"Sometimes the simple ways are the best way," Hermione said rather smugly as she, Harry, Neville, Luna and Tonks moved past the welcome desk that was set up in the lobby of the Aether Foundation.
"I still say my plan would have worked," Neville complained.
"Oh, I'm sure it would have," Hermione informed him with a casual shrug that Harry knew wasn't actually casual in the slightest. "But my way got us in instantly."
"Yes yes, you are a genius," Neville complained.
"Of coruse I am," Hermione said with a smirk.
"All this condescending smuggery is making my tummy ache," Luna complained, rubbing her belly. "its like eating a super rich chocolate cake."
"Smuggery isn't a word," Hermione complained.
"And you are no longer a genius for not realizing the power and wisdom of the mighty word smuggery," luna taunted.
For his part Harry fiddled with the visitor's badge that Hermione had gotten for him, his mind on other things.
The Aether Foundation's lobby was giving him flashbacks to the Ministry but there were definite differences. The lobby he was currently in was like if someone had realized how similar it was to the Avalon building and worked to make hasty changes in order to hide such similarities. The walls were covered in massive photos of Pokemon in their natural habitats but weren't lined up properly and he could tell there were spots where the photo had been placed in a spot it was a bit too big or small for but there had been no time to make any changes. There was a fountain but whatever had been on top of it had been removed, the base there but no figures standing on top of it.
"You notice it too?" Leon asked softly. "They changed things in here."
"Recently too," Harry commented. "The head, Lillie Aether, only took over a year or so ago according to my research. Her mother was in charge before that. Makes you think about what it was like before."
"And what other changes she's put in place," Leon said softly as they made their way to some elevators. "Normally I wouldn't think there was anything sinister going on but…" He trailed off.
Harry got it. Thanks to Mewtwo's comment about 'save the cheerleader, save the world' Harry couldn't look at little things like the alternation of the lobby and just assume it was a design choice. No… he had to suspect that everything had a secret because it was far safer to do that than to assume everything was fine and get stuck from behind.
The Leafeon looked around again, keeping his voice low; he knew that Harry could hear him easily enough thanks to his enhanced senses. "They let us in quick enough."
"Yeah," Harry said. "Hermione said she had Cedric call in a few favors…" He hadn't realized that Hermione and Cedric were still dating, doing the long term thing, until the former Hogwarts Champion had sent them all a group email by accident with the invitation to visit Aether… and a rather candid message for Hermione about how much he missed her. Prime blackmail material, to be sure, but also a surprise.
he couldn't help but feel a twinge of sadness at that. His friends had lives outside what was happening and he didn't even know about them. Hermione was going steady with Cedric still... had regular online date nights, text message strings, all that. If it hadn't been for Hogwarts getting attacked she would have flown to Unova to see him as apparently Cedric was now working full time at the lab the two of them had interned at and he had an apartment.
'They've probably been intimate,' he thought to himself because saying that Hermione 'fucked' or 'screwed' or 'shagged' someone didn't sound right. He just couldn't see her being so savage. He knew Luna and Neville were having sex, as Luna had no problem telling everyone about that, but Hermione... it was intimate.
What Harry and jasmine had done after Jack's death? That was fucking.
'Damn it, my mind is wandering,' he thought to himself with a ping of frustration. He had to stay focused. 'Cedric did a lot to grant us this meeting and I can't blow it.'
While Neville and Tonks had come up with all sorts of wild ideas to help them get into Aether in the end it had been hermione who suggested they just be honest with Lillie Aether. She'd done some digging and it turned out that there were gaps in her history, odd little spots of missing time and infromation. It might have been because she had led the life of the rich and famous, being home schooled and all that... but Hermione had her doubts.
"Her brother, Gladion?" Hermione had told them. "He had similar gaps. The last reports I had before he completely disappears has him going to some schools you might be familiar with Neville."
"Yeah," Nev had said, looking over the print out Hermione had grabbed, growing a touch pale. "These are all schools that Barty suggested to me."
Gladion was either training to become or was going to be a part of the International Police.
Even Guzma had told them that Lillie was someone to be careful around, because she had 'seen things'. He didn't get to much into it because he'd told them that there were secrets and then there were SECRETS. The former saw men show up at your door and tell you to knock it off. The latter saw you simply disappear.
The elevators opened and Harry couldn't help but wonder just what Lillie was hiding that could make Prof. Kurak clam up.
~MC~MC~MC~
"Its truly terrible what happened to your school," Lillie told them, sipping some tea ('That's something i agree with you Avalonians on! Coffee is simply too strong!') as she saw in in an overstuffed arm chair. Hermione, Luna, and Neville were sitting on one sofa to her right while Harry and Tonks took the one on the left, Leon prowling about while Harry could feel Hedwig outside, watching the windows carefully and ready to strike if something terrible happened that required her to race to the rescue. "We offered to help, of course, but the government said that the islands around hogwarts hadn't been touched. That was our biggest concern." She blinked and then let out a little gasp. "Oh, I'm so sorry! i didn't mean to make it sound like I didn't care what happened to the people! We just-"
"I understand," Harry said, reassuring her. "Aether focuses on Pokemon."
"Yes," Lillie said, relieved that he hadn't taken offense. "The islands around Hogwarts... they are supposed to hold some rare Pokemon" She paused. "I've even heard tlel that you have some rare Pokemon yourself... and not just because yours can talk!" She shook her head and a beautiful Alolan Vulpix leapt up onto her lap. "I wonder what Snowy thinks many times... being able to talk to her."
"I can ask her a question or two, if you wish," he said with a smile. "After all, that's what we're here to talk about."
Their cover story was that Harry was interested, after graduation, in teaching a few Aether Foudnation members the Art of Speaking, if anyone had the talent, to help aid in rescuing Pokemon. He ignored the worm of guilt that he wasn't acutally there to do that, quietly promisiung that when this was done he'd make good on the meeting her and see if Luiga would allow him to bring some new students to the Whirl islands. The ability to speak to Pokemon would be a blessing to Aether and in turn to the Pokemon world.
"Oh, would you?" Lillie asked, excitedly.
"Let me make a connection figure, make sure she doesn't mind."
"How do you do it?" Lillie asked him. "Do you begin to yip and growl?"
Harry chuckled at that, put a bit more at ease by Lillie's demeanor. In another life he thought that she could have been a good friend, someone like the champions that could have been in his corner.
'But,' he thought, his good mood fading, 'I'm not her to make a friend. I'm here to save her. Possibly… possibly from herself.'
"No," he told her, forcing himself to keep smiling while at the same time hoping his smile didn't look fake in the slightest because he knew that wouldn't help things at all. "Speaking… its not quite speaking? If that makes snese. Its kind of misnamed but there really isn't a short and sweet name to sum up what I can do."
"Please, explain," Lillie said, folding her hands on her lap as Snowy padded around her. "This can help us out so much but I want to make sure it won't hurt any Pokemon."
"Its only hurt a Pokemon once and that did more damage to me than it did them. And they agreed afterwards it was good that I did what I did."
"…explain," Lillie said, confused but still adding a bit of steel to her question, much to Harry's surprise. He supposed it made sense, that she couldn't have reached where she was without a bit of strength.
"When I 'speak' with a Pokemon it will appear to all of you that no time has passed. I'll just suddenly be able to tell you what they said. For me I will be in what is known as the Speaker's Realm… everything fades away and Snowy and I will have a conversation. We could talk for a month and it would only last a microsecond in the real world. We won't be able to move other than our mouths and at any time one of us can break out of it. The time where a Pokemon and I got hurt… there was an evil person forcing the Pokemon to fight. I keep entering the Speaker's realm to distract it so my team could fight back and help break it free… that hurt it and I began to bleed from my nose and ears. But normally I don't force one to remain in the Speaker's Realm."
"So Snowy would have control?" Lillie asked.
"Just as much as I do," Harry told her.
Lillie stared at him for a moment before smiling. "And how do I know this isn't a parlor trick? When my father disappeared my mother sought out psychics to help us. The legitimate ones all said the same thing: they could sense him yet they couldn't. It wasn't until a few years ago we learned it was because he'd lost his memories and was living in a hut on a beach, helping raise Pokemon for tourists who wanted to go someplace and not leave their Pokemon in their pokeballs."
Harry had read about all that; in fact the reason why Lillie was now the head of Aether was because her mother had decided to step down and join her husband, helping him regain his memories without taking him away from something he loved. According to the info Tonks had gotten Lusamine Aether was currently manning a bamboo stand wearing short shorts and a floppy straw hat, enjoying the sun and spending her evenings sipping fruity drinks while helping her husband recover.
"But we also got some frauds," Lillie said and once more the steel entered her tone. "They would tell us all sorts of things… about how he was lost in some region or he was gone but could give us messages. They assumed we were weak fools desperate for any news and that we would open our pocket books to anyone that provided a bit of relief." She smiled but there was no softness in that dark smirk of hers. "My mother enjoyed destroying them." She leaned in towards Harry. "Everyone is telling me how I am my mother's daughter."
Harry understood completely where she was coming from. Honestly if he hadn't heard of Speaking until that day he'd assume it was some sort of scam too.
"Whisper something to Snowy. A phrase or something that only you two know. I will speak with her and repeat it."
Lillie considered that before leaning down, whispering to the Vulpix before looking back at Harry.
He didn't even give her a chance to say a word before he entered the Speaker's Realm.
"What did she tell you?" he asked politely.
"That she thinks you need to run a comb through your hair," the Vulpix replied.
Harry nodded before returning back to the real world. "Snowy is a filthy liar and I'm not sure if it was your idea or her's."
Lillie started at that. "What?" Clearly not her idea then.
"You told Snowy 'I think we should have ordered for some pastries, ask what kind he likes' but she made fun of my hair instead." Harry instantly went into the Speaker's Realm. "And I'd like to know why you decided to lie."
"And be VERY careful how you answer," Leon warned.
Snowy rolled her eyes, clearly wanting to stretch but unable to. "Because I don't trust you in the slightest. You are lying, human. I'm not sure why you are lying to my mother but you are lying. You aren't here to help us and I'm not going to help you." And with that Snowy broke free of the Speaker's Realm.
"Why would she do that?" Lillie asked.
"Because she thinks I'm lying to you," Harry said. "And she doesn't appreciate the fact that I am putting you in danger. Do you know she sees you as her mother?" Lillie's eyes went wide and Snowy turned and growled at him for revealing that only to soften when Lillie began to cuddle her. "And… she's right. I am lying to you." Lillie stilled. "There is a powerful Pokemon, Mewtwo… he sent me to Alola and told me I had to 'save the cheerleader, save the world'. I am convinced you are the cheerleader and I need to save you… from what I don't know."
Smetimes… the direct path was the best one.
"Anyone else might have been shocked by that comment," Lillie finally said. "Thought you crazy." She looked slowly across the room, locking eyes one by one with all of them. "That said… considering the life I've led-"
And that's when the wall exploded.
Harry found himself flying but Gauntlet skills kicked in and he mentally thanked George and Fred for thinking that setting up the training grounds to explode ("Just in case!") was a brilliant idea because it let him instantly react. Aura flared around him as he tumbled and he sent out two tendrils to lock onto fixtures. He pressed his feet against the floor only to sway and nearly pitch backwards and he quickly realized that he'd latched onto a wall, his Aura surrounding his feet and allowing him to cling to it but doing nothing for the gravity.
"Pla-ba-pla-pla."
Harry froze at the utterly… inhuman sound that filled the air.
Slowly turning on the wall so that he was facing the floor he looked across the room and saw Leon, Hermione, Neville, and Luna all groaning but otherwise out of it, tossed across the room, Snowy was whimpering, caught under some broken bits of wall but she was moving so she was alright, just pinned. And Lillie-
Harry stared at Lillie's limp form as it dangled in the arms of a monster.
Not a Pokemon. Something utterly strange and alien to the world.
At first it looked vaguely like a clown, with pastel colors running up and down its arms and groin area in stripes. But the waist was far too thin, impossible for anything living to have. If it had a spine it was made of jelly because the monster was able to sway, causing Lillie's form to pitch about as the creature stood in the opening it had exploded through the wall. Above its shoulders was a frilly white… thing. Harry didn't know what else to call it.
And its head…
Its head.
It was a hovering ball of flicking lights, like a disco ball or one of those Solstice decorations.
"Pha!" the thing declared before leaping out of the hole.
Harry didn't even stop to think.
He leapt forward, using his aura tendrils to drive him forward, and rushed out of the hole, merging with Hedwig and giving chase.