"AAAAHHHH!" Waking up to the face of stranger caused the Player to yell out in horror, falling out of bed in the process. He backed away across the floor until his back was against his closet door. All the noise made Popplio awaken in a panic as well, the Player's descent out of bed caused it to fall out of bed as well.
The girl rose up and rubbed the sleep out of her eye. "Why are you so loud? It's too early for that..."
"EXCUSE ME? I just- How did- Why are you-" The Player was having difficulty trying to form words to express his conflicting emotions, which was also rather hard to describe. Popplio made its way to his side to check on him. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING IN MY HOUSE? How did you get in here?! Are you working for Kukui?!"
The girl waved her hand dismissively while maintaining this oddly casual smile. "I don't work for anyone. I just walked through the front door and came in."
"…..." The Player gave her a long unamused glare complete with squinted eyes. "Popplio, can you learn Scald? Because I want to burn this chick. Very badly."
"I don't see what the big deal is." She shrugged.
The Player got up from the floor, walked over to the bed, grabbed the nearest pillow and began hitting the girl over and over with it. "GET. THE. HELL. OUT. OF. MY. BED!"
Popplio wasn't exactly sure of what was going on and just stood there watching everything transpire. The bedroom door opened and in came the Player's mom, her arrival caused him to stop hitting the mysterious home invader.
"Sweetie, I heard yelling! Is everything oka- Oh." She saw the girl in his bed while her son panting heavily in a mild sweat. "Oh my. I didn't mean to interrupt, in fact I didn't even know you were having company." She blushed thinking she came in at the wrong time.
"No! No, no! Mom, this girl broke into our house and got in my bed while I was sleep! Didn't you lock the door?"
"Lock the door? Why would I do that?"
"That's what I'm saying!" The girl joined in.
He turned to the girl and gestured his hands as if he was squeezing her head in a violent lock while snarling at her. He then pointed a defensive finger at her. "You stay out of this!"
"Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" His mom asked sweetly.
Needless to say her words were more than forgiving causing the Player to look back at his mother with a furrowed brow. "Friend?! I'm not friends with-"
"My name is Moon. It's nice to meet you and everything!"
"What a sweet girl you are. The pleasure is all mine, Moon. My name is Mom."
"That is not your name!" The Player argued.
She placed her hands on her hips and looked at him with an authoritative glare. "Don't you use that tone with me."
"Why wouldn't your mom know her own name?" Moon asked. "What's next? Your name isn't 'Player'?"
"It's not!" He retorted.
His mom looked over to Moon and then back to the Player with a genuine look of confusion. "I thought your name was Son, son?"
The Player sat down at his desk, rubbing his temples, in an attempt to calm his nerves. "Ooooooh my god..."
"Oh well." She shrugged, now facing Moon. "It's nice to meet you, Moon. A friend of my boy is always welcome into our home. Will you join us for breakfast?"
"That sounds lovely! But I'd hate to intrude." Moon replied.
The sound of a loud thud was heard, the view pans over to the Player who had his head lying on the desk's hard surface, facedesking himself from the irony of Moon's statement, although neither of the girls paid him any mind, Popplio seemed to be the only one concerned for his current state.
A few minutes later...
While breakfast was being made the Player spent his time waiting in the room with Moon, who was sitting on the edge of his bed while he was sitting wearily in the rolling chair with a hot rag on his forehead, bags under his eyes and Popplio on his lap.
"Okay...so, your name is Moon?"
"Yup."
"And you recently moved to Alola as well?"
"Mhm. I've only been in Alola for about three months now."
"I see..." The headache the Player was experiencing was still lingering so he only kept one eye open while conversing. He actually gave up trying to make sense of anything and was coming to terms with these random occurrences.
Moon laid her head down on his bed and gave a long whiff of his sheets while the Player, who was obviously disturbed by the sight, quietly watched in a state of unease. "The scent is somehow oddly comforting..." She said after she was done. "Are you from Kanto?"
"...Sure, why not."
"I'm from Kanto too!"
"Oh yeah? Are you a Trainer? Got any Pokémon from home?"
Moon reached into her pocket and took out a Poké Ball. "Nope. I haven't become a Trainer until I came to Alola." She held the Poké Ball out and 'pop' came Litten. "This is my partner, Litten. He's the Fire-type starter of Alola."
"Mrrrrrrrr..." Litten yawned softly upon being released.
The Player reached for his bag and dug through his things until he found his Pokédex. "So that's one of the starters." The device booted up and registered the Fire-type as it usually does however the data and results were blank, leaving only a picture and registration number available. "What? Why didn't it record? Kukui said I can get data on Pokémon with this."
"It's only for Pokémon you've already caught." Explained Moon. "Try using it on Popplio."
Doing as Moon suggested he held the Pokédex above Popplio where it then scanned and registered it within seconds, displaying various details on Popplio including height, weight, gender, habitat and type. "Wow, it worked but how does it know if the Pokémon is mine or not? Like...how is it keeping track? All the starters were under ownership of Hala before we became their partners, right? If Hala tried to register one of the starters with a Pokédex of his own would he not get the information?"
"I dunno." Moon shrugged.
"Eh, whatever." He directed his gaze back down to the digital encyclopedia. "Let's see here. Popplio can make water bubbles to perform a series of acrobatic tricks and stunts. The more it practices the bigger the bubble can get." He then snapped his fingers after immediately thinking back to his battle with Hau. "Oh yeah! So that's what that technique was about, back when we had that battle, yeah...that huge bubble was a result of something you worked hard on in the past, huh? I'm still geeking out about it."
"Bwark!" Popplio smiled happily while looking up to him upon receiving praise. Never having a Trainer or anyone to look over was reflected in Popplio's nature and how it reacted to the Player. The size of the bubble came from Popplio's desire to win so that it wouldn't lose any affection from its new partner, fearing that failure would've earned it a return to Hala or being abandoned. Its loneliness has driven it to become the best it could be so that its future Trainer would never have to worry.
"It was a BIG bubble too so you must've really been practicing in your spare time, huh?" The Player asked, placing his free hand on top of Popplio's head to pet it.
"Yeah! That bubble trick was so awesome! I saw your battle last night and I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew I had to meet you two after that. That's why I came out here."
The Player slowly peered his eyes up to her from Popplio, unsure of how to respond to her enthusiasm since she still broke into their house and got in his bed. "You know there are better ways of expressing that, right? Coming into someone's house when they're sleep and smelling their bed just makes you look like a weirdo."
"It does?" She asked with an innocent smile.
"Uuuuuum, yes. I mean, to be honest, you're...you're kinda creeping me out." The longer he looked at her the more her near permanent smile became apparent. There was something off about her expression, something that indicated she had no soul in the eyes of the Player. She just looked back at him, slowly tilting her head to the side curiously, the smile remaining unchanged. An uncomfortable few seconds, at least for the Player, pass them by and he looks back down to the Pokédex. "...Anyway. Says here Popplio's female."
"Really? That's rare. Starters are mostly known to be male."
"Oh, I know. We can't have them breeding too much, can we? Wouldn't want them being free in the wild with their own kind, so let's endanger the species for the sake of keeping them unique and hard to obtain. We'll just deny the females whenever they arise."
Popplio and Litten's eyes widened at the revelation behind the possibility of having their species gender controlled however whether or not the Player was being sarcastic or actually onto something was anyone's guess.
"Kids! Food is ready!" The Player's mom called out from the kitchen.
The smell of a delicious breakfast filled the air, the smell especially caught the attention of the Pokémon. Popplio jumped off of the Player's lap and made her way for the door along with Litten, the Player and Moon followed after them and joined with in the living room, the Player's mom was just bringing up a third chair for Moon to occupy. The Pokémon had an array of berries and beans to feast on, the latter being a special treat native to Alola. The Player, his mom and Moon sat together at the table having their share of a good breakfast, consisting of pancakes, eggs and toast complimented with freshly squeezed juice.
They ate and made small talk, getting to know one another a bit more or at least that was the case for Moon and the Player's mom, the Player was still unsure of why this girl was in their house having a meal, the fact remained that she was a total stranger who was never invited to their house in the first place. The Player was mostly quiet throughout the conversation but replied whenever he was addressed.
After eating the Pokémon spent a good portion of morning playing and running around the house. The Player and Moon spent the morning playing a popular fighting game consisting of 4-player chaos however, since there were only two of them, they went for competitive 1-on-1 gameplay.
At sundown the Player's mom and her Meowth were enjoying the fresh air on the porch, taking in the beauty of the ocean while the sunlight reflects off its surface.
"What a stunning sunset!" She cheered with her arms held out against the breeze. "All right, today's the day that I finally unpack-" The doorbell rang, catching her attention.
Inside the Player's room both Moon and the Player were still going at it in the game, pressing buttons fiercely as they were locked in competition with one another.
"Ugh!" The Player groaned in annoyance mid-game. "Sonic is such a stupid character! Why is he fast, medium weight, has a good recovery, can dish damage for free thanks to his specials, gets buffed KO potential from the last game and can gimp recoveries because of that spring."
"He has poor landing options and they nerfed his taunt so it balances out." Moon debated with a taunting smile.
"You call that balance? Don't even get me started on stalling."
Moon slowly inched her face over to his in a comical provoking manner. "What's the matter? Are you...too slow?" She asked while gently nudging his side with her elbow.
"Son! Can you see who's at the door? I'm unpacking our things!" His mom's voice could be heard on the other side of the closed door.
"Unpacking?" He repeated. "She said she was going to do that yesterday. Uuugh." He paused the game and went to answer the door but as he got to the living room the door opened and in walked Kukui.
"Hey there, Player!"
"Son of a goddamn..."
"It's about time we set out for the festival, yeah!"
"Bro, can you not walk into my house like you own the place? I find it a little weird I have to ask you twice."
"Huh? Oh, sure. But first...now that you're a real Pokémon Trainer with your own Pokémon and all, I've gotta show you something. Come with me to Route 1."
Moon, as well as the Player's mom and their Pokémon, entered the room. "I told you yesterday I'm no Trainer." The Player continued to debate. "I'm gonna stay home and-"
"Have fun at the festival, sweetie!" His mom happily wished him the best in the middle of his sentence. "I'm sure you'll have a good time with your new Pokémon pal!" The Player rolled his eyes, his arm slapped against the side of his leg after flagging it in the disinterest of arguing. "Me and Meowth will be sure to unpack every last box here – you'll see!"
"I very highly doubt that." The Player replied. "Well, I did agree to go. Might as well, huh?" He asked Popplio who nods in response.
"A festival sounds fun!" Moon joined in. "Can I come too?"
"Of course." Kukui answered. "The more the merrier."
"Awesome!" She giggled softly feeling a bit giddy.
Kukui nods at her. "Now that we've got that out of the way just meet me down on Route 1, we're going to go up the northeastern side so make sure you have everything and I'll be waiting for ya."
The professor gave his farewell to the Player's mom and made his way for the appointed location. The Player and Moon went back to his room to fetch their things and turn off the console they were playing on.
"Almost completely forgot about the festival." The Player said while checking his black travel bag to make sure he had everything he needed. "I guess Hau will be there too. He did mention something about not going on easy the other day."
Moon threw on her purse, the front design of which seemed reminisce of a watermelon, and grabbed her red toque and put it on her head. "Then that means I'll get to see you and Popplio battle again. It gets me so excited just thinking about it!"
"Yeah. I suppose it'll be a pretty good o-" He noticed her hat and gave a light chuckle.
As Moon was adjusting her hat she noticed his laughs and faced him. "Something funny?"
"Pfft...hehehe. What is that?" He asked while pointing at her head.
"What? My hat? It's a hat. What else would it be?"
"Why does it look like a chicken hat?"
"Chicken? No, it's not a chicken hat. It's a flower. It goes with the whole flower design on my shirt! You don't think it's cute?" She placed her hands on her hips with an adorable puff in her cheek.
"It honestly looks like a chicken hat from where I'm standing. Maybe if you try pulling it down a bit more it won't look like that. Just sayin'."
Moon crossed her arms and stomped her foot lightly. "No! There's nothing wrong with how I'm wearing it. Right, Litten?" She crouched down to pick Litten up, holding him in her arms.
"Mrrrr?" Litten was confused and didn't really know what was going on, he was too drowsy to care. All he wanted to do was laze about and enjoy the warm embrace of the Alola sun.
The Player unzipped the main compartment of his bag to allow Popplio in. She got into the bag and was a perfect fit while standing on her back flipper. The Player put the bag on and adjusted the straps on his shoulders. "Whatever you say, Chicken-Chan." He began to laugh as he walked by her.
"C-Chicken-Chan? You think you're funny, huh?!" Moon was showing signs of embarrassment by the rosey tone on her cheeks. She went after him and closed the door behind them.
"What? You rather I call you Chickenhead?" His muffled voice was heard from the other side of the door.
"I don't even know what that means!"
Later, on Route 1...
"So you know that wild Pokémon will sometimes jump out at you in tall grass, yeah?" Kukui asked as both the Player and Moon stood before him with their Pokémon.
"Yes." They both answered.
"With your Pokémon at your side you can not only fight wild Pokémon you can also try and catch them too! I'm going to show you how to catch a wild Pokémon, all right?"
The Player shook his head. "You don't have to. I already know how it works, it's not rocket science."
"Oh?" Kukui question with his index finger and thumb placed upon his chin. "Well, how about your demonstrate?"
"You serious?" The Player asked with a raised brow.
Kukui handed the Player 10 Poké Balls. "Yep. That should be enough to get you started. Put on a good show."
The Player huffed and took the balls, placing them in his pocket. He then took a few steps out into the tall grass, looking for a Pokémon. Eventually his step lead him to walking on the tail of a Pokémon that was residing comfortably in its own space. The Pokémon flew out of the grass and angrily appeared before him.
"Whoa! Didn't mean to do that...Sorry about that." He tried to apologize.
"A Pikipek? An angry one at that." Kukui commented while looking on.
The Player's apology fell on deaf ears as the Pikipek pecked away at his head. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! I said I was sorry!" He shouted while trying to cover his sore head with his arms, he was then forced to run around the open area while the agitated Normal/Flying-type pursed him relentlessly. "I said I was sorry, you little shit!"
Popplio turned around in the bag and faced the Pikipek, firing a Water Gun attack at it in order to have it back off. By the time Pikipek realized Popplio was attacking it was already struck with Water Gun, being blasted back a good enough distance to keep the Player safe.
Hearing the attack the Player stopped running and looked back to see Pikipek falling out of the air to land in a murky puddle on the road. It got up from the ground, out of its mild daze, and stomped its foot in the puddle in a hissy fit. "Piki piki!" It cried out.
Popplio used her upper body strength to pull herself out of the Player's bag and onto his shoulder and then finally jumping off of his shoulder to land in front of him, ready to battle.
"Oh! Right. Thanks, Popplio. Use Water Gun again!"
Popplio slightly arched her back before leaning forward on her front flippers causing a blast of water to fire from the water orb created at the front of her nose. Water Gun managed to strike Pikipek once more, launching it into a tree. Pikipek slowly slid down until it landed at the base of the tree.
The Player reached into his pocket and took out one of the Poké Balls. "Should be weak enough now, let's catch this thing." He threw the ball at the weak Pokémon and the capture process handled the rest. Once Pikipek was inside the ball dropped to the ground and began to shake.
One...
Two...
Three...
…
Click!
It was done and Pikipek was captured. The Player went to pick up the Poké Ball and brought it to Kukui with Popplio by his side. "Not rocket science." The Player was feeling pretty high in himself having proved himself to the professor...although the lumps on his head only made him look silly.
Kukui nods with an impressed look on his face. "Well, I'll be. You really do know what you're doing, then I guess I can leave you to it then."
"You were great out there, Popplio. Wasn't she great, Litten?" Moon got down to her knees and gave Popplio a congratulatory pat on the head.
Litten, trying to play it cool, didn't want to make it seem like he was too impressed. He looked on with his half-lidded eyes and slowly looked over in the other direction. "Mraaawr..."
"Ark ark! Bwark!" Popplio enjoyed Moon's touch and nuzzled her head into her palm.
The Player held the Poké Ball out to Kukui, prompting him to take it. "Here ya go."
"Hm? Why're you giving it to me? That's your Pokémon. You caught it fair and square, didn't you?"
"Oh. Yeah, I did." The Player replied now looking down to the ball.
Kukui reached into the pocket of his lab coat and took out five spray bottles. "Here, take these as well. They're potions for injured Pokémon."
"Damn man, you must have some deep pockets. 10 Poké Balls and now bottles of medicine? What else you got in there?" The Player asked while he took the potions off of Kukui's hand and placing them in his bag.
"My secret." Kukui teased with a smirk. "Well anyway, there's no need to rush over to the festival. Enjoy yourself with your new Pokémon. Why don't you have a little adventure of your own on the way to Iki Town, yeah?"
"This route leads to Iki Town too?" The Player asked.
"Yep. Just follow the path and it'll take you right there. You can't miss it." Kukui turned his gaze down to Popplio who was hopping her way over to the Player's side. "Take good care of our boy, Popplio."
"Bwark bwark!" Popplio replied positively to Kukui's request, making him laugh.
After giving the group his farewell he continued on down the path. The Player was beginning to feel as if he was warming up to Kukui since he was being so helpful.
"Nice job catching Pikipek, Player. You were great too." Moon complimented as she got up from the ground.
"Yeah. I'm pretty good, huh?" He was showing no sign of modesty making Moon lower her eyes so that she was half-lidded.
"Mmhm but don't let it go to your head. Pikipek had you running."
And the pain was still lingering too, it was gonna take a while for those bumps to heal but luckily he had his hat to cover them, but honestly since they were only there for humorous effect they were bound to heal up before the day was over. "Yeah. It really went to work on me but, hey, I managed to catch it."
"Why not bring it out? It'll be good to get acquainted with your new partner."
"True. Ok, let's see it." He held the Poké Ball out and brought forth Pikipek, who was still wet from the Water Gun. It looked around, checking its surroundings to find that it was back in the same area. The Player crouched down to it from behind. "So, you're a Pikipek?" He asked getting the Pokémon's attention. "I have to admit you're cute when you're not angr-"
Pikipek still wasn't having it. The moment it saw the Player it began to peck at his cheek. "Piki piki piki piki!"
"Ouch! Goddamnit, not again!"
Moon, Litten and Popplio watched as Pikipek vented its frustration on the Player as he ran around the grassy terrain like a chicken without a head. Admittedly the sight was rather funny for Moon and Litten however Popplio was beginning to feel as if she was going to have to play babysitter if this was how the two were gonna act from here on.
Moments later Pikipek has finally stopped attacking and was able to come to a sitdown with the Player, though it was still showing signs of annoyance with the boy. The Player's face had a few swollen lumps here and there, Moon was tending to his injuries by applying a special cream to help soothe the pain.
"Ok, so are ya done now?" The Player asked while sitting before his new Pokémon, Pikipek remained silent while holding its head upward in another direction. "Because I already apologized for stepping on you so I think it's only fair that you apologize to me for the misunderstanding."
Pikipek opened one eye at the Player to give a good look at his face, the two engaged in a rather intense stare down but it ended with Pikipek giving a teasing stick of the tongue. "Pikiiiiiiiiiii." It taunted him.
"Why you little-!" The Player almost lashed out at it but his face began to ache badly at the movement making him flinch from the pain. "OW!"
"Don't move." Moon instructed, still trying to apply the rest of the ointment onto his face. "I'm not done yet and it'll take a little while for these to heal."
Popplio sighs and eases her way over to Pikipek in order to try and get it to play nice with their Trainer since the latter was at least showing he was willing to work things out. While Popplio conversed with it the Player reached for his bag to get out the Pokédex.
"Might as well see what kind of information I can get on it while we're here. Let's see...ah, so Pikipek's feed on berries, lucky me they don't eat flesh, and they use the seeds like ammunition for attacks."
"So it's like Bullet Seed?" Moon asked.
"I guess." He shrugged in response, uncertain on how that worked for the species. "And it's saying that this Pikipek is a male with two moves: Peck and Growl."
"So now you've got a boy and a girl on hand. Sounds like a nice and balanced start."
Pikipek and Popplio, well more like Popplio dragging Pikipek along, approached the Player. Popplio tugged on the Player's pants leg to get his attention.
"What's up, Popplio?" He asked.
Popplio looked back to Pikipek and moved to the side so he could do the talking however he remained quiet which only earned him a slight shove from the Water-type. "Bwark ark bar..." She mumbled at Pikipek.
Pikipek really didn't want to apologize but Popplio was quite persuasive and in order for things to work they were gonna have to accept apologies and acknowledge when they were wrong. Pikipek lowered itself in a slight bowing fashion, displaying that it was trying to apologize. "...Piki piki." It was looking out the corner of its eye while trying to make itself clear since it knew humans couldn't understand its speech.
Popplio smiles and nods acceptingly, , a good sign for the Player. "Hmmmm. I accept your apology." The Player replied with a tone in his voice.
"Peeeeeeek." Pikipek had a similar response in tone.
He noticed Pikipek's reaction to him and knew he was giving him sass. "I'm just saying it wasn't that hard."
"Iki pi piki."
"All you have to do is just accept what I was giving you and we wouldn't be having this conversation. It's your fault."
"Piiki ikiii!"
The two began to go back and forth with the exchange of words, taking this small ordeal out of proportion but as they argue Popplio slaps her forehead with her right flipper and slowly drags it down her while Moon and Litten chuckle away rather sheepishly. It was going to be a long day...
