Glitched

6 - Intelligence

I'm sorry for the delay on this chapter. I think I might be conquering this writer's block so if things keep up then updates should be back on track! Yay!

The sun beat down on the lush grass of Cyan Island, dusting away the lingering fog of sleep from Pixel's mind. She yawned and stretched widely as she trudged across the meadow towards the control room. Despite only being able to grab around three hours of sleep, she was feeling oddly awake.

Nybble and Byte, however, were a stark contrast. The latter looked like he was about to take a nap on the control deck while his sister lazily, and absently, flicked through the morning's news.

Leaf gave Pixel a wide grin as the door hissed shut behind her.

"You look cheerful," she said.

"I have reason to be." He nodded at the screen then span to face it. "Hax and his goons have been arrested and are locked safely away in Meta Prison. We've received a grateful, yet heartbroken message from the vulpix's mother thanking us for our efforts." He sighed and scratched his head. "Such a shame we couldn't give her better news."

Pixel peered over his shoulder at the long article, skimming over the text. Meta Prison, despite its name, was situated on the outskirts in Server City, providing an imposing threat to the gangs that formed there, forcing them to hang around the other two small cities instead. The article briefly covered the case of the missing vulpix pup along with three other hatchlings believed to have been tricked by Hax and his gang. However, the unfezant denied such claims, saying he was responsible for only the vulpix. The other three – a ratatta, growlithe and patrat – had allegedly been missing for about the same length of time.

But one thing really struck her. The article only brushed the fact the vulpix had entered one of the black cracks. Other than that, there was no speculation of the dangers the anomalies caused.

"They're keeping it under their hats, aren't they?" she scoffed.

"Hmm?" Leaf looked round at her.

"The cracks. It's as though the situation doesn't bother them."

"They're probably wanting to avoid getting the entire of System into an uproar. If the authorities aren't bothered by it, then the rest of the pokemon won't be. What we can take from this recent case is to stay away from them."

She made a non-committal grunt. "How come we weren't told about the other three missing hatchlings?"

Leaf shrugged. "The ninetails messaged us directly. My guess is they were all lumped together in the news. There's only the four of us left now. We can't read everything, Pixel."

"I know. I know." She fell down in the seat beside Nybble and logged in to her account. "Did they hack into our data by the way? You said it was strange that they seemed to know to target Nybble and Byte."

Juice flew out of Nybble's nose and she looked between them with a look of surprise.

"It doesn't look like it," said Leaf. "But I don't really know what to look for. So I've changed all passwords just in case. I recommend you change your log-in."

She nodded her understanding while reaching for a slice of toast on the small table beside her. She appreciated the snack. There'd been no time to make breakfast that morning.

She couldn't deny it was a real pain to have to change her password. She worried she'd forget it, so she recited it over and over in her mind as she pulled up her tasks for the day. At the top of the list was her daily duty to check the log of newly infected pokemon in the hospitals, first checking Central Meta. Nothing leapt out at her. None of them were pokemon she recognised, which caused both a wave of relief and a flood of anxiety.