At the same time, Arven and Sada stopped what they were doing and turned their heads.

“What on Earth’s gotten into Miraidon?” Arven inquired, running his fingers through his hair.

“Agias!” Miraidon’s cry busted down the back door and swamped the cave like an enormous wave.

Arven and Sada tossed their knives onto the counter and hustled for the door.

Her hand in her pocket, Sada explained, “He may have seen a Slither Wing. There’s a rabble of them that fly by occasionally.” She smiled at the worried teens. “Not to worry. Y’all stay here, and I’ll check it out.”

“Stay here?” Nemona asked. “And do what? I wanna battle!”

“I already told you to stay clear of the Paradox Pokémon, Nemona,” Sada said. “Trust me. These ones are far more ruthless than the ones you faced in Area Zero. I don’t want any of you getting hurt.” Her eyes moved over to Arven. “Especially you, Arven, since you already took a beating in the Zero Lab.”

“Bu… But, Mom,” Arven stuttered. There was no way he was going to let his mom run astray in the past with a bunch of dangerous Pokémon! “No,” he added, shaking his head. “I’m going with you.”

“No, you’re not,” Sada stated. She took Arven’s shoulders and sat him down on the couch with his friends. “Remember my code. My battling abilities surpass even the Champion. I’ll be fine.” Sada patted Arven’s shoulders and turned on her heel. “Miraidon!” she called.

Arven rose to his feet, but Penny held her arms up to his chest.

“You heard the lady,” she said. “We need to stay here.”

Arven ripped her arms off him, causing Penny to fall back onto the couch. “I don’t care. She’s my mom.”

Okay, Penny had had enough of this. There was no more Mr. Nice Guy from here on out. She was getting sick of Arven pushing her around like a woman. It was time for her to take a stand.

With Koraidon and Celebi watching in the distance, Penny hopped up from the couch and snatched Arven’s shirt collar. “For Pete’s Sake, Arven! Your mom is dead!” she boomed, and she shook his shirt a few times. “What you’re looking at is an AI! A robot! You want proof? I’ll give you proof.” Penny started to pull out her phone, but Scarlet grabbed her and lugged her away from Arven before she could.

“My mom’s not dead, Penny!” he fought back, straightening his collar. “I love her, and she’s ghosted me long enough.”

“You’re in love with an AI?” Penny growled. “That’s sick, Arven. It’s a freaking robot.”

“She’s not an ‘it’! She’s my mom!”

“She’s an AI!”

Nemona finally stepped up. She wasn’t head of Naranja’s student council for nothing.

She came between Arven and Penny before they could draw their pokéballs and said, “Break it up, you two!” Pausing, Nemona took a deep breath and lowered her voice. She faced Arven, who was on the brink of tears, and added, “Arven, I understand. It’s sad and it hurts, but what Penny’s saying is true. Your mom…” She shook her head. “She died. AI Sada told us in Area Zero. You’ve got to accept it.”

“No, never,” Arven choked out. “She’s being controlled by a computer. I just need to find a way to break her away from it, and then I’ll finally have my mom back. If y’all don’t wanna help me, fine. I’ll do it myself.” He dropped his pack, clutched Mabosstiff’s pokéball, and rushed outside to where Miraidon stood, now calm.

Inside the cabin, Nemona rubbed her temples. “Oh, boy.” Dropping her hand, she faced Penny. “It’s okay, Penny. You tried. When we get back to Naranja, I’m going to set Arven up with a grief counselor.”

“He needs one,” Penny said through gritted teeth. “He really does.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

As usual, Scarlet didn’t say anything, but she did take a step forward and hold her hand out to the back door.

Koraidon approached her from the side and nudged her. Why did his partner look lost in thought all of a sudden? In the few months he had been traveling with her, she never spaced out.

***

Arven caught up quickly with Sada in the Tagtree Thicket. He stayed quiet and hid behind trees and logs every time she stopped, careful not to step on a stick.

A few times when she paused, Sada moved her head back and forth. Her movements were short, choppy, and robot-like, but Arven tried not to think too hard about them. Everybody had a unique way of moving their bodies.

Sada reached an opening in the thicket—a section of tall grass where a few Pokémon roamed and crawled under her legs. Eyes blinking red, she said, without turning around, “Arven, I told you to stay at the cabin.”

“Dang it!” Arven whispered, clenching his fist. However, he remained behind his tree, which had a giant chunk of it ripped off due to a lightning strike.

Sada rotated her body at a quick pace. Her tooth necklace and braids in her hair bounced with her movements.

Eventually, Arven, while clenching the tree’s trunk, poked out from it. “Hi, Mom,” he nervously said. “I-It was getting hot in the cabin, so I decided to go for a walk.”

“Oh, really?” Sada asked, not convinced. “And out of all the hiking trails that surround the cabin, you just happened to take the one I took?”

“Um… touché?” Arven said, shrugging his shoulders.

A metallic cry in the woods cut their argument short. To Sada and Arven’s surprise, a Pokémon that looked like Slither Wing fluttered out of it; except, this Pokémon was like a futuristic version of it. Its tough, bug-like body was held in the air by two sets of orange, iron-based wings that had red inside tips. It stood at least three and a half feet tall and most likely weighed a ton with all the iron on it. The red fangs that stretched down from the top of its head to its body opened and closed a few times.

“What the—?” Arven asked. He stepped out from behind the tree and joined Sada. “What is that thing? It looks like your Slither Wing, but at the same time, it doesn’t.”

Even Sada didn’t have a theory for what hovered in front of her and her son. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “I’ve never seen it, too, Arven. I didn’t even know Slither Wing had other forms.” She took a second to glance at Arven. “However, do you remember what I told you about the Paradox Pokémon? These things will attack out of nowhere. That’s why you were supposed to stay at the cabin until I figure out what disturbed Miraidon.”

“Mom, look out!” Arven shrieked, out of the blue.

In the short time Sada gave Arven attention, the futuristic Slither Wing had jumped forward and latched onto her left arm. Electrical energy surged through its fangs into it, and Sada’s arm sparked and smoked under their impact. She didn’t scream, but she did collapse to her knees.

“Mom!” Arven shouted. He quickly drew Mabosstiff’s pokéball and threw it. “Mabosstiff, come out and use Crunch!”

Mabosstiff soon appeared from the pokéball, growling. His own fangs glowed up, and he chomped down on the futuristic Slither Wing’s wing and ripped it away from Sada.

The Pokémon cried out. It shook Mabosstiff off and fluttered back into the woods, its wing limp and lame.

“Good boy, Mabosstiff,” Arven said. “Keep watch, will ya?”

“Woof!” Mabosstiff barked. He stretched his legs and bent his body.

Arven rushed to Sada, who twitched on the ground and clutched her arm. Was this what pain felt like?

“Sit still, Mom,” Arven ordered, “and let me look at your arm.”

“No!” Sada instantly protested. “I’m fine, Arven. Really.”

“Mom, you’re clearly in pain,” said Arven. “I’m just trying to help you.”

“Is that what this is?” Sada asked. “Pain?” She continued to twitch. “Arven, please no. Infrared.”

“I don’t care what you say,” Arven sternly stated. “I’m going to get you some help. Just stay still.” He nodded at Mabosstiff, who nodded back and quickly trotted to Sada’s side. Arven left her and called into the woods, “Hello? Is anyone out there? Please! My mom’s hurt!” When no one answered, he returned to Sada and started to pull her lab coat’s left sleeve off her arm, but she snatched his wrist with her good hand.

“Arven, stop. I can’t let you see what’s under there. The best thing you can do now is help me home.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Arven said, “but if you’re bleeding out, I need to know.”

“Arven, no!” but Arven had already pulled Sada’s arm out of the lab coat… and his jaw dropped.

The futuristic Slither Wing’s fangs burned off the upper layer of the arm, revealing nothing but wires and sparks underneath.

Arven fell onto his backside, and he quickly crawled away from Sada. No, it was true! His mom was a robot!

“I’m sorry, Arven,” Sada whimpered. “I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”

Even though he was shocked, Arven still couldn’t sit around with his mom injured like that—even if she was a robot. He returned to her and took the rest of her lab coat off. Arven tossed it over Sada’s shoulders and offered her his hand. “Penny’s good with machines. She’ll fix you.”

“Thank you, Arven.” Sada’s voice was weak. She struggled to lift her right hand, due to Infrared’s code about preventing human contact, but she still managed to take Arven’s.

He pulled her up and wrapped his arms around her. Arven led Sada forward, and Mabosstiff followed. “You’re going to be okay, Mom,” he promised. “You’re going to be okay.”