Polaris-Ponyta, Mia-Alolan Marowak, Marin-Primarina, Lunick-Midnight Lycanroc, Twine-Lurantis, Hachi-Mimikyu, Zetty-Rotom Dex

Mewtwo, Lily-Mom Mewtwo, Twilight-young Mewtwo, Chanti/Nebby-Lunala

Chapter 22: Dark World

I'd been here before. Swirling galaxies and clusters of nebulae speckled the endless void. They spun and folded like fractals in a strange, mesmerizing dance of eternity.

I clung to Lily as we rocketed through the space between worlds. Ahead of us, Necrozma glowed like a black star. We were barely keeping pace. My eyes watered and my hair and clothes whipped around me. At first I didn't notice the pressure on my leg. hen I looked down, I gasped. Twilight was hanging onto my ankle.

"Why are you here?" I shouted. But we were moving so fast that my words were blown away. I couldn't even hear myself.

Twilight could understand my intent though. He responded through telepathy, "Cara, I saw you get sucked away once. I'm not letting it happen again."

I had wanted to leave Twilight in Alola, where it was relatively safe. I had no idea where we were going. And now that I thought about it, I didn't know how to get back. Chanti could bring us, maybe. Yet another reason to free her from Necrozma's parasitic control. I reached down to Twilight. He took my hand, and I pulled him up. I held onto Lily with one arm, and him with the other. Lily grit her teeth, as anxious as I was that Twilight had followed us. But she couldn't take her focus off of Necrozma. She couldn't risk losing him or we might never get out of here.

I'd been through this inter-dimensional space twice. Once when I fell through by accident (Twilight had seen me fall), and once when I came home. Somehow time seemed to melt away. I wasn't sure how long we'd been here. It felt like days, or weeks since we'd left Alola. Maybe months or years. Or maybe minutes?

Who was I? A strange little speck out in this vastness? Where was I from? Where was I going? Something tugged my arm. With dim awareness, I looked down into Twilight's wide, alarmed eyes. That's right. I was Cara, searching for the light stolen from Alola. Stay focused. I couldn't let my memories slip away. Not again. At least this time I wasn't alone. I had Twilight and Lily to help keep me anchored. Their kind didn't have to worry about memory loss in this place.

"I'm okay," I whispered, hugging Twilight tighter.

I wasn't sure if I could still see Necrozma. My eyes were blurry and watery. But there seemed to be something ahead. Round and shining. As we drew near, I realized it was a wormhole. Lily aimed for the portal and shot through it. Light flared around us.

And faded to darkness.

…

Dizzy. Everything spinning. The whole world whirling around like a top. I opened my eyes, but it remained dark.

"Helloooo?"

I raised my head, and the spinning sensation made my stomach lurch. My skull clunked back to the ground and I groaned.

"Hello?

I tilted my head without lifting it. I squinted, realizing that my eyes were adjusting to dark. There was a dim outline of a girl standing there. I tried to say something, but my mouth was so dry that the words stuck. "Un," Was all I could manage.

The girl was short, and had a red braid. She fumbled with something on her belt and knelt beside me. A canteen. I took it without thinking and took a sip. I grimaced. It wasn't water. It had a strange, metallic taste. But it put my mouth back into working order.

"W-where are we?" I croaked.

"This is Ultra Megalolopis." She looked so pale. Was that just because of the weird lighting? "You followed Necrozma, didn't you? And you're not even wearing a suit. No wonder you feel so bad."

Lily and Twilight. Where were they? I tried sitting up again. I nearly fell over, but managed to prop myself up. Lily was sprawled several yards away. She was unconscious. And Twilight was between us, face down. I dragged myself along the ground, lifting him up. His eyes fluttered open. I wheezed in relief.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I think we made it. How are you feeling?"

"Bad. But not too bad. Who is that?"

"My name's Zossie," the girl said. "You're a Pokémon from another world? Is that why you can talk?"

"Most Pokémon can't talk to humans. My name's Twilight." He didn't sound as bad as I did. But then again, he was speaking with telepathy – not his mouth.

"And I'm Cara," I crawled over to Lily and eased her to a sitting position. She groaned and opened her eyes. "How are you holding up?"

She lifted a hand to her forehead. "Headache," she murmured.

"It's been a long day."

"Heh." She sighed and dropped her arm. "And it's not over yet."

I shivered. She was right. "Necrozma."

"Necrozma retreated to the top of Megalo Tower," Zossie said, pointing up into the dark sky. "It thinks of that as its territory. Necrozma… did it steal the light from your world?"

We all looked at her, surprised that she knew. I nodded.

"I thought so. You've seen how strong it is?"

Again, we nodded.

"And still you want to fight it?"

"We have to," I said.

"You think you can actually beat Necrozma?"

"Yes," Lily said firmly.

"She can," I agreed. "And we have more Pokémon to help."

Zossie gave a slow, thoughtful nod. "Then I'd better tell you about it. Long ago, Necrozma gave light and energy to this world, and many others. But then people damaged it. Necrozma's power broke apart and was lost. Without its light and power, Necrozma is always in pain. We kept it on top of the tower for a long time. But something must have happened that let it escape to another world. It wants its light back, which is why it took yours. Except your light isn't Necrozma's light. It can't control it, and now it's in more pain than ever. And since Necrozma still has that empty hole inside, it will continue to take light from more worlds. Trying to fill the emptiness." Zossie looked around. As my eyes were adjusting to the dark, I noticed that we were in the middle of a city. Or more accurately, a park area in the middle of an empty city. Zossie continued, "Everyone hid because Necrozma looked on the verge of a rampage. We don't have any strong trainers here. None of us could hope to fight Necrozma. They say we rely so much on our technology that we've become weak in other ways. But you say you can beat Necrozma. If you calm it down, maybe you can fix it. Make it whole once more."

"Fix Necrozma?" I repeated. "How?" She hadn't mentioned how Necrozma had been broken. The answer of human selfishness was probably enough.

Zossie tilted her head. "Don't you know? You have some of the missing pieces of Necrozma's power." She noticed our blank stares and continued. "I'm part of the team that looks after Necrozma. After all, it was once very important to our people. And we hope it will one day be again. When Necrozma disappeared, we tried to figure out where it had gone. My charts showed you passing into our world through the same wormhole Necrozma reappeared through."

"How do I have some of Necrozma's power?"

Zossie pulled out a rectangular device and pointed it at me. It began beeping. The sound intensified when it was aimed at my Pokéballs. Confused, I took Polaris's Pokéball and let her out. She appeared, bewildered at our alien surroundings. I explained through telepathy what had happened. Polaris watched as Zossie honed in with her electronic device. Polaris still had her Z Crystal tucked into her mane. I wobbled over on unsteady legs and picked up the crystal. The machine started a frantic beeping as I brought it closer.

"That's it," Zossie said. "A crystallized bit of Necrozma's power."

"A Z Crystal," I murmured, leaning against Polaris.

"I wondered why these little stones had so much power," Polaris said, touching her nose to it.

"Zossie, if I can gather the Z Crystals, we can make Necrozma whole again?"

"I think so. I'll talk to the rest of my team."

"Great. So… so if we defeat Necrozma, Lunala should be freed. Then she can take us to gather the rest of the Z Crystals. And we can fix Necrozma."

"That sounds good to me," Zossie agreed. "How many crystals are there?"

I paused. "Um, I have a few." But everyone who competed in the Alola island challenge would potentially get Z crystals. The captains and kahunas had them, as did other important trainers. And there might be some lost across the islands. If I took all of the Z crystals, what would happen to Alola? The defining feature of Alolan battles were their Z moves. I would be taking that away from them. I grimaced. Was there some way I could help Necrozma without all of Alola hating me? "It might take a while to get the rest," I finished weakly. "There are a lot."

"The Tapus could probably help gather them," Lily said. "People would respect their wishes, and be more likely to hand the crystals over."

"Good point, Lily. So we have a plan. Now we just have to beat Necrozma and get Chanti back." But would that work? When Kyurem possessed Zekrom, he'd done so under Ghetsis's orders. Once we freed Kyurem, he separated willingly. Would Necrozma and Chanti separate if they were defeated?

"If you're going to fight Necrozma," Zossie said, "you should be at your strongest. Can we get you anything?"

"Something to drink," Lily said.

Twilight and I nodded. The journey through the wormhole had sucked us dry. I helped Lily to her feet and the two of us leaned against each other as we walked. Twilight rode on Polaris. At first, I thought that we had arrived at night. But I was beginning to realize that wasn't the case. Their entire world was dark. We huddled as close together, uneasy about the oppressive atmosphere. Necrozma was supposed to be like their sun. But he was broken. I hated to rob Alola of part of their culture, but it was more important to return lost sunlight, and save Pokémon that were living in pain.

Z crystals. That made me think of the Totem Pokémon. "Zossie, where I'm from there are a few powerful Pokémon that have a blazing aura. It's like the aura I felt off of Necrozma."

"The Ultra Beasts had it too," Polaris reminded me.

Zossie nodded. "I'd think that those auras are the remaining flares of Necrozma's power. Like I said, his energy used to affect other worlds. Parts of your world must have been connected to Necrozma's power. That makes sense, if those crystals are there."

Maybe if Necrozma's power was restored, Z moves would naturally return to Alola in some other form. That was probably too much to hope for. I returned Polaris when Zossie lead us into a building. We passed through hallways and to a mess hall. It looked like the end of mealtime. A few people were scattered around, eating the last of their food and chatting. They all paused and turned to look at us. Normally I would never have brought Lily or Twilight near strangers. But no one here would know anything about Mewtwos.

Zossie sat us at a table, handed us some cups, and left to talk to someone. We sipped at our strange, metallic tasting water. We were so thirsty that it wasn't as unappealing as it would have usually been. Lily didn't seem to care that people were staring. Twilight watched them with the same amount of interest they gave him. I kept a wary eye on everyone, but I was kinda fascinated too. I'd never seen humans from another world. Now that we were in a lighted room, I could see that everyone was very pale. Maybe because there was no sun?

Someone brought a couple trays of food. Everything was either bland or yeasty. We ended up eating all of it anyway.

Zossie returned with the man she'd been talking to. He was older with a dark moustache and goatee. "Hello, other-worlders. I am Captain Phyco, head of the Ultra Recon Squad. You are here to retrieve your world's light from Necrozma?"

We nodded.

"And you're aware of the dangers." It wasn't a question. Zossie had told him about us. "We'll do what we can to help. Necrozma is our responsibility. It's our fault it is in this state."

"Do you have anything that can slow Necrozma? Weaken it, or distract it somehow?" Lily asked. "I believe we can beat it, but we'll need all the help we can get."

"I have an idea. Zossie was telling me that you have crystals of Necrozma's power."

I nodded. I was too tense to be very talkative.

Captain Phyco continued. "We may not be the best Pokémon trainers, but we have good technology. We can put those crystals in drones. With those flying around, it should divide Necrozma's attention. We'll have to keep the drones at the boundary of its notice, or Necrozma will shoot them down. Rest while we get everything set up. You'll need all of your strength."

A delay was the last thing we wanted. After all, our world had no sun. But he was right. We needed to be prepared. It occurred to me that if I gave them the Z Crystals, we wouldn't be able to use any Z moves. But with Lily's power, that shouldn't be a problem. Zossie and Phyco left us in an empty side room. We sat down to wait.

I turned to Lily, but she answered before I could ask anything. "I know I'm not as good at fighting as Mewtwo is. But I've seen Necrozma battle. And we're all a team. Shall we discuss strategy?"

…

Lily and Twilight craned their necks to stare toward the roof of Megalo Tower. Captain Phyco saluted us, and Zossie and the rest of their team did the same. Lily nodded, Twilight waved, and I gave a tense smile. Lily hooked her arm in mine and lifted me from the ground. Twilight floated alongside. He would be my guardian. We'd almost been vaporized when Necrozma attacked at the Alola shrine. I trusted Twilight to get me through in one piece. The Ultra Recon Squad would do whatever they could to distract Necrozma and give Lily more openings to attack.

The tension was palpable as we ascended slow and quiet along the side of the tower. I should have been looking around to see another world. But I was just focusing on deep breaths. Lily was strong, but I was trying not to think what might happen if Necrozma was stronger.

As we neared the top, Twilight grabbed my arm. Lily let go of me, letting Twilight use his own psychic powers to carry me. We each gave Lily a brief hug for luck. Then she split away, circling around to the opposite side of the tower. She kept in touch through telepathy, so I knew when she began charging her attack.

Her burst of blue energy shot across the roof, splitting the sky. Necrozma let out a shriek of pain and tumbled over the side of the tower. He began to fall. I held my breath, daring to hope it would be that easy. But Necrozma beat his wings and righted himself. Twilight quickly pulled me around the building, away from him. We hovered out of reach, but where we could see the battle. Necrozma threw back his head and bellowed. Lily appeared overhead and took another shot. But Necrozma dodged, and her attack took out a wall from a nearby building.

Necrozma began to glow. It was so bright that Lily, Twilight and I had to look away. But if Lily couldn't see, I had to tell her what was happening. I covered my eyes as much as I could. Stinging tears ran from my eyes, but I saw Necrozma changing shape.

"Lily!" I shouted, shutting my burning eyes. "Necrozma is changing again! Be careful!"

Necrozma shot out a beam of condensed light. Lily was still blinded, but she heard my warning. She shot to the side, and the attack disappeared into the sky.

But the beam of light gave me an idea. I quickly sent Lily my plan. She nodded and threw up a protective blue bubble around herself. The front stuck out in a point. That way any laser attacks should be deflected. Hopefully. Lily set the point to follow Necrozma like a compass needle, so he couldn't hit her from behind. The bubble seemed to be acting like sunglasses, making it easier for her to see Necrozma's new blinding form.

I could barely see through my own bleary eyes. I tried glancing at Necrozma again. It was hard to look at him, but he was almost unrecognizable. Instead of a corrupted form of Lunala, Necrozma was now a great, glowing dragon. His true form. Though a warped version that wouldn't last without the light he was stealing from Chanti and our sun.

After Necrozma shot out that laser, his movements were sluggish. This was the attack that had knocked out an unprepared Lily. I guessed that it was our foe's strongest attack. But it wore Necrozma out, and he had to catch his breath after firing it. I communicated this to Lily. She nodded and gave me a signal. The keystone on my pendant activated, and Lily Mega-evolved. She dropped her bubble in the split second where she slammed into Necrozma. The force of the impact knocked Necrozma out of the air. He fell, righting himself just in time to land heavily on the ground. Lily took off, soaring high above the buildings. I wanted to avoid damage to the city, as much as possible.

Necrozma shot after her, but hesitated. The drones containing the Z crystals were hovering near. It was like the pull of a magnet. Necrozma couldn't resist their energy. But Lily had moved too far to strike him during his moment of distraction. Necrozma fired with pinpoint accuracy even at a distance. The attack hit the deflector on Lily's bubble and banked off. But even that glancing blow nearly took out the defensive bubble. As Necrozma closed in on her, Lily sent out a volley of flickering spheres that showered down on her opponent. Necrozma flinched, and Lily launched herself at him again, ready to use the powerful fists provided by her mega evolution. Necrozma used Night Slash. The dark-type attack broke through her shield, but she was currently part fighting type. The attack didn't do as much damage, and she plowed right through it. One of the Night Slashes hurtled toward us, and Twilight pulled me out of the way. The attack hit the building, raining glass shards over us. Twilight deflected them.

Lily dodged behind Necrozma, landing on his back and holding on with one arm. With the other, she began a series of punches. He couldn't shoot lasers from this angle. Necrozma screamed in fury. He flapped his wings, slamming his back into a building. Lily launched free just before she was crushed between Necrozma and the walls. She threw her protective shield back up. Necrozma used Night slash again, shattering the new barrier.

Before she could put up a new bubble, Prismatic Laser cut through the air, striking her dead-center.

Lily dropped out of the sky.