Nebby

"Pew!" The cosmic cloud Pokemon flew peacefully through the forest without a care, curiously eyeing all the strange creatures that inhabited this strange world that he arrived upon unaware that he was being stalked as a few Ledyba and Alolan Rattata began to play with him, the Pokemon all ran around emitting playful cries and not seeming to mind the presence of an alien Pokemon one bit!

"There you are, my friend!" Midas walked from the shadows, his golden mask sparked in the sunlight as he gazed upon the strange cloud. "I have no idea what you are but you will make a fine addition to my collection of rare Pokemon!" He wasn't exactly hear on Cabal business, Team Magma and Aqua weren't making any moves lately so he left the spying operation in Shade's care as he went to investigate the strange signal that had appeared in Alola. He had no clue as to what that Pokemon was but that wasn't going to stop him from adding it to his collection!

"Iron Head!" Bastiodon's body became surrounded in a white aura as he raced forward, preparing to slam his body into the cosmic cloud only for it to let out a terrified shout, another interdimensional portal opening up as a large muscular bug Pokemon came flying out, looking lost and confused at first before turning it's attention to Midas.

"Buzzz!"

"My friend, help!" Bastiodon charged at the muscular bug Pokemon while Cosmog had teleported away.

It had been two weeks since his match against Misty and Ash was still feeling heavily depressed about his losing streak, he was moping about and not seeming his usual self at all, even his battling skills had gotten sloppy as he wasn't putting in as much effort as he used to. Constantly losing without a break had really broken his spirit. Lillie had suggested that maybe allowing Serena to have a relationship with him would help put a spark back into him but Leaf shot that down as she wasn't sure if Ash would reject her or not in his current state, she doubted that Serena would be able to do what she alone couldn't... wait maybe that was it! Individually they had a hard time putting Ash together but maybe that was the thing, maybe together they could all succeed where they couldn't on their own?

Leaf pushed the idea to the others later that day.

"Okay but how? I don't get it, wouldn't we all just fail again?" Flash asked with a puzzled look. "We've all tried hanging out with him but he's practically gone full goth on us and ignored us!"

"He doesn't ignore me!" Lillie piped up. "H-He still spends time with me... occasionally."

"Isn't it his birthday soon? Why not throw a surprise party for him?" Zach suggested over the Rotom Phone, he was the only non-Kanto friend that they could reach at the time. "Maybe seeing all of his friends get together will help lift his spirits?"

Leaf's eyes widened as she realized he was speaking the truth, she lowered her head in shame as the knowledge had escaped her mind.

"Y-Yeah actually, it is!" Lillie spoke up with a light smile. "Maybe that could work but where would we have it?"

"Pallet Town?" Misty suggested.

"No!" Leaf was quick to say getting the others to look at her while her face shot red. "I-I mean... his mom hasn't even met me and Lillie yet! I-I don't want to drop that information along with telling her he's depressed, she'll get worried sick and likely worsen the condition!"

"That is a fair point," Brock stated. "We could do it here but Venom already has it out for him as it is and Sabrina will likely kill him if she performs anymore mind wipes on him."

"Why not Alola? I already promised Korrina I'd take her there this weekend, me and the girls want to get away from Z-something." Zach quickly corrected himself. "Maybe getting out of Kanto for a bit will do him some good."

"Alola sounds perfect, Lana and the others are there and it's different enough to feel like an escape!" Misty exclaimed.

"Maybe we can convince him to do a trial as well, winning one could potentially bring back his confidence!" Lillie piped up.

"I'd be most interested in going this time, I didn't get to go last time on account of my training but there's no way I'll miss out on Ash's birthday!" Gary chimed in as everyone else was quick to agree, even Sabrina despite her hatred for bright sunny places such as that.

"Then it's settled, we'll get him to Alola this weekend. Maybe Oak can even help chip in with an assignment so we don't have to rush back!" A large grin crossed Leaf's face as she really expected this plan to work, she missed the old Ash!

"Happy birthday Ash!" Ash squinted lightly as all of his friends surprised him at Kukui's place. Thankfully it didn't take Lillie much convincing to get Ash to go with her, granted she did lie and say it was 'family business and she didn't want to go alone'. Though Ash wasn't really aspired goal wise at the moment, he still made an attempt to care for her and Leaf. It surprised him however when they suddenly ended up at Professor Kukui's and all of his Kanto and Alola friends along with Iris and Bea revealed themselves!

A smile crept to his face as he couldn't help but admire the effort his friends had made into cheering him up.

"I can't believe you dragged me out here, it's way too sunny!" Marnie complained to Bea as she shielded her eyes with her arm.

"Hey it's free cake, once Morpeko heard you knew there wouldn't be stopping him from stowing away!" Bea laughed as the rodent Pokemon on Marnie's shoulder had quite the hungry and demonic expression. "Morpek!"

Iris gave Ash a friendly wave. "Long time no see, friend!" She didn't call him a kid!

What appeared to be a Ride Salamence landed beside them causing Iris to go full fangirl as she raced to embrace the fully evolved Hoenn Dragon. Salamence's eyes shot wide open before giving Zinnia a 'Please help me, this isn't what I signed up for!' look.

Zach climbed off Salamence's back, shivering heavily as he wiped some snow off his shoulder. "Sorry I'm late, I was getting... something." Salamence blasted right off once he got off causing Iris to let out a moan of annoyance she watched Salamence soar away!

Ash's losing streak briefly left his mind as he lost himself in the party that his friends had thrown for him, even getting to catch up with Iris who he hadn't heard from for months! Iris was apparently inspired by him and was working towards becoming the Unova champion, she even evolved her Axew!

"I've got three badges now!" Iris boasted with a smirk. "Quite proud of myself for that amount of work in such a short time!"

"Three?! Aw man, the rest of us just got two!" Flash groaned out.

"Speak for yourself, zappy boy!" Gary boasted as he whipped out his badge case to show off four badges!

"A-Alright, that's enough..." Leaf hushed them as Ash started looking down again.

"Hey Ash, this is my best friend Marnie!" Bea introduced Marnie who gave off a light wave.

"Greetings, so you're the one that Bea talks about so much?" Marnie looked him over before shrugging as she didn't seem to impressed from what she saw thus far.

Ash sweated lightly before lifting up his hand. "Hi there, I'm Ash-"

"Ketchum, yeah I know." Marnie spoke causing Bea to lightly snicker.

"Morpek!" Morpeko cried out as it started rushing for the cake causing Marnie to let out an alarmed shout as she ran after it. Ash supposed that the two of them would continue their chat a different time. Lana soon approached and seemed quite happy to see him which didn't go unnoticed by Lillie as the two of them talked with one another.

"I heard that you had trouble beating Misty, well my family is also a long line of Water specialists. If you want we can battle later, it could give you some ideas for your rematch!" Lana offered while hoping to help but also wanting to spend more time with him!

"I'll think about it, thank you." Ash gave Lana a light smile as she lightly blushed while Mallow flashed her a thumbs up before glancing at Zach with a saddened expression as Korrina hovered around him with quite the excited smile, the opposite of Mallow's current mood. She approved of the new girl, she was essentially a female version of him from what she could tell but she was feeling mighty sour towards May and Dawn rejecting her only to add in a different girl a few weeks later! May and Dawn caught her stares and gave each other a guilty expression.

"Why's she glaring at you two like that?" Korrina asked, timing it perfectly as Zach quickly slipped out of May and Dawn's grasp to go speak with Ash for a moment.

"W-We sorta told her we weren't interested in sharing with another girl, she's... a lot like you in a way," May confessed.

"You two have known him for years and love him."

"And she wanted to sleep with him too?!" Korrina exclaimed rather loudly causing Mallow to overhear, her jealousy intensifying as her suspicions about what the three got up to behind closed doors was confirmed. "You should let her! If she truly loves him then I don't see why she can't!"

May and Dawn shot each other a glance while Zach approached Ash and dropped a present into his hand. "Happy birthday!" He offered with a friendly smile. Ash took it with a puzzled expression, wondering what he possibly could have gotten him as he wasn't even expecting anything! The lid to the box flew off with the wrapping paper revealing a pokeball within the box.

"He's inside the ball." Ash looked up with a raised eyebrow before pressing the release button as a cold wind blew through the room before revealing an Alolan Sandshrew!

"Is that-?" Ash started as it looked different than the ones back home, almost like an ice sculpture of a Sandshrew.

"A Sandshrew? Yep!" Zach smirked lightly. "I remember you were wanting to catch a Sandslash back when I was in Kanto and I was thinking why not track one of the Alolan ones down for you? It's no Sandslash but once you've got an Ice Stone you can evolve it whenever you want!"

"Sandshrew, shrew shrew!" Sandshrew cried out as he stared up at his new trainer. Ash smiled before dropping to his knees to greet Sandshrew.

"Hello there Sandshrew, I'm looking forward to getting to know you now that you're part of my team!" Ash greeted Sandshrew, the ice mouse responded by letting out a cry before wrapping his arms around Ash's leg.

"He's perfect, thank you!" Ash gave his friend an appreciative smile before returning Sandshrew to his ball.

"Don't mention it, I was hoping it'd cheer your spirits!" Zach smiled before turning around to go back to the girls as he saw Lillie approaching them.

"Feeling better?" She asked with a light head tilt.

"Yeah, I'm feeling loads better!" Ash exclaimed, his losing streak hadn't crossed his mind once apart from when Iris and Gary had started a bragging contest. "But I could... use some fresh air, much as I love my friends it's a bit crowded in here."

"Oh I agree, I don't like being around too many people in general." Lillie spoke, shivering lightly. "You wanna maybe go on for a walk? I'm sure Leaf won't mind us stepping out." She nodded towards the brunette was was busy conversing with Janine and Sabrina. Ash flashed Leaf a brief glance before giving her a nod. "Sure, let's go!"

"Roc roc, Lycanroc!"

"Zigzagoon!" Lycanroc and Zigzagoon were chasing each other across the beach, not paying much attention to where they were going before both tripped over a lumpy cloud-like substance.

"Roc!" Lycanroc shot up and gave the cloud a confused look as she'd never seen that thing on her beach before! She began giving it a curious sniff before Zigzagoon rushed forward with an aggressive growl and headbutted it. The cosmic cloud woke up and let out a startled cry as it was face to face with a very aggressive Zigzagoon!

"Goon goon, Zigzagoon!" Zigzagoon growled out. 'Fight me, fight me!'

"Pew!" The cosmic cloud let out a terrified cry before teleporting away, Lycanroc and Zigzagoon gave one another a confused stare before turning to growl as another portal opened up.

Ash and Lillie walked through the forest hand in hand and just enjoying each other's company while also enjoying how quiet it was. The blonde had her head leaned up against his as they walked, uttering out a peaceful sounding sigh before a scream soon came out as the cosmic cloud appeared in front of them! The cosmic cloud looked up at them with a fearful expression, wondering for a second if they were going to attack him like the golden masked human had done a few days ago.

"Aw, it's cute!" Lillie squealed at the sight, the cosmic cloud Pokemon flinched but didn't flee. There was something about this girl that made him feel safe, the boy too. He just wasn't sure what.

"It sure is," Ash agreed before tilting his head. "What Pokemon is it?"

"Huh? I thought you'd know?" Lillie blinked at him in confusion. "You've been to more places than I have!"

"But you were born in Alola," Ash pointed out.

Lillie looked back at the cosmic cloud before stroking her chin lightly. "Well there's one way to settle this," She pulled out her Rotom Phone only for it to read out.

"Unknown data. No information on this Pokemon available."

"A new species!" Lillie gasped out. "We should catch it, who knows what scientific discoveries there are to be made here!"

"If anyone is catching him, it's me!" Midas spoke before revealing himself. "Hello my friends, that Pokemon will be going with me now!"

"Lillie and I saw him first, back off!" Ash let out a light warning growl, he was getting a bad read of this person. Something inside of him was screaming that he was bad news.

"Technically I saw it first, it ran away like a baby when I attacked it to add to my collection!"

"Maybe it is a baby?" Lillie asked with a questioning look before glaring at him.

"Huh, maybe it is... but what does that matter? It's mine! I saw it first so it rightfully belongs to me!"

"You'll have to get through me first cause that ain't happening!" Ash growled out as he threw his arm in front of Lillie and the cosmic cloud.

"Gladly! Buzzwole!"

"Buzz-what?!" Lillie and Ash gasped out as the muscular bug Pokemon burst out, flexing his arms before taking a combat stance. The Pokemon had quite the impressive aura coming off of it!

"Unknown data, no information on this Pokemon available!"

"What is up with this forest today?!" Ash shouted out with a frustrated growl.

Victor gazed down from his tree branch as he spied on Ash. "Huh, wonder what's up with that? The aura coming off both those Pokemon is quite unlike anything I've ever seen!"

"Buzzz!"

"I-I think it's a Bug type!" Lillie hissed out to Ash while pointing out the Pokemon's body features. "You should go with Charmander!"

"Charmander?! Hahahaha, a Charmander isn't going to beat what took out Bastiodon, not to mention my other team members!" Midas laughed as Charmander gave him a glare upon being released. "Power-Up Punch!"

Buzzwole's hands became surrounded in a red-orange aura as he rushed Charmander before delivering a painful punch, sending Charmander flying back!

"Char!"

"Charmander, you okay?!" Ash called out as Charmander slowly stood back up.

"Char..."

"Great, use Smokescreen!" Charmander opened up his mouth as the area around the Pokemon became covered in a thick black smoke, making it difficult to see! "Now use Fire Fang!" Charmander's fangs lit up as he raced forward before sinking his fangs into Buzzwole, a burn mark remained as Buzzwole flinched while Charmander retreated!

"Vital Throw!" Buzzwole reached out, grabbing onto Charmander's tail before spinning his body and tossing Charmander up into the air! Charmander flailed his arms and legs about before crashing down in the ground in front of Buzzwole!

"No mercy, Power-Up Punch!" Buzzwole's fist became surrounded in a bright orange aura once more as he brought his fist upon Charmander, sending the lizard flying for a third time!

"Charmander!" Lillie cried out with concern. Ash gritted his teeth and tried to call him back only for Charmander to stand back up, his tail flame ignited brightly as he let out a loud roar! Ash put the ball away as a light smirk crossed his face, Charmander's Blaze ability had kicked in! This was good news!

"Here use this!" Victor suddenly appeared and dropped the Firium Z into Ash's hand.

"Huh?" Ash turned from shock from Victor's sudden reappearance, was he the guy stalking him?

"Hey my friend that's cheating, you can't do that! You didn't earn that!"

"Says the guy using an alien to beat two kids, pathetic." Victor growled out before disappearing into the shadows as quickly as he'd arrived.

Ash thought back to Kiawe using the z-move as he placed the Firium into his z-ring and began striking the poses while Charmander moved in synch with his trainer. "Inferno Overdrive!"

"Chaarrr!" A massive fire ball began forming within Charmander's mouth, looking even bigger than the one Turtonator had used as it was thrown at Buzzwole, the Bug Pokemon let out a cry as it body was blasted by the massive fire ball before keeling over him defeat as scorch marks covered up his body!

"No, that can't be... it's impossible!" Midas growled out before backing up. "I lost to a bunch of kids?!"

"Not just any kid, the rainbow hero!" Victor announced as he sprang from the shadows. "Let's see whose under that mask!" He attempted to yank it off only for the entire head to come off! Ash felt sick to his stomach as his face turned green while Lillie let out a scream!

"I-It's a robot!" Victor gasped out in annoyance.

"Hahahaha!" The head began laughing before self destructing in his hand, the poke balls all teleported safely away along with Buzzwole's defeated form.

"Blast it, so close to finding out who he was!" Victor cursed, turning to face Ash before bowing his head. "Happy birthday kid." He disappeared again for a final time but Ash had the suspicion that he was still there.

"Way to go Charman-" Ash froze as he realized that while he was distracted, Charmander had evolved into Charmeleon! The fire lizard gave Ash a light smirk before the two fist bumped!

"Charmeleon!"

"You evolved, that's great!" Ash laughed before giving him a hug which was quickly returned as Charmeleon loved having a trainer that actually gave him praise!

"What about the cloud?" Lillie asked as despite Cosmog shaking from Midas' presence, he was still very much there and hadn't disappeared! "Hm doesn't seem right calling it a cloud does it? Let's see... you look like a nebula... why not Nebby?"

"Pew pew!" Nebby cried out, appearing to love the name as it excitedly flew about their heads.

"I think you should catch it, you named it after all." Ash stated.

"You're the experienced trainer," Lillie pointed out. "What if that guy comes back for it? I can't possibly take him on my own!"

"Fair enough, then how about we both raise it despite it being mine? Like how Leaf likes to watch Larvitar for me!" Ash compromised.

Lillie looked thoughtful for a moment before giving Ash a warm smile and a light nod. "Sure, that sounds great to me!"

Lucario was leaned up against the wall with his eyes closed, simply relaxing at the party before picking up a cry of distress from Lycanroc and Zigzagoon! His eyes shot open before he began poking Zach in the arm.

"Carrr!"

"Huh? Something's upset Lycanroc?!" Lucario nodded resulting in the two hurrying out the door after Sobble was placed into Dawn's arms much to Piplup's chagrin, Raboot was a bit distracted with a piece of cake but was quick to pass it off to Morpeko with a reluctant expression as she chased after her friends!

"Poiii!" A strange small purple Pokemon flew above Lycanroc and Zigzagoon, looking quite playful as Lycanroc let out a playful bark and Zigzagoon growled up aggressively, continuing to try and pick a fight with the strange Pokemon!

"What's up?" Zach asked Lycanroc. "Lucario said you two were upset!"

"Roc roc, Lycanroc!"

"The creature came through a portal that appeared to lead from some other dimension or something," Lucario translated. "It scared them as they thought aliens were coming to invade but instead this Poipole saw them playing and wanted to join in. Zigzagoon just wants to fight it like usual but Lycanroc enjoys playing with it!"

"So it's a Poipole?"

"That's what it calls itself apparently!" Lucario tilted his head. "Though to be fair that's all he says."

Zach frowned before retrieving his Rotom Phone and scanning the purple creature.

"Unknown data. No information available!"

"Okay, maybe it actually did come from outer space." Zach muttered, thinking it sounded a bit out there but if that's what Lycanroc saw then he wasn't going to question it any further!

"Poipole!"

"Poi?" Poipole hovered upside down as he gazed at him with a playful expression on his face.

"Poipole, if I understand correctly... well who knows if you're even understanding me right now seeing how you're an alien." Poipole tilted his head, understanding him just fine as the people from his planet spoke the same language! "You're not from here, I can't in good conscious just leave you out here to fend for yourself so how would you feel about joining my team and becoming my Pokemon? You'd get to play with Lycanroc more and I'll do my best to find what kind of food you like and anything else that you might require." He held out an empty pokeball as Zinnia watched from afar, she had tailed them there but didn't dare approach with Victor around. Disguising Salamence as a Ride Pokemon was hard enough work! Zinnia's eyes widened from surprise and shock as a smile crossed the alien's face before it tapped the ball, allowing for itself to get caught!

"No way..."

"Welcome to the team Poipole, we'll take good care of you I promise!"

"Car!"

"Buzz?!" Buzzwole found itself in a cage with a golden forcefield going up and blocking his escape, Buzzwole flew at the forcefield and began pounding away at it with an furious shout as along the prison wall laid plenty of rare Pokemon such as shiny Pokemon, fossil Pokemon, and near extinct Pokemon like Lapras in similar conditions. All of the Pokemon displayed like trophies and not treated like living beings as they cried out desperate for an escape and hoping somebody would free them!

"Another trophy for my collection!"

"I'm glad you're feeling better Ash," Leaf hugged him as he returned with Lillie, planting a kiss on his cheek before giving attention to Nebby. "What's that?"

"Meet Nebby, he's a newly discovered Pokemon and Ash and I will be raising him together!" Lillie explained.

"He's adorable, I wonder what his evolution will look like!" Leaf gushed out. Ash sweat dropped lightly as Nebby seemed to be getting a lot of attention from them. No doubt there would be quite the exciting times ahead for him as he got to learn more about Nebby and his species!

A fair bit happened, Ash encountered an Ultra Beast technically two if you count Nebby and caught Nebby. Along with being gifted an Alolan Sandshrew!

Next time: Ash engages a Totem Pokemon and learns a more troublesome side of Nebby as he's teleported into quite the dangerous predicament in Pyro Strikes Back!