RISE TO THE CHALLENGE

Prologue


Disclaimer: I do not own either of the franchises featured in this crossover. Pokemon is owned by Game Freak and Monster Hunter is owned by Capcom.


The Alola region – an exotic archipelago whose balmy climate, picturesque landscapes, and naturally friendly locals come together to form the perfect natural paradise. The islands' great natural bounty, protected by the four guardian deities, has long fueled the development of a lackadaisical and generous culture among the natives. Their strong sense of community and belief in an intimate relationship with their land have only encouraged the growth of a bustling tourist industry as they welcome droves of foreigners, who flock yearly to their tropical jungles and sparkling coastlines. It is in the Alolans' nature to share their region's treasures with others, to the point where even the wild Pokemon are treated as family, and so tourism is not simply tolerated, but encouraged.

Unfortunately, not all visitors arrive with the best of intentions.

In recent years, strange happenings have plagued the otherwise idyllic Alola region, as mysterious portals called Ultra Wormholes serve as the gateways for even more mysterious creatures to invade. These "Ultra Beasts" carry with them the potential for great destruction, and left unchecked, may spell an end to the peace Alola has enjoyed for centuries. However, unwilling to sit idly by and let ruin befall their beloved home, the Alolans have teamed with the resourceful Aether Foundation to form the Ultra Guardians, whose sole mission is to capture and rehabilitate these wayward creatures. Through the efforts of these elite Pokemon Trainers, several Ultra Beasts have already been thwarted, and the region's tranquility perpetuated.

But, as a plume of smoke now rises above the skyline of Melemele Island's Hau'oli City to herald Alola's latest threat, it seems as though the call to celebrate might have come too soon…


"Kiawe, look out!"

A dark-skinned young man yanked on his Charizard's saddle, pulling the flying lizard out of the way of a sizzling fireball that hurtled through the air with a deadly hiss. Charizard's wings thrashed to keep its bulky form stable, and it snarled at the near miss while Kiawe struggled to maintain balance. Despite the circumstances, the Ultra Guardian grinned toward the speaker and gave a merry thumbs-up, eyes blazing with their signature competitive fire.

"Thanks for the heads up!" he shouted back, before spurring his Pokemon back into the battle raging in the skies.

His savior was Ash Ketchum, the only member of the Ultra Guardians to hail from the distant Kanto region. Though his blood was foreign, he shared a love of people and passion for justice that drove him to fight just as hard as his Alolan friends for the safety of their home. It was with an anger fueled by this very passion that he glared at the smoldering crater that the fireball had just punched in a nearby skyscraper. Destruction of this scale was unthinkable to him, even more so the intent behind it.

"Let's go, Garchomp!" Ash declared, and his own Ride Pokemon sprung from the roof it had been resting on, soaring toward the ongoing action.

The fireball's lingering smoke trail led them straight to the source – an Ultra Beast of a mind-boggling scale, a dragon-like creature whose wings spanned the breadth of a small airplane. Ruby scales packed into a segmented shell glistened around its head and all the way down to its tail, a truck-sized weapon that bristled with long spines. Talons tucked birdlike against its belly, it hovered above Hau'oli City with its flexible neck arched and beady eyes scanning for its enemies. When Ash and the other Guardians had encountered it, it had already carved a swathe of destruction through the streets, cars crumpled and entire walls of buildings reduced to rubble.

But any terror borne from the sheer might of this Ultra Beast had long been consumed by the determination to best a strong foe. His voice rang with such determination as he called, "Mallow and Sophocles, I need backup! Garchomp, hit it with a Fire Blast!"

While the Dragon-and-Ground-type spewed a star-shaped missile of flames, two other Ultra Guardians – a stocky blonde boy and tall green-haired girl – moved their Metang and Flygon into position at Garchomp's flanks and launched their own projectiles. The three-pronged assault speared straight and true toward the stationary Ultra Beast, which snapped its jaws at Kiawe and Charizard. As it swung its head, though, it caught sight of the incoming danger and abandoned its attack mid-bite, instead rearing back and blowing a torrent of fire. The curtain rolled across the sky and swallowed up the opposing flames without even slowing down, forcing the Ultra Guardians to break formation and flee.

Ash drove Garchomp down, under the flames whose heat washed uncomfortably over his back. As they arced back upwards, they passed a building where the last two Ultra Guardians had set up a temporary medical station. Lillie and Lana scurried this way and that to tend to their unconscious Ride Pokemon, both wounded by the beast's previous attacks. In the split second he had to observe them, Ash felt a pang of concern for his friends, toiling with worry in their hearts to undo the damage that had been dealt. Then they were gone, left far behind him for the sight of smoking rooftops staining the blue sky with pillars of black.

"Ash!" a voice called to him, and he turned to see Kiawe and Charizard breaking through the haze of smoke to join him in flight. Kiawe had a focused scowl on his face as he reported, "I have a plan! Sophocles and Mallow are going to join us and herd the Ultra Beast toward the Wormhole, then on my signal, we'll shove it through with everything we've got!"

Unconsciously, Ash cast his gaze skyward, craning his neck to glimpse the Ultra Wormhole gaping above the battlefield. Pale, eerie light emanated from a crack in spacetime itself – the hole had an entrance but seemingly no exit, simply fading into nothingness. The way light pulsed from the Wormhole's throat made Ash's gut twist in on itself, telling him that it was unnatural and shouldn't exist. He didn't know how, but he could tell that the Wormhole was a danger and a disturbance, one that would only be fixed once the beast it had summoned was back on the other side.

Ash's eyes hardened as his desire to bring this battle to an end came back in full force. He turned back to Kiawe and nodded, his Garchomp mimicking the gesture. "Sounds like a plan to me! We'll give it our full power and push it into the Wormhole!"

"Pikachu!" His lifelong Pokemon partner, stationed on his shoulder as always, spoke up for the first time. Pikachu's cry rang out in a perfect mirror of his Trainer's feelings. Ash grinned at hearing his partner's support, brimming with confidence, and joined Kiawe, Mallow, and Sophocles as they brought their Ride Pokemon into a V-formation. The four peeled away from their target at first, needing more distance for their strategy to work, but soon swerved towards it again in an upwards trajectory, the Ultra Wormhole in their sights.

"Alright, get it into position!" Kiawe barked, leaning forward as they began to accelerate.

"B-But we don't know for sure if it'll work!" Sophocles protested. There was sweat visible on his brow. "An Ultra B-Beast of this s-size and weight –"

"It'll be fine!" Mallow interrupted him, fiercely. "Flygon, speed up and hit it from the side with Rock Slide!"

The Ultra Beast saw them coming and screeched, spitting two fireballs down the middle of the formation. Ash and Kiawe, at the center of the wedge, urged their Pokemon to dive under, while Mallow and Sophocles split from the group, their Flygon and Metang arcing toward the draconic creature's flank. Flygon conjured glowing boulders around it that it then sent flying with a flick of its tail. While the Ultra Beast flinched at the Rock Slide that battered its wing, Metang jetted ahead of its partner to send a radiant Flash Cannon lancing into the beast's side.

Ash was bracing against the wind, barely able to breathe at the speed Garchomp was now flying, when he saw the resultant explosions push the Ultra Beast into his line of sight. Its wings now blocked his view of the Ultra Wormhole; it was in perfect position. He gripped Garchomp's saddle and grinned even wider, knowing that they were close. He shouted to Pikachu, to Garchomp, the wind taking the words away but not the spirit. This was it: the moment of victory, the end of –

"HEEELLLP!"

Claws suddenly lashed out, snatching the passing Flygon right out of the air. The Pokemon shrieked in terror as it thrashed in the Ultra Beast's deadly grip, its cries only drowned out by the screams of its rider. Mallow was pinned against the saddle, barely visible under the talons that curled around Flygon's body like a Pinsir's jaws around a Metapod.

Ash's eyes widened at the sight, though for a different reason than just the horror of his friend in peril. No – at the speed they were going, him and Kiawe wouldn't be able to stop in time. In just seconds, they'd reach the Ultra Beast, ramming it with enough force to send it back inside the Wormhole. Only a short distance ahead of them, the Ultra Beast's vast wings beat a thundering rhythm, a snarl on its beaked snout as it stared them down. But now, even if they succeeded in their mission, Mallow would be taken with it. Something needed to be done now!

The flash of sunlight striking steel announced the arrival of Sophocles, rocketing to Mallow's rescue. "Metang, Flash Cannon!" he ordered, his voice cracking with desperation.

The Steel-and-Psychic-type heard the command and prepared to fire, but so did the Ultra Beast. Its head whipped around, sparks already blazing between its teeth, and it unleashed a roaring fireball. Immediately, Metang broke off its approach and darted aside, inspiring a yell of shock from Sophocles even as they avoided their burning demise.

A surge of panic flooded Ash's heart as a saucer of blue-green metal appeared before him, and his head-on attack became a collision course. "NO, WAIT, SOPHO–"

Impact flung him from his seat, jarring enough to rattle his bones. His ears were filled with the sound of his own blood racing through them, while in the background a faint cacophony of white noise squeezed his head like a vise. His vision was a blur of disorganized shape and color, a kaleidoscope of blue and grey and red and black tumbling over each other as the world spun end over end.

Without warning, the chaotic display was overtaken by a blaze of searing white. His own shout, joined by that of Pikachu, echoed from someplace far away.

Then, mercifully, darkness descended, and Ash ceased to think.


AN:

Salutations, greetings, and many great hellos!

This rather unorthodox fanfic is an inspired attempt to simultaneously improve some of the mishandled character arcs in the Pokemon Sun + Moon anime and indulge in my own desire to see the Pokemon and Monster Hunter worlds collide. Because Pokemon enjoys far more exposure and popularity, I am writing this story with Pokemon fans in mind, those who likely have rudimentary knowledge of Monster Hunter, to be as inclusive as possible. I sincerely hope that readers that follow the Pokemon anime will appreciate the much different world of Monster Hunter as portrayed here.

Something I want to clear up right off the bat – while Pokemon has a few concrete incarnations of its world (the games, anime, and manga), Monster Hunter "canon" is far more ambiguous and largely left up to fan interpretation. My primary sources of inspiration will be the mainline game Monster Hunter Rise and spinoff game Monster Hunter Stories, but ultimately I'll be spinning my own take on the world, especially with regards to geography.

Special thanks to my good friend Viroro (present on this site as Viroro_kun) for help with planning this story, and for proof-reading the early drafts. Hope you enjoy the finished product, buddy!

Reviews are appreciated, as well as any feedback/constructive criticism that you care to offer. Thanks, readers!

Next time: Arrival