Sorry this chapter's a bit short. Enjoy!

Chapter Five.

Gladion's POV

I couldn't believe it.

Here's me thinking Plumeria was being honest, really only trying to find the answers to her questions, when she kidnaps my sister.

She doesn't know that Lillie's my sister, though. She was only following orders.

Yeah, following orders to abduct an innocent girl that stole a Pokémon only because it was being mistreated.

I was really mad, mainly at myself, and I didn't mean to be so harsh with Hau and Moon, but honestly. I told them to protect Cosmog for the sake of the world, and Lillie should have also come hand-in-hand with that, considering she was the one with it.

"We have to go now," I said aggressively. All I could think about was Lillie, knowing who would most likely have her.

"Where?" Moon asked, taking my hand. I resisted the urge to pull away, seeing that she was only trying to help.

"They wouldn't have taken her to Po Town now that Moon easily stormed the place," Hau said.

"No. It'll be Aether Paradise," I said, my face still fixed in a scowl. "Let's go. We can take one of Team Skulls boats."

Moon's POV
We arrived at Aether Paradise without any trouble.

"I don't like how quiet it is," Gladion said, voicing my thoughts. "We need to stay alert."

"Why would Lillie be here?" Hau asked. Gladion sighed.

"She just will be. My mother will do anything to get her Ultra Beasts, even work with a gang of low lives," he said.

"Lusimine? I know what you said about her, but she seemed really nice when we met," Hau told him.

"Yeah. She's real nice, as long as you don't mean anything to her."

"Where she we look for Lillie?" I asked.

"We'll check downstairs first," Gladion said.

We finally arrived at the triangular elevator in the centre of the first floor after battling a few Aether Employees. Gladion walked over to the control panel and entered a code.

"Aarrrgghh!" he said after a moment. "Just like I thought. They changed the codes for the Red Area. We'll have to go up."

Gladion's POV
"I, Faba, am the Aether Branch Chief," Faba said with his back to the elevator as it arrived on the second floor. "The only one in the world, I'm irreplaceable."

I rolled my eyes at that.

The scientist turned around and said, "And here you come back… uninvited?"

"Like you don't know why," I said, glaring at the man, trying not to remember the… pain. "You of all people should know everything that happens in the Aether Foundation. Isn't that right, high-and-mighty Branch Chief?"

Faba laughed, walking a few daring steps closer. I knew that behind the large green sunglasses was terrified eyes. "Look at you…" Faba said to me. "Living out in the world hasn't been kind, has it? But I'm still not telling you anything! You of all people should understand why, Young Master Gladion."

"Don't call me that," I said, taking a tentative step forward to see his reaction. The mans eyes widened and he backed off a little.

"Would you prefer me to call you an experimental mistake instead?"

"Don't you dare!" Moon said beside me. "You're horrible, you know that!"

"It's okay, Moon," I said, putting my hand on her shoulder. But Moon didn't listen.

"Faba, I challenge you to a battle!" she cried, readying a Pokéball in her hand.

"So, you wish to battle me? Branch Chief Faba? The man who is called Aether Paradise's last line of defense is to battle a mere child?! As you will!"

"Go, Mudsdale!" Moon called, throwing her Pokéball.

"Hypno, use Hypnosis!"

"Don't let it! Use High Horsepower!"

"Use Reflect!"

"Double Kick!"

And the battle was over, leaving victory to Moon.

"H-how can a child—"

"Look at you, Moon!" Hau said. "And Faba's so high-and-mighty too!"

"Now, as I said, you of all people should know what we're here for," I told Faba.

"If you're looking for Cosmog, I suppose it might be downstairs," Faba said.

"We're in a bit of a hurry, Faba. A lift would be nice."

"Why not? This is an act of kindness I can do for you thanks to my position as Branch Chief."

Faba went to walk over and type the password in himself, but I held up a hand.

"Just give me the code," I told him. "Assuming that my thumbprint still works."

"It should," Faba said and started firing a bunch of numbers at me.

"Alright, let's head to the labs," I said. As the elevator started dropping, I thought I saw a smirk on the scientist's face.

This better not be a trap, or someone's in for it.

Moon's POV
"Everything looks the same… I guess it's only been two years, though," Gladion said once we reached the lower levels.

"It looks like a secret hideout," Hau said, trying to find a bright side.

"Don't get too excited, Hau," Gladion told him. "Though I guess it's better than freezing from fear or nerves."

"So where do we go now?"

"There are two labs up ahead. I'll check out the first, you two check the second lab, down the hall. We have to act quickly, we can't trust Faba. I'm sure he's already told half the Foundation about us."

Me and Hau headed into Secret Lab B, in which we didn't find anything other than a few stunned scientists and a note on a computer that basically said that you could stress Cosmog into creating Ultra Wormholes.

"I couldn't find anything," Gladion said.

"Neither," I told him.

"Yeah, Faba probably knew this was a dead end. Let's go." Gladion started walking back to the elevator, and I noticed his pace quicken slightly upon passing Secret Lab A. Hau followed him, frowning, clearly having noticed the older boy's reaction.

I turned into the other lab, wanting to see what had put Gladion off. The first thing I saw was five large cages, three of them stained with scratch marks, but only two inhabited. The creatures inside were Type: Nulls.

I gasped. Who would do such a thing? I searched the lab some more, trying to look past the creatures encased in glass that were growling and headbutting the side of their cage.

There was a bench in the centre of the room with straps attached to it, along with some files and computers on a desk.

I looked through an old lab logbook, feeling sick.

Experiment Type: Full

Day 1.

Brought in test subject, built cages…

I skimmed a few pages.

Day 23.

Human DNA and Chemical H seem to be bonding well, we were able to create a few living cells.

There was more detail, but I didn't waste my time on it. What I did notice, however, was how many days this experiment took, knowing who the 'test subject' was.

Day 57.

Getting ready to create the fourth Type: Full. Extracting blood from test subject to mix with chemicals H and S. Not too much being done today.

Day 58.

Test—

The pen looked like it had been torn out of someone's hand. Day fifty-eight was the last day, but not the last article.

Experiment Status: Failure.

Chemicals fell on test subject, transforming him into a Type: Full, attacking everyone in sight. Test subject became a mindless beast and was classified Dangerous. Was later found crying in his bedroom. The experimental failure resulted in a human able to turn into a mindless creature at will. Studies in progress. President Lusimine shut Experiment Type: Full down, ordering the creatures to be subdued with iron helmets, renaming them Type: Null. Type Fulls original name was Silvally, and maybe someday we will see these creatures fighting for us against the Ultra Beasts.

I slammed the book shut, dropping it on the floor and kicking it away from me. Aether Paradise's history was appalling.

"How long had Gladion been locked up in here for?" I murmured.

"Two months at least." I spun around to see Gladion standing in the doorway.

"The… whole time?" I breathed. Gladion nodded.

"Come on. We've got to find Lillie."

Aaaaaand that's all for now! Unicorn Cutie out!