Chapter 13:

Elios watched Gloria weigh the two apples in front of her as if they were precious relics. To him, they looked and smelled exactly the same. Somehow, Gloria could tell the difference. She brought the apple in her right hand to her face.

"If I feed Applin this, it'll evolve into a Flapple." Then she raised her other arm. "But if I feed Applin this apple, it'll evolve into an Appletun."

When Gloria looked up at him expectantly, he turned to the Applin sitting on a tree stump. The worm-like Pokemon had completely eaten through its original Apple and was now several times its original size. According to Gloria, that meant it was ready evolve—and had two possible evolutions based on which Apple it ate next. It blinked at Elios with its leaf-shaped eyes.

"What do I do, Elios?" Gloria asked. "I can't decide!"

He looked up. The sky was grey. It was going to rain soon, and Elios didn't like the idea of standing around in the Wild Area in the middle of a thunderstorm.

"Why don't you let Applin decide?" he said. He figured, if the apple was going to become the Pokemon's permanent home, Gloria might as well let Applin choose for itself.

The girl stared at the two apples in her hands. Then she sighed and placed both of them in front of Applin on the tree stump.

Elios frowned as the Pokemon inched toward one of them.

Which evolution was that again?

XxXxXxXxX

Rain crashed outside. Elios let out a breath of relief. They'd dived into the cave just a few seconds before the first drops of water fell from the sky. It wasn't very deep—just a short tunnel dug into the face of a cliff, but large enough that Elios could call on his entire team if he wanted to.

"C'mon, Flapple. Fly, you can do it!" Gloria said encouragingly. "Beat your wings a little harder. Oh, and maybe try jumping while you're doing it!"

Elios warmed himself next to fire they'd made. Gloria's newest Pokemon had evolved a few minutes after eating the apple. Fascinated, he watched the Flapple try moving its wings—made of apple flesh and skin—hopping around as it did so.

Every region had a few unique Pokemon, and Elios pulled out his Rotomdex to snap a picture. This was something he had to show Mallow, once he returned to Alola. Hopefully, if she ever came across a Flapple or an Appletun of her own, she wouldn't accidentally throw it into a pot.

"I think it'll take a while before it gets used to its wings," he said. "Once it does, you can probably teach it a few Flying moves."

"Oh," Gloria said. "I didn't even think about that."

"I'm sorry, but…" a new voice said, partially drowned out by the rain. Elios turned to see a girl standing at the mouth of the cave, soaked, and still being pelted by the storm. "Can I share this cave with you two?"

"Oh my god! Come in!" Gloria exclaimed. "Of course you can! Don't stand in the rain. C'mere and sit by the fire. We'll get you warmed up and dry right away!"

The girl hurried into the cave. She looked to be about Gloria's age, and Elios shifted so she could sit right by the fire. She unzipped her jacket, and from beneath the black leather, a Pokemon he'd never seen before popped its head out.

"Come on, Morpeko. It's warm here. Say hi to our new friends…" the girl looked at them expectantly as the Morpeko—a yellow and grey rodent-like Pokemon—plopped itself by the fire.

"I'm Gloria," Gloria said. She pulled out a towel from her backpack and passed it to the girl. "Here, use this."

"Thank you," the other girl said, redirecting her gaze at him.

"Elios," he said.

The girl covered her face momentarily as she dried her hair. "I'm Marnie," she said, then looked at Gloria's Flapple, which was having a staring battle with her Morpeko. "Are you two Trainers?"

"Yeap," Gloria replied. "We just started out, though. We only have one Gym Badge."

Elios swore Marnie's eyes shined as she leaned forward. "Me too."

"Wait, so you're the same as us!"

"Yeah, I guess. I just caught my third Pokemon."

"No way! Flapple's my third Pokemon, too! This is so cool!"

Elios leaned against the rocky wall and yawned. Rain always made him feel sleepy. Even with the two girls striking up a conversation about their Pokemon and favourite Trainers, he found himself drifting off. He'd spent the whole of last night training Hatenna with Ninetails. Progress was slow with that one. Hatenna was finally getting used to using its moves, but Elios was having trouble convincing it to listen to him. He saw no point in trying to teach it new moves until he could get it to do the ones it already knew.

For now, the only thing he could do was encourage Ninetails to keep entertaining it. The games they played might be fun and directionless now, but Elios had a few ideas to add a competitive aspect to it. Hatenna, for all its shyness, had a small competitive streak to it—it didn't like it when Ninetails had the last laugh in their games. If he could just find a way to motivate it…

He fell asleep, his last thought a version of Tag that would train Hatenna's telekinetic abilities.

XxXxXxXxX

"I did it!"

Elios' eyes snapped open at Gloria's cheer. The rain had stopped. Sunlight streamed into the cave.

He frowned.

Where were the other two? Standing up and stretching, Elios walked out.

Drizzile and Gloria were doing a little dance. Marnie had a fainted Croagunk in front of her, which she recalled into a Dusk Ball.

"Hmph," Marnie said, scrunching up her lips. "That wasn't very fair. Your Drizzile confused all my Pokemon."

"Yeah," Gloria said, scratching the back of her head. "I got kind of lucky. But you were really good, too! You definitely would have won otherwise." Then she saw Elios. "Hey, sleepyhead. We just finished a Pokemon battle!"

Marnie nodded. "It was a close battle."

Elios looked at the two girls. At seeing Gloria's sparkling grin, he recalled that the first time they met, she hadn't won a single battle. She had been a shy mess that barely managed to ask him for a battle.

She's come far, he thought.

Marnie, on the other hand, was pouting. He could tell the girl was upset.

"Try giving your Pokemon some Berries to hold next time," he suggested. "That way, if they become confused, or have some other kind of status condition, they'll be able to recover quickly."

Marnie's eyes widened. "That's right. My brother said something like that, once. I forgot all about it."

"Yeah," Gloria said, nodding her head. "Elios has all kinds of cool tricks and tips. You should hang out with us more! You wanna follow us until we challenge Nessa's Gym?"

"Huh?" both Elios and Marnie said.

"We're friends now, aren't we?" Gloria said.

Marnie was visibly unprepared for that declaration. The girl stiffened and took a step back.

Maybe don't go deciding things like that for her, Gloria, he thought.

Then Marnie grinned and dipped her head. "Yeah. We are friends."

"So? Wanna join us?"

"I have to meet my brother after this. Sorry, Gloria. But I'm sure we'll meet again next time. And I'll be sure to beat you then."

"Ho ho," Gloria said, puffing her chest. "We'll see about that, Marnie. I'll be even more prepared!"

Elios rolled his eyes. She wins one time, and she starts lording it.

Marnie pouted and clenched her fists. "I'll work even harder. And I'll have my Berries. Your Water Pulse trick won't work like it did this time. You'll see. After we both beat Nessa, we'll have a rematch."

The two girls shook on it.

As Gloria watched Marnie leave, she turned to Elios. "I did it, Elios!"

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Did what? Defeat a Trainer? You've already beaten Milo before."

"Nope, that's not what I meant," Gloria said. She flashed a grin. "I made a rival!"

XxXxXxXxX

A/N: Short chappie. Not sure how I can make things exciting until the Water Gym, so it'll be short and easy chapters until then. It'll mainly just be Gloria being Gloria and Elios trying to figure out his Hatenna problem.