Vector winced as Nybble pulled the stitching tight and snipped the thread.

"There you go! All done." She popped the needle on the little table and wiped her paws on a hot towel.

He rubbed his upper arm and admired the emolga's handiwork. The only sign anything had been done was the slight tint of red around the incision area which would wash off the next time he bathed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"A little sore, but that's to be expected," he said. "Thank you."

The little emolga flushed and rubbed the back of her head. "Heh. It's nothing, really."

He looked over at Leaf, Pixel and N00b sat at the foot of the sofa, deeply engrossed in their computer work. "How are you getting on with that?"

"It looks completely authentic." Leaf looked down at the tiny microchip. "Anyone who scanned this would think nothing of it. To them you would be a nineteen year old patient at Central Meta Hospital."

"This would fool anyone who didn't know you." N00b turned the microchip around in his paws. "They went the whole hog. It's not a counterfeit device. It's a standard RFID microchip with a full duplex."

"What I want to know is why they made it all up," said Pixel. "Surely they'd have got more right than this if they did their research."

"They made up all the information I didn't give them, or that they didn't ask for," said Vector. "I had no idea they were going to chip me."

"They didn't ask for your age?" asked Leaf.

"Yes. I told them I'm twenty three. They clearly didn't listen."

"You'd think they'd at least make notes," said Switch. "It's pretty sloppy work on their part."

Pixel pursed her lips together. It really was sloppy work. You'd think professional scientists would do a better job at covering up a fraud microchip. She eyed Vector curiously. It was hard to believe he was five years older than her. Maybe they hadn't listened at all, they'd just looked at him and hazarded a guess. When he noticed her staring, she cleared her throat and looked back down at the chip in N00b's paw. "So you're not an analyst?"

Vector shook his head. "No." He paused and rubbed his paws together. "I suppose there's no harm in telling you now, since my team disintegrated. I was an undercover scientist and soldier working for a project called Bridge."

"From what you said, you were searching for a way to help humans get back home?"

Vector nodded stiffly.

"I'm pretty excited about you joining our little project," said N00b. "We might actually get somewhere with an extra scientist on board."

"Well, now this is out of you," said Leaf, "they won't be able to track you. Wherever you go, you're safe unless you hang around Meta City. As for us, we need to get off this island fast before they return."

"First they'll need to find another way to get up here," said Pixel. "And I'm guessing that pidgeot turned in those two pokemon, so we may have a little while yet."

"That's a little while longer we can be on the ground looking for a place to retreat to."

N00b and Switch exchanged a silent message.

"Why don't you come with us?" N00b asked. "They won't find you in our base, I can assure you."

"That's a kind offer," said Leaf. "But I'm afraid we have our own mission to take care of."

Switch rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "Yeh. I don't think Connor would let you go about freely doing your own thing. If you enter our base, I'm pretty sure he'd rope you into working for him."

"So where do we go?" Pixel asked.

Leaf shrugged. "We'll head towards Backbone Mountain. So long as we put as much space between us and Meta City, that's all that counts."

"Leaf?" Byte poked his head around the door, panting heavily. He paused with one paw on the door frame as he tried to catch his breath.

"What is it?" Leaf asked.

"We can't back up all the data," he explained. "We've not got enough portable memory."

Leaf gave a flustered sigh and removed his headphones to scratch his head. "Fine. Back up all you can and lock down all the computers."

"Wait." N00b frowned. "Lock down all of them? Won't the drifting continent stop... well... drifting?" He motioned with his paws to imitate something falling out of the sky.

"No, no." Leaf chuckled. "The island operates on a different system. It'll still follow its circuit."

"Circuit..." N00b licked his lips in thought, his eyes going distant. "It follows a circuit..."

"Yes, it circles around the desert, the little villages leading up towards the city, the outskirts and Meta City then loops back."

"What if you reprogrammed it?" N00b asked. "Then it could go anywhere."

"Reprogrammed it?" Pixel and Leaf gasped.

"You can't do that!" said Leaf. "It wouldn't be safe!"

"It would throw System out of balance," said Vector. "There are three drifting continents all with their own circuits – Cyan, Magenta and Luma. They're designed to stick to one specific area. As such, they never meet."

"I know all that," said N00b. "They're some ancient structure from hundreds of years ago. Artificial, for the most part. They're not going to throw off the natural balance. Think of it as some gigantic flying ship! They all have controls, right? All I need to do is tweak them so you can control it perfectly!"

"The only problem is, if they saw our island moving then they'd be able to follow us," said Leaf.

"Yeh, but it'd be harder for them. Besides, you'd be able to drop down wherever you wanted. You wouldn't have to risk being caught by landing in an area they'd expect."

Pixel nodded her approval. "You have to admit, it's a brilliant idea. We could go anywhere in System. It would even make branching out our investigation into larger areas much easier."

"Okay fine!" Leaf waved a paw in dismissal. "Toy with it. Just don't crash it."

N00b chuckled.

"Don't worry, Leaf," said Switch. "N00b's not exactly a rookie in computer and machine technology."

"And I can always assist him." Vector rose to his feet. "After all you guys have done for me, it's the least I can do."

"We should have it done before we even reach Spool!" N00b skipped towards the door with Vector in tow.

Pixel looked up at Leaf and opened her mouth to speak, but the ivysaur's mind was elsewhere. He wound the headphone cord around his paws as he stared absently out of the open door.

He let out a long breath and closed his eyes. "Have we really exhausted our search in this area?"

...

The corridor filled with loud, blaring screams as the unown A flew down it, crying out like a siren. The sound grew with intensity as the small pokemon shot into the lab like a dart, stopping over the head of a dainty, pink feline who wasn't remotely phased by the unown's outburst. She lay sprawled over her desk with her chin on her paws and bottom in her chair, staring at an abstract map of jagged lines on an old, boxy computer screen. Colourful lights raced up and down the walls on either side of her, along with blobs of neon oil bouncing up and down inside thick, glass containers.

"Retro! There's trouble! Trouble!"

"What is it, Alarm?" she asked.

"I heard a voice!" the unown answered. "It came from above us! What was it? There's nothing on the security cameras!" She screamed again and bolted back and forth. "Oh no! There's an invasion! It's spreading down here too!"

Retro rolled her eyes to look up at her. "Calm down. We're safe here."

"Yes! Be quiet!"

She flinched at the voice, pushing herself upright to look over her shoulder. The unown exclamation hovered over another boxy computer beside an unown X, shuddering with frustration.

"Your voice is remarkably loud!" he said. "It's enough to give one a migraine!"

"You're one to talk," chuckled Retro. "You should watch your volume too, Amp."

"X-actly," said X. "It's x-tremely hard to work with your voices at such x-traordinary volumes."

Retro laughed. "I'm sure it's nothing, Alarm. It never is."

"Yes! What was it last time?!" asked Amp.

"A butterfree landing on a flower, I believe," said X. "X-tremely ridiculous assumption on her part, if you ask me."

"No! It isn't nothing!" Alarm wailed. "It's the lines! They're spreading! They're all over the jungle!"

"Huh." Retro raised an eyebrow and looked back at the computer screen. "More lines..."

"It's like a maze!" said Alarm.

"Is it a-maze-ing?" asked X.

Amp flicked him away with a burst of rainbow energy. The little unown hit the wall and slid down it with a groan.

"Sorry, old boy, but I don't think this is time for your puns!" Amp joined Retro's side and peered over her shoulder. "Have they not appeared on your map?!"

She clicked the mouse to zoom out from the map. Sure enough, there were more lines. The entire northern part of the jungle was engulfed in them, almost like a giant spinarak web. X bobbed next to her head and let out a small gasp.

"You're right, Alarm," said Retro. "They are spreading."

"What if they come down here?!" Alarm asked.

"I don't think we have anything to worry about. They seem to be staying on the surface."

"If you would like, we could go on an x-cursion to investigate?" X suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea. You know what happened the last time."

Retro looked over at the corner of the lab. Propped up against the wall were two more unown. A G, who's body had been turned into solid brown rock, and K who had started to turn into water. Both of them had entered a state of hibernation, which interestingly had halted the virus's progression. This had prompted Retro's research into the virus. She'd been there. She'd come into contact with it, yet for some reason, it didn't effect her.

"Retro? Are you listening?"

"Huh?" She looked round at X's narrowed eye. "I'm sorry, did you say something?"

"Yes. I said we can be x-tra careful this time. If you keep us in a bubble, the virus can't get to us."

"No." She leant her chin back on her paws as she stared at the ominous web. "We already know where those black lines have come from, and what they're doing. What we need to focus on is how to erase them."

...

The small amount of light in the engine room came from N00b's tiny torch clasped between his teeth. Pixel watched with fascination as he tweaked with wires and other components that were completely alien to her.

"Just a little more and there!" He slammed the cover to the motherboard shut. "All done and dusted! I just need to tweak the computer system and then you'll be able to steer this island wherever you like!"

She wiped an oily paw across her nose. "Fantastic! And you're sure this will work?"

"As sure as my tail is attached to my spine," he said.

"Let's get back up then," said Vector. "This room stinks of oil."

Their paws clinked on the metal grating as they walked back to the old, rusting ladder. Vector stood aside to let Pixel climb up first, then steadied N00b onto the rungs. Light leaked down from the floor above, almost dazzling after spending such a long time in that dark chamber.

The door to the control room hissed open and Leaf looked back at them.

"How did you get on?" he asked.

"We're almost there," said N00b. "I just need to borrow your computer for a second."

Leaf hesitated as he thought this over. For a moment, it looked like he was going to retaliate, but he scooted his chair aside and gestured for the lillipup to take a seat.

N00b hopped into one of the desk chairs and its wheels rattled on the floor as he dragged it towards the computer desk. He flexed his paws and began tapping at the holographic keyboard. Images and text flickered across the screen with such speed Pixel couldn't keep track of them. Soon, the entire screen went black with green text which scrolled into a migraine inducing blur. Whatever was going on, N00b knew what he was doing. His paws scurried across the keyboard as fast as the text moved over the screen. Finally, it stopped and he let out a cry of 'aha!' It was only for a moment, however, as everything began to blur together once more.

"Have you figured it out?" Leaf asked.

N00b's eyes never left the screen. "Yep. Pretty ancient system. Its firewalls are like paper."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"If you don't want anyone hacking into your database, then yes."

The computer settled back onto the page Leaf had been viewing, and N00b kicked himself back from the desk. Pixel wobbled as the island came to an abrupt halt, stumbling into Vector. He steadied her with a paw and she looked around the room at the confused faces of her friends.

"Wahay! It worked!" N00b cheered. "It's all sorted! You can test it when you're ready!"

"Won't it fall?" Pixel squeaked.

"Nonsense!" N00b leant forward and pushed the control stick forwards, normally used to speed up or slow down the continent. The island flared into life and Pixel kept her eyes on the green flashing dot as it moved forwards once more.

Leaf let out a long sigh of relief.

"Told you it would work," said N00b. "You can steer it wherever you like now!"

"That's good," said Leaf. "Because we're about to fly over the outskirts."

"Then this is where we leave you."

Pixel looked down at N00b. "Really?"

"Of course! We've got a job to do." He looked back at Leaf. "Thanks for the lift, and for the hospitality. I know we were a bit of a burden."

"Don't be ridiculous." Leaf turned back to his map. "If you hadn't assisted Pixel, then those lunatics would have been much more trouble. You helped us out a lot. How do I control this thing?"

N00b rose up so he could see the control deck. "That stick you normally use to speed up and slow down? Well now when you twist it, you'll be steering this island left, right, back and forth! You push it forwards now, then it'll keep going forwards. You go left, it'll go left. You get me?"

Leaf looked around at him and smiled. "Let's give it a try then, shall we?"

He grabbed the stick in one paw and turned it left, keeping one eye on the map. The blinking dot deviated from its path, turning towards the left of the outskirts. Pixel teetered as she lost her balance, but quickly regained it as he levelled the island back out.

"Fantastic!" he gasped. "It's never done that before!"

N00b laughed and struck him on the shoulder. "I told you it was possible. Well, maybe we'll see you again." He hopped away from the desk and made his way to the door, pausing to look up at Vector. "Are you coming?"

Vector gave one last look around the control room and followed after him.

Leaf's voice followed them out of the room. "You take care now."

Pixel followed them up the stairs, the flickering light casting erratic shadows across the walls. She couldn't deny she felt a little sad. All she could hope was that they'd be able to stay in touch some how.

Switch stood at the edge of the island, watching the world below. N00b skipped over to him and gave him a fond smile.

"Shall we be off?" he asked. "It looks like Byte's charged my car up nicely. It should get me back to Spool from this distance."

Switch gave him a sideways glance but didn't say anything.

"I'll take Vector, and we'll try to keep up with you." N00b turned to skip away.

"Thanks again for your help," said Pixel.

"It's nothing, really!" N00b called over his shoulder.

Switch crossed his hands behind his back and looked up. "I'm not going back."

"Eh?!" N00b's tail went rigid and he froze mid step to look back at him.

"Something's wrong with this world," Switch went on. "Those black cracks, the virus... I think our main focus should be on that. Sure, humans want to get home. But if I go back with you now, Connor will make it incredibly difficult to get to the bottom of all this. I personally wouldn't feel right if we found a way home and I went back, leaving this world in such a state." He looked back at them. "I've been here twelve years. I've made this place a home. Why let it just... fall apart?"

Pixel shook her head in disbelief. "Switch..."

Vector looked down at his paws then back out at the marred skyline. "You have a good point. I guess I'll investigate as well. I want to find a cure anyway."

"So..." N00b blinked a few times as he took this in. "We're not going back?"

"You can go back," said Switch. "Connor needs your help. You can stay in touch with us from there."

"Argh!" N00b sat down heavily and his ears drooped. "My loyalty is torn between you and Connor! I can't abandon one of you. It's easier when we're all working together! What am I gonna tell him when I show up without you?"

"Tell him the truth," said Switch. "Tell him I'm trying to fix this world and find a cure for the virus."

"He doesn't care about this world. He won't understand."

"You're his friend aren't you?" Switch gave him a warm smile. "I don't think he'd want you to catch it. Or Diode."

A small smile creased N00b's lips. "Okay. I'll go back. But be sure to keep me updated, all right?"

"Sure thing."

N00b rounded on Pixel and Vector. "You too, okay! Make sure he doesn't go off the grid, or forget to message me!"

Pixel laughed. "Don't worry. I won't let him forget about you."

They all moved over to N00b's car, and once he was buckled in place, he pulled his goggles over his eyes and leant back in his seat.

"I'll see you when I see you then?"

Switch bent over and ruffled his head. "I'll pop in to visit you! And once this is sorted, if you've not already found a way to get Connor and the rest of us home I'll be back to lend a hand!"

Pixel leant into the car and threw her arms around the lillipup's neck. "Thank you, N00b! You've helped us out a lot!"

"Hey, hey." He pushed her back with a paw. "Don't do that. You're making me weepy! I won't be able to see where I'm going!" He nudged his goggles up to wipe tears away from his eyes. "Look after Switch for me."

The little car's engine roared and two wings shot out of either side. He turned away from them, giving them a wave before it rocketed across the grass and off the edge of Cyan Island. It wasn't long before it was a mere dot in the sky.

"He's a sweet kid, isn't he?" Pixel asked.

Switch made a grunt of agreement. "Probably the best friend I've ever had."

"So where are you going now?" she asked.

He sighed and folded his hands behind his head. "I guess I need to be on my way. I can't hang around here. I feel like I've overstayed my welcome already."

"That goes for me as well," said Vector. "I'm not safe up here. It won't be long before they come looking for me."

"Well, we need to drop you off outside the city," said Pixel. "If you disembark here, you'll be landing right in the thick of it."

"I could carry him." Switch looked down at the meowstic. "Provided you're okay with heights."

Vector opened his mouth to reply but Pixel cut him off.

"I want to help you," she said.

"What? You're looking for your friends!" said Switch.

"I know I am, but what if they've got the virus and there's no way of finding out? You saw the state that 'charmander' was in. It wouldn't be impossible that they've all ended up in a similar situation. They might not even have ended up in hospitals yet."

"So you're saying your priority is to find a cure?" Vector crossed his arms. "I'm not objecting."

"What about Leaf?" asked Switch.

"What about me?" Leaf stopped behind them.

Pixel let out a small gasp. She hadn't even heard him coming towards them.

"Pixel has a point," he said. "I want to keep looking for our friends, but if they have met that awful fate then they're going to need all the help they can get. I'm happy to break the team up to split the job in two."

"Are you sure?" Pixel asked.

He shrugged. "What other answer do we have? As for you two, you might not be members of this team, but you've shown your loyalty. Especially Switch. Feel free to use this base if you need it."

"Wow!" Switch laughed. "I didn't see that one coming."

"Now this island is manoeuvrable it'll be easier for you to get around." Leaf turned away from them. "I can't imagine you can carry both of them?"

Switch watched him leave then let out a sigh and fell onto his back in the grass. "Well, I suppose I should enjoy the ride."

Pixel sat down beside him and stared out at the horizon, marred by those ominous black cracks. Vector shifted uneasily beside her then moved over to the edge of the island, staring out at the passing scenery. Like her, she doubted he was enjoying the view.