She felt like the entire world around her just stopped. She didn't even hear what sounded like two people were currently screaming about, all she knew was that a huge piece of concrete was currently heading straight for her, not having any escape possible. 'Is this really how it ends? Is this really how my life story finishes?' She thought. She had yet to find a goal for herself, a dream to work towards, and yet this is how it ends. She had failed, having yet to accomplish anything that truly marked her story in life. She had disappointed her family, her friends, and most of all, her loyal companion Eevee. She had promised they would find a dream in life, something they would want to do together, yet she had failed before she could even come close to accomplishing that. With a final closing of her eyes, she let the darkness consume her and bring her to a better place, a place where she could start all over again. She felt something collide with her and she knew it was all over, but surprisingly though, it was a pretty soft sensation. Maybe this was the sensation of going to a different world? Of ascending to a higher place? Yeah, the impact stung a little bit, but overall, it wasn't as painful as she thought. Strange... it really wasn't painful… like at all. Isn't concrete supposed to be solid and rough? Chloe tried opening her eyes, and to her surprise, they did, and she could see a little bit of light, almost resembling the sun in between something that had landed on her. That's the exact moment she realized she wasn't dead, that it wasn't over just yet. In a blink of an eye, she remembered everything, the mall, the monster, the debris and she could also see and hear clearly again, and was soon broken out of her thoughts by a familiar voice.
"ASH! CHLOE! PLEASE NO!" Exclaimed her friend Goh.
Chloe was about to respond to the desperate cries of one of the researcher's but was interrupted by the other one, coughing heavily after rolling off of her.
"Phew. That was pretty close… You okay Chloe?" Said her other companion currently on the floor while turning his head to look at her.
She soon realized what exactly had happened, Ash had pushed her out of the way just in time, right before death consumed her very existence. The very person that Chloe was suspecting to not be what he seems, had just saved her life in a movie like act of heroism. Before she knew it, she felt heat rise up in her cheeks, and then nervously said:
"Y-Y-Yeah, I-I'm o-okay-y."
"Awesome… Yeah Goh, we're both fine!" Ash screamed to avoid his friend from worrying anymore.
"Thank goodness…" Breathed a sigh of relief Goh.
"H-Hey A-Ash? W-Where's Eevee?" She asked, worried about her companion, but still nervous considering what just happened.
"Eevee!" Exclaimed the normal type Pokemon emerging from some debris to jump on her trainer and then proceeding to licking her face aggressively.
"Hey! Cut it out Eevee, I'm fine I promise." Chloe said while laughing.
"Pikapi!" Suddenly exclaimed a worried Pikachu, soon to be followed by the cries of Ash's Lucario, Dragonite and Gengar.
"I'm just fine Pikachu. No need to worry!" Ash said whilst referencing a quote from a certain blue haired girl which made the electric mouse chuckle, and left the rest of Ash's pokemon confused, but happy to see their trainer alive and well.
"Um, I hate to ruin your happy little reunion right now, but a giant monster is still causing chaos in the middle of the mall!"
"Right!" Ash then stood up and dusted off some dirt from his clothes. He looked at the Guzzlord whilst stretching for some reason and instructed: "Ok, Goh you take Chloe and Eevee to the Professor's Lab and bring some backup, me and the other's will do our best to fight this thing"
"We can't just leave you here to fight this monstrosity alone after what just happened! You're going to get eaten alive! Even if you have a few pokemon on you." Tried to explain Goh to Ash. Whilst he might be brave and confident, Goh was worried he might be crossing the line into recklessness.
"I have beaten this thing before, twice actually, and yeah I might not have been alone, but I believe in my pokemon, they have been with me through a lot at this point and I know we can do this." Ash then briefly turned to face Goh and said: "I'm just going to need you to trust me on this one Goh, please."
"I….. Ugh, fine! Let's go Chloe."
Goh grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her forcibly out of the mall, with her Eevee and his Grookey following closely behind, whilst the victim simply looked back at the Pallet Town trainer who was currently staring down the Ultra Beast with a determined look on his face but she could tell he was visibly nervous. Chloe was just silently hoping he would be okay.
"He will be fine." Goh said, seemingly reading Chloe's mind. "I know you're worried, I am too, but right now, we have to trust him and do our part to take this thing down."
"R-Right…" Even with Goh's words, Chloe couldn't help but feel worried about Ash, he just saved her life after all, and she didn't want his to be taken instead…
Meanwhile, the Hyper Class level trainer kept looking at the Ultra Beast and after a while, he started quietly laughing and looked at the ground with a grin on his face.
"Ready for round 3 Guzzlord?" He asked confidently, to which the monster replied to by releasing a huge cry.
"What do you mean there's currently no ferry to Melemele Island?!" Exclaimed Kukui, visibly very in a hurry.
"I'm sorry Professor but there's really nothing we can do…" Replied the lady behind the counter, who was increasingly getting more and more scared by his tone. "The next ferry for that island is in one hour and there's no way to make another one come any faster…"
Kukui swore under his breath. Of course there would be no ferry to Melemele right when his considered son was in mortal danger of being eaten alive. Just fantastic. He was really worried, but who wouldn't be in this situation? He was losing his cool until a familiar hand was placed on his shoulder. He looked up to see her beautiful wife with a soft smile on her face whilst holding their precious baby Lei in her arms.
"Calm down honey, I just so happened to know what could get us there even faster than the ferry. Follow me." She said dashing away from the ferry terminal.
The alolan Professor simply smiled, she was always there for him when he was at his worst, there to keep him from being too stressed. He looked at her exit the terminal and soon followed in pursuit.
"Right behind you!"
After running for around 10 minutes, Professor Burnet still hadn't explained what her plan was, which was starting to worry her husband, but he decided to trust her, if she had a plan, most of the time it's worthwhile to listen to it. She had always been a pretty smart person, so he knew she was going to try her best to find the fastest way possible to get to Ash. After all, he was almost just as important to her as he was to him. He soon spotted where Burnet was bringing him and asked:
"The beach? How is that going to help us?" He asked innocently.
"Ever heard of Mantine surfing?" She responded with a grin, which her partner reciprocated with one of his own.
"I love you." Said quietly the Professor, still with a smile on his face.
"Yeah yeah I know, now let's go, I'm sure Ash is waiting for us."
"Wait you're coming?! No way! What about Lei? It's gonna be dangerous!"
"Did you really think I was just gonna stay here and watch you leave to become a hero? Heck no! We do these things together, ever since that Nihilego incident, it's always been you and me, not one or the other. I know you're worried about Lei, but I am just simply not staying here to watch you fight that monster alone, got it?
Knowing it was pointless to argue, Kukui just sighed in defeat. "Just saying if one of us gets badly injured you're paying the hospital bills." He joked.
"Yeah, yeah whatever, hurry up you Slowpoke." She joked back.
They arrived at the beach a couple moments later where a man in swimming trunks greeted them.
"Alola! What brings you here to Ula'Ula beach today?" He asked nicely.
"We are taking two Mantine." Burnet said firmly and with confidence, hoping onto a Mantine with her baby whilst her husband took another one.
"Um, I'm sorry mam, but I can't just let you take two mantine without our consent."
Burnet simply showed the man her special employee card from the Aether foundation, only reserved for the highest of employees gifted by the president herself. "Oh that's ok, though it would be a shame if miss Lusamine were to know about this, wonder if she'll make a public post about the horrible service here—"
"N-No no i-it's o-ok! T-Take as many as you want, I-I beg please!" Stumbled the man as he slowly walked away from the married couple.
"You're evil you know?" Kukui said whilst adjusting his Mantine ride.
"Hey! I won Alola Woman of the Year not too long ago, I deserve some special perks."
"You're something else…"
"Love you too, now let's go, a certain raven haired trainer is waiting for us..."
"Come on, we're almost there…" Goh said quietly, mainly to himself.
He could see the small shack representing the Professor's lab a bit further out in the distance, which almost made him relieved, but he couldn't lie to himself, he really didn't want to leave Ash there any longer. He seemed to know what he was up against, but he doubted that it would matter when you have a monster of that size trying to devour anything in its path. He looked back briefly at his companion, who seemed to be lost in thought whilst struggling to keep up with his pace. He knew she probably was still traumatized by the near-death experience she had not too long ago, but they didn't have time to worry about that now, they had to get help, and fast.
"Goh… just hold up a second…" Chloe spoke a few seconds later whilst trying to catch her breath.
"We can't afford a second! A second is all the time that monster needs to eat Ash alive, so step on it!" Goh proclaimed pretty angrily, which was acceptable considering the situation.
"Is this just a normal day for you? Is this just natural for you as a researcher? I mean… a huge creature devouring a mall… seconds away from dying…"
With every word Chloe added, Goh became more and more frustrated, he knew what she was feeling and understood why, but he still couldn't help but feel angry. Unfortunately for him, the Professor's daughter continued.
"... Ash talking about incomprehensible things to us… r-risking his o-own l-life for m-mine… I clearly don't belong here… I'm just slowing you guys down, I never should have come here—"
"JUST STOP TALKING ALREADY!" Now Goh's turn to interrupt people, he stopped running and turned around to face his friend. He looked her straight in the eyes and said: "I know what you're thinking, I know you think you don't need to be here, I know you feel useless right about now and I also know you feel worried about Ash, but the truth is, you are here right now, and you can't do anything to change that, so it's not the time to start questioning your existence, right now is the time to go get the Pokemon at the lab as fast as possible, and hope to Arceus that Ash is fine by the time we make it back."
She knew he was right. It still hurt a bit to hear him say that, but he was right. She had to push through, just this once, not even for herself this time, but for the person who saved her and gave her a second chance.
"Ash really has changed you hasn't he…"
"Let's just go, or there won't be an Ash to change people." Replied the young researcher as they resumed sprinting towards their destination.
A few minutes later, the duo had arrived at the Professor's house. Goh quickly jumped up the small set of stairs and unlocked the door with the key Ash had given him. The first thing he saw when he opened the door was a very round owl with short legs and a white beige plumage currently sleeping next to a large humanoid pokemon consisting mostly of liquid metal with a few hexagonal nuts attached to its body. He also soon perceived a bipedal, feline Pokémon with a muscular build who had a belt formed of flames, that somewhat resembled a wrestling belt, playing cards with a canine Pokémon resembling a wolf with an orange-gold fur and bright green eyes. The two pokemon who were currently not asleep looked towards the door and were visibly surprised to see Ash's friend along with a new person they didn't recognize. They looked at the pair curiously so Goh quickly explained the situation.
"Hey you all, I know you're probably not the person you were expecting to see, but we really need you guys, there's this pokemon called Guzzlord at the mall and Ash is currently there and needs your help."
Goh didn't need to say one more word, since right after he finished his sentence mentioning Ash and trouble, Lycanroc immediately let out as huge howl and ran out the front door as fast as possible, knocking both Goh and Chloe to the ground, soon being followed by Incineroar and Melmetal whilst Rowlet, who was seemingly in a deep slumber just a few seconds ago, flew outside at lightning speed by using the little window of the shack. The two friends simply stared at them rush off to save their trainer, mouth agape.
"Do they even know where they're going?" Asked Chloe whilst picking herself up from the floor.
"Considering they didn't even consider hesitating before leaving, I'm guessing they have a small idea. They do live here after all."
"Also, are we going to talk about how there was a Lycanroc with golden fur and a giant metal humanoid in that bunch? I literally have never heard about those pokemon before, like ever, not even in school or the flyers." Chloe said, asking the important questions.
"Once again, with Ash, the fewer questions, the better."
"Gotcha…"
Goh's rotom phone suddenly started buzzing, and as soon as he saw who it was, he knew this wasn't good. Chloe looked over his shoulder to see who the caller was, and then thought the same thing. Goh answered quickly after and said:
"Ash! Please tell me you're ok."
"Sort of… for now at least… my pokemon aren't going to last much longer, this one's way stronger... than the ones I fought before, and seemingly… wanting to throw a lot more things at us than before...". He said whilst occasionally avoiding an incoming object.
Goh could barely hear what Ash was saying, the loud sounds in the background seem to keep getting louder and louder. "We're on our way, just hold on."
"I'll try… but I'm really gonna need some backup asap—"
"Pikapi!"
Pikachu's desperate cry was the last thing Chloe and Goh heard before the Rotom phone's screen went black, sending shivers down both their spines.
"Ash! Ash!" Screamed Goh.
Without saying a word, Chloe sprinted back onto the nearby streets leading to Hau'oli City. Goh quickly followed her, getting more and more worried with every second passing by.
The four people rushing towards the mega mall in Hau'oli city, two of them riding on the back of Mantine's in the middle of the sea, and another two running as fast as their legs could take them, were all unconsciously thinking the exact same thing.
'Please be ok Ash…'
