Glitched

25 - Bad Eggs

"Are you sure you want to leave so soon?" Circuit asked plaintively.

Pixel was sat with her friends at a dinner table, helping herself to heaped piles of berries, berry toast and cake. There were also steaming bowls of soup, stew and jugs of cool juice amongst them which Vector had tucked into with a vigour that had surprised her.

The jolteon's question had been aimed at Switch, but he was too busy chewing on a toast crust to answer her quite yet.

When he finally swallowed it, he nodded and said, "Yes. We have places we need to be."

"And that doesn't include us?" Circuit asked. "Because we can help, you know."

Burst nodded his head quickly and placed a wing around her shoulders. "I think you know, Switch, that if you need anything all you have to do is ask."

"I don't really want to get you involved in this," said Switch.

"Besides," said Vector without looking up from his next bowl of stew. "If you do want to help, you're better off not sticking with us."

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Circuit.

"What he's trying to say," said Pixel before Vector could open his mouth, "is that since we're looking for a cure to this virus, we're better off spreading out rather than sticking together."

"That's not what I was going to say at all," said Vector. "But you can take it if you want."

Circuit's fur stood on end and her canines showed between her lips. Switch reached across and placed a hand on her back.

"He's not being rude. He has a price on his head. You're better off not getting mixed up with us."

"We're already mixed up with you," she said. "And I think I will help you look for a cure. I can send my own team out to scour areas you haven't yet."

"The areas Vector said he wants to search are the Binary Jungle and the ocean," said Pixel. "So our next stop is the jungle."

Vector licked stew off his spoon and gave Circuit and Burst a sideways glance. "You wanna take the ocean?"

Circuit's face split into a smile and she chuckled. "Since we often float above it, we actually have the gear to deal with that."

"Huh." Vector shrugged and spooned more stew into his mouth. "Then be my guest."

"You weren't expecting that, were you?" said Circuit. "So, you can rule that location out. Cogs and Wire will be your underwater eyes, okay?" She nodded to the linoone and a spinda further down the table.

"So when are you leaving?" Burst asked. "My father always said to never fly on a full stomach."

"As soon as the island reaches its furthest northern point." Switch smiled and dabbed sauce from his lip with a napkin. "So I think around twilight?"

"Really?!" Pixel nearly dropped her fork. "We're flying at night?!"

Burst's eyes misted over. "Ahh, night flying."

"You could fly with us if you like?" said Switch.

"I was actually going to offer!" said Burst. "You can't really carry both of them, can you? So I'll take Vector."

Vector choked and spewed gravy from his nose. He shot the staraptor a glare as he wiped it away on the back of his paw.

"You're gonna carry me?"