It was a very lively day at Heahea Beach, more crowded than any ordinary day. The sunshine stretched across all of the islands in the Alola region, easily across the great blue sea. The perfect day to grab shaved ice or to get a tan, which is what exactly was going on the shore. The water was chilly, but not cold enough to keep anyone out, so the beach had people stretched across with activity, parasols, and music on the radio. Down towards the deeper ends is where the local surfers caught some massive waves! Some were wiped out right into the water, while others successfully slide right through or rode the currents. 

"Duck!! Duck!! Ducklett!" 

A small aquatic blue bird chirped watching the surfers crash into the water, which was it found totally hilarious. There were a lot of people out today, so it was having trouble trying to find its trainer, so it continue to quack obnoxiously while people flopped head and gut-first into the water. It wasn't until a half hour before it's stomach rumbled, no doubt out of hunger. Flying onto the sand of Heahea Beach, stealthily stealing the top slices of bread from picnic sandwiches while people's backs were turned around, or from those who stepped away to buy a bottle of soda or water. 

"Duuuuuuuuuuuuuck." 

It flew back onto the large rock on the shore, back to its amusement of watching surfing fails. There was one surfer who successfully rode each and every tide formed by the sea and wind. Ducklett didn't even notice for a hot minute that was it's own trainer, Cypher. When it did realize the person, the bird went back to watching people dunk into the water. After a morning of catching some fun and spectacular waves along with the increasing number of people showing up, it was time for the lax and remiss man pack up for the day. Drying off and slipping his t-shirt on, he pit stops at the snack shack, the blank stare of his own Pokémon looking up right at him, implying it was back from watching the surfers on the rocks. 

"Sit down, Ducklett. Don't embarrass me." 

"Quaaaaack!" 

"Shut up, I am not."

He orders himself a lemon-lime soda, keeping his eyes on the fizzy carbonation, hoping that no one makes any eye contact. Just hearing his Pokémon squawk and flap its wings like a little kid in a restaurant was enough to put his head down in shame. He didn't have too many eyes on him, instead, everyone kept their food in front of them to make sure it wouldn't pluck anything of reach like earlier. It was already fed, so it's webbed feet tapped Cypher's head like mad until a woman sat right next to him. Her presence helped clear his mind as Ducklett stopped itself from 

"Ahh, Cypher. Fancy seeing you here again." 

The kahuna of Akala Island ordered a tropical beverage with a cherry on top, gushing a smile to its sweet flavor. Cypher chuckled, pleased to have Olivia in his presence, no longer alone with his own Pokémon.

"Olivia. It's nice to see you to. You think you want another drink?" 

It might sound like he's is hitting on her, but that's not the case. Cypher is currently living alone and he wasn't in the market of being in a relationship anytime soon, so this was just an act of generosity, but was turned down by his offer. 

"No, thank you. I don't plan on sticking around for very long, on the hours, you know? I have a match as the kahuna with a young man shortly. I thought I might have time for a soda pop before I headed out." 

Cypher nods, although he wasn't entirely sure how the trials in Alola worked, since he was used to gym challenges and how its a global phenomenon to date. At the same time, he didn't want to be rude either, so he just latched onto a topic before Olivia had to go. 

"Same. I'm on my day off, but just about to head to my place."

The funny thing is he ends up gets a call on his phone after saying that, and when he answered, he kind of regretted his decision to do so. OZone sounded pretty serious when he said there was an "emergency" that must be attended to at once.

"Never mind. I have to go now."

He and Ducklett stood up, waving goodbye to Olivia as she was the one who ended up alone now. 

"O-oh! See you around! I'll just be... here a little longer..."

* * *

Crossing the sea from one island to another, Cypher was the last one to arrive at Cosmo Corps. He didn't seem concerned at all to be summoned on his time off nor was he even agitated to work on a day off. He had his morning at the beach, so he was content. He looked the text message his boss shortly sent after making the phone call, explaining to come in immediately, the last word all capitalized. He got that, but he wasn't sure of the detail not to show up in uniform. He looked up towards the rising number of levels the elevator was taking him, upwards to the conference room. 

"What kind of emergency is this?" 

He turns his head slightly to Ducklett, pecking its itchy wing, also not in the slightest concern for a call into the office possibly involving those Ultra Beasts. 

"Daaaaaah-Ducklett-!" 

It quacked, walking along the hallways right by the side of its trainer, Cypher knocked on the door to the conference, which opened on its own. He was welcomed through the sound of trepidation, his boss seemed noticeably troubled, being aided by the green Serenity to calm his spiked nerves as best he could. 

"Sir, sir. Please! Panic will get us nowhere, you can't let your troubles control the best of you! Please!" 

The last one to arrive, Cypher had just walked onto his boss collecting himself, something awful must have happened for even the cool OZone to be seen with a quivering lip. 

"Th-thank you, Serenity. You're right. Panic is the enemy. Everyone. We have an issue." 

Serenity smiled, walking towards the others among the other admins, the entire group wasn't present, only half managed to scrounge themselves to the island on short notice. Buzz, Arc, and Tony were the only ones along with the woman to show up, by the sounds of it, the matters really seem like an emergency, since OZone started with the details of the situation. 

"Thank you for arriving on such very short notice, we have an emergency on our very hands." 

Already pulling out the projectile displaying a graph of the ID3I, Buzz didn't quite catch the idea that now wasn't the time to wait for the others arrival, even if he showed up in his causal clothes when the boss had requested to. 

"Wait, sir. shouldn't we wait for everyone else to-"

He ended up being cut off, which he took as the hint that the answer is no." 

"No, not today. Now then, running the lD3D just like any day of the week, but it ruptured haywire. To keep things brief, the science team have reported the machines... malfunctioning." 

Sounded like the last word from OZone was used very loosely, at the same time, the condition of the machine wasn't stable. 

"Sir... You don't mean to tell us its broken, is it?" 

Arc asked, wondering if the device needed to be fixed immediately if any gears needed to be replaced, or if they needed a new generated if the old one overheated. 

"No. Even worse." 

Everyone but Cypher gasped to the boss's response. Changing the slides from the blueprint layout of the ID3I to these strange diagram of complex lines and circles involving these strange two figures, a stick figure with a ball, and a large square. 

"I have overlooked the condition of our machine, current inspections on it doesn't inform me that the damage isn't too severe. The issue is what happened due to my lack of cautiousness. My goal has gotten the best of me." 

OZone puts his head, taking full responsibility of the machines current condition. Of course, his own admins won't let him take the fault for it, fully expecting to take the entire blame. 

"OZone, its not all your fault. It's not like any of us have taken the time to consider if we been using the ID3I too much." 

Tony said, not wanting to see the man put his head down in shame. Buzz and Serenity agreed, but Arc even stood up, supporting him the most out of the five. 

"Boss, please! You run the entire corporation, it's all my fault for not taking certain notes of the condition! My job is to be your second pair of eyes!" 

He did have a point, but OZone didn't know how to replay to the admins owning up for the malfunctioning machine. Cypher didn't, he wasn't the kind of person with a bleeding heart. Not the person to make heavy condolences for a passing or for a breakup. 

"Don't be mopey, OZone. We don't have time to share the blame this second. Whatever you need handled, we need details right now."

Those words slapped the man like someone who needed to snap out of a hole of hopelessness. It worked, the man took a deep breath because he wasn't always someone to struggle sulk over hard times. He had to get back on track just like Cypher said. 

"... Thank you, I'm sorry you had to witness that. Now then, the ID3I opens an Ultra Wormhole that connects to Ultra Spaces millions of light years from our world. Unfortunately, there was a strange course of action of the machine opening a wormhole without my consent. Two in two separate spaces, and two... within the Alola region..." 

Now that was news, the four nearly jumped out of their seat to know that there could be Ultra Beasts crawling all over the land and maybe the sea, only Arceus knows if they're ones they are currently taking note of, or if they can be something never seen before. 

"No matter what we did, we couldn't close Ultra Wormholes, even after shutting down the power of the ID3I, I shut down the power of Cosmo Corporation. They eventually closed, but an Ultra Beast from each space crossed the road. One too many for my liking..." 

Before OZone could go back to stage of sulking, he had to wrap up the meeting. 

"Anyways. We have to capture each Ultra Beast at ALL costs! We have a slight recording of each beast. Since you are one half of the admin team, I will split the mission between you. I want you to prioritize the beast that's strangely resting in Haina Desert." 

A slide of the Ultra Beast resembled a giant block of bricks with legs like a Spinarak. Each of the five admins looked at each other with a puzzled look, wondering if the recording on this Ultra Beast was just really just rock in the sandy desert. 

"Here, take these Beast Balls, we can't let the government discover the beasts. Under no condition." 

Before anyone could speak, Ducklett randomly quacks as if it was responding to the boss himself. 

"Err, yes. Your Pokémon is right, Cypher! You have your Beast Balls and mission details, now is the time to do action!" 

Everyone nods, as they stood up and nod before heading out the exit. The boss sighed, glad he had such loyal companions who embark emergencies like this very seriously. Cypher was right, he couldn't stand around idol as there was work that needed to be done, so he returned to his computer until the other half of the admins have gathered into the break room. 

* * * 

Walking down the rocky trail of Route 12, everyone looked at the man with a Ducklett on his head poking at its feathers. Cypher really didn't like to get attention, especially those who keep unpeeled eyes on him, so he broke the silence of the walk. 

"If any of you have something to say to me, then say it, or stop staring at me like that."

Tony and Serenity looked at each other, before the only woman of the group asked him a question. 

"Oh! My apologies, we don't mean to make you feel on edge. Although I couldn't help but notice Ducklett.... umm..." 

She startled, having trouble on what to say towards the man, but Tony finished for her since he wasn't as sensitive as she was. 

"We we're wondering about how things between you and Ducklett were. Now, you're my friend and all, but it seems like you're totally bending backwards to your own Pokémon." 

Cypher didn't respond, or even turn his head back, not even a bark of dismissal. Something was up, the silence was too fishy to ignore. 

"You two are okay, right?" 

Buzz tilted his head, now a bit concerned for him and Ducklett as well, the only one who didn't care was Arc. Since all his attention was focus on the mission and he didn't really consider much outside of the lives of his co-workers.

"Ducklett... Isn't saying anything rude to you, isn't he?" 

It may sound silly for Serenity to be so serious about the well-being of others, but Cypher legitimately answered, taking her question seriously as well. 

"It has. It's been quacking a real storm." 

Buzz, Serenity, and Tony all look at one another, not even expecting the serious answer that at all, especially in the way Serenity asked. 

"Umm, if Ducklett's saying mean things to you, then why do you keep it around you?" 

Buzz asked after the pause, but the man stretched out the pause before answering. 

"... Because I owe, Ducklett." 

"Because... you owe it?" 

Serenity asked, trying to hold his hand, but he didn't hang onto it for long. 

"Yes. If it wasn't for Ducklett, I wouldn't be here." 

Now, it sounds like he was just making up the story, but Cypher doesn't make up stories since he was rather a serious and straightforward man.  Finally Arc asked what was he talking about, just like the man, he didn't turn his head to speak directly. 

"Because of Ducklett, I wouldn't be here and to meet all of you. What mean is, Ducklett is the sole reason why I am here, I am thankful." 

Tony nearly broke into laughter, before Cypher turns around with a glare on his face. 

"Laugh. I don't care." 

Of course the idea sounded funny to a carefree man, but he collected himself and legit wanting to know what Ducklett exactly do to get him here in the Alola region. 

Stepping on the sand of Haina Desert, they were drawing near the Ultra Beast, all they had to do was to search the desert to find that strange structure of bricks, which shouldn't be too hard to do. Shouldn't being the keyword. 

"Sorry, Cypher. Please continue with the story." 

To their surprise, Cypher agreed to where he was going to why Ducklett was the only reason of being in Alola. 

"I'm not from Alola, Unova is where I'm from. I always thought as a kid, I wanted to be a construction worker since I was stupid and like Lego's. I sweat my efforts to get a job building entire structures in Castelia City, hated it." 

The man himself slowly looked upwards to his own Pokémon, which must be the part where Ducklett steps in. 

"I was someone who opens to much in life, except Lego's, my passion for surfing, and you Serenity. You're hot as hell." 

The woman blushed a massive red shade on her face, totally not expecting someone like Cypher to say such heart-pumping things. 

"And then there's Ducklett. The strangest, but biggest piece of my life so far. Every now and again, it would bring me random stuff, like bread, flyers across town and gym badges it ended up stealing. But one day... It gave me a scratch ticket. I thought it was a piece of garbage or a prank, but I was wrong. I had in my hand the opportunity to get me out of the city dump into paradise." 

Cypher turned in the ticket that Ducklett had stolen and took a plane towards the Alola region, taking Ducklett along as they lived such grateful lives... Until he eventually ran out of money. He needed to pay the bills, but didn't have a job since he was living off of lottery money, he saw that Cosmos Corporation was hiring, but he wasn't in the phase to properly prepare for a job interview, so he didn't even try, and ended up getting the position anyway. 

"I need a job, give me one."

"You know, no one has ever talked to me like that." 

OZone in the job interview said, but Cypher was as clear as he could be. 

"That's because most people would go into town under the desk with the manager to get a job. I don't because I don't go by those lines. I just need to make money, if you don't want to hire me, that's fine, I'll just be on my way. 

"... Never assume things so hard, because I didn't say I wouldn't hire you, because that's exactly what I'm doing." 

"Okay, thanks." 

It was a very interesting day back then, but it certainly got him the proud position of serving along nine other admins to the present. Now on the search for extraterrestrial creatures before the government catches them first, how magical!

"I'm glad I'm the only one taking our objective seriously, no doubt we are close to our target. Stay close." 

Arc sounded sarcastic, but he meant that he was glad about being the one that's so focused on the mission. It shows that he took the mission seriously and hoped that OZone would be proud of him, pushing his 'past' out of the man's head. It was a thought he might be pushing hard on, but nonetheless, he stuck with it. The reason why he knew he was getting closer to this strange creature was because of a device he was navigating to get through the dry environment to find the beast. Plus, the piece of tech informed the group that it wasn't moving at all, it wasn't fully right or wrong. 

Through the sandstorm whipped up in the air, the cube made up of bricks was moving! At a very, very slow pace. Serenity and Buzz sighed in relief, glad that no one else around to witness such an unusual figure, nothing like ever seen before. Cypher stepped forward, pointing towards the blazing sky. 

"Ducklett, Rain Dance."

The bird flew in the air to summon rain clouds, the water quickly washed away all of the sand flying everywhere, the sand below was quickly getting damp, making movement not just for the beast difficult, but everyone else. Vision in the rain to a degree is more helpful than sand blocking your eyes, but that was a poor choice of words to use here. Suddenly a much of eyes opened towards their direction. The sound of bricks and stones clacking onto each other aggressively gotten really loud. 

"Staaaaaaaaaaaa-" 

Pillars of rock emerged violently emerged of the ground, thrusting their way towards the five, luckily escaping the clutches of being clobbered to death. It was time to contain this beast. Arc, Tony, Serenity, and Buzz all took out Pokéballs to fight back, Cypher taking out one of his own as well. 

"Alakazam, do your thing!"

"Come on, Chatot!"

"Scizor! Help me out!"

"Lurantis! You're assistance is needed too!"

"Empoleon." 

Five Pokémon stood distance away from the this strange wall Ultra Beast, prepared to take action from incoming 

"Alakazam, Focus Blast!" 

"Chatot, use your Hyper Voice" 

"Lurantis, Razor Leaf now!" 

"Scizor, Swift!" 

A barrage of moves were unleashed towards the towering beast, it couldn't move, but blocked all the attacks with one shield, Wide Guard. 

"Our moves, that shield does wonders for that thing!"

Buzz gulped, but Cypher took his own turn before the Ultra Beast could switch into offense, its shield was down. 

"Hydro Pump." 

His massive Penguin blasted the wall with a scary water type move, getting a boost from the rain. The Ultra Beast fired a Flash Cannon straight to Empoleon, but was ordered to block the attack with Protect, which ensured safety from harm. 

"Don't just stand there, attack! Now! While it's switching gears!"

He was right, now point to stand around with one person attack while standing still, this wasn't a video game. 

"Ahh, yes. You're right. Alakazam, Focus Blast, don't disappoint." 

"Chatot, Mirror Move Alakazam, Focus Blast now!"

"Lurantis, Solar Beam!"

"Scizor, Swift again!" 

This time, the damage really went booming since the Ultra Beast had a major weakness in speed, both Focus Blasts and the Swift did wonders on the tower, but it was the other Hydro Pump along with Serenity's Lurantis teaming up with that Solar Beam to already shake it out to its knees, lack thereof. 

 "You're mine now!"

Grabbing a Beast Ball from his bag, he made an impressive throw towards the wall, sealing it within a successful mission. Everyone had a sigh in relief. 

"Thank Arceus... I thought that Ultra Beast was going to tear down this desert." 

Tony felt his own heart pumping for dodging a very dangerous Rock type move. Serenity and Buzz pat his back for support after a major last in breath, but Arc approached Cypher with the Beast Ball in his hand. 

"I admit, Cypher. I wasn't expecting much out of you this mission, but that attack when the beast put down its shield... that was very foul, yet cunning for you. I'm impressed."

Even though it was rare to pass compliments around like that with the exception of OZone, Cypher didn't really care for the praise given to him. Despite such a boost in his Empoleon's water attack, it was still standing after that and two Focus Blasts, an extremely powerful move as well. 

"Thanks. Let's head back to Cosmo's. I'll inform OZone that I volunteer to keep the wall. I like it"

Buzz turned around and nod, even impressed by its towering defenses. 

"Oh, yes! I could see why! Did you see the way all of its eyes opened up and change from blue to red? You must be thrilled about researching its biology on how it can do that!" 

"Not really, Buzz. It may be slow, but its defensive alright. I think I'll enjoy this a great deal."

Cypher said, as they stepped out of the rain clouds as they began to fade away, feeling the heat of the Alolan sun all over again. Ducklett hopped back onto Cypher's head and squawk right in everyone's ear.

"QUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAACK!"