"What are you talking about?" Elio asked. "Isn't Necrozma the one who steals light from other realms?" He asked.

The boy rolled his eyes. "Nowadays, yes. But before it was attacked and injured it brought light to all of the worlds in the Multiverse."

"Ah yes, I believe I remember studying this part of the legend!" Phyco recalled. "There is a large prism in the Multiverse that projects light to every universe. Necrozma is the one to restore its light once every few centuries."

The boy nodded. "Indeed. And that light is running out. Ever since Necrozma was imprisoned, the Multiverse has been running on borrowed time. My home realm is close to the prism and lost its light 20 years ago. Ever since, we've been plagued by Shadows."

Selene raised an eyebrow. "Shadows?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "Look, I can explain more later. Right now, we need to get Necrozma to refill the prism with light."

"There are a few problems with that," Elio said. "Necrozma isn't exactly a bringer of light anymore, and it also is rampaging around while being fused with a Solgaleo."

"I'm aware." The boy snapped. "I've been trying to track it down for ages. That's how I first ran into you all. And with your Lunala, we can defeat Necrozma."

Phyco leaned forward. "How so? We've tried fighting it head-on and that hasn't worked out in our favor."

The boy chuckled. "Well of course. You don't have a Lunalium Z."

Selene tilted her head. "Lunalium? Does that mean Lunala has a special Z-Move it can perform?"

"Indeed!" The boy confirmed. "But to get it, we need to get to the top of the Xern Tree. It's already crawling with Shadows and gets worse by the day, so that's why we need to get a move on."

Zossie shot up. "We're getting to go to that big tree? Yay!"

Selene looked down at her legs and sighed. "Well there's one small problem with that, my legs are still out of commission."

The boy scratched his chin and sent out a Comfey. "Use Floral Healing." A wave of energy rushed from Comfey and through Selene. The energy seemed to mend Selene's wounds and she felt the pain fade away.

Selene gently got to her feet with Elio's help and managed to stay standing with no trouble. "Wow! I'm as good as new! Thanks... hey I never got your name."

"I'm Ralph." He introduced. "But everyone here calls me the Ultra Traveler."

Selene did an Alolan Wave. "I'm Selene and this is Elio. Those two are Phyco and Zossie of the Ultra Recon Squad. They're from Ultra Megalopolis!"

Elio went and retrieved the group's pokemon while Ralph stared Phyco up and down. "My original plan was to find Ultra Megalopolis and free Necrozma from the prison you people put him in."

Phyco sighed. "I don't know if you know this but Necrozma was injured to a point where it simply lashed out and stole light from other realms. It isn't trying to bring light to the prism."

"Not presently, no. But the reason it wanted to steal light was to restore its form." Ralph growled. "And your people locked it up while realms fell into darkness. But don't worry, I can fix that too. The Lunalium can defeat Necrozma but, since it's part of its body, it can help Necrozma too."

Selene watched the two have a silent standoff while waiting for Elio to come back. He returned and redistributed the Poké Balls to their owners.

Selene was relieved that he was back and the group could finally leave the dark building. They walked outside and Phyco prepared to signal down Lunala.

"Don't bother," Ralph said. "I can get us there faster." Phyco rolled his eyes as Ralph sent out yet another Pokémon.

This time, he sent out a Cosmoem. Selene was shocked to see the Pokémon that she recognized as Solgaleo's pre-evolution form. "That's a Cosmoem!" She gasped.

Ralph nodded. "Cosmo and I became bonded a few years back and together we figured out how to travel through Ultra Space."

"Oh yeah," Elio said. "I was going to ask how you managed to open portals."

Ralph grinned. "By using Cosmo's stored power and my Z-Ring energy we're able to open portals every once and a while. I've charted most of Ultra Space by doing this. But Cosmo can also teleport us places. Like to the Xern Tree."

Cosmo closed its eyes and Selene suddenly felt her very being be ripped from the ground and instantly carried thousands of feet away to the base of the tree.

The size of the tree was even grander up close. Giant roots made of silver oak wood covered considerable parts of the ground and red leaves seemed to emanate their own faint light.

Up higher there seemed to be dark misty somethings drifting through the air. "Shadows," Ralph grumbled. He walked up to the tree and into an opening. "Let's get moving."

The inside of the tree was a glorious spiral going up farther than Selene could see. A pool of water was at the bottom and small Pokémon swam around it.

The algae at the bottom shone brightly and spent light high up into the spiral. The spiral also contained a staircase against the wall made of the seem wood as the rest of the tree.

"Nice to see the Shadows haven't destroyed everything yet." Ralph mused.

"What ARE Shadows?" Elio asked.

Ralph started going up the staircase. "They're wayward souls that thrive off of darkness. Necrozma's light wards them off but without the light, they roam free. They're capable of taking control of humans and Pokémon so send out your best battler and be careful. It'll be a difficult fight up to the top."

Phyco admired the staircase. "Incredible. Did your people build this staircase themselves?"

Ralph nodded. "They had the help of Pokémon but yeah, this tree has gifted the people of this world with life and shelter for centuries. It's also where we kept all of the Z-Crystals as offerings for Necrozma, but the Shadows took it over not long ago."

Selene noticed the pride Ralph took in explaining his world. "We'll take this tree back then, and then beat Necrozma so we can vanquish these Shadows once and for all."

Zossie nodded. "Yeah! These meanies won't know what hit them!"

"Thank you," Ralph smiled faintly. His expression turned back to seriousness. "Now, get your Pokémon ready." Ralph sent out his Decidueye again.

Elio sent out Primarina and Selene called out Incineroar. Zossie sent out her Furfrou and the group started up the tower.

Selene and Elio walked side by side and for the first time in a while, she could let herself catch up with everything that had happened. Are Elio and I... a couple now? Selene wondered.

She wanted to hold his hand but she still wasn't sure where they were. Selene hadn't even realized how she felt until hours ago when she faced down death.

Selene had always felt differently about Elio than her other friends but she had assumed that was just because he was her best friend and they had been through so much together.

Only thinking how sad she would be if she never saw him again made her realize that she cared for him in a way she had never cared for anyone before.

Selene felt a surge of confidence and took Elio's hand in hers. He said nothing but smiled at her as they went up the spiraling staircase.

It wasn't long before the group was attacked by some of the Shadow creatures. They moved like purple mist and the only thing that gave them a tangible form were the green gems floating in the center of the black haze.

"Decidueye, use Spirit Shackle!" Ralph's Pokémon nocked a feather arrow in its arm and fired it into the gem. The green stone shattered and the misty blob faded away.

More Shadows descended on the group. "Don't let them near you!"

"Incineroar use Flamethrower!" Selene's Pokémon sent a massive blast of fire into the sky that engulfed and destroyed the nearest Shadows.

The group started hurrying up the stairs as more and more of the misty foes approached. "Primarina hit them with Sparkling Aria!" Primarina came to a stop and summoned a ball of water.

She sang with her hypnotic voice and the water flew out in multiple directions and into some of the enemies.

"Decidueye! Fly up and use Leaf Blade!" Ralph shouted. The trainer punched a Shadow's gem into pieces while his Pokémon took to the sky.

Decidueye summoned a green sword and cut down Shadow after Shadow by flying by then and slices them to pieces. "Now use Spirit Shackle!"

Decidueye dove down and turned to face upward. He fired and arrow up and it exploded as it approached a cluster of the mist creatures.

Decidueye flew back up to join the group and they continued up the tower.

The trek continued for several more minutes with many more Shadows attacking from all ends. By the time they reached the top, Selene and her Incineroar were exhausted.

"Chin up..." Ralph said while catching his breath. "The one guarding the top is likely a powerful Pokémon under the control of a Shadow."

Elio rolled his eyes. "Just our luck. We beat a whole army of these bizarre Shadows only to have to fight some crazy powerful one at the end."

"Don't fret," Phyco assured them. "Rotom, let's try one of those Roto Powers, shall we?"

Selene looked at the man with an eyebrow raised. "Roto Powers?"

"Since I'm not much help in battle, I worked with Rotom on something that will give you a benefit in battle. What the benefit is, I cannot be sure until we try," Phyco explained.

"Here we goooooooo!" Rotom's voice shouted. The device on Phyco's wrist started to glow and suddenly a blue capsule with a red arrow on it appeared from the device.

The capsule landed in Selene's hands. "What does it do?"

"Zzt Zzt! That right there will boost the stats of your Pokémon in battle!" Rotom Dex explained.

Elio grinned. "That's awesome!"

Ralph cleared his throat. "Now, let's battle that Pokémon. Before more Shadows get here and overwhelm us." And with that, the group moved into the next room.