Chapter 7: Clash of the Blade
The Charizard soared through the air as it followed the boat to Heahea City on Akala. Gladion was determined to find out why Lillie had been acting so strange, and had taken it upon himself to follow her. Noticing that the boat had docked, he ordered his Charizard to circle the air, hoping that Lillie wouldn't notice. Luckily she didn't, and as she entered the dimensional research facility, Gladion landed the Charizard outside, before returning it.
However, unless he wanted to be discovered, he'd have to wait outside. The possibility of using one of his Pokémon to peek in through the window was there, but considering he didn't have any that would blend in, it would be a huge giveaway. So, it seems like he'd have to wait, much to his displeasure. Oh well, at least it wasn't raining.
"Alola, Professor Burnet!" Lillie sang as she walked into the lab. "Lillie! It's good to see you've recovered well!" the kind professor responded, before embracing Lillie in a hug, grateful to know she was back on her feet. "So what brings you to the lab today?" she inquired.
"Oh, I heard from Sun that the Ultra Beasts had different worlds that they came from, I wanted to try and see if... if you had pictures of Nebby's home world?" she made up. Luckily the professor had bought it. "I'm not entirely sure we have pictures of such a world, but you're more than welcome to look."
Lillie smiled and moved over to one of the archives, scanning briefly through before finding research notes. A collaboration between Burnet and the Ultra Recon Squad regarding Ultra Beast worlds. She flicked through the contents, noticing many entries, including Kartana's, Curiosity got the better of her, as she began to read the entire document.
Nihilego's world was an interesting one. It was sinister yet beautiful at the same time, with the large jellyfish like Ultra Beasts floating around amidst a thick atmosphere, amongst crystalline plants that reminded her vaguely like coral and seaweed.
Buzzwole's world was peculiar to say the least. It appeared to be a jungle, much like the one where Mallow held her trials, except that there were a few trees which soared high above the canopy, trees that were... flexing? It was no wonder that the mosquito like Pokémon loved it, considering flexing was its favourite activity.
Pheromosa's world on the other hand was oddly barren, yet still had its charm, as the pearly desert contained many shimmering blue crystalline structures. Lillie had guess that every Pokémon has preference, as the cockroach seemed to admire its beauty.
Xurkitree's world was so far the most bizarre. It appeared to be in a constant state of thunderstorms, as the atmosphere there was grim, but light was provided by many significantly larger Xuriktree coiled around large cliffs and mountains. It was astonishing how big the obviously electric types could get.
Then came the world she was looking for. Kartana. It's world was eerily similar to that of Malie City, with Johtonian styled gardens, and to her surprise, humans. Maybe she'd have to take her own Kartana to the gardens once all of the air had been cleared. It might appreciate it.
She had lost interest fairly quickly after completing her original plan of finding out what Kartana's world looked like, and only briefly glanced over the other worlds. Celesteela's being a moon-like wasteland, with many craters and odd pipes sticking out of the ground. Guzzlord's being a very unsettling ruined city, with Guzzlord being seen eating something in the distance.
Blacephalon's world was also rather bizzare, with purple skies that lit up with fireworks constantly, and pavilions that reminded Lillie of the circus. Stakataka's world was similar to that of Xurkitree, only without the thunder and lighting. A Grim world which just appeared to be an endless fortress made up of countless Stakataka.
Finally, Poipole and Naganadel's world was quite human-like in appearance, hives nestled in crags amidst a sea of meadows and flowers. Lillie smiled, all of these worlds were home to these Pokémon, and they probably saw Alola as just as alien as any other.
Putting away the document, and now having a brief idea on what Kartana's homeworld looked like, she thanked Burnet and made her way out of the lab.
Gladion looked up from browsing his Pokédex out of boredom, noticing that Lillie had finally stepped out of the lab. He noticed his sister look around suspiciously before taking a path into the forests behind the lab. Gladion's eyes narrowed. There was nothing back there, was there? He followed her regardless.
Lillie was blissfully unaware that she was being watched, and walked into a secluded clearing, where she let all four of her Pokémon out, and brought out the PokéBeans. The four of them let out cries of excitement, their hunger settling in as Lillie giggled and began to feed them all.
The food had obviously attracted many wild Pokémon too, as she had plenty to go around. After the beans were gone, she'd sit back and watch all her Pokémon play, noticing Bewear scooping up some younger Stufful and hugging them, the pre-evolutions not minding the attention. Vulpix was playing chase with a pair of Lillipups whilst their Herdier mother looked on with a mother's eye.
Clefairy was apparently teaching some other Pokémon baby-doll eyes, because Lillie could see the Pokémon around her, some Eevees and a Lillipup or two, using the move quite poorly, but eventually getting the hang of it. But she noticed Kartana floating towards her. "What's wrong? You feeling left out?" she asked as the beast drooped slightly.
It seemed to let out a soft cry. "Do you miss home?" she asked, and the Kartana slowly spun around in the air. It did indeed look lonely. Lillie reached out to it in an effort to console it, by giving it a soft hug, however, she caught her finger on the sharp blade again, inflicting a small but mostly harmless cut on the side of her finger. She cried out in brief shock, startling some of the Pokémon.
But it was Gladion who heard it too, and the blonde teenager bolted through the woods towards the clearing, eyes widening in shock as he noticed the Kartana next to... Next to Lillie! He quickly called out Silvally. "Silvally, go! Use Multi-attack!" he commanded, as the Silvally's Water RKS System charged out a blue attack on its head, it sprung into action.
As soon as the Silvally burst from the forest, all of the Wild Pokémon fled in fear, Lillie noticed the Silvally heading towards Kartana, and without thinking, pushed it away in shock, whilst getting up and stumbling back herself to avoid the attack. She was caught in the arms of Gladion.
"Lillie, are you alright!?" he asked, frantically. Lillie merely struggled. "Gladion! What are you doing!?" before elbowing her brother in the chest. Gladion gasped in pain, getting Silvally's attention, before she ran behind Kartana. "Gladion! Stop this, Kartana isn't dangerous!"
"It's an Ultra Beast Lillie! It can't be trusted... It, It was the one which almost killed you too, isn't it!?" he roared before commanding Silvally. "Silvally, Crunch, go!"
"Bewear! Hammer Arm on Silvally!" she retaliated, as the large bear sprung up and ferociously screamed at the synthetic Pokémon, slamming it across the face with its large arm. Silvally grumbled in discomfort, the hammer arm not doing much, but managing to halt its attack nonetheless.
"I won't let you hurt it!" Lillie screamed at her brother. However he failed to see reason. "Lillie, stop being stupid, you're in danger! If you're going to protect it, then i'm going to deal with you too!" commanded Gladion, his protective instinct overriding all reason. "Now, Silvally, RKS System: Fire, and then use Multi-Attack on Lillie's Pokémon!"
Silvally's crest turned from a watery blue to a fiery orange, as it sprung forward, lethal intent in its eyes, all it took was one fell swing of its head, and Vulpix, Clefairy and Bewear all let out screams of pain and doubled over, all fainted. Kartana was the only one still up, despite taking the super-effective fire attack.
Lillie's features sharpened, she couldn't let Kartana take another hit like that, returning her downed Pokémon, she called out to Kartana. "Kartana, Use Psycho Cut on the side of Silvally's head!". The Ultra Beast's arms glowed a psychic pink, before in the blink of an eye, it flew at and promptily sheared the side of Silvally's head. Sparks flew from the RKS System inside Silvally, and its head crest faded back to a silver colour.
Gladion was shocked, that the Kartana would even listen to Lillie, but it was still dangerous nonetheless. Without the RKS system, Multi-attack would not function. "X-Scissor on that thing! Don't let it get a footing!" "Block it with Leaf Blade!"
Two green blades of energy, of different shades and energy collided, a dazzling explosion erupting between the two strange Pokémon as they clashed, knocking both of them back. Silvally seemed to be going strong, but Kartana wasn't looking too good. "Kartana, we have to stop Silvally, use Sacred Sword on its legs!"
The Ultra Beast flew out, spinning up with the telltale power of a fighting type move. But Gladion didn't respond. He just stood there, waiting for something. It was as if he was waiting for it to get close, and...
Lillie's eyes shot open. "Wait, Kartana! STOP!" but it was too late. "Silvally, Maximum power CRUSH CLAW!" he commanded with fury. Silvally's claw glowed with a sinister power, as it swatted the Ultra Beast away like a baseball. Kartana was sent spinning at the speed of sound through the forest, felling any tree unfortunate enough to have grown in its path. And then as soon as it began, the Kartana came to a skidding halt in the forest, out cold.
Gladion walked towards it with Silvally and gave one order. "Kill it."
But as Silvally began to charge up a crunch attack capable of dealing the killing blow, Lillie stepped in between it and her Kartana. "Gladion! Stop this madness, Kartana is my Pokémon! I've forgiven it! It was terrified when it attacked me, and it was my fault all of this happened!" she practically screamed at her brother.
Gladion stopped. "That doesn't make it any better, Lillie. You can't keep a dangerous Pokémon like that, you're not strong enough."
Lillie huffed, and stepped forward, before delivering a fierce slap to her brother's face. Gladion fell backwards, his cheek stinging red. "See reason, you thick idiot! Kartana and I cleared Nanu's Grand Trial just fine, we don't need you to tell us how to live our lives!" she screamed on the verge of tears, before throwing the Darkinium Z she received at Gladion. His eyes widened, his sister wasn't the little girl she was anymore. He had to accept that. "L-Lillie, wait..." he said, returning Silvally as she had turned around to tend to Kartana. "I'm sorry. I... I haven't been around to see you change."
Lillie looked guilty for slapping him all of a sudden, turning her head away in shame. Before holding back her tears and running to hug Gladion. "It's okay Brother... I know how protective you can get. I'm sorry too! I shouldn't have hit you. Just, please understand, that I caught Kartana, and I'm not getting rid of it."
The two of them hugged it out, as Kartana flew up, awake again, to notice the two of them hugging. "So, Nanu knows, huh?" he inquired. Lillie sheepishly nodded. "You know, they're still on the look out for a Team Skull Grunt." Lillie remembered the lie she had told back at the hospital. It was dangerously close to coming back to bite her, now that both Nanu and Gladion knew. "I... Hadn't thought about that, I just wanted to protect Kartana."
"We need to find Guzma then. Come on, i'll fly us to Po Town." Offered Gladion, as Lillie took her brother's hand as he called out Charizard. She returned Kartana as well.
Thoughts crossed Kartana's head as it watched the events unfold. Humans were weird, was all that it could think. Weird, but fascinating.