"Alright!" Ash exclaimed as he bobbed his head up in excitement, his Dragonite flying steadily next to him. The young Trainer and his trusty partner were very much enjoying themselves at the moment, riding on top of the Brutal Pokémon, Sharpedo.

Earlier that same morning, Lusamine (who was still taking up residence near the Cerise Laboratory in order to investigate the odd appearance of Tapu-Koko in Pasio) had received a phone call and instructed our heroes to head for the beach for a quote "special mission".

"This is awesome!" Of course, none of that was what occupied Ash's mind at the moment, as he and Pikachu enjoyed the ride on top of the waves, riding around fast like a jet.

"Ash! Don't stay under the water too long!" Goh exclaimed from the shore, unsure that Ash had even heard him.

"You don't have to act like you're his dad, y'know?" Chloe said, having shifted her camera's perspective from Ash to Goh. "He's not your responsibility so you don't have to be so stressed out about him..."

"I know..." Goh replied. "But with his mom in Kanto, Professor Kukui still doing that business in Alola and Lusamine seeming to not care less about this stuff, who's going to make sure he doesn't get into trouble?"

"Serena?" Chloe stated as she shifted her camera over to their honey-blonde companion. Goh and Chloe had to do a double take to be sure that they weren't hallucinating.

Serena was dragging Lillie by her wrist over to the sea, leaving Lusamine to watch for Lillie's newborn Vulpix. When the two were finally knees deep in the water, the honey-blonde surprised Lillie by splashing her in the face with a ton of water.

"Doesn't it feel great?!" She asked, barely able to contain her giddy as she hurled another small wave of water at the shy Trainer to-be.

At first, Lillie didn't appreciate the cold salt water being hurled in her face without warning, but soon enough, she opened up to the idea and started giggling.

"Funny, huh?" A mischievous grin appeared on her face as she scooped up some water of her own. "Here's a taste of your own medicine!"

The two girls started splashing water at each other and having the time of their lives, and not wanting to miss out on the fun, Serena's Pancham, Ash's Rockruff and Nebby ran over to them to play too.

"I did not see that one coming..." Goh chuckled, referring to Serena being the one who initiated a social activity.

"I did..." Chloe replied as she stopped recording and turned to look at Goh. "You see, she was the one who inspired me to try out all this new stuff. Showcases, Battles, the works... I didn't find what I want to do just yet, but I'll find it eventually!"

"That's the spirit, Chloe!" Goh excitedly raised his fist, before the two of them fist bumped, enjoying the warmth of each-other's hand for a bit too long before pulling away.

They awkwardly sat there for a few seconds before Goh broke the silence.

"Well, I haven't done anything of note for the past two hours..." he stood up. "I'm going to catch some Pokémon."

"Have fun!" Chloe said as she resumed her recording.

...

Being joined by Raboot, Sobble and Grookey, Goh walked around the beach looking for Pokémon he may not have caught yet. As he stared at the shore, a rotund Pokémon suddenly caught his eye, partially due to its peculiar appearance.

"Woah! Who's that Pokémon?" Goh asked himself as he pulled out his Rotom-Phone. However, before he could even click on the Pokédex Application, a robotic voice from nearby beat him to it.

Pyukumuku, the Sea Cucumber Pokémon

A Water type

It can expel its internal organs and use them to grab food or attack enemies.

"Okay then..." Goh said as he removed a Poké-Ball from his swimming trunks before the realization hit him. "Wait! Who said that?"

"I did. Zzzt!" Goh turned to look at the source of the voice, coming face-to-face with a... Pokédex? No, it was a Rotom, but it was possessing a Pokédex.

"Woah!" Goh exclaimed in wonder as he tried to get a good look at this "rare specimen". "Are you really a Rotom?"

"Why of course, what do I look like? A Drifloon?"

"No, it's just... I've never seen a Rotom posses a Pokédex before." Goh replied before using his Rotom-Phone to scan the anomaly.

Rotom, Pokédex Form. The Plasma Pokémon

An Electric type

And upgrade of the Pokédex. However, that is its only function.

"WHAT?!" The Rotom-Dex exclaimed in anger and shock. It then got really close and personal with Goh's phone. "That is so rude! I am a lot more than a simple Pokédex. I can record and I have a voice change function! Not to mention that I am also quite a detective! And you're one to talk with the whole 'being a Pokédex is my only function' thing, as I've never heard YOU utter a single word that is not Pokédex data, you Muk-ing hypocrite!"

Goh's phone did not appreciate the Night Shade being thrown at it, and so it began floating by its own accord. The two Rotom began bickering something that Goh couldn't understand. However he could understand it when the two began hurling Thunder Shocks at each other.

That was his cue to leave.

However, one of the electrical beams veered off course and hit the ground right next to him, and resulted in him and his Pokémon being hurled off into the ocean.

...

While under the water, Goh tried to look for his Pokémon between periodic visits to the surface in order to catch his breath. He quickly found Grookey and Sobble (surprisingly enough), however the one he was most worried about was the one he was having the most trouble finding; Raboot.

It took longer than he hoped to find his Fire type Pokémon underneath the ocean, but he eventually found it; engaging in a battle with a very ugly yet colorful fish Pokémon.

Goh swam over to the Rabbit Pokémon with every intent to bring it safely to the surface. However, his plans were squashed when he noticed a lure tied to a fishing line connect with Raboot's bun of a tail. Whoever was on the other side of that fishing line began pulling with all their might, as Raboot held on for dear life on the rock it was using for support. Goh reached his first Pokémon and began to pull on it to keep it from being fished by whomever was on the other side of that line.

He put up a good fight, but his efforts were wasted, as the person pulling the fish must've been strong like a Machamp to pull both of them with very little effort. It wasn't long before Goh, Raboot and his other friends who were holding onto Goh's shoulders for dear life were scooped out of the water by the undeniably powerful fisherman.

"It's a whopper! What a catch!" Said a voice that Goh was not expecting to hear as he finally caught his breath upon surfacing. "Alola, er... Mr. Mer-man..."

Goh finally got a good look at the person who fished him and Raboot out of the water. She looked to be around a year or so younger than him, either that or she was shorter than average. She had blue hair and eyes and a Z-Ring on her left wrist. She was perched on top of a Lapras which acted as her mode of transportation.

"Uh... Alola?" Goh replied, understandably confused. "Excuse me... thanks for helping me, but it would be great if you let me down now..."

"Sorry." She replied before reeling Goh in and letting him go right on top of Lapras' shell.

"That's a relief..."

"My name's Lana!" The girl introduced herself. "Who are you?"

"My name's Goh..."

"Oh!" Lana exclaimed. "I know who you are! Professor Kukui told me about you and the other Research Fellows. Nice to meet you!"

"Goh!!!" The two heard a voice calling out to them from the sky. Turning their heads up they saw Ash flying towards them on top of his Dragonite.

"Ash!" Goh exclaimed and waved his hand to signal where he was to his friend.

Ash noticed him and told Dragonite to descend to meet up with Goh and Lana.

"There you are!" He said after a chuckle. "Chloe's been worried sick about you..."

"Normally I'd say she's being silly's, but this time her worries weren't unfounded..." He admitted. "We got into some trouble underwater and Lana fished us out..."

"So you're Ash, huh?" Lana said.

"Yup. How'd you know me?"

"From Professor Kukui." Lana replied. "He talked about you most of all."

"Wow, he did?" Ash asked, flattered. "Wait! So that means you're one of his students, right?"

"Exactly!"

"Oh, wow! Nice to meet you, Lana! We should head back to the lab and give you guys a proper welcome party."

"I won't say no to a party in my honor..." Lana chuckled, soon to be joined by Ash and Goh.

As soon as they reached the shore, Ash hopped off of Dragonite and recalled her to her Poké-Ball. The three started walking along the beach back to the place where they all started. Suddenly, they heard a familiar voice.

"Ash! Look out!" It was Serena. She and a few other kids were riding on Rhyhorn towards them.

Goh and Lana reacted quickly and managed to get out of the way, but Ash wasn't so lucky, as he was trampled by the Rhyhorn.

"STOP! Stop it, Rhyhorn, c'mon!" Serena exclaimed in worry as the Spikes Pokémon came to a stop. Horrified by what just happened, Serena leaped off her ride and rushed over to see how Ash was doing. "Are you okay?! Ash, I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, worried out of her mind.

As soon as she got there, Ash got up to a sitting position, small bruises and sand all over his body and chuckled. "Yeah, I'm, fine. Compared to some of the stuff I've been through during my time in Kanto, this is nothing..."

Serena sighed in relief. "I'm still really sorry about that..."

"Don't be. I'm fine, really!"

"Is everything okay?" Lillie exclaimed. She, Lusamine and Chloe had just arrived at the scene upon hearing the ruckus.

"Yup." Ash replied. "Just got trampled a bit, nothing to worry about..."

That was when one of the Rhyhorn decided to check up on Ash personally. Which was unfortunate considering that Lillie was right next to him. She let out a yelp of terror and ran behind Ash for protection, only for her foot to graze Pikachu a bit, causing her to jump, trip on a rock and land on her back side.

The boy who was mounting on Rhyhorn got off and went to check on Lillie before anyone else could.

"Are you okay, Lille?" He asked, causing her to look up and see who the boy was. Like a lot of natives to the Alola Region, his skin was tanned and he had dark green hair and matching eyes.

Lillie took the boy's hand and stood up with his help.

"I'm a bit better now, Hau." She replied. "Boy, am I glad to see you!"

"I'm glad to see you too!" Hau replied, with an enthusiastic tone, which reminded Goh of a less aggressive version of Barry. "I heard from your mom that you've been raising a Vulpix all on your own!"

"Well, n-not all on m-my own..."

"I'm so proud of you, Lillie! Can I see it?"

"What Hau's trying to say is that he missed you, Lillie." Lana replied, her face turning cheeky and mischievous. "in fact, he cried a bit when you left on that boat."

Hau's face turned redder than a volcano. And just like one too, he was about to erupt.

"LANAAAAAAAAAA!" He yelled out in frustration, earning a giggle from Lillie.

"So, what were you even doing with those Rhyhorn, Serena?" Ash asked.

"Oh! I met up with some of Professor Kukui's students and they asked me to teach them a thing or two." She replied.

"We're sorry about that too..." A girl with long, bright-green hair said as she dismounted off her Rhyhorn. "I should've told Serena to stop. I can be in such a hurry some times that I miss things..."

"Like I said before, no problem." Ash said as Pikachu climbed up onto his shoulder and nuzzled up to his cheek.

The gang were joined by a short and somewhat rotund boy who seemed to be interested in Ash's Pikachu.

"Okay, so I know Lana and Lillie. And this one's Hau. Do the rest of you have names?" Goh asked.

"We sure do." The green-haired girl said with a chuckle. "I'm Mallow. And this is my partner, Tsareena." She said, showing off her Pokémon.

"I'm Sophocles, and Togedemaru's my Pokémon."

"You may've already met me, but my partner is Primarina!"

"And mine is right here! Come on out, Dartrix!"

"Woah! They all look so cool!" Ash exclaimed as Chloe began snapping pics of the Alolan Pokémon that she'd never seen before outside of school-books.

"Wait..." Mallow said, looking around for something. "Where's Kiawe?"

"He's probably already back at the lab..." Lusamine finally chimed in.

"Yeah, that's probably what happened." Sophocles chimed in. "You know him. Always so serious about stuff."

"Well, in that case, let's go to the lab already!" Ash exclaimed as he ran away from the beach area, followed shortly by all the other kids and their Pokémon, leaving Lusamine alone for a moment.

Lusamine smiled upon seeing Lillie actually having fun. But her smile didn't last. For the longest time it felt like she hadn't been giving Lillie the love and attention she deserved. She had been spending a lot of time at work, which gave her more opportunity to bond with her older child, Gladion, who was always around the Aether Foundation (for one reason or another). She felt as though she was slipping away from Lillie. And it wouldn't have been so horrible... if she had another parent in her life.

The thought of her husband was enough to put a tear in her eye, which she quickly wiped away. She had to be strong for her children. At least until Faba could get that machine working.

"Oh, Mohn..." she whispered. "Give me strength..."

After a deep breath, Lusamine finally followed the kids' idea and went to the lab.

...

"Alola everyone!" Ash exclaimed as he and the rest entered the laboratory. Those who were at the beach took the time to change back into their usual attire.

"Alola, Ash!" Professor Kukui greeted. "I see that you finally remebered the Region's traditional greeting!"

"Sure did!" He replied after running towards the Professor and excitedly describing how good it is to see him again.

Ash then surprised Professor Kukui with a hug, which he quickly returned the favor.

Lillie saw the fatherly attatchment that Ash and the Professor had and felt conflicted. On the one hand, it was great that these two were getting along so well, but on the other... well... she didn't have a father.

Or rather, she couldn't remember him. It was all a vague mixture of soothing sounds and a warm presence, but never a face, a name or a voice. Almost like everything related to her father was wiped from her memory.

'No... that would be silly...' she thought to herself. 'I have a father! If I just focus enough, I'll remember him for sure!'

And so she did. She strained herself to remember her father. And an image did begin to form; one of her being no older than one. Crying. Being held by her parents as her brother tried to get her to stop. Playing with some gears...

She screamed, as the vision of being with her father was replaced by the ghastly visage of a monsterous Pokémon coming to get her. She was terrified and almost fell over.

"Is everything okay, Lillie?" Hau asked.

"Huh?" Lillie looked around, noticing that all eyes were on her. "I- Yes. Yes, I'm fine. I-I guess Snowy must have brushed against my leg..."

"Snowy?" Ash asked.

"That's the nickname she gave to her Vulpix..." Serena explained.

"Aww... it's cute." Ash replied.

"Thank you..." Lillie replied, glad that she was able to come up with an excuse for why she acted so oddly all of the sudden.

That got her thinking. Why didn't she think about her father more often? She couldn't remember the last time she thought about him. Yet a strange sense of Deja Vú washed all over her when the image of the Pokémon appeared in her head.

Was that why she never tried to think about him?

Was this all somehow connected with her fear of Pokémon?

"Hey, Lillie?" Hau snapped her out of her trance, as he had so many times before. "Ash and Kiawe met, and of course the two are gonna battle. You wanna come and watch? I'll take care of Snowy for you..."

"Umm... yes... yes of course, Hau. Thank you..." she replied with a smile, trying to hide her worries.

...

Lillie hadn't known Kiawe for very long. And she'd known Ash for even less. However it only took her one glance at the two of them to know that they'd be great friends, judging from their fiery spirit.

She also thought Ash would be great friends with Gladion.

"Alright, since someone here can't function as a referee, I'll be taking the position for this battle!" The Rotom Pokédex exclaimed.

Goh's Rotom Phone looked angry.

"You like it, Ash?" Professor Kukui asked from the sidelines. "Your Rotom-Phone inspired me to try this technological possession myself!"

"It's awesome, Professor!" Ash replied, psyched about seeing the Rotom-Dex.

The Dex sighed. "Of course that piece of junk gets credit for my creation. One of us has info on the Paldea and Orre Regions and I'll bet my right processor that it's not that one!"

"Hate to be rude, but can we move on, please." Kiawe said in a flat tone.

"No argument from me!" Ash exclaimed.

"Right! Pardon me!" Rotom-Dex lifted its arm. "This will be a one-on-one match. The victor will be the one whose Pokémon will remain standing at the end of the match! Competitors, please bring out your Pokémon!"

"Alright, I know exactly who I'm gonna go to!" Ash exclaimed as he dug around his belt lookimg for a specific Poké-Ball. By that point, Pikachu's cheeks had already lit up with sparkles. "Sorry, buddy. But it's not going to be you..."

Pikachu was shocked after that discovery. The Mouse Pokémon preceeded to drop yo the ground like disappointed jelly, leaving his Trainer to do nothing other than stroke the back of his neck in embarassement.

"You'll battle soon, I promise..." Ash said before pulling out his Poké-Ball. "Rockruff, I choose you!"

The Puppy Pokémon appeared on the battlefield and jumped for joy at the prospect of battling.

"Not a bad choice considering my preference..." Kiawe said before pulling out a Poké-Ball of his own. "Now, Turtonator, come on out!"

Kiawe threw his Poké-Ball up in the air, releasing his star Pokémon onto the field.

"Woah!" Ash exclaimed. "Totally awesome! So that's a Turtonator, huh?"

"A Fire and Dragon type..." Kiawe explained. "A strong and trusted friend. A wise one..."

"Can't wait to battle it!" Ash exclaimed.

"3.
2.
1.

Battle begi...!"

Rotom's words were interrupted by a tremor which all the people present felt strongly. Some of the Pokémon who weren't expecting the sudden activity fell to the ground pretty hard.

"What's going on?!" Goh exclaimed, not knowing what to make of the situation.

"Well it's not Gengar causing mischief!" Chloe replied. "It hasn't left its Poké-Ball since we came back from the beach!"

"This tremor isn't natural!" Kiawe concluded.

"How can you tell?" Ash asked.

"I grew up next to a volcano. I know the difference between natural and unnatural seismic activity!"

"If this is unnatural, then someone must be upsetting the ground around here!" Serena chimed in.

"Team Rocket!" Ash exclaimed. "I can only be them!"

"Agreed, we gotta find them!" Goh said.

"Whatever's causing this, the source must be coming from somewhere over there and bellow the surface!" Kiawe informed, pointing towards the laboratory.

"The lab's subbasement!" Goh exclaimed.

"Oh no, dad!" Chloe cried out in worry.

"C'mon! Let's kick Team Rocket out of here!" Ash exclaimed as he, Goh, Chloe, Kiawe, Hau and Lillie rushed over to the subbasement, leaving Serena with the task of crowd control.

...

"Turn it off, turn it off!" The gang heard a feminine voice command.

"I'm trying!" A male voice replied. "But the systems are jammed! They're unresponsive!"

"Well find a way to make them responsive!"

"We'll make something responsive for you alright!" Ash tried to sound intimidating as the small gang he gathered up jumped into the room that they heard the voices coming from, fully expecting to see Jessie, James, Meowth and Wobbuffet holding Professor Cerise captive and trying to control some Poké-Ball sucking mech.

Instead, they were met with the sight of Faba and...

"Mother?!" Lillie exclaimed in shock.

The gang had discovered some kind of underground laboratory that Faba was probably running.
This, in and of itself wouldn't be all that unusual, since the reason the Aether Foundation was even here was to study the appearance of Tapu-Koko on Pasio. What was out of the ordinary was all the weird machinery that were connected via wires to some kind of platform. The walls were filled with screens showing what could only be described as an alien world.

"Lillie?!" Lusamine exclaimed in shock upon seeing her daughter and her friends in the lab. "What are you doing here?! You must leave now!"

"Why?!" Ash exclaimed. "What are you doing?!"

"Nothing that concerns you!" Lusamine snapped at Ash, in a much more aggressive tone than usual.

Realizing that Lusamine wouldn't give them answers, Kiawe and Hau both came up with a backup plan.

"Faba...?" They said with as much malice as they could muster, trying their hardest to intimidate the scientist.

"You think you can intimidate ME, children?" Faba laughed. "Bah! I'm loyal to President Lusamine, and nothing you can do will make me..."

"Gengar!"

"Aerodactyl!"

Chloe and Goh released their powerful ghost and fossil Pokémon respectively. Both all too eager to help Faba change his mind.

And change it he did.

"Alright alright, don't hurt me!" He cried. "10 years ago we breached an opening to a location called Ultra Space! Miss Lillie's father, Master Mohn was sucked into the breach, and we've never heard from him again! But all this time we've been working tirelessly to try and reach Ultra Space again so that we could go there and save him! This breach was supposed to get us there, but it destabilized!"

The kids were in utter shock. Some because of the amount of information they'd just recieved, while Lillie was shocked at the content of the information that she'd recieved.

"Mother... is this true...?" She asked, tears forming in her eyes.

Lusamine looked down in defeat. "Yes, honey..." she admitted. "I'm sorry I kept this a secret from you but you must understand, everything I've ever done was to try and bring our family back together..."

Then a thought occured to Lillie.

"You say you're trying to bring back father..." she said. "Why can't I remember him?"

Lusamine looked away, as if ashamed.

"Mother... why can't I remember my father?!"

"You must understand, Lillie..." Lusamine began dancing around the subject. "The pain I went through after I... we lost him... it was too much... I didn't want you to go through it too..."

"ANSWER ME!!!"

"I HAD FABA WIPE YOUR MEMORIES!" Lusamine admitted, tears rolling down her face.

The room fell silent.

"The day that thing almost took you from me... if Gladion and Silvally hadn't been there... but they weren't able to protect you from the trauma... so I asked Faba to do whatever it took to make you not hurt anymore... something must've gone wrong and he wiped your memories of Mohn too but... oh, Lillie please understand that..."

Lillie couldn't believe what she was hearing. Memory wipes? Other dimensions? Sillvally? What was her mother talking about?! She wasn't angry or sad, she was just... confused!

"Madam President!" Faba called out to Lusamine, getting everyone's attention. "The singularity is on the verge of collapse!"

"Then close it!" Lusamine ordered. "Either that or make the wormhole a one way door! I don't care how much I want to see one, keep those things on the other side!"

"Things?!" Ash questioned.

"Ultra Beasts..." Lusamine answered.

At that moment, the control panel lit up with electricity, leaving Faba to shield his face from the sparks.

"We're too late!" Faba exclaimed as the air above the platform began to glow. "They're here..."

At that moment, something which looked like a rift opened up above the platform, sending rippling waves across reality.

Among those that felt the ripples were Tapu-Koko, who stopped everything to look upon the location of the ripples in concern, the Legendary Beasts (Suicune, Raikou and Entei), and finally Nebby, who woke up after feeling the ripples and Teleported to their epicenter.

As if by instinct, Goh ran in front of Chloe, who was filming the whole thing, and Hau and Lusamine did the same to Lillie, leaving Ash and Kiawe the first to deal with whatever came out of that portal.

And boy, were they not expecting the mass of tentacles that floated out.

'Wait a minute...' Ash and Goh thought in unison. 'I've seen that before...'

'In my dream...' Ash thought back to the weird dream he had the day he met Nebby. The dream about the Legendary Solgaleo and Lunala.

'They're what Suicune showed me...' Goh thought back to his encounter with Suicune the day of Ash's third Gym Battle.

But they weren't the only ones who remembered that... thing. Oh no. Lillie must've some unlocked some repressed memories, because she was holding on to her mother for dear life like a small child, absolutely terrified.

"That's UB-01: Symbiote!" Faba cried out in terror. "We must evacuate the city and then put it under quarentine!"

"No way!" Ash exclaimed. "We're sendin' that thing back to where it came from, right Kiawe?!"

"Right! Turtonator!" Kiawe exclaimed, the Blast Turtle Pokémon fearlessly standing in front of him.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt, and Rockruff test out your new Stone Edge!" Ash commanded.

"And Turtonator, Flamethrower!"

Pikachu's body became surrounded in a yellow aura before firing a powerful bolt of yellow electricity from it at the UB. At the same time, Rockruff stood up on its hind legs and an orange aura surrounded its body. It then slammed its front paws onto the ground, causing multiple jagged light blue stones to come out of the ground, moving toward the UB.

Turtonator the fired a stream of red-orange fire from its nose at the UB.

The UB was not about to be hit by these attacks, since it created a large number of duplicates of itself, causing all of the attacks to miss.

"Rockruff, sniff out the real one!" Ash commanded.

Rockruff barked and began sniffing out the multiple duplicates.

"Not a bad strategy..." Kiawe said.

"Thanks!"

Before Rockruff could discover the real UB, it began to form a yellow ball of energy in front of its head. It then fired a yellow beam of energy from the ball at the three opponents.

"Pikachu, Electro Ball!" Ash commanded.

Pikachu's body became surrounded in yellow electricity and multiple yellow sparks come off his body. All the electricity then condensed at Pikachu's tail and formed into an orange-yellow orb of electricity with sparks of yellow electricity coming off it. Pikachu then hurled the ball at the incoming attack.

When the attacks collided an explosion rocked the underground lab, blocking everyone's vision with a thick cloud of smoke.

During the time everyone was blind, the UB decided to pull a sneaky trick to get what it wanted. It became surrounded in a pink aura as a pink and blue wirling mass appeared in front of it.

At that moment, Snowy became surrounded in an aura of the matching color and began floating towards the UB.

"Snowy, no!" Lillie cried out, her worry for her Pokémon overpowering her paralyzing fear.

She broke free from the embrace of her mother and friend and blindly charged at the UB, trying to reach Snowy.

"LILLIE!" Lusamine let out a horrified scream as she was forced to see Lillie being enveloped in the UB's tentacles.
The UB began to pull Lillie back to the wormhole, her sqwirming, kicking and screaming at it to let her go.

Everyone felt so helpless. They couldn't attack the thing without hurting Lillie in the process. Well... they could, but the situation was so tense that they weren't able to think straight. All but one.

Nebby Teleported in front of the UB and let out an ear piercing Supersonic shriek, causing the UB to let go of Lillie in order to shield itself from the pain.

Lillie's world all but froze when she saw this Pokémon selflessly risk itself to try and save her. This strange but familiar situation awoke her lost memories. The reason she wasn't able to touch Pokémon... she was nearly taken by one of these things when she was a little girl, but she was saved by a Pokémon. The Silvally that her mother mentioned. It all made sense now.

Nebby wasn't done saving her just yet. It pushed itself to the limit trying to reach Lillie in time to stop her from crashing into the ground. And it wouldn't have been enough... if its body hadn't begun glowing blue and shifting until it transformed into a completely different Pokémon.

Nebby was able to just barely reach her before the two safely Teleported to the ground.

"Lillie!" Lusamine cried as she wrapped her arms around her daughter and began sobbing.

"Ash, now's our chance!" Kiawe exclaimed, flashing his Z-Ring at Ash.

"Right! Let's do it, Pikachu!"

The two Trainers struck a series of synchronized poses with their Pokémon whilst giving out their battle cry (Kiawe's was: "The Zenith of my mind, of body, and spirit! Like the Great Mountain of Akala! Become a raging fire and burn!")

After the Trainers build up enough Z-Energy and transferred it over to their Pokémon, they began to collect elemental energy into the form of a ball of their corresponding type.

"Pikachu, now use Gigavolt Havoc! Full power!"

"Inferno Overdrive!"

Both Pokémon launched the balls into the UB. It tried to dodge, or block, or counter-attack, but their moves were too powerful. The balls collided with the UB and sent it flying back to the wormhole, it closing behind it due to the energy spike.

At that point, every present person exhaled a breath that they didn't even realize that they were holding.

"I'm so sorry, Lillie!" Lusamine exclaimed through tears.

"M-mother...?"

"I was so fixated on bringing your father back that I... I amlost lost you... you're the thing I needed to focus on! I'm so sorry!"

Despite everything that happened, Lillie was ablr to smile, and hugged her mother back.

And so, a story that could've ended tragically instead had a happy ending! A familial bond at least partially fixed, and more! How will this event affect our heroes for the journeys to come?

Lillie had just finished writing the events that she'd been through today in her journal. She expressed her worries about Nebby's lack of movement since its evolution, but still held up hope that they'd find out what happened.

Exhausted, she shut her journal, turned off her lamp and went to bed. On it was a pleasent surprise. Snowy, sound asleep. She smiled and gently picked it up like it was the most natural thing in the world for her.

She got under her covers and still held Snow close as she drifted off to sleep. Her final thoughts of the day being of delight. She was finally able to touch Pokémon again.

Find out next time...

As the Journey continues!