A/N - Sorry for delays. I've been unwell and not wanted to proof read or write. Progress on this has been significantly delayed because of it too. It may go on hiatus until I can fire out a good few more chapters =(

...

Whether or not Pixel had wanted to follow Vector was irrelevant. She couldn't find him anyway. The path he'd taken was pretty clear. The gaping spot between a web of black cracks made that obvious, but the road forked from there and there was no sign of him at all. Not even a paw print in the dirt or crushed grass and weeds marking a trail through them.

"The offer's still there," said Switch. "I can try to spot him from the sky."

She ran a paw down her face and let out a sharp sigh as she shook her head. She'd been hesitating at the fork in the road and he'd noticed it.

"No," she said. "It's okay."

She took the left one and marched down the rocky slope towards the small village below, almost hidden beneath a net of cracks. A village. That should be a clear enough indication he'd taken the other path that lead back up into the mountains, unless he wanted to lose them and had gone this way regardless of the threat of a village full of sceptical and fearful pokemon.

"You're angry with him." Switch's voice drew her eye over her shoulder to meet his golden ones. His arms were folded behind his head as he strolled a yard or so behind her. "I'm right aren't I?" he asked.

She looked down at her feet as they manoeuvred around a tangle of stinging nettles. "I don't know what to think right now. His group shouldn't have been messing with the Fracture in the first place."

"But his heart was in the right place," said Switch. "He said he was trying to bridge a way back to the human world."

"If he was telling the truth."

"You think he was lying?"

"Like I said. I don't know what to think right now." She shook her head sadly. "If it were something so innocent then why not tell us in the first place? Why keep it silent until now?"

"Guilt, Pixel."

She stopped and looked back at him again.

"It's fairly obvious," he went on. "How would you feel if you'd tried to help with a dire situation and instead caused a major catastrophe?"

Her eyes drifted to the trunk of a cheri tree as his words slowly sunk in.

"He's looking for a cure," said Switch. "For a way to repair all this damage."

"But he doesn't want anything to do with us," she said. "Even though we rescued him, he's so..."

"I'd put it all down to guilt. He said he didn't want our help, and I think the reason he told us all that was a way to put us off sticking with him. He certainly rattled your cage, huh?" He gave her a broad smile and placed a hand on her head as he moved past her. "Come on. That feraligatr's words are hanging over me. If he was honest about that SWAT team tailing us, I'd like to lose them."

They continued silently down the path, their ears pricked for any sound of pursuers behind them. But the mountain trail remained as quiet as ever, the only sounds the rustling of leaves in the breeze and their footsteps over the dry earth.

Pixel was feeling a little better after venting to Switch, but the situation with Vector was still hanging heavily over her. He'd never once implied he'd caused the explosion out of malicious intent, and her doubts over his intentions were crippling her with guilt so much she was beginning to feel sick. Her eyes drifted to the shrubberies beside the path and for a moment she thought she saw a streak of white between the thin branches. She bolted over to it and pulled them apart, but the only thing on the other side that was remotely close to that white was a spray of white flowers. A sigh of defeat escaped her lips and she rejoined a confused-looking Switch who gave her a shake of the head.

"Are you sure you don't want me to fly?" he asked. "I could find him a lot faster."

She shook her head. "No. If you did that, you might just reveal our location to the SWAT team."

"They don't know I can change shape."

"It might still attract them. They might want a bird's-eye view and try to gain your help. Then they'll find me and put two and two together."

He made a thoughtful noise and folded his arms behind his head. "Good point. Paranoid point, but a good point non-the-less." He flashed his teeth in a grin which she returned with a frown.

A sharp bend in the path brought them to a flight of makeshift stairs that wound back and forth through closely-knit trees. It was a convenient way up and down the mountain's steep slope and would have been formed by pokemon living in the mountains centuries ago. Now the steps were heavily worn and some of them were almost completely flat or crumbling. The trees thinned out, giving them a fantastic view of the village.

Or it would have been fantastic were it not for the damage. Pixel's stomach tangled into knots and she pressed a paw to her chest. The net of black cracks she'd seen from higher up were less of a net and more of a disaster at this angle. They ran through buildings, warping them where they touched, or destroying chunks of brick and stone entirely. One of the taller buildings stood at a dramatic angle, held up only by the remains of a smaller, less fortunate house. The antennae still flashed in the middle of the village, but its frame was drastically warped.

"How has this happened?" she gasped, breaking into a trot to descend the rest of the way towards the houses.

"I don't know," said Switch. "I had no idea those cracks could do this."

"Me neither. I know they're responsible for missing pokemon, but this?! Pokemon might be injured in there!"

Her paws screeched on the floor as she skidded to a halt. A large pokemon moved beyond the rubble but it wasn't one she'd seen before. Its body was green and dripped slime, and its size wasn't dissimilar to a tyranitar. It raised its bulbous head to look in her direction, one of its eyes stuck shut beneath a mound of goo.

"Pixel?" Switch's hand fastened around her small shoulder. "I think we need to leave. Now."

Her eyes moved from the monstrous mass to one of the houses. Beyond the window lay two pokemon, one of which was nothing more than a mound of red spikes sticking out of a green, scaly body. "This place... it's..."

"Contaminated. Move."

Switch tugged her backwards as the giant, slimy pokemon opened its large mouth and let out a low, rumbling growl. A long tentacle whipped out from its body and lashed the ground beneath her feet. Her eyes were trained on that tentacle as it withdrew it for another lash as something exploded above her head. Rubble rained down upon them and she raised her paws to shield herself from the sharp blows. Another tentacle snapped back into the monster's body as it raised the first one to whip at them again. Her breath shot from her throat as the tentacle fastened around her ankle and snatched her towards it. Its mouth opened in a deafening roar, and a large club-like mound stretched from its body and dropped towards her. She screwed her eyes shut, bracing for the impact, but it never came. Her ankle was released and the ground shook as the bulbous pokemon screamed in what she could only describe as agony.

"Pixel! Move, now!"

That wasn't Switch's voice. She forced her eyes open. That massive mound of green was writhing, distorted behind a wall of shimmering light. It tried to raise a foot, but long tendrils fastened it to the floor. Rooted. That thing couldn't even move.

Vector's blue eyes fastened onto hers and he flashed his canines in a snarl.

"I said move!"

His paw fastened around her arm and dragged her to her feet, tugging her after him. He paused beside Switch who was struggling to remove his leg from beneath a pile of rubble.

"About time you showed up," he said to the meowstic.

Vector snarled and kicked out at the pile of rocks. The mound exploded into gravel, allowing the human to pull himself free. He limped after them, glancing back at the writhing green pokemon.

"This virus doesn't make any sense," he said. "What on earth is that thing meant to be?"

"A mess!" Vector barked. "Like the rest of the world! The virus and those cracks corrupt and destroy whatever they touch!"

Nausea flowed through Pixel's body and her feet faltered as strength left her legs. Vector glanced back at her. If it weren't for his grip on her wrist she would have fallen flat onto the ground.

"That thing touched me," she stammered.

"Worry about it later and keep running!" snapped Vector. "I want to get us out of its reach!"

His voice sounded miles away. Switch said something but she couldn't pick it out of the thrumming in her ears. Her legs weren't obeying her. It was taking over already. Turning her into stone, or lead. Or rooting her to the spot like that writhing mass. A pile of spikes like the poor pokemon behind that window. Everything felt stiff, unruly, like it was developing a mind of its own.

Vector brought her to a stop and turned towards her, dropping to all fours as he pawed at her ankle.

"It touched me," she gasped.

"I know." He stood upright and placed a paw under her chin, raising her eyes to his. He faded in and out of focus, but she could see the concern plain on his face. His eyes trailed down her arms and he turned her away from him, checking over her back, horn, shoulders, legs.

"Is she alright?" Switch asked.

Vector released her and broke into a fit of coughs. "Go sit down!" he spat out. She heard him shake his head sharply then return to checking over her shoulders. "You need to take your weight off that ankle before it swells up like a watmel berry."

Switch surprisingly obeyed without retort.

Pixel found herself turned around until she was eye to eye with Vector. He reached up with a paw and brushed one of the long strands of fur back from her face, but that look of concern didn't leave his eyes.

"I think you're okay," he said. "I can't see anything."

Her eyes trailed down to his lips, landing on a trickle of red leaving a trail over his white fur. She reached out and wiped it away with her thumb.

"I wish I could say the same for you," she said.

He pushed her paw away and turned from her. "I'm fine." He looked over at Switch and eyed his ankle, which the human was currently cradling in his hands. "How's your leg?"

Switch shrugged. "Not broken." He narrowed his eyes at Vector. "Explain to me how you blew up rocks with a kick?"

Vector waved him off with a paw. "Counter. It's more versatile than you think."

"Doesn't it just deal back double damage?"

"Yes. And kicking a brick hurts." Vector nodded towards the mountain's face. "Can you fit in that cave, human?"

Switch limped over to the opening in the wall and made a thoughtful noise. He squeezed himself between it and let out a long whistle. "It's roomy in here!"

"Good." Vector ushered Pixel towards the cave.

She craned her neck to look back at him. "Why are we-"

"You need rest," Vector said plainly. "That virus might not be showing now but we need to wait it out."

Pixel's violet eyes opened wide. "You think I might..."

Her voice trailed off but Vector said nothing. He gave her an encouraging push towards the cave mouth and followed her inside. Fatigue washed over her as she began to feel weak again and she curled up on the floor a few feet away from Switch. If she were infected, she didn't want to risk giving it to him, even if he claimed humans couldn't catch it. At the first sign she was infected she was leaving him and Vector well and truly alone.

Alone... she wouldn't even be able to go back to Cyan Island.

The thought pained her more and more with every face she would never see again. She screwed her eyes shut to hold back tears and pulled her knees up to her chest. But it was too late. Her body shook with repressed sobs and the fatigue left her too weak to hold them back. Despite her two friends sitting in the same cave, she felt cold and alone. Isolated. The feeling followed her into a hollow, unwelcoming dream.