Chapter 18: Chain of Abuse

Arven's hands shook so much that it looked like they would fall off. He crawled back, and his palms hit the edge of the crater. Arven gasped. As if he were a little kid all over again, he said, "I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to make you mad."

Sada's eyes switched from cyan to infrared. She snatched Arven's shirt collar with her Terastallized hand and held him over the cliff. She had a powerful grip, and Arven noticed that.

"Stop, stop!" he begged, grabbing her wrist. "I know you don't want to do this. I know you don't." He peered down to the long drop below, and his face turned ghostly white.

"You're doing great, my dear AI," Sada's mastermind spoke from her again.

"Monster!" Arven shouted. "How could you force her to do this?"

"I am in control of her! I tell her what to do!"

"But she doesn't want this."

Celebi leaped into the fray and wrapped its tiny arms around Sada's free one. It tried to pull her away from the cliff.

Sada's hand trembled, but she planted her feet and loosened her grip on Arven's collar.

"Miraidon, Miraidon, come back!" he wailed. "I need you! Miraidon!"

Sada's hand continued to shake. It took a few minutes, but she finally brought Arven in and dropped him to the ground. Soon after she did—

"Gias!" Miraidon hustled into the moonlight from behind in his battle form. He knocked Sada's arm back with his forehead.

"Ow!" she yelled, twirling in a circle.

"Ah-giiiyahhhh!" Miraidon hopped in front of her and bent his V-shaped arms further. Electricity sizzled from them.

Arven smacked his hands over his ears, and his eyes widened.

Sada's returned to normal, but her whole body sparked and smoked, and she fell onto her belly. It was like somebody just threw a pail of water on her.

"No!" screamed her mastermind. That was the last thing Sada's group heard before they lost his connection. Now all was quiet in the canyon once again.

Sada's body relaxed. She pushed herself to her hands and knees and reached for Arven.

"No!" he shouted. Getting up, he hid behind Miraidon. Arven clutched his mechanical elbow with both hands.

"Wait, what did I do?" Sada shakily inquired. She rose to her feet and started for Miraidon and Arven.

"Agia!" Miraidon snapped before she could get too close. He picked up Arven and blasted past Sada.

Her hair waved, and she held her hand up to her face.

"No," she whimpered, reaching for her nose. "No, no, no!" She felt like a wave had just crashed on her and pulled her out to the Paldean Sea. If this was a new emotion, it hurt even more than her arm.

Sada collapsed to her knees. Something warm and wet fell from her cyan eyes. Drops of water hit the ground, and she punched it. "I've ruined us," Sada hiccupped. "This is all my fault. I should have never gone to the far past." She scratched the crater's rocks. "Infrared... you told me you would help me!"

The crystals on her left hand expanded. They now covered the rest of it and a portion of her forearm. A few more appeared on Sada's cheeks.

She saw the future again, as well as the screaming Pokémon and earthquake. "Please stop," she begged. "I can't live like this. I don't want to be a battle machine. I want to be human."

***

Further away, Miraidon flew steadily. To help with his balance, he waved his tail.

Arven looked over his shoulder to the area where Sada was. "We have to go back," he said.

Miraidon gave him a funny look. "What? Why? She just tried to kill you, little fella."

Arven couldn't understand him, but he did seem to recognize the tone in Miraidon's cry. "No, it wasn't her," he explained, shaking his head. "It was that darn computer." He clenched his fist. "Miraidon, she needs human contact. We've got to find her mastermind."

Miraidon checked his futuristic body up and down. "There's only one problem with that," he growled—more to himself than Arven. "That mastermind is in the future." The future was where everything changed.

Arven batted Miraidon's shoulder. "Put me down. AI Sada needs me." He soon realized what he just said, and his jaw dropped. That was the first time he didn't call Sada "Mom." Why did he suddenly stop giving her that name?

Arven shivered when a cold breeze whooshed through the canyon, but he tried again. "Put me down."

Miraidon inhaled. No wonder he didn't like him. Arven was too clingy. Nevertheless, he dropped to the ground and sat him down next to him.

The second his feet touched the earth, Arven jumped into a run and headed for Sada.

Miraidon watched him for a bit. He then peered up at the starry sky above the canyon.

A flock of Squawkabilly passed in front of the moon, which began to set. As their name suggested, they squawked at one another and flapped their pointed wings.

For a long while, Miraidon studied them. He thought about the earthquake, his overprotection of Sada, and the freedom he and Sada lost—all thanks to Infrared.