Following the guidance of the communicator, Yuga and the others made their way toward the location of Phoebe.
The farther they walked, the more desolate this Ultra Space appeared to them, without the slightest sign of life. All of this had been caused by Necrozma—no wonder Solgaleo was unwilling to let it continue its rampage.
On the way, Yuga and the others saw a few Poipole. They looked extremely hungry and were gathered around what seemed to be a withered fruit tree, drooling over a shriveled fruit.
Despite being very hungry already, the Poipole were still trying to be polite, wanting to let their companions have the fruit instead.
Seeing this made Yuga feel truly uncomfortable, so he took out a few berries from his spatial backpack and threw them over from a distance.
The surrounding Poipole were very wary of these strangers, but ultimately could not resist the temptation of food and picked up the berries to share among themselves.
Later on, Yuga and his group encountered several more similar incidents along the way. Because of Necrozma, the Ultra Beasts in this space were already living in dire and desperate conditions.
At the same time, in a canyon, a young girl ran into a cave holding two berries. Inside the cave was another girl, who was tending to a very weak-looking Naganadel.
"Phoebe, I'm back! Come see what I found!" the girl shouted happily, holding up the withered berries in her hands.
"Acerola." Seeing the girl come in, the other girl's eyes lit up.
These two girls were none other than Phoebe and her friend Acerola, who had entered Ultra Space earlier with Naganadel. Compared to when they had just arrived, the two now looked extremely disheveled.
"Here, quickly eat." Acerola took a few quick steps over to Phoebe and stuffed the berries into her hand.
"What about you?" Phoebe asked.
Acerola grinned and answered, "I already ate earlier. These were saved especially for you."
Phoebe gave her a look, then silently pushed one of the berries back into Acerola's hand. She took the other berry and walked over to Naganadel, feeding it the fruit.
"Phoebe, if you feed it, what about you?" Acerola asked anxiously.
Phoebe replied helplessly, "Its injuries are too serious. If it doesn't replenish some strength soon, it might not make it."
Upon hearing this, Acerola was speechless. She silently split her berry in half and stuffed one piece back into Phoebe's hand.
Taking a bite of the fruit and stuffing it into her mouth, Acerola suddenly said in a low, dejected voice, "When will days like this ever end?"
Phoebe shook her head. "I don't know either."
When they first arrived in this space, it was still rich and bountiful. There wasn't food everywhere, but at least there was no need to worry about going hungry.
They had tracked Team Rocket, who came in around the same time, and even engaged in a major battle. However, Team Rocket ultimately managed to escape with the help of the three Legendary Birds.
Because they had helped Naganadel, after escaping from the three birds, it brought them back to its home—this canyon.
This canyon used to be a beautiful place, filled with blooming flowers and lush green grass. At the bottom of the canyon flowed a wide and rapid river. Thanks to the abundant water source, food was plentiful, and the residents lived peacefully.
The ones who inhabited this place were a group of Poipole, and the Naganadel that brought Phoebe and Acerola back was their leader.
Over a year ago, Naganadel was taking a deep nap at home when a suddenly appearing Ultra Wormhole sucked it in. After that, it was confusedly captured by Team Rocket, who then used it in many experiments.
However, just a few days after Phoebe and Acerola arrived here, a great upheaval occurred in this Ultra Space. A strange pillar of light lit up in the distance beyond the canyon, and the entire space began to shake.
Then, as if something had drawn out the life force from the space, the sky turned gloomy, the ground cracked open, plants withered, and rivers dried up…
These changes caused all the Ultra Beasts in the entire Ultra Space to fall into panic, including the Poipole in the canyon and the Naganadel.
Later, a black, unknown Ultra Beast flew in from the horizon. As it passed through the canyon, it injured the Naganadel that tried to block its path, making things even worse for the already chaotic Poipole tribe.
With the plants withered, food became the biggest survival issue for the Ultra Beasts. In just a few short months, Phoebe and Acerola found themselves in a crisis of food shortage. Yet, unable to find a way back home, they could only endure and hold on.
While Phoebe and Acerola were talking, the Poipole that had gone out to search for food began to return one after another.
At that moment, a few Poipole timidly stepped forward and handed two berries to Phoebe and Acerola.
Seeing the two berries, Phoebe said in surprise, "These berries are so fresh—where did you find them?"
"Poipole~ Poipole~ Poipole~"
The few Poipole gestured for a long time, but Phoebe couldn't understand what they were trying to convey.
"I must be stupid, asking you when you can't explain anyway," Phoebe said, shaking her head.
Meanwhile, the aircraft that Giovanni was aboard successfully entered this Ultra Space by tracking the coordinates of Yuga and his group.
"Boss, we've located Ms. Matorr and the others!" the middle-aged man said excitedly.
"Let's reunite with them as soon as possible," Giovanni said with a blank expression.
"Yes, sir!"
With that, Giovanni's aircraft flew off in the opposite direction of Yuga and his group.
After traveling for most of the day, Yuga and the others finally arrived above the canyon. Looking at the Poipole flying around below, Yuga said, "Phoebe should be down there."
"Then let's hurry down!" one of the Trainers said eagerly. They were all Phoebe's direct subordinates and were naturally anxious to see their superior as soon as possible.
However, as soon as he made a move, the Poipole below spotted them, all flying up and surrounding them, eyeing them warily.
Due to the food shortage, countless battles had already broken out between Ultra Beasts in this Ultra Space. The Poipole had also suffered several invasions.
Their leader was severely injured. If not for Phoebe and Acerola, they would've been driven out of their home long ago by other Ultra Beasts.
"Roar~"
Seeing this, Solgaleo let out a fierce roar at the Poipole, instantly frightening them into trembling.
Phoebe and Acerola were inside the cave trying to stabilize Naganadel's injuries. When they heard the roar from outside, their expressions changed drastically.
"Could there be another intruder?"
Having gone hungry for so long and engaged in so many battles, the Pokémon of Phoebe and Acerola were already nearing their limit.
"Let's go out and take a look," Phoebe said with a serious expression.
When the two of them arrived outside and saw Lunala and Solgaleo in the sky, their eyes nearly popped out.
"Solgaleo and Lunala!"
Acerola, being a native of Alola and the librarian of the Malie Library, had read many books about Solgaleo and Lunala. She naturally recognized these two legendary beings at a glance.
"Ah! It's Ms. Phoebe! Ms. Phoebe!"
Just then, one of Yuga's companions spotted Phoebe and Acerola emerging from the cave. Delighted, he waved his hand and shouted excitedly.
"It's Mori!" Phoebe looked up in the direction of the voice and said in surprise, "The League has sent someone to rescue us!"
With Phoebe and Acerola stepping in to mediate, Yuga and his group quickly resolved the misunderstanding with the Poipole and entered the canyon.
"Mori, everyone… it's so good to see you all again!" Phoebe said excitedly, stepping forward to give her companions a big hug, with a clear sense of having survived a major ordeal.
The fact that the League could send people to find them meant they now had a chance to go back.
"Ms. Phoebe, we finally found you." The Trainer named Mori was so emotional he was nearly in tears.
"By the way, how did you end up with Solgaleo and Lunala?" Acerola asked in confusion at this moment.
Only then did everyone remember that there were actually other people beside Phoebe—something they hadn't noticed earlier.
"Oh right, this is my friend Acerola. She got involved because she was helping me," Phoebe explained as she introduced Acerola to her subordinates.
Yuga wasn't surprised by Acerola's appearance. Both Phoebe and Acerola were ghost world emissary, so it made sense they would have contact with each other.
After learning of Acerola's identity, Mori recounted everything that had happened to them along the way to Phoebe, including the matter with Necrozma.
"So that's what happened… so much has taken place." Phoebe said with emotion. "Gym Leader Shimizu, thank you so much this time!"
"No need to thank me. It's only right," Yuga replied. "By the way, Phoebe, since you've been here for a while, have you encountered any unusual events?"
Just as Phoebe was about to speak, her stomach gave a loud growl. She had eaten some berries earlier, but clearly that wasn't enough.
"In that case, why don't we eat something first before we continue?" Yuga spoke up, breaking the awkward moment.
So the group entered a cave, and Yuga and the others brought out food. Everyone ate as they chatted.
Yuga also took out some of his spare Pokéblocks and shared them with Phoebe and Acerola, whose Pokémon were so hungry they could barely lift their limbs.
Neither of them had expected to run into such trouble, so their food supplies were quite limited. After just a few days in Ultra Space, their rations had already run out.
After eating, at Phoebe's request, Yuga treated the severely weakened Naganadel.
This Naganadel had been injured by Necrozma, and its wounds were very serious. If Yuga and the others had arrived any later, it probably wouldn't have survived.
Once everything was done, everyone gathered again to discuss the real matter at hand.
"Do you think Necrozma's appearance might be connected to Team Rocket?" Phoebe speculated.
"Very likely!" Acerola agreed. "The changes in Ultra Space began after that mysterious pillar of light appeared. Necrozma also emerged after the light appeared."
"In that case, Team Rocket's goal this time might actually be Necrozma," Yuga said after a moment of contemplation.
"We absolutely can't let them succeed!" Phoebe said seriously. "With Necrozma's power, if Team Rocket gets their hands on it, who knows what kind of catastrophe it could bring to the world!"
"Right, we need to find Necrozma before Team Rocket does!" said Acerola.
"But the problem now is… how do we even find Necrozma…" Yuga said softly.
Everyone was momentarily stumped.
"The place where that pillar of light appeared might be connected to Necrozma. Why don't we go take a look?
We don't know the exact location, but the light was so prominent that we can at least roughly determine its direction," Phoebe suggested.
"That's actually a pretty good idea!" Yuga agreed.
"Naganadel~"
At that moment, Naganadel suddenly let out a roar.
"You want to go too?" Yuga asked, looking at it.
"Naganadel~"
Naganadel nodded. It could understand what they were saying and had been listening to their conversation all along.
Just thinking about the harm it had suffered at the hands of Team Rocket filled it with rage—it wouldn't feel at ease until it had vented that anger!
"Alright then, you're in!"
Yuga nodded in agreement. He had already learned from Phoebe that Team Rocket had the three legendary birds with them, so just in case, having an extra ally was certainly a good thing.
Naganadel wasn't weak. The fact that it could hold its own against the three legendary birds on its own said a lot. If it hadn't encountered Necrozma, it wouldn't have been hurt this badly.
"Then we'll head out after we've had a bit of a rest," Phoebe said.
Phoebe, Acerola, and Naganadel were still recovering from hunger and injuries and hadn't fully bounced back, so they needed some time to recover.
"I think we should just rest here for the night and head out tomorrow. There's no rush," Yuga suggested, considering the condition of Phoebe, Acerola, and Naganadel.
"Well… alright."
Phoebe hesitated for a moment but agreed in the end. This matter couldn't be rushed—if she and Acerola weren't in good condition, they might just end up being a burden.
That night, Yuga took out MooMoo Milk, Sweet Honey, pollen clusters, and other foods specially suited to quickly restore strength and gave them to Phoebe, Acerola, and Naganadel.
Seeing Yuga's seemingly bottomless space backpack, Phoebe and the others were almost dumbfounded, but they didn't question it too much.
In the Pokémon world, many Pokémon have special abilities. For instance, many Legendary Pokémon can create their own subspace.
The Deoxys that had once helped Chimecho had that ability. Then there was the subspace of Regigigas—not to mention the likes of Giratina, Dialga, and Palkia, who were on a whole other level.
Even among regular Pokémon, Gardevoir, Gengar, and Dusknoir have some form of space-related abilities—it's just that their powers aren't sufficient to be used for storage.
But since Phoebe and the others knew that Yuga had a Pokémon like Lunala following him, it wasn't too surprising for him to have some special ability. After all, this was their first time seeing Lunala—who knew what kind of special powers it might have?
After a full night of rest, Phoebe and the others were visibly more energetic, and the group set out on their journey.
Before leaving, Yuga left some food for the Poipole in the canyon and had Naganadel instruct them to stay put and not leave until they finished the food.