Chapter Fifty Two

Macro woke up in a tangle of sheets with his face still buried into his pillow. At some point he'd flipped over, dragging the pillow with him. He propped it against the wall and rolled onto his back to reach for his computer. A faint trickle of light came through the window, but it wasn't enough to gauge what time it was.

Eight thirty in the morning. He'd slept right through the breakfast alarm.

He groaned and unwound himself from his sheets, hastily remaking the bed as a final decision to not climb back into it. Then he grabbed his belt and scarf and made for the door.

His sleep had been somewhat dreamless, and he'd needed it. The immense grogginess that filled his head was something he'd become accustomed to after a good night's sleep. After a strong coffee and a pile of steaming pancakes to clear the cobwebs away, he'd be good to go.

He yawned widely and paused to poke his head into the cockpit. Matrix leant back in his seat with his over-sized headphones on, nodding along to some music Macro could only faintly make out. A loud clatter came from the kitchen and Macro slipped into it, spotting Cookie doubled over by the oven. He swiftly mopped up what looked like caramel, muttering to himself about being a klutz, while DL silently set the table. She beamed when she spotted Macro, causing him to flush under his fur.

"You've got a late start," he said.

"I know. I requested it." She turned back to Cookie and stooped to help him mop up the sticky mess. "I thought you could all use a lie in."

Stomping feet thundered down the corridor and Anchor exploded into the kitchen. He grabbed the doorway and stared inside, his chest heaving. He looked over at Cookie and DL, eyed the set table and the steaming stove, and immediately relaxed.

Macro grabbed his seat and sank down into it. "I appreciate the thought, DL, but your message clearly didn't reach the rest of the crew."

"I did leave a note on the door for anyone who got up early." She rung out the wet cloth into the sink. "Matrix is obviously the only early riser."

As though on cue, the ribombee buzzed over Anchor's head and landed gracefully in his seat.

"I trust you slept well?" DL asked Macro.

"Like a log." He yawned again and leant his groggy head on his paw. "Is there an ETA on the coffee?"

"Coming right up!" Cookie straightened and grabbed the cafetiere from beside the stove. "I'm a little out of sorts this morning, so please forgive me if it's a little weak."

Macro poured a coffee for himself and Matrix then took a sip from his mug. It was a little weak. He frowned slightly but let it slide, settling back in his seat.

Cookie clenched his paws over his stomach, eyeing Macro curiously. "So it's okay? Thank goodness."

Matrix sipped his coffee and spoke without looking up. "It could have used an extra minute."

The slurpuff stuttered and looked over at Macro again.

Macro cracked an eye open. "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

Cookie waddled back to his stove and busied himself over various sticky sauces.

Anchor slumped down beside Macro and poured his own mug. "Someone either slept like a king, or is just desperate for a coffee this morning."

Macro said nothing as he sipped his drink, feeling it warm every nerve. He watched DL assist Cookie, muttering things to him that had some kind of placating affect on the jittery slurpuff. Her thick tail was held in a neat curl over her back as she moseyed back and forth, and the warm light from the fluorescent bulb highlighted every subtle curve of her body. Her gentle smile and chocolate fondue eyes only added to the warmth and peacefulness she seemed to radiate.

"Cap'n?"

Macro blinked and looked away from DL to meet Anchor's raised eyebrow.

"Did you hear me?" he asked. "I said we're only fifteen minutes away from Meta City. Is that our next destination?"

Macro almost spilled his coffee. A few drops sloshed over the side as he tried to steady it, peppering the table with little, dark spots.

"I thought we were headed to Cyan City," he said. "When did we-"

"Don't worry, we're not going to Meta City," said DL. "I spoke to Matrix last night. We agreed it might be a good idea to scope out the damage these Ultra Beasts are doing."

"What?" Macro fixed wide violet eyes on hers. "But I thought... aren't they actually in Meta City?"

"Yes, but we can get a feel for that in the outskirts," DL explained. "You can still see the mechanical trees from the outskirts, right? So we'll be able to see the Xurkitree's behaviour for ourselves. Rather than reading up and absorbing mindless propaganda."

"It would have been nice if you'd run it by me first," said Macro. "I mean, with everything that's going on right now - even space pirates are after me! - it's not safe for us all to just go down into the outskirts."

"Not to mention our bounty's gone up." Matrix nonchalantly sipped his mug while thumbing over his computer screen.

"What?" Macro stared, dumbfounded at him.

"You did know that, right? Fifty thousand credits?" Matrix turned his computer so Macro could see it. "Not just you and Surge. All of us are wanted now. Fifty thousand big ones. Except Cookie."

"Not a space pirate," Cookie chimed from the stove.

Macro blinked as it all came back to him, and his mug clattered to the table. He tugged at the fur on his head and groaned. "That complicates things even more!"

"Come on, Cap'n," said Anchor. "We were all wanted 'mon anyway. How does this change things?"

"A bigger price attracts more bounty hunters," said Macro. "And no space pirate is gonna sniff at fifty thousand, let alone the opportunity to claim it three times over!"

Matrix shrugged and dragged his computer back to himself, holding his mug in one paw as he continued reading over the recent news.

"We've been asked to turn these beasts in," said Anchor. "I say we not let this mishap put us off."

Macro narrowed his eyes at him. "Mishap?"

"Aye. I mean, would you let it put you off getting the rest of DL's memories?"

"I might proceed with some caution."

"Since when did you use caution?" Anchor choked back a laugh. "You show up guns blazin' no matter what the situation."

Macro turned away from him and clutched the hot mug to his chest. "This is different. Space pirates now want me, there are strange alien beasts destroying cities, and we'll be right in the thick of the action from both the beasts, thugs and Socket's goons!"

"And if there are any space pirates down there," said Matrix, "you can add ruffians to that list."

DL chuckled and popped a plate of pancakes in the middle of the table.

Macro eyed them, suddenly void of his appetite. Nevertheless, he grabbed a couple and dropped them onto his plate. If he was going to go with DL's bonkers plan, he was going to need his strength.

"So who's going down into the outskirts?" Anchor asked.

"I was thinking we could discuss that." DL pulled up a seat beside Macro and placed a hot pan of chocolate sauce before him. "Like Macro said, we need to be cautious."

"And none of us have practised these Z-Moves," said Macro. "I sense a problem there already."

"We're not going to fight the Ultra Beasts," she said. "We're gathering data. We need to get them home, like Solgaleo said."

"And what if one attacks us?"

"Beat it back and run. Just don't hurt it."

Macro stuck his fork into his pancakes as the screaming face of Celesteela filled his mind. 'It's been known to burn down entire forests.' Blazing trees receded into burning buildings and he shook his head sharply to dislodge the onset of another flashback.

"You alright, Cap'n?"

He met Anchor's concerned face and returned to his pancakes, stuffing a forkful into his mouth. He barely tasted it.

"I'm just not ready for this," he said.

DL reached for his paw, then retracted back, her eyes going distant. Then she reached for the chocolate sauce and spooned a ladle-full over her plate.

"Look," said Macro. "We'll go. We'll scope it out. Spend no longer than an hour, two hours tops. But someone needs to stay on the ship with Matrix as back up. Because if something happens to me, Wildcard Gamma has to keep going."

"Nothing is going to happen to you," DL told him. "You'll stay in touch, and if you need us then we'll swoop in."

"Wait!" Macro raised both his paws and looked at each of his crew members in turn. Even Cookie had stopped what he was doing to listen in. "Am I going in there alone?!"

"Of course not!" Anchor spat. "I won't allow it!"

"That's exactly what I want to hear from my second in command." Macro spooned more pancake into his mouth.

"But if it's information you're gathering," said Anchor, "might I suggest you take someone small? Easier for you both to hide."

Macro looked up with his fork still in his mouth. His eyes wandered from Anchor to Matrix, taking in his tiny form. The ribombee wound his antenna in his paw, glancing between Macro and Anchor. Then he glanced towards the end of the table and Macro followed his eye to DL.

The pachirisu shrugged and leant back from her empty plate, almost spotless save for some chocolate streaks.

"If you need me to go with you, then I'll go," she said. "I've actually still got all that information Solgaleo sent me saved in my brain."

"That sorts it then," said Anchor. "Since she's basically a walking Ultra Beast Encyclopedia, then take DL."

Macro sank into his seat, fixing Matrix with a pleading look.

"Don't look at me," said Matrix. "I'm the only one who can use the navigation system. Do you want Wildcard Gamma to veer off course and leave you stranded?"

No. Macro didn't want that.

He looked back over at DL as she wiped chocolate from her pink nose. She gave him a reassuring nod, but it didn't serve to alleviate his nerves.

If anything, knowing he was going to be taking her down into the outskirts, System's single-most dangerous place outside of Pulse City, only served to fuel his fighting spirit.

...

The Time Onion didn't put up much of a fight. Since Annie and Waveform had untangled the thing from the ship's innards, it had gone from wriggly to placid quite quickly.

The pyukumyuku trundled on across System Sky in the vague direction of Wave City, but Annie didn't particularly care about that. She was more intent on getting the creature to talk, or move, or something.

She sat it back up on her knee, but its head lolled pathetically onto its shoulder, weakly tickling her with its antennae thing. It had three of them, and an odd wheezy noise kept coming from them. Sometimes musical, sometimes whiny.

"I still think that's how it communicates," said Web.

"I still think it ain't no celebi," said Trojan.

"Neither of you are being helpful," Annie said, somewhat calmly. "Either make a Time Onion to System-glish Dictionary, or find a clear picture of a real celebi and then we'll talk."

"System-glish?" Zip laughed, blowing a stream of bubbles from his gills.

The creature wheezed again, then struggled to lift its head. Its head was rather ungainly compared to its tiny body. If it kept lolling dramatically, it would fall off her lap sooner or later. Not to mention its body was sticky. Like a dried, thick sweat that made it easy to grip but repulsed her at the same time.

"I think this onion might be off," she said. "Does someone else want to hold it?"

"Not really," said Waveform. "My feathers still feel gammy from the last time."

"Is it slimy?" asked Zip.

"Not so much slimy as sticky," Annie answered. "I feel like if I chuck it at the wall, it'll cling to it."

Web placed her paws on her hips. "You're not chucking it at the wall."

"Like jack you're gettin' the walls sticky," said Trojan. "We don't even know if it's toxic."

"I say chuck it, right back out the window," said Hatter. "That thing ain't right!"

Annie turned the creature to face her and stared down at it. More wheezing. It didn't even open its mouth. It kept it tightly closed, and its glazed eyes drooped as it stared blankly at her feathered chest.

"What's wrong with it?" Annie asked. "Looks fine to me."

"You're kidding, right?" Hatter gasped. "Not only is it monstrous and alien, it's clearly dying!"

"Dying?"

"I didn't want to say this earlier, dear," said Web. "But I think he might be right. I don't think that's a celebi. It's got to be one of those creatures that have been showing up. It's alien and clearly doesn't belong here."

"Huh." Annie frowned at it. "Well, let's make it better then ask it how it can get me back home. Right?"

"Back home?" Zip glugged to the top of his bowl. "You mean after the rebellion, right?"

"Nope." Annie continued to stare at the creature. "If this guy can get me home, I'm off."

"But-"

"You can lead your own rebellion," she said. "Once I'm gone, you're in charge, little fish."

Everyone fell silent, staring at her open-mouthed. Eyes were either narrowed, or in the case of Zip, wide and frightened. She looked around at the cockpit, clutching the limp creature in her claws.

"Why y'all starin' at me?" She waved a wing to get their attention. "Hello? Did someone freeze time?" Her eyes snapped back to the creature. "Was it you, Mister Time Onion?"

Web let out a sigh and Trojan shifted in his seat, tearing his glare away from her.

"I ain't sayin' nothin'," he said.

"Well I do have something to say!" said Web.

"Save it for later," said Trojan. "Let's just get our asses to Wave City."

"Not so fast." Annie returned to staring at the 'Time Onion'. "If this little guy really is sick, then we need to get him better. Can we do that in Wave City?"

"It has some of the cleanest air in System," said Waveform. "Doctors often recommend it for those with asthma or chest infections."

"But the air in System Sky is clean, too," said Web. "Probably cleaner than on the ground where there's pollutants. If this creature had a breathing condition, it should be clearer up here."

"It's also thinner," said Waveform. "Which makes it harder to breathe."

"It doesn't mean you can't," said Web. "And we're lower down than most space pirate vessels fly right now. Not to mention our air filters and life support systems."

"Which are feeble at best," muttered the decidueye.

"I reckon it's the atmosphere," said Trojan. "It's alien to this world and can't breathe our air. It'll be dead before we hit the ground."

"That's no good!" said Annie. "It can't get me back home if it's dead!"

She adjusted her grip, but the creature lolled back in her hands. It's eyes were screwed shut and its breathing came in shallow bursts. There was only one thing for it. She had to resuscitate it. How did they do it in the movies again?

A lightbulb went off in her mind and she lay the creature across her lap.

"I have to issue mouth to mouth!" She leant forwards towards the creatures tiny mouth.

A firm paw grabbed her shoulder and yanked her back before she could even position herself properly.

"Don't be so foolish!" Waveform growled in her ear. "We don't know what stuff is coating it's body! It might be toxic!"

"Toxic..." Annie turned away from him and stared out of the window. "Toxic... toxic..."

Trojan muttered under his breath and looked away from her. "She's off on one again."

"Toxic."

The lights below them blurred into a cacophony of colour as her mind went to that word. 'Toxic'. She mulled it over, tasting it, trying to figure out where it fit in her reality.

Sticky creature. Possibly toxic. Toxic meant poisonous. Death.

Reality snapped back into focus and she turned in her seat to face Trojan.

"Get us back home," she said.

"Home?" he scoffed. "You think I can time travel now?"

"Not my home. Your home." She pointed a claw at the window. "That yellow, mucky place with the poisonous air."

Trojan stared at her, his lip curled up at one side in a confused sneer. A look of realisation crossed Web's face and she nodded.

"I think I understand," she said. "I'm not sure it will help the little creature, but it's worth a shot if we've no way of getting it back to its own world."

"Exactly," said Annie. "I want to help this Time Onion. It's my only chance to get home."

"I don't believe for one minute that air can help anybody," said Trojan. "But if you think so, we can give it a shot."

The ship lurched so the nose was pointing downward, and sank at a steady pace. As Annie clutched the little creature, it wheezed musically. Four notes, two high and two flat. Out of rhythm, but an unusual sound nontheless. As though its head was some kind of primitive pipe organ attempting to play a melancholic tune. In, out. In, out. Her eyes wandered to the long proboscis-like appendages on its head.

"We'll land in about five minutes," said Trojan. "Think the little guy can hang on that long?"

"I don't know," said Annie. "But I think you might be right about the air. That noise it's makin'... I think it's trying to breathe."

"Do you want me to check it's not got any obstruction?" Web asked. "You know, from the innards-out stuff?"

"I don't know. I don't think it's that." Annie turned it so she could examine the protrusions. "I don't believe it breathes through its mouth. It seems to be breathin' through these things."

Web stood and relieved Annie of the creature, then settled back into her seat as she checked over its proboscis.

"Why, you really are a sticky little fellow, aren't you?" she said. "Well... if it's not the slimy stuff from the innards-out, then let's hope your theory is right, Annie, and it's the air."

"Me too." Annie tucked her hands behind her head and leant back in her seat. "Because if it's not and it dies, then I guess I'm stuck here."

"Well the longer you're stuck here, the more I'm gonna kick your lanky ass," said Trojan. "And don't think I'm scared of your ancient power, 'cos I aint."

"What did I do to warrant you kicking my ass?" Annie asked.

"You serious? You jackin' serious?!" Trojan span in his seat and waved a paw at Zip.

The goldeen slumped in the bottom of his bowl, resting his head on his fins. He wouldn't look at either of them. Small bubbles rose from his gills to fizzle away on the surface.

"I'll leave you to think about it," Trojan said, turning back to his controls. "I need to focus on landing this wreck before I end up killin' us all."

The ship jerked and levelled out again. The crumbling rooftops of Spool City spread out before them, bouncing out of view as the ship leapt over them. It then came to a crashing halt in their back garden.

Annie flew forwards in her seat, throwing out her claws to catch herself on the dashboard. She shoved herself back into her seat and shook out her feathers.

"Whew!" She turned to look at the scrafty. "Might I suggest seat belts?"

Trojan sneered and rose to his feet, then stomped towards the door. It fell open with a clatter, and the ship immediately filled with the putrid, polluted air.

The creature's wheezing lessened slightly and its breathing became more desperate. Its head expanded and contracted as it sucked up air through its three proboscis.

"Goodness!" Web gasped and looked up at Annie. "I think you were right!"

She rose to her feet, cradling the creature in her arms, and raced from the ship.

Annie stood up slowly and exchanged glances with Waveform. The decidueye narrowed his eyes slightly and gestured for her to leave ahead of him, then turned to Zip. She paused in the doorway to look back at him crouching before the goldeen, shrugged, then clambered from the ship.

Web stood in the back garden, beaming from ear to ear. The wheezing had faded out completely, replaced with loud gasps reminiscent of someone breathing frantically through a straw. The creature's eyes were open, although still hooded. It stared blankly at the sky, its mouth slightly open.

"Look!" Web turned to Annie. "This horrible air has revived it! Who would ever have guessed this deadly air that can even kill steel types could actually give life to something?"

Annie peered over her shoulder at the creature. Its pupils focused onto them and it looked at each of them in turn.

Web cradled it in her arms like a hatchling and smiled. "You might be the only creature that can survive in this place."

It blinked a couple of times and opened its mouth again. "Where am I?"

Its mouth didn't move with each word. Annie thought the voice had only happened in her head. She blinked at the creature, wondering whether or not she should actually answer, when Web did instead.

"You're in System, honey. Where are you meant to be?"

"Ultra Metropolis." It blinked again. "Why am I here? What happened? Who are you? What are you? Where's my trainer?"

"I don't think we have all the answers," said Web. "But we can help you. Can you tell us what you are?"

"He's a Time Onion," said Annie. She stretched out her claws and flexed them. "Gimme!"

Web steered the creature protectively away and asked again, "What are you?"

"My name is Poipole," he said. "The same as every other member of my race."

"So you're not a Time Onion?" Annie asked.

"What's a Time Onion?" he asked.

"She thinks you're a celebi," explained Web.

The creature shook his bulbous head slowly. "I'm a poipole."

Annie snorted and wiped her claws on her feathers. "So you can't get me home?"

When the creature didn't answer, she folded her wings and frowned at him.

"That's disappointing." She turned and headed towards the house. "I'm going to go and get a shower. I feel oddly sticky."

The house was as cold as outdoors, as was the water. The open shower fixed to the top, left corner of the bathroom sprayed yellow water over her feathers, the walls and the floor. The drain gurgled a few times before refusing to take in any more water, creating a puddle in the concave tiles surrounding it. Annie clawed at her feathers until most of the goop from innards-out and the poipole's sticky body were off her. She never liked feeling sticky. Or wet. But a shower was the lesser of the two evils.

As she strained her feathers dry, her stomach growled. Having no watch or clock nearby she had no idea whether or not it was even meal time. Regardless, she was hungry. Hungry and tired. A quick snack and a good long sleep sounded absolutely delicious. She stomped through the pooling water and strutted out into the hallway, her claws leaving little wet patches as she hopped down the stairs. Droplets of water still fell from her feathers, spattering the wall and peeling woodwork. She was too busy watching where she put her feet, enjoying creating perfect prints on the dry wood, to see where she was going. As she landed on the final step, her snout found itself buried in fluffy, warm, white feathers.

"I think we need to have a little chat." Despite the calmness in his voice, there was a warning note that didn't settle well with her.

She pulled her head back and looked up into Waveform's crimson eyes. His face was as calm as his voice, yet somehow he seemed a lot bigger.

Annie raised an eyebrow and inclined her head on one side, taking him aback ever so slightly. He'd tried to mask it, but she'd seen it.

"Oh?" she said. "What about?"

He glanced over his shoulder at the voices coming from the kitchen. Muffled and incoherent. Then he turned back to her and frowned.

"'What about'," he scoffed. "Get upstairs. We can't talk here."

He span her around with his wing and nudged her forwards, causing her to stumble on the steep steps.

"But I'm hungry," she whined.

"You can eat later. This is more important."

"Hardly."

She tutted and hopped back up the stairs. Her wet prints were already fading away. When they reached the top, he steered her towards her room and followed her inside, closing the door behind them silently.

Annie looked from her still unmade bed to the decidueye and raised an eyebrow again.

"Couldn't we talk somewhere else?" she asked.

"I'm afraid we lack a meeting room, and I don't really want to make a scene in the kitchen." He tucked his wings under his collar and stared down at her like a teacher scolding his pupil. "I think we need to go over your recent actions."

"What recent actions?" She spread a wing towards the window and grinned. "All that awesome?"

"Awesome?" Waveform spat. "You think what you did in Pulse City was 'awesome'? First you tell a detective and some space pirate crony everything about your 'plan' and where you came from, then you kidnap another space pirate who, by the way, is still cowering on the ship. Don't even get me started on your malicious handling of him, either. I know I don't think much of space pirates. My job is to round them up and turn them in, but I can't turn a blind eye on you waving him around by the tail! Then you go and upset Zip. The little fish you've adopted and promised - blindly - to rescue him and his kind from being turned into meat."

He paused and she stared up at him, unblinking. He took a breath, unfurling his wings to cross over his chest, and leant back against the wall.

"I know I backed you," he said. "I thought you had a good premise. Sort out the mayor, free the water dwellers, clean up the outskirts. No more toxic air. Give those living in unfair persecution a voice. I liked it. But seeing all this... I honestly don't think you're capable."

She finally blinked. Silently.

"You're no captain," he went on. "A captain doesn't behave like that. A captain cares about their crew. The ship goes down, they go with it. You know as much about being a captain as you do about being a pokemon. You go around looking like one, but you can't play the part." He waved a wing-paw at her soggy form then tucked it away again. "I think you need to take a good look in the mirror and tell me if you really, truly believe you can handle this."

"I don't got a mirror." She took a step back and glanced over at the yellowed wall and lop-sided drawers. "Besides. I got this, believe me. Everything is going fine."

"It's not going fine! We've got a terrified space pirate holding his breath on your ship, and a depressed goldeen in the kitchen. Not to mention that creature you've abducted and the fact we're back exactly where we started. Back in Spool City breathing toxic air. If it's bad for Webber I can't imagine how bad it must be for you. You weren't even born here."

Annie folded her arms and stared sideways at him. "If we didn't come back here, that little creature would have died."

"You only wanted to save it because you thought it was a celebi." He met her stare and narrowed his eyes. "If you knew it wasn't what would you have done? Sent it back out into the atmosphere?"

"Of course not. I'm not a monster."

"Says the human swinging a chatot around by the tail."

"Look!" She raised her wings and flexed her claws. "I've got tiny hand-things here. And no one gave me anything to put him in. How was I meant to carry him?"

"Carrying is not the same as swinging around. Nor is threatening to kill him."

She let out a low groan and trailed her claws down her face. Anger bubbled up inside her like an overheating pot of stew that she fought desperately to put a lid on.

"Fine!" she snapped. "You think it's so easy being captain, you take over."

"I'm not saying it is easy being captain. Quite the opposite. And I'm not taking over." He crouched down so he was level with her, and placed a paw on his knee. "I'm just saying you need a bit of a reality check here. You need to think things through more. Apologise to Hatter, give him your request and let him go. And don't worry about paying him, I'll deal with that."

She cracked her claws to peer at him. "You can pay him?"

He shrugged a shoulder, and she thought she saw him smile. There was that lid.

"I thought you said we had no money," she said.

"Like I said, don't worry about it." He paused and trailed his eyes over her. "Now. You're well out of your element here. And from what I can gather from your back story, you've not had much chance at freedom. I hope our little talk has made you realise you're going about it the wrong way. You might think you've got a crew behind you with this rebellion, but if you keep behaving like this, before long Web and Trojan aren't going to back you. Web used to be a pirate, and I wouldn't blame her if she accused you of giving them a bad press. That stir you caused in Pulse City will have done more damage than good. As for Trojan, you can only push him so far before he snaps."

"So I gotta apologise to them too?"

Waveform nodded.

"Alright. I'll do it." She tried to move past him, but he stretched out a wing to block her way. "Do you want me to apologise or not?"

"I'm not done." He gently scooted her back in front of him. "You have to learn to walk before you learn to run. You're not going to make a good space pirate or rebellion leader if you don't know how to act like you actually belong in System."

"But I don't belong in System."

"That's why I said 'act'. Now..." He grabbed her claws in his paw and held up her left wing. "No bird goes around looking like they've just rolled in a thorn bush."

She furrowed her brow and pouted. "Hey! I have you know I just showered."

"Yes, and I'm going to guess you squeezed your feathers dry rather than shaking the water off. Am I right?"

"Maybe."

Waveform released her and placed his wing back across his knee. "Do you know anything about birds, Annie?"

"They have feathers, lay eggs and fly." She folded her wings and puffed out her chest. "They also evolved from dinosaurs."

"And you are...?"

"Annie."

He slapped his paw onto his face. "Yes, but not quite what I was going for here."

"I'm an archeops," she said. "Evidence to prove my point."

"Yes, a prehistoric bird that scientists believe were weak fliers. But that's not to say they couldn't fly. You appear to really struggle in that area, and if the way you treat your feathers is anything to go by then I think we've figured out why."

Annie raised her wing to examine it. The blue and yellow feathers lay in a haphazard fashion, still sodden with water.

"Archeops weren't just tatty-looking birds?" she asked.

"Well, you're feathers are primitive but they don't look like those of a dodrio. I'd say you could likely fly given the chance."

"Wow. I'd really like that." She grinned widely. "You gonna show me how?"

"First thing's first, you need to learn a little feather maintenance."

"What? Preening?"

"Exactly."

"But..." She frowned again. "But I don't have a beak."

He merely shrugged. "I don't think you need one. Just... comb your feathers with your teeth. Knit them together, get them into the right position."

"Huh."

She turned her reptilian head towards her right wing and frowned at the long, blue feathers. Then she grabbed them in her teeth and dragged them through, pulling off odd strands and spluttering as she tried to avoid swallowing them.

Beside her, Waveform grimaced. "Stop! Stop."

She looked up, flicking out her tongue to remove the coarse, blue strands. Waveform didn't look her in the eye. He was too preoccupied with the mess she'd made of her already messy feathers. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his beak above its armour.

"I guess I'm going to have to show you," he said.

She shuffled around so she was facing him and stared up at him expectantly. He raised his own wing and opened his beak... then hesitated. Instead, he cleared his throat and lowered it again.

"I think you'd learn faster if I used your own feathers," he said.

"Hang on." She raised her claws. "You asked me what I know about birds. I just brushed over it. Perappu Says told me birds engage in... what did he call it?" She scratched her chin and looked up at the ceiling. "Mutual preening."

Waveform's cheeks flushed and he fell back from her. "What...! How do you expect chicks to learn?"

"I ain't a chick," she said. "I'm technically an adult. And Perappu Says made it pretty darn clear that mutual preening is a mating ritual."

"What-?"

"No offence... but I ain't interested in that."

Waveform cleared his throat again and swiftly regained his composure. The surprise in his eyes hardened into seriousness and he folded his wings neatly, uniformly.

"If you want to get into the technicalities," he said, "it is an affectionate thing. But also between friends and hatchlings. If you want to learn to tidy yourself up and fly, you need someone to teach you."

"What about Web?"

"Web isn't a bird."

"Po-ta-to, po-tah-to."

He narrowed his eyes and fell silent for a moment until he had her full attention.

"Do you want me to teach you or not?" he asked.

Her wings fell limp at her sides and she slumped. "Fine."

She turned her back on him and let him take her left wing in his.

"Just don't cut me with that metal thing on your face," she said.

"It's no more serrated than my beak is, don't worry."

"Then what's its purpose?" she asked.

He said nothing, taking two of her longer feathers in his beak and running them through. All she felt was a tug, and she watched as they smoothed out and knitted into place. He did this a couple more times until he was satisfied.

"See?" He said without looking up. "Now you try."

She shrugged and turned to her other wing. He didn't release her, working away at her 'primaries'. Another word coming back to her from her childhood books. She tried to copy him, getting much better results and less strands in her mouth. She wasn't sure whether or not still being wet from the shower was helping, but it certainly looked smoother. Like when you wet your hair to smooth down the frizzy strays.

When she felt the cold metal brush her skin, she froze and snapped her head around to face him. He had his eyes closed, combing through the smaller feathers over her arm. She'd always been anxious of hair dressers nicking her with their deadly scissors as a child. But his precision felt more like a metal comb. She relaxed herself and returned to her work.

She was barely half done when Waveform released her and stood up. She looked from him to her wing, noting the tidy display of blue and yellow feathers.

"I think you get the idea." He turned to the door. "We'll try flying tomorrow morning. I'll be back shortly with some breakfast for you."

"No, I'll come with you." She tried to follow him, but he pulled the door shut before she could leave, wedging himself between the frame.

"You'll wait here," he said. "Give everyone a chance to cool down. I need to relieve Trojan from watching your captive. Be grateful I came here to talk to you instead of him."

"That bad, huh?" she asked.

He nodded then gestured to her bed. "Get some rest, then we'll all sit down and have a little chat."

The door closed behind him, and she stared at the bare, stained wood. Oh well. A good rest did sound like a grand idea. She hopped onto her bed and finished straightening her feathers out before clambering under the musty sheets.

...

As Wildcard Gamma dropped slowly towards the ground, Macro could make out more and more of the run-down rooftops of Spool City. The worn streets looked a sickly brown through the heavy smog, darkening to a black as his ship dropped a little lower.

DL stood beside him, her breathing noisy through her filter mask. He checked it was fastened properly around her antenna and then gave his own a second check over. It was more of a nervous tic. For the first time, he'd be taking DL onto System Ground. A place she'd not walked since her memories were taken away. A place she'd probably never seen with her own eyes, never even smelled, never once experienced except maybe for the faint smog one could see on the skyline from one of Meta City's skyscrapers.

It tied his stomach in knots.

He steadied himself onto the neon ladder and nodded for DL to join him. She clambered down until she was almost beside him, and he looked down at the ground below. He could feel her trembling. Heights? Anticipation? Maybe memories she'd not told him about? The entire ladder shook and he reached out a paw to pull her into himself, just in time for the neon bars to drop noisily towards the outskirts.

Wind whipped past his ears, blowing his long fur up over the goggles of his mask. DL screwed her eyes shut, cowering into him and clutching the ladder so tightly he could see her knuckles through her fur.

Before long, they were on solid ground. He offered his paw to help her down, then looked up and down the street. They'd been dropped just shy of an alley. If it weren't for the fact they were in Spool City, he'd have thought it an ideal hiding spot. But the trash cans were often teaming with trubbish and garbordor, and the drains were perfect lurking spots for grimer and muk as they spied on their rivals' turf.

He lifted his paw to activate his visor, but it was held firmly in place. He glanced down at DL's white paw still clasped around his. She wasn't looking at him, instead anxiously eyeing the buildings before them. Windows blocked off by curtains and wooden boards. Walls plastered with posters of wanted space pirates, both recent and long since captured. Several of them were for himself, some dating back to the days where he was only wanted for ten thousand credits.

It might only have been a mere couple of weeks, but those days felt long gone.

"She really doesn't like you, does she?" said DL.

Macro stared back at a poster of himself, frowning at his sneer. "No. She doesn't."

He steered her away from the space pirate montage and led her towards Meta City. His heart was in his throat, pulsing nauseatingly. He could see the skyscrapers dominating the skyline. Tatty rooftops backed by a pristine white, tinted yellow with the Spool City air. But beyond that he knew they were white. He'd seen them. He'd been there.

Deep voices reached his ears and he froze, straining through the green tint of his mask. He'd still not activated his visor. Spool City was unfamiliar to him. Unlike Proxy City, not many of Spool's inhabitants had hired him, so he'd had no reason to walk its streets.

The voices rose into a crescendo of shouts. Gang war, most likely. Nothing he wanted to be a part of. He ducked though a narrow alley and came out on the other side. He crouched against a boarded-up wall and wriggled his paw from DL's grasp. A quick flick of his ear piece and his visor flashed before his eyes. Maps. Maps was what he wanted. It took a moment to find it, but an outline of Spool City from the sky overlaid his view of the buildings. He let his paw relax to his side, where it was immediately snatched up by DL.

He restrained himself from looking at her, instead straining his ears to pick up those voices. They'd gone. All he could hear was the wind, and the flapping of hundreds of posters. Loud, papery flaps. Loud enough to drown out a quieter voice.

He straightened up, bracing himself to move, but no sooner was he back on his feet something wet slapped him across his mask. He beat it aside and stood back, watching as a damp poster for Giga Impact fluttered in the wind, torn right across the dates. Neatly. Something wasn't right. He stood back and looked up at the wall, taking in all the posters.

All of them flapped around noisily. Damp. Torn. Not untidily, either. Each cut was perfectly straight. Angled. Slices were cut out, littered along the damp sidewalk and plastered on the road. Every single poster had been sliced with the precision of a blade. And it wasn't just the posters either. The wall beyond it had also been sliced. Sliced like butter.

His eyes flew across each one, taking it in. Trying to fathom what in System could have done it. Various pokemon rolled through his mind. Pawniard and bisharp? Their claws weren't sharp enough to slice through brick or stone. Neither were skarmory, or scyther. Scizor could take out chunks, but not slices.

Something zipped past behind him, whipping up the air. He spun on the spot, searching the empty streets. On the other side, a curtain fluttered. He caught the flashing eyes of a dark furred meowth, before the curtain fell back into place. But they hadn't been watching him. He wasn't even sure they'd seen him.

He grabbed DL's paw and ducked back into the narrow alley, not taking his eyes off the vacant street.

Whatever it was whipped past again, in the same direction. Small. Glinting in the dull light. Then, like a flash, it was gone.

DL pressed herself up against him, fixing her terrified eyes on the street. Her breath came in quick bursts, and a couple of times he thought she was about to say something.

Then they saw it again. Retracing its footsteps. Slower. Slow enough to just make it out.

A small creature, far different from any pokemon he had seen before. Papery, but its limbs glistened in the weak sunlight. It turned away from them, zooming out of view.

Then he heard a scream. A blood curdling, terrified scream.

He instinctively fastened his arms around DL, pulling her into him. Her entire body trembled and she buried her face into his scarf. His heart was racing. He scanned the street, straining his ears, but nothing else came. No creatures. No voices. All he could hear was the fluttering of the posters.

One thing was for certain. They couldn't stay here. Not unprepared. If these were more of those Ultra Beasts, they needed to know exactly what they were and come back with the tools to deal with it. He took a steady breath and licked his dry lips as he removed one paw from DL to reach for his pouch.

Light footsteps exploded into the alley on his other side and he moved his paw from his pouch to his laser. He snapped his head around to spot the ruffian, but instead what he saw was a slender lopunny, her head covered with a filter mask. She stood with her back against the wall and something sparking in her right paw. He glanced down at it. A taser. Then back up at her. She'd spotted them. Her eyes went between the two of them, then over at the silent street. She lifted her free paw and gestured for them to join her.

Macro grit his teeth together, unseen beyond his mask, and shook his head slowly.

She lifted her paw to gesture again, more urgently this time.

Macro kept one eye on her and grabbed the butt of his laser, slowly dragging it from its holster. She watched him carefully, then took a step towards the alley mouth. Both her paws rose to her chest, still clutching the taser, but it was a defensive pose. Not a threatening one.

Then she wasn't a ruffian. Or if she was, she wasn't a very good one. He met her eyes, a pale rose colour, lit up with fear. A fear he'd not seen since he was a child, reflected in the eyes of his friend. A fear elicited by a monster.

It stunned him, as though he'd been shot through the chest. He released his gun and relaxed his hold on DL, falling slightly against the wall. The lopunny lowered her weapon and tiptoed around the garbage towards him. She lowered her head to his, keeping both eyes on the vacant street.

"It's not safe here," she whispered. "Come with me."

Macro stared up at her, narrowing his eyes with confusion. There was something about that voice...

DL pulled back from him and took his paw again, guiding him after the lopunny. The lopunny paused occasionally to look around, her long ears slightly raised. Then she ducked out of the mouth of the alley, turning a sharp right. Macro followed after her, keeping at DL's side. His paw found his laser again, and he searched the walls for any sign of damage. The further they followed the stranger, the more posters were torn. Ominously flapping in the wind, like the clapping of an invisible audience. It chilled him.

The lopunny stopped beside a rundown building, and Macro paused to take it in. She fumbled with a set of keys, too many for one lone building. The building had no sign. It stood between a boarded-up shop filled with sliced up posters. On the other side was a club that looked like it hadn't been frequented much in years. One thing about the lopunny's chosen residence struck him. Painted across the wall in scarlet paint were the words 'shove off shamus'.

Macro's mouth went dry.

The lopunny finally got the door open and stood aside, ushering the space pirate inside. He frowned up at her, but lurched forwards as DL dragged him after her. The lopunny was on his back in a flash, shoving him into the building. As she slammed the door, Macro spotted one of the creatures zipping past the window. If it had seen them, it didn't show any interest. A neat clipping from one of the posters drifted down like a fallen feather onto the street.

Macro turned back to their rescuer and folded his arms. "Mind telling me what a detective is doing saving my ass?"

"Oh, I think that's fairly self explanatory," said the lopunny.

She unbuckled her mask and pulled it over her head, shaking her ears into place. Then she fixed her rose coloured eyes onto his.

Macro's jaw almost struck the floor and he staggered back, groping for a chair. Failing to find one, he slid down against a desk. DL crouched beside him to try and drag him back to his feet, but his legs wouldn't obey. He stumbled over his words, unable to take his eyes off the rabbit pokemon.

"Digit?" he gasped out.

DL snapped her head around to look at him, then spun to face the lopunny.

"Long time no see, Hunter." The lopunny kicked herself back into one of the office seats and set her mask on her desk. "But it isn't 'Digit' anymore. I go by Defrag now. Welcome to Spool City's little undercover detective agency."