Chapter Text
“What’s with the new hat?”
“Huh?”
Kiawe raised an eyebrow, “You know, the pink one you have on.” Everyone was in the same seats as before in the small jade green bus. Brock and Professor Kukui were discussing different medical issues in Pokémon and people with Rotom, the girls were cooing Misty’s team, and Sophocles was typing away on his holographic keyboard.
“Pika pika,” his buddy began with an excuse.
“Uh… Pikachu, I can’t really understand you,” Kiawe chuckled, breaking into a sweat.
“Pi?”
“You might have to give it some time bud,” he said, patting his head.
“What do you mean?”
“Can’t you understand Turtanator?”
“Not really, I just read his facial expressions.”
“People can understand their Pokémon when they grow a strong enough bond. Like I can understand all my Pokémon, actually, all in general completely-”
“Pikaaa,” he said, raising a brow.
“Shush, I’m born talented. Anyway, my mom can understand Pikachu and a Mr. Mime pretty well. Actually, a lot of my traveling buddies can understand Pikachu a bit. Then there’s some who basically understand him, like Misty and Brock.
“Pi pi,” he called to Misty. She turned to him. “Ka!” She high-fived him by his tail and turned back to her conversation.
“See?”
“That explains a lot. Maybe I should start talking to Turtanator about different things.”
“That’s a great start,” he nodded. “Anyway, I-”
“We’re here!” The bus stopped at a path which climbed up a hill. Professor Oak’s lab was a memorable part of any trip to Pallet town. As everyone stepped out of the bus, the fresh smell of cookies drew them in like a Sweet Scent attack. “Today’s lesson will be on regional differences. As we know, every Pokémon is different, but some species have different appearances based on their location. Can anyone think of some reasons why?”
“Climate?”
“Yes, good one Lillie. We’ll be seeing some of these Pokémon today.”
“Are they going to be different types, like Brock’s Geodude?” Sophocles recalled battling the Pokémon with Lillie yesterday.
“You’ll see,” he winked. The lab was a white building with two different structure styles. One half was shaped like a Diglett, the roof a curved, ruby red hat, while the other half was more like a regular house with the roof on the front and back instead of the sides. The Diglett looking half was taller than the regular half, with a set of windows making that half stretch higher. An even taller windmill stood behind the whole building with shiny white paint. The hill was surrounded by a forest which led to the Viridian Forest. At the door of the lab was a young man with a jett black hair. He wore a casual green t-shirt with red shorts and a red sweatband.
“Welcome everyone! Oh, hey Ash.”
“Hi Tracey.”
Professor Kukui looked dumbfounded, “I keep forgetting you're a native here. Are you close with the professor as well?”
“I mean, he does hold most of my Pokémon. Our families are tied together too.”
“No doubt about that, Ashy-boy,” a voice called from the fence by the back of the building. “You guys should come in from the fence.” The class and Tracey went to the gate entrance and saw an open field of Pokémon. While everyone was watching the Pokémon, Ash greeted the trainer who called them over.
“Woah!” Mallow gasped looking at the Pokémon community of the field, “Are these all wild Pokémon?”
“Nope, a lot of them are trainer’s Pokémon,” the spiky, reddish-brown haired trainer who called out before said. He wore an unbuttoned black polo shirt with Muk purple cargo pants. His originally bland black necklace with a silver charm was replaced by a blue change with half of a small Pokéball attached. Ash actually wore a matching neckwear under his shirt, but his chain was red with the white part of the Pokéball. “Oh, and I’m Gary Oak. The professor is my gramps.”
“Where is he?”
“Right here,” an elderly man called from the building. He walked over the class with a few Pokéballs in his hands. “I know you’ve been here for a day or two, but I would still like to welcome most of you to the Kanto region!” The professor was dressed in his usual red polo shirt and tan cargo pants under an outstanding white lab coat, just like Professor Kukui’s.
Professor Oak led them to a more open part of the field, where nearby Pokémon were playing and battling. The two professors began to show the class the differences between regional Pokémon. They released different Pokémon as the class ‘ooo’ed at the same named pocket creatures.
“Psst,” Gary whispered to Ash in the back of the group.
“What?”
Gary stumbled back. “Are you-”
“Telepathy,” he reminded him.
“Right, I kept forgettin’ we can do that.”
“So, what’s up?”
“I got some info on Team Flare.”
“Yeah?”
“So, I overheard my dad and grams talkin’ about Team Flare. Pops brought up the secret mission your friend found in the corrupted files. They spoke before the Kalos Crisis happened. So, he probably knows about you and everything that happened during it. Maybe it was X who was killed in Kalos and Red was taken captive. Apparently, my dad had been looking into it for a long while but I guess he stopped now. Don’t know why.”
“Okay, do you know where he was taken?”
“I can’t confirm, but it has to be Alola based on the data and the plot of this story.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Mhm… Isn’t that a good thing? I can easily look around while I’m staying there.”
“Are you stupid? They know about you, they know you have what Red had. You’ll get taken or killed!”
“Relax, you Garchomp.”
“I’m coming to Alola.”
“What?”
“I’m not letting you go alone. We’re in this together, idiot. ”
Ash slit his eyes, “Were you al-” A large, purple mass of Muk absorbed the distracted trainer. “Hey! Muk, you’ve gotten larger,” he choked under the sludge Pokémon. Ash remembered catching him in Gringey City at an abandoned power plant. Whenever his Pokémon hadn’t seen him in a while, they would tackle him as a special greeting.
“Muuuk.”
“Last of all is the Kantoian Muk,” Professor Oak chuckled. “This one in particular is Ash’s.”
“The sunny weather of Alolan must have also lightened its color since this one is a duller color,” Mallow noted.
“It’s mood is always pretty bright though,” Kiawe jokes, making Mallow chuckle.
“Now that this lesson is over, feel free to explore the area. There are Pokémon from all over the world, mostly thanks to Ash and Gary.”
“Hey, As-”
“I need to borrow this kid for a second. You can have him afterwards blondie,” Gary interrupted before yanking Ash away. The two headed away from the Alola natives and resumed their previous conversation. “I’ll be joining your class too, by the way.”
“Why?”
“Why are you in school when you know everything?”
“Touché. But seriously though, you could always get a hotel suite.”
“Well, I need at least one year of Pokémon school if I’m going to become a Pokémon professor,” he shrugged.
“You going to replace your grandpa?”
“Nah, but I heard my aunt talking about my dad settling down here. The Oak line will never die!”
“Woo!”
“You should probably bond with your future classmates,” Ash nudged, glancing at their classmates as they caught up with the childhood friends.