Chapter 43: The Mastermind's Weakness

    "Well done, Arven!" Once he returned to her, Sada clapped. "You asked a girl out on a date! Well, what'd she say?"

    "That we can first get out of this and then talk about it." Sada noticed a lump forming in Arven's throat.

    "Oh, that's fantastic!" She tap-danced a little.

    "Mom, it's not set in stone."

    Sada waved her hand. "Oh, tish tosh. She's so going to say yes, you big coward."

    "Coward? Who are you calling a coward?" Arven placed his hand on his chest.

    Sada shuffled around him and snapped her fingers. She almost sang her line: "First thing you need to do is get rid of this ridiculous jacket." Sada unzipped Arven's vest and pulled it off him. "Next thing you need to do is show your eyes." She licked her finger and tucked Arven's tuft of hair behind his ear. "And finally, take her to get some nice food." Just like that, Sada removed Kenji's sandwich from her lab coat pocket and bit into it. "Mmm, delicious."

    "Wait, Mom!" Arven shouted, but Sada swallowed her piece of sandwich. "Oh my gosh, what have you done?"

    "What?" Sada inquired, stumbling a bit.

    "First things first..." Arven stole her sandwich. "You don't eat stuff off the floor. And second, how do you know Kenji didn't poison it?"

    "Poppycock. He wouldn't do that to me." But Sada again stumbled.

    "Mom, are you okay?" Arven worriedly questioned.

    "I'm fine, Arven, I'm fine. Why don't we both just sit down?"

    "Mom, I'm worried about you. There is definitely something off with this sandwich. You're not taking another bite." Arven slipped the sandwich into his jeans pocket.

    Sada clawed at it. "But I need to feed my baby."

    "You'll do so with sandwiches I make and not a stranger's." Arven dropped to his knees and slipped off his knapsack. Halfway through opening it, he suddenly yelled and snatched his chest.

    "Arven!" Sada instantly turned back to her mom self. She kicked Arven's backpack away, grabbed him, and wrapped her lab coat around him. "You're pushing yourself, dear. Just stop. I'm going to get you back to the present so you can get proper medical care."

    "But I want to help you. Your baby's my sister."

    Mabosstiff re-emerged from his pokéball soon after Arven said that, and Miraidon trotted to the group. He seemed upset that he couldn't do anything medically to help the suffering teen.

    "What's going on?" Penny asked from the next cell over.

    "Arven's having another BHS episode," Sada elucidated, remaining calm. "I've got him, Penny. You guys focus on helping Nemona."

    "I thought the hospital fixed him." The sound of Penny slamming her side into the wall shook both cells.

    "Penny, stop," Sada begged. "You can't do anything if you don't stay calm. I think Arven needs present medicine, not future. We've got to get you guys back there. Kenji will be here soon, so the only thing we can do now is wait."

    That was what Sada's group did. They waited, waited, and waited for a good few hours.

***

    Eventually, Turo, with two Hologram Pokéballs in his hands, emerged and approached Sada's cell. "Well, it's that special time," he snickered. "It's time for Arven's experiment."

    "As if!" Sada instantly hugged Arven close. "You're not taking him from me!"

    "Look, little lady," Turo growled, "I'm giving you what you want—a family."

    Sada's glare almost burned a hole in his lab coat. "What I want is for you to free these children so they can return to the present and get Arven help. He needs a doctor!"

    Turo flipped the collar of his coat. "Well then, he shouldn't have come to the future."

    "We had to! Future Pokémon attacked us."

    "And whose fault is that?" Turo inquired, giving Sada a knowing look.

    She froze, and she stayed that way for a good while.

    "That's what I thought." Turo appeared proud of himself. "You can fight all you want, Sada, but the boy is mine. You're not his biological mother." He tossed his two Hologram Pokéballs into the sky, "Come out, Celebi and Meowscarada," and shut down the holographic door to Sada's cell.

    A light blue ray flashed from each pokéball, revealing Nemona's Meowscarada and Celebi. Both were tinted blue and seemed to be in a trance. Their pupils widened, and they prepared themselves for battle.

    "Meowscarada!" Nemona called from hers, Scarlet, and Penny's cell. "Please snap out of it! It's Nemona!"

    Meowscarada paid her no attention, and it and Celebi glanced at Turo.

    He stretched his arms. "Too bad, but the Hologram Pokémon only listen to me." Dropping one hand, he held it out to Meowscarada and Celebi. "Meowscarada and Celebi, bring Arven to me!"

    Meowscarada and Celebi rushed by him and dove for Sada and Arven. A gust of wind tossed Turo's lab coat backward, and it waved like a cape.

    "At last," he cheered, laughing hysterically, "I will have another cyborg."

    "No!" Sada screamed. "Please! He's just a child!"

    "I doon't care! I never wanted him in the first place. He's good for nothing but future technology, like you."

    "Gias!" Miraidon switched to his battle form. He and Mabosstiff leaped in front of Sada and Arven.

    Celebi's eyes glowed, and it picked up the two Pokémon. With a Headbutt from Meowscarada, it chucked them into the lab, opening the path for Turo.

    Celebi and Meowscarada surrounded Mabosstiff and Miraidon, and he went into the cell and grabbed Arven.

    "No!" Sada shouted again.

    "Mom, Mom, please," Arven begged, on the brink of tears. "I don't want to be a cyborg." He took off Sada's coat and tried to put it over Turo's head, but he snatched it away.

    "Leave him alone!" Penny attempted to run through the cell's door, but it shocked her, and she stumbled back. She released three of her Pokémon, but they could not break through the barrier, no matter how hard they tried.

    Scarlet glanced at Nemona, who cowered in the corner of the cell with her head in her hands. "Nemona, stand up and fight!"

    Nemona shook her head. "I can't, Scarlet. Meowscarada—I just can't."

    Turo dragged Sada out of the cell with Arven. "Let go, you maniac robot!" he demanded.

    "I lost him once. I'm not losing him again." Sada clenched her teeth and clutched Arven's shirt.

    Celebi picked up Miraidon and Mabosstiff again before they could attack them. It tossed them into a group of Turo's AI Pokémon that round.

    "Let go!" Arven and Sada jumped when Turo yelled that. He finally lifted his fist and clenched it. With all his strength, he smacked Sada across her left cheek.

    The crystals broke, and a hole appeared, revealing a cluster of sparking wires. Sada fell onto her front and lay unconscious, her arms on either side of her. The pile of broken crystals rested next to her.

    "Mom! You monster!" Arven batted Turo's arm like a little kid.

    Penny and Scarlet glared. "How could you?" Penny inquired. "She's done nothing wrong! You big bully, you!"

    Turo did not respond to hers or Arven's outburst. He froze and stared at Sada. Releasing Arven, he dropped to his knees and crawled to her, shaking.

    Arven ran to him and batted him some more, but Turo remained unresponsive.

    He saw the original professor's death. "Sada, stop!" Turo had yelled beforehand. Afterward, his bouquet of Gracidea Flowers tumbled to his feet. He waited until the shock set in and the Koraidon left before he came out of his hiding place.

    Turo approached Sada and picked her up. "No!" he cried over the broken machines of Research Station No. 4.

    The trauma of that night re-played over and over in Turo's head. Tears streamed down his cheeks, and he hiccupped through them.

    Turo plopped down next to AI Sada and hugged her. "I'm sorry," he sobbed. "I'm so sorry."