Yo Yo Break Down This World!

[adora_plz]

Adora was fuming.

Hala had sent her off after refusing to let her take his Grand Trial, and instead send her to train under an old Student of his. Even Kukui seemed awfully amused by this whole turn of events. She had a friend with her, and even then, she was grumbling.

"I don't see why we had to come all the way to Ula'Ula to do this," grumbled Adora, trudging through the shabby rundown Po Town towards the big house at the end of the road. Kicking the gate open angrily, she stood at the front of the door and stared up at the doorway, frowning.

"That's the place right? This is the Shady House?"

It was a large house, a mansion she recalled but it was run down and full of graffiti and broken furniture, though there was signs of habitation and recent cleanup. To the side of the area, was a recently cleaned up Pokemon Battlefield, which was meticulously cared for and it felt out of place.

On the front of the door was a large symbol, and sitting on the front step was a woman with her hair in four pigtails who took one look at the two girls and their Pokemon. "Huh," said Plumeria. "So you're the brats that the old man sent over huh? Think you're good enough to join Team Skull and study under Guzma huh?"

Comments

[hearts_beat]

"Team... Skull?" Ellen uttered, blinking. What had she gotten herself into? She was asked to tag along with Adora for this training - it would certainly help with her own problems with her Haunter, but this?

"You guys aren't working with those other Teams, are ya?" she asked.

She had to be careful. She's probably also out of the loop with half of these things.

[fallers_npcs]

"Che, they approached Guzma but he wasn't having it." said Plumeria, spitting to the side. "They go against everything we stand for which is breaking down everything in our path. But you two..."

And Plumeria jumped off her stoop and came face to face with Adora. "Huh... you've got the look of a girl who's going down Guzma's old path. Self destructive to a fault."

She turned and looked at Ellen straight in the eye. "Regret," she said finally. "But a good heart. Lots of both in you."

Straightening up, Plumeria smirked. "I'm Plumeria, the second in command of Team Skull. Come in, get changed. We're going to introduce you to the Boss, Guzma. And then we're going to start training as soon as possible. Team Skull has pretty hardcore methods of teaching. We don't rely on the Z here, but we do battle with the heart and passion and fire. If you don't understand your Pokemon now, you will."

[adora_plz]

Left sputtering, Adora just followed silently, sullenly. "What does she know about me," she grumbled, following behind Plumeria. "I want to just defend this world..."

[hearts_beat]

Ellen winced just a bit at Plumeria's comment before following her. "Well, yeah, kinda...? Okay, a lot."

She let out a sigh. "I'm trying to work through it."

[fallers_npcs]

"You're going to learn that emotions like those are going to be pushed through here," said Plumeria over her shoulder, as she led her to her bedroom and grabbed a couple of Team Skull uniforms in their sizes and tossed it to them. Not typical outfits, but similar to what Plumeria wore in all black.

"Put these on, they'll be your outfits while training."

"These?" demanded Adora.

"Did I goddamn stutter?" exclaimed Plumeria and Adora began to strip immediately.

"Get dressed, and I'll be back in ten minutes." Added Plumeria. "You can keep your shoes or boots, and whatever accessories and underwear too. Don't want you to chafe. Just make sure to get ready, cause Guzma won't want you to be late for your first training session."

SLAM.

[adora_plz]

Adora managed to dress in record time, and exhaled. "Holy, she's so intense. Like one of my drill sarges in the Horde."

Looking at her Pokeballs with Glitter and Fred, she said, "Well, I guess we're in this together, huh Ellen? Sorry for accidentally dragging you into a street gang. I don't know why Hala sent me to this guy, but apparently he's really strong. And knows a lot about Pokemon. I don't know why he didn't just let us train under Kukui though..."

[hearts_beat]

"Oh, this is going to be rough..." Ellen muttered, shaking her head and going to change. At the very least she can keep her Module just in case.

[fallers_npcs]

Plumeria returned shortly and looked the pair over. "Not bad," she said. "C'mon, he's waiting in the foyer."

Leading them to the foyer, it was kind of cleaned up by now with most of the recyclables cleaned up with actual good graffiti over the walls in more decorative designs. A far cry from the trash heap it once was. Guzma's formerly broken piles of 2nd place, third place and other trophies, once broken into piles were now proudly displayed on the mantle of a old fireplace with a placement in the Alola Pokemon League Top 4 proudly displaced in the middle. A sign of how far he had come as a person.

And there, lounging like a proud king was Guzma. "So," he said drawling it out. "You're the brats who Old Man Hala sent to me. Huh, I see now why he sent you two here. Yeah, I see it all now."

Uncrossing his legs and standing up, he grinned. "I'm Guzma, the leader of Team Skull! I pride myself in never running away, and beating down the world that rejects me! I see a lot of myself in you two, the regret and the anger... make no mistake I'm not here to coddle you both, but to make you both stronger. And to do that, we're going to train as hard as we can. Night and day in the Team Skull manner. You're going to get your hands dirty, but within the laws of Alola. We're menaces who don't like rules, but we're never criminals or crooks. We don't steal Pokemon, but we do harass and complain. We compete and make friends just as much as people do. We're a family, and Hala knows this. You two, had nowhere else to go when the world tried to bring you both down, and people accepted you. Now... you don't know where to go right now. Am I right?"

Guzma smirked. "You, girl with the sword. Put the sword away. You won't need it here. And you, girl with the magical compact. I see it there. Don't worry, we're not fighting monsters of that sort. Put that away too. Plumeria will keep those safe."

[adora_plz]

Adora's protests died in her throat. Guzma had a point. She wasn't here to fight with a sword. She.... wasn't here to train like that... was she? If she was going to take a Grand Trial, she couldn't use a sword, right?

With a sigh, she took out the Sword and handed it to Plumeria. "Keep it safe, it's all I've got." she said to Plumeria who nodded.

"Okay," she said. "You got me, Guzma. I'll be in your face all day, all night. Be ready."

[hearts_beat]

“H-how did...?!” Ellen sputtered as he figured out her little secret. She let out a sigh before surrendering the Cure Module. “I never even introduced myself and they both read me like a book. They’re... they’re good.”

[fallers_npcs]

Guzma smirked for a moment, a shit-eating expression before saying, "Good. Now, that's settled. Get your Pokemon out, all of them. We're going to do some drills."

"First things first," said Plumeria once they released their Pokemon. "Team Skull has a motto, a rap if you will. Break down the chains of society and all that. Members take it to heart, but it's a expression of your soul than anything else."

"You scrubs need to express what you're feeling. Let it come out, rebel against society and yell it out as much as you can. Don't go crazy on us, but let your feelings come out in our rap."

Guzma reached down and pressed play on an old style boombox as literal rap music played with a guy singing. It was pretty rebellious that was for sure. "So? Think you can mix it up like that?"

[hearts_beat]

Ellen blinked at their first challenge. Singing? No, rapping. It was essentially the same thing. A lot of heart and soul to this. She could honestly get behind it, really.

“This... this I think I can get behind, honestly.” Ellen admitted

[adora_plz]

"Singing? I've never sang before, but..." Looking at Ellen who seemed confident enough, Adora breathed in.

"Okay, let's give it a try."

[hearts_beat]

"It's honestly easy. Might need a few lessons if you're not good, buuut..." Ellen said. "Trust me, all worth it."

[adora_plz]

"I'll be in your care then," said Adora with a grin, looking at Ellen, Plumeria and Guzma, the pair smirking. "We'll do this."