Chapter 175 (Patreon)

The boats that docked on Akala brought over the stuff the competitors deposited within. Hope and I were able to collect our belongings before heading to the Pokémon Center. We weren’t in a rush—finding out more information about Ryuki wasn’t pressing—but there was a slight concern that Kukui might have left out pertinent details about Ryuki’s identity. He seemed too bold to be someone Kukui accidentally overlooked.

After getting changed, we were able to secure a private booth in the Center and give the Professor a call. It rang a few times before he picked up, and we were able to promptly explain who we had witnessed and ask the question at the forefront of our minds.

“Why’d you leave Ryuki out of the listings?” Hope asked.

Professor Kukui wasn’t expecting that question. He brought his head back slightly and blinked.

“Ryuki? From Malie City?”

“Yeah. Him,” she deadpanned.

We didn’t get a reply at first; Kukui merely pressed his lips together in a thin line and took off his hat, rubbing his head. He sighed, unhappy, and seemed to come to an acceptance before explaining.

“It’s an optics issue,” he replied.

“How so?” I asked.

“There’s a Kantonian Gym in Malie, but it’s a tourist destination rather than any official location,” he explained. “Trainers pay a bit to challenge the place as if it were a real Gym, and Ryuki is the owner of the building. The issue is that he’s rarely there; more often than not, he’s out training his team. Not only that, but he’s not popular with the locals—not unpopular, mind you—but he’s a foreigner who came here and established a business, rather than a local who built something of their own.

“Gym Leaders are supposed to represent the region,” he summarized. “Ryuki only represents himself.”

“You can’t deny he’s a strong trainer, though,” Hope said. “His Kingdra was freshly evolved, yet it was stronger than some Pokémon that have been fully evolved for years!”

Kukui closed his eyes and rubbed his head again.

“I’m not saying he’s a bad trainer. I’m saying that making him a Gym Leader would essentially be legally granting Malie City to him as his territory to protect. He hasn’t shown the dedication needed to be a Gym Leader, neither to his business nor to his own city, and I doubt the local population would be too happy with our choice.”

I felt somewhat foolish for making assumptions. I generally believed that strong trainers needed to have a strong connection to their team, and having a strong connection to your team meant they were reliable. But, that didn’t hold in every case, and Ryuki’s boisterous attitude caught me off guard. It’s entirely possible to be dedicated to your team without being dedicated to the people and places around you.

Case in point: me.

I had friends I treated well, but the closest thing I had to a “personal territory” was Verdanturf, with Olivine City back in Johto to a lesser extent, as that city was where I initially lived with Marty. However, at this point, I was only dedicated to Verdanturf solely because I lived there. I doubted I would make a good Gym Leader for similar reasons to Ryuki.

As I shifted around in my seat, thinking about Kukui’s words, Hope suddenly sent me a look. I raised an eyebrow questioningly as she seemed to wobble her head, considering what she was about to say. Turning back to the video screen, she asked a question that neither Kukui or I were happy to hear.

“Would this apply to Guzma, too?” she asked cautiously.

Oh. I can see how she made that connection.

At Hope’s words, Kukui immediately frowned, and I cringed a little inside. Kukui thankfully didn’t have much more reaction than that, and he was able to keep his composure.

“Guzma might have a disagreeable personality, an abhorrent willingness to compromise, a lack of morals in certain situations—”

“We get it,” Hope and I both said.

“—but I can’t deny his potential as a Gym Leader the same way I’ve denied Ryuki’s. He’s loyal to a fault, knows how to lead a large group of people, and he does have Alola’s interests at heart, though he is currently showing them through selfish means.”

Hope and I stayed silent, wanting to get more information, and Kukui continued.

“Guzma is... Well, Guzma is someone who lets his emotions get the best of him at times. Team Skull was formed when he failed to become a Trial Captain, which is bad, but there is an inkling of something to his actions. He isn’t the only one to deny the viability of creating a Pokémon League here, and he did create a group that provides those who feel disenfranchised a home. I know I’ve heard my share of peers expressing similar beliefs to what Guzma shouts at times, though I personally disagree with the idea a Gym Circuit would remove part of Alola’s Culture.”

Kukui took a breath before continuing.

“The Island Challenge is uniquely ours, and neither I nor them want to have it go away,” he declared. “Essentially, while I deeply think Guzma has a flawed temperament, Alex, you do have a point that there's good in him somewhere.”

“So Ryuki is a strong trainer, but he doesn’t have the dedication needed to be a decent Gym Leader,” Hope said.

“I guess,” Kukui said, wincing slightly. “But hey! Changing the topic—You two are on Akala Island right now, yeah? That’s great!”

“I got fourth, Alex got fifth,” Hope replied.

I sat back and grumbled in my seat. Kukui just laughed.

“Anyway, outside of the Gym Leader issue, I do have a suggestion now that you’re in Heahea,” Kukui said. “My wife, Professor Burnet, runs a local lab, and it might be worth checking the place out! She looks into the connection with other dimensions, after all.”

I hummed, and both Hope and Kukui sent me a pointed look. I could see why he had brought it up given what I revealed about my background, though I wasn’t interested in returning to my old world. I liked being here, and I liked my Pokémon. I didn’t want to abandon them, and there was nothing waiting for me, anyway.

But, studying the dimensions didn’t necessarily mean I needed to ask about my old reality. I knew Alola had an Ultra Beast issue, and finding more information out about that might be a good reason to visit.

“I guess I’m interested in that,” I said.

“Same here,” Hope replied. “Thanks for everything, Kukui.”

“Yeah! No problem! You’re doing Alola a favor by testing potential League candidates, and I appreciate the initiative you’re showing by asking me about this. Any time you have a question, give me a call! I don’t currently have any dedicated experiments that would keep me busy. I might be working, but I’m free to talk most times of the day.

He smiled, and waved goodbye before the screen shut off. When a small beep rang out, signaling the end of the call, Hope sent me a look.

“So. Thoughts on all of that?”

“Kukui tried really hard to not outright give Guzma his permission, but he was exceptionally clear that Ryuki wasn’t a good choice. Although...”

“Although?” Hope asked.

“I still think we should look into Ryuki.”

Hope raised an eyebrow, and I held up a hand to delay her before she made any unreasonable assumptions.

“Kukui’s right that Ryuki’s not a great candidate for being a Gym Leader, but it might be worth looking into him for that exact reason. Who says he’s right if he never met the guy? Similarly, why not purposefully check a ‘poor’ candidate for the sake of a fair comparison?”

Hope snickered at my words, and a grin appeared on her face.

“You just want to battle him, don’t you?” she asked, cheekily enough.

I scratched the side of my face.

“...Maybe.”

Hope laughed at my reaction and agreed we’d visit Ryuki once we went to the next island. For now, we still had Akala ahead of us, as well as Burnet’s lab as our immediate next stop.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Hope and I didn’t head to Burnet’s immediately; we’d literally just surfed the entire distance between two islands and needed to take a break. Talking to Kukui was easy enough, but I wasn’t alone in being sore across my body. Case in point, when I sent out Azumarill into our Pokémon Center room, she immediately went to the bathroom to sleep in the tub.

Instead, we waited until the next day, where I talked to my Pokémon and swapped around my team. Azumarill went back home to relax before heading back to Crasher Wake’s Gym, and a few other Pokémon were switched out as well. Ninetales came back, and Altaria joined me after a long time at home. Carbink stayed on the team, and Florges returned alongside Cutiefly now that Cutiefly had a chance to explore our home. From what Wanda said, he really enjoyed the flower gardens Florges managed, and he even befriended a few wild Flabébé that made their home within our shared territory.

I had the option to bring either Rapidash or Gardevoir back to maintain the deception of my mental protection, but it was about time to let that “trick” wear off. With the authority granted to me by my position in the League as well as the relative power level of my team, I didn’t need to make any excuse for why that protection was there. I could easily brush off any questions by pulling rank, and while Rapidash and Gardevoir did help hide my surface thoughts, that was only needed if someone employed a Psychic Type to see if I was telling the truth.

In the worst case, as any Psychic Type would need to be exceedingly close to even detect me, I could literally just walk away if pressed. For now, I figured it was time to let all of that fade. I wanted Gardevoir and Rapidash to be able to take a well-deserved break instead of needing to rotate around in shifts.

With my team set up, we headed to Burnet’s lab in the middle of the next day.

Professor Burnet’s lab was smack dab in the middle of Heahea City, nestled between the sparse collection of buildings that made up the city. It had its own private parking lot, which was rare, complete with several cars parked inside for its workers. Its roof was covered in radar dishes seemingly pointed every which way, and a pair of glass doors opened up automatically as we went inside.

The place seemed empty, but we could hear the sounds of many people typing, echoing faintly from upstairs. Unlike most places we visited, there wasn’t a dedicated receptionist, only an empty counter with a paper taped to its top.

“Says here they do a tour of the place twice a day,” Hope said.

“When’s the next one available?” I asked.

“Well, it’s one right now, and they do a tour in the morning and afternoons. So, based on that... Around three?” she offered.

I let out a sigh, accepting we’d need to come out later, but a faint voice shouted at us from the stairs. I looked over, blinking, and my face was immediately hit with a white and brown blur.

“Down, Whimsicott!” an unfamiliar voice rang out.

Whimsicott—my Whimsicott, specifically—whined and moved around to hang off my shoulder. I rubbed the space between his horns as a woman descended from the staircase, chuckling slightly as she did.

“Sorry about that. He’s never acted like that before,” the woman said.

“You sure? Because I’m pretty sure he hangs off my shoulder all the time.”

The woman blinked and brushed back a few strands of white hair out of her face. She adjusted the top half of a wetsuit, which was pushed down to be around her waist, as she stepped forward, squinting her eyes to take both Hope an I in. I took note of how, like Kukui, she was dressed ready to swim. She wore a wetsuit under her lab coat, whereas Kukui wore swim trunks.

“Alex?” the woman said slowly. “Then you must be Hope!”

“Yup. You must be Professor Burnet. Nice to meet you,” Hope said.

“Is Lillie here?” I asked.

“She is!” Burnet smiled and waved up forward, motioning us to climb the stairs. “I’ve been working with Lillie on a project these past few days. You’ve come at the perfect time! I’d hoped to finish before the Surf Rush ended, but, well,” Professor Burnet shrugged, “you can see what good that’s done for me. Let me show you what I’ve been working on. No need to wait for a tour like everyone else.”

We followed her up the staircase to the upper floors, passing by a door that opened up to an office. People in lab coats filled the space, though it looked like a bunch of independent workstations more than anything else. Rather than enter there, Burnet brought us to the fourth floor, where she said most of the lab’s machines were. We entered a wide, open space with an archway dividing it in half. The portion we were in resembled a waiting room, but I could see walls covered with computers through the gap in the back.

“Lillie! We have guests!”

The girl in question slowly came out through the archway, pausing when she saw who we were. Hope and I gave her a wave as Burnet walked forward. She started to explain her research into Ultra Space to Hope while I stayed behind to talk to Lillie.

"Hi Lillie,” I said. “I’m glad to see you’re still traveling.”

"Oh, um, thank you. And hello Alex," Lillie replied, fidgeting where she stood. "I watched the Surf Rush. Congratulations on fifth place."

"Thank you." I smiled. "How has your journey been? Everything good so far?"

Lillie looked up as if surprised I was continuing the conversation, then she bobbed her head up and down.

"Y-yes! I've been training with Nebby a bunch to help him with his defense, focusing on wearing down his opponents to give us our victories. Popplio has been great, too! Her Disarming Voice has won us a bunch of matches!"

"That's great. I'm glad it's working out."

“Mhm! Whimsicott has been a huge help, too. He's made sure any too strong wild Pokémon stayed away. I don’t think I would have been able to get as far without him."

I tilted my head slightly.

"He’s been helping you train your team?"

"K-kind of. He mostly helps Popplio with aiming her attacks and getting a handle on Fairy Type energy."

I smiled, proud, and Lillie blushed and turned away. Seeing her excited and willing to speak so easily like this was a vast improvement in her confidence than how she was before. I did notice, however, that she hadn't mentioned expanding her team or evolving Popplio, yet. That wasn't necessarily a bad sign, but I did hope she planned to look into expanding her team overall.

We started to move to catch up with Hope and Burnet, continuing our conversation as we did.

"Then if you're here, you beat Hala's Grand Trial, right?"

Lillie continued to look away, refusing to meet my eyes.

"Nebby weakened Mister Hala’s first Pokémon and Popplio finished it off, but we only managed to faint two Pokémon out of three overall. He still gave us the victory though, saying our sync-syncroncity—"

"Synchronicity?" I offered.

"Yes, synchronicity. Thank you," she said. "He said that we had good, uh, that, and he said we warranted a pass overall."

I hummed in approval. Gym Leaders occasionally did the same, especially when they were impressed by challengers who faced them. Being granted a victory like that said Lillie had better prospects as a trainer than if she had just won overall. Yet, the way she spoke was subdued and the explanation almost came out stuttering.

"Being granted a victory through explicit permission is something to be proud of, not something to hide,” I said, shaking my head at her words. “You should raise your head up! You passed a Grand Challenge! Stand with pride!”

Lillie shifted slightly in place, doing as I said, and my smile deepened when she did seem to take my words in. However, I didn’t fail to notice a slight slump return soon after. She still had a way to go to believe herself capable, and I wanted to make sure she’d reach that state of mind eventually.

We didn’t have much time to talk after that, as we caught up with Burnet and Hope, joining the conversation when the Professor was in the middle of answering Hope’s questions. At this point, Whimsicott removed himself from my shoulders to drift back to the staircase and keep guard downstairs. There weren’t any windows in this room, which was good, as Nebby the Cosmog was in plain sight, floating over a table in the center of the room.

"...won’t work,” Burnet said. “The energy Ultra Beasts give off can be described as 'piercing' or 'corroding.' As a result, all Ultra Beasts are impossible to store in Pokéballs, Nebby included.”

"So you're trying to develop a Pokéball that can store them?" Hope asked.

"Kind of," Burnet replied. She motioned for Nebby to float up next to her, and he did. "Technology like Pokéballs are out of my wheelhouse, but my research into dimensional rifts have given me a unique perspective on Pokémon energy in general. Everything gives off its own frequency of radiation, and advanced Pokéballs are given from there. My hopes are to gather readings from Nebby and compare it to what people already know. If I find anything worth sharing, I'll wait a few weeks then send it in. We don't want the wrong people to find out I have Lillie with me right now."

What was left unsaid was that Burnet was referring to the Aether Foundation specifically and Lillie’s overbearing mother. Glancing over, the girl was staring down at the floor.

"That makes sense," she said quietly.

Burnet rested a hand on Lillie's head, causing her to jump, but the touch did seem to comfort her.

"Don’t worry. You know I’ve taken precautions,” the Professor replied. “Anyway, today we'll be doing surface level scans to get a few basic readings from Nebby. It's the equivalent of an X-ray, but far more safe and using a different form of energy entirely. Feel free to stay and watch, just make sure to follow me so you can be shielded from the radiation.”

Burnet waved us to the side of the room, where several monitors and keyboards were attached to the wall. It was located behind a standing panel of tinted glass, which gave us a decent view of Nebby, who stayed behind. On the ceiling, a radar dish hung down and pointed at the table Nebby was on. After making sure everyone was ready, Burnet entered a command on a computer and began to countdown.

"In three, two, one..."

She dramatically hit the "enter" key on her keyboard, and a low buzz emanated from the center of the room. Cosmog blinked, then he looked over. After only a second passed, his face contorted up in confusion, and a puff of stardust left his body as he sneezed underneath the invisible rays.

BANG!

Someone screamed. Sparks burst out of the machines behind us. Hope and I scrambled to send out our Pokémon.

A flash of light signaled our Pokémon appeared besides us in the same moment the lights flashed off. Carbink set up a defensive layer of screens just in case, and Cherrim created a few spinning Razor Leafs that floated in the air. Nearby, Professor Burnet's depressed sigh told us this wasn't an attack—something with the scan had gone wrong.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," Burnet said.

"No kidding," Hope replied.

There was a clunk, and the lights turned back on. Unfortunately, most of the machines here seemed fried.

Lillie used the returning illumination to run out behind the glass, hurrying towards the table and scooping the confused Legendary Pokémon up into a hug. At the same time, Professor Burnet opened up a metal compartment in a case, waved a plume of smoke away, and plucked a piece of paper that had been printed out of a tray.

She took a moment to scan it over before glancing Lillie’s way.

"Huh. Lillie?" Burnet asked.

"Yes?"

"How much have you been training?"

"Nebby and I have been battling everyone we can. At Whimsicott's advice, we've been facing some wild Pokémon as well."

Burnet frowned and returned to reading the paper. The more she read, the more her expression grew grim.

"Nebby isn't growing at the same rate as a normal Pokémon,” she mumbled. “If anything, his rate of growth is exponential."

Those words hung in the air as everyone stared Burnet’s way. Silently, she handed off the paper to Hope, who read it over, and then she handed it to me.

On the sheet was a graph that displayed energy levels over time. Three different lines appeared on it, one showing a normal Pokémon’s average growth, one showing Nebby’s initial projected growth, and one showing Nebby’s actual current growth.

The normal Pokémon’s line was a sloped line, with Nebby’s initial projected growth being one that was sloped slightly higher. However, when it came to the line showing how Nebby was actually developing, it was curved instead of staying perfectly flat.

"Well, I mean, Cosmog is a Legendary Pokémon," I said.

"One that might be putting off the wrong energy," Burnet replied.

I handed the sheet back to her as she looked over it yet again. She let out a sigh after another few seconds of silence.

"Ultra beasts follow sources of energy that remind them of their home in Ultra Space. According to this, not only is Nebby loaded with it, but he seems to be producing it on his own."

"Is that... bad?" Lillie asked hesitantly.

"More than bad. Given the chance, Ultra Beasts might go out of their way to hunt him down."

Lillie looked aghast at the news, and she pulled out of her hug to stare at Nebby, tears in her eyes. The starry Cosmog looked up at her, tilting its body slightly as if to ask what's wrong.

"I-if an Ultra Beast comes, I-I won't be a-able to p-protect you," she said.

Nebby shook his head and pushed back into her chest. He was denying her claims and stopping her train of thought before it could get anywhere too bad. It was clear that Nebby was trying to state he wanted to stay with her. Lillie obviously wanted the same.

As heartwarming as that was, a sharp beeping rang out from the wall, interrupting the moment. We glanced over to a flashing red light, and Professor Burnet sucked in a gasp.

“That burst from the machine. Cosmog...” She turned Lillie’s way. “Both of you. You need to leave. Now! As soon as you can! The alarm’s warning us of a powerful source of Ultra Energy within the bounds of the city!”

It took a few seconds for everyone to process what Burnet meant, and that was a few seconds too long. The beeping suddenly stopped, the room went perfectly still, and a horrendous screeching came from a wall.

"Go!" Burnet yelled.

Lillie pulled Cosmog close, and the pair disappeared with a Teleport. Right behind her, on the wall, a flash of steel carved through the stone to cut off and push down an opening for a Pokémon to get through.

When I saw what species it was, I had to rub my eyes because it didn't look real. It was small, only the size of my hand, and it resembled some kind of folded up piece of paper, made to be a star-shaped, origami samurai.

However, when it came to this Pokémon, nothing about it seemed like it should be alive. Despite its movement, it seemed completely inanimate, with all pieces of it seemingly floating in the air by chance rather than anything conscious.

I identified it solely through my knowledge of the games.

That’s a Kartana, an Ultra Beast. It must have been lured in by the explosion.

I sucked in a breath.

We’re so screwed.

"Surround it, Carbink!" I yelled.

Carbink tried to create a cube-shaped Reflect, but the Pokémon was small and thin enough to slip through the walls before they formed. It rushed up to the ceiling where that radar-dish scanning machine was, identifying the closest source of Ultra energy nearby. However, when it saw the machine wasn’t what it was searching for, it let out an enraged growl.

The sound it made was like thousands of chirping birds, completely incongruous with the Pokémon’s eerily mundane appearance. With a swipe of its paper arm, a faux-katana sliced down through the dish's middle, and the machine was disconnected from the ceiling before crashing down onto the metal table below.

"Petal Blizzard, Cherrim!"

"No, Hope! It's a Grass Type!" I yelled.

Sometimes, having a Pokémon be too well trained was a demerit, as in this case, Cherrim released its attack before any could stop it.

Petals half the size of the floating creature shot through the air at the Kartana, and the tiny Pokémon purposely let the move hit. The force of the attack would have hurt any other Pokémon, but Kartana simply let the move push it back.

"UB-04," Professor Burnet whispered.

"Kartana, specifically. It’s a Grass and Steel Type. Kartana has incredible physical defenses but poor special defenses. This especially stood out to me in the past because its stats were so lopsided towards the physical,” I said.

My explanation made no sense in the context of this world, but I at least managed to share the pertinent information before this situation escalated much more. Ahead of us, as the Petal Blizzard continued to whirl around the room, I tried to call for Carbink to block the newly-created exit, but the Kartana rode the move all the way back outside.

It flew up and off, disappearing from view through the previously-made hole in the wall and heading towards the south side of the city.

Professor Burnet was quick to speak.

“It’s going after Nebby,” she said in horror.

"Then we're leaving," I said quickly. "Lillie doesn’t know. We have to help her."

"Will we be able to find them?" Hope asked.

"We can," Burnet said. "Some of these machines are still working. I'll give you a call and provide you directions."

Quickly, I scooped Carbink up onto my arms as Hope swapped out Cherrim for Tropius. The hole in the wall was wide enough for her to send Tropius out outside, and both she and I hopped onto the decently-sized Pokémon's back.

"Whimsicott!" I shouted.

Whimsicott flew up from downstairs, looking like he had been caught completely off guard.

"Protect Burnet in case Kartana comes back. We're going after Lillie."

He saluted me as Tropius took off, Burnet giving us a call through Hope's Holo-Caster. Since Burnet's lab researched Ultra Wormholes, she was able to give us directions to tell us where Kartana was heading based on the readings of its energy signature.

We flew over the buildings of the city, past where the famous Tide Song Hotel was to the north. People on the ground looked up to us and pointed, surprised to see a Pokémon flying so close over the ground, and both Hope and I continued to scan around the places Professor Burnet was describing.

It took us a full minute—a minute that felt like it stretched out into forever. With so many of Burnet’s machines fried, she could only supply so much information.

"There! On the beach!" Hope yelled.

Lillie had Cosmog in her arms as she desperately ran, tourists and beach-goers around her only paying her half a mind. Lillie looked frightened, terrified even. She panted heavily as she struggled to make her way over the sands.

"Down, Tropius!" Hope ordered.

We dropped into a near freefall, still on Tropius's back.

It was hard to find Kartana given how small it was, but the wave of destruction it was causing was clear enough. While it wasn't attacking anything moving, beach umbrellas were being sliced in half, and one sandcastle proved to be extremely unlucky.

"Carbink! You're up!"

Tropius managed to pull up just in time for Carbink to push out of my arms and form a Reflect. The Kartana didn’t expect the act and slammed right into the psychic wall. Hope and I used this delay to disembark Tropius and hop off onto the sands.

"Let's go. Don't hold anything back," I said.

Hope nodded and released her entire team. I did the same. This wasn’t technically allowed, but in the case of emergencies, we had the authority to make this decision.

"Ninetales, Icy Wind! Altaria and Florges, support!"

"All of you, ranged moves as support!"

Carbink focused on creating a shielded arena, dividing us off from the people on the beach. However, without Gardevoir for support, he was having a tough time and had to completely focus on maintaining the area rather than attack. Thankfully, the sheer barrage of moves meant Kartana was pinned down, and even though it could have pushed through the barrier, it had to focus on defense, instead.

Kartana was a small Pokémon, only the size of my hand. Using that to its advantage, the Ultra Beast dipped and dodged, weaved and spun, and it slipped past all the projectiles sent its way. Like a fly in the rain, it avoided everything, and it sliced through the air to reach where our Pokémon were at.

Blades of wind formed and spiraled downwards. It created dozens of different Air Cutters that rained down on our teams.

Hope's team took it the hardest, as the Flying Type moves were super effective. Cherrim showed its stuff with a Heal Pulse in support, and Venusaur tried a Sleep Powder, but that was ineffective as Kartana was a Grass Type.

"Dazzling Gleam!" I yelled.

I hoped this wide-ranged attack would catch Kartana off guard while it was so close nearby. Ninetales and Altaria burst with Fairy Type energy, but Kartana was able to slip behind Carbink to avoid the attack.

Unfortunately, Carbink wasn’t in a place to attack, and my team had to stop attacking to prevent themselves from hitting Carbink. Kartana used this opportunity to slash a Sacred Sword across Carbink’s side, sending them back and slamming into Altaria’s chest. From there, the Ultra Beast burst forward, slashing a Leaf Blade slashed against Florges’s chest, managing to land a critical blow and bringing her to the edge of unconsciousness.

Ninetales struck next. She released an Ice Beam, but it went wide and hit Carbink’s barrier as she was trying to avoid hurting Florges. I growled at my mistake.

Kartana was easily displaying one of the rules of mass combat—fighting many Pokémon at once was sometimes easier than fighting a single Pokémon at a time.

If it were any other situation, our numbers wouldn’t have got in the way.

"Grab it with Vine Whip!" Hope shouted.

All of the incoming vines were slashed apart. I looked toward Altaria for a Flamethrower, hoping a four-times effective attack would cause Kartana to panic and let us engage in a counterattack.

That never happened. Instead, everything went still.

Reality was one thing. This was another. The space around us gained a hue of pinkish-purple, and everything shifted as if experiencing intense, unfeelable waves. A shout from our audience; the beach goers had been watching. Hope and I looked up only for our breath to catch in our throat.

Above the beach was what looked to be the pink head of a butterfly. It had stylized eye-decorations on its sides, and it had two long, curled antennae sticking out of the tip of its curved shape. Along the bottom of this... thing, a pure black, line almost resembled the curve of a bug’s proboscis.

After a few seconds of waiting, the very top of the butterfly’s head popped upwards, as if were the top of a lid. The creature’s two antennae were revealed to be stiff locks of curled, pink hair that dropped down to hang at the revealed, humanoid creature’s side.

The new arrival, the floating Pokémon, glared down at the beach, eyes staring daggers into Kartana. I could feel the pressure it was giving off from here. The people on the beach shouted its name.

"Tapu Lele!" "Tapu Lele!" “Our Guardian!”

Akala's Guardian Deity was here.

Kartana stood no chance, and the Ultra Beast recognized that. It tried to flee. Tapu Lele was prepared for this, and, using the Psychic Terrain placed around it, the Tapu's Psychic was enhanced enough to allow it to telekinetically pluck Kartana out of the air even from so far away.

Kartana flailed and sliced all around it, trying to free itself as it was brought higher and higher up. At one point, it tinted the color of dusk, and a Dark Type Night Slash burst from its arms. The move was rich enough in the appropriate Type energy that almost any other Psychic Type Pokémon would have dropped its telekinesis, but Tapu Lele was a Legendary Pokémon for a reason. Kartana was unable to escape.

With a huff, as if the Tapu was picking up nothing more than garbage, the Legendary Pokémon started to float away, bringing Kartana with it. Below, people on the beach cheered, and Tapu Lele flinched.

It gained a red blush to its face as it quickly retreated back into the base of its shell-like body. After that, the Legendary Pokémon flew off at a much faster rate than before.

With that incredible situation having passed, Hope and I paused, taking in the literal Deus Ex Machina that had just occurred before us. We decided to take the gift as is before we quickly returned all of our Pokémon and rushed off after Lillie. The Tapus were called Guardian Deities for a reason—they’d been fighting Ultra Beasts for years. To have Kartana attack a city like this meant it was Tapu Lele’s role to fight it off.

Hope and I ran down the beach. A few people tried to approach us to ask questions, but we replied to every inquiry with "Sorry. Official League business," which was a wonderful benefit of having a rank. Lillie wasn’t too far away, having stopped when we stopped Kartana from approaching. She was hunched over, breathing heavily, having pushed herself to run. In front of her, Popplio stood on the sand, ready to attack if needed.

"Lillie! I'm glad you're safe!" Hope called out.

"Are you injured?" I asked.

"No, just tired,” she replied with a sigh.

People around us had their devices out to film. Thankfully, Lillie had the presence of mind to have put Nebby back in his bag when Tapu Lele had distracted everyone.

"I think we should return to the lab," I said.

Lillie nodded tiredly.

"After all of that and what we learned from Burnet..." I paused. "I think we should have a conversation about where you're going from here."

Lillie grimaced as we started to walk off, clearly expecting bad news. After all, if training Nebby was going to lure in stray Ultra Beasts, it wasn't safe for her to go off with just Whimsicott as protection. That might have implied she would need to end her journey here, but what she didn’t realize, however, was that I had a proposal in mind.

A proposal that I really hoped she’d be willing to accept.

====================================================
Author Note:

Ah, the Conservation of Ninjutsu. How you taunt us all.

Speaking of Ultra Beasts, Stakataka is one of my favorite Pokémon because it’s so dumb, and when it comes to Blacephalon, I actually soft reset thousands of times to get a shiny one. I love both of those species because of how awful they are. I really enjoy just how “alien” that group of Pokémon are.

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Cherrim
Cosmog
Flabébé
Kartana
Kingdra
Popplio
Tropius
Venusaur

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