After Ash and Serena's intimate encounter under the stars that night, the remainder of their voyage passed without incident. Ash had to keep reminding himself to go a bit out of his comfort zone when around Serena now, but before too long, the two of them had managed to settle into a status quo that seemed to be doing the job for both of them, at least for the time being; they'd begun holding hands just about everywhere they went, standing just a bit closer to each other even when their fingers weren't locked together, and they'd even stolen kisses from each other more often than they had in the past.

And, just like that, the week of their voyage passed by without either of them realizing it. And, before they knew it, the day of their arrival to Heahea City was upon them.

"Wo-ow! So this is the Alola region!" Ash declared in gleeful awe, looking at the city before them after getting off the ship.

"Pi-kaaa!" Pikachu squealed in delight, sharing in his Trainer's joy.

"All we can see from here is the city, you know." Serena added, drawing up to her usual position right next to Ash. "Maybe you should hold back some of that energy until a little later?"

"Aw, come on, Serena!" Ash pleaded, turning to her without losing his vigor. "We just got here! This is the perfect time to be excited!"

Serena smiled, knowing that it was pointless to continue arguing with him when he was like this. Instead, she decided to merely go along with his delight and enjoy herself. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Ash caught her gaze and grinned wider, an unspoken moment of emotion passing between them before he spoke up again. "So where are we headed first? We need to go and meet with the Professor here, right?"

"Yeah, that's what Professor Sycamore told us." Serena confirmed, reaching into her bag to retrieve her navigator, which had recently been updated for use in the Alola region. "Let's see...hey, that's weird."

"What is it?" Ash asked, sliding his head over to peer at the navigator as well, causing their cheeks to lightly bump up against each other. Ash either didn't mind or didn't notice in the first place, and Serena, who may have been more distracted by such an occurrence a week ago, noticed it, but merely smiled and didn't say anything, enjoying the mutual contact, minor as it may have been.

"Well..." Serena began, bringing her eyes back down to the twin screens in front of her. "It doesn't look like there's a Pokemon lab in this city. The closest thing I can find is...umm...the 'Dimensional Research' lab."

"Sure doesn't sound like a Pokemon lab to me." Ash agreed, scanning the digital map for their destination. "Professor Sycamore said we were supposed to meet them in Heahea City, right?"

"That's what I remember." Serena affirmed, nodding. "What do you think we should do?"

"Piii-ka..." Pikachu groaned sadly, also scanning the map to no avail.

"Hmm...where would a Pokemon Professor be besides a lab?" Ash pondered briefly, before quickly deciding to move on to their next course of action instead. "Well, even if we're not sure where the Professor is, we can at least head over to the Pokemon Center. Who knows? Maybe someone over there knows where we can find him."

"Yeah, good idea." Serena replied, agreeing with his chosen course of action as usual. "Looks like the Pokemon Center is...a-ha! There it is - and it's not that far away from here!"

"Well, then what are we waiting for? Let's get going!" Ash exclaimed, and with that, he was off. He'd grabbed Serena's hand before he took off, which in turn forced her to keep pace with him in all of his excitement, but she didn't mind. The feeling of warmth and security she got from him was more than worth it to her.

As they raced through the city together, the two of them couldn't help but notice how normal everything looked. Sure, there seemed to be a lot of people dressed in 'tropical' clothing - shorts, floral print shirts, and the like - and there were a few Pokemon that neither of them recognized, but other than that, they wouldn't have guessed by looking at it that they were now in a remote tropical region.

When they arrived at the Pokemon Center, which was indeed only a few blocks away from the docks, they noticed right away that it was smaller than they would have expected considering the apparent size of Heahea City. They proceeded inside, and, despite the reduced size, were greeted with the all-too-familiar view of a Nurse Joy working behind the counter, which was situated against the back wall of the open lobby. About a dozen or so Trainers were milling around the area, some of them with more unfamiliar Pokemon at their side.

"Well, this is a little bit different..." Serena commented as the pair walked up to the counter, gazing around the room.

"Yeah, it sure is. I guess there just aren't as many people living out here in Alola." Ash agreed.

"Hello!" Nurse Joy greeted cheerfully as they drew up to the other side of the Nurse's station. "How may I help you today?"

"Hi there!" Ash remarked, returning the greeting with enthusiasm. "We were hoping you could help us find the nearest Pokemon research lab."

"Pokemon research lab?" Nurse Joy repeated back to him. "Oh, you must be talking about Professor Kukui's lab!"

"That sounds right." Ash affirmed with a nod.

"You see, we only just arrived here in Alola from the Kalos region." Serena explained. "We were told to meet up with the Pokemon Professor that lives here after we arrived."

"Yes, that would be our very own Professor Kukui. He lives one island over, on Melemele Island." Nurse Joy told them.

"One island over?" Serena said uncertainly. "But we were told that he would here in Heahea City..."

"Excuse me?" A gentle, feminine voice cut in suddenly. "There's someone here looking for Professor Kukui?"

"Huh?" Ash remarked in surprise, he and Serena turning to find the voice's owner. Walking up behind them was a girl that appeared about their age, sporting an all-white outfit comprised of a short-sleeved hoodie and a skirt, with blonde hair that was currently pulled back into a ponytail. "Uh...yeah, that's us. We were supposed to meet him somewhere in this city."

"Oh, that's perfect!" The girl exclaimed happily, drawing up a few feet behind them. Her emerald-green eyes seemed to sparkle as she spoke, giving her admittedly simple appearance an air of elegance. "My name is Lillie. I know the Professor - he's been wondering when you two were going to get here!"

"That's great!"

"Can you show us where he is?" Serena asked.

"Sure! Looking for you two in case you got lost was actually one of the reasons I was out here today, so it all works out." Lillie explained, waving goodbye to the Nurse Joy over Ash and Serena's shoulders as they began to head back outside. "Come on - I'll take you to go see him."

As it turned out, the place Lillie was taking them to was none other than the Dimensional Research Lab that Serena had pointed out on the navigator. The walk there, however, seemed to take longer than their inital walk to the Pokemon Center, not to mention Ash wasn't going full speed anymore, so the three of them had some time to chat amongst themselves along the way.

"So you're Ash and Serena, right?" Lillie asked as they made their way down one of the city's backroads. "I heard about you from the Professor."

"Yeah, that's right." Ash confirmed. "And this is my partner, Pikachu."

"Pi-ka-chu!" Pikachu greeted jovially, raising an arm in salutation.

"Um, how much did you hear about us, exactly?" Serena asked uneasily, curious as to how much Professor Sycamore had given away about the two of them.

"Well, I heard that Ash is on a journey to become a Pokemon Master, and he goes around challenging all sorts of different Pokemon League tournaments." Lillie began, looking over at Ash with something like awe. "And as for you, Serena, I hear that you were one of the favorites to win the title of Kalos Queen in a competition of your own."

Serena blushed lightly at her positive comments. "I-I don't know about favorites, but..."

"Aw, c'mon, Serena." Ash remarked, putting a hand on her shoulder encouragingly. "Don't be like that - your last Performance was against the defending Kalos Queen herself!"

"Well, what about you?" Serena argued back playfully. "You were the runner-up in the Kalos League, too! You had to win a whole lot more battles than I did to get that far!"

Ash couldn't help but laugh a little bit pridefully at her words. "Yeah, I guess we both did pretty good, didn't we?"

Lillie smiled to herself as she watched their exchange. "You're right - if you ask me, you both sound pretty amazing. By the way...there was actually one other thing I heard about you."

"What is it?" Ash asked, genuinely interested to hear what Professor Sycamore had said about them.

"Is it true that you are two are...well...involved with each other?" Lillie asked cautiously. "You know...dating?"

Ash and Serena both blushed furiously in unison, but they quickly regained their composure, remembering once again their conversation on the ship that night.

"Ah...yeah, that's right." Ash answered, nodding slowly. "But I dunno why the Professor would tell you guys that much about us."

"I don't think we ever even officially told him." Serena mumbled under her breath.

Lille giggled in relief at their responses. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I was just curious, because...well...because I used to think that going on a journey with someone you cared about sounded like a great idea."

"Used to?" Serena repeated, and she realized that Lillie's eyes had softened, and her gaze had become a bit distant. "Um...did something happen?"

"...Yes. The person I cared about...he left." Lillie explained, her voice much softer and more delicate than it had been before. "I still hope that one day he'll come back, but..."

"Lillie..." Ash murmured sadly, unsure of what to say to the girl.

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Serena told her honestly.

"...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to start talking about my problems all of a sudden." Lillie spoke up a few moments later, her attitude seeming to return to normal. "I just wanted to see if there was another pair out there that had managed to pull it off, that's all."

Ash and Serena shared a brief look of concern for the girl before turning back to her with smiles. "Well...I don't know if we're what you expected, but, here we are." Serena remarked halfheartedly.

"No, you two are great!" Lillie answered at once, waving away Serena's doubts. "I can tell how much you both care for each other. I think it's really sweet. And you look cute together, too."

"Oh, stop it..." Ash teased, prompting a chuckle out of Serena.

Lillie smiled back at the duo before casting her gaze into the sky, as they resumed talking back and forth between themselves. "Sun..."

The now-trio continued making their way through the streets of Heahea City for a good while after that, until finally, upon emerging from an alley and rounding a corner, they came upon a large, rectangular white building a few stories or so tall, situated near the outskirts of town. Only a few glass windows were visible on the walls, and at least one strange radar-like contraption was sticking out of the roof, pointed vaguely at the sky.

"Here we are!" Lillie announced, bringing the two of them up to the entrance, a pair of sliding glass doors that opened automatically when she approached them. "Come on, let's get inside. There's a lot we need to explain to you."

"Explain to us...?" Ash murmured, shooting Serena a confused glance, but she merely shrugged and followed Lillie into the building, prompting Ash to do the same.

The inside of the facility looked a lot more high-tech than anything Ash expected to find in Alola. The walls were all solid white, with a layer of glass positioned in front of them, giving the room a very sleek, futuristic appearance.

The room they were in appeared to be the lobby, as there were a few empty sofas against the wall, as well as what Ash guessed was the receptionist across the room, sitting at a computer desk. He perked up when he saw them walk inside. "Ah, Lillie, you're back! Looks like you found the ones they've been waiting on."

"Yes, that's right." Lillie answered back politely. "I'll be taking them upstairs to meet with the Professors."

"Professors...?" Serena noted, taking the words right out of Ash's mouth. "There's more than one?"

"Oh. Yeah, I guess I didn't mention that." Lillie answered apologetically as she took them across the room to the elevator. "There's Professor Kukui, of course, but there's also his wife, Professor Burnet - she's actually the one who runs this particular lab."

"A husband-and-wife duo?" Serena thought out loud as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped inside.

"Wow, so they're both Professors, huh?" Ash remarked, impressed by the notion. "That's pretty cool!"

Once the elevator reached the third floor, they stepped outside, into what looked like a highly advanced office building. A few sets of computer workstations were set up in the area in front of them, and behind those was a glass-walled room with even more advanced-looking computer systems within it, along with large monitors all over the walls. The path to their left led past a series of packed bookcases to a small lounge, with a few sofas and a coffee table set up, before ending at a closed door.

Seated on one of the sofas, however, was a tall, dark-skinned man, wearing a Professor's coat with no shirt on underneath it, and a woman of similar coloration beside him, wearing a skintight suit of some sort that was tied around her waist, as well as a simple gray tank top.

"Oh, Lillie!" The woman spoke up upon seeing the three of them walk in. "You're back already - and you brought friends with you! That must mean - "

"You two must be the Trainers we sent for from Kalos!" The man finished for her, jumping to his feet in delight. "Hey, I'm Professor Kukui, and this here's my wife, Burnet."

"H-hi, nice to meet you." Ash greeted, a bit taken aback by their forwardness.

"Nice to meet you." Serena echoed a moment later.

"Pika pika!" Pikachu chimed in.

"I found them asking for you at the Pokemon Center." Lillie explained, as the three of them walked over to stand opposite the two Professors. "If I hadn't been there, they might've decided to go to Melemele Island looking for you, Professor. Why didn't you tell Nurse Joy you'd be staying here for a while?"

"Oh, yeah, that probably would've been a good idea, now that you mention it." Kukui admitted, his brilliant smile not wavering. "But it's all right now, yeah? You found them, after all!"

"Professor..." Lillie sighed hopelessly.

"Ash, Serena, thank you both for coming out here on our invitation." Burnet remarked warmly. "I've also got to apologize to you for what may have been some slight misinformation on our part."

"Misinformation? What do you mean?" Ash asked, thinking back to what Lillie had told them outside about having things to explain to them.

The two Professors shared a guilty look with each other before gesturing to the couch across from them. "Well, you should have a seat. It'll probably take a while to explain all of it."

Ash and Serena blinked, sharing their own look of confusion before taking Burnet's advice and sitting on the sofa behind them. Lillie smiled at the sight of them together and took her seat on a third, smaller couch, by herself.

"Professor Kukui, what's going on...?" Ash began worriedly, as Pikachu climbed down from his shoulder and planted himself in Ash's lap instead. "I figured we were coming out here to take the Alola Pokemon League challenge."

"Well, yeah, we do have one of those, all right, though it's probably a little different than the ones you're used to." Kukui answered, he and his wife reclaiming their seats before he continued. "But that's not actually why we asked for you to come here. You see, cousin - "

Before he could finish, however, a loud crashing sound was heard from what sounded like one room over, followed by a male voice grumbling loudly, and Ash could swear he knew the voice from somewhere.

"What was that?!" Serena exclaimed, her eyes shooting over to the door behind the two Professors. The two of them merely laughed, however, as if this kind of thing were a normal occurence.

"Oh, it was probably just our assistant." Burnet explained calmly. "He's actually another of the Trainers we asked to come help us out, same as you two - but, well, we haven't been able to find enough for him to do lately, so he's just been helping us out around the lab."

"There's another Trainer here, too?" Ash asked in wonder, his eyes being drawn to the source of the noise as well.

"Yeah, you see...there's not exactly a whole lot of Pokemon Trainers here in Alola." Kukui admitted, scratching the back of his neck pointedly. "Most of them decide to leave when they finish their Island Challenge, so other than the Captains and Kahunas, and of course the Elite Four, there aren't that many Trainers we can just ask for help with things like this."

Neither Ash nor Serena understood much of what he'd said, but his words did serve to make them more curious than ever as to what they were actually being asked to do here. But, before another line of dialogue could get started, the door behind the two Professors suddenly burst open, followed up an older teenage boy stumbling into the room with a stack of boxes in his arms. He had dark, spiky hair and wore olive-brown pants and a forest-green shirt underneath a dull orange, sleeveless vest.

"Rockruff, I swear, if you make me drop these boxes one more time - !"

"Oh, hey there, cousin!" Kukui acknowledged, cutting off his dangerous-sounding threat mid-sentence as a small, brown, canine-esque Pokemon scurried out into the room as well, barking softly at their 'assistant' as it did so. "You're just in time to meet the other two Trainers I was telling you about, from the Kalos region! Say hey to Ash and Serena!"

The boy turned to look at the young couple, even though Ash was already staring at him in disbelief, not quite believing what he was seeing. Even Pikachu seemed to be dumbfounded. When he realized who he was looking at, he grinned, the anger he'd felt just a moment ago suddenly vanishing like the wind.

"Hey, what's up, Ash? It's been a while!" Brock exclaimed, waving a greeting to them with one hand.

That's all for now! See you guys next time!