Chapter 30: Preparations

  "Okay Ribombee, we're almost to Po Town, thanks for lighting our way," Mina said as her bike came to a sudden stop. Ian followed suit, stopping right beside her. Mina's Ribombee, which had lit the road ahead of them in the dark of the night, gave a disheartened cry. "I know you were enjoying the vibes tonight," Mina said.

  "She wasn't the only one," Ian said, his cheeks warming as blood rushed to them.

  "That makes three," Mina said, leaning over for a kiss, which Ian planted on her cheek. Ribombee disappeared into its Poke Ball, and the couple rode along the spotty road in the darkness slowly. Ian made sure to keep an eye out for Guzma's Alpha Ariados in Elk Grove, which thankfully he didn't see a sign of. Once passing Elk Grove, Mina whispered "stop" to Ian. He came to an abrupt stop and tensed.

  "Anyone up ahead?" He whispered.

  Mina shook her head. "No, just gotta dismount and put the bikes here."

  "Why's that?" Ian asked.

  "In case anyone's got eyes on the gate at sunrise. Seeing a pair of bikes that weren't there at sunset means there's a secret way in and they'll start looking for it," Mina said.

  "Oh, makes sense," Ian said. Mina led Ian, hand in hand past Po Town's front gate. Mina explained there had to be at least two people aware of them on gate duty, but it was too late to re-open the gate. It is pretty loud after all.

  "So where's this secret way?" Ian asked.

  Mina giggled. "Don't tell anyone I showed you this, only squad leaders are supposed to know outside of the wall squad." The couple continued walking along the wall, getting to the small beach at the foot of Po Town's western wall. About halfway along, Ian heard the sound of falling water, and in the faint moonlight he saw a drain pipe pouring water from what was likely the canal into a pool, which streamed through the sand to the ocean. "It's just around here," Mina said, going under the elevated drain pipe. "It gets a little dark here, so be careful. I'll release Ribombee once we're deep enough."

  "I'll follow your lead," Ian said. He moved slowly, keeping a hold of Mina's hand as she guided him through.

  "Prolly gonna need to lower your head," Mina said.

  "Okay," Ian said, crouching as lowly as he could while keeping up. Suddenly his head smacked into the wall and he grunted.

  "Shit, I forgot you're tall," Mina said. "Sorry."

  "Gonna need you to kiss it and make it better," he fired back, making Mina giggle.

  "Okay, I think we're good. Ribombee!" The tunnel glowed up, blinding Ian for a moment. Once his eyes adjusted, the two crouched their way until the ceiling rose up again, allowing them to stand, placing them right next to a metal door.

  "Is it open?" Ian asked.

  "No. We got a special knock. It'll take a few minutes," Mina explained. She then knocked her fist against the door in a special rhythm. Two slow knocks, followed by three quick ones. She repeated this two more times and then leaned over to what Ian recognized as a talk tune, something he'd only seen on playgrounds as a kid. There'd be one kind of megaphone thing on one end, and another one like forty feet on the other side of the playground and a hollowed out metal pipe that would carry the voice over. Why am I not surprised we have one here. "Wall squad, it's Mina. Ian and I got carried away." Mina then came back to Ian, cuddling up to him. "And now we wait."

  A metal clang echoed through their ears as the metal door swung inward. In the light, Ian recognized Plumeria scowling with her arms folded. "You're late, you two."

  "It was my bad," Ian said quickly.

  "Not entirely," Mina said, looking up at him playfully as they stepped through the doorway.

  "Well I hope you two got all of the fun out of your system tonight. We're waking everyone up early tomorrow as we're expecting an attack on the crop fields at sunrise," Plumeria explained.

  "Makes sense," Ian said grimly, squeezing Mina's hand, wishing their date night had lasted even just a little longer. Back to reality I guess.

  Plumeria led them to the front of Shady House before stopping. "Mina, go inside to the girl's bunkhouse, I need to talk to Ian for a bit," Mina ordered.

  "Gotcha Big Sis," Mina said, leaning in and giving a parting kiss. "Thank you for tonight," she whispered.

  "Same," Ian whispered quickly as Plumeria cleared her throat.

  Mina scampered off quickly to the front door where one of the Team Skull guards stood bored of their mind.

  "I really didn't mean to stay out this late, Plumeria," Ian confessed.

  Plumeria snorted. "I know. Girlfriends can be a little persuasive in that department," Plumeria said. "I'm glad you had a good time, seriously. But we're gonna play it like I'm disciplining you for staying out too late so Mina won't keep you out so long next time, okay?"

  Ian nodded. "Sounds good to me."

  "I really wanted to talk to you about something else," Plumeria said grimly.

  I don't like her tone. "Bad news?"

  "Well, good for Po Town, possibly bad for you," Plumeria said.

  "Really?" Ian asked.

  "The Pearl Clan will be setting up a settlement on a hill just north of the Akua Jungle," Plumeria began. "They'll be sending laborers six days a week to harvest crops, as well as serving as a base for our operations around the jungle. Along with assisting us in defending our lands from Sinclair's attacks."

  "Sounds like we got everything we wanted. There's gotta be a catch," Ian said.

  "You already know," Plumeria said gravely.

  "Irida needs a husband," Ian said, his heart falling in his chest.

  "We didn't agree to a specific guy, but it's pretty obvious who Irida wants," Plumeria said.

  "Can't she just marry Sawsbuck?" Ian said. "They do that shit in Sinnoh, don't they?"

  "What?" Plumeria asked.

  "Never mind," Ian grumbled.

  "Guzma seemed pretty taken with the idea of binding the Pearl Clan in blood to Team Skull, especially long term," Plumeria said. "I did tell Guzma you were romantically involved elsewhere though."

  "What'd he say?" Ian asked.

  "He said he was a bit surprised, but happy for you," Plumeria said.

  "Did you suggest Hyde?" Ian asked.

  Plumeria snorted. "Should've seen Palina's face when I said that. She was not having it."

  "Well it's not her decision to make," Ian said. "They're gonna make me and Mina do a sham wedding to get them off my back aren't they?"

  Plumeria tried to stymie her laugh but failed, letting out helpless laughter. "Just say Mina's pregnant or something."

  "Well that's plan B then," Ian said, trying not to smile at the irony.

  "Alright, I'm done with you. Anything else you gotta know?" Plumeria asked. "We all gotta wake up early."

  "No-wait," Ian said. "Guzma was being all weird today, made me grab his jacket and hold it out for him while he put it on."

  "Really?" Plumeria asked, oddly surprised.

  "Yeah. Figured it was a power trip thing," Ian said.

  Plumeria shook her head. "Quite the opposite. He never lets anyone touch his jacket. It's actually kind of a compliment."

  "It sure didn't feel like one…" Ian said.

  Plumeria shook her head. "You notice how no one else wears the skull jacket? It's Guzma's way of standing out, not that he needs to," Plumeria explained. "You got spoiled being on my squad for the expedition. Guzma's got his own way of saying thank you."

  "You call that being spoiled? Don't ever try to give me the VIP treatment," Ian teased.

  "You're so dumb," Plumeria said with a laugh.

  ***

  The next morning was tense, with Team Skull members setting up a vast perimeter around Po Town's newly added crop fields before the sun rose. Besides Ian and Sawsbuck making a few rounds in Elk Grove, they mostly stayed at their defensive position next to the wheat section. Ian overheard Rapp complaining about the Pokemon Center's main healing machine being down. Which explains why the Pokemon Center's closed, on day one of a faction war no less. Once it was nearly lunch time they got the call to come back inside the walls, with Ian and Tupp happy to be getting out of the boring defensive duty.

  "Ian, there you are, yo!" A Team Skull member called out, pointing at Ian.

  Ian and Tupp turned to see the Backstreet Boyz, Lil' Dizz, Flex, and Versez staring at him. Lil' Dizz, the shortest member of the group, had his finger pointing at Ian.

  "What's up, Backstreet Boyz?" Ian called back with a smile.

  "That Grimsley dude's down the road with Ruckz," Lil' Dizz said, pointing at the road leading to Litleo's Hollow and Outrigger. "He's asking for you."

  Oh yeah I bet he didn't get let in the perimeter. "Thanks, I'll go check it out," Ian replied, giving each of the Backstreet Boyz a fist bump before jogging up the road with Tupp. The duo arrived to the scene of Grimsley waiting, looking rather annoyed with three Team Skull members seemingly keeping him hostage, with one of the members towering over the rest of them.

  "There's the stupid 'prince!'" The tall one barked, pointing at Ian. "We on full lockdown, why the fuck you ain't tell him to stay away?"

  Ian smirked. "Because yesterday he left before Sinclair sent the emissary."

  "Any reason why you ain't tell him after?" The huge man demanded.

  "How the fuck would I do that?" Ian fired back, pulling the pockets out of his pants to show they were empty.

  "Oh. Well it's still hella sus that he's here at all," the man justified.

  "Ruckz yo, Grimsley's been coming by since the early days to train me and Ian," Tupp chimed in. "He's cool."

  "Imma have to ask my big bro before letting him pass," Ruckz said before pointing at one of the other Team Skull members who was much shorter and skinnier than anyone else around. "Hey Shiv, go get Rook. Need him over here."

  "Okay," a feminine voice squeaked before the short figure took off in a sprint.

  Ian turned to Tupp with a confused look on his face. Tupp leaned in. "Ruckz is Rook's lil' bro."

  "That actually makes sense…" Ian said, taking a second look at the goliath in front of him. Rook definitely got the looks, but this guy got all of the height in the family.

  About five minutes later, Rook strolled on over with the short, female Team Skull member. Even from a distance Ian could see the Team Skull girl with orange hair underneath her skull cap was blushing as she giggled at damn near everything Rook said.

  "So Tupp, ready for target practice with Impidimp today?" Ian said, stepping in front of the sight to distract his best friend.

  "Impidimp gonna gets his lil' yappy ass whooped if we doin' that," Tupp boasted.

  "Well he can't take a lot of hits, and doesn't hit super hard yet so we gotta work on being elusive," Ian said.

  "Gumshoos is prolly better," Tupp said. "Drizzile don't miss."

  Ian smiled internally, hearing the pride in Tupp's voice. "Then who better to practice on?"

  Grimsley cleared his throat and motioned his hand that Rook had neared. "Grimsley, Driftwood still got you running around to train our little 'prince' here?" Rook asked.

  Grimsley gave Ian a look before returning his attention to Rook. "Driftwood pays me to make sure the trainer of your entire food source is able to defend himself."

  "So you're admitting you're a Driftwood stooge?" Rook asked.

  "Think of me as an outside contractor," Grimsley explained. "They do business with Po Town and Sinclair's people from time to time, so they're not bringing me here anymore."

  "So where are you staying then?" Rook asked.

  "Outrigger. Got a shitty motel room they're putting me up in," Grimsley said. "Gotta bike twenty miles to get here every day now until this stupid war's over."

  "And you'll have personal knowledge of our defensive rotations and positions," Rook explained.

  "You really think Sinclair would fight you head on? He controls the seas. You hear about the humiliating defeat they suffered when they tried to ambush the Rough Raiders?"

  "No," Rook said.

  "Haven't done a land operation since," Grimsley said. "Worst thing that'll likely happen is they'll set fire to your crop fields and try to starve you guys out until you work out a settlement."

  "So they're fighting us for our food?" Rook said skeptically.

  "Yo Rook," Ian began. "That was their first demand, and the other demands were setting up infrastructure to help fulfill those demands easier."

  "Y'all seem to know a lot about their intentions," Rook asked.

  Ian rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Sinclair's way of fixing the food crisis is to get me to infiltrate Po Town, have my Grass Pokemon of two days get blessed by Tapu Bulu, and then just hang out in Po Town for a month, feeding their enemies and not Sinclair. Next level shit," Ian said, voice oozing with sarcasm.

  Rook shook his head. "I'm just asking questions, yo. I ain't comfortable with Driftwood having a guy this close to us."

  Grimsley sighed. A sigh usually reserved for when Tupp's being overwhelmingly stupid. "Driftwood paid off a pretty considerable marker for me so I'd train Ian. You think they're gonna jeopardize that investment so you guys will starve to death?"

  "Fine, have your little threesomes out in the woods," Rook said, making the short female Team Skull member giggle. "The moment Sinclair's goons get intel from you, you're dead meat, Grimsley," Rook said dismissively, waving the former Elite Four member on through.

  Once out of earshot, Grimsley lightened up. "Please tell me that Rook guy isn't the second strongest trainer in Po Town."

  "He is yo," Tupp said dejectedly.

  "Ian, our training's about to get a lot more intense," Grimsley said. "Fuck that guy."

  ***

  "Drizzile, Water Gun that fucker!" Tupp commanded.

  "Detect!" Ian fired back. A dark glow cloaked the pink Impidimp as Drizzile's precise rope of water shot with deadly accuracy. Impidimp moved with an unnatural agility as it dodged the incoming attack Matrix-style. "Swagger!" Ian commanded.

  "Water Gun again!" Tupp ordered. Impidimp got surrounded by more Dark TE as it suddenly appeared in front of Drizzile, puffing out its chest and beating it as it gave a loud cry. Impidimp then suddenly shifted back to its original place fifteen feet away from Drizzile, sticking its tongue out mockingly. Prankster is such a weird ability, but Impidimp needs it right now.

  Drizzle charged at the instigator, seemingly blocking out Tupp's angry commands to refocus. Impidimp cartwheeled out of the way as Drizzile hit the ground hard. "Now, Assurance!" Ian commanded.

  Impidimp gave a loud, jabbering battle cry as more Dark TE manifested around the imp, before focusing on one of its legs. Impidimp then launched itself quickly, kicking Drizzile into the dirt with an unexpected force. When the Pokemon hits itself in confusion, Assurance doubling in power is sick.That's almost all Impidimp's got going for it right now.

  "Drizzile, Water Gun!" Tupp said. Also Tupp not using Water Pulse in this skirmish really helps out cuz Impidimp would be one shot with a crit. Drizzile fired another rope of water, this time knocking Impidimp back, who yelped in pain before bouncing back up and sticking its tongue out, as if asking for more. Be careful what you wish for, little guy.

  "Alright, time to show 'em who's boss," Tupp said. "Focus Energy!" Drizzile froze for a moment, but Ian watched in confusion as Drizzile then turned around and looked at Tupp before shaking it dismissively. "What!?" Tupp called out.

  "Impidimp's so good at using Taunt they've become pretty subtle," Ian said.

  Drizzle fired a Water Pulse this time, and Impidimp needed no direction to activate Detect to take cartwheel out of the way with unreal agility. Once Impidimp had stopped moving, it turned to stick its tongue out one more time, but Drizzile was already charging ferociously. The amphibious Water Type smacked into Impidimp, pummeling the imp into the ground harshly. Impidimp then seemed to faint, its tongue sticking out as it went limp. Drizzile got up and turned around to Tupp to flex, but Ian watched keenly, seeing one of Impidimp's eyes had slightly opened.

  "Impidimp, no!" Ian ordered. Impidimp then came to laugh, unhappy Ian had uncovered its deception. "Just not on our friends, okay?" Impidimp began to babble about as Drizzile scurried over to Tupp, clearly at a loss for what to do about Ian's newest team member.

  "Well done both of you," Grimsley said, clapping lightly for the combatants. "Now Impidimp, be nice and shake Drizzile's hand. He was taking it easy on you."

  Impidimp grunted, but scampered over to Drizzile and extended its hand with a big smile. Drizzle eyed the imp suspiciously, but Tupp encouraged his Water Type to engage, so Drizzile did extend one of its arms. Impidimp then withdrew its hand and raised its middle finger as it cackled maliciously. Drizzle then gave an angry cry and charged Impidimp, who scampered away, cackling as it went. Note to self, don't let Impidimp and Sandslash hang out together too much. Something then crossed Ian's mind and cleared his throat. "Hey Grimsley, any chance you could get me a Poke Ball in the near future?"

  "Uh sure… Can I ask why though? You got plenty going on with six," Grimsley said.

  "I wanna catch something for a little Faller girl," Ian said.

  "You got cash?" Grimsley asked.

  "Well, I got some Star PIeces-"

  Grimsley shook his head. "I don't know how you're getting so many Star Pieces, and while I do want to know, you're gonna start making them too cheap for them to hold value to Driftwood if you keep going like this."

  Like Lian and the Ice Stones. Damn. "Stardust?"

  Grimsley shrugged. "Sure. You gonna go back and get it? I know you're good for it."

  Ian nodded. "I'll be right back."

  A few minutes later, Ian was speed-walking up The Spine, feeling a certain tenseness around Po Town as he did. Well today is the first day of a war with another faction after all. I can't believe they declared war on us for food tribute… The longer Ian wondered on the situation, the more he realized an odd truth. If I wasn't here, we wouldn't have all of this food. Sinclair literally declared war on us because I'm here. An uncomfortable feeling of dread came over Ian. Well imagine if I'd joined the Pearl Clan and Breon found out. Haina Town's surviving on aid, but if that ever stops they need an alternative. The asshole is literally trying to have his goons kidnap women, he wouldn't hesitate to declare war to secure a food source if it means he would starve. If I popped up on the Rough Raiders, Breon or the ASF would probably go at me as well. Now I don't feel as guilty. Ian sighed with relief, but then another thought hit him. Surge… He's reliant on aid from the ASF as well. If he ever thinks they'll cut him off, we'd be first on the list of people to conquer. But Plumeria said he was trying to secure a berry trade agreement? Where does he think we got these… Ian stopped as something else hit him. Driftwood. Even Neroli said they're tight with Surge. Driftwood likely feeds them tons of info, so they'd likely know about Sawsbuck and I, unless Ted's right. They're trying to protect me and are willing to keep me secret from Surge as long as possible-

  "Yo Ian!" Rapp's voice called out harshly.

  Ian turned to the voice's source and noticed Rapp was in front of the now open doors of the Pokemon Center, but Ian noticed the taped on sign still showed they were closed. "I'm kinda busy, Rapp."

  "C'mon, it'll just be a minute," Rapp said. Doc's elderly form appeared behind Rapp, her face looking even more wrinkly than usual.

  "You, Sawsbuck boy. You know PRU Machine?" Doc asked in her broken accent.

  Ian shook his head. "No idea what that even is."

  "C'mon Ian, you know all this shit you shouldn't," Rapp said. "Plumeria kept saying as much until we got off the mountain on the expedition, yo."

  Ian grimaced. I don't think being the supervisor of a pizza place is gonna help with whatever machine they need help with, but screw it. "Fine, I'll take a look real quick." Ian veered off his path and entered the Pokemon Center. Doc and Rapp led him behind the front desks, through a hallway and to a door that read Authorized Personnel Only. The handle had a keypad with numbers on it, and after Doc input a four digit code her fingers were too quick for Ian to track, she opened the door.

  Before Ian laid a lifeless metal box half the size of the room. It had what looked to be a microwave window at waist level. "What is this again?"

  "Pokemon Restoration Unit," Doc said with her broken accent. "You don't know?"

  Ian shrugged.

  "Why he here?" Doc said, turning to Rapp with a frown.

  "I dunno, he knows shit sometimes," Rapp said. "Worth a shot."

  "Fragile. No break," Doc instructed sternly before she pressed on something, opening a part of the metal casing. Ian leaned over and looked around at the various gizmos, wires, and equipment inside the machine. Yeah I got no idea what the fuck is going on here. My resume for this kind of thing isn't very long though. I think it was just that weekend the pizza oven kept shutting off for no reason and I'd grab an oven mit and hit the manual restart button.

  "Well it's pretty simple actually," Ian said aloud.

  "Really?" Rapp and Doc asked together in surprise.

  "Yup. I got no idea what the fuck's going on here," Ian said, trying not to laugh too hard as he stood up straight and took a step back from the machine.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  "Dumb-dumb," Doc chided, turning to Rapp again. "Why you bring him? You like him?"

  "No," Rapp said quickly. "He's with Mina."

  "Who?" Doc asked.

  "The artist chick who paints the murals," Rapp explained.

  "Oh her. She nice girl. How dumb-dumb get girl like her?" Doc demanded.

  Ian chuckled. "Good question."

  "Go away now," Doc said.

  Ian remembered Grimsley was waiting on him so he hightailed it to Tom's warehouse, getting a pretty heavy amount of Stardust in his hands. This will more than cover things.

  ***

  A couple hours passed, where Ian was now standing on top of the western wall of Po Town looking out at the beautiful view of the sea, with Mina leaning against his shoulder, half cuddling half watching the horizon for any possible Sinclair ships. Ian heard footsteps coming closer, and when saw Plumeria approaching, he gave Mina a goodbye kiss. Fun time's over, I guess.

  "Figured I'd find you up here," Plumeria said. "Ian, we got a strategy meeting I want you in attendance for."

  "Strategy meeting?" Ian asked.

  "Yeah. Really it's a war council meeting. All of the squad leaders and Bones of Team Skull will be there," Plumeria explained.

  "And I got invited?" Ian asked.

  "Before replacing Noiz with Stompz, we started getting names together for a Skull Trial. It's a tournament-"

  "Mina explained it to me," Ian said. "So I was up for a promotion?"

  "You and Hyde," Plumeria said. "He's down there," Plumeria finished, pointing inside the wall.

  Well it'll be a real test on if we're actually cool or not. Fuck. "This should go swimmingly."

  Mina pawed at Ian as he moved to leave, plopping another kiss on his lips. "Good luck."

  "Don't need luck," Ian teased with a smile on his face as he turned to follow Plumeria to the steps.

  Sure enough, Hyde was at the bottom waiting for them, and Ian gave him a forced smile, to which Hyde nodded his head a bit. I'll take it. Plumeria took the lead, and they were closing in on Shady House not long after. Ian noticed quite a bit of hustle and bustle, with a number of Team Skull members milling about Ian even noticed a couple familiar faces of the squad leaders. Ian then noticed Sophocles standing at the front door in his Team Skull uniform on guard. Oh yeah, he's in the squad with Mina. Ian then noticed a a pair of uniformed grunts pass by and appear to say something to the chubby guy, causing him to grimace. A feminine voice flagged down Plumeria, so Ian took the time to go over to Sophocles.

  "How's door duty treating you?" Ian asked.

  "Bad," Sophocles said dejectedly. "Everyone just calls me 'Slugg' and stuff, it's really annoying."

  "Sorry to hear that dude," Ian said, fist-bumping him. "I feel like you've already slimmed down quite a bit since I got here."

  "Well we were on the verge of starvation for a while there," Sophocles said grimly.

  Damn, he's definitely in a shit mood. Ian gasped as something came across his mind. "Hey Sophocles, how tech-savy would you say you are?"

  "Tech-savy? I'm probably the most savy in Po Town. I just don't have any formal education on it. But I'd get so bored when the internet went down here and I'd read my dad's old mechanical engineering books on his old work shelf. That is, before Guzma decided to use 'em to light a bonfire," Sophocles explained.

  Dammit Guzma, why am I not surprised? "Have you heard about the Pokemon Center being shut down?" Ian asked.

  "Oh yeah," Sophocles said.

  "Doc and Rapp pulled me inside to look at whatever the main healing machine is. They asked me if I knew what was wrong and I had no clue," Ian explained.

  "Rapp?" Sophocles asked nervously as he shivered suddenly.

  "Rapp? What's wrong with her?" Ian asked. "Does she bully you?"

  "N-no, but kinda…" Sophocles said, his cheeks turning bright red. Wait, is he crushing on her?

  "Well, any chance you might know what's wrong with the machine thing?" Ian asked.

  "What model PRU is it?" Sophocles asked.

  Ian threw his hands up. "The fact that would matter means you know infinitely more than I do, and likely will ever know. You should probably go to the Pokemon Center and see if you can figure out what's wrong."

  Sophocles shrugged. "I'm on guard duty. And Rapp's there…"

  "What are you, scared of Rapp?"

  "N-no…" Sophocles stuttered, his cheeks redder than a tomato. "I just get uh… nervous around her. My brain turns off."

  This boy is down BAD. He might not even know it. "Okay, that's fine."

  "Wait, really?" Sophocles asked.

  "No. We're literally at war with Sinclair and his pirate gang. We need the Pokemon Center up and running, and if there's a chance in hell you can fix that, Po Town needs you as much as it needs me."

  "Okay, I'll go after my guard shift ends-"

  Ian shook his head and scanned the crowd for Plumeria, who was chit-chatting with who he figured was a squad leader. "Hey Plumeria!" Ian called out loudly. Plumeria turned to him with a scowl for interrupting, but Ian shook his head and waved her over. "Need you over here real quick."

  Plumeria scoffed, but turned to the squad leader and said something before marching over to Ian and Sophocles. "What's going on?" Plumeria demanded.

  "Did you know we have a budding mechanical engineer here in Po Town?" Ian asked.

  "No," Plumeria said skeptically.

  Ian indicated with his arm to Sophocles.

  "What, him?" Plumeria asked in disbelief.

  "He apparently read all of his dad's textbooks," Ian said.

  "Read? I haven't seen you read in months, Slugg," Plumeria said dismissively.

  Sophocles tensed up at Plumeria's harsh tone. Oh this guy's damn near afraid of girls. No wonder. "He did read them until Guzma burned the books for a bonfire," Ian explained.

  "Oh.." Plumeria said, a flashback seeming to hit her. "So, you think you can figure out what's wrong at the Pokemon Center?"

  "Well uh… m-maybe," Sophocles said uncertainly. Plumeria eyed Ian skeptically.

  "Plumeria, he might be the only chance we got, okay?" Ian said.

  "Fuck it, worth a shot," Plumeria said. "Slugg, go to the Pokemon Center, I'll make someone stand guard here instead."

  "Uh, o-okay…" Sophocles said nervously.

  He really shrivels in front of certain girls. He wasn't like this around Mina.

  Plumeria then scanned the crowd of Team Skull members and yelled "Hey Noodle, get over here!" Plumeria then turned to Sophocles. "Noodle's gonna hold your post, go to the Pokemon Center and see what you can do."

  Sophocles nodded quickly. "Okay."

  "Noodle, watch Slugg's post until he gets back," Plumeria said. "Coogz, follow me."

  Plumeria took Ian inside and found a corner where no Team Skull members were too close. "What's up?"

  "I take it you know something we don't about Slugg?" Plumeria asked.

  Ian nodded. "From what I knew, he was a prodigy with tech, inventing crazy things… He was the Trial Captain of the observatory on top of the mountain," Ian explained.

  The lightbulb went off in Plumeria's brain. "There did used to be a trial site up there-"

  "But Aether took over its management in this world," Ian said. "In the world I know, where Lusamine went bad, she left it alone."

  "You think he can help?" Plumeria asked.

  "He's probably the only one who can," Ian said. "He was also a very good trainer. Too bad he's terrified of you and Rapp though. I think he's got a massive crush on her."

  "I've seen him interact with Rapp once and yeah, he definitely does," Plumeria said with a smug expression. "Poor guy." Plumeria paused then sighed.

  Ian saw Hyde approaching out of the corner of his eye. Please don't think we're conspiring against you.

  "You giving Ian a sneak peek of the meeting?" Hyde asked bluntly.

  "No, we're talking about the Pokemon Center being down and how to fix it," Plumeria fired back.

  "I don't think Driftwood's gonna send a mechanic out here to fix it, so we're pretty fucked," Hyde said.

  Ian shrugged. "We may just have one in town as a matter of fact."

  Hyde took a deep breath. He really wanted to lash out there, good on him. "Who is it then?" Hyde asked.

  "Slugg," Plumeria said.

  "That lazy fatass?" Hyde asked.

  "Lazy and fat because he reads a lot," Ian said. "Or used to, until Guzma burned all of his dad's mechanical engineering textbooks."

  "Oh," Hyde said.

  "Alright boys, put it back in your pants. I think the war council's starting," Plumeria said.

  Ian realized a dozen more Team Skull members had filled up the main room of Shady House, and an eerie quiet came across the room as one of the girls Guzma usually had around his throne room stepped out in front of the assembled group. "What's her name again?" Ian asked.

  "Kyra," Plumeria whispered. "She was one of the women who fled Haina Town and Breon started a war to get them back."

  I was not expecting that kind of lore. "Well it's good she's here then."

  "I gotta go do meeting stuff," Plumeria said. "Don't speak out unless you're specifically told to, okay?"

  Ian gave her a thumbs up, and Hyde didn't react as Plumeria marched over to where Rook and Tom were. Ian noticed Mina's map of the island displayed on the wall behind where the makeshift stage was. Kyra, the young woman with blonde hair sticking out of her skull cap who'd taken center stage suddenly raised her hand and the whole room went deathly quiet. "Skull, for life!" She called out. "Skull. For. Life!"

  The room suddenly roared. "Skull! For! Life! SKULL! FOR LIFE!" The room repeated in rhythm. Ian picked up on it quickly, with Hyde raising both of his hands, moving them up and down like he was at a rap concert.

  Guzma then emerged from a hallway, shouting the chant in unison as well. He quickly took the lead, speeding up the beat of the chant as the noise in the room got so loud it hurt Ian's eardrums. "SKULL! FOR! LIFE!" The chants echoed in Ian's head as Guzma reveled in the roar. Guzma then held his hand up, sticking three fingers up, then dropped one as a chant finished, then another, Ian made sure to go quiet as Guzma's last finger dropped, and Ian smiled as he realized he'd caught on.

  "Alright fuckers, as you all know, we are now at war with Sinclair," Guzma said bluntly. "He's basically unbeatable at sea, but his people aren't great at fighting on land," Guzma explained. "The problem is they'll be able to sneak attack and ambush us since there's so much coastline in our territory, and no one to oppose them out there."

  Rook stood up, as if on cue. "We do have a couple small boats to harass them."

  Guzma snorted in disbelief. "They don't work anymore and we don't have fuel for them even if they did," Guzma said. "Not even mentioning we're not beating them at sea. They've fought off the ASF multiple times, if the Driftwood Guild is supposed to be believed."

  "Well let's focus on what we do have," Rook began. "They don't have the ability to overtake our walls. They can't land on the beaches around us in great numbers. They'll likely be trying to destroy our food sources to starve us into submission, but they'll have to do overland raids. We need to create a fortified perimeter around Po Town's crop fields and the berry grove. This will soak up a lot of manpower though."

  So we're just sitting ducks? They can attack us at will and only have to succeed once. It'd become a war of attrition. Not even mentioning how do we know for certain their boats can't land on the surrounding coast? They've been scouting it for weeks apparently. And who knows how long morale around here lasts if we're feeling like we're constantly under siege. Ian cleared his throat, trying to suppress the urge to speak out.

  "And where does the Pearl Clan fit into this?" Plumeria chimed in loudly.

  Rook rolled his eyes. "We just made an alliance with them and gave them some land a little north of the Akua Jungle," Rook said, pointing to the approximate location on the map. "They're brand new allies and could turn on us at any time. I want to keep them at arm's length as much as possible. The moment we become dependent on them, they'll be able to stab us in the back."

  "They're going to be harvesting our crops for us and feeding themselves exclusively off of that," Plumeria spelled out. "I'm sure they would be happy to protect their vital source of food."

  "What say you Rook?" Guzma asked.

  Rook shook his head. "It leaves us vulnerable."

  "Plumeria?" Guzma asked.

  "We're vulnerable either way," she said dismissively. "One likely lessens casualties because our numbers will deter them from trying an attack."

  Ian felt another need to speak out, and he noticed Plumeria's gaze nearing him and he tried to raise his hand subtly, not extending it, just opening his palm around next to his head.

  "Oh does the 'Prince of Po Town' want to chime in?" Guzma shouted aggressively, pointing at Ian. Ian's heart sank. "What words of wisdom would he give us?"

  Plumeria face-palmed. Here goes something. "Well, if we have a small group of Pearl Clan defenders, they're basically our hostages. The main group living at their settlement wouldn't dare betray us. Plus if Sinclair does attack and one of them is harmed, there's no way the Pearl Clan ever joins forces with Sinclair. Not even mentioning if our people actively save some of theirs, they'll be fierce allies with us for as long as they live."

  Ian felt like he could hear a pin drop as his whole body tensed with nerves, waiting to see how the crowd received his point. Guzma stepped closer to Ian, arms folded, face giving away nothing until he spoke. "That's pretty damn clever actually. How'd you come up with that?"

  I got really into medieval warfare and stuff after watching Game of Thrones with Suzy one summer. "Just a thought," Ian croaked.

  "Rook, your response?" Guzma asked.

  "If the Pearl Clan's as desperate as they seem, a couple casualties won't matter if they can get a better deal," Rook said. "Squad leaders know I'm right."

  "Do they now?" Guzma said. "We got the nine squad leaders here except for Lex and Trickz, but they got their number two's here representing them. Show of hands, who thinks Rook's right?"

  One hand shot in the air immediately, the hand of the tallest man in the room, Ruckz. Of course Rook's little giant of a brother agrees with him.

  "And who thinks our little prince here is making some sense?" Guzma asked.

  Ian counted six hands among the audience, and he couldn't help but smile. Then he saw Tom and Plumeria standing in a corner behind Guzma with both of their hands raised. Ian pumped his fist in place, beaming with pride. Eight of nine, that's pretty damning. "Well that's that then," Guzma concluded before stepping toward Ian once more. "Any other clever thoughts bouncing around that head of yours, Coogz?"

  "Uh… A couple," Ian croaked, still nervous.

  "Why don't you come up here and share 'em with the class?" Guzma teased.

  Ian saw Plumeria fold her arms, but she watched him intently as he stepped forward. "So if we just stay around Po Town, guard it and don't do anything else, Sinclair will get to decide when and where each engagement will happen. We'd basically be under siege indefinitely. If we just sit back and play defense, he'll wear us down and kill our morale."

  "His raids won't be able to do much around Po Town," Rook chimed in.

  "He won't just raid us, he'll raid the Pearl Clan's settlement. They're sending laborers to harvest crops, but they'll be vulnerable while they're going between Po Town and their settlement…" Ian paused, eyeing the map around Mahiki Bay.

  "Litten got your tongue?" Rook teased.

  "I'm thinking," Ian said, looking around the half dozen small islands of the bay on the map, then to the peninsula's sticking out to help form it. "Where do we think Sinclair's base is again?"

  Rook scoffed. "Momi Isle." Rook pointed at the largest of the islands in Mahiki Bay, the westernmost of the islands. Ian took special note of the peninsula on the northern part of the bay, jutting out from just below the Akua Forest. And close to the Pearl Clan settlement.

  "Plumeria, is there a vantage point on this peninsula we could see Momi Isle clearly?" Ian asked.

  "On Cape Pupuhi?" Plumeria said, strolling over to the map. "Yeah, right here," Plumeria said, pointing near the tip of it. "There's this elevated area near the tip called Atman's Point. We'd probably be able to see every boat they send out from the old fisherman dock that got built on the island." Plumeria pointed to the western facing side of the island.

  "And do we have any radios or anything? Anything to communicate over distance like that?" Ian said, turning to Tom.

  "Matter of fact we do," Tom answered. "Some from city hall, some from the police outpost, and some from the ranger station at the meadow. Only thing we got a lot of still I'd say, since Driftwood wouldn't buy them from us. Just need Electric Pokemon to keep them powered up."

  Ian pumped his fist. "If we can establish a position at Atman's Point, we'll be able to watch all of their movements, watch where all of those boats go. They send three boats to try to do an ambush further up north? We'll already know they're out there. Maybe even send a squad to ambush them if they try to land."

  Ian heard Stompz clear his throat and step forward. "If we got so many radios lying about, we can have lookouts up and down the coast. Sinclair won't be able to do a bloody thing."

  "That's all fine and dandy in theory," Rook said. "But what about at night? Sinclair ain't afraid to move at night."

  "We see his boats lit up sometimes, don't we?" Ian asked.

  "Yeah, but if he's moving stuff without lights, then we don't know," Rook said. "And we'd be undermanned in Po Town in case they sent a huge attack at us."

  Another squad leader stepped forward, a man about Ian's size but with red hair that Ian recognized as Mina's squad leader, Slash. "You ever been on a boat at night without lights, Rook?"

  "No."

  "It's incredibly dangerous. Even if Sinclair can navigate the coast at night, the risk of ramming into other boats and capsizing them would be too much of a risk," Slash said. "They'd be able to send one boat for an ambush at night out, max."

  Good points all around.

  "Alright, alright.." Guzma said, stepping forward once more, eyes fixed on Ian. "But what's the game plan? How do we come out on top here with this tracking shit?"

  Ian took a deep breath. "Sinclair has a limited number of trainers and boats to move them around. If we can ambush them when they come ashore and take prisoners, destroy their boats, whatever… They'll run out of people to do their piracy thing, let alone fight effectively. Sinclair will ask to negotiate, probably pay us a lot in treasure, who knows what else, so that we give him the captives back."

  Guzma grinned wickedly. "I like the sound of that. You know what Sinclair probably pays us with?"

  "No clue," Ian said.

  "Pearls. Shit tons of 'em," Guzma said. "'Momi' means 'pearl' in Alolan, and Mahiki Bay is filled with Clamperl."

  "Let's win the war first and think about the loot after," Plumeria said. "Is this the strat you want to use, boss?"

  Guzma smiled. "Oh yeah."

  "We won't be able to use it until the Pearl Clan gets settled though," Rook pointed out. "How long will it take for them to do that?"

  "That chick's probably not even at Mount Lana'kila yet with the message," Guzma answered. "She said it'd take them a couple days to prepare everything, probably a day and a half to descend, another day to get north."

  "We are going to send a squad down with some food and to escort them once they're down the mountain," Plumeria said, giving Ian and Hyde a knowing look.

  Rook sighed. "Well if we're gonna do this strat and spread ourselves thin, we need to plan it out well."

  The rest of the meeting largely became Rook and Plumeria talking to squad leaders and figuring out primary defensive positions around Po Town, and Ian took his spot next to Rook, keeping quiet like Plumeria had wanted him to. When all was said and done, it had been a good two hours of time, and Plumeria led the duo out in front of Shady House.

  "You were really playing with fire in there, Ian," Plumeria teased.

  Ian shrugged. "I was trying to get your attention, not Guzma's."

  Plumeria shook her head. "Lot of good that would have done," Plumeria paused. "But good job. It was a good idea to have you here."

  "Yeah," Hyde added quietly.

  "Thanks," Ian said, nodding his head respectfully.

  ***

  The rest of day passed rather uneventfully, with Ian playing his guitar for Mina while she started work on a new mural. After a good night make-out session, the two went their separate ways and Ian settled into his bunk for the night, a big smile on his face.

  Ian didn't know how long had passed, but when he was awoken by the sound of Po Town's foghorn alarm, he knew something was up.

  "What's going on?" One guy called out.

  "Only one blast!" Another said.

  The light flickered on and Ian tensed. "Sinclair's dudes must be here!" Ian called out, freezing up the bunkhouse for a second before panic broke out.

  "Everyone, go, go, go!" Someone yelled out as Ian rolled out of bed.

  Here we fucking go.