After the amusing events of the previous day, and more amusing events to come, a boy took a humid evening to relax at his temporary dwelling in the tropical region. The scent of cooking greens and a baking red, level ten fish filled the air. It was nostalgic to Ash, it reminded him of his mother all the way back home, and her home-cooked meals. He guessed that was the main reason it was so easy to lay back and melt into the house's atmosphere.

And soon enough, he heard a call. "Dinner's ready, come and get it!" Kukui's voice was friendly and inviting, and Ash got up and darted in its direction. Pikachu followed, as they both dashed into the kitchen with their stomachs empty and whining. A boy and his Pokémon's gotta eat.

"Woah! Someone's a little excited to fill their stomachs!" Kukui grinned putting one plate at one end of the table, and a second on the other. There was already a couple of bowls filled with brown pellets resting on the ground, one already being pecked at by Ash's Rowlet. Pikachu, with happy little noises, ran to the side of Rowlet and ate from its own bowl.

"Of course I am! I feel like I haven't eaten anything all day!" The young boy jumped into his seat with an enthusiastic smile, and grabbed the fork quickly. Kukui, at a much slower pace, sat in his own seat and pulled his plate closer to him.

After a few bites, the lack of seasoning pestered Ash. Despite Kukui's well tanned skin tone, he somehow cooked the whitest meal Ash has ever had. "Hey, Kukui" Ash began his question with. "Would you pass the salt, please?"

Kukui chuckled a few times. Something about Ash always made him want to laugh with a sense of levity, even when there was no honest reason too. "Sure, Cousin! Here you are!"

Everything went as smooth as you'd expect. Kukui picked up the salt shaker and extended his arm, Ash reached out and gripped the salt with his fingers. He seasoned his flavorless fish and placed down the salt shaker with great precision and accuracy. Okay, that last part, that was a total line. When Ash placed the salt shaker down, and it tipped over. In short, he spilt salt.

Kukui tilted his head at the spilt salt and gave Ash a slightly concerned look. "Ash, have you ever heard of an old superstition."

"Mmmmm?" Ash had a face full of salted fish, blinking a few times in curiosity. He swallowed loudly. "An old superstition?"

"An old ancient superstition. If you spill salt, you are cursed with bad luck." Kukui's face fell flat as he wore the most serious expression Ash has ever seen from him. "Ash. You must throw that salt over your shoulder, it's your only hope."

Ash wide eyes looked at Kukui, somewhat blank in this sudden discovery. "I do?"

"No you don't, I'm just messing with you." Kukui laughed once again, the same laugh of levity. "Superstitions are silly to believe in, so don't worry about it!"

"Ah, okay!" Ash continued to shove food in his face, all the while continuing to make a choice he would come to regret several hours later.

The next day of school was the usual for the group of eight. Of course, to the original six, it wasn't quite the same. Two people were added to the dynamic, one of which has been starting to bond with them, the other who seems to despise them. Mallow has been optimistic about them all being able to become close friends, and seven of them appear to be on the same page. Despite the odd one out being ever present, the other seven continued on learning about Pokémon and becoming better trainers. And those seven were surely enjoying their time together, their friendships only beginning to take root.

After school, Ash, with Pikachu on his shoulder, waited right in front of the building's door for Kiawe. They both agreed that this would be the perfect time to go and search for new Alolan Pokémon for Ash to catch. It didn't take long for Kiawe to show, him being the reliable boy he is, and the two began to walk in the direction of the nearest Pokémart.

"Okay so after we pick everything up, we're gonna go try and search the Melemele forest first. The same one we went to on that field trip." Kiawe spoke out his train of thought as the two walked side by side. "The Pokémon there are varied, some are common and some are rare. It's a good place to start."

"You're right Kiawe, but I want to check out some other places too! I heard ten ca-...." Ash's line of thinking drifted as he saw two people talking in the distance, two people he recognized. "Hey Kiawe, what do you think Lana and Bob are talking about?"

"...hm. I'm not too sure, maybe we shouldn't interrupt them." Kiawe said.
"Okay then. To the bush!" Ash declares.
"Wha-"

"To the bush!" Ash interrupts Kiawe's question before it even had a chance to surface, as he grabs Kiawe's wrist and dashes into the bush closest to the conversationalists. Not to much noise was made my there sudden jump inside, just the light shaking of leaves that could very well be dismissed as the result of a slight breeze.

"You know, they say secrets are the easiest ways to get closer as friends. So you know what I'll do?" The two boys heard Lana's playful voice, and saw her matching grin through the leaves. "Tell you a secret."

"Oh. Um, okay! Fire away!" Despite butterflies floating and dancing in his stomach, Bob sounded more lively than ever. "I'm right in the line of fire, so don't hold back!"

"I sure won't! So, last year, there was just this one extremely hot summer day." Lana's grin began to shimmer with a bit of mischievousness, or maybe it became a bit teasing? "So hot, I couldn't bare it, even after my years in Alola. So in my desperation, I decided to go swimming."

Lana took a pause, which caused Bob to gain confusion. He asked her, "So this secret is that you took a swim? That's um... very juicy Lana."

"Oh no no, don't underestimate Bob." Lana wagged her finger and shook her head, her grin still present. "When I got to the beach, I felt just a tad bit risky that day. I'm not a risk taking girl, but some days, I just get a bit adventurous. And I guess that day, the heat just got to me."

Lana was giggling uncontrollably as she spoke, and Bob's butterflies grew more and more plentiful. "Um..." Bob spoke. "You didn't do anything illegal did you?"

"I'm not sure how legal or illegal it was... but I knew no one was looking." Lana's giggling began to slow in it's pace, as she finally dropped her big secret. "I went skinny dipping."

"O-oh! Uh... so you went skinny dipping? Heh..." Bob's face blushed up after the secret has finally been said. She trusted him enough, just after meeting, to tell him about how she went skinny dipping?...

Before he had the chance to respond, or to even completely digest what she has told him, Lana flashed him the most innocent and sweetest of smiles as she waved her hand. "Well Bob, my sisters wanted me to go fishing with them, and I shouldn't keep them waiting too much longer. I'll see you soon!"

The girl walked away from him, while his eyes were still wide and his cheeks were still reddened. He felt as if all the words he could have said in that moment were lodged deep in his throat, choking him. That, and the feeling of his breath being stolen from his lungs. Lana was quite the special girl... wasn't she...?

"Wow... never knew Lana to something like that..." Kiawe whispered to Ash within the green bush.

"Uh... Kiawe, what's skinny dipping?" Ash asked.

Kiawe facepalmed at Ash's ignorance, but a bigger problem arised. The short exchange of words, and the sound of Kiawe's hand smacking his own face, stirred a small Pikipek who happened to be nesting in the same bush. It was "lucky" for the boys to have not woken it beforehand by dashing into the bush, but having been suddenly woken from the new unforeseen noisy disturbances, the bird went into a fury. It quickly targeted the boy closest to him, Ash.

"Ow! Ow! Stop it! Stop it! OUCH!" The sound of bullet seeds echoed through the air, as Ash's shouts joined the symphony, as he was burraged by the small green projectiles. The boy jumped out from the bush, continuing his shouting, before beginning to sprint down the street. The pikipek, being stubborn, chased after the boy while continuing to fire it's bullet speed attack straight at him. "I'm not a target!" Ash began to shout. "I'm not a target! Stop shooting at me!"

"Oh arceus..." Kiawe took a sigh as he stood up, his top half now out of the bush. "Come on, Pikachu, let's go help Ash."

"Pika...."

The two headed off, as Bob, who was watching the whole thing, half found the scene hilarious and half found the scene embarrassing.

Embarrassing for Ash, the experienced trainer running from a level five bird Pokémon. And, embarrassing for himself, as it meant he had witnesses to his flabbergasted reaction to Lana's secret. But then again, it was still half hilarious, the way Ash ran like a panicked girl who just found a Rattata in her kitchen.

A good hour later, the long chase was finally ended with Pikachu's thunderbolt, easily knocking out the Pikipek. Ash had seeds stuck in his hair, and a few dents in his shoes due to Pikipek using peck at his feet. It was embarrassing for Ash to say the least, but the boy continued to smile wide and emanate positive energy.

"Alright, now that we've finally ended that episode, we could FINALLY go to the Pokémart. I've got a ton of money for Pokéballs, maybe even a few potions if we are lucky!" Ash spoke in an excited tone as they made their way. When they finally arrived, Ash was filled with excitement as they walked through the front door. Gathering the Pokéballs that shined brightest in the light, the boys soon had their arms filled to the brim. They waited in line, made it to the clerk, and dropped the supplies right on the desk. Things went smoothly and as planned, except it didn't.

"Tartar sauce!" Ash shook his backpack, every content dropping onto the ground. An unused batch of red pens, an uneaten packet of M&Ms, an empty dorito bag, but nothing that he was actually searching for. "I left my wallet at home!"

"... you're kidding. You can't actually be serious." Kiawe groaned in annoyance. "After an hour of running around like Torchics without heads, we're going to have to go and get money?"

"No, wait Kiawe! We have hope! I might have money in my pockets!" With that realization, Ash's hands dug deep into his pockets. And... pulled out an amount of money that could barely cover one Pokéball. "Um... Kiawe. Do you happen to secretly be an employee here so we could use an employee discount."

"No, but apparently, Saki is." Kiawe said this cleanly and firmly, without a hint of surprise.

"Huh?" Ash turned his head side to side trying to get a glimpse of her. However, it wasn't until Kiawe pointed right to her, stalking an empty shelf with super potions, that she entered Ash's sight. She was in a Pokémart uniform, and looked slightly more put together than she did at school. However, she still had a rough appearance. She had not yet noticed either of the boys, as she was focused on her work. Little Akemi tried to help her with her task, wrapping it's claws around the potions and placing it on the shelf. Her face was slightly long, it was quite clear she wasn't enjoying the work.

"Kiawe, we might have just got a lucky break!" Ash said, hope beaming in his expression. "We'll ask her if we could use her employee discount!"

"W-what!?" Kiawe's cool temperament vanished for an instant, which is rather rare. "No! Leave her alone, you'll only cause a problem- Ash no!"

Ash was barley even listening at that point. He was too set on this sudden path, one that would make most of the other members of the class sweat with growing nerves. Pikachu followed him, before he walked right beside the girl, though she had yet to notice him. He knelt down and patted Akemi's head, who let out a satisfied "Kyuuuuu!" The sudden cheer caught Saki's attention, as she looked down, and she finally saw Ash. Her expression grew more annoyed than gloomy, as her eyes narrowed.

"What do you want? No one said you could touch Akemi." Her voice was sharp, as were her eyes, which made her fairly intimidating. Even from a distance Kiawe felt a bit of sweat on the back of his neck, worrying about what direction the confrontation may go. However, Ash didn't break his bright image as he continued to look right back up her at. The two held direct eye contact, which didn't appear to bother Ash, but Saki's composure became shaky.

"Well, me and Kiawe ran into a bit of an issue. Now since we're buds and all, I wanted to ask for your help!" Ash said "buds" with the purest of intentions. Though the boy knew Saki didn't see him that way, he wish that his classmate did. So, he thought, maybe declaring themselves to be friends would help.
It didn't. "I don't care," Saki snapped. "I don't care, the one thing I actually like about this job is that I don't have to talk to people. So I don't want to talk to you..."
"... Listen, what I was going to ask for aside" Ash said with his eyes wide and childlike. "Aren't employees supposed to help customers no matter what their position is?"
"...I'm going to throw one of these super potions at you if you don't walk away right now. And I mean, right. Now." It was clear Saki was becoming more and more agitated, to the point where even Ash had to throw in the towel. While chewing his lip with a startled look, he backed right up to Kiawe.

"Well, all I could say is, that wasn't a bad try." Kiawe patted Ash's back. "How about you get your wallet and I wait here for you... I'm exhausted from that chase."

"Yeah...." Ash said with a sigh, before his energy returned to him quickly enough to be missed due to a blink. "I'll be right back!"

After backtracking to get his wallet, Ash arrived back to the front of the Pokémart, Kiawe waited inside. However, Ash didn't get to go in to met back up with Kiawe. Outside the door of the Pokémart, happened to be the same small Pikipek, who recognized Ash immediately.

After another half hour of being chased and assaulted by a pikipek was ended by another thunderbolt from Pikachu. Ash walked into the Pokémart with an absurd amount of seeds falling from his hair and the rim of his hat. There were even small marks left by the bird's beak on his arm. Kiawe's face began to cringe, as the image answered his question of why he was stuck waiting in that store for so long.

"You don't need to elaborate, your appearance says it all" Kiawe said with a shake of his head. "Lets just go."

The two strolled through the woods, or at least, Kiawe strolled through the woods.

"Ooof!"

Ash tripped on the third fallen tree branch of the day, once again, landing straight on his face.

"Ash..."

Kiawe began to say.

"No, no, I'm good,"

Ash said, standing back up with a forced smile. His face was covered in dirt. Ash began to walk forward once again, but in his dazed state, he accidentally walked head first into the fifth tree of the day, and collapsed onto the ground.

"Okay Ash, you are usually clumsy, and I get that. But this? This is just plain ridiculous."

Kiawe extends his hand, and helps Ash up. Once Ash was back on his feet, he immediately stumbled and fell right back down onto the ground.
Kiawe put a hand to his forehead.

"Oh, come on."

"Sorry! I... I don't know what's up with me today."

Ash stood up once again, and dusted the dirt off himself.

"It's almost like all my usual luck went down the toilet-"

And just like that, Ash had a realization.

"Follow me, Kiawe!" Ash went bolting in the opposite direction, stumbling before hitting another tree headfirst. Kiawe shook his head, and went after him with reluctance.

"Hey, your a cute little guy, aren't you?" On his front porch, Kukui kneeled down right besides a peppy Rockruff, who ate a bowl of kibble the man has given him. He stroked its back as it sloppily bit at the kibble, enjoying the alolan sun touching it's fur and nose.

It was a quiet afternoon as the two enjoyed each other's company. The rockruff was wild, but happened to come across the professor and took an instant liking to him. And when he placed food right before it's hungry mouth, it seemed like the beginning of a friendship.

Of course the peaceful afternoon couldn't last at all. Soon enough, the frantic footsteps of a boy came speeding in their direction. He had a twig stuck in the back of his hair, a scraped knee, and hands covered in a layer of mud. "Kukui!" He shouted.

"Where's the salt shaker?!"

"Uh..." Kukui was startled, and could barely formulate a response. "In the kitchen..."

"Got it!" Ash ran right past the two, and Rockruff's tail began to wag. The energetic puppy began to chase Ash into the house, while Kukui was still kneeling in the same spot

. He continued to try to put together what just happened or what might of lead to this happening. While he was looking at his own front door, he heard footsteps approach him from behind.

"Sorry for the surprise professor," Kiawe said wiping the built up sweat from his forehead. "Ash ran here without explanation... he shouted something about salt?"

"Salt?..." Kukui was just beginning to put things together and process them when the sound of shattering could be heard sounding from within the house.

"...Uh oh."

Kiawe and Kukui both dashed into the house, to find Ash, who threw the entire salt shaker over his shoulder. The shaker broke into shards once hitting the tiled floor, and Rockruff was seen to be licking the freed salt.

"Kiawe, it's all okay now!" Ash said, giving him a thumbs up. "I threw the salt shaker over my shoulder, so I reversed my bad luck!"

Once again, Kiawe facepalmed. Kukui sweatdropped, and said "I regret telling him about that."

"Ruff!" The puppy once again barked, and Ash's focus zeroed in on it.

"I. Want. It. Come here!" Ash began to chase after it, startling Rockruff. It began to dash away, scurrying past the two other men. Ash pushed, or practically threw them out of the way, Pikachu close behind him. They ran out the front door, and Ash flipped his cap backwards. He entered battle mode.

"Okay Pikachu, strike it with your thunderbolt!" Ash's command was a good call, as the attack struck and zapped Rockruff with great precision. The Pokémon stopped running, but twisted around and launched a rock throw. It barely missed Pikachu, Ash's companion jumping out of the way just in time. The Rockruff wasn't going to just give up though, as it launched another rock throw.

"Break through it with your iron tail!" Ash shouts. Pikachu did just that, jumping up and breaking Rockruff's rock throw with a hard smack of its tail. The pieces of broken rock pushed the Rockruff back, but, the distance was not to remain.

"Quick attack!" Before Rockruff could make another move, Pikachu's body slams right into it with other speed. It collapsed on the ground, and Ash took the chance to throw a pokeball. The Rockruff went inside... and one, two, three, click. After three shakes, the Pokémon was caught.
And Ash fell back into the sand with a hearty laugh. He did it, after all of that bad luck and running, he caught a Pokémon.