Fic: An Unexpected Encounter
Characters: Professor (not professor then) Kukui, Professor Oak, Ash Ketchum, Gary Oak
Summary: Koa Kukui has traveled to Pallet Town in order to start his Pokémon Journey in Kanto, and while he’s there, he meets someone who feels strangely familiar...
A/N: This idea came to my mind many months ago but finally I found the time to finish this story. I love the SuMo episode where Celebi brings Ash back in time to inspire young Kukui, and when I remembered that Kukui also traveled in Kanto once canonically, I started thinking... what if the same also happened the other way around, without them knowing. So here’s the result. Keep in mind that Kukui was a kid when he met S&M era Ash, while in this fic he is a young adult while Ash is like 5, so no, he doesn’t know the connection (yet). Enjoy and please leave comments, it’s been /ages/ since I’ve last written anything Pokémon related!
Words: 2090+
[AO3 link]
...
“Hello, professor. It’s nice to finally meet you. My name is Koa Kukui.” A young man with his black hair under a cap and clothes that were slightly questionable for Kanto’s weather extended his hand to greet the region’s most well known Pokémon professor, Samuel Oak.
“Alola, Koa! Isn’t that what they say where you live?”
The young man chuckled at the comment.
“That is correct. I suppose your cousin has taught you a thing or two about our region already.”
“Yes indeed, he has. I make sure to visit him at least once a year because Alola is such a fascinating place. I was so surprised when I first saw your gigantic Exeggutor! And your Vulpix are ice type, right?”
“They are,” Kukui confirmed. “It is kind of ironic when you think about the weather differences between these two regions, but it starts making more sense when you learn that the Alolan Vulpix’ natural habitat is Mount Lanakila.”
“Yes, I once read Samson’s article about that.” Oak nodded. “But I don’t think you came here to educate me on the Alolan variants. Samson informed me that a very promising young trainer wishes to participate in our league challenge. What brought you this far from your home, though?”
Kukui’s mouth twitched slightly when he heard the compliment. Apparently Samson Oak did tell his cousin more than just Pokémon puns.
“I am interested in learning more about different kinds of Pokémon moves, but I don’t think Alola alone can give me enough challenge and information to complete my research. People there prefer playing and just relaxing with their Pokémon instead of battling. But hopefully our new school will inspire more young trainers to start battling more seriously and our competitive scene will grow. Once I get my degree finished, I might start teaching there too. However, my ultimate dream is having a league of our own in Alola but that seems a bit, sorry for the pun, Farfetch’d at this point.”
“You’re an ambitious one, aren’t you?” Oak said with amusement.
“I guess you could say that.” Kukui rubbed the back of his neck.
“Please stay that way,” Oak stated. “Remember that we Kantonians weren’t this serious about battling either back in the day. But the new generation, like our new champion Lance, always brings something new to the table. It sounds like you’re trying to achieve many different goals at once. I remember also being like that when I was younger…”
“Some people say I’m crazy for trying to Tackle so many things in such a short time but I can’t help it. This might sound a bit silly but I’ve been secretly itching to compete in the Indigo League ever since I was a kid. A boy I once met told me that he had battled in different Pokémon leagues and I remember wishing that I could do that too. I guess that thought has in a way stuck with me to this day.”
“Oh. That’s interesting. I think it’s a totally valid reason to want to travel here.” Oak’s eyes focused on his watch for a moment. Kukui imagined that with that many Pokémon in his lab, he probably had a very strict schedule. “By the way, did you bring any Pokémon with you?”
“Just my Incineroar,” Kukui replied. “He’s been with me since I was a kid. I left my other Pokémon in a friend’s care for a time being.”
“I see. I take it you’re planning to catch some new Pokémon here in Kanto, then.”
“Yes, that’s what I’m hoping to do.”
“In that case, we should probably start here.” Professor Oak pointed at three Pokéballs that were put on display on his work desk. Before Kukui managed to take any of the pokéballs into his hands, though, two kids ran into the room unannounced.
“Woah, are you gonna pick your starter?” the first one, with brown hair and clear resemblance to Professor Oak asked.
“What will you pick, what will you pick?” the other one, a boy with black hair and unique lightning shaped markings on his cheeks asked. There was something weirdly familiar about him even though Kukui wasn’t sure what made him think that way.
The boys were both still very young, according to Kukui’s estimation, maybe 4 or 5 years old, and they weren’t lacking energy. They kept staring at him intensely as he considered his options.
“Boys! It’s not polite to interrupt us when we are having a meeting!” Professor Oak scolded them. “I’m sorry, Koa, this is my grandson and his friend who lives nearby. I’ve told them that when I’m dealing with work related things they should not disturb me… but as you can see, they do not listen.”
“It’s OK.” Kukui laughed, waving his hand. “I still remember what it was like to be a kid. If I had been living in a place like this, you bet I would have been so curious about each and every Pokémon around me.”
“Alright, then,” Oak decided to let it be. “Well, I guess these boys are dying to know which starter you’ll choose, so, go ahead and make your decision.”
“You should pick Squee-tle!” Oak’s grandson exclaimed.
“Everyone knows that Cha-man-deh is the best!” his friend insisted.
Kukui was amused by how the boys pronounced the Pokémon’s names, but instead of mentioning that aloud, he took the third pokeball, with a tiny leaf sticker on the surface, into his hands.
“You know what, boys? I think I disagree with you both. I myself think that Bulbasaur is the best Kanto starter. Come out, Bulbasaur!”
A red light flashed in the room and a Pokémon appeared in front of them.
“Bulba! Saur!”
“Wow, it’s so cool!” the black haired boy exclaimed, having already forgotten that he supposedly preferred Charmander. “Look at this bulb on its back!” He started poking it and Kukui could see some kind of powder starting to float out of it.
“Be careful, kiddo!” He warned. “That could be poisonous or even cause paralysis!”
“But… but…” The boy didn’t have time to say more because he fell asleep on the lab floor faster than Kukui could say ‘Litten’.
“Well… I guess we now know the first move this Bulbasaur knows. Sleep Powder,” Kukui said awkwardly as he called the Pokémon back into its ball and lifted the sleeping boy from the floor. Professor Oak showed him a couch where he could let the boy rest while his grandson was jumping around him, asking Oak if he was going to be OK.
“Calm down, Gary, the powder will wear off maybe in an hour or so and he’ll be just fine. You guys have been in much worse incidents,” the professor noted.
Kukui wondered what kind of incidents those had been, but as he set the boy down, he made a solemn promise to be more careful with his Pokémon from then on when there were kids around.
…
“Oh, you’re finally awake!” Oak’s grandson, Gary, said when his friend opened his eyes about an hour later. He had been waiting with Kukui the whole time while Oak had gone off to feed the Pokémon he was taking care of. “We’ve been waiting for aaaages.”
“What happened?” the boy asked slightly drowsily. “Why am I here?”
“It was Bulbasaur’s Sleep Powder,” Kukui responded. “You got some of it into your system and fell asleep.”
“It was really effective, then!” the boy said happily, quickly shaking off his drowsiness.
“That’s one way to look at it,” Kukui laughed before getting serious again. “I am sorry, though. I should have warned you earlier. Bulbasaur sometimes extracts those powders when you poke its bulb.”
“It’s fine! One time I tried to ride one of Professor Oak’s Tauros. That didn’t end well,” the boy reminisced.
“Oh, what happened?” Kukui asked.
“I fell and broke some bones. They had to take me to the hospital. But I’m all good now!” the boy told him, like an incident like that was an everyday occurrence for him.
“Wow, sounds like you have a tendency to get into trouble, young man. Where I come from, Tauros are used as Ride Pokémon, but they can be really fast and unpredictable when they want to, so you need to have some practice before you’re allowed to ride them on your own.”
“Yeah… Well, the professor said we shouldn’t go near them… but he was out somewhere and Gary and I were bored so we wanted to see who would be a faster Tauros rider. I won because Gary didn’t manage to climb up his Tauros.”
“Hah, that’s only because I knew it was a stupid idea!” Gary claimed.
“He’s lying,” the other boy pouted.
“Alright, boys, let’s use Calm Mind” Kukui said before they started a bigger argument. “So, you spend a lot of time here in the lab, don’t you? You must really love Pokémon.”
“We do!” the boys answered in unison.
“Funny, I guess I’m a Psychic type because I knew that,” Kukui chuckled. “Are you thinking about becoming trainers when you’re older?”
“Yes, of course!” Gary answered without any hesitation.
“Yes, I’d like to…” the other boy said, not nearly as certain. Something about his tone caught Kukui’s attention. He couldn’t say he knew this boy very well yet because they had only exchanged a few sentences so far, but based on his earlier comments he wasn’t lacking confidence or will to learn more about Pokémon. That’s why it seemed a bit strange that he wasn’t as eager about starting his own journey as his friend seemed to be.
“Hmmm? You’d like to? Is there something hindering you?” Kukui asked. “If you want to tell me, of course.”
“It’s… my mum. Every time I tell her I want to be a Pokémon trainer when I’m bigger, she gets all weird.”
“Weird?”
“Yeah. She starts mopping or peeling the potatoes like she doesn’t hear me. I don’t think she wants me to become a Pokémon trainer.”
Apparently Oak’s grandson enjoyed sharing a good drama because when he realized that his friend wasn’t going to spill the beans, he announced: “It’s because of his dad. He started his Pokémon journey a looong time ago and never came back home.”
Kukui wondered briefly what exactly that meant; if the dad had simply left them or if he had died on his journey. Either way, he couldn’t help but feel bad for this boy he had just barely met.
“Gary! You didn’t have to tell him that!” the boy exclaimed.
“Grandpa always tells me you’re supposed to tell the truth,” Gary argued.
“Yeah, but…”
“Okay, I think I’ve heard enough,” Kukui stopped them. “It doesn’t matter to me why his mother thinks that way. There are still many years left before you’re old enough to become a trainer, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, take advantage of that time. Hang out here with the Pokémon whenever you can and show your mother how much you love them. If you still want to become a trainer when you’re old enough, she will understand. She’s probably just worried about you.”
“You think she would let me go?” the boy asked, sounding more hopeful.
“If you know how to pull from the right strings, she will,” Kukui winked at him.
“Awesome!” Suddenly the boy seemed to throw all his worries away and he asked: “Hey, hey, do you have any other Pokémon with you right now? I’d love to see them!”
“Sorry, I only have one with me here in Kanto and I left him at the Pokémon Center in Viridian City before I came here,” Kukui apologized. “I wanted to make sure he’s in good shape when we start our journey.”
“Owww, that’s too bad. But maybe you can show it another time.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Kukui smiled. “And who knows, maybe one day you and I will get to battle each other. Just keep on dreaming!”
“I will!” the boy promised.
Soon after that Professor Oak showed up again and told the boys to not annoy their guest who probably wanted to get going already. Kukui just waved his hand dismissively at him, telling him the boys were not bothering him. As they ran out to continue playing and he himself prepared to leave, he couldn’t get rid of a weird feeling. It was like he knew the dark haired boy already even though he had no idea how that was possible. Something also told him that this probably wouldn’t be the last time he would hear about these boys.
