After Caley returned the clothes he and his friends had borrowed from Aden, and a few tearful farewells along with a PokéGear number were exchanged between James and Jasmyna, the guys set out on their journey toward the east once more. Many a notion was passing through the minds of every member of the group, but Caley didn’t notice any thoughts but his own; he was busy staring into the shiny surface of the Alto Emblem he clasped in his hand and wondering what exactly its purpose was.

If that guy Teiresias still wants me to gather these badges… he thought. Then they must be used for something.

 

But what?

 

Denise had a particularly faraway look in her eyes as she turned her face to the almost cloudless morning sky and breathed deeply.

“Such potential…” she murmured under her breath. “Such amazing potential…”

“So, kid” Errol began in Caley’s direction, causing the trainer to look up in semi-alarm. “Who was da Pokemon in charge o’ dat weird mind-switchin’ business yesterday?”

“It was Jipu” the figure replied in a straightforward manner. “An enhanced Jigglypuff whose power is so potent that it only has to open its mouth to speak and all about it fall unconscious.”

A small gasp arose from the other travellers, followed by a suppressed cough on James’ part.

“How awful!” Denise exclaimed sadly.

“Yeah…” Rose nodded. “It would never be able to make friends because every time it wanted to make conversation everyone would fall asleep!”

“What a lonely existence” Adam spoke slowly. “I can relate to that.” Everyone looked at him in surprise. Errol chuckled as Cory raised his eyebrows.

“Ya not usually da type for meaningful convasation, hm?”

Adam looked up. He seemed to be slightly unaware of what he had just uttered, but Denise was quick to put things straight.

“How can you feel alone…” she snapped, waving her arm across to indicate the others walking around her. “…with all these people?”

James coughed again, a little louder this time.

“Loneliness is a state o’ mind, Neesee” Errol told the girl. “Ya can be in a crowded room an’ still feel departed from everyone in existence.”

Denise looked at her feet thoughtfully.

“Yeah…” she murmured. “You’re right.”

“If I offended you, then I’m sorry” Adam remarked, the expression on his face unchanging.

 

“I was just telling the truth.”

 

The others exchanged open-mouthed expressions, but the adolescent didn’t even notice. He was focused upon the road ahead, watching as the painted marks passed below his feet and into the distance behind.

Something seems different about Adam... came Kota’s psychic tones from behind Caley’s right shoulder. The trainer looked round.

I know what you mean, he replied sternly. Something’s changed. He lowered his glasses to examine his friend’s expression more carefully. It wasn’t as sulky or cold as it had been previously. But what could have brought on this alteration?

Kota shook his head.

It could be many things, it replied. Maybe the aspect of being handed his individuality has finally begun to sink in. Maybe it was something that happened yesterday…

 

…maybe it was that dream…

 

Maybe all three! Caley concluded. He was firmly set upon not prying into Adam’s mind if he could possibly help it; after all the business was only his to worry about if his companion wished it to be that way.

I get the impression Adam is beginning to understand the concept of friendship, Kota agreed. It is possible that this new understanding has unlocked a part of himself that he cannot fully comprehend yet.

Caley nodded. This journey was not only one that covered physical distance, but also seemed to be contributing to a development of the inner conscience. A small smile appeared on his face. That must have been the reason why Teiresias wanted him and his friends to continue travelling. It wasn’t for the badges; it was for the reinforcement of skill and social reliance.

It was coming back to him now.

 

‘You are strong, Caley Wilson,’ he had said.

‘But it is your bonds of friendship that make you an even stronger man.’

 

Yes, Caley murmured inside his mind. Friends are important. Keeping friendships alive is important. Adam must have realised how significant it is now… 

James coughed harshly, bringing the trainer back to reality. This time the bout was a lot more prolonged and the man was finding it hard to stay upright as he struggled to find a breath in between his erratic barking.

“Need…sit…” he managed to choke out, before crumpling onto the grass verge beside the road. The others gathered round concernedly as James attempted to compose himself. Rose examined the man’s face.

“I’ve noticed that seems to have become worse since we exited Coalef” she stated once silence had returned.

“What could it be?” Denise asked, a slight note of panic in her voice. Rose shook her head.

“Without proper medical equipment, I can't even begin to work it out,” she sighed. “But one thing’s for certain, it sure doesn’t sound good.”

Adam rolled his eyes, but said nothing. Denise knelt down to take a closer look.

“His eyes look real bloodshot” she exclaimed. “And his nails are pretty long.”

“Buh-but…” James stammered, taking a look for himself. “I cut them this morning!”

“He’s right, ya know” Errol nodded. “I saw him doin’ it myself. But it sure don’t look like he even touched ‘em now.”

“What do nails have to do with a cough?” Adam muttered in disbelief. But no one was listening. James glanced sideways, a little uneasily, as Errol stared at his face with a complete lack of decorum.

“Um… have I got something on my cheek?” he asked tentatively, after a minute or so.

“As a matta o’ fact…” Errol began in disturbed tones.

 

“Ya have.”

 

Before James could reply, Errol had reached out a finger and poked his friend’s forehead, before drawing back in horror.

“Dis is bad…” he grimaced, standing up and quickly walking round the back of James. “Dis is real bad.”

The others put on expressions of puzzlement and slight anxiousness. James turned to try and see what Errol was doing but instead got a pair of hands clasped to the sides of his skull. He yelped in dismay.

“What on earth are you doing, Errol?” James exclaimed, as the man began running his fingers across the top of his head. “You’re messing up my hair!”

“Don’t be such a baby!” Errol snapped, continuing his search. “Messy hair is da least of ya worries if dat coughin’ an dose claw-like nails is a result of what I t’ink is reoccurin’.”

“Claw-like?” James’ eyes rapidly grew wide he began to shake at a passing thought. “Oh no…you don’t think it’s…”

“Sorry, Jimmy” Errol nodded. “Dat’s exac’ly what I t’ink it is.”

The man lifted up a hand to stroke at his own cheek, and gulped.

“M-my face…” he stuttered. “It’s…it’s……furry!”

Denise and Rose squinted to analyse James’ condition.

“It’s certainly not stubble,” Rose remarked with a shake of the head. “That hair is…”

“…black!” Denise spluttered disgustedly. James’ lower lip began to quiver as Errol retracted his hands and gave a heavy sigh.

“I was hopin’ dat occurrence in Mayni was just a one off” he said.

“What?” Cory piped up in his usual singular tones.

“Da stress has been gettin’ ta James here,” Errol continued. “An I get da feelin’ dat antidote we gave him is beginnin' ta lose its touch.”

A unanimous gasp of horror arose from the others. Adam looked particularly pained at this thought.

“He’s turning back into that Houndoom?” Denise exclaimed. Errol said nothing, but the expression upon his face spoke volumes.

“Then we don’t have much time” Rose stated in monotone, standing upright. “James’ sense of control could collapse at any given moment and then we’d have no hope.”

“But what are we going to do?” James spluttered

 

“What are you going to do?”

 

Denise and Rose exchanged despairing glances with Errol as Caley shook his own head.

“What can we do?” he shrugged. James looked up at him pitifully.

“Save me?” he whimpered. “I don’t wanna lose my mind! I don’t wanna burn people!”

“Can’t you use your powers Caley?” Adam inquired anxiously in the trainer’s direction. James brightened.

“Could you? Huh?”

Caley looked uncertainly at the faces around him. This wasn’t the first time he had felt the pressures of dependence from the others, and this, coupled with a culminated angst was making panic inevitable. But the trainer managed to keep it hidden.

“I…” he began. “I guess I could try. But I don’t know whether I can make a difference…”

“Please?” James was past reasoning now. Caley could tell the man no longer cared how he was cured, just as long as he didn’t experience that terrible mutation and the effects that followed. The trainer knelt down and reached his hands forward until they made contact with the sides of James’ forehead.

“Clear…your…mind” Caley murmured. His voice had gained a cold unusual tone to it as he focused his vision upon the man’s green-blue eyes.

 

“Keep…looking…at…me.”

 

Almost at once, the trainer found himself in darkness, a whole new presence thrust upon him. At first he resisted the urge to yell out loud as the immense waves of terror engulfed him like a metaphysical blanket, but Caley steadied himself mentally and continued to let his psychic power help his consciousness descend further into James’ own. The monster within was bound to be in hiding, ready to pounce.

But the further he pried, the thicker and more stifling things became. Terror ebbed away and a focused, burning fury arose, almost forcing Caley to gag under its intensity. He struggled, but his floundering mind was clueless as to a method of containing the beastly presence he was being overcome by.

Must pull…away! he choked. The darkness was stronger now, immersing him in its emotionless chill. Too…powerful… don’t know how…

 

…too much!

 

The watching members jumped in alarm as Caley and James cried out in unison before the trainer staggered to his feet and ran across the path and toward the foliage on the other side, where he was nastily sick. Denise withdrew a breath of shock and ran over to attend to the young man, while the others peered down at James who had crumpled onto the grass, his eyes half-open and breathing heavily.

“I gets da feelin’ dats made our sit’ation woise,” he remarked, as he watched his old friend’s teeth slowly becoming sharper by some unfathomable process.

“You mean it’s sped it up?” Rose spluttered. Errol put on an upset expression which conveyed he expected the affirmative. Cory, who up until now had been showing strong signs of consternation due to his experiencing of Caley and James’ mutual emotive presences, suddenly stood bolt upright, a blank look now occupying his face.

“Coh” he intoned, his contracted pupils staring out at nothing. The others looked round in puzzlement.

“What’cha say, kid?” Errol inquired. But Cory didn’t reply; instead he turned and began wandering toward a small cluster of trees not too far away.

“Coh copi”

“Huh?” Adam blurted out. Rose made a move to follow but then remembered there was still the aspect of James’ continually worsening condition to think about.

“Where’s Cory going?” Denise asked as she approached, a pale-looking Caley leant heavily upon her shoulder.

“No idea,” Errol remarked, rather sternly. “But I sure don’t like da look in his eyes. It’s almost like he’s bein’ controlled by somet’ing! We’d better take Jimmy an’ follow him.”

The others exchanged worried expressions but decided to comply. After all, they couldn’t think of anything better to do, they only hoped that James would retain his human instincts long enough to be able get him to a place that could stabilise his condition.

 

They only hoped there was a place with a solution to James’ darkening state.

 

Cory wandered into the thicker part of the woods, murmuring softly in Pokémon dialect. As he continued to walk along something resembling a path hewn between the trees, several black orbs materialised from nowhere and began encircling him in what seemed to be a threatening manner.

“Look!” Denise gasped, pointing out the orbs which were encircled in a purplish gaseous substance - their wide, almost catlike eyes standing out amongst the darkness that represented the rest of their body.

“What are those Gastly doing out here at this time of day?” Denise blinked in puzzlement, brushing away the dangling branches that were imposing on her vision. "And what do they want with Cory?"

"Heck if I know," Adam shrugged, seeming none the worse for the sight. "Hey look, there's Duskulls too!"

"Something weird's going on…” Rose murmured.

“Of course somet’ing weird’s goin’ on!” Errol spluttered in disbelief. “Look at da kid! He’s like a zombie!”

"And so are those ghost Pokémon," Denise pointed out. "Whatever's got Cory in a trance has done the same thing to them!"

The others continued to follow this bizarre spectacle, and before long, the humanoid and his ghostly companions were joined by a troupe of drowsy-looking Shuppet and even several spaced-out Dittos.

“All these Pokémon…” Rose shook her head. “I don’t get it. What’s going on? Why are they acting so mesmerized?”

“They’re being drawn to something” Caley spoke up in laboured tones. “I can sense unusual waves emitting from a point a few hundred yards away.”

“Of course!” Denise groaned. “Cory is a Pokémon, no wonder he’s become mesmerised.”

“Hey…” Rose began, a slow smile lightening her face. “If there’s some sort of device out there attracting Pokémon, it could be part of a scientist’s laboratory!”

The others exchanged glances of excitement, but Errol quickly replaced his with a more serious gaze.

“We’d betta make sure it ain’t a trap that's part of Team Rocket scientist’s laboratory” he remarked. “No way I want Jim ta become subject ta deir cruelties again. Someone betta scout ahead.”

“That’s kind of hard when we don’t know where to look” Adam grunted, rolling his eyes. Before the others could respond, Caley stepped away from Denise’s support and raised his hand.

“I’ll do it” he stated.

“But what if…” Denise blurted out. She never had a chance to protest - the trainer was already moving into the undergrowth, around the procession of peculiarly plodding Pokémon and their humanoid ‘leader’.

“…what if he gets drawn to the signal too?” Denise concluded anxiously.

“Let’s hope Caley’s will is stronger than that” Rose replied with utmost solemnity.

 

“Either way we’d better keep an eye on Cory and those Pokémon.”

 

After three minutes of continuous tracking Caley, pursued by his faithful Psybab companion Kota, who seemed oddly unaffected by the waves, soon reached a cosy little clearing in the woods where the towering plant life gave way to an unkempt circle of grass. In the centre of this patch of greenery there stood what appeared to be a hastily erected cabin, about 18ft long by 12ft wide. Shuffling toward the nearest window, the trainer slowly raised his head so his eyes could just see over the sill and took in the contents of the construction with wide eyes.

On the far side of the cabin stood a complicated device that almost touched the ceiling, part of which resembled a computer console and the other part was a platform bearing incredible similarity to a hospital bed enclosed in an arc of semi-transparent cybernetic material.

 

“Shoo! Shoo!” an irritable and slightly nervous voice could be heard. 

“I’m busy! Can’t you…things see that?”

 

Caley searched for the figure that the voice belonged to, and soon discovered it was coming from a woman in her late thirties with dark violet hair tied meticulously into a long braid and a white lab coat hung over her t-shirt and jeans. She was currently occupied with staring as firmly as she could at the cluster of various forms gathered upon her legs and floating around her head, to try and make them go away. A slender pink and blue duck-like Pokémon attempted to clamber up the console portion of the device, causing the woman to screech and wade through the mass of bodies to fetch an article to knock the creature from its perch.

“This is not helping, Alpha!" she whined, taking a gentle swing at the Pokémon with a broom in the hopes that it would move of its own accord. Instead, it seemed to become slightly blurry. With a static noise, the broom passed straight through and caused the woman to topple to the floor where she was set upon by a cluster of Ditto. Caley scanned the Pokémon atop the device with his glasses as the woman’s muffled cries echoed into the air. 

            Porygon2, the screen read.

            Also known as Porygon 2.0, the upgraded model of the virtual Pokémon Porygon has been designed for faster travel within the curious realm of Cyberspace. Despite meticulous programming, however, it will grow to develop its own personality.

            Virtual...Pokémon? Caley blinked. This was a definition he had never heard before. The concept of virtual Pokémon only brought to mind the sprited images found in todays modern video games. But was there really more to it than that?

            Her mind doesn’t seem to have the usual traits I often pick up in the consciousnesses of Team Rocket operatives, Kota remarked psychically.

            I agree, Caley replied.

 

We’d better go and help her out of her current predicament.

 

The woman was more than surprised, and slightly annoyed to see the trainer and his psychic companion inside the cabin, having teleported to her rescue. She tried to struggle from the writhing mass of bodies she was being smothered by but her attempts were futile.

“Don’t just stand there, boy!” she almost squawked. “Remove these pests now!”

 But how to remove them without hurting them? Caley thought to himself. Kota shot his trainer a sideward glance.

They must be here for a reason, he said. It must be because of the thing that attracted them to this very spot!

Caley looked over at the machine in the corner. The console panels were lit - the trainer assumed the device was online and fully operational.

“Where’s the off button on that Intercereberal Space thingy?” he called in the woman scientist’s direction. Even with her face mostly covered by Ditto it was clear to see the woman was appalled by the enquiry.

“Shutting the ISM down requires the use of a complicated protocol!” she snapped. “Why on earth are you even considering that? You should be helping me out, for crying out loud!”

“I’m sure that machine is emitting some sort of wave that’s attracted these Pokémon here” Caley stated firmly. “By the looks of things I don’t think that’s what you were expecting it to do, were you? Now do you want to get these Pokémon to leave or not?”

The woman heaved a sigh and nodded, causing the Ditto covering her head to shift aside slightly.

“Ok, ok…” she began. “The emergency power-off lever is round the back of the console. Just hurry up about it!”

Caley nodded in Kota’s direction and the creature floated across the room and behind the terminal, away from view. Moments later, there resounded a loud click and the screens upon the console dimmed, the humming of its internal fans grew faint and petered out, and the multitudes of Pokémon within the cabin all suddenly shook their heads and blinked in unison, as if awaking from a bad dream.

The woman let out a breath of relief as the Ditto squeaked rather confusedly and slithered under the door into the outside air. The Gastlys, Duskulls and Shuppet also exchanged equal expressions of puzzlement and vanished, back to wherever they had come from.

“I…” she spluttered, as Alpha floated down from where it had been sitting, looking slightly ashamed. “I don’t understand! The ISM isn’t meant to emit radiation detectable by Pokémon of any kind. Where could I have gone wrong?”

Caley looked out of the cabin window and a small smile crossed his face as his sight lit upon the familiar countenances of his travelling companions who were fast approaching.

“If you’re interested, there’s a good friend of mine who would most likely be able to help you out” he remarked in a matter-of-fact way. The woman turned her head away with a snort of discontent.

“Son, this is a complicated matter of cyberspace reconstructive technology” she explained loftily. “None of your ‘garden shed’ type science…grown up stuff”

“I take it that’s a ‘no’ then?” Caley raised an eyebrow. The woman scrambled to her feet and sternly folded her arms.

“Listen. I appreciate your assistance but I don’t need any children showing me how to stop my Intercerebral Space Modulator broadcasting waves that attract Pokémon!”

 

“Did someone say Intercerebral Space Modulator?”

 

These excited words had come Denise who had peered through the partially open window just in time to hear the woman’s latter sentence escape. She gasped in awe at the sight of the machine, then her mouth fell open even further upon taking in its inventor.

“It’s you!” she breathed, her eyes sparkling with that self-same passion that was so often seen when she worked upon her latest creation. “You’re that great scientist from Saffron City in Kanto! Professor…”

“Sinclare,” the woman finished. “That’s right. I’m Professor Alison Sinclare, creator of the first evolution stone molecular study machine”

Before the woman could continue, Caley had unlocked the cabin door to let his friends enter. Denise walked in, wearing an expression on her face akin to that of a very small child that had just been given a bathtub full of ice cream to eat.

"And a Porygon 2.0! Wow!" she gushed in Alpha's direction, making it squeak slightly in alarm. "I didn't even think that model was obtainable!"

"It's pretty rare," Alison remarked unflinchingly. "Though it helps to be related to the man who designed the Porygon program in the first place."

"Really?" Denise gawped. “This is so awesome. I’ve always wanted to meet you! “Ever since I had been old enough to read, I would go to the grocery store and look in every science publication for articles of your amazing work… but one day, you stopped showing up. Whatever happened?”

Alison looked away, trying her utmost to hide her upset behind a veil of indifference. But the emotion was too strong to disguise.

“Let’s just say that certain ‘higher powers’ didn’t appreciate the work of a female grad student,” she murmured bitterly. “Eight years ago I applied for one of the executive technician’s jobs at the main Silph Co. branch in the city where I was born, with all the youthful eagerness and vigour that dwelled within me. That self same enthusiasm was shattered in an instant, and with it my hopes and dreams of ever being a part of major scientific breakthroughs the world over.”

Denise clenched her fists. She understood perfectly the pain of dismissal, the blackness of losing one’s childhood naivety. Especially through experience in the ruthless environment that was Team Rocket Headquarters - being in there little more than a month could turn any innocent heart into one of stone. A figure had to be tough simply to retain their own humanity and Denise had been lucky to own such a wilful persona.

“Those narrow-minded oafs had no idea who they were casting off” she muttered, turning to face the machine in the corner that was her Intercerebral Space Modulator. “I retreated into my own custom-made laboratory and continued my work but certain events forced me to move to this region shortly after.”

Denise put on a puzzled expression.

“Events?” she echoed.

“Yes” Alison confirmed with a solemn nod. “I knew those pompous Persianesque pinheads wanted my research…

 

…they just didn’t want me with it.”

 

A small gasp arose from the group but it was Denise who looked the most disgusted by the statement.

“They wanted to plagiarise what you worked so hard to manifest, right?” she spluttered sourly. Alison raised an eyebrow, confirming that Denise had indeed hit the nail on the head with her assumption. Before the woman managed to emit another word her infuriated devotee spoke up again.

“I can tell… you’re wondering how I knew, aren’t you?” she began, a strong note of reticence in her voice. “I’ll tell you how. It’s because the same thing happened to me barely two and a half months ago.”

Alison’s previously hard exterior altered somewhat. Caley exchanged glances with the others at this point; he could sense their mixture of uncertainty but he could tell the professor was beginning to warm to Denise. The young inventress must have reminded Alison of herself in the past, somehow.

“I feel I’m lacking something…” she murmured. “Something I used to possess many years back, something that drove my will to succeed, a spark to ignite the fiery passion that overcame all odds.”

Denise looked up, her brow lifted slightly. Alison returned the expression as she knelt down beside the Intercerebral Space Modulator; there was a glint of angst in her eyes reminiscent of a childlike unease of things she could not quite comprehend.

“Your face as you entered my laboratory…that was the expression of a figure with the exact same passion… …the passion that seems to have left me. I fear that is why my projects never seem to function the way they used to.” 

“Tough break,” Errol remarked quietly from the back as he shifted James’ semi-conscious form from one shoulder to the other. The emotion was so rife that the travellers had forgotten the current situation they had been in previously. Denise lowered herself to Alison’s level beside the machine and put a hand upon the woman’s shoulder.

“If there’s anything I can do…” she offered. “Please tell me. There’s nothing worse than seeing somebody with incredible talent go to waste because of a damaged enthusiasm.”

For the first time since the newcomers had entered a smile emerged on Alison’s tired countenance.

“Why, that’s ever so thoughtful of you” she remarked.

“Maybe I can fix that problem with your Cyberspace machine” Denise grinned. Alison’s mouth dropped open.

“How did you know…?” she began. The girl giggled as she released Li from her D-Ball, took out a screwdriver from Caley’s backpack and began scanning the control panel.

“Just a guess. I noticed you'd installed Presensory Conduits and a Digitation Interface - similar components my friend Mo- uh, Tate used in a Cyberspace-related machine of his own."

"A man after my own interests, huh?" Alison tilted her head to one side, watching Denise and Li at work. The others stood by in silence, exchanging slightly puzzled glances at the name their friend had given Mondo. "Tell me...what exactly did his project accomplish?"

"It was pretty much a gateway into Mindspace," Denise explained. "You've heard of that Cyberspace layer, right?"

Caley's eyes widened. He remembered that place all too well, back when Darnite sent Azima, James and himself tumbling into it during their encounter with the genetic ghost type. Turning to look at James draped over Errol’s shoulders, the trainer bit his lip. The mutations didn’t seem to have progressed since they entered the woods, and consequently, Alison Sinclare’s cabin. But nevertheless they needed to be attended to.

"Why yes, I have!" Alison suddenly grew more animated at this point. "In fact, the incorporation of Mindspace plays a very important part with my machine. I have a theory that by temporarily infusing the DNA of a living organism with Mindspace particles, one could be able to visualise the organism's internal physical assets in a whole new way."

"Minds and bodies are realms of their own..." Denise murmured, recalling the scientist Brett's words from back in Coalef. "So in theory, if this machine worked, you would be able to interact with the assets you found?"

"I'd imagine so," Alison nodded. "Though one would need to know what they were looking for to be truly successful. Why do you ask?" 

“We need to you to use this machine to help heal James," Denise explained. "He is very ill, and its as a result of something that hospital facilities would not be able to fix.”

“Even so, this machine has not yet been tested," Alison insisted. "Making your friend its first subject would be highly risky.”

“I know the risks,” Denise’s voice bore as much seriousness as the professor’s. "But this needs to be treated; otherwise the results could be devastating. James has a problem incurable by any normal means. He needs special attention. Show her, Errol.”

The man leant forward slightly so that James’ face was visible to the light, and Alison bit her lip upon seeing it.

“Oh my…”

“Exactly” Denise nodded, stepping out from behind the console and pocketing the screwdriver.

 

“We need your machine. We need your help.”

 

At this point, the ISM uttered a low hum as it powered back into life. Alison examined the faces of all those watching her expectantly, and looked somewhat awkward. She did feel obliged to help the newcomers after one of them had so selflessly repaired her project, but this way seemed a little overboard. Eventually, the woman gave in to the pleading gaze upon Denise's face.

Errol carefully laid his cargo upon the bed component of the Intercerebral Space Modulator and closed the metallic arc over the figure. Standing back with an expression of obvious concern, the man began fondling his charm in an attempt to dispel the anxiousness.

“Ok…” Alison began unsteadily, tapping a command into the keypad upon the console.

 

“Beginning the level test sequence. Stand back everyone.”

 

The travellers took a step toward the opposite wall as the whirring of the ISM’s internal fans grew louder with each passing second and a faint glow emitted from the arc, bathing James in a blanket of light. Alpha hovered close by, watching with deep interest.

“Pressure signals nominal. Entering manifestation process”

Denise’s view shifted from James’ intermittently twitching body to the console in front of her as upon one of its screens a most unusual sight formed. It was almost like a cluster of polygons, numbers and symbols combined in a multi-luminescent swarm, pulsing and throbbing with some unfathomable energy.

“What is it?” she murmured in partial awe.

“That is what you call a Corporigraphic Image” Alison explained. “A visual representation of the anomalies within your friend’s body, both natural and foreign."

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting something quite so...um...crude," Denise blinked, while the others craned their necks in an attempt to get a better view. "How are we meant to tell what's what?"

"The numbers that you can see are not simply randomly generated," Alison pointed out patiently. "If you look very carefully, they follow a set pattern. And each cluster of patterns represent a process in the body. The more complicated the process, the more detailed the pattern becomes."

"So this would be... the brain?" Denise pondered, her finger hovering over a particularly sizable gathering of numerical data.

"Actually, I'd imagine that was the stomach," Alison chuckled, moving the joystick upon the control panel to re-adjust the scanner's view. "Either way, a foreign anomaly would contain an entirely different contained structure all its own - a pattern that didn't match with anything you see here. It may also be a different colour."

"What can you do when you find it?" Rose piped up from the other side of the cabin.

“With any luck, contain the unwanted entity and destroy it” Alison replied bluntly. Denise leant closer to the console, her eyes wide.

“Um, Alison?” she murmured, her voice barely louder than a whisper.

 

“I think I’ve found our target.”

 

A black cloud of numbers and disfigured symbols had culminated in the central portion of the screen and was swirling in a violent circular pattern, its outer edges sparking vehemently.

“Do you think it heard you?” Denise spoke timidly. Alison looked at her.

“How could it hear me?” she snapped. “It’s an ethereal mass! It can't sustain consciousness.”

“Are you sure about that?” the girl murmured as she watched the black cloud begin to infiltrate the lighter masses around it as it spread across the screen, the sparking emitting from its form almost sounding like the angered growls of an enraged beast. As it did so the console of the ISM began to bleep persistently and James’ random twitching became more convulsive.

“What is it?” Alison stammered, pummelling further commands into the keypad in an attempt to shut off the bleeping. “The radiation levels I’m picking up are phenomenal!”

“It’s the primal existence of a Houndoom-like persona inside James’ mind” Denise explained hurriedly. “It was contained for a little while but stress must have released it back into James' system. It’s been attempting to take him over entirely.”

“Pressure signals are rising rapidly,” Alison stated in panicked tones. The console in front of her was beginning to crackle with raw electricity. “I seriously doubt the ISM is will be be able to keep the cyberfield portal into James stable for much longer. That force within him is so complex, the machine’s Terracalculation unit is having trouble keeping a reading on it!

Alpha, maintain ISM stability as best you can. Denise, I need your Tisker to channel out unwanted energy buildup.”

Denise sharply withdrew breath as Li quickly joined Alpha at the ISM console.

“No…” she mouthed, staring at James. “He can’t… not now…”

“Can’t what?” Errol exclaimed. “Don’t tell me dat youse got Jim inta some serious trouble!” The girl turned and the expression on her face wasn’t a reassuring one. Errol stepped forward determinedly as the platform James was lying upon began to shake, but Denise swung round and waved at the man to keep away.

“I’m getting’ him outta dere” the man stated obstinately as Cory drew up beside him, an equally purposeful expression on his face.

“You can’t!” Denise persisted, while Li and Alpha attempted to keep control of the ISM's protocols and energy flow. “If you open that casing without first activating the proper shutdown procedures then the resulting effects could tear a hole in James’ mind. He’ll be damaged for life!”

“Buh-but…” Errol stood there in a state of confused upset. He couldn’t bear to see an old friend terminated by an unsettled aspect of his past life that he had never even asked for, but neither did he wish to cast James into perpetual mental nullification. “Can’cha do somet’ing?” he murmured, but the inquiry was drowned out by the rumbling of the console as it shuddered under the load of the increasing energy.

“Pressure signals are at a critical level,” Alison gritted her teeth. “The energy ratios are too unstable for me to be able to contain them separately. Somehow that anomaly is preventing the machine from shutting down.”

In one swift movement, Denise had pushed Alison aside and had begun battering at the keypad, pelting the system with commands one after the other.

“No!” she yelled above the insistent bleeping and the groaning of machinery. “I refuse to lose James now… not after all he’s been through!

 

That creature within him shall be contained!”

 

The events that followed happened all too rapidly. With a most unusual emission that could be best compared to the reverse sound of glass breaking a burst of raw energy ripped from the console and across the room, engulfing the platform on which James lay with a freakish luminescence. Caley, Rose and Adam staggered backward, clutching at their eyes as Li and Alpha were flung across the room and Alison and Denise ducked instinctively, shielding themselves from the discharge. In a matter of seconds the light had retreated, leaving the air tingling with a mixture of static and low vibration.

“What in Taj's name was that?” Rose stammered, rubbing at her face.

“That was the worst thing that could have happened,” Alison grunted irritably, brushing herself down. There was an obvious tone of anger in her voice as a result of being pushed away from her own device by someone almost twenty years younger than her. “Cyberkinetic flux emergence caused by insecure energies. Somehow the ISM has remained online, but only barely. However, the Portal Visualisation Unit is offline which means we no longer have perceptible access into James’ digitised physical consciousness.”

“In other words…” Denise began, struggling to keep her voice from wobbling. “We’re flying blind.”

“Your friend still shows life signs”… Alison remarked, wandering over to the panel on the metallic arc over James upper body. “…even though he took a pretty bad hit. Most people would have gone into arrest at that point…he’s incredibly fortunate.”

“James always has been a fighter” Denise sighed with partial relief. Alison shook her head as she turned away from the charred console and looked across the room. Alpha and Li were hovering beside the crumpled bodies of Errol and Cory - both Pokemon wore grim expressions at what they sensed. Caley, Rose and Adam were quick to react, approaching and kneeling down beside the inanimate forms with expressions of great concern. Rose bit her lip; she looked like she was about to cry, as did Denise who was trying to prop up Errol’s head with her folded up shirt that she had just removed.

“I’m so sorry…” she whimpered. “I shouldn’t have interfered… I’m so sorry…”

Adam looked to Alison for some sort of explanation.

“Are they…dead?” he inquired.

“Not physically,” Alison replied without emotion. She had already taken the figures’ pulses and found they still existed. “But mentally? That could be another story altogether. They were standing the closest to James when the backlash occurred, after all. Who knows what that could have done to them?”

“There’s got to be something we can do!” Denise cried. “All I wanted was for James to be cured. Now we have three lives to worry about! I can’t let these people go…

 

…I would never be able to forgive myself…”

 

Alison watched Denise break down into fitful sobbing and her expression softened once more. She stood up and returned to the console before bringing up an emergency protocol upon the screen.

“Don’t lose hope yet” she smiled comfortingly. “Your friends still have a chance. They are most likely stunned from the blast, just keep them warm until they regain consciousness. For now we need to work on getting the Portal Visualisation Unit functional so we can seek out that anomaly and neutralise it.”

Denise raised her head; her cheeks were stained with tears but there was a noticeable expression of renewed faith in James’ recovery. She glanced back at the others as if sending a mental request for them to keep watch over Errol and Cory and they nodded in acknowledgment before Denise joined Alison at the console.

“Ok…” she announced.

“Let’s get to work.”

 

***~~***~~***~~***~~***

 

Errol opened his eyes to find himself staring into an immense blue expanse, spattered with white tufted clouds. Something seemed a little off - his fingers seemed somewhat resistant against his attempts to move them across what felt like grass under his body. With a slight expulsion of breath, the figure flipped himself almost effortlessly to his feet and looked about him at the row upon row of immaculately pruned foliage and sparkling blooms backed by the silhouettes of mountainous hillside.

“Kid?” he called out. He was surprised he hadn’t yelled, considering the last thing he recalled was an immense flash of light and a feeling not unlike the tingling sensation he had often received after a certain brat’s yellow electric rodent bombarded him with one of its thunderbolts.

<I’m here> a shaky voice stammered. Errol looked up as a familiar pinkish feline countenance shuffled into his line of vision; it was wearing an expression of shock and puzzlement.

<Wh-what’s going on?> Cory spluttered.

“No idea” Errol remarked, scratching his head. “Maybe dat weird light explosion teleported us outside or somet’ing”

The Pokémon shook his head.

<No no, that’s not what I meant…> he insisted, staring at Errol all the harder. Errol blinked a few times in return.

“Uh…what’cha lookin’ at kid?”

In the next instant a gasp escaped the figure’s lips. He had spotted his reflection glaring back at him from the shiny surface of the opal amidst Cory’s forehead.

 

“How in da woild…?”

 

Looking down Errol’s slitted eyes widened as he took in the presence of a large pair of furred paw-like feet with six brownish bulbous toes. He shifted his arms forward and was greeted with an equally stunted fuzzy pair of hands to match.

“I can’t believe it…” he murmured, his voice faltering. “Dis can’t be possible…can it?”

<Looks possible from where I’m standing> Cory shrugged. <From what I can see you look like you’re a Meowth again!>

Errol lifted a paw to pinch his cheek and started when it collided with his spindly whiskers.

“I gotta be dreamin’…” he burbled. “It’s gotta be some twisted dream or somet’ing. I can’t be a Meowth again! Not after all dat pain an’ sufferin’ I went t’rough ta be human! I just can’t!”

Cory took the opportunity to bring Errol back to his senses with a swift tug to the tail.

<Sorry> he apologised as the figure glared at him and rubbed at his behind. <You’d lost it for a moment. There’s got to be some rational explanation for this>

“Rational?” Errol cried out. “Ya call disappearing out of a cabin an’ reappearin’ in some fancy garden rational? Sounds downright kooky ta me!”

<Exactly> Cory nodded. <I don’t think this is a garden>

“What?”

The pink Pokémon leant forward and plucked at a strand of grass that had woven its way between his toes and held it up for Errol to see. Before the figure had a chance to open his mouth to inquire why a the grass would be any proof as to why the place they were standing in wasn’t a garden it made a strange fizzling sound and vanished from sight. Errol’s mouth dropped open as he looked around again, this time his face had taken on a semi-panicked appearance.

<It’s not real> Cory stated bluntly. <But neither is it a dream>

“Oh no…” Errol murmured. “Ya don’t think we’re…”

Cory nodded slowly.

 

<Yeah. I think we’re in Mindspace>

 

Silence descended. Errol took another look around; he no longer seemed that distressed about his situation.

“Hm,” he grunted. “Dat must be the reason why I look like dis and why you’ve reverted back to your Pokémon form. But after seeing all dose numbas and stuff floatin around on dat screen, I kinda expected Mindspace to be more…computa-like. I guess it ain't as down ta earth as dat readout made it look.”

Cory nodded.

<I sure hope the others are ok> he remarked. <Do you think they got trapped in here too?>

“Who knows” Errol shrugged. “One t’ing’s fer sure, we gotta find them if they are around, then find a way outta dis place…

 

 James still needs our help!”

 

The figures passed through the garden and into a courtyard beyond where they gazed up in awe at the preposterously large buildings that towered over them, casting their lengthy shadows upon the gravel.

<Who’d live in a place like that?> Cory spluttered in alarm, casting his view over toward the bigger of the two wonders of architecture. Errol snickered in amusement at his companion’s expression.

“Fer a start, da parents of one o’ my closest friends would,” he remarked. Then he did a double take. “Hey waitasecond…dis looks exactly like the place Jim’s parents lived in! What’s goin’ on?”

Cory stood there for a moment; his eyes seemed to have glazed over, thus giving him the appearance of a feline-shaped Xatu.

<Digital existence…> he murmured softly. Errol looked at him. <Denise wanted that scientist to create a digital existence within James, right?>

“Uh huh” Errol nodded. “Whateva dat means”

<I think that machine malfunction has somehow transported us within that existence> Cory remarked, his eyes returning to normal. <If this place resembles a location from James’ childhood, then Mindspace could well be snatching his memories and exhibiting them in a dream-like manner> 

Errol took all this in with great interest. He was astounded at how much his Pokémon companion seemed to know about the aspects of Cyberspace. But he was created from three different types of DNA - maybe this combination was enabling him to tap into the information of the vast interwoven digital network without even realising it.

The figure’s thoughts were shattered as from one of the ground floor windows of the larger of the two buildings a small boy with blue-lavender hair leapt, clutching at his face and sobbing visibly.

“No!” he whimpered through his tears as he hit the gravel and skidded across it, just managing to keep his bare knees from scraping against the cruel shards of stone as he struggled upright.

 

“I am not your slave! Get away from me!”

 

Though the voice was a lot higher-pitched than he recalled Errol recognised it almost immediately.

“That looks like Jimmy” he murmured, moving forward and squinting as he tried to make out what the boy had clasped between his hands.

“Oh Jayams!” The girl’s singsong tones that ensued brought a chill coursing through Errol’s body. He stopped dead in his tracks, somehow unable to bring himself to continue the approach. Cory looked equally fearful as another figure ran out of the front door, dressed in a sickly pink dress with curled magenta hair to match. She grinned with a twisted delight as she cradled an Oddish between her arms.

“Don’t run away when ah’m talking to you, Jayams!” the girl protested in angered tones as her quarry fled.

“I won’t let you read it Jessebelle, I won’t!” the boy spluttered. The watching Pokémon gasped, as the girl’s Oddish released a vine toward young James, binding him tightly.

“Ah’ll do what ah like!” she snapped. “Whatever’s yours is mine…you’re mah husband!”

“I am not yours!” James squealed, before the piece of paper was grasped at one corner by Oddish’s other vine.

“Hey hang around a second…” Errol began, giving Cory a sideways glance. “Since when do Oddish have vines?”

<They don’t> Cory shook his head. <This is an old memory most likely distorted by time and the processes of Mindspace itself>

Errol sighed helplessly.

“I guess dere’s no point in interferin’…” he remarked.

 

“Since it’s not real an’ all…”

 

James tugged in one direction, the Oddish pulled in the other. Jessebelle held tight to her Pokémon, an almost manic look in her eyes as she witnessed the struggle.

“Hand it over!” she yelled.

“No!” James cried back with a mixture of desperation and defiance.

“Pull harder,” Jessebelle told the Oddish.

 

“If ah cannot read it then neither can you, Jayams!”

 

Up until this point Errol hadn’t noticed how unusual it was that he could hear the children’s voices from such a distance down the driveway as clearly as if they’d been standing right in front of him. But as the paper in James’ fingers tore it was almost as if the sound had been inserted directly into Errol’s mind and amplified tenfold.

“You’re so disobedient, Jayams,” Jessebelle tutted in a mocking way. “Ah must work harder on your disciplinary schedules.”

James didn’t answer, his head had dipped and his shoulders twitched in a peculiar manner not unlike someone trying to contain raw emotion. This reaction only served to incense Jessebelle as she ordered her Oddish to raise its whips in attack. Errol and Cory withdrew breath as the impact sent James toward the gravel with a crunch. There he lay, unmoving, as Jessebelle approached.

“Always look at ah lady when she is addressing you” she recited precociously. “Such an insolent creature you are, Jayams. Now you will have to be punished.”

“Leave…me…alone.” The sentence was weakly spoken but its undertones were freakishly dark. James struggled to steady himself as he wiped the blood from his cheek and glared out at nothing. Errol and Cory exchanged slightly panicked expressions.

“What did you say?” Jessebelle growled in her own icy response, ignorant of the bloodthirsty glint that had arisen upon James’ youthful countenance at this point. It was an unnerving sight to behold, to say the least. Jessebelle’s Oddish had noticed the change in the boy’s expression, and even from the distance they were standing Errol and Cory were motivated to turn and run, but a mixture of curiosity and sickening awe kept them still.

“I said…” James snarled, as he staggered to his feet.

 

“You shall …leave me… alone…”

 

It was at this point the girl detected James’ volatility. The boy was now panting heavily, his arms thrust forward like some odd machination. She opened her mouth to speak but nothing escaped; a growing terror had enveloped any words she had been meaning to say and vanished them completely. James gurgled as his eyes began to glow an unearthly shade of red. With a grotesque series of convulsive crunches the small figure almost seemed to erupt, as a fearsome beast forced its way from the human shell and into the open, emitting a vicious snarl.

Cory cowered behind Errol’s shivering countenance as Jessebelle screamed, just before she was swiftly engulfed in a searing plume of flames. The Houndoom then reared upon its hind legs, sending blasts of white hot energy across the courtyard and through the walls of the buildings surrounding it. As it did so, the very scenery seemed to blur and fragment, the clouds shattering and falling like flakes of snow, vanishing before they had a chance to touch the fast-disappearing ground upon which the two Pokémon spectators had been standing.