Chapter 48: To Be Brave Is Something You Learn Over Time (Penny)

    Sada was the one who had to learn to be brave to fight Infrared, so why did Penny feel fear? She didn't experience the same trauma as Infrared, only a thirteen-year-old girl one—her first crush. Perhaps that fear didn't come from her feelings for Arven but Andromeda, her new name for Turo/Kenji's Lab.

    How was Penny supposed to navigate her way around the artificial galaxy? Oh, she knew. She had to confront a certain AI and convince her that the only way to fight her PTSD was to rely on her newborn human emotions. Simple, right? Wrong! There was no telling what she would do to Penny. Whatever was about to happen would end in only two results: success or failure. Gosh, where was Rotom when Penny needed it? She felt she needed more than words to help Infrared, but she had to try.

    "Sada, you can't do this!" Penny yelled, standing. Why was she crawling again?

    Infrared, at first, did not respond to Penny (she guessed it was because she wasn't Arven).

    She nearly found Nemona and Scarlet, but Penny shouted, "Sada, stop!"

    Again, Infrared ignored her.

    What could Penny do unless... unless... That's it! Kenji said that Turo programmed Sada with Infrared, so she probably responded to her scientific name while under the influence of it, with no Arven to help. "Project Infrared!" Penny stamped her foot and stood tall.

    It worked! Infrared faced her, looking like a soldier in a platoon. She relaxed her twitching shoulders and dropped her arms to her sides. Her deadpan expression and glowing red eyes were scary enough to make even an adult man cry.

    The last time Sada looked this robotic was when Penny and her friends reached the past. Penny almost forgot this robot was carrying a baby. Astonishing! But she couldn't let her fascination with machines distract her because Sada was not one. She was just as human as Penny, her friends, and even Turo, and Sada had to prove that to Infrared. The first step was for her to remember Arven. That was where Rotom would've come in handy.

    Did Penny say that out loud? She asked that because Arven's Rotom Phone suddenly appeared next to her.

    It began to turn on. Rotom's screen flashed before turning black again. A loading bar appeared on it next.

    "Go, Flutter Mane!" Infrared freed the pokéball from her back and pitched it.

    "Rotom, you could be a little quicker!" Penny grabbed it and moved to the side to get out of range of Infrared's pokéball.

    Flutter Mane, the Past Form of Misdreavus, appeared between them and Infrared. At first glance, it wasn't easy to tell the difference between Past and Present Misdreavus. The only real difference was that Flutter Mane's hair-like features were long and more feather-like.

    "Rotom, please," Penny begged. "Sada needs those pictures." Hopefully, she would get them before Flutter Mane, like Drifloon, carried Penny to the Afterlife.

    "I'm trying, Penny," Rotom said, "but I think Sada's interfering with my line."

    "Well, then try harder!"

    "What you can do now is stall her and lead her to Arven."

    Great idea. Only Penny had no idea where Turo took him. Kenji mentioned the control room, but was it this way or that way? Luckily, he helped her.

    Twitching, Kenji poked out of their hiding place and robotically pointed aside.

    Flutter Mane, its hair-like features waving, crept toward Penny.

    She tripped on her heel retreating and tumbled onto her back. What could she do now, beg for mercy? That wouldn't be a very noble way out of this, though.

    "Gias!"

    "Agias!"

    Koraidon and Miraidon's cries interrupted Penny's thoughts. Both Legendaries left the safety of their friends and went to her.

    Miraidon hopped over Penny, changing into his battle form. He grabbed her in his arms.

    Penny bopped her head on his wheel. "Ow," she grumbled, rubbing it.

    "Agias!" Koraidon moved his head like a lizard and swiped at Flutter Mane. He shook his feathers and stomped toward Sada.

    Penny saw what he was doing and shouted at Flutter Mane, "Hey, you! Move aside so Koraidon can get to Infrared!" She glanced at Rotom. "Any luck, Rotom?"

    "Almost there." Rotom's screen now read 80% loaded. "Stall her just a little longer."

    Had Penny been stalling Infrared? It felt more like she didn't want to become her late-night blue-plate special, so she relied on Pokémon to save her from her fears, including her fear of her and Arven's potential "date" coming. Wow, she really could not stop thinking about him. Get a grip, Penny! You need to get Sada to the control room. But how? Flutter Mane stood in her and Koraidon's way.

    "Done!" Rotom announced. The lagging loading screen, all at once, shot to 100%, and its picture album pulled up.

    Infrared held her hand out to Flutter Mane.

    It and Koraidon, like cannonballs, launched at each other. Before their bodies interacted, Rotom's first picture loaded. A holographic screen appeared between the parties, and Koraidon and Flutter Mane froze.

    The picture showed Arven and Sada throwing pokéballs for Mabosstiff in the East Province. Sada had just chopped down a line of trees, and the shock on Arven's face was, undeniably, the best thing Penny had seen. It made her jittery, and she shook in Miraidon's grip.

    Infrared dropped her hand and examined the picture. It wasn't enough, so Rotom switched scenes.

    In the next one, Sada and Arven touched the cap of a Brute Bonnet. They grinned at one another, and Miraidon stood in the background, acting as a backdrop for a painting.

    Something happened there. Infrared's knees knocked together. She clutched them and steadily moved her hands up to her head.

    "It's working," Penny observed. She smiled slightly. "Keep going, Rotom!" Her palm rested on the strap of her bag with the next image.

    It looked like Arven and Sada had been playing. Both of them beamed at the camera, their cheeks touching. The crown, which Penny forgot she picked up when Sada and Arven reached Sada's cabin (late, of course), rested on her head in the picture. The crown—yes!

    Penny slipped off her backpack and put it over Miraidon's nose. Unzipping it, she removed the flowery crown. Besides a few bent flowers, it looked like it survived the trip through time.

    Penny threw it like a pokéball at Infrared. It bounced off her bloated belly and landed at her feet.

    Time froze. Infrared kneeled and picked up the crown. Seemingly lost in thought, she twisted her hands and brought it to her face.

    Penny noticed Nemona and Scarlet in the distance. They hid behind an AI Pokémon that had failed to turn on. Nemona held a pokéball. A pokéball! Was she going to do it? Was she going to fight or merely taunt Penny, Infrared, and the remaining AIs?

    Moving her attention back to Infrared, Penny held her breath. She released it when AI Sada put the crown on her head.

    That was when Nemona struck. With a determined look, she placed her pokéball behind her ear like a feather—"Lycanroc, I choose you!"—and chucked it.

    Penny couldn't believe it. She thought Nemona would never battle again—let alone throw a pokéball—but she did, and her Midday Form Lycanroc appeared between Flutter Mane and Koraidon. It was a canine-like Pokémon that had light brown fur and white socks on its feet. It narrowed its blue eyes and crouched like it was about to pounce.

    "Lycanroc, use Crunch, and get Flutter Mane away from Sada!" Nemona ordered. She clenched her fist and waved her arm.

    Penny noticed a smirk forming at the tips of Nemona's lips. Bingo! There was the Nemona she knew—the one who loved to battle.

    Infrared was starting to come around, too. She pressed down on her flower crown, and her eyes blinked from infrared, their normal color, back to infrared.

    The pattern continued, and it told Penny that she almost had Sada back. "So close. Just a little more." She kept her voice low so Infrared wouldn't break concentration.

    "Penny," Nemona called, "Scarlet and I will distract Flutter Mane. You get Sada out of here."

    "Agias!" Koraidon changed from steps to strides. He leaped for Infrared once Lycanroc passed him and bit down on Flutter Mane. Like Miraidon, Koraidon scooped her up and held her like a baby.

    Rotom floated in front of Infrared's face and re-played the crown memory.

    "Sada, please," Penny begged, "you've got to snap out of it. You're carrying a baby, and Arven needs you."

    Scarlet joined Nemona and gestured for Penny to leave. "We'll be fine," her lips read.

    Penny trusted her. Scarlet was a good trainer. She would look out for Nemona. After all, Scarlet saved them in the past with Staraptor. "Be careful," Penny mouthed back.

    Scarlet nodded in response.

    Penny focused on Koraidon and Miraidon. "Let's go, Koraidon and Miraidon." She looked at Rotom next. "Keep playing that crown memory on the way to the control room, Rotom." Which way was it again? Gosh, Penny felt stupid. Kenji just told her!

    "Gias!" Miraidon turned his body, but a group of AI people and Pokémon blocked him like a wall. Brute strength wouldn't budge them because they were all machines: heavy and powerful.

    What was Penny supposed to do now? Wait, hold on. What about Sada? While she wasn't 100% robotic, Penny wondered if she could communicate with the AIs via their language. Perhaps Miraidon was an option, too. In a way, he was also an AI/cyborg. He probably knew the AI Pokémon from his and Sada's last trip to the future. It was a wild guess, but worth a shot.

    It looked like Miraidon conceived the same idea. With Penny still in his arms, he floated to the AI wall. "Gias, gias," he said, studying it.

    They still didn't move. Half of the AI Pokémon prepared their attacks, while the other half waited for their masters.

    Shaking slightly, Penny clenched her teeth and looked at Infrared. She was running out of time. Sada had to free herself from the siren's song right now. Infrared was just a computer. She could do it. And she did.

    Infrared's eyes quit flashing and revealed her cyan-blue ones. She adjusted the crown and hopped down from Koraidon, stumbling when she hit the ground. Regardless, Infrared stood tall and stretched her right arm (she refused to move her left one). From there, she faced the AI wall.

    "To be brave is something you learn over time," Sada murmured. Then, to the AIs, she added, "Now let us through to Mastermind Turo."