Rise of the legendary Ketchum

The Capture of Aether Paradise

Ash, Lillie and Clemont woke up after a while, and they looked around the prison cell, forgetting for a moment where they were. Lillie looked around and spotted her mother, who had long, flowing blonde hair and green eyes like hers. She stared back into Lusamine's eyes, and Lusamine was the first one to break the silence. "How did you land yourself in this mess, Lillie?" Lusamine asked weakly. Lillie understood that team skull definitely didn't feed their inmates. "Mother, are you okay? You seem extremely weak..." Lillie said as she approached her mother and held her hand. "Life's been miserable ever since Team Skull took over, Lillie. It was nice of you to come and try to stop them, but it really doesn't matter now. Anyway, who are these friends that you have brought along?" Lusamine asked, now curious to know more about how Lillie had been doing in the past few weeks. "Ah yes, mother. He's Ash Ketchum, a classmate of mine. We were travelling together in order to complete the Island Challenge. He wants to be the champion of Alola someday by participating in the leagues." Lillie said, and Lusamine turned her head to look over toward Ash. "I've completed three of the four grand trials. I was about to head over to Poni Island before this mess reeled me in. Good thing I came here, too..... The world would have been subjected to a mass massacre by now if I didn't change my plans. At least we have bought the world some time now to prepare...." Ash said and sighed. "This is the first time that I have failed to stop an organization..... And it will probably be the last." Ash said as he sighed again. Lillie went over to his side, and wrapped her arm around his shoulder, and Ash returned the gesture. "Ash, we'll probably be alright. I know that you have come out of situations harder than this before, Ash. You can do it again." Lillie said while giving Ash a warm smile. Ash's gloomy face began to fade on seeing her smile, and pumped a little positivity into him. "Thanks, Lillie. I owe you one. "Ash replied and the duo stayed in the same position.  Lusamine smiled at the scene unfolding in front of her. Ash then broke eye contact with Lillie and instead looked around the room and spotted another blonde figure. "Hey Lillie, Isn't that...." Ash trailed off as he tried to remember the name of Lillie's brother. "Gladion." The boy rose and stared at Ash. His condition was relatively better than Lusamine's, but he seemed to be in an extremely gloomy mood. Ash got up and approached him. "Hey there, Gladion... nice to meet you." Ash said in a semi-enthusiastic and semi-gloomy tone. "Hey Gladion, I just have a question for you.... Why are you in Aether Paradise? I remember you hating this place with all your heart. Then why did you come back?" Lillie asked. "It's a long story, Lillie." Gladion said. "A minute, though... I remember Lillie telling me that you ran away from home.... Why is that so?" Ash asked, but Gladion didn't respond. Lillie sighed and decided to tell the story. 

*Flashback to 5 years ago*

Hey mother, I'm home!" Lillie said, as she put on a façade of coming back from a happy day at school. She was constantly bullied, but Gladion was able to provide protection to her due to him having Silvally, a Legendary. He knew about Lillie's bullies and protected her from them to the best of his abilities, but they would still bully her behind his back. They looked around, and found Lusamine climbing down the stairs of the mansion, as she came to greet the children. They threw down their backpacks and walked over to their mother, with Gladion telling her all about what had happened at school. When it was Lillie's turn, she had a hard time telling her mother what had happened, since she had to lie about everyone being nice to her. Lusamine  looked at her watch while listening and gasped. "I am late! Mohn, we need to get to the Aether paradise, quick! The Ultra wormhole will be opening once again!" Lusamine shouted in frustration. A man in his thirties, wearing a white shirt and cream-colored trousers, hurried down the steps. Lillie and Gladion also got into the back seat of the car, and Mohn took the driver's seat, with Lusamine riding shotgun. A while later, They went into the more commonly used garage that they would go through to access the Aether Paradise's underground system. As they parked in front of the entrance, they could hear a soft whir, and Lusamine and Gladion went in. Inside, they found the Ultra wormhole open, and Lusamine and Mohn came closer to the Ultra wormhole. "Stay away from the wormhole, kids. This could turn dangerous extremely quick." Lusamine warned the two siblings as they backed off. Lusamine studied the readings of the ultra wormhole on a monitor beside her. All of a sudden, the monitor began glitching, and Then the display went out. "An Ultra beast! Mohn, get out of here!" Lusamine shouted, but it was too late. The ultra beast fired a sludge attack, and then revealed itself. The Pokemon that came out looked like a jellyfish that could float mid-air, and was white from top to bottom "Mohn, look out! It's a Nihilego!" Lusamine shouted, but Mohn had frozen in surprise and fear. The Nihilego approached Mohn at top speed, while he could simply do nothing and stood there like a deer in headlights. Nihilego instantly possessed Mohn, and then went back into the wormhole. Lusamine tried to restart her machine that had opened the wormhole, but it just refused to work. She opened the machine's screws, and the mother board fell out, smoking. "Mohn.... No...." Lusamine broke down as she kneeled on the floor onto the exact spot where Mohn had fallen down. Gladion and Lillie looked on from the Lab's sidelines in horror, as the scientists monitoring the parameters of the machine were now running toward the main experimentation area. Gladion then teared up and suddenly made a run for the exit of the Aether paradise. "Gladion, wait!" Lillie said, and tried to chase after him. However, Gladion didn't listen, and instantly ran faster. He exited the building and went into the tunnel. He took the quick-transit system and instantly typed in a random destination. The machine, with was on the side of the tunnel, shot off as it moved along toward the assigned destination. Lillie stopped right in front of the Lift-like apparatus' doors closed, and a tear rolled down her cheek, as her brother, Gladion, vanished away into the distance.