And here we are at the final part of the Aether Raid. Will Collin save Lillie and Nebby? Can he stopped Lusamine from her evil plan? And which character will end up with Collin in this fic? All these questions will be answered...right now. Possibly, maybe, have you read the fic? Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 22-Trouble in Paradise (Part 2)
When walking out to the pathway leading to the Aether Mansion, the last thing Collin expected was a line of Team Skull grunts on the bridge and at the very end, standing guard, was Guzma. Collin tried his damn hardest to prevent himself from face palming.
"Oh for Arceus sake. All this fucking time and they've been working with Aether? I had enough of this." he said, just as Gladion spirited towards Guzma, who seemed to laugh out loud when Gladion threw out Type Null. "...okay while he's dealing with that, we'll take care of the grunts. Right Hau?" he said, turning to his friend.
"Yeah! Let's kick some grunt butt!" said Hau, and rushed off to face some of the grunts. Collin followed, taking on two grunts at once and like before, had no trouble with it. By the time he got to the final grunt on the bridge, who's hands were in the air before the battle started.
"Yo dude! I may be hard, but I know not to pick battles I can't win!" he said. Collin couldn't help but smirk at the grunt.
"Heh, I like you. Now get lost." The grunt didn't have to be told twice has he ran off to the entrance, leaving Collin to continue his way up to where Guzma and Gladion were fighting. Just as he reached them, Gladion fell in defeat.
"DAMN! I'm not strong enough for Null. I'm sorry Null." he said, returning the Pokemon to its Ball. Guzma continued to let out a belly laugh.
"HAHA! To think I took pity on you when you came crawling to me. You're still weak kid!" said Guzma, still laughing. And then he noticed Collin and his face turned to something that Collin couldn't read at all. "...You came." was all he said.
"What? You didn't think I would? After busting my ass to Po Town and beating you down to get a Yungoos, what made you think when I found out that you were up to this that I wouldn't come?" asked Collin, getting annoyed already. Guzma began to scratch the back of his head and looked away.
"I just...ugh...I didn't want to see you after...you know...and I know you didn't want to see me...so we're both in the shit." he said, letting out a deep breath. "Anyway, get ready for a beat down!" Collin didn't pay any attention and just walked to the side. "Hey! Where are you going?!" shouted Guzma, blocking Collin.
"I'm not gonna fight you, I'm sick of seeing you. Now get out of my way!" said Collin through his teeth.
"No can do! You are gonna have to fight me to get past!" Without a word, Collin pushed Guzma down to the ground with all his strength. Guzma looked like he had no idea what just happened as he looked up at Collin, who's face was of pure rage.
"I said I'm not going to fight you and I warned you to get out of my way." he said in a low voice. He bent down toward Guzma, getting his face extremely close. "What would Mary think if she was still here? Do you think she'd be proud? My bet she wouldn't." Guzma was left speechless. No comebacks, no one liners. Complete silence as Collin got up and walked passed him and entered the Aether Mansion, not giving a damn about Guzma's feelings. Once in the Mansion, he saw Lillie and Lusamine arguing.
"FOR THE LAST TIME MOTHER, LET NEBBY GO!" shouted Lillie. All Lusamine did was laugh in response as Lillie turned around to see Collin. She wasted no time as she ran towards him and pulled him into a hug. "COLLIN! You came! You actually came!" she roared out, as if she was about to cry.
"Shh...it's okay, I'm here now." he said, slowly rubbing her back.
"Aw isn't that sweet?" said Lusamine, making Lillie and Collin break out of the hug. "Such a shame that a brilliant young trainer would waste their time with someone like you." she said with venom in her voice while looking at Lillie.
"I don't need your approval mother! Collin has been there for me more than you ever have been for the last eight years!" shouted Lillie.
"Calling me mother? Bah! I have no children! Certainly ones who run away from me and reject my love! How could anyone love you?!" she said, laughing even harder.
"How could anyone love you?! You selfish bitch!" shouted Collin.
"Doesn't matter what you think! Soon I'll have my perfect world!" she said, lifting up what looked like a cage.
"Pew..." said the cage, which sounded very weak.
"Nebby! You sick twisted bitch!" Collin was ready to deck her right in the face before Lillie stopped him.
"Stop this mother! Don't kill Nebby for that beasts sake!" said Lillie, now with tears streaming down her eyes. "If you open that wormhole, Cosmog will die!"
"You're right, it probably will die, because I will force it to use it's power like it or not!" Lusamine continued to laugh out loud while still holding the cage. "Such a shame, you could have trained it to stay alive, but alas, you aren't trainer material. All you are ever good for is for stealing research material!"
"How dare you talk about your own damn daughter like that!" shouted Collin, now even more angry than he thought he could get.
"What did I say earlier? Oh yeah, I have no daughter." she said, showing her wicked grin. "Feel free to join me as I summon my beautiful creature. And you know what? Maybe Lillie was my daughter at one point...but not anymore." Lusamine walked into a teleport panel and disappeared. Before making his move, he grabbed a hold of Lillie.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah. But Nebby is in trouble. I hate to ask again, but please save Nebby!" she begged, holding his hands.
"You don't even have to ask. Come on, we'll save him together." The two walked hand in hand to the teleport panel and followed wherever Lusamine went.
When the two came out the teleport panel, they felt the air in the room get increasingly cold. Lusamine was standing at some sort of computer, typing away at the keyboard before turning to see Lillie and Collin.
"Come, this way." she said. The two walked forward, noticing the blocks to each of their side and all around them. It wasn't till Collin got a good look at them that he noticed what was inside.
"...You didn't freeze Pokemon." he said, looking at a Slowpoke frozen in the block of ice.
"I had to to preserve their beauty. All of these are my prized collection." she said, pointing all over the room. All the walls were covered in ice blocks, with each one containing a Pokemon inside it.
"T-T-That's awful!" said Lillie, horrified by the sights.
"But my beautiful Ultra Beast, so lost, so alone, so confused. It just needs a mother to teach it. And when it's ready, it will express itself all over Alola!" Lusamine started to laugh when two more people came through the Teleport Panel.
"Miss Lusamine!" said Hau.
"Ah, dear Sweet Hau. How nice of you to join us." said Lusamine, smiling at the trainer.
"Mother!" shouted Gladion, running up beside Hau.
"And Gladion...must you be so untidy. Hehe, it's funny. My two children who took away my research and left me now return. All I ever did was give you my love and you two betray me! So why should I even give you my attention?!" Hau looked at Lillie, Lusamine and Gladion, when suddenly it looked like he's head exploded.
"WAIT! YOU'RE FAMILY!?" he shouted.
"Yay, we got there!" said Collin, extending his hand for Gladion to shake, which he begrudgingly did.
"Maybe we were a family once, sweet Hau. But they left me and now, we are no long a family. But that doesn't matter now, nothing does. Once my sweet Ultra Beast is here, I'll be at peace." she said, sighing.
"Stop this mother! You don't know what you're doing!" said Gladion.
"Actually, I do. With some gases from Cosmog, we were able to open one Ultra Wormhole in Paradise." she said as she lifted up the caged Nebby was in. "But now that he's in this cage, who knows how many will open! My sweet beasts will all come through the wormholes!"
"Stop this now! If you open that many wormholes, the beasts might not be the only problem, these tear the fabric of reality! Too many wormholes and who knows what could happen! Cancel this now!" shouted Collin.
"How dare you order me! I WILL open the wormholes and I WILL see my beautiful beasts!" she said, lifting up the cage and twisting the handle.
"PEW!" cried Nebby as a powerful force came out of the cage and a while light blinded everyone.
"GET BACK!" shouted Gladion, and everyone fell back to the ground. When the light died down, an Ultra Wormhole appeared in the air and through it, came the same Ultra Beast that Collin fought in his first visit.
On Melemele Island, Kahuna Hala was walking around the outside of Iki Town.
"I'm just a Kahuna taking a stroll~" he sang just as the ground began to shake and black clouds began to form. "Hmm? The weather changed suddenly." Just then, a flash of light appeared over the sky, revealing another Ultra Wormhole. A large muscular insect like Pokemon came through the wormhole and landed right in front of Hala. "So...you wanna fight?" asked Hala. The Pokemon let out a cry and charged forward, however was stopped by a bolt of Lightning.
"TAPU KOKOKOKO!" screamed Tapu Koko, coming in to land beside Hala.
"You come to help friend?" asked Hala. Tapu Koko nodded and prepared to fight. "I just hope the other Kahunas are ready to fight." he said. With the two Pokemon letting out their battle cries, they charged forward and began to fight.
Back in Aether, Lusamine was laughing while watching the screen and the Ultra Beast in the room with them.
"Pew..." said Nebby, who sounded extremely tired and weak.
"Bah! Must you be so noisy. Then again, I guess I could say you were useful." said Lusamine turning back to the screen. "Thanks you your power, there are beautiful Ultra Beasts all over Alola. Poni, Akala, Ula Ula, even Melemele have Ultra Beasts! Isn't this amazing!?" she said, looking in absolute bliss.
"Far from it! Not only have you endangered the lives of many people, possibly weakened the fabric of reality and hurt your own children, you're also fucking mental!" shouted Collin. Lusamine didn't even pay attention to him as she stared at the Ultra Beast.
"Oh...my sweet, sweet Ultra Beast." she cooed. Just as she was finished ogling over the Ultra Beast, Guzma came out from the Teleport Panel.
"Madam! Are we ready to blow this joint?!" he asked.
"Indeed. Guzma, take care of these children while I prepare for departure. I don't want to hear from them." she said, turning to her computer.
"With pleasure." said Guzma, getting his Poke Balls ready. Gladion however stood out from the group.
"Don't let her get away! Hau, you take on Guzma!" order Gladion.
"W-W-WHA?!" shouted Hau, looking at Guzma who started laughing.
"I'll take care of the Ultra Beast. And Collin, you take care of mother. Stop her from doing any more harm!" he said, rushing towards the Ultra Beast. Lillie walked to to Collin and grabbed a hold of him
"Collin, be careful. She might not look like it, but she is a strong trainer. No one could beat her." she warned. Collin took a hold of her hand and gave it a gentle kiss.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." he said. He let go of Lillie and stood in front of Lusamine. "Oi, Bitch Queen. You better stop this now, or you will regret it." he warned her. Lusamine let out a long sigh and got away from the computer.
"Must you be such a nuisance? Fine, I'll shut you up myself!"
"Go Lilligant!"
"Go Empoleon!" Collin realized his mistake too late but being stubborn, he decided to continue his plan. "Okay Empoleon, let's try to make this quick! Metal Claw!" shouted Collin.
"Dodge and use Stun Spore." said Lusamine with no effort in her voice. However it seemed to have worked as Lilligant manged to dodge the Metal Claw and hit Empoleon with the Stun Spore. Empoleon was barely able to move as he tried to get back to Collin's side. "Use Petal Dance." Lilligant sent out a bunch of petals and threw them at Empoleon, which due to the Stun Spore, couldn't dodge and got directly hit by the attack, knocking him out in one move.
"NO! Return!" shouted Collin. "I'm sorry buddy, I wasn't thinking." he said as Empoleon returned to it's ball.
"Return Lilligant." said Lusamine. "Go Clefable." she said and sent out the Pokemon. Collin had a smirk across his face, knowing it was going to be easy.
"Go Salazzle!" Out came Salazzle and it hissed at Clefable. "Use Venoshock!" he shouted. The poison attack came out of Salazzle and managed to hit Clefable directly, injuring it a lot. However, Lusamine didn't look phased.
"Metronome." she said. With a wave of Clefable's fingers, the Metronome turned into the move Psychic and it grabbed a hold of Salazzle and threw her across the room, defeating her.
"Salazzle return!" shouted Collin. He turned to Lusamine, who was grinning like crazy, looking pissed. "You lucky bitch!"
"Luck has nothing to with it. Return Clefable." Clefable returned to the ball, looking proud. "Go Mismagius." When Mismagius came out, Collin was struggling to think. He went for his gut and picked his Pokemon.
"Go Mimikyu!" Mimikyu came out and looked determined to battle. "Use Shadow Claw!" Mimikyu rushed towards Mismagius and attempted to swipe at the Ghost, but missed entirely.
"Power Gem." said Lusamine. Rocks formed around Mismagius and shot at Mimikyu, however it took no damage due to it's Disguise ability.
"Come on Mimikyu, use Shadow Claw again!" Mimikyu charged forward and attempted to swipe again, but again it missed, leaving Mimikyu opened for attack. "Dodge!" shouted Collin.
"Shadow Ball." said Lusamine. Mimikyu attempted to dodge, but it was too late as the dark ball of energy hit Mimikyu directly in it's face and with no Disguise, it took the attack full force and was knocked out. "Return." Mismagius returned it's ball and Lusamine started to laugh.
"Return!" Mimikyu returned to the ball and Collin was stuck. He had only one Pokemon left while Lusamine had her whole team. Not one to back down, he took the gamble and got his last Pokemon ready. "Go Decidueye!" Decidueye came out and stretched its wings, ready for battle. "It's all on you now buddy. Good luck."
"How sweet, you think there is a possibility to win. Too bad for you. Go Milotic!" she said, getting out her final Pokemon Collin hasn't seen. He didn't let his guard down and prepared to attack.
"Use Leaf Blade Decidueye!" shouted Collin. Decidueye's wings sharpened and attempted to cut Milotic, but only managed to hit it's tail, not doing the amount of damage it should have.
"Flail!" shouted Lusamine. Using it's tail, Milotic managed to knock Decidueye back and it landed on the ground. "Now let's end this! HYDRO PUMP!" A large jet of water shot out of Milotic's mouth and was heading towards Decidueye.
"DODGE!" shouted Collin. At the last second, Decidueye manged to dodge the stream of water. However, the water was directly in the path of Collin. His eyes widened and attempted to dodge. But before he could even move, he was flung back by the jet of water and hit the back wall with force, knocking him onto the ground. Everyone saw Collin's impact.
"COLLIN!" shouted everyone, even Guzma.
"HOO-!" cried Decidueye before being attacked by Milotic's tail again, knocking him down. Collin laid on the floor, defeated for the first time in years.
"Heh, and I thought you were going to be a challenge. Guzma, we are ready to go." said Lusamine, walking toward the Ultra Wormhole that the Ultra Beast just went back into.
"Yes Madam." said Guzma, taking one last look at Collin, his face full of regret.
"We shall capture the Ultra Beast, and soon my perfect world will be complete." Both her and Guzma slowly walked into the wormhole, with Lillie giving chase.
"MOTHER NO!" she cried before the wormhole closed, leaving Hau, Gladion, Lillie and Collin all by themselves. She saw Collin slowly get off from the ground, clutching his arm. "Collin! Are you okay?!" she asked.
"I'm fine. I've been through worse. Damn it." he said, taking out Decidueye's Poke Ball and returning it. "Everyone else okay?"
"Y-Y-Yeah. Guzma wiped my team out though." said Hau.
"The Ultra Beast took out Null. He's still not strong enough." said Gladion. Collin signed and sat down onto the floor. He looked forward and noticed something floating on the cage Nebby was in.
"What's that?" asked Collin as he and Lillie slowly walked towards it. The creature was so small you could barely see it.
"Nebby?" said Lillie, but there was no response. "I don't think he's dead. He looks...asleep." she said.
"Well if he's floating about he must be alive." said Collin. "Look can we get out of here? This place gives me the creeps." The group headed towards the teleport panel and exited the room.
The group ended up back in Lusamine's room. Collin sat down on the bed and began to think about what has happened, when Wicke entered the room.
"Thank goodness you're all okay. I was worried about you." said Wicke. She walked over to Gladion and Lillie and pulled them into a hug. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you two more."
"It's okay Wicke. You did all you could." said Lillie.
"Yeah. It's not your fault." said Gladion. They ended the hug and Gladion took a deep breath. "Any idea what's going on outside?" he asked.
"Thankfully it's not as bad as we predicted." said Wicke, making everyone sigh with relief. "The wormholes did open and Ultra Beasts did come out, but I got word by the Kahunas saying that they managed to hold their own and the Ultra Beasts retreated off somewhere. I doubt they'll be a problem for now." she said, smiling.
"Well at least that's not too bad. But what now?" asked Hau. Collin was about to speak before letting out a yawn.
"Look, it's night time and we've been through a lot. We should get some rest and then figure out what to do in the morning. Sound fair?" The group agreed and they began to relax.
"There are rooms here that you can use, and I'll heal your Pokemon while you rest." said Wicke, taking Hau's, Gladion's and Collin's Pokemon and leaving the room. Hau let out a massive yawn and stretched like he could reach the roof.
"Man I'm gonna sleep like I never slept before tonight. Glad, mind showing me where the rooms are?" he asked. Gladion grumbled his request.
"Fine. You two should rest up too." he said, looking at Collin and Lillie. "Come on you big baby, the rooms are this way." The two left the room, leaving Lillie and Collin on their own.
"I'm gonna sleep on the bed here. It's where me and mother used to sleep on nights I had nightmares." Collin nodded and attempted to get up, only managing to grunt as he fell back down on the bed. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, just a little sore. I'll be fine by tomorrow." he said, getting up again. He was about to leave the room before Lillie grabbed his hand.
"Please...stay with me tonight. I don't want to be alone, not after what happened today." Collin turned around and hugged Lillie, grunting at the pain from the impact still hurt him, but he needed to comfort her.
"Okay." was all he said, before walking over to the bed. Lillie went to one end of the room and pulled out a paper wall to cover herself as she got dressed into her night clothes. Collin decided to keep what he was wearing on aside from his pants, keeping his boxers on. Lillie walked over to the bed and got in, with Collin following. The two looked at each other in silence, before Lillie turned off the light.
"Goodnight Collin." she said, before yawning and closing her eyes. Collin moved a strand of hair that covered her eye back into place and slowly rubbed his thumb across her cheek.
"Night Lillie." With that, Collin closed his eyes and fell asleep. Tomorrow was a big day for them and they had no idea what was in store for them. All Collin knew was that Lillie was safe, and right now that's all that mattered.
Woo that was a blast! So Collin's first defeat eh? How will he recover from that attack? We'll fine out soon enough. Anyway, reviews and comments of any nature are welcomed and as always, I'll see you in the next episode. Cheerio!