After confirming Axel's identity, Gladion walked forward a few steps and stopped in front of Cynthia and Axel.
"My mother, Lusamine, she's gone insane."
"A few years ago, when I was still little, a Pokémon like this broke into Aether Paradise."
"And from that day on… Alola's nightmare began…"
Gladion pointed at the Nihilego behind Axel, his voice trembling slightly.
"Back then, my mother liked Pokémon, but she wasn't obsessive about it."
"She kept all kinds of Pokémon on the island, hired many breeders to work there, and our childhood was actually pretty happy."
"But later… everything changed."
"Over ten years ago, my little sister was playing in her room when she encountered that Nihilego."
"I don't know exactly what happened between them, but ever since then, my sister's been terrified of Pokémon, she can hardly even approach one."
"And after my mother saw that Pokémon with her own eyes, she became a completely different person. Her personality changed drastically."
"She grew extremely obsessed, started studying how to find that Pokémon's home, and how to find more Pokémon like it."
"It was around that time that she got in touch with the Sun and Moon Research Lab."
Axel narrowed his eyes, a thoughtful look flashing between his brows.
The timing Gladion mentioned matched perfectly with the time his parents disappeared.
"And after that?"
"After that…", Gladion paused to think, then shook his head, "I don't really know much about what happened next, because I was still a kid then."
"But I did hear from the people at the Sun and Moon Research Lab that my mother went to them to study two deities that occasionally appeared in the Alola region."
"It was said those two deities held secret knowledge about the Ultra Wormholes. So the researchers started searching for traces of those two gods."
"In the end, they actually found a Pokémon that looked like a small nebula."
"At that point, my mother tore up their agreement and stole Cosmog."
"According to the researchers, it was only then that they realized my mother's true intentions."
"Under the growing pressure of the Ultra Wormhole's descent, they began creating Pokémon that could counter the Ultra Beasts, like the Type: Null beside me."
"But somehow, Branch Chief Faba found out about it!"
"He started sending people to hunt down the researchers, trying to wipe them all out."
"He even managed to obtain the blueprints and turned the design of Type: Null into a tool for controlling Ultra Beasts."
"Luckily, by that time I'd grown up and had some level of authority, so I hid them in a safe place on Melemele Island."
"If you want to go there, I can take you anytime."
Hearing Gladion's words, Axel nodded slightly.
What Gladion said matched well with the history he already knew, Lusamine was still a woman whose love for Pokémon had turned into obsession.
And most of the plans had indeed been orchestrated by that branch chief, Faba.
"Don't panic too much. The Ultra Wormhole isn't going to cause that much trouble."
"When you go back, keep an eye on Faba for me. Once I arrive in Alola, I'll just finish him off directly, and things will get a lot simpler."
"As for your mother…", Axel paused for a moment, feeling a slight headache coming on.
Was she a bad person?
Yes, but not entirely. Her intentions had been good at first.
She'd only become like this because Faba kept manipulating her, combined with her own obsessive nature.
Axel decided he'd deal with her personally later and figure out what to do then.
"For now, check around your mother's place. See if there are any strange passages in Aether Paradise, and send me the coordinates when you find them."
Hearing Axel's casual tone, Gladion blinked, "That's it? It's that simple?"
"Shouldn't we research Type: Null's evolved form first? Otherwise, how are we going to defeat Faba and the Ultra Beasts that might appear?"
"If we don't have the power to beat them, even if we find Faba and the passage, we won't be able to stop their plan, or destroy the passage, right?"
"Destroy it?", Axel's eyes turned toward Alola's direction, and he bit down lightly.
"When I find that passage, I'm going there to kill everything on the other side."
"Kill… kill everything?", Gladion blinked hard, his mouth hanging open.
Clearly, Axel's goal was way beyond what he could comprehend.
He'd already exhausted himself just trying to stop his mother, and this guy wanted to go on the offensive?
Seeing Gladion's shocked face, Axel's expression softened a bit, and he chuckled.
"You've been in Alola too long, so it's normal you don't know what kind of power people from other regions have."
"To be honest, if your island kahunas weren't so prideful, and just sent a simple SOS to Lance, Cynthia, or Leon, I feel like the Aether Foundation would've been wiped out ages ago."
"Huh?", Gladion was dumbfounded.
'Is the Alola region really that weak?'
Still, he knew that right now, he and Axel were in this together, if one prospered, both did; if one fell, both suffered.
Their goals were different, but basically aligned.
Given that, the stronger Axel was, the better.
"Then I'll go find my butler right now and head back to Alola with him!"
"Wait…", Axel stopped the departing Gladion, "Do you know how to use Z-Power?"
If Gladion did, then Axel wouldn't even bother waiting until they reached the Sun and Moon Lab, he could just learn it today.
"Uh…", Gladion scratched the back of his head awkwardly.
"Alright, forget it if you don't," Axel sighed, he'd only been asking out of curiosity anyway.
Z-Power was, after all, on the same level as Mega Evolution, Terastallization, and Dynamax. It wasn't something just anyone could use.
Noticing Axel's disappointment, Gladion quickly added, "Even though I can't use it, the people at the Sun and Moon Research Lab can."
"One of their completed studies is about maximizing Z-Power output, and I've heard they've made great progress."
"According to the deputy director, if they can contact that new rising researcher from Aurient, they might soon figure out how to release Z-Power without doing the full preparation movements."
"That researcher, named Eva, specializes in energy transmission, it's a perfect match for further Z-Power development."
Hearing Gladion's words, Axel and Cynthia exchanged a look, perfectly synchronized, and both could see the surprise in each other's eyes.
'That little girl's already that amazing?'
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