My apologies for the slight delay getting this up. I've been dealing with recurrent eye infections. Good news is I can still see, so I can still bring you the update. Enjoy!

Chapter 64: Mission Implausible

~Ultra Village Recon Base, Tenth Floor~

"Rrrrgh. Sticky, will you please just float behind me if you're not going to move any faster?" Luxeira growled. "It's awkward enough trying to walk around with this helmet. You are not helping."

Sticky turned around, only to bump his head against the glass wall. He floated back from it, adjusting the visor over his eyes. "Hang on. There's supposed to be a way to deactivate this cursed contraption," he said.

Luxeira sighed loudly. "There's a button on the left side of your helmet. Did you read the instructions at all?"

Sticky turned toward her. "There were instructions?"

Luxeira stormed past Sticky, baring her fangs. "This is why I lead and you follow," she said, scanning the white, electronic doors on her left as she walked. Eventually, she found one claiming to be an entrance to a briefing room. Luxeira pressed her new ID to the scanner. The door clicked and slid open, allowing her to step inside. Sticky barely managed to float in after her before the door slid shut.

"Ah, Sticky and Lucina… ultra-perfect timing! We were just about to get started!"

Luxeira looked around the room, where several Pokémon were sitting around a glass, rectangular table. However, with the room's dim lighting and all the Pokémon wearing black or white jumpsuits like hers, Luxeira couldn't immediately identify their species. Instead, she focused on Magnum, who stood at the head of the table, an electronic screen behind him broadcasting a digital map with several different colored dots on it. On his right were an Entei, a Raikou, and a Suicune. They each had matching red jumpsuits on, the shoulders bearing gold badges with the Ultra Recon Squad's logo. Like Luxeira, they wore helmets with special visors that covered their eyes.

"Ha! See that, newbie? Commander can't even get your name right," Seraph heckled. Unlike the other Pokémon in the room, she stood in the back corner, leaning against the wall.

Luxeira marched toward the empty chair at the far end of the table. Sticky floated after her, waving at the different combat and security unit recruits who looked at him. "Stop it. You're embarrassing both of us," Luxeira hissed in a whisper.

"I feel just fine," Sticky said, settling beside her.

"Well then. Allow me to properly introduce myself," Magnum said. He flexed his arms skyward, pointing his thumbs at his head. "I am the Mighty Magnum! Commander of Ultra Village's branch of the Ultra Recon Squad." He held an open palm up toward the group. "Please, hold your applause until the end of the presentation."

Sweat drops trickled down Luxeira's neck. 'Does the Commander really need to shout like that? We're not even five yards away from him.'

Magnum paced back and forth at the head of the table. "I myself did not grow up in Ultra Village. Rather, I am here so that I may guide you fine Pokémon and Ultra Beasts." He flexed his right arm and slammed it down on the table. "There's a crazy, ultra-chaotic network lying beyond your world. Yup… Ultra Space can swallow up innocent creatures at a moment's notice! That's why the Ultra Recon Squad must be ultra-ready to leap into action, spreading justice where we travel!"

An Arcanine and a Beartic whooped and hollered, smacking the table with their limbs. Beside them, a Chestnaught thumped his chest while a Pheromosa rolled her eyes at Magnum's antics. "Alright, alright, settle down, all of you," Magnum exclaimed. "Enthusiasm is great, but I don't need it wrecking my ultra-conference table." He coughed a couple of times and turned to his right. "I'd like to introduce the three folks who will lead you all through basic training. They're three of our branch's highest-ranking officers!"

"A pleasure to meet all of you. I'm Anthus and I help oversee the security unit," the Suicune greeted, waving his left forepaw at the cadets. "I look forward to seeing what all of you are capable of."

Entei stepped up beside Anthus. "My name's Phygen. If you're a combat unit cadet, then you can bet you'll be working with me. I expect a lot out of you… but don't go overboard or you'll end up like that gal in the corner." He pointed a forepaw over at Seraph.

"Blow me, Phygen," Seraph huffed, turning her nose skyward.

"That's Captain Phygen to you, lieutenant," Phygen barked. "And, unlike you, I prefer committed relationships."

"That's enough, both of you. Seraph, I ultra-expect better of someone on probation," Magnum scolded. Luxeira turned to Seraph, only to find her scowling at the nearby trash bin.

"Err… right," the Raikou next to Phygen whispered. "I guess that just leaves me. Hi, everyone. Name's Tori. Been on the surveillance unit since I came to this base from my world. I've heard good things about you all and can't want to see you in action."

"Excellent intros, captains!" Magnum thundered, flexing in between each clap he gave them. "So, I'd like to take this opportunity to talk a bit more about basic training. Despite you all being assigned to different units, you will all complete the same regiment so we can be ultra-sure that, not only can you fulfill your assignments, but we can count on you in the event of an emergency."

Luxeira stiffened. 'Hold on. I knew I'd have to train, yeah. But is Magnum saying I may actually get called on… to fight?' She gulped down a mouthful of spit. 'This training better work wonders, then. I can barely cough up a fireball.' Over her shoulder, she could feel Seraph studying her intently.

The Pheromosa on Luxeira's left threw up her hand. "Like, question, Commander Magnum. We're supposed to get these medical tests done in our first week. When are we, like, going to have the time to do that if we're doing basic training?"

"Not to worry, cadet! We're not here to overtax you to the point of exhaustion. You have late afternoons and nights off for these first couple of weeks," Magnum said. "You will, however, be required to take an overnight surveillance shift before you can clear basic training."

"O-Oh dear," Sticky whispered. "I've never pulled an all-nighter before."

Luxeira looked at him. "Seriously? I suppose you never went to any parties then, either?"

"You mean, like a birthday party? With cake and games?" Sticky wondered.

"Forget it, pinhead," Luxeira groaned, letting her head fall onto the table. 'Keep it together, Luxeira. Everyone's watching you now. Including that stuck-up hussy.' She glanced at Seraph, who was filing her claws with some sort of metal rod. Seraph flashed Luxeira a toothy grin before returning her attention to her claws.

"Any other questions?" Magnum asked. Silence followed. "Spectacular! Now… go out there and give those basic training assignments the ultra-workaround! Haaa ha ha ha ha!" He stomped out of the room, leaving the captains at the head of the table. Tori immediately caught Luxeira's gaze and trotted over to her. Luxeira sat up, holding her head high.

"H-Hello, Captain," Luxeira greeted.

Tori smirked. "You can relax, cadet. No need to get all stiff and formal with me. I think you'll find I'm a pretty flexible 'mon," she said, chuckling. "You're Luxeira, yes?"

Luxeira nodded. "Yes, ma'am. I've been looking forward to this for a while. So, what's our first basic training assignment going to me?"

"Oh brother. What a kiss up," Seraph scoffed, walking over. "I see your fur is as matted as ever, Tori."

Tori tapped her helmet and her visor disappeared, revealing an unamused look on her face. "Seraph," she said icily. "I saw the report from Commander Magnum on my desk this morning, but I sincerely thought it was some sort of prank."

"Nobody wishes that were truer than me," Seraph huffed. "Look, neither of us want to do this. So, why don't you let me go about my business and you can just sign off on the forms ending my probation."

"I could," Tori said, smirking, "but I think you could do with a little dose of humility. So, I'll be keeping you with these cadets for the duration of their basic training."

Lightning crackled down Seraph's wiry arms. "Fine then." She shrugged and shook her head. "Don't come crawling to me when I overshadow these two and make them run home to their mommies and daddies."

Tori didn't flinch. "If that's the case, then I look forward to seeing you handle the Gravi-Mill's max difficulty package."

Seraph's smarmy grin promptly vanished. "Max difficulty? Are you kidding me?"

"If you want to get off probation quickly, then you're going to follow my orders," Tori said, a gleam in her eyes. Luxeira couldn't help but grin at Seraph's displeasure. That moment of joy quickly came to an end, however, as a question lingered in her mind.

"Um… what exactly is a Gravi-Mill?" she asked.

~Ultra Village Recon Base, Ninth Floor~

As it turned out, the Gravi-Mill was a spherical chamber housed in one of the base's numerous training rooms. The room itself was a glass bubble protruding from the main tower, offering up a panoramic view of Ultra Village. Various workout equipment lined the room, including treadmills, ellipticals for two and four-legged Pokémon, multiple weight machines, and free-standing barbells and dumbbells. The Gravi-Mill machines had treads reminiscent of a treadmill. However, as soon as Tori fiddled with the control panel outside each machine, gravity inside the sphere intensified. Luxeira found herself struggling to move her limbs.

"Not every world you end up in is going to have the gravitational force you're used to," Tori explained, pacing in front of three Gravi-Mills as her charges tried to run along the moving treads. Seraph was the most exhausted, her jumpsuit thoroughly soaked with sweat and her legs pulsating with each step she took. Nevertheless, she was outperforming Luxeira and Sticky, as evidenced by the projection screen behind the Gravi-Mills showing that Seraph had run the farthest.

"Let's go, you three. You never know when you're going to have to run from an aggressive UB during a mission," Tori said. She looked disapprovingly at Sticky, who was under the lowest of the gravity settings but having difficulty running on the treadmill.

"With… all do respect… ma'am," Sticky wheezed, "why can't… I just… float?"

"The gravity you're subject to on assignment may be too intense for you to float properly," Tori explained.

"What exactly… would we be doing… that would have us… in weird gravity?" Luxeira asked, flanks heaving as she ran.

Tori raised an eyebrow. "Huh. And here I thought you were all studied up on the surveillance unit," she said, to Luxeira's momentary panic.

"I… I am! I know we go investigate strange ultra aura signals… but that's all the information I could get," Luxeira said, trying to look away from Seraph's derisive grin.

"Oh… right. We do tend to keep our work a bit under wraps," Tori said, chuckling. "I can give you guys a brief rundown."

"Don't need it," Seraph scoffed. "And these two… won't be around… long enough… for it to matter."

In response to Seraph's insult, Tori walked over and upped the gravity level on Seraph's pod. Seraph collapsed onto the treadmill, which pushed her into the wall. "Dick move!" she groaned, rubbing her neck.

Tori ignored Seraph and turned to Luxeira and Sticky. "The surveillance unit, as the name implies, investigates any abnormal signals we detect from nearby worlds," she explained. "But we're also the Ultra Recon Squad's first line of response to distress signals." Tori noticed the confusion on her trainees' faces. "From time to time, other worlds or individuals with the means to broadcast messages through the Ultra Space network will send out requests for help. The surveillance unit is the first to respond to them."

"So, what? We go to the world… scope it out… and send info back for the combat unit?" Luxeira asked.

"Pretty much. You're like the set-up crew… and us combat unit members are the star attraction!" Seraph boasted, nearly slipping as she got back on the treadmill.

Tori shook her head. "Except you're part of the 'set-up crew' until further notice. That must sting, huh?" she said, flashing her large teeth at Seraph.

Seraph growled her displeasure and focused her efforts on staying up with the treadmill. Luxeira smirked, satisfied with Seraph's unhappy predicament. "Still… surely not every distress signal we get is a hostile situation, right?" Luxeira asked.

"Good hypothesis there, cadet. You've got a decent head on your shoulders, I can tell," Tori said, prompting Luxeira to flash a toothy grin of her own at Seraph. "When situations are hostile, we call in the combat unit. Otherwise, we provide the rescue to the party that needs it. Sometimes that means we bring fallers back to base to try and help them out," Tori explained.

"Begging your pardon, captain, but what exactly is a faller?" Sticky asked.

"Seriously? How do you not know about them?" Luxeira gasped.

"Yeah, what heavy rock were you living under, cue ball?" Seraph sneered.

"No, it's not just that. There are questions about fallers on the SUQE," Luxeira said. "Did you just guess wildly on all of them?"

"Um… maybe?" Sticky mumbled.

"Baaa ha ha ha ha! Seriously?!" Seraph roared with laughter, not even caring that she tumbled off the treadmill and slammed into the wall of her pod.

"Enough, Seraph," Tori barked. "Luxeira, why don't you loop your fellow cadet in? We're all about helping each other on the surveillance unit."

Luxeira wrinkled her snout, but obliged. "Fallers are individuals from full-scale universes that are unintentionally sucked into an Ultra Wormhole, carried through Ultra Space, and deposited in another world. They tend to suffer from varying degrees of memory loss and disorientation. Other possible symptoms include radiation poisoning, vision or hearing loss, paralysis, and, rarest of all, transformation into another species entirely."

"Nice work, cadet," Tori said, nodding approvingly. "It's the surveillance unit's responsibility to take in fallers, ensure they're in good health, and try to return them to their world of origin. And if we can't, then we try our best to set up a new life for them in Ultra Village. That's always considered a last-ditch option, but one we need to keep in mind."

"So, when exactly will we be taking one of those missions?" Luxeira wondered. Her legs burned and she was finding it increasingly hard to keep up with the treadmill. Much to her surprise, however, the treadmill slowed to a stop. Luxeira collapsed onto her belly, tongue lolling out of her mouth as she panted heavily.

Tori stood by Luxeira's control panel. The Gravi-Mill sphere opened up while Tori stepped back from the panel. "Well, I prefer to take a paws-on approach with my cadets," Tori said, walking up to Luxeira and offering a foreleg. Luxeira lightly bit down on Tori's thigh. Tori helped Luxeira stumble back to her feet. She produced a water bottle from one of the large pockets on her jumpsuit. "Open up," Tori said.

Luxeira obliged and Tori squeezed the bottle, squirting a stream of water into Luxeira's mouth. "Thanks," Luxeira said, rubbing her snout. "What do you mean by paws-on approach, though?"

"I mean that we'll be heading out on our first assignment in just a couple of days," Tori said, walking over to Sticky to offer him some water as well.

"Hold up… seriously?" Seraph said, staggering out of her pod and dropping to her knees to catch her breath. "These two… grade-A dorks… won't be ready… for an Ultra Warp Ride."

"Well, if that's the case, then consider me excited," Luxeira said, smirking defiantly at Seraph. "I'm ready and willing to help as many folks as I can."

Tori turned around, a smile on her muzzle. "That's exactly what I want to hear."

"That's exactly what I want to hear," Seraph repeated mockingly, her voice squeaky. "Pah. She doesn't really mean that."

Tori sighed and shook her head at Seraph. "The more of an attitude you give me, the longer you can expect to be working with us," she said. "It's not going to kill you to try and show a bit of team spirit."

Seraph staggered to her feet, arms hanging down by her hips. "I'm not… about to give you… the satisfaction," she growled. "Let's just get a move on, already."

~Ultra Village Recon Base, Fifth Floor~

Luxeira proceeded down the rounded metal corridor. Her jumpsuit and helmet were gone, replaced by a silk dress she enjoyed lounging around in. She was returning to her new room after enjoying a solitary breakfast. The past couple of days had been filled with more physical training, interspersed with important lessons by Tori. Luxeira learned how to operate equipment like her harness and visor and how to read ultra auras and signals received on the base's computer systems. Then she used a virtual training station to practice navigating through Ultra Space in preparation for her first Ultra Warp Ride, which would be happening very soon.

Of course, her stomach was doing backflips. She hoped a nice bowl of oatmeal with a cup of hot tea would settle her nerves. But her thoughts kept drifting to Seraph. She had taken every opportunity to throw in a snide remark or a disapproving look at everything Luxeira did, as if Seraph was actively trying to get Luxeira to quit. Sometimes Tori was quick to jump in, but other times it was just the two of them together. Each time, Luxeira tried to muster up the courage to fire something back, but her nerves kept getting in the way.

'If I actually knew how to hold my own in battle, you can bet I'd show that hussy what's what,' Luxeira thought. 'Ugh. I just need to forget about her. Maybe once we're actually on a mission, Seraph will settle down.' Luxeira nodded. 'Yeah, I bet that's it. She's just got a bad case of cabin fever. Like when Silus broke his leg and was cooped up at home for a month. He made me want to pull my fur out, but we got through it.'

Luxeira finally reached her room. She tapped her ID card to the scanner on a white door. It turned green and the door slid open. Luxeira paused in the doorway, frowning at the lack of light in the room. "Seraph, are you still sleeping? C'mon, we've got to report to the surveillance unit staging room in thirty minutes." She touched her snout to the light panel on the wall. Bright white light flickered on in the room.

Luxeira turned around, only to bark in surprise and backpedal into the corner. "W-What the hell, Seraph?!"

In front of her, Seraph stood, arms raised in the air and mouth opened wide, revealing her fangs. She held the pose for a couple more seconds before she broke down laughing, falling onto her back and kicking her legs wildly in the air. "Baaaa ha ha ha ha! Oh man, did you see your face? Priceless! Absolutely priceless!"

"Were you trying to scare me to death? What is wrong with you?!" Luxeira snarled, snorting tufts of smoke from her snout.

Seraph rolled to her feet, grabbing her helmet from her bed in the process. "Just wanted to see how nervous you were before your first mission. And the answer is… very." She plopped her helmet over her head. "Now I'm definitely looking forward to seeing you in action." Seraph strode confidently toward the door, but not before turning to say, "Try not to lose your breakfast on the Ultra Warp Ride. No one will ever let you live it down."

Luxeira watched Seraph leave the room, whistling jovially to herself. She gnashed her teeth together. 'Keep it together, Luxeira. Today's about showing what you're made of. You're going to go out there… explore a brand-new world… and impress Captain Tori. None of Seraph's dumb jokes will matter once you show her up out in the field. She's been reprimanded so much, she's bound to do a poor job as a surveillance unit member, right?'

She froze with her open mouth hovering over her jumpsuit. 'Wait… if she actually is that bad, won't she just end up making problems for me?' Luxeira pushed that thought from her mind and proceeded to the corner of the room. There, a set of mechanical arms helped to put on her jumpsuit and helmet. Once she suited up, she threw her harness onto her torso. It buckled into place, adding weight to her shoulders and chest that nearly made her fall over.

Luxeira stumbled about until she had properly regained her balance. Then she set off from her room, proceeding through the glass hallway. Outside, she could see some Pokémon emerging from their homes onto the streets of Ultra Village's central district. 'Remember, you're doing this to help these folks,' she thought.

She reached the elevators and rode one up to the building's second-highest floor. After disembarking, Luxeira found Tori and Sticky standing next to a grated metal door. "Ah, good, you made it. Sometimes the elevators can be finicky letting cadets up here during basic training," Tori said, beckoning Luxeira over. "This here is our staging room. When you're on duty, you hang out here and wait to receive your assignment from higher-ranking officers."

Tori touched her ID card to the scanner. The metal grates retracted into the floor and walls, allowing the trio to pass. "FYI, I've gone ahead and put in a preliminary name for your unit. You two okay with going by 'Team Paradox?'"

Luxeira's muzzle stiffened. "That sounds intimidating, doesn't it? Why'd you pick it?"

"I thought it fit. After all, you, Sticky, and Seraph are practically polar opposites of each other. In other words, it's paradoxical that you're all working together," Tori said, grinning at her own lame joke. Sticky chuckled awkwardly until Luxeira shot him a scathing look. "In any event, that's how you guys will receive your assignment pages. They should pop up on your visors, complete with coordinate details and where in the room you should report for the appropriate Ultra Warp Ride."

Beep beep beep beep beep beep!

Sticky flailed about in midair. "Ah! Bright! The screen's too bright!" He grabbed hold of his helmet with both arms and tried to pull it off.

"The brightness calibrator is on the right side of the helmet, Sticky," Luxeira groaned. "I told you to read the instructions."

Sticky stiffened. "I, uh, must've missed that part," he muttered, fidgeting with the knob on his helmet.

'Liar,' Luxeira thought. 'I'd better take care to stay close to Tori and keep this guy around Seraph. That's the only way I see this first mission going smoothly.' She focused on the information displayed in her visor. "So, this is an… wait, what kind of signal is this?" Luxeira wondered. "It's really garbled and doesn't match any of the patterns we saw yesterday."

"That's a good question," Tori said, scrunching up her snout in thought. "Some of the fragments look like a proper SOS signal, but this is rather unclear." She turned to a Nihilego and a Gengar sitting next to each other on a couch and looking through a magazine. "Hey, are you two seeing this? What gives? Are we having reception issues around the base?"

"Not at all," the Nihilego replied. "I was able to tune into the new 'All My Stakatakas' with no problems. And that just ended five minutes ago."

"What could this mean, Captain?" Sticky wondered.

"… tch. It means you scrubs aren't going to be taking this mission," Seraph scoffed. She was perched on a chair, filing her flaws and doing her best to look as bored as possible.

"On the contrary. I think this would be a great test of the cadets' abilities to improvise under pressure," Tori said. Luxeira nodded confidently, while Sticky's face blanched. "Relax, you two. Seraph and I will be with you every step of the way."

"Pfbt. Speak for yourself," Seraph said, rolling her neck to the right so that it cricked loudly. "I don't want to spend forever in some unknown pocket dimension while these two babies fumble about. I'll take the lead. They can watch how a real specialist gets things done."

"You'll do no such thing, unless you want another citation to add to your record," Tori said, her thin tail rapping against her side. Seraph briefly glared at her, but ultimately stomped toward the door. "Come on, you two. Time for your first real Ultra Warp Ride."

Luxeira took a deep breath and followed Tori out of the staging room, trying her best to look as calm and composed as possible while her heart rate steadily picked up. Tori guided the two cadets along a hallway until they reached a steel-plated door. She used her ID to open the door up, revealing a railed walkway on the outside of the tower. Sticky floated through the door and threw an arm up over his head.

"G… goodness! We're quite high up," he said, trying his best not to look over the railing at the buildings and roads far below him.

"What do you have to worry about, cue ball? You float," Seraph scoffed from her vantage point at the top of a set of metal-grated stairs. "Hurry it up, newbies. You're wasting my time with all your gawking."

'I'll show her who's wasting time,' Luxeira thought, taking another deep breath. She stomped up the stairs, stopping to take in the base's rooftop. It was a gigantic metal platform. Stationed all around it where pitch-black, four-legged, mechanical lions. The one closest to her was on, its electronic eyes glowing bright red, like headlights on a car.

"Is that what we're using for the Ultra Warp Ride?" Sticky wondered, staring transfixed at the machine.

"Correct! Meet S0L30," Tori declared. "We were supposed to partner up with a Solgaleo and a Lunala, but our branch never managed to get into contact with any free ones. So, our lab team configured these as a substitute." She patted the artificial Solgaleo's foreleg.

"You're just going to use some machine to rip open an Ultra Wormhole? Isn't that dangerous?" Luxeira asked.

"Ha! See, what did I tell you? These two don't have what it takes," Seraph said, swishing her ponytail to the side.

Growling, Luxeira climbed on S0L30, fastening herself into one of the seats. "I'm ready to go, Captain," she declared.

Tori nodded. "Excellent. You two get on, too," she said, looking at Seraph and Sticky. "Sticky, I'll want you in the middle. That seat has a stabilizer for levitating 'mons."

"Much obliged," Sticky said, floating up and strapping himself into the appropriate seat. Seraph rolled her eyes and hopped into the front seat, until a scathing look from Tori made her shuffle back into the second seat. Tori then positioned herself in the front seat. A holographic screen appeared in front of her.

"Everyone ready?" she asked. Tori didn't wait for any responses before she said, "Activate Ultra Warp Ride!"

S0L30 stomped each of its mechanical legs on the ground. Steam vented out of its joints. The machine rumbled, whirring to life as it lifted its mechanical head up. Its red eyes flashed and a red, compass-like insignia appeared between its eyes. It grew brighter and brighter until a ball of red light launched over the heads of Team Paradox. It rose about ten feet into the air before expanding into a red, checkered portal.

Luxeira stared up into portal, watching the energy swirl around overhead. 'So, that's an Ultra Wormhole. On the other side of that thing… lies all of Ultra Space and countless other worlds!'

"Try not to let go, newbies. You'll go flying off through Ultra Space if you do," Seraph heckled.

"Knock it off, Seraph," Tori barked. "Alright, crew. We're setting out into the Ultra Wormhole. Brace yourselves!" She leaned over against S0L30's back and pressed a button on its right shoulder. S0L30 crouched low to the ground and sprang up, its momentum carrying it through the portal.

As soon as swirling red energy surrounded Team Paradox, they all felt an immense gravitational force suck S0L30 upward, pulling it further from the base. In a matter of seconds, Ultra Village disappeared before their very eyes, replaced by a vast purple expanse. Luxeira clamped her muzzle shut and a mask phased into existence, supplying her with air.

'My goodness… the virtual reality machine can't prepare a 'mon for something like this,' she thought. 'Look at this place!'

S0L30 ran forward, its paws striking nothing but empty space. Instead, small jet nozzles on its feet produced bursts of air that steered it forward. As it moved, Luxeira noticed massive crystal clusters floating about in limbo. Far in the distance, she could even see bright fireballs soaring through Ultra Space like comets. Other quadrants had solar flares erupting from orange stars, with each flare taking various geometric shapes.

"Can you guys hear me?" Tori asked. Her voice crackled in through Luxeira's helmet. Luxeira could tell Tori's oxygen mask muffled her voice.

"Yeah, yeah, we've got you," Seraph scoffed. "What's the hold up? Let's get moving, already."

"You're gonna have to give me a moment," Tori said. "The SOS signal is pretty weak. I'm having trouble localizing it."

As soon as she finished saying that, a purple Ultra Wormhole exploded into existence right next to S0L30. Luxeira and Sticky gasped as a trio of Nihilego floated out of the wormhole, passing directly over their heads and into a second purple portal to their left. "Goodness!" Sticky gasped. "I thought Ultra Warp Rides were the only way to safely pass through Ultra Space."

"Not if you're a UB," Tori said. "Which reminds me, you can ditch the mask, Sticky. You should be fine, here."

"R-Really?" Sticky muttered. He deactivated his mask and, to his surprise, found himself able to breathe perfectly fine. "Oh. Well, that's embarrassing," he muttered, rubbing his head sheepishly.

"Oh, brother," Seraph scoffed. "What kind of sorry excuse for a UB doesn't realize they're safe in the Ultra Space network?"

"Quiet down, everyone!" Tori barked, shutting Seraph up immediately. "This is so strange," she said, "I can't seem to pinpoint this signal. I'm… I'm not even sure there's an Ultra Wormhole that can get us to wherever this signal is coming from?"

"How heavily are you filtering out the background noise?" Seraph asked.

"I'm at max noise reduction," Tori exclaimed. "Hang on… there's one more thing I can try." She once again braced herself against S0L30. The machine broke into a sprint, dashing past several different-colored Ultra Wormholes. "If we can find a clear space, we might be able to get a better signal."

Luxeira kept her paws tightly wrapped around her grips, jostling about on S0L30's back. 'Okay, I can see why they were warning me about puking,' she thought, stomach gurgling every time she bounced around. 'Keep it together, Luxeira. You know Seraph is just waiting for something to go wrong. Don't give her that satisfaction!'

"Hmm… this is odd," Tori said. "Guys, check your visors. I think we're only about one light year away from the signal's origin point, but I'm not seeing any evidence there's an Ultra Wormhole we can generate."

"… tch. You're just not trying hard enough," Seraph sneered. She tapped her visor with a claw and it glowed red. Seraph growled in annoyance. "Is this supposed to be some sort of joke? This signal's weaker than the mild salsa they use in the cafeteria on taco nights."

"It's not a joke," Tori insisted. "Hang on… I'm going to radio base and see what we should do." Tori tapped the side of her helmet. "Tham, this is Captain Tori with Team Paradox. Do you copy?"

"I read you loud and clear, captain," Tham said, voice sounding through everyone's helmets. "What's the problem? My tracker's showing you stopped in the middle of an Ultra Warp Ride."

"Well, that's the problem. We're one light year from the distress signal's origin… and I'm not sensing any spikes signifying there's a world we can access," Tori explained. "I know it's been awhile since we've done this, but I may need to employ S0L30's dimensional shears and force a tear in Ultra Space."

"Hmm… that's rather risky," Tham said.

"Are we even sure this signal's the real deal? It could be a prank," Seraph said.

"From what I can see… there are multiple lifeforms stranded at the signal's origin point," Tham said. "Hang on, let me contact Commander Magnum and see what he has to say about all of this." The line went silent, leaving Team Paradox sitting atop S0L30's back for a couple of minutes. Then, the speakers in their headphones crackled once again. "Alright, the Commander says you're free to use the shears. Just don't go overboard," Tham said.

"You know me. Caution's the name of the game," Tori said, chuckling.

"It's not you we're worried about, Captain," Tham said.

"Very funny, chrome dome," Seraph spat. "Why don't you go back to your lame-ass TV screens, huh?"

"Quiet, Seraph," Tori said. "Thanks, Tham. You've been a big help, as always."

"My pleasure," Tham replied. Everyone's speakers then went silent again.

"Alright, we're going to employ the dimensional shears," Tori said. "You cadets might want to shut your eyes. Tearing open the fabric of reality can leave some unexpectedly bright lights."

"Wait, we're doing what now?" Sticky asked.

Tori didn't respond, focusing her attention on S0L30's head. It split apart, revealing a mechanical arm holding a device that greatly resembled a welding torch. The dimensional shears extended forward, with Tori operating them from her control panel. A brilliant blue flame shot out from the shears. It traced a line of blinding white light through Ultra Space.

"Whoa!" Sticky gasped. "That's extremely bright!" Luxeira had to resist the urge to snap at Sticky for not listening to Tori.

After a few seconds, Tori turned off the dimensional shears. They retracted into S0L30's head, which then closed up. The fiery line rippled for a solid minute before splitting apart, revealing a jagged tear with a checkboard pattern matching the Ultra Wormhole that the group had traveled through.

"Phew… it looks like it worked!" Tori said. She pressed a button on S0L30's controls and it dashed forward, using bursts of air to shoot itself into the makeshift wormhole before it sealed itself up. Luxeira braced herself, gritting her teeth as white light raced around her on all sides.

Then, as suddenly as the light appeared, it completely vanished. S0L30's glowing eyes created two red beams that seemed to stretch out infinitely, growing progressively dimmer the farther they went. "W… what the?" Sticky gasped. "What's going on? Who turned off all the lights."

"It's not just the lights," Tori whispered. She lifted a paw up from S0L30's controls, only to recoil in surprise at how easily it shot up. "Just as I thought… no resistance. There's no gravity to speak of here. Everyone, keep hold of S0L30."

"Forget all of that. There's nothing here," Seraph growled. "Like… literally nothing. No people… no places… this is a damn void! I can't believe you got tricked into coming here. Ugh… this is so stupid!"

"That's enough out of you, lieutenant," Tori shouted, electricity sparking around her helmet. "I want you to stay quiet or I will write you up for insubordination!"

"Hey, did you guys hear that?" Sticky said, head shooting up. "Captain, there is someone here." He shook his head. "But I can't localize the direction of his voice."

A flickering orange light drew Team Paradox's attention toward their right. "Over here!" a loud, gruff, female voice shouted.

Luxeira couldn't help but smile. "Well, well. Seems it wasn't a trick after all," she said, wishing she could turn around to see Seraph's surprise, before realizing it wouldn't be possible with Seraph's visor, helmet, and oxygen mask. "Can we steer S0L30 over to them?"

"Of course," Tori said. She focused her attention down and began operating S0L30's controls.

"Question, captain," Sticky said. "I understood those voices perfectly. Is that normal?"

"It is when we're dealing with other Pokémon or Ultra Beasts. We mostly seem to share a common means of communication, as far as we know," Tori explained. "There could be exceptions, of course, but I haven't seen them. Try not to think too hard about it. You'll just give yourself a giant headache."

"Pfbt. He's already got a headache from how big and bulbous his head is," Seraph scoffed.

"My head's proportions are perfectly normal for a Poipole," Sticky muttered dejectedly. S0L30 trotted through the dark, empty void. The flashing orange light grew progressively larger, until Team Paradox could faintly see some outlines huddled around a large black crystal. The crystal weakly radiated an array of different colors.

S0L30 came to a stop a couple of feet away from the crystal. "I'm Captain Tori from the Ultra Village branch of the Ultra Recon Squad. This is Team Paradox. Can you tell us who you are?"

"Scanners are showing Zorua, Fennekin, an ice Vulpix, and a fire Vulpix," Luxeira reported. "Let's shine a little light on this situation."

Seraph smacked her helmet, groaning loudly. "I should've stayed in bed this morning."

S0L30 pivoted to shine its headlights on the distressed Pokémon. In doing so, Team Paradox saw that they all wore similar white jumpsuits and helmets. "Wait, you're with an Ultra Recon Squad, too?" Sticky gasped.

"You're darn right we are!" Zorua declared, revealing herself as the source of the loud voice the group heard earlier.

Fennekin waved at the group. "I'm Flint," he said.

"I'm Sherbet," the ice Vulpix greeted, her voice trembling a bit.

The fire Vulpix shoved Sherbet lightly. "Show some backbone, girl. These are fellow Recon Squad 'mons." He turned back to Team Paradox. "Ignore her. I'm Cole, by the way."

"And I'm Captain Vixen," Zorua said, puffing out her chest. "Together… we're Team Foxtrot!"

"Seriously?" Seraph groaned, burying her head in her paws. "Okay, I really should've stayed in bed this morning."

"Quiet, officer," Tori said, her scathing look hidden behind her mask and visor. "So, Team Foxtrot, huh? Not familiar with you folks."

"We're from Axiom City. It's a pocket world located fifty-three light years from this spot… or so we think," Vixen explained.

"Ohh… the big-toothed lady doesn't believe us, does she?" Sherbet squeaked, her tails drooping.

"Don't worry your tails off, Sherbet," Cole scoffed. "Here. I'm pinging you our base's coordinates."

Tori nodded as the information displayed on her visor. "Axiom City, huh? I think I did a couple of missions in tandem with your branch when I was first starting out." She tapped the gemstone in her harness. A tether shot out, connecting to S0L30's back. Tori hopped off the machine, floating in front of Team Foxtrot. "What exactly happened to get your team stranded out here, huh?"

"Ugh, it was the absolute worst!" Cole growled, snorting embers out from his mask. "There we were, returning from a scheduled delivery to Ultra Deep Sea Gamma Seven, when a Cosmog pops up during our Ultra Warp Ride and flings us off our Solgaleo and into this void dimension!"

"It's positively awful. We haven't the slightest idea what's going on here," Sherbet said, tails curling around her flank. "For all we know, up is down, down is up, and yes means no!"

"Girl, what are you talking about? There's literally nothing here except this crystal we found floating in the middle of this place!" Cole barked, gesturing to the large, smooth crystal the foxes sat on top of.

Seraph raised her paws. "I don't like the look of that thing, captain. It's giving off an ultra aura."

"We're already aware of that," Vixen said. "But the signal's extremely weak. We think we might have found in injured UB that crystalized themselves to avoid further harm."

"How do you know that thing isn't hostile, huh?" Seraph asked, eyeing the crystal suspiciously.

"It hasn't budged in the slightest since we found it," Flint explained. "And we have no idea how long we've been trapped here since, well, there's nothing around here. No time or movement or nothing." He looked down at the crystal. "I figured if it were hostile, it would've tried attacking us by now."

Tori placed a forepaw on the crystal. She leaned over, adjusting her visor to get a better look at Team Foxtrot's strange discovery. "The ultra aura isn't just weak… it barely crosses the threshold frequency to get picked up by our scanners. If there is a UB in here, it's completely comatose." She pushed back from the crystal. "In which case, we have an obligation to rescue this poor soul."

"And if there isn't a living creature inside it?" Luxeira wondered.

"Then we'll have our lab team run a scan to figure out why it's projecting an ultra aura," Tori said. "Usually inanimate objects exposed to Ultra Space show trace radiation levels. This is more in line with what a living creature would have… barely."

"That was my thought, exactly," Vixen declared.

"Nuh-uh! You're just saying that because the big-toothed lady said it first," Cole accused.

"C'mon, Cole. Don't cheese off the captain like that," Flint said, ears twitching. "Especially when these folks are kind enough to respond to our signal."

"Hmph. We wouldn't have needed their help if that stupid Cosmog hadn't been messing around in Ultra Space," Cole growled, his tails lashing out in different directions. "I swear, when I get my paws on that little ball of mischief and find out what universe they're from… Flamethrowers are gonna fly!"

'Funny. I have the strangest sense of déjà vu right now,' Luxeira thought, glancing at Seraph.

"And what are you looking at, newbie?" Seraph huffed. "Take a picture, why don't you? Your visor's equipped with a camera."

"That's enough arguing from everyone," Tori ordered. "I'm gonna tether the crystal to S0L30, here. You four hop into the side pods and we'll get everyone back to our base. You should be able to get home from there after we file an incident report."

"You're not gonna write us up, are you? We have a perfect record at our branch," Sherbet said, her voice ripe with worry.

"Relax, you four are fine," Tori said. "Now come on. The less time we spend here, the better in my book."

Team Foxtrot all leaped off the crystal, landing on seats that had popped out of S0L30's torso. Its tail sprouted a grappling hook that launched back and embedded into the crystal. Seraph stiffened in her seat. "Hold the phone, the ultra aura just spiked for a second. Something's definitely stirring in there."

"What are you talking about? I didn't see any spikes," Tori huffed.

"I'm serious here, captain," Seraph growled. "We need to ditch this thing."

"That's against protocol, lieutenant," Tori fired back. "Now, strap in. We're heading back to base." She fiddled with S0L30's controls and the dimensional shears popped out of its head. They tore open a rift in the lightless void. S0L30 braced itself and lunged into the rift, disappearing from the empty world with the crystal in tow.

For anyone interested, I've got a spiffy new profile picture... of Necrozma! It's drawn by the wonderful Cresselia92. More details are on my profile page. In answer to the trivia question from the last chapter, yes, Magnum is unashamedly channeling All Might. Enjoy your Shane points if you got that right.

WonderBread: good, you're not supposed to like Seraph right now. You'll just have to wait and see what winds up happening to her next chapter.

SuperOmegaGuest: yeah, I think that's how the wormhole thing works. Don't know. The Ultra Warp Ride is a bad minigame and I hate that the Legends are hidden behind it. There was nothing wrong with Soaring.

Veralix: hey, I wouldn't just introduce a 'mon like Zeraora and not put it to good use. Stick around, you might be surprised.

Anon Omega: that wasn't actually what I was going for, but I'll take it!

Another guest: Tessa has definitely dropped that habit now that she's a Lucario.

Next time: a prismatic puppeteer presents... "La Follia d'amore."