"Are you sure this is really what you want to do, darling?" questioned Wicke, the sensible Branch Chief of the Aether Foundation said, standing a few cautious steps back from her higher-up. "I know you're passionate, but… I'm just… a little worried."

"Do you not believe I'm capable of achieving my mission?" Lusamine responded in a flat tone. "After all our research, and all my confiding in you, do you not believe I'm competent enough to catch one measly Ultra Beast?"

"No, it's not that, dear, I promise," assured Wicke, moving a bit of hair out of her face. "It's just… the Ultrasphere is… an entirely different dimension… We don't have any idea what to expect, even with all the research we've done."

"Wicke…" Lusamine sighed, pressing a wrinkle out of her dress with a brush of her delicate hand. "I appreciate your concern, but I am only going to be in the Ultrasphere long enough to capture UB-01. I can handle it. With a real, and live, Ultra Beast in the Aether Foundation's possession, imagine how much more we would understand about the Ultrasphere." She sighed once more, then whispered to herself. "I will find you…"

Wicke sighed, and looked momentarily at the shaking box on the table which Lusamine was leaning her weight onto. She whispered, "The poor thing… it doesn't deserve this…" Lusamine turned around, now facing Wicke, and the Branch Chief halted her breath entirely, fearing that Lusamine had heard her sympathy.

Lusamine grabbed the handle of the box, carrying it with a disturbing casualness, almost as if the box were a purse and not a containment device for a powerful divine creature. She walked with intention towards the elevator in the back of the room. Her scuffless white heels made echoing clacks on the sterile white tile floor.

Everything was perfect.

Everything was not okay.

Lusamine allowed the elevator to descend while she stood upon it with a hand on her hip. As Wicke watched Lusamine's stoic, but porcelain-like face descend under the tile floor, she stepped back until her back was touching the wall. She allowed her weight to pull her down until her chest was pressed against her bent knees. "That poor woman… I wish there were someone… anyone… able to stop her…"

"Cousin? Cousin? Are you all right?" A very Alolan accent woke an awful-looking young girl from her sleep, or rather her unconsciousness.

Selene rubbed her eyes and was mildly annoyed to find them stinging when she opened them. Her black hair was dry and had sand in it. She felt as though she was waking from death.

"Oh good! I was worried we lost ya there!" the incredibly Alolan accent said again. "I'm Kukui, by the way."

Selene looked around the room, waiting for her vision to stop being blurry. It took so long to see clearly she was worried it might not ever actually happen. Her throat hurt more than she ever even knew it could.

"There was a totally awful storm last night, and then late into the night I was coming back home from Hau'oli City and I saw you face-down in the sand. It was, like, straight out of a movie. Uh… how are you feeling?"

Selene's throat hurt far too much for her to respond, so she nodded, hoping it would get the message across.

"I hope you weren't carrying any electronics…" Kukui said, clenching his teeth. "They'd be beyond fried at this point. But hey, I'm glad you floated onto the shore! Can I get you anything? Water? Oh, I have clothes you can borrow so you don't have to wear those wet ones. They're all men's though… do you still want them?"

There were a lot of questions, and Selene was still trying to remind herself she was even alive. She put a hand out in Kukui's direction which thankfully made him stop talking. She swung her legs over the bed and then hopped out of it. At first, she stumbled from exhaustion, but then after the next step, she was walking just fine.

"I know what we can do," Kukui continued. "There's a clothing boutique in Hau'oli. We can get you something nice there."

Selene turned to Kukui, and despite her state, she gave him a genuine smile. His kindness had already proven to be incredible.

"The washroom's downstairs," Kukui directed. "And now that you're up, I can start making breakfast. You like bacon and eggs?"

Selene nodded and smiled. Kukui was such a kind man… Even after just meeting him, it would have crushed Selene to see anything bad happen to him. Her reintroduction to the living world only got better as a tiny canine Pokemon she'd never seem before bounded up the stairs. It skidded on the tile floor, its claws insufficient at slowing its slide. Then, it curiously sniffed Selene's leg, then jumped up against her thighs. She partially bent down to pet the cute dog, to find its fluffy neck actually surprisingly jagged.

"Oh yeah," Kukui said, getting pans from around his disorganized kitchen. "That's Rockruff! Looks like he likes you! You'll fit right in here!"

"So, boss," asked a pink-haired rebellious girl who spoke in a very improper manner. "What do we do with the girl?"

"We've got a lot'a options, 'uh?" snickered the gray-haired man who was the pink-haired girl's 'boss'. "I got some questions for her. Un-gag her."

A young boy wearing the same outfit as the pink-haired girl tore a black and white cloth out of their hostage's mouth. The hostage attempted to scream, but a jerk from the boy silenced her. Her eyes were filled with immeasurable fear.

"W-w-what do y-you w-want from m-me, Team S-s-skull?" she asked, voice shaking almost too much to understand.

"Lillie… I don't want to hurt you…" said the 'boss'. "I just want to know what you were doing nosing around our little side-camp. What's a white-dress kinda girl like you want that Team Skull's got?"

"Is there a bad girl hidden deep down in that spotless dolly face of yours?" teased the girl.

"Or maybe mommy hurt you and you don't wanna listen to her no more? Bah-ha!" The boy, whose hair was turquoise, laughed way too hard at his own joke.

Even though it was an awful joke, it dug deeper into Lillie than the girl's joke did. She began crying, shamelessly.

"Oh, boo-hoo, the little princess is crying," mocked the 'boss' of the Team Skull grunts. "Just tell me what you were doin' in our territory, and we'll treat ya real good. 'Kay? Guzma's word."

"I…" stammered the captive Lillie. "I want to… to speak to… to him."

"Him? Who the heck is 'him'?" asked the girl grunt, though Guzma's sudden glare at her indicated it was clearly not her turn to speak.

"You wanna speak to 'im, 'eh?" Guzma closed the gap between himself and Lillie until his prisoner could smell his bad breath.

Suddenly, the sound of something falling attracted everyone's attention. What had fallen was a PokeDex. Everyone's focus, however, was on the person who dropped it.

Without even announcing his presence, the young man shouted, "Get away from her!"

"You're not the boss of us!" the blue-haired grunt rebutted.

"Get away from my sister, or so help me I'll…" The young man clenched his fist and sighed deeply. "You don't want to know."

The grunts both put up their hands and backed away from Lillie cautiously. "My bad, my bad," the boy grunt chuckled nervously.

"Back away from her, Guzma," the young man ordered.

"I'm your boss, Gladion, not the other way around," Guzma snapped back. "You don't get to tell me to do anything."

Gladion walked closer. Guzma didn't back down. In fact, whereas he had been kneeling in front of Lillie, now he was standing and facing the approaching Gladion, who was considerably shorter than him.

Gladion continued to approach, narrowing his glare. Guzma did the same, now actually stepping towards him. Gladion's glare became sharper and sharper until it was a freshly-dripping blade.

"Leave her to me," Gladion said.

"I'm your boss, not the-" Guzma began, before getting cut off.

Gladion reached to his belt, where a very peculiar variety of PokeBall was clipped.

"Yeah, okay," Guzma nervously agreed. "Have a nice chat with 'er."