A/N - My science failed. I aim to go back and fix the part about absolute zero in the previous chapter. Apologies! 

Chapter Forty Nine

The small tympole ship drifted along the edge of the Dead Glacier, frost dusting its perspex windows. Surge had no idea how long she'd been drifting back and forth. The navigation screen beeped feebly as it tried to locate Macro's ship, but she was having no joy. Why she was even still bothering trying to find him she had no idea.

Her eyes went back to her computer for what must have been the tenth time in as many minutes. The news site was still open, still glaring at her with blinding intensity. Her face stared back out amid a sea of yellow, topped with a red 'wanted' sign. Beneath it, a prize. Fifty thousand credits. Half of what Socket had been offering her. Then there was Macro, updated, followed by each of his crew. Each one, fifty thousand credits. Their crime? Hacking government files and stealing government property.

And to top it all off, the prize was open to space pirates.

It didn't take a genius to work out that Socket was desperate. 'The scum of the skies'. 'The bane of her existence.'

Well, Surge wasn't heading back to Pulse City any time soon. She could bid her little apartment goodbye.

She sank into her seat with a groan and rubbed the bridge of her muzzle. What was she to do now? Where was she to even go? If she tried to join Macro, he'd be unlikely to welcome her with open paws. Especially after she'd threatened him. There was a bigger chance he'd see that poster then try to turn her in. He was still a space pirate. He still wanted money to survive in the skies. Fifty thousand credits could fuel his ship for two years and still leave him with enough to pay his crew. But would Socket merely reward him, pat him on the head and send him away with a clean slate? After years of trying to capture him? It was extremely unlikely.

And what about Surge? Would she find herself at the gothitelle's mercy if she still tried to hand over Macro? After her little stunt with the mayor, that was also very unlikely.

Surge flopped forward over her dashboard and rested her muzzle on her arms. Lost. Empty. Cold. Like a hollowed out rock.

Her eyes flitted over to her window, but she could see nothing in the vast darkness. Macro was long gone. If her calculations were right, he'd gone over the Dead Glacier. But why? Wouldn't he freeze? She knew full well if she'd gone over it, her little ship would freeze up with her inside it. She wouldn't survive the night. What was he after?

Her navigation system chirruped a little tune, snapping her out of her thoughts. A red dot blinked far to the east of her ship and she leapt over to it to get a better look. Her jaw fell open and she shook her head slowly. It couldn't be. If it were Macro, how had she missed it? It was as if the entire ship had materialised out of thin air one mile away from where she'd lost him.

She shook her head and trained her ship onto his. It was only when she was well on her way towards him she began to question her sanity.

...

Macro pushed himself up slowly and looked around at the cockpit. The rest of his crew were in a similar state. Cookie lay at his feet, shuddering and muttering as he looked around their surroundings. Anchor was silent, stroking his mohawk and exchanging baffled glances with Matrix. It was DL who was the first to speak.

"There's no frost on the windows."

Macro span his head around to look at her. She was sprawled over his chair, propping herself up on one arm, as she admired the windscreen.

"The crack has gone, too," she added.

Macro leapt to his feet then steadied himself with a paw on the back of his chair.

"Hang on." He brushed back a lock of black fur from his eyes. "What are you saying? Weren't we over the Dead Glacier?"

"I believe so," said DL. "But it's hard to say. There's no evidence we were even there."

Macro opened his mouth to reply, forgot every single word he wanted to string together, and instead said, "Wha'?"

DL shook her head slowly and absently pawed at her ear.

"Erm..." Anchor cleared his throat and rose to his feet. "Permission to be ridiculous, Cap'n?"

Macro sighed and waved a paw. "Go ahead."

"Is it at all possible," Anchor said slowly, "that we've all had the same dream?"

"I'm beginning to wonder." Macro hugged himself tightly and leant against his seat. "I mean... it's pretty common knowledge if you fly over the Dead Glacier, then you freeze to death." He paused and looked out the window. "But how?"

"I can suggest one solution," said Matrix. "There's every possibility that the huge creature... or Ultra Beast... that attacked the ship could have given off some kind of toxin that induced a synchronised dream or mass hallucination."

Macro jolted at the term 'Ultra Beast' and cast a wary glance over his shoulder at Matrix. The ribombee was pawing at something out of his line of sight that Macro assumed to be his computer.

"So that creature did this to us?" Macro asked.

"It's plausible, but I'm willing to rule it out."

"Why?" Macro frowned slightly.

"Because all those Z Crystals Solgaleo gave us are right here."

Macro span on the spot and looked down at the ribombee. What Macro had so quickly thrown aside as his computer turned out to be an open box revealing the collection of Z Crystals Solgaleo had given to them. It was only then that Macro felt the weight on his paw, and he lifted it up to his face. His eyes widened as he took in the Z Ring and the sparkling Fairinium Z reflecting back every light in the cockpit.

"This is all too much to take in," said Cookie. "Please excuse me. I'm going to go and cook things..."

Macro muttered an 'okay' to the slurpuff's retreating back, not taking his eyes off the Z Crystal.

"So, erm..." Anchor cleared his throat again. "It all actually happened?"

"Apparently." Macro lowered his paw and looked down at the box of crystals. "I... I have no idea what to make of all this."

"Then let's recap." Matrix sat back on one paw and used the other to twist his antenna. "We met with Solgaleo, who was in some kind of strange wormhole. He told us this BackDoor thing is releasing Ultra Beasts into System. They're a threat, and we're meant to round them up. But we're going to need help, which is why we have these Z Crystals."

That had all gone a little too fast for Macro. He looked from Matrix to the box and back and bit back the desire to ask him to repeat himself... slowly. The ribombee had already removed the blue Waterium Z from the box and was turning it around in his paw.

"Going off the number alone," he said, "it looks like we're meant to ask for a lot of help."

"Yeh, but who?" Macro crouched down before him and reached for the white Z Crystal. "The only normal type I know is Surge, but I can't see why it would be her. Besides, it will be too early whenever I see her again."

"Why?" Anchor and DL asked.

"I thought I'd already told you this," said Macro. "She tried to kill me."

Anchor's jaw went slack, and DL stared blankly at the mawile. A glimmer of anger flashed across her eyes and she diverted her gaze to the window.

"I know you said she'd tried to shoot you." Anchor brushed his mohawk back and sighed. "Guess I hadn't really processed it, huh?"

Macro snorted and continued fumbling through the Z Crystals. "I don't think I know any rock types, either. Or any others who can use these attacks." A long sigh left his throat and he lowered the Normalium Z back into the box. "Well, I'm at a loss."

"Give it time," said Matrix. "He said we'll know them when we meet them."

Macro gathered the long box and stood. "I'm going to guess one of these is for Switch. As for this other human and her allies... if she can shape shift like Switch, then she's gonna be really hard to find."

...

Annie sat up in her bed and sneezed. She scratched a claw under her reptilian nose and frowned at the dingy room.

"Huh. Is someone talkin' about me?" She yawned and curled back up into her pillow. "Whatever, I'll bite them later."

...

"Well." Anchor shrugged his shoulders. "Guess we'd better keep an eye open."

"And I guess we won't be going back to Pulse City," said Macro. "Wow, this is going to be really strange."

He tucked the crystals away into a drawer beneath the dashboard and turned to the rest of his crew. Anchor looked as lost as he felt, and Matrix was still sat on the floor. Macro blinked at the ribombee as he processed something he'd missed. His wings...

"When did your wings lose their frost bite?" he asked suddenly.

Matrix looked back at his wings as if for the first time and flexed them. "Oh... I hadn't noticed the feeling come back. Well, I guess I don't have to sit on the floor any more then, do I?"

He fluttered into the air and returned to his navigation screen.

Macro shook his head and looked around at the ship again. Matrix's wings, the crack in the windshield... Something truly amazing had happened. It both excited and terrified him.

Macro climbed into his seat beside DL and she fastened them both in.

"Where to, Cap'n?" Anchor asked.

Macro shrugged and bit his lip. "I've no idea. Maybe Cyan City?"

"Not a bad idea, if you ask me," said the granbull.

The giant schooling wishiwashi turned in the air as the navigation system locked them onto Cyan City.

"Erm, I think we might have one small problem," said Matrix. "We appear to have a stalker again, and they're gaining on us pretty quickly."

Macro raised his head to look out of the window. He couldn't see anything in the darkness, but his heart was hammering against his rib cage. A stalker... or a bounty hunter? It wasn't happening already, was it?

"Want me to fire on 'em?" Anchor asked.

"No." Macro shook his head. "Just get us away as fast as we can without hitting hyper drive. If they give us problems, then shoot them."

"Alrighty then."

Wildcard Gamma surged away from the Dead Glacier and trudged back towards the inhabited parts of System Sky. All the while, that red dot trailed after them, leaving a horrible taste deep in Macro's mouth.

...

Meta City felt heavy with static. Long coated pokemon traversing the streets had their fur fluff out dramatically and struggled to beat it back down. Frowns were thrown at the mechanical trees and profanities were muttered under breaths as the victims trotted away from the structures.

Deep in an alleyway, BackDoor drifted in the air upside down, his mitten paws tucked behind his head as he watched Zero Day at work. The static in the air made him feel wildly uncomfortable as it tingled his circuits, but he was too engrossed in the porthole that had opened conveniently out of sight of Meta City's prying eyes.

It had taken some work to lure the deranged fleet of porygon z away from the more inhabited areas. Zero Day had broken into smaller numbers and five of them had found themselves in Meta City. Whether or not they'd been spotted, BackDoor didn't really care. But Socket would, and he'd tried to keep damages to a minimum. That's why only a handful of pokemon had seen them. Only a couple of photos had been taken. Speculations would be made, propaganda would hit, then they'd be swatted aside as another conspiracy theory just like the Ultra Beast. Well... until the evidence was found. Where the rest of Zero Day had got to, he had no idea. And frankly, he couldn't care less.

The hoopa eyed the porthole curiously. He liked to believe he'd found it first, but Zero Day had been looking for something. Seemingly this particular porthole, going off their frantic behaviour. A couple of them fired pulses at it, their heads spinning as they sprayed binary taunts. BackDoor didn't know where the taunts had come from, or what they were aimed at. Perhaps they'd evolved a higher intelligence along with the ability to open up portholes. Breaking up to cover more distance did seem a rather advanced idea for a group of androids constructed merely to follow orders. Whatever it was that had happened to them, BackDoor was incredibly intrigued.

More static flooded from the porthole and the two porygon z closest to it staggered back, their pupils expanding and contracting dramatically. Their heads wobbled precariously and they span their legs in a bid to get away from the damaging electricity. It was certainly a bigger surge than the last time. Even BackDoor felt it, and he drifted a little higher out of the way until he felt its effects lessen off.

Strands of lightning shot out of the ultraviolet mist, lighting up the alley. It narrowly missed one of the porygon z as it swerved to the side, not taking its lifeless eyes off the porthole.

More electricity danced out from deep within, striking at random points and scattering Zero Day further into the alley. The area around the porthole strobed as each jolt gave off a brilliant flash of light. BackDoor righted himself and watched with fascination. His mechanical heart was doing somersaults, racing at a mile a minute and adding years to his artificial life. But he didn't care. All he wanted to know was what fantastic creature was going to leap out of the porthole.

It didn't take long for his answer to arrive. Lanky, black limbs stretched out amongst a torrent of electricity, a stark contrast to the vivid, bright lights that flowed from its wiry tendrils. But that's all it seemed to be. A wiry mass of tendrils creeping across the floor, each limb flopping over the next like an intoxicated arachnid. Then it separated into two and each one pushed itself up onto five limbs, topped with a head that looked like a jagged, static-filled fur ball. Electricity danced around their feet, catching in collected puddles where it erupted into deadly sparks.

BackDoor let out a single laugh and clapped his paws. "Amazing! These might be even cooler than that jellyfish thing!"

One of the creatures turned its head towards him, not that it had any eyes to speak of. It lifted one limb like an arm and fired out a string of electricity from its wiry fingers. BackDoor lurched to the side, shouting profanities, and came to a halt atop the roof of a bakery.

"Watch where you're firing at!" he scolded. "You almost shorted me!"

But the creature didn't respond. It turned and scurried off on two of its limbs, the others wiggling beside it like the arms of an excitable hatchling. The fifth limb waved behind it like a long tail, swishing side to side and toppling trash cans. The other creature didn't wait around for long. It sauntered off in a similar manner to the first one, then leapt over fallen obstacles as though its legs were made of springs.

BackDoor frowned and folded his arms. These creatures were impossible. How was he meant to control them when they kept attacking him? Electrical Ultra Beasts would make short work of him. One stray bolt and he'd be turned in for scraps before he could blink.

Zero Day looked equally as perplexed. But from the binary that filled BackDoor's head, they'd come to a similar conclusion. One of the porygon z drifted back to the porthole, its nose lighting up as it prepared itself to close it again. Before it could reach it, electricity engulfed the android and it let out a binary screech. BackDoor slammed his paws over his ears, but it was no use. The sound was completely in his head. An endless, agonised scream. Then it stopped as suddenly as it had started. He opened his eyes and looked down at the smoldering mass. The porygon z's eyes kept zooming in and out as it struggled to focus. The remaining Zero Day looked on at the porthole, their limbs slowly rotating back and forth. Their pupils had contracted into pinpricks, but they were silent.

Then another of those creatures came out of the porthole. Then another. Then another. Zero Day backed away, not taking their eyes off the slowly growing army.

Each creature stood like a tree, surveying its surroundings before taking off down the alley. Zero Day scattered, desperate to avoid the thin jolts of electricity that endlessly streamed from their bodies. Each movement seemed to generate it, and they danced down the scrawny tendons of their limbs like live wires.

Not one of them seemed to care about the porygon z that watched them like a hunter watches its prey. Then why had they attacked the one that had returned to close the porthole? Had they known? Had they wanted to enter this world?

BackDoor returned to hovering upside down, watching the creatures curiously. They broke off into three groups, each taking a different route in the alley. Their strange, faceless heads turned left and right, and they stretched out their wiry arms. Static danced across them, and all heads turned towards the mechanical trees. Their bodies went taught, then relaxed again, letting their tail-like limbs sway just above the floor. BackDoor couldn't help wondering if a silent decision had just been made.

A spray of binary filled BackDoor's mind and he quickly strove to decipher it. A war cry. One of the porygon z doubled back and launched a tri attack, knocking one of the creatures over. Then the porygon z returned to hover over its fallen comrade. The irreparable android smoldered beneath its feet, and the rest of Zero Day joined its side, their eyes lit up with the fire of battle.

The lanky creature quickly clambered back to its feet and rounded on the porygon z. It said something. Something BackDoor couldn't comprehend. It sounded like an electrical screech mutated into words. But the rest of the creatures understood it clearly. They gathered themselves and looked around at Zero Day. Even without facial expressions to go off, it was clear what they were thinking.

A threat.

Electricity flooded the alley, dancing up walls and trailing over moisture, engulfing anything that conducted it. Zero Day were drowned as it washed over their mechanical bodies.

BackDoor took that as a clear message to get out of there. With a flick of his paw, he vanished into the nearest transmission signal and sent himself back to the safety of System Sky.