Author's Note: It seems like this little project of mine is becoming less and less of a one-shot collection with each story I do for it. But I guess that was kind of a foregone conclusion due to everything I had in mind for this project. Anyway, we now pick up almost right where the previous story left off.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon.
The Aether Foundation
It was midafternoon as Mairin Trudeau exited a grassy field on Ula'ula Island. She had decided to go hunting for new Pokemon to add to her team and had absolutely no luck. At the moment, there wasn't very much for Mairin to do on the island, not with Alain and Malva still trying to plan their next move for finding Amber Drei. The two had felt certain that Amber was still in the Alola Region for some purpose, so they had decided to remain in Malie City until some trace of Amber showed up. This left Mairin with little else to do but train while her traveling companions waited for their quarry to reappear.
With little Pokemon in the area, Mairin decided to head back to the city's Pokemon Center for a while and try another field later. The redhead had only gotten a few steps away from the field though when she saw an all-too-familiar young woman with wavy green hair standing before her a few feet away. Ambre Drei had finally shown up again, and in the most unexpected place.
"Your name is Mairin, correct?" Amber spoke. "Alain's little friend."
"What do you want?" Mairin asked as she reached for one of the pokeballs hanging from her belt.
"I came to challenge Alain to another battle," Amber explained. "Where is he?"
"He's not here! But if you want someone to battle, I'll take you on!" Mairin declared. "And if I win, you're coming along with me!"
"…I suppose you'll work as an opponent," Amber decided. "What I'm trying to accomplish does not require a large amount of skill."
"Uh, you're not going to use Zwei to battle me, are you?" Mairin asked.
"Please. A trainer like you is hardly worth Zwei's time," Amber answered.
"Okay then. We'll do this as a two-on-two battle," Mairin decided. "That okay with you?"
"That works for me," Amber agreed. "Though I hardly think I'll need two Pokemon to defeat you."
"Come on out! Choppy!" Mairin called as she tossed out her first pokeball.
The redhead's shark-like dragon burst out of the thrown ball with a roar.
"Go Mugen!" Amber called with the throw of her own pokeball.
Amber's masked chimera burst out of its ball and growled at Choppy.
"Hey! That's the Type: Null you stole from the auction in Po Town!" Mairin realized.
"I liberated Mugen from what would've been a painful existence," Amber told her. "For the past few days, I have helped Mugen to try and unlock its full power. After all of the battles we've had during the past two and a half weeks, I feel we're close to a breakthrough."
Suddenly Mugen roared as its body began to glow with a white light. The only part of the chimera that wasn't glowing was the metal mask covering its head. Mugen suddenly began to slam his head against a large nearby rock lying at the side of the road. After five strikes, the mask finally shattered apart and the chimera's glowing body began to grow in size. After a few moments, the light from Mugen's body faded to reveal the chimera in a new form.
Much of the chimera's body had remained as it had originally been, but it had grown to a height of a little over seven feet. The membrane of its tailfin had also changed from light blue to white. The biggest change though had been to Mugen's head. The fur of its mane had changed from dark-grey to a silvery-white color, and it had a mechanical almost wolf-like head with a metallic upper jaw. The bridge of the beast's nose was metal as well while the nose itself was an inverted black triangle framed by three red lines. Its eyes were silver and seemed to lack pupils. On both sides of the chimera's head was a round metallic port, each with a white circle crossed by a metal line. Atop the beast's head between its two small pointed ears, which were red and black on the inside, was a large blade-like crest with three long white spikes on the back.
"No way! It evolved?" a stunned Mairin exclaimed as she pulled out her pokedex. "Let's see…."
"Accessing international database," spoke the mechanical voice of Mairin's pokedex. "Scanning… scanning… entry found. Silvally: The Synthetic Pokemon. According to eyewitness accounts, the boy who had first this Pokemon from the artificial Pokemon, Type: Null was the one to first coin the name of this species. By destroying the metal mask covering its head, the RKS system that allows this Pokemon to change its type was reactivated."
"This thing can really change its type?" Mairin asked. "How?"
"I believe this is how," Amber spoke as she opened her long coat.
Suddenly flying out of her coat were several CD-like discs, each one a different color. There seemed to be eighteen discs in all.
"These discs were also being auctioned off along with Mugen," Amber explained. "If I'm right, these digital memories are what allows Mugen to change its type. Now then, since we're up against a Dragon and Ground-Type, I believe the Ice Memory will be the most effective weapon in this battle."
Suddenly the port on the left side of Mugen's head opened up. With a wave of her finger, Amber caused the light-blue disc among the digital memories to fly over and insert itself in the metal port. As the port closed up, all of the other discs flew back into Amber's coat. Suddenly Mugen roared as the membrane of his tailfin and the spikes on the back of his head crest changed from white to ice blue. Its silver eyes became ice blue as well.
"Now Mugen is an Ice-Type," Amber observed. "This battle should end quickly."
"We'll see about that!" Mairin told her. "Let's hit 'em fast and hard, Choppy! Use Dig!"
Choppy nodded and burrowed into the ground like a fish jumping into the water. Amber and Mugen looked around for a few moments and saw no trace of the land shark. Seconds later though, the fin on Choppy's back began to rise out of the ground. Choppy roared as he launched himself out of the ground and crashed into Mugen's right side. The chimera was knocked back a few feet but seemed relatively unharmed.
"Use Multi-Attack," Amber commanded.
Mugen roared as its body suddenly began to crackle with electricity. The energy continued to intensify and soon the chimera became shrouded in an icy mist. Mugen charged across the battlefield and rammed into Choppy at top speed. Choppy was hurled several feet into a nearby tree and fell forward to the ground soon after. The land shark's body was covered in a thick layer of frost. Meanwhile, the icy mist surrounding Mugen subsided.
Mairin called Choppy back to his ball and turned back to Amber. "What kind of attack was that?"
"That was Mugen's signature attack," Amber explained. "The Type of Multi-Attack changes depending on the memory disc being read by Mugen's RKS System."
"How did you even know that attack existed?" Mairin asked.
"Mugen told me," Amber answered. "The two of us are in telepathic communication. Now, send out your next Pokemon."
Mairin took a big gulp before tossing out her next pokeball. "Go Chespie!"
The brown rodent-like mammal that was Mairin's first Pokemon burst out of his ball. Mugen looked down at Chespie and growled, causing the Chespin to take a big gulp.
"Let's give it everything we've got Chespie!" Mairin told him. "Use Vine Whip!"
"Flamethrower," Amber commanded.
Chespie launched the green whips from his shoulders and lashed the chimera in the face twice. Mugen was seemingly unharmed and opened his jaws to breath out a stream of red flames down at the mammal Pokemon. At the last moment, Chespie managed to roll out of the attack's path. After getting back to his feet, Chespie cried out and his body began to glow, surprising both Mairin and Amber. In moments, the Chespin's body began to grow and change shape.
When the light faded, Chespie had taken on a new form. He had grown to a height of just over two feet and covering his body was a round green armored shell almost resembling the shell of a chestnut. The shell had two long green spikes with red tips where ears should be, and the green armor that covered the mammal's tail also had a red tip. The lower half of his body was brown, and there was a three-pointed section of brown fur on his chest. He had stubby brown limbs with short white claws on the hands and feet, and the tops of his arms were covered in sections of green armor. The mammal had a round light-brown face that had a pointed sound with a pink nose and a pair of large chocolate-brown eyes. His cheeks had triangular sections of brown fur, and on his forehead was a three-pointed crest of brown fur on his forehead.
"Your Pokemon has evolved into a Quilladin," Amber indifferently observed. "However, it will make no difference."
Mairin ignored Amber's comment and got out her pokedex again to see what she was looking at.
"Quilladin: The Spiny Amor Pokemon, and the evolved form of Chespin," the pokedex identified. "This Pokemon relies on its hard shell to defend itself and will counterattack when necessary using its sharp spines. Quilladin are known to strengthen their lower bodies by running into one another. These Pokemon have a very kind disposition and will never start fights."
Suddenly Chespie's arms became shrouded in a green aura that formed spiked balls around his hands. The armored mammal charged across the battlefield and leapt into the air as soon as he got close to Mugen. Chespie punched Mugen in the face twice with his aura-covered fists before jumping back.
"What… what kind of attack was that?" Mairin asked.
"That was your Quilladin's Needle Arm," Amber explained. "It learned that attack as soon as it had evolved."
"Okay then. Chespie, use Needle Arm one more time!" Mairin commanded.
"Air Slash," Amber ordered.
Before Chespie could make a move, Mugen slashed the air with the claws of its front right leg and sent a large blade of compressed air across the battlefield at Chespie. The armored Pokemon was struck in the chest and knocked onto his back.
"Finish it," Amber commanded. "Multi-Attack."
Just as Chespie had gotten back to his feet, Mugen roared as his body once again began to crackle with electricity. After becoming shrouded in an icy mist, Mugen charged across the battlefield and rammed into Chespie. The armored mammal was hurled back next to a spot by Mairin's face and fell to the ground face-first. Chespie was out like a light and his body was covered in a thick layer of frost. As Mairin kneeled down to tend to her fallen Pokemon, Amber called Mugen back to its ball.
"Thank you for the battle. It was just what Mugen needed to unlock its full power," Amber told the redhead.
"So what're you gonna do now?" Mairin asked.
"To you, nothing," Amber answered. "But now that Mugen has evolved, the time has finally come to deal with the organization that created it, the Aether Foundation. They need to answer for everything they've done to Mugen and those of its kind."
With that, Amber vanished with a flash of blue light. Mairin could do nothing except call Chespie back to his ball and head back to the Pokemon Center. As the redhead began her long walk, Mairin struggled to figure out what she was going to tell Alain.
Alain was sitting on a red couch on the ground level of the Pokemon Center looking out the window while Malva typed away at her laptop. The pinkette was once again searching the web for any signs that Amber was still in Alola, and just like before was finding nothing.
"Dammit!" Malva cursed as she finally shut her laptop. "I'm just not getting anywhere."
"So there are still no new signs of Amber," Alain deduced.
"No… well, none that I can be sure of anyway," Malva answered. "I thought she might end up revealing her presence by using that Type: Null she stole from Team Skull in a regular battle, but the problem is there's apparently been another trainer in this region who's also known for using a Type: Null. And just like Amber, I can't get any specific information."
Before Alain could ask Malva anything more, he noticed Mairin walking up to the front desk of the Pokemon Center. The redhead had a sad expression on her face as she handed the attendant two of her pokeballs. When that task was done, Mairin headed over to where Alain and Malva were.
"Mairin, what's wrong?" Alain asked.
"I… I screwed up," Mairin answered. "On my way back here… I ran into Amber. I know I should've called you, but I challenged her to a battle instead."
"You battled Amber?" a stunned Alain spoke as he got to his feet.
"Yeah… and I lost," Mairin told him. "I'm really sorry, Alain."
Alain smiled and put a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "That was a pretty stupid to challenge Amber like that, but the important thing is that you're okay."
"Did Amber fight you using that Type: Null of hers?" Malva asked.
"Yeah, except now its evolved into a Pokemon called Silvally," Mairin answered. "That Pokemon is crazy powerful. Even after Chespie evolved, I still didn't have a chance."
"Did Amber say anything after she defeated you?" Alain asked.
"She said that she was going to go after the group that made Type: Null in the first place, the Aether Foundation," Mairin answered. "Something about making them pay."
"What do we know about this Aether Foundation?" Alain asked.
"They're a local organization dedicated to protecting Pokemon, especially ones mistreated by humans," Malva explained. "They also have some very advanced technology at their disposal. In fact they even have their own artificially constructed island in this region that they call the Aether Paradise."
"It does sound like a group like that would be able to create an artificial Pokemon like Type: Null," Alain realized.
"Yeah, but the fact that they created such a Pokemon is a little suspicious, don't you think?" Malva pointed out. "I mean, Type: Null is the kind of Pokemon one would make as a weapon. Why would a group like the Aether Foundation need something like that?"
"Maybe they created it to protect that base of theirs?" Alain theorized.
"Perhaps… but I think there's something more to this group that meets the eye," Malva told them. "Call it a reporter's instinct."
"Well whether they're up to no good or not, we should try and warn this Aether Foundation about Amber," Alain told her. "If they really are a benevolent organization, then they don't deserve to get destroyed by Amber."
"Good point," Malva agreed. "I'll get in touch with Lysandre and see if he can get us a pass to the Aether Paradise. Hopefully we can get to them before Amber drops in on the place."
It was the dead of night as Amber flew across the ocean under the light of the moon. Eventually she came upon a large artificial island in the middle of the sea around the Alolan Islands. The largest part of the island was a white four-story building with smooth metal walls and a large helipad on the roof. On a smaller part of the metal island behind the building was a white palatial mansion with black roofs. Amber landed on the dock of the island in front of the large metal building and looked around to see no one around.
"Come on out! Zwei! Mugen! Sentry!" Amber called as she tossed out three of her pokeballs.
Zwei the Mewtwo burst out of the first pokeball while Mugen burst out of the second one. Amber's nine-foot Golurk burst out of the third ball with a thud.
"So, this is the Aether Paradise?" Zwei asked as she looked around.
"So it would seem," Amber replied.
Amber waved her right hand and the port on the side of Mugen's head opened up. The light blue memory disc that the chimera had been equipped with earlier flew out into Amber's waiting hand, causing Mugen's spikes, tail and eyes to return to their original color. The green-haired clone put the disc back into her coat, and with another wave of her hand caused a red disc to fly out and insert itself into the port on Mugen's head. The port closed back up, and Mugen's spikes, tailfin and eyes turned red.
"Let's go," Amber told her three Pokemon. "Sentry! Use Heavy Slam to break the wall!"
Sentry nodded and lumbered over to a spot in the metal wall of the building. The ghostly robot's body gave off an eerie yellow aura as it slammed its body into the wall, creating a massive hole. Sentry walked further into the building to find several startled men and women wearing white shirts and caps to stop and look. Zwei flew through the hole along with Mugen, with Amber following close behind. As soon as the four entered, one of the women in white pressed a large red button on the wall.
Red lights and sirens began to go off inside the building. Soon after, two groups consisting of six men in white coats and helmets with gold visors stormed into the large hallway carrying grey pole-like weapons.
"Quite the reception they have for us," Zwei remarked.
"But futile," Amber added. "Mugen! Use Flamethrower!"
Mugen breathed out a stream of flames at three of the people in white, causing them to flee. Meanwhile, Zwei's eyes glowed blue and the guards carrying the metal poles were hurled into the ceiling.
"What is going on here?" a voice asked, interrupting the commotion.
Amber and the others looked, and approaching from the large corridor directly in front of them was a young-looking woman with very long blonde veil-like hair that grew half way down her legs. She had on a sleeveless white dress with a large dark-blue diamond on the front and a short skirt with pieces of gold fabric that almost resembled flower petals, along with white stockings and high-heeled shoes. Walking a step behind the blonde was another women with a large plum-colored hairdo, wearing glasses with pink frames along with a white dress that went over a pink turtleneck sweater.
"I am Lusamine, president of the Aether Foundation," the blonde spoke. "Who are you, and why are you attacking this sanctuary? If it is to steal the Pokemon that we've been keeping safe here, then we will fight you to the very end to keep them safe."
"I have no interest in stealing the Pokemon you're supposedly protecting," Amber told her. "I am Amber Drei, and my friends and I have come to make you pay for the crimes you have committed."
"Crimes? What are you talking about?" Lusamine asked.
In answer to the blonde's question, Mugen let out a roar, starling both Lusamine and her purple-haired attendant.
"Mistress! That Pokemon…" the purple-haired woman spoke.
"That Silvally was evolved from a Type: Null that the organization known as Team Skull tried to auction off recently," Zwei informed them. "One of the Pokemon that your organization and warehoused after it failed to live up to your expectations."
"You treated Mugen like an object and then locked it away when you deemed its kind defective," Amber added. "For that, your organization must be obliterated!"
"I see… so in your eyes, the Type: Null have been mistreated," Lusamine spoke. "Wicke! Have Faba come down here immediately."
"At once, Mistress," the purple-haired woman replied.
"Amber Drei, let me ask you, why do you care so much about the Type: Null that our organization created?" Lusamine asked.
"Because all of my Pokemon and I are products of human science who were either discarded, abandoned or treated as less than living beings," Amber answered. "Any humans who have treated us this way must be punished."
"I understand," Lusamine told her. "You may not believe what I'm about to say, but the reason the Type: Null were frozen was in order to protect them from themselves. It was always our intention to awaken them again once we figured out how to fix the problem with the RKS System we built into them, but so far we haven't found a good solution. But since I'm sure that sounds like nothing more than an excuse to you, then let me offer you this proposal."
Lusamine stepped up to Amber and then got on her knees.
"To atone for the crimes you view that we've committed against the Type: Null, I offer you my life," Lusamine continued. "In exchange, I only ask that you spare this organization and allow us to continue its work of helping all the Pokemon of this world and others."
"Mistress! No!" a horrified Wicke called out.
"My life is in your hands, Amber," Lusamine spoke.
Amber was taken a bit off guard by Lusamine's offer. She had never expected the leader of the Aether Foundation to pay some sort of penance for the mistreatment of the Type: Null. That was something that Amber did not think any human would do of his or her own free will. As Amber thought about how to proceed, she noticed something at the far end of the corridor on her left. The door was open to reveal a white chamber filled with several pink bird-like creatures made of different geometric shapes as if they had been rendered in outdated modeling software from the 1980s. The ends of their beaks were blue, as were their chests, and on the sides of their bodies were blue appendages that appeared to act like wings or thrusters that allowed them to hover through the air.
"What are all those Porygon doing here?" Amber asked. "Are you collecting them to use as weapons as well?"
"It's nothing like that at all!" Wicke told her. "Those Porygon are just a few of the Pokemon that those of us here at the Aether Foundation have taken in. Almost all of them had been abandoned because their trainers felt like they couldn't live up to their expectations. Sure we use those Porygon to help us run our operations here at the Paradise, but they are far from being slaves or tools! They're living things that need our protection. Look, Ms. Drei, I can understand why you're angry at us, but please try to judge our organization by all the good things it has done and not by the few bad things we've done."
"What shall we do Amber?" Zwei asked.
"…Perhaps we are rushing to judgment," Amber decided. "Get up, Lusamine."
As Lusamine got to her feet, walking into the corridor was a man with short blonde hair and a blonde beard on his chin. He had on large green goggles and a buttoned white lab coat with gold gloves, like white pants and white shoes.
"What the devil is so important that you interrupted…" the man began to ask, but stopped upon noticing Amber and her three Pokemon. "Oh my!"
"Amber Drei, I'd like you to meet our branch chief and the head of our science department, Faba," Lusamine announced. "He's also the one who created the Type: Null."
"Madame President… this is a sight that I never thought I would encounter," Faba spoke as he came closer. "One of the Pokemon here with this young visitor of ours is the legendary Mewtwo… a Pokemon made by science. I've read articles about it, but I never dreamed that I'd get to see it in the flesh."
"I am the second Mewtwo to be created," Zwei revealed. "My trainer, Amber is also a product of cloning."
"My word!" a stunned Faba exclaimed. "A cloned human? If I may be so bold, who is the one who created you?"
"Zwei and I were both created by Dr. Fuji," Amber answered.
"As in Dr. Ichiro Fuji?" Faba asked. "I never would've imagined… but then I suppose he would be the only one capable of such a feat."
"Faba, Ms. Amber is angry about how the Type: Null were mistreated," Wicke informed him. "She came here to exact some sort of revenge on us."
"She was able to get her hands on one of our Type: Null prototypes and managed to get it to evolve," Lusamine added.
"Yes! So I see," Faba replied upon taking a closer look at Mugen. The chimera growled at the scientist, causing him to flinch. "Um, Ms. Amber, was it? I can understand your outrage. I more than anyone else in this organization feels as though we failed the Type: Null. They were after all my creations. Perhaps the problem was that I had tried to achieve too much.
"My goal at the time was to create a Pokemon that could mimic the power of the mythical Arceus, and I suppose in the end I was too arrogant for believing I could replicate the power of a god. Since the failure of the Type: Null project, I've done everything I could to try and fix the problem. But then again, perhaps you have fixed the problem for us. It seems that your training is what caused the Type: Null in your possession to evolve and finally gain control of the RKS System. The solution was in a way so simple that it never occurred to me to try it."
"Amber, I know we made some mistakes regarding the Type: Null, but we've also done a lot of good as well," Lusamine told her. "Why not learn more about our organization before passing judgment?"
"…Very well," Amber agreed. "We will take the time to learn more about your organization. But be warned, if my friends and I are not satisfied by what we see, we will annihilate you."
"Fair enough," Lusamine replied as she smiled and took both of Amber's hands. "We'll start by showing you around our Paradise."
With that, Lusamine, Wicke and Faba showed Amber and her three Pokemon around the main building of the artificial island. The building was a large complex filled with state of the art facilities, including a Pokemon treatment center that Wicke was primarily in charge of, and several labs used for various areas of research. Also in the building was an advanced digital archive, which the Porygon that Amber had seen earlier assisted in running. There were also several enclosures for Pokemon of various environments. During the tour, Amber learned that the Aether Foundation also protected certain Pokemon from their natural predators as well as from humans who would abuse them.
It was in the largest of the enclosures where Amber's tour had ended and the group had decided to stop and chat. Amber had become very unsure what to think about the Aether Foundation after all that she had learned about them. Before she had been certain that the group was another heartless organization like Team Skull, but their goals seemed truly benevolent. They even seemed to feel great regret over how they had treated the Type: Null. And despite how the chimera Pokemon had been mistreated, Amber was finding it harder to dislike the group.
"Well Amber, I hope that you think better of us after all that you have seen here," Lusamine spoke. "The goal of my organization has always been to protect Pokemon and shower them with my love, whether those Pokemon be from here, from another region, or from a world beyond our own."
"This artificial island of yours certainly is impressive," Zwei remarked. "I'm actually also a little surprised that a woman as young as you is running such an advanced organization."
Lusamine chuckled. "That's a very sweet comment of you to make, Zwei. But I'm actually in my forties. In any case though, I hope you and your trainer do think better of us after all that you've seen."
"There are still some things about your group that I'm unclear about," Amber spoke. "First of all, there's the matter of Mugen's evolved form. The pokedex of a trainer I had faced earlier had information on Silvally. How is it that you did not know Type: Null was capable of evolving."
"Well we didn't in the beginning," Lusamine answered. "Tell me… what did this trainer's pokedex say about Silvally?"
"It said that the name of the species was coined by the boy who had first evolved a Type: Null," Amber answered. "I take it that this person isn't associated with your group?"
"Unfortunately no," Lusamine confirmed, her expression giving away her displeasure. "There was another Type: Null prototype stolen from us besides the one you had ended up with. The boy you mentioned was the one who has stolen it."
"Do you know who this boy is?" Zwei asked.
"He was a selfish little boy who was ungrateful for everything I…!" Lusamine snapped, but she quickly composed herself and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I guess the theft of that first Type: Null still bothers me. But then I suppose that Pokemon ended up in good hands, as did the Type: Null that you ended up with."
"There's still one more question I have," Amber told her. "Why did you create the Type: Null in the first place? It doesn't seem like your organization would need to make a Pokemon like that to use as a weapon."
"Yes, well… it was unfortunately a necessary precaution we needed to take," Lusamine revealed as she folded her hands behind her back and looked out over the pool of the enclosure. "You see Type: Null was created to combat a very dangerous threat, one that is thought to have attacked Alola once before in ancient times. Tell me Amber, have you heard of a dimension known as Ultra Space?"
"No," the green-haired clone answered. "What is it?"
"It is another dimension that sometimes links up with our own," Lusamine explained. "My former husband discovered it once many years ago. The dimension is inhabited by creatures called Ultra Beasts."
"Are these creatures some kind of Pokemon?" Zwei asked.
"That is a point that we are actually very unclear on," Faba answered. "From what little we know, they do appear to be Pokemon of some fashion, yet ordinary pokeballs are practically useless when it comes to capturing them."
"A few times in the past, these some of these Ultra Beasts have escaped their world and ended up in ours," Lusamine continued. "Whenever they have, they've caused nothing but chaos and destruction. But I suppose the reason for that is because those poor beasts had gotten lost and were just trying to get home. If I could, I would shower them with my love as well."
"Have you seen one of these Ultra Beasts before?" Amber asked.
"At least one," Lusamine answered as an odd look came to her eyes. "Many years ago during one of my husband's experiments. It was… beautiful."
"The whole reason behind the Type: Full project was to create Pokemon that were capable of combating the Ultra Beasts should any of them enter our world again," Faba explained. "That is why I tried to give them a power similar to that of Arceus. After all, what better weapon against this threat could there be than a Pokemon with the power of the very being that supposedly created our world?"
"You'll forgive me if I'm a little skeptical about the existence of these Ultra Beasts," Amber told them. "When Dr. Fuji created me, he programmed me with a vast amount of knowledge, including information on all known Pokemon and other areas of science. None of that information included anything about those creature."
"Oh, they truly do exist, my dear Amber," Lusamine told her, still gazing out over the pond with a look that seemed like longing in her eyes. "And they could come to our world at any time… in any place."
Suddenly as if on cue, a flash of blue light went off inside the large enclosure. The light soon changed into a large portal like a wormhole.
Startled, Amber rose to her feet upon seeing the anomaly. "What is this?"
"It's an Ultra Wormhole!" Faba answered. "A portal that leads into Ultra Space! This is exactly what we were telling you about, Ms. Amber."
A few moments passed, and flying out of the wormhole suddenly was a strange creature resembling a white jellyfish. It was just about four feet tall and had tentacles arranged and shaped like the hair, dress, and legs of a little girl. The bell that acted as the top of the creature's head resembling a sunhat. This bell was transparent except for several six-pointed stars around the crown, and the brim of it was wavy and had a blue edge.
"It's finally come back…" Lusamine whispered. "My beautiful… Nihilego."
"Amber, I just tried reading this creature's mind," Zwei reported. "It's thoughts are… strange… practically incomprehensible. I don't know if it perceives things differently than we do, or if it's something else."
"Is this one of the Ultra Beasts you were just telling me about?" Amber asked.
Wicke nodded. "This one has the codename, UB-01 Symbiont. It's more properly known as Nihilego. This Ultra Beast was the first one ever to be discovered."
Suddenly two more jellyfish creatures flew out of the wormhole to float alongside the first Nihilego. Zwei, Mugen and Sentry all tensed up as soon as the other two creatures arrived.
"Amber! While I can't make sense of these creatures' thoughts, I can tell that their intent is hostile!" Zwei told her.
"I can sense it as well," Amber responded. "Be ready!"
Suddenly all three Nihilego fired sparking beams of blue light from their sunhat-shaped bells down at Amber's three Pokemon. Mugen quickly jumped out of the way, while both Zwei and Sentry were hit in the chest.
"A Power Gem attack!" Faba identified. "These Nihilego are exceptionally strong."
With a wave of Amber's hand, the port on the side of Mugen's head opened up and the Fire Memory disc that the clone had placed in their earlier flew out, causing the chimera's spikes, eyes and tail to return to normal. Amber placed the disc back in her coat and levitated a steel grey disc that flew through the air and inserted itself into Mugen's head port. The port closed up and Mugen's spikes, eyes and tail turned steel-grey. The Nihilego that had fired at Mugen earlier flew down and rammed into Mugen's chest at full speed. Mugen was seemingly unharmed though and merely roared at the jellyfish creature.
"Mugen! Use Multi-Attack!" Amber commanded.
Mugen roared again and its body crackled electricity before pulsing with a steely-grey light. The chimera rammed into the Nihilego and hurled it into the fence in front of the enclosure's pond.
"Sentry!" Amber called out before crossing her arms in front of her face. The green-haired clone then tapped her fists against each other twice before launching them forward. "Corkscrew Crash!"
Gold energy flowed from Amber into Sentry for a few moments until the golem's body gave off a golden flame-like aura. The Golurk then turned steel-grey and grew larger, and several drills shot out of its body only to recede moments later. Sentry then changed into a giant drill that shot towards the Nihilego that had fired on it earlier like a missile, ramming into it at full speed. The alien jellyfish was pushed back towards the glass wall of the enclosure by the drill and eventually knocked to the ground. The Nihilego managed to get back up, but smoke was rising from its body. Meanwhile, the drill's flight path curved upward only to loop back and ram into the jellyfish creature from above and drill it into the ground. With its attack finished, the drill flew back to Amber's side and changed back into Sentry.
As this was going on, the first Nihilego fired another sparkling beam of light at Zwei. This time Zwei crossed her arms in front of her chest to protect herself. The stone in Amber's metal choker began to glow, as did the larger stone in Zwei's belt. Zwei's body gave off a blinding purple flash in the shape of a Y, which faded moments later to reveal the psychic feline in her shorter mega form. A multicolored light in the shape of a DNA helix momentarily glowed above Zwei's head. Meanwhile, Amber levitated into the air.
"Lusamine! You and the others should take cover!" Zwei and Amber told them.
As Wicke and Faba did as the duo suggested, Lusamine merely looked up at them in awe. "How… beautiful."
The Nihilego fired another beam of light from its head, but this time Zwei flew out of the attack's path, leaving a trail of afterimages in her wake. Zwei then spread her arms outward and created a ball of light that grew to over twice the size of her body.
"Psystrike!" Zwei and Amber called out as the feline brought her arms forward.
The ball of light flew across the battlefield and struck the alien jellyfish, creating a massive explosion of light. When the light faded, the Nihilego was on the ground. After a few moments, all three of the alien jellyfish got back up and flew into the wormhole from whence they came. The wormhole then closed up with a flash of blue light. Zwei reverted back to her original form, and both she and Amber landed back on the ground.
"We tried using as little power as possible in order to avoid destroying the enclosure," Zwei told Lusamine and the others.
"We thank you very much for that," Wicke responded.
"What did you think of those creatures, Zwei?" Amber asked. "Were they Pokemon?"
"I am not entirely certain," Zwei answered. "If they truly were Pokemon, they are unlike any from this world. What did you think Amber?"
"There is a species of Pokemon from another dimension called the Unown, but these Ultra Beasts seemed totally unlike those Pokemon," Amber replied. "Whether they're Pokemon or not, they're clearly from a world totally unlike ours."
"Your psychic abilities seemed to give you a great insight into the Nihilego," Faba noted. "Out of curiosity, do you know why they attacked?"
"They clearly viewed Mugen, Sentry and myself as a threat," Zwei answered. "While their thought processes were totally alien, I could sense that self-preservation seemed to be their primary instinct."
"I'd like to thank you all for your help," Lusamine interrupted. "You're truly an amazing trainer, Amber. And I do hope that your experience here has shown you that we are not the wicked organization you first thought we were."
"Your intentions towards this world seem to be good," Amber admitted. "After what I have seen tonight, I have decided not to destroy your organization."
"Glad to hear," Lusamine replied. "Then perhaps we can count on your help in the future. More wormholes are sure to open up in the future, and when they do, more Ultra Beasts will run amok in our world. When that time finally does come, I would like you to help us calm those poor beasts and guide them back home."
"We will consider it," Amber replied.
With that, Amber called Mugen and Sentry back to their pokeballs and said her goodbyes to Lusamine and her staff before leaving the compound with Zwei. The two flew in silence for several minutes as they headed away from the Aether Paradise.
"Amber… do you truly think it was wise to leave the Aether Foundation alone?" Zwei asked.
"While they mishandled the treatment of Mugen and the other Type: Null, I do feel the people of the Aether Foundation are unlike most humans," Amber answered. "For now I think we should give them a chance. Besides, we could use allies when the time comes for us to finally remake this world. Why? What is it that has you concerned?"
"I'm not sure," Zwei replied. "There was just something about the organization's leader, Lusamine that I found… peculiar. Then again, maybe I'm just imagining things."
"Well if they do cause problems in the end, we can simply crush them as we had originally planned," Amber assured her. "For now, we should resume our search for Mewtwo Ein. We'll need him in order to finally reshape this world."
It was midday as a white Aether Foundation helicopter carrying Alain, Mairin and Malva landed atop the main building of the Aether Paradise. As the three got out, they found Lusamine on the roof waiting for them along with Wicke and four guards in helmets. Lusamine approached Alain and the others as they came towards her delegation, with Wicke following a step behind.
"This certainly is quite the surprise," Lusamine spoke. "When Lysandre said that he'd be sending people to talk to me about an important matter, he didn't mention that one of those people would be Malva of the Kalos Elite Four. This certainly is quite an honor."
"And we're honored that you permitted us to come here, President Lusamine," Malva replied as she shook the blonde's hand.
"So tell me, what is this urgent matter that you came here to talk to me about?" Lusamine asked.
"We came here to warn you about an extremely dangerous trainer named Amber Drei," Malva explained. "She's a human gifted with incredible psychic powers, and what makes her even more dangerous is that she's armed with the legendary Pokemon, Mewtwo."
"Oh my!" Lusamine responded. "This woman does sound formidable. But why on earth would she be a threat to our organization? We've done nothing except help Pokemon who have been mistreated."
"Amber is furious with you because of the way you mistreated the artificial Pokemon, Type: Null," Alain answered. "When she does here, and she will, she won't hesitate to destroy this whole compound. And she has the power to do it. We've seen her use it more than once."
"Well… I can understand her reaction," Lusamine admitted. "The Type: Null project is something that we're not very proud of. Still, I don't think there's any real reason to worry. I'm sure that once this trainer you're talking about sees what a kind organization we are and all the good we've done for the Pokemon of Alola, she'll change her mind about destroying us."
"President Lusamine! I don't think you fully appreciate how dangerous Amber is!" an alarmed Alain told her. "She's one of the most powerful trainers this world has ever known, and she has a great anger towards the world. If you don't do something now, this whole island of yours could be destroyed!"
"What's your name, young man?" Lusamine asked.
"Alain Grant," the dark-haired trainer answered.
"Well Alain, I'm deeply touched by your concern, but I really don't think there's anything to worry about," Lusamine told him. "I'm sure that this Amber Drei you're so worried about can be reasoned with. Now if there's nothing else, I should be getting back to my office. Unfortunately, the mountain of work I have right now prevents me from being a proper host."
"There is one other thing," Malva spoke. "Just before landing, I noticed that there was a large hole in the side of this building. Mind telling us what caused it?"
Lusamine chuckled. "Oh that? Some of the larger Pokemon we keep here wandered out of their enclosure last night and got a little overexcited. It's nothing that you need to concern yourselves with. Now then, I really should get back to work. And since you three came all this way, it wouldn't be right to let you leave without taking a tour of our fine facility. My assistant branch chief, Wicke will show you around."
"As you wish, Mistress," Wicke responded as Lusamine left. "Now, if you three will come with me, we can begin our tour with the top floor."
After taking a whirlwind tour of the Aether Paradise, Alain and his companions ended up in one of the larger enclosures of the facility as they waited for their ride off the island. The three were still totally stunned by how unconcerned Lusamine was by the threat of an attack by Amber.
"I don't get it," Mairin spoke. "Do you think that Ms. Lusamine just didn't believe us?"
"I don't know. There's just something fishy about this whole thing," Malva answered. "For instance that hole in the wall I mentioned? It looked like it had been caused by something that had broken its way in, not out. Lusamine isn't telling us the truth."
"Do you think Amber was already here?" Alain asked.
"I don't know," Malva answered. "Probably not, because otherwise this whole artificial island would be a flaming wreck."
At that moment, Wicke entered the enclosure with a white bag slung over her shoulder. "Mr. Grant! Maybe I have a word with you alone?"
Alain shrugged and headed over to the doorway of the enclosure where Wicke was. The two of them went out into the hallway.
"What is it?" Alain asked.
"There's something I believe you should know," Wicke began. "Amber Drei did show up here at the Aether Paradise last night."
"What?" a stunned Alain exclaimed. "But… how is it that you weren't destroyed?"
"President Lusamine somehow convinced her to spare us," Wicke answered. "She even offered her life to Ms. Amber in exchange for not destroying this island. In the end, we were able to convince Ms. Amber that we weren't the evil organization she first thought we were."
"I simply don't believe it," Alain spoke.
"Yes, well I'm afraid you and your friends still have a great cause for alarm," Wicke told him. "I believe President Lusamine may eventually try to make Ms. Amber into an ally to help with her real plans. If she does manage to do that, this world could be in even greater danger."
"What do you mean?" Alain asked.
"I'm afraid there's very little I'm free to say," Wicke told him. "I can tell you that President Lusamine is… not well. What she actually has planned must be stopped, and if Amber Drei joins her, she'll be even harder to stop."
"I have no idea what this is about, but I'm going to do everything in my power to capture Amber before she has a chance to do any more damage," Alain assured her.
"Then I'm going to give you something to help you with that," Wicke decided.
The purple-haired woman reached into the white bag she had slung over her shoulder and pulled out a pair of objects, a pokeball and a metal canister.
"Are these what I think they are?" Alain asked.
Wicke nodded. "This pokeball contains the final Type: Null prototype. I'm also giving you the memory discs that it would become able to use if it evolves. I believe this Type: Null would be much better off with you, and it could help you a lot in your quest."
"Thank you," Alain told her as he took the pokeball and the canister. "I'll take good care of it."
"Good luck, Mr. Alain," Wicke told him. "I truly hope you can prevent the worst from happening to our world."
Lusamine was sitting in her office with a somewhat bored expression on her face as Faba went over some reports with her. As the scientist came to the end of his final report, Wicke entered the office.
"Excuse the interruption, Mistress Lusamine," Wicke spoke. "But I thought you should know that the three that Mr. Lysandre had sent to meet with us have left."
"They didn't press you too much about that hole in the wall, did they?" Lusamine asked.
"Not at all," Wicke answered. "And on that subject, the wall should be repaired within five days."
"Very good," Lusamine replied. "It seems in the end, that idiot, Guzma did us a favor by trying to auction off that Type: Null prototype. If he hadn't our new friend probably wouldn't have found out about us."
"President, are you certain that we can rely on Ms. Amber as an ally once we finally launch our master plan?" Faba asked.
"Oh, I think she'll help us," Lusamine answered as she got up from her chair. "Now then Faba, if we're done, I'd like to spend some time to myself."
"Of course," Faba replied with a bow.
Lusamine stepped onto a blue-green square in the corner of her office and was enveloped in a beam of blue light. When the light faded, Lusamine was in an enormous darkened room with a large white platform. Scattered around the platform in various spots were Pokemon of different species frozen in large blocks of ice. Lusamine walked across the bridge from the pad she had used to get into the room. A twisted smile appeared on the blonde's face as she ran her fingers along the edges of one of the ice blocks.
After a few moments, Lusamine walked over and sat down in a black chair in front of a good-sized computer station that was set up on the platform. After pressing a few keys, three large holographic screens appeared in the air above the station. One of the screens showed one of the Nihilego that had attacked the enclosure the night before. The other two screens showed images of Amber and Zwei.
"Ah… my dear Nihilego," Lusamine spoke, raising her hand towards the screen showing the alien jellyfish. "If only you hadn't left me. But it doesn't matter. I'll finally be able to go where you are once I finally track down that ungrateful little thief." She then turned to the image of Amber. "And my darling Amber Drei. You're incredibly beautiful as well, and you bring out the true beauty of that Mewtwo of yours. Soon enough I will make you mine, and eventually we'll live together in bliss with my sweet beast. I know how you must hate this world, but in time I'll take you away from it to a paradise beyond your wildest dreams. Just you wait, my darling."
FIN
Author's Note: I certainly crammed a lot of stuff into this story. Alain got a new Pokemon. We saw Mairin battle Amber, and I'll be very interested to know how those of you reading reacted to her Chespin evolving like that. I kind of get the feeling that a lot of you might object to it, but I've been known to be wrong about that sort of thing before. I really debated about whether or not to have Chespie evolve during that battle, and I hope I made the right decision.
The biggest part of this episode though was Amber meeting Lusamine and the Aether Foundation. It was kind of fun writing for Lusamine, as she's a very interesting villain. I hope those of you reading enjoyed my portrayal of her. So obviously Lusamine will be playing a pretty big role in some of the later episodes of this collection. It'll probably be quite some time before I do those stories though, mainly because of the upcoming Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon games.
Please review and let me know what you think.
