Glitched

Prologue

A/N - I got this idea listening to Infection by CircusP (awesome Vocaloid song!) and I just had to write it. I'm still in the process of writing it too, so I'm going to update weekly while I try to stay ahead of myself! For now, here are the first three installments so I can keep up with the other areas I'm submitting this fanfiction - Serebii's forums, Pokecommunity and FFnet (which is down today! Sad face!)

Please feel free to leave reviews and feedback. I read all feedback and I'm open to conversation too =D

Warning: Some scenes have graphic descriptions concerning blood that some might find disturbing.

Disclaimer - I do NOT own Pokemon or any of its characters!! Pokemon belongs to Nintendo, Game Freak etc. 

I also do NOT own the Missingno image overlay in the cover. I found it doing a Google image search and it's from the Technobuffalo website.

...

The air was different in this area of System, heavier, and seemed to have a static about it that made Vector's fur stand on end. The meowstic and his teammates stood a few feet away from the distorted scenery, a corrupted reflection of the abandoned villages around them. Strings of letters and numbers stretched up from the ground towards the sky, changing intermittently. Nothing but jargon to the pokemon that watched them with curious eyes.

He'd never been this close to the Fracture. No one dared. From the day it appeared, the world had received a massive blow. Seed – the former capital city of System – had, as a result of some unknown event, been sucked into what they could only describe as a 'fracture'. The event had pulled humans into their world, humans who wanted to go back home.

Vector clenched his fist as he stared at the anomaly. It wasn't news to him that pokemon had sent drones into this thing. Drones that had never made it back. Drones that had lost their signal, that those who sent them had been unable to track.

"All right, Bridge!"

The sudden outburst didn't just startle Vector. The pachirisu beside him let out a loud squeak as the pair of them turned to face the speaker – a throh named Raw.

The large fighting pokemon marched through the small group towards the Fracture, holding a small computer in his hand. He nodded a couple of times then turned back to them.

"We're going in," he said.

Vector felt his throat turn dry and he looked back up at the jumble of letters and numbers that impossibly made less sense than they had previously.

Going in...

"Make sure you stick together," Raw went on. "We don't want any mishaps. Our mission is simple – get in there, trigger what started the Fracture in the first place, and hopefully reverse the problem and bridge a way back home for the humans."

Simple...

It didn't sound simple anymore.

"We don't know what caused it in the first place," said Vector.

Raw looked up at him and narrowed his eyes. "The idea is we find out what it is. Explore. We believed it to be an explosion. If it is, we cause another one."

Vector snorted. "What?And risk blowing the place to bits?"

"Pull yourself together,soldier!"

Vector stared at the throh,meeting his eyes and reflecting his frown. His paws fell to his sides and he looked away, casting a glance over the rest of the team –the young pachirisu, a frogadier and a graveler.

"Now hurry," Raw commanded. "We're going in. We've not a moment to lose."

Vector watched as the throh turned away, the rest of the pokemon following after him. His paws wouldn't move. That wall of incoherent text seemed as formidable as steel.

Raw reached the edge of the Fracture and looked back at him with a scowl. "Vector! Hurry up!"
The meowstic met his eyes again briefly and shook his head. "Sorry. It's too risky."

"The benefits outweigh the risks! We could be saving lives!"
Vector bit his lip and clenched his paws so tight his claws dug into his pads.

"What's your problem?" Raw barked. "You were all for this! Most of the ideas here are yours!"

"We might not comeback..."

Raw's scowl fell as he rolled his eyes. "All right. Forget it. We're going without you." He turned back to the Fracture and closed the small computer, letting it hang from a belt around his waist. "Come on, Bridge. Vector will stand watch and keep an eye open."
It was all he could do to watch.

The group of explorers vanished through the Fracture wall, their forms distorting and vanishing as the text washed over them, the air once more reflecting the desolate wreckage around it. Former towns, crumbling buildings covered in weeds, trees that seemed hauntingly lifeless even though their branches were full of leaves, swaying on the static-filled air.

He had no idea how long he stood there. It seemed like an eternity, but the sun had barely shifted in the sky when the wall to the Fracture vibrated, a deep rumble coming from somewhere deep within it.

An explosion.

His heart leapt at the thought of them finding it, at the thought of the Fracture breaking and the world returning to normal.

His dreams were short lived. The wall lurched, a bright flash spanning from it as the explosion dragged up the ground, scattering it into the air where it vanished. A fissure expanded through the floor shaking every rock beneath his paws and he flailed his arms as he tried to run backwards. His eyes didn't leave the endless drop that seemed to be chasing his feet. Nothing fell into it, it just vanished. The buildings, the trees – they all disappeared as the light engulfed them.

Then it washed over him. An awful, electrical surge that caused his scream to die on his lips. He watched in horror as the blue fur on his arms slowly drained of its colour. The strength drained from his body and he crumpled to the ground.

Then everything went black.

...

The flash had seemed like a mere blink on the horizon, but the noise alone caused Switch to falter in the air and almost plummet to the floor. He flapped his red wings frantically as he tried to remain airborne, watching as the light flickered away. It could only have been an explosion, but the location... his heart hammered in his chest.

He'd been heading that way.

He stared at the point the light had vanished. It seemed oddly silent now. Almost normal. What had caused that flash?

 The talonflame shook himself sharply and turned a full one-eighty. His curiosity wasn't worth the risk. Whatever had happened over there wasn't any of his business, but he couldn't let the incident go unvoiced. Whatever it was reeked of danger. Maybe someone back at base would know more about it.