Chapter 225 (Patreon)

Pokémon trainers flooded into Alola through boats, planes, and subtle teleportation. Step by step, person by person, certain individuals entered far too sporadically and casually for the Aether Foundation to take note. By night, figures would step out of alleyways they had never entered and join unassuming crowds. By day, no one blinked an eye at others joining the throngs of tourists entering the region to enjoy the summer months. Each and every visitor’s entrance was meticulously plotted and scheduled. From their perspective, they were simply told a time and place, and from the perspective of anyone else, their appearances seemed far too random to be planned.

This outcome took weeks of bookwork, dozens of hours of planning, and too many careful “gifts” to specific employees of travel agencies to cause them to turn a blind eye. Phoebe’s stealth, my team’s tricks, and our combined disguises meant we somehow had smooth operations during this effort-filled plan.

The results were worth it.

A green-haired boy jumped into the waves alongside his Gallade. Around his neck, a Comfey enjoyed the warmth of the sunlight, and a Flygon buried itself within the beach sands a short distance away.

In the town itself, a man in a dark coat sipped his cup of Tapu Cocoa, feeding a treat to a Murkrow perched on his shoulder. At his feet, an Umbreon watched the crowds pass them by.

In addition to them, a certain Coordinator on vacation did her best to greet fans of her Purugly’s performances, an angry-looking trainer battled anyone willing to give him and his Torterra a challenge, and a man with a slowly growing commercial empire haggled with a streetside vendor while his Garbodor stood at his side.

Then finally, within the town’s Pokémon Center, a certain aspiring Pokémon Master and his Pikachu chatted animatedly with the nurse. Those two were on a break between seasons.

There were more than just those people, too. Laura was here. Dawn was here. Ramos was here. Heck, somehow the assistant of Professor Sycamore, Sophie, had come to assist with the mass healing this operation would require. From almost every League territory, trainers and their Pokémon had entered Alola, and I stood in front of just a few more, discussing the plan from within a dingy and unassuming meeting room.

“Lusamine and Faba are our focus,” I said, gesturing to a board behind me that was covered with notes. “At the same time, just because they’re the ones in charge doesn’t mean they’re the only ones we need to arrest. Faba has an entire branch of the Aether Foundation complicit in his experiments, and Lusamine undoubtedly has her own leadership staff that have worked with her this whole time. Our objective will be to secure and lock down the island before any of them escape, and we need to protect the innocent Aether Foundation employees in the process. But most importantly, we need to secure their captured Ultra Beasts before any of them are released.”

This very important discussion was happening within an Alolan Pokémon Center. Like how the buildings had bedrooms available to rent, occasionally, private spaces could be reserved for discussions when trainers didn't want others to listen in. These rooms were generally only used to discuss potential trades, and there was never more than one or two in a Pokémon Center, if there were any at all. As a result, it was the perfect place to have this conversation—no one would expect the people here to meet within one of these rooms.

Steven, the Champion of Hoenn, leaned back in his chair, his suit looking as prim and proper as ever. Next to him, the Champion of Sinnoh herself, Cynthia, looked on and read through all of the graphics stuck to the board. In addition to those two, the Champion of Kalos had joined in as well, citing my and Hope’s work against Team Flare as something she still needed to pay back. I hadn’t expected Diantha, but I wasn’t going to complain. Involving three different Pokémon League Champions in an operation was unprecedented, but their combined presence would spell our success.

Phoebe had reached out to a few other trainers, too, and because of her careful application of influence, almost every region was contributing in one way or another. Including the regions already represented by their Champions, places like Galar, Paldea, and Unova had sent supplies under the guise of trade, and apparently, the Indigo Champion Lance had encouraged two members of the Wandering Elite—the members representing Kanto and Johto—to visit Alola.

The only region that had been left out of this operation was Alola itself, strangely enough. Any movement from local figures would risk alerting the Aether Foundation. Even then, most would be told to be on high alert once everything started off, and Professor Kukui had already been warned that something was about to go down. But, when Professor Burnett was rushed to the hospital expecting imminent labor, he made the correct choice to be with her.

“Three main targets, four groups,” I explained, doing my best to maintain my confidence in front of the combined authority of the three Champions. “Arrest Lusamine, arrest Faba, and secure their research facility and the Ultra Beasts within. If we have to choose one, our priority is Lusamine as she’s the lynchpin behind all of Aether’s operations. Alternatively, collecting her Ultra Beasts prevents her from using them in the first place. While Faba is problematic, he can't do much on his own. When we reach Aether Paradise, Phoebe will be nearby to hunt down anyone who manages to slip through our perimeter. He won’t be able to escape.”

“And the four groups?” Cynthia asked.

“Ah! Yes, uh...” I quickly pulled out a few papers and passed them around for everyone to read. “One for each of us. Cynthia, your group will secure the exterior of the island. Steven, you have the interior. Diantha, I need you to protect the people I have on support and ensure proper communication and transport. As for the last team, I’ll personally be entering the research facility in the depths of the island.”

“On your own?” Steven looked both worried and intrigued. I let out a short laugh in reply.

“Maybe I would have done that a few years ago, but I’m not that dumb anymore. I'm bringing two reliable allies—Hope and Thomas—to secure the area so Aether can’t destroy any evidence or relocate any Ultra Beasts. Keeping our group small will let us move fast, and Hope and I are already familiar with how the interior of Aether Paradise works.”

“Trying to be a glory hound then, Alex?” Cynthia said with a teasing tone to her voice. “Claim authority over the operation and then take on the most important role?”

She chuckled at my roll of the eyes and proceeded to maintain a smirk for the rest of the conversation.

“Look, to be clear, I know everyone's strengths and capabilities,” I said. “All of you are Champions with a public image and leadership experience. With only so many people with us, we have to secure an entire island, artificial or not! Your expertise will be crucial to manage it all, and the sheer presence of Champions will draw eyes away from my team.”

Steven nodded along, agreeing with me. Cynthia leaned back, not having any problems with my plan, either. Overall, what I had come up with was simple, but simple was best given that it minimized points of failure.

However, Diantha looked far less satisfied than the rest. Her mouth curved down into a frown as her gaze seemed to focus onto a section on the board that I had neglected to bring up.

“And what about Lillie?” Diantha asked. “I see that you’ve listed both that girl—Lusamine’s daughter—and her apparent Legendary Pokémon as priorities, but you haven’t provided any plan to keep them safe.”

“That's because I don't need to.”

Briefly, Diantha looked utterly confused.

“Please explain,” she said.

“Right now, Hope is still with Lillie,” I started. “But when the raid starts, she'll be with me, leaving Lillie behind. My solution? Lillie's team is already strong enough to defend herself and Nebby, but I’ve made sure several key trainers are nearby, too. These trainers are... Well, they’re strong, but they each have too much of a chaotic element to them to bring them to Aether Paradise. They’re at least extremely reliable in a pinch.”

“And they are...?” Diantha asked, letting her question trail off. I smiled, knowing exactly who I was trusting to stay behind.

“Wally of Verdanturf. Elio of Melemele. Lillie’s brother, Gladion. And Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town.” Unfortunately, Diantha didn’t seem to recognize any of them, but I spoke with complete and utter confidence. “I’ve battled half of them and can guarantee you their strength. I know all of them personally, too, and I can guarantee that we can trust them. With them all staying close to Lillie, we won’t need to position anyone else nearby. Poni Island has the weakest Aether presence out of all of the Alolan Islands. Not just that, but  if bad goes to worse, they can always bring Nebby to the nearby Altar there and let him evolve.”

I paused briefly, allowing Diantha to digest my words.

“That’s the nuclear option, by the way,” I added. “If pressed, they’ll bring Nebby to the one place that would enable his evolution into either a Solgaleo or a Lunala. I’ve at least seen a Lunala before, and I can tell you that anyone who faces one would definitely lose.”

Cynthia nodded, having full understanding why I would trust that set of trainers. Unlike her or Steven, Diantha hadn't yet experienced what someone like Ash could get up to, though. She looked hesitant, but with my displayed confidence, Diantha was still willing to acquiesce.

“But are you sure that your choice is wise, Alex?” Steven suddenly said, serving as a point of contention that I didn’t expect at all.

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t claim to understand the workings of fate, but every trainer you just listed has, well, let's call it a protagonist quality to them. That ‘chaotic element’ you mentioned. More often than not, trainers like them will find themselves wrapped up in a situation no one that young should ever experience. If you group them all up in a single place, don’t you think something will go wrong?”

Huh.

I paused, thinking, and put a hand to my mouth.

“...So you’re thinking that their combined presence will cause a sort of ‘plot singularity?’”

Steven solemnly closed his eyes, and that act carried such a grim weight to it that the implied ridiculousness of his theory was completely washed away.

I stayed quiet as the silence in the room seemed to press down on all of us. Diantha looked unhappy but didn't speak up. Meanwhile, Cynthia seemed content to just observe the ongoing quiet. With the importance of this discussion, I knew we needed to reach a conclusion, but eventually, I simply sighed.

“I still think we should risk it,” I said. Steven looked to me for an explanation. “Honestly, no matter what we do, something will probably happen involving that group. We can’t really predict it, so our best bet is to group up the people who have succeeded in the past in the same place. Any miraculous victories will hopefully stay miraculous. Plus, it might be that nothing bad happens, anyway. It could be that they have a peaceful day in Seafolk Village while the rest of us fight Aether.”

“Or it could be the fact we bought it up in the first place all but guarantees it to happen,” Cynthia offered.

The glare I sent her was harsh, but she simply smiled and seemingly waved away my concerns. Diantha still lacked the context for our discussion and looked utterly bewildered as a result. Steven chose this moment to push on to the next topic. I was thankful for that, as it didn’t make sense to dwell on something we couldn’t exactly control.

I can only hope that we’re wrong.

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Steven said, turning to Cynthia and Diantha next. “How is our Ace Trainer support coming along?”

Cynthia cleared her throat. “Lucian is on a boat at the border of Alola, waiting to move in, and Unova has sent Caitlin to assist us as well. Between those two Psychic Type specialists as well as both Alex's and Diantha's Gardevoirs, any emergency teleportation should be performed without problem.”

“Good. Any other contributions to discuss?” he asked.

“Ramos should work with me to manage the distribution of the potions and healing supplies sent by Galar,” Diantha added. “We’re familiar with each other, and he’s more useful on defense than offense.”

I nodded and quickly changed his team assignment in our notes. After that, no one said anything else.

“Then, I believe there’s only one topic left to broach,” Steven replied.

He glanced between the two other Champions in the room, and the three of them exchanged a look as if to reaffirm one final decision. Both Cynthia and Steven seemed confident about it, but there was the barest sense of nervousness coming from Diantha. After a short moment of silent discussion passed, they all turned back to me, somehow looking even more serious than before.

“With our combined authority, we convinced the Pokémon League to lift the team size restriction during the raid on the Aether Foundation,” Steven declared.

“What?” I was stunned. To say this was unprecedented...

Well, there’s a lot about this situation that’s unprecedented.

“Lusamine has proven herself untrustworthy, yet the International Police stands behind her. Moving against her risks a response. Believe me, with so many people involved, this will become an international incident.” Steven let out the briefest of sighs before continuing. “We must be decisive, and we must send a message. We cannot risk allowing Lusamine an entire militia of Ultra Beasts, especially with the experiments she and Faba subject those poor Pokémon to. Fear cannot control us, so we will display our strength. If they resist, the Aether Foundation will not face a trio of Champions and their teams, but they will face the full force we can bring to bear.”

“And how many is that?” I asked nervously.

“I have thirteen Pokémon that can be considered Champion level,” Steven replied.

“I only have ten—my Porygon-Z is still making a mess of Team Rocket, after all,” Cynthia added, humor in her voice.

I turned to Diantha, who looked a bit sheepish when compared to the other two.

“Unfortunately, I only have my base team of six trained up to a Champion’s level, but I have a handful of elite Pokémon I will be taking with me as well.”

The implication wasn’t lost on me. The sheer number of Pokémon they were bringing more than doubled the power they had at their disposal. Add in the compounding effect of grouping Pokémon, as three Pokémon on a team tended to be stronger than those same three Pokémon working individually...

“You have to understand that having every region contribute to such a crushing operation will send a message to the entire world,” Cynthia said. “In recent years, your information has let the League dismantle many terrorist organizations before their plans could come to fruition, but in the wake of those groups’ absence, gaps have formed in existing criminal enterprises. By turning the Aether Foundation into an example, those ill-intentioned criminals will find it much harder to grow if everyone knows what’s waiting for them if they’re discovered.”

“And you’re not worried they’ll escalate things in return?” I said, feeling hoarse.

“Alex, three different groups have created three different plans to end the world,” Steven said bluntly. “They only need to succeed once. We need to succeed every time. From our perspective, they’ve already escalated. This is our warning to anyone who tries the same.”

Unable to react in any other way, I silently nodded in response. This operation had somehow become even bigger than I had first thought, and all I could do was hope that everything would go according to plan.

But, as we began going into the specifics of what was yet to occur, some part deep inside me knew that hope wouldn’t come true. Cynthia probably had a point when she said bringing up the potential for something to go wrong probably meant it was guaranteed to happen.

______________________________________________________________________________

Aether Paradise practically gleamed under the midday sun. The entire artificial island was near perfectly white, somehow untouched by the rust and decay that usually came with the ocean's salt. No boats lingered around it, as all of them were stored in a closed-off dock in its base. The only visible movement was that of bird Pokémon flying around its top and that of a few employees walking across the flat surface that stretched outside of its main building.

Waves lapped at the edge of the boat I stood on. It was a small speeder, barely capable of holding more than a handful of people. We waited for the signal as we observed our target through a pair of long-ranged binoculars. I could already see the other boats positioning themselves to create a blockade around the island.

“I'll be honest, Alex,” Thomas said casually, breaking through the tension that filled the air. “When we last met up before this season, I didn't expect our reunion to be like this.”

A chuckle left my throat despite everything else going on.

“I probably should have seen this coming,” I replied humorlessly. “I didn’t exactly start off on the right foot with the Aether Foundation.”

Thomas laughed, too.

“We didn’t know better. Back on Sea Mauville, it really seemed like it was only a few bad actors. There was no reason to suspect the entire upper echelon of the organization to be corrupt.”

“At least Wicke is nice,” Hope said.

“Yeah,” I added, and then we drifted off into silence.

It was just the three of us—three elite trainers and a driver for the boat itself. At any minute, we would receive a signal to start the operation, and that came via a crackle of static and a high-pitched whine piercing the air.

We stayed silent as our boat began to slowly push forward. The on-board radio played a conversation as we tried to hide our approach towards the island.

“Come in Aether Paradise,” said the static-y voice of Steven himself. “Come in Aether Paradise. This is Champion Steven Stone of the Hoenn Pokémon League. I am asking you to open your harbor. I repeat, this is Champion Steven Stone of the Hoenn Pokémon League. Open your harbor. Over.”

Another brief crackle, and the radio shut off. Steven commanded the largest group outside of Cynthia, as he was meant to secure the entire interior of the main building. Our group would move in before him, though, so we could secure the lower research levels before any of it was completely sealed away.

“Is it bad that I’m kind of hoping this isn’t a peaceful trip?” Hope said, earning her a glare from our silent ship captain. “A smooth operation is nice and all, but after everything Lillie and Gladion shared with us, I kind of want to get revenge on their behalf.”

Thomas shook his head, mildly exasperated.

“You’ll probably get your wish,” I mumbled.

Our boat wasn’t yet traveling at full speed, but the engine was heating up to prepare to do so. Only a few seconds later, the radio crackled back on, and we heard the short response of whoever was managing the island’s comms on the other side.

“...Purpose of arrival? Over,” came the voice.

A pause. Thomas looked unhappy.

“We are here to arrest Lusamine, Faba, and several other key figures of the Aether Foundation,” Steven replied. “We come with the authority of the Pokémon League itself. Over.”

Unfortunately, Steven had been forced to answer. As this was an approved Pokémon League operation, we didn’t have the legal right to hide why we were here. That still didn’t stop me from wincing when I heard his truthful reply.

“Ugh. That’s—”

“Murkrow, go!”

Before I could even express my thought, Thomas was already shouting and tearing a Pokéball from his belt to throw it high into the air. Our driver responded by immediately pushing the boat to go full speed, and with a lurch, we were hurtling forward as a small, black crow kept up at our side.

“Night Shade!” Thomas yelled.

A blur rushed out of an upper floor Aether Foundation window, and Thomas’s Murkrow flew on an intercept course. A few other shapes left the building as well, but they were all interrupted by other trainers’ flying Pokémon as well. In this case, darkness pulsed out of Murkrow to be used as an unseeable domain under its command, and the fleeing Pokémon flew right into it. A squawk and a pained shout later, and a man and his fainted Pidgeot fell out of the sky. Diantha’s Gardevoir teleported in before they hit the water to bring the pair away to be secured by other Ace Trainers.

“That’s the first of them,” Thomas mumbled. “I can see the dock opening up as requested, but it seems some members of the Foundation were keen on escaping before things could go down. How much of that is fear and how much of that is guilt is still to be seen, but I imagine things will only be more difficult from here.”

Hope grumbled a question in the back about how many members of the Aether Foundation were complicit, and soon enough, the side of Aether Paradise loomed above us. The boat pulled to a stop right against the wall, and rather than take the time to climb, I released Gardevoir and sent a message confirming our presence to Diantha before communication could be locked down.

“Teleportation will be restricted under the League’s Psychic Types,” I announced as I waited for a reply. “The very first thing Lucian and Caitlin were told to do was set up a wide-ranged Imprison to stop anyone from fleeing. The only way out is through boat or air, which—”

I paused when I saw Cynthia’s Togekiss zoom past us. It moved incredibly fast, easily circling the island.

“Cynthia and her team have a handle on that,” I continued, a little amused. “We’ll be pushing in by foot since we can’t risk anyone redirecting our teleport if we try to appear inside. Our single goal will be to reach their research levels and collect their Ultra Beasts.”

Only one more second passed before my device beeped with permission from Diantha to head inside.

“We’re cleared,” I said, nodding to Gardevoir.

Thomas briefly thanked our driver before everything flashed, and we appeared in a plaza in the top deck of the island. A few uniformed Aether Foundation members stood in groups, staring up at the patrolling Pokémon in the sky out of confusion and too preoccupied to pay us any mind.

“Now, let’s go inside,” I said.

To prepare for any battles along the way, I returned Gardevoir and the three of us sent out a Pokémon each. Thomas released his Umbreon as his Murkrow landed on his shoulder. Hope sent out her Cherrim and picked it up to carry in her arms. As for me, Ninetales appeared at my side as we rushed to a glass door on the side of the central building. It automatically opened up and we moved inwards.

“Ninetales, I need you  to scout. See if you can find an unblocked path down,” I said.

She couldn’t salute, but the nod of her head worked well enough as she used Agility to dart down a nearby hallway. We began to run deeper in, but as we did, the intercom from the building went on, and a familiar voice rang out.

“This is Wicke. I am asking everyone to please stand down. The Pokémon League is not here to hurt us. I can confirm that their arrest of Lusamine is justified. Do not get in their way and please, do not block their path. None of us here want Pokémon to get hurt. The Aether Foundation is a rescue organization. Remember that.”

The intercom went silent, but a few seconds later, it crackled back on as Wicke repeated her message. As we ran, we passed a handful of Aether Foundation employees milling about. All of them either pressed themselves against the wall to avoid us or they stepped back into nearby doorways to stare at us in confusion and worry as we moved by.

There was significantly less combat than I expected, but that was likely due to such a respected member of the organization like Wicke telling people to stand back. The Pokémon League itself also carried authority and respect, so I imagined that most people here were waiting to see what would happen.

That is, most. A turn brought us onto a hanging walkway outside an elevator shaft. A group of Aether Foundation employees crowded around the elevator’s doors.

“Let us in!” someone yelled.

“We have to go down!” another shouted.

I didn’t see any other members of the League just yet. This was just a group of Aether Foundation employees scrambling to escape as a pair of burly guards blocked the doors.

“Get back! We’re under orders to not let anyone into the lower levels!” one of them barked.

We slowed to a halt when we saw the unruly mass, and I looked to Hope and Thomas to try to gather their thoughts. Hope was staring at the group as if trying to determine whether it was viable or not to squeeze by, but Thomas was already searching for an alternate path.

I probably would have done the same, but the two guards in front of the elevator doors quickly noticed us, and a shout from them caused the crowd to split apart and push back.

“Hey! You aren’t supposed to be here!” one of the guards yelled.

Since we were already involved, I decided to go for broke.

“Let us through. We need to reach the lower levels—Pokémon League orders,” I said.

Immediately, the pair of them practically snarled and tossed forward Pokéballs. The other people here pushed to the side of the walkway or began to run back, past us, trying to find another path down or simply trying to run away.

We let them go—frankly, dealing with them wasn’t our job.

The Pokémon that appeared in front of us weren't anything special. Okay, sure, every Pokémon had the potential to be strong with the right training, but it was clear these two could have stood for a bit more practice.

We were threatened with a Trumbeak and a Charjabug, two mid-stage Pokémon that clearly hadn’t seen a battle in a while.

“Back off!” one of their trainers snapped. “Otherwise we'll call for our Pokémon to attack!”

I shook my head. We didn't have time to bother for a real fight. Most of the Foundation's dedicated battlers were being lured away to where Steven and Cynthia were claiming ground. Before any of those trainers could learn of our group here, I tossed forward a Love Ball, and everyone behind me reflexively covered their ears. The nearby employees saw that and did the same.

“Hyper Voice!” I shouted.

Altaria appeared and immediately screamed. Those two aggressing Pokémon were literally blown away. Hope was quick to capitalize on this situation by having Cherrim leap forward and knock out the guards with Sleep Powder. A few of the employees took this opportunity to rush to the elevator. Hope pointed to two that were still lingering at the side and told them to make sure the guards didn't get hurt.

Then we turned to keep moving. The elevator was disabled and wasn’t coming up.

“Are you sure that Hyper Voice was wise, Alex?” Thomas asked as we ran.

“Even if I alerted a stronger trainer, they'll head to that spot behind us. At the rate we're moving, we’ll be long gone before they arrive.”

Thomas sent me a strange look, as if he was looking at me for the first time. He'd heard stories of what I’d been up to in the past and even helped me out in Kalos, of course, but he'd never actually seen me and my team directly in action like this. From a certain perspective, I had more experience fighting criminal or potentially criminal organizations than him. I’d come a long way from the burgeoning Fairy Type specialist who once asked him for help with training and strategy.

Shortly after the elevator encounter, Ninetales appeared in a hallway’s turn and grabbed our attention with a bark. We changed directions, heading towards whatever location she had scouted out. Unfortunately, it wasn't an elevator, but a staircase. Still, this was our only way to the lowest floors that would go undisturbed.

“I hate all this running,” Hope said, panting as we did our best to keep a quick pace down these stairs.

With how hard I was breathing, I couldn’t say I didn’t agree.

At the bottom, we didn’t bother with the newly installed security system, and Thomas sent out his Houndoom to heat up the lock, with Ninetales’s follow-up Ice Beam causing it to break beyond repair. Without anything keeping it closed, the door flew open, and we stepped into a familiar set of hallways only to be stopped by a blast door that had slammed down before we had even got here.

“They beefed up security since last time,” Hope mused.

“Either that, or they actually managed to activate it this time around,” I replied. “Too bad it doesn’t matter. Alright, Tinkaton, Mawile, Azumarill! Come out and break it down!”

Blast door or not, it wasn’t ready for the combined, brute might of my three physically strongest team members. Between Tinkaton’s hammer, Mawile’s heavy jaws, and Azumarill’s Huge Power, the door crumpled inwards. It gave plenty of room for Thomas’s Crawdaunt—the same Crawdaunt I had helped him catch so long ago—to grab the metal with its claws and peel back an opening. We returned our Pokémon and ran through.

I did not like what I heard on the other side. The voice that echoed over the speakers in this corridor wasn’t Wicke’s, and it was far too smug.

“Oh, I should have known it’d be you three again! You weren't who I was expecting, but that doesn’t matter! We’re ready for you this time!”

Faba’s voice rang out around us.

We pushed forward, ignoring him. A scientist tried to ambush us by stepping out of a room and releasing a Mr. Mime, but Thomas showed them why that was a bad idea with only a single Shadow Ball from his Umbreon.

“You three made a lot of trouble for me with your little excursion here. The organization in my room was a mess, and I had to deal with a full week of people in my office re-alphabetizing everything! Ah, but you should know this is all pointless. With our defenses, you’ll never reach me!” He let loose a rather clichéd, maniacal laugh. “Oh, if only these cameras were higher quality. Then I’d be able to see the looks on your faces!”

He kept ranting. Hope looked especially annoyed.

“He never shuts up. He never shuts up. He never shuts up.”

Her grumbles were like a mantra she repeated to maintain her sanity.

As we had been in these halls just a few short weeks ago, it was easy to know where to turn. Step one of this plan was to secure their Ultra Beasts, and we planned to check the one room we saw them in last before branching out. Even if they were stored elsewhere, not checking the one, obvious place would be a fool’s mistake.

Several times, members of the Aether Foundation staff tried to jump out at us with Pokémon, just like the researcher with the Mr. Mime from before. Each time, one of our Pokémon easily took them out, demonstrating why all of us were considered elite. Faba ranted and taunted us the entire time, not even fazed by his employees being defeated so easily. As we turned one more corner, one of those masked researchers was waiting for us right there. I readied myself to order Ninetales to attack whatever Pokémon they sent out, but they shouted at us instead.

“Wait!”

We paused. The woman didn't have any Pokémon or even a single Pokéball on her. Instead, she pressed a button on her wrist that caused the front of her helmet to pop open. I didn't recognize her, but it let us see her fearful expression and separated her from the masked mob that’d been obstacles along the way.

“The Pokémon are gone. Faba isn't here. They already took them all the second your boats showed up on our radar.”

I narrowed my eyes. Thomas spoke up, ignoring the sounds of Faba lambasting the apparent “traitor” in our midst.

“We need proof,” he said.

“I'll take you to the new storage room. I hated what we were doing here, and I did my best to minimize what Faba was doing. But I only had so much authority, and he—”

“Just take us,” I said.

Faba’s mad laughter echoed down the hall.

Several twists and turns later, we found ourselves in a different room. This wasn't labeled as anything as obvious as “Mass Storage” like before, but when the woman swiped her keycard, I knew that this was where the Aether Foundation had once stored their Ultra Beasts.

“Those are Beast Balls?” Thomas asked.

Cautiously, I stepped inside and grabbed one. It automatically opened up to reveal an interior of hi-tech mirrors. No Pokémon was contained within.

“They’re empty,” Hope said, walking through. “All of them are.”

“Like I said, Faba already collected all of them,” the researcher said. “He grabbed his most loyal and teleported out before anyone came here. I don't know where they went, but with the project we were working on—”

“Project?” Hope interrupted.

The woman suddenly looked a lot more worried than before.

“It’s a... a device that interacts with Ultra Wormhole energy,” she said, looking pained. “We never got it to the point where it could produce and fully manipulate the energy, but it had a measure of control in Ultra Wormhole energy-rich locations, like a Totem Pokémon's lair, or—”

“....Or like an Altar dedicated to Alola’s Legendaries,” I finished. “This is bad. They’re on Poni.”

“Where Lillie is,” Hope finished.

Of course something like this would happen.

Not voicing my thoughts, I sent a ping to Diantha and turned to Thomas,  but he was already sending out his entire team. He wasn’t as strong as Hope or I, but eight, elite-tier Dark Types would be more than enough to handle the Psychic Type-leaning researchers that remained in these labs.

I’m honestly surprised his Tyranitar can actually fit in this hall.

“Go, both of you,” he said. “My team is enough to secure this place ourselves. I’ve done work like this before under Sidney. You don’t need to stay.”

“Thank you,” I said genuinely. I sent Gardevoir out right after. Faba continued to mock us, but it was now blatantly obvious that he was just trying to make us think he was still here. “I’ve sent a message to Diantha to give us a gap to teleport through, but I need you to fill her in as soon as you can. We’ll be going to Poni, and we’ll need as much back up as we can afford.”

“Got it. Good luck,” he said.

I nodded and turned to Hope once more. She looked more determined than ever, and the moment Diantha signaled us that there was a gap in the Imprison, we were gone.

When we managed to reorient ourselves after that long-ranged teleport, we were right outside Seafolk Village’s Pokémon Center, on Poni Island. This was where Lillie was staying, but while the building itself was intact, there was only one way to describe the Route just past it:

Completely and utterly decimated.

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Author Note:

Someone pointed out that I forgot to give Tinkaton her abilities, and they were right. To remedy that, Chapter 220—the battle against Hapu—has been modified to reference their development over the past month of training in Poni Canyon. She’ll have Own Tempo and Mold Breaker from here on out.

Pokémon (and the many people) mentioned in this chapter:
Charjabug
Cherrim
Comfey
Crawdaunt
Flygon
Gallade
Mr. Mime
Murkrow
Trumbeak
Umbreon

Caitlin
Cynthia
Diantha
Faba
Lucian
Lusamine
Steven
Wally
Wicke

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