A/N - that awkward moment I realise there are inconsistencies with Switch's back story. If you've read it, I can assure you what happens in this chapter is correct. It's my own fault for not checking.  Don't worry, I'll fix up the one-shot later!

...

N00b sat back in his driving seat and absently scratched his ear with a back paw. He tried to rev up the engine once more, but the engine gave out a mechanical wheeze and stuttered before dying out. The lillipup slumped forward onto the dashboard with a flustered sigh.

"This car aint going anywhere fast," he said.

"I don't get it," said Pixel. "It was working fine before."

"I did say a lot of it is still in beta. It clearly has a fault that puts a lot of stress on the battery."

"What's wrong with it?" Leaf paced back and forth before the car, but Pixel knew full well any interest he was showing was just an act. He didn't know the first thing about being an engineer.

"The battery's dead. If I could get it working, there would be no problem," explained N00b. "However, I've no means to charge it."

"We have two emolga here," said Pixel. "They could charge it for you?"

N00b removed his goggles and wiped one of the lenses on the fur of his chest. "They could try, but they'd need to be careful not to blow the battery up."

Leaf was already talking loudly into his microphone for the emolga twins, now standing with his back to the car. Pixel watched as N00b lifted up the hood and prodded at the complex machinery, not for the first time. He muttered something about a loose wire and climbed into the car to try again, but the engine didn't so much as cough.

"Is it more than just the battery?" Pixel asked.

"No. I thought it might be, but..." N00b scratched his ear again, something Pixel was beginning to wonder might be some kind of nervous habit. "If I can't get the engine started, I won't be going anywhere."

"Hey," said Switch. "I can always carry you back."

N00b visibly shuddered. "I'm sorry. I'm not comfortable with that. I get terribly motion sick, and flying... don't get me started on flying."

"But... you drive," said Pixel. "And your car flies!"

"It's different if it's my own driving! I'm in charge of the vehicle and I'm fully focused." He looked up as two small voices called out to them. The emolga twins hopped and glided over the grass towards them. Immediately his tail started wagging and he turned to Leaf. "Are these who you were talking about?"

"Yes. Meet Nybble and Byte," Leaf answered. "Hopefully they'll be able to get your car started."

"What?" Byte stopped beside them and peered at the contraption. "This thing?"

"You might be able to help me." N00b hopped from the car and indicated the battery. "Would you mind giving this a gentle charge?"

Byte stared thoughtfully at the engine and scratched his nose. "Is it safe?"

N00b gave him a nervous smile. "If you're gentle, yes."

Nybble leapt back from the car and hid behind Leaf. "I'm not touching that thing!"

"Come on, guys!" whined Leaf. "If you can't get their car started, they'll never be able to leave... I mean... go home."

Switch rolled his eyes. "If he'd let me carry him back, we'd be out of your hair in a heartbeat."

Byte eyed the battery and gave a confident nod. "All right. I think I can do this." He placed a paw on either side of the battery and electricity sparked from his cheeks, running through his body and out of his paws.

The group watched with fascination as the pin on the battery's dial span from red to green. Byte removed his paws and turned to the lillipup.

"Is that enough?"

The pin slowly retreated backwards towards the negative end of the scale.

N00b grit his teeth together and his ears drooped. "It's discharging power. I think it's well and truly had it."

Leaf grimaced. "Is it enough to get you home?"

The lillipup shook his head. "Not even close. Not from the desert all the way to Spool anyway."

Switch stretched and yawned widely. "It's not too far to the next city. I can fly out and pick up a spare."

"You're exhausted," said N00b. "Are you sure you can make it?"

"I've travelled in worse conditions."

"I doubt anywhere will be open now." Pixel looked out at the setting sun in the distance, dying the sky in a vibrant orange. The heavy, jagged lines cut across it in an erratic pattern that reminded her of shattered glass. "You will be hard pressed to get one."

Leaf rubbed the back of his head with a paw and looked away from them with a heavy sigh. He waved them away and turned back towards the tower. "Stay here. You can head off first thing in the morning."

"Are you sure we're not intruding?" The sarcasm in Switch's voice didn't fall on deaf ears.

Leaf looked back at him and narrowed his eyes. N00b looked from the ivysaur to his friend and back, and his ears flopped to the side of his head as he lowered himself to the ground. Leaf turned away and trudged towards the crumbling tower.

"Wow." Switch looked down at N00b. "Are you sure you don't want a lift back down to the ground?"

N00b fixed him with wide puppy eyes and let out a high pitched whine.

Switch sighed and turned to Pixel. "I'm really sorry we can't get the car working."

"It doesn't bother me." She turned and headed back towards the little houses. "Just stay out of his way for a while."

A burst of static hit her ear, followed by Leaf's quiet voice. "Pixel?"

"Hmm?"

"I don't want to leave the meowstic unattended, or those two. So could you all stay in my house and not let any of them wander around unsupervised?"

"I don't know if they'd be comfortable with that." She glanced back at them still standing beside the car. "You've not exactly made them feel welcome."

There was a pause, but she could still hear him breathing on the other end of the line.

"Okay," he said. "Having strangers on the island makes me nervous. Apologise for me?"

"You can do that when you arrive home later."

"I won't be coming home. I have work to do, so I'm staying in the control room."

Pixel let out a long breath. "Come on, Leaf. You can't stay up all night. You need your rest."

"I'm staying here. You lot stay at mine, but I must implore they stay out of my room."

She closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. "Fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

The communication broke off and she turned back to the car. Switch was sprawled on the grass with his back against it looking out at the sky with a rather depressed-looking N00b. Neither of them wanted to be on this island, and Leaf's reaction hadn't helped matters. She just had to hope passing on his apology would help to fix things.

"Hey." She stopped in front of Switch and he fixed his golden eyes on hers. "Leaf sends his apology. He's not used to strangers visiting Cyan Island."

Switch closed his eyes and shrugged. "That's pretty obvious. Don't worry, I don't hold grudges."

"Neither do I," said N00b. "I like anyone so long as they don't hurt my friends or pull my tail."

Switch laughed and ruffled the fur between N00b's ears. The lillipup's tail struck the ground repeatedly as he chuckled and pushed Switch's hand away with a tiny paw.

"Anyway," said N00b. "I'm gonna sleep in the car. See you in the morning."

Pixel raised a paw to stop him. "Actually! Leaf offered for you to stay in his house."

"What?" Switch raised an eyebrow. "Both of us?"

"Yes."

"But... it's tiny. Is there room?"

She giggled. "It's not that tiny."

He shrugged. "Sure. I'll curl up on the floor like a sandshrew. Come on, N00b."

He rose to his feet and followed after her. When she reached his house, she absently swiped her card key across the panel. The door opened, which gave her a mild shock. She hadn't expected it too. Ordinarily they wouldn't, but she'd almost forgotten that Leaf had validated all their card keys to work on every house on Cyan Island after the virus outbreak. It was better to be safe than sorry, and one might find themselves in a situation where they needed to urgently lock down a house for quarantine, or get inside to rescue someone.

Switch ducked into the house behind her, and adopted a corner beside the door. Sat down, he looked a lot more comfortable. The ceiling was four and a half feet off the ground. Ample room for an ivysaur but a bit too low for someone of Switch's height. N00b hopped onto the sofa and curled up into a ball, immediately making himself at home.

Pixel wandered into the adjoining kitchenette and poured them each a glass of bottled water. Since Cyan Island didn't have a river or an accessible water source, they had to buy it on the ground and bring it back up.

Switch accepted his glass gratefully and sipped at it, keeping one eye on the window.

"I wonder how our new friend is?" he asked.

Pixel glanced over at the corridor, eyeing the closed door to the meowstic's room. "I've no idea. Leaf didn't seem too concerned after giving him sitrus juice."

He narrowed his eyes slightly and sipped at his water. Pixel expected him to say something since he didn't look convinced, but instead he looked over at N00b and smiled.

Soft snores rose from the sleeping lillipup and she couldn't help but smile herself. She leant back in her seat and turned back to Switch.

"You two seem close," she said. "How did you meet?"

He chuckled and placed his glass on the floor. "It's actually a long story."

She shrugged. "We've got time."

He ran a hand through his untidy hair and glanced over at the door. "I guess you're right. Well, I may as well tell you, huh? We've got nothing better to do." He shifted against the wall and crossed one leg over the other. "When I first arrived in this world twelve years ago, I told you I kept going back and forth between a talonflame and a human. Well, unfortunately I suffered quite badly with it and ended up in the hospital wards with the other humans who weren't coping well. Those who'd ended up in comas. They kept expecting me to do the same, but something kept me going. Hope they could help me, I guess." He shrugged. "I was there for two years, changing form every few minutes. It was exhausting. I slept most of the day just trying to keep my strength up.

"Then one day, the doctor walks in and tells me someone was there to claim me. Two pokemon who claimed I was a friend of theirs. When he stood aside, there were two small pokemon - a helioptile and a lillipup." He nodded to N00b. "I hadn't a clue who they were, but I didn't say so. For all I knew, they were friends of mine from my world who had their forms changed. I was wrong.

"The pair of them were normal pokemon hatchlings, but they told me they had a friend who was a human, but he refused to go outside. He was looking for a way to change his form back, and needed someone to test it on. They promised me if the device worked on me, then they could make me one too, and I'd be able to stay as a human and help them to find a way back.

"Needless to say, I took the offer. I was clutching at straws at this point. If medicine couldn't help me, and what these two pokemon were offering might, then I was willing to trust them.

"They resided just outside Meta City, in Spool. Their friend, a human turned into a pikachu, was all too keen to get the experiment started. What they'd devised looked just like a watch. All I had to do was put it on and press the button. Easier said than done when your form keeps changing, but once I had it on and I pressed that button, the form stuck. There I stood, as a human, no going back and forth. He asked me to press it again, and my form flipped back to a talonflame. Again, back to a human.

"When the pikachu tried it, however, it failed. He was less than impressed, and after a bit of a tantrum decided I could keep it on one condition – I help him whenever he needed it."

He drifted off, spinning the watch around on his wrist with his other hand. Pixel stared at him for a moment, waiting for him to go on, and when he didn't she decided to speak up.

"So you've been with him ever since?"

He looked up at her and shook his head. "No. A few days later, I parted ways. I went exploring, and found myself helping out a group of pokemon on Luma Island."

Pixel's eyes widened. "That's one of the drifting continents!"

He laughed. "Yes, it is. I joined their investigation team and stayed there for a couple of years before moving on. I'd got a message off Connor telling me they were close to figuring out a way to get back home, and he wanted my help." He smiled and tapped his nose. "That's a secret, by the way. Keep it hushed."

She laughed and waved a paw. "Of course. I mean, you want to go home clearly. It's not my concern, I won't say a thing."

He smiled and closed his eyes, leaning back against the wall. A loud thud from the corridor caused his eyes to snap back open again, and startled N00b so much he leapt to his feet and stood with his tail rigid and ears pricked upright. All of them turned to face the sound as a yell and another thud resounded from the corridor as something bashed into the closed door. It exploded off its hinges and the white and black meowstic dashed from it and stood, frozen amongst a rain of splintered wood, as he stared at them. He took a step back and raised his paws, narrowing his eyes as he prepared to raise his ears in an attack. His breaths were coming quick and heavy, and his fur bristled down his back.

"Where am I?!" he roared.

Pixel stood up and raised her paws. "You're safe."

He shook his head. "You abducted me!"

"We didn't-"

"I remember now! You came into the hospital and told me some outrageous lie! And now... what do you want with me?!"

"We saved your life," Switch said firmly.

The meowstic turned his attention to him and his jaw dropped. He waved a paw pointedly and took a step back.

"No... I know what this is... you... you want me... I'm not going back there!"

The strength seemed to leave his body and he stumbled backwards. Pixel rushed over to him and steadied him on her arm.

"Okay. You need to sit down, you're delirious." She led him to the sofa and he fell down into it, followed by a cool glass pressed into his paws. "Drink that."

He tentatively sipped at the water, then gulped it down in three mouthfuls, setting it back down on the table.

"Now." She sat down beside him and smiled. "What's your name?"

He hunched forwards and wrung his paws together, keeping a watchful eye on Switch.

"Vector," he said.

"Okay, Vector. You're safe here. Those doctors wanted to run dangerous experiments on you at risk of your life. You remember us showing you their records?"

"That was their records?!" He clenched his teeth together and covered his face with his paws. "I thought they were helping me..."

"But you don't have the virus," Pixel explained. "What were you even doing there?"

"Have you even looked at me?"

She cast her eyes over his white fur. "I suppose..."

"One would think I had the virus. After what I went through..." His voice trailed off to almost a whisper. "They all died... why did I...?"

Pixel caught Switch and N00b's confused glances and they all turned back to Vector.

"They all died?" she asked. "Who? What happened to you?"

He stared over his paws at the wall, his body rigid. Pixel placed a paw on his back, but when he didn't respond she looked over at Switch and N00b.

"I think he's got some kind of post traumatic stress disorder," she said.

Switch looked back up at the meowstic. "How long have you been like this, Vector?"

Vector turned his eyes to look at him, then closed them and lowered his paws with a sigh. "I can't even remember... weeks?"

"Weeks, huh?" Switch ran his fingers through his hair and looked away. "Weeks... they all died..." He looked back up at him. "Were you amidst that flash?"

Vector stiffened again and his body began to tremble. Pixel turned to face Switch, and he kept his eyes on the meowstic as he waited for a reply. Even N00b was trembling as he looked from the human to the meowstic and back.

"The flash?" Pixel shook her head in amazement. "You mean that freak incident some believe happened at the Fracture several weeks ago? Nobody knows what happened there, Switch. It's believed to be a rumour started by conspiracy theorists. Especially those looking for an answer to the virus's origin."

"No, it happened," Switch said bluntly. "I saw it, and with the way he's behaving, I think he was there."