"C'MON!" I shouted, waving my hand to signal my friends. To the side something exploded, but the blast was cut off by a huge figure taking the full force of the blast. I reached out my hand, grasping another and pulling her back towards me.

"WE'RE OUTMATCHED!" Someone else shouted near me, his Pokemon fending off another attack as he protected a cowering person behind him. "WE HAVE TO RETREAT OR WE'LL DIE!"

"NO!" my friend, the one who's hand I had grasped resisted, trying to rush forwards towards the distant light in the void. "WE CAN'T! PLEASE!"

I clenched my eyes, then opened them, pulling them back towards me. "I'M SORRY! WE'LL COME BACK! I PROMISE!"

Something exploded with light behind us, drawing everything in. The last thought in my head was that even I wasn't strong enough. We needed more. We needed-!

...

"Okay, I did not expect us to stay for an additional two days," I grumbled.

"Quit your whining," Alex knocked me on the head lightly. "You and Greninja seriously needed to rest. Plus, Corvisquire is almost back at full strength. And the league doesn't start for another 12 days. Plenty of time."

I nodded as Arcanine padded alongside the three of us with Ninetales and Chesnaught out as well. We were in the swampy area known as and further ahead of us was a long wooden bridge that extended over a more swampy area"Yeah yeah, fine. But let's hurry regardless. The sooner I get my eighth gym badge and I'm at the tournament the better."

"We," Alex corrected. "I need that badge too by the way in case you forgot."

"Hey, uh, don't look now," Robert pointed ahead. "But it's another one of your rivals."

Alex and I both turned our heads to see a figure standing on the middle of the bridge, her back to us. I instantly recognized the goth clothing and semi-short black hair.

"Clara," I called out to her, waving.

She turned, blue eyes seeming not as cold as I got used to seeing. A ghost of a smile flickered on her features before being replaced with a more serious expression.

"Just the person I was hoping to see," she said, one hand on her hip. "I challenge you to a battle, Zeno."

I smirked as we stepped onto the bridge as well. "How did I know you were going to say that." I then shook my head. "Sorry, probably best I don't."

She raised an eyebrow. "And why not?"

"Zeno is still recovering," Alex said quickly.

"From what?" Clara furrowed her eyebrows, then her eyes lit up with realization. "Oh, you were involved with what happened in Geosenge, weren't you?"

I shrugged. "Really no point in denying it. Yeah, I got injured in an explosion, and Greninja. One of my Pokemon is still healing from a different attack."

"He was released several days ago," Robert pointed out. "But he decided to battle straight away and pushed himself too far and he's only just rested from that."

"Basically," I nodded. "I'd love to battle you, but I need to save my strength for the last gym."

Clara smirked. "The last gym, eh? So you're behind me then. I guess for now I can bask in the fact that I've surpassed you."

"Sure," I held up both hands. "But only until we both meet at the Lumiose Conference. Then we'll see who's strongest."

"Fine then," Clara shrugged. "But I guess I can accompany you three the rest of the way to Lumiose. If I can't battle you, I at least want to see how you battle now compared to when we last fought."

"Fine with me," I glanced back at my friends. Robert smirked and nodded while Alex rolled her eyes, muttering, "Fine."

"We're all in agreement," I held out my hand. "Travel partners once again?"

Now Clara rolled her eyes. "Sure, travel partners." And she grasped my hand. Suddenly, the bridge shook and rocked, causing all of us to grasp the ropes. Arcanine nearly toppled over, but I managed to return him in time as was done with Ninetales and Chesnaught.

"What is-!?" Alex was in the middle of shouting when something seemed to explode beneath the bridge, making it lift upwards, making me feel weightless before it dropped. The bridge creaked and groaned, the ropes taught.

"Off, now," Robert advised, already half running towards where we came, which was the shortest way back to stable ground. The bridge hadn't stopped moving by the time we stumbled onto the path. I stumbled to the side of the bridge and looked beneath it. There was something roundish and glowing white with something of a web-like structure that seemed to fade the further out it extended. Then it expanded, tossing out a multitude of things out in the swamp. The fall wasn't too high, plus the swamp would act as a cushion.

I blinked, recognizing the mass of "things". "I'm not seeing things, am I?"

Alex and Robert stood on either side of me, both gasping. "It is!"

We ran for the nearest path leading down to the swamp below, Clara following us with a confused expression on her face. My boots splashed in the dirty water as I trudged through the mud towards a groaning tan-skinned boy propping himself up, spitting out water.

"That was rougher than the last dozen times," he coughed, shaking his head.

Feeling the need to be a bit dramatic, I held out my hand. "Need a hand, Hau?"

Hau raised his hand to grasp mine before his eyes cleared, then they widened. "Zeno!?" He stumbled to his feet and grabbed me in a hug. "Oh man am I glad to see you!"

"Did someone say Zeno?" another person groaned, who's blonde hair was back with the emo look.

"And not just him," Alex and Robert stepped forwards. "We're here too."

Hau stumbled back from me and proceeded to hug both of them, breathing heavily as if he'd just ran a marathon. I stepped forwards to steady Gladion, who looked like he might fall over and dirty his already tattered Aether uniform further. "What happened?"

He glanced behind me at everyone else who had appeared out of the Ultra Wormhole. "Some good, mostly bad."

Any Pokemon that might have been in the surrounding area had most definitely fled, especially after seeing the two huge Pokemon standing. Or in one's case, floating. A huge cat-like Pokemon that resembled the sun and a bat-like Legendary that represented the moon. Solgaleo and Lunala, Legendary Pokemon of the Sunne and Moone respectively.

Two figures stood out even amongst this strange crowd. Wearing futuristic white and blue suits, the taller of the two had only a curl of purple hair visible coming out of the front of his helmet and visor while the smaller one had an orange braid coming out of the left side of her helmet. An older gentleman groaned as his back popped, bits of gray in his dirty blonde hair that was kept beneath a straw hat. A red-haired girl maybe a year or two younger than I who wore what appeared to be an Ultra Recon Squad jumpsuit, but without all the gadgets, stumbled to her feet and cast her gaze around frantically. When she spotted Gladion, the frail girl immediately stumbled towards him, hugging him around the middle like he was her only lifeline.

"Um," I blinked, still not sure what to make of all this. "What the actual heck is going on!?"

Gladion opened his mouth, but Hau stepped back into my line of sight. "I'll explain. Find the bag. We might have some rations left."

Gladion nodded and took the redhead by the hand and lead her back to the main group.

"Wicke said you guys entered an Ultra Wormhole a while ago," Alex said. "What happened!?"

Hau grimaced, rubbing the back of his head, and I noted his bright Alolan clothes were faded and ripped in several places. "We were supposed to really just investigate a little, and once we realized hopping between worlds and exploring wasn't that hard, we decided to fully spend our time looking for Lusamine."

He then froze, glancing around. "Wait, where's Lillie!?"

"Here," the man with the straw hat called over to us, helping Lillie to her feet, who was in an Aether uniform similar to Gladion's. She was shivering, eyes wide as she hugged herself. We all trudged over to her and Hau wrapped her in a hug.

"We'll get her back," he breathed, holding her tighter. "I promise. I promise."

Gladion glanced at him, decided Hau was busy, then cleared his throat as the redhead still clung to his middle. "Anyway, in a word, we got cocky. We were close to finding Lusamine when we realized we were deep in Ultra Space. The thing is about Ultra Space, it only gets weirder and more dangerous the further you are. Once we hit that alternate world overrun by UB-05 Glutton, or Guzzlord, we realized just how outmatched we were."

He patted the redhead's hair. "We found Isabelle there, living alone in a bunker designed to keep out radiation. She hardly speaks. I don't even know if she really knows how. Then we found him."

"Mohn," the straw hat guy nodded his head at us, having sat on a stump sticking out of the swampy water. "I'm their father and Lusamine's husband."

"Say that again?" Robert raised an eyebrow.

"He got lost in an Ultra Wormhole," Gladion quickly explained. "We found him in the Void Forest as he called it. But that aside, we did end up finding Lusamine." He struggled to find the words, then settled on, "It's bad, real bad. She's still combined with that UB-01 Symbiont, Nihilego. For as long as it's been, I don't know if we can bring her back at this point."

"We can," Lillie suddenly spoke up, anger creeping into her tone. She stepped away from Hau and towards her brother. "We can saver her still!"

"I'm trying to be reasonable here," Gladion tugged at his hair in frustration. "There's a very, very good chance that even if we do separate them, she'll just end up dying anyway!"

Lillie stamped her foot, spraying herself and Gladion with water, both not having seemed to notice. Isabelle shook her face at getting sprayed by the water, but continued to cling to Gladion.

"You never wanted to save mother!" Lillie screamed at him accusingly, jabbing a finger into his chest. "You believed she was better off left in Ultra Space! You only came along because I begged you! I wish you had stayed lost!"

Gladion's eyes widened as he took a step back, forcing Isabelle to readjust her position. "You-!? Lusamine beat you!" Spittle flew from his mouth, a look of shock and anger all over his red expression. "She abused you physically and mentally! Why would you want to save her!?"

"She is still my-!" Lillie started to yell, when, "ENOUGH!"

Clara's voice was loud enough to drown out Lillie, surprising both her and Gladion. She stepped in-between them, holding out her arms to keep them apart. "I have had it! My patience has worn thin and I've been a good little girl waiting for all you to catch up because apparently these three know you people and Pokemon falling from a hole in the sky! Now quit it with the bickering and shut the hell up!"

Lillie huffed and turned on her feet, facing away from her brother. Gladion scowled and turned his face away, then knelt and practically ripped open a backpack that definitely has seen better days. He got out a bar, ripped it open, and offered it to Isabelle, who cupped it with both hands and nibbled at it.

Hau rubbed the back of his head, awkward in the now tense atmosphere. "Okay, um,"

Mohn stood and placed a hand on Hau's shoulder. "I got this. They're my children and this is a family matter. You'll be involved one day, don't worry."

Hau's face went red and he waved his hand hurriedly. "Sure, handle it. Take all the time you need, sir!"

Mohn chuckled and went over to Lillie, leading her away from the main group. Hau heaved a sigh and sat down on the log Mohn had previously occupied.

"Sorry for all that," he apologized. "It's just been one thing after another lately."

"They going to be okay?" Robert looked between Lillie and Gladion.

Hau nodded. "Yeah, they will. Lillie didn't mean about what she said about wishing Gladion had stayed lost. She was worried sick up until we found the correct world he had fallen into." he looked up and his expression instantly reminded me of the other time I had seen him look like this. Back when we were on that boat heading to save Lillie at Aether Paradise.

Before Hau could say anything, I gave him a stern look. "Hau, you are not weak."

He hung his head, burying his face into his hands. "I am though. I failed miserably. I was barely able to protect Lillie and everyone else and I failed to rescue Lusamine. We only just managed to get through Nebby's wormhole. Hell, I don't even know why we ended here, wherever here is."

"Kalos," Dulse said, stepping forwards with Zossie at his side, examining a pop-up hologram map from his wrist, showing the region of Kalos. "Route 19 as it's called here."

"Hm..." Zossie swayed from side-to-side, hands clasped behind her back. "Generally Solgaleo and Lunala need to know where they're going based on memory and feelings. If not that, they borrow it from whoever they're travelling with so they can go where they wish to go." she looked at Hau. "I believe Nebby sensed in your heart that you needed your friends."

Hau looked up in surprise and I shared a smile with Alex and Robert. We already knew what we had to do.

"Hau," I looked him in the eyes. "We'll help."

"No," he shook his head. "I can't just drag you into this. This isn't your fight. I'll find a way."

"I'll?" Alex raised an eyebrow. "You're forgetting that it's just not you. You have everyone here plus us. Doing this alone isn't what's going to work."

"We're your friends," Robert smiled. "And friends help each other out, no matter what."

"Friends," Dulse gave a small smile. "That's a word I'm beginning to understand more."

"You better be you thick robot," Hau shook his head, slapping his knees before standing, and I could see some of Hala in him now. "Alright! If that's how you want to play this, then fine. I'll warn you though, it's going to be super dangerous. Death is very possible."

"When isn't it?" I smirked.

A melodic cry resounded and Nebby floated closer to me and knelt her head. I chuckled and rubbed her head. "Hey, Nebby. Blowing up bags whenever they try to trap you I hope?" She gave a cry and smiled.

Mohn had finished talking with Lillie a minute ago and was now finishing up with Gladion it seemed. Gladion seemed to sigh and nodded, then headed back over to me, Isabelle close behind. He held out a Master Ball. "Here. She's yours and you'll need her where we're going."

I accepted it and stared at it affectionately. I turned and held it out, opening it. A large bipedal Pokemon appeared in the swamp with mismatched legs and fur that was pure-white like the moon. She gave a beautiful cry upon seeing me, rushing forwards. She nearly barreled me over as I laughed. I hugged her and she licked and chewed on my hair with affection.

"Mahina," I said proudly. "It's good to see you girl."

"That's a Pokemon?" Clara bent to inspect Mahina.

I grinned. "The very best." I glanced back at Gladion. "Thanks for taking care of her."

"It was no problem," Gladion shook his head. "She's better around others now, but still sometimes cautious."

"Really?" I grinned, turning back to Mahina. "Don't be growing up too much without me you hear?" She growled affectionately and licked my hair again.

"Hey," I rubbed the back of her head. "How about when we get all this sorted out and saved Lusamine, want to travel with me again?"

Her fur seemed to brighten and she roared loudly. Laughing, I managed to stand without her jumping on me again. "That's settled then. Welcome back to the team, Mahina." I held out the Master Ball and she nudged it with her head, allowing herself to be sucked back into it. Once clipped to my waist, I looked back at Hau. "How soon do we leave?"

"Um...?" Hau rubbed the back of his head, glancing around at his group.

"The Ultra Recon Squad assigned as Champion Hau's guides are ready to head back into Ultra Space," Dulse said, nodding.

"Solgaleo and Nebby are back to peak condition as well," Zossie spoke up from where she was at tending to the two Legendary Pokemon. "Opening up another couple Ultra Wormholes should be no issue."

Hau nodded and turned to Gladion and Isabelle. "Will she be okay?"

"I have to go," Gladion said, glancing down at the redhead. "And she won't want to leave my side. I'll protect her, don't worry."

"I'm ready," Lillie came up to Hau's side, nodding confidently before turning to Alex, Robert, and I and bowed her head slightly. "Sorry for earlier." When her head came back up, she was smiling brightly. "It's really good to see you three again after so long."

"Aw," Alex stepped forwards, wrapping her in a hug. "You are still precious, Lillie. We'll get her back."

"We'll do our best to save your mother," I put a hand on Lillie's shoulder. "But I can't make any guarantees."

She nodded, eyes downcast. "I know."

Mohn cracked his neck. "Alright then, into the breach once more."

Hau grinned, hands on hips as he gazed at his crew. When he glanced back at us, he wore a broad smile. "We can do it this time, I'm sure of it! Let's do this, Zeno! Like old times!" He held out his fist and I pumped it with my own.

"Just like old times," I agreed, grinning.

"Wait wait," Clara shook her head, staring at Hau. "You're a Champion!?"

"Now you ask that?" Hau raised an eyebrow, still grinning. "Yeah, I'm the Champion of Alola, the person who managed to beat Zeno for the title." Clara blinked as Hau turned to look up at Nebby. "We're ready. Back to Lusamine. This time we save her."

Nebby gave a cry and another Ultra Wormhole blasted into existence in front of us, this time on ground level.

"We'll be back," I told Clara, patting her on the shoulder. "Wait for us will you?"

"Like hell," she rolled her eyes. "I'm coming with you all."

"You sure?" I was slightly surprised. "It'll be dangerous and I don't even know if we'll make it back."

Clara shook her head. "I'm not sure. That's why I'm going."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Robert chortled, walking past her.

I stared at her. "You don't have to do this to prove yourself."

"Maybe you don't think I need to," Clara's eyes looked distant for a moment. "But I need to."

I nodded slowly. "Alright then. Just make sure not to die."

She nodded as Hau called out, "Come on if you're coming. The sooner we do this the better." He stood in front of the wormhole, the energy from it blowing his hair slightly. No longer was the boy who had been unsure of himself back in Alola. Now he was the Champion of Alola and crosser of worlds. Here was a man who had surpassed me long ago.

Man, even after writing a 6000+ chapter a day ago, I was so hyped for this two parter I couldn't just hold back. I hope you enjoyed this reunion and can't wait to see the second part! I might even get that one out later depending on what I'll be doing the rest of the day. So until then. Oh, and Dark likely won't be updated again for a while due to me trying to finish this book as fast as possible. We'll see though. We'll see. So, for now, Toodles!