"That's good," Ash said, during a late training session. "A bit faster… and just a bit… that's great! That's Rapid Spin!"
"Poiiiiii!" Poipole whistled. "Wheeeee!"
"Okay, Lycanroc, let's test if it works!" Ash added.
"Stealth Rock," Lycanroc complied, sending a field of stones floating into the air, and they whizzed towards Poipole. The force of Poipole's spin sent them flying off in all directions, none of them actually hitting him with enough force to do damage, and after a long moment Poipole spun back down again and did a slightly wobbly nod.
"Great!" Ash enthused. "That's really going to help give you options."
There was a bang in mid-air overhead, and everyone looked up.
"Huh?" Pikachu asked. "Nebby?"
"Yes?" Nebby replied, from next to Pikachu in their Cosmoem form.
"Oh, that's your mom, then," Pikachu decided, as Lunala flew down and landed in front of them.
"We have another urgent problem," Lunala said to Ash. "This one's more urgent than asking you to raise our child. Good job on that one by the way."
"Thanks!" Nebby said, then giggled. "I know you were thanking Ash but I feel like that's a thanks situation from me too!"
"What's going on?" Ash asked.
"An extradimensional black Pokémon of great power is chasing Solgaleo with single-minded intensity," Lunala explained. "We don't recognize them."
"Then that sounds like a job for the Ultra Guardians!" Ash said, reaching for Arc. "Arc, can you alert Lusamine and the other Ultra Guardians? It might be too urgent for us to go to the base, but if they can meet us there…?"
"Ringing," Arc replied.
"I'll take you there, Ash!" Nebby declared, then evolved to Solgaleo with a flash of solar light. "Climb on!"
"You got it, Nebby!" Ash agreed. "Pikachu, you'll have to come with me until we meet up with Garchomp!"
Lycanroc returned themselves, as did Dartrix and Torracat, and Zygarde crouched before springing up onto Nebby's back behind Ash.
There was plenty of room.
"If we are going through an Ultra Wormhole to another universe, please give me some warning," Zygarde requested. "I will endeavour to bring sufficient Cells to maintain full capacity."
"Got it!" Nebby replied, checking that all the passengers who were coming were on his back, then took off.
"Attention!" Arc said, to get Ash's attention. "I have connected to Director Lusamine through a direct video call after she did not answer the phone. It appears that she is ill or otherwise lacking in energy."
Their golden ring pulsed. "I am checking other sources of information. It appears that all adult humans in the Alola region are currently enervated. Children and some teenagers are unaffected."
"Enervated… I guess that means they don't have energy," Ash decided, not sure what the word meant but making what he considered to be a fairly reasonable guess all things considered. "That might be because of whatever this is! Arc, the other Ultra Guardians should be okay, and we need their help more than ever now!"
"Contacting," Arc replied. "Ibid, I request you start bringing over other members of Ash's team."
"Follow me," Lunala requested. "We are going to be jumping to where Solgaleo is."
"Hang on, Ibid, don't teleport just yet or you'll get left behind!" Ash warned quickly, then Lunala powered up to Full Moon briefly and blew a hole in the universe.
They didn't go far, emerging on the far side of Hau'Oli City from Kukui's house, and Solgaleo was fighting with difficulty against a strange black crystal Pokémon.
"What is that?" Ash wondered, then Ibid teleported away and came back a moment later with several Pokémon. One of them was Zoroark, and Ash stood up on Nebby's back long enough to activate Bond Phenomenon, then he wobbled and would have fallen off except that a Dragonite caught him.
"Thanks!" he told her, as nearby Zoroark switched to a Flygon and flew ahead. "Lunala, do you know what that Pokémon wants?"
"No idea!" Lunala replied, then Solgaleo dodged in the wrong direction and the crystal Pokémon caught him.
The whole of the Sunne Pokémon flashed, then the black crystal absorbed him. What resulted was a kind of fusion of the two, like Solgaleo wearing crystalline armour, and the fusion roared before firing out a beam of light that slammed into Lunala and knocked her backwards.
"Uh," Ash said, frowning. "That looks familiar..."
He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Zoroark! Get in close and block those attacks, it's Prismatic Laser!"
"Got it!" Zoroark replied, switching shapes, and stopped the next Prismatic Laser attack from hitting Lunala.
"Everyone else, watch out!" Ash added. "Prismatic Laser's a strong Psychic attack! Lunala, did Solgaleo know it?"
"I don't even know how you just recognized it!" Lunala said. "No, he doesn't, neither of us even know what it is!"
"Mew told me once!" Ash said. "And Unown's used it a couple of times, it's a lot of set up for them but it's a strong move!"
"Mister Ketchum!" Kiawe called, from down below.
Dragonite banked right a bit, so Ash could see, and he brightened at the sight of all the Ultra Guardians – including Gladion, on Silvally – rising up to meet them.
"Guys, it's great to see you!" he said. "Gladion, can Silvally swap memories without your help?"
"I do not have an unlimited repertoire," Silvally replied. "Why do you ask?"
"We need as many Dark types to stop those Prismatic Lasers as we can!" Ash explained. "If you can be a Flying and Dark type at different times it'll be really helpful, but Zoroark's really doing his best so it might not be necessary. Pikachu, switch to Garchomp – Zygarde, you too! Nebby, let's see how that Pokémon likes a Searing Sunraze Smash!"
"Just make sure Solgaleo's okay," Lunala asked. "Please."
"I'm going to make sure everyone is okay!" Ash replied, bracing himself and standing up on Dragonite's back this time as she halted to hover in mid-air. "And that includes Solgaleo."
"It does," Nebby agreed, then lit up with brilliant light as Ash posed, and pounced. "Searing Sunraze SMASH!"
"This utter exhaustion is scientifically fascinating," Professor Burnet said.
"Agreed," Professor Kukui agreed.
Neither of them said anything for a long moment.
"I wonder if Ash is involved?" Kukui added.
The impact of Nebby's Z-move echoed off the sea below and the nearby mountains, and the strange black Ultra Beast separated from Solgaleo – who dropped straight down towards the sea.
"Dragonite, catch him!" Ash called, pointing, and one of the flying reserve Dragonite shot down to snag Solgaleo out of the air. "Nebby, get back here!"
Nebby shrank back to Cosmoem, avoided a swipe from the black Ultra Beast, then switched to Lunala and began dodging as best she could.
"Designation determined," Arc stated. "The creature's name is Necrozma."
"Necrozma, right!" Ash replied, then winced as Necrozma fired an intense pillar of light that Zoroark didn't manage to intercept in time. The blast hit Nebby's wing, sending her spinning around, and Ash pointed. "Heracross, boost Pikachu! Pikachu, distract Necrozma!"
Heracross launched himself off the Dragonite he'd been riding, and punched Pikachu very hard with Plasma Fists. The impact knocked Pikachu clear of Garchomp, but that was half the point, and a moment later Pikachu launched out an enormous electric attack which hammered into Necrozma and knocked the crystalline Pokémon flying.
Now Ash had a moment to aim without worrying that Nebby was going to dodge clear of the beam, and he recalled Nebby before sending her out again right next to him.
"Thanks!" Nebby said. "I forgot that was an option!"
"No problem!" Ash replied, checking that Garchomp had caught Pikachu again, then frowned.
There was something he couldn't quite see…
"Poii!" Poipole said, coming out and giving Nebby a quick hug, then looked in the direction of Necrozma. "Pii poiiii! Poii-poipole!"
"Really?" Ash replied. "Then… yeah, I need to check something. Thanks, Poipole!"
He looked back and forth, then spotted the Pokémon he was after.
"Talonflame, Pidgey!" he called, and Pidgey flew over to him. Talonflame sort of didn't, just appearing next to him with a whoosh of air, and Ash held out a Dusk Ball. "Pidgey, get ready to go Pidgeot – I need you to carry Salazzle. Salazzle's going to have to make some Maranga scent between us and Necrozma. Talonflame, touch it off if you see a light beam about to hit us!"
"What do you mean us?" Talonflame checked, as Pidgey began Pidgeyvolving.
"Me and Dragonite!" Ash clarified. "I need to get a close look at Necrozma's back. Think we can do that?"
"Of course, sire," Dragonite agreed.
Now that Pidgeot was ready, Ash sent out Salazzle.
"On it, boss," Salazzle said, then he and Pidgeot went rocketing away towards Necrozma. Dragonite waited a moment, then followed.
"What is Ash even doing?" Kiawe asked, wincing at the sight of the blurs tracing circles around that weird black crystal Pokémon.
I don't know, but it's going to be amazing, said the Cresselia floating next to his Charizard. It usually is, with Ash.
Then a Dragonite zipped up and said something.
Oh! Cresselia said. You can all use Z moves, right? Because Solgaleo is utterly exhausted and needs some of that kind of energy to heal him.
She turned slightly. Lunala, Dr. Agonite says that Solgaleo is at the Altar of the Sunne being treated. Can you make sure the Ultra Guardians can get there?
Lunala spread her wings, then there was an explosion of light and an Ultra Wormhole formed.
"Come on, guys!" Kiawe called. "Solgaleo needs our help!"
"What about Ash?" Lana asked.
"He's Ash, either he'll be fine or he'll ask for help!" Kiawe replied. "We can help Solgaleo right now, so let's do that, it's not like we can't come back!"
"Okay, we can pull back!" Ash told Dragonite.
She banked around and zoomed away from Necrozma, and behind them there was an explosion as Talonflame touched off the Dark-typed cloud to cover their retreat.
"Where is she… there!" Ash added, as Dragonite fell into formation next to Nebby. "I've got an idea, but I don't know if it's going to work, Nebby. And it needs your help to try."
"What kind of help?" Nebby asked.
"I'm going to need you to let yourself get caught by Necrozma," he explained. "I think we can break you out again if it doesn't work, but if I'm going to try this it's going to take you being in there."
"I can do it, Ash," Nebby insisted. "What else?"
"Just that Necrozma needs to fire their attack up, okay?" Ash said. "Not at anything. If you can do that, that would be great, but otherwise at Zoroark should be fine."
He switched Z-crystals, pulling out the Solgalium Z from his Z-ring and glancing down to make sure he was picking the right one. "Is that okay?"
"I'll do it!" Nebby insisted, then flew up into the air before diving straight towards Necrozma.
The black crystalline Pokémon blasted an attack at Nebby, another one which Zoroark intercepted, then the Dark-type flew out of the way – just before Nebby and Necrozma collided.
There was a flash of silver light, one which drained away in moments, and when it cleared it was now Nebby's turn to be encased in black crystals. Her wings were shimmering with silver light, but Necrozma's crystals had grown over her main body and studded the outer edge of her wings.
"Stable platform, Dragonite!" Ash called. "Here goes!"
He slotted in the other crystal he was after, the one he'd found on his first day in Akala, and struck three poses as the Nebby/Necrozma fusion powered up.
A pillar of light stabbed skywards, then intensified to a brilliant light that hurt the eyes and made the whole night sky turn from black to a brilliant daylight blue.
And, when it faded, there were two Pokémon hovering there. Nebby, and the Blinding One.
Ash Ketchum.
Up close, you could still see how the Blinding One was similar to the Necrozma they'd been battling. There were still crystals making up much of its form, at least. But the brilliant light that flowed from every one of those crystals, making them shine with solar radiance in the darkness and creating a whole draconic Pokémon body out of what seemed like nothing more than condensed sunlight.. that was new, and different.
I am most grateful, the new Necrozma added. You could so easily have seen me as an enemy.
"But I couldn't do that without knowing why you were doing what you were doing!" Ash said. "And once I realized that symbol you have matched the Z crystal I found, and when Poipole told me that you were what their homeworld's light source became, it was obvious you were just absolutely starved of light! And your special moves were all about light, so it just needed amplification!"
The empowered Necrozma turned to look at Nebby. I shared your understanding of all things less than a minute ago, and I'm still not quite sure how to react.
"That's Ash for you!" Nebby replied. "Hey, you can make Ultra Wormholes, right? Because I've used two Z moves for non-wormhole reasons in less than five minutes and I think I'd like a night's sleep before I try and make one again."
Then all the Ultra Guardians returned through a wormhole along with Lunala, saw the Blinding One, and had a very Alolan religious experience.
"I cannot get over this," Kiawe was saying, some minutes later. "I can not get over this. You just – that's the Blinding One!"
I am Necrozma, the being informed him.
"You're Ultra Necrozma is what you are!" Solgaleo said, sitting on air. "Back to the best version of yourself! Full of Ultra Aura! Ultra is the right word I think!"
That would make as good a distinction as any, Necrozma decided. Though I must depart soon.
"Aw, really?" Nebby asked. "Well, I guess you do have a job being the source of light for a whole world so it's not like you can give up on that."
"I wanted to ask about that," Ash admitted. "You are from Poipole's world, right? Thing is, he has a weird dialect, I've learned it but it's different than Pokémon from this world. But you don't?"
Actually I do, I just learned the local languages, the sun-dragon explained. Both in the past, when I visited Alola, and recently from Nebby.
"Oh!" Pikachu said. "Actually now that I remember – if you did visit Alola in the past, they said there was no light until you turned up. Is that right?"
Do they really say that? Necrozma asked, embarrassed. That's an exaggeration. What actually happened is that the three of us brought Z Crystals to Alola… crystals empowered by my light, as it happens.
They folded their wings, floating through psychic power instead of aerodynamics. I can see how that might become mis-remembered over time.
"And it's really fortunate you did," Ash pointed out. "Do you know why some Z crystals are for specific Pokémon and others aren't?"
He rummaged around. "And, uh… so there's some which are for Types in general, there's a few that transform under specific conditions, but then there's ones like Solgalium Z and your one that are Pokémon specific and always are. I guess there's one for Lycanroc too?"
The transformation, I cannot tell you, Necrozma admitted. It is probably something to do with the nature of a strong connection and calling upon my light. But I created the specific crystals mostly for specific reasons.
The dragon coughed. For example, I like Lycanrocs.
"I am a Lycanroc!" Ash's Lycanroc said. "Hello!"
Ultra Necrozma stared at them.
Magnificent, they declared. How are you floating?
"Stealth Rock and determination!"
There were a few other things to sort out, like going to inform Professor Kukui about what had happened, and then confirming that Necrozma had been linked to the sudden overwhelming fatigue that had struck most of Alola.
I am sorry, the enormous dragon said. The only thing I can say in my defence is that I was blinded myself by pain, and not thinking straight.
"Oh, it wasn't bad," Kukui replied, wearing a pair of polarized sunglasses with a second pair of polarized lenses at right angles. "We were just really tired."
"And, if you want, you can think about it this way!" Ash added. "You were so in pain that you couldn't think straight, sure! You wanted to fix your wounds and light so much that you were willing to attack Solgaleo and Lunala!"
Necrozma did their best to shrink in on themselves and not be noticed, which wasn't very easy when you were a colossal dragon shining brightly enough to light up the night-time beach front like it was mid-morning.
"But it took you ages to do that!" Ash went on. "You got hurt really, really badly, and that was a long time ago, and eventually it got so bad you couldn't think about anything else. It was so bad that when you got here you were draining energy from all the adults in Alola – but that means you weren't draining the kids! There was something deep inside you that insisted you shouldn't do that, and… that's important."
Necrozma leaned closer. I… yes, you are right. I had not thought of that.
They raised a claw, paused, then concentrated, and the very tip of the claw went black. Is this cold enough for normal humans to touch? I have no idea.
"Zoroark, can you check?" Ash asked.
Nothing happened.
Kukui looked back and forth. "Where is Zoroark, actually?"
Ash flicked one of the Dragonite next to him with a finger, bursting Zoroark's illusion. "Great job! It took me a while to spot you that time."
"You're way too good at that," Zoroark complained, then shrugged, and switched into being a Giant Ninetales. He batted at Necrozma's dark clawtip with a paw, then nodded. "Yeah, should be fine."
Ash reached out his hand, and touched Necrozma.
Thank you, Ash Ketchum. For the second time.
"And… oh, yeah, there's something I should ask about," Ash said. "We don't actually know where Poipole is from so we couldn't send him home, but if you're from the same place then that makes it an option."
"Poii!" Poipole said, sounding terribly sad. "Don't want to go..."
"Hey, I'm not saying you have to go," Ash replied. "And certainly not that you can't come back! It's just so you have the option to do it, okay? And so Nebby knows where to go."
Hmm, Necrozma considered, then leaned down next to Lunala. My world needs me, but not on a permanent basis. I don't suppose one of you would be willing to handle providing illumination now and then if I wanted a break?
"A break?" Lunala asked. "And where would this break be, exactly?"
I already have a few ideas…
Giovanni's phone rang.
"It's me," he said, picking it up. "Nanu? I assume this is about Ash. What did he do this time."
Giovanni listened.
About halfway through, he got up and went over to the cabinet.
"I see," he said, eventually, sitting back down and pouring himself a glass of something expensive. "So what you're telling me is that Ash Ketchum… befriended the sun."
Another pause.
"Oh, an alien sun. Yes, thank you for the clarification, otherwise it might have sounded terrifying…"
AN:
Who remembered that Z-crystal Ash got on Akala?