Journey Towards Greatness

Julian and his students follow Kukui to Iki Town, where Kahuna Hala lives. This is where young trainers come to complete their grand trial.

Julian's students are very excited to watch this battle and they can't contain their excitement. Ash also looks very excited as nothing makes him happy more than a pokemon battle.

Kukui and Julian finally stop in front of Kahuna Hala's house and knock on the door. After a few seconds, the door opens and Kahuna Hala walks out with a big smile on his face. He looks at the students standing behind Kukui and Julian and guesses that they are here for the Grand Trial for Ash.

Hala "Young Ash, I see you have prepared well, but before we start the grand trial, a ritual needs to be performed"

He said being very serious. As the Island Kahuna, it is his duty to keep the integrity of the island's customs and make sure that everything is done according to the island's customs.

He then looked at the rest of the group and told them to stay here as only the Island Kahuna and the challenger can attend this ritual.

The students were bummed-out hearing that they cannot participate in the ritual, but being the natives of this island, they respected it and didn't cause much trouble.

Hala took Ash to the temple of Tapu Koko as it is a ritual where they prey on the island guardian Tapu Koko and ask it to be the witness of this battle.

When Julian learned of this, he remembered his interaction with the guardian pokemon Tapu Koko and how his Crystal scared it away. From the rumors he has heard about Tapu Koko, it is known for being curious, fickle, and mischievous.

Even though it is the guardian deity of Melemele Island, it is known to be very aggressive towards people who piss it off and soon forget what made its anger flare up, but it won't stop attacking until the very end.

Julian wondered how this electric rooster, with anger and memory issues, became a guardian pokemon.

Putting his thoughts aside, he watched as his students sat down and excitedly talked about the outcome of this upcoming battle. Though all of them wanted Ash to win, they knew it was not going to be easy, as many people fail the grand trial and have never defeated Kahuna Hala.

After a few minutes, Ash and Kahuna Hala came back and Ash seem very excited as if something interesting happened. Julian is not the only one who noticed this. His friends rushed toward him to ask him what happened.

Ash then proceeded to tell them that Tapu Koko answered their prayer and will be witnessing his battle against Kahuna Hala.

Julian also became interested and wondered if Tapu Koko will really show up to witness the battle, but with how things happen in this world and Ash being the center of most of it, Julian won't be surprised if it really shows up.

Hala "Ok then, Young Ash, let's start your grand trail"

He said and looked at Julian's other students and instructed them to watch from the side. Julian also joined them and waited for the grand trial to start.

Kukui joined Kahuna Hala and Ash on the battlefield that is situated right in the middle of the town. Some townspeople also joined in to watch the battle, as they were excited to see their Kahuna battle.

Kukui took the position of the referee and called for the battle to start.

Ash went first and sent out his Rowlet. Julian looked at this Rowlet and was surprised to see it wide awake, and he was not the only one. It also surprised his other students to see Rowlet wide awake.

Every time Julian saw Rowlet, it was asleep in Ash's bag and no matter what someone did to wake it up, it would not budge, so seeing it awake and excited to battle came as a surprise to everyone.

Julian also saw the potential Rowlet has. He knows that Ash caught it recently, but it is already so powerful and has not evolved yet.

From the looks of it, this Rowlet should have evolved by now, but it has not. Julian wondered why? If it evolves, it can become stronger, but that is always not the case.

Julian wondered if Rowlet is one of those pokemons that refuses to evolve because they like how they are and would like to grow stronger as they are

This, of course, comes with a disadvantage as it will limit their growth speed, but it doesn't mean they will be weak. A pokemon can not evolve and still become very strong, but the process will be very hard.

But if there is a trainer who can guide such a pokemon, it would be Ash. Just look at his Pikachu. The little rat is a monster. No trainer would suspect that the little mouse pokemon on Ash's shoulder can take down a second-rate legendary pokemon.

Once Ash was done choosing his pokemon, Hala sent his pokemon into the battlefield as well and his choice was a Crabrawler.

The Crabrawler entered the battlefield and started to shadow-box with its glove-like claws and beckoned Rowlet to bring it on.

Seeing the fighting spirit of this little Crabrawler made Julian smile, but he was not fooled by its size. He could tell that this Crabrawler is well trained and has a lot of battle experience under its gloves.