"Whew——"
Seeing that the Beast Ball containing Buzzwole showed no movement for a while, and the capture mechanism clicked shut with a snap, Aiden finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Sometimes it wasn't that he wanted to use these underhanded tactics, but they were simply too effective.
Even with Salamence's outrageously powerful Flying-type moves, and with Articuno fighting alongside it, they still couldn't achieve a quick victory against Buzzwole, which was four times weak to Flying.
This was the terrifying aspect of Ultra Beasts—they had experienced exceptionally cruel battles in another dimension, ultimately developing their current behavioral patterns.
As long as they could plunder life energy, Ultra Beasts would continue fighting until their stamina was completely exhausted, and unlike humans and Pokémon in this world, they wouldn't concern themselves with environmental impact.
Relatively speaking, this Buzzwole was already considered a relatively small-sized opponent with comparatively less impact.
If it hadn't been for Indeedee's sudden Hypnosis, who knows how long they would have had to fight it.
Aiden stepped forward, picked up the Beast Ball, and with that, the crisis caused by this Ultra Beast temporarily came to an end.
Now, he could finally focus on dealing with another more troublesome little creature.
"Indee——?"
When Aiden turned around, he discovered that Tapu Lele had already shifted targets, redirecting its attention to his own Indeedee (female), and was practically pressed up against her face.
Tapu Lele's behavior naturally confused Indeedee.
But at the same time, she also found this adorable Pokémon, which emitted a fragrant scent and possessed abundant emotional energy, strangely familiar.
Perhaps they would have many common topics to discuss?
"Lele?"
Tapu Lele seemed very interested in Indeedee, but Aiden didn't dare let them interact for too long.
After all, Tapu Lele's personality was almost impossible to figure out.
He thus walked over, successfully attracting the attention of these two little ones.
"First time meeting you. The situation was urgent just now, so I was somewhat presumptuous, Guardian Deity of Akala Island, Tapu Lele."
After the battle with Buzzwole ended, Aiden quickly regained his composure management, speaking in a very respectful tone.
However——
"Lele!"
For some reason, Tapu Lele became unhappy instead, evident from its puffed cheeks.
"Indeedee?!"
Indeedee sensed its emotions suddenly change, and her originally upturned "croissant" horns suddenly drooped down.
Just now it had been delicious positive emotions, but now they had suddenly switched to negative emotions like anger or rage.
She could absorb those too, of course, but it felt truly amazing!
So emotions could change this quickly?
"..."
Aiden also immediately reacted, but didn't know what he had just done to anger Tapu Lele.
As expected, he was really bad at dealing with it——
"Aiden, you seem to be as much of a straight man as Lance, completely clueless about a maiden's heart."
Just as he remained silent and the atmosphere consequently fell into awkwardness.
Lorelei A——Miss suddenly spoke, not forgetting to adjust the frames on her nose bridge as she spoke, displaying mature elegance.
"Since you just neglected it, what you need to do now is properly comfort it~"
"What a cute little creature, come let big sister hug you~"
"Lele!"
Lorelei's sudden embrace was immediately dodged by Tapu Lele, which stuck its tongue out at her mischievously.
Aiden vaguely felt that Lorelei probably just had no resistance to pink-colored Pokémon?
And——saying he didn't understand a maiden's heart?
Whatever, he was already a man who had achieved mutual affection with his beloved. Lorelei, you're the one who needs practice the most!
"Lele~"
Disrupted by Lorelei, Tapu Lele seemed to forget why it had been angry just now, and floated lightly toward Aiden again.
Originally, the duty of preventing Ultra Beast invasions should have belonged to it. Since there were sensible humans who helped solve the problem for it, they certainly deserved a reward!
And Tapu Lele's way of rewarding was——
Head pat!
"Lele~"
Being head-patted by a Pokémon for the first time, Aiden's expression was slightly complex.
Actually, under normal circumstances, he was the one who initiated physical contact with other Pokémon, and the victims were mostly little creatures that looked very soft and rua-able.
However, since it was Tapu Lele, he would let it do whatever it wanted.
Tapu Lele came and went without a trace. When it discovered there were no more Ultra Beast auras nearby, it soon left on its own and disappeared.
Aiden also parted ways with Lorelei, flying toward Melemele Island.
He needed to bring the Beast Ball containing Buzzwole to Professor Kukui to help him research Ultra Beast physiology.
When Aiden arrived at the professor's research institute, he discovered that besides Professor Kukui, there were several staff members wearing two different types of uniforms inside, seemingly chatting with the professor.
One of the uniforms was extremely familiar to him, almost identical to Lance's set, with only differences in details and color.
——
Their identities weren't hard to guess—International Police stationed in Alola, more specifically, likely elites from the Ultra Beast Response Division.
As for the other group wearing white uniforms, looking like scientific researchers, they should be staff from Aether Paradise.
"Aiden, you're here!"
Professor Kukui seemed to be caught between the two groups, looking quite troubled.
Therefore, when he noticed Aiden opening the door, he immediately smiled and waved toward Aiden's direction.
Professor Kukui's action immediately drew the attention of both groups toward the door simultaneously.
"It's Teacher Azure!"
Among the International Police, a young-looking agent exclaimed in surprise.
Aiden gave him an awkward yet polite smile.
To be honest, his fame was extremely high in both the 'black' and 'white' worlds——ah no, among both the International Police and Team Rocket. He had even gained the friendship of the Officer Jenny family through several videos.
Therefore, it was quite normal to have a little fanboy among the police.
However, very obviously, the true person in charge was still their captain, that purple-haired woman in the black uniform.
"Teacher Azure."
The purple-haired woman didn't pay attention to her subordinate's behavior. She took several quick steps forward, nodded to Aiden, and proactively spoke.
"The International Police have been under your care multiple times, and these subordinates are also very grateful to you, so please excuse their behavior."
"I am the Director of the International Police Ultra Beast Response Division, Anabel."
"Hello."
Aiden nodded.
This Director Anabel, Aiden knew her.
In the Ultra Beast storyline, she appeared quite frequently.
Her true identity was once a Frontier Brain of the Battle Frontier. She lost her memory due to accidentally falling into an Ultra Wormhole and thus became an International Police officer.
However, gold shines wherever it is placed. Even without her former identity, Anabel remained reliable, and therefore rose quickly within the International Police, now already a director.
"You came at just the right time, Aiden."
Professor Kukui passed through the International Police and came before Aiden.
"We were just discussing the frequently appearing Ultra Beasts recently. It looks like the problem on Akala Island has been resolved?"
"Yes, this time the one that traversed the Ultra Wormhole to our world was Buzzwole, not too difficult to deal with."
Aiden nodded, taking the Beast Ball from his pocket and handing it to him.
The mindset of Ultra Beasts differed too greatly from Pokémon in this world. Even if temporarily caught with Poké Balls, they could only restrict movement; making them into partners was almost impossible.
Therefore, it was safer to leave them to more professional personnel.
"Buzzwole—that fellow's stamina is terrifyingly abundant. Even fighting it for days and nights is very possible."
Professor Kukui looked somewhat surprised.
After all, they had only detected spatial fluctuations from the Ultra Beast's appearance not long ago, and Aiden had already resolved the battle—undeniably fast.
"This should have been our International Police's responsibility. Thank you for your assistance."
Anabel was very respectful, which instead made Aiden somewhat unaccustomed.
However, before he could speak, Anabel suddenly turned around, looking at the Aether Paradise staff who had remained silent since Aiden's arrival.
"Let us continue the previous topic."
"Aether Foundation, how much do you actually know about Ultra Beasts?"
"Moreover, why would you allow Ultra Beasts to appear inside Aether Paradise? Don't you know how dangerous they are?"
With her first words, Aiden instantly understood why Professor Kukui had shown such a troubled expression just now.
So it turned out two groups of people were arguing here?
Aiden thus planned to quietly lower his presence, finding a quiet corner to squat and eat melon (watch the drama).
And soon, a powerful blonde beauty from the Aether Foundation side stepped forward, confronting Anabel head-on.
"Miss Anabel, if I recall correctly, we and the International Police should only have a cooperative relationship."
"So you have no qualifications to direct our actions; you only need to cooperate with us."
"Lusamine, do you think you can control Ultra Beasts?"
Anabel's face was equally cold. When their gazes clashed, Aiden could even feel the surrounding temperature drop sharply.
This woman called Lusamine by Anabel, he naturally knew her as well.
Lusamine.
Chairman of the Aether Foundation, and also Lillie's mother.
In the game storyline, she was a beautiful madwoman whose love for Pokémon was nearly fanatically twisted, with extremely strong control tendencies. She attempted to control Ultra Wormholes to collect rare Ultra Beasts, even at the cost of throwing the Alola region into chaos.
Although the——Mrs. before him still had a poor attitude, Aiden didn't see any yandere potential in her eyes.
Furthermore, the fact that the Aether Foundation was maintaining cooperation with the International Police was enough to prove that this world's Lusamine was probably still normal.
Speaking of which, she was also a pitiful person. Because her husband, Dr. Mohn, was swept away while exploring Ultra Space, she had been researching Ultra Wormholes for years, hoping to find her husband.
However, her methods might have been somewhat extreme, hence triggering the International Police's dissatisfaction.
After roughly reading some clues from both sides' argument, Aiden nodded, then stood up from the corner.
"I roughly understand, so can we talk properly?"
"..." Originally, Anabel seemed to want to say something, but when she saw it was Aiden speaking, she immediately fell silent.
As for Lusamine on the other side, she likewise stopped speaking.
For Aiden, silence was equivalent to consent.
So he directly stepped forward and quickly spoke: "Ultra Beasts should be Alola region's current biggest problem, so at this time, it's better not to have internal strife and cooperate wholeheartedly, right?"
"Although I don't quite understand your thoughts, however——"
"I have heard some things about Miss Lusamine, so I can understand your thoughts."
Hearing his words, Lusamine slightly furrowed her brows.
"Hmph, I have nothing to say to the International Police."
Regarding this Mr. Aiden, as chairman she naturally had some understanding, and knew his fame in other regions was extraordinary.
However, when discussing how to solve the problem of Ultra Beast attacks, she originally didn't think Aiden could provide any opinions, nor did she hold any hope.
After all, this was an internal Alola matter; even the International Police were just outsiders.
But soon, Aiden's following words made her pupils instantly dilate—
"Mrs. Lusamine, if I said I roughly know Dr. Mohn's whereabouts?"
"I wonder if we could have a calm conversation now?"
"?!!! Are you telling the truth?"
When Aiden mentioned Dr. Mohn's name, Lusamine, who had been maintaining an iceberg beauty facade and seemed resistant to communicating with others, could no longer remain calm. She immediately stepped forward and grabbed his shoulders.
Mrs. Lusamine, you wouldn't want——
For some reason, a very dangerous sentence structure involuntarily surfaced in Aiden's mind just now.
After casting aside the random thoughts in his brain, Aiden spoke again: "Of course, after all, an example of someone who fell into an Ultra Wormhole and returned to reality is right before your eyes."
After saying this, he looked at Anabel.
"Although you may lose most of your memories, at least there won't be any life-threatening danger."
This time it was Anabel's turn to feel surprised, but she merely blinked slightly, then nodded gently.
Although she didn't know where Teacher Azure obtained this intelligence from, she could see that he was working hard to make Lusamine willing to have a proper conversation with them.
Before this, she hadn't known Lusamine's motive for hiding Ultra Beasts, and the Aether Foundation side also didn't know she was once a "Fall" who had fallen into an Ultra Wormhole.
Both sides' intelligence wasn't shared, hence the difficulty in cooperation.
But after Aiden appeared, he suddenly connected the two organizations in a very outrageous manner.
Lusamine looked somewhat puzzled at Anabel, then heard her say: "'Faller'—that's what we International Police call people who once fell into Ultra Wormholes and returned from unknown places."
"And I am one of them."
"Can we have a proper conversation now, Mrs. Lusamine."
"..."
Having confirmed the accuracy of the intelligence from her mouth again, Lusamine's expression immediately calmed considerably.
She soon looked at Aiden again and nodded slowly.
"If you can find my husband, the Aether Foundation is willing to help you with all our strength."
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