Braixen, Charmeleon, and Quilava have all evolved into Delphox, Charizard, and Typhlosion, though I'm not too sure what Torracat is now," Will commented.
"Delphox, the Fox Pokémon, a Fire and Psychic Type. BY focusing on the flame at the tip of it's branch, Delphox can see into the future. Charizard, the Flame Pokémon, a Fire and Flying Type. It spews fire hot enough to melt boulders, but will never breath fire on weaker opponents. It is always looked for stronger opponents to battle. Typhlosion, the Volcano Pokémon, a Fire Type. It has a secret, devastating move. When it rubs it's blazing fur together, it can cause massive explosions. Incineroar, the Heel Pokémon, a Fire and Dark Type. When it's fighting spirit is set alight, the flames around it's waist burn especially intense," Rotom said.
"This is so cool!" Toby exclaimed, looking at his newly evolved Pokémon.
"You'd think Charizard would be a Dragon Type, since it just looks like a dragon," Lana commented.
"Well, Charizard does belong to an Egg Group called 'Dragon', and it capable of using various Dragon Type moves, most notably, moves like Dragon Rage, Dragon Claw, and Dragon Tail," they heard Kukui say, as the Professor joined up with them, "So, you guys are going to want to take on the Electric Type Trial up at the Observatory on Mount Hokulani. If those Team Skull grunts I saw running the other way had any sense, they would at least attempt to take on the Pokémon League," Kukui said.
"So there is a league in Alola!" Will exclaimed.
"Yeah, we're trying for it. I could tell you more about it, but tomorrow, I'm going to a Press Conference to announce my plans for it. You can check it out on the News Network at a Pokémon Center," Kukui explained.
"Ok, we'll have to look into that," Will replied.
"Anyhow, the only way up Mount Hokulani is the Exeggutor Shuttle Bus. It should be here any moment," Kukui commented. They all decided to wait. Within a few minutes, a bus had pulled up to the bus stop. They had all boarded the bus.
"Thank you for choosing the Exeggutor Shuttle Bus. Our perfect driving record will surpass your expectations," the driver said, as they all drove up the mountain. Looking out the window as they drove, they saw a bunch of Pokémon in the patches of grass on the mountainside. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the summit of the mountain.
"Come this way guys, I want to show you something," Kukui said, as they got off the bus. He walked over to the edge of the parking lot, where the others followed, "Right now, we're on Mount Hokulani, the second tallest mountain in Alola. As for the tallest mountain," Kukui said, pointing to a mountain that looked to tower effortlessly over Mount Hokulani, even with the distance between them, "That is Mount Lanakila. It is said that every time an Island Challenge reached it's conclusion, trainers and their Pokémon would face off against all four Island Kahunas at once at the summit of that mountain," Kukui explained.
"It.... looks cold," Toby shuddered, as did Silver Spoon.
"Well, it IS the closest anyone can get to the Legendary Pokémon said to be the incarnations of the Sun and the Moon. But don't worry, all will be explained at the press conference. But for now, I'll take you to get set up with the Electric Trial Captain," Kukui said, leading them to the front of the observatory, where a lanky man with scraggly blond hair, dressed in a blue jacket, a lighter blue undershirt, and green jeans walked out of the facility, "Yo, Molayne!" Kukui greeted.
"Kukui! Aren't you a sight for sore eyes? What brings you all the way up here? the lanky man asked.
"I brought four Trial Goers for Sophocles to evaluate," Kukui replied, as Will, Fluttershy, Silver Spoon, and Toby stepped forward.
"Four Trainers at once, eh? Haven't had this many in quite a while," Molayne commented. Everyone gave their introductions, "It's nice to meet you all. But it may be a while before you guys can take on the Trial. The last Trial Goer really messed up one of the Totem Pokémon," Molayne commented.
"Busujima, I presume?" Will asked.
"Yeah. His battle style seemed to be more instinctual, rather than being strategic," Molayne replied.
"How long can we expect to wait?" Fluttershy politely asked.
"Well, the Charjabug all need to have their dinner first. Check back in about, oh, maybe an hour, and we should have everything squared away," Molayne replied, handing out some Z Crystals. They were grey colored, and a symbol of a block was in the center of it, "Consider those a little gift from me to you guys," he added.
"You're just giving these to us?!" Will exclaimed.
"Of course. And if you want to use the Steel Type Z Move, Corkscrew Crash, you need to move like this," Molayne said, demonstrating the Z Move Pose. He beat his fists together, and extended them.
"But, are you sure it's ok for us to just take these? I mean, most of the Z Crystals we got up to this point we got from Trials or the Kahunas," Toby commented.
"Well, that may be true under normal circumstances, their are certain..... 'circumstances' here on Ula'ula Island. The Kahuna is mostly responsible for that," Kukui replied.
"Anyhow, why don't you explore some of the lower plateaus while you wait for us to finish up with prepping the Trial? You're bound to find a lot of interesting Pokémon," Molayne suggested.
"Maybe we'll do just that," Will commented.
"In the mean time, I'm going to catch up with Molayne while you guys are exploring the mountain side," Kukui said, as the two men went into the observatory.
"We should heal up our Pokémon before we go exploring. It may give you guys some time to explain this whole 'bad luck' nonsense," Will suggested. The sisters, save for Lynn, dreaded what they were going to tell them, as they all headed to the Pokémon Center.
Having given their Pokémon to Nurse Joy, the large group found a secluded spot in the lobby, where no one else wandered over to, "Alright guys, what we're about to tell you is one of the biggest black spots in our family's history. Absolutely no one outside of you can know about it. NOT. A. SOUL," Lincoln said, emphasizing each word.
"We won't tell anyone," Will replied.
"Alright. Well, as you can tell, my sisters all have different skill sets unique to them. Luna is a musician, Lisa's the brainy one, Luan has a knack for her comedy, and Lynn has interests in just about every kind of sport you can think of; baseball, football, track, you name it. Anyhow, the whole Bad Luck mess started when Lynn..... 'persuaded' me to attend her softball game. And by 'persuaded', I mean she basically forced me to go, even though I wanted to read comics," Lincoln began explaining.
"But you can probably guess, a family as big as our requires a lot of support for each of our activities. Free time is a rare occurrence for us," Lori added.
"Yes. Anyhow, she ended up loosing the game. I went to commend her for her efforts, but when I did, she immediately blamed ME for her loss, labeling me as 'Bad Luck'. Her reason for it was that it was the first game I attended in her season, and all her previous games where I didn't attend she won," Lincoln continued. Needless to say, the Ponyville crew were shocked at such boorish behavior.
"Well, athletes do carry a similar problem; they're incredibly superstitious, but it is a rare occurrence for someone to blame their losses on something different that happened during the game," Will commented, his tone carrying a hint of disapproval.
"Anyhow, back to the story; because of Lynn's superstition, she gave me the stupidest idea I ever thought of: I decided to carry on her superstitions, and lied about being bad luck, so I could get free time," Lincoln continued.
"I still say that's a load of crap," Lynn grumbled, only to be roughly elbowed by the twins.
"And the lie did work. I had all the free time I could ever want. However, as time progressed, I realized that the lie worked TOO well, and my family started banning me from activities I would've liked to attend, such as the movies. Eventually, things got so bad, that they ended up not only selling my furniture and boarding up my room, but they forced me out of the house to sleep outside," Lincoln continued.
"That's horrible!" Silver Spoon said, repulsed at such behavior.
"Didn't your parents do anything to stop this mess?" Toby asked.
"Our parents have a law in the house: Anything my sisters say against me has to be true, so they bought into it, and actually supported my sisters," Lincoln replied.
"Well, while I don't approve of lying, what you did is nothing compared to what your sisters did to you," Will commented, a sour look on his face added to his statement.
"Lincoln did, however, try to confess his lie, but we didn't believe him, so we banished him from the house," Lori added, feeling guilty by her unsisterly actions, as did the other sisters, save for Lynn.
"Unfortunately, we thought getting rid of Lincoln would make things better, but it was just the beginning of the end for us," Lisa commented.
"What do you mean?" Serenity whispered.
"See, what we failed to take into account is that what we did to Lincoln wasn't just mean and dangerous, but it was illegal too. Child abandonment is a serious punishable crime. Eventually, word of our injustice to our brother got out, and our parental units were swiftly arrested, and the rest of us were also taken into custody. That is, until our trial, where we learned the hard way Lincoln was not as weak as we thought he was," Lisa replied, as she went into a flashback.
A few months ago, in a Court Room,
"Another thing you should know about our world is that we take games seriously, so much so to the point that they're a crucial part in most legal cases," Lincoln monologued, as the Judge slammed his gavel.
"Lynn Sr. and Rita Loud, this court finds you guilty of the crime of Child Abandonment. You will be sentenced to a year in jail, 90 hours community service, and Better Parenting Classes. However, since your son has very little say in your house, we've decided that HE will decide the best course of action against you," the Judge said, as all eyes fell onto the lone son, who stood by the prosecutors, "So Lincoln, what is it that YOU want to happen to your family. Lincoln thought about this for a moment. He knew that separating the parents from him and his sisters was too cruel of a punishment, even though they deserved it. He then came up with a plan of action.
"Your honor, I have an idea that I wish to implement against my family, namely, nine of my sisters, as Lily is off the hook with me, since she doesn't know better," Lincoln said, looking to the baby, who was being held by a bulky elderly man with white hair like Lincoln.
"And what, pray tell is your idea?" the judge asked.
"A Game. To put more accurately, a wager. If my sisters can beat me at a game of MY choosing, then I would like for you to reduce at least the prison sentence and community service for my 'parents' by half. But if I were to win, then they are to carry out their sentence as you planned," Lincoln explained. This incited murmurs from the entire courtroom, which mostly consisted of friends of Lincoln and his sisters. The judge banged his gavel again.
"ORDER IN THE COURT!" he bellowed. Silence followed, "Alright Lincoln, I will allow it. So, what game did you have in mind?" he asked.
"There's only one game I can think of. The very game my 'Father' outlawed in our house. We're going to play a game of Duel Monsters," Lincoln stated, staring at his family, a burning fury was behind the smirk he gave his family.
Real Time,
"And from there, my sisters were given two weeks to prepare for the upcoming Duel," Lincoln explained.
"But why did your Dad outlaw this 'Duel Monsters' game?" Fluttershy asked.
"For lack of better words, our Dad is a bit of a scaredy cat. He hates Duel Monsters with a passion, much like Halloween, because the monsters on most of the cards were rather fearsome," Lincoln explained.
"Anyhow, from there, he explained special rules for the match. He was going to take on ALL nine of us at once. Apparently, Lincoln was a Duel Monsters champion in secret. He would go in with 8000 Life Points, while each of us would go in what nine times that amount, giving us a grand total of 450,000 Life Points. Further more, he would be forced to drop charges, provided we defeated him with a minimum of 2000 life points over him," Lisa explained.
"'Life Points'?" Will asked.
"They're like HP in video games. It's how much punishment a duelist can take in one duel," Lincoln replied.
"Ah, I get you now," Will commented.
"Anyhow, there was one other condition to the whole thing. Since Lynn was the one responsible for the whole mess, Lincoln agreed to drop ALL charges against us, if she could swallow her pride and apologize," Luna added.
"But her pride was apparently TOO big to swallow, and she straight up refused to apologize, stating that it was Lincoln that needed to apologize," Lucy added.
"Because it's true! I'm never wrong about superstitions!" Lynn barked.
"Lynn, shut up so we can finish this up," Lori ordered. Lynn pouted, and did as she was told.
"So, because of Lynn's ego, we were forced to go along with the Duel," Lana continued, as she went into another flashback.
A few weeks ago, in the Dueling Arena,
Explosions erupted from the arena, as Lincoln's sisters were all sent flying, "Man, why did we think we could win against Lincoln like this?!" Luna wondered, as their brother stood before them, with three Dragon monsters behind him, along with a sorcerer like creature, dressed in a green outfit. One of the dragons was a five headed dragon, another looked like a demonic dragon, and the last one looked to by a black, spectral dragon with eyes like a Galaxy and a symbol that looked like the number 95. The third one had two lights orbiting it.
"All of this could've been avoided you know. All Lynn had to do was admit she was wrong about the Bad Luck, and things would go back to normal," Lincoln said in a taunting tone.
"Shut up, Stinkcoln! I will never apologize for what we did!" Lynn barked, as she drew a card. She then looked at the Life Point meters. She and her sisters were sitting at 2500 Life Points, while Lincoln had a total of 7600, "Though the odds are stacked against us, we can't give up! I summon the Celtic Guardian to the Field in Attack Mode!" Lynn declared, as an Elf Knight appeared.
"Haven't you learned by now? You can also set monsters in Defense Mode too. At least your Life Points wouldn't be taking a hit," Lincoln chastised.
"You forget, we have each other to have our backs! We can back each other up, like now!" Lola said, as she drew a Card, "I activate the Spell Card, Cycle of the World!" she declared, playing the card.
"Now, I'll send this Level 8 monster to the Graveyard," Luan said, discarding one card.
"And I'll add these two level 1 monsters into the mix," Lana added, discarding two cards. A machine that looked to be made of magnets and a duo of ghostly sheep appeared, before turning into flames, which surrounded a ritual alter.
"Now, we can summon Demise, Supreme King of Armageddon!" Lisa said, as a demonic knight appeared from the flames.
"Oh, seems like you have learned something. The only question now is 'can you use it properly?'," Lincoln commented.
"Oh, we know how to use this guy! By paying 2000 life point, we can destroy all other cards on the field, and you take damage equal to 200 for every card you have," Lynn said, as the sister's Life Points reduced to 500, which eliminated all but herself. Demise then swung it's hammer like weapon, which soon obliterated every card, including that of her side's own card. However, what they didn't see was Lincoln smirking, as the shockwave destroyed all of his monsters, "And that's that," Lynn commented, before noticing something. A new dragon had appeared on their brother's side of the field. It appeared to have heads on each of it's arms, "What the.....?!" Lynn exclaimed.
"Hot Red Dragon Archfiend King Calamity's special ability activated. It allows me to bring back one level eight or below DARK Attributed Dragon Synchro Monster from my Graveyard. So Beelze of the Diabolic Dragons was able to make a comeback! And, as a bonus, Beelze has it's special ability, which gives it attack points equal to the damage I took from one of your card effects. I had seven cards on the field, so I took a total of 1400 points of damage, which means a bonus 1400 attack points for my Dragon," Lincoln stated, as Beelze grew stronger, gaining an attack strength of 4400.
"No way!" Lynn exclaimed in disbelief.
"And by the looks of it, you have no cards in your hand or on the field, and only 500 Life Points left. You don't need to be a psychic to see where this is going," Lincoln said, as Beelze geared up for an attack.
Real Time,
"And you can pretty much guess what happened there," Lincoln said.
"So, what happened after the Duel?" Will asked.
"After I won, our parents were made to carry out their sentence, while our Uncle Ross took custody over us. However, he believed we didn't fully learn our lesson, and the fact that Lynn called Lincoln out for cheating didn't help," Lori replied.
"So, he sent us to live with our Aunt Rhonda, who runs a Boot Camp for poorly raised children. It was torture there!" Lola added.
"Not just the tacky outfits, but everything she had us and a bunch of other kids do. It was just like.... like a Boot Camp! With no boots!" Leni exclaimed. Lincoln then gave her a Malasada to calm her down.
"Anyhow, they spent basically the whole summer there, being taught how they SHOULD have been acting. When they came back, the apologized for what they did to me, and we were able to get on with our lives. Though, Lynn did somewhat revert back to her old ways, and she kept challenging me for my title as the Duel Monsters Champion, claiming she needed to 'balance things out between us'. Of course, I defeated her every single time," Lincoln concluded the explanation.
"What happened to your parents though?" Toby asked.
"They're still carrying out their Jail Sentence. I'm going to be real with you; a part of me kind of regrets sending them away to prison like that, but another part of me knows that they got what they had coming for a long time. Hopefully, by the time they get out, I can muster up enough courage to talk things out with them," Lincoln replied.
"Well, I'm glad you told us the truth about what happened. Otherwise, we would've cracked trying to figure out what this whole Bad Luck nonsense was about," Will commented. Just then, the bell went off.
"I'm happy to inform you that all of your Pokémon are in top physical condition," Nurse Joy said, returning their Pokeballs.
"Thank you, Nurse Joy," Will said, as they exited the Pokémon Center, "Alright, with what you guys told us, I expect none of this bad luck garbage from now on," Will said sternly. The Louds, apart from Lynn, who remained stubborn to her beliefs, all gave their acknowledgment, "Good, now then, why don't we explore the mountain sides?" Will suggested, as they went to hike down the mountain sides. Unbeknownst to them, a certain bird Pokémon was soaring in the skies above their heads.