1. Ash's Story (Part 9: Alola)

Chapter 69: The Blinding One

The Ultra Wormhole opened around Lunala like a storm made from color, pressure, and memories I did not want to revisit too quickly. The Ultra Space GPS hovered before us, its light trembling whenever another wormhole tried to pull us off course. Lillie held the front of Lunala's mane with one hand and Snowy close with the other, while Pikachu pressed low against my shoulder.

The ride was not the same as before. Last time, the Ultra Dimensions had felt endless because we did not know whether we could ever return home. This time, we knew the destination, but that only made every wrong pull feel more dangerous. Alola's light had been stolen, Nebby had been taken, and Lunala's wings still carried exhaustion from the last battle.

Snowy trembled against Lillie, her small body carrying the clear meaning, "I am frightened, but I will stay."

Lillie lowered her face toward Snowy. "I am frightened too. That is why we stay together."

Pikachu's tail brushed my cheek, his uneasy posture telling me he hated the way the wormhole bent sound and direction. I placed one hand over him without taking my eyes off the GPS.

"We are almost there," I said. "Follow the strongest signal."

Lunala adjusted its flight, dodging a pull from a red-tinted wormhole and diving through a narrow lane of silver light. The GPS flashed once, then the storm around us broke open into the dark towers of Ultra Megalopolis.

The city looked even darker than I remembered. Buildings rose like black glass spears under a sky that had forgotten day, and the little artificial lights along the streets were dimmer than before. People watched from behind sealed windows, then retreated when they saw the tower ahead.

Captain Phyco and Soliera waited near the landing platform, both of them tense.

"Captain Phyco, Soliera," I said, climbing down from Lunala. "It is good to see you again."

Phyco nodded. "Ash. Lillie. Necrozma returned from Alola. You will find it ahead, resting atop Megalo Tower."

Soliera's face tightened. "Our people have fled indoors. They fear it will fly into another rage, as it did when Lusamine appeared."

Lillie looked toward the tower. "What is happening to it now?"

"We received your distress call," Phyco said. "Now that Necrozma has found a source of light, it may regain its true power. But in the broken form left after it lost part of itself, that power will bring only more pain."

Soliera lowered her head. "Please help us stop Necrozma. It is ahead, atop Megalo Tower."

We walked through Ultra Megalopolis with Phyco and Soliera leading the way. Nobody came outside to greet us. Their doors stayed closed, but I felt eyes behind the glass, watching the children from Alola walk toward the tower their own people feared.

At the tower's base, Phyco stopped beneath a huge structure that looked like it had once been built to honor light and then rebuilt to survive without it.

"Our Ultra Megalopolis was once filled with light," Phyco said. "Necrozma was called the Blinding One. It gave us energy, warmth, and life."

Soliera's voice became quiet. "It even traveled to distant Alola through Ultra Wormholes. But our ancestors grew greedy. They caused Necrozma to lose part of its body, and that pain made it run wild."

Lillie looked upward, her expression full of sorrow and resolve. "Then Necrozma is not only a monster."

"No," I said. "But suffering does not give it the right to steal Nebby or Alola's light."

"That is why we must stop it," Phyco replied. "And if possible, save it from the power it cannot control."

The city's darkness did not feel empty. It felt crowded with waiting. Every sealed door carried the weight of people who had lived under a broken sky for generations, surviving with technology because the light that should have belonged to them was trapped in a wound. I had known that story before, but walking through it after watching Necrozma steal Alola's light made it harder to keep at a distance.