When Pixel woke up to light streaming into the cave, she was alone. She pushed herself up, checking over her body. Normal. Completely normal. Creamy yellow fur from the neck down. Black feet. Her horn was in the right place. She even ran her paws over her face for good measure.

Normal.

She let out a long sigh of relief. No virus. In retrospect it didn't make sense, but she wasn't going to complain. Despite the odds, she was clean.

At least for now... had it been twenty four hours yet? She pushed herself to her feet and clambered towards the cave mouth. She could hear Switch's voice outside, talking to someone who wasn't talking back. As she poked her head out, her eyes fell on the human leaning against a tree with his pocket computer on his lap. But he didn't appear to be talking to anyone in particular.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Not really," he said. "I've got about a billion missed calls off N00b and Connor. I'm trying to decide whether or not to ring them back."

"Why wouldn't you?"

"You've not met Connor," he said. "He'll probably be wanting me back ASAP. I'll end up with an ear full, especially since he's been ringing me endlessly for the past two days. He probably got N00b to call me thinking I was ignoring him. Poor pup."

"It might be important." She wound her long head fur around a paw and looked around them. That destroyed village was just visible through the trees in the distance, which still felt too close for comfort. There was no sign of Vector anywhere.

"Neither of them have left a voice message," said Switch. "Or if they have, I can't hear them. Unfortunately my computer's taken a frying from an electrical attack. It's been muted. No ringer, no video sound. I'd be surprised if I could even hear their voice on the other end."

"No text messages?"

"The only ones I have say to 'ring me when you get this'." He scratched his head and sighed. "Not much help. I tried ringing N00b since it's the safer of the two, but I can't even hear a dialling tone. I'll just send him a message telling him my computer's not working properly and to let Connor know he'll hear from me when I get it fixed. I just have to find someone who can do it."

"You might be struggling there."

Switch lowered his computer and looked up at her. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know if this is the case or not, but from what I know, with this virus outbreak, any news that can stir up hysteria will be feeding the media." She paused as she looked back over at the village, trying to spot one of the billboards through the trees. But it was too far away to see anything clearly. "With the trouble we've caused and that feraligatr's threats, our identities might be all over news websites and billboard screens. If we step into any residential areas or cities we might be apprehended."

"We didn't intend to cause trouble," said Switch. "They overreacted when they saw Vector, and not without good reason. That virus is deadly." He paused to look up at her again. "It's good to see you're well, by the way. I have to admit I was rather worried."

"So was I." She hugged herself and looked back at the cave, rubbing her arms as a cold breeze washed over them. "Where is Vector anyway?"

"He went to find breakfast, although he has been gone for about half an hour now. I'd give him a bit longer before we go looking for him."

So he hadn't up and left then, at least it didn't sound like it. She didn't want to doubt him. He'd promised he'd help if she needed it. But she didn't need it, did she? What reason then did he have to stay?

She felt Switch's eyes on her and she turned her head slightly to look at him, receiving a small smile before he looked back at his computer.

"He never left your side you know?" he said. "Not until it turned noon."

"Noon?" Her eyes widened with surprise. "I slept all morning?"

"You clearly needed it."

Pixel gave one last look around at the woods and mountain and joined Switch against his tree. She couldn't help worrying Vector wasn't going to come back, but she couldn't put her claw on why. They could just as easily look for a cure without him. He'd made it clear he'd rather go solo. She'd even begun to resign herself to the idea the previous day.

"I've changed my mind about him," said Switch.

She looked up at him as his words snapped her out of her reverie. "Did you hear our conversation last night?"

"Yeh." He finally slipped his computer back into his cargo pants' pocket. "He's not a bad pokemon. I never thought he was, but I couldn't really work him out. He revealed something about himself that made me want to help him. I'm already dedicating myself to searching for a cure for the virus, but he needs to take onboard his own words to you. He's not alone. I for one won't let him suffer alone."

Suffer? She looked up at him with surprise. "You think he's sick?"

"In an emotional sense. But words alone won't help with this. He needs to see he's not responsible for the virus. It's not going to be just about 'making things right'. Someone else might find the cure first and then what? He'll be crippled with guilt forever? I'm not going to let that happen. I've seen what it can do to people."

With a revelation like that she expected Switch's demeanour to become solemn, but instead he gave her a wink, a grin and a pat on the back.

"What do you say, Pixel? Are you going to wallow with him or help him out of the mud?"

Her brow furrowed as she stared into his smiling face. The pep talk had been for her, hadn't it? She broke into a smile and nodded.

...

Vector hoisted himself up into the branches of the oran tree. The berries were too high up for him to reach, and he didn't have any means to carry them back to the cave. So he'd decided on another method. Break a branch free and carry that back instead. There'd be plenty of berries on it, maybe even enough to stock up with. Pixel had a bag. She wouldn't mind carrying them, he was certain of that.

Pixel...

He steadied himself on his chosen branch to catch his breath. That irritating rattle in his chest made him feel more breathless than the task should have left him. He paused against the trunk for a moment and ran a paw across his brow.

Fortunately she'd been okay. He'd barely slept a wink, and he still kicked himself for nodding off briefly. Anything could have happened to her, but thankfully the virus hadn't shown. He'd waited twenty four hours, then one more for good measure, but she was okay. Miraculously so. He hadn't heard of any other pokemon that were immune to it. Maybe that monstrous blob wasn't a pokemon after all. Just another manifestation from the Fracture like those violet-leaking cracks.

Holding on to the branch above, he brought his foot down heavily on the berry-laden branch, deflecting back the collision impact and causing it to splinter at its join in the trunk. Not too much force. He didn't want to shatter the branch into pieces. One more kick sent it plummeting down to the ground below. He let go of his perch and dropped onto all-fours, his muscles complaining with the impact. He dusted his paws down on his fur and grabbed the fallen branch in both paws. Some of the berries had broken free, but that didn't matter. There were still plenty holding on to the spindly twigs.

He tossed it over his shoulder and dragged it after him. It weighed more than he did, and he almost buckled beneath it. As he trudged along the rocky path, that rattle in his chest became a wheeze and he coughed violently into his paw. Great. Now it was sticky with blood. If he left any marks on the branch it would only draw concern from Pixel and Switch. He wasn't in the mood for that. The less they knew, the better. He wiped it onto the grass and adjusted the branch, lugging the heavy mass behind him.

He was shattered now. Hopefully some oran berries would perk him up before he collapsed from exhaustion.

...

Pixel's ears pricked up as something came trudging up the path. It sounded like something heavy was being dragged over the rocks, and her mouth broke into a smile when she spotted Vector moving towards them, doubled beneath a large branch. Her smile quickly fell when she saw the strained look on his face, and she leapt to her feet to help him.

"That looks like it weighs a ton!" she gasped as she reached for the branch.

He wafted her paw away and slumped past her. "It's fine. I'm almost there now anyway."
"Really, Vector," said Switch. "If you were going to bring a whole branch back I would have gone myself."

He took the berry-laden limb from his grip effortlessly, but the meowstic didn't retaliate. He clenched his teeth together and stumbled towards the cave wall where he slid down against it with a groan.

"I told you he'd be back," said Switch.

Pixel looked up at his smiling face and found a handful of berries offered to her. She took them in her arms gratefully and trotted over to join Vector by the wall. Before she could offer him any, a small branch filled with them was plonked in his lap before Switch fell heavily down beside him with a happy sigh.

"Thanks for this," he said. "I've grown to love berries straight off the tree during my time here."

"Must be the talonflame in you," said Vector bluntly. He popped a couple of berries in his mouth, closed his eyes and leant back against the stone slope.

Pixel looked up at Switch and swallowed her mouthful. "Did you eat berries back in your world?"

Switch shrugged. "Occasionally. We still had them there. I'm guessing we still do. Although we normally bought them from shops, and had to wash them to get rid of pesticides. They weren't always as fresh either."

"Pesticides?" She stared quizzically down at the plump berry in her paw.

"Yes. Poisons, to put it bluntly." Switch paused as he thought this over, a worried look on his face. "Unfortunately farmers aren't very keen on spinarak and caterpie munching on their crops."

Vector grunted and opened one eye, fixing it on Switch. "So humans kill pokemon back in your world?"

"Not all of them. Some of us prefer a vegetarian diet and buy organic."

"Vegetarian, huh? I guess 'us' includes you then?" Vector popped another berry in his mouth and kept one eye on Switch until he nodded. Satisfied with his answer, he closed his eye again and adjusted himself against the steep slope. "I guess it's good for us most of the humans are in comas then, eh? If they were awake craving meat, I dread to imagine the massacre."

"Seriously!" Switch stared down at him, but the meowstic didn't so much as flinch. "Back where I'm from, a lot of pokemon are carnivores. Including your kind. You can't hold it against humans."

"Well we're not in your world are we? We have a different lifestyle here. All the dried meat you find in the stores is artificial. Vegetable protein. There's no snacking on live meat here, human. I'm surprised you didn't know that."

"I actually did," said Switch. "I remember Connor's disgust when he tried some only to find out it wasn't real meat. It added to his desperation to get back home."

Pixel looked away from him and stared down at the berry in her paws, her mouth slightly open. Somehow she'd lost her appetite. Not once had she thought humans would have posed more of a threat than mere overpopulation. There was another piece of information she'd hope would never get out. It would just add more fuel to the fire.

"I'd keep that information under your hat," she said. "Otherwise I dread to think what the reaction would be."

Switch was silent for a moment as he rolled his remaining berry around in his hands. "So do I. But I can assure you, I myself am a plant eater."

"I wouldn't say that to a bellsprout," said Vector.

Switch laughed, stuffed the berry into his pocket and stood up. "Shall we get a move on?"

Pixel looked up at him. "Where are you thinking?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. But if we can clear enough of these cracks we might be able to put some distance behind us. Get out of the zone of any potential SWAT attacks and make sure we're well out of the way of Central Meta's soldiers."

Vector opened his eyes and looked at each of them, then sighed. He pushed himself to his feet and snapped several of the remaining berries free from the branch, then handed them to Pixel. She popped them into her bag without much thought, along with some more that had rolled aside and fastened it shut. It was near to bursting now and she had to adjust it over her shoulder. When she next looked up at her two friends, Vector was approaching the cracks, reaching out with a paw and making each one he touched vanish with a snap, leaving a clear path all the way up to the sky.

"I've actually been thinking," said Switch, "that if we fly all the way around System, you might actually be able to get rid of most these things before they multiply too much."

"That's not a bad idea," said Pixel with a smile. "It would reduce the risk a lot!"

"Yeh." Switch folded his hands behind his head and beamed. "It'd take a while, but you might even be able to get rid of all of them, over time."

"You'd think." Vector's voice still had that snippy edge, but it sounded weaker than normal. He hesitated with his paw over one of the cracks, the violet light tinting his white fur.

Something was wrong.

Pixel took a step forwards just as his paw lowered towards it. Another snap.

Then his eyes rolled back into his head and he crumpled to the floor.