Metachuphasis

18. culture shocks, literally

it took me a month to remember to post this on wattpad. ao3 is making my brain burn away.

The Kalosians were in awe at the views and the architecture of the Alolan suburbia when Kukui drove down to his house. Clemont had forgotten how spacious small places could be, as proven by the open-plan house they had strolled into. It was quickly settled that Clemont would use the loft for the week (as much as he loved ingenuity, Kukui did not want robots on and all around his sofa, especially those that had a slight tendency to explode, if Bonnie was telling the truth). Bonnie was more than happy to rest on the sofa among all the Pokémon, insisting that she was okay with it even when Kukui offered her an inflatable mattress that would have been five times comfier than the old sofa if it weren't for the existence of the CuddlePile. Bonnie knew she would sleep extremely well, judging by the fact that in the pile there were three fluffy mice (Ash, Pikachu and Dene), a warm fire cat, a soft, rocky puppy, an adorable little owl, Chespin and a very needy Heliolisk. Diggersby had decided to stay with Clemont up on the loft, just to make sure that he wouldn't stay up all night inventing or reading.

Kukui prepared food for everyone (or attempted to, before realising there was no food, so he sent out Satochu and his gang of sorts for a quick grocery run while he gave Clemont and Bonnie a quick crash-course of Alolan customs and what they can expect while staying. Shenanigans with the band of Pokémon currently residing in the house, of course, school and also where to find cool things to do.

The humans were only slightly concerned about the fact that Ash was carrying most of the bags. If they were honest, they would say that it was more surprising that Greninja didn't stop him. Twinkle had told him to give up, and for all the right reasons. Every time Greninja asked the tiny Pikachu if he was carrying too much, Sato just took more from the others, until he ended up with a mass amount of food on his back. Greninja proved to still be as stubborn as he used to be during the Kalos journey, only shutting up after a few low-power zaps from Twinkle.

Kukui prepared the Pokémon food first, as a reward for their errand-doing. As he cooked some food for himself and the two Kalosians in his home, he peeked at his boarder (still a Pikachu, he was checking that fact for the fourth time today) munching on berries with his friends. He was close to Pikachu, borderlining hugging him, and they were speaking to the Greninja. He had no idea what they were saying, but he really couldn't bring himself to care. He made three Alolan plates, and grinned at his visitors as he placed them down at the table. It was obvious that they enjoyed the food, judging by the way they poked at it at first, and after tasting it, scarfed it down like they hadn't eaten real food for hours, which makes sense, judging by the fact that they were on a plane for a long time. Kukui reminded himself to buy some pastries and baguettes on his way back from the lab (he was going to go there after a Masked Royal match in the evening).

Greninja's conversation was not fun, at least not for him. He was listening to Sato excitedly talk about battles with everyone else, and how he and Greninja could do this really cool Mega-Evolution-esque thingy together, and how they could make bad guys go bam and boom and bzz!

"Ash, you do know the Bond Phenomenon stopped working since you turned into a Pikachu?"

"It didn't?"

"It hasn't worked for me, though."

"I mean, I turned it off for a bit, so yeah, it wouldn't have wo-"

"You could control it this whole time?"

"Yeah?"

Greninja could see Twinkle snickering at him out of the corner of his eye.

"And you told Twinkle?"

"Well, he asked?"

"So you're saying you didn't tell me, the guy who does the phenomenon, because I didn't ask?"