Sorry about the delay on this!! It slipped my mind!! A head's up that due to family commitments this week, it may be late again. Likely Saturday if I can get it proofed for then.

Chapter Fifteen

Macro perched on the edge of a foldout chair in the dark bedroom. The only light came from the crack around the door, slowly dwindling as the rest of Wildcard Gamma made their way to bed. Every movement DL made startled him, but he refused to leave. Leaving a frightened pokemon, unconscious or not, just didn't feel right at all. Anchor had offered to take over and give him the chance to get to bed, but he couldn't sleep. He'd tried a few times on the little chair, but his mind just wouldn't shut up.

He glanced over at the pachirisu huddled beneath her duvet. At some point she'd snuggled down into it but she'd been sound asleep. He was surprised she'd fallen asleep straight after passing out with sheer fright. She'd not woken up and panicked again, just... gone from one state of unconsciousness to the next. It had worried him, but he put it down to the computer in her brain. Some kind of safety feature that kicked in when the computer 'crashed'. A gentle reboot.

She stirred again and mumbled something, clutching the duvet in one paw. The light on her antennae flared to life, creating an eerie blue shadow up the wall that flickered in rhythm with it. He'd not noticed before, but the light was formed of two tiny LED bulbs, one stacked atop the other, and they both flickered out of sync with each other until they finally settled into one solid blue light. Her eyes opened slightly and she stirred again, blearily searching the room. Then they snapped wide open and locked onto the mawile. She tugged her duvet up to her chin and opened her mouth to scream, but Macro raised his paws and shushed her, glancing over at the door. He rose to his feet, but it only served to worsen the situation and she frantically glanced around the room, nearly becoming one with the duvet as it tightened around her small body.

"Look, it's okay," he said.

She fixed her gaze on him again and a look of recognition flashed across her chocolate eyes. They softened as she relaxed enough to relinquish the duvet. Macro's heart did a somersault and he diverted his gaze to the wall.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"Wildcard Gamma." He lowered himself back into his seat and fidgeted his paws together. "Don't you remember?"

"I... I think so." She ran a paw over her ears, finding the antennae and visibly cringing. "What did... why... they've done something to me..."

"They? Who's 'they'?"

"I don't know. I don't remember..." Her eyes magnified as they filled with tears and she fell back into the pillow. "They've put something in my head."

Tears flowed down her face and soaked into the cotton pillow case. It was barely visible in the dim light, but he could see the damp patch spreading over the surface as she buried her muffled sobs into it.

"At least maybe now you'll stop wanting me to deliver you to Socket," he said bitterly.

She pushed herself up on one elbow and wiped a paw across her face. "What?"

"You don't remember?" he snorted.

"No? Wait..." Her eyes went distant and she flinched slightly. "I do remember..."

"So you do have memories?" he asked.

"Yes, I remember waking up in the cockpit. I remember you, Anchor, Matrix and Cookie. I know I'm supposed to be a computer linked to BackDoor, but I don't know why whoever put this computer in my brain did that."

"Do you have any memories prior to that at all?" Macro spread his paws slightly. "Like who you are? Your name?"

She shook her head slowly. "No. None."

"Where you came from?"

She shook her head again and pushed herself up, adjusting the pillow against the wall so she could lean against it.

"Do you know what BackDoor is?" Macro ventured.

"I've no idea what that is," she said. "Or where I came from. All I know is I'm linked to BackDoor and there's some entity called TimeSkip looking for time pockets. I received a couple of small updates while you were in Binary City."

"Matrix never mentioned that," he said.

Of course, that was no surprise. When he'd returned to his ship, their main priority had been installing her memories and then everything had taken a dramatic turn. He stared down at his paws clasped over his black scarf.

"They were nothing much," she said. "Just locations and failed discoveries."

Failed discoveries... a small wave of relieve flowed through him. Reading about the time gap Socket's team had managed to open still felt like a bad dream. The memory of it made him want to turn the light on.

"So you're a space pirate?" DL's voice made him visibly jump.

"Yeh." His voice came out surprisingly cautious. "All of us are."

"There's some information in my mind about Wildcard Gamma. Apparently the leader - Hunter - has a large price on his head. Is that you?"

He looked away from her towards the door. "It's an alias."

"Alias. Interesting." She paused for a moment, winding the duvet around her paws. "You have quite a list of crimes. It makes you sound evil."

"Well, that's their opinion," he said. "Space pirates have it hard living outside Socket's wretched rule. What's your opinion?"

"What memory I have of you has you as abrasive, rude and a liar," she said. "But not evil. I mean... you're helping me get my personality and memories back, and you don't need to do that."

He let out a single, dry laugh. "Maybe I'm just trying to annoy Socket."

"Maybe you care."

"Well. Wrenching the personality out of a living pokemon just to turn them into a computer really cheesed me off." He slipped from his seat and began to move towards the door. "I need some sleep. Will you be all right?"

"I should be." She tugged the duvet up to her chin again and stared down at the spot her feet poked through. "I think I've calmed down a bit."

He nodded and placed a paw on the panel beside the door. It slid open with a quiet hiss.

"Can I get you anything?" he asked without looking over his shoulder.

He heard her shuffle on the bed. "No. No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? You missed supper."

She was silent for a moment then she shifted again. "I'm fine. I don't have an appetite right now."

He nodded again and strolled from the room, letting the door slide back into place behind him. In all fairness, he didn't have much of an appetite either. He let himself into his own room and prepared himself to fall into a dreamless sleep. Or so he hoped.

...

Shrill ringing cut through Socket's office and the holoscreen above her desk flashed into place. Socket turned away from the window, fixing the display with a frown. Who could it be at this hour? The city was barely awake. The horned head of a hoopa turned left and right as he tried to find her in the room and for a moment she considered staying where she was out of his limited line of sight.

"Where is that stupid psychic type?" he hissed.

"Oh, I do hope you're not referring to me?" Socket strode across the room so she was standing before the screen. "And if not, that is a very rude thing to say about Tweak."

The chingling looked up from his seat, his tiny face twisted with confusion that looked oddly innocent on him.

"I'm sorry, I don't get it," he said.

The gothitelle ignored him, folding her slender arms as she stared into the green and yellow eyes of the hoopa.

"What do you want, BackDoor?" she asked. "I'm busy."

"What, staring out of the window again?" A grin split his face and he let out a laugh that didn't even shake his body. "I think this is a bit more important than city watching."

Socket's eyes narrowed into slits. "Humour me."

He raised a grey, mitten-like paw in a one-sided shrug and closed his eyes. "TimeSkip found something."

"Oh really? I thought that onion monstrosity's discoveries had all been failures."

"Not this time. It managed to scour back into... what was it? Prehistoric times?"

"Humans existed in prehistoric times?" Socket gave him a dangerous leer. "I wanted you to reach back one thousand years ago."

"Hear me out, alright? You want some computer host to replace that pachirisu? Well how about this?"

He scooted to the side, revealing a bipedal lizard wrapped in golden chains. Three electric type pokemon struggled to hold it in place as it thrashed around. She couldn't hear their yelps of protest, but one of them shouted something that was nothing more than a murmur to her.

BackDoor's grinning face filled the holoscreen once more. "Found you a little tyrunt."

"It is still a pokemon," she said bluntly. "Unless you're going to tell me it's a human in pokemon form?"

He laughed again and shook his head. "It's a pokemon with a brain the size of an oran berry. It's not exactly got rights like the ones in your world. It's as irrelevant as a water dweller."

"And you expect me to fit a computer in that berry brain?" She tapped her claws along her arm. "Not to mention hiding an extinct creature from the prying eyes of Meta City's civilians!"

He rolled his eyes and groaned. "Fine! I'll send the stupid reptile back. But this is taking forever!"

"Then hurry up and find me a human!" she barked. "One in pokemon form so I don't have to hide it!"

"You know, this wouldn't be an issue if you'd just held on to that pachirisu," he said.

"Don't you dare speak to me like that, BackDoor. I had you made. I can just as easily take you apart and remove your personality core."

The hoopa folded his arms and fixed her with a chilling glare. "You can't do that from there, though, can you? Silly, mortal limitations. Let's see..." His eyes moved past her to a spot over her shoulder. "I can see a nice little world right behind you, filled with unbreathable air. I could send you there from where I'm floating." He removed the gold ring from his right horn and admired it. "That's a fun little thing about being digital."

The entire of Socket's mouth turned dry but she hid it behind a wry smirk. "You know full well I had nothing to do with Download Database being stolen."

"Really? Who's job is it to round up space pirates?" he scoffed.

"I've got that under control," she said with a smile.

"About time. If it weren't for him, I'd be able to get back to my job rather than scouring time and space for humans."

"Then if you want to get back to your job, speed things up!"

"Tell that to TimeSkip. Not me." He reached up a paw to the top of the screen and fixed her with a mocking grin. "BackDoor out."

The screen flicked off and vanished back into the desk. She tapped her foot irritably and dug her claws into her arm.

"Arrogant android," she said. "Why did I give that thing a personality?"

"Because you're lonely?" Tweak suggested.

"Don't be ridiculous," she said as she moved back to the window. "Companionship grates on me. It's little wonder I keep you around, but unfortunately you're a necessary thorn in my side. If I removed you, I'd just bleed out paperwork."

Tweak's tinkling laughter filled the room and she grimaced.

"I don't know why you didn't just implant a detonation chip in him," he said. "My grandmama always said there may one day be a threat of a robot uprising."

"Ridiculous theory. Besides, a detonation chip is too risky. I need him in one piece to finish this job, then I'll think about scrapping that stupid android for spares." She paused and let out a sigh. "I need news from Surge about Hunter's demise and fast."

"I don't understand why you're stressing over retrieving Download Database so much," said Tweak. "I mean... you're looking for a new host."

Socket pursed her lips together. "She was expensive. It would be much more cost effective to transfer her files directly, rather than start new."

"Is that even possible? He's already retrieved two memory disks, and BackDoor erased the more crucial information to stop Hunter discovering it."

She tapped her claws over her arm again and stared blankly out of the window. Tweak had a point... Download Database was likely useless now. The repairs may end up being just as expensive as creating a new database.

"Nevertheless," she said. "I want it back. I'll just have to hope that Hunter hasn't messed it up too much."

...

Macro stretched and yawned widely as he left his bedroom. He'd barely slept a wink and the dark rings under his eyes betrayed it to anyone who looked at him. If it weren't for the bell blaring away for breakfast, he would have tried to stay in bed all morning, but his stomach gnawed at him the instant he began to think about food, joining the obnoxious bell in its rude wake-up serenade.

Anchor and DL were already perched around the dining table, DL now in her own little seat that Cookie must have recently acquired from storage, tucking in to the slurpuff's usual morning pancakes. Wait... Macro's eyes fell on a new plate sat beside the steaming fluffy berry circles. Waffles?

He grabbed his seat beside DL and immediately snatched one up, then poured syrup all over it.

"Someone's got a sweet tooth this morning," said Anchor.

Macro grunted a noncommittal reply and stuffed a fork of sticky waffle in his mouth.

"You look like you were up all night," the granbull went on.

"Couldn't switch my brain off," said Macro.

"Maybe you need an off switch like DL?" Anchor reached across the table to nudge her, but all he got in return was a chocolate glare. "Sorry... too soon?"

"I think it'll always be too soon, Anchor," she said. "I don't think I'll ever be okay with having a computer in my head."

Matrix buzzed into the dining room and fell into his seat opposite Macro. His large black eyes lit up and he reached across the table for the plates.

"Who requested waffles?" he asked.

"That would be DL!" Cookie fell into his seat with a plop, clutching a plate of steaming pancakes and waffles. "She told me they're her favorite so I just had to make them."

The pachirisu's yellow cheeks turned as red as a pikachu's.

"I might have found myself a new helping paw in here." Cookie beamed.

"Well, I can help where I can." DL lowered her fork and looked around at the table. "That leads me to say... Just because you're helping me retrieve my memories, I don't want to be treated like a patient or a client. I want to help, too."

Macro frowned and swallowed his mouthful. "Help how?"

"With retrieving those disks," she said. "And when I'm not doing that, I'll help Cookie in the kitchen."

"It's dangerous work, DL," said Anchor. "You've seen what's happened to us the past two trips. I got poisoned, Macro got his ass whupped by primape -"

"I did not get my ass whupped!" Macro seethed. He pointed his fork at DL. "Besides. You have no combat experience. At least not to my knowledge."

"Basic self defense is on this computer thing," she explained. "I could help in some way, and you could always teach me."

"That would just slow us down."

"Please!" She leant towards him, her chocolate eyes impossibly wide. "I want to help! I don't want to just be useless, left on this ship all the time!"

He shook his head slowly and placed his fork back on the table. "You're not useless. Anchor taught you how to use the ship's defenses. You can help Matrix with that."

The ribombee wound his antennae around his paw and looked from DL to Macro and back.

"Believe it or not," he said slowly. "I do actually know how to use the ship's weapons."

Macro's eyes flew wide open and he stared at Matrix aghast. "What?"

Matrix shrugged. "I get bored. I mess around with things sometimes. I could steer this ship if you wanted me to. Not well, but I could do it."

"So you're saying you don't need DL?"

Matrix shrugged and returned to his breakfast.

Macro sighed and let his head fall into his paws. "Way to help me out, dude."

DL stared at him for a moment then gave him a small nudge. He lifted his head again to look at her and a warm smile spread across her face.

"So are you going to let me help?" she asked.

He sighed again and rubbed at his scar. "Fine. I'll teach you how to fire a laser."

She did a small fist pump and whispered "Yes!"

Macro shook his head and jabbed his fork into his waffles. "I guess our first stop is Pulse City then, so we can buy you one."

After they'd finished their breakfast, they left DL to assist Cookie with the dishes while the rest of them migrated into the cockpit to make preparations for Pulse City.

Macro fell back into his seat and rubbed his face, trying to clear the grogginess away. His mind just didn't want to function and all he wanted to do was fall asleep right there and then, which didn't sound like a terrible idea.

"Pulse City is a fair way away," said Matrix. "We've been looping a figure-eight over the Backbone Mountain all night. It'll take the best part of a day to get there."

Macro waved a dismissive paw and yawned. "Whatever. We'll just enjoy the ride."

He opened his eyes and looked down through the window at the rocky peak stretching out for miles on either side below them, breaking the clouds where it dare reach high enough. The Backbone Mountain was another clean place, and naturally so. As such, it was a criminal offense to set up home there. Somehow, it had become a protected reserve, and only authorized pokemon were allowed to enter. No cameras, no sketch books, no drinks or anything that could produce litter, no live broadcasts or documentaries. Government pokemon only.

It was impossible to see it in detail from so high up, but rumor had it that the Backbone Mountain contained the last of the natural trees in all of System.

Macro didn't believe it.

The Backbone Mountain shrank below them as Wildcard Gamma moved up through the clouds, leaving System Ground behind. Macro kicked his feet up on the dashboard and tucked his paws behind his head, watching the fluffy clouds pass by them, contrasted dramatically against a deep blue sky. It was beautifully silent. The only sounds came from the navigation system as the radar refreshed rhythmically. He felt his eyes fall shut and an erratic dream played out in his mind, living out the cockpit as Anchor and Matrix exchanged playful banter.

Suddenly, DL's voice cut through them as she strolled in with a tray of cookies. "Something's wrong."

Macro turned sharply to look over the back of his seat. The first thing he noticed about DL was there were no cookies. Secondly, the antennae on her head was flickering orange below the steady, blue light.

"Retrieving information from TimeSkip." The voice came out as emotionless as it had the previous morning.

Her pupils dilated and she slid down against the door, staring blankly at the windscreen. Despite having witnessed it before, it was still alarming. Macro watched frozen from his seat as that orange light pulsed erratically.

"Information received," she said. "Location revealed as System, exactly nine hundred and ninety two years ago. Relaying co-ordinates."

A string of numbers flew from her mouth that were meaningless to Macro. Her eyes still looked wrong. Even her posture looked wrong. The computer in her head had taken over completely, using her as nothing more than a means to relay information.

The orange light blinked out with one final flicker and her lifeless eyes filled with confusion as she pushed herself back to her feet. Her breath began to come in quick bursts and she steadied herself against the wall with a trembling paw.

"What just happened?" She began to shake from ear to tail. "It was like... something was speaking in my head..."

Macro let his chin rest on the back of his chair. TimeSkip... co-ordinates... Why did Socket want to use this pachirisu to scour time and space for humans? What was she wanting to do, exactly?

Matrix's paws flew over the screen, drawing Macro's attention and his heart lurched into his throat as he watched the ribombee key in new co-ordinates.

"What are you doing?!" Macro shrieked, flying from his chair.

"Checking out what this TimeSkip is," he said.

"Not a chance!"

Macro rushed to the screen and collided with Matrix's flailing fist. Despite the tiny size, it packed quite a wallop on his jaw. A look of momentary despair crossed the ribombee's features when he realised what he'd done but it quickly melted away as he rubbed his bruised knuckles in his other paw.

"We are not meddling in Socket's creepy plan!" Macro told him as he absently rubbed his jaw. "Return the co-ordinates to Pulse City and forget about all this TimeSkip and BackDoor nonsense."

"We can't do that when she keeps getting updates from them," said Matrix. "If we track down this TimeSkip then we can destroy it. DL will be freed from its random updates and we can hopefully all get some peace."

"I'm with Matrix," said DL.

Macro jerked his head round to her. She was still trying to catch her breath, leaning against the door as she wound her paws together.

"If we destroy it," she said, "then not only will it leave me alone, but it won't be able to do... whatever it is it's meant to be doing."

He opened his mouth to retort but all words fell dead on his tongue when he met those pleading, chocolate eyes. His jaw snapped shut again and he placed a paw to his forehead and groaned.

"She has a point, Cap'n," said Anchor. "Poor mite's suffering 'cos of this."

DL shifted awkwardly and diverted her attention back to the passing sky.

Macro's muzzle creased and he looked away from her back at the navigation screen. Wildcard Gamma was moving in the opposite direction to Pulse City at a breakneck speed, and to make matters worse, someone was following them again. He briefly considered calling out the ship's bubble missile launchers to deal with that nuisance.

"Fine." He returned to his seat and kicked his feet back up onto the dashboard. "We'll follow these co-ordinates and destroy TimeSkip. But after that, I want nothing to do with Socket's crazy plan. Understood?!"

"Understood." Matrix and DL spoke simultaneously, the latter oddly enough with a salute.

Macro sighed and leant back in his seat. He had a horrible feeling he was going to regret this.