Beyond the Kiss

Alola!

Ash's POV: Finally! The plane landed! We've been on the plane for a whole 16 hours, but it felt like ages since I've last felt the ground. Once the flight attendants gave us the "OK" to leave the plane, I stretched myself out, the way a Meowth would when its first waking up. Mom told me it would be a little bit longer until we had to pick up all our furniture and other belongings in the ferry with another moving van so in the meantime, she suggested we explore a bit. As soon as I had stepped off the plane, the sun practically blinded me with its rays beaming so intensely. And instead of a blast of crisp air I usually feel hitting my face when I step outside in Kanto, the air was more humid and warm, which was something I definitely could get used to! Palm trees had also really set the scene, as well as the deep blue Alolan sky and cerulean ocean. It was like something I'd seen out of a brochure! For a moment, I was in awe. This place is where I would soon call home.
We were greeted by a tour guide who had passed my mom and I in a golf cart.
"Alola! I hope you come to love this place as much as I do!" The guide said with a warm smile. My mom suddenly had a big smile on her face and suggested we explore Alola by going on a tour with the tour guide. Naturally, I couldn't pass up an opportunity like that! Before my mom could even respond, I was already running after the guy to ask him if we could get a tour and leaving her behind. By the time she caught up, the man was filling me in on all sorts of ideal places to catch certain Pokemon and strong trainers that train in certain areas!
"Hmm.. This city looks nice!" My mom said pointing to a picture of a lively-looking city on her brochure.
"Is it nearby?"
"Yes! It's extremely close by, actually. We're in the outskirts of it!" The man said.
"Woah, then what are we waiting for?! Lets go!" I yelled excitedly.
"You got it kiddo!"
The man had stepped on the peddles of the cart really hard and we were going extremely fast. My mom was panicking, but I was having the thrill of a lifetime! I watched the scenery around us animate more as we were moving, and bird-like Pokemon  flying in the distant over the vacant, blue ocean.
"Right here is Hau'li City!" The man had exclaimed as we were drawing closer to a stop.
"There's tons of hotels, restaurants, live performances, music, gambling's, virtually anything you could think of, all right here in this city! If you need anything, don't hesitate to call our headquarters to schedule another tour with us!"
"Thank you very much!" My mom and I both said in sync as he drove off.
"But I definitely don't think we'll need to go through that again..." my mom said mumbling under her breath, recuperating from the fast drive.
At this point, I couldn't tell whether Castelia City was bigger, or if Hau'li City was! It was like a clash between a tropical resort and an urban setting, but they complimented each other very well! It's something about palm trees and tall building that really screams "lavish lifestyle" to me for some reason. My mother and I were cruising the streets of Hau'li, stopping by every other outdoor shop and taking in the scenery of each street we had passed. Before we knew it, while I was staring at the skyscrapers, I had noticed the sun going below the sea, painting the sky in a perfect gradient of pink and orange and that remnants of daytime slowly turned to darkness. Mom said we should grab something to eat and check if our furniture made it to Alola. We passed this outdoor restaurant with tiki torches planted everywhere, followed by a stage, and a bar.
"Why don't we give this place a try?" She suggested. "It looks pretty lively in there."
"Sure, why not? What do you think, buddy?" I said, looking back at Pikachu who had been taking in all of Alola.
"Pikachu, Pika!" He responded.
The moon was shining bright enough to aluminate the entire restaurant, as well as the stars glistening in the distance, complimenting the canvas of the night sky. Being that the restaurant was outdoors, stargazing was definitely not an option. To add to the scene, there were live performances taking place, starting with a stand up comedian, a band performance, and a Marowak dancing ritual. It took me a bit to realize it, but the Marowak was totally different than a regular Marowak that I've ever seen before. The ones over here were purple and carrying an ignited bone! When our waiter came by, I asked him what was up with the Marowak.
"Oh! You're not from here, I assume? These are Alolan Marowak! As you can see, these are different from a Marowak you'd find anywhere else. There's also more Pokemon that look differently here too. They're called Alolan forms. I'll leave that up to you to discover!" He replied, helpfully.
"Thank you very much!" I replied.
So Alolan Marowak... I hope I can find more Pokemon with Alola forms very soon! I continued to watch the performance. Something about this scene felt awfully familiar to me, somehow.
"You sure seem mesmerized!" Mom said, calling me out.
"Do I now?"
"Yes. You haven't taken your eyes off that performance for one second!"
"I can't help it! The Marowak seem to be having so much fun, it's making me want to join them!"
"Is that so?" My mom said as she was sipping on her Pinap Juice blended drink.
The way the Marowak was spinning their clubs reminded me of Serena's Braixsn spinning its sticks in their performance. My mind was slowly drifting back to Serena. I miss her so much... I can't forget her so easily. She's someone very important to me... Especially now that we shared our first kiss together...
It didn't take long, but the food we ordered came. When I say I truly I never tasted anything better than Alolan food in my life! (That and Brock's, Cilan's, Clemont's, and Serena's food, of course.) Everything tasted so natural and flavorful! I could eat this all day! After we got our last glimpses of the show, we decided to call it a day and head back to the wharf. We payed, even leaving an extra tip for the beautiful atmosphere the restaurant provided us this evening and headed to the cargo ship with our belongings. The ship had finally arrived with our furniture, at last! We got a truck for the Machamp Movers to help us unload the furniture at our new house.
Even the drive to our new house was memorable. The street lights and brightness of the moon helped guide us though the dirt path. The moon's bright, white reflection against the sea and Lantern playing in the sea were fascinating! I got more of a higher view once we started following the dirt path up a hill. Suddenly, vegetation was all over this new part of the path, once we were in this elevated area of land. The ground was filled with different arrays of flowers in each bush, and the palm trees that were towering over us had eclipsed the moon. Sleeping Pokemon, such as Slakoth were hanging from these trees and snoring.
Having followed the bumpy dirt path for 15 minutes, we came to a stop at a fair sized house that miniature palm trees and a perfect view of the beachfront! I couldn't believe this was where we were going to live! Pikachu and I were so excited, we rushed inside. Inside the house was bigger than we had envisioned! The living room had sandy colored tiles with white walls and a huge glass window above our heads. I ran into what I assumed was the kitchen, straight ahead, and saw that we had a slide-in door that lead to our backyard! The cabinets looked like they were made of bamboo, or something of the sort. And upon an even closer inspection, found that there was even a smoothie maker built on the wall below our cabinets!
I then followed a hallway that led to a bathroom, a closet, and a very spacious bedroom that I assumed would be my mother's. I made my way back to a staircase I had seen in the living room at the corner of my eye and followed it. Upstairs was another bathroom, a storage room and another room. It was almost like my old one in Kanto! And when I looked out the window, I saw a jacuzzi in our backyard and an intriguing building near our house. I wasn't sure which I should be more excited for, the jacuzzi or the building? Before I could think about what place to tackle first, my mom had called me to bring in small furniture pieces into the house and to call it a day. Naturally, the Machamp crew were extremely quick and before I knew it, all of our furniture were inside our new house. The Machamp crew had left and my mom went off to return the moving van.  I was finally in bed after a full whole day. I turned to Pikachu who was half asleep on the other side of my bed. "Hey buddy? We've finally made it to Alola!" I said slightly whispering trying to contain my excitement. "Pika Pikachu!" He replied. He had used all his energy he had left in that "Pika" before collapsing to sleep. "Let's give it our all from here on out. Hope tomorrow is exciting..." I said to myself before falling sleep.
The morning came fast. I guess I had forgotten to close my window before going to sleep because as I slowly began waking up, I felt a warm, gently breeze brush against my face and my curtains were being gently lifted by the breeze. When I opened the curtains the sun nearly obliterated my vision! The sky was so clear that I could see various flying and bug type Pokemon flying in the distance, taking in the immaculate Alolan weather! I went downstairs to see if my mom had returned. I couldn't find her, to my avail, but I found a note on the table.
.....
"Ash, I'm I'll be out for a while to get some groceries. Why don't you go explore the Melemele Island a bit? Be home before dark so we can have dinner together!" -Mom
.....
I was shocked that she was able to just let me go like that. Then suddenly I exploded, being unable to contain my excitement! I turned to Pikachu.