Kaito rushed straight out of the dojo hall. Judging by where some of the other students were running, he guessed the Slowpoke had fled to the nearby marshlands, and headed directly there.
When he reached the wetlands, it was easy to spot all three Slowpoke. However, two were currently occupied. One was fighting Klara, as she yelled at it in frustration, whilst the other was evading a number of other students further into the marsh.
One of the closest Slowpoke was running around freely, so the red-head decided to take to defeating it himself.
Kaito darted towards the speedy Slowpoke headfirst, not even considering a pokemon battle.
"Alright you speedy fucker, come here and make this nice and easy!" He taunted, catching its attention.
The Slowpoke turned to face him, smirking at him mockingly. As he pounced towards it, the pink creature dodged out of the way last second, causing him to crash into a pond of muddy water.
"Shoulda seen that one coming..." He sighed, standing up and grasing a pokeball.
The Slowpoke stopped its wild running and looked at him with a grin.
"You best hope I don't catch a cold!" Kaito exclaimed. "Hanzo, shadow ball stat!"
His Gengar emerged from its pokeball, swiftly barraging the coy Slowpoke with an envoy of shadow balls. Luckily, one managed to hit, and K.O. the pokemon easily.
They may have been fast, but one shadow ball does the job.
Gengar approached its trainer with a piece of Klara's uniform in its grasp, and presented it to him.
"Thanks Hanzo." He accepted the Jacket, and gave the Ghost pokemon a headpat. "Now there's just two more to go..."
"Gengar!" Hanzo gestured behind him. Towards where Klara had been fighting.
He turned back towards the scene of Klara and the other trainers. Whilst the trainers facing the single Slowpoke had been defeated by its evasive maneuvers; Klara and her Scolipede had defeated their opponent. As she stood before the unconscious Slowpoke yelling at it.
"Guess I meant just one left..." He corrected. Dashing towards the final Slowpoke with his Gengar.
The students facing this specific Slowpoke had given up attempting to defeat it already. It was just exceptionally fast, and countered most of their pokemon.
The red-head and his purple ghost darted past the collection of downtrodden students, and launched another pokeball towards the Slowpoke.
"Kushida, keep it still with a leech seed!" Kaito ordered.
From the thrown ball, his Whimsicott emerged, letting out a cry and scattering seeds all across the area.
Unfortunately enough for the Slowpoke, it entangled itself within a bundle of said seeds, which tripped up its momentum.
"Right on! Hanzo, shadow ball once more!"
"Gengar!" Hanzo exclaimed, knocking out the final Slowpoke with its supereffective move.
Kaito pumped his fists together, successfully completing the first trial of the Master Dojo.
The floating grass type, along with the poison ghost came back to their trainer, both holding out pieces of Klara's uniform for him to take.
He accepted both Klara's Tee, and Shorts as he praised his pokemon with a headpat each. They both retired into their pokeballs, as he walked to return to the dojo. Putting away all the clothes into his bag.
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Upon returning to the dojo, Kaito was met with the looks of all the other dojo members, along with Klara's scowl.
She, like him, was soaked from her waist down, slight specs of mud dirtying her white coat.
"Oh, Kaito! Welcome back!" Welcomed Honey.
He gave her a slight wave, before he was grabbed by his collar and pulled to face the pink haired poison trainer.
"Did you get me back my uniform!?" Klara aggressively asked.
"Yeah I did, here..." He pulled away from her and opened his bag. Handing her the pieces of clothing he had retrieved.
"Oh... Well, uh, thanks." Klara murmured. Accepting the uniform.
"Well mustered Kaito!" Applauded Mustard. "You cleared the first trial like it was nothing!"
"Klara did too right? I mean, we both defeated the Slowpoke after all." Kaito added, causing Klara too look back up at him with a soft expression.
"Oh you're quite right young man." Mustard corrected. "Well done to the both of you. Why, I think this is the first time since Leon that anyone was able to defeat my fast Slowpoke on their own. Even if he did defeat all three by himself..."
"Lee will be Lee I suppose..." Sighed Kaito.
Mustard gave him a light chuckle and nodded, turning to address all his disciples. "The rest of you tried very hard too! I am proud of you all."
"Tell you what. Anyone who was able to at least catch up to a Slowpoke at least once gets a pass!"
The crowd of silent gathered students all gasped in excitement. Whilst it was true a majority of them were unable to defeat the Slowpoke, while working as a team (against just the one), most of them were able to pass due to Mustard's leniency.
"Kaito really outdid himself, so it's only fair everyone else gets another chance. Try to make a comeback everybody!" Cheered Mustard.
Their Master's praise caused cheers, with some downtrodden cries too. As not everybody had passed through this first trial.
"That reminds me." Mustard gestured towards his wife. "Honey, where are those little ones?"
"Oh, that's right darling!" Happily clapped Honey. "I had nearly forgotten... Squirtle! Bulbasaur! Come on in sweeties!"
As Honey's call, two small pokemon - a blue turtle, and green frog dinosaur, walked to the centre of the dojo.
"Saaaauurrr"
"Squirt!"
"These are our sweet little pokemon, Bulbasaur and Squirtle." Presented Honey. "We have been taking care of them together. And I'd say they're more than a little curious about your strengths as trainers Kaito, Klara."
"Why don't you choose one each to keep for yourselves? You did succeed the trial, after all."
Klara's eyes widened in excitement, looking down towards the two pokemon and immediately jumping towards the Bulbasaur.
"I want the poison frog dinosaur thing!" She declared, petting the Bulbasaur gently.
"Well since Kaito completed the trial with two Slowpokes caught..."
"What...?" Klara solemnly replied, looking up with a sadness Kaito had never seen on her before.
"It's only fair that he gets first pick I'm afraid Klara dear..."
"Nah, it's fine Ms. Honey." Kaito interjected, Klara looking up at him with a confused, yet gleeful expression. "Besides, I think this little guy's just perfect for me."
Kaito knelt down before the Squirtle, giving it a gentle headpat as it smiled at him widely, swinging its tail back and forth.
He turned his head towards Klara, who was still kneeling down, looking at him with a shocked, but awkwardly thankful gaze. The red-head gave her a bright smile, which flushed her cheeks red immediately and she focused back on her Bulbasaur.
"Well I'm certainly happy you two came to a happy conclusion." Smiled Honey. "And just so you know, these two have been raised in a very special way. When they evolve, they'll be able to Gigantamax!"
"Speaking of Gigantamax!" Interjected Mustard. "There's that secret recipe of the Master Dojo! But we'll get into those specifics tomorrow. For now, everybody rest up before dinner. Especially you two, Klara and Kaito, both of you should take hot showers before we settle down for the night."
"Oh, that's right. Klara, be a dear and show Kaito to his new room whilst you're upstairs too!" Added Honey.
"Fine..." Huffed Klara, surprisingly not arguing back.
"Excellent. Rightyo everyone, let's get started!" Chuckled Mustard, as everyone present left the main hall.
"Follow me..." Sighed Klara. Returning Bulbasaur to its pokeball as she wandered towards a flight of stairs away from the main hall.
Kaito only nodded in response. Returning Squirtle to its pokeball and following her.
He caught up beside her, and they walked in silence. It wasn't until they reached half way up the stairs, that Klara broke said silence.
"Sorry, not sorry, but I haven't accepted you as the hotshot everyone else seems to think you are."
Kaito scoffed at her and clearly his throat. "Well I'll start striding towards your approval then, Ms. Klara~"
He beamed at her with a smug grin and a wink, turning her cheeks red in embarrassment and irritation.
"Heh, like that's possible at ALL." Klara glared back.
They reached the top of the stairs, a number of doors lining the hallway left and right.
"The bedrooms are all on the right here, your room is at the far end right next to mine. And on the left here, the bathrooms. They're gender specific bathrooms, so do NOT get any funny ideas. Understood!?"
She tiptoed right in his face and glared at him, pointing her finger in his face with a menacing tone.
"What kind of guy do you take me for?" Laughed Kaito, leaning his face closer to hers. "I'd ask for permission first~"
Klara's cheeks reddened darker than ever before. She stammered for a response, but couldn't come out with any coherent words. The crimson haired male only stared down at her with a wide grin.
Despite her irritation towards him, her mind wasn't currently full of its usual spitefulness and pride, she felt genuinely embarrassed and flustered.
The pink haired girl only leaned back away from him, still stammering as she retreated into the women's bathroom - slamming the door shut.
Kaito scratched the back of his head, chuckling to himself as he stared at the closed door.
"Maaaaan is she cute..."
And as silence enveloped the corridor once again, he entered the male's bathroom. Locking the door behind him, and stripping out of his dirty clothes to take a much needed shower.
Though he had only been on the Island for a day, he had much enjoyed his time already. And with the promise of training from a man who trained the Champion, the mystery of the Dojo's secret armor, and the bewitching beauty that was Klara - This trip, was shaping out to be well worth it so far...
"I gotta treat Sonia the next time I see her."
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A/N:
Thank you once again for reading this chapter dear readers.
As much as I would like to expand on Kaito's and Klara's journey, this story will only explore the contents of the Isle of Armor, with some obvious side scenes like the eighth gym battle with Raihan.
Anyways its that time again, the lore behind nicknames!
Hanzo the Gengar is nicknamed after the character Hanzo from Pokemon Conquest - the best pokemon game ever made. As his partner was a Gengar.
Kushida the Whimsicott is nicknamed after Kushida Kikyou from the Novel series (fuck the anime, because it's such a bad adaptation) Classroom of the Elite.
I shall see you all, next chapter!
- Weiss