So. This is a little yarn I like to call the Lanakila Gallery. It might be true... or it might be a legend. With these things, you're never 100 percent on the whole thing.
See, long ago, Alola had Kahunas as the leader of each island, and there was a royal family who ran the whole show, too. That's when this whole thing took place. Of course, the Island Challenge was still a thing back then --- Trial Captains, Totem Pokemon, the whole nine yards. I told you it was old and moldy. And so... on our biggest island, Ula'Ula, there was a Trial Captain who was supposedly the local Kahuna's daughter. You know, because that's what you get when you let the Kahunas run that kinda thing. Nepotism runs rampant.
I mean, it's said that she did a pretty good job for most of her run. The trials went well and the Totem Frosslass she trained was a pretty good contender --- not too tough, but tough enough to give your average brat a challenge. She specialized in Ice Pokemon, and her trial was actually a ways up Mount Lanakila, the most sacred mountain in the region.
But there's gotta be a "but," right? And the "but" here is that towards the latter end of her captainship, something was a little rotten on Lanakila. There started being some mysterious disappearances around the mountains --- more mysterious than usual, I mean. Mount Lanakila isn't the easiest climb in the world, and you'll always have people who just get unlucky on the climb up or the climb back down.
The weird thing was, though... you were definitely more likely to disappear if you fit a certain profile, and it wasn't the sort of person you'd expect to get beaten by the elements. Younger kids on their trials seemed pretty safe. Old guys and old ladies also didn't have any trouble... actually, no ladies disappeared at all. If something did happen to them, you'd find their body at some point.
However... handsome dudes in their prime? They'd vanish without a trace. No body, no blood, no nothing. So, naturally, this got people's attention. The Kahuna started looking into it... but the investigation never went anywhere, for some reason. Which, I mean, sometimes a dude needs to climb a mountain, you know?
So eventually, one of the king's lady soldiers did a solo investigation. She went up the mountain and started searching... and came across this pretty well hidden cavern that was off the beaten path. I do kinda have to wonder how she felt when she walked into that cavern, because... well.
It was like one of those statue galleries in Kalos. All fancy and stuff, with artfully sculpted ice statues of handsome dudes... but if you know anything about Froslass, you can probably figure out where this is going. See, they're a female-only Ice/Ghost Pokemon that has a bit of a nasty habit... when they happen upon something alive they like, they tend to flash freeze 'em and take them back to their den to display as decorations.
Now, trained Pokemon aren't really supposed to pull these kinds of things, since they've got a code to them and won't murder people or other Pokemon when under the care of a trainer. However, since only humans were being put on display there, suspicions quickly arose that the Trial Captain was in on it --- and, well, when she was confronted with it, she went ahead and confessed.
After that, things get a little hazy. What we do know is that there's still a pedestal up on Mount Lanakila where you can pick up the traditional reward for completing a trial, a Z-crystal. There hasn't been a Captain running the place since, but some people wanna get a whole set of 18 Z-Crystals for every type, so they still go up there to pick one up.
When asked about the experience... well, girls generally tend to come out of it with no problem. Guys... notice something a little creepy, though, like there's a sudden chill to the back of their necks.
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See, long ago, Alola had Kahunas as the leader of each island, and there was a royal family who ran the whole show, too. That's when this whole thing took place. Of course, the Island Challenge was still a thing back then --- Trial Captains, Totem Pokemon, the whole nine yards. I told you it was old and moldy. And so... on our biggest island, Ula'Ula, there was a Trial Captain who was supposedly the local Kahuna's daughter. You know, because that's what you get when you let the Kahunas run that kinda thing. Nepotism runs rampant.
I mean, it's said that she did a pretty good job for most of her run. The trials went well and the Totem Frosslass she trained was a pretty good contender --- not too tough, but tough enough to give your average brat a challenge. She specialized in Ice Pokemon, and her trial was actually a ways up Mount Lanakila, the most sacred mountain in the region.
But there's gotta be a "but," right? And the "but" here is that towards the latter end of her captainship, something was a little rotten on Lanakila. There started being some mysterious disappearances around the mountains --- more mysterious than usual, I mean. Mount Lanakila isn't the easiest climb in the world, and you'll always have people who just get unlucky on the climb up or the climb back down.
The weird thing was, though... you were definitely more likely to disappear if you fit a certain profile, and it wasn't the sort of person you'd expect to get beaten by the elements. Younger kids on their trials seemed pretty safe. Old guys and old ladies also didn't have any trouble... actually, no ladies disappeared at all. If something did happen to them, you'd find their body at some point.
However... handsome dudes in their prime? They'd vanish without a trace. No body, no blood, no nothing. So, naturally, this got people's attention. The Kahuna started looking into it... but the investigation never went anywhere, for some reason. Which, I mean, sometimes a dude needs to climb a mountain, you know?
So eventually, one of the king's lady soldiers did a solo investigation. She went up the mountain and started searching... and came across this pretty well hidden cavern that was off the beaten path. I do kinda have to wonder how she felt when she walked into that cavern, because... well.
It was like one of those statue galleries in Kalos. All fancy and stuff, with artfully sculpted ice statues of handsome dudes... but if you know anything about Froslass, you can probably figure out where this is going. See, they're a female-only Ice/Ghost Pokemon that has a bit of a nasty habit... when they happen upon something alive they like, they tend to flash freeze 'em and take them back to their den to display as decorations.
Now, trained Pokemon aren't really supposed to pull these kinds of things, since they've got a code to them and won't murder people or other Pokemon when under the care of a trainer. However, since only humans were being put on display there, suspicions quickly arose that the Trial Captain was in on it --- and, well, when she was confronted with it, she went ahead and confessed.
After that, things get a little hazy. What we do know is that there's still a pedestal up on Mount Lanakila where you can pick up the traditional reward for completing a trial, a Z-crystal. There hasn't been a Captain running the place since, but some people wanna get a whole set of 18 Z-Crystals for every type, so they still go up there to pick one up.
When asked about the experience... well, girls generally tend to come out of it with no problem. Guys... notice something a little creepy, though, like there's a sudden chill to the back of their necks.