["Axel, something's happened!"]
Eva was running while telling Axel everything she had gone through these past few days.
A few days ago, during an academic exchange conference, she received a scholarly invitation from Aether Paradise, about how to quickly stimulate Z-Power.
Since the topic was very similar to her own ongoing research, and because her personal project had recently hit a bottleneck, Eva wanted to go out and take a look.
But once she arrived at the Aether Foundation, she accidentally discovered that many of their experiments were far from humane.
Especially by chance, she found out that the Aether Foundation was using genetic methods to catalyze Cosmog, intending to make it a sacrifice for some powerful being.
Eva and Lillie hit it off immediately and decided to run away with Cosmog.
But they hadn't expected that the Aether Foundation would actually dare to send people to hunt down her, an Aurient Federation researcher.
Hearing Eva's words, Axel couldn't help but fall silent for a moment.
He had just been thinking about how to trick her into coming to Alola, who would've thought she'd already gone there herself?
And coincidentally bumped into Lillie, then ran off together with Cosmog, the only thing he hadn't expected was that the Aether Foundation would be this arrogant, bold enough to openly hunt her down.
Did they think his childhood sweetheart was fake or something?
"You know wha... ah, forget it. Just move your communicator a bit farther away from your body," Axel had originally wanted to ask about the strength of the people chasing them.
But then he thought about it, the Alola region wasn't particularly strong overall.
Even if Lusamine herself made a move, at best she was of Elite Four level.
Her subordinates could take on Regirock? Yeah, as if.
["Why move the communicator away?",] Eva was puzzled and asked casually.
She knew Axel's Pokédex could transmit Poké Balls, but she and Lillie didn't have one.
Could Axel make a Pokémon appear out of thin air?
["Don't tell me you raised a Porygon that can travel through network devices?"]
"No Porygon, but I've got something else."
Axel grinned, his eyes turning to the side, toward Regirock.
Regirock instantly understood, his body dissolving into a flood of digital data and flowing straight into Axel's Rotom Dex.
A second later, blue sci-fi light flared beside Eva, forming a progress bar on her communicator screen.
At the same time, behind them, a group of elite trainers led by a captain with Gym Leader-level Pokémon were rapidly approaching.
These people, together with their Pokémon, closed in quickly on Eva and Lillie.
"Miss Eva, this is an internal matter of the Aether Foundation. Please don't get involved," The captain shouted loudly, but the two girls didn't stop running.
His expression darkened, clearly very displeased.
'Damn it!'
If it weren't for Eva and Lillie's identities, he'd have already ordered his Pokémon to capture them from a distance.
But the distance was nearly closed now.
"Umbreon, use Mean Look on Cosmog!"
"Bui~"
With a sharp cry, the Umbreon at his side shot a black flash from its eyes, linking itself to Cosmog.
Cosmog's body froze as though tied by invisible ropes.
Lillie, caught off guard, tripped forward, crashing to the ground, blood smearing her knees and elbows.
Eva immediately stopped and helped Lillie up.
The Aether Foundation members seized the moment, surrounding the two of them.
"Miss Lillie, please come back with us. The President is still waiting for you at Aether Paradise."
"And Miss Eva," the captain continued, "please continue assisting us with our research for the time being."
"The President has said that once the project succeeds, you will receive a generous reward, even an enormous research fund to help you complete your unfinished studies."
His words were polite, but his tone was stiff and commanding.
Clearly, he wasn't asking.
"No! We absolutely can't go back with them!", Ignoring her injuries, Lillie spread her arms and stood in front of Eva.
"Climo, I'm ordering you right now, let us go!"
The captain froze for a moment, surprised.
Was this really the same weak young lady from before?
But soon, he took a deep breath, his voice softening slightly.
As long as the President lived, the one who ruled the Aether Foundation would always be her.
As for Miss Lillie taking over?
That would be decades from now.
"Miss, please understand."
"If I can't bring you two back, the President will not approve.
Surely you don't want to see her angry, do you?"
"Everyone,.take them!"
At that moment, a teasing voice came from Eva's communicator.
["Are you sure you want to lay hands on a researcher from the Aurient Federation?"]
The captain glanced at her, finally noticing the open call on her communicator, and frowned deeply.
If the Aurient Federation learned they'd attacked one of their researchers, that would be troublesome.
The Aurienters were extremely protective of their own.
And Eva's identity wasn't ordinary, what if the person on the other end was a Gym Leader or even an Elite Four?
Thinking this through, the captain hesitated and raised his hand, signaling his men to pause.
"May I ask who you are?"
"Me? I'm Eva's boyfriend,.first-year student at Ninox University, Aurient Federation."
Captain: "???"
'Bro, seriously? A college student? You think this is your campus student council or something?'
"Everyone, stop listening to this clown's nonsense."
"When we get back, have the tech team trace this guy's signal. Let's bring him over to keep Miss Eva company for a while."
Axel's voice sounded a bit sheepish, ["Oh, that's nice of you!"]
["How about you send me some travel money and the coordinates for Aether Paradise? I'll come over myself."]
["If you give me an internship certificate, I'll even waive the travel expenses!"]
Hearing that, the captain almost laughed from rage.
'Are college students these gullible nowadays?'
Eva: "..."
She had to admit, when it came to stalling for time, Axel really had a talent for it.
She'd been watching the progress bar on her communicator barely move and was about to release her Garganacl and Rabsca.
Who knew that just a few sentences from Axel would keep the captain chatting like this?
That ridiculous casual tone of his... No wonder when they were kids sneaking out to play at night, the neighborhood guards always let him through the gate.
"Fine, come over. I promise I'll give you the internship certifica—what the hell is that?"
Before he could finish, an explosion of bright blue light burst beside Eva and Lillie.
The azure light gathered into a massive humanoid shape, so dazzling they couldn't even open their eyes.
Axel grinned, ["You mean this Pokémon?"]
["It's just a divine beast. You guys can spar with it for a bit first."]
The captain stared blankly at the gradually materializing Regirock, his eyes going glassy.
'Spar with a divine beast?'
'Me??'
'You've gotta be kidding me, are you seriously hitting us through the internet connection?'
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