A/N: I hope you enjoy this next chapter, and bear with me for all the ultra beast names, it'll get easier soon.

For those who couldn't piece it together from last chapter, 01L1E is a Nihilego and 04AR0N is a Kartana.

If Ultra Beast culture is confusing, that's because it's different and mostly unexplained. It will be discussed and clarified more in a later chapter, but just run with it for now.

Chapter 8:

01L1E got back to her living quarters fairly uneventfully, despite her heart beating loudly in her chest. Yesterday her citizen card needed renewal, but thank the emperor she didn't take it in, that would have put her at the from of the system, and she might be spending the night preparing herself for years of servitude to terrible and wretched Pokémon, desperately seeking a way back to Ultra Space. "Although", she thought to herself, "Being in the world of humans wouldn't be so bad." It was a secret dream of hers, a cloistered wish, to go to the human world. In a way, she was both relieved and regretting not going sooner, but it was against the law to not renew your citizen card within 24 hours, so like it or not she had to go now. She looked it over, wondering how much besides her picture would change; she finally qualified to be a productive class citizen, that was important, no more need for education. But, she was 01L1E, a Nihilego, and while now old enough to move from junior class citizen to productive class citizen, she hadn't yet been assigned her work. Now standing at 1.24 meters tall and 58.2 kilograms, she looked back at her old picture; her tentacles had thickened since then, her body reflected more light off her thin film like skin, and she had gone from being below average height for a Nihilego to being tall for one, despite being the smallest species of Ultra Beast except for the miniscule Kartanas like 04AR0N. She hastily tied together the strap to her carrying tube and slung it onto her back, rushing out the door minutes after she had returned, to the Ministry of Citizenship, a tall government building where she could renew her card.

On her way, two strange looking Ultra Beasts, both Buzzwole, stood in her path, and she started to float above them, not wanting to get into any trouble. They flew up, intentionally blocking her path, and one, who was slightly taller, and had a large scar on his left bicep, stepped in front of the other and stuck out his hands, making the obstruction of her path apparent. Many Ultra Beasts acted as thugs, mugging anyone they could and picking on those who looked weaker than them; it was strictly illegal, but it was so rampant the police force barely even tried to contain it anymore.

"Hey girlie," the Buzzwole in back slurred, he was missing his left index finger, and had a metal stump instead. "Why dontchya make this easy, come with us and we won' hurtchya too bad..."

She glared back at them; she was strong enough to take on Stump Finger, but Bicep Scar looked much tougher.

"What is your name, small Nihilego," Bicep Scar asked, staring down at 01L1E, his large proboscis a menacing point almost touching her head.

"I'm 01R47," She answered, the false name easily rolling off her tongue despite how nervous she was. All Nihilego needed their names to start with zero-one, and R47 was the suffix name of 04AR0N's great uncle, who passed away two years ago. "May I pass through? I was supposed to meet with 02BE's secretary thirty five seconds ago, and you know how timely Pheromosa tend to be, it would be so embarrassing for her to have to fetch me!"

Bicep Scar moved back, clearly retreating; 02BE was the highest ranking Ultra Beast outside of the royal family, and was in charge of all of the Pheromosa in Ultra Space. Of course, no such meeting was ever arranged, but 01L1E knew that the boorish Buzzwole would fall for it, as she was a gifted liar, helped not in small part by the cloud of toxins her body emitted that make all around her more agreeable to her, and more willing to accept any notion she put forth. As she moved forward, Bicep Scar flew away, leaving Stump Finger lazily flying through the air, probably drunk, 01L1E realized. She smiled inwardly, against only one of them, drunk at that, she was running the show.

"Urruk..." Stump Finger grunted, "So girlie, wanna come home wit' me tonight?"

She smiled sweetly at him, advancing towards him, floating back and forth, and his body slacked, with only his wings keeping him in the air. As soon as 01L1E got close, she jabbed a tentacle into his chest, injecting her toxins into his body, bringing him into an almost hypnotic state, where her will subdued and replaced his own, and she got a rush of joy out of simply being empowered over the brutish Ultra Beast who had tried to kidnap her. While all Nihilego had toxins that made their prey more aggressive, very, very few had the ability to completely control another with her toxins in the way 01L1E could. She chuckled to herself, withdrawing her tentacle and whispering in Stump Finger's ear.

"Go find your friend, the one with a scar on his bicep," Stump Finger nodded silently in response, "and..." 01L1E trailed off, not knowing if Stump Finger would reach him in time, but decided to have some fun. "Beat him up. You guys are all jerks." She sent him off, chuckling a bit, and continued on to to Ministry, these attacks weren't common, but they weren't very rare either.

The ministry doors opened automatically, and a pheromosa sat at the reception desk. Nearly all of the non-royal government positions were held by pheromosa, all of the Guzzlord were a part of the royal family, and while certain positions were more diverse, like the Oracles, but nearly everything else was run by pheromosa. 01L1E cleared her throat.

"Can I get my Citizen Card renewed?" She asked.

The pheromosa, without even looking up, replied in a bored tone, "Name?"

"01L1E."

The pheromosa looked up sharply, putting on her spectacles, and glaring at her.

"You are 01L1E?" The pheromosa asked, and in response to the silent nod, "Emperor Guzzlord is here to meet with you. Please come with me."

They walked down the hall together, 01L1E clutching her bag tightly with her tentacles. Why would the emperor want to see her? She was a nobody, an orphan who had just finished her education, she was very careful not to break any rules. She started sweating, her stomach literally flipping over in her aqueous body; the Emperor never met in person with anyone who was not of very high stature, and even then only sparingly. The receptionist stopped suddenly, started quickly typing a long code into a keypad by a heavy metal door, and then swung it open. Sure enough, the Emperor himself was inside, fully garbed in the royal attire, and 01L1E shrunk in awe.

"Let's get right down to business, oh-one something or other." Stated the Emperor bluntly, "We have been watching you, your interests, and most importantly, your abilities for quite a while." 01L1E blushed, unsure how she should respond, not knowing if she had done something wrong, her thoughts racing from one extreme to another in her head.

Emperor Guzzlord continued, "You almost certainly are not aware of it yet, but your ability to..." the Emperor searched for the right word, "Sway. Sway others with your toxins is some of the best we've seen in the history of Ultra Beasts. In addition to this, our sources have also... discovered that you hold the dangerous thoughts to go to the human world. Is this true?"

01L1E shivered involuntarily, letting out as many toxins into the air as she could, her survival instincts kicking in. Could she slip out of a confrontation with the Emperor himself?

"I don't know what you mean, I would die to protect Ultra Space, I'm a loyal and honorable patriot, I-"

"02B4NG," The Emperor motioned to the receptionist, "please bring me the young lady's carrying tube." The pheromosa paused, and looked up at the Emperor.

"Sir, I believe she is innocent, I must have made an error in identifying the subject of your meeting."

Guzzlord nodded slowly. Did it work? Maybe the Emperor was right about her having more power than she knew, but had she actually fooled the most powerful living being in Ultra Space?

"Very nice show, zero-one. 02B4NG is a very strong willed ultra beast, certainly not easily influenced like that. Do not worry, I'm not here to hurt you, I wouldn't waste my time on such a thing."

01L1E's shoulders sagged ever so slightly, but was glad she wasn't in any real danger. Emperor Guzzlord continued talking in a deep and gravelly voice. "I'm here to give you a sacred task, going on the 128th freedom mission, because you are uniquely suited for interactions with humans, and because you desire it. You may choose one close confidant to traverse through the wormhole with, and your job is to create a steady portal so that all ultra beasts may cross into the land of humans once more, free of the bondage of the wicked pokemon. I assume you are enthusiastic?"

01L1E nodded eagerly, the great Emperor Guzzlord was meeting her, in person, to give her the job of her dreams!

"Very good," He continued, "Oracle 04K will fill you in on the rest of the details once you are on the other side, in the human world. Should you succeed, you will be revered by all for eternity. Should you fail... well, you disappeared after failing to renew your Citizen Card in time. Good luck."

.

.

Guzma woke up on a dark stone cave floor with his head throbbing with the worst headache he ever experienced in his life. He looked himself over, not getting up from the floor, he was drenched and muddy, lying next to a river, covered with deep, tooth like cuts down his arms, and a deep gash on his left leg. In his arms lay a still sleeping Wimpod, and his clothes were ripped and dirty. His head was spinning, and Guzma shakily and dizzily stood up. He brushed himself off, random red feathers from the water and mud came off with a soggy flopping sound. His movement roused Wimpod, who hopped out of his arms onto the damp cave floor. He felt his head, and his hand came back red, and his eyes widened in fear, and he quickly washed off his hands in the river. When he looked back, Wimpod had disappeared.

Guzma was too shocked to think, after all that, why would Wimpod just... leave? He sighed, Wimpod was better off without him, free and-

Guzma's wallowing thoughts were interrupted by Wimpod's return, with cobwebs all over his small grey body. Wimpod scuttled up Guzma's back onto his shoulder, and started to stick the cobwebs in his hair around the cut, and they worked almost like bandages, clotting the blood.

"Aw thanks Wimpod, I thought you had left me." Guzma chuckled, feeling a bit better despite his injuries.

Guzma leaned over, looking into his reflection in the river with Wimpod on his shoulder. The messily placed cobwebs made his black hair look white in the middle, and muddy blood ran down his arms from the cuts like tattoos. He looked at Wimpod through the reflection, feeling the bug Pokémon clinging to his shoulder, shivering a bit.

"Y'know Wimpod, you and I, we aren't really that different. We're small, weak, and the world doesn't think much of us. We've spent our lives running away from everyone and everything because we know we'll lose."

Guzma sighed, this was a bit more depressing than he had hoped it would sound.

"Two very strong trainers both said that I should take on the island challenge, and one of them even gave me pokeballs to catch my first Pokémon. If... If you join me as my partner, I can't promise that everything I said before will change, I can't promise to make you strong, I can't promise that we'll stop running away. But we will be doing it together, as a team, and I can promise that I'll never run away without you."

Wimpod hugged Guzma's neck, tickling his cheek with the back of his tail. Guzma smiled, and patted the bug Pokémon on the back; it was going to be okay...

Fwip! A rock whizzed past Guzma's head, missing him by mere centimeters, and Wimpod jumped to the ground as Guzma turned around. Standing there, seething with rage, was the Pinsir who had been chasing Wimpod before. It charged, giant claw like pincers stretched forwards at Guzma and Wimpod, not breaking eye contact with the terrified duo.

"Run!" Guzma shouted, taking off with Wimpod in the opposite direction, reaching for his smoke ball, but it wasn't in his pocket. The color drained from Guzma's face; it must have fallen out during his fall, he realized. He raced with Wimpod, looking for an avenue of escape. The Pinsir wasn't faster than they were, but it wasn't slower either, and something told the dizzy Guzma that he was going to need to rest before the giant beetle Pokémon would. He saw another arched cave entrance, seemingly leading to an even darker part of the cave.

"In there, Wimpod!" Guzma grunted in between breaths, his headache pounding.

The two ducked in through the archway and deeper into the cave, and soon lost sight of the raging Pinsir.

"I think we lost him, bud." Guzma panted.

"Pod pod pod!" Wimpod replied with glee.

Guzma remembered what he had said to Wimpod before, and began to try a second time.

"So Wimpod as I was saying before..."

Guzma was cut off again by a blinding blue light flaring up in front of them, curving in a crooked line through the air, then expanding into an electric blue portal that seemed to expel an acidic and hot air from another world. After a couple of seconds, two strange creatures, slightly reminiscent of Pokémon, emerged from the portal, one a blue jellyfish with an odd hat and a long tubular bag, and the other a tiny, paper thin, humanoid creature with swordlike limbs. Each of them was clutching a tiny red crystal, which clearly had been glowing, but were now losing their light. The jellyfish turned straight at Guzma with it's eyeless face, and he heard a telepathic, barely feminine, almost uninterested voice in his head.

"Are you a... Human?" The jellyfish asked, tilting it's head.

"Y-Yeah." Guzma replied, shocked.

"Fascinating. I must leave now, I am in search of a friend." The strange creature touched Guzma on the head with a tentacle, and drifted out with the other creature close behind, and all of a sudden his terrible headache went away, replaced by a burning desire to get out of the cave. But first...

"Hey Wimpod," he started, crouching down on one knee, "Whaddya say? You want to run away together, side by side, as a team?" Guzma took out one of the pokeballs Puna had given him, and held it out, offering it to Wimpod.

"Pod! Wim-wim pod!" Wimpod shouted, and jumped up to press the button on the pokeball, a red light bringing the bug pokemon inside. With a final click from the pokeball, Guzma grinned; it was time to get out of this cave, because his adventure was only just beginning.

A/N: Please remember to give me feedback, thanks!