A week passed quickly without much fanfare after Alex and his Pokémon finished cleaning up the Aether Paradise Ruins. They spent the time digging through the rubble, salvaging technology and raw materials, and relaxing inside Alex's portable home, which he had set up just outside the mansion on the island's northern side.
By the end of the week, they had excavated the ruins as thoroughly as possible. With no significant areas left unexplored and nothing of value remaining buried beneath the debris, Alex and his Pokémon found themselves with little else to do.
The salvage haul itself was somewhat underwhelming considering the scale of the ruins. They recovered numerous corrupted recordings that took Rotom considerable time to repair, along with a bank vault's worth of rare resources that barely occupied any space in Alex's backpack. They also managed to extract several vault doors, reinforced walls, and storage containers forged from Master ranked metal by cutting and prying them free from the ruined structure. Despite the sheer volume of the materials, everything combined only filled his backpack to around 40% capacity, leaving plenty of room for more loot.
Once Rotom finished restoring the damaged recordings, Alex had it analyze the recovered data for anything that could explain what had happened to Aether Paradise and the cause of the Eternal Eclipse. From the surviving logs, they were able to reconstruct the chain of events that led to Alola's current state.
The first major divergence was that Lillie had never managed to escape Aether Paradise with Cosmog. Lusamine kept the Pokémon under constant supervision, never allowing it out of her sight. At the same time, Lusamine had fallen under the influence of a Nihilego, causing her grip on reality to steadily deteriorate until she eventually entered an Ultra Wormhole with Cosmog in tow.
With Lusamine gone and Aether Paradise left without proper leadership, Branch Chief Faba took control of the facility. However, his own arrogance and reckless pursuit of scientific advancement eventually led to an accident that caused Ultra Wormholes to begin opening throughout Aether Paradise unchecked. One after another, Ultra Beasts emerged, eventually overwhelming the island and reducing the once-advanced research facility to ruins. Sometime afterward, Necrozma arrived, stole Alola's light, and retreated back into Ultra Space, never to be seen again.
According to Rotom, these were the critical points where this world's timeline had diverged from the one it knew. In the original timeline, Lillie had escaped with Cosmog and eventually helped it evolve into Solgaleo before confronting Necrozma. She later tracked Necrozma down with assistance from the Ultra Recon Squad, who were still able to maintain contact with their own world.
Here, however, none of those events occurred. Without Lillie's intervention, Necrozma remained unchecked, leaving Alola trapped in an endless darkness and leading directly to the current predicament.
"Rotom, upload these files to the internet," Alex instructed. "We'll leave it to this world's Pokémon League to figure everything out."
Suddenly, a powerful aura erupted from within the ruined facility. It belonged to a Champion ranked Ultra Beast.
"It's finally time to start gambling," Alex said as Gardevoir sent out the attack team to intercept it.
The Ultra Beast revealed itself to be a Kartana, which immediately launched into battle with the deadly precision of a master swordsman. Its speed and technique were impressive, but it was ultimately overwhelmed by the superior numbers and coordination of Alex's team. Within moments, the battle was over, and Kartana was captured inside a Beast Ball.
With the threat dealt with, Alex turned his attention to the Ultra Wormhole that had appeared nearby.
"So, this is an Ultra Wormhole," Alex muttered, staring at the tear in space that seemed to exchange the atmosphere between two different dimensions.
Judging by the air flowing through the opening, the world on the other side appeared to be a forest. While interesting, it wasn't what Alex was searching for. He needed a path to Ultra Megalopolis, where he could track down Necrozma, and this wormhole clearly didn't lead anywhere close to his target.
"I guess we'll continue waiting."
This was the method Alex had devised to ensure he entered the correct location. The atmosphere on the other side of the Ultra Wormhole needed to resemble a technological city or, at the very least, the ruins of one. Additionally, the Ultra Beast emerging from it had to be a Poipole or Naganadel, as they were known to originate exclusively from Ultra Megalopolis, a fact only Alex and those from his world knew.
Thus, the waiting game began. Months passed, with an Ultra Wormhole appearing roughly once a week and depositing one or several Ultra Beasts each time. These Ultra Beasts ranged from Elite to Master rank in power, providing Alex with a respectable haul every time. It quickly became an excellent source of income and high-ranked meat, proving far more lucrative than simply hunting in Master ranked danger zones.
Here in the ruins of Aether Paradise, all Alex had to do was train his Pokémon while waiting for intruders to appear and defeat them, guaranteeing a payout roughly once a week.
Three months later, a new Ultra Beast emerged that immediately caught Alex's attention. It was a Poipole, a purple, alien-like Ultra Beast with a small bipedal body, a long tail, and an oversized head topped with a needle-like appendage.
"Is it finally time?"
After capturing it, Alex examined the Ultra Wormhole and analyzed the atmosphere coming from the other side. The air carried the scent of metal mixed with dust, suggesting the other world was a ruined location. That meant there was no guarantee it was Ultra Megalopolis.
"Should I take this chance?"
Alex hesitated. He wasn't completely certain, but he had grown tired of simply waiting and training. His supplies weren't limitless either, and continuing to wait indefinitely carried its own risks. Given the circumstances, taking the opportunity seemed worthwhile.
Besides, if Necrozma had been left unchecked and remained undefeated, it made sense that Ultra Megalopolis itself would have fallen into ruin. That possibility gave Alex a little more confidence as he prepared to take the gamble.
"Rotom, Gardevoir, pack everything up. We're taking this gamble," Alex said with growing excitement.
After all, on the other side of the slowly closing portal was a Legendary Pokémon at the peak of its power. It promised a battle worthy of his new status as a Master ranked trainer, while also pushing his Pokémon to the absolute limits of what they could achieve.
Once Rotom finished packing up the portable house and computer station, and Gardevoir gathered all the Pokémon into the backpack, Alex stepped through the Ultra Wormhole without hesitation. On the other side, he found exactly what he had been hoping for, the ruins of an entire technologically advanced city drifting silently through the void of Ultra Space.
Ultra Megalopolis was a shadow of the technological marvel it had once been. The city stretched across the artificial landscape with towering skyscrapers, sleek metallic structures, and massive streets built for a civilization far larger than anything Alex had seen before.
In terms of grandeur, it rivaled even Lumiose City, though while Lumiose focused on individual expression and showcasing treasures brought back from other dimensions, Ultra Megalopolis had been built around advanced technology and scientific achievement. Even in ruins, its architecture hinted at a civilization far beyond modern standards, with designs that blended advanced machinery with an almost alien elegance.
Yet, most of the city had been reduced to rubble. The streets and buildings looked as though they had been bombarded from above, with massive holes melted straight through structures and entire sections of the metropolis carved away. Twisted metal and collapsed towers filled the landscape, frozen remnants of a civilization that had been destroyed in an instant.
Among the ruins were the skeletal remains of its inhabitants, scattered across the streets and buildings where they had fallen. Whatever had happened here had been too sudden and devastating for anyone to escape, leaving behind only a silent graveyard of a once-great civilization.
Yet, amidst all the devastation, one structure remained completely untouched. At the center of the ruined city stood a colossal tower that showed no signs of damage. Its design closely mirrored Lumiose City's Prism Tower, though it was far more top-heavy, with a massive upper structure that dominated the skyline and appeared to serve as both a technological hub and a beacon for the city.
More importantly, the tower was radiating an obnoxiously bright white light that pierced through the darkness of Ultra Space, flooding the ruined city with an unnatural glow. It stood as the only source of illumination in the dead city, creating a scene that was both breathtaking and unsettling.
Alex didn't need any further confirmation. His target, Necrozma, was located there.
He immediately released all his Pokémon and had Gardevoir scout the ruins. He needed to ensure the upcoming battle remained uninterrupted, and judging by the powerful presences scattered throughout the city, there were still plenty of dangerous Ultra Beasts lurking within the ruins.
"Once the stage is set, we can finally begin a proper hunt against a Legendary Pokémon," Alex said with excitement.