Steven and Iris

Yuga stayed in the hospital for over an hour before coming out. Fortunately, the village chief's family was fine, and his young grandson, thanks to timely treatment, was no longer in any life-threatening condition.

From the village chief, Yuga learned that what Lance was searching for were four pearls—each in red, green, blue, and yellow.

Based on the village chief's description, Yuga was shocked to realize that the pearls they were talking about seemed to be the very same four jewels he had once snatched from Team Magma.

The village chief said that the pearl handed down in his family had been stolen years ago, and the timing roughly matched when Yuga had acquired the jewels.

Now, the four pearls were embedded in the bodies of Charizard, Florges, Lapras, and Dragonite respectively, so of course Lance would never be able to find them.

Yuga couldn't figure out where Lance had gotten information about the four jewels, nor could he understand what Lance intended to do with them.

These four pearls not only served to nurture Pokémon but were also the key to the ruins of Oldale Town.

Could it be that Lance intended to use them to open the ruins of Oldale Town? But Yuga had already visited those ruins, and they were now completely empty inside.

Yuga stayed the night in Oldale Town, and the next day, the investigation team concluded their interrogation of Lance.

Turns out Lance was a bit soft-boned—before the investigation team had even used any "torture," he spilled everything like beans falling out of a bag.

According to his confession, Phoebe had entered Ultra Space along with their team. Besides Phoebe, there was also another female Ghost-type trainer, though Lance didn't know who she was.

However, judging from the circumstances at the time, it seemed that person was a friend of Phoebe.

This time, Lance had come to Hoenn specifically to search for a way to reopen Ultra Space.

The device they had previously used to open Ultra Space was developed only after extensive research following Team Rocket's capture of a Naganadel. It required not only Naganadel's assistance but also Z-Crystals as an energy source.

Now that Naganadel was gone and Z-Crystals couldn't be gathered quickly, they were left with no choice but to search for an alternative method.

As for whether the items Lance was looking for could actually open Ultra Space, even he wasn't sure—he was basically grabbing at straws in desperation.

The Ultra Space mission seemed to be extremely important to Team Rocket. Now that the unit that had entered Ultra Space had lost contact with Team Rocket's headquarters, Lance was panicking.

"Brother, look—this is the location Lance gave us where Phoebe went missing!" Luna pointed to a location name on the interrogation records for Yuga to see.

Ula'ula Island, in the Alola region.

"First report the results of the interrogation to HQ. As for what comes next, we'll wait for their reply before making a move," Yuga said to Luna after thinking it over.

"Got it. I'll write the report right away!" Luna said, then ran off.

HQ responded very quickly—after all, this was a matter concerning the safety of Elite Four members.

But when Wallace contacted Yuga, he was surprised to hear Yuga voluntarily ask to participate in the Ultra Space investigation mission. In his memory, Yuga had never taken the initiative to apply for a mission.

Of course, Wallace was happy to see this. With Yuga involved, he felt more at ease.

To be honest, he was currently more worried about Steven, who was out on another mission. A few days ago, Steven had contacted him saying he'd found Ariana, but there had been no further updates since.

"All right, then—I'll leave this matter to you. Head over to Ula'ula Island in Alola first. I'll notify someone to meet up with you there," Wallace said to Yuga over the phone.

Wallace remembered the Nihilego that had appeared at the auction Yuga previously hosted and figured that Yuga probably wasn't completely clueless about Ultra Space, which gave him even more confidence in Yuga.

In fact, the reason Yuga had taken the initiative to join this mission… was because of Cosmoem.

Last time he entered the Ultra Space, Cosmoem gained tremendous benefits, so Yuga thought that if he could go in again, Cosmoem might obtain the opportunity to evolve.

Yuga's Cosmoem was rather unique, being a mutated variant that fused the Legendary Aura of typical legendary Pokémon with the Ultra Aura of Ultra Beasts.

Last time, Cosmoem obtained Marshadow's origin yet failed to evolve. Yuga suspected that this had to do with the imbalance between the growth of its Legendary Aura and its Ultra Aura. That's why he figured that if he had another chance to enter the Ultra Space, Cosmoem might succeed in evolving!

After getting Wallace's approval, Yuga immediately said his goodbyes to Luna and the others and set off for Alola.

At the same time, far away in the Unova region, Steven had stealthily infiltrated one of Team Plasma's secret bases.

Wearing a standard Team Plasma uniform, he walked around the base as if nothing was wrong, observing the other Team Plasma members busily rushing around him.

Inside one of the laboratories in the base, Team Plasma's scientist Colress was frowning at a pile of data on his computer screen.

At the same time, Kyurem lay dormant inside a machine next to him.

"Kyurem… DNA Splicers… Zekrom…" Colress muttered under his breath.

Just then, a Team Plasma member burst in, drenched in sweat, and shouted, "Mr. Colress, bad news! That crazy woman is attacking again!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the entire base began to shake.

Outside the base, Ariana was riding atop Shadow Lugia, her expression dark as she flew through the sky.

"Lugia, Aeroblast!"

"Screeeeeeech—!"

With a piercing cry, Shadow Lugia flapped its wings rapidly, unleashing a transparent shockwave that slammed into the roof of the base.

BOOM!!!

With a thunderous explosion, countless Team Plasma grunts poured out of the base, commanding their Pokémon to attack Lugia. But Lugia remained completely unfazed.

In the lab, Colress barked at his subordinates, "Pack everything up! We're leaving this place!"

At the same time, he cursed Ariana in his mind—this insane woman had been chasing them and attacking for months and still refused to let it go. She was utterly unreasonable!

After giving his order, he took several people with him to try and stall Ariana.

Due to their experiments, Kyurem had been injected with various drugs and was currently unable to awaken and fight, so Colress had no choice but to take the field himself.

Inside the base, Steven had also noticed the disturbance. After Colress left, he managed to sneak into the laboratory.

When he saw Kyurem inside, Steven's mouth dropped open in astonishment.

"This is not a place you should be. Get out!"

Just as Steven was looking around, someone inside the lab shouted angrily at him.

Meanwhile, outside, Colress had engaged Ariana in battle.

Without Kyurem's help, Colress naturally stood no chance against Ariana. His Klinklang, Magnezone, Ferrothorn, and Escavalier were all swiftly defeated by Shadow Lugia one after another.

BOOM!

As Shadow Lugia fired off a Hyper Beam, most of the base's structures began to collapse!

"You've gone too far!"

Colress was furious beyond belief, but Ariana ignored him completely and directing Shadow Lugia to descend.

Inside the laboratory, Steven had already taken out the others. However, just then, the roof caved in, and Ariana along with Shadow Lugia descended into the lab.

Amid the chaos, Steven felt someone tug him, and he stumbled out of the lab.

As he exited, he caught sight of a strange object out of the corner of his eye. On impulse, he grabbed it and took it with him.

Inside the lab, Ariana had Shadow Lugia lift the machine containing Kyurem into the air. Colress's eyes bulged with fury at the sight, but he was powerless to stop her. All he could do was watch helplessly as Ariana and Shadow Lugia took Kyurem away.

Steven was dragged into a corner, and he looked at the person who had pulled him aside and asked quietly, "Who are you?"

The person removed their mask and revealed a young girl's face.

"My name is Iris, I'm from the Opelucid Gym." As she spoke, she showed Steven her identification.

Upon hearing this, Steven suddenly understood and smiled as he said, "Ah, I see. Thank you for earlier!"

If Iris hadn't pulled him out just now, he might have been crushed by the collapsing roof. And if he had run into Ariana, things could have ended badly.

"You're Mr. Steven, right?" Iris asked.

"You know me?" Steven was surprised.

"Yes." Iris nodded. Of course she knew him—otherwise, she wouldn't have acted so readily. "I've seen you on TV."

"You're here investigating too?" Steven asked.

"Team Plasma stole the DNA Splicers from the Opelucid Gym. I'm here to look into the matter," Iris replied.

Recently, Ariana and Colress had been at odds rather fiercely. Otherwise, she wouldn't have found this place so easily.

As soon as Iris finished speaking, she caught sight of what Steven was holding and exclaimed in a low voice, "The DNA Splicers!"

Steven lifted the item in his hand at her words. "This is what you're looking for?"

"That's right! This is an artifact passed down through generations by our Opelucid Gym—it's connected to the legends of Unova!" Iris explained.

"Then here, it's yours." Steven handed the DNA Splicers back to Iris.

"Thank you. It's just a pity that Kyurem was taken away by that Ariana!"

Iris expressed her thanks to Steven while lamenting the loss, though she was somewhat comforted by the recovery of the DNA Splicers—it hadn't all been in vain.

Steven's eyes shifted as an idea struck him. Suddenly, he said, "How about teaming up to stir things up a bit?" As he spoke, he pointed outside.

Iris immediately understood.

Right now, Team Plasma's base was in complete chaos. The only one who could rival them—Colress—had been crushed by Ariana with Shadow Lugia, and now both Ariana and Shadow Lugia had departed. This was the perfect opportunity to clean up Team Plasma.

The two exchanged a knowing smile and then simultaneously released their Metagross and Hydreigon, charging out together.

Meanwhile, Yuga, following Wallace's directions, had successfully arrived at Ula'ula Island in the Alola region.

On Ula'ula Island, Yuga not only met the trainers from the Hoenn League that Wallace had arranged, but also encountered Ula'ula Island's island kahuna, Nanu.

Nanu was someone whose speech and actions were extremely lazy and indifferent. When they all met, Nanu remained silent throughout, merely tagging along behind the other trainers like a background character.

However, Yuga didn't underestimate him because of this.

Before coming to Ula'ula Island, Wallace had already told him that Nanu, the island kahuna of Ula'ula Island, was a very capable and courageous individual.

He had once been an International Police officer and was also the superior of that guy Looker Yuga knew. Due to some special circumstances, he had stepped down. Now, he not only served as Ula'ula's island kahuna, but also worked as an ordinary police officer.

Led by several Hoenn trainers, Yuga was brought to the machine that Lance and his team had used to open Ultra Wormhole.

When Lance left Alola, he didn't take the machine with him but instead hid it somewhere on Ula'ula Island. Its location had been extracted by the investigation team through questioning Lance.

"According to Lance, the machine requires a Z-Crystal and a Naganadel to operate. The Z-Crystal isn't a big problem, but the Naganadel… we've got no way to get one!" one of the trainers explained to Yuga.

Island kahunas in the Alola region all had some stockpile of Z-Crystals. Since the League needed them, they didn't mind sharing. The Z-Crystals they now had were provided by Nanu.

"Does it have to be Naganadel? Wouldn't another Ultra Beast work?" Yuga thought for a moment and asked.

"Um… we're not sure either. Lance said the machine was designed specifically for Naganadel. As for other Ultra Beasts…"

"Has anyone in the League tried to decipher or reengineer the machine?" Yuga asked again.

"They have… but the machine's structure is extremely complex. It's not something we can decode in a short time. And Ms. Phoebe…"

Yuga immediately understood the implication. Yes, time wasn't on their side. Phoebe might not be able to afford to wait that long.

"Let's try it!" After a long moment of silence, Yuga said, "Let's try using a different Ultra Beast."

"But if something goes wrong…" the trainer said hesitantly.

"If we don't try, are we just going to sit here and wait?" Yuga countered.

"Let's go with what Gym Leader Shimizu says!" At that moment, Nanu, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke up.

"Okay… okay then." The trainer had no choice but to agree reluctantly.

With the decision made, Yuga and the others used a flying vehicle to transport the machine to the small island Lance had mentioned.

As for the Ultra Beast, they didn't need to make any special arrangements—Yuga already had one on hand.

Nanu and the other trainers had already scouted the area in advance, so Yuga and the team reached the location with ease.

Even though several months had passed, traces of Lance's battle were still visible on the island. From these marks, it was evident how intense the battle had been back then.

The group unloaded the massive machine from the flying vehicle and set it in the appropriate position. Then they took out the Z-Crystals provided by Nanu and embedded them one by one into the machine's slots.

Once the Z-Crystals were installed, Yuga took out a Poké Ball and released Kartana.

"Kartana, I'm counting on you!"

Kartana responded with a gentle cry and floated lightly onto the machine. Its tiny frame appeared so insignificant against the backdrop of the massive machine.

As the machine activated, a bright beam of light shot into the sky, and at the same time, Kartana let out a cry of pain.