Alola readers! Brav is back with another chapter! Let's dive right on in because there's a lot of drama stuff about to happen!
Before we do start, I'm going to be upping the rating to M come next chapter where battles and stuff of violence will be treading into the aptly rated category. Currently that chapter is going to be edited and I'm hoping I'll have enough time to get it out next week.
Elio hadn't yet seen this level of the Paradise and honestly he wasn't looking forward to it much.
The elevator's descent slowed and gently came to a stop after what felt almost like an eternity of passing through a dark shaft that was occasionally lit by blue lighting.
He immediately got creeped out. The eerie walls were the same, but now in a different light felt suffocating and sinister. Even more unsettling was the fact that nobody else was around.
Yeah because if they were they'd be trying to fight us.
"Everything looks the same." Gladion glanced around. "Though I guess it's only been two years."
That was when you ran off?
"Woah," Hau was clearly unaffected by the vibe the place was giving off and strode around to get a better look. Elio involuntarily shivered, but somehow it felt much cooler here than up at the marina. "It's like a secret hideout!"
"Don't get too excited Hau," Gladion muttered. "Though it's probably better than freezing from fear or frayed nerves."
"Uh, then where do we go now?"
"That way." He pointed to an entrance that was guarded by a card terminal. "There are two labs ahead. I'll check through secret lab A and you two search lab B."
"Aue, why do you get the first one?" Hau protested. "And why do you know all of this?"
Gladion glared back. "Can you just focus for once in your dimwitted life Hau. Think you can do that?"
Elio sensed another disagreement brewing which would likely lead to more infighting. Not something they needed right now. Playing peacemaker, he stepped in and shook his head. "Guys. Let's bicker later."
"We can't trust Faba." Gladion continued. "He's probably told half the Foundation about us."
"I'm guessing the elevator is the only way back up too." Sun said, seeing the blond nod in affirmation. He figured he'd get that bit of information especially since he had been here before. "So once we get up, we're probably gonna be in for a nasty fight."
"But you didn't even answer my question." Hau frowned. "Ah I know what it is! Nerves like you had said!"
Both Elio and Gladion glanced at one another in surprise, Elio more so since the other boy had barely said it loud enough for him to hear.
Or maybe it's just a coincidence.
"I mean I reckon you're more afraid to be here and me or Elio right?"
Gladion didn't answer, already halfway across the room to the door. He looked at Sun for help. Somehow he couldn't help but actually think that Hau's inferrence was spot on.
"You got a better idea?"
Hau shook his head in defeat and ran after them.
Elio slid the badge into the terminal, causing it to light up a pleasant green and grant them access.
"Let's go." Gladion grabbed the edge of the automatic door as it slid open as if he could get it past quicker. "Before anyone is,"
They walked through to find a large open room that stretched hundreds of feet across. At the end of their floored walkway were two squared buildings that Elio had to guess were the labs that he spoke of.
However the surprise was the three Aether associates that stood before them, hands on their hips and waiting for them to make the next move.
"Here to find out what we're doing," Gladion finished, a bit flustered that he had been caught in the act.
"Intruders detected!" One of the associates said behind a face concealing visor and heavy lab coat. "We will protect our secret labs and the research inside!"
Each of them summoned a pokemon; an alolan muk, a magneton and a klefki.
"Ooh let's do a triple battle!" Hau jumped up and down. "Three on three and whoop these weird people's asses!"
"Fine by me."
It was the perfect time for Elio to use his new pawniard, which he had thought of giving the name Quria. She joined Hau's raichu Sparks and Gladion's golbat and the trio immediately went on the offensive. Quria's small psycho cut daggers didn't do much damage to the steel types or even faze the alolan muk, but her work with the blades was impressive to see and their bright purple hue seemed to draw attention away from the others. She clearly trained during her downtime in the wild.
Three on three quickly became a three on two when the klefki went down from a powerful thunderbolt from Sparks. Quria and golbat double teamed the muk as the magneton attempted to target the flying type with its own electricity, only to get counter blocked by Sparks' own. She followed golbat as it swooped down, slashing at the sludge pokemon's liquid body with a wing attack and drove a metal claw into its side. The muk was out and only the magneton remained.
"Quria, psycho cut!" Elio cried. "Hit it first!"
She brandished the daggers and charged forward, avoiding an oncoming thunder attack and jumped into the air. The magneton's top magnets swiveled to her like turrets on a warship and crackled with electric energy.
With a hiss, golbat swooped in and grabbed Quria before it could fire, dragging her out of harm's way. The distraction was all Hau needed to blast it with another thunderbolt. Quria lunged again, bringing it down with an assurance attack that put it out of the fight.
The masked Aether associates took a nervous step back, aghast at how quickly their three pokemon had been defeated.
"But how?"
Gladion stepped forward and jerked his head towards the door. The scientists seemed to take the hint and practically sprinted towards the elevator after returning their pokemon.
"That was too easy." Elio joked, though both others were thinking the same thing.
"No kidding!" Hau laughed. "Don't let the door hit them on the way out."
"I doubt things were really easy." Gladion said and shook his head. "They were probably here to stall us and now going back to tell Faba what we were up to. Let's make this quick."
He led them down the walkway and stopped, glancing up. "This is Lab A, go and check Lab B."
Elio gestured towards the farther building before Hau could question it again. "Let's go."
Gladion slipped into Lab A using their stolen badge, Elio snagged it and rushed over to the second building.
Hang on Lillie. Nebby. We're coming.
Sliding the badge in, they waited until the access terminal pulsed green and the door slid open.
"Hey, you're not authorized to be here!" Two Aether associates, regular ones, not the masked scientists stood in the front, glaring at their intrusive entrance. A trumbeak and gabite stood at the ready. "Alert Branch Chief Faba that we have unauthori"
"We're in a little bit of a hurry," Elio interrupted them. "You can leave or we can kick your sorry asses and you can leave anyway."
"Not a chance in hell kid. So fuck off before we,"
An earsplitting noise practically made the boy keel over as his hands flew to his ears. Across from him, he saw the two associates doing the same, writhing on the ground. It felt like his eardrums were going to rupture and standing next to an active supersonic jet engine.
Fuuuuuuuuuck
Hau's mouth was moving and he looked apologetic, as did his noibat fluttering nearby. Then as if remembering there was sort of a battle going on, his small wings whipped up a barrage of air cutters, blasting the two pokemon backwards into unconsciousness.
"Will you warn me next time?!" Elio had to practically shout to hear himself normally. Even out of the direction the supersonic attack had headed still seriously disoriented him and he had to blink the tears out of his eyes. Over on the far end, the two associates had been overwhelmed and lapsed into unconsciousness.
"I'm sorry, but I think that was just the best way to stop them from slowing us down."
It wasn't the idea that surprised Elio, but rather hearing it come from Hau who had thought of it. The last person he expected to use that kind of violence on people standing in their way. If anyone, it would've been either him or Gladion resorting to it first.
Well we kind of did when we jumped that one woman for her badge.
"I swear if I'm getting tinnitus, I'm making you my eardrum donor."
Hau shrugged and he wondered if he even knew that tinnitus was in the first place.
He might be getting it himself if he uses noibat carelessly like that.
The ringing had began to subside in his ears, enough for him to think a little clearer. Neither Aether associate looked like they were in any shape to stop them further, so Elio and Hau got to work, dragging them by their arms into a corner and having them lean on one another. He really didn't know what else to do at this point.
"Nebby?" Elio called, looking in the corners and crannies of the lab. It was about twenty feet long with a series of desks and computers at one end. In the middle was a large glass tank, surrounded by silver and blue equipment that looked alien and unfamiliar.
"Nebby where are you?" Hau repeated after him.
"Not here."
"Come on, you think they'd leave something like that valuable lying around?"
Elio glanced around, seeing the lab equipment and browsing through. He recognized microscopes and incubators for biospheres as well as compressors. His eyes went over the laptop and he stopped when he saw that the user was still logged in and hadn't yet been kicked for inactivity.
There was no need for a password as he grabbed the mouse and hovered over the desktop screen's archive.
Ultra Beast categorization. Ultra Wormhole theory. RKS System development. Project Tango Foxtrot logs.
None of them fit Nebby's description. But he hit the Ultra Wormhole theory category. Never knew if it could provide a clue.
Beyond the Ultra Wormholes discovered by Professor Mohn lies another different dimension. By investigating the changes in mass there, we can predict the existence of pokemon-like life. We have dubbed them Ultra Beasts for now and Ultra Space for the environment they originate.
He kept scrolling through the archive.
There. Cosmog.
Inside that particular folder were several files. He opened the first one.
Cosmog is hypothesized to be a type of Ultra Beast that hails from another dimension. We have named this dimension Ultra Space. When it is placed under sufficient stress, it reveals the power to create and open Ultra Wormholes in order to escape its suffering. Work has begun on a device that will allow us to manipulate created Ultra Wormholes when Cosmog is subjected to extreme stress.
Elio's eyes narrowed.
Extreme stress? Like torture? His blood ran cold when he realized that the small tiny pokemon was a prisoner in this very lab, all to create the wormholes to bring in these dangerous beasts.
Cosmog isn't even a strong pokemon. He remembered Gladion's words just the other day. But it has the power to summon pokemon so terrifyingly strong you can't even fathom.
And this was how.
"But why would the Aether Foundation do this willingly if their mission is to protect them?" He wondered out loud. "To me, you're just placing them in an unfamiliar place and justifying their hostility."
"What was that?" Hau bounded over, making him wonder if he had found anything of use himself.
"Cosmog…it might be an Ultra Beast." Elio repeated.
But it wasn't like the others. It was just a juvenile specimen and yes, while it wasn't directly harmful, the ability to summon wormholes made it incredibly dangerous in its own right.
Lillie was as much as carrying a live bomb in her bag that was waiting to go off.
"An Ultra Beast? Gladion needs to know that!"
"Hau wait," Elio started, but his best friend was already out the door.
Mention one crazy thing and he's off like a rocket.
He sifted through the others, showing the findings of Ultra Energy and the efforts of creating a device that didn't require Cosmog to rip open Ultra Wormholes. None were overly successful, but they all had the same result to Nebby.
There was even an audio recording and when he pressed play on it, he wished he hadn't.
The sound of Nebby squirming and crying out in raw pain balled his hands into fists until his nails left more of those crescent shaped marks in his palm. His teeth tightened until his jaw ached.
Nebby's just an infant. It'd be no different if they were torturing a baby.
Suddenly the room felt several degrees cooler and he was pretty sure that it wasn't the air conditioning.
If that's what happened behind these closed doors…what else?
I can't think about that.
One thing was for sure; there was no way he was going to bring Nebby back to this cursed godforsaken place. Ever.
I'm gonna keep that little one a little closer to me next time. And Lillie too.
"Anything?" Gladion asked as Elio emerged from the lab. He was locking the door to Lab A behind him.
"No. You?"
"It's not here." He grumbled. "Trust me, I checked."
Elio nodded. "It's not in Lab B either. We almost turned the place upside down."
"Don't even think about going in there." Gladion warned him, seeing the curiosity. "Me and Null…we're more alike than we look. We were both what we were made to be. I was like an ornament to my mother…wearing what she wanted me to wear. Talking and acting like the way she wanted."
"Are you going to be okay?" Despite his still hanging animosity towards the blond, he couldn't help but feel that pity. Lillie's brother may have been an asshat, but that didn't mean he deserved the treatment they both got.
"I don't know," Gladion's response was half-baked. "It's been so long and the last time I was here…let's just say it left a very unpleasant memory in my mouth."
He sighed. "On my own for so long. Then Team Skull comes along, taking pity on me. Some of them treated me like shit, but Guzma paid me enough to let me keep that room in that motel. So at least I knew I had a roof over my head at the end of the day."
"It must've been hard."
"Yeah. It was." Gladion's expression softened before he seemed to realize he was letting more out than usual. The sound of Hau's rather loud footsteps as he approached dissuaded any further conversation.
"Forget I said this." He shook his head before turning to Hau. "Find anything?"
The kahuna's grandson was almost out of breath, but he found the words to speak after a couple of moments. "We found out that Cosmog is some sort of Ultra Beast, that can create Ultra Wormholes if you stress it out! Maybe like to escape?"
"Stress it out?"
"Like cause pain." Elio said lowly. The audio files made him even more angry hearing Faba's mundane voice, even finding a hint of glee as he explained the purpose of the experiments. Nebby's tortured screams had lasted for two seconds before he had forced himself to stop the recording. "They purposefully inflicted pain on it so that it would create an Ultra Wormhole as a means to escape."
I still can't believe I fell for the charade of these people being a noble organization dedicated to pokemon conservation. In a way, I'm grateful I found out before I was waist deep before discovering their true colors.
"Was that why she ran away with it?" Gladion mused to himself.
Probably. You have all these people wearing masks hurting it. She's probably the only person in the entire place that showed it an ounce of kindness.
"Faba probably knew this was a dead end," he stopped and cursed quietly to himself.
"Fuck. Did…did we actually get outsmarted by fucking Faba of all people?"
"Well what choice did we have?" Elio asked him. "Either look where he suggests or keep looking around where we get cornered."
"Cornered." Gladion's eyes flashed. He was realizing something himself.
"You said it yourself." The boy pointed out. "These labs are usually under pretty heavy guard and the badge that we took off this lady does not have access to a sensitive place such as this. Faba has the master clearance, so he's basically free to go anywhere he wishes. I find it hard to believe he let us down here because he's genuinely a nice guy. Remember, we're not even supposed to be here."
"So what you're saying is?" Hau asked.
"That as soon as we take the lift back up," Elio glanced at the shaft above that led to the main floor. "We should be expecting an ambush."
Gladion suddenly cursed to himself and ran back towards the elevator, leaving the two of them behind.
"Ugh," Hau put his arms on his hips watching him go with indignation. "Gladion never explains everything. Probably thinks it makes him look cool."
"I don't know about that." Elio had to admit that Hau had a point with it, but he didn't think this was the case. "He seems just as surprised about this as us."
"You seem more understanding what's going on anyway. I guess I'm just here to help you guys."
"Just watch my back." He looked over in the direction that Gladion had disappeared. "And watch his too."
The ride up the elevator was made in silence as the three trainers checked their pokemon and made the necessary healing and recoveries to ensure they were in fighting shape. There was no telling what awaited them at the top.
Elio's breathing quickened in anticipation and his hands gripped his poke balls a bit tighter.
Sure enough, as soon as their level broke even with the main floor, they were immediately surrounded by a half dozen Aether associates. None of them looked to be overly friendly or reasonable.
"Surprise." Elio said flatly. Nobody laughed at his deadpan.
"Even beaten down, Faba doesn't change does he?" Gladion shrugged his shoulders.
"So what do we do?" Hau asked.
"Beat down anyone who stands in our way until we get what we came here for."
I'm not a fan for taking on the entire foundation. But I guess that's the best bet we got.
"Hello children." One of the associates stepped forward and brandished a poke ball. "I'm afraid Branch Chief Faba has given us order regarding you three. Now that you've learned of the darkness here at Aether Paradise, we'll need you all to conveniently disappear."
Elio almost snorted out loud. Oh so you're a secret police detaining us now that we know too much.
"Now if you want your asses beat, I'm more than happy to oblige." The associate threw the ball to reveal a pelipper.
"Actually please, indulge me."
The battle was over relatively quick after Elio used Kamua to powder snow on the pelipper's wings to slow it down while inflight and bring it down with a powerful moonblast. To his delight, his inert pokedex blinked with a notification that she had learned the move aurora veil. Summoning it on the field during an active hailstorm meant he could take advantage of halving attack damage as well as her snow cloak ability to have increased evasion.
But I don't have any other pokemon on my team immune to hail. So I'll have to use it sparingly.
"To be horribly speaking," the associate gasped as he returned his defeated pokemon. "The children of Alola who aim to be champion aren't to be trifled with."
"You think?"
"This is ridiculous." Another one who had an arcanine that was defeated by Gladion's zoroark. "Have the children of Alola always been this strong? Have we been so out of touch?"
"That's what you get when you go through the trials of the island challenge." The blond said. "So now that you both understand and your asses got humbled, why don't you all scatter?"
Their opponents had all mumbled a collective agreement and quickly retreated along the corridors, disappearing as fast as they came. Even some of the ones that hadn't yet battled them had joined their defeated comrades. Nobody wanted to mess with them.
"That was…easier than I expected." Hau made a triumphant fist after he and his noibat had felled a sudowoodo. "You can't afford to waver in a battle you can't lose!" Next to him, his noibat made a soft chirping sound.
"I've uh been called him Hauhea. Alolan for boomer."
Hauhea flapped his wings excitedly before suddenly he began to glow. His wings grew larger as his body shifted to multiple times his size. As it faded away, the predominantly dark purple colors were now just at his belly while the rest of the body was a mix of turquoise and black. His eyes glowed orange and the small ears on top of his head had expanded and conjoined in circular shapes. His new form rippled power.
"A noivern." Gladion breathed quietly, watching the spectacle with a hint of awe in his voice. "It's a very fast and powerful pokemon."
"You actually evolved!" Hau gave Hauhea a big hug, which the dragon happily nuzzled back. "Way to go big guy!"
In a rare moment of respite, Elio still could use Rotom Dex's standby feature to download new data on the pokemon he newly discovered.
Noivern. Sound wave pokemon. It is the final evolved form of noibat. This hot blooded pokemon attacks anything it sees with ultrasonic waves powerful enough to crush boulders. Despite its vicious disposition, feeding a noivern fruit will keep it calm and tame. Noivern is a flying and dragon type.
"Guess my fruit bill is about to go up." Hau joked quietly, earning a bit of a chuckle from Elio and surprisingly…Gladion.
"I've always wanted to see a noivern up close," he softly said. "Hau…you raised it good."
He sighed and glanced around, seeing nobody else coming to challenge them.
"You know…I know we're not exactly friends…but I'm…I'm really glad you're both here with me. I remember what you said that day at the Battle Royale Dome Hau…how people can achieve more if they work together."
"Yeah?"
"I can't believe I'm gonna say this, but maybe you were right." Was that a smile?
Elio blinked, still not fully able to process the fact Gladion said something to Hau that wasn't entirely scathing. And he was agreeing?
Somehow…I feel like we may not walk out of this as friends…but definitely not at odds.
"That means a lot…coming from you." Hau told him. "And I appreciate that. So lead on. Elio and I are here to support you."
Now it was Gladion's turn to be surprised. "Alright, let's go."
Footfalls echoed across the floor alerted all three and their pokemon as they spun around to confront whoever was approaching.
Gladion stopped and visibly exhaled. Elio saw a woman with a familiar purple shade of hair.
Wicke.
"Young master." She said while giving a short bow. "It is good. Good to see you again."
"Hang on," Hau shook his head and took a step back. "Young master? What do you mean by that?!"
"It's a long story." Elio told him. "Let's wait until things die down before we make sense of this."
"But it already doesn't make sense."
Gladion stepped forward. "Miss Wicke."
Elio could see that he was losing a bit of his composure and watched as he nearly stumbled straight into Wicke's arms as she embraced him.
"It's okay. It's going to be okay." She whispered into his ear. "I've got you."
The Assistant Branch Chief finally broke the hug and regarded the other two boys. "And it's good to see the two of you again, Elio and Hau. Please allow me to heal your tired pokemon."
"Yes please." Sun was more than happy to have that happen. Kamua shook herself after the healing items were applied and jumped up, patting a paw on his backpack.
"What's wrong girl?" Elio turned to face her, but she instead followed to his right, still trying to grab something in one of the pockets. The small snow fox kept persisting until he finally set it down and opened the zipper.
Her eyes settled on the ice stone that was packed inside. It glowed a brilliant white. He figured out her intention in a heartbeat.
"You want to evolve."
She slowly nodded and sniffed it eagerly.
Hau, Gladion and Wicke watched as he drew the stone out and placed it on the ground. Kamua paced around, sniffed it once and then placed her two front paws on the front.
She glowed even brighter than before, evolving in a flash to a beautiful foxlike creature with opaque azure eyes, more lithe limbs and instead of the bushy tails of her fire type Kantoan counterpart, it looked like plumes of snow.
Ninetales.
Kamua's coo was even more beautiful as she circled her trainer protectively.
"Thank you girl." Elio said, returning her to her ball. He'd check the pokedex entry later.
"Wicke…thank you, but what's happened to Lillie. Have you heard of anything?" Gladion asked.
Wicke's demeanor turned somber and it hit Elio that she was just as close to the Assistant Branch Chief as Gladion was. Maybe even more.
What a fucked up family. Lusamine too busy to even be a mom to Lillie and Gladion that Wicke takes on that role. At least that's the vibe I'm getting here. And where's their dad in all this?
"I imagine she's with the President." The worried expression made Elio similarly so. "But the doors have been locked."
Gladion struck his edgy pose again. "Then that's where I'm going."
Elio stepped forward. "Gladion wait, let's think this out first."
"No time." He spun around and dashed towards the back of the Paradise. "I can't waste another second."
"The President, that's Miss Lusamine right?" Hau wondered aloud. "She's real nice, so I'm sure she'll understand if we explain everything to her."
Somehow I don't think that's going to be the case this time.
"Please look after young master Gladion." Wicke told them softly. "He tends to rush headlong into things without thinking about the consequences."
Elio nodded and glanced over at Hau. "Go on, I'll be there in a second."
"You're not coming?"
"In a second." The firmness in his voice told his best friend that it wasn't up for discussion. He wanted to speak with Wicke about a few things.
"Okay. Please don't be long Elio. We need you brah."
We need you.
"I won't be long."
Elio waited until Hau dashed off in pursuit of Gladion when he looked back at Wicke. The Assistant Branch Chief sighed and glanced at him.
"You know what's going on here."
She nodded. "As Assistant Branch Chief, I am. But I'm also in no position of power to stop anything."
"I…I don't know about that. I wanted to ask…did you really? Help Lillie escape?"
Wicke looked around to see if anyone was eavesdropped before she leaned closer to the boy.
"I can't say or admit that I did or didn't. But I did my best so that miss Lillie could remain off the grid."
Elio pursed his lips. "Wait a second. You don't mean. All that time, those Aether employees and Miss Lusamine and their search. It was diverted elsewhere?"
She nodded, pushing up her gold rimmed glasses. "Every lead and tip I gave them was true. However as she knew that she couldn't stay in a place for long, I delayed the reports for a time until I knew for certain she was safe. It had to be done carefully, so that nobody would catch onto what I was up to."
"One more thing too." Elio shook his head, still trying to process the information, but there was still that nagging feeling that he had to know.
"How do you know my father?"
"Hmm? That's a question I'll tell you at a later time when we aren't so pressed for it. Please go. Young Master Gladion and Miss Lillie need you. Please."
Elio nodded and sprinted off.
I'll be back.
The large gate to the back of the Paradise was still closed, but Elio managed to catch up to Gladion and Hau, who both stood with their triumphant pokemon, Golbat and Hauhea respectively. More Aether associates blocked the way with Faba at the back, a hand cupped to his white beard in a visible scowl.
"Tch! It takes years to train competent battlers to do anything nowadays."
Gladion stepped forward, "Access. Now."
"Now now young Gladion," Faba's sneer made him want to clock it off his face along with his stupid looking goggles. "Not so fast. My my, what naughty children. You should have just lay your heavy hands down."
He rubbed his gloves together, taking a bit of delightful glee at the growing angry faces opposite him. "I knew you would simply struggle onward. I could see it through every action you would take. So I knew you would try to reach the president and Cosmog."
"How insightful." Elio told him.
Might as well feed this man's ego if it can get any bigger.
While he did that, he glanced around, seeing if there was some alternate way. He was about to see if Gladion's golbat could cast a smokescreen with haze to cover their escape.
"Which is precisely why my calculations were correct and I could ambush you here with my backup to remedy my previous failure! Young children like yourself are so predictable."
"Hold on, that was all your backup?" Hau stifled a laugh and so did Elio when he saw Faba's eyebrow twitch. "I thought that was just a warmup."
"As I was saying…it takes years to train competent trainers for security! The only reason I let you into the lower floors was to buy me time to gather that backup I had to slow you down!"
So he did just confirm that Nebby and Lillie are with President Lusamine. Now we know where to go.
Faba smirked and waggled a condescending finger at the trio. "See? Children, you may be smart, but you still struggle against the best!"
"So Mister Faba," Hau started. "You have the key to the President's rooms right?"
"Indeed I do!" Faba's hand fished it out of a small lanyard kept on his labcoat. Sure enough, he saw a small brass key on the end of the ring. Elio made note of where it was. "It's right here!"
Interesting. An all-electronic and computer automated place for access control and the President's quarters are locked away by a simple lock and key.
"Wow that's crazy smart of you and awesome for us! If you had just stayed hidden, we would've been stuck here and gotten no farther than we are now!"
In that moment, Elio swore he saw all the color drain from Faba's pale face. At the same time, both him and Gladion stared at Hau in total disbelief.
Hold up. How in the world did we miss that but not Hau?!
"WHAT?!" Faba's mouth dropped open. "No! There's no way…how could I have been wrong?! Impossible! Impossible! But could it? Nonononono, that's impossible! How? My logic was a hundred and ten percent sound! There were no conceivable errors! How could this bumbling bloke have seen that?"
"I think you broke him," he whispered to Hau, who gave an indifferent shrug.
"We did suggest you stay hidden sir." One of the associates said as the Branch Chief kept muttering to himself. "You chose not to heed our advice."
"Enough of you lot!" Faba snapped out of his tirade a moment later and pointed to them. "Teach these children a lesson!"
"At once!" Two of the associates stepped forward and released an electabuzz and magmar.
"I don't have time for this." Elio growled to himself, throwing out Hakamo'o. The scaled dragon clanged his scales together, an action that seemed to rile up both his foes.
The electabuzz charged in, knuckles outstretched in a thunderpunch. Hakamo'o calmly deflected it with his shield gauntlet and delivered a devastating sky uppercut. Though it reeled from the blow, it stepped back to avoid a successive strike. Hakamo'o now was exposed and in the open, watching as the magmar drew its head back and unleashed a powerful flamethrower. Before it hit a cloud of hazy smoke as Gladion's Golbat provided a smokescreen and swiftly grabbed Hakamo'o's shoulders and yanking him out of the way.
Elio turned to see Gladion striking his edgy pose.
"I got your back."
He nodded and the two boys focused on the battle.
These two associates worked together a lot better than the ones they had previously faced. One often using ranged attacks while the other stayed back, often surveying to report the location of Sun's and Gladion's pokemon. Golbat continued to support Hakamo'o in attacking, often casting a haze to cover escape, but it was only a matter of time before they plotted a trap and caught onto what they were doing.
Wait a second, they're both weak to ground and Golbat is immune!
"Hakamo'o! Bulldoze!"
The dragon obeyed immediately, jumping up and slamming both his feet into the ground to send a powerful shockwave in all directions. Golbat's flying type rendered it immune while the supereffective damage had knocked the electabuzz out since they were more focused on it. The magmar survived the hit, but greatly weakened.
"Use flame burst!"
The pokemon reared its head back again and instead shot a smaller ball of fire. Hakamo'o saw it coming and swiftly raised a shield gauntlet to deflect it away.
"Acrobatics!" Gladion cried. Golbat lunged forward and Elio had Hakamo'o attack behind him. The acrobatics struck the magmar and Hakamo'o's iron head finished it off, sending it tumbling next to its defeated comrade.
Grim faces met Elio's and Gladion's determined expressions. "No kidding." One of them muttered to himself. "These kids aren't to be messed with."
"Back to pokemon conservation it is for us. There goes our promotion down the drain."
Faba's eye twitched at how handily they were defeated. "A lack of a promotion is going to be the least of your worries when we're done here." His mouth opened to say something else, but stopped as the two that Elio and Gladion defeated had already started to run off.
"Hey, your truancy will be documented and flagged for review! I will be having a word with HR about this!" The disbelief yelling did little to stop the associates from leaving and he remained with one more by his side.
"Nobody wants to work anymore." Faba muttered glumly to himself.
"Yikes my guy," Hau laughed out loud. "Should probably just take the L and scoot."
"Back down from children such as yourself! Pah! Never!"
"Elio pretty much dunked on you last time." Gladion was fighting to hide a bit of a taunting smile. "I agree with Hau for once. Quit before you embarrass yourself further."
Faba nearly rolled his eyes. "Oh please. I handed the child that win."
Then prove to me that it wasn't a fluke. Spineless shit.
Typical of his behavior, according to Gladion. Faba pulled out a poke ball as did the associate next to him.
Gladion heard more footsteps from behind, turning to confront another pair that were coming to the Branch Chief's aid. "Elio, Hau, I leave Faba to you!"
"Let's do this! For Lillie and Nebby!"
The four of them threw out their balls at the same time, Hau with Sparks, Elio with Hakamo'o. Faba had a tall pink pokemon with a dark gray crown atop its head and his lackey had a small ladybug with several white gloved fists.
They all immediately sprung into action. The moment Elio heard Hau shouting at Sparks to discharge, he had Hakamo'o throw up a protect bubble. Though he was shielded, the opposing side wasn't so lucky. The ledian took the worst of the hit with sparks flashing down its body in paralysis while the slowking seemed to shrug it off for the most part, forming a shadow ball with its hands and preparing to launch.
Wait a second.
As if he could read his mind, Hakamo'o darted out from the protect bubble just as the slowking let it loose. The ball sailed through the air, straight for Sparks. Hakamo'o's timing was perfect and he intercepted the attack, his ability completely nullifying the attack.
By now the ledian had recovered somewhat and fired a psybeam at Hakamo'o.
"Sparks, use psychic and move Hakamo'o out of the way!" Hau's raichu nodded, eyes glowing as Hakamo'o was picked up by the telekinetic force and swept to the side. He landed on the ground, jumping forward as soon as he was free to smash a headbutt into the slowking. Not wasting the opportunity, he readied an iron head attack, hitting Faba's pokemon again. This time, he was met by a silvery shimmering wall that seemed to absorb the majority of the physical force.
Reflect.
The ledian had thrown up the protective barrier while they were preoccupied with slowking.
"Hau, it's blocking physical moves!" Elio shouted. "Don't worry about the reflect!"
"I got it!"
Slowking formed another shadow ball.
Here it comes again.
Hakamo'o sensed it too and moved again to intercept.
Faba's cruel smile should've told Elio he was expecting this to happen.
Oh shit, we're walking right into a trap.
"Hakamo'o stop!" But it was too late.
"Psychic. Hold that blasted dragon in place."
Hau was quick to pick up on how fast the tables turned. "Sparks, get out of there!"
His raichu panicked and zoomed on its surfboard laterally to evade the shadow ball. Unlike the previous time where it was fired in a linear path, this one curved and closed the distance towards the surfing pokemon, slowly at first and then picking up speed.
A crashing noise brought Elio back to the battle as the psychic hold on Hakamo'o broke and he had fallen to the ground, defeated.
What?!
"Too easy." The associate next to Faba sneered.
You'll regret that.
Elio returned Hakamo'o to his ball and instead sent out Quria. The pawniard ground her blades together with the same determination. A crashing noise and Hau's outcry told him that Sparks was also knocked out of the fight.
We gotta think of something, otherwise our crusade is gonna end here.
"Elio, these guys are strong. Do you have a plan?"
"No. But follow my lead."
Hau swapped his defeated alolan raichu with Acheron. Together, they supported one another again. This time, Quria's dark typing made her immune to those pesky psychic attacks as well as being able to take the hits from slowking's shadow ball. The reflect barrier remained up, but a slight shimmer told him it was about to wear off, so Elio knew that he just had to wait a little longer.
Acheron fired an aurora beam that hit the ledian, yet it was still standing.
"Once the reflect goes down, we're going on the offensive." Elio told him. "Get ready to hit the slowking."
"But I don't have any good moves against it."
"Just hit it, I'll do the rest."
Hau stared at him, but he didn't question it.
They kept the dance up. Faba and his lackey allowed Quria up close to attack with slashes that didn't do much damage since the reflect was still up. Acheron set himself up with an aqua ring that quickly started its healing work after he was struck by a silver wind from the ledian.
Elio watched the reflect shimmer quicker before it finally faded away.
Now's our chance!
"Put that reflect back up now!" Faba demanded.
We gotta go before that happens.
"Hydro pump on that slowking!" Hau cried. Acheron opened his mouth and a massive spray of water gushed out, blasting the slowking backwards.
"Quria, assurance!"
She darted under the hydro pump attack, throwing her blade hands forward and hitting Faba's pokemon. The slowking staggered and finally collapsed on its back.
One down.
The ledian ally hadn't moved to put the reflect barrier up thanks to the paralysis from Sparks' discharge. Hau switched targets and had Acheron hydro pump it as well. The attack came fast that it wasn't able to evade in time and like slowking, it fell to the ground in defeat.
Faba and his lackey wasted no time in throwing out their next set of combatants. While the grunt had a balloonlike drifblim, Faba had a piscine pokemon that was multicolored with purple eyelids and plump lips that were lined with sharp teeth.
What in the world is that?
He wasn't sure, but he did know that the other one of drifblim were highly defensive pokemon and would likely be absorbing a lot of hits.
The pokemon jumped into action and he quickly used the idle Rotom Dex to scan the new pokemon.
Bruxish. Uses its psychokinesis on the protuberance on its head and then its teeth to grind enemies into dust. Yikes. Water and psychic type.
Felt like it was a suitable pokemon for Faba, knowing his line of dirty work.
One big advantage he saw right away was that while powerful, the bruxish wasn't exactly fast. Of course it might be a different story while it was in water, but like Nani would on dry land, the fish floated and slowly swished its tail fin back and forth.
Hau went after the drifblim, using Acheron's supereffective aurora beam to blast it back. The ghost and flying type responded by using small ghastly flames and spreading them out. Several hit the next aurora beam and canceled it out while others floated close to Acheron, splashing over his velvety skin. He cried out in pain as the burn manifested and chipped away. The aqua ring provided some respite, but it was clear that his time battling was numbered.
"Quria, assurance!"
She lunged forward, blade arms glowing and charged. She planted one foot down and sidestepped another will-o-wisp to deliver another attack, doubled from the aurora beam damage. The bruxish whipped up an aqua tail, speeding forth to hit her.
Only for Acheron to jump in front and take the hit. While he was knocked backwards, it didn't do any damage thanks to the water absorb ability. In fact, Hau's pokemon looked to be healed to full health, though the burn persisted.
"I should've known that." Faba growled to himself.
Hau and Elio went on the offensive again, Acheron firing another aurora beam this time at the bruxish while Quria moved in behind for another assurance. The drifblim instead chose to use the move stockpile, gathering gold energy orbs around itself.
That means it's either going to use spit up or swallow to do damage or regain some of its health. Let's take this bruxish out.
In the haste to get pressure off his partner, Faba's bruxish had flashed open its mouth to reveal the teeth covered in purple psychic energy. He targeted the first and closer of his foes, Quria.
Elio smirked as she barely flinched and used another assurance to send it reeling back. She drew her small psycho cut sword, slashing away at it for good measure. The large colorful fish collapsed onto the ground, swiftly returned by Faba.
"Pfft. You call that a psycho cut?"
Quria slid a blade over the other in a threatening gesture. She stared down the Branch Chief before suddenly glowing brightly and changing shape.
Elio watched, amazed.
She's evolving too.
When the glow faded, she was no longer the small helmeted pokemon from before. Her frame was lankier and the blades that adorned her body were larger and sharper like kitchen knives. The small sword arms were now bright white gauntlets and her feet were bulkier in agile-looking greaves. Her head had a large gold crested blade mixed with red trim.
Elio scanned her as they awaited Faba's next pokemon.
Bisharp. Blade pokemon. Each one leads a pack of pawniard that let it perform the final finishing attack. Regardless of its prowess, a bisharp that has its head blade chipped will abdicate its position as a boss. Dark and steel type.
Faba threw out another pokemon, to their surprise not his hypno. Instead it was a cethalopod creature with glowing lights, sharp scythelike arms and violet tentacles swaying from the top of its head.
A malamar. Elio shuddered. While it and its pre-evolution of inkay were popular foodstuffs, it was considered to be an asset to nefarious intent people.
Nefarious, but not unbeatable. Let's get after it.
They had been so preoccupied with the malamar, neither had noticed that the drifblim had used swallow to consume all its stockpiles into health, nearly being back to the fighting shape it was before.
"Show them a real psycho cut Halak." Faba sneered.
The aptly named Malamar flicked the edges of its fins, showing thin crescent blades, not unlike Quria's own psycho cut. It jumped into the air with deft speed and closed the distance. Quria ignited its own blades, but this time she held two long thin ones and brought them together to form a larger weapon.
Like she had practiced for so long, she held the saber deftly and calmly parried the malamar's erratic strikes, using her superior speed to evade Halak's shorter ranged swipes. Hau took advantage of the distraction to hit the drifblim with another aurora beam. The balloon ghost didn't seem to be fazed much, retaliating with another will-o-wisp towards Quria.
"Elio!"
"I see it!" The boy shouted. "Quria, down!"
She only had a second, but heeded his warning, quickly dropping to the floor to allow the ghastly flames to pass overhead. Halak had seized the advantage and lunged again with its psycho cut blades.
Hold on a second. These two dueling are dark types. Psychic moves don't do shit against them.
He wondered if Faba was either stalling or waiting for a moment to do something underhanded.
He got his answer just a moment later.
As Quria and Halak locked blades once more, the latter had detached one of its tentacles free and slamming the "palm" into Quria's side. She careened backwards as if she had been struck with a sledgehammer. There wasn't even a moment to even decide; she was knocked out instantly.
The hell?
Faba chuckled, pleased at how the sneak superpower had inked out a win. His smile widened as Halak's stat aura flashed in a rising motion.
Contrary. Elio thought to himself. Superpower's negative stat lowering is instead reversed to uptick.
"Oh you want to bust out the surprises?" Hau made a fist. "I'll do you one better! Acheron, last resort!"
His vaporeon began to glow bright yellow and he dashed forward with the incredible speed of a quick attack, hitting Halak before he had a chance to strike back. The malamar fell to the floor almost as quickly as Quria did.
"All right!" Hau made a triumphant fist, but that was broken up a second later when a powerful blast of electricity struck Acheron, blasting him backwards. Though the vaporeon staggered onto his feet, the lasting damage from the burn kicked in just a moment later, taking him out of the fight.
Okay, we need to get rid of that thing.
"Down to our last pokemon each." Hau told him.
"Yeah." Elio knew what his best friend was going to choose. "Let's make it count."
On the other side, Faba had sent out his final pokemon; Freud the hypno. Together the boys threw their poke balls. Auwana emerged and flashed several dagger feathers in his cloak while Strongside roared, flexing his arms. The two starter pokemon stood side by side and the boys saw them bump a fist to wing.
Elio appreciated the brotherhood.
Like a Battle Royale, the four pokemon went straight into action again. Strongside immediately targeted Freud, launching a darkest lariat. However the hypno seemed much more prepared this time for the fight and evaded to the side.
"Cover me!" Hau told him. Elio was about to ask why when he saw Hau draw a Z-crystal and twist it into the ring on his wrist.
While Hau was powering up, Elio had Strongside keep up the offensive pressure on Freud. The incineroar's dark typing rendered it immune to any psychic attacks and he knew that the hypno knew at least focus blast. Instead he attacked with overheat, drawing both Freud and the drifblim to him. In the frenzy after the powerful fire type move missed, he managed to score a hit on the ghost with a flame charge, but had to quickly retreat from a hastily aimed focus blast.
"Channel aerial ace into Supersonic Skystrike!" Hau struck a fist in the air as the zenith energy coalesced around his decidueye. Auwana poised his wings and used it to launch himself into the air, stopping high up and accelerating forward at an unreal velocity. The drifblim fired a thunderbolt up at him to try and stem off the attack, but the electricity easily flaked off, doing almost no damage whatsoever.
Elio took advantage of the distraction as well. He figured it was a good time to test out the new Incinium Z that he had gotten from Professor Kukui.
Okay. Crystal in, now time for that stupid dance.
He closed his eyes, feeling the zenith energy start to flow through the ring. His arms made an X before returning to his side and then leaning forward to stretch his arms out in a pouncing pose. The motion was perfect as Strongside knelt down, head glancing up with a growing smirk on his feline features.
"Channel darkest lariat into Malicious Moonsault!"
Strongside's body became engulfed in flames as he dashed up, crouched low on the ground and then sprang into the air, somersaulting and then rushing with an outstretched fist.
Freud's eyes went wide and Faba was just as aghast when the incineroar hit with the force of a missile. The impact caused everyone to flinch, with such a suspense on Freud being knocked out with a single hit that the associate didn't even realize his drifblim had been similarly defeated moments earlier.
"Aiyeee!" Faba was gripping the top of his head with his fingers as the dust was starting to clear. "This is absolutely preposterous that I've been bested not once, but twice by some puerile bumbling dimwitted children!"
Bumbling dimwitted? I don't even think Gladion called us THAT.
In front, their pokemon celebrated with them. Auwana and Strongside bumped fists while the latter raised both his fists, grinned at Faba and stuck out a particular finger on each hand that further enraged the Branch Chief.
"How dare you show me that obscene gesture of disrespect! Didn't your trainer teach you anything to mind your elders?"
Actually I never taught him that. That's totally his choice if he wants to be an asshole and frankly, I think it's well founded.
"Well we're gonna go rescue Lillie, so you don't mind right?!" Hau's goofy smile was completely out of place, but Elio found it amusing nonetheless. The boys returned their pokemon, a lot more relaxed with confidence, but still ready to respond to any threat that might appear.
"If you think this is where the worst of it is, you're gravely mistaken." Faba stepped forward and was about to say something else when he stopped and tapped a small earpiece that Elio suddenly noticed on his right side.
"Yes? Yes, we have them cornered and will be detaining them in just a few mom…ah. Are you certain?"
Elio's guard immediately went up, especially at Faba's sudden attitude change. Now what?
It wasn't like Faba to get this obedient and passive unless…the president was on the line.
She knows we're coming.
Faba's mouth twisted into another punchable smirk as he nodded an affirmative and clicked the earpiece again. "This is Branch Chief Faba to all Aether associates. The intrusion protocol is no longer enacted and the intruders currently in our pristine facility have that designation lifted. Resume normal operations by oh six hundred tomorrow. I repeat, the intruders are no longer intruders and the protocol has been disbanded. Stand down and resume operations at oh six hundred."
A raspy chuckle escaped his lips. "It's your lucky day." He took the lanyard key that Hau had inadvertently exposed and tossed it towards them. "Lucky in that we're no longer ordered to stop you as a threat. So go and do what you will. I can't promise this will be resolved by the end."
Footsteps behind caught their attention as Gladion sprinted behind them, coming to a stop once he saw the lanyard in Elio's hands as he caught it.
"The key?"
"We got it."
"What game is he playing?" The blond asked quietly, glaring at Faba.
I really don't know. But we just better be ready for whatever it is.
"I'll do you one better and open the door. Just because I am such a genuine Branch Chief." Faba hit a button on a side panel and they felt a blast of humid air as the wide wall began to lift before them like a massive garage. "Good luck."
The boys wasted no time going through, Elio first followed by Hau. As Gladion passed, Faba couldn't resist a small chuckle.
That had actually caught his attention and he stopped, whirling around and storming up to the older man.
"I want the truth. Now."
"This is why I can't bring myself to like children. I see you share your mother's temper when she's angered. Not one of your strong suits, boy."
Gladion bristled at the term, but kept himself from lashing out. "You know what happened to my father. Don't you?"
It was hard for him to tell behind those bulbous green goggles, but he saw neither glee or pity.
"I can neither confirm nor deny that accusation." Faba told him smugly.
Gladion grabbed his collar and yanked him down to eye level with enough force that Faba couldn't help a gasp. "I looked at the records. At everything down there. From Null to the Ultra Energy that my father researched. So many files were buried under black ink and restricted access. Don't you dare tell me that you withheld all of this from my mother, from us!"
He huffed, "I know your game Leon Faba. How you're subverting influence here not just among the leadership, but the general staff too. Phasing out anyone who disagrees with you."
"It's to the president who I cull those that disagree." Faba spat. "You can't expect to believe that some childish obsession with destructive pokemon is beneficial for this kind of world. You see the writing on the wall Gladion. You know what must be done and I am in the best position to lead."
"No you're not. I see how you're running the Foundation. How you're sacrificing everyone's individuality here for the sake of power and your own gain. This is not what my parents built."
"Your parents are living in an archaic age where research on these Ultra Beasts is being squandered into the void. The possibilities are here. They are here. Endless on what there is to discover yet your mother has no true idea besides summoning a beautiful beast of hers. She's lost all sense of direction and true motive. I possess that which she lacks." His mouth formed that grin again. "But I imagine she won't talk or say anything. Most certainly not when your bullish companions get there first."
Gladion was about to demand something else, but suddenly stopped.
He's stalling. He's getting inside my head to keep me here because of something.
His eyes went across the courtyard, seeing several figures standing between Elio and Hau, who were already engaged in some battle. Despite squinting, he wasn't able to make out who was opposing them…but he had an idea.
"You walk out there, you're not getting any more from me." Faba said.
Gladion hesitated for a moment before striding out the door, headed for the home that he had exiled himself from two years ago. Behind him; he could hear Faba's chilling laughter raising the hairs on his body as he departed.
"What is this?!" Hau threw up his arms at the display in front of them. "There's like an uku billion Team Skull grunts here!"
As he and Elio ran into a long courtyard outside the Paradise, they saw multiple carefully trimmed plants lining either side and twin water fountains at the end.
Lounging around them however, were a multitude of Team Skull grunts, none of them looking all too friendly.
"Oh great. These prim and proper Aether punks can't even take care of a couple kiddos?" One of the bigger ones rolled his eyes and stomped towards them. "Not a problem at all, that's why we're all here yeah?"
"We're not really in a mood to chat." Elio told him coolly. "Could save yourself the embarrassment of losing and let us through."
The grunt scoffed. "Doesn't matter you fuckin' Skullbane. As if."
Another one joined the fight, throwing out their pokemon. Elio and Hau immediately threw their pokemon onto the field and easily synced in their battle coordination. It could be loosely described as a clash, evidently showing which side was better trained and coached.
"What THE?!"
As both Skull grunts returned their pokemon and sheepishly stood aside, Gladion barged in and glared at someone standing at the end.
"Gladion wait," Elio tried to stop him, but the blond took off shoving his way through a throng of black and white bandanas and low hanging shorts to get to the front of the large mansion. Glancing past the grunts coming to stop them, Sun caught sight of a familiar slouched figure with gold chains and snowy white hair.
Guzma.
For some reason, his blood ran cold. He knew that had been the reasoning behind Gladion's spontaneous charge forward. Like him, the enforcer had some unfinished business.
But what if he lost? That would mean that he'd have to face him yet again and he'd be even tougher this time.
A shaking pokeball on his belt stopped him as he was busy trying to concentrate on Nani's fight against a vicious sneasel. Strongside sensed his nemesis Cicindel nearby and was raring for one more rematch.
Despite my hesitance. Strongside is right. He can take him this time.
"I wonder what it took from you to actually sit outside and guard my mother's place while she sleeps." Gladion hissed, coming to a stop on the opposite side of Guzma.
To his credit, the Skull boss folded his arms and didn't say anything.
"You're a long way from home boy. I thought I told you to stay out of this if you had half a spine."
"Shut up. Move out of my way."
"Or what?" Guzma sneered. "You gonna make me? Please. Go embarrass yourself somewhere else. Like with those two clowns you've got in tow."
Gladion paused, realizing that rushing headlong in had been his mistake yet again.
Damn it.
"You can't get strong enough. But if you insist on a beatdown," He reached into his pocket and drew a poke ball. "I'll be more than happy to oblige."
Gladion's hand went to a ball of his own. "I'm going to kick your sorry ass. Right here. Right now."
And that'll do it for this one! One chapter at a time. As always mahalo for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.
Brav