Virgil134
PMD Writer
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Bonus Chapter: Turbulent Roadtrip, Part 3
About an hour later, Team Traveller found that the directions on Guildmaster Metagross' map brought them to the front of a towering set of falls with a narrow strip of land carrying on behind them. The four followed the rocky spit, slipping down the narrow path past the falls, and continuing on into a space full of curving waterfalls thick with mist in the air, decorated by the occasional sight of what appeared to be eyed glyphs.
"According to the map, this is it," Nida said.
"Blegh… it certainly feels like it," Elty spat. "The water's so damp and gross here."
"I don't know, I think it feels great!" Pleo chirped. The Lugia's commentary at once drew a disgusted shake of Elty's head, along with an annoyed furrow of Guardia's brow. Even so, in spite of the annoying dampness, the Cubone found herself scratching her brow puzzledly.
"It's still really strange, though…" she murmured. "Without the fog, how is anyone supposed to know you're in a Mystery Dungeon or what parts won't shift with the Distortion?"
Guardia's question prompted Nida to flick her ears uneasily, before gawking at the surrounding falls. With no fog like the Mystery Dungeons back in the Cradle, there was little that seemed to evidence the place was a Mystery Dungeon… Even so, there were still things that struck the spike ball as obviously unnatural about the place. Much like the trees back in Dewdrop Woods, the height of the waterfalls also seemed to be impossibly tall, and from what she could see there again didn't seem to be any other entrances back outside of these falls...
"Maybe this place works differently from the Mystery Dungeons back home," the Nidoran mulled. "But let's start the same way we always do, look around and try to get our bearings."
"It would be wise to try and see what yajū are lurking around," Guardia murmured. "But how would we do that with all this mist?"
"Simple," Elty answered. The Puppy Pokémon pivoted and turned back to face the falls, opening his mouth with a sharp bark.
"Oi! Is anyone out there!"
Elty's shout carried on, only to be drowned out by the roar of the falls. The Growlithe waited a moment expectantly, before blinking out of sheepish awkwardness as he noticed his teammates frowning from the corner of his eye.
"Gardie, take this seriously!" Guardia huffed. "That's not going to-!"
"Who goes there?!"
The sound of the bellowing shout made the four Pokémon jolt upright as blank, incredulous looks settled over Guardia, Nida, and Pleo's faces. Had Elty's call…? Did it really…?
"… Work?" the Cubone finished. An uneasy gulp went about the four Pokémon, prompting them to trade looks before Pleo began to crane his head back to answer.
"Uh… Team Traveller?"
The four looked behind themselves, where they saw the form of a party of three peculiar Pokémon approaching. There was an Absol with what seemed to be black crystals encrusted on his chest, a Houndoom swaddled head to toe in peculiar padded cloth with blue fur poking out, and a strange purple creature with blue, crystal-like eyes that floated in the air. Team Traveller shifted uneasily, unsure what to make of the strangers, and most of all the peculiar creature among them.
"Nida? What's that purple floaty thingie?" Pleo asked. "And what is with the other two Pokémon?"
The young Protector's question drew no response other than for Nida to stare ahead wordlessly. Evidently she too was at a loss for what to say back.
"… I… don't know."
"I am referred to as Sticky and my species designation is Poipole," the purple creature answered. "My teammates here are Gallian the Absol and Luxeira the Houndoom."
The Poipole's words drew cautious blinks from Team Traveller's members, and a puzzled tilt of Nida's head.
"Wait, they have actual names too? We didn't run into anyone else in town like that..." she murmured, as her Growlithe teammate cleared his throat and gestured at the Houndoom and Absol in front of him.
"Uh…" Elty began. "You two have got just a little thing on your… er… well, everything."
"Is this some sort of trick?" Guardia demanded. "I've never seen any sort of Pokémon that looked like either of those two! Just look at those crystals crusted over on your white friend!"
"Grr… aren't you two personable ones?" the Absol spat, his eyes flashing a vibrant, aggressive purple that caught his teammates' attention.
"Easy there, rookie," Luxeira insisted. "We're just here to read their auras, no need to get things so riled up off the bat."
The Houndoom's reassurance failed to have its intended effect on the four Pokémon, who visibly squirmed and backpedaled as the three strangers drew nearer.
"Read our… auras?" Pleo asked.
"Yes, we initially tried to find you after we detected you falling out of an Ultra Wormhole back in Dewdrop Woods," the suited Houndoom explained. "As members of the Ultra Recon Squad, our primary directive has always been to analyze the fallers we come across and help them on their ways back home. Even if we're stranded ourselves, we can continue that endeavor."
Luxeira's words drew puzzled stares back from the four youngsters, the lot trading looks with one another. They were watching them? And what did the Houndoom mean by...
"... Fallers?" Pleo asked.
"Fallers are terrestrial Pokémon such as yourselves that have been hurtled through Ultra Space by Ultra Wormholes. Typically, they end up in a pocket of Ultra Space. But, on occasion, the wormhole is powerful enough to breach another world. Which, I suspect, is what happened to you," she explained. "Perhaps tell us a bit about yourselves? It could help us narrow down where you're from."
"Uhh… well…" Nida stammered. "We're Team Traveller, a rescue team from the Cradle. Does that help at all?"
"Captain, I am afraid that does not register as an area I'm familiar with," Sticky mulled. "Maybe things will become clearer with a bit of a closer look."
The Houndoom and Poipole suddenly darted forward, as blue glassy surfaces slid over their faces and lit up with light as they faced Pleo. Sensing something amiss, Guardia held out her bone accusingly, stammering out a startled yelp in response.
"H-Hey!" the Cubone exclaimed. "What are you doing with that thing there?!"
"Oh these?" Luxeira answered. "It's just our visors, nothing to be alarmed abou-"
Before the Houndoom could finish, her visor suddenly flashed purple as a shrill beep went off. Nida and Elty winced and covered their ears at the racket, prompting Pleo to look around in alarm as Gallian's demeanor suddenly became noticeably more hostile.
"See! It's just like I figured… this lot is full of troublemakers!" the Absol snapped, his eyes and scythe flashing red. "That alarm only goes off when something's wrong! Like with that blasted Vulpix!"
"Uh… y-you pointed that thingy at me and it beeped?" Pleo stammered. "What would be wrong?"
"You are registering Ultra Aura levels high enough to signify that you have been exposed to a high dose of Ultra Space radiation. Even by faller standards, these are pretty large readings. Just how far away is your world?" Sticky exclaimed, drawing a low growl and bared fangs from his Absol teammate.
"Bah, that's not it! You two are giving them too much benefit of the doubt! You said you saw large readings? Then that can only mean one thing. This so-called Lugia…" Gallian snarled. "Is an Ultra Beast."
"H-Huh?!" Nida exclaimed. "No he's not!"
"Yeah, I don't even know what an Ultra Beast is!" Pleo protested.
"They are creatures from Ultra Space… like me," Sticky explained. "We find this world alien, and are alien to this world's Pokémon in return."
"B-But I'm a Lugia! I'm part of my world!"
"Hah! A likely story!" Gallian snorted. "I know who Lugia is, and I definitely know I'm not bigger than him! You're just trying to pass yourself off with a disguise, and there's no reason why you'd do that unless you were trying to hide something!"
Pleo opened his beak to protest again, only to squawk out of fright at the sight of shadowy mist beginning to accumulate on the Absol's horn. Gallian lowered his body with a low growl, readying his legs for a pouncing lunge.
"And it's a very poor disguise at that."
"Uh… Gallian?" Luxeira began. "I think this is really something we should talk-"
"I'm putting you down!!"
With that, the Absol lunged forward at the four youngsters, prompting the Houndoom to raise a paw and trail off with a shake of her head.
"… out," she sighed. "Come on Sticky. Looks like the rookie's managed to turn the situation hostile… again."
"Eyaaaah!"
As Sticky and Luxeira quickly fell back, a pained shriek rang out as Gallian sliced into Pleo's wing with a shadowy swoop of his horn. The slash cut a few feathers loose, prompting the young Lugia to stumble and dart away in a panic as his wide-eyed teammates hastily ran in to intervene.
"G-Get off of him!" Nida cried. The Nidoran was the first to reach the Absol, and quickly delivered a pair of whirling kicks at his side. Gallian skidded back, snarling angrily as Elty and Guardia ran in after him.
"Hang in there, spike ball," the Growlithe yipped. "We're coming-!"
"Gardie, watch it!"
The Cubone hastily yanked the Puppy Pokémon back as a metallic tile sailed through the air and flopped onto the ground in front of them, bearing a star-shaped insignia lit up by purple light. The pair looked over incredulously at Sticky, baffled by what it was that he'd hoped to accomplish with the tile.
"Eh?! What are you doing throwing those metal plates around?!" Guardia demanded, her puzzlement being similarly echoed by her Growlithe partner.
"Yeah, sure seems like some useless items there given that they’re not doing anything to us!" he snapped.
"Just stay away from those!" Nida cried. "They look like triggered traps!"
Elty blinked and squinted at the tiles. True enough, they did light up like a triggered trap back at home… but when was the last time a trap looked anything like this?!
"But- But that's insane!" Elty yipped. "Traps don't come on metal tiles! And since when could Pokémon throw them around?!"
"Hrmm… Captain, if they are unaware that Ultra Beasts can set traps of their own volition, perhaps Gallian's claims are unfounded?" Sticky wondered.
"They're playing dumb to distract you, moron!" Gallian barked, drawing a sigh back from his Poipole counterpart.
"I figured that would be your response."
Elty’s eyes briefly widened as the Poipole zipped over and spewed out a torrent of violet sludge. The liquid drenched Elty's fur, prompting him to shriek as it seeped down into his pelt. In a panic, the Growlithe set his fur alight and launched himself at the Poison-Type with a blazing somersault.
"Argh!"
The Flame Wheel found its mark, sending Sticky crashing to the ground, and drawing an alarmed yelp from his Houndoom partner from further behind.
"Keep it together, Sticky!" she cried. "I'll lay down some suppressive fire!"
Luxeira breathed in, and spewed out a gout of fire, swallowing up Guardia. The bone lizard shrieked and flailed on the ground, the Houndoom's flames stinging with particular force, prompting her to stagger up just in time to see another gout sail overhead and take off running.
Team Paradox's members had fallen back into a vaguely delta-shaped position, with Sticky and Luxeira flanking Gallian from the sides as the three spewed shadowy beams and toxins forward, sending Team Traveller scattering in a panic. In his haste to flee, Pleo ran ahead beating his wings to try and get airborne when his left foot stepped down on something cold and smooth. The Lugia heard a click and went wide-eyed, only to shriek as he felt spikes suddenly jut out of the floor and into his feet.
"A-Agh!"
Pleo's cry drew his Nidoran teammate's attention, prompting her to turn and see he had stepped on one of the tiles and a trail of violet fluid was dribbling from his left foot. Nida grimaced, realizing that the metal tiles really were traps. Her own nerves starting to fail her, the Poison-Type called back, hoping to keep her teammate calm and collected.
"H-Hang in there!" she cried. "We just need to get our footing back!"
"Enough!"
Nida whirled and froze as Gallian dissolved into a stream of black shadows and zipped along on the floor before gathering around her. Much to her teammates' horror, the shadows suddenly reformed into Gallian as he lunged up with a slash of his psychically-charged horn and sent the Nidoran tumbling with a sharp yelp, leaving her slumped over on the ground unmoving.
"A-Aaah! N-Nida!"
The three stood in a stunned daze, only for a light to glimmer from the bag on Nida's back and her to suddenly get up woozily, coughing and struggling to stay afoot.
"Hrnk… Urgh…"
The Nidoran rose to her feet, similarly reinvigorated from the light, if disoriented from her experience. From their places beside her, Elty, Guardia, and Pleo stared slack-jawed, startled at their teammate's sudden revival.
"What- What on earth was that?!" Elty yelped. "You just got up again like that was nothing!"
"And what was that freaky shadow thing?!" Guardia cried. "In all the lore I've heard, I'd never heard of Pokémon being able to do that!"
"Pah! You four must be the sorriest Rescue Team I've ever run into!" Gallian snarled. "How do you not know something as basic as how a Reviver Seed works?!"
A Reviver Seed helped Nida get back up? Without even being chewed on? But Reviver Seeds don't just magically heal Pokémon like that! … Although it wouldn't be the first peculiar thing about this world they encountered...
"Sticky! Swing around them from the left!" the Houndoom barked.
"On it!"
But that could wait, as the presence of a gout of fire narrowly missing Guardia and stream of sludge brushing Pleo quickly jolted Nida and her teammates back to attention. Even so, when they knew so little about how this world differed from their own, just how would they ever regain the element of surprise?
"Ngah! Just how are we supposed to handle these Pokémon?!" Guardia cried. Her Growlithe teammate clenched his teeth, as he realized that so far, it seemed like Team Paradox had been catching them off guard with one thing after another from this alien world! Bah! If only they could repay the favor somehow!
… Wait a minute, maybe they could!
"If they're going to be giving us such a hard time with moves from their world," Elty began, "then maybe we need to surprise them with something from ours!"
The Growlithe's gaze turned to Gallian—charging forward as the diamond on his forehead crackled with dark energy—then at the other members of Team Paradox. If those two were always dependent on Gallian charging to the fore for them… then maybe...
"We just need to get that Absol to get out into the open! He's the toughest, and if we can't take care of him, we're not going to pull through here!" he yipped. "If we all work together, we should be able to take him down!"
"How are we supposed to do that?!" Pleo squawked. "He's got two buddies with him!"
"Focus on distracting them!" Elty insisted. "I'll handle the Absol! If it worked on those two square-necks at Sormus, it can work here!"
The Growlithe spotted one of the metal tiles lying on the ground up ahead, and bounded ahead. Elty bided his time until Gallian ran past, before turning, and giving a forceful shake of his rump at his Absol opponent.
"Chodź i weź to!" the Fire-Type jeered. "You couldn't hit the broadside of a Wailord with that stupid shadow attack of yours!"
Gallian's scythe flashed dark red in response, his eyes hardening into a fierce glare as he pawed the ground underfoot.
"Is that so?" he spat. "Tell me… how's this for a broadside?!"
His attention now focused on the impudent Puppy Pokémon, the Absol charged ahead melting into the ground as a stream of black shadows. As the Dark-Type bore down, Elty rolled out of the way, leaving Gallian to carry on into the tile and yowl in pain after feeling spikes jolt up into his paws.
"Hrngh!" he winced. "What- What did you do-?!"
"Now!" Elty cried.
As the stricken Absol tried to regain his bearings, he was cut off by a gout of cinders from the side, followed by a spinning blow to his flank along with a second that clipped his hindlegs, his attention turning back to a Cubone who clumsily caught a bone flying back at her.
"E-Eh?! That was a Honebūmeran!" she cried. "It- It actually worked that time!"
Gallian snarled and pivoted to turn his attention to the bone lizard, when a whirling gust sent him tumbling head over heels into a large rock. The Absol hastily righted himself, fighting against his injured paws only to see a blue blur run up, and a nailed foot to come for his face…
WHAP!
WHAP!
The Dark-Type staggered back, his breaths coming out ragged as he pawed at a fresh imprint on his face. Gallian howled in pain and ran off, wheezing as he felt his body shiver and his limbs' movements grow clumsy and laggardly.
"Ngrrr…. I've had enough of this!"
The Absol turned back, black and red energy crackling in his forehead diamond… only for it to suddenly lose its glow, and for the Dark-Type to slump over onto the ground.
"Nnrrk…"
Luxeira and Sticky went wide-eyed at the sight of their teammate's defeat, the pair stammering and backpedaling as the color left their faces.
"G-Gallian!"
"I- That's- T-Tactical retreat!" Luxeira yelped. "We'll regroup after falling back!"
The two turned and began to run off for dear life, only for a sharp squeak to ring out from behind them.
"Wait! Don't go!" Nida cried. "You said that you could help us get back home!"
At the Nidoran's plea, the Poipole and the shiny Houndoom slowed to a stop, before looking back over their shoulders uneasily. There, they saw Nida's form bounding up, the Poison-Type rearing up on her hind legs to wave for the two to stop.
"This… obviously wasn't how any of us wanted to meet each other," she said. "But you said that you helped Pokémon like us get back to their worlds, right? How does that work, and can you do it for us?"
"I mean, we used to have a machine that would handle it…" Luxeira answered. "But we lost it when we lost our home."
"So we're stuck here, then," Guardia muttered.
"Maybe not. I will admit that we have never done this before…" Sticky began. "But we could attempt to signal the Lightless Black. He certainly would be able to help you get back… Maybe."
"Who is that?" Nida asked, prompting the Poipole to uneasily shift in the air.
"Uh… well… I speculate that he is, in fact, a light-eating Ultra Beast," he explained. "We only know of him because he... destroyed our home."
Sticky's explanation made Team Traveller's members cringe and shift back uneasily. The four watched as the Poipole and Houndoom traded looks with one another, as if a sudden realization had dawned upon them.
"What's that look supposed to mean?" Guardia asked.
"I just realized..." Luxeira murmured. "Considering the Lightless Black's ability to move between worlds, it could be that he brought you here in the first place."
"So if that is true… then maybe you really could convince him to take you back as well," Sticky added.
The Poipole's musings failed to provide any reassurance to the four youngsters. If they'd been called here by such a destructive-sounding Pokémon, who was to say that they could count on him to take him back? Couldn't he just as easily try to destroy them?
"And we're supposed to trust him to take us back why?" Elty demanded. A long silence hung in the air afterwards, as Luxeira and Sticky traded uncomfortable glances with one another, before turning back to their questioners.
"Well, he's most likely the only Pokémon who could send you back," the Houndoom answered. "For all we know, you could've been brought here by accident. In which case, he might be open to sending you back home."
Luxeira's reasoning drew back a sharp frown from the Cubone in the group. Of all the crazy ideas she'd heard before, this was right up there with being dragged from island to island high up in the sky as one of the worst-sounding ones she'd entertained. Couldn't there be an alternative they were missing…?
"And there's no other way back at all other than dealing with a Pokémon that destroys colonies?" Guardia pressed.
The Cubone was answered with a pair of shaking heads, prompting the lot to pause uneasily. After a long silence, Nida sighed, before shaking her barbs and grumbling back a response.
"I suppose we have no choice, then…" she muttered. "Let's call on your Lightless-"
"Urgh… N-Nida? I'm not feeling so good- Nrrk…"
Nida bit her tongue and turned at the sound of audibly sickly squawks to see Pleo had limped up beside her. She'd forgotten entirely about her teammate tripping the Toxic Spikes trap, leaving the Lugia visibly shivering and tottering, apparently having trouble keeping his balance. The Nidoran moved a paw for her bag, only for the sound of a groan from behind to reach her ears and prompt her to freeze with a start.
"Ugh… Sticky? Luxeira?" Gallian wheezed. "Can you make the room stop spinning?"
The gathered Pokémon looked over to see Gallian pawing incoherently at the air, evidently in as sorry a condition as the poisoned Lugia. From their place, Luxeira and Sticky looked at Pleo, and then back at their stricken teammate.
"… Right," Luxeira said. "Let's get you all patched up first."
Luxeira and Sticky's attention quickly turned to treating their wounded teammate and the poisoned bird in their midst, which fortunately was mostly resolvable with a few berries the two teams had between them. After healing Pleo and suitably calming Gallian's nerves, the rest of Team Traveller sat for their turn to be healed, recounting the story of their flight from the Company and the Empire before they found themselves in this strange new world.
"Well, that's certainly quite the tale…" Luxeira murmured. "That said, I think it is time we summon the Lightless Black."
"Wait, right now?" Elty asked.
"Tch, weren't you the lot who were trying to get home faster?" Gallian scoffed. "And I don't want to be around any of you for much longer. You're making my skin crawl. It's not like you have unfinished business here, right?"
"… Point."
Sticky fidgeted, before throwing out a metal tile with a star-shaped icon onto the ground. The metal sheet settled against the ground, before its thrower floated over to Team Traveller, peering down with a waiting gaze.
"Are you four sure you want to do this?" the Poipole pressed. "The Lightless Black can be very unpredictable and we're not gonna be around to help you."
"E-Eh?" Pleo stammered. "You're not?"
The Poison-Type shook his head back in response, making Pleo shift his feathers uneasily. Sensing the Lugia's unease, Sticky hesitated, doing his best to try and pass on an explanation.
"The last time we came face to face with him, it… ended with him attacking us in a fit of rage. We do not want to risk putting him in a bad mood again. That could make things exponentially harder for you all," the Poipole said. "It would be most ideal if we did not have to resort to such extreme measures as summoning the Lightless Black. Unfortunately, given your current situation there is no other alternative if you intend to return to your universe…"
The four youngsters faltered a moment after hearing Sticky's response. They'd hoped that their guides would've been with them to at least introduce them to this 'Lightless Black', and the fact that they didn't want to for their own safety surely wasn't a good portent… On the other paw, they didn't have any other real options for getting back to the Cradle, and surely staying here was as much of a risk long-term as going home through an untested route...
"We'll take the risk," Nida sighed. "Let's go home"
"Very well then. Just understand that, if this trick works, we'll be promptly exiting," Luxeira said. "I wish there was more we could do for you, but we're all that's left of our Ultra Recon Squad. Our resources are too scarce. You have my sincere apologies,"
"That's... understandable," Nida replied. "Though thanks again for the help here."
The Houndoom nodded back before Sticky took off his harness and pressed down on the metal tile with a click. The group watched tensely for a moment, before a bright, white tear opened in the sky and expanded into what looked like a burrow. From his place on the ground, Pleo looked on in startled surprise, gesturing up wildly at the strange new portal.
"A-Ah! There's a hole in the sky!"
Team Traveller stared mesmerized as the hole spiraled into a large white circle, with purple and white lines radiating out in all directions. As the four tried to settle on how to make sense of the strange portal, Sticky slid his harness back on before he and his teammates got up and began to set off, the Houndoom among them digging out a multicolored orb from the center of her harness.
"Good luck, everyone," Luxeira said. "We'll be rooting for you to get back safely."
She hurled the orb against the ground, dashing it to pieces as a pillar of light swallowed her and her teammates up. As the wormhole continued glowing behind them, Team Traveller looked back, staring uneasily at the now inert glass shards dotting the ground as Elty folded his ears back.
"… We did make the right decision... Right?" he asked. As if on cue, a bright flash and loud thud came from the wormhole behind them, along with the sound of a deafening, bloodcurdling roar. The four felt their blood run cold, unable to fight off unnerved shivers that settled upon them as they looked back to see the glowing hole collapse behind the towering form of a blue bat with black, crystalline armor and a set of massive claws jutting out from its torso nearing them.
"… Ulp… I'll take that as a 'no'."
"Heeheeheehee... is that you, my succulent little Poipole? I'm so very flattered! Here I was worrying I'd never get to taste your sweet, precious liiiiight," the creature cheered. "Why, if you'd only given me some advance notice, I'd have brought some mood music for our special little meal together-"
As the crystal-covered bat neared, his vision settled upon the forms of a Nidoran, Growlithe, Cubone, and diminutive Lugia before him… with not a sign of the Poipole he'd sensed to be seen. At once, the Lightless Black let out a shrill shriek, his eyes lighting up with a rainbow-colored glow.
"Skreeeeep! What is the meaning of this? Where is my precious Poipole meal?!" the giant Pokémon demanded, before training a piercing glare at the youngsters below him.
"You... did you worthless little snacks trick me?!" he bellowed. "DID YOU LIE TO ME... NECROZMA?!"
Team Traveller felt the color drained from their face and backpedaled out of fright, their breaths coming shallow and quickly as they suddenly realized that Team Paradox hadn't wanted to stay around for good reason.
"Did- Did he just call us snacks?!" Guardia squeaked.
"S-Spike ball?" Elty whined. "I really think we need to get out of here-"
"W-Wait!"
Nida, Guardia, and Elty went wide-eyed as they watched Pleo run up and wave his wings in front of the massive bat. The three grimaced, expecting the beast to pounce on him at any moment, only to see him pause, and tilt his head curiously at the Lugia.
"Team Paradox said that you were able to help us get back home!" Pleo insisted. "That you were able to move between worlds!"
Necrozma looked down at Pleo and stared at him for what felt like an eternity, as slowly, a smile crept across the bat's face.
"Wait a moment. Heeheeheehee. You're not from here, are you? Tell me… have you slipped between worlds? Are you… just like me?"
From their places, Nida, Elty, and Guardia watched as the massive creature seemed to calm down, prompting them to warily creep forward and rejoin their Lugia teammate, if still glancing over their shoulders uneasily for any routes that could be used to escape.
"Well, we're Team Traveller…" Nida began. "And to the best we've been able to tell, we're from another world."
"… We heard that you might have had something to do with that with some portal you made," Elty continued. "And… maybe you'd be in the mood to help us get back by opening another portal?"
The four forced wide, overeager smiles as Necrozma moved one of his smaller wing claws to his chin. The Psychic-Type paused a moment, evidently deep in thought before turning his gaze to an overlooking ledge.
"So… that little cold did cause problems after all. Well then… this is so very interesting!" he exclaimed. "It just so happens that you are… heeheehee… CORRECT! I can solve your little predicament."
"Huh? You mean it?" Guardia asked. "You're really going to open a portal?"
"Yes, of course," Necrozma said. "It should just be a simple matter…"
The Pokémon turned and his red eyes brightly flashed. Much to the four's astonishment, a crack of light opened and a fresh hole in the air… directly above a patch of land between the tips of the falls. Team Traveller's members traded dumbfounded looks with one another, before Elty uneasily cleared his throat to speak up.
"Er... we can't go through the portal if it's that high," he said.
"Nonsense!" Necrozma insisted. "The little bird can just fly you all up. Well, go on. It's all you, little Lugia!"
Team Traveller visibly hesitated at Necrozma's demand. If he was able to open a portal so easily, then it should have been a trifling matter for him to make a portal they could reach. So why had he gone out of his way to put it up there if he really wanted to help them?
"C-Can't you just create another portal back to our home right next to us?" Nida stammered.
"Why should I go through all that effort when there's a perfectly fine Ultra Wormhole right there?" Necrozma demanded. "I'm not wasting my light on something stupid."
"But didn't you just say it was a simple mat-" Guardia began, only to be cut off by a mocking mimicry from the crystalline bat.
"Nyeh, 'isn't it a simple matter?' Look, just get onto your bird friend already!" Necrozma snapped. "I've got better things to do than hearing you complain!"
The four youngsters backpedaled unnervedly at the sudden souring of the Psychic-Type's mood, with their minds uncomfortably drifting back to how he'd called them 'snacks' earlier… Something stank about all of this, and it felt painfully obvious that this was a trap. In that case, the only thing left to do was to follow in Team Paradox's footsteps, and get out while they could.
"A-Actually maybe we should leav-" Nida began, only to go wide-eyed as she saw a shadowy ball slam into the ground at her feet. The Nidoran hopped back with a yelp, looking up with her mouth agape at the now-fuming Necrozma as his smile promptly vanished.
"What's that? You're spitting on my generous offer?" He bared his fangs at Team Traveller and his arms swung out. "You… you stupid… foolish fools! I am only trying to help here. But no… you're going to ignore me! And walk away! Just like everyone else!"
A low growl rumbled from the Pokémon's throat, as he cracked his maw open wide with a threatening hiss.
"I will make you see that there is no better… more helpful friend… than me. Than Necrozma!" he snarled.
"It sounds more like you weren't planning on letting us go home at all!" Nida exclaimed.
"I guess we'll have to fight our way through then!" Guardia shouted.
At the Cubone's cry, Nida flicked forward a spike at the Necrozma's wings, followed by Elty spitting up a gout of fire at the bat's face. Necrozma screeched and writhed, prompting Pleo and Guardia's faces to light up and for the pair to throw in a glowing ball of light and a Bonemerang, seemingly forcing the Psychic-Type to the ground with an agonized wail.
"Gyyyyyyaaaaaaah! No! Stop it! Stop… hurting me!" Necrozma shrieked.
"I- I think we did it!" Pleo cried. "We're beating-!"
"FOOOOLS! Are you all really that gullible?"
Much to Team Traveller's horror, Necrozma flapped up and took to the air, as if their barrage had never happened. The four felt their blood run cold, looking up to see the bat shooting a cruel sneer down at them.
"I knew it! You all hate me," Necrozma thundered. "So, I… heeheehee… I tricked you. I made you think you were winning. It's something I think I had considerable experience with. And you fell for it. Bwahahaha!"
The blue bat thrust his right chest arm to the side, prompting a small hole to open up in the sky and a shining golden horn to emerge. The horn slid, puffing out a sad-sounding 'wah-wah', before promptly falling back into the hole which collapsed in on itself, along with Team Traveller's understanding of what had just happened.
"… What was that?" Guardia murmured, prompting Elty to stare and shake his head blankly.
"I dunno, but we've got bigger problems right now."
"Precisely! I was willing to extend a hand and help you four. But noooooo! You're repulsed by me. Everyone hates me!" Necrozma seethed. "But you… you all did this to me. YOU MADE ME INTO THIS! Heeheehee… and now you want to ignore it and hope I go away. But… heeheehee… the only ones who will be going away are YOU!"
The Psychic-Type's eyes suddenly flashed blue, and Team Traveller's members felt themselves get lifted off the ground and into the air. The youngsters thrashed desperately, screaming and flailing as Necrozma brought them nearer and nearer to his face.
"L-Let go of me!" Pleo squawked.
"Heeheeheehee, come to me, my pretty little birdy!" Necrozma chortled. "Your liiiiiight... I'll bet it's so soooooft and fluuuuuuffy! Like soft-serve ice cream. Bwahahaha!"
The four continued to struggle in midair as Necrozma brought the lot to a stop in front of him. The Ultra Beast flashed his teeth and a red crescent moon appeared on his forehead, the four screwing their eyes shut and flinching out of apprehension.
"Huh?!"
Team Traveller cracked their eyes open, watching their captor awkwardly bat his wings and arms in the air. The red crescent moon appeared on his forehead again, but nothing happened. As Necrozma continued to repeat this gesture, they grew increasingly stupefied at what it was the creature was attempting to do to them.
"Nrgh… Come on!" he complained. "Ah! I think I felt a few photons that time!"
Nida raised a brow, watching as the crest on Necrozma's head flickered with rainbow light for a few moments at a time. The Nidoran noticed that little rays of light were flowing into it, looking down and seeing that it was streaming from none other than the light from the sun bouncing off their own badges!
"Wait, so you really do eat light?!" she squeaked. "Then w-what is it that you're trying to do-?"
"Gah! Why isn't this working?!" Necrozma fumed. "Why can't I eat your light?! I've done this a million times before! Even to Pokémon like you! What's keeping you safe? It's like you have no light at all, but I know you have it! I want your light! I want it NOW!"
"You can take this light instead!" Pleo shouted. The young Lugia built up a glowing ball within his beak, before disgorging it and sending it into the face of the blue bat. Necrozma cried out and lost his concentration, sending the four falling back to the ground. The Psychic-Type hissed back angrily as Pleo defiantly took his place before him.
"Whatever it is that you're trying to do, I won't let you get away with it!" the Lugia snapped. "I'm a Protector and I won't let you hurt my friends!"
"Grr, you foooooolish bird! You think you're a Protector?!" Necrozma seethed. "WRONG! I'm the Protector of this world! I brought it out of the darkness. It was me! ALL ME! Witness the power of Necrozma and despair!"
The bat flew up with a shrill shriek, spreading his wings as flecks of light gathered on his wingtips, before coalescing in a giant beam of light that shot forward at Pleo. The blue beam swallowed up the young Legendary, sending him flying and crashing limply against the ground much to his teammates' horror.
"Pleo!"
The three stared ahead in horror and watched as a light came from the bag on Nida's shoulder and zipped over to the stricken Lugia, at once rousing him with a gagging cough. Pleo and his companions looked up as the sound of malicious laughter reached their ears, looking up to see Necrozma peering down at them.
"Heeheeheehee! See, little fledgling? That's the power of a real Protector!" he sneered. "The sort of power you'll never have!"
Pleo stared up blankly, trembling at the sight of the much larger, and stronger 'Protector'. He- He could just throw him around like it was nothing! How was he supposed to do anything against that?! How was he supposed to be anyone's Protector if there were monsters out there that could overpower him this easily?! Necrozma seemed to pick up on Pleo's loss of morale, baring his fangs back at the four youngsters.
"Lugia turned his back on me! After he called me a friend. After I helped him! He left me to have my light stolen!" he snapped. "Instead of helping me… he let me get thrown into a lightless void of Ultra Space to rot for centuries!"
Pleo craned his neck up wide-eyed, backpedaling out of frightened confusion as he felt a shiver go down his spine. A malevolent smile cracked over Necrozma's face, as a shrill laugh came from his throat.
"Heeheehee… But none of that matters anymore! Mistress Zero… heeheehee… she's going to get my light back!" he exclaimed.
The Psychic-Type's declaration made Team Traveller's jaws drop out of shock. This- This thing was in league with Zero? Then was he the one who caused the Prism Virus? If so, then in searching for a way back home, they'd blundered into exactly the dangerous situation they'd been trying to protect Pleo from!
"She wants every Legendary in this world killed. So, I'm going to ANNIHILATE YO– ACK!"
Necrozma was cut off mid-sentence by a flying bone striking the back of his head. The bat hissed and glared as he pawed at his head, following the arc of the bone back down to Guardia who caught it in midair and swung it out wide.
"Come on, we gotta fight this yajū!" she cried. "We can't just sit here waiting for him to kill us!"
Necrozma screeched and made his eyes glow again, seizing the Cubone and starting to lift her off the ground, only for Elty to barrel into the black, crystalline armor on his chest with a burning somersault, making the bat jolt upright in pain.
"Eyaaaaaah!"
Guardia dropped back to the ground as the black arms attached to the bat flailed wildly. Necrozma gasped for air, gritting his teeth and forming a swirling, shadowy ball at the end of one of the smaller claws on his wings. He readied a throw, only to feel a stabbing pain catch him in his wrist, sending the Shadow Ball veering off course from the Growlithe. The Psychic-Type seethed, yanking the spike out of his wrist before directing his gaze down at a Nidoran swiftly hopping away from him.
"Grah! Stop it already!" he bellowed. Necrozma turned to try and follow his latest attacker, only to feel a strong whirling wind suck him up and push him backwards. The bat flew wildly, haggardly stabilizing himself as he saw the four youngsters arrayed in front of him, prompting him to screech back at them.
"Skreeeeeep! Cut that out! You're annoying me!"
Necrozma spread his wings and filled the falls with a blinding flash of light, bathing the whole area with rainbow-colored beams and drawing a chorus of screams from Team Traveller. The Psychic-Type looked down, seeing that the four were strewn about the ground, weakly struggling to get up and shamble around, with the so-called 'Protector' among them lying spread-eagle on the ground.
"U-Ungh…"
"Foooooooools!" he hissed. "Did you really think you could fight back against me? I am Necrozma, Devourer of Light! I am the one true Protector of this world!"
"I... I-I will not... let you hurt my friends…"
Nida noticed Pleo struggle back up to his feet, the young seabird fighting with fatigue and against his weakened body to hold himself up. She watched as he paced forward awkwardly, with all the determination his battered frame could summon.
"Pleo…"
" Is that… heeheehee... supposed to scare me?!" Necrozma jeered. "All this time, you've been running your mouth off about being a Protector. But you are NOTHING! You are worthless! Like every other Legendary in this world… and beyond! You are all fools! And I will destroy you all!"
Pleo stumbled and wheezed, when he heard the mournful voice of a Stufful cry out, wondering where Solgaleo was when his mother needed him most. The Lugia looked around and noticed he and his friends were still alone when the voice was joined by a Minior wondering why Tapu Lele hadn't come back to put an end to the ice that had overtaken Aurora Veil. Pleo's body stiffened as he heard Umbreon's voice wondering if Latias would really be able to help them after what had happened with Dark Matter, making him realize that these were Horizon's Pokémon. Their voices feeling abandoned and alone and wondering where their Protectors were and whether they would do anything for them.
He looked back at his teammates, as they looked up tiredly at him. This was their only chance at getting home again… He… he didn't know if there was anything that he could do, but he wasn't going to turn away here…
He wouldn't leave them to feel abandoned like this…
"I… I am a Protector... and these are the Pokémon that I have to defend."
At once, Pleo's plumes erupted in silvery light, his gait becoming animated and full of vigor. From his place overhead, Necrozma's jaws slackened out of excitement, bringing his arms together out of giddy anticipation of feasting on the newfound light of the little feather duster before him.
"Ooooh! So you do have light inside you after all?!" he exclaimed. "Yes! A little appetizer before killing you and your frie-!"
"NO!"
Pleo brought his wings together, the winds whirling between them as a column of wind shot up and swallowed up Necrozma. The bat fought desperately against the raging gale, only to lose his balance and be swept up with a frightened shriek, sailing further and further away over the horizon much like a great blue kite.
As the bat-like creature vanished, so did the light enveloping the young Lugia, making him slump to the ground exhausted. He lay there for a moment, panting as he heard tired footsteps approach, which prompted him to look up, and see Guardia and his teammates drawing near still shaking from their ordeal.
"Is… is it over?" the Cubone asked. The bone lizard's question prompted Elty to look up and see the hole of light still overlooking the edge of the waterfall and turn back with a shake of his head.
"Not just yet," he murmured. "Come on, let's go home."
"Pleo… I… I know it's a lot to ask, but…" Nida said. "Can you still fly right now?"
"Yeah…" he weakly nodded back.
The Lugia uneasily picked himself up and lowered his body to let his teammates clamber onto his back. One by one they took their positions, Guardia clinging tight and closing her eyes firmly in anticipation of the young Protector's takeoff. Pleo looked up at the ledge and shifted uneasily, turning his head back to face the Nidoran passenger on his shoulders.
"Are we sure that portal will lead us home...?" he asked, only to be answered by a tired paw at his shoulders.
"Only one way to find out," Nida answered. The Lugia looked back at the ledge, and after reasoning that they'd already come this far, ran forward, beating his wings. Pleo felt his body leave the ground, and fought to climb higher and higher, reaching the top of the waterfall where he flopped down gasping for air. One by one, his passengers slid off of him, and began to walk for the portal ahead.
"Oi, Lycanroc! Get a load of this!"
As soon as the four set off, they heard a familiar scratchy suddenly pipe up. The lot grimaced, looking around their surroundings to try and spot its owner...
"H-Huh?!"
Right as the forms of a Sneasel, Lycanroc, and Jangmo-o walked up, headed directly for them.
"There's a glowing hole up ahead," Sneasel continued. "And you can see-"
"That our old friends came right for it," Lycanroc sneered. "I knew following them here would be worth it!"
This- This was that blasted team of thieves from earlier! After all they'd gone through with Necrozma, did they really have to deal with them again?
"You again?!" Elty growled. "What are you doing here?!"
"We came to get revenge, but then we heard this big, scary, shouty voice and we went to hide," Jangmo-o retorted. "But now he's gone… which just leaves you dweebs!"
The Dragon-Type's description drew a roll of Lycanroc's ruddy eyes, prompting him to shake his head and glare back at his weakened foes.
"Like Jangmo-o said, we've been looking for the right time to make our move," he growled. "And that time's now."
"But Lycanroc,what about that hole here?" Sneasel insisted. "There's something on the other end!"
"I couldn't care less right now!" the wolf spat. "It changes nothing!"
"Yeah!" Jangmo-o added. "I thought we were gonna get our revenge here!"
Nida grit her teeth and braced herself. They'd managed to best Team Fang the last time they fought… but they were in horrible condition right now! There was no way they could win a fight like this! The Nidoran backed up along with her Cubone and Lugia teammates, though curiously, Elty did little other than to shake his head and fold his ears back submissively.
"Urgh… I know when we're beat," the Growlithe muttered. "We surrender, just whatever you're going to do… don't throw us into that portal…"
"Huh?!" Pleo squawked, his consternation being quickly echoed by his Cubone teammate.
"Gardie, what are you doing here?!" she snapped. "Why do we want them getting involved at all with that?!"
Nida opened her tongue a moment to protest only to catch herself. Elty was doing his best to try and make going through that wormhole sound like the worst thing in the world right now. With Team Fang out for revenge… who was to say they couldn't have their yearnings steered in a bit more of a constructive direction?
"Y-Yeah! Who knows where it could go to?!" the Nidoran added. "Why, it could get a 'mon stuck inside of a strange world or something!"
"Hey! That would actually be a great idea!" Jangmo-o exclaimed.
"Yeah!" Sneasel piped. "We'd never have to see their mugs again!"
Lycanroc moved a claw to his muzzle, glaring down skeptically at the party of runts. Something about this light hole felt far too convenient… but if it really did go off to another world, then there certainly wasn't anything that the little whelps could do to tell anyone about what happened afterwards, and no way that anyone could find them… Why, it was as perfect a crime as one could get!
"Hrmph, you've sold me on it," he grunted. "Toss them into that portal, mates."
The three quickly ringed Team Traveller's members, starting to herd them towards the portal as Elty quietly winked back at his teammates. At once, the four broke out into loud and… unusually dramatic protest and pleading, as one by one, Team Fang threw Nida, Guardia, and Pleo through the light hole until all that remained was Elty being held up by the scruff of his neck by Lycanroc.
"Any last words, fleabag?" he growled.
"Nah, I'll save it for when I'm actually falling," the Growlithe said back.
"Hrmph, whatever," the Rock-Type harrumphed. "Enjoy being stranded out there."
Lycanroc wound up his arm and tossed the Growlithe forward, sending him cartwheeling head over heels, just in time to watch the Fire-Type look back with a smug smirk.
"Thanks for playing right into my paws, idiot!"
As soon as the Growlithe fell into the hole of light, the three members of Team Fang went wide-eyed. He- He taunted them as he was falling in! This was all a giant trick!
"Wait a minute, they wanted us to throw them in?!" Sneasel cried.
"Lycanroc, wasn't this supposed to be a bad thing for them?" Jangmo-o asked.
"Grr! We've been had!" Lycanroc snarled as he motioned for the two to follow. "Come on, we'll follow them through, and-!"
The Rock-Type felt a woosh of air and looked back just in time to see the portal abruptly collapse and fade out into a blip. For a long moment, Team Fang stared and blinked at the vacant air where the portal had been just seconds ago, before Sneasel brushed his ear feather uneasily at the whole incident.
"… Well, even if they wanted to go through, glad they went first," Sneasel murmured.
"Yeah, I doubt we'll be seeing them again anytime soon," Jangmo-o said.
"Hrmph, good enough, I guess," Lycanroc spat. "Though I wonder… where exactly did they end up?"
"Oof!"
After being thrown through the Ultra Wormhole, the next thing that Nida, Pleo, Guardia, and Elty sensed was the feeling of hard cobbles underneath their bodies. The four picked themselves up and dusted themselves off, grumbling about their rough sendoff by Team Fang.
"Ow! Would it have killed those jerks to just let us walk through the portal?" Nida hissed.
"Well… at least we're home… right?" Pleo asked. He craned his head up, where much to his surprise, he noticed that they had landed in a cluttered alleyway with buildings that had five or six floors, nothing at all like those in Bluewhorl… or anywhere else they'd been for that matter.
"Eh? Aren't these buildings a little tall for a normal hut-dweller colony, though?" Guardia mulled. "You never said Bluewhorl was big…"
"Then… Where are we now?" Pleo wondered.
"That way!"
The four blanched as they heard the sounds of shouts and rushing footfalls, prompting them to make their way down the alley and turn left. There, they watched just in time to see a Decidueye Araquanid, and Herdier in Indigo scarves rush by on an intersecting street, leaving the group to freeze… only to exhale after the group of guards slipped past them oblivious to their presence.
"Looks like we're Imperial territory," Elty sighed. "Though for now at least, they're not looking for us...
"They seemed like they were in a hurry, though," Nida murmured. "Is something going on-?"
"Ack! Look out!" Pleo cried.
The young Lugia abruptly shoved his teammates aside as the noise of crackling electricity and shouts rang out. Team Traveller flinched, expecting some sort of attack to come their way. They cracked their eyes open, only to see a running blur from the corner of their vision.
"Wait. A baby Lugia?" a yipping voice cried out. "Never mind. Just keep running, Silvally!"
The group turned and watched as a hulking, black-furred and white-feathered creature with talons charged past them. The team stared at the strange being, seeing it had a birdlike head and front legs with a fin-like tail… and a Riolu and white Vulpix riding its back, leaving Guardia to gape slack-jawed and rub her eyes from disbelief.
"What the-?"
"Sorry, we're in a bit of a hurry, here!" the snowy Vulpix yelped.
The four looked dumbfounded as the peculiar party leapt headlong into the Ultra Wormhole, prompting it to abruptly collapse and leave behind the dingy, shaded contours of the alleyway. For a long, quiet moment, Team Traveller's members simply stared ahead, with stunned incredulity at the abruptly disappeared strangers.
"What… just happened?" Nida stuttered.
"They went that way!" a crackling voice buzzed. "After them!"
Nida and her companions froze and hastily ducked behind a small pile of disused crates as a Magnezone followed by a Malamar and Heracross in indigo scarves slipped into the alleyway. The Electric-Type bobbed and scanned his surroundings, spotting a set of tracks that carried on ahead of him… before abruptly vanishing. The Magnezone fumed, before throwing a bolt of electricity at a nearby wall in frustration, whirling back to his underlings with an annoyed hiss.
"Fan out down that alleyway!" he barked. "Those three couldn't have gotten far and I want them paralyzed and in a cell!"
"Yes, Admiral Coil!" the Malamar answered back.
The three Pokémon made their way down, leaving Team Traveller to wait until the coast was clear, and uneasily slip out, glancing about their surroundings with sighs of relief.
"Back to the norm, I see," Elty muttered. "Come on, let's get going."
Team Traveller turned and darted down the alley, hurrying along as the sound of shouts from searching guards behind them rang out. All the while, a peculiar thought kept pestering Pleo about the three strangers in the alleyway.
"Who were those Pokémon? And where did they go?"
