She was fuming, missing such an opportunity because of those brats. If she had known this was what having children led to she never would have married that man. The elevator slowed to a halt and her resulting steps left cracks in the floors of the secret labs. She may have been nearly 40, but her anger still had plenty of strength to use. She moved with haste to Lab B, the place of most importance right now.
The masked employees blanched, not expecting visitors, but their president ignored them. She entered the specialized chamber, watched over by Fortress and Bronzongs in rotation so that the pokémon inside would be Blocked from Teleporting away. No one could step in before Lusamine grabbed the floating cloud of stardust and squeezed it like a stress ball. "WHAT! GOOD! ARE! YOU! IF! YOU! CAN'T! CONTROL! YOUR! ABILITIES!?", she screamed at the research subject, each shout punctuated with a squeezing or slamming of the pokémon against the enclosure walls. The poor creature let out a long continuous shriek, terrified and pained.
----------------------------------------
Nanu idly scritched behind the ears of one Alolan Meowth whose personality was perfectly comforting during his move from Malie City into his new pad, an abandoned police station intended to serve Po Town before it fell to Team Skull. As he and his many cats sat on the unpacked boxes of awards and knick-knacks, his thoughts drifted, 'Sableye should be back by now. She sure is taking her time.'
----------------------------------------
Wicke heard the commotion, the whispers of discontent that followed her boss when she was in one of her all to common bad moods. She let out a long continuous sigh, terrified and pained by the actions of her superior. She followed the whispers, which of course led her to the elevator. 'One of those days', she thought, swiping her keycard and indicating the one floor with restricted access, B2. Stepping out into the secret labs that she dreaded so much, Wicke saw the trail of cracked flooring leading to Lab B and followed it with a determined glare. She cared about helping pokémon, no performance necessary.
When she entered the lab, her ears were met with screaming, the kind of hoarse, manic screaming people in a stable state were incapable of. Lusamine was wrestling with the Cosmog, one of her high heels snapped and her hair thrown into a chaotic striation of its usual neat, flat locks. Wicke grabbed a luxury ball from her pocket and released a Kantonian Exeggutor into the containment cell. With only a look from Wicke, Exeggutor formed a Reflective box around the Cosmog, stopping Lusamine's beating. "That's quite enough of that ma'am.", she said, and though the look Lusamine sent back was full of rage, the president did not continue.
----------------------------------------
Sableye had more to report than she knew what to do with. She could only skim the documents in the secret labs before needing to report back to Nanu. She skipped from shadow to shadow until finally catching a boat; It might not lead to Ula'ula but she had ways back from any island in Alola. When she did make it back to Ula'ula, she had to travel yet again across Ula'ula to get to her kahuna's new home.
The report Nanu got was not what he expected. Before Sableye could finish the first tenth of her story, he had needed to break out a pen and paper to write it down in detail. Sableye had never used her hand signs so fast. When she was done, an entire conspiracy was laid out on the notepad. Nanu knew he would be making phone calls all night, so he unwrapped the couch that had had its leather coat torn and replaced with a coat of memories and lied back as half a dozen Meowth parked on his body. Then he began his calls, starting with Kukui.
----------------------------------------
----------------------------------------
Gladion wanted answers. In the middle of the night a storm of ace trainers and international police had raided the Aether Paradise and taken his mother away for questioning. His sister wouldn't need to join him this time. He wasn't sure what he would find, his entire perception of his mother had been thrown into question, and he didn't want Lillie to see anything she didn't need to. He was trying to act like he didn't care, but really he was furious. He'd always been a stand-offish person, but now that all was broiling out of him, trying to find something to burn.
First, Gladion went to his mother's room. Normally it would be locked, but the door had been busted open in the raid. He tiptoed around the splinters to the bedside table, he would need her keycard. Once he found the lanyard, he left for his mother's study. He just needed an idea of what the hell prompted all this.
He walked surely and steadily down the hallway and into the study his mother spent so much time in. 'That might be over now', he thought. The door stood ajar, and documents were strewn around the room. He moved to his mother's desk. which lay at an angle she would find unacceptable. He pressed the keycard to the faces of the drawers and cabinets one by one, building a stack of documents and digital storage devices to search through.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
He spent hours there, at that askew desk, reading species conservation and introduction reports from Hoenn, Unova, Kanto, and Alola, bank statements from corporate and private accounts, research papers on various dimensional phenomena, including ultra wormholes, ultra beasts, fallers, and the results of Team Galactic's actions some years ago, and finally archaeological and mythological conjecture about Alola's history, the guardian deities, and with a particular focus on "the beast that calls the moon" and "the pillager of light". His head flooded with information he had no way to place, coming to rest back on the bank statements. 'These will be easy to understand', he thought.
He saw countless donations from prominent figures and organizations. Regional Pokémon Leagues had donated large sums in thanks for the introduction of foreign pokémon to their regions and individual league figures had done the same. There were also grants from several prominent professors, Prof. Samson Oak being the foremost provider. What was the most interesting however were the personal, outgoing transactions. Across a span of years, one person received repeated, large sums of money at sporadic intervals. What was the most strange though was who it was that received them, Guzma, leader of Team Skull.
'This has to be why we were raided!', he thought, 'The League found out about this and wanted to put a stop to anything Team Skull might do by taking away their funding! So many Teams in other regions have tried to play out maniacal plans, that once the League stepped into Alola, they wanted a stop to Team Skull before they could become a problem.' His mind raced, already certain of his conclusion. He needed to talk with Guzma, he was certain, but how would he get from the Aether Paradise to Ula'ula? Gladion packed his things in a flurry, slid a note for Lillie under her door, and left to find someone who would help him.
----------------------------------------
Wicke was exhausted. She felt guilty for everything that had happened in the last couple of days. The president, in custody, branch chief Faba with her. All the while she hid the terrible things she'd let be done. The pokéball in her pocket seemed to be burning a hole in her hand, the shame of what she had let be done and what she had done herself was overwhelming. As she rested her head on her desk in her executive office space above the Aether Paradise's greenhouse habitat, someone knocked on her door.
Gladion was stood there, in an angry panic so similar and yet so different to his mother's. Wicke silently ushered the boy in, returning to her seat. "Mother was funding Team Skull, that's why the raid happened.", the young master said once the door had closed. Wicke was caught by this, she hadn't known about Lusamine paying Team Skull, but it didn't change anything. She knew why it really happened, one of the answers was sitting in her pocket after all.
"I know.", she said, bluffing. She was used to it at this point. "I need to talk to Guzma.", he said determinedly. Wicke sighed. As much as she hated herself for realizing it, this was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the only evidence that the beast killer project had ever happened. Gladion was a good kid, maybe he'd give the pokémon a chance to live a normal life. She waved her delusions away, returning to the matter at hand, Gladion and her sins.
Wicke opened a drawer, grabbing the key to the assistant branch chief's boat. She wouldn't be the assistant branch chief for much longer, maybe a week at most, so she wouldn't be needing it. Then, she grabbed the ball from her pocket. She laid both on the table in front of Gladion.
"The key goes to boat 10C in the docks. The pokéball contains an artificial pokémon we recovered from Team Plasma in Unova, Type: Null. They will likely attack you, but treat them well, they've lived through much abuse.", she lied through her teeth to the boy. Maybe one day she'd tell him the truth, when this was all behind them. Not now though.
The fool looked up at her, thankful and confident. "Thank you Miss Wicke! Keep my sister safe… alright?", Gladion said, before grabbing the keys and pokéball and exiting the office. Wicke clutched her forehead and lowered herself in her chair once he had left. She really hoped this wasn't another decision she would regret.
----------------------------------------
Faba sat across from Lusamine in their separate cells. Their pokémon had been confiscated, to be cared for at a specialized care facility while they were in jail. Lusamine had been trying to keep her composure, but Faba could literally feel her anger. His psychic abilities were much more limited than other experts in the Psychic-Type, having just an emotive sense and detection of anything poking his own mind, but he took pride in it nonetheless. And at times like this, it was invaluable.
The investigation and interrogation by the International Police was exhaustive, but Faba had known how to respond, how to get the various officials not to take him seriously and let him go when the time came. Lusamine had not had such an easy time. She muttered, when her rage got too much, about bastards, ultra beasts, Cosmog, and her kids. It painted a clear picture to him of what had happened in the interrogation room. The president had always been the type to ramble vaguely about her plans when she had an audience that already knew the basic components.
Presently, Faba waited. They could hold him forever, but they wouldn't. The first day of court was tomorrow, and he would need his wits to continue garnering power after this unforeseen setback. At least he had gotten the research subject hidden away, and with his emotive sense he could manipulate the jury to dismiss the idea he had any involvement with its disappearance. Finding his way back in the reaches of Cosmog's power wouldn't be easy, but he'd manage it. Lusamine slapped herself, muttering again. Faba was satisfied with his preparations, so he laid himself on the cheap cushion to sleep.
----------------------------------------
Lillie was scared. She didn't understand what had happened or why. The note her brother had left only made the situation worse, saying he was running away to join Team Skull, the group of pokémon stealing thugs. She stirred in her bed, silently screaming out for someone to tell her what to do.