Chapter 39: Chapter 36: The Mastermind’s Weakness

        Celebi, who was still getting chased by the AI Paldean Tauros and Iron Treads, cried out when Turo’s device sparked in its arms, indicating that he had gotten through to Infrared. Wincing, the Pokémon instantly dropped the device, and the Iron Treads caught it.

        It kept it snug in its trunk and cut through Turo’s army of AI Pokémon. Like a dog, Iron Treads set it down next to his ankle.

        “Stop!” Scarlet held her arm out to her friends.

        Nemona, shaken up by the constant memories of Meowscarada, inhaled. She needed a breather.

        Turo smirked at Iron Treads. “Aw, thank you, Iron Treads.” He bent over and picked up the device.

        Penny turned to Scarlet. “Scarlet, why did we stop attacking?”

        “Because I’m trying to find his weakness,” was Scarlet’s answer. Turo was a madman, sure, but he was, indeed, human and most likely had some sort of flaw. She just had to find a way to extract it from him.

        Turo’s device lit up red and its buttons yellow. “Well, I’d love to continue this game,” he joked, “but my precious Infrared is telling me to take it up a notch.”

        “Infrared?” Penny inquired, shocked. She took a step forward. “What did you do to her this time?”

        “‘Her’?” Nemona and Scarlet scratched the tops of their heads. Who was Penny referring to? It couldn’t be… right?

        “Oh, I did nothing,” said Turo. He flicked a bead of sweat off his forehead. “I merely stayed here, distracted y’all, and let Arven do all the work. I knew Kenji and Miraidon couldn’t stop him. You see, children, it’s called Plan B.”

        “Why, you—!” Penny barked. Why was Turo so evil?

        Miraidon’s cry soon washed across the whole lab. He hurried out of the barracks, with Arven and Kenji still in his arms, and soared to the others.

        “Be on your guard, guys,” Kenji said. “She’s coming.”

        “Who?” Scarlet and Nemona asked.

        “Ah, I’ve been waiting for this day.” Turo rolled his lab coat’s sleeves up to his upper arms. “Fall back,” he ordered his AI Pokémon. “It’s time for Infrared and me to light up the stage. That’s ten points for us. Thank you, Arven. You just made my job a whole lot easier.”

        Arven hopped down from Miraidon first. Facing Turo, he said, “You set me up.”

        “Oh, boo hoo,” Turo groaned, not sorry at all. “Tough it up, buttercup. You complain too much. You’re just like you’re poor, little mother. Speaking of which…” He moved his thumb up to one of the largest buttons on his device and mashed it in. “Infrared, I think it’s time to show them your true power.”

        Arven and his friends’ jaws dropped when the ceiling above them flashed red. They checked their surroundings.

        Not far from the confrontation, sitting in a chair, was AI Joy who still had Sada’s lab coat. She powered on and stood, picking it up from the back of her seat. Joy took the coat to Turo and handed it to him.

        Right when she did, Infrared emerged from the shadows of the red lighting. Her eyes flashed, and her body twitched.

        Kenji was the next one to release himself from Miraidon’s arm. Once his feet hit the ground, he held his hands up to Arven and his friends and used his body as a shield.

        At the sight of Infrared coming toward Turo and Joy, Nemona said, “Sada?”

        Penny gulped. “That’s not Sada, Nemona. That’s Infrared.”

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        “What?” Nemona jerked her head in Penny’s direction. “But how?”

        Penny gripped her glasses. “Turo programmed her with it when she and Miraidon first came to the future.” She pulled her phone out of her hoodie pocket. “Said it would help her.”

        Infrared reached Turo and Joy. She retrieved her lab coat from Joy and slipped it on. The second it hit her body, it, like the rest of her clothes, glowed infrared. She dropped her hand into her pocket and wrapped her fingers around one of her pokéballs.

        Turo held his device up to the back of her head. “What do you say, Infrared? Are you ready to throw out all this unnecessary trash?”

        “Trash?” A few more tears escaped from Arven’s eye sockets. “How could you—? I’m your son!”

        Turo shot him an angry look. “You were nothing but a tragedy, Arven. I never wanted you in the first place.” Surprisingly, he started to speak in a choked voice again. “Celebi brought me to the future so I could start a new life—to get away from everything that reminded me of you and your mom—and then AI Sada came and dragged me right back into it. She’s the traitor here. It isn’t me.”

        “She just wanted us to be a family again!” Arven spat.

        “Well, I don’t want this family,” Turo snapped. “My AIs and Hologram Pokémon are my new one. Infrared, we’ll take them on in a Double Battle.”

        It all made sense now. Scarlet, who stood at the back of the crowd with Koraidon, closed her dark blue eyes. In a low voice—almost a whisper—she said, “Grief. That’s his weakness. It’s all grief. Celebi must have seen that in him.” She wondered if Turo was Celebi’s trainer. Regardless, while it was difficult for her to talk about it out loud, Scarlet felt that he needed to hear her side of the story.

        She patted Koraidon’s arm and headed to the crowd’s front. Scarlet pushed her way past Kenji in the process. “Arven,” she said, “you and I will take them on.”

        “But, Scarlet,” Penny, typing in her phone, said behind her, “I’m good with machines. I’m probably the best person to fight with him.”

        Scarlet shook her head. “For once, these aren’t machines we’re dealing with here, Penny. It’s a family that was torn apart when their loved one died. I can relate.”

        She remembered the day her father died. Scarlet was right there, standing on the beach with her travel bag, when he crashed coming to pick her up. He died in her arms, only fifteen minutes later, and she sat on that beach with him until her mother finally managed to get to her.

        Turo’s reaction to Sada’s death fitted someone who probably saw it happen, just like Scarlet.

        She peered back at Arven. “Arven, I know why your dad is like this, but working together, we can snap him out of it. Trust me.”

        Arven gave her a feeble smile. “I do, Scarlet, and thank you… for everything.” He also came out from Kenji’s shield and joined Scarlet on the battlefield.

        “Enough of this hoopla!” Turo tossed his hand into his face. “Sada…” The day it happened, he just wanted to bring her flowers.

        Turo sniffed behind his palm, but he quickly straightened up. “I’m not weak!” Removing his hand, he glanced at Iron Moth. “Let’s do this, Iron Moth and Infrared! We’ll show them no mercy!” With those words, he and Infrared released their Pokémon.

        Slither Wing emerged from Infrared’s pokéball, right next to Iron Moth. The two Paradox Pokémon screeched at Scarlet and Arven.

        They nodded at one another, and then they tossed two of their own Pokémon forward.

        “Staraptor,” Scarlet yelped, “you’re in charge of Slither Wing!”

        “Garganacl, I choose you!” Arven announced right after her. His and Scarlet’s pokéballs flashed open.

        And just like that, it was time for the final battle: Scarlet and Arven vs. the Mastermind of Deception and Infrared.

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