Chapter 1 – Rendezvous

The harsh wind blows as rain pours down relentlessly from the sky. Thunder cries out throughout the vast, desolate landscape as neon lights flicker and glow beyond the horizon. Whenever lightning flashes, a lone, green, metallic figure could briefly be seen running through the emptiness, occasionally glancing back every so often, as if to check if it were being followed.

A refuge it sought, and a refuge it shall find. A seemingly abandoned building lay built into a cliffside, its lights still dimly lit, powered on by only the smallest support of a backup generator. The metallic figure pants heavily as it finally makes it to the front door of the building, the synthetic leaves hanging from its body blowing in the wind as it frantically inputs a four-digit code into the keypad beside the door.

A confirmation beep rings from the keypad and the door rustles to life, jerking upwards for a moment, freeing itself from the small indentation it had made during its inactivity. The storm, much to the machine’s relief, covers up most of the noise the door makes as it quickly scuttles inside.

One by one, the lightly slowly flicker to life, the low hum of the generator faintly audible throughout the entrance building as a holographic display springs to life at the front desk. A news broadcast, from the looks of things, hosted by a Psyduck. Still panting heavily, exhausted from the whole ordeal, the machine’s heavy footsteps thud against the metallic floor, reaching out to touch the display, enabling the audio.

“-been considering upping the amount of Magnezone security in the area. Citizens are beginning to worry for their lives as there’s been an increase in cybernetic, augmented and robotic Pokemon alike reportedly going berserk throughout The Veil. This phenomenon has left robotics experts and scientists alike stumped as to how sudden these outbursts of violence are occurring, comparing it to a state of rapid cyberpsychosis. This has led to an increased vocal outrage in anti-cybernetic communities, some of which have been saying, and I quote, ‘that these monstrous look-alikes should not be allowed to walk the same streets as us, and should be scrapped for-“

Swipe.

The machine lets out a tired, exhausted groan. It’d heard enough.
Another news broadcast begins to play, this one audio only.

“-can expect to see them in the sky during the coming weeks, so be sure to capture the moment while you can. In other news, there’s reportedly been a break in at the Saffron Robotics & Parts admin building. On-sight investigations seem to be reveal that this break-in was meticulously planned and executed, as employees have confirmed a number of security malfunctions and data breaches. There’s evidence that their servers have been scanned and copied, and while there were attempts to erase all the data from these servers, these attempts were unsuccessful, as an unchecked security protocol had been tripped up, thus alerting the premises. Security footage captured reveals the perpetrators to be a robot Grovyle and-“

The news broadcast is suddenly cut short when an alarm begins to blare loudly throughout the building. Every holographic display in the building displays bright, flashing alert messages. In a panic, the Grovyle quickly inputs a series of taps in the lower right corner of display. The alert message is replaced by a set of admin controls, overriding the security lockdown, the main entrance door closing behind it.

Letting out a long, tired sigh, the metallic Grovyle slumps back against the wall, sliding down to the ground to take a moment to rest.

“Well, that didn’t take long…”

As the metallic Grovyle walked through the building’s narrow halls, the building itself slowly came back to life. Its lights came on one after the other, the low hum of the dimly powered bulbs bouncing off the walls. For a while, that, and the sounds of the Grovyle heavy footsteps thumping against the floors would be the only sounds in the building. Until a chipper voice could be heard coming from the intercoms.

“You could’ve told me that it was you. I wouldn’t have put the building into security lockdown if you just gave me a little hint or a clue.”

The Grovyle lets out a mildly annoyed sigh, its electronic eyes narrowing as it reaches to the back of its head and brushes its long stem out of the way, pulling out a USB cable, inserting it into a port next to a door.. “I was in a rush, didn’t exactly have time to think.”

ACCESS GRANTED

The voice on the intercom could be heard giggling quietly before speaking up again. “You doing any sort of thinking would be a surprise, honestly.”

The Grovyle scoffs, rolling his eyes as the door opens, revealing a massive room with wires and cables spread out all over the walls, stretching down below the catwalks that the room was built upon. The room, while massive, was fairly dark. All the bulbs along the ceiling had either been shattered or had burnt out years ago, leaving the only light the dimly lit blue lanterns that sprout up beside the catwalks. “You wanna come out here and say that to my face, Pixie?”

“Hmmm, very tempting, Glyph. Very, very tempting. I could leave the comfort and safety of my preservation pod, but that would require me navigating through the dreadfully boring, empty hallways, and spend time possibly even getting lost within them! And that would just be a waste of time. I’ve got all I could ever need right here in my little tube.~ Besides, it’s fun teasing you wherever you are in the building. Makes me feel like a tiny goddess poking fun at her lowly subordinates.~”

The Grovyle- Glyph, rolls his eyes as he sits down at one of the nearby computer desks, plugging his USB into one of the ports as a data transfer begins.

“…Where’s-“

“She got caught in one of the riffs while we were on the run, and it vanished before I could jump in and get her out.” There a tinge of sorrow in Glyph’s voice, letting out a sigh as the data transfer continues. “I don’t know where she is or if she’s even okay.”

There’s a pause, a momentary silence from the intercom. “S-She’s gone? Seriously? But that means we-“

“We’re going to have to carry on without her. It’s what she would’ve wanted.” With the data transfer complete, Glyph disconnects the USB and lets it retract back into his head. “We don’t have time to mourn and we especially don’t have time to sit around worrying. Pixie, I need you to open up the Passage of Time.”

Pixie stutters over the intercom, fumbling over her words. “I- Uh, right now? I mean I can get it running! But right away?”

“Look over the data I just uploaded and you’ll understand why.”

“Why? What’s going-” Another pause. This one much longer as the humming of the machines begins to slowly get louder as it comes to life. “…Oh. Oh this is bad, this is really, REALLY bad.”

“We don’t exactly have much of a choice here. I need to go back. It’s the only chance we have of keeping everything from spiraling out of control.”

“…Can at least see me off before you leave? I might not get to see you again for a while.”

*Glyph pauses as he reaches out for a ladder, contemplating this for a moment. They’re in a hurry, but… “Alright. You’re already on the way, I’ll pay you a visit before I head back.”

A contented sigh can be heard over the intercom. “Thank you, Glyph.”