Wherever this group passed, chaos erupted — chickens and dogs scattered, and residents shied away as if avoiding venomous snakes, hurriedly closing their shops' fronts.
In the midst of the imposing, swaggering crowd of over a dozen Team Skull members, the one at the front had striking blue hair sticking out from beneath a skull-styled cap. Clearly a minor boss, he barked sharply at Lucas, who was blocking their way:
"Hey, you! Are you trying to stop Team Skull from doing our thing?"
As Tupp's voice rang out, a pink-haired woman named Rapp and a chubby, grey-haired guy called Zipp chimed in support.
"Yeah, that's right, that's right!"
"You got a death wish or something?!"
Their voices further riled up the other Team Skull members, who began hurling threats at Lucas.
Lucas: "?"
He hadn't planned to bother with these guys, but now Lucas stopped in his tracks, pausing before entering the Pokémon School. He glanced at the Dragonite beside him in confusion.
He hadn't even recalled his Dragonite back into the Poké Ball yet — were thugs nowadays really this bold?
That's right—"thugs" was Lucas's personal evaluation of Team Skull.
After all, Team Skull was a villain team in the Alola region, similar in official role to Team Rocket.
But anyone who's played the games or watched the anime knows: compared to the "world-conquering" ambitions of Team Rocket, the "expand the land/sea" goals of Team Magma and Aqua, Team Galactic's "create a new world," Team Plasma's "only we can own Pokémon," and Team Flare's "reduce humans and Pokémon alike"—
Team Skull were barely even villains. At best, they made trouble, did bad stuff, and very rarely managed to steal Pokémon. In practice, they were just local punks.
They were only slightly worse than, say, the "Team Yell" later on, who were basically Marnie's personal cheer squad, or the "Team Star" he'd already "butterflied" by now.
As for the trio hurling threats at Lucas, he even remembered these three from somewhere.
They weren't even at the "Apollo" and "Athena" executive level; even Arbok and the minor henchmen outclassed them in professionalism.
At best, these were just slightly stronger grunt-tier members.
So… where did they get the nerve to provoke him?
Noticing, finally, the Dragonite beside Lucas, Zipp tiptoed and whispered to Tupp:
"That guy's Pokémon looks pretty nasty to me… maybe we should—"
But Tupp wasn't having it. Unwilling to leave the Pokémon School having not even made it inside, he gritted his teeth, trying not to show weakness:
"It's just one guy, and there's more than ten of us! What are you scared for?"
"If we back out now, Boss Guzma'll be pissed. Even Big Sister Plumeria won't be able to save us this time."
Then, as if hypnotizing himself, Tupp raised his fist and shouted to the others:
"Everyone, send out your Pokémon! Kick this roadblock out of the way, flatten the Pokémon School, and complete the boss's mission!"
"Yeahhh!"
The Team Skull grunts erupted with energy, tossing out Poké Balls. Brilliant lights briefly filled the air.
One sweep of the eye: their Pokémon line-up mostly consisted of Golbat, Ekans, Scraggy, Houndour, Alolan Rattata, Alolan Raticate, Spinarak, Yungoos, and Drowzee.
Tupp and his two companions had a bit more variety —
Three Salandit, three Yungoos, three Zubat, and even a Garbodor between them.
But even with all those, aside from the Garbodor, none were even fully evolved, meaning no possible threat to Dragonite.
In a word: Cannon fodder.
"Forget it, let's finish these guys off quickly."
Lucas sighed. He really couldn't be bothered to waste time with these clowns.
Maybe because he hadn't hushed his voice, Tupp (not far away) got angry as soon as he heard this:
"You dare look down on us?!"
With his fragile pride pricked, Tupp barked angrily, commanding his three Salandit to attack first:
"Venoshock! Show him the price of angering Boss Tupp!"
"Bite!"
"Sludge Bomb!"
"Supersonic!"
The other grunts quickly followed, launching a barrage of moves at Lucas and Dragonite.
All at once, attacks flew in from all directions.
Hearing the commotion, Kukui and Samson Oak (now Principal Oak), along with Kiawe, Lana, Mallow, Sophocles, and Lillie from the Pokémon School, rushed over to see more than a dozen Team Skull grunts ganging up on Lucas.
"Oh no, that person's in danger!"
Righteous as always, Kiawe's expression changed as he was about to send out his Pokémon.
Kukui reacted even quicker, but as soon as he saw the familiar figure being surrounded by Team Skull—
Kukui's anxiety faded. His hand slowed as he was just about to throw a Poké Ball, and he tugged Kiawe back.
Seeing Kiawe's confused look, Kukui shook his head:
"It's fine. This is nothing for him."
Just as Kukui thought — Lucas, sensing someone arriving, ignored the newcomers and calmly watched the fancy barrage of attacks streaming his way.
"Twister."
It wasn't that Lucas didn't want Dragonite to use "Hurricane"—it was just "Twister" was more than enough. Use "Hurricane" and he might blow the whole group into the sky.
"Bwooo!"
Dragonite innocently cocked its head, blue light gathered on its wings, then with a mighty flap—
In an instant, a deep blue twister swept forward under Dragonite's control, easily canceling out over twenty Pokémon's attacks, then rolling through all the grunts and their Pokémon.
When the "Twister" finally faded, a dozen Team Skull grunts and their Pokémon lay sprawled across the ground in tangled heaps, as if they'd just gone a round in a washing machine, dizzy and retching.
A few even threw up on the spot.
"Jerk! You'll regret this!"
Once they recovered, but still daunted by Dragonite, the grunts quickly recalled their Pokémon with beams of red light and retreated, still shouting threats but not daring to linger a second longer.
"So strong!"
Mallow clasped her hands, face full of wonder.
"Yeah!" Lillie echoed with awe.
Kiawe, still stunned, recalled his Poké Ball in silence.
That many Pokémon attacking at once—even Turtonator would need to use a Z-Move to stand a chance.
Yet this stranger had taken them all out with a single, ordinary "Twister".
Who was this person?
Lost in thought, Kiawe didn't notice that Lana was covering her mouth in shock.
Inside the Pokémon School.
Lucas turned around, unsurprised to find a whole crowd behind him.
Apart from being gawked at by all the students as if he were some rare animal, it didn't take long for Lucas to say hi to Professor Kukui and be invited into the principal's office.
"Sorry you had to deal with that," Kukui scratched his head apologetically, looking embarrassed.
"It's whatever. But you—"
Lucas, who knew the truth about Team Skull, had no particular feelings about it, but noticed Kukui's hesitation.
He vaguely sensed that Team Skull was after Kukui.
Bringing it up, Kukui looked somewhat uncomfortable and finally explained, after a moment's mental preparation:
"They… Team Skull came to stir up trouble at the Pokémon School, probably because of me."
"Because of you?" Lucas prompted, already knowing the answer.
"Yeah." Kukui nodded, face growing nostalgic. "How to put it... Guzma and I have some old grudges. I guess he found out by some means that I'm teaching at the Pokémon School, so he's here to cause trouble."
"This kind of thing has never happened before."
With that, Kukui bowed apologetically to Principal Oak (in his Alolan style), and said,
"If I'm causing trouble for the school or the principal, I'm willing to resign!"
"It's not that serious!"
Principal Oak sprang up to stop him, smiling,
"You're a Pokémon Professor now! Our school needs scholars like you. No way we'd dismiss you over something like Oddish!"
He then suddenly transformed, without warning, into a perfect impersonation of Oddish. He even had all the adorable detail, as accurate as Ash's Pikachu—startling Lucas and Kukui.
Thankfully, Kukui had only been on the job a few days and was used to Principal Oak's quirks, while Lucas was mentally prepared.
After lightening the atmosphere, Principal Oak beamed and excused himself, claiming he needed to patrol around campus and giving the younger men some privacy.
The office fell quiet.
Kukui broke the silence, extending his hand to Lucas:
"It's a little late to say this, but, welcome to Alola, Lucas!"
"And congratulations on becoming a Pokémon Professor, you're one step closer to your dream." Lucas smiled and shook his hand back.
Just like that, the awkwardness of not seeing each other for nearly a year melted away.
The two began to chat idly.
"Are you still teaching at Naranja Academy?" Kukui asked, curious.
He'd chosen to teach at Pokémon School, not just to build reputation as Lucas once advised, but also because of the inspiration Lucas had given him—even if, at that time, Lucas hadn't taught for long.
"Of course. My students even beat the visiting Blueberry Academy team recently."
Lucas chuckled, sharing some funny teaching stories, highlighting Nemona, who was already strong enough to challenge the Elite Four.
It was a bit boastful, but Kukui said with a hint of envy, "If only I could teach a student as good as that for Alola one day."
"That way, I'd be able to build up the Alolan Pokémon League better."
Kukui told Lucas about what he'd been up to the past year.
Just as Lucas had suggested, Kukui put real effort into gaining fame, didn't just rely on strength, self-studied and became a Pokémon Professor, handled his work, and then started at the Pokémon School as a professor.
Lucas listened attentively.
He knew Kukui was still hiding something—not just from him, but from everyone.
Thinking back to all the "Masked Royal" wrestling posters at Akala's beach, Lucas smiled knowingly.
If Kukui ever publicly revealed himself as the "Masked Royal," people would rush to invest in him, and help him found the Alola Pokémon League.
After all, the "Masked Royal" was a widely beloved celebrity and idol in Alola.
But Kukui clearly had his own ideals, preferring to build things from the ground up without relying on his alter ego.
Lucas could understand that.
Now that Kukui was teaching here, when Ash arrived in Alola, the region's League would naturally form. Lucas decided not to interfere further, and instead brought up his real purpose for coming to Alola.
"I'd like to meet Tapu Fini. There's something important I need to ask it."
He looked Kukui in the eye, serious.
Rather than run around in circles, he thought asking Kukui directly would be the best shortcut.
"...Tapu Fini?"
Kukui scratched his sideburns, smiling wryly.
First it was Tapu Bulu, now Tapu Fini.
Even though last time Kukui told Lucas about Tapu Bulu, it was clear Lucas knew about Tapu Fini's powers before coming to ask for help.
Regardless of how Lucas found out, Kukui didn't believe Lucas would harm Tapu Fini; if he could help, he would.
However, on the subject of Tapu Fini, there was nothing he could do.
"Sorry, the only Island Kahuna who could call Tapu Fini, Guardian Deity of Poni Island, passed away a few years ago. Right now, Poni Island doesn't have an Island Kahuna."
"I have no idea where Tapu Fini might be."
Kukui looked apologetically at Lucas.
"I see..."
Lucas sighed, realizing that this avenue was likely closed.
He hadn't held out much hope anyway, treating it more like a visit to a friend.
Still, he felt a hint of regret.
In the anime timeline, once Ash reached Alola, the former Island Kahuna's granddaughter, Hapu, would come of age and succeed as Poni Island's Guardian Queen, recognized by Tapu Fini.
But now, Ash had just started his Hoenn adventure. Getting to Alola, and waiting for Hapu to inherit the title, might take another year or two.
Not that Lucas couldn't wait—he just didn't see the point.
So, only two options remained:
First, go to the Ruins of Abundance on Ula'ula Island and ask the familiar Tapu Bulu to introduce him to Tapu Fini.
Whether Tapu Bulu would agree was unknown—Tapus acted on their whims, and he couldn't exactly beat up Tapu Bulu and force its help.
Otherwise, he'd risk all four Guardian Deities ganging up on him, and Tapu Fini would never help.
Second, use his own unique advantage: letting the system guide him directly to Tapu Fini.
Of course, even if he found Tapu Fini, it might not agree to help—it would still take some effort.
Weighing his options, Lucas didn't make Kukui feel bad about it.
"That's fine—I'll look for other ways then."
"Sorry—I'll also see if I can ask around for you," Kukui nodded, resolved to visit his own master, Island Kahuna Hala, in Iki Town. Maybe Hala would have a solution.
They chatted for a bit longer.
Just as Lucas rose to leave and Kukui was inviting him to enjoy his vacation in Alola and ask for a tour guide if needed—
The office door suddenly swung open.
A blonde girl in a white dress, wearing a white hat, hurried in. Her delicate and cute face was filled with panic.
"It's bad — those people are back!"
"Kiawe and the others can't hold out much longer!"
Lillie, clearly shaken, sought help from Kukui and Lucas.
The two exchanged a look, both faces turning serious.
Beat up the little ones, and now the big boss arrives?
…
Pokémon School Courtyard
"Damn it…"
In a big pit, Turtonator lay defeated. Kiawe looked pale.
He'd been beaten down without putting up any real resistance!
The opponent hadn't even flinched at a Z-move. He was terrifyingly strong!
Opposite Kiawe stood a youth with messy white hair, flashy sunglasses, and an arrogantly wild face — clearly not a good guy — who clicked his tongue impatiently:
"This is why Kukui wastes his time on nonsense. What's the point of teaching students this weak?"
"All of you got demolished by my overwhelming strength. Blasted away! No chance to fight back!"
"Now — where's the guy who beat up my useless subordinates? I'm their boss, Guzma! Bring him out, now!"
"I'll show him what happens when a broken machine gets fixed — what kind of 'repair' he's in for!"
…