Tapu Bulu exploded with green. It charged forward like a bull, grass erupting out behind it like the flames of a rocket. Beneath it, the dry, desert floor became overgrown with grass, and I didn’t even have time to blink before one hoofed arm smashed right into Kartana’s paper-thin body.
It paid neither Hope nor I any mind. Its sole target here was the Ultra Beast behind us.
"Tapu Bulu! Kartana isn't a threat! Please! You don’t need to fight!" Hope shouted.
I was already pulling out a Pokéball when Hope yelled. There was no point in reasoning with Tapu Bulu; it was far too consumed by anger to give us a chance to interrupt the battle. Kartana took off into the air, repositioning itself higher up for the sake of either gaining more space for easier movement or to draw the fight away from us. Tapu Bulu let out a loud bellow that almost pushed the two of us backwards before it took to the sky as well.
“Altaria! Stop him!”
At the sight of my draconic bird, Hope’s expression hardened, and she sent out her own Pokémon.
“Venusaur! Assist!”
Two flashes of light, and two Elite-tier Pokémon appeared in this desert clearing. Hope and I took rapid steps backwards to create distance between us and the impending, explosive fight. Meanwhile, as they readied themselves, Venusaur seemed to become invigorated by the Tapu-created Grassy Terrain, and Altaria joined the other two in the air.
We could hear Tapu Bulu and Kartana fighting already. Their clashes sent echoes through this impromptu arena. The sharp rings of slicing blades and the heavy thumps of hoofed punches sent shockwaves through the air. Kartana glowed with green, using Leaf Blade to harden its body and slice down at Tapu Bulu. Tapu Bulu, meanwhile, also glowed green and hardened its body, except it turned the hooves at the end of its arms into powerful Wood Hammers rather than blades.
The two Pokémon crashed their attacks together, but neither had much effect. Both resisted Grass Type moves, and Tapu Bulu wasn’t even wincing at the recoil inherent in its own attack.
“Vine Whip!” Hope yelled as a desperate interruption.
I was too busy digging through my bag to give Altaria a specific command just yet, but I appreciated Hope initiating our entry into the fight.
Our Pokémon acted quickly. Altaria moved in sync with Venusaur’s ordered commands. Two thick Vine Whips swiped through the air, and the pair of tendrils lashed out and wrapped around the Tapu from behind.
Surprised, it let out what almost sounded like a cow’s moo, but Altaria’s scream interrupted it. A Hyper Voice tore through the Tapu Bulu, stunning it from the noise, and Kartana had just barely enough space to back off and not be forced to fight.
Tapu Bulu didn’t look any less angry, though. It looked even madder than before. It was at that moment when I finally found what I was looking for in my pack, and I immediately tossed it into the air.
“Altaria!”
I didn’t need to say more than that. Altaria dropped out of the sky to swoop down and poke his head through the plated necklace I had tossed.
“Mega Evolve!” I shouted.
Against a Legendary Pokémon, we couldn’t afford to take any risks. We needed to defeat Tapu Bulu and ensure it wouldn’t unnecessarily take out Kartana. To do that, Mega Evolution was the key, but as Altaria began to shift, Tapu Bulu seemed intent on not letting that happen.
The roar that left the Island Guardian’s mouth was filled with rage. It screamed and thrashed against Venusaur’s vines, doing its best to break free. At first, the Grass Type empowerment brought forth through Grassy Terrain was enough to hold Tapu Bulu back to try to reel it away from the Mega Evolving Altaria. However, the more it struggled, the more powerful it grew, and Venusaur made the mistake of reeling it towards the ground, bringing it closer to the Terrain that increased its own power.
A single movement broke it free in the end. Tapu Bulu breathed in, brought its arms back, then snapped them forward with a flex. Now empowered by the ambient energy of the field only feet below it, Venusaur’s vines literally snapped, and the Legendary Pokémon rocketed through the air once more and rushed right up to the Mega Evolved Altaria’s face for a surprise attack.
“Cotton—”
CRACK!
The light had broken not even a second ago. Altaria was completely unprepared for the hoof that struck him across the face. My command for his defensive move never went through.
The impact sent Altaria hurtling towards the ground. One punch from the Tapu was enough to completely smack him out of the sky. This wasn’t even a moment where he suddenly saved himself before crashing into the earth. The grass from the Grassy Terrain was pushed back in a shockwave radius, and a crater was crushed down underneath him.
Yet, Altaria didn’t faint. We’d been in tough battles before, and this was no exception. However, from the wave of exhaustion that coursed through me, I could tell he had taken serious damage from that single hit and would need time to recover. Venusaur tried to lash out at Tapu Bulu again, but it was too far up to reach, and it used the lack of threat that Hope and I posed to turn towards Kartana once more.
If this situation wasn’t so dangerous, I would have said it looked almost comical to see the Legendary glare at the tiny Kartana with such hatred in its eyes.
“Try for Ice Beam!” I shouted. Altaria wouldn’t need to enter the air for that move; he could remain on the ground and attack.
Hope began to reach for Venusaur’s Venusaurite as well, and Altaria brought his head back to better aim his move at this range. Unfortunately, Venusaur was left sitting around and waiting as it lacked decent long-ranged options outside of the resisted Solar Beam and Petal Blizzard. Ice Beam, however, came out like a beam of white lightning, and it left Altaria’s beak in a crackling anti-air assault. From the sky, Tapu Bulu saw it coming, and it tried to shift and side-step the attack but Altaria was able to angle his head to chase it and force it to use Protect.
With how determined Tapu Bulu was to go after Kartana, the Ultra Beast seemed to realize it would not be able to either escape or flee. The only reason I was able to tell this with Kartana’s alien body language was because it began to spin in place for a self-empowering Swords Dance that would hopefully make up the difference in strength.
“Sludge Bomb or Venoshock?” I asked Hope. Both attacks were four-times effective.
“Too far away for Venusaur to use,” Hope replied. “Maybe if we Mega Evolve, though...”
Hope hadn’t grabbed Venusaur’s leg bracer for his Mega Stone. Instead, she had simply grabbed the stone itself to lob it forward. We’d moved back enough that it would be too far of a toss otherwise, but all Venusaur needed to do was place the rock among its flowers.
Her shot was readied, aimed, but never released. As Altaria broke to breathe between Ice Beams, and as Kartana continued to use Swords Dance to sharpen itself, a familiar pressure suddenly fell down all around us.
I was briefly reminded of all my experiences in the past.
Groudon. Primal Kyogre. Rayquaza. Heck, even some of Tobias’s Pokémon during the Sinnoh Conference carried some of this weight.
What felt like a ten-ton pressure pushed down on our entire bodies as the full force of a Legendary Pokémon came to bear.
Tapu Bulu wasn’t holding back any longer. More importantly, however, it was mad.
(Hope froze before she could throw her stone.)
"W-we need to leave," I said, taking a step back.
Tapu Bulu began to glow. Altaria managed to strike it with an Ice Beam in the chest, but despite the attack being super effective, the freezing shot didn’t even cause it to blink.
"Y-yeah," Hope replied nervously.
And then, we ran.
Ryuki was at the entrance to this clearing itself, watching this all go down with a dumbstruck expression on his face. As an outsider to these events, it was probably terrifying to see such a desperate battle start right away, and then it was probably even more terrifying to see the main combatants suddenly running for their life.
"What's going on? This is nothing like my challenge!" he shouted as we got close.
"Tapu Bulu is after Kartana," I said. "We need to defend it, but the Tapu is preparing some kind of attack. Both of our Pokémon should be empowered enough to match it, yet—"
There was a rumble, and all of us snapped our heads back towards whatever was going on. Both Venusaur and the Mega Evolved Altaria remained on the ground, readying themselves to use Protect, and Tapu Bulu and Kartana remained in the air.
Then, Tapu Bulu’s previous glow evolved into a full-fledged aura around it. It was colored such a bright pink that it almost looked white. It crackled off its body and struck the ground with a series of sharp tendrils, and an ear-breaking bellow rang out.
The very earth itself tore open.
Venusaur was struck by a veritable volcano of energy erupting from the ground. Altaria was hit right after. The sky seemed to shine with a blinding light as even the hovering Kartana was struck, and Tapu Bulu sat at the center of this storm and disappeared inside.
I almost screamed; exhaustion coursed through my body from the sheer amount of damage Altaria just suffered. Hope remained unaffected, but she did gasp when I was forced to lean against the entrance’s rocky wall. The Fairy Type attack Tapu Bulu used didn’t just deal damage—it literally tore vitality straight from our Pokémon. Given that I was directly connected to Altaria through Mega Evolution, to put it simply, the move hurt.
"It... it never used that move against us," Ryuki whispered.
"That was Nature's Madness," I said, panting from the pain. "It's the Tapus’ signature move, shared between all four. If it’s anything like I remember, it cuts a Pokémon’s remaining health directly in half. It’s... it’s really not holding back.”
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The games never really talked about the after effects of having half your energy ripped away from you. Sure, it hurt and dealt damage, but the sheer contrast between how I felt after that attack compared to how I felt only a moment ago was like night and day. It would cause even the toughest of foes to struggle to continue afterwards.
However, by some miracle, Tapu Bulu did not follow up that attack. It breathed heavily, with its nose ring bouncing with every exhale, but it did not attack. Instead, the glow around it lessened, being replaced by a minor one tinted green. As it was a Grass Type, I recognized it as a move Hope’s Pokémon used frequently: Synthesis.
Nature’s Madness might have taken a lot out of it, but it intended to recover that lost energy.
“Unless we want to risk everything, I don’t think we’ll be able to quickly knock it out,” Hope said quietly.
“Yeah. Between the two of us, we’d win eventually, but we wouldn’t be able to do so without letting Kartana get hurt.” Ryuki openly gaped at the confidence displayed in my words. “If we’re going to do this, we need a different victory condition. What about putting it to sleep?”
Hope pressed her lips together, considering my idea. There were a lot of ways we could go about putting it to sleep, but our actual available options were limited.
The main form of sleep we had at our disposal was Sleep Powder, which was known by a majority of Hope's team. The problem was that Tapu Bulu was a Grass Type, and, as a result, it was completely immune to any powder-based effects. There were ways around that, like the moves that could temporarily change a target's Type. However, none of our Pokémon knew any of those moves, and I doubted that Azumarill could figure out Soak within a single fight. If one of our team members knew Hypnosis, we’d have sent them out, but we genuinely had no option like that here.
"Sunflora knows Grass Whistle, but..."
Hope frowned.
"She's back protecting Lillie," I finished with a groan.
"Yup. Venusaur can learn it too, but I never bothered teaching it to him since he knows Sleep Powder already. I have a Sawsbuck back home who knows it as well, but he's a strict non-combatant. Also, he’s not here."
She said that last part with an uncomfortable chuckle.
“What about your Altaria?” Ryuki interrupted, speaking to me. “Can’t it use Sing? Song is the species' main skill!"
"Altaria is a bit... special. He might not be able to sing, but his Hyper Voice is top-notch.”
We were stuck, unable to find a solution. We could have alternatively tried to freeze the Legendary Pokémon with Ice Beam, but the way Tapu Bulu shrugged off the attack earlier made me hesitant to try. If Ninetales was here, I'd have her give it a shot. Unfortunately, just like Sunflora, she was still with Lillie, too.
Then, Ryuki cleared his throat.
"If there’s no other option... I might be able to put Tapu Bulu to sleep."
Both Hope and I turned around.
"You what?" she asked.
"You have a Garchomp and Flygon with you. As far as I know, there are no moves that either of them can learn to put a Pokémon to sleep,” I snapped.
Ryuki gained a smug grin.
"Well, for your information, there is one way. I might not have brought Kingdra with me, but I'm not a complete fool when it comes to long training trips. Remember that cave we stayed in? Remember how there was a pile of rubble outside of it?"
"...Yes?" I offered.
Hope nodded her head as well.
"Garchomp carved that by himself, but he didn't just use raw power to do so. See, there's one move that's adept at helping form natural, secret bases—a move that I taught Garchomp to help when we’re out training. It's more popular in Hoenn, but—"
My eyes widened.
"Your Garchomp knows Secret Power?!" I all but shouted.
Ryuki’s smug grin deepened.
"He does. Though, we've never used it in battle before."
At that revelation, Hope rapidly looked between us. Her face scrunched up in confusion.
"Alright, someone needs to fill me in here. What does Secret Power do?"
"Secret Power is a lot like Nature Power in that it changes based on the user's environment," I explained. "Most versions of it tend to carry a secondary effect, which, given the area we're in..."
"Grass makes it so Secret Power puts a foe to sleep. If it wasn't for Tapu Bulu's passive terrain, this strategy wouldn't have a chance," Ryuki replied.
Glancing around at the bloom Tapu Bulu had created, I could already tell that this was only viable because it was Tapu Bulu. If it was any other Tapu, there wouldn’t have been grass conjured, and Secret Power would have carried an alternative effect.
"I can't believe this is our plan," I groaned.
"Hear that, Garchomp? We'll be getting our revenge sooner rather than later," Ryuki said proudly to a Pokéball.
Above, Tapu Bulu finally finished healing with Synthesis, and, below, our Pokémon finished using their own healing moves as well. Altaria’s Roost ensured he could continue the fight, and the same was true with Venusaur using Synthesis as well. Somehow, Tapu Bulu had allowed for a soft “reset” of this fight, and all Pokémon bar Kartana were ready to give this another go.
As the Legendary then began to move once more to prepare a new attack, Hope, Ryuki, and I all exchanged a look before moving in. Unfortunately, with the approaching resumption of the battle, we would have to figure out a strategy in the heat of the impending exchange.
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Despite all appearances, Tapu Bulu was mad, but it wasn’t mad, per say. It was distinctly aware of its own faults, and it considered itself to have a firm grasp on its own sanity.
It was just that it could be impulsive sometimes, and it was a little quicker to anger than its brother and sisters.
When the pair of humans first stepped into Tapu Bulu’s domain, Tapu Bulu was ready to take both of them on in a fight. It could sense a kindred spirit within each of them—one, a trainer who was practically bursting at the seams with the flavor of Grass, and the other... a child? of sorts? One with an aura unmatching its physical age. Young, but they had the densest flavor of Fairy that the Tapu had seen in a long time.
Half the Pokéballs at the trainers’ waists were thick with the appropriate energies of Fairy and Grass, and Tapu Bulu wished to know how well those strong Pokémon would hold up against it in a fight. When it left its abode to accept their challenge, its blood was already pumping in excitement.
However, when Tapu Bulu emerged, it was forced to pause. Something unexpected lurked between the pair of trainers, and that sight caused its eyes to narrow.
An invading beast. One of the countless who appeared on Tapu Bulu’s home isles and wrought nothing but destruction.
It was as if Tapu Bulu’s vision turned red the moment it saw that creature. Tapu Bulu hadn’t ever had one approach its home in this manner, and if it had tagged along with a pair of challengers?
The Tapu was able to put together the clues—these trainers had brought it here. It had heard rumors that there were those capturing these wild beasts, but it had never thought one would appear in its own home so suddenly.
Too many years had Tapu Bulu fought, and too many years that these “Ultra Beasts” had served as a scourge in its home islands. Anger grew at the sheer gall this creature had to approach the Tapu like this, and it had rushed forward in a charge, intent on teaching it, and to a greater extent, the trainers here, a lesson about what happened to those that would go against the will of an Island Guardian.
...But now that it had actually stepped back from the fight to recover, Tapu Bulu was pretty sure it had made a few incorrect assumptions.
First off, the bladed Ultra Beast seemed more intent on fleeing than on continuing any aggression. It did not focus on offense until its allies had stepped in to assist it in the battle.
Second off—that shift in power. The strange, temporary change Tapu Bulu had witnessed its avian opponent go through. It had yet to encounter “Mega Evolution” before, but it had been informed of the phenomenon. To see it here proved that these trainers were those that loved their Pokémon. That very much put doubt on Tapu Bulu’s thoughts of unfair invasion.
...And then finally, it was the smell of fear that gave Tapu Bulu pause when it stopped to heal. The scent was not strong, but it was subdued and layered with determination. There was no anger—no hatred that Tapu Bulu would have expected from an invader attacking its home.
It...
Well, Tapu Bulu may have dropped the ball on accepting the pair’s challenge. But, since the battle had already started, it might as well continue the fight.
Below, the two Pokémon still resting on the ground did their best to hide their own recovery, but Tapu Bulu easily recognized the sight of Synthesis and Roost being used by the Venusaur and Altaria respectively. It briefly flicked its eyes upwards towards the invading beast—the Kartana—but that Pokémon looked tired and seemed to lack the experience needed to recognize a chance to heal for what it was.
That would prove to be its downfall. Tapu Bulu prepared an attack once more. It planned to take these Pokémon out one-by-one, starting with the Kartana, moving onto the Venusaur, and finishing it off with a fight for the ages against the sole Mega Pokémon.
Unfortunately, despite all of its years of experience, it was still unable to decipher most humans’ plans. When not one, not two, but three trainers moved in, the battle went a lot differently than Tapu Bulu expected.
“Venusaur!”
The Grass Type human from before threw something forward, and a glint off of the object’s surface told Tapu Bulu it was a stone, of sorts. The Venusaur extended a vine to snatch the rock out of the air, and a glow emanated from the Pokémon’s form.
It shifted, enlarging itself and becoming empowered through the second example of Mega Evolution that Tapu Bulu had seen. The new Mega Evolution began to radiate energy, and, this time around, the Legendary Pokémon made sure to watch it carefully, taking in the way the flowers opened up and expanded on the Pokémon’s back.
However, that proved to be a mistake, as it gave Tapu Bulu’s other opponents time to move in. A slice to Tapu Bulu’s back from a Swords Dance-sharpened Cut told it the Kartana was ready, and an explosive chill from an Ice Beam told it the Altaria was resuming as well. Both moves were significantly stronger than Tapu Bulu had expected. It seemed that the recovery period had helped them more than it had thought.
Then, a new voice shouted.
“Stone Edge!”
This move did not hold up to the two prior, with Tapu Bulu able to use a single Wood Hammer to smash through the rocks. It glanced down to see who had decided to join in, only taking the briefest of pauses to Skull Bash Kartana straight to the ground.
This third trainer was familiar; Tapu Bulu had fought him in the past. He was a proud individual, though that pride had been worn away through frequent, successive defeats. Here and now, however, that pride seemed to have returned. He stood tall next to his companion, a Dragon Type Garchomp, who still had a few signs of battle from a previous one of their bouts.
At this point, the Mega Altaria pushed off the ground to enter the air once more.
“Alright, Altaria. Cotton Guard and hug it!” the Fairy Type trainer shouted.
Tapu Bulu ignored that strange command to ready itself for another Skull Bash. It reared back its head as the bird approached it, the avian puffing up to become an even denser cloud of a fluff than even before.
The second the bird was in range, Tapu Bulu snapped its neck forward, using its horns to ensure the Skull Bash would deal as much damage as possible. What it didn’t expect, however, was the intense resistance that came with the hit. The attack successfully landed, but the sheer amount of fluff the Cotton Guard conjured meant Tapu Bulu’s smash barely hit with any force at all.
It wanted to try again, but when it pulled back, it failed. Eyes widening, Tapu Bulu let out a surprised grunt as its horns were unable to escape the feathery mass. Annoyed, it snorted as it tried to pull away, but the bird’s wings wrapped around it to surround Tapu Bulu with a hug.
(It would never admit just how soft this grapple was.)
“And down!” the bird’s trainer shouted.
Then, the pair began to fall.
The Altaria twisted and squawked, dragging Tapu Bulu out of the air. Normally, Tapu Bulu could levitate, but under such a movement-stopping assault, it was finding it hard to remain in the sky.
As it neared the earth, another trainer shouted, and something lashed around Tapu Bulu’s arms. Once again, a Vine Whip held Tapu Bulu in place, but this time, it was empowered by Mega Evolution and completely prevented the Legendary Pokémon from breaking free.
Tapu Bulu recognized it was slowly being trapped, so it tried to ready another use of Nature’s Madness. A bellow marked the buildup of its energy, but this attempt was paused when a new command was given to its foe.
“Back, Altaria!”
As quickly as it had come, the bird left. The fluff around Tapu Bulu disappeared, and now only the vines held it in place. With its newfound freedom of movement, it actually took little effect to break free. The extended tendril snapped before they were pulled back out of pain, and Tapu Bulu was finally free to turn around and properly unleash—
“Now!”
WHACK!
The Garchomp. Tapu Bulu had forgotten about the Garchomp. Faced with so many different foes at once, it had lost track of what should have been a moderate threat.
The Dragon Type’s claw carved across Tapu Bulu’s face, but it didn’t actually hurt very much. Rather than being fueled by the Garchomp’s raw power, the attack drew energy from the field itself—the very field that Tapu Bulu had made to enhance itself. Flavored Grass, Tapu Bulu resisted Garchomp’s attack, though the energy injected into Tapu Bulu with the move did cause it to sway as its energy began to move much more sluggish than before.
“It’s not asleep, Ryuki!” the Grass Type trainer shouted.
“I know! It’s not a true sleep-inducing move! We have to try again!” the Garchomp’s trainer replied.
Dazed but growing angry, Tapu Bulu prepared itself for a different attack: a Mega Horn. This one might have been a detested Bug Type move, but the offensive power the move carried was enough to take the weakest link here—the Garchomp. Tapu Bulu knew that from experience.
Yet, when it struck downwards with its horns, it failed.
“We got it! Ryuki, move back. Altaria, Hyper Beam!” one of the trainers shouted.
Tapu Bulu wasn’t ready for such a powerful attack. The Altaria wasn’t too far away, but its aim was impeccable. The Island Guardian was consumed by a beam of brilliant, pink energies.
The thing about this Hyper Beam was that the burning energy within was not the burning energy of a classic Hyper Beam. Something about the bird’s change in form had caused it to change the attack as well. The Hyper Beam was not fueled by Normal Type energy, but it was fueled by Fairy Type energy instead. Somehow, that meant the Mega Pokémon was able to make it even stronger, and then it was further enhanced thanks to the bird sharing a Type.
Completely unprepared, the attack was debilitating, and, when it ended, Tapu Bulu was left panting. Its vision blurry from two different types of exhaustion, it gave up on its Mega Horn to unleash one, final move.
It was weaker, but it came out quicker in exchange.
The Venusaur was stunned when the Nature’s Madness tore through it. The Altaria fell to the floor with its wings spread when even more of its vitality was ripped away. Their two trainers fell to their knees, and Tapu Bulu knew that this was enough to turn the tides.
The Kartana remained, though it was vastly weakened. Tapu Bulu had enough time for a quick Synthesis to ensure it could keep fighting in this battle. It took in the fallen Altaria, looked over where Venusaur panted, and it glanced towards the hole in the ground where the Garchomp had been moments prior.
...Hole in the ground?
It couldn’t dwell on that for long. Tapu Bulu was facing too many opponents at once. It might have been a fan of its home region’s “Battle Royales,” but this was simply too much. Distracted, the Kartana had time to rush in from above, and it went through with one of the strangest acts an Ultra Beast had ever performed against the Tapu.
Rather than attacking, there was a smack, and Kartana pressed itself against Tapu Bulu’s face. The Legendary Pokémon's vision went red—both with anger and with the colors of Kartana’s body—and it tried its best to try to peel the paper-thin Pokémon away.
However, for all of its attempts, there was one major flaw about Tapu Bulu’s biology. It lacked hands; Tapu Bulu’s arms ended in hooves. It cried out and tried to push the Kartana away, but without the dexterity fingers provided, it could not grab the paper to tear it away.
Somehow, with this attack-that-was-not-an-attack, Tapu Bulu was now blind to its surroundings.
Two trainers demonstrated a colorful understanding of human language at that strange sight. As for Tapu Bulu, it continued to flail as it attempted to get Kartana off. Again and again, it was unable to remove the Pokémon from its face, all the way up until the point where the ground rumbled beneath its feet.
“Now, Garchomp!”
This time, when the ground erupted, it was no Nature’s Madness bursting out. Instead, the Garchomp let out a roar, and a clawed fist struck Tapu Bulu’s undefended stomach. More lethargy-inducing energies were injected into the Legendary Pokémon’s body, and it was unable to resist the sweet lull of restful slumber as it finally succumbed to the Secret Power.