This Episode is Dedicated to the Release Sun and Moon
Episode 68: Shoot for the Sun and Moon
In a chamber of a cave there is some sort of shrine. Various ancient relics and structures are strewn around it. In the center of the shrine is some sort of massive altar, a raised wooden platform surrounded by a ring of mostly broken torches. The chamber has no roof, leaving a view of the sky above it. Running back and forth around the altar are Team Planetary grunts. Observing them is Cosmo.
A grunt approaches Cosmo and reports, "Sir, we have done all of the checks necessary. We can confirm with certainty that this shrine is genuine. We have found the Altar of the Sun and Moon."
Cosmo nods, pleased by this news. "Good. With the altar now under the possession of Team Planetary, it will not be long until we draw out the Legendary Pokémon of the Sun and Moon."
The grunt asks, "Do you really think this place is the key, sir?"
Cosmo nods. "Undoubtedly. According to ancient texts discovered, this altar was used a location to call upon the Pokémon of the Sun and Moon. And Now Team Planetary will be able to use it for exactly the same reasons, and we will be one step closer to controlling the power of the Cosmic Architect for the good of the Tenno Region." He looks at two statues on either side of the altar. They are tiki-like forms of a giant white lion and purple bat. "Solgaleo and Lunala will be ours."
Ash, Brock, and Brenda are walking down a path in between two cliffs. The area they are in is surrounded by several cliffs.
Continuing on their way back to Launch Town to participate in Professor Pine's space camp, our heroes are about to find themselves in a whole new adventure of cosmic proportions.
The serenity of their walk is suddenly interrupted by the sound of some sort of Pokémon attack, followed by somebody shouting, "Oof!"
Brenda asks with concern, "What was that?"
Brock answers with worry, "It sounds like somebody's being attacked by a Pokémon!"
Ash beckons them forward and encourages, "Come on, let's go see if we can help out!" They all run forward. As they go up over a hill they can begin to see a man who has been knocked to the ground and a Meteormight standing above him. Ash begins to shout, "Hey, are you-!?" But suddenly pauses when he realizes who it is on the ground.
The man begins to get up. He has tan skin, wears nothing but sweatpants and an unbuttoned lab coat, and wears a cap with a rainbow emblem and glasses on his head. He says, "Wow, Meteormight, that was a great Meteor Mash attack, yeah! Tenno Pokémon sure are powerful. Thanks for doing that for me."
The Meteormight happily nods to him. "Meteor." It then runs off.
The man brushes himself off and turns to see Ash and the others. He says with surprise, "Well, if it isn't Ash and Pikachu. Alola, cousin!" He waves his arms around in front of him in a circular motion.
Brenda asks is surprise, "Wait, this guy's your cousin?"
Ash and the man laugh. Ash responds, "No, he's not my cousin, this is Professor Kukui, a Pokémon professor from the Alola Region. I met him when Pikachu and I traveled there."
Kukui explains, "In the Alola Region, cousin is a term that refers to somebody close to you."
Brenda nods. "Oh, okay. Got it."
Brock asks Ash, "You never mentioned going to the Alola Region before."
Ash ponders that for a moment. "I guess I had just forgotten until just now that I went. To tell the truth, things got a bit weird there." He and Pikachu both chuckle. He then turns to Kukui and introduces, "Professor Kukui, these are my friends, Brock and Brenda."
Brenda cheerfully greets, "Hello."
Brock adds, "A pleasure to meet you, sir."
Kukui smiles and does the same circular arm movements. "Alola. A cousin of Ash's is a cousin of mine."
Brenda asks, "Why do you keep saying the name of your region like that?"
Kukui is at first confused by the question, but then realizes what Brenda means. He starts to laugh. "Alola isn't just the name of our region, it's also our word for both hello and goodbye."
This only confuses Brenda more. "You use the same word for your region, hello, and goodbye? That's just confusing."
Kukui shrugs. "I suppose you could call it that."
Brock then asks, "If you don't mind me asking, what was going on with the Meteormight? We thought you were being attacked by it."
Kukui laughs again. "That's because I was."
Brock and Brenda both question, "You were?"
"You see, my area of expertise is in Pokémon attacks, yeah, and I like to do my research first-hand. When I saw that Meteormight, I just had to ask it to use its Meteor Mash on me."
Brock and Brenda are uncertain of how to respond to this.
Suddenly something yips like a dog, "Rockruff!" The source of the noise, a Rockruff, comes running into view.
Kukui smiles. "There you are, Rockruff. Did you find anything?"
The dog Pokémon happily yips, "Ruff!"
Kukui responds, "That's great! Woo!"
Brenda takes out her Pokédex and asks, "Is that an Alolan Pokémon?"
"Rockruff, the Puppy Pokémon and a Rock-Type. This faithful Pokémon will always return to its trainer if separated. It has been known to exhibit completely different personality traits during the day and night. Evolves into different forms of Lycanroc depending on influence from the Sun or Moon."
Kukui looks to the three and asks, "Hey, since you're here anyways, want to check something out with me?"
Ash asks, "What is it?"
"I was invited here to provide help in the research of a recent discovery. Apparently, my knowledge of the Alola Region, as well as Pokémon attacks will come in handy in this research, yeah, so I was the first person they asked to help out. I don't have many details about what it is, but apparently it's a ground-breaking discovery."
Ash grins and responds excitedly, "That sounds great. I'm up for it!"
Brenda agrees, "Let's go! I want to see what it is."
Brock nods. "I'm in too."
Kukui beckons for them to follow. "Then come on, Rockruff will lead the way."
Rockruff and Kukui have lead them to the entrance of a cave at the base of one of the various cliffs. Carved along the rim of the entrance are some sort of ancient petroglyphs. Kukui studies them for a moment and comments, "Unbelievable."
Ash asks, "What is it Professor?"
"These glyphs here. Without a doubt they are ancient Alolan in origin."
Brock questions, "What are ancient Alolan glyphs doing in the Tenno Region?"
Kukui grins. "I suspect that's what we're here to find out."
Brenda asks, "Do you know what they say?"
Kukui shakes his head. "No, this is far from my area of research. If only Hala was here. He's big on Alolan history. He could read them, yeah. Though, I do recognize two of these glyphs." He points to the two largest glyphs, positioned on opposite sides of the cave. One looks a circle with four large spikes coming out of each of its sides, with an additional four smaller spikes in between the larger ones. The other glyph looks like a crescent with a circular portion removed from its thickest part, and then moved to the outside of the opposite side of the crescent. "These glyphs are the ancient Alola symbols for the Sun and Moon. There is an entire mythology based around them." After a moment's consideration, he adds, "However, there must be much more going on here, or else they wouldn't have asked for an expert of Pokémon attacks to come all this way." He beckons them forward. "Let's go in and see what else is here." They all enter the cave.
The inside of the cave has been lit up by electric lamps already brought in. The walls of the cave are covered in additional petroglyphs. There is also the occasional torch leftover from the original inhabitants hanging every so often. Kukui nods with interest. "This looks very much like an Alolan sacred site one might find on Poni Island. Once again, if only Hala were here…"
The noises of people moving about can be heard just out of sight. Brenda points out, "I can hear other people."
Kukui nods. "It must be the ones who requested my help in investigating this cave." Kukui turns around a corner and announces, "Alola! I have arrived!"
Ash, Brock, and Brenda turn the corner and are met with a surprise. They are now in a large chamber, the same chamber that houses the shrine seen earlier. And, just as before, it's still filled with Team Planetary grunts.
One of the grunts shouts, "It's those kids!"
Another shouts, "Cosmo gave us strict orders! Knock them out!"
Before any of them can respond, a grunt releases a Lunatone from a Pokéball and orders, "Hypnosis!" The three of them immediately begin to lose consciousness.
As they're passing out, Kukui can be heard demanding, "What is going on here!?"
Who's that Pokémon!?
The shapes of this Pokémon's front and hind legs are clearly different. The reason is that it was constructed to synthesize the strengths of various Pokémon, enabling it to adapt to any situation.
Ash slowly begins to regain consciousness. He finds himself slumped up against a wall of the cave. He tries to get up, but finds his arms and legs bound by some sort of high-tech pair of handcuffs. He looks around to see Pikachu, Brock, and Brenda are all similarly bound.
Standing in front of them is Cosmo and Kukui. They seem to be in the middle of an argument. Kukui is shouting, "This must be some kind of mistake!"
Cosmo shakes his head. "No, this is no mistake. Those kids are enemies of Team Planetary. They plot our downfall."
Kukui shakes his head in disbelief. "No, not Ash. I trust him. He bears you no ill will."
Ash shouts, "You might want hear the whole story before you say that, Professor!"
Cosmo and Kukui both look towards Ash in surprise. Quickly regaining his composure, Cosmo says, "Ah, so you have woken up. Somehow, I just knew I'd be seeing you here. I won't allow you to interfere with our plans to better the region again."
Kukui asks, "Cousin, is what this boy is saying true? Are you against Team Planetary?"
Despite his situation, Ash laughs. "It's more like they're against us. Professor, Team Planetary are the bad guys. They pretend to be some high and mighty organization, but they're nothing but common crooks."
Cosmo shouts with rage, "How dare you say that!?"
At this point, Pikachu, Brock, and Brenda are all beginning to wake up as well. Ash shouts back, "I say it because it's true! I don't know how deluded you are, but every time we meet, you're enacting some sort of crime!"
Cosmo shouts with intense anger, "I do what I do for the betterment of the Tenno Region! Without Team Planetary, Tenno would be nothing! We are an absolute force for good!"
Ash laughs at him, "Ha! Does telling yourself that make committing crimes easier on your conscience!?"
Cosmo's fists tremble with uncontrollable rage.
Kukui, who has remained stunned while watching this exchange, asks solemnly, "Cousin, is what you say really true? Do you swear to me that you're telling the truth?"
Ash nods. "Every word."
Kukui nods back. "In that case…" he turns to Cosmo. "I'm sorry, Cosmo, but I trust Ash. If even half the things he says about you are true, then there's no way I'm helping you with anything."
Cosmo, still seething with anger, responds in a passive-aggressive manner, "So you are an enemy of Team Planetary too, then? So be it." He then proclaims, "But I am quite afraid that you will be helping us, whether you want to or not!"
Kukui firmly replies, "I will not. Now let my friends go, then we're gonna- Hey! What're you doing!?"
He notices two grunts approaching him, both with a Lunatone following them. They both command, "Hypnosis!" Kukui instantly succumbs to the Hypnosis' effect. Two other grunts immediately move in to bind him up like the others.
Cosmo than orders, "Proceed with the preparation! We will begin the ritual as soon as everything is ready!"
Watching from a ledge higher up in the chamber is Team Rocket. Sounding impressed, James says, "Wow, there may be nothing original about them, but those phonies have actually managed to effectively put the twerps and their twerp of the week out of commission."
Jessie scoffs, "Come on James, if Team Copycat can do it, then that's nothing special, because we can too. Don't forget that anything they do is just a copy of what we can do."
Meowth mutters, "Yeah, an improved copy."
Jessie smacks him. "I won't be hearing that. Team Planetary proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that there's nothing new under the Sun and Moon."
Meowth chuckles. "Hey, I bet those would make some pretty good titles for games."
James shrugs, "I don't know, I think I like the sound of Luna and Sol better. Sounds more creative."
Meowth responds, "Well Sun and Moon sounds more realistic."
Jessie says with ire, "Will you two please stop blabbing on about game titles? This is serious. We need to come up with a way to stop Team Phony from looking better than us."
Wobbuffet appears and proclaims, "Wobbuffet!"
Upon hearing this, Jessie groans and realizes, "Oh, who am I kidding? It's easy to look better than us. We're worse than Team Skull. We're doomed."
It's Type: Null!
Some time later, Kukui stirs and then wakes up. He finds himself bound up and thrown against the wall with the others. He looks over to Ash and apologizes, "I'm sorry, cousin. This is all my fault. I should've never trusted Team Planetary."
Ash shakes his head. "It's not your fault. You had no reason to doubt Team Planetary. They manipulate everything to make it look like they're actually good guys. You had no way of knowing what they actually were."
Cosmo steps up to them and say with fake pleasure, "It's good to see you awake again, Professor Kukui. Now that you've rejoined us, we can begin the ritual."
Kukui questions, "What ritual?"
Cosmo thinks for a second. "Let's see, I believe that your people call it Ka Hana Pili ana o ka La a me ka Mahina."
Kukui's eyes widen in fear. "Impossible."
Cosmo grins smugly and nods. "Very possible, as a matter of fact."
Brenda asks, "What does that mean, Professor?"
Kukui says grimly, "It means The Ceremony of the Sun and Moon. Team Planetary plans on summoning the Legendary Pokémon Solgaleo and Lunala."
Brock questions, "What would Team Planetary want with the Alolan Emissaries of the Sun and Moon?"
Cosmo answers, "They are more than just the Alolan Emissaries!"
Kukui demands, "What do you mean?"
"I mean that while Lunala and Solgaleo may be best known from Alolan folklore, there is much more to their story than that! Just as ancient Tennoan legends, which spoke of Seluna and Heliosol, legendary creators of the Moon and Sun, turned out to be linked to the scientific concept of the Cosmic Architect, so too are your emissaries! For, you see, Lunala and Solgaleo were the emissaries of the Sun and Moon and were born from the energies of the Cosmic Architect, energies that were thrown through a wormhole and into Ultra Space, and that makes them the emissaries of Seluna and Heliosol!"
Kukui is shocked. "How is that possible?"
"Look around you. The evidence is everywhere. Ancient Alolans and Tennoans knew there was a link between their mythologies, and together they created the shrine we stand in now, O ke Kuahu o ka La a me ka Mahina, The Altar of the Sun and Moon!"
Ash asks, "Do you think it's true, Professor?"
Kukui debates with himself and then answers, "It is a possibility…" After a pause he adds, "Often times the lore behind the Alolan Emissaries feels incomplete. Combining it with the Tennoan stories of the Cosmic Architect could very well fill those gaps…yeah… It would explain why both Alola and Tenno have mythic histories that are both based so heavily on the Sun and Moon, and both ended up being more than just legends."
Cosmo turns to face the altar and declares, "Begin the ritual!"
Grunts in a ring around the central altar each light fire to the torch nearest them. Then two oddly dressed grunts step onto the stage. Instead of their normal uniforms, they are dressed in some sort of Alolan ceremonial garb. They also wear an oversized, tiki-esque mask, one of Lunala, and the other of Solgaleo. They begin to perform some sort of ceremonial dance and chant. The one with the Solgaleo mask makes very aggressive movements and sounds, while the Lunala one contrasts with serene movements and chants. Despite the different tempos of the two, it is obvious that they were meant to be performed together, and complement each other. The two circle around each other as they perform their part, always remaining on the opposite side of the altar from the other. Without warning, both finish their dance at the same time with a sudden stop. The moment they finish, all of the torches around them blow out, as if by magic. Now the only light left in the room filters in from the sun above. Even that begins to dim suddenly.
Everyone looks up to the sky with shock. The Sun actually appears larger in the sky than normal, but the light from it is dimmed as an equally enlarged Moon has begun to move in front of it. Kukui gasps. "They've done it, they've actually managed to summon Solgaleo and Lunala…"
Suddenly a deafening roar is heard. It is immediately followed by an ear-piercing shriek. The grunts standing on the altar suddenly realize what is about to happen and leap off the altar to safety. Just as they do, heavy footfalls can be heard on the roof above them, then, into the chamber, leaps the Sunne Pokémon Solgaleo. It lands on the altar. Immediately following it, the Moone Pokémon Lunala descends from the sky. The two Pokémon sound their cries once more.
Cosmo looks up at them in wonder. He says with awe, "Amazing…" Once he has taken his moment to take in their majesty, he shouts the order, "Do it now!"
Immediately grunts throughout the room begin to frantically rush into action. Several machines around the room are activated. There are a total of eight machines spread equidistant in a circle around the Legendary Pokémon. Upon being activated, these machines project one of two colored beams of energy, either a purple beam on the side of Solgaleo, or an orange beam on the side of Lunala. The beams hit the Pokémon on their side and generate some sort of energy bubble of the same color around the Pokémon they're aimed at.
Both Pokémon automatically realize that something is amiss and cry out in rage. Solgaleo becomes cloaked in cover of fire and rams itself into the bubble, while Lunala unleashes a powerful purple beam of energy at the bubble. Both attacks are completely ineffective.
With a sense of awe still in his voice, Cosmo comments, "Sunsteel Strike and Moongeist Beam, quite amazing attacks, wouldn't you agree, Professor Kukui?"
Kukui is caught off guard by the question. "What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said. I was asking you for your opinions on the attacks of these Legendary Pokémon. They are the reason we brought you here, after all."
Kukui is shocked. "They are?"
"Indeed they are. For you see, Team Planetary has no actual need for Lunala and Solgaleo themselves. All we need is the energy generated by their attacks. Our machines here are designed not only to contain these mighty Pokémon, but also to absorb the energy of their attacks. However, to properly absorb such tremendous energy, I regret to say that our machines must be calibrated to the precise energy wavelength that is used by the two attacks, and doing that is beyond the capabilities of Team Planetary. But an expert of Pokémon attacks from the Alola Region is a different story. You see, all we need you to do is calibrate our machines, then we will let both you, and these Pokémon, go free. That's not that hard, now is it?"
Kukui is uncertain. "I…don't know…"
Ash shouts, "Don't do it, Professor! You can't give them anything they want! Nothing at all!"
Kukui nods. "I'm not giving you anything."
Cosmo sighs. "Fine, I guess we'll do this the hard way, then. We really don't want to have to do this. We're not the bad guys here, but you're leaving us with no other choice." He looks to a grunt standing on his left and suggests, "Let's give the kind professor some persuasion."
The grunt nods. "Yes sir." The grunt sends a Solrock out from its Pokéball and steps towards Ash and the others. The Solrock begins to charge for an attack.
Cosmo states, "I am sure you know what attack Solrock is about use Professor, correct?"
Kukui gulps and nods. "Yeah, it's a Solar Beam."
Cosmo nods. "Now you may like getting hit by Pokémon attacks, but something tells me your friends here won't. Allow me to ask you again, will you calibrate our machines?"
Ash shouts, "This doesn't change anything, Professor Kukui! Don't do it!" Despite saying the brave words, fear can be seen on Ash's face.
Kukui lowers his head in shame and mumbles something under his breath.
Cosmo asks, "What was that? I couldn't hear you."
Slightly more audible, Kukui says reluctantly, "I'll help you."
Cosmo is pleased. "Good to hear. I'm pleased that you've changed your mind." He beckons to two other grunts. "Unbind the good professor here so that he may get to work."
Two grunts run over to him and remove the binders. One of the grunts threatens, "You better not try anything funny, Professor." They walk him over to one of the machines and put him to work at a control panel.
Cosmo asks, "Can you do what we need Professor?"
After looking the device over, he nods. "Yes, I can attune it to the frequency you need."
Cosmo smiles. "Very good. Get to work right away then." So he does.
Still watching from up above is Team Rocket. Meowth says with some fear, "They may be nothing but copycats, but they actually managed to get ahold of two Legendary Pokémon at once. Guess what our grand total of captured Legendary Pokémon is."
Jessie answers with despair, "Zero…"
James suddenly stands up and proclaims fiercely, "Enough of this cowering in fear. What are we, a bunch of Whimpods? No, we're Team Rocket, the greatest, most original, elite criminal organization to ever exist. We are going to go down right now and put a stop to this."
Jessie says, "That's great and all, but how do you propose we do that?"
James looks down towards Ash and the others. "As much as it pains me to say this, there is only one way we can make sure Team Planetary does not succeed today."
Back down on the ground, the Legendary Pokémon continue to attempt an escape, and continue to fail. Cosmo asks, "How much longer, Professor?"
Kukui answers, "I'm just about there. This is an extremely precise energy signature we're dealing with here, more so than anything I've ever seen before."
Ash whispers, "We have to figure out a way out of here so we can stop them before they get what they want."
Brenda asks with despair, "How do we do that? We're completely trapped. I can't even reach my Pokéballs."
Brock adds, "Neither can I."
Ash tries to think of something.
Before he does, a voice suddenly declares, "Prepare for trouble as clear as daylight!"
Another voice adds, "Make it double, you're in for a dark night!"
"To show that around here we're the real Kahuna!"
"To demonstrate mastery of Sol and Luna!"
"To see the Sun and Moon rise in the east!"
"To defeat you with the ferocity of an Ultra Beast!"
"Mistress of the Moon, Jessie!"
"Master of the Sun, James!"
"Team Rocket eclipses all at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!"
"Wobbuffet!"
"Mime mime!"
Cosmo groans. "It would figure that you three clowns would show up here as well. What could you possibly be planning to try to stop us?"
James grins, "Oh, it won't be us stopping you. Do it, Jessie!"
Jessie throws a Pokéball. "Night Slash, Buzzsaw!" Buzzsaw appears and immediately flies over toward Ash and the others. With its saw mandibles, it cuts right through Ash's binders. It then moves on to free the others.
Realizing what they're doing, Cosmo orders, "Stop them, quickly!"
James smirks. "We may not be able to stop you, but we know that if there's anything those twerps can do, it's stop an evil team. Both original and copycat."
A grunt orders, "Solrock, use Solar Beam!" The Solrock's Solarbeam hits Team Rocket and sends them flying away. Buzzsaw cuts through the last of the binders and flies off after them.
As they're flying off, Jessie groans, "I hate freeing those twerps. They deserve to be locked up like that."
James reassures, "Think of it this way, knowing those twerps, they'd free themselves one way or another, we just sped up the process. And this way we ensure that whatever those phonies are doing, they won't be successful."
Jessie shrugs. "Yeah, I guess."
Meowth suddenly exclaims, "Hey guys, I've got an idea!"
Jessie and James both ask, "What?"
"Remember that idea for game titles I had earlier? Well there should be a third game called Earth to go with them!"
Jessie groans again and James says, "But Terra sounds so much better."
Jessie asserts, "It's not going to happen, so just let it go."
As they begin to disappear from sight, they all shout, "We're blasting off again!"
Back on the ground, Ash, Brock, and Brenda are all getting up after having been freed by Team Rocket. Cosmo frantically orders, "Stop them before they can do any harm!"
Several grunts throw Pokéballs, all of them releasing Minior.
Seeing that Ash is free, Kukui pulls something out of his pocket and shouts, "Ash, Pikachu, take this!" He throws two objects into the air. One is a silver bracelet and the other a yellow gem stone. Pikachu leaps up into the air to catch the gem stone and Ash grabs the bracelet.
Upon seeing the bracelet, Ah grins. "Perfect. Are you ready, Pikachu?" He slips on the bracelet.
Pikachu nods. "Pik."
"Alright, let's do it!" Ash and Pikachu both stand up straight and cross their arms in front of them. In perfect unison they then circle their arms up over their head and, once at their sides, they put them straight forward, crossing their wrists. Then one arm swings back while the other goes forward, bending at the elbow. Immediately this flows into the arms coming back in front of them, crossing to form a diagonal line across their fronts. The arms are then bent at the wrists and elbows. Suddenly an intense surge of energy surrounds Ash. This is immediately followed by a golden aura surrounding Pikachu. It then condenses onto Pikachu's skin, causing Pikachu to glow gold. Ash shouts, "Pikachu, use Gigavolt Havoc!"
An emblem made of golden energy representing the electric element appears in front of Pikachu for a moment, and then Pikachu unleashes and intense beam of pure electricity. "Pikaaaaaa chuuuuuuuuuu!" Pikachu sweeps this beam across all of the opposing Minior, first shattering their rocky shell in order to reveal a rainbow of Minior underneath, and then knocking them all out in one hit.
Brock and Brenda are left absolutely stunned. Brock says with complete awe, "What power…"
Brenda asks with amazement, "What was that…?"
Ash looks back to them and gives them a thumbs-up. "That was a Z-Move. Something Pikachu and I learned about back in the Alola Region." Ash then turns back towards Team Planetary and says, "Pikachu and I can beat anything you throw at us, so you might as well just pack up and leave now."
Cosmo steps forward. "No, I won't allow you to ruin this. Team Planetary, no, the Tenno Region needs the energy from these Pokémon. We will get it. I won't let you ruin this!" He throws a Pokéball. "Do your part for Tenno, Ferntress!" Cosmo sends out an extremely large and bulky quadrupedal Pokémon. Its whole body is covered by ferns that are woven together to form some sort of armor. Not a single patch of skin is visible on its entire body.
Ash takes out his Pokédex. "Ferntress, the Fortress Pokémon and a Grass and Ground Combo-Type. The ferns planted on its body at birth have now grown to encase its whole body and can repel any attack. It is unknown what this Pokémon looks like beneath its indestructible armor of foliage. Evolves from Buffern at level 32."
Seeing the Pokémon causes Ash to clench his fist with anger. He thinks, That's the same Pokémon that he stole from Professor Pine way back when we first met.
Cosmo orders, "Ferntress, use Leaf Storm!" Ferntress attacks with a massive whirlwind of leaves aimed right at Pikachu.
Ash shouts, "Dodge it Pikachu, and use Iron Tail!"
Pikachu leaps up and over the attack. "Chu, pika!" It slams its tail down onto Ferntress' back, but true to its description, the bulky Pokémon barely seems to notice. Realizing how inefficient the attack was, Pikachu quickly leaps back toward Ash.
Ash thinks with anger, No, the attack did nothing! Ferntress' defenses are too strong! And we can't even use Gigavolt Havoc again, since Ferntress is part Ground-Type. This isn't good. Despite thinking that, he orders, "No giving up, Pikachu! Use Quick Attack!"
"Pik! Pik! Pik! Pik!" Pikachu runs at Ferntress at high speeds.
Cosmo counters, "Use Foliage Fortress!" Ferns grow out of Ferntress' back and wrap around its front. Pikachu runs into them, causing no damage at all to Ferntress. "Now use Bulldoze." Ferntress lowers its fern shield and then rams into Pikachu, causing it to fly back.
Pikachu shouts in pain, "Pika!"
Ash thinks further to himself, What can we do? There aren't any options.
That's when Kukui shouts, "Go, Raichu!" From a Pokéball he sends out an unusual Raichu. Its coloration is pale in comparison to a normal Raichu, and all of its features seem rounded and curved. The Pokémon stands on top of its tail, and is floating in the air. Kukui orders, "Raichu, shut it down with Psychic!"
"Rai rai!" Raichu's eyes glow a greenish-blue and Ferntress is lifted up into the air by psychic power.
Brenda questions, "What's up with that Raichu? That's not like the other Raichu we've seen."
Brock nods in agreement. Completely seriously, he states, "I think that Raichu might have eaten one too many pancakes." Brenda stares at him, completely lost as to what he means. Brock doesn't seem to feel the need to explain his comment.
Cosmo demands, "What is this treachery!?"
Kukui, back to his usual easygoing self, advises, "I've been on the receiving end of that there Psychic attack enough times to know that there's no way your Pokémon will ever be able to escape. Go ahead and finish him off now, Ash!"
Ash grins. "Thanks, Professor. Okay Pikachu, Quick Attack into an Iron Tail!"
Pikachu begins to dash at the helplessly floating Ferntress. "Pik, pik, pik, pik, pik!" As it's doing so, its tail turns to metal for the Iron Tail.
Cosmo tries to figure out what to do, but seems to not be able to come up with a counter. Then a grunt shouts, "Sir, the energy absorption machines have reached 75%! That's our minimum threshold!"
Cosmo nods. "Get us out of here!"
Several grunts throw Pokéballs, releasing Elgyem. They all order, "Teleport!" And just as they have several times before, every member of Team Planetary and their Pokémon, as well as every piece of Team Planetary technology in the chamber become enveloped in a blue haze as they begin to disappear with a high-pitch hum.
Ash shouts, "Oh no you don't! Attack, Pikachu!"
Pikachu leaps at Ferntress and attacks with Iron Tail. "Chu, pika!" But Pikachu passes right through the dematerializing Pokémon.
Just before disappearing entirely, Cosmo says, "There will come a time when you will realize you are on the wrong side, and I can't wait for that moment to happen." He's gone.
With the machines casting the barriers gone, both Lunala and Solgaleo are suddenly released from their prisons. They appear extremely worn out, but unharmed.
Ash looks up to them with awe, truly appreciating their majesty for the first time, and asks, "Lunala, Solgaleo, are you two okay?"
Solgaleo roars while Lunala lets out a high-pitch shriek. Both sound like affirmations.
Ash smiles. "Good. I'm sorry I couldn't stop them before they stole your energy." Feeling shame, he looks down to the ground. "It's my fault for not being strong enough to stop Team Planetary again."
Kukui walks up behind Ash and says, "No, cousin, this is far from your fault. Don't let this weigh heavily on your heart, you've gotta move on, yeah. The Legendary Pokémon are okay, and so are we. That is all that matters."
Ash nods. "I suppose you're right." He doesn't seem entirely convinced though.
Kukui steps up to the Legendary Pokémon and proclaims, "Solgaleo, Lunala, Legendary Emissaries of the Sun and Moon, your business here is through. You may have been summoned here for a ceremony, but it was all just a trick. Leave now and return to your homes!"
Both Pokémon look to him and Ash. Something akin to thankfulness can be seen on their faces. Then they both sound their cries once more and leave the chamber, Solgaleo by leaping up and out, and Lunala by flying straight up into the sky. As soon as they leave sight, the Sun and Moon in the sky return to normal. Everyone just watches silently in awe.
Back outside the cave, Ash asks, "Are you sure you have to go, Professor Kukui? I think you'd like it here in Tenno, it shares a lot of similarities with Alola."
Kukui nods. "I definitely have to leave, yeah. Pretty soon there's gonna be a whole lot of new trainers in the Alola Region ready to begin their brand new adventures, so I'd better be there to help them start off. It was great seeing you again, cousin."
Ash grins. "The same to you." He then looks down to his wrist and pulls off the Z-Ring. He hands it to Kukui. Similarly, Pikachu hands Kukui the Electrium Z crystal. Ash says, "Thanks for letting us borrow these, Professor. It felt great to use a Z-Move again after all this time."
Kukui accepts them back and puts them away in his pocket. "And I was stoked to see the bond between you and Pikachu in action once more! Woo!"
Not able to hold her tongue any longer, Brenda asks a question she's been dying to ask, "So what was up with that Raichu of yours? Why did it look so weird?"
Kukui smiles and laughs. "Oh, that? It just ate too many pancakes, that's all."
Brenda tilts her head in confusion. In an utterly baffled manner, she questions, "What!?"
Kukui laughs, "It's best not to worry about it too much. Just be chill about it, yeah, that's the Alolan way."
Brenda objects, "But, but, but…" She doesn't even know what to say.
Kukui looks down to his feet, where Rockruff sits, and asks, "Alright Rockruff, you ready to ship out?"
It answers, "Rock ruff!"
"Alright, then we better be off." He waves to them. "Alola, cousins!" He turns around to leave.
Ash shouts back, "Alola!"
Brenda shouts, "Bye – I mean alola!"
Brock adds his own, "Alola!"
It's back to the Alola Region for Professor Kukui, but he won't be alone. It's time for all of us to head for the Alola Region, for today, a new journey begins! A journey of growth and of friendship! A journey that will take you beyond the even the Sun and Moon!
As the Narrator speaks, the scene begins to pan out. Near Ash and the others, a group of Jangmo-o can be seen training with a single Kommo-o watching over them. Atop a cliff right next to Ash, a Mimikyu peeks its head up and over, staring enviously at Pikachu. Near it, a Litten basks in the sunlight lazily. The scene zooms out more. Now a beach nearby can be seen. On the beach is a Palosand. Nearby a Popplio balances a bubble on its nose while two Crabrawler box with each other. A Whimpod is startled by the fight and runs into the water. Out of this water leaps a Wishiwashi in its School Form. Even more zooming out, and a Vikavolt carrying a Charjabug flies by. Even higher up a flock of Pikipek fly by, immediately followed by a solitary Rowlet. Now up high in the atmosphere, several Minior fly in circles around each other. Even higher up, at the very edge of the atmosphere, the Alolan Guardians, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, and Tapu Fini make an appearance before quickly disappearing from sight. Finally, the entire Earth can be seen, and one side of it is the Sun, and the other the Moon. Phantasmal cries of Lunala and Solgaleo can be heard faintly. Their images appear superimposed over the Sun and Moon.
See you there!
To Be Continued…
