Moonlit Blossoms
A Pokémon Journey
---
Chapter 1
A New Dawn
It wasn’t often that Laurelin found herself cackling madly, a wicked grin stretched across her face from one ear to the other, but right now the situation most definitely called for it. It wasn’t every day she stood heroically on the broad back of her trusty gyarados, racing across a river of green lemonade in hot pursuit of a blue-finned, golden-tailed milotic, after all! She’d never seen one like it before and she’d be damned if she let it get away!
The chase had been going on for a while, for her quarry was a most worthy opponent. It had taken its pursuers on a merry ride across the world, from whipped-cream laden highlands, through the forest of breadsticks, to their current location on the green river that, if ridden to the end, would take them all the way to the fizzy lake.
Laurelin was determined not to let it get that far, however. Their prey was tiring, while gyarados only seemed to be going faster the more they gained upon it. Soon the milotic would be close enough for her to attempt to catch it. She unhooked an empty pokéball from her belt, fingers clenching it tightly in anticipation. Almost…
Suddenly, without slowing down, the milotic whirled around and opened its mouth. Eyes widening and realising her catch was about to attack, Laurelin shouted a hasty order to her mount, hoping it was not too late. However, she was not prepared for what happened next, as what emerged from the milotic’s mouth was not a beam of pressurised water or condensed energy, but a black shape with demonic red eyes.
With a chilling howl as loud as a whole pack of houndoom, the shadowy creature sailed through the air, unfurling arms tipped with sharp claws in the process. In the blink of an eye, it was upon her, arms lashing out to strike. Screaming, Laurelin raised her arms in a desperate last attempt to shield herself…
… only to lurch up from her bed when something jumped heavily onto her stomach, brusquely tearing her out of her dream.
Gasping for breath, Laurelin looked around wildly, eyes wide like an animal backed into a corner. It took her a moment to realise what had happened and another to notice the cause of her rude awakening sitting right next to her, staring up at her with the most pleased look on its feline face it could muster. Had there been a jury present to rate the smug satisfaction in that look, it would have earned full marks across the board.
“Slippers…!” Laurelin growled through clenched teeth, feeling her left eye twitch erratically.
“
Mrrow,” the Pokémon replied innocently, bowing its head to lick its paw.
Fingers twitching, it took every bit of her willpower to not turn her mother’s pet into its namesake right there and then. She only managed by telling herself that doing so would upset her mother and that she’d probably have to clean up the mess herself if she did go through with it. Leaning back on her hands, Laurelin let her eyes fall shut and took a moment to calmly breathe deeply in and out a couple of times in order to calm down.
Only when she felt more properly awake and was certain she wasn’t going to reach out towards the meowth and try her hand at shoemaking, did she open up her eyes again.
Now that she was more attentive, she immediately noticed how bright it was, the sun illuminating the room perfectly despite the curtains being closed. As she let her gaze wander around the room, she idly wondered what time it was, but when she turned her head towards her bedside table to check her alarm clock, she discovered that it wasn’t there. Nor was the bedside table it was supposed to be standing on, in fact.
She frowned and had to think for a moment to remember why that was.
“Oh, right…” she muttered, shaking her head at her own silliness. She had to still be half asleep if she’d forgotten about the move and didn’t recognise her new room. “
Well, it’s only the third morning,” she thought. “
I think I can be excused.”
A sudden yaw widely split her face in half and she stretched her arms above her head, groaning in delight as she felt her shoulders and vertebrae give a satisfying pop. When she was done, she finally turned her attention back to the crook that had pre-emptively ended a wonderful dream.
“Did mama send you to wake me up?” she demanded, not feeling particularly forgiving yet for the sudden attack on her stomach.
“
Mrr,” Slippers said, as he briefly paused to look up from his grooming to give her a nod of confirmation. Then he went straight back to using his paws to brush his whiskers.
“In that case, you did what you came for,” Laurelin replied, before swiping at him unexpectedly with her pillow. “So get lost!”
The meowth leaped effortlessly over her half-hearted attack with the grace his kind were known for and slipped to the floor. He spared a moment to cast a look of pity over his shoulder, and then unhurriedly sashayed out of the room, tail curling behind him.
Laurelin tried to smother herself in her pillow.
When her attempt at suicide through fluffiness had inevitably failed, she put her pillow back in its place and tossed the crumpled bedsheet off herself, figuring that, regardless of how he’d done it, Slippers had woken her up at her mother’s behest, meaning she’d best get up. Rubbing her tired eyes, she slipped her legs and feet out of her bed, a soft croon flowing from her dry lips when they came in contact with the cool floor.
Though normally she slept in her cute mareep pyjamas, upon their arrival three nights ago she’d been forced to slip on a light shirt for the night instead, as her pyjamas were still buried with the rest of her wardrobe in one of the many boxes that held their belongings. This had turned out somewhat as a blessing in disguise, however, for one thing Laurelin had learned her very first night was that even after dark, Alola could be
hot. Her woolly pyjamas would simply be unbearable in the tropical heat, so she’d stuck to just a wide shirt and her underwear every night since, much as it broke her heart to abandon her trusty pj’s.
She needed to find a mareep-printed shirt as soon as possible.
Laurelin ran a hand through the tangled mess that was her hair while letting another yawn escape, before getting up and making her way to the bathroom, passing numerous cardboard boxes still waiting to be unpacked along the way. She pulled off her cream coloured shirt and discarded it carelessly atop a footstool, then made a beeline straight for the sink so she could splash her face with cold water and drive the last of the sleep from her brain. She’d feel a whole lot better after her morning ritual.
Fifteen minutes later, Laurelin opened the bathroom door, refreshed and ready to take on the day. Her hair was neatly combed and she’d donned an airy blouse with matching pleated skirt, their sea blue colour a perfect fit for the region. She paused in the doorway and bent down when she noticed one of the Velcro bands of the sandals she wore around the house had gotten loose. She swiftly refastened it, then for good measure also checked if her over the knee white socks were still even when she rose back up.
That was when her mother chose to enter the room through the door that lead to the veranda. She halted midstride upon noticing her daughter closing the bathroom door behind her.
“Good morning, dear,” Johanna said, her expression beaming. “I was going to check up on you after I finished setting up breakfast, but I see that won’t be necessary.”
“Morning, mama,” Laurelin replied, smiling as well. “And yeah, I just got dressed.”
She went over to her mother in the kitchen area. While her parent was busy liberating several foodstuffs from the fridge, Laurelin glanced around the room, her eyes falling on the empty dinner table that took up the middle of the living room area. The smile on her face widened and she glanced back to her mother.
“Breakfast on the veranda again today?” she asked, though she already knew the answer.
“Of course. Lunch and supper as well, if I have ought to say about it,” Johanna responded, her bent upper body hidden by the open door of the fridge. When she emerged from behind it, she was holding several jars and Zupperware containers with sandwich spreads in her hands. “I didn’t move halfway across the globe just to stay cooped up inside again, not with this weather!”
Laurelin was pretty sure that if her mother’s hands hadn’t been full, they’d have been placed firmly on her hips to accompany that last statement, but had to admit her mom had a point.
“Anything I can do to help?” she asked, while her mother moved past her, carrying her edible cargo towards the veranda.
“Just bring the milk, if you would,” Johanna answered over her shoulder. “That and the spreads were the last things I had to fetch, so if you take it along we can pretty much start eating.”
Laurelin nodded and quickly did as requested, then followed her mother outside.
---
“Aaah, this is the life,” Johanna said, leaning back in her plastic folding chair with a content sigh, a mug of jet black coffee held in one hand and accompanying saucer in her other. “Breakfast on the veranda, with a perfect blue sky, a cool sea breeze and a view of the ocean. What more could a woman want for?”
“Some better chairs and a larger table, for starters?” Laurelin commented wryly, as she nibbled on her salad sandwich.
“Oh, hush, dear,” her mother replied. She straightened her back again so she could take a sip from her coffee, while deliberately ignoring the cramped, cluttered mess that was the tiny plastic table standing in between them. The poor little thing could scarcely hold the plethora of jars, containers and woven baskets placed upon it, looking almost as if it would collapse under the weight at any minute. “They came with the house. We should be glad to have a table at all, else we’d have to eat inside.”
“Arceus deliver us from such a travesty,” Laurelin couldn’t help but snark, hiding her grin behind her sandwich. “All joking aside, I agree about the view; it really is amazing. Beats staring at another apartment building all the time, for sure.”
She took another bite of her food, the lettuce giving a satisfying crunch as she munched on it. Once she’d swallowed her mouthful down, she lowered her sandwich and turned her head aside to stare at the view she’d just been praising. Across the table, her mother put her cup back onto its saucer to do the same.
Their new home was situated on the south side of a hill on the eastern side of Melemele Island, near the outskirts of Hau’oli City, the largest city on the island. From there, Laurelin and her mother had a spectacular view of the pearly white beach and the shimmering Melemele Sea to the east and the imposing height of the Ten Carat Hill to the south. They could see the various small sandbanks littering the shallows, on some of which even grew the occasional palm tree, as well as the rocky shoals further into the ocean that marked where the shallow plateau ended and the deep sea began. A gentle breeze was always riding up the hillside from the beach at its foot, carrying with it the salty scent of the sea and the cries of the wingull that were ever present above the waves.
It was a sight that no picture in a real estate folder could do justice. The photographs included with the folders back when her mother had been deciding on their future house had nothing on the real thing. The moment she’d taken in this view with her own eyes for the first time, she’d been in love and any and all worries of homesickness had faded away.
It really was that beautiful.
Absentmindedly, Laurelin took another bite of her sandwich, then reluctantly tore her gaze away from the mesmerising view to spare a glance at her mom.
“It still feels kind of surreal,” she said. “That we’re finally here, I mean. We spent so long preparing and living up to this moment, it sometimes felt like it’d never come. Yet now we’re here and it feels like only yesterday you told me we were moving.”
“As you say,” Johanna greed. She took a red and ripe-looking berry from the fruit basket and started to peel it above her breadcrumb-covered plate. “Hard to believe it’s already been three months since we filled in and sent up all that paperwork, but here we are. I woke up this morning again wondering how much I drank the night before, because clearly this wasn’t my bedroom!”
Laurelin laughed. “Me too! Well, minus the drinking, I guess. Wouldn’t know about that.” She sighed and went on to finish the rest of her sandwich. “I suppose it’ll start to sink in and we’ll get used to it soon enough.”
“I’m sure it will. Especially once everything’s been unpacked and this place has been redecorated to look like home,” her mother said, after which she took a big bite out of the pink flesh of the berry in her hand, sweet juice running down her chin.
The two of them fell into an amicable silence to eat up the rest of their meal and Laurelin went back to gazing at the ocean view, occasionally sipping from her mug of milk to wash down her breakfast. The wind played idly with her hair and the air was filled with the cries of wild Pokémon, some sounding nearby and others far away, some of which she recognised and some she’d never heard before in her life. She was looking forward to seeing them all in the flesh.
Across the table, Johanna was watching her only child with a fond look in her eyes and the corners of her mouth tugged up into a small smile. She was glad and more than a bit relieved to see Laurelin had taken well to their new home, at least so far. Granted, it was only the third day, but given how difficult it had always been for her daughter to adjust to a new residence, even during common things like a sleepover at a friend’s house or a hotel room on vacation, things were going remarkably well so far.
“
For once,” Johanna thought, “
it would seem my little girl needed a change of pace as much as I did. A fresh start for the both of us.”
Unaware of her mother’s musings, Laurelin stretched out her arm and pointed at the beach.
“Is that roof down there Professor Kukui’s lab?” she asked, indicating towards a small, green roof that was visible just above the treeline.
Johanna glanced at the beach. “I think so, yes,” she answered, before downing the last of her coffee and putting the now empty cup and saucer on the overly full table.
“I wonder why he had it built there, so far from the city and so close to the sea,” Laurelin said, staring at the inconspicuous green roof in wonder. “Looks pretty isolated.” She gave a brief, sideways glance at their new house. “Not that we’re in any position to comment on that, I suppose. Still, would being that close to the ocean be safe during a tropical storm? Or if a springtide comes in?”
“I’m sure all of those things were kept in mind when they built it, dear,” Johanna chuckled. “Since he’s coming by this morning, though, you can just ask him yourself when you see him.”
“I almost forgot,” Laurelin confessed, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly. “To hand me my trainer passport, right?”
“Indeed. He would have given it to you the morning after we arrived here with the rest of our residential documents, but you were still sleeping off your jetlag at the time and he said he preferred to give it to you in person,” her mother replied, as she rose from her chair and began to clear the table, now that they’d both finished their breakfast.
“I did say you should’ve woken me up,” Laurelin muttered, getting up from her seat as well in order to lend her mom a hand with clearing the table and taking everything back inside.
“Nonsense! You were practically dead on your feet the night before when we arrived,” Johanna said. “You needed your sleep and the professor agreed. He was slated to see you about receiving your first Pokémon today, anyway. He figured he could just as well hand you your passport at the same time.”
Taking the fruit basket in one hand and the bread basket in the other, Laurelin followed her mother, who was carrying their used dishes and the coffee pot, inside the house.
“I’m still kind of nervous about it. Getting a Pokémon so soon, I mean,” she admitted, while putting the baskets she was carrying on the kitchen counter. “I know the professor probably arranged it months ago, so it shouldn’t really come as a surprise, but still…” She gave her mother a nervous smile and shrugged. “I don’t know, I guess I figured I’d have more time to get used to living here before taking the next big step.”
Johanna put their dishes into the sink and turned on the faucet, then turned to her daughter and reached over the counter to put a hand on her head.
“I think that’s perfectly normal,” she assured her child with a comforting smile. “Like you said, you’re being asked to adjust to two major changes in your life practically at the same time. Anyone would be nervous because of that, so it’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
Pulling back her hand, Johanna briefly turned back to the sink to turn off the faucet, then focussed her attention wholly on her daughter again.
“Even Professor Kukui admitted as much,” she continued. “He said normally he’d have waited at least a week to give you the time to settle in, but wanted to hurry things along this time because of some upcoming festival in the nearby town up the hill. How it’s supposed to be this celebration for young trainers and their Pokémon and how he would’ve been sad to see you left out, so if he gave you your first Pokémon a bit sooner than planned you’d have a few days to adjust to each other in time for the festival.”
“I think I do recall the travel guides mentioning a festival being held around this time of year on Melemele,” Laurelin said slowly, scrambling her brain for more details, to no avail. With how many books and travel guides she’d devoured in preparation of moving to the region, the numerous facts and bits of knowledge she’d picked up on had all started to blur somewhat together.
“Not that we have to go, of course,” Johanna was quick to add. “It all depends on how comfortable you are with the idea, a week from now. I think the professor merely wants to give you the option to go as trainer,
if you want to, instead of having to wait another year. That being said…”
She went around the counter and up to her daughter, putting her hands on Laurelin’s shoulders and looking down at the girl, a serious but kind expression on her face.
“If you truly feel that you’re not ready yet to receive your first Pokémon, there’s nothing preventing you from holding it off for now until you are,” she said. “I would hate for you to feel pressured into doing something you don’t feel comfortable with yet and I’m sure the professor’s opinion is no different. In the end, you’re the one who has to take care of your partner, so you’re the one who gets to say if you’re ready to have one or not.”
Laurelin could practically feel herself glowing from the warmth and love in her mother’s words and she threw her arms around Johanna in a grateful hug.
“Thanks, mama.”
“You’re welcome, dear,” Johanna replied, smiling as she returned the embrace with one arm and used her free hand to pat her child on the back of her head.
“Still, I’ll be alright. I mean, I’m nervous and all, but I’m sure I can handle it,” Laurelin said softly, with her head pressed closely to her mother’s chest, as she listened to her mother’s soothing heartbeat. “I’ll take it slowly, one step at a time, and see how it goes. If I ever do feel like it’s all too much, well, you’ll be there to help, right? Besides, I’d hate for the professor to have gone through all that trouble to get everything ready for me early, only for me to turn him down.”
“Of course I’ll help if you need me to,” her mother assured her. “And I’m sure Professor Kukui would understand completely if you asked for more time. In fact, I have no doubt he’d prefer you to do that than accept a Pokémon you’re not ready to care for. Looking after Pokémon is part of his job as a professor, after all.”
“Yeah, I know,” Laurelin replied. “But I’d still feel bad about it.” She looked up at her mom and smiled. “So, nervous or not, if the professor offers to give me my first Pokémon, I’ll accept and take care of it as best as I can.”
“I know you will,” Johanna said, tenderly brushing Laurelin’s cheek with the back of her hand. “You always seemed to do well with other people’s Pokémon, after all.”
“Except for Slippers,” Laurelin muttered under her breath.
“What was that?” her mother asked.
“Nothing, nothing! Just wondering where Slippers went! Didn’t see him at breakfast, after all, heh heh…”
“Ah, I believe I saw him slip back into my room after he came back from yours,” Johanna explained, while untangling herself from Laurelin’s embrace. “He likes lazing around in his basket ever since we arrived, probably because it still smells of our old apartment and makes it feel familiar and safe in this new environment. He needs to adjust to his new home as much as we do, after all.”
“I’m sure he does,” Laurelin sighed, trying not to let too much rancour seep into her words.
“Well, let’s just leave him to it,” her mother said, oblivious to the dreams of vengeance brewing inside her daughter’s mind. “We still need to finish cleaning up breakfast. Can you start on the dishes while I bring the rest inside? I only hope a wild Pokémon didn’t get brave and run off with one of our last jars of berry jam from Kanto while we were talking…”
Laurelin nodded and made to go to the kitchen sink, while Johanna went back to the veranda. She’d barely finished washing the first plate, however, when the doorbell rang.
“That has got to be Professor Kukui,” Johanna said as she re-entered the room, her eyebrows raised in surprise and her arms laden with things from the breakfast table. “Go let him in, Laurelin, I need to put these back in the fridge.”
“Got it,” Laurelin replied.
She hastily dried off her hands with a kitchen towel and hurried towards the door, nerves rising in her stomach with every step she took. She’d never really spoken to the professor before, aside from a few brief moments over the phone where she’d told him to stay on the line while she went to fetch her mom. Knowing that he was the man responsible for having her registered as a new trainer and for receiving her first Pokémon and that he was now most likely behind that front door, she suddenly felt very self-conscious. She prayed she’d not mess up the first impression she gave him.
Laurelin took a deep breath to steel herself, then opened the door.
“Alola! Good morning to you, yeah!”
The words were spoken by a tall man, standing relaxed on the porch with one hand in the pocket of his classic white lab coat, while his other hand tilted up the visor of the white sports cap on his head in greeting. The wide smile on his face, showing off near perfect pearlescent teeth, was so brilliant Laurelin almost had to shield her eyes to prevent herself from going blind.
“Ehm, good morning,” she replied uncertainly, caught somewhat off-guard by the boisterous greeting. “You’re… Professor Kukui?” She glanced at his sharp face to try and match it to the photograph she’d seen in a travel brochure of Alola, but found it hard to tell because of the wide sunglasses he was wearing.
The man nodded and his smile, somehow, grew even wider. “That’s me!” he confirmed, proudly tapping his chest with his free hand.
The innocent gesture, however, also drew attention to the fact that he was wearing no shirt underneath his lab coat, which promptly coloured Laurelin’s cheeks redder than a corfish. She really did her best not to stare, not wanting to be rude, but what was a developing girl to do when suddenly confronted by a view seemingly straight out of an athletes magazine? She was as fallible as the next girl!
Mercifully, Professor Kukui seemed unaware the effect his bare chest and chiselled abs were having on the girl before him. Either that, or he was under the impression the impressive blush she was sporting was simply a result of not being used to the Alolan heat yet.
Not missing a beat, he leaned in a bit closer, while stroking his small, neatly kept goatee with the hand not in his pocket. “Now, unless Miss Johanna suddenly grew a couple years younger and coloured her hair since I last saw her two days ago, I’m guessing that’d make you Laurelin, yeah?”
“Yes sir,” Laurelin answered, nodding her head. She let go of the door and performed a polite bow for the professor. “Laurelin Kementari, pleased to meet you.”
Perhaps she was being a tad too courteous now, but she felt she had to make up for letting her eyes feast upon him so shamelessly a minute ago. Fortunately the professor still seemed unfazed by how things had gone so far, to her great relief.
“Pleasure’s all mine!” Kukui replied, as he leaned back again, now with both hands stuffed in the pockets of his coat. “And please, feel free to call me Kukui! Too young to be a sir!” The wide grin from before returned at that last bit, before his expression shifted into something a bit more neutral. “Now then, Laurelin, did your mother happen to mention I’d be dropping by this morning?”
“She did,” Laurelin confirmed, nodding again. “We were expecting you, although…” She briefly glanced over her shoulder into the house, then turned back to the professor with a bashful smile on her lips. “Maybe not
this early.”
Now it was the professor’s turn to look apologetic.
“My bad! Shouldn’t go assuming everyone’s as much of an early riser as me, especially when they’re still new to the region!” he said, scratching his neck sheepishly just below the knot of dark hair emerging from under his cap. “I can come back later if now’s not a good time?”
“No, no, it’s no trouble at all!” Laurelin hurriedly assured him, not wanting the professor to think he’d inconvenienced them. “We’d just finished breakfast when you rang.” She pushed the front door completely open and stepped aside. “Please, come inside.”
The professor nodded gratefully and stepped past her into the house, taking a moment to wipe his shoes on the therefor intended doormat in the entrance, while Laurelin closed the door behind him. She then followed him into the living room, where her mother had just finished putting the remaining foodstuffs from breakfast back into the fridge.
“Good morning, Professor Kukui!” Johanna smiled from behind the kitchen counter when she saw her daughter and their guest enter the room.
“Hey there, Miss Johanna!” the professor replied with a grin of his own and a casual wave of his hand. “Sorry about barging in at this early hour, in all my excitement I forgot you’re probably still getting used to the shift in time zones!”
“There’s no need to apologise, professor,” Johanna said kindly. “It’s we who should apologise for keeping you from your own work with all this time you’ve spent helping us.”
“Nothing that couldn’t wait, don’t worry!” Professor Kukui responded, brushing off her concerns. “There’s never no time to lend a
Helping Hand to people who could use one, yeah! Especially to my new neighbours!”
“That may be, but we’re in your debt either way. Please do not hesitate to call on us should you need anything in the future, both Laurelin and myself would be more than happy to help in whatever way we can,” Johanna insisted, giving a grateful bow as she spoke, which she held for a couple of seconds.
“I’ll be sure to let you know, though I feel I’ve got to add that I already have a capable assistant helping me out at the lab,” the professor said, after which he crossed his arms and gave a good natured laugh. “Still, thanks for the kind words. Feels good to know your efforts are appreciated, yeah!”
“You’re most welcome,” Johanna smiled back. “With that said, can I offer you anything? I’m afraid I haven’t really had the opportunity to properly stock the pantry and the fridge yet, so choices aren’t as extensive as I’d like, but I can still give my guests something cool to drink.”
The professor held up his hand apologetically in declination. “That’s most gracious, miss, but in truth I don’t plan on staying that long. Made an appointment with Kahuna Hala in Iki Town that I’d like to get to as soon as possible.”
Johanna nodded in understanding. “Some other time, then,” she said, before glancing at Laurelin, who’d been politely keeping to herself in the background during the entire exchange, then back to the professor. “You’ve met my daughter Laurelin?”
“Sure did!” Kukui confirmed, as he planted his hands on his hips and turned himself around to face the girl in question. “I was very happy to, in fact, after I missed her during my previous visit, yeah!”
“I’m very sorry about that, professor,” Laurelin apologised, bowing again. “I told mama she should’ve woken me up.”
“Don’t be silly, girl,” the professor kindly admonished her. “You’d had a long day, moving to a new region, new home, new climate! Bad case of jetlag too, from what your mom told me! That’d knock out anyone, no matter how tough! Some rest was just what you needed!”
Since her mother had said pretty much the same thing not even half an hour ago, Laurelin didn’t argue. She had to admit they were probably right, anyhow.
“From the looks of it, it did its job, too,” Professor Kukui added, as he looked Laurelin up and down. “You feeling better now, yeah?”
The teenage girl nodded affirmatively. “I do, thank you. Still adjusting a bit to the shift in time zones, but we came prepared to make that go as smoothly as possible.” She glanced sideways to her mother with a bit of envy in her eyes. “Mama’s handling it better than me, though, I must admit. She acts like we didn’t move halfway across the world at all.”
Johanna planted her hands firmly on her hips and puffed up her chest proudly. “I’m just that tough, dear!” she boasted, smiling triumphantly. “As if there was any way I could take it easy when there’s a paradise out there waiting for me to explore it!” Her enthusiasm faded somewhat as she scratched sheepishly at her cheek. “Well, that and there’s simply too much work that needs to be done, between unpacking and getting the house in order.”
Her words caused Laurelin’s expression to drop, the girl now looking like she felt guilty for not having helped her mother more during the past two days. Which didn’t surprise Johanna much, sadly; her child had always had the habit of feeling responsible for the problems of those close to her, even when it wasn’t needed. A quick change of topic was in order.
“But enough about that!” she said, as she turned her gaze towards Kukui. “Professor, since you’re in a hurry and we’d hate to keep you, shall we get to the reason for your visit?”
“Of course, of course!” he replied, his wide grin shifting into a more neutral, calmer smile. He reached into a wide inside pocket of his lab coat and pulled out a small, rectangular booklet bound in stylish green leather. “Laurelin, let me start by giving you this, yeah! Make sure to keep it on your person at all times from now on!”
Laurelin felt her heart widely try to escape her chest as she gingerly took the little booklet into her trembling hands, handling it with the same care as one did an archaeological artefact, as if she was afraid that it would crumble to dust if she so much as breathed at it. With a rapidly growing lump in her throat, she observed the ornate gilded seal of Alola on the front and marvelled at its intricate beauty, before her eyes trailed lower, to the three words underneath the crest. There it stood, with undeniable clarity:
‘
Alolan Trainer Passport’
With bated breath, she opened booklet to its first page, where she was greeted by the passport photograph she’d picked out three months ago staring back at her. Next to it were listed her basic personal details, such as her name, address and date of birth. The paper on which it was all printed had a nice tropical motif decorating it, but what truly caught her eye was the very official looking stamp at the bottom of the page. Accompanying it where another three words that made her heart once more skip a beat:
‘
Official Pokémon Trainer’
Laurelin swallowed hard and looked up from her passport into Professor Kukui’s broadly grinning face.
“Congratulations, Laurelin!” he said. “You’re an officially licenced Pokémon trainer now!”
Though she wasn’t about to get teary-eyed, the moment certainly made Laurelin feel emotional and she clutched the passport to her chest as if it was the world’s greatest treasure, struggling to find anything to say all the while. Finally, with a helpless shrug of her shoulders, she gave up on trying to find those perfect, special words and just went for something far simpler, but every bit as heartfelt.
“Thank you, professor.”
Kukui simply smiled in response.
“Well, they certainly made these things look more expensive than they were in my day,” Johanna commented, having come up behind her daughter and now marvelling over her shoulder at the passport in her hands. “I might just get jealous.”
“Green isn’t your colour, mama,” Laurelin said with a teasing grin, before continuing to browse through her new treasure. The next few pages following the first contained the more in depth personal information about herself and her parents that she remembered filling in on the document all those months ago. Beyond that, however, the remaining pages were left completely blank. She looked back up at Professor Kukui in confusion.
“Why are most of the pages empty?” she asked.
The professor gave her a knowing grin, his hands once more on his hips. “That’s where the stamps serving as proof of completing the various trials of the Island Challenge will go!” he explained. “You can see how far every trainer in Alola got on their challenge by looking at the stamps they’ve collected, oh yeah!”
Laurelin frowned as she flipped through the pages again and noticed over half of them were empty. “Judging by the number of blank pages, I’ll have my work cut out for me,” she muttered, wondering, somewhat discouraged, just what the Island Challenge entailed. The numerous books on Alola she’d read had been suspiciously vague on that subject.
Johanna put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders and gave them an encouraging squeeze. “You’re worrying too much again, dear,” she said. “You’ll only discourage yourself if you look solely at the finish line. Just take it slowly, one step at a time.”
“Your mom’s absolutely right!” Professor Kukui agreed. “The Island Challenge, no, being a trainer’s no fun if you never stop to live in the moment! It’s all about the journey, not so much the result! Even if all those pages remain blank, as long as you had a fun time and took good care of your Pokémon, that’s all that matters, yeah!”
“I guess so,” Laurelin conceded, the smile returning to her face.
“However, can’t rightly do that if you don’t have a Pokémon, yeah?” the professor added. “So let’s get a move on to Iki Town! If we leave now, you can meet with the Kahuna, get yourself a real nice Pokémon and bring it home just in time for lunch!”
Laurelin looked uncertainly from the professor to her mother. With the excitement over being officially recognised as a trainer subsiding, she felt the nerves at the prospect of her first Pokémon creeping back in.
“I think that sounds like a wonderful idea!” Johanna interceded, a bright smile on her face. She gave her child a comforting pat on the shoulder. “You knew it was scheduled to happen today, so you might as well do it now! That way you’ll have plenty of daytime left to get to know your Pokémon and help it settle in. It’ll be a day well spent!”
Laurelin still looked a bit nervous, but her mother’s smile and good cheer were infectious, making her smile again. “Alright, if you’re okay with it, mama,” she said with a nod of her head, before turning to Professor Kukui. “Will we be walking there, professor?”
Professor Kukui crossed his arms and nodded affirmatively. “Yup! The road to Iki Town’s unpaved and the hobs make it so it’s not all that fun a trip by car. But on foot we can take the scenic route so I can show you some of the sights and get you more familiar with the island, yeah!”
Johanna let out an appreciative hum. “That doesn’t sound like so bad an idea, either,” she commented. “With all the work unpacking and putting this place in order, neither of us have done much exploring yet. Laurelin went for a walk yesterday, but I don’t think she went much further than the crossroad.”
“You’re more than welcome to join us, of course, miss,” Professor Kukui invited her. “It’d be my pleasure to introduce you to some of the good townsfolk and I know there’re many looking forward to make your acquaintance!”
“As wonderful as that sounds, I’m afraid I’ll have to decline,” Johanna replied apologetically. “There’s simply still too much for me to do around the house and none of it can really wait if I want this place to look and feel like home within an acceptable timeframe.”
Laurelin cast a worried glance at her mother. “If it’s too much, I can stay here to help,” she offered, genuinely concerned for her parent. “That Pokémon won’t vanish if it has to wait a few more days.”
“Absolutely not!” Johanna said with a firm shake of her head. “I didn’t sell our old apartment and move halfway across the globe just to have my daughter be stuck inside the house again. Not with this beautiful weather! I can take a break once the work is done, but you should be out there enjoying yourself right now.”
“Well, if you’re sure…” Laurelin responded, looking like she did want to go but still feeling conflicted about leaving her mother to do all the work.
“I am,” Johanna replied simply. She gestured towards the door of Laurelin’s bedroom. “So go grab your things and get ready to leave. The professor didn’t free up his own valuable time just to watch you be indecisive at the last second.”
Laurelin nodded and hurried towards her room, seemingly feeling quite relieved that the decision was taken for her.
“And don’t forget your hat!” her mother called after her. “You’ll need something on your head to shield it from the sun. I probably don’t have to tell you, but it can get quite a bit hotter here than we’re used to. I don’t want to see you get sunburnt the very first time you leave the house for more than half an hour.”
“I’ll make sure to put on suntan and bring the tube with me, mama!” Laurelin shouted back over her shoulder. Then she quickly slipped inside her room and closed the door behind her before her mother could send any more good advice her way.
Five minutes later she was back in the living room, trilby hat proudly adorning her head and suntan lotion properly applied to her bare arms . Since she’d known she was in for a bit of a walk, she’d switched out her sandals for her favourite pair of blue, comfy sneakers. With Velcro, so she didn’t have to worry about her laces coming undone. A white satchel bag was slung over her shoulder, containing the things she had to bring along on this trip.
Professor Kukui, hands on his hips and nodding to himself, looked her up and down until his eyes fixed on her headgear. “Woo, pretty stylin’ hat you got there, girl!” he said, approval in his voice.
“Thank you,” Laurelin replied, as she glanced up at the brim of her hat. “It was my father’s.”
“It suits you,” the professor remarked.
“Take this with you as well, my dear,” Johanna said, as she held out a small bottle of water which she’d fetched from the fridge while her child had been in her room.
Laurelin accepted the bottle and put it in her bag, next to her tube of suntan cream, her wallet, her trainer passport and a spare key of the house. After ensuring that everything was in its proper place, she closed her bag and turned to the waiting figures of her mother and the professor, as ready as she’d ever be.
“All set?” Professor Kukui asked.
Laurelin nodded affirmatively. “I think so.”
Johanna stepped forward, put her hands on her daughter’s shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. “Laurelin, make sure you listen well to the professor, alright? He knows the island better than you, so stay close to him and do as he says. I don’t want to hear anything about you giving him a hard time or getting into trouble when you get back, understood?”
“You don’t have to worry, mama, I’m not a kid!” Laurelin said. “I’ll be on my best behaviour, I promise.”
“I know you will,” her mother replied. She reached up and took off her child’s hat so she could place a kiss on her brow, then put it back again. With that taken care of, she turned towards the professor. “I’m entrusting my girl to you, professor. Please take good care of her.”
“She’ll be just fine, miss, no worries!” Professor Kukui said confidently. He looked at Laurelin and grinned. “Off to Iki Town then, yeah?”
The girl gave another affirmative nod. “Yeah!”
Satisfied, the professor made his way towards the front door, Laurelin following close behind.
“Good luck and hurry back so I can meet your new Pokémon!” Johanna called after them. “Be sure to make it a cute one!”
“I will!” Laurelin replied, then followed the professor outside.
To be continued.