Chapter 227 (Patreon)

The urgency of the situation was not lost on me, but I had to make sure we knew what was going on before any snap decision. Looking around, it quickly became clear that the damage ahead of us was filled with clues.

The visible devastation appeared as if something absolutely massive had torn straight through. Far-too-big footsteps flattened the dirt both nearby and on the damaged route itself. Meanwhile, the Seafolk Village Pokémon Center was untouched, but the edge of the docks that connected the floating town to Poni Island had been melted through by some sort of steaming acid.

No one approached us as we quickly took in everything that had gone wrong around us; there was no Lillie, no Wally, no Ash, no Gladion, and no Elio. All five stationed trainers had utterly vanished, and glancing around, the only familiar faces outside of the locals were—

“Team Skull?!”

Hope snapped her gaze to where I was staring, and Gardevoir immediately went on guard despite the aforementioned team’s alliance with us. Grunts in the classic black-and-white masks and skull-themed outfits commanded Poison Type Pokémon to push away or eat—in the case of one Alolan Muk—lingering globs of gunk. They were watched by civilians who stared with utter bewilderment, and one person in particular seemed to be in charge of the entire operation; Plumeria was quite literally right there.

The Team Skull co-leader stood with a nasty scowl on her face while a team of grunts followed her barked-out orders. Despite the harshness of her tone, the gang members under her seemed to be enjoying the work, and their help pleased the locals as well. Hope and I didn’t wait before running over, as while we needed to head to Poni Island’s Altar as soon as possible, we also needed to learn what exactly happened here and whether or not Lillie was safe.

“Plumeria! Where is everyone?!”

As I shouted, the Team Skull co-leader turned around and tried to suppress a new scowl—tried to.

“You’re here. Good. Guzma and everyone else went to the Altar. I stayed back to help and pass on a message. Everyone is safe, but they were attacked by the Aether Foundation. They have Ultra Beasts, and they’re not afraid to use them.”

I grimaced.

So we’re going to be heading right into it, huh?

Given how short the message was, Hope and I already began to turn around—there was no time to waste, after all. I was a split second away from ordering Gardevoir to use Teleport, but a shout from Plumeria stopped me.

“Wait! Before you go, Alex.”

Plumeria continued to scowl, her displeasure bluntly obvious for everyone around. Except, this time around, her scowl wasn’t meant for me. This situation and likely one person in particular was what drew her ire.

“That witch manipulated Guzma for years. You better put her in her place.”

“I will,” I replied with a nod.

“Good. And...” She turned back around, preventing me from seeing her face. “I’m sorry about your basket. I shouldn’t have attacked it.”

A moment of silence followed, but I still laughed despite the situation.

“Maybe I’ll make Lusamine pay in more ways than one, huh?”

Hope and I headed out right after, determined to stop the Aether Foundation and defeat anything they sent our way.

______________________________________________________________________________

Rapidash's hooves thundered across the path of Vast Poni Canyon. At our side, Hope sat on a Sawsbuck's back—a non-combatant Pokémon she usually kept at home but who was great at traveling. Unfortunately, we couldn't teleport directly to the Altar; something blocked us, so Gardevoir only brought us most of the way there instead. He was now resting in his Pokéball as Hope and I chose to approach along the ground, since approaching via air would mean we could be easily targeted by ranged attacks.

The walls of the canyon provided cover, and while the beat of our Pokémon's gallop was loud, the ringing echoes meant it would be hard to place us. Other than teleportation, Pokémon-back was by far the safest method of travel we had. Our mounts hurtled towards the Altar, charging as fast as they could.

“What should we expect when we go in?!” Hope shouted, raising her voice so I could hear her above the noise around us.

“Combat!” My words caused her to roll her eyes. “A focus on Psychic Types for any researchers! No specialty for the grunts! Faba almost exclusively uses Psychic as well, and Lusamine focuses on more beautiful Pokémon with a slight lean to Fairy!”

A nod. Hope’s eyes were locked straight ahead. We would be arriving soon, so I leaned down and rubbed the side of Rapidash’s neck. He chuffed in response to my thanks.

I soon heard it; the sounds of fighting were audible even from here.

“Get ready!” I shouted.

Hope’s Sawsbuck looked nervous, but her own gaze was anything but. Tossing Pokéballs up into the air, her Tropius appeared already rushing forward beside her, and her Cherrim appeared already in its sun form on top of Sawsbuck’s head. As for me, I sent out a group of Pokémon just the same, releasing four team members instead of Hope’s two.

“Whimsicott! Altaria! Togekiss! Ribombee!”

Unlike Hope, a good portion of my team members could fly. Each of the four I released moved fast enough to keep up with our mounts. Agility enhanced their speed, and Ribombee’s Quiver Dance helped him make up any current difference in power. For the ones that didn’t have such speed-enhancing moves, Whimsicott’s Tailwind increased the rate we traveled that much more.

The walls of the canyon twisted, and the path curved towards our destination. Sawsbuck and Rapidash banked left, and then the temple of the Altar came into view.

Knocked out Pokémon and exhausted trainers littered the ground. They leaned against the walls and floor as fights went on closer in. At the base of the massive structure built into a mountain, at least two-dozen different battles continued on as Team Skull grunts fought off members of Aether.

A Golbat swooped down to grab a Charjabug and drop it from a height. An Alolan Raticate battled a Yungoos for dominance over the field. Off to the side, a male Salandit proved it wasn’t weak by coating a Trumbeak in flame and poison. Other battles went on around them, but those ones stood out the most because they were the closest and because I recognized which Team Skull grunts they were.

Despite focusing on their battles, the sounds of Rapidash and Sawsbuck alerted nearly everyone here. At that, the grunts began an echoed shout.

“Open a path!” a pink-haired woman shouted.

The shout was repeated by a heavier member of Team Skull, and then a blue-haired grunt repeated it in turn.

The entire field shifted; before, Team Skull was only trying to hold back the Aether Foundation. Now, the tight-knit gang all grouped up to push away from the center. What was once chaos turned into a combined wave as Pokémon after Pokémon attacked with all their might, showing off a recent, drastic increase in power thanks to the training Guzma had put the group through these past few months.

“Forward!” a grunt yelled.

Hope and I didn’t wait.

As nervous as Sawsbuck was, our Pokémon charged through that gap formed by Team Skull’s efforts, and he and Rapdiash brought us to the base of the Altar’s staircase. Only one person said anything to us as we passed.

“Tell her we’re sorry, yeah? Probably shouldn’t have been so mean to her in the past,” that one blue-haired grunt said.

Rushing through the shouts and attacks, Hope and I quickly arrived at the sole location that could bring us to the roof of the Altar. Here, a completely different battle played out, with a voice shouting above the rest.

“No one climbs these stairs without my permission! Red and White ain’t gonna be beat!”

Hope and I didn't even need to confirm who had spoken as we dismounted and recalled our Pokémon. A trio of Aether Foundation guards scowled and clutched their fists in defeat ahead of us, unable to react with much more than a glare. Past them, there was an important presence; a pair of Ultra Beasts stood right where dirt turned to tiled stone.

“Took y'all long enough. Not gonna force you to fight like the others, just go right ahead. Guzma’s in charge of the ground fight, here. You can rely on me.”

The leader of Team Skull himself squatted on the lowest step while his Buzzwole and Pheromosa loomed menacingly ahead of his challengers. None of these members of the Aether Foundation seemed willing to approach—likely, they knew the power of his Pokémon and knew just how much strength Guzma currently wielded.

“Thank you,” I said. “Any good news?”

“Managed to trap most of her grunts down here, but her strongest minions are still around here. Everyone else is already up there. Make sure to help them out, yeah?” Guzma replied.

The man grinned ferally, and he seemed ready to pounce. Hope and I scaled the staircase beside him, moving past where he stood guard.

“Of course,” Hope and I said.

Guzma stood up, bashed his hands together, and finally hopped off the stairs.

“And now that's been taken care of...” He cracked his neck. “Red. White. Let’s clean up the trash.”

As we ascended, I could hear the sounds of Guzma's mad laughter echoing below us. It seemed that now we had arrived here, he didn’t need to be on “stair duty” any longer. In other words, one of the strongest trainers in the region had just been given leave to let loose. What grunts remained would now suffer his presence.

The stairs were as large and tiresome as I remembered, so the muscles in my legs burned as we raced up. I was already panting from the exertion of riding on Rapidash’s back, but the adrenaline from everything going on carried me through. My heart raced in my chest, and my eyes stared dead ahead, where I could see glimpses of fighting at the very top. I wasn’t sure how long it took to climb, but we soon crested over the uppermost edge. Here, there weren’t as many battles going on as there had been at the ground, but the scene in this rooftop garden was just as chaotic as everywhere else.

Wally had already Mega Evolved his Gallade, and with bladed arms and a flowing cape, it fought a pair of Kartana with his Flygon assisting with Flamethrower support.

Elio, meanwhile, ordered his Incineroar to charge at an Ultra Beast that could only be described as a great, green rocket ship. The Celesteela wasn’t moving, but it towered thirty-feet into the air and manipulated pillars of metal that were just as tall to swing at the agile Fire Type.

Gladion was front and center, with a heavily injured Silvally fighting off a Pheromosa. There was already another fainted Ultra Beast of the same species behind it, but with the injuries his Pokémon had sustained, his Lucario and Zoroark were forced to take an active role to assist.

Finally, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town was doing his best to have his Pikachu battle another Electric Type: a Xurkitree. The two Pokémon zipped back-and-forth across the entire garden, but Ash wasn’t giving any command. Instead, he was on his own, chasing a tiny, pink-and-purple Ultra Beast that I recognized as a Poipole that had somehow managed to steal his hat.

Then, Anabel was here too, but she wasn’t participating at the same level of battle. Instead, she and a few other members of the boys’ teams fought off high level grunts and researchers who weren’t in command of Ultra Beasts. Unlike the few battles I had pointed out, these opponents were being summarily crushed.

“Over there, Alex,” Hope said, pulling my gaze towards the very center of the area. “Lillie.”

She looked desperate. Her hand grabbed onto something small in the air. Her feet scrambled to push against the ground, trying to drag back what was likely Nebby back but failing to move any distance. At her side, both Clefable and Shiinotic were out, and her Pokémon were defending her with great success. Clefable took any redirected hits, and Shiinotic’s spores ensured any species that got too close collapsed in a deep slumber.

“Stop. Moving. Forward!” Lillie grunted out between breaths.

All in all, the scene was like something out of a war, but Hope and I still moved in. I had to give credit to everyone for their work here, but there was an important role Hope and I needed to play.

I was already moving towards Lillie the second I saw her trying to stop Nebby from rushing away. Looking closer, it seemed like the little Legendary Pokémon was trying his best to reach the central platform—a central platform that was already occupied.

“How much longer?” a very specific woman asked, standing with confidence despite all the battles taking place.

“Not much more!” Faba shouted through several fast gasps. “I’m stressed! This is a lot! Isn’t there anywhere else we could have set it up!?”

Lusamine stood on that platform, facing away. Next to her, Faba had some sort of machine he was hastily working on. A tablet had been set up on a foldable table next to him, and it displayed camera views of the inside of Aether Paradise. I could see our people claiming hallway after hallway as the small scattering of guards still left were barely able to put up a fight. It warmed me to know our allies were succeeding, but knowing that the worst of Aether’s leadership was still free was like a splash of cold water onto my head.

Then, a sudden, stray strike shot out as Anabel’s Pokémon caused a Psybeam to go wide. That attack raced towards the central platform only to splash against an invisible Psychic Type barrier, which briefly lit up. That drew my eyes to Pokémon next to the pair of Aether Foundation leaders. There, a Hypno and Alakazam were in intense focus, keeping them safe.

Neither Lusamine nor Faba were touchable. At least, for now.

Hope and I reached Lillie’s side. As we arrived, we called for our team members to split off and assist. Togekiss rushed towards Gladion. Ribombee zipped over to where Ash and Pikachu fought. Altaria flew to join Wally, almost as if to mock Flygon for needing help in the first place, and Whimsicott went to distract the massive Celesteela that Elio and Incineroar were struggling to fight off.

“Lillie! We’re here!” I shouted.

“What’s going on?!” Hope asked as we took up guard behind her.

The girl turned her head to briefly glance at us before letting out an incredibly relieved sigh.

“Lusamine is trying to take control of the Altar’s ambient energy, I think! And Nebby won’t stop trying to get to the center! I think he’s trying to evolve, but I can’t let him get close while they’re fiddling with that device!”

Faba suddenly jerked his head up and glared at Lillie.

“It’s not just a ‘device!’ It’s an absolute masterpiece of a prototype! With it, we’ll be able to harness the energy of Ultra Wormholes!”

“Quiet. Don’t pay them any mind,” Lusamine chided.

As Faba snapped his mouth shut, I finally used this moment to take in Lusamine. She wasn’t wearing her normal clothes but something she had seemingly put on for her apparent “victory.”

This was not her white outfit, but an immaculate dress that reached the ground. It resembled an evening dress of sorts, with long black gloves, a golden diamond pattern down its front, and a design on her chest that carried colors representing every Type.

With Hope and I having finally arrived, the woman turned and looked at us. She had the slightest of smiles on her face—small yet smug. Her gaze told me that she considered this battle already all but won. To her, we were nothing more than ants, and when Lillie saw Lusamine’s face, she uttered only one word.

“Why?”

“For you, of course,” the leader of the Aether Foundation said, waving a hand almost as if putting on a show. “I did this for you, your brother, your friends, and for everyone else in the world. We work for the benefit of all of us. No longer shall our world need to rely on alien Legendary Pokémon to protect it. Instead, our defense will fall to us, the natives, with the Aether Foundation leading the charge.”

“Yeah, right!” I hadn’t realized Ash was listening, but he interrupted Lusamine’s speech with a shout as he wrestled against a small Ultra Beast in his arms. “I’ve heard this story thousands of times! You just want to control them all for yourself!”

Her smirk widened.

“Perhaps,” Lusamine said, turning back around. “I’ll admit that I’ve grown distrustful of how others lead. Instead, I truly believe it would be for the best if that duty falls to me. The Aether Foundation is kind. And who is the woman that leads it if not the same?”

While her words were insane, I would have believed that she truly agreed with her justification, except...

I stared at Lusamine, unconsciously taking a step forward. The Aether Foundation leader’s gaze was firmly locked on the massive disc built on the upper mountain’s face. I had to take that step to move to the side and properly see her face. There, I saw that her green eyes were sharp. Unwavering. Watching.

Expecting.

“That’s not true, is it?” I said softly, and despite the quietness of my voice, it was still audible over the Pokémon and shouts of commands. “That look on your face. The way you’re not even sparing anyone else a glance. You don’t really care about the threat of Ultra Beasts, do you? You’re waiting for something. You’re expecting something specific to happen.”

Lillie had been informed of the threats Alola faced in the past, and with all the research she’d done, the pieces seemed to fall into place within her mind.

“The Pillager of Light,” the girl whispered. “The one that the two Beasts fought against. Lusamine. Mom. You... you aren’t trying to catch Ultra Beasts. You’re trying to catch Necrozma, aren’t you? The Legendary Pokémon that can control light. That’s what your goal has been this entire time.”

And that was the trigger. The true Lusamine broke free. The woman spun, her dress twirling, and her arms held high out to her sides. On her face, a grin stretched out as wide as it could go. Meanwhile, her eyes were open all the way as she stared up into the sky, absolutely and utterly ecstatic.

“Yes! Ever since we learned of it, we’ve searched! Never a true success, but once, once, we caught a glimpse! The smallest of gleams! The tiniest of views! The meagerest, most infinitesimal spark of its light reached us, and when I saw it, it was beautiful.”

She spun back around, a maddened laugh leaving her throat. This wasn’t caused by a Nihilego’s poison. This wasn’t any strange quirk. No, the light she had seen had completely enraptured her, and now she was obsessed with claiming it regardless of the cost.

“M-mom?” Lillie whispered. Desperation was clear in her voice as she silently prayed for a reply.

The woman didn’t respond. Off to the side, Gladion stopped issuing commands, going silent. As everyone who was able to stared, Lusamine thrust a hand to the side.

“Activate it, Faba,” she ordered.

“What? But it’s not—”

“Do it!”

He grit his teeth and pressed a button, obeying the crazed command. The machine he had been working on whirred to life, and on the disc in the wall above us, pure white cracks appeared across its surface.

“That’s— They can’t! They’re opening an Ultra Wormhole! We have to stop them!” Hope shouted.

She didn’t need to yell; she and I were already sending out our Pokémon.

Azumarill came out. Ninetales followed. At my side, Mimikyu released himself from his Dusk Ball and took a step forward. Then, Hope sent out her own three team members and ordered them to unleash their own attacks. Under our combined assault, Faba’s Pokémon strained, but the barrier held as the Ultra wormhole grew, and grew, and grew.

More cracks rapidly formed as reality itself slowly split open. This Altar was a place tied closely to Ultra Space, and it seemed there was enough latent energy for their device to shoddily manipulate. The Wormhole didn’t form clean, instead appearing as shattering glass. A spiderweb formed before collapsing inwards, and the face of the mountain was replaced by a funnel set between worlds.

And then they began to emerge.

Ultra Beasts.

They came slowly at first, but the opening encouraged quite the number of individuals to push through. I identified Nihilego. Kartana. Buzzwole. Pheromosa. There was even a species or two I didn’t recognize—there were Ultra Beasts here that were flat out not in the games. Species by species, individual by individual, alien Pokémon rushed into our world.

“Capture them!” Lusamine yelled. “We need them!”

Her people turned to face the invaders, but our allies were quick to try to distract and fight them off.

“Psycho Cut!”

“Aura Sphere!”

“Thunderbolt!”

“Flamethrower!”

“Psychic!”

Wally, Gladion, Ash, Elio, and Anabel did their best to defend, but after all of the other battles they had gone through, they barely made a dent in the incoming wave.

“Hope. I need you to defend us. I’m going to shut off that device.”

“Right.”

She looked like she wanted to say she would help too, but after taking only a single glance at the expression on my face, she became more than willing to give me this fight.

“I’m going to help, too!” Lillie shouted, barely managing to keep Nebby clenched in one hand as she did.

She looked just as determined as I felt. After everything else, I knew I couldn’t say no. Instead, I just nodded, and she grinned. The both of us stepped forward. Across from us, Lusamine and Faba stepped closer as well.

After all, their barrier could only last so long. From their perspective, the only way to stall was to meet us in a fight.

Hope ordered her Kartana, a properly trained Ultra Beast, to fight off anything that approached, and then Lusamine, Faba, Lillie, and I started this final match.

“Bruxish, Aqua Jet!” Faba shouted.

“Lilligant, try for Petal Dance,” Lusamine commanded.

Faba sent out a horrifically gaudy fish that hovered in the air with its own Psychic power. Next to him, Lusamine sent out a dress-wearing Lillgant: a Grass Type with a flower growing on its head. Both Pokémon were quick to move, with Bruxish rushing forward by propelling itself with water, and Liligant twisting and sending a storm of petals all around. With the barest of gestures, I asked Azumarill to enter the field, and Lillie called for Shiinotic’s help.

The resulting exchange was quick.

Azumarill charged right through the Petal Dance, the move not even affecting her thanks to Sap Sipper. The Lilligant was caught off guard and stumbled back only to receive a trio of Ice Spinner kicks to the head.

It fainted.

Meanwhile, Shiinotic reached out and grabbed the Bruxish that smashed into his body. The impact knocked spores out of his mushroom, and spindly fingers wrapped around the half-paralyzed fish. At the same time, his fingers glowed green, which signaled the start of a Giga Drain.

“Ps-Psychic Fangs!” Faba shouted.

The fish bit at him, but Shiinotic healed through the damage. A second later, Bruxish went limp. As for Azumarill, she had already backed away from her own fainted foe.

“Mismagius,” Lusamine said.

“Claydol!” Faba shouted.

Their Pokémon had fainted fast, but they were quick to return and replace the team members they had out on the field. To keep my own team healthy, I called for Azumarill to come back, and Lillie rapidly exchanged her Shiinotic for her Granbull.

“Use Swords Dance, Mimikyu. Get ready to go in.”

“Latch on with Crunch!” Lillie yelled.

Meanwhile, both Lusamine and Faba called for the same move: Shadow Ball.

Their attacks came out separately, and I immediately knew they had never properly participated in a team fight. Their Pokémon’s different levels of expertise meant the same moves were formed staggered. Lusamine’s Mismagius sent out a pulsating ball of shadows first, and then Claydol spun to form the attack that was eventually launched towards Granbull.

Mimikyu dodged by falling into a shadow on the ground and zipping forward, and Granbull willingly took the attack head on. Lillie grinned; Granbull’s ability was Rattled. The Ghost Type move shook it, and with the adrenaline from fear, the hound was able to rush forward even faster than before.

Unlike our opponents, Lillie and I had our Pokémon strike at the same time. A Shadow Sneak let Mimikyu explode out from behind Mismagius, and Granbull leaped and bit onto Claydol’s side.

Just like last time, Lusamine’s Pokémon fell in a single attack, as the Swords Dance-enhanced Shadow Sneak super effectively tore across Mismagius’s back. Her fist clenched as she returned her Pokémon, and Granbull continued to channel Dark Type energy as he refused to let go from Claydol’s side.

“Clefable,” Lusamine said tersely.

At my side, I heard Lillie gasp. The Pokémon that came out was her Clefable’s mother. However, if Lusamine had planned any mind games around that, they never came to be. Instead, Faba, desperate to get the Granbull off and upon seeing a Psychic fail to tear the canine away, shouted for one utterly damning attack.

“Explosion!”

“No!”

Lusamine and Lillie shouted the word at the same time. Claydol’s dark body spun and glowed orange before bursting with a wave of raw power. Granbull was sent flying back, and Clefable, having been released immediately next to it, was struck with the full force of the sacrificial move. As for Mimikyu, however, he was a Ghost Type; he was completely immune. He didn’t need to, but he still ducked into the ground as the wave of energy harmlessly passed him by.

“You idiot!” Lusamine screamed. “You have no clue how to battle!”

“Me? Of course not! I’m a researcher. How was I supposed to know Clefable would be struck? We’re battling together! Why didn’t you have your Pokémon use Protect?!”

Lusamine snarled. Any such pretense of control vanished as her expression became one of utter rage. Faba noticed that and tried his best to not shrink back as he reached for his next Pokéball. And yet, despite everything, I couldn’t help it.

“...Pft.”

The slightest of laughs left my throat.

“You—” Lusamine hissed.

“Ha! You’re kidding, right?” I interrupted. “All this time thinking you would be some big threat, and you’re not. You never even practice with your team, do you?”

Her hands clenched into fists. “Some people are busy,” she said. “I can’t afford to go gallivanting across the region like some kind of—”

“Trainer? Because this is sad.”

At my side, Lillie laughed a little, too. Faba’s face turned red as he sent out a mean-looking Alolan Raichu, but Lillie switched to Primarina, whose wide-ranging sound-based moves forced it to go on defense even with its relative Type Advantage.

“Milotic! Show them that they’re wrong!” Lusamine yelled.

I looked to Ninetales and nodded my head to send her forward. She hopped in front of me, not even bothering to set up her snow, and I gave out the order that would decide the rest of the match—if not, the entire day.

“Ninetales, how about a Freeze Dry? And Mimikyu? Take out their machine.”

The Freeze Dry came out far too quickly for the Milotic to do anything. Its beauty was sucked away as whatever moisture in its body was completely chilled over, and Faba sputtered while Primarina ensured his Raichu was unable to respond.

Mimikyu was completely free as a result, and I had given that order knowing this battle was a farce. Lusamine tried to stomp her heels to stop him, but from within his shadow, he easily slipped right underneath her, through where their psychic barrier had been moments before, and moved all the way up to the clanking machine behind them.

“And Shadow Claw,” I said, happily ordering him to finish all of this off.

“Stop them, Faba!”

“But the battle—”

“STOP QUESTIONING ME AND DO IT!” Lusamine screamed.

Her shouts didn’t matter, in the end. Mimikyu was already perfectly positioned to bring out his claw and carve a gouge out of the machine’s side. A horrible wrenching sound echoed through the air, with sputtering and popping rapidly following it right after. Above, the growing tide of Ultra Beasts suddenly stopped as the Wormhole began to close. Without anything keeping it open, it was shrinking, and it seemed a few of the wild Pokémon here recognized that and began to flee back into it.

“You can’t!”

Lusamine ran back to the machine to fiddle with its buttons and levers, and Mimikyu seemed inclined to let her. She completely abandoned the battle to desperately fix the device. She didn’t even realize that for the first time in the match, her Pokémon was still conscious, having just barely withstood a single one of my Pokémon’s attacks.

“This isn’t... Not after everything else. Not after—”

In a better world, this would have been it. This would have been where Lusamine and the Aether Foundation were finally defeated. Instead, Lusamine’s fiddling caused another loud pop to ring out, and Lillie couldn’t stop her flinch.

The sudden movement spelled a change in the current state of these events. Nebby took advantage of the lurch to slip out of her hand. From there, the tiny Pokémon had nothing stopping him as he rushed forward all the way up to the center of the platform.

He was a foot away from both Lusamine and Faba, both of whom stared forward in shock. The woman almost had time to reach forward, but she failed to do so before Nebby was overcome with light.

When he began to glow, the Ultra Wormhole stopped shrinking. In fact, such an intense stillness settled over the area that every single Ultra Beast stopped moving, and a weight pressed down on everyone here.

Nebby was evolving. The world itself froze to ensure he’d succeed unimpeded.

The change started with the gold that encircled Nebby’s case. It split off of him and expanded out, becoming like the petals of a flower—or more specifically, the mane of a lion. From the tiny sphere that made up his body, mass exploded out and shaped itself into mammalian form. Four feline legs came into being, and a short tail began to swish back and forth.

Then, for his head, the glass from his previous Cosmoem form expanded out to connect with the golden mane around him. From within, his eyes grew and became sharp, and a short nose and mouth finished the changes off.

When the light of evolution faded away, I could see a glass-covered universe that remained as part of his face. Hardened, white fur covered his body, and the edges of his mane and tips of his claws were rimmed by gold.

Nebby finished evolution. The world began to move once more. No longer a Cosmoem, but the reality-warping Solgaleo, Nebby opened his mouth and roared.

The only sound was Nebby. The only creature was Nebby. The universe revolved around Nebby.

He was in control.

It was laughter that broke the silence that came after. The smile on Anabel’s face could not go any wider.

“Of course! That’s why you were so smug!” The International Police agent laughed again. “Cosmog evolves into Solgaleo! That explains his abilities! We’ve been working with incomplete information all along!”

The Ultra Beasts that had flooded the area chose this moment to move. In fact, it wasn’t just the wild species, most of the captured ones decided to run as well. As much as they could, they pushed towards the lingering portal to flee from the now-present Solgaleo. After all, most probably had the experience of other members of Nebby’s species easily fighting them back.

The only one that didn’t look afraid was Hope’s Kartana, but that one did end up pushing into her arms.

But, they weren’t the only ones to move, as someone else took a step forward.

“Nebby. You... You evolved,” Lillie whispered.

She was the only one brave enough to move closer. As she did, Faba flinched and fell on his butt when the lion turned around. Nearby, Lusamine was utterly stunned. The regal gaze of a predator panned around, but when it took in Lillie, Nebby’s expression immediately softened to that more befitting of a sort of kitten.

“This—this doesn’t matter!” Lusamine pushed to her feet from where she had apparently fallen earlier. “It’s just one Pokémon! How much difference can it actually make?!”

She was answered when a shadow passed over the Ultra Wormhole. What Ultra Beasts were trying to flee immediately turned around as something else left Ultra Space.

Day passed into night, and night passed into day. The sun and the moon spun around one another in an endless dance from the influence of two separate Pokémon. Months passed in an instant, but it was only a few seconds in truth. In the end, the time of day settled into dusk as one more Pokémon came forward.

All around us, members of the Aether Foundation fell to their knees, pushed down by the pressure of the newly arrived Legendary Pokémon. Lusamine’s head slumped down despite her efforts. However, neither Ash, Wally, Gladion, nor Elio crumpled. Unaffected, they walked over to stand beside where Hope and I stood. We all silently watched these proceedings together.

“Attack. Someone. Please.”

Lusamine’s words were more like sobs. She lost, and she knew it. For however much practice the newly evolved Nebby lacked, the arrival of Lunala was the final blow to the potential power she once sought.

Nebby took a step forward. Lunala stared down at him. Brother and sister, in their final forms, stood off and properly looked at one another for the first time in their life.

“Nebby...” Lillie said softly. “Does this mean you need to go?”

She stepped closer again, and Nebby easily broke away from Lunala’s gaze. Evolved, he had gone from being able to fit within Lillie’s hand to being at least three times her size. Even then, he still pushed forward, and his face pushed into her open palm. He looked sad that he no longer fit.

“Hold on, but isn’t Lunala here?” Hope interrupted to ask. “She can handle all of this. He doesn’t have to go immediately, right?”

The snort that came from Lunala was higher pitched than I would have thought. It looked at Hope, almost amused, but it seemed to share a similar perspective. With that, I had to laugh a bit as well.

Honestly, only Hope could have suggested something like that.

Tears flowing from her eyes, Lillie ended up throwing herself forward to glomp onto Nebby in a hug. Despite how she looked, she was laughing. Pure relief poured out of her as she hugged Nebby as much as she could.

“I’m so happy you’re okay,” she said.

The Legendary lion let out a deep purr.

“You know, I feel like Nebby is going to be even more affectionate than before,” I said. “He might have evolved into a super-important Legendary Pokémon, but he’s now just a big cat, isn’t he?”

My words brought a few chuckles from this impromptu peanut gallery, but with everyone distracted by Lillie, it was now time to do what I had come here to do. Faba was on his back, staring up at the two Legendary Pokémon in horror, but as for Lusamine, she was trying her best to crawl away.

“Hey.” I moved to stand in her path, crouching down to better speak at eye level. “So, obviously, you’re under arrest.”

“No,” she said.

I snorted.

“Sorry, but you are.”

I turned to Hope for help, except she didn’t come. Instead, Kartana clutched her hand, and he was desperately trying to drag her away.

“It’s okay, Kartana,” she said. “They’re on our side. Neither of them are going to attack.”

His folded-paper arms gripped tighter and tried to tug her arm even harder than before. The Ultra Beast was trying to flee and bring Hope with him, and he frequently turned to glance at the scene ahead.

Something in my gut churned. Alarm bells went off in my head. We’d failed to notice this warning once before, back at the Lake of the Sun and Moon. Now? When I followed his gaze, I realized he wasn’t looking at either Solgaleo or Lunala at all.

“Kartana isn’t running from Lunala,” I said with dawning horror. “He’s looking at the portal. There’s something else here!”

Everyone heard me a moment too late. From the portal, darkness disguised as a shadow crept out. A void of light inched towards Lunala’s back, and Lillie looked up and screamed.

It was too fast.

A jagged claw struck Lunala. A horrific screech rang out. Sharp fingers clutched the Legendary Pokémon’s wings as it seemed to use the enormous bat as leverage to drag the rest of it out.

“No!” Lillie yelled.

Lunala was caught off guard. It had been preoccupied with watching the newly evolved Nebby.

The claw’s fingers clenched even tighter than before, preventing any escape. Lunala glowed and flashed in a failed attack and howled in pain again when the fingers sunk deeper in. What made the scene all the more horrific was that the fingers weren’t entering Lunala in a wound, but into her flesh as if to merge.

The night sky disappeared. The daytime hues turned black. Above us, there was only darkness as all light was consumed.

In the end, Lusamine did succeed. The presence of so many Ultra Beasts had lured something horrible here.

“Necrozma,” I whispered.

Lunala burst in a brilliant light again and again. Everything was briefly seared a perfect white as the bat desperately tried to push her attack again. It took only seconds of rapid fire moves before she realized it was hopeless. All light that left her form bent only to be sucked into the void behind it.

Peeling itself out of the portal and revealing itself behind Lunala was a brand new Pokémon utterly focused on claiming Lunala. Its body reminded me of quartz, but quartz shouldn’t be able to move like that at all. Not just that, but where quartz would have reflected light, this Pokémon utterly consumed it. The sole piece of its body with any color to it was its eyes.

And those eyes were awful. They were as numerous as they were colorful, and those colors felt far too familiar. Each one looked like Z-Crystals arranged into an impossibly dense pattern.

Then, piece by piece, part by part, the beast that was Necrozma assembled parts of its body over the flailing Lunala. We weren’t standing by and letting this happen, but like what happened to the Aether Foundation members from before, all of us, even Nebby, were weighed down and held in place by Legendary pressure.

In the end, like a suit of pitch-black armor, Necrozma succeeded in encompassing the entirety of Lunala. Red eyes glowed on the Legendary Pokémon’s chest, and a mask layered over Lunala’s face stopped any conscious thought.

Not even Lusamine could speak. Even though this was the moment she was waiting for, I doubt she expected anything as horrific as this. It was hard to explain just how nightmarish Necrozma was. It wasn’t a beautiful creature, but a beast that hungered for control.

“No... Not like this,” Lillie whispered.

Like the blue of the midnight moon, the few exposed parts left of Lunala glowed as bright as the sun. As for the sky above, it turned so dark that even the stars disappeared. The only light we had was the light the captured Lunala gave off. Even light from electronic devices failed to appear with Necrozma nearby.

Yet, this wasn’t the end.

Ash was the first to step forward. Then Elio. Then Wally. After them, Gladion joined their side, too. I found myself leaving Lusamine to do the same alongside Hope, too.

Legendary Pokémon or not, there was no way we were going to let Necrozma end it like this. Lunala was here for Nebby, and letting this take place was a failure on our part.

“So, we’re fighting this thing, huh?” Gladion asked.

“Yeah. We’re going to free Lunala,” I easily replied.

“I’m fine with that,” Ash said, twisting his hat back.

Elio grunted in agreement, and Wally clenched his fists. Then, Hope stepped forward.

“Heck of a way to end all of this, huh?”

Honestly, I agreed.

All of us stood in defiance as Necrozma, Dawn Wings, screeched. Red eyes glared down at us, but the gaze slowly turned towards the newly evolved Nebby, hunger clearly on display within.

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

I wanted to end this on a proper boss fight. Why not take the hardest one from the games?

Lusamine is wearing her Sygna Suit from Pokémon Masters. There’s not any special reason why, I just thought it looked cool.

Pokémon (and people) mentioned in this chapter:
Alakazam
Alolan Muk
Alolan Raichu
Bruxish
Buzzwole
Celesteela
Charjabug
Claydol
Clefable
Cosmog / Cosmoem / Solgaleo / Lunala
Flygon
Gallade
Golbat
Granbull
Hypno
Incineroar
Kartana
Lilligant
Lucario
Mismagius
Milotic
Necrozma
Pheromosa
Poipole
Salandit
Sawsbuck
Silvally
Trumbeak
Xurkitree
Zoroark

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