Bethany Plays: Pokemon Sun Aether Paradise 1: Rotten Branch

Gladion is the one to take us back to Aether Paradise from Malie. I'm sure he won't be too annoyed we need the Malie PC.

In SM, they don't show the boat you use, but rather the camera pans away from Gladion in this wide shot of the horizon. At night time, the moon is depicted, and... I think the phase of the moon is actually accurate to what it was when I was recording? I'm not 100% sure how to figure the difference between a waxing and waning half moon in terms of "which side of the moon is supposed to be illuminated".

Right, let's get going. And yes, that map is going to be useless for most of the update.

We'll be fighting our first Aethers down here, and I'm sure this one should be able to see me from here. But before I fight him, one surprising bit I noticed:

A few of them will turn, walk away, and then snap their heads right back behind them. These guys are on their game!

So, what are Aether Grunts like in battle?

Aether Foundation Employees do not have special training (flat 15 IVs in SM, flat 25 in USUM, no EVs, Natures or moves), but they do use more and stronger Pokemon compared to Team Skull. They also have a payout of x48, compared to Skull's x32, which also puts them as more profitable than the classic evil team Grunts.

They also have this theme, which is precisely the sort of theme you'd expect from invading a technologically superior location.

Every Pokemon used by an Aether Foundation Employee in the original SM is an evolved species. USUM adds a Kecleon and two unevolved Fossils, which is close enough, I suppose.

Fortunately, Flambebe has the Speed. I'm a little worried about her not having Flamethrower, but Flame Burst was good enough for the glassy Dugtrio.

There's also a ton of middle-stage Pokemon that appear here for Seen Dex entries and the like. This is the only Trainer with a Sliggoo in SM- Angus has one in USUM, but also this guy no longer has Sliggoo in that game (he had it replaced with a Toucannon).

Keokeo has waited far too long for the chance to fire an Ice Beam at somebody.

...Right. Sliggoo is a Special tank. I'm not sure what physical Dragon coverage a Sun player has- Sandshrew is Moon-exclusive, and a lot of the Dragons are out of the way.

...Is that something you really want to do on a VLFS?

There's more than one way to dispatch a snail.

So is my team.

The female Aether Foundation Employee, in comparison.

I missed the first Aether guy's send out animation, but I do like the dichotomy offered between the two. The girl seems so bored with proceedings, while the guy is more than enthusiastic.

Stoutland (Moon): With this wise Pokémon, there could be no concern that it would ever attack people. Some parents even trust it to babysit.

She has a Herdier in SM, and a Stoutland in USUM. This is not the only Trainer with either puppy in either game, but it should have evolved into Stoutland by this level.

They both have Intimidate, but at this level, Stoutland has Retaliate, a 70 BP Physical Normal move that doubles in power if used the turn after a Pokemon on its team has been defeated. There's a reason her Stoutland has shifted to her second team slot in USUM.

Lord Huggington sat out for a high level, so K9 has this job. I went for the Sword Dance to counter Intimidate.

Well, I guess that's fair. Literally- both of us have +1 Atk now.

I still go first.

Her other Pokemon is a Lumineon in SM, and the Kecleon in USUM. Lumineon is also found on a Swimmer later in SM, but another one was added to a new Swimmer back on Route 15 for USUM.

It's supposed to be kinda bulky, but Zapple didn't even take a ton of recoil from Volt Tackle.

Finally, Dottie's upgraded from Air Cutter to Air Slash. Still hasn't got her signature move, though.

Yeah, I probably wouldn't be too enthusiastic if I had a boss like that to.

The geography of the room has changed for SM, and with it a few of these glitchy boxes have changed. I suspect the fact that there's two different designs of this room is part of the reason for the glitchiness.

I have no idea where that line came from, but I kinda like it.

She has a Shelgon and a Trumbeak in SM.

She switched entirely to Arbok/Lurantis in USUM, and after this showing, I'd probably do the same. Keokeo could've swept if I wasn't spreading EXP some.

Yeah, I don't bleed money. That sounds like an unhealthy situation to have.

And we're going to be seeing a few of them before we leave...

I feel sorry for the Pokemon that have to be used as a security detail for an allegedly-conservation group.

This is an angry throw, but that still frame. That is a pose.

Drifblim (Ultra Moon): The raw material for the gas inside its body is souls. When its body starts to deflate, it's thought to carry away people and Pokémon.
Vibrava (Ultra Moon): It vibrates its wings to send out odd sound waves. Trainers who are with it need earplugs.

His team is Parasect, Drifblim and Vibrava. The Vibrava was the Pokemon replaced in USUM (with Sudowoodo), but I'm not convinced USUM has a Trainer with Vibrava for the Seen entry. Strange.

Vibrava is a Ground/Dragon type with Levitate- it's the evolved form of Trapinch (they're antlions). It went down in one Ice Beam from Keokeo.

The Drifblim was the toughest opponent, and that's only because I still haven't fit Shadow Claw into Bernie-Bear's kit.

It Stockpiled Turn 1, which means it took too long to bust the decoy.

Even Bernie-Bear thinks maybe I should consider having a high BP STAB move in its kit. And you know what, that's fair.

We're the ones who've actually been practicing. If you've been doing your job, you shouldn't be battling your Pokemon.

This is the same Rare Candy Ailey and Noah found back the first time we came here. It's no longer hiding behind boxes, but if you've picked it up in one map, you can't get it in the other. Glad to know we can actually set that sort of flag these days.

You need glasses. Bad.

Hey, this guy only has one mon!

Primeape (Ultra Sun): It will never forgive opponents who have angered it. Even after it has beaten them down until they can't move, it never ever forgives.

It's Primeape. This is exactly the sort of Pokemon I don't want a conservationist having. Also, considering how many of the exact same Hariyama we've seen, maybe one of the could've been a Primeape?

Primeape (Sun): It has been known to become so angry that it dies as a result. Its face looks peaceful in death, however.

Surprisingly, there was evidence for Annihilape's existence before it was officially designed. Or perhaps they used this dex entry as inspiration for Annihilape.

As it is, Primeape is all about speed, not bulkiness. Zapple easily oneshots it.

I'm sorry, mate, but we've already stolen all the Pokemon we intend to. You're the ones trying to steal them back.

Here's one of those buggy crates in this formation.

Now that the guy looking for invasive species is off-duty, we can sneak by and pick up these two items. Toxic is now available to our entire team- and I mean that literally. In this game, Toxic is a universal TM, and it is far, far easier to list the Pokemon who can't learn this. In fact, I shall do so: Caterpie, Metapod, Weedle, Kakuna, Magikarp, Ditto, Unown, Wobbuffet, Smeargle, Wurmple, Silcoon, Cascoon, Wynaut, Beldum, Kricketot, Burmy, Combee, Tynamo, Scatterbug, Spewpa, Magearna, and two Pokemon I'd rather not mention right now.

As a reminder, Toxic is only perfect accuracy when used by a Poison type.

In USUM, this TM is "guarded" by a third type of Aether Foundation Employee, the biosuit kind. These guys are completely identical to the public kinds in SM, but they got buffed to 30 IVs in USUM.

Arcanine (Ultra Moon): There are so many old tales about them that they're called legendary Pokémon, but there are way more of them around than you'd expect

His Pokemon is an Arcanine to add to the Dex. These biosuit Aethers honestly just get weird to think about, and I'm surprised they threw one in the docks for seemingly no reason.

Case in point: You are.

That's not a good design from a personal perspective, considering what some of you lot are doing. Depends on which one you are.

This box is also glitched, but good luck getting your character to show up behind it.

Hau is no closer to having received an explanation for what's going on than he was when we started. One of these days...

...So is there something quantifiable we should be alert for, or are you just being metaphorical?

To proceed, you have to enter a proximity trigger on the elevator buttons. Doing this will cause Gladion to interrogate the elevator for what functions it will possess.

Incidentally, you'll be roped into a fight on starting this cutscene, but it's not one to be worried about.

It looked like he was talking to the elevator to me.

So, you know, good question.

I dunno, I managed to use it just fine when I visited last time. Looks like a manually set lock to me.

I mean... what were you expecting to happen when you pushed those buttons?

...OK, if the security is normally terrible, I would expect it to continue to be terrible without intervention. Fair enough.

So, the main floor or the conservatory?

Main floor, of course. We actually can't even go to the conservatory during this sequence.

The music also changes here- we've gone from the first infiltration theme to this one with a far different tone. I do kinda have a preference for the first one, but mostly I'm just curious why there's two of them.

That is true. There is only one Faba. And irreplacable or not, I am punting him over the railings.

I invited myself as soon as Lillie stepped onto this place. I trust there shall be no objections?

Worm your way out of this one, Faba. Either you don't deserve your title of Branch Chief, or you are 100% culpable for everything that has happened thus far in this story.

Oh, you and Gladion have history?

Looks at Gladion.

I don't think he'd shed a tear for you.

Oh, he knows. He hasn't explained any of this shit to us either. But he wants to help Lillie, so I'm willing to support him.

But, you know, an explanation would be nice, mate.

Gladion chooses this exact moment to go off on a tangent about the positives of the Pokemon Journey.

As an actual part of the narrative, I think Gladion has two major points to make here. The first is, on a personal level, Gladion has agency issues that his whole character up until now has been exploring through the medium of Pokemon battles, and this is genuinely something he's trying to express.

The second is that, in the world of Pokemon, Faba's main method of defence of the Aether Foundation is to do Pokemon battles, and our prodigal skill as applied to the Island Challenge should be a transferable skill to breaking in to the Aether Paradise. Or in shorter words, Gladion is telling us to challenge him to a battle and kick his ass.

Faba seems to pick up on that reading, and takes offense to the "kick his ass" portion.

After all, Faba has an inflated sense of his own self-importance, of course Faba will be more than a match for us.

As if. Faba doesn't even have his own theme or, despite the image, his own introductory splash- I caught a still of the image that shows more of the shockwaves of the Aether symbol appearing, but all Aether battles have that shockwave and it lasts less than a second. His payout factor is x120, significantly higher than all evil team Admins/Commanders to date.

...To my complete and total surprise, this is the only Hypno used by a Trainer across the entirety of SM. USUM has wild Hypno to fight in a post-Olivia event and adds some Hypno to a post-game event, but no, Faba's ace is Hypno and he has sole claim to it. It's a fitting choice that the creepy guy whose organisation is having way too much interest in the movements of four kids to have, but it's not exactly a Pokemon I'd expect to have "only one allowed to use it" exclusivity, especially since it's not a new-to-Alola species. For comparison's sake, of the four Kahunas, the only one whose ace is exclusive to them is Hala's Crabrawler, and other people use Crabominable.

This Hypno is 15/15/15/31/15/31 IVs, has no EVs, a Timid Nature (+Spd/-Atk), and the moves Psychic, Disable, Hypnosis and Nightmare. Nightmare is a Ghost Status move that causes the user to suffer 1/4 of its maximum HP in damage if it is asleep- a bold strategy, but one dependent on rolling a long sleep timer. And the opponent not attempting to circumvent that timer in any way.

Oatchi would be a correct choice conventionally, but I don't plan to let this fight go by conventionally.

Oh, that's nice. It turns out that, despite being a Psychic-type move, this works on Dark types. So Woodstock isn't as effective as he looks.

Anyway, I said I was putting Faba six feet under, and I intend to stick by this.

Sinister Arrow Raid is a 180 BP Ghost Physical Z-Move that improves on the power of a Never-ending Nightmare based on Spirit Shackle by 20 points. All three starter Z-Moves are a +20 increase, although it's worth mentioning that Sparkling Aria is 15 BP stronger than Spirit Shackle, so Primarina's Z-Move has a matching power increase.

Decidueye swoops in, sharp as an arrow, and followed by a full quiver of actual arrow quills. I missed the shot, but I think Decidueye also has a cool landing pose after the fact.

It's a physical Ghost move used on a Psychic type. You tell me how it did.

Faba's greatest line in the whole game: Aiyee! The sad part is, I prefer a different joke, the author of whom is not Faba himself.

Aren't you supposed to have more than one Pokemon? I mean, Plumeria does. Most of your Grunts do.

Please. Do not give him that dignity. He neither needs, wants, nor deserves it.

Gladion decides that now is the time to get Faba to pony up.

Look, you might recognise it, but I refuse to believe you do not claim at least partial responsibility. I don't get the impression Team Skull did anything to push Gladion to this point.

You know, Hau says that, but I'm going to give him some credit.

This facility has stairs?

I double-checked. The only instance of anyone referring to B2F in the main story of the first Aether Paradise visit (and thus in Hau's earshot) was Lusamine (when she's dismissing us to go to Ula'ula after the UB01 encounter, she tells Wicke she needs to check on Faba downstairs).

Oh, and yeah, they regularly talked about "upstairs" and "downstairs" to refer to different floors of the Paradise back then, too.

I love how Faba shrugs before sharing. This sequence is pretty expressive all up, but some emotes are more interesting than others.

Remember what I just said, about Lusamine explicitly mentioning Faba was involved in the basement shenanigans? Yeah, you can't say "I heard" to weasel your way out of responsibility.

Gladion insists to Faba that he reconfigure the elevator to allow access to B2F, and Faba acquiesces. The precise implications of this will become more important once we see what's down there, but for now, I want to point out something else. This entire setup, implying that we needed Faba's permission to go down there, only works if we could not get down there any way other than using this elevator.

The implications this facility has stairs implies Gladion would sooner put Faba at arrowpoint than descend a flight of stairs.

This is a genuine question.

And one we're allowed to say no to. This allows us to explore 1F early, which is a free chance to readjust with the PC logon. Basically everything else we can do here has no consequence, but for me, I really need that PC logon.

Rotom Pokedex has finally noticed that Gladion is terrifying, and is not particularly pleased we're actively making him wait.

Faba's line, if you talk with him, sort of hints at the fact that the only reason Faba's going along with this is because he has a plan that requires you getting out of his way.

Poor kid. It's not going to get easier for him.

Wouldn't it be so easy for us if this door was open now...

In addition to the PC logon, we can also get a free full heal. Then again, the PC can do that too.

One of these days we'll be allowed outside.

Anyway, there's precious little dawdling we can do. I've rejiggered my team, let's go assault these basement labs.

...Hopefully those biosuits are just for show.

As soon as we leave, Faba has an evil smirk letting us in on the fact that, as far as he's concerned, it's all going according to plan. Let's see how long that works out for him.

As far as first impressions go, this is a great one. Almost seems a shame to go visit it early, back in the first visit to the Paradise.

...It's been two years? Hm. I don't think I ever really fully appreciated the timeline on Gladion's backstory.

Hau, we really need to work on your relationship with context.

Gladion does at least approve of Hau's confidence. Utterly misfounded confidence, but still a good state of mind to be in. Let him think about how bad this is when he's mature enough to handle it.

...Also, isn't it freezing, temperature-wise, too?

"Secret Lab A" and "Secret Lab B". To be fair, there are worse ways to obtain operational security than to not name the things you are talking about. With that said, two years on, and Gladion still knows which lab is the one relevant to him. Can't have worked great.

After a point, I think you do have to explain what's going on just to get Hau to stop thinking about it. Then again, given his general level of ADHD, I'm amazed he hasn't been distracted from that particular issue yet.

Gladion's already figured out that Faba had some kind of ulterior motive for allowing us to get this far, and is preparing for the dramatic escape we're going to have to do eventually.

True. But he was also rather explicit about his decision to actively ignore your question. You challenging him isn't gonna get him to be any more forthcoming.

Hau then throws Gladion's accusation about him not being nervous right back, figuring Gladion to be the nervous one. And the thing about that accusation is, it holds water. Gladion not only has good reason to be fearful, but he's the only one who understands the stakes. Perhaps he has a good reason for not sharing those reasons with us...

Hau then gives us another freebie item, this one the elusive Max Revive. Sounds like a good opportunity to have some of those...

Eh... she probably is at least a little bit scared, but knowing her, she probably knows exactly what's going to happen to her. At least that's better than what we got stuck with.

I wonder if the Secret Labs have scarier names in JP. Because "they name their secret labs Secret Lab A and B, I'm so scared" is a ridiculous comment even by Rotom's standards.

Anyway, we are no longer kept out of the lab by a guard telling us this place is out of bounds for guests.

Now we're kept out by guards who challenge us to battle. Or in other words, nothing at all.

OK, in all seriousness, these guys will fight us one at a time, but in sequence, with no pauses to heal or reorganise. The first two use Pokemon weak to Ground moves, while the last is a Normal type, so choose a lead that can handle this sort of thing.

Murphy is such a Pokemon.

He does have a point. One should not necessarily expect the guys in biosuits to be the best security detail for the organisation in question. They're the guys security is supposed to be protecting, after all.

This guy seems a lot more confident in things.

Especially for someone using a Magneton. Compared to Muk, it's a lot easier to get the drop on Magneton. Particularly since Muk and Magneton share a Ground weakness.

I laughed, but he did actually pull something of note off on me. Although even dented by Muk, it wasn't a decisive trick. But still, Murphy will be getting out of the third fight first thing.

Nah, Ground types are just a bad matchup for Magneton in general. Not sure you had much of a strategy other than not using a Magneton to deal with Murphy.

Congratulations, mate. You had absolutely no reason to share that information. I'm not even done fighting you three. But yeah, Aether is not only working on this sort of thing, but clearly plans to get some benefit out of it. With that said, I object to the phrasing "not found in Alola". They make it sound like it's a Poke Ball that works better in the Kalos region than in places literally out of this world.

...As an aside, the Poke Ball they are discussing has already appeared in USUM.

This one seems to be a bit of an "evil guys do evil things" sort of topic. We're supposed to think of "experimentation" as a bad thing to be doing to Nebby, but Aether has a plan for it, and shouldn't really be performing experiments on it- it is far too important to risk on such things. I would've gone with "procedures" or something, to convey the same clinical tone.

(Also as a USUM related aside, Aether has less need to experiment, with or without Cosmog, to get the results they need).

Porygon2 (Moon): Porygon was updated to a new version in readiness for planetary development. But that dream remains unrealized as yet.

What happened to going to space in ORAS? Porygon2 is the evolved form of Porygon, changing Porygon's "looks like an N64 model" to "looks like a PS1 model". Considering when Porygon was added to the games, pretty close to 3D's capacities at the time. Porygon and its ilk were designed to be able to exist in spaces humans cannot, the success of which seems not to have gone great for the SM writers. Ironically.

I've seen this one with both Trace and Download. I think it depends on SM/USUM? Might also be random.

Either way, Murphy, get out of there. Jigsaw seemed like a sensible strategy, owing to its own high bulk and attack.

It turns out that, with its natural moves, Porygon2's only offensive option is resisted by Jigsaw.

Magnet Rise is an Electric Status move that gives the user a non-volatile status condition making them immune to Ground type moves. Murphy would use Low Sweep anyway, but good to make sure he didn't go for High Horsepower.

Jigsaw has HP Ground, but also I was going to set him on fire.

They went for Signal Beam, the only offensive move in the kit. In USUM, I believe it's high enough level to also have Discharge, but Jigsaw also resists that.

This is going to go well.

And that would be a good reason to use Jigsaw. Don't have to worry about the Def buffs if you're attacking Specially.

Oh... This.

Fortunately, I'm not caught in a Recover loop. But I am close enough that the Burn status I inflicted is the only reason I'm doing more damage than Recover is healing.

I get like five Recovers to whittle him down here. This is the sort of thing Taunt and Torment is designed to eliminate.

And hey, that would've done the job too! Shell Smash is a Status Normal move that applies -1 Def/Sp. Def and +2 Atk/Sp. Atk/Spd to the user. Basically anything that learns this can make great use of this to turn into a killer sweeper, and Turtonator is no exception. Turtonator is one of the few Pokemon that can use the Special Attack buff it gets out of this.

That's not the problem. The problem is you just suck.

Also, Recover loops may frustrate the opponent, but they don't get you any closer to victory.

And that's all the story really needs us to know. Any more than that seems to be the purview of the complicated techno-jargon that most writers know better than to attempt to waddle into.

There is a tongue-in-cheek Rule 0 for when you meet people who wear biosuits: If you see them running, try to keep up.

I don't think this is what that rule was meant to refer to.

The Muk guy decides "sure, why not" to following his companions from the room, but does so at a more appropriate pace.

In USUM, Rotom does tell us we need to go to the back of the facility. In SM, he continues this weird thread of "Secret Lab B is an inherently scary name". The only explanation I've got is it's a cooler name in JP.

Gladion has already claimed Secret Lab A, and tells us to get lost if we so much as look at the door.

Gladion has put way more thought into comparing himself with a chimaera with a power-limiting helmet than any kid his age deserves.

Fortunately, the comparison is far looser than he makes it sound, but it's still far too close for comfort.

Gladion comes shy of sharing much more information than that, because I feel like he's already way too close to ruining a reveal that's supposed to come as a surprise near the end of this sequence. The main information we're meant to take away is that a) this lab is where Type: Null was created and b) Gladion claimed it for the same reasons Lillie claimed Cosmog.

...There's a Zygarde Cell down here? There's a bunch of Zygarde Cells on the Aether Paradise, but they're all in areas you can't reach on the first visit. USUM has no Totem Stickers here, which both makes sense (humans are the ones putting up Totem Stickers, while Zygarde goes wherever it thinks it's needed) and raises questions (Aether's collaboration with the local tradition does not extend to joining in the scavenger hunt, clearly).

The best part of this operation is that these doors do not require a keycard or a password to open.

Hau follows us into the room and immediately starts looking through the filing cabinet. Ignoring, deliberately or otherwise, the fact that it is currently occupied.

By non-biosuit Aether grunts. Clearly the danger is not that relevant.

They are, indeed, actually researchers whose job it is to be in this room, and they have good reason to try and chase us out of it. But also, you know, we're totally doing an invasion, guys, hand over anything relevant.

The Aether Foundation sequence has a high concentration of the game's Multi Battles, with a total of four. There are also a few of them that get the speedrunners worried about game crashes. Which sorta explains why they don't do it super often.

Vanillish (Moon): This Pokémon has existed since the Ice Age. It controls particles of ice, freezes its opponents, and then shatters them with a headbutt.

In SM, these guys use a team of Machoke and Vanillish, two Pokemon with little to do with each other, but they are the only Trainers to use either species in SM.

Huntail (Ultra Moon): Deep seas are their habitat. According to tradition, when Huntail wash up onshore, something unfortunate will happen.

In USUM, they instead use the pairing of Huntail and Gorebyss, allowing you to get those entries if you can't trade to evolve a Clamperl. Machoke was moved to the Kantonian Gym, while Vanillish goes unrepresented. Which kinda sucks, given it's a weather SOS spawn.

In both SM and USUM, Hau will lead with his Raichu, which is SE on Machoke and both fish. Now, whether he'll remember that is a bit more of an open question.

I think he was a bit dumber as Noah's ally, but the presence of a giant fire turtle told him exactly what I wanted him to do as Bethany's.

It's always good to see the good moves being used by an opponent. Even if they're not super useful to it.

Decided to try out Shell Smash. Not super important in this fight, but I wasn't sure when I'd get a good chance.

It turns out I found one before I even finished up here in Aether.

Wow, not bad.

...How do you have Thunderbolt? You'd need either the Move Reminder or the TM with a Raichu that evolved before level 42, and I can't get either until late-game or post-game!

Flamethrower, though, that we have.

Are you two actually actively trying to be as evil-sounding as possible? I get you might have fantasised about this sort of thing, but it's really not helping your image that you're conservationists in a secret cold underground laboratory saying things that belong in the mouth of an evil demon king.

As a fun fact, despite the fact we're doing a Multi Battle and thus the winnings should logically be shared with Hau, we actually receive the same prize money we would expect for fighting two Aether Foundation Employees- 1776 Poke apiece, x2 for Turtonator holding the Amulet Coin. Either these guys paid the same sum to Hau, or Hau's decided not to collect.

Says the guy with a Machoke.

...Then again, you can do some exciting things with a Machoke.

I love the implication that they had to put a lot of effort into exerting control over Type: Null. Perhaps before they fitted the control helmets.

Hau, because he still believes in the inherent goodness of humanity, expects that the Aether grunts are going to be as co-operative as Faba.

They won't be. Sending us elsewhere in the facility is one thing. Telling them things they came here to know is another.

And then they slowly walk from the room. At least we can investigate this place on our own merits now.

Now, will we know what we're looking for? Less likely than it seems, but we don't have to worry too much...

Oh, Rotom, we get enough of that from Hau, don't you start. But yeah, I think we should get as good a look as we can.

Talking to Hau just tells us to look elsewhere. We cannot inspect the shelves he's reading at all.

While rearranging my items for the Amulet Coin, I noticed that for some reason, there's a free heal here. Thanks, Hau... I think?

Beyond the Ultra Wormholes that Professor Mohn discovered lies a different dimension. By investigating the changes in mass there, we can predict the existence of Pokemon-like life. We have dubbed them Ultra Beasts for now.

The report on the shelf is not necessary, but it does tell us a few things. Namely, this "Professor Mohn" (of unknown relation to the guy running Poke Pelago) beat Burnet to discovering and investigating extra-dimensional activity and the creatures within. That explains why Aether's already so far ahead on trying to get their hands on them.

All that's missing is a timeline. Did they discover this last week, or years ago?

Cosmog is hypothesised to be a type of Ultra Beast that hails from another dimension.A dimension that we have named Ultra Space. When placed under sufficient stress, it reveals the power to create and open Ultra Wormholes in order to escape from its suffering. We are now working on a device that will allow us to manipulate the Ultra Wormholes created when Cosmog is subjected to extreme stress...

This report is mandatory to read to progress the plot. And it basically explains most of the idea behind Aether's treatment of Cosmog- all they really care about is "when Cosmog is stressed, teleportation happens". The ethical thing to do (other than nothing at all) would have been to test under what other circumstances Cosmog may perform this trick. But they've focused their efforts on getting the most out of the method they have, something that's not going to look good on their PR report.

...That's what we're telling Gladion? I think he already had an idea about what Nebby could do if sufficiently endangered.

Read two reports and you change your tune about lingering, apparently.

Gladion runs in as soon as we get out of our lab, probably having done whatever he needed in his.

...You know, come to think of it, I'm not 100% convinced we ever told Hau about Nebby's teleportation thing. I mean, when Nebby helped us, all it did was break the bridge we were standing on.

Gladion rapidly realising that Lillie was doing the same thing he did, just with a different one of Aether's secret experiments. He must've known what Nebby could do the dimension shenanigans, but not how they were triggered. Which gives the alternative reading that Gladion was OK with what Aether was going to do to get to Ultra Space if Nebby's teleportation powers worked by asking it nicely.

Nebby was not returned here after it was recaptured. Gladion takes from this the lessons that Faba probably knew that, and thought Gladion wouldn't know it to the point of coming down here and buying him time.

A fact that Gladion realises as soon as he thinks it over.

He then runs off to go and fix this before it becomes a tangible issue.

Hau realises that Gladion's lack of explanations is something he's not planning on doing anything about, and decides to start rolling with it. Not before suspecting (probably correctly) that Gladion's just using it to make himself come off like he knows what he's doing.

Well, the alternative is sticking around at the bottom of this base.

I don't think we're close to something big. We're close to being caught in some kind of trap. It remains to be seen how we can respond to that.

Now that Gladion is otherwise occupied, we can explore Secret Lab A and read the notes therein.

There are a lot of files to read in here. Although I find it weird that they're described as "deleted".

We can read six of the at least 44 files recorded on the experiments here. I wonder if the numbers they've chosen reflect anything about the nature of these experiments symbolically- because the gap between 18 and 44 is hilarious in context.

Anti-UB Fighting life-form, B (Beast) K (killer)
The president has approved the proposed budget for this development project, so it will be implemented.

This lab seems to have been responsible for the most important step in the process of "going to other worlds to find alien Pokemon"- develop something that will prevent those Pokemon from just oneshotting you before anything happens. "Beast Killer" is a bit of a yikes title for that system, though. Those UBs ain't hurting anybody where they are.

Materials for development have been collected from the Canalave Library in the Sinnoh region. Plans are being drawn up for the specifications of the Type change program, known as the RKS System. Work is underway on designing the specifications of special memories for said system.

And this is the point where the system gets even more egocentric. I refuse to believe that a) Canalave Library has relevant resources and b) that they'd donate them to you for this sort of thing. The Sinnoh region was the way to go, though, since it is the home of Arceus and the Plates that allow it to change type with the Multitype Ability. The RKS System- with "RKS" being a homophone of Arceus if you mispronounce the latter- is an attempt to replicate it.

At this point, they are literally playing God.

Collection of cells of all Types for genetic modelling has been completed. Blueprints for the skeletal structure have been approved, and incubation of the bio-frame is underway.

Not much in here- just them constructing the thing that is going to house the RKS system.

Dummy test of the RKS System program has been completed. Type has been successfully altered with all 18 special memories. The transplantation of the RKS System program to the models is underway. The BK's official name has been set as Type: Full.

...18 Memories? This means that the RKS System is supposed to use a Memory to go into the Normal type, rather than what Arceus does and use "holding no Plate" as Normal. If you ask the competitive scene, this is a terrible idea.

Production of three models has been completed. They are identified as serial number 01, serial number 02 and serial number 03. All three models rejected the RKS System upon initialisation during testing. Shortly after these initialisation errors, all three models of Type: Full went berserk.

And you think yourselves capable of controlling UBs. And then we get to the hilarious part of proceedings, the fact that there are 26 logs separating this entry from the next one.

Models have been fitted with control masks to mitigate the effects of their rejection of the RKS System. Due to the implementation of these control masks, our RKS System intialisation tests have failed. All three models of Type: Full are to be cryogenically frozen for the rest of eternity. The name of these models has been changed from Type: Full to Type: Null.

Their attempts to play God failed and went berserk. But now, they have finally managed to stop the failed experiment from savaging them all. I'd call it impressive if it wasn't them failing terribly at what they tried to do.

And yeah, even in failure, their egos are gigantic. How exactly do they expect this experiment to never backfire on them ever? Condemn it to being cryogenically frozen for the rest of eternity. That freezing lasts until Aether Paradise has a power failure at maximum. Expecting anything more than that is putting too much faith in your foundation's capacity to exist forever, something that conservationists have no hope of putting faith in. You should consider yourselves lucky that the outcome was "Gladion steals one (1) of them."

The computer, on the other hand, contains something completely unrelated, and very slightly more humourous.

Ladies and gentlemen, Faba has a blog.

Are you interested in success, dear readers? Then allow me to introduce myself. My name is F, and I am an elite, self-made man. Here on my blog, I will show you the way to succeed.

And in the online world, where his credentials are as prolific as his word, he is advertising himself as exactly the kind of man he wishes he was. I can only wonder what poor fools actually believe this drivel.

Currently I am working on the development of a special sort of ball, which I took over from my predecessor, in parallel with another project. Seeing how well I multitask impresses my subordinates and increases their motivation. Showing how skillful you are is a kind of on-the-job training for your underlings.

Hahaha no, that's not how motivation works. Odds are you're not actually doing either of these jobs well (considering one of them might be the RKS project, case in point), in which case your subordinates are working harder because they need to make up for your lack of effort.

I once ventured to undertake a project without notifying my superior. I developed a device to restrain a dangerous life form, in case it became necessary to do so. I had made it for hedging risks to protect myself, but for better or worse, it was made public. It is always essential to consider the risks before one takes action.

This one, I also don't fully get. This makes it sound like he designed the power-limiting helmet for Type: Full before it was needed, and kept it secret even as it went berserk because doing otherwise would reveal that he did something without his boss's permission, only for it to come out in hindsight. At which point I feel like some sanctions should be put in place for not revealing something that would have saved lives. This one, I'm willing to chalk up to localisation, but I have no idea what it would be.

...Also, is "it went public" supposed to be talking about Gladion revealing the existence of Null?

My superior's family stole the results of our research and ran off. However, I have chosen to never blow this issue out of proportion. I will only be reprimanded for my own mistakes, and surely my superior is also displeased with the actions of her family as well. When necessary, one must always be prepared to massage the truth to protect one's own position. It is not an exaggeration to say that this skill is vital for success.

Well then. This raises a lot of answers and a lot of questions in rapid succession. Not the least, the fact that Faba describes the perpetrators as "her family", rather than "her son" or "her daughter". Is he describing Gladion stealing Type: Null, Lillie stealing Cosmog, or both?

...The weird thing about this question, come to think of it, is that neither Null nor Cosmog are the "results" of Aether research. Null is closer than Cosmog (it may be a failed product, but it is still a product), but Lillie took nothing from the Cosmog-related research other than the Cosmog itself. In addition, the nearly two years between the two thefts means that one blog post wouldn't really be expected to encompass both. I choose to believe he's referring specifically to Gladion here.

(Also, uh, Faba, that's... not what massaging the truth means. Massaging the truth means telling the truth in a misleading way. What you are doing is keeping your mouth shut when your words have no value. You should do this more often.)

Reading the blog before picking this up was bothering me too. Got it now.

Right, I think our friends are worried about a trap?

Let's head back up to the entrance. This is our first time using the elevator ourselves, showing off the absence of the ability to go visit 2F.

After we come up, Hau and Gladion come back after their time wandering around looking for whatever it is they were looking for.

Faba's off being... a thorn in our side. Whatever shape that thorn is taking, it is not at all making itself obvious, which can only get more terrifying the longer we leave it.

These two have a glorious conversation where the camera pans to either side of Bethany to show them emote, have a line, and then let the camera head back.

Bethany's face is, of course, absolutely not up for being party to this.

Where were you lot when Hau and Gladion were looking for you? That was your best chance of accomplishing something.

Yes. Because I'm sure Hala is going to ask zero questions when Hau disappears. Also our mum, but I'm less sure on Gladion's.

Hau panics and drags us over so we can help him in a Multi Battle with these two. Gladion's just fine on his own, apparently.

Only Trainer with a Pelipper, although Mudsdale will show up elsewhere. You'll probably already know who else will use a Mudsdale on us.

In USUM, they use the Hoenn Fossils. This one confuses me, since these are the fossils Olivia used. Scientist Tyrone uses Omanyte and Amaura, but I notice that nobody in the game uses those two counterparts- I'd ask why they didn't show up here.

This was a mistake, but it was because I misremembered how this fight was set up. In this sequence on 1F, there are three Multi Battles- one with Hau, one with Gladion, and then one more at the end. I had misremembered it as the two Multi Battles against Employees being sequential, when in fact the Gladion Multi is sequential with the final one. Haruka would be a good lead for the Gladion Multi, but less so when she's up against a Ground type and a Water type.

Jaws is a much better choice here.

Raichu has Pelipper down easy.

Well, that hurts just as much when used on us. I believe in you still, Hau!

Especially when he makes the correct choice and switches in his own Primarina.

I was a little worried about Jaw's capabilities when pitted up against Mudsdale, so I decided to set up a bit just in case. A little overkill in hindsight, but I did have my reasons.

Namely, related to this move. There's an interesting semi-glitch related to Hau's Primarina's Hydro Vortex in this sequence, and I was giving Hau a chance to demonstrate it.

Unfortunately, he did not. The basic gist of the issue is easy to understand, if a little strange in practice. Primarina's Water-type move, and basis for Hydro Vortex, is Sparkling Aria, which, when used as not-a-Z-Move, hits all Pokemon on the field. The way this is programmed is that Hau will click on a random target of this three options, since all three of them have the same result. However, Hydro Vortex hits a single opponent, and if Hau clicks on your Pokemon to perform Sparkling Aria, this will result in a Hydro Vortex aimed directly at your face.

I wasn't going to go out of my way to show it, although I would have considered it if Hau had a Primarina on a kid other than Bethany.

Jaws didn't even do anything! Hau did that entirely on his own. So much for needing my help.

Underestimate the power of the Alola region at your own peril.

...Hey, Gladion, have you done the Island Challenge? I thought you spent your time hanging out with Team Skull.

Gladion being absolutely terrifying, as you do.

Oh please, it was nothing. And I'm happy to mean that literally!

We'll see that in action more when we're fighting the heads, not just the Employees. Because that was not such an example of a fight.

Hey, anyone worried about Lillie is a friend of mine. Might feel a little better about it if you explained yourself every once in a while, but you at least know what you're doing on your own.

...Um... you left before he could mention that bit. Hau definitely phrased it as if he were still talking to you, but still. The game was not shot to imply that you heard that.

Hau seems so happy that a thing he said had an impact on him that I don't want to argue this too much, but still. Probably could've used a little more editing there.

This weird bit is brought to its conclusion by the arrival of Wicke, ready to introduce something else to take into account with Gladion.

Wicke being so happy to see Gladion again is completely at odds with the mood of the rest of the Aether Foundation

Hau stops, looks between Gladion and Wicke in confusion, before realising that another bombshell has just been dropped. It's not gonna get better for you, kid.

Despite the fact that the music does not change to a more peaceful track, Wicke is 100% as genuine as she is written to be, and is approaching us in good faith. The free heal wasn't that necessary, but sure, I'll take it.

Gladion's going to focus on his objective. As he's been doing all assault.

No surprises there. And the only reason Gladion hasn't already left is that he, too, is locked in a cutscene.

Hau, we have seen how many Aether Grunts trying to stop us from getting info on Cosmog and Lillie? At what point do you think the leader of the organisation is not complicit?

Perhaps he thinks all the mooks are taking orders from Faba, which raises its own concerns.

...Hm, I wouldn't go that far. The fact that Lusamine tried so hard to get us to talk to her implies we do have value to her, and I maintain that she knew we're friends with Lillie. But yes, Lusamine's politeness extends only as far as it is necessary for her to get something out of it, and not an inch further.

We are invading a technological marvel. Locking the doors should've been done before we arrived!

I 100% believe Gladion would have Null attempt to break through any locked door he encounters. I wouldn't be too surprised if he tried it on unlocked doors, too.

...Seeing those two next to each other is amazing, given he's giving different messages in both. It is worth mentioning Hau also ran off, even if it's not clear from the images. Still... better follow soon.

Sounds like this sort of thing is exactly the sort of thing Gladion got up to all the time as a kid. Why am I not surprised...

That's another comparison drawn between Gladion and Lillie. Clearly Wicke knows her too.

...That's a boss fight up there.

Not a big enough one to do a full team dive, but here's what I'm bringing. Woodstock will be the lead, but this is a sequential fight- I want Haruka to handle the first fight, and Woodstock the second. Fortunately, Haruka is less useful for the second fight, so she can afford the damage she takes on switch-in.

Hello, Faba. I see you've brought backup this time.

Mostly because you knew the President has the reason we're here. Gladion is nothing if not direct about that sort of thing.

Knowing exactly what we were going to do allows him to set up a strategy to stop us. If he were good at making those.

This was a good plan. By suggesting we had something to gain from going to B2F, he bought time to find friends.

His mistake was assuming that would be enough.

Hau has an amazing one over Faba here, but how exactly he pulls it off differs between SM and USUM. In SM, he focuses on how we're going to get past the locked doors, and suspects Faba, as Branch Chief, would have a key.

Hau then points out the obvious- the failure state of his attempted ambush is that we seize his key and advance. If he doesn't fight us at all, we need an alternative way through the door. And while Gladion would be glad to try Type: Null, there's no guarantee this is a successful plan.

In USUM, Hau begins this joke by complimenting Faba, with absolutely nothing to suggest Hau is doing a trickery. Faba suspects a trick, but swallows the flattery whole. What else?

He then points out that, technically speaking, we didn't actually know the President was back here. Gladion is assuming she is, because her house is back here, but for all we knew, Lusamine could've taken Lillie somewhere other than the Paradise. Hell, the only reason we're here is because Gladion (correctly) assumed Skull would deliver Lillie to Lusamine. After Lusamine has her, there's no specific reason the following events have to appear here.

I do kinda prefer the SM trick, mostly because the way Faba is set up to fail in USUM doesn't necessarily require Faba to have made a mistake, but it's not that awful a change. Just a weird one, perhaps they didn't like the implication that we physically deprive Faba of the key when this facility might not even have physical keys.

Anyway, Faba tries to regain his dignity by showing that we can be defeated by just Employees. Gladion decides he'll be our Multi Battle partner this time.

In SM, this battle is against Electabuzz and Magmar. In USUM, they still lead with Electabuzz and Magmar, but they also have a Houndoom and Manectric in backup. Not a meaningful extra challenge if you're using a Ground type, but still wears on your resources. As a boss fight, though, expect to see that in the post where Ailey takes her turn.

Gladion leads with his own Golbat, rather than Null. To be fair, Hau's ace is his starter and not Raichu, but it feels weird for Golbat to come out first.

Anyway, the point of bringing Haruka was to deal with these two.

What did you have against Woodstock? Haruka can take this, she's resistant to both, but still.

Also, seeing Flame Burst when used in a Doubles match! It really doesn't do that much, huh...

(Magmar took an Acrobatics from Golbat).

Unfortunately, Electabuzz has the wrong screen. Not sure what special attackers you'd bring here that'd worry about this.

Sure isn't anything on Gladion's team.

It'd make interesting priority, but I don't need it.

Haruka's Bulldoze didn't oneshot, but it did lower Electabuzz's Speed enough that Golbat could outspeed next turn. I'll take it. Bulldoze isn't STAB on Haruka anyway.

This one's amazing to me, I can never really get over it. The nature of the Aether Foundation gets kinda weird as you start digging into motive, and I'm not really sure why Aether is doing the things it is doing to support Lusamine on a macro level. The fact this guy acknowledges that fact, and uses his defeat to clock out of his "being evil" job and return to his regular "doing what I look like I'm doing" job is a perfect encapsulation of this whole bit.

I don't think the writers realise you're not supposed to do that if you're not a comedy.

The other guy, meanwhile, sounds like he might quit his day job and take up a more effective night job. I'd keep an eye on that one.

It is long past time for that. Woodstock has finally embraced his true destiny of tie-dye and a gigantic puddle of questionable substances, and also actually doing some appreciable damage with its powerful defensive typing again. We're going to appreciate having Woodstock around in time.

Venom Drench is an interesting move. It's -1 Atk, Sp. Atk and Spd stage on a poisoned foe. This is an interesting strategy, but one I don't see myself benefitting from fitting into my kit. Although I can certainly imagine situations where it might be useful.

The two losing grunts run off like the grunts they are. Grunts.

Sounds like a you problem.

I do appreciate that Gladion is learning this lesson by participating in a Multi Battle. I even approve of it, given the lesson I'm teaching him is "accept help when it is offered, the person doing the offering doesn't think less of you".

I find it difficult to take him seriously when he immediately follows it up by no longer participating in teamwork. I'm helping you out here, I'm not doing your homework for you.

I was wondering when you were planning on doing that. Thus far, I've been thinking you were nothing but a loser with delusions of grandeur.

Even in his dramatic battle, Faba can't resist bringing in backup. I'm more than happy to have a pal to work with, even if it makes the fact I outnumber him even more obvious.

Also, aww.

The thing about main story Multi Battles is that they never make you fight more than six Pokemon total. Faba has only three Pokemon, and whether that's because the interface can only count that high or they never made a custom interface for Multi Battles because they plan on keeping things easy for the player is its own thing.

Pokemon Emerald had only one Multi Battle, and there, they made you select three Pokemon that were the only ones you could bring. Since then, they not only allowed you to use any of your team of six, but they also gave you allies who had more than three Pokemon themselves. This list includes Hau himself in USUM, and most prominently, Barry in DPPt, who had a full team of six when fighting alongside you on Spear Pillar.

On the left side, we have a Ledian who is here to be as annoying as possible. It knows Reflect, Light Screen, Bug Buzz, and Air Slash, has the IV spread 15/15/15/15/15/31, 252 EVs in Speed, and a Timid (+Spd/-Atk) Nature. That's a Speed score of 115- unless you're actively trying, it's getting its screens up. Beyond that, though, it's merely a distraction for the main event.

Faba's lead in SM is a Slowbro, with IVs 31/15/31/15/15/15, 252 EVs in HP, a Relaxed (+Def/-Spd) Nature, and the moves Yawn, Psychic, Amnesia and Headbutt. Those stats are the kind of numbers that are going to get real annoying if you give him any time. Say, to eliminate that Ledian.

Fortunately, Hau's Raichu is is the sort of Pokemon that can handle this particular opening to my satisfaction.

Would've been nice if Raichu used its 124 Speed to land that hit in on Ledian, but in hindsight, it's probably the correct play.

Ledian is setting up a Light Screen, making it that much harder for Raichu to contribute.

And Woodstock has Ledian covered. That's plenty of damage on Slowbro done before it has a chance to be a pain, Ledian gone, and all I took out of it is a Sp. Atk penalty, one that Woodstock doesn't care about.

And all he did was Headbutt. I'm covered.

And hey, with Rock Slide's chip, Raichu still scored the oneshot.

Although that does leave Woodstock helpless for a turn. He'll live.

Bruxish is 15/31/15/15/15/31, 252 EVs in Atk, and the moves Aqua Jet, Psychic Fangs, and Crunch. Pretty much exactly what a good Bruxish ought to have.

This is what Light Screen is here for, Bruxish couldn't be oneshot by Thunderbolt anymore.

Bruxish used its turn to Crunch Raichu. Considering the alternative was Aqua Jet to try and get rid of Woodstock, a good choice, but all it does is give Hau the chance to switch to a physical attacker.

Since I'm using Rowlet, that means Flareon, so YMMV on how much of an improvement it is.

Faba's Hypno ace has found 252 EVs in Speed, but is otherwise identical.

For how terrible Flareon is, the combination of high Atk and Sp. Def makes it a decent counter to Hypno, and Faba's attempts to get rid of it give Woodstock free reign for Crunch time.

Which is good, because Flareon's Fire Fang wasn't that good.

Faba, of course, does a little scream when he loses again.

His favourite minion doesn't share Faba's sentiment, and takes the time to mock Faba for it. This guy is probably second to "Welp, it's back to honest conservation activities for me" as my favourite Aether quote.

He takes the time to book it before Faba can sanction him for it.

Right, that's you thoroughly humiliated and defanged, Faba. Will you surrender and let us get on with our business?

They pause for drama by panning to all four faces here, and it's probably one of the funniest moments of non-dialogue in the game.

Faba resigns himself to hand over the key and let Gladion and Hau go by.

Hau might be so, so unequipped for this situation, but when it expresses itself by making Faba look like an idiot, letting him speak is the best strategy.