A/N - Sorry for the delay. I've had an off week. I'll try to get an update done on Monday before the Sun/Moon demo hits the Japan eShops.

Btw, I wanted to point out there are a fair few Gen 1 easter eggs in this fanfic, be it some of the various glitches or colours used. For example, a less obvious one is the Drifting Continents. Cyan (blue), Magenta (red), and Luma (green/yellow). Luma is the name of the brightness/luminance carried over the green wire on a scart cable.

...

Wherever Vector was, it was bright. Very bright. He screwed his eyes shut and raised his right paw to shield them, but something tugged at his arm, sharp and painful. A loud yelp escaped his throat and he sat upright, bringing his left paw down towards his assailant, but all it struck was metal. It clattered on rickety wheels over a tile surface.

The next time he opened his eyes it was less painful. The large fluorescent bulb in the ceiling had a dull flicker to it that gave the illusion that the walls themselves were pulsing with light. As for his assailant, it lay at an odd angle a few feet away, propped against the wall. An IV stand clutching a plastic bag containing a strange blue substance. It worked its way from the bag down a slender tube that was strapped to his arm with tape. He flashed his canines and grabbed it, wrenching the drip free from his arm. It hurt, but he didn't so much as growl. The sticky blue fluid coated his paw pads and he sniffed at it. The sour smell stung his nose and he shook his paw in disgust. Belue berries. Who would be pumping those into his veins?

Another look around the room told him he was in a small hospital ward. Something else stood on the other side of the bed. It looked like an oxygen machine, and the mask lay discarded on the bed beside him. It had possibly fallen free during his panic and he hadn't even noticed.

A chill ran down his spine as a growing sense of dread rose up inside him, causing him to spring from the bed and stand, tensed, beside it.

"Where am I?" he asked aloud.

It couldn't be Central Meta Hospital. It didn't look like his old room. That room was small, private. This one contained three beds, the other two vacant and bare of sheets. But... they could have found him. He wasn't going to rule it out.

He needed to get out of here and fast.

Before he could reach the double doors, they swung inward, making him leap back a step. A jolteon strode into the room, fixing him with her black eyes. She appeared surprised to see him standing, but not as much as the audino accompanying her who looked about to scream the building down. The jolteon, however, looked from his face to his raised paws and smiled.

"Relax. You're amongst friends here," she said.

Something about her voice didn't reassure him. He refused to lower his paws. He needed them if he was going to deflect one of her attacks.

"Who are you?" he demanded. "And where am I?"

"My name is Circuit," she said. "And this is your nurse, Scanner. You're on Luma Island."

"Luma Island?" He did lower his paws then, but only because the name took him by surprise. Luma Island was one of the three drifting continents, wasn't it? Why would he be all the way up on one of those? His face creased into a snarl and he shook his head and sighed, letting both paws drop beside him. "Switch."

"Yes, he brought you up here," she said. "You were unconscious, but we managed to get you stable. We don't have many doctors left, you see. Fortunately Scanner knows her way around the circulatory system."

The audino was oddly mute, just standing beside the jolteon as she rifled through her papers. He put that down to shock. If he'd come across a pokemon in his condition, he'd be nervous too. It was the same wherever he went. Why the jolteon was so welcoming bewildered him.

"We do have some concerns," she said. "As such we aren't happy to discharge you just yet."

The audino shook her head and finally spoke up in a voice that was oddly high for her size. "When you came in here we tried to find out why you had fallen unconscious. We discovered an odd sound on your chest and hypoxaemia."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "What?"

"Low oxygen levels," explained the jolteon. "Likely from a liquid build up in your lungs."

"Yes, it's quite worrying," said Scanner. "An oxygen drop like that would have resulted in exhaustion and possibly even fainting. We thought it might have been pneumonia so we've been treating it with belue berries."

"You think it's pneumonia?" Vector snorted. "Have you even looked at me?"

Scanner looked rather taken aback, but Circuit just shrugged off his tone like a ducklett would water.

"We're perfectly aware of your condition," she said. "Both Switch and Pixel made it very clear. Your appearance is a result of the virus, and you are oddly clean of it. So much so it makes me wonder if it's left your body entirely. Or is lying dormant, pushed back by another sickness."

"Huh." Their interest in that was rather unsettling. He crossed his arms and frowned. "You're going to want to poke and prod at me like the goons at Central Meta, aren't you?"

"Not at all," said Circuit. "I'd hardly say you were immune to the virus since it's clearly done some damage to you. We're wanting to help you get back on your feet."

"And now I'm on my feet." Vector laughed and moved towards the door, pushing her aside with a paw. "I can tell you one thing though. Belue berries can't fix my problem."

"I'd hardly say that," said the audino.

Vector's paw hovered over the door handle.

"Your breathing has been a lot clearer since we administered that drip," she went on. "I'm not saying they can definitely cure you, but if they can delay whatever is going on so as to give you enough time to -"

He yanked the door open and stepped outside, pausing only to glance back at the two now equally surprised pokemon.

Belue berries couldn't reverse the effects of the virus, but if they could offer some level of help then who was he to complain?

"Fine," he said. "I'll take some."

With that, he let the door close behind him.

...

Pixel's arms brushed over the soft grass as she stretched languidly and yawned. The sun had shifted now, but she still found herself lying in a patch of sunlight.

"You're awake then?"

She looked sharply to her right, and when she spotted Vector sitting back against a tree, her face lit up with a smile.

"Vector!"

She pushed herself up onto her feet, and his eyes didn't leave her, tracking her every movement as she strolled across the grass to join him by the tree. It made her feel slightly nervous, but she hid it behind a smile.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

He took a bite out of a liechi berry and shrugged. "I'm alive aren't I?"

"I guess." She stared down at her paws. She didn't like the fact he was just brushing her off, as though he was covering up something more serious. "I'm glad you are, though. I must admit, I was worried."

"You've got nothing to worry about."

There it was again. She was convinced he put more emphasis on 'you'. If he was remotely perturbed, he didn't show it. He licked the berry juice from his paw and picked up another one from the plate beside him, pausing as he caught her eye.

"I'm sorry, do you want some?" He offered the berry to her and she took it without really thinking about it.

"Have you seen Switch?" she asked.

"He was here a bit ago. He said something about asking a guy called Data to have a look at his computer, then got up and left."

"And neither of you woke me?"

"Why would we? You were asleep." He paused for a moment, his eyes going up to the sky. "I don't understand how you can fall asleep in the sun like that."

"Are you serious?!" She almost dropped her berry into her lap. With a huge grin, she hopped to her feet and grabbed his paw. "It's so relaxing! Come on, you're trying it."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Nope! Come with me!"

When he didn't budge, she reached behind him and pushed him to his feet, trying to dodge his flailing arms as he desperately tried to keep his balance.

"Get off me, you crazy mawile!"

"No. It's nice! You need to try it!"

They both stumbled forwards into the sun's warm rays, and she flopped onto her bottom in the grass, all the while chuckling. Vector simply stood there, gazing back at the tree. He looked down at her paw as she tapped the floor beside her, then sat down heavily with a sigh.

"So what's the big deal?" he said.

"It's relaxing. Lie down and try it and you'll see!" She fell onto her back and spread her arms at her side. "Just enjoy it for a bit, okay?"

He gave a shrug and flopped onto his back, staring up at the fluffy white clouds. He fastened his paws across his chest and trailed his eyes over the sky, his nose twitching occasionally as the wind wafted over them. She couldn't pick up what he was smelling, but it reminded her of the time her and Retro would lie in the grass outside her house while the wind carried over the smell of freshly baked bread from her mother's bakery.

"I can see why you'd fall asleep," said Vector plainly.

She cast him a sideways glance and narrowed her eyes. "If you say anything about this being boring -"

"No!" He returned her look then closed his eyes and sighed. "That's not what I was going to say at all." He folded his arms behind his head and shimmied down into the grass. "It's peaceful."

A small smile spread across her face and she looked back up at the clouds, crossing her paws on her stomach.

"It's a nice break," she said. "With all the hassle the world is in right now, it's nice to just lie back and forget about it for a while."

"It's an added bonus that the sky above us isn't cracked. It makes it easier to forget."

"Yeh. I wonder why?"

"Stop wondering and forget about it."

She glanced over to him and caught him staring at her through the corner of one eye. A smile spread across his face. She hadn't seen him smile before. It made his whole face light up that she couldn't help but smile back and give a little laugh.

It made her feel warm inside.

"You're right," she said. "Now's not the time."

She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly as she closed her eyes, letting the sun's warmth relax her body and lull her into a gentle sleep. All she was aware of now were the faint voices as the island's inhabitants talked amongst themselves; the breeze as it washed over her, going against the drifting continent's path; the sound of grass rustling near her ears; heavy footsteps as they drew closer to them.

"Well, look at you two." Switch fell down heavily onto the ground beside them.

The both of them were snatched out of their relaxing doze, and Vector fixed the human with a disgruntled eye.

"Oh dear," said Switch with a laugh. "I think I've interrupted nap time."

"Yeh," said Vector slowly. "Maybe you should join us and give it a try?"

The tone in his voice was enough evidence that it was not an invitation. Switch shrugged him off and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a pair of pink goggles and Pixel sat bolt upright, her face beaming as she clapped her paws.

"He fixed it?!" she squeaked.

"Yup! Tried and tested. On me," he added when her eyes widened with concern. "Two birds. My computer's fixed too." He flashed his pocket computer then leant back against the tree to try it out.

"So if they're both fixed, we can contact Leaf and you can finally let poor N00b know you're okay!" She shifted so she was facing him and pulled her knees up to her chest. "They're probably both worried sick!"

"I don't doubt it. I've tried to ring N00b but I couldn't get through. I'll try again shortly." He looked up at them both. "The question is where do we go next?"

"We continue looking for a cure," said Vector. "So we go to the most obvious places."

"Obvious? We don't even know what we're looking for."

"Berries."

The meowstic now had both of their undivided attention. Switch's jaw hung open wordlessly. Pixel had no idea what to say.

"Have you known this entire time what you're looking for?" Switch's voice had an air of irritation about it.

"I had an idea of what I was looking for."

"Did you ever think to tell us?"

"Did you ever think to ask?" Vector closed his eyes again and shrugged. "Pokemon use berries to treat everything. I thought it would be fairly obvious? You have lived here twelve years, and you use them yourself! They cure wounds, burns, poison, sleeping sickness. Who's to say there isn't a berry out there that can cure this virus? Maybe hidden away in the unexplored depths of the jungle, or at the bottom of the sea?"

"So you want to go diving?" Switch snorted.

"That's not my first call, no." Vector looked up at him through one eye. "I want to go into the Binary Jungle."

...

"Are we there yet?!" Sample roared as the map blew back in his face once more.

Hertz grimaced as the exploud's voice thrashed his ear drums and clutched on tighter to the rickshaw's reins as yet another precarious paving stone threw the rickety wagon up into the air and back down again. The bouffalant's stumpy tail bobbed up and down before him as he bounded up the hill, puffs of steam shooting from his nostrils with every step. The racket was almost unbearable. It hadn't taken much bribing to get the bouffalant to abandon his position and tow them across System towards the rogue drifting continent. Hertz just hoped it would be worth the pain and travel nausea in the long run.

"Correct me if I'm wrong," said Mono just before another lurch sent her into the air off her seat, almost hitting her head on the wagon's canopy. "But I think there's less cracks in the sky."

"'Correct you?'" said Sample. "You been drinking fermented berry juice or something? Never heard you be so humble before."

The wartortle elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Shut up, Sample, before I throw you off the wagon an' make ya run the rest of the way! I'm sayin' it looks less! Right? Look! Just above the Backbone Mountain!"

Hertz followed her pointing claw to the sky, Sample's incoherent grunt that may have been agreement or surprise barely registering in his mind. He was exhausted, and sore, and was in no situation to take figy berries, but he couldn't help thinking Mono was right. They did look less. A huge patch had been vacated somehow.

A huge patch. It hardly seemed logical that they could just vanish on their own. Not when they'd been appearing thick and heavy over the past few days, taking over System like that wretched virus. It piqued enough curiosity in him to make him want to deviate from his original plan. To go and explore it. To see what had happened.

He gave the reins a tug and the bouffalant faltered, a huge spray of steam shooting from his nostrils as he looked back at him.

"Problem?" he asked.

"Not quite. I think I've changed my destination."

"You're kidding, right?" The bouffalant's yellow eyes unnerved him as they narrowed into slits. "All right, bro. But if it's further afield it's gonna cost ya!"

Hertz waved a paw and shook his head. "I told you, I will pay. Could you take us to the Backbone Mountain?"

"What do I look like? A gogoat?" The bouffalant snorted again and turned his head back with a jerk. "Fine. I'll take you to the mountains, but this rickshaw can't handle such rough terrain and I aint carrying all three of ya!"

His hooves pounded the ground and set the rickshaw off moving again with such a jerk Mono fell from her seat and face-planted the floor. She pushed herself back up with a whine and waved her paw, shouting obscenities.

Hertz tuned her out, relaxing back in his seat while he rubbed at his sore paws. It shouldn't be too long, now. At this speed, they should be there before evening.