Delirious Absol
Call me Del
- 356
- Posts
- 8
- Years
- UK
- Seen Jan 27, 2019
Chapter Twenty One
"So this Socket has opened another time pocket?" Switch asked. "Much like the one I came through?"
"I'd say it's exactly like it," said Macro.
Wildcard Gamma and their two clients sat huddled in one of Moonlight Lounge's entertainment rooms. Eleven rooms occupied one floor, each one with its own screen that allowed the space pirates to choose between a selection of movies and video games. Even karaoke. Macro sat with his feet up on the table and his paws tucked behind his head, staring at their current sci-fi drama movie more so than actually watching it. He wasn't even sure any of them were actually watching it.
Switch shuffled in his seat and ruffled his feathers. "I'm not sure how to take this."
"None of us are," said Macro. "Until yesterday I didn't even believe humans actually existed."
"And now there might be an army of them," said Anchor.
"That's highly probable," said Switch. "Central Meta Hospital was filled with humans in comas. One thousand years on, you might have a cure for that now."
"A quick search of my records," said DL, "tells me the hospital was also home for victims of a fatal virus."
Switch shrugged. "I wouldn't worry about that. That might have been a huge issue back then, but the entity responsible for it doesn't exist in your time line. They'd likely just be cured as soon as they passed through the time pocket."
"That's good," said Macro. "We don't have to worry about an epidemic."
Switch said nothing as he huddled further down into his seat. All eyes were on the movie but Macro wasn't sure any of them were really watching it.
No, he wasn't going to worry about an epidemic. Socket wanted humans, and if she'd managed to successfully drag any through then her rabid search across time and space might finally come to an end. Of course, there was always the possibility her search could go the other way, literally. If she sent something or someone back to the Fracture's time-line, she could change history. Make it so humans were more readily available.
A cold shudder ran down his spine and he hugged himself, trying to focus his paranoid mind on the movie and not on his swirling thoughts. There was no way she'd want to re-write history. How would that benefit her? No… she had other plans. She wanted to do something with the humans. He wanted to find out what and put an end to it.
"How many humans do you think she could have taken from that time line?" Anchor asked.
Switch shrugged and let out a sigh. "I've no idea. It could be one, it could be hundreds. All I know is the hospital was struggling to find room. It sparked a lot of hate between humans and pokemon, and was seen as an invasion more than an accident."
"That's not exactly fair!" Anchor scoffed.
Switch chuckled dryly and shook his head. "You might have been singing a different song if you lived back then."
The granbull huffed and folded his arms. "Little judgmental there, Switch."
"Believe me, I met a lot of perfectly nice pokemon who were wary of humans. I'm sorry if I sounded judgmental, I was going from experience."
Anchor shrugged. "Forget about it. Maybe you're right."
"I guess it's easy to be wary," said Matrix, who'd been rather silent since they entered the room. "I was wary of DL at first. Something alien can be unsettling."
"Yeh, and you fainted when Switch transformed." Macro chuckled.
"Hey!" The ribombee frowned. "I'm surprised no one else did!"
"You went rather pale yourself," said Anchor.
Macro felt his face heat up and he looked away from the granbull, catching a nod off DL. He grit his teeth and went back to the movie. He'd completely lost track of what it was about.
"I'm beginning to think," said Switch, "that something huge is going on here. I don't know enough about this world, but I do know that Socket needs to be stopped."
"That ain't gonna be easy," said Macro. "It would take an army, and hers is pretty big. She's got electric pokemon backing her somehow. I'm wondering if that's how she got her paws on DL."
The pachirisu stiffened at her name and fixed her chocolate eyes on him. "You think I worked for her?"
"No idea. But I'm sure we'll find out when you get more of your memories back." Macro turned back to Switch. "Nevertheless, if you're not prepared, you're gonna die. Simple. With a weapon ban throughout System, you're gonna stand no chance against her army."
"I shouldn't need a weapon," said Switch. "None of you should! You're pokemon, you're born with attacks. You learn them as you grow! Weapons are unnatural! Don't you think that's what she's trying to teach you with this ban?"
Anchor roared with laughter and struck his paw on his knee repeatedly. "Teach us?! She uses them herself! Her army's fleet are equipped with laser turrets!"
"And I've seen her goons firing lasers before now," said Macro. "Those who don't carry them don't work for her directly."
"Well, I don't plan to use a weapon," said Switch. "I can take care of myself just fine."
"Really?" Macro raised an eyebrow and leant back in his seat. "You're a flying type, right? Also fire type. That means your major weakness is rock. One stone edge and you're as good as dead."
The bridge of Switch's beak creased and his yellow eyes narrowed into slits. Macro met his leer head on and shrugged.
"I'm right, aren't I?" Macro asked. "I strongly recommend you equip yourself with some leaf blade talons. Scour the black market tomorrow and see what Worm can do for you. Failing that, someone else might sell them. Either way, I wouldn't go anywhere in System unprepared, especially if you're planning to fight back against Socket's army."
"Leaf blade talons?" Switch spat. "And what do you suggest I do about electric and water types?"
Macro ignored his heavy sarcasm and shrugged. "Use your imagination, eh?"
The door cracked open and a drowzee peered inside. He was oddly wobbly and almost spilled his drink over his waistcoat. The room fell into silence as the psychic tapir looked over them each in turn, lingering on DL for a moment before turning his head to look at the movie.
"Androids Dreaming?" he asked in a heavily slurred, deep and dreary voice. It made him sound sleepy, and his words made Macro's fur stand on end. "Mind if I join you?"
"It's a free country," said Switch.
The space pirates fixed the talonflame with equal looks of surprise, but he didn't return them. He continued to stare at the screen, his beak held tightly shut.
"Cool." The drowzee stared at his glass and then looked over at the table. "I'm gonna get another beer. Save me a seat."
The door slammed shut after him, making Macro jump slightly. Burning anger rose in his chest and he rounded on the human.
"Free country?!" he spat. "You just invited another space pirate to join us?! Do you even know where you are?!"
"No," said Switch. "I don't. This isn't the System I know. This is some alien universe, and I think there's a lot you're not telling me."
"Really? I think we've told you a lot. What do you want to know, exactly?"
"Maybe you could start with what exactly is going on? Why is there a weapon ban? Why were you in exactly the right place at the right time to stop Socket obtaining me? Because the way I see it, after seeing this city and the way the pokemon act here, it's pretty obvious you're not the good guys." His eyes narrowed. "A weapon ban, in my opinion, is a good thing. Maybe the good guys are those in charge of this world, and you're just a bunch of anarchists."
Macro flashed his canines and rose to his feet, reaching for his laser.
"No!" DL's soft paw grabbed his wrist. "Stop it!"
His paw relaxed and he sighed, but his violet glare didn't leave the talonflame. "You've seen and heard what she's trying to do and you think she's the good guy? I told you! There are no good guys. You pick a side, and you fight for it." He paused and frowned. "Now which side is it gonna be? If I were you, I'd choose carefully."
Switch rolled his eyes and hopped from the seat. "I need some time to think."
Macro watched as he pulled the door open with his beak and strutted from the room. The door closed behind him with an ominous click, and the mawile fell back into his seat with a sigh. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and groaned.
"Making more enemies," said Anchor. "Well done, Cap'n."
"He started it," Macro hissed.
"I dunno. I'd say it's fairly even." Anchor picked up the remote and cranked the movie's volume up. "Let's just unwind for a bit, shall we?"
Macro leant his head back on the headrest and stared at the screen. Nonsense. It was just a load of nonsense.
DL shifted beside him and he turned his head to look at her.
"Were you really going to shoot him?" she asked, somewhat disappointed.
Macro shrugged and turned back to the movie. "Only if he struck out first. Like I said, you need to look out for number one. You don't, you die."
Anchor grunted with agreement. "Sadly that's the case."
...
"Knock knock!"
Socket looked up from her desk and stared aghast at her closed office door. That voice… what was BackDoor doing in her office? She didn't have much time to ask as the door flew open with a cry of 'Special delivery!' followed by a white-robed gangly mass. It struck the floor with a cry of protest and pushed itself up to leer at the floating hoopa android.
BackDoor burst into fits of giggles and struck TimeSkip on the back with a mitten-like paw. The onion-like pokemon lurched forwards under the impact, but its expressionless face didn't give away any sign of discomfort.
Socket turned her attention from the two androids to the creature sprawled on her floor. No longer a pile of limbs, it was instead covered with rugged yellow and blue feathers. Reptilian eyes fixed on Socket's and it pulled its lips back from a row of sharp teeth. Vicious, but she could rest assured it was tightly fastened in glowing chains.
"What is this?" she asked.
"A human," said BackDoor.
No sooner had he said it, the reptilian bird changed form to that of a lanky bald creature who's only visible fur congregated at the top of its head and fell down over its face and shoulders like an ebony waterfall.
"A human?" Socket stood up and moved around her desk to get a better look at the creature. It shifted once again into its feathered form. She rounded on BackDoor and hissed. "You flew over Meta City carrying this?! Did anyone see you?!"
BackDoor shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. Fact is you now have a human. We can finally get the ball rolling and move on with our plans!"
"They're my plans, BackDoor. You are merely a tool."
The hoopa shot over to her with such speed she took a step back. He waved his paw and a golden ring stretched out just behind the human. Black mist swirled inside it, lit up by ultraviolet light.
"If I shoved you through there, you'd die in seconds." BackDoor grinned and looked down at the spot between her and the human. "Oh. And there's another right beneath your feet."
A cold chill ran down Socket's back. She cleared her throat and looked back down at the human.
"I guess… this is suitable," she said.
The swirling mist disappeared to be replaced with her familiar office. BackDoor folded his arms and nodded.
"I should hope so," he said. "Took us long enough to find one of these things."
Tweak's jingling echoed over the room as he flopped towards them, stopping mere inches from the human's reptilian face.
"Looks like an archeops," he said. "Those things are extinct, right?"
Socket's heart plummeted towards her feet. Of course. She hadn't considered that. The strange pokemon form the human kept taking was prehistoric. Extinct. As out of place in System as the human species itself. She slapped a paw to her forehead and groaned.
"This won't do at all," she said. "It will stand out like a sore paw pad!"
The human roared and thrashed in an attempt to sit up. "I'll give you a sore paw pad if you don't get these wretched chains off me!"
Socket narrowed her eyes. "Don't you talk to me like that. I'm the mayor of System and while you're here you'll listen to and obey me. Understood?"
"Crystal."
Socket straightened her spine and stared down at the human. That didn't even make any sense.
"Anyway, tell me," Socket said slowly. "Why do you keep changing form? Is it some kind of self defense? Are you trying to break free?"
"Of course I'm trying to break free!" Her form switched again to the archeops. "As for this. Well… it's a sickness. I was in a hospital before that goof snatched me."
Tweak snorted laughter and looked up at BackDoor. "She called you a goof."
BackDoor's nose crinkled and he leered at the human. "Yeah. I'm not impressed. I might send it back."
"No!" Socket raised a paw and shook her head. "No, leave it. We'll keep the human. I can work something out. Tweak, fetch me Yobi. He might know something about this form changing issue."
"Roger!" Tweak raised a tiny paw in salute.
BackDoor watched the chingling flop from the room and turned back to the human. A wide smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth as she switched rapidly from her human form to the archeops and back.
"You think… you can fix this?" she gasped. "'Cos I really hope so. This is exhausting."
"I can imagine," said Socket. "What is your name, human?"
"It's Annie." She pushed herself up as best she could until she was sat on her knees. The golden chains still surrounded her limbs, fastening her arms around her chest in a way that was reminiscent of a straight jacket. "So let me get this straight. You're gonna fix me… then send me home?"
"Home?" Socket scratched behind her left ear. "I'm not sending you anywhere. You're going to work for me in return for…" She waved a paw at her, "repairing this."
Annie switched back to her archeops form and fell sideways. Her long tail thrashed the floor as she flailed in a blind rage.
"For goodness sake, BackDoor!" Socket snapped. "Release her!"
BackDoor mumbled under his breath as he snatched the chains away. They vanished under his touch, melting away from Annie like butter.
"Ruin all my fun," he scoffed.
Annie pushed herself up and checked over her feathers, which vanished to be replaced by the long sleeves of her white robe. She looked up at Socket and BackDoor and gave a curt nod.
"Thanks," she said. "Been a long time since I was in confines like that. Didn't care for it at all."
"Well you're out of them now," said Socket. Her eyes flicked to the door as it creaked open. "Ah, Yobi. Come see what we've found."
"Tweak told me it's a human?" The sparksurfer raichu joined her side and his mouth fell open when he spotted Annie. "That… that's a human? Looks like an archeops to me."
"Give it time," said Socket.
The feathered form flickered like a bad connection, revealing the gangly limbs of the robed human, before settling on the archeops once more. Yobi stuttered and Socket looked down at him.
"Can you fix this?" she asked.
His yellow cheeks had turned pale, and he scratched at one of them anxiously. "I don't know. It sorta reminds me of that issue some ditto have."
"I was thinking the same thing," said Socket. "Impostor ditto aren't always in control of their ability."
"There's only one problem." Yobi's voice ended in a squeak as Annie's human form took over. "Ditto are rare, so that means their help is rare. Since they can't breed, they're… well, they mitosis and even then, that's an odd occurrence. Their bodies are completely different to ours, even prehistoric ones. So there's no saying the stuff that helps them will help… well, her." He nodded at Annie.
"We could at least give it a shot," said Socket. "Get me the medication and we'll try it."
"It might take me a while," said Yobi.
"Then get it before morning."
Yobi pursed his lips and backed towards the door, not taking his eyes off the shape-shifting human. As he reached the door, he turned and hopped onto his tail, zipping down the corridor out of sight.
Tweak whined and looked up at Socket. "Wish I could do that."
"Now." Socket looked back down at Annie. "About you. I think it's best if we get you a private room somewhere. We can't exactly book you into a hospital since there are no humans in System."
"None?" Her eyes widened. "I thought System were full of them. Did they lie?"
"That was back in your time line," said Socket. "Here, there are no humans.
"Huh." The archeops scratched her head with a wing claw. "Interesting."
Her eyes drifted to the open door and she muttered the word 'interesting' over and over in the following silence. Socket shifted from one foot to the other and followed the human's gaze to the door.
"Well," she said. "Fortunately I have a spare room in this building that you can borrow for the time being. Come with me."
She strolled towards the door and ducked as BackDoor and TimeSkip took off over her head. She rounded on the two androids and scowled.
"You two need to get back to work!" she barked.
"Not a chance!" BackDoor waved a dismissive paw. "I wanna see how this unfolds."
Socket tutted and shoved past the two androids. Realizing Annie wasn't following her, she looked back to find the human still kneeling on the floor while winding a lock of black hair in one finger, her white robe spread out around her like a pool of snow.
"Annie!" Socket snapped.
She looked up with a start and blinked her green eyes.
"Come on. Do you want help or not?" Socket turned and marched from the room.
...
It was oddly dark when Macro opened his eyes. The movie room was almost empty. Only Matrix and DL accompanied him, and Switch hadn't come back since he'd stormed off. None of them had any idea what had become of the talonflame. There was also no sign of the drowzee. He'd been oddly silent during the film, innocently sipping at his seemingly endless supply of beer while casting the occasional glance in Macro and DL's direction. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Macro had stayed put, relying on the safety of his crew. There was no chance of Anchor letting the drowzee anywhere near him, and either the tapir had known that or he'd simply just wanted to watch the film. Nevertheless, he was now gone, leaving the three sleepy pirates alone with the movie's ending credits.
Matrix stretched and yawned so wide his jaw clicked. "Well, if you're now up, I think I'm gonna head to bed."
"I think I might follow you." Macro rubbed his eyes. "I can't believe I fell asleep with that drowzee here."
"Yeh." Matrix looked around the room with a start. "We think he influenced it."
Macro's eyes flew wide open and he looked down to check his weapons and pouch. Everything in place, and as for his pouch, DL was using it as a pillow. Her long, thick tail curled up to her chest and her right paw wound into his long leg-fur. His own paw hovered above her uncertainly as he tried to work out how exactly to deal with the situation.
"I doubt he's done anything," said Matrix. "Anchor and I had a good look around and everything's still here. Drowzee just… have that affect on others."
"Huh?" Macro looked around at him then nodded. "Yeh, sure."
"I mean, they eat dreams." Matrix buzzed sleepily into the air and yawned again. "He might have just been hungry."
"Anchor might know what went on." Macro turned back to DL and let out a sigh between his teeth. "I need to wake her up somehow. I'll meet you back at the ship."
Matrix buzzed over to the door then paused to look over his shoulder. "Take care, all right? I don't know where that drowzee went."
Macro waved a paw at him before he slipped through the door to leave him alone with the sleeping pachirisu.
To the untrained eye, she looked just like any other pachirisu. White and blue fur, thick curly tail. No one would have suspected she had any modifications from his angle. The antennae was hidden completely behind her right ear, and the jack socket was so small it was barely noticeable until she turned her back.
Her nose twitched and she curled up smaller, burying her face into her tail and tightening her paw around his fur. Part of him really wanted to dislodge her, jump up and make a bee-line for the door. The other part, however, was transfixed by the low, blue light reflecting off her glossy fur. Every small curve of her body seemed to be highlighted by it. It was little wonder the drowzee kept looking in their direction. Any sensible male would be attracted to such a beautiful creature.
That was it, wasn't it? The drowzee had been after something the entire time. Deep, burning anger rose in his chest and his paw fall onto her shoulder almost of its own accord. He jumped, snatching back his offending paw. The motion snapped her awake and she released his fur to brush her own out of her face. He leapt to his feet and glanced over at the door, trying to mask his sudden embarrassment and anger behind a mask of nonchalance.
"What happened?" she asked. "Where's everyone gone?"
"Bed," he said. "The movie's over. We're going back to the ship."
She pushed herself up while she yawned and stretched. "All right. Just give me a minute."
"Now, DL," he hissed.
She fixed her chocolate eyes on his and he diverted his gaze to the holoscreen. It was still on. A quick flick of the remote sorted that out.
"What's the problem?" she asked.
"The problem is, like I've said before, space pirates aren't nice pokemon. Now get back to the ship."
She slipped from the chair, muttering under her breath as she left the room. He held the door open, watching as she vanished into the ladies rest room. She couldn't wait until they got back? It was like she was just trying to wind him up.
A shadow fell on the wall as someone rounded the corner, and he looked up into the confused face of the drowzee. The wobbly pirate was clutching yet another glass of beer, but in his other paw was what looked like a blue cocktail, complete with tiny umbrella. He looked past Macro into the movie room and his long face fell.
"Hey," he said in that deep, dreary voice. "Where'd the pretty pachirisu go?"
Every hair on the back of Macro's neck stood on end and he flashed his canines, watching as the drowzee slipped into the room for a good look around. He let the door slam shut behind him, separating him from the drowzee, more so for the tapir's sake than his own.
No. Space pirates were not nice pokemon.