Guardian curse.

A family of three are currently driving through the roads of Melemele Island, as they are currently looking through the island town to find their new residence. As they just moved to the region of Alola, they wander through the town before heading to their home to know the ins and outs of the area.

"Wow! Look at all of the colorful buildings," Sage exclaimed, enjoying the view from the back seat. The Alola region was a breath of fresh air from the region of Unova where he used to live. He grew up in Castelia town and disliked the colorless skyscrapers and flat landscape. Alola instantly felt at home with him. He admired the amount of variety to be found.

His mother was audibly giggling at Sage's response. "I told you would love it here!" She exclaimed with pride, as she was the one who suggested to move to the Alola region for the very reason.

His father however, simply stayed quiet. While his wife and child won out the argument of moving out to this region, he never really was the kind of person that enjoyed nature all that well.

"Hey! Isn't that the house right there to our left?" asked Sage.

His mother turned her head and saw the house. Her eyes widened.

"Yes! That must be it!"

"It looks great," Sage remarked.

"It's beautiful!" his mother said in awe.

"Nothing special about it to me," his father said honestly.

"Oh lighten up dear," Sage's mother said. "I'm sure you'll come around!" She cheered.

"If I do, its gonna be a long time..." His father sighed, turning to the left to reach their new residence.

It was a bit of a bumpy ride up the driveway. The family held on as the car jumped over the many rocks in their path. It was a rough 10 seconds to the top of the hill. In excitement, Sage's mother forgot to put the car in park before turning off the engine.

"Whoops! Hold on for just one more second," she said, correcting her error.

The family stepped on out. Sage could only gasp at what he saw. The property had a perfect panorama view of the tropical paradise. To the front was none other than the crystal clear ocean, perfectly reflecting the blue afternoon sky. He turned his head and saw the vivid, lush greenery Alola was famous for, blanketing the gentle hills in the distance for miles.

Sage's father only took quick looks before heading his way into their new home. "Okay... Admittedly, this is a nice change; I'll probably even get some sleep for once and not get bugged by loud noises," he stated as his steps onto the stairs are heard, and the creaking of a door opening soon after.

"Well Sage. I guess that leaves us to bring in the bags. Want to help?" his mother asked.

"Um...sure!" he replied, eager to show off his strength.

The back door of the car was soon opened, and their bags were now able to be taken inside

Quickly, Sage reached inside, and passed a hand along before picking up what he believed to be the heaviest bag, lifting it off the car before using both hands to carry it. Already, he was starting to have some difficulty carrying it.


"Here, let me help you," his mother offered.

"No thanks. I got it," he said proudly. He tried to lift it off the ground, grunting over its weight. He looked exhausted.

"I'm going to help you anyway," she jumped in.

"No mom! I'm good," he lied, too afraid to tell the truth. His hands began to sweat. Eventually, his weariness got the best out of him, and he dropped the bag! It fell from 3 and a half feet and struck the floor with a bang! The noise thundered throughout the whole house. Suddenly, he heard footsteps coming down the hall. It was his dad, and he didn't look too happy.

"What was that noi-" Sage's father stopped talking, and looked at both his wife and son before looking down at the floor, starting to get upset. "Who. Dropped. That?" He said slowly.

"... It was me, sorry dear," his wife tried to cover up Sage's mistake, as everyone knew that if he gets upset... Let's say that what's in the bag isn't going to be the only thing that was gonna be broken.

"Don't cover up Sage's mistake, I know it was him!" He knew that his wife would try to cover up Sage's mistake by taking the blame, but he knew how she would act when she tries to protect Sage.

Feeling guilty, Sage decided to stand up for his mother and tell the truth.

"I did it, dad," Sage said nervously. Just before he was about to apologize, his dad interrupted him.

"Why you little..." His father started to walk, stomping hard on the floor in every step as he approached Sage furiously.

His mother had different plans however, and got in the way of him. "Honey, calm down please; anyone can makes mistakes, and this is no exception of a simple accident!" She gestured to Sage that he should get out of the house, because it was gonna be a while before his father would calm down.

Sage took her word and ran out through the front door. He felt so embarrassed over his mistake. He could barely get it out of his mind.

"Dang it! Why did I have to go and drop that bag? I must be stronger than that," he thought to himself.

Fuelled by his pride, he said, "I'll show them that I'm no weakling. I got an idea. I'll go out and defeat a strong Pokémon! That way, they'll know I'm not some weak kid anymore!"

In the distance, the guardian of the island was looking down on the boy. He was intrigued by his sense of pride and by his quest for strength and power.

"So that boy wants to fight a really strong Pokémon to prove his strength. Let's see what I can do about that," it thought, rushing down towards him.

"Hey kid!" It called out to Sage, soon getting right into his path to make sure they get seen. "Looking for a strong Pokemon to fight huh? Well, you're looking at one!" It bragged.

"Oh really? We'll see about that!" he challenged.

"There is a catch though. If you lose, you'll be cursed for the rest of your life," it said, it's tone getting a bit serious.

"A curse? How bad could that be?" he said proudly. "This fight is in the bag!"

"Heh, good luck," he said, grinning at

Both opponents prepared themselves, which was shown by both taking on a fighting stance as they stared each other down. The winds howled as it soon grinned.

"You know what kiddo? You make the first move; wouldn't be a fair fight if I did." It taunted, waiting for Sage's attack.

"Let's make this a one on one battle ok?" he asked, holding his Pokéball.

"Sure thing," the guardian said.

"All right. Come on out Braviary!" he shouted, releasing his Pokémon of choice for a one on one showdown.

Back in Unova, Sage caught him as a Rufflet and loved the little thing. He trained him with care and kindness. When he evolved into a Braviary, they exchanged a hug, proud of their accomplishments together. They continued to train together, fighting whatever stood in their path. Neither of the the two would ever give up, no matter the circumstances.

"Use brave bird!" he ordered.

The attack sped through the sky, striking its target successfully. Tapu Koko took some damage.

"Heh, not bad! But don't think I'm going down that easily!" Its fur spiked as it glowed yellow, unleashing a Discharge attack that damaged the Braviary severely. Its arms was soon placed in front, now acting like a wooden shield.

"Use hone claws!" Sage commanded, taking the opportunity to raise his Pokémon's attack and accuracy.

"Oh no you don't!" Charging forward, Tapu Koko rushed down the Braviary before trapping it inside the "mask" with it. In which it used another Discharge that damaged the Bravairy some more before releasing it.

"Well you're certainly full of surprises aren't ya?" Sage asked, still confident in his Braviary's abilities. "We have some tricks up our sleeves too! Use toxic!"

The Braviary used the move speedily, making sure that his opponent would certainly not avoid it. It was a risk however, because it decreased his accuracy. It paid off and it landed, being very effective on the part fairy type. Sage's opponent was poisoned.

"Toxic... Huh?" It was already sounding weak from the continuos poison damage. "That ain't gonna help out against this!" As a last resort black clouds spawned up above, the sounds of thunder boomed in the air as a huge lightning bolt came crashing down; the Thunder attack being a direct hit as the Braviary soon came down onto the ground, fainted.


"Braviary!" he shouted in fear. He walked beside him and looked into his eyes. His partner opened his eyes and looked up at his owner, as if to say that he tried his best. Sage laid a hand on his back and smiled at him.

"Thanks a lot, pal," he said.

He turned around to be greeted by Tapu Koko once more. He simply couldn't believe it. It was a fair and square battle, and he lost. Maybe he wasn't so strong after all.

"All right. Do your worst," he said, accepting his fate.

"I admit kid, that was a good fight," it admitted with a slight smile. "I'll make this as painless as possible." Its eyes glowed, as red and yellow energy corsed through it and into Sage.

Sage watched in confusion as the energy went into his body. His mind raced, trying to figure out what the creature was trying to do with him.

Suddenly, he felt electricity race throughout his entire body. It jolted him wide awake. Feeling an odd sensation at his legs, he looked down.

His legs were becoming shorter at an alarming rate. He felt a little tension, but no pain, as they shrank. Afterwards, his legs began to turn orange and feathery, rounding out until they were shaped like pea pods. Between the two appendages, a third one grew in between them. Orange and feathery like the other two, it continued to elongate until it was nearly twice as long than the others. Finally, a fourth appendage emerged in front of the long one, being short like the first two.

The sensation traveled up to his torso, as a small, orange feather went upwards and into his waist, which was where his skin started to burn painlessly into a pure black color.

This caused him to thin down quite a bit as the color reached his chest, in which it the center pushed a smidge with white, triangular markings adorning his chest.

From here, Sage's shoulders thickend into yellow bands that split into four pieces each as the burning black traveled into his arms.

As his arms were blanketed by the surge of black, they thinned drastically. The black continued to rush into each of his hands, where they triggered the next transformation.

His hands tingled as they transformed. He parted with his fingers as they were pulled into his body. His hands thickened and grew. Eventually, they splitted open, forming halves of a beak. At the top of each beak, halves of a shell materialized. The halves were coated in yellow and were littered with white triangles at the ends closest to his face. In the middle, white and red diamonds painted themselves on. At the top ends of each half, wing-like extensions formed.

Sage took a moment to look at himself amidst his strange transformation. He looked at the guardian and then at himself again.

"Am I turning into you?" he panicked.

"You're correct," it answered truthfully as it examined Sage's form; he looked exactly the same except for the head. "But don't sweat it kid, you're almost done!"

Right on cue, the changes progressed starting from his neck, thinning it down drastically as it burned black like the rest of his body.

His head was soon taken up by the invasion of the dark color, as it swallowed every feature except for Sage's eyes. His eyes turned into a blue shade with hints of orange, as a large white marking appeared above both eyes, resembling eyebrows.

As more markings appeared, 3 divided yellow makings behind each eye and two more white ones above the first white ones, his hair bunched up and turned feathery and orange before exploding upwards into a plume with bristles at the back. This tinted yellow at the top bristle and half of the one below.

The crest soon has grown to the point where it splits Sage's head into two halves, where it formed to create a beak-like nose at the front while extending all the way to his back at the back of his head.

The electricity that surged throughout his whole body began to die down. Sage started to feel at rest again.

"Is it done?" he questioned.

"Yep," the guardian replied.

Now genderless, Sage took the time to examine its new form fully. Remembering what the other Tapu Koko did during their battle, Sage took the halves of each shell and placed them together. It created a mask, which covered its upper body.

"So what's there to do now?" Sage asked, separating the two halves of the mask.

"You're now a guardian of this island," it started to explain. "And your job is to protect the land of any threats imaginable; this is our home after all." It started to slowly distance itself away from Sage. "If you have anyone with you, I'd suggest you talk to them about this."

"Whatever you say," the new Tapu Koko said, confused about its new destiny. Sage never have once saw itself becoming a guardian deity of an entire island. However, Sage knew that it had to comply with the new role. It knew that the world of Pokémon has always been full of many dangers since the very beginning. As a kid, he witnessed an angry Garchomp causing mass destruction on his home town. It was a traumatic experience that affected his for the longest time.

Before it went out to do its new job though, Sage took the other Tapu Koko's word and went back to its parents. Having difficulty opening the door with its new hands, it simply knocked on the door with its right shell.

"Coming!" Sage's former mother shouted.

She opened the door to meet up with a truly unexpected guest.

"What are you? Some crazy rooster?" she asked.

"Mom. It's me, Sage," the new island guardian said

"Oh... Hm... Come in," she moves out of the way of the door to let Sage head through the door and inside the house.

"Honey! Could you come down?" Sage's mother called out.

"On my way!" Her husband announced and steps were heard quickly approaching, soon stopping to a complete halt once he took notice of Sage.

"Um... What's with the rooster?" He asked and gestured over to Sage.

"It says to be our son." She answered.

"Our son? Really now?" He thought that this was some kind of joke. "Tell me, if you are our son, you need to provide us proof."

Sage was wondering just how it could prove to them that the strange rooster was their child. To Sage's rescue, the other Tapu Koko beamed a message to its mind.

"Show them what happened. Flash it into their minds.

"Ok. I'll try," Sage thought back. Sage thought deeply about the series of events that lead to the transformation. Then, Sage gazed into their eyes. Suddenly, they began to see the past.

"Oh wow. So this is when you dropped the bag?" Sage's mother asked, seeing everything that happened once again.

"Yeah," Sage said unhappily.

The movie continued to be streamed to their heads. They watched as Sage left their home in his quest for power.

"So you wanted to become stronger?" the father asked.

"Indeed. I was so upset at myself that I went out, finding a way to prove that I was no weakling. The idea struck that I could go out with my Pokémon and train. Together, we looked for a powerful enemy to defeat.

"That's when I met with Tapu Koko, the island's guardian. It offered a fight, but if I was to lose, I would be cursed. Braviary and I fought a hard battle, showing off the bond we have developed together. However, we lost. Our strength was barely outmatched. For the curse, the guardian transformed me into a replica of itself and gave me its job.

Sage stopped showing the movie to them.

"So this really is you?" his father asked.

"Mm-hmm. I can't stay too long though. I have a whole island to protect."

"Wait a second," his mother interrupted. "How about a hug before you go?"

"Um...sure," Sage answered, floating towards the two.

The trio cuddled together and shared a hug.

"We'll miss you, Sage," the two said, tearing up.

"Thanks guys. I'll miss you too," Sage said, before heading off, unsure if it'll ever see them again.

===***===

It may had been a tough life at first, but Sage was able to quickly accustom to both its new body and role as a guardian to the island. While sure, it had certain instincts that tells them where possible threats are located, but when that instinct isn't constantly ringing at them, this allowed Sage to be able to visit their parents for a while, which they were always happy to see them.

When duty called, they did have to leave to protect the island, but their parents didn't get sad at all, and instead waved goodbye with a smile, knowing that their child is a powerful guardian and have quite the responsibility in their hands.

That even allowed Sage themselves to enjoy their job all the more, knowing that their parents will always be on their side.