Chapter 17: Chapter 14: Rise of the Mastermind

         Scarlet, Sada, Penny, and Koraidon marched through the thicket calling, “Miraidon! Miraidon!” Arven, Nemona, and Celebi stayed behind to set up camp for the night. It was already too late to go back to Sada’s cabin. Wicked beasts lurked in the forest after dusk.

 Penny pulled up the computer app on her phone. She tried to track Miraidon’s signal, but her phone always took her back to Sada.

 “Have you picked up anything, Penny?” the professor asked.

 Penny shook her head. “No. The app keeps leading me back to you.”

 “Wait, maybe I can help.” Sada placed her right hand on her ear. “Request to track down Miraidon initiated.”

 “Huh?” Penny asked, lowering her phone. That was the most robotic Sada had ever sounded that day. What happened to all the emotion in her voice?

 “Tracking, tracking,” Sada repeated to herself. She scratched her ear like there was an earpiece in it. “Unable to connect.”

 Penny lifted her phone again. She scanned Sada and whispered, “Dang it!” when the results popped up. “Scarlet!”

 At her voice, Scarlet and Koraidon turned at the same time. Scarlet’s high ponytail waved from side to side a few times before it settled down like dust on furniture.

 “You and Koraidon look for Miraidon,” Penny ordered. Something that sounded like guilt bounced off her tongue. “I’m gonna get Sada back to Arven.”

 “What’s going on?” Scarlet said. She gasped when out of nowhere, Sada’s left arm—the arm Penny supposedly fixed—started to spark again.

 Penny met her friend’s eyes. “It’s Infrared. It’s trying to overthrow her again.”

 “What?” Scarlet put her feet together. “I thought you fixed her.”

 “Yeah, me, too,” Penny stated, checking her phone. “Getting her back to Arven is the best thing for her. I’ll try to figure out what I did wrong there.”

 “Right.” Scarlet’s voice was calm—even though she was scared. “If Koraidon and I need you guys, we’ll send a sign.”

 “Good idea,” Penny admitted with a slow nod. “You guys be careful.”

 “And you, too,” Scarlet returned.

 There was a moment of silence, and then…

 “This darn AI!” a sudden voice said from Sada, but it wasn’t hers. The voice sounded like a man—an invisible man.

 “What was that?” Penny inquired. She searched for Scarlet, but she and Koraidon had already vanished into the darkness ahead. “Huh, that was weird,” Penny said to herself. Hustling to Sada, she took hold of her upper right arm and lugged her forward. “You’re okay, Professor. You’ll be safe with Arven.”

 “Infrared. Infrared,” Sada said to herself, but the closer she and Penny got to the camp, the more human-like she became again. Finally, they reached a small gap in the forest, and the first thing they saw was a roaring campfire. Sada’s arm stopped sparking, and her limbs quit whirling with her movements.

 “Oh, hey! Back so soon?” Nemona looked up from making dinner and approached Sada and Penny. “Where’s Scarlet?”

 “She and Koraidon are still looking for Miraidon,” Penny answered. “I had to bring Sada back here.” She moved her head from side to side. “Where’s Arven?”

 “Over there. Poor dude’s exhausted.” Nemona pointed to the other side of the fire.

 Arven was fast asleep. He rested his head on his hands and clutched Mabosstiff’s pokéball in between his elbows.

 Sada took one look at him and removed her lab coat. “Let him sleep,” she said. “He’s been through too much today.” She went to her son and tossed her coat over him like a blanket.

 Nemona, who followed, asked, “But, Professor, won’t you be cold without your coat?”

 Sada chuckled. “Don’t worry about me. I’m an AI, remember? I have a heating system.”

 “You do? Oh, wow! That’s so cool!” Nemona admitted, clapping. “Could you teach me the ways of the AI? I’d love to know.”

 “I would,” Sada answered, “but the thing is, Nemona, I’m not going to be an AI much longer. I’m planning on becoming human, so I can be the mother Arven never had.”

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 Nemona scratched her chin. “Is that possible?”

 “According to Infrared, yes.” Sada placed her hand on her hip.

 “Are you sure?” a worried Nemona wanted to know. “All Infrared seems to do is try to turn you less human.”

 Drumming her fingers, Sada said, “The man behind Infrared says that’s the first step in the process.”

 “Wait.” Nemona reached out, but she stopped herself from touching Sada. “Are you sure you’re not being deceived?”

 “I trust this man with my life,” Sada argued.

 “Who is he?” Nemona was really curious now. However, the answer she got was not the one she was looking for.

 “That’s none of your business.” And just like that, Sada sat down next to Arven and crossed her legs.

 “Psst, Nemona,” Penny spoke in just a whisper, but Nemona still heard her. Penny waved her friend over.

 “Penny,” Nemona said, leaving Sada and Arven, “apparently, there’s a mastermind behind Infrared.”

 “Of course there is.” Penny gave her a You really didn’t know that? look. “All computers have some sort of mastermind behind them.” Hence her time working with them when she tried to break up Team Star.

 “Oh, right,” a baffled Nemona realized. “I think Sada’s being deceived. Someone is telling her that Infrared will bring her closer to Arven when really, that’s not the case at all.”

 “Which means we need to find the mastermind and destroy Infrared ourselves,” Penny explained.

 “Ah, moths! They’re all over the place!” Scarlet had returned to the camp, with both Miraidon and Koraidon. Out of breath, she stopped in front of her friends and clutched her knees.

 “Oh, hello, Scarlet,” Nemona greeted with a goofy smile. “It looks like you found Miraidon.”

 “Yeah, but now’s not the time,” Scarlet gasped. “We need to get out of here.”

 “Oh, but why?” Nemona questioned. “I was just getting ready to put the chorizos on.” That was when she heard it—loud screeching.

 Five of the familiar, futuristic Slither Wings hopped out of the woods. The giant moths roared at the party and kicked up dust and dirt from their flapping wings. They knocked out the fire due to them.

 Arven snapped awake and sat up. Sada’s coat dropped from his shoulder. “Whoa!” he said. “What in the—? Oh, are you serious?” The Pokémon startled him so much that he accidentally knocked his arm into Sada’s face, knocking her back a bit. “Oh, I’m sorry!” Arven quickly apologized.

 It was strange. Even though she was an AI, Sada’s face still felt soft and human-like. Arven wondered why. Scarlet’s voice snapped him out of his trance.

 “Get on Miraidon!” She had climbed on top of Koraidon. Nemona sat behind her, but Miraidon was empty-saddled.

 He tossed Arven and Sada on top of him and gave Koraidon a small nod. This was the only time he was willing to work with him and Arven.

 The Legendary Pokémon dashed toward the exit of the Tagtree Thicket, but Arven stopped them before they could get too far.

 “Wait, we need to get the Scarlet book.” It was still in his backpack at Sada’s cabin.

 Sada, who steered Miraidon with one hand and held her lab coat in the other, peered over her shoulder. “Not now, Arven. We need to first lose these Pokémon.”

 Next to them, Nemona grinned. “Oh yeah! You know what this means?” She reached into the pocket of her shorts and drew a pokéball. “It’s time for a Saddle Battle!”

 Nemona tossed her pokéball at the perfect angle. It curved through the air like a Frisbee. “Let’s go, Meowscarada!” she announced.

 At the time Nemona threw her pokéball, the voice Penny heard from before rose from Sada. “Infrared is your code. If you want to continue spending time with Arven, you must listen to it, or else I will have no choice but to punish you again.”

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