Dear, mum…

Today was a rollercoaster of a day. I’ll be splitting this letter in three parts. After beating Lana's trial, we headed to Paniola Ranch. 

We scared off the Sudowoodo.

But who should appear but Dulse and Zossie! 

Zossie was enthralled that the Sudowoodo were living creatures and not plants. Apparently, she nearly shat on them.

Dulse, on the other hand... was spotless. The majority of the algae and seaweed had been removed, but he had failed to get all of it, with his uniform full of green splotches.

He was angrily shouting “Shut the fuck up, Zossie!” or something along those lines.

Zossie quickly shut up.

Dulse then told us that Alolan pokemon were hard to understand, so he challenged us with one not found anywhere in Alola… Poipole! 

Let's throw down, shall we?

I sent out my Trumbeak.

Dulse is arrogant and so full of himself. Unfortunately for him, Leonie is about to kill his Poipole.

I wish I had not battled that Poipole. Several of my team were badly hurt by the acid it spewed at us. 

At one point Leonie jumped in to save Cha from an acid attack. Lemme just ask, have you ever wanted to know what a dissolving bird looks like? Sounds like? I don’t think you do, but too bad cause I’m gonna share anyways.

It’s fucking awful. The acid splashed onto Leonie’s chest and immediately started melting off the flesh. She screamed out in horrible agony as the acid dripped down her arms and onto her legs, swiftly dissolving feathers and working its way through muscle and tendons then down to the bone. There wasn’t even any blood as the potent corrosive just devoured that too. It was so clean, so horrifying, happening in the timespan of a minute that seemed like eternity.

I was stuck, frozen in time, unable to do anything except stare at the now lifeless body of Leonie. Most of the outer flesh body had been dissolved, but in a few places the acid had eaten down to the bone. Her chest was just a gaping hole, not even an organ inside was left, just a soup of now neutral liquid. The ends of her feet were just nubs of bone from the acid on the ground.  

The next thing I recall was acid splashing near my feet, startling me out of my stupor. The Poipole had been close to me, way too close. I panicked, the memory of what happened to my starter just mere moments prior fueling my fear. 

Eventually, I took down the cursed Poipole.

In the aftermath of the fight, Zossie noticed that our Z-power rings shone brightly, and Dulse mused that it might be connected to the light their ancestors saw.

I buried Leonie's corpse in the Pokemon Daycare, and got an egg.

Not gonna mention it since I never ended up using it.

I heard screams, and exited it.

Dulse and Zossie were at the mercy of a woman who apparently thought they were Pokemon.

If I hadn't been mourning for my dead Trumbeak, I might have considered it karma for Dulse killing Blanche and Leonie.

We then left for Route 6.

A Youngster gave us a Mystic Water as thanks for chasing off the Sudowoodo. He directed us to the Battle Royal Dome, a place where pokemon and trainers get stronger. It's nearby, so let's take a look!

A little further south of the fence-gap, we ran into Team Skull. They were trying to kidnap a Drifloon, but a pint-sized girl with an enormous Mudsdale easily intimidated them into letting the pokemon go. After she enlisted me to help beat them in battle, she introduced herself as Hapu and then rode off on her Mudsdale. I bet we'll be seeing more of her!

Anyways…

Welcome to…

Royal Avenue

This hip, happening place is where Alolans come to engage in four-way Battle Royals! A karate practitioner near the entryway helpfully explains that the tradition is based on the four-way brawls the islands' tapu would get up to in ages past.

A little further up the lane, we saw Gladion grumbling to himself as he entered the Royal Dome. He says that every time something beats him down he finds himself coming here. Guess Team Skull's mockery got to him? He headed inside to test his strength alongside his partner, saying "We're going to be strong enough to protect them this time." Intriguing, no?

Let's enter the dome!

Gladion was lurking near the sign-up counter, but when we approached, none other than Alola's premier, famous wrestler jumped down to hail us! He was tall, shirtless, had a distinctive goatee, and used the professor's verbal tic of "yeah" and "woo" frequently.

…yeah, maybe you've got the rest of them fooled, but I'm onto you, Kukui!

Anyway, the professor—excuse me, the 'Masked Royal'—informed us how Battle Royals worked. It's a four-way free-for-all, ending when the first combatant is knocked out. He shanghaied us into joining him for one, and then Gladion and even Hau (when did you get here, buddy?) are extended invites. And before we have a chance to react… it's go time!

After the battle, Hau taunted Gladion about whether he came here to blow off steam or try to make friends. Our resident edgelord posed and said that he can't protect anything if he's weak.

An observer notes that we were 'on fire' during that battle. He encouraged us to bring that heat to his trial. This was Trial Captain Kiawe, who was in charge of the fire type.

He invited us to take on his trial and then took his leave. And though Kukui—sorry, 'the Royal'— was insistent on blowing his cover asking about our and Hau's island challenges, we had bigger fish to fry.