The Ruins of Conflict had finally become still following Burnet’s final attack. Very softly, almost at the same volume as the breeze, the worried murmurs and chatter amongst the Iki Town residents could be heard. Despite the mild chaos outside, the sacred room remained calm and untouched. Within the pitch-black darkness, sparks from the stone idol at the center of the elevated shrine illuminated the chamber. They converged into a large ball before Tapu Koko broke through them, perplexed over the tremors it had felt.
A sound of flapping wings approached from just outside, putting the island guardian on edge. The footsteps of whomever dismounted their steed ran toward the cave, and Tapu Koko charged the halves of its shell on its arms with electricity, ready to attack the intruder. The person stepped forward inside, and with another burst of energy surrounding its body, the illumination revealed that the person coming inside was Hau.
Relaxing itself to cover its body in a faint glow, Hau felt welcome to come further inside. “Good to see you too, Tapu Koko.”
As Hau looked to the shrine at the top of the steps, Tapu Koko met him down on the floor as if asking for the reason of his appearance.
“You had to have heard that shaking just now,” he further spoke, eliciting a nod from it. “Professor Burnet… she’s the leader of Team Prism, and she managed to gain all of Necrozma’s powers and corrupted Solgaleo and Lunala, just like it did in ancient times.”
Tapu Koko’s eyes blinked, begging for an explanation. “I saw them; the ancient Kahunas from their last battle with Necrozma. I saw you and the other guardians too, and you helped them defeat it. I– no, we need your help again. If Burnet reaches its body inside Ten Karat Hill, Necrozma is going to return. Please, we need their help immediately.”
Tapu Koko stared at Hau with its fixed mouthless expression, and after a few moments, Tapu Koko floated back to behind the altar. Hau chased it up the stairs just as the island guardian placed both sides of its shell limbs on both sides of the idol. To Hau’s mild surprise, the statue’s head began to glow gold on the top, and rising out from the center was a Z-Crystal that Hau was already very familiar with.
The Tapunium Z floated above the idol between Hau and Tapu Koko, Hau marveled by its tangible existence. Reaching out, he grabbed it fully in his hand before bringing it up and see it resting on his palm. Even though it appeared like any other Z-Crystal he’s ever used, the aura that exuded from it was unlike anything he ever felt.
Placing it on an empty slot on the band of his Z-Ring, he looked up to Tapu Koko and bowed his head reverently. “Thank you, Tapu Koko.” He then faced to the chamber’s exit. “The Kahunas are still down there, and there’s not enough time to fly to the other islands and back. Can you call on the other guardians and have them bring their own Z-Crystals?”
With a nod of its own, Tapu Koko kept its arms on the idol, and another light began to encompass the idol all over, now colored a bright blue. Hau stepped away as the energy radiating off the statue spread out like an icy flame. Hau was soon all the way down the stairs as he continued to observe the guardian’s mystic call to arms.
Inside the Ruins of Life, the idol standing atop the alter began to glow blue like the one in the Ruins of Conflict. In response, a small orb of magenta light began to enlarge before the statue until it was several feet wide. The orb then unfolded out to reveal Tapu Lele as it suddenly became aware of its consciousness. Turning back to the still-glowing idol, it seemed to read Tapu Koko’s intentions from the light that came off of it. With a peppy backward flip, it floated behind the idol and placed its hands on both sides of it, the top of the head turning gold.
The idol inside the Ruins of Abundance shone, calling for its guardian to awake. From the wooden floorboards of the altar, small vines began to sprout from the cracks and gaps. Flowery buds then sprung to life from the vines, releasing small puffs of pollen that converged in the space before the alter. Each speck of dander began to sparkle until the area became too bright to see through.
The light then burst out and away to let Tapu Bulu free, who was already spinning about as it quickly woke up and registered its surroundings. Feeling the statue’s light behind it, it swung back around and looked at it, reading the message its fellow guardian on Melemele was trying to send. Placing its hooved hands on the the head of the statue, a gold glow formed atop its head.
Water began to seep out of the glowing idol inside the Ruins of Hope, all of it flowing away to in front of the idol despite the level foundation on which it stood. As well, the water settled into a perfectly circle puddle on the wood floor, none of it leaking into the cracks or the spaces between the boards. Tapu Fini rose out from its aqueous portal, blinking twice as it came fully out of its slumber. The idol’s light refused to let up, and Tapu Fini felt Tapu Koko’s dire request from its light. Arcing up and over the idol to place itself behind it, Tapu Fini placed both its hands beside the idol’s head, the top of it glowing as she summoned its Z-Crystal.
Hau watched as pulses of light began to wash down the idol like ripples as the other three guardian’s answered Tapu Koko’s call. It was a strangely assuring sight that left Hau slightly pacified. His cowed demeanor was quickly broken upon the feeling of the ground rumbling beneath his feet. Looking up at Tapu Koko, it took its hands off the idol and glanced around the room, seeing as loose pebbles were shaken out from the ceiling and onto the floor.
“Is that…” Hau gasped.
Both Hau and Tapu Koko flew out from the temple, the sounds of Hau’s Charizard honking worriedly outside. Leaving the ruins with the island guardian, Hau immediately ran to his draconic steed and hopped back onto its seat.
“Please don’t tell me…” Hau and his Charizard took to the air, Tapu Koko staying close behind.
Rising over the top of the mountain, Hau and Tapu Koko could finally look down upon Ten Karat Hill, seeing as the bright, thick roots of Necrozma’s essence were spreading through the sides. They could only faintly see the lights of Rotomjet rising out of the crater, but even with the evident sight of their friends’ escape, it did not matter; the worst had come to pass.
“No…” Hau felt close to weeping. “Oh no…”
With a crackle of sparks, Tapu Koko brought Hau’s attention to itself. It then pointed down toward Iki Town, where Hau could see the residents pouring out of their homes to watch as Necrozma began to rise and form from the white tendrils rising out from the edges of the crater. Hau took one last look at the lights of Rotomjet as it sped off toward Hau’oli City.
With a wince, he looked back down toward his home. “Charizard, Tapu Koko, we have to warn them! Hurry!”
Charizard tilted its head toward the ground, diving toward the village with Tapu Koko right beside it. All three ignored Necrozma’s features defining themselves as its true form came into being above the ruins of Ten Karat Hill, focused only on the citizens who were soon to be subject to its wrath.
The four employees from Mossdeep sat outside the Aether House, two of whom were leaning against the front door, asleep. Of the two who were awake, the female stared out over the dark, moonlit ocean as the male employee stared up the side of Mount Lanakila, the darkness obscuring his view of the summit.
“Anything?” the woman asked.
Her co-worker grunted in lethargic annoyance. “Don’t you think I would have said something if there was?”
She finally turned the top half of her body around to face him. “I don’t have eyes in the back of my head, man.”
They were both tired and frustrated; the male employee kept quiet, knowing nothing he would say would either aid or fix the situation they were in thanks to Sun. Finally, a ping finally sounded off from the thigh of his pants. As the man snatched it out of his pocket, his co-worker jogged over to behind him to look over his shoulder.
Before she could register what the screen on the phone read, the male employee placed it back into his pants as quickly as he had taken it out. “Guys! Good news.”
The two sleeping employees stirred themselves into a sit, one among them groaning. “Is the jet coming back around?”
A small, awkward silence followed. “…No, but I just received word from the guards at the Pokémon League. They were able to get a hold of some guys from Po Town to come get us and let us crash for the night.”
“You mean those guys who used to run Team Skull?” The other male stood up alongside the other co-worker. “What about the Elite Four themselves?”
“Apparently, they had to run to Melemele Island for something important.”
“Okay,” the first female employee grumbled, “first our jet gets possessed by a Rotom, and now the Elite Four are off two islands away in the middle of the night. Something’s up here.”
“Something is up indeed!” A chorus of snickers surrounded the four Mossdeep employees, forcing them to stand with their backs against each other as the chuckling grew louder.
From the bottom of the small cliff by the beach to their right, the top of the base of the mountain to their left, and the open pathway before them, about a dozen grunts poured over and formed a tight semi-circle around the four employees. Before they could approach any closer, a couple of them glanced around.
“Weren’t you guys supposed to have come in a jet?” an older dark-skinned grunt with white hair wondered aloud.
The first male employee knew it was no use lying. “We… had it taken from us.”
“Likely story!” A pale skinned grunt with a long, brown ponytail detached a Poké Ball from his belt. “Tell us where you’re hiding it and we won’t make this get violent.”
“I may be the only one,” the female employee sighed, taking a Poké Ball off her belt, “but I could really use those Skull guys showing up right about now.”
“Yeah,” the second male employee agreed, pulling a ball off his own belt. “Me too.”
The other two employees brandished their own Poké Balls next, throwing them out immediately.
“Go, Mightyeyna!” the first male employee shouted.
“Help us, Scrafty!” called the third.
The female employee chucked out her ball. “Come out, Sharpedo!”
“Go, Shiftry!” the second male employee cried.
Appearing before each of their trainers as a large wolf with long, scraggly black and grey fur, an orange bipedal lizard-like Pokémon with red Mohawk-like spines and shedded skin around its legs like baggy pants that it held up with both hands, a blue shark’s head with a white belly padded with magnet plates and four fins on each side in the back, and a humanoid-tree creature with its head covered in white, fibrous hair and its hands a pair of three-leafed palms.
As the other grunts began to detach their Poké Balls, a faint, but impossible-to-miss light shone off to the northwest, catching the eye of the first male employee and his Mightyena. Unsure of his distraction, the grunts also looked in his direction, gasping euphorically as the light grew even bigger over Melemele Island. The other three Mossdeep employees looked away from their foes and drew their gaze to the light, unable to shake the dangerous aura it radiated off.
“What the hell is that?” the second male employee shuddered.
Putting their arms down, the grunts let out breathy giggles that erupted into triumphant cheers and laughter.
“It no longer matters,” the white-haired grunt exclaimed through her chortling. “We have won.”
Carly fought through the crowds gathering on the docks of Konikoni City, ignoring their huffing and offended shouts as she got closer to the end. When the masses became to dense to walk through, Carly resigned herself to look up where everyone else’s eyes were drawn. Not far to the west, a bright light shone over Melemele island, filling everyone with worry.
“What is that?” a woman asked.
“I don’t know,” a man replied, “but I don’t like it.”
“Me neither,” a child whined nearby.
Carly suddenly felt herself getting shoved to the edge of the pier by more people trying to get closer from behind. “Wait, stop! You’re pushing me off!”
Her pleas fell on deaf ears as the tips of her slippers were pushed over the side. Carly immediately began fidgeting her Poké Balls about, trying to find the one that would prevent her from falling into the water.
“Carracosta!” Throwing her ball toward the water, the energy from inside of it shot into the water, forming into a large blue turtle with a shell and facial plating made of a dark-grey rock.
She leaned out and hopped over onto her Pokémon, nimbly landing on its shell. Several others nearby were not so fortunate, being forced off the platform and tumbling into the ocean, their screams caught off as they went under. Immediately, Carly’s Carracosta paddled over to three people who struggled to bring themselves back up, allowing them to hold onto its fins or the side of its shell.
“Thank you, miss.” An older man coughed as much seawater that he had swallowed out from his mouth.
As more people began to latch onto her Pokémon for safety, Carly looked up to the sky, getting a much clearer look at Necrozma’s light as it shone over all of Alola.
The waves around where the Aether Paradise had once stood had not fully calmed down yet. However, the Aether yacht miraculously managed to stay afloat and upright, stabilized by the Kadabra’s still aboard it. Along with them, most of the grunts and their Pokémon had made it aboard themselves, working tirelessly to help the few still in the waters. With assistance from a Slowbro, an Espeon, and an Oranguru, the last three grunts, along with two of the salvaged Metangs, were hoisted out of the water. Upon their feet landing on the deck, the grunts all let out a rousing cheer, gladdened for their survival.
“What about Faba and Chrysalis?” a pale skinny grunt asked. “Did you find them?”
“No…” a younger grunt with sandy-brown hair panted. “If we haven’t found them by now…”
The pale grunt’s face became solemn, realizing what this must have meant.
“We can’t give up on them!” a grunt with water-matted reddish-brown hair exclaimed. “Maybe Faba and his Bruxish are still trying to get them out!”
“You would think they’d have surfaced by now though,” the sand-brown haired grunt responded.
“We’ll give them a few more minutes,” the pale, slender grunt commanded. “If we see no sign of them, we depart to Melemele Island. In the meantime, get those Metangs healed up.
“Right!” A grunt with buzzed black hair and another with a dark-blue Mohawk knelt down to the four fainted Metangs laying on the deck, fishing Revives and potions from their hoodie pockets.
Several of the grunts watched their two comrades heal the Metangs, while others kept watch over the bow to find a sign of Faba or Chrysalis in the choppy waves. A female grunt with purple hair, whose style was ruined by the wetness of the ocean, couldn’t help but notice a glimmer catch the corner of her eye. Turning around, she watched as a bright light hovered over Melemele Island as thin tendrils of energy converged up into it.
“Guys…” She was almost too stunned to speak. “Guys!”
A couple grunts heard and looked out to where she was. Spotting the light themselves, their audible amazement compelled the others to look up to the sky one by one, joining them in their aghast open-mouthed stares.
“No way…” a male grunt with a black emo haircut sighed out.
“She actually did it.” The grunt with the short black ponytail felt the slightest of a victorious shudder leave her lips as she breathed out.
“No.” The pale, slender grunt firmly placed his hand on her shoulder from behind. “We did it. We all did.”
The grunts kept their heads tilted up toward the light like a brilliant fireworks display, the remains of their concentration focused on keeping their balance on the still rocking boat.
Rotomjet sped toward the Hau’oli Beach, the sparse amount of pedestrians that had been walking the streets or driving down the roads stopped in their tracks to see Necrozma forming high up in the sky. As well, people began to spill out of the other buildings to get a better look at the odd light themselves as it began to unroll, taking on a draconic form.
With a sharp swing, Rotomjet came to a stop directly over the beach, slinging sand, seawater, and the rare empty soda can or sandwich wrapper that the cleaning crew forgot to pick up late that evening. The debris thrashed into the people gathered there, instantly distracting them from what was going on above and attempting to shield themselves as best they could.
Landing roughly on the beach, Rotomjet immediately ejected its ramp out to let its passengers off. Several of the people were turning to the aircraft with a sense of extreme indignation as the first round of creatures poured out. First seeing Dexio, they were immediately stunned in placated bemusement to see Celaeno and Cocoon run down next, followed by some humans and several other creatures.
Dexio began waving his arms, getting no one else’s attention other than those who were already looking at him and his friends behind him. “Back inside, now! It’s not safe out here!”
“What the hell are all of you?!” A middle aged woman screamed, shaking her pointed finger between Zeraora, Thorax, and Skystar.
“Is that really important right now?” Twilight shouted back. “You have to get away from that thing immediately!”
“Wait,” a younger man called back, “you know what that is!?”
“Yes!” Sun shouted. “It’s extremely powerful and just as dangerous! Get back inside now before–”
Necrozma let out a shriek harsh enough for everyone standing in the area to fall into a crouch and cover their ears with their hands, hooves, claws, or paws. The moment Necrozma’s shout ended, Dexio ran up the steps from the beach to the street, Celaeno and Applejack quickly following him up while Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and Thorax flew up to join him.
“Did we stutter?!” Rainbow Dash yelled as the people slowly got back to their feet. “Get inside, now! All of you!”
With timid, subservient nods, the humans all erupted into screams and ran toward the nearest building they stood by. As the rest of the creatures poured out of the Rotomjet, they all began to climb the steps onto the emptying streets, many of their eyes kept on Necrozma as it scanned its surroundings.
Sun glanced at his friends from enough of the corners of his eyes so that he could still monitor their foe up and away. “Those of you who can fly, span the city, get everyone and anyone indoors. Anyone who can’t, run, now!”
At once, Rainbow Dash, Luna, and Skystar took off to the western edges of the city, taking Applejack, Olivia, and Pinkie Pie with them. As several ponies galloped and ran off, a couple of humans following close behind, Lana and Mallow ran back toward the shore of the beach, the former throwing her Poké Ball out to send out her Cloyster for the two of them to ride toward the ferry docks.
Kahili, Nanu, and Acerola called out their Toucannon, Mandibuzz, Honchkrow, and Drifblim, respectively from their balls. As Toucannon carried Kahili off, Mandibuzz flew at Celaeno, who held up her arms and allowed the vulture Pokémon to carry her off with Kahili. Both Nanu and Acerola grabbed hold of one of Drifblim’s arms as the other two held on to Honchkrow, allowing it to fly the two off to the west.
Chrysalis turned to Thorax and Trixie, trotting eastward down the street. “There’s still more city this way. We shall cover this area!”
She then broke into a gallop with Cocoon following closely. With a glance and a nod toward each other, Trixie and Thorax galloped off to head their way. By that point, the only ones standing in their original spots were Sam, Alice, Sun, Lillie, Gladion, Dexio, Kaj, Mina, and Hapu.
Lillie then froze up with realization. “Oh no! The trainer’s school! There must still be night staff who aren’t aware yet.”
A similar pang of fear shot into Sun’s gut as well, causing him to glance where Ten Karat Hill no longer was. “Oh no, Mom! Lillie, Gladion help protect those still in the school! I need to help my mom!”
The three of them all summoned their Charizards from their Ride Pagers at once. As Lillie and Gladion departed on them, Sun was slower to leave, pulling his phone from his pocket and putting it to his ear, his other hand clasping his hair.
“Mom!” he breathed out all at once. “Yes, I’m alright, where are you?”
His Charizard began to take off, flying out east in the same direction as Lillie and Gladion. From above, Necrozma spotted Sun and the other two head toward its direction, its vengeful eyes tracking their movements. It then glanced back toward the city, squinting upon sighting Dexio, who remained with the last of the humans near the beach.
“Looks like this area is squared away,” Dexio spoke. “Alright then, let’s call out some Pokémon and get ready for this battle!”
Necrozma watched as Sam, Alice, Kaj, Hapu, and Mina all detached a Poké Ball from their belts. As Dexio reached for one of his, Necrozma threw its wings out and screeched up at the sky, its entire body becoming awash with bright yellow. Below, the six humans glanced back up at Necrozma, immensely unnerved by what it could possibly be doing.
“Is this it?” Hapu grunted. “Is this happening now?”
Suddenly, Dexio’s artificial Z-Ring began to glow a bright red, rays of light shining off like thick spikes. Dexio yelped as he clutched his wrist, only to scream louder and throw his hand off, bringing him to his knees as his right trembling hand filled with the searing light, the silhouette of the bones visible for the others to see.
“Dexio!” Alice cried. “What’s happening?”
Dexio could only have the slightest idea, and he knew it meant nothing good for either of them. “No…”
Outside the Aether House, the grunts standing to take the Mossdeep employees on suddenly noticed the light above Melemele get the tiniest bit brighter, the sound of Necrozma’s roar strangely ringing strongly in their ears despite their distance from it.
A black haired grunt with streaks of blue highlights placed his left hand over his ear, perplexed by the sensation he felt. “What on earth is that?”
Immediately, his Z-Ring and his hand began to light up, making him throw himself to the ground over the intense sting he felt on the side of his head and the burning that wouldn’t let up on his left hand. Before the others could have a chance to register what was happening to their comrade, each of their Z-Rings and hands began to radiate with excruciating heat and light, many of whom sank to their sides or their knees as their only way to deal with the pain.
The Mossdeep employees and their Pokémon felt their feet move away by themselves in natural retreat as they watched each of the grunts’ Poké Balls open up by themselves, letting out their Pokémon, who found themselves cast in a similar, though less-intense glow, much to their fear and confusion. At once, the Pokémon felt themselves dragged toward their trainers by an unseen force, several of them screaming and crying for help as they futilely tried to keep away.
In sheer contrast to the heat coursing inside the limbs of each grunt, the Mossdeep employees felt an icy terror fill their faces and spines as they spotted the blue-highlighted grunt, the force pushing his Slowking into him as the skin and clothes on their bodies started to meld together as if they were made from the same putty-like substance. An even sharper cry of agony left both trainer’s and Pokémon’s mouths as their bodies became so bright that the only defining feature left between them was a singular red outline.
The shapes of the Slowking and the grunt continued to compress together until it took a singular, ever-wobbling mass. The employees and their Pokémon continued scanning the area around them as the remaining trainers reached varying points of the macabre transformation. The dark-skinned white haired grunt was now the only one among her group with any semblance of her humanity intact. As her right leg and the left leg of her Espeon were fully fused together, the grunt reached out to the employees in a last resort effort for salvation, the left arm of her Pokémon becoming one with hers as the paws unnaturally stretched out to form a set of fingers.
“Please!” she cried over her own Pokémon’s screams. “Help us!”
Light covered the two of them, pulling them into a single mass much quicker now. Finally, the light that had fused the Slowking and its grunt had finally taken shape, sporting a large, bulky human build with a Slowking’s head. If the horrors that the Mossdeep employees had seen thus far weren’t enough, the light covering its body began to cool down rapidly like magma, narrowing and disappearing cracks exposing a black body that appeared to be made of flexible obsidian.
“What the hell is this?” the female employee whimpered.
One by one, the grunts’ transformations neared their end, and as the light cooled off of them, their new forms were revealed to the four Mossdeep employees. Now standing in place of each grunt were the Slowking hybrid, two Espeon hybrids, three Kadabra hybrids, two Hypno Hybrids, and an Oranguru hybrid, each with their own sizes and masses. With their forms coming into existence, the hybrids examined their new bodies, nonchalantly admiring their improved physiques. They all then faced the nearly petrified employees, a look of animalistic hunger in each of their eyes.
“Uhuh…” The third male employee sounded close to weeping as the snarling grunts slowly stepped toward them. “Any idea when Team Skull’s getting here?”
“Come on!” Carly struggled to pull a middle aged man back up to the docks from the water, his soaked clothes only weighing him down further.
A younger woman ran to her and knelt beside her to also grab hold of his arm. With both of their efforts, they managed to help the man reach up to the platform so that he could help pull himself up. With triumphant sighs all around, Carly felt comfortable calling her Carracosta back into its ball.
“Thank you so much!” the man panted, grabbing Carly’s free hand and shaking it.
“No problem,” Carly replied. “I was in danger of falling in my–”
Another woman’s scream rang out behind them, causing Carly and the man to turn back, watching as several Prism grunts began to surround the entrance to the docks and call their Pokémon out to block the people still on the pier in, each of them gazing up at Necrozma’s light.
“We did it!” A female grunt with only half a head of black hair stood by her Kadabra. “Prism has succeeded!”
At once, the light over Melemele Island grew brighter, and with it, the grunts’ Z-Rings lit up bright and hot. As they yelped and cried in pain, their Pokémon became encased in a softer red glow, and before they could register the disconcerting warmth covering them, their bodies were flung into their respective grunts. With the flesh and clothing of trainer and Pokémon becoming one with all of them, their bodies turned a bright red, their screams of agony cut off forever before the eyes and ears of the terrified onlookers.
“What the hell?” Carly squeaked.
Nearly at once, the light receded off the hybrids’ new bodies, revealing their humanoid Pokémon forms to them. Carly was too petrified to react as many of the others were, who immediately jumped into the water as their only pathway to safety.
“Miss!” The man that Carly had saved grabbed her by the wrist. “We have to go!”
Still half-lucid in her shock, the man had to pull Carly away to find the safest path before she ran along with him.
On the yacht, all twenty-four of the grunts’ Z-Rings went red along with their arms, many of them collapsing due to the sheer anguish.
“What’s happening?” the purple-haired grunt gurgled. “Why is this–”
Suddenly, her Bruxish popped out of its ball on its own, and as it looked at its surroundings in confusion, a red light shone off from it. The two watched as more Pokémon came out from their balls, each of them sporting the same glow. To the Bruxish and its grunt’s shock, their comrades’ Pokémon appeared to fall into their trainers from the sides, and as their bodies began to meld as if they were liquid, their pain only got more excruciating if their screams were anything to go by.
As several of them turned into a single mass and went bright, the sandy-haired grunt and his Kadabra, whose heads, torsos, and legs continued to press together, hobbled to his former partner and reached out to her, making her back away.
“Stop this, please!” His voice was gravel now, nearly unintelligible, and with the pain too much for him as his right eye and his Pokémon’s left eye became one, he slumped over to his side. “Mom… I just want…”
The purple-haired grunt’s eyes welled with tears as her companion’s body shone bright, no longer resembling anything like the man he was or the Pokémon he had. It was then that she noticed her Bruxish floating at her, much to both of their terror.
“No!” She placed both of her hands onto her Pokémon and pushed away, only to find both of her hands entered into it distressingly easily.
With loud bawls, the grunt kept trying to push her Pokémon away, who could only hold its mouth open in pain as the transformation failed to stop. Strength soon left her arms, as her Bruxish-hands made their way toward her chest, sinking inside where the heat was now at its hottest.
“I’m sorry!” she bellowed at the sky, the light covering her. “I’m so sorry for–”
The grunt and her Bruxish were no more, turning into something else entirely along with her other grunts, the light that had covered them now beginning to dim and fade. No longer feeling any pain, they felt comfortable to stand up once again, the hybrids they now became seeing the bodies that had come into existence. With the Kadabra hybrid and the Bruxish hybrid, formerly the sandy-haired grunt and the bobbed purple-haired grunt, being the last to complete the transformation, the others awaited and observed as they also saw the bodies they gained.
The free Kadabras and Metangs still on the boat, having seen all of this, felt their flight instincts kick in as they dispersed, the Metangs flying off while the Kadabras teleported away. The hybrids seemed to pay them no mind as each one of them turned to the north, Necrozma’s light above Melemele Island their beacon to where they now felt compelled to go.
“Dexio!” Sam cried, reaching out for him.
Suddenly, all five of Dexio’s Pokémon were forced out of their Ultra Balls, Sam hopping away before Metagross could land on top of him. The five humans surrounding them could only gaze on in sheer confusion, which was matched by Dexio’s Pokémon as they felt a warm glow surround their bodies.
“Guys,” Dexio wept, “run! Save your–”
All five Pokémon yelped as they were slung off the ground and into their trainer. Dexio grunted, expecting to get crushed, but immediately felt that his body perfectly fit in between each of his Pokémon, even as he felt them pushing tighter into him. Kaj shrieked as she saw Alakazam stretch unnaturally out as it was pulled out into Slowking and Espeon’s bodies while its head was pulled back into Dexio’s shoulder.
“NO!” Alice tried to run for her friend, only for Sam to catch her and pull her away as she struggled to reach out to him. “Dexio, NO!!”
Mina and Hapu forced themselves to look away from their friend’s gruesome metamorphosis and up at Necrozma, their fear of it now outweighing their hatred. With the last of their wimpers and moans, Dexio’s Pokémon no longer looked a thing like their former selves as they compressed tighter and tighter into their trainer. Veiny tracks began to seep into Dexio’s face as he reached out from the amalgamation he was now a part of, his hand now having his Alakazam’s thumb, one of Metagross’s claws, and the rest of it the right half of Espeon’s paw.
With a final guttural scream, the singular body of Dexio and his Pokémon erupted with a bright red light, the energy exerting off of him almost blowing Sam, Alice, Kaj, Mina, and Hapu away. They could only fearfully watch on as four Metagross arms shot out from the mass, serving as the new creature’s legs. A long tail shot out from behind it and branched off into two, the ends widening out into two long lightning-shaped boards. A humanoid torso and arms formed, though the hands on the ends of them had only three fingers. Finally, its head completed its shape, having the appearance of an Alakazam with Slowking’s crown atop of it, as well as Espeon’s ears.
The red light covering and obscuring it finally receded from bright warm cracks all over its body, revealing a black, stony visage that towered over all five trainers surrounding it. The only sounds and movements it made were its breaths, rough and metallic, its shoulders and chest rising up and down as it came to terms with the biology of each and every Pokémon connected to it. Despite what their friend had become, the calm of the scene before them filled them with an odd hope that Dexio was deep down somewhere inside this abomination.
Alice took a step forward, Sam instantly glancing in her direction. “Dexio?”
The Dexio hybrid opened its eyes, blue and beady like the Raichu it once had, and lunged at Alice, its fist flying directly at her.