Chapter 60 – Arc 5 (Allied Alola) The Sun and the Moon

Surprise! There's an arc 5. Because I realized arc 4 was way too big and all over the place to be one cohesive arc.

Also, as much fun as I'm having writing this story, I'm lowkey salty I've been at it for like 10 months. I feel like there's some continuity errors in this one, like small ones, like some characters know a little bit they shouldn't or don't know stuff that they should- honestly, I'm tired of the expository stuff, I'll go and do a Big Revision 2.0 some time in the future, for now I'm just trying to get the story actually WRITTEN and away from me so I can detox from USUM for a while. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy writing for this story, I like my characters, I liked Pokemon Sun and Moon, but it's just kinda like... I want to do something else, y'know? But I know if I start something else in the middle of this, I'll never finish it LOL. So I want to at least get a first draft done that I can edit later that mostly gets what I want to say across.

Selene was more than grateful, after they told Anabel everything they could think to, that she dipped her head knowingly. "You've had such rough lives here. I saw you briefly, when we had been called in to handle the Aether Foundation. But in the chaos of it all… I never got to meet you myself." Half-smiling, she flicked a couple glances between Dulse and Zossie. "I have seen you two before, though. Or, well, in photographs, at least." At their bewildered staring, she scoffed. "The captains of the Ultra Recon Squad, I believe. Phyco and Soliera. They were what initially drew Interpol to Alola." Rolling her eyes, she snarked, "They're lucky to have survived that encounter. They had the bright idea of teleporting directly into Interpol headquarters. A building which not even I know the whereabouts of—I just heard of that debacle from my superior."

"What in the world did they do that for?" Zossie asked, incredulously.

Dulse was nodding, too. "When was this?"

"According to them, they were looking for 'the highest power they could find' to tackle President Lusamine. After they explained a little more about everything they believed was happening there, they were directed to me. We talked for a very long time, I learned much about them, and Ultra Megalopolis. But most urgently, they were telling me that you two were being held captive among a lot of other stuff that, admittedly… was kind of hard to believe. Not in that I thought they were incorrect, but in that they claimed they were from another world and then to think that Lusamine could really have been getting away with that, unchallenged, in Alola. But sure enough, some remote investigation, and a distressed call from a woman aboard Aether Paradise… we knew we had to step in. It's a lot of nonsense, but basically, Interpol hasn't been allowed to intervene much in Alola over the years." Brushing back some errant hair, Anabel explained, "But Kahuna Hala and Kahuna Olivia gave us permission to approach. Kahuna Nanu was unavailable for comment, but it didn't matter, since two of the three gave us permission… I'm sorry we were so late… Everything that's happening lately, it should have been avoided…" She set her jaw. "And not by Lillie keeping that Cosmog out of Lusamine's hands. This should have been solved long before that."

"Past is the past, though."

Selene jolted when Elio approached, smoothly interjecting himself into their conversation. Glancing over her shoulder, she immediately noticed the helmet in his hands—and apparently, so did Anabel.

"Where did you get that?" Anabel barked, her demeanor changing in a flash. She tensed and took a step back, her Salamence looking more alert, too. Narrowing her eyes at Elio, she fiercely demanded, "Tell me. Now!"

Uneasily dropping Rosa's helmet to the ground, Elio raised his hands in a show of surrender. "H-hey, sorry, I just—the girl back there—"

"What girl?"

Elio confusedly looked behind him, and then stared. Back in the trees, on the path where Dr. Colress and Rosa had stayed behind while they dealt with Mohn, both of them were gone. There wasn't a single trace left. "They were in the forest…" Elio half-whispered as he stared in that direction. "Dr. Colress wandered off a little ago, but Rosa was right there…"

"Dr. Colress and Rosa?" Anabel said, alarmed. "What were you doing with them?"

Apparently beginning to lose his patience some, Elio sighed and put his hands on his hips. Looking back at Anabel, he nudged the helmet on the ground closer to her. "Look, I don't know who they are, really. I just know that they were hired by the Ultra Recon Squad to help with something, and to make it, they had to use the Aether Foundation's technology. This helmet has some of the same stuff in it they were using there, including the helmets my parents wore. Y'know, since you guys are apparently still holding them hostage for conspiring with Aether or whatever it is you think they did. Look, Rosa gave me that and said it's likely her pal wouldn't like it too much and might want it back, so I'd appreciate it if you'd just take it and get it checked out before he shows back up here for it." Shaking his head, "But that's only part of what I wanted to talk about."

While Anabel nervously picked up the helmet, almost as if she expected it might bite her, Elio kept talking. "This island. It's no coincidence we all ended up here, same place where Mohn"—Elio gestured to where he and Lillie were huddled together still, though they seemed to be talking much more comfortably with one another—"who got lost in Ultra Space at some point before, too. And you caught something in that Poké Ball. What was it?"

Selene felt a little relieved as he started questioning Anabel. Truth be told, although she could tell Anabel everything she wanted to know and even show her a lot of it, she didn't quite know where to go from there about Mohn… From the whirlwind glimpse she had into all Elio had learned out there in the stars, she vaguely understood the kind of insight he had, and she appreciated having it on her side, knowing he would understand what to do far better than she would.

Still clutching the helmet, now under her arm in a more relaxed grip, Anabel nodded. "That man, Mohn, is Lusamine's husband who they had presumed dead. I'm not surprised she never found him… the only people that really come here are younger members of the Skull Gang, according to him. But he is what we call a Faller. People like him, who have spent unhealthy amounts of time in Ultra Space without proper protection, lose memories and are flooded with energy from the Ultra Wormholes themselves. This energy attracts Ultra Beasts… of which there are many circulating Alola right now. I caught one just now. It is known as UB-04, Blade, a small, but deadly Steel-type. While small, it's incredibly dangerous due to the fact its blades are thin and razor-sharp."

That caught her attention. Selene's eyes widened in dismay. "Wait, what? There are those beasts all over Alola…? But how?" She thought back to the Altar, and how the people there had promised they could handle it, and of the people she had left there… Hau, Gladion, amongst so many others. Starting to shake, Selene hopefully asked her, "H-has anyone said anything about the Altar of the Sunne? Has anything been happening there?"

"Oh, yeah, we went there and cleaned that up. In fact, that's where most of my team still is, we only just got everyone properly cleared out of there and that area secure yesterday, but many are still there, monitoring it," Anabel soothed her. "But I picked up on a severe spike of energy from this location… I'd found it before, by tracking Mohn, but had not yet had time to, well, help him. Sadly, although all the wormholes at the Altar have closed… there are still new ones opening up across Alola on the daily, and we can't seem to figure out why… That's why I hurried over here. Any spike in that energy is a potential lead."

Exhaling loudly in relief, Selene murmured, "Good, then they're all probably fine…"

"So, what can we do?" Elio stole the stage again, clearing his throat a little. Looking over at him, Selene saw that he looked like he was trying to burn a hole through Anabel, what with how intense his gaze was on her. If she didn't know better, she caught an inkling of excitement in his tone—but she couldn't be sure. The robotic edge to his tone made it much harder to decipher. "And what are you going to do with Mohn? What'd you do with Lusamine?"

"Lusamine is in critical condition but is in Interpol custody," Anabel replied slowly, raising a brow interestedly at Elio's fervor. "Doctors will look over Mohn, but other than that, he will be left alone and monitored for his own safety. There's nothing really wrong with him, we just need to make sure the Kartana I caught didn't hurt him, and that other UBs don't get the opportunity to injure him. As for the rest of you… Go home."

A collective "What?" escaped every single one of them.

"You heard me." Anabel swept a cold expression across each of them, even craning her neck to look at Lillie in the distance. "I mean it. Interpol is handling this now. You all have done amazingly, and your stories… They sadden me to see and hear. But we're handling this now. Go home, relax, enjoy that you survived. I'm sure we'll need to talk again in the future, about your parents and other matters—we'll find you if we need you. I'll send for a ferry to this island shortly, if you don't leave via pokémon before then."

Selene and Elio shared a look, before Elio shook his head at Anabel. "Lillie, she—Mohn's her dad, and he doesn't remember her… She's not going to want to leave him."

"She can't stay here with him," Anabel sternly warned. "He likely ended up on this island by pure chance, and now every UB that arrives in Alola or is headed toward Alola is drawn to him. That's likely why Dulse and Zossie's tired Solgaleo ended up here. At the end of the day, they are still Ultra Beasts, even if the Ultrarians have managed to tame the Cosmog line."

"Then you've got to have some way to help with his memories—"

"No." To Selene's surprise, it was Dulse who interrupted him. Dulse was looking down at his hands, which he had clutched in front of himself, as if looking down in respect. Respect for what, Selene wasn't sure. "No. Memories lost to that of toxic spacial exposure have never been successfully recovered, at least not in full. They may remember fragments of information, such as their name, another person's face, a home they once lived in, but they will never fully recover their lost memories. This is why the suits we wear are mandatory and why those temporary exosuits are not viable after two weeks of use. The protective material inside, which can be harvested from the underside of any Ultra Beast's skin, is necessary for safe Ultra Space travel."

Anabel swiftly changed the topic, and Selene she saw the other swallow hard. Selene supposed that was an uncomfortable topic… but something told her there was a little more to it. Still, she supposed it would have been rude to go memory jumping in the Interpol woman's mind. So, she just listened as Anabel said, "Yes… as Dulse explained. There isn't much we can do as far as that's concerned. I'm sorry. Anyway, my previous point still stands: go home. Everyone that was at the Altar was sent home as well, even the Captains and Kahunas. This is Interpol's problem now."

Scoffing, Elio looked at his feet. "Home. Where even is that?" he scathingly asked. Without waiting for a reply, he turned away and started toward Lillie and Mohn in the background. Yet, he paused before he was completely out of earshot, and cut his blue eyes at Anabel. "And what do you suggest Dulse and Zossie do? I'm guessing Selene already told you about their side of the story."

Dulse and Zossie were, indeed, keeping very quiet and refusing to look up at Anabel.

"I'm… sure I can work something out for them, of course," Anabel hesitated, anxiously glancing between the two Ultrarians. "I just—I really need to get this helmet out of here, to look into that for your parents. The Shadow Triad is not something I want to fight alone."

With that, she threw the hood of her jacket back over herself, and her Salamence lowered its wing for her to climb aboard its back. As she settled into place on it, Selene heard Elio huff, "Except you wouldn't fight it alone… But whatever." With that, he continued over to Lillie and Mohn.

As for Selene, she just took a seat on the grass, and let out a big breath as she lay flat on her back. As she did, she heard Anabel exchange a few more words with Dulse.

"I'm… I'm really sorry, you two. Dulse, Zossie?"

Dulse responded stiffly. Defensively. "Yes?"

"Would you like to come with me? We can provide you some place to stay for now, until everything gets sorted out… It's the least I can do."

A long pause. "Zossie?" Dulse prompted his partner for her opinion.

"I think it would be a good idea, Dulse," Zossie answered tiredly.

"Mm… Alright, then. We will go with you, Miss Anabel."

"Ah… It's 'mister,' actually. I know my appearance and, um, voice make that hard to tell… but, yeah…"

"Ah, my apologies. We will go with you, then, Mr. Anabel."

Well, I'm glad they're at least getting taken care of… Honestly, she paid Anabel's correction of his gender no mind, merely storing the information away in the back of her mind, fleetingly grateful nobody made a big deal of it. There was nothing wrong with it and they all had so many bigger fish to fry than worry about what Anabel called himself.

Relieved that something had been worked out for Dulse and Zossie, Selene thought about how some proper rest would do her good… though, Elio's earlier question bugged her in her idle thoughts. "Home. Where even is that?" Part of her felt it was loaded in a way that was far more than literal. She gnawed her lower lip as she stared up at the sky overhead and felt the windshear from the sea roll over her. In the corner of her eye, she saw Anabel take flight with his Salamence, Dulse and Zossie astride on its back as well. Admittedly, she had sensed some of his pride from working with the URS during her rushed dive into his memories back at the Altar, and she knew how out of place he had always felt prior to and even at the start of their journey.

Intently eyeing that sky, Selene wondered if Elio had found all he ever wanted out in the stars, far away from Alola, parallel to how Selene felt she had a voice calling her to stay in Alola, whispering to her that she was not done yet. Yet, even as that thought nested in her mind, she found she was not as disturbed by it as she felt she should be… Perhaps it wasn't such a terrible thing. They were not the same person, after all. She had always wanted to find a way to help him, hadn't she? What if the best way of helping him was to simply… let go? And for her, she had always known she wanted to help others, but she had never had an exact idea for it. Now she did. She wasn't about to let that go, either.

Like the sun and the moon, they could depend on one another, they could affect one another, but they couldn't shine in one another's skies for very long.

She almost jumped out of her skin when she heard someone plop down beside her. Jolting upright, Selene saw Guzma had taken a seat beside her, looking up. Embarrassingly, she had almost forgotten he was there… Giving her a dubious look, he shrugged. "Ain't mean to scare ya… Dunno 'bout you, but goin' home don't sound so half-bad. Shocked I actually miss 'at watery shithole for once."

Selene almost didn't know what to say, uncomfortably laughing at the way he spoke.

He sighed and put two hands on the back of his head, cocking it as he looked into the sky with her. "Fucked up part is, all that, an' ain't nothin' really changed back home."

"Yeah…" Selene agreed solemnly.

"Ah, well. Best ya can do is hope it don't stay that way." To her surprise, he almost jokingly nudged her shoulder. "Ya got that same thing Kaua did, but ya got a little more sense an' a few more friends on your side, I think. Here's hopin' somethin' changes… Oh. An' sorry about, uh, kidnappin' your friend and all."

Selene groaned. "I'm going to sleep for a week once we get off this island," she whined, breaking into laughter. "Since when did 'sorry for kidnapping your friend' become a normal phrase for me to hear?" She hated to admit it, but… it was morbidly funny…

"Don't ask me. That Nihilego shit'll knock ya stupid, holy fuck," Guzma uproariously laughed, clapping her on the back. "Thank fuck those Ultrarians got me 'fore I became just like Lusi… But too much worse, an' they wouldn't'a been able to do a thing for me. Scary shit."

Scary shit. Selene snorted. That's one way to put it all.

While Selene and Elio handled the more pressing discussions, Lillie had gone to her father, almost woundedly taking a seat at his side. At first, he had visibly braced himself, as if expecting her to shriek and call him her father some more, but she managed to keep from doing that, however much she wanted to. The Rockruff and Crabrawler returned to his side once the attacking creature had been dealt with. Through a shaky voice wrought with nerves, he murmured to both pokémon lovingly, in a way that was painfully reminiscent to how he had spoken to the pokémon back at Aether. While Lusamine was far better at handling financials and public image, her father had a natural love for pokémon that made him easily get along with even the most distrusting of them. That was why Lusamine's sudden transition to obsession with pokémon, and their 'beauty' as she called it, had been a frightening one all that time ago…

Taking in the sight of a wooden raft with handmade structures built onto it, such as a wooden shack for a house and the glimpse of a bed she could see within its open doors, as well as noting how jumpy and frayed his nerves were, Lillie thought that it was possible her father had been living there alone for a long, long time. Possibly ever since the accident back aboard Aether Paradise. The thought made her heart ache and she sighed. It was no wonder, then, he was so unsure of all these people and why he had shutdown in a defensive panic when she had called him her father. Bitterly, she wondered how she could have expected anything different. It seemed that no matter what, her mother would always get the last laugh.

"I-I'm sorry," Mohn abruptly whispered, hugging the Rockruff close to his chest. He didn't look up at Lillie.

"Huh?" Lillie asked, jolting out of her thoughts.

"You seemed really upset before," Mohn answered slowly, stroking the Rockruff's stony body anxiously. "Look, I—I don't know, anything about what you were talking about… but I could tell you were really upset. I'm sorry, if I look like someone you've been looking for, and me reacting like that hurt…" He blinked fervently as he finally forced himself to look up at her. "The truth is, I just haven't… spoken to many people, I don't remember much before I came out here. But I mean, I imagine a daughter would be pretty hard to forget… And I'd need a wife first, I think." He cheekily laughed. Tilting his head and jokingly touching a finger to his chin, he mused, "Wonder if there's an island out there with as many women on it as there are berry and bean trees here…"

Shocked by the shift in tone, especially at the haunting familiarity of his humor, Lillie let out an ugly laugh before regaining her composure. "Gross," was all she managed to spit out. Despite how bittersweet it felt, lacking the true connection she so craved with him, she managed to force a halfhearted joke in response. "Besides… there kind of already is. It's called Alola. The entire region that's a boat ride away. Pretty sure there's plenty of women there." Including many that probably won't put you through a fucking wormhole like Lusamine did. You sure know how to pick 'em, Dad.

"Eh… those funny Skull kids that show up here every now and then tell me all about that place." Hugging the Rockruff tighter and baby-talking to it some, Mohn said, "And they say it's a mess, don't they, Rocky? Captains, Kahunas, Tapus, and the Island Challenge, oh my!" Clearing his throat, he anxiously laughed. "A-anyway, I mean, it sounds nice, and all, but… I dunno… It's calm out here and…" He trailed off with a deep sigh. "I don't know. I've been living here for so long, you know? It's nice. A little lonely sometimes, sure, but I get visitors…" He loosened his grip on the Rockruff in his lap, and the pokémon playfully batted at his hands. "And so many pokémon!" Mohn gleefully added as he responded in kind to the Rockruff's actions, pretending to bat back at it with his own hands.

Blinking away a tear that wanted to fall, Lillie almost scoffed. An island of nothing but pokémon. Why does that sound like somewhere he'd have run off to in retirement even without amnesia?

"But anyway, I hope you find whoever it was you were lookin' for out there, kiddo." Giving a toothy grin, he adjusted his straw sunhat and flushed a little red. "A-and maybe take your friends, though… I like company but they seem a little intense… Maybe they need to relax for a while first? I'd love to them all again under better circumstances!"

That was when Lillie spotted Elio coming closer to them, and she was grateful for the interruption. As brokenhearted as she was to hear him say that, she couldn't help but find a little comfort in knowing that she at least knew where he was now. Even if getting his memory back was a daunting task—and, as painful as it was to admit it, something she wasn't sure he would even want, given how happy he seemed there—she had closure. When Elio drew closer, she didn't wait for him to say anything, she just got up and wordlessly hugged him.

Maybe he or Gladion would have more insight into what to do. For now, she considered just finding him at all, alive, a win.

Releasing those crystals, along with the Solgaleo's power, had been such a hefty loss. He had felt their comforting light slip away rapidly after he had given the human girl, Selene, the crystals back. That fast-dwindling power meant he had to work quickly, so he had left in a hurry, opening a wormhole as was all he truly knew how to do in this weakened, fragmented form, and… he had let Ultra Space take him wherever it wished. Adrift in the turbulence of an Ultra Wormhole, he found himself unintentionally drawn to a golden tear that flung him into a mountainside path. With no more strength left to give, he could not slow his fall, and he piled into the hillside like a dead star crashing to the ground.

The impact with the earth left him feeling even more beaten than before… and yet, it was not enough to kill him. Perhaps despite an extra layer of exhaustion and dull pain throughout his broken, crystalline frame, he felt no different than he had for all those years trapped within the confines of the Megalo Tower.

This was, arguably, the most frustrating part of existence in his opinion.

He had seen other creatures die. In fact, he had yet to know of a creature across any realm that could not be killed; some were more resistant than others or required specific circumstances, but everything could be brought to a natural end. Yet, no matter how much he starved for light, no matter how much he felt the pain from most of his body having been torn and carved away, no matter how little he felt he had left to give mentally and physically… he did not die. Most creatures would not survive the vast majority of their body being torn away, or would eventually perish from starvation, yet he endured it endlessly, as if he were a broken object granted sentience.

How? Why?

Necrozma had been called many things throughout his life. 'Necrozma' was a name he had adopted for himself after the first sapiens he had come across referred to him by it. Its meaning, which he had learned through use of a crystal that gave him knowledge of all languages, was something along the lines of 'the deadly prism' or 'prism of death.' Much like the Ultrarians, those first sapiens had been terrified, but they had not turned to violence in their fear, and when Necrozma had gifted them some crystals, they worshipped him and even brought him gifts. That, however, was just one example—most referred to him by different titles, their own names and phrases.

Depending on who was asked, he was a failure of evolution, or a triumph of nature; he was a monster, or he was a saint; he was a devil, or he was a god; he was a hopeful prophet of good fortune, or he was a harbinger of death. He'd been given a thousand names, plenty he was sure he had yet to even know, and none of them had ever helped him narrow down what he truly was. In the end, all of the names and titles and accolades had been meaningless. The painful truth was, nobody knew what Necrozma was, most certainly not himself. Whether others saw him as the benevolent being he had tried to be or the furious beast he had played the role of before was all proof of something Necrozma had come to the conclusion to a long time ago, even before being freed by the Nihilego and his human host: he did not belong anywhere in the mosaic of the multiverse.

Others viewed him as a god, but how? Necrozma felt like anything but. In fact, if there were gods, then he was certain they had created him and forgotten about him in some kind of cruel experiment. His oldest memories did not shed any light on the situation, either. He merely remembered passing aimlessly through wormholes, starting with just a handful of crystals across a smaller draconic body, and over time, he grew larger, filled out with more of those powerful crystals, met more creatures who also didn't know…

At least it was quiet on that remote mountaintop. Too tired, pained, and unwilling to move, Necrozma saw by flicking his crystalline eyes that this mountaintop looked relatively deserted. A beaten path from many footsteps was the only sign of encroachment by other living creatures. At least, that's what it appeared at first. When he squinted, he noticed something glinting off the highest peak of the mountain, somewhat enveloped in a low-hanging mist. After enough staring, he determined it was a building of some sort, and this was likely another land dominated by humanoids. Knowing something manmade was so close made him very anxious, and for an uncertain length of time, he kept fearing people would pour over the crater he had created when he had crash-landed in the mountainside, to possibly pull apart what remained of his body or to chain him away yet again.

At first, the thought was frightening, but after a while of mulling it over… He thought that perhaps it wouldn't be that bad. Perhaps when he had been segmented into fractured gems, when there was nothing of him left, then he would finally be given a reprieve. Or if they did lock him away again, what did it matter? He was never truly free anyway. There was no use in trying to run from himself, he could not escape it, it was as pointless as attempting to flee one's own shadow.

He wasn't sure just how long the time stretched on, with him simply laying in a crystalline heap at the trough of a crater in the mountainside… It was more than a week, given the day and night cycle above, but he had lost count after some time. He spent most of that time cautiously appreciating the solace. It was quiet there, peaceful. At least he had a pleasant breeze and the crisp mountain air to accompany him through the brutal discomfort. Thankfully, loneliness did not exactly daunt him anymore, having spent so long alone with his own thoughts already. It wasn't pleasant, but at least it was uneventful. Uneventful was honestly the best he could ask for.

But eventually, one human did approach him. He quickly realized he had incidentally wound up back in the Alola region by the way the man spoke, the language he used. Indeed, one of the crystals that made up Necrozma's eyes—the last few he had left—was the one that allowed him to understand and speak most languages.

The human wore a fluttery, tattered white coat over a bare chest, and he had halted at the crest of the crater. Covering his mouth, his eyes widened in shock as his knees appeared to wobble slightly. A lupine creature at his side raised rocky hackles and growled in fear, backing away from the crater. Unlike his wolfish partner, however, the man started to scurry down the embankment, trembling as he went. Pushing glasses nervously over his face, he approached Necrozma with trepidation, and a reddish device hovering around himself.

Instincts told Necrozma to growl and warn this human and his strange device away, but his desire to do so faded almost immediately. In the end, he merely looked at the man, reacting in no other way. He didn't have the energy to, so it didn't matter. Looking into the dried earth from where he had crashed into the mountainside, Necrozma utterly ignored the man as he nervously examined his body. Instinctive tremors of fear shot through him whenever the man peered too closely at his eyes, but the human made no move to carve away those few crystals that remained.

In the end, Necrozma listened as the man introduced himself as Kukui.

"I just… can't really tell if it's alive or dead, though…" Kukui mused to himself, almost sounding embarrassed, as he peered closer to Necrozma's eyes again. "I thought I saw it move earlier, but…" Dropping to his knees beside it, Kukui let out a shuddery breath. "This is really you, huh? Necrozma… I guess they succeeded out there, then, in takin' you on."

At that, Necrozma summoned the strength to at least shift and look Kukui in the face. He scrambled away automatically, chest heaving in fear, as the lupine from the crest of the crater barked madly. Unamused and unsurprised by that reaction, Necrozma flopped his head back against the earth. Simply do what you will and leave me be, he thought frustratedly. I recognize you. You were one of the humans where I absorbed the Solgaleo. One of the ones I told I would kill. I doubt that made a good impression… Yet again, him cracking under the pressure the world had put him under and threatening others had come to haunt him, hadn't it?

"Shit, it's alive," Kukui yelped, panting. "It's… it's alive…" After a second or two of apparent deliberation, Kukui dared to step closer to Necrozma again. Staring at Necrozma's crystalline eyes, Necrozma dared look back at him, confused and nervous about the wonder in his expression. "Your, er, face, cousin… Those crystals. They were there durin' the fight, too, yeah…" Taking some cautious steps away, Kukui started to prattle away out loud, in anxious excitement. "As angry as it was back on the Altar, sure this thing would be attackin' by now if it wasn't hurt? Imagine what kinda attacks this thing can do, yeah! O-or what studying it could do for us… It seemed to have somethin' to do with Z-Crystals, after all…" He paused. "Shit, I need to get Bernie and those Interpol guys up here!" He frantically started climbing out of the pit, the device that had been hovering around him chasing after him.

Studying. I don't like that word. Necrozma let out a low, rumbling noise. As intimidating as the sound was, it shouldn't have taken anything to make, but for Necrozma, it was exhausting. He fell silent after just a few short rumbles. He wanted to say, out loud, that he didn't like what Kukui was talking about, but forming those words felt like such a Sisyphean task, not only physically, but mentally too. Again—what did it matter? Why did he care?

Kukui uncertainly glanced back at him at the foot of the crater. Heaving a sigh, Kukui crossed his arms, almost defensively, or perhaps embarrassedly. "Ay… it's alright, cousin. I'll… I'll do what I can to keep 'em from hurtin' you, yeah? It looks like you already got beaten and shown why ya can't do everythin' you were yellin' about at the Altar… but I can imagine a lot of what you were sayin' back there was true." He looked down, away from Necrozma, and spoke so low that Necrozma almost didn't catch what he said next. "Maybe it doesn't have to be that way, yeah, cousin? We can work together. Like… like we're all supposed to. To help each other, yeah?"

Sounds like nonsense, really. 'Studying' does not fill me with confidence. The Ultrarians also 'studied' me… Oh well. Do what you will.

With that, Kukui beckoned the hovering device near him, and made some sort of call on it.