Moana would be being excessively dramatic if he had said that returning to Alola had felt like coming home. The region's four islands were wildly different from each other. The dreary, seemingly perpetually raining Tapu Village had nothing on the sunny, warm, sprawling metropolis that was Hau'oli. Plus, he'd never even been to Melemele before.

Still, though, it was a welcome relief to be able to say "Alola" to the people he met on the road. It was a small comfort, one that he hadn't realized he'd missed until he'd had it back.

Of course, life wasn't free, even on Alola. Stowing away on the ship to the islands had been, but he didn't want to simply go back to his street life, or a similar situation, just because he was back home. So he'd been taking odd jobs again, starting at this farm that apparently had a bee problem.

Only to run smack dab into a walking reminder of what he'd come here to take a fucking break from. Ugh.

Still, that wasn't fair to Sénon Game, so he plastered a smile onto his face. "Fancy seeing you here, huh?"

Sheru, his Kabutops, followed him at a distance of a couple of feet, watching Sénon Game somewhat suspiciously. She hadn't been with Moana when he'd met the man, Moana realized.

"This is a friend, Sheru," Moana assured his Pokemon. Of that, he was more or less sure.

The formerly insincere smile that Moana had donned quickly faded into a real one. As annoyed as he was, he supposed Sénon Game was friendly enough to overcome Moana's initial feeling of homesickness.

Wait, homesickness? What the fuck? Damn his stupid brain. First he needed a break from Hoenn, and now that he was out of it, he immediately wanted to go back? Good grief.

Anyways, Sénon was having too much fun teasing. "Esteemed survivor? Who are you to talk, Mr. Game?" Moana matched the older man's grin with his own. "Hoenn's up-and-coming ranger, swiftly rising through the ranks after his exploits? Who played a major part in the defense of Lilycove?" Maybe Moana had been curious enough on seeing a familiar face in the news to learn more, but Sénon didn't need to know that much.

"It wasn't a pencil pusher," admitted Moana. "I'm from Alola, and I... well, I needed a break from Hoenn, so here I am, back on my old stomping grounds." Not really. It was the wrong island, but... it was still Alola. That had to count for something, right?

Wait a second.

Moana's grin slid off his face, replaced with confusion. "How did you know I was caught up in the war stuff? Did a picture leak to the media, or something?"

Sheru had been quickly convinced that Sénon posed no threat to either her or Moana, so she had folded her scythes back up and began to wander, staring at the farm they were headed towards.

The reports, huh? Moana hadn't actually gone and read those. Too many big words in the official League documents for someone who'd never attended a traditional school. He wondered why he had been mentioned in the reports, though; surely there were plenty of other people who were more deserving of notice than him at Mauville. Like, say, Bailey Cooper . The champion. Not to mention all the other...

And then it came to him, and he buried his face in his hands.

"Ugh," he said. "I guess I'm famous for wandering too close to that oversized lizard and barely living to tell the tale, huh?" Not exactly ideal for... well, for anyone. But especially not for someone who had just arrived in Hoenn. He could see it in his future.

"Moana Reyes?" the hiring manager would say, squinting at his laptop screen before understanding gripped him. "Right. You're the one from Mauville. Don't 'cha know not to waltz right up to the damn god of the land during a fight, son? Eh?"

Before he could continue, though, Sénon Game exclaimed in surprise and sent out a Charmeleon to drive away the clashing bees with Smokescreen. Well, that was his cue-- but not to run straight into the crowd of bees. One martyr was enough for this mission, thank you very much.

Instead, he turned to Sheru, who had already snapped back to attention at the sight and sound of a scuffle.

"Not yet," cautioned Moana. "Sénon's got the little ones. Bees usually have a leader, a head honcho, so you should save your strength..."

Yeah, Moana had called it.

As Sénon charged in and his Charmeleon spewed more smoke, a Vespiquen appeared seemingly out of nowhere and rammed the fire-breathing lizard hard enough to knock it over and some other things besides. Dear god, it was really big.

But Moana had seen worse. One bug, no matter how big, had nothing on the wiry monster or the gluttonous beasts he'd fought at Mauville.

"Metal sound!"

Sheru was already on it, dashing forward and swinging her scythes. They scraped against each other, creating a horrible din that caused Moana to cover his ears.

The sonic assault was directed more towards the Vespiquen, though, who screeched in fury, turning away from the Charmeleon and Sénon to face the new threat. A couple of Combee came with it, swarming around it in a defensive formation.

If it had just been Sheru and Moana, he would have been more concerned. But he was wearing more than one Pokeball on his belt.

Now, he picked another one up, releasing Cova. The Druddigon roared his challenge.

"Flamethrower!" yelled Moana, and Cova complied. His maw opened and loosed a stream of fire, scorching a few of the poor Combee who weren't quick enough to move away.

Moana was confident that this battle was his. But he wasn't so sure about Sénon, so he turned to see what the older ranger was up to...

Sénon Game

Moana didn't think that Cova was really going to fucking jump right at the chance to knock out the Vespiquen. He generally preferred to use intimidation tactics and warning blows before going in for a real fight. Moana had a feeling that it was because he liked the sight of his prey turning tail and fleeing as he laughed in his rumbling, deep voice.

However, for some reason, he was jumping straight into the action today, following up the Flamethrower with another, and another. The Vespiquen couldn't keep up, already weakened by Sheru's Metal Sound, and collapsed onto the ground, her wings fluttering weakly.

Moana recalled Cova, surprised, as the beekeepers swarmed him with pleas similarly to the very same Pokemon they kept.

"Yeah, yeah," said Moana, waving them off and pocketing Cova's Pokeball. Sheru wandered back over to him.

Well, even if it had gone slightly different than expected, that was a job well done. Moana went off to check on Sénon Game afterwards; that encounter with the bees couldn't have been good.