Dawn returned her Oricorio amidst Faba's delighted laughter. He was saying something but numbness was beginning to descend on me as I returned Lucario. I looked over at Dawn in her elaborate dress and took a step toward her.

"Dawn. Dawn, please look at me," I heard myself say and I was disgusted at the vulnerability that was so obvious in my voice. 

Dawn didn't move her head from its downturned position though and I thought back to a few months ago when I decided that I would let her back into my life the next time I saw her. I thought at that time that if a time came when Dawn chose to leave me I would be alright... but after only four days of having her be my girlfriend having her in front of me and not being able to speak with her was killing me.

Dawn released Piplup without comment and I looked down at the little runt. I had tormented this pokemon all throughout our travels together but seeing him with drooping shoulders and a somber look on his face instead of his normally pridefully puffed out chest and a challenging glint in his eyes made my throat clench tightly in sadness.

Not able to form any words I released Torterra from his Pokeball. As Torterra appeared he immediately began running towards Dawn; his vines sprouted from under his shell and reached out to wrap her in them. Shock and a desperate hope rushed through me, but before Torterra's vines could find Dawn, Pheromosa jumped in front of her and let off the strongest Bug Buzz I had ever seen. Torterra's knees buckled under the pressure of the shimmering green waves and he shook his head growling angrily.

"Control your pokemon Paul or I will call off this battle," Faba announced angrily. "And if that happens you know that Dawn will remain with me forever, right?" 

I glared over at him and nodded stiffly.

"Torterra," I yelled. 

He turned so he could look at me and I saw confusion and anger reflected in his black eyes. I knew that an even fiercer anger was reflected in my own eyes and I tried to keep my voice even

"Faba hypnotized Dawn. If we don't beat her then Faba is going to take her away," I growled out.

Not that I really trust he'll keep his word if I do beat Dawn. But what else can I do? I thought desperately. Torterra narrowed his eyes but slowly backed up so that he was once again on our side of the battlefield and awaiting my instructions.

"That's better. Now, please continue," Faba said with a wicked glint in his eyes. 

The pheromosa shielding Dawn leaped back over to stand behind Faba and I loosened my clenched fists, surprised when I saw several large, angry indents in the palms of my hands from my fingernails.

"Use Mist," Dawn said. 

I frowned in confusion as the familiar fog-like mist spread across the battlefield and I looked over at Dawn. She should know that I didn't use any moves that affected stats with Torterra... so why did she waste a move like that? Maybe she really is somewhere in there, I thought desperately and then took a steadying breath.

"Use Giga Drain, Torterra," I ordered. 

Normally I wouldn't use this move, but Torterra had been hit hard by Pheromosa's attack, and if I had any chance at beating Dawn I needed Torterra to have energy. Torterra roared and as Piplup ran to the side to try and avoid the move suddenly large green orbs began to stream from Piplup and run into Torterra. I watched with satisfaction as Torterra's tree leaves began to glow and became a little fuller from the added energy. Piplup fell to one knee and panted quietly.

"Ice Beam, Piplup," Dawn said softly. Piplup stood back up and fired an Ice Beam towards Torterra.

"Use Stone Edge to block," I said quickly. 

Torterra smacked one foot against the ground and two large rocks sprang up from the ground, blocking the Ice Beam perfectly. Normally I would use Frenzy Plant in this situation, but I was down by a pokemon in this battle and I couldn't afford the recharge time so I quickly sped through all of the moves that Torterra knew and whether they were special or physical in my mind's eye.

"Torterra, use Seed Bomb!" I ordered. 

Even before the stones dropped Torterra launched three large seeds from his tree over the slowly sinking stones. I watched as Piplup rocketed into the air from the force of the explosions before he fell to the earth and stayed down.

I blinked in shock, not believing that Dawn's stubborn pokemon that would keep battling even if it had bruises over every single part of its body would have been defeated that easily. Dawn returned Piplup silently and I glanced over to see Faba narrowing his eyes. Dawn's flat voice floated over to me and I whipped my head around to see that she had called a command once again before her pokemon had fully been released. Before I could call for a Stone Edge wall though Ninetales had already sent a powerful blizzard racing across the battlefield towards Torterra. He roared in pain as the four times effective move slammed into him.

"Use Stone Edge, Torterra!" I yelled after the blizzard had passed. 

Torterra shakily got back to his feet but before he mustered the strength to complete the attack a gleaming wall of pink sparkles raced across the battlefield and smacked into Torterra so hard that he actually fell to his side. To my shock, I felt moisture spring to my eyes as Torterra's head lolled to the side and his eyes closed.

"Yes! That is how you battle!" Faba crowed as if it was him that had just defeated Torterra.

Blinking back the offensive moisture in my eyes I returned Torterra and reached for my last Pokeball.

"Metang, standby for battle!" I said angrily. 

Metang appeared and I tried not to clench my hands into fists as I waited for Dawn to change out her pokemon. To my surprise though she didn't. Instead, she raised her chin slightly and my eyes widened as her eyes nearly met mine, but then she slid them away and rested them on her Ninetales.

"Use Blizzard," she said quietly.

"Push through it and use Meteor Mash," I ordered. 

Metang flew confidently through the roaring snowstorm, but I felt my jaw slacken in horror as a layer of ice began to form around his glowing arm.

"Use Hex," Dawn said calmly.

"Protect!" I yelled desperately as Metang's frozen arm crashed into the ground, weighing him down. 

A flickering barrier started forming but Ninetales had already sent her ghostly Hex flames towards Metang and they slipped through the holes of his Protect and exploded against his body, concentrating on the part that was frozen. Metang dropped to the ground and disbelief and horror ripped through me.

"No," I said quietly, anger flooding through me. "No, Metang!" I yelled.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Faba move forward with a crazed grin on his face but before he could say anything a blue light erupted around Metang's body. Faba and I took a step back, although Dawn merely closed her eyes, as Metang's body slowly left the ground and began floating several feet in the air. Relief rushed through me as I watched Metang's body fill out and two more arms sprout from his sides. As the blue light faded he let out a metallic roar and I looked in amazement at my now fully evolved Metagross.

Movement caught my eye and I turned to see that Dawn was already halfway through the ice Z move. I furrowed my brow in confusion. 

Why is she wasting an ice Z move on Metagross? It's not effective, even if it is crazily powerful.

"Use protect," I said firmly and this time the protective barrier exploded into place and shimmered strongly in front of Metagross as he hunkered down in preparation to take on the Z move. 

My eyes widened as Dawn finished her move and I realized that her white and black Z bracelet was not glowing. When she called for a Subzero Slammer Ninetales once again released a Blizzard, but it seemed to be weaker than before, and Metagross's barrier repelled the attack easily.

I looked over at Dawn and nearly choked when I saw that her hooded eyes were looking right at me and I could see tears trailing down her cheeks. The world around us seemed to fade away and for a second I stared into the eyes of the woman I loved and realized that she was trying to fight. Not me, though. She was trying to fight Faba. 

I'm such an idiot, I thought furiously and then the world came back into sharp focus and I rounded on Faba, my eyes training on the skulking Hypno standing behind him.

"That's enough... THAT. IS. ENOUGH!" I yelled furiously and I saw Faba's eyes widen with a look of surprised fear. "Metagross, use Shadow Claw on that Hypno!" I yelled fiercely.

Metagross didn't hesitate. He flew forward as fast as a bullet, all four of his leg's extending past him and his stubby claws lengthening into ghostly points. Faba threw himself out of the way of my rampaging pokemon while his hypno seemed frozen from fear. Metagross smashed one claw into Hypno, tossing him into the air, and then swiped at his spinning body with one of his arms from the left. Hypno crashed to the ground and without mercy, Metagross slammed his remaining two arms with extended Shadow Claws into his back.

Buzzwole and Pheromosa, who had leaped away with Faba, shook their heads and then stood very still. I watched in confusion as they turned and began sprinting towards the ultra wormhole that was still pulsating on the edge of the green area we were in. Without hesitation, they jumped through the wormhole and disappeared from sight. I turned and would have run towards Dawn but I stopped in my tracks when I saw that she was making her way purposefully towards Faba, her eyes still half-closed.

"Dawn. Dawn!" I yelled, running over towards her. 

I was only a foot away when Dawn reached Faba and extended her hand to help him up from the ground.

"Are you alright, my love?" she asked dully and I felt my throat clench in disgust and despair.

It didn't work? Is she still hypnotized? I wondered desperately. I continued to run forward as Faba clenched her hands in his and glanced over at his crippled Hypno with Metagross standing guard over it.

"Quickly, Dearest. We must...." Faba howled in pain as Dawn suddenly and savagely kicked her leg up and between Faba's legs so hard that I winced in sympathy. 

He crumpled to the ground, howling and rolling around in pain. Dawn dropped to her knees and grabbed his suit coat in her hands, forcing him to look into her steaming eyes as tears streaked from his.

"Give me Hypno's Pokeball," she demanded angrily. I ran over and stomped a hand onto his shoulder, pinning him in place and glaring down at him.

"He... won't listen...." Faba gasped in a high-pitched voice and Dawn's eyes narrowed.

"Just give it to me," she growled under her breath. 

Faba fumbled in his pocket and pulled out a Pokeball, letting it roll out of his pocket. Dawn snatched it up and enlarged it, pointing it at the unconscious Hypno and returning it to its ball. As Dawn did that I knelt down and hauled Faba into a sitting position as he continued to whimper in pain.

"You're going to pay for what you've done. Now call off the Ultrabeasts," I snarled. 

Faba shook his head and tried to look superior, but the tears streaming down his pathetic face weren't helping him. "I WILL rule Alola," he spat out.

Anger blinded me and I pulled back my fist and punched him as hard as I could. A satisfying crack rang out, signaling that I had probably broken the guy's nose, but my hand screamed in pain. Unfortunately, Faba's eyes rolled back into his head and he passed out, falling back onto the grass without a sound.

"Shoot!" I snarled in anger, flicking my hand to try and distract myself from the pain, and looked down at the pathetic body crumpled in front of me.

"Paul!" 

Dawn slammed into me, knocking me off balance and we both fell to the ground. I wrapped my arms around her fiercely and held her shaking body to me as she sobbed into my chest. Tears prickled in the back of my eyes as well and even though I knew Alola was still under attack I pressed my eyes against Dawn's head and held her close to me until her shaking stopped.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," I repeated over and over. 

Dawn eventually moved a few inches away from me, resting her head against my arm and bringing her arms from around my neck to rest them on my cheeks.

"Thank you for coming after me," she said, moving forward and pressing her lips against mine. 

I smashed her body against mine as I kissed her back, but she pulled away and sat up. I followed her lead, helping her stand in her long dress. The crown Dawn had been wearing had fallen off and she kicked at it savagely before handing me Hypno's miniaturized Pokeball.

"Come on, I know how Faba is controlling the Ultrabeasts," she said firmly.

After depositing the Pokeball in my jeans pocket I grabbed her hand and followed her. We ran through the hallways of the Aether Foundation. Any employees that saw us quickly backed away when Metagross rounded the corner behind us and I made a mental note to congratulate and thank him later on for his impeccably timed evolution.

Dawn suddenly came to a screeching stop, nearly falling over as her shoes slipped on the linoleum flooring. I reached out and snagged her by her waist, halting her fall. She smiled briefly up at me before kicking off her shoes, sending them skittering across the floor, and then stood up.

I watched, impressed, as she keyed in a passcode into the door she had stopped in front of. The door slid open and I followed her in, but Metagross was too big to fit, so he stood guard outside the door. My jaw dropped as I took in the gigantic machine in front of us. It looked like some kind of supercomputer and as I glanced around, I was surprised that there was no one in the room to monitor the monstrous thing. There were also screens along the far right wall that showed images of the pokemon stadium and several spots around the different islands where ultrabeasts continued to fight furiously against the trainers and their pokemon.

"He said he was using hypnotic waves to control the ultrabeasts... but I don't know how this thing works," Dawn said with a hint of desperation in her voice as she looked at the massive computer.

Frowning, I scanned the machine, and my eyes locked onto a weird-looking microphone. I walked over to it and pushed it, surprised to see that it seemed to be welded into the machine. Glancing around I hesitantly messed with a few of the dials and buttons around the microphone. Suddenly a metallic squeak came from the microphone and a red light turned on next to it. Dawn came over and placed a hand on my shoulder, looking down at the microphone with a look of overwhelmed confusion. 

Playing a hunch, I bent over so I was closer to the microphone. "Stop fighting," I said firmly. 

A screen to the left of the microphone showed a straight line that suddenly jerked up and down as I spoke into the microphone. I straightened and turned to look at the different screens on the wall. Dawn's hand slipped from my shoulder and gripped my bicep as we watched the fighting continue to rage on.

Once it was clear that my idea hadn't worked I turned back to the machine and frowned. None of the buttons were labeled but on top of the screen where I had seen the jerking line when I spoke there were two large buttons. One was depressed and the other wasn't. Shrugging I pushed the other button and now a small red circle appeared in the corner of the screen. Dawn's hand tightened on my arm and I bent down again and repeated the order to stop fighting.

Dawn and I turned back to the screens but nothing changed, so I tried pushing the other button. Within seconds Ultrabeasts began to freeze mid-fight. Dawn slumped against me, sighing heavily, but I knew that we weren't done yet. I turned back to the machine, pressing what I assumed was the record button, and then slowly and firmly spoke into the microphone.

"Return to the ultra wormholes and go back to your own worlds." 

I pushed the transmit button and then after a few more seconds the ultrabeasts began to turn and head towards the ultrawormholes. Dawn cheered and I sighed in relief as we watched the ultrabeasts filing back to the wormholes.

"Stop them!" Faba's screeching voice ordered. 

Dawn and I both jumped and fear and revulsion filled Dawn's face. I squeezed her hands, which were gripping my bicep fiercely, and she looked up at me.

"Metagross, don't let anyone past you! Use whatever move you need to," I yelled over my shoulder.

"Meta!" he agreed in his much deeper robotic voice and I grinned as I heard a small explosion followed by the shrieks of frightened people.

"What are we going to do? If he gets in here he's just going to get the ultrabeasts back into his control," Dawn whimpered. 

I looked over at the screen, glad to see that the ultrabeasts were already almost all through the wormholes.

"We need to destroy the machine, as soon as the ultrabeasts are through the wormholes," I said firmly. 

Reaching for my belt I paused, realizing that all of my pokemon had fainted during my battle against Dawn. She immediately understood and released both her Ninetales and Mirageon. They blinked and then ran over to Dawn, sniffing and licking at her in obvious concern. She took only a second to hug them both and explain what they needed to do.

Ninetales and Mirageon both faced the huge computer and we waited a few tense moments as we watched the rest of the ultrabeasts trickle through the wormholes on the monitors. Explosions and attacks raged in the hallway behind us. When the last ultrabeast leaped through the wormhole in Melemele island Dawn turned and held her hand out.

"Ninetales, use Sheer Cold!" she ordered. 

My eyes widened in shock as Ninetales opened her mouth and breathed out. A wind so frigid that goosebumps burst across my entire body washed over the machine, instantly freezing it.

That's a one-hit K-O move. She could have decimated my team with that move, I realized in shock.

"Now Mirageon, use Sand Ribbon," she ordered. 

Mirageon's ear and tail ribbons lengthened and glowed a dusty purple before she unleashed dozens of razor-sharp streaks of sand. The move cut through the brittle machinery and shattered parts thanks to it being frozen solid. A small explosive reaction puffed up from the back of the computer and my eyes widened.

"Hit the deck!" I yelled, wrapping my arms around Dawn's shoulder and head. I spun her around and pushed her down, covering her body with mine.

A huge explosion erupted behind us and I covered my head with my hand as waves of heat and shrapnel washed over me. I winced as I felt a few sharp pieces of metal shrapnel pierce my back and arm but I didn't let myself dwell on it. Not trusting that that was the only explosion I pushed Dawn and she began crawling from the room as smoke poured over us. Mirageon and Ninetales followed after her while I brought up the rear as we all crawled out of the room coughing like crazy.

"What have you done?!" 

Glancing up, I saw that Faba was hiding behind dozens of his followers. Several pokemon were scattered around the hall, looking like they had been defeated by Metagross, who was breathing shakily from exhaustion.

"It's over," Dawn coughed, standing up and placing a hand on Ninetales head as she straightened and stood tall next to her. "The ultrabeasts have returned home," she announced firmly. 

Faba snarled, which was actually a little terrifying with blood dripping down his face from his crooked and bleeding nose. I saw several of the foundation workers standing in front of Faba jerk and look around, their courage obviously having taken a hit from that news. Faba's eyes narrowed and he growled like a caged animal.

"Setbacks! Nothing but a setback! I will become the ruler of Alola! This is not the end!" Faba screamed angrily.

Suddenly the sound of doors bursting open made Dawn and I jump in surprise and police officers in black uniforms streamed down every hallway, surrounding Faba and his followers. Shouts of "On the ground," and, "Hands behind your head!" were tossed around and to my shock, I saw Nanu walking calmly into the fray.

My eyes widened as Nanu came silently up behind the irate Faba and swept his feet out from under him, causing him to yell out a weird "Aiyee!" before crashing to the ground on his side. I watched in fascination as Nanu knelt down and cuffed both Faba's arms and legs together, leaving him squirming and cursing on the ground. Then Nanu stepped over him without a second look.

A familiar arm slipped around my waist and I automatically wrapped my arms around Dawn's shoulders and planted a kiss on top of her head as she hugged my waist and pressed her head against my shoulder. Nanu walked over to us and I kept my arm tightly around Dawn's shoulders as I extended my other hand and shook Nanu's.

"Sorry we were late," Nanu said in the most serious tone I had ever heard from him. 

Dawn's arms squeezed me tighter and I rubbed her back soothingly. Nanu's eyes flicked up and down her and then he turned back to look at me. I was sure that we both looked exhausted and if Dawn's blackened dress was any indication I was sure that I looked like a chimney had thrown up on me.

"I'll have some officers take you two to the nearest hospital to get you checked out. I'll come by after we wrap things up here to take your statements," Nanu said firmly but kindly. 

Dawn raised her head from my shoulder but kept her arms firmly wrapped around my waist.

"Faba said that he locked away Ms. Wicke and anyone who didn't want to follow him. I don't know where though," she said sadly and Nanu nodded.

"We'll find them," he assured her emphatically and then motioned for one of the officers who wasn't cuffing the aether foundation employees.

The officer escorted us out of the foundation and onto one of their speedboats. Dawn and I returned our pokemon and accepted the slightly itchy blankets that the officer procured for us. I held Dawn against my chest all the way through the bumpy ride and promised myself that I would never let her go again.

A/N Phew, that was a lot to happen in this chapter. Thank you so much for everyone who has read this story and commented! I hope you enjoy it to the end :)