Jesus H. Christ, I just wanted this document to be without some stupid HTML code! Is it so much to ask?

Anyway, here's the next chapter, we're almost to the end here, so sit tight for the showdown between the Gundam pilots, Pokemon Trainers and Necrozma.

Chapter 17 - When Smoke Leads to Fire ~ Ultra Plant

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*~Ultra Plant - Pokèmon Ultra Sun and Moon~*

The world is dark, stormy, illuminated by both the lightning and the glowing spiked balls placed on top of black cable-cord monolith trees; the smell of burnt metal also present. Black monoliths are very commonplace, adding on to the strangely peaceful dread.

Out the white-black Ultra Wormhole steps out Plumeria, Guzma and Wufei, the latter of which was unfortunate enough to catch a whiff of the burnt metal scent and gently coughed twice. The trio looked around this new dimension, the sky flashing occasionally with harsh lightning strikes. Wufei, in particular, gasped at the metallic structures. They look like monoliths, but they're twisted and roped around each other. It's not how they're built that they took the Altron pilot's breath away. The top of the structure has a white, glowing spiked ball, and around the ropes are white appendages that closely resemble zip-ties that slowly flash occasionally. The spiked ball appears to be pulsating slightly, and white electric currents sometimes flow in or out of the ball.

Guzma shuddered slightly. "This world is funky AF… I dunno what's worse, this or those Nilejo things' world…"

Plumeria turned to her former leader. "What's the matter, Guzma, you scared?"

Guzma whipped around to face her. "Who ya callin' scared? I'm the Team Skull Boss-well, former, actually-and I ain't scared of nothin' and nobody! Hell, I make my entire life makin' people scared of me!"

"And then you got beaten down by the one kid who eventually became Champion of Alola."

Guzma inflated his chest for a minute, as if preparing himself to yell, but he exhales just as much as he did. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"If you two are done talking amongst yourselves, I still need to find my Gundam and get out of this hellish industrial dimension!" Wufei barked at them as soon as he opens up and turns on his start key so that they can start looking for Altron.

"We're coming with," said Plumeria as she walked towards him, with Guzma following behind. "It never really hurts to be patient, you know."

Wufei huffed and looked at the blue screen as it was searching for Altron's possible location. Unfortunately, his start key let out a sound that indicated that it couldn't find it.

"Dammit all," he said bitterly under his breath.

"Maybe the electric storm could be interfering with its function?" Plumeria asked curiously.

Wufei gave her a sour look.

"What's with you? Just because your start key couldn't find your Gundam doesn't necessarily mean that it's not here." Plumeria paused. "Or is it because you'd rather not admit that you're wrong?"

The slick-haired boy turned back to his start key and flicked at the base once just so that it could get a proper reading. Still nothing.

"What if it's just out of range?" Guzma asked.

Both Wufei and Plumeria looked at him.

"Look, we're in a different dimension and Wufei's Gundam could be farther away from where we are, at least outside of range. And besides, that thing Wufei's holding is pretty much ancient for crying out loud!"

Plumeria hummed in thought for a second. "He does have a point."

"For the information of you two," Wufei said to them. "This start key was developed by the five smartest minds up on the colonies along with our Gundams!"

"With what, junk made from nineties tech that was buried in the ground?" Guzma sneered.

"You know what?!"

"Guys, hey," the young tanned woman said. "We've still got Wufei's Gundam to find, so there's no need to bite each other's heads off." She then turned to the Altron pilot next to her. "Guzma may be right, though; we're most likely too far outside of whatever range your start key can detect."

Wufei let out a low growl and starts to walk away from the group. As soon as he set foot on the very thick cable-like bridge, he heard a sudden blip sound going off once on his start key. Taken by surprise, Wufei stilled himself as he waited for another ping. However, there was no blip sound after.

Guzma and Plumeria, having heard the noise, jogged up to where Wufei was on the cable bridge.

"Sweet!" he heard Guzma say. "Looks like we got into range, after all!"

"May I be the first to say congratulations on your speculation turning out to be true after all," Wufei deadpanned.

"A little 'thank you' would also suffice," said Plumeria.

Wufei opted to ignore her, then whipped his head to his start key monitor as soon as he heard another ping.

"Think your Gundam is just straight ahead in front of us?" Plumeria asked as she looked over Wufei's shoulder, taking note that he's a little shorter than her.

"It might be," Wufei replied in an unusually soft tone.

Guzma, meanwhile, looked ahead in the distance, his eyes focusing on what could be Wufei's Gundam among the mass of cable-cord monoliths. Lightning flashed, and he noticed a strange-shaped shadow resting against one of the monolith trees. Lightning flashed again and again, as if the storm was reading Guzma's mind to make sure that his eyes aren't tricking him. More lightning flashes, and his eyes confirmed what he was seeing all along.

"It's over there, isn't it?" He pointed towards one of the cord monoliths.

Plumeria and Wufei looked up to where Guzma might be pointing. True to his word (helped by the flashing lightning strikes), there is an unusually-shaped hard shadow reflecting on one of the monoliths in the distance.

Wufei's narrow eyes widened as he was able to focus hard enough on the shadow, and he bolted away from his two companions (well, actually, Wufei would hardly call them companions; in fact, he would much rather find Altron all on his own without Guzma and Plumeria being around).

Confused, Plumeria called out to him, "Wufei! Where do you think you're going!?" and ran after.

"Kid! Don't you know that this place might be dangerous?!" Guzma called out to him as well, running after Plumeria.

Wufei ignored their shouts and continued running to where Altron is, relying on the distant pings on his start key for guidance. The cord-like paths twisted and turned in whichever direction Wufei went, but he didn't really care; he just wanted to get Altron back. But, he does know that he's obligated by a vow to rescue Duo and the skeletal bat-like Pokèmon (he forgot its name) from the clutches of Necrozma. Wufei would consider it injustice to leave his comrade behind at Necrozma's mercy.

Plumeria was starting to get fed up with Wufei's recklessness and got one of her Ultra Balls out of her pants pocket, releasing her Gengar and commanding her to grab Wufei before he does anything stupider than what he's doing right now.

Gengar disappeared into nothing and floated away from her Trainer, slowly gaining on the unsuspecting slick-haired boy. Wufei suddenly felt cold, like he was somehow transported into one of the polar regions back home. He found himself being lifted off the ground and started to wriggle himself free, but his efforts were in vain. The shadow Pokèmon made herself visible again, nestled Wufei into her arms bridal-style (much to his protests, on both of the accounts), and lifted him up to one of the other monolith platforms.

Wufei was finally able to free himself from the ghost Pokèmon and shouted at it, "What the hell was that for?!"

Gengar only snickered in response, which only adds to the boy's irritation. Plumeria and Guzma caught up to them both, and Wufei was about to give the fuschia-haired young woman an earful when she cut her off: "Wufei, we get it, you wanna get your Gundam ASAP so that we can get out of this place, but newsflash: Guzma and I noticed that this place is teeming with Electric-type Ultra Beasts. Don't believe me? Take a look."

The Altron pilot looked down to the cable cord bridges and discovered that Plumeria was right; there are Ultra Beasts resembling cable cords walking around. He even had to blink a few times to make sure his eyes aren't tricking him.

"Yeah, Plumes and I had a hard time believing it when we first saw 'em, too," Guzma sympathized with Wufei.

"Would be nice if either one of you told me that prior!" Wufei said to the two of them harshly.

"Uh, we didn't, because we both thought it would have been obvious to you the moment the Ultra Wormhole appeared back on Poni's altar," Plumeria deadpanned to him.

"Not these creatures, evidently!"

"I mean that whenever there's an Ultra Wormhole, it usually leads to Ultra Space, and when there's Ultra Space, they're usually inhabited by Ultra Beasts, so it should be common knowledge that we need to be careful when it comes to these things." Plumeria planted her hands on her hips. "Furthermore, does it even matter?"

Wufei just gritted his teeth as he scowled at her.

"Look, this isn't the place to bicker about it. We can continue retrieving your Gundam, but we can plan a better and efficient route while trying not to encounter these black cable creatures at the same time, so that we don't provoke them by accident." The tanned Pokèmon Trainer stared at Wufei icily to put emphasis on the last several words of her last sentence. Wufei returned the sentiment, as if daring to challenge her.

Guzma attempted to diffuse the tension, "So, uh, how do think this route planning should work, Plumes?"

Plumeria turned her head towards her former charge, her gaze softening slightly. "We'll use Gengar to levitate up into the air to see if there are any cable creatures on whatever path we might take. And with Wufei's start key, we still should be able to get his Gundam and get back to the Ultra Wormhole so that we can hopefully regroup with the others, if they found their own Gundams."

Wufei swallowed as he heard the plan laid out by the woman in front of him. As much as he hates to admit it, Plumeria is right. It was foolish of him to charge head on leaving Plumeria and Guzma behind. There's also the fact that these cable-creature Ultra Beasts are roaming around in this world. A sudden encounter with them would result in electrocution by one of them. And also as much as he hates to admit it, Wufei wishes that Remilia was with him instead of Plumeria and Guzma. She is better well-informed about the Ultra Beasts-and Ultra Space in general-than those two, as bitchy as she was when they first met (well, bitchy from his perspective; he's still a little sour over nearly being killed by that mermaid-seal's Moonblast on top of being pummeled around by that purple butterfly's psychokinetic powers).

"All right, fine," he finally said after a long moment of thinking. "We'll go along with your plan, then."

"Now you're seeing reason," Plumeria replied with satisfaction evident in her voice. "Gengar, it's your call."

The spiky-furred Pokèmon saluted her master in response and levitated upwards towards the stormy sky, looking around for any cable-cord creatures walking around on various bridge paths. She called out to the three, pointing a path just at their right. Plumeria directed Guzma and Wufei to where Gengar was pointing and told the latter two to follow them both, with Wufei begrudgingly complying. (Although as a bonus, he can still help Gengar with pinpointing the actual distance between the group and Altron, which he prays won't take too long to find, considering.)

As soon as the group finds another forked path, Gengar points at the one where they should take, where they are least likely to encounter the cable creatures, and the trio takes the path indicated by the shadow Pokèmon. There are some points during their quest for Altron Gundam that there are several of the cable creatures each of the paths that would be candidates, so they opted to go with the path where it's least populated, taking caution not to accidentally disturb them. There were also some points where lightning struck at the black metal ground, occasionally dangerously near them, but thankfully, neither one of them was literally struck by the lightning.

The process repeated itself until the pings on Wufei's start key started to increase in frequency, and eventually, they came across a monolith cliff where Wufei's start key let out a long ping and stopped sounding.

"It must be right here," said Wufei, hope evident in his voice with a touch of annoyance.

Another lightning strike hit the metallic ground no sooner did he say those words. It briefly showed a shadowy silhouette of Altron showed on the other side of the cliff.

"It is here," said Plumeria in confirmation of Wufei's observation.

Wufei turned his head sharply at her. "Do I really need your inside perspective?"

"Hey, there's no need to get all snippy at me. It's an already now-known fact that your Gundam is here in this world."

"Your point being?"

Plumeria sighed as she crossed her arms. "That you should at least be thankful to me, Guzma and Gengar for helping you out?"

"Because I had no choice but to accept your help?"

"Oh, for- You have a friend to save, don't you? We're helping you do that because we want to; no because we're obligated to." Well, if not have Guzma redeem himself a little…

Wufei fought the urge to growl at her, but his signature scowl is still present on his face. "Well… I'm actually glad for the assistance, not like I ever needed it anyway…"

Plumeria sighed and shook her head. "You're quite the haughty bastard, aren't you?"

Anger flared up in Wufei's dark brown irises. "What did you say to me?"

"I'm stating the truth, genius. You're just as haughty as Guzma once was."

"Hey, there's no need to rub it in, you know?!" Guzma shouted at his former admin, not caring about her future response, let alone if she would even bother to hear it.

"Me, haughty?" Wufei argued back. "At least I don't put out for wearing belly-tops and baggy pants that show off your lace panties!"

A lightning bolt struck the Altron pilot at that very moment, causing Plumeria to jump back in surprise. The former then collapsed to the black metallic ground after a few seconds, little wisps of smoke coming from his body. Plumeria and Guzma-and even Gengar's-eyes widened in shock and what just happened, a thousand thoughts running through their heads wondering if Wufei is alright.

Their thoughts are answered when Wufei finally manages to start getting himself up, moaning lightly. Guzma couldn't help but cover his mouth with his hands as he snickered. Plumeria only remained looking concerned.

Wufei heard Guzma snicker and manages to slur out, "Wh-what, what? Wh-what are you snickering at?" He moaned again as he put his hand to his forehead, only for his fingers to meet frizzy, kinky hair. Off-put by this new texture, he felt it some more. "Huh?" He looked down to his faded reflection on the ground. Frowning, he tried to focus on the reflected image.

"WHAT THE SHIT!" he shrieked as he curled his fingers into his lightning-struck afro.

Guzma burst out laughing at Wufei's misfortune, with Plumeria's Gengar joining in, unable to contain the laughter any longer. "Holy- This is just too much for me to handle! You look like a seventies black kung-fu movie character! You just made my day!"

Wufei swiftly got back up on his feet, anger with some evidence of humiliation radiating from him. "You think this is funny to you?!"

"Pff-pffft, not compared to you being struck by lightning, really," Guzma replied in his laughter, tears starting to form in his dark eyes.

"Which is instant karma, I might add," Plumeria added with a smug smile on her face.

"Well how about screw you guys!" Wufei turned around and stomped away from them in a huff, only for him to step on a loose metallic rock and lose his footing, and fall down the monolith cliff, only the upturned hand of Altron Gundam saving him from the potentially deep fall. His grunt was only heard by Plumeria and Guzma, who was still laughing at his little lightning-struck afro misfortune.

Wufei got himself into a proper sitting position and shook his head to rid it of the banging pain. A wave of relief washed over him no sooner than did he see the grassy green mobile suit laying against the monolith mountain. Quashing his still-bitter thoughts about Guzma and Plumeria briefly, he tapped in Altron's passcode into his start key (which he was thankful for holding onto despite being struck by lightning, collapsing and accidentally falling off of the mountain he, Plumeria and Guzma were on), and Altron's cockpit hatch opened in response.

Seeing as there was no way to get to the metal tether, he climbed his way to Altron's shoulder, then to its light green gold-trimmed chest plate and finally jumping to Altron's open cockpit hatch and managing to climb into it. Closing the hatch, Wufei activated Altron with his start key, and its eyes glowed green, making it to get itself out of its relatively awkward sitting position and stand upright.

Altron turned around and started to climb the monolith mountain. Although the height difference was not great, it is a tiny bit of a struggle to climb, given how a little smooth the mountain is. Wufei had to rely on looking for open platforms which are not only large enough, but for Altron to safely set one foot on with minimal risk of slipping.

As soon as Altron's gold V-fins are visible to Plumeria and Guzma-who is still laughing at Wufei's recent misfortune-Wufei made an effort to make its entire head visible, including showing the glowing green eyes. Mercifully, Plumeria and Guzma stopped laughing and walked up to the giant Gundam head, Plumeria returning Gengar to her ball prior. Altron reached its left arm to the flat top of the mountain and laid its mechanical hand on there, palm directed towards them.

Seeing that there's no other choice, Plumeria and Guzma walked towards the open palm, and Altron's hand scooped them both up, carefully wrapping its massive fingers around them both; tight enough to hold them securely, but loose enough to accidentally crush them to death (as much as Wufei wants to for laughing at him, which is humiliating enough as it is).

Altron carefully climbed back down to the monolith mountain's base and brought its arm back to its upper torso, where its cockpit hatch is, and opened up its hand so that Guzma and Plumeria can sit normally.

Wufei opened up the hatch, no longer caring if they continue to laugh at his lightning-struck afro. Plumeria and Guzma stared at him. "Do you really expect us both to get inside the cockpit with you?"

"As much as I'd rather not have people like you in the cockpit with me," Wufei seethed hard. "It would be preferable if one of you would get in with me."

"So, who gets to volunteer, Plumes?" Guzma asked his former Team Skull admin.

The tanned young woman stared at him briefly. "I'm going in."

"You are?" Wufei said in a flat tone.

"It makes a lot more sense to have the second smallest person to be in the cockpit with you, Wufei."

Wufei exhaled sharply. "Fine."

He then directed Altron's arm towards the open cockpit hatch, and Plumeria climbs in, repositioning herself to sit on Wufei's lap, careful not to let her feet accidentally touch the cockpit's controls and buttons, but also to let her long legs away from Wufei's arm.

"That position was not necessary," Wufei said coldly.

"Would you rather I sit in your lap the other way with my butt in your face?" Plumeria rebutted.

Wufei growled rather than answer and closed Altron's cockpit hatch, the light from the monitors illuminating the entirety of it. "I suggest you hold on to Nataku's finger for this one, Guzma."

"That's your Gundam's name?" Guzma responded. "Nataku?"

"Its code name is Altron, which comes from my colony's language which means 'two-headed dragon.' Nataku is just a nickname I gave it."

"It sounds pretty cute," Plumeria pitched in.

Wufei just glared at her. "There is nothing cute about Nataku."

Plumeria had to turn away slightly to snicker. "Pfft, okay, Edgy McEdgster."

"What did you say?!"

"I said let's get back to the Ultra Wormhole and meet up with others. With any luck they'd have found their own Gundams."

"There's no need to tell me twice." Wufei activated Altron's back thrusters and flew the two Pokèmon Trainers back to where the Ultra Wormhole is. Considering its small size, Wufei decided that using Altron's dragon fangs would be unwise. Instead, he has Altron insert its fingers into the hole, and spread it open so that it could fit something as enormous as a Gundam or any other mobile suit. With the task done, Altron disappears into the Ultra Wormhole, the wormhole closing after.

Anyway, again, I'm actually not that great at writing Wufei. Like I said, I only watched Gundam Wing for the first time, which left me mixed feelings about him, but now I've gotten to more or less disliking him. In retrospect, for as much character development as he gets throughout the show, he was somewhat of an ass (not helped by the fact he doesn't get as much screentime as the rest of the Wing boys).

That being said, we're almost done here; just a few or so more chapters left. I've also got a loose sequel in mind, so I recommend following me in order to stay tuned.

P.S. Don't worry, Wufei's hair will return to its original style in the next chapter. ;)