A/N - I've been making some embarrassing mistakes with the names of the Z-Crystals. If you notice any, please let me know. I may have to go back and fix it...

Chapter Seventy

Macro raced through the tunnel, blackness on either side. It closed in behind him, but his eyes were on the pachirisu scurrying along ahead of him towards the light. He stretched out a paw, but nothing but silence left his mouth. He'd wanted to shout, but it hurt. Everything hurt. Every step, breath, movement. But he refused to stop. Refused to be eaten up by the darkness.

A dry heat filled his nostrils and he faltered, glancing back the way he'd come. Fire. Fire spread down the tunnel, rushing towards him like a tidal wave. He turned and kicked the ground, pushing himself onward. But he'd lost sight of her. The light was dazzling. He squinted, just making out a black speck on the horizon. Then the floor shook violently, causing him to lose his footing. Rock erupted beneath him like a geyser, and a huge metallic beast rose from the ground. Its huge mouth opened in its bamboo face, letting out an almighty scream.

Macro howled with fright, falling back onto his bottom. The beast aimed a cannon, then exploded into light. Light that put out the flames, bringing with it a refreshing coolness. Solgaleo drifted through the creature's remains and landed behind Macro, catching the mawile as strength left his body. He fell into the lion's warm fur and let his eyes drift shut.

"Where am I?" Macro asked. "Where is everyone?"

Solgaleo shushed him. "Don't talk. You need your rest."

"That's easy to say," said Macro. "But everything hurts. I can't feel my paw. I can see it, but..." He cracked his eyes open and stared ahead at the light. DL had long gone. "What's happening, Solgaleo? Is the world ending?"

Solgaleo shifted so he was looking at him. "It's the end of the world as you know it. Rest. You're going to need your strength."

...

The mansion floated miles outside of Meta City. Below Yobi, the ocean lashed the cliff face, coating the rocky outcrops with a layer of salty froth. The raichu drifted over them, his breath coming in heavy bursts. He'd been flying for hours, lugging the remains of his vikavolt android beside him in a psychic bubble. His tail skimmed over the brittle grass and dry rocks until he finally felt able to dismount, landing heavily on the ground and dropping the chrome carcass beside him. He doubled over with his paws on his knees, fighting to get his breath, and looked back over his shoulder at the purple chaos swirling across System Sky. The mansion, its red eyes glowing like stars, and the purple fire cascading out from it. He'd never even imagined such a scene in his wildest fantasies.

The chaos it had brought. The lives it had claimed. That dragon... BackDoor... Socket...

His legs gave way and he flopped onto his back, his arms falling spread-eagled beside him. His heart was still racing. He could still see her face, frantic. That brief moment she reached for him, her cry for help dying on her lips as the other world claimed her.

That was it. In an instant, she was gone. Dragged into a world no life in System could survive. If BackDoor's words had been true, she'd have died quickly amid methane gas.

BackDoor... Socket had requested it, but Yobi had been the one to create it. An android with no kill switch, for fear others might get their paws on it and deactivate it. An android who'd been programmed with a personality. With the ability to learn. Much needed requirements for something that could assist them in finding a new world. A world for System's elites, for them to start anew. And the wretched android had found something powerful, grown bored of its task, and used it against them. Used the skills Yobi had programmed it with, and killed Socket. Not just his boss, but his friend.

He choked back a sob and stretched out a paw, cold chrome meeting his fur. His claws fastened around it, but his eyes went back to the mansion.

Some way... if he just had some way to stop it...

His eyes narrowed and he pushed himself back up, dragging the remains of the vikavolt onto his lap. His eyes went towards Meta City. No longer safe. Riddled with those Ultra Beasts. But he needed to get back to his home. To his lab - old yet familiar - and put an end to BackDoor. If that meant trapping Distortion and all the Ultra Beasts in System, so be it. They'd be at his mercy. He'd rid the world of them all, or die trying.

...

Beep, beep, beep...

Macro grimaced, trying to focus on that sound. He didn't remember setting an alarm. His right arm felt like lead. Clearly he'd slept on it and lost all feeling. He lifted his more obedient left paw and rubbed his eyes, grunting as a dull ache resonated in his head. He couldn't recall the previous night. No drinking and merriment. Then he remembered the pain. His eyes cracked open, bright, florescent light stabbing his eyeballs and aggravating his headache into a migraine. He groaned and squeezed them shut, clasping his paw over them. Something tugged at his flesh, a minor stab in the back of his paw.

"Cap'n!" Anchor leapt from his seat and jerked the bed as he leant across it.

Macro cracked one eye back open and the granbull's pink face filled his vision. Matrix peeked out behind his ear, clutching his computer in both paws.

"Man, I don't believe it," said Anchor. "The doctor thought you were gonna be out another week at least."

"Wait, where..." Macro's voice cracked and he licked his lips.

A cool glass of water touched his left paw and he took it gratefully, glancing sideways to see DL putting the jug back on his nightstand. He sipped at his water and tried to push himself up, but Anchor pinned him back down. Then he busied himself with untangling the drip's tube from around the mawile's arm.

"Not yet, Cap'n," he said. "You've only just come round. I don't think you're ready for gettin' up and bein'... well... you."

"So I'm in hospital again?" Macro sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Gettin' a little tired of waking up here."

"I think they're getting a little tired of seeing you," said Matrix, eyes back on his computer.

Macro frowned at him, then shook his head. "What happened? How long was I out?"

"Ten days," said Anchor.

"Ten days?!" Macro sat bolt upright, only to be pushed back into his pillow by DL this time.

Anchor brushed back his mohawk and fell back into his seat. "Yeah, after that... Distortion thing... took over the mansion, things took a pretty brutal turn. We were fortunate enough to get out of there and get you back here."

"Wait, what?" Macro's lip curled into a frown. "Distortion? What happened?"

"Oh yeah, you were unconscious then." Anchor cleared his throat. "It's a long story and you've only just woken up, so..."

"No, I need to know," said Macro. "What's Socket done to her mansion?"

"It ain't Socket," said Anchor. "It's some entity BackDoor's dragged into this world. Socket... well, she's gone."

Macro's jaw dropped. Had he heard him right? "Gone where?"

"She's dead," said Matrix, all too bluntly. "Got sucked into some world filled with toxic gas."

Any words Macro had died on his lips. He cast a sideways glance to DL, catching her eye. She diverted her gaze to the wall and swallowed back tears.

"I guess... we don't need to worry about her anymore, huh?" she said.

"Well, I guess it makes sense to be upset," said Anchor. "She did adopt you, after all."

"With bad intentions," said DL. "She may have been a monster, but I didn't want her to die. I don't want anyone to die. All those lives... even Surge..."

Macro's eyes widened. "Wait... Surge?"

DL nodded stiffly.

"Yeah," said Anchor. "She had our backs all the way out. If it weren't for her, DL and I... and you... would have been sucked into the same world Socket found herself in."

"She was oddly strong," said DL. "Managed to throw all three of us behind her."

"Must be all those enhancements she had done," said Matrix. "Makes you wonder what it was."

Macro's throat tightened and he let his eyes close, placing his paw across them. He'd often been at odds with Surge, but she'd saved his life. More than once. She hadn't deserved that. He bit his tongue to stifle tears and took in a deep breath.

"Are you okay?" DL whispered.

He nodded, but he wasn't sure if she'd noticed.

"What about Switch?" he croaked.

Anchor let out a sigh and slumped forward on his knees. "He's goin' through the same rehab those little bug pokemon are."

Macro couldn't even look at him. He bit his lip hard, tasting blood. No memories, and with Socket's mansion taken over there was no way to even begin attempting to recover them. That is, if they were even still intact in Yobi's computer.

"It's worryin'," Anchor went on. "Nothin' we can do about it." He stood up with another sigh. "I suppose I should let a doctor know you've come around."

"Give me a few minutes," he said. "I don't want one sent in just yet."

"But they need to know."

"And they can know." He shifted his arm to look at the granbull. "But I've got a lot to take in right now. I don't need some doc pokin' at me."

Anchor stared at him for a moment, then nodded. "Sure. I'll ask 'em to come in here in about ten minutes. But they won't be happy."

"Five will be fine," said Macro.

"That's why I said ten. They'll probably try and negotiate." Anchor winked then turned to leave the room.

Wink...

Macro grimaced and huddled into his sheets, unable to remove the human from his mind.

"You look a little iffy," said Matrix. "Still, glad to see you awake." He drifted from his chair and buzzed over their heads to the door. "I'm gonna get a coffee. Do either of you want anything?"

DL shook her head and Macro muttered a 'no'.

Once the door closed, Macro glanced over at DL, but she didn't meet his eyes. It gnawed at him. An unpleasant sensation alongside the pounding headache.

"You're not going with them?" he asked.

She looked away from him towards the window, her paws wound in his bed sheet. "No."

"Very well." He let his arm fall over his eyes again. The room felt oddly quiet. He opened his mouth to tell her she didn't need to stay, but she cut him off.

"I owe you an apology."

Her words took him by surprise and he lifted his paw to look at her. But she was still avoiding his gaze.

"I... was hurting." Her voice cracked and she twisted the bed sheet in her claws. "You've done a lot for me, but I couldn't see past the blind rage that came with those memories. They conflicted me. No matter how much I'd tell myself I was wrong, it... it just wouldn't work. It was like I was two separate pokemon and Loop just wouldn't listen..."

He gave her a moment to continue, but she stared down at her paws, tugging at the sheet.

"Believe it or not," he said, "I do understand."

"Then you're foolish."

Her words took him aback and he let his head roll back on the pillow, shielding his eyes again. "I don't know how understanding makes me a fool, but whatever."

"Because my actions were irrational," she said. "I said hurtful things... I hurt you, and you didn't deserve it." Her words choked off into tears and she wiped her eyes with a paw. "And if it weren't for me... you wouldn't have gone after me in Meta City... and all this..." She sobbed loudly and covered her face with her paws. "You almost died and it was my fault!"

"Hey!" He pushed himself up on his elbow and twisted to face her. "Don't you dare blame yourself! We needed to go there for your final memories anyway."

"But it wouldn't have been such a reckless attempt! You... you came to rescue me, didn't you?"

"I came to help you." His strength gave out and he fell onto his side, but he didn't take his eyes off her. "Whatever happened, Socket would have known we were coming. We'd have been walkin' right into trouble. She'd have still caught me." He paused and trailed his paw over his horn. Still cracked, although it had been sealed with something.

"What did she do to you?" DL whispered.

Tears trailed from her cheeks, peppering the bed sheet. His paw twitched as he warred with the desire to hold her and calm her down. Surely if he told her it would just make her break down and blame herself even more. He closed his eyes and sighed.

"You don't need to know that," he said.

"Maybe I don't want to," she said. "Anchor and Matrix refused to go into detail. Defrag won't say anything, either." She took in a trembling breath and dried her eyes. "But you can't keep hiding things from me."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"You're an enigma," she said. "I found out about Digit from Anchor a while back. And about how you got your scar, although I barely got any details. And you never told me about that fire in Botnet City." She paused and looked him in the eye. "Would you have ever told me about that? If I never got those memories?"

Her paws fell back onto the sheet and he stared at her for a moment, his claws twitching mere millimetres from hers.

"Maybe," he said. "If you'd ever asked me what all my nightmares are about. It's... something I don't want to keep reliving."

Her breath trembled and she looked down at her paws again. "I understand."

"Hey, I don't want to keep secrets from you. If you ask me anything about my past, I'll answer. Socket trying to kill me, Ironclaw almost takin' my eye... Even Digit ditchin' me... I'll tell you."

DL looked him in the eye. "She prefers Defrag now."

A hint of a smile.

Macro threw his left paw in the air and rolled back onto his back. "I suppose I can't very well complain about her changin' her name, can I?"

"I keep thinking back at my own past," said DL. "And when I do, all I can see are Loop's drawings of Wildcard Gamma. The ship in flames... she really hated you." Once again, she stared at her paws. "Her last thoughts when Yobi was about to operate on her... were how if you hadn't killed her family..."

Her voice choked off as tears fell onto her paws and the bed sheet. His paw felt cold, and he retracted it slightly.

"I know a sorry will never be enough," he said. "But I'm afraid it's all I can offer."

She looked up at him, but her eyes were soft, and wet with tears. "You risked your life to save mine. That's more than enough."

"Of course." His voice cracked. "DL, please believe me when I say I would never do anything to hurt you deliberately. But... I'd understand if you still hate me."

She shook her head and released the sheet, fighting back tears. She took his paw and clambered off her seat towards him, leaning across the bed to catch his lips in hers. His breath snagged with surprise and he slipped his paw from hers to trail over her cheek and cradle her right ear.

She pulled back slightly and brushed her nose against his. "I love you."

His heart did a somersault and he opened his eyes to gaze into hers. Warm fondue. Enough to get lost in.

"Oh, DL," he said. "I love you, too."

She smiled and brushed her lips against his, prompting him to kiss her again. He pushed himself up on his right elbow and she wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. He pulled back to nuzzle her neck and lifted his arms to wrap around her waist. But his right one still felt heavy. Something wasn't right at all. He pulled back from her to remove his arm from the sheet and his eyes widened as he took it in.

DL combed her claws through the fur on his shoulder and closed her eyes. "Your paw... I'm afraid they couldn't save it."

Black, metal claws formed up some mechanical attachment. Layered armor that reached up to his elbow, allowing full flexibility. It was reminiscent of the enhancements many pokemon had done. Yet whoever had made it had put a lot of thought into its convenience. It was light, although not as light has his natural paw had been. The colour, size and shape was meant to emulate the paw of a mawile, although it did lack paw pads. To top it all off, embedded in the back of his 'paw' was the Fairium-Z. A soft pink light trapped amid all the black, metal plating. He flexed the claws with some difficulty. No feeling. That explained the 'dead arm'.

A monstrous thing. Unnatural. It made him feel vile.

She brushed her paw over it, but he snatched it back.

"Don't," he said. "I don't trust it."

"But... why? They said it's 'state of the art'."

"I can't feel anything." He shrugged, bitterness taking over. "If I can't feel anything, then I'm worried it might hurt you."

"You're meant to have feeling in it." She took a breath and pushed herself off the bed. "I'll go see where that doctor's got up to."

He looked away from her as she scampered to the door, leaving him clutching the duvet in a tight fist. He kept his mechanical arm to the side, as far from his body as his dead arm would allow.

"Macro?" DL looked over at him from the door, catching his eye. "If it means anything... as much as I'm sorry you lost your paw... well..."

He raised an eyebrow, bitterness melting away to amusement. "You like this contraption, don't you?"

Her eyes flitted from him to the mechanical paw and a light flush dusted her cheeks. "It is rather fetching."

He rolled his eyes and chuckled, then nodded towards the door. "Go and find that doctor."

She gave a brisk nod and scampered from the room, leaving him to chuckle to himself as he flopped back onto his pillow. The air felt a lot lighter, and warmer. A pink glint flickered at the corner of his eye, and he turned his head towards his right paw. The Fairium-Z glittered in the sunlight as it leaked through the window. A warm pink. His mechanical claws twitched against the bed sheet. Another failed attempt to turn it into a fist.

The door opened, and he pushed himself up as an azumarill shuffled in. She looked up from her Clipboard to give him a brief nod and a smile before falling into the chair Anchor had previously occupied.

"Good to see you up," she said. "You're looking much better than you did when you arrived. How are you feeling?"

"A little bitter about my paw right now," he said.

"Yes, I'm sorry about that." The azumarill's face fell and she turned back to her Clipboard's screen to key something in. "Anchor says your laser exploded. You're very lucky you didn't lose the entire limb. Or your life, for that matter."

Macro sighed and rubbed his scar. "It's a little difficult to look on the bright side right now, doc. I tend to rely quite heavily on my right paw and I can't even move it."

"At all?"

"Okay, I can get the thing to twitch. But I'd hardly call that moving it."

The doctor 'hmm'd' as she scrolled through her notes. "Well, you are put down to have therapy to control it. So they're not expecting you to be able to do much with it yet. And it can take a few days for the sensors to respond while your body gets used to it."

"A few days? When was it attached?"

"Five days ago." She gave him a reassuring smile. "So I wouldn't worry too much just yet."

He let out a long breath, but it certainly wasn't out of relief. "Well, a lot of pokemon lost their lives in that battle. So I suppose I should be happy I just got away with a lost paw and some bruises, eh?"

"Bruises?" The azumarill's jaw almost hit the floor. "Are you serious?"

"Deathly." He fixed one eye on her and cracked a smile. "You're the one who's hinting I should be lookin' on the bright side. So when can I get this therapy over and leave this joint? I've got a job to do."

"Macro, you've been in a coma for nearly ten days," she said. "Not only did you lose your paw, but a lot of blood. Your horn had cracked open and had to be sealed. You suffered three breaks in your left arm, not to mention a shattered bone in your paw; a fracture in your right arm; a break in the femur of your left leg; blunt trauma to various parts of your body; shattered ribs all along your left side; a severe concussion; internal bleeding; a punctured lung, and ruptured vessels in your left eye!" She sighed and lowered the Clipboard to her lap. "When you arrived here, we weren't even sure we could save you. You've been awake for fifteen minutes and you're asking if we think you're fit to leave?"

A long silence passed between them as her words struck home. Each one making him increasingly aware of the repetitive beeping from his heart monitor. A cruel drag back into reality. Prior to that it had been a mere background sound that had followed him out of his dream. His eye wandered to the screen attached to the wall. The green line that flickered with every beat of his heart. He turned back to the nurse and tried to appear stoic.

"I didn't ask 'if'," he said. "I asked 'when'."

She stared at him silently, then turned back to her Clipboard. "I see. Well... you'll need to be monitored to make sure you don't relapse back into a coma. So... if things go well, I'd say you can start therapy tomorrow afternoon."

"Great."

"At the earliest."

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his muzzle. "The world might have ended by the time I'm outta here."

The azumarill closed her eyes and her ears drooped. "I'm just doing my job." She stood and shuffled towards the door. "I'll be back before dinner time."

"Hey, doc."

She looked up at him, meeting his eye.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm just... this is pretty darn stressful. I'm tryin' to help System recover from these monsters, and..."

"I understand. All of us are terrified." She took a deep breath to steady herself. "But this is the third time you've ended up here in the space of a month. You're mortal, like the rest of us. Remember that."

She slipped from the room, leaving behind a chill that caused Macro to burrow under his sheets until only his head was poking out. He groped at his chest with his left paw, feeling nothing but fur. His eye flew around the room, scouting for his scarf. Nothing. He groaned and resigned himself to clutching the duvet, wishing he could just fall asleep and wake up to everything being normal again. But it never came. He just lay there listening to the repetitive, scolding beep of the heart monitor.

...

It felt like Tracer had been flying around System Sky for a decade. One short trip back to Pulse City revealed the entire island to be engulfed with vines, the monstrous creature standing tall over it like a sentinel. Silent. Unmoving.

The image chilled the delphox to the core, and he huddled at the back of N0ize's ship beside Widget. The eevee was less bothered, idly pawing at a laser module he'd found a few days prior. The two space pirates had barely said a word since the events in the analogue isles. Both were clearly stressed, and Tracer didn't want to push his luck perchance they toss him from the ship to a grisly demise below. Fuel was running low, and was becoming harder to come by. Not wanting to chance another trip to the analogue isles, and finding Pulse City unable to supply them safely, the two space pirates had resigned to looking for parked ships to pilfer it from. But it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"Ey, you seen that?" N0ize's voice drew Tracer's eye to the window.

The incineroar pointed a claw through the cracked glass. In the distance floated a monolith of a building. Whatever it was, it was almost indescribable. It gave off an iridescent purple glow, almost draining all light from around it. Or did it actually drain all light? It was difficult to say for certain, but it looked like it might have been on fire. Was it one of those monsters?

"What on earth is that?" Widget stood on his hind legs with his paws on Cyph3r's chair, both eyes fixed on the anomaly.

"I've no idea," said Tracer. "But I'm loathe to go near it."

"I second that." N0ize turned to the magmortar. "Steer us well clear of that thing. I don't want yet more damage comin' to old Sharkie."

Cyph3r obliged, turning the ship so the anomaly was on their left. Miles away.

"You've still no idea where we're going?" Tracer ventured to ask.

"Nope." N0ize turned back to Cyph3r, brushing the delphox off. "Hit hyperdrive. I wanna get as far away from that abomination as possible."

Tracer rushed back to his spot in the corner, but before he could sit comfortably, the ship lurched forward sending him nose-first into the wall. He pushed himself back up as best he could, rubbing his sore snout. A thin stream of blood coated his fur and he huddled against the wall to steady himself. Widget clutched to the magmortar's chair for dear life, his claws tearing rivets in the leather. Yet more damage the space pirates would blame them for.

Finally, the ship returned to a saner pace and Tracer slid to the floor. Back amid the floating cities. Three of them, forming a triangle, but they were really miles apart. The closest one looked massive in comparison to its siblings. The trio of warring cities. Cyan, Magenta and Luma.

"Oi, hang on a sec!" N0ize leaned forward in his seat, grinning like a lunatic. "That's Wildcard Gamma!"

Tracer jolted and lifted his head as far as it would stretch. N0ize wasn't wrong. Docked in Cyan City's port was the famous schooling wishiwashi, dwarfing several golden government ships. The pyukumyuku stood on the other side of the fleet, sandwiching them between the two larger ships.

"What's Hunter's crew doing so blatantly in Cyan City?" Tracer voiced. "And Annie, too..."

"I dunno," said N0ize. "But fifty thousand credits for him and each of his crewmon is sat waitin' in that city like sittin' ducklets. I can grab them, get my revenge on that human girl and her posse then book it! So that's..." He counted off on his claws, struggled then threw his paws in the air with a laugh. "A lot of fuel and easy ship repairs, plus enough to dine like kings!"

Widget muttered under his breath, "Yeah, if there's anywhere still left standing in System to eat."

"What were that, pup?" N0ize growled.

Widget merely grinned back at him.

"Whatever." N0ize shrugged him off and turned back to the window. "Let's get in there and find Hunter. I want my ship repaired pronto."

Cyph3r steered the sharpedo into the docks beside the wishiwashi. Before it had even fully parked up, the incineroar was on his feet and marching towards the door. He grabbed Tracer by the scruff, dragging him to his feet.

"Come on, fuzz, I ain't exactly gonna leave you and your rogue on this ship alone, am I?"

"Dang it!" Widget dropped to his feet and slumped after them. "It's like you can read me like a book."

As much as the eevee was joking, it went straight over N0ize's head. He gave Widget what was clearly intended to be an intimidating grin but all it did was elicit one in return. N0ize laughed and threw the door open.

"I like you, pup," he said. "The offer still stands if you wanna join my crew."

"I don't work for bullies." Widget skipped past him onto the docks, and froze. "Oh, hang on."

N0ize landed heavily beside him, clutching Tracer by the collar in one paw. Waiting on the docks stood an empoleon and several other water types. The vaporeon beside the penguin pokemon bristled, his head lowered and canines bared. N0ize reached for his laser, but the deep, electrical hum beside them told them Cyph3r had disembarked and had his railgun at the ready.

"Drop your weapons!" the empoleon roared. "And explain yourselves! What are you doing in Cyan City?"

N0ize laughed and dropped Tracer, who landed in an ungraceful heap at his feet. "I ain't explainin' nothin'! Cyph3r? Take 'em out!"

The magmortar raised his railgun, the hum rising into a shrill scream. The empoleon readied an attack of his own as he raised his right flipper. A metallic sheen surrounded it. Beside him, steam erupted from the vaporeon's mouth.

"Stop!"

The empoleon froze, his flipper returning to normal, but the vaporeon's attack was too advanced and he choked, spluttering hot froth. It erupted from him in a sputtering flurry, peppering Cyph3r and N0ize with scalding water. The two fire types grimaced, and N0ize whipped out his huge laser.

A frogadier scurried between the warring groups, waving his slender paws. His eyes went from the empoleon and his crew to the space pirates, and he narrowed his eyes.

"I trust you aren't friends of Wildcard?" the frogadier asked.

"No, we ain't." N0ize raised his laser to the frog pokemon. "And we plan to take 'em back with us."

Cyph3r placed a paw on N0ize's arm, lowering his laser as he aimed his railgun at the frogadier. Electricity screeched along it, concentrating its deadly power behind the hidden projectile. If the water type was afraid, he didn't show a single hint of it.

"I'm afraid it won't get you anywhere," he said. "Socket's no longer around to give you your 'reward'."

"Eh?" N0ize's jaw dropped.

Cyph3r lowered his railgun, the screech returning to a static hum. His face matched N0ize's surprise perfectly.

"Surely you've seen it?" said the frogadier. "Her mansion has been taken over by some unknown entity, and its currently drifting through System Sky."

"That's what that thing was?" Tracer stood up, rubbing his ears. "It was her mansion?"

"So it's some monster house now?" Widget chuckled and wagged his tail. "Bring it!"

Tracer placed a paw on the eevee's back, but he didn't take his eyes off the frogadier. "So what does that mean exactly?"

"It means," said the vaporeon, "that System ain't got no flippin' mayor enforcing her laws! You won't get scratch for turnin' in Wildcard Gamma. You could gallivant across System Ground and no one would touch you because, let's face it, no one wants to fight for nothin'! So get your mangy tails out of our city!"

The empoleon cuffed him around the ears, eliciting a protesting whine.

"Thank you, HeatSink." The frogadier turned back to the space pirates. "Sorry for my friend's outburst. I have no gripes with you pokemon. I'm aware Pulse City has been reduced to ruins, which means you've got nowhere to go. We're a peaceful city. Wildcard have done a lot for us. I can see your ship is in bad shape, so if you promise to remain peaceful, then we can sort you out with repairs."

N0ize threw his head back and laughed. "You serious?! Scourge of the skies and you open your doors for us? Well... I ain't entirely sure how happy I am mixing with water types."

Cyph3r's railgun hummed to life again, but he didn't lift it towards the water types. He narrowed his eyes, limb twitching with uncertainty.

"Oh hey, it's the pussycat!" Annie's familiar voice erupted behind the water type army. She waved an energetic wing, bouncing on her feet. "Hi, pussycat! And Mister Fox, too! Woo! It's like a reunion!"

N0ize glared at her, clutching his paw into a fist around his laser. The metal creaked beneath his grip, setting Tracer's fur on end as he braced himself for the weapon to fire at the ground. The incineroar snapped his head back around to the frogadier.

"All right," he growled. "I'll take you up on your hospitality. You might have no gripes with us, but I've got... personal issues... with that raggy bird back there."

"What? Annie?" The frogadier looked between N0ize's sneer and Annie's beaming grin. "Well... I'm not sure what to do about that. If you wish to avoid conflict-"

"Not at all."

"Well, if you threaten violence, I will have to put you in a cell." The frogadier gave him a sympathetic shake of the head. "I don't think either of us want that?"

N0ize holstered his weapon and nodded to Cyph3r to switch his off. The magmortar obliged, contributing to the sudden silence.

The frogadier stepped closer to them and held out a paw. "Welcome to Cyan City. My name is Jumper, Governor of this city. Would you like me to show you around?"

N0ize's muzzle creased with confusion as he stared at the frogadier's outstretched paw. He shook it hesitantly, drowning it in his larger, hairy one.

"Not sure I want showin' around, though," he rumbled.

"Well, I know a fantastic place for dinner," said Jumper.

"Sold." N0ize stomped past him with Cyph3r in tow. "I'm itchin' for a fish burger right now."

"I hate to disappoint you, but here, we're vegetarian," said Jumper.

N0ize stared at him over his shoulder, aghast. Then he sighed. "Fine. Nutpea it is."

Tracer and Widget stared after them, their jaws almost touching the floor. The water army wore equal expressions of surprise. Annie scrambled over to them, looking between the pirates and the detectives.

"This is awesome," she said. "I wondered what had happened to you lot."

"Didn't we attack you?" Widget asked, not looking away from N0ize's swishing tail as he followed Jumper into the city.

"Let flygons be flygons." Annie waved a dismissive wing. "Wanna grab somethin' to eat? I know an awesome place."

"So long as it's far away from them, I'm game," said Widget.

"Me too." Tracer reached into his pocket for a cigar and grimaced. "Maybe we can find a decent shop, too? I need to stock up."

Widget snorted and shook his head. "Fine. But can we do that on the way back? I'm starved."

The pair of them followed Annie into the city, heading a different way to the space pirates.

"While we're there," she said, "I can tell you the awesome story about how a building ate the mayor!"

Tracer and Widget snapped their heads around to look at her.

"You know what happened?" Widget gasped.

"Of course!" She fired them a toothy grin over her shoulder. "I was there! And it was awesome."

Tracer and Widget stuttered and exchanged glances. 'Awesome' wasn't exactly a word Tracer would have used.

"All right." He cleared his throat. "We look forward to it."

"Awesome, eh?" Widget shook his head and sighed. "Drat, and we missed it."