By the next morning, Delia was once again basking in the outside air, which Ash is assuming is now her daily thing to do before starting or after finishing something.

"What beautiful weather! I wonder what today will bring?"

"Well whatever the weather will bring, I'm going to love it either way." Misty said. "Unless it's lightning or hail, and the latter likely won't happen any time soon." They then heard a doorbell.

"I wonder who's at the door? If it's Professor Kukui then he'd have came in without even waiting for us to open the door!"

"Uh, isn't that considered bad?" Ash inquired with concern.

"With strangers yes, but considering that we know him it's fine. Just so long as he asks for anything we have." Going to the front door, it showed Lillie.

"Um... hi." The girl nervously greeted, looking uncomfortable. "The professor requested I bring you over Ash. He doesn't know if you remember the way to the lab so I'm here to show you, if you'll come with me."

"Oh of course he will Lillie! Ash, a little pocket money for you. You too Misty. Don't go wasting it on something too silly."

"I'll be fine. I don't know about Ash though." She playfully jabbed him with her elbow and he elbowed her back with the same playful attitude.

"Hey!"

"Lillie, I have to say again it's great Ash has such a good friend such as you. Thank you for taking care of him when he was feeling down." Lillie tilted her head down in response to Delia's praises, her hat shielding her face.

"Yo-you're welcome."

"I knew Alola would be a great place for us. We just keep meeting wonderful people here! Well, it's about time you two went to see what the professor needs. Enjoy yourself with your Pokemon. And don't be gone too long."

"I won't Mom." Ash nodded. As the three teens began their trek to Kukui's Lillie asked,

"You... have a nice mother, don't you?"

"She's the best. She embarrassed me for years as a kid but otherwise she's the best." Ash replied. "Say, I remember you saying you don't like Pokemon battles. That means you're not a trainer, right?"

"Yes. I keep a whole bunch of repels on me. The only Pokemon I don't seem to be afraid of is Nebby. Oh. I mean... Cosmog. Cosmog seems to be a very rare Pokemon. It came from far, far away."

"Oh my, a Star Wars creature." Ash snickered.

"What's Star Wars?" Lillie asked with a confused expression.

"Uh, never mind. That's not something I can explain easily outside of magic space wizards."

"Oh. OK." Nebby tried to get out but she hushed it and kept it in her bag. "It seems to have a very strange power. It used that power once to save me from danger. But... some other people want to use Cosmog for themselves, to use that power. That's why only a select few I trust know about it. I already know you two will keep it secret so I'm not nervous. I mean... not as I usually am." As they talked, Misty was able to catch a couple Pokemon on the way. A Wingull and a Slowpoke. When they finally reached the lab, Ash didn't remember it being so... shambly. Maybe it was because he was too depressed then too tired after to notice but the state of the professor's lab was... questionable at best. They were hearing some shouting from within.

"Oh yeah Rockruff! Let's go! Give it everything you've got! My body is ready! Woo!" All three of the teens blushed and even Misty snickered at the implicating noises.

"Ah... there they go again." Lillie sighed. "The Pokemon Research Lab has its own charm, as I think you might agree."

"Yeah, rustic to the point it almost violates building safety codes." The redhead remarked, causing Ash to chuckle.

"I do admit that it looks like it could fall down at any moment, but the reinforcement helps make sure collapse is mostly unlikely." The blonde sighed again. "Mostly. I've actually been, um, imposing with the professor for three months now. I'm not much of an assistant, but it's the least I could do to pay him back for letting me stay. Maybe I'd be more help if I was a Pokemon trainer, too..." Crashes interrupted their conversation as part of the roof caved in. "The Professor... he never stops researching moves. Not even... inside the lab itself. Looks like we'll have to patch the roof again. And I just washed his lab coat and finally cleaned it too. Now it'll be in shreds and I'm no good at mending clothes so he'll just have to buy another new one."

"Sheesh, you have it rough. I didn't think a professor could be so careless about their lifestyle." Misty said as she was concerned for Lillie. Lillie shook the concern off. We should probably go in before he does any more damage." When they entered, they were surprised that nothing seemed out of place. And Professor Kukui looked fine with not even a speck of dirt or sign of rips on him or his clothes. Professor Kukui was laughing in front of a water Pokemon tank filled with Luvdisc and Corsola.

"Ah, Aloha cousins! Thanks for getting them for me Lillie!"

"Of course. However I can be of help. I am your assistant, right?"

"Yeah Lillie, yeah. Rockruff's moves were just so stylin', and I was making good progress with my research. Say, how about giving me your Pokedex for a sec, yeah?" Handing the professor the data recorder, Kukui asked the young trainer, "What do you think of this place? Not bad, right?"

"Um, I guess?" Ash wasn't sure how to answer that.

"I like the water tank. I love water type Pokemon." Misty told the professor as she went to the tank. "Though I saw the roof cave in so I'm worried about structural integrity."

"Professor, aren't you forgetting something?" Lillie reminded Kukui and his eyes widened in realization.

"Oh yeah, thanks Lillie! Here, it's finally arrived!"

"It?" Lillie asked.

"What's wrong Lillie? Don't make me do all the talking! See, there's this Pokemon inside the Pokedex called a Rotom."

"Really?" Ash gasped.

"Yeah! A peculiar Pokemon made of electrical plasma. It can take up residence in machines. To put that to work, it's the next generation of Pokedexes, but it's only completed once a Rotom has gone into this body specifically developed for it!"

"Amazing!" Ash was impressed.

"It's a whole new way for people and Pokemon to communicate! Woo! Pokedexs are common place today compared to 20 years ago, but there's only a few of these beauties out in the world so far! Now, if I just do this and that..." The professor fiddled with the piece of machinery away from the view of everyone.

"Kzzt?" An electrical noise came from the device. A Rotom suddenly appeared.

"Hey now! Sorry 'bout that, Rotom. Guess I surprised you?" The Plasma Pokemon replied but was not intelligible like any Pokemon. "Here boy, I powered up your favorite dex! You'll be with Ash now, yeah!" The Pokemon zapped into the Pokedex, which came to life and started to float around.

"Hey there! P-pleasure to meet you! I-i'm not nervouzzz or anything. OK?!" It yelled that last bit.

"Check it out! Now Rotom can talk to you now! It may take it a while to get used to its new job, but I'd say Rotom's taken a liking to you!"

"Incredible!" Misty gasped.

"And this will help how exactly?" Lillie asked curiously.

"Well, you know these two haven't been here long. So I decided to give him this special Rotom Dex to navigate around."

"Wow, thanks so much Professor!" Ash said gratefully to Kukui.

"Welcome cousin. You'll never be lost with the Rotom Dex, since it has a Town Map as a feature. Oh, hey Hau!" Said boy entered the Pokemon Lab behind everyone.

"Alola! The salty breeze sang to me and brought me here! Woo-ho-ho, is that a loft?! That's awesome!" He tried to go up the ladder but Lillie blocked his way.

"No it's not! It's private! The professor has been kind enough to let me use it, and only I have permission!"

"Lillie needed my help, so I'm letting her stay up there in the loft." Kukui explained. "Anyway, I'm leaving the Rotom Dex in your hands! Each of you should look after each other, yeah?"

"So that's a Rotom Dex, eh?" Hau inspected the hi-tech device. "It's kind of cute."

"Too bad. I-i'm already tak-ken." Rotom responded. Hau simply shrugged as he continued to look around.

"Hehe, I think Rotom likes you." Misty giggled.

"Ye-yes! I love my trainer already!" It agreed with great enthusiasm. "Pleazzze love me too!"

"Oooookay?" Ash was not sure if the Pokemon is going to be like this the whole time. Hopefully not.

"Alright then! Everyone get a move on! To the trainer's school! You've learned some but I need to see if you have all the basics down yet! Not just anyone can take the Island Challenge, and it's a long road."

"The Island Challenge." Lillie said. "So this is how the people of Alola connect with the world around them. And how Ash and Popplio chose each other from what I've heard. And now a Rotom. Even Nebby likes you both. I guess there's something about you that makes Pokemon feel comfortable when they're by your side."

"I don't know. I just try to treat Pokemon nicely." Ash shrugged. "Everyone and everything deserve to be treated decently."

"And I have a natural affinity with water Pokemon. I love them." Misty told her.

"Maybe you should go with them Lillie. Until Ash gets used to his Dex, you should help him around like you have been previously.

"O-okay." The girl nodded. Everything then turned dark outside. "Oh?" Just as quickly as the bright sky went dark, light returned. Nebby spoke out from Lillie's bag. "Don't worry Nebby, it's okay. Must've been a solar eclipse or something."

"I don't know. Solar Eclipses aren't that sudden in either happening or vanishing." Professor Kukui objected. "Not to mention that a solar eclipse would likely have been broadcast. This be a good omen, yeah?"

"How do you think so?" The blonde girl asked the professor.

"Well, a long, long time ago, Alola was covered in darkness, yeah. But people say that's when the people and Pokemon of Alola blasted all that darkness away with light! And that's also why people started gathering Z-Crystals! And that custom turned into the Island Challenge. Ash, now that you have the ring, I hope you collect tons of crystals too! Woo! That's why someone like me needs to uncover new secrets and moves!"

"Professor, that's not why he should be doing this..." Lillie sighed. "Come on, I'll show you around." Following Lillie, Ash's Rotom spoke up.

"Ash my zzzweetie, everything went black! I thought I might be out of battariezzz!"

"I think you're fine." The trainer replied, wondering if he was being hit on.

"Yeah, I'm OK. Thankzzz Babe. I won't short-circuit that eazzzy!"

"Oh my goodness, Rotom is totally flirting with you!" Misty was laughing from the absurdity of the situation. "I've heard of Pokemon being affectionate but this is just hilarious!"

"You-you're juzzzt jealouzzz you don't have a zzzugarplum prince like I do." Rotom retorted, only for the redhead to laugh harder as she clutched her gut. Even Lillie couldn't help but giggle from how hard-core in love it was with Ash, whom could only blush and grumble in embarrassed silence as it would probably only shut up by being turned off. The three teens came within sight of a Pokemon Center.

"You know of the Pokemon Center, right Ash?"

"Yeah, they heal Pokemon and sell stuff on the side."

"It's amazing isn't it? I can't stand seeing Pokemon in pain. I'd love to be a nurse."

"Would that involve changing your name to Joy and dying your hair into pink?" Misty asked in a joking manner.

"I hope not. I don't think I could pull of pink hair." Lillie answered, and the two girls giggled from the thought. Ash thought of Lillie as a Nurse Joy copy like all the rest, and wasn't sure how to feel about that. Aside from being cute anyway. Ash then mentally stopped.

("Cute? She's certainly an attractive girl but isn't cute a personal word?") The boy thought to himself.

"Let's head in for a drink. I could go for a cup of Moomoo Milk. I like relaxing there sometimes." Lillie mentioned.

"Sure, a water sounds nice. How about you Ash?" The male trainer snapped out of his thoughts.

"Uh what?"

"Really Ash? How much were you not paying attention?" Misty sighed. "I asked if you'd like a drink."

"Oh, I guess whatever they're offering I guess." Ash shrugged. After getting a water and two cups of Moomoo Milk, they walked to the school.

"Here we are. So, the school is-" A roar interrupted them, and that made them all jump with a startle. "What in the world?!" A Tauros was blocking the way of a section of road, looking like anything could tick it off since it was a bull. A bull with three tails that is. "Well, looks like we won't be going in that direction anytime soon. But at least we made it to the school anyway. We'll leave that Tauros for someone else to deal with. Come on, follow me." And so they went to the one place that's the bane of youth everywhere; school.

A/N: Well, we finally got to the school. Yeah, this is probably why I'm not going to incorporate much of the anime for this story. It was relatively easy with the previous stories but the Sun and Moon content are the most drastically different. Different character focuses, different plot focuses, other stuff; more differences means a more difficult blend and I'm focusing on the games primarily so who knows when I bring up something from the anime again, S&M or Indigo League. At least I was able to fit in some funny dialogue. The state of Kukui's house, another pop culture reference there, Lillie as a Nurse Joy and especially the Rotom. I found in research of the games that the Rotom gets particularly affectionate as the journey goes on. I'm not sure how true this is or if I'm just reading into it too much, but I figured to just have it be a love fallen sap right from the get-go would be pretty funny, right?