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Kukui was not expecting this.
He was not expecting Ash to come running up to him, covered all over in what seemed to be… sauce. Pasta sauce. His jaw hung agape, as he looked the teenager up and down. Ash was drenched head to toe in fucking pasta sauce.
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. He really did not know what to make of this. How does a 14-year-old teenage boy go out into the forest in clean clothing and come back missing his hat and coated completely in SAUCE?!
“Ash, I- What…holy fuck, what happened to you?” Ash shrugged.
“I dunno.” Was his simple answer. Kukui was absolutely fucking flabbergasted. How was he even going to get this kid clean? No, not even clean. How was he going to get this kid somewhat less dirty? He dragged his hands down his face.
“What do you mean you don’t know?!” Kukui sputtered, gesturing wildly with his hands. At this point, his best bet was throwing him in the ocean or having Empoleon use Hydro Pump on him. Otherwise, Kukui had no idea on how to get this kid clean enough so that Burnet wouldn’t want to whack him with a broom for dragging schmutz through the house, even though worse had happened and it was technically his house.
Ash shrugged again.
“I just kinda walked into a big hole, got covered in sauce, and got spit back out into the forest. Not that exciting.” Kukui pinched the bridge of his nose, muttering an “oy, vey” under his breath. He looked at the teenager, and then at the big metal tub used for bathing their Pokemon, sitting by the front stairs which led up to the porch.
Wait a minute. The big metal tub. And right around the corner, the hose.
Kukui slapped his hands together. “I have an idea.” He ran to the side of the house and grabbed the hose, unrolling it from the hose wheel. ‘ Hose wheel? Hose thing? What is it called, anyway?’ He left the question hanging to ponder it later on, as he ran back to where Ash was standing, dragging the hose in his left hand and a sprayer attachment in his right. He quickly screwed the sprayer head onto the hose and turned it to the ‘shower’ setting.
“You might want to close your eyes for this!” He gave Ash no time to respond as he turned the hose on him, hearing a brief screech and a yelp of “It’s cold!”.
“It’s hose water, Ash, of course it’s cold! You should have thought about that before coming back here covered in—I swear to Necrozma—pasta sauce!” Kukui yelled, trying to get most of the thick tomato goop off with the sprayer while still standing at a distance. Now red water stained the sand around Ash’s feet, turning it an odd orange-red color. Which was a little gross.
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After a little while, Kukui could actually recognize the teenager again, who was shaking the water off himself. Clumps of tomato sat in a haphazard sort of ring around his feet, which he stepped out from the middle of and looked at Kukui.
“Can I go inside now?” Ash asked, squeezing the water from his hair. He chuckled and sighed.
“Yeah, you can. Straight to the shower, though.” The teenager grumbled quietly for a hot second, but went inside nonetheless. Kukui, meanwhile walked back to the side of the house to start rolling the hose back up on the hose wheel. Hose wheel. That didn’t sound right. Hose reel.
Right as he finished rolling it back up and was walking to the forefront of the house, Burnet came outside, a quizzical expression on her face. She looked at the tomato ring, then at Kukui, then back at the tomato ring.
“Is…is that why Ash just walked into the house sopping wet??” She asked, eyebrows furrowed.
Kukui sighed.
“It’s a long story.”