Gladion wished that he could say he had never gotten used to his life in Po town, much less became comfortable with it, but that would be a total lie.

He had a bed to sleep in and a roof over his head, although the circumstances were not ideal. Sure, he’d rather not have to sleep in one of the many rooms of Po town’s abandoned mansion with the loud and obnoxious Skull grunts, but he’s faced worse accommodations. He and Type: Null are free from the Aether Foundations grasp, and that’s what matters.

One particular morning, Gladion was shaken awake by Plumeria, who seemingly burst into the room without warning. The grunts he shared the room with weren’t there, which told Gladion that he probably overslept. It wouldn’t be the first time.

He was instructed to meet Plumeria in the boss’s room, a place that one is not supposed to enter without an invitation. It was on the top floor of the shady mansion, a place where Team Skull’s boss resides with pride and zeal. Gladion couldn’t say that it wasn’t a good attitude to have, but he also couldn’t say that he could tolerate the man’s huge ego.

When Gladion opened the door to the boss’s room, with his tired eyes and bed hair hidden under his hood, he found two pairs of eyes staring at him. The boss, the one and only Guzma, slumped in his throne-like chair with a cheeky smirk on his face, and Plumeria stood right by his side.

“You look like trash,” Plumeria said.

“Oh, tell me something I don’t know.” Gladion rolled his eyes as he shut the door behind him. He noticed a chest full of Buginium Z-Crystals sitting close by Guzma’s throne. They must’ve been stolen.

“Well, look alive my boy. I’ve got a real money-making opportunity on my hands, and I’m leaving it up to you to make it happen. Well, you and pretty Plumeria. As if I would trust you all alone, gimme a break!”

Guzma chuckled to himself as Gladion was left to grimace. The nerve Guzma had, it’s not like he wanted to be a part of Team Skull in the first place—

“What’s with that look?” Guzma leaned further into his chair. “Must you take everything so seriously? It was a joke, kid. Would it kill you to like, I don’t know, smile?”

“Probably,” Gladion said.

“I expected as much. Anyways, your boy Guzma got a really good scheme today! All thanks to a little bit of intel one of my grunts told me.” Guzma folded his hands as his grin grew wider. “Apparently, a girl on this island got her hands on rare Pokémon. My grunt said it’s like nothing he’s seen before, almost like it’s out of this world. See where I’m getting at, kid?”

“Not really,” Gladion said.

“... Seriously? We’re gonna steal it and sell it, idiot.”

“Who you calling an idiot?”

“You.”

“Look here big bad Guzma—”

Before Gladion and Guzma could start a screaming match, Plumeria clapped her hands twice. The two went silent as she swept a hand through her hair.

“Just get to the point, Guzma,” she said. “Then we’ll be on our way.”

“But Plum, he—”

Plumeria glared at Guzma with her sharp, golden eyes, and he quickly cut his sentence short.

“...Anyway.” Guzma cleared his throat. “As I said, your job is to steal that Pokémon from the girl so we could sell it on the black market. She’s just a little kid, so it shouldn’t be hard. Besides, kid, you got that freak of nature on your side. It should be a cakewalk!”

Gladion’s fist clenched tight, to a point where his nails dug into his skin. He didn’t feel any pain, as he was overcome with the thought of his companion being labeled a freak for no fault of its own. At that moment, more than anything, he wanted to shout out and defend Type: Null’s name.

Plumeria spoke before he could have the chance. “What does the girl look like?”

“Lucky you! My grunt snapped a photo. It’s not much, but you’ll have to make do.”

Guzma reached into his pocket and took out a photograph that looked like it was taken by an old fashioned instant camera. The image was blurry, and several people were in the frame, but the clear focus of the photo was the back of a young girl’s head. It was difficult to decipher the details of her appearance, aside from her white jacket and her mid-long violet hair tied in pigtails.

Guzma slipped the photo into Plumeria’s hands and shrugged. “I know, I know. I said it myself, it’s not much. But it’s what I got. For what its worth, my grunt said she was a tiny little thing, and she wore those goggles that you’d wear in a lab.”

“Understood.”

With a single nod, Plumeria turned her back to Guzma and headed straight towards the door. Gladion didn’t say a word, biting his tongue as he kept his eyes on Guzma. The man had a whimsically smug look on his face, per usual.

“Have anything to say to me, kid?” Guzma asked. “Go on, spit it out.”

Gladion remained quiet.

“Gladion. What are you waiting for?” Plumeria stood in the doorway with folded arms, a tinge of impatience in her voice. “Let’s go.”

Silently, Gladion followed Plumeria, turning away from Guzma and not looking back. Guzma was left in his throne, expecting the best from his underlings. Or perhaps he wasn’t. He seemed like the type to always roll with the punches.

It was a hot day on Ula’ula Island, hotter than usual. The sun beaming down mercilessly made people all the more irritable, especially when they were on the streets for hours searching fruitlessly for a needle in a massive haystack.

“This is stupid!”

Gladion wiped the sweat from his forehead for what felt like the hundredth time. He
swore he was becoming lightheaded and was beginning to worry he might pass out. Maybe the all-black outfit he wore wasn’t the best idea on a day like this, but then again, it was his preferred aesthetic.

Plumeria seemed as cool and collected as ever. It didn’t even look like she was even so much as sweating, making Gladion only more pissed. She kept gazing at the people walking down the Malie City streets, who were window shopping without a care in the world. Gladion didn’t get it. If he had a choice, he would lock himself in a room with an air conditioner on full blast.

Plumeria nodded her head. “Yes. It is stupid.”

“Then why are we doing this? We’re never going to find that kid.”

“Probably not, but Guzma wants us to look for her. So we’ll look.”

“This is a waste of time! Besides, it’s not like I want to rip a Pokémon from the hands of a little girl. That’s just wrong.”

“Well, we are thugs, Gladion.”

“And?”

“And nothing, I suppose. You don’t need to listen to little old’ me. I’ll just keep my trap shut now, my dearest sir Gladion.”

Plumeria played with the ends of her hair. Gladion rolled his eyes and butted her side with his elbow.

“You trying to piss me off, Plumeria?”

“Kinda. C’mon, I’m bored here. Gimme a break.”

Plumeria laughed. Gladion only huffed in response. As angry as he was with their current situation, and with his life in general, he couldn’t find himself growing truly blitter with Plumeria.

“Let’s walk around for another half hour, that way we could tell Guz’ we did everything we can,” Plumeria said. “Then we could go get some drinks or something. I’d kill for a lemonade.”

Gladion, with pursed lips, looked away as he kicked the air. “Guess I could live with that arrangement. Let’s get this over with.”

The small child Plumeria and Gladion were searching for was far closer to them than they thought.

It happened to be her day off, one she had been waiting desperately for. Since her boss told her to develop an entirely new special brand of Pokéball, it felt like she was working nonstop on its construction. Then, there were all the notes about Poipole she had to record and file, which were draining in their own right. None of it was anything a ten-year-old would want to busy themselves with.

But Molly wasn’t going to dwell on that now, her day off had finally arrived. She didn’t have any particular plans, as she was pretty much content scurrying around Ula’ula Island aimlessly. Usually, the day would have something in store for her.

From her backpack, Poipole poked its head out a smidge. It had gotten used to remaining hidden and was satisfied with the glimpses of the island it got to see from the bag. It was simply happy to be able to remain by Molly’s side.

In the distance, it saw two figures, which seemed to stare at the young girl. Poipole titled its head, before diving further into the bag, concealing itself completely.

“Poi.”

“Hm? Something wrong, Pippie?”

Molly stopped in her tracks, turning her head back. She noticed it quickly. Among the many people strolling through Malie City, two people, in particular, seemed oddly focused on her.

Her first impulse was to brush it off. It was nothing to concern herself with, right? She continued to walk forward without a second thought.

Then she felt two hands grab onto her waist.

Her heart skipped a beat, but she didn’t even have a chance to resist before she found herself being hoisted over someone’s shoulder. Was someone trying to kidnap her in broad daylight? While all these people were walking around them? That just didn’t add up.

“Plumeria! What the hell are you doing?”

“Takin’ her somewhere we could talk privately.”

Molly realized she was being held by a young woman she did not recognize. From behind, a boy in a black hoodie followed her, seemingly annoyed. Or, maybe he was one of those people who always looked annoyed even when they weren’t. Molly couldn’t help but think he was cute with those piercings in his ear…

Wait, why was she thinking about that when seconds ago she was suddenly grabbed by some stranger?

“What the heck!?” Molly shouted. “Who are you people?!”

“I’m Plumeria. That’s Gladion.”

“...Okay. Nice names. Now, tell me why—!”

“Quiet down, will you? You’re loud. I’ll explain in a sec.”

Plumeria was completely nonchalant, which made Molly confused to say the least. She figured she should try and wrestle her way out of her grasp, screaming her head off. But at the same time, Plumeria didn’t seem threatening. She wasn’t scared.

But she should be scared,  and she tried to remind herself of that. Her brother’s words were echoing relentlessly in the back of her mind, stranger danger! Stranger danger!

As Molly was caught in her self conflict, Plumeria carried her into a short alleyway. Gladion followed. The three were now alone, and Plumeria gently set Molly back onto the ground. Molly’s innocence kept her thoughts positive and her mind calm.

‘She set me back onto the ground super nicely,’ Molly thought. ‘She doesn’t seem like some bad guy! I should have nothing to worry about!’

Gladion kept his distance, a few feet back with folded arms. “Are you sure this is the kid? I just can’t believe we actually managed to find her.”

“There’s no mistaking it… I don’t think,” Plumeria shrugged. “Looks like the kid in the picture.”

“News flash. The photo Guzma gave us sucked.”

“Yeah, but he also said the kid wears goggles. This kid has goggles right on her face.”

Gladion and Plumeria went back and forth, Gladion with his incessant doubts and Plumeria with her insistence. Eventually, Molly raised her hand to interject.

“Um, hate to interrupt. But… uh… what’s this all about?”

The two looked down at the child. Plumeria approached her and bent down onto her knees so she would be on Molly’s eye level.

“Word on the street is you’ve got some super rare, outta-this-world Pokémon. Is that true, kid?”

“...Huh?” Molly's eyes widened. “A rare Pokémon? Out of this world? Where on earth did you hear that?”

“Sources. Doesn’t matter. Answer the question.”

“And what if I don’t?”

Molly puffed out her chest as if to challenge Plumeria, feeling bold as she raised her voice. Plumeria wasn’t moved by the action, she just jammed her hands in her back pockets.

“Then we’ll be here for a while, sweetheart. Besides, I suggest you answer before we have a problem. You don’t want to see Gladion when he goes off the rails.”

Gladion raised his head at the mention of his name. “What? Are you serious? Like I’d go off on a child—”

Plumeria continued. “I’m telling you, kid. He might seem calm now, but when Gladion loses it, he loses it.”

“Did I miss a memo? Why are we playing good cop and bad cop now?” Gladion shook his head.

Molly held back a snicker. “You guys are kinda funny.”

“...Glad you're getting your money’s worth, but I’m being serious.” Plumeria leaned closer to Molly, breaking right into her personal space. “Are you the girl with the rare Pokémon? Answer me.”

Molly recoiled, taking a step back until she had her back against the wall. The words “stranger danger” popped back into her head, and repeated endlessly. Her hands were clamming up, her breathing grew heavier…

Poipole could sense Molly’s discomfort.

“Poi! Piiii poi!” Poipole leapt out from Molly’s backpack into the air, zooming in front of her in a protective stance. Plumeria leapt onto her feet immediately, retaliating at the sight of this Pokémon she’s never seen.

“Get back!”

Gladion immediately grabbed onto Plumeria’s arm, pulling her away from Poipole. He stepped out in front of her, raising an arm to defend her from the foreign Pokémon.

“What the heck?!” Plumeria shouted.

“Stay behind me,” Gladion said. “That thing… it’s dangerous.”

Plumeria could see that Gladion was shaking, a concerned glimmer glistened in her eyes. The boy was slowly reaching for his pockets the same way a cornered criminal would reach for a gun, every movement hesitant yet calculated.

“Awe, you’re so protective of her,” Molly cooed. “Are you two dating?”

All the tension that was in that alleyway was shattered at that moment.

Gladion froze in place as his cheeks quickly flared red. “...What planet are you on?!”

“... Well, c’mon Gladion. Why not answer her question?” Plumeria asked with a wide smirk.

“...Not you too! God! This is serious!” Gladion reached into his pocket and pulled out Type:Null’s Pokéball. “What the hell are you doing with an Ultra Beast? Actually, it doesn’t matter. I’ll destroy that thing with the Beast Killer!”

“You… know about the Ultra beasts?” Molly’s eyes flared to life with fear, as she reached out and wrapped her arms around Poipole. “Wait! You aren’t about to try and kill Pippie, are you?!”

“Let go of that thing!” Gladion shouted. “You have no idea what type of damage those things could do!”

Molly stubbornly shook her head.

Gladion was about to release Type: Null onto the battlefield, until the three heard a fist bang loudly against the brick wall.

“Back away from her. Now.”

A tall woman with long, straight white hair approached Gladion as he lowered the Pokéball in his hand. She had poor posture, one hand in her pocket while the other held a dark jacket she had slung over her shoulder. She was well built, but what stood out most was her lean yet muscular arms that looked like they could lift a boulder with ease. Her face was scrunched up, her eyes narrowed and focused. This woman wasn’t playing.

“Don’t you know you’re supposed to pick on folks your own size?”

The woman stepped in front of both Molly and Poipole, speaking with an intimidating air. Gladion didn’t back down, gripping onto the rim of his pants tightly in frustration. He spoke through gritted teeth, looking up at the woman with the most threatening look he could muster.

“Get out of my way. I’ve got a danger to get rid of.”

“No.”

The woman pushed Gladion back, dismissing him with little more than a huff. Plumeria immediately acted in his defense, stomping her way over to the woman and getting right in her face.

“Ay! I have no idea what your deal is, nor do I care. But if you want to mess with Gladion, you’ll have to mess with me first!”

“...Fine then.”

The woman grabbed Plumeria by the straps of her tank, lifting her off her feet. The woman was silent for a moment. Then, she calmly began speaking to Plumeria, who struggled to free herself from the woman’s grasp, but couldn’t.

“You look smarter than your average thug,” she said. “I’m sure you’re more than aware that whenever you get into a fight that you know you cannot win, you book it. I suggest you do that now, and drag that ‘Gladion’ along with you.”

The woman dropped Plumeria, who fell on her knees. Gladion trembled with a mixture of anger and frustration, as he slowly inched towards a boiling point.

“You think your empty threats are going to stop me? You think you’re so tough—!”

“Gladion! Enough!”

Plumeria stood up and grabbed Gladion’s wrist. Her voice was stern, a similar tone she used when speaking to Team Skull’s Grunts. “We’re leaving.”

“W-what?!”

Gladion turned to face Plumeria, and the look on Plumeria’s face told him that he had already lost the argument that hadn't even started. He wanted nothing more than to protest, but he quickly found himself being dragged out of the alleyway.

The walk back to Po Town was quiet. Too quiet.

Plumeria noticed that Gladion was still shaking. He wrapped his arms around himself in an effort to get the shaking to stop, but it persisted. Plumeria figured that if she asked Gladion directly, he would simply deny the problem and push her away.

But this was getting ridiculous.

Plumeria firmly placed her hand on Gladion’s shoulder. “Hey.”

Gladion didn’t respond, and kept walking.

“I know you heard me. Hey.”

Plumeria stopped walking, causing Gladion to stop as well.

“What?!” Gladion snapped. “Can’t you see I’m not in the talking mood?!”

“Don’t care. We’re talking. Unless you think I’m too scary.” Plumeria poked Gladion’s forehead,
making him step back.

“N-no. No! What, you worried about me or something?”

“No shit, I’m worried. We friends, ain’t we?”

Gladion didn’t answer. Plumeria poked his forehead a second time.

“C’mon. Something’s obviously bothering you. It’s about that Ultra Beast thing, ain’t it?”

“...Yeah.”

Gladion lowered his head, defeated. It’s only Plumeria, right? What’s wrong with telling her about some things? Besides, he didn’t remember the last time he had someone to confide in.

Crap… how long has he been alone with just his Pokémon by his side?

“Well…I’ve had experiences with Ultra Beasts in the past. One even attacked my sister. She hadn’t been the same since.” Gladion sighed heavily. “When I think about that… I get so damn pissed. And that girl… she didn’t even realize how much danger she was in! That thing could hurt her… just like my sister…”

“...You’re a kind person, Gladion.”

“Shut up… I’m really not. I just want to make them damn Ultra Beasts pay. And I have Type: Null by my side… the Beast Killer. With Null, I really thought I would have had the power to…”

Gladion’s voice trailed off. There was silence.

Just then, he felt Plumeria grab him in a hug.

“W-what are you doing?!”

“You looked like you needed a hug.”

“I don’t! Let go of me!”

“No.”

“What on earth was that?”

Molly was still in shock. It had nothing to do with anything Gladion or Plumeria did, rather the woman who had stepped into the fray.

“I could play more than one role, Molly. Unfortunately, I prefer not to act like a thug. But it was necessary.”

The woman had slipped her jacket back on and stood with perfect posture. She tied her hair into a bun, her usual look. It was like a transformation, the woman morphed from a ruffian into a business woman.

Molly still couldn’t believe her eyes. Was she really looking at the same uptight, serious to a fault, strict, strait-laced, prim and proper woman she has come to know?

“Who are you and what have you done to Belle?”

“Oh enough. You should be thanking me. If I wasn’t walking by, who knows what would’ve happened.”

Belle finished tying her hair, before gently placing her hand on the top of Molly’s head.

“Though I guess now isn't the time to be scolding you. Are you okay?”

“...Yeah.” Molly slowly nodded her head, before her eyes began to sparkle. “I’m more than okay now! You’ve got to teach me how you became such a badass, Belle! Tell me everything!”

“... Good grief,” Belle scoffed.