When Ash and Acerola returned to the Aether House, they found that it's been invaded by Team Skull! And Plumeria is there with two male thugs.
"Hey, what are you doing?! The trail captain called them out."
"Back so soon, hmm? I wasn't expecting you two just yet. It takes these dumb grunts way too long to deal with you kids. So I guess it's my turn now!" The thugs themselves faced off against Acerola and Hau, whom sent out respectively Mimikyu and Incineroar. "I told you before. Next time you get in our way, I'm not holding anything back. Go, Golbat!"
"Mudsdale, I choose you!"
"Use Wing Attack!" With glowing wings, the Bat Pokemon flew and rammed into the Draft Horse Pokemon, but she was so heavy, she barely budged. If anything, it seemed to have hurt Golbat more from making the attack.
"Counter with Rock Slide! Neighing, the ground type created white orbs high above herself which transformed into rocks.
"Get out of the way!" Plumeria demanded, but it was too late as the poison/flying type became buried with Mudsdale. But while she was easily able to just walk it off by getting out of the rocks, Golbat was knocked unconcious.
"Grrr, return! Salazzle, I choose you!" Sending out her Toxic Lizard Pokemon, Ash recalled his Pokemon.
"Mudsdale, return! Primarina, I choose you!" Once she was out on the field, Plumeria ordered,
"Use Toxic!" Spraying some purple liquid, the water/fairy type got drenched and she shivered from how uncomfortable it felt.
"Counter with Psychic!"
"Defeat it with Venoshock!" Firing poisonous purple darts from her mouth, Salazzle bombarded Primarina with an super effective that would've defeated her if she hadn't been trained to handle ranged attacks thanks to vitamins. Surviving the attack, Primarina's eyes glowed blue as the fire/poison type was lifted up into the air, trying to crawl to the ground but unable to get away, and was flung into a rock, smashing it. The frail Pokemon was down and out. Along with her thug's Pokemon. "Hmph, I can't even stand myself by now!" Plumeria complained.
"That's what you get for messing with us!" Ash and Hau both said.
"Hmph, guess you are pretty tough. Now I understand why my grunts waste so much time battling the likes of you. But that just makes the fact that Guzma has beaten you shows why he's the leader of Team Skull and the strongest. But if you want us to return the Pokemon, then you'll have to come to us. Alone. The boss will be dying to beat you back down again to remind you of your place."
"Bring it on! I'm stronger than I was before!" Ash accepted the challenge. Plumeria frowned.
"Cocky brat. He beat you less then ten hours ago. How can you have gotten that much stronger? But if you insist, then do as I said. See you at our base in Po Town!" Returning their Pokemon, Team Skull left.
"Hau, what happened?" Ash asked.
"They ambushed us. Misty was able to get Lillie and the others safely locked in, but they took the kids' Yungoos. I tried facing the three of them by myself, but one against three is tough. Luckily you guys showed up when I just had Incineroar left. Ugh, battles you can't afford to lose or about to aren't any fun."
"Hey, are you guys okay?!" Acerola called to whoever was close to the door, knocking on it. Misty unlocked it and let them in.
"We're fine, thanks." When Lillie saw Ash, she went to hug him while crying.
"Oh Ash, it was so scary! We were outnumbered, they almost got us... I never felt like I'd be possibly kidnapped! I was so terrified!"
"We can't forgive this!" The trial captain declared. "Darn it, those numbskulls actually did something pretty clever for once!"
"If we want to get the Pokemon back, then Ash has to go to Po Town." Hau told them. "All by himself with no back up, right? But that's unfair!"
"Ash, you can't!" Lillie protested. "You'll be outnumbered, beaten down! I don't want anything to happen to you!" While Ash felt bad for causing her this amount of distress, he also saw the kids were sad their Yungoos was taken. Steeling himself, Ash took the blonde's arms off of him and looked at her.
"I have to. It's like one of them said, along with you calling me the word; I'm the hero. I have to, and I'm going to win."
"Team Skull has taken over Po Town." Acerola told Ash. "It's basically their private playground now. There's a beach near here and you'll find Po Town inland on the other side of the water."
"Ash..." Lillie spoke again, very softly now. "Since you're going... I want you to have these." Lillie gave Ash some Full Restores and Max revives. "I always carry these for last resorts. I hope these will help."
"They will. Thank you." Ash nodded. Trying to smile while crying, Lillie hugged him again, which Ash returned. Misty and Acerola smiled at how romantic this moment was, but Hau frowned some more as he looked away. Letting go, the blonde girl nodded.
"Let me heal your Pokemon."
"Thank you, again." When the trainer was good and ready with his , Ash went on his journey. He soon found the beach which is where Primarina helped cross the ocean water so that they reached the other side. Upon reaching a foggy meadow of red flowers though, Ash spotted Edward Faba whom was studying the area when he noticed Ash.
"Oh my, if it isn't Ash. Where might you be off to?" He asked with a sneer.
"I'm going to Po Town to rescue a kid's Pokemon."
"My, how bold and noble your quest is. You are aware that Team Skull inhabits Po Town, right? A run-over town filled with hopeless children. Such awful... 'things' they are, tormenting Pokemon for no good reason. I swear I just don't know what to do with them! And just look at me, would you? Here I am, taking the initiative to travel Alola on my own to check on how Pokemon are doing. I've been trying to think through this Necrozma business on my own. That sort of noble dedication is what you would expect of the president, even. Don't you agree?" Ash looked unimpressed with how Faba was building himself up.
"Whatever you say.
"Yes, it is whatever I say, because I am the Branch Chief! Not that a foolish child like you could-ahem. I mean, not that I would expect you to know." The scientist tried to backpedal but Ash got the hint clear enough. "Anyhow, do try to stay safe. Don't say I didn't try to warn you about Team Skull." Faba went to further study the area. Shaking his head, Ash walked over the wooden boards helping make a clear pathway to Po Town. By the time he reached the place, it started to lightly rain again. He passed by a police station that's been overrun with Alolan Meowth. He passed by two grunts whom stared at him threateningly, one tossing a pokeball up and down in his hand. The surprising thing he noticed was that there was a giant wall separating Po Town from everything else. He eventually found the gate, in which he was stopped by a male and female thug.
"Yo, what's up? You wanna to join Team Skull?"
"No. I came to beat your leader, Guzma."
"Hold on, is that a Z-Power Bracelet?!" The woman asked incredulously.
"For real?! You're actually on the island challenge?!"
"Alright then, we get it. You came to brag how you're better then us by using Z-Power to beat our leader!"
"You show up suddenly and got the nerve to laugh at us?!" The two Team Skull thugs sent out their Pokemon, which were a Scraggy and Pawniard.
"Primarina, Sparkling Aria!" Being unleashed from her Pokeball, the Soloist Pokemon formed a ball of water, which was made stronger by the power of rain and thus was made larger than normal, and the two Pokemon along with their owners were overwhelmed by the attack as they were splashed to the side, crying out from being washed out.
"No fair! I hate strong kids like you!" The female complained. We won't let you in!" Recalling their Pokemon, the thugs went into Po Town and locked the doors.
"You there boy." An older male voice called for Ash's attention. He and Primarina turned to see an apathetic looking middle aged man, looking like a police officer. "Seems like you're trying to get into Po Town. You sure you thought this through?"
"I don't need to think it through. They stole a Pokemon I plan on getting back." He proclaimed with determination.
"Well, you better be ready."
"I am. I trained for this."
"Well, I guess everyone has their own reasons. I've got my reasons too, for doing what I do. I'll have them let you in, and if you don't make it, I'll make sure your remains at least get back home." Ash was unnerved by that.
"Ugh, perhaps I should think of something before going over there." Ash said. Noticing it was raining harder, he got an idea. "What's your name?"
"Nanu."
"Will you come with me for a moment? I don't want you getting in the way of the splash zone." Figuring he was going to try to use a water move to blast anyone who might be on the other side, he went with Ash, even if he was already wet from the rain. However, Ash just kept getting farther and farther and farther away until they were several hundred feet from the walls, well far out for any normal attack to reach there.
"What are you planning kid?" Nanu asked. Ash just said,
"You'll see." Ash then began to perform a Z-Move. At first Nanu assumed he was going to use Hydro Vortex, but then he realized even if they were close enough, the walls could withstand a Pokemon Hurricane in these conditions. What was he planning? Ash and Primarina glowed as they synced up with Z-Power. "Let's go Primarina, Oceanic Operetta." Letting her hair loose, the Soloist Pokemon sang as she started to gather all the water in the area into a ball. Nanu's eyes opened wide as while in any weather condition the ball was be huge, no matter what, rain gave Primarina an unlimited source to use more and more water. It eventually got big enough to the point it was twice as high as the walls surrounding Po Town. "Now!" Pushing her arms, the water starter practically threw enough water to fill five to eight water towers towards the edge of the town, and then let go as it dropped all at once. Yells and screams could be heard as the town experienced a flash pooling of water from basically the sky. Nanu was shocked with his eyes wide open from the creativeness of using said maneuver.
"Huh, how about that?" He said. "Didn't know you had it in you kid."
"Thanks." Ash panted, along with Primarina. "You can let me in now. I thought the doors would've opened from how much water there was." Nanu gave a dry chuckle as the three went to the doors and Nanu unlocked it. Opening it, a foot of water escaped from the town, and whatever mess it was before, some of the plants were flattened and any blockades like walls, fences and cars were pushed out of the way. Nanu whistled from seeing this.
"Well, see you around kid." He said before leaving. Making his way through the carnage he caused, Ash some some men and women who were bamboozled from having taken some minor to serious injury.
("Better them than me. Wouldn't want the others to worry. Or my mom see my remains.") Ash shuddered at the thought. Entering the house on the end, Ash entered the house, where a thug was waiting for him.
"Guzma has been waiting for you. Come with me." Following him up to the second floor and out to an outside balcony, turns out that was because both normal ways of getting to Guzma's room were unavailable, and eventually, Ash finally came face to face with Guzma a second time.
"The hated boss who beats you down again and down and never lets up. Yeah, it's ya boi Guzma here! Well, it certainly seems like my lesson didn't stick with you. I really don't get ya, kid, but at least this is a change of pace. It's not everyday that someone comes straight to me for a beating."
"I'm here to take a Yungoos that was just stolen back. I'm not here for you." Despite saying that, Guzma didn't lose the smile on his face from that.
"No bone to pick with me? I'm surprised given I beat all your Pokemon to the ground with just one."
"It wouldn't be the first time."
"Ha! You really are a loser! And how sweet of you to help out a sad little girl. Tck. Coming all the way here for that. Can't you just watch out for your own Pokemon and stay out of other people's business?!"
"If I did, I wouldn't have come as far as I've had. In fact, I may not have even come to Alola if it weren't for my friend Misty by stealing her bike." That gave the Team Skull leader a good laugh.
"You're one messed up kid! Stealing a friend's bike?! You know how expensive those are?!"
"We didn't know each other at the time, and it was to save my Pikachu!"
"Oh, sorrrrry." Guzma apologized with heavy sarcasm. You wanna know what I do when some machine messes up? The first thing I do is give it a nice hard smack! I mean, most of the time I smash it to pieces, but hey, what can you do?"
"Just turn it off and on and see how that works?" Ash inquired. This finally got Guzma ticked off.
"You trying to reason with me with rationality? I am deconstruction in human form! Let's take this outside!" He said, since the room was too cramped.
"You're on!" Ash accepted the challenge. However, when he saw the outside, that really sent Guzma over the edge.
"What did you do to our base?! Our carefully crafted chaos now just looks like regular chaos!"
"Well it was that or not being able to reach you, so..." Ash shrugged.
"Oh man, you really don't know who you're messing with, don't ya? When I'm through with you, numbskull, there won't be anything in your skull! Golisopod, go!"
"Hawlucha, I choose you!"
"First impression!"
"Dodge with Acrobatics!" Thanks to his speed, and knowing what to expect, Hawlucha vanished when the Hard Scale Pokemon tried to attack it, and two after images moved around the area. Lines through the rain very briefly showed where he was before rain filled its place.
"Wait, where did it get this kind of speed?!" Guzma was shocked to see it move so fast compared to last time. "Iron Defense!" Golisopod tried to up its defense, but Hawlucha kicked the feet right out from underneath the bug/water type, and that provided the perfect opening for the Wrestling Pokemon to bash himself into his foe's weak soft belly. Crying out, Golisopod retreated into its Pokeball, replacing itself with a Pinsir.
"Dang it!" Guzma swore!"
"Huh? How did it do that?"
"It doesn't matter! Pinsir, use Submission!"
"Acrobatics, again!" Traveling at super fast speeds, Hawlucha evaded Pinsir's attack, and managed to land a kick that smashed the bug type into the ground, defeating it instantly.
"Gah! Return!" He then sent out his other Pokemon, Masquerain, but it was promptly defeated in one go as well. That left Guzma with his remaining Pokemon, Golisipod. "Alright Guzma, it appears we need to up our game! Use Pin Missile! Sending out his ace again, its claws glowed white as it fired them off like actually missiles.
"One more time, Acrobatics!" With the speed he was moving, the Wrestling Pokemon was having no trouble evading the four missiles, which just flew around hopelessly trying to catch up until they exploded against stuff. Once again ramming himself into the soft belly of the Hard Scale Pokemon, it hissed as it fell onto its back defeated.
"Guzma, what is wrong with you?!" The Team Skull leader shouted at himself, pulling at his hair. He then pointed at a thug. "You, give this kid the girl's Pokemon back, NOW!" He was too terrified of Guzma to protest and went to get the Yungoos. "Too think you'd go from being curbstomped to curbstomping me! In the same day no less!"
"I just had a bit of help." Ash chuckled.
"Hmph! Guess I'll need some help of my own then. Cause I ain't finished with you!" Returning his Pokemon, Guzma went back into the mansion, just as Nanu came to say something to Ash. "
"Seems like I've got you to thank for this." He sighed. Right beside his leg was a Yungoos. "Thing might've been scared half to death if it's glad to see a wretch like me." Once again he sighed as he placed his hands on his hips. "What a lot of hassle. A trial-goer, huh? Figures. Look, I'm not going to fight someone who is taking on Team Skull. And it appears your Pokemon don't need healing, so just go. Though looking around, there are fewer Team Skull around here than usual. I guess some of them might've run off after seeing their boss get beat. And your little stunt earlier really showed them as well."
"Uncle Nanu!" Acerola ran up to the older man, her dress and hair all wet.
"And here comes the noise again." He sighed.
"Aue, I'm so sorry! You must've been so scared, huh? Thanks Ash, really! You're really something!"
"Haha, thanks." Ash chuckled.
"Uncle, you're a great police officer, aren't you? I really hope you're keeping a good eye on things here! What else do you stay here for, if you're not putting a stop to Team Skull's shenanigans?" He shrugged.
"The rent's real cheap." No one is crazy enough to live this close to Team Skull, after all."
"That's what you say, but it's really all for the Pokemon, isn't it? You can depend on the Aether Foundation to look after the Pokemon that Team Skull hurts. But you stay here to look after them, don't you? Come on Yungoos. Let's get back to Aether House! I'll come back to see you soon Uncle!" Acerola took Yongoos to return it to the girl.
"No one's asking you too." He sighed.
"Then come by the Aether House when you're done!" She yelled back. Then she was gone for good. He sighed once more.
"Pokemon tucked in their Pokeballs, Team Skull locked up in their little town... I wonder if either enjoy the experience."
"Well, Professor Oak told me that the inside is a simulation of every Pokemon's most comfortable habitat." Ash told Nanu.
"Well lucky for them for not living in a run down town such as this." The officer said with still very little apathy as he walked off. Shrugging, Ash decided to go back to the Aether House. And once he returned, he found Hau trying to get a gnawing Yungoos off his shoe. And... Misty was knocked out with bandages on her head?!
"Hau, what happened?!"
"Ash! It's terrible! I can't keep smiling like this! Plumeria ambushed us again! They knocked Misty out and pinned me down! Lillie and Nebby went with Team Skull to not have the kids hurt!"
"What?! Twice now?!" Acerola gasped.
"I'm supposed to be a trainer! I've got all these Pokemon with me! But with my hands tied and a grunt sitting on me, I couldn't do anything! But when it came down to it, Lillie had to protect me. Lillie, who's not even a trainer to begin with!"
"Did I hear that right?! Lillie's the one who took Cosmog?!" Gladion burst into the room they were in.
"You know who Lillie is?"
"So none of us could protect her? Then what was the point of me leaving home in the first place?!" The emo teen scolded himself. "I can't stand it... this useless feeling. I'll blow it away with everything I've got! You!" Gladion pointed to Ash. "You were supposed to protect her! Battle me so I can vent my frustration!" He stormed out, going to wait for Ash.
"You go ahead Ash. I'll watch Misty and see if she wakes up soon." Hau told Ash. The Kanto born trainer nodded as he went outside.