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Turo came to, but there was a terrible throbbing in the back of his head, and it wasn’t just from hitting it. Rubbing it, he offered Joy his free hand. “Joy, give me that remote.”
“Now why would I do that?” Joy pointed the device at Infrared, Turo’s AI people, and then Miraidon. “I suddenly have so much power. Consider this your punishment for treating us so poorly, Turo.”
“I made a mistake, and I’m sorry,” Turo apologized.
“Sorry won’t cut it. Your mistreatment is now mine. I own Infrared and your AIs.”
Joy mashed a button on the device, but as soon as she did, her whole hand Terastallized. Joy was too in her head to notice it. “Hee, hee,” she cackled when Turo’s AI people—none of whom had been finished—powered on. At the same time, Miraidon’s computer-generated eyes glowed red. “I can control the Legendary Pokémon and AIs!” Joy said, squeezing the remote. “Get them, my friends. Turn them all into holograms.”
“Run!” Kenji insisted, pushing on the kids. Just like Joy, he started to Terastallize.
Arven helped Turo stand. He turned on a confused face when he saw Kenji and asked, “Why are all of them Terastallizing, Dad?”
Turo massaged his sore arm and explained, “It happens when they act against their code.”
Joy found Infrared’s button on the device and pressed it next. “Open the space-time rift, Infrared,” she ordered.
That just confirmed it. Sada did open the space-time rift. But how? Arven had no time to search his thoughts.
Next to him, Turo stared into Infrared’s face. He couldn’t see it well, because of her crystals and eyes, but his gut told him that she was scared.
“Please, Turo,” he almost heard her beg. “Please destroy me.” Her right hand shot out, but she did not move her left one at all.
At her command, Arven’s holographic Cloyster and Nemona’s Meowscarada leaped out from behind her and joined Miraidon. The rest of the AI Pokémon and their robotic trainers joined them.
Arven, Turo, and Scarlet recalled their Pokémon before they and their friends backed away from the danger zone. Halfway to the lab’s exit, Arven, Turo, and Celebi stopped and examined Joy and Infrared.
“The space-time rift, Infrared!” Joy ordered again. “Open it! Bring all those Past Pokémon here!”
“No!” Infrared cried out. Not after all the trouble she and the others got into in the past. She wasn’t able to stop herself then, but she could stop herself now.
She launched for Joy and grabbed the hand she held the device in. Her eyes began to glitch again.
“You little—!” Joy snapped. “No wonder Mastermind Turo had so much trouble with you. You’re a hassle!” Using all her strength, she ripped Infrared’s lab coat off her left arm and twisted it. Joy shoved her away from her.
While Infrared went down, she cried out. The crystals on her upper left arm smashed into the floor. Bits and pieces of them, as well as pieces of her coat, broke off.
“Sada!” Turo, sweating from the sideline, shouted. “Stop, Joy!”
“You were the one who wanted to hurt her in the first place,” she snapped.
Turo regretted it, but it was the truth. He clenched his teeth and chewed on his nails.
“Dad,” Arven said, moving his attention from his mom to him, “we have to destroy Mom, don’t we?”
Turo nodded. “It’s the only way to shut down Infrared and stop Joy.”
It was exactly what Scarlet said. Arven whispered it to himself: “The power of acceptance.”
Turo removed the Violet book from his pocket and handed it to him. “Arven, here. Take the Violet book to the control room. There’s a 3D printer there. I used it to create the book when I programmed Sada with Infrared. It was supposed to be her guide to the future and computer.” His eyes bore into Celebi’s big, blue ones. “Celebi, go with him.”
“Bi,” Celebi said. It remembered the day it went to the past to retrieve the Scarlet book from Sada. Celebi dropped her and Koraidon off in the future, and then it jumped back to the present.
Celebi, under Poco Path’s full moon, which covered the lab’s roof in a luscious glow, flew through the open window into the kitchen. It saw Arven fast asleep on the couch—and Mabosstiff sleeping at its base. Quiet like a Tatsugiri, Celebi set the Scarlet book down on the coffee table next to the couch. It would deliver the Violet book when it was time.
Celebi shook the memory away and landed on Arven’s shoulder.
He hugged the Violet book to his chest. “What will you do, Dad?” He didn’t want to lose him, too, even if he was a bit crazy.
Noticing the fear on his face, Turo encouraged, “Don’t worry. Once I get AI Sada, I’ll be right behind you.” He glanced at Celebi. “Take care of him, Celebi.”
Celebi stood tall. “Bi!” it said, saluting like a soldier. It tugged on the tuft of hair Arven wore over his eye.
He hesitated, but he eventually found the guts to go with it. On his way out, he pointed at Turo and said almost humorously, “Don’t die.”
Turo tilted his head to the left. “I won’t. I promise.” He made sure Celebi and Arven were safely on their way before he turned to Joy again. All of this was happening because of him. He had to make it right.
Turo freed a pokéball from his pocket. “Iron Valiant, cover me while I get Sada!” he announced.
Iron Valiant, a mechanical Pokémon that resembled both Gardevoir and Gallade, soon appeared. It was primarily green and white and held a double-sided, pink scythe in its hand. It moved quickly on its long legs. The whole time it ran, the cape/skirt-like feature it had behind its legs whipped like a kite on a beach. Every time an AI trainer told their Pokémon to attack, Iron Valiant slashed at them with its scythe. Eventually, it reached Joy. Its scythe glowed up, and with one strike, it cut Turo’s device in half.
“No!” Joy shrieked. At once, she caught the top part of the device and tried to put it back together.
Now was Turo’s chance. Joy couldn’t control Infrared without the remote.
Infrared attempted to stand, but she didn’t get far before she collapsed again. The pain… It was too much. Rolling onto her back, she reached for Turo.
Once there was an opening, he rushed to her.
Infrared stretched her arm out to him. It looked like she was asking for a hug. The best thing she could do with her left arm was hold it like it was in a sling.
Turo hastily picked her up. He closed one eye when her broken arm sparked some, but he refused to drop her. He had to redeem himself. “I’ve got you, Sada,” he said, running his fingers through her hair again.
She rested her hand on his cheek. Her eyes glitched to their normal cyan color, and she begged, “Please… destroy me,” before they switched back to infrared.
With her snug in his arms, Turo gestured for Kenji, Nemona, Scarlet, and Penny to follow him. “Follow me!” he called.
Miraidon, whose eyes returned to normal, roared at Joy. He, Slither Wing, and Iron Valiant hurried after Turo and the others, but Meowscarada and Cloyster remained with Joy.
“I don’t care what you do to them,” she said to them and the rest of Turo’s AIs, “but I’m your master now, and you will stop them from destroying Infrared!” She was going to find her way past the group’s wall and make a new device. Turo had mistreated her and the rest of the AIs long enough. It was time to give him a taste of his own money.
Meowscarada and Cloyster took the lead and went after Arven’s party. Turo’s Hologram Pokémon and AIs accompanied them.
Scarlet, Penny, and Nemona sent out their whole Pokémon teams to take them on. The battle ensured, and it was no different from fighting the Future Pokémon in the past.
“Whoo-hoo!” Nemona cheered. “Oh, this is so much fun!” The spark of battle, her love for it, ignited in her gut like a hot flame. Why on Earth did she lose her confidence in the first place?
Koraidon pulled off a few AI Vroom who latched onto him. He and his partners launched a wide array of attacks at a group of Hologram Pokémon.
Scarlet ducked and covered her head when one move smashed into the wall of the lab. It left an enormous hole behind. “Go!” she shouted at Turo and Miraidon. “We’ll cover for you!”
“On it,” Turo said, looking at Miraidon. “Lead the way, Miraidon.”
“Gias.” Miraidon gestured for Slither Wing and Iron Valiant to stay behind. He cocked his body forward, so he could move faster, and headed for the barracks.
Tightening his grip on Infrared, Turo chased him. He protected Infrared’s head the whole journey.
Scarlet yelled when another Pokémon attack soared over her. She could not move; she was so scared. She felt that talking about her dad to Turo weakened her. Scarlet saw her dad’s face, both before his death and after.
An AI Pokémon came for her, but Penny’s Leafeon jumped into the fray and knocked it back with a Bullet Seed. The fast-moving seeds, which were reminiscent of machine gun bullets, punched holes into the AI’s body. Electricity coursed from them, and it fell over.
Penny approached Scarlet and lugged her to her feet. “Are you okay, Scarlet?”
“I-I think,” Scarlet stuttered. “Thank you, Penny.”
Penny smiled. She scrolled through the computer app on her phone. “What we need to do is break as many AIs as we can.” Penny slipped the phone into her pocket. She grasped Scarlet’s shoulders. “You can do this, Scarlet. You’re the bravest of us all.”
“I-I’ll try,” Scarlet said in a shaky voice, and she tossed her dad’s memory out of her head.
Off to the side, Kenji released Iron Bundle. He tucked his fingers into his palms and surmised, “Iron Bundle, if we can break parts of the robots, we can probably pull out their motherboards.” After all, motherboards were what computers ran on, and that was all the AIs were—not people or Pokémon, but computers. Sada was the only human robot in the whole lab.
She clutched the broken Tera crystals on her upper left arm and brushed off a whole layer of them. They fell through the crack between her arm and Turo’s tummy. She could feel her motherboard struggling under her will to be human.
Infrared noticed that the remaining crystals had been loosened by her fall, too. An idea popped into her brain. She knew what she had to do.
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