An Alola Journey

by TheLoneHero17

In need of help to form a Pokémon League in Alola, Professor Kukui enlists the help of a former Island Challenger who was on his way to become Alola's first champion. What he didn't expect was for the person to bring a load of new problems for Ash and his friends. Watch out Alola! There's now two Sun's among you! Eventual Smarter/Stronger!Ash! Ash x Mallow and Sun x Lillie.

25. Farewell

Author's Note: This took a while only because I was playing the new let's go game for the majority of my free time. With Smash coming out tomorrow, that might suck more time out of me. Onto the story itself, it's the conclusion of the Necrozma arc. I got two flashbacks in here, one being just to show the past while the other having some importance to Lillie and Sun. Everyone gets some spot line, except for Lana and Moon. Not much else to say so enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon. That is all.

---

Lillie stared at the mysterious z-crystal with glimmering eyes. A shiny twinkle could be seen reflecting off her eyes. She slowly brought the z-crystal closer to her face.

"I've never seen that z-crystal before!" Ash said, still in shock. "Could it be a z-crystal specific to only Marshadow?"

Kiawe's eyes were as wide as poké balls. His initial thoughts were about how much power it could hold. "Only a selected few pokémon have such a z-crystal that belongs to them. Marshadow is more special than I imagined."

Lillie looked at the z-crystal and then at Marshadow. She frowned and shook her head. "I-I can't accept this."

"Why not?" Sophocles asked. The other Ultra Guardians leaned in to hear her explanation.

"I just can't. I've been cruel to Sun's pokémon and their disobedience only further proves that." Ninetales, Glaceon, and Vanilluxe merely looked away at that. "I'm not worthy of this. Only strong trainers that have a deep connection with their pokémon should. Someone like you…" She turned to her brother. "Gladion."

Gladion stiffened when all eyes were on him. He eyed Lillie, checking to see if she was being serious. He saw no signs of her lying. Sighing, Gladion made up his mind and stepped forward.

"Lillie." Gladion was in front of Lillie, directing eye contact with her. "You… you idiot!" He smacked the back of her head, similar to what he usually did to Sun in the past.

"Ow!" Lillie yelped, feeling Gladion's hand strike her. It wasn't enough to leave lasting effects but it still hurt nonetheless.

"Why did you do that!?" Lillie cried out, not liking that her own brother hit her.

"Because you're acting like an idiot! You really are turning into Sun." Gladion pulled Lillie into a hug, confusing her even more. "The one thing that I appreciate that you two have in common is your status as a trainer. You two are at an equal level."

Lillie got out of the hug but Gladion managed to place his hands on her shoulders.

"Sun and I aren't on the same level. He's on a whole different level," Lillie said quietly.

Gladion scoffed, "Cut it out. Lillie, you're downgrading yourself as a pathetic trainer. You are a great trainer. Do I make myself clear?" He looked at her dead in the eye to get a genuine answer.

"B-but I'm not-"

"Do I make myself clear?" Gladion repeated, his tone growing more stern.

"Yes… but I'm-"

"Lillie! Listen to me!" Gladion interrupted his younger sister once more. "What happened to the talk we had earlier? You made it clear that Sun's taught you everything a trainer should know. You even yelled at me. Accepting this Marshadow's z-crystal is no different. Tell me Lillie, what changed?"

Lillie was so fierce during his argument with Gladion. It baffled him that she was cowering out last minute. There was no reason for her to do so. She was even willing to perform z-moves with Sun's pokémon. Yet, that changed when Marshadow gave her its z-crystal.

"It's… it's just Marshadow… I-I…" Lillie lowered her head. She didn't feel like giving any explanation. This only annoyed Gladion.

"What happened to the strong, confident Lillie that took me down a peg earlier? Instead, I get this mess of a trainer," He sneered. Lillie felt her eyes start to tear up.

"Hey Gladion, I think you should tone it down on Lillie," Ash jumped in, worried for his friend.

"I think you should mind your own business, Ash Ketchum!" Gladion fired back. "This is strictly a sibling conversation." He scanned the rest of the Ultra Guardians. None looked too please with his words. Gladion quickly prevented them from saying another word by continuing his talk with Lillie.

"Is it because of Sun?" Lillie body straightened, leading Gladion to a conclusion. "So it is. You can't seem to do anything without your precious little Sun, can you? You depend on him too much. I thought you were the one 'doing the saving around here.' But now look at you. Pathetic." He shook his head and turned away from Lillie.

Lillie was silently crying. She remained silent, which was Gladion's last straw.

"It seems like I was right all along. Sun hasn't really taught you anything. He's only taught you how to be a coward and look where that got him. Captured by Team Skull. Leaving Alola. Getting possessed. It's rubbing on you."

'Come on. Take the bait.' Gladion clenched his fists tightly. Poipole's world was at risk. He was willing to do anything, even if it meant Lillie not wanting anything to do with him after this. Unfortunately, Lillie didn't do a thing. Gladion wanted to pull his hair out at how stubborn Lillie was being.

'If slandering Sun won't do it, then I have to take it up a notch.' Gladion wanted Lillie to use Marshadow's z-crystal. It wouldn't be enough for three z-moves to engulf Necrozma with Ultra Aura. With Lana gone, they needed a fourth.

'If only Hau came instead of tricking me.' Gladion mentally slapped himself. 'I'm still going to teach him a lesson after this.'

Gladion partly wanted Lillie to get angry. That way, she'd fall for his trap and use the z-crystal to show him that she wasn't all those things he said to her.

Then it finally came to him. Gladion came up with a brilliant idea. At least, in his opinion.

"You know what? Since the only reason you came here was for Sun, why don't we continue it?"

"Huh?" Lillie pretty much shared everyone else's reaction. She and the Ultra Guardians watched as Gladion headed back in the Poipole Nest.

Ash walked towards Lillie and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sure Gladion didn't mean what he said. He's probably just cooling down right now," He said soothingly.

"Yeah." Mallow raised one of her crutches up. "If these weren't here then I would've given him a piece of my mind!" She offered her support, cheering up the blonde haired girl.

"We might not know your reasoning for not accepting the z-crystal," Sophocles started, gazing at Marshadow, who had the z-crystal in its hands. "But we understand if you don't want to say anything. We're your friends."

"We'll get Sun's pokémon to play nice. That way, you can do a z-move with one of them," Kiawe added in, balling his fist up. Sun's three pokémon weren't fazed by it at all.

Marshadow looked at Lillie, a little angry that she wouldn't take the z-crystal. Though, it hid its anger well.

"Lillie!" Gladion's voice could be heard inside the entrance of the nest. He came out, but not empty handed.

Gladion came out with Sun's unconscious form in his hold.

'You gave me your word!' Lillie internally cursed Naganadel for not keeping its word. Then again, it said no one would hurt him. Technically, Gladion wasn't hurting him nor was he a foe.

Gladion did his best to hold up Sun's limp body. He pinned one of Sun's arms behind his back. He gave up and dumped Sun's body on the ground but still kept his hold on Sun's right arm.

"If you don't accept that z-crystal and help us… then I'll break his arm!" He threatened. In the back of his head, he was yelling at himself to stop.

'If she was willing to risk her life by going in the Ultra Wormhole for Sun, then she'd have no problem doing as I say to save his arm.'

"No!" Lillie shrieked, mortified by the sight.

"That's enough Gladion!" Ash was ready to interfere in support of Lillie and Sun. Gladion was taking things too far for his liking. "Pikachu, Iron Tail!"

It was at the heat of the moment and Ash's head was clouded into saving Sun. It didn't register in his head that he was going to hurt Gladion.

Pikachu was loyal and went with what Ash ordered. His tail shifted into a steel gray texture and he jumped up. The mouse pokémon did a front flip and had his steel reinforced tail set to hit Gladion on the head.

Gladion reacted quickly and pulled up Sun's body so he'd act as a body shield. Pikachu stopped his attack when his tail was mere inches from Sun's face. Pikachu landed back on the ground and glared at the blonde haired boy for using a tactic like that.

"Should anyone of you get in the way, you'll only put Sun in greater risk! Think again before you try something like that!" For some odd reason, his heart was beating fast. It was an exhilarating rush to have the upper advantage against his sister and teammates.

"Why are you doing this? Injuring Sun isn't going to get us nowhere! We're wasting time here!" Kiawe protested.

"Zip it! Last time I checked, you and green over there hated Sun!" He knew he hit a nerve when mentioning the hostility from before. Mallow frowned and averted her eyes to the ground.

Kiawe on the other hand defended himself. "That was before-"

"Before Looker had to hand feed you the truth," Gladion cut him off rather bluntly. "As one of his friends, I expected thamentioninbnsee through the bad Team Skull act straight away. Guess I was wrong." It did the trick. Kiawe and Mallow kept their mouths shut after that.

Gladion was too busy dealing with them to notice thamentioninbaru was sneaking up behind him.

"Now!" Sophocles shouted, startling Gladion. Togedemaru used Zing Zap in an attempt to get Gladion to free Sun. However, she was stopped when Silvally used Multi-Attack. Togedemaru managed to get out of there unharmed and returned next to Sophocles' side.

"Heh. Resorting to attacking me from behind? It's never going to work." The Ultra Guardians were all out of tricks. Gladion smirked and focused in on Lillie. His smirk vanished when he caught tears falling freely from her eyes. He was starting to regret his decision.

Lillie furiously wiped her tears away and gave Gladion a harsh glare. "F-fine! I'll do it. You're so cruel… big brother." She refrained from calling him by his name, too disgusted at him to do so.

"Good." Gladion didn't really care and dropped Sun's arm. He waited for Lillie to do as she was told. His gaze hardened on Lillie. Lillie glared right back, but with more intensity.

"That was just cold." Ash had lost some respect for Gladion because of what he did. Using Sun to do his bidding and then forcing Lillie to do something that she didn't was just plain wrong.

Marshadow internally nodded and tossed its z-crystal back to Lillie. Without looking, Lillie grabbed it and locked it inside of Sun's z-power ring. For a moment, she felt a sense of dread crawl inside her skin as the z-crystal was getting comfy in the z-power ring. Her eyes turned to Marshadow, having a feeling that it may have been responsible for it.

Marshadow shrugged, causing Lillie to sweatdrop.

Dusk Mane Necrozma and Lunala were flying nearby, eliciting the Ultra Guardians to act now.

"Alright! It's now or never!" Ash lead the charge. With his Electrium Z, Ash and Pikachu got into position.

"Right!" Kiawe and Marowak got into their own pose. His Firium Z flared brightly.

"Don't mess this up!" Gladion barked. He and Silvally were going to show the Ultra Guardians their new z-move with the Normalium Z.

Lillie was standing there, not moving an inch. For starters, she didn't even know the pose for the z-move. Then there was another reason why she didn't want to do it. It was why she couldn't accept it.

"Hurry Lillie!" Gladion urged her to do it. They transferred the z-power to their respective pokémon.

Marshadow tapped its foot impatiently.

"I can't do it!" Lillie wailed, bailing out of the mission. Marshadow hid its anger very well. If not, it would've surely attacked Lillie.

"Lillie!" Gladion gritted his teeth. He should've been more stricter. He cursed himself for thinking that Lillie wouldn't leave mid-way while they couldn't do anything.

Lillie was met with a smack to the back of the head. "Ow! Why again!?" Her cries were halted when she saw who it was.

"Ninetales?" Lillie was shocked to see the fox pokémon there. Of course, Ninetales appeared crossed and annoyed. She barked angrily, pointing a paw to the z-power ring. "Y-you'll do it?" Ninetales responded by pushing Marshadow out of the way and taking its place.

Marshadow was about to unleash a world of pain on Ninetales with Close Combat but kept its cool. Ninetales was the only one willing to do the z-move with Lillie, which was their best shot for having four trainers using z-power. It bothered Marshadow that Lillie didn't want to use its special z-crystal.

"I-I'll do it then!" Marshadow tightened its fists at how Lillie had no problems with her and Ninetales doing a z-move.

Lillie quickly fished out the Fairium Z. She knew that Ninetales usually preferred it over the Icium Z. That and no one else could use it, making Ninetales feel more special.

Lillie raised her arms up and the Fairium Z sparkled. She made a heart with her hands and did a pose meant for the Fairium Z. Pink Ultra Aura was transferred from the z-power ring to Ninetales' body.

"Gigavolt Havoc!" Ash yelled, punching the air similar to Pikachu. A powerful yellow blast was made and sent towards Necrozma's path.

"Inferno Overdrive!" Marowak was next, unleashing its own fiery red blast to Necrozma.

"Breakneck Blitz!" Gladion and Silvally followed after them.

"Twinkle Tackle!" A star beam fired from Ninetales' body and joined the other three z-moves. The four attacks combined together and was surrounded by several other yellow beams as a barrier.

They did many spins and then finally hit Dusk Mane Necrozma.

---

Meanwhile, back in Alola, action was brewing quickly. Hau, Professor Kukui, and Faba found Team Rocket Members trying to jeopardize the Ultra Guardians mission. They were faced with five members of Team Rocket, otherwise known as Matori's Matrix.

"Ah, here you are," Professor Kukui chuckled arrogantly. "We won't let you go through the Ultra Wormhole. Give it up!"

Hau sweatdropped. "B-but professor! You're the one that told me to never underestimate my opponent!" He didn't expect the professor of all people to act cocky.

"Nonsense!" Professor Kukui reassured him. Though, Hau didn't feel reassured at all.

"The boy is right. You shouldn't underestimate us." The bigger man of the bunch spoke.

"We will eliminate them!" One of the male Team Rocket members screeched. He didn't like being made fun of. He was much superior than a mere professor, scientist, and kid.

"Wait!" The burly man put his hand out, stopping him. "I'll do it!" He took out a single poké ball and released his secret weapon.

The three watched on as his pokémon was out of its confinement.

"A-aggron?!" Professor Kukui gasped.

The burly man smirked. "The fun's just beginning!" He revealed a chain necklace. There was a locket with a Mega Stone in the center. Hau recognized it immediately and prepared himself.

Bright aura burst out of the Mega Stone and onto Aggron. Aggron roared triumphantly, transforming into its mega evolution form.

Once it was finished, Aggron showed it's new form with pride.

"Evolution that transcends evolution… Mega Evolution," Faba said, growing more nervous by the second.

"Woah…" Hau was astonished by the form. He had only seen it a handful of times. Even if this was the enemy, Hau couldn't help but marvel the sight.

"Heavy Slam!" Mega Aggron jumped high. Its huge body blocked off the sun's light. A giant gray aura was surrounding its massive body.

Faba's Hypno and Alakazam, along with Professor Kukui's Braviary tensed up. Their eyes bulged out of their sockets.

Mega Aggron began to descend to the ground, targeting the three pokémon to be crushed by its body. Hypno, Alakazam, and Braviary hugged each other and screamed. The attack hit, creating a huge gust of dirt that prevented Professor Kukui and Faba from seeing their pokémon. The gust of wind grew stronger so the three had to shield their eyes.

The outcome was bad.

"Braviary!"

"Hypno! Alakazam!" Professor Kukui and Faba were dumbfounded to see their pokémon knocked out by one hit.

"Unthinkable… in one hit?" Professor Kukui shook his head, disappointed. He and Faba returned their defeated pokémon back in their poké balls.

Hau's eyes had stars in them. "Incredible! That Aggron is so strong and cool!" The two adults jaws dropped by Hau's cheery attitude.

The big man accepted the praise. "I know. I know. It's my secret weapon after all."

"Weapon?" Hau's eyes drooped at that. "Pokémon shouldn't be meant for weapons! They're our friends!"

"My Aggron is very much consenting to its role in Team Rocket. How else would I have Mega Evolved it? It's only capable if the bond between trainer and pokémon is strong. We want to climb up the ranks so we share the same goal. Our ambition is what led to our strong bond!"

Hau wasn't expected such a powerfully speech from the big man. "Still! You people are evil! No doubt using this Mega Evolution as a way to get whatever you want easier."

The man feigned innocence. "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. One thing is for certain, I'll be taking out your pokémon first and then you three." He pointed a finger at Hau, then at Professor Kukui, and finally at Faba. "Who knows. Perhaps we'll find this possessed Sun that we encountered yesterday."

"How do you know about that!?" Hau demanded, his attitude changing in a snap.

"Believe it or not, three of our low rank members managed to gather the information after spying on some of his friends at a popular resort. Shockingly, turns out they were right. We witnessed the sight ourselves yesterday," The man explained. They barely got out of there alive yesterday. Though, he wasn't going to mention that part.

"Well, you're not laying a finger on him!" Hau's eyes shifted into flames, showing his igniting fury. This was a new side of Hau. One that made the professor anxious.

"Hehe. Nice to see you amped up for the battle." Professor Kukui rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous smile. "Faba, what's your next pokémon?" Hau listened in to hear who his pokémon will partner up with.

Faba shrugged. "Don't have one."

"Eh!?" Professor Kukui and Hau fell to the ground from hid words. They got back up and began to chew Faba out.

"What do you mean your last one?! What happened to your Claydol? Your Bruxish? Your Alolan Raichu?" Professor Kukui put a finger on Faba's chest.

Faba swatted the finger away and gave the professor a nonchalant gaze. "Wrong dimension Kukui."

"You want me to fight this guys all on my own?" Hau asked, receiving a carefree nod from Faba. Professor Kukui appeared hesitant, like he was hiding something. "Alright!" The dark green haired boy raised his fist up.

"What's with this kid?" Faba hadn't met Hau quite often. A bare minimum of two encounters at least.

"That's Hau for you. Always polite and has a smile on his face." Professor Kukui smiled. He was relieved that Hau was here, otherwise he'd have to reveal his super top secret.

"Is that so? I'll wipe that smile off your face once I'm done with you."

"Before we start, may I have your name so I know who I'm battling against? It's a part of the rules! I'll start! My name is Hau!" He greeted, waving at him with his smile still intact.

"A part of the rules? Either way, I want you to know the name of the person who'll end your career as a pokémon trainer. I'm Gozu, a proud member of Matori Matrix!" Just then, something was beeping on his right shoulder.

"Gozu, how long are you going to play around? Get back here!" A female voice said.

Gozu growled, "You all go without me. I'll come after you once I've finished off these three." His Team Rocket allies did as they were told.

A giant blimp mysteriously appeared from above and dropped four ropes. The remaining members of Matori Matrix grabbed hold of the rope and were lifted up inside the blimp.

"The eclipse heralds the era of the Matori Matrix! If you would oppose us, then crumble into darkness!" Gozu attempted to frighten Hau with his true statement.

It didn't bother him. In fact, his smile had gotten wider. "Sun's taught me that if an enemy's allies leave, then you have to go all out!" Hau grabbed his remaining poké balls and released his Raichu, Flareon, Crabominable, and Tauros. "I've secretly wanted to try an underhanded tactic. Looks like Sun's last resort strategies rubbed off on me."

Hau stood there with a massive grin on his face. His entire pokémon team was with him, outnumbering Gozu's one Mega Evolved pokémon.

"Hey!" Faba was appalled by Hau's actions. "That's not fair-oof!" He was elbowed in the gut by the professor, silencing him.

"Tch." Gozu merely shook his head. "No matter. I can still win! Aggron, Heavy Slam!" If it worked the first time, then it was bound to work a second time.

As Aggron was high in the air, Hau gave his commands. "Noivern, Dark Pulse! Raichu, assist him with Focus Blast! And Flareon, once they're done, use Lava Plume!"

Noivern released a dark beam of energy that had multiple shadowy rings attached to each other. It hit Mega Aggron, delaying its attack for a second. Noivern stumbled back and clutched his head, affected by his own attack.

Raichu was up next. It gained more altitude by flying with his tail. Raichu put its hands out forward and formed a yellow ball of energy. He threw it at Aggron, further keeping it from using Heavy Slam.

Finally, Flareon ran towards Aggron so that he was right below it. Noivern and Raichu backed up. Flareon's body turned into a fiery inferno. He let out a fierce growl and unleashed a huge blast of fire aimed up. Smog and fire surrounded the area around Flareon as he did this.

Eventually, Mega Aggron was forced to land and cancel Heavy Slam. The attacks were too much and it had to recover.

"Aggron, stop resting and finish these weaklings off!" Gozu was furious that a mere boy was giving him a run for his money.

"Let's not stop there! Tauros, apply pressure by using Earthquake! And you, Crabominable, use Power-Up Punch once he's done!"

Tauros stepped up and started to stomp his hooves on the ground violently. The ground rumbled strongly, causing Aggron to lose its footing.

Crabominable followed it up by clashings his fists together. This made his claws glow a bright golden aura. He charged at Mega Aggron and jumped. The wooly crab pokémon slammed its fists on Mega Aggron's head, sending it crashing the ground.

"Amazing! How can a pokémon send a Mega Evolved one to the ground?" Faba wondered out loud.

"My Crabominable has the ability Iron Fist. It increases the power of punching moves. In this case, it's with his Power-Up Punch," Hau informed him. He shifted back to the battle at hand.

"It's time! Primarina!" Hau called his Primarina over. He grinned and presented his z-ring to Gozu. "Mehehe! Let's finish this!" He got into formation. His Primarium Z lit up. "Stronger than the ocean itself! Behold our beautiful symphony! Oceanic Operetta!" He swayed his arms like waves, transferring the z-power to Primarina.

Primarina encased herself with z-power. She lowered her head slightly and smiled. She threw her arms up and sang proudly. Water was beginning to form from under her and rose up. The water was merging into a enormous sphere that was hovering in the sky.

"Woah!" Faba fell on his bottom, stunned by the size of the water. It had to be at least ten times the size of Mega Aggron.

Primarina cooed softly and pushed the water towards Mega Aggron. It travel in a slow pace and eventually made it to Mega Aggron. Gozu had to move out of the way and kept shouting at his pokémon to get away too.

The gigantic water sphere was inches away from Mega Aggron's head. It made its size look like a joke compared to Primarina's z-move.

Hau raised two fingers up. Primarina sang once more, this time louder than ever. The massive amount of water above Mega Aggron exploded.

The explosion temporarily made the area rain. Primarina bowed as the rain fell on her. Mega Aggron downgraded by to its original form and laid there, defeated.

"Aw man!" Hau whined. "I was hoping for more of a challenge! I didn't have much fun battling you!" Professor Kukui and Faba gaped at the boy.

Gozu on the other hand, was beet red out of humiliation. He returned his Aggron, silently promising to teach it a lesson afterwards.

A rope was dropped down next to Gozu. He reluctantly grabbed it and was lifted up into the air.

"I'll get you for this!" Gozu shouted before he was taken inside the helicopter. The helicopter started up and began to move.

"They're finally trying to charge into the Ultra Wormhole!" Professor Kukui said with concern.

"Then I'll stop them! Raichu, use Thunderb-" Out of nowhere, a shiny blur came shooting from the sky and struck the giant Team Rocket Helicopter. The blur pierced through the helicopter and came out from the other side. The helicopter was quickly garnering smoke from the attack.

Hau's confused eyed sook turned into eager ones when he discovered the one behind the attack.

"It's Tapu Koko!" Tapu Koko faced the helicopter and dared the ones inside to come closer. The helicopter turned around and retreated, mainly due to the damaged it sustained.

"Woohoo!" Hau pumped his fist into the air. He was ecstatic that they won the battle against Team Rocket. Tapu Koko glided down to meet the three face to face. "Thanks for the assist Tapu Koko!" Since he was Hala's grandson, Tapu Koko was very found of Hau.

"Yes. It is very much appreciated!" Professor Kukui chimed in. He was glad that his secret identity remained… well, a secret.

"Hmph. I could've done that myself!" Faba puffed out his chest brashly. He was promptly ignored by everyone, turning him gloom.

Tapu Koko directed their attention to the sun. Hau hadn't noticed the sun starting to disappear because he was too engrossed in his battle against Gozu.

"It's starting…"

---

Dusk Mane Necrozma's body was glowing orange. It's been like that for about two minutes now. The Ultra Guardians were watching it like a hawk.

"It's absorbing the Z-Power!" Sophocles said out loud.

"Alright!" Ash grinned widely. "Now if it'll just let go of Solgaleo…" The light around Necrozma disappeared. To everyone's shock, it hadn't changed. Dusk Mane Necrozma was still there and it let out an angry screech.

"Oh no. It's the worst possible outcome!" Gladion explained after receiving questionable looks from the team, "Necrozma is still possessing Solgaleo, and it's powered up!"

"What!?" Everyone was stunned by the news. Lunala was looking down at them, wondering what their next move is.

"Ash, what do we do?" Kiawe whispered to him nervously. Ash didn't know what to say.

"Think it didn't get enough to eat?" Mallow asked, remembering that Lillie used Ninetales instead of Marshadow. "We have to think of another plan!"

Ash finally spoke, "Now that it's come to this…" He wanted to tell everyone that he didn't have any ideas, but didn't have the heart to do so. He was kind of like the team leader. He'd be ridiculed and the others would look for a new team leader. Probably either Kiawe or Lillie.

Luckily, at least for Ash, Dusk Mane Necrozma attacked the area with Prismatic Lasers. One stray Prismatic Laser hit right in front of them. The force was so strong that it sent everyone flying.

Kiawe could feel his vision begin to fade. For a moment, he thought that this was it. His mind flashed through various points of his life. From his time at his family's farm, to his first day of Pokémon School. Because of the previous announcement of Sun's true allegiance, his mind focused on a certain day.

His first day at the Pokémon School.

---

Kiawe was standing outside of the classroom. He could hear the chatter of other students from inside. Currently, he was talking to Professor Kukui.

"Ah, so you're my new student? Kiawe is it?" Professor Kukui questioned curiously.

"Yessir! My parents decided it was best for me to attend school so I can interact with other people!" Kiawe answered confidently. Professor Kukui was impressed that Kiawe wasn't nervous on his first of school.

"I see. Well, allow me to formally welcome you to my class. I'm Professor Kukui!" He shook his hand, smiling. "My students are quite the social butterflies. I'm sure you'll have no problem fitting in."

"I guess." Kiawe didn't mind the people. He agreed to go to school in order to learn. His schedule didn't involve friends. Only working on the farm and attending school.

"Follow me in. I'll introduce you to the class." Professor Kukui walked inside the classroom with Kiawe in tow.

Kiawe was greeted by five new faces. Two boys and three girls. They stopped talking when he stepped in. They all bore curious faces, wondering who he was.

"Alola students! Today, we have a new student joining our class. Say hello to Kiawe!" Kiawe closed his eyes and presented himself confidently. His composure slightly faltered when he didn't hear them greet him.

He opened his eyes and saw that they were whispering amongst themselves. No doubt, talking about him. He turned to the professor, who had a sheepish smile on his face.

"No need to be shy! Say, what don't you all introduce yourselves to Kiawe?" Professor Kukui suggested. The students were silent until someone spoke up first.

"I'm Sophocles. Nice to… erm meet you?" Sophocles didn't sound too sure of himself. Kiawe nodded, entering the name in his brain.

The other boy in the class went next. "The name's Sun! Just like the one in the sky! Hehe!" Sun chuckled, his cheeks dusting pink. Kiawe's eyebrow rose when his eye caught an egg sitting on Sun's desk. It further rose at the little green bow on the center of the egg.

The girls in the class weren't as eager as Sun.

"Come on! You guys aren't chicken, are ya?" Sun pressured them to talk. "I know green is but you two?"

The green haired girl, which Kiawe assumed was 'green' angrily stood up. "I am not a chicken! I'll show you!" Her eyes went to Kiawe. "I'm Mallow and my family runs Aina's Kitchen!"

'She's a bit hot headed.' Kiawe kept that thought to himself. Mallow smirked triumphantly at Sun.

"See? And don't call me green, you big dumb star!" She snapped, taking her seat.

Sun rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Go on water girl. I thought we got rid of your shyness," He urged the blue haired girl to go next.

From Kiawe's perspective, Lana appeared to be timid. His parents had told him not to judge someone by appearance, which is what he decided to do.

"I-I… I'm… L-l…" Her face was as red as a tomato. She lowered her head and played with her fingers.

"Erm… you can go last." Sun sweatdropped. His eyes were fixated on the blonde haired girl. "Go on. You can't be scared of both people and pokémon."

Kiawe released a chuckle. It was amusing that someone was afraid of pokémon.

"Sun!" The blonde haired girl flushed out of embarrassment. Mallow and Sophocles snickered at this. "My name is Lillie. My mother… um, that doesn't really matter right now. Please don't laugh at me. It's embarrassing," She pleaded.

Kiawe waved it off, assuring her that he wouldn't do it again. Lillie sighed in relief and shot Sun a light glare. Sun pulled his egg in closer and glared right back. Lillie flinched and avoided his glare.

All the attention was on the blue haired girl. This only made her cower in her seat more. Sun was fed up with this and got out of his seat. He stood next to Lana's desk and placed his hands on his hips.

"Hurry it up!" He smacked the back of her head. This made everyone but Kiawe gasp. Kiawe soon got his answer when Lana propped herself up and slugged Sun on the shoulder.

"Hey!" The two got into a scuffle. Dust clouded the two, making it hard to see them. Mallow, Lillie, and Sophocles ran around the class, panicking. Professor Kukui hurried over to the two fighting students and told them repeatedly to stop.

Kiawe stood there, awestruck as the classroom went crazy in the matter of seconds. His hope of the class being a normal one was sent down the drain.

The fight concluded when the cloud of dust disappeared. Lana had Sun on his stomach and she pinned his arm behind his back. He adopted a pair of swirly eyes on his face.

"Don't ever do that again." Lana's cold eyes set on Kiawe, making him shiver. "I'm Lana. And the same applies to you too."

"Noted..." Kiawe gulped. Lana left the unconscious Sun on the floor and returned to her seat.

"Lana! You can't keep beating up Sun!" Professor Kukui scolded her.

"But he started it!" Lana defended herself, knowing that she was right. Kukui was at a loss of words.

"Sun!" Lillie ran towards the fallen Sun and picked up his head. "Speak to me!"

"Ugh…" Sun extracted his hand up and touched Lillie hat. "Tell Mallow... she still owes me two free meals… bleh." His tongue rolled out of his mouth and two X marks replaced his eyes.

"Idiot." Mallow shook her head. Out of all the things he could've said, it had to be that.

"Don't worry! I got you Sun!" Sophocles pushed Lillie out of the way and pulled out his new invention. It was two poké ball look alikes that had a wire in between them. "Clear!" It pushed them into Sun's chest.

Exclamation marks appeared beside Lillie and Mallow when electricity could be heard coming from the invention. Sun's body jolted up and he awoke with a gasp.

"Uwah! I've been brought back to life!" His eyes landed on Lana once more. "Bad mistake! Now it's time for me to get my revenge!" He pounced on the unsuspected Lana, taking her and her chair down.

The cloud of dust returned once again, and so did the panic amongst the students and the professor.

Kiawe sighed, "This is going to be more difficult than I thought." He spotted an open desk and was preparing to sit there. He placed his bag on the desk and was inches from sitting on the seat until-

"STOP!" Kiawe jumped, startled by the voices. Everyone had stopped what they were doing. Lillie, Mallow, and Sophocles stopped running around in circles. Sun and Lana stopped fighting, though Lana found herself wrapped around a bear hug from Sun. She tried to wiggle out but Sun's gripped turned out to be stronger than she expected. Lana whimpered and slowly hid her reddening face in Sun's chest. Luckily no one, even Sun himself, noticed this. They were all too focused on Kiawe.

"What?" Kiawe asked innocently.

"You can't sit there! That seat holds royalty! Prestige! Honor! That is the seat of the one and only… Ilima!" Sun exclaimed, unconsciously setting his chin on top of Lana's head.

"Yeah! Only Ilima gets to sit there!" Mallow agreed. "Even if he doesn't go here anymore…"

"He's the best student out there! Graduating with the best grades and achievements! Rumor has it that his presence alone can get Komala to open its eyes!" Sophocles fawned over him, placing his hand on his forehead.

"So where am I supposed to sit then?" Kiawe crossed his arms. Everyone stared down at the floor. "I'm not sitting on the floor! Professor!" He called for the professor's input.

"I have something that'll solve everyone's problem!" Professor Kukui grinned. "First." He pried a disappointed Lana off of Sun and put her in her seat. "Second." He headed over to Sophocles next and confiscated his invention, muttering something about it being too dangerous. "And third." He went to the closet and grabbed a spare desk for Kiawe.

Once everything was set up, the chaos had died down.

"Wonderful! It seems like everyone is now well-behaved." He said that last part with his gaze on Sun and Lana. "Because we have a new student today, I believe today should be getting to know one another! So with that in mind, everyone, including myself, will tell us one thing about themselves to share to the class. I'll start."

Professor Kukui adjusted his glasses and stood in front of his class with superiority. "I was once a pokémon trainer feared upon many! In fact, I was on an impressive streak myself!" He boasted, loving that his students were amazed by his words.

"Wow!"

"Awesome!"

"I wanna be like the professor someday!"

"Yes. Yes. I know." Professor Kukui stepped to the side. "Now who's next?"

"Ooh! Ooh! Me!" Sun raised his hand eagerly. He hurriedly went to the front of the classroom with his egg. "This is a pokémon egg and my soon to be best friend! My father found this little fella outside of his workplace and gave it to me to take care of it. He said it was so I can get ready for when I get to be old enough to do the Island Challenge!" He spun around with his egg, giggling. Everyone smiled at this. Well except for Kiawe.

Kiawe turned serious. "Wait. You're going to take the Island Challenge?" He got a nod in response. "I see. I see." His competitive side got the best of him. If Sun was going to be serious about being a trial-goer than he'd make a decent opponent to battle. Not as good as him though.

"My turn!" Lana shoved Sun out of the way. "Listen new guy! I'm an expert at fishing. I even managed to catch a Kyogre last year!"

"Impossible!" Kiawe shouted. Mallow, Sophocles, and Lillie giggled at his cluelessness.

"Stop feeding Kiawe lies!" Sun shoved Lana back, but with greater force. "She's never caught a Kyogre. That's just one of her wild stories. Don't believe her if she says she caught a shiny Gyarados either! Lies is all that girl is!"

"Why you…" Lana was furious that Sun ruined her trick. The two glared at each other and prepared to fight again.

"Why are you two so aggressive today? Make a good impression on our new student." Kukui got in between them, stopping the fight. Sun and Lana started to make faces at each other, unknowingly making the professor lose his mind.

"THAT IS IT!" Sun and Lana crashed to the floor and hugged each other as an agitated Professor Kukui towered over them. He was steaming red out of anger.

"Ah! Please don't be m-mad professor! Lana and I are best friends now! See?" Sun further pressed Lana's face into his chest. He hid his face on Lana's shoulder, secretly being afraid of the professor when he's angry.

"Y-yes!" Lana's voice was muffled but was audible enough for the professor to hear. The two both had teary faces and begged Kukui to forgive them.

"If I see you two misbehave one more time…" Lana and Sun huddled closer together, frightened. "Mallow. You're up."

Mallow chuckled awkwardly and headed to the front. Sun and Lana went back to their seat glumly.

'Wow. This professor doesn't mess around!' Kiawe shifted in his seat uncomfortably. He made a mental note not to make Kukui mad.

"There's not much to tell about me. Hm…" Mallow thought about what she was going to say. "I know how to make a lot of dishes. Tell you what new guy, you can come over to the restaurant and your first dish will be free! Think of it as a token of appreciation since we'll be seeing each other more often."

"Thanks!" Kiawe beamed. Free food was always a treat.

"It's my go!" Sophocles sprinted to the front with something in his hands. "I have a brand new invention that I'd like to share! I call it the…" The device in his hands appeared to be a robotic Togedemaru. "Poké Pall 2000! In this case, it's a Togedemaru. It acts like a pokémon, talks like a pokémon, and even battles like one! I'll demonstrate! Use Discharge!"

Before Kiawe could realize Sophocles' mistake, Togedemaru used Discharge and shot electricity all over the classroom, including the people in it! Everyone was out cold.

---

Kiawe's eyes fluttered open. He could still remember what happened that day. He was distant around them after they woke up but during lunch, Sun managed to convince everyone to sit beside Kiawe, whether he liked it or not. They had gotten along pretty well during lunch and they hit it off from there.

That day taught him that there was never a dull moment in Melemele Island. Especially whenever Sun was around. Sun somehow manages to find trouble wherever he goes most of the time.

Though, Kiawe only battled him a limited amount of times. Sun didn't get his pokémon until his Island Challenge started. He rarely let his Rowlet battle after he hatched, stating that he was still a baby. Sun initially only stayed at Melemele Island for week to train and then challenge Hala's trial. That didn't go so well so he stayed another week before he finally beat Hala. Sun had two practice battles against Kiawe, making him feel a bit unsatisfied later on when Sun had gotten more stronger. Since he wasn't at Melemele Island, it meant no battling Sun.

Their most formal battle came when Sun returned to Alola. He beat Kiawe fairly. That was the main reason why he didn't know about Froslass' Cursed Body ability. If only if he had gotten more experience with his team, Kiawe was sure that he would've beaten him.

He had nearly forgotten about the frequent fights that Sun and Lana got into. One time, it had gotten really bad and an Officer Jenny had to step in. Lana won nearly every one of these.

'Maybe that's why I didn't expect that unexpected crush. Lana's usually quiet, but when it comes to Sun, those two always seem to be at each other's throats. Thinks about the past makes me feel worse about the whole Sun not betraying us deal. He was the one to bring me into the group, then we kicked him out.'

Kiawe slowly picked himself up and rubbed his head. "Is everyone alright?"

"Sure…" Sophocles groaned.

"Yeah…" Ash replied uneasily.

"We're fine," Gladion said for both him and Lillie.

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Ash's head snapped back and saw that Mallow was the one behind the cries of pain. He rushed over to her side and crouched down.

"Mallow? What happened!?" His heart sank further when Mallow looked at him with tears in her eyes.

"I landed on my foot badly! I-I think I made it worse!" Her body curled into a ball and she clutched her foot painfully.

"Sun isn't doing so hot either!" Lillie told them. She checked on his heartbeat and felt it beating more faintly.

"Gah! What do we do?" Ash was beginning to freak out. There was nothing the could do. The plan didn't work and only resulted in further injuring Mallow and Sun's conditions. He was starting to believe that there was no getting out of this without making a sacrifice.

Dusk Mane Necrozma roared and made a beeline for them, only to be tackled by Lunala.

"We still got Lunala with us!" Gladion called out.

Ash got the message and whipped out his other three poké balls. "And these guys!" He released Rowlet, Lycanroc, and Torracat before going back to consoling Mallow.

"And Turtonator!" Kiawe released his Turtonator too.

Sophocles joined in. "Charjabug as well!"

"Umbreon! Lycanroc!" Gladion took out his own Lycanroc and Umbreon. The pokémon joined in with Pikachu, Marowak, Tsareena, Togedemaru, Snowy and Silvally to form a stronger team. Ninetales, Glaceon, and Vanilluxe kept to themselves along with Marshadow.

"It's not enough! It'll take out everyone one by one!" Lillie was reminded of her experience battling Necrozma. It wouldn't make a difference.

"We can't give up! Please, Lillie!" Ash attempted to persuade her to join them. "Flygon is the one with the medic bag. Heal the injured pokémon with it!"

"But…" Lillie was hesitant whether to listen to her teammates or not. Their efforts were futile.

"Lillie." Gladion was the one to speak. "If you won't do this for us then do it for me. Or Sun. Whoever it might be, just know that we need you." His brotherly taking did the trick. Lillie took out the many poké and Beast Balls in her possession.

"Okay! Come on out everyone!" Gladion, Ash, Sophocles, and Kiawe had to back up in order for there to be room for everyone.

Blacephalon, Xurkitree, Stakataka, Pyroar, Aerodactyl, Electabuzz, Sandslash, Froslass, and Decidueye came out tiredly. They all slumped to the ground, groaning in pain.

Lillie walked over to them with Full Heals and berries. While she was doing that, Ash got an incoming call from Lusamine.

"Everyone! Can you hear us?" A hologram appeared, revealing Lusamine, Wicke, and Professor Burnet.

"Yes! We can hear you!"

"What's going on over there right now? Is my Lillie alright?!" This was her first question. She wanted the relief of knowing that her daughter was okay.

"She's doing a-okay Miss Lusamine!" Ash tilted his arm so that the adults could see Lillie working on bringing the fallen pokémon back to full health. "Guess what? We even have Sun back!" He angled the hologram so that the unconscious Sun came into view too.

"Oh thank goodness!" Lusamine fell to her knees and had her hands over her heart. The heavy weight was lifted from her shoulder from hearing the good news. She genuinely smiled for the first time in days.

"Also, we're in the world where Poipole lives. Necrozma is really the Radiant One after all! It lost its light."

"As the president predicted," Wicke confirmed Lusamine's suspicions while she was temporarily celebrating. "It matches what was on the mural perfectly."

Gladion came over to Ash's side to chat with the adults. "We tried to use our Z-Power to restore Necrozma's power." He glanced back at Lillie. "But it failed. It wouldn't let go of Solgaleo."

Professor Burnet snapped her fingers.

"That must mean we need a lot more people and pokémon's power!" She concluded.

"A lot more?"

Burnet continued, "We figured out some things about the legend after deciphering the mural. Long ago, when the Radiant One lost its light, it was Solgaleo, Lunala, and the people and pokémon who shared their light with it," She recounted the story to them.

"The people and pokémon?" Something clicked in Ash's head. "I see… so we need everyone's power, not just z-moves. But how do we send our power?"

"I got it!" Professor Burnet once again came up with a solution. "Tapu Koko is probably sending z-power through the Ultra Wormhole to the Radiant One."

Lusamine got back up and smiled. "So we just have to do what it's doing?" Receiving a thumbs up, Lusamine mimicked the gesture that Tapu Koko was doing. That was by raising her arms up and forming a pose with her hands that an Island Kahuna would make during the Manalo Festival.

"Got it! Let's all try!" Ash helped out Mallow by grabbing her arms and lifting them up. He made the pose with her hands and held his position. This made the two blush slightly at the contact. Tsareena rolled her eyes and did the same too.

"Everyone in Alola… all of us here!" Kiawe, Turtonator, and Marowak got into position.

"The pokémon…" Sophocles and his Togedemaru were doing it too.

"And the people will work together to save the Radiant One!" Gladion was doing his part. All that was left was Lillie.

Lillie finished up healing everyone back to normal. Most of them stood up and stretched, while others continued laying down. Decidueye got up and was greeting back Glaceon standing on her hind legs and posing as if she was a bodybuilder of some sorts. She was taunting Decidueye and bragging that she was one of the survivors. Vanilluxe giggled and joined Glaceon in making fun of Decidueye.

Naturally, Decidueye didn't take this too well. Using his regained strength whacked both of their faces with an arrow. They both face faulted to the ground. Decidueye smirked and proudly took his place as team leader again.

Ninetales, Sandslash, and Froslass watched on, amused at their antics.

The Ultra Beasts, Pyroar, Electabuzz, and Aerodactyl stared at each other with newfound respect after their teamwork against Dusk Mane Necrozma. Blacephalon was getting praised by the surviving group of Snowy, Altaria, Ninetales, Glaceon, and Vanilluxe for sacrificing itself for them. Luckily, Blacephalon had just enough time in its poké ball to rebuild its head.

Lillie noticed what the others were doing and called out to the pokémon. "Everyone! We must do what the others are doing! We have to share our power!" One by one, the pokémon and Ultra Beasts began to copy the pose, except for Vanilluxe and Stakataka.

Vanilluxe burst into icicle tears when he realized that he couldn't do it due to the lack of limbs. Somehow, someway, Stakataka sat down and raised its heavy limbs up. This made Vanilluxe cry even more now that it was left out.

Ninetales saw this and sighed. She flipped Vanilluxe for so that he was floating upside down. She smacked the two icicles on the bottom, reminding Vanilluxe of it.

Vanilluxe smiled and twirled around, elated that there was a way for him to give power. Ninetales huffed and went back to her own pose.

Lillie crouched down so that she could meet Sun's level. Even if he was unconscious, Lillie believed that he could help out too. Every person and pokémon counted.

'We can share.' Lillie brought him near her lap and lifted his arms up for him. She did the pose for him, similar to what Ash and Mallow were doing. She closed her eyes and concentrated on sending out her power.

"I'll have the Island Kahunas assist us as well." Lusamine said, still in the call.

Hau, Professor Kukui, and Faba were about to leave Ten Carat Hill until the professor's device started to ring. He brought the two closer so they could see what was going on.

"Grandad!" Hau smiled when he saw his grandad on the screen.

"People of Alola, please listen to me! Alola's Guardian Deity, Tapu Koko is currently sending power to the Ultra Wormhole." Hala said seriously.

"Tapu Koko can do that?" Hau looked up and started at the guardian deity in the sky, giving its power and sending it to the Ultra Wormhole.

"According to the ancient legends of this land, it was the Radiant One who filled the world with a mysterious light, and created the Alola Region!"

Hau nodded along with his grandad's words. He had heard the story countless times when he was younger. Hala read to him the story before he went to bed, stating that he needed to know the story if he ever wanted to follow in his footsteps.

"The very same Radiant One has expended all its light and turned pitch black. If we wish to save the Radiant One, the power of everyone in Alola is needed. Send it power with me, along with the prayers of gratitude that have been traditionally passed on during the Manalo Festival." Hala raised his arms and made a diamond-like shape with index fingers and thumbs. "This is what will save Solgaleo, Lunala, and the Radiant One!"

Hau's eyes sparkled at the yellow energy coming out from Hala's hands and going in the air.

"Cool! I want to do that too!" Hau copied the pose with more excitement. Yellow power was starting to extract itself from Hau's hands. "Neato! I secretly had powers this entire time!"

"Right…" Professor Kukui played along with Hau's innocence. "We'll do it too!" He and his Incineroar continued the trend, along with a reluctant Faba.

Hau's Noivern, Flareon, Crabominable, Tauros, Raichu, and Primarina followed their trainer's example and gave their power to the Ultra Wormhole.

Hala's voice could still be heard from Kukui's device on the ground. "Give the Radiant One all of Alola's power… give the Radiant One your power!"

The Ultra Guardians smiled when power was coming from the Ultra Wormhole and surrounded Dusk Mane Necrozma. It stopped attacking Lunala, which the moone pokémon used the opening to get away.

Poipole noticed Naganadel emerging from the nest and flew over to it. Naganadel encourage the Poipoles by following along with what everyone was doing.

More and more energy was being sent to Dusk Mane Necrozma. Even Lunala was supporting the cause. Necrozma's body was glowing brightly. The pieces of black crystal removed itself from Solgaleo body, finally freeing it. Necrozma body part was quickly rebuilding itself.

"We did it! It let go!" Ash cheered. "Now all that's left is for Necrozma to regain its light!"

Nebby was back in control of it's own body. Similar to Sun, it felt extremely weakened and collapsed on the ground. Lunala rushed down to assist Solgaleo. Unfortunately, Necrozma fully recovered and went in to attack the two while they were distracted.

The Ultra Guardians gasped as they weren't fast enough to react.

That's when its claw was intercepted by none other than Marshadow. Marshadow didn't participate in giving its power, but it decided to act now as a way to repay for its uncooperative behavior.

Marshadow blocked the strike and struck its body to the ground. It didn't give Necrozma time to recuperate. It began to throw several punches and kicks rapidly. The Ultra Guardians had trouble keeping up with its movements. Marshadow ended it with one final knee to the face, knocking it back and away from Lunala and Solgaleo.

A wide beam came from above and engulfed Necrozma. It was temporarily dazed but it shook it off within seconds. Necrozma brushed Marshadow off and trekked forward to Lunala and Solgaleo.

That was a mistake on its part. Marshadow turned into its shadow form and hid in the ground. It secretly crawled over to Necrozma and revealed itself by popping up from the ground underneath it with multiple shadows as support. Marshadow returned by Lillie's side and kicked her shin.

Decidueye gladly took Marshadow's place, wanting payback because it was taken out by Necrozma. He took a page out of Marshadow's book and disappeared into the shadows. Decidueye came up from above and hit Necrozma with a ghostly dark aura powered wing.

Lunala observed the scene and tossed its z-crystal into Gladion's hands.

"A Z-Crystal?" Gladion examined the purple z-crystal in his hands while Ash and Mallow were busy bringing Solgaleo back to full health. "It wants me to use a z-move." A plan formed in his head. He remembered that Ash was in possession of Solgaleo's z-crystal. Combining them will surely do the trick to stop Necrozma's rampage.

"But." Gladion glanced at Lillie and the z-power ring on her wrist. "Lillie! We need you to start this off and Ash and I will finish it! Decidueye won't last long, no matter how strong he is!"

Lillie shook her head, gently kicking Marshadow to the side. "I told you I can't! Why can't you respect my wishes big brother!?" She shouted, her temper rising.

Gladion's did as well. "This is silly! Sun would do it in a heartbeat! Why won't you? Tell me."

"No!"

"Tell me!"

"Stop! I said no!" Lillie was reaching her mental limit. Her body was shaking. Her eyes were slowly tearing up again. Lillie's breathing increased as well as her heartbeat. She felt like she was about to have a panic attack.

"I SAID TELL ME!" Gladion screamed, causing the Ultra Guardians to flinch at his harsh tone.

"IT'S BECAUSE I MAY HAVE KILLED ONE OF SUN'S POKÉMON USING A Z-MOVE!" Lillie screamed at the top of her lungs. Gladion hitched his breath, beyond shocked from the news. His head was getting dizzy. There was no way what Lillie said was true. But seeing Lillie breaking down for the umpteenth time told him that she wasn't Lillie.

"N-no…" Gladion was too stunned to detect that incoming Prismatic Laser coming his way. It landed right in front of him, causing Gladion to fly and land on the ground hard.

"G-gladion!" Ash called out to the boy. He wasn't focused either. Lillie's words kept replaying in his head. The mere thought of pokémon dying made his heart clench, especially if it was because of a human.

"Guys! Buy us time!" Kiawe ordered the pokémon in the area. Blacephalon pounded its fists together, amped for a round two. Together with the other Ultra Beasts and pokémon, they distracted Necrozma while the Ultra Guardians could gather their bearings.

"I'm fine!" Gladion swatted Ash's hand away and picked himself up. "Lillie…" Gladion ran over to his crying sister and embraced her fiercely. "You did not kill a pokémon. You did not kill a pokémon." He repeated his words, allowing Lillie to cry on his shoulder. He cocked his head and glared at his teammates.

"I never knew Sun had another pokémon. Which one of you was keeping this a secret?" His voice sent shivers down everyone's spine. He could very well beat them all up if he wanted to.

Nervously, Sophocles spoke. "I-I never knew of this…"

"M-me neither," Kiawe gulped.

"I just met him last week," Ash weakly defended himself. All eyes were on the injured Mallow as she was the only one to not give a response.

"S-sorry. I didn't know too." Mallow said quietly.

Lillie tilted her head sideways so that she could speak. "N-no one knows. Sun has promised us to keep it under wrap and to never speak of it ever again. I-I'm lucky that h-he forgave m-me." Lillie sniffled, shedding more tears. She sunk in to Gladion's hold, finding comfort from being close to him.

"Who's we?" Lillie stayed silent. "Lillie, do I need to repeat myself?"

She gave in, "Th-three people know. Me, Sun, and… Hau."

Gladion felt his blood boiling. Out of everyone that he knew, it had to be the one he was already in bad terms with. Hau, the friendly, innocent trainer kept a dark secret from him. So did Sun but he had an excuse as it was his pokémon. Gladion was planning on teaching Hau a lesson because of earlier, now he had a bigger reason to beat the living daylights out of him.

"D-don't be mad at Hau. He wasn't there. S-sun only told him because he trusted him. Also because Hau would b-be wondering where his pokémon was." Lillie covered for Hau, despite the latter being angry at her.

"What pokémon was it?" Ash shielded his face when Gladion whipped his head back at his direction "S-sorry! I was just curious!"

"Idiot." Gladion patted Lillie's back. "If you're comfortable with it, do you mind telling us what happened. The pokémon combined should handle Necrozma. Not a single one is knocked out yet."

True to his word, no one was taken out by Necrozma yet. They used teamwork to help each other out by a saving one another. They made sure to not seriously hurt it as it still was the Radiant One.

Lillie was silent for about ten seconds. She gave her response with a simple head nod.

"O-okay. It… it started when Sun was out looking for new pokémon…"

---

One year ago, Lillie and Sun were out searching for pokémon. Sun had successfully completed his second trial against Island Kahuna Olivia. They lingered around the island until Hau finished his

"What pokémon do you want to get?" Lillie asked Sun. They were nearing some tall grass. It was a perfect place to find wild pokémon.

"Dunno. I'm just looking around." Sun turned his head left and right, trying to spot a wild pokémon. "Ugh. This is taking too long! Kyu! Help me out here!" He dug out his Ultra Ball from his bag and released his pokémon.

A shadowy black ghost-like figure came out. It was relatively small with beady eyes that could make any wild pokémon freeze in their tracks. It made weird screeches.

"Hehe. Kyu is h-here…" Lillie's voice betrayed her. Honestly, she was terrified of the pokémon. There wasn't any information on the pokémon to begin with. She had told Sun time and time again to get it registered in the pokédex but he refuses, saying that it liked keeping its identity a secret. There was also the weird stick that it always carried. It only used it when fighting. So far, Lillie believed that it was a ghost-type pokémon because of its ghostly moves. Though, it had Wood Hammer, which is a grass-type move. Kyu didn't look like a grass-type, eliminating the possibility from her list.

"Chik! Chik!" Kyu made the raspy screeching sounds that it usually made, making Lillie more uncomfortable.

"It's good to see ya too, buddy! Say, mind helping me look for some pokémon?" Kyu smiled and flew forward. Sun laughed and began to chase after it. "Kyu, this isn't tag! We're on a mission to catch pokémon!"

Even though she was terrified of Kyu, Lillie was happy that Sun was so fond of it. It had to he the runner-up in terms of his favorite pokémon. Dartrix beat it only because he came out of his poké ball more often.

"Tee-hee! Get back here!" Sun finally was able to catch his pokémon and tackled it to the ground. The two went rolling in a random direction, giggling heartily.

Sun was laying on the grass, panting slightly. Kyu was on his chest jumping up and down, seemingly wanting to play some more.

"Pika! Pika!" A distinct cry was heard right beside them. Sun noticed that they were right next to the tall grass. There, a wild male Pikachu was staring at them curiously.

"Aw! It's a Pikachu!" Sun got up, dropping Kyu to the ground. He gushed over the mouse pokémon. Lillie caught up to them. "Lillie! Check out this cute Pikachu!" The male Pikachu was happily accepting Sun's petting.

"Aww! Look at its ears!" Lillie cooed. The two continued to play with the adorable Pikachu, forgetting about Kyu.

A dark aura was emitting from Kyu. It let out several angry sounds, jealous of the attention that Pikachu was receiving. What ticked it off even more was that Sun and Lillie didn't even hear it.

"A cute pokémon is exactly what I need! Vulpix is pretty cute, but she doesn't play with me a lot. Eevee is cute too, but she's mad about me right now for not giving her any treats. This Pikachu here is pretty playful and wouldn't get mad for not getting any snacks, would you?" Sun scratched the bottom of Pikachu's chin, making him giggle.

"Chik! Chik!" Kyu was getting fed up with being ignored. It was hurt when Sun didn't call it cute too. Its mood was somewhat lifted when Sun looked back at it.

"Kyu, help me catch this Pikachu! He says he wants a strong trainer!" Pikachu was flexing his arms, telling Sun that he wanted someone with a lot of power to own him.

Kyu huffed and hesitantly floated towards Sun.

Sun's eyes wandered over to Lillie, seeing her fidgeting. "Eh? What's up?"

"It just that… no, never mind. It's something silly." Lillie dismissed it, only making Sun worry about her.

"Come on Lillie~" Sun scooted next to her and laid his head on her shoulder. "You can tell me anything~" He purred. Lillie's body quivered from the contact.

"Ah!" Lillie back up, flushing brightly. "I-It's just that… I kind of wanted a Pikachu too." She admitted, not looking at him in the eye.

She expected Sun to be appalled, but it was actually the opposite.

"You do!? You can catch this Pikachu instead. It'll be your first pokémon and I want you to get the one you really want! Your first experience with taking care of a pokémon should be a good one. You don't mind, do ya?" He asked the wild Pikachu.

Pikachu shook his head, but he still flexed his muscles. It appeared that Pikachu desired a strong trainer out of Lillie too.

"Oh, well you'll be Lillie's first pokémon. I don't know how she can exactly prove it to ya…" Sun thought about the situation. He snapped his fingers seconds later, figuring out a solution. "I know! Here!" Sun unclipped his z-power ring and gave it to a confused Lillie.

"What do you want me to do with this?" Lillie inquired, inspecting the gold z-power ring. Inside was the Ghostium Z. She frowned, remembering that it was Acerola who gave this to him as a gift. The two had gotten really close lately. She was unsure if she missed something but she was too shy to ask Sun about it.

"Use it of course!" This made her gasp. "Then you can catch Pikachu and show it that you know a z-move. You're allowed to do it. Remember? You had a battle with-"

Pikachu yawned, getting bored of the conversation.

"Oh no! He can run away in any second! Here!" Sun tossed her an Ultra Ball. "You know that pose, right? It's like this." Sun crouched down a little and stuck his hands out forward. He bent his hands down, appearing like some sort of a creature. He moved his body left and right along with rising up. Once his hands were close to his face, he pushed his hands out forward again and slightly curled his fingers.

"Erm… okay." Lillie was used to seeing Sun perform the pose and was confident enough that she could imitate it. "Kyu, will you help me out?"

"Chik!" Kyu blatantly refused, not wanting Pikachu as a permanent companion. He was going to steal all the attention from Kyu.

"Oi! Help Lillie out or I'll cut snacks off your menu too!" Sun never disciplined Kyu before. Knowing this, Kyu's eyes went to the ground, wanting to cry. It toughed it out and grudgingly flew in front of Lillie.

Pikachu straightened up, ready to see what they had to offer.

"Am I supposed to say a cool phrase too?" Sun always said something before doing a z-move. "Maybe along the lines of, 'Prepare to stay awake forever! You'll never want to sleep again after our Never Ending Nightmare!' Hm… it does sound alright but-"

"Just do it!" Sun snapped her out of it. Although, it was partly due to jealousy because Lillie came up with a more cool phrase than him.

"R-right!" Lillie took a deep breath. She performed the pose recently and gave off z-power to Kyu. "Prepare to stay awake forever! You'll never want to sleep again after out Never Ending Nightmare!" Lillie waited for Kyu to attack but it never did. This also perplexed Sun.

"Maybe do it again!" Sun hollered from the sidelines. Lillie did it again, feeding Kyu more z-power with the same results as before. "One more time?"

Lillie tried it a third time. This time, something did happen. Something that scarred her life.

The z-power was sent to Kyu. Kyu finally reacted to it and spread an eerie darkness in the area. It was supposed to be only for the opponent, but it managed to catch Sun and Lillie.

"Woah…" Sun huddled up closer to Lillie. He didn't like the changed in atmosphere at all. Several hands came up from the ground and they never stopped coming. Kyu was flying up and the z-power surrounding it was gradually increasing, no doubt because Lillie had gave it too much.

The hands went mainly after Pikachu. Sun and Lillie narrowly avoided one of the hands. However, many soon followed and it managed to capture the two in its clutches. The Pikachu was more unlucky since it had about twenty arms burying him under its attack.

Kyu let out a pained screech and the dark purple aura around it exploded, along with Kyu. The hands blew up too, creating a purple vortex that reached high up in the sky.

Pikachu was clearly out of it. The overly powered up z-move did its job. The cuts and bruises on Pikachu were visible. The attack inflicted more damage on him than it was supposed to do.

"L-lillie?" Sun was frightened when he saw Lillie's with tears in her eyes. "L-lillie…" He had protected Lillie under the pile of arms by hugging her whole body, thus covering her from the attack. Sun limped backwards and fell on the ground.

"Sun!" Lillie checked on Sun's condition. He was conscious, but it was apparent that he suffered some form of injury from protecting her from Kyu's z-move. She gazed over at Pikachu and found him in a much worse state.

"Oh no!" Lillie raced over to the mouse pokémon and carried him in her arms. Pikachu was out cold. He was breathing, which was a huge wave of relief for Lillie.

"K-kyu? Where are you?" Sun was using a tree as support so that he could stand. "Kyu? B-buddy?" Kyu was nowhere in sight, causing Sun to shed a few tears.

"Chik! Chik!" Unbeknownst to Sun and Lillie, Kyu was stuck under a tree that fell because of its z-move. It tried gaining their attention, but its voice was weakened. Too much power led to Kyu damaging itself more than it thought it would.

Kyu watched as Sun was calling out its name over and over. It wanted to desperately run up to him and snuggle into his arms. It tried it hardest to escape the tree but to no avail.

"Sun, we have to go to the pokémon center or Pikachu will get worse!" Lillie begged Sun to accompany her. "You're hurt too!"

"No… but Kyu…"

"Kyu is somewhere around here. We can come back and look for it later! It will show up eventually." Lillie just barely managed to convince Sun to go with her.

Sun didn't utter a word. He leaned on Lillie for support. Lillie carried the injured Pikachu with one arm and wrapped her other arm around Sun's body to help him walk. He put his arm around her neck and the two walked away from the area.

The last thing Kyu saw was Sun and Lillie walking away with the Pikachu with them instead of it.

Its poké ball was left on the ground, forgotten just like Kyu.

---

"W-we never found it. We had to stay a week in the hospital for both Sun and Pikachu. Th-then we spent a week looking for Kyu. All we found was i-its poké ball. I-I thought Sun would hate me after that b-but we kept being friends. I was the who took his friend from him. All because I-I was selfish and wanted a Pikachu." She finished, wiping the remaining tears from her face.

The area was silent, except for the sound of battling from the pokémon. Ash had an indifferent expression on his face.

"What happened to the Pikachu?" He dared to ask.

"He got sent back to the wild." Lillie responded sadly. "I think Sun didn't want anything to do with it anymore. He stopped using the Ghostium Z. Froslass and Decidueye haven't used it because of the incident." She held the Ghostium Z in her hand as she said this.

"I get it." Gladion came up with a conclusion "Marshadow is part Ghost. Doing a z-move with it reminds you of your first time using the Ghostium Z. You don't want to hurt another pokémon." Lillie nodded her head, ashamed.

Gladion patted her shoulder. "This Kyu didn't die Lillie. It simply ran away scared without you or Sun. A z-move can't kill the user."

"I guess you have a point." Lillie mumbled unhappily. "But why hasn't Kyu come back?" She unintentionally gave him her best impression of puppy dog eyes.

"Well." Gladion put a hand behind his head. "Maybe it left Akala Island looking for you two. I'm sure Kyu is safe and sound somewhere thinking about you and Sun." Gladion's words were getting to Lillie. She was feeling a bit better from his reassurance.

"Was it really a pokémon not in the pokédex?" Sophocles questioned.

"I-I think so." She stuttered. "I never had the chance to find out. I respected Kyu's wishes to hide its identity. Sun used it in his battle against Olivia. Maybe she might know."

"Sun lost a pokémon. That's gotta be real rough." Ash felt bad for Sun. He couldn't imagine the pain of losing his pokémon and not knowing where they went.

"That's another thing Sun has hid from me." Mallow whispered to herself quietly so that no one else could hear her.

"Kyu going missing isn't your fault. It was disobedient when it didn't want to do the z-move with you. It garnered up all that z-power and it couldn't control all that power." Gladion clasped his hands over Lillie's. "Marshadow isn't like that. It wouldn't try to harm us after everything that you said it was. We're all after one goal and that's converting Necrozma back into the Radiant One. You're smart Lillie, you won't make the same mistake twice. We're here to support you."Gladion offered her a kind smile.

Lillie looked at her other friends and saw them all smiling too.

'I'm really lucky to have such kind friends. They're here for me whenever I need it.' Her eyes fell on Marshadow.

In a way, Marshadow reminded Lillie of Kyu. Both were Ghost type pokemon and were really adamant in hiding their identity. Each had their differences too. Marshadow was more on the serious, quiet side while Kyu was playful and very energetic. Marshadow just wanted a friend out of Sun. It would be cruel of her to keep it from participating in giving Necrozma its light back.

"Do you promise that nothing bad will happen?" Lillie asked Marshadow seriously.

Marshadow contemplated on the question and shrugged. Seeing her reaction, it changed its mind and gave Lillie a thumbs up.

"Big brother?"

Gladion clenched his hands over hers. "There's nothing to fear anymore. You conquered your fear if pokémon and faced the cause of it all. This is no different from that." His actions warmed Lillie's heart. She let go of his hand and exhaled deeply.

"It's our turn then, Marshadow." Marshadow was pleased that Lillie changed her mind. It got in place while Lillie warmed up.

Kiawe sprinted ahead so that he was close to the fighting pokémon. "Everyone! We're ready! Get back here and bring anyone who got knocked out by Necrozma!"

The pokémon and Ultra Beasts retreated and returned to their respective trainers. The Ultra Beasts were in charge of the unconscious, which included Togedemaru, Rowlet, Vanilluxe, and Glaceon.

Ash was genuinely surprised that two of Sun's pokémon didn't make it from the encounter. However, judging by the satisfied look on Decidueye's face told him that it wasn't entirely their fault.

'Geez. Decidueye doesn't take being taunted so well.' Ash broke out of his thoughts when Gladion spoke to him.

"Ash! Can you pull of its z-move?" Ash understood what Gladion was getting at. He wanted him and Solgaleo to perform a z-move.

"I'll try! We gotta be set after Lillie is finished!" The two and Mallow were carefully paying close attention to Lillie while Kiawe and Sophocles were tending to the injured pokémon.

"Your opponent is me again, Necrozma!" Lillie grabbed its attention. She clashed her arms together, making a bright spark come from the z-power ring. Lillie did the same exact pose as one would do with the Ghostium Z. Instead of z-power bursting out from within the z-power ring, a shadow resembling Marshadow slithered from underneath Lillie and made its way to Marshadow.

The shadow was consumed by Marshadow. Marshadow's body lit up brightly and somehow changed its appearance. Its head, wrists, and collar turned into a forest green color. Its eyes flared up. The top portion of its eyes was similar to that of a lighting bolt. A light yellow aura was seen lighting up around its form.

Lillie didn't let this distract her. She continued on with the z-move. "Keep your eyes open for a flurry of punches! Seven may just be your unlucky number! Soul-Stealing Seven Star Strike!" She had no idea what she was saying but it felt right regardless.

Marshadow did an impressive front flip, leaving behind a trail of dark green smoke. It landed flawlessly and punched the air seven times. With each punch, there was a light blue orb fired from its fists. The seven light blue orbs hit Necrozma and they stayed there, forming a strange symbol.

Marshadow did another front flip, this time going in for a kick. It kicked the middle of the symbol with precise aim and shockingly went through Necrozma's body as if it was thin air. Marshadow skidded across the ground, trails of green fire following it. A second later, Necrozma body was caught in a greenish blueish explosion of fire. It covered its whole massive body.

Necrozma let out a pained screech, giving Gladion and Ash their chance while it was in pain.

"Solgaleo! Lend me your power again!" Ash requested. He and Gladion stood side by side. "Alright! Let's do it together!"

Lillie got out of their way and made her way beside Sun's body. She observed the scene in front of her

"Let's give it our all, Solgaleo!" Ash and Gladion z-power rings illuminated the dark area.

"Mystic eye of the moon illuminates the demonic realm of darkness!" Gladion could feel the strong power coming from the z-power ring. It made him smirk for a split second before he went back to business.

Ash's body was surrounded by a fiery aura. "Sunshine Smasher!"

Meanwhile, Gladion had a dark purple aura radiate off his body. "Moonlight Blaster!"

Solgaleo cloaks itself with orange-yellow energy, spins itself around, shooting off a powerful beam

Lunala then flies into it air and activates its Full Moon phase to unleash six blue beams that fired off and combined into one large beam.

The two beams twirled around each other and finally struck Necrozma. Necrozma glowed yellow and the brightness nearly blinded the Ultra Guardians.

A huge gust of smoke cloud Necrozma's form. Several colored lights came out from the thick smoke. All the Ultra Guardians could do was watch and wait to see what happens.

The prism that was on Necrozma emerged from the smoke. With that, Necrozma's body parts also escaped the smoke. The only difference was that it was gold instead of black. The body parts connected together, creating a different type of creature than before.

A colossal, shining armored dragon was flying right in front of their very eyes. Most of its body is made of pure light energy. It had two pairs of clawed wings, a long, spiked tail, and a head resembling a shining star with several long horns on the sides and top. Its face is armored and has multicolored heterochromic eyes; the left eye is primarily red, while the right is mainly blue. Its large clawed arms and small legs have swapped places, respectively becoming its feet and parts of its wings.

This was the Radiant One. The legend was real.

The Ultra Guardians jaws were wide open. Never will they ever forget this sight. The sight of an Alola Legend that created the region. It was a shame that Sun and Rotom missed it, as the former deserved to see why Necrozma had possessed him while the latter could've got pictures of the Radiant One for its collection. As for Lana, she stayed back home on her own account.

Ash remembered that Lusamine was still on the line and communicated with her. "Miss Lusamine! We saved Solgaleo and the Radiant One returned to its original form too!" Ash said excitedly.

The Radiant One rose further up in the sky. Its body was shining as bright as the sun. The Ultra Guardians, Lunala, Solgaleo, Naganadel, and the Poipoles observed its every move. The Radiant One extracted a long bright yellow beam up in the sky.

The beam exploded and its energy spreaded all throughout the world. The grass grew rather quickly and blossomed a variety of flowers. They dark night sky returned to its natural sky blue color and even formed white, fluffy clouds. The sunlight shining across the land was icing to the cake.

"Awesome!" Ash had stars in his eyes, grinning madly.

"There's so much green!" Mallow beamed, having taking her seat on Flygon to further avoid putting more strain on her injured foot.

"So much light too!" Sophocles chimed in.

"Now this world will be alright!" Kiawe's chest was growing warmer, proud that he was a factor in restoring Poipoles world.

"I wish you could see this." Lillie was slightly disheartened that Sun and Lana couldn't witness this moment with them. Nevertheless, she enjoyed it to the fullest.

Ash turned to face his Poipole. "Aren't you glad, Poipole?" Poipole twirled its body, showing its enthusiasm.

"Everyone! This is bad!" Lusamine's voice ran from Ash's wrist. "The Ultra Wormhole has suddenly started to close!"

"What!?" Ash exclaimed in total shock. "We got to hurry back!" He, along with everyone else boarded their ride pokémon. The pokémon and Ultra Beasts were returned into their poké balls. The Ultra Beasts were quickly promised that they would be taken back to their own world afterwards.

Poipole made a quiet noise. Ash scratched its head, not knowing what it was saying.

"Poipole is saying that it's staying here." Naganadel translated for him.

"Huh!?" Ash's eyes were filled with many emotions. One of them being hurt, while another being betrayal.

Naganadel further translated its words. "And that it will join forces with us to protect this land."

Ash's bottom lip began to tremble. His eyes were turning watery. He tilted his head down, masking his tears with his hat covering his eyes. Pikachu stared at him with sympathy. He was also upset at the saddening news.

Ash was on the verge of crying, but he stayed strong and held it in. He smiled weakly.

"That's for the best." He lifted his head up so that he could look at Poipole straight in the eye. His eyes were glossy. "Your h-home has returned to normal after all…"

Pikachu held out his paw, reaching for Poipole. Poipole connected their hands together.

"Ash…" Kiawe had a frown on his face. He wasn't usually one to be the bearer of bad news. "There's no time."

"I know…" Ash sighed. He gave Poipole one final smile. "So long, Poipole. Let's meet again sometime." He tapped his finger on Poipole's necklace. "T-take care of yourself."

Kiawe, Sophocles, Mallow, and Gladion were waving their hands, bidding the Ultra Beast farewell. One member wasn't included in this.

"Snowy… push harder!" Lillie grunted, trying to get Sun up her Altaria. Snowy was pushing him up with her nose. The two couldn't seem to get him aboard. Then, a sudden force fully lifted him up and placed him on the seat.

"Marshadow?" Lillie cocked her head sideways, wondering what will happen next in Marshadow's life. "W-would you like to come with me-I mean us!" She corrected herself. Marshadow inclined its head, wishing to return to Alola. It had bad memories in this world.

"Good!" Lillie clapped her hands but soon realized the predicament at hand with Ash and Poipole. "Poor Ash. I know exactly how you feel…"

Poipole's eyes were leaking tears. It didn't want it to be this way. But as Ash said, it was for the best. It looked on as Ash and Pikachu had their backs facing it.

"L-let's go." Ash forced those words to come out. The strain in his voice made it evident on how affected he was by the departure.

Nebby roared and took off to the sky with Lunala in tow. The Ultra Guardians followed it without another word.

Pikachu looked back to see Poipole one last time. Its tears were only dripping down faster. Ash couldn't bear looking at Poipole while they were leaving. His heart was twisting wildly. His lips were getting sore from his deep frowning.

They were ten seconds in from their departure and Poipoles cried could be heard. Ash peered down and saw a drawing of him and Pikachu with a lightning bolt next to them. In the middle was Poipole, waving at them with its arms.

"Like, like, love…" Ash recalled the meaning of the lightning bolt. He finally let the waterworks spill out. "I like, like, love you too!" He and the Ultra Guardians gave it another farewell wave before going heading in the Ultra Wormhole, leaving Poipoles World… for now.

Ash chuckled sadly and wiped his tears with his gloves. It didn't seem like they were stopping any time soon.

"Don't worry Ash." Lillie and her Altaria flew closer to Ash and his Garchomp. "Sometimes you have to say goodbye, even if you don't want to. It'll hurt at first, but you'll learn to move on knowing that they're happy exactly where they are. In maybe, just maybe, they'll come back and you'll start off exactly where you left off." She held Sun body close to lap, smiling warmly.

Ash got who she was referring to and shared a smile with her. "Thanks. I really needed that." The two were unaware of the jealous look that they were receiving from Mallow.

They made it to the other side of the wormhole. The feeling of being home while saving an entire world made this day much better. Below them, Lusamine, Professor Burnet, Faba, Wicke, Professor Kukui, and Hau were waiting for them to arrive. When they did, they all shared a high five at their first successful mission in a while.

Energy exited through the wormhole too. It made a silhouette of the Radiant One for all the people of Alola to enjoy. The image lingered there for a full minute before disintegrating into thin air.

The Ultra Guardians landed and were greeted by many compliments and praises from the adults and Hau.

Lusamine rushed up to her daughter and brought her in for a monster hug. "Lillie, dear! You worried me sick leaving off on your own!" She coddled Lillie, unintentionally making her embarrassed.

"M-mother!" Lillie somehow escape her voice grip. "It was all fine! I can handle myself!"

"I know you can dear, but I still worry. Call it a motherly thing if you will. You won't understand until you're older and have a child." She patted Lillie's head. "Speaking of the husband…"

"Mother!"

"There he is!" Lusamine sprinted over to Sun and hugged him fiercely. "You made me worry too, Sunny boy!"

"Mother! Not so rough! He isn't awake yet and his injuries need to be checked on!" Lillie badgered her mother for being so careless.

"Sorry." Lusamine apologized cheekily. She focused her attention on the unconscious Sun and placed a hand on his head. "And you young sir need to come with us to the Aether Paradise. Only the best doctors for my daughter's future-"

"Enough, mother." Gladion stepped in, covering for a red faced Lillie. "I think I speak for all of us when I say we need to hang back and relax for a while."

"Yeah!" The rest of the Ultra Guardians agreed with his statement.

Hau shyly propped beside Lusamine. "May I see him, Miss Lusamine?" Lusamine gave him room to reunite with his friend. "Hehe! I knew you'd be just fine! After all, Gladion, Ash and his friends are strong. I just wished I could've been there to-"

Pow!

A heavy punch connected to Hau's cheek, knocking him out in an instant. Gasps filled the area as Gladion was the one responsible.

"I don't hold back my words, Hau. You had that coming for tricking me and holding back information!" Gladion had a tick mask appear on his forehead when he caught a smile on Hau's face even when he was out cold. "Tch. Guess I'll wipe that smile off your lips with my fists!" His fist was stopped by a frantic Professor Kukui.

"Hey! What happened to everyone needing to hang out and relax? Give Hau a break. If it wasn't for him, Team Rocket would have interfered in you mission." Professor Kukui bended the truth a bit. Of course, even without Hau he would've taken care of the enemies.

"Fine." Gladion gave in. "But I'm this close from giving him what he deserves." He walked away from the professor and headed over to Ash's direction.

Sun and Hau were placed inside the helicopter that Lusamine used to get to where she was now. Lusamine noticed Mallow limping more than usual and asked her what was up.

"I landed on my foot badly. I think I might've made it worse." Mallow explained to the Aether Foundation President with a forlorn expression.

"Scoot in." Lusamine gestured to the empty seat in the helicopter. Mallow sighed and got in with some help from Flygon.

"Can I go to?" Ash pleaded, secretly wanting to go now that Mallow was going.

"And me!" Sophocles chuckled.

"Me too!" Kiawe's eyes were full of amusement.

"We can't have you all fit inside." Lusamine wiggled her finger at them. "You'll have to go on your ride pokémon. Faba will sacrifice his seat take Flygon instead."

"I will?" Faba blinked, not understanding what was going on.

"Yes you will!" Wicke smacked the back of his head. Faba mumbled something under his breath, eliciting another smack because Wicke heard him.

"We'll need to send the other Ultra Beasts back to their home too." Lillie piped in. Then it hit her. "Where did Marshadow go?" The adults were confused while the Ultra Guardians searched around for Marshadow. No one knew where it went. It must have disappeared without them noticing.

"Oh well…" Lillie said, disappointed. She wanted to thank it again for the help. Without Marshadow, she wasn't sure if things would've turned out the same.

"You still have its z-crystal." Ash pointed out.

"I forgot about that!" Lillie slipped the z-crystal out of the z-power ring. "Sun wouldn't want to see this Marshadium Z because Marshadow technically did still possess him. I'll keep it with me for now." She stored the z-crystal in her pocket.

"Marshadium Z?" Ash inquired.

"It is Marshadow's own z-crystal. Fitting name, right?" With that, Lillie silently got back on her Altaria without another word. The others followed suit and the helicopter was the first to take off. Then Sophocles, then Kiawe, then Gladion and Lillie.

Ash stuck around for a few seconds longer. He stared at the place in the sky where the Ultra Wormhole formerly was. He mind drifted to everything that occurred in there. Each having a permanent home in his memory.

"You know what Pikachu?" Ash petted his Pikachu's ears. "Alola is really becoming home to me." Pikachu nuzzled his cheeks against Ash's face.

His stared at the sun. His eyes gleaming brightly. "Manalo...we live together!"

They saved Nebby, Lunala, the Radiant One, and Poipoles world. They did it as a team, as the Ultra Guardians.

Now the only thing left to do was to save Sun mentally.

---

Second Author's Note: I'm positive that you all can figure out what Sun's missing pokémon is. That wraps up the arc, next chapter will be an aftermath/original chapter. After that, seventy nine of the anime will take place. Episode ninety eight will most likely be cut but I'm not sure yet. Lana actually getting the Eevee is a downer, but it'll actually help with an upcoming arc that I have planned so she'll keep the Eevee. Ash now has two open spots available in his team. One spot is almost settled as a permanent addition to his team, which I most definitely will commit to it. Nothing else left to say so, stay tuned!