"Do you have anything to eat?" Moon asked, as she and Gladion stepped into the elevator that would lead back to the surface of Aether Paradise. Null prowled just a little ways back from the pair of them, drawing the eyes of every employee they passed. Every motion gave away the tension in its muscles.
"Hey," Gladion called to the nearest employee, who had been on their way to the elevator before suddenly becoming distracted by the laces of their slip-on shoes. "Noa, isn't it?" The well-dressed man nodded. "It's about lunch. Tell the cafeteria to send something up to the mansion."
"Right away, Sir." Noa said, then stood there as the elevator doors closed and it rumbled beneath their feet.
"How's being President?" Moon asked, as she felt Type: Null shuffle awkwardly beside her. It was butting its head against the walls, touching its claws to the floor, sniffing at the air. It must not have spent much time outside of its enclosure. That was one reason why she wasn't going to call it back into a Pokeball any time soon.
"It's hard." Gladion shrugged. "Lusamine had the place set up to run by itself while she was chasing the Ultra Beasts. Wicke managed most things, but that's not how I want to run Aether. So I have to learn."
Moon scratched the back of her neck as the elevator doors opened, gasps escaped from the lips of various employees, and Gladion lead the way to the mansion. She kept a close eye on Type: Null as they walked, lest it sense the atmosphere and start to get jut as agitated as the employees were wary.
"You have ordering people down." Moon noted.
"Or they've just got leftover obedience." Gladion swiped his card through the doors that revealed the ivory pathway to the President's mansion, the soft green trees that swayed in the breeze. For her, it was a nice return from the artificial interior. For Type: Null, it was a chance to explore the grass and feel the wind. But even so, it was reluctant, and slipped back into Moon's shadow.
"Maybe." Moon drifted from Gladion's side, off of the path that lead right to the mansion, and Gladion paused to watch what she was doing. "But Team Skull seemed afraid of you. That's something, right?" She asked, as she backed up to one of the trees and held out a hand to beckon Type: Null towards her. It cast its eyes around it, at the ground it was to follow, and slowly padded towards her.
"Guzma did most of the work." Gladion watched Moon's fingers sink into the ruff of fur around Type: Null's neck, before she slipped around the back of the tree. "Between him pushing them around and Plumeria catching them, the two of them had everyone wrapped around their fingers. Except for me." The Pokemon followed her around the tree, until they were back at the front and it received another stroke along its mane.
"It worked. Kinda." Moon said, as she point towards one of the other trees, then at Type: Null. Its eyes peered out of its helmet, following her finger, but not where she was pointing towards. She furrowed her brow, then walked over to the other tree and touched her finger to it. The chimeric Pokemon prowled after her, and touched its helmet to the trunk of the tree. She smiled and ran over to the first tree.
"That kind of thing only works as long as you're tough enough to push them around." Gladion furrowed his brow as he watched Type: Null run after Moon, up to the tree. Then she pointed at another one, and Type: Null steadily made its way over towards it. It kept looking back, to see Moon nod, until it finally reached the tree and touched its helmet to it. "Beating him in the middle of Po Town would have disbanded them even if what happened...hadn't."
"So you're not going to copy that?" Moon had to speak louder to ensure Gladion could hear her, as she ran over to join Type: Null. Her voice wasn't quite as stable as she'd have liked – she'd never been comfortable with yelling.
"What? Don't be stupid." Gladion huffed. "People aren't going to work for me or for Pokemon conservation if I push them around, especially after what Lusamine did."
"So. What are you gonna do?" Moon jogged over to another tree, then pointed to the nearest one. Type: Null ran over towards it, then walked around to look at her again. She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. She pointed again and watched the confusion in the Pokemon's shadowed eyes, before something seemed to click and it ran to the next one, further away.
"What I can." Gladion shrugged his shoulders. "I'll wear a suit if I have to." He watched as Moon waved the Pokemon towards her. "No, wait!" He called out, but Type: Null had already started sprinting across the grass. Its every stride threw up some grass, some dirt, and Moon threw herself to the side as it struggled to stop itself and slammed into the tree with a deafening crack.
The tree fell to the ground with a thump, Type: Null tumbled over it and scrambled to its feet. Moon immediately went to its side, hopping over the fallen tree to place a soothing hand on its shoulder.
"They don't know their own strength," Gladion said, as he approached Moon and Type: Null.
"Got it." Moon ran her hands along Type: Null's ruff until she was sure it wasn't upset, and to give her a chance to look it over for any injuries. She doubted there would be, but it wouldn't hurt to check. "Sorry about your tree."
Gladion looked over the damage, then shook his head.
"It doesn't matter. Are you going to give Type: Null a name?"
"I don't know." Moon said. "I'll see if I can find one they like."