Lunar Light.

New Friends and New Moves.

Elio.

"Alright kids, enough's enough. That one's coming with me." He pointed his machete at Selene "You guys can kill the other or whatever."

Selene fished out Nihilego's Pokeball and returned it. Elio stepped forward. "This trap... the research really is gone isn't it?"

"Yes!" Guzma snapped a little too quickly.

"What do you mean boss? We raided this place back when Po town was our base, we took the research there. You said it was impossible to decipher since we didn't have the password." One of the grunts piped up.

"That's it! When this is over you're dead! But back to the point, it doesn't matter. Even if we had gotten to the data you're still going to be captured and tortured to bring me some Ultra Beasts!"

There's that word again. "What's an ultra beast?" Elio asked.

"I don't have to tell you that kid! Now seize them or whatever!" Guzma barked.

"You aren't doing anything to me or my friend!" He told them in a determined voice. "Selene give me one of those Z crystals."

"Yo man, you forget you don't have any Pokémon." Kevlar pointed out, Elio tossed the red and white pokeball into the air, Popplio popped out. She looked tired and was covered in bruises but fortunately Popplio was still conscious. Selene slipped a stone into his hand and he threw it to his Pokémon.

"Popplio catch!" Popplio turned and grabbed the stone in its hands. Every Team Skull member in the room's eyes were wide.

"You need this too." Selene placed the bracelet in his palm. He put it on, the Z-stone glittering with power.

"Ready Popplio! Hydro vortex!" Both of the stones began to glow and Elio began a dance. He had no idea what her was doing, the trainer wa simply letting the move flow through him. He moved his arms like they were waves of water and struck a pose.

Suddenly a yellow aura enveloped Popplio, the water type sped forward, slamming into Marrow and Kevlar. Then it fired a giant whirlpool at Guzma, the water pushed him against the wall.

Popplio stuck a landing on the ground and bowed. She then fell forward and fainted. Elio returned her smirking.

"Yo dawgs... get them." Marrow ordered weakly. The remaining 14 grunts surged forward and the two trainers ran for the elevator.

Fortunately the elevator came quickly and none of the grunts were able to stop them from escaping.

Once they were outside they ran down the road until they saw a path branching off to the Paniola Ranch.

"Come on over here!" Elio said, the two ran down the path and took a sharp left into the Royal Avenue.

Elio had dreamed of going to Royal Avenue and becoming the Royal Champion. Those dreams were squashed when Team Skull attacked, but now he felt like he was five years old again.

Luckily for them the area was devoid of Team Skull grunts for some reason, so they were able to slip into the Pokémon Center with ease.

There was no Nurse Joy but it didn't matter since Selene had plenty of healing supplies to spare.

Elio went to work on restoring his and her Pokémon, Selene was barely responding. Staring up at the ceiling.

"Selene. Hey are you alright?" Elio asked once he was finished with the healing.

"I lost." She replied distantly.

"Hey don't worry about it. I've lost plenty of times already. Plus we got out of it."

"I'm supposed to be strong. I don't remember things exactly Elio, but I was a strong trainer back home. I know I was supposed to be undefeated."

"Well they double teamed you with their most powerful Pokémon." Elio pointed out.

"That doesn't matter. I failed you, and I failed Nihilego. I should've said to attack the Lurantis again instead of the Toxapex!" Selene scolded herself.

"Selene, everyone makes mistakes. Even great trainers. You can't plan for everything, and that's OK."

"It's not OK if my friend's lives are at stake. If you or Nihilego or Popplio got hurt because of me I don't know what I'd do with myself." Selene sounded close to tears.

"Selene, you don't have to worry about that. It will never happen, we're all strong and as a team nothing can stop us." Elio assured her, Selene smiled faintly. Then her bag began to tremble.

"That's odd..." Selene opened it and a red blur flew out.

Selene.

Selene felt like she should remember the strange floating thing, but like everything, she didn't.

"Zzzt-zzzt! Man how long was I out? Next time you need to warn me before you go jumping off into areas that disrupt my service girly!" An electric voice buzzed from the floating red square. There was a spike jutting out from the top. The talking box had two blue eyes and a display screen with a mouth under the eyes.

There were two small feet at the bottom and large arm-like things attached to either side. It grinned and flew around the Pokemon Center.

"What are you?" Selene asked, the electronic laughed.

"Very funny! Zzzt-zzzt! Who's the guy? Is he your date? Why didn't you tell me you had a date! Why didn't you wake me up either?" The voice continued to ask random questions and float around the room energetically.

"This is Elio." Selene motioned to her friend, who was clearly still trying to process what was going on. "He's my friend. And I forgot you existed."

"Zzzt-Zzzzt! How could you forget ME!" The floating object looked offended.

"I forgot everything. So really, who are you?" Selene asked again. It frowned.

"You're serious? It's me, Rotom!" Rotom said.

"OH MY ARCEUS!" Elio jumped up and down so quickly Selene thought he had learned extreme speed. "You're a Rotom Pokedex! Man I thought Kukui took them all with him when he left!"

"Kukui left? Seriously how long was I out? Zzzt-Zzzt!"

"Well Rotom it's a long story." Selene started. She explained what she knew about how she'd had her memory wiped and appeared at Elio's feet. Then the two recapped what had happened leading up to the point they were at.

"Wow. That's really heavy dudes. But no matter, I'm here now!"

"So do you remember my home?" Selene asked.

"Nope. I think there's a glitch in my system or something. All I remember is that we definitely lived in Alola, and Team Skull wasn't that big of a problem. Zzzt-Zzzt!" Rotom Dex said.

"That's weird. Almost like an alternate universe." Elio murmured.

"Well it doesn't matter. Our only lead was lost." Selene remembered.

"Not exactly!" Elio shouted. "That Team Skull grunt said the data is in Po town, which is on Ula 'ula island. Originally Po town was their only base but Guzma moved most operations to the Aether Foundation due to the superior technology. But with Rotom we could hack those files if they're still there!"

"Then we still have a chance!"

"You can count me in! This sounds totally tubular!"

"Alright, well you need to get some rest Selene. I'll take watch." Elio told her, Selene didn't protest. The offer of sleep was one she wouldn't miss. Selene set her head down on her bag and fell asleep.