Chapter 45: System Overload

"Sada, wake up! Please!" It was strange. Penny never considered herself emotional, but her current emotions overwhelmed her. After watching the dispute between Arven and Turo, she could not stay in that cell one minute more.

    Head spinning, Penny faced Scarlet, Nemona, and their Pokémon. "We-We've got to get out of here."

    Surprisingly, Nemona was the one who answered. "We can't. Face it, Penny—we're doomed."

    What the—? Doomed? Since when did she become a pessimist? Seriously, she lost one little Pokémon battle. Nemona had never acted this way before, and Scarlet seemed to know that.

    "Oh, shut up, Nemona! You can't help your Meowscarada if you mope around. Arven's got it a lot worse than you."

    "It's not just that," Nemona argued. "I can't call myself a Champion-ranked trainer anymore."

    "That doesn't matter." Scarlet glared evilly. "What matters is that you stop being selfish."

    Nemona shut down. She didn't say anything else for a while.

    A familiar voice interrupted the silence: "Queen Sada!" Kenji appeared in the shadows. Awestruck, he hurried toward Sada.

    "Queen?" Penny nearly gagged. In her opinion, that was a horrible nickname for Sada.

    Kenji reached her, and she finally stirred. However, she remained on the ground a little longer.

    Kenji dropped to his knees and examined her up and down. It took a minute, but he stuck two fingers into the hole in her cheek and began to fiddle around.

    Penny knew he was checking Sada's wires, but the sight was still disgusting. "Hey! What are you doing to her?"

    Kenji briefly looked up. "I'm giving her electricity. It'll reboot her system."

    "What in the name of Paldea are you talking about?" Was Penny's hypothesis correct? Was Kenji an AI, too?

    With a stern look, he stood and approached her cell. "What I'm saying is that we AIs look out for each other."

    Well, that confirmed it. Penny knew it. "So you admit you're one, too!"

    Kenji nodded at her comment. "I am. Always have been. Turo met me when he came to the future. Of all the AIs here, Sada is the most human, which is why he turned her into a cyborg. I merely assisted."

    The revelation shocked not only Penny but also Scarlet and Nemona.

    "So, you've been working with Turo all along?" Scarlet attempted to confirm.

    Kenji shrugged. "Yes... and no. I left after he impregnated Sada and tried to find a new life for myself. But enough dilly-dallying. Let's get you guys out of here and save Arven. Sada should fully reboot soon."

    "Initiating. Initiating," Sada's robot spoke. "Reboot in process."

    "See?" Kenji inquired, smiling. "There's nothing to worry about."

    Sure, things always worked out when someone said that. It didn't matter who did. "There's nothing to worry about" was a death wish.

    "System overload." Sada twitched, and her voice glitched. She lifted her head, eyes infrared, and spun it 360 degrees like a Noctowl.

    "Oh, gosh." Now Penny did gag. "She can do that?" It was official—she and her friends were in a horror film.

    Sada convulsed like a Tarountula catching its prey and stood on all fours, twitching manically. She hungrily studied Kenji and the cell holding Penny and her friends.

    Mabosstiff took off running toward Arven and Turo's location, followed closely by Meowscarada and Celebi.

    Miraidon hopped in front of Sada.

    She pushed him to the side with her superhuman strength.

    "You know what? Screw this." Kenji rapidly pushed the button next to the cell's door. "I'll break this door down."

    Sweating, Penny studied Sada. "What's happening to her?"

    "Sada can no longer fight Infrared," was Kenji's answer. "It's overloaded her system."

    Penny retreated to the back of the cell. She almost bumped into Nemona. "What about her baby? She's going to kill it like this."

    "At this point, the only thing we can do is shut down Infrared," Kenji explained, inhaling and exhaling. "Sada and I talked about it and came up with a plan. Step One is for Miraidon to distract her, and I'll get you guys out."

    At his name, Miraidon changed into his battle form and re-approached Sada. She latched onto him, but he put all his strength on her palms. He groaned when she fought back. It looked like the two were caught in a nasty game of tug-of-war.

    After one more attempt, Kenji dropped the cell's holographic door. "There we go." He stood to the side to let everyone out. Nemona was the only one who refused to move.

    "Nemona, what are you doing?" Penny returned to the cell and grabbed her.

    She released herself and buried her face in her sweaty palms. "I can't face Meowscarada like this, Penny." Nemona sniffed. "It's too hard."

    "Hey, hey." Penny leaned in close and patted her friend's shoulder. "It's okay. Scarlet and I are here with you, and your Pokémon will help, too. If we stay here any longer, though, we'll get hurt. We need to work together to snap Sada out of it and save Arven and your Meowscarada."

    Penny helped Nemona to her feet and wrapped her arms around her. She escorted her to Scarlet, and both girls gripped Nemona's shoulders.

    "What's Step Two of the plan?" Scarlet eventually asked Kenji.

    "Step Two?" he said. "Uhh, run, of course! But make sure you grab Arven's bag. We need the Scarlet Book."

    Penny half-smiled. "Right. Good plan." She didn't know how the Scarlet Book would help, but if Kenji said it would, she might as well collect Arven's bag. He would probably be looking for it, anyway.

    That settled it. Penny ducked into Sada's open cell and picked up Arven's knapsack. She zipped it and slipped it onto her back, on top of her own bag. Then, without hesitation, she and her friends rushed off the scene and headed for the other end of the lab.

    Kenji and their Pokémon stayed close after Miraidon tripped up Sada by letting go unexpectedly.

    On the other side of the shadows, Penny's party found a large, circular room that contained the lab's barracks for the AI people and Pokémon. Each barrack had a charging station. Only a few had one or two AIs. One side of the barracks, where most AIs were charging, had been lit up, but the empty half remained shadowy and sketchy.

    "Where the heck are we?" was Penny's only question. She never received an answer because Sada/Infrared's glowing eyes appeared in the shadows and stared her and her friends down.

    "System overload," repeated her computer.

    Kenji waved his hand. "Split! Recall your Pokémon and split! It'll confuse her. Whatever you do, head for the back of the lab."

    They did what he ordered. Penny recalled her team and latched her pokéballs onto her belt. She ducked behind one of the quiet charging stations and held her breath.

    Penny tasted the tense air on her tingling tongue and wondered if her friends felt the same. She never expected she would be running from a rogue robot during her Treasure Hunt. No, not a robot, but a cyborg.

    She waited five minutes before things turned unexpectedly quiet, like a calm day on Casseroya—a day Penny preferred over running for her life. What was happening? Did Infrared catch her friends? Did they make it to the back of the lab? Penny had to see for herself.

    She looked to the right. Nothing. Looked to the left—and almost screamed.

    Infrared's shimmering eyes casually waited with her, floating on thin air and occasionally bouncing. She said nothing and stared forward, looking like a Pyroar during the prime of his hunt.

    "Oh, God!" Penny toppled onto her back. Her instincts kicked in, and she threw Sylveon's pokéball into Infrared's face. "Sylveon! Sylveon!"

    "System overload." Infrared's eyes finally moved. "Infrared initiated. Summoning Mastermind Turo."

    Sylveon's pokéball left an imprint on her face. It dropped, rolled a few feet away, and flashed open.

    The Fairy-type Pokémon shook its feelers. "Sylve!" One look at Infrared and its fur stuck up like static electricity. Sylveon ducked behind Penny and protectively wrapped its feelers around her.

    "Sylveon, don't be a coward." But Penny was frightened, too—enough that Nemona cried out on the other side of the lab and clutched her head. It wasn't yet clear if she would resolve her internal conflict, but it was clear that she fought the urge to battle. And it told Penny that Nemona still had it in her. "Come on, Nemona, come on," she softly spoke.

    "Argh!" Nemona clutched her head tighter. It almost looked like she suffered from a seizure.

    Infrared noticed her struggle and seemed to show empathy on her robotic face. She quit targeting Penny and Sylveon and headed for Nemona instead.

    "Nemona, look out!" Penny called, hugging her Pokémon to her side. "Sada's coming!" She thought about jumping in and protecting her, but at the end of the day, the only way for Nemona to regain her confidence was to battle. Penny hoped she would.