“You’re joking,” Valerie repeats. Even after I had explained it to her again, for some reason she just didn’t want to believe me. I wondered if she was just shocked, or if she didn’t like the idea.

  Either way I decided to continue my explanation. “She will be arriving with a team either tomorrow or the day after.”

  She was quiet for a moment. “But… But how… H-how? How did you manage to get her to come?”

  “I am capable of many things,” I said rather cryptically. “Such as also gaining the support of the Devon Corporation.” While that hadn’t been officially confirmed, if Steven was anything like he was from what I remembered - and evidence so far had pointed to that being correct - he wouldn’t be against helping us out.

  “D-D-Devon Corporation?” She actually staggered backwards a bit.

  I looked at her for a moment to see if she was going to fall over before I continued, “Specifically I made a deal with Steven.”

  “Steven? Steven Stone?” she asked incredulously. “Only Champion to ever step down rather than being dethroned? That Steven?”

  Again I spent a moment just looking at her. “We literally hang out with Diantha all the time. Why is that such a big deal?”

  She paused as if realizing something. “Oh. Right. I uh… I forgot that Diantha is the Kalos Champion,” she muttered.

  “And a big name movie star,” I added with a vague gesture.

  Valerie spent a moment thinking this over before she shook her head, flailing her arm wings a bit. “This is different. These are large companies that we’re dealing with. Why you of all people would try and get involved with them is beyond me.”

  “And what kind of people am I?” I asked amusedly.

  She did some vague arm flapping gestures. “You hate organizations! You’re constantly fighting with the Association. And the League.” She sounded a bit exasperated.

  “Well that’s because they’re full of jackasses. And sure, Steven’s father is kind of a dick, but Steven is just eccentric. And Lusamine is-” I hesitated.

  Her brow furrowed. “Lusamine is what?”

  I shifted a bit, trying to think of the best way to word it, but came up with nothing. So I decided to just explain it, “Well she’s kinda crazy.”

  Apparently, judging from the look Valerie was giving me, that was not the correct thing to say. “Do you mean hah hah crazy, or murder you in your sleep crazy?”

  Again I hesitated as I had to think about it.

  “The fact you have to think about it is not a good sign!” she exclaimed, flailing her arms at me.

  “I mean… I don’t know. I don’t think she’s ever purposefully murdered anyone,” I said, though it was clear that I was not going to win that argument judging from her expression. “That I know of.”

  “That you know of,” Valerie parrots, giving me the most scathing look she can muster.

  “She’s… obsessive. Eccentric. She has a very, very clear focus,” I explained, a bit apprehensively. I wasn’t sure if I should tell Valerie about Ultra Beasts, but I really couldn’t think of a reason not to.

  “Focus on what?” she pressed.

  I sighed. “Ultra Beasts.”

  There was a moment of silence as her eyes narrowed at me. “And what are those?”

  “To put it simply?” I paused. “Pokemon not from this planet.”

  “And… They’re real?” she asked.

  I nodded. “Yes.”

  Her brow furrowed for a moment before her eyes widened. “That’s why she’s coming! Because you know things about Ultra Beasts!”

  With a sigh, I nodded again. “Yes.”

  “So she’s not coming because of New Hope, she’s coming because of you.” She was pointing very accusingly at me with one of her wings.

  “Hey, that’s not my fault,” I said, trying to defend myself. “I was ready to have a long phone conversation with her, and try to get her assistance. Not my fault she decided to fly out here.”

  “You just said she’s crazy. That is exactly what a crazy person would do!” she shouted.

  I opened my mouth to rebuke her, but then closed it, my brow furrowing. “Okay, yeah. I guess it’s kind of my fault. I should have guessed what her reaction would be. But I still did not expect her to bring a whole team…”

  Her hand escaped from her costume to rub at her face. “Anyone else we should be expecting?”

  I had to think about it for a moment. Was there anyone else I would want to try and get to come? Getting some professors to visit would be a good idea.

  “I don’t like how long it’s taking for you to think about that,” Valerie said, glaring at me.

  “There’s no one else, I was just thinking if I should try and get help from anyone else,” I replied honestly.

  She threw up her hands. “Well don’t! We have enough things to worry about, and New Hope isn’t even open yet!” She turned around and stormed off and out, stomping her feet.

  I watched her leave and then sighed, looking down at my plate of curry a moment before I started eating. Judging from her reaction, I could only guess she was upset that I wasn’t involving her. Which was a bit hypocritical since she and Diantha had kept me in the dark about so many things. But I guess this was different. I was bringing in outside people to help.

  Thankfully, Valerie wasn’t dumb so she’d realize eventually that we literally need all the help we can get. If we are to succeed, we’re going to have to make deals with people, especially since the Association was going to try and somehow fight us on this. If I could get Steven on board, that would be two Champions. No one would be able to stop us.

  That sounded really villainous.

  Wait, was I a villain?

  I was going against the order of things, so I guess to some I would be considered as such.

  Glancing to the side I watched Cara stumble a bit as she made her way over. She could walk a bit now on her own, which was good. “Do you think I’m a villain?” I mused aloud to her, asking what was honestly a silly question.

  She blinked at me. “What?”

  “Regarding the powers that be and such, do you think they consider me a villain, or just a nuisance?” I asked, a bit of a smile on my face.

  A huff of a laugh escaped her. “You’re just thinking about this now?” She had a rather amused expression, as if she had already thought about this. “I would say they think of you as much more than a nuisance at least.”

  “Antagonist, then? That should be more fitting,” I mused.

  Looking over at Lucario, she was giving me a strange look. “Do you… Want to be a villain?”

  I paused for a moment as my brow furrowed. It had been a rather random thought and I was mostly joking, but honestly I was in a position that I could be one. And it would be easy. Scarily easy. With a sigh, I shook my head. “No. Don’t mind me, just a silly thought. If anything though, I might be labeled as like… some kind of outlaw?” I rubbed my chin.

  “Outlaw?” she asked, leaning on the counter to help keep her balance.

  “Although, I doubt that would happen,” I said with a nod after thinking about it.

  “Why’s that?” she asked, surprisingly she was finding this conversation amusing.

  “Well, an outlaw is someone who is outside of the protection of the law,” I explained. “Which wouldn’t happen because of the Jennys.”

  She nodded in understanding. “They would protect you.”

  “Exactly. So I would never be able to become an outlaw, unless I somehow managed to ruin the relationship between myself and the Jennys.” Which would not happen if I could help it. That was a group of people that I would try to stay on the good side of. While we had butted heads a bit, and I probably wasn’t high on some of their favorite peoples list considering how much work I’ve given them…

  But I at least got along with Adria. Even though I could tell she got frustrated with me quite often.

  Cara seemed amused by my explanation. “You sound almost disappointed.”

  “Maybe I am?” I replied with a smirk and she huffed in response.

  We fell into a comfortable silence for a moment as I looked out over everyone. Dee was nearby, watching Cara with some concern.

  “How are you feeling?” I suddenly asked, looking over her bandaged form.

  Her mouth opened and I could tell she wanted to brush off my concern but then she sighed. “I am… frustrated. I don’t remember ever being this weak.”

  I reached out, rubbing her back. “Logically, you were at some point,” I said with a bit of a chuckle.

  She huffed before leaning a bit towards me. “That was so long ago…”

  “Perhaps,” I said softly as I rubbed up and down her back. Her muscles felt tight, as always. Even injured she seemed completely wired to fight at any moment. “But at least you’ll get better. And we are going to trash everyone who stands in front of us at the League.”

  There was a rather dangerous smile on her face and she nodded. “It’s going to be satisfying.”

  I really hoped that it would. Revenge is always iffy. She might feel better, or she could feel nothing. “First we need to get there. And deal with everything,” I said with a sigh.

  “You’re the one who wanted to help,” she said, her smile was something a lot warmer now.

  “I can’t help it,” I admitted with a shrug. “That’s just the kind of person I am.”

  “And we’re all glad about that. Just…” She gestured vaguely towards the other Pokemon, though I couldn’t help but notice the way her hand trembled. “All of us are here because you picked us up. Took us in and helped without ever asking for anything.”

  A snort escaped me. “I just like helping. That’s what I find satisfying. Offering a helping hand and getting someone back on their feet. That’s why I liked being a teacher so much,” I said rather wistfully. “A lot of kids have it hard. The world is literally built against them. Systems designed to control them, force them to conform, and only helping the ones that put in effort to be part of the machine. And I see so much of that in what the Association and League are doing.”

  She shifted a bit and leaned against me slightly. “And that’s what you want to do? Fight the system?”

  “Fight the power,” I responded before busting into laughter. She gave me a look and I just shook my head. It took a moment before I got my laughter under control.

  “What’s so funny?” she said, frowning at me.

  I reached over and rubbed her head. “Sorry. Just some things from the past.”

  She huffed. “Answer my question.”

  “Okay,” I kept petting her as I looked over at all the Pokemon. Some had looked over at my laughter, but went back to what they were doing rather quickly after. “I’m already fighting the system. And honestly the system isn’t really putting up much of a fight.”

  She nodded, learning into my hand. I looked over at Dee, who was nearby watching the two of us. The pink Pokemon was fidgeting a bit.

  A bit of a smirk pulled at the corner of my mouth. “I think your girlfriend is jealous.”

  Cara jolted, taking a few steps away from me. “Huh? Wh-what? What? Wha?”

  “Well, you know.” I wiggled my eyebrows at her. “It’s not hard to see that the two of you have become awfully close.”

  The canine's face was turning more and more red as I spoke. She suddenly turned and stumbled away from me as quickly as she could. All I did was laugh. Teasing others was always so much fun.

  ~

  The next day I was woken up by my phone ringing. It took a moment to pull a hand free from whatever Pokemon was laying on it in order to retrieve it. It was not a number I recognized. With a yawn, I answered. “Hello?”

  Immediately I was met with the beaming smile of Lusamine. “Ah, Jason! We have just landed!” she exclaimed excitedly, causing several Pokemon to grumble about the noise. Checking the time, it was four in the morning.

  I rubbed my face. “Okay. Welcome to Kalos,” I said rather flatly. “New Hope is located outside Laverre.”

  “Excellent. We’ll head there immediately.” She lowered her phone and I heard her call out, “Wicke! Arrange the transport!” and then she hung up.

  Wicke was here, too? Who else had she brought?

  I groaned as I couldn’t go back to sleep now. Instead I texted Evelyne, ‘Emergency. VIP incoming. She got here earlier than I thought.’

  As I worked to get untangled from the pile of Pokemon I waited for her reply. My legs were the biggest struggle, as that’s where Bungle, Disaster, Immodest and Absol had all decided that’s where they were going to sleep, and of course Primarina was also there. Honestly I was surprised that my legs didn’t fall asleep from the amount of Pokemon on them. When I finally got a leg free I got her reply, which was just a bunch of question marks. ‘???????’

  I decided to be nice and explain. ‘Lusamine. Aether Foundation President. I was going to tell you about it today, but she got here a lot faster than I thought.’ Standing up, I added, ‘Valerie already berated me for not telling her sooner, so you can thank her for me not telling you sooner because I didn’t want to get yelled at twice in one day.’

  The little typing notification thing had popped up before I sent the second part and it disappeared for a moment. When it appeared again I sighed at the response, ‘Its better to yell at someone in person than over the phone. Ill get everone prep.’ It seemed she was in a hurry from the misspelling, though the lack of apostrophes was still a thing.

  Just to be cheeky, I sent a message containing two apostrophes, ‘’’’

  Again I got a bunch of question marks, ‘????’

  ‘You seem to have lost your apostrophes, so I was giving you some of mine.’ I explained.

  The little typing bubble appeared and disappeared multiple times. In the end, I never got a reply. I sent a text to Valerie, giving her a warning, ‘Lusamine is in Kalos. Apparently.’ She was probably asleep, since she didn’t respond.

  I went about my morning routine, most of the Pokemon stayed asleep, but a few were roused enough to actually get up. Specifically Rio was wide awake, with Sliggoo riding on her shoulder and Keo walking beside her. Surprisingly, Banette was also there.

  All of them were following me around. “Are we going to fight gym battles?” Rio eventually asked as I pulled my coat on.

  Shaking my head, I replied, “No. We’ve got four days till we do more of those.” I looked at the four of them for a moment and then down at Banette. “Do you wanna battle, too?”

  She nodded, a big smile on her face. Though she was usually smiling.

  I nodded back. “Alright. Then we’ll have to go over what moves you know later, so I can work out some strategies.”

  “If we’re not battling, why are we up so early?” Rio asked, her point punctuated as Sliggoo yawned.

  “We’ve got a very important guest coming, and she arrived a lot earlier than I expected,” I explained.

  “The Lusamine person?” Keo asked, frowning slightly.

  “Yes. Do you know about her?” I asked, looking down at the little white fox.

  She nodded. “That’s who they were going to send me to. The Aether Foundation helps Pokemon like me. Joy made it sound like it would be really nice, that they would take care of me…but it also sounded like I would never get to battle again.”

  Suddenly Rio looked rather excited. “So they do something like New Hope?”

  “A bit,” I agreed with a nod. “Though their focus isn’t on helping Pokemon, it is something that their organization does.”

  Rio’s eyes narrowed. “Are they bad guys?”

  I hesitated. “At the moment? No. But there is a possibility.”

  She frowned, but Keo looked puzzled. “But then why are we getting their help?”

  A bit of a smile formed on my face as I sat down in the rest area of the training ground. “Because what you hear about a person or group isn’t always true. The Aether Foundation could be an enemy, but if they aren’t they could be an extremely powerful ally.”

  “Which makes it worth a risk,” Rio said firmly.

  I nodded.

  “And if they step out of line, we beat them up,” Sliggoo added, wiggling a bit.

  That caused me to laugh a bit and nod. “Yes. If they become too much trouble, we can always take them down like Team Flare.”

  It was a few hours later when I suddenly got a phone call. It was Lusamine.

  When I answered, I gave her a bit of a smile. “Just now realizing you never let me tell you where I am?” I asked cheekily.

  Judging from the way her mouth was open as if about to ask that very question, realizing in her rush she had indeed not given me a chance to give my location. She coughed slightly to shake the awkwardness. “Yes.”

  “Laverre Gym. I’ll be out front, either before you get here or after,” I stated. And before I had a chance to say anything else, observing her rapid nods, she hung up. I sighed and shook my head. “That woman…” Looking around for a moment to see who was awake, I asked. “Who wants to come with?”

  After a bit of discussion, the ones who came were Primarina, Diancie, Sliggoo, Banette, Keo, and of course, Eevee. Oh, and Rotom as well. Since there was little chance of fighting, Rio and Scoly wanted to stay behind and train. I could tell that Keo was also considering it, but she eventually decided to come along. She wanted to take any chance of using abilities in the real world rather than just training, even if the chance of something happening was slim to none.

  Or maybe she just wanted to hang out.

  Absol also wanted to come, but Rio convinced her that she should join in on training. She seemed excited after a bit of explanation, but I knew that she was going to be very tired when I got back. And the other dogs knew that as well, judging by the looks they exchanged. Thankfully for her, Diancie wouldn’t be participating. She had yet to feel the effects of Gravity.

  Rio was planning to join in the training, but I requested that she come along. She had huffed, but I wanted to have more strong members just in case. While Primarina and Diancie were strong, and the other three were on their way, the standard was three Pokemon. If something happened, I wanted three heavy hitters.

  Stepping outside I half expected to see Lusamine already standing out there, impatiently waiting for me. But no, it looked like she hadn’t gotten here yet. I briefly wondered if she even knew where the gym was.

  Before I had a chance to think too much on it I watched as a literal convoy of large trucks, jeeps and vans, began to pull in front of the building. I stared at them a moment and watched as Lusamine stepped out of one, quickly followed by Wicke from a different vehicle.

  Lusamine was tall, lithe, with that long blond hair that practically encased her body. Wicke looked a bit disheveled in comparison, though her mauve hair was large and immaculate. She had a clipboard in hand and was trying to discuss things with Lusamine, but it was clear she was ignoring her. Instead, she just grinned at me. “Ah! Jason! We finally meet in person!”

  I ignored her and looked out at the seven vehicles that were now parked in front of the gym. “How many people did you bring?” I asked.

  Lusamine just waved a hand vaguely to dismiss the question. “Not important. Now, you have quite a bit of land, right? With this New Hope thingy?”

  “Twenty,” Wicke answered, adjusting her large glasses. “Most of the space in the vehicles is equipment.”

  “Thank you, Wicke,” I said with a smile, which she returned. “Do I even want to know why you brought so much equipment?”

  Lusamine just grinned at me, seemingly not offended at all that I had just blatantly ignored her questions. “Why, this of course,” she gestured to someone else that got out of a vehicle and I felt a cold feeling run down my spine.

  The man wore massive green goggles, with blond hair and an almost devilish beard with quite an impressive widow’s peak haircut. Faba. This was someone who could be quite a threat. The problem was; was this anime Faba or game Faba? Or worse, manga Faba. Two out of three chances that he was a villain. I was going to have to keep an eye on him.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  The man under scrutiny did look a bit nervous as he came forward, a case in his hands. I wasn’t sure if he was sweating because of me, Lusamine, or just because he was a sweaty person. It sure wasn’t because it was hot out.

  Lusamine wasted no time and opened the case, revealing a blue pokeball with a net like pattern and four large yellow fins. A beast ball.

  She really was insane.

  She brought an Ultra Beast to Kalos.

  “Is that what I think it is?” I asked, eying the ball with a bit of caution. Depending on which Ultra Beast it was, things could get really, really, really bad.

  “Indeed,” she said, still grinning. “Ah, but don’t worry. We have taken all the proper precautions.” She released a Pokemon. It was massive, towering over me. It was a canine chimera, its head mostly mechanical, with a silver mane extending down its neck. It had a large set of spikes on its head similar to a wing, sharp metallic green claws on its front legs, while its back legs were that of a dog, black in color like its body. And it had a large tail fin like that of a fish. “This is the Type: Full.”

  That was a Silvally. But if she was calling it Type: Full, that meant that this was before the incident of them rejecting the RKS System. “An artificial Pokemon?” I asked, even though I knew the answer.

  Lusamine seemed surprised. “Oh? You’re able to tell?”

  I stepped up to them, looking into their face. Their eyes flicked to me for a moment before it continued to scan the area for threats. Its gaze occasionally flicked to the ball in the case, clearly knowing what it’s for. “I have had encounters with other man-made Pokemon.”

  That got the Silvally’s full attention as it looked at me. “Others like me?” they asked. Their voice was rough, with a twinge of metallic to it.

  I nodded. “If there’s time, would you like to meet them?” I asked, clearly directing the question towards the large Pokemon.

  Everyone was quite quiet as they watched me converse with them. Lusamine’s eyes were shining, like she had just found a gold mine. “I… I think so,” the Silvally replied after a time.

  “Alright. May I examine you?” I asked. They gave a hesitant nod after a moment and I moved even closer. Everyone seemed to tense as I got within a certain distance, even Lusamine looked a little apprehensive. I didn’t touch them, but asked if they could move in certain ways, and asked if they felt any discomfort or pain anywhere.

  Thankfully they seemed fine. Whatever process they had used to create this Pokemon was at least done in a way that created an actual lifeform. Which was terrifying. These things were capable of being incredibly powerful. On the same level as Legendaries. A false god to mimic the strength and power of Arceus himself.

  Eventually I took a step back. “Thank you. You look to be in fairly good condition, though your diet could use a bit of tweaking.”

  Faba immediately seemed to lose whatever wariness he had for a moment as he stepped forward. “Diet? What’s wrong with its diet?”

  “Mostly fiber and a few minerals. They’re good on their vitamin levels.” I was honestly amazed that my power worked so well on an artificial Pokemon, but it worked on Mewtwo so I don’t know why I was surprised at all. “From what I can tell you’ve been feeding them an entire carnivore diet.” I reached into my bag and pulled out a pokeblock, offering it up the Silvally as I looked towards Faba.

  Everyone seemed very tense at my actions. Which was understandable. But it’s not like they were hostile towards me, so I didn’t have anything to worry about.

  Continuing my explanation, “I don’t know all of the types of DNA you used, or the method, but from what I can tell they’re just a bit lacking.” I felt an odd coolness of metal as the Silvally gently used its claws to pick up the pokeblock to examine it. “Nothing that would compromise their health. They just need a bit of a nudge to get into peak condition.”

  Judging by the looks they were all giving me, I really should not have told them that. “You mean it- they can be stronger?” Lusamine asked. I was a bit surprised that she had caught onto how I referred to them as a they rather than it and had actually corrected herself. Most didn’t.

  “Anyone and everyone can get stronger,” I said with a bit of a shrug. “Provided they're healthy. Can they learn TMs?” I asked, wanting to see if I could try and steer the conversation towards the RKS System.

  “Oh yes,” Faba said quite excitedly. “We’ve even designed a special- oof.” He was abruptly cut off as Lusamine elbowed him.

  “That’s enough. Thank you, Faba,” she said rather coldly, any hint of joy or excitement gone from her expression. “Please return to the truck, we’ll be leaving shortly.”

  He rubbed at his side, nodding. “Yes, President.”

  As he retreated I gave Lusamine a questioning look. She just waved a hand, her expression melting back into the pleased smile she had been wearing. “Oh don’t worry about that. We’re not good enough friends to share secrets like that.” Her smile turned into a grin. “Yet.”

  All I could really do was nod slightly. “Right… Okay, well we should get going. There should be some Joys preparing for arrival.”

  “Oh goody!” she said excitedly, moving back to her vehicle. “Come, come. I simply can’t wait!” She got into the passenger seat of a rather fancy looking car, and I noticed how Wicke held the back door to another vehicle open for me.

  With a bit of a sigh I nodded, getting in. Though I froze after a moment, locking eyes with a blonde, green eyed child. We stared at each other for a moment before I offered a hand. “Hello, I’m Jason, but I prefer Jace.”

  She seemed to shrink back a bit, but hesitantly shook my hand. “I-I’m Lillie…”

  Of course Lusamine would bring her daughter. I should have expected that. Was Gladion here, too? Just inside a different vehicle? And why had Lusamine shoved me in a different vehicle? The person in the passenger seat wasn’t someone I recognized, nor the driver.

  As I explained to the driver how to get to New Hope, I realized that I was sat in the middle. There was plenty of space, but it felt very awkward to be sitting between Lillie and Wicke. I listened to him explain to the others where to go as I glanced at Lillie and Wicke.

  Wicke seemed to realize the mistake she made as she got in, but decided to ignore it. I wondered if she had forgotten Lillie was there. At least Wicke was someone I was confident was good. She was also one of the people I thought was attractive. And from what I remembered from my last life, I was not alone in thinking that. Although a lot of those people would have quite a few thoughts about other things, Wicke just seemed like a kind person.

  I really hoped that she was like her other counterparts.

  Lillie being here was a good sign. Wicke seemed to be more of a parental figure to the young girl than Lusamine. Which was sad since Lillie seemed like a good kid.

  A kid who was trying to discreetly look at me and failing. I wondered if I should meddle with Lillie’s story? Since she was here and all, and I had no doubt already messed up Gladion’s future with how I changed Guzma.

  Before I really had a chance to think too much of it, Lillie actually spoke up. “Are you a Trainer?” Judging from the way Wicke’s head spun to look at us she had not been expecting that either.

  I glanced at her and gave her a small smile. “Technically no. I’m a Pokemon Expert.”

  She frowned a bit, glancing at my wrist. “Why do you have a Z-Ring?”

  “Because I am technically in the middle of a Trial,” I replied, tilting my head to the side. “Are you going to take the Trials?”

  “I… don’t like battling…” she admitted, averting her gaze.

  I nodded. “That’s understandable.”

  She blinked up at me. “Really?”

  “Sure,” I said with another nod. “It can be hard to watch your friends and partners get hurt.”

  “So you don’t like battling?” she asked. I clearly had her full attention.

  “They can be fun,” I admitted. “Especially when the Pokemon actually enjoy it.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Pokemon like battling?”

  “Sure. A lot of them do. Not all of them, though. I have quite a few that don’t battle.” I really wished I had brought a noncombatant. If I had known Lillie was going to be here, I would have.

  “You…have Pokemon that don’t battle? Like pets?” she asked, her brow furrowing even more. This was clearly not a concept that had ever come up. Had Kukui not explained something like that to her, or had she not gone to stay with him?

  “My Pokemon are my family,” I explained with a smile. “They’re not pets, or tools, or whatever else. They’re my precious family, and I would do anything for them. If they don’t want to battle, that’s fine. If they want to battle, then I’ll help them be strong so they can win.”

  There was quite the shocked expression on her face. This really was a new concept for her. “And they want to battle?”

  I nodded and reached into my coat, hesitating for a moment as I looked over at Wicke. “Would it be alright if I brought out a Pokemon? She’s not large.”

  Wicke seemed to think it over for a moment, glancing up at the driver before she nodded. “As long as it’s not large.”

  With permission, I released Keo into my lap. The little fox blinked up at me in surprise. “Huh?”

  “This is Keo,” I said with a smile, petting her. Thankfully she realized that she was being used for some kind of demonstration and huffed, sitting down.

  Lillie’s eyes sparkled, immediately recognizing the Alolan Vulpix, and it seemed that Wicke had as well. But there was a bit of a frown on her face. “She looks quite injured.”

  “Looks can be deceiving,” I said with a chuckle. “Keo is going to be one of the Pokemon I use when I challenge the League.”

  Both of them looked shocked. Even the driver and passenger were shocked. Heck, even Keo looked shocked.

  “Really?” the little fox asked.

  I mussed up her hair a bit. “Of course.”

  “But… She’s injured?” Lillie asked, looking at the missing leg and the scars.

  “But she wants to fight. Isn’t that right, Keo?” I asked.

  Keo sat up straighter and nodded. “Yup!” Her agreement almost sounded like a bark, which was quite adorable.

  Lillie just looked a bit confused. I was truly shaking up this little girl's entire world belief. “I may not be a Trainer, but I still do things a Trainer does. I take care of my family, and I help them the best I can.” I turned a bit to look at her, smiling. “Does that make sense?”

  She fell silent as she puzzled over what I said.

  Turning my attention to Wicke, which seemed to startle the woman slightly as I focused on her, I asked her a rather important question, “So what are the chances of the Aether Foundation actually helping New Hope?”

  Wicke adjusted her glasses, a bit of a smile on her face. “Well, we are actually interested in cooperation. I know Lusamine is a little… uh… focused. And seems to have a one track mind. But she is actually interested in helping.”

  I chuckled a bit. “I was well aware of Lusamine’s… eccentricities when I reached out.” One of the people up front snorted at my comment and Wicke glared at the two men, who both pretended to be watching the road.

  She sighed, lifting her glasses to rub the bridge of her nose. “I wish she would focus more on the other aspects, but at this point we’re all just kind of used to it.” The two in front nod, and she glares at them again, causing them to go back to admiring the scenery.

  “It’s fine. I had an idea of what I was getting into, however I uh…” I glanced around, looking back at all the other cars. “I was honestly expecting it to just be a long phone call, rather than… all this.” I gestured vaguely.

  “You are a solid lead,” she says with a tired sigh. “Honestly I had no idea what she was planning until Faba showed up at the airport with the Beast Ball.”

  I was about to ask which Ultra Beast was in there when we arrived. Annoyingly perfect timing on that.

  As we got out, Wicke actually seemed surprised. “Wow… This is actually quite the facility.”

  Lillie followed me out, which was a bit surprising. I wondered if she couldn’t get out the other side, or just wanted to go out our door or something. “Construction just recently finished, and we’re preparing things for the official opening.”

  Looking towards the door I could see an extremely tense Evelyne who looked like she wanted to cry. Behind her was Rebecca and Marie. Marie being here surprised me a bit, since she was assigned to Aquacorde.

  Lusamine walked right up to them, and I could tell she was grinning. “Well! While everyone gets things set up, let’s have a tour, shall we?”

  The Joys all nodded, bowing slightly as they greeted her. All of us soon started the tour, Wicke and Lillie joining in as well, while Faba stayed behind to help set up whatever it was they wanted to do. Hopefully whatever they were doing didn’t ruin the parking lot, since it was mostly just packed dirt.

  Everyone actually seemed rather surprised by the facility as we went through the tour. I had a feeling that Lusamine and Wicke thought that this was just some kind of minor operation, like a special type of Pokecenter. So when they actually saw that it had a Pokecenter inside of it, it caught them off guard. I explained a bit of the process, as well as the different types of residents we would have. But what really stunned them, or at least stunned Wicke, was when I mentioned how many Pokemon we were preparing for intake.

  “No wonder you’re trying to get assistance,” Lusamine commented at the end of the tour as we all stood in the main lobby. “The Aether Foundation sees those numbers in…” She looked at Wicke.

  Wicke took a moment to think before responding, “Three? Four years?”

  Luasmine nodded. “And you’re expecting that day one? It’s quite a daunting task.”

  “It’s just the initial wave,” I explained. Or at least I really hoped it was. “There is a sort of… backlog that we need to work through. Unfortunately due to certain events, we had to push forward certain plans and scramble to catch everything up.”

  Wicke nodded, judging from the look on her face she knew that sort of thing well. Lusamine seemed more thoughtful than bothered. “I can see us working together,” she said after a moment of thought. “You certainly have the land, and you would be willing to accept transfers from us, correct?” She was suddenly all business. A lot of her sort of listless attitude had abruptly shifted and it caught me off guard.

  “Of course,” I said with a nod. “Since we’re essentially working in all regions, that includes Alola and its surrounding area. Although I’m sure that the Kahuna would be quite against their special variants being shipped off to a different region, so a discussion is going to have to be made with them.”

  She frowned a bit and nodded. “I don’t think that we would be able to help facilitate that, but the Aether Foundation would still hopefully be an appropriate place. I won’t lie and say we have all the space for all the Pokemon we get, but if we can shift some here - even temporarily - there shouldn’t be any problems.”

  I smiled a bit and nodded. This had honestly gone so much better than I had thought it would. I definitely thought I would have to do something absurd to get her to assist, but Lusamine actually seemed quite agreeable. “I think we can definitely work with that.”

  Suddenly she clapped her hands. “Now! If you don’t mind, could we have a little meeting with our Ultra Beast?” And that big smile was back. That’s when I realized that the only reason she had agreed to help so easily was because she wanted to move on to the actual reason she was here.

  My smile was a bit more forced now and I nodded. “Sure.”

  As we moved outside, I released my Pokemon. I didn’t think I needed their help, since they had brought a Silvally, I wanted to be prepared. I explained to them quietly that I wanted them to keep their distance, and only jump in if a fight broke out. It wouldn’t be good to spook whatever Ultra Beast Lusamine had brought.

  Turning my focus back to what was going on, I realized they had turned the entire parking lot into some sort of makeshift outdoor laboratory. Cameras and other instruments all aimed at the center, which they had left open and wide. Many of the researchers were hiding behind the vehicles, which is where they had set up the computers.

  I approached Faba and Lusamine, who were discussing things. The ball was still in its box, which was laying open on a table. The Silvally was standing stoically beside the table, guarding the ball.

  Without asking, or really explaining what I was doing, I moved to the table and picked the ball up out of the case. “So this is a Beast Ball?” I asked as I felt the weight of it. It was considerably heavier than a regular pokeball, probably twice as much.

  “Yes, thaaaaaat’s-” Faba’s voice trailed off, his eyes widening as he saw what I was doing. The Sylvally seemed completely nonplussed at my actions, just watching me.

  “Do you have a list of questions you want me to ask?” I asked as I started to make my way towards the center with the ball.

  Lusamine looked so excited as she rushed to me with a clipboard and practically shoved it at me. “So many! Give us a moment to get all the equipment turned on!”

  I took the clipboard and she practically sprinted away, joining everyone else behind the vehicles. Glancing at the clipboard, I scanned over the questions. They were all rather basic. “Arceus I hope this isn’t an aggressive Nihilego…” I did not want to deal with mind control jellyfish right now. I was confident that I could probably talk one down to an extent. That is… if I could even communicate with them…

  Out of the corner of my eye I could see Lusamine giving me a thumbs up before retreating. With a sigh, I clicked the button and released the Ultra Beast. What appeared was about my height, mostly white with a bit of gold and was reminiscent of a cockroach. Its torso is composed of five thin discs that droop down, the widest makes up its shoulders while the second widest appears to be its hips. There’s a golden crown-like structure on the top of its head, two extremely long antennae extend from two of the largest tips and almost reach the ground. It has two massive transparent wings that almost look like hair because they’re attached to its rather wide head.

  Its purple eyes looked around, and I examined its bright blue pupils before it seemed to lock onto me. It didn’t look hostile, more confused than anything else. But I knew that was deceiving. This was a Pheromosa. An extremely strong and fast Ultra Beast that could apparently accelerate to one hundred and twenty miles an hour in less than a second.

  “Hello,” I said, getting its attention as I put the ball away into my pocket. “My name is Jason, but I prefer Jace.

  “G’day,” they replied simply.

  Their response caught me off guard for a moment, but I brushed it off. “Can I ask you some questions?”

  It took a moment but eventually they nodded.

  I looked down at the first question on my clipboard. “What’s your name?”

  It stared at me for a moment. “Naevah raylly thaw’ abeow’ a nuyme, sao ya cahn cohl me whuytevah,” it replied, studying me a bit more.

  I tried really hard to keep from laughing. That was one of the thickest Australian accents I had ever heard. “I see. Then, do you mind if I call you Phera?” I asked as I wrote that down as the answer to the first question.

  They studied me for a moment before nodding. “Shooah, Oy koinda loike the sound of thaht.” Their gaze moved over to the people behind the cars. “Whoy ahh thy ooll hoidin?”

  Following her gaze, I could see several people peeking out. “They’re scared of you,” I replied with a bit of a shrug.

  “And yah ahh nawt?” they asked as their eyes landed on me again.

  “No?” I looked at them for a moment. “There’s not really a whole lot that scares me, aside from water.”

  “Yah’re scaehd of wottah? Whoy?” Their head tilted slightly to the side as they asked.

  I shrugged. “Not sure? It’s an irrational fear.” They seemed to understand that and nodded, much to my surprise. I wasn’t sure if they actually understood or were just not sure how to continue questioning it. “May I ask if you know what gender is, and what gender you are?”

  That seemed to upset them a bit as they scowled at me. “Oy’m a guhl.”

  I nodded several times as I wrote it down. “Sorry, they wanted me to ask you a bunch of questions, so they’re probably going to seem dumb or pretty random.”

  “Whoy do thy wahnt t’ know sao much abeow’ me? Theah’s hundreds of uhthahs loike me bahck in the desuht…” She seemed rather confused. If what I remembered were correct, Pheromosa were very common back in their world?

  “I really don’t know. Do you want me to ask them?” I was writing down a few things she had mentioned. Abundance of others like her. From some sort of desert. Even though I knew that, it was good to write it down. However, as I was doing so she had gotten quite close in order to look at the clipboard.

  I showed it to her. “Bunch of screebbles,” she commented. Of course I wasn’t expecting her to be able to read, just that I wanted to show I was willing to indulge in her curiosity.

  “They wanted me to write down your answers,” I explained. “Writing is a way of physically putting spoken words down.”

  “Oh, loike runes.” She nodded slightly.

  “What are runes?” I asked, immediately curious. I could practically see Lusamine vibrating out of the corner of my eye.

  “Oy dawn’t know. Yah just found thaem sometoimes on rawcks in the desuht,” she said before looking at my pencil, watching the way I wrote down her response.

  “Do you remember the way you got to this world? Was there a hole in space, a tunnel, or something before you were suddenly not in the desert?” That was a pretty good question. I wasn’t sure if they had started traveling through the wormholes to the other side yet, but judging by other questions, they had not.

  “The biieg shiny hole thing?” She seemed to think about it for a moment. “Ih' was praetty. Oy wahnted t' tyke a bettah look at ih' whaen suddenly Oy was somewheah else and the hole was gone,” she explained.

  “Do you-” I paused as there was a soft grumbling noise from her and I looked up. Her face flushed as I realized that was her stomach growling. “When was the last time they fed you?” I asked as I looked over to the scientists.

  She seemed to think for a moment, but didn’t look at me, clearly embarrassed. “Oy dawn’t knaow,” she admitted.

  I sighed as I reached for my bag, specifically going into the pouch and pulling out a pokebean. “Here,” I said, offering it to her.

  There was a moment of hesitation, and I realized that Pheromosa were quite reluctant to touch things in our world, finding them unclean or something. But eventually she took it. I could see the scientists panic. Had they not fed her at all since capturing her? Or were they panicking because they didn’t know how she would react to pokebeans? Some sort of dietary thing?

  Lusamien seemed to be the only one not worried. In fact she looked quite interested.

  Phera just started to nibble on the pokebean rather anticlimactically. I wasn’t sure if she liked it, but she didn’t stop eating. While she did that I went back to looking at the clipboard. There weren't that many questions left. Probably because they didn’t know if I would actually be able to speak to her so they didn’t put much effort into it.

  “So, in case you weren’t aware, when you went through that hole you actually went to a different planet,” I explained before looking back at her.

  She paused in her nibbling to speak, “Oy figured ih' was somethin loike thaht. Thiies plyce is why too deefferent. Buh'...pluyneh'? Whaht's a pluyneh'?”

  My brow furrowed slightly. “So, you know you are from a desert, yes?”

  She nodded. “Yaes?”

  “Was there anything beyond the desert?” I asked, actually curious about it myself. That was something I was curious about.

  “Oy dawn't knaow,” she replied with a shrug. “Theah was some tohk frawm some of the oldah ones abeow' uhthah pluyces, buh' Oy naevah saw anythin.”

  I nodded slowly before crossing out the rest of the questions. She didn’t even know what a planet was, so there was no way she would know the answer to any of the other questions. Lusamine would just have to be satisfied with what I had managed to glean from Phera, and the little bits I had added.

  “Thaht was raylly good. Cahn Oy hahve moah?” she suddenly asked after finishing her pokebean.

  Without really thinking about it, I pulled out another and gave it to her. She had quite a pleased expression on her face. “Do you have any questions?” I asked, since I had asked her so many it was only right that I give her the chance to ask some of her own.

  She nibbled thoughtfully on the bean. I could see that her mouth was actually quite small compared to the rest of her body and even the size of her head. Although it looked like that little mouth was full of razors. “Cahn Oy gao home?”

  I frowned a bit. “Unfortunately that’s not up to me. And even if they wanted to, it would be extremely difficult. What you came through was a wormhole. And they are random and nearly impossible to control.”

  Her body seemed to sag slightly. That was definitely not the answer she was hoping for. “Cahn Oy at layst nawt gao bahck in the bohl thing? Ih's cawmfohtable, buh' theah’s sao much stuff t' say and Oy wahnt t' look at theengs.”

  “I think I can manage that a bit. Though you’d have to listen to what those people say,” I said as I gestured over to the researchers. She looked over and I saw them all tense at her gaze. “That lady there, with the long blonde hair, she’s really interested in you and the place you came from. If you hang around her and listen to her, she’s your best bet at getting home.”

  “Oh-kai.” She paused, looking suspiciously at Lusamine. “She wawn’t ask me t' do anythin wiiehd, roigh'?”

  “I… I don’t know. Probably not. But if she does, you can always refuse.” I didn’t think she would ask Phera to do weird things, but I wasn’t going to tell her to blindly follow everything that Lusamine said.

  “Oh-kai,” she said again and then yawned. “Cahn Oy gao bahck in the bohl naow? Oy’m tuyahd.”

  “Of course,” I pulled the Beast Ball out of my pocket. “It was nice talking with you Phera. We’ll probably do it again.” She just nodded, and I returned her to the ball.

  Lusamine practically sprinted towards me, snatching the clipboard out of my hand. “That was amazing. It was so docile!” She paused. “Ah, female. Interesting.”

  “You were recording all of that, right?” I asked, looking at some of the instruments.

  “Of course,” she said, beaming at me. “Watching you interact with it- her was fascinating. Was it difficult to communicate?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “Not difficult. It was like conversing with someone with a thick accent.”

  “Accent?” she asked, her brow furrowing. “Interesting… So, as an Expert, what are your thoughts?”

  Thinking about it for a moment I shrugged, giving Lusamine the Beast Ball. “She’s a Pokemon. Whether from some distant planet, another dimension, or whatever other theories you have about where they come from. At the end of the day she’s just a strong Pokemon.”

  Lusamine looked thoughtful as she held the ball. “Hm… That is an interesting take on things. But the fact that you were able to understand her definitely adds credibility to your theory.”

  I nodded as I watched all of her researchers starting to pack up the equipment. The Silvally still looked on guard and was watching the area. “Can I fight that?” Rio suddenly asked, having come up beside me. Looking at her, I followed her gaze to the artificial Pokemon.

  “You would lose,” I said simply.

  Her head whipped towards me and she looked like I had just offended her. “And what makes you think that?”

  “Do you think you could beat Mewtwo?” I asked, rather than answering her question.

  “Yes?” came another voice. Lusamine’s eyes practically bulged out her head at the sight of the Pokemon that had just appeared.

  I turned to the new arrival. “Mewtwo, you know you don’t have to come every time I say your name,” I said, amused.

  “I want to know why you are talking about me,” they said rather flatly.

  “That’s…” Lusamine was staring at Mewtwo.

  “Ah, yes. The artificial Pokemon I was talking about. Mewtwo, would you like to meet another man-made Pokemon?” I asked.

  They blinked at me. “Someone like me?”

  “Sort of. Come.” I gestured for them to follow me as I approached Silvally. “Sil-” I stopped, realizing that wasn’t their name. “Do you have a name?” I asked instead.

  They blinked at me. “I am Type: Full Zero Two.”

  I frowned a bit. “That’s too long. Do you mind if I just call you Sil?”

  They blinked at me again before shaking their head. “That’s fine.”

  “Good. Sil? This is Mewtwo. Mewtwo, Sil.” I introduced the two of them and they just stared. They were completely silent. It took me a moment before I realized they were talking psychically.

  My arm was suddenly grabbed and Lusamine pulled me away. “How do you have a Mewtwo?” she hissed.

  That was surprising. She knew what they were. “I don’t. They are part of New Hope. Currently in the category of permanent resident.”

  She gaped at me. “You have one of the most powerful artificial Pokemons to ever exist and you’re just…”

  “Letting them be free. Yes,” I said with a nod.

  It was several moments before she started laughing. “Oh Arceus, and they call me crazy!”

  I snorted. “I make it a point to never force a Pokemon to do anything they don’t want to do. Whether that be a basic Pokemon, a Legendary, or one that’s man-made. Mewtwo is free to do whatever they want.”

  “Amazing,” Lusamine said, shaking her head. “You truly are such a strange man.” There was a smile on her face. “But I don’t dislike that. You remind me of my husband.” Her tone was rather wistful as she watched the two Pokemon. “He was the main reason the Aether Foundation works so hard to help Pokemon… First one to discover the wormholes.”

  Her husband. Right. Damn. I could slap myself right now for being so stupid. Her husband going missing was one of the reasons she snapped, right? It was time to shake up the timeline. Without a word I pulled out my phone, and texted Kukui, ‘Who takes care of the Poke Pelego?’

  “He died,” she said rather bluntly. “An accident with the wormholes… It made me wonder how many other families had they ruined? Who else had they taken?” It was clear she was mostly talking to herself. Maybe she was trying to justify her obsession to me.

  I remained silent as I waited. It wasn’t long before I got a response from Kukui, ‘What’s the Poke Pelego?’

  Well that answered that.

  That meant Mohn was probably in the Crown Tundra. ‘Nevermind. Can you give me Professor Sonia or Professor Magnolia’s number?’ He immediately gave me Sonia’s number, though he followed up by asking what I needed it for. I ignored that and sent a text to Sonia, ‘Hello, Professor. This is Expert Jason. I have a question for you if you have the time?’

  “That’s why I keep researching. We have to figure out how to stop them. How to control them. If we can do that, we could do so much-” she stopped. “Are you even listening?” she snapped.

  “Of course,” I said as I looked up at her with a bit of a smile. “If I told you I believed your husband was alive, would you believe me?”

  Lucario - The group mom, battered and out of action

  Lucario - This dog wants violence.

  Scolipede - Pokemon transport unit

  Primarina - Doing big seal things

  Audino - Trained Nurse Pokemon

  Diancie - Big sparkly that just wants to throw rocks at people

  Eevee - Living that sleepy hood life

  Sliggoo - Deadly chew toy

  Mimikyu - Very skilled seamstress

  Banette - Silent but persuasive?

  Vulpix (Alolan) - A bit too battle hungry

  Espurr - Little cat that likes pokebeans.

  Liepard - Big hungry cat

  Houndour - Just a little pup

  Houndoom - Bit of a space case

  Mightyena - Super serious

  Fennekin) - Not up to too much yet.

  Rotom - Shy little zappy

  Absol - Future problems

  Houndour

  Guff

  Bleak

  Rascal

  Dilly

  Fret

  False

  Grubby

  Muddle

  Gabby

  Dwindle

  Crass

  Houndoom

  Poochyena

  Mightyena

  Sneasel