The moon glowing brilliantly in the sky slowly began to fall, and as the stars disappeared for the day, the sun rose above the horizon and colored the heavens with bright, warm shades of pink and orange. The clocks in Alola ticked as hours went by, and the sun rose to its highest point in the bright blue sky as soon as noon hit.

A little boy around the age of six was playing in his front yard with his Yungoos, laughing as they played tag together. The boy dashed across the grass in pursuit of his Pokemon, and he cheered in victory when he managed to tag the incredibly fast mongoose-Pokemon after several failed attempts. The sound of dirt crunching beneath someone's feet on the main dirt road in front of the boy's house suddenly caught his attention, and as he looked up to see who was coming his way, he smiled and waved excitedly.

"Altair! Altair!" The little boy ran over the the twenty-year-old coming his way, super excited to see the Alolan legend as he bounded up and down with high energy.

The young man who stood at an impeccable height of six-foot-four-inches with short, spiky black hair and purple eyes as deep and dark as the midnight sky, chuckled as the little boy crashed into his long legs and tugged on his rugged black jeans. "Whoa there! Be careful, you nearly just knocked me over!"

"Sorry, Altair..." The little boy apologized with a sheepish look on his face, and he looked up at the very handsome young man, Altair, who was currently sporting a very worn, black leather jacket over a white tank. "Hey, do you think you could teach me and Yungoos how to work together like real Pokemon Trainers do?"

"What are you talking about?" Altair furrowed his brow in confusion as he reached down and pat the kid on his shoulder. "You already are a real Pokemon Trainer, kiddo."

The little boy widened his eyes in awe as he looked up at Altair. "R-really!?"

Altair smiled sweetly to the kid as he continued to walk on down the road, keeping his back to the kid as he spoke. "Of course. Any kid who's got a Yungoos who looks at his Trainer like that is a real Pokemon Trainer." He paused, then turned to look back over his shoulder at the young boy to say something before he resumed walking again. "And any time you need help training, you know where to find me. Stop by any time."

The little boy looked down at his Yungoos beside him, taking notice of the love in his Pokemon's eyes as he looked up at his little Trainer. The boy turned and watched Altair go with a giant grin on his face, vigorously waving to the tall young man as he walked away. "Thank you!!"

The little boy resumed playing tag after he watched the Alolan legend go, and Altair made his way down the dirt road before he stopped in front of a rather large house with a "for sale" sign in front that now had the word "sold" painted across it diagonally in bold red letters. There was something about the house that made Altair stop in his tracks just to look at it, but he didn't know what. He stared at the house for a moment before taking a left turn and making his way down a little hill towards a small hut on the beach, and every single person he passed by waved with smiles on their faces and said hello to Altair. The twenty-year-old smiled and waved back as usual, and was now just mere steps away from his destination.

Meanwhile, inside of the hut...

Professor Kukui was in the middle of a Skype call with his little cousin Nova when the front door to his lab suddenly opened and closed. He looked off screen for a moment, spotted the man who walked in, and then quickly tried to wrap up the conversation. "Alright, Nova, I've gotta introduce you to everybody, so can you send me a photo to use for your Trainer Passport?"

Professor Kukui watched his cousin fiddle with her phone to snap a picture of herself with. "Yeah, sure. Hold on..."

Professor Kukui's phone dinged, and he looked down and saw that he had just received the picture Nova sent him, and he gave her a quick thumbs-up. "Got it! I'll let everybody out here know you're on your way!

"Alright, I'll see you soon, Kukui---"

"Wait, Nova!" Professor Kukui quickly interrupted her, looking over his shoulder at Altair, who had just walked into the main room of the lab where Professor Kukui was currently talking on his Skype call with Nova.

"Hmm?"

Professor Kukui looked at her confused face and suddenly changed his mind, then just shook his head. "...ah, it's nothin'. I'll introduce you to him later. Can't wait to see you in person again, cousin!"

Nova screwed her face up in confusion at that. "Introduce me to who---"

Professor Kukui abruptly hung up the Skype call on Nova, and he leaned back in his desk chair and stretched his arms leisurely as he spoke to the person behind him. "I was wonderin' when you'd stop by, yeah!"

Altair opened up the can of soda he had just taken out of Professor Kukui's fridge and walked over to the man himself. "Who were you talking to when I walked in?"

Professor Kukui turned around in his chair to face the young man with an excited grin on his face. "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about when I asked you to stop by today."

"Oh?" Altair quirked an eyebrow at this, very intrigued now.

Professor Kukui closed the tab for Skype on his computer as he spoke. "That was my little cousin Nova, you see. She's moving here to Alola today, yeah, and I was hoping to ask you a favor..."

Altair seemed eager to help the professor in any way he could as he sat down in the chair opposite of him. "Sure. What do you need me to do?"

Altair listened to Professor Kukui's request with his full, undivided attention, and the task he was just given was going to be a little difficult for him. Although the poor boy had no idea how difficult just yet...

As Professor Kukui finished up the conversation with the young man, Altair got up and waved good-bye before leaving the professor's lab. If he was going to help Professor Kukui with what he asked of him, he needed to go home and prepare. Professor Kukui took in one deep breath to relax as Altair walked out the front door and closed it, and as he closed his eyes, he felt the very familiar feeling of a not-so-tiny-anymore Rockruff jump up onto his chest and knock the wind out of him.

"Oof!" Professor Kukui exhaled sharply as he felt his breath get chased away by Rockruff's paws pressing down on his stomach, and he shook his head at his energetic Pokemon as he coughed out his next words. "Rockruff...ack...don't surprise me like that!"

"Ruff!" Rockruff barked excitedly and licked his Trainer's face, wagging his tail a mile a minute.

As Professor Kukui laughed and tried to push Rockruff away from his face as he caught his breath, he sighed a little under his breath as he shared a rhetorical thought with himself out loud. "I hope Nova won't be too upset with me when she hears about this, yeah..."

______________________________________________

"Oof!" Nova plopped the last box down in her new room with a heavy thud, and she leaned up against the stack of boxes as she paused to catch her breath. "Finally, all moved in..."

"Ahh, can't you just feel that warmth? It's officially our first day spent under Alola's sun!"

Nova heard her mother excitedly admiring the weather from outside on the wraparound porch, and she pushed open the sliding doors and lingered in the doorway that lead out to where her mother stood by the porch's railing. Nova glanced at the lush green grass that covered her new house's entire front yard, as well as a few palm trees here as there. Everywhere you looked there was green, and more green. Berry trees, palm trees, bushes of brilliantly multicolored tropical flowers... And the entire place smelled like a refreshingly sweet, salty-sea breeze.

Nova held her open hand above her eyes to block out the sun's harsh glare as she looked took in the scenery. "It's so warm and bright here..."

"Yeah, you think?" Nova's mother, the older woman with tanned skin and dark brown hair that met her lower back, turned around to smile at her daughter. "Nothing like our last home back in Kanto. But that's enough of that!" She paused and excitedly clapped her hands, smiling brightly. "Time to unpack all of these boxes."

Nova shook her head when she noticed her mother had already acclimated to the island's culture based on her new wardrobe, which consisted of a long, green floral skirt, and a light yellow top. She wasn't surprised by this at all. "What do you want me to help with?"

"Ah, don't worry about the rest of the house so much." Her mother batted her blue eyes and casually waved her daughter off with a smile. "I just want you to focus on unpacking your room first."

"Are you sure?" Nova widened her eyes in surprise, not expecting her mother to be so lax about unpacking. Usually, Nova couldn't leave the house for the next few days after they finished a move because she had to help unpack every last box. "I can help unpack the other boxes too..." Nova reached back and grabbed the back of her neck, awkwardly staring at her mother as she just waited to see if she would change her mind.

Her mother laughed a little and smiled, and then dismissed Nova with the wave of her hand. "Oh, it's alright, Nova! Just get your room all set up first, and I'll worry about the rest. I just want you to get that set up before you get going with Kukui later."

"Okay..." Nova warily complied with her mother's wishes, finding it strange that she didn't have to help much, but she wasn't about to complain.

Nova stepped back into the house and closed the sliding door behind her, and she numbly passed by the furnished living room with yellow walls and walked up to her bedroom door. She paused and closed her eyes before lightly resting her forehead on the closed door, dreading the inevitable: going in and unpacking.

Nova slid the door open and stepped inside before quickly shutting it behind her, and she heaved a heavy sigh at just the sight of all those cardboard boxes.

The room was so plain. Four pastel yellow walls, one window, a simple white desk and a matching chair, a tiny closet that could fit maybe one person in there, and a full sized bed with no bedding on it just yet. This room was going to need a lot of work, alright...

Nova instantly got to work and tore into each of her boxes. First, she pulled out her white pillows and comforter to make her bed with. Then, she went through every box of clothes and hung up each and every article of clothing, and then lined up all of her shoes along the bottom of the closet. Hours went by as she unpacked all of her miscellaneous trinkets and necessities, and by the time she was done, all that was left was to hang up all of her old pictures and prop up her picture frames on her desk.

Nova reached into the box with all of her old pictures and pulled out the largest one: the last family portrait her family ever took before her father suddenly disappeared when she was ten. In the photo, Nova was sitting on her father's shoulder in-between her parents, smiling and laughing without a care in the world as her parents looked up at her with the same warm expression. Nova looked nothing like her mother, but her father, however, was a different story. He had shock-white hair and fair skin as well, but he had green eyes. Her mother had dark brown hair, tanned skin, and blue eyes. Nova had no idea where she got her sunset-colored eyes; it was like they were all her own. The white hair was genetic, though.

Nova put the picture back in the box and decided not to hang it up again. She hadn't hung it up in the last six houses she had lived in, but of course, her mother just kept slipping that photo back into Nova's box of pictures, hoping that maybe one day she would display pictures of her father again.

Nova left any pictures of her young self smiling in photos with her father inside the box, but pictures of her mother and other family members, like Professor Kukui, were hung up on the walls and displayed on her desk.

"Here we go again..." Nova broke down the last empty box and added it to the large pile next to her door before jumping into her bed and lying down flat on her back. She rested her hands on her chest and lightly shut her eyes, relaxing as she let her mind wander for a moment.

She layed on her bed in silence for what felt like an eternity. How many times were they going to do this? Just pack up and leave home after home again? Nova had lost track of every place in the world they had lived, or how many times they moved. Once she hit double digits, she stopped counting. A few years ago she would've been missing her last home right about now, but once you move from place to place as much as Nova had, you become numb to these sort of feelings. What is a home? No idea. Friends? Long-distance friendships never last.

It was a very...lonely way to live.

And Nova had lived that way for most of her life.

A sudden knock on her door woke Nova up from her thoughts, and she heard her mother's voice pour in from the other side. "So, Nova... Are you excited to meet some Alolan Pokemon? I hear their different colors are pretty cool! And some of them even look a little different, too."

Nova rolled her eyes as she slowly sat up in her bed. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Oh, Nova... Don't be like that." Nova's mother opened the door to her daughter's bedroom and looked disappointed as she walked in. "I know you're upset about the move, but let's try and be positive about this!"

"Be positive about what?" Nova snapped bitterly as she crossed her arms over her chest and remained seated on her bed. "The fact that we're probably going to move again within the year once you get bored of this place too?" She shot her mother a scrutinizing glare, completely annoyed with her. "Mom, we've lived in every region in this world at least twice because of how restless you are."

Nova's mother seemed to be at a loss for words as she grabbed the back of her neck and looked down and off to the side of the room. "I know, honey, and I'm sorry to put you through all of that... But, I'm sure you'll make some great friends here too!"

Nova just shook her head and looked off to the side. "Yeah, but how long will they last is the question..."

Nova's mother was heartbroken to see her daughter so upset, and she frowned a little as she spoke. "...if it makes you feel any better, I feel really good about this place, especially since a good part of our family lives here too. I plan to stay for a while, Nova."

Nova looked up at her mother with cold, dead eyes. "That's what you said about the past twelve houses we've lived in too, Mom."

"Come on, Nova..." Nova's mother exhaled in frustration as she tried to uplift the conversation with some positive energy. "We're living in the Alola region now! We've never been here before. It's the beautiful islands that everyone wants to visit!" She nudged her daughter a little in attempt to cheer her up. "I really think you'll like it here."

Nova just sighed and crossed her arms as she stared down at the floor. "I liked where we lived in the other regions, too..."

Nova's mother understood why her daughter was so upset, but she continued to try and uplift her spirits with all the positive things about them moving to Alola. "Well... This time around, you can finally start your Pokemon journey here in this region. I'm sure the Pokemon living in a place like this must be friendly, right?"

"I guess..." Nova stood up from her bed and walked over to the giant pile of broken down boxes. "If you don't mind, I'm going to take these out to the recycling bin now."

"O-oh, okay..." Nova's mother awkwardly stepped out of the way as her daughter carried the huge stack of boxes past her and left the room, and she felt a little discouraged by how closed off her daughter was. "I guess we'll talk later, then..."

It only took Nova a second to realize she bit off more than she could chew with these boxes. Some of them were as big as her, even when broken down and folded, and Nova was five-foot-eight-inches tall. She crossed the living room as she headed for the side door in the kitchen, which lead out to one of the main roads where the trash cans and recycling bins were. The door was a standard open-and-shut kind of door, unlike most of the sliding doors throughout the house, and Nova struggled to twist the doorknob and just pushed the door open as hard as she could so she wouldn't drop the large stack of boxes she was holding.

Meanwhile, a certain young man by the name of Altair was walking down one of the dirt road paths as he came from the professor's lab, and as he passed by that recently sold house he was looking at before, a door suddenly swung open with impeccable force and smacked him right in the face.

"OW!"

Nova screamed at the loud thud she just heard from the door and dropped all of her boxes, and her eyes widened in horror as she heard someone groan and fall to the floor. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry!!" She practically flew out the door and fell to her knees beside the young man she hit with the door, and she worriedly looked at his face that was currently covered by his hands. "Are you alright!?"

Altair groaned in pain as he covered his face with his hands, and he moved them just to touch his painfully-throbbing nose as he sat up. Unfortunately, he did hear Nova come to see if he was alright, but he didn't see where exactly she was due to his eyes being closed, and they promptly smacked their foreheads together as Altair quickly sat straight up.

"Ouch!" Both Nova and Altair cried out as their foreheads clonked together painfully, and they each reached up to grab where their heads smacked together.

"Ah, sorry..." Altair winced as he gripped his forehead, and he leaned forwards toward the girl sitting next to him to see if she was okay. "Are you alright?"

Nova's eyes were shut tight from the initial impact of their foreheads colliding, and she slowly opened her eyes as she gripped her throbbing skull to look at who was staring at her with a look of concern.

And in this moment, the young man and woman finally locked their gazes on one another, and as sunset-orange eyes met midnight-purple ones, and curly white hair clashed with spiky black hair, the two instinctively just stared at each other in silence for a moment.

"Oh, sorry..." Nova caught herself awkwardly staring at the handsome stranger whose nose she just nearly broke with a door, and as her pain began to ebb away, she looked into his eyes that were this alluring, polar opposite of her own. "I'm okay... Are you? Again, I'm really sorry about that...!"

Altair just looked at her and started to laugh, which just earned a deeply confused look from Nova, only causing him to laugh even more. "I'd be lying if I said that didn't hurt, but I'm sure it will go away in a few minutes..." He stretched upwards and stood up from the grass, and he held his hand out for Nova to take. "Here, let me help you up."

Nova looked unsure of herself as she looked at his face, and she awkwardly took a hold of his big, strong hand as he pulled her up to her feet. "Thank you. Are you sure you're okay? Do you want to come in for a bit so I can give you an ice pack or something...?"

Altair looked down at the strange white-haired girl with an infectious, charming smile on his face. "I'll pass. I'm kind of in a hurry to get somewhere, anyways."

"O-oh, alright." Nova blinked in shock as he just dusted himself off and walked right past her, carrying on his way as if nothing had just happened at all.

Altair paused, then turned to look back at Nova with an amused smirk on his face. "Next time, maybe you should look out that door's window before you slam it into some poor guy's face."

Nova's whole face lit up red in embarrassment as the laughing Altair walked away from her, and she just gripped her hair and tugged on it angrily as steam practically shot out of her ears. "Oh, you...! It's not like I hit you on purpose!! UGH!"  

The sound of the doorbell ringing brought Nova's attention back to the inside of her house, and she heard her mother call out to her from inside as Nova threw the boxes in the recycling bin and shut the door behind her on her way in. "Was that the doorbell? That's got to be Kukui. Nova, will you let him in?"

Nova just rubbed her aching forehead and shut her eyes briefly as she walked towards her mother. "Why bother? You know he's just going to walk right---"

"Hey there, Nova!" Professor Kukui threw the front door open with a loud slam, marching right into the front room."

"...in." Nova awkwardly completed the thought that was just interrupted by Professor Kukui suddenly letting himself in with a bitter expression on her face.

"Good to see you again, cousin!" Professor Kukui grinned brightly as he gave Nova a bone-crushing hug, which caused the young girl to gasp for air slightly.

Nova looked a little dizzy as if stars were circling her head the moment Professor Kukui let her go and set her back down on the floor. "Hi, Kukui... Good to see you too."

"You gotta be tired after that long trip all the way out here to Alola!" Professor Kukui laughed a little at the look on her face, and he peered down into her eyes as he spoke. "You feelin' any jet lag? We sure are a long way from Kanto out here in Alola. It's still daytime out here, yeah!"

Nova pressed her hand to her forehead in annoyance, still thinking about that awkward encounter she had with that snarky stranger just a moment ago. "A little, but I'll manage."

"Kukui!" Nova's mother walked into the room with a bright smile on her face, clapping her hands together in excitement. "Yes, we just arrived yesterday. We're still adjusting to the time difference."

"Hey there, Aunt Celine!" Professor Kukui grinned as he waved to her. "I just let myself in."

"Can't say I'm surprised." Nova's mother, Celine, just shook her head and laughed. "You're just like my sister in so many ways, Kukui."

"Really? You think so?" Professor Kukui couldn't help but beam at that, happy to hear it. "Well, I'm glad to hear that. I like to think that my mom and me are pretty similar."

"Of course you are similar." Celine laughed as she began to remember moments with her sister from the past. "Not only are you the spitting image of Celeste, but you've got her drive, too! I still remember seeing you battle the Indigo Gym Leaders back in Kanto all those years ago, you know! Just like how your mother did when she was your age."

"Ha, really!?" Professor Kukui was honored that his aunt remembered his Kanto challenge days as he placed his hands on his hips. "I was supposed to be visiting there to research Kanto Pokemon moves and all. I thought I knew a thing or two about battling, but those Kanto Gym Leaders proved me wrong! I don't know how my mom beat them all back when she was a hot-shot young Trainer."

"Aunt Celeste is one of the Elite Four in Kanto now, isn't she?" Nova looked to her mother for answers, but Professor Kukui answered her question instead.

"Yeah, sure is! Couldn't be more proud of her." Professor Kukui grinned brighter than the sun as he clapped his hands together.

"Celeste was always the battler when we were kids, while I was more of the traveling coordinator entering contests with my Pokemon." Celine recollected her childhood memories with her sister Celeste fondly. "Of course, now that I'm older and retired, all I have left of my dream team is Meowth." She glanced behind her at the small cat-like Pokemon on the ground, who looked up at the sound of his name being spoken.

"Meow!" Meowth chimed into the conversation, causing everyone to laugh at his impeccable timing.

Professor Kukui clapped his hands together to grab Nova's attention. "Hey now, Nova! As much as I love reminiscing about the past, why don't you and I get a move on to the next town over?" He clapped his cousin on the shoulder as he wore a face-splitting grin. "Time for you to meet the Island Kahuna and get yourself a Pokemon, yeah!"

"Wait, really?" Nova snapped her eyes wide open in shock, almost unable to believe what her cousin had just said. "He'll just...give me a Pokemon? Just like that?"

"Yeah, sure." Professor Kukui waved off the Kahuna's immense generosity as if it were a completely normal thing. "The Kahuna who lives in Iki Town is always happy to give any kid who wants to have an adventure their first Pokemon, yeah."

"Kid...?" Nova let the word fall from her lips doubtfully as she stared at her cousin with a dubious look on her face. "...I'm nineteen, Kukui."

"Doesn't matter to the Kahuna, no worries. In his eyes, you're still a kid, Nova, hah!" Professor Kukui let out a loud laugh as he clapped his cousin on the shoulder again, causing Nova to almost fall forwards a little from the force of his strength.

"Ugh..." Nova groaned at the "kid" remark, hating to be seen as a child even though she was a perfectly grown young adult now.

"Cheer up, cousin!" Professor Kukui clapped Nova on the shoulder hard once again. "You're not the only one getting a Pokemon from the Kahuna today! Although, he is quite a bit younger than you, since most kids in Alola start their challenge at age eleven..."

Nova sighed and just rolled her eyes. "Great, I'm already feeling old..."

"Hah, don't stress, cousin!" Professor Kukui laughed at how pessimistic she was. "The Kahuna gives out Pokemon to anyone who he sees fit. Just don't go challenging him, yeah! The Kahunas are crazy-strong Pokemon Trainers."

"Seriously...?" Nova quirked an eyebrow at this, unfamiliar with Alola's customs and hierarchy system.

"Yeah! In a sense, they're like the island's mini Pokemon Champion." Professor Kukui nodded his head, trying to explain Kahunas in a way that Nova could understand, since she was foreign to the Alolan islands. "They're unbeatable for folks like me and you!"

Nova just let out the breath she was holding as her posture slumped a little. "...great. No pressure or anything..."

"Hah! Come on, Nova." Professor Kukui impatiently gave Nova a little shove in the direction of her bedroom. "Hurry and get ready! Let's get goin' soon."

"Alright, hold on. I'll be right back." Nova turned and jogged towards her bedroom door, quickly sliding it open and stepping inside. She changed out of her simple exercise clothes from earlier and into a white sleeveless turtleneck, a black pleated skirt, and a simple black pair of strappy pumps with gold buckles. She grabbed her white bag with gold buckles off of her desk and slipped her Trainer passport and wallet inside, and Nova grabbed her little white sun hat with a black bow as she quickly walked out of her room with the intention of rejoining her mother and cousin at the front door.

"You look ready for anything now!" Celine gasped at how pretty her daughter looked as she put her hands together and pressed her fingers against her mouth. "Have a good time out there!"

"Bye, Mom." Nova gave her mother a simple wave as she walked out the door with her cousin, stepping out into Alola's sun for the first time since she moved in yesterday.

But this was only the beginning of her soon-to-be very, very hectic first day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I literally can't stop laughing at the meet-cute I picked for Nova and Altair XDDDDD it took me a while to finally decide how to make them initially first meet. Funny thing is, I've totally done that to people several times before because I'm such a klutz;;;

So, what do you guys think of Altair so far? :D a lot of you in the Stairway to the Stars forum instantly pictured Altair as this troubled bad boy and Nova as a total badass who helps him get his shit together, but really, Altair is a super nice guy and Nova is one giant hot mess who needs his help with getting her shit together XDDDDDD I made my characters different than what they usually tend to be to try and spice things up a bit.

...I can already hear all of you screeching and cheering because you've already been shipping Nova x Altair since chapter one, even though they hadn't even met yet;;; XD by the way, their ship name is NovairShipping. Just getting that out there XD

Also, I would just like to thank you guys for being SO AWESOME!!! Chapter one already has over 200 reads on it and nearly 100 comments, and the book has only been out for like...a week. Thank you so much for your incredible support!! Keep up the good work with those comments! I love to see what in the book makes you guys laugh, smile, cry, get angry...the whole shebang! Reading the comments is my favorite thing to do after publishing a chapter :D

By the way, the art in this chapter are my own personal sketches of Nova and Altair :)

Read, comment, vote, and enjoy the story!! :D