Alola to a New Journey!

Family Ties

Kukui pat the last Yungoose on the head before he wiped the sweat from his brow as he stood up straight, cracking his back to hear a few pops. He glanced over towards Ash, still sleeping under the tree with all his Pokémon. Meloetta now sat crisscrossed on Ash's head, still softly singing a song that was clearly helping them all sleep. Kukui yawned as his ears were graced by the Pokémon's song before he shook himself back awake and sighed, trying to come up with some idea on how to tell Ash that he was his nephew.

"I mean, I can't just drop that on him out of nowhere." Kukui muttered as he scratched his head. "Ugh... I'll figure it out... later." He said as he shuffled back into the house. After giving Burnet a scare with a quick kiss on her neck, earning Kukui a playful slap on the chest, he walked into his office and plopped down in his desk. Rotom floated in after him and plugged itself into the charging dock connected to Kukui's computer.

"Well, might as well upload that new data we got, huh Rotom?" Kukui asked as he turned his computer on.

"Data banks are ready to be transferred when you are, Professor!" Rotom replied.

"Okay..." Kukui muttered as he fiddled with the computer for a moment, before started the download. "Alright, we're going. Just sit tight for... 20 minutes, kay bud?

"You betcha, Professor!" Rotom replied.

Kukui was about to leave, but he caught a glimpse of the small picture frame sitting on a shelf by the door. It was him, Delia, and their mom at Kukui's graduation. He was adorned in the graduation cap and gown, while Delia and their mom flanked him on both sides. While not in the picture, their dad was there, behind the camera that took the picture. Delia, who was much shorter then Kukui, tried her best to put bunny ears behind Kukui's head. Visibly stretching her arm as high as it could go, the tips of her fingers still barely reached above Kukui's grad cap.

Kukui chuckled at the picture as he wiped a bit of dust off the frame and set it back on the shelf beside a picture of him and Burnet, and a wrestling championship belt. He felt a light bulb go off in his head, as he gave the picture of his graduation one more good look. "There's an idea..." he muttered as he picked the picture up again and left his office.

"Whatcha got there, hun?" Burnet asked as they passed by each other in the hallway.

"My plan to tell Ash I'm his uncle, without just, y'know, dropping that on him out of the blue."

"Okay?" Burnet raised an eyebrow. "Well, good luck with your graduation picture "plan", Kukui." Burnet chuckled as she continued down the hallway.

"Thanks babe. Oh! And, uh, don't do any laundry today, alright?"

Burnet gave Kukui a skeptical glance over her shoulder before chuckling and turning around. "Whatever you say, hun."

Kukui gave the picture one last look before he turned into the laundry room and plopped the picture on top of the hamper with clean clothes.

...

"Dawn!? Oh Arceus, where are you!?"

"I'm... in Alola." Dawn said.

"H-Hold on, I'm coming n-"

"No, Mom! Wait!" Dawn interrupted. After getting no response from her mom for a moment, Dawn continued. "I'm... sorry I left without telling you, but I need to be in Alola right now. I told Ash that we were doing this together. It didn't feel right to leave him now."

"..."

"Mom?"

"You're just like your father, you know that?" Dawn clenched the phone at her moms words.