Chapter 2

Glutton for Destruction

"Mismagius. Drive it away with Power Gem."

Lusamine watched as her Mismagius did what she was told. The Ghost Pokemon formed small, shining white diamonds of pure energy around her and fired them all at the wild Golbat that had gotten into Lusamine's way. The bat Pokemon took the attack with a little screech of pain before turning around and flying away hastily.

It had been 2 days since Lusamine had left Aether Paradise, and she had just made her way to the Resolution Cave in Poni Island. The cave was wet and damp, and Lusamine was getting sick and tired of running into Golbats and Dugtrios to no end, but considering the sounds of thunder that rang throughout the cave from outside, she was much better off in there than outside in the storm.

The journey of Lusamine was getting off to a rough start, to say the very least. It took every bit of her effort to avoid the people that she saw; so far, it didn't look like anyone was looking for her, at least not on Poni Island, but she didn't want to take any chances.

Moreover than that, since she didn't have the luxury of having a Ride Pager, several parts of Alola were a lot more difficult to access than others. She had her Bewear take care of any rigged rocks, which she was able to handle after a minute or so. Her Milotic was able to handle any travelling on water that she would have to do, and thankfully she hadn't had to worry about large boulders that needed pushing at the moment. The rocky terrain, however, irritated her to no ends. As proven by the bruises on her knees and the scrapes on her hands, it wasn't very pleasant, travelling through the rocky terrain by herself.

After the Golbat was driven away, Lusamine gave a sigh and put her hand on her stomach as she could hear it growl. She hadn't eaten since last night, and she was starting to get hungry. This, along with the pain that she felt in her legs from walking so much and from tripping so many times in the rocky terrain, made it obvious that she wouldn't be able to continue on for much longer.

She didn't like the thought of having to take a rest in a cave with wild Pokemon crawling around it, but she knew she didn't have many other alternatives, with the storm going on outside. Besides, she at least had all 5 of her Pokemon to protect her in case something were to attack her.

"I can at least… find a more comfortable place to lay down." Lusamine told herself as she continued walking, searching around for a spot in the cave that was a little more comfortable than just rock and dirt. If she was going to be staying in the cave, to the very least she could try to make herself as comfortable as possible.

After a few good moments of searching, she had finally found a little hole in the wall of the cave, which seemed to have led to a lower part of the cave. "Perhaps there's a place where I can rest down there." she said as she began to walk towards the entrance to the lower level, her Mismagius floating closely behind her to make sure she didn't get hurt.

Thankfully, they didn't encounter any more Pokemon as they went down the stairs. The place seemed to be kind of calm and peaceful. While there was mostly just rock and dirt, there were a couple of patches of grass with a flower here and there. It seemed like she had found a comfortable enough place to sleep.

As she walked towards one of the patches of grass, however, she began to get a strange, threatened feeling. Her fingers went cold and her eyes began to dart cautiously, scanning around the place for any threat. She wasn't sure why, but she had a strange feeling that there was something down there; something that she didn't want to be around. She kept visually searching around, but she didn't find anything to be worried about.

"M… must be my imagination." she convinced herself as she was able to shake off the feeling and make herself comfortable at the soft, cool grass. "Thank you for getting me here safely, Mismagius." she said as she returned her Ghost Pokemon into her Ultra Ball.

She sat by herself quietly, taking in the sight of the lower cave around her. There was some sort of strange, calming feeling about just being here… though at the same time, that feeling of being threatened by something down there kept nagging at her from the back of her mind. She tried her best to ignore it, convincing herself that the very worst she would have to deal with was a Golbat or a Dugtrio, maybe a Crobat if she was just having an unlucky night.

She reached for her bag and began to rummage through it to see what she had left to eat. She hadn't been eating very much since she started her journey, so she had a number of food items left for the journey ahead. She took a malasada and a bottle of Fresh Water out of the bag and began to eat and drink slowly, taking her time with her little meal. She didn't want to overdo it, even if she was pretty hungry.

She finished her small meal within around 10 minutes, and, deciding to wait the storm out, she laid down on the patch of grass to try to get some sleep. Before drifting off, however, she reached into her bag once more and took out a picture of her with her two children. She decided to take it with her just so she could see her son and daughter every day in some way.

She wanted to see her children again, have the chance to be a real mother one more time, but she was too dangerous to be around them. There was no telling what effects fusing with that Ultra Beast could have had on her mind; that was the whole reason that Lillie was planning to take her to the Kanto region, to seek the help of a man who had supposedly been fused with a Pokemon once himself.

As soon as Lusamine thought of that, she began to wonder if Lillie had still headed off to the Kanto Region, even though she was no longer there with her. Would she put that plan to a stop just to try to find her? Part of Lusamine was hoping that Lillie had already gone anyway, but at the same time, Lusamine was worried that if that was the case, she may never see her again… then again, that wasn't too far off from what was happening now anyway.

"Good night, Gladion… good night Lillie." she said gently as she held the picture close to her, as if she was cradling a child. "...I hope one day, I'll be able to see you both again… I have so much I want to make up to you…" She put the picture back in the bag and laid her head gently on it to use it as a pillow as she closed her eyes, drifting off into sleep.

She wasn't sure how long she had been sleeping before she had woken up to the sound of some soft, whispering little girl's voice in her head. "He knows you're there." the voice whispered.

Lusamine's eyes shot open as she heard the whisper, and she hastily sat up, swiftly looking around to see who was talking to her. She scanned all around her, but she didn't see anyone.

Despite there being nobody else there, the voice spoke to her again, this time, a little louder. "He knows you're there… he's coming for you."

"Wh-who's that?" Lusamine questioned as she continued to look around. That feeling that she had felt when first walking down into the lower level of Resolution Cave had come back, only this time, it was much stronger than ever before. Lusamine was now genuinely afraid that there was something else down there, aside from Golbats and Dugtrios. "Wh-where are you?"

"He knows you're there… he's coming for you." the voice repeated, ignoring Lusamine's questions. "You need to get out of there… quickly. He's coming for you."

"Who's coming for me? What does he want from me?" Lusamine called out. She awaited for the voice to speak again, but it remained silent. "Wh-where are you? Who are you?!" Still no answer.

The silence was accompanied by the ominous feeling slowly dying down once again, taking a back seat to fatigue. "I… must have just been hearing things." Lusamine said with a shake of her head as she instantly remembered how tired she was. She dismissed the voice in her head as an auditory illusion brought about by lack of sleep and laid her head back on the bag in the hopes of trying to rest a little more before she continued on. She didn't know where she would go after she would wake up, but hopefully it would be a more pleasant experience than what was going on in the cave right now.

Just before she closed her eyes, she could hear her stomach growl and feel it rumble. She gave a little sigh. She was hungry, but she didn't want to stay up any longer to get some more food. She hoped that she would be able to fall asleep despite the hunger, and closed her eyes to try to get some more sleep.

This attempt to fall asleep was interrupted as well, only this time, it came from a loud, rumbling growl that slightly shook the ground. Lusamine's eyes shot open again, and her heart skipped a beat as she heard the sound. She laid there quietly, her eyes wide open as she dared not to make a sound as she listened on for whatever had made that sound.

The sound of screeching and panicking Golbats and Crobats followed soon after, and she watched as a huge swarm of Golbats and Crobats flew as fast as they could up the entrance to the upper floor of Resolution Cave. Whatever was responsible for that sound, it was clear that it was down there, and it had terrified the wild Pokemon.

Silence seemed to consume the area once again as not a sound was heard for a good minute after the Crobats and Golbats had all flown away. It didn't take long, however, for a new, terrifying sound to be heard. The sound of powerful, very heavy footsteps could be heard, slowly stomping closer to where Lusamine laid. Each footstep was so powerful that it caused the entire cave to shake with each footstep.

Lusamine's body went cold as she stood up, slowly backing towards the wall of the cave, reaching for one of her Ultra Balls. She began to feel a familiar sense that she hadn't felt in a few good days. It was a sense very similar, almost identical, to the one she had felt when she had first seen Nihilego come out of the Ultra Space at the Aether Paradise. "No, that can't be right." she thought to herself as she backed herself up into the wall, hearing as the earthshaking footsteps pounded closer and closer. "There's no way that can be Nihilego." The thought didn't bring her much comfort as she remained backed to the wall, searching for a way she could possibly escape.

As she continued to visually scan for an escape route, the source of the footsteps walked into view, making Lusamine gasp and shake in pure terror. The creature that now stood before her was, by far, the ugliest and most terrifying creature that she had ever seen in her life.

The creature stood at a very intimidating 18 feet, give or take an inch or two. It's entire body was a very dark gray, almost black color, with a few parts containing yellow. It had a huge belly with a pair of glowing bright blue eyes on it, and yellow teeth that looked like they could rip through iron without any effort. From the sides of its mouth were two tentacle-like appendages, each having a powerful looking pincer. It had very thick legs, as to be expected from the pounding footsteps, and a small pair of arms with razor sharp yellow claws. It also had a head that was incredibly small compared to its ginormous body, said head having a pair of blue eyes, just like its belly.

The most disgusting feature that this creature had, however, was nothing of its actual body. The thing that truly disgusted and terrified Lusamine was the red blood that stained the monster's teeth, and the visible half-torn Golbat wings that hung from between its teeth. Now Lusamine knew what had happened that terrified the Golbats and Crobats. Whatever this creature is, it had just consumed an unknown number of them.

As the creature stepped into her line of vision, it turned around so that it was facing Lusamine's direction, and stared at her as it gave another low, rumbling growl. As the growl was heard, the same sense that Lusamine felt with the Nihilego became even stronger, and her heart began to race as she began to piece together what she was up against. "It… it can't be…" she whispered to herself as she remained backed up in the corner. "It's… it's an Ultra Beast…!"

As if to respond to what Lusamine had just said, the creature opened its large mouth and let out a powerful roar that shook the whole cave. Lusamine could see the blue inside of its mouth, accompanied by a blackish-blue tongue, which also had blood splattered on parts of it here and there. The creature finished roaring, and began to charge at Lusamine with its mouth open, with the obvious intent of devouring her.

Lusamine gave a horrified scream as the creature was running towards her. It wasn't going very fast at all, but due to how much size its body took up, there was almost no room for getting out of the way. She looked desperately to try to find some way that she could escape the creature. Its size kept her from going around it, and she didn't have enough time to try and find a way over it. There wasn't very much space for doing so, and it was dangerous with how close she was going to be to the mouth, but she had no other choice but to try and slip under the beast.

In the knick of time, as the beast was coming closer and closer, she found the spot where there was the most space between the creature and the ground, which was just a bit to the side of the creature's thick leg, and dove for it after grabbing her bag. She was just barely able to squeeze through there, and had successfully dodged the beasts charge. Instead of trying to stop itself, the beast simply let itself crash into the wall with so much force and it almost went straight through it, the entire cave shaking once again.

Lusamine got up hastily and began to run as fast as she could for the way up, hoping that the beast wouldn't be able to run after her before she got out of the cave. "Just a little bit more." she told herself as she was close to the exit.

The Ultra Beast could sense her running, but instead of chasing out for her, it gave a roar and, showcasing the incredible strength of its legs, jumped up a few feet and landed on the ground with unbelievable force, causing the cave to shake so much that Lusamine lost her balance and fell to the ground. Moreover than that, part of the roof of the cave had collapsed unto the entrance to the lower level, blocking it off and trapping the woman down there.

"No!" Lusamine exclaimed as she ran over to the now blocked entrance and began to push as hard as she could on the rocks that blocked her way. It was a futile effort. She wasn't strong enough to move the rocks that blocked her off. "Damn! I'm trapped!" she yelled out in fear and anger as she slammed her fist into the rocks in frustration.

She looked back and saw the beast standing there again, giving a gleeful growl as it opened its mouth, this time to let its large tongue trail over its yellow teeth and lick the blood off of them. It had its sights set on Lusamine, and it was ready to eat her.

"Great… if I can't get out of here, I'm just going to have to drive you away." Lusamine said as she grabbed one of her Ultra Balls. She had no idea what kind of Pokemon this was or what type it had, so she had to just go with her gut and pray that one of her Pokemon was a good match up against it. "Mismagius! I need you!" she commanded as she threw the Ultra Ball into the air after clicking the button in the center.

The Ghost Pokemon that had driven the Golbats away for Lusamine came out of the ball as commanded. When she laid eyes on the creature, she gave a little shake. "Mag…" she said in a quiet, fearful voice. She was just as scared as Lusamine was.

"It's ok, Mismagius. We can do this!" Lusamine said. "Hit it with Shadow Ball!" Obediently, the Ghost Pokemon formed a ball of ghost energy in front of it and fired it directly at the Ultra Beast.

The attack had hit its mark, but it didn't seem to phase the beast in the slightest. It just gave a little growl and raised one of its pincers up. "No way! That attack should have done something!" Lusamine exclaimed in shock. Before either of them could make any other reactions, the Ultra Beast swung its pincer at the Mismagius for a Brutal Swing attack. The attack hit Mismagius very hard, sending the Ghost Pokemon swiftly crashing into the wall.

"M-Mismagius!" Lusamine exclaimed in horror as she returned the Ghost Pokemon to its Ultra Ball. She looked back at the creature, who began to slowly step towards her. "Hit my Mismagius really hard and not affected much by Shadow Ball…" Lusamine reminded herself as she was trying to think of what exactly type this Ultra Beast was. "Alright, then let's try this! Bewear, come on out!"

The bear Pokemon came out and stood protectively in front of Lusamine. "If I'm right about what type this Ultra Beast is, and as long as it keeps using contact moves like this, you should be just fine." Lusamine said, taking Bewear's Fluffy ability into consideration. "Now, Bewear! Hit it with Hammer Arm!" Bewear did as command, and ran to the creature, slamming her arm into the belly of the beast hard.

The Ultra Beast gave a low growl of pain and was knocked back a few feet. Seems like Lusamine was correct in hitting it with Hammer Arm. "A Dark Type then." she said with a nod. "Very well then. Guess I'll just have to Hammer Arm this thing until it's done."

The beast gave a growl as it stood up. It opened its mouth again, and Lusamine gave the command to Bewear to prepare another Hammer Arm, expecting that it was just going to charge at Bewear and attempt to gobble it up. Instead, from deep in its mouth, a little hatch of sorts opened, and a purple acid of sorts shot out unto the Bewear. The bear Pokemon didn't seem to be hurt by the acid at all.

"Bewear! Use Hammer Arm again before it has the chance to do anything!" Lusamine commanded. The bear began to charge towards the Ultra Beast, this time more slowly due to the effect of the Hammer Arm she had used just a bit earlier.

This time, however, the Ultra Beast seemed to be prepared. It gave a roar and closed its mouth before it suddenly charged at Bewear, glowing with some sort of overwhelming menace. Lusamine quickly was able to identify this attack as a Dragon Rush. The two attacks clashed, but the Ultra Beast's was able to easily overpower, and knocked Bewear out with just one attack.

"Wh-what?! But how?! My Bewear's Fluffy should have given it some protection from attacks like that!" Lusamine exclaimed in shock before returning the bear Pokemon. As she did, she remembered the purple acid that the beast had spit on Bewear. Could that acid have lowered her Bewear's Defense in some way?

She began to recall whatever Poison Type moves she could in an attempt to figure out what the Ultra Beast had done to so easily knock out her Bewear. She couldn't think of any Poison moves that lowered Defense. Bewear should have been able to survive at least one attack with its Fluffy ability… then she recalled that there was a Poison Type move, Gastro Acid, that neutralized the ability of its target. That must have been the move that the Ultra Beast used.

She gave a growl. She decided to keep hitting its weaknesses and took out her next Ultra Ball. "If it's using Dragon Rush too, then this thing has to be a Dragon Type as well… this should do the trick." she told herself. "Clefable! Come out here!" she exclaimed as she threw the Ultra Ball and released a Clefable from it. "Clefable, use Cosmic Power! We need to take as many hits from this thing as we possibly can."

Clefable gave a nod and closed her eyes, as from beneath her feet, little stars began to rise as she was increasing her physical and special defenses simultaneously. The Ultra Beast gave a roar and used Brutal Swing, but thanks to Clefable's typing and its Cosmic Power, she was able to take the attack quite well.

"Alright. Hit it with Moonblast!" Lusamine commanded. Obediently, the Clefable formed a large ball of energy, borrowed from the moon, and threw it at the Ultra Beast. The attack hit its mark, and the Ultra Beast gave a sharp roar of pain as it fell on its back from the impact of the attack. Seems like Moonblast really hurt it. "That's it, Clefable! Hit it with Moonblast again!"

"Cleffaaaaa…" the Clefable said as it began to form another ball of lunar energy. Before it could throw it, however, the Ultra Beast was able to somehow pick itself back up, despite its huge weight and short arms, and somehow managed to jump as high up into the air as it could without hitting the roof. "Ble?" Clefable questioned in shock as she watched as the beast jumped over her and began to descend towards her quickly for a Heavy Slam.

"Clefable! Get out of the way! Quick!" Lusamine exclaimed, but it was too late. Before Clefable could move or fire the second Moonblast, the Ultra Beast had crushed her with the Heavy Slam. The Clefable began to scream in pain, feeling all the power of the Ultra Beast's weight over her body.

"Clefable! Return!" she said as she quickly got Clefable in the Ultra Ball. She began to mentally scramble for a solution as to what to do. Her Pokemon that had the greatest advantages over this beast were now fainted, and she had no Revives to bring them back. She could try continuing to fight and bring out Lilligant and Milotic, but she knew that they wouldn't be able to get the job done against this creature, it was just too strong.

"I have no other choice." Lusamine said as she took the Ultra Ball that held her Lilligant. Perhaps if she paralyzed the Ultra Beast with Stun Spore, she might have more of a fighting chance. "Alright, Lilligant! I need-" she started, but was interrupted by the roar of the Ultra Beast as it grabbed onto Lusamine's leg with one of its pincers and lifting the woman up. Lusamine, taken by surprise, was dangled into the air and accidentally dropped the Ultra Ball in her hand.

"N-no! That's my only hope!" Lusamine shrieked as she tried, in vain, to reach for the Ultra Ball that she had just dropped. It was no use. She wasn't able to get an inch away from the grasp of the abomination that held her by her foot.

After ensuring that Lusamine was no longer able to fight against it, the gargantuan abomination gripped Lusamine's hips with its other pincer as the one around her leg released her, the woman completely helpless in the grasp of the Dark Dragon type. It gave another taunting growl and a lick of its teeth, relishing in the escalated breathing of fear coming from its prey.

A whimper of fear escaped Lusamine's chest as the Ultra Beast gave a triumphant, mighty roar as it looked at its trapped snack. With no other options to save herself left, she began to press both of her hands down against the pincer that tightly gripped her hips in a vain attempt to pull herself free from the grip of the monster. There was no getting away from the Ultra Beast. She wouldn't be able to get herself out of this one.

Her attempts to pull herself free only stopped as she saw the Ultra Beast slowly open its gaping mouth and bringing its tongue to Lusamine, dragging the tongue up across the woman's body, not just to sample a taste of its latest snack, but also to torment her further. Lusamine gave a disgusted groan and tried to resist the urge to vomit.

As the tongue was brought back to the beast's mouth and it began to slowly move her closer to its mouth, time seemed to slow down for Lusamine. With absolutely no hope of escape, she began to accept her fate and look back upon her life. Her entire 40 years of life began to flash right before her eyes, reminding her of not just all the good times she used to have with her children and her long lost husband, but also everything she had done to deserve this fate.

It was actually pretty ironic when she thought about it. She had at one time become one with the Ultra Beast Nihilego, fusing with it to become one Ultra being, and now her life was coming to an end, doomed to be digested in the belly of another Ultra Beast. She would have laughed at the poetic justice of the situation had she not been at the end of her life.

"Gladion… Lillie… be safe, my children." she thought out loud. "...Don't let the Ultra Beasts or anyone else hurt you…" With one last shaking breath, she closed her eyes and braced herself as she felt the hot breath of the Ultra Beast as she approached its mouth, ready to accept the end.

From the direction of the now blocked entrance to the upper level of Resolution Cave, a loud crushing and shattering sound was heard, getting both the attention of Lusamine and the Ultra Beast. They looked back at the blocked entrance, only to see what appeared to be a Focus Blast heading straight for them.

Having no time to react, the Ultra Beast was hit by the Focus Blast. It gave a roar of pain as the force of the attack knocked the beast to the ground. Its grip on Lusamine was released as it fell, the woman being thrown to the ground hard, bouncing once on contact of the ground and rolling a bit after landing on the ground again.

With pain racing throughout her entire body, Lusamine's vision was becoming blurry, and her consciousness was fading. Despite her fading consciousness, she looked back to the entrance of the upper level to see what had just attacked the Ultra Beast.

Her eyes fell upon a blue and black draconic Pokemon that flew on six wings, the likes of which she had never seen in all of her life in the Alola Region. Standing by this Pokemon was a green haired man, wearing a black and gray cloth that covered his right arm. His left hand clutched onto a cane-like object with a white and black shield logo with a blue P on it. The most striking feature of the man, however, was that his right eye was seemingly hidden behind some strange red lens.

"So… this is one of the legendary Ultra Beasts, hm?" the man asked as the Ultra Beast got back up and bellowed in rage, stomping its foot on the ground angrily. All of its attention had been taken away from Lusamine, and it was now focusing on getting back at the one who had just attacked it.

"I was expecting a little bit more." the man said, sounding rather unimpressed by the beast. "...No matter. You will be mine soon enough."

Lusamine wanted to see the battle, and to warn the man of what the Ultra Beast was, but she couldn't stay awake any longer. Her entire world going to black, she laid her head on the ground, all of her thoughts and feelings fading as she passed out.