I'm back. Sorry to the small following this story has that it hasn't been touched in so long. My laptop was getting fixed, and then I had exams over the past fortnight, so I had no time at all to update this. But I'm back in the game now and I hope you enjoy.

CHAPTER 8

Compassionate and Heartless.

When they arrived on the Aether Paradise, Gladion radioed a worker up in the Paradise. Within 30 seconds of him doing so, a huge lift lowered down to pick them up, bikes and all. Everyone rode onto the lift and was carried up onto the Paradise. Once up, everyone got off the bikes and wheeled them down to the room where Elio was last seen. Once they were in, Selene began to work her magic.

She placed strands of his hair they managed to gather from a spare hat he owned, then she began to play. As she played, she tapped her feet in morse code, so that she could keep an eye on Elio while Hau punched in the coordinates that Selene was telling him. It was the same method they used when scouring Ultra Wormholes in the past, only this time, it was for finding the Wormhole itself as opposed to the specific things inside of them.

Once Hau had the coordinates typed into Faba's machine, the trainers waited with bated breath. After two minutes of just standing there, Lillie began to worry that it didn't work. But at that moment, sparks flew out and a Wormhole began to form. In less than a minute, it was a fully opened Wormhole. There was a small celebration when it works, then Lillie, Hau and Selene led the way inside, with every trainer on a bike following them.

But, before they could enter however, the room suddenly shook violently. Everyone turned around and saw to their horror and fury, that Faba was coming down the stairs, with one of his pokémon attacking the machine. Gladion immediately sent his Silvally out to stop him. All the trainers who weren't heading into the Wormhole pulled out their own pokémon and began to defend the machine.

"Who's he?" Selene asked as the others resumed running to the Wormhole. "He looks like a janitor." Faba heard that and bellowed in rage. "I am not some lowly janitor!" he bellowed. "If it wasn't for the brat currently trapped in Ultra Space where he belongs, I'd be standing tall amongst giants!" "Shut up you damn side switcher!" Gladion yelled, before using tackle on Faba himself. Selene still looked confused, so Lillie hastily explained.

"When my mother still had Nihilago's neurotoxins in her brain, he worked as her assistant and tried to stop Elio from rescuing me and stopping mother from destroying Alola. Then, this other group called Team Rainbow Rocket took over the base and held me and mother hostage. Faba swapped to their side and tried to stop Elio from taking them down." Selene suddenly felt like giving this man a good kick, but carried on through the Wormhole.

Faba managed to wrestle Gladion off of him and started running towards his machine. However, before he could get too close, a whole load of Lycanrocks were suddenly released from their balls and stood in his way. Gladion stood on the opposite side of him. "So, what are you up to now janitor?" Gladion taunted. "Toe-kissing another group? If you tell me what they want, I may or may not be able to get you promoted one rank higher."

Faba snorted. "Do you really think so low of me that whenever I'm doing anything, you immediately assume it's for someone else!?" Gladion shrugged. "Can you blame me?" he asked. Faba gave him an indignant look. "Well then," he said, "you'll be amazed to know that this time I'm acting of my own accord." "First time for everything" Gladion replied. "Once Elio is completely out of the picture," Faba continued, ignoring Gladion's remark. "I can use everything in this place to take over Alola myself. Maybe even the whole world!" But before he could twiddle an imaginary moustache or do a classic villain laugh, he was suddenly blasted backwards by the Lycanrocks' attacks.

He struck the wall and coughed as the wind was knocked out of him. He got up on shaky legs and released all of his pokémon. Then, he tapped a few buttons and a whole lot more pokémon appeared. "Stop them from interfering with my plans!" he ordered. "I've got a Wormhole to close." As he made his way over to the machine, his pokémon prevented anyone from getting close to him. Soon, while all of the trainers were busy keeping the large group of pokémon at bay, Faba reached the machine.

He did an evil laugh just for the hell of it and to show them how confident he was that he won. But, before he could even touch the machine, a few kids leapt out from underneath and jumped onto his back. Faba tried to shake them off, but they clung onto him tightly. It amused Gladion to no end to see that Faba was so weak he couldn't even dislodge children. He was eventually able to free himself from their grasp, but not before getting several punches all over his head. "That's for hurting Champion Elio!" they shouted, before aiding in knocking out more of Faba's pokémon with their own.

"Good work kids!" Gladion chuckled, as he pushed passed them. "Now let me take over from here." Faba chuckled again. "I'll have you know that I've had extensive fighting training," Faba taunted. "I've been learning how to fight over the last five years, waiting for the moment when I could throttle your family, which now includes that brat of a Champion. So, come at me with everything you've got, I'll make sure you truly comprehend the pain that I can give you. Are you ready to feel my wra-"

But before he could continue his monologue, Gladion ran up to him, grabbed his head and slammed it into the machine with a sickening crunch. Faba fell unconscious, his face bloodied, and glasses smashed to pieces. "God he just, never, shuts, up!" Gladion grumbled. He looked up to see that most of Faba's pokémon had already been dealt with. "Great job everyone!" he said. "Now, let's get in and make sure nothing accidentally gets through. The groups on the bikes are also going to need back-up." With a roar of approval, everyone ran in. Gladion and a few other people stayed behind to tie Faba up and lick him in a cupboard, then they followed.

It's good to be writing this again. Sorry I left it for so long. I really enjoyed writing Faba as a pathetic try-hard villain that ultimately wasn't even a threat. I despised Faba when I played through the game, so it was fun to write him so pathetic and having the shit kicked out of him. But anyway, I don't know when I'll update this next, but it'll be sometime over the weekend. See you then.