Author's note:
Double release today to celebrate 200 chapters and 2 million views on RR.
So go back and read chapter 200 if you haven't yet
***
“Wow…”
Nina couldn’t help but gasp in awe, at the stacks of ivory lining the cavern. The hollow drumming of a Marowak skull sounding out every time a droplet of water landed on it from the stalactites above, the air warm and smelling of rot.
The four teens were currently concealed in the cavern’s darkness, courtesy of Nina’s Haunter, to avoid startling the small handful of wild Cubones picking through the remains of their predecessors, all of them covered in scars in one way or another.
“Poor little guys… You can see that they’ve had a rough trek over.” Kerry remarked.
Nina nodded. “Lots of Bellsprouts around the city, then you’ve got predators like Hoothoots and Linoones.”
“Beedrills too.” Lucy chimed.
To be fair to the species, most Marowaks tended to leave their spawn fairly close to a grave. Some even stashed their eggs directly in a grave itself as pointed out by Lucy, whose sharp eyes managed to spot a couple of eggs hidden amidst piles of bone.
“And that one over there, is that the Alolan Marowak?”
Sat cross legged atop a broken stalagmite, eyes shut in meditation, was a black scaled Marowak. Its body looking thinner and lankier than its Ground Type cousins and wearing a skull with a greyish colouration to it, marked by a black flame between its brows.
But most prominent of all was its weapon of choice, a skeletal bo staff almost the length of its body with sinister green flames burning on both ends. The bone staff was currently laid across the Marowak’s lap, quietly smoldering away as the Pokemon engaged in deep meditation.
Justin pulled his Pokedex out in an attempt to scan the Marowak, but Nina frantically put a stop to it and manually pulled from the League’s database instead, to avoid startling the Pokemon.
Justin frowned as he read through the Pokedex entry. “There’s not much here…” The boy lamented.
“Yeah, that’s because we’re pulling from the Indigo League’s database. I’m sure there’d be more to learn if we had an Alolan Pokedex,” said Nina, followed by a haughty smirk. “But luckily for you, Jeffrey, Professor Samson Oak just replied to my email this morning with a whole bunch of info on the variant.”
Nina flipped open her Pokedex to summarize the material she was given.
Basically, Alolan Marowak’s were a result of behavioural differences in the region’s Cubone. While the rest of the world dubbed the species the lonely Pokemon, Cubones born in Alola were the exact opposite in how tribal they were.
“In Alola, due to the proliferation of Grass Types, Cubones have learned to band together to ensure their survival, a result of the species being foreign to the Alolan isles — a form of social adaptation if you will.”
According to the Professor, Marowak graves in Alola formed the cornerstone of a Cubone tribe and were treated with an almost primal reverence.
“Nobody knows exactly what prompted the behavior. But over the course of time, the Alolan Cubone and Marowak population started worshipping the remains of their ancestors, resulting in a ritual that concentrated Ghost Type Energy into said remains.”
Nina looked up at her companions, who all wore looks of confusion on their faces, prompting her to elaborate further.
“Basically, the variant Evolution is caused by the dense concentration of Ghost Type Energy infused into the skulls that they wear. There are other criterias as well of course, for example, a Cubone set on branching their Evolution would have to adapt to a nocturnal routine and have the will for it. But that’s the basic gist of things.”
Another point to note was that Alolan Marowaks tended to act as leaders and shamans of their respective tribes, presiding over their ritualistic endeavors — quite appropriate given the Pokemon’s nature.
The three teens all gasped in fascination, their combined voices loud enough to alert the Alolan Marowak of their presence as the surrounding Cubones all scrambled to hide from the interlopers.
Nina winced when she turned her head to see the Alolan Marowak jump down from its perch and began twirling its bone staff around in an aggressive manner.
“Wak! Maro-wak!” The bone keeper Pokemon cried, as it pointed one of its ominous flames at the direction the humans were hiding in.
Nina sighed and looked towards Espy, who affirmed the fact that the Marowak was challenging them to a battle.
“Is it looking to chase us away or does it want to be captured?” Nina wondered. The fact that it was here in the grave seemed to indicate the former, but that Marowak looked a little too energetic to be near its deathbed and its body language seemed to indicate the latter.
“I’ll do it.”
However, to her surprise, before Nina could get any further confirmation, Kerry of all people stepped out of Haunter’s shadow to confront the Marowak with a Pokeball in hand.
Nina looked towards Justin, who seemed equally as flabbergasted as she was. Meanwhile, Lucy was simmering in regret at losing the initiative, as if the girl didn’t have enough Fire Types already.
“Hi there, my name is Kerry. Are you looking for a trainer perhaps?”
In lieu of a response, the Marowak twirled its weapon around once more, the sickly green flames trailing a series of mesmerizing arcs in the dimly lit cavern.
Kerry giggled. “Okay, you can tell me after we’re done battling. I choose you, Polly!” And with a flash of light, Kerry’s Poliwhirl took to the scene.
“Po. Poliwhirl!” Polly drummed at her belly and took on a fighting stance. The tadpole Pokemon had grown to become a lot more comfortable with battling. Though she still preferred to assist Kerry with her medical duties most of the time.
“Maro, marowak!”
With a fanciful flourish, the Marowak’s green flames flared up and exploded into tiny little Will-O-Wisp that proceeded to dot the surrounding cavern, leaving little room for Polly to maneuver without bumping into one of the ghastly embers.
Nina whistled in admiration. “Yeah, that Marowak is definitely trained alright. Instead of directly applying the Will-O-Wisp, it chose to spread it out to secure itself a domain instead.”
Kerry frowned but was undeterred, she had already learned about domains from Nina and knew how to deal with such situations.
“Rain Dance, Polly!”
“Poli!” The Poliwhirl did a little twirl and began spewing mist into the air. But before she could complete her move, Marowak spun its bone staff around and summoned shadows to coat its ivory shaft, then dashed towards Polly to swipe a Shadow Bone at her — a move exclusive to Alolan Marowaks if Nina’s memory served her right.
“Polly!” Kerry cried as her Poliwhirl was sent tumbling onto the ground.
“This is bad…” Nina frowned. “Kerry, switch Polly out for Rocky!” She called, the Poliwhirl was too specialized in special attacks to deal with the masterful Marowak in such a confined space.
Kerry nodded and did as she was told, sending her Geodude out in Polly’s place. The nurse knew better than to question her friend’s expertise.
“Rocky! Remember what we taught you about Aura? Time to put it into practice buddy!” Nina called, feeling a little bad about hijacking the battle.
“Geo!” Rocky began by immediately buffing his defenses, just like how he had been conditioned previously. He then punched the ground to scatter sharp stone fragments all over the ground to create his own hazardous terrain using Stealth Rock.
“Maro…” Marowak growled and in response, manipulated the formation of its Will-O-Wisp, to tighten their spread and surround itself with a few of the ghastly fireballs for defense.
Then, it expertly twirled its unwieldy bone staff and threw it towards Rocky at a distance, the flaming projectile just barely grazing the rocky exterior of the Geodude before flying back to its owner like a Bonemerang, clipping the back of Rocky’s head in the process, another signature move of the Cubone line.
“Geo!” But Rocky was undeterred and retaliated with his signature Shotgun Rock Blast, the hardy pellets of stone blasting through Marowak’s defenses and slammed into the bone Pokemon with a painful cry.
“Yeah! Keep it up, Rocky!” Nina cheered, prompting her companions to do the same.
That joy did not last, because Marowak directed the rest of its Will-O-Wisp to converge upon Rocky, turning the Geodude into a burning green hunk of levitating rock.
Rocky groaned at the ethereal heat threatening to melt his interior but still charged forward to meet the Marowak in melee, slamming into Marowak with a Rolling Bulldoze, like a blazing meteorite shooting through the cavern.
“Marowak…” The Alolan Marowak winced at the sharp stones digging into its fragile flesh, but was able to roll out of the way just in time to avoid receiving the full brunt of Rocky’s assault.
“Wak!”
Then, with another cry, the abundant shadows within the cavern came to life and lashed out at the recoiling Geodude to inflict damage directly at his soul — Hex, a move that became doubly more potent when a Pokemon’s physique was weakened by a status effect.
“Rocky! Hang in there!” Kerry cried.
“Geo!”
Rocky bore through the agonizing pain and slammed his fist onto the ground to summon a piece of stone that shot out and exploded into fragments — Stone Grenade, another one of Nina’s brainchildren and Rocky’s signature. The little surprise had been snuck in earlier when Rocky was laying down his Stealth Rock,
Marowak cried out in pain as shrapnel dug into the tender flesh on its back, completely taking it by surprise.
“Rollout and Bulldoze combo! But don’t hurt Marowak too much!” Kerry called.
Rocky broke out into another Rolling Bulldoze in response, but the force was visibly more restrained than his earlier attempt. Thankfully, Marowak couldn’t recover fast enough to dodge this time, sending it flying to the air and slamming back down again while Rocky crashed into a pile of bones.
“Marowak, are you okay?!” Kerry rushed towards the weakened Pokemon to check on it, only to falter at its rebellious glare.
“Hey… It’s okay…” Kerry soothed as she lowered herself on the ground to look at the injured Marowak. “I’m sorry about Rocky. I wasn’t…” The girl sighed. “I may not be the best Pokemon Trainer around. But I am a nurse and healing is what I do best. So can I please have a look at you so that I may help treat you?”
The Alolan Marowak held onto Kerry’s sincere gaze and ultimately conceded with a weak nod, prompting Kerry to immediately take action after releasing her Chansey.
***
“So Marowak, you’re a long way from home. Did something happen?”
“Wak.”
The Alolan Marowak got up and stared at Nina with her pale grey eyes, the Ghost Type’s irises so faint as to almost blend homogeneously with its sclera.
“Maro, marowak.” Then with a curt gesture, the bone keeper Pokemon bid the humans to follow.
Kerry was the first to move, ever the innocent soul, and Nina followed suit after confirming with Espy that she didn’t sense any ill intentions from the Marowak, outside of the usual negative aura surrounding Ghost Types of course — a problem that wasn’t as pronounced when dealing with living Ghost Types like an Alolan Marowak.
The four teenage explorers were led through a series of convoluted tunnels, sometimes necessitating that they go prone and crawl through narrow openings to get to the other end.
But eventually, the Alolan Marowak reached a dirt wall that she dug through to reveal a secret cavity hidden within.
“That’s—!” Kerry took in a sharp breath, her hands quivering as she knelt down to pull the Marowak into a hug.
Nina breathed in a melancholic sigh and allowed a solemn moment of silence, before moving closer to get a better look, at the skeletal human remains laid out before her, still garbed in worn and bloodied travel gear.
“Is it okay if I examine the body, just to get a better idea?” Nina asked Marowak, who returned with a nod.
At Nina’s words, Kerry hardened her gaze as well and went into nurse mode, moving away to examine the skeleton of the deceased trainer while Nina rummaged around in their pockets, to see if she could find any form of identification.
“Palani Lala, male, twenty two years old,” said Nina, reading from a card she found in one of the dead man’s pockets.
“I’m seeing signs of an acute head trauma.” Kerry added, referring to a nasty looking crack at the back of the skull. “A falling object? Ambush, perhaps? Whatever the case, there was enough force involved that he should have been knocked out right away.”
The nurse girl then turned towards the stoic Marowak. “He wouldn’t have suffered.” She continued, eliciting a little quiver from the Pokemon.
“Emergency release on Marowak’s Pokeball must have triggered when it ran out of power.” Nina chimed. But to her surprise, Marowak shook her head at her comment.
“No? Did you sense your trainer’s predicament and came out on your own?”
The Pokemon nodded.
“Then were you the only one?”
“Wak.” The Marowak shook her head.
In response, Espy relayed some images to Nina; of Marowak releasing the rest of her team, of a sneering Salandit that just slinked away at the sight of their unconscious trainer, and of a Fletchling that flew off to get help but never returned, then of Marowak dragging the inert corpse of her partner away from the glowing red eyes of Rattatas skulking in the darkness.
Nina sighed. “That explains Marowak’s presence in the grave — it was her new home.”
Cubones born in Alola were ingrained with tribal instincts, so the Alolan Marowak probably sought out the grave expecting to find more of her kind, only to be met with juvenile Cubones digging for equipment and skittish wariness.
“S-so, what do we do now?” Justin sputtered, having never seen a dead human body before.
“We bring the bones back to the city.” Lucy answered. “Or call in a Ranger, as per the League’s guidelines.”
Kerry turned to the Marowak with a gentle smile. “Is it okay? For us to bring Palani back? I know you have your own customs, but for us humans, the appropriate thing to do is to return any remains to his family, so that they may attain closure for their grief.”
“Maro… Wak.” Marowak nodded with a steady gaze. It was likely that she was waiting for this moment all along.
With the Marowak’s approval, Kerry asked Nina to take out her supersized picnic blanket which they then used to wrap up the corpse after Espy used her Psychic aura to secure it. Then, with the Espeon’s masterful Telekinesis, they carried it back out of the cavern before flying back to Violet City with Marowak in tow.
***
“That concludes the end of our statement. Great work, the lot of you did good today. Most kids would have just sent in a picture and shoddy set of coordinates and called it a day.”
The Jenny then looked towards Marowak who was currently under the care of Justin and Lucy and giving some sort of lecture to Nina’s Haunter, bonking the younger Ghost Type on the head every time she failed to answer correctly, eliciting giggles from the humans.
“About the Marowak… Do you want me to make a call to the Rangers?” asked the blue haired policewoman.
Nina and Kerry shared a troubled gaze. “We’re not sure if Marowak wants to be repatriated to her home region or not. Can you give us some time to talk to her?”
“Sure, take your time. I’ll be here handling the paperwork if you need me. And we already have people coming over to settle the corpse, so make sure that Marowak is okay with the separation before they arrive. Maybe have her take away any mementos beforehand in case they accidentally lose anything during the transport process.”
“Thanks, Officer Jenny. Will do.” And with that, Nina and Kerry got up to go rejoin their friends.
“Hey Marowak, sorry for the long wait.” Kerry lowered herself to meet the Alolan Marowak at eye level.
“So we had a talk with Officer Jenny and we were wondering what you would like to do from now on? It’s not going to be an issue to send you back to Alola alongside your trainer. Or if you’d like to stay here in Johto, we can make arrangements with the Pokemon Rangers as well.” Kerry then averted her gaze, looking a little sheepish as she did.
“Additionally, well… I actually thought you were looking for a trainer just now when you challenged us. And I’d still be happy to have you join the team if you’d like…” said the young nurse, her voice fading a little at the end.
Marowak stared at Kerry then back at the bundle containing the remains of her former partner. Then, with a sharp flourish, looked up at Nina and twirled her bone staff around to point a burning end at the Gym Trainer, much to her bewilderment.
“Err… wha?” Nina was mouth agape in confusion and looked towards her Espeon for guidance.
“Are you saying that you want to join my team? But the one who battled you was Kerry, not me.”
“Wak!”
But Marowak just held on to her gaze, seemingly aware of Nina’s meddling at the beginning of their match.
The girl sighed and joined the dejected looking Kerry by her side. “Look, it’s not that I don’t want you or anything. In fact, I’d be happy to have you. But right now, my team is full and it doesn’t feel right to swap anyone out just yet. Kerry though, is also a great trainer, even if she isn’t as battle-oriented as I am. And more importantly, she has an extra slot in her team and can afford to give you all the care and attention that you deserve.”
Right now, Kerry had five Pokemon plus an unhatched Egg, which didn’t count towards her carry limit, unlike the games. It would be ridiculous if it did anyway, since a Pokemon Egg did not pose any sort of risk.
However, Marowak was stalwart in her choice, merely continuing to hold Nina’s gaze, eliciting a helpless smile from the girl.
“I don’t know what you heard from the others, but it is true that Kerry’s Pokemon often trains with mine. And if you join her team, you won’t be deprived either. Rather, I’d be happy to help you train — we’re always in need of sparring partners after all.”
Nina looked towards the downtrodden Kerry and pulled her into a reassuring hug. “Kerry is one of the most hardworking people that I know. So please, give her a chance. And if at any point you’re still feeling dissatisfied then well…”
“I’ll trade you over to Nina.” Kerry chimed, eyes wavering ever so slightly. “I’m not as good a battler like Nina — I’m a nurse. But I do enjoy battles. And although I can’t guarantee that I can meet your expectations. I can promise you all of my love and the best care that a Joy can provide.”
Kerry reached out and extended a palm to the Alolan Marowak. “So, Marowak… Would you be willing to give me a chance?”
“Wak…” Marowak looked down at the hand that was offered to her, eyes narrowed in contemplation.
And after what felt like an eternity to the anxious Kerry, Marowak responded with a nod and a calloused hand on top of Kerry’s.
Justin was the first to cheer, prompting his friends to do the same.
“Welcome to the family, Marowak! And now for the fun part, picking your Pokeball!”
“Wak!”
Kerry reached into her backpack to grab at her Pokeball collection, but was stopped by a cry and a head shake from Marowak who, instead, sauntered over to her deceased trainer and rummaged around his pockets, to produce a faded and scarred Pokeball.
“That’s…” Kerry reached out, only to falter mid way and break down into a sobbing mess in Nina’s embrace.
“Marowak…” Nina continued as she gently caressed her friend’s hair. “Are you sure?”
“Maro, marowak.”
The girl returned the Pokemon’s conviction with a feeble smile and tear stained eyes. “If that’s the Pokeball you want to use then we’ll need to make a trip to the Pokemon Center.”
Pokemon Trade machines required the verification of the respective trainers’ IDs to prevent abuse. But under such unique circumstances, Nina had no doubts that the local nurses could make an exception.
In the end, Marowak was successfully registered under Kerry, in exchange for a blank Pokeball.
And when asked about what name they should call her with. Espy helped to relay the memory of a cheerful boy with his starter Cubone, all bright eyed and beaming.
“I’m going to name you Kaipo! And together, the two of us are gonna be the very best, like no one ever was!”
***
Author's note:
In case it wasn't clear enough, Kaipo initially chose Nina because she sensed that she was the more competent trainer. The Marowak's goal is to fulfill the dreams of her late trainer on his behalf.
This chapter was originally meant to be a 0.5 bonus chapter. But I kind of lost control and ended up writing too much. So I relabeled it.
Matter of fact, Kaipo wasn't originally meant to join the team. It just sort of ended up this way as I was writing. Hence the slightly ambiguous ending because I genuinely was undecided on whether I should give her to Nina or Kerry at the time.
But no worries, no one can resist the charm of a Nurse Joy for very long. And given that Nina has two new Pokemon lined up for her team, it's pretty safe to say that Kaipo's allotment is set in stone.