"No!" Retro retorted. "Absolutely not! It's too dangerous!"

This had been the mew's response for the past ten minutes. Since the second Vector had approached her with his idea she'd begun to panic, pacing back and forth while the group of unown and Switch followed her with their eyes.

Vector leant against the wall beside the door, his arms folded and his mouth turned into a frown. Pixel knew all too well that no matter what Retro said, he was determined and she wasn't going to stop him. The reason he'd run it by her wasn't only just in case she wanted to help but also because her teleportation would have been a quick way to reach the Fracture. If she weren't going to help him then he'd walk if he had to, and Pixel would walk with him.

"None of you are going to the Fracture," Retro said, punctuating with a hard glare right on Pixel and Vector. "You know full well even drones haven't made it back out of that city!"

Vector simply shrugged. "If you're going to ignore my facts, then fine. But I'm going."

"'Fact' is a very naïve way of wording it, Vector," said Retro. "Since you don't know for a 'fact' that you, or Pixel, will survive passing through the Fracture's wall."

"Well, since I'm dying anyway I've nothing to lose, have I?"

Those words struck Pixel like a blade and she placed a paw over her chest, diverting her gaze to a blank spot on the wall. Retro was stunned speechless but recovered quickly and finally sat back down.

"It's still no reason to be so reckless," she said. "Especially not without testing to see if it would work first."

"And how do you plan to test it?" he asked. "Create another much smaller fracture you can stick your paw into? Because you can do that with the cracks and we all know the outcome."

"What worries me," Retro began, "is that you can erase the cracks and the virus. Exposure to whatever antibodies you're carrying only makes us immune to the virus and those cracks. Despite being immune the effects are very different. You might survive passing through to the Fracture, but we might not!"

Vector shrugged again and kicked back from the wall. "Fine. I'll go alone."

Pixel watched him as he moved into the tunnel, then gave herself a sharp shake before following after him.

"Vector, wait!"

He looked back at her, then his attention was drawn back into the room as the computer monitors flickered off, the monotonous whirr from the fans dying down into silence. Every light blinked out, plunging the cavern into darkness.

"What on earth?!" Retro zipped past them, followed by the unown.

"What's going on?" Pixel cried as she ran after them.

"I don't know!" Retro called back.

The mew took the exit to the top of the crag where she darted around in the air, searching the sky for an opening in the cracks. Something was very wrong. Pixel couldn't quite put her paw on it, but something was different.

"If you want to go through it, it's no use," said Switch. "The gaps are too narrow."

"I'm not trying to go through it," said Retro. "I'm looking for a wide enough space beyond it. Ahah!"

The mew vanished in a flash, reappearing as a pink speck beyond the canopy between two black cracks. Despite how far away she was, they could hear her yell of surprise clearly.

It was followed by a deep rumble through the earth, growing with intensity until the very trees shook. Pixel was thrown off her feet, landing hard against Vector and Switch. The unown floated behind them, holding the larger pokemon steady as the ground continued to shake.

Pixel clutched onto Vector for dear life, her violet eyes wide as she searched the sky for the mew. But there was no sign of her. What was going on?

...

It had all happened so fast.

N00b had to bring his car to a nose-dive, the front wheels hitting the tarmac with such force it almost threw him from his seat. But there was no time to be worried about any damage to the car. He was more worried about what he'd just witnessed.

First, a massive crack appeared out of nowhere, zigzagging its way through the sky towards the ground like an ultraviolet lightning bolt, narrowly missing the nose of his little car. The surprise caused him to lose control of the vehicle has he pulled it up over the crack and down towards the ground rather quickly. His eyes never left the anomaly. He'd seen it take out one of the transmitter posts, warping it into an elaborate knot. It had struck down several buildings before causing an explosion somewhere deep inside Meta City.

He'd got his answer quite quickly. Every light blinked out. Every transmitter across System stopped flashing.

That crack had taken out System's main control deck. The results alone were enough to tell him that the back-up controls had been wiped out already, leaving all of System to rely on one building to operate every single communications and electronics service across the region.

As he was processing this, Nybble let out a terrible shriek. N00b whipped his head around to follow the emolga's terrified eyes and what he saw caused his heart to lurch into his throat.

Far in the distance was a floating speck, one of the three drifting continents but which one he couldn't make out. Right now, it was falling. A massive island twice the size of Meta City, plummeting towards the ground.

All communications and electrical circuits had been cut off. That meant all three of the drifting continents were no longer held up on their invisible circuits. All three were crashing to the ground, and the damage was going to be catastrophic.

...

Hundreds of eyes watched in terror as Luma Island dropped down towards the ocean.

Wave City was one of few cities that still operated towards the north of System, carefully dealing with shipments to and from the Analog Islands. The city had experienced a couple of virus outbreaks but being so close to the shore hadn't experienced the worst of the cracks.

However, Burst stood amongst the inhabitants of Wave City as he watched his home plummet towards the water. He didn't have enough time to fully process what was happening. Like everyone else, he was trying to turn and run, flapping his wings to give himself momentum into the air.

The island struck the ocean, the roar of the water growing in intensity as a huge tsunami rose up into the air, lifting the cargo ships with it. The wall of water crashed back down and engulfed the shore, destroying the villas on the cliff face and spreading out over the city.

The staraptor screamed as the water hit him, his voice joining hundreds more before he was engulfed in the tsunami and dragged backwards towards the ocean.

...

N00b led the emolga twins down the streets of Spool City. It was much different than when he'd left. The sky was almost filled with black cracks, but fortunately it hadn't been closed off. That had filled him with a little relief at least.

As he turned into the familiar alley way, a deep voice drew his attention to the trash cans where a trubbish was peering out at the small city.

"What's goin' on?" Kurg asked.

N00b paused beside his trash can and tried to catch his breath. "One of the cracks has taken out the main control deck," he gasped out.

Kurg raised a brow. "Seriously? Aww, man!"

"I need to see if Connor's okay. I'll speak to you later."

The lillipup turned and dashed down the alley, but the heavy plopping sound behind him told him the trubbish had left his home to follow after him. N00b struggled to move the heavy manhole cover blocking his only access into Connor's home. A low, involuntary whimper rose from his throat as he pawed at it helplessly.

Byte appeared at his right side and stuck his claws beneath the heavy sheet of metal, his eyes scrunching shut as he strained to lift it free. Kurg joined his side and stuck a tentacle beneath it, lifting it almost effortlessly.

"You country pokemon ain't got no city strength?" the trubbish snorted.

Byte merely gave him a sideways glance before following the lillipup into the sewer.

Kurg pulled the cover back into place and dropped down beside the small group, creating a deep, echoing clang as he hit the grate.

"Thanks, Kurg," said N00b.

The trubbish shrugged. "Ain't nothin'."

The group walked in silence over the metal grate, Nybble covering her muzzle with her paws to block out the worst of the smell. Fortunately it wasn't a long distance to the next manhole which was conveniently located right beneath Connor's home. The emolga took in a deep breath when they broke through into clean air.

N00b's heart sank as he discovered not a single flicker of light came from Connor's dark computer lab. The only light was the failing sunlight that came in through the dusty windows.

"Connor?" he asked.

The pikachu's small form appeared in the doorway beside a worried-looking Diode.

"What's going on?" Any hint of bitterness had left Connor's voice to be replaced with worry.

N00b rushed over to him and threw his paws around his neck, almost knocking him over. The answer died in N00b's throat as he burst into tears, his small body shaking with heavy sobs.

"Hey, N00b," said Connor. "Tell me what's going on. And who are these pokemon?"

N00b couldn't answer. Everything that had happened in the past twenty-four hours now completely overwhelmed him.

He felt a paw touch his head and he looked up into the warm, smiling face of Snippet.

"Well, look at you," she said. "At least your back safe 'n' sound, hey? And you gone an' brought two new, adorable friends with you. And little Kurg, too!"

N00b took in a ragged breath and let his forepaws fall to the ground. "I didn't have much choice. I'm sorry."

"Oh now, don't you go sayin' sorry, you poor thing." The leavanny tutted a few times before continuing. "You go an' sit down an' tell us everythin'. Diode's gonna help me with the oven so I can make you's all some soup an' tea. Go upstairs now. It's comfier up there."

N00b followed after Connor, keeping his head low and taking steady breaths to avoid bursting into tears again. The room the pikachu led them to was a warm sitting room that had a sofa and two arm chairs stationed around a glass topped coffee table, and a television mounted on the wall.

Snippet strode through a door that led into an adjoining kitchen, all the while talking in her thick accent.

"Shouldn't be too long now, boys. Diode's pretty quick on firin' up the old oven. Helpful one, thissun. Connor couldn't fry an egg with his electricity, could you, boy?" She chuckled as Connor rolled his eyes. "Guess tha's whatcha get for not practicin' more, hey? But no bother, he's a sweet kid is Connor."

She strutted back into the room and placed a tray with seven glasses and a jug of juice on the table. As she poured it out into the glasses, she went on;

"In all the years I had you boys here there ain't been one proper fight between yous. Yous been like my own kids. Proper sweet. Can't say I'm not worried sick 'bout Switch, though. Now we can't even contact him 'cos the electricity's gone an' cut out."

Kurg accepted a glass and cleared his throat. "That's 'cos one o' them dumb cracks has shot out the control deck. That's what N00b told me anyway."

Snippet looked up at him with a start. "Really? Tha's not very considerate is it?"

"I don't think them cracks really think 'bout what's considerate."

"No." N00b let out a sigh and pushed himself upright. "We saw one of the drifting continents fall after the power went out."

Nybble whined loudly and covered her eyes with her paws. "Why?! First we lose Leaf. Now our home."

Byte pulled his sister into a hug. "I know. Just be glad we weren't still on it."

Snippet looked around at them and covered her mouth. "Oh, my dears!"

"It just fell from the sky." N00b stared down at the floor and shook his head. "What's happening to our world?"

...

No alarms. No lights.

Hertz rushed through the hospital amidst the other doctors and nurses, their panicked voices drumming on his ears as they worried over the quarantine and life support systems.

There was no other option. They had to evacuate the building.

Bootstrap caught up to Hertz with Mirror on his tail. "What's happened?"

"The electricity has been cut off," Hertz explained.

"That much is obvious," said the marowak. "Do you know why?"

"No one knows why, at least not yet. There's been no possible way to get a message to us. We don't even know if its temporary."

"Well we need to think of something and fast. Hundreds of pokemon are relying on the life support systems."

Hertz fired him a sideways glare. "Until we get some electricity to securely run both the life support and quarantine systems there is nothing we can do. If one doctor steps paw inside that room and leaves without disinfecting themselves then we're all at risk."

The marowak's eyes widened with surprise. "So there are even doctors locked back there?"

Hertz gave him a grave nod. "Yes."

"Then what do we do? We can't just leave them there! They're clean!"

"What we do is we go back to my original plan to find a cure. And as it so happens I had a meowstic in my custody who had suffered the virus but survived it. He may very well provide some kind of solution to this problem." Hertz paused as he took in the marowak and wobbuffet's confused expressions. "Unfortunately he was kidnapped. I have two of my best tracking him down, and I plan to join them."

Bootstrap threw his paws wide. "Why didn't you say anything about this?!"

"Well, as it must be said, my methods were rather... controversial. But desperate times call for desperate measures." Hertz clasped his paws behind his back and looked at both pokemon in turn. "Now I guess it's time for me to ask you whether you want to join my own little investigation into the virus and help me retrieve this potential cure?"

...

A loud screech filled the train's cabin as the wheels ground against the rails while the driver tried to bring the train to a safe halt under the violent shudders that threatened to throw the train off its tracks. The machine had been propelled along with the momentum its speed had provided while the passengers sat in darkness, their screams rivalling with the shrill sound of the wheels. Sample clasped his paws over his ears but it only dulled the break's screeching and the wails from the wartortle beside him. Finally he lurched forwards, propelled from his seat as the train finally came to a sudden stop. At some point the shuddering had ended and he felt Mono tense as the pair of them braced themselves for another earthquake. Instead, a dull flicker came from above them as the emergency lights kicked in, powered by a back-up battery.

The two pokemon looked around in bewilderment, their expressions matching those of every single other pokemon on the train. The windows were pitch black, the tunnel outside also plunged into darkness.

"We are sorry to announce," came the driver's voice over the intercom, "that the train has lost power. Please move in an orderly fashion to the nearest emergency exit."

While the driver repeated himself, Sample pushed himself up and exchanged glances with Mono. Her fluffy ears twitched with worry and she moved along into the crowd, slipping out of the nearest door.

The tunnel was crowded and unsettlingly dark. A few pokemon managed to bring up the torches on their phones, chasing away some of the darkness and clearing a path to freedom. Unfortunately, Mono and Sample didn't possess such phones so they found themselves following a group of teenagers in the direction the driver – a hitmonchan – pointed them towards. Apparently it was the fastest way out of the tunnel, and would take about ten minutes to walk.

"What do you think happened?" Mono finally asked the exploud.

Sample grunted and pulled out his pocket computer. His confusion was only increased when he discovered there was no signal coming through to him.

"I've no idea," he said. "And I can't check either."

Mono huffed and looked away from him. "Maybe it's the tunnel. See if you can get a signal outside."

Lights off. Earthquake. Signal dead. Something had happened and he was convinced it had something to do with those dangerous cracks.

The train hadn't been going far. It would have dropped them off at Batch City, the closest they could get to the rogue drifting continent. There they had hoped to find a flier or two who could take them to the island – and hopefully this time not be met with a violent end. He brought up a handy map he'd downloaded, which unfortunately was no longer picking up his GPS. If his guess was right, they were towards the end of the tunnel that joined Batch City Station. Beyond Batch City were a couple of large towns before they ended at the derelict cities, which he knew would be cordoned off with yellow tape.

Hopefully the fliers wouldn't mind breaching those boundaries for a little extra cash.

"My feet hurt," said Mono.

"Stop complaining," grumbled Sample.

"I have you know I ain't as young as I used to be!" Mono snapped back. She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "What are the odds of you carryin' me?"

Sample stuffed his computer back into his pocket. "Slim to none. Stop your whining and walk."

Mono snorted as Sample sped up and trotted to keep up with him. She started ranting but he tuned it out, focusing instead on the light ahead of them that grew the closer he got to it. Before long, the teenagers in front of him switched off their torches and began to trot towards it with a cheer. Ten minutes had been a bit of a generous guess from the train driver. Before long he was stood outside, looking up at the station before him. The platform was almost bare save for those who had just arrived in the city. Those waiting for the train had their faces set with confusion. Sample guessed a lot of those waiting had left the station to return home. He was guessing every pokemon who had arrived at this city, not counting himself and Mono, actually lived here or in one of the surrounding towns. Ordinarily, pokemon would be intent on moving away from the dangers the Fracture posed to the northern cities, but unfortunately not everyone could afford that luxury. Not to mention the southern cities no longer had the capacity to accommodate them.

"So we look for a flier?" Mono asked, slightly breathless.

Sample made a non-committal grunt and retrieved his computer. Still no signal. He frowned at it and looked around at the station. Something hadn't quite registered when they'd arrived, but every single light was off. Every single billboard was blank. His eyes fell on a greying simisage stood outside a shop, pulling down the shutters over its windows.

"Oi!" He trotted over to the green monkey pokemon who looked up at him with a warm smile.

"Oh, hello there!" The simisage's voice wavered with age. "I'm sorry but I've had to close for the day."

"I've noticed. What's going on here? Why are all the lights out?"

"All I can assume is the power has failed," the shop owner explained. "Everything is out. We can't even get any news to find out why. It just went, see. Did your train fail too?"

"Aye, it did," said Mono. "Wonder what's happened?"

Sample watched the wartortle move away from him to the platform's edge then looked back at the simisage.

"No idea, eh?" The exploud shrugged. "Well, thanks for your time anyway." Just as he turned away he remembered the fliers and looked back at the green monkey. "Oh! Where's the nearest flier depot?"

"Just outside the station, but I doubt they'll be available if they can't answer their calls."

Sample grit his teeth together as he tutted then quickly thanked the simisage once more. A loud yell came from Mono and the two pokemon span towards her. She stood staring up at the sky, scratching her ears with her claws.

"What's the matter now?!" Sample boomed.

"I... I can't see the drifting continent."

"Well it has gone rogue! Look harder!"

"I am!" Mono snapped. She looked back up at the sky, turning on the spot as she searched desperately. "Thing is I can't see either of 'em. Not Cyan or Luma."

"Luma would be out over the sea by this point," the simisage offered helpfully.

Sample grabbed Mono by her paw and tugged her after him. She gave a yell of disapproval which he ignored as he dragged her down the stairs, allowing her to half-stumble behind him. Once outside he spotted the flier depot, clearly marked by its pidgeot logo, and made a beeline for it. Mono scurried behind him, almost running on all fours.

Unfortunately, like the simisage had said, the depot was closing.

Sample grabbed the nearest pidgeot by the wing. "Wait! We need you."

The pidgeot sighed and rubbed his head feathers. "I'm sorry, but our transmitters aren't working. We have to close."

"But we need to reach Cyan Island," he said. "Government business."

The pidgeot looked down at the exploud's offered badge and raised an eyebrow. "You haven't noticed?"

"Haven't noticed what?" The frustration in Sample's voice was merely met with another raised eyebrow.

"It's come down." The pidgeot stared at Sample's shocked face. "Where were you when it hit? The whole city trembled!"

Sample looked down at Mono and let his badge drop to his side. Cyan Island had crashed? Did that mean Luma and Magenta had as well? One thing would be for certain. If the meowstic was aboard, he wouldn't have survived that.

And with no signal, he couldn't let Hertz know the bad news either.

...

Pixel stared up at the sky, barely breathing as she desperately waited for any sign of Retro. Switch, Vector and the unown were also silent, none of them wanting to make a sound perchance they missed any sign of the mew. It felt like an eternity had passed since the earthquake shook the jungle. Not seeing or knowing what had happened to their friend left her feeling physically sick.

Then, finally, a hint of pink appeared above the cracks. In a flash, the mew floated before them, her face twisted with worry. Her eyes were distant as her mind was elsewhere. The words she spoke made Pixel feel like she were stuck in a dream.

"The drifting continents are gone."

Pixel shook herself as the words registered in her mind. "What?"

"They're gone," Retro said. "They fell. I saw... I saw Cyan Island just... drop from the sky. And Luma. It hit the ocean."

"Luma Island?" Switch took a step towards her but Retro didn't appear to even notice he'd spoken. "But that means... What about Circuit and..."

"I don't know what's happened," said Retro. "They just fell. I tried to get higher to see if I could see Magenta Island but I can't. I think... I think they've all crashed!"

She put her paws to her head and slumped to the floor. The unown rushed around her, shouting their concerns. Amp reprimanded them into silence and ushered the mew to her feet.

"Come on. Let's get you inside, you need rest."

Pixel watched the group of unown lead Retro back into the cavern, their voices fading away to be replaced by the rusting of leaves in the breeze. It felt so surreal.

"I had friends on that island," said Switch.

It had to be a dream.

"How do I know they even made it off?" he went on. "I can't even contact them. This stupid power failure has shot out my phone signal."
Pixel balled her paws into fists and screwed her eyes shut, but the tears still managed to leak through. "I've lost my home..."

Switch and Vector were silent, but she could feel them watching her. Neither knowing what to say. Despite their presence, she felt lonely. Lost. Helpless. More tears broke free, but she didn't wipe them away.

"I've lost my family, Nano, Chip, Leaf... and now my home..."

Vector's warm paw landed on her shoulder and she opened her eyes just in time to see him slip away into the cavern.

The cavern. Surrounded by black, violet-leaking cracks.

She didn't want to even look at them.

Screwing her eyes shut, she followed after Vector, not opening her eyes again until she was back inside the tunnel. When she entered the control room she found Retro sitting on the sofa, her paws folded in her lap. That dream-like look had left her features to now be replaced by one of distress.

Vector stood on the other side of the table, watching her, his paws flexing and relaxing as he searched for something to say.

Like the unown, Pixel just looked between the meowstic and the mew. Retro wasn't even looking at him. Her mind was still elsewhere, warring as she struggled to come to terms with whatever freak events had just unfolded.

"Do you want to help me?" Vector finally said. "The offer's still there. I'm going into the Fracture regardless, but you've seen what damage it can do."

"X-actly!" said X. "Believe me, you have my help. I want to see that thing gone!"

"Me too," said Amp. "I don't know how I can help, but... I'm sure we can think of something!"

The other unown were silent, watching Retro as she silently stared down at her paws.

"Then let's go," said Vector. "Whatever is inside the Fracture, if we can stop it -"

"I'm thinking," she said.

Everyone looked round at the mew. She sighed and let her paws fall beside her onto the sofa.

"Give me time," she said. "I'll come up with something."

"How much time?" Vector spoke oddly softly. "Because it's pretty obvious it's responsible for those islands crashing. They've been flying for centuries. For all three to just crash like that-"

"Morning," said the mew. "We'll discuss a plan of action in the morning."

Vector watched as Retro left the sofa, vanishing into the small tunnel to her room. When he heard the door close he looked back over his shoulder at Pixel and Switch.

"I suggest we all get some rest," he said.

As Vector vanished to his room, Pixel wiped a paw over her eyes. Rest... she didn't think for one moment she'd sleep that night. Even though she hadn't witnessed it, she kept seeing Cyan Island crashing towards the ground, her mind living the worst case scenario as she realised just how fortunate they were that no one was on it.

But as she looked at Switch a feeling of dread spread through her as it really struck her that the other two island's inhabitants may very well have not been so fortunate.