Alex and the group returned from their tour of Exeggutor Island and spent another three days in Seafolk Village exploring the place, only to notice something peculiar. All the ships they had visited and wanted to return to kept changing locations or simply disappearing altogether, completely altering the layout of the entire city. It was like waking up to a brand-new city every day.

Apparently, they had to ask for the ships’ schedules if they wanted any sense of permanence, because the vessels regularly departed either to secure supplies or simply for leisure before eventually returning to conduct business. It was simply part of how things worked in Seafolk Village, every ship had the freedom to come and go as it pleased.

Still, that didn’t stop the group from enjoying the village’s unique charm as they continued shopping and taking advantage of the local amenities. They even went fishing on their own at several popular spots around the coast of Poni Island that had been recommended to them.

By the end of it, they had a blast and decided to leave before the novelty wore off. After all, as fun as it was to rediscover the city each day, it was equally frustrating trying to track down all their favorite places again.

They departed from Seafolk Village and made their way back to the airship, where they loaded up the Azure Voyager before taking off eastward toward the final destination of their vacation, Ula’ula Island, the land of trainers.

As for Vast Poni Canyon, the only place they had yet to visit, it was considered a Champion ranked danger zone due to the rather barbaric traditions of the Kommo-o nest that resided there. While they were regarded as far more civilized than the Pokémon inhabiting most aggressive danger zones, they believed a little too strongly in strength above all else and frequently caused problems for visitors.

Only trainers looking for a fight ever went there for their trials, so the group ultimately decided to skip it. Technically, Alex and the other Champions had the authority to grant them access, but without their Pokémon, it was better to avoid the canyon entirely unless they wanted to start a battle they couldn’t finish.

“It would have been nice to see Vast Poni Canyon,” Alvera commented as she gazed at it through the airship window as they flew past. “I bet I could’ve taken plenty of amazing pictures there.”

“Go complain to your mother,” Sable spat. “I would’ve loved to poke around and find any mining locations inside. There’s bound to be a decent amount of rare minerals in there, considering it was never mined by anyone except the occasional lone trainer.”

“Don’t complain,” Clarissa said. “We’ve got children with us, and none of our Pokémon to defend us. The Kommo-o tribes would’ve swarmed us looking for a challenge, and their younglings would’ve beaten up the children.”

“Dad would’ve loved the opportunity to teach the kids a lesson about strength,” Alvera chuckled. “Apparently, they’re especially forgiving toward weaker younglings and would only go as far as breaking their bones.”

“That’s exactly why Vera insisted we skip it,” Clarissa said.

Alex really wanted to go, but with Kai in the group he couldn’t push the idea beyond a suggestion to Marlo, which was immediately shut down by Leilani and Vera acting as a united front, effectively ensuring they would skip this part of the trip. They could have split up, but not only was it insensitive to leave part of the group behind for the experience, they truly weren’t prepared if, for some reason, they brought shame upon the tribes and caused a battle to the death, which was apparently quite common.

Suddenly, alarms blared throughout the airship as Alex, Clarissa, Sable, Lyra, and Mika, the Champion ranked trainers of the group, received alerts on their phones while Rotom simultaneously broadcast the message over the ship’s intercom system.

“Emergency alert. All Champion ranked trainers and above in the vicinity of Poni Plains are to report to the eastern coast of the Poni Plains immediately. A rogue Guzzlord has escaped containment from Aether Paradise and has begun consuming the sea east of Poni Island. Your immediate assistance is requested to suppress the Pokémon before further ecological damage occurs.”

“Rotom!” Alex shouted. “Reroute the airship toward the rendezvous point, but keep your distance from them and the battle.”

“Understood.”

“Alex!” Clarissa called out as Sable, Lyra, and Mika gathered. “We don’t have our Pokémon. Should we retrieve them from Poke Pelago?”

“Not yet,” Alex replied. “We’ll go take a look first before we pick them up. It will take time to gather them from all over the islands, so we might as well head over and see what we’re dealing with. Tapu Fini is probably already handling the problem without us.”

“What about the alerts?” Sable asked nervously.

“Just reply that you don’t have access to your Pokémon,” Alex said. “It’s technically true since I’m the only one here who can retrieve them immediately with Gardevoir’s Teleport.”

Their current position was on the southeastern corner of Poni Island, so it didn’t take long for them to reach the rendezvous point at the airship’s full speed. Soon, both the staging area and the battle came into view from their elevated position.

At the rendezvous point, an army of over a hundred Champion ranked trainers had already assembled, with more still arriving at breakneck speed. Farther off the coast, a massive whirlpool churned violently, draining the surrounding waters as if the sea itself were collapsing inward. From Alex’s perspective, it resembled the mythical Charybdis from Greek mythology, though without the ring of teeth that legend described.

“Is that Tapu Fini?” Sable pointed toward a small purple speck moving toward the whirlpool.

“Looks like it,” Clarissa replied, squinting into the distance.

“I’m heading down to take a closer look,” Alex said. “Stay on the airship until I come back for you with your Pokémon.”

Alex made his way down to the Pokémon habitat and retrieved Mantine, Espeon, Gothitelle, and Gardevoir before returning to his room on the top floor and exiting through a porthole. From there, he mounted Mantine and approached the whirlpool, maintaining a cautious distance.

He had a suspicion that his Dark Affinity might be enough to draw the Guzzlord’s attention and end this quickly. If not, he was prepared to head to Poké Pelago to retrieve all their Pokémon before committing to the battle properly.

Suddenly, bright blue Water type energy erupted from the depths of the whirlpool, causing the churning sea to abruptly halt. The whirlpool didn’t collapse or settle; it simply froze in place, as if time itself had been suspended.

“Damn! Master ranked Legendary Pokemon aren’t a joke,” Alex commented as he got a better look at the bottom of the funnel-shaped depression.

Inside, Alex could see a battle had already begun between Tapu Fini at Master rank and Guzzlord at Champion rank, and surprisingly, it wasn’t going in Tapu Fini’s favor. Guzzlord, having Beast Boost, had already maxed out its Attack stacks, while Tapu Fini was still focused on controlling the water and preventing Guzzlord from swallowing it all into its stomach.

As a result, Guzzlord was relentlessly hammering Tapu Fini with Body Slam, Thrash, and Giga Impact, while the Tapu could only respond with the occasional Moonblast. For every Moonblast Tapu Fini managed to fire off, it was forced to endure three consecutive, fully stacked physical attacks that dealt devastating damage. It didn’t look like it would last much longer.

“Get down there, Mantine,” Alex commanded as the massive Pokémon dove into the funnel, accompanied by other Champion ranked trainers riding Flying type Pokémon.

Once they were in range, they began bombarding the Guzzlord, who surprisingly tanked the attacks with relative ease. None of the damage was enough to halt its rampage against Tapu Fini, so several trainers moved in and began setting up containment with Protect barriers.

The fastest trainers established a Protect rotation around Tapu Fini, preventing it from taking further damage or wasting energy on anything other than keeping the water from reaching Guzzlord. Meanwhile, the remaining trainers surrounded Guzzlord and set up their own Protect rotation to contain its rampage and prevent it from harming anyone, all while continuing their coordinated bombardment.

“Gardevoir,” Alex called out. “Set up a telepathic relay with the trainers and help them coordinate.” 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

“Gardevoir,” she replied with a nod before extending her psychic energy to every trainer and linking them to Alex.

Soon, Alex could hear all the trainers reporting in his mind, along with the various plans forming to end the fight quickly. Most of them agreed that Tapu Fini wouldn’t be able to hold back the waters for much longer, even after being fed Full Restores and Elixirs.

Several trainers pointed out that simply bombarding Guzzlord with attacks wasn’t an effective solution. In theory, it could sustain itself by repeatedly using Swallow to heal itself as long as it had sufficient Stockpile stacked up. Current research suggested it could continue accumulating Stockpile indefinitely, so long as it had matter or energy to swallow.

As they had recently witnessed, it had already consumed large amounts of both Pokémon and seawater prior to the battle, allowing it to enter combat with an exceptionally high Stockpile reserve. This effectively meant it could absorb an extreme amount of damage before its reserves were meaningfully depleted, rendering straightforward attrition tactics a waste of time.

Unfortunately, none of them had access to a specialized Beast Ball for capturing the Ultra Beast either, leaving them with no option but to continue the bombardment while searching for a better solution.

“Let me try to bond with it,” Alex said. “I have Dark type affinity, so hold your attacks and give me a moment.”

As requested, all attacks ceased, while Guzzlord continued its rampage to little effect. It was only at Champion rank, and every trainer present was at Champion rank as well, with Protect barriers that could easily halt its advance.

Alex, meanwhile, dove from atop Mantine, aiming to make contact with Guzzlord and establish some form of bond with it. As he got closer, Guzzlord looked up, noticing his approach. It opened its mouth wide and, almost eagerly, swallowed Alex whole.