33

Lusamine marched down the halls of Aether Paradise, all traces of her confusion gone as she snapped her fingers at the first two employees she came across. The badges on their chests made it clear they weren't just common mooks, being a little higher rank than the majority of employees, but that didn't matter to Lusamine as she started barking orders.

"You, go get me two awakenings. You, fetch me security. I need at least two with potential blackout capabilities – for interference in a teleport. Relay what I said specifically, and send them to control room alpha. Go!" she barked, sending the two scuttling off. "Leo, I need you to call Victoria when we get to the control room. There are cameras down in the research labs and we'll be able to get a decent idea of what's going on down there from them – I pray that you are wrong in your assumption of Faba," she said icily.

"Me too," Leo said honestly. "But Kanto is a long way away, do you think Victoria will be able to get here in time?"

"It'll take ten minutes for her to teleport here, assuming she can find a powerful enough teleporter to get all the way from Kanto to Alola. They have to make pit stops in order for the teleporter to lock on to the next location properly. Even if she cannot make it and we have to move without her, then at the very least she can send some of her team over to aid us. She does keep a few team members here in Alola," Lusamine explained, approaching the elevator doors and pressing the down button.

"Got it. What is Faba's research about?" Leo asked, trying to figure out why he would take Lillie and Gladion down with him. Faba was the one who made Type: Null, so…

"Ultra-related phenomena," Lusamine said grimly, the doors to the elevator dinging open and stepping inside. "Though why he would need my children for anything regarding that is beyond me," Leo cursed and rubbed the back of his neck, thumbing the release for Link and feeling Spiritomb's agitation through their bond. The Bellossom appeared on the floor of the elevator as Leo slipped in as well, the doors sliding shut as it began to descend.

"So we need to be prepared for Ultra Beasts in the worst case scenario," Leo reasoned, and Lusamine nodded slowly. He hummed and thought about what he knew about Ultra Beasts – something he'd been thinking about a lot since coming to this world. "If that's the case and Faba is trying to summon an Ultra Beast – I dunno, using Lillie and Gladion as bait? Have they been exposed to ultra wormholes before?" he asked.

"Maybe once," Lusamine said, running her fingers over the two pokeballs she had and scowling. "Back when Mohn was alive. We saw a wormhole open during a picnic once, though nothing came out – it was what truly jump-started the research of the phenomenon. They don't have any residual energy on them, however. I scanned them myself a few months ago, it would've made more sense to kidnap you if that was the case,"

Leo winced. "Maybe I'm not the best choice to go down there, then," he said, considering that his presence might further attract ultra beasts.

"No, you're right in that you need to come. You being dark makes you a valuable asset against Faba's psychic types, especially if his Hypno is a trained hypnotist. Besides, for an ultra-wormhole to open very specific criteria have to be met; criteria that, after the last set of scans yesterday, have not been met," she said hesitantly. "However if, on the off chance that he has figured out a way to open the wormholes himself or tampered with the scan data to hide his experiment, then an ultra beast may be coming after you. And, as harsh as it may sound, we don't want them tearing through the entire Aether Paradise to get to you. There are containment measures in place, so we may have you placed near them, or run towards those,"

The doors to the elevator dinged open then, and Leo followed Lusamine down the long hall towards one of the control rooms on the second level.

"Worst case scenario, evacuation procedures need to be prepped," Leo said, thinking about some of the more dangerous ultra beasts that could come out. "If something like Blacephalon or Guzzlord appear, and possibly Kartana, then the whole building will be in danger. Even if they're focusing on me, they could cause serious damage and I doubt they'd stop once they got to me," he reasoned.

"How do you know about those?" Lusamine asked, giving him a sidelong glance.

"Where I came from, information about ultra-beasts wasn't as suppressed as it is here. Honestly it's probably a good thing it's secret," Leo half-lied smoothly. "If anything comes out of an ultra-wormhole, I bet it will be Nihilego. Poison-rock type, looks like a floating white jellyfish – er, Tentacruel, almost. Don't let it get close, the poison it emits is a neurotoxin. From what I remember it's not lethal, but it can and will mess with your mind and behaviors," Leo said, stepping into the control room with Lusamine. She frowned but didn't say anything, barking out orders at the five employees in the room, having them close what they were doing on the large, wall-mounted screens and start pulling up security camera footage.

"The phone is over there. Go pull up Victoria or Professor Oak's number and be ready to dial. We'll know what's going on soon enough," Lusamine said, pointing to a computer with a camera mounted on top on the left side of the room. Leo nodded and sat down at the computer, pulling up the video call function and dialing in the number to Professor Oak's ranch without actually calling quite yet.

The large screens fizzled for a bit as Lusamine typed rapidly on one of the computers, entering a few passwords until she bypassed the security and the cameras were pulled up on-screen. They flickered for a bit and Lusamine cycled through them, eventually pausing when Lillie and Gladion showed up on-screen, standing together passively while Faba messed with a bit of equipment across from them. The room they were in was relatively barren, with thick steel plates boxing them in, and the camera situated in one corner of the room.

Lusamine scowled.

"That's Ultra Wormhole equipment. Leo! Call Victoria, you and you, get me a teleporter to fetch Holly, we will potentially need heavy hitters," Lusamine barked out, and Leo immediately hit call. She continued to call out orders in the background, Leo vaguely becoming aware of the security team arriving as Professor Oak picked up.

"Leo, my boy! What a -"

"Sorry Professor, bit of an emergency, no time to chat. Where's Victoria?" Leo asked rapidly, forcing the older man to blink in surprise. His eyes narrowed.

"She's out training with Duke, her Tauros, I believe. Why?"

"Can you fetch her now? Like, right now? There's a potential ultra-beast situation," Leo asked, and the Professor's eyes widened. A slight pop signified a teleport happening in the background, and moments later it happened again, Professor Oak leaning back and Victoria leaning into the screen.

A hand grabbed Leo's shoulder and pushed him back, Lusamine stepping in to take control of the conversation before Victoria could ask any questions.

"Faba's gone rogue," she stated bluntly. "I can't access any of his computer files and he's kidnapped my children. We believe he may have been trying to hypnotize me as well, and now he's pulled out equipment that we've used to try to open and sustain ultra-wormholes. Potential code black," Victoria blinked, narrowed her eyes, and glanced over at Professor Oak.

"How quickly can Merri get me to Alola," she demanded more than asked.

"Maybe fifteen, twenty minutes. It's been years since she's been to Alola, and she's not a specialized teleporter, but she can get you there," the Professor said. "You get more information, I'll gather your team – I'd come, but I doubt Merri would be able to teleport us both without needing extra time to prepare,"

"I'll call my dad too, Lusamine. I don't know if we can get to my other Alolan team members in time, but Emperor likes to hang out on the academy grounds. He'll be able to get you him quicker than I can get there," Victoria said, already spinning away to another computer. Lusamine nodded.

"We may be able to hold of the operation until then, but the longer we wait the more likely it is that Faba will succeed in whatever he's doing," she said.

"Uh, miss Lusamine? We may not have twenty minutes," one of the security guards said, pointing to the camera feed. It showed Faba as he began to power up the equipment, the walls glowing with light and a pokeball flashing, releasing a chimeric dog-like pokémon with a heavy iron harness around its head.

"Recording test 67; Ultra Beast combat. Previous tests failed due to a lack of stability on subject Type: Null, formerly categorized Type: Full, and from a lack of response from ultra-space. To sidestep the latter problem it was decided to use Lillie and Gladion as a lure for ultra-beasts, specifically Nihilego, codename UB-01 Symbiont, due to the species natural attraction to President Lusamine and, by proxy, her children. Based on the projected size and stability of the wormhole it should only allow a single, medium-sized beast through," Faba said, before rattling off a few numbers and terms relating to the wormhole he was trying to open – something to do with stability, size of the wormhole, and weakness of space which would allow the wormhole to open in the first place.

"That's not good," Leo remarked, glancing back at the video call where Victoria had just pulled back into view.

"Dad will have Emperor there in minutes via the pokecenter transport system," she said.

"We'll need his help," Lusamine said darkly, standing as an employee rushed into the room and offered her two purple sticks. "Leo, let out your Slowking and snap this awakening under his nose. That should undo the hypnosis," she said, tossing one to Leo.

"Ma'am, we should get a move on. Holly's ETA is ninety seconds," one of the security team said, pressing a hand to his ear – likely where a mic was. "I suggest a small team – quarters will be tight down there and despite the reinforced nature of the building we don't want any large-scale attacks going off. Us three and Holly will be more the sufficient to keep Faba contained," he said, gesturing to himself and two others, all wearing the same stark-white clothes of every other employee, save for one key difference.

What looked to be white Kevlar vests were strapped around their torsos, their pokeballs strapped across their chests, already enlarged.

"Leo and I will be entering with you. If what Faba said is correct we shouldn't attract any extra ultra-beasts, and in the event that a beast appears we will be the main attraction. Ideally, we should shut down the equipment before it fully activates – for that reason we need to get a move on and plan as we walk," Lusamine said, standing and letting out Clefable, Leo doing the same to Santiago. He snapped the purple stick under his starter's nose, instantly recoiling at the foul stench and resisting the urge to retch. Santiago wrinkled his nose and jerked backwards, eyes snapping open and regaining their clarity, sneezing violently as the foul scent brought him back to the waking world.

"Glad to have you back, bud," Leo said, tossing the awakening into a nearby trashcan.

"Leo, the kids," Santiago started, but Leo cut him off by gesturing to Lusamine, who was outlining the game plan as she started to move, leaving the room. Santiago nodded and plodded after Leo as he moved to follow, trailing behind the security officers and listening intently. Link fell in by Leo's side, ready for battle at any time, and Leo fingered the rest of his pokeballs, wondering who would be best for this situation.

"Emperor in particular will be able to handle anything Faba tries to throw at us, but until we get into the lab I can't let him out. He's too big," Lusamine said firmly. "So that handles power in the long run. What else do we need?"

"If Faba has a psychic type out, the whole operation will be blown before we get close. It'll sense us miles away, unless it's solely focused on what's happening with the wormhole," one of the officers said.

"We also need to consider that Faba probably isn't acting alone," Leo butted in. "To be able to run all this he likely either is manipulating many more people, or has other employees on his side. Since I'm dark and I've got my ghost with me I can bypass the psychic types, the issue will be those other people I mentioned and actually knocking out the psychics before they're able to teleport anyone away or launch an attack," he said as the group turned the corner, entering what could only be described as a knock-off pokémon center.

Lusamine barked out a few commands to the unfortunate nurse on duty, the young-ish man scrambling as he typed into the computer and handed her a rather beat-up pokeball. She examined it for a moment then nodded, thanking the boy, and exited just as quickly.

"It will have to be quick then," she said as she came back, clipping the ball to her side and glancing over Leo's shoulder. "Holly, just in time. We'll explain the situation as we walk," Leo turned and nodded to the woman who was approaching, Holly looking flustered and uncertain but still grim-faced and ready to go.

"I got a short debrief of what's happened so far, but would appreciate any further info you have," she said, falling silent as she was quickly caught up to speed. Leo listened as well, making sure he hadn't missed anything either and doing his best to try and decide which team members would be best for this kind of battle. It was bound to be cramped down there, and there was limited space for maneuvering without flooding the halls with pokémon.

Six people was a lot already, after all.

All too soon the group was at the elevator that led down into the secure research facility, a plan roughly laid out for them. A new team of people were up in the control room providing as much information as they could via cameras – with more reinforcements coming in to help close off any physical escape routes. Namely, the two elevators out of the secured research facility. The team would then be split into two parties; one group would head to the power generators and shut down power to Faba's lab, and therefore the experiment, while the others would go confront him directly. Only two of the group would be shutting down the generators, Holly and one of the security officers, and would meet up with the others upon completing their task. She actually knew how to shut things down, after all, having worked with maintenance before moving to where she was now.

Lusamine was the heavy-hitter with Emperor, being the only person present the pokémon would listen to (though Leo still had no idea who or what Emperor was, as Victoria had never introduced her starter to him – until this point, he honestly thought her Persian was her starter), so her role would be that of a hammer, essentially. If a fight broke out it would be her job to end it; though her primary concern was her children, and as such she would ensure their safety first.

The other security officers were to detain Faba and make sure he couldn't teleport – their two anti-teleport pokémon, an Incineroar and a Sneasel, would be able to intercept any psychic types with what was called a "blackout" or "taunt" tactic; there wasn't time to explain how it worked so Leo wasn't quite sure of the specifics, but what he did understand was that it would prevent the target pokémon from using certain moves by interrupting them. It was a very difficult skill to master and use, which had the side-effect of tying down the "taunter" into doing just that.

Originally Leo's job had been to get those taunt pokémon into range of Faba, since he was dark and would therefore be able to bypass psychic detection, but the control room said that Faba didn't actually have any pokémon out over the radio yet, so he was relegated to a much simpler role. That of a hammer – he'd take out any collaborators, any combat pokémon of Faba's that were unknown, distract the ultra beasts – etcetera. Out of the entire group he was the one with the most solely combat-focused pokémon on his team (six, excluding Sunny because she was a little behind everyone else in terms of power and skill) and as such he would be put to that use.

That was excepting Holly, who had a powerful team as well, but she was needed to head to the power station, both in case there was someone guarding it, and because she knew how to shut it down. Faba's lab ran on a separate server than the facility's main power, after all, and couldn't be shut down remotely. Or it could, but it required actually being in the lab itself – something like that. Either way, the physical method of shutting things down was quicker than the technological method, which required bypassing too many security firewalls and safeguards.

However, as with all things, that plan did not survive contact with the enemy.

Namely because, while they were in the elevator, the control room contacted them over their radios and informed them that an ultra wormhole had been successfully opened in the main testing room. They didn't have time to sneak around anymore – it was to be a blitzkrieg.

The minute the doors to the elevator dinged open Lusamine stepped through, letting Fluffy, her Bewear, out of his pokeball and stalking towards the metal, sealed double-doors that led to the research labs. The two employees who stood guard on either side of said doors glanced at each other and stepped forward nervously.

"Persident Lusamine, welcome. Branch Chief Faba insisted nobody enter the labs – he's performing a volatile experiment," the man on the left said.

"Fluffy there are obstacles in the way. Remove them," Lusamine said coldly. Her Bewear, his thick coat as fluffy and soft-looking as his name suggested, squeaked in a decidedly unthreatening manner…to those who didn't know what a Bewear was. The guards, however, did know and promptly leapt out of the way. Holly and another security officer rushed forward with handcuffs to the surrendering men, but Fluffy was unsatisfied with the lack of a fight.

He had been given an order to remove obstacles. The doors to the research lab counted as such.

Leo watched in fascinated horror as, with a furious squeak of adorable rage, Fluffy charged the doors and sunk a paw into the metal, denting one so much that he could now see inside the labs themselves. Immediately red lights began to flash – though the alarm itself was silent – as Fluffy reached forward with both paws and tore the doors apart with a horrible shriek of metal-on-metal and stomped further into the labs, Lusamine following close behind.

Holly cursed as she finished cuffing the employees – they might or might not be collaborators, but there was no taking any chances – and made eye contact with Leo.

"Stick by Lusamine! Make sure she's safe! You, with me, we need to cut the power now!" she said, pointing to her designated partner and rushing to the only other door in the small-ish entry room. It had the word electrical painted on it, so that was pretty self-explanatory.

The two other security officers cursed loudly and chased after Lusamine, their Sneasel and Incineroar following after them. Leo thumbed the trigger to most of his team's pokeballs, letting out Zuko, Xena, Link, and Santiago – the latter two having been recalled earlier so everyone could fit into the elevator – and chased after Lusamine. Diana wouldn't have the room to maneuver properly in an enclosed space like this, so she and Sunny would be in reserve for this fight. The other guards had their teams to let out, too, after all.

Without a word Leo chased after Lusamine, the short thirty foot hallway all but bare. Three labs sat on the left side, empty of any people from what he could see as he sprinted by, with large blast-doors at the far end. Lusamine had just finished typing numbers into the keypad when he arrived, the two security members standing by as, with a groan, the blast doors began to slide open.

Yellow lights flashed alongside the red alarms and the metal floors vibrated as the large doors slid open, an eerie blue glow shining out from within the secured testing chamber and Faba's irate voice ringing out over the groaning of the doors.

"Who's opening the doors?! I said no interruptions – Lusamine! Bah, not again!" he shouted, and Leo's eyes narrowed further. Again? Was this not the first time Lusamine had discovered Faba's ploy? Then how on earth hadn't Lusamine noticed?

The second the doors were opened wide enough Fluffy burst through, followed by Lusamine who was priming Emperor's pokeball – he hadn't been released yet due to size constraints – and the two security officers and their pokémon. Leo pushed through as well, and got his first physical look of the lab proper.

It was a large, dull room, probably thirty-feet by thirty-feet and just as tall, the walls made of thick steel while various pieces of glowing equipment were meticulously situated on the far end. A glowing, psychedelically fluctuating portal that hung in the air on the opposite end of the room was the most eye-catching feature, and while nothing appeared to have come through yet Type: Null was waiting patiently off to the side of it, unmoving and wholly unconcerned. Lillie and Gladion were huddled together in the middle of the room, Gladion shaking his head as if he was just breaking free of his hypnosis while Lillie still stood there blankly – and Faba was nowhere to be seen.

"Lillie, Gladion!" Lusamine cried, darting forward to her children while Fluffy advanced towards Type: Null menacingly.

"You have a habit of showing up at the worst times, Lusamine!" Faba's voice complained, coming from loudspeakers in the corners of the room. Leo looked around frantically for any hint as to where he could be, eventually spotting a regular-sized door in the wall, right next to a black rectangle that he assumed to be one-way glass.

"He's in the observing room, Lusamine we need it open!" one of the security officers barked, his Sneasel hissing by his side.

"Where are the two officers you usually bring? And is that Leo I see – why do you keep dragging more people into this, woman?!" Faba shouted in irritation. Lusamine stood from where she had been embracing her children, slowly turning to the one-way glass and narrowing her eyes, thumbing the release to Emperor's pokeball. Only, nothing happened.

Lusamine frowned and looked down at the ball, pressing the release button again, a look of realization coming over her face. Leo frowned and pressed the release trigger on Diana's pokeball, only for nothing to happen as well. Well. That wasn't good.

"You told me the pokeball interference technology wasn't ready yet," Lusamine said slowly. "Fluffy, break the glass," Her Bewear squeaked angrily and backed away from Type: Null, who, surprisingly, had been growling at the bear but not attacking yet, and charged the glass, planting one fist into it and setting the whole thing to shaking. But it held, somehow.

"I told you a lot of things," Faba said, and with a pop of teleportation suddenly a Hypno was standing in front of Lusamine, its pendulum already swinging. But Leo had been expecting something like that, and was ready for it. Spiritomb burst forward from where he stood, not too far from her, shadows engulfing the psychic type and wailing in hideous anger. Then suddenly Sneasel was there, leaping through the shadows with claws bared and cutting into the Hypno with savage glee – the psychic flared its powers once, a focus blast bursting from its palms and phasing harmlessly through Spiritomb's ectoplasmic body as a last hurrah before it fell, succumbing to the onslaught.

Like Leo had thought, the Hypno wasn't trained for battle but hypnosis. Thus it didn't last long.

"I am going to kill you," Lusamine said coldly, walking around the fallen Hypno and heading to the still-closed doors as Fluffy slammed his paw once more into the glass.

"Santiago, Xena, get the kids out of here," Leo ordered, snapping his fingers to the two children. Gladion blinked owlishly and narrowed his eyes at Leo, his mind coming back to him as Xena ran up and grabbed the two children – handing Lillie off to Santiago and shoving Gladion in his direction as well before turning her attention back to the ultra wormhole. Santiago glanced at Leo, the two nodded to each other – Leo with Spiritomb's shadowy tendrils still swirling around him in a protective shell – and he started towards the still-open blast doors, guiding the two children.

"Nope, nope, now I have to make sure no one leaves quite yet," Faba said, and the doors rumbled as they started to close. Santiago grunted and took another step forward, his gem flashing with power as Lillie and Gladion were picked up in a psychic hold and roughly tossed through the closing doors. They hit the ground outside just seconds before they slammed shut, the locks engaging with an ominous clanging sound. Leo grit his teeth and glanced to the still-glowing portal. They'd gotten the kids out of the way, but why hadn't the power been cut yet?

A few things happened in rapid succession at that point; Lusamine hit a few buttons hidden behind a panel on the wall, opening the observation room door and letting the two security officers rush in, Fluffy cracked the glass with a series of punches in rapid succession, and Type: Null began reacting to the ultra wormhole. The chimeric canid growled at the glowing portal, prompting Leo to turn his and his team's attention to the wormhole.

Santiago growled, water burbling in the back of his throat, and stood next to him, glancing at the unconscious Hypno at their feet as he squared up. Zuko growled at Santiago's feet, hissing smoke, while Xena beat her fists together and took a few threatening steps forward, Link riding on her head with a leaf blade already ready. Leo thumbed Diana's pokeball, wishing that they weren't in an enclosed, underwater facility with a mad scientist and an ultra-wormhole.

Type: Null was acting even before the ultra beast came all the way through, the moment the sickly white tentacles emerged from the portal it was slashing with its front claws and launching air slashes at the beast. It shrieked – an eerie sound that rippled through the air – and flailed its tentacles but kept pushing through regardless.

"Hit it!" Leo barked out, Santiago firing water pulses, Link throwing magical leaves, and Zuko blasting the portal with ember. He had started to master flamethrower but ember was, for the moment, far more accurate and less likely to interfere with the others attacks as well. The Nihilego shrieked again and pulled back into the portal at the barrage, prompting Leo to call off the attack and wait patiently for the next one. Well, maybe not patiently. "Can someone please shut this thing down!?" he shouted, glancing over at Lusamine.

She was frozen in place on the other side of the broken glass, staring at the portal with a puzzled expression while Faba wriggled uselessly in Fluffy's grasp. The two security officers were glancing at each other uncertainly, both of their pokémon by their sides in case Faba somehow managed to let out a teleporting pokémon, however unlikely. Leo thumbed Diana's pokeball again, the release not triggering.

"Crap," he said, looking back at the portal. Type: Null was still growling and was starting to pace, so he was getting the idea that the worst had yet to come. And while he remembered Lusamine's fascination with ultra-beasts, he didn't recall her ever just…freezing up in the games to stare at them. Sure the player had to battle them instead of her, but he thought that was just for narrative purposes, not…whatever this is.

It was at that moment Holly's voice came crackling over the radio Leo had strapped to his side, sounding out of breath and flustered.

"Cutting the power in three…two…one," she said, and the lights flickered off, only to be quickly replaced by glowing red emergency lights. The ultra-wormhole equipment flickered a little and died, the electric hum of the projectors of whatever they were falling silent. Only, the portal didn't close immediately. The edges fractured – which was weird to see, a clean break in what was essentially air – and it noticeably started shrinking, but it didn't close immediately.

Leo thumbed the trigger to Diana and Sunny's pokeballs. Still no response.

"The portal's not closed!" Leo called, Spiritomb hissing in his ears as Type: Null stilled, a low growl echoing out from behind the metal helmet encasing its head.

"I'm working on it, but we're probably going to have to let it bleed off its energy. If the data I saw was right it needs to bleed off the energy it accrued," Lusamine responded, snapping out of whatever fugue state she had been in. Leo caught her eyes and she held his gaze. She nodded, bending down to look at what was probably some sort of control panel in the observation room, and scowled. "Damn it, Faba, how do you turn off the pokeball inhibitor?" she snapped at the dangling man. He made a noise like a squeak, but a collective growl from Leo's team had him turning his attention away from that interaction and back to the portal.

Multiple tentacles emerged, much thicker than the previous ones. and promptly hauled the body of a Nihilego through the opening. Type: Null growled and launched itself at the beast, claws raking against its surprisingly tough exterior and dragging it to the ground with its weight. Leo's team started to surge forward to help, but a second set of tentacles emerging had Leo cursing under his breath.

"Blast the portal," he ordered, and the onslaught of attacks resumed. This time even Xena joined in, breathing out a stream of dragon fire, but the Nihilego persevered and pushed through, spitting a glob of poison at the arrayed pokémon. Santaigo paused in his water pulse firing to annihilate the poison with a psychic blast, protecting everyone. The beast shrieked in anger and pain, flying forward at speed towards Leo and his team. This time it was Spiritomb's turn to intervene, black tendrils lashing out at the floating jellyfish and binding a group of its tentacles together, halting its movement. Xena snarled and bounded forward with a single great, loping stride, claws burning with the power of a dragon claw as she tore into the beast's hide, jaws latching onto its tentacles.

Link joined her, leaping from her head to the bulbous top of the Nihilego and cutting into it with his leaf blade with righteous fury.

"Santiago, when you get a chance I need you to use yawn on these things. It may not put them to sleep, but it might get them to the point where Xena can push them back through the portal," Leo said, yawn being one of those moves that Santiago always could use, but rarely had a chance to. "Xena, focus on the body, not the tentacles! Link, if Xena gets pushed back start up a petal dance, we have to keep that thing contained," Leo ordered, chewing his lip and tossing out a few strategies as the Nihilego continued to flail under the combined assault of his pokémon.

Spiritomb's shadowy tendrils constricted around the Nihilego, a few more splitting off to tie up the tentacles that had been lashing against Xena's armored hide and freeing her up to start tearing into the jellyfish's body with tooth and claw – the display of savagery absolutely overwhelming. Link, on the other hand, seemed to have found his spot atop Nihilego's head. His feet were planted as he wailed on its bulbous, clear top, his leaf blade tearing into the creature with ease. The issue was the purple liquid that splashed on Link when he attacked, causing the grass type to wince in pain.

"Leo, again!" Santiago barked, gem flashing with psychic power as he blasted the portal, a third Nihilego forcing its way through. Leo cursed and whistled at Zuko, who hadn't quite yet joined in on attacking for fear of hitting his allies, and jerked his thumb to the new Nihilego. Type: Null was still beating the tar out of the first one, though it'd clearly been poisoned judging by the multiple wounds from the beast's thrashing tentacles, and Xena, Link, and Spiritomb had the second distracted.

That meant splitting their forces far more than he'd hoped. He needed the aid of the security officers – Incineroar and Sneasel had been standing by to counter the appearance of any teleporters, but now he needed their power.

"Guys, we need help!" Leo called, taking a few steps back as the new Nihilego, far larger than the other two that had come through, seemed to survey its surroundings, completely ignoring the assault from Zuko and Santiago. The psychic power that assaulted it made its movements jerky and not nearly as graceful as it could have been, and Zuko's fires washed over the beast's hide as he launched a flamethrower at it, but it didn't seem concerned.

It turned to him, seeming to study him for a second despite not having a face, then turned to Lusamine and drifted forward.

Fluffy growled, tossing Faba to the ground and leaping through the hole he had made in the one-way-glass, bashing his fists together threateningly. The security guards Incineroar and Sneasel stepped up as well, hissing and baring their claws in an intimidation attempt. The third Nihilego paused, regarded them, then spat a glob of venom that absolutely drenched Fluffy. The Bewear squeaked in outrage, momentarily blinded, and Nihilego took that chance to dart forward with surprising speed, blowing past Fluffy and reaching towards Lusamine with its long tendrils.

"Spiritomb -" Leo started, but cut himself off when Fluffy, even while blinded, reached out and grabbed hold of the Nihilego's tentacles with both paws. "Get ready to hit it!" Leo ordered as Fluffy reeled in the jellyfish-like pokémon, taking another glob of purplish poison to the face and squeaking in outrage. With a grunt and a heave he hurled the Nihilego blindly, sending it sailing through the air…straight at Leo.

Spiritomb immediately moved to defend, retracting its tendrils and exploding into a wall of purple shadow and darkness, a horrific shriek echoing through the enclosed chamber. Leo didn't even have time to wince from the loud noise as the Nihilego crashed to the ground beside him, redirected just enough by Spiritomb, and he stumbled away, careful to avoid the flailing tentacles. Santiago growled and took full advantage of the situation, his gem glowing like a spotlight in the red-lit room as he assaulted the beast with the full might of his psychic powers.

Metal began to warp under the pressure as Santiago struggled to keep it down, Zuko moving in to blast it with a flamethrower while Spiritomb hissed and spluttered at the fallen beast, retracting its tendrils.

"Santi, keep it down! Spiritomb, start using shadow ball. Hit both Nihilego, alternate targets," Leo barked, dancing away from the worst of the fight and swiftly realizing there was nowhere to go. Fluffy had joined Xena and Link in attacking the one Nihilego, which took up a good corner of the room; Type: Null still had the other pinned, though seemed to be slowing down; while the third, largest Nihilego was currently struggling to get up through Santiago's psychic hold. Lusamine and the other humans were still in the side room, which Leo figured would be the safest place if he could get there…were it not for Link, Xena, and Fluffy fighting the Nihilego between him and there.

"Zuko, keep up the heat! If that thing spits poison you need to vaporize it," Leo said when Zuko paused to take a breath, the temperature in the room increasing uncomfortablly thanks to his fire attacks. As if on cue the Nihilego spat a gob of poison at Santiago, drenching him and sending him stumbling back. Spiritomb shrieked and blasted it with a swift burst of shadow balls, but the beast largely ignored that, shying away from the attacks and spitting out another glob of venom that Zuko managed to catch with his flamethrower. Though not all of the attack was stopped, it did still manage to stop it from hitting anyone important.

Dazed, confused, and now free from Santiago's psychic, the Nihilego rose off the ground and warbled, waving its tentacles threateningly.

"Got it! Leo, get back," Lusamine barked, standing swiftly and procuring Victoria's pokeball. Leo glanced at the wall that was mere inches from his back. There was nowhere for him to go. Fluffy shrieked and pummeled Nihilego, sending it floating backwards as Link and Xena disengaged, the dragon growling while Link darted to the side, immediately changing targets to the one Type: Null was now struggling with. Despite a strong initial showing, the synthetic pokémon was flagging now, barely able to keep the white jellyfish on the ground while attacking with a single-minded determination.

None of that mattered when Lusamine released Emperor, though. When the massive brown and tan pokémon appeared on the cold metal of the room, yawning lazily and scratching his belly with one hand as he lounged, Leo's first thought was A Slaking? Really?

"Emperor," Lusamine said, prompting the Slaking to look at her quizzically. "The white ones are enemies, push them back through the portal," she said, and that was enough for Emperor. With a grunt he pushed himself up and stood at his full height, yawning and reaching for the first Nihilego he could find – the one Type: Null was battling. With a single, meaty paw he grabbed it, hauled it into the air with Type: Null still clawing at the tentacles, and promptly hurled it back through the portal with an irritated grunt. The portal shuddered, cracks appearing deeper withing the swirling, geometric patterns, but held strong as the beast vanished.

If nothing else, that got the other two ultra-beasts attention. Leo immediately recalled Santiago after making sure his pokeballs were working again, his starter still standing but struggling with the poison, and let Diana out in his place. She rumbled and flared her vents, firmly placing herself between any of the Nihilego and Leo, but their attention was not on him. It was on Emperor, who blocked two globs of venom from the two separate ultra-beasts with his paws, frowning in annoyance at the poison and lumbering forward, swatting the first one to the ground and grabbing the second by the tentacles, intent on throwing it through the portal as well. It warbled at him and lashed out, stinging his arms and summoning eerie floating stones to pelt the Slaking.

Emperor grunted, then roared in rage as the pain assaulted him, grabbing the Nihilego with both hands and pulling. The ultra-beast screeched as tentacles were ripped off in an impressive display of strength, floating backwards dripping purplish liquid and spitting another gob of venom at Emperor. This time he didn't even bother blocking, just smacking the beast with an open palm and sending it hurtling against the wall. With a weak warble it peeled itself away and floated to the portal, leaking blood and venom as Emperor dealt with the final ultra-beast, streaks of white running down his arms as he charged and shoulder-checked the beast, sending it to the ground once more. Type: Null launched a few air slashes at the retreating Nihilego, the weak air blade doing little more than annoy it as it floated through the portal.

Emperor grabbed the last beast and, with a furious roar, hurled it through the portal as well. Once more the ultra-wormhole shook, further cracks appearing, but still it held. Emperor snorted furiously and stalked in front of the wormhole, none of the lethargy the species are known for visible in his demeanor. And just like that, it was over.

Leo let out a breath and set about looking over his team, making sure everyone was ok. Xena was breathing hard and winced when he touched her, having taking a few solid hits, and Link looked about ready to keel over. His complexion was a nasty shade, so Leo recalled both him and Xena without a second thought, resolving to get them to a healer as soon as possible.

This is why fighting poison types sucked.

Zuko was mostly ok, having avoided the worst of the hits, and Spiritomb was as chaotic as usual, none the worse for wear but still floating around Leo protectively. Diana hummed and jetted over to him carefully, pressing into Leo's side and vibrating in concern.

"I'm ok," he assured her, pressing a hand against her carapace. She wiggled and closed her eyes, leaning into the contact while Leo watched the portal flicker and finally suck in on itself as it closed. He breathed out a sigh of relief the same time Emperor snorted, ceasing his pacing and lying on the ground, facing the wall and scratching his belly.

The immediate danger over with he moved over to Lusamine, who stood imposingly in front of Faba as he lay on the ground inside the observation room. Fluffy had been recalled, replaced by Clefable, the fairy type looming over Faba with a downright murderous expression on her face. That was nothing compared to Lusamine's blank, emotionless stare, which Leo caught sight of as he pushed through the doorway and into the observation room. In the red light of the testing facility, she looked almost demonic.

"Are you ok, Leo?" she asked, not turning to face him. The two security officers nodded to him respectfully, one patting his shoulder as Leo checked himself over.

"Yeah, I'm good," he said, satisfied that no poison or anything had splashed on his skin or clothes. "Do you have Faba's pokeballs? We should probably recall his Hypno," Leo said, glancing at the still-unconscious form of Hypno. Zuko stood guard over it, but he didn't like the idea of just letting it be out, unconscious or not.

"Good. Officer Ricardo has the balls, he'll handle it. Now, Faba," she said, leaning down and grabbing him by the collar, hauling the man to his feet. "Care to explain what, exactly, all this is about?"

Faba's expression was one of absolute terror, and he swallowed thickly.

"I want to speak to my lawyer," he said softly, and Lusamine smiled thinly, coldly. She let go of his collar and reached behind her, absently feeling around until her hand brushed against a long, black-glass shard that had fallen onto the console of the room. Still smiling she put her other, free hand on Faba's shoulder and just stood there, expression unmoving. Leo felt his breath catch in his throat at the scene, the two guards shifting nervously as, for a split second, Lusamine seriously contemplated murder.

Faba seemed to understand this too, as he shakily reached up and pushed aside the green-tinted glasses covering his eyes.

"N-now, let's not do anything rash," he stammered out, holding his hands up defensively. Lusamine was quiet, her eyes flicking over to Leo before returning to Faba.

"You are lucky there is a child present," she hissed, letting go of the shard and shoving Faba against the wall. "And we will have plenty of time to discuss your…actions while you are incarcerated," Leo shuddered at her phrasing, but watched carefully as she moved away and motioned for the security officers to move forward. They did, cuffing Faba and recalling his Hypno for him, as well as the Ledian Fluffy had crushed, while Lusamine grabbed Leo and led him out of the side room. Diana hummed at them as they passed, Lusamine pulling out a radio.

"We've secured Faba. Get us out of here," she said into the radio, then looked at Leo as she put it away. "We're lucky that they were young," she said, gesturing towards the ultra-wormhole equipment.

"The Nihilego?" Leo asked, and she nodded.

"I've seen them before. I…forgot about it, until now. Maybe it's something Faba did, I – it's something we'll look into later. The one I saw took on my entire team, and was only just barely pushed back. This was back before I retired from the trainer life, too, so they were at the peak of their game," she said, eyes growing distant. Leo whistled and glanced towards where the twitching tentacles Emperor had torn off still lay. Despite Spiritomb having defeated her Mismagius before, Lusamine was still an eight-badge trainer.

She had a full team of high-level pokémon, not just one or two with a few playing catch-up, unlike Leo. Because as much as Leo liked to think of his team as all roughly on the same level, that wasn't the case. Link and Spiritomb were his most powerful team members – despite Spiritomb's issues with focus. And while none of his other team members were weak, per say, they just had more growing to do to reach that level.

That was the difference between a good trainer and a great trainer. A good one could have one or two strong pokémon. A great one could have entire teams worth. So if a single Nihilego could push back Lusamine's entire team, that meant the older ones were very strong.

"Seems a lot of luck is involved whenever I'm around," Leo said, shaking his head and glancing at Emperor, who was still just lounging around. "Still, I'm just glad the plan worked out, despite a few complications," he said, and looked at the still-closed blast doors. He was also glad he'd managed to get Lillie and Gladion out of here before the fighting started. That did still leave one thing, though…

"What are we going to do about that?" he asked, jerking his head towards Type: Null, who stood off to the side panting and injured. Some small part of him hoped to be able to add it to his team, but he quickly silenced that part of his brain. Now was not the time for that.

"I don't know. I hope Faba has its pokeball stored away somewhere nearby though, I hate to just leave it out while it's so injured," she admitted, then shook her head. "Regardless, we can discuss all this later. For now, I just wanted to say thank you for snapping me out of the hypnosis and for helping protect my children," she said, looking directly into Leo's eyes and bowing slightly. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

"You're welcome," he said slowly. She deserved better than the hand she got, that was sure. Faba was a founding member of Aether, and supposedly one of her close friends if he remembered right. Being so deeply betrayed by one you trust? To the point where his meddling was twisting her personality (at least, he assumed it was. She'd have to go into therapy after this to undo whatever Faba did for sure) and using her for his own personal gain? That was pretty messed up.

He was just glad he'd managed to make a difference. Maybe now Lusamine wouldn't go off the deep end like in the games.

Any further conversation was cut off, however, as the lights came back on, and, moments later, the blast doors began to open.

"We can talk more later," Lusamine promised, turning towards the observation room. "For now let's get the rest of this mess cleaned up,"

"I'm going to kill him," Lusamine promised, gnashing her teeth and gripping the arms of her chair tightly. Victoria stood beside Leo, bobbing her head up and down with a dark look on her face. It had been all of four hours since Faba's arrest, giving plenty of time for Victoria to arrive, nearly tear apart the lower levels of the research labs as she sought them out, calm down, and for them to start going through Faba's research notes. The ones he'd kept on his personal computer took an hour to two to finally gain access to, and Lusamine had decided to skim over them while they had some time in the aftermath.

"I'll hold him down for you," Victoria said, rolling Emperor's pokeball over her knuckles.

"May I suggest using a rusty spoon?" Leo chimed in, tone dead serious despite knowing it wasn't really on the table. Still, Faba probably deserved it. If the Geneva Convention was a thing in this world, he was pretty sure Faba had violated it, if their brief scan of the files were anything to go by. Just the initial research notes of how Faba had begun creating Type: Null, at that time called Type: Full because it was supposed to be all types, made Leo want to throttle him even more than he already did – let alone what other notes hinted he'd done to Lusamine.

This wasn't the first time Faba had called upon a Nihilego. And if he was being truthful in his notes, then he had extensive knowledge about the effects of their poison. Specifically how it effected the mind, and how low doses left an effected mind far more susceptible to psychic influence.

Yes, Faba probably needed to die.

"Well the good news is that he's locked up now," Leo said, shaking his head in disgust.

"Yes," Lusamine said, clenching her fists, then deflating a little. She was silent for a long, long moment before standing abruptly, her gaze a little distant. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go see my children again," she said, as she started out of the room. Leo stepped to the side and bowed his head slightly, letting her pass without comment. And if he saw her hands shaking, he pretended not to notice. She probably needed time. A lot had been revealed today, Leo could only imagine how she felt. Probably like her whole world had been turned upside down.

The door clicked shut, leaving Leo and Victoria alone together. For a few minutes they just stood in silence, until Leo sighed and slumped against the wall. Spiritomb hissed in his pocket, the ghost still lively despite the battle, and poked a single eye out of his pocket.

"You ok?" Victoria asked.

"That's, like, the fifth time you've asked me this," he said, giving her a look. She shrugged and glanced at the computer screen, drumming her fingers on the off-white desk she was leaning against. She looked tired. There were bags under her eyes and her hair was a frazzled mess – not that she was one to care for appearances, but this was different. "Are you ok?" Leo asked, flipping the question back to her. She nodded, then paused and shook her head.

"It's been a long few months. And now, hearing that this has happened to Lusamine? She didn't deserve that," she said bitterly. "I should've noticed something was off sooner,"

"I'd say don't blame yourself, but we both know that telling you what to do is an effort in futility," Leo joked, earning a snort of amusement from her. She shook her head and pocketed Emperor's pokeball, giving the other ten or so balls on her belt a once-over. "You said Emperor is your starter?" he asked, his own hand reaching for where his team usually sat, and finding the spots mostly empty. Only Diana and Sunny were with him at the moment – excluding Spiritomb, who still didn't have a pokeball – as the others were in the medical ward.

"Yeah, he is. He's a big lazy bum though, so he usually stays at Dad's place. Unless I need him for a big battle, which is rarely," Victoria said with a nod. "I didn't need him to earn my Champion-level trainer certification from Martin, but if I ever battle Lance I'd have him on my team,"

"I've never seen a Slaking before, but he seems very…lively for one. Nearly tore a Nihilego in two," Leo said, shuddering as he recalled the almost casual way he'd dealt with the Nihilego. Victoria laughed and nodded in agreement, looking a bit better now that the topic of conversation was away from Lusamine and now towards her pokémon.

"You know my dad researched variant pokémon, right? Like how Raichu in Alola is different than Raichu everywhere else. Well, that applies to unique members amongst a species as well. It's like…there's always a chance of a pokémon being extremely different from its brethren. Sometimes that produces a whole other line of evolution, like Santiago. He was smarter than other Slowpoke even before his evolution, hence he evolved into a Slowking instead. Or, to use the Pikachu example again, imagine a Pikachu who can affect ground-types with electric attacks. Professor Oak said he met a Pikachu like that once. Emperor is one of those – he's lazy, yes, but only about as lazy as a Snorlax. Not as lazy as a typical Slaking, and that makes him dangerous," she explained proudly. Leo blinked and scratched the back of his head as he absorbed that information.

That made a terrifying amount of sense. And if he remembered what Slaking's stats were from the games, that made Emperor absolutely terrifying, and stronger than most pseudo-legendaries. This wasn't a game, of course, but he did like to use that as a bit of a baseline for his knowledge of this world…to a degree. Bellossom sucked in the games. Link was awesome in this world.

Though he disagreed on what she said about Santiago. He hadn't been smarter as a Slowpoke, just more driven…even if back then he was a pain and a half to train.

"That's insane," Leo finally said, shaking his head. Victoria chuckled and nodded, pushing herself off the desk and heading toward the door.

"C'mon, let's go see what else we can do to help. Lusamine probably needs some time alone," she said, and Leo nodded, following after her and letting his mind wander some.

Lillie and Gladion had been mostly ok after the whole ordeal, and Lusamine had spent a good half an hour right after the operation fussing over them. They were a little dazed – Gladion was ok for the most part, Lillie couldn't seem to remember what had happened – but otherwise they were none the worse for wear. Which was good, because, y'know, Lusamine might have actually committed murder if they hadn't been.

Faba, on the other hand, was in hot water, locked up as he was in a secure part of the facility. InterPol was likely to get involved because of his work with ultra-beasts, which meant he'd be locked up for a long, long time. Which was good, because he absolutely deserved it.

"What's going to happen to Type: Null, do you think? There's three successful specimens, aren't there?" Leo asked as he followed Victoria down a long hall.

"We'll probably have to rehabilitate them," Victoria mused. "This is new territory for me, man-made pokémon. I know that some people in Kanto have been working on an artificial pokémon, but that's more like trying to create an AI than what's happening here. Porygon, I think the project is called? We'll probably need to call in some experts on Claydoll and Golurk…shoot, you'd probably not be a bad choice either, since you've got Spiritomb. They're all man-made pokémon, right?"

Leo patted Spiritomb's keystone and considered that. That was actually a good point. Since Claydoll and Golurk had started out as creations of man given life – that since have come to be able to reproduce on their own, thus becoming full-fledged pokémon species – it would make sense that trainers of those particular species would be solid choices to call in for understanding how to handle Type: Null. He wasn't sure how much help he could be since Spiritomb was…unique, and not at all like Type: Null, but if it meant he had a chance to work with and potentially add said pokémon to his team? He was more than willing to give it a shot.

He'd need Lusamine's permission first, of course. That was technically her decision to make, not his, but he wasn't going to bug her about it yet. She had enough to worry about right now as it was.

"Makes sense. What about Faba's pokémon? Will it be like with Boone, the poacher, where his pokémon will be confiscated and potentially rehabilitated? Or something else?

"I don't know," Victoria said. "With InterPol likely to get involved there's a lot of question as to what's going to happen. They don't have the greatest track record of being prompt about handling issues," she said a little bitterly. Leo frowned and scratched his chin.

"Where are we going, by the way?" he asked.

"I –" Victoria cut herself off when her pokedex started ringing in her pocket, the device doubling as a phone in her case, and she flipped it open. "Victoria Oak here," she said, and immediately frowned. Then her entire body tensed, and Leo was reaching for his pokeballs even before she had a chance to turn to him.

"Faba escaped," she repeated into the 'dex. "One of the security officers got him out. He has a teleporter," she turned to Leo and ended the call, face a stormy mask. "Follow Lusamine, her kids are up in her mansion so that's where she'll be. I doubt Faba will be going after her, most likely he wants to just escape, but it's better safe than sorry. We don't know how long ago he got out, so he's probably long gone by now. Damn it! How many team members do you have with you?" she barked out.

"Three; Diana, Spiritomb, and Sunny, one of my recent captures," Leo said.

"Take Prince too, just in case. I'm going to head to the research lab, if anything I'd bet he'll be heading there to salvage notes and equipment. Now go," she said, tossing Leo a pokeball. He caught Prince, Victoria's Persian's pokeball and sprinted off down the hall as Victoria ran the other way, winding through hallways until he found a staircase, following that up to the very top of Aether Paradise.

The moment he reached sunlight he knew something was wrong. No employees filled the grassy expanse, and the sounds of combat echoed out from the direction of the mansion. The sun was just in the perfect position to make looking that way difficult, hanging just over the roof of the mansion itself, but he thought he could make out what looked like a Claydoll locked in combat with Clefable.

"Diana, hit the Claydoll! Dark pulse the crap out of it!" Leo barked, throwing her pokeball as hard as he could, getting as much distance as possible, while also thumbing the release for Prince. The Persian materialized with a lazy yawn, licking his paw before glancing up at Leo. If he was confused as to why Leo was here instead of Victoria, he didn't show it. "We need to protect Lusamine and knock out a few pokémon. Psychic types are the enemy here; Victoria lent me you to help with that," he explained quickly. Prince eyed him, yawned, then stood and casually loped off towards the mansion. After another moment's thought Leo let out Sunny, scooping up the fighting type and sprinting forward as he ran.

Sunny squirmed a bit in his grasp, but he mostly ignored that in favor of assessing the situation.

Lusamine was roaring orders at Clefable as she battled Claydoll, her Mismagius battling Faba's Hypno, an Alolan Raichu spitting sparks, and a Slowbro – how was it already back up?! He knocked that thing out just a few hours ago! – but was holding her ground. He watched as Mismagius tanked a psychic blast from Hypno for the chance to nail the Raichu with a shadow ball, the psychic/electric type falling to the ground unconscious, only to be recalled by Faba.

Then Diana, with the roar of her jet engines chasing her, crashed into Claydoll with all the fury of a few-hundred-pound rock monster, dark rings roiling off of her and blasting the psychic-type. Prince launched himself forward with ease, pouncing on the Hypno and batting it away with a night slash, the psychic type stumbling and giving Mismagius time to recover, the ghost immediately whirling on Slowbro.

"Sunny, go stand by Lusamine. Protect her from any attacks," Leo whispered, letting the little fighting type down. She sprinted over to Lusamine and he started barking commands to Diana, who had been thrown off of Claydoll with a burst of psychic power.

"Payback!" he barked, and Diana jetted forward again, shadows swirling about her as she crashed into Claydoll once more – its psychic powers useless against the dark Diana wielded.

"Leo! I should have known you'd cause even more problems! You've ruined everything! How'd you even figure out what I was doing?! Lusamine should have kept you distracted!" Faba shrieked in anger, a Kadabra standing by his side, ready to teleport. Leo didn't respond, already trying to figure out how to keep Faba here, while also figure out why he was here rather than anywhere else. Claydoll floated into the air as Diana righted herself, only for the ceramic-looking pokemon to be smacked in the side with a moonblast by Clefable. Faba cursed again as Leo pulled Spiritomb's keystone out of his pocket, throwing it as hard as he could at the mad scientist.

"Take out Kadabra!" he shouted, but Faba was ready. With a pop he and the psychic type vanished, avoiding Spiritomb and reappearing right beside Lusamine. That was why Sunny was there though, and the fighting type launched herself at Kadabra with a vicious warcry, slapping it across the face and making it flinch backwards.

"Keep it off balance, fury swipes and don't let up!" Leo barked, Meinfoo unleashing a furious burst of speed upon Kadabra, jumping all over the psychic type as she absolutely pummeled it. Faba cursed and the two teleported away again, leaving Sunny behind and Lusamine with a fist half-cocked, aiming for where Faba had been, as he reappeared across the field.

"Lusamine, just give it to me already!" Faba shouted. "No one will get hurt that way!"

"An empty threat, Faba! Even just two of my team members were more than enough to counter yours! Clefable, hyper beam!" she commanded, and Clefable disengaged from Claydoll, who had been completely overwhelmed by Diana and now Spiritomb, who had attacked the first enemy it saw, to charge up a glowing ball of energy in her hands. The beam burned through the air as it fired, screaming with fury as the pure energy cut through where Faba had been moments before, shining as bright as the sun for a full five seconds. Then it ended, leaving spots dancing across Leo's vision, and Clefable huffed in anger.

Faba had teleported out of the way again, just a few feet to the left. With fumbling hands Faba recalled Claydoll, procuring two more pokeballs right as Mismagius burst from the ground below him, shadows curling as she launched herself at Kadabra. Faba shrieked, and with another hasty pop teleported away. He reappeared a few dozen feet away for a brief second – Mismagius surging towards him, but he'd had enough time now. Leo sprinted forward, intent on trying to grab him – to do something, but it was too late. With another pop he was gone, and this time he didn't reappear.

Leo cursed. Lusamine cursed and stood there, fists clenched and absolute rage plastered all over her face. Prince yowled as he stood victoriously over an unconscious Hypno and Slowbro. Diana jetted into the sky, spinning around as if searching for more enemies before slowly allowing herself to come down. Sunny cheered, and Leo cursed once more.

They'd won, but Faba still escaped. Lusamine shouted her anger to the skies, and Leo clenched his fists, grinding his teeth.

"Damn it all,"