For the past six weeks we've been stuck at this cursed ranch.
Why?
Because Miracle wanted to keep her blind Mudbray.
Don't get me wrong, I love Rudy, he's great! 
I just hate this ranch.
It's boring and smelly and it just sucks; I can't wait to leave.

Hau, Lillie, Chase, and Hapu left about a week ago, but we're still stuck here.
I can feel Tula slowly slipping away.
"Ugh, I'm so bored how long has it been?"
Tiko flies over to us and lands on Rudy's back, it seems Rudy has gotten used to us over these past few weeks, he's a lot less anxious.
He's been training with Hapu's Mudsdale, maybe he's even gained a little more strength in that time too.

Tiko chirps, "Hey, Tula, you know we're leaving today right?"

"Really?" She pulls herself off the ground.

"Yeah, Miracle just has to buy that flower bridle, and we'll be good to go." He whistles when he says 'go'.
Why doesn't she just steal the bridle?
I would've stolen it because it practically belongs to Rudy; he's the only one who uses it.

Miracle runs up to us.
That's right, runs.
She's not limping anymore bus she has this really weird waddling gait.
It makes her look like a penguin.
A midget penguin.
 
She puts the bridle on Rudy and takes the reins, she then makes a clicking noise with her mouth.
Rudy moves forward as Miracle leads him.
Thomas and Sadie walk up to her, "You're leaving already?" Sadie asks.
"Yup." Miracle replies, not making eye contact.

You think the only thing Miracle did was train?
Oh no!
She did get punished for sneaking away from home.
Sadie had the best idea.
Clean up Duke's dung and run laps around the corral like Rudy.
She said Pokémon learn better when they have their trainers doing the same work as them.
But how would Rudy know that?
It's not like he could see her.

Thomas nods, "Keep an eye out for your sister. She has a surprise for you."
Miracle groans and rolls her eyes, "Why'd you bring her here? She's so annoy-" A sharp look from her mother stops her complaining midway.
She chuckles nervously then turns back to us, "Are you three coming or what?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There's nothing I love more than a large route with a bunch of trainers.
I shouldn't be complaining, though.

Rudy took care of most of them.
His skills, while in need of a bit more practice, have improved.

Miracle spots Hau further up on the route.
It looks like he just got done losing a battle, against some strange looking guy.
He looks important.
And like an edgelord.
  
Pikachu, Torracat, and a newly acquired Eevee, all stand next to their smiling Trainer.
I can just imagine how angry Torracat is right now.

Speaking of that Eevee, she looks completely terrified.
Where did Hau get this Pokémon?
She looks like she'd be defeated with just a light touch.
Her most striking feature is her white paw.
I don't know why but...I feel like I should know her from somewhere.

"Aw, man! I lost again!" Hau's bubbly voice pulls me back to the real world.

"Are you even taking this seriously?" The boy says in a low voice. 
A low voice just filled with forced edge.

"Of course I am! I'm seriously enjoying this!"

The boy shakes his head, "How can you enjoy something when you put everything you have into it?"

Miracle walks forward, "Uhh, what's going on here?"

Hau waves slightly, "Hey, Miracle, Long time no see, huh?"

"Yeah. Who's this?" 

The boy narrows his eyes, "Hmm. So you're Miracle. You're short."

I choked.
You meet someone for the first time and all you can say is you're short"?
It's too good!

Miracle shakes her head, "Who is this Miracle that you speak of? My name is...Willow." 

The boy looks on in disappointment, "That was terrible." He pulls out a Pokeball, "I hope your lying skills aren't as bad as your battling skills."

Miracle steps back, "We can't battle...I don't even know your name!"

"It's Gladion." He replies shortly.

Gladion?
This is the person those grunts were talking about?
Some blonde edgelord!?
Wait.
Y'know, he kinda looks like Lillie....
Nah! 
That could never happen!

Miracle nods, "Yeah, okay. We can fight now."
~~~~~~~
First is a Zubat.
Tula is more than happy to take it out.
Next is a Pokémon I've never seen before.

Miracle tilts her head, "What in the name of Arceus is that thing?"

Rotom is there to help her out, "That's...uhh, Type: Null."

Miracle scoffs, "More like type...boring!"

Ugh.
What was that?
Was that meant to be a joke?

"Tula, use Thundershock!"
It does absolutely nothing.
What else would you expect from a Thundershock?
Actual damage?  

Null goes for Tackle and nearly takes Tula out.

"Okay, that was unexpected." Miracle says turning back to us, "Rudy, can you help me out?"
Rudy slowly and cautiously walks forward.

"Is your Mudbray blind?" Gladion says worriedly.

"Yeah. Why?"

Gladion shakes his head, "You can't be serious. Using a blind Pokémon to fight for you?"

Miracle frowns, "Did you hear that, Rudy? He's underestimating you."

Right!
Can you believe this?!
How dare this blonde edgelord show an emotion other than darkness!?

Rudy paws at the ground and his ears flatten, "Let's show him that you can fight just as well as anyone else!"

Rudy should just kick it.
It worked on Miracle, it should work on Pokémon.

Rudy stands on his hind legs and brays.
Gladion shakes his head, "You can stop yelling. Null, Tackle."

"Rudy, use Double Kick!"

Null gets its Tackle off, which activates Stamina, raising Rudy's defense.
Then, quick as a flash, Rudy kicks Null away, still doing barely any damage.

Whelp.
Looks like kicking is more effective on humans.

This goes on for a while until Rudy emerges victorious, tired, but victorious.

Gladion strikes a dramatic pose, "Looks like I'm still not strong enough. I'll have to keep on fighting stronger opponents."

"What?" Miracle asks, trying to hold back her laughter.

He looks over at Hau, "That kid over there, his Pokemon aren't weak. It's fine to enjoy battling, but this brat is just using that as an excuse as to why he can't beat the Kahuna. He can't beat Hala when he's serious."

Miracle shrugs, "You can't always be serious if you were you'd be an edge lord...like yourself."

She smiles while Gladion glares.

Hau waves then smiles, "Since when are you two having a staring contest?"

Gladion's glare grows sharper, "Ugh! You two are so annoying!"

"Aww! Look at little Gladion! Aren't you just a real cool guy?"

Great, it's Team Skull.
I just...love them so much.

Miracle stifles a chuckle.

They strike their pose, "I would expect nothing less from a homeless kid. But don't worry, I've got the backbone to back you up!" Manly grunt says.

He advances toward Miracle.

"Just give it up already," Gladion says, his back turned to the grunt.

"Huh, what'd you say?"

"You know you can't beat me. You'll just get your Pokemon hurt. They're strong Pokémon."

But your Type: Null just got beat by a blind Mudbray.
No offense to Rudy, he's pretty strong, but a Mudbray.
Really?
I think your argument is invalid, Gladion.

Lady grunt shrugs, "We came all this way for nothing but a big fat waste of time, and it's all thanks to you. If it weren't for you, we could have stolen the Totem Pokémon from Brooklet Hill!"

Pfft.
Isn't the Totem Pokemon a giant fish?
How are you gonna steal a giant fish?

She walks away and the other grunt puts his hands on his hips, "Listen up, Gladion. The boss doesn't like you. You're just hired help. You aren't a part of Team Skull and you never will be. Got it? You'd better get it." He walks away.

Gladion watches him go then walks away.

What fun that was.
They all seemed so happy to see each other!

"Gee, what's his problem?" Hau asks, watching him go.

Miracle shrugs, "He's way too serious."

"Yeah. Well, I've got to train up for my trial." Hau runs up the hill and waves, Alola!"

"Wait!"

Hau stops waving, "What is it?"

"Why don't we train together?"

Hau smiles and jumps up and down, "Yeah! That'll be fun! Just as fun as eating Malasadas!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Training went well.
Tiko and Torracat got to beat each other up, I guess that's healthy.
Tula and Pikachu battled a bit but mostly talked.

I got to meet Hau's newest Pokémon, Eevee.
Eevee is the quiet type.
She doesn't talk much and really likes to hide behind Hau's leg.
I try to talk to her, but she whispers so low that I can't hear a word she says.
Like, speak up lady, I need to complain about my problems.
I'm kidding.
I wouldn't do that.

"Isabelle! What're you doing?" Tiko yells.

"I was trying to talk to Eevee."

"What Eevee?"

All of Tiko's yelling scared her away.

Torracat pads over to us, "Eevee's really shy. You can't go yelling like that all the time around her." He chuckles to himself, "I remember your recklessness got you stuck on a ranch."

"Hey, we don't talk about that." Tiko whispers.

"Hey!" Chase yells from atop a hill, "Are there any nerds down there?"
For some reason, he has Nebby with him.

He runs down the hill without hesitation and crashes into Miracle, "Have you seen Lillie anywhere? I think she needs to know that her Pokémon ran away."

Miracle glares at him, "First, get off me."

Chase scrambles off of her and dusts himself off, "Now will you answer my question?"

Miracle simply shrugs.

"Ugh! You're useless! What about you Hau?"

Hau thinks, "She could be at the ranch with Hapu."

"A useful answer!" He runs to the ranch, "Hey, Miracle! You'd better hurry off to Brooklet hill! Some girl named Lana is waiting for you!"

Nebby slowly floats after him, "Bye, Nebby!" Tula shouts, waving as it leaves.

Nebby turns, smiles brightly, and waves back at her before following after Chase.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"What's a Brooklet anyway?" Rotom asks as Miracle looks at the sign in front of Brooklet hill.
Miracle shrugs, "I dunno know. Maybe its a place with a bunch if water."

I'm proud.
She wasn't that far off.
Good job, Miracle, you get a gold star.

Standing on the bridge inside Brooklet Hill is a small girl who really seems to like the color blue.
I agree with her color choice.

"Hello." Miracle says sweetly, "Are you Lana?"

She nods, "Yes. I am the captain of Brooklet Hill. You're Miracle right?"

Miracle nods.

"You look like you can handle yourself well. Can I ask you to help me with something?" Lana asks.

"Uh, yeah, sure."

She nods, "Good. Follow me."

She leads us to a small body of water, "Oh, do you see that?"

In the middle of the water, there is something splashing around.

"I'm sure there must be some strong Pokémon there."

Miracle squints, "Do you want me to just swim out there?"

Lana chuckles, "Of course not! Let me see your ride pager."

Lana messes around with it and bam!

Lapras is added to her ride pager.
Miracle hops onto Lapras, Tula on her shoulder.
Rotom peeks over her shoulder, "I think I'm gonna go over there. I don't want any water getting on me."

Lapras swims over to the splashing. it's a... Wishiwashi?

"What is this?" Miracle says, her voice pitching, "It's so small and cute!"

"That's a Wishiwashi," Rotom says, "They don't pose much of a threat on their own."

That was Rotom's foreshadowing.
So, I learned that Lana is quite the jokester.

She was wondering if the splashes might have been 'a strapping young swimmer' as she said.
She also said that she reeled in a red Gyarados one time. Gullible Miracle fell for it.

"Did you know, that within Brooklet Hill lies the legendary Pokémon Kyogre?"

"You're tricking me again!"

Lana chuckles, "Oh, Miracle. Looks like I'll have to try a little harder to fool you."

After the sky went dark, and rain started to fall, there was only one more Wishiwashi to deal with.
Only it was a giant whale!

It emerged from the water like a mythical beast and roared at Miracle.

"Lana! I think I want to back out of the trial now!" Miracle pulls on Lapras' neck; it's frozen in fear and won't move.

"You can't do that!" Lana yells over the storm. "Once a trial starts, you can't leave unless you win or lose!"

(Nobody wants to read the 30 minutes of hell I went through. Having a Pikachu who's only attacking move is Charge Beam and who can't take a hit made this battle even harder, So I will skip the battle for my sanity, I have flashbacks of that Alomomola, and for your boredom I guess. Just know that Tula looked adorable in that battle with her blue headband.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One more thing, CRAWLING IN MY SKIN! THESE WOUNDS THEY WILL NOT HEAL! I love Gladion in all his edginess.

After edit: Still to lazy to put battle scene here. Some things never change.