Chapter 22: The Ultra Beast

The battle began with a 'bang,' quite literally, as Cobalt shot forward while spinning to deliver a Blaze Kick onto the creature's head. Cobalt frowned as its head didn't give like he assumed it would, but instead stayed rigid like it was made of crystal. It gurgled in its odd language as the flames exploded before it suddenly shook and an odd poison haze exuded from its body as well as a familiar aura of power, one similar to those a Totem would exude.

Cobalt grimaced and leaped away before it could touch him, until one of the creature's tentacles snapped out and gripped his leg, slamming him into the ground. Another of its tentacles suddenly glowed purple and raised, spearing down towards the Fighting-Type, until one of Cream's shields interrupted the attack.

Cobalt flared his flames and forced the jellyfish to let go or risk being burnt, before performing a backflip away and raising a leg to ready himself. Their opponent began tearing up the pathway around them, surrounding the chunks of metal with psychic energy. It launched them forward, and Cream pulled the Full Shield in close to defend them, the rocks causing several panes of energy to crack before one shattered.

Cobalt spun and kicked the rock, struggling against it for a moment, before fueling his body with Counter and launching the rock back like a bullet, smacking into the jellyfishes' head. "Bullseye!"

"Volt, Rotom, can you get anything on this thing?" Volt beeped from within his Pokédex as did Rotom from within Willow's, both in the negative.

"Zzt, nothing! Thizz thing is a whole new type of creature!"

"Zzt, although… it doezz seem to bear some of the same genezz as a Poison-Type, so there'zz that!" The creature warbled and some of the metal around it glowed a deeper brown before they burst forward as a Power Gem attack. Cobalt grinned and layered his paws with Steel-Type energy, using Bullet Punch to hit every attack coming towards him and smashing them to pieces now that they didn't have a Type Advantage.

"Alright, Volt, get out there and provide support with Cream! E- gah, I keep forgetting my Pokéballs don't work!" He grit his teeth and his hands twitched from where they had reached to his belt, all while Volt popped from his Dex and flew into the air, charging up. Cobalt dashed forward, dodging a strike from a tentacle and unleashing another Bullet Punch into the monster before flipping over its head and striking it in the back with Blaze Kick.

As it turned and gurgled a strange cry Cream and Volt struck with Psybeam and Electro Ball. It turned back, leaving it open once more for Cobalt, who crashed down from above with Hell Wheel. It screeched and all of its tentacles went wild, shooting up towards Cobalt. The blue Pokémon swiftly used Detect, dodging between all the strikes before flipping away and skidding along the ground in a crouch.

"It's fighting wildly, with no strategy," Willow noted. "It doesn't seem to have much intelligence."

"Then that's good for us, Cobalt, get it to spit out that acid cloud again!" Cobalt nodded and shot forward, dodging a flailing strike from a tentacle, before kicking it in the face. It shook before more acid began leaking from it. "Toxic Armageddon!" Cobalt kicked and whiffed the air, launching small embers from his leg into the cloud of poison, igniting it.

The jellyfish floated back as its body was battered, before its tentacles shot out and gripped the surprised Cobalt, having not expected it to recover so quickly. Purple liquid shot through its tentacles, infusing Cobalt with some kind of poison. "Cobalt!" Cobalt twitched and groaned, his eyes turning dark as the creature began pulling Cobalt up into its headpiece.

Before it could, however, several dozen bolts of electricity were launched by Volt, as he used Shockwave to blast the creature from behind. Cobalt was dropped, and caught by Cream's Telekinesis before several balls of psychic energy smashed into the jellyfish.

"Rotom," Sapphire asked Willow's Rotomdex, "what did it just try and do?"

"Zzt, it seemzz to be some sort of parasitic organism… I am picking up signzz of neurotoxinzz in Cobalt'zz brain that seemzz to be affecting him in some way…"

"I'm finmll…" Cobalt stumbled to his feet, shaking slightly as his eyes slowly turned back to their normal red. The creature rumbled as it shot its tentacles out again, and Cobalt attempted to dodge before tripping over his paws. Cream quickly manipulated the shields around them, blocking the tentacles with Barriers and Reflect Shields. They began constricting around the shields, causing them to crack, and as Volt tried to assist, it attacked the Electric-Type with a splash of Acid.

"Hold on, Cream!"

"Cobalt, snap out of it!"

The shields began cracking further, and Cream struggled to hold them until she suddenly began glowing white. The shields began healing, the cracks slowly filling in and the tentacles being pushed away as Cream's body grew larger until she was taller than Cobalt. Her pink body and ears changed to pure white while becoming more angular, while her cream-colored paws and feet changed to dark blue. Around her neck and atop her head tufts of similarly blue fur grew, while her tail grew longer and white and her eyes turned yellow.

She focused, and a wave of psychic energy blasted forward, knocking the jellyfish back. It warbled in pain, and the panes of light around her moved in front of the cat-like Pokémon before she fired a Psybeam through them. Like magnifiers, the light screens amplified the attack's power, until the beam was large enough to completely consume their opponent's body.

Willow blinked in shock, "Cream, you did it!" Sapphire made a noise of confusion, so she explained. "We've been working on a way to make Psybeam more powerful and a sort of area-of-effect attack, so we were experimenting with using Light Screens as magnifiers, but Cream wasn't powerful enough to do so… I suppose her evolving fixed that!"

Cream waved her arms and several dozen spheres of energy formed, before launching forward. The creature they impacted with screeched in anger and pain, trying to blast her with acid and rocks while she simply just moved her shields around to block the attacks. Cobalt was slowly recovering behind her, becoming more steady, but he wasn't fully healed so Cream continued to defend him, with Volt providing long-ranged support when he could.

The creature screamed in rage, tentacles flying towards Cream, who simply caught them in her Telekinesis, holding them back while poison spilled from its body. Everyone had to back away, holding their hands over their mouths so they wouldn't risk breathing it in, while Hau had to physically pull Lusamine back. They struggled with each other for a moment, before shards of ice flew in from out of nowhere and impacted with the jellyfish, sending it floating back. A Glaceon bounded over and growled at it, with a familiar Trainer behind the Ice-Type.

"Crystal!"

"Hm? Oh, it's… sorry, what was your name again?"

"Wha- I'm Sapphire! Well, I know I didn't tell you that when we argued over Eevee, but you still must have heard my name during the royal!"

"Yeah, yeah, I remember now. Glaceon, Blizzard." Glaceon made no movements but a massive snowstorm still appeared, moving towards the jellyfish. "What are you two doing here in Aether Paradise anyway?"

"Don't make small talk in the middle of a real dangerous battle like this! We're all in danger!" The poison spreading through the area began killing off plant life and Crystal frowned as he backed away as well. Glaceon flicked her tail and began freezing the air around her, turning the poisonous gas into a solid, after which it fell and shattered against the floor.

Cobalt jumped at the sound of shattering glass, looking around wildly. "Who?! What?! Where?!"

"You forgot why and how."

Cobalt realized what was happening and got back into his battle stance, glancing at Glaceon every once in a while. "So, what, they on our side now?"

Crystal raised an eyebrow in wonder at being able to understand Cobalt's words, before scoffing. "We have different methods of training, my methods make you think I'm an asshole, but that… thing is unnatural. If you don't want my help…"

"He's right, Cobalt, we could always use some assistance. Thanks for the help, Crystal!"

"Hmph. Freeze Dry."

"Magnified Psybeam!"

"Aura Sphere! Thunderbolt!" Ice, electricity, psychic energy, and soul power mixed, crashing into the monster and throwing it back. It struggled to right itself before they charged forward. "Now's your chance! Let 'em have it!"

"Glace."

"Time to stop the show!"

"Can you handle this!?"

"I-I'm ready!" Spheres of psychic energy slammed into the beast and caused it to recoil, allowing Cobalt to come down from above with Hell Wheel, knocking it towards the ground. Glaceon was waiting, and bit down with Ice Fang, before using Iron Tail to knock it up back up to Cobalt. The jackal took the opportunity and filled his paws with aura, using Force Palm to launch the creature away and into Volt, who unleashed all his electric potential at once, before zipping away.

It stalled in midair, struggling to keep afloat with whatever power it was using before the space around it distorted once more. Everyone was struck with a brief headache before the creature vanished into nothingness. The area became silent, the only sounds being Cobalt landing on the ground and breathing heavily from his injuries.

"Well that just happened," Hau spoke, breaking the silence.

Sapphire laughed weakly, kneeling to pet Cobalt. "Yeah, it did. Great job, Cobalt, and are you okay?"

"I think I'm alright…" Cobalt grinned up at him and he let the jackal climb onto his shoulder.

"Come on," Crystal spoke, flicking his head. Glaceon nodded and began following him, causing Sapphire to frown.

"You aren't going to praise your Pokémon?"

"Why should I? She did adequately… nothing worthy of praise. When any of Pokémon performs spectacularly, then I'll praise them." Crystal raised an eyebrow and turned back to him. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"...If that's your way of Training… then I won't judge you. What were you doing here anyway?"

"I'm finished with my Island Challenge. Almost, anyway. Poni Island doesn't have a Kahuna currently. When there is a new Kahuna, I'll complete my Challenge. For now, I was visiting to see what kind of Pokémon were here and see if any were powerful, so I could seek out wild ones and battle them."

"Right." Crystal looked at him a moment more, before turning and walking away. "Even if you helped us, I hope you know I'll still beat you at that league thing!"

"Heh. I look forward to it." Crystal's head turned slightly and he smirked back at him, a moment of understanding linking them, before nodding.

Hau gripped his shoulder as he swiveled to face everyone else, smiling. "That was pretty exciting, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." He smiled back, eyes darting to Lusamine. She was staring at where the monster had been, frowning. His smile shifted downward, so he instead looked to Willow who was speaking with Cream and smiling. "Willow, is Cream alright?"

"Yes, she's fine." Cream looked to him and smiled, waving slightly. "Just a bit tired."

Taking on that monster thing was tough, Mr. Sapphire…

"Well, you did a great job protecting everyone alongside Cobalt. But… what was that thing?"

"Why are you all so shocked? Is it your first time witnessing an Ultra Beast?" Sapphire turned and saw four people, two of whom were familiar, approaching them. Dulse and Zossie were standing before them without their faceplates, revealing their pale faces. While their mouths had always been exposed so he knew how pale they were, their eyes intrigued him, all of them sporting the same cyan color. The other two he didn't recognize, but Willow did.

"Phyco, Soliera, what are you doing here?"

"Wait, do they work for the Aether Foundation?" Sapphire muttered to himself.

"Who the-?! Seriously guys, what's with that getup!?"

Lusamine answered Hau, turning with a fake smile that only he and Cobalt could see, due to being the only ones who were looking for it. "These are my guests. The Ultra Recon Squad. They've been giving the Foundation advice about Ultra Beasts." She turned to the Recon Squad, "Why don't you introduce yourselves?"

Zossie smiled and waved at him, "Well, it looks like two of you already know who we are! But we're Dulse, Soliera and Captain Phyco! Oh, and I'm Zossie!"

"The Ultra Recon Squad is a group that investigates Ultra Wormholes and Ultra Beasts," Soliera spoke.

"Okay, well we just fought an Ultra Beast, but what about the wormholes? I mean, there's a whole lab for researching them, but they haven't figured anything out about them, right?"

"We have extensive knowledge of Ultra Wormholes due to traveling through them ourselves." Sapphire, Willow, and Hau looked at Dulse blankly.

"...Eh?"

"Ah, was the explanation not understandable? My apologies. We come from a different world, and traveled to both Alola and this planet through an Ultra Wormhole."

"So… what you're telling me is… you guys are aliens."

"If that is what you would call us," Phyco hummed, "then yes."

"Oh, oh, I also heard some people calling aliens extraterrestrials or something, right? Why do you guys have two words for the same thing?"

"Yeah, that's just something that we do," Sapphire weakly answered Zossie. "Um… okay, I guess that's something…"

"Is that why Rotom couldn't scan your Pokémon?" Willow questioned Soliera, who nodded.

"Correct, Poipole is an Ultra Beast from our home. In fact, he could be considered a Starter Pokémon, similar to your Starter trios."

Hau suddenly gasped, "Oh, oh, what's your world like?!"

Dulse frowned. Well, frowned more than he usually did. "The world we come from is a world of darkness, where no light exists. Anymore, at least."

"No light…? Is that why you guys are so… er, pale? Or is that how everyone from your world looks?"

"It is how everyone looks now, due to the absence of light."

"You said that it no longer exists though. How could light simply disappear?" Willow questioned.

"There is a creature… known as Necrozma," Soliera answered. "It had the ability to both absorb and bestow light upon others, but now it runs wild, beyond reason after it lost its light. We were able to contain the beast using our technology, and even used it to power a device that gave artificial light to our world."

"However, it is only a temporary measure," Phyco explained. "Were Necrozma to ever escape its captivity, no one would be able to stop it… and should it ever escape to this world, the light from it may be stolen, just as our world's had been."

Sapphire shivered at the thought, a world without light. That would be horrifying, and he couldn't imagine what the Ultra Recon Squad's home looked like without a warm sun or calming moon. Or even what this world would look like.

Lusamine stepped forward and spread her arms. "But do not worry, everything will be fine. If this Necrozmam or even an Ultra Beast like the one we just saw, should come to this world from another, the Aether Foundation will be prepared to protect the Light of Alola." Another smile spread across her face as she reassured them. "Rest easy… you will not have to worry about a thing. Now then, we should begin repairing the damage, you are free to explore the rest of the conservation area as you please."

"No… We are in the middle of our Island Challenge, after all, I don't want to get too sidetracked," Sapphire weakly laughed.

"Aren't you the one always telling me to relax and take it slow?" Willow questioned with a smile, attempting to tease him. It was the wrong time for it though, as Lusamine's eyes grew a touch colder as she looked at him.

"W-Well, fighting that Ultra Beast really pumped me up, you know? And seeing Crystal reminded me that we have to train a lot more to beat him!"

Lusamine stayed silent but began leading them all back to the elevator they'd ridden up to the area in. "Wicke, would you mind getting their Pokémon healed, before delivering them unto the next island in their challenge?"

"O-Oh! At once, Ma'am." Wicke bowed slightly, and Sapphire swallowed hard as the intimidating woman's gaze left him.

"I will go to check that none of our poor resident Pokémon came to any harm. Alongside that, I must speak with Mr. Faba about exactly what happened downstairs. It may be that our experiments to open an Ultra Wormhole are not going exactly as well as we'd hoped."

Sapphire watched as Lusamine walked away before Wicke smiled at them. "Well, I suppose I'll be escorting you all to Ula'Ula Island now."

"See ya, miss President!" Hau grinned.

"Yeah. See ya…" Sapphire murmured.


"Terra firma underfoot once more!" Hau grinned as he placed his hands on his hips, and Willow giggled at his words. Sapphire weakly smiled, before his eyes drifted out to sea once more to stare at the Aether Paradise, floating far in the distance. "Come on guys!" Hau began running off, and Willow turned back to him.

"Coming?"

"Yeah." He walked after them, and Willow side-eyed him. Cream was walking next to her, just a bit too big to be carried now. Cobalt had deigned to join her, walking as well and barking whenever Cream tried to rub his head using her superior height.

"Hey, stop that!"

But you're smaller than me now!

"That doesn't mean you can pat me on the head, I'm not a kid!"

But now you're like a cute younger brother! Cream giggled and continued rubbing his head, causing Cobalt to groan.

"Big Ara Ara energy if you know what I mean." Sapphire chuckled, but Willow noticed his smile wasn't as wide as normal.

"Sapph, are you alright?"

"Eh… I dunno. Back in Aether Paradise, Cobalt… Listen, you know how Riolu can sense aura and stuff, yeah?"

"Good and bad, I know. Why?"

"Cobalt sensed a lot of negative stuff from Lusamine… I don't know what that means, but we can't trust her."

"Uh…" Willow blinked, before clenching her mouth. "Alright, Cobalt is a Riolu, so I'll trust his, and your, intuition here. But what exactly do we do? Just stay away from Aether Paradise?"

"For now, yeah, I guess. Not much we can do, so, for now, we should just be careful, I guess."

"Hm." They continued to follow Hau, who had stopped in front of a Pokémon Center and was looking up at a tower that looked similar to one you'd find in Japan.

"Man, this island looks pretty different from the previous ones so far, right?"

"Indeed," Willow spoke in answer to Hau's question. "It'll be an interesting island to explore."

"So, we were supposed to meet the Professor in Malie Gardens, yeah?"

"Man, why'd he want us to go to a garden? Guess we'll find out when we get there, right?"

"Yeah. Or maybe he just wanted a recognizable meeting place," Sapphire drawled back.

"Ha, guess so! Alright, race you guys there!" Hau began sprinting, and Willow sighed.

"There he goes, once more. And I suppose you'll be running right after him like always?"

"Nah, then I couldn't walk with you by my side." Willow began sputtering, and he snickered. "Man, that is not gonna get old anytime soon."

"I think Willow is overloading from affection, and he only said ten words. She is really not used to this."

Yeah, Cream noted, still patting Cobalt's head.

"..."

Willow waited outside the Pokémon center with the two Pokémon as Sapphire switched his team around, before exiting. "Alright, Shieldon's at the ranch so he can hang out with some other Pokémon now, and my team has been changed up back to just six Pokémon. Well, six plus Volt."

"Zzt, yep!"

"Alright, let's get going to the garden then."

The garden was right next to the Pokémon Center, and they swiftly entered to find what looked like a miniature park, with a few small ponds and bridges crossing streams. A sign was up that warned against summoning Ride Pokémon within the park, and several people were sitting in the grass or looking out into the water from the bridges.

He hummed as he looked around, "This is a good place to take you on a date when you're finally ready. Volt, note that down."

"W-Would you stop saying stuff like that already?!" Willow weakly hit him on the shoulder, which just caused him to grin as he rubbed his chin.

"Yeah, what do you think, maybe a picnic date?"

"Ugh…" Willow just walked ahead, crossing her arms. They crossed a bridge, before finding themselves in a small area with several tables and benches. The Professor was speaking with Hau, who was waving his arms animatedly, and Willow raised a hand in greeting. "Hello, Professor."

"Howdy, Prof!"

"Ey, Alola you two!" Kukui motioned them over, "so, Hau was telling me you all fought an Ultra Beast at Aether Paradise?"

"Oh, yeah!" Sapphire jumped forward, his eyes sparkling. "Man, at the time it was so intense, Cobalt, Volt, and Cream were fighting super hard, and then this kind of mean Trainer called Crystal showed up and helped out and it was totally awesome it was like a quadruple tag team!"

"…I think I understood some of that," the Professor muttered. Willow giggled and managed to decode Sapphire's speedy ramblings for everyone, causing the Professor to nod. "Ah, well it certainly sounds exciting. Maybe one day we'll be able to go through an Ultra Wormhole ourselves!"

"That'd be awesome!"

"So, Professor, the next Trial is atop Mount Hokulani, correct?"

"Right in one, Willow! You can catch a bus to get up there, at a bus stop on Route ten."

"Well, I've got a nice date with a Malasada shop, so I'll meet you there!"

"Ha, roger that, good buddy! I'll be waiting at the bus station, you three, whenever you're ready to go!" As the Professor walked away, Hau turned to Sapphire with a grin.

"Hey, hey, did you know?"

"Of course."

"Wha- I didn't even say anything yet!" Hau shook his head, "There's an observatory on top of the mountain! And you do know what they do inside observatories, right? ...I hope you do, 'cause I sure don't!"

"Well, I assume they observe stuff," Sapphire murmured, thinking hard.

"Welp, see ya!" Hau then ran while Willow sighed and rubbed her head.

"And there he goes. I suppose we should get going to Route ten."

"Yeah… hey, want to have a battle?"

"Huh? Well, I suppose we haven't battled each other since the festival…"

"Yeah, we're rivals ain't we? We gotta have some battles from time to time! Although, I actually have quite a few rivals… You, Hau, Crystal, Noct, since he wants me to get stronger just to kick my butt, Moon is more of a friend than a rival so I don't count him… man, I've got a ton of rivals, huh? Ah, either way, we're gonna battle in the League anyway, so let's check our skills now!"

Willow looked around, spotting an empty area in the grass some ways away. "Alright, I'm fine with that. Come on." They made their way over, standing on opposite ends of the lawn. "How many Pokémon?"

"One-on-one, and three. Best two out of three, instead of all knocked out?"

"Sure. No Z-Moves, that might be a bit much." She grabbed a ball, tossing it forward with sudden calmness. "Slowpoke, I require your assistance."

"Mimic, let's switch things up!"

"Let's switch things up?"

"Listen, I couldn't come up with anything for a Normal-Type, so 'let's switch things up' seemed fine for a Ditto pun." Mimic splashed onto the ground and reformed as Slowpoke yawned, stretching. "Count us down!"

"Fine. Three, two, one, go!"

"Trick room!" As the pink box surrounded the battlefield, Mimic leaped into the air and transformed into Slowpoke, using Zen Headbutt as he came down. Slowpoke responded with one of his own, and they clashed for a moment, before splitting apart. Slowpoke glowed as he used Future Sight, before Mimic unleashed Disable, and began firing Future Sights of his own. The ground began erupting with psychic explosions, and both Slowpoke and Mimic began dashing around to avoid them.

"Man, it is still weird to see Slowpokes moving so quickly… Trick Room really is a miracle worker." Willow didn't answer, focused entirely on the battle. Slowpoke dodged a Future Sight attack that sent dirt flying, before launching a Psychic that Mimic countered with a blast of a Water Gun. The water stalled midair as it battled against the psychic force before a detonation occurred beneath both of them.

"Mimic, switch it up! Cobalt!" Mimic flew back in the air, before his form flashed and he changed into Cobalt.

"Is changing forms like that against the rules?"

"No one said anything about it at Royal Avenue with that Victor guy." Mimic moved forward, but as one of Cobalt's strengths was his incredible speed, Trick Room quickly sapped him and left him struggling to move. Slowpoke took the opportunity presented to him and sprinted forward.

"Slowpoke, don't!" Too late, Slowpoke's speed was enhanced too much for him to react to his Trainer's call in time, and he quickly crashed into Mimic. Mimic, of course, knowing all of Cobalt's moves knew exactly what to do next, even before Sapphire called it out.

"That's it, Mimic! Enduring Counter!" Mimic glowed red as Slowpoke impacted with him before all the damage slammed back into Slowpoke with twice the force. As Slowpoke slid back the Trick Room dissipated, and their speed's returned to normal.

"Slowpoke, set up!"

"Don't let them! Switch it up, Slowpoke! Disable" Mimic transformed back into Slowpoke, before his eyes flashed and Slowpoke was prevented from activating Trick Room. "Switch it up, Volt!" Mimic transformed into the Rotom, shooting into the air as a spurt of water shot underneath him. He quickly charged up and launched lances of electricity out, causing Slowpoke to groan as he was hit by the Super-Effective attack. "Switch it up, Storm!" Mimic transformed one last time, becoming Storm, who was stronger than Volt but nowhere near as agile.

However, since he had been hovering, he fell straight down, landing hard on Slowpoke while using Charge. Willow sighed as Slowpoke fell over unconscious, recalling him. "Well done, Slowpoke." That's a good strategy, using Mimic to constantly switch typing and power."

"Yep! It's something I couldn't do if I had a Zorua instead because even if their illusions are physical, they don't change type or stats. Nice job, Mimic, come on back!" Mimic was drawn back into his ball, and Sapphire grabbed the next. "Well, since I won, I'll send out my second Pokémon first! Spooks, show them fear!"

"Murkrow, I require your assistance." Murkrow popped out onto the battlefield after Spooks, flapping her wings.

"Three, two, one, go!"

"Astonish!" The crow dove down and dodged a Fire Punch from Spooks, cawing loudly in the Ghost-Type's face to startle them. As Spooks was disoriented, Murkrow cawed like she was laughing, using Taunt on him.

Spooks growled and pounded his fists together, swinging them wildly in an attempt to hit the Flying-Type. "Hey, Spooks, calm down! Night Shade!" Spooks' body seemed to grow larger as shadows leaked from his gassy form before the shadows lunged forward and attempted to crush Murkrow. A Tailwind started up and gave Murkrow the speed to avoid the attack, flying forward as a distraction before going around and behind Spooks to attack with Feint Attack.

"Gah, hey, still you little-!" Spooks, still under the effects of Taunt continued to attack recklessly, letting Murkrow get in a Sucker Punch. He powered up several Shadow Balls and launched them, one or two clipping Murkrow's wings, but the rest missing by a large margin. Murkrow swooped around and used Pursuit, slamming into Spooks as he tried to unleash a Smog.

Spooks ended up coughing the attack out anyway, before growling as he ignited his fists and tried to detonate the poison while Murkrow was still there. "Did you expect me to explode on you like this?!"

"Ah, Spooks, wait!" The Poison Explosion went off, but Spooks hadn't accounted for Murkrow's higher speed, and Murkrow easily escaped the blast radius. Spooks coughed as he damaged himself with the powerful attack before Murkrow uppercut him with a Wing Attack. He shook his body, before barfing out a pale blue fog, trying to hit Murkrow with Haze.

Murkrow winced as her wings were iced over, and she quickly flew high to try and recover. Spooks didn't give her a chance, blasting Dark Pulses upwards into the sky. Murkrow performed several rolls and dodged the attacks, launching Haze's of her own downwards towards Spooks. The Ice-Type attacks didn't do as much as they would do against the Flying-Type, but they were still damaging and managed to form some ice over his gaseous body.

Murkrow suddenly dove downwards towards him and tried to attack with several more Dark Pulses, but Murkrow swooped close to the ground, inches away, and launched up to attack with a Pursuit. Instead of taking it though, Spooks used Shadow Punch, fading into nothing as Murkrow shot through him, and reforming to slam his fist down onto Murkrow's back. Murkrow fell into a tumble, but as she did so, Murkrow breathed in, forming a Shadow Ball in her beak. She launched it, and Spooks was thrown back onto the ground, knocked out. "What a dark fate I faced…"

"Don't try and make puns when you're knocked out," Cobalt blandly spoke while staring at Spooks, who was recalled into his ball.

"And, since I won that bout," Willow spoke as she recalled Murkrow, "I'll choose first for our last round. Cream, I require your assistance."

"Alright, Starter versus Starter then! Cobalt, show 'em our moves!" Cobalt jumped out onto the field across from Cream, and Volt began the countdown.

"Zzt, three, two, one, go!" Cobalt shot forward before Cream could react, forming two Aura Spheres and launching them. Cream formed her Full Shield around herself, causing the spheres to bounce off. Of course, since they were homing attacks, they kept coming back, but each time they were simply deflected. Cobalt jumped up and wound up, before coming screaming down with a High-Jump Kick.

The shields held him off, Cream's new strength upon evolving being enough to hold back the Fighting-Type. She formed several Psychic Spheres, launching them forward and causing Cobalt to give up the offensive. He backflipped away, forming two more spheres and throwing them as distractions. He then sped to the side, doing flips over and dives under several Psychics and Psybeams before turning on a dime and diving for the shield wall again. This time he placed both palms on the shields and used Force Palm, trying to overwhelm the shields.

Cream reinforced them before the ground underneath Cobalt began crumbling as she used Psyshock, grabbing rocks to use as ammunition. Cobalt regained his footing and jumped from rock to rock, using Force Palm and Aura Spheres to defend himself from the various attacks. Before he could land a wall of psychic energy slammed into him, tossing him back.

He rolled to his feet, frowning as more spheres flew towards him. Cream's defenses were stronger than ever after her evolution, so he began running again, prodding the shields with more Aura Spheres. "Cobalt, form two spheres, and keep charging them up!" He raised an eyebrow but did as he was told, forming the spheres even as a Psyshock flew by his head, overcharging them. "Now, smash them together!"

He looked back at Sapphire blankly, but Sapphire just nodded his head. He sighed and cringed as he pushed the spheres together, but instead of detonating in his face, they exploded into hundreds of miniature Aura Spheres, all of them speeding towards Cream. "Nice! We'll name that our Seeker Spheres!" Cobalt blinked in shock, before shaking his head.

"How you come up with this stuff in the heat of combat I'll never know." The spheres impacted with the Full Shield blinding Cream as she couldn't see past the cloud of blue.

"Now, charge up one big sphere!" Cobalt hunkered down, pouring his energy into the glowing ball in his hands.

"Hragh!" The ball grew larger than his body as he poured more energy than it could handle before he launched it towards Cream's shields. The Seeker Spheres blocking her vision were absorbed and it began scraping against the shield, causing Cream to grit her teeth as the attack caused her shield to begin to crack. As Cobalt began preparing another overcharged Aura Sphere, a Future Sight attack suddenly erupted the ground beneath his feet, causing him to cry out and lose his concentration.

Cream jumped to the side, letting the Full Shield drop and the large Aura Sphere pass by her, before launching a Magnified Psybeam. Cobalt cried out as the attack washed over him and he tried to roll to his feet, launching another wave of Seeker Spheres as he did so. Cream just put up another Full Shield and blocked them, causing Cobalt to growl in frustration. "Alright, we're overpowering that shield! Block her vision with another set of Seeker Spheres!"

"Magnified Psybeam!" Cobalt dodged the attack and sent out the miniature spheres, before dashing forward.

"Alright, get in as close as possible, and charge up as much aura as you can!"

"I don't like where this is going." Cobalt did so anyway, dodging a Psychic Sphere at the same time. He began glowing as more and more aura built up inside him, and Cream winced as the Seeker Spheres continued grating against her shields, not doing much damage individually, but with so many of them, they began wearing down on her Light Screens.

"Alright, let out all that aura at once, and blow Cream away! Aura Detonation!"

"Of course it's a self-destruct type attack…" Cobalt closed his eyes and got ready to let out all of his aura in a massive explosion, only for Cream to completely drop her Full Shield, letting the Seeker Spheres explode against her, but allowed her to launch a Psychic attack into Cobalt before he could discharge the aura. "Gah!"

Sapphire winced as Cobalt fell back, knocked out, and chuckled as he rubbed the back of his head. "Man, maybe I shouldn't have been coming up with so many new moves and just focused on the ones he knew… Alright, great job Cobalt, return!" He pulled out the Luxury Ball and sent Cobalt back into it with a smile. "Wow, Willow, that was great! You too, Cream! You won twice compared to my one win!"

It wasn't that great… He chuckled as Cream rubbed her paws together in an embarrassed fashion, not looking directly at him.

Willow blushed, "Well, it wasn't that impressive, I've just been studying your fighting style and how your Pokémon fight before coming up with counter strategies for each. I do that with everyone, really…"

"You've been what," he questioned with a deadpan tone.

"Umm…"

"Ha, I'm kidding!" He grinned and threw an arm around her shoulders, "You're my rival, so that means you gotta know how to beat me! I've just been focusing on improvisation, but maybe I should take some inspiration from you and come up with specific strategies for your or Hau's Pokémon!"

"Well, I can try teaching you some strategy if you'd like."

"Sounds good to me! I've come up with some cool nicknames for your Pokémon too, so you can use them in exchange!" He looked at the destroyed field and blinked. "Oh, and maybe we should have Leafeon fix up the ground…"

"Yeah…"


Within the depths of the Aether Paradise, Lusamine watched over various machines, all pumping and whirring as an infinite amount of energy flowed through them. "What exactly was that event that occurred in the conservatory today?"

"Our apologies, President Lusamine." One of her scientists bowed and apologized to her, before pressing a button on one of the computers. A small canister within one of the machines was released, moving outward. The metal shell opened to reveal a glass interior, where a purple and black gas moved and swirled, small white star-like points within it giving it the appearance of a nebula. However, it seemed to be nearly empty.

Another scientist began speaking, grasping the canister and holding it out to her. "The amount of gas remaining from when we still had Cosmog is nearly gone, and any further tests will have much lower chances of success. The test today was the final one we could do with a chance of success higher than five percent."

"Do better," she curtly responded, walking past them. "What I asked, is what caused that event?"

"Well, us needing to use such small traces of Cosmog's gas was part of the reason. With so little gas left, we need more and more energy to elicit a reaction," the first scientist answered. "It seems we overcalculated on this test, and poured too much energy into Cosmog's essence. It reacted strongly, and formed the Ultra Wormhole you witnessed in the Conservatory."

"I see. Make sure to regulate that energy in the future. We don't want to lose such a precious source of power, especially after we set up a branch in Unova for the sole reason of capturing it. And how are the experiments on the Dark Balls going?"

A third scientist spoke up, "They are progressing swiftly. We should be able to complete their manufacturing, and then combine them with the Beast Balls long before we perfect the artificial Ultra Wormhole creator. Just as you specified, any Pokémon caught by them will be forcibly altered, fully trusting and loving the Trainer that used the ball while also reaching their maximum potential as a Pokémon."

"Good. and of course, once they are completed, I no longer have to hurt my precious little Pokémon, and can have them accept my love… Not even Necrozma will need to be harmed, and I can continue to love my precious Pokémon in a world of light." She calmly clicked a button on one of the machines, making a large panel in the wall open, and revealing where all of the energy was coming from.

Attached to the panel in the wall, held in place by dozens of shackles with wires attached to draw out energy and keep it heavily sedated was a small rabbit-like Pokémon, with a cream-colored body and big eyes, alongside two large, orange ears forming a V over its head. It twitched as the light hit its eyelids, making it open its blue eyes to peer at her. Upon seeing her it began pulling at its restraints, the sedation not enough to keep it down. Understandable, for a legendary of its status. "Vic… Tini, Vic," It hissed.

"Victini, the Victory Pokémon." She smiled, walking forward. It suddenly breathed a gout of fire out, which was caught on the forcefield that popped up around its panel. "With the ability to produce an infinite amount of energy, and is said to bring victory to any Trainer that befriends it. With you, even Necrozma could be defeated."

"Tini!" She smiled at its hissed words.

"Don't worry, you'll love me soon enough… then we can spend every day together, in a world where darkness will never fall." She clicked the button again, sending Victini back. "Those Trainers… Chaser, Thorne… Their Pokémon were strong. And Crystal White's Glaceon as well." She thought back, remembering the Riolu. It could speak… such uniqueness would be perfect for her! Of course, she knew about Riolu and their evolution's abilities… if they were already suspicious of her, things could get difficult. "Make sure to keep track of those children. They interest me."


Chapter done. I had fun with Nihilego. I didn't know why it was Rock-Type, but apparently, its body isn't squishy and organic, but some kind of glass-like substance. Neat.

Victini is probably my favorite Legendary, not just because it's part Fire-Type. But even if it wasn't I was going to put it in because of its ability to produce limitless energy plus how cute it looks would make it a prime target for Lusamine, and especially its ability to bring victory.

Willow versus Sapphire was fun to write. I hate making any of my characters overpowered (Unless they're the villain and are supposed to be strong at the start so they can be overcome later) because winning every battle easily is just boring to read. Having Sapphire lose to Willow shows he can still grow, and he's making the mistake of trying to be too dramatic and come up with too many strategies in the middle of a battle when he should really be planning ahead of time.

I'm also liking how I'm writing Crystal, he isn't evil, just has a different method of training that's a bit more intense than most. But yeah, not much to say in this chapter. Omake time!

Omake Name: Some Famous Fighters

Anthony learns about one of Smash Bros' newest fighters.


A sudden orange portal opened up in Hau'oli Village, and from within a white limousine with golden markings drove out. Inside, Sapphire was chatting with Willow, sitting on a few comfortable seats with a minifridge nearby. There were several posters of various action and RPG games tailored to his interests and a few books on battle strategy and similar subjects for Willow.

As the limo stopped Sapphire hopped out of it, pulling off his black hoodie and slipping on his sunglasses as he was greeted with the hot Alolan air and bright sun, Willow following more serenely. "Home sweet home." He waved goodbye to the driver of the Limo, a man in a butler uniform before the man raised an eyebrow.

"Your Pokémon, Mister Sapphire."

"Whoops! Sorry, ehehe, almost forgot." He pulled the Pokeballs that he was loaned every time the tournament occurred, each holding a Charizard, Ivysaur, and Squirtle off his belt, placing them in specially designed holders within the limousine, with Willow doing the same. She had the same Pokémon, which had been done for fairness' sake. "Alright, see ya!" The limo drove off, and he turned around. He cracked his neck as he walked and moved some brown bangs out of his face, grimacing. "Ugh, I still feel sore… I knew I shouldn't have taken that fitness challenge from Falcon. The guy is literally superhuman, I don't know how he expected me to keep up."

"You're the one who accepted," Willow giggled. "Shouldn't have done that, if you knew the risks."

"Listen, Link and Marth were right there, I had to look cool!" They continued to have a playful argument as they entered his house with Willow right behind him.

Inside, Cobalt and Anthony were playing Mortal Kombat and turned to see him enter. Cobalt waved. "Yo, Sapph."

…And Anthony flipped him off. "Hope you lost, sucker."

"Stuff it, loser." He chuckled and fist-bumped the blond, before petting Cobalt. "Everyone did great, you should have been there. Had a great time this year, even had a close battle with Ganondorf, but we relied on him being slower than Squirtle and Ivysaur to win."

"Yeah well, with how lame you are you only get one guest ticket, didn't want to make you choose between me and Cobalt. Be more like that Joker guy, he gets his whole Phantom Thief Team with him. Hell, aren't they part of his Final Smash?! That has to be cheating, they're basically fighters as well!"

Willow giggled and sat next to Anthony, before wincing as the characters on screen ripped another character's heart out. "I mean, you could say the same thing about Mega Man and Shulk. Rather unfair, isn't it?"

"And they already have a Lucario, so it's not like I could participate as part of Sapph's team anyway," Cobalt shrugged.

"Oh, Anthony, you haven't come for a while, right? There are some new fighters."

"Any hot girls?"

"Y'all need to calm down." Willow coughed at his words and he rolled his eyes. He nonchalantly made his way into the kitchen area and got everyone cups of soda, handing them out casually and keeping an eye on Anthony as he began drinking. "Well, there was Terry Bogard as a new fighter… Oh, that's right… I met Sans Undertale as well."

"King of Fighters? Cool. And you also met…" Anthony registered what he said as he began drinking, and coughed out the soda before grabbing him by the collar. "YOU MET SA—"


Yes, an entire Omake just for a one-line joke. I may have gone overboard, lol.

Still haven't decided if I'll add the last of the Kanto starters to Sapphire's team, which is why I didn't really describe the three of them, but since these Omakes are not-quite canon, it's fine. The limo used in this chapter was from Darkwolf's story, and I used it because it made a good amount of sense for how Smash competitors get too and from wherever Smash takes place, lol.

Well, leave a review on everything you liked in the chapter or just a 'nice.' Both are always great to read.

Sapphire:

-Riolu, Cobalt

-Torracat, Claws

-Midday_Lycanroc, Chrysant

-Charjabug, Storm

-Haunter, Spooks

-Noibat, Blast

-Talonflame, Inferno

-Seadra, Wave

-Rotom, Volt

-Eevee, Puffball

-Ponyta, Spirit

-Ivysaur, Hemlock

-Chinchou

-Ditto, Mimic

-Shieldon

Willow:

-Meowstic, Cream

-Dartrix

-Slowpoke

-Grimer

-Murkrow

-Leafeon

See y'all next time.