🌙Moon – Chapter 1; Welcome to paradise

Read from the start

Characters: Pearl, Renee/Emmy, Kukui, Lillie, Hau, Hala, Melba

AN:

bro do i have to add a summary i cant do this. anyways pearl goes 2 alola and chooses a pokemon hell yea

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Despite the comforts of the plane, Pearl felt thoroughly jetlagged once the plane had landed. She kind of had a headache, and just wanted to take a nap on the ground. 

After deboarding the plane, Pearl looked around for Melba, who had texted her that she would be waiting for her at the airport. 

“Pearl! Pearllllll! Over here!” a woman’s voice called out. 

Pearl looked around to try and find the source of the voice, and her eyes met with Melba’s waving arm. Pearl made sure to wave back to indicate she had seen her, and sluggishly made her way over to the woman. Melba offered Pearl a hug, but Pearl politely declined.

“How was the trip here?” Melba asked. “I can’t imagine 12 hours in a plane would be ideal even if it was some big fancy plane.”

“I’m just… tired. I feel like I could use a nice, long nap.” Pearl replied.

“Haha, well, I’ll get you out of here and home as soon as I can, then you can rest. I’ve already gotten your room ready for you so you can crash as soon as we get there!”

Pearl followed Melba through the airport, and once the two finally reached the exit, a blast of humid air hit Pearl as the doors opened in front of them. Pearl was familiar with humidity and tropical environments, as Hoenn itself was semi-tropical, but it had only now just hit Pearl that she was truly on a tropical island.

The two navigated to Melba’s car, and once Pearl got in the shotgun seat, she slumped over and pulled out her phone. As it would turn out, Pearl had a couple missed texts from her parents.

>We miss you already, Pearls!

>The airline’s website said your flight just landed, hope you’re doing well!

>IMG_78735.JPG

>Someone in particular misses you a lot..

The attached image was a picture of Izzy laying down by the front door. While she was exhausted, the picture made Pearl crack a smile.

>>i miss you too. in the car to the new place right now

Pearl sighed and stared out longingly at the orange sky – the sun was just beginning to set in Alola.

Melba drove just outside of Hau’oli city, and after a while, pulled her car into the garage of her house on the outskirts of the city. Pearl almost absent-mindedly got out of the car and followed Melba inside, and was greeted by Melba’s pet meowth upon entering the house. Pearl let the pokemon sniff her hand, but aside from that, she seemed too tired to interact with it much more.

Melba led pearl to her room, and Pearl took the time to examine it a bit before collapsing on the bed. She didn’t even bother to change her clothes, Pearl just laid down, got comfy, and slowly drifted off.

—

Pearl awoke to humid air surrounding her. She was still groggy, but her headache was gone, at the very least. Pearl stretched for a bit to wake herself up, and looked out the window that sat above her new bed. She opened the window up, and stretched her arms out, taking a deep breath of the sweet summer air outside. She could smell the ocean, the trees, the flowers – all the smells seemed so intense.

This was a new world for Pearl, and it was all so vivid.

Suddenly, Pearl remembered something she had forgotten to do the night prior.

>>hey hau!!!! i’m finally in alola!! i kind of passed out last night when i got here so i forgot to text you lol

Pearl had to wait a bit for a response.

>Oh nice (*°▽°*) Sorry, I’m a bit busy right now with grandpa! But we were supposed to meet with the professor later so we’ll finally be able to talk in person then!!!

>>that’s alright! i’ll ask the lady hosting me for more info 😮 i’m excited to see you soon though!!

>Same same! Alright sorry I gotta go now! I’ll talk to you later!!

And with that, Pearl stretched one last time before rubbing her eyes and hopping out of bed. She checked the time on her phone to see that it was around 11am, which wasn’t the worst time to wake up.

As Pearl exited her room and entered the general living space, she could see Melba was there cooking what she presumed to be lunch.

“Goodmorning Pearl! How did you sleep?” she asked.

“Alright. Was I supposed to meet someone today?”

Melba stopped stirring and looked to Pearl for a second.

“I’ll fill you in, why don’t you sit down at the table? I’m almost done making lunch.”

So, Pearl sat down and waited in silence for a couple of minutes, scrolling through social media on her phone. Melba’s meowth came up to her, and happily accepted some pets from Pearl – it seemed to have warmed up to her fairly quickly.

Eventually, Melba set down a plate of some kind of curry in front of Pearl, and sat down with her own plate at the opposite end of the table.

“So, here’s the deal -” Melba started, taking a bite of her food before continuing. “You and your buddy were supposed to meet that Professor in about an hour and a half on Mahalo trail. You can use the map on your phone, it’s not very far from here, if you walk you should be able to get there with some time to spare.”

“Mhm…” Pearl mustered to say while chewing. 

“But when do I get my pokemon?”

“Well, I’m assuming you’ll get your pokemon once you meet the professor? He’s the one who has them after all.”

“Yea that… makes sense. Guess I gotta eat fast then!”

“Don’t rush yourself too much! You’ll be able to make it there in good time no matter what.”

Despite what Melba had said, Pearl did rush her eating a bit. She was excited to meet the Professor and Hau for the first time. She scrambled to get her bag together with all the essentials she’d need for the small hike, and just as she was about to leave for the door, Pearl got a text from Professor Kukui.

>Heya cuz! Just texting to let you know that you might make it to Mahalo trail before me – Hau’s grandpa and I are busy with prep for a festival that’s happening later this evening, so when you get to the trail, look for a girl in a white dress and hat! She’s my assistant, and she’ll keep ya company until I get there!

>>alright, thank you!

With a confident huff, Pearl said goodbye to Melba and opened the door to her brand new world. It took Pearl a little while to find the trail to Iki town, but once she found it, things were pretty straight forward until she hit town. 

Once Pearl was in Iki town, she was almost constantly staring down at her map to try and figure out where to go. Eventually, Pearl made it to the trail, but there was no one to be seen, much less a girl with a white dress and hat. So, Pearl waited on a bench in the hot summer sun, waiting for someone to come.

Whether it was curiosity of the beckoning shade of the trail, Pearl sighed and got up. She looked around, to confirm that nobody was there, and started to make her way down the trail.

The trail was cooler than the parking lot in front of it, thanks in due part to the heavy foliage overhead. Bird pokemon were singing loudly, and the entire area smelled earthy.

After walking for some time, Pearl eventually came across a clearing with a bridge connecting two sides between a river. She also quickly spotted the girl she was told to look for – white hat, white dress, and squatted on the ground; her arms outstretched and beckoning to what looked like a pokemon on the rickety old bridge.

Was it a pokemon though…? It didn’t look like anything Pearl had seen or heard of before. 

Pearl called out and waved to the girl, who turned to Pearl nervously, but didn’t give a response. Pearl looked closer at the situation and could see that a trio of spearow were tormenting and striking the creature on the bridge. Pearl assumed the girl was afraid of the pokemon, so Pearl walked up to her.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this!” she said, and before the girl in white could protest, Pearl started making her way across the old, rickety bridge. She held her arms out at her sides to try and keep balance, and was easily able to scoop up the weakened and scared pokemon in the middle of the bridge.

But as the weight of the two settled in one place, Pearl heard a snap and a yell from the girl behind her, and her heart dropped.

The rotting bridge had snapped.

Soon enough, Pearl and the pokemon she was holding began plummeting towards the rapids below them, and as much as Pearl kept telling herself to just teleport out of this, she couldn’t concentrate the focus to do it. She kept bracing herself for the shock of hitting the water, but it never came.

All of a sudden, Pearl could feel herself being carried – though she was still too afraid to open her eyes. In no time at all, Pearl and the pokemon she was holding were set down gently on the grass where the girl in white had been standing in a panic. Pearl opened her eyes, and the only glimpse she got of whatever rescued her was a blurred electric shape as it dashed away.

“Are you okay?!” the girl in white gasped out as she ran towards Pearl.

The strange pokemon Pearl had rescued on the bridge squirmed out of her arms and bounced towards the girl happily, and the girl just sighed and gave it a pat on the head.

The girl and Pearl just stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Pearl spoke up.

“Yea I’m… alright? That was wild, huh?” Pearl said, but the girl in white didn’t respond. Pearl had trouble making eye contact, so she looked to the ground as she spoke.

“Uh… my name’s Pearl! Are you by chance Professor Kukui’s assistant? Why weren’t you at the meeting spot?”

The girl had a blank expression before her thoughts came back to her.

“Sorry…! My friend Nebby escaped from me and I couldn’t just let them out in the open… but you saw what happened… I’m sorry.” the girl paused and adjusted her hat.

“My name’s Lillie. I’m sorry that you nearly…”

“Died? Yea, well, hey! It’s alright now, no need to keep apologizing! I would’ve been able to get myself out of it anyways.” Pearl replied.

“What do you mean?? How could anyone save themselves from a situation like that?”

Pearl remembered she wasn’t necessarily supposed to disclose she had powers to strangers.

“It’s… a long story. Anyways, what WAS that thing? And more importantly, what IS Nebby? I’ve never seen a pokemon like that before in my life!”

Lillie looked a bit nervous and didn’t respond right away. She instead kneeled to the ground and unzipped her pokeball-motif bag and beckoned for Nebby to hop inside. Nebby seemed reluctant at first, but quickly hopped inside the bag with a ‘pew’ noise. 

“I… don’t quite know what that thing that rescued you was… but Nebby is a special pokemon. Don’t tell anyone you saw them, alright?” Lillie replied, standing back up.

“Okie-dokie, whatever you say. The professor is probably waiting for us, we should get go-” Pearl’s words trailed off as she noticed something glittering in the grass.

“What is it?” Lillie asked.

Pearl picked up the object and examined it. It was a reflective white rock that sparkled many colors in the sunlight.

“It’s a fancy rock… type of thing my uncle would like. We can keep moving! I’ll just put this in my bag.” Pearl said as she dusted herself off. 

Lillie nodded, and the two headed down the trail back to where they had come from.

A few minutes into the walk back, the pair saw a man and a lab coat and someone Pearl could indistinguishably identify as Hau. Once Pearl saw him, a huge smile spread across her face as she called out his name and ran towards him.

The two friends met in a hug, for after knowing each other for two years, they finally met in person. 

The two were talking over each other in a muddled mess of words, describing what had happened to them while they were out for the day. Hau talked about how he was helping his grandfather out for preparations for a festival later that evening, while Pearl went on about her encounter on the bridge.

After some moments of spilling words, the man in the lab coat interrupted the two by offering his hand to Pearl – and after a moment of looking at his face, Pearl was able to tell that it was Kukui.

“Hey, Pearl! Pleasure to meet ya in the flesh!” he said as he shook Pearl’s hand.

“I see you’ve met my assistant, Lillie, too! Right on! Since we’ve already got out introductions done, why don’t you two follow me on down to Iki town’s plaza and we can get on with the opening ceremony!”

Pearl cocked her head a bit.

“Opening ceremony for what?” she asked.

“It’s for the festival me n’ Grandpa were prepping for! A buncha new trainers get their first pokemon and battle each other!” Hau spoke up.

“He’s right – it’s an awful nice coincidence the time you left for Alola coincided with Iki town’s summer festival of battles. It also marks the start of the season for the island trials!” Kukui said.

“Island trials? Like Hau mentioned? Hold on, I’m a bit confused, everything’s kind of being thrown at me all at once.” Pearl said, shaking her head a bit.

Kukui put his hands on his hips.

“It’s alright! Everything will be explained when it has it’s time. In the meantime, let’s get ourselves moving on to Iki town so we can get you two a pokemon!”

Hau happily exclaimed, and the group began moving back towards the town’s plaza. Pearl noticed Lillie had been awfully quiet the entire time and tried to strike up a conversation with her on the way back, but she only seemed to give one-word replies.

It was crowded at the plaza, but Kukui helped Pearl and Hau find their way to where they needed to be while Lillie sat behind at some bleachers to watch.

That’s when Pearl met Hau’s grandfather – Hala.

“Oi, Kukui!” he called out, waving his hand from among the crowd. The old man spoke with a gruff but kind voice, and smiled when he saw Pearl and Hau.

“Ah, you must be Pearl that I’ve heard so much about! It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

“It’s nice to meet you too! I’ve heard a lot about you too, yea.”

“Haha, hope Hau hasn’t been too harsh on me!” Hala paused and flipped through some papers on a clipboard he was holding.

“Say, if you wanted to get your pokemon first, you could sign up as Hau’s battle rival! What do you say, Pearl?”

“Yeah!! We should totally be rivals, Pearl!” Hau said, striking a sort of pose.

“Well… doesn’t ‘rivals’ sound a bit harsh?” Pearl replied.

“Well, not to me. Rivals don’t always have to hate each other like in anime! We can be… friendly rivals! And watch each other grow!”

“When you put it that way, I really can’t NOT sign up. Hand me that clipboard, Hala!”

Hala smiled and handed Pearl the clipboard, where she signed her name next to Hau’s. In the moments that followed, she impatiently waited for the moment that Hau and herself were to be called up. The anticipation seemed to be high all around her too – as the fellow trainers about to get their first pokemon as well were jittering with excitement.

Eventually, Pearl and Hau’s names were called, and while she was nervous about being in front of a crowd of strangers, Hau assured her she’d do great.

Pearl and Hau stood side-by-side as Kukui greeted them once more.

“Alright, I got three special pokemon for you to pick from! Go on, take your pick!”

As he finished speaking, Kukui tossed 3 pokeballs in the air, which popped open to reveal 3 pokemon;

Rowlet, the grass quill pokemon!

Litten, the fire cat pokemon!

And Popplio, the sea lion pokemon!

Pearl and Hau’s eyes were full of sparkles. There they were – 3 adorable pokemon, and one of them was going home with them. Pearl’s eye’s met with the popplio’s, and in that moment, she felt like it was fate.

Pearl let the popplio sniff her hand, and when it showed it was comfortable with Pearl, she picked it up from under the flippers and lifted it up in the air. The popplio playfully smiled, and Pearl did as well.

“Wow, looks like you already found your soul pokemon!” Hau said, smiling.

“Hmm… I dunno, I’m pretty torn, but I think I’ll have to go with… you! Litten!”

Hau picked up the kitten pokemon and scritched behind its ears, causing it to purr in delight. 

Kukui recalled the remaining pokemon to it’s pokeball, and handed Pearl and Hau each their respective balls.

“Congratulations, cousin! You’re now officially a pokemon trainer as of today! With that, why don’t you two feel like having your very first pokemon battle?” he said.

Hau and Pearl didn’t exchange any words, they simply smiled at each other and nodded. The two stepped up onto the battle platform in the plaza on opposite sides.

As soon as Hala called the start of the match, Pearl quickly called for her Popplio to use water gun on Hau’s litten. She had been practicing this moment in her head for years, and she felt like she knew exactly what to do.

Since both pokemon were so weak, the battle didn’t last very long – Pearl’s popplio was easily able to K.O. Hau’s litten, thanks to type advantages. Still, it was exhilarating for both parties, and when Hala called Pearl as the winner, both Pearl and Hau couldn’t help but have huge grins on their faces.

After the battle, the two went to a kiosk to get their trainer cards printed, and both of them made the biggest smiles for their pictures – Pearl even held up her new pokemon for the camera.

After leaving the kiosk, the two were approached by Kukui and Lillie.

“Pearl! Hau! That was amazing, you both did so well for your first time battling!” he said, giving a thumbs-up.

“Thanks prof! Even if I did lose, it was still pretty fun!” Hau said, putting his hands up behind his head in a comfortable position, while his healed litten was purring and rubbing at his leg.

Lillie peeked from behind Kukui to speak.

“It was short, but I thought it was a good battle too. I could really see the both of you give it your all.” she said quietly.

The group talked some more before Pearl checked the time and realized she should probably head back home. 

“Awh, I wanted to show you the best malasada place in town – I think it’s still open!” Hau said.

“It’s fine, you can show me later! Plus, I’m tired and all sweaty, it’d be nice to get home and rest.” Pearl replied. 

“Alright! How about we meet at that malasada shop tomorrow to talk about the island trials? I can text you the location and time.”

“That sounds good! Alright, I’m off, I’ll seeya tomorrow!”

With that, Pearl walked backwards while waving before turning around and heading back home.

—

Pearl was laying on her bed, mindlessly scrolling through social media before she went to bed. Her popplio was at the foot of her bed, and every so often, Pearl would fix her posture to reach the pokemon and pet it.

“I should name you…” Pearl whispered to herself. “How about Azul? That’s a cute name for a cute pokemon… yea… Azul works.”

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