Pokémon USUM: Hero Born of Darkness (book 1 of the HBoD series)

Chapter 4: The Mysterious Pokemon

When we reached Iki Town, Hau smiled. "Home sweet home."

"You live here?" I asked.

"Yep," he nodded. "I live with my mother and Grandfather."

I looked at him. "What about your dad."

Hau's smile faltered for a second, but then returned. "Off in another region. Living in the shadow of a Kahuna was too much for him."

I put the pieces together. "So your grandfather is this "Kahuna"? What is a Kahuna?"

Hau looked at me, surprised at first, then remembered I was still new here. "A Kahuna is chosen by the Island's Deity and is a protector of the island. They also oversee the Grand Trial after all the other trials are beaten on the island."

"Speaking of Tutu," Hau frowned as he looked around. "Wonder where he is?"

"Tutu?"

"Hala, my grandfather," Hau responded, scratching his head. "He should be here to help set up the festival, but he might be taking care of some Kahuna business."

"Like what?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Not serious business. Stuff like that rarely happens. Probably just some minor dispute between trainers. That's more common."

I couldn't help but think of Hau and Alex.

Hau looked at the setting sun. "The festival will start soon and he'll need to be here. I'll check around town and you can look up on Mahalo Trail."

He pointed at the trail that was set in between trees at the back of the town.

I nodded. "How will I know if it's him?"

Hau grinned. "Trust me. You'll know." He raced off to speak with the townsfolk setting up the festival and I ran over to Mahalo Trail. I passed a wooden platform that I figured must be the place Hau and I would probably battle.

I slowed to a jog once on Mahalo Trail to conserve my energy. As I went up some wooden stairs, I saw Lillie up ahead, her bag shaking.

"Calm down Nebby," She told her moving bag, which struck me as a little more than odd. "We're almost there." She hurried off, farther along the trail.

"Nebby?" I mumbled. "What's "Nebby"?"

My curiosity piqued, I hurried along after Lillie, but made sure not to be seen. I hid myself behind a tree when Lillie neared a bridge, a roaring waterfall crashing below to what I assumed was a river by the sound. Her bag shook violently and a cloud-cosmic looking Pokemon popped out. This, I assumed was Nebby.

"PEW!" It cried, waving its miniature cloud arm... things.

"Nebby!" Lillie cried out as Nebby started to fly across the bridge. "STOP!"

Suddenly three Spearows flew out of nowhere and began attacking Nebby on the middle of the bridge. Their beaks glowed as they pecked it over and over. I had to act. I quickly ran out from behind the tree and ran past Lillie and onto the bridge. 

The bridge creaked and groaned as I ran across and I pushed away the fear of it breaking, already commited to the act of saving Nebby. When I reached the cosmic-looking Pokemon, I began to shove the Spearows out of the way and shielded Nebby with my body. Their pecks hurt through my trench coat and I gritted my teeth as I lifted Nebby up in my arms, still shielding it. Then he began to turn blue.

"NEBBY!" I heard Lillie yell again. "DON'T!"

Nebby unleashed a burst of blue energy, knocking away the Spearows. Fortunately the energy passed right through me. Unfortunately, it destroyed the section of the bridge we were standing upon.

I held onto Nebby as we fell towards the jagged rocks jutting out of the roaring river below. I could barely hear Lillie scream as the wind rushed past my ears. Then I heard the crackle of electricity and felt something grab hold of me and carry me up where Nebby and I were deposited next to Lillie. I rolled onto my back, holding Nebby to my chest. 

I sat up and gazed at the Pokemon that saved us. Its arms were connected to two pieces of a yellow bird tiki mask. It's head had an orange Mohawk of sorts sticking out of its head.

I stared at it in wonder, then a voice entered my head. The words felt crackly, like electricity. "Child born of darkness. Beware the falling night where light shall meet its end."  The Pokemon surrounded itself with electricity and flew into the sky and out of sight.

"What was that?" I asked Lillie after a moment of silence.

Lillie shook her head as if trying to clear her thoughts. "That was Tapu Koko. The Guardian of Melemele Island. It's rare for people to see them at all."

Nebby freed itself from my grasp and went to hover by a black bracelet. Lillie gasped and picked it up.

"It's a Z-ring!" She exclaimed, answering the question I was about to ask, but now I had a new question.

"A Z-ring is..." I prompted.

"It's a bracelet that holds Z-crystals and allows you to use Z-moves," Lillie responded.

"Explain this Z stuff later will you?" I looked at the almost completely dark sky. "We might want to get to the festival before it starts."

Lillie nodded and gave me the black Z-ring. "Tapu Koko obviously meant this for you."

I took it as she turned to Nebby and opened her bag, staring intensely at her strange Pokemon. "Now get in the bag Nebby."

Nebby cried unhappily, but went into the bag nonetheless. We then set off to Iki Town running.

"So, why do you keep him in the bag?" I asked Lillie. "He's obviously unhappy."

"Actually, Nebby's a girl," Lillie said. "And I do it to hide her. If they saw her, they could try to take her again." She shut her mouth quickly after saying that and looked worried, like she'd just spoken taboo.

"Who are "they"?" I asked

She didn't answer, just hugged her bag tighter to her chest. I shrugged and kept running. Whoever "they" were, they must be bad if Lillie was too scared to talk about them. Not long later, we began to see the flickering tiki torches in the distance, telling us that we were close to Iki Town. 

"I need to focus on one thing at a time," I thought to myself. "And that thing is the festival. Plus, if what Kukui said was true, a rematch between Hau and I is bound to happen."

Another chapter and hopefully more views and stars. To those who hopefully read this, know that this story probably won't be popular. But I have hope that I do good and it will be popular. I have great things planned for this fanfic and I won't stop. Toodles.

EDIT (6/1/2020): HBoD's more popular than I thought. Carry on readers