Chapter 23: Chapter 20: Who’s That Mastermind? It’s…

        Just when Arven recovered from his scare, Sada—from out of nowhere—stumbled. She almost fell, but he caught her before she could.

        “Whoa, Mom. Are you okay?” No longer did Arven blush.

        Sada straightened herself. “Yeah, I’m fine, Arven. I’m just going to lie down for a while if you don’t mind. You take care of Meowscarada.” She patted Arven’s shoulder and left him, Miraidon, and Koraidon who still glared at one another.

        With a concerned look on his face, Arven watched her. He rubbed beads of sweat from his forehead and shouted, “Mom!” when Sada did fall. Luckily, she landed on her hands and knees and not her head. Regardless, the crown still bounced off her braids and rolled to Penny’s feet.

        She picked it up.

        Arven helped Sada stand (he struggled some under her mechanical body) and escorted her to her bed.

        “Thank you,” she said, sitting down. She rubbed out a few wrinkles on her bedsheet.

        Grasping her shoulder blades, Arven forced her to look at him. “Mom, we can’t help you unless you tell us who it is you’re trying to protect.”

        Sada said nothing. She swung her legs over her bed and propped her back up on her pillows and bedrest. She looked away from Arven.

        “I’m just tired,” Sada lied, reaching for her chest. “Please, Arven, don’t worry about me. Just go help your friends.”

        Arven kept on pushing her. “Not until you at least tell me his name.”

        Again, Sada did not answer. She pulled her pillows down and fluffed them, coughing through the dust. Once she cleaned them up, she fell onto her side.

        Arven inhaled. His nostrils flared with how large it was. He returned to his friends and said, “It’s not easy getting answers out of her.”

        “No chizz,” Penny said, “but with a little rest, I’m sure she’ll come around, Arven. In the meantime, did you find any leftover herba mysticas?”

        “Oh, yes I did!” Arven stuck his upper body into his knapsack. He rummaged and re-emerged with a handful of green, seaweed-like plants in his palm. They shimmered like the crystals on Sada. “Here you go,” Arven said, offering them to Nemona. “This one boosts the immune system.”

        “Oh my gosh! Thank you, Arven!” Nemona snatched the plants out of his hand. “This will really help Meowscarada.”

        “All we need to do now is grind them up and put them in a sandwich,” Arven explained. “We can do that in the kitchen.” He led the way; however, he stopped temporarily to check on Sada.

        She rolled onto her back and stared at the cabin’s ceiling.

        Nemona gave Arven a quick pat. “You can be with her after we make the sandwiches.”

        Arven moved his head back and forth. “I-I’m sorry, Nemona. I just don’t know what’s wrong with her.”

        “We’ll figure it out… together,” Nemona said. “I promise, Arven.”

        Penny overheard their conversation. She slumped over and turned away from her friends. Penny crossed her right leg behind her left one.

        It wasn’t long until footsteps stopped next to her. Scarlet pulled her hair out of its high ponytail and let it dangle over her shoulders. She slipped the scrunchie over her wrist. “Penny,” she said in a low voice, “is there something you’re not telling Arven?”

        “I-I can’t,” Penny stuttered. “He’s not ready.”

        “Oh, so there is,” Scarlet confirmed.

        Penny nodded.

        For a bit, Scarlet fell quiet. Eventually, she pulled a strand of brown hair behind her ear and added, “Can you tell me? I’ve lost a parent before, Penny. I know what Arven’s going through.”

        Penny peered over her hoodie at her. “Sure, Scarlet, but have you lost your dad twice?”

        “What? What are you talking about?” Scarlet rubbed her chin. She was sure she just created a few pimples with her oily hands.

        Penny rotated her body so she and Scarlet could talk face-to-face. “Exactly,” she said.

        “Wait a minute!” Scarlet pointed at Sada and whispered, “She’s dying?”

        “Yeah,” Penny answered in a low voice.

        “Bu-Bu—” Scarlet moved her finger from Sada to Arven and back to Sada. “—Oh my gosh.” She buried her face in her hands. “Doesn’t Arven have enough tragedy in his life already, Penny?”

        “It’s Infrared,” Penny calmly explained—quiet enough so that Arven and Nemona could continue their sandwich-making in the kitchen. “Sada cannot fight that computer much longer. It’s wearing her out. That’s why her body’s starting to Terastallize and why her arm is not healing in the way I want it to. She’s decomposing.”

        Scarlet was not finished with her questions. “Does her mastermind want to kill her? Is that what we’re dealing with here?”

        Penny’s mouth gaped. She clutched one of her pokéballs before she built up the courage to answer. “I believe he does, and I believe he wants to kill Arven, too.”

***

        Arven and Nemona finished whipping up the sandwiches. They moved the ingredients off to the side.

        Arven gave Nemona the sandwich with the herba mystica. “There you go, Nemona. This should help your Meowscarada.”

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        “You’re a boy genius, Arven,” she joked, giving him a quick hug. “I can’t thank you enough.” She let Arven go and moved over to one pile of sandwiches. “I’ll take these sandwiches to the others. Why don’t you grab yours and go be with your mom?”

        “Arven! Arven!” a pained Sada suddenly hollered from her bed. “Arven!”

        He jerked his head in her direction. The knife dropped from his hand and nearly sliced his finger. He sprinted to Sada, followed closely by Miraidon, Koraidon, Celebi, and his friends. “What’s wrong, Mom?” he asked, out of breath, when he reached her.

        “It hurts,” she whimpered.

        “What hurts?” Arven examined her up and down.

        Sada pointed at her left arm.

        “Your arm?” Arven inquired. When Sada nodded, he moved to the other side of her bed and took her arm.

        “Ow!” she screamed, and she twitched under Arven’s grip.

        Arven worked quickly. He pulled Sada’s arm out of her lab coat and undid the bandage around her upper arm. At the sight of a build-up of infrared Tera crystals, which covered her wound, his eyes widened. “Penny! Penny!” he called.

        Miraidon stuck close to Penny’s heels while she went to Arven.

        Scarlet pulled him away from Sada so Penny could work. She held him by both arms.

        Arven tried to break free from his friend, but she only tightened her grip. “What’s going on, Penny?” he asked. “What aren’t you telling me?” Every time he thought Penny fixed Sada, his mom only broke more.

        Penny stayed calm. Her hands hovered over Sada, and she told her, “Sada, you know what’s going on just as much as I do. But you can’t keep fighting this battle yourself. Just tell us who your mastermind is.”

        “I can’t.” A few tears appeared in Sada’s eyes. She sniffed.

        Penny quickly drew a hankie from her pocket and wiped them away. “No crying. Water will shorten your circuits.”

        “Who’s hurting you?” Arven snapped at his mom. “I will give him a piece of my mind and a piece of Mabosstiff’s fang!”

        “I can’t, I can’t,” Sada replied, starting to hyperventilate. “Ow!” she yelled again when Penny clutched her arm.

        She gestured for Miraidon to come over. “Miraidon, she needs you. You’re her Pokémon. Knock some sense into her.” Penny moved out of the way so Miraidon could squeeze in.

        “Gias. Agias,” he said, nudging Sada’s head. “Remember what Arven told you, my friend. To be brave is something you learn over time.”

        The Pokémon and his trainer communicated back and forth for a few minutes, and then Penny tried again.

        “Sada, we’re going to keep prying you until you tell us. Who’s your Infrared?”

        Sada glanced at Arven. “I’m sorry, Arven,” she apologized.

        “What are you sorry about?” Arven was so confused. “You’ve done nothing wrong, Mom. It’s this Infrared guy.”

        “The original professor should have never fallen for him.” Sada’s voice shook with her words. “He deceived me. He told me he would help me be the mom you never had.”

        “Who?” A terrible feeling clutched at Arven’s gut. It spread to the rest of his body like a hot flame.

        Sada’s bottom lip twitched like Arven’s when he had his breakdown.

        Penny took her hand in hers. “You can do it, Sada,” she encouraged. “Be brave. Who’s your mastermind?”

        Sada’s lip twitched even faster. Finally, her eyes bore into Arven, and she admitted, “Your dad, Arven!” She hid her face in Miraidon’s neck. “He did this to Miraidon and me! He made me turn Koraidon into Miraidon!”

        A thousand knives stabbed Arven’s heart. They hurt so much that he tumbled out of Scarlet’s arms and sank to his knees. How on Earth was he still breathing?

        Nemona attempted to be friendly. “Are you okay… Arven?”

        He scoffed. “Oh, yeah. I’m fine, Nemona. I just learned that my psycho dad is killing my mom, so don’t ask me if I’m okay!”

        “I’m… sorry.” For extra protection, Nemona ducked behind Koraidon.

        “I’m going out,” Arven growled. He had to let this sink in.

        Sensing that Arven needed him, Mabosstiff came out of his pokéball. He followed his trainer to the cabin’s back door.

        Arven stepped outside and slammed the door in his Pokémon’s face.

        “Woof?” Mabosstiff inquired. He clawed at the door.

        Arven screamed on the other side of it. A giant splash told Mabosstiff that he had tossed a rock into the backyard brook.

        Mabosstiff finally just lay down at the door and rested his head on his front paws. He sighed deeply.

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