Chương 231: Chapter 221

The mood should have been celebratory. Both Lillie and Hope beat Hapu in a battle as well. None of us were able to watch the others' matches, but from what I heard, Lillie had an easy time of it thanks to clever use of conditions, and Hope tested Hapu's strongest and came back extremely satisfied. Yet, as we walked down the central path of Vast Poni Canyon—a wide, dirt road surrounded by rocky cliffs—none of us were able to bring ourselves to chat.

The air was heavy, with most of us doing nothing but staring directly ahead. After all, the Altar of the Sun and Moon was the final location we planned to visit, and this year's Alola season had practically reached its end.

"I..." Lillie was the first to say anything aloud.

"I don't want this to end." The sound of our collective footsteps echoed throughout the silent canyon around us. Despite the past weeks of constant, difficult battles, we were yet to see any wild Pokémon, and the only members of our team present were Mimikyu in my shadow and Nebby in the palm of Lillie's hand.

"We spent so long going through Alola that it feels like it was my entire life. I never really thought about all this ending, and now it's suddenly here. I know there's still a month left, but I really can't believe all of this is going to be over soon. I... I had fun. I don't want it to stop," she said. There was no response for a long moment. We continued to walk, and I eventually managed to find a way to reply.

"It's not over if you don't want it to be over. We don't have to stop after we visit the Altar. I mean, there are still so many other places to explore. There's Poni Island's meadow, there's a power plant back on Ula'ula we entirely skipped over, there's a Pokémon habitat-slash-graveyard back on Melemele—""But that's not what I meant," Lillie interjected.

"You know what I meant, Alex. I meant that it's weird that I just fought Hapu, and now that's it! My team and I have beat every Trial Captain and Kahuna and we've visited every Alolan island, which means there are no other goals left! The only necessary place to visit is the Altar, and that feels..." Her voice drifted off as she looked down at the Pokémon within her cupped hands. Nebby, the Cosmoem himself, sat within them, and his eyes remained closed in slumber within his astral cocoon.

As expected, he looked exactly as he had when he evolved despite all the training Lillie had recently put him through.

"Is part of this because you think Nebby will evolve?" I asked. Lillie remained quiet. After a few seconds, she sniffed, wiping her nose with the back of her hand, and responded with a silent nod.

"He evolved at the Lake. I think he'll evolve at the Altar, too," came her whisper.

"I can see that. It might be a pattern. We won't know until we're there." We drifted back off into silence as our trip continued. I couldn't find any further words to reassure Lillie—truthfully, I had the same feeling of an impending end. There was something about the presence of this Altar that made it seem important, somehow, and that visiting it would spell the end of our time together.

After what happened at the Lake with Lunala, a gut feeling told me that this visit would shape up to be something just as important. The atmosphere remained heavy, but Hope purposely started to kick up her legs to swing her feet as we traveled. She threw her hands behind her head, took up a forced air of nonchalance, and hummed as if she was casually passing the time on a completely normal walk.

"So what do you know about the Altar of the Sun and Moon anyway, Alex? You're our expert on strange and otherworldly knowledge after all," she asked. I genuinely appreciated the sudden change in topic. I wasted no time to leap at the golden opportunity to lighten the mood.

"I've mentioned the games in the past, yeah?" I cleared my throat as both Hope and Lillie nodded to confirm.

"I've alluded to them and some of the events within them, but I don't think I've ever gone into too much detail.

"Well, for starters, this Altar is visitable in them, and it's where Nebby gains the ability to open portals to Ultra Space. It serves as the start of a mini game where you ride on his back and travel to new dimensions light years away. Mechanically, the places it brings you lets you catch Pokémon that you otherwise wouldn't be able to find in Alola." Lillie stumbled. She pulled her hands close to her stomach to not drop Nebby.

"... Excuse me? What?" Hope sputtered, and her previously lackadaisical stance completely fell away.

"Alex, that's insane."

"They were games," I replied, awkwardly scratching my cheek.

"I'll admit that I'm not sure how realistic that minigame was. I mean, sure, the player character gets a suit to survive Ultra Space, and the travel itself boils just down to flying through colored rings and figuring out what portal to enter—""But it's still a human riding on the back of a Legendary Pokémon flying through Ultra Space!" Hope shouted, bewildered.

"You have to recognize just how ridiculous that is!"

"It was just a gameplay mechanic!"

"A gameplay mechanic involving flying through space!" I bit my lip and looked away. Hope stared at me, and the huff that escaped my throat had no hint of the heaviness that pervaded this space only a moment before.

"Anything involving Legendary Pokémon is ridiculous," I said, almost defensively.

"I mean, you saw Lunala. Look me in the eyes and tell me that everything involving it was completely normal." Hope gave me no response for several long seconds.

"... Touché," she eventually coughed out. (For a second, I was confused at Hope's sudden use of French, but then I remembered that Kalos existed and that she was from there.) In the ensuing few minutes of travel through the canyon, Hope and I bickered back and forth about the legitimacy of what I described. She seemed to take every opportunity to criticize that minigame, and I did my best to defend it.

I wasn't even sure why I was trying so hard to counter her claims, but it was a nice distraction from everything else going on. Sure, some of Hope's quips didn't quite land—heck, she tried to call it dumb-play instead of gameplay —but it served well enough to lighten the mood. It was fun, honestly enough. Though, Lillie didn't speak up through this whole period, spending the time mostly just staring at the ground. Eventually, she brought her head up and looked me in the eyes.

I took that as a sign to stop this dumb argument and see what she wanted to say.

"Alex," she started, "in the minigame, how far away were the other dimensions?"

"Light years. Thousands of them. Impossibly far by human standards." Hope looked like she desperately wanted to comment on that, but she held her tongue as Lillie continued.

"And you catch Pokémon after entering those dimensions?" she asked.

"Yeah. The farther you went the more likely you were to encounter a shiny or Legendary Pokémon, too." Hope couldn't stop herself from sputtering again, and she was forced to drop behind a few yards to not immediately blurt out a reply. Lillie simply scrunched up her face in thought, like always, and she seemed to chew on the inside of her cheek in careful consideration of what to ask next.

"Then..." Lillie let that word hang for a moment.

"Catching a Pokémon like that is basically an alien abduction, right?" A second of stunned silence, and then Hope could resist no longer. She doubled over in laughter as we were forced to stop and turn around.

"Alien abduction! Catching Pokémon thousands of light years away!" She had to clutch her stomach with how hard she was laughing.

"Come on, Alex, you have to admit she had a point about that!"

"... Fine. I'll give her that," I said, reluctant but still chuckling. A small smile appeared on Lillie's face before she giggled too, and once Hope managed to recover, our path towards the Altar of the Sun and Moon continued. This time, the mood around us was much lighter, and our conversations were as casual as any other time. Unfortunately, we reached our destination sooner than I'd have liked. A stone temple was built into the base of a mountain that towered over walls of this canyon.

Its shape was similar to a long arrowhead sticking out of the ground. We couldn't see what was on top of the temple due to its height, but a staircase would bring us to its top. Along the road, pairs of ancient, stone statues stood off to the side, depicting worn-away forms of a bat and a lion. As my eyes tracked the aged stone that gave way to stairs, I glanced upwards to see an object on the upper face of the mountain itself.

It was a familiar, stone disc, resembling the same platform Nebby had climbed onto and evolved on back at the Lake. The disc had been placed vertically into the face of the mountain, with stone structures above and below it attached for support. This was an ancient structure that had lasted for ages. The sight left us speechless. Next to me, Hope audibly gulped.

"I guess we climb?" she asked in an almost joking tone. Unfortunately, there was no joke. We had hundreds of stairs to ascend, and without anyone or anything stopping us, we climbed. It was tiring to step from stair-to-stair for so long, especially with how each step was larger than the average human-created step. We had to lift our feet to our knees to climb each one, making this hell on our feet. As we ascended, a growing silence weighed down on us as the presence of the temple itself seemed to build.

None of us complained; heck, now that we were here, none of us spoke, either. Back at the Lake, the temple there had an aura of sacredness to it that made it feel like we were trespassing. Here? This place had a similar aura to it, but this sacredness felt nowhere near as hollow. If anything, it felt like this place was almost alive. It took just under ten minutes to reach the top of the stairs, and by the end of it, we were left huffing and panting, necessitating a moment to rest.

Here at the top, I hadn't realized until now just how massive the temple and the vertical stone disc had been. There was almost a perfect copy of the overgrown garden from the center of the Lake, but this one fit the rectangular shape of the temple and was almost three times its size. Notably, there was another raised platform in the center of this area. Lillie's gaze did not leave where it sat.

"What now?" Hope asked. I looked to Lillie. She had the faintest of frowns.

"I think... I think I bring Nebby forward," she said. Lillie approached the platform as Hope and I hung back, resting and passively observing. Lillie seemed to purposefully move as if to not make any unnecessary noise. Nebby remained clutched in her hands, but she raised him up as if she was cupping water. Upon reaching the center, she climbed the two extra steps needed to stand on its top. I noted that those steps were properly human-sized.

"Alright, Nebby," Lillie whispered, her quiet voice somehow reaching us from even a dozen feet away.

"This is it. I trust you. When this is all over with, please remember me." Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Slowly, yet both reverently and reluctantly, Lillie knelt on the platform to let Nebby drift out of her hands. Despite being asleep, he came to a stop a foot above the ground, floating at the platform's very center. Lillie took several steps back and sucked in air before holding her breath. Nervous, both Hope and I held our breath, too.

There were no runes that lit up like last time. There was no presence of the moon that appeared in the sky. At most, a slight breeze sent a chill down my spine despite the warm sun, and we continued to patiently wait for all this to begin. No sound echoed out. Nebby was yet to have a reaction. A minute passed. Then another. There was no visible reaction. In fact, nothing happened at all.

"... Why?" Lillie blurted out.

"Why aren't you evolving?!" She almost rushed all the way up to him, but she stopped a foot away. Her hands clenched into fists at her side as she stared at the Legendary Pokémon with an expression I was unable to see.

"There was supposed to be a reaction! You were supposed to get better!" She collapsed to her knees.

"Please," she said, almost begging.

"I need you to wake up." Her head dropped, and I took a step forward. A few drips of water fell to the floor in front of Lillie.

"Hey..." I tried to start. Hope held me back.

"Do you think we came too soon?" I whispered.

"I don't know. You're supposed to be the expert."

"Things happened automatically in the games. It might be a level thing—the amount of training, I mean. Maybe Nebby needs to be stronger first? That's what I would guess." My idea was met with an unsure shrug. Hope let her hand rest on the Beast Ball containing Kartana at her waist. She furrowed her brow, and I turned back to Lillie. Kartana hasn't reacted. Is that a sign? Back at the lake, he remained behind to avoid Lunala. If something was going to happen here, Kartana would surely have left his ball, right?

Maybe we should have paid attention to that. As I considered that line of thought, Hope nudged my arm, and I saw a frown on her face. For a second, I thought she was merely considering all of this, but then I realized she wasn't thinking, she was reacting. In the distance, there was the faint sound of something rapidly coming our way. The noise was a regular beat in the air, but nothing like the noise of a flying Pokémon flapping its wings. It happened too consistently—too mechanically.

If anything, it was muffled, like how the vehicles of this world minimized their Pokémon-attracting noise. Hope and I turned around, and my hand immediately went to my Pokémon's Pokéballs as well. In the sky, a trio of pure white helicopters were zooming straight towards this altar, rapidly turning into full-fledged vehicles from faint dots on the horizon. It took no effort to recognize what organization they belonged to.

"The Aether Foundation," I practically growled out.

"Hapu warned me they were lurking around here."

"Should we head out?" Hope asked.

"No. I don't trust them enough to give them a chance to be here completely on their own. Besides, this is too well-timed. I have a feeling they might be coming for us rather than for the temple itself." Hope frowned and preemptively sent out her Decidueye. The Grass-Ghost owl appeared by her side and puffed up, standing tall and readying its wings. The noise of the helicopters finally caught Lillie's attention, and her head snapped up to stare at the incoming vehicles.

Recognizing them, she was quick to scoop up Nebby before returning to join us. She did her best to stand tall as well, but she lacked any of the confidence she had displayed before.

"Be on guard," I said. The helicopters slowed to a halt then drifted down towards the gardens. As expected, the yellow symbol of the Aether Foundation was displayed prominently on each of the vehicle's sides. When landing, the trio of helicopters whipped up winds and blew dirt and loose foliage off the side of this temple. Several of the plants of the garden were crushed under their landing skids. Hope gained a scowl.

Once all three had touched down in sync, their engines shut off, and their rotating blades came to a halt. No one left the helicopters for what felt like a full minute. Decidueye raised a wing to nock a feather like an arrow in a bow. Finally— finally— doors opened up and people rushed out. Several groups of Aether Foundation members hopped out of the helicopters, holding up devices that beeped as they scanned our surroundings.

Most were wearing the classic white uniform-and-cap of an average Foundation member, but a good chunk of those people seemed to be nothing but escorts for lab coat-wearing scientists with faces obscured by golden visors of sealed helmets. I was about to yell for them to stop, but the words caught in my throat as one more person left a helicopter. Lillie reflexively stood up straighter, and Hope let loose an audible growl.

The heels of the woman that appeared before us clicked on the cobbled path within the garden, bringing her several, confident strides forward. As we stood there, sharp green eyes took us in, and she ran a hand through blonde hair that made the family resemblance clear.

"Lusamine," I said. The president of the Aether Foundation—technically Lillie's mother—completely ignored me. She planned this.

"Lillie," Lusamine said, speaking with the picture-perfect smile of a doting mother plastered onto her face.

"It's been awhile. I've been worried."

"M-mom," Lillie said. She did not say anything more than that.

"How are you, sweetie? Has your journey been treating you well?"

"It's... it's okay. I-I've made a lot of f-friends. We've been th-through a lot." Lillie was already lacking confidence after the failure to evolve Nebby. Now that Lusamine was here, any remaining trace of it vanished as her stutter returned. I felt my hands unconsciously clench into fists at my side. Each beep of the devices around us was like a stab to my ear.

"Friends? That's wonderful!" The woman clasped her hands together and gave Lillie another sickeningly sweet smile.

"I'm so happy for you, dear. Do you want to introduce me to them?" Lillie hesitated. She turned her gaze to the ground.

"I... I—""Hey!" Hope's voice pierced through the conversation. Her gaze snapped around like a feral beast's, and all of the Aether Foundation members around us froze.

"If you don't get back on your helicopters, I'm ordering Decidueye to attack." The grunts froze but were hesitant to leave. They looked to Lusamine for instruction, and the woman casually waved a hand.

"Do as she says," Lusamine ordered. And just like that, their fervent scanning ceased as every single employee filed back onto the helicopters as fast as they could. With them gone, we were left alone with Lusamine in this upper plaza. Next to me, Lillie subtly shook.

"So you must be Hope," Lusamine said, turning to her.

"I hadn't expected you to have a temper."

"I don't have a temper," Hope snapped.

"I just have the ability to recognize when someone's feeding us a bunch of shit. That's all."

"Language, dear,""Screw you," Hope replied. Lusamine chuckled before turning back to Lillie. Her gaze passed right over me like I wasn't there at all.

"What about your other friend? Are you going to introduce them?" she asked.

"Y-yes!" Lillie did her best to stand up a bit straighter.

"T-this is Alex! They're—""A Fairy Type specialist and a member of the Pokémon League's Wandering Elite. Also Lillie's mentor and guard for her journey," I replied before turning to the girl.

"Lillie, you don't have to do what she says. Remember your independence. You're a Pokémon trainer, now. You're allowed to do what you want." She didn't respond. Instead, Lusamine spoke, as calm and professional as ever while acting as if she wasn't barreling right through.

"A Fairy Type specialist, hm? You know, I've always been partial to the Fairy Type, myself," she said.

"So?" She laughed. I chose not to react. The President of the Aether Foundation finally turned my way, and I easily met her eyes. As we stared off, I could tell the woman seemed to be nothing but amused by everything going on. It was like this whole situation was a big joke to her—a joke in which she felt like she had complete control." Well," Lusamine said, emphasizing the word after a few seconds passed, "I might as well do what I came here to do, yes?

Lillie, I want to congratulate you on beating every single Kahuna as part of the Island Trial. It's such an achievement! Not just anyone can do that. As for you two, I have something to pass over. I have a report the Pokémon League might find very interesting." She lightly clapped her hands, and a man in a white suit hopped off the helicopter behind her. He wasn't any Aether Foundation employee I'd seen before, but he still had the logo of the organization on his breast and a suitcase at his side.

Quickly, the man strode over to us, where he opened up his suitcase and pulled out two folders. He passed them my way, nodded respectfully, then walked back to the helicopter and disappeared while Lusamine gauged our reactions in silence. I went to read over exactly what she had given us, opening the first folder without displaying my reaction.

"I want to reward you for a job well done," Lusamine said.

"As a trainer who completed the Island Challenge, one set on competing in the upcoming Manalo Conference, I think you deserve a gift: recognition. The document contained within that folder is a form for immediate emancipation. All you need to do is sign, and you'll be completely on your own."

"W-what?" Lillie asked, going completely still. Lusamine's smile didn't change an inch.

"Yes, Lillie. I saw that you wanted to cut yourself away, and I'm always willing to give you want you want. It's not fair for you to continue to chafe against me. So, as you wanted, I've given you the chance to split away. Just put your name at the bottom of the form, and you'll never have to worry about me again." Lillie started to shake even harder than before. She stared at her mother, looking at her as if she had never seen her before.

Reading through it, the first folder did contain exactly what Lusamine had described. To make matters worse, it was already pre-signed by the woman and recognized by a notary. Instead of handing it to Lillie, I passed it over to Hope. I was liable to damage it if I held it any longer, whereas Hope was reacting much better; she had a completely impassive expression on her face.

"As for the second one—" Lusamine started.

"For Pokémon League eyes only," I read aloud before glancing up.

"How dramatic." Lusamine tilted her head to the side ever-so-slightly, almost as if to say "what can you do?" I went ahead and opened it up before going completely still, just like how Lillie had done a moment before.

"I've already had my people send copies of this form to every Pokémon Center in the region," Lusamine said.

"You see, we've recently had a Pokémon stolen from us, and we very much would like to get it back. It's... sick, and it needs our help. If you see it, please, please, please send us a notice! We only want the best for everyone involved."

"... Uh-huh. Alright, sure." I wasn't sure if it was me or Hope who replied so sarcastically to Lusamine's comment. She filed a missing Pokémon report on Nebby. If he's ever seen at a Pokémon Center, Lusamine will be automatically notified. Not only that, but as members of the Pokémon League, Hope and I would be legally obligated to try to retrieve him for them. There's no statute of limitations on recovering stolen Pokémon. She's trying to turn us into goons that will get her what she wants.

"But, I believe that's it for what we needed to discuss!" Lusamine said as she turned and began to walk back to her helicopter.

"I hope you'll be able to find that poor Pokémon, and, Lillie, feel free to send us a copy of the form once you've signed it. In the meantime, I'll be waiting. Good luck at the Conference, Lillie, and I do wish the very best for you regardless of your decision in the future." Without anything interrupting her, Lusamine gracefully stepped onto the helicopter, and the door slammed shut behind her. The instant she was on, all three vehicles started up and began their ascent back into the sky.

Slowly turned into nothing more than dots on the horizon. When they were gone, Lillie fell to her knees. Tears streamed down her face.

"That wasn't my mom," she said, almost whispering.

"That can't be my mom. She's never been that cruel. She's never been that evil!" She hiccuped slightly as she did her best to wipe her eyes. Her face was already red and puffy, but even crying, she was trying to maintain some semblance of composure.

"I think... I think a lot of time has passed while you've been gone," I said carefully.

"There's also the chance she's been subjected to potentially dangerous substances." Hope scoffed.

"What, like there's some kind of 'evil fluid?'"" Maybe? There's a chance that Lusamine's under the effects of a Niheligo's poison. I can't say for sure, but the species is known for causing obsessiveness in their victims. If it's been going on for a while, I can see Lusamine becoming more and more warped over time, especially if it started... earlier than it should have. Either that's the case, or we have to accept that she's been this messed up all along." Lillie hiccuped again.

I probably shouldn't have brought that up around her. She shook her head, but she didn't speak any words. While it seemed like she was trying to deny my words, a small seed of acceptance had settled in.

"Can we... Can we go to a Pokémon Center?" she asked.

"Sure, Lillie," I said.

"Plus, look on the bright side." She looked up at me, almost hopefully.

"The notice was for a Cosmog, not a Cosmoem. The Aether Foundation might have got one over us, but we got one over them. As far as I can tell, there's no stolen Pokémon anywhere here. There's just a girl and her best friend traveling alongside Hope and me." Lillie sniffed one more time, and a wavering smile formed on her face.

"T-thanks, Alex." I smiled back.

"Any time." Once more, we silently traveled through Vast Poni Canyon. This time, a completely different problem was on our minds. But I knew it was a problem I could fix. We didn't stay on Poni Island. We left, taking a boat back to Ula'ula. Out of everywhere, we stopped at the one place no one would expect us to stay: Po Town, where Team Skull headquartered, and where Guzma and Plumeria were hard at work training up the members of their team.

After everything that had happened last time, I now had Gladion's phone number. Upon our arrival, I called him up to explain to him the situation. He appeared within a minute, arriving via teleporting next to an Alakazam and a bewildered trainer holding a wad of cash. Lillie was quick to embrace him, tears welling in her eyes, and the pair of siblings went into one of the Pokémon Center's rooms to have a quiet family conversation. I took the opportunity to ask the local Kahuna, Nanu, for a favor.

With him on guard and after one more call, Hope and I left the city to meet with one person in particular.

"Remember when we battled Guzma all those weeks ago? You know I made several phone calls," I said.

"Yeah, I remember that," Hope said with an obvious scoff.

"You stepped away for quite a while."

"The Aether Foundation has a lot of employees, but I have a lot of friends. Given how much of a threat the organization poses, I don't think we can handle Lusamine on our own."

"Okay, but we have reliable allies now," Hope replied.

"Gladion. Guzma. Elio. Plumeria..." The only sound between us was the sound of fallen leaves crunching under our feet.

"Alex," Hope continued, seriousness creeping into her voice, "we have allies now, right? Who exactly did you call?" I stayed silent, and something shifted behind a nearby jungle tree. Hope immediately went on guard, reaching for a Pokéball at her waist, but I held up a hand to signal for her to hold back. The vine-laden branches above us seemed to sway in an unnatural breeze, and the trunks of the trees themselves almost seemed to curve from the weight of shadows and loom closer than before.

A pair of red eyes flashed in the darkness. It appeared again several feet away, but it darted over to another tree and disappeared. At this point, Hope's knuckles were pure white, and though I knew what was going on, the hair on the back of my neck stood on its end. Mist came out with every breath. Hope's eyes darted around, desperate to see what was going on. Then, a crack. A stick broke—someone, or something, stepped into the clearing.

"Nette, nette, nette, nette!" It laughed at us, cackling at our combined fear. A doll made of grey rags clutched its stomach and pointed a finger. Its laughter should have been mocking, but the sight of it confirmed to me that everything was going according to plan.

"Banette. It's nice to see you again," I said. The Ghost Type grinned with the zipper of its mouth forming yellow teeth, and it slipped into my shadow, where Mimikyu woke up and scooted over out of shock.

"Alex, who did you call?" Hope hissed. The Pokémon's appearance had not put her at ease. Several more seconds passed with neither me nor the person we were waiting for granting her an answer. Hope seemed to be on the verge of both tears and rage up until a few leaves were pushed aside and someone I knew rather well stepped out.

"Alex called me," Phoebe, member of Hoenn's Elite Four, replied.

"Alex called me and a lot of other people."

"O-okay," Hope replied nervously." But who?" Phoebe had to raise a hand to cover her laugh. As for me, I could only smile.

"Everyone," I finally answered.

"I called in everyone, Hope. I called in each and every friend and favor I had, so the next few weeks are going to be very busy. The Aether Foundation needs to be stopped, and we risk letting them succeed if we work on our own. Believe me, Hope, Lusamine will be stopped. She overplayed her hand back at the Altar, and now, we're going to show her exactly how big of a mistake she made.

"To put it bluntly, from here on out, we'll be rapidly approaching the end."