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Blue and Red had been voluntold to go help with the battle tree in Alola, not that either of them were necessarily against it. They were actually quite excited because they would get to meet and catch new Pokémon while having an excuse to spend a lot of their day battling Pokémon.
Ignoring the fact that we're supposed to be in charge which….came with its own issues. Despite that however the benefits far outweighed the drawbacks, and Blue had resigned himself to having to wrangle his friend away from chasing after every new Pokémon he encountered. (Not that Blue would be much better)
Arriving in Alola went fine they had gotten off the plane and greeted by Samson Oak, Blue smiled widely as he went up to greet his relative. “How are you Samson, it's been a while?”
“I've been fine Blue, thank you again again for agreeing to help with this. I know I suggested you two but I wasn't sure anyone would agree.”
“Not a problem! I've been looking for an excuse to get out of the gym and to drag Red away from that stupid mountain.”
Behind him Red huffed irritably his Pikachu snickered to itself from its place on his shoulder.
After a while longer and being given directions Samson wished them luck and headed off. Blue looked back at Red eyes shining with a challenge. “The one who finds the coolest new Pokémon wins?”
Red’s eyes gleamed and he smirked, without another word the two split off. They'd meet up at the battle tree tonight and there wasn't a word that needed to be said to know that.
Red ended up going through a few islands and he had to fight himself not to catch everything new he ran across. There was only so much time in the day and he could come back. He caught a few interesting ones however just in case he couldn't find anything else.
When he eventually landed on Ula'ula Island he thought it looked promising and sure enough he was wandering around route 14 when he saw it.
At first he thought it was a Pikachu but only for a moment. The Pokémon seemingly spotted him and tried to scurry away, but Red was quick to follow after it.
Eventually he managed to corner the creature and was shocked to finally get a good look at it. It wore a cloth and had a fake tail, it was pretending to be a Pikachu.
Red crouched down and sat on the ground trying not to scare the poor creature. His eyes were all but sparkling in wonder and excitement. His own Pikachu jumped down and walked towards it cautiously. The Pokémon remained still as Red offered out a hand and a soft smile.
The Pokémon didn't move, just watched him cautiously. Red didn't move his hand just kept it extended, Pikachu made some encouraging noises and in return a shadowy arm reached out cautiously. Pikachu made a happy noise as it circled around the new Pokémon and sat next to it continuing to make encouraging noises.
Finally the shadowy hand touched Red’s extended hand and the man smiled even wider. Pikachu made a delighted noise as it bounced around excitedly. The poor Pokémon seemed stunned at the fan fair. Red took out a Pokéball and offered it out, the Pokémon touched the ball with a shadowy hand and like that it was Red's with a critical catch.
Red's smile was blinding as he held the ball. He checked his Pokédex and read over it curiously as he released the new Pokémon again. It seemed surprised that it was let back out so soon and Red frowned, did it not think he was going to keep it in the ball?
He just picked the thing up and put it on his shoulder already making plans to incorporate into his team and Pikachu was quick to join its new friend on the opposite shoulder. Mimikyu made a surprised sound as Red began walking, wrapping a shadowy arm around his neck to keep itself from falling.
Red didn't complain. He just smiled as he made his way to the battle tree catching every new Pokémon he could along the way, even using Mimikyu who seemed thrilled to be included and praised.
Blue wasn't there when he arrived which kind of surprised him but he knew it wouldn't be long before his friend showed up. Sure enough Blue came walking up not 30 minutes late with a smirk. He froze however as he clocked Red and the extra Pokémon on his other shoulder.
“Uhhh.”
Red smiled and patted Mimikyu’s fake head which flopped over. Mimikyu just purred and leaned further into Red.
“That's uhh..what is that Pokémon?”
Red had the Pokédex entry already pulled up and handed it over with gleaming eyes.
“Huh….that's fitting I guess.” Blue grumbled.
Red just smiled wider.
Blue tossed out his catch and it was….a sandcastle? Quite fitting for the region Red supposed as he crouched down to get a better look.
Red looked back up to Blue who already had his own Pokédex out. Red quickly read it over and laughed lightly to himself. Both of their Pokémon were Ghost types. What were the chances?
Red stood back up and crossed his arms smirking.
“Oh no come on you don't win mine is so much cooler.” Blue protested. He glared and crossed his arms in return.
Red just tilted his head.
“No! Palossand is so much cooler.”
A raised eyebrow.
“Nu-uh nope no way!” Blue denied adamantly.
Really they should have seen this coming, they could never be trusted to judge themselves when they challenged one another to anything besides battle.