After the now group of four had returned to Seafolk, Red turned to Maple.
"Alright, our mission was a success, now then… how do we get to this… Aether? Foundation?"
He questioned as he would close his eyes, seemingly trying to figure out himself. Maple waved her arms.
"That's actually very easy! See in Alola, they have a system, which I actually quite like!"
Out of her pocket she took a strange greenish device, in her other pocket she took out a pearl-like Pokéball shaped device, raising her arm into the air, she signaled…
"A-ah wild Charizard?"
Red spoke in surprise.
"Yes, well, sorta? I'm not sure if anyone owns Ride Pokémon, but I do know that it's free!"
Maple replied as she jumped onto the Charizard's back.
"Straight up from here."
She pointed upward, in the air, the others could see a floating structure…
"The hell is that?"
Blue asked as he put his sunglasses on, putting a hand over his head.
"That, Blue, is Aether Paradise. This is where we need to go next."
The Ride Pokémon let out a cry.
"I'll meet you guys there, you know me, I gotta take the long way around."
Maple looked to Red.
"I trust you can lead Blue and Green to meet me there?"
She smiled as the Charizard began to flap its wings, Maple taking off.
"Of course you can."
He nods, and turns to face the other two.
"Ready?"
"I am."
Said Green.
"BITCH, PLEASE! I was born ready!"
The other two with Blue both squinted with a sarcastic smile.
"What?"
Red shrugged.
"It's whatever…"
Green chimed in after Red.
"If… if what Red said is true, then someone in that place… someone there knows what happened to us a long time ago…"
The Trio all looked around now… of course, Maple was in earshot right before she left, hearing Green's words stuck into her head…
What happened to them…
Covering her face with her hood… she bit her lip, looking guilty.
"What happened…"
Maple, now out of sight, was heading to Aether.
It only took about five minutes for her to reach her destination, she jumped off the back of the Dragon-like Pokémon, it let out a cry, and it began to fly off. The hooded girl put the Ride Pager away into her bag she always had on her.
"Maple."
Red called to her, Maple turned on instinct, and looked to see the other three all standing there in the middle of Aether's Plaza. She hurried over to the rest of them to quickly regroup.
"You alright…?"
Red asked as Maple unhooded herself.
"You look pale… surely it can't be flight sickness."
"No, no… not that at all."
Maple coughed and fixed up her bag.
"You know… just…"
"Nerves as usual?"
Red tried to reassure Maple by rubbing her head. She nods.
"Yeah, well… it's never fun to remember…"
Maple covered her face again. She rubbed one of her eyes.
"I don't even wanna tell Lusamine, but… I'm sure she'll understand once we walk in and she sees you all.."
"Maple?"
Red went up to her and took off her hood again, only to see she was clearly holding back a few tears. He embraces her as Blue and Green stepped forward.
"Look, if you don't want to talk about this now, we can come back later if it… makes you this uncomfortable…"
"If these people are responsible for making Maple feel like this, then I say we march right in there and demand to see Lusamine."
Green said as she put her hand up to her chin, looking serious as she said this.
"These… Aether Paradise people? Ha! What a misleading name for a bunch of rotten scientists like them!"
As Green was infuriated over how they made Maple feel, Blue went towards Maple in the middle of Green's ranting.
"So, these are the guys that did this shit to us?"
Maple lifted her head to turn her gaze at Blue.
"...Yeah… yeah, Lusamine… she did it."
Blue then cracks his knuckles.
"That's all I needed to hear, let's go kick these assholes where it hurts!"
"Oh, oh! That's funny coming from you, Blue! Considering all of this happened becau-"
Green was cut off by Maple's gasp.
"Maple? What's wrong?"
The girl points, her hood still off, forward, the sounds of annoyed mumbling can be heard from the direction she pointed to. They four see a man with green goggles that were shaped like beans, as if on cue, he looked at them, broom in hand, glaring at Maple. Maple narrowed her eyes in return before saying…
"Sup, Beanpole?"
She grinned in such a rude and sadistic way. Red looked at her.
"Maple, you know him?"
"I do, I do. He was with Aether when I first came here."
Her demeanor shifted from a sad and terrified sounding child, to a woman who was glad to torment and annoy those around her. She approached the former higherup, grinning ear to ear, the man huffed in irritation.
"Brat…"
"That's Champion Brat to you, Beanpole!"
Maple and Faba's gazes met, staring daggers into each other's eyes, Maple scoffed before spitting right onto the floor.
"You missed a spot, Poindexter."
She grinned as Blue caught up to her, as he quickly took note of the situation, he would share the same kind of smile.
"Heh heh heh! Is this one of those losers you were talkin' about, Girl?"
Maple turned to look at Blue, still grinning, she nodded in an arrogant fashion.
"Dammmmmmn, you look like a frog, bro! Ha ha ha!"
"No Blue, he's a Beanpole!"
"Ok, ok, I got one. A FROG-SHAPED BEANPOLE!"
The two erupt into loud and obnoxious laughter, Faba throws his mop onto the ground, enraged.
"SO, THE BRAT HAS FRIENDS NOW?"
He screamed, readying a Pokéball. Maple, noticing this, smirked.
"What, what? Ya wanna go again? You really want me to kick your ass again? In front of Red and Blue?"
She laughed mockingly.
"Oh, oh my… if you wish to be humiliated, so be it. I'm more than ready to beat you senseless once more~"
"YEAH, GIRL! GO GET EM!"
Blue started to cheer as Maple readied her own ball. Red and Green, seeing and hearing everything from a short distance away, look at each other and nod.
"This shall be interesting… I must admit, I have never seen Maple battle before…"
Green crossed her arms. Red replies.
"Then prepare for a spectacle… I taught her everything she knows when it comes to battling."
The two would get closer to get a better view at the battle that had just begun.
"Go! Decidueye!"
Maple tossed the ball into the air, and out popped her Alolan companion.
"Go! Claydol!"
Faba would toss his own Pokémon out, the strange golem like creature floated there, spinning it's limbs around.
"Decidueye, Spirit Shackle!"
Maple wasted no time shouting the signature move of her feathery friend. With no hesitation on its part, it launched a sharp and pointed arrow right towards the opposing fiend.
"Claydol, Ancient Power!"
Faba shouted as a barrage of rocks flew toward the Grass Archer!
"Decidueye! Do not let that Bastard's Pokémon land a hit on you! Quickly! Evade it!"
It evaded gracefully, only one boulder slightly brushing past its shoulder. Running a top of each rock, not losing its focus.
"Spirit Shackle, again!"
Maple demanded it to land this time as well, back to the observers, Green could see what Red mentioned to her before…
"I see… the discipline in her eyes, the determination in her voice…"
Green silently gazed at Red, then to Blue, who was cheering as loud as he possibly can. She would think again to herself, putting her thumb and finger to her chin again.
"YEAH MAPLE! KICK HIS SORRY SKINNY ASS!"
Blue shouted as he started throwing his popcorn at Faba. (don't ask when he picked up the treat)
"BOOOO YOU SUCK!"
Faba turned his attention to Blue, throwing the pieces back.
"SILENCE, FOOL!"
As Faba was distracted, Decidueye landed a direct hit onto Claydol!
"HA! TAKE THAT, YOU STUPID ASS LOOKIN FROG FU-"
Faba turned in shock as his Pokémon collapsed onto the ground.
"WHY YOU!"
Glaring at Blue, he then gave his full attention to Maple.
"BLASTED BRAT! Having your friend distract me like that! Low, even for you!"
Maple shrugs, turning up her hand in a mocking pose.
"It ain't my fault he decided to start pelting you with salty snacks."
She chuckles. Faba grunted in anger.
"Very well… Bruxish! GO!"
The strange pinkish colored fish appeared from its ball, smacking its large lips together, revealing it's sharp teeth.
Blue makes another remark.
"THAT'S A WATER TYPE YOU STUPID OLD BASTARD! Are you asking for Maple to kick your ass?!"
"Water and Psychic, Blue."
Maple chimed in with a laugh.
"Unfortunate for Faba, he chooses to specialize in a type that my Starter here can counter in every way possible~"
Her Decidueye let out a cry as she finished speaking, agreeing with her it would seem. Faba, enraged once again, stamped his foot down.
"BRUXISH! CRUNCH!"
The fish leapt up and took a dive at Maple's Owl.
"INCOMING! WATCH YOUR SIX!"
Maple's shout was just enough to get Decidueye to just barely evade the super effective move.
"NOT SO FAST, AQUA JET!"
The Archer might have been able to evade that nasty bite, but Faba's Bruxish was able to ambush with a quick priority move, though not very effective…
Maple shrugged.
"Hope that was worth it… anyway, Decidueye, use Leaf Blade."
With a nonchalant point, her Starter lunged at the Fish, landing a critical super effective hit, taking out Faba's Pokémon with just one hit. He grits his teeth as he withdraws his Water Type.
"Let's see how you handle this! Go Raichu!"
An Alolan Raichu appears with a flashy jump.
Blue started laughing again.
"JUST HOW STUPID IS THIS BITCH!? Yo, Red! Look at this clown!"
He nudged his friend with his elbow, Red was laughing under his breath. He couldn't believe how foolish this so-called Scientist was.
"Yes Blue, I see."
Green too couldn't help but chuckle.
"Hm, I guess it's no wonder Maple didn't really explain about Faba to us… he doesn't seem to be giving her much trouble at all."
The trio all laugh, some hiding it better than others… when suddenly…
"FABA! Enough of this! Stop this at once!"
A lady's voice came booming from the gates, a woman with long blonde hair and odd shoes came walking into the field. Maple gasped, she quickly returned Decidueye to its ball, Faba doing the same, begrudgingly.
"What did I tell you about harassing our guests?"
"But these aren't guests! They're intruders! Showing up here and-"
"And they are guests. How dare you step out of line after what you did, Faba…"
Maple smirked at Faba as Lusamine scolded him. Faba glared at Maple and co. before departing, picking his broom back up.
Lusamine walked forward.
"Welcome, Dear Guests, please excuse Faba, he is merely an inter after-*GASP*"
And in an instant, Lusamine's welcoming manners melted away, seeing Maple standing right in front of her, then gazing back at the trio that were now behind her.
"M-Maple Valentine…"
Lusamine held out her hand, showing good faith, Maple, hesitantly reaching out and shaking hands.
"Miss Lusamine… hello, you remember me."
"O-of course I do, you showed my Lillie so much kindness… it's thanks to you that my dear daughter decided to take up battling… I'm so proud of her…"
Lusamine felt dread crawling up her spine as she saw the man wearing a red hat behind Maple.
"Y-you must be…"
Red spoke up and cut Lusamine off.
"I am, my name is Red, Maple told me all about you since we met up again."
Lusamine gulped. She felt overwhelming emotions.
"Please, come in… I have a lot to explain… as to why I did what I did, all those years ago."
She led them into the facility, not looking back as she did so. Green, Blue, Red and Maple all follow her, Maple looked up to Red, a worried expression on her face.
"I'm sure it will all make sense, Maple."
"...I know Miss Lusamine didn't mean what she did… but… that thing, Red… it took you away from me for so long… and after all of that, Blue-"
"I know… you don't have to say anything if it makes you feel sick, or uncomfortable, I can do the talking, if you really want me to."
Maple held onto Red's arm as the group made their way into Aether Paradise, being led to the elevator, Lusamine pressed a button and the team made their descent into the darkness, Maple's grip tigented as the dark enveloped them.