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Part 2 of this , I used Lana as a base for both Myun and Mewon; it's kind of obvious...

-10

Monday, on the way to school, Topu Koko leads Ash to a newly born Cosmog, eventually nicknamed “Nebby” since they don’t know it’s real pokemon name. Upon awakening, Nebby starts to cry; Myun attempts to connect with Nebby telepathically to figure out what it wants but Mallow is ultimately able to calm it. Turns out Nebby likes Star Candies. After school, Ash and Lillie go to Kukui’s house where they are met by Professor Burnet, Lusamine, Wicke, and Faba who all want to meet Nebby.

On Tuesday, Nebby learns Teleport and all day keeps teleporting the students to various places they happen to be thinking of, eventually ending up on top of the school as the sun sets. Myun shows off his telekinesis by lifting everyone safely to the ground.

Wednesday is a fieldtrip to Aether Paradise and Myun vehemently refuses to go, forced to reveal more of his past for them to understand why; he says that, when he was young, he had been taken to a place full of scientists doing research and was experimented on to understand his psychic powers. It was an extremely traumatic experience for him and Lillie understands better than anyone about how trauma can affect someone. Everyone else has a fine visit to Aether Paradise and a nice adventure with Ditto.

Thursday after school is bath day for Ash’s pokemon, who all get teleported to Gladion and have a battle.

Friday has everyone over at Kukui’s place for a sleepover. Myun declines and Hau along with him but Sally and Eliot go, leaving the boy-to-girl ratio the same. Fluff happens. He feels ashamed for keeping Hau from going but Myun knows he probably would’ve done something regrettable if he’d gone.

Saturday morning, as Ash is escorting all of his friends home, Lillie gets teleported to Gladion and relives her trauma, returning to the group regressing enough that she can’t even touch Snowy anymore! That night, Gladion confronts Ash before returning to his motel room. Faba comes by to reclaim Type: Null.

Nothing of note happens Sunday besides Lillie being depressed.

-11

Monday at school, everyone supports Lillie fighting her relapse; she did it once, she can do it again! Ash walks her home after school and Nebby teleports them to various places from her youth, jogging her memory, and eventually ending up in the research area under Aether Paradise. Elsewhere, Gladion confronts Lusamine about what Faba said and Lillie gets captured by Faba. Lusamine and Gladion arrive as Faba is trying to erase Lillie’s memories and a fight breaks out. As the newly released Silvally saves Lillie, the scene mirrors what happened to her as a child to prevent her from touching pokemon in the first place, giving her a new perspective of the event. As Faba slinks away, Lillie celebrates being able to touch pokemon again!

Tuesday has Aether Paradise in a tizzy trying to find Faba and Gladion decides to try finding the scientist on his own. Lillie is happily hugging all of the pokemon while Myun feels vindicated but horrified that his instincts about Aether Paradise were correct, even if the head didn’t know what the tail was doing in the dark. He tried to close his mind to the anxiety and focus on the jump rope exercise, which is why he didn’t feel the disturbance of Faba’s presence until it was too late. Upon realizing that Nebby was likely in the depths of Aether Paradise, alone against an immoral scientist, Myun broke and flew off at top speed, even forgetting Rattata and Sunny in the school yard. In order to focus his efforts to speed, and eventually fighting, Myun reverted to his Mewon form by the time he arrived at Aether Paradise and immediately blasted his way into the restricted area. In Lillie’s jet, the false island was barely visible when Ash witnessed the explosion and smoke cloud that they assumed Myun had made. Mewon quickly found Faba and was in the process of fighting Faba’s Hypno, Alakazam, and Beheeyem when everyone else arrived. Hau, along with Sunny and Rattata, realized Mewon was in a blood frenzy and was liable to actually murder Faba if he got his claws on him and did their best to calm him down. They called him Myun but there was no time to dwell on it as Nebby still needed saving, as it was being used to open an Ultra Wormhole! Ash, Pikachu, and Umbreon manage to free Nebby, closing the Wormhole, but Nebby promptly evolves into Cosmoem, reopening it. Nihilego emerges and captures Lusamine while she's protecting her kids, before retreating through the Wormhole as it closes. Immediate threat taken care of, Faba whimpers, pointing the blame anywhere but at himself, and the Aether Siblings vow to find and save their mother. Professor Burnet takes charge and convinces Lillie and Gladion that they need to rest and rethink strategies, come at this from a different angle, in order to save their mother. Ash is told to rest and look after the evolved Nebby, and finally Mewon can addressed, as he is barely containing his trauma-induced rage at Faba. He uncomfortably confirms that he is indeed Myun and hadn’t really intended his secret to come out like this. He also insists that he get out of the lab area before he does something regrettable. Hobs takes the kids home in the jet and Ash, Lillie, and Gladion take turns talking to Mewon and Hau to distract themselves. Mewon begged them to keep his secret until he was ready to tell the others himself.

Wednesday morning, after Ash brings the others up to speed and Lillie and Gladion are revealed to be missing, they decide to talk to Kahuna Hala; and check on Hau and Myun, who hadn’t shown up to the meeting either. The other students had asked about Hau and Myun before but Ash kept his promise, saying Myun was ok but wanted to tell them what happened himself, when he was ready. They eventually decide to go to the Altar of the Sunne. Myun was pretty messed up after his experience in the labs, regressing to panic attacks and nightmares whenever he passes out from exhaustion. Hau is torn, wanting to help the others as well as stay with Myun, but Myun makes the decision for him; Mewon reveals himself to the students and tells Hau to help the others since Myun is in no fit state to help anyone. Hau protests but Mewon insists, saying that Hala is still here and with Rattata and Sunny by his side, he should be fine until Hau gets back. He addresses the other stunned students, reminding them of how Lillie reverted to being unable to touch pokemon after revisiting her own trauma and that he’s going through something similar right now. He’ll tell them more once they return and Myun’s gotten a bit better, something to look forward to after whatever adventure they’re about to embark on. They all have a grand adventure saving Lusamine from both Nihilego and herself. (This plays out exactly as it does in the show with little variation) After saving Lusamine, everyone went home and Hau told Mewon and Hala all about what happened. Mewon lamented his inability to help them and swore he would never be useless like that again.

Thursday morning has everyone staring at Myun, who recoils when anyone come near him. He had insisted he go to school and pretend everything was fine, since staying home would just leave him trapped in his own head. Lillie arrives and takes the pressure off of him as she thanks everyone for their efforts. At lunch, Hau is shielding Myun as best he can and Myun eventually says that he’ll tell them everything once he’s more stable. Some students are more understanding than others. That night, Kukui proposes to Burnet, who happily accepts.

Friday Ash tells the students the big news but they are disappointed that the two professors aren’t having a big wedding party for it, deciding to throw a party of their own. Myun happily lets the wedding take the spotlight from him but wonders if there’s a reason Kukui and Burnet don’t want a wedding. When class starts, everyone congratulates Kukui and Myun raises his concern; he didn’t wanna force something on the professors that they didn’t want. Kukui just says neither of them have the time or money for something like that and they had agreed it wasn’t too important; maybe once they’d saved up a bit they could afford a ceremony of some kind but for now, this would do. Armed with this knowledge, Myun fully supports the surprise wedding.

Saturday has all of the students running around, trying to organize everything last minute, but are pleased that everything is coming together nicely; most everyone they ask wants to pitch in, since Kukui and Burnet had often helped the community. Myun starts to feel some semblance of “normal” again as he helps set up the wedding, glad to have something to focus on besides himself.

Sunday is the wedding and everything goes off without a hitch. However, after the festivities are dying down, Faba appears and Myun freezes. Faba apologizes and Lusamine has assigned Wicke as his superior, to watch every little thing he does. After a short explanation, the students are invited to join the Aether Foundation in a project called The Ultra Guardians, since they all have first-hand experience with Ultra Wormholes. Myun is invited as well, despite not joining the others in saving her; he demonstrated plenty of power stopping Faba’s initial plan and understood he was reliving traumatic memories tat the time.

-12

Monday morning shows Kukui and Burnet seamlessly integrating themselves into a family unit, looking after Ash. Training at school is interrupted by Komala and Jigglypuff having a “fight” while hilarity ensues. Myun wonders if Jigglypuff even realizes that it’s getting mad about its move working perfectly.

Tuesday after school is a body-swapping adventure with Rotomdex.

Wednesday at lunch, Mallow is reminded of “Grandpa Forest” and Mallow and Lana decide to go find it, to thank it for saving Lana’s siblings when they got lost the other day. Ash happily joins in to see a new pokemon and Myun decides this is a good time to test the waters as Mewon for a little while, in the forest with a limited audience. They do eventually find Grandpa Forest, discovering it to be a Drampa, but Team Skull crashes the party, highlighting the difference between kids and teens. As they were taken by surprise, Mewon didn’t have time to transform back to Myun before being spotted; he then refused to transform so Team Skull wouldn’t know Mewon and Myun were related. Once fought off, Mewon transforms back and nearly has a panic attack at being discovered and Drampa helps calm him down. Mallow, Lana, and Ash get to see first-hand why Myun doesn’t want to delve into his past just yet; he’s still not ready to face it.

Thursday is a fieldtrip to Mount Lanakila to participate in the Amateur Sled Jump Competition, and Hala decides to come along so his Crabrawler can evolve and he can also participate. They are all encouraged to at least try it once and both Ash and Kiawe are fired up over the icy sport. Lillie is hesitant but signs up with encouragement and Myun holds back, knowing he’ll get competitive if he lets himself. With some assurances that his friends will help keep him in check, Myun also signs up with Sunny and begins to train. They stay the night at the Pokemon Center.

Friday is the big competition and fun is had overall with Hala eventually taking home the Title and the prize, a 99-year-old wooden Slowpoke sled!

Saturday Myun finally decides to get it over with, inviting the class to Hau and Hala’s house. Mewon introduces himself and as much of his past as he can manage. Upon hearing his sad tale, everyone realizes why this took so long to come out, and some of the wider ramifications, like being wary of pokeballs; they praise Mewon for being brave and trusting them all with this secret. Mewon still has to fight a panic attack but is able to be talked down with everyone’s support. They all camp out for the night and Mewon sleeps easy for the first time since arriving on the island, surrounded by those he can trust.

Sunday is mostly a lazy day and Mewon allows himself to join breakfast as Mewon, hesitantly letting everyone pet him. Some students have other obligations and have to go home early while the rest take a hike in the woods, where Mewon feels more comfortable being himself.

-13

Meowth has been feeling kinda useless for a while now, and it all comes to a head on Monday. He’s too pokemon to do all of the things humans can do but too human to be accepted by other pokemon; he’s not good enough at being a pokemon to fight for himself but can’t command other pokemon because he’s not a human; he couldn’t even help Lillie with her fear of touching pokemon, as she did that with Silvally; he feels stuck, and lost, and very down on himself. In this state of mind, an Alolan Meowth finds its way to the mansion; everyone is lost in its charm and Meowth feels very replaced. At first, Meowth reverts to its old Rocket ways but this backfires when he gets tunnel vision and he runs away, eventually stumbling into Ash. With a bit of coaxing, Meowth tells Ash what’s wrong and Ash remembers Meowth had claimed the Darkinium-Z; maybe Meowth should try to learn a dark-type move to match! Meowth reminds Ash that the TRio doesn’t have a Z-Ring so learning a new move would be useless at this point, not to mention potentially impossible; he’d accepted long ago that having learned to speak human and walk upright had stunted his ability to learn more moves, but Ash is determined to help Meowth learn a new move to increase his self-esteem. Going back to Kukui’s house with Ash, Meowth wonders how long it would take for his friends to notice he’s gone and decides to not tell them where he’s at, just to see. Ash thinks that’s kinda cruel but Meowth counters that Ash should’ve seen how they were treating Meowth today and they leave it at that. Ash decides to put on the Masked Royal, hoping that seeing the fight would help get Meowth motivated.

Tuesday after school, the class goes to the Battle Royal Dome on Akala Island and Lillie sees Meowth with Ash, mentioning that Jessie and James were worried sick. Mewoth is unimpressed. Litten jumps forward at the call for volunteers and both Kiawe/Marowak and Sophacles/Charjabug join Ash/Litten against Masked Royal/Incineroar, who beats them all handily. Litten is frustrated and Meowth consoles it, noting how often he used to lose with Team Rocket; they got used to it after a while. Ash realizes he’s a big part of why Meowth has such low self-esteem but also recognizes he couldn’t let them win and take Pikachu away from him; he made the right choices before and he was going to make it up to Meowth now, since he's good. Ash made a mental note to check on Jessie and James too, but for now, Litten was his highest concern. Ash decides to start training with Litten that night, hoping to get it to learn Flame Charge and somewhat hoping that watching them work hard will motivate Meowth.

Wednesday, Ash decides to take Meowth to school, rather than let him stay at home to dwell on his depression, recruiting the others to help encourage Meowth too. Mewon had been convinced to “let his hair down” today when the class is interrupted by an alert from the Aether Foundation that an Ultra Beast has arrived and the Ultra Guardians have their first mission! Everyone encourages Mewon to keep going; even if they are going to be seen by random townsfolk, Mewon will be with the Ultra Guardians and won’t have to tell anyone about his connection to Myun so he can still hide if he wants. Fears allayed, everyone goes down to an underground bunker beneath the school; formerly a bomb shelter, the Aether Foundation revamped it into a secret base! The human Ultra Guardians receive special suits to help protect them and set them apart as professionals, the pokemon receiving special badges for the same purpose, including Meowth, and Mewon receives the top half of a suit and a badge; Lusamine explains that the machine can detect what form Mewon is in and will adjust his particular outfit accordingly. Though put off by the lab-like aesthetic, as uncomfortable as it is familiar, Mewon joins the others listening to Lusamine’s report. Armed with knowledge and items, everyone finds their own ride pokemon; Ash/Garchomp, Kiawe/Charizard, Sophocles/Metang, Mallow/Flygon, Lana/Dragonair, Lillie/Altaria, Hau/Braviary, Sally/Togekiss, Eliot/Scarmory. Lusamine mentions Mewon’s ability to fly on his own so he would probably be slowed down by having a ride pokemon to worry about, having his free movement limited. Mewon feels relieved but wonders what Myun’s ride would have been if not for Mewon. They arrive at Mahalo Trail, where a Snorlax has just been deflated by Buzzwole and most of the team help it recover via Full Restores and Berries. Ash and Myun leave it to them while they charge after Buzzwole, who is busy flexing its muscles at anyone who dares look at it. Meowth can’t understand Buzzwole and Mewon can’t connect with it telepathically, so talking it out is a no-go. However, Mewon recognizes the show of strength, similar to those who train at Clawmark Hill, and returns the posturing by dropping to all fours, raking the ground with his claws, and roaring as loud as he can; having signaled that he accepts Buzzwole’s challenge, the contest of strength begins. Both battle hard and eventually end up exhausted while Mewon’s friends marvel at the power of an Ultra Beast as well as Mewon’s ferocity. While unable to really speak to Buzzwole due to a language barrier, Mewon is able to get the point across that he enjoyed the contest and wants to get Buzzwole home. Buzzwole agrees and Myun captures it for ease of transport, shocking everyone with how ok he is with the idea; Mewon explains that Buzzwole agreed to it and besides, it was only temporary. Once the Ultra Wormhole is reopened, Mewon postures a goodbye to Buzzwole, mimicked by everyone else. Mewon admits that, despite his misgivings, being an Ultra Guardian might not be so bad; besides, if the scientists do ever come for him, he’ll have people who care enough to notice he’s gone and come save him. Myun isn’t quite comfortable enough to fully discard his human disguise, but he’s at least going to openly be Mewon while being an Ultra Guardian. Despite the exhausting adventure, Ash still finds the energy to agility train with Litten while Meowth watches.

Thursday, Ash is hyped up to train and knows that today is the day Litten is gonna learn Flame Charge! Kukui allows extra time to train and Sunny gets hyped up watching Litten, eager to show off its own moves. Meowth finds this endearing and has a talk with Kukui about learning a new move. Rotomdex, who happened to be nearby, went over a list of moves Meowths can typically learn, which included some dark-type moves, and Kukui explains the mechanics of a few of them, like how Thief uses slight-of-hand to steal a target’s held item, capitalizing on speed and stealth. Another option is Feint Attack, where Meowth would approach disarmingly before striking while the target is unaware. Something like Night Slash is possible, but Meowth would have to train long and hard to master it; learn to walk before you try to run, Meowth. Later that night, Litten still hadn’t quite mastered Flame Charge when Masked Royal arrives, challenging the two to a rematch, where Litten evolves into Torracat and perfects Flame Charge but ultimately loses the fight. Ash and Torracat aren’t sad though, this was a huge breakthrough for them and they couldn’t be happier to have Masked Royal and Incineroar as rivals! As they all go inside, Meowth says he’s ready to try learning a new move; Feint Attack! Ash promises they’ll start tomorrow, bright and early!

True to his word, Ash wakes at the break of dawn Friday morning, dragging a groggy Meowth with him. To get a baseline for Meowth’s strength and get him used to battling as a pokemon again, Ash poses as Meowth’s trainer against Torracat on its own; this is also to get Torracat used to fighting in its new form. Meowth is nervous and resists Ash’s commands a few times, to disastrous results each time, but when Meowth finally swallows his pride and follows Ash’s orders, he actually starts to do pretty well against Torracat. They’re nearly late to school due to training but make it anyways and Ash can’t help but dwell on the fight and how to help Meowth. They have a heart to heart at lunch and Meowth admits he’s never been one to take orders well; he’s too independent. Ash admits this is one of Meowth’s strong suits, which surprises Meowth, but if he is going to be able to learn anything from Ash, Meowth has to be willing to listen. As Feint Attack requires a distraction and a quick strike, they decide to start on the distraction first, since it’s easier. If he can get close via dodging, he’ll be able to deliver the dark blow once they get to that point. Meowth finds he can be very distracting when he puts his mind to it.

Meowth and Ash train basically all-day Saturday, getting the dark part of Feint Attack to work. It’s taking longer than Ash thought but he’s still determined.

Sunday is chore day and Ash is tasked with restocking the fridge. While out at the market, they have a run in with two groups of Passimians and end up escorting the “green” group to the Pokemon Center, where Myun was volunteering again. Ash and Myun are told about Passimian culture and Ash is horrified he had a part in letting the “red” group take over the green group’s area. While Meowth enjoys a break from training, Ash is learning everything he can about Passimians.

-14

Monday morning, Ash asks Meowth how he can communicate with the green Passimians and Meowth mentions that pokemon communication is all about intent rather than the words used; his point will get across no matter what words he uses, so long as he feels it with all his being. Ash then asks how Meowth learned to speak human if it’s so different than pokemon language and Meowth just deadpans “practice” which gets a chuckle out of Ash, who reassures Meowth that if he shows even half as much determination to learning Feint Attack, he’s sure to get it in no time! At school, Ash and Pikachu are both acting like Passimians, to try to get in their heads; he even steals Rowlet’s lunch! Myun shows off his shapeshifting by becoming a (small-ish) Passimian and this gives the rest of the class an idea. Unfortunately, Myun can only transform himself, but by the end of school, the class has thrown together a Passimian costume for Ash! Absolutely thrilled by this development, the class makes their way to the Melemele Greens, where the green group of Passimian live. With a little help from Meowth and Myun, Ash is able to bolster the “home team’s” confidence to challenge the red Passimian “away team” for leadership of the troop. The “game” is hard fought and the greens are on the brink of losing, when another Passimian joins the game! More and more of the green troop join in to support their chosen leaders and the reds are chased away.

Tuesday, James drove Lillie to school and decided to stick around, being able to admit he missed Meowth before Jessie could; she was still upset that Meowth had made them worry on purpose! Meowth is cold towards James at first, and after the students wonder if Pikachu would ever evolve, they asked if Meowth had ever considered it. Meowth goes off about how much he hates Persians and would never want to become one; he’s perfectly happy as a Meowth, thank you very much. James affirms that they wouldn’t have it any other way. Meanwhile, the screams of several girls herald the introduction of Ilima the Normal-Type Trainer, alumni of the Pokemon School! After dispelling some wild rumors about Ilima that have blown out of proportion, they all try their hand at PokeDive before Team Skull shows up, apparently having beef with Ilima, who defeats them handily. Ilima then reveals his purpose for coming to Alola is to compete in a Poke-Ping Pong competition next Sunday, to which they are all invited, and had agreed to teach the students of the Pokemon School while he was at it. James is encouraged to play a set with Meowth as his partner, however, their disharmony comes to a head and Meowth finally tells James plainly why he left and why he’s with Ash: he wants to learn a new move and training pokemon has never really been James’ or Jessie’s strong suit. “All we’ ever done is lie and cheat and steal, we ain’t never trained for nothing and honestly, I don’t even think we know how! We’ve seen the twerp turn zeros to heroes before and I’m tired of being weak and useless and I know I can't get there on my own. You two are my pals, I could never leave you forever, but I just... need some time to figure things out, ya know?” Meowth leaves to get his emotions back under control and James decides it’s best if he goes home for now.

Wednesday is a normal day at school until Pikachu is discovered missing at lunch time. Ash has some flashbacks of Team Rocket before convincing the class to find it and Myun can feel Ash’s absolute panic bubbling barely beneath the surface. Rowlet leads Ash away from the school and tries to attack the strange purple pokemon it perceives as an enemy, inly to be badly poisoned by Toxic. Poipole, who had led Pikachu away from school, felt bad for the misunderstanding and they all try to head back to the school, only to be interrupted by Team Skull, who happened to see them walking by. Pikachu defends Poipole and Rowlet until Ash arrives and “convinces” Team Skull to leave with the help of Lycanroc and Torracat. They quickly take Rowlet to be healed before heading down to the bunker with Poipole; a pokemon not even Rotom has seen before! Encouraged to keep Poipole around for study, since it seemed fairly harmless, Ash tries to catch it, to no avail. He then demonstrates with Rowlet how pokeballs work and Poipole happily captures itself.

Thursday has the students volunteering at the Hau’oli Pokemon Center but Nurse Joy is too sick to show them much; she leaves it up to Myun, who has been volunteering somewhat regularly since his arrival on the island. Thrown into the deep end, Myun is determined to make sure everyone can swim, giving them all a quick rundown of their duties as nurses; he takes the lead on a few ornery clients who want things “just so” or who will only trust Nurse Joy with their pokemon. Even Meowth got a chance to shine, translating a sick pokemon’s symptoms to help identify what treatment was needed, and helping a few newer trainers understand their pokemon a bit better. A Team Skull member had been skulking around nearby and Myun notices him try to sneak in multiple times, only to be scared off when spotted by any of the student nurses. Myun can feel the pain radiating from his pokemon in its pokeball and eventually confronts the Skull, ordering him to bring out his pokemon for treatment. Shocked at Myun’s boldness, the Skull complies and brings out a plugged up Garbador! Thankfully, Nurse Joy arrives just in time to take charge of the “sticky” situation, since it was outside of Myun’s capabilities. Treatment takes time but with everyone working at it, Garbador is eventually feeling better and the Skull is scolded for not taking care of his pokemon. “Where’s the cool in doin’ that?” to which Myun replies “The “cool” is having healthy pokemon capable of peak performance. I mean, do ya really want this to happen again?” The Skull steals some of the cleaning equipment on his way out. Turns out the Nurse Joy who helped is actually from Akala, leaving that Pokemon Center to her assistants, to make sure Hau’oli’s Joy gets better quickly.

Friday at school, Ash is standing in as Meowth’s trainer in a battle against Kiawe’s Marowak; being a Ghost-Type, Marowak would only feel the hit if it really was a Dark-Type Feint Attack. However, Marowak wouldn’t be going easy on Meowth because that’s just how it rolls, so Meowth would have to give it his all in this fight! Ash hopes that, with his back against the wall, Meowth will be able to pull it off; just like how Torracat was when fighting Incineroar. Ash promises to give minimal instruction on the promise that, when he does give a command, Meowth will follow through. Meowth accepts the compromise and the fight begins. Meowth mostly dodges while Ash, true to his word, give minimal instruction, usually only to warn Meowth of an incoming attack. Eventually, Kiawe slips up and uses Shadow Strike, a Ghost Move, against the Normal-Type Meowth and Ash calls for Feint Attack… and the hit lands, sending Marowak stumbling back in surprise! After so many years, Meowth used a new move! But there’s no time to dwell on it, as Marowak moves to strike again, but Meowth dodges expertly, confidence through the clouds as he pretends to punch only to kick Marowak instead! Another hit! The match is called to a stop and everyone is super excited for Meowth, who runs over to Ash, hugging him in tears, saying he was a miracle worker; Ash congratulates Meowth on all of his hard work, saying Meowth made his own miracle. Meowth thanks Ash and returns to the Mansion once school is over, thrilled to show off his new move to Jessie and James.

After such a resounding success, the TRio talk to Hala that Saturday about their trial and whether Meowth would be able to use a Z-Move with them, even though he is still technically wild. Hala assures them it’s the connection more than the pokeball that matters; ancient Alolans could still use Z-Moves, even without pokeballs, so this should be no different. Thus assured, Hala directs them to Kahuna Nanu, who specializes in dark types, to make sure they are worthy to use a Z-Move at all and maybe help them get a Z-Ring to boot. They go talk to Lillie about going to Ula’Ula Island but she can’t go until next weekend, and she really wants to go with them, if for no other reason than to cheer them on! The TRio just can’t say no to her innocent enthusiasm.

Sunday is the Poke-Ping Pong Competition and everyone goes to cheer on Ilima, who eventually faces off against his Ping Pong Rival, Ikari, who is constantly berating his pokemon, as opposed to Ilima's soft encouragements. They each gain a new understanding of each other as they “fight” and become slightly more friendly rivals. Later that night, Sophocles and his parents go camping at Bamboo Hill when he discovers Celesteela buried in an open clearing.

-15

Monday at school, Sophocles tells his classmates about finding the Celestial Starship and they agree to take a look while having a picnic when Sophocles produces enough shovels for everyone, who now realize they’ve been tricked into helping, along with a small army of Grubin, called on by Charjabug. They realize it may be an Ultra Beast but Sophocles begs them to not tell Lusamine just yet; he wants to study “Celeste” a bit more first! They allow it and among his discoveries is that Celesteela has been buried here for over 200 years!

By Tuesday morning, someone has spotted the unearthed Celesteela and reported it to Lusamine, who calls on the Ultra Guardians to remove it; it’s storing flammable gas to use as rocket fuel and would destroy everything around it if it takes off. Celesteela’s roots are too deep to be captured via Beast Ball when they discover it’s mere minutes from take-off! Myun tries to connect with it, to get it to stop or at least slow down, to no avail, while they manage to create a barrier of ice and stone to keep the blast radius contained. Celesteela manages to take off while leaving the grove unharmed and Sophocles watches bittersweetly as it disappears into the atmosphere. After school, Kiawe’s family gets threatened by an entrepreneur called Viren when they decline his offer to buy their homestead.

On Wednesday, Kiawe is in a foul mood about the whole thing, eventually telling the class why and everyone agrees to help him protect his farm. While everyone is hard at work, Kiawe is trying to round up some escaped Miltanks when he’s confronted by Viren once again. A fight breaks out and Marowak fails an Inferno Overdrive, losing to Viren’s Electivire. After dinner and a rousing speech, Kiawe trains well into the night with Marowak as everyone else gets some rest.

Thursday morning, everyone is up and waiting for Viren when he arrives with some excavators in tow. Kiawe/Marowak fight, and eventually win, against Viren/Electivire but Viren signals the excavators to destroy the house anyways. Myun is just about to step in and use Protect over Kiawe’s family, as non-combatants, but Officer Jenny and a squad of Police show up just in time, arresting Viren and his henchmen. With the day saved, everyone is given some homemade ice cream. They’re all late for school but Kukui was filled in by lunch, at which point, they discover and observe a Dewpider, searching for a place to call its own.

Friday morning, everyone meets Mallow’s brother, Ulu, and his partner Likitung, and learn that a bread making competition is set for later that night. They all agree to come help after school, but upon arrival, they find Ulu despondent; he accidentally lost all of the sweet Greppa Berries he’d sorted! With everyone’s help and a little improvisation to the recipe, Ulu wins the prize but leaves the island before he could even collect the reward, continuing his cooking journey.

Saturday finds Ash, Lillie and the TRio heading for Ula-Ula Island. Ash leads the way, forgetting in his excitement he has no idea where he’s going, and the group wanders around for a while before finding the Po Town Police Station with a tired looking man in a police uniform loafing around. They ask him about the Island Kahuna and are told he’s on patrol all day and to come back some other time. They leave, disappointed, and eventually Jessie gets fired up, declaring that they will get a Z-Ring, if it’s the last thing they do! She puts her foot on a rock for emphasis but it breaks, releasing the formerly trapped Greedy Rapooh! It quickly steals whatever they happen to be holding, which includes the TRio’s Darkinium-Z, before taking off. Rapooh takes Acerola hostage and continues to steal and scare, eventually revealing all of the stolen items as an offering to Acerola, who Rapooh is apparently smitten by. They all charge after it and body snatching shenanigans ensue, ultimately leaving Ash unconscious. Nanu shows up, just in time to watch the TRio successfully fight off the powerful Gengar and save the day. They actually won a fight and the twerp wasn’t even awake to see it! But Nanu was and he recognized their skill, splitting Rapooh’s attention three ways to eventually overwhelm it, working in perfect harmony; a Dark tactic indeed. Lillie was also awake and praises the TRio, citing that they really do move as one; it was exciting to see how much they’ve grown since their days with Team Rocket! Nanu notes this but decides to keep it to himself for now as they all head to Acerola’s library. Acerola tells them some legends and tales of Alola, since they are all foreigners, until Ash wakes up around the time she talks about The Blinding One. Ash is also regaled by the tale of how the TRio defeated the Greedy Rapooh and even got a compliment out of Nanu! This gets Ash all fired up and, while initially reluctant, Ash manages to get a “pre-trial” fight out of Nanu but loses when Lycanroc stops obeying him. The group spends the night at the Morie Pokemon Center.

Sunday morning, bright and early, Ash is off to the Ruins of Abundance with Acerola on some Mudsdale to train, leaving the TRio and Lillie behind. They go back to Po Town Police Station to see what they can do about getting a Z-Ring but Nanu states he only has one; they’ll have to fight for it. Lillie is appalled that he’d make such close friends compete for something so precious, but both Jessie and James are already at each other’s throats to get it! Nanu laughs at this, noting that both would make good dark trainers, unlike the innocent Lillie or the bright-eyed Ash; just what he’d expect from Team Rocket. The TRio freeze at this, quarrel immediately forgotten as they formed up against Police Chief Nanu, who laughs again. They really were and interesting bunch. Nanu decides that Jessie and James should have a pokemon battle to decide who gets the Z-Ring. James says they should only use two each since Jessie has more pokemon than him but Nanu vetoes this, saying they’ll have to use everything they’ve got in this fight. James complains that that’s not fair and Nanu counters that life’s not fair; they gotta do the best with what they have. Meowth says he’ll fight on James’ side, to make it a little more even, and to show off his brand new move some more. Nanu inquires and Meowth proudly proclaims that, after years of the same old boring moves, he’s actually learned something new! Lillie excitedly explains that Meowth taught himself to walk and talk like a human at the expense of his battle prowess but recently got motivated to learn a Dark-Type move so he could use the Dakinium-Z they acquired. Nanu says he’d wondered about that and agrees that Meowth could fight alongside James; he needs to assess whether Meowth is worthy too, after all. Jessie has Wobbuffet, Spearow, Salandit and Dratini against James’ Growlithe and Ponyta along with Meowth. It’s a hard-fought battle, which ultimately ends in a draw. Both humans are exhausted but fall all over themselves trying to gain Nanu’s favor, which he watches in amusement before grabbing both of their hands and putting the Z-Ring between them. Somehow, he's sure they’ll find some way to share it. Meanwhile, Ash finishes training with Topu Bulu and heads to Acerola’s home to train some more, calling Kukui with an update and saying he’s gonna have to miss some school to finish his trial, staying with Kukui’s blessing. Still fighting over the Z-Ring, the TRio proudly show off their prize to Ash, who excitedly asks for a battle so he can see them use a Z-Move! As the sun sets, Acerola offers to officiate while Nanu lurks nearby. They decide to have a triple battle with no substitutions so Meowth, Jessie’s Salandit, and James’ Ponyta, the pokemon Ash should know the least about, are up against Ash’s Pikachu, Lycanroc, and Torracat. The battle is hard fought by all and Meowth gets to use a Black Hole Eclipse but Ash is eventually victorious.

-16

Monday morning, Ash is energetic as ever, asking Nanu to give him another chance. Nanu mentions the fight against the TRio and that this fight will be one of his toughest yet; a three on one, just like last time. Ash once again uses Lycanroc as Nanu calls Krookodile, Sableye, then Persian (alolan). Just as things are looking bad, and Lycanroc seems to be out of control again, it turns on Ash, who realizes Lycanroc is actually in control of its power this time. Reinvigorated, Ash and Lycanroc keep going and eventually win the fight. Nanu congratulates Ash and pulls out a Darkinium-Z before retracting it, noting that Ash isn't the type of guy that would use it. Instead he gives Ash a Lycanium-Z, a Z-Crystal exclusive to Lycanroc. Topu Bulu also seems pleased with the fight, dropping a Sitrus Berry to Lycanroc, just like it did during training. Lunch is had and the group returns to Melemele Island, just in time to watch a firework show after dark! It's almost as if the island were celebrating their personal victories, only to be crashed by an Ultra Beast before it vanishes.

Tuesday, school is interrupted by an Ultra Alert. They are sent off to investigate an Ultra Aura and discover another Ultra Beast! The newly dubbed Xurkitree fights them for a bit until Blacephalon, the previous Ultra Beast, arrives and the two begin a Sparky Sparky Boom Boom contest until nightfall. The Ultra Guardians decode to get their attention by outdoing them both by combining their pokemon's attack, held together by Myun's psychic powers. This works and the two are captured.

Wednesday morning, the pair are returned to their original world, and at school the kids have been requested to recreate their show, which Lana thinks they should charge admission for. The group prepares for another fieldtrip, this time to the Hokulani Observatory where Sophocles' cousin, Molayne "Big Mo", works. They see a Minior shower and find one whose shell hadn't cracked just yet, taking it home as they all stay the night at the observatory.

Thursday morning starts with a scream, as Poipole announces that the Minior’s shell was breaking! The day is spent doing fun leisure activities until night eventually falls and the real lesson begins again. They are then shown the next part of the Minior’s life cycle; they simply fade away as they are no longer protected by their shells. This leaves them all feeling bittersweet.

As the students are heading to the ferry on Friday, they decide to take a shortcut through a cave and inevitably become lost, not to mention separated. Lillie ends up fighting a Tyranitar with the Totem “Snowshrew” (I’m changing their name, it bothers me…) and chasing the Tyranitar away. The Totem evolves into an “Iceslash” and gifts Lillie an Iceium-Z for her efforts and finds an Ice Stone to boot! Everyone eventually finds their way out and Lillie gets to share her victory, though Snowy doesn’t wanna evolve just yet. They eventually make it to the ferry and back home to Melemele Island.

Saturday is a big match with the Masked Royal that has everyone on the edge of their seats, but some cheating and a challenge leads to a rematch set for tomorrow.

Sunday the entire class has shown up for the match and Kukui has to sneak off to get ready, barely making it to the stage on time. Myun, who didn’t really wanna be around so much volatile energy anyways, “excuses” himself, only to transform into Kukui and return with the promised snacks. As The Masked Royal and Incineroar barely make it to the stage on time, he glances at his students only to find him staring at himself! “Kukui” winks and Royal hears “Greetings, Professor” in his head. Understanding dawning, Royal faces the match without having to worry about his secret getting out. The battle is fought and eventually won by the Double Royals and their pokemon, Incineroar and Torracat! The Masked Royal still rushes off and “Kukui” tags out with the real Kukui, who thanks Myun for the impromptu assist. Myun says he hopes he “enjoyed” himself, snickering as they make their separate ways back to the group.

-17

Monday introduces the students to a new assignment: a dance competition, similar to the contests of Hoen, Sinnoh, and Kalos! They’ll be performing on Friday after lunch, the whole half of the day will be set aside for it, and all of the classes will be participating. Each class will have a winner and one student will be named the overall winner of the competition. They are given until lunch to research different dance styles they could incorporate into their routine, after which Faba joins the class, triggering Myun. He tries to fight it but Kukui offers to let him sit this lesson out, which Myun agrees to; he’ll go train in the courtyard instead. Myun is taking a page out of Ash’s book, training by fighting Sunny and Rattata while commanding both, until he hears Togedemaru fall from the classroom, bolting to catch it before it lands in the water. Unfortunately, he didn’t know about Togedemaru’s miniature passengers and they fall off into the water. He hears their mental cries for help before their physical cries and locates them just in time to save them from the water drain! Upon finding out what Faba did, Mewon is nearly murderous, only held back by knowing Faba has the best chance of fixing the machine and bringing his friends back to their rightful size. Mewon is extremely protective of them, which Sophocles appreciates but it chafes Ash’s adventurous spirit, leading to another ride on Pikachu while Mewon watches them like a hawk, psychic powers on a hair trigger to pull the miniature humans out of harms way. Faba’s machine continues to break more and more but thankfully the affects seem to wear off over time as Lillie, Sophocles and Ash eventually return to full size on their own. Mewon makes it very clear how thin Faba’s ice is; one more mistake like that and Mewon will make sure he never hurts anyone else ever again. After school, Mallow learns about the Alola Hula and Ash meets Mina the Artist in the marketplace.

Tuesday is more practice until lunch, followed by sports training with a vault box. That night, Poipole makes a mural of its alolan family then gets sad as it watches the moon and remembers its mission.

Wednesday begins with a large “vault box” which Kiawe and Ash immediately try to jump, only to fail in various ways. There’s no time to dwell on this though, as the school bell rings. They practice until lunch, where Poipole expresses its sorrow, until the Ultra Guardians are called to capture the “vault box” from earlier, confirmed to be an Ultra Beast. They try to catch it until school is out and they decide to try again tomorrow; it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere. Poipole’s drawings are later shown to Mina to interpret and they arrive just in time to fend off Team Skull, who were harassing Mina. Poipole later draws a large depiction of the Shining One with the symbol of affection.

Thursday is the day before the competition but there’s no time for that now; the Ultra Beast from yesterday is gone! They follow it to Viren’s construction site, just in time for Viren and his henchmen to glue a big Viren statue on top of Stakataka! Ash manages to vault on top of it and remove the statue via Pikachu’s Iron Tail, and manages to stay on long enough to gain Stakataka’s respect, allowing Ash to catch it and eventually send it back home.

Friday is the competition and everyone is scrambling to finish last minute preparations before lunch and eventually the competition begins! Team Skull tries to crash the party but are quickly dispatched by the TRio of all people. Jessie in particular in incensed; as a former contest star herself, she’d been asked to perform as an exhibition, along with a few other performers like Anela and her Alola Hula, while the kids’ scores were being tallied. Jessie had felt surprisingly protective of the kids and their performances; she wanted them to feel the same kind of joy and thrill that she felt in center stage and refused to let these Skull punks ruin that for them! This highlights how far the TRio have come in their reformation.

Saturday is a spa day for the Ultra Guardians, curtesy of Lusamine, mostly to bond and relax with their ride pokemon. They arrive at Pokemon Paradise Resort on Akala Island and are sent to the Care Area while the rest of their pokemon eagerly head for the Play Area. Myun doesn’t like the idea of his true form being seen by all of these strangers and, since he’s his own ride, decides to watch over the other pokemon in the Play Area instead; it’s not like he’d be able to relax enough for the Care Area to do him much good. The TRio are chaperones once again and show off their surprisingly substantial pokemon care knowledge; since Team Rocket wasn’t exactly allowed in any Pokemon Centers, they had to take care of their pokemon’s needs themselves. After the Care Courses, everyone reconvenes in the Play Area and Myun is convinced to go to a more private part of the Care Area with the TRio; some pokemon can’t relax with others around either so they’ve got accommodations for that! While initially still nervous, Mewon manages to transform back and let the TRio massage him into a light nap. The TRio recognize this would be the perfect opportunity to catch a rare pokemon but realize it’s barely more of an afterthought at this point.

Sunday is a day of rest and relaxation, maybe even a second day at the resort.

-18

Monday morning finds all of the adults feeling lethargic and exhausted. Kukui barely makes it to class, only to tell them to “talk amongst themselves” for the time being, retiring to the Principal’s Office. Talk eventually comes around to the upcoming Manalo Festival, all about the Blinding One, deciding the old legend refers to Solgaleo, Lunala and Ultra Wormholes. Meanwhile, Lusamine, Wicke, Faba, and Burnet are researching the decrease of Ultra Aura; it seems like it’s being sucked into a small Ultra Wormhole, which is the opposite effect they usually have.

Tuesday is more of the same until the Ultra Guardians are called and ordered to the Alter of the Sunne. The Ultra Adults are there and Gladion, riding a Noivern, also arrives, saying that Silvally was scared; if an Ultra Beast is approaching, it will likely be the strongest one yet. Lunala manages to flee through the Wormhole, followed by Necrozma. Lunala is quickly captured and has its Ultra Aura drained, and Necrozma is identified as the source of their troubles. Topu Koko tries to help but can’t keep Necrozma at bay for long, even with the Ultra Guardian’s help, and Necrozma merges with Lunala to become Dawn Wings Necrozma. Suddenly it’s Nebby to the rescue! Solgaleo manages to separate Lunala and Necrozma again but not for long, as it merges with Solgaleo instead, becoming Dusk Mane Necrozma and escaping through an Ulta Wormhole. Suddenly the adults have their energy back and Lunala is moved to the Ultra Guardian’s Base to be healed.

As the sun rises on Wednesday morning, all four Island Kahunas pray to their respective Topus from their respective Ruins. Lunala decides it’s done recovering and breaks out of the Bunker to summon an Ultra Wormhole with the Ultra Guardians not far behind. They are immediately accosted by Poipole’s kin, only stopped when Poipole explains their purpose and Naganadel shows up before collapsing. While Gladion and Myun don’t want to lose Lunala, the others are determined to help Naganadel, who info dumps about Necrozma and how the world became desolate without its light. The Guardians want to help the Poipole and their world but not at the cost of Solgaleo and Lunala. their speculation is interrupted by Dusk Mane Necrozma landing a devastating blow on Lunala and they jump in to help. Once backed off, those with Z-Rings try to sate Necrozma’s hunger with their own Z-Power but it’s not enough. Lusamine is able to contact the Guardians and tells them about their research, confirming that they have the right idea, they just need more power. Lusamine sends a message to the Kahunas to help. Necrozma releases Nebby, who’s exhausted, but instead of being sated Necrozma begins to attack. The Guardians attack it to distract it while they rush to Lunala and Solgaleo, Gladion and Ash both receiving a Z-Crystal for their respective legendaries. Their Z-Power is released and Ultra Necrozma finally emerges, revitalizing the other world! Task successfully completed, the Guardians head back through the closing Wormhole but Poipole remains behind, to help protect its people, drawing a large picture of Ash and Pikachu with love symbols all around as a farewell. (All told, Myun’s presence doesn’t change the outcome much and I’ve eliminated Team Rocket as a factor.)

Thursday is a normal day at school, though Kukui has a cold. Afterwards Kiawe takes Ash and Pikachu to Pikachu Valley on Akala Island.

Friday at school is normal but but after that the Masked Royal announces the beginning of his Meet-and-Greet Tour of Alola, starting with Hau’oli City. Concerned that his secret might get out, Kukui enlists the help of Myun and his Transform like he did before; just for when Kukui and Burnet are to meet him and then they can switch back. Myun agrees, on the condition that he read the Masked Royal’s mind to copy his mannerisms, since he isn’t sure he can pull off Royal’s energy otherwise.

Saturday is the Meet-and-Greet and Myun is up bright and early, trying to psych himself up by sneaking backstage and hanging out with Incineroar. Everything is going well until Mad Magmar crashes the party just as Kukui rejoins Burnet and Ash, leaving Myun to fight as Masked Royal. He nearly has a panic attack but Incineroar manages to snap him out of it in time to fight but Myun’s Royal is a more aggressive and less showy than Kukui’s Royal but everybody seems too caught up in the moment to notice. Myun Royal wins but at what cost? Upon Mad Magmar’s defeat, Myun Royal gets a little carried away and continues the Meet-and-Greet on his own for a bit, long enough for the world to witness Kukui shake hands with the Masked Royal, permanently dispelling any theories about the two being the same person. Another break is quickly called and the two switch back so Myun can rejoin Ash and Burnet as Kukui and the real Masked Royal can continue his show. Myun Kukui says he forgot something inside and makes his escape, letting the real Kukui return in his own time.

Sunday is a restful day.

Description

Part 2 of this , I used Lana as a base for both Myun and Mewon; it's kind of obvious...

-10

Monday, on the way to school, Topu Koko leads Ash to a newly born Cosmog, eventually nicknamed “Nebby” since they don’t know it’s real pokemon name. Upon awakening, Nebby starts to cry; Myun attempts to connect with Nebby telepathically to figure out what it wants but Mallow is ultimately able to calm it. Turns out Nebby likes Star Candies. After school, Ash and Lillie go to Kukui’s house where they are met by Professor Burnet, Lusamine, Wicke, and Faba who all want to meet Nebby.

On Tuesday, Nebby learns Teleport and all day keeps teleporting the students to various places they happen to be thinking of, eventually ending up on top of the school as the sun sets. Myun shows off his telekinesis by lifting everyone safely to the ground.

Wednesday is a fieldtrip to Aether Paradise and Myun vehemently refuses to go, forced to reveal more of his past for them to understand why; he says that, when he was young, he had been taken to a place full of scientists doing research and was experimented on to understand his psychic powers. It was an extremely traumatic experience for him and Lillie understands better than anyone about how trauma can affect someone. Everyone else has a fine visit to Aether Paradise and a nice adventure with Ditto.

Thursday after school is bath day for Ash’s pokemon, who all get teleported to Gladion and have a battle.

Friday has everyone over at Kukui’s place for a sleepover. Myun declines and Hau along with him but Sally and Eliot go, leaving the boy-to-girl ratio the same. Fluff happens. He feels ashamed for keeping Hau from going but Myun knows he probably would’ve done something regrettable if he’d gone.

Saturday morning, as Ash is escorting all of his friends home, Lillie gets teleported to Gladion and relives her trauma, returning to the group regressing enough that she can’t even touch Snowy anymore! That night, Gladion confronts Ash before returning to his motel room. Faba comes by to reclaim Type: Null.

Nothing of note happens Sunday besides Lillie being depressed.

-11

Monday at school, everyone supports Lillie fighting her relapse; she did it once, she can do it again! Ash walks her home after school and Nebby teleports them to various places from her youth, jogging her memory, and eventually ending up in the research area under Aether Paradise. Elsewhere, Gladion confronts Lusamine about what Faba said and Lillie gets captured by Faba. Lusamine and Gladion arrive as Faba is trying to erase Lillie’s memories and a fight breaks out. As the newly released Silvally saves Lillie, the scene mirrors what happened to her as a child to prevent her from touching pokemon in the first place, giving her a new perspective of the event. As Faba slinks away, Lillie celebrates being able to touch pokemon again!

Tuesday has Aether Paradise in a tizzy trying to find Faba and Gladion decides to try finding the scientist on his own. Lillie is happily hugging all of the pokemon while Myun feels vindicated but horrified that his instincts about Aether Paradise were correct, even if the head didn’t know what the tail was doing in the dark. He tried to close his mind to the anxiety and focus on the jump rope exercise, which is why he didn’t feel the disturbance of Faba’s presence until it was too late. Upon realizing that Nebby was likely in the depths of Aether Paradise, alone against an immoral scientist, Myun broke and flew off at top speed, even forgetting Rattata and Sunny in the school yard. In order to focus his efforts to speed, and eventually fighting, Myun reverted to his Mewon form by the time he arrived at Aether Paradise and immediately blasted his way into the restricted area. In Lillie’s jet, the false island was barely visible when Ash witnessed the explosion and smoke cloud that they assumed Myun had made. Mewon quickly found Faba and was in the process of fighting Faba’s Hypno, Alakazam, and Beheeyem when everyone else arrived. Hau, along with Sunny and Rattata, realized Mewon was in a blood frenzy and was liable to actually murder Faba if he got his claws on him and did their best to calm him down. They called him Myun but there was no time to dwell on it as Nebby still needed saving, as it was being used to open an Ultra Wormhole! Ash, Pikachu, and Umbreon manage to free Nebby, closing the Wormhole, but Nebby promptly evolves into Cosmoem, reopening it. Nihilego emerges and captures Lusamine while she's protecting her kids, before retreating through the Wormhole as it closes. Immediate threat taken care of, Faba whimpers, pointing the blame anywhere but at himself, and the Aether Siblings vow to find and save their mother. Professor Burnet takes charge and convinces Lillie and Gladion that they need to rest and rethink strategies, come at this from a different angle, in order to save their mother. Ash is told to rest and look after the evolved Nebby, and finally Mewon can addressed, as he is barely containing his trauma-induced rage at Faba. He uncomfortably confirms that he is indeed Myun and hadn’t really intended his secret to come out like this. He also insists that he get out of the lab area before he does something regrettable. Hobs takes the kids home in the jet and Ash, Lillie, and Gladion take turns talking to Mewon and Hau to distract themselves. Mewon begged them to keep his secret until he was ready to tell the others himself.

Wednesday morning, after Ash brings the others up to speed and Lillie and Gladion are revealed to be missing, they decide to talk to Kahuna Hala; and check on Hau and Myun, who hadn’t shown up to the meeting either. The other students had asked about Hau and Myun before but Ash kept his promise, saying Myun was ok but wanted to tell them what happened himself, when he was ready. They eventually decide to go to the Altar of the Sunne. Myun was pretty messed up after his experience in the labs, regressing to panic attacks and nightmares whenever he passes out from exhaustion. Hau is torn, wanting to help the others as well as stay with Myun, but Myun makes the decision for him; Mewon reveals himself to the students and tells Hau to help the others since Myun is in no fit state to help anyone. Hau protests but Mewon insists, saying that Hala is still here and with Rattata and Sunny by his side, he should be fine until Hau gets back. He addresses the other stunned students, reminding them of how Lillie reverted to being unable to touch pokemon after revisiting her own trauma and that he’s going through something similar right now. He’ll tell them more once they return and Myun’s gotten a bit better, something to look forward to after whatever adventure they’re about to embark on. They all have a grand adventure saving Lusamine from both Nihilego and herself. (This plays out exactly as it does in the show with little variation) After saving Lusamine, everyone went home and Hau told Mewon and Hala all about what happened. Mewon lamented his inability to help them and swore he would never be useless like that again.

Thursday morning has everyone staring at Myun, who recoils when anyone come near him. He had insisted he go to school and pretend everything was fine, since staying home would just leave him trapped in his own head. Lillie arrives and takes the pressure off of him as she thanks everyone for their efforts. At lunch, Hau is shielding Myun as best he can and Myun eventually says that he’ll tell them everything once he’s more stable. Some students are more understanding than others. That night, Kukui proposes to Burnet, who happily accepts.

Friday Ash tells the students the big news but they are disappointed that the two professors aren’t having a big wedding party for it, deciding to throw a party of their own. Myun happily lets the wedding take the spotlight from him but wonders if there’s a reason Kukui and Burnet don’t want a wedding. When class starts, everyone congratulates Kukui and Myun raises his concern; he didn’t wanna force something on the professors that they didn’t want. Kukui just says neither of them have the time or money for something like that and they had agreed it wasn’t too important; maybe once they’d saved up a bit they could afford a ceremony of some kind but for now, this would do. Armed with this knowledge, Myun fully supports the surprise wedding.

Saturday has all of the students running around, trying to organize everything last minute, but are pleased that everything is coming together nicely; most everyone they ask wants to pitch in, since Kukui and Burnet had often helped the community. Myun starts to feel some semblance of “normal” again as he helps set up the wedding, glad to have something to focus on besides himself.

Sunday is the wedding and everything goes off without a hitch. However, after the festivities are dying down, Faba appears and Myun freezes. Faba apologizes and Lusamine has assigned Wicke as his superior, to watch every little thing he does. After a short explanation, the students are invited to join the Aether Foundation in a project called The Ultra Guardians, since they all have first-hand experience with Ultra Wormholes. Myun is invited as well, despite not joining the others in saving her; he demonstrated plenty of power stopping Faba’s initial plan and understood he was reliving traumatic memories tat the time.

-12

Monday morning shows Kukui and Burnet seamlessly integrating themselves into a family unit, looking after Ash. Training at school is interrupted by Komala and Jigglypuff having a “fight” while hilarity ensues. Myun wonders if Jigglypuff even realizes that it’s getting mad about its move working perfectly.

Tuesday after school is a body-swapping adventure with Rotomdex.

Wednesday at lunch, Mallow is reminded of “Grandpa Forest” and Mallow and Lana decide to go find it, to thank it for saving Lana’s siblings when they got lost the other day. Ash happily joins in to see a new pokemon and Myun decides this is a good time to test the waters as Mewon for a little while, in the forest with a limited audience. They do eventually find Grandpa Forest, discovering it to be a Drampa, but Team Skull crashes the party, highlighting the difference between kids and teens. As they were taken by surprise, Mewon didn’t have time to transform back to Myun before being spotted; he then refused to transform so Team Skull wouldn’t know Mewon and Myun were related. Once fought off, Mewon transforms back and nearly has a panic attack at being discovered and Drampa helps calm him down. Mallow, Lana, and Ash get to see first-hand why Myun doesn’t want to delve into his past just yet; he’s still not ready to face it.

Thursday is a fieldtrip to Mount Lanakila to participate in the Amateur Sled Jump Competition, and Hala decides to come along so his Crabrawler can evolve and he can also participate. They are all encouraged to at least try it once and both Ash and Kiawe are fired up over the icy sport. Lillie is hesitant but signs up with encouragement and Myun holds back, knowing he’ll get competitive if he lets himself. With some assurances that his friends will help keep him in check, Myun also signs up with Sunny and begins to train. They stay the night at the Pokemon Center.

Friday is the big competition and fun is had overall with Hala eventually taking home the Title and the prize, a 99-year-old wooden Slowpoke sled!

Saturday Myun finally decides to get it over with, inviting the class to Hau and Hala’s house. Mewon introduces himself and as much of his past as he can manage. Upon hearing his sad tale, everyone realizes why this took so long to come out, and some of the wider ramifications, like being wary of pokeballs; they praise Mewon for being brave and trusting them all with this secret. Mewon still has to fight a panic attack but is able to be talked down with everyone’s support. They all camp out for the night and Mewon sleeps easy for the first time since arriving on the island, surrounded by those he can trust.

Sunday is mostly a lazy day and Mewon allows himself to join breakfast as Mewon, hesitantly letting everyone pet him. Some students have other obligations and have to go home early while the rest take a hike in the woods, where Mewon feels more comfortable being himself.

-13

Meowth has been feeling kinda useless for a while now, and it all comes to a head on Monday. He’s too pokemon to do all of the things humans can do but too human to be accepted by other pokemon; he’s not good enough at being a pokemon to fight for himself but can’t command other pokemon because he’s not a human; he couldn’t even help Lillie with her fear of touching pokemon, as she did that with Silvally; he feels stuck, and lost, and very down on himself. In this state of mind, an Alolan Meowth finds its way to the mansion; everyone is lost in its charm and Meowth feels very replaced. At first, Meowth reverts to its old Rocket ways but this backfires when he gets tunnel vision and he runs away, eventually stumbling into Ash. With a bit of coaxing, Meowth tells Ash what’s wrong and Ash remembers Meowth had claimed the Darkinium-Z; maybe Meowth should try to learn a dark-type move to match! Meowth reminds Ash that the TRio doesn’t have a Z-Ring so learning a new move would be useless at this point, not to mention potentially impossible; he’d accepted long ago that having learned to speak human and walk upright had stunted his ability to learn more moves, but Ash is determined to help Meowth learn a new move to increase his self-esteem. Going back to Kukui’s house with Ash, Meowth wonders how long it would take for his friends to notice he’s gone and decides to not tell them where he’s at, just to see. Ash thinks that’s kinda cruel but Meowth counters that Ash should’ve seen how they were treating Meowth today and they leave it at that. Ash decides to put on the Masked Royal, hoping that seeing the fight would help get Meowth motivated.

Tuesday after school, the class goes to the Battle Royal Dome on Akala Island and Lillie sees Meowth with Ash, mentioning that Jessie and James were worried sick. Mewoth is unimpressed. Litten jumps forward at the call for volunteers and both Kiawe/Marowak and Sophacles/Charjabug join Ash/Litten against Masked Royal/Incineroar, who beats them all handily. Litten is frustrated and Meowth consoles it, noting how often he used to lose with Team Rocket; they got used to it after a while. Ash realizes he’s a big part of why Meowth has such low self-esteem but also recognizes he couldn’t let them win and take Pikachu away from him; he made the right choices before and he was going to make it up to Meowth now, since he's good. Ash made a mental note to check on Jessie and James too, but for now, Litten was his highest concern. Ash decides to start training with Litten that night, hoping to get it to learn Flame Charge and somewhat hoping that watching them work hard will motivate Meowth.

Wednesday, Ash decides to take Meowth to school, rather than let him stay at home to dwell on his depression, recruiting the others to help encourage Meowth too. Mewon had been convinced to “let his hair down” today when the class is interrupted by an alert from the Aether Foundation that an Ultra Beast has arrived and the Ultra Guardians have their first mission! Everyone encourages Mewon to keep going; even if they are going to be seen by random townsfolk, Mewon will be with the Ultra Guardians and won’t have to tell anyone about his connection to Myun so he can still hide if he wants. Fears allayed, everyone goes down to an underground bunker beneath the school; formerly a bomb shelter, the Aether Foundation revamped it into a secret base! The human Ultra Guardians receive special suits to help protect them and set them apart as professionals, the pokemon receiving special badges for the same purpose, including Meowth, and Mewon receives the top half of a suit and a badge; Lusamine explains that the machine can detect what form Mewon is in and will adjust his particular outfit accordingly. Though put off by the lab-like aesthetic, as uncomfortable as it is familiar, Mewon joins the others listening to Lusamine’s report. Armed with knowledge and items, everyone finds their own ride pokemon; Ash/Garchomp, Kiawe/Charizard, Sophocles/Metang, Mallow/Flygon, Lana/Dragonair, Lillie/Altaria, Hau/Braviary, Sally/Togekiss, Eliot/Scarmory. Lusamine mentions Mewon’s ability to fly on his own so he would probably be slowed down by having a ride pokemon to worry about, having his free movement limited. Mewon feels relieved but wonders what Myun’s ride would have been if not for Mewon. They arrive at Mahalo Trail, where a Snorlax has just been deflated by Buzzwole and most of the team help it recover via Full Restores and Berries. Ash and Myun leave it to them while they charge after Buzzwole, who is busy flexing its muscles at anyone who dares look at it. Meowth can’t understand Buzzwole and Mewon can’t connect with it telepathically, so talking it out is a no-go. However, Mewon recognizes the show of strength, similar to those who train at Clawmark Hill, and returns the posturing by dropping to all fours, raking the ground with his claws, and roaring as loud as he can; having signaled that he accepts Buzzwole’s challenge, the contest of strength begins. Both battle hard and eventually end up exhausted while Mewon’s friends marvel at the power of an Ultra Beast as well as Mewon’s ferocity. While unable to really speak to Buzzwole due to a language barrier, Mewon is able to get the point across that he enjoyed the contest and wants to get Buzzwole home. Buzzwole agrees and Myun captures it for ease of transport, shocking everyone with how ok he is with the idea; Mewon explains that Buzzwole agreed to it and besides, it was only temporary. Once the Ultra Wormhole is reopened, Mewon postures a goodbye to Buzzwole, mimicked by everyone else. Mewon admits that, despite his misgivings, being an Ultra Guardian might not be so bad; besides, if the scientists do ever come for him, he’ll have people who care enough to notice he’s gone and come save him. Myun isn’t quite comfortable enough to fully discard his human disguise, but he’s at least going to openly be Mewon while being an Ultra Guardian. Despite the exhausting adventure, Ash still finds the energy to agility train with Litten while Meowth watches.

Thursday, Ash is hyped up to train and knows that today is the day Litten is gonna learn Flame Charge! Kukui allows extra time to train and Sunny gets hyped up watching Litten, eager to show off its own moves. Meowth finds this endearing and has a talk with Kukui about learning a new move. Rotomdex, who happened to be nearby, went over a list of moves Meowths can typically learn, which included some dark-type moves, and Kukui explains the mechanics of a few of them, like how Thief uses slight-of-hand to steal a target’s held item, capitalizing on speed and stealth. Another option is Feint Attack, where Meowth would approach disarmingly before striking while the target is unaware. Something like Night Slash is possible, but Meowth would have to train long and hard to master it; learn to walk before you try to run, Meowth. Later that night, Litten still hadn’t quite mastered Flame Charge when Masked Royal arrives, challenging the two to a rematch, where Litten evolves into Torracat and perfects Flame Charge but ultimately loses the fight. Ash and Torracat aren’t sad though, this was a huge breakthrough for them and they couldn’t be happier to have Masked Royal and Incineroar as rivals! As they all go inside, Meowth says he’s ready to try learning a new move; Feint Attack! Ash promises they’ll start tomorrow, bright and early!

True to his word, Ash wakes at the break of dawn Friday morning, dragging a groggy Meowth with him. To get a baseline for Meowth’s strength and get him used to battling as a pokemon again, Ash poses as Meowth’s trainer against Torracat on its own; this is also to get Torracat used to fighting in its new form. Meowth is nervous and resists Ash’s commands a few times, to disastrous results each time, but when Meowth finally swallows his pride and follows Ash’s orders, he actually starts to do pretty well against Torracat. They’re nearly late to school due to training but make it anyways and Ash can’t help but dwell on the fight and how to help Meowth. They have a heart to heart at lunch and Meowth admits he’s never been one to take orders well; he’s too independent. Ash admits this is one of Meowth’s strong suits, which surprises Meowth, but if he is going to be able to learn anything from Ash, Meowth has to be willing to listen. As Feint Attack requires a distraction and a quick strike, they decide to start on the distraction first, since it’s easier. If he can get close via dodging, he’ll be able to deliver the dark blow once they get to that point. Meowth finds he can be very distracting when he puts his mind to it.

Meowth and Ash train basically all-day Saturday, getting the dark part of Feint Attack to work. It’s taking longer than Ash thought but he’s still determined.

Sunday is chore day and Ash is tasked with restocking the fridge. While out at the market, they have a run in with two groups of Passimians and end up escorting the “green” group to the Pokemon Center, where Myun was volunteering again. Ash and Myun are told about Passimian culture and Ash is horrified he had a part in letting the “red” group take over the green group’s area. While Meowth enjoys a break from training, Ash is learning everything he can about Passimians.

-14

Monday morning, Ash asks Meowth how he can communicate with the green Passimians and Meowth mentions that pokemon communication is all about intent rather than the words used; his point will get across no matter what words he uses, so long as he feels it with all his being. Ash then asks how Meowth learned to speak human if it’s so different than pokemon language and Meowth just deadpans “practice” which gets a chuckle out of Ash, who reassures Meowth that if he shows even half as much determination to learning Feint Attack, he’s sure to get it in no time! At school, Ash and Pikachu are both acting like Passimians, to try to get in their heads; he even steals Rowlet’s lunch! Myun shows off his shapeshifting by becoming a (small-ish) Passimian and this gives the rest of the class an idea. Unfortunately, Myun can only transform himself, but by the end of school, the class has thrown together a Passimian costume for Ash! Absolutely thrilled by this development, the class makes their way to the Melemele Greens, where the green group of Passimian live. With a little help from Meowth and Myun, Ash is able to bolster the “home team’s” confidence to challenge the red Passimian “away team” for leadership of the troop. The “game” is hard fought and the greens are on the brink of losing, when another Passimian joins the game! More and more of the green troop join in to support their chosen leaders and the reds are chased away.

Tuesday, James drove Lillie to school and decided to stick around, being able to admit he missed Meowth before Jessie could; she was still upset that Meowth had made them worry on purpose! Meowth is cold towards James at first, and after the students wonder if Pikachu would ever evolve, they asked if Meowth had ever considered it. Meowth goes off about how much he hates Persians and would never want to become one; he’s perfectly happy as a Meowth, thank you very much. James affirms that they wouldn’t have it any other way. Meanwhile, the screams of several girls herald the introduction of Ilima the Normal-Type Trainer, alumni of the Pokemon School! After dispelling some wild rumors about Ilima that have blown out of proportion, they all try their hand at PokeDive before Team Skull shows up, apparently having beef with Ilima, who defeats them handily. Ilima then reveals his purpose for coming to Alola is to compete in a Poke-Ping Pong competition next Sunday, to which they are all invited, and had agreed to teach the students of the Pokemon School while he was at it. James is encouraged to play a set with Meowth as his partner, however, their disharmony comes to a head and Meowth finally tells James plainly why he left and why he’s with Ash: he wants to learn a new move and training pokemon has never really been James’ or Jessie’s strong suit. “All we’ ever done is lie and cheat and steal, we ain’t never trained for nothing and honestly, I don’t even think we know how! We’ve seen the twerp turn zeros to heroes before and I’m tired of being weak and useless and I know I can't get there on my own. You two are my pals, I could never leave you forever, but I just... need some time to figure things out, ya know?” Meowth leaves to get his emotions back under control and James decides it’s best if he goes home for now.

Wednesday is a normal day at school until Pikachu is discovered missing at lunch time. Ash has some flashbacks of Team Rocket before convincing the class to find it and Myun can feel Ash’s absolute panic bubbling barely beneath the surface. Rowlet leads Ash away from the school and tries to attack the strange purple pokemon it perceives as an enemy, inly to be badly poisoned by Toxic. Poipole, who had led Pikachu away from school, felt bad for the misunderstanding and they all try to head back to the school, only to be interrupted by Team Skull, who happened to see them walking by. Pikachu defends Poipole and Rowlet until Ash arrives and “convinces” Team Skull to leave with the help of Lycanroc and Torracat. They quickly take Rowlet to be healed before heading down to the bunker with Poipole; a pokemon not even Rotom has seen before! Encouraged to keep Poipole around for study, since it seemed fairly harmless, Ash tries to catch it, to no avail. He then demonstrates with Rowlet how pokeballs work and Poipole happily captures itself.

Thursday has the students volunteering at the Hau’oli Pokemon Center but Nurse Joy is too sick to show them much; she leaves it up to Myun, who has been volunteering somewhat regularly since his arrival on the island. Thrown into the deep end, Myun is determined to make sure everyone can swim, giving them all a quick rundown of their duties as nurses; he takes the lead on a few ornery clients who want things “just so” or who will only trust Nurse Joy with their pokemon. Even Meowth got a chance to shine, translating a sick pokemon’s symptoms to help identify what treatment was needed, and helping a few newer trainers understand their pokemon a bit better. A Team Skull member had been skulking around nearby and Myun notices him try to sneak in multiple times, only to be scared off when spotted by any of the student nurses. Myun can feel the pain radiating from his pokemon in its pokeball and eventually confronts the Skull, ordering him to bring out his pokemon for treatment. Shocked at Myun’s boldness, the Skull complies and brings out a plugged up Garbador! Thankfully, Nurse Joy arrives just in time to take charge of the “sticky” situation, since it was outside of Myun’s capabilities. Treatment takes time but with everyone working at it, Garbador is eventually feeling better and the Skull is scolded for not taking care of his pokemon. “Where’s the cool in doin’ that?” to which Myun replies “The “cool” is having healthy pokemon capable of peak performance. I mean, do ya really want this to happen again?” The Skull steals some of the cleaning equipment on his way out. Turns out the Nurse Joy who helped is actually from Akala, leaving that Pokemon Center to her assistants, to make sure Hau’oli’s Joy gets better quickly.

Friday at school, Ash is standing in as Meowth’s trainer in a battle against Kiawe’s Marowak; being a Ghost-Type, Marowak would only feel the hit if it really was a Dark-Type Feint Attack. However, Marowak wouldn’t be going easy on Meowth because that’s just how it rolls, so Meowth would have to give it his all in this fight! Ash hopes that, with his back against the wall, Meowth will be able to pull it off; just like how Torracat was when fighting Incineroar. Ash promises to give minimal instruction on the promise that, when he does give a command, Meowth will follow through. Meowth accepts the compromise and the fight begins. Meowth mostly dodges while Ash, true to his word, give minimal instruction, usually only to warn Meowth of an incoming attack. Eventually, Kiawe slips up and uses Shadow Strike, a Ghost Move, against the Normal-Type Meowth and Ash calls for Feint Attack… and the hit lands, sending Marowak stumbling back in surprise! After so many years, Meowth used a new move! But there’s no time to dwell on it, as Marowak moves to strike again, but Meowth dodges expertly, confidence through the clouds as he pretends to punch only to kick Marowak instead! Another hit! The match is called to a stop and everyone is super excited for Meowth, who runs over to Ash, hugging him in tears, saying he was a miracle worker; Ash congratulates Meowth on all of his hard work, saying Meowth made his own miracle. Meowth thanks Ash and returns to the Mansion once school is over, thrilled to show off his new move to Jessie and James.

After such a resounding success, the TRio talk to Hala that Saturday about their trial and whether Meowth would be able to use a Z-Move with them, even though he is still technically wild. Hala assures them it’s the connection more than the pokeball that matters; ancient Alolans could still use Z-Moves, even without pokeballs, so this should be no different. Thus assured, Hala directs them to Kahuna Nanu, who specializes in dark types, to make sure they are worthy to use a Z-Move at all and maybe help them get a Z-Ring to boot. They go talk to Lillie about going to Ula’Ula Island but she can’t go until next weekend, and she really wants to go with them, if for no other reason than to cheer them on! The TRio just can’t say no to her innocent enthusiasm.

Sunday is the Poke-Ping Pong Competition and everyone goes to cheer on Ilima, who eventually faces off against his Ping Pong Rival, Ikari, who is constantly berating his pokemon, as opposed to Ilima's soft encouragements. They each gain a new understanding of each other as they “fight” and become slightly more friendly rivals. Later that night, Sophocles and his parents go camping at Bamboo Hill when he discovers Celesteela buried in an open clearing.

-15

Monday at school, Sophocles tells his classmates about finding the Celestial Starship and they agree to take a look while having a picnic when Sophocles produces enough shovels for everyone, who now realize they’ve been tricked into helping, along with a small army of Grubin, called on by Charjabug. They realize it may be an Ultra Beast but Sophocles begs them to not tell Lusamine just yet; he wants to study “Celeste” a bit more first! They allow it and among his discoveries is that Celesteela has been buried here for over 200 years!

By Tuesday morning, someone has spotted the unearthed Celesteela and reported it to Lusamine, who calls on the Ultra Guardians to remove it; it’s storing flammable gas to use as rocket fuel and would destroy everything around it if it takes off. Celesteela’s roots are too deep to be captured via Beast Ball when they discover it’s mere minutes from take-off! Myun tries to connect with it, to get it to stop or at least slow down, to no avail, while they manage to create a barrier of ice and stone to keep the blast radius contained. Celesteela manages to take off while leaving the grove unharmed and Sophocles watches bittersweetly as it disappears into the atmosphere. After school, Kiawe’s family gets threatened by an entrepreneur called Viren when they decline his offer to buy their homestead.

On Wednesday, Kiawe is in a foul mood about the whole thing, eventually telling the class why and everyone agrees to help him protect his farm. While everyone is hard at work, Kiawe is trying to round up some escaped Miltanks when he’s confronted by Viren once again. A fight breaks out and Marowak fails an Inferno Overdrive, losing to Viren’s Electivire. After dinner and a rousing speech, Kiawe trains well into the night with Marowak as everyone else gets some rest.

Thursday morning, everyone is up and waiting for Viren when he arrives with some excavators in tow. Kiawe/Marowak fight, and eventually win, against Viren/Electivire but Viren signals the excavators to destroy the house anyways. Myun is just about to step in and use Protect over Kiawe’s family, as non-combatants, but Officer Jenny and a squad of Police show up just in time, arresting Viren and his henchmen. With the day saved, everyone is given some homemade ice cream. They’re all late for school but Kukui was filled in by lunch, at which point, they discover and observe a Dewpider, searching for a place to call its own.

Friday morning, everyone meets Mallow’s brother, Ulu, and his partner Likitung, and learn that a bread making competition is set for later that night. They all agree to come help after school, but upon arrival, they find Ulu despondent; he accidentally lost all of the sweet Greppa Berries he’d sorted! With everyone’s help and a little improvisation to the recipe, Ulu wins the prize but leaves the island before he could even collect the reward, continuing his cooking journey.

Saturday finds Ash, Lillie and the TRio heading for Ula-Ula Island. Ash leads the way, forgetting in his excitement he has no idea where he’s going, and the group wanders around for a while before finding the Po Town Police Station with a tired looking man in a police uniform loafing around. They ask him about the Island Kahuna and are told he’s on patrol all day and to come back some other time. They leave, disappointed, and eventually Jessie gets fired up, declaring that they will get a Z-Ring, if it’s the last thing they do! She puts her foot on a rock for emphasis but it breaks, releasing the formerly trapped Greedy Rapooh! It quickly steals whatever they happen to be holding, which includes the TRio’s Darkinium-Z, before taking off. Rapooh takes Acerola hostage and continues to steal and scare, eventually revealing all of the stolen items as an offering to Acerola, who Rapooh is apparently smitten by. They all charge after it and body snatching shenanigans ensue, ultimately leaving Ash unconscious. Nanu shows up, just in time to watch the TRio successfully fight off the powerful Gengar and save the day. They actually won a fight and the twerp wasn’t even awake to see it! But Nanu was and he recognized their skill, splitting Rapooh’s attention three ways to eventually overwhelm it, working in perfect harmony; a Dark tactic indeed. Lillie was also awake and praises the TRio, citing that they really do move as one; it was exciting to see how much they’ve grown since their days with Team Rocket! Nanu notes this but decides to keep it to himself for now as they all head to Acerola’s library. Acerola tells them some legends and tales of Alola, since they are all foreigners, until Ash wakes up around the time she talks about The Blinding One. Ash is also regaled by the tale of how the TRio defeated the Greedy Rapooh and even got a compliment out of Nanu! This gets Ash all fired up and, while initially reluctant, Ash manages to get a “pre-trial” fight out of Nanu but loses when Lycanroc stops obeying him. The group spends the night at the Morie Pokemon Center.

Sunday morning, bright and early, Ash is off to the Ruins of Abundance with Acerola on some Mudsdale to train, leaving the TRio and Lillie behind. They go back to Po Town Police Station to see what they can do about getting a Z-Ring but Nanu states he only has one; they’ll have to fight for it. Lillie is appalled that he’d make such close friends compete for something so precious, but both Jessie and James are already at each other’s throats to get it! Nanu laughs at this, noting that both would make good dark trainers, unlike the innocent Lillie or the bright-eyed Ash; just what he’d expect from Team Rocket. The TRio freeze at this, quarrel immediately forgotten as they formed up against Police Chief Nanu, who laughs again. They really were and interesting bunch. Nanu decides that Jessie and James should have a pokemon battle to decide who gets the Z-Ring. James says they should only use two each since Jessie has more pokemon than him but Nanu vetoes this, saying they’ll have to use everything they’ve got in this fight. James complains that that’s not fair and Nanu counters that life’s not fair; they gotta do the best with what they have. Meowth says he’ll fight on James’ side, to make it a little more even, and to show off his brand new move some more. Nanu inquires and Meowth proudly proclaims that, after years of the same old boring moves, he’s actually learned something new! Lillie excitedly explains that Meowth taught himself to walk and talk like a human at the expense of his battle prowess but recently got motivated to learn a Dark-Type move so he could use the Dakinium-Z they acquired. Nanu says he’d wondered about that and agrees that Meowth could fight alongside James; he needs to assess whether Meowth is worthy too, after all. Jessie has Wobbuffet, Spearow, Salandit and Dratini against James’ Growlithe and Ponyta along with Meowth. It’s a hard-fought battle, which ultimately ends in a draw. Both humans are exhausted but fall all over themselves trying to gain Nanu’s favor, which he watches in amusement before grabbing both of their hands and putting the Z-Ring between them. Somehow, he's sure they’ll find some way to share it. Meanwhile, Ash finishes training with Topu Bulu and heads to Acerola’s home to train some more, calling Kukui with an update and saying he’s gonna have to miss some school to finish his trial, staying with Kukui’s blessing. Still fighting over the Z-Ring, the TRio proudly show off their prize to Ash, who excitedly asks for a battle so he can see them use a Z-Move! As the sun sets, Acerola offers to officiate while Nanu lurks nearby. They decide to have a triple battle with no substitutions so Meowth, Jessie’s Salandit, and James’ Ponyta, the pokemon Ash should know the least about, are up against Ash’s Pikachu, Lycanroc, and Torracat. The battle is hard fought by all and Meowth gets to use a Black Hole Eclipse but Ash is eventually victorious.

-16

Monday morning, Ash is energetic as ever, asking Nanu to give him another chance. Nanu mentions the fight against the TRio and that this fight will be one of his toughest yet; a three on one, just like last time. Ash once again uses Lycanroc as Nanu calls Krookodile, Sableye, then Persian (alolan). Just as things are looking bad, and Lycanroc seems to be out of control again, it turns on Ash, who realizes Lycanroc is actually in control of its power this time. Reinvigorated, Ash and Lycanroc keep going and eventually win the fight. Nanu congratulates Ash and pulls out a Darkinium-Z before retracting it, noting that Ash isn't the type of guy that would use it. Instead he gives Ash a Lycanium-Z, a Z-Crystal exclusive to Lycanroc. Topu Bulu also seems pleased with the fight, dropping a Sitrus Berry to Lycanroc, just like it did during training. Lunch is had and the group returns to Melemele Island, just in time to watch a firework show after dark! It's almost as if the island were celebrating their personal victories, only to be crashed by an Ultra Beast before it vanishes.

Tuesday, school is interrupted by an Ultra Alert. They are sent off to investigate an Ultra Aura and discover another Ultra Beast! The newly dubbed Xurkitree fights them for a bit until Blacephalon, the previous Ultra Beast, arrives and the two begin a Sparky Sparky Boom Boom contest until nightfall. The Ultra Guardians decode to get their attention by outdoing them both by combining their pokemon's attack, held together by Myun's psychic powers. This works and the two are captured.

Wednesday morning, the pair are returned to their original world, and at school the kids have been requested to recreate their show, which Lana thinks they should charge admission for. The group prepares for another fieldtrip, this time to the Hokulani Observatory where Sophocles' cousin, Molayne "Big Mo", works. They see a Minior shower and find one whose shell hadn't cracked just yet, taking it home as they all stay the night at the observatory.

Thursday morning starts with a scream, as Poipole announces that the Minior’s shell was breaking! The day is spent doing fun leisure activities until night eventually falls and the real lesson begins again. They are then shown the next part of the Minior’s life cycle; they simply fade away as they are no longer protected by their shells. This leaves them all feeling bittersweet.

As the students are heading to the ferry on Friday, they decide to take a shortcut through a cave and inevitably become lost, not to mention separated. Lillie ends up fighting a Tyranitar with the Totem “Snowshrew” (I’m changing their name, it bothers me…) and chasing the Tyranitar away. The Totem evolves into an “Iceslash” and gifts Lillie an Iceium-Z for her efforts and finds an Ice Stone to boot! Everyone eventually finds their way out and Lillie gets to share her victory, though Snowy doesn’t wanna evolve just yet. They eventually make it to the ferry and back home to Melemele Island.

Saturday is a big match with the Masked Royal that has everyone on the edge of their seats, but some cheating and a challenge leads to a rematch set for tomorrow.

Sunday the entire class has shown up for the match and Kukui has to sneak off to get ready, barely making it to the stage on time. Myun, who didn’t really wanna be around so much volatile energy anyways, “excuses” himself, only to transform into Kukui and return with the promised snacks. As The Masked Royal and Incineroar barely make it to the stage on time, he glances at his students only to find him staring at himself! “Kukui” winks and Royal hears “Greetings, Professor” in his head. Understanding dawning, Royal faces the match without having to worry about his secret getting out. The battle is fought and eventually won by the Double Royals and their pokemon, Incineroar and Torracat! The Masked Royal still rushes off and “Kukui” tags out with the real Kukui, who thanks Myun for the impromptu assist. Myun says he hopes he “enjoyed” himself, snickering as they make their separate ways back to the group.

-17

Monday introduces the students to a new assignment: a dance competition, similar to the contests of Hoen, Sinnoh, and Kalos! They’ll be performing on Friday after lunch, the whole half of the day will be set aside for it, and all of the classes will be participating. Each class will have a winner and one student will be named the overall winner of the competition. They are given until lunch to research different dance styles they could incorporate into their routine, after which Faba joins the class, triggering Myun. He tries to fight it but Kukui offers to let him sit this lesson out, which Myun agrees to; he’ll go train in the courtyard instead. Myun is taking a page out of Ash’s book, training by fighting Sunny and Rattata while commanding both, until he hears Togedemaru fall from the classroom, bolting to catch it before it lands in the water. Unfortunately, he didn’t know about Togedemaru’s miniature passengers and they fall off into the water. He hears their mental cries for help before their physical cries and locates them just in time to save them from the water drain! Upon finding out what Faba did, Mewon is nearly murderous, only held back by knowing Faba has the best chance of fixing the machine and bringing his friends back to their rightful size. Mewon is extremely protective of them, which Sophocles appreciates but it chafes Ash’s adventurous spirit, leading to another ride on Pikachu while Mewon watches them like a hawk, psychic powers on a hair trigger to pull the miniature humans out of harms way. Faba’s machine continues to break more and more but thankfully the affects seem to wear off over time as Lillie, Sophocles and Ash eventually return to full size on their own. Mewon makes it very clear how thin Faba’s ice is; one more mistake like that and Mewon will make sure he never hurts anyone else ever again. After school, Mallow learns about the Alola Hula and Ash meets Mina the Artist in the marketplace.

Tuesday is more practice until lunch, followed by sports training with a vault box. That night, Poipole makes a mural of its alolan family then gets sad as it watches the moon and remembers its mission.

Wednesday begins with a large “vault box” which Kiawe and Ash immediately try to jump, only to fail in various ways. There’s no time to dwell on this though, as the school bell rings. They practice until lunch, where Poipole expresses its sorrow, until the Ultra Guardians are called to capture the “vault box” from earlier, confirmed to be an Ultra Beast. They try to catch it until school is out and they decide to try again tomorrow; it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere. Poipole’s drawings are later shown to Mina to interpret and they arrive just in time to fend off Team Skull, who were harassing Mina. Poipole later draws a large depiction of the Shining One with the symbol of affection.

Thursday is the day before the competition but there’s no time for that now; the Ultra Beast from yesterday is gone! They follow it to Viren’s construction site, just in time for Viren and his henchmen to glue a big Viren statue on top of Stakataka! Ash manages to vault on top of it and remove the statue via Pikachu’s Iron Tail, and manages to stay on long enough to gain Stakataka’s respect, allowing Ash to catch it and eventually send it back home.

Friday is the competition and everyone is scrambling to finish last minute preparations before lunch and eventually the competition begins! Team Skull tries to crash the party but are quickly dispatched by the TRio of all people. Jessie in particular in incensed; as a former contest star herself, she’d been asked to perform as an exhibition, along with a few other performers like Anela and her Alola Hula, while the kids’ scores were being tallied. Jessie had felt surprisingly protective of the kids and their performances; she wanted them to feel the same kind of joy and thrill that she felt in center stage and refused to let these Skull punks ruin that for them! This highlights how far the TRio have come in their reformation.

Saturday is a spa day for the Ultra Guardians, curtesy of Lusamine, mostly to bond and relax with their ride pokemon. They arrive at Pokemon Paradise Resort on Akala Island and are sent to the Care Area while the rest of their pokemon eagerly head for the Play Area. Myun doesn’t like the idea of his true form being seen by all of these strangers and, since he’s his own ride, decides to watch over the other pokemon in the Play Area instead; it’s not like he’d be able to relax enough for the Care Area to do him much good. The TRio are chaperones once again and show off their surprisingly substantial pokemon care knowledge; since Team Rocket wasn’t exactly allowed in any Pokemon Centers, they had to take care of their pokemon’s needs themselves. After the Care Courses, everyone reconvenes in the Play Area and Myun is convinced to go to a more private part of the Care Area with the TRio; some pokemon can’t relax with others around either so they’ve got accommodations for that! While initially still nervous, Mewon manages to transform back and let the TRio massage him into a light nap. The TRio recognize this would be the perfect opportunity to catch a rare pokemon but realize it’s barely more of an afterthought at this point.

Sunday is a day of rest and relaxation, maybe even a second day at the resort.

-18

Monday morning finds all of the adults feeling lethargic and exhausted. Kukui barely makes it to class, only to tell them to “talk amongst themselves” for the time being, retiring to the Principal’s Office. Talk eventually comes around to the upcoming Manalo Festival, all about the Blinding One, deciding the old legend refers to Solgaleo, Lunala and Ultra Wormholes. Meanwhile, Lusamine, Wicke, Faba, and Burnet are researching the decrease of Ultra Aura; it seems like it’s being sucked into a small Ultra Wormhole, which is the opposite effect they usually have.

Tuesday is more of the same until the Ultra Guardians are called and ordered to the Alter of the Sunne. The Ultra Adults are there and Gladion, riding a Noivern, also arrives, saying that Silvally was scared; if an Ultra Beast is approaching, it will likely be the strongest one yet. Lunala manages to flee through the Wormhole, followed by Necrozma. Lunala is quickly captured and has its Ultra Aura drained, and Necrozma is identified as the source of their troubles. Topu Koko tries to help but can’t keep Necrozma at bay for long, even with the Ultra Guardian’s help, and Necrozma merges with Lunala to become Dawn Wings Necrozma. Suddenly it’s Nebby to the rescue! Solgaleo manages to separate Lunala and Necrozma again but not for long, as it merges with Solgaleo instead, becoming Dusk Mane Necrozma and escaping through an Ulta Wormhole. Suddenly the adults have their energy back and Lunala is moved to the Ultra Guardian’s Base to be healed.

As the sun rises on Wednesday morning, all four Island Kahunas pray to their respective Topus from their respective Ruins. Lunala decides it’s done recovering and breaks out of the Bunker to summon an Ultra Wormhole with the Ultra Guardians not far behind. They are immediately accosted by Poipole’s kin, only stopped when Poipole explains their purpose and Naganadel shows up before collapsing. While Gladion and Myun don’t want to lose Lunala, the others are determined to help Naganadel, who info dumps about Necrozma and how the world became desolate without its light. The Guardians want to help the Poipole and their world but not at the cost of Solgaleo and Lunala. their speculation is interrupted by Dusk Mane Necrozma landing a devastating blow on Lunala and they jump in to help. Once backed off, those with Z-Rings try to sate Necrozma’s hunger with their own Z-Power but it’s not enough. Lusamine is able to contact the Guardians and tells them about their research, confirming that they have the right idea, they just need more power. Lusamine sends a message to the Kahunas to help. Necrozma releases Nebby, who’s exhausted, but instead of being sated Necrozma begins to attack. The Guardians attack it to distract it while they rush to Lunala and Solgaleo, Gladion and Ash both receiving a Z-Crystal for their respective legendaries. Their Z-Power is released and Ultra Necrozma finally emerges, revitalizing the other world! Task successfully completed, the Guardians head back through the closing Wormhole but Poipole remains behind, to help protect its people, drawing a large picture of Ash and Pikachu with love symbols all around as a farewell. (All told, Myun’s presence doesn’t change the outcome much and I’ve eliminated Team Rocket as a factor.)

Thursday is a normal day at school, though Kukui has a cold. Afterwards Kiawe takes Ash and Pikachu to Pikachu Valley on Akala Island.

Friday at school is normal but but after that the Masked Royal announces the beginning of his Meet-and-Greet Tour of Alola, starting with Hau’oli City. Concerned that his secret might get out, Kukui enlists the help of Myun and his Transform like he did before; just for when Kukui and Burnet are to meet him and then they can switch back. Myun agrees, on the condition that he read the Masked Royal’s mind to copy his mannerisms, since he isn’t sure he can pull off Royal’s energy otherwise.

Saturday is the Meet-and-Greet and Myun is up bright and early, trying to psych himself up by sneaking backstage and hanging out with Incineroar. Everything is going well until Mad Magmar crashes the party just as Kukui rejoins Burnet and Ash, leaving Myun to fight as Masked Royal. He nearly has a panic attack but Incineroar manages to snap him out of it in time to fight but Myun’s Royal is a more aggressive and less showy than Kukui’s Royal but everybody seems too caught up in the moment to notice. Myun Royal wins but at what cost? Upon Mad Magmar’s defeat, Myun Royal gets a little carried away and continues the Meet-and-Greet on his own for a bit, long enough for the world to witness Kukui shake hands with the Masked Royal, permanently dispelling any theories about the two being the same person. Another break is quickly called and the two switch back so Myun can rejoin Ash and Burnet as Kukui and the real Masked Royal can continue his show. Myun Kukui says he forgot something inside and makes his escape, letting the real Kukui return in his own time.

Sunday is a restful day.