"Good morning!" Tapu Koko said.

Ash had been in the middle of checking his list of Pokémon to see who hadn't had some time in a while, but he waved at Tapu Koko. "Hi! Oh, hang on a minute, I'll be out to see you – just don't break the window, okay? It's difficult to make sure we got all the glass."

"All right," the Electric-type Legendary confirmed, dropping down from Ash's window, and Ash held out his arm for Pikachu.

"I want to do some experiments!" Tapu Koko said. "Specifically, I want to see how often I get my Z crystal selection for you right."

"How would that work?" Ash asked.

"All the ones you've got so far from anywhere are ones that I think have the potential for an extra, specialized boost," the Tapu explained. "I made sure of it! But I've also got one which I don't think has the potential, and I want to see what happens when you use it to see if I'm right or not."

"Um," Pikachu said. "I'm not entirely sure I follow?"

Ash shrugged. "No, I get it!" he said. "It's because the two ways to prove that Koko is wrong would be for him to have picked a Z crystal that doesn't work, or to not pick one that does work, and that second one is the one that would be definite."

"Exactly," Koko confirmed. "Now, what do we know so far?"

"Well…" Ash began, thinking. "We know that so far the special ones that transformed were Grass, Electric and Ghost, and all three of those transformed for a Pokémon with the same type. So if we wanted to prove or disprove your ability to pick, it only makes sense to start with one that matches type… right?"

Then he shook his head. "No, wait. We want to start with one that doesn't match the type of the Pokémon using it. That way it gives us more information."

"Very good!" Koko stated. "You see, we'll be doing science soon enough!"

"I'm suddenly intimidated," Pikachu winced.

"And I brought along exactly the crystal to test that!" Koko went on. "The core point here is that it has to be a commonly used move, like a signature, that doesn't match the type of the Pokémon actually doing it!"

Five minutes later, Ash had his Pokémon ready.

"Okay, Charizard!" Ash called. "Wait for me to do the poses, and then when the Z-crystal energy surrounds you that's when you use Drill Run!"

"Got it!" Charizard confirmed. "Should I be targeting anything in particular?"

"Me!" Tapu Koko waved. "Don't worry, I know Endure!"

The Tapu folded his arms. "This is a good plan. I have the best plans."

Ash slotted the Groundium Z, and Charizard took off with a whoosh of wings.

"The poses are like this," Tapu Koko demonstrated, and Ash nodded.

"Ready?" he called, and Charizard gave a thumbs-up.

Ash struck the poses, alien sunlight flowing around them both, then Charizard used Drill Run.

Tapu Koko's armour slammed together, and he used Endure. Charizard's spinning whirl of wings and claws and light impacted a moment later, clashed against it with a skreeeeee that made the ground shiver, then there was an almighty explosion that sent Ash, Pikachu and Charizard flying.

"Ow," Ash mumbled, then picked himself up and checked his Z-ring. "Okay, uh, either it didn't transform or I didn't notice before it changed back. Guys, are you okay?"

"Here," Pikachu said.

"Ash, where are we?" Charizard asked.

Ash looked around, and winced.

He'd sort of noticed that the grass had gone, but that might have been from the explosion… but there was nothing around them, except sand and rocks.

The sky was dark and dusty, and Ash frowned. "Huh… this is weird."

Marshadow poked his head out of Ash's shadow. "It is, yes," he agreed. "We'd better find out what happened, I've only got enough food for a few weeks in here."

"Arc, any ideas?" Ash said, taking his phone out of his pocket.

"I am checking location data," Arc replied. "According to all my available information, you have moved ana but only in that direction. You are still on Melemele Island, near Hau'oli City."

"Then I guess something really bad happened," Ash decided. "Which way's ana?"

"Ana is a movement between universes," Arc supplied. "I am attempting to contact assistance."

"Well…" Ash began, thinking. "If it was a Z move that got us here, maybe it was like an uncontrolled Ultra Wormhole. Can we try another one to get back?"

"Not from me, not today," Charizard replied. "Well. Maybe after lunch. But that was really draining."

"That's okay, Charizard," Ash said. "I guess we'd need Tapu Koko too to make it the same as last time. You can come on back and rest if you want… let's see if there's any clues in the other version of Hau'oli City, I guess!"

He recalled Charizard, then got to walking.

"This place is kind of spooky," Ash summarized.

"Yeah, no kidding," Pikachu agreed. "It's not quite the same city, but it's similar enough to be really weird. What happened here?"

There was a sort of wham noise, then a crunching, and Ash frowned.

"Did that sound like a Pokémon?" he asked. "I guess we are in another reality, so it could be an Ultra Beast…"

There was another crunching sound, then a massive creature came bursting through a nearby wall.

From Ash's angle it seemed at first to be mostly wall, but then it ate the wall and turned out to be mostly mouth instead.

"Whoa!" Ash gasped. "Okay, that's got to be an Ultra Beast or something!"

The Beast had two smaller claw-mouths on either side of its huge mouth, and they lunged at Ash.

Ash dodged out of the way, then pointed. "Pikachu, Thunder!"

Pikachu used Thunder with a wham of tearing air, and Ash watched carefully as the claw and pseudopod flinched back from the impact.

"Okay, that's resistant I think?" he asked. "Hey, what Types do you think it is, Arc?"

"I am analyzing the situation," Arc replied.

"Well, whatever type it is, I know one option we have it's not going to be immune to!" Ash declared, then ducked for cover as a blast of plasma dissolved their former hiding place. "Marshadow, Pikachu, let's get ready to do Bond Phenomenon!"

"Zeraora, Close Combat!" a voice called, and a Zeraora came darting in before hitting the claw so hard that the Ultra Beast flinched back. "Plasma Fists!"

Zeraora delivered an upper-cut that paralyzed the Ultra Beast, then the trainer jumped down next to Ash. "Come on, this way to safety!"

Safety turned out to be inside an old ventilation system.

The trainer held up his hand for silence for several long, tense minutes, until Zeraora reappeared.

"All clear, Dia," she said.

"Phew," Dia sighed. "That was close… who are you, anyway? How did you not know Guzzlord was dangerous?"

"I'm-" Ash began.

"Or did you think you could beat that thing with your Pikachu?" Dia added. "In case you'd somehow missed it, Z-moves don't work any more, you can't Gigavolt Havoc your way out of this!"

"Rude," Pikachu huffed.

"I was actually thinking of doing something else," Ash protested. "But we're from another universe… how long has Guzzlord been causing trouble?"

"Another universe?" Dia asked. "How is that even possible?"

"Beats me!" Ash replied, with a shrug. "If Nebby or Necrozma had done it I'd know, but neither of them are around at the moment. Hey, Dia, if you know what Guzzlord is, what types is it?"

"We think it's Dragon, and we know it's Dark," Dia replied, then did a double-take. "Wait, I didn't tell you my name."

"Yeah, but Zeraora did when she told us Guzzlord had gone," Ash shrugged, already thinking. "Hmm, so Fairy type would be best, but I don't have Clefairy, Servine or Zacian with me… it's a pity Tapu Koko didn't come through the blast with me, he's Fairy type…"

"You have a – what?" Dia said, deeply confused. "You have Tapu Koko as your Pokémon?"

"No, the others are mine," Ash explained. "I guess Croconaw could probably do something if he gets the right type…"

Zeraora was trying not to laugh.

Once Dia had partly recovered from his first exposure to Ash, he got onto explaining the general situation.

It turned out that his version of Alola had been different from Ash's one for a while, and had been overrun by excessive development and exploitation of the natural resources. That had meant trouble when the Ultra Wormholes started opening up, and especially when all the Ultra Rangers – Dia's group – had been unable to beat Guzzlord even working together, because their Z-moves had stopped working.

"The Tapus were angry, we think," Dia explained. "Or, I think. And the island was evacuated… and Guzzlord destroyed everything."

He groaned. "Since then I've been trying my best to make things right, by forcing Guzzlord back through an Ultra Wormhole, but even with Zeraora helping me I haven't been able to do it."

"Well, we can help!" Ash suggested. "Charizard's tired out, but I've still got Croconaw, Buizel, Starly and Lycanroc with me. Plus, I can Mega Evolve or Bond Phenomenon and that's got to help."

Dia looked puzzled. "What's Bond Phenomenon? I know about Mega Evolving, but I didn't know Lycanroc could do it."

"No, I mean I can," Ash clarified, as Pikachu started giggling. "Oh, yeah, and Pikachu's really strong, I mean, really strong. So I bet he can help too… actually, though, that might get in the way if we use Bond Phenomenon…"

With something approaching a plan ready, and after Ash's Lycanroc had shown that they could do things Dia wasn't expecting (even if one of those things was 'be orange'), Ash and Dia spent enough time resting up to be ready for a battle.

Then they went to the site of the Ultra Wormhole, and Dia groaned.

"It's smaller than it was," he said. "This is… we've got to get Guzzlord through it as soon as possible."

Ash held Arc up.

"Analyzed," Arc announced. "This Ultra Wormhole will not be able to take large passengers once another twenty minutes have elapsed."

"Then we need to get Guzzlord's attention now!" Ash decided, sending out Charizard. "Hey, Charizard, you ready for this?"

"Ready for anything, Ash!" Charizard replied. "What do you need?"

"Go and lure Guzzlord here, okay?" Ash asked. "I'll keep track of you!"

He struck a pose, and Charizard copied him.

"I told you, Z-moves don't-" Dia began, then stopped as Ash's Charizard became Ash-Charizard.

Then Ash-Charizard flew off through a window – sideways – and detonated a massive Flamethrower attack. Guzzlord roared in response.

"Okay, Guzzlord's on the way!" Ash said. "Charizard's flying over there to get their attention… and there they are! Ranged attacks, Charizard!"

"What is happening?" Dia asked.

Zeraora shrugged; it wasn't like she had much more idea than her friend about that.

Ash-Charizard's ability to lure Guzzlord by breathing flame at it despite flying in reverse proved to be very useful, but the Ultra Beast wasn't a mindless eating machine despite how it seemed. It stopped and growled when it saw the building with the Ultra Wormhole in it, then turned to leave.

"Lycanroc, now!" Ash said.

Lycanroc howled, and a whole slab section of one of the buildings broke off. It went flying at Guzzlord, hitting them on the side, and drove them a foot or so towards the building before Guzzlord grabbed it with a claw and ate the concrete slab instead.

"Zeraora, Plasma Fists!" Dia suggested.

"Sounds good to me!" Zeraora agreed, the technically-wild Pokémon darting in to hit Guzzlord with a fizzing, sparking right hook, and Pikachu contributed with a massive Thunder attack the moment she was clear. Then Croconaw used Revelation Dance, and Buizel darted in with Unnamed Priority Fairy Attack, before they all got out of the way as Starly hurled a massive Aura Sphere that curved around and hit Guzzlord right between the eyes.

"Charizard, Lycanroc, while it's stunned!" Ash called.

Both Pokémon did their best to strike before Guzzlord recovered, shoving it into the same room as the Ultra Wormhole, but then it used Thrash and slammed Charizard into one of the walls.

Charizard spun into a Drill Run, digging himself out of the pile, but the impact had been enough to stagger Ash as well thanks to their bond.

"Attention!" Arc said, turning their volume up to maximum. "Please stand back!"

"From where?" Dia asked. "Who said that?"

Then a new Ultra Wormhole appeared, and Dia stepped back in astonishment as both a Solgaleo and an enormous dragon made of light flew through.

"Hi!" Ash called. "Hey, Necrozma, can you make sure Z moves work here? They're broken apparently!"

He switched crystals on his Z-ring, then pointed. "Nebby, aim for below Guzzlord, same destination as that one over there but make it a beam!"

Nebby switched from Solgaleo to Lunala, then Guzzlord lunged upwards with their claws to try and grab at Necrozma.

DAZZLING GLEAM, Necrozma announced, and shone like the sun (which was entirely understandable). The explosion of light slammed Guzzlord back into the floor, then Nebby was ready and Ash struck the poses.

Condensed sunlight surrounded both Ash and Nebby, and they blew a hole in the universe directly underneath Guzzlord.

Guzzlord, naturally, fell right through the Ultra Wormhole.

"Arc told us you were missing!" Nebby explained, hugging Ash. "And Tapu Koko said it was a Z-move experiment, so I got Mom and Dad to take over from Necrozma and we came to rescue you!"

Indeed, Necrozma confirmed. It is sad to see a version of Alola in this state.

"Yeah," Ash sighed. "Hopefully with Guzzlord gone it'll be able to go back to how it should be, though."

"That's the Blinding One," Dia said. "How are you friends with the Blinding One?"

Ash saved me from myself, and healed a great injury, Necrozma replied. I am grateful on many levels. Now… we should be able to stay long enough to ask the local Tapus if there is anything else we need to fix, but then we really should get you home, Ash.

They bowed their head. Poipole keeps talking about how he is going to come back and rejoin your team as soon as he can do it under his own power.

"That's great to hear!" Ash said. "Tell him I bet it won't take him long, please!"

AN:

Because the living sun should probably be able to use that move.