C102 - Olivia's line up

Pete tapped his chin and asked, "Do you know why your island was chosen as the start of the circuit, by the way?"

Olivia looked to Pete as they enjoyed the sunset at the beach near Pablo's bistro. Arcanine, Espeon, Eevee, and Olivia's Midday Lycanroc were busy digging holes in the sand. While Mega Milotic, shiny Slowbro and Serperior were doing their own thing in the water.

Mega Reuniclus and Metagross were off to the side battling with only psychic energy - no moves - to increase their control. The training was meant as a sort of tug-o-war with their typing affinity. It was a training method Pete discovered by accident that helped him battle the little newly hatched Espurr on his own without help from his own psychic pokemon.

Mega Milotic and Serperior were training water moves underwater as far as Pete was aware. His Serperior, the little battling genius, got a tip from Pete after the ranking tournament to decide who would follow him. He told the grass snake pokemon to concentrate on a typing that counters one of his weaknesses - Serperior chose fire and wanted to counter it with water type moves.

After thinking about the answer for a while, Olivia eventually answered with a shrug, "I guess out of all the kahunas I probably take trainer battles more seriously than the others. I guess Hala comes pretty close, but he's an old pot-bellied goof. And I'm pretty good-looking, that probably also played a role."

She was interrupted by Betty giggling and got defensive quickly, "Are you suggesting I'm ugly!?"

Betty quickly waved her hand and explained, "Nonono. You're gorgeous! It's just... I met Hala a couple of times. The first time was when he threw out his back after trying to arm-wrestle his Crabominable. When he told me the full story, I couldn't stop laughing! His Bewear carried him like a delicate princess - that didn't help his case either!"

"Oooh, I remember you telling me about that," Pete said in remembrance. "Didn't he try to win at least once in the arm-wrestling championship among his pokemon 'after getting old', but his Machamp defeated him so bad that he pumped weights for a month straight and then he went into the match without resting or stretching?"

Betty nodded without stopping her giggling.

"Really?" Olivia asked with an incredulous expression. "But he's so wise..."

"Didn't you say he was a goof yourself?"

"Yeah, but that's because he keeps giving me an interesting rock he found at the beach whenever we meet since I was a little girl," Olivia countered.

"Oooh, he gave me a conch for my help after our first encounter," Betty added with a sweet smile.

Pete was stumped for a moment.

'A conch? But... I know there's regular fish here in Alola, but shell fish? Or was it a small prehistoric Omanyte? Nooonono, you have enough research topics for a lifetime, let someone else deal with history and fossils,' Pete thought while shaking his head.

"You alright, Pete?"

The assistant professor quickly gave Betty a thumps up and responded, "Yeah, got lost in thought. What are your thoughts about Sofu, Olivia?"

"Hmm, he's a powerful trainer and a true kahuna... but I hope Tapu Fini and him will find his replacement soon. The old man deserves some rest. I hope his granddaughter Hapu has the drive to become kahuna, but she's still really young," Olivia answered.

Pete looked to Betty for a short while, but decided to ignore her presence for a moment as he asked, "Are kahunas like avatars of legendary pokemon in this case the four guardians of Alola by the way?"

"Color me surprised little professor," Olivia said as she looked Pete up and down. "You know about something like that? Are you an avatar yourself? Who is it? Celebi?"

Betty, who had access to her clan knowledge, had a vague idea about what an avatar was, but even still, she looked shocked as she regarded Pete. Clan Joy only knew about two confirmed living avatars outside the special kahunas, and none of them were wildly known people like Pete.

"Uh, no. Though I know Johto Suicune's avatar and I was present when it made them the avatar... from what you kahunas do, I thought your mission kind of resembled theirs," Pete unsurely responded.

"What an honor! Was it during that volcanic eruption, then? No, wait, don't answer! I needn't know who the avatar is," Olivia said quickly. "But no, kahunas have a slightly different bond. Tapu Lele, the guardian of Akala, for example, didn't help me gain psychic/fairy typing affinity through the rather shallow bond we share. What Tapu Lele does instead is empowering my pokemon directly by strengthening their moves or teaching them new moves when we meet... which isn't often. Except for guarding this island in its stead for human problems, I don't have missions either if we don't count the trials, though."

"That sounds like a much worse deal than a regular avatar," Pete mumbled. "Uh, no offense!"

"Hmm, technically, you aren't wrong. But legendary pokemon don't owe us anything, Pete. So I'm quite content with the arrangement. It's a great honor," Olivia defended with a shrug.

"That's true," Pete agreed before changing the subject. "Which line-up are you going to run for the challengers, by the way? It's a 1v1, three pokemon each, no substitutions format, right?"

"Yep, best of three, they call it. So, no setup possible since the winner stops fighting after their round, same as the loser," Olivia acknowledged. "I was thinking my Relicanth if the battlefield is favorable for the pokemon, as well as my cutie Carbink and either my Alolan Golem or Gigalith. I don't think my Lycanroc babies want to stomp beginners, and my Mega Probopass and Mega Tyrantrum shouldn't be allowed unless someone with a mega pokemon turns up - which I doubt!"

"Steven told me he got a few rare stones from you and helped you revitalize an Armaldo, a Cradily, and a Tyrantrum as payment. What about the first two?"

"Ah, Hoenn's big shot talks about me?" Olivia asked with a shy smile quickly, figuring out which Steven Pete was talking about with the clue he provided.

"Uhh, yeah - though, he also has a girlfriend now, I'm really sorry," Pete apologized as he was the bearer of bad news.

"Why are you all already taken!" Olivia shouted with a pout. "But yeah, I do have all three of those 'fossil' pokemon... but they are a little too bloodthirsty for a friendly challenge. Especially Cradily. Steven told me his fossil pokemon behave differently, so I don't quite know why they are like that - but they go for the kill for the slightest offense in a battle. I'm proud of their strength and progress and dedication to training. I only allow them to fight in the wild or to defend Akala, though."

"I see... prehistoric instincts? But that doesn't explain why they aren't all like that... I guess they are just the way they are then," Pete mumbled. "Did you have Betty's Comfey teach your Carbink any healing moves already, by the way?"

"Betty did ask, but my Carbink doesn't really want to learn Floral Healing and Heal Pulse sadly. Since it knows Recover and Misty Terrain, it more or less told me it would rather focus on training its own power," Olivia answered with an exasperated sigh.

"Yeah, her Carbink is a real stubborn little diva," Betty chimed in. "At least she has those Tapu Lele scales to instantly heal pokemon and isn't so reliant on a pokemon knowing healing moves when she's out in the wild. I'd still feel better if her Carbink took that a little more seriously."

Pete scratched his cheek before suggesting, "Maybe my Togekiss, Espeon, Metagross, or mega pokemon can talk to your Carbink if you would want it to learn the healing moves? They are all pretty good at healing - especially my Mega Reuniclus, who was taught by Betty's Blissey as a Solosis."

"It wasn't my Blissey. It belonged to the clan," Betty shyly rebuffed.

"And you still allowed it to teach my pokemon Heal Pulse when you didn't need to," Pete countered with a bright smile.

"I'm sure my Carbink would listen to your pokemon even if it remains stubborn," Olivia decided as she took out a pokeball from out of nowhere to release Carbink.

Pete decided not to ask where it came from.

The three spent some more time at the beach with Olivia calling out the rest of her pokemon that followed her on this excursion that lasted longer than she initially planned for. The pokemon she released were her Mega Probopass who changed its typing to rock/flying unexpectedly during the mega evolution, four more Lycanroc covering all forms, though the midnight form of the hunched over 'were-Lycanroc' was the most common, and Olivia's Relicanth who joined Mega Milotic and Serperior.

At the end of their night, Carbink was still reluctant to train healing moves but at least learned agreed to continue learning Heal Pulse, which it didn't figure out during their short outing. Pete and Betty eventually sent Olivia off as she balled most of her pokemon and had Relicanth pull her toward her home Konikoni City across the bay while on a sort of surf board.

Pete managed to snag a room at Betty's home so he didn't need a hotel room again, and that was where they headed after saying goodbye to Olivia for rest. During the night, Pete planted one of those burn heal berry trees he couldn't sell because each sapling was a unique product of cross-breeding. Serperior and his own grass affinity managed to grow the sapling he brought for Betty specifically quite a bit. Metagross, who had quite the good ground typing affinity, also helped out by enriching the soil with the typing energy.

'Two mega evolved pokemon while only very few trainers even have one. Steven himself struggled to find the correct mega stone for his Metagross. Sure, she deals in precious stones, but so does Steven. I bet Tapu Lele helped find the stones or just plainly gave them to Olivia. Worse deal or not, the guardian doesn't want its kahuna to be weak after all,' Pete thought as he rested his head on his bed finally.