Glitched

3 - Broken Sky

A/N - I've been going through trying to correct text merging together. If you notice any, please let me know in a comment. I'm trying to stay on top of it. Also, I'm trying to avoid the repetitive use of some words. I've gone back and culled some in the prologue and chapter 1. I still need to go through the second one. Please bare with me =)

...

Soft beeping woke Pixel from her dream, and she blinked her eyes open as daylight flooded through her lightweight yellow curtains. A soft smile spread across her lips as she stretched and kicked off her duvet. The motion caused the hologram screen above her bed to activate and throw up lines of text displaying news headlines, many of which were dated today. She waved an arm to scroll through them quickly, looking for mission opportunities and any sign of their missing members.

Most of them listed the spread of the virus that caused her smile to falter and she pushed herself up, yawning widely as she dropped onto her feet and grabbed the scarf and goggles she'd discarded on her desk chair.

A short stop in the kitchen rewarded her with two slices of berry bread and cheri jam. She'd finished one slice before she stepped out of the front door, and just as she was tucking into the second one, a movement to her right caught her eye. She paused in the long grass of the meadow, squinting into the clouds. Something was flying this high habitually? That wasn't normal.

Giving the flying pokemon another glance, she trotted towards the tower, stuffing the rest of the bread in her mouth simply to free her paws should she need to use them.

She pushed the button on the strap of her goggles and Leaf's voice rang near her ear.

"Good morning, Pixel! Is something wrong?"

"Someone's flying towards us," she said.

Leaf made an exclamation of mild surprise. "Who'd be flying this high up?"

The microphone picked up another smaller voice from one of the emolga. "Maybe they're scared of flying beneath us in case the continent falls from the sky and lands on them?"

Leaf chuckled. "I think that's just your fear, Nybble."

"Can we focus?" Pixel demanded. "They're getting closer."

"Give them time. They might fly away from us," said Leaf. "Hurry up. We've had some new requests arrive this morning."

Pixel released the button and picked up her pace, tearing her eyes away from the flying pokemon. Whoever it was didn't seem to be that much closer by the time she reached the door. Maybe Leaf was right? Maybe they were moving away?

Light flickered from the weak bulb on the stairwell, distorting her shadow as she trotted down them. When she reached the control room she was feeling quite breathless.

The emolga twins raised their eyebrows at her.

"Did they chase you?" Nybble asked.

"They're not on the security footage," said Byte. "I think she's just being fraidy like you."

Nybble elbowed him in the ribs.

Leaf ushered Pixel to sit beside him and pointed to the screen. "We've got a request to find a missing vulpix. Her mother is worried sick, and thinks she might be in the outskirts of Meta City."

"The outskirts?" She felt a small shudder run through her. She didn't quite fancy a stroll through 'the badlands'. Raster was bad enough.

"You may need to ask around there," said Leaf. "I've loaded up the recent pokemon placed in quarantine in Meta's two largest hospitals. There is no sign of a vulpix."