Chapter Twenty Two

Blue paint sloshed over the hull of Wildcard Gamma, filling in the unsightly metallic grey scuff that marred the poor ship. Macro hung from the fin by a thick rope, and while clutching the other end of it tightly in his paw, the other paw worked away running the roller over the ship's side. It would take a while to dry before he could repair the name. Part of him wanted to ask Matrix to do that, since he could fly. But he wasn't entirely sure he could trust the ribombee's artistic skills to perfectly match the chosen font.

He loosened his paw enough to lower himself, careful to not burn his pads on the rope's rough surface. Using his feet, he dragged himself along the ship's hull to reach the farthest end of the scuff. Another quick flick of the roller and it was soon filled in.

"All right there, Macro?"

He froze and turned his head to look down at the speaker. Switch stood on the docks, stretching his neck out to his full height to look up at him. A small smile played at his beak, and beside him sat a paper bag.

"Huh." Macro turned back to his work. "Didn't think I'd be seeing you again."

"Yeh, I wanted to apologize," said Switch. "I said some horrible things. Do you have stripes on your back?"

The surprise in the human's voice almost made Macro drop his paint roller. He'd almost forgotten he'd removed his scarf to avoid getting it covered in paint. He cast Switch a glance back and scooted backwards to neaten up an area the rope had unfortunately smudged.

"It's a birth mark," he said. "I've had it since I hatched. My mum had the same exact thing. I don't care about it."

"Huh... A friend of mine has the same markings," said Switch. "Only his are dark blue. He's a meowstic. His mate is a mawile. I wonder if you're related?"

"I don't really care," said Macro.

"Really? Because they're great friends of mine," said Switch. "They just had a kid of their own before I got sucked in here. They made me an uncle. If you are related, then that would make them you're... I dunno... Great Times Fifty grandparents, and me your Great Times Fifty uncle."

Macro raised an eyebrow. "Great Times Fifty?"

"Hey, I'm trying to apologize here," said Switch.

Macro snorted and absently painted over the already re-painted section. "You're no uncle of mine, Switch."

"Come on, Macro! I need your help. I don't have a clue where I am," said Switch. "You say it's System, but to me, it's not. At least, it's not the System I know. One minute I'm in this world filled with green and forests with floating islands and hover boards. Sure, there are similarities but... from what I can gather, it's wildly different. Pokemon eat meat, there's a mayor, space pirates, ships... the closest thing to a ship where I came from was my friend's flying car! Nothing else flew except flying type pokemon and ancient drifting continents!"

"And that warranted accusing me of the bad guy?" Macro scoffed. "After I saved your hide n'all?"

"You told me there are no good guys," said Switch. "And from the information I picked up last night, I'm inclined to agree. But it doesn't mean there can't be any."

"Everyone keeps to themselves," said Macro. "You should do that, too." He finished filling in the bare patch and turned to look down at him again. "What do you mean 'information'?"

"I chatted to some guys," said Switch. "Tried to find out what on earth is going on here. Turns out you have quite the price on your head."

"That's what I get for annoying Socket."

Macro tossed the paint roller towards the paint pallet, missing by a mile and leaving a nice blue smear on the docks. Using both paws, he shimmied his way down the rope. It was no easy task. His side kept bouncing off the hull as he swung back and forth.

Claws dug into his bare shoulders and he let out a yelp, releasing the rope to grab at his assailant's legs. With two beats of his wings, Switch was back on the ground. As soon as Macro's feet touched the docks, Switch released him and landed at his side.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to alarm you," said the talonflame. "But the way you were swinging, you would have got yourself covered in paint and ruined all your hard work." He winked, taking Macro quite by surprise. "By the way, here."

He reached into the paper bag with his beak and pulled out a wad of neatly folded fabric. Macro took it cautiously and looked it over. It was a black scarf, the ends of which were decorated with a checkered blue pattern. Towards the end of the design, the blue squares thinned out as though they were being dragged apart, losing control of gravity entirely to drift towards the middle of the scarf.

"I bought it as an apology," said Switch. "I just assumed you liked scarfs since you wear one all the time. This one has a bit more colour. I thought it matched your lasers' blue trim."

Macro stared down at it for a moment before meeting Switch's golden eyes. "How did you buy it? I don't imagine you came here with a pocket full of credits."

"I joined some guys in poker last night," Switch explained. "One of them was rather generous and offered to lend me some so long as I gave him half of my winnings if I won. Not only did I get the information I wanted, I got lucky and won four thousand. That left me with two thousand after I'd honored my end of the deal."

"A generous space pirate?" Macro couldn't help but laugh. "I think he was using you as an extra paw at winning."

Switch shrugged. "Well it worked in both our favours."

"Colour isn't usually my thing." Macro kept his eyes on Switch's, but the talonflame merely smiled.

Macro sighed and turned back to the paint pallet. He tidied the roller away and gathered up his familiar all-black scarf, tossing it around his shoulders twice so the long length fell down both his front and back.

"You weren't wrong," said Switch. "Everyone here thinks very little of Socket."

"That opinion is pretty rampant on System Ground as well."

"From what I gather, most areas down there are toxic." Switch paused. "What happened?"

"Destruction," said Macro. "Pollution. You name it, it happened. There ain't a single tree left in System except for cultivated berry orchards, and even they're rather limited outdoors. The air near the cities just kills them."

"Why wasn't something done sooner?"

"I tell you what." Macro rounded on him and placed a paw on his hip. "You travel back six hundred years ago and ask the first mayor what exactly he was thinking. All right? Because all this followed him and his laws about pollution reduction. Dumped it in the outskirts of Meta City and things backfired ridiculously. My personal opinion was that it was all down to discrimination. He just didn't like poison types."

"And what about this law about meat?"

Macro tossed the paint pallet into his tool bag and dusted down his paws. He fixed Switch with a raised eyebrow.

"You didn't raise that during your little game did you?" he asked.

Switch shook his head. "Not while one of them was munching on a fillet, no."

"Well, that was down to the next mayor," Macro explained. "Allegedly there was a famine. Pollution reduced where berry orchards could grow, and there was a month long drought that killed off a lot of trees and bushes. Desperate for food, pokemon looked to the ocean. Seaweed and other plants didn't have much appeal, so they turned on the water dwellers. Since they spend all their life in the water, they weren't seen as helpful to the community. So they 'made them helpful'. Since then, the rule stayed."

Switch's beak was clasped so tightly shut Macro feared for a moment it might break. The talonflame let out a sigh and shook his head.

"It's ridiculous," he said.

"Like I said. You wanna put things right, you take it up with the mayor. I can personally guarantee you that you won't come out of it in one piece. Keep your head low and just get on with things until we can get you back to your time line."

Switch nodded and scooped up the tool bag before Macro could grab it.

"I can promise you something, though," said Switch. "When I do get back, I'll make sure everyone understands turning to the ocean is not an option."

Macro stared at him, dumbfounded. "You're going to try and change the future?"

Switch nodded again.

Macro burst out laughing and took the bag from Switch's beak. "That's a good one!"

He turned and clambered up the neon ladder towards the entrance hatch.

"I'm serious!" said Switch.

"So am I!"

...

It had been a rough night in the mansion. Socket's new 'guest' had complained throughout the most of it, expressing great distress at her constant form changing. The gothitelle had begun to wonder if she'd been putting it on. Nevertheless, she didn't want to lose the human, so she'd made Tweak her personal butler. All night, the chingling had been back and forth carrying trays of water and biscuits, supplying blankets, removing blankets, guiding Annie around the mansion whenever she'd wanted to use the facilities. At one point, he'd had to check the wardrobe for monsters. Either Annie was a fantastic actor, or she'd seriously believed something was in the wardrobe. Between that and her frequent muttering and word-vomit, Socket was beginning to wonder if the human was in complete control of her faculties.

It didn't matter. After her form had been stabilized, every essence that made up her individuality would be removed and destroyed, leaving Socket with an empty, prehistoric shell.

She really needed to work out how on earth she was going to hide an archeops, or pass it off as 'normal'. They'd not been seen in System for thousands of years. How had the pokemon reacted a thousand years ago when a human took on that form? Since it was a human, it likely didn't have the same impact as a living fossil being discovered on a remote island.

Socket stared down at the human as she lay asleep in the large bed. Black and white sheets bunched up around her legs, exposing her bare feet. One arm lay sprawled along the pillow, reaching out over the edge of the bed towards the night stand. The other arm lay over her chest. Loud snores flew from her wide-open mouth in a way that would put a tyranitar to shame. For a brief moment, Socket considered grabbing the other pillow to stifle the wretched noise. However, the desire was shattered as Annie's form changed, shrinking slightly and replacing the snores with a snarl as she turned over.

Plop; jingle; plop; jingle. Tweak wriggled through the ajar door, which opened wide after him as someone followed him into the room.

"Yobi's here!" he cheered.

Socket craned her neck around to look at the raichu. "About time. Did you get the medicine?"

Yobi ducked as BackDoor and TimeSkip darted in over his head, the hoopa letting out a squeal of glee.

"What are you doing here?" Socket asked him. "You two are supposed to be working."

"Hey, I ain't missing this." BackDoor folded his arms and nodded at the human. "I wanna see how this plays out."

Socket sighed and turned back to Yobi. "You really need to be more assertive over your creations." She gave a nod to the androids.

He raised a transparent blue, plastic jar and jiggled it. Its contents rattled around inside softly and he set it in Socket's waiting paw.

"She should try two a day at first," he said. "Ditto are a lot smaller, and one tablet probably won't do the job."

"Well, let's try it then." Socket leaned forward and poked the archeops in the shoulder. "Oi. Annie. Wake up."

Annie grumbled and tugged the duvet higher with her claws.

"Annie!"

Socket took hold of her shoulder and shook her rather abruptly. Annie's reptilian head spun round, her eyes flashing, and white teeth snapped at the gothitelle's paw. Socket snatched it away and took a step back, checking herself for any signs of injury. Fortunately, there were none. She ignored BackDoor's irritating laughter and fixed her blue eyes onto Annie's.

"That was uncalled for," she said.

"So was waking me." Annie's form changed right as she was brushing a paw over her head. A look of confusion crossed her face and she tugged at the black strands of disheveled hair. "I was having a good dream, too."

"Sorry to disturb you," Socket said, unemotionally. She shoved the jar at the human. "Take two of these. They're meant to keep your form steady."

"So this will fix me?" Her form changed once more as she unscrewed the lid.

Socket held her breath, watching the archeops swallow two tablets then reach for her glass. Her form snapped back to human again and she necked the remaining tepid water. With a satisfied sigh, she released the glass to clatter back onto the night stand and looked down at herself.

"I feel different," she said.

"Different how?" Socket's eyes trailed over the human's gangly limbs and black hair, fearing the worst.

"Like... well, it's like when you get hiccups then suddenly they're gone."

Socket's nose crinkled and she pouted her bottom lip. It was an odd way of wording it. It was rather easy to forget you'd even had hiccups.

"Is this it?" she asked Yobi. "It's worked?"

"They work pretty quickly," he replied. "I'd say, going off what she's said, that her form has settled."

"So she's stuck like this?!" Socket spat. "What am I supposed to do, Yobi? Dress her in a onesie?!"

The raichu's mouth opened and closed as he struggled to find words. "Erm... Well... She does need to take them once a day to remain-"

"So we wait?"

Annie kicked her legs over the edge of the bed and stretched. A huge smile spread across her face and she picked up the jar of tablets.

"Can I keep these magic pills?" she asked.

"They're not magic," said Yobi. "They're medical. And yes. I have a repeat prescription, actually-"

Socket snatched it from his grip and eyed it over. "Fantastic. So I'll be sure to give them her once a day, and hope she stays in the form of a pokemon!"

"I dunno," said Annie. "I quite like this form. It's awkward running around with wings."

"Well you don't blend in at all," said Socket.

"Really?" BackDoor asked. "I think it's a lot more fun this way, personally."

Tweak looked up at Socket and blinked. "Shall I go find a onesie?"

Socket fixed him with a leer. "Tell me, Tweak. What do you think?"

"I'm thinking charizard or infernape. Back in a tick."

He turned and flopped from the room, his jingling bell fading away while Socket groaned inwardly.

"He has a point," said BackDoor. "She does have the figure to pull off an infernape."

Socket bit back the urge to threaten the hoopa with dismantling and turned back to Annie. The human examined each of her limbs as though seeing them for the first time. Her green eyes seemed to take up half of her face as she slowly turned her hand back and forth.

"It's so cool," she said. "It's not changing!"

Yobi let out a sigh of relief and flopped sideways into the wall. He wiped his brow with a paw and smiled, chuckling to himself.

"Are you okay, Yobi?" Socket asked. "You still appear to be sleep deprived."

He shrugged. "I'm fine. So... what's next? You want to bring her to my lab, or-"

"Lab?" Annie looked up with a start.

Socket's wide eyes narrowed on the raichu and she launched him backwards in a psychic bubble.

"Fool!" she snapped.

"Look." Annie slipped from the bed and adjusted her weight on either foot. "I appreciate the help n'all, but I'm kinda plannin' on leaving here now. So... if you don't mind."

She reached for the pill bottle, but Socket snatched it away. The gothitelle met Annie's raised eyebrow with the sweetest smile she could muster.

"These things work both ways, dear," she said. "I helped you, now if you wouldn't mind returning the favour and helping me-"

Annie raised her arm and in a flash brought it down against the gothitelle's jaw. Pain exploded through Socket's face. She flew sideways and hit the floor in a sprawl, sending the pill bottle into the air. Annie reached out and caught it in one hand, and quickly checked it over for any sign of damage. BackDoor let out a gleeful squeal then burst into fits of laughter that bounced off Socket as she tried to process what on earth had just happened.

"No thanks," said Annie. "I don't do paybacks."

She stepped over the stunned mayor and slipped though the door, not meeting the raichu's concerned eye.

Socket pushed herself up and shook her head sharply so her long ears bounced off her cheeks. Her jaw pulsed where the wretched human had struck her, and she rubbed at it trying to soothe it away. As realisation slowly washed over her, her fur began to bristle.

"That was awesome!" BackDoor roared. He wiped an imaginary tear from his eye and nudged the silent celebi. "Did you see that? Oh my... I would have paid to see that!"

Socket turned her livid, icy stare on him. "Shut up, BackDoor! We have work to do."

"Oh great." His smile fell and he threw his paws into the air. "You're gonna make us look for another human, aren't you?"

"No. I want that one retrieving. She's going to pay for this." She pushed herself to her feet and turned towards the door. "Yobi, pull yourself together and retrieve her. The guards will have stopped her at the door, so she shouldn't get very far. BackDoor-" She turned on the hoopa. "Commence stage two of my plan."

His eyes lit up with glee and a huge grin spread across his face. "Stage two? About time!"

Before she could even begin to throw the finer details at him, he was out the window with TimeSkip in tow.

Socket turned back to the door where Yobi was still sprawled against the wall. She frowned and tapped her foot.

"Yobi?"

He fixed his bleary eyes on hers and cleared his throat. "Sorry, Madam Mayor. I think... I might be..."

He pushed himself to his feet and staggered from the room, almost tripping over his own tail.

She groaned and followed after him, tugging her pocket computer from her waist pouch. "Security! I need a strange creature apprehended. Do not be alarmed, but do not let down your guard either-"

"Sorry, Mayor." The voice that came from her computer sounded awfully terrified. "Whatever it was, it left the mansion moments ago. Two of my men fainted at the sight of it. I've had to call an ambulance. It's just me on the door now..."

Socket bit her lip and trotted after Yobi. Before she could reach him, he slumped to the floor onto his front. She stopped at his side and bent down to shake him awake, but she snatched her paw back as his shoulder nearly burnt her. A fever?

"Has the ambulance arrived yet?" she asked.

"Not yet, Mayor."

"Then when it does, tell them there's a casualty up here, too."

"Roger!"

She groaned and sank to her bottom, and threw her computer onto the tiled floor. "Great! Now what am I meant to do?"