Chapter 45: Where misunderstandings were made.
Seeing the horned being again Mo quickly turned around a tried to run. Instead he, once again, fell directly on his, or rather Aaron's face.
"You alright?", Aaron asked him.
"You should know!", Mo rudely answered and was getting back up.
Ziggy looked upon the horned beast with amazement in his healthy and visible eye.
"I know who he is!", he said and approached it.
"Stay away! He's working with Necrozma!", Mo tried to warn him.
"I what?!", the being answered both shocked and upset hearing this.
Ziggy turned around to Mo and Aaron.
"I can certainly tell he does not."
Ziggy turned back around and took a small bow.
"Greetings, Tapu Bulu."
The bull like one looked please by Ziggy's gesture.
"You know him?", Aaron asked in Mo's stead.
"Not really, but he and the others Tapu's are a big deal where I come from.", Ziggy explained. "They're the Guarding Deities."
"I CAN BACK WHAT HE SAYS, FOR AXEL, AMY AND I HAD ALSO THE PLEASE TO MEET THE TAPUS ON OUR ADVENTURES.", Steve told the group. "... IT'S A LONG STORY:"
"But ...!", Mo tried to explain. "You told me you work with Necrozma, despite that you fought these jellyfish!"
Tapu Bulu approached Mo and Aaron and looked down upon them in spite.
"How dare you spreading rumours I work with that monster!"
"I asked you if you're one of these thing working for your 'monster' and you told me you do!", Mo talked back.
Silence. Ziggy and Steve looked at Tapu Bulu and waited for his answer. The Tapu's face turned into an expression of embarrassment. He hit his own face.
"I thought we were talking about Axel! I'm working for the Chosen One! Me and the others!", Tapu Bulu cleared things up. "Why do you think I was fighting the Nihilego in the first place?!"
"The what?", Aaron asked.
Tapu Bulu grunted in annoyance.
"THE OTHERES?! YOU MEAN THE OTHER GUARDIANS?! THEY'RE HERE AS WELL?!", Steve asked.
"They fight the Nihilego that took over your fellow adventurers while I decided to go look for Axel and the other, missing, adventurers: You. Don't worry, Tapu Koko and the others can deal with them.
Mo felt awkward.
"So ... you're not one of the bad guys?", he asked unsurely. "And ... when I asked: 'him', you meant Axel?"
Tapu Bulu turned towards Mo And Aaron and he was still mad about it.
"Mo, what did you do?", Aaron asked him.
The Guardian Pokémon slowly floated closer to Mo, both Ziggy and Steve meanwhile behind him worrying what was about to happen.
"Something regretful, ... again.", Mo answered. They looked up.
Tapu Bulu was no floating above them, Mo could feel his hot breath puffing down to him an Aaron's body starting to sweat. Tapu Bulu then raised hoof like hand high, in response, Mo closed his eyes and awaited what the Guardian was about to do.
Tapu Bulu laid his hoof in Aaron's head and started to stroke it softly.
"There, there." he said caringly.
Mo was confused and Aaron probably as well.
"You were afraid of me, weren't you?", Tapu Bulu asked.
Mo nodded.
"Yeah.", Aaron added right afterwards.
Without warning, Tapu Bulu hit them on the head, making a *clonk* sound. Not too hard to be actually harmful, but still strong enough to hurt.
"You better should be, because I don't like when others mess with me.", Tapu Bulu told them. "I'm very serious about it."
Mo looked up to the guardian while Aaron was rubbing his head with one of his ribbons. He was still looking down to him with his bright, green, but to Mo blurry eyes. Tapu Bulu then bursted into laughter. He clapped his hoof together, making a metallic noise, and turned around.
"I guess none of you can tell me where Axel and Amy went, not to mention what happened to the Origin Stone?", he asked the others.
Ziggy proudly smiled.
"NOT Axel and Amy", he presented the Guardian Pokémon the Origin Stone.
Tapu Bulu could not believe his eyes. He inspected it closer.
"Where did you get that?", he asked.
"I found it. " Mo answered and pointed around the spot next to him. "About here."
"I still don't know what is going on here.", Aaron pointed out, a strange site seeing Aaron seemingly changing subject and personality from one second to another.
Tapu Bulu was looking worriedly at the Sylveon. He hit his other arms with his hoof, seeing if he hit them too hard.
"Are you alright, Sylveon?", he asked.
"I'm not really sure.", Aaron answered.
"Murder.", Mo added as a joke, something that just went through his mind.
"Stop it!", Aaron shouted angrily.
Awkward silence.
"Anyway ...!", Ziggy brought back the previous and more important subject. "We have the stone right here and still don't know what happened to the kids. We just wanted to go searching when you arrived."
Tapu Bulu further inspected at the Origin Stone.
"Can I hold it?", he asked.
Ziggy just wanted to do it when a thought went through his mind. He glimpsed over to Steve, he was shaking himself to tell him not to do it. Mo glimpsed over as well did the same with his head, slowly, while grinning nervously.
"I don't think you can.", Ziggy politely told Tapu Bulu.
Tapu Nulu looked down to the Pikachu, similar to how he looked at Mo and Aaron before. Staring, like he was about to say something any second.
"Alright!", he finally answered but again went silent. Apparently that's how he looked like when he was thinking. "Axel needs the stone and then has to get back to our world right away. Originally I wanted to save you, bring you back and looked for Axel and the stone. But now that the Origin Stone was found again, by you, that changes my plans."
"Why?", Mo asked.
"You don't trust me holding the stone. I understand that.", Tapu Bulu further explained. "But I don't trust you either. If I take you home WITH the stone ...", he paused and glimpsed over to Ziggy, who was still holding. "I just don't completely trust you, okay. And on the other hand ... I can't just leave you here!"
"AND WHAT IS YOU PLAN NOW?", Steve asked.
"I can fly and I'm strong enough to carry you all and it would be the fasted way to find Axel, but we would be too easy to be spotted by ... you know who.", he further told the group.
"You say we walk?", Ziggy put together.
"Any other ideas? I'm open for it.", Tapu Bulu asked and crossed his arms.
He looked around. No answer. from anyone.
"Alright then!", Tapu Bulu announced. "We have a long way ahead and dangers beyond your abilities! Pikachu, give that Sylveon the Origin Stone."
"What?!", Ziggy complained. Mo was also surprised. "Why give it to him?!"
"Look at you.", Tapu Bulu told him. "That stone is larger than your head. Can you even see when you hold it? You don't trust me, for a good reason, and the other one don't have any arms or legs to hold anything. Not even a mouth."
Tapu Bulu looked over to the Voltorb.
"How do you even eat?!"
Silence.
Still not thinking Mo should have it but seeing no other option himself, Ziggy walked over to Mo and Aaron and gave the Origin Stone back to them. Aaron held the stone up in amazement, his blue eye shimmering when he gazed at it. Mo wondered what he was thinking now. If his friend tried to do something funny, Mo would be forced to, more or less, fight himself.
And so, with the legendary Tapu Bulu himself as the leader of this bunch of one-third of a team plus half a third, the group was now organised and in possession of the most sacred and powerful artefact of their world and this one. Something Mo did not quit realised at this point but only heard from time to time from Aaron, his kind had an advanced sense of smell, or at least more advanced than a Mimikyu or a Pikachu. Thanks to Steve's scarf, as a team he often hung out with Axel and Amy, Aaron actually managed to found a trace, gross but also amazing to Mo. Not a strong trace, to many other smells around and in the end a Sylveon's sense of smell was not as great as a Growlithe or not to mention a Slurpuff.
On their way, Mo had to explain to Aaron was he had missed up to this point, how Lunala got taken over by Necrozma, how Mo passed away due to the injuries caused by the Queen of the Night and how the guild members were eventually attacked by, what Tapu Bulu called them, Nihilego, one of many inhabitants of Ultra Space. Tapu Bulu himself, of course, was also filled in to this story. Up to this point he simply believed Aaron had some kind of mentally damage, maybe even a split personality. He was also asked what may had happened. He did not knew himself. He met many Mimikyu in his long life, but never heard about something like this ever happen. Mimikyu were not pure ghosts, they can and will die and eventually become ghosts. Pure ghost Pokémon do can possess other Pokémon, but the ghost of a deceased Pokémon ... most unlikely.
Mo had this unsettling feeling the guardian was now telling them the full truth, but he felt unease to further dig into this hole.
Due to the strange dark sky, that apparently looked always like this, no one of the group had an idea how long they had been walking already. Too long, that was for sure.
"Aaron, are you sure we're the right track?", Ziggy asked. Like Mo sometimes did, he settled down on Aaron's back. Mo wanted to protest, but gave in.
"Better than walking around randomly!", Mo answered bothered.
"OH TAPU BULU.", Steve tried to get the guardian Pokémon's attention. Tapu Bulu was awfully quiet the whole journey before. "APPART FROM THE NIHILEGO WE HAD ALREADY ENCOUNTERED, WHAT OTHER ULTRA BEAST ARE THERE?"
Tapu Bulu took some time to answer this question. He then began to tell.
"There are not much known, even to us, but all of them are dangerously strong. The Kartana are the smallest of them all, but their body is sharp like a blade. ... no, even sharper than that. Imagine the sharpest thing you can imagine. And now imagine a swarm of them. Or ...", Tapu Bulu shuddered for a moment. "There is this one called Guzzlord. You don't want to meet that thing. I believe even Necrozma is afraid of it. An abomination with a never ending hunger for ... everything! A walking black hole."
Another thing Mo did not wanted to hear today.
"Luckily ...", Tapu Bulu told further. "Ultra Space is big and like we Pokémon do, Ultra Beast only live in certain locations. This one is called "Ultra Deep Sea", here only Nihilego live. ... as long as other Ultra Beasts did not wander through portals to this place. Then we may be in big trouble."
The words "as long" did not made it better for Mo.
The journey went to a sudden halt when Mo and Aaron stopped walking. Steve, first not aware they stopped, gave Aaron a bump on his behind a them, including Ziggy, quiet a scare.
"WHY DID YOU STOP?", Steve asked.
"Did you ever heard he phrase: 'I you walk on the tracks, you'll never lose your way' ?", Mo asked as he looked at what was ahead of them.
They dark sky was full with floating rocks, island, some larger some smaller. It was quiet possible they were on one right now. This turned out to be correct, as they starred into the abyss where the trace of Axel and Amy ended. Underneath them was still another island and in front of them as well, but the first one was too far below to simply jump down and the other one too far away for a Cyndaquil or a Riolu to do so.
"Whoever said that was wrong.", Mo concluded.
Steve and Tapu Bulu looked worried.
"Maybe they still managed to get over there.", Tapu Bulu gave hope.
In response Ziggy climbed of Aaron's and Mo's back and picked up a small rock that was laying on the ground. He threw that rock as hard as he could to where the other floating island was, but it was still ot hard enough to land there. I fell into the abyss. Ziggy turned around, looked at the guardian and pointed to what he just did. Tapu Bulu realised that he was wrong.
"What is the next thing we can do?", Mo asked. "The Chosen One is gone, we have the Origin Stone, you said yourself this world is big. I don't want to be in response to get rid of this magical dice."
Stve rushed over to the edge, first looking down, then to the other side, hoping he could see anything that would help them.
But then Mo, or rather Aaron smelled something. The same smell that they followed, but it was not from Steve, from somewhere else.
"I smell something!", Aaron announced and quickly took a sniff on Steve's scarf to be sure. "The same smell is nearby!"
Everyone looked around confused.
"AXEL, AMY, YOU THERE? IT'S US!", Steve called out.
Aaron stepped closer to the edge, much to Mo's discomfort. The smell seemed to had come from ... directly underneath them.
"Hello!", a purple, imp like being suddenly popped up from below. It was small, with along tail, illuminating eyes and mouth and three needles on it's head. It's voice sounded rather childlike and space.
Mo and Aaron were startled and felt over. The imp, being able to fly, floated up and began to laugh over Aaron's reaction. The group then also noticed why Aaron probably smelled the sent of Team Red members. The imp was wearing one of the red scarfs.
"What is that?!", Ziggy called out.
Tapu Bulu stepped in front of the group.
"That is a Poipole.", Tapu Bulu answered. "You! What are you doing here! Your kind does not live here! And most impotently, where did you get that scarf?!"
The Poipole continued laughing.
"Pink guy got scared!", it laughed and was whizzing around over Mo and Aaron.
Tapu Bulu rudely grabbed the Ultra Beast with his hoof like hands and the laughter soon stopped.
"We are looking for two Pokémon. One of them is a Cindaquil, a mouse like Pokémon with a long nose and a Riolu, a blue dog like Pokémon! Both of them wore red scarfs when we last saw them! You are wearing a red scarf right not that has the scent of the scarfs we're looking for! Why do you have one?!"
"Blue dog? Blue dog!", the Poipole announced. "Doggy come out of portal and picking up funny block, me following doggy, but doggy not notice me! Doggy take of bright, red scarf and hang it in tree! Me pick up scarf! Scarf cozy! Me also seeing long nose with same cozy scarf! Saw two kitties and sleepy fox with funny block, too!"
"Cats?", Mo thought.
"Where did they go?!", Tapu Bulu further asked and seemingly squeezing the small Ultra Beast some more.
"Kitties and fox looking for doggy! They meet Mr. Buzzwole who help searching! Me the going on walk and taking nap! Me then heard you and: Boo!"
"Who is Mr. Buzzwole?", Aaron asked.
"Buzzwole is another dangerous Ultra Beast and one of Necrozma's allies. So he must be around here somewhere.", Tapu Bulu explained. The Poipole bursted into laughter again.
"You funny!", it said.
"WHAT DOES BUZZWOLE LOOK LIKE?", Steve ask.
"It is tall and incredibly muscular, a Machamp would be shamed, with the head of an insect.", Tapu Bulu answered.
"IS IT BRIGHT RED WITH FOUR LEGS?", Steve asked again.
Tapu Bulu wanted to answer, but his words got stuck in his throat. Everyone except Steve and the Poipole had one of those "He's right behind me isn't he" moments.
"Mr. Buzzwole found you instead!"