Lunar Eclipse: Part I (Pokemon)

Chapter 1

November 19, 2016

I overslept this morning. To be fair, I was still jet lagged from my plane ride yesterday. Alola has several hours ahead of Kanto time. I jolted awake after my mother's Meowth yelled in my face. Right, we were expecting a visitor soon. I hopped out of bed and tried to make myself presentable, and then I wandered into the living room.

"You were out like a light, weren't you?" my mom said with a smile on her face. "You ought to be full of energy by now!"

I shrugged. "Traveling must have taken a lot out of me."

She chuckled. "I get it. So, Selene, are you pumped to meet some Alolan Pokémon?"

This caused me to smile. "Of course!" I wondered how soon I would be able to have one of my own.

"That's right! I want to hurry up and meet some too. We're living in the Alolan region now; the beautiful islands everyone wants to visit! I'm sure the Pokémon in this place must be friendly, right?"

Just then the doorbell rang, and I ran to get the door. It turned out to be Professor Kukui. He seemed friendly and cool enough. He and mom caught up for a bit before he turned to me and said the words I had been waiting to hear:

"Let's get a move on to the next town over, cousin. Time for you to meet the island kahuna and get yourself a Pokémon, yeah!"

After running back to my room to fetch my hat and backpack, we were off. My mom was right: the humid air did feel good on my skin. All of the new sights and sounds caught my attention as I walked with Kuiki, and my heart lifted every time I saw an Alolan Pokémon. Given a little time, I might come to love this place after all.

"And we're here!" Kuiki announced 20 minutes later as we stepped into a clearing with houses bordering the sides. "This right here is Iki Town! This town is where folks come to worship the Pokémon that watches over Melemele Island. Tapu Koko keeps us all safe and happy, see!" His smile faded as he looked around the clearing. Huh? What's goin' on here? We were supposed to meet everybody right here, yeah. Maybe they're all back there on Mahalo Trail."

"Mahalo Trail?" I said. If I remembered correctly, 'mahalo' meant 'thank you.'

Kuiki nodded. "That's where the ruins of our guardian deity, Tapu Koko, are, yeah. Selene! Do me a solid and go find the island kahuna! I'll wait around here to make sure we don't miss each other."

I blinked but retained the smile on my face. "What does he look like?"

"The island kahuna? You can't miss him. He looks just like a kahuna."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I felt restless just waiting there, so I followed his instructions and headed up a flight of stairs. I then found myself in another clearing with some sort of stage in the center. Behind it was a trail guarded by two totems. I noticed a girl standing near the entrance. She had long blonde hair and wore elegant clothing. Was she talking to herself? Before I could call out to her, she had started along the trail. Figuring this was where I was supposed to go, I followed far behind.

The girl stopped when she reached a plank bridge. On the other side of the bridge there appeared to be some sort of shrine with ruins. Was this what she had come to see? Suddenly, something flew out of the bag on her side. Was that a Pokémon? It was purple and almost appeared to be made of gas. The girl gasped as the creature floated towards the bridge.

She took a step towards the bridge but stopped when a flock of Spearow suddenly swooped down towards the bridge. They were headed straight for the purple Pokémon! I stopped behind the girl and froze in fear. Then she turned around to face me, and I had to say something. "What's wrong?" I managed to choke out.