Pokemon Trainer Vicky

"And your battle in the Finals! Well, I think that one…"

"I wasn’t really trying to show off there. I didn’t want to really reveal everything, since I’m going to challenge the Elite Four, and I was just kind of tired."

"Well it was still amazing." Kukui offered with a boyish grin that had me grinning back. We were sitting around the edge of the festival, Mama and Papa nearby but I was having fun talking to Kukui. "I’ll say that I’m Burn Up excited after this fight though! That Dragon Pulse! You used it in so many different ways! I’ve never seen Dragon Pulse used that way!"

"Well Dragons are a bit rarer, and the only reason I noticed something was up, is because I have so many."

"I’ve seen pokemon use the same moves differently before, it’s not uncommon to have two pokemon do the same move and have it radically changed. Yet it’s rare to see someone teach Pokemon the same move multiple times! It’s like Hyper Beam to the face! They were so different!"

"Hehe." I couldn’t help but laugh at his tendency to add move names into his speech. "It’s the only move I’ve really done that with. I just noticed that my Dragons had a tendency to use Dragon Pulse differently, each way had their own benefits. So I had them learn it."

"I saw! And heard! Pierce, Area, and Control, right? Good shorthand! Usually it’s considered bad to try to over vary your moves, but the same move…" He was definitely thinking fast.

"Mhmm! The beam Dragon Pulse, or Pierce lets the Pokemon keep adding more energy in, so it has a strong piercing mechanic. Area exudes the energy from all around them, making it a good shield, or disruption attack, and Control lets them have some control over it. There’s also Orb, which I didn’t show! Ah… My Grandfather mentioned it was usually bad to try and teach a pokemon to use moves in different ways, but… I don’t agree."

"I doubt you know, but as a professor I actually specialize in Pokemon moves. What you just said… Heh! I think that way too! I wonder how many other moves are just like that but we don’t think about it! I’ll have to start checking Pokemon moves, and how they use them. There could be dozens of differences for each move!"

"TM’s might also cause issues with that." I muttered, since I was thinking about all the moves out there, that sometimes no one even knew about.

"Oh." He blinked his eyes behind his glasses, flashing as he seemed to think rapidly. "You’re right. If they use a TM then they’re going to use the move in the same way. But… That could be a benefit! What if a pokemon learns the same move twice from a TM made using different versions?"

"I don’t know!" I gasped excited, that would be awesome! It’s entirely possible that every TM could actually have multiple variants, what if you needed to buy multiple TM’s just to use different versions of Dragon Pulse?

"I might need to reach out to Lusamine…"

"Lusamine?"

"Oh, she’s the head of the Aether Foundation, after the Thrifty Megamart fell through, corporations started hesitating to invest here in Alola. The Aether Group became the only real TM production for Alola, but this is the exact sort of thing Lusamine would be overjoyed about!"

"Neat."

"So… How about it?"

"Hmm?" I asked, pointing at myself as Kukui grew a big smile.

"Well, in order to make a TM you need a pokemon that knows the move. So how about it? Want to make TM’s with your different Dragon Pulse, and see what happens when we teach it to a new pokemon?"

"Yeah, let’s do it!"

"It’s gonna be an Explosion of an experiment!" He cheered, laughing wildly.

"Well I hope not." I added and Kukui realized what he said and nodded more seriously.

"Very true. I’ll use some Future Sight and avoid that, Yeah?"

"Yeah!" I agreed, laughing Kukui really did do the move name thing a bit too much, but it was an endearing trait.

"Vicky." Mama said as she appeared at my side. "This is a vacation. You don’t need to be adding more work right now." Mama said, and I was a bit confused at her reaction until she put a hand on my shoulder.

Ah, she wasn’t sure about Kukui… I guess if you didn’t really know about Alola, he would seem like a weirdo, before I could speak though. Kukui cut in.

"Oh jeez! Here I am making a real mess of it. I don’t mean to interrupt your vacation. I was just very excited to meet your daughter! I was riveted to the TV the entire time the conference was going!" Kukui practically gushed, and I watched as Mama’s demeanor softened.

"It was an impressive conference."

"It was the best! The most exciting Indigo conference since Lance!" He argued and Mama twitched a bit as Lance’s conference battles were still a sore spot I guess.

"Anyway. I can definitely make time to do a bit of research! I am a research fellow for Professor Cerise after all!" I cut in, and Kukui looked excited to hear that and Mama just sighed.

"Alright, but only for a bit. This is supposed to be your vacation."

"Hehe!" I laughed, smiling at Mama who just sighed and rolled her eyes at my antics, and Kukui pumped a fist. "So tomorrow we meet up?"

"Ah… It’ll have to be after school." He argued looking a bit embarrassed.

"School?" Mama asked, a bit confused, and Kukui’s smile turned soft and gentle. "I teach at the Pokemon School here in Melemele. It’s rather famous. Ah, the principal is from Kanto. He’s a good man."

Mama blinked at that information and I nodded.

"Samson Oak." I confirmed… Then I looked to Mama. "His Cousin Sam Oak was friends with Agatha… He’s also the only last person in Kanto before me to have a Dragonite."

"I see." Mama muttered looking surprised at this news.

"Oh, you know about that huh?" Kukui looked uncomfortable. "Samson doesn’t speak about his cousin much, but that was… One of the reasons he came here. To get away from Kanto."

"Oh." Mama muttered, also looking uncomfortable.

Right. The wars. I guess if your cousin died, and you knew a war was on the horizon… It might be best to just leave.

"Maybe you’ll introduce me tomorrow?" I asked Kukui who looked a little startled. "I wouldn’t mind saying hello."

"Ah… Sure. I’m sure he’d be delighted." Kukui agreed, and I nodded.

Excellent.

"Lu! Lucario!" I looked over and Lucario was holding some sort of Alolan drink and showing it to Papa. I could see her tail literally flapping a mile a minute in excitement, and Papa checked the drink and was chatting with her.

Huh I guess she found something she really liked.

Kukui unfortunately had to tear himself away not long after, and we waited long enough to get a ride back to the hotel from Maro.

—--

The next morning I was woken up by a much more energetic Papa and was dragged out to the ocean.

Turns out he just needed some time to adapt to the new time zone. Mama was taking a bit longer though.

"Let’s go!" I howled and Papa and I both braced as the Sharpedo burst out into the water.

"Yeah! Wooo!" Papa cried out as he held onto the handlebars while I held onto him.

"Faster!" I called out and the Sharpedo instantly put on more speed happily crying out as the water kicked up even faster.

"Sharpedo!"

"Yeah!"

We both laughed in delight as we did some fun father daughter bonding. Not long after, Papa slowed down and ended up enjoying a bit of underwater exploration, swimming with a rented Rebreather as we both went swimming alongside the Sharpedo exploring the waters under the Alolan Sun.

Watching Papa get chased off by a Pyukumiku after it tried to punch him when he poked it was pretty funny.

We swam around for a few hours before we both retired to the beach and met back up with Mama Lucario, and Riolu.

The two pokemon were really playing up the vacation angle. Both now had novelty sunglasses, and were resting back on beach chairs eating treats from plates set next to them. Mama was just reading a book, and she smiled as we walked up, before shifting into a glare.

"Don’t you da-!"

Papa still dripping wet, walked over and despite her rather cat-like yowling gave her a warm kiss and a hug.

Mama’s embarrassed, annoyed and pleased face all at once was pretty funny!

I still had some time before School would be out, so I just released my Pokemon. Everyone quickly settled into some game on the sand. Dratini and Jangmo-o playing hide and seek among the sand and waves. While Brave once more seemed to delight in just settling on a beach table and sampling drinks from a straw.

Mimikyu leapt towards me, but after I caught him in a big hug I put him on the chairs. "I’m gonna go swimming." I told him and he instantly puffed up and shook his head as he backed away.

Mimikyu hated water.

With that settled, I focused on the girl of the hour.

Gible.

"Gib." She muttered as I settled next to her in the sand as she was once more just seemingly enjoying the whole thing.

"Do you want to go in the water with me?" I asked her, and she didn’t really respond for a while, so I pointed. "See how Dratini is getting in the water? Do you want to try that?" I offered her a hand and that did the trick as she gibbed at me as usual and reached out to hold my hand. I walked her slowly to the ocean until we were just at the edge of the wave. I didn’t want her to react badly if she didn’t like water after all.

The coolness of the sand caught her attention, and just as she was bending down to look at it all, the wave broke and just a bit of the water rolled up and over her feet.

"Gib?" She called out, startled. Easily one of the strongest reactions I’ve ever seen from her, she lifted her feet up and down and then splashed a bit in the water.

I watched closely, to see if she didn’t like it, but other than sort of testing the water for a second, as it faded away she didn’t seem to mind and as the next wave broke and the water washed over her claws she blinked a bit and I could see her feet clawing a bit at the sand. Then without my prompt she took a step.

Following the water, she seemed a little confused why the water was gone.

Then as the next wave broke she reacted, patting at it with her hand. "Gib."

"Yeah. It’s fun right? Do you want to go deeper?" I asked, and she sort of toddled forward.

Eeee! She was exploring! It was hard to tell what she liked or disliked, and most of the time she just found a spot to sit, but here she was actually exploring something!

I slowed her down when she got to the point the wave would get too much and a moment later she was hit by the wave and it just managed to lift her off her feet for a second before it settled down.

"Gib. Gib." She seemed to proclaim over the sensation, and when it happened again. I noticed she actually jumped into the wave a bit.

"Gib gib."

"Yeah, it’s fun right?" Once she got used to that, even jumping up and down as the wave came in, I went out a bit farther, doing my best to block most of the wave I offered to hold both her hands, which she seemed confused by for a moment until the wave came and lifted her off her feet, and didn’t just instantly set her back down.

I could see her instinctual reaction. Feet kicked a bit and to my surprise she adjusted her body pretty quickly, using her little tail and horns to float with surprising stability on the wave as it ran out and she found herself belly first in the sand.

"Gib gib gib." She told me as I helped her back up, and soon she was actually swimming.

I even let go of her hands after she got the hang of it, and I watched as the wave pushed her up the beach, but she was already swimming back before the wave left.

I scooped her up when she reached me and set her back ready for the next wave.

"Gib gib. Gible." She chattered at me, and I just…

She was actually reacting! It was as if an almost nonverbal child started chattering happily! I’m so happy! This was massive progress!

"That’s right. Swimming is fun huh? We’ll do it more often okay. I’m sure the Milotic will love to swim with you." I told her and she just continued bouncing a bit on her little legs until the wave came and she got swept up once again.

Once I caught her, she actually wiggled a bit until she was back on her feet, and then she looked past me.

"Want to go out there?" I asked her and she just went silent for a while. And I realized that she might actually be looking at the ocean for the first time.

She wasn’t the most… Aware pokemon. Had she even noticed what was going on? I helped her up and rose a bit so she could see out beyond the waves at the endless ocean.

"It’s a lot huh?"

"Gib." She said, then reached out and made grabby hands.

Ah, yep she definitely wanted to go into the ocean.

"Alright, but let’s do some more practice swimming first okay? Dratini! I need you!" I called out loudly, and then walked a bit deeper, deep enough Gible wouldn’t be able to just touch the ground.

"Gib. Gib!"

"Okay, okay. I’m letting go. I settled her into the water until she had some buoyancy and then let go.

She bobbed a bit. Gible float apparently. The idea had me giggling as she sort of got her bearings and then her tail and legs all worked together, and her claws started pulling her forward, and very soon we had a little Gible monster swimming in the ocean.

Dratini was there, as always being a happy camper and calling out happily at Gible as he swam around her, but she didn’t seem to notice, just happily swimming forward until a wave hit her.

"Gi-rbrrbrlr." I heard and winced a bit as the water flowed over her, but a moment later Dratini was there lifting her out of the wave, easily countering the wave and she opened her mouth, water gushed out but then she just.

"Gib." She seemed completely unbothered, despite just taking a mouthful of water, and then started swimming, or trying to again.

Dratini and I looked at each other, and both laughed as we swam out to follow her. Soon we made it past the little breaker waves to a calmer section of the ocean, and Dratini and I both swam around with Gible.

Thankfully she hadn’t quite figured out the whole… Underwater thing yet. I was wondering when that would happen.

Although seeing her fin sticking out of the ocean reminded me that Gible was a shark. It was honestly fascinating to see how quickly she’d taken to the water. I was definitely going to have to talk to Cerise about this when I got back to Kanto.

Dratini was the first one to disrupt the fun little swim, as he bumped into Gible, and she jerked at the touch.

"Gib!"

"Tini! Tini!" He seemed to tease her as he swam just a bit away and she turned to chase him. I followed and Tini fell into a silly game with Gible. Reaching out to touch her, and letting her touch him, which to my surprise didn’t end in a bite.

Instead she grabbed onto his tail and he swam forward pulling her along, and that was something she liked, if the happy "Gib gib!" Escaping her was anything to go by.

The vacation, if nothing else, had been worth it for this alone.

—--

"Gib. Gib? Gib."

"Yeah is that so?" I asked her as I carried her out of the ocean and back up onto the beach. Eventually she’d tired out and I had carried her back with Dratini’s help.

But for once she was actually talkative. Seemingly quite engaged for maybe the first time in her life.

She blinked at me sleepily, and since I was now solid and holding her she nuzzled into my chest and seemed to quite happily slip into a nap.

Of course the peace was disturbed as I caught Riolu being chased by Jangmo-o as he barked at her quite angrily while she cackled.

"Rio rio rio rio!" She laughed and I had no idea what was going on.

"Hey you two! I’m back. What’s going on?" I asked, and Jangmo-o broke off to run up to me and despite calling to me, his feet tippy tapped in aggravation in the sand.

Uh-oh. I recognized the signs of a temper tantrum.

"Show me?" I asked, trying to cut through and he nodded once harshly and raced back up the sand to where a broken Sand castle lay, but…

I looked from the sandcastle that had obviously been splashed by a bucket, but the water was weird, and… Jangmo-o couldn’t make a sandcastle very easily with his claws?

"Jangmo-o proclaimed himself king of the sandcastle, and Riolu splashed him with a bucket full of water." Mama called out in explanation and I looked at the wet sand understanding.

Gible might like water, but Jangmo-o definitely did not.

"Sorry buddy, how about I help in a second okay? We’ll make sure everyone knows your king of the sand castles!"

"Jang! Jangmo-o!" He flipped instantly happy at the idea, and I relaxed. Whew.

"Don’t take too long. It’s already almost time to meet that professor."

"Shoot. Okay I’ll do that quick. Mama, can you hold Gible? She’s sleepy." I offered walking up to her, and she took a look at the snoring pokemon, before looking up at me, and then sighing.

Gible soon settled in, wrapped in a towel as well that she was clawing at in her sleep and I helped Jangmo-o dry off his sand castle, which honestly wasn’t hard. It was a warm day and it was already mostly dry.

Riolu got a quick scolding for being a brat to Jangmo-o, but she got let off too.

Then I had just enough time to grab some food, before it was time to go. Returning everyone I headed up the main street and then down a jungle path.

Flip flops were a bit hard to run in so I was at a calm strolling pace as I approached the Pokemon school.

As I got close I could hear happy shouting, and as I stepped out I watched as a pair of Tauros were racing around a track.

Kiawe, and Mallow were both going at it, and the others were cheering at the race.

I walked along the road keeping an eye on the race, and Kiawe won not long after with a small lead.

The students all gathered together, and… Well it was who I suspected.

Lana, Mallow, Kiawe, Sophocles, and even Lillie.

The Sun and Moon cast.

I walked down the road, and obviously they noticed me, but before I could really do much, a much taller figure waved from the school.

"Alola! Over here!"

"Alola Professor Kukui!" I yelled back in return and while I waved at the kids and some of them waved back I focused on what I was here for.

"Hah! Sorry if I kept you waiting." Kukui said, rubbing the back of his head.

"No, I just got here. I was having a fun time playing in the ocean, no worries."

"Excellent! Then how about we head inside. I reached out to Lusamine, and she said she’d send some equipment over."

"Oh good." I confirmed, although I did admit to being a bit disappointed, I wanted to meet Lusamine.

We headed inside, and I looked around noting that despite the fact it was a school the place was actually pretty empty.

"Heh. We don’t have many kids here in Alola, and even fewer that go to the Pokemon School. So it’s a little empty."

"It’s kinda nice though. Sometimes schools can be a bit too busy."

"Exactly! The goal was to make sure the kids really get all the attention they deserve!"

"Indeed! It took a Machamp amount of effort!" A new voice called out as Samson Oak, stepped out of a side room, smiling brightly behind his incredibly tanned skin.

Heh. He really was the Alolan Regional form of Professor Oak.

"Nice to meet you." I greeted him, and he stilled for a moment.

"Ah, Kukui did mention that a visitor from Kanto was coming to help with his research. I forget how long it’s been sometimes since I’ve heard that accent." He remarked, sounding a bit uncomfortable.

"I can understand why you’d want to stay here. Alola is beautiful." I offered, and he smiled brightly.

"Indeed! It’s my home! Well come come, I was just setting things up. Lusamine already finished her delivery quick as always that woman."

"Already?" Kukui asked happily as he followed Principal Oak into the room, which was a sort of lab room, and there it was. A TM machine.

"Well, all we have to do is make the TM’s." Kukui said as he looked over the device. "Well that and have a Pokemon willing to share." He looked at me, and I just chuckled.

"Come on out!"

"Tini!" Dratini chirped as he popped out looking over the area, and seemingly a little surprised there was no water. I guess he had been able to just jump in the ocean for the last few days.

"Dratini, we’re making TM’s for Dragon Pulse, we’re going to see if we can make the TM come out differently for each different form of the move okay?" I informed him and he perked up mostly because this wasn’t something he knew about and Dratini was always happy to try new things.

"Tini?"

"Umm… So how does making a TM work?" I asked the two older men, Kukui just chuckled at the question.

"It’s easy enough. Why don’t you come settle right here, Dratini."

But it was Principal Oak that was silent looking at Dratini with…

Nostalgic eyes.

I wanted to ask. I really did. Where did Professor Oak, or I guess just Samuel Oak find his Dratini? Did he tell Samson the trick to evolving Arcanine?

How did he die? Really? Did he know?

But the man seemed so…

He looked and me, and noticed my attention and he put on a fake smile. "I’ll leave this to you and Professor Kukui, I seem to have Drowsee’d an appointment!" He laughed at walked out of the room, and even Kukui stopped and watched the man leave.

"Don’t take it personally. Principal Oak is a-"

"I don’t. The last person in Kanto that had a Dratini that wasn’t just a member of the Blackthorn Clan, was his cousin… Who died." I explained and turned to Kukui. "It probably brought up a lot of bad memories for him. I should have brought out Brave or Jangmo-o instead."

Kukui didn’t say anything, just putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Right. We’re ready. Let me explain what’s going to happen. We put this device on Dratini’s head, and he starts basically thinking about the move. We can open a window and shoot the move outside if he feels the need to, but it should work just with his thoughts if he thinks about the move clearly. Then a TM will pop out with the move."

"Okay, right! Let’s get to work! We’ll do the easy one! Dratini think about Dragon Pulse Pierce!"

"Tini!"