Arven felt like he was about to drop dead. White circles flashed in front of his face, but his vision cleared when the shock set in. He started to ask himself questions. Why would his dad mistreat Sada like that? Why would he turn her into Infrared? Was it to kill him like Penny said? Kenji mentioned that he had to protect Arven and Sada from his dad until he “snapped out of it”. What did he mean by that? Arven had to speak to Sada herself.

He calmed himself before he could explode, but it was difficult. His dad had crossed the line.

Arven removed his hand from the button and approached Sada’s side. “Mom,” he said, grasping her wrist, “is this true? Are you Infrared?”

Sada shook her head. “I didn’t want to be, but Turo told me it would help me.” That blasted day when she turned Koraidon into Miraidon re-played in her head. She removed her wrist from Arven and buried her face in her palms. “I’m so stupid.”

Arven helped her down from Miraidon and wrapped her arm around his shoulders. “No, you’re not. You’ve just gotta tell me what happened.” He escorted her back to the control room’s wall and sat down with her.

Miraidon and Kenji loitered around the room’s entrance, just in case Turo came.

Where Arven and Sada were, Sada snuggled close to Arven. “Please, just hold me,” she said when she felt him squirming.

Arven relaxed his body and hugged Sada to his breast.

She set her head down on his shoulder.

“How did you get like this?” Arven asked, blinking away a few tears. “You can tell me, Mom.”

“I just wanted us to be a family again,” Sada explained. “I searched the original professor’s memories and saw how much Turo loved her, so I thought I could do it. Celebi brought Koraidon and me to the future. I told Turo what I wanted, and he said that the only way to make us a family again was by summoning you with… with…” She choked on her words.

Arven helped her finish. “Infrared. Wait a minute, Mom. Did you open the space-time rift?”

Sada did not answer. She fell limp in Arven’s arms.

Her computer spoke up, in a monotone. “AI Sada shutting down. Switching to Infrared.”

“No, no, no.” Arven gave Sada a quick shake. “Stay with me, Mom.”

“I… can’t… fight… it… anymore.” Sada’s voice was breathless and fading to nothing but a robotic one.

“You have to, Mom,” Arven pleaded, peering into Sada’s face. “I know you can do it. I’m right here. I’m your human contact.” His whole body, all of a sudden, felt like it was on fire.

“AI Sada shutting down,” said her computer again. “Switching to Infrared.”

“Ahhh!” Sada screamed, reaching for her head. “I’m sorry, Arven! I never meant to put you in danger!”

Stolen novel; please report.

Arven’s ears rang, but he did not flinch away from his mom. She needed him. “Stay calm, Mom,” he said (meant more for himself than her). “We’re going to figure this out. Remember the Stiff and Relaxed Strategy.” He tossed up one of his hands. “Stiff, relaxed. Stiff, relaxed.”

Sada held up her own hand. “Stiff, relaxed. Stiff, relaxed.”

Arven let go of the breath he was holding when very slowly, she started to calm down. However, he narrowed his eyebrows to the point he had an evil glare on his face.

Miraidon turned his head to check on him and instantly flung his tail at Kenji.

“What is it, Miraidon?” Kenji rotated his own head, and his eyes widened when he saw Arven. “Oh no.”

Miraidon remained in his place, but Kenji hustled to Arven and reached for him. “Arven, you need to control your anger.”

“Argh!” Arven shouted. At once, he let Sada go and jumped to his feet.

Kenji caught her before she hit the ground. He bumped foreheads with her and gently asked, “Are you okay, Sada?”

Like a giant whose turf was invaded, Arven stormed around the room. He punched a hole into the wall and kicked it repeatedly until his toe screamed in pain. He even turned over a whole table of Holographic pokéballs and chucked its chair into the wall. It broke on impact. The whole time he raged, warm tears streamed down his cheeks. He jerked his head in the direction of Infrared’s keyboard. He was going to shut it down right here and now. Red usually meant stop when it came to buttons, so he had a hunch of what he had to do.

“Arven!” Kenji yelled when he saw him making his way toward the keyboard. “Miraidon, stop him!”

“Gias,” Miraidon said, nodding. His rockets launched him into the sky, and he plopped down in front of Arven, who gasped and fell backward.

“Let me pass, Mirai—hic!” he wailed as the tears kept falling. “I’m trying to save—hic!—my mom!”

“You can’t save her,” Miraidon growled. “You need to let her go. It’s the only way you’re going to defeat Turo.” It was too bad that Arven didn’t speak his lingo. Miraidon needed Celebi. After all, it had telepathy, unlike him.

Arven grabbed a pokéball and tossed it. “Cloyster, use—hic!—Ice Beam!” Gosh, that one hurt. Arven reached for his aching chest.

Once Cloyster appeared, it announced, “Cloyster!” and launched its icy beam at Miraidon. It smacked him in his chest tire.

Crying out, Miraidon stumbled back. While he tried to recover from the blow, Arven sprinted past him.

He tripped over his foot and tumbled onto his front. However, he quickly got up and smacked the keyboard’s red button. “Don’t worry, Mom,” Arven told himself, “you’re going to be—hic!—free from Infrared before you—hic!—know it.”

“No!” Kenji cried out, but it was too late.

Sada’s eyes flashed infrared, as well as her clothes. Instead of a human, she looked like a cluster of ambulance sirens. Her crystals sparkled, and she shoved Kenji off her.

The strength in Sada’s legs returned. She stood and tilted her head to the right. Her arms dangled on either side of her.

“Infrared initiated,” said her monotone at an even slower pace. “Summoning Mastermind Turo.”

“Mom?” Arven inquired, nervous. He thought the red button would shut down Infrared! What had he done now? Why was it so difficult for him to get a dawg-gone mom?

Although he was shaky, Miraidon got up from the ground. He quickly picked up Arven and hugged him to the right side of his tire. Next, he went to Kenji and scooped him up as well. Miraidon held him on the left side of his tire.

Reminiscent of what happened in Area Zero a month prior, the room’s interior shimmered red like Tera crystals.

Sada, or Infrared, approached Arven’s Cloyster.

“Cloyster!” he called. Arven fumbled around for his Pokémon’s pokéball, but he was too slow.

Infrared placed her hand on Cloyster’s shell. At her touch, its body switched to that of a Hologram Pokémon; only, it was red rather than blue like Meowscarada.

“No—hic! Cloyster!” Arven shrieked.

Infrared stood on Cloyster’s right side. “Infrared initiated,” she repeated. “Summoning Mastermind Turo.”

Kenji did a face palm. He scoffed and looked past Miraidon’s tire to Arven. “Well done, Arven,” was the only thing he told him. “Well done.”