"Hey if it isn't my little bro! I haven't heard from you in ages." 

I stared at the video call screen, unimpressed with Reggie's apparent desire for small talk.

"You are the one who left a message to call you. What's so important?" I asked, barely containing my annoyance. 

Several weeks had passed since I left Dawn on Poni Island and I had yet to break out of the foulest mood I'd ever experienced. To my relief, my pokemon either hadn't noticed or hadn't minded my short temper in our training and all of them were performing better than ever. I did not, however, appreciate Reggie calling me away from my training and the distraction that it gave me from wondering if Dawn had somehow gotten herself into another life or death situation with me uselessly on another island.

"Oh, come on, Paul. I haven't heard from you since you left Alola. Can't you at least tell me what it's like before we get down to business?" Reggie wheedled and I felt my eyes narrowing at him.

"It's small, hot, and there are lots of pokemon. If you have nothing else to say then..."

"Hold on! Fine, we can be done with the pleasantries. I wanted you to call me because I think I've found the perfect pokemon for you," Reggie declared with a grin and I slowly sank down on the seat I had nearly vacated a moment ago.

"I prefer to catch my own pokemon," I retorted slowly but Reggie waved his hand on the other side of the screen.

"Yah, yah, I know. But I think you'd really get along with this guy. He's a super hard worker and his trainer actually left him with me because he would get too intense in battle. The trainer didn't feel like he could handle it." 

I had to admit that he'd caught my interest and I slowly folded my arms. "What pokemon is it?" I asked slowly and Reggie grinned slyly.

"I'm not going to tell you," he replied bluntly and I furrowed my brow.

"Why not?" I asked in annoyance and Reggie shrugged.

"It's not often I get to tease my little bro. What I can tell you is that if you want it then you'll have to trade me for it," Reggie explained and I cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm not giving you one of my pokemon," I refused, surprising myself at how quickly I had said that. In the past, if I had a chance to trade away a pokemon for something better I did it in a heartbeat... but the thought of giving away any of the five pokemon I'd caught here in Alola filled me with a feeling of loathing so intense I could hardly believe it.

"Don't worry, I don't want a pokemon you've already been training with," Reggie said and I noticed that he was looking at me with interest. "I want you to catch an alolan variant and trade it to me so I can give you this pokemon I got."

"Which one?" I asked after a pause, realizing that this was the first time Reggie had ever asked me to do something for him. 

My relationship with Reggie wasn't what you would call close. After Papa died Reggie obsessively tried to become a champion himself to honor his memory, but that meant he left home without hardly coming back, even when Mom got sick. But right about the time Mom passed away Reggie failed at defeating the Battle Pyramid and decided that he no longer cared about being a pokemon champion, but instead wanted to be a pokemon breeder.

His decision felt like a slap in the face after I had just barely promised Mom that I would become a pokemon champion no matter what, and I hadn't spoken to Reggie for my entire first year of traveling as a trainer. He'd been persistent in trying to contact me though, and after a year I gave in because as loathe as I was to admit it, I hated feeling like I was completely alone in the world.

We had come to an uneasy truce. He would help me train and raise my pokemon and I would come to visit him every so often to remind myself that I still had one family tie in the world, but conversations about Mom were off-limits. Even if he was my brother, I could never forgive him for leaving Mom alone for years as she fought against her sickness, both mental and physical.

"Grimer. I've heard a lot about the alolan grimer and their special qualities of being able to eat garbage then turn it into poison to fuel their bodies. I want to try raising one myself," Reggie said with a grin and I cocked an eyebrow. 

I had briefly considered catching a grimer myself since it was a rare typing and only had one true weakness, but they were all so slow and I didn't have the time or patience to come up with the strategies that Torterra and I had developed over years together to make up for that.

"So if I catch an alolan grimer then you'll trade it to me for this rowdy pokemon you mentioned?" I clarified and Reggie grinned.

"You won't be disappointed with the trade, I promise," Reggie said vehemently and I cocked my head, wondering why Reggie was so set on this.

"Fine. But if I don't like the pokemon then I'm trading him back," I said without emotion and Reggie flipped me a thumbs up.

"Don't you worry, Paul! Call me when you are ready to make the trade."

I nodded and began to stand up when I heard him call out my name quickly.

"What?" I asked, anxious to get back to training and my search for a grimer to catch.

"I like your shirt. It's cool," Reggie said with a grin.

I blinked twice, forcing myself to not look down at the shirt that Dawn bought me. After I left her on Poni Island I tried to wear my normal T-shirt and jacket that I had worn before, but I was surprised at how much warmer it made me. I hadn't really felt like going into town to buy a new shirt, so I went back to wearing the slippery blue and black shirt that always seemed to feel cool against my skin.

"It doesn't look like your normal style though. Did someone give it to you?" Reggie asked and I promptly stood up.

"I'll call you when I get the grimer," I stated tightly and walked away without bothering to turn off the video call. 

I ate a quick meal in the cafeteria while I waited for my pokemon to finish their checkups. As I ate I tried to go over all of the pokemon that I knew that needed to be traded to evolve into their final form, which I assumed was why Reggie had come up with the stipulation of a trade.

Maybe a Trevenant? Or it could be a Gengar. Reggie has never enjoyed training ghost types so I wonder if he's trying to foist it off on me, I wondered bitterly and then sighed, knowing that that wasn't fair. Reggie had been stiflingly supportive since I allowed him back in my life and he always worked my pokemon hard when I left them with him if I was focusing on other pokemon.

As I ate the dull meal I felt my eyes glide over to the large digital clock on the wall that displayed the time and date. November 4th. Less than two weeks before the tournament, I thought to myself and glanced back down at my half-eaten meal before shoveling another bite into my mouth. 

These past weeks I had gone back and forth about whether I would actually go to the tournament or not and I had avoided Pokemon Centers like the plague because they were still playing clips of different past performances. It had been several weeks since Dawn was in any showdowns so luckily her performances hadn't been playing so far... but I knew that even if I avoided everything that could possibly remind me of Dawn, I couldn't get her out of my mind once my distractions were gone.

Later that night I left the Pokemon Center and set out for the ferry. From the research I'd done while waiting for my pokemon it looked like Grimers were most commonly found on Ula'Ula island near the garbage disposal plant, so that was where I would go. Stepping off the ferry onto the familiar port made me instantly think of when Dawn and I came here and a feeling of guilt overtook me as I thought of how I yelled at Dawn and made her cry the first time we were here. And then I had caused her to cry the second time as well.

So much for making happy memories with her, I thought dejectedly as I walked down the pier.

Not really wanting to deal with people I walked past Malie City and walked partially down the path that would lead to the mountain pass where I chose a spot to make camp. After setting out food dishes I released my pokemon and they all looked around, seeming to be surprised that we weren't back in the Melemele forest where we had been training for the last few weeks.

"My brother wants to do a trade, so I'm going to be looking for a grimer tomorrow. Lucario, this will be a good chance for you to practice Bone Rush," I said authoritatively and he gave me a grave nod before turning silently to his dinner. Lycanroc barked loudly and I felt myself smile slightly at her enthusiasm.

"You haven't completely learned Drill Run yet, Lycanroc," I pointed out and she huffed in annoyance but didn't say anything else.

Glancing over I saw Torterra looking down at his food without eating and I frowned. Over the last few weeks, Torterra hadn't seemed to be himself and I was getting a little worried about him. He trained as hard as ever, but his appetite had dropped alarmingly and I could feel him watching me even more than usual as if waiting for me to say that I made a mistake and that we would be going back to Dawn tomorrow. The problem was, that the thought had crossed my mind more than once. However, the dreams of my mom were becoming more frequent and I was sure that Dawn could never be happy with someone like me.

The next morning I woke up before the sun rose and I knew that I wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep. With a sigh, I packed my sleeping bag and made my way back toward Malie City and the garbage disposal plant. The trip took longer than I expected and I had just barely crested the hill that brought me to the plant as the sun reached its highest point in the sky, marking the time as around noon.

I took a quick break and ate a sandwich before beginning to explore the grounds around the plant. I battled more trubbish and alolan meowth than I had ever seen in my life and I was getting frustrated after a few hours of searching. Best place to catch a grimer my foot, I thought heatedly.

Once again I stomped through the grass and ended up startling a gulpin who slithered away from me. Seeing the bulbous pokemon made me remember back to when Dawn had dragged me into another game of tag and she had accidentally tripped over a gulpin as I chased her around. Both Dawn and the pokemon had been knocked onto their backs and seeing the balloon-like pokemon wriggling like a Tortuga trapped on its shell and unable to turn over had actually made me laugh. Dawn, of course, had felt terrible and helped the pokemon to get right side up again, but the ungrateful thing had actually let loose a Poison Gas attack. Mirageon had sprung out and slammed the poison type with a Sand Ribbon attack before it could let loose any more potent attacks and I was able to grab Dawn's arm and yank her away from the worst of it. The fumes had been noxious though and we had both eaten two pecha berries just to be on the safe side when we got back.

That memory made me smile, but I soon felt my lips turn down as I realized that without Dawn's encouragement I hadn't played at all with my pokemon since we left her. I sighed as I wondered if it would even be fun without Dawn and her pokemon's mischievous energy to keep the game going.

"Grime grime." 

Mid thought I froze as the pokemon call registered and I quickly looked around. After a few seconds, I was able to pinpoint where the sound had come from and I watched as an off-green colored grimer with a yellow strip that outlined its bottom lip slithered through the grass that was near the edge of the field that overlooked the ocean.

Finally, I thought eagerly before releasing Lucario and I nodded over at the unsuspecting pokemon. Lucario nodded in understanding and burst into a run. As he ran towards the grimer he crossed his arms and held out his paws, as if expecting to find the hilt of a sword at each hip, but instead a glowing blue bone appeared. The grimer, having finally noticed Lucario's approach, turned and to my surprise began to shrink in front of my eyes.

Minimize. Useful if used correctly, I thought to myself.

"Aim low, Lucario!" I instructed.

Lucario grunted as he whipped his glowing bones in front of him and then, almost like he was golfing, he swung his bone clubs down and knocked the miniaturized Grimer up and into the air. The pokemon spun three times in the air before crashing back to the ground where it groaned softly.

"Bone Rush again," I said, feeling the need to let off some steam after wasting the entire day tracking down this pokemon. 

Before the move could connect through the Grimer pushed himself shakily up and a light flashed across his eyes and just like that Lucario's bone clubs disappeared. Lucario looked down at his empty hands in confusion and I raised an eyebrow, slightly impressed that a wild pokemon would have known to use Disable like that.

"Aura Sphere," I said, not missing a beat. 

Lucario sank into a strong, wide stance and thrust one paw in front of him, concentrating to create the ball of aura energy that we had been practicing with for several weeks before he let loose the super charged attack, aiming for the main body of the grimer. It wasn't fast enough to dodge and was once again blasted into the air by the force of the aura sphere. As it came crashing to the ground I got into position to throw a Pokeball at it. The grimer disappeared in a wash of red light and I allowed myself a satisfied smile as the ball stopped shaking and the red light faded.

"Well done, Lucario," I said and he growled in acceptance of the praise. "But in the future, if a pokemon knows Disable and your move suddenly doesn't work you can't just stand there confused. Keep going towards them no matter what and I'll tell you what to do." 

Lucario nodded in understanding and I returned him to his Pokeball. Turning from the detestable place that smelled like rotten fruit I walked down the path and sighed as the sun began to set. With the time difference between Alola and Sinnoh, I assumed that Reggie would still be available to take my call but I hoped he wasn't in the middle of something and made me wait.

Once I got to the PokeCenter I nearly did an about-face as my eyes immediately went to the large TV in the hallway where a clip of Dawn and Mirageon's scary story was being shown. Swallowing with difficulty I turned away from the screen and walked over to the nurse's station where Nurse Joy was looking through papers of some kind.

"Could you do a quick check-up on these pokemon, please?" I asked as I handed her Lucario and Grimer's pokeballs.

"Of course! It's nice to see you again. Where is Dawn?" 

I stiffened and wondered why this Nurse Joy would remember that I had been traveling with Dawn.

"She's training for the tournament," I replied stiffly and Nurse Joy burst into a large smile.

"Oh, that's wonderful! Her performances are all so original, I hope she becomes the next Tournament Star," she said as her eyes went to the TV screen and I could faintly hear Dawn's voice telling her ghost story creepily. "I'll be right back with your pokemon."

I turned away from the nurse's station and walked over to the video calling machines. Just as I feared Reggie didn't answer and I walked away feeling a little frustrated. All I wanted was to get this trade over with so I could go back to training and stop thinking about Dawn for two seconds. Was that such a bad thing to ask?

Once Grimer and Lucario were returned to me I tried calling Reggie again, but when he didn't answer I lost patience and left the PokeCenter. Taking one of the practice fields I released Metang and Incineroar and ran them through practice battles until the sun went down. For as much training as I was putting Metang through I was surprised that he still hadn't evolved, but I also knew that the Beldum line took a very long time to evolve, so I tried to not let my inner frustration lash out at Metang for not evolving when I wanted him to.

I tried to call Reggie after coming in from my training and when he still didn't answer I got myself some dinner. The smell of soy sauce greeted me and I nearly walked away when I saw that dinner was a selection of different soups, ranging from ramen to udon to a creamy vegetable soup. My throat went dry as memories of eating Dawn's campfire-cooked soups and chilis popped into my head and I reluctantly ladled myself some udon. I slurped the soup up so quickly I burned the roof of my mouth and I gritted my teeth in annoyance at myself.

"Paul, you have an incoming call," Nurse Joy's voice floated over the intercom and I immediately stood, abandoning the last of the steaming hot soup to head to the video screens.

"Hey! Sorry, Paul, I wasn't expecting to hear from you so soon," Reggie said with an apologetic grin and I scowled at him.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Reggie," I huffed, trying to not let my frustration show too much through my voice. If he noticed though he didn't react because he continued to smile at me.

"Have you got my grimer then?" he asked excitedly and I pulled the sixth Pokeball off my belt and showed it to him.

"Right in here. Are you going to tell me what pokemon you are giving me yet?" I asked and Reggie laughed.

"Nope! Is there a Pokeball trading machine where you are? I can give you the code that attaches to my machine," Reggie offered.

I quickly wrote it down and went in search of Nurse Joy, telling Reggie to stay where he was. Nurse Joy showed me where the trading machine was and I thanked her politely before returning to the video call where Reggie looked unconcerned while waiting for me.

"There is a trading machine. If you're ready then we can do the trade now," I reported and Reggie grinned.

"Great! Let me boot up my machine. In exactly five minutes send Grimer on through and I'll send you your new pal," Reggie said with an exaggerated wink and I rolled my eyes. 

Looking at my watch I confirmed the time he wanted to do the trade and then left the video screen on as I made my way to the machine. I inputted the identification code for Reggie's trade machine and loaded Grimer's Pokeball. Then I stood watching my watch slowly tick off the minutes and I wondered when I had become so impatient. Finally, the appointed time came and I pushed the button, watching as a white light encased the Pokeball I had placed there and I waited until it finally subsided. I took the now warm Pokeball and walked over to the video caller where Reggie was also coming back in front of his screen.

"I got it," he said, releasing the grimer and inspecting it with obvious interest. "Thanks, Paul." 

I rolled my eyes and put my thumb over the pokeball button but Reggie threw up his hands.

"Woah woah woah, slow down! That isn't a pokemon that you can release just anywhere," he yelped and I frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"Go release him near the ocean and you'll see what I mean," Reggie said with a wide grin and I narrowed my eyes.

"You sent me a water type?" I asked, slightly confused as I tried to think of a water type that would make Reggie this excited.

"Call me later when you've seen him. I'll be waiting to hear from you!" Reggie said with another grin.

I miniaturized the Pokeball and turned off the video screen without saying goodbye. It might have been immature of me, but since he never said goodbye when he left for his pokemon journey, I didn't think he deserved a goodbye from me. I really need to snap out of this mood, I told myself sternly, but I knew that it was going to take more than a pep talk.

It was now fully dark, but I had to admit that I was curious about the pokemon Reggie traded me. With a purposeful stride, I left the pokemon center behind me and walked down to the beach. The waves sloshed back and forth gently against the sand and I glanced up at the nearly full moon in the sky. It was beautiful out and even though I was alone, for just a second I turned to look for a familiar, gentle smile and sapphire blue eyes that reflected moonlight just like the waves were doing right now.

"Stop it, Paul," I said quietly to myself. 

Shaking my head I raised my hand and finally clicked the button on my Pokeball. I watched as the red light streamed from the device in my hand and shot towards the ocean. For a second I didn't see anything and I thought that Reggie had just played me for a fool, but then a large blue head with a face in the shape of a gun burst from the depths. The giant creature continued shooting out of the water until it was floating inches above the surface and I felt my mouth drop open in surprise as I recognized the majestic figure before me.

"Kingdra," I said with surprise and the mighty beast of the ocean let loose a whistling cry as it sank back into the ocean and swam as close to me as its large body would allow. "I hear you like to battle," I called out to what may have been the very first water/dragon type discovered.

Kingdra let out another loud cry and let loose a dragon pulse straight into the air. I watched the stream of power exit the beast and felt myself grin widely.

"Welcome aboard."

A/N What do you think? Paul and Dawn now both have a full team of pokemon. Thank you shippergirl5000 for the idea of giving Paul a water type for a pokemon :D Hopefully Kingdra was a good option :)