Leaf almost dropped his headphones. "You brought a human here?"

Pixel leant back against the sliding doors and crossed her arms. "I didn't bring him here. He flew me here then left."

"Argh." Leaf closed his eyes and popped his headphones back over his ears. "I can't believe you breached security like that. And a human of all things?"

"I told him it was authorised pokemon only. I'm guessing that's why he didn't stick around."

He ran a paw over his face with a flustered sigh.

"Besides." She narrowed her eyes at the ivysaur. "You're not one of those who believe humans brought the virus here are you? I mean... there have been humans living in System for more than a decade, and the virus only cropped up a month ago."

Leaf sighed and shiftedunder the gaze of Pixel and the emolga twins. He turned back to thecontrol deck and scrolled absently through pages of text.

"There's not enough evidence to support either side," he said. "We don't know if humans carry the virus or if they can even be affected by it. All we know is three of our members are lying in quarantine while another three have gone missing."

She looked away from him and stared at the blank wall. It wasn't unusual for pokemon to react negatively to humans. Since they appeared in System, they'd been forced to live alongside them. Some of them were transformed into pokemon, while many others received such a shock as they were dragged through the fracture they went into comas and had been filling hospital wards for twelve years. Finding one outside the form of a pokemon was an anomaly in itself and Leaf clearly didn't like it.

It was probably better to change the subject.

"Where do you want me to go next?" she asked.

"Call it a day." He flicked a claw on one of the hologram screens, making the text move so quickly she wondered if he was even reading it. "There are a couple of new situations that have cropped up but they're a good way away yet. I might assign Nybble and Byte to them actually."

The two emolga span sharply in their seats on either side of him, giving him identical stares of bewilderment.

"You don't need us here?"they asked simultaneously.

"What about the communication system?" Nybble asked.

"You might need me to answer the phone!" said Byte.

Leaf laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Calm down. We're short staffed right now!" He looked back at Pixel. "Besides. I need you in case any news on Retro, Nano or Chip comes up. My heart skips a beat whenever I hear of new cases showing up at the hospitals and quarantine." His voice dropped in volume as he muttered to himself, "We might not even be able to recognise them any more."

Pixel felt her stomach tie in knots. She turned and scanned the door open.

"I'll be at home if you need me."

Leaf waved a paw behind him. "I'll let you know when we start drawing close to Meta City."

She quickly glanced the map, catching the blinking dot as it drifted east towards a digital sketched drawing of a group of tower blocks. Meta City. System's main metropolis. If you were looking for it, it was probably there.Somehow she felt they weren't visiting simply for a shopping trip.She turned and paused with one paw on the door and glanced back at Leaf. He had his back to her, still tapping away at the holographic screens.

"I'm sorry."

"Huh?" He raised an eyebrow at her over his shoulder.

"For bringing someone to the base," she explained. "I'm sorry."

He chuckled and waved her off. "Forget about it. No harm done. See you in the morning."

She grinned and trotted from the room as the door hissed shut behind her. Since he'd let her off early, there were a good couple of hours of sunlight left yet.Its rays danced across the grass and cast long shadows from the trees and little houses. She threw herself down into one of the beams and let out a long sigh as she stared up at the sky. Not a single grey cloud threatened her relaxing afternoon.

It wasn't long before the warm sunlight had lulled her to sleep.

...

The small city of Spool squatted on the outskirts of System's bustling metropolis. So far it had no recorded cases of the virus. Meta did a good job of keeping the virus contained within the hospital wards. That filled Switch with relief. Spool had its own problems.

He released his talonflame form and landed in a crouch at the mouth of an alley between a boarded up book store and a beauty salon that even at this time of night stunk of acrylic. He crinkled his nose and moved away from it down the narrow alley, shutting out the jeering voices from the stunky and rattata pair across the street and keeping a careful eye on the piled up bin bags and overflowing trash cans.

Sirens blared in the distance, growing in volume as the emergency group – police,hospital, he didn't know which it was – drew closer.

One of the bins opened beside him and he stepped back, bringing his fists up to his chest.Two long ears twitched as a trubbish peered out at him, then turned its eyes in the direction of the sirens.

"I didn't do anything!"he wailed.

Switch lowered his arms and turned away. "Then stay in the trash can, Kurg."

The trubbish grunted and pulled the lid back over himself.

Giving a small sigh of relief, Switch continued down the alley until his eyes fell on an open manhole cover. He muttered under his breath and climbed onto the ladder, dragging the cover back over the hole with a loud clatter.The fetid smell of the sewers filled his nose, urging him to speedup. He dropped the rest of the way, the metal grate clattering under his weight. It was a short trot around the corner to a thick cable hanging down from another manhole cover. This one, however, had been put in place fairly recently. He shimmied up it and shoved the lid out of the way, breathing in musty air as he clambered out of the sewers and into a dark corridor. Lights blinked from the room on his left, generated merely from seven computer screens.

The small room housed two long desks each holding up computers that were retro in design compared to the holographic screens most pokemon operated, however only two were currently occupied. A helioptile and lillipup nattered amongst themselves while the helioptile worked on a strange device at the back of the room. The lillipup had a diagram of it open on his computer screen, but seemed more interested in the conversation they were having which was heavily dominated by the lillipup. The device closely resembled a very old camera, except it didn't have a lens and where the flash would be was instead a large round disc with lots of small bulbs around the perimeter. Ignoring the conversation around him was a pikachu dressed in a suit, sat in a high backed chair with his back to the door. Connor, the very definition of a hermit. He'd founded the small group and made the building impossible to leave or enter without taking a detour through the sewers.

The lillipup turned his head as Switch entered the room and a grin spread across his face while his tail turned into a blur behind him.

"Oh! You're back!"

"Who left the manhole cover open?" he asked.

The lillipup lowered his head and his ears drooped. "Oops..."

"Switch!" The pikachu span in his chair, his look contrasting that of the lillipup as he gave him a frown.

"What?" Switch asked."No wagging tail?"

Connor practically bristled. "Where is it?"

Switch let out a sigh and fell down into one of the spare chairs.

"The component," Connor demanded. "You said you were going to Raster for it. Where is it?"

Switch closed his eyes and shrugged. "I didn't get it."

"Then what did you go all the way out there for?"

"The pokemon that had putout the advert for the dynamo wasn't there," Switch explained. "And I had no time to go looking for him either. They don't exactly give humans a warm welcome."
Connor slammed his paw into his face and groaned. "You moron! You went full-human didn't you! I made you that watch so you could stick to one shape."

"You try picking up a glass without fingers."

Connor looked down at his paws and narrowed his eyes at him.

"Or paws," Switch added.

Connor leapt from his seatand took a couple of steps towards him, electricity bouncing off his cheeks. Switch did a quick mental calculation of how long it would take him to reach the door.

"Sometimes I think you find this funny!" screeched the pikachu.
"Funny? I'm stuck in this world just like you are."

Connor snorted and strutted back to his chair. "You don't act like it."
The other two pokemon had been sat silently watching the heated discussion, looking back and forth between them. Connor rounded on them and narrowed his eyes.

"Come on! We've got work to do! Diode, focus on getting that laser to work. And N00b..."

The lillipup's tongue lolled from his mouth in a grin while he excitedly wagged his tail.

Connor waved a paw at him and looked away. "Make me some coffee."

The little terrier bolted from the room towards the adjoining kitchen. Switch watched him go,briefly wondering if he needed a hand. The sound of shattering pottery solidified his curiosity and he caught a glimpse of Connor ramming his head into the computer's keyboard.

Switch pushed himself to his feet and went to assist N00b in the kitchen, relieving the lillipup of his duties and suggesting he sweep the floor instead.

Within minutes, Connor had a steaming cup of coffee and Switch returned to his desk, mug in one hand as he logged into his computer and loaded up information on the Fracture.

Nothing new.

Nothing about that flash.

Several more pokemon infected with the virus.

"Do you even want to go back home?" Connor asked quietly.

Switch looked over at him.

"I've asked you countless times," the pikachu went on. "And I'm beginning to doubt your answer."

Switch shrugged and turned back to absently scroll through the news. "Don't we all want to go back?"

"That's why I'm asking you. You seem to have accepted your fate here. You changed your name. You've been helping me for three years and I don't even know your human name." Connor turned his head to look at him. "What is it?"

Switch avoided his gaze and sipped at his hot coffee.

The pikachu tutted. "Surely you have someone to go back to, right? Family, like the rest of us? I was on vacation with friends. My parents are probably worried sick."

"Then we'll find a way back," said Switch. "It'll probably go a lot faster if you got out there, or extended our team a bit."
The pikachu stared down at his paws.

"You don't need to keep relying on us three," said Switch. "I'm sure you can find more pokemon to add to the team if you just ask."

Connor's fur stood on end."I'm not leaving this building."

"Why? What are you scared of?"

Connor picked up his cup and stared silently into the steaming contents. Whatever his problem was, he'd been hiding it for years. Switch wasn't going to find it out any time soon.

"I can put an advert out!" said N00b. "That'll find us some friends! Right?"

"No!" Connor rounded on him. "Gateway is a secret group! You put an advert out, you'll ruin everything. We'll have rioters down here in a heartbeat!"

The little lillipup cowered in his seat and looked away. Diode gave him a reassuring tap on the shoulder and they both returned to their work.

Switch gave a flustered sigh and sipped his coffee. "Not every pokemon hates humans,Connor."

He clicked his mouse,opening up the list of virus-ridden pokemon that had found themselves quarantined in hospitals. Unfortunately, in a bid to find their identity, pictures had been shared with a warning that some were distressing. He quickly scrolled through them absently, hoping to find something they'd missed that would shed some light on where it had come from.

One image caused him to choke on his drink, and hot coffee fired from his nose to spatter over the computer screen. The words accompanying it brought back the conversation he'd had with the mawile only hours before.

Connor and the other two span in their chairs to face him.

"What?" The pikachu left his seat to peer over his shoulder.

'I travel a lot so I might be able to help you. What pokemon are they?'

She pursed her lips. 'A charmander, a buneary and a mew.'

Diode and N00b joined his side, the latter placing his paws on the back of Switch's chair and fixing two wide eyes on the computer screen.

He couldn't form words. All he could do was stare at the text that accompanied the sludgy photo of a pokemon that wasn't dealing well with the poison type change.

 'We think this might have been a charmander. Awaiting confirmation.'