Hearing Axel's words, Gladion's pupils shrank.
'This guy knows about the Ultra Beasts?'
Ultra Beasts appearing in the world wasn't that absurd of a thing, since the Ultra Wormholes often opened for unknown reasons.
There had been Ultra Beasts that fell through and became known to the world, that much was normal.
'But… Ultra Beasts haven't appeared in large numbers yet. How can someone inside already know that something has happened with the Ultra Wormhole?'
Almost instinctively, Gladion filled in the blanks in his head "Flint" must be some kind of expert.
Either he was like his mother, Lusamine, and had done a lot of research on the history of the Ultra Wormholes, or he had personally come into contact with Ultra Beasts, and even had the ability to communicate with Pokémon.
Aside from those two possibilities, Gladion couldn't think of any other explanation.
But… just thinking of that terrifying-looking Archaludon from before made his head hurt.
'A Pokémon that fierce, could its Trainer really be an easy person to talk to?'
He took a deep breath, healed Type: Null's injuries, and looked firmly at the villa entrance.
"Null, I'm going in first."
"If I don't make it out… remember to grow strong, and make sure to stop the coming Ultra Beasts!"
Seeing how much drama this challenger had going on inside his head, Archaludon curled his lip, grabbed both Gladion and Type: Null in each hand, and casually strode toward the villa courtyard.
Gladion was just about to resist when he suddenly felt several burning gazes fall on him.
Instinctively, he looked up, and his pupils widened instantly at what he saw.
In the pool, a Dragonair, one of the pseudo-legendary Pokémon, was swimming.
On the shore, a Gardevoir was skillfully cleaning up a table.
Beside that Gardevoir stood a snow-white horse-like Pokémon radiating an overwhelming pressure.
Even more absurd, he also saw a Pheromosa and a Nihilego carrying trays.
The moment he saw these Pokémon, Gladion's whole body tensed up. He struggled to break free from Archaludon's grip.
He could tell, the owner of this place was just like his mother, a crazy Pokémon maniac.
Even without thinking too hard, anyone could tell that someone who owned two Ultra Beasts must share the same wish as his mother, to see the Ultra Wormholes descend again.
"Let go of me! I'm leaving!"
"Flint, what you're doing will destroy this world!"
Gladion struggled desperately in Archaludon's huge hand, his voice full of grief and anger.
"Do you even know how terrifying the Ultra Beasts are?"
"If Champion Cynthia finds out what you're doing, you're finished!"
"Ahem~", Axel cut him off and pointed beside him, at Cynthia.
"Ever considered the possibility that she is Cynthia?"
Gladion: "???"
"Cynthia, how could you side with Flint! You'll destroy Sinnoh!"
"Not exactly," Cynthia replied with a light smile.
Gladion's eyes lit up.
'Of course, Regional Champions were always trustworthy.'
'Cynthia must have come here to persuade Flint not to go further down the wrong path.'
Just as Gladion's heart filled with excitement and hope, Axel spoke again.
"Let me introduce myself. I'm not Flint. My name's Axel."
"The Flint you're looking for went to Mt. Coronet to handle another mission."
Gladion froze, then his face turned ashen.
"You guys… you're really cruel."
"To make the Ultra Beasts descend, you actually sent Flint alone to such a dangerous place."
"Even if he's a noble person at heart, you didn't have to go this far!"
At that moment, a wave of helplessness surged through him.
A sorrowful BGM seemed to start playing in his head.
Gladion had once naively believed that if he just got stronger, he could save the world.
But after barely leaving Aether Paradise, he'd been effortlessly crushed by Archaludon.
Even then, he hadn't lost hope.
Because the world still had the island kahunas of Alola, and the Champions of other regions.
Sinnoh's Champion Cynthia had even recently accomplished the feat of battling Legendary Pokémon for several days straight.
Gladion thought that as long as they were around, the sky wouldn't fall.
No matter how powerful the Ultra Beasts were, they couldn't be stronger than Legendary Pokémon… right?
But now… he saw Cynthia standing with his mother's kind, together with Nihilego.
And their earlier way of addressing that Archaludon…
'General? They are clearly trying to rebuild a feudal empire!'
The sky hadn't fallen yet, but it had turned black.
Just as Gladion was imagining apocalyptic destruction, a familiar voice suddenly interrupted his spiraling thoughts.
"General, what are you doing? Hurry and let them go already."
"And you, Gholdengo, quit fooling around. Who did you even pick that up from?"
"I know your pure-gold sound system is great for winning over Mewtwo's favor, but seriously, can we please switch to something a bit more cheerful?"
The next moment, the BGM switched to "Good Luck Is Coming," and Archaludon gently set Gladion down on the ground. Gladion blinked hard.
'What… is going on?'
'They don't seem like the villains I imagined.'
"Let me introduce myself again," Axel stood up and offered his right hand to the stunned Gladion, "I'm Axel. I just finished helping Cynthia defeat the twin dragons of time and space."
"Also, I'm the child of the two missing researchers from the Sun and Moon Research Lab."
"I know a bit about the disaster soon to befall the Alola region, so I wanted to ask you: how much do you know about the missing Sun and Moon Lab?"
Hearing Axel's words, the confusion in Gladion's eyes vanished, replaced with joy.
"You're from the Sun and Moon Research Lab?"
As the acting vice-director of Aether Paradise, Gladion knew very well that there were others across Alola working quietly to save the region.
One of the most important groups among them was the Sun and Moon Research Lab.
His Type: Null had been created by that very lab, to counter the Ultra Beasts that would soon arrive.
But before the Sun and Moon Research Lab could complete their work on Type: Null, they were hunted down by the Aether Foundation's forces and vanished from public sight.
Fortunately, his access level at Aether Paradise was high enough that he'd managed to hide their location.
But now… it seemed the Sun and Moon Lab no longer needed to stay hidden.
Because their reinforcements had arrived.
Gladion took a deep breath, trying hard to steady his tone.
"Mr. Axel, I know where the Sun and Moon Research Lab is!"
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.