"So we're going to Alola?"

"Yep!" Ash smiled, Pikachu just as excited as his trainer as he sits on his lap, eagerly staring out the airplane's window. Riolu began to wrestle with Pikachu for the window while Sobble sat on Gou's lap.

Gou's getting excited too. "Alright! I'm going to go catch some Alolan Pokemon once we get there!" Ash chuckled at his friend's determination as he watched the clouds roll by. 

"We're going to go to my friend's house once we touch down, so I don't think you'll have much chance to catch Pokemon," Ash hated to be that guy, but Lillie had wanted him to get to her Melemele house as soon as possible. Gou just reclined in his seat, a pout visible on his face.

"Darn..." 

"I think you can catch some after we get there and greet Lillie and Gladion," Ash assured Gou, "We'll be making pit stops around Melemele Island anyway." Gou seemed to light up again, the determination back in his blue eyes.

An announcement overhead told them that they were within Alolan territory, and will touch down at Melemele Airport in an hour. Ash and Gou were both giddy in their seats, Ash because he'll reunite with friends he hasn't seen in 6 months, Gou because he can catch Alolan Pokemon and Variants.  

Once their airplane stopped at Melemele Airport, Ash immediately grabbed their luggage, returned Riolu to its Pokeball, and grabbed Gou's hand, much to the boy's half-hearted protest. 

Outside of the airport was Hobbes, who had come as per Lillie's request to pick them up. Along the ride, Ash and Hobbes caught up on Ash's adventures while Gou searched up Pokemon that resided on Melemele Island. 

Once they got to Lillie's house, Ash immediately went to the backyard, where, sure enough, Lillie was watching Gladion train. Snowy was the first one to spot Ash and bounded over to him, yipping happily. Lillie spotted him next, and shouted to Gladion that Ash was finally here.

"Long time no see!" Ash grinned at the siblings, fluffing Snowy's mane before the Ice-type returned to Lillie, who picked it up. 

"It's really been 6 months, huh?" Gladion spoke up, smiling as well as he approached them. "Sorry we couldn't make it to the fest, either. Mother thought she had a clear location on Father's whereabouts."

"It's fine!" Ash reassured, "We're all here now anyway." Gou finally emerged from the side of the building, he and Raboot wearing goggles when they came over. Lillie pointed out their accessories and Gou gestured to a crying Sobble clinging onto Raboot. Though nobody could see the rabbit's reaction, Gou was its partner long enough to know its expression is one of exasperation. Ash and Pikachu slapped hands over their eyes while yelling for Lillie and Gladion to get out of range of the tears so they don't burst out crying as well. Lillie couldn't pull Snowy away in time and tears fell down the Pokemon's face.

After that whole fiasco and calming down both Sobble and Snowy, Lillie and Gladion formally introduced themselves to Gou, with the younger boy doing the same right after. Lillie then told Ash that he should visit Kukui and Burnet, considering he hasn't seen them for a while either. Ash immediately agreed, also promising to buy some malasadas for their little party since Lillie said Hau was coming too. Gladion grumbled something about him using the legendary puppy eyes when he heard about the get-together. 

Ash and Gou decided to walk to Hau'oli City in order to get to the place Ash stayed in for his time in Alola. Despite Ash's status in the region, people blissfully ignored them, going about their day and treating them like regular citizens. 

The moment Ash knocked on the door of Kukui's house was the moment he got tackled by all of his Alolan Pokemon. Gou got startled as 3 large Pokemon and 1 owl toppled the boy over onto the sand, none of them caring that they potentially killed their trainer. 

A loud cackle was heard in the small house as a man who was clearly shirtless, with just a lab coat, sweatpants, glasses, and a cap on him, emerged from the doorway, a woman with white hair following just behind, albeit careful and slow. 

"Hey Ash! Good to see you!" The man greeted warmly as Ash's face poked out from between the cluster of Pokemon he caught. 

"Hey there, Professor Kukui!" Ash yelled with just as much excitement from seeing his Alolan family for the first time in 6 months. He launched himself out of the pile using Incineroar, and rushed over to hug the professor. Gou could only watch in surprise until the woman slapped her hand on his back.

"And Ash brought someone with him! Who are you, dear?" She asked Gou, her eyes sparkling. The poor boy got startled again so much that he stammered a little.

"This is my friend Gou, I met him while riding Lugia!" Ash introduced nonchalantly, slinging an arm around Gou. "Gou, this is Professor Burnet, and this is Professor Kukui." He pointed to each as he introduced them, oblivious to the surprise the couple felt when they heard the words come out of his mouth. 

"Wait..."

"LUGIA?!"

This warranted a full-on explanation as to what had happened the past 6 months and how too much BS has happened. The two professors hung onto every word as Ash recounted the adventures he and Gou went on. 

He interestingly left out the Slowking fiasco. Understandable, since Ash became flustered when Gou explained what happened.

"Holy-"

Burnet looked even more excited, eyes practically glowing.

When Ash finished with his and Gou's most recent trip to Galar, Kukui and Burnet both asked Gou some questions, Kukui asking logical ones and Burnet taking over the more emotional ones. Ash had to pull Gou back a little because Gou froze up from being bombarded by questions.

"Ah, sorry," Kukui adjusted his glasses, stepping back inside his home. "Would you two like to come in, by the way? Burnet's preparing lunch, because she insisted on it despite being in absolutely no shape." He sideways glanced at Burnet, who glared back, protesting that she is just fine.

Ash nodded vigorously, beckoning his companion towards the house, his Pokemon also looking expectantly. 

Gou blinked twice before making up his mind and smiled. "Yeah, okay. Why not?" He walked inside just as Ash skipped towards what looks like his usual dining spot. Gou sat next to him as Kukui turned on the TV, which was showing a rerun of one of Kahili's golf matches. Burnet stood in the kitchen, Munchlax and Lycanroc helping with more work than the woman's.

Ash asked Kukui a plethora of questions as well, as mundane as the most recent lesson in class or something as important as how the couple's child is coming along. Gou didn't feel like he has much to talk about right now, so he checked the groupchat for anything.

you neRDS

11:45 AM

Miette
I have ideaaaaassss ;)

Serena
I hate your ideas.

Miette
You definitely don't ;) 

Barry
What kind of ideas?

Miette
I'm thinking of more competitions, like a nerf war or something

Iris
How the hell do you even know what that is
I'm thinking something that can't murder us
Maybe water balloons? Just as much competition and the most you'll get out of it is a cold and supremacy over the masses

BlueCryptid
Hell yes
I approve

Iris
Thank you queen

Miette
Mm, that works
As long as there's chaos I want

Iris
Time to spam Ash

What followed was Iris spamming a mention for Ash. It's most likely that the boy's phone is off or dead, because he's blissfully ignoring the onslaught of notifications in favor of talking to Kukui.

Burnet and the Pokemon had prepared a hefty lunch, maybe more than Ash could stomach himself. Gou watched as Ash and Burnet stuffed their mouths and Kukui watching the two while scooping large quantities of food himself.

Seriously, they have large appetites. Gou stared at the food that he vaguely recognized as a variety of menu items he spotted in a local cafe that had opened back in Kanto, except with a few twists added to them. 

He hesitantly grabbed one of the Dugtrio sandwiches and bit into it. It was surprisingly delicious, and while he definitely isn't Cilan who would evaluate every dish to his fullest extent, he noted that the contents of the sandwich melded together to create a sweet flavor. 

"The Dugtrio sandwiches? They all taste different, by the way," Kukui informed Ash when he copied Gou's move and nabbed a sandwich. "For example, this one," he points at the last Dugtrio sandwich, "could taste bitter, while this one," he points to the one in Ash's hand, "could be sweet."

Burnet nods. "I saw it as a menu item and wanted to try it myself, so I meddled with berries and spices until I came up with this! Clever, right?"

"It was because of your odd cravings these days..."

"HUH?!"

As the family continued catching up, Gou took his time to really look around the house. There was a stairway leading downstairs in the far right, with an aquarium behind it. A loft sat behind the TV, with a ladder to get up there. 

Ash's Rowlet perched on Incineroar's head, and despite it seemingly being uncomfortable, the owl relaxed quickly, immediately falling asleep. Incineroar, however, wasn't as pleased with the situation and carefully perched Rowlet on a stand. Lycanroc stood and said something to Rowlet, to which the latter woke up immediately and raced to its food bowl, about half-eaten. 

"We're going back to Lillie's house soon," Ash started again, "we're having a get-together tonight, so it's gonna be a blast!" 

Kukui and Burnet smiled and told Ash and Gou to have fun over there. Once Ash finished talking and eating, he and Gou bid farewell with a promise to return the next morning to say goodbye. Going back to the city, they immediately bought enough malasadas and snacks for the group later.

Once they returned and stepped into the foyer, Sophocles, Kiawe, Mallow, and Lana were all here. Ash had set down his bags as he ran towards them, nearly throwing in a bear hug but fell onto the floor when Kiawe and Sophocles dodged him out of panic, having been startled by the boy. 

"Ash, are you alright?" Mallow asked, concern evident in her voice. Ash struggled to get up, his face throbbing in pain. 

"I'm fine-"

"You know, if you fell harder, you would've died from a bloody nose," Lana commented, leaning in closer to Ash's ear to make it more cryptic. Ash jumped from the air trickling on the shell of his ear and from the comment. Mallow and Gou stared at Lana in concern. 

"Relax, I'm just kidding," Lana giggles, sticking her tongue out. Mallow sighed, placing a hand over her face and Gou stayed concerned for the bluenette's well-being.

Lillie chose that moment to enter the foyer to greet everyone and to grab the bags of snacks off of Ash's and Gou's hands. When she leaves is the moment Hau suddenly barges into the foyer as well, loudly demanding where in the hell the malasadas are, and Gladion enters the foyer, slapping a hand over the green-haired boy's mouth and pulling at his ponytail.

The Alola Gang (plus Gou and minus Lillie) stared at the scene in front of him until Kiawe coughed into his hand and Lana whispered to Mallow if the two of them were dating. Gou found that really random and Ash looked behind him, confused and oblivious. 

Gladion removed his hands from Hau's head, and muttered something about how he can get some during the party.

"Now, since everyone's here and everything's settled..." Gladion looked at Gou and Ash. "Ash, why don't you introduce Gou to everyone else who wasn't at the festival?"

"Right!" Ash flashed a big grin as he stepped aside. "Kiawe, Sophocles, Hau, this is my friend Gou! We're currently research fellows at Sakuragi Laboratory, all the way in Vermillion City!" He gestured to each of his other friends next. "Gou, this is Kiawe,"

"Nice to meet you."

"Then Sophocles,"

"Hey!"

"And then Hau!"

"Yo!" Hau finished last. 

"Nice to meet you all!" Gou said. 

"Alright, Alola Gang!" Lana suddenly yelled, and everyone turned to see the bluenette standing on top of an end table in the corner with her hands outstretched, "Let's get to the dining room! The food won't kill you if you don't."

Silence filled the room, with Lana struggling to keep her hands outstretched standing in the corner. That is, until Mallow pulled one of her arms, causing the shorter girl to stumble onto the ground.