A/N - Wow, writer's block! I think I've conquered it though. I managed to write two and a half chapters this week (plus a one-shot on Switch if you've not seen it. It's submitted) and I'm about to sit down and try to finish the chapter I started yesterday. I hope you enjoy this chapter! =D

...

Hertz scattered documents around his office, knocking over files and pen containers to join the shattered remains of a teacup and saucer on the ground. He span back towards his computer and gave the small waste paper basket another hefty kick. Sample ducked as it flew over his head and bounced off the closed door.

"I can't believe this has happened!" Hertz roared, not for the first time. "Make a note that I'm going to fire that useless wartortle! She was meant to be on duty and abandoned her post for snack time?!"

"You can't blame Mono." Sample spoke oddly quietly, probably too scared to use his natural decibel. "It's meant to be a high security ward."

"Yes, with guards!" Hertz rounded on him and clasped his paws behind his back, ignoring the pain radiating through them. "We were meant to be starting our tests tomorrow, and now we have no hope in finding a cure for this wretched virus!"

He corrected his fallen desk chair and fell down into it. The computer was off – most likely broken – but he steepled his paws together and leant forward on his elbows, staring at the blank screen.

How many pokemon had died of this virus? How many were suffering? Now they were robbed of their chance of what may have been a sure-fire remedy.

"I wouldn't beat yourself up over it," said Sample. "Or your office."

Hertz shot him an unamused glare.

The exploud cleared his throat and diverted his gaze. "You chipped him. Right?"

Hertz looked back at his screen. "Of course I chipped him."

"Then you can find him."

He sighed and leant back in his seat, gingerly rubbing his paws together. "We would have had this done by now if it weren't for my wretched circulation."

"Yeh." Sample glanced away from him and rubbed a large paw over one of his pipes. "We also would have been done if you hadn't felt the need to oversee the procedure."

"Are you blaming this on me?"

"No, no!" Sample waved his paws. "When you take that medication, you're in no fit mindset to do anything! What I'm trying to say is, lots of things have gone wrong lately. I think we need better security, and to send someone out to retrieve the meowstic."

"Good idea." Hertz looked over at him, and the exploud cowered back from his intense stare. "I think you'd be the ideal candidate for that. And if Mono values her job, take her with you."

"What about you?"

He sighed and placed his face in his paws, his icy-cold pads cruelly reminding him he hadn't taken his medication that morning. Figy berries. They might well help his circulation, but they were the bane of his existence.

"I'll be at home," he said flatly.

...

The little car touched down on the island and slowed to a stop. The cool air stilled around them, drastically contrasting the desert wilderness passing below them.

"Ahh!" Switch placed the meowstic on the soft grass and landed beside him in his human form. He raised his arms over his head and stretched. "So good to be back to my normal self!"

"Tell me about it!" N00b removed his flight goggles and flopped onto his back in the long grass. "Oh, I'm exhausted!"

Pixel leapt out of the car and rushed over to the meowstic, automatically checking for a pulse. A wave of relief washed over her when she found one and she stood up, looking back out at the world below. It had taken so long to reach the island, and the meowstic hadn't made so much as a peep the whole flight. She'd begun to fear the worst.

She stood up and pressed a paw to her goggle strap. "Leaf? I'm back."

"I noticed," came the ivysaur's voice. "I'm already on my way to you. I noticed you brought company?"

She grimaced. "I didn't have much choice."

"So, this is your home?" N00b trotted over to her side, looking left and right as he took in the vibrant scenery. He gave a look over the edge of the drifting continent and let out a long whistle. "Living the life of luxury up here, aren't you?"

She wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not. Regardless, she gave him a warm smile.

"I wouldn't call it luxury, but I like it here. It's home, and it's safe from the rough pokemon that live on the land. Besides, you two shouldn't - "

Switch rolled his eyes. "I know, I know. Authorised pokemon only."

"Authorised?" N00b looked up at her and grinned. "We're with you aren't we? You're our ticket! Now, what exactly are you doing up here? All I see are some scattered houses and an old ruin." He fixed his eyes on the crumbling tower to their right.

Pixel scratched her head beneath her goggles and pursed her lips in thought. "Well, you did help me. Leaf's on his way over, maybe he won't mind me showing you around the residential area?"

N00b's tail became a blur behind him. "I'll do you a deal! You can show Switch the houses, and I'll check out the awesome ruin over there!"

She placed a paw to her mouth and chuckled. "I'm afraid I can't do that."

He raised an eyebrow. "Why? You hiding something?"

"Leave it, N00b," said Switch. "The girl said no."

The long grass swayed erratically, and parted beside them as Leaf burst through on all fours. He rose up onto his hind legs and eyed Switch and N00b curiously before looking down at the oddly coloured meowstic.

"Are you sure he's not infected?" His voice wavered so much with worry that it became oddly shrill.

"Positive," said Pixel. "He wasn't being held in quarantine."

He clicked his tongue and turned his attention to her. "Then what happened to him?"

"He found out what the hospital's plans were and fainted," she said.

"I meant his colour!"

Pixel shrugged and he gave a small sigh as he looked back down at the meowstic.

"And he's been like this since he fainted?" He sighed and ran a paw over his head. "I don't like this. He looks infected."

"I can assure you he's not," she said. "He wasn't in quarantine. They're more strict than that."

"I know they are. It's just a little hard to believe. Male meowstic are meant to be blue and white not white and black." He paused and rubbed his head again thoughtfully. "I think we need to get him to a bed and get his adrenaline flowing somehow."

"I think he just needs some rest," said Switch. "He'll recover."

Leaf crouched down beside the meowstic but didn't look up at Switch. "Thank you for your help. But I'd appreciate it if you left. You're not meant to be on this island."

"Aww, come on!" N00b bounced up and down on his toes. "Pixel promised us a look around!"

Leaf's eyes snapped up to look at Pixel and she glanced from him to the lillipup and back. "I did no such thing! I said if Leaf's happy to -"

He waved a large paw and looked back down at the meowstic. "I can't permit it. No unauthorised strangers. I have a spare room. The meowstic can rest there."

N00b's ears drooped and he looked down at the ground. "Okay... I'll get my car."

"Don't worry, kid," said Switch. "Connor will want us back soon anyway. We should hurry."

He paused with a finger to his watch as Leaf stumbled backwards with the meowstic in his arms.

A smile played at the corner of his lips. "Need a hand?"

Leaf snorted at his question and staggered forwards, almost dropping the unconscious pokemon back on the ground. Pixel reached out a paw to steady him and he regained his footing.

"Are you sure you can carry him all that way?" she asked him.

He clenched his jaw together and closed his eyes. "All right. You can call carrying him a look around the village, okay?"

Switch chuckled and took the meowstic from him. "Okay, you twisted my arm."

N00b skipped along beside them, his tail wagging jovially.

"It's pretty awesome having a human around, huh?" he said. "They can carry you when your legs are tired, reach berries from higher branches, lift heavy things."

"So can a tyranitar," said Leaf.

"Yeh, but..." N00b exchanged glances with Switch and raised an eyebrow.

"You could try being a bit nicer," said Pixel. "They did just help me out on this mission."

"I wasn't happy with you taking this 'mission' in the first place," said Leaf. "Were you seen?"

She grimaced and wrung her paws together. "Actually, yes."

He slammed a paw into his snout. "Wonderful! So that means you're a wanted pokemon now?"

"Wanted by criminals," said Switch. "What they were planning was abhorrent."

N00b bounced up and down with each word. "Warped! Twisted!"

"I'm not disagreeing with you," said Leaf. "But we're meant to be assisting pokemon by taking on cases that the police or government don't want anything to do with. Not causing trouble for them!"

Pixel gave a flustered sigh and ran a paw over her face. "We slipped up, okay! But we managed to rescue the victim in all this."

"Yeh!" N00b grinned. "Look on the bright side! Sun's shining, and we saved a life!"

Leaf said nothing, fumbling for his card key as they trudged the rest of the way over the meadow. He paused beside a squat house amongst houses of various sizes. Some were large enough to accommodate a charizard – something that they'd had to bare in mind when Nano joined them – while others were small enough to not drown pokemon such as Pixel or Leaf.

He scanned his card over the door panel and opened it, allowing Switch and N00b to enter before him.

"Wow!" Switch had to duck down as he made his way through the living room after Leaf. "Now I know how Alice felt inside the White Rabbit's house."

The three pokemon looked back at him with equal looks of confusion.

Pixel inclined her head on one side. "Huh?"

He waved a hand, steadying the meowstic on his other arm. "Nothing. Just something from my world."

Leaf opened one of the bedroom doors and nodded to it. "You can place him on the bed. I'll just grab a blanket for him."

He moved across to the room opposite and Pixel followed him inside. She watched the ivysaur as he opened a draw beneath his bed then looked around the room, her eyes landing on a photo on the bedside table. She picked it up absently as she looked at the two laughing pokemon – Leaf and a mew wearing a green scarf with white-framed glasses on her head. The lenses didn't match. One was blue and the other red. She knew the photo all too well, especially since she'd been the one who'd taken it two years earlier. Retro had both her paws over Leaf's eyes, and even though she'd surprised him he'd been laughing like a loon.

"Here it is!" Leaf stood up with a brown blanket bundled in his arms. He eyed Pixel curiously as she placed the photo back on the night stand. "I think I have some sitrus berries. If we drain them into some water that might perk him up."

"Maybe." She gave the photo another glance. "I miss her too, you know. I think we all do."

"We'll find her." He moved over to the door and she turned to follow him.

"Do you really believe that?" she asked.

He paused with one paw on the handle and glanced back at her, but he said nothing as he pulled the door open and strolled across to the opposite room.

"If you could look for those berries, Pixel?" He tossed the blanket over the meowstic and looked back at her. "I might have some in my fridge."

She stared at him for a moment, then moved over to the living room's adjoining kitchen. She couldn't shake that look he'd given her. That look that said he was only holding on to the faintest of hopes. As she fumbled through the assorted berries in the fridge, she caught the conversation going on in the bedroom.

"How do you expect him to eat berries?" N00b asked. "He aint gonna be swallowing anything in this state."

"We'll manage, don't you worry."

Part of her wondered if he was even talking about the berries.