Lunar Ascension

Controlling the Situation

Lunala passed through the portal and immediately the group was warped into a jungle.

Elio was unable to take in much of the scenery as Lunala started falling out of the air. Elio grabbed hold of its neck and braced for impact.

As they crashed, Elio was thrown from Lunala and landed on his butt next to it. His head was spinning as he looked around.

Phyco and Rotom Dex were lying on the ground next to him and Lunala had crash-landed on a bush.

The Moone Pokémon's eyelids were droopy and it let out a weak cry. It tried moving its wing but winced and immediately stopped. A few vines had wrapped around it and Elio could tell it was in immense pain.

They were in a humid jungle with trees that went well into the sky. The ground was soft and squishy, seemingly made up mostly of moss. "Phyco, Rotom, are you guys ok?" Elio asked.

Phyco nodded but crackling started to come from one of his devices. "Damn! My suit was damaged! My scanners are completely broken."

Rotom started pacing back and forth in the air. "Oh man, this is bad! Zzt Zzt! Like this is super not tubular and way past not rad!"

Phyco glared at Rotom. "Shut up and stop talking like that so I can focus, you drone!"

"What are you talking about dude man?" Rotom demanded. Elio rolled his eyes and focused on the real problem.

Elio crouched down to Lunala's side and started pulling away the vines. "Lunala's badly hurt, guys."

Phyco sighed. "I don't have any healing items on me. I could generate a healing pulse but my devices are all broken."

Elio pulled some of the vines away from Lunala. "I have some items in my bag..." He turned around to grab his bag but it was missing. "Of course, it's gone."

"Just our luck! Poor Zossie must be terrified wherever she is. How did that beast notice us in the first place?" Phyco wondered.

"You didn't notice?" Rotom Dex asked. Elio felt dread wash over him. The entire situation spiraling out of control had been his fault because of the impulse.

Elio looked down at Lunala's pained expression and guilt surged through his body. This was his fault.

Phyco shook his head. "I can't quite remember what happened. I think I must've landed the wrong way:"

Elio sighed. "It was because of me." He said. "I was so angry that my home was under attack and being destroyed by those monsters that I yelled at it before we were close enough and it was able to attack Lunala."

Elio looked at the ground and sat down. Everything had gone to Distortion and it was all his doing. "Elio... I'm not quite familiar with you as a person. May I ask why?" Phyco asked him.

Elio looked up at the man. The Ultra Recon Squad's leader had taken off his sun visor and Elio could now see his eyes. They were light blue like ice and contrasted with his blue skin.

Elio looked into the sky and tried to put it all into words. "My home was taken over by an evil group of people known as Team Skull. They did so much damage and killed so many people over a couple of years that everything felt hopeless. I even... even lost one of my best friends." Elio divulged.

"Then Selene showed up and we managed to fight back against them. We even won!" Elio's grimace turned to I smile. "And I worked so hard to rebuild as much of my home as I could over the last three years. Every building, every tree, every street. It's all personal to me."

Phyco sat down next to Elio. "I understand. My people were quite impulsive back in the days of old, and even now we are. That's why we looked to another realm to solve our problems."