Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Infrared

        “Mornin’, Arven, it’s time for school.” Sada’s crystals shimmered in the morning sunshine. She chuckled and shook Arven with her good hand. “No, no, I mean, it’s time to wake up.” She liked that joke, though.

        Arven snorted and lifted his cheek from her bed. “School?” he groggily asked. He spent the rest of the night sitting in a chair next to Sada after she asked Miraidon to let him.

        She was starting to think that the Pokémon was beginning to tolerate him. Maybe not like him yet, but tolerate him.

        Arven rubbed drool from his lips. “Hey, Mom,” he said, yawning. “Oh, you are bad.” It looked like he just remembered he was in the past. “Di-Did you manage to fall asleep?” he added.

        “Don’t worry about me,” Sada said. “As long as you slept, I’m okay.” Truthfully, she had been too scared to fall back asleep. What if she had another night terror and did more than throw a chair at Arven?

        “Go get some breakfast,” she continued. “Your friends and the Pokémon are in the kitchen.”

        “What about you?”

        “I still have some juice in my battery; I’ll be fine. I’m more concerned about you, Arven, than me right now.” Sada especially was after the talk she had with Penny.

        She gestured at the kitchen. She noticed that Penny had stepped out of it, and she approached Arven’s back. “Go on.”

        “I’ll take a look at her, Arven,” Penny stated. “FYI, Nemona burned the sausages a little bit, but they’re still edible. We’re gonna head out after breakfast.”

        Arven got up from his chair. “Where’re we goin’?”

        “On a walk.” Aside from those three words, Penny tilted her head toward Sada.

        “Oh, right,” Arven said. “Thanks, Pen.” He walked by her and patted her shoulder.

        She blushed under his touch but quickly came to her senses (although it was cute seeing how much she liked Arven). “Excuse me, Miraidon.” Penny stepped over him and shuffled to Sada’s left side. “Morning, Sada. How are you feeling?”

        She tittered. “Like a Future Pokémon fried me.”

        “I’m just gonna look at your arm,” Penny said. She grasped it, and Sada winced. “I’m sorry. I know it hurts. I’m going to see if I can check your motherboard.”

        “Is that the main concern here?” Sada inquired, glancing at Penny.

        “It’s one of them, yeah, aside from Infrared,” she answered. “You’ve got a bad break here, Sada, but I’ll see what I can do. The only problem is, all of my computer parts are back home.”

        “That may make it difficult. I supposed it’s not every day you see an AI unless it’s the future.” Sada flinched again when Penny removed her lab coat’s sleeve.

        “Oh, dang it,” was the only thing she said.

        “Snap! It’s bad, isn’t it?” Sada peered down at her arm.

        A batch of infrared-colored Tera crystals had started to grow over her wound like a blood clot, and Penny could not break them, no matter how hard she tried.

        “Stop, stop,” Sada begged. “It hurts.”

        “Sorry.” Guilt flashed across Penny’s face. “Sada, I can’t do anything without my computer parts.”

        Sada removed her arm from her and put it back in her lab coat. “It’s fine. I’ll just learn to tolerate it.” She sighed. “At the end of the day, Penny, this is my fault. I should have never trusted Turo in the first place.”

***

        Sada’s party left soon after breakfast. She took the Violet Book with her on their expedition through the woods. 

        Sada walked alone on the rock-free hiking trail and read. A fresh batch of crystals emerged on her right cheek. She felt them, but she tried her best to ignore them and thought, Just read, to herself.

        Arven and his friends hid in the woods.

        From behind a bush, Scarlet gave Koraidon his cue by flicking her wrist.

        Koraidon nodded and leaped out of the forest onto the trail. He landed in front of Sada and roared, “Agiasgias!” as loud as he could.

        Sada merely stared at him. She stuck her nose back in her book and marched past Koraidon.

        De-stroyed.

        “Gias,” Koraidon moaned, sinking to the ground. His antennae dropped behind him.

        Scarlet came out of the woods and patted his head.

        Arven and Nemona were the next ones to try to get Sada. They climbed into a tree—onto a wide, sturdy branch—and waited. Once Sada was close enough, Nemona dropped and wrapped her legs around the branch.

        Arven held her in place.

        Nemona dangled and made a goofy face. “Boogie, boogie, boogie!” she said to Sada.

        She still didn’t flinch.

        Arven slipped under Nemona’s weight. She and he tumbled out of the tree and landed in the tall grass at its base.

        Sada placed the book on her chest and hopped back before they could hit her.

        Groaning, Arven propped up his head.

        A game of Duck, Duck, Goose—Penny’s idea—was the group’s third attempt; only AI Sada had no memories of Professor Sada playing it, so she didn’t know what to do.

        Penny went in circles at least three times before she slapped Sada’s back. “Goose!”

        Sada did not move. She sat very still and robot-like—with a blank expression on her face. To her, Penny spoke nonsense.

        “Well, that didn’t work,” she grumbled.

        Nemona tapped Sada. “You’re supposed to chase her, Professor.”

        “Oh, right,” Sada said, finally blinking. She started to get up, but she tripped on the tail of her coat and fell forward. She covered her face with her hand so no one could see her blushing.

        Sada was silent for a bit, and then she questioned, “I’m not a very good mom, aren’t I?”

        “It’s okay,” Arven encouraged. “You’re trying, and that’s all that matters.” He smiled. “Why don’t we have a Pokémon battle to spice things up a bit?”

        “Ooh, yes!” Sada rocked her head like a rocking horse without a rider. “Sounds good to me.” A nice Pokémon battle was just what she needed to get her mind off Infrared.

        Sada and Arven got up and approached one another. They shook hands and split apart to create a battlefield on the trail.

        “Ooh, is it battle time?” Nemona grinned, but it wasn’t long until she lost her smile. She stepped off to the side and placed her hands behind her back.

        Arven drew a pokéball and his Tera Orb from his belt. He tossed the Tera Orb up and down in his palm and held his pokéball over his head. “Just so you know, Mom, I’m not gonna go easy on you.”

        Sada waved her right hand. “Good, because I’m not either.” She pulled another Master Ball and her own Tera Orb out of her coat pocket. A blast of warm wind blew her five braids in her face, but she flipped them away. “Roaring Moon,” Sada yelled, and she tossed her Master Ball forward, “I choose you!”

        The Pokémon that emerged from Sada’s ball was equivalent to a prehistoric Salamence. Its large and curvy, red wings had sharp feathers on the end of them, and feathers covered its blue body.

        Plopping down in front of Sada, Roaring Moon howled at Arven. It showed off its fangs and prepared itself for battle.

        “Going straight for the Roaring Moon?” Arven asked, smirking. “I like it.”

        “Well, I do like to play dirty,” Sada joked, scratching her ear.

        “Really? Me, too.” Arven slid his foot back and tossed his own pokéball. “Let’s go, Cloyster!” His mollusk/pearl-like Pokémon appeared in a flash of white light.

        It opened and closed its enormous shell a few times before announcing, “Cloyster!”

        Sada continued to scratch her ear. “Oh, an Ice Type, huh? It looks like you know your type matchups, Arven. But too bad for you because Cloyster has terrible Special Defense.” She fiercely narrowed her eyebrows and held her hand out to Roaring Moon. “Roaring Moon, use Flamethrower!”

        At her command, Roaring Moon hopped into the troposphere and launched a stream of fire at Arven’s Cloyster.

        “Speed, Arven!” Sada shouted through the chaos. She clenched her fists. “You’ve got to go for speed! Use your reflexes!”

        “Uhh,” Arven stuttered. “Close your shell, Cloyster.”

        “No, no, no!” Sada ordered, but it was already too late. Roaring Moon’s Flamethrower scorched Cloyster—its shell and everything. Thanks to its horrific Special Defense, it immediately dropped to the ground.

        Off to the side, Penny smacked her hand to her face.

        “Yikes! Cloyster, return!” Arven quickly recalled his Pokémon. “No fair, Mom! You didn’t even let me use my Tera Orb!”

        “Fights rarely are fair,” Sada explained, shaking her head slightly. “I learned this the hard way. It looks like I need to give you some battle tips.” She gave Arven a friendly smile. “Here’s my first one—know the difference between Special Defense and Physical Defense. You see, Roaring Moon has high Special Defense but low Defense. Therefore, the best approach for him is a physical one. Do you have any hard-hitting physical Pokémon on your team? Mabosstiff, for example? I do know it can learn Ice Fang.”

        “How do you—?” Arven started, but Sada interrupted him.

        “Imbued with your mom’s knowledge, remember?” She pointed at her forehead.

        “Wow!” Nemona said, putting her hands together. “She knows so much!”

        Arven removed Mabosstiff’s pokéball from his collection. “Let’s try this, Mom. Mabosstiff, it’s your turn!”

        Within seconds, Mabosstiff was on the battlefield. “Woof!” he barked, and he planted his feet.

        Sada turned on a thoughtful face. “Here’s my next question. Does Mabosstiff even know Ice Fang?”

        “Uhh.” Arven did a face palm himself.

        Sada guessed she won that one, and she laughed. “You kill me, Arven! Let me guess, you gave him a full set of Dark-type moves?”

        “No,” Arven replied, clearly embarrassed. “He knows Play Rough. That’s super-effective on Dark Types, right?”

        “Play Rough, huh?” Sada placed her hands on her hips. “Even better! That’s four times more effective on Roaring Moon. But… I’m not going to let you get off that easily.” She extended her right arm and stuck her Tera Orb out. “Are you ready, Roaring Moon? It’s time to Terastallize!” Waves of crystalline energy circled her orb and blew her hair. However, the crystals backfired and hit Sada instead of the orb.

        “Ow!” she shouted. She forgot that she herself was Terastallizing. Weak on her now crystal-covered legs, Sada plummeted and landed on her right arm. Her Tera Orb and Roaring Moon’s pokéball rolled out of her hand.

        “Oh my gosh! Mom!” Arven shrieked, covering his mouth with both hands. He and Mabosstiff sprinted as fast as their legs could carry them. The second they made it to Sada, Arven clutched her shoulder and frantically shook it. “Wake up! Wake up!”

        Sada did not stir.

        Penny and the rest of Arven’s friends soon reached them, and Arven wasted no time to ask, “What happened, Penny? You’re the machine expert.”

        Penny chewed off a whole piece of her pinkie’s fingernail. Her teeth broke it up into smaller pieces. “I-I’m not sure,” she stuttered. “Is she okay?”

        “Does she look okay?” Arven yelled. “She’s knocked out cold!”

        Celebi pushed through the arguing teens and flew to Sada’s face. It slapped her a few times and begged, “Bi, bi, bi!”

        By Celebi’s sixth slap, Sada woke up. She was shaky—and her hair stuck out like static electricity—but she managed to push herself to her hands and knees.

        Sada straightened her hair and inhaled. The first thing she said was, “Do you want to continue our battle, Arven?”

        “No!” he quickly answered.

        Flash! Arven and his friends closed their eyes against the sudden infrared sky that pulsed like before.

        “What the—?” Arven said, holding his arm up to his face. “What is going on?”

        A dark red crack, shaped like a lightning bolt, appeared in the sky. It was so sudden that flocks of bird Pokémon split apart from each other.

        The seconds progressed, and the crack in the sky only expanded.

        Miraidon and Koraidon quickly switched to their battle forms, and Celebi put up its barrier.

        Nemona looked past it and pointed at the crack. “What is that?”

        Behind her, Sada scooped up Roaring Moon’s pokéball and returned him to it. She slipped it and her Tera Orb into her pocket and attempted to stand. Nonetheless, Sada only managed to get halfway up before she toppled over again. The Tera crystals on her legs acted like a rock and weighed her down. Not only that, but they also started to spread. It wasn’t long until Sada’s legs twitched just as much as her left arm.

        She took hold of her aching right arm and studied the crack in the sky. There was a moment of silence, and then she said, “It’s the space-time rift.”