Salazzle stood bravely in front of Chloe, lashing her tail and hissing. They were on a small battlefield set up in the center of Iki Town, outside of Hala's home. On the opposite end of the raised platform was Hau and his partner Decidueye. Gladion stood on the sidelines as a referee.

"Let the battle begin!"

"Decidueye!" Hau called. "Let's start things off with Razor Leaf!"

The grass type hovered above the ground, summoning glowing leaves under its wings that flew toward Salazzle.

Chloe smirked. "You think that's going to work? Turn them to ash, Salazzle! Flamethrower!"

Salazzle got down on all fours, spewing fire from her mouth. As soon as the leaves came in contact, they immediately burnt to a crisp.

Hau nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "I should've known that would happen. We're at a disadvantage here, so I guess grass-type moves aren't going to cut it." He grinned. "All right then! Let's see how you like our Sky Attack!"

Decidueye readied itself, its whole body surrounded by a blue aura as it suddenly flew up and dove down toward the opponent.

"Flamethrower, Salazzle!"

Salazzle once again spewed fire at the incoming pokemon, but Decidueye dodged to the side, continuing its descent.

Chloe had an idea to slow it down, and right as the opponent was in range, she yelled, "Now, use Toxic and then jump!"

Now in range, Salazzle slung a glob of purple poison from her tail that covered Decidueye, then jumped up out of the way before its Sky Attack hit her. Decidueye flew up and around, flapping its wings weakly as the poison afflicted it.

Hau looked amazed. "Whoa, that was such a cool strategy! You're really strong!" His partner looked back at him, in pain from the poison sapping its energy. "We're going to have to wrap this up quickly if we want to win! Use Spirit Shackle, Decidueye!"

His pokemon landed and pulled a shadow-tipped quill from its wing. It held one wing up like a bow and set the arrow quill in place, aiming at Salazzle. It pulled the string back and released, sending the arrow flying. It landed at Salazzle's feet, and a weird feeling engulfed her. She shuddered and tried to get away, but found herself unable to move, her shadow pinned in place by the arrow.

"Salazzle, you've gotta get out of there as soon as you can!" Chloe called to her partner.

Hau's grin widened. "All right! Time to use our Z-Move!" Energy flowed from his Z-Ring and to Decidueye. He and his pokemon struck a pose together. "Use Sinister Arrow Raid!"

Chloe grew worried, hoping Salazzle could break free and avoid the move. But her partner was still trapped in place, struggling to try and move. Decidueye flew high into the air, summoning an arch of arrows around it. The arrows aimed at Salazzle, and shot down alongside Decidueye.

"Try to counter it with Dragon Pulse!" Chloe shouted, growing desperate.

Salazzle charged up a multicolored beam, then shot it from her jaws. The attack hit a few of the arrows, but it didn't stop the attack. Decidueye dove down past the lizard pokemon, and dozens of arrows followed, lodging themselves in the ground around Salazzle. In an instant, they all exploded. Chloe gasped as the smoke cleared to reveal Salazzle knocked out on the ground.

Gladion raised an arm. "Salazzle is unable to battle! The winner is Decidueye!"

Decidueye flew over to Hau, the two smiling and high fiving. Hau immediately fed his partner a Pecha Berry to cure the poison. Chloe ran over to Salazzle, falling to her knees and hugging her partner. Salazzle had awoken enough to look up at Chloe with a weak smile.

"Sa...lazzle..."

"It's okay," Chloe told her, smiling sadly. "You did your best."

Hau, Decidueye, and Gladion all went over to them. "Hey, good battle, Chloe," Hau said, holding his hand out to her. "That was so much fun."

The girl glared up at him, smacking his hand away. "Shut up. I don't want your pity. If you hadn't used a Z-Move, we could've beaten you."

Gladion sighed. "Chloe, you lost fair and square. No need to be a sore loser. Use this experience to improve."

"Easy for you to say, you have a Z-Ring too!" the redhead snapped.

Hau tilted his head to the side. "Well how come you don't have one? You're already really good, it would make you an even stronger trainer."

Chloe hung her head in shame and anger. "Because not everyone is so fortunate to complete the Island Challenge. Some of us couldn't make it. I tried years ago...but I couldn't finish the first few trials." Salazzle nuzzled into her trainer, hoping to make her feel better.

"I bet if you tried it now, you'd make it," the blond told her. She looked up to meet his emerald gaze. "You're strong, Chloe. I know you'd win the Island Challenge if you tried. Why not give it another go?"

Chloe frowned, finally standing up with Salazzle. "I have no interest in the Island Challenge anymore. I know I've gotten stronger since then, I don't need a Z-Ring to prove that. Besides, using Z-Moves is just a tactic for weaker trainers to have an edge over their opponents. I want no part of that."

Hau was about to argue, but Gladion held a hand out to stop him, knowing it would be pointless. "Let's just go inside. I think we could all use a meal and some rest."

In the time it took for their battle, it had gotten almost completely dark out. There was only a sliver of orange light on the horizon. Going back inside, Chloe released the rest of her pokemon, giving them room to stretch and so they could enjoy a meal too. Fortunately, Hala's house was pretty big, even Tyrantrum could fit inside. Gladion let his pokemon out as well, and Hau let both his Decidueye and his Raichu join them.

"Wow!" Hau exclaimed, grinning brightly. "Look at all these amazing pokemon! That's quite a team you both have!"

It was the first time many of them were meeting. Salazzle comfortably made herself the center of attention for Decidueye and Lycanroc, being flirty and messing with them both. Espeon and Umbreon made themselves at home on a couch and had a conversation, all while Espeon showed off her fancy bow. Ninetales tried to hide herself in a corner with her tails folded over her, but Raichu was there trying to encourage her to join them and open up. Meanwhile, Tyrantrum and Silvally seemed to bicker and fight, leaving Braviary and Zoroark to break them up and keep the peace.

"So can either of you cook at all?" Chloe suddenly asked, her hands on her hips.

Hau grinned and laughed. "Well I'm good at burning things."

"I'm not the best when it comes to food, but I can handle a few things," Gladion replied honestly.

Chloe sighed, setting her bag on a couch. "Fine. I'll do the cooking."

Hau showed her to the kitchen and she immediately got to work. She was used to fixing meals for both her and her pokemon. She learned a bit from various places and people, but she was mostly self-taught. Hau stayed far away from the kitchen and watched the pokemon to make sure they didn't cause trouble. As for Gladion, he surprised the redhead by joining her in the kitchen.

"I thought you said you couldn't cook," she said.

"I said I wasn't the best cook," he corrected. "I can do a few things." Chloe rolled her eyes, smiling and letting him help. "You know, your view on Z-Rings reminds me of someone."

The girl nervously fidgeted, trying to act casual. "Oh, does it?" She had a hunch of who he was referring to.

"Guzma, the former boss of Team Skull. He had this mindset that he could be stronger than anyone else without the use of Z-Moves. He even went as far as hoarding all the Buginium Z he could find just so no one else could be stronger than his bug-type team."

Chloe inwardly sighed. "I heard about that. Maybe Guzma could never finish the Island Challenge either."

Gladion paused, staring blankly at her. "Are you actually...justifying his actions?"

"What? No!" Chloe huffed. "All I'm saying is that everyone has a reason for doing what they do." She hung her head down sadly, continuing to cut up the berries she was using. "I get that."

As much as she disliked the things Guzma did, she couldn't deny that she still cared about him and the rest of Team Skull. They were the only family she'd ever known. That's why she was happy to hear how Guzma was trying to change and improve himself, but she still wasn't ready to face him just yet.

Gladion broke her out of her thoughts when he placed his hand on her shoulder. "You know, you can be pretty sympathetic when you want to be."

The girl blushed lightly, turning her head away. "Shut up. Like you're always so calm and cool... I saw how panicked you were back at Aether when you thought the pokemon were in danger."

The blond chuckled. "Yeah, so what? You care about pokemon too."

They both shared a few smiles and small laughs. What they didn't realize was that Hau, Zoroark, and Salazzle were discreetly watching from the other room. After all the years Zoroark had watched over Gladion, few people could get him to really smile and laugh like that. And for Salazzle to see Chloe actually smiling happily and enjoying someone's company meant something to her. They were quick to act casual as soon as the two came out of the kitchen with lots of food in their hands.

"Dinner time, everyone!" Chloe announced, getting the attention of the pokemon.

Gladion helped Chloe with all the bowls of pokemon food they'd made, watching as their teams immediately dug in. The girl then brought both boys their own plates of food. Hau was certainly grateful, thanking her and enjoying the tasty meal. Gladion mostly stayed quiet as he ate, but he did seem to watch Chloe and her pokemon happily eating together around one of the coffee tables.

Hau, who was sitting next to the blond, scooted closer and quietly said, "You know, you seem to connect with Chloe in a weird way...kinda like you do with Lillie."

Gladion blinked at him, confused. "Do I? I haven't really thought about it."

The other boy grinned. "Are you sure recruiting her for this mission isn't just a way to get to know her?"

Gladion rolled his eyes. "Yes, I assure you, I just need her abilities." He narrowed his emerald eyes at the redhead. "She's way too stubborn and rude, not to mention her temper that depends on what you say or do."

The green-haired boy laughed lightly. "You totally like her."

The blond turned his head away with a frown, trying to hide the blush forming on his face. The mission was to utilize Chloe's abilities to find and calm Nihilego and return it to its home, nothing more. So why did he get this way around her? The more he thought about it, the more Butterfree he felt in his stomach. He was snapped out of his thoughts when the very girl he was thinking about got up to carry several empty bowls to the kitchen.

With Chloe out of the room and most of the pokemon finished eating, Zoroark and Salazzle seemed to start explaining something to the other pokemon. Gladion didn't know what it was, but when Zoroark suddenly made himself look like Gladion and Salazzle pretended to act all lovey dovey with him, he got the hint that he and Chloe were being talked about.

"Hey," he calmly said, standing up and getting their attention. "Cut it out you two, it's not like that."

Zoroark returned to normal while Salazzle snickered mischeviously. Gladion and Hau both took up whatever plates and bowls were left, taking them to the kitchen and pitching in to help Chloe wash dishes. Once they finished, Hau got pillows and blankets out for them to have so they could comfortably sleep on the couches for the night. One thing was for sure though, if Hala wasn't back by morning, Gladion was considering going to find him himself.