Ch.13: Welcome to Alola! Part 1
After their adventure in Gringey City's Power Plant, Ash and his friends returned to Celadon City for some rest as it was almost nighttime. It turned out, the source of the power outage was a group of Grimer and a Muk, but with some help from the local Magnemite and Magneton, they managed to drive the Grimer away and Ash used Lucario to defeat Muk. The poison–type knew the moves Sludge Bomb, Body Slam, Focus Punch and Shadow Punch.
"Man, I'm exhausted," said Ash as he sank into a chair in the lobby of the Pokemon Center.
"You're not the only one," said Leaf as she did the same, followed by Serena, Brock and their Pokemon.
"I'll never get the stench of Muk out of my nose," said Greninja with a groan.
"Tell me about," said Delphox with a nod.
"I don't know how to thank you for restoring the power to the city," said Nurse Joy as she approached the group, which caused Brock to jump in joy.
"I don't know how you can thank my friends, but how about you and I go on a romantic night…," started Brock, but got hit in the ribs by Greninja's Aerial Ace. "… walk."
"Quiet down a little, Romeo," said Greninja as he sat back down next to Ash.
"How many more times are you gonna do it," asked Pikachu.
"It depends on how many he tries to flirt," said Greninja. "Plus, it kind of brightens my day."
"Yeah, seeing you kicking Brock in the ribs is actually entertaining," said Pikachu and Greninja smiled.
"We'll let you know if we need anything," said Ash before hearing a growl. "What was that?"
"That was actually me," said Leaf with a chuckle. "I'm getting hungry."
"Let's get something to eat," said Serena and everyone nodded and made their way to the cafeteria, but Ash stopped all of a sudden, confusing his friends. "What's wrong, Ash?"
"Nothing. You guys go on ahead. I'm gonna call Professor Sycamore. I haven't heard him since I left Kalos," said Ash and everyone smiled.
"Okay, see you in a bit," said Serena as she, Leaf and Brock, who was being carried by Delphox's Psychic, went to the cafeteria while Ash, Greninja and Pikachu went to the videophones.
Ash dialed the professor's number up, but when the screen turned on, Ash saw Sophie instead of Professor Sycamore.
"Hello, this Professor Sycamore's lab. I'm Sophie. How can I help you," asked Sophie.
"Hey, Sophie. It's Ash," said Ash, surprising the assistant.
"Ash, it's good to see you. How are you," asked Sophie.
"I'm fine. Serena, Brock, Leaf and I are in Celadon City and earlier I won my 4th Gym Badge," said Ash.
"That's great. You're half–way through," said Sophie with a smile.
"Yup. By the way, is Professor Sycamore there," asked Ash and got confused when Sophie's expression got worried. "What is it?"
"The truth is, I haven't heard of him for the past 3 days," said Sophie, surprising Ash and Greninja. "You see, a week ago he went to the Alola Region for some research with Professor Kukui and a close friend of Professor Oak's, Professor Cerise. Everything was going well when I received a call 3 days ago from Professor Oak's cousin to inform me that Professor Sycamore was in an accident while they were on Mount Lanakila. The good news is that it's not anything life–threatening, but he's in bed and still hasn't woken up. I'm sorry, Ash. I bet that's last you wanted to hear."
"Yeah, but is he gonna be okay," asked Ash worried.
"I hope so. Professor Kukui, Professor Cerise and Samson are waiting for him to wake up. Him being alive is the only I know for sure," said Sophie.
"Okay, thanks for telling me, Sophie. Talk to you later and hang on. I'm sure the professor will be alright," said Ash with a gentle smile.
"Thanks, Ash," said Sophie. "I'll inform you immediately when he wakes up."
"Okay, bye," said Ash before hanging up.
"So, what's the plan," asked Greninja.
"What are you talking about," Ash asked his water/dark–type.
"Come on. I've been with you for 4 years and I know you pretty well. You want to go to Alola to check on Professor Sycamore, don't you," said Greninja, causing Ash to sigh.
"How do you know me so well," Ash asked no one particular with a chuckle before looking at his starter. "But, yeah, we're going to Alola."
"Don't mean to break it to you, but how are you going to tell it to Serena, Leaf and Brock," asked Pikachu.
"That's the thing. We won't tell them," said Ash, surprising his Pokemon. "We're going there on a mission and if we bring them along, Brock won't stop flirting with girls and Serena would want to go on as many dates as possible, which Leaf will try to set up."
"You know that Serena's going to kill you if you go to another region without telling her, right," asked Greninja.
"I didn't say we won't tell them, I said we won't be bringing them along," said Ash. "I'll give Leaf a call to let them know where we are after we get there."
"Wow, you're not afraid of facing an evil organization, but are scared of your girlfriend," said Pikachu with a chuckle. "I can already see who's gonna be the head of the table when you two start a family."
"He's got a point you know," said Greninja, causing Ash to face–palm.
"Look, Serena and I are too young for kids and marriage. Let's focus on the present and think about the future later," said Ash before walking away from the stunned faces of Greninja and Pikachu.
"I never thought he knew about marriages," said Greninja and Pikachu nodded before following him out of the Pokemon Center.
It didn't take the three of them to get to the airport and were lucky enough to get on the last plane for Alola for the day, and it didn't take long for Ash, Greninja and Pikachu to fall asleep as the flight from Kanto to Alola was around 6 hours.
Fortunately, as much as a heavy sleeper Ash was, the feeling of the plane touching the ground woke him and his Pokemon up.
"This is your pilot speaking. We have arrived on Melemele Island in Alola. Thank you for travelling with us," spoke the pilot through the speaker.
"Come on, guys, let's see what Alola has in store for us," said Ash as he stood up and headed towards the exit, followed by his Pokemon.
The trio got out of the airport and quickly felt the ocean breeze.
"You know, this place is actually pretty good," said Greninja.
"It's like a vocational paradise," said Pikachu.
"Come on, you two. Let's get to Professor Kukui and then we can admire the scenes," said Ash and his Pokemon nodded.
Ash, Greninja and Pikachu got into a cab and it took them around 15 minutes to reach their destination. After the driver for the ride, they got out of the vehicle and looked at Professor Kukui's house. It wasn't big, but not too small either.
"I hope this is the place," said Ash as he and his Pokemon ascended the stairs and knocked on the door.
"I'm coming," said a male voice from inside before the door opened, revealing a young man with a muscular physique, who had dark eyes, black hair, a black man bun and a goatee. He wore a white hat with a rainbow decoration in the front. He also wore glasses with a teal frame, a white lab coat with rolled-up sleeves, gray baggy pants with a teal stripe and white drawstrings and some teal shoes with a white outline. "Alola! How can I help you?"
"Hello. I'm Ash and these are my Pokemon, Greninja and Pikachu. We're looking for Professor Kukui," said Ash, introducing himself to the man.
"Well, you can stop searching, cause you're looking at him," said the man, revealing to be Professor Kukui.
"You're the professor," asked Ash, surprised by the revelation.
"That's right," said the professor with a nod before looking at Ash. "Wait, you said your name's Ash, right? As in Ash Ketchum?"
"Yeah, but how do you know my name," asked Ash.
"I've heard so much about you from Professor Sycamore. Let me guess, you heard what happened to him and came to check on him, am I right," said Professor Kukui and Ash nodded. "Please, come in. Guys, we've got a visitor!"
Ash, Greninja and Pikachu entered the house and were met three other people.
The first was a tall, skinny man with fair skin, green eyes, and slightly messy maroon hair with a few gray streaks in it. He wore a long white lab coat, a blue shirt with a purple collar, long blue jeans with a gray belt, and gray shoes with dark soles. He also wore brown glasses.
The second was a short and slender young girl with long maroon hair, fair skin, and asparagus-green eyes. Her hair was braided in a side ponytail with a cherry blossom-shaped scrunchie. She was wearing a striped gray shirt with yellow suspenders and black and white shoes.
The third was a young girl with green eyes and platinum blond hair, with two braids at each side of her face. She wears a large white hat, with a blue ribbon around it. Lillie wears a white dress with transparent outlines, a pair of long socks and white shoes resembling ballet flats.
"Everyone, this is Ash, the boy Professor Sycamore's been talking about," said Professor Kukui.
"Hello, Ash. I'm Professor Cerise," said the man as he and the girls went up to him.
"I'm Chloe. It's nice to meet you," said the maroon–haired girl.
"Hello, I'm Lillie," said the blonde a little nervously, confusing Ash and his Pokemon. "What is it?"
"Why do you look nervous," asked Ash.
"She's afraid of touching Pokemon," said Chloe.
"I'm not afraid! I can totally touch them," said Lillie, but screamed when Greninja walked up to her.
"Why can't she touch them," Ash asked Professor Kukui.
"I'm not really sure. All I know is that she had a bad experience when she was little," said Professor Kukui.
"Well, then we'll just have to help her," said Ash, surprising everyone before he looked at Lillie. "Don't worry about a thing. By the time Professor Sycamore recovers, you'll be able to touch every kind of Pokemon. I promise!"
"Thank you, Ash," said Lillie with a shocked expression as she blushed, which didn't go unnoticed by Chloe, who surprisingly felt jealous.
"No problem," said Ash with a smile, completely not noticing her red cheeks, before turning to Professor Kukui. "By the way, how's Professor Sycamore?"
"He's in the lab downstairs. We told him to get him to a hospital, but that guy is really not a fan of them," said Professor Kukui before leading everyone to lab downstairs.
There, Ash saw Professor Sycamore laying on a hospital bed that a monitor next to it, displaying his pulse and had his arms and left leg in a gypsum.
"I know it's not much, but it was the best we could do," said Professor Cerise.
"Let me see what I can do about it," said Ash as he brough out one of his PokeBalls. "Lucario, I choose you!"
The fighting/steel–type emerged from the PokeBall and everyone were surprised to see that Ash had such a strong Pokemon.
"With what do you need my help, Master," asked Lucario, but only Ash and the Pokemon understood him.
"Can you use your aura to check on the professor," asked Ash as he gestured to Professor Sycamore and Lucario nodded.
Lucario closed his eyes and brough his palms out towards the professor and glowed blue for a few seconds.
"Well, how is he," asked Ash.
"He's alive and okay. It's hard to tell when he's gonna wake up, but in this condition, I can at least a week, most likely two," said Lucario and Ash nodded in understatement, confusing the others.
"Excuse me, Ash, but do you actually know what Lucario is saying," Professor Cerise asked kindly.
"Well, it's true, but not just Lucario. I can understand every Pokemon," said Ash, getting surprised looks from everyone. "The reason is because I'm actually an Aura Guardian in–training."
"I've read about them in some books," said Lillie and everyone looked at her. "In ancient times, there were individuals who possessed the ability to sense and manipulate aura to perform valiant deeds. They were known as Aura Guardians, and they would also educate those with the potential to wield the aura themselves. If I remember correctly, Aura Guardians have several abilities, like Aura Vision, Spiritual Sensory and communication through Telepathy."
"Well, I've got two abilities so far – understand what Pokemon are saying and also Aura Sphere," said Ash.
"Wow, now I see why Professor Sycamore described you as 'extraordinary'," said Professor Cerise. "That guy has a habit to exaggerate from time to time."
"Tell me about it. When Serena and I were learning from him, he said that Salamence and Hydreigon nearly gave him a heart attack. I know they're pseudo–legendary dragons, but they're not that scary."
"Wait a minute, you worked with pseudo–legendary dragons? And who's Serena," asked Chloe.
"I wouldn't say 'worked'. More like befriended and now caught. As for Serena, she's my girlfriend," said Ash and noticed the slightly hurt expression on Chloe's face.
"So have two of the strongest dragons on your team," asked Professor Kukui.
"I have every Pokemon that I befriended when Serena and I worked for Professor Sycamore," said Ash, shocking everyone. "Plus a few more from Kanto."
"Can you show them to us some time," asked Professor Cerise.
"I don't see why not. But, now I've got to figure out where to stay until Professor Sycamore wakes up," said Ash.
"Why don't you stay here? There's space for one more person," said Professor Kukui.
"But where will he sleep," asked Lillie.
"You two won't mind if you let him share a bed with you, right," asked Professor Cerise, shocking the girls, before turning to Ash. "Will that be a problem? We don't want to upset your girlfriend."
"I don't think it will. I had to share a tent with Leaf once and Serena didn't mind," said Ash, surprising Lillie and Chloe even more.
"Excellent, then it's settled," said Professor Kukui and the males and the Pokemon made their way upstairs, leaving the shocked girls alone.
"What just happened," asked Lillie.
"It looks like we'll be sharing a bed with Ash for the next couple of days," said Chloe.
"Things can't get more awkward," groaned Lillie. "He's pretty cute and has a girlfriend."
"I couldn't agree more," sighed Chloe. "Let's hope that Serena is as understanding as Ash said. We don't want to ruin their relationship."
"I'm with you," said Lillie with a smile.
To be continued…
Hey, everyone. I know it's been hell of a long time since I last updated. I kind of lost motivation for a while, then got a writer's block and when I came up with the idea of Ash taking a detour to Alola I just got lazy and didn't find time to write. But I'm back now and I don't plan on discontinuing this story. I know Ash going to Alola was not what you were expecting, but I wanted to include two of my most favorite shippings – Aureliashipping and Bloomboltshipping. Don't worry, this is still an Amourshipping story. All the way to Sinnoh or Unova, Amourshipping will be the only certain shipping. Let me know if want it to become an Aureliashipping and/or Bloomboltshipping as well, but it won't happen earlier than Sinnoh. Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll see you all next time. Until then, have a nice day, and Happy Holidays!
R&R