A/N: Chapter 10 is up, thank you to all who have favorited and reviewed, it really gives me the juice to keep writing, I couldn't have done it without you. Feedback from multiple sources not only improves the quality of the story, it helps me see where readers are holding. So when you finish reading this chapter, I'd love to hear who your favorite character is!

-RadBattery

Chapter 10: New Place, New Name

"Remind me again," 04AR0N scowled, "why I agreed to go to this godforsaken wasteland with you?"

The human world was nothing like 01L1E had imagined it. It was dark and damp, with cave walls reminiscent of the buildings from home, but without the glowing crystals to light up the planet, leaving the human world dark and dreary.

"If I wasn't a steel type and immune to your toxins," 04AR0N continued to gripe, "I would have thought that you used them on me to convince me to come."

"You came because the Government forced you to." 01L1E replied, trying to ignore her friend's complaining.

"Because you asked them to force me."

"You were excited at first."

"Yeah, we got to use the red chain shards; those things are a one-way ticket between worlds, but even though I knew the human world was terrible I didn't think it would be this boring too."

"Well maybe it wouldn't be that boring if you actually looked at the map I gave you and directed us to the Oracle!"

01L1E spun back around to 04AR0N, increasingly annoyed by how their quest in the human world had begun; getting lost.

"Listen, I'm not the one who wanted to come here in the first place," 04AR0N retorted, jabbing his paper thin, swordlike arm out to the side. "You dragged me out here with you, into the human world, because of your romanticized daydreaming about traveling here, to a literal hell hole teeming with pokemon. Even the air burns my throat!" He was right, the air in the human world felt almost acidic, and it hurt a little to breathe. "And anyway," 04AR0N continued, "the map has holes in it."

"What?" 01L1E, quickly flew behind him to look at the map. Sure enough, the map she had given him had long, thin cuts running up and down the paper that weren't there before, that looked like they had been made by... Kartana blades.

"You lake dweller!" she shouted at him, a common insult back in Ultra Space, "You cut the map with your hands, can't I trust you with anything?" 01L1E grabbed the map out of his swordlike limbs and looked it over, trying to make sense of the remaining pieces. With one of her tentacles not holding the map, she unzipped her carrying tube and took out a dimly glowing, bright blue, smooth sphere around the size of a coconut and tossed it back towards 04AR0N.

"Whoa!" he shouted, grasping the ball with both hands, "This is a communication orb! Only the highest officiating Ultra Beasts get these, and you can use them to talk with anybody else who has one, even from another dimension, and they also contain a bunch of preloaded information about all sorts of useful stuff. How did you get your tentacles on one of these?"

"Feeling better now, huh? The Emperor gave it to me so that we can update him about our progress. We've suddenly become important, you know." 01L1E's mood lightened a bit. "From your knowledge about it, I take it you can operate the orb, and not cut it to pieces?" She teased her old friend, figuring out from the remains of the map the general direction to the rendezvous with the Oracle.

"We should turn right here, I think" 01L1E motioned to a narrow crevice that she wouldn't have noticed without the tattered map. 04AR0N followed, absorbed in his tinkering with the communication orb, mumbling and musing in a voice too low to hear, presumably about the blue glassy ball that was capturing the fullness of his attention.

The duo continued down the tunnel in the cave, following the map until 01L1E realized that they were approaching a hole in the map, and through the dim light from the orb, the young Nihilego despairingly saw that it was a dead end.

"Great 04AR0N, we can't get past without instructions from the map, and you managed to cut said instructions out. Now what?" 01L1E groaned, crossing her tentacles across her chest.

04AR0N looked up, and without missing a beat, he replied nonchalantly, "Why don't we call the Oracle and ask him for directions? He's listed under the communication orb's contacts."

"Seriously?" 01L1E looked at the goofy Kartana with disbelief. "Well, what are you waiting for? I'm sick of being lost like this, call him!"

04AR0N grinned, sliding his thin arm over the surface of the sphere in a variety of quick and complicated motions, impossible for her eyes to follow.

"Oracle? Hello, this is 04AR0N from the 128th freedom mission, my partner and I are supposed to meet you soon but she lost significant pieces of the map and we cannot find our way to you, can you help us? We are in a dead end at the end of a narrow passage."

01L1E grew red in the face, 04AR0N's jokes were going too far, the last thing she wanted was to have the Oracle think badly of her, especially for something she didn't even do.

"Hit the rock on the lower left with Nihilego toxins," 04AR0N whispered, "that should open a secret door, the Oracle is just a bit farther down the secret tunnel, she says that everything else that she says must be in person."

01L1E squirted some of her potent acid at the unassuming rock, and even though she knew what was going to happen, she still jumped a little higher in the air when a trapdoor opened up beneath where she was floating, leading on into an even darker tunnel below. 01L1E clutched her carrying tube tightly and ventured inside, 04AR0N following close behind, the only source of light the dimly glowing communication orb. After around a minute, the two Ultra Beasts bumped into a second dead end.

"Where's the Oracle?" 01L1E asked, feeling the wall for another keystone or switch for an additional secret passage.

"I'm over here," a trancelike voice came from the right wall of the passage. "Hello there, glad to meet you."

"Eep!" 01L1E whirled around, and saw a giant metal body, towering over them and lodged mostly into the cave, save a dress-shaped metal shape leading up to a thin neck and a small head. The great Oracle 04K, the strongest Celesteela from Ultra Space, was literally embedded in the wall of the Human World.

"There's no need to be afraid," The Oracle spoke in a voice that almost sounded like she was dreaming, or very far away. "Many many years ago I fought with Solgaleo, scourge of this world and traitor of ours. He led me to this cave as we fought, a place devoid of soil with nutrients that I need for fuel to fly and move, then baited me into using up my remaining fuel with my flamethrower attack. When I was defenceless, the traitor hit me with what should have been a fatal blow, a full-strength Sunsteel Strike, were it not for a special totem given to me by a human, a focus band. With this I endured, and while my enemy left me for dead, I slowly recovered, and despite not being able to move, I began to expand my mind. Very soon, I was appointed Oracle by the great Emperor Guzzlord, and now I am in charge of everything concerning the world of humans." The Oracle stopped, seeing the awe on the faces of the two smaller Ultra Beasts.

"You fought with Solgaleo? But how?" 04AR0N stammered, looking at the Celesteela with new respect.

"That is a story for a different time," Oracle 04K smiled, and stared at the cave wall opposite herself, past 01L1E and 04AR0N.

"From being here, you will understand how amazing humans are, and any information you would give to the Emperor you should tell me, and I shall relay the information to him myself. In fact, because of my love for the human race, many ultra beasts affectionately refer to me as 'The Humanity Oracle'. This world is inhabited far and wide by these humans. In fact, while the objective of the freedom missions has not been lost, a culture of Ultra Beasts secretly interacting with Human World has grown. For some Ultra Beasts, humans are petlike friends, others use them as powerful tools in battling to achieve their own desires." Oracle 04K looked back at the two, newly immersed in the Human World.

"As for myself... I study humans now as a profession."

"Whoa..." 01L1E was at a loss for words, still feeling as if she were still dreaming about coming to the Human World, not actually inside it.

"But enough about me," 04K laughed, "why don't you tell me a little about yourselves. Let's start with your names, what are they?"

"Well, my name is 01L1E, and this is my friend, 04AR0N." 01L1E replied timidly, but the Oracle burst out laughing.

"I forgot to tell you," she explained, "In the Human World, our names from Ultra Space are foreign and scary to them, so we always try to translate our names into human speak while we are here in their world.

"But how can we do that," 04AR0N asked, "Our names don't carry any significance, they're ID, 04A means I'm a Kartana, and R0N is my individual code. Identification can't be translated."

"Well then let me show you," the Oracle smiled, "Carve your name into the rock over there," the Celesteela motioned to flat stone that had seen many carvings in it before, and 04AR0N complied.

"You too young Nihilego, draw your name with your poisons."

The two complied then took a step back expectantly.

"You see, your names are actually quite easy." The Oracle mused, looking at the rock.

"04AR0N, you shall henceforth be known in the human world as Aaron, it's quite a popular name amongst humans."

"Cool!" Aaron looked himself over, as if getting a human name would have changed his physical appearance.

"And as for you, young one," the Oracle stared at 01L1E with soft eyes.

"Lillie..." The wizened Celesteela mulled, "No no. Your name in the human world, from this point onward, is Ollie. Yes, that fits much better."

Ollie looked up at the towering steel type, her face glowing. "Thank you... Thank you so much! I love my new name!"

"Well then it's settled." the Oracle took a deep breath.

"Ollie! Aaron! Your very own legend is about to unfold! The time has come for you to leave this cave, we will stay in touch via communication orb... A world of dreams and adventures with humans awaits! Now go!"

A/N: Every review means a lot to me, and tell me who your favorite character is!

-RadBattery