Chapter Seventy One

Purple tendrils rose up on the horizon as the glowing mansion swiftly approached Seed City. Yobi watched with a combination of horror and fascination, the remains of his vikavolt android clutched in his paws. It was definitely lower in the sky, as though it was going to land.

Incomplete. His plan was incomplete, and he was swiftly running out of time. He'd have to move... but where?

...

Tweak sang jovially as he flopped around the mansion. The feather duster in his tiny paws flicked over the windowsills and skirting boards, and a quick flick of his psychic shot it up into the high corners of the eaves.

'Cut out that infernal singing!'

Distortion's voice rocked the walls, causing the chingling to spin on the spot. The feather duster fell gracefully back into his paws and he grinned widely.

"But it's my cleaning montage!" he jingled. "Everything has to be clean! You don't want to be dusty, do you?"

A low growl shook the air and Tweak laughed, spinning back to the wall and sending the duster back up to sweep across the ceiling.

"He hazzzz a po-point." BackDoor drifted down from above him, reclining back with his arms folded behind his head. "It is so... so annoying."

"So is your fractured speech," said Tweak. "But you don't hear me complaining about it."

BackDoor snorted and reached up for one of his rings. "If it were my choice, I'd send you to join Socket. But for some reason, he decide-de-ded to keep you around."

"I'm a qualified PA, cleaner and System navigator!" Tweak saluted. "No one knows System like I do."

BackDoor frowned and crossed his arms in indignation. "'System navi-vi-gator' isn't even a thing!"

"'Navigator'," Tweak mocked. "And it is a thing. You'll see what I mean when we land in Seed City. The real capital of System."

"Historically speaking," said BackDoor. "I still think you're a lunatic."

The hoopa drifted back towards the eaves, leaving the chingling to return to his dusting. BackDoor's eye drifted back towards the floor, noting the hefty blood stain. Three days the chingling had spent cleaning that. It hadn't come out. When he'd inquired about whether or not Distortion could just distort it out, he'd said he wasn't bothered. The mansion was a means of growing his strength, and because of that it was only temporary.

Whatever that meant.

BackDoor's eyes went to the window, fixing on the skyline of Seed City as it grew ever closer. A smile tugged at his artificial lips and he chuckled. He itched to find out.

...

The small restaurant was one of Cyan City's finest. Relatively quiet and more of a family scene than the posh, upscale restaurants of Meta City. Gentle music played from the hidden speakers while various water pokemon nattered. Some fired occasional glances at the newly arrived space pirates, which had led Jumper to ordering a booth for extra privacy.

N0ize poked at his nutpea burger with a suspicious claw. Tamato relish leaked out to join a small salad leaf on the plate. Resigning himself to the only palatable option he could think of, he scooped up the burger and took a bite. His confused disgust melted away into bliss and he took another bigger bite then leant back in his seat.

"Is it okay?" Jumper asked.

"It ain't bad," said the incineroar.

Cyph3r didn't look as impressed, taking small cautious bites of his cornn dog. N0ize chuckled at his expression and returned to his own meal.

"I hope that doesn't put you off, Cyph3r," said Jumper. "There are loads of options here to suit all pokemon."

N0ize grunted and spoke with his mouth full. "Pretty welcomin' place this, given the circumstances. You usually welcome criminals in?"

"No, but I'm an understanding pokemon," said Jumper. "Wildcard was only welcome here after they ended Luma City's invasion. It showed me that space pirates are pokemon too. And given your circumstances - ruined ship, no home to go to - I'm opening Cyan City's doors to you as well."

N0ize huffed and shrugged his shoulders. "Pretty noble."

Cyph3r said nothing, picking at his meal with his only paw.

"So..." N0ize licked his lips and shoved aside his empty plate. "Who's gonna take over Socket, eh? Someone's gotta dish out these rewards."

"Rewards?" Jumper cocked an eyebrow.

"Yeah, rewards! You might have a little bubble over Hunter and his crew, but they've still got a price on their heads-"

"Which is nullified." Jumper narrowed his eyes, keeping them on the incineroar's. "As far as I'm concerned, all bounties died with Socket. That includes your own. There will be no rounding up space pirates, at least not in my city."

N0ize leered back at him and folded his arms. "I don't really think it's your place to say."

"I'm Governor of this city," said Jumper. "It is well in my right to say. Socket appointed me herself when the water dwellers demanded a voice in office. She didn't want a fish, so she picked me. And I have you know I am against most of the laws she laid down, and that includes taking a life, criminal or not!"

Cyph3r shoved his plate so hard it skittered across the table and smashed onto the floor. A deep hum resonated from his railgun and he rose from his seat and aimed it at Jumper. The frogadier's eyes widened and he leapt into the air, grabbing hold of the rafter above him. The electricity flashed from the railgun's coil with an earsplitting screech, narrowly skimming his feet. Someone behind him grunted and Cyph3r tutted and aimed his weapon up at Jumper. The frogadier grabbed a pawful of frubbles and flicked them at the weapon. They coated it in a sticky foam just as a torrent of mud struck it, clogging the mechanisms and drowning the electrical current. Cyph3r grimaced and shook it violently, scattering wet mud onto the floor. But most of it stayed in place along with the frubbles.

Jumper dropped to his feet, mouth twisted with anger. He spotted Torrent the quagsire as he waddled over to him, wiping mud from his lips. The quagsire's eyes were fixed on a spot behind Jumper. He turned to spot HeatSink with a flipper clasped to the right of his chest. Blood trickled from his claws and static danced over his oily feathers. Floppy panicked beside him, running in circles and whining, pawing at the empoleon to answer whether or not he was all right. But HeatSink could only stare at the magmortar's soiled railgun.

Then HeatSink sank to his knees, dropping his flipper and allowing the blood to trail from a perfectly round hole in the plating of his chest.

Floppy spun on his heel to leer at the magmortar. "You... you..." He shook his head then opened his mouth, firing out a spiraling torrent of water. It struck Cyph3r in the gut, sending him flying backwards over the booth to crash down on another table. Surprised squeals followed and a family of marshstomp and their mudkip kits fled towards the exit.

N0ize blinked in confusion and craned his head around to the booth. "You moron!" He turned back to Jumper and rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry 'bout that, I think he's just really cheesed off."

"Cheesed off..." Jumper shook his head and dashed towards HeatSink. "Speak to me."

HeatSink's eyes rolled back and he lolled sideways into the frogadier. Blood began to pool on the floor and Jumper reached into his bag for something - anything - to cover it with. A small audience had begun to gather around them and someone shouted about calling for an ambulance. Floppy let out a whine, his huge black eyes wet with tears.

Jumper pointed a paw towards the booth. "Apprehend him!"

The vaporeon obeyed, dashing towards the booth with Torrent. N0ize made to move towards Jumper, but the vaporeon cut him off with a nip at the heels.

"Don't you dare!" he growled before vanishing into the booth.

"I'm helpin'!" N0ize threw his paws in the air then joined Jumper. "Let me see."

"So you're an expert in first aid now?" Jumper leered up at him as he resigned to using his neckerchief. "As far as I'm concerned, you're both in this together."

"Hey, I didn't fire it!" N0ize growled. He shoved Jumper aside and held HeatSink up, then nodded. "I'm familiar with these wounds, been hit with enough of 'em meself. They're gonna wanna know what caused it."

Jumper stared at him, aghast, his eye going towards the magmortar coated from head to toe in Torrent's mud.

"He gets angry," N0ize explained. "I've been on the receivin' end of that railgun, although nothin' fatal. It's a pachinko ball launched by an electromagnetic thingy."

"Pachinko ball?" Jumper spat.

"Aye. It'll be lodged in there somewhere. They'll need to get it out."

Floppy bounded to his side, eyes fixed on the empoleon. "So they can save him?"

"Dunno." N0ize stood up and looked back at their booth. "Tore up that wall real nice though."

Jumper followed his gaze. Part of the booth had been torn away neatly. A perfect, tiny, round hole nicked into the side of the woodwork.

"That would have slowed it," he said.

N0ize shrugged. "I dunno much 'bout physics. I just shoot stuff."

A siren cut through the air, followed closely by three paramedics. Two of them dropped to HeatSink's side, while the remaining one - a bibarel - approached Jumper.

"What happened, Governor?" he asked.

Jumper stood and gave the bibarel a nut-shelled version of the events complete with what N0ize had told him. The incineroar remained with the paramedics, adamant to help, but he only found himself shooed away. The two smaller pokemon, an azumarill and wartortle, struggled to hoist the heavy empoleon onto the stretcher. The bibarel jumped at this and gave Jumper a nod.

"Come along," he said. "You can tell me everything on the way."

He joined the other two as Jumper assisted to even out the weight at either end.

"You know," said N0ize. "It'd be a lot easier if you just let me carry him!"

The paramedics left the space pirate with Floppy, Torrent and his detained companion. He looked between the two water types' leers then met Cyph3r's eye just as the police pokemon ushered them out.

A growl rose in N0ize's throat. "You and your jackin' railgun."

...

Tracer and Widget strolled along towards the park, the former clutching an ice cream dripping pink droplets onto the grass. It dripped over the long, lush blades to mix with the dry soil. Somehow, it felt like a shame to see the grass marred in such a way, given the scarcity of natural grass on System Ground.

Shouts and squeals drew the delphox's eye towards the lake. Annie and her comrades leapt back and forth launching attacks at one another while Anchor and Matrix watched. Well, the ribombee wasn't so much watching as messing with his computer. It seemed odd to see Annie engaged in such antics given they'd been watching her demolish a burger not thirty minutes earlier. Waveform sent a flurry of arrows towards the archeops. She leapt back to avoid them, narrowly dodging a punch from Trojan in the process as she struggled to find an opening to launch an attack of her own. Widget let out a repressed giggle, which would have betrayed his excitement if it weren't for his slowly wagging tail.

Tracer swallowed his current mouthful and cocked an eyebrow at the eevee. "You want to join them, don't you?"

"Oh, please!" Widget fixed him with a pleading gaze. "It's been ages since I've had a good scrap!"

The delphox sighed and said, "Very well," before taking another lick of his ice cream.

The eevee skipped along ahead of him, still wagging his tail, as he made a beeline for the sparring pokemon.

Matrix looked up as they arrived and twirled his antenna in his left paw. "Can we help you?"

Rather polite for a space pirate, Tracer thought. He gestured towards Annie and her friends.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Practicin'," said Anchor. "Once our Cap'n is out of hospital, we need to deal with a mutant mansion, so we can't exactly slack off."

"Yeah!" Annie cheered. "Shootin' down buildings! Bet they never taught you that in Pokemon School!"

She raised her wings in a flourish, bringing up a heap of shimmering fossilized rocks. They soared towards Waveform who ducked with such speed it took Tracer quite by surprise.

"Drat! I failed again!" she whined.

"It looked like a successful ancient power to me." When she didn't respond Tracer scratched his head in thought and turned to Anchor. "What is she trying to do exactly?"

"I can't relay that information," said the granbull.

"Why not?"

"It's confidential."

Widget skipped before Annie, tail wagging wildly. "Try it on me! Try it on me!"

"Are you kiddin' me?" she squeaked. "I can't hit a pupper!"

"Oh, come on!" he whined. "I can take an ancient power! I'm stronger than your average eevee. Smack me with some rocks!"

She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "All right, fine. If you're that desperate."

She raised her wing, claws clasped in a fist. Something sparkled around her tiny wrist and instead of shimmering, ancient fossils, a huge slab materialised out of thin air. The massive disk looked like it had been freshly plucked from the earth as soil pattered down onto the ground from beneath it.

Widget fell to his haunches, his now motionless tail forming a brush. He fixed wide eyes on the humongous slab of rock as it rose into the air above his head. Then it stopped, hovering above him for the briefest of moments before it came crashing down with all the force of a falling continent.

Tracer dropped his cone as he stared aghast at the mound of rock and earth. There wasn't a single sign of the eevee in sight. Annie's expression mirrored his, except her eyes sparkled with glee.

She leapt into the air and cheered. "I did it! I did my Z-Move thingy!"

Tracer rushed towards the mound alongside Anchor, but before either of them could touch it the entire thing melted away like ice cream during a summer heat wave. Widget lay spread-eagled on his stomach, his eyes spinning in their sockets.

"Widget!" Tracer dropped down beside him and placed a paw on his shoulder. "Speak to me! Are you okay?"

"He seems okay," said Anchor. "Just a little dazed."

"What on earth was that?" the eevee muttered as he struggled to his feet. He shook out his fur, scattering dirt. "I've never felt anything like that before."

"I should think not," said Tracer. "What kind of move was that?"

"That's what I want to know!" Widget's eyes sparkled and a huge grin split his face. "That was freakin' awesome!"

Tracer blinked a few times. "Pardon?"

"I said it was awesome!" Widget skipped past him towards the archeops. "Do it again!"

"You're kidding right?" said Waveform. "That thing crushed you."

"Yeah, I know you said you wanted to get hit by rocks," said Trojan. "But this just borderlines on-"

"Do it again!" Widget rounded on Annie. "But this time, I wanna watch the whole thing from the non-squishing side of the attack."

Annie shrugged and spread her claws. "Sorry. Can't."

Widget's ears drooped and he let out a long, shrill 'Whaa?!'

"Ask me again in twelve hours." Annie twirled towards the bench and sat down. "It's someone else's turn now."

"Is that it?" Trojan scoffed. "We've trained for almost two weeks and that's it? I thought you'd be at least a little more celebratory."

Tracer looked from the squabbling lot to Anchor and Matrix. "I think this now warrants an explanation?"

Anchor sighed as he returned to his bench. "I suppose, given the circumstances."

"I think the circumstances have changed a tad," said Matrix without looking up.

"How so?" asked Anchor.

"Got these burning a hole in my belt." Matrix held up a pair of sparkling crystals in both paws.

Anchor took them in one and cocked an eyebrow at them, a thoughtful noise escaping his throat.

"What are those?" Something gnawed at Tracer's gut as he stared down at the crystals. One purple, one a dazzling white, and both of them holding a strange, black design. Both round, except the purple one's design looked like an eye.

"Z-Crystals," Anchor explained. He looked up briefly at the sparring pokemon. Widget leapt backwards, dodging punches thrown left and right by the scrafty. "I think you might wanna call over your buddy, delphox."

Tracer gave a sharp whistle and Widget stopped what he was doing. One nod towards the bench brought the eevee running.

"I think these are both for you two," said Anchor. "Psychinium-Z for... what's your name, detective?"

"Tracer," said the delphox. "And this hyperactive fox is Widget."

Widget stood on his hind paws with both front ones on the bench, craning to see into Anchor's paw. His nose twitched a mere centimetre or two from the crystals.

"These are what all those guys are wearing," he said.

"Exactly," said Anchor. "They allow you to use a Z-Move, like that continental crush dropped on your head."

"That... sounds... epic!" Widget panted.

"Shattered psyche," said Matrix.

The three pokemon turned their heads towards him.

Matrix twirled his antenna in one paw, fixing them all with one eye. "That's Psychium-Z's move. 'Shattered psyche'."

Anchor nodded and popped the Z-Crystal into Tracer's hesitant paw. No sooner had he taken hold of it, a band appeared around his right wrist. He let out a gasp and almost dropped the crystal to the floor.

"Yeah, that happens." Matrix looked back at his computer. "Normalium-Z allows the use of 'breakneck blitz'."

Widget took his crystal with much more excitement, using his teeth to place it into the bangle on his right fore-paw.

"That sounds super powerful!" he said. "How do I do that, then?"

"It takes practice," said Anchor. "Annie has been tryin' to use her move for the past two weeks."

"There's no sayin' I can't master it first try though, eh?" Widget sat down and grinned. "Teach me!"

Anchor sighed and leant forward on his knees. "I burned mine out over an hour ago. But you can watch what they're doin'."

Tracer sat down beside him, drawing his attention. "I'm more interested in how you got these."

"That's a long story," said Matrix.

"Nutshell it," said Widget.

"Okay. We got them from Solgaleo."

Tracer watched the ribombee, expecting more information, but his complete attention remained on his computer.

"No," said the delphox, "I think we need a little more of an explanation."

"Well, you did ask me to nutshell it," said Matrix.

Anchor rolled his eyes and turned towards Tracer. "We were headin' over the Dead Glacier. Solgaleo pulled us in. He'd called us the whole way there, actually. These aliens comin' into our world... it's all Socket's doin'. But she's been killed by her own creation. That mansion, it ain't natural. Her android BackDoor dragged a big alien through one of 'em porthole things he makes, named Distortion."

"He's a giratina," explained Matrix. "Apparently there's legends about them twisting worlds to their liking."

Widget craned his head around to look at Matrix. "Apparently there's legends of Solgaleo n'all."

"That's what Annie said when we told her and her friends," said Anchor. "She read books about him back in the human world. I've never heard of Z-Crystals, but the humans? They use them in their pokemon battles."

"Humans battle?" Widget gasped.

"With pokemon, aye. Apparently we're more like 'pets' in their world. That's the word she used. We don't talk or have jobs or fly ships or nothin'."

Tracer made a thoughtful noise and stroked his chin. "Given these aliens... I'm guessing Solgaleo isn't in our world then?"

"No idea," said Matrix. "But he sent me all the information on Z-Crystals so I could explain things to Annie while I was stuck on her ship. So he's certainly active in our world."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he appears in all worlds," said Anchor. "There's certainly more than one. These Z-Moves are to help us stop BackDoor. And BackDoor is currently up in the air in Socket's mutated mansion."

Widget chuckled, his tattoo creasing around his eye. "So we've gotta fight that thing? Bring it!"

Tracer narrowed his eyes at the eevee. "You're a little too excited about this."

Widget grinned and thumped the ground with his tail, then he returned to watching the sparring pokemon.

"So what happened to her mansion?" Tracer asked Anchor.

Anchor closed his eyes and leant back in his seat. "Now that one is a long story. But to cut it short, Distortion took over and Socket got sucked into some other world."

"So she's gone?!" Widget squeaked.

"Yup. And if BackDoor's description was anything to go by, she won't be comin' back either. At least not alive."

Tracer exchanged glances with Widget.

"So Socket's dead," said the delphox. "I never thought I'd see the end to her reign in my lifetime."

Widget shook his head and returned to watching the training session.

Waveform leapt into the air, unleashing a flurry of arrows. They exploded off the ground, sending up smoky tendrils that engulfed Trojan, dragging him towards the earth. The scrafty squealed as the ghostly smog engulfed him, then he let out a scream. The smog exploded, blowing him backwards until he landed on his bottom. The scrafty's face turned a deathly pale and he looked up at the decidueye as he slowly descended back to earth. He gave Trojan a nod of apology and gathered up his arrows.

"Well, that was 'never-ending nightmare'," said Matrix.

Widget trembled with glee. "I want a go!"

Anchor turned to Tracer and nodded towards the other pokemon. "So... given you've been gifted your own Z-Crystals, are you gonna train and help us out?"

Tracer scratched his cheek then stood up slowly. "I guess we've not got much choice."

"Seriously?" Widget fixed him with wide, surprised eyes. "You wanna do this?"

"System is in a dire state," said the delphox. "We currently have no mayor, and aliens are all over the place. Goodness knows what this Distortion is going to do."

"Well, that was a long and convoluted 'yes'," said Widget.

...

Web shuffled towards the hospital as fast as she could without appearing conspicuous. Poipole drifted along beside her, puffing noisily on his makeshift breathing apparatus. Cyan City had wasted no time in kitting the small alien out with a toxic version of an oxygen tank, the breathing part fastened around the two smaller proboscis above his 'ears'. It made him look even more like an extraterrestrial investigating an alien world than his strange appearance already did.

The double doors swung wildly as Web scurried through them, making a beeline for the azumarill chatting to some unseen pokemon on a holoscreen. The skuntank rose up on her hind feet and placed her paws on the reception desk, drawing the receptionist's attention. The azumarill raised a claw as she swiftly wrapped up her query, then she turned fully to face Web.

"How can I help you?" the receptionist asked.

"We need to see... erm... Macro." The name was still alien to Web. "It's urgent."

The azumarill clicked her tongue as she browsed her computer screen. "He's in ward eleven."

Web muttered her thanks and scampered away towards the map, her keen eye spotting the assigned ward almost instantly. Two floors up. Well, she'd waited almost two weeks. A short elevator trip couldn't hold a candle to that.

Yet it seemed to take an eternity.

Poipole watched the numbers scroll with an avid fascination, humming to himself through his proboscis. Such a strange noise compared to his boyish telepathic voice that Web had grown used to. She watched the little Ultra Beast drift back and forth, examining everything his large eyes fell on. She couldn't deny she was going to miss him if everything went according to plan.

Finally the elevator pinged and allowed them out into a sterile corridor. Nomel and ammonia assaulted her senses as she dodged a yellow slip-hazard cone, and her muzzle creased as she tried not to breathe it in. Despite her need to keep a clean home, the smell of such harsh cleaning chemicals made her feel like her poison typing was being stripped away.

Ward eleven rose up on her left as she slipped through into a new corridor. A private room. She nudged the door open with her head and muttered a polite 'hello?'

The mawile looked up from his bed. He sat back against a pillow, frowning at his mechanical paw. But when he spotted Web, the frown became a look of surprise. He swiftly regained himself and went back to examining his paw.

"Don't think I know you," he said. "You must be one of Annie's friends."

Web snorted and shook her head. "Why am I not surprised? I remember you."

"Really?" Macro's mechanical claws flexed and he looked up at her again. "You might need to jog my memory."

"Does the name Webber ring a bell?"

He shook his head slowly.

"We met over a game of Farkle," she said.

"I've played a lot of Farkle."

Web shook her head again and marched into the room with Poipole in tow. Macro's eye immediately went to the Ultra Beast and he scrambled back against his pillow. The small creature drifted over to him, tracing his trembling body with his large, playful eyes.

"Absolutely typical." She climbed up into a seat and folded her tail over her lap. "I'm still feeling the sting of that meeting and you don't even remember me."

"W-what did I do?" Macro squeaked, tugging his duvet up in a desperate bid to keep Poipole at bay.

"He won't hurt you," said Web. "It's him who wanted to see you actually. Not me."

Her words failed to relax the space pirate. He resorted to using a pillow to keep as much distance between himself and the playful Ultra Beast as possible.

"If you really can't remember," Web went on, "it was a casual game between myself, you and Anchor, and some machamp who really didn't like you. I left long before the game was over. Couldn't even afford to re—fuel my ship after that little stunt."

"So you bet everything and lost?" Macro's voice trembled as Poipole whisked the pillow aside. "Is that what this is? Some kinda sick revenge plan? Get your monster off me!"

He looked about to faint as Poipole grabbed his mechanical paw in both of his tiny, sticky ones. The Ultra Beast trailed a claw over the sparkling pink crystal then released him, drifting back slightly.

"So it's true," said Poipole, puffing noisily. "You really did meet Solgaleo."

Macro's jaw dropped and he stared at the Ultra Beast, aghast. "I... I'm hearing its voice in my head. How am I hearing its voice in my head?"

"That's how he talks," said Web. "We all hear it."

Poipole stared back at Macro silently, looking between the mawile and the pink crystal.

Macro narrowed his eyes at the Ultra Beast. "How do you know Solgaleo gave me this?"

"He gave my world Z-Crystals," Poipole explained. "I use one but... my trainer has it."

"Trainer?"

Poipole drifted backwards towards Web, landing gracefully on her lap. She kept her eyes on Macro as she gently stroked the creature's bulbous head.

"Back in Poipole's world," she began, "the Ultra Beasts depend on humans to look after them."

Macro let out a very confused "Eh?"

"In answer to your other question," said Web, "no. This isn't some revenge plan. I've moved on, I've married. If it weren't for that crazy game, I probably would never have even met Trojan. I'm here because this little guy thinks he might be able to help you."

Macro's eye snapped towards the Ultra Beast. "You? Help how?"

"That mansion is being controlled by a monster," Poipole explained. "You need an army. Your army is too small. But there are lots of us."

Macro's mouth opened and closed as he tried to make sense of the poipole's words.

"That mansion has the porthole thing," said Poipole. "It can open the door home. We destroy the monster, we can take the porthole thing and go home. All Ultra Beasts should be able to defeat the monster if we work together."

"Hang on." Macro raised his paws. "Are you suggesting we work with those other Ultra Beasts? Those city destroying kartana? The things that almost killed me?!"

The room fell into silence, broken only by Poipole's noisy breathing. Web trailed her paw over his head, keeping her eyes on Macro.

"I'm slowly dying every day I live in Spool City," she said. "And I'm happy to work with you in order to bring about a greater good."

Macro frowned at her. "Wait a minute... you blame me for that? I thought you said you'd moved on!"

"I may have moved on, but that doesn't mean I'm happy with you." Web shrugged her shoulders. "You didn't need to take everything. I asked... I even begged. You told me it was the rules and sent me on my way. If it weren't for Waveform landing on my doorstep, I wouldn't even be able to afford to live there. I'd be scavenging from trash cans like the trubbish that fill our streets." She paused and narrowed her eyes. "I know you cheated in that game, with your trick dice, but I didn't even say anything."

Macro couldn't even look at her. He stared down at his paws, occasionally glancing towards the window.

"Just like these Ultra Beasts," she said, "I'm living in a city that's toxic even to me. They're not meant to be here, Macro. They don't understand. But Poipole? He can talk to them. Help them to see we're willing to help them get back home! There's hundreds of them. But there's only one Distortion, and only one BackDoor."

"Loads of pokemon died escaping that mansion." Macro spoke through clenched teeth, his organic paw balled into a tight fist. "If we couldn't fight it then..."

"You didn't use your Z-Power," said Poipole. "None of you did. And you didn't have us. You didn't have a plan."

Macro looked back at Poipole. "And what's your plan exactly?"

"Get all Ultra Beasts together. Explain. And pool all our power into fighting Distortion and BackDoor. All we need to do is analyze our strengths and weaknesses. I can poison things, and make things sticky. Kartana can cut through steel. Celesteela can fire many elemental attacks from its cannons. It is also strong and can fly, so it could carry those that can't. I've not met all the different Ultra Beasts that live in my world, my trainer tends to stay in one place, so some might have strengths I don't even know of."

Macro had turned pale under his fur. He stuttered over his words and glanced towards the door.

"I'd take his plan into consideration," said Web. "Because I think it's the best you're going to get."

The space pirate took a steadying breath and brushed his long black fur from his eyes. "We are meant to get them all back home. So... maybe you're right. Maybe it is the best idea. I mean... I'd never considered reasoning with them. I didn't even know it was possible. None of us did. Switch wanted to burn the kartana to cinders."

Poipole trembled from proboscis to tail. "Kill them? Killing them is not an option."

"No... I know it's not." Macro hugged himself and stared out of the window. "Sadly they don't see us in the same way."

"That's why we need to talk to them," said Poipole. "Right now, they think you are a threat, just like you think they are a threat. They're just defending themselves."

Macro nodded stiffly but said nothing.

Web pushed herself from her seat with a sigh, letting Poipole drift into the air.

"I'm glad you see things our way," she said. "We can discuss it some more when you're up and about."

Macro didn't look up as she made her way towards the door. But his voice froze her as her paw fastened over the handle.

"Webber?"

She looked back at him over her shoulder, but he wouldn't meet her eye.

"I just wanna say I'm sorry," he said. "I'm a different 'mon now, and I don't like the way I used to be. If there's anything I can do-"

"Get these Ultra Beasts home," she said. "This world isn't good for them, and I want them all to get back home safely, and for this little creature to get back to his human friend. That's all I ask."

She tugged the door open and slipped back out into the hallway, feeling a lot lighter.

...

Seed City erupted into chaos. Fairy types scattered as they fled from the descending mansion. Purple flames shot from it like rockets, washing harmlessly over the fleeing pokemon. But everything else it touched exploded into rubble. Harmful rubble that rained down and crushed tiny bodies, knocked victims off their feet, and fell like a barrier between terrified families.

Then the mansion landed. Purple tendrils shot into the earth and erupted back up again several feet away. One slight brush from the tendrils brought buildings down in a cloud of dust. Before the dust even had a chance to settle, the tendrils began to pulse. The rubble rose into the air and reformed. The ground around it warped and twisted as it was dragged from the floor to join the hodge-podge jigsaw of brick, stone and iron.

The ground rumbled as yet more probing limbs stretched through the earth, spreading the purple light across the entirety of Seed City. Buildings warped and twisted into corkscrews and more sections of the ground split to rise into the sky at random angles. Suddenly there was no sense of gravity. Wherever there was ground, things clung to it effortlessly. But as for reality, the very essence vanished. The Seed City System had come to know and love vanished in an instant. A wasteland of chaos and despair.

'Perfect!' The deep voice shook the air. 'From here, all of System, and the worlds that surround it, will be mine!'