"Agent Moon do you remember what I warned you about at training?" Anabel suddenly asks from utop the Charizard.
Moon, not wanting to mess up again, starts thinking deeply about what answer Anabel wanted to hear. Protect your identity no matter what? The IP picks missions based on human and Pokemon protection? Don't use violence and force unless necessary?
But the beat that passes makes Anabel's lips form into a thin line, before she answers her own question.
"Emotions in this line of work will get you killed."
Her scrutinizing stare makes Moon grow increasingly nervous as she responds with a silent, understanding nod.
"Just thought you needed the reminder; I look forward to your report."
Anabel's words, undoubtedly, struck a chord with Moon since the first time she told her as a new recruit. That very phrase has been taught, uttered, and yelled at her through her entire time in training. It was the golden rule, if not one of them, and Moon understood that it was there to protect the lives of the people in the force and to assure successful missions.
But Anabel wouldn't sternly remind her if it was just about keeping a level head on the field.
No.
Rookie or not, she knew Moon ultimately could do that when it mattered.
What she didn't know was how Moon would handle a situation with several lives on the line. If she panicked during a simple outing, who was she to say that Moon wouldn't sacrifice herself, or worse, the mission for someone else?
"Agent...bzzzt. Are Aether grounds always this empty?" Rotom's question interrupts Moon train of thought as they made their way down the tree lined path.
Moon's eyes scan the location only to confirm Rotom's observation. It really was lonely, but alas it was her terms and conditions that brought her to Aether in the middle of the night. "No, but I'm not here for regular business anyways," Moons murmurs, the lack of excitement evident in her tone.
"Agent, you could've said no to this you know? Bzzt"
Moon lets out a small scoff. "As if they would let that slide. Anabel was right in saying that I was putting myself in danger."
"I mean, that may be true..." Rotom interjects, "but you were picked for what you do possess, not what you don't, krr."
Moon stops in front of the entrance before looking at Rotom incredulously. His kind words were strangely unfamiliar. "Rotom, is this your way of apologizing for last night?"
Rotom fumbles with his next sentence, but Moon smiles at his feeble attempt. "I think you were right though," Moon reassures Rotom before her she looks ahead of her once again. The doors were shut tight, but before all hope could be lost she remembered the one thing Wicke wanted her to notice during her first visit. The magnetic strip. Moon reaches into her pocket and pulls out the badge and places it on the nearby key reader, a second and a quiet beep later the doors slid wide open.
Rotom was the first to zip in, already on top of scanning the area, but Moon walks in with a bit more cautiousness. Aether, although stunning in the day time, was terribly eerie in the evening.
Her body turns in circles as she tries to find some sort of sign of life, but then a loud bark echos in the building pulling her attention upwards. Up three floors was Type: Null leaning over the rail, with Gladion appearing not a second later. He peers down to look at what the Pokemon was reacting to, but as his gaze landed on Moon his eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped ever so slightly.
The sight of Gladion dropping his stoic face was enough for Moon to give him a cheeky smile and a small wave.
He pulls away from the rail and Moon could hear him beckoning Type: Null to follow him.
A moment later the elevator stopped right in front of Moon and Rotom. "How did you get in…?" Gladion asks, the surprise evident in his voice, but for once Moon doesn't have a snarky reply.
"You're going to have to give Wicke a raise," Moon says as she shows him her badge, but Rotom, who wasn't one to continue idle chit-chat, comes between them.
"President, I'm assuming you have a plan for this evening correct? Bzzt"
Gladion nods as his own hand recreates the same swift moment Wicke did when Moon first came into Aether. "Of course, but we have to head downstairs for that," he states as he glances over at Moon; silently reassuring her that she would be fine.
And under his gaze she felt that maybe he was right.
The elevator comes to a quick halt as it reaches the ground floor. To no surprise, the basement level was just as barren as the first time she came here.
Cold, dark, and full of secrets.
However, as their footsteps reviberated in the halls, she couldn't help but to wonder how much had actually unraveled in her time spent at Aether. She's gotten ahold of their research, their experiments, their goals, their plans! And whilst Lusamine's disappearance and the Ultra Beasts were still mysteries she couldn't help but to wonder what she and the International Police were missing.
What was the missing link in all of this?
What, or who, was still working adamantly in the shadows that mimicked these labs?
"Gladion, who actually has access to this floor?" Moon asks as he opens the door leading to Secret Lab A. The lights flickering on blind her for a second as she squints to readjust her vision as Gladion beckons her to follow her to the middle panel. It looked like an incubator, but the code he types in soon produces a single Pokeball.
"My mother and her most trusted employees" he spits, as he reaches in to grab the contents. "But now it's just me, Wicke, Faba and...well, you."
Moon didn't miss the small smile that appeared on his face as he places the Pokeball in her hands with the utmost care. Her heart thumps as she feels his fingers brush up against hers.
"I trust you enough to take this Type: Null."
The small palpitations in her chest increase ten-fold as shock, nerves, and emotions started building up.
But before she could refuse and shove the Pokeball back in his hands he powers off the device and leans against the metal frame as his arms cross in front of his chest. Curiously, he refuses to meet Moon's gaze as he mutters: "I also know this Pokemon will protect you."
Her traitorous heart clamours in her chest once more. Anabel's voice loudly echoes in her head as she tried to not look into the deeper meaning behind of his words. And in order to stop herself from asking what he truly meant, she hurriedly presses the button on the Pokeball. The red beam shoots out as a Type: Null appears in midst of the lab that had been, where she assumed, it's creation ground.
It was smaller than Gladion's, and it's eyes, although barely visible through the helmet, seemed wary.
"Hey," Moon says gently in order to gain the Pokemon's attention, but her voice gave the Pokemon a scare as it quickly backed up into the nearby wall. A whimper escapes its lips, and small tremors follow suit as its eyes continue to dash around the fluorescent lit room.
Moon's heart broke at the sight as she turns her head to look at Gladion's own pained expression.
"Your Type: Null was like this too, huh?"
His eyes widen at the quick observation. "Yeah," he mutters sadly, but that's all Moon needed to hear. She knew the signs of mistreated Pokemon, and the secret experiments on the Type: Null definitely fell in line.
A long sigh escapes her as she slowly sits down on the floor.
"Agent what are you-"
Moon shakes her head, stopping Rotom's sentence right away. "You two need to send your information on wormholes to Agent Sun."
Rotom, unphased by her serious nature when it really came to, hummed in understanding as he floated closer to the President.
"And Gladion?" Moon's solemn voice fills the air as the blonde watches her bring herself to the ground. She swiftly crosses her legs as her eyes concentrate on the Pokemon across the way; one of her hands pats the floor next to her.
"I'm going to need you to leave your Type: Null here."
As hesitant as Moon was about training, she knew the biggest battle with any Pokemon was to build trust. Trust that she as a trainer wouldn't hurt them, and that they wouldn't hurt her. The battling was simple in comparison.
In that dark basement level Moon couldn't tell how many hours had really passed as she watched the the new Type: Null sleep on her lap. It's calm breathing gave Moon peace of mind after hours of push and pull from Gladion's Type: Null and her own patient pleas. A tired sigh escapes her lips as she lifts a hand to pet the much larger chimera, it's helmet pushes itself into her hand gently, accepting the gesture. "Thank you for your help Type: Null," she whispers in order to not disturb the Pokemon in her lap, but she feels the pokemon shift anyways.
"I think this is enough bonding for now. Training will have wait," she murmurs as she gently nudges the Pokeball onto her Type: Null. The red beam soon taking the weight off her, literally and figuratively as she comes to terms with becoming a trainer again. It wouldn't be bad as long as she kept the trust with this Pokemon - and there was no way she would let anything harm it.
She slowly pushes herself up, allowing her sore muscles to adjust as Gladion's Type: Null comes closer to her.
"Can I tell you a secret?" Moon cheekily says towards the Pokemon who tilts its head in confusion. "I'm going to nickname your new friend after your trainer."
Type: Null barks happily in approval as she clips the Pokeball onto her waist and walks across the room. Her hand swings the door out as she holds the door open for the large Pokemon. "Let's go find Gladion and Rot-" Moon begins when her head snaps towards a sound down the hall. It was the elevator, no doubt, but Type: Null's quiet growling from deep within its chest only confirmed one thing:
It wasn't Gladion coming down .
She quickly closes the door and looks around the tiny lab. Very few hiding spots were readily available for her, let alone the Pokemon accompanying her. She clicks her tongue, quickly beckoning the Pokemon to follow her behind a wall in the lab. A strange sense of deja-vu washing over Moon as she hears the door swing open. Their footsteps click on the floor as they make their way across the room. A distinct nasally voice could be heard saying "how dare they" and "I do not deserve this ridicule."
But that was enough for Moon to know who was present.
Faba.
A exasperated and dramatic sigh leaves the lanky man. "Even though I'm the one who gets their wormholes up and running, I get blamed for them not lasting longer than a couple of minutes."
Another sigh, a few taps and couple of beeps later indicate the machine in the center of the room was being activated once more.
"Idiots!"
Moon takes care in calming her breathing, a sturdy, but gentle hand on Type: Null's nape to prevent it from jumping out sporadically. She could feel the growling rumbling from deep inside the Pokemon; it was ready ready to pounce on the man. But she couldn't let go just yet.
They had to be careful in this situation.
Moon ever so slightly, leans out from behind the wall. Her eyes carefully watching as she sees the man pull out a single black and blue Pokeball. Her eyes widen, recognizing the design from one of the files.
The Beast Ball.
Moon sees him unleash the latch, half expecting a large imminent threat to emerge from the beam, only to see a tiny cloud; purple and black with stars, as if it held an entire galaxy in the contents of its small body.
And it was completely terrified.
"Pew…" it cries only for Faba to place it directly in the machine.
"I'll show them! Because now that we have you, our plans can't fail," Faba says haughtily to the Pokemon when Moon comes out from behind the wall.
"STOP!"
Weaponless. Contactless. Running off pure adrenaline.
Faba panics as his hand hits some random keys causing the machine to start blinking rapidly and shoot an electric pulse into the middle. The Pokemon inside starts crying in dismay, Faba turns around completely furious as his eyes land on Moon.
"WHAT. ARE. YOU. DOING. HERE!?" Faba enunciates as he stomps across the way to grab Moon by the collar. His eyes were full of anger, his grip was tight, but before Moon could start breathing shallowly she swiftly kicks him and brings him into a hold on the ground.
"LET ME GO YOU INSOLENT CHILD," he yells as he tries to wriggle out from Moon's hold as her mind runs a mile of minute.
She needed backup.
She needed to save the Pokemon.
She needed to arrest Faba.
But right as she was about to ask Type: Null to hold Faba down the small galaxy let out an unbearably high pitched sound. Her hands clamp around her ears, as she watches the lights in the room begin to flicker, and the machines short circuit all around her. "Shit," Moon says as she points Type: Null towards the man as she quickly stumbles towards the machine. She scans the multiple buttons, unsure of what to press to release the Pokemon, when the machine starts sparking and smoking, making it impossible to maneuver - until it explodes and pushes everyone to the ground.
The cry soon stops all together alongside the machine. The silence deafening as Moon comes to. Her ears were ringing and her eyes try to refocus on the machine; half expecting something to appear...only for the fire alarm and sprinkles to come to life.
Moon lets out a cough as she fans the air around her in an attempt to approach the remains, but a dark bubbling laugh coming out of Faba calls her attention. Type: Null aggressively barks at him, but it doesn't stop his laughter. "You're too late, girly," he announces, his speech slightly slurred as his cheek laid against the floor.
"What did you do?" Moon asks through gritted teeth as she walks closer to the pinned man.
"The greatest feat ever. Lusamine asked and I delivered," his voice oozed confidence, much to Moon's disgust. She kneeled down to get to his level and proceeded to grab a fistful of his shirt, lifting him ever so slightly in the process.
His wince proved that the back stretch was a little much under the weight of the Pokemon.
"What. Did. You. Do?" Moon repeats, her voice lower, more threatening.
The man swallowed thickly. He could talk big, but he had no real backbone.
"I opened up the wormholes as requested," an evil, misshapen smile makes its way to his face, " permanently. "