"Out there

There's a world outside of Yonkers

Way out there beyond this hick town, Barnaby

There's a slick town, Barnaby

Out there

Full of shine and full of sparkle

Close your eyes and see it glisten, Barnaby

Listen, Barnaby…"

Even if they didn't want to admit it, the change of scenery hit everyone like a truck. Juliette and her family changed the opulent Anistar City and its glorious sundial for the rustic Paniola Town, a place that looked straight out of a Western movie. The change of region was shocking too but in a good sense. So far, everyone in Alola seemed to be really kind and welcoming. That's something Juliette really liked, she thought that maybe it meant she wouldn't have trouble with rude punks on high school.

Her parents already made sure to sign her up for a new school, one located on Heahea City. Juliette tried to convince herself that she wouldn't have problems anymore and on top of that, her mother constantly told her that everyone in Alola is very nice and welcoming and so far, that had been the truth. From the taxi driver that picked them up at the airport to the random passerbys on the street, every single person greeted them making a rainbow shaped gesture and uttering a cheery "Alola!". At first, they all were confused about how people used the region's name to address them, but a quick look at one of the many touristic leaflets that the family carried with them revealed that in the region, people greet each other saying "Alola". Now that was some interesting info to them!

Although the plane ride was more than over, there was still a lot to do, some of the family's belongings still had to arrive from their former region and the porch of their new house was chock-full of cardboard boxes filled with diverse stuff. They all were labeled according to which room of the house the things belonged to or who the owner of said items was. The house was fully furnished for the most part but of course, the family still needed to bring quite a few things with them. Most of their clothing was stuffed in their briefcases and in Juliette's case, the pokéballs where her pokémon rest were inside her bag. She was sure her Frogadier Halbert and her Bulbasaur Poppy would be happy with the new region too, she told them about it a couple of weeks before leaving and they seemed happy. They even helped the family to pack up stuff!

Juliette always wanted to go on a journey of her own like most of the kids at her school did, but the constant putting down from her classmates and her grandma telling her that waiting a bit for setting on a journey wasn't a bad thing made her postpone that moment more and more. However, she did get her first pokémon almost at the same time as everybody else. Her first pokémon was a Froakie that Juliette herself went to pick up at Sycamore's lab a few weeks after her tenth birthday. After that, kids at her school accused her of "trying to be cool" by choosing the most popular starter, which was not true. Juliette simply chose the one she liked the most.

More recently, around five months ago, Juliette decided that Halbert (who was already a Frogadier) might feel lonely and she decided to visit Sycamore again. This time the professor allowed her to choose between the three starters native to Kanto. Being a big fan of plants and botany, Bulbasaur caught her eye immediately. Juliette was more than happy with her choice but, of course, her classmates had to put their two cents in. This time what they had to say was that she chose the lamest of the starters and that she should have chosen Charmander because Charizard is cooler and stronger. That day, Juliette told those people they acted like five-year-olds and for some reason, they stopped bothering her for the rest of the day.

But all that people wasn't important anymore, she left them behind on Kalos and she certainly wouldn't miss them one bit, just like they declared how they were more than happy that she was leaving. The idea of having to face new people in a new school wasn't something that made Juliette too happy, but she knew it was a necessary evil if she wanted to keep up with her studies.

Although she didn't collect badges or anything, sometimes she trained with her pokémon. She even battled from time to time with her classmates, in fact, Halbert evolved into Frogadier during a considerably heated battle against a jock's Garchomp. Needless to say, Juliette and her pokémon didn't win that battle, but she was very proud about her pokémon evolving… and worried about the wound he got across his left eye, which turned into a scar that according to Juliette's grandma makes her Frogadier look like "a seasoned warrior".

"Juliette!" Her mother's voice made Juliette return to reality, she accidentally started daydreaming about that important battle where her first pokémon evolved. "Can you help me take these boxes to the kitchen?"

"Of course!" The girl approached one of the cardboard boxes at a fast pace and with a gentle knee flexion, she held the box.

It was pretty heavy but Juliette didn't say anything, she didn't want to stand there like a statue doing nothing. In the meantime, her father and grandmother were also starting to take boxes here and there.

"Hey Rachel, don't forget the kitchen is almost one of the first things you see after crossing the door!" Juliette's father exclaimed before disappearing through the house's main door, carrying a rather big box.

"We'll keep that in mind, Mainard!" His wife answered with a small smile as she and her daughter finally entered their new house.

The first thing they saw was an average sized living room decorated with rustic furniture, keeping up with the ambient of the town. A brown three-seat sofa sat in front of a medium-sized TV, it was big enough so everyone could watch it without having to worry about their place on the couch. Speaking of the sofa, there was a brown armchair on either side of it. Between the seats and the TV, there was a wooden coffee table that mimicked a wooden log cut in half. That gave the whole room a unique air, it was still rustic but with a modern touch. The white wall next to one of the armchairs was full of various framed pictures that no one could stop to look at yet, the whole family was too busy to worry about them.

Without getting too distracted, Juliette and her mother made their way to the kitchen. Just like Mainard said before, it was very easy to spot. The inside of the room could be seen from outside, an arch and not a door was what separated the kitchen from the rest of the house. Once she and her mother were inside, Juliette saw the room's size was more than acceptable compared to her former house's kitchen.

"This is twice as big as that shoebox of a kitchen!" Juliette laughed as she put down on one of the counters the box she was carrying.

Rachel did the same, retrieving from her pocket a cutter to open her box. "Yes, maybe now we could have dinner here. I always wanted to do that!"

"Now let's just hope your new job here allows us to do it." The teen said that almost without realizing, she was just thinking out loud. That earned her a sigh from her mother, who didn't want to answer to her statement.

Both started placing various items in their respective places; an old figure of a cook with an enormous mustache was placed right next to their brand new sink, the same spot it occupied in the old house. Then, while helping each other, they organized all of the cutlery on a drawer on one of the counters, there was at least six of them and they all were made of granite and mahogany wood. They also attached the spice rack to the wall, although some time was wasted while they waited for Mainard to bring them the tools they needed.

Half an hour later, both were done in the kitchen. Rachel turned to face her daughter with a smile on her face. "You can go upstairs to check your bedroom if you want, it's the second door on the left."

"Great! But don't hesitate to come and tell me if you need help."

"Don't worry, there are your dad and your grandma too!" Rachel grabbed the now empty cardboard boxes and exited the room.

After her mother disappeared from her sight, Juliette did the same thing and headed for the stairs. In the other house, her bedroom was also upstairs, so that was nothing new for her. The thing that surprised her was how the corridor was wider and longer than in her former house, it made her want to release her pokémon and allow them to run around the place! But she left that for later, at that moment her priority was checking her new room.

The first thing Juliette saw as she opened the door were the light green walls, that was her favorite color and she was delighted to see it on the walls of the room where she would probably spend most of her time. After silently closing the door behind her, she left her bag on top of a desk that was placed right under a window. A small carton box with some of her belongings sat there as well, her father probably put it there while she and her mother organized the kitchen. Juliette had the intention to turn to look at the rest of the room, but something she saw out of the corner of her eye caught her attention.

Her window faced another window belonging to the house behind hers and it wasn't too far away. Through that window, Juliette saw a boy who looked slightly older than her. He seemed to be practicing some sort of Alolan dance and he brandished a white staff, moving it around as he went "Yah! Hoo! Hee! Hyah!". It was kind of odd, but at the same time Juliette couldn't stop staring, maybe the movements of that dark skinned boy hypnotized her. But that state of mesmerization disappeared as soon as the boy on the other side looked at Juliette's direction, realizing he was being observed.

In an almost automatic gesture, Juliette quickly closed the curtains. "Oh. Flowery curtains." She murmured in a feigned surprised voice observing the colorful pattern. Juliette didn't feel like talking to a complete stranger (like always), especially while feeling so tired. Having to measure her words was the last thing she wanted to do at that moment.

After that interruption, Juliette continued examining her new bedroom. Since it was meant for a teenage girl like her, it didn't look as rustic as what she had seen so far from the new house. The room was actually a bit bigger than her old one, but not by much. She fell instantly in love with her new bed, as soon as the girl sat down on it, she felt like she was sitting on a cloud. The light blue covers were adorned with white polka dots, the color combination really popped thanks to the color of the walls.

Juliette was about to lie on her brand new bed when she heard a few knocks on the door and she told the person outside to come in. It was her grandma, Édith. The woman approached her granddaughter with her usual cheerful smile, hiding something behind her back. "Are you liking the new house so far?"

"Yes, it's pretty good! This room is so cool… And this bed is just so comfy, come sit on it!" Juliette realized she rarely felt this enthused unless certain subjects came up, maybe moving to another region was starting to cause some positive effects on her.

"If you insist! It will probably be good for a poor old woman like me." Édith joked as she walked towards the bed, avoiding to show accidentally what she hid. Once she sat down, she left out a relieved sigh. "I didn't realize how tired I was until now. I think tonight we all are going to go out like a light… Anyway, I wanted to show you a little something I thought you would like." The woman stared at Juliette with an amused expression as she gave her the thing she had been hiding, it was a magazine called "Alola Times" she picked up on the plane and "forgot" to return to its place for reasons.

"Oh no, that's your plotting face!" Juliette laughed. "I wonder what's inside that head of yours."

"Open the magazine and you'll see!" Édith rubbed her hands comically, eager to see her granddaughter's reaction to what she would find inside the booklet.

She opened it to a specific page, the upper corner of one of the pages was folded so finding that specific page was easier. There was an interview that occupied two pages, the interviewees were Sina and Dexio, assistants of Kalos's Professor Sycamore. Juliette remembered seeing them the day she picked up Halbert, they had changed so much! But that wasn't what concerned her, Édith insisted her granddaughter to read a certain part of the interview that she had marked with a small arrow. It read as follows:

AT: One of the reasons that brought you and your partner to the region is very special, right?

S: Yes! The main reason we are here is because Professor Sycamore wanted us to investigate something very important on the island… And to relax a bit, of course! (laughs)/

AT: Could you share with our readers what that investigation is about?

D: It's a bit of a complex subject, but we can try to summarize it. Sina?

S: Have you ever heard of a Pokémon called Zygarde?

Juliette checked twice to see if she read that right. Zygarde? Were they really talking about that Pokémon? How did he tie to them being in Alola?

AT: Isn't it a legendary pokémon from the Kalos region?

S: Bingo! During quite some time, the professor suspected that more than one specimen existed.

D: Yes, the legends always mentioned how Zygarde had some sort of hidden potential, but there are no records of such thing on the region's recent story. So after a long investigation, we found evidence that there are several beings related to Zygarde that inhabit the Alola region. This, of course, must mean this Pokémon exists here too.

AT: Beings?

S: We call them Cells and Cores to be more exact, we believe that by gathering a certain number of these creatures something unheard of could happen. That's why we are here, to investigate to which degree that's true.

D: Although some he-

And suddenly, Édith yanked the magazine from Juliette's hands. "Grandma, I wanted to finish reading it!"

"Trust me, you have already read enough by now." Strangely, the grin on her face was even bigger than before. That usually means Édith is onto something big. "When the time comes, you'll know what I mean."

"And when will that be?"

"Who knows? That could happen at any time, just wait and see!" Édith winked as she got up from the bed. Then she walked towards the door, but not without playing first a little prank she had played on Juliette for years. It consisted on her pretending to leave the room only to open the door again, this could go on for almost a minute.

When her granny left, Juliette finally got to lie on her new and extremely comfortable bed. She would definitely sleep like a baby that night! Well, that if the things she read on that magazine allowed her to. Suddenly, it turned out the dream was still alive. A few lines on a paper sheet to announce that some things will never change and that, after all, impossible is nothing. But she didn't want to get too excited, that Pokémon was still something out of her reach. Now Juliette had to wait for her grandma to tell her about the things she apparently didn't want her to know yet… And she hoped it would be soon.