In which Diana has a strange new experience, and meets an Ultra Beast face to face.
Arriving at the Hano Grand Resort didn't take long at all. It was preparing to deal with Faba that ate up the time. Still, they eventually accepted that he was the only one capable of getting them to their next destination, so they put on their best fake smiles and walked into the building, waiting for Hau as always.
"I'm sure you remember me," Faba said, and Diana's smile flickered away before she fixed it back into place.
"Of course we do, sir," she said, trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "You work with the Aether Foundation to help Pokémon."
"Correct. And you..." he looked her over. "You call yourself a scientist."
"I've found and investigated a few urban legends, but I'm sure it's nothing compared to what you've done. I'm sorry for being so rude before. I was just trying to be like the great minds at the Aether Foundation, and had no idea who I was speaking to. I hope you can forgive me."
She leaned forward slightly as she said it, not quite bowing in apology but trying to make it appear so. She was testing a theory at the moment, seeing if sucking up would get her anywhere. Eli followed her example, trying very hard not to roll his eyes. He saw through her sugar-sweet little-kid act immediately, and he believed that any competent adult would, too.
So it said a lot to him when Faba did not seem to notice the complete personality flip. "I'm sure it was just a passing incident," he told her, and Diana looked at her cousin with a brief 'kill me' expression. "Since you seem to be interested in studying Pokémon in a controlled environment, I can take you someplace absolutely astounding."
"That doesn't sound creepy at all," Eli muttered, and Diana bit her lip to keep from laughing.
"That sounds...incredible, sir." She did the bow-like movement again, this time so Faba wouldn't see the mocking smile. "But I would like to ask to bring my cousin along with me. I promised his parents I would look after him."
No mention of how Eli had promised the same for her. He resumed his innocent face and turned to Faba with wide, pleading eyes.
"Please can I come? I'll be good! I won't even bring out my Pokémon, if having a Fire-type specialist there makes you worried."
"A little overkill, kids," Professor Kukui's voice warned, quiet enough that Faba likely couldn't hear it. He had brought Hau and Olivia with him, but Lillie was no longer there. But before they could yell at him for blowing their cover, he changed the subject. "I've got some stuff to do, but tell me all about the technology at the Aether Foundation, yeah? We'll meet up again at Maile Garden on Ula'ula Island!"
Aether Paradise was a white, reflective artificial island. Spots of green and blue blurred Diana's vision long after the boat had landed, and they only cleared up when Faba introduced the three kids to a woman who wore a sweater in the Alolan heat.
Was she another 'alien' then? Diana had thought that wearing sweaters no matter what the weather was an experience most people couldn't stand to share. She preferred short sleeves herself...
Diana was busy focusing on the woman's unusual outfit, and didn't realize that Faba had dumped them on the sweater lady - who introduced herself as Wicke - until she was taking them on an elevator ride. They stopped in the main area for a moment, and then they were up again, to an indoor park. It even had trees and boulders.
"This is the floor where we take care of the Pokémon," Wicke explained. "We have an overload of Corsola at the moment - Mareanie and Toxapex have been eating the head corals for every meal."
"They haven't been paying attention to other prey?" Diana looked down at the Corsola under the bridge the group was standing on. "Don't they have any other prey?"
"They do," Wicke confirmed, "but Corsola horns are their favorite food. A human analogy would be raw broccoli next to glazed carrots. You go for the carrots every time."
Diana looked down at the Corsola again. Surely it couldn't be the favorite food of all Mareanie everywhere...
"So can we meet this president?" Eli interrupted, distracting her from her thoughts once again. He held up a small information packet that Diana hadn't noticed him pick up. "I read about this place on the way here, and there are a few questions I want to ask her."
Wicke smiled and gestured. "She should be over there," she told them. "But be careful. She can get a little wrapped up in her science, and might be a bit snappy at being distracted."
"I'll keep that in mind," Eli promised, and led the other kids away.
A tree burst into flame as they passed by it, but a Starmie put it out. They watched as the Pokémon returned to a tall woman with long blonde hair, who got down to pet its top point.
"Such a sweet creature you are," she said, and the Starmie made a pleased sound. "I promise to keep you safe."
Wicke cleared her throat. "Madam President? Diana, Hau and Eli are here to see you."
The president turned around. The smile she'd given the Starmie was gone, and Eli felt his hands curl into fists as another fire started. But the president didn't seem to notice, even when Starmie returned to duty and seemed disappointed when it didn't get rewarded this time.
Diana couldn't help but stare. Something was familiar (and slightly unnerving) about the woman's sharp green eyes, but she was far too distracted by her hair. So long and shiny, it could almost take attention from the fact that it looked kind of like a half-unwrapped waffle cone.
"Welcome to the Aether Foundation building," said the president. "My name is Lusamine Notevil-Goodperson, I run the place. And you three must be trial goers."
"Notevil-Goodperson?" Diana repeated, groaning internally. "Really?"
Eli shoved the pamphlet under his cousin's nose. "It says right here," he said, pointing it out. "The founder of the Aether Paradise was a man named Richard Notevil-Goodperson. The current president is his daughter Lusamine."
"That would be me," Lusamine said with another warm smile.
"It says that Lusamine married a scientist at Aether with a much better last name," Eli continued, "and took the obvious choice to dich her maiden name and let it die. And then her husband vanished five years later. Rumor has it that she cut off his head and stuffed it in a freezer."
"Wait...you're married?" Hau asked Lusamine, eyes going wide. He really must be used to Eli, if something like that could be ignored. "But aren't you only a little older than us?"
Lusamine had frowned at the mention of her husband, but focused on answering Hau's question. "It all depends on if you consider a woman over 40 'a little older.' Yes, there was a man in my life once. But my husband had an accident, so I no longer use his name on anything but legal documents. Let's leave it there."
Eli refused. "So you admit that your husband's the missing scientist?"
"I said let's drop it." Like a child, Lusamine turned her back to the whole situation, this time focusing on an Alolan Grimer.
Eli opened his mouth again, but Diana slammed her hand into his chest so hard it actually hurt. "If you ask her where she put her husband's head," she hissed, "I will make sure yours is sitting right next to it."
"So you admit that there is a head."
Lusamine turned back at the girl's roar, and watched in horrified fascination as Diana lunged at Eli with all the practiced skill of a Pyroar after her prey.
"Children!" she snapped, stomping her foot. "Control yourselves! We wouldn't want you getting hurt now, would we?"
"He's got the advantage in a fight," Diana protested, but Eli shushed her. Two fires in Lusamine's line of sight, and she hadn't put together that the infamous Eli Frost was standing right there? This was a new record for him, and he planned to enjoy it.
"It doesn't matter," Lusamine told them. "Here in the Aether Paradise, we show only love. It puts the Pokémon at ease, knowing the humans won't harm them or use them for profit. After all, what being wouldn't want to know they were loved?"
Diana stopped. "Do you do any actual science here, or is it a hug convention?"
Lusamine half-smiled. "Both. My goal in life is to give Pokémon my love. Even those from distant worlds."
Eli perked up at this. "Distant worlds? You mean aliens?"
"Just because you're a Fire-type doesn't mean the rest of us are Pokémon," Diana snapped back, and then she shared a look with Hau. "We should leave. Now, before he asks an alien Pokémon to take him to the planet of our ancestors."
"What?" Lusamine seemed upset. "But you just got here. You seem too cute...and I like the girl's choice in clothing colors."
"Uh...thanks?" Diana wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not, and glanced down at her new outfit self-consciously. "It's better than what my mom forced me to wear."
Something about this seemed to annoy Lusamine, but what it was went unexplained. A loud noise distracted them, and the minor earthquake that accompanied it caught even Diana off guard.
Four things happened simultaneously. First, the shaking stopped, only to be replaced by not just an Ultra Wormhole, but one spewing a creature out of it. Second, the temperature dropped, and Hau wasn't sure if he was shaking from fear or from cold. Third, Eli set the same tree on fire for the third time, despite the chill around him. And, most surprising of all, Lusamine's smile was no longer welcoming, but excited and bordering on wicked.
Diana processed none of it. She was too busy asking herself a thousand questions at once, most of them relating to Eli's theories about their biology. For a brief, barely-there moment, she had felt something cold. And, oddly, it had started in her chest, right where her heart was.
"This is crazy in a box with a side order of fries," she mumbled to herself as the Ultra Beast hovered in front of her.
Hau was the first to jump into action.
"Diana!" he called, and she jumped at the sound of her name. That only raised more questions, but at least now she had something to distract herself with. Hau pointed at the Ultra Beast. "Distract that thing! I have to get Miss Lusamine out of here!"
The burning tree was helping return the temperature to normal, but Starmie was working on extinguishing it again. Diana focused on the interdimensional jellyfish, and let annoyance override curiosity, and whatever else accompanied it.
"Rotom! Play boss music!"
The creature took out Poliwhirl, but that was just because Diana had gotten overconfident with his Bubblebeam. It appeared to give extra damage to the jellyfish, which meant it was weak to water. If Ultra Beasts were just Pokémon - and given the thing's reaction to Bubblebeam, Diana suspected they were - it must mean that Poliwhirl had a type advantage. So, naturally, at his defeat, she switched in Stanford, wondering if that meant it was Rock, Fire, or Ground-type.
Razor Leaf did neutral damage, it appeared. But any further experimentation was cut short as the creature fled, leaving not even the Ultra Wormhole behind.
The temperature had returned to normal during the battle, and Hau and Lusamine were still present. Lusamine was even talking to herself.
"That creature was undoubtedly an Ultra Beast," she said, and the smile from before returned. "An unknown being crawling from an Ultra Wormhole...it looked like it was suffering. I can't stand to see a Pokémon suffering. I will save it. And I will love it!"
"Kinda creepy there," Eli pointed out. But he didn't mention her husband's head this time, so Diana gave him a point.
Lusamine ignored him. "Wicke. The children are still in the middle of their island challenge, aren't they? Deliver them to the next island."
Wicke nodded, though it was clear she was still shaken up by the sudden appearance of an Ultra Beast. "Yes. Of course. At once, ma'am."
"I will check on our resident Pokémon and see if they came to any harm," Lusamine continued. "And I'll need to speak with Faba about what happened downstairs."
"About more than that, probably," Diana said under her breath.
Lusamine continued on. "You and I both face our greatest challenges for the foundation yet. I will need to protect the Ultra Beasts from people who would use them. And you..." she suddenly pointed at Eli, fury in her eyes, though she did not look away from Wicke. "Keep this abomination from our island at all costs."
Wicke nodded. "I'll see them off to Ula'ula Island right away," she promised, and pushed the trio back to the boat.
"I think she figured it out," Eli said casually.
"It only took the third fire," Diana added. "Personal best, huh?"
Hau was still blabbering about the Ultra Wormhole, promising to tell Professor Burnet immediately. Wicke was nodding along, and gave all three of them gifts of malasadas and, in Diana's case, a TM.
"Every scientist has a collection," she said with a smile, and Colress once again crossed Diana's mind. "And every trainer has at least one. I hope you find it useful."
"I probably will," Diana said, returning the smile. "Thanks, Wicke. For the experience, and the chance to study an Ultra Beast."
Neither of them mentioned how it seemed like a bad idea to ever come back. Which was a shame, as they would have been in complete agreement.