Chapter 59: Moon Goddess

Even the old bug-catcher uncles on the roadside know: a Pokémon Trainer and their Pokémon can form an emotional bond.

And the deeper that bond runs, the tighter the connection becomes.

That's why, even if Pokémon can't speak, Trainers can usually understand what their partners want to say.

Like when a Pokémon is thinking, "Hehe, I'm definitely going to win!"

The Trainer will instinctively go all-out to secure victory—even if that means resorting to underhanded tactics like "Get up!", "Hang in there!", or the classic "Pretend to faint," just to make it to the podium.

But if a Pokémon no longer wants to fight…

Then unless they're a total greenhorn, any decent Trainer will let their Pokémon faint first, so it can recover and regroup.

And it works the other way around too. For a Pokémon, as long as their Trainer believes in them, they'll do whatever they can to respond to that expectation.

In fact, compared to humans and their complicated emotions, Pokémon might even love their Trainers more deeply than they love themselves…

To many Pokémon, their Trainer is their entire world.

For Nebby, that bond didn't come through being inside Lillie's Poké Ball, or through any formal Trainer–Pokémon connection.

But…

Nebby had always been under Lillie's protection—and because of that, it could feel her emotions with crystal clarity.

The overwhelming despair and humiliation she now felt—it was like pulling four back-to-back pity rolls in a gacha game and getting nothing but garbage-tier characters.

No one understood how hard it was to carry the weight of Lillie's will better than Nebby.

And that… was enough to awaken it from its long slumber.

Honestly, Nebby really couldn't wrap its head around it—what kind of person could possibly piss off someone as gentle and kind as Lillie?

Even Lusamine, who used to act like a complete villain, was forgiven by Lillie in the end...

That just went to show how soft-hearted she truly was.

And it was exactly because of that… that Nebby couldn't hold back anymore.

TMD—even Lillie is getting bullied now?! That person isn't even human anymore!

And if anyone dared enrage Lillie—even if it were Lusamine again—Nebby wouldn't forgive them.

So, to help Lillie vent her fury, Nebby cranked its own power up to the max.

The potential within its body, along with the Z-Power it had recently absorbed from Dragonair, burst forth as pure energy, fueling its next stage of evolution.

In an instant, endless radiant light erupted from Nebby's body, and under the silver moonlight, it began to transform into an elliptical "cocoon."

Bathed in that brilliant glow, a new form took shape—a Pokémon modeled after a primordial star: Cosmoem.

Compared to Cosmog, its base stats surged by 200 points, and its weight shot up to a staggering 999.9 kg.

In this world, maybe only Super Trainers or Super Alolans could carry something like that around without breaking a sweat.

This was Cosmog's evolved form.

Unfortunately, despite its bloated stats, Cosmoem—with only two moves—still couldn't actually fight.

Unless it evolved again, into a true deity of the sun or moon.

Still, even so, Cosmoem—like Cosmog—was already categorized as a Legendary Pokémon.

"What… what just happened? What the heck is that Pokémon?"

Even Iono, who had been trying to make sense of Lillie's words, was dumbfounded by what she saw.

Sure, she'd noticed the strange little Pokémon napping in Lillie's arms earlier.

But she had assumed it was just a regional species unique to Alola.

After all, each region had its own exclusive Pokémon—nothing strange about that.

Just like how in Paldea they had those "Click to Claim" gimmick-mons, Magician Mask Meowth(Meowscarada), and… Iron Crush (??), which you couldn't find anywhere else.

But the energy that burst forth when that Pokémon evolved just now—that proved it was anything but some ordinary Alolan species...

Even the so-called "pseudo-Legendaries" that took forever to evolve didn't pack that kind of punch!

Pseudo-Legendary?

Pfft. Paldea's own Baxcalibur can't even land a hit under pressure—how is that considered "legendary" material?

No, the Pokémon in Lillie's arms could only be either a Legendary or a Mythical Pokémon.

But wait—Legendary Pokémon can evolve?! Iono had never heard of anything like that before.

Thinking about it, Iono felt a pang of regret.

If only she'd been streaming just now—her channel views would've skyrocketed fifty-fold!

A Legendary, on camera! The allure of a Legendary to Trainers was absolutely irresistible!

Mm-hmm~~ This was a once-in-a-lifetime viral moment down the drain!

Dammit, I messed up big time!

Wait—on second thought, if she had been streaming, wouldn't something… unstreamable have shown up before the evolution?

Eh, maybe it's a good thing she didn't go live...

Yet while Iono was still stuck in a spiral of "what ifs," Nebby underwent another dramatic transformation.

Blinding beams of light burst from the Star Cocoon-brighter than a Final Flash charging in an episode of Dragon Ball.

Yes—in just this short span of time, Nebby pulled off two consecutive evolutions in a row!

Swoosh—!

With a shriek that split the air, a pair of ghostly blue wings unfurled from either side of the cocoon.

In that moment, the helpless Cosmoem vanished—and in its place appeared a much larger Pokémon.

Its body resembled a bat, with broad wings adorned with golden moon-shaped crescents. Along the forks of those wings hung star-shaped crosses in the same shimmering hue.

Atop its head was a deep-blue crest displaying a shifting night sky, a living star map—signifying its identity as a cosmic Pokémon.

Elegant. Magnificent. Radiant. Powerful. Like a full moon that could light up even the darkest soul.

That was the first impression this Pokémon gave.

If Haru had been here, he would've recognized her at a glance:

Lunala—the legendary beast who invites the moon.

Technically speaking, most Legendary Pokémon don't have genders—but Lunala and her counterpart Solgaleo were special cases.

The Pokédex itself notes that Lunala leans female, while Solgaleo leans male.

That said… even a Pokémon known as the Goddess of the Moon has some drawbacks.

She's a dual Psychic/Ghost-type, which means she takes 4× damage from Ghost moves…

Still, it's not that big a deal. There aren't many Ghost-type Legendaries around, and even with a quadruple weakness, she's not about to get one-shotted.

Now feeling the immense power welling up inside her, Lunala couldn't help but raise her head to the sky and let out a long, echoing cry:

"MAAHEENAPEAA--!!"