บท 108: C108 - Kyurem encounter and the Aether Foundation

"I can sense your panic, child," a voice boomed in Pete's head.

If it was a different circumstance, Pete could have appreciated the melodic, pleasant tinge of the voice. Alas, he was panicking since it belonged to a 700+ BST pokemon in the same category as Arceus despite being a little weaker still.

"But there is no need. My awakening was a little early but foretold nonetheless. I had no idea it would come at the hand of a curious boy with his Metagross, though," the legendary pokemon added, and the voice slowly stopped drowning out the other thoughts in Pete's mind.

'Kyurem? Is there something you need of me?' Pete cautiously thought to reach out to the legendary dragon/ice pokemon.

"The time is not yet ripe. I will need to expend some energy to contain my form... you seem to know about my circumstances?"

Pete had cold sweat running down his back, which was completely unpleasant in this weather with the frozen time to boot.

'Your link to Zekrom and Reshiram? I have some inkling...'

"And you know of the fate of this... region. Curious. Since you seem to know so much, answer me this: I had always thought that it would be my doing when these wormholes opened in the future when the original guardians told me of the fate of this region before my slumber. Do you agree?"

'You are the boundary pokemon... so it is likely?'

"Your apprehension is amusing but unnecessary, child. I, along with the other three Kyurem, split my form together with the help of our creator for a reason. The wormholes must be part of Arceus' plans and calculations."

Pete widened his eyes. There were four Kyurem in this world, and the black and white forms of it together with the 'base' form were a result of Arceus splitting these Kyurem into three legendary pokemon? On a whim? As part of some plan?

"Your help is yet unneeded. If it comes to it, I may find your mind again to ask. Your presence in Alola is not necessary either for that to work. For now, I must gather my strength," Kyurem almost whispered into his mind as opposed to the loud noise it created at the start of their conversation and time became unfrozen again.

Pete quickly continued packing everything away and called for his pokemon that were still roaming outside for battle. Ignoring their indignation, he balled most of them except for Metagross and Espeon. He asked them to teleport them to Route 15, where Pete quickly ditched his winter clothes and jumped into the cool water to calm down.

"Shit," Pete mumbled with a distraught expression. "I thought I just needed to live and enjoy a normal life... why am I involved with a pokemon as powerful as Kyurem? That's so much worse than meeting Ho-oh, Articuno and two Heatran..."

His Mega Milotic swam up next to him after she noticed that Pete had arrived at the beach. Noticing his distress, the water/fairy mega pokemon calmed down her trainer through the use of fairy typing energy. When he was finally calmed down enough, his pokemon asked for an explanation, and Pete gave it.

Milotic was amused by Pete's distress after learning the full story but still calmed him down some more. With the help of a freshly released Arcanine and Pete's Espeon, Milotic began catching some of the non-pokemon fish to cook them for their trainer as he slowly stopped freaking out.

"Who knew the ultra beast wormholes in Alola would be opened by a Kyurem hidden in Mount Lanakila on Ula'ula Island in this world... I certainly didn't..." Pete muttered and looked at his pokemon who were grilling fish on a stick for him and the other pokemon.

Then, he started shivering once more. The waters on Route 15 were way too cold to just laze around in. He really wanted to get back to Professor Kukui and relax at the beach near the professor's home...

Having sufficiently calmed down eventually after their meal, Pete called Jasmine, though he didn't tell her about Kyurem. That would wait until he was home again.

Instead, they talked for a few hours as Pete discussed her recent training plan with the gym trainer. Jasmine's Donphan and Excadrill managed to combine a couple of moves to give their attacks what Pete called duo-typing and increased the power value / PV of their moves for the Move Power Leaderboard Rankings Pete had established considerably during this time.

Yet, the highest increase in power was Jasmine's Camerupt who managed to increase a STAB fire move from 361 to 467PV during the weeks since the inception of this training and measuring, which came pretty close to Pete's Serperior who still held the record for highest STAB move recorded by a non-mega pokemon at 503 with Energy Ball, despite the pokemon being a mixed attacker in the games who shouldn't have such a high special attack stat - unless Pete's Serperior was a genius, of course.

"*In any case, Professor Elm called me earlier to scold you. He said you should relax more and not work so much even during your vacation,*" Jasmine told Pete with a sigh.

"Vacation? This is a work trip," Pete quipped back as he leaned back into a tree with his two new Alolan Vulpix nestling against him on his shoulders.

"*You're at a beach front, lying in the shadow of a tree, eating grilled fish, and you have two new cute pokemon to keep you company. How sure are you that this isn't vacation?*" Jasmine asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you're not at my side - so I'm not relaxing for the sake of relaxation?"

"*... good argument,*" Jasmine giggled. "*And it's not like you need to go so far away for a vacation. You created a paradise here in the meadow. You'd just need to not work for a week and have the perfect vacation.*"

"Probably. I belong to you for a week when I get back. You can order me to do anything," Pete conceded with a small shake of his head.

"*Three weeks!*"

"Two weeks, and I'll throw in a bag of Soft Sand for your pokemon," Pete countered.

"*You found Soft Sand in Alola? That's quite lucky...*"

"Nidoking did it. The bag weighs around 3kg after I left Nidoking his share. He initially wanted to leave it all with your pokemon, but his ground typing energy is far behind his poison typing. He agreed that he needed the ground typing training to catch up."

"*That sounds very reasonable,*" Jasmine agreed with a smile. "*But are you sure you're not messing with me? I'd get that bag regardless because I'm your lovable wife, no?*"

"I got a Ground Gem, too, by the way. I'll bury it near the Berry Orchard where my Torterra and your Mega Torterra sleep, so tell your pokemon to find a comfortable sleeping spot close to it," Pete boasted with a big grin as he ignored Jasmine's jab at his logic.

"*How is that possible? Are you sure?*" Jasmine quickly asked in astonishment, ignoring that her husband ignored her just then.

True 'Ground Gems' were the essence of the land. They boosted the quality of ground type enery in its immediate surroundings and were incredible treasures to help pokemon learn ground type energy and perfect its usage.

"Samson Oak traded it with me after I answered him a riddle. He said he found it washed up on a beach one day... but I'm guessing it was acquired through somewhat more perilious circumstances. In any case, Samson told me I had 'fate' with the gem and should take it from his aging hands since none of his family members were ground type trainers."

"*Wow, that's super generous. There's only four known Ground Gems in the world...*" Jasmine said, looking impressed.

"Did you just look that up?" Pete asked with a laugh.

"*Hey! As if you knew before you looked it up!*"

"I didn't look it up here in Alola," Pete smugly countered before his smile turned wry. "I looked it up after I researched Giovanni. He owns two of those four known Ground Gems... that the public knows of anyway..."

"*Ugh, of course he does...*"

The two finished their talk when it was time for dinner. Pete caught all his pokemon except for Mega Reuniclus and him teleport to Tapu Village in the south of Ula'ula island, south of Mount Lanakila, and west of route 15.

On one end of the small town was a store called Thrifty Megamart that Pete remembered existed as a really large poke shop as well as an abandoned ruin in the games. Thankfully, the megamart appeared before him as a thriving shop as opposed to a ruin, so Pete began to buy all kinds of things.

He found a ridiculous looking Alolan Exeggutor ballpoint pen he would gift his father-in-law, for example, as well as flower nectars of different colors and flavors.

"Hmm, these are used to change Oricorio's form, right? They taste delicious as is... I don't need to catch the four-form flying pokemon with different typings to excuse me getting the seeds for these flowers," Pete mumbled as he taste-tested the nectar with Alolan specialty fried bread called Small Malasada. "And this bread... there's still Big Malasada, and that is the equivalent of a full heal in the game, right? Reminds me of donuts just a touch less sweet?"

Done with his purchases, Pete found a small inn so he could take a shower and not sleep in the wilderness for a night. The old innkeeper gladly offered Pete a room with a large porch that allowed his bigger pokemon to sleep outside instead of in their pokeballs.

The next morning, Pete got ready to go to the west of the village. He had a meeting to get to at the Aether House.

The white, futuristic-looking house was one of many facilities run by the Aether Foundation and this house in particular was both an orphanage and a day-care center for the employees in one - as well as a research facility for Porygons and computing.

Pete had agreed to meet up with Lusamine, the president of the Aether Foundation, on this day to discuss something that, according to Lusamine, would change Pete's life forever.

"Welcome, professor," Gladion greeted Pete at the door. The young son of the Aether Foundation president Lusamine and recent gym bagde winner on Akala Island wore a white suit that he looked pretty uncomfortable in instead of his usual edgy black and red outfit.

"I'm not a professor," Pete countered with a wide smile and shook the boy's hand. "Are you here to bring me to your mother?"

"Indeed. Mom will meet you inside before we move to Aether Paradise," Gladion confirmed and Pete had to lift an eyebrow. He hadn't known that he would move to the floating island headquarters of the foundation.

The two did some smalltalk as they walked through the stylish facility where Pete even saw Acerola, future ghost training elite four of the Alolan region and Akala badge owner, play with Lillie, Gladion's younger sister and youngest offspring of Lusamine.

When they reached an office on the highest floor that had a glass floor from where you could see almost the whole facility, the president of the Aether Foundation came into Pete's view.

Gorgeous blonde hair cascading all the way to her knees, a slim figure that most models would drool over and piercing green eyes greeted Pete as the woman looked ponderously toward the ocean in the west.

"Pete Lang, we meet at last," the blonde woman began and turned to him with a sweet smile. "That will be all, my dear."

Gladion complied, eager to get out of the clothes his mother made him wear, and the two were now alone in the opulent office.

"The Aether Foundation lacks nothing. We have more money than we could ever spend. Our goals are met at a satisfying rate. Our influence on Alola is only trumped by the guardians, though they are very much alligned with our goals and the kahuna will never go against us," Lusamine narrated as her eyes never left Pete's face.

"Now, I only have two personal goals left in life apart from seeing my children grow up to be healthy and happy. Kukui is the professor of the Alolan Region, and I don't have enough influence over the League to add another recognised professor to a region. But!"

Pete's hair stood up as the intensity in Lusamine's grin increased a lot.

"I can create the position of a global professor linked to my Foundation! Something unprecedented and solely possible through my influence and your genius!"