Crossing Field

Alola to Confrontation

Alya's PoV

***

Silvally expertly guided Gladion and me around the large floating masses of Ultra Space. With a single bound he cleared each island, moving onto the next one with ease. Though exhaustion wore down my body, I kept my eyes sharp, searching for the reason I came here.

Both of us were tense, sitting in strained silence, neither of us knowing what to say after our previous encounter with Lusamine's Absol. My grip on his hoodie kept faltering and my mouth opened and closed, searching for something to say. But what could I say? Everything is going to be all right? No. His mother is being controlled by a beast from another world. Even if I found Guzma, there was no telling if it would put me at ease.

Confronting the Team Skull leader could possibly make things worse. What if he is really as bad as everyone says he is? What if he isn't? What if Tapu Fini comes back and I hurt someone else? All the 'What ifs' made my head spin.

"Stay sharp," Gladion spoke up, causing me to jolt at the sudden noise as we've been blanketed in silence for quite some time now. Snapped from my thoughts, my eyes took in the sight of dozens of Ultra Beasts surrounding one floating rock. They were all the same type, resembling the beast that has Lusamine captured. I could only assume that this is what they normally looked like.

Through the gaps of the tentacles, I caught a glint of gold. Instantly drawn to the pop of color, my eyes strained to see through the Ultra Beasts while being bounced around on Silvally's back. I only needed to see the yellow sunglasses to know why there were so many Ultra Beasts condensed in this one area.

"He's on that island!" Gladion looked over his shoulder to give me a skeptical glance. He must not have seen what I had. Probably thought I was hallucinating. Maybe I am. Only one way to find out. With a confident look in my eyes and a roll of his, he turned back around.

"Silvally. Air Slash!" Mid-jump Gladion's pokemon fired sharp gusts of wind at the beasts. Startled, most of the UB's fled. The ones that lingered didn't seem to pose a threat. They let us pass and land on the island.

Sitting on a rock with his knee propped up and elbow casually draped over it was Guzma in all his rebel glory. I hopped off Silvally's back and sent Gladion a cocky smirk which he promptly scoffed at. Well, it's actually a surprise to both of us that I was right and the man we were after was actually down here, but Gladion doesn't need to know I had doubts as well.

Guzma looked up at the sky, watching as the remaining Ultra Beasts floated off, minding their own business. When he finally brought his gaze down to fall upon us, his gray eyes sized us up and then narrowed. "Y'all are stupid!"

A wicked smile formed on my face. "Definitely." I opened my mouth more to expand on the reason we were here, but a loud explosion sounded not too far from us. Gladion's eyes widened from next to me. "I found him. Go to your sister and mom. I'll handle things here."

Confliction took over Gladion's features, his green eyes flicking from his former boss to me, his unlikely ally in this dark time. A small smile formed itself on my lips, and I lied a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You know where to find us when you save her. Go." With a sigh, the blonde squared his shoulders, sent a warning glare Guzma's direction, and then gave me a curt nod. Remounting his pokemon, he bounded off towards the loud sound.

"How in the world did you even get to this place?" Guzma asked, bringing my attention back to him. "I've got no idea how you did it, but here you are."

"I did what had to be done to come and save you," I told him. I tried to keep the venom out of my voice, wanting to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Yeah, well a lot good that did ya. You're stuck just as much as I am!"

"How did you get here, Guzma?"

In an instant, his arrogant expression dropped. "I tried to catch one of those things...but it possessed me! And that's when it happened! My body, my mind... They started running wild, and I couldn't do anything about it! It was like I became somebody else, and I finally felt what fear feels like! It was terrifying!" Guzma shuddered. "That lady dropped me here! I may be the Team Skull boss, and I've never been scared of nothing or nobody, but...that lady...she's on another level! She's way far gone! She lost her mind over these Ultra Beasts. There's no talking to her, no reasoning with her... She's just gone..."

Guzma looked completely shaken, his body coated in a sheen layer of sweat. I tried to keep my steely composure around him, but it was cracking as I looked upon a man that has shrunk in on himself.

"Yeah well, we're both stuck here until she goes down, so might as well get up and help rather than moping." His gray eyes shot up to meet my crimson ones.

"I have lived all my life making people afraid of me. It was the only way to get by, but now that I know what true fear feels like...she's too far gone...you, your friends, were stupid for coming here."

I scoffed at his words. "Since you know what it feels like now, what you've been doing to countless others, maybe you should do something about it. I'm scared to, but my friends need my help and that's more important. I have been through so much in the short time I've been in Alola. Most of it has been fighting against Team Skull and myself. If you can't figure out how to live life for the better, then you might as well stay here. I could tell that all your members look up to you. You should show them that's there's more to life than being a thug."

With my rant being over, I turned on my heel and stomped away from him. Guzma wasn't going anywhere, and with that off my chest, I did feel better. Team Skull wasn't like Team Flare. Seeing Guzma proved that. He could change. Lysander could not.

I now needed a way to get to Gladion, Lilly, and Ash. But as of now, I only had Salazzle, Zebstrika, and Empoleon. Zebstrika could easily leap small distances, but she wouldn't be able to make the distance to Lusamine. I really was stuck here with Guzma. A sigh of frustration escaped my lips.

"No way! Hey, Alya!" a familiar voice called from above. Looking up, I swear my prayers had been answered. Everyone excluding Ash, Lillie, and Gladion descended down to me. Solgaleo was with them, acting as their mount like it did when it brought us all through the wormhole.

Absol and Lycanroc bounded over to me from being curled up on Solgaleo's back. Even Braviary looked happy to see me as he landed in front of me.

"If you're all here, then..." Kiawe slid off of the legendary's back and quickly engulfed me into a hug.

"They did it. Lusamine has been saved."