The question and answer session is now available for viewing on my profile page. And with perfect timing, since this story just passed 20,000 views! I'm astounded and very thankful to you all. Give it a read if you're interested and let me know what you think. Otherwise, here's a new chapter slightly ahead of schedule. Enjoy!

Chapter 45: Temple Traversing Troubles

~Celestial Island~

SMACK!

Necrozma's head slammed into glass table, shattering it instantly. His ethereal body flopped to the ground. Zero pressed down harder on his skull, making him squeal. "Muh-mistress, stop it! I was just… doing what you wanted. I needed more light. Can you blame me?"

Zero's outstretched paw flickered in and out of existence. The distortion spread to Necrozma's body and he began screeching loudly. "You overstepped your boundaries, Necky. The Prism Virus is after Legendaries. Only Legendaries," she growled. Her crystalline claws dug into the armor covering Necrozma's head. An eerie noise reverberated through the room.

"Skreeeeep! I'm sorry, mistress. I couldn't control myself. So many Pokémon… so much light! I had to eat it all. It helped send the pain away," Necrozma sputtered, his body spasming under Zero's grip. "How is it any different… from what you did to Sylveon and Eevee, huh?"

"The Prism Virus is trying to make a better world and that will all go to waste if there are no Pokémon to inhabit it," Zero growled. "I don't care how 'hungry' you claim to be. Exercise a little restraint. Or I'll be forced to renege on our agreement."

Necrozma's jolted in surprise. Zero clamped down on his head even harder. "No… you wouldn't. You promised I'd get my light back!" he barked. "I must devour it! I must consume it!"

"Then do as I tell you to," Zero ordered. She released her grip on Necrozma and stood back up, dusting off her armor. She glanced at the octahedron in her staff, her red eye flickering with rainbow light. "Once I've reshaped the world, I can try to bring back the mortal Pokémon you so recklessly did away with."

"I won't let you!" Necrozma shouted, floating into the air and spreading his wings apart. "They're all part of me now. I can feel their spirits inside me… wriggling around! Filling the emptiness you left me with. I won't give them back. Their spirits… they're too succulent!"

"You should have thought about that before crashing into me in Glyphic Falls," Zero snapped. "You have no one but yourself to blame for your current situation."

"Me?" Necrozma glared at Zero. "You're the one keeping my light hostage! This is all on your head!" He wrapped his wings over his body to stop his arms from spasming. "If you didn't have my Ultranecrozmera I'd annihilate you on the spot! You don't care about me at all, do you?"

"You're not exactly my idea of a good friend, Necky," Zero said, tapping her staff.

Necrozma's red eyes flashed ominously. "I knew it. Even with all my light powering you, you can't stand me!" He floated back and shook his head violently. He dragged his wing-claws across his forehead. "All of you… are the same. Every time I try to do something good… to make someone happy… they don't care! They try to get rid of me!" He craned his head down look Zero in the eye. "Maybe… I shouldn't wait. My core… you've drained it. But better a greatly-damaged core than no core at all!"

Zero snarled and raised her staff. Dark energy swirled around it. "If you try anything funny, I'll yank your tiny spirit fragment out of Lunala and obliterate it. And before you laugh it off, look at how well I've done since I melded part of your spirit to Lunala's. I have control of my body back." Her eye narrowed. "Like it or not, you need me around if you want free will."

Necrozma opened his mouth to retort, only to shut it. He floated away from Zero, gnashing his teeth together. "Then what is your order… mistress."

"You know what I want. Go to Aurora Vale. Get the Dawn Hourglass from Tapu Lele," Zero said. "No dawdling. And none of your stupid little games. Do whatever you feel is necessary. And if you encounter any unexpected opposition…" Her eye narrowed and she clenched her free paw. "… get rid of it."

"As you wish, mistress," Necrozma said, giving a comically overexaggerated bow. "Anything else?"

"I need an Ultra Wormhole stabilized to the base of Mt. Thunder," Zero instructed, gesturing beside her.

"Oh? And why should I waste my light doing that?"

"Because it's time I paid Zapdos a visit. He owes me some answers," Zero said, eye flashing dark blue. "Now, do as you're told!"

Necrozma lazily raised his arm and pointed it beside Zero. An Ultra Wormhole popped up next to her. Zero raised her staff and slammed it against the ground. A yellow and black blur shot through the room, disappearing into the wormhole. Seconds later, Dragonite fluttered back out of it. She dusted off the black, armored helmet on her head, exposing an insignia of a broken red heart. The same sigil appeared on each of her black, crystalline wings, superimposed on Necrozma's star icon.

"That's Mt. Thunder all right," Dragonite said, keeping her electric-blue eyes focus on Necrozma. The Xurkitree-like antennae sticking out of her helmet bobbed up and down in front of her face.

"Come now. What, did you think I was going to open a portal into the mouth of a volcano or something?" Necrozma sneered.

"Yes," Zero replied. "Now, stop dawdling and leave."

Necrozma grinned. "Very well. After all, I wouldn't want to arrive at the Temple of Mind too… Tapu Le-late! Heeheeheehee!' He turned and gave a flap of his wings. A second Ultra Wormhole opened in front of Necrozma and he flew right into it. The portal shut behind him before he could see Zero rubbing her temple.

"Mistress, if I may?" Dragonite spoke up, tapping her talons on her black, heart-shaped chest plate. "Why are you still putting up with him? Is Necrozma really that essential, here?"

Zero tightened her grip on her scepter. "Yes," she seethed. "Loathe as I am to admit it, his Ultranecrozmera is the only thing keeping me alive." She nudged her helmet. "It's taking every ounce of willpower to keep his broken spirit subdued inside of me. It's trying to wrestle away control of my own body. If I try to kill the part of Necky's spirit I corrupted Lunala with, I'm confident his core will fly into a violent rage that I won't be able to stop."

Dragonite's eyes widened. She opened her mouth, only to freeze. After a moment of silence, she finally asked, "Okay, how does that work?"

"It's all about balance… or imbalance," Zero hissed. "Necky is barely who he thinks he is. That's Lunala's body, Lunala's mind, and Lunala's spirit. I drained a small portion of Necky's life energy from his core into Lunala. And then I transferred all of Necky's memories to her. Thus, Lunala's infected by Necrozma." She shook her head. "I can't lie… having Ultra Wormholes at our disposal is immensely helpful."

"But Necrozma's growing harder to control," Dragonite pointed out. "He could undo everything we're working for."

"I'm aware of that," Zero snapped. "Which is why we just need to beat him to the punch. Did you find what I asked for?"

Dragonite produced a worn, tattered book from inside her chest plate. "Yup. It was in the researchers' old room, just like you thought." She handed the book over to Zero, who started flipping through it. "But what's that dusty old thing going to help us accomplish?"

Zero froze mid-page turn and looked down. Her lone eye slowly widened. "I'll have to look this over more thoroughly while we're climbing Mt. Thunder. But, I might have found a way to keep the world's daylight and dispose of Necrozma in one fell swoop."

She held up the book, allowing Dragonite to see the page it was turned to. It held a drawing of a green, compass-like rune with spokes poking out of it. And in the rune's center sat a silver, six-pronged gear.

~Aurora Vale~

Magearna's invention popped up out of a golden portal. Four balls of light arced up from the metal plate. They landed on the ground and burst apart. A single member of Team Radiance emerged from each one. "Ooooooogh," Tessa groaned, clutching at her stomach. "I think–" She threw a paw over her muzzle and belched. "–we made it."

Shane's face looked a particularly off shade of yellow. "All in favor of never doing that again?"

"Aye!" his teammates shouted in unison.

"Great. Motion passes unanimously. Go team," Shane deadpanned, before collapsing on his belly, stars swirling around his vision.

"So, this is Aurora Vale?" Mimikyu asked. He hunched down, trying to keep the winds from blowing off his disguise. "I didn't think it'd be so… cold."

"That would be thanks to the Prism Virus," Silvally exclaimed. His appendages glowed dark red, signifying he'd taken on the mantle of a fire-type. Steam rose off his body as harsh, snowy winds made contact. His gaze fell on the monolith, which still towered over the end area of the dungeon.

"How would a temple even hide here, anyway?" Mimikyu wondered. "This place is wide open." He noticed Silvally giving him a skeptical look. "Eep! Sorry! I didn't mean to ask a stupid question."

A frightened squeak drew Silvally's attention. He and Shane turned around and noticed Tessa's gaze had fallen toward the ground. "Sylveon… Eevee…" she whimpered, jamming her eyes shut and shivering. Unpleasant memories flashed through her mind, prompting her aura feelers to shoot up.

Her teammates raced forward. Silvally reached her side first and bent over, nestling the side of her cheek. "It's okay, Riolu," he whispered. "You're safe right now. You're with friends. And only friends."

"I know. I know," Tessa said. "I just…" Her digits dug into the ice. "I can't stop thinking about them. About Zero! When she had me in her grip and I–"

Shane stepped beside her and gave her a nudge in Silvally's direction. "You should stick with the big guy. He can keep you warm this time." He looked down at Tessa, but she continued shivering. "Hey," he said, taking her chin in his forepaw and swiveling her head to face him, "I know it sucks to be back here. But we have to press on and find the temple. The sooner we get to it, the sooner we get out of this place. That's what you want, right?"

Tessa's reply consisted of a sniffle. She stood up and rubbed her eyes with her arm. "Stay close to me… please," she whispered, putting her left paw against Silvally's knee. Silvally nodded and they started walked forward in unison.

"How do you suppose we even summon this temple, anyway?" Shane wondered. "The Guildmaster said I should be able to use my Looplet to do something, right?" He stuck out his foreleg and shouted, "Open sesame!" His teammates all gave him confused looks. "Crud. That didn't work. Let's see here…" His brow furrowed. "How about this? By the power of the looplet, show me the temple!"

Again, nothing but silence followed.

"Uh, Tapu Barada Nikto?" Shane mumbled, flicking his forepaw ahead of him much less confidently.

"I don't think it's working," Silvally observed.

"Darn, those ideas always worked in movies," Shane grumbled. "And I can't just hold my looplet up to the sun and expect a magical beam of light to point us the right way since, well, there's no sun over this dungeon anymore."

Mimikyu looked up and his eyes nearly bugged out of his costume at the sight of the red vortex swirling through the sky. "Bwaaaah! That thing in the sky's going to eat us," he panicked, fleeing behind Silvally for cover.

"Wouldn't we already be dead then?" Silvally thought aloud.

"This isn't getting us anywhere," Tessa growled. "If only we could get something more concrete from the ruins in Glyphic Falls."

"It's a bit late for that," Shane said. He was nearly at the end of the clearing, approaching a large sheet of ice. "I guess we just need to comb through the snow and see if we find anyth–OOF!"

Shane struck an invisible wall. His teammates did double-takes while he fell back on his rear, snout bright red and throbbing. "Ow, ow!" he whined, sticking his snout in the snow. "What kind of obnoxious jerk puts a barrier right there of all places?" He rubbed the bridge of his snout, completely ignoring the fact that the gem on his looplet had started glowing.

"Shane, look. Your looplet's reacting!" Tessa called out. Silvally grabbed her and Mimikyu. He trotted toward Shane. Shane looked down at his looplet just in time for a bright flash of light to erupt out of it and startle him. Silvally immediately broke into a run. But the blinding flash forced him to skid to a halt. Luckily, the light died down quickly. Shane looked up and his eyes widened as the previously invisible barrier revealed itself to be a bright pink doorway.

Shane shuffled back along the ground. He nearly fell onto his back from craning his neck up to look at the large, neon-pink building that now sat embedded in the wall of ice. Hanging above the massive doorway was the very same insignia Team Radiance's exploration badges had emblazoned upon them.

"Guys. I, uh, think we just found the temple," Mimikyu noted.

"This is Tapu Lele's place?" Shane gasped. "This is no temple. This is more like one of those ritzy Beverly Hill mansions!" He looked over at Tessa. "Are the Tapus celebrities or something?"

"Um, not that I know of," Tessa replied, staring in awe at the building. The group continued to take in the sights of the temple's exterior in complete silence. "So, do we just go up and knock?"

"I don't see any other way in," Silvally replied. "I nominate Shane to do it!"

"What?" Shane's tails shot between his legs. "Why me? You're so gung-ho about it. You go!"

"I don't have the Naturia Looplet," Silvally pointed out, his tone far too enthusiastic for Shane's liking.

"But what if there's some sort of, I dunno, evil security system?" Shane wondered. "Places like these tend to have things like that."

"Then you have us to back you up," Silvally encouraged. Mimikyu poked his head out from behind Silvally and waved a raggedy hand at Shane.

"My heroes," Shane deadpanned, walking up toward the doorway. "Just so you know, if something bad happens to me, I'm not letting you guys hear the end of this."

"Love you too!" Silvally shouted back, giving Shane the closest he could manage to a thumb's up with his talons.

Shane took a deep breath and rapped the door three times. Loud, metal clangs echoed through the valley. Shane hastily retreated from the door, crouching low into a fighting stance. But, to his surprise, nothing happened. He was about to turn and say something to his teammates, when the door slowly swung inward. A loud creak sounded. Shane's fur frizzled in displeasure. His ears reflexively curled against his forehead. He looked into the open doorway, but couldn't see anything inside. He gulped. "W-Well? I got it open. Are you guys coming or what?"

Silvally bounded toward him, stopping to let Tessa and Mimikyu disembark. The foursome slowly made their way inside the temple and the door closed behind them. Seconds after the door finished closing, a trail of shadows raced down the ice wall and slipped into some cracks along the side of the temple.

"Heeheeheehee. Time for Dr. Necrozma to make his first house call!"

~The Temple of Mind~

Team Radiance stood in the shadow of the massive doorway, staring into the spacious room that they entered. Sparkling pink and black tiles lines the floor, giving way to walls and a ceiling that looked as if Tapu Lele had ripped it out of the night sky. "This is… really not what I was expecting," Tessa muttered. She took a step forward and the tile beneath her started glowing.

"I'll say." Shane let out a whistle. "Yo, Tapu Lele! Olympia called, she wants her gym's decor back."

"What's an Olympia?" Silvally asked.

"Another human world thing," Shane replied.

"You know, it defeats the purpose of making a quip if you're the only one who can understand it," Silvally scoffed, joining Tessa on the tile floor. The tile underneath him lit up and a ball of light formed up in the center of the room.

"Uh oh. I think Shane was right about a security trap," Mimikyu gulped, skirting back toward the door. However, the light disappeared, revealing a cube standing twice as tall as Silvally. Its outline was made of tough metal, while its interior had pink, curved glass. Mimikyu's head lolled to the side. "Um, that's not very scary," he muttered.

"What's it doing here?" Tessa wondered.

As if to answer, a beam of pink light descended from the cluster of stars on the ceiling. It struck the top face of the cube. Light then shot out its four other faces. Tessa's eyes widened at the sight of a pink beam flying toward her. She dived onto the floor and the light whizzed by her seconds later. She rolled onto her back and looked into the beam, breath coming in short rasps. "That thing nearly torched me!" she gasped, paw resting on her chest. "Guys, you need to be care–"

Shane stepped out of the light, a confused look on his face. Tessa's muzzle went agape. "Sorry. Did you say something?" he asked.

Tessa's face flushed. She got to her feet, brushing herself off. "Nope. Must have been your imagination," she lied. "Anyway, I guess we should move on?"

"Uh, guys? I don't think we can go much of anywhere," Silvally called, pointing a talon ahead of him. His teammates looked toward the other side of the room where a pink, cast iron door stood. A heavy metal lock hung over the door. No keyhole could be seen in it, but each of the chains holding the lock in place contained a different colored crystal.

"Pink, red, purple, and white," Shane stated. He raised his forepaw and snapped his digits. "I've got it. We've just got to use psychic, fire, poison, and ice-type moves in unison on the door. I'll supply the ice. And… uh…" He looked over at his teammates, focusing on Tessa and Mimikyu in particular. "Hey, Silvally, I don't suppose you can, like, clone yourself, can you?"

"That sounds crazy," Silvally replied. "But I'm willing to try!"

Tessa's eyes widened and she jumped in front of Shane. "Or… or we could try solving this puzzle to open the door," she suggested.

"What puzzle?" Shane asked. Tessa grabbed his head and pivoted it to the right. Shane noticed a purple statue of a round Pokémon with a conical hat on its head. "Um, do we have to guess who that's a statue of?"

"No. And it's Tapu Lele," Tessa said. "But there are three other statues, and their colors all match the gems on the locks."

Shane nodded in understanding. "Oh, I think I get it. We've got to get the light to shine on the statues. That'll activate the crystals, break the lock, and open the door." He approached the purple Tapu Lele statue. "Could be worse. We could've had to assemble the statue of the Shrine of the Silver Monkey. Then we'd never get out of here alive."

"Hate to… urrrrrgh… interrupt your human reminiscing… unnnnngh… but you want to give me a hand trying to move this thing?"

Shane turned around to see Mimikyu trying (and failing) to push the block in the center of the room. "This thing's… really heavy…" he groaned. Silvally walked up beside him and pressed his head against the block. It immediately started sliding along the floor, causing Mimikyu to fall forward onto his face. "Aha… ha… that's just 'cuz I softened it up for you."

But by pushing the block forward, Silvally had moved it out from underneath the light. He shut his eyes and walked out from the light beam. "Okay, that's really bright," he said. "But, beyond that, how are we supposed to move the light beam to keep up with the block?"

Tessa and Shane both scanned the room, looking for anything suspicious. "There, by the door," Shane declared, and jogged in the direction he was looking. A large white floor tile sat at the base of the door, with four directional arrows positioned on its edges. "Ten Poké says these move whatever's generating that light."

"I'm not taking that bet. It's pretty obvious," Tessa scoffed.

Shane pouted. "Fine, ruin my fun." He stepped onto the arrow pointing toward the main entrance. Sure enough, the light beam moved further away from the box. "Right, so I suppose the best way to do this is first to position the block so the glass faces the four statues, and then move the light beam to shine on the cube."

His teammates nodded their approval. Tessa ran over toward Shane and proceeded to give directions to Silvally, who pushed the block around the room. When she was satisfied with its placement on the tile floor, she and Mimikyu helped their teammate rotate the block so that each its faces pointed toward one of the statues. "You're up, Shane," Tessa called, stepping back from the cube.

Shane nodded and turned toward the up-facing arrow. He was about to step on it, when its color shifted from pink to red. "Huh?" He cocked his head in confusion, but pressed a forepaw to the arrow.

"Hey! What are you doing? You're moving it in the wrong direction," Tessa barked. Shane looked over his shoulder, and realized the light had indeed move down, putting it further away from the cube. He glanced back at the arrow, which had turned pink again. He cautiously pressed it a second time. When he looked back over his shoulder, he spotted the light moving in the correct direction.

'Oh, I see. If I press the arrows while they're pink, the light moves in the same direction. But if I press them while they're red, it goes in the opposite direction. Great, I always hated timing-based puzzles,' he thought. Shane carefully used the up and right arrows to slowly move the light in the cube's direction, pausing whenever the arrows turned red to avoid getting confused.

"What's taking so long? Why do you keep stopping?" Tessa asked. Shane explained the timing mechanics to her, and then resumed moving the light fixture. Eventually, he maneuvered it atop the cube. Light beams spilled out from its sides. Each beam struck one of the Tapu Lele statues. They lit up with their respective colors. Bright light filled Shane's vision, forcing him to shut his eyes and look away from the door. Overhead, the colored crystals on the locks glowed as bright as their corresponding statues. They shattered simultaneously. Shane backpedaled from the door, opening his eyes in time to see the massive metal chains fall to the ground with a set of heavy thuds.

The large door opened inward, and fine pink mist spilled out from inside. Shane's muzzle twitched and he couldn't help but take a whiff of the air. A blush fell over his cheeks. "Guh," he grunted. "That smells great! Better than one of Steenee's Sweet Scents, even."

"I agree," Tessa said. "But don't let it go to your head. What if it's meant to distract Pokémon? Y'know, get them to lower their guard or something?"

Shane's ears twitched. He rapidly shook his head and slapped his cheek with a forepaw. "You're absolutely right. This isn't the time for playing 'Guess That Smell.' We have to forge on ahead!" He stiffened his muzzle and stomped through the doorway.

Mimikyu turned to Tessa. "Is 'Guess That Smell' really a thing?"

Tessa shrugged and followed her teammate through the doorway. The next room of the temple contained an identical puzzle to the first room. Only this time, there were mirrors scattered around the floor. This proved to hinder Team Radiance's progress, as there were a couple of instances where they believed they had solved the puzzle, only for a mirror to get in their way. It wasn't until Tessa made the suggestion that they try using some of the mirrors to reflect the light at the statues that they were able to figure the second puzzle out and move on.

The temple's third floor held another light puzzle. But this time, the floor was broken up by a staircase. Two of the statues sat on the upper level, while two of them sat on the lower level. In addition to this, unseen forces levitated the mirrors in midair. After several minutes of standing about, bewildered, Silvally noticed certain tiles on the floor glowing blue. Pressing one caused a nearby mirror to pivot, adjusting its angle. A quick brainstorming session followed. The result of which being that Team Radiance pushed the single cube onto the staircase, and used the mirrors to direct the light toward both the upper and lower levels of the floor.

"We better be done with this nonsense," Shane groaned as he followed his teammates into the door. "What's next? Having to do this puzzle with zero gravity?"

"Don't say that. You'll jinx us!" Mimikyu squeaked.

"Uh, something tells me we don't need to worry about doing another one of those puzzles," Tessa said, stopping dead in her tracks. Her teammates paused beside her and looked across the room.

The tiled floor was gone, replaced by marble. It gave the floor the appearance of a star-filled sky, just like the walls and ceilings in the previous rooms. Pink tapestries descended from the ceiling. Their golden trims made them sparkle in the light of the purple chandelier hanging from the ceiling, bathing the room in a soft lavender glow. At the other end of the room stood a massive black wall. Light reflected off the wall's numerous glass tiles.

"Huh. Y'know, when you guys kept mentioning that the Tapus are 'Land Spirits,' I got the idea that their homes would be rather… rustic. And this is anything but rustic," Shane mused. "It's like I'm in some prissy noblewoman's castle. I bet Tapu Lele's going to ride down and greet us in a Rapidash-drawn carriage."

"Don't be ridiculous," Tessa scoffed. "Rapidash aren't native to Horizon."

Shane faceplanted onto the ground. "That's all you took from what I was saying?"

"It's unimportant," Tessa dismissed. "What we need to focus on is finding a way forward."

"But the only door in here is the one we came through," Mimikyu pointed out. "Oh no… what if this is actually a dead end?"

"Calm down, dude. There's no way this is a dead end," Shane insisted, walking toward the center of the room. "If this was a dead end, then we would have already triggered some sort of–"

Shane stepped on the room's center tile and a puddle of black shadows materialized right in front of him.

"–trap?" He let out a squeak and hastily backpedaled toward his teammates.

"Heeheeheehee. What's this? It seems I have guests!"

Silvally's eyes narrowed. "I don't think Tapu Lele's the only other 'mon in this temple. And that sure doesn't sound like someone dropping by for a friendly visit."

Shane's ears stuck straight up. "Wa-wait, I recognize that voice." His eyes widened and he turned around, running up and pushing his teammates. "We've gotta get out of here. Quick, Tessa, grab an Escape Orb and let's–"

Necrozma appeared beside Shane, sending him scrambling back with a yelp. "Hold up. There's no need to walk out on me. I'm just… passing through. Please… don't mind me. After all… no one else does." His wings twitched and he lifted up an Escape Orb. Tessa's eyes widened and she frantically started digging through her item bag.

"Hey, that's ours! Give it back."

Necrozma clenched his fist and the Escape Orb shattered. "Oops! Looks like the Voice of Life's light has made me rather clumsy. I really should be more careful." He shook his head. "Tell you what. Since you're all with Shane, I'll make it up to you!" His use of Shane's real name drew alarmed looks from everyone on Team Radiance.

"Wait." Silvally's eyes widened. "Those black crystals… you're the Guiding Light, aren't you? You're Necrozma!"

The realization made Tessa's aura feelers shoot up in fright. Likewise, Shane shuffled backwards, tails falling between his legs. 'He knows my name. He knows. My. Name. Why does he know that? Is he reading my mind right now?'

"Where's my mom?" Tessa demanded, her voice wavering. "I... I know you did something to her! Give her back!"

"Your mother? Well, I have run into a Lucario many times," Necrozma declared to Tessa's abject horror. "But I left her alone. She seemed... perfectly happy to be on her own. I think... she was like me. She realized... how stupid... relationships are. Friends... family... they don't mean anything. Heeheeheehee."

Tessa shivered. "No... you're lying!" she squeaked.

Silvally took a defensive stance in front of her. "Don't indulge him, Riolu. He's clearly trying to rile you up."

"Aw, shucks. You found me out. So sorry about that. But I'll make it up to you, I swear! How about we grab some pizza? I know it's your favorite, Shane! I'll get us pepperoni… just like the good old days!" Necrozma declared, an eager grin on his face.

Mimikyu fidgeted with the edge of his rag. "Do… do I want to know what a pepperoni is?"

"It's meat," Shane said.

Tessa looked at him in shock. "Wait… you were a predator when you were human?"

"Easy now, Riolu. Don't judge him until you try it for yourself!" Necrozma taunted. He stuck his right arm out and a small Ultra Wormhole popped up beside him.

"Ah! That's just like the portal Zero appeared out of," Tessa squealed, fur bristling.

"Silence! Can't you see I'm trying to make a phone call here?" Necrozma growled, pulling out a telephone stylized to look like a Pikachu. "Honestly, the nerve of some people." He shook his head disapprovingly.

"What's a phone?" Silvally asked.

Shane's muzzle stiffened. "It's kind of like a Gear-Com, but for humans. Which begs the question… how is this guy doing that?"

Necrozma brought the phone up to his head. "Yes, hello? Zippy Zeraora's Ultra Pizza Delivery Service? I'd like to place an order." Necrozma paused. "Uh-huh. Yes… give me one extra-large pepperoni pizza, with– oh, hang on one second." He put a hand up against the receiver. "You guys want Wishiwashis on your pizza? They're quite delectable."

Team Radiance responded with disgust looks. In Mimikyu's case, his disguise head flopped over his eye holes.

Necrozma brought the phone up to his head. "You never were adventurous, Shane. Fine. Let's just make it a bland ol' pepproni pizza." He paused. "No, no extra cheese or sauce. Crust? Extra thiiiick, obviously. Oh, and gimme an order of those cinnamon desert sticks. Drinks? No, we're fine." Another pause followed. "Name and species?" Necrozma sighed and rubbed the bridge of his metallic helmet. "Necky. I'm a N– Lunala. My location? Let's see here. I'm at the Temple of Mind in–"

He abruptly cut himself off and his eyes flashed angrily. "What?" He lifted the phone in front of his phase and started shaking it, shouting, "What do you mean you don't deliver outside of Ultra Space? This is an outrage. Do you hear me? OUTRAGE! I demand to speak to your supervisor!"

Click!

A loud dial tone echoed through the room. Necrozma's red eyes glowed even brighter. He grabbed the telephone cord extending through the Ultra Wormhole and gave it a hearty yank. The telephone's base hurtled out of the portal. Necrozma released his grip on the phone and it sailed across the room. He turned and blasted it to smithereens with a Shadow Ball. "Bah! How disgraceful," he scoffed. "No matter where I go. No matter what I do… everyone disappoints me! Surely you can understand such a sentiment… right, Shane?"

Shane throat ran dry. He tried to open his mouth and say something, but all that came out was a scratchy squeak.

"Heeheeheehee. What's the matter, buddy? You look white as a sheet!" Necrozma grinned wickedly. "I know it's been awhile, but I thought you'd be happy to see me! After all. It's me… your best friend."

Shane felt his teammates' gazes fall on him. "Wha-what are you talking about?" he stammered. "You're no friend of mine. You're… you're the voice that was pretending to be Solgaleo in my dreams!" He looked down, his jaw stiffening in worry. "Espeon and Umbreon were right then," he whispered. He shot an accusatory look toward Necrozma. "Necrozma! You're part of the Prism Virus, aren't you?"

"So, the brave little hero finally pieces it all together, huh? Bravo! Splendid!" Necrozma bellowed. He thrust his wings apart and burst into a round of applause. "And here I thought the cowardly blue fuzzball would catch on quicker."

Shane shook his head in disbelief. "I can't believe I didn't realize it sooner. You're calling yourself Necrozma, for god's sake! I know you used to be human, so surely you realize 'necro' means death! You're practically hanging a sign around your neck that says, "Hi, I'm Evil. Nice to meet you!'"

Necrozma's grin widened. "Of course. After all, I'm just doing what I know best: playing the bad guy."

A chill ran down Shane's spine as Necrozma locked eyes with him. "I… I don't understand," Shane said. "Are you the one who brought me here, then? Why are you doing all of this? Is this about what Golem did to you?"

"Do not bring that wretched worm's name up in front of me!" Necrozma thundered, his eyes taking on a rainbow shimmer. "As for you, Shane, I brought you here to save the day, of course. To be the hero that you always wanted so desperately to be."

Shane's face scrunched up in confusion. "You brought me here… to stop you? That doesn't make any sense!"

Necrozma sighed loudly. "Of course not. You're here to save me. I'm giving you a second chance… to fix the biggest mistake you ever made in your life."

Shane's eyes darted about the room in a panic. He could feel his teammates' gazes on the back of his neck. "I… You…" he stammered. "We don't know each other. We can't know each other. You were brought here centuries before me."

Necrozma merely grinned at Shane, licking his lips in anticipation. "You're assuming time moves linearly between this world and the human world." He leaned over, arms spasming. "But that couldn't be farther from the truth."

Shane's legs trembled. "Wh… who are you?"

"Come now. If I told you, that'd be spoilers!" Necrozma crooned. "And I don't want to be that guy. No, it'll be much more fun if you find out on your own. Besides… you're not ready to save me. Look at you. You're still stuck inside that meek, pathetic body. There's a sliver of my light coiled around that leg of yours… but it's not enough."

Panic overtook Shane's face. "Did you do something to me?" His eyes widened in realization. "Are… are you the reason why my ability's not normal? Are you sending someone to yell at me in my dreams and tell me I'm not human? Answer me!"

"Bzzzzzzt! Sorry, buddy. But we've run out of time," Necrozma said. "Don't worry, though. You won't be leaving empty-handed. Your good buddy Necrozma's prepared a lovely parting gift for you. Please…" He leaned forward, bowing like he was making a curtain call and continued, "… enjoy it." He folded his wings back up.

An Ultra Wormhole opened behind Necrozma and he drifted back into it. Shane sprinted forward, shouting, "Wait, stop!" But the wormhole vanished in a flash of light. Shane skidded to a halt, looking up ahead of him. The glass wall now glowed red.

"Um, guys?" Mimikyu squeaked, as dozens of bright pink exclamation points popped up on the wall in front of them. "I think it's time to make our exit!" But as he turned around, the door slammed shut. Black chains shot out from the wall, wrapping themselves around the door. A large padlock, bearing Necrozma's star and a piercing red eye, grew out of the chains. "Eep! We're trapped!"

"What are those things on the wall?" Tessa asked, her aura feelers trembling. "They kind of look like the Unown, but…"

"It's… it's human writing," Shane gasped. "It says, 'Threat Detected: Deploying Security System TPLE.'"

"Sounds to me like this is Necrozma's parting gift," Silvally stated grimly. The exclamation points vanished. In their place, dozens of glowing red eyes appeared. They all turned to look down at Team Radiance. Tessa's aura feelers shot skyward at this.

"I don't like this!" she squealed.

"Well, we lost our Escape Orb. So, the only way out is to deal with this threat," Silvally declared.

Unauthorized access detected. All intruders will be destroyed by Prism Virus Security System TAPU LELE.

"Ahhh! Who said that?" Mimikyu shouted, looking around the room in a panic. The red eyes vanished from the wall, taking some of the glass tiles with them. Streaks of electricity appeared in their places. A red octahedron crystal floated out from the electricity.

System ready. Extracting program "Prism RBRT Meanies dot exe."

The crystal shattered, shrouding the other end of the room in thick black smoke. Silvally thrust his head forward and Air Slash jets raced ahead, slicing through the smoke. "No way!" he gasped. "The crystal, it made gemstone versions of a Medicham, a Gengar, and… an Ekans?"

Shane's eyes widened. But before he could respond to his teammate, the glass tiles and red eyes reappeared on the wall. The three crystalline Pokémon in front of him snapped to attention, their eyes glowing the same shade of red.

Engage.

Review reply time!

Another guest: that was not how I intended "tabloids" to be interpreted. But that's actually a good (and meta) way of looking at it.

Guest: their relationship will get developed, since they'll be spending time around one another. However, she did just stomp on Shane's heart. I wouldn't expect a budding romance to stem from that.

Gruntbones: Dark Matter is the main antagonist of Super Mystery Dungeon. That said, it's based on the Kirby villain. So, yes, Zero is named after the Kirby villain. But it's also a reference to "patient zero," a medical term for the first person to contract a disease in an outbreak.

Anon Omega: ah. That's a show I've never seen, so I'll have to take your word for it. Also, there has been a Lion King joke in this story, but it didn't relate to Solgaleo.

Guest #2: yes, Silvally is a good boy! Give him hugs and pets!

Next time: shadows of the past, present, and future!