Malasadas, Professor Magnolia decided, were Alola's gift to the world. As they sat down at one of the booths, she bit into hers and a look of utter bliss spread over her face. The sweet, crispy dough gave way to a soft, chewy interior with a generous cream filling. "Ohhh yeah," she sighed. "These are the best."

"Frankly, I'm surprised even artificial Pokemon like them," Colress said as he gave one to his Porygon-Z. The computer program Pokemon wheeled its paddle-like arms excitedly as it somehow absorbed the food into its body.

"Malasadas are the universal language," Magnolia said as she fed one to Slawomir. The Dragon-type munched on the tasty treat through the hole in his shell, but only looked mildly pleased. She knew all he could think about right now was evolution. It must have been agonizing to feel so close to something he could just not quite achieve yet. Sympathetically, she reached over and patted his shell, and he let out a small grunt of appreciation.

"Tell us how you met!" Zossie said. "I mean, please!"

Magnolia laughed. "Okay, okay," she said. "Did you know Colress was once the boss of Team Plasma?"

Dulse blinked. "What?" he asked. "Team Plasma—that's the team that Ghetsis fellow was the head of in his world! Was it different here?"

"Mm… yes and no," Colress said, trying to disguise his embarrassment by adjusting his glasses. "Ghetsis was always ultimately in charge of Team Plasma here as well… but when I joined him, I assumed the mantle of boss to keep him safe."

"You were a bad guy?" Zossie asked.

Colress looked over at her. "I had no concept of such things," he said. "All I cared about was my research. I just wanted to study the true strength of Pokemon, no matter where that took me." He turned to his Porygon-Z, studying it as though reliving those days long past. "Out of sheer curiosity, I allowed a young Pokemon Trainer access to Ghetsis. That Trainer ended up defeating him and permanently putting an end to his ambitions."

"Where did that leave you?" Dulse asked.

"I felt… lost," Colress said. "In the pursuit of knowledge, I had followed a man I detested, and treated Pokemon and humans like mere objects to further my research. And all of that got me nowhere. I hated what I had done, what I had become, and I didn't know where to go from there. That was when Magnolia showed up."

"I was exploring the Unova region at the time," Magnolia said, "and I was in Opelucid City when Team Plasma put it under a deep-freeze. My Pokemon and I raced after the Plasma Frigate, but by the time we got to the Giant Chasm, Ghetsis was gone. We did, however, find Colress."

"And I'm glad you did," Colress said. He looked back to Dulse and Zossie. "She talked to me about what had happened, and helped me see that knowledge is not more important than the well-being of others. She helped me understand that I should use my research to help people and Pokemon. Because of that, I decided to disband Team Plasma and look for answers the right way—by fostering my bonds with my Pokemon." He put a hand on Porygon-Z's shiny round body, and it let out an artificial-sounding cry and nudged his head with its beak affectionately.

"I'm so glad to see you're doing better," Magnolia said. "I knew you had so much potential to do so much good for this world with your research."

Zossie swallowed another bite of her malasada. "Wow, what a story!" she said. "Colress, why didn't you tell all of us that before?"

"It's not really something I like to make public," Colress said. "I'm already infamous in Unova as it is. And considering what just happened with Team Rainbow Rocket, I don't want Alola to associate me with Ghetsis as well."

"I heard about the Team Rainbow Rocket thing, too," Magnolia said. "I can't believe there are other worlds out there where all of those bosses actually succeeded…" She clenched her fists. "Somebody's gotta go stop them!"

"The Ultra Recon Squad is making plans for just such a thing, don't worry," Dulse said. "But it will require quite a bit of preparation. From what Colress tells us, these men have become extremely powerful—most of them have harnessed the power of legendary Pokemon, even."

Magnolia frowned. "Okay… I guess that is a problem," she said. "Well—good luck with that. And let me know if I can help! Those guys don't scare me! Right, Slawomir?" He grunted in agreement, pawing the floor. "Oh yeah—speaking of helping, what were you saying about a rescue mission?"

Colress sat back in his seat and said, "All right, I think it's about time I explained everything to you. Some years ago, an associate of mine named Professor Mohn went missing while investigating the Ultra Wormhole phenomenon. His wife has worked tirelessly to try to find him, but to no avail." He glanced over at the Recon Squad members. "Now that the whole Necrozma issue has been resolved, we've decided to put more effort into recovering him. We believe that we, Lusamine, and Professor Burnet may be able to recreate his research and follow his path through Ultra Space."

"Wow," Professor Magnolia said. "Yeah, if anybody can do it, I'm sure it's you! Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Actually… I was hoping to be able to ask," Colress said. "If it's not too much trouble—we've been making final preparations to depart to Ultra Space using the coordinates we reconstructed from Mohn's data. But I admit we were all rather apprehensive about the journey. I'm a passable Trainer, but battling isn't really my strong suit. Dulse and Zossie, well…"

"We only have three Pokemon between the two of us!" Zossie said. "You could call us beginning Trainers! But we definitely know about traversing Ultra Space, so you'll need us along!"

Magnolia grinned. "I see where this is going," she said. "You need some muscle to back you up."

"Only if you want to," Colress said. "Like I said… I'm not sure what we're going to find on the other side."

"All the better reason for me to help," Magnolia said. "I'm in. When do we leave?"

Dulse's jaw dropped. "You would help us so suddenly?" he asked. "Without any thought of reward?"

"Of course," Magnolia said. "Someone's in trouble. I'm not gonna sit that out."

Colress smiled. "I thought not," he said. "Thank you, Magnolia. I'll make it up to you someday."

"Nah, no worries," Magnolia said, waving a hand at him. "I just want you to be happy. That's what you can do for me, okay?"

"I'll try," Colress said.

"Atta boy," Magnolia said. "Now let's go get Mohn back." She looked down at her food. "After we eat, I mean. Can't be heroes on an empty stomach."

"Gon," Slawomir said in agreement, and Magnolia fed him another malasada.